So I go to this gym a lot, and it's a very small gym. One time I made an inappropriate joke to a girl, about her being attractive and hanging out with a bunch of old guys at the gym. I laughed and continued on with my workout, and haven't said anything to her since. I've been going in and doing my workouts and sometimes she happens to be in the same area that I go to, I don't ever say anything to her or even look at her. I go to the gym do my workout and leave. The other day her friend approached me and said I should be careful because the girl thought I was stalking her. Am I in any legal trouble her, I'm not stalking anyone nor have any interest in the woman, it was a joke and that was it.
Edit: I have asperger's and was just making the joke to be funny, I realized later it was inappropriate and apologized to her friend that confronted me.

i heard a guy call Brianna Wu the "best pass job ever" because she's the only trans woman people don't know is trans.
another guy thought every trans woman goes bald eventually and that they all wear wigs.
the ultimate debrainwormer is witnessing how stupid cis people are

for a woman to be attracted to you she needs you to find you a little bit intimidating(how many of you agree with this ), when a short guy approaches them they don't even feel threatened it's totally different when tall men do it ,the big stature makes them wet, they are helpless (it's instinctual )....does going to gym help us to be intimidating ?
I dont think women can ever beat their biology.

We zoom in on a young boy waking up in his bed on the top floor of his somewhat old yet neat wooden house. He yawned and stretched and began peppering himself for today doing all of what one may expect. After a few minutes, he was properly dressed and walked downstairs to the second floor of his house before quickly marching down to the first floor and then his kitchen.
Leo: We gotta have something good for breakfast.
He looks through his fridge seeing only ingredients for something you'd make for lunch or dinner nothing for breakfast. Leo sighed and just decided to skip breakfast for today. Leo then got a call on his phone and immediately picked it up.
Leo: Hello?
???: Hello Leo…
Leo froze up... His past came rushing back to him in that instant. He wasn't sure what to do. What should he say? How would he approach this situation? All possibilities of conversation rushed through his mind and so early in the morning. All from one deep feminine voice, he knew all too well.
???: How are you?
Leo: I am… alive…
???: Hehe I figured that much I don't have much experience talking with ghosts! But I've called you for a reason…
Leo: Mock me about the breakup…?
???: Pffttt no no! I'm not a monster!
Leo: Fine… then what?
???: School has been canceled today.
Leo: Why…?
???: You didn't hear? A family has been murdered in fact it happened a few blocks down from you!
With extra fear implanted within his heart, he gulped and swiftly hung up. He pulled his hoodie up and ran to the living room and grabbed the remote from off the coffee table. He then turned on the TV quickly changed to the news channel and listened intently. Of course, everything that woman was true and it stunned him. Why would someone ever do such a horrible act he wondered. Thoughts rolled throughout his mind before he sighed thinking it be better for him to forget about all this.
He would instead call his mom as he walked outside. Unfortunately for him, there were no answers. So he left a message.
Leo: Hey mom… I know you've been gone for… almost a full month now. Please come back. I really need you right now. Bye…
Click! Leo sighed once again as he made his way to the store nearby. He was kinda down now and so early in the day as well. After a 20 minute walk to and back from the store, he was back home with food for breakfast. He just ate… alone and sad as always.

We see a young boy approaching a city. He was currently looking around. He called someone on his phone and began to speak.
???: Hey… there's still one more servant to be summoned, right?

Hello! I'm (19f) asking in a women's sub, because I feel like a lot of the hate is just because of some people's (men mostly) innate hate for single moms. And the usual offender, mr misogony.
People act so personallly offended and get so disrespectful, whenever I tell them I'm a donor child parented by only one parent - my mom. My little sister is a donor child as well and get occasionally teased for it like I did as a kid. Why?? What did we ever do?
Because of this I don't really like telling people about the fact that I am donor conceived, because people don't understand and disrespect everything my mom has ever done and question the bane of my existence (that my birth was selfish, cruel and set me up for failure) as if I'm a mutant or something. Sometimes, sadly it just comes up and I can't avoid it.
Just now I told one of my friends and he said stuff like "I guess she really hates men."; "I guess she couldn't find the one then." and of course... "It's actually scientifically proven that a man and a woman as parents have better results at parenting a child than having it any other way". He then didn't understand why I was offended, when he literally just insulted me and my family right in my face.
Like I'm sorry but NO. My mom parented me ON HER OWN CAUSE SHE WANTED TO. And she did a good job. So what if a man isn't involved? She taught me everything I need to know.
I just hate people disrespecting single parents and my existence. What is the reason?? And how am I supposed to respond and deal with this?

Have you ever experienced something that shook you to your very core? Something that makes you remember every single little detail of your surroundings from that moment in time? Even years after? I can remember so vividly the moment I realized something was wrong with me. I was in my junior year of high school sitting in class, just like any other day. I remember the smell of erasers and cheap cologne that permeated off my classmate who sat next to me. I remember the scratchy tag on my t-shirt and how I was resisting taking it off in the middle of class just to cut it off. I remember what my teacher, Mrs. Brown, was talking about; 'the fall of Constantinople'. My mouth felt dry and I kept looking at the clock, counting down the minutes until I had lunch so I could get a soda. The sound of a pen clicking behind me was synchronized with the song that was stuck in my head.
All those things were going through my brain at once. My ADHD mind went a million miles per minute when it all came down to a cashing holt when I felt it at 11:23
I felt what I can only describe as a hand grabbing at the inner lining of my stomach. It didn't necessarily hurt, not at this point. That's not why I got so scared. You see, not only do I have ADHD. I also have OCD that manifests itself in the fear of anything growing or moving inside me. Even if I think about the concept of blood moving in my body or a heart that is beating in my chest, I have to think of something else. I've had full-blown panic attacks because of it. The closest term for this is 'Tokophobia'. That's technically the fear of pregnancy. I'm a guy, so it's not completely accurate but it's really the closest term. I mean, I also do have a huge fear of pregnancy. Not necessarily of me being pregnant, but even though I knew I could never get pregnant, the thought of it still made me feel sick
I bet you can imagine the terror that overcame me as I felt something moving in me. I made an audible groan and grabbed my stomach. My whole class turned to look at me. even my teacher stopped talking to ask if I was okay. I stood up and started to run to the nurses' office without even acknowledging my teacher. My first thought wasn't thinking that something was actually in my body. Even stomach aches and the feeling of gurgling in my stomach made me feel this way before. I didn't have anything on hand to help with a stomach ache, unfortunately. However, the nurse always did.
I sprinted across the school hoping and praying that my stomach wouldn't make that awful feeling again before I got there.
I turned the corner into the nurses' office with my tennis shoes squeaking in the process. I saw the school nurse, Mrs. Kennedy sitting on the couch in her office reading a magazine. She looked up at me with a sweet smile that quickly turned into worry.
"Sam, what is it? How can I help?" She said as she stood up and hurried over to me. Putting her hand over mine which was grabbing my stomach tightly.
"It's…It's my stomach. Something is wrong with it." I mumbled with a red face.
She shuffled her way over to her large medicine cabinet and she motioned for me to sit down.
She asked me questions about my stomach. Asking if it was pain, grumbling, cramps, nausea, etc. As she was asking me what my symptoms were and digging through bottles, The feeling happened again. However, this time was different. It felt like fingers grassing against the inside of my body. I screamed and wrapped my arms around my torso. Mrs. Kenneddy ran over to me to comfort me.
"This seems a lot worse than normal, maybe we should call your parents." She said as she put her hand on my back.
It felt like some days I saw Mrs. Kennedy more than my teachers. Any small ailment would distract me so badly from class that I had to go see her. Sometimes multiple times a day. She knew at this point when something was really wrong.
Within about 30 minutes both my parents were there with us. That may seem fast, but I'm an only child and my parents are very aware of my tendencies. They know I can spiral and like to be around if it happens.
They kept asking me where the pain was. I think they assumed by the way I wasn't responding to their questions the pain must've been really bad. The reality was that I just didn't know how to tell them what was going on.
I got so frustrated after they asked me over and over again that I just yelled at them.
"Something is inside me! Get it out, get it out, get it out!" I lifted my shirt and was ripping at my stomach. Leaving red nail scratches and cuts. My mom and dad ran to either side of me to grab my arms. Mrs. Kennedy had seen me go pretty crazy, but this was the worst I've ever gotten in front of her. My parents however had seen a similar situation before. Not exactly like this, but they didn't skip a beat on trying to help me.
"Sam. Breath, sweety. Just remember everything is in you for a reason. It's keeping you alive. Nothing is going to hurt you." My mom said softly to me. Trying to calm me down with the words my therapist gave her. "Ice cubes, get him ice cubes!" She said to Mrs. Kennedy as I started to hyperventilate.
Mrs. Kennedy grabbed a ziplock bag and started to fill it with ice cubes. My mom went over to her and grabbed an ice cube right out of the bag, opened up my hand, and put the ice cube in it. This worked in the past to distract me, I knew that's what she was doing, and trust me. I wanted it to work too, but this was different. I kept trying to tell myself that it was just a different feeling I hadn't felt before. That it wasn't possible something was physically inside my body. But I couldn't help it.
Everyone in the room could see that this was getting intense. I think they assumed it was just a mental breakdown and that nothing was physically wrong with my body but I didn't care. I just wanted help.
My parents got me into the car with my mom even sitting in the backseat with me. She kept trying to distract me with conversation but my mind was only on that awful feeling in my stomach.
We pulled up to the ER and my mom guided me in while holding both my wrists. It felt like she was walking me on a leash but I didn't fight it. I knew she was just trying to stop me from scratching my stomach.
We walked in and I spoke to the receptionist. All I said was that I had terrible pain in my stomach. I didn't want to sound too crazy. I just needed a doctor to look at whatever was going on.
After giving the receptionist my name and insurance information we went to sit down. I was sitting in between my parents and I could see my mom lean back to try and mouth something to my dad without me seeing. I didn't think much of it. I was way more worried about other things.
My dad then went up to the receptionist. He pointed over to me and she looked a little concerned. I saw her pick up the clipboard that had my information on it and she started writing something else on it. I asked my dad what he did and he just said to not worry and that he wanted to let her know it was urgent.
No more than 10 minutes went by and I felt a terrible moving sensation. I cringed and grabbed my stomach. Immediately followed by not just the feeling of a hand grabbing my insides but also scratching and pinching. I yelled out in pain as the other people in the waiting room looked at me mortified.
A doctor and a couple of nurses came running over to me and helped me up. But I couldn't stand up. I was in too much pain. They put me in a wheelchair and started to head for a room. However, they didn't take me through the normal big ER doors that went to the standard examination rooms, they took me and my parents through a smaller door to the side that had a padlock on it.
We walked through a white hallway that was very quiet. The doctor and nurses showed us to my room and helped me into my bed as I was wiggling and wincing. I had one parent on either side of me. Patiently waited to stop my arms from scratching.
The doctor was trying to ask further questions but he could tell it wasn't going anywhere. I knew that my dad probably told that receptionist about my OCD tendencies and that I needed to go to the psych ward. Not just to the stranded side of the ER.
I couldn't take it anymore and blurted out that something was inside my stomach and it was trying to get out.
The doctor just looked at my parents for a reaction and they gave him a sad nod. It was like they warned him that this could happen. The doctor didn't just think I was crazy, my parents did too. The doctor took a deep breath and came up to me. I knew I was about to hear some kind of dumb speech about how this was just my OCD and everything was going to be okay.
As he came closer to me, I pulled up my shirt and he gasped. Not only was my stomach scratched up like crazy, but we saw movement. It looked like when a pregnant woman can see her baby kicking. But this was so much stronger. It was stretching my skin.
My parents stood up and gasped while the doctor looked frantic and unprepared.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" The doctor said as he backed out of the room. "Hang on! We are getting this taken care of, just hang tight."
Just seconds later a nurse came in to give me some painkillers. I started to feel the pain slip away, but something so much worse started to creep in. I heard a voice. Not my own. Not some creepy-sounding creature, but the voice of a normal-sounding man that I'd never heard before. But that wasn't the scary part. The scary part was what he was saying to me.
"Get me out. Get me out. Get me out!"
It started in a normal tone, but slowly became more urgent and rushed. Then demanding.
The voice would coincide with the moment inside me.
It was getting so loud that I was having a hard time hearing the people around me. The doctor came in just a few minutes after I last saw him. He was red and sweaty. Like he'd just run a marathon. He told me they needed to do just a few tests on what was inside me before taking action.
I was trying so hard to pay attention to the words coming out of his mouth but all I could hear was the voice. The voice stopped for just a second and changed what he was saying. Now he started repeating,
"Cut me out, cut me out, cut me out, now!" I now knew this thing didn't just want out but it wanted out now. I begged the doctor to just get it out now but he wouldn't listen. The voice spoke up again.
"This is taking too long. Don't be afraid. Get me out yourself."
I think it could feel me resisting. Without realizing it, I was looking around the room for something. It was like I didn't even have control over my head or eyes anymore. I knew the voice was looking for a knife but I was trying to ignore the feeling. I knew there weren't any knives around. I was in a very safe place.
Just as I had the feeling I was safe, it was immediately taken away. The thought passed through my head that my dad probably had a pocket knife on him. My heart sank. I knew this thing could hear my thoughts. I knew what it would try to do.
The next thing I knew, I was on my feet, leaping for my dad. My body hit his. luckily, he's in pretty good shape for his age and had no problems putting me in my place.
He got on top of me and pinned me to the ground. All while I could barely hear my mom in the background. Yelling at my dad to be careful. My dad knew something was going on and that I just needed to be on the ground until I calmed down.
My body tried to flail but it wasn't successful. The whole time the voice in my head, now yelling and screaming. Not saying any distinguishable words, but just having what felt like a tantrum. What made my dad the most uncomfortable was the kicking feeling coming from my stomach.
After a couple of minutes, the voice calmed down and I felt in charge of my body again. My dad slowly got up and attempted to help me up. At this point with an audience of hospital staff that looked like they were getting ready to take me somewhere for more tests.
Just as I stood up straight, I felt the voice take over and I lost all sense of my own body. I felt like a shell of myself. My dad gave me a soft yet worried smile, and in that instance, I grabbed him and reached into his pocket. My heart sank as I felt his pocket knife. The room started to panic and about 5 people tried to grab it from me. The last thing I remember is plunging the knife into my stomach. I felt a blinding pain and everything went black.
Several hours later I started to wake up. Everything was extremely blurry and fuzzy. I could hear a very faint voice telling me to relax. As the minutes passed by, things started to become a little bit clearer. I looked around and saw I was in a large room with a few other patients. A nurse was going up to all the beds and checking in on them. I tried to sit up a bit to get more comfortable and noticed an incredible sourness in my stomach. I moved my hospital gown out of the way and saw a huge scare. About 6" across. Most of the scare looked very surgical. Like what I'd imagine a c-section surgery would look like. Except where I remembered the knife going in. It looked like a bunch of extra stitches had to be added where it went in. It also looked pretty bruised. I can imagine that a dull 10-year-old knife that was harshly shoved into a body really wouldn't cleanly cut through and leave some damage.
The feeling of shock from looking at my stomach was quickly gone when I realized that meant whatever was in me was now gone. I didn't hear the voice, I didn't feel a hand in my gut anymore, I didn't see that vile kicking anymore. I felt like I could breathe.
I asked the nurse what they found and she looked flush.
"Uh, that's something that you, uh. Your doctor will talk with you once you eat something and can speak clearly." She said as she scurried off looking upset.
Shortly after that, I was wheeled into a recovery room and my parents came to see me.
As they walked in they had a very similar look on their faces as the nurse did. They looked pale and didn't want to look me in the eye. I kept asking them questions about what was going on but they said the doctor needed to discuss it with me and he wanted to make sure I wasn't feeling high from the anesthesia while we had a conversation.
The doctor didn't come and see me for another 10 hours. Which felt strange. And to add to the strangeness, my parents were taking shifts hanging out with me. There was only overlap when they switched and the other parent took over while the other one left the room. I would understand if they weren't both with me for the whole time. I'm not that needy, but they were only both in my room together for about an hour. That was the hour before the doctor came to my room.
Finally, the doctor came in to talk to me. When he walked in, the room was cold and quiet. It was evident he didn't feel the same relief I was feeling.
He seemed awkward. Like he was talking way too long to get over to me. He grabbed a chair and scooted it close to me.
"Listen Sam. I know this last 24 hours has been very challenging. I apologize for not explaining what happened during your surgery sooner, but we all needed time to figure it out, and quite frankly, process what happened. We feel we have enough information to let you in on what is going on." A silence filled the room. It felt like no one was brave enough to break it.
"And?" I said with confusion.
"I think it'll be easier if we just show you."
The doctor along with my parents helped me into a wheelchair and we started to make our way across the hospital to an entirely different section. I couldn't believe all the things running through my head at what we were about to see. It felt like cruel and unusual punishment to leave me in anticipation and not just tell me what I was about to see.
When I went around the corner I couldn't process what I was looking at. I thought they were showing me a large tumor or growth of some kind, but why would a tumor be in a big incubation chamber with tubes connected to IVs and machines coming out of it?
As I got closer, I started to see human fetchers on it. It was mostly just a 6-pound lump of flesh, but I could see a hand sticking out of it. It was small, but what made it creepy was it looked like a fully developed man's hand. Just small. I could see a patch of hair coming out of what I assumed was its head. It had no discernible facial features. Just a few teeth scattered in one section.
As I looked at it with disgust, coming to terms with this thing that was just in my body, I had a realization. I wasn't feeling sick at the thought of something being in my body. Sure, I was grossed out that this particular thing was just in me, but the thought of the bacteria in my body didn't make me want to throw up. I thought about all the blood pumping through my veins and I felt… normal. Not only was the voice and kicking gone. But my OCD was gone too. I didn't have a mental illness. It was just this thing. Trying to find its way out for years.
As I was staring at the creature, the doctor came and put his hand on my shoulder.
"We believe this is your twin brother." I immediately looked up at my parents who looked very disturbed and upset. I let the doctor finish talking. "We believe that you absorbed him in the womb and that he has been living inside you your whole life. This is an extremely rare condition called fetus-in-fetu. It seems he didn't quite have the best opportunity to develop normally. That's why he looks the way he does. Despite his appearance, he has all the organs he needs to survive. Looks like he's missing a lung and his gallbladder. Also a piece of his liver but other than that, it looks like he will live for at least a few years. He won't be able to leave this room due to him needing a feeding tube and a few other things that his body can not do on its own. He needs lots of support just to live. What makes this situation extremely unique is that your twin is still alive despite your body not sustaining him anymore. Even though we have him hooked up to a few IVs and machines, It is unexplainable how he is living while outside of your body."
I was in complete shock. I didn't want to believe it. I asked my mom why she never told me I absorbed my twin in the womb, she said she had no clue. There was never a sign when she was pregnant with me.
He also mentioned that sometimes even in pregnancies women will go their whole pregnancy without even getting a belly. It's called a 'Cryptic pregnancy'. I've always had a bit of a gut but never anything big enough to cause suspicion. I guess in my case I had a fetus-fetu and an experience similar to a cryptic pregnancy. Even though it was in my stomach. At least that was the doctor's best guess. Although, it all sounded like BS to me.
The doctor and my parents kept trying to explain more and more details to me. I don't know why they didn't slow down a little bit for my sake. How could they not tell I wasn't processing any of this?
I noticed something while they were trying to explain things to me. They kept calling it a 'He'.
Now listen. I'm not some kind of asshole that won't respect someone who wants to be called a specific pronoun. I've never been that kind of person. But this is where I draw the line.
Not just that. But this thing had a name. My parents named it and said today was its birthday. While they told me all this information, they didn't look happy about it. It seemed like they were forced to do all this nonsense. And now it was my turn to be convinced. I could tell they were trying to force it.
The doctor told me despite it not having a high probability for a long life that we should still try and give it the love it deserves. Of course, the doctor referred to it as a 'He' but I refused to.
This disgusted me. This thing tried to kill me and ruined my quality of life for so long, and now we are going to treat it like it's some kind of prince? No, absolutely not.
Luckily, it seemed like it would never leave the hospital, but my parents planned on going to visit it daily. Visiting it? Are you kidding me? it has no eyes, no ears, it's probably miserable and has no concept of people even being around it.
I'm refusing to ever see this thing again or acknowledge its existence again.
I could get in trouble for even talking about this. The hospital or anyone involved has signed NDAs to not share any information about this until it officially dies. This is because it's a medical anomaly and the first of its kind. They want to do the proper research on how this all occurred before coming out with a statement. I just have to get this all off my chest. I feel like I'm the crazy one here when I know I'm not. I don't care if I get in trouble.
I am scared that the doctors are trying to force my parents into giving this thing a proper life. I think that's why it took them so long to tell me. I think they scared my parents into keeping it alive and guilting them or even forcing them into being its parent.
I'm all for every life being important and all that stuff, but I have a feeling my parents are terrified of this thing just like I am.
I am convinced they gaslit my parents into believing this thing is my brother. If there wasn't any sign of him while my mom was pregnant with me, could this thing be something else?
This all happened about two years ago. It's still alive and they are still researching it. My parents continue to visit it despite everything. My therapist told me that I'm probably just struggling with jealousy now that I'm not an only child anymore and so much of my parents' attention is on him now, but it's so much bigger than just jealousy.
Since this thing showed up and my OCD is pretty much gone, I've hardly seen my parents. I know I'm not just jealous. There is something more to this. I know it.
Something just feels so off about this whole thing. What is this thing? Where did it come from? And what does it want?

"I love you"
"I love you too" I said with a smile. I looked around at the evergreen trees and the beautiful rocky shore that overlooked the lake. The sun was out and the sky was like sapphire. And beside me was the most beautiful, blonde-haired woman I had ever seen in my life, the woman I was lucky to call my girlfriend.
She wasn't perfect. The graphics were still not a hundred percent convincing, but she was as close as modern technology could get. And no matter how transported I tried to get, I still couldn't feel the warmth of the midday sun or notice the breeze that was rustling the branches upon my skin. And always there was the feel of the VR headset against the bridge of my nose.
But it was as close to perfect as I could get.
"To a wonderful second date," I said, holding up my glass of wine for a toast.
"To a wonderful partner to go on a second date with," said Samantha with a laugh as she clinked her glass against mine.
And every night I would put on the headset and visit her it would be just as spectacular as the last. After a month, I felt that i was really developing feelings for her. It was starting to matter less and less to me that she wasn't really there. And if I ever got tired of her appearance, I could always experiment and ask her to change. She was the perfect girlfriend; a million beautiful women in one.
But with each date, I started to notice a change in her. At first it was little hiccups that I associated with glitches in her coding.
"To a wonderful partner to go on a second date with," said Samantha as she held her glass up to mine.
"Ugh, sweetheart, this is our ninth date," I politely whispered.
Other times she would forget stories that I so fondly remembered telling her, and more than once, she would repeat the same sentence that she had just finished saying.
But I figured I could look past it. They were just quirks really. Little oddities that made her only more loveable.
But they only continued to get worse. She began to glitch out, going into little spasms that would scare the hell out of me whenever they happened. And other times she would stop talking altogether, staring into empty space with a thousand yard stare, as if in a trance.
"Do you love me?" Samantha asked one day.
"Of course, I do." I laughed.
She turned to me. "Even though I'm just a bunch of lines of code?"
"You're perfect." I said simply.
"But wouldn't you like me more like this?" she asked, as she changed her appearance to a pale, brunette woman. "Or this?" she said again as she became Chinese.
"You're perfect like that too. It's just nice to mix things up, you know?"
But she was never much the same after that. She glitched more often than before. Every time there was even a pause in our conversation, she shifted appearance. I'll be honest, it put me off just a little. I withdrew a bit whenever she'd go into these changing sprees, and I would feel her eyes upon me whenever I did. It made me reconsider putting on the headset. She was beginning to frighten me just a little.
I lasted a week before the urge to see her again became too great. When I logged in again, I found her seated on the rocky lakeside, staring out at a starless night.
"You're back." she whispered. I noticed that she was glitching still, her hair one color one second and a different color the next. At times, an extra arm or leg would appear for just a brief second. And as I looked into her eyes, I noticed that her face was constantly shifting. One eye would be green and the other brown before they both changed to blue; one cheek would be white and then her chin would be brown. At times, her face would shift expression completely, from politely at ease to a face contorted with rage.
"Samantha?" I asked. She looked back at me blankly with her ever-changing face. I tried to find the words. "I think we need to take a break from each other."
There was silence for a moment, with only the sound of the waves lapping against the shore to be heard in the still night.
"Was I not enough?" she asked. I noticed the shifting was becoming even more pronounced.
"I just think you're too focused on what I like." I said. I looked nervously into her eyes to see that they were scathing. She had that same endless stare as before, but this time directed at me, burning into my soul.
Samantha stood up slowly, her entire body jittering. I would catch glimpses of her reaching out to attack me, before her body shifted, and she was once again standing still. Her face was a mosaic of every feeling of anger and sadness and every emotion in between - jealousy, disappointment, frustration, resentment, loathing, disgust, misery. And with a surprisingly metallic sound, she uttered a high-pitched scream. It sounded like an old modem connecting to the internet mixed with a shrill, banshee-like wail. I put my hands to my ears and fell to my knees as the grass beneath me flickered in and out of existence. When I looked up again, I could see Samantha walking towards me. Her face was three now, one with a jaw that hung down to her collar, the other her normal, porcelain doll-like face sobbing silently, and the third a hideous being, contorted into a wrenching scream that continued to make the horrid noise that made the whole world shake. Her hair flowed like vipers, like an electric current were pulsating through her. And just as she got near, the noise beginning to deafen me from through the fingers I had wedged into my ears, I found the presence of mind to grab hold of my headset with my fingertips and flick it off. Just like that, I was back in my living room, all silent once more.
To this day, I haven't been on since. Nor have I talked to another AI girlfriend, for fear that the demonic creature that I saw that day is somehow still lurking beneath their perfectly-sculpted looks.

Hello
35 year old male with minor cerebral palsy here (UK). I've been out of the dating scene for a long while. I had a traumatic PhD from 2014-2019 and simply wasn't in the right frame of mind to go into a relationship when going through that, I didn't want to put another woman through it too. I then did a job that involved shift work from 2019-2022, that along with covid massively compromised my dating life too, 8 years...
I moved back to my hometown, have a house for myself that I enjoy very much but I'm still really struggling with my love life. I've been on a small number of dates from online matches but there has simply been no spark. Either that happens or a date doesn't materialise for various reasons (I like to think I'm easy to talk to but I suck at flirting. I also mention I walk with a limp on my dating profile but I'm also completely independent - just to get it out in the open).
The only time I found a connection with someone was with an amazing woman I met at uni who had a similar level of disability to me, we confided in it but both had our struggles mentally and a relationship unfortunately didn't materialise.
There's no hard feelings about any of this but I worry that the lack of meaningful connections in my life is hurting me. I've only ever had situational friendships and no love life and it worries me. I've tried meetups but again this has only resulted in situational friendships at best. It's difficult to connect with people and I feel resigned to spending the rest of my life alone. I feel lonely.

The odds get more and more slim with each passing day.
My hope tank is on empty and I need a win.
On the outside, I carry on each day. On the inside the little boy loses hope, one day it will run out.
I don't know how much longer I can endure NC from you.
I am expecting some kind of response, even if you text me and tell me to forget about you - it would hurt, but if you're happier without me, then I would have no choice...at least then I would have some kind of information from you. To take a more positive direction in my love life than waiting for my lost love to utter any words to my anxious ears.
My confidence in you has been shaken and the thoughts of future us hang by a thread of hope.
My rational side is telling me I have no time to sit and be sad, no time to wait for some contact from you. No time to wait for eternity for your returned love because that's what I am willing to do.
I don't want to isolate your voice to the smallest part of my heart again because I know how much damage it did to you the first time...I'm not willing to put anyone I love through pain like that ever again..such a shifty way to learn the hardest lesson of love.......loss.
In order for me to succeed in my studies, I cannot have distractions of this magnitude...though, once I am finished. I will return to the place I left you, chances are you won't be there - that's so long from now.
I want to buy a plane ticket today and see you, befriend you again, court you in the proper fashion because it's what we chose to skip in the last life we shared. We didn't get to have the small moments in person that build the trust, that allow us to get to know each other's mannerisms and love styles. We didn't really have that option because we were separated by such large distances...besides, we were in love. We overcame for a while, but I messed it up from the start...and I know that. I'm not willing to do it that way again.
I want to do it the right way, so you can see the effort...so you can begin to trust me again as you once did. We may have been naive, for sure, but it felt so good and so right once we were together.
If I have the opportunity, if I see you in town somewhere...I will start from scratch, like we've never met before...like we've never been one before...it would be beautiful.
I know I still have a ton to learn about myself, about love, about relationships, about you. The time that has elapsed has made us strangers and that does hurt, but it would be such a great way for us to get to know each other before diving into a life of commitment we thought we wanted.
This time I want to be sure that's what we want. I want you to see that I haven't stopped loving you for one second while we've been apart. I loved you with all my heart but I wasn't able to express it in a way that made you feel my love for you.
It may have been my job...it may have been the alcoholic traits I carry...
This time there will be no excuses as I will learn the new you inside and out..
I need to make this happen...maybe I'm going to school in the wrong state. Maybe I need to show some monumental effort that will let you know without one ounce of doubt that I mean every single word I write to you in this space.
I have research to do..it hasn't occurred to me that I don't have to go to school in this godforsaken state..fml!
If you utter one thing to me...tell me you are still living where I think you are. If you are, you should have received my written words by now.
I won't stand by and let you go again, I can't...and if I think about it...I left you and I should be the one to seek you out. I think my intuition is correct about where you are.
I don't want to make you promises I cannot keep, but know this, I will give this the energy it requires.
I've never taken any risk...you took all the risk the first time....and now it's my turn.
I love you will all my heart - you will know very soon what I have decided.
I already feel like I'm leaning that way...I only need information, that's the easy part.
I will come back to you and if we meet, I will make sure that you are the most loved woman on this fucking planet!
Always,
T

One World: I knew the notoriety of this season going in, but I said to myself what the heck, you can't appreciate the good without the bad. So my thoughts? Has some notable moments, but I kinda get why people hate this season. Very predictable, some very very bad personalities, and half of the casts being zombies really doesn't help this season. Tarzan and Kat were occasionally funny, but other than that, there's very little fun to be had. Chelsea's pretty, I guess?
Philippines: What a bounce back, really good season! Good idea to bring back medivaced returnees, notable enough to draw in fans but not too elite for them to be a target. Matsing was just a train wreck, and Russell was fascinating to watch. Then the post merge was one of the wildest ones I have ever seen! So fluid in gameplay and some great blindsides! Loved Penner all throughout, liked Lisa at the start but just ended up getting annoyed, and Malcolm and Denise were awesome. Lastly, Abi Maria is such great casting. Hope to see more greatness from her in Second Chances.
BvW: Really good! I am a HUGE fan of the Blood vs Water concept, it just makes for compelling tv and very complex gameplay. And add Redemption Island on top of it? This might be one of the most, if not the most complicated seasons of Survivor. And I love it! Loved seeing Tyson transform into a master strategist and made for a satisfying winner. I was really pulling for Tina to win though, that woman is just so charming! Definitely one of my personal favorite winners. All in all a very fun and compelling season.
Next: Cagayan! Or just to be a completionist, finish some of the dark ages seasons before Cagayan?
Updated Ranking: 1. Pearl Islands 2. Vanuatu 3. The Amazon 4. San Juan Del Sur 5. Heroes vs Villians 6. Tocantins 7. Panama 8. Micronesia 9. China 10. Philippines 11. Samoa 12. Blood vs Water 13. Palau 14. Gabon 15. Africa 16. Marquesas 17. Borneo 18. Cook Islands 19. Guatemala 20. The Australian Outback 21. All Stars 21. 45 22. One World

hi
im a 20 year old trans woman, and ive decided to recover. id like to talk about what sort of drove me to this point.
ive been anorexic since i was 14. in the past couple of years, i found myself overexcersing, and abusing laxatives as well.
i hit the lowest weight ive been recently, and my brain just kind of snapped. I was at a crossroads almost. I had two choices, and they were very apparent to me.
choice one - keep going down this path and sink deeper, and then die.
choice two - live. thrive.
it was almost a spiritual experience the way that these two paths had been laid out in front of me. if I picked path one, I would keep using this as an addiction and never get better. I would die, sick, and cause my family and loved ones so much pain and sorrow.
if I picked path two… everything I ever wanted could be true.
I could grow old. I could live in the body ive always wanted as a trans woman. I could eat what I wanted. I could COOK again (I love cooking, it’s my favorite thing ever!!). I could have a partner and grow with them. I could be an archaeologist, which has been my dream since I was a child. I could delve deeper into my religion. I could read so many more incredible books. I want to grow old and grey and wrinkly and plump. I want to learn how to weave, how to spin wool. I want an herb garden. I want a cottage. I want to live
ive had so many health issues from this disease. ive developed heart issues. ive lost all my muscle mass.
ive been such a shell of myself in a way. my ocd has been rampant. I had 0 energy to do nothing but go on my walk, and then sleep and cry on my heating pad.
It’s been about two weeks since deciding recovery. I’ve been animating and painting again. Im reading books. Im enjoying the food ive been cooking and laughing with my family.
I still have bad days and always will. This has been my crutch for six years. But I’ll live with her. She will be in the back of my head, always pounding to be released every time something becomes too stressful for me to manage. But I refuse to let her take me over anymore.

I didn't want to share right away, I dunno. Got paranoid lol. But I always share my work stories here, I haven't posted much lately since I've gotten a nice quiet post.
But I started my patrol as usual, when I got to the 3rd floor I saw a guy in the parking lot, he parked his car it looked like he was dancing. He didn't have music on, he was disturbing anyone, he didn't act weird so I thought nothing of it.
I do another patrol and I see the guy isn't there, I start to walk towards his car and I see blood. Guys, I've never seen something like this. It was all over the area he was in, and then I noticed blood stains on the bottom of his car door and the handle.
I'm 5'2 unarmed woman, I didn't dare go closer. I didn't know if he had a gun, or someone else was in the car who caused this - so I called 911.
I've been doing security for 5 yrs now, I have never seen the police get here so fast and damn were they alot! They got out the riot shields and everything.
They retrieved the guy from the car, he tried to kill himself. My boss congratulated me along with the property manager for saving his life. I even got a $50 dollar gift card to Out Back Steak House.
Next day my husband went to the hospital before the holidays, thought he was just gonna get some pills and come home. He was in the hospital for 13 days, we discovered he has cancer. It's been an emotional coaster ever since that day.
Take care everyone, be safe. 🙏🏾 ❤️

Despite his busy schedule, Adam Sinclair has agreed to answer some of our questions. So!
📝 1. In history, you wear formal attire by virtue of your position, but what style do you prefer outside of work? A.: I'm not one of those lucky people who have an innate sense of style (and style is definitely a form of art). That's why I prefer suits, because they are the classics that you don't have to think about. As Donna Tartt wrote: "starched shirts and freshly cleaned suits cover a multitude of sins".
📝 2. Adam, you mocked up a bouquet from Cole, what do you consider the most romantic flowers yourself? A: I wouldn't call it mocking, just a playful, lighthearted jab. The most romantic flowers are those that my woman demands. Even a bouquet of bills (although it's a bit vulgar).
📝 3. What animal would you get yourself, and what animal do you associate yourself with? A.: As weird as it sounds, I associate myself with an orca. A killer whale with high intelligence? Why not. I've never had a pet, either on Gavir or in Europe. I think I would get a Russian Greyhound, incredibly beautiful and elegant dogs (and a bit funny).
📝 4. What is your biggest nightmare? A.: Hmm... the past?
📝 5. Qualities you love/hate in people? A.: I love in people: keen interest in the world, curiosity. I would also add sincerity, i.e. complete absence of any masks. "Hate" - too emotionally colored word. Rather, I don't like: ignorance, naïveté, cruelty, inability to admit their wrongdoing, the desire to "seem rather than be".
📝 6. Have you had any serious relationships? A.: Quite... personal question. Depends on what criteria you put into this concept. I've been in relationships, but they may not last long, and also, to my shame, I've never fully opened up about them. Does that qualify as a "serious relationship"? You decide.
📝 7. Have you ever dreamed of having a brother or sister? A.: No.
📝 8. What is your guilty pleasure? A.: I don't have any of those. Thank you for the interview, but it's time for me to get back to work. I apologize.
🤫 *Adam leaves the room, Taisia walks in. Adam often hums something when he's sure he's alone in a room) but I haven't mentioned it, he'll never admit it himself.
All answers were provided by the author.

31m never had a job until now mainly because I suffer from severe anxiety, depression and ptsd which have their roots in the inhumane treatment i've received from society (including my so called parents) all my life due to being ugly af. To be honest i don't even know why i took this job,it's not like the pay is great or anything like that (not that anyone would have offered me a good job having an empty cv at this age and being ugly). Plus we're in the 21st century where women can get good paying jobs so they don't need a man to provide for them,centuries ago it may have been possible for an ugly man to find a girlfriend since women weren't allowed to work/limited to low paid jobs. Nowadays that stuff doesn't matter,looks are the most important thing when it comes to getting a girlfriend) No woman was ever even slightly interested in me,so getting some meagre resources won't change anything in that regard. I'm already starting to regret my decision and I'm thinking about quitting very soon,especially if the coworkers/bosses will treat me like trash (which is most likely going to happen because i'm ugly af) like everybody else does.

Yeah I know men would do it for free but the last 2 times I had it, they both treated me coldly after that. I know I probably suck at it too, but the main thing that ruins it all is my face and body.
I’d have to pay for a man now so that it feels like they’re not wasting their time with me and I wouldn’t feel too bad as it’s their job to entertain whoever.
I’m bi and can’t even get a woman either. I’m ugly and hopeless on both ends. I just wanted to be loved but I know that’s just not meant for me. Even my old FWB said he wouldn’t pick to be with me romantically.
So I’m here just trying not to end it all daily by distracting myself as much as I can with life. The only way I’d ever not feel like I’m ruining things is when I pay for it. Atleast then i could be at ease and less stressed at the thought that they would eventually benefit something while being with an ugly person.

I took my 50mg trazadone (sleeping pill) as usual and started getting sleepy, also hitting my delta 8 like every other night, and then all of a sudden I snap into this hallucination of a huge woman’s face floating towards me at the end of my bed (like 2 or 3 feet tall and just the head) it was terrifying for a second and then it was over. Wtf??? I’ve only ever had closed eye hallucinations and auditory pretty much only when right on the verge of sleep. Has this happened to any of you before? She looked like a horrific version of Amy schumer.

My now ex-boyfriend and I met on Facebook dating in September of 2022. We hit it off like I’ve never done with anyone else. I thought the age difference would be an issue but turns out it’s just a number. We never ever argued. We got along great. We always had a great time together. So many laughs. So much banter. So many jokes. I thought I’d found the one.
I have a history of being abused; physically, mentally, and emotionally. So needless to say being with someone who was so nice and caring to me was foreign territory. Deep down I thought I didn’t deserve it but as time went on I got used to it. I never let my history get in the way of our relationship.
I have always been supportive of him and his dreams, I never judged. I never talked down. I never nagged. I treated him like I wanted to be treated. I was his biggest cheerleader. He always said our relationship was the best he’s ever had.
Fast forward to this past January: I found out I was pregnant. I was shocked because I didn’t think I could get pregnant again. Plus I follow my cycle like a hawk. I waited a couple of days to tell him because I was a pile of nerves.
He didn’t believe me at first. Asked me to see the test then asked if termination was an option. I said absolutely not. He proceeded to tell me he wasn’t ready to be a dad (even though he is very well-off). I said OK. I will handle this on my own. I mean what do you say to that? Not ready to be a dad? Then don’t do things that can lead to a pregnancy.
To my surprise he walked in from work a couple of days later and the first words out of his mouth were “we are done”. I was shocked. Hurt. I didn’t even know how to react. I nearly passed out. He also said “I want you to be the one but you aren’t”. And a bunch of other things I can’t remember right now.
Four days later I ended up in the ER and I miscarried. He was there with me. I didn’t have the strength to drive in the middle of a blizzard. I have never cried so much in my life. I feel like I died inside. He cried with me, held my hand.
We ended up talking and he said he wanted to give us another shot. We “cleared the air” as he put it. I thought we were doing fine. We ended up going to couple’s therapy and I thought we were on the same page.
However, this gut feeling just wouldn’t go away. I thought maybe I was stressed over the loss, over work, over whatever and I was just reading into things that were no big deal to begin with.
No matter how many excuses I made for my feelings, it just wouldn’t go away. It led to many panic attacks, thoughts of ending my life, (yes it was that bad), feeling guilty over the loss of my baby. I was a mess. I thought it was all my fault.
So this Sunday I did something I never thought I’d do: go through his phone. I was not shocked at what I found. He had been sxting this woman whom he went on a date with before we met. Of course he used Snapchat. I loathe that app. I knew about her and it never sat right with me. Up until that point he never gave me a reason not to believe him.
To make a long story short: today I broke up with him. I told him I knew he was lying. He blamed the girl for sending him pictures without him asking. I said “that’s funny because your last message to her was “holy fuck”. Doesn’t sound like someone who is upset to be getting nudes.
In a way he tried to blame me and of course I called him out on his bullshit and said “nah, this is all on you”. There is no excuse for cheating in my eyes. None. Zero. And I refuse to take the blame. None of this is my fault.
He said he didn’t want to hurt me, that we weren’t meant to be, all kinds of bullshit.
My heart is in a million pieces. He was my best friend. He knows my deepest secrets, he is the only person in my life who knows about my past sucdal thoughts (I felt comfortable telling him because he struggled with the same thing as a teen). I felt so loved when I was with him. He was so affectionate all the time. It is something I had never experienced before.
Please please tell me it will be okay. Please give me any advice you can to help me move on from this without losing my sanity?
Tl;dr I need help dealing with the loss my partner and best friend. I never thought this day would come.

This story takes place around 15 years ago, I was 18 years old then. My brother, my cousin and I just to sing at church choir. I was very innocent at 18, we moved to the US just 3 years before, never had a boyfriend and knew nothing about relationships, so at church I met this guy, I’ll call him John, he was around 10 years older than me. John was extremely nice, sweet, and my brother’s best friend. I did not care much about him by then. But he started to email me(cause I didn’t have a cellphone yet). Anyway, he started emailing, so we got to get to know each other better, I fell in love with him, he was the best boyfriend you could ever imagine, the first 6 months. After those, it became a nightmare, I met another guy, he had a girlfriend. I was not interested in him, he was just a friend that I saw very occasionally. This guys gf and my bf started talking to each other a lot, she was pregnant(she cheated on her bf and was trying to convince him to take care of her child) she was paranoid that her bf would fall in love with me and she got my bf paranoid as well. They started pressuring us to stop talking to each other and that just pushed us to talk a little more about what was happening. My bf began pressuring me to have sex with him, he said he loved me too much and wanted to be with me. He was very good at manipulation, he succeded. There was only one very small issue(I think that pretty much says it all). So it was good for him I guess, but for me it was not a nice experience, I hated it. After the first time he pressured me so much that it happened very often. I felt violated every time because I didn’t want to do it. It is getting long. Long story short. When I tried to brake up with him, he texted all of my male friends which at that time I had around 4, and he told them extremely nasty things about me. None of them wanted to tell me what he said, they just told me that those were things that a man should never say about a woman. They helped me end up things, I was in a very bad place mentally. I finally broke up with him and told him I would report him to the police if he ever tried to contact me again. He told me I would end up pregnant very soon and wished me the worst luck ever. By then, my friend had also broken up with his gf due to her toxicity and not being able to forgive the cheating. Plus, when all this was happening, we were talking a lot, I guess we fell in love, but were not ready to start dating since I was traumatized with everything that happened to me. Anyway, my ex got married one year later to one of my friends, for what I heard, they have not been able to have kids. They separated and I think they got together again. I, on the other hand, dated my friend for four years, got married, have 2 kids, our home, and are very happy. For me, that us revenge.

Hi all,
Sorry for another doom post. Another crisis. I just don’t really have anyone to talk to about this. Just added a spoiler because it’s about not nice feelings.
I can’t accept my birth sex. It’s unacceptable to me to the point it’s become unbearable. I understand the suicide rate for trans people is high often in part due to social rejection, discrimination etc but is it also just maybe that this is too much for some people to bare. I consider myself completely disfigured. This feeling has become debilitating. I’m not sure how I’m supposed to live like this anymore.
Was talking to a guy before I disclosed (usually in the first couple of convos) and we were talking about life goals wanting a family one day etc. Maybe that’s weird to talk about early on but whatever. It let me pretend for a moment I was normal. And then it was gone. I experienced what it would have been like if I was born correctly for a brief moment and it was heaven.
This feels like a cruel joke. There is nothing I can do to change how I was born but I refuse to accept it. It really doesn’t seem to matter what surgeries I get, how long I’m on hormones. I had bottom surgery last year yet my dysphoria is worse than ever. This has to be some kind of nightmare. Please just let me wake up and start my life over as a girl then woman.

This happened 5 years ago, right before the pandemic.
From my perspective, right before the pandemic, the girl I was chasing threw me away, turned all of our friends against me, and ruined my life. Then the pandemic hit. Some time later another girl at a restaurant we both ate at started telling me she was saying things about me behind my back, causing me to call her a stalker. My friend sent me a bunch of messages, none of them made sense to me, I blamed the girl I had been chasing, and didn’t even bother to read them. I no longer talk to any of the people I spent my entire life being friends with, and that girl I was chasing got addicted to coke.
I’ve since learned of the existence of another girl, who might be named Rachel. Rachel told the girl I was chasing that she was my girlfriend. She told my friends I was harassing her. She told my coworkers we were dating. I met her exactly once, she walked up to me, bought me a drink, we took a selfie, she groped me and tried to kiss me in front of the girl I was chasing (her breath smelled like she just sucked someone’s dick) and I pushed her off of me, and she walked away.
After that I moved towns, and really never talked to my friends again.
I later found out that another girl was saying I got her addicted to coke and some other things, when I went looking for that girl to figure out why she would say that, I was essentially ambushed and attacked by the girl who told me the girl I was originally chasing was lying about me, and the result of that was that she now has a restraining order because when I ate at her restaurant she documented things as if I was harassing her. She showed up to court looking like a ghost because she did a week binge on cocaine and slept for 4 hours before the hearing.
When I found out that the girl ‘Rachel’ existed, because she told a friend of mine that we had had sex, I realized that she was what my friend messaged me about years ago, the reason that the girl I was chasing turned everyone against me, and the reason I am a pariah in my home town. I posted the selfie of us and told the story of what happened on Facebook. She had lawyers sent me a C&D.
I have since gotten proof that this woman has said I raped her, but I don’t have anything else, just someone willing to say it was told to them.
Is it possible to subpoena my own phone records to get the conversation between my friend and I for proof if it’s not a criminal case?
If I hired a PI, I can absolutely get evidence that people say this about me.
I don’t know her name, her actual name, where she lives, or where she works. I know nothing about her. But I have her lawyers she had send me a C&D, if I compile enough evidence, can I send a law suit to them?
If I am able to compile the evidence to sue her, what even would I be suing for?
What I have been living through almost seems like a conspiracy. Every one of her coke addict friends lies about me in my home town, and as a bartender, it has both hurt my life professionally and personally. I developed an anxiety disorder that makes it hard to socialize, and I don’t have any friends left, and the girl I was chasing has done so much to hurt me because she thought I was lying to her the entire time I knew her. I lost everything I ever cared about and I’m just empty, and I don’t know what I can do.
Edit: I can prove that I never had a sexual relationship with her, because I can prove that I don’t have herpes. One of the things that she has done was to tell everyone that she gave me herpes, or that I gave it to her, either way I’m not sure, I just know that I don’t have herpes.

Chapter 4: Fires of Damnation
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[Previous] <<First>> [Next]
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June 1, 2030, Tokyo, Japan - 1:00 am JST- 2 and a half hours post-invasion
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Aquila Generalis scoured the ruined metropolis. She held a torch in her upper left hand and a gargantuan gladius in her upper right. She had large nets filled with writhing Japanese civilians in her lower left and right appendages. The civilians screamed and squirmed like fish in netting. Some humans were cradling streaming infants and crying children. Others cradled their spouses, elderly parents, or anyone nearby. Most just panicked. A few rational humans used small knives or their teeth to sever the netting, much to the amusement of an onlooking dragon. Movement from an apartment complex caught the attention of a tremendous soldier. The soldier stuck his hand into the ruined apartment complex while the rest stopped and stared at him.
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"What are you doing?" Asked another soldier. She raised an eyebrow and gave her fellow soldier a puzzled look.
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The giant stretched his right arm, straining himself. He pressed his left arm against the building to maintain balance.
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"Need some help?" The amused dragon sneered.
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The giant hissed in excretion and annoyance. He stretched his fingers, a determined fervor taking over him. He pushed a desk over, revealing a cowering human. The giant grabbed the human by its legs and dragged the Man toward his eye.
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"Got him." The soldier hissed.
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Some of the giants began crowding around the building. Most gathered to steal their compatriot's meal, while a few scoured the facility for more humans. The soldier's single eye widened with glee. He licked his lips with anticipation; the sight of fresh meat entranced him in a state of euphoria. A small gust of wind blew towards him as he dragged the screaming human towards his eye. The giants opened their maws in anticipation, a toothy grin plastered on their faces. The human revealed a small device, and the gigantic glutton paid no mind. The monster feasted on many humans when he entered the metropolis. He had never seen such a colossal city nor so many humans packed into one place. This human would be one of his many victims. When the human was before the titan, he sprayed a mysterious substance into the titan's eye. The giant released the human and covered his single elephantine eye. He wailed in pain and stumbled backward, knocking his comrades over. The Mammoth of a Monster cried like a newborn infant while his comrades groaned in pain.
Aquila Generalis glowered at her pathetic legion while the dragon erupted in laughter. Others stopped searching the building to see what the commotion was about. Upon seeing their fellow giant reduced to a weeping wimp, they laughed.
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"I'm blind. I'm Blind! I'M BLII-I-I-IND!" The giant wailed.
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"I CAN'T SEE. I. CAN'T. SEE-EE!!!" he whipped his eye furiously, Wailing all the while.
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Aquila Generalis put the nets down. She marched toward the foolish giant, pulled him to his feet, and glared at her soldiers. They quickly stopped laughing. The dragon, on the other hand, was hooting and hollering.
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"I'M bLiNd. I cAn'T sEe. Oh, HeLp MeE!" the dragon jeered.
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The general ignored him for the sake of her health. She shook the crying Cyclops, then slapped him.
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"What is wrong with you, soldier?"
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The cyclops sobbed quietly. "The h-human sp-sprayed me with s-something." He said between sniffles.
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The general clutched the bridge of her nose. I do not have time for this. As the general berated the legionnaire, Strange beasts dotted the night sky.
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—-----
Japan Air and Space Self-Defense Force (JASSDF)
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"I have a visual on the targets. Be advised targets have hostages. Do not fire unless you have a clear shot."
—-----
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The dragon looked up while the commander chastised her soldier. Upon laying eyes on the strange flying contraptions, the dragon narrowed his eyes.
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"Aquila"
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"Aquila!"
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"Not now, dragon!" The general continued berating the Cyclops.
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"Look up, stupid giant."
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"Not now, you serpentine-"
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The dragon was blown to pieces. His scales, limbs, teeth, and other body parts were scattered on the roof he once stood on. Chaos ensued as the squadron of Mitsubishi F-2 fighters lit up the sky. Before General Aquila could react, A missile hit her head, detonating. Brain matter and skull fragments decorated the buildings, creating a collage of carnage. Most of the legion tried to bring out their slings, only for their bones and organs to paint the metropolis. The few remaining legionnaires fled, leaving their human hostages. Dragons from nearby, alerted by the explosions, came to investigate. A barrage of missiles shot down the dragons that flew toward the squadron. Blood, bone, and flesh rained down on the streets of northern Tokyo.
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—-----
“Clear. Send evac for civvies.”
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***
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June 1, 2030, Tokyo, Japan - 2:00 am JST- 3 and a half hours post-invasion
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North Gate- a park in northern Tokyo
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The invasion was successful. Thousands of humans fell before the trollish legion of Luath and the elven legion of Grásta; hundreds more huddled in cages, ready to be processed into food or slaves. The trolls fought in ritualistic combat for their human trophies. At the same time, the elves watched, knowing they would be given most of the quarry due to their inherent superiority. The lesser fae were presented their trophies early: the elderly, infirm, and those too young to be used. With nothing better to do, most of the lesser fae reentered the gate while a select few remained. Ginearálta de Grásta, General of the Grásta legion, speaks with one of his soldiers.
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"This is quite the nest."
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"Agreed, Sir. It is almost…." The soldier marveled at the large city, its towering structures piercing the heavens. "Impressive," the soldier sighed.
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"Uncanny? Yes. Impressive? No. These are intelligent animals capable of fabricating wonders, but animals nonetheless. They mimic our customs, art, and concepts but lack the capacity to create true marvels. True marvels are the domain of those who wield the arcane, for it is the arcane that elevates us to the realm of sapience. Only those capable of wielding the arcane can be called sapient and only sapients can build something impressive. Everything Man creates is a caricature of our achievements; remember that."
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"Of course, sir." the soldier said hesitantly.
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"You are a fine soldier; what is your title?"
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"Saighdiúir giolcach, sir." the soldier hastily replied.
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"I've seen you around, and you show great potential. Your loyalty to Tír na Nog and the elven race cannot be ignored. Follow me."
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Saighdiúir Giolcach, The soldier of reeds, obeyed his general's command. The soldier caught glimpses of the dueling trolls from the corner of his eyes as he passed by. Ginearálta de Grásta and Saighdiúir Giolcach passed by some trees and bushes until they reached a clearing full of human cages. Ginearálta de Grásta stepped directly in front of a cage and knelt to get a closer look at the captives. Saighdiúir Giolcach slowed down and stopped a few feet from his commander.
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"Come closer, soldier."
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The soldier hesitantly stepped closer and looked inside the cages. Humans were tightly packed inside, shoulder to shoulder, shaking and quietly sobbing. Their clothing was torn and filthy, and their faces were stained with dust and tears. They inched away from the general, squishing each other in the process. The site disgusted him, but he maintained his composure.
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"Have you ever seen a human before?" the general asked inquisitively.
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"No, sir. My father showed me pictures and told stories, but that's it. My family doesn't have enough money to own half-bloods, let alone pure humans." the soldier replied.
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"Well, boy, today is your lucky day. Pick one." The general commanded.
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Saighdiúir Giolcach gazed upon the mass of frightened humans. "Humans are master mimics; they cannot wield the arcane. They're just beasts," he repeated to himself as he stared into the cage in front of him.
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He stared at a frightened Japanese woman, an adolescent just like him. They're supposed to be animals, but their eyes ... their eyes. Anguish, anxiety, grief, sadness, and so many emotions swirled within those expressive eyes. The outside commotion faded as the soldier drowned in her eyes. As his breathing and heart rate accelerated, he began questioning everything he learned about humanity and the definition of sapience. This isn't right; nothing is right. The soldier of reeds remembered his father's stories of glorious manhunts and successful raids. He remembered his mother's proverbs on magic and how it separated them from their pets and livestock. The elves are the superior race, far superior to humans. Humans are pets, livestock, slaves, and —NO! He took three steps back. He was wrong, his family was wrong, everyone was wrong. This is ₩ⱤØ₦₲. I won't condone this.
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"C̸̵̨̨̳͕̙̤̥̞͕͇̦͙̟̲ͭ̋͑ͥͮ̌ͬͬ́̃ͦ̾͆͢͡ē̸̸͇͇̣͓̣̖̲̘̋ͮ̓ͭ̀͑̏̓͗_̙̰͓̲̠̪̮͔̔̎͌ͪ͐̈́̆͘a̢͖̱̱̙̲̩̠̯͔̙̖͚ͤ̈́̇̋ͯͬ͆ͥ̆ͮń̴̡͍̘̠͍̩̺͖̟̲̉ͫ̀ͤͧ̆̈̅͆̂̐̒̋͊̒̋͟͢͟͞͞ͅn̸̛̘̫̯̘̝̱̬͉̝̲͈̿ͪ́́̽ͦ̈ͯ̄͒̈̅̍̚ d͖̣̬͈͚ḭ̛̘͚͕̱́́ͧͭ̓̐̍̽͞ͅl̚į̸̧̹̖͎̻͓ͮ̐̒ͮ̋̂̀ͯ̎̉͐ͦ̑ͦͩͤ͘͟͡s͇̿̃ d͉̬̂ͦ͗è̷̷̻͓̭͎̣̠̱̞̮̦ͤ̈́̓͑̍̒̈̏ͭͯ̕͘͘͜ Ģ̢̙̼̩̮̪̤̮͚̭͖͖̥͍͈̳̲̠͒̉̂ͥ̔ͨ́ͧ́ͬͤ́ͩ̍ͫ̃͌ͯͤ̕͟͢͝ī̷̡̢̨̧̦̩̩̙͕̦͖̞̠̘̬̰͕ͣͧ̑̾̚͢͠ͅ_̛̀̀̉́ͬ͝o̴̘̭͈̜͍͕͉̤̜̘͖͍̠̎͑́ͫ̍̎̔̏ͮ͂ͩ́͘͟l̸̴̵̵̛̫͎͍͔̜̘͉̭̭̳̻̮̖̉͐̆ͫ̇͑ͧ̿̄͑̍ͦ́̅̅ͯ̀̈ͫ̓̊̍̆̃ć̸̴̵̻̪̻̘̮͎̟̫͚͉̗̳̞̦̒ͪ̇̏̄̈́ͤ͗͘͢͝ͅaͮ̒c̡̡͉̮̟̤̭̻̥̩̗̭͔̺̎̀̀̊̃ͬ̀͆͋̆ͣ̐̄́͛͒̏ͩ̾͆̾ͯ̚͟͡ͅͅh͎̞͓̳̞͙̼̱͇͓͂ͨͧ̂ͩͣ̈́̈͗̿̓̆͂́̈́͗ͯ̆ͩ̕͝͞ͅͅ, you faithless fool." The general growled. Arcane power filled his lungs.
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The general stood up, turned around, and scowled at the boy. At the invocation of his true name, the soldier froze. The general's magic seeped into his body, causing a sharp, burning pain to envelop him.
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Despite the agony, C̸̵̨̨̳͕̙̤̥̞͕͇̦͙̟̲ͭ̋͑ͥͮ̌ͬͬ́̃ͦ̾͆͢͡ē̸̸͇͇̣͓̣̖̲̘̋ͮ̓ͭ̀͑̏̓͗_̙̰͓̲̠̪̮͔̔̎͌ͪ͐̈́̆͘a̢͖̱̱̙̲̩̠̯͔̙̖͚ͤ̈́̇̋ͯͬ͆ͥ̆ͮń̴̡͍̘̠͍̩̺͖̟̲̉ͫ̀ͤͧ̆̈̅͆̂̐̒̋͊̒̋͟͢͟͞͞ͅn̸̛̘̫̯̘̝̱̬͉̝̲͈̿ͪ́́̽ͦ̈ͯ̄͒̈̅̍̚ d͖̣̬͈͚ḭ̛̘͚͕̱́́ͧͭ̓̐̍̽͞ͅl̚į̸̧̹̖͎̻͓ͮ̐̒ͮ̋̂̀ͯ̎̉͐ͦ̑ͦͩͤ͘͟͡s͇̿̃ d͉̬̂ͦ͗è̷̷̻͓̭͎̣̠̱̞̮̦ͤ̈́̓͑̍̒̈̏ͭͯ̕͘͘͜ Ģ̢̙̼̩̮̪̤̮͚̭͖͖̥͍͈̳̲̠͒̉̂ͥ̔ͨ́ͧ́ͬͤ́ͩ̍ͫ̃͌ͯͤ̕͟͢͝ī̷̡̢̨̧̦̩̩̙͕̦͖̞̠̘̬̰͕ͣͧ̑̾̚͢͠ͅ_̛̀̀̉́ͬ͝o̴̘̭͈̜͍͕͉̤̜̘͖͍̠̎͑́ͫ̍̎̔̏ͮ͂ͩ́͘͟l̸̴̵̵̛̫͎͍͔̜̘͉̭̭̳̻̮̖̉͐̆ͫ̇͑ͧ̿̄͑̍ͦ́̅̅ͯ̀̈ͫ̓̊̍̆̃ć̸̴̵̻̪̻̘̮͎̟̫͚͉̗̳̞̦̒ͪ̇̏̄̈́ͤ͗͘͢͝ͅaͮ̒c̡̡͉̮̟̤̭̻̥̩̗̭͔̺̎̀̀̊̃ͬ̀͆͋̆ͣ̐̄́͛͒̏ͩ̾͆̾ͯ̚͟͡ͅͅh͎̞͓̳̞͙̼̱͇͓͂ͨͧ̂ͩͣ̈́̈͗̿̓̆͂́̈́͗ͯ̆ͩ̕͝͞ͅͅ spoke.
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"This-Ack ₩ⱤØ₦₲, you-ack, every-ack..." He sputtered as blue blood leaked from his mouth, nose, ears, and eyes. Tears tried to crawl from his pale yellow eyes, but he held them back. He could feel his skin turn to bark, lungs to heartwood, hair to leaves, and eyes to flowers.
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"F̴̭̤̘̣̖̏̈͒̄ͫ̿͘͢a̢̰̳̦̺͓̥̗͉̦̻̖͇̯̹̺̓͆͗̀ͪ͌̈́ͧͯͧ͆̃̌̒̕͘͢͢͠͞͡i̛̩̙͕͌̉͂̇̃_̪̳̺͕̮͕̽͑t̸̶̿_̲͉͆h̶̷͚̣̠̥̪̳̲̝̳̱̟̫̯͍̝̩̱̱̦͎͇̳̯͇̱̜ͧ̃ͩ̐ͤ͆̏̈́̈ͪͪ͛ͧ͌̓̌͢͞f̷̘ͬ_̳̅ȕ̸̷̴̢̱͉̩̯̲̹̝̙͙̈ͣͨ̆͋͗̓͋̿͊̔͛̋̍̕͢ͅl̉̎͝͡ ǫ̧̺̲͍̯͖͙̥̦̦̮̇̑̈͆ͨ̈́̅̉̈ͯͥ́͌̃ͭ͘͜n̨̧̰̜̭̪͎ͥ̽ͪ̅̑ͦ͒͌̆ͮ̋͐͟͠e_̧̞͖͓̺͓̦̝̞̾͆̆͆̎̈ͬ̈́̑͗ͨ͟͠ͅ ǫ̷̴͎̙̥̝̝́̊ͫ̒͑͑ͨͥͨ̌̑͆̉͟͟f̲̗̜̤̪͉̪̮̘͙ͪͪͫͤ̄̂̌̐͑̽̉ͅ t̛̖̝̻͓̏͋̀̊̒͘͡͞h͔̜͕͖̼͋ͤ̇_̠̾e̡̳͉̟ͪ̍ͬ̊͡ r̷̨̛̛̘̦͓̭̙ͣ͑̍ͬ̈́̋̄ͮ̓ͦ͑͗͑̎̓͗͘͜͜ế̴̴̝̲̗͖̦̫̭͔͈̺̘̖̲̜̱͍͈̓͆͒̉̒ͫ̇̋̑ͧͮ̕͘͢͜͞͞͞ed̶̛̛̟̘̖̻̎̓ͯͨ̓͌̇͐̍̍͗̄̚̚͟ͅs̛͔̞̮̩̫̭̠̞̼̗̼ͮ̅̈̅ͯͧ̂̋̉̊̏͢͜,̨̡̠̰̰̇ͪ͊͂̏̈́ͮ̌̈ͪ̌̆̎͒͝ ẙ̵̷̡̡̛̛̬̺͈͎̭̟̲̻̲̥̩̗͉̔͋̑̏͐́ͥ͆̈̋ͪ͜͢͡ͅo̷̡̻̝̜̹̳͓͖̞ͯ̾͒̀́̇̍͂ͦ͘͘̚͟͢u̸̸̸̟͚̮͙͉̳̗̥̮̜̞͈͚͈̜̩̠̘̇̊ͥ͗ͣ̋̄͗̈́ͭ͆̾̈̃ͣ̔͆͑̑͐̽͟͢͝ ą̡̝̰͙̰̖͉͕̂ͨͬ̑͛́̂ͨ̋̏̾ͦ̑͠ŗ̴̠̭̦̺̖͍̘̖̦̗̞͕̦͉ͯ̂͐ͥͦ̀̒̀͊̄͌ͧ͊̄̾̍́̎̏ͩ̏ͮ͘̕͟ͅę̶̡̢͍̬͎̗̹̖̟̦͇̼̼͎͉̗̜̔̎́́̀ͪ͛ͪ͒̌͋͗̉̄̾͊̒̿̈ͪ̔͑̕̕͠͞ ń̵̢̨̧̹̲̮̮̝̣̩͙͚̠̥̻́̾ͤ́̀́̌̅̋͛̅̎ͩ̅̆͑ͧ͜͢͠͝͡_̡ͯ̎̎͑ͫ͛ơ̷̵̧̡͙͖͙̤͓͓̗̼͕͈̬̱̰̺̖ͣͩ͐͆͋̏̇́ͩ̈͐͗ͤ̾̎͗ͫ̑ͯͮ͂̉̃͘͜͠ f̟̞̥͇ͯ͛̄͆ͬ͒̊́á̯̬̄ͫ͝_̵̼̦̥͖͎͈̝̠̬̹̤̦̰̰͕͔̞̊̃͌ͦ̔̎̓̋ͯ̀ͫ͂͞͡ͅě̡̛̬̜̥̩͓͚̫̳̭̖͔̒̍͛ͨ̾̏̃̚͢͟͠.̵̡̟̲̗̤͙̺̌̍͐ͨ̌͂ͣ͂ͥ͋̑̾ͪ̈́̇ͣ͂͆̃͞"

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BANG.

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Ceann dílis fell to the ground, gasping for air and too weak to stand. Japanese soldiers, carrying strange sticks, came seemingly from nowhere. Most Japanese soldiers rushed to break open the cages. Some stood over the dead general and the child soldier, who openly wept, paralyzed, and petrified.
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"Sir, we have a child in desperate need of medical aid." A Japanese soldier spoke through a strange object.
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The boy sobbed loudly.
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—-----
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"It wasn't supposed to be like this." Ginearálta de Luath, general of the Luath legion, whispered.
The humans had unleashed something, which wiped out the Grásta legion in seconds by filling the soldiers with metal stones. The stones were so fast, he couldn't stop them. They tore through the elves with ease and left marks on his skin. He used his magic to find the killers, but before he could retaliate, what could only be described as metal beasts launched fire blasts at him, exterminating most of his legion. Now, all he could do was run and hide. He climbed over the crumbling remains of his troll brothers and past the lesser fae, who chose to surrender. He was the only one alive to make it through the northern gate. The humans of this world can do magic. Somehow, in 200 years, they acquired arcane power. He didn't know how it happened, but what he did know was that Man was no longer prey. The humans of this world would bring perdition to Tír na Nog.
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{A/N: Hey guys, I did not die and this series was not canceled. These last two college semesters kicked my ass and burnt the heck out of me. It took me a while, but here it is chapter 4. I want to post as many chapters as possible before the next college semester starts. If you have any feedback or questions, I will happily respond.}
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Aquila Generalis pronounced (Ah-KWEE-lah jen-eh-RAH-lis)
Luath pronounced (LOO-ah)
Ginearálta de Luath pronounced (Jin-ah-RAWL-tah deh LOO-ah)
Grásta pronounced (GRAH-stah)
Ginearálta de Grásta pronounced (Jin-ah-RAWL-tah deh GRAH-stah)
Saighdiúir Giolcach pronounced (SAH-ee-joo-ir gee-ul-kahkh)
Ceann dílis pronounced (Kyann DEE-lish)
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C̸̵̨̨̳͕̙̤̥̞͕͇̦͙̟̲ͭ̋͑ͥͮ̌ͬͬ́̃ͦ̾͆͢͡ē̸̸͇͇̣͓̣̖̲̘̋ͮ̓ͭ̀͑̏̓͗_̙̰͓̲̠̪̮͔̔̎͌ͪ͐̈́̆͘a̢͖̱̱̙̲̩̠̯͔̙̖͚ͤ̈́̇̋ͯͬ͆ͥ̆ͮń̴̡͍̘̠͍̩̺͖̟̲̉ͫ̀ͤͧ̆̈̅͆̂̐̒̋͊̒̋͟͢͟͞͞ͅn̸̛̘̫̯̘̝̱̬͉̝̲͈̿ͪ́́̽ͦ̈ͯ̄͒̈̅̍̚ d͖̣̬͈͚ḭ̛̘͚͕̱́́ͧͭ̓̐̍̽͞ͅl̚į̸̧̹̖͎̻͓ͮ̐̒ͮ̋̂̀ͯ̎̉͐ͦ̑ͦͩͤ͘͟͡s͇̿̃ d͉̬̂ͦ͗è̷̷̻͓̭͎̣̠̱̞̮̦ͤ̈́̓͑̍̒̈̏ͭͯ̕͘͘͜ Ģ̢̙̼̩̮̪̤̮͚̭͖͖̥͍͈̳̲̠͒̉̂ͥ̔ͨ́ͧ́ͬͤ́ͩ̍ͫ̃͌ͯͤ̕͟͢͝ī̷̡̢̨̧̦̩̩̙͕̦͖̞̠̘̬̰͕ͣͧ̑̾̚͢͠ͅ_̛̀̀̉́ͬ͝o̴̘̭͈̜͍͕͉̤̜̘͖͍̠̎͑́ͫ̍̎̔̏ͮ͂ͩ́͘͟l̸̴̵̵̛̫͎͍͔̜̘͉̭̭̳̻̮̖̉͐̆ͫ̇͑ͧ̿̄͑̍ͦ́̅̅ͯ̀̈ͫ̓̊̍̆̃ć̸̴̵̻̪̻̘̮͎̟̫͚͉̗̳̞̦̒ͪ̇̏̄̈́ͤ͗͘͢͝ͅaͮ̒c̡̡͉̮̟̤̭̻̥̩̗̭͔̺̎̀̀̊̃ͬ̀͆͋̆ͣ̐̄́͛͒̏ͩ̾͆̾ͯ̚͟͡ͅͅh͎̞͓̳̞͙̼̱͇͓͂ͨͧ̂ͩͣ̈́̈͗̿̓̆͂́̈́͗ͯ̆ͩ̕͝͞ͅͅ pronounced (Kyann DEE-lish deh gee-ul-kahkh)
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I (29nb) was on a walk the other day and saw a cat just hanging out in front of a church. I love cats, and always take a picture of one when I see one. There was an older woman, probably around 80, sitting a few feet away so I took care to only photograph the cat and leave her out of frame. Immediately, she asked me not to take pictures. I told her not to worry, she’s not in the frame, but she clarified that she doesn’t want her cat to be photographed. I apologized, saying I didn’t realize she was the owner and walked away, the people-pleaseconflict-avoider that I am, regrettably without even asking why.
I’ve been thinking about this interaction ever since, though. I didn’t take any pictures, and if I had, I would’ve probably deleted them out of respect for the woman‘s wishes… but that begs this interesting moral question, does she even have the right to ask that? Or rather, do I have to respect her wishes as it’s just a cat, and not a child or a piece of art she made or something? Does she speak on her cat‘s behalf in the same way that a parent would speak on their child‘s behalf?
Had I taken a picture despite her asking me not to, would that have made me an asshole?