Tales of a fourth grade nothing plans

I wanted to preface this by saying this occurred 7-8 years ago, when I was a sophomore in high school, and im a much different person now and not proud of who I was. Even so, the events of that semester haunt me even today, to the point that it occasionally keeps me up at night, I feel like if I get some impartial judgement on the situation I may be able to resolve some of the lingering grief. I feel like all things considered my actions were justified, but of course you will always be the protagonist fighting off the antagonists in your own story.
So it started in February 2017. I entered into an alternative high school program in my county designed to give students who couldn't otherwise function in normal schools a second chance. I had missed a few weeks due to a hospitalization earlier that year, and while my teachers had been lenient, I was having a difficult time catching back up and it was decided by my school counselors that I would be an excellent candidate for transfer.
It started off really well, I immediately was making new friends, I felt refreshed and hopeful about my new school, I really liked all my teachers, things finally felt right for the first time in awhile. Then I met a boy who i'll call "T", he was pretty cool, easy to talk to, very friendly, overall welcoming and we became friends right off the bat. I decided to get involved in extracurriculars, and T was part of the schools forensics club, which I had an interest in, so I joined up. On the trip we exchanged phone numbers, and ended up flirting over text over the next couple weeks. Eventually he asked me out and I accepted, this is where it started going downhill.
I figured dating this guy meant we would spend more time together, so we could really get to know each other, I was mistaken. I asked him to eat lunch with me, he wasn't interested, he wouldn't walk me to class or really interact with me outside of the classroom and texting. On top of this I learned some information about him over text that I will still not share because this story is still recognizable by those involved but lets just say it was a major turn off for me, I ended the relationship quickly. After that "J" and "A" his two female besties, quickly entered the scene to make my life a living hell. The initial accusation was that I led T on, and that I was trying to control him by forcing him to eat lunch with me, the truth is, I just wanted something different than what he was offering. I even told him we could still be friends. Meanwhile I was in my promiscuous phase and had many non serious flings and sugar daddy's and whatnot, this was just a run of the mill whelp that didn't work out moment for me, I was ready to move on immediately. They were not.
Rumors quickly spread about me, about me being a slut, apparently I was a prostitute and everyone seemed to know except me, and honestly I was unbothered by this. The prostitute thing was untrue, though I absolutely accepted gifts from people I talked to online, and I kinda was a slut, to be fair, so, not exactly the reputation I wanted but things could be much worse. I still had my friends, and I poured myself into my studies and ignited a love for STEM that I still have today.
Then one by one my friends disappeared. I would see them talking with A or J or one of their misc. associates. I was confused, because I hadn't done anything to them. I tried to talk to them, but I was blocked or laughed at, the more I was mocked and ridiculed the less confident about that whole thing I became. It wasn't just my current friends though, A kept tabs on who I was trying to befriend and snatched them up before I could clear the air. This happened with a couple people, but one in particular really hurt, i'll come back to him in a bit. I still had my best friend "M" who I had known years prior to coming to the school, she stuck around the longest, but eventually she started dating a guy from that clique, I was completely alone.
Meanwhile I was getting sneered at and laughed at, and whispered about, I would see girls I didn't know except through association with A and J who would point at me when they thought I couldn't see, and they'd lean into their friends to quitely gossip behind their hands. I tried not to see it, I found myself staring at the floor a lot.
I ended up talking to A and J and asking them to stop, I told them they were being immature (which in hindsight fanned the flames) there was no ceasefire. I ended up going to the school counselor who basically told us to be nice and did nothing to help. I talked to her 1 to 1 and explained the situation and she shrugged it off. I was growing increasingly desperate for support I wasn't receiving. I started to notice an impact to my grades, I was depressed, I couldn't focus, I was randomly tearful. I started eating lunch in a random corridor away from my peers. I wish I could have disappeared completely.
Then one day a boy transferred in from another school, a teacher asked for a volunteer to give him a tour of the building, I was chosen. His name was S. Talking to him was like a breath of fresh air, we hit it off quickly, I was so relieved to finally made a friend. We connected over history, he was a nerd like me and funny too. I went home that day and cried joyful tears, I was so excited to see him again the next day in first period, and when I walked into the room and saw A, J and him sitting together, my stomach hit the floor, we made eye contact and he just frowned and shook his head. I went to my desk and just put my head down and cried. At this point I didn't care if I was seen or not. This is the one that really got me.
A few weeks passed by, I was quietly working in biology class and I heard a dude call my name across the room, he said "OP, "D" thinks your cute!" and the group of guys laughed, I motioned the guy over, and gave him my number, I didn't have any interest in dating the guy but I really really wanted someone to talk to me. It wasn't even two hours before he was hitting it off with A.
At lunch time I went to a different counselor, one who showed more empathy to my situation. She told me I could stay in her office the rest of the day. 4th period came around and I was reeling in my head, I felt like I was a cornered animal, I was desperate for something to change. When she stepped out for a meeting I marched myself up to Spanish class, Which I shared with A, J, T, and S. I cracked the door and asked if I could speak with A in the hallway. I had the perfect speech planned, I had rehearsed a million times, that teacher said no. I told her it was incredibly important, she told me no and to get out. I looked at her, I looked at A, I stepped toward her and before I knew it she had a fist full of my hair, she was hitting me in the head while J grabbed my arms, I broke free and shoved J hard, and started punching A back but couldn't gather the momentum to do any damage as she still had my hair. The teacher who was 6 months pregnant tried to step in, I shoved her away with my elbow. A male teacher came in and pulled us apart. I looked around at several cameras, faces of disgust. Sam looked at me and said "what the fuck is wrong with you?" I took my bags, and ran out into the hallway, down the stairs and was almost out of the building when the principal stopped me. I was suspended for a week.
My mom picked me up and I told her everything. We decided I would be withdrawn and I would be homeschooled the rest of high school. I eventually got my GED. I mellowed out, met my husband, and now we have a sweet baby boy. For some reason though, my heart can't handle what happened, even still it plays on a loop in my head. Everything I never got to say is still in my throat and has been since that day. Im hoping sharing this will finally put all that to rest. I want to move on, truly.
AITA?

I am in a relationship with a wonderful woman. She is super hard working & takes care of her single mom & grandma financially even though she is just 22. I am proud of her. I admire her.
We've been dating for over 10 months now. For the first 9 months, there were no fights & no conflict. But recently, I went on a long trip and we couldn't meet for 6 weeks. When I returned, we had to constantly cancel our plans to meet for strange reasons. She is the kind of person who doesn't ask questions that often & we don't have deep talks which I feel is very important to form a good bond. So when we didn't meet for two months, I started losing patience. I wanted to talk to her properly, which could only happen if we met in person.
She wouldn't call me by herself, and in my heart, I know that's because she isn't used to calling people by herself and she has had past trauma which is causing certain issues in communication. But recently for small reasons, I have been getting really angry at her.
For example, once she sent me a picture of her in a gym and her best friend shirtless. I didn't like it but didn't want to say anything as I felt maybe I was thinking too much so I just sent a thumbs up. Then the next day I saw from my friend's account that she had posted that picture in her Instagram story but I couldn't see it from my profile, because she had hidden it from me. I was already missing her a lot and was frustrated with the lack of communication or affection from her side. And this made me furious. She later explained that she hid me because she knew I didn't like that picture as I had sent a thumbs up. Now, I felt that if she knew I didn't like it, then why not just not post it? Why go through the extra step of hiding me?
I know for sure that nothing is going on between the two but this got into my head. Similar incidents have happened recently. Not big things but I am getting super angry over them and then after a few hours I am like "It wasn't that big of a deal maybe I just shouldn't have gotten angry at her".
Recently when we met, she kept looking at her phone and that was for work purposes but I didn't like it and we fought about that last night.
How do I stop myself from getting angry like that? The communication isn't that good so I just feel a lot of bottled-up frustration and that gets me angry.

Title explanation: Lilia lost her airpods at school but found them the next day.
Today is Lilia’s very last day of middle school ever. Her 8th grade graduation is tomorrow. Today is her last in service day of school. Jess is so sad dropping Lilia off. Jess sent her first born off to her very last day of middle school. The next time Jess drops Lilia off it will be at high school. Lilia’s graduation is not until tomorrow. Today is Lilia’s last academic day of school. Jess can’t believe that this day has come. Jess came to home depot because she will finish the bathroom this week. They have been doing it themselves. It is taking quite a while and is low on the priority list. Jess wants to finish it this week. On the way to home depot Jess remembered when she had Lilia. Jess was pregnant at 17 and had Lilia at 18. Even something as simple as calculating how old Jess would be when Lilia was 10. Jess feels like everyone does that when you first have a kid. Jess has always known that when Lilia graduates high school she will be 36. Jess was thinking about all the memories of Lilia. It dawned on Jess that she is 32. Lilia only has 4 more years left of school. 18 year old Jess thought that that moment was so far away. However it is here and not so far away. It was a blink of an eye. Jess will be a mess tomorrow at Lilia’s graduation. Jess already feels it. Jess is not a crier. (I already knew that. She fake cries all the time but no actual tears come out.) In The last 2 years Jess has gotten more emotional because she realizes more how beautiful life is. Everything is making Jess emotional. Even some movies Jess watches are making her emotional. Jess hates watching people cry because it is so annoying. Jess can’t believe that she is here and that this is happening. It goes by in the blink of an eye and then it is over. Jess still has so much time left. Jess is going to focus on the bathroom because it is getting out of control and is sad.
Jess is wearing Landen’s crocs because they were the only shoes she could find and they fit her. Kyson and Kaden’s shoes are too big. Jess wants to do a retro curvy strip across the bathroom wall. Jess is going to do 5 colors that complement each other and go with the theme. Jess doesn’t know how this will turn out. Jess is winging this. Chris had to come and save the day because they don't take apple pay. After Chris dropped the little kids off at school he came and met Jess at home depot.
Jess doesn’t have too much time because Lilia has a minimum day. The guys are working on the ADU today. Lilia has a minimum day since it is the very last day of school. Jess doesn’t have too much time. The rest of the kids are not out of school today. It is not their last day of school. They have a whole week left of school. They are on a very different schedule. They still have a solid week and a half. Today is Lilia’s last academic day. Tomorrow is her graduation. The following day is when Lilia leaves on her 8th grade trip to washington dc/new york. Jess is excited for Lilia but also nervous. Jess finished all of the cabinet doors and put the paint away. However she forgot a door so she had to put everything back out.
Jess is going to attempt the very first line of the bathroom. The wall is just so plain. Jess wants a little something to go across. Her vision is for it to go up the wall and over the other wall above the light fixture. There is so much space. Jess doesn’t know. She is going to completely wing this. Jess needs to finish off the wall paint. Jess ended up sticking with the darker pepto bismol color on one wall, and the lighter one on the other 2 walls. Jess went back and forth but she decided to try it like that. If she hates it she will repaint it. Jess does hate it but she didn’t want to repaint it and then she liked the contrast. They will see it with the strip on it. The strip will add another element.
Jess just came to Lilia’s school to pick her up. Yesterday they had a picnic outside for lunch. At some point in the day Lilia realized she was missing her airpods. She doesn’t know at what point she lost them. Lilia thinks she lost them somewhere out in the huge grass area. They checked lost and found but no one turned them in. They are hoping they are in the tall grass area. They are not catching a signal through the find my iphone setting. They are still not connecting. It is not looking good. They found them. Jess is shocked. They were buried in a patch of grass. That is a miracle. They were exactly where Lilia’s phone said they were. Jess can’t believe it. What a way to kick off summer. Jess is shook. Jess knew they could do it. Jess is so happy.
Addie has cheer today. Today is going to be a crazy day for Addie. Addie has cheer, then straight to dance for pictures. Landen got his hair repermed yesterday. Jess is confident about it this time because they cut it shorter which Jess loves. The guy that they take Landen to get his hair permed. The guy is so amazing that they started taking the rest of the kids to get their hair cut from him. Chris started getting his haircut from him. This was a really good find. The downside is that he only works 3 days a week so you have to plan for those days. Those days are the days that they have soccer. Landen goes from getting his hair freshly permed straight to soccer practice. Jess feels like it isn’t good but they don’t have any other options. This week their soccer schedule has completely changed because it is the end of the season. Jess feels like it will stick better this time because Landen wore a bonnet to bed last night. Jess is going to get Landen one for himself. Everyone should wear them. Landen isn’t going to practice and sweating it out and he is protecting his hair at night. Landen just has Jess’s hair texture which never has held a curl. Jess got a perm once or twice but it didn’t stick. It went straight immediately. That is exactly what Landen’s did. Jess thinks it also might be a hair texture thing. Even to this day Jess’s curls won’t last all day. It is flat by the end of the day. Even if Jess puts certain products in it it still doesn’t hold like others do.
Mango has been extremely happy. His beard isn’t black, his appetite is back and he is eating normally. Mango started dribbling from the side when eating. The lump has gotten bigger. (Well you decided to stop all meds and let nature take its course. Nature is taking its course.) His mouth is open on the side that has the lump. Jess doesn’t know why. The lump is getting bigger. However Mango is really happy and in good spirits. Mango is eating normal. Jess doesn’t know what to do. (How about going back to the vet and resuming the meds?) They are taking it day by day. Mango is happy and that is all Jess cares about.
Addie has flight school today. It teaches how to do lifts in cheer. Jess isn’t a seasoned cheer mom yet. Then they have to go straight to her dance dress rehearsal.

Let's first delve into the doubtlessly demeaning details: I am 24 years old, living with my mother, working a job only tangentially relevant to what I studied for, and it's not even for the living expenses -- it's to defray my degree program costs (mother insisted I shouldn't consider student loans if it can be avoided, even though it'll defer my actually receiving the degree; did I mention I'm 24 years old still paying off undergrad, and that's just one criterion out of several to fulfill? I sound so ungrateful for her provision phrasing it as that -- my apologies, even in her absence -- but I am at present prioritizing transparency over respect).
At my age, my life is not even fractionally what I envisioned it to be in my youth -- I can't say I've ever made friends in school, ever had fun, even (I can thank the quarantine), and any connections I've made fizzled out upon my departure from grade school or uni -- and I suppose that's weighing down the relationship with my mother and me. She'd give me some command, something inessential such as wiping the floor, and my response is simply lying in bed until my job or some other extradomestic obligation impels me out of it -- nearly all the time that happens, I wholeheartedly promise you I feel physically incapable of doing anything else.
I'd tell her, "I'll get to it; can I just lie here a while?"
She'd reply, "I want it done now; what else do you have to do at this moment?" with her voice carrying more than enough emphasis for both of us.
That, or I would question why something should be done or my ratiocination in why it shouldn't, and she would interpret that as my challenging the position she holds in the house, ergo I'm "trying to pick a fight" with her (the quotes are to display her wording, not my mocking it -- I truly have no energy to pick fights with anyone, let alone my own mother)
Such as her telling me, "I need you to install this modem, get to it."
"We already have a functioning one; are we replacing it?"
"Obviously. Why do you have to talk back to me all the time?"
"I'm sorry, may I just ask why?"
"Jesus Christ, does it matter? I pay for these things, not you!"
Meanwhile I wasn't comfortable disconnecting my computer from the Internet -- even for a second -- because the files I'm accessing for my school might be denied upon reactivation. That didn't matter to her, she applied the "you want it done when you want it, do it yourself" mentality, and, yes, that's exactly what happened -- I have yet to inform the professor, and I'm hoping it doesn't lead to anotber bill added to my statement.
In fact, none of it matters -- she aims to send me off to a group home and effectively cleanse her life from the stains I inflicted on her, as I have insufficient financial means to live without her; it was her sister's -- my aunt's -- idea, to demonstrate to me "who's in control" (which I never have any intention of contesting, though I'm disregarding the dissonance between intention and action in my saying that) and to safeguard her well-being against the stress I unceasingly bring her, and, goodness, I can't blame her at all for that.
The title is accurate, I'm not sure what to do anymore; should I even try to combat such decision-making? I am her only offspring and I can't say I was ever a good son to her.
If nothing else, thank you sincerely for reading. Knowing that someone would read this -- and maybe even relate -- is enough to bring me peace.

The idea that humans in large numbers lack competency, and so therefore a conspiracy would be practically impossible completely misses the point. Actually, the fact that humans are insanely incompetent and low-information is why conspiracies are everywhere and almost never go noticed. In fact, people DO speak up often and whistleblow and NO ONE LISTENS.
Part of the issue here is epistemological. We think we know about the world. Why do we think that? First of all, human brains are built to conceive of about 150 people around them. Urbanization breaks our brains, and because we're not built for it, we consistently process our impression of society wrong.
School and media are huge and very simply blunt instruments to provide us with a better impression of the massive urban society around us. Most of what we think we know comes from here. Yes, it's true that false information can be contradicted and humans actually can be quite logical with plain, clear facts. However, we have other social instincts which prevent this from happening.
We humans mostly tend to intuitively perceive what kinds of beliefs others have and give massive weight to that while filtering possibly complex or confusing facts in our heads. While some of us and some cultures are much more sophisticated and cynical about media, there are TONS of demographics (i.e.: young women) who psychologically interpret literally anything the media presents as representative of the actual tastes and preferences of that abstract 150 people the brain is built to perceive. Simply because the media exists and promotes one point of view, it means that this must be the position of those in the tribe with power.
Experienced, educated professionals will constantly filter inconvenient information in favor of adjusting to what the group believes. Smarter, 110-130 IQ "midwits" will actually recognize something is wrong, but will rationalize the emotional inconvenience and build explanations or narratives so they can cope. <110IQ people can't construct these rationalizations, and if they're low-IQ enough they can't even understand them, so this is why dumb people often perceive conspiracies that highly intelligent people observe, because the layer of rationalization doesn't appear to them. >140 IQ literally cannot use these rationalizations because their brains see right through them and you have to be a psychopath to ignore what you see. 110-130 IQ people ACTUALLY BELIEVE these rationalizations, that's the point. They ego invest in them and will fight their own kin to squash anyone noticing malicious behavior systemic to institutions. This is partly because, these midwits as the supreme managerial class, so effectively rationalize, they can operate in corrupt environments without being aware of the corruption. Thus they are rewarded immensely, given titles or big salaries, and become personally invested in the fraud while also consciously believing there's no fraud.
As an adult who has noticed all this from experience in the military, ecclesiastical, academic, corporate (never medical sadly) sectors, these patterns seem universal. You know the store manager who has the keys to lock up? Well, when they open up to their buddies and drink a little of the merchandise and throw a little party or whatever, if corporate can't tell, then why wouldn't they? Not everyone who has power will abuse it, but anywhere power is held, someone will abuse it. Abuse of power is a very casual thing, and at a minimum, some percentage of human personality types will always do it. The go-getters and doers especially trend toward a willingness to abuse power, and that's part of the problem. Other humans have specific instincts to submit to the powerful and almost take pleasure when they are on the good side of a psychopath who is abusing a third party.
Here you might say, "Gee, you have a cynical view of humanity." Sorry, the day a college kid can stand up and assert a point of view that's not social consensus, and have even 10% of the class change their minds and support him merely from considering the argument, then maybe I'll be more optimistic. No, people are cowards who are constantly trying to fit in, mostly most people are pretty dumb, and actually most people disdain those who refuse to fit in and don't care at all about the group's corruption. See, kids who are instinctively socially breaking from their parents will oppose the society of their parents. But kids will never oppose, not ever, not at scale, the social momentum of other kids unless there are other kids of clear divisions like racial or religious.
Therefore, I would propose that not only is society full of conspiracies at every level, but actually society functions on the basis of conspiracy. Small group loyalties and hierarchies form nodes around which institutional structure can build larger organizations. I was in the military which is full of formal authority, laws and rules. The reality of it is all that was a distraction to make people put up with a system that is more about little cliques among officers and so forth that sort everything out behind closed doors. Sure, norms, laws, rules, training smooth things out, allow interchangeability, but real decisions are made selfishly by some leader and they have quidproquo with colleagues and that bubbles up to the top. So whatever stupid beliefs they have about their organization or its values, they take with them to the top where someone like a general wields real power. Yet, such a person is sort of "endowed" with that position by his clique-community, and so they must fight for that community's values in the confines of that community's worldview, which might be totally inaccurate.
With this in mind, here is your final graduation thought experiment.
I've tried to understand the Ukraine war.
Right now Russia is playing on its former Soviet era diplomatic network so it's leaning into "white neocolonialists who think they have superior values exploit brown people because of theft and racism." But they're also simultaneously playing the newer, libertarian narrative of a progressive managerial elite which has hijacked the Western bureaucracy. It's sort of insane how they do this. Like how they exalt Orthodox religion but also insist Stalin did nothing wrong, which not even the post-Stalin USSR believed.
The anti-neocolonialist narrative says that rich whites want to steal resources from poor browns. This is factually what's happening, but the tragic irony is that many third world countries probably couldn't develop or benefit from these resources without first world help. So, there's both an argument against neo-colonialism, but also an argument that it's not like this big scam so much as a natural consequence. What it boils down to for me is where war, jackal economics or espionage is used. That's clearly wrong, and I think a lot of poor countries would be doing a lot better without these interventions, although I don't think they'd be rich and developed.
Well, the West actually is anti-neocolonialist too. Globalists want smart cities, AI economy, UBI, CBDC. They want rural white Americans to be the same level of poor as rural Africans, and for the gains of exploiting natural resources to be concentrated among a global elite, which although unfair, is not exclusive to borders. The geopolitical unfairness of neocolonialism will be addressed by Globalism. And its elite will be very small compared to the global proletariat they intend to have.
This is all very ironic since the globalist machine is playing the Euro-chauvinism card to appeal to Euro elites, and also the American exceptionalism card to appeal to American nationalists. They're playing whatever cards they have, like Russia.
So this is all I know: the West is lying to some of its lesser elites by paying lip service to their values. Russia is playing its old USSR geopolitics card while also playing a trad Orthodox card, while also playing an anti-globalist card.
I KNOW that the West is globalist, the leadership that is. So NATO must lose, because the globalists will certainly win if NATO wins. However, I fear the other side might also be globalists and the whole conflict is an anti-white, anti-Western charade meant to displace the old Euro elites and American nationalists.
That's the irony. Globalists control the West, but have to constantly deal with these older elite factions, so they could be using the war as a purge in a way.
It's hard to explain why the globalist-American leadership needed this conflict so bad. Probably it's all a shitshow gone wrong. This is where my explanation of how conspiracies function comes into play.
Neocons thought the would reinvigorate interest in the military but it hasn't. Like a new patriotism and interest in military power and funding.
Ukrainian Jews might have thought they could purge the Slavs and make a second Jewish homeland but that's probably off the table due to the failed counter offensive.
Russia's hopes of exercising their historical and cultural hegemony to settle the conflict have failed, when Ukrainian deep state operatives assured them they were still on the same old team.
Stupid nationalists who are somehow blind to the globalists and think the American economy is "doing great" probably thought this could be a knockout blow to Russia's meddling in certain geostrategic resource deals that affected American hegemony over Europe. This is a legacy of the British "can't let Europe become a world power" prerogative. The kind of dumb monkey legacy deep state geopolitical prerogatives that these idiots cling to while ignoring the other players around them.
So there are members of the British and American diplomatic-military-intelligence communities who are seemingly oblivious to what globalism is, or the imminent collapse of the Anglo-American financial hegemony. They actually believe the financial journalism. They are playing out a specific strategy from their class or clique or culture's history which is about keeping Europe down. So they are acting from that vantage and are acting as a conspiracy.
There are Euro elites acting from the vantage of actual vestigial colonialist attitudes where they actually think that Europe of all places is a bastion of Western values. While this class is completely morally degenerate, what they really mean is there is a class of elites in Europe that actually thinks the whole world outside of white Europe are actually just dumb monkeys. Not metaphorical. They are committed to all this, as a conspiracy that exercises influence as a conspiracy, because of this idiotic, low-information attitude.
Then there's the globalists who have all kinds of plans, and have even got Russia and China and India to adopt some of their financial technologies in preparation for their Great Reset. And this is done because of their massive influence over global business. As a conspiracy. And yet, while massively influential, they don't outright control Russia or China and their plants are constantly falling short. I'd say the globalists are trying to act as a conventional "illuminati" style conspiracy.
But the point is what I said in the beginning. Even these powerful, highly competent cliques have huge blind spots and huge power gaps because humans are in fact highly incompetent in large numbers.
I get a clique trying very hard to influence things and just falling short of being able to do it, but what boggles my mind is that a lot of these conspiracies who KNOW they are conspiracies who KNOW the world is a stage for the common sheep and KNOW the basic nature of deep state and intelligence games that are played. Even these people will not see past their own biases or egos, and fail to see lies in front of their own faces.
Because conspiracy is natural to humans. We do it naturally, so we engage in illicit collusion and cliquishness, but we don't necessarily see or realize where it's happening outside of our brain's 150 person social perception. Which to me is the oddest thing.

Ok, so I need help.
My husband and I are introverted. We live out of town without nearby neighbors. I work but he stays home. We just moved here 2 years ago. I don't work with anyone with kids. My kids go to an online charter school and they love it. There's a lot of reasons we do that - mainly that the schools here are horrible, unsafe and the only private one is a catholic school with quite the history.
We get them out a lot! They're in piano, community ed sports in the summer, summer camps, etc. We go to the library all the time and the parks.
They make friends quick at the park, camp, sports or wherever they are and I sometimes can get parents numbers but nothing ever pans out. I go WAY outside my comfort zone and try to text parents to plan meetups but it's either only me planning it or they just don't have availibility to meet up.
How do I find/help my kids make friends outside of school? Parents seem so uninterested and I feel horrible that they don't have friends to hang out with.

My (26F) partner's (22F) best friend doesn't like me. We will call the friend P. They've been friends for years with a break in between (due to disagreements). When I started dating my partner, she wasn't friends with P. A few months into our relationship, she rekindled her friendship with P.
Our relationship was rocky initially with heated arguments and constant disagreements. We've since worked hard on our communication and relationship, making significant improvements. We're now happy and plan to move in together at the end of the summer.
Despite our progress, P still holds a grudge against me. Initially, she preferred hanging out with my partner alone, which I understood. I made efforts to get to know P better, including one-on-one conversations and texting her pictures of my partner's cat to make things more personable. She didn't reciprocate; conversations were cut short, and texts went unanswered. I accepted this because of my partner's value in their friendship.
The situation worsened when P invited my partner to a party but enforced a "no plus one policy." This hurt because I had been trying to befriend her. My partner chose not to attend and confronted her. We later discovered P lied about the policy, simply not wanting me there. My partner then distanced herself from P, which I appreciated.
Now, my partner wants to rekindle her friendship with P. I expressed my feelings of disrespect from past events, but my partner insisted I "figure it out" because she values their friendship. She also expects me to be okay with P visiting when we live together, which upset me. This led to a fight where I accused my partner of not respecting my feelings, and she accused me of being controlling.
P is willing to apologize and have a conversation with me, but I still want nothing to do with her. My partner thinks I'm wrong for making her choose between us, but I feel I'm standing up for myself. AITAH?

I’m planning of buying a golf diesel ~7 to 10k which it will most likely have the 2.0 engine and wondering is the 2.0 tdi good because i hear nothing but good about the 1.9 tdi

Excuse if this is a little messy. I hardly use reddit, and this entire situation is stressing me out to the point of shakiness and illness. On that not, onto the story.
So, for a bit of context, I am a very, very new adult. I just graduated high school, and I've never had the best relationship with my family besides my mom and brother. I was still very distant from my mom because of some slight neglect in the past. I don't blame her for it because she's a single mom and was working a very hard job.
Extra context, my mom had also been planning a California trip. She had changed the plans every other day. Me and my fiance couldn't keep up with it, especially because he had a work venture there.
The past few months, I had been going out with my boyfriend, now fiance ( we'll call Ax ). My mom had been pretty hard on me because of this. Saying how, "I'm not home enough," and, "I need to help with (this this and this)." So, I was already getting a little fed up. I just wanted an escape from the house which is honestly not a very healthy living space due to my fairly slobbish family. Everytime I would go home she would bombard me with stuff, which I never had to do before, so it made me want out more.
I'm just going to summarize the build up by saying, there were quite a few arguments and she never seemed to listen to me. I also have a super hard time communicating my feelings and confrontation so participating in an argument is a big deal.
Now we get to the big night. The last thing we "talked" about was the California trip and how Ax's parents won't let him go if we stay at her friend's house. She got upset and stormed off. Me and Ax were upset so we went to his birth mom's ( we'll call her Cat ) house to take a break. It didn't really help. I had gotten fed up with all of the arguing and bitterness from my mom. All of the snide comments to Ax. I texted her that I was moving out and wasn't going on the California trip. ( I was moving into Cat's house. )
Now should I have texted her? Probably not, but texting helps me form my thoughts into words. I express more clearly through text, and shut down on the phone and especially in person.
She calls and I freak out and hand the phone to Ax. Mistake number 2. A bit about Ax, he is very very protective of me, especially with some of the stuff I've told him about my family and my dad. He doesn't want me to go through the same thing again. He's also a big jokester but is autistic so he doesn't really get when not to do some of his joking tones and words. They also come off as very disrespectful sometimes and he was kind of tired of her. So my mom is angry.
She tells me to come home within 5 minutes. I very shaky get in the car and we head there. We get there and she takes the keys to the car and my phone. Tells me to come inside and talk alone. Now, I get where she's coming from, but I HATE feeling cornered. I need someone else there by my side or I just shut down. It socks and makes things a lot harder with this kind of stuff. Now the rest is a but of a blur but she gets aggressive. No physical violence, but she does get in my face. I back up and she starts acussing me of telling people I'm violent though I haven't. It blurs again and suddenly I'm packing my things and leaving. My brother (15) by my side sad to see me leave this way.
The night goes by and I hear nothing from her. The next day she texts. I don't remember many of the texts, but I do remember being stressed out and not replying to things often. I tell her I need some time.
Few days go by with few texts I answer and a couple calls I don't. Then we get to church just a few days after the big night and an argument over text starts. She acusses Ax of lying, stealing, and vandalizing her car. The "lying" was a joke he made about his origins that I took seriously at first, I am a very slow person, that he had not realized I took seriously until very very later on. On the stealing, he had not stolen from some of the places acussed, but we did have a separate incident that was true. However, he's done his best to make it up and has not done anything like it since. He got punished by me and his parents. She still thinks he should've gotten worse. He's especially tried to make it up to my mom because he had lost her full trust and she was very obvious about it and still hasn't forgiven him to this day. The vandalizing was him working on the car, but not fixing it fully, because, we'll, she took the car before he could.
I talked about getting my legal documents, the entire point I was texting her in the first place, she brought up Ax herself. I misunderstood her and thought she was wanting to keep them from me so threatened legal action. I won't go deep into this because I'm not a lawyer, but ultimately it was more a threat to get my stuff. She said that I could get my stuff from the garage. Remember when I told you that my family was slobish? Yeah, I have no clue where these documents are and the garage is stacked to the sealing so it's going to take me a bit. I don't want to, but it's the only way to get my documents.
I completely give up at this point. I already said I needed a bit of time, but she continued to text. When I didn't answer email me a mental health line. The only times I would talk to her was to get my stuff. She started making facebook posts warning about toxic relationships, and how losing loved ones without making peace is terrible. This continues for a bit then stopped a couple days ago. The last thing I got, just a few hours ago, was an email. I will be quoting it word for word but changing names blah blah, you know how privacy works.
"Hi, [deadname]! I hope everything is going well for you.
I just wanted to take some time to explain some things. I wanted to tell you these things in person because it really does matter. Reading something is far different from hearing how someone says it. Arguments and misunderstandings should always be fixed in person.
First and foremost, I love you. I would do anything within my power for you. I have always been there for you and I want to continue being there. It breaks my heart that you don't want anything to do with me. I've tried to make you feel loved and supported. I've been active in your interests and activities. I even played Minecraft for you... (Haha)
I wanted to talk to you privately because we will never be able to fix things between us if someone else is involved. And honestly, it's no one else's business. I've never physically or intentionally hurt you so there is no reason to be scared to spend time with me.
What I have tried to tell you through text, is that I did not blow up because you wanted to move out. My response was that we would talk when you got home. That was not blowing up and this is why it is important to communicate in person rather than via text. I wanted to know your plans and see if I could help or add some suggestions that might help. I blew up because of the disrespect. I was being treated like I was nothing and like I've done nothing for you. I tried to explain that I wasn't mad about you wanting to move out. I'm not sure why you thought I would be since we've been talking about it for 6 months.
I apologize to you for how I handled my thoughts and feelings about [Ax]. It shouldn't have been handled that way. I'm not mad that either of you made mistakes. I was mad at the lack of taking ownership of said mistakes. I was mad that I was lied to again when I called out those mistakes.
I just want us to work through this. I love you. I will always love you. I want to help you if and when I can. I always want to be a part of your life. I am hurt that you can so easily throw away our relationship because of one argument. I am hurt that you're acting like I've done something for you to be afraid of me.
My door is always open and I'm always just a phone call away.
Love, Mom"
It makes me feel like I'm in the wrong and I'm actually unsure if I'm being to harsh on her. AITH?
TLDR; I move in with my fiancé. Arguments with mom as she acusses us of things we didn't do besides one thing. Im tired and stressed so go almost no contact. I get an email from her making me rethink my position on the matter.
Edit 1 and 2: Updates to layout of the post.

I made a lot of mistakes in the past so I know that no one is to blame but me. I take full responsibility and I’m ready to face the consequences. Long story short, at the age of 28, I decided to turn my life around and start from scratch. That’s when I had my first job ever. I’m 34 now.
I now make exactly $3960/month after taxes. My rent is $1700/month including all utilities and wifi. I don’t have any crazy or unusual expenses. Depending on the month, I can save up $500-$1000 monthly. I have $5000 in my TFSA, and $8000 in my saving account as an emergency fund. That’s it. I have nothing else in the world besides this. With that being said, I think I’m extremely lucky to say that I don’t have any debt. I’m also not saving for anything in particular. I’m single, not planning to have children or buy a car. Will never be able to buy a house either so I accepted the fact that I’m gonna rent for the rest of my life.
I’m kinda lost. My financial knowledge isn’t that great. Will I ever be able to retire? I know starting so late in life is 100% my fault, but does that mean that I should accept the fact that I’ll work until the day I die? Is this my life now? Am I living just to work and save up money? Is my situation fixable? If so, where to start? I know the first step is to find another job that pays more. I just started this job a few months ago and it is $20,000/year more than the previous job. I’ll try to find another job after a while. Should I add more to my emergency fund or should I start doing something else?
TYIA

Are you looking for a leadership position? Do you like to be involved in STEM outreach or robotics-related hardware/software*? Then, we're looking for you!*
SHARK! Robotics is looking for ambitious individuals ages 13-18 to be a part of our team. REQUIREMENTS AND MORE INFORMATION BELOW!
Who is SHARK! Robotics? SHARK! Robotics is a community robotics team based in Plano, Texas. We participate in FIRST Tech Challenge which challenges teams of 2-15 to program and design a robot to a predetermined game. Additionally, teams are expected to complete STEM-related community outreach. We have qualified to Regionals every year with having been a State Alternate in 2023. We can provide a collaborate platform to nurture STEM and business-aspiring leaders.
What kind of leadership positions do we have available? *Please remember that no position is paid. These positions serve as leadership opportunities for young individuals.* We have hardware, software, and business/community outreach positions available!
Hardware Positions:

• Designer & Builder - Design original robots using Computer-Aided Design (CAD) softwares such as OnShape. Build these robots using industry-level materials.

Software Positions:

• Programmer - Program our robots using FTC Java, machine learning algorithms, and convolutional neural networks (CNN).

Outreach Positions:

• Event Planner - Plan STEM-related outreach events at both the local and international level.
• Graphic Designer & Social Media Manager - Manage our social media and photography. Design aesthetic flyers and posts.
• Corporate Sponsorship and Partnership Advisor - Oversee and direct our sponsorship strategy.

For more information, please visit this document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AAvKozdsj22LOIRK6cAopZyvWTQDfHsJBzlxEPynvXI/edit?usp=sharing
REQUIREMENTS! - MUST BE MET

1. Applicants must be based in the DFW area.
2. Applicants must be at least in the seventh grade.
3. Applicants MUST fill out the official application form before May 31st: https://forms.gle/Ak3atEYmehcM1gV57

Applicants should expect to dedicate at least two hours to SHARK! Robotics each week and attend weekly meetings. For more information, please email [ftcsharkrobotics@gmail.com](mailto:ftcsharkrobotics@gmail.com)

Demographics: * Gender: Female * race/ethnicity: African American * state: Missouri * First-gen * type of school: Large public school with ~1,600 students (no class rank) * Hooks: First-gen, Extremely Low Income, (hopefully) filing FAFSA as independent, lives in single guardian (sibling) household
Intended Major(s): * Major in Journalism * Minor in Elementary Education * (possibly minor in Spanish)
ACT/SAT/SAT II: * Not to self-deprecate but the scores are pretty bad. * ACT * 26 Composite * Math : 22 * Science : 25 * English : 28 * Reading : 30 * Will take SAT * PSAT=1210, English strengths
UW/W GPA and Rank: * GPA * 3.7 weighted , N/A unweighted
APS * World History - 5 * U.S. Gov & Poli (junior) - ? * English Lang & Comp (junior) - ? * Human Geography (next year)
Awards: * nothing really * ‘Superstar’ award (best student) from math teacher. * Cheerleading: 3rd place (in our division) in the state. * (Hopefully certificate of bi-literacy next year 🤞🏽 )
Sports * Varsity Cheer (2 years) * JV Cheer (1 year) * Varsity Girls Track & Field (1-2yrs) * Varsity Girls Wrestling (1 year)
Other Extracurriculars * Varsity Scholar Bowl (2 years) * Student Council (3 years) * Yearbook Staff (2 years) * 4 years of Spanish Courses
Leadership Roles * NHS (National Honors Society : 1-2 yrs) * Student Council Chair * Student Rep Chair (2 yrs) * Social Media Chair (1 yr) * Quill & Scroll (Journalism Honors Society) * 1-2 yrs * Black Student Honor Society (3 yrs) * Social Media Advisor (1yr) * Scholar Bowl Social Media Advisor (1yr) * (Attempting to create a Spanish club during senior year, will be the president)
Summer (educational) Programs: * ~ 10-day long educational trip to Australia during summer before junior year (through school district) * (Applying for NSIL-Y for the 2nd time this coming fall with the hopes of getting into the Korean or Indonesian summer programs) * (Fall) Yearly HBCU college fair in Virginia (attempting to apply in person to Howard & Spelman there next year). * (probably doesn't count) UCA Cheer camp over the summer (2 yrs)
Essays: N/A (honors student yet I suck at writing about myself)
Recommendation Letters: Haven’t requested them yet, but planning on… * Math Teacher :) - Have him currently, he’s a thorough writer (theater kid), chose me as his student of the year, also my scholar bowl coach. * Journalism/Yearbook Teacher - Love him, teacher for 3 years, has worked with him through yearbook camps & college visits, connections at MIZZOU. * 1 of my school’s 5 principals - Known her for 3 years, Black Honors Society & BSU sponsor (I’m in both & she’s a fellow black woman), she’s currently going to an HBCU (would be good for Howard & Spelman), will most likely go on an HBCU trip with her next spring.
Schools: * University of Hawaii, Manoa (DREAM) * Howard (HBCU DREAM!!) * Spelman College * Mizzou * NYU (extreme reach but dream reach) * UCLA (reach)
Schools (I haven't researched thoroughly): Richmond American University (London), NYU (Bueno Aires Campus), Saint Louis University (Spain Campus)
I know I'm not doing any cool/exceptionally competitive majors (like comp sci or engineering), so with college I'm more interested in the environment. Help me out! 🤍

Cover Art!
Just because you’re transported to another world, doesn’t mean you’ll escape from your pain.
Abused by her parents, thirteen-year-old Frances only wants to be safe and for her life not to hurt so much. And when she and her class are transported to the magical world of Durannon to fight the monsters invading the human kingdoms and defeat the self-titled Demon King, Frances is presented with a golden opportunity. If she succeeds, Frances will have the home she never had. If she fails, Frances will be summoned back to the home she escaped.
Yet, despite her newfound magic and friends, Frances finds that trauma is not so easily lost. She is dogged by her abuse and its physical and invisible scars. Not only does she have to learn magic, she has to survive the nightmares of her past, and wrestle with her feelings of doubt and self-loathing.
If she can heal from her trauma, though, she might be able to defeat the Demon King and maybe, just maybe, she can find a home for herself.
[The Beginning] [<=Chapter 217] [Chapter Index and Blurb] [Chapter 219 June 11 or see the next chapter now on Patreon]
The Fractured Song Index
Discord Channel Just let me know when you arrive in the server that you’re a Patreon so you can access your special channel.
***
Ginger makes an offer to Lakadara. The rest of Telkandra's remaining brood discuss the fate of their allies.
“Not good?” Sara asked as Helias strode into the tent and made his way straight to the bottle of wine.
“Not good,” Helias muttered.
Sara nodded woodenly. “Privacy spell?
The tauroll waved his sheathed Fangroar and after pouring himself and his wife a drink, sat down. “We’re safe. Oh Galena, this is really not good.”
“How dead are we?” Sara asked, her tone light.
“We’re not dead. We’re just in a lot of danger and even if we somehow force the humans to retreat, we’ve lost this war,” said Helias.
“Explain.”
Helias drank deep, noting that Sara was also drinking deep as well. “Thorgoth is going after the humans. That part of the plan is as good as it gets. We’ll be attacking them, and using the dragons, whilst our forces hold off Titania. Our objectives are also well-chosen.” Helias buried his head into his hands and let out a deep groan. “But winning this doesn’t change anything.”
“If we can defeat the humans, why won’t that change anything?” Sara bit her lip. “Unless it renders us unable to beat Titania?”
“Yes. Even on the chance we beat the humans we won’t be able to invade them, we won’t be able to defeat Titania. We’d be at a stalemate and both armies would have to withdraw.” His hands dropping to the table, Helias stared at his wife. “And we don’t have any reserves left. We’re going to lose the war, even if Thorgoth lives.”
“If we defeat the humans—”
The general shook his head. “By defeat, I mean we’ll hurt them but we can’t prevent them from withdrawing. We might kill a few of their leaders, their important mages and Otherworlders, but they will still have soldiers. After coming so close, they won’t surrender. They’ll keep attacking until they kill enough of Thorgoth and Berengaria’s supporters that nobody will help them, or until both of them die.”
“Alright so, what do we do?” Sara asked. Helias looked at his wife, noting how still she sat. Her wings were clamped tight to her back and her lips were drawn tight.
“Sara, I don’t have good answers.”
Sara steepled her trembling fingers as best she could. “They’re going to be better than mine. I don’t know anything about war.”
“Right. Well, you need to surrender to the humans if you are captured. Present yourself as a non-combatant. Cry, scream, anything to declare that you don’t mean any harm,” Helias said.
“Why not Titania?” Sara asked.
“She has every incentive to kill you off and far less compunction about doing so. Killing our family off would allow her to have more land to give away to her loyalists. In contrast, the humans have Erlenberg troops fighting with them along with those of the Lightning Battalion. They’re going to be far more friendly to Alavari civilians,” Helias said.
Soft hands, grabbed onto Helias’s waist with a surprisingly firm grip. “What about you? I can get away, but how are you going to survive this?”
“I don’t know. I—”
“Don’t you dare! Our daughter needs her father and I need my husband!”
The general stared at his wife. “Sara, I can’t surrender to the humans if we win. They want me dead.”
Sara refilled Helias’s glass. “Then you need to help Thorgoth defeat them.”
“Then what? We’re never winning this war. Thorgoth is going to be invaded and—”
Cutting him off with the clink of her goblet against the table, Sara hissed, “And what? Why think that far? We can plan for that after this battle, so long as you are still here and with me.”
Letting out a breath Helias pushed his hair back and allowed himself a sigh. Reaching across the table, he took his wife’s hand.
“Sara, you’re right, but you know you can escape this if Thorgoth is defeated.”
The harorc placed her other hand on top of his. “We’re partners. I need you. We need you. So promise me that you’ll do your damndest to live.”
Helias closed his eyes and nodded. “I promise. First things first, before we turn in we need to talk to the dragons.”
***
Fennokra stalked slowly toward the camp. This wasn’t the collapsed side-passage where she and Yolandra had some privacy. This was the main camp where Thorgoth and their army were preparing for what had to be the final battle.
It was also where her siblings were swallowing the last of what seemed to be a side of salted pork.
“Velkandra, Makentra, we need to talk.”
Their second-eldest sister licked her lips, her neck rising to Fennokra’s level. “I am assuming you mean in private?”
“Of course.” Fennokra could see Velkandra’s haunches tensing to raise herself higher. Her sister was trying to look down on her. Allowing her head to dip, she held her height.
“Alright.” Velkandra flicked her tail and Makentra, licking his lips, followed them.
Since their enemies had set up their siege camp behind them, the Alavari camp had been reduced in size. Still, there was the alcove of the collapsed tunnel. Whilst couriers and soldiers crossed across this natural cavern to the defenses on the other side, they kept a good distance away.
Yolandra was waiting for them, scratching something into the cave wall. Fennokra let out a rumble in her throat and her sister turned from the wall suddenly, shaking her head.
“Velkandra, Mankentra—”
Velkandra puffed a cloud of smoke out. “What’s this all about?” she hissed, lips drawn back to show teeth.
Fennokra took a step away from her sister to take Yolandra’s side, her eyes narrowed. “Are you joking? Do you not think we should at least discuss what is going on?”
“And what would be the point? It is a bit late to be having this discussion. The course of the winds have been chosen,” said Velkandra.
Yolandra rose to her full height on her four legs, but even so she was still shorter than the silent Makendra. “The winds can be fickle, Velkandra, and where we are is proof.”
Velkandra pursed her lips, eyes for the first time, looking toward the ground. “The survival of our family is tied to that of Thorgoth. To abandon him would be death by the hand of the Stormcaller and her allies or by his hand.”
“Besides, if we were to abandon Thorgoth’s cause, that would be dishonorable. We promised to assist him,” said Makendra.
Fennokra blinked at her brother’s tone. It was quiet and yet there was a touch of a deep growl to his voice. His claws were ever so slightly digging into the ground.
“We are dragons. We can think and make decisions for ourselves. We are allowed to consider other options, are we not?” Fennokra asked.
Velkandra’s tail flicked violently side to side as her neck turned to her younger sibling. “Then why does it sound as if you wish to follow in the wingbeats of our elder sister?”
“Who we killed. I was there. I lost a claw striking her down!” Fennokra raised one clawed hand, flexing the remaining digits.
“On that, why did we have to kill Lakadara?”
All golden eyes fixed on Yolandra, who held the gaze of her siblings with a contemptuous scowl.
“Lakadara betrayed us,” said Velkandra, almost growling.
“I’ve been thinking over what happened. Lakadara said nothing about betraying our mother. She merely was questioning if Thorgoth was trustworthy,” Yolandra said.
A scowl flaring his nostrils, Makentra growled. “He fed us, trained us in how the humans and their allies fought. Hid us from their eyes—”
“And now Caldra is dead!” Yolandra exclaimed.
“Which is why we must kill the Stormcaller and her friends! So we can avenge him and our mother!” Velkandra almost completely unfurled her wings. Only the tips slapping the stone forced her to pull them back.
“Then what?” Yolandra asked.
Velkandra frowned. “Then what? We’d have our revenge—”
Yolandra’s tail cracked against the ground. “Then what? You all must have heard of what Thorgoth is capable of. What he’s done to others.”
Makentra rolled his eyes. “Sara’s story is just a story. She might have been just trying to turn you.”
“She was honest and she is not the only tale I’ve heard. You must have heard rumors of what Thorgoth did to his own son, Teutobal,” said Fennokra.
“Propaganda,” Velkandra hissed through her gritted teeth, while smoke wafted through the gaps. “In any case, we have no other option. We fight or we die.”
Fennokra, her claws grinding against the floor, had had enough.
“Velkandra, Makentra, have you ever considered that Thorgoth is perhaps using us for his own goals? We have not even considered what he might do to us after we’ve destroyed the humans and their allies. How do we know the Stormcaller and her allies might treat us better? Besides in the first place, she never intended to kill our mother—”
Fennokra blinked. She was flying backwards, something hard was bearing her into the wall. Dizzy as if struck by one of the Stormcaller’s spells, she realized that the force was the foreclaws of her elder sister. Mad rage lit those golden eyes that were the exact same shade as hers. Horrified, Fennokra tried to throw Velkandra off, but her sister was larger and heavier than her.
“Say that again. I dare you to say that again—ARGH!”
Velkandra rolled off, forced off of Fennokra by the Yolandra shoving into her side. As the elder dragon recovered, the smallest of Telkandra’s brood hissed, “It’s the truth! You are a fool to deny it!”
An ugly sneer on her lips, wings quivering with fury, Velkandra snorted. “The truth? Oh right so we are speaking the truth then. Well here’s the truth. Our kind is doomed!”
Makentra blinked. “Sister?”
“Of course Thorgoth is going to get rid of us or try to after this campaign. He has to, but right now he needs us and that’s what we need to rely on until we gain more strength. Of course, whether he wins or the Stormcaller’s allies win, how can we expect to survive in a world dominated by these lesser species hm? How could they ever not see us as a threat?”
Velkandra stalked toward the wide-eyed Fennokra and Yoandra. Her head turned side to side as she fixed her sisters with wild wide eyes.
“Well? Tell me Fennokra. Speak the truth Yolandra. Or are you both too afraid to admit that our kind are doomed and the only thing is to live as long as we can and hopefully avenge those that hurt us as we do so.”
“You’d have us fly to our deaths?” Makentra asked.
The stammering voice brought Velkandra around. Extending a wing, she touched its tip to her brother’s. “I would at least have us fly together.”
Fennokra shook her head. “We’d knowingly fly with a murderer of children and someone who would want to kill us after we’ve stopped being helpful to him.”
“And we have no other options,” said Makentra. Letting out a breath, he rose to his claws and walked away. “I’ll see you tomorrow, sisters.”
Velkandra, without another word, turned for the exit. “You know it’s true, Fennokra, Yolandra.”
Fennokra closed her eyes. Yolandra, though, narrowed hers. “Doesn’t change that Lakadra’s blood is on our claws.”
Velkandra flinched and left. She strode away so quickly she nearly stepped on Helias and Sara as they came to the cave. She gave the pair no acknowledgement other than a growl.
“See you tomorrow, General,” said Makentra, his tone curt. “We will talk to King Thorgoth ourselves for the plan’s details.”
“Of course,” said Helias. He bowed as the pair left before turning to Yolandra and Fennokra. “I believe we missed something important?”
“Be honest, General Helias. Even if we succeed tomorrow, your king has no use for us after we help him kill the Stormcaller, am I correct?” Fennokra asked.
Sara and Helias didn’t say anything. Their slight move to stand closer so they could hold hands was enough.
“I thought so,” said Fennokra. She let out a sigh and glanced at Yolandra, who nodded. “We will be on the battlefield tomorrow. Where are we going?”
“You’re going with me. We’re attacking the forces sallying from Kairon-Aoun. The plan is that you dragons breathe flame over their army to soften them before we attack.
“Understood. Any questions Fennokra?” Yolandra asked.
Fennokra shook her head. What could be asked anyway?”
Yolandra flashed the pair a joyless smile. “For what it is worth, you two have been good caretakers to us. Even if it was to preserve your own lives.”
Helias didn’t bow. Instead he extended a hand. Yolandra stared at him, but Fennokra, recognizing the gesture, extended a single talon.
“May you always be able to see the sun.” At the dragon’s blink, Helias smiled. “It’s an Alavari saying. It may come from when we used to be enslaved by the Goblin Empire. It means good luck.”
Yolandra nodded and Fennokra found herself smiling.
“Our mother taught us a saying as well. May you never fly alone. I wish that for you both,” said Fennokra.
“Thank you,” said Sara in a quiet voice. She curtsied and the two dragons dipped their heads. They watched Helias and Sara leave with placid smiles.
Then, when nobody was looking, they turned from the entrance to hide their bulks as best they could. The gloomy light of the alcove their only curtain of privacy.
***
Frances slowed slightly as they approached Lakadara’s enclosure. However, Ginger did not slow down.
“Hold on, Ginger, what’s the plan?” Frances asked.
Adjusting her new crown mid-stride, Ginger said, “I’ll show you. I’m certain it’ll work, though.”
Frances’ eyebrows rose. “Is that crown getting to your head already?”
The new Queen of Erisdale flashed a slightly nervous grin over her shoulder. “Yes actually, but I think that’s a good thing in some way. Don’t you?”
Frances found herself nodding. It was strange to see her friend even more confident than usual and so comfortable in the regal crown that she wore atop of a standard Lightning Battalion light blue uniform. Yet she rather enjoyed the new gait that Ginger had.
“I do.” Frances smirked. “Your Majesty.”
Ginger rolled her eyes. “Fuck you.”
Giggling, Frances stopped herself as they drew even closer to Lakadara. The dragon was drawing herself up, placing her massive foreclaws over each other.
“Lakadara. I am Ginger, the new Queen of Erisdale. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”
The dragon coughed, blowing out a puff of smoke. “Greetings Ginger, Queen of Erisdale. I’m sorry for your predecessor’s demise.” Lakadara’s golden eyes narrowed. “Why are you here?”
Ginger dipped her head. “Thank you and as to why I’m here. I have a proposition. If you accept it, I will grant you and your kin, the domain of the Erisdalian mountains marked by the Kwent River Valley, Freeburg and Athelda-Aoun as your home in perpetuity, so long as you do not attack humans unless in self-defense.”
“I am unfamiliar with human geography. From the Stormcaller’s expression, I assume that is a lot.”
Frances swallowed and closed her mouth, but she didn’t question her friend. Ginger, still smiling slyly, nudged her. “It is. Frances, can you lend me a hand here?”
Nodding, Frances closed her eyes and imagined a rough map of Erisdale and its territories. With a wave of Ivy’s Sting she created an image of Erisdale, highlighting in red the expanse of the mountains that bordered Alavaria and Erisdale. The area that Ginger had described sketched a rough red triangle between the three points. It was a fairly sizeable area with a low and Alavari human population.
“My husband is in negotiations with Queen Titania and I’ll have to talk to Frances and Prince Timur, but we are quite certain that Athelda-Aoun will also be included in this area,” Ginger said.
Lakadara’s golden eyes were flickering as she examined the land. Suddenly, she turned, long neck arching toward the Erisdalian Queen. “And what must I do? Fight on your kingdom’s behalf?”
Ginger shook her head. “No.”
“No?”
“Nope. If you would like to do so we can renegotiate the agreement, but my husband and I fully intend to grant you this land.”
The dragon’s tail lifted up as her eyes narrowed. “Explain yourself and the favor you seek. This is far too generous.”
“Let me explain myself first. If what I’m told by my experts is correct, you can lay eggs by yourself without a mate, but it takes time right? A few decades?”
“Yes. Still, that doesn’t explain—”
“Here me out. This war is going to end. We may lose, but if we win, banishing you to the north is making you Queen Titania’s problem and she’ll have more than enough problems to deal with. You might just end up coming south again and we know how that ended. I’d prefer to avoid that so that means we need to make an agreement. You need a new home and I need peace for Erisdale. If the kingdom has to give up some poor agricultural land then I’m all for it.”
The dragon nodded. “I see, but why so much land? Why not just give me a cave? Or request my service as Thorgoth did?”
“And how will you eat? Hunt? Where will your grown children go? I’m making an agreement that will last for decades, not just a few years. As for service? I was tempted, but you wouldn’t agree to that anyway and why should you? We haven’t given you any reason to agree.” Ginger gave Frances a wave to dispel the map. “Maybe in the future we can work something out, especially if the dragon population increases. Your service in return for more food, but again, I want to start us off on the right path, not the left path.”
“Left path?” Lakadara asked.
“Erisdalian expression. It means the wrong path,” Frances said helpfully.
Lakadara nodded slowly. “You still ask for a boon, though.”
Ginger nodded. “Yes. I want you to speak to your siblings. Before the upcoming battle starts, tell them of my deal with you. So long as they choose to accept that deal and defect, then I will have it so our forces will not hurt them. After that, you may leave. I will not request you to fight with us.”
“You want me to show myself to Thorgoth? To the siblings that tried to kill me?” Lakadara asked, mouth agape.
Ginger stepped closer to the dragon, who lifted her head away from the queen. “I want you to save your siblings. I want you to save yourself from becoming the last purple dragon in existence. I would rather you not be alone, stewing in hatred for my kingdom and our allies who brought down your family, even if we had just cause. I want peace. What do you want?”
“How do I know I can trust you?” The dragon suddenly grimaced. “Ah, right, you want a lasting peace. You have every reason to want peace.”
Ginger, arms crossed tapped her foot. Frances could see how stiff her friend was, but the action was also comforting. That her magic-less friend had such control over the situation, despite being faced with the dragon was rather…badass.
Letting out a puff of smoke that slowly drifted into the cavern, the dragon pondered the queen’s proposal. Frances held her breath and yet the dragon remained silent, only her tail moving from side to side.
Ginger waited, still content to wait for the dragon’s answer. Frances couldn’t. The tension coiled in her chest, waiting to explode.
“Lakadara, what do you want for your future?” Frances asked.
The dragon glanced at Frances, golden eyes wide. She turned back to Ginger, who continued to stand tall, awaiting Lakadara’s answer patiently.
“I accept your offer, and your promise for the future,” said Lakadara, dipping her head.
“We are glad that you wish the same as we do,” said Ginger. She extended her hand and Lakadara, took her claw and put the tip of it on the queen’s palm.
*Author’s Note: Queenly Ginger was really neat to write 😀 *

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I just read a post about how Eunchae should be protected more, and I could not agree more in that the vitriol towards her has gotten way out of hand.
In that post, I noticed that people kinda brushed passed the controversy of her teasing high school students as a non-issue (which, don't get me wrong, it definitely is), but I'd like to provide some cultural context because it was this specific moment that garnered the most hate for her among Korean kpop stans. Coachella doesn't even come close.
I want to explain why her comments generated so much outrage, and in particular, how her words were taken out of context and purposely made to sound so much worse.
The Situation (and the context)
On a 3/17 Weverse ~11min, Eunchae made a bit of a joke where poked fun at students having to get up early, saying that "That must be hard~ I had to do that too at one point too~~" and the conversation then continues onward with the other members about how difficult it was to get up that early during their student days.
This was combined with another live on 9/07 ~27min (though the context starts a few minutes prior) with Kkura. In it, the two of the discuss conversations with their non-celebrity friends. Boomer Kkura tends to just talk or text, which surprises Eunchae, since she almost always prefers to facetime instead (don't worry Kkura, same). Kkura mentions that the first thing she asks her friends are, "you haven't gotten married yet right?" whereas Eunchae says that her friends have been recently talking about becoming high school seniors. That topic closes with Eunchae talking about a recent conversation she had video call she had with her close friend, who complained that she had to get up early, upon which Eunchae teased her and says, "I start at 11 tomorrow! Hella lucky~"
Maybe a bit of a crass joke in the first clip, but nothing too major, right?
The Attack (and the twisting of facts)
This is where the usual suspects come in: Twitter.
Disclaimer: I'm going to be completely honest here. I don't follow Pann or FMKorea or all the other niche online communities except since the HYBE/MHJ situatio, but while researching this topic, I searched Eunchae's name on both sites to see how the situation unfolded (I can't really search theqoo very well because that site has the worst user-friendliness I've ever seen).
The situation blew up on March 15th (as far back as I can find), with this Twitter post blowing up and a Pann post (now deleted, restored w/ Wayback).
(Note, regarding the deleted Pann post, it was referenced in this YouTube video by one of those trash drama Youtubers and had 150k+ views at the time of their video)
There were also some pretty weird posts on Pann around this time, nitpicking her response in an EASY interview to say she thinks LSF was successful and spreading twitter posts of private documents to prove that she didn't get accepted to Hanlim (I will not be sharing this one.) Many comments at that point on Pann are still quite sympathetic to Eunchae, with the top comments defending her and telling the twitter bitches to go away (although the doxxing post still got 600+ upvotes and 300k+ views)
After this though, the narrative began to change, combining the clips above and turning it from Eunchae teasing students, to Eunchae teasing High School Seniors. And things began to take a huge shift.
After this began to spread, March 23rd, comments started to become more negative (example posts on March 17th and March 23rd).
Alright, I can hear you saying, students, high school students, so what?
Korean Seniors and the Suneung
If you're at all familiar with Korean culture, you know where I'm going with this.
The Suneung is the Korean equivalent of the American SAT, except it is so much more than that. If I had to explain it, the Suneung is your entire life. Imagine your college application, except screw your class grades, your extracurriculars, your letters of rec, your essay. The only thing that really matters is your SAT score.
It is a huge deal. The entire nation BBC article falls silent on the day of the Suneung. Stores close, construction stops, traffic is redirected, the stock market opens late. On the day of the Suneung, there are no flights.
It happens 1 time a year. Just once. If you miss it or get a bad grade, you repeat a year just to get a chance to retake it.
And high school seniors carry all of that stress. They are studying for a test that is the culmination of their entire education and determines their entire future. There are many, many stories of students falling into deep depression, even after doing well on the Suneung, because studying for that test consumed them to the point that they don't know what to do after it's over. These students study in excess of 15 hours a day, from 7am to 10pm.
You do not touch high school seniors, ever. There is a saying that even parents tiptoe around their kids once the test date nears.
Also, keep in mind that the primary demographic for kpop are young adults. People that are in school, preparing for this test that they will eventually have to overcome. Some of those people might be repeating a year (or two or three or four) while studying for that test.
And so, when the narrative shifted from Eunchae teasing a close friend about having to get up early to Eunchae making fun of High School Seniors for having to get up early, things turned ugly quick.
And then Coachella happened. And then MHJ opened her big mouth. And you guys know the rest.
So that's my little story. I hope this provided some insight as to why it seems like the hate for Eunchae seemed so particularly loud on the Korean side, and how she suddenly switched from nearly universally loved to the opposite.
In conclusion, fuck Twitter yo.
P.S. Is this post worth posting on the kpopthoughts subreddit? I'm split because it provides context, but also this has kinda flown by international eyes and I don't really want to accidentally add fuel to the flame. LSF and Eunchae have it hard enough as it is.
P.P.S. Sorry mods, I noticed the other post was removed. If this post breaks the rules, feel free to remove and I'll repost it in the weekly thread or something.

Noting first that I'm posting this in a few communities because I'd really like a variety of advice, but seeing the recent complaint on here about the inclusion of mental health issues, I did my best to remove that from here.
I'm struggling so much lately as I've finished grad school and started some new jobs. It can't be argued that I'm overworked and underpaid, but I figured I'm starting out at the bottom. The work is entry level for my field, I'm working full time in a sales/marketing job within my interest area, and I'm also a teaching assistant for a community college. Both are WFH which should be nice, but I don't get out and I don't have many friends or time/money to do anything outside of work. I often work from the moment I wake till the moment I sleep.
Again, I try to look at this as a temporary step to get to the career I want, but I'm starting to question my entire plan. Was going to apply for a PhD later this year, I do love talking about my study subject a lot, but I'm terrified of the long term commitment. The original plan was to become a professor, but now I'm worried I won't like it at all if it's even remotely similar to what I do now (non stop computer work, an overwhelming amount of tasks, and advising daft and disrespectful people).
You would think I'd like WFH but staring at a computer screen all day is making me want to die and I feel so disconnected from the world. Nothing interesting happens in my life now. I stay up until 3am scrolling social media content because its the only thing I enjoy doing now. My hobbies feel like a chore or involve my computer, so I never do them.
I've thought about changing career paths, I'm 27 now, but I feel like there is literally nothing I want to do. I feel like a stupid asshole saying that because nobody truly loves working, but full time work has always sent me into a depression spiral like this. Between my ADHD and suspected autism, I get burnt out immediately if I work 40 hours or more a week. I somehow crave both uniqueness and routine. I liked being a student because I still had some free time to go out and do things. But also got extremely stressed because I had no money. I feel like maybe I'd like to be a professional dancer because I love performing and it's been my hobby since childhood, but I live nowhere near any opportunities, can't move, and I know I won't make money with it. I want to have a job that is more active/analog but there aren't many of those anymore.
This overall struggle is starting to interrupt with my work and life tasks and I'm worried it will eventually cripple me so that I can't do work at all. I've told myself I will create healthier routines with breaks but I can't manage to stick to anything and still overwork myself. I either can't start or can't stop. There are too many work and life tasks to do and I'm just so overwhelmed and don't think I'll ever catch up. I don't know what job would remove these feelings or reduce them at the very least.
I feel like even if I abandoned these jobs and changed gears, I would still hate it. I also would feel like a failure because my family doubted the necessity and ROI of my grad degree. I have thoughts about moving back abroad because life is more fun there, but there were tons of aspects to that situation that I hated too, I was even more isolated and I don't think I could find a job there I wouldn't hate either. I'm also stuck here helping my mom out here and she's just getting older. I feel trapped.
I'm sorry this post is so negative, I'm just so burnt out right now. Any advice would hopefully be helpful. thanks