Writable table cloths
Jamaica With Kids
2024.06.09 18:27 Sweet-Count2557 Jamaica With Kids
 | Jamaica With Kids Welcome to Jamaica, where we've got the perfect family adventure waiting for you! Get ready to immerse yourselves in the vibrant culture and awe-inspiring natural wonders of this tropical paradise.From crystal-clear beaches to thrilling mountain expeditions, there's something for everyone. Explore historical sites, embark on river adventures, and enjoy theme parks and attractions that will leave you in awe.With our recommendations for family-friendly accommodations, you'll create unforgettable memories. So pack your bags, kids, and get ready for the freedom to explore Jamaica like never before!Key TakeawaysJamaica offers a wide range of beaches and water activities suitable for kids, including Frenchmans Cove Beach, Seven-Mile Beach, Blue Lagoon, and Doctors Cave Beach.Families can enjoy mountain adventures in Jamaica, such as exploring the Blue Mountains, going on a Four-Wheel ATV Safari in Montego Bay, or taking a Mayfield Falls Hike.Theme parks and attractions like Kool Runnings Adventure Park, Mystic Mountain, and Dolphin Cove provide entertainment and interactive experiences for kids in Jamaica.Cultural and historical sites like the Bob Marley Museum, Rose Hall Great House, and Bob Marley Mausoleum offer educational opportunities for families to learn about Jamaican history and culture.Beaches and Water ActivitiesWhen planning a family vacation to Jamaica, one of the highlights for us is exploring the beautiful beaches and engaging in various water activities. Jamaica is known for its stunning coastline and crystal-clear waters, making it the perfect destination for beach lovers and water enthusiasts of all ages. We can't wait to discover the best snorkeling spots and try out exciting water sports activities!One of the top snorkeling spots in Jamaica is Doctors Cave Beach in Montego Bay. The beach boasts crystal-clear waters, perfect for observing colorful coral reefs and tropical fish. Snorkeling here is an incredible experience that you won't want to miss.Another must-visit beach is Seven-Mile Beach in Negril. With its picturesque scenery, coral sands, and clear blue waters, it's a paradise for both swimmers and snorkelers.If you're looking for something unique, head over to Port Antonio and visit Frenchmans Cove Beach. This beach is known for its authentic Caribbean beauty and offers a shallow estuary where kids can safely play in the water. Blue Lagoon in Port Antonio is another fantastic option. It's a stunning swimming hole suitable for all ages, surrounded by lush greenery and breathtaking views.In addition to snorkeling, Jamaica offers a wide range of water sports activities. From kayaking and paddleboarding to jet skiing and parasailing, there's something for everyone to enjoy. So get ready to make a splash and have a blast!Mountain AdventuresLet's get ready for some exciting mountain adventures in Jamaica!Did you know that Jamaica is home to the longest mountain range in Eastern Jamaica called the Blue Mountains? You can go hiking, camping, and even discover beautiful waterfalls there.And if you're up for some adrenaline-pumping fun, you can hop on a four-wheel ATV safari in Montego Bay that offers breathtaking views of the Caribbean.Plus, there's a fantastic hike to Mayfield Falls, perfect for young kids to enjoy the cascades and explore the natural beauty.Get ready for some mountain exploration in Jamaica!Longest Mountain RangeAs we explore the mountain adventures in Jamaica with kids, we can't overlook the Blue Mountains, which are the longest mountain range in Eastern Jamaica. These majestic mountains offer a plethora of exciting activities for families to enjoy.One of the highlights is hiking on the many trails that wind through the lush forests. You can explore hidden waterfalls, spot unique wildlife, and take in breathtaking views of the Caribbean Sea.The Blue Mountains also provide the perfect setting for camping under the starry sky, surrounded by nature's beauty. Whether you're an experienced hiker or just starting out, there are trails suited for every skill level.ATV Adventure With ViewsContinuing our exploration of mountain adventures in Jamaica with kids, let's embark on an ATV adventure that offers breathtaking views of the Caribbean Sea.Riding an ATV (All-Terrain Vehicle) is an exhilarating experience that allows you to explore the rugged terrain while enjoying the freedom of the open road.Before you start your ATV adventure, it's important to keep some safety tips in mind. Always wear a helmet and protective gear, follow the instructions of your guide, and stay on designated trails. Additionally, make sure to choose a reputable ATV rental company that provides well-maintained vehicles and proper safety instructions.Some popular ATV rental options in Jamaica include Chukka Adventure Tours and Jamwest Motorsports and Adventure Park.Hike to Mayfield FallsNow, we'll delve into the exhilarating experience of hiking to Mayfield Falls, a must-do adventure for families exploring the mountains of Jamaica. Mayfield Falls is a stunning natural attraction located in the parish of Westmoreland. As you hike through the lush greenery, you'll be treated to breathtaking views and the soothing sound of cascading waterfalls.To make the most of your hike, here are some helpful tips:Wear comfortable shoes and clothing suitable for hiking.Bring sunscreen, insect repellent, and plenty of water.Don't forget your camera to capture the beautiful scenery.Follow the instructions of your knowledgeable guide for a safe and enjoyable experience.At Mayfield Falls, there are plenty of activities that are perfect for kids and families. Take a look at the table below for some kid-friendly activities:ActivityDescriptionAge RangeWaterfall SwimSplash and play in the cool waters of the fallsAll agesRiver WalkExplore the river and discover hidden treasuresAll agesBamboo RaftingEnjoy a relaxing ride on a traditional bamboo raftAll agesPicnic AreaHave a family picnic amidst the natural beautyAll agesHiking to Mayfield Falls is a wonderful adventure that allows families to connect with nature and create lasting memories. So, pack your bags, put on your hiking shoes, and get ready for an unforgettable experience in the Jamaican mountains.Theme Parks and AttractionsJamaica offers an array of exciting theme parks and attractions for families with kids. From thrilling water parks to fascinating wildlife encounters, there's something for everyone to enjoy.One popular theme park is Kool Runnings Adventure Park in Negril, which is Jamaica's largest water park. It features swimming pools, water slides, and even a lazy river for a relaxing ride.Another must-visit attraction is Mystic Mountain in Ocho Rios. This rainforest adventure park offers a bobsled ride, zip-lining, and a lookout tower with breathtaking views of the Caribbean.For those who love marine life, Dolphin Cove in Ocho Rios is the perfect place to visit. Here, families can have interactive encounters with dolphins and sharks, go zip-lining, and even try kayaking.In addition to these theme parks, families can also explore the cultural and historical sites of Jamaica, such as the Bob Marley Museum in Kingston or the Rose Hall Great House in Montego Bay.With so many options to choose from, Jamaica truly is a paradise for families seeking fun and adventure.Cultural and Historical SitesNow let's explore some of the cultural and historical sites that Jamaica has to offer!One of the must-see places is the Bob Marley Museum in Kingston, where you can learn all about the life and music of the reggae legend.Another fascinating spot is the Rose Hall Great House in Montego Bay, with its eerie legends and guided tours of the historic plantation.Bob Marley Museum: Reggae Legend's HomeOur visit to the Bob Marley Museum was a captivating dive into the legacy of a reggae legend. The museum is located in Kingston, Jamaica, and it showcases the life and music of Bob Marley.As we wandered through the rooms, we learned about Bob Marley's musical legacy and his profound influence on Jamaican culture. From his iconic songs like 'One Love' and 'No Woman, No Cry' to his messages of peace and unity, Bob Marley's music resonates with people of all ages.The museum is filled with exhibits, photographs, and memorabilia that tell the story of his life and career. It was truly inspiring to see how one man's passion for music could have such a profound impact on the world.As we left the museum, we were excited to continue our exploration of Jamaica's cultural and historical sites, starting with the Rose Hall Great House.Rose Hall Great House: Historic Plantation With LegendsContinuing our exploration of Jamaica's cultural and historical sites, we delved into the intriguing legends surrounding the Rose Hall Great House. This historic plantation is known for its haunted legends and offers guided tours that will transport you back in time.As we walked through the grand rooms and elegant gardens, we couldn't help but feel a sense of mystery and excitement. The stories of Annie Palmer, the White Witch of Rose Hall, captivated our imaginations. We learned about her dark past and the rumors of her ghost still lingering in the halls. It was both spooky and fascinating!But now, it's time to leave behind the haunted legends and move on to the next section, where we'll discover Jamaica's breathtaking natural wonders.Natural WondersAs we explore Jamaica's natural wonders, it is impossible not to be captivated by the breathtaking Dunn's River Falls in Ocho Rios. These magnificent waterfalls cascade down over 600 feet and offer a thrilling adventure for families. We can climb up the falls, hand in hand, feeling the cool water rushing against our skin. The Dunn's River Falls tour is guided by experienced locals who help us navigate the slippery rocks and ensure our safety. Along the way, we can take breaks and swim in the natural pools formed by the cascading water. It's an exhilarating experience that allows us to connect with nature and feel the power of the water.To give you a better idea of what to expect when visiting Jamaica's natural wonders, here's a table showcasing some of the highlights:Natural WonderLocationFeaturesDunn's River FallsOcho RiosBreathtaking waterfall, swimmingGreen Grotto CavesDiscovery BayUnderground limestone caves, batsBlue HoleOcho RiosCliff jumping, rope swingingAfter exploring the wonders of Dunn's River Falls, we can venture further into the world of river adventures. Here, we'll have the opportunity to experience the thrill of bamboo rafting on the Martha Brae River in Montego Bay or take a boat tour along the Black River, where we can spot crocodiles and learn about the rich ecosystem. These river adventures will provide us with even more opportunities to connect with nature and create lasting memories. So let's grab our swimsuits and dive into the next exciting chapter of our Jamaican adventure!River AdventuresLet's dive into the exciting world of river adventures in Jamaica! There are so many thrilling activities to enjoy on the rivers of this beautiful island. Here are three amazing river adventures that your family will love:River Rafting on Martha Brae: Hop onto a bamboo raft and float along the tranquil Martha Brae River. This gentle ride is perfect for young children, as they can relax and enjoy the breathtaking scenery. Feel the cool breeze on your face as you meander through the lush greenery, and keep an eye out for colorful birds and tropical plants along the way.Black River Safari: Embark on a boat tour along the Black River and get up close with some of Jamaica's famous crocodiles. Learn all about the fascinating ecosystem of this river as your guide shares interesting facts about the wildlife and plants that call it home. It's a thrilling and educational experience that will leave you in awe of Jamaica's natural wonders.Horseback Ride and Swim: For a unique river adventure, why not go horseback riding in the water? Chukka Ocean Outpost offers this incredible experience, where you can ride a horse through the river and even take a dip with your new equine friend. It's a perfect way to cool off and have fun at the same time!Frequently Asked QuestionsAre There Any Age Restrictions for Visiting the Bob Marley Museum in Kingston?There are no age restrictions for visiting the Bob Marley Museum in Kingston, Jamaica. Everyone, including kids, can enjoy guided tours and exhibits at the former home of reggae legend Bob Marley.As for the ATV adventure at Four Wheel ATV Safari in Montego Bay, Jamaica, it's important to check with the specific tour operator for any age restrictions.But don't worry, there are plenty of other exciting activities in Jamaica that kids can enjoy!Can Young Children Participate in the ATV Adventure at Four-Wheel ATV Safari in Montego Bay?Yes, young children can participate in the ATV adventure at Four-Wheel ATV Safari in Montego Bay. Safety is a top priority, so there are age restrictions in place for certain activities.Children can ride as passengers with a responsible adult, ensuring a fun and secure experience for everyone. Imagine the excitement on their faces as they zip through the Caribbean landscape, taking in the breathtaking views.It's a thrilling adventure that the whole family can enjoy together.Are There Any Age Restrictions for Visiting the Dunn's River Falls in Ocho Rios?Yes, there are age restrictions for visiting Dunn's River Falls in Ocho Rios. The falls can be a bit challenging to climb, so it isn't recommended for very young children or those who may have difficulty with physical activity.However, there are other family-friendly activities in Jamaica that you can enjoy. The Jamaica tourism industry offers a wide range of options, including beaches, water activities, mountain adventures, theme parks, cultural sites, natural wonders, and river adventures.Are There Any Accommodations Near the Blue Hole in Ocho Rios?Yes, there are accommodations near the Blue Hole in Ocho Rios!Nearby, you can find hotels such as the Moon Palace Jamaica and the Iberostar Rose Hall Beach. These hotels offer convenient locations for exploring the natural wonder of the Blue Hole.In addition to the Blue Hole, Ocho Rios has other attractions like Dunn's River Falls and Mystic Mountain. So, you'll have plenty of options for fun and adventure during your stay.Can Young Children Participate in the Black River Safari Boat Tour in Black River?Young children can participate in the Black River Safari boat tour in Black River. The tour is suitable for toddlers, but it's important to take safety precautions. Make sure to keep a close eye on your little ones and follow any instructions given by the tour guides.The boat tour is a fun and educational experience where you can spot crocodiles and learn about the ecosystem. It's a great way to introduce your kids to nature and wildlife in a safe and controlled environment.ConclusionSo pack your bags, grab your kids, and get ready for the most epic family adventure in Jamaica!From the crystal-clear beaches to the thrilling mountain adventures, there's something for everyone.Explore the rich history and reggae legacy, marvel at the natural wonders, and embark on exciting river adventures.Jamaica will leave you and your family with memories that will last a lifetime.Get ready to have the time of your lives in this tropical paradise! submitted by Sweet-Count2557 to worldkidstravel [link] [comments] |
2024.06.09 18:21 wmkane Suggestions for repairs to vintage poker table
 | Found a great looking vintage folding poker table at a yard sale. It’s made of some pretty SOLID stuff (I think it’s oak). All hardware is vintage as well, slotted screws only. submitted by wmkane to woodworking [link] [comments] There’s some delaminating going on (see pics). Based on a crack, I’m assuming that it got dropped, which caused the problems. It looks like someone previously made a repair previously based on some discolored joints. Also, I can see glue residue inside of at least one of the two major delaminations. Posting to look for suggestions for repair. My thought are this: 1. attempt to remove glue from inside the joint. Going to see what some long cloth based sandpaper can do. 2. Next, inject glue using a syringe and needle. 3. Finally clamp and wipe excess glue. Debated with my wife about drilling from the bottom to add in screws to reinforce/add to clamping pressure. She is worried about maintain the integrity of the piece….Any thoughts on this? I can post more pics if it’s desired. |
2024.06.09 18:14 giner- is my relationship ruined? (25f, 26m)
okay so i’ll start with what i (25f) did wrong - i went through his (26m) phone. i know i shouldn’t have. here’s my “excuse” (i still know it’s wrong):
we’ve been arguing over the past few days over little things. normal relationship tiffs. he says or does something and i get my feelings hurt because im sensitive. we make up. we move on. i just want to be with him. we have the same goals and a lot of the same niche interests and most of the time he’s considerate and empathetic. so i forgive him and i think he means it, even if i don’t feel completely okay after. and it’s hard for me to try and make conversation after or be normal, and i just want him to comfort me and try to make sure things are okay or try and make things right again. but recently he hasn’t been. we just sit in silence while he scrolls on his phone, kind of hiding it when i walk by or sit next to him or will hurry and switch apps. sketchy stuff, i’m suspicious of what he’s doing but i try not to read into it and then finally i have to break the silence and try to get things back to happy.
on top of these little tiffs, recently he’s stopped taking off the top half off my clothes during sex. and objectively i have a good healthy body. i lift weights everyday. im literally on a cut right now, so i mean im looking good for me. im actively taking care of myself. i finally said something the day before last bc it was just fishy. he was apologetic again and said he wasn’t thinking about it. i believe him and blame my insecure subconscious. move on.
now to add to that…last night i get on top to have sex, he gets soft. i get my feelings hurt he gets embarrassed. i forgive him bc it has happened in the past, but now with all of these things together i just feel like something is up. being sketch on his phone, not taking my clothes off for sex, and now he’s going soft - is he even attracted to me anymore? this thought won’t leave me alone.
now this morning: (or tldthe point)
he gets up to shower for work. he thinks im sleeping. his phone is on the table charging. i couldn’t resist. his ex called him in the middle of the night three times in a row on wednesday night. her friend is texting him from a number he didn’t save and has her notifications silenced. the only reason i knew it was his ex who called was because the friend had said “hey [redacted] called you the other night did you get it?” BECAUSE HE HAD HER SAVED UNDER A FAKE NAME. while i will give him that there was no outright flirting or cheating in the messages with these girls, the topics were:
friend - religious views, places to check out in the cities they each live in, what they’ve been up to now (no mention of him being in a relationship), how the ex gf (her friend) is going through a tough time bc she’s experiencing a miscarriage (which he asked if the guy was still around - to which she responded no), him asking if he should facetime his ex back or text
ex - how is she doing, what they’ve been up to, how he’s always there to talk if she needs it
so i confront him about it in the shower. he claimed the notifications were silenced bc they’ve been like that since he broke up with his ex, and that she was under a different name bc it was a joke they had back in the day (they’ve been broken up since 2019) and he never changed it. he intended on telling me but we’ve been fighting and there hasn’t been a good time.
i just told him to get his stuff and leave (we don’t live together) and i took my dog on a walk and didn’t come back until i knew he had to be at work. he called and was begging to talk to me in person and kept trying to explain everything and how he was just trying to be nice or whatever. i just told him i don’t trust him now and there’s nothing left to say. his birthday is next week too so i feel like shit dumping him right before. I don’t know what to do. he left some of his stuff so i have to bring it over and i know he’s going to try to talk to me. would you trust him or try to mend things? i don’t know what to do.
submitted by giner- to relationship_advice [link] [comments]
we’ve been arguing over the past few days over little things. normal relationship tiffs. he says or does something and i get my feelings hurt because im sensitive. we make up. we move on. i just want to be with him. we have the same goals and a lot of the same niche interests and most of the time he’s considerate and empathetic. so i forgive him and i think he means it, even if i don’t feel completely okay after. and it’s hard for me to try and make conversation after or be normal, and i just want him to comfort me and try to make sure things are okay or try and make things right again. but recently he hasn’t been. we just sit in silence while he scrolls on his phone, kind of hiding it when i walk by or sit next to him or will hurry and switch apps. sketchy stuff, i’m suspicious of what he’s doing but i try not to read into it and then finally i have to break the silence and try to get things back to happy.
on top of these little tiffs, recently he’s stopped taking off the top half off my clothes during sex. and objectively i have a good healthy body. i lift weights everyday. im literally on a cut right now, so i mean im looking good for me. im actively taking care of myself. i finally said something the day before last bc it was just fishy. he was apologetic again and said he wasn’t thinking about it. i believe him and blame my insecure subconscious. move on.
now to add to that…last night i get on top to have sex, he gets soft. i get my feelings hurt he gets embarrassed. i forgive him bc it has happened in the past, but now with all of these things together i just feel like something is up. being sketch on his phone, not taking my clothes off for sex, and now he’s going soft - is he even attracted to me anymore? this thought won’t leave me alone.
now this morning: (or tldthe point)
he gets up to shower for work. he thinks im sleeping. his phone is on the table charging. i couldn’t resist. his ex called him in the middle of the night three times in a row on wednesday night. her friend is texting him from a number he didn’t save and has her notifications silenced. the only reason i knew it was his ex who called was because the friend had said “hey [redacted] called you the other night did you get it?” BECAUSE HE HAD HER SAVED UNDER A FAKE NAME. while i will give him that there was no outright flirting or cheating in the messages with these girls, the topics were:
friend - religious views, places to check out in the cities they each live in, what they’ve been up to now (no mention of him being in a relationship), how the ex gf (her friend) is going through a tough time bc she’s experiencing a miscarriage (which he asked if the guy was still around - to which she responded no), him asking if he should facetime his ex back or text
ex - how is she doing, what they’ve been up to, how he’s always there to talk if she needs it
so i confront him about it in the shower. he claimed the notifications were silenced bc they’ve been like that since he broke up with his ex, and that she was under a different name bc it was a joke they had back in the day (they’ve been broken up since 2019) and he never changed it. he intended on telling me but we’ve been fighting and there hasn’t been a good time.
i just told him to get his stuff and leave (we don’t live together) and i took my dog on a walk and didn’t come back until i knew he had to be at work. he called and was begging to talk to me in person and kept trying to explain everything and how he was just trying to be nice or whatever. i just told him i don’t trust him now and there’s nothing left to say. his birthday is next week too so i feel like shit dumping him right before. I don’t know what to do. he left some of his stuff so i have to bring it over and i know he’s going to try to talk to me. would you trust him or try to mend things? i don’t know what to do.
2024.06.09 18:08 Dangerous-Ad7517 Minecraft 1.20.1 create problem
I was having problems getting create to run at all. Maby sombody heare understands, which of my mods causes the issues. This attempt I used the Fabric API 0.92.2+1.20.1. I also tried the 0.88.1 +1.20.1 API and had different issues with ist.
---- Minecraft Crash Report ----
// Surprise! Haha. Well, this is awkward.
Time: 2024-06-09 17:44:08
Description: Initializing game
java.lang.RuntimeException: Could not execute entrypoint stage 'main' due to errors, provided by 'create'!
-- Head --
Thread: Render thread
Stacktrace:
Details:
Details:
submitted by Dangerous-Ad7517 to CreateMod [link] [comments]
---- Minecraft Crash Report ----
// Surprise! Haha. Well, this is awkward.
Time: 2024-06-09 17:44:08
Description: Initializing game
java.lang.RuntimeException: Could not execute entrypoint stage 'main' due to errors, provided by 'create'!
at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.FabricLoaderImpl.lambda$invokeEntrypoints$2(FabricLoaderImpl.java:388) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.util.ExceptionUtil.gatherExceptions(ExceptionUtil.java:33) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.FabricLoaderImpl.invokeEntrypoints(FabricLoaderImpl.java:386) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.game.minecraft.Hooks.startClient(Hooks.java:52) at net.minecraft.class\_310.Caused by: java.lang.BootstrapMethodError: java.lang.RuntimeException: Mixin transformation of com.simibubi.create.content.processing.burner.BlazeBurnerBlockEntity failed(class\_310.java:458) at net.minecraft.client.main.Main.main(Main.java:211) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.game.minecraft.MinecraftGameProvider.launch(MinecraftGameProvider.java:470) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.launch.knot.Knot.launch(Knot.java:74) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.launch.knot.KnotClient.main(KnotClient.java:23) Suppressed: java.lang.RuntimeException: Attempted to register ID ResourceKey\[minecraft:creative\_mode\_tab / minecraft:main\] at different raw IDs (21, 31)! If you're trying to override an item, use .set(), not .register()! at net.minecraft.class\_2370.handler$ccl000$fabric-registry-sync-v0$setPre(class\_2370.java:705) at net.minecraft.class\_2370.method\_46744(class\_2370.java) at net.minecraft.class\_2370.method\_10272(class\_2370.java:186) at net.minecraft.class\_2378.method\_39197(class\_2378.java:118) at net.minecraft.class\_2378.method\_10230(class\_2378.java:114) at net.minecraft.class\_2378.method\_10226(class\_2378.java:110) at com.jesz.createdieselgenerators.CreativeTab.register(CreativeTab.java:17) at com.jesz.createdieselgenerators.CreateDieselGenerators.onInitialize(CreateDieselGenerators.java:63) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.FabricLoaderImpl.invokeEntrypoints(FabricLoaderImpl.java:384) ... 6 more Suppressed: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: Could not initialize class com.simibubi.create.AllBlockEntityTypes at com.simibubi.create.content.kinetics.simpleRelays.AbstractSimpleShaftBlock.getBlockEntityType(AbstractSimpleShaftBlock.java:53) at com.rabbitminers.extendedgears.registry.ExtendedCogwheelsBlocks.addToBlockEntityType(ExtendedCogwheelsBlocks.java:98) at com.tterrag.registrate.AbstractRegistrate$Registration.lambda$register$0(AbstractRegistrate.java:124) at java.base/java.util.ArrayList.forEach(ArrayList.java:1511) at com.tterrag.registrate.AbstractRegistrate$Registration.register(AbstractRegistrate.java:124) at com.tterrag.registrate.AbstractRegistrate.onRegister(AbstractRegistrate.java:217) at com.tterrag.registrate.AbstractRegistrate.lambda$register$1(AbstractRegistrate.java:189) at com.tterrag.registrate.fabric.RegistryUtil.forAllRegistries(RegistryUtil.java:12) at com.tterrag.registrate.AbstractRegistrate.register(AbstractRegistrate.java:188) at com.rabbitminers.extendedgears.fabric.ExtendedCogwheelsImpl.onInitialize(ExtendedCogwheelsImpl.java:16) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.FabricLoaderImpl.invokeEntrypoints(FabricLoaderImpl.java:384) ... 6 more Caused by: java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError: Exception java.lang.BootstrapMethodError: java.lang.RuntimeException: Mixin transformation of com.simibubi.create.content.processing.burner.BlazeBurnerBlockEntity failed \[in thread "Render thread"\] at com.simibubi.create.AllBlockEntityTypes. (AllBlockEntityTypes.java:667) at com.simibubi.create.Create.onInitialize(Create.java:110) ... 7 more Suppressed: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: Could not initialize class com.simibubi.create.AllBlockEntityTypes at com.simibubi.create.content.trains.track.TrackBlock.getBlockEntityType(TrackBlock.java:539) at com.railwayteam.railways.registry.CRTrackMaterials.addToBlockEntityType(CRTrackMaterials.java:266) at com.tterrag.registrate.AbstractRegistrate$Registration.lambda$register$0(AbstractRegistrate.java:124) at java.base/java.util.ArrayList.forEach(ArrayList.java:1511) at com.tterrag.registrate.AbstractRegistrate$Registration.register(AbstractRegistrate.java:124) at com.tterrag.registrate.AbstractRegistrate.onRegister(AbstractRegistrate.java:217) at com.tterrag.registrate.AbstractRegistrate.lambda$register$1(AbstractRegistrate.java:189) at com.tterrag.registrate.fabric.RegistryUtil.forAllRegistries(RegistryUtil.java:12) at com.tterrag.registrate.AbstractRegistrate.register(AbstractRegistrate.java:188) at com.railwayteam.railways.fabric.RailwaysImpl.finalizeRegistrate(RailwaysImpl.java:44) at com.railwayteam.railways.Railways.finalizeRegistrate(Railways.java) at com.railwayteam.railways.Railways.init(Railways.java:81) at com.railwayteam.railways.fabric.RailwaysImpl.onInitialize(RailwaysImpl.java:25) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.FabricLoaderImpl.invokeEntrypoints(FabricLoaderImpl.java:384) ... 6 more Caused by: \[CIRCULAR REFERENCE: java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError: Exception java.lang.BootstrapMethodError: java.lang.RuntimeException: Mixin transformation of com.simibubi.create.content.processing.burner.BlazeBurnerBlockEntity failed \[in thread "Render thread"\]\]
at com.simibubi.create.AllBlockEntityTypes.Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: Mixin transformation of com.simibubi.create.content.processing.burner.BlazeBurnerBlockEntity failed(AllBlockEntityTypes.java:667) at com.simibubi.create.Create.onInitialize(Create.java:110) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.FabricLoaderImpl.invokeEntrypoints(FabricLoaderImpl.java:384) ... 6 more
at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.launch.knot.KnotClassDelegate.getPostMixinClassByteArray(KnotClassDelegate.java:427) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.launch.knot.KnotClassDelegate.tryLoadClass(KnotClassDelegate.java:323) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.launch.knot.KnotClassDelegate.loadClass(KnotClassDelegate.java:218) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.launch.knot.KnotClassLoader.loadClass(KnotClassLoader.java:119) at java.base/java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:525) ... 9 moreCaused by: org.spongepowered.asm.mixin.transformer.throwables.MixinTransformerError: An unexpected critical error was encountered
at org.spongepowered.asm.mixin.transformer.MixinProcessor.applyMixins(MixinProcessor.java:392) at org.spongepowered.asm.mixin.transformer.MixinTransformer.transformClass(MixinTransformer.java:234) at org.spongepowered.asm.mixin.transformer.MixinTransformer.transformClassBytes(MixinTransformer.java:202) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.launch.knot.KnotClassDelegate.getPostMixinClassByteArray(KnotClassDelegate.java:422) ... 13 moreCaused by: org.spongepowered.asm.mixin.throwables.ClassMetadataNotFoundException: io.github.fabricators_of_create.porting_lib.util.FluidStack
at org.spongepowered.asm.mixin.transformer.MixinTargetContext.transformSingleDescriptor(MixinTargetContext.java:1001) at org.spongepowered.asm.mixin.transformer.MixinTargetContext.transformSingleDescriptor(MixinTargetContext.java:961) at org.spongepowered.asm.mixin.transformer.MixinTargetContext.transformMethodDescriptor(MixinTargetContext.java:1016) at org.spongepowered.asm.mixin.transformer.MixinTargetContext.transformDescriptor(MixinTargetContext.java:917) at org.spongepowered.asm.mixin.transformer.MixinPreProcessorStandard.attachUniqueMethod(MixinPreProcessorStandard.java:518) at org.spongepowered.asm.mixin.transformer.MixinPreProcessorStandard.attachMethods(MixinPreProcessorStandard.java:351) at org.spongepowered.asm.mixin.transformer.MixinPreProcessorStandard.attach(MixinPreProcessorStandard.java:299) at org.spongepowered.asm.mixin.transformer.MixinPreProcessorStandard.createContextFor(MixinPreProcessorStandard.java:277) at org.spongepowered.asm.mixin.transformer.MixinInfo.createContextFor(MixinInfo.java:1289) at org.spongepowered.asm.mixin.transformer.MixinApplicatorStandard.apply(MixinApplicatorStandard.java:294) at org.spongepowered.asm.mixin.transformer.TargetClassContext.apply(TargetClassContext.java:422) at org.spongepowered.asm.mixin.transformer.TargetClassContext.applyMixins(TargetClassContext.java:403) at org.spongepowered.asm.mixin.transformer.MixinProcessor.applyMixins(MixinProcessor.java:363) ... 16 moreA detailed walkthrough of the error, its code path and all known details is as follows:
Thread: Render thread
Stacktrace:
at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.FabricLoaderImpl.lambda$invokeEntrypoints$2(FabricLoaderImpl.java:388) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.util.ExceptionUtil.gatherExceptions(ExceptionUtil.java:33) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.FabricLoaderImpl.invokeEntrypoints(FabricLoaderImpl.java:386) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.game.minecraft.Hooks.startClient(Hooks.java:52) at net.minecraft.class\_310.-- Initialization --(class\_310.java:458)
Details:
Modules: ADVAPI32.dll:Erweiterte Windows 32 Base-API:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation COMCTL32.dll:Bibliothek für Steuerelemente:6.10 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation CRYPT32.dll:Krypto-API32:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation CRYPTBASE.dll:Base cryptographic API DLL:10.0.19041.3636 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation CRYPTSP.dll:Cryptographic Service Provider API:10.0.19041.3636 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation DBGHELP.DLL:Windows Image Helper:10.0.19041.3636 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation DNSAPI.dll:DNS-Client-API-DLL:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation GDI32.dll:GDI Client DLL:10.0.19041.4474 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation IMM32.DLL:Multi-User Windows IMM32 API Client DLL:10.0.19041.4474 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation IPHLPAPI.DLL:IP-Hilfs-API:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation KERNEL32.DLL:Client-DLL für Windows NT-Basis-API:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation KERNELBASE.dll:Client-DLL für Windows NT-Basis-API:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation MpOav.dll:IOfficeAntiVirus Module:4.18.24050.7 (b60bcb9c79f050335eb91db16f7d3e97336ad10e-dirty):Microsoft Corporation NLAapi.dll:Network Location Awareness 2:10.0.19041.4123 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation NSI.dll:NSI User-mode interface DLL:10.0.19041.3636 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation NTASN1.dll:Microsoft ASN.1 API:10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation OLEAUT32.dll:OLEAUT32.DLL:10.0.19041.3636 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation Ole32.dll:Microsoft OLE für Windows:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation POWRPROF.dll:Power Profile Helper DLL:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation PSAPI.DLL:Process Status Helper:10.0.19041.3636 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation Pdh.dll:Windows Unterstützungs-DLL für Leistungsdaten:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation RPCRT4.dll:Remoteprozeduraufruf-Laufzeitumgebung:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation SHCORE.dll:SHCORE:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation SHELL32.dll:Allgemeine Windows-Shell-DLL:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation UMPDC.dll USER32.dll:Client-DLL für Windows USER-API (mehrere Benutzer):10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation USERENV.dll:Userenv:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation VCRUNTIME140.dll:Microsoft® C Runtime Library:14.29.30139.0 built by: vcwrkspc:Microsoft Corporation VERSION.dll:Version Checking and File Installation Libraries:10.0.19041.3636 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation WINHTTP.dll:Windows HTTP-Dienste:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation WINMM.dll:MCI API-DLL:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation WS2\_32.dll:Windows Socket 2.0-32-Bit-DLL:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation WSOCK32.dll:Windows Socket 32-Bit DLL:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation Wldp.dll:Windows-Sperrungsrichtlinie:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation amsi.dll:Anti-Malware Scan Interface:10.0.19041.4355 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation bcrypt.dll:Bibliothek mit kryptografischen Primitiven von Windows:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation bcryptPrimitives.dll:Windows Cryptographic Primitives Library:10.0.19041.3636 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation clbcatq.dll:COM+ Configuration Catalog:2001.12.10941.16384 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation combase.dll:Microsoft COM für Windows:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation dbgcore.DLL:Windows Core Debugging Helpers:10.0.19041.4355 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation dhcpcsvc.DLL:DHCP Clientdienst:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation dhcpcsvc6.DLL:DHCPv6-Client:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation fwpuclnt.dll:FWP/IPsec Benutzermodus-API:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation gdi32full.dll:GDI Client DLL:10.0.19041.4474 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation glfw.dll:GLFW 3.4.0 DLL:3.4.0:GLFW java.dll:OpenJDK Platform binary:17.0.8.0:Microsoft javaw.exe:OpenJDK Platform binary:17.0.8.0:Microsoft jemalloc.dll jimage.dll:OpenJDK Platform binary:17.0.8.0:Microsoft jli.dll:OpenJDK Platform binary:17.0.8.0:Microsoft jna10254142844104710988.dll:JNA native library:6.1.4:Java(TM) Native Access (JNA) jsvml.dll:OpenJDK Platform binary:17.0.8.0:Microsoft jvm.dll:OpenJDK 64-Bit server VM:17.0.8.0:Microsoft kernel.appcore.dll:AppModel API Host:10.0.19041.3758 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation lwjgl.dll management.dll:OpenJDK Platform binary:17.0.8.0:Microsoft management\_ext.dll:OpenJDK Platform binary:17.0.8.0:Microsoft msvcp140.dll:Microsoft® C Runtime Library:14.29.30139.0 built by: vcwrkspc:Microsoft Corporation msvcp\_win.dll:Microsoft® C Runtime Library:10.0.19041.3636 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation msvcrt.dll:Windows NT CRT DLL:7.0.19041.3636 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation mswsock.dll:Microsoft Windows Sockets 2.0-Dienstanbieter:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation napinsp.dll:E-Mail-Namenshimanbieter:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation ncrypt.dll:Windows NCrypt-Router:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation net.dll:OpenJDK Platform binary:17.0.8.0:Microsoft nio.dll:OpenJDK Platform binary:17.0.8.0:Microsoft ntdll.dll:DLL für NT-Layer:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation perfos.dll:DLL für Windows-Systemleistungsobjekte:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation pnrpnsp.dll:PNRP-Namespaceanbieter:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation profapi.dll:User Profile Basic API:10.0.19041.4355 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation rasadhlp.dll:Remote Access AutoDial Helper:10.0.19041.3636 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation rsaenh.dll:Microsoft Enhanced Cryptographic Provider:10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation sechost.dll:Host for SCM/SDDL/LSA Lookup APIs:10.0.19041.1 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation shlwapi.dll:Shell Light-weight-Hilfsprogrammbibliothek:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation sunmscapi.dll:OpenJDK Platform binary:17.0.8.0:Microsoft ucrtbase.dll:Microsoft® C Runtime Library:10.0.19041.3636 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation vcruntime140\_1.dll:Microsoft® C Runtime Library:14.29.30139.0 built by: vcwrkspc:Microsoft Corporation verify.dll:OpenJDK Platform binary:17.0.8.0:Microsoft win32u.dll:Win32u:10.0.19041.4474 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation windows.storage.dll:Microsoft WinRT Storage-API:10.0.19041.4406 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation winrnr.dll:LDAP RnR Provider DLL:10.0.19041.3636 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation wshbth.dll:Windows Sockets Helper DLL:10.0.19041.3636 (WinBuild.160101.0800):Microsoft Corporation zip.dll:OpenJDK Platform binary:17.0.8.0:MicrosoftStacktrace:
at net.minecraft.client.main.Main.main(Main.java:211) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.game.minecraft.MinecraftGameProvider.launch(MinecraftGameProvider.java:470) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.launch.knot.Knot.launch(Knot.java:74) at net.fabricmc.loader.impl.launch.knot.KnotClient.main(KnotClient.java:23)-- System Details --
Details:
Minecraft Version: 1.20.1 Minecraft Version ID: 1.20.1 Operating System: Windows 10 (amd64) version 10.0 Java Version: 17.0.8, Microsoft Java VM Version: OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (mixed mode), Microsoft Memory: 304071624 bytes (289 MiB) / 671088640 bytes (640 MiB) up to 2147483648 bytes (2048 MiB) CPUs: 28 Processor Vendor: GenuineIntel Processor Name: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2680 v4 @ 2.40GHz Identifier: Intel64 Family 6 Model 79 Stepping 1 Microarchitecture: Broadwell (Server) Frequency (GHz): 2.39 Number of physical packages: 1 Number of physical CPUs: 14 Number of logical CPUs: 28 Graphics card #0 name: AMD Radeon RX 6600 Graphics card #0 vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (0x1002) Graphics card #0 VRAM (MB): 4095.00 Graphics card #0 deviceId: 0x73ff Graphics card #0 versionInfo: DriverVersion=31.0.23013.3005 Memory slot #0 capacity (MB): 16384.00 Memory slot #0 clockSpeed (GHz): 3.20 Memory slot #0 type: DDR4 Memory slot #1 capacity (MB): 16384.00 Memory slot #1 clockSpeed (GHz): 3.20 Memory slot #1 type: DDR4 Memory slot #2 capacity (MB): 16384.00 Memory slot #2 clockSpeed (GHz): 3.20 Memory slot #2 type: DDR4 Memory slot #3 capacity (MB): 16384.00 Memory slot #3 clockSpeed (GHz): 3.20 Memory slot #3 type: DDR4 Virtual memory max (MB): 75116.89 Virtual memory used (MB): 14274.95 Swap memory total (MB): 9728.00 Swap memory used (MB): 0.00 JVM Flags: 9 total; -XX:HeapDumpPath=MojangTricksIntelDriversForPerformance\_javaw.exe\_minecraft.exe.heapdump -Xss1M -Xmx2G -XX:+UnlockExperimentalVMOptions -XX:+UseG1GC -XX:G1NewSizePercent=20 -XX:G1ReservePercent=20 -XX:MaxGCPauseMillis=50 -XX:G1HeapRegionSize=32M Fabric Mods: appleskin: AppleSkin 2.5.1+mc1.20 architectury: Architectury 9.2.14 balm-fabric: Balm 7.3.4 kuma\_api: KumaAPI 20.1.6 bellsandwhistles: Create: Bells & Whistles 0.4.5 betterf3: BetterF3 7.0.2 botarium: Botarium 2.3.3 team\_reborn\_energy: Energy 3.0.0 cardinal-components: Cardinal Components API 5.2.2 cardinal-components-base: Cardinal Components API (base) 5.2.2 cardinal-components-block: Cardinal Components API (blocks) 5.2.2 cardinal-components-chunk: Cardinal Components API (chunks) 5.2.2 cardinal-components-entity: Cardinal Components API (entities) 5.2.2 cardinal-components-item: Cardinal Components API (items) 5.2.2 cardinal-components-level: Cardinal Components API (world saves) 5.2.2 cardinal-components-scoreboard: Cardinal Components API (scoreboard) 5.2.2 cardinal-components-world: Cardinal Components API (worlds) 5.2.2 cloth-config: Cloth Config v11 11.1.118 cloth-basic-math: cloth-basic-math 0.6.1 collective: Collective 7.61 copycats: Create: Copycats+ 1.20.1-1.2.6 craftingtweaks: Crafting Tweaks 18.2.4 create: Create 0.5.1-f-build.1417+mc1.20.1 com\_electronwill\_night-config\_core: core 3.6.6 com\_electronwill\_night-config\_toml: toml 3.6.6 com\_google\_code\_findbugs\_jsr305: jsr305 3.0.2 flywheel: Flywheel 0.6.10-2 forgeconfigapiport: Forge Config API Port 8.0.0 milk: Milk Lib 1.2.60dripstone_fluid_lib: Dripstone Fluid Lib 3.0.2
porting\_lib\_tags: Porting Lib Tags 3.0 reach-entity-attributes: Reach Entity Attributes 2.4.0 registrate-fabric: Registrate for Fabric 1.3.62-MC1.20.1 create\_aquatic\_ambitions: Create Aquatic Ambitions 1.1.2+1.20.1 create\_dd: Create: Dreams & Desires 0.1d dsbg: Detected setBlock Be Gone 1.0 create\_enchantment\_industry: Create Enchantment Industry 1.2.16 create\_dragon\_lib: Create Dragon Lib 1.4.2 create\_high\_pressure: Create: High Pressure 1.1.0 create\_interactive: Create: Interactive 1.0.2-beta.2 create\_jetpack: Create Jetpack 4.2.0 flightlib: Flight Lib 2.1.0 create\_ltab: Create Let The Adventure Begin 1.0.0 create\_more\_farmables: Create: More Farmables 0.7-1.20.1.beta+Fabric create\_new\_age: Create: New Age 1.1.2 create\_structures: Create: Structures 1.1.0 create\_unbreakable: Create Unbreakable Tools Mod 1.2+fabric-1.20.1 createaddition: Create Crafts & Additions 1.2.3 createcobblestone: Create Cobblestone 1.2.0+fabric-1.20.1-22 createdeco: Create Deco 2.0.2-1.20.1-fabric createdieselgenerators: Create Diesel Generators 2.1.4 creategoggles: Create Goggles 0.5.5.g createutilities: Create Utilities 0.3.0+1.20.1 ctov: ChoiceTheorem's Overhauled Village 3.4.3 elytraslot: Elytra Slot 6.3.0+1.20.1 elytratrims: Elytra Trims 3.1.9 mixinsquared: MixinSquared 0.1.2-beta.4 emi: EMI 1.1.6+1.20.1+fabric emitrades: EMI Trades 1.2.1+mc1.20.1 org\_quiltmc\_parsers\_json: json 0.2.1 entityculling: EntityCulling 1.6.5 explorerscompass: Explorer's Compass 1.20.1-2.2.3-fabric extendedgears: Extended Cogwheels 2.1.1-1.20.1-0.5.1.f-fabric fabric-api: Fabric API 0.92.2+1.20.1 fabric-api-base: Fabric API Base 0.4.31+1802ada577 fabric-api-lookup-api-v1: Fabric API Lookup API (v1) 1.6.36+1802ada577 fabric-biome-api-v1: Fabric Biome API (v1) 13.0.13+1802ada577 fabric-block-api-v1: Fabric Block API (v1) 1.0.11+1802ada577 fabric-block-view-api-v2: Fabric BlockView API (v2) 1.0.1+1802ada577 fabric-blockrenderlayer-v1: Fabric BlockRenderLayer Registration (v1) 1.1.41+1802ada577 fabric-client-tags-api-v1: Fabric Client Tags 1.1.2+1802ada577 fabric-command-api-v1: Fabric Command API (v1) 1.2.34+f71b366f77 fabric-command-api-v2: Fabric Command API (v2) 2.2.13+1802ada577 fabric-commands-v0: Fabric Commands (v0) 0.2.51+df3654b377 fabric-containers-v0: Fabric Containers (v0) 0.1.64+df3654b377 fabric-content-registries-v0: Fabric Content Registries (v0) 4.0.11+1802ada577 fabric-convention-tags-v1: Fabric Convention Tags 1.5.5+1802ada577 fabric-crash-report-info-v1: Fabric Crash Report Info (v1) 0.2.19+1802ada577 fabric-data-attachment-api-v1: Fabric Data Attachment API (v1) 1.0.0+de0fd6d177 fabric-data-generation-api-v1: Fabric Data Generation API (v1) 12.3.4+1802ada577 fabric-dimensions-v1: Fabric Dimensions API (v1) 2.1.54+1802ada577 fabric-entity-events-v1: Fabric Entity Events (v1) 1.6.0+1c78457f77 fabric-events-interaction-v0: Fabric Events Interaction (v0) 0.6.2+1802ada577 fabric-events-lifecycle-v0: Fabric Events Lifecycle (v0) 0.2.63+df3654b377 fabric-game-rule-api-v1: Fabric Game Rule API (v1) 1.0.40+1802ada577 fabric-item-api-v1: Fabric Item API (v1) 2.1.28+1802ada577 fabric-item-group-api-v1: Fabric Item Group API (v1) 4.0.12+1802ada577 fabric-key-binding-api-v1: Fabric Key Binding API (v1) 1.0.37+1802ada577 fabric-keybindings-v0: Fabric Key Bindings (v0) 0.2.35+df3654b377 fabric-lifecycle-events-v1: Fabric Lifecycle Events (v1) 2.2.22+1802ada577 fabric-loot-api-v2: Fabric Loot API (v2) 1.2.1+1802ada577 fabric-loot-tables-v1: Fabric Loot Tables (v1) 1.1.45+9e7660c677 fabric-message-api-v1: Fabric Message API (v1) 5.1.9+1802ada577 fabric-mining-level-api-v1: Fabric Mining Level API (v1) 2.1.50+1802ada577 fabric-model-loading-api-v1: Fabric Model Loading API (v1) 1.0.3+1802ada577 fabric-models-v0: Fabric Models (v0) 0.4.2+9386d8a777 fabric-networking-api-v1: Fabric Networking API (v1) 1.3.11+1802ada577 fabric-networking-v0: Fabric Networking (v0) 0.3.51+df3654b377 fabric-object-builder-api-v1: Fabric Object Builder API (v1) 11.1.3+1802ada577 fabric-particles-v1: Fabric Particles (v1) 1.1.2+1802ada577 fabric-recipe-api-v1: Fabric Recipe API (v1) 1.0.21+1802ada577 fabric-registry-sync-v0: Fabric Registry Sync (v0) 2.3.3+1802ada577 fabric-renderer-api-v1: Fabric Renderer API (v1) 3.2.1+1802ada577 fabric-renderer-indigo: Fabric Renderer - Indigo 1.5.2+85287f9f77 fabric-renderer-registries-v1: Fabric Renderer Registries (v1) 3.2.46+df3654b377 fabric-rendering-data-attachment-v1: Fabric Rendering Data Attachment (v1) 0.3.37+92a0d36777 fabric-rendering-fluids-v1: Fabric Rendering Fluids (v1) 3.0.28+1802ada577 fabric-rendering-v0: Fabric Rendering (v0) 1.1.49+df3654b377 fabric-rendering-v1: Fabric Rendering (v1) 3.0.8+1802ada577 fabric-resource-conditions-api-v1: Fabric Resource Conditions API (v1) 2.3.8+1802ada577 fabric-resource-loader-v0: Fabric Resource Loader (v0) 0.11.10+1802ada577 fabric-screen-api-v1: Fabric Screen API (v1) 2.0.8+1802ada577 fabric-screen-handler-api-v1: Fabric Screen Handler API (v1) 1.3.30+1802ada577 fabric-sound-api-v1: Fabric Sound API (v1) 1.0.13+1802ada577 fabric-transfer-api-v1: Fabric Transfer API (v1) 3.3.5+8dd72ea377 fabric-transitive-access-wideners-v1: Fabric Transitive Access Wideners (v1) 4.3.1+1802ada577 fabric-language-kotlin: Fabric Language Kotlin 1.11.0+kotlin.2.0.0 org\_jetbrains\_kotlin\_kotlin-reflect: kotlin-reflect 2.0.0 org\_jetbrains\_kotlin\_kotlin-stdlib: kotlin-stdlib 2.0.0 org\_jetbrains\_kotlin\_kotlin-stdlib-jdk7: kotlin-stdlib-jdk7 2.0.0 org\_jetbrains\_kotlin\_kotlin-stdlib-jdk8: kotlin-stdlib-jdk8 2.0.0 org\_jetbrains\_kotlinx\_atomicfu-jvm: atomicfu-jvm 0.24.0 org\_jetbrains\_kotlinx\_kotlinx-coroutines-core-jvm: kotlinx-coroutines-core-jvm 1.8.1 org\_jetbrains\_kotlinx\_kotlinx-coroutines-jdk8: kotlinx-coroutines-jdk8 1.8.1 org\_jetbrains\_kotlinx\_kotlinx-datetime-jvm: kotlinx-datetime-jvm 0.6.0 org\_jetbrains\_kotlinx\_kotlinx-serialization-cbor-jvm: kotlinx-serialization-cbor-jvm 1.6.3 org\_jetbrains\_kotlinx\_kotlinx-serialization-core-jvm: kotlinx-serialization-core-jvm 1.6.3 org\_jetbrains\_kotlinx\_kotlinx-serialization-json-jvm: kotlinx-serialization-json-jvm 1.6.3 fabricloader: Fabric Loader 0.15.11 mixinextras: MixinExtras 0.3.5 fallingtree: FallingTree 4.3.4 farmersdelight: Farmer's Delight 1.20.1-2.1.1+refabricated mm: Manningham Mills 2.3 porting\_lib\_accessors: Porting Lib Accessors 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_base: Porting Lib Base 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_client\_events: Porting Lib Client Events 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_config: Porting Lib Config 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_extensions: Porting Lib Extensions 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_lazy\_registration: Porting Lib Lazy Register 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_loot: Porting Lib Loot 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_networking: Porting Lib Networking 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_recipe\_book\_categories: Porting Lib Recipe Book Categories 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_registries: Porting Lib Registries 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_tool\_actions: Porting Lib Tool Actions 2.3.4+1.20.1 fusion: Fusion 1.1.1 fxntstorage: Create: Storage 0.8-1.20.1-FABRIC+1.20.1 immersive\_aircraft: Immersive Aircraft 1.0.1+1.20.1 org\_mariuszgromada\_math\_mathparser\_org-mxparser: MathParser.org-mXparser 5.2.1 immersive\_armors: Immersive Armors 1.6.1+1.20.1 inventorysorter: Inventory Sorter 1.9.0-1.20 kyrptconfig: Kyrpt Config 1.5.6-1.20 jade: Jade 11.9.2+fabric jadeaddons: Jade Addons 5.2.5 java: OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM 17 journeymap: Journeymap 5.9.23 journeymap-api-fabric: JourneyMap API 1.20-1.9-fabric-SNAPSHOT liquidburner: Liquid Burner 1.20.1-0.5 lithostitched: Lithostitched 1.1.5 man\_of\_many\_planes: Man of Many Planes 0.1.0+1.20.1 midnightlib: MidnightLib 1.4.1 minecraft: Minecraft 1.20.1 modmenu: Mod Menu 7.2.2 mousetweaks: Mouse Tweaks 2.26 mr\_create\_decoadditions: Create Deco Additions 1.3 mr\_dungeons\_andtaverns: Dungeons and Taverns 3.0.3.f porting\_lib: Porting Lib 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_asm: Porting Lib ASM 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_attributes: Porting Lib Attributes 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_blocks: Porting Lib Blocks 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_brewing: Porting Lib Brewing 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_chunk\_loading: Porting Lib Chunk Loading 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_common: Porting Lib Common 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_core: Porting Lib Core 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_data: Porting Lib Data 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_entity: Porting Lib Entity 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_fluids: Porting Lib Fluids 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_gametest: Porting Lib GameTest 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_gui\_utils: Porting Lib Gui Utils 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_items: Porting Lib Items 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_level\_events: Porting Lib Level Events 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_mixin\_extensions: Porting Lib Mixin Extensions 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_model\_builders: Porting Lib Model Builders 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_model\_generators: Porting Lib Model Generators 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_model\_loader: Porting Lib Model Loader 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_model\_materials: Porting Lib Model Materials 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_models: Porting Lib Models 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_obj\_loader: Porting Lib Obj Loader 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_transfer: Porting Lib Transfer 2.3.4+1.20.1 porting\_lib\_utility: Porting Lib Utility 2.3.4+1.20.1 railways: Create: Steam 'n' Rails 1.6.4+fabric-mc1.20.1 rechiseled: Rechiseled 1.1.6 rechiseledcreate: Rechiseled: Create 1.0.2+a roughlyenoughitems: Roughly Enough Items 12.1.725 error\_notifier: Error Notifier 1.0.9 searchables: Searchables 1.0.3 shulkerboxtooltip: Shulker Box Tooltip 4.0.4+1.20.1 skinlayers3d: 3d-Skin-Layers 1.6.5 sliceanddice: Create Slice & Dice 3.2.1 sodium: Sodium 0.5.8+mc1.20.1 supermartijn642configlib: SuperMartijn642's Config Lib 1.1.8+a supermartijn642corelib: SuperMartijn642's Core Lib 1.1.17 toms\_storage: Tom's Simple Storage Mod 1.6.6 travelersbackpack: Traveler's Backpack fabric-1.20.1-9.1.13 trinkets: Trinkets 3.7.2 valkyrienskies: Valkyrien Skies 2 2.3.0-beta.5 yet\_another\_config\_lib\_v3: YetAnotherConfigLib 3.4.4+1.20.1-fabric com\_twelvemonkeys\_common\_common-image: common-image 3.10.0 com\_twelvemonkeys\_common\_common-io: common-io 3.10.0 com\_twelvemonkeys\_common\_common-lang: common-lang 3.10.0 com\_twelvemonkeys\_imageio\_imageio-core: imageio-core 3.10.0 com\_twelvemonkeys\_imageio\_imageio-metadata: imageio-metadata 3.10.0 com\_twelvemonkeys\_imageio\_imageio-webp: imageio-webp 3.10.0 org\_quiltmc\_parsers\_gson: gson 0.2.1 Flywheel Backend: Uninitialized Launched Version: fabric-loader-0.15.11-1.20.1 Backend library: LWJGL version 3.3.1 SNAPSHOT Backend API: Unknown Window size:GL Caps: Using framebuffer using OpenGL 3.2 GL debug messages: Using VBOs: Yes Is Modded: Definitely; Client brand changed to 'fabric' Type: Client (map\_client.txt) CPU:
2024.06.09 17:57 underated_92_drama My now ex MIL (thankfully)
When I got married to my now ex husband, his mum took it upon herself to invite some of her friends (they didn’t pay for anything and never asked if we had room for extra people)… She then proceeded to move my seating chart around so that her 1 friend could sit at the top table with myself, husband, parents, MOH & Bestman!!! My MOH was moved to a different table to accommodate her friend (I did not find this out as she did it when we was greeting guests). She then tried to tell my photographer to stop taking wedding photos and take some of her and her friends so they could have memories of a ‘great day out’… luckily the photographer was a friend and told her no. She demanded a dance with my ex husband first as a last dance before she ‘lost her baby’ to me… She handed me a piece of paper that told me what my ex husband liked to eat, how to make his bed like she did, how to wash his clothes and fold them and what she used to wash his clothes so he still felt like he was at home !! Yes it went straight into the bin when she walked away from me!! My ex MIL then left early because her and her friend were getting tired, her husband (my FIL) is an amazing man but when drunk can be a handful so I spent the rest of my wedding night trying to get him into a taxi to go home as well as the rest of her friends!!! Oh I was 7 weeks pregnant at the time too…
PS my husband didn’t see anything wrong with this and that should have been my biggest red flag… 12 years later and I will be framing my divorce papers as soon as they come in.
submitted by underated_92_drama to CharlotteDobreYouTube [link] [comments]
PS my husband didn’t see anything wrong with this and that should have been my biggest red flag… 12 years later and I will be framing my divorce papers as soon as they come in.
2024.06.09 17:51 These-Giraffe-8473 AITA for having had an affair with the man who groomed me?
This story is one that started a long time ago, but still affects my (32F) day-to-day life. Sorry everyone, it's a long one.
It began about 17 years ago, when I was 15 and still in school. I frequented internet forums including several fan sites of video games and books I enjoyed. One of these was a role playing forum where I and five others were writing stories together in our favourite universes. I got along well with the other members and it was a great way for me to learn English. Importantly, we only ever communicated through text, never through voice or video calls.
This is where I met the main character of this story, let's call him Tom. Tom said he was 19 years old, and was the only guy active on the forum. He had a great way with words, was mature beyond his years, and had a natural charisma about him. Naturally, as a 15-year-old with no prior experience with relationships, I was instantly drawn to this mysterious, well-spoken figure. Over the course of a month since meeting him, our conversations grew in frequency and depth, until eventually we spoke to each other on chat clients for 3-4 hours a day. At the same time, we continued writing our stories, including a plethora of romantic scenes between our respective characters. We also shared poems that we had written. It was an intense experience for me - I had never really had such a deep connection with a 'boy' before.
My parents never really taught me the importance of internet safety, and I can't blame them: it was all still very new at this time, also to them. It was Tom and my other friends on the forum that stressed how important it was to keep personal information private, especially when they learned my age. Tom especially was adamant never to share my location or photo with anyone, not even with him. It made me feel safe with him - for how could someone who so actively dissuaded me from sharing my information be a monster?
Of course I fell in love with him, to whatever extent a 15-year-old brain can comprehend love.
From written descriptions I had given of myself, Tom had expressed that he thought I must look beautiful, and so the fool that I was I gathered up the courage to send him a picture of myself anyway, desperate for his approval. He was complimentary, but did ask me why I had sent him a picture. I admitted my feelings for him. Tom was understanding, but stressed that he would never be able to give me what I needed from him.
Still, that did not stop either of us from progressing the nature of our interactions into something more sinister. I call it sinister looking back on it as an adult; at the time it was titillating and exciting. We started to send each other 'kisses' goodnight, sent back and forth explicit drawings depicting characters that looked like us, and described other intimate interactions over chat.
My mother once came into my room and witnessed Tom calling me by an endearing term. She interrogated me and I begged her not to make me break off contact with Tom. She listened to me, but made me promise her to be sensible. I want to scream at her now for not stopping it then.
My school friends did what my mother could not: they were concerned for my safety, and stepped to the headmistress, who called me into her office. After telling Tom about the encounter, he panicked. He told me we could no longer chat, and made me promise to tell the headmistress that it was over. I was heartbroken, but promised him.
I did ask Tom if we could still communicate through other means - we were doing some online art projects together that we both wanted to finish. He said yes, we could still maintain contact over e-mail and forum DM, but chat was off the table for now. I took what I could get.
The years that followed were chaotic. Sometimes our contact would be e-mail only, then we would move back to chat. At times, when things got too hard, I would decide to go no-contact for a while. I had my first real relationships in the lulls, but I would always come back. Tom would always receive me with open arms, either as a friend whenever I was dating someone, or rekindling our romantic interactions when I was not. He was always kind, patient, sensitive, and seemed selfless in his interactions with me. He made me feel so good about myself that I became obsessed with him, convinced he was the love of my life.
Three years in, Tom knew my real name, knew where I lived, and had seen nudes of me (he used one as his desktop background for years). At the same time, I knew nothing about Tom. What was worse, the few details he had unintentionally revealed weren't adding up.
Tom always portrayed our story as one of star-crossed lovers who due to circumstance outside our control could never be together. He told me I would never love him if I ever saw him in real life. First he claimed that his face had been ruined by flesh-eating bacteria. When my biology degree taught me that it's nearly impossible to survive that, he claimed body dysmorphic disorder (which I think to some extent was true).
Things reached boiling point six years into this mess. He slipped up, and revealed a detail about his life that directly contradicted the only concrete thing he had ever told me about himself: his age. I took a day to process, then confronted him, asking him how old he really was. After some initial resistance, he admitted that he had lied.
Mid-thirties, he said. A decade(!) older than he had at first claimed. I should have been furious, but after 6 years of being charmed and manipulated by him, I could only feel sorry for him. When I assured him that nothing between us had to change because of a 'number', he dropped the next bombshell:
Tom: "Alright then. Mid-forties."
I felt like I couldn't breathe. For years, I had been having sexually explicit conversations with someone old enough to be my father when I had believed him to be my age. What was worse, it had all started when I was underage. I gave Tom an ultimatum: either tell me the full truth about who he was; or lose me forever. I gave him two weeks to send me his information. He decided not to, which should have immediately set off the alarm bells that there was even more he was lying about; more he had to hide. I didn't even consider that in the moment; my heart was broken once again, and I cut off contact.
At the time, Tom and I had a number of mutual friends that we both spoke to regularly. Two of these were my cousin and his wife. I went to see them after I found out about Tom's real age, trying to find solace and understanding from someone who also knew him. I felt incredibly betrayed and angry, and asked that they also break contact - maybe that was a bit of an a-hole move. They said no: after all, Tom had never revealed his age to my cousin or his wife. As such, he had never lied to them, only to me, and they were not willing to end their friendship with Tom over that. When I asked what they thought of a 40-year-old having explicit conversations with a 15-year-old, they said that from a certain age, the teenager also has a responsibility in preventing this.
My cousin and his wife were not the only mutual friends that knew what was going on. Amazingly and invariably, NONE of our mutual friends chose to break contact with Tom over this. It caused immense doubt in me. Was I wrong in judging Tom for lying to me? Maybe the lie wasn't so terrible. And all those explicit conversations? Well, I instigated a large number of them, not Tom, so maybe I was equally, if not largely, to blame.
The way I see it now: Tom is like a cult leader: no matter what he does or says, his 'followers' will defend him; even blame themselves if it strips him of guilt. What is worse, anyone who dropped out of his inner circle would feel incredibly isolated and excluded. My friends would not play games with me because they preferred playing games with him. They would not write with me, because writing with him was so much more fun. I wish I'd had the strength to stay away, but one year later I came crawling back, desperate to be included into his circle once again, desperate for his affection that the others seemed to thrive under.
I was 22 at this time. Our contact was sporadic for the next four years - I was hesitant to engage romantically with him, even though part of me, despite everything he had put me through, still 'loved' him (trust me, writing this down, my naivety is making me want to claw my eyes out). I entered a relationship with someone else during this time, and went back to no-contact for most of its 4-year duration. When that relationship ended, Tom and I started talking more again, slowly slipping back into old habits and using the same terms of endearment we had used in the past. Tom revealed more details about himself now - he would talk about his boss, his sister, his friends, his home-town, and discussed things that were going on in his personal life. We also started talking over voice-chat, and damn it, he had an attractive voice.
I had just turned 27 when a response of his triggered me. We were recalling the early days of our interactions, and I mentioned how he had once accidentally sent me an e-mail from a throwaway account. I recalled the address letter by letter (I have a mild form of autism). He went very quiet, and then said that my memory was astounding.
Something in my lizard brain decided to look up the name in that e-mail address. I had done the same 12 years prior, but I had much more information now. It took me three hours to cross-reference the tidbits of information he had fed me over the months and years within the context of this name. And what do you know: it WAS his real name. I continued looking for the rest of the evening.. and I found much more than I bargained for.
You see, Tom was not the only person registered to his house. He was reported to live there with a woman who shared his last name, let's call her Hannah. I naively thought she might be the sister he mentioned (though he had given another name). Fortunately for me, Hannah was a lot less careful than Tom with her personal information, and I soon found a link to her blog on her Twitter page. A goldmine of information, going back over 10 years, covering almost every single day since Tom and I started talking.
My blood went cold as I started reading. It soon became clear to me that not only was Hannah his WIFE of 25-or-so years, they had an 11-year-old SON together (let's call him Jacob). I was 100% sure it was his wife writing - I could easily cross-reference the little things he had told me (assembling a bookcase, having lamb for dinner, visiting SIL for the weekend, getting a sunburn) with the details she was sharing about their life.
Once more, I should have run for the hills. Once more, I didn't. I often wonder how I could have been so stupid as to let this shitshow continue for so long, despite the thousand-and-one reasons Tom had given me to drop him. I can only attribute it to some kind of twisted sunk cost fallacy. By recognising Tom for the monster that he was, I had to face having loved that monster for over a decade. It meant admitting to myself that I was a terrible judge of character, and how could I possibly trust anyone ever again if I could not trust my own judgment? Also, all our mutual friends had always normalised his behaviour to the extent that it seemed almost arrogant to say that HE was in the wrong.
Because of the reactions that I had received from my friends and cousin last time, I kept what I knew to myself, even from Tom. Enter the next ridiculous phase of the story: Tom was saying how he was ordering a passport SO THAT HE COULD COME TO VISIT ME AND MY COUSIN. And idiot that I was, I wanted nothing more, because I was STILL IN LOVE WITH THE SH*T even after everything he had done, now not only to me, but also to his wife Hannah and his son.
I met him in real life five months later. He would be visiting my house for the day, and I was planning to confront him about what I knew. I had given one of my close friends his real name and address, and had told them to contact the police in the event they didn't hear from me by evening - I had no idea how Tom would react when exposed. Probably the fact that I felt unsafe in the first place should have been enough reason not to meet him alone.
We met, and I wish I didn't feel attracted to this 50-year-old but I did. We talked a lot. Eventually, I decided to test him, to see if he would be disloyal to his wife. While our conversations had definitely been flirty over the past year or so, I had never actually been straight with Tom and told him I still felt the same way. So I told him. Credit to him where it is due, he said he couldn't pursue a relationship with me, but followed it up with 'that we could still hold hands and hug'. He did not tell me why he couldn't, of course.
Only then did I reveal what I knew. I told him I've known for months now what his real name is, where he works, where he lives, and who he lives with. I probably could've been a bit more sensitive in how I brought it up (but let's be honest he doesn't deserve it and I was pretty pissed off keeping this stuff inside for 5 months). He turned incredibly pale and said that I could ask him anything I wanted to know. I asked him about his wife and their relationship (which hadn't been good for years according to him), his son (the pride of his life), and why on earth he had chosen to have explicit exchanges with a 15-year-old as a married man ('I was drunk').
During his stay, we were never intimate in the 'spicy' way, but we did hold hands a lot, he would have his hand on my leg, and we shared long hugs. He stayed the nights at my cousin's, and a few days later he left to go back to his country.
I am not proud of what happened next. Over the next months, we video chatted almost every evening. The conversations got flirtier, the amount of clothes we were wearing diminished until we both went into the calls topless.
One night, things escalated. We had gotten into a fight earlier in the evening - he had revealed that during that first real-life meeting, he had made an audio recording of the whole conversation, apparently so he could later prove to his wife that nothing happened. I responded that it was ok (it totally wasn't but that's beside the point), that I had taken precautions as well, and told him about the friend I had contacted. He lost it, saying I had no right to share his personal details with my friend or anyone else. I got angry in return, saying that he had no reason to distrust me as in the 12 years of knowing each other I had never lied to him; on the other hand I had EVERY reason to distrust him as he literally hid a wife and son from me, and had lied to a 15-year-old girl about his age.
We were both emotionally drained after, and I took things a step further that night, and seduced him into doing more together in front of the camera, maybe knowing that he would be too drained to refuse. He asked me later if I had consciously manipulated him into going along with it, choosing a vulnerable moment to strike - maybe I did, and I regret it.
Over the next months, our 'mishap' developed into a full-blown affair. I visited his home-town about 5 times in the year that followed. We kissed, and did basically everything apart from the 'deed' itself. I think he never wanted to have traditional sex either because then he could keep justifying to himself that he hadn't cheated on his wife, or because he was terrified of getting me pregnant. During my stays in his home-town, he would bring his son Jacob along to our lunches and dinners. Mostly to pacify his wife I suspect, for how could it be an affair with his son around? I loved the kid, we got along well, but I hated the lie that I had to live. To put myself through this was one thing, but it was so unbelievably unfair on Hannah and Jacob.
The whole situation sent me into severe depression. I was abandoning my morals for this man whom I still could not trust. I was lonely, and didn't date because I refused to be a cheater myself (maybe hypocritical). With every real-life meeting, his mask slipped further, and by the end there was little left of the charismatic, caring man that I had imagined him to be. Still, I was so entangled with him that I could not imagine my life without Tom. I did not know who I was without this person, who had completely overshadowed at this point almost half my life and all my adult life. I was stuck.
Eventually, I gave Tom an ultimatum again: Hannah, or me. I gave him two months to make up his mind. We spoke daily, and as his 'deadline' was approaching he became verbally aggressive with me, saying that he wasn't enjoying our conversations as much as he used to because I kept bringing up the choice he had to make. I asked him what he needed from me. He said he needed more time. I am ashamed to say I gave him that time.
I was lucky to have found two very close friends among my colleagues over the course of this whole drama. They had slowly witnessed the situation devolve into something unmaintainable. One of them often visited when I had panic attacks; she even slept next to me on the bad nights to make sure I'd be ok. They recommended me to make written lists of the red flags that I saw, the abusive behaviours Tom had demonstrated, and the effects the whole situation was having on me. They made me see how he would never choose me, that he was happy using everything and everyone as long as it served his needs. They slowly guided me into making the right decision during a work conference, when I didn't have time to contact Tom. Being away from his reach for a week, combined with the continuous talks with my two friends throughout the conference, made me strong enough to make a decision. Together, we agreed that as soon as I got back home, I would call Tom and cut ties with him. My friends would be available on call straight after.
Thanks to my friends, I went through with it. I cut contact almost three years ago now. As expected, he did not fight for me, and never tried to contact me again. My friends saw me through the worst of it.
Four months after cutting ties with Tom, I met the man who is now my husband, and we are currently expecting a baby. He makes me unbelievably happy, and has taught me what a loving relationship should feel like. He knows about this whole story and is very supportive. He even encouraged me to post this as he believes it'd help me process things.
I am still in touch with some of Tom's friends: my cousin, his wife, and a 40-year-old woman who has been my friend since the start of this whole story and was my MOH during my wedding. I have decided not to hold it against them that they cannot let go of Tom - hell, I couldn't let go for 14 years. It just demonstrates the horrible grip and influence he has on people. My MOH and I have an understanding that we don't discuss Tom, and that saved the friendship - we actually have a lot in common and enjoy each other's company a lot. I refuse to lose any more people over him.
I am in a good place now, looking forward to the future, and can't wait to meet our child. Still, this experience has not left me unscathed. I still struggle with trust, in other people and myself, and feel that I am responsible for a lot of what happened. I feel incredibly ashamed and naive for my behaviour over the years. I especially feel horrible about what I did to Hannah and Jacob - as far as I know, Tom never told them about the affair, but I would be very surprised if Hannah didn't know what was going on. I do have my suspicions that I am not the only one Tom did this with, but I have no proof, and it does not take away any of my responsibility in all of this.
So reddit: did I seduce Tom as a 15-year-old, or did he groom me and manipulate me into falling for him? Or was our interaction simply toxic on both sides, and not any one person's fault? And AITA for having pursued this affair even after I found out Tom was married? Also, should I reach out to Hannah (though honestly I would be a bit scared to do so, and I don't feel at all like reinserting myself into Tom's life in any way)?
And finally the question that still keeps me up at night: did Tom ruin half my life, or did I do that all by myself? And if I had a role to play in this, am I fit to be a mother?
TL;DR: As a 15-year-old, I fell in love with a man who claimed he was 19 but was actually 40. 12 years later, I found out he had a wife and son, but had become so infatuated with him that I pursued an affair with him. I ended the affair two years later but still feel guilty. I feel like much of what happened is my responsibility, since I instigated most of the intimacy. AITA?
submitted by These-Giraffe-8473 to okstorytime [link] [comments]
It began about 17 years ago, when I was 15 and still in school. I frequented internet forums including several fan sites of video games and books I enjoyed. One of these was a role playing forum where I and five others were writing stories together in our favourite universes. I got along well with the other members and it was a great way for me to learn English. Importantly, we only ever communicated through text, never through voice or video calls.
This is where I met the main character of this story, let's call him Tom. Tom said he was 19 years old, and was the only guy active on the forum. He had a great way with words, was mature beyond his years, and had a natural charisma about him. Naturally, as a 15-year-old with no prior experience with relationships, I was instantly drawn to this mysterious, well-spoken figure. Over the course of a month since meeting him, our conversations grew in frequency and depth, until eventually we spoke to each other on chat clients for 3-4 hours a day. At the same time, we continued writing our stories, including a plethora of romantic scenes between our respective characters. We also shared poems that we had written. It was an intense experience for me - I had never really had such a deep connection with a 'boy' before.
My parents never really taught me the importance of internet safety, and I can't blame them: it was all still very new at this time, also to them. It was Tom and my other friends on the forum that stressed how important it was to keep personal information private, especially when they learned my age. Tom especially was adamant never to share my location or photo with anyone, not even with him. It made me feel safe with him - for how could someone who so actively dissuaded me from sharing my information be a monster?
Of course I fell in love with him, to whatever extent a 15-year-old brain can comprehend love.
From written descriptions I had given of myself, Tom had expressed that he thought I must look beautiful, and so the fool that I was I gathered up the courage to send him a picture of myself anyway, desperate for his approval. He was complimentary, but did ask me why I had sent him a picture. I admitted my feelings for him. Tom was understanding, but stressed that he would never be able to give me what I needed from him.
Still, that did not stop either of us from progressing the nature of our interactions into something more sinister. I call it sinister looking back on it as an adult; at the time it was titillating and exciting. We started to send each other 'kisses' goodnight, sent back and forth explicit drawings depicting characters that looked like us, and described other intimate interactions over chat.
My mother once came into my room and witnessed Tom calling me by an endearing term. She interrogated me and I begged her not to make me break off contact with Tom. She listened to me, but made me promise her to be sensible. I want to scream at her now for not stopping it then.
My school friends did what my mother could not: they were concerned for my safety, and stepped to the headmistress, who called me into her office. After telling Tom about the encounter, he panicked. He told me we could no longer chat, and made me promise to tell the headmistress that it was over. I was heartbroken, but promised him.
I did ask Tom if we could still communicate through other means - we were doing some online art projects together that we both wanted to finish. He said yes, we could still maintain contact over e-mail and forum DM, but chat was off the table for now. I took what I could get.
The years that followed were chaotic. Sometimes our contact would be e-mail only, then we would move back to chat. At times, when things got too hard, I would decide to go no-contact for a while. I had my first real relationships in the lulls, but I would always come back. Tom would always receive me with open arms, either as a friend whenever I was dating someone, or rekindling our romantic interactions when I was not. He was always kind, patient, sensitive, and seemed selfless in his interactions with me. He made me feel so good about myself that I became obsessed with him, convinced he was the love of my life.
Three years in, Tom knew my real name, knew where I lived, and had seen nudes of me (he used one as his desktop background for years). At the same time, I knew nothing about Tom. What was worse, the few details he had unintentionally revealed weren't adding up.
Tom always portrayed our story as one of star-crossed lovers who due to circumstance outside our control could never be together. He told me I would never love him if I ever saw him in real life. First he claimed that his face had been ruined by flesh-eating bacteria. When my biology degree taught me that it's nearly impossible to survive that, he claimed body dysmorphic disorder (which I think to some extent was true).
Things reached boiling point six years into this mess. He slipped up, and revealed a detail about his life that directly contradicted the only concrete thing he had ever told me about himself: his age. I took a day to process, then confronted him, asking him how old he really was. After some initial resistance, he admitted that he had lied.
Mid-thirties, he said. A decade(!) older than he had at first claimed. I should have been furious, but after 6 years of being charmed and manipulated by him, I could only feel sorry for him. When I assured him that nothing between us had to change because of a 'number', he dropped the next bombshell:
Tom: "Alright then. Mid-forties."
I felt like I couldn't breathe. For years, I had been having sexually explicit conversations with someone old enough to be my father when I had believed him to be my age. What was worse, it had all started when I was underage. I gave Tom an ultimatum: either tell me the full truth about who he was; or lose me forever. I gave him two weeks to send me his information. He decided not to, which should have immediately set off the alarm bells that there was even more he was lying about; more he had to hide. I didn't even consider that in the moment; my heart was broken once again, and I cut off contact.
At the time, Tom and I had a number of mutual friends that we both spoke to regularly. Two of these were my cousin and his wife. I went to see them after I found out about Tom's real age, trying to find solace and understanding from someone who also knew him. I felt incredibly betrayed and angry, and asked that they also break contact - maybe that was a bit of an a-hole move. They said no: after all, Tom had never revealed his age to my cousin or his wife. As such, he had never lied to them, only to me, and they were not willing to end their friendship with Tom over that. When I asked what they thought of a 40-year-old having explicit conversations with a 15-year-old, they said that from a certain age, the teenager also has a responsibility in preventing this.
My cousin and his wife were not the only mutual friends that knew what was going on. Amazingly and invariably, NONE of our mutual friends chose to break contact with Tom over this. It caused immense doubt in me. Was I wrong in judging Tom for lying to me? Maybe the lie wasn't so terrible. And all those explicit conversations? Well, I instigated a large number of them, not Tom, so maybe I was equally, if not largely, to blame.
The way I see it now: Tom is like a cult leader: no matter what he does or says, his 'followers' will defend him; even blame themselves if it strips him of guilt. What is worse, anyone who dropped out of his inner circle would feel incredibly isolated and excluded. My friends would not play games with me because they preferred playing games with him. They would not write with me, because writing with him was so much more fun. I wish I'd had the strength to stay away, but one year later I came crawling back, desperate to be included into his circle once again, desperate for his affection that the others seemed to thrive under.
I was 22 at this time. Our contact was sporadic for the next four years - I was hesitant to engage romantically with him, even though part of me, despite everything he had put me through, still 'loved' him (trust me, writing this down, my naivety is making me want to claw my eyes out). I entered a relationship with someone else during this time, and went back to no-contact for most of its 4-year duration. When that relationship ended, Tom and I started talking more again, slowly slipping back into old habits and using the same terms of endearment we had used in the past. Tom revealed more details about himself now - he would talk about his boss, his sister, his friends, his home-town, and discussed things that were going on in his personal life. We also started talking over voice-chat, and damn it, he had an attractive voice.
I had just turned 27 when a response of his triggered me. We were recalling the early days of our interactions, and I mentioned how he had once accidentally sent me an e-mail from a throwaway account. I recalled the address letter by letter (I have a mild form of autism). He went very quiet, and then said that my memory was astounding.
Something in my lizard brain decided to look up the name in that e-mail address. I had done the same 12 years prior, but I had much more information now. It took me three hours to cross-reference the tidbits of information he had fed me over the months and years within the context of this name. And what do you know: it WAS his real name. I continued looking for the rest of the evening.. and I found much more than I bargained for.
You see, Tom was not the only person registered to his house. He was reported to live there with a woman who shared his last name, let's call her Hannah. I naively thought she might be the sister he mentioned (though he had given another name). Fortunately for me, Hannah was a lot less careful than Tom with her personal information, and I soon found a link to her blog on her Twitter page. A goldmine of information, going back over 10 years, covering almost every single day since Tom and I started talking.
My blood went cold as I started reading. It soon became clear to me that not only was Hannah his WIFE of 25-or-so years, they had an 11-year-old SON together (let's call him Jacob). I was 100% sure it was his wife writing - I could easily cross-reference the little things he had told me (assembling a bookcase, having lamb for dinner, visiting SIL for the weekend, getting a sunburn) with the details she was sharing about their life.
Once more, I should have run for the hills. Once more, I didn't. I often wonder how I could have been so stupid as to let this shitshow continue for so long, despite the thousand-and-one reasons Tom had given me to drop him. I can only attribute it to some kind of twisted sunk cost fallacy. By recognising Tom for the monster that he was, I had to face having loved that monster for over a decade. It meant admitting to myself that I was a terrible judge of character, and how could I possibly trust anyone ever again if I could not trust my own judgment? Also, all our mutual friends had always normalised his behaviour to the extent that it seemed almost arrogant to say that HE was in the wrong.
Because of the reactions that I had received from my friends and cousin last time, I kept what I knew to myself, even from Tom. Enter the next ridiculous phase of the story: Tom was saying how he was ordering a passport SO THAT HE COULD COME TO VISIT ME AND MY COUSIN. And idiot that I was, I wanted nothing more, because I was STILL IN LOVE WITH THE SH*T even after everything he had done, now not only to me, but also to his wife Hannah and his son.
I met him in real life five months later. He would be visiting my house for the day, and I was planning to confront him about what I knew. I had given one of my close friends his real name and address, and had told them to contact the police in the event they didn't hear from me by evening - I had no idea how Tom would react when exposed. Probably the fact that I felt unsafe in the first place should have been enough reason not to meet him alone.
We met, and I wish I didn't feel attracted to this 50-year-old but I did. We talked a lot. Eventually, I decided to test him, to see if he would be disloyal to his wife. While our conversations had definitely been flirty over the past year or so, I had never actually been straight with Tom and told him I still felt the same way. So I told him. Credit to him where it is due, he said he couldn't pursue a relationship with me, but followed it up with 'that we could still hold hands and hug'. He did not tell me why he couldn't, of course.
Only then did I reveal what I knew. I told him I've known for months now what his real name is, where he works, where he lives, and who he lives with. I probably could've been a bit more sensitive in how I brought it up (but let's be honest he doesn't deserve it and I was pretty pissed off keeping this stuff inside for 5 months). He turned incredibly pale and said that I could ask him anything I wanted to know. I asked him about his wife and their relationship (which hadn't been good for years according to him), his son (the pride of his life), and why on earth he had chosen to have explicit exchanges with a 15-year-old as a married man ('I was drunk').
During his stay, we were never intimate in the 'spicy' way, but we did hold hands a lot, he would have his hand on my leg, and we shared long hugs. He stayed the nights at my cousin's, and a few days later he left to go back to his country.
I am not proud of what happened next. Over the next months, we video chatted almost every evening. The conversations got flirtier, the amount of clothes we were wearing diminished until we both went into the calls topless.
One night, things escalated. We had gotten into a fight earlier in the evening - he had revealed that during that first real-life meeting, he had made an audio recording of the whole conversation, apparently so he could later prove to his wife that nothing happened. I responded that it was ok (it totally wasn't but that's beside the point), that I had taken precautions as well, and told him about the friend I had contacted. He lost it, saying I had no right to share his personal details with my friend or anyone else. I got angry in return, saying that he had no reason to distrust me as in the 12 years of knowing each other I had never lied to him; on the other hand I had EVERY reason to distrust him as he literally hid a wife and son from me, and had lied to a 15-year-old girl about his age.
We were both emotionally drained after, and I took things a step further that night, and seduced him into doing more together in front of the camera, maybe knowing that he would be too drained to refuse. He asked me later if I had consciously manipulated him into going along with it, choosing a vulnerable moment to strike - maybe I did, and I regret it.
Over the next months, our 'mishap' developed into a full-blown affair. I visited his home-town about 5 times in the year that followed. We kissed, and did basically everything apart from the 'deed' itself. I think he never wanted to have traditional sex either because then he could keep justifying to himself that he hadn't cheated on his wife, or because he was terrified of getting me pregnant. During my stays in his home-town, he would bring his son Jacob along to our lunches and dinners. Mostly to pacify his wife I suspect, for how could it be an affair with his son around? I loved the kid, we got along well, but I hated the lie that I had to live. To put myself through this was one thing, but it was so unbelievably unfair on Hannah and Jacob.
The whole situation sent me into severe depression. I was abandoning my morals for this man whom I still could not trust. I was lonely, and didn't date because I refused to be a cheater myself (maybe hypocritical). With every real-life meeting, his mask slipped further, and by the end there was little left of the charismatic, caring man that I had imagined him to be. Still, I was so entangled with him that I could not imagine my life without Tom. I did not know who I was without this person, who had completely overshadowed at this point almost half my life and all my adult life. I was stuck.
Eventually, I gave Tom an ultimatum again: Hannah, or me. I gave him two months to make up his mind. We spoke daily, and as his 'deadline' was approaching he became verbally aggressive with me, saying that he wasn't enjoying our conversations as much as he used to because I kept bringing up the choice he had to make. I asked him what he needed from me. He said he needed more time. I am ashamed to say I gave him that time.
I was lucky to have found two very close friends among my colleagues over the course of this whole drama. They had slowly witnessed the situation devolve into something unmaintainable. One of them often visited when I had panic attacks; she even slept next to me on the bad nights to make sure I'd be ok. They recommended me to make written lists of the red flags that I saw, the abusive behaviours Tom had demonstrated, and the effects the whole situation was having on me. They made me see how he would never choose me, that he was happy using everything and everyone as long as it served his needs. They slowly guided me into making the right decision during a work conference, when I didn't have time to contact Tom. Being away from his reach for a week, combined with the continuous talks with my two friends throughout the conference, made me strong enough to make a decision. Together, we agreed that as soon as I got back home, I would call Tom and cut ties with him. My friends would be available on call straight after.
Thanks to my friends, I went through with it. I cut contact almost three years ago now. As expected, he did not fight for me, and never tried to contact me again. My friends saw me through the worst of it.
Four months after cutting ties with Tom, I met the man who is now my husband, and we are currently expecting a baby. He makes me unbelievably happy, and has taught me what a loving relationship should feel like. He knows about this whole story and is very supportive. He even encouraged me to post this as he believes it'd help me process things.
I am still in touch with some of Tom's friends: my cousin, his wife, and a 40-year-old woman who has been my friend since the start of this whole story and was my MOH during my wedding. I have decided not to hold it against them that they cannot let go of Tom - hell, I couldn't let go for 14 years. It just demonstrates the horrible grip and influence he has on people. My MOH and I have an understanding that we don't discuss Tom, and that saved the friendship - we actually have a lot in common and enjoy each other's company a lot. I refuse to lose any more people over him.
I am in a good place now, looking forward to the future, and can't wait to meet our child. Still, this experience has not left me unscathed. I still struggle with trust, in other people and myself, and feel that I am responsible for a lot of what happened. I feel incredibly ashamed and naive for my behaviour over the years. I especially feel horrible about what I did to Hannah and Jacob - as far as I know, Tom never told them about the affair, but I would be very surprised if Hannah didn't know what was going on. I do have my suspicions that I am not the only one Tom did this with, but I have no proof, and it does not take away any of my responsibility in all of this.
So reddit: did I seduce Tom as a 15-year-old, or did he groom me and manipulate me into falling for him? Or was our interaction simply toxic on both sides, and not any one person's fault? And AITA for having pursued this affair even after I found out Tom was married? Also, should I reach out to Hannah (though honestly I would be a bit scared to do so, and I don't feel at all like reinserting myself into Tom's life in any way)?
And finally the question that still keeps me up at night: did Tom ruin half my life, or did I do that all by myself? And if I had a role to play in this, am I fit to be a mother?
TL;DR: As a 15-year-old, I fell in love with a man who claimed he was 19 but was actually 40. 12 years later, I found out he had a wife and son, but had become so infatuated with him that I pursued an affair with him. I ended the affair two years later but still feel guilty. I feel like much of what happened is my responsibility, since I instigated most of the intimacy. AITA?
2024.06.09 17:46 Wimpy_Cursed Shattered Mind
Content warning: Contains mental health issues and physical violence.
The world breaks like glass, shattered as the world disappears into a black void. Embodiment of the soul floats in idle as shattered glass falls slower. It’s a shame, for souls to have lost their way but can still function. A blare bursts out from a black clock, soon to come at a silence from the smack of a button.
I wake up in a daze, accompanied by the sound of light rain getting caught by my bedroom window. I realize no other sound is made; my house falls silent. How unusual for morning hours. I get up from my bed, grabbing a set of clothes from my closet. Then, the realization hit once I hear my little sister’s muffled cry in a separate room, next to mine. “Right, my mother has died, how could I be so forgetful.”
June 7th, 2024, was the mark of my mother’s death. That night’s incident came at a flash. Me and my mother were walking on a familiar route. We were on a sidewalk with a silver railing attached on the opposing side of the black covered roads. During our walk, we discussed about my future while returning home with our groceries. Clouds were turning dark, so we sped up.
Then, a figure, that I can’t identify, came to me and my mother with a knife. This person kept going at my mother, enchasing their knife with blood. But why? Even when I landed jabs at this person, they wouldn’t stop stabbing my mother. After about five minutes of trading hits, this person ran away, dropping their blood filled knife, marking a path like a skipping rock. My mother sustained crucial damage and had a look of disappointment as I came to wrap her wounds and held her. In an immediate decision, I called for help on my phone. Rain started to settle, mixing with the blood of my mother’s body. As more blood exits her body, the more her heart rate diminished. Within a few moments, I was holding a corpse. Ambulance didn’t arrive on time.
A void started to close around me, leaving out all reality, and that was the last moment I could remember.
“That’ll be all for today, Mr. Mason. Thank you for telling us all the information from last night, we’ll be contacting you soon after we investigate this situation. You’re free to leave.” I exit out the interrogation after a brief amount of time, recollecting everything that has happened. My sister waited for me outside the room.
“Do you think they will be able to find the murderer?” My little sister has been tearing up for three hours, devastated from the loss of our mother. You could tell by her distressed look.
“Yes, don’t worry. We will be protected from this murderer.” I knew she would be worried about the murderer getting us next, though I am unsure if that is true. The murderer had one target last night, my mother in this instance, however I never understood the reason why. Did she have a debt overdue to a suspicious organization? Whatever the case, our family is in hot shit, and we need to protect ourselves.
“Are you sure, big brother?”
“Yes, let’s leave now, Julie. Come on, grab my hand.” We exit the stone building, having a few eyes following us as we left. As we step foot outside, rain welcomes us. Clouds are still darker than usual, longer than anticipated. We walk at a slow pace, my sister grabbing on to the wet silver railings as we pass the same street of last night’s incident. “The investigators are going to examine the knife tonight.”
“Will they be able to find the murderer soon, then?” There is a bit of an energy boost as she hears the news but is held back with grief once again.
“Yeah, possibility tonight. They will give me a call if they find anything.” My sister looks back to the ground in response.
We arrive home after a slow silent trip, knocking our shoes off towards the wooden shoe rack. “I’ll prepare lunch.” I grab some bread, cut two slices of tomato, cut some lettuce and prepare to cook bacon. I place two black pans on to the four heated stove, toasting bread on one pan, and placing bacon on the other. After a few minutes of flipping the bread and checking the bacon, I prepare to make our BLTs. I place our BLTs on our wooden family table. “Julie! Lunch is ready.”
We both sit in silence, eating our BLTs. Eating without our mother makes the family table seem pointless to attend, but we act as if she is still with us. Finishing our plates, I get up and head to my room to do my own investigation. “Julie, I am going to be busy for a while, okay?”
“Okay.” My sister has created a wall.
I get into my room, shutting the door behind me. I turn on my idle computer to wake from its slumber, soon followed by my monitor. Illuminating my face with light blue, I enter in my password and start searching the web for the location of the murder. There are a few articles about similar incidents happening, some dating back to recent months, the earliest being from a month ago, May 4th, 2024. Digging deeper into the articles, I discover about one man in particular, a tall black male that is about 6’4”, middle aged.
I research this man for about the second half of the day, coming to a realization that I haven’t made dinner yet. I open my door and make way to my living room, where I hear a news channel running on television. My sister is bundled up with her white bunny plushie, watching the news about our mother’s death. I look out a window, noticing a black void, and soon is followed by the same black figure climbing into the front window of my house, going straight for my sister. I lunge forward to the black figure, wrestling it, trading punches on the floor. My sister is screaming throughout the whole fight, but soon is silenced as the figure escapes my grasp and stabs my sister multiple times. I try to grab and strangle the figure, but the figure escapes by jumping out my window, dropping their knife once again.
I sit in silence, staring at the body of my sister, blood spilling out as she loses colour. “Why does this have to happen?” Void closes in on me once again, reality vanishing right before my eyes.
I wake up in an unfamiliar place, I am in a falling position, but I am not falling from anywhere. There is broken glass all around me. I look around and notice a figure, and it spoke, “Welcome back, how’s life?”
“Who are you? Where am I?” I am frightened by this event.
“Well, I am you, don’t you remember?” The area around us turned to a bright light, illumining the area. I am soon faced with the figure, and I realize the body is similar to the murderer going after my family.
“What sick joke is this? Why are you after my family?” My anger rises, still frightened.
“You mean, why are you going after your own family? You are the one killing off everyone you have left, don’t you remember?”
I step forward to the figure, but soon wake up in a hospital bed. “Must’ve been a dream, I guess.”
“Mr. Mason! Are you okay? Are you feeling well? You were knocked out in your home, along with your sister.” I am in a daze, feeling drained from waking up.
“Yes, I am okay. Is my sister alright?” I panic to await a response, hoping that my sister did not die that night.
“She’s alive, but in critical condition. You have been knocked out for a week, and the investigation has come to a finish. The investigators would like to speak to you whenever you’re ready.”
“Thank you.” I am filled with hope after hearing all the news. I lay in bed for a few more hours to recover and rethink everything. Feeling ready, I arise from my hospital bed and take a tour around the hospital to find my sister’s room.
I step into the room, looking at my sister. Then a doctor comes up to me and says, “She’s still unconscious, but her vital signs are active. We’ll update you if there is any change to her condition.”
“Thank you.” Before heading out of my sister’s hospital room, two older men step into the room and come up to me.
“Mr. Mason? We’d like to speak with you about the recent incidents. Come with us to the police station.” I am so close to finding out who this murderer is. Before heading out of the hospital, I sign some documents to update my records. The two are patient with me.
“Alright, I am ready to leave.” I drop the pen and walk out the main doors with the two men. They guide me to their four seated black car, and gesture me to go into the back of the car. For all of the ride, we kept silent as we headed towards the local police station.
“We have arrived. Let’s go inside.” The three of us get up, stepping foot into the same stone building I was in a week ago. Inside the building, we head for the interrogation room, a different one from last time. The room didn’t look so different itself, but the location is different. This time, a policeman is attending this meeting. I didn’t question the reason.
“So, we came to a conclusion of who murdered Jane and Julie Smith. It took a long time to verify the information as it came to a shock to the whole investigation team. After examining the two knives that the murderer left on scene, the system came to one person. That person would be you, Mason Smith.” I am confused by the results as the man spoke his words, but before I could speak, the other man speaks.
“Mason, we bring you here today to ask a few questions. In case you get violent, we have this police officer here to assist the situation.” My anger starts to fuel.
“How could this be possible? I saw the man myself! You must be framing me; I cannot trust you. In fact, I think you guys are the people involved with murdering my family.”
“Calm down, Mason. A witness from Witwerld Street sent us evidence of you stabbing your mother and beating yourself to a pulp. With the information tied together, we can assume you are the murderer in both cases. We’ll play the video for you.” I look at the video, seeing myself stab my own mother while punching my face.
“How could this be? This can’t be real.” I am in disbelief as I see myself holding my mother’s corpse, but soon am filled with sudden anger. “I see now. All of this is to get me, an incident citizen, into jail. What have I done to all of you guys to deserve this? Framing me with knives and now making a fake video?” In the corners of the room, black void appears.
“You can play this act up all you want, but you’re the murderer. Now, we can help you if you need it, but we need you to cooperate.
“Help me? You are digging me into the dirt right here!” I get up and try to leave the room but am pushed back to my chair by the back of a rifle.
“Stay in your seat!” The policeman is a mean guy. I stare into his eyes with anger, and notice the void growing at a quick pace, closing in on the policeman. The world is gone again. In a blink of an eye, I am faced with a broken mirror, seeing my own reflection. The area is filled with white all around.
“What is this. Why am I here?” I touch the mirror, and the shriek of broken glass responds to my ears as the area turns into a void. The mirror disappears, and soon the glass starts falling with me. After what felt like an hour, I am on my feet again. As I step foot, ripples of water respond. I start walking in a random direction, memories being showcased for a quick moment as I make a path.
“Oh, hey there. After all these years, you are here with me at last. Welcome back, Mason.” The familiar black figure that has been with me for this whole journey, has appeared. They are sitting on a white chair, cross legged. Droplets of rain appear, making a silent rhythm, and soon a flash of all my memories surround me, playing vivid loops of my life. Then, they disappear to the command of a snap from the black figure.
“Yes, I am back home.”
Note: I am not sure if I am able to post short stories here as there is no clear rule to it. However, based off my own judgement, it seems that it is acceptable. Anyway, I am looking for sources to upload my writings, and I ended up finding this subreddit. I would upload on Wattpad, but.. Yeah, I think I am good on that. My goal is to get additional feedback on my writing. I am currently in a creative writing class, but I want to practice further outside of that.
submitted by Wimpy_Cursed to KeepWriting [link] [comments]
The world breaks like glass, shattered as the world disappears into a black void. Embodiment of the soul floats in idle as shattered glass falls slower. It’s a shame, for souls to have lost their way but can still function. A blare bursts out from a black clock, soon to come at a silence from the smack of a button.
I wake up in a daze, accompanied by the sound of light rain getting caught by my bedroom window. I realize no other sound is made; my house falls silent. How unusual for morning hours. I get up from my bed, grabbing a set of clothes from my closet. Then, the realization hit once I hear my little sister’s muffled cry in a separate room, next to mine. “Right, my mother has died, how could I be so forgetful.”
June 7th, 2024, was the mark of my mother’s death. That night’s incident came at a flash. Me and my mother were walking on a familiar route. We were on a sidewalk with a silver railing attached on the opposing side of the black covered roads. During our walk, we discussed about my future while returning home with our groceries. Clouds were turning dark, so we sped up.
Then, a figure, that I can’t identify, came to me and my mother with a knife. This person kept going at my mother, enchasing their knife with blood. But why? Even when I landed jabs at this person, they wouldn’t stop stabbing my mother. After about five minutes of trading hits, this person ran away, dropping their blood filled knife, marking a path like a skipping rock. My mother sustained crucial damage and had a look of disappointment as I came to wrap her wounds and held her. In an immediate decision, I called for help on my phone. Rain started to settle, mixing with the blood of my mother’s body. As more blood exits her body, the more her heart rate diminished. Within a few moments, I was holding a corpse. Ambulance didn’t arrive on time.
A void started to close around me, leaving out all reality, and that was the last moment I could remember.
“That’ll be all for today, Mr. Mason. Thank you for telling us all the information from last night, we’ll be contacting you soon after we investigate this situation. You’re free to leave.” I exit out the interrogation after a brief amount of time, recollecting everything that has happened. My sister waited for me outside the room.
“Do you think they will be able to find the murderer?” My little sister has been tearing up for three hours, devastated from the loss of our mother. You could tell by her distressed look.
“Yes, don’t worry. We will be protected from this murderer.” I knew she would be worried about the murderer getting us next, though I am unsure if that is true. The murderer had one target last night, my mother in this instance, however I never understood the reason why. Did she have a debt overdue to a suspicious organization? Whatever the case, our family is in hot shit, and we need to protect ourselves.
“Are you sure, big brother?”
“Yes, let’s leave now, Julie. Come on, grab my hand.” We exit the stone building, having a few eyes following us as we left. As we step foot outside, rain welcomes us. Clouds are still darker than usual, longer than anticipated. We walk at a slow pace, my sister grabbing on to the wet silver railings as we pass the same street of last night’s incident. “The investigators are going to examine the knife tonight.”
“Will they be able to find the murderer soon, then?” There is a bit of an energy boost as she hears the news but is held back with grief once again.
“Yeah, possibility tonight. They will give me a call if they find anything.” My sister looks back to the ground in response.
We arrive home after a slow silent trip, knocking our shoes off towards the wooden shoe rack. “I’ll prepare lunch.” I grab some bread, cut two slices of tomato, cut some lettuce and prepare to cook bacon. I place two black pans on to the four heated stove, toasting bread on one pan, and placing bacon on the other. After a few minutes of flipping the bread and checking the bacon, I prepare to make our BLTs. I place our BLTs on our wooden family table. “Julie! Lunch is ready.”
We both sit in silence, eating our BLTs. Eating without our mother makes the family table seem pointless to attend, but we act as if she is still with us. Finishing our plates, I get up and head to my room to do my own investigation. “Julie, I am going to be busy for a while, okay?”
“Okay.” My sister has created a wall.
I get into my room, shutting the door behind me. I turn on my idle computer to wake from its slumber, soon followed by my monitor. Illuminating my face with light blue, I enter in my password and start searching the web for the location of the murder. There are a few articles about similar incidents happening, some dating back to recent months, the earliest being from a month ago, May 4th, 2024. Digging deeper into the articles, I discover about one man in particular, a tall black male that is about 6’4”, middle aged.
I research this man for about the second half of the day, coming to a realization that I haven’t made dinner yet. I open my door and make way to my living room, where I hear a news channel running on television. My sister is bundled up with her white bunny plushie, watching the news about our mother’s death. I look out a window, noticing a black void, and soon is followed by the same black figure climbing into the front window of my house, going straight for my sister. I lunge forward to the black figure, wrestling it, trading punches on the floor. My sister is screaming throughout the whole fight, but soon is silenced as the figure escapes my grasp and stabs my sister multiple times. I try to grab and strangle the figure, but the figure escapes by jumping out my window, dropping their knife once again.
I sit in silence, staring at the body of my sister, blood spilling out as she loses colour. “Why does this have to happen?” Void closes in on me once again, reality vanishing right before my eyes.
I wake up in an unfamiliar place, I am in a falling position, but I am not falling from anywhere. There is broken glass all around me. I look around and notice a figure, and it spoke, “Welcome back, how’s life?”
“Who are you? Where am I?” I am frightened by this event.
“Well, I am you, don’t you remember?” The area around us turned to a bright light, illumining the area. I am soon faced with the figure, and I realize the body is similar to the murderer going after my family.
“What sick joke is this? Why are you after my family?” My anger rises, still frightened.
“You mean, why are you going after your own family? You are the one killing off everyone you have left, don’t you remember?”
I step forward to the figure, but soon wake up in a hospital bed. “Must’ve been a dream, I guess.”
“Mr. Mason! Are you okay? Are you feeling well? You were knocked out in your home, along with your sister.” I am in a daze, feeling drained from waking up.
“Yes, I am okay. Is my sister alright?” I panic to await a response, hoping that my sister did not die that night.
“She’s alive, but in critical condition. You have been knocked out for a week, and the investigation has come to a finish. The investigators would like to speak to you whenever you’re ready.”
“Thank you.” I am filled with hope after hearing all the news. I lay in bed for a few more hours to recover and rethink everything. Feeling ready, I arise from my hospital bed and take a tour around the hospital to find my sister’s room.
I step into the room, looking at my sister. Then a doctor comes up to me and says, “She’s still unconscious, but her vital signs are active. We’ll update you if there is any change to her condition.”
“Thank you.” Before heading out of my sister’s hospital room, two older men step into the room and come up to me.
“Mr. Mason? We’d like to speak with you about the recent incidents. Come with us to the police station.” I am so close to finding out who this murderer is. Before heading out of the hospital, I sign some documents to update my records. The two are patient with me.
“Alright, I am ready to leave.” I drop the pen and walk out the main doors with the two men. They guide me to their four seated black car, and gesture me to go into the back of the car. For all of the ride, we kept silent as we headed towards the local police station.
“We have arrived. Let’s go inside.” The three of us get up, stepping foot into the same stone building I was in a week ago. Inside the building, we head for the interrogation room, a different one from last time. The room didn’t look so different itself, but the location is different. This time, a policeman is attending this meeting. I didn’t question the reason.
“So, we came to a conclusion of who murdered Jane and Julie Smith. It took a long time to verify the information as it came to a shock to the whole investigation team. After examining the two knives that the murderer left on scene, the system came to one person. That person would be you, Mason Smith.” I am confused by the results as the man spoke his words, but before I could speak, the other man speaks.
“Mason, we bring you here today to ask a few questions. In case you get violent, we have this police officer here to assist the situation.” My anger starts to fuel.
“How could this be possible? I saw the man myself! You must be framing me; I cannot trust you. In fact, I think you guys are the people involved with murdering my family.”
“Calm down, Mason. A witness from Witwerld Street sent us evidence of you stabbing your mother and beating yourself to a pulp. With the information tied together, we can assume you are the murderer in both cases. We’ll play the video for you.” I look at the video, seeing myself stab my own mother while punching my face.
“How could this be? This can’t be real.” I am in disbelief as I see myself holding my mother’s corpse, but soon am filled with sudden anger. “I see now. All of this is to get me, an incident citizen, into jail. What have I done to all of you guys to deserve this? Framing me with knives and now making a fake video?” In the corners of the room, black void appears.
“You can play this act up all you want, but you’re the murderer. Now, we can help you if you need it, but we need you to cooperate.
“Help me? You are digging me into the dirt right here!” I get up and try to leave the room but am pushed back to my chair by the back of a rifle.
“Stay in your seat!” The policeman is a mean guy. I stare into his eyes with anger, and notice the void growing at a quick pace, closing in on the policeman. The world is gone again. In a blink of an eye, I am faced with a broken mirror, seeing my own reflection. The area is filled with white all around.
“What is this. Why am I here?” I touch the mirror, and the shriek of broken glass responds to my ears as the area turns into a void. The mirror disappears, and soon the glass starts falling with me. After what felt like an hour, I am on my feet again. As I step foot, ripples of water respond. I start walking in a random direction, memories being showcased for a quick moment as I make a path.
“Oh, hey there. After all these years, you are here with me at last. Welcome back, Mason.” The familiar black figure that has been with me for this whole journey, has appeared. They are sitting on a white chair, cross legged. Droplets of rain appear, making a silent rhythm, and soon a flash of all my memories surround me, playing vivid loops of my life. Then, they disappear to the command of a snap from the black figure.
“Yes, I am back home.”
Note: I am not sure if I am able to post short stories here as there is no clear rule to it. However, based off my own judgement, it seems that it is acceptable. Anyway, I am looking for sources to upload my writings, and I ended up finding this subreddit. I would upload on Wattpad, but.. Yeah, I think I am good on that. My goal is to get additional feedback on my writing. I am currently in a creative writing class, but I want to practice further outside of that.
2024.06.09 17:42 MythicalBwast The game is a bit lackluster atm ; Update of Life
I just a post saying that this game is tiring and I agree. I do agree that playing a game for a long time and getting sick of it is a valid point. That's what happens to me with with Sims, but I also left because Gamelodt gave off the impression that they weren't money hungry and big on microtransaction. You know how EA is but that was until they went back on their word on Dreamlight Valley being free to play while still advertising it that way 6mo before said release. Then they said characters won't be behind a paywall and yet Wall-E, Ursula and Belle exist. And I can tell Adam will be behind one too.
Then not to mention the glitches and bugs. So many bugs in this game that are not being fixed with urgency. We bought the exapnsions just for it to not live up the hype. Barely any updates and I'm assuming the last update will be this summer? Unless we get a years worth but even then that's not worth 30 bucks, cause there's 6 or 5 more ports behind the castle. I'm gonna pay $150 dollars every 6-12mos for 3-6 free updates??? Big biomes with barely any decorations unique to these islands and not enough game buildings that don’t come from the premium shop? That doesn't seem worth it to me unless they will continue to pop out updates like they have done for the main Valley.
I really think after Tiana drops they need to stop making new content. They need to 1. Fix all the bug, glitches and constant crashing and freezing. 2. We need to have our levels updated. I think it goes to 40, we need to make it go to 80. The tabs should be better organized. We need a multilayer tab. A 3. Multi-player needs a very big update. I'm not paying for it after my subscription is over because it's a waste of my money. Not much to do especially being a PS player and no cross-play. 4. They need to add some character to the game, some more touch up as well as adding search bars like people have asked. Ad characters should get new animations animations dialouge. Especially the older one.
Like I love the game. Almost 1k hours on this thing, but after the main story, a few character levels for their missions, a few crafting here and leveled up attractions it gets boring. I do think after I have decorated every biome, leveled up every character, and gotten gotten 100k mist and Dreamlight I won't play the game as much if nothing is gonna change.
And don't get me wrong, I'm aware it's most the company not the game people but it's still frustrating. The star paths haven't seemed worth my time. Dreamsnaps being repeated gets tiring. Nothing new, it's a lot. It's just idk. I play other games like RPGs and stuff and you know they can take 70+ hours to complete, if you're a pro that is because I can replay those over and over and over because they have that much to do.
submitted by MythicalBwast to DreamlightValley [link] [comments]
Then not to mention the glitches and bugs. So many bugs in this game that are not being fixed with urgency. We bought the exapnsions just for it to not live up the hype. Barely any updates and I'm assuming the last update will be this summer? Unless we get a years worth but even then that's not worth 30 bucks, cause there's 6 or 5 more ports behind the castle. I'm gonna pay $150 dollars every 6-12mos for 3-6 free updates??? Big biomes with barely any decorations unique to these islands and not enough game buildings that don’t come from the premium shop? That doesn't seem worth it to me unless they will continue to pop out updates like they have done for the main Valley.
I really think after Tiana drops they need to stop making new content. They need to 1. Fix all the bug, glitches and constant crashing and freezing. 2. We need to have our levels updated. I think it goes to 40, we need to make it go to 80. The tabs should be better organized. We need a multilayer tab. A 3. Multi-player needs a very big update. I'm not paying for it after my subscription is over because it's a waste of my money. Not much to do especially being a PS player and no cross-play. 4. They need to add some character to the game, some more touch up as well as adding search bars like people have asked. Ad characters should get new animations animations dialouge. Especially the older one.
- We need to be able to really customize our valley. I think we should be able to reskin every building we get. Premium or no premium and it SHOULDN'T be in the premium shop either. It should should money and moonstone free. I like visiting my friends valley but we all have the same Scrooge store and Remy restaurant, and bakery, ect. Not too crazy but like being able to change change brick color, and the windows, and the color of those top things. Just color swatches basically. The ability to add walls inside a room. For either a bathroom or just a division. And they need to fix the alignment in the game as well as letting paths touch. That's a must. I hate the gap. And it's been two years. That little they update they did was cool, yes, but they need to go ahead and update the Scrooge store with a whole new catalog of clothes and furniture. Because them adding furniture and and clothes to the premium shop just about piss me off. And not to mention the furniture frequently has a red dot to stuff you have definitely already bought and just remove L couches, cabinets and chandeliers from the displays and just have them in the tab to avoid this issue because they thinknits funny but it's actually annoying. They just invented more space to see the same things. And I'm not sure how the sandbox works. I know it can't be like the sims but I like to have one flexibility on our homes. Open floor plans, windows actually having lighting no matter where they're placed and just the ability to not have everything so boxy and straightforward. It's really giving Sims Freeplay and I don't like that.
- We need LIFE. I love being the Queen, Ruler, Empress- whatever of Dreamlight Valley but I need a life. I'm not sayingbthey need to go full blown siks with jobs, care and toddlers, but something. I want to have the ability to have the Forgotten either be more human like; like they look like me but they have visuable features. Like their skin is either black or purple or vitiligo with black and purple, they either be your twin, or you can dress them up. I want to be able to assign them a room in my own and you actually see them in it. Sleeping, by the fire, something. Walking around the house, things like that. With a voice too or not but speech bubbles or be able to change the tune of their voice. I want to be able to have needs like in the sims. We have to eat, sleep, we can't actually sit to the tables and not so far back. Interact with objects like the toaster to cook, watch clips/trailers of movies or series as TV and that be a need of fun or entertainment. Using the bathroom is option but I would like to use my garden tub and glass shower and my Moana sink lop. Interact with merlijs items or the Tangled spindles and art easel. Pick up a book. Certain interaction with certain characters, like you're able to read to stitch(7 second animation or whatever), cast spells with Merlin, things like that. I'd like to be able to have relationships too, like our own NPCS, with either a room in our house or their own. Like siblings or spouses, pets - not companions, marriage or things like that. I thought we were getting cars or be able to drive the carriage, Oswald car or bus but even being about to ride the bikes/motorcycles would be cool. And just deeper lorr and gameplay like combat or just being able to hold a weapon and fight a villain or something. Basically being able to do disney/fantasy things in a Disney game.
Like I love the game. Almost 1k hours on this thing, but after the main story, a few character levels for their missions, a few crafting here and leveled up attractions it gets boring. I do think after I have decorated every biome, leveled up every character, and gotten gotten 100k mist and Dreamlight I won't play the game as much if nothing is gonna change.
And don't get me wrong, I'm aware it's most the company not the game people but it's still frustrating. The star paths haven't seemed worth my time. Dreamsnaps being repeated gets tiring. Nothing new, it's a lot. It's just idk. I play other games like RPGs and stuff and you know they can take 70+ hours to complete, if you're a pro that is because I can replay those over and over and over because they have that much to do.
2024.06.09 17:30 FriendlyFun9858 Just A Dream?
Hello rExp. I dint consider myself an experienced but I wanted to discuss this dream:
I dreamt I was in a ski lodge or some sort of hotel. A girl hunched over on a table at the hitel restaurant caught my attention. I approached her. She looked odd. Feminine but also masculine - short or no hair. In my dream I thought maybe she was trans. I'm not into trans but next thing you know I'm following her down a hallway with red carpet assuming I'm going to her room. Out of nowhere in front of her two very tall 7ft or more and bald men in odd clothing (capes?) Appeared. Silent and stoic they walked in front of the girl (she was 5 ft or so), and I walked behind. I suddenly realized this isn't right. These men were white . Paper white. I felt threatened. And immediately walked away. I could see one of them slightly turn back to look at me. They did not pursue. I woke up. And I had a realization. They were tall whites. They wanted to take me / "abduct me" But I declined and they allowed me to choose.
What do you make of this dream that felt like more than a dream?
submitted by FriendlyFun9858 to Experiencers [link] [comments]
I dreamt I was in a ski lodge or some sort of hotel. A girl hunched over on a table at the hitel restaurant caught my attention. I approached her. She looked odd. Feminine but also masculine - short or no hair. In my dream I thought maybe she was trans. I'm not into trans but next thing you know I'm following her down a hallway with red carpet assuming I'm going to her room. Out of nowhere in front of her two very tall 7ft or more and bald men in odd clothing (capes?) Appeared. Silent and stoic they walked in front of the girl (she was 5 ft or so), and I walked behind. I suddenly realized this isn't right. These men were white . Paper white. I felt threatened. And immediately walked away. I could see one of them slightly turn back to look at me. They did not pursue. I woke up. And I had a realization. They were tall whites. They wanted to take me / "abduct me" But I declined and they allowed me to choose.
What do you make of this dream that felt like more than a dream?
2024.06.09 17:29 OrlonDogger A Witch at Midnight - Chapter 38
[First] [Previous] [Next]
With the use of ancient and forbidden magic, a handful of Mages erased the collective memory of the world, turning many innocent practitioners into mere Sleepers. Only a few trusted folk were left with access to the Runes, and the vast majority of those left with power united to form two sister organizations: The Exodus Corps and the Genesis Corps. One to oversee mages, and one to look after Sleepers.
“Okay, two things.” Tav interrupted once again. “First, I have never heard of any of those, so I assume they either died off or are a secret.”
“Correct on both accounts.” Mustafá nodded.
“I guess Genesis is no more then.” The youth blinked. “Anyways… So we are dealing with Exodus now, which has the power to erase and rewrite memories!? What hope do we have against power like that!?”
The alchemist closed her eyes. She agreed, full heartedly, that such tremendous power shouldn’t be in the hands of anyone.
“I am unsure if such magic is possible anymore, with the changes in how information works and flows in our world.” Mustafá shrugged softly. “But it is not worth it to worry about that, at least not for now. May I continue?”
With Tav’s nod, the old mage continued her story.
The arrival of the Age of Silence did not stop the efforts of humanity for complete control of Jericho. More and more magical beings were erased or enslaved, for people considered them an abomination against their new understanding of the world.
Until everything reached a breaking point.
Mustafá glared for a moment, falling silent and taking a sip of her tea before resuming.
One day, all of a sudden, all magical creatures disappeared from the face of Jericho, apparently at the same time. And soon after that… a mist began spreading through the entire world. A thick, malicious fog carrying horrors of flesh and bone to Jericho, turning animals and humans alike into abominations which had been hidden in the imagination of men for the longest time.
The survivors came to call this cataclysmic event ‘The First Sacrifice’, and it is thought to be the revenge of the forsaken Presences of Jericho, and the many displaced magical creatures.
“It took centuries to rebuild the world after that.” Mustafá said, looking into her cup of tea. “It was terrible for everyone involved… and now, a little beyond six hundred years later, we are facing the start of a Second Sacrifice, a return of the same mist that once covered the world, and the horrors that come with it.”
Storytime was over. Tav’s eyes stared into the middle distance as she tried to imagine it, a fog so thick that could cover the Sun in its entirety. Nightmarish beings roaming the land, death for everyone. She shivered, closing her eyes and trembling for a moment before looking at her teacher once again.
“Wait. How do you even know it is coming? How can you be so sure?” The youth questioned.
“I learned to see the signs, the shifts in the mana of the world, the changes in the Third Layer, the apparent reduction in the amount of unexplainable events.” The alchemist sighed, before forcing herself to admit. “I am not the only one who has been fearing this, nor the only one who has confirmed its coming.”
“H-How long do we have?” The apprentice was starting to feel the pressure. “Is there something we can do!?”
“I don’t have a specific date, but I know that it must happen this year.” Mustafá shook her head, setting her empty cup on the table. “As per what we can do… the book must be the answer. It was written by one of the greatest minds from the First Sacrifice.”
“Humiko did look like the sort of person who knew things…” Tav mumbled mostly to herself. “... Where will it all start?”
“The North Pole.” The teacher nodded softly.
“That’s where we have to go as soon as this book is translated, then. That’s what her introduction said…” The young one finished her cup of tea in one gulp, setting it down as well. “Let’s get to it.”
If Mustafá had the power of smiling right there, she would. Her lips curled up, ever so slightly, as she nodded and cracked her knuckles, walking over to the pile of dried clothes and pulling her turban out. She couldn’t teach without it, at least she felt that way.
“Where’s the iron? I wish to iron my clothes.” The alchemist stretched lazily. “Once that’s done, we are leaving again. We will practice in your assigned Elysium.”
“Isn’t that a bit dangerous? Anyone could see us.” Tav asked to divert from the fact that she didn’t exactly remember where her iron was.
“That’s the point. You need to be seen, at least a little bit, before people stop suspecting you of being evil, or worse, a leech on society.” Mustafá, catching the nervous glances of her apprentice, just sighs and conjures both an iron and an ironing board with a flick of her wrist.
The younger one sighs in relief, before she suddenly realizes something.
“Wait, if you can just conjure stuff like that, why did we have to go to Obuda for bread!? Couldn’t you just summon or create the bread instead of paying for it!?”
“I am not good at making bread.” The alchemist answered, setting her clothes on the board and plugging in the iron.
“Oh but you’re good at making electrical appliances?” The apprentice grew rowdy.
“One.” Mustafá began counting with her fingers. “I am not creating these, I am technically summoning them from my apartment. Two, I am very good at making electrical appliances, thank you. Three, you can only create the objects that you actually understand, so even if I know how bread is made, my lack of talent for baking means my produce will always be inferior to an actual baker.”
“Oh…” Tav frowned. “I guess that makes sense…”
“Four. Just for that, you’re ironing my clothes.” The teacher walked back to her seat.
“Argh, you bitch…”
Knowing that arguing with this woman was useless, the apprentice sighed and got to work immediately, politely leaving the underwear on the side to work with the rest of the clothes. She had her limits.
Honestly, when I started thinking and hearing about Elysiums as magical places, I was expecting something far more mystical or something. Not that there’s anything wrong with a mysterious building in the middle of the city, no; I guess these hideouts need to keep appearances up so people don’t come around making the wrong questions, but… a Cat Café? Really? I didn’t even know we had one in Saüle!
Entering wasn’t a problem, for the place opened quite early in the morning. Soon enough, Mustafá and I are sitting on a puffy couch, in the middle of a warm and comfortable living room decorated with pastel colours and many figurines of cats… not to mention the REAL cats, gathering around Mustafá like bees to honey while completely ignoring me.
She doesn’t look really happy about it.
“The more magical potential you develop, the more you start attracting cats. Or repelling them. It’s a coin toss, depends on the cat really.” She explains with a sigh. “That’s why cats make good familiars.”
“So familiars are a thing, huh?” I tilt my head.
“Of course they are a thing. Did you really think no one would try magic with animal companions? They are dumb as bricks, but useful if you are into that.” Mustafá clearly wasn’t into that, gently pushing the cats away from her as they purred and seeked her attention. “Shoo.”
To keep appearances, and to enjoy the delicious hot cocoa they serve here, we decide to stay a bit in the actual café… but soon enough, Mustafá grows restless and annoyed with all the attention and demands we go into the Elysium proper. Right when I am finally managing to bond with a silly but loving orange cat! I don’t even manage to make the silly lasagna cat joke when she pulls me by the arm and takes me over to the kind lady tending to the café.
I don’t even get the chance to speak when suddenly my teacher pulls out both of our credentials. For a moment I think her mad… but then, I try to put those feelings down and trust her. She is my teacher now, after all! She’s supposed to know what she’s doing.
“Ah…” The lady nodded, recognition in her eyes. “Sorry, I didn’t know you were kin. Let me register your entrance.”
Mustafá probably feels my eyes on her, asking questions in silence, because she immediately says:
“Most Elysiums, except for the more public ones, have a guardian that keeps tabs on who enters and who exits them. The members of the Brotherhood are fascists.”
I immediately tell her to hush up, checking to see if the café lady heard her. Luckily, she seems busy looking for her note book. With a sigh, I turn to Mustafá and shake my finger.
“Don’t. Say those things. We all think them, we all know they are true, but we don’t just call a pig a pig to its face!!” I can feel the strength leaving my body as I tell this to her. Her lack of common sense is killing me.
“You’re way too soft.” She simply says, shrugging as the tending lady returns with an open book. “Put your thumb on the page and sign your name.”
I do as she says, even though there’s no ink to dunk my finger in or anything. The paper itself takes the print from my thumb and I feel a little burning sensation on my skin for a few seconds. With a wince I pull my hand off, shaking it for a moment and then taking the pencil to sign my name besides the black print.
Mustafá does the same soon enough, without even caring about the burn, and then we are both directed to a door ‘in the end of the hallway, to your left’. She just lets us leave, just like that! Not even doubting our intentions or anything. Again, I turn to my teacher as we walk through the hall.
“What was that all about?”
“To avoid people using glamour, which is a thing by the way, to sneak in with other identities, they use special paper to reveal your real identity using your fingerprints.” She shrugs.
“What, can’t you change your fingerprints with magic?” I grin, feeling smart and subversive.
“No.” She answers calmly, turning to the left and facing a wall in the hallway. “One of the aspects in which Sleeper Technology has surpassed us is the ability to modify and take care of the body.”
Now that takes me by surprise.
“So there’s no magical medicine?!” I say, louder than I intended.
“You can make magical remedies and enhancements, but magic can’t directly warp the body in any shape or form.” She explained, looking for the Phi symbol carved in the wall. “We are too dense, too attached to our body… It’s also forbidden to even try. We don’t want to end up with another ‘Flesh Sculptor’ situation.”
“A what situation?” Now that has to be made up, I demand for it to be made up.
“Ah, here it is.” Mustafá ignores me once more, pushing a finger against the symbol on the wall and letting her magic do the rest… I watch the octarine travel through her body into the wooden wall, forming a round door leading to a set of stairs. “Come.”
“No, seriously, what was that about ‘Flesh Sculptors’!?” I follow closely to her, watching our access into the dark stairway close right behind us.
“Don’t worry about it. They used to be a great number of them among the necromancers, but lately it’s just an old wives’ tale. Something to make little kids wet their pants.” Again, the damn crone (because I am sure she’s far older than she looks) comes so close to smiling it is actually a bit unnerving.
Honestly… the more I learn of this magical world, the more scared I feel.
submitted by OrlonDogger to HFY [link] [comments]
With the use of ancient and forbidden magic, a handful of Mages erased the collective memory of the world, turning many innocent practitioners into mere Sleepers. Only a few trusted folk were left with access to the Runes, and the vast majority of those left with power united to form two sister organizations: The Exodus Corps and the Genesis Corps. One to oversee mages, and one to look after Sleepers.
“Okay, two things.” Tav interrupted once again. “First, I have never heard of any of those, so I assume they either died off or are a secret.”
“Correct on both accounts.” Mustafá nodded.
“I guess Genesis is no more then.” The youth blinked. “Anyways… So we are dealing with Exodus now, which has the power to erase and rewrite memories!? What hope do we have against power like that!?”
The alchemist closed her eyes. She agreed, full heartedly, that such tremendous power shouldn’t be in the hands of anyone.
“I am unsure if such magic is possible anymore, with the changes in how information works and flows in our world.” Mustafá shrugged softly. “But it is not worth it to worry about that, at least not for now. May I continue?”
With Tav’s nod, the old mage continued her story.
The arrival of the Age of Silence did not stop the efforts of humanity for complete control of Jericho. More and more magical beings were erased or enslaved, for people considered them an abomination against their new understanding of the world.
Until everything reached a breaking point.
Mustafá glared for a moment, falling silent and taking a sip of her tea before resuming.
One day, all of a sudden, all magical creatures disappeared from the face of Jericho, apparently at the same time. And soon after that… a mist began spreading through the entire world. A thick, malicious fog carrying horrors of flesh and bone to Jericho, turning animals and humans alike into abominations which had been hidden in the imagination of men for the longest time.
The survivors came to call this cataclysmic event ‘The First Sacrifice’, and it is thought to be the revenge of the forsaken Presences of Jericho, and the many displaced magical creatures.
“It took centuries to rebuild the world after that.” Mustafá said, looking into her cup of tea. “It was terrible for everyone involved… and now, a little beyond six hundred years later, we are facing the start of a Second Sacrifice, a return of the same mist that once covered the world, and the horrors that come with it.”
Storytime was over. Tav’s eyes stared into the middle distance as she tried to imagine it, a fog so thick that could cover the Sun in its entirety. Nightmarish beings roaming the land, death for everyone. She shivered, closing her eyes and trembling for a moment before looking at her teacher once again.
“Wait. How do you even know it is coming? How can you be so sure?” The youth questioned.
“I learned to see the signs, the shifts in the mana of the world, the changes in the Third Layer, the apparent reduction in the amount of unexplainable events.” The alchemist sighed, before forcing herself to admit. “I am not the only one who has been fearing this, nor the only one who has confirmed its coming.”
“H-How long do we have?” The apprentice was starting to feel the pressure. “Is there something we can do!?”
“I don’t have a specific date, but I know that it must happen this year.” Mustafá shook her head, setting her empty cup on the table. “As per what we can do… the book must be the answer. It was written by one of the greatest minds from the First Sacrifice.”
“Humiko did look like the sort of person who knew things…” Tav mumbled mostly to herself. “... Where will it all start?”
“The North Pole.” The teacher nodded softly.
“That’s where we have to go as soon as this book is translated, then. That’s what her introduction said…” The young one finished her cup of tea in one gulp, setting it down as well. “Let’s get to it.”
If Mustafá had the power of smiling right there, she would. Her lips curled up, ever so slightly, as she nodded and cracked her knuckles, walking over to the pile of dried clothes and pulling her turban out. She couldn’t teach without it, at least she felt that way.
“Where’s the iron? I wish to iron my clothes.” The alchemist stretched lazily. “Once that’s done, we are leaving again. We will practice in your assigned Elysium.”
“Isn’t that a bit dangerous? Anyone could see us.” Tav asked to divert from the fact that she didn’t exactly remember where her iron was.
“That’s the point. You need to be seen, at least a little bit, before people stop suspecting you of being evil, or worse, a leech on society.” Mustafá, catching the nervous glances of her apprentice, just sighs and conjures both an iron and an ironing board with a flick of her wrist.
The younger one sighs in relief, before she suddenly realizes something.
“Wait, if you can just conjure stuff like that, why did we have to go to Obuda for bread!? Couldn’t you just summon or create the bread instead of paying for it!?”
“I am not good at making bread.” The alchemist answered, setting her clothes on the board and plugging in the iron.
“Oh but you’re good at making electrical appliances?” The apprentice grew rowdy.
“One.” Mustafá began counting with her fingers. “I am not creating these, I am technically summoning them from my apartment. Two, I am very good at making electrical appliances, thank you. Three, you can only create the objects that you actually understand, so even if I know how bread is made, my lack of talent for baking means my produce will always be inferior to an actual baker.”
“Oh…” Tav frowned. “I guess that makes sense…”
“Four. Just for that, you’re ironing my clothes.” The teacher walked back to her seat.
“Argh, you bitch…”
Knowing that arguing with this woman was useless, the apprentice sighed and got to work immediately, politely leaving the underwear on the side to work with the rest of the clothes. She had her limits.
Honestly, when I started thinking and hearing about Elysiums as magical places, I was expecting something far more mystical or something. Not that there’s anything wrong with a mysterious building in the middle of the city, no; I guess these hideouts need to keep appearances up so people don’t come around making the wrong questions, but… a Cat Café? Really? I didn’t even know we had one in Saüle!
Entering wasn’t a problem, for the place opened quite early in the morning. Soon enough, Mustafá and I are sitting on a puffy couch, in the middle of a warm and comfortable living room decorated with pastel colours and many figurines of cats… not to mention the REAL cats, gathering around Mustafá like bees to honey while completely ignoring me.
She doesn’t look really happy about it.
“The more magical potential you develop, the more you start attracting cats. Or repelling them. It’s a coin toss, depends on the cat really.” She explains with a sigh. “That’s why cats make good familiars.”
“So familiars are a thing, huh?” I tilt my head.
“Of course they are a thing. Did you really think no one would try magic with animal companions? They are dumb as bricks, but useful if you are into that.” Mustafá clearly wasn’t into that, gently pushing the cats away from her as they purred and seeked her attention. “Shoo.”
To keep appearances, and to enjoy the delicious hot cocoa they serve here, we decide to stay a bit in the actual café… but soon enough, Mustafá grows restless and annoyed with all the attention and demands we go into the Elysium proper. Right when I am finally managing to bond with a silly but loving orange cat! I don’t even manage to make the silly lasagna cat joke when she pulls me by the arm and takes me over to the kind lady tending to the café.
I don’t even get the chance to speak when suddenly my teacher pulls out both of our credentials. For a moment I think her mad… but then, I try to put those feelings down and trust her. She is my teacher now, after all! She’s supposed to know what she’s doing.
“Ah…” The lady nodded, recognition in her eyes. “Sorry, I didn’t know you were kin. Let me register your entrance.”
Mustafá probably feels my eyes on her, asking questions in silence, because she immediately says:
“Most Elysiums, except for the more public ones, have a guardian that keeps tabs on who enters and who exits them. The members of the Brotherhood are fascists.”
I immediately tell her to hush up, checking to see if the café lady heard her. Luckily, she seems busy looking for her note book. With a sigh, I turn to Mustafá and shake my finger.
“Don’t. Say those things. We all think them, we all know they are true, but we don’t just call a pig a pig to its face!!” I can feel the strength leaving my body as I tell this to her. Her lack of common sense is killing me.
“You’re way too soft.” She simply says, shrugging as the tending lady returns with an open book. “Put your thumb on the page and sign your name.”
I do as she says, even though there’s no ink to dunk my finger in or anything. The paper itself takes the print from my thumb and I feel a little burning sensation on my skin for a few seconds. With a wince I pull my hand off, shaking it for a moment and then taking the pencil to sign my name besides the black print.
Mustafá does the same soon enough, without even caring about the burn, and then we are both directed to a door ‘in the end of the hallway, to your left’. She just lets us leave, just like that! Not even doubting our intentions or anything. Again, I turn to my teacher as we walk through the hall.
“What was that all about?”
“To avoid people using glamour, which is a thing by the way, to sneak in with other identities, they use special paper to reveal your real identity using your fingerprints.” She shrugs.
“What, can’t you change your fingerprints with magic?” I grin, feeling smart and subversive.
“No.” She answers calmly, turning to the left and facing a wall in the hallway. “One of the aspects in which Sleeper Technology has surpassed us is the ability to modify and take care of the body.”
Now that takes me by surprise.
“So there’s no magical medicine?!” I say, louder than I intended.
“You can make magical remedies and enhancements, but magic can’t directly warp the body in any shape or form.” She explained, looking for the Phi symbol carved in the wall. “We are too dense, too attached to our body… It’s also forbidden to even try. We don’t want to end up with another ‘Flesh Sculptor’ situation.”
“A what situation?” Now that has to be made up, I demand for it to be made up.
“Ah, here it is.” Mustafá ignores me once more, pushing a finger against the symbol on the wall and letting her magic do the rest… I watch the octarine travel through her body into the wooden wall, forming a round door leading to a set of stairs. “Come.”
“No, seriously, what was that about ‘Flesh Sculptors’!?” I follow closely to her, watching our access into the dark stairway close right behind us.
“Don’t worry about it. They used to be a great number of them among the necromancers, but lately it’s just an old wives’ tale. Something to make little kids wet their pants.” Again, the damn crone (because I am sure she’s far older than she looks) comes so close to smiling it is actually a bit unnerving.
Honestly… the more I learn of this magical world, the more scared I feel.
2024.06.09 17:06 Oxiclean4me Mid May trip report: 2 weeks in Tokyo, Kyoto, Takamatsu, art islands, Beppu, Fukuoka
Hey all, This subreddit was an indispensable resource in my planning my trip, so I wanted to return the favor with highlights from my trip and general experiences/tips. I spent 14 days (+ 3 travel days from/to the states), with 3 friends that joined me for different parts of the trip. Here's my itinerary with highlights/comments:
Number of nights per city: Tokyo(3), Kyoto(3), Takamatsu(3), Beppu(2), Fukuoka(4)
Day 1 - Tokyo (9.24 miles walked)
Oh man, this island is jam packed with amazing art. We ran out of time to see everything, but with the aid of e-bikes we managed to check out the Art house project, Chichu art museum, Benesse museum. People who really want to see everything may want to budget 1.5-2 days for this island. This was also one of my favorite days of the trip. Really unique art work in a beautiful setting.
Day 8 - Day trip to Teshima island (12.07 miles).
If you are going on a Monday, beware: most of the museums on Naoshima are closed so everyone is hitting up Teshima.... our ferry got sold out while we were waiting in line, forcing us to take an alternative route by detouring to a different island first. By the time we got to Teshima, most of the e-bike rental stores were out of stock. Despite those hang-ups, we were able to see the Teshima art museum, Teshima Yoko House, and ride around part of the island. We were worried about the return ferry getting sold out so we staked out the office for like a solid hour before the ticket counter opened. Although we didn't have a full day, we felt pretty content with what we saw/what the island had to offer.
Day 9 - Takamatsu Beppu (5.91 miles*)
Day 10 - Day trip to the Kunisaki peninsula (6.96 miles)
submitted by Oxiclean4me to JapanTravel [link] [comments]
Number of nights per city: Tokyo(3), Kyoto(3), Takamatsu(3), Beppu(2), Fukuoka(4)
Day 1 - Tokyo (9.24 miles walked)
- Stayed in Roppongi, which I really enjoyed- great location with fun side streets to wander down.
- Rainy day so I hit up museums nearby: Suntory art museum, which houses classic Japanese art/artifacts; and the Tokyo national art center, which was hosting this massive juried exposition of contemporary art. Made for a cool juxtaposition.
- Checked out some specialty stores in Shibuya.
- Harukor for lunch- a small hole in the wall restaurant serving indigenous cuisine with friendly owners.
- Afura for dinner- low-key ramen/dipping noodle spot.
- Walked around Meiji shrine and surrounding neighborhood
- Shinjuku to check out some specialty stores (Sekaido stationary store, etc).
- Walked around Shimokitazawa neighborhood- very cute, young neighborhood with vintage stores. I wasn't planning on doing any clothes shopping because I'm tall by Japanese-standards and clothes shopping isn't generally my idea of a fun time, but I stumbled across an amazing 70's vintage dress here that is probably my most treasured purchase from the trip.
- Had an amazing kaseiki dinner at Ise sueyoshi. 100% recommend. Was the most expensive meal of my life to date (to be fair, I'm not much of a foodie) but it was such a great experience. They are also unusually accommodating for dietary restrictions, so vegetarians/vegans/gluten intolerant folks take note!
- Stored our luggage at Tokyo station before a day of sightseeing.
- Walked around Imperial Palace grounds, then Kagurazaka neighborhood (this was ok, some nice little shops but I think maybe I was expecting a bit more?). My friends hit up a wood block studio that was located in a neighborhood east of Kagurazaka, they found some really great prints here. Sorry, don't have the name of the store.
- Walked through Ginza before hopping on the bullet train. There was an elevated highline-esque walkway over by the Miyazaki clock that was nice, but I otherwise wasn't super into Ginza. A lot of European designer stores, if that's your thing.
- Took a silly amount of time to find our stored luggage (air tags were helpful!) and then find the bullet train section of Tokyo station. I had read warnings to give yourself plenty of time to find the train platform after purchasing the shinkansen ticket, but the ticket machines for our line were immediately adjacent to the platforms so we ended up spending 40 minutes sitting on the floor of the station waiting for our train...seriously there are like no benches in that station!
- Rented an older home in a fantastic location- small quiet neighborhood just north east of Shosei-en garden.
- This was probably my favorite day of the entire trip. Got an early start at Murin-an garden, then headed over to Nanzen-ji, Saisho-in, Okunoin temples. Okunoin temple was a rec that I found on here, it's kinda hidden behind the Nanzen-ji complex. A hilly path leading up to a waterfall with altars(?) along the way. There was this man with some sort of instrument made from a turtle shell who was playing at each altar. It was hella enchanting. Walked north on the Philosopher's path, stopping at Honenin temple and Higashiyama jisho-ji. I was really worried about crowds but for a mid-week morning/early afternoon there really wasn't that many people around, except for Higashiyama.
- Again on a reddit rec, we wandered through the woods to find Mo-an, this somewhat hidden cafe with amazing desserts. The experience of forging through a forest unsure where we were going (took a wrong turn and stumbled into the Yoshida shrine) and finding this tree-house like oasis was incredible. The matcha chiffon cake was delicious.
- In the evening we checked out an antique shop in Gion and walked Pontocho Alley after dinner. Honestly, the alley was too crowded to enjoy.
- Got up early and hiked up Fushimi inari taisha. I think we made it back down by like 9:30 am which helped avoid crowds.
- Near our rental was Shosei-en garden and a lovely matcha soft-serve ice cream cafe (Walden woods- they also sold great candles).
- In the afternoon we headed north to do some shopping: the Kyoto Handicraft Center and some small antique stores between there and the Kyoto Gyoen national garden. We were pretty exhausted at that point so we didn't venture very far, just walked along the southern edge.
- Went to a curry restaurant that was veg-friendly: Koisus curry and tempura.
- Taking a rec that I read on here, we waited until later in the night (~8:30ish?) to check out Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka neighborhoods. Very few people around that late so that was a success.
- Hopped on the bullet train to Takamatsu with a stop to tour Himeji castle. It's one of the few original castles still standing and considered one of Japan's best so it seemed foolish not to check it out. While we were there the city was having a parade/festival so that was fun to watch.
- We picked Takamatsu as our home base for touring the art islands. The ferry ride is shortest here (compared to Okayama) and the port is walkable from downtown. Many of the restaurants here turned us away with out dinner reservations (hard to tell if that was the actual policy or if they didn't want to serve 4 Americans?) but we had a great time watching the chef at the grill of this small izakaya, Kuishinbo.
Oh man, this island is jam packed with amazing art. We ran out of time to see everything, but with the aid of e-bikes we managed to check out the Art house project, Chichu art museum, Benesse museum. People who really want to see everything may want to budget 1.5-2 days for this island. This was also one of my favorite days of the trip. Really unique art work in a beautiful setting.
Day 8 - Day trip to Teshima island (12.07 miles).
If you are going on a Monday, beware: most of the museums on Naoshima are closed so everyone is hitting up Teshima.... our ferry got sold out while we were waiting in line, forcing us to take an alternative route by detouring to a different island first. By the time we got to Teshima, most of the e-bike rental stores were out of stock. Despite those hang-ups, we were able to see the Teshima art museum, Teshima Yoko House, and ride around part of the island. We were worried about the return ferry getting sold out so we staked out the office for like a solid hour before the ticket counter opened. Although we didn't have a full day, we felt pretty content with what we saw/what the island had to offer.
Day 9 - Takamatsu Beppu (5.91 miles*)
- Before hopping on the train to Kyushu, we checked out Ritsurin garden. They have lockers for luggage and an impressive giftshop.
- In Beppu, we stayed in a ryokan that had private onsen rentals which was nice for the naked-squeamish. Had dinner at an izakaya (Robata Jin) that was another reddit rec. Pro-tip: when we showed up, the hostess told us they were full but when I pushed about later availability ("atode?") she conferred and was like, we can sit in 30 minutes. So don't be afraid to ask instead of accepting defeat, haha.
Day 10 - Day trip to the Kunisaki peninsula (6.96 miles)
- Rented a car to drive up to Kunisaki peninsula. Was a really unique experience driving through rural mountainous terrain, visiting ancient temples (Futagoji) and ruins (Kyu sento ji) and an amazing panoramic view from a cliffside temple (Itsutsuji Fudou). I had a couple other potential sites on my list, but we ran out of time/steam to check them out. Restaurants are a bit scarce up there so we packed snacks to tide us over.
- On the way back to Beppu we stopped and had a soak at an onsen in the middle of a bamboo grove (Yoyama no sato). There were like 6 or so different outdoor pools next to a waterfall/stream- such a cool experience.
- In the evening, took a walk along the beach front.
- Decided to hold onto the rental car and make the 2 hour drive across Kyushu to the last city of the trip, Fukuoka. Stopped in Hita to check out Onta pottery village- this community still produces their clay and fires their ceramics without electricity- was a cool experience watching that. There was maybe 10 studios all in close proximity of each other. I was really excited to get lunch at Ohara Chaya, but they were closed for the day, but there were plenty of other options in the area- we settled for a cute Italian pasta restaurant (Luciano?) run by a single guy. Also stopped at Ukiha inari shrine. We opted to drive to the top instead of doing the hike.
- Stayed in Tenjin neighborhood in Fukuoka- very vibrant nightlife/restaurant/shopping scene here. Very walkable and close to the subway. After dinner, walked around Ohori Park.
- Cute bakery for breakfast (BREAD) and then did a lot of shopping. There are so many multi-level shopping complexes in Tenjin that finding a specific store ended up being difficult because we couldn't tell if we were in the right building. Takumi Gallery had a great assortment of crafts/souvenirs, Yokka was a cute little gift store.
- Went to Fukuoka art museum in Ohori Park- the permanent collection (contemporary art) is on the small side but free and well curated. Stopped for gelato on the walk back (Raccolto)
- For dinner went to a homey neighborhood restaurant to try okonomiyaki (Mimi). More wandering around Tenjin in the evening.
- Took a cab to Aburayama Citizens Forest to do some bird watching in the early morning. Would recommend if you are into camping or hiking (or birding)- great vista viewpoints, many waterfalls, new facilities and a number of trail options ranging from easy/paved to steep/rugged. BUT, getting out here was kinda a pain in the ass. Despite being a 35 min drive from downtown Fukuoka, taxi drivers were generally confused as to where I wanted to go and the nearest bus stop is an hour walk from the center of the park. I still found it worth it despite the inconvenience.
- Back in Fukuoka by noon, had a nice curry lunch at Re cell kitchen.
- For dinner I ventured out to try the yatai food stall experience. Went to Remy's which is run by French expats. Was a fun experience and definitely recommend for solo travelers.
- In the early AM, took the train out to Hakata Bay Imazu tidal flats. Kinda a bust for the birds, but it was nice walking along the beach and there was a cute bakery nearby (right by Imajuku station).
- In the afternoon, I went out to Dazaifu. From the station to the shrine it was an absolute zoo (it was a Sunday I think), but the Kyushu national museum was much less busy and had cool exhibits on the history of Kyushu/Japan in a beautiful building. Also stumbled across a cute little Italian cafe (CoRicco) that was thankfully empty, although a little pricey (but still cheap compared to US restaurants).
- Back in Tenjin, I wandered around some shopping plazas and tried to hit up the yatai's again for dinner but it started pouring rain.
- Definitely could have used a third day in Kyoto. Some people may be bored with 4 full days in Fukuoka (there isn't as many daytime sights in the city proper) but I really enjoyed the city's vibe and it was nice to end the trip with a longer stay in one place. Overall was very happy with the mix of urban, rural, outdoorsy, cosmopolitan, and art experiences that this itinerary gave us.
- My packing strategy was to head over with a carry-on travel backpack (Peak Design 45L). I held off on making large purchases until I got to Kyushu, which was perfect- Fukuoka has great shopping options. I bought a cheap duffle bag from Don Quixote to stuff my clothes in and checked that for the flights back.
- I opted for a data sim card delivered to my first hotel and confirmed that my phone was unlocked/compatible....only to discover that my phone had an extra layer of lockedness and couldn't use the sim card (this seems to be a common issue according to others on google?). So that was an unexpected stressowaste of money. I ended up finding a portable wifi rental store in Shibuya that I could return at the Fukuoka airport so it wasn't a complete disaster. But still an unpleasant surprise after being awake for over 24 hours just arriving in a new country/city.
- I was really nervous about driving in Japan (opposite side of the road from where I live), but it ended up not being that bad. It helped having 3 other attentive passengers, being in a rural area, and I had recovered from jetlag by that point of the trip. Also, Japanese drivers are way less aggressive in than east coast Americans.
- I had grand plans to get through all 5 modules of Pimsleur's Japanese course, but I only made it through unit 1 and was glad I did it. Like 90-95% of the content was relevant for tourists and it gave me enough of a familiarity with pronunciation to fill in the gaps with phrases I found through google searches. I filled out a couple index cards with phrases I thought would be most helpful and they were really indispensible. Especially dining out vocab (asking for a table for 4, how to order from the menu, polite expressions, etc). I think the locals appreciated that I was trying and if they said something I didn't understand (which was frequently), I would say sumimasen, yoku wakarimasen (I'm sorry, I don't understand well) and they usually could supply the necessary english words to communicate their question, etc. So I'm glad I put in the effort. It took me maybe 30 hours to get through unit 1 of the course.
- As a pescatarian/vegetarian, it took a little bit of work and trial and error to find veg friendly restaurants/communicate my diet with staff. Some people didn't understand what I meant when I said I'm vegetarian (Watashiwah bejitarian dis), but everyone understood "I don't eat meat" (Ohnekuwah chotto). I found it helpful to state that and then pointedly ask, what can I eat? (my grammar is probably wrong, but I think I would say "nanio taberaremaska?"). I suggest this approach because at one restaurant I had stated that I was vegetarian, the waiter seemed to understand what I meant but then I went ahead and ordered items that seemed vegetarian and they ended up having meat in them. Wasn't a big deal for me, I didn't have a problem eating around it, but it may be a problem for more strict vegetarians. In terms of finding veg friendly restaurants, I did a lot of cross-referencing with Happy Cow. By no means comprehensive, but it was a helpful resource.
- Related, if you are capable of calling a restaurant to make dinner reservations, try to. A lot of restaurants don't seem to take walk-ins (especially teppanyaki restaurants) and a lot of restaurants didn't seem to have online reservation systems. Restaurants in Kyoto were fine with walk-ins but there were so many tourists you had to deal with long waits to get in. Don't wait until you're hungry to figure out dinner plans- you'll just end up really hangry.
- Despite heavily relying on the train for getting from city to city, we didn't bother with the JR pass. Didn't seem worth the price, especially since it doesn't cover Nozomi trains.
- I'm not seasonal allergy prone, but the pollen was brutal in Kyoto in May. We were all very puffy faced, but still able to enjoy sightseeing. So pack allergy meds or plan to hit up a drug store. Funnily enough, we were fine everywhere else in Japan.
- Used the GO app for hailing taxis. A lot more taxis use this than Uber. It didn't work in Takamatsu or Beppu, however.
2024.06.09 16:38 rainbow--penguin [The Weight of Words] - Chapter 81 - A New Perspective
<< First Chapter
< Previous Chapter Next Chapter >
Madeline shuffled in her seat, eyes darting around the room, looking at anything and everything apart from Marcus as she tried to sift through her thoughts. Not that there was much to look at between the plain off-white walls and the worn grey carpet. The room was completely bare apart from the table she and the young guard were sitting at. She wondered what it was usually used for. A quiet office? An interrogation room? A holding cell? Or maybe it was reserved for just this — when an inmate wanted a quiet word with a guard.
Whatever it was used for, the room seemed designed to provide as little distraction as possible. But that was good, wasn’t it? No more delays. That was what she’d agreed with Billie. She would ask her questions now, and then it would be done. The chips would fall and if she got in trouble she could start picking up the pieces.
“Madeline?” Marcus prompted. “You really can ask me anything, you know. It might be hard to believe, but I promise that you can trust me.”
She finally let herself look at him, but her lips remained firmly sealed.
“Besides, I’d have thought you were keen to get this over with so you could go and have dinner.” He grinned at her, tilting his head to look out at her under raised eyebrows. “You’re normally very keen to eat.”
Though she couldn’t bring herself to laugh at his joke, it was reassuring how hard he was trying to be nice. She really wanted to believe that it couldn’t all be an act.
She nodded to herself, taking a deep breath. “I’m sorry. It’s just like I said earlier, I really don’t want to give you the wrong idea or get you in trouble or get me in trouble.” Shifting slightly under his steady gaze, she looked down at her fingers fidgeting and twisting together on the table.
Until a hand slid across into her eye line.
She froze.
Marcus froze too, his hand millimetres from her own. Then, it slid forward again and closed over hers. Though she tensed, she didn’t flinch or pull back. She slowly looked up and met his wide, kind eyes. “I… I was wondering if… I wanted to ask you about…” She closed her eyes and forced the words out. “Has anyone ever tried to escape from here before? And if so, what happened?”
The hand on hers twitched slightly but remained where it was. Surely that was a good sign?
She opened her eyes to see Marcus’s gaze fixed on her, his expression frustratingly neutral.
“Yes,” he said levelly. “People have tried to escape before. Of course they have. People value their freedom.”
“And?”
“And some managed. Though some of those were caught again, and it didn’t end well for them.”
“And those that didn’t manage?”
“It didn’t end well for them either. They tend to make an example of anyone who tries it.” The hand on hers finally slid back, but he leaned in closer, face twisted by concern. “Why are you asking this?”
Finally, one of the answers she’d rehearsed! “Well, I was just wondering about Billie’s brother — and anyone else we might want to enquire about. If they’d escaped or tried to escape, would they still be in the system? And would you be able to tell us about it, even if it wasn’t good news?”
His eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn’t call her out on what now seemed such an obvious lie. “They would still be in our system, yes. As for whether we would pass on the information as to what happened to them… That would depend on the good it could do.”
“Of course. I just know how much closure can help.”
“And that’s the only reason you’re asking?” he asked with raised eyebrows.
She nodded quickly. “Mmhhmm.”
“Because if there might be another reason, I would have to implore you in the strongest possible terms to reconsider whatever you might be planning. Because… Because like I said, it won’t end well.” He inched further towards her, leaning her across the table. “It won’t be by my hand, I can promise you that, but I can’t protect you from the others. And I really, really don’t want to see that happen to you, Madeline. I… I care about you.”
Madeline’s breath caught in her throat. For all Billie’s teasing, she hadn’t really, truly considered the possibility that they might be right. She’d never exactly been popular with boys, particularly with boys like Marcus — a fact that had never really bothered her. And what could she possibly have done to warrant his interest in her baggy shapeless work clothes?
“You remind me so much of my sister,” he continued, glancing down at his hands on the table.
She let out the breath she hadn’t realised she was holding.
“She’d have been about your age. She was shy at first too, but had an outrageous mouth on her once you got to know her. She was smart — always reading — and she was quiet and sweet… too sweet for this world.”
Now, it was Madeline’s turn to reach across the table, slipping her hand over his and squeezing gently. “Did you lose her?”
He shrugged. “I suppose I did in pretty much every sense of the word. Though perhaps I’ll never know for certain. So believe me when I say I know what you mean about the importance of closure.”
“What happened?”
Looking up to meet her gaze, he gave her a wan smile. “We’re not here to talk about me. We’re here to answer your questions.”
She smiled back. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. But you’ve been such a help to me here. So if you ever want to talk about it, I’d love to listen.”
He was silent a while, expression glazed over as if his mind was elsewhere. Then, his eyes snapped back into focus as if a decision had been reached. “The short version is that we got separated, like so many people did in the early days. I spent a long time looking for her, and it led me here. I paid my dues and worked hard. When they told me she wasn’t in the system, I didn’t believe them. I figured if I became a guard I could check for myself and, well… it turned out they weren’t lying. Or if they were, they covered their tracks well.”
“I’m sorry that you couldn’t find her.”
“Me too.” Glancing back down, he placed his other hand over hers and squeezed slightly. “And I’d also be very sorry if anything happened to you. So please, Madeline, be careful. While I promise you can trust me, there’s not much I can do to help if you get in trouble. And I really couldn’t stand to see you get in trouble.”
“I promise that I’ll be careful,” she said. After all, it was technically true. And though she’d lied many times to survive in this world, it seemed wrong to repay Marcus’s honesty with her own dishonesty.
“And that includes not mentioning any of this to anyone else. If anyone asks, you were here to talk to me about Liam and ask about the arrangements for your family room, okay?”
“Okay. Actually, since you bring it up, are there any updates there?”
He snorted. “Trust me, as soon as there are any updates I will make sure you’re the first to know.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Madeline. You’re always welcome.” Pushing his chair back, he stood. “Now shall we get you back to the dormitory so you can get some dinner?”
She followed suit, chair scraping across the worn carpet. “That sounds good. And Marcus?”
“Hmmm?”
“I really do mean it. Thank you.”
On the walk back, Madeline felt lighter. She hadn’t exactly learned much, though she supposed she should take heart from the fact that some people had successfully escaped this place. But the thing putting a spring back into her step was the knowledge that she had a true friend on her side. And despite what Billie might say, she didn’t need to worry about giving him the wrong impression or any romantic overtures.
In fact, it turned out that Marcus was just like them. He’d come here in search of someone he’d loved and lost.
Madeline wondered how many of the other guards here had similar stories. She was sure that some were attracted to the role because of the power over others, but plenty of them seemed like nice enough human beings. When she’d first arrived, she hadn’t been able to fathom the sort of person who would willingly work for or with the Poiloogs — at least not one she’d like to meet. But perhaps the world was even less black and white than she’d thought.
She could even start to see a world where she’d be happy enough staying here.
Of course, she missed her freedom. Her books. Her library. But the work wasn’t too bad. She had food and a bed. She had Billie. And apparently, she had Marcus too. And soon, she’d have Liam. In a lot of ways, that was a better existence than the one she’d had just a year ago — free, but alone, surviving rather than living.
Author's Note: Next chapter due on 16th June
submitted by rainbow--penguin to redditserials [link] [comments]
< Previous Chapter Next Chapter >
Madeline shuffled in her seat, eyes darting around the room, looking at anything and everything apart from Marcus as she tried to sift through her thoughts. Not that there was much to look at between the plain off-white walls and the worn grey carpet. The room was completely bare apart from the table she and the young guard were sitting at. She wondered what it was usually used for. A quiet office? An interrogation room? A holding cell? Or maybe it was reserved for just this — when an inmate wanted a quiet word with a guard.
Whatever it was used for, the room seemed designed to provide as little distraction as possible. But that was good, wasn’t it? No more delays. That was what she’d agreed with Billie. She would ask her questions now, and then it would be done. The chips would fall and if she got in trouble she could start picking up the pieces.
“Madeline?” Marcus prompted. “You really can ask me anything, you know. It might be hard to believe, but I promise that you can trust me.”
She finally let herself look at him, but her lips remained firmly sealed.
“Besides, I’d have thought you were keen to get this over with so you could go and have dinner.” He grinned at her, tilting his head to look out at her under raised eyebrows. “You’re normally very keen to eat.”
Though she couldn’t bring herself to laugh at his joke, it was reassuring how hard he was trying to be nice. She really wanted to believe that it couldn’t all be an act.
She nodded to herself, taking a deep breath. “I’m sorry. It’s just like I said earlier, I really don’t want to give you the wrong idea or get you in trouble or get me in trouble.” Shifting slightly under his steady gaze, she looked down at her fingers fidgeting and twisting together on the table.
Until a hand slid across into her eye line.
She froze.
Marcus froze too, his hand millimetres from her own. Then, it slid forward again and closed over hers. Though she tensed, she didn’t flinch or pull back. She slowly looked up and met his wide, kind eyes. “I… I was wondering if… I wanted to ask you about…” She closed her eyes and forced the words out. “Has anyone ever tried to escape from here before? And if so, what happened?”
The hand on hers twitched slightly but remained where it was. Surely that was a good sign?
She opened her eyes to see Marcus’s gaze fixed on her, his expression frustratingly neutral.
“Yes,” he said levelly. “People have tried to escape before. Of course they have. People value their freedom.”
“And?”
“And some managed. Though some of those were caught again, and it didn’t end well for them.”
“And those that didn’t manage?”
“It didn’t end well for them either. They tend to make an example of anyone who tries it.” The hand on hers finally slid back, but he leaned in closer, face twisted by concern. “Why are you asking this?”
Finally, one of the answers she’d rehearsed! “Well, I was just wondering about Billie’s brother — and anyone else we might want to enquire about. If they’d escaped or tried to escape, would they still be in the system? And would you be able to tell us about it, even if it wasn’t good news?”
His eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn’t call her out on what now seemed such an obvious lie. “They would still be in our system, yes. As for whether we would pass on the information as to what happened to them… That would depend on the good it could do.”
“Of course. I just know how much closure can help.”
“And that’s the only reason you’re asking?” he asked with raised eyebrows.
She nodded quickly. “Mmhhmm.”
“Because if there might be another reason, I would have to implore you in the strongest possible terms to reconsider whatever you might be planning. Because… Because like I said, it won’t end well.” He inched further towards her, leaning her across the table. “It won’t be by my hand, I can promise you that, but I can’t protect you from the others. And I really, really don’t want to see that happen to you, Madeline. I… I care about you.”
Madeline’s breath caught in her throat. For all Billie’s teasing, she hadn’t really, truly considered the possibility that they might be right. She’d never exactly been popular with boys, particularly with boys like Marcus — a fact that had never really bothered her. And what could she possibly have done to warrant his interest in her baggy shapeless work clothes?
“You remind me so much of my sister,” he continued, glancing down at his hands on the table.
She let out the breath she hadn’t realised she was holding.
“She’d have been about your age. She was shy at first too, but had an outrageous mouth on her once you got to know her. She was smart — always reading — and she was quiet and sweet… too sweet for this world.”
Now, it was Madeline’s turn to reach across the table, slipping her hand over his and squeezing gently. “Did you lose her?”
He shrugged. “I suppose I did in pretty much every sense of the word. Though perhaps I’ll never know for certain. So believe me when I say I know what you mean about the importance of closure.”
“What happened?”
Looking up to meet her gaze, he gave her a wan smile. “We’re not here to talk about me. We’re here to answer your questions.”
She smiled back. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. But you’ve been such a help to me here. So if you ever want to talk about it, I’d love to listen.”
He was silent a while, expression glazed over as if his mind was elsewhere. Then, his eyes snapped back into focus as if a decision had been reached. “The short version is that we got separated, like so many people did in the early days. I spent a long time looking for her, and it led me here. I paid my dues and worked hard. When they told me she wasn’t in the system, I didn’t believe them. I figured if I became a guard I could check for myself and, well… it turned out they weren’t lying. Or if they were, they covered their tracks well.”
“I’m sorry that you couldn’t find her.”
“Me too.” Glancing back down, he placed his other hand over hers and squeezed slightly. “And I’d also be very sorry if anything happened to you. So please, Madeline, be careful. While I promise you can trust me, there’s not much I can do to help if you get in trouble. And I really couldn’t stand to see you get in trouble.”
“I promise that I’ll be careful,” she said. After all, it was technically true. And though she’d lied many times to survive in this world, it seemed wrong to repay Marcus’s honesty with her own dishonesty.
“And that includes not mentioning any of this to anyone else. If anyone asks, you were here to talk to me about Liam and ask about the arrangements for your family room, okay?”
“Okay. Actually, since you bring it up, are there any updates there?”
He snorted. “Trust me, as soon as there are any updates I will make sure you’re the first to know.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Madeline. You’re always welcome.” Pushing his chair back, he stood. “Now shall we get you back to the dormitory so you can get some dinner?”
She followed suit, chair scraping across the worn carpet. “That sounds good. And Marcus?”
“Hmmm?”
“I really do mean it. Thank you.”
On the walk back, Madeline felt lighter. She hadn’t exactly learned much, though she supposed she should take heart from the fact that some people had successfully escaped this place. But the thing putting a spring back into her step was the knowledge that she had a true friend on her side. And despite what Billie might say, she didn’t need to worry about giving him the wrong impression or any romantic overtures.
In fact, it turned out that Marcus was just like them. He’d come here in search of someone he’d loved and lost.
Madeline wondered how many of the other guards here had similar stories. She was sure that some were attracted to the role because of the power over others, but plenty of them seemed like nice enough human beings. When she’d first arrived, she hadn’t been able to fathom the sort of person who would willingly work for or with the Poiloogs — at least not one she’d like to meet. But perhaps the world was even less black and white than she’d thought.
She could even start to see a world where she’d be happy enough staying here.
Of course, she missed her freedom. Her books. Her library. But the work wasn’t too bad. She had food and a bed. She had Billie. And apparently, she had Marcus too. And soon, she’d have Liam. In a lot of ways, that was a better existence than the one she’d had just a year ago — free, but alone, surviving rather than living.
2024.06.09 16:37 rainbow--penguin [SF]
Link to serial master post for other chapters
Madeline shuffled in her seat, eyes darting around the room, looking at anything and everything apart from Marcus as she tried to sift through her thoughts. Not that there was much to look at between the plain off-white walls and the worn grey carpet. The room was completely bare apart from the table she and the young guard were sitting at. She wondered what it was usually used for. A quiet office? An interrogation room? A holding cell? Or maybe it was reserved for just this — when an inmate wanted a quiet word with a guard.
Whatever it was used for, the room seemed designed to provide as little distraction as possible. But that was good, wasn’t it? No more delays. That was what she’d agreed with Billie. She would ask her questions now, and then it would be done. The chips would fall and if she got in trouble she could start picking up the pieces.
“Madeline?” Marcus prompted. “You really can ask me anything, you know. It might be hard to believe, but I promise that you can trust me.”
She finally let herself look at him, but her lips remained firmly sealed.
“Besides, I’d have thought you were keen to get this over with so you could go and have dinner.” He grinned at her, tilting his head to look out at her under raised eyebrows. “You’re normally very keen to eat.”
Though she couldn’t bring herself to laugh at his joke, it was reassuring how hard he was trying to be nice. She really wanted to believe that it couldn’t all be an act.
She nodded to herself, taking a deep breath. “I’m sorry. It’s just like I said earlier, I really don’t want to give you the wrong idea or get you in trouble or get me in trouble.” Shifting slightly under his steady gaze, she looked down at her fingers fidgeting and twisting together on the table.
Until a hand slid across into her eye line.
She froze.
Marcus froze too, his hand millimetres from her own. Then, it slid forward again and closed over hers. Though she tensed, she didn’t flinch or pull back. She slowly looked up and met his wide, kind eyes. “I… I was wondering if… I wanted to ask you about…” She closed her eyes and forced the words out. “Has anyone ever tried to escape from here before? And if so, what happened?”
The hand on hers twitched slightly but remained where it was. Surely that was a good sign?
She opened her eyes to see Marcus’s gaze fixed on her, his expression frustratingly neutral.
“Yes,” he said levelly. “People have tried to escape before. Of course they have. People value their freedom.”
“And?”
“And some managed. Though some of those were caught again, and it didn’t end well for them.”
“And those that didn’t manage?”
“It didn’t end well for them either. They tend to make an example of anyone who tries it.” The hand on hers finally slid back, but he leaned in closer, face twisted by concern. “Why are you asking this?”
Finally, one of the answers she’d rehearsed! “Well, I was just wondering about Billie’s brother — and anyone else we might want to enquire about. If they’d escaped or tried to escape, would they still be in the system? And would you be able to tell us about it, even if it wasn’t good news?”
His eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn’t call her out on what now seemed such an obvious lie. “They would still be in our system, yes. As for whether we would pass on the information as to what happened to them… That would depend on the good it could do.”
“Of course. I just know how much closure can help.”
“And that’s the only reason you’re asking?” he asked with raised eyebrows.
She nodded quickly. “Mmhhmm.”
“Because if there might be another reason, I would have to implore you in the strongest possible terms to reconsider whatever you might be planning. Because… Because like I said, it won’t end well.” He inched further towards her, leaning her across the table. “It won’t be by my hand, I can promise you that, but I can’t protect you from the others. And I really, really don’t want to see that happen to you, Madeline. I… I care about you.”
Madeline’s breath caught in her throat. For all Billie’s teasing, she hadn’t really, truly considered the possibility that they might be right. She’d never exactly been popular with boys, particularly with boys like Marcus — a fact that had never really bothered her. And what could she possibly have done to warrant his interest in her baggy shapeless work clothes?
“You remind me so much of my sister,” he continued, glancing down at his hands on the table.
She let out the breath she hadn’t realised she was holding.
“She’d have been about your age. She was shy at first too, but had an outrageous mouth on her once you got to know her. She was smart — always reading — and she was quiet and sweet… too sweet for this world.”
Now, it was Madeline’s turn to reach across the table, slipping her hand over his and squeezing gently. “Did you lose her?”
He shrugged. “I suppose I did in pretty much every sense of the word. Though perhaps I’ll never know for certain. So believe me when I say I know what you mean about the importance of closure.”
“What happened?”
Looking up to meet her gaze, he gave her a wan smile. “We’re not here to talk about me. We’re here to answer your questions.”
She smiled back. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. But you’ve been such a help to me here. So if you ever want to talk about it, I’d love to listen.”
He was silent a while, expression glazed over as if his mind was elsewhere. Then, his eyes snapped back into focus as if a decision had been reached. “The short version is that we got separated, like so many people did in the early days. I spent a long time looking for her, and it led me here. I paid my dues and worked hard. When they told me she wasn’t in the system, I didn’t believe them. I figured if I became a guard I could check for myself and, well… it turned out they weren’t lying. Or if they were, they covered their tracks well.”
“I’m sorry that you couldn’t find her.”
“Me too.” Glancing back down, he placed his other hand over hers and squeezed slightly. “And I’d also be very sorry if anything happened to you. So please, Madeline, be careful. While I promise you can trust me, there’s not much I can do to help if you get in trouble. And I really couldn’t stand to see you get in trouble.”
“I promise that I’ll be careful,” she said. After all, it was technically true. And though she’d lied many times to survive in this world, it seemed wrong to repay Marcus’s honesty with her own dishonesty.
“And that includes not mentioning any of this to anyone else. If anyone asks, you were here to talk to me about Liam and ask about the arrangements for your family room, okay?”
“Okay. Actually, since you bring it up, are there any updates there?”
He snorted. “Trust me, as soon as there are any updates I will make sure you’re the first to know.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Madeline. You’re always welcome.” Pushing his chair back, he stood. “Now shall we get you back to the dormitory so you can get some dinner?”
She followed suit, chair scraping across the worn carpet. “That sounds good. And Marcus?”
“Hmmm?”
“I really do mean it. Thank you.”
On the walk back, Madeline felt lighter. She hadn’t exactly learned much, though she supposed she should take heart from the fact that some people had successfully escaped this place. But the thing putting a spring back into her step was the knowledge that she had a true friend on her side. And despite what Billie might say, she didn’t need to worry about giving him the wrong impression or any romantic overtures.
In fact, it turned out that Marcus was just like them. He’d come here in search of someone he’d loved and lost.
Madeline wondered how many of the other guards here had similar stories. She was sure that some were attracted to the role because of the power over others, but plenty of them seemed like nice enough human beings. When she’d first arrived, she hadn’t been able to fathom the sort of person who would willingly work for or with the Poiloogs — at least not one she’d like to meet. But perhaps the world was even less black and white than she’d thought.
She could even start to see a world where she’d be happy enough staying here.
Of course, she missed her freedom. Her books. Her library. But the work wasn’t too bad. She had food and a bed. She had Billie. And apparently, she had Marcus too. And soon, she’d have Liam. In a lot of ways, that was a better existence than the one she’d had just a year ago — free, but alone, surviving rather than living.
Author's Note: Next chapter due on 16th June
submitted by rainbow--penguin to shortstories [link] [comments]
Madeline shuffled in her seat, eyes darting around the room, looking at anything and everything apart from Marcus as she tried to sift through her thoughts. Not that there was much to look at between the plain off-white walls and the worn grey carpet. The room was completely bare apart from the table she and the young guard were sitting at. She wondered what it was usually used for. A quiet office? An interrogation room? A holding cell? Or maybe it was reserved for just this — when an inmate wanted a quiet word with a guard.
Whatever it was used for, the room seemed designed to provide as little distraction as possible. But that was good, wasn’t it? No more delays. That was what she’d agreed with Billie. She would ask her questions now, and then it would be done. The chips would fall and if she got in trouble she could start picking up the pieces.
“Madeline?” Marcus prompted. “You really can ask me anything, you know. It might be hard to believe, but I promise that you can trust me.”
She finally let herself look at him, but her lips remained firmly sealed.
“Besides, I’d have thought you were keen to get this over with so you could go and have dinner.” He grinned at her, tilting his head to look out at her under raised eyebrows. “You’re normally very keen to eat.”
Though she couldn’t bring herself to laugh at his joke, it was reassuring how hard he was trying to be nice. She really wanted to believe that it couldn’t all be an act.
She nodded to herself, taking a deep breath. “I’m sorry. It’s just like I said earlier, I really don’t want to give you the wrong idea or get you in trouble or get me in trouble.” Shifting slightly under his steady gaze, she looked down at her fingers fidgeting and twisting together on the table.
Until a hand slid across into her eye line.
She froze.
Marcus froze too, his hand millimetres from her own. Then, it slid forward again and closed over hers. Though she tensed, she didn’t flinch or pull back. She slowly looked up and met his wide, kind eyes. “I… I was wondering if… I wanted to ask you about…” She closed her eyes and forced the words out. “Has anyone ever tried to escape from here before? And if so, what happened?”
The hand on hers twitched slightly but remained where it was. Surely that was a good sign?
She opened her eyes to see Marcus’s gaze fixed on her, his expression frustratingly neutral.
“Yes,” he said levelly. “People have tried to escape before. Of course they have. People value their freedom.”
“And?”
“And some managed. Though some of those were caught again, and it didn’t end well for them.”
“And those that didn’t manage?”
“It didn’t end well for them either. They tend to make an example of anyone who tries it.” The hand on hers finally slid back, but he leaned in closer, face twisted by concern. “Why are you asking this?”
Finally, one of the answers she’d rehearsed! “Well, I was just wondering about Billie’s brother — and anyone else we might want to enquire about. If they’d escaped or tried to escape, would they still be in the system? And would you be able to tell us about it, even if it wasn’t good news?”
His eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn’t call her out on what now seemed such an obvious lie. “They would still be in our system, yes. As for whether we would pass on the information as to what happened to them… That would depend on the good it could do.”
“Of course. I just know how much closure can help.”
“And that’s the only reason you’re asking?” he asked with raised eyebrows.
She nodded quickly. “Mmhhmm.”
“Because if there might be another reason, I would have to implore you in the strongest possible terms to reconsider whatever you might be planning. Because… Because like I said, it won’t end well.” He inched further towards her, leaning her across the table. “It won’t be by my hand, I can promise you that, but I can’t protect you from the others. And I really, really don’t want to see that happen to you, Madeline. I… I care about you.”
Madeline’s breath caught in her throat. For all Billie’s teasing, she hadn’t really, truly considered the possibility that they might be right. She’d never exactly been popular with boys, particularly with boys like Marcus — a fact that had never really bothered her. And what could she possibly have done to warrant his interest in her baggy shapeless work clothes?
“You remind me so much of my sister,” he continued, glancing down at his hands on the table.
She let out the breath she hadn’t realised she was holding.
“She’d have been about your age. She was shy at first too, but had an outrageous mouth on her once you got to know her. She was smart — always reading — and she was quiet and sweet… too sweet for this world.”
Now, it was Madeline’s turn to reach across the table, slipping her hand over his and squeezing gently. “Did you lose her?”
He shrugged. “I suppose I did in pretty much every sense of the word. Though perhaps I’ll never know for certain. So believe me when I say I know what you mean about the importance of closure.”
“What happened?”
Looking up to meet her gaze, he gave her a wan smile. “We’re not here to talk about me. We’re here to answer your questions.”
She smiled back. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. But you’ve been such a help to me here. So if you ever want to talk about it, I’d love to listen.”
He was silent a while, expression glazed over as if his mind was elsewhere. Then, his eyes snapped back into focus as if a decision had been reached. “The short version is that we got separated, like so many people did in the early days. I spent a long time looking for her, and it led me here. I paid my dues and worked hard. When they told me she wasn’t in the system, I didn’t believe them. I figured if I became a guard I could check for myself and, well… it turned out they weren’t lying. Or if they were, they covered their tracks well.”
“I’m sorry that you couldn’t find her.”
“Me too.” Glancing back down, he placed his other hand over hers and squeezed slightly. “And I’d also be very sorry if anything happened to you. So please, Madeline, be careful. While I promise you can trust me, there’s not much I can do to help if you get in trouble. And I really couldn’t stand to see you get in trouble.”
“I promise that I’ll be careful,” she said. After all, it was technically true. And though she’d lied many times to survive in this world, it seemed wrong to repay Marcus’s honesty with her own dishonesty.
“And that includes not mentioning any of this to anyone else. If anyone asks, you were here to talk to me about Liam and ask about the arrangements for your family room, okay?”
“Okay. Actually, since you bring it up, are there any updates there?”
He snorted. “Trust me, as soon as there are any updates I will make sure you’re the first to know.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Madeline. You’re always welcome.” Pushing his chair back, he stood. “Now shall we get you back to the dormitory so you can get some dinner?”
She followed suit, chair scraping across the worn carpet. “That sounds good. And Marcus?”
“Hmmm?”
“I really do mean it. Thank you.”
On the walk back, Madeline felt lighter. She hadn’t exactly learned much, though she supposed she should take heart from the fact that some people had successfully escaped this place. But the thing putting a spring back into her step was the knowledge that she had a true friend on her side. And despite what Billie might say, she didn’t need to worry about giving him the wrong impression or any romantic overtures.
In fact, it turned out that Marcus was just like them. He’d come here in search of someone he’d loved and lost.
Madeline wondered how many of the other guards here had similar stories. She was sure that some were attracted to the role because of the power over others, but plenty of them seemed like nice enough human beings. When she’d first arrived, she hadn’t been able to fathom the sort of person who would willingly work for or with the Poiloogs — at least not one she’d like to meet. But perhaps the world was even less black and white than she’d thought.
She could even start to see a world where she’d be happy enough staying here.
Of course, she missed her freedom. Her books. Her library. But the work wasn’t too bad. She had food and a bed. She had Billie. And apparently, she had Marcus too. And soon, she’d have Liam. In a lot of ways, that was a better existence than the one she’d had just a year ago — free, but alone, surviving rather than living.
2024.06.09 16:36 rainbow--penguin The Weight of Words: Chapter 81 - A New Perspective
Madeline shuffled in her seat, eyes darting around the room, looking at anything and everything apart from Marcus as she tried to sift through her thoughts. Not that there was much to look at between the plain off-white walls and the worn grey carpet. The room was completely bare apart from the table she and the young guard were sitting at. She wondered what it was usually used for. A quiet office? An interrogation room? A holding cell? Or maybe it was reserved for just this — when an inmate wanted a quiet word with a guard.
Whatever it was used for, the room seemed designed to provide as little distraction as possible. But that was good, wasn’t it? No more delays. That was what she’d agreed with Billie. She would ask her questions now, and then it would be done. The chips would fall and if she got in trouble she could start picking up the pieces.
“Madeline?” Marcus prompted. “You really can ask me anything, you know. It might be hard to believe, but I promise that you can trust me.”
She finally let herself look at him, but her lips remained firmly sealed.
“Besides, I’d have thought you were keen to get this over with so you could go and have dinner.” He grinned at her, tilting his head to look out at her under raised eyebrows. “You’re normally very keen to eat.”
Though she couldn’t bring herself to laugh at his joke, it was reassuring how hard he was trying to be nice. She really wanted to believe that it couldn’t all be an act.
She nodded to herself, taking a deep breath. “I’m sorry. It’s just like I said earlier, I really don’t want to give you the wrong idea or get you in trouble or get me in trouble.” Shifting slightly under his steady gaze, she looked down at her fingers fidgeting and twisting together on the table.
Until a hand slid across into her eye line.
She froze.
Marcus froze too, his hand millimetres from her own. Then, it slid forward again and closed over hers. Though she tensed, she didn’t flinch or pull back. She slowly looked up and met his wide, kind eyes. “I… I was wondering if… I wanted to ask you about…” She closed her eyes and forced the words out. “Has anyone ever tried to escape from here before? And if so, what happened?”
The hand on hers twitched slightly but remained where it was. Surely that was a good sign?
She opened her eyes to see Marcus’s gaze fixed on her, his expression frustratingly neutral.
“Yes,” he said levelly. “People have tried to escape before. Of course they have. People value their freedom.”
“And?”
“And some managed. Though some of those were caught again, and it didn’t end well for them.”
“And those that didn’t manage?”
“It didn’t end well for them either. They tend to make an example of anyone who tries it.” The hand on hers finally slid back, but he leaned in closer, face twisted by concern. “Why are you asking this?”
Finally, one of the answers she’d rehearsed! “Well, I was just wondering about Billie’s brother — and anyone else we might want to enquire about. If they’d escaped or tried to escape, would they still be in the system? And would you be able to tell us about it, even if it wasn’t good news?”
His eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn’t call her out on what now seemed such an obvious lie. “They would still be in our system, yes. As for whether we would pass on the information as to what happened to them… That would depend on the good it could do.”
“Of course. I just know how much closure can help.”
“And that’s the only reason you’re asking?” he asked with raised eyebrows.
She nodded quickly. “Mmhhmm.”
“Because if there might be another reason, I would have to implore you in the strongest possible terms to reconsider whatever you might be planning. Because… Because like I said, it won’t end well.” He inched further towards her, leaning her across the table. “It won’t be by my hand, I can promise you that, but I can’t protect you from the others. And I really, really don’t want to see that happen to you, Madeline. I… I care about you.”
Madeline’s breath caught in her throat. For all Billie’s teasing, she hadn’t really, truly considered the possibility that they might be right. She’d never exactly been popular with boys, particularly with boys like Marcus — a fact that had never really bothered her. And what could she possibly have done to warrant his interest in her baggy shapeless work clothes?
“You remind me so much of my sister,” he continued, glancing down at his hands on the table.
She let out the breath she hadn’t realised she was holding.
“She’d have been about your age. She was shy at first too, but had an outrageous mouth on her once you got to know her. She was smart — always reading — and she was quiet and sweet… too sweet for this world.”
Now, it was Madeline’s turn to reach across the table, slipping her hand over his and squeezing gently. “Did you lose her?”
He shrugged. “I suppose I did in pretty much every sense of the word. Though perhaps I’ll never know for certain. So believe me when I say I know what you mean about the importance of closure.”
“What happened?”
Looking up to meet her gaze, he gave her a wan smile. “We’re not here to talk about me. We’re here to answer your questions.”
She smiled back. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. But you’ve been such a help to me here. So if you ever want to talk about it, I’d love to listen.”
He was silent a while, expression glazed over as if his mind was elsewhere. Then, his eyes snapped back into focus as if a decision had been reached. “The short version is that we got separated, like so many people did in the early days. I spent a long time looking for her, and it led me here. I paid my dues and worked hard. When they told me she wasn’t in the system, I didn’t believe them. I figured if I became a guard I could check for myself and, well… it turned out they weren’t lying. Or if they were, they covered their tracks well.”
“I’m sorry that you couldn’t find her.”
“Me too.” Glancing back down, he placed his other hand over hers and squeezed slightly. “And I’d also be very sorry if anything happened to you. So please, Madeline, be careful. While I promise you can trust me, there’s not much I can do to help if you get in trouble. And I really couldn’t stand to see you get in trouble.”
“I promise that I’ll be careful,” she said. After all, it was technically true. And though she’d lied many times to survive in this world, it seemed wrong to repay Marcus’s honesty with her own dishonesty.
“And that includes not mentioning any of this to anyone else. If anyone asks, you were here to talk to me about Liam and ask about the arrangements for your family room, okay?”
“Okay. Actually, since you bring it up, are there any updates there?”
He snorted. “Trust me, as soon as there are any updates I will make sure you’re the first to know.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Madeline. You’re always welcome.” Pushing his chair back, he stood. “Now shall we get you back to the dormitory so you can get some dinner?”
She followed suit, chair scraping across the worn carpet. “That sounds good. And Marcus?”
“Hmmm?”
“I really do mean it. Thank you.”
On the walk back, Madeline felt lighter. She hadn’t exactly learned much, though she supposed she should take heart from the fact that some people had successfully escaped this place. But the thing putting a spring back into her step was the knowledge that she had a true friend on her side. And despite what Billie might say, she didn’t need to worry about giving him the wrong impression or any romantic overtures.
In fact, it turned out that Marcus was just like them. He’d come here in search of someone he’d loved and lost.
Madeline wondered how many of the other guards here had similar stories. She was sure that some were attracted to the role because of the power over others, but plenty of them seemed like nice enough human beings. When she’d first arrived, she hadn’t been able to fathom the sort of person who would willingly work for or with the Poiloogs — at least not one she’d like to meet. But perhaps the world was even less black and white than she’d thought.
She could even start to see a world where she’d be happy enough staying here.
Of course, she missed her freedom. Her books. Her library. But the work wasn’t too bad. She had food and a bed. She had Billie. And apparently, she had Marcus too. And soon, she’d have Liam. In a lot of ways, that was a better existence than the one she’d had just a year ago — free, but alone, surviving rather than living.
submitted by rainbow--penguin to RainbowWrites [link] [comments]
Whatever it was used for, the room seemed designed to provide as little distraction as possible. But that was good, wasn’t it? No more delays. That was what she’d agreed with Billie. She would ask her questions now, and then it would be done. The chips would fall and if she got in trouble she could start picking up the pieces.
“Madeline?” Marcus prompted. “You really can ask me anything, you know. It might be hard to believe, but I promise that you can trust me.”
She finally let herself look at him, but her lips remained firmly sealed.
“Besides, I’d have thought you were keen to get this over with so you could go and have dinner.” He grinned at her, tilting his head to look out at her under raised eyebrows. “You’re normally very keen to eat.”
Though she couldn’t bring herself to laugh at his joke, it was reassuring how hard he was trying to be nice. She really wanted to believe that it couldn’t all be an act.
She nodded to herself, taking a deep breath. “I’m sorry. It’s just like I said earlier, I really don’t want to give you the wrong idea or get you in trouble or get me in trouble.” Shifting slightly under his steady gaze, she looked down at her fingers fidgeting and twisting together on the table.
Until a hand slid across into her eye line.
She froze.
Marcus froze too, his hand millimetres from her own. Then, it slid forward again and closed over hers. Though she tensed, she didn’t flinch or pull back. She slowly looked up and met his wide, kind eyes. “I… I was wondering if… I wanted to ask you about…” She closed her eyes and forced the words out. “Has anyone ever tried to escape from here before? And if so, what happened?”
The hand on hers twitched slightly but remained where it was. Surely that was a good sign?
She opened her eyes to see Marcus’s gaze fixed on her, his expression frustratingly neutral.
“Yes,” he said levelly. “People have tried to escape before. Of course they have. People value their freedom.”
“And?”
“And some managed. Though some of those were caught again, and it didn’t end well for them.”
“And those that didn’t manage?”
“It didn’t end well for them either. They tend to make an example of anyone who tries it.” The hand on hers finally slid back, but he leaned in closer, face twisted by concern. “Why are you asking this?”
Finally, one of the answers she’d rehearsed! “Well, I was just wondering about Billie’s brother — and anyone else we might want to enquire about. If they’d escaped or tried to escape, would they still be in the system? And would you be able to tell us about it, even if it wasn’t good news?”
His eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn’t call her out on what now seemed such an obvious lie. “They would still be in our system, yes. As for whether we would pass on the information as to what happened to them… That would depend on the good it could do.”
“Of course. I just know how much closure can help.”
“And that’s the only reason you’re asking?” he asked with raised eyebrows.
She nodded quickly. “Mmhhmm.”
“Because if there might be another reason, I would have to implore you in the strongest possible terms to reconsider whatever you might be planning. Because… Because like I said, it won’t end well.” He inched further towards her, leaning her across the table. “It won’t be by my hand, I can promise you that, but I can’t protect you from the others. And I really, really don’t want to see that happen to you, Madeline. I… I care about you.”
Madeline’s breath caught in her throat. For all Billie’s teasing, she hadn’t really, truly considered the possibility that they might be right. She’d never exactly been popular with boys, particularly with boys like Marcus — a fact that had never really bothered her. And what could she possibly have done to warrant his interest in her baggy shapeless work clothes?
“You remind me so much of my sister,” he continued, glancing down at his hands on the table.
She let out the breath she hadn’t realised she was holding.
“She’d have been about your age. She was shy at first too, but had an outrageous mouth on her once you got to know her. She was smart — always reading — and she was quiet and sweet… too sweet for this world.”
Now, it was Madeline’s turn to reach across the table, slipping her hand over his and squeezing gently. “Did you lose her?”
He shrugged. “I suppose I did in pretty much every sense of the word. Though perhaps I’ll never know for certain. So believe me when I say I know what you mean about the importance of closure.”
“What happened?”
Looking up to meet her gaze, he gave her a wan smile. “We’re not here to talk about me. We’re here to answer your questions.”
She smiled back. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. But you’ve been such a help to me here. So if you ever want to talk about it, I’d love to listen.”
He was silent a while, expression glazed over as if his mind was elsewhere. Then, his eyes snapped back into focus as if a decision had been reached. “The short version is that we got separated, like so many people did in the early days. I spent a long time looking for her, and it led me here. I paid my dues and worked hard. When they told me she wasn’t in the system, I didn’t believe them. I figured if I became a guard I could check for myself and, well… it turned out they weren’t lying. Or if they were, they covered their tracks well.”
“I’m sorry that you couldn’t find her.”
“Me too.” Glancing back down, he placed his other hand over hers and squeezed slightly. “And I’d also be very sorry if anything happened to you. So please, Madeline, be careful. While I promise you can trust me, there’s not much I can do to help if you get in trouble. And I really couldn’t stand to see you get in trouble.”
“I promise that I’ll be careful,” she said. After all, it was technically true. And though she’d lied many times to survive in this world, it seemed wrong to repay Marcus’s honesty with her own dishonesty.
“And that includes not mentioning any of this to anyone else. If anyone asks, you were here to talk to me about Liam and ask about the arrangements for your family room, okay?”
“Okay. Actually, since you bring it up, are there any updates there?”
He snorted. “Trust me, as soon as there are any updates I will make sure you’re the first to know.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Madeline. You’re always welcome.” Pushing his chair back, he stood. “Now shall we get you back to the dormitory so you can get some dinner?”
She followed suit, chair scraping across the worn carpet. “That sounds good. And Marcus?”
“Hmmm?”
“I really do mean it. Thank you.”
On the walk back, Madeline felt lighter. She hadn’t exactly learned much, though she supposed she should take heart from the fact that some people had successfully escaped this place. But the thing putting a spring back into her step was the knowledge that she had a true friend on her side. And despite what Billie might say, she didn’t need to worry about giving him the wrong impression or any romantic overtures.
In fact, it turned out that Marcus was just like them. He’d come here in search of someone he’d loved and lost.
Madeline wondered how many of the other guards here had similar stories. She was sure that some were attracted to the role because of the power over others, but plenty of them seemed like nice enough human beings. When she’d first arrived, she hadn’t been able to fathom the sort of person who would willingly work for or with the Poiloogs — at least not one she’d like to meet. But perhaps the world was even less black and white than she’d thought.
She could even start to see a world where she’d be happy enough staying here.
Of course, she missed her freedom. Her books. Her library. But the work wasn’t too bad. She had food and a bed. She had Billie. And apparently, she had Marcus too. And soon, she’d have Liam. In a lot of ways, that was a better existence than the one she’d had just a year ago — free, but alone, surviving rather than living.
2024.06.09 16:34 angel_deluxe A Theory About The Council (Gravity Rush 2 Spoilers)
(alternatively, a writeup on the real-world geopolitical influences on Gravity Rush 2)
I've been thinking about Gravity Rush 2 a lot; I was watching someone play through it again when I noticed Jirga Para Lhao's political centre is called Dourwa Hiraleon.
"Dourwa Hiraleon? Like Hekseville's Neu Hiraleon?"
Correct! Except...Hekseville and Jirga Para Lhao exist in different dimensions, have no contact until late into the events of GR2, and exist in different dimensions. What's up with that?
Jirga Para Lhao
Let's start with Jirga Para Lhao. As Lisa spells out during the main story, it was originally populated by the Lhao Tribe before they were invaded and taken over by the people who would go on to become The Council. Radale Memorial Park and Victor's Fountain all commemorate the defeat of the Lhao Tribe, too.
Jirga Para Lhao's influences lie in Mexico, South America and Southeast Asia - named as influences here and here, and you can even see it in the vibe. The markets have been noted to resemble the kind of food markets you'd see in Thailand, the outer areas of Lei Colmosna look a little like Cuba, and if you look at the fruit in the markets, you'll see southeast Asian fruits like certain mangoes, and ESPECIALLY durians. (I also get a Singaporean vibe from Tritower but I'm less sure on that one)
Culinary Influences
There's only one scene in which we see The Council dining:
ID: A screenshot of The Council from Gravity Rush 2, depicted in an ingame panel sat around a table with bottles of wine and plates of mostly-finished food.
They're sat drinking wine and eating what's likely bread rolls - I did think oranges but they have knives and forks and no peels are visible. In the story Kat sneaks onto the Bismalia on a wine transport, so wine seems to be more popular in the upper classes, and especially The Council. Bread and wine, as well as those as the centrepiece of dining is fairly French, right? But, Jirga Para Lhao isn't really a French place. There's more too!
There's
ID: A drawn panel from Gravity Rush 2, depicting a feast, including a salad, some kind of stew, an orange peeled fruit, bread rolls and butter, and a bowl of what appears to be mashed potato with shallots.
Mashed potato (?) and bread rolls from the Banga feast as well as what appear to be cherry tomatoes,
ID: Kat in her casual clothing, eating a croissant as she walks through Banga settlement.
as well as Kat eating a croissant. All of these appear to be very French influences on the food of Jirga Para Lhao. You see where I'm going with this, right? Potatoes, bread and wine feature a lot in French cuisine, but...not really that much in Southeast Asian cuisines (potatoes and bread yes for some South American and Mexican cuisines, but not usually as mashed potatoes, and wine still not really, and croissants also only in France)
Real World Influences
While South America was subject to Spanish colonial influences, I'm going to be focusing on Southeast Asia, which was notably subject to French colonial influence. You don't need many details, just that France used to control several countries in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam (mentioned in one of the links above) and Laos.
Laos, located between Thailand and Vietnam is primarily populated by the Lao people.
"Lao? Sounds like-"
Its mythology too!
ID: A Gravity Rush screenshot of Kat standing outside Auldnoir's fish statue near Karuwari Church
Auldnoir features a statue of a sacred fish said to contain the world in its belly - detailed in the GR2 Hekseville photo hints. The Sacred Gem being there shows it's of importance, too. But wait...
ID: A Gravity Rush 2 photo of Syd, Cecie, and some Garrison soldiers outside Dourwa Hiraleon's fish statue.
(Image taken from here) Dourwa Hiraleon ALSO has a statue of...a mythological fish said to contain the world in its belly. To be honest, this one's a little looser, as some cultures just tend to come up with mythological features independent of each other, like with dragons. But it helps! This could very well be imported mythology.
So let's finally get to the point - Hekseville is very obviously French-influenced place as is its cuisine, and Jirga Para Lhao is very Southeast Asia-influence, among ohers. Their real world analogues have had interactions with each other, and if the Lao / Lhao analogue is real, then things really are that on-the-nose - it's likely that the first Council, the people who first invaded Jirga Para Lhao, are from Hekseville, or failing that, they at least share lineage with whoever populated Hekseville.
The pieces are all there - real-world analogue, culinary influence, especially being strongest at the people closest to the source, mythological influence, and especially the Hiraleon loanword - the people who speak a language where "Neu Hiraleon" refers to a political centre would name their next political centre with the same naming convention, right? Not to mention their colonialist overtones, what with the way they treat the people of Jirga Para Lhao as a tool, something to be subjugated more than people to treat well (see: the conscription later on in the Jirga Para Lhao chapter)
Extra question: How did they get there?
i don't know. maybe they flew through a gravity storm or something? sorry no clue
submitted by angel_deluxe to gravityrush [link] [comments]
I've been thinking about Gravity Rush 2 a lot; I was watching someone play through it again when I noticed Jirga Para Lhao's political centre is called Dourwa Hiraleon.
"Dourwa Hiraleon? Like Hekseville's Neu Hiraleon?"
Correct! Except...Hekseville and Jirga Para Lhao exist in different dimensions, have no contact until late into the events of GR2, and exist in different dimensions. What's up with that?
WELL
Hekseville I mean. We all know it's basically "France but also it's a little bit Japanese"Jirga Para Lhao
Let's start with Jirga Para Lhao. As Lisa spells out during the main story, it was originally populated by the Lhao Tribe before they were invaded and taken over by the people who would go on to become The Council. Radale Memorial Park and Victor's Fountain all commemorate the defeat of the Lhao Tribe, too.
Jirga Para Lhao's influences lie in Mexico, South America and Southeast Asia - named as influences here and here, and you can even see it in the vibe. The markets have been noted to resemble the kind of food markets you'd see in Thailand, the outer areas of Lei Colmosna look a little like Cuba, and if you look at the fruit in the markets, you'll see southeast Asian fruits like certain mangoes, and ESPECIALLY durians. (I also get a Singaporean vibe from Tritower but I'm less sure on that one)
Culinary Influences
There's only one scene in which we see The Council dining:
ID: A screenshot of The Council from Gravity Rush 2, depicted in an ingame panel sat around a table with bottles of wine and plates of mostly-finished food.
They're sat drinking wine and eating what's likely bread rolls - I did think oranges but they have knives and forks and no peels are visible. In the story Kat sneaks onto the Bismalia on a wine transport, so wine seems to be more popular in the upper classes, and especially The Council. Bread and wine, as well as those as the centrepiece of dining is fairly French, right? But, Jirga Para Lhao isn't really a French place. There's more too!
There's
ID: A drawn panel from Gravity Rush 2, depicting a feast, including a salad, some kind of stew, an orange peeled fruit, bread rolls and butter, and a bowl of what appears to be mashed potato with shallots.
Mashed potato (?) and bread rolls from the Banga feast as well as what appear to be cherry tomatoes,
ID: Kat in her casual clothing, eating a croissant as she walks through Banga settlement.
as well as Kat eating a croissant. All of these appear to be very French influences on the food of Jirga Para Lhao. You see where I'm going with this, right? Potatoes, bread and wine feature a lot in French cuisine, but...not really that much in Southeast Asian cuisines (potatoes and bread yes for some South American and Mexican cuisines, but not usually as mashed potatoes, and wine still not really, and croissants also only in France)
Real World Influences
While South America was subject to Spanish colonial influences, I'm going to be focusing on Southeast Asia, which was notably subject to French colonial influence. You don't need many details, just that France used to control several countries in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam (mentioned in one of the links above) and Laos.
Laos, located between Thailand and Vietnam is primarily populated by the Lao people.
"Lao? Sounds like-"
YEP
The Lhao people. The Lao people have had more struggles than French colonialism, but you can only fit so much political history into one game. Its interactions with Thailand and Vietnam fall outside of the influence of this theory, so that's another story. The Lhao, like the Lao, are an ethnic group who have had past struggles with colonisers.Its mythology too!
ID: A Gravity Rush screenshot of Kat standing outside Auldnoir's fish statue near Karuwari Church
Auldnoir features a statue of a sacred fish said to contain the world in its belly - detailed in the GR2 Hekseville photo hints. The Sacred Gem being there shows it's of importance, too. But wait...
ID: A Gravity Rush 2 photo of Syd, Cecie, and some Garrison soldiers outside Dourwa Hiraleon's fish statue.
(Image taken from here) Dourwa Hiraleon ALSO has a statue of...a mythological fish said to contain the world in its belly. To be honest, this one's a little looser, as some cultures just tend to come up with mythological features independent of each other, like with dragons. But it helps! This could very well be imported mythology.
So let's finally get to the point - Hekseville is very obviously French-influenced place as is its cuisine, and Jirga Para Lhao is very Southeast Asia-influence, among ohers. Their real world analogues have had interactions with each other, and if the Lao / Lhao analogue is real, then things really are that on-the-nose - it's likely that the first Council, the people who first invaded Jirga Para Lhao, are from Hekseville, or failing that, they at least share lineage with whoever populated Hekseville.
The pieces are all there - real-world analogue, culinary influence, especially being strongest at the people closest to the source, mythological influence, and especially the Hiraleon loanword - the people who speak a language where "Neu Hiraleon" refers to a political centre would name their next political centre with the same naming convention, right? Not to mention their colonialist overtones, what with the way they treat the people of Jirga Para Lhao as a tool, something to be subjugated more than people to treat well (see: the conscription later on in the Jirga Para Lhao chapter)
Extra question: How did they get there?
i don't know. maybe they flew through a gravity storm or something? sorry no clue
2024.06.09 16:18 Spoileralertmynameis Analysing Thematic Imagery of Season 3 Episode 3
I already made the first post regarding episode 1 and 2, here are the links, if you are interested:
https://www.reddit.com/PolinBridgerton/comments/1d8p07y/analysing_thematic_imagery_of_season_3_episode_1/
https://www.reddit.com/PolinBridgerton/comments/1daa5se/analysing_thematic_imagery_of_season_3_episode_2/
Same note as before: I do not claim all of these thoughts as originals of mine, I am not taking credit for noticing what others already noticed, and feel free to credit those who were first in comments. Also feel free to comment what you see and I do not! Or challenge me or mine.
I shall do my best to deliver analysis of the fourth episode before part 2 drops.
General imagery of the season so far (feel free to skip if you read the last post or posts):
The main thematic imagery of this season is reflection; how characters are perceived by others and how they deal with those perceptions. It ties to both leads, who were given roles by society which they must fight from time to time, and how society’s perception of them changes and controls them. Mirror imagery was important throughout the previous season not only for Pen and Colin, however in this season in particular, mirror imagery appears very often, and I expected it to continue (ehem ehem).
Tied closely to reflection imagery, we see the dichotomy of light and shadows. This dichotomy is alluded to by titles of 3 episodes of the whole season; and through this dichotomy, social roles and expectations are established. Colin is in the light, showered by compliments from members of the Ton, while Pen is forced to be in the shadows. She uses the shadows as LW to her advantage, while Colin uses his power within the light to his advantage.
The general idea is that Pen needs to decide whether she wants to stay in the shadows, which might be easier, or whether she is willing to take a risk by stepping into the light. Other characters are also haunted by their reflections. I shall dive into it in each episode.
Episode 3: Forces of Nature
While the second episode heavilly relied on the dichotomy of the day and the night to showcase masculine and feminine power, the third episode features dichotomy of nature and humanity. I have very briefly touched upon it in previous analysis regarding the promenade, when Pen asks whether she can learn to flirt through books and the moment was juxtaposed with the nature behind our leads.
It is not a new dichotomy for the show. We can for example remember the ending of episode 6 from previous season ("Animals require no contracts or dowries. The hen and a rooster make no vows. Leave it to people to complicate matters with their ceremonies and their cakes.").
The nature represents the attraction and longing, while the humanity represents either obstacles in following our desires, or simply a rationale to be "sensible" instead. Lady Whistledown acknowledges that people can somewhat triumph ("Humankind has accomplished extraordinary feats in its attempt to compete against nature."), but the episodes concludes that not only will the nature win in the end, the battle does not even include the nature, but the people who fight themselves. Basically concluding that there are no winners.
"All of man's greatest inventions are nothing more than a distraction from which is most natural to us. Our instincts. The innate animal impulse that is inside even the most sophisticated of us. For all is said and done, our nature will always win out."
Both Penelope and Colin fail to fight their own feelings in this episode.
While the natural forces refer to inner desires, we might focus on the literal natural forces which symbolize them: the Featherington garden (aka the place of crime), and the fire; the most featured in this episode, though, is the wind. The natural force which ensured the first meeting of our leads and (at least according to the books and trailer for part 2), caused Penelope to fall for Colin, as he (literally) fell from his horse.
I shall get to it more later. Let's go again scene by scene.
Third episode begins with Colin's dream. Dreams are of course heavilly linked with both Colin, Pen and their desires. Ironically, Colin's dream represents his waking up Marina alluded to in the last season ("You are a boy, caught up in his own fantasies... You need to wake up, Colin!").
While Penelope stopped dreaming and gave up on her "fantasy" after Colin's comment in the end of season 2 ("I would never dream of courting Penelope Featherington, not in your wildest fantasies."), Colin is awaken at the same place, in a cheeky way, by his dream.
The Featherington garden represents crucial moments of their relationship so far. Firstly, it was the place where he broke her heart by his statement, and sparked her intention to marry. Secondly, of course, it was the place where they came to their agreement, with her agreeing to move from him by accepting his help, while he put himself in a vulnerable position to face feelings he did not acknowledge before. Thirdly, it is the place where he was forced to face his feelings VERY directly by agreeing to kiss her.
Colin's subcontious wants to "repair" the moment. It is cheeky for Colin to apologize for the late hour, which might have been appropriate for their last meeting, as well.
Fans have had a lot of fun dissecting Colin's psyche, as Colin's dream features basically every cliché of a raunchy romance novel, which is, of course, very intentional. The first shot features the fire burning, symbolizing Colin's realized feelings. The fog might either allude to the mystery whether Colin's love is requited, or to form a "protection from the gazes of others".
This episode offers a lot storytelling through clothing with Colin especially, and I shall dive to each of his looks. Generally speaking, Colin trades vulnerability for his armor repeatedly in the first half of the episode, culminating in his Innovations Ball look, which I find the most vulnerable.
Colin in his dream is dressed similarly as he was in the end of episode 2, however, his neck is now bare, alluding to his vulnerability. Pen's neckline is lower, her loose hair as well as the fit of the gown make it seem like she is in her nightgown. Still, it is very respectable look for a wet dream, likely to showcase and hammer that Colin did not found vulnerability anew, not sexual desire.
I find it interesting that the shot does not start with Colin walking into the frame, who is the one dreaming, but with Penelope. Perhaps the intention was to try to mess with fans and give them the impression it is Pen who dreams. Colin does not get confirmation of her feelings until he admits his. Again, Colin is the vulnerable this time, not Penelope. The scene focuses much more on her pleasure than his, either to again fool the audience, or again, to sell the difference.
As Colin wakes up, we get more visual clues in the globe and the map, likely alluding to his travelling experience, which are connected to his sexuality. The other is, of course, that his blanket is yellow, a color tied to Pen (resembling the shal Violet has in the portrait, again to sell the paraller of the couples, even before Violet states it to the audience at the end of this episode). He looks to the window, which might allude to him trying to find her, as she lives accross the street, which he likely did for the first time in last episode, or trying to find the light, representing a) his social role as a popular charming rake, and b) his masculine power.
Gregory's injury might thematically tie to multiple things. Gregory was established as a cupid, who pierces Colin's heart, and who now can't do so, meaning that Colin is trapped. Gregory can also represent Colin himself as he can't even properly eat with his injury, which was something Colin also mentioned of not being able to do so. We know that Gregory falls injures the hand before he has a chance to see the balloon, which might foreshadow the ending of the episode, when Colin tries to find the answer, only to not get it and be hurt.
Colin comes to the drawing room in a brown vest. The color of the vest reminds me of his pirate coat, and I wonder whether it is basically his "casual armor", the one he wears around his family now, not wanting them to know of his feelings. It is also worth pointing out that when Colin walks in, he goes to his brothers who sit seperately from the sisters and the mother, almost to shocase Colin's tendency to trying to follow male squad, even the toxic one.
Our dearest prophetess Hyacinth strikes again by mentioning Penelope. It is worth noting that while Colin is distressed, he still realizes that he likely hurt Eloise by commenting on Lady Whistledown finding about their ordeal, and seems to attempt to follow her to make sure she is fine. Colin can't refer to Penelope as his or as a friend, so he opts to refers to her as the acquaintance of the whole family and sips the tea this time. Colin's drinking is a recurring gag this season, showcasing his growing attraction towards Pen.
From the Queen's and Agatha's meeting, we get an interesting gag of the male suitors being thrown. Penelope fell for Colin when he fell from the horse, which is rather cheeky to remember when the one falling this time is Debling.
Penelope leaves her room just in time for her to a) be reminded of the importance of producing an heir, b) be reminded of her reasons she intended to find a husband, hearing her sisters. I believe that it is Eloise's comment that sparks Pen's hope to find a husband once again, as she gets her blessing. Penelope knew she couldn't stay away for long, but to keep her column, not because she gained hope.
It is quite reasonable that Penelope chose to promenade after week in her room. We are left to wonder why Colin choose to do so and if he was perhaps trying to see her. However, from his expression, I do believe that he was surprised to see her. Colin is the one who follows Pen this episode, showcasing the change in the dynamic. Penelope often followed him instead in the previous episode.
Penelope's styling seems very childish, with her ribbons, hair to the side and pinkish and lilac tone of her dress, perhaps a visual way for her to distance herself from the ordeal and that kiss. Colin is wearing the style akin to previous seasons, with his armor being left home. They are children once again. The willow the meet under might symbolize innocence, protection, childhood, as it somewhat shields them from the Ton. The long distance show might allude to them suddenly feeling a gap between themselves, or perhaps a need to keep their distance after the whole ordeal.
It is cheeky that Penelope relies on her double identity when asked for a reasoning. She might have just as easily pointed out the Ton itself, instead, she uses Lady Whistledown she disparaged in the last episode. Just as Colin refered to the Pen in regards to all Bridgertons, Penelope refers to her and his family regarding the embarassment. Pen thanking Colin for his kindness is of course very funny paraller to her comment about his cruelty in episode 1; a comment which might have hurt him the same.
Debling starts the episode as the hunted "prey", not only as Cressida (and later Pen) is after him, but by himself, as he wants to find a hiding place. However, Debling of course changes into the "predator" later.
Stowell House in general does not seem particularly inviting. It either displays mirrors or the "prey" on the walls, signalling Pen's entrapment. Penelope does not hide even in her corner, where she is found by the toxic buddies.
Penelope assures her mother that Ton will likely be distracted by the new scandal. Portia of course does not know that it is Penelope herself who is Lady Whistledown, and who might have a chance to publish such a scandal, but only if Pen leaves her hideout. Pen later offers social contagion as a joke, which might be a fun way of alluding to her double identity, as she holds a bit of power regarding social assesment.
Mirror imagery is quite cheeky regarding our leads and Debling. Pen's back is seen in mirror behind her, which might signal that she is currently social outcast, still uncomfortable after the incident, or visual signal of Pen hiding her identity.
With Colin's arrival, it is Pen who looks at him first, just when he looks at Eloise. Colin notices and continues to look, while Pen looks away and hides as a "prey". Colin turns away and we see a glimpse of him in the mirror. Pen fell first, but he fell harder. Colin flees the mirror, as he will continue to do so in this episode, following her.
Debling does not mind the mirror at all (something he seems to share with Agatha and Benedict) and as Pen becomes more comfortable, the mirror seems to dissapear from the shot. It is worth pointing out that both Colin and Debling have waistcoats with yellow ornaments, alluding to both of them being interested in Pen.
Colin is accompanied by the candles both when Eloise mentions Penelope, as well as when he is "assessing his pupil", alluding to his growing love. I do not think it was unintentional to have Alice mention his "kindheartedness", after Penelope thanks him for his "kindness". Not only do both mention the possibility of a different suitor, they also use similar language when speaking of Colin's role in it, rubbing the idea deeper.
Even more cheeky is that Alice does not refer to Penelope by name, only as a pupil, while Colin comments on it as "gossip" finding their home. Colin refers to Whistledown when asked about Penelope; while Pen is, of course, both subject of the gossip as well as its source as lady Whistledown.
Eloise'a and Cressida's scene alludes to Eloise walking to the crossroads and choosing a path she might regret. Eloise does not help Cressida much, but it is enough for her to easily win over Pen at first.
Finally, we get likely the most in face reference of the episode: Hawkins Balloon, with its blue and yellow stripes. It likely symbolizes our leads, with Colin seeing the balloon (aka embracing the opportunity of them becoming a couple), while Pen ignores it in favour of Debling.
Colin arrives in his armor, aka with his pirate coat firmly on. But his defence crumble rather quickly. He follows Penelope immedietely. At first, he follows her instruction to focus on sweets, but more and more into the scene, he just begins to look at Pen, the only exception is when Pen compliments Debling, as he feels a need to hide his feelings.
Colin loses his battle while seeing Pen eating the cake. The cake symbolized sex even back in 102, when Pen asks Marina how did she become pregnant. What is striking, though, that the next time Colin is shown on screen, he took off his coat and seems to finish Penelope's cake. Colin lets his armor down, just before his heroic moment.
The balloon is representation of a human attempt to "triumph" over the nature, to "conquer the wind". Funnily, as Colin with the help of his squad protects the balloon and wins over the wind, he loses his own battle against it internally, as the wind represents his desire for Penelope. Colin finds courage and allows himself to be vulnerable (by leaving the pirate coat, his armor, behind in the arms of one of his toxic buddies), only for him to find Penelope in Debling's embrace. Eloise and Cressida's remarks might be quite cruel foreshadowing for the later events. "It is good thing no one was injured." "Who says I wasn't?"
The distress of Colin at Innovations Ball is implied with his darker waistcoat, bare neck and him adjusting his jacket. Colin attempts his best to smile for Eloise, but it is a rather unsuccesful attempt. If I dare say, Colin seems like he is attending funeral. His question whether a man can be pensive is rather interesting, not only as it is pun on Penelope's name, but as Colin asks basically if he can be himself.
Penelope and Portia ignore the lamp, the sorce of fire and light, which I would argue, represents the love between Pen and Colin.
Benedict refers to Francesca as "his shield" from the debutantes, and we see Benedict succeeding in fleeing the debutantes with the sister by his side. Eloise, on the other hand, leaves Colin to them, leaving him "unprotected". This is hammered with Violet, who without the children by her side, becomes the target of Marcus. It is no wonder Francesca finds her man when she is allowed to return to her familiar shadows, with fireplace representing love, passion and desire once again. Benedict, too, fails to "battle the nature", as he finds himself in the embrace of his newest partner, after he meets her at the staircase, with her looking down on him.
As the debutantes ask Colin if he is as heroic on the dancefloor, Colin moves his head instead of answering, while we get the shot of Pen holding her own dancecard. It is quite clear. Colin is losing his chance.
While Penelope's and Cressida's race is for comedic effect, it showcases that a lot of times, women fight over guys they might even want, just because they fear someone else will snatch them. While Cressida is pressured to be married, no one points out that she almost married Jack last season, someone who turned out to be a schemer. Daphne won her own "race", only to end up with Simon. Cressida fails to gain Colin's attention in season 1 and 2 mostly due to her treatment of Penelope and Daphne.
Penelope finds herself on the crossroads between Colin and Debling. She chooses to look at Colin, showcasing to the audience that Pen is romantic at heart. While Colin answers the question of debutantes, he is in fact encouraging himself, but as he can't help but look at her, she takes it as his confirmation of wishing her good luck as a mentor. Just as Pen unknowingly let Colin down in willow scene with her words, Colin just done the same. Cheekily, Debling asks whether Pen has trouble with the balloon, while she answers "not at present". As she gave up on Colin in that instance.
Penelope herself pretends to love nature to secure herself a naturalist, ignoring her own desire to be with Colin. Ironically, she secures the naturalist by openly stating she does not really care about nature, when she cares about what nature represents in this episode. Debling giving Pen lemonade ties narratively to Pen leaving the lemonade at the table during the Full-Moon ball, as well as her leaving it at drawing scene with Colin.
I believe that Debling caught on Colin's feelings at this instant. The reason I believe so is that Pen's dance card was still blank and Pen gave Colin time to react. Debling did not ask Penelope for dance beforehand, and she hoped that Colin would speak... which is something Colin might have realized once Penelope gives Debling his hand and dance card is visible to him.
submitted by Spoileralertmynameis to PolinBridgerton [link] [comments]
https://www.reddit.com/PolinBridgerton/comments/1d8p07y/analysing_thematic_imagery_of_season_3_episode_1/
https://www.reddit.com/PolinBridgerton/comments/1daa5se/analysing_thematic_imagery_of_season_3_episode_2/
Same note as before: I do not claim all of these thoughts as originals of mine, I am not taking credit for noticing what others already noticed, and feel free to credit those who were first in comments. Also feel free to comment what you see and I do not! Or challenge me or mine.
I shall do my best to deliver analysis of the fourth episode before part 2 drops.
General imagery of the season so far (feel free to skip if you read the last post or posts):
The main thematic imagery of this season is reflection; how characters are perceived by others and how they deal with those perceptions. It ties to both leads, who were given roles by society which they must fight from time to time, and how society’s perception of them changes and controls them. Mirror imagery was important throughout the previous season not only for Pen and Colin, however in this season in particular, mirror imagery appears very often, and I expected it to continue (ehem ehem).
Tied closely to reflection imagery, we see the dichotomy of light and shadows. This dichotomy is alluded to by titles of 3 episodes of the whole season; and through this dichotomy, social roles and expectations are established. Colin is in the light, showered by compliments from members of the Ton, while Pen is forced to be in the shadows. She uses the shadows as LW to her advantage, while Colin uses his power within the light to his advantage.
The general idea is that Pen needs to decide whether she wants to stay in the shadows, which might be easier, or whether she is willing to take a risk by stepping into the light. Other characters are also haunted by their reflections. I shall dive into it in each episode.
Episode 3: Forces of Nature
While the second episode heavilly relied on the dichotomy of the day and the night to showcase masculine and feminine power, the third episode features dichotomy of nature and humanity. I have very briefly touched upon it in previous analysis regarding the promenade, when Pen asks whether she can learn to flirt through books and the moment was juxtaposed with the nature behind our leads.
It is not a new dichotomy for the show. We can for example remember the ending of episode 6 from previous season ("Animals require no contracts or dowries. The hen and a rooster make no vows. Leave it to people to complicate matters with their ceremonies and their cakes.").
The nature represents the attraction and longing, while the humanity represents either obstacles in following our desires, or simply a rationale to be "sensible" instead. Lady Whistledown acknowledges that people can somewhat triumph ("Humankind has accomplished extraordinary feats in its attempt to compete against nature."), but the episodes concludes that not only will the nature win in the end, the battle does not even include the nature, but the people who fight themselves. Basically concluding that there are no winners.
"All of man's greatest inventions are nothing more than a distraction from which is most natural to us. Our instincts. The innate animal impulse that is inside even the most sophisticated of us. For all is said and done, our nature will always win out."
Both Penelope and Colin fail to fight their own feelings in this episode.
While the natural forces refer to inner desires, we might focus on the literal natural forces which symbolize them: the Featherington garden (aka the place of crime), and the fire; the most featured in this episode, though, is the wind. The natural force which ensured the first meeting of our leads and (at least according to the books and trailer for part 2), caused Penelope to fall for Colin, as he (literally) fell from his horse.
I shall get to it more later. Let's go again scene by scene.
Third episode begins with Colin's dream. Dreams are of course heavilly linked with both Colin, Pen and their desires. Ironically, Colin's dream represents his waking up Marina alluded to in the last season ("You are a boy, caught up in his own fantasies... You need to wake up, Colin!").
While Penelope stopped dreaming and gave up on her "fantasy" after Colin's comment in the end of season 2 ("I would never dream of courting Penelope Featherington, not in your wildest fantasies."), Colin is awaken at the same place, in a cheeky way, by his dream.
The Featherington garden represents crucial moments of their relationship so far. Firstly, it was the place where he broke her heart by his statement, and sparked her intention to marry. Secondly, of course, it was the place where they came to their agreement, with her agreeing to move from him by accepting his help, while he put himself in a vulnerable position to face feelings he did not acknowledge before. Thirdly, it is the place where he was forced to face his feelings VERY directly by agreeing to kiss her.
Colin's subcontious wants to "repair" the moment. It is cheeky for Colin to apologize for the late hour, which might have been appropriate for their last meeting, as well.
Fans have had a lot of fun dissecting Colin's psyche, as Colin's dream features basically every cliché of a raunchy romance novel, which is, of course, very intentional. The first shot features the fire burning, symbolizing Colin's realized feelings. The fog might either allude to the mystery whether Colin's love is requited, or to form a "protection from the gazes of others".
This episode offers a lot storytelling through clothing with Colin especially, and I shall dive to each of his looks. Generally speaking, Colin trades vulnerability for his armor repeatedly in the first half of the episode, culminating in his Innovations Ball look, which I find the most vulnerable.
Colin in his dream is dressed similarly as he was in the end of episode 2, however, his neck is now bare, alluding to his vulnerability. Pen's neckline is lower, her loose hair as well as the fit of the gown make it seem like she is in her nightgown. Still, it is very respectable look for a wet dream, likely to showcase and hammer that Colin did not found vulnerability anew, not sexual desire.
I find it interesting that the shot does not start with Colin walking into the frame, who is the one dreaming, but with Penelope. Perhaps the intention was to try to mess with fans and give them the impression it is Pen who dreams. Colin does not get confirmation of her feelings until he admits his. Again, Colin is the vulnerable this time, not Penelope. The scene focuses much more on her pleasure than his, either to again fool the audience, or again, to sell the difference.
As Colin wakes up, we get more visual clues in the globe and the map, likely alluding to his travelling experience, which are connected to his sexuality. The other is, of course, that his blanket is yellow, a color tied to Pen (resembling the shal Violet has in the portrait, again to sell the paraller of the couples, even before Violet states it to the audience at the end of this episode). He looks to the window, which might allude to him trying to find her, as she lives accross the street, which he likely did for the first time in last episode, or trying to find the light, representing a) his social role as a popular charming rake, and b) his masculine power.
Gregory's injury might thematically tie to multiple things. Gregory was established as a cupid, who pierces Colin's heart, and who now can't do so, meaning that Colin is trapped. Gregory can also represent Colin himself as he can't even properly eat with his injury, which was something Colin also mentioned of not being able to do so. We know that Gregory falls injures the hand before he has a chance to see the balloon, which might foreshadow the ending of the episode, when Colin tries to find the answer, only to not get it and be hurt.
Colin comes to the drawing room in a brown vest. The color of the vest reminds me of his pirate coat, and I wonder whether it is basically his "casual armor", the one he wears around his family now, not wanting them to know of his feelings. It is also worth pointing out that when Colin walks in, he goes to his brothers who sit seperately from the sisters and the mother, almost to shocase Colin's tendency to trying to follow male squad, even the toxic one.
Our dearest prophetess Hyacinth strikes again by mentioning Penelope. It is worth noting that while Colin is distressed, he still realizes that he likely hurt Eloise by commenting on Lady Whistledown finding about their ordeal, and seems to attempt to follow her to make sure she is fine. Colin can't refer to Penelope as his or as a friend, so he opts to refers to her as the acquaintance of the whole family and sips the tea this time. Colin's drinking is a recurring gag this season, showcasing his growing attraction towards Pen.
From the Queen's and Agatha's meeting, we get an interesting gag of the male suitors being thrown. Penelope fell for Colin when he fell from the horse, which is rather cheeky to remember when the one falling this time is Debling.
Penelope leaves her room just in time for her to a) be reminded of the importance of producing an heir, b) be reminded of her reasons she intended to find a husband, hearing her sisters. I believe that it is Eloise's comment that sparks Pen's hope to find a husband once again, as she gets her blessing. Penelope knew she couldn't stay away for long, but to keep her column, not because she gained hope.
It is quite reasonable that Penelope chose to promenade after week in her room. We are left to wonder why Colin choose to do so and if he was perhaps trying to see her. However, from his expression, I do believe that he was surprised to see her. Colin is the one who follows Pen this episode, showcasing the change in the dynamic. Penelope often followed him instead in the previous episode.
Penelope's styling seems very childish, with her ribbons, hair to the side and pinkish and lilac tone of her dress, perhaps a visual way for her to distance herself from the ordeal and that kiss. Colin is wearing the style akin to previous seasons, with his armor being left home. They are children once again. The willow the meet under might symbolize innocence, protection, childhood, as it somewhat shields them from the Ton. The long distance show might allude to them suddenly feeling a gap between themselves, or perhaps a need to keep their distance after the whole ordeal.
It is cheeky that Penelope relies on her double identity when asked for a reasoning. She might have just as easily pointed out the Ton itself, instead, she uses Lady Whistledown she disparaged in the last episode. Just as Colin refered to the Pen in regards to all Bridgertons, Penelope refers to her and his family regarding the embarassment. Pen thanking Colin for his kindness is of course very funny paraller to her comment about his cruelty in episode 1; a comment which might have hurt him the same.
Debling starts the episode as the hunted "prey", not only as Cressida (and later Pen) is after him, but by himself, as he wants to find a hiding place. However, Debling of course changes into the "predator" later.
Stowell House in general does not seem particularly inviting. It either displays mirrors or the "prey" on the walls, signalling Pen's entrapment. Penelope does not hide even in her corner, where she is found by the toxic buddies.
Penelope assures her mother that Ton will likely be distracted by the new scandal. Portia of course does not know that it is Penelope herself who is Lady Whistledown, and who might have a chance to publish such a scandal, but only if Pen leaves her hideout. Pen later offers social contagion as a joke, which might be a fun way of alluding to her double identity, as she holds a bit of power regarding social assesment.
Mirror imagery is quite cheeky regarding our leads and Debling. Pen's back is seen in mirror behind her, which might signal that she is currently social outcast, still uncomfortable after the incident, or visual signal of Pen hiding her identity.
With Colin's arrival, it is Pen who looks at him first, just when he looks at Eloise. Colin notices and continues to look, while Pen looks away and hides as a "prey". Colin turns away and we see a glimpse of him in the mirror. Pen fell first, but he fell harder. Colin flees the mirror, as he will continue to do so in this episode, following her.
Debling does not mind the mirror at all (something he seems to share with Agatha and Benedict) and as Pen becomes more comfortable, the mirror seems to dissapear from the shot. It is worth pointing out that both Colin and Debling have waistcoats with yellow ornaments, alluding to both of them being interested in Pen.
Colin is accompanied by the candles both when Eloise mentions Penelope, as well as when he is "assessing his pupil", alluding to his growing love. I do not think it was unintentional to have Alice mention his "kindheartedness", after Penelope thanks him for his "kindness". Not only do both mention the possibility of a different suitor, they also use similar language when speaking of Colin's role in it, rubbing the idea deeper.
Even more cheeky is that Alice does not refer to Penelope by name, only as a pupil, while Colin comments on it as "gossip" finding their home. Colin refers to Whistledown when asked about Penelope; while Pen is, of course, both subject of the gossip as well as its source as lady Whistledown.
Eloise'a and Cressida's scene alludes to Eloise walking to the crossroads and choosing a path she might regret. Eloise does not help Cressida much, but it is enough for her to easily win over Pen at first.
Finally, we get likely the most in face reference of the episode: Hawkins Balloon, with its blue and yellow stripes. It likely symbolizes our leads, with Colin seeing the balloon (aka embracing the opportunity of them becoming a couple), while Pen ignores it in favour of Debling.
Colin arrives in his armor, aka with his pirate coat firmly on. But his defence crumble rather quickly. He follows Penelope immedietely. At first, he follows her instruction to focus on sweets, but more and more into the scene, he just begins to look at Pen, the only exception is when Pen compliments Debling, as he feels a need to hide his feelings.
Colin loses his battle while seeing Pen eating the cake. The cake symbolized sex even back in 102, when Pen asks Marina how did she become pregnant. What is striking, though, that the next time Colin is shown on screen, he took off his coat and seems to finish Penelope's cake. Colin lets his armor down, just before his heroic moment.
The balloon is representation of a human attempt to "triumph" over the nature, to "conquer the wind". Funnily, as Colin with the help of his squad protects the balloon and wins over the wind, he loses his own battle against it internally, as the wind represents his desire for Penelope. Colin finds courage and allows himself to be vulnerable (by leaving the pirate coat, his armor, behind in the arms of one of his toxic buddies), only for him to find Penelope in Debling's embrace. Eloise and Cressida's remarks might be quite cruel foreshadowing for the later events. "It is good thing no one was injured." "Who says I wasn't?"
The distress of Colin at Innovations Ball is implied with his darker waistcoat, bare neck and him adjusting his jacket. Colin attempts his best to smile for Eloise, but it is a rather unsuccesful attempt. If I dare say, Colin seems like he is attending funeral. His question whether a man can be pensive is rather interesting, not only as it is pun on Penelope's name, but as Colin asks basically if he can be himself.
Penelope and Portia ignore the lamp, the sorce of fire and light, which I would argue, represents the love between Pen and Colin.
Benedict refers to Francesca as "his shield" from the debutantes, and we see Benedict succeeding in fleeing the debutantes with the sister by his side. Eloise, on the other hand, leaves Colin to them, leaving him "unprotected". This is hammered with Violet, who without the children by her side, becomes the target of Marcus. It is no wonder Francesca finds her man when she is allowed to return to her familiar shadows, with fireplace representing love, passion and desire once again. Benedict, too, fails to "battle the nature", as he finds himself in the embrace of his newest partner, after he meets her at the staircase, with her looking down on him.
As the debutantes ask Colin if he is as heroic on the dancefloor, Colin moves his head instead of answering, while we get the shot of Pen holding her own dancecard. It is quite clear. Colin is losing his chance.
While Penelope's and Cressida's race is for comedic effect, it showcases that a lot of times, women fight over guys they might even want, just because they fear someone else will snatch them. While Cressida is pressured to be married, no one points out that she almost married Jack last season, someone who turned out to be a schemer. Daphne won her own "race", only to end up with Simon. Cressida fails to gain Colin's attention in season 1 and 2 mostly due to her treatment of Penelope and Daphne.
Penelope finds herself on the crossroads between Colin and Debling. She chooses to look at Colin, showcasing to the audience that Pen is romantic at heart. While Colin answers the question of debutantes, he is in fact encouraging himself, but as he can't help but look at her, she takes it as his confirmation of wishing her good luck as a mentor. Just as Pen unknowingly let Colin down in willow scene with her words, Colin just done the same. Cheekily, Debling asks whether Pen has trouble with the balloon, while she answers "not at present". As she gave up on Colin in that instance.
Penelope herself pretends to love nature to secure herself a naturalist, ignoring her own desire to be with Colin. Ironically, she secures the naturalist by openly stating she does not really care about nature, when she cares about what nature represents in this episode. Debling giving Pen lemonade ties narratively to Pen leaving the lemonade at the table during the Full-Moon ball, as well as her leaving it at drawing scene with Colin.
I believe that Debling caught on Colin's feelings at this instant. The reason I believe so is that Pen's dance card was still blank and Pen gave Colin time to react. Debling did not ask Penelope for dance beforehand, and she hoped that Colin would speak... which is something Colin might have realized once Penelope gives Debling his hand and dance card is visible to him.
2024.06.09 16:16 RogueStar101 A Team Lead who has multiple strikes, yet they won't get rid of them.
First off I must emphasize to be gentle on criticisms as I have poor views on myself . With that being said, let me start. I've been working at my local Walmart for quite sometime and been on an okay relationship with my team leads. However, recently the one team lead began to get very demanding. Our fitting room was renovated with no office space to do our work, and according to this team lead we are to have no tables, no top-stock carts or no carts of any kind to do our returns. And with what returns we get we must run out right with no way of sorting to different areas to do bulk returns. If we do bulk returns we HAVE to go all the way to the back and do this, and between this to run back to the fitting rooms if a customer needs assistance. Than, we must stay there until the customer is finished with the fitting room, which takes some time because either they have multiple clothing to try on, or more customers show up, so returns get piled up. With my way, if I could aquire one top stock cart, and one shopping cart, I can cut the returns to minimal because most of those returns are near the fitting room area.
Yet, according to this team lead, management refuses anything that takes up unnecessary space isn't allowed. So, no top stocks, folding tables, just one cart! Now, here's the kicker. Yesterday, this particular team lead was off so I asked management if there was any way around this. I was informed we were never restricted from all top stock carts, just not that much. We were allowed at least one top stock for returns and folding I began to get confused so I asked around about this team lead to see if any other employees had issues with this one. Turns out, there are multiple ethical issues with this team lead and a higher lead cannot stand this one.
According to him/her if anyone shows any progress in their job, the lower team lead will rain hell over that employee to either run them to another department or run them off. Yet no one wants to run this toxic TL off. This TL has made me have a anxiety crisis three times already but I don't want to report them Even though everyone says retaliation isn't acceptable What is said and what is done are two different things I'm just wondering if anyone has issues with team leads
submitted by RogueStar101 to WalmartEmployees [link] [comments]
Yet, according to this team lead, management refuses anything that takes up unnecessary space isn't allowed. So, no top stocks, folding tables, just one cart! Now, here's the kicker. Yesterday, this particular team lead was off so I asked management if there was any way around this. I was informed we were never restricted from all top stock carts, just not that much. We were allowed at least one top stock for returns and folding I began to get confused so I asked around about this team lead to see if any other employees had issues with this one. Turns out, there are multiple ethical issues with this team lead and a higher lead cannot stand this one.
According to him/her if anyone shows any progress in their job, the lower team lead will rain hell over that employee to either run them to another department or run them off. Yet no one wants to run this toxic TL off. This TL has made me have a anxiety crisis three times already but I don't want to report them Even though everyone says retaliation isn't acceptable What is said and what is done are two different things I'm just wondering if anyone has issues with team leads
2024.06.09 15:56 ZainlessBrombie Leaving Mold Behind - What to keep?
I'm finding increasing evidence that my histamine intolerance is caused or exacerbated by mold in my living environment, even though I can't find it. It's safe to say every bit of cloth and furniture has been exposed to the mold spores in that case.
I will move soon and I'll leave behind as much of my stuff as possible. Which raises the question:
What should I leave behind?
Specifically, what about:
I'd appreciate any thoughts and experiences - thank you
submitted by ZainlessBrombie to HistamineIntolerance [link] [comments]
I will move soon and I'll leave behind as much of my stuff as possible. Which raises the question:
What should I leave behind?
Specifically, what about:
- Wooden furniture (tables etc)
- Bedsheets (Washable at 60° C)
- Blankets (Washable at 90° C)
- Clothes (Some of them only washable at 30° C)
- Suitcases (Hard to clean)
I'd appreciate any thoughts and experiences - thank you
2024.06.09 15:51 Routine_Persimmon69 First post, and if you read it, or even skim through, you are amazing.
(I’m not editing otherwise I’ll just never end up posting this…so, it’s long and jumbled)
I’m sorry. Another one of these posts. My first time posting though. Going to talk to my psychiatrist at my Wednesday appointment and bring up about possibly having adhd. Please give me advice. One thing I’ll say though is I’ve been dealing with these things forever, so it’s hard for me sometimes to think of examples or comprehend the big pig of these questions like “How often do you have trouble listening to someone, even when they are speaking directly to you — like your mind is somewhere else?” So then, I have to really think about my day to day life. So, here’s just some things about me that drive me crazy, make me cry, and have SOMEWHAT accepted. I’m 37 now. Of course, I lose things, a lot. Just a recent thought is I lost my phone like 7 times in 4 hours. The other night I was looking at a recipe going to make something, and I can’t stand (which I assume, most don’t) but reading all the story about the receipe so I’m scrolling up and down and up and down because I apparently can’t just slow down, and go through it from the top down and find it. Ah, yes found it. I think I’ll call my grandma because it’s hot in my house our air isn’t working, I’m going to see if it’s hot in her house, because hers isn’t working. “Okay where’s my phone” leave the counter go look a minute and realized I was just looking at it, to find a recipe. Oooook, so this is just how things are all the time, so there’s just a small thing.
As exampled above, I always have things going through my head, and not that I dont realize it, but sometimes I’m so accustomed to it, I don’t think about it because I just always feel like everything is moving fast in my head and around me….when we could simply be sitting at a restaurant outside. The wind is blowing getting hair in my face….my kids are running around the table…I’m participating in a game of charades with them (always feel we’re that weird family out to eat…there’s me, husband (with adhd, doesn’t treat it..)10 year old, 8 year old, 5 year old. Thinking about needing to get home, because I need to get everyone to brush their teeth, get pajamas on, get to bed…like it’s a race because, I don’t know why because it’s Saturday….we get home, now I’m over stimulated, and have been….now I’m rushing around to help them…and I just need to get out of the room/house to be alone for a little bit because there’s too much going on. And the thing is…10 year old is on the couch…and the other 2 might just be sitting on their tablets…and no one is really doing anything. This again is a small example, of my day to day. Why we go out to eat when we have all the kids I don’t know. In many cases I can feel like I’m in my own world with a bunch of noise happening in my head…and my son is doing absolutely nothing I would probably say is that loud//“annoying”….but this is just how I feel. There’s sounds of a festival going on at my work…when it’s quiet. Sometimes not a festival, may sometimes just be a conversation with myself. Which, sometimes, now and again, comes out of my mouth. And one of my co workers will walk by and I just say I’m just having a conversation with myself pay no mind.
So going off of that, now if I get over stimulated and don’t take a break…because I can feel the irritation building up….i can just scream, like I’m over this right now, I have GOT to leave this situation…. Which could frankly be at work, I feel too much is going on…sitting at my desk. At my desk I am switching position how I sit I don’t know how many times, sitting on my legs…all the way forward…all the way back, legs crossed…oookay let’s switch. I doodle on my paperwork…I work as customer service, I feel because I’ve done customer service so long, I do pretty well paying attention to the customer….but at my current job it’s become challenging. I worked from home before…so I could do other things like…make a list of all the things I need to do, that I won’t that day…week…whatever. I could be “productive” I’ll call it. Here, I have other people taking calls which I can hear them, people walking by, this fan blowing about 10 ft in front of me….the lady behind me putting her cell phone down on her desk…and I have got to go to the bathroom because I’m about to pee my pants because I’ve waited too long.
Okay. Moving on. I put things off, pretty bad. It could be a text back to my dad just asking if want to do lunch next Saturday. I feel like I can’t respond, though, I am just reading it…and then I just think I have to remember to respond, go about my life and remember that I haven’t texted him back…which maybe 4 days have gone by at this time….because I feel like I just can’t so I will put a reminder that I need to text him back. I need to make a dentist appt I need to pay for my girls summer camp I need to do the laundry otherwise my kids will have no clean clothes to wear I need to blah blah blah…because I just can’t do it right now, though, I feel a “normal” person would go, why wouldn’t you just do it right then because you have time. My answer is I don’t know, I just can’t. Again, just a sample.
Spend too much money because at that moment I know this will help me feel better, if someone is reading something out of a book, but I have what they’re reading in front of me…I’ll listen to what they’re saying but then read the sheet probably in about 5 seconds. Okay fine. Okay now, what is this about? Let me re-read.
A planner for budgeting, I do get the bills paid on time, though lately again since I’ve been at this job, it’s gotten my challenging because I can’t just do whatever I want at my desk while working….but once bills are paid, we know what we have left….but…let’s spend 100 dollars on dinner…oh and I still need to get groceries…..so hopefully I get to that before there’s no coffee in the morning. OPE, no coffee this morning…I’ll just drive to the gas station, get some come back home. GET COFFEE, text husband, put reminder. It’s 9pm, walked by the empty k cup holder who knows how many times by now, “did you get coffee”.
I can blow up at small things then feel horrible. I have no friends, when I talk to people I talk too much, too fast…so a lot of times I just won’t say much, oh! But then you say a topic I l am excited about! Flood gates open and I have to bite my tongue not to jump in…and then I’m focusing on that and half listening to what you’re saying…at this point I’ve thought about it and decide I better just say a sentence response or “exactly”…or just word flood.
And all of this posts, this is how I talk, and what I hear in my mind….along with who knows what else.
It’s too much, day to day. It’s gotten really bad lately and I think it’s because my only friend died…and I absolutely hate my job, I have to even drive 40 minutes too, generally almost late every day…been there over a year. Late most of the time to places…unless I’m way too early, because I’m afraid I’ll miss an appt so I can’t do anything that day. I’ve also felt more depressed lately, feeling like a failure, feeling like there’s something wrong with me, I’m weird I think I am ugly . Sometimes I feel sad and I don’t know why…sometimes I feel anxiety and I don’t know why. And if I’m not moving a mile a minute, I’m sitting and can’t do anything, and I feel like I HAVE to go do something…now. Let’s go. Oh, let’s go spend money we don’t have.
I feel I do have depression, and I do have GAD, but I feel this is all a big cause of it, or at least a portion. I don’t think it’s all major depression disorder and gad.
Omg. If you read this you’re amazing…even if you just skipped through it. Thank you.
submitted by Routine_Persimmon69 to adhdwomen [link] [comments]
I’m sorry. Another one of these posts. My first time posting though. Going to talk to my psychiatrist at my Wednesday appointment and bring up about possibly having adhd. Please give me advice. One thing I’ll say though is I’ve been dealing with these things forever, so it’s hard for me sometimes to think of examples or comprehend the big pig of these questions like “How often do you have trouble listening to someone, even when they are speaking directly to you — like your mind is somewhere else?” So then, I have to really think about my day to day life. So, here’s just some things about me that drive me crazy, make me cry, and have SOMEWHAT accepted. I’m 37 now. Of course, I lose things, a lot. Just a recent thought is I lost my phone like 7 times in 4 hours. The other night I was looking at a recipe going to make something, and I can’t stand (which I assume, most don’t) but reading all the story about the receipe so I’m scrolling up and down and up and down because I apparently can’t just slow down, and go through it from the top down and find it. Ah, yes found it. I think I’ll call my grandma because it’s hot in my house our air isn’t working, I’m going to see if it’s hot in her house, because hers isn’t working. “Okay where’s my phone” leave the counter go look a minute and realized I was just looking at it, to find a recipe. Oooook, so this is just how things are all the time, so there’s just a small thing.
As exampled above, I always have things going through my head, and not that I dont realize it, but sometimes I’m so accustomed to it, I don’t think about it because I just always feel like everything is moving fast in my head and around me….when we could simply be sitting at a restaurant outside. The wind is blowing getting hair in my face….my kids are running around the table…I’m participating in a game of charades with them (always feel we’re that weird family out to eat…there’s me, husband (with adhd, doesn’t treat it..)10 year old, 8 year old, 5 year old. Thinking about needing to get home, because I need to get everyone to brush their teeth, get pajamas on, get to bed…like it’s a race because, I don’t know why because it’s Saturday….we get home, now I’m over stimulated, and have been….now I’m rushing around to help them…and I just need to get out of the room/house to be alone for a little bit because there’s too much going on. And the thing is…10 year old is on the couch…and the other 2 might just be sitting on their tablets…and no one is really doing anything. This again is a small example, of my day to day. Why we go out to eat when we have all the kids I don’t know. In many cases I can feel like I’m in my own world with a bunch of noise happening in my head…and my son is doing absolutely nothing I would probably say is that loud//“annoying”….but this is just how I feel. There’s sounds of a festival going on at my work…when it’s quiet. Sometimes not a festival, may sometimes just be a conversation with myself. Which, sometimes, now and again, comes out of my mouth. And one of my co workers will walk by and I just say I’m just having a conversation with myself pay no mind.
So going off of that, now if I get over stimulated and don’t take a break…because I can feel the irritation building up….i can just scream, like I’m over this right now, I have GOT to leave this situation…. Which could frankly be at work, I feel too much is going on…sitting at my desk. At my desk I am switching position how I sit I don’t know how many times, sitting on my legs…all the way forward…all the way back, legs crossed…oookay let’s switch. I doodle on my paperwork…I work as customer service, I feel because I’ve done customer service so long, I do pretty well paying attention to the customer….but at my current job it’s become challenging. I worked from home before…so I could do other things like…make a list of all the things I need to do, that I won’t that day…week…whatever. I could be “productive” I’ll call it. Here, I have other people taking calls which I can hear them, people walking by, this fan blowing about 10 ft in front of me….the lady behind me putting her cell phone down on her desk…and I have got to go to the bathroom because I’m about to pee my pants because I’ve waited too long.
Okay. Moving on. I put things off, pretty bad. It could be a text back to my dad just asking if want to do lunch next Saturday. I feel like I can’t respond, though, I am just reading it…and then I just think I have to remember to respond, go about my life and remember that I haven’t texted him back…which maybe 4 days have gone by at this time….because I feel like I just can’t so I will put a reminder that I need to text him back. I need to make a dentist appt I need to pay for my girls summer camp I need to do the laundry otherwise my kids will have no clean clothes to wear I need to blah blah blah…because I just can’t do it right now, though, I feel a “normal” person would go, why wouldn’t you just do it right then because you have time. My answer is I don’t know, I just can’t. Again, just a sample.
Spend too much money because at that moment I know this will help me feel better, if someone is reading something out of a book, but I have what they’re reading in front of me…I’ll listen to what they’re saying but then read the sheet probably in about 5 seconds. Okay fine. Okay now, what is this about? Let me re-read.
A planner for budgeting, I do get the bills paid on time, though lately again since I’ve been at this job, it’s gotten my challenging because I can’t just do whatever I want at my desk while working….but once bills are paid, we know what we have left….but…let’s spend 100 dollars on dinner…oh and I still need to get groceries…..so hopefully I get to that before there’s no coffee in the morning. OPE, no coffee this morning…I’ll just drive to the gas station, get some come back home. GET COFFEE, text husband, put reminder. It’s 9pm, walked by the empty k cup holder who knows how many times by now, “did you get coffee”.
I can blow up at small things then feel horrible. I have no friends, when I talk to people I talk too much, too fast…so a lot of times I just won’t say much, oh! But then you say a topic I l am excited about! Flood gates open and I have to bite my tongue not to jump in…and then I’m focusing on that and half listening to what you’re saying…at this point I’ve thought about it and decide I better just say a sentence response or “exactly”…or just word flood.
And all of this posts, this is how I talk, and what I hear in my mind….along with who knows what else.
It’s too much, day to day. It’s gotten really bad lately and I think it’s because my only friend died…and I absolutely hate my job, I have to even drive 40 minutes too, generally almost late every day…been there over a year. Late most of the time to places…unless I’m way too early, because I’m afraid I’ll miss an appt so I can’t do anything that day. I’ve also felt more depressed lately, feeling like a failure, feeling like there’s something wrong with me, I’m weird I think I am ugly . Sometimes I feel sad and I don’t know why…sometimes I feel anxiety and I don’t know why. And if I’m not moving a mile a minute, I’m sitting and can’t do anything, and I feel like I HAVE to go do something…now. Let’s go. Oh, let’s go spend money we don’t have.
I feel I do have depression, and I do have GAD, but I feel this is all a big cause of it, or at least a portion. I don’t think it’s all major depression disorder and gad.
Omg. If you read this you’re amazing…even if you just skipped through it. Thank you.
2024.06.09 15:40 sameed_a how to improve adaptability with game theory?
I remember it like it was yesterday. I was huddled in a local coffee shop, in-line to get my usual triple espresso to kick start my brain. The line was long, the barista was slow and to make matters worse - my favorite corner spot had been taken by some chap in a suit. I was in a bit of a pickle, my day was rapidly going down a rocky road. My brain was foggy and I needed to figure out how to make the situation better, but how?
Then it hit me, I decided to apply game theory. Now, game theory is basically about making strategic decisions to improve your situation, based on predicting what others might do. I thought, if I could predict what people in front of me were going to order, maybe talking to the right person might nudge things along faster. I started by observing people in line, their clothing, their demeanor, their order history if I happened to know it.
I noticed this one guy, seemed like a regular, chatting with the barista. He ordered an Americano. I bet you're thinking, "How's an Americano going to help you?" Here's the thing, the espresso machine for Americano is different from the triple espresso machine. So, I thought of a plan, a two-tier strategy: First, I started a conversation with the guy, mentioning how Americano is my second favorite. King of coffees, if you will. Secondly, since we were on a friendly term, I asked him if he wouldn't mind ordering a triple espresso for me when it was his turn.
Voila, my order was placed, while I saved myself time waiting in line. For the suit guy at my spot, I told him the wifi connection was better at another table. He bought it, moved, and I regained my spot.
Adapting to unexpected situations, I realized, can be improved by making strategic decisions with the help of game theory. It's quite the mental model, isn’t it?
P.S.: Was this a real story? Well, that's a secret I'll never tell. But, I will say this; no Americano-loving customers were harmed in the creation of this hypothetical scenario. And, if you ever find yourself in a crowded coffee shop with long queues, remember this tale.
submitted by sameed_a to mentalmodelscoach [link] [comments]
Then it hit me, I decided to apply game theory. Now, game theory is basically about making strategic decisions to improve your situation, based on predicting what others might do. I thought, if I could predict what people in front of me were going to order, maybe talking to the right person might nudge things along faster. I started by observing people in line, their clothing, their demeanor, their order history if I happened to know it.
I noticed this one guy, seemed like a regular, chatting with the barista. He ordered an Americano. I bet you're thinking, "How's an Americano going to help you?" Here's the thing, the espresso machine for Americano is different from the triple espresso machine. So, I thought of a plan, a two-tier strategy: First, I started a conversation with the guy, mentioning how Americano is my second favorite. King of coffees, if you will. Secondly, since we were on a friendly term, I asked him if he wouldn't mind ordering a triple espresso for me when it was his turn.
Voila, my order was placed, while I saved myself time waiting in line. For the suit guy at my spot, I told him the wifi connection was better at another table. He bought it, moved, and I regained my spot.
Adapting to unexpected situations, I realized, can be improved by making strategic decisions with the help of game theory. It's quite the mental model, isn’t it?
P.S.: Was this a real story? Well, that's a secret I'll never tell. But, I will say this; no Americano-loving customers were harmed in the creation of this hypothetical scenario. And, if you ever find yourself in a crowded coffee shop with long queues, remember this tale.
2024.06.09 15:38 jetaeus Local restaurants
Are there any restaurants in huntsville that use the paper table cloths that you can draw on?
submitted by jetaeus to HuntsvilleAlabama [link] [comments]
2024.06.09 15:12 FunEffective8386 Am I the asshole for kicking my sister out of my house at 2am?
I (20f) my sister (26f) and my partner (23f) went out for drinks to watch the football. We met my sister at the pub and had a couple of drinks and played some bar games until my sisters train. It was 11pm and I asked if she wanted to come to another bar that was open til 1am and she could stay at my house that me and my partner live in. She said yes and we went to this bar. My sister was quite drunk but me and my partner weren’t. A man offered to buy me a drink so I said yes but only when my sister was back from the toilet. (My partner doesn’t mind me taking drinks from men as I’m a lesbian.) the two guys sat at our table and all my sister did was bully and harass the men for their appearance so it made things very awkward. I apologised to the men when my sister wasn’t looking. I text my other friend (22m) if he wanted to come to mine for drinks, and he said yes. He met us outside the pub when it closed. We walked to mine and got in made drinks and put music on. She was working the next day and had her dirty uniform with her so I put it in the wash for her. It was a good night but around 1:30am my sister said she had booked a taxi to go home. She wasn’t acting like herself. I left it be and went to see my partner and my friend in the kitchen. I put her clothes on for a dry. 20 minutes pass, and I go through to the living room to see my sister in a huff on the couch. I ask whats the matter and she goes off on me. Shouting calling me a fucking idiot and anything else she can say. I tell her I’m not having this conversation and sit in silence as she constantly shouts that I’m talking over her and that I was shouting at her. I used a calm voice the entire time. By this point my partner was in the room assessing the situation. My sister kept trying to get my partner on her side saying that I was shouting at her. I told her to not bring my partner into it. She kept going, shouting at me calling me every name under the sun in my own house. I told her to leave. She wasn’t listening to me so any time she said anything I was telling her to get out. I wouldn’t have told her to unless she has a way home which I knew she did. She started crying. My partner made sure the taxi was definitely booked, handed her work clothes in a bag and escorted her out of our house. The next day I asked her if she got home okay. She then told me she was walking the streets for hours waiting for a way to get home as the taxi cancelled on her. I never knew this as she never told me until she was already home. I would have never of made her leave unless I knew she was getting home safe. Am I the asshole?
submitted by FunEffective8386 to AITAH [link] [comments]