My boyfriend and I were having a talk that revolved around the idea of breaking up. He did something really bad and I am struggling to see a future with us. I hadn’t spoke to him for a couple of days as I needed time, and then I called him. My therapist had suggested that rather than giving him a monologue, I should converse with him about what had happened.
My boyfriend usually is so loving and kind to me. Today, he spoke contemptuous and frustratingly to me the entire time, and though he showed some remorse, it felt almost disingenuous. I thought that, if you’re in danger of breaking up with the person you love most in the world, wouldn’t you be more sad than angry? He said it was because he had been stewing in negative emotions for days not knowing if we were breaking up, so “of course” he wasn’t going to be feeling anything but angry. He said me wanting space was forced on him as he didn’t want to give me space , he wanted to talk to me, though acknowledged that we are different in how we deal with things and maybe he needs to learn to take a breather.
Later, he said he needed some space and time to think 2 hours into this conversation. What could I do but say ok? I said to him that I will give him that but that even from this conversation alone I’m struggling to see a future. He almost immediately went into a Discord call with his friend and played COD.
My friend posed the thought to me that although my boyfriend had really looked after me over the past year and a half (only a week ago he was in hospital with me wiping my butt and cleaning my teeth), if you were about to face a potential break up with someone you claimed you’d die for and die if they broke up with you, would you be able to sit there and play a game, or would you be panicking and full of anxiety?
This struck me on so many levels. And hurt. Because the answer is… I don’t think so.
I wanted to ask others. I want to know because I’m hurting and I feel like if I see his going on a game after we spoke as a sign he ‘may have actually NEVER cared and … well, that would hurt so much on top of breaking up. And I am now decided on breaking up. I just want to feel like the love we shared was at least real. Maybe it’s stupid and irrelevant to even ask this. But I just wanted to see how others would react in his shoes.
Edit: for context, he met my kids for the first time and when my autistic son was having a meltdown with my mum and screamed at them, making my eldest son sob. His excuse was that my mum seemed to be having a hard time and needed help. I wasn’t there as I was in hospital, and he had come to look after me. He kept calling my kids ratbags. He then proceeded to call my son a turd when I confronted him on how he could have done this. He then screamed, I mean like, “lost his mind” screamed at me, and later admitted that was wrong for him to do. But didn’t seem bothered that he had hurt my kids?? He’s only really talked about his pain and how he was there for me on this visit. He’s never been anything but kind and sweet and supported me. So seeing this side to him? I was shocked and needed time to process. I knew I couldn’t stay with him though after this.

I'm really passionate about theater and have been doing it for several years. I'm in one of my schools theater classes, and we're having a small performance tomorrow. It's members of each class doing a monologue and/or scene. My friend, also in the theatre class, asked some of our friends to come today. My boyfriend as I learned, is unable to come to it. That isn't what got me upset, since I understand being unable to get a ride or having had other plans. It was why he couldn't come. His female friend's birthday is tomorrow and he's going out with her and three other friends.
I understand celebrating her birthday, but this knowledge just got to me for several reasons. I don't know this friend or the other ones (I know of them, just have never met them), I hadn't known about this beforehand (it just kinda hurt, since it felt like he didn't find me important enough to tell me stuff or that he didn't want me to know), he mentioned it so flippantly like he didn't care he was missing my thing (he later on confirmed he didn't want to miss it but at the moment that's just how it seemed), I got scared since he's known that girl longer than he's known me, and it was a brutal reminder of how while I don't have friends that I can hang out with outside of ones he knows and is friends with, he does.
I got jealous and a little mad at him, and then I felt bad for feeling that way, which made it even worse. While I didn't want him to feel bad for missing my thing and I wanted him to enjoy himself, another part of me wanted him to feel bad and not enjoy himself so he'd regret not coming. In a similar way, one part of me wanted to be mad at him and wanted him to know, while another part of me didn't. I ended up blowing him off and mostly ignoring him when we walked together between classes, choosing to instead talk with other people, since I wasn't sure what to do and felt bad for feeling the way I felt. He picked up on it, and later after we both were home we talked (over text). While the talk reassured me, it also made me feel bad.
By the time I had gotten home I felt bad and like I had been a total bitch. During the talk I ended up crying since it was really the only way I knew how to let it out. I hadn't wanted to tell him since I knew he'd feel bad and that's exactly what happened. I don't want to be the controlling girlfriend, in fact that's exactly what I'm terrified of being, and yet it's what I was being exactly like. He told me that if I had told him before he wouldn't have gone, which made me feel even worse because I don't want him to do things just cause I feel bad or jealous. Overall I just feel like a horrible girlfriend and I just need to know ways I can stop doing this.

Hey guys!! Been a fan for a long time, I love watching the show! Never really catch your lives because its night here, but I watch it the next day, however long those are, also love the comments and the engagement this community has!
So, I am in a mooooood today, and I feel like sharing my week, mostly because I recieved some texts I feel like should be read and made fun of (sorry if that sounds mean)
I am an anthropologist (29f) doing my doctorate and I have been doing fieldwork, which means i meet a lot of people, and I ask them to introduce me to other people. Due to the context i am working on, this means i meet a lot of older males (i work with fishing communities). they are usually very nice, very sweet and respectful, treat me as a daughter or grandaughter even, some add me on facebook. I have gotten close over the years with some, especially a 87 year old friend whom i call frequently just to check up on him, just as an example
two weeks ago i met this fisherman (48M) who i created a good friendship with, we became close, and he asked for my number so we can arrange lunch with his dad. great! Also it became clear from the beginning that this person is very in need to chat. Which is great since i am a quiet person, but we are talking full monologues. Almost never did this person ask something about me, or if he did he would interrupt. Which is fine, i dont give many details unless i am asked. this might sound weird but it is important to establish trust. Last week i spent my whole week in the field. The conversation also evolved to him complaining about his marriage, since the wife is drunk. I said something about being a clear pattern since his mother was also an alcoholic and he now thinks im some sort of psyquiatrist, even called me late at night one day to complain she was drunk. I should not have picked up the phone, I know
So a few months ago i was invited from a foreign university to attend a writting retreat with other academics, financed by this university, which is a great opportunity. I even sold my taylor swift eras tour concert because i decided to attend this retreat and had my plane tickets already
BUT MY VISA WAS DENIED. and i am now pissed at life and trying to figure it out. also this weekend had a funeral for another fisher friend who was 73 , so i havent been in the right headspace maybe thats why i am making this crazier than it is, you'll be the judge
This fisher (48M) was with me when i got the visa email last week, so that situation in my life he knows about
But i am teaching a class tomorrow, and dealing with this visa thing so I haven't been to the field this week (today is wednesday). And i got these texts from the fisher (i am going to translate them AND KEEPING THE DOTS)
Keep in mind he texted me something about drinking tea and i ignored him because it was sunday and he got mad btw. these were send yesterday
"May i know whats up with you? hello..." (didnt respond) "I just missed you... You havent said anything....thats all.... oh well....I guess i got used to you..... you're right.... forget it... it's fine... kiss"
my response: "you're right? forget it?" what? I am working
"You're right...... im sorry.... I thought about you 500 times today, and I know how you must be busy and worried... but i thought you might want to talk to be.... get it off your chest... I was wrong... its fine... I won't bother you....take care..."
I MEAN WHAT sounds like a 15 year old insecure boyfriend, this man has a wife and two kids and hasnt met me longer than two weeks
and the dots, wtf
I will start focusing on other people on my friendwork, this is crazy
Thanks for letting me get this off my chest and wish me luck with... well, life

This may be weird even by this sub's standards but at the beginning of {Push by Nyla K} the dad's sweet, innocent little girl brings home her college boyfriend for the first time and he's "every dad's worst nightmare" because he's this stacked, virile dude who must have appetites.
So there's a ton of inner monologue from him, like when she takes bro upstairs to her room, trying his hardest not to imagine how this guy might be defiling his precious little angel right under his nose, in his house no less, on the pink bed sheets he bought, but there's nothing he can do about it. And there's a lot of "Well, girls will be girls..she's not a child anymore, you're just going to have to get used to it" gaslighting from the wife.
Anyway the struggle is real and I got a huge kick out of it. Anymore stories with this dynamic even if it's only a few scenes?

Sorry for grammar, I’m just really mad. And English is not my first language.
Before I will start my melt down, I want to say that the art was tasty, kudos to Rachel, every panel was a chef kiss.
I want to go full Chris Hansen on RS and tell her “Take a seat”. Why would she even give Apollo the right to say something during Persephone's monologue?
I’m so mad that she was so EASY on punishment for men when THEY are the main reason for the whole sh_t show that is happening. I’m not saying it in a way that “all men are bad”, their negative traits and actions were an allegory for main traits of toxic masculinity (abuse of “inferior”, misogyny, competitiveness even among family members, glorifying of power). This is why I liked Hades in the beginning, he was all that. Persephone was acting (as a character) as antipode to him when there was some building up for his growth. But then Persephone turned into Hades’s sugar baby, because it’s easier to move on with a story when you don’t have to work on difficult aspects of your character.
Hades was at the same level with Apollo in the beginning of the story. The only difference? Hades was hiding his negative traits under power and wealth, playing into the gentlemen thing. And only because of age, because he has more instruments to hide it than Apollo.
Well, Hades didn’t change at all. After all. Only became gentle and started opening about his feelings, but, that’s all.
About other “villains”. I hate that both Cronus and Apollo were depicted as scared and sorry at the end. I will explain why. When villains are depicted remorseful of their actions, it means that there was some part of them that was right at some point. Like you know, Magneto, for example. A genocide survivor who was driven to kill many people himself, but was stopped. At some point of his journey, he took a wrong turn. That’s why his remorse make’s sense. Cronus and Apollo, on the other hand, are just two negative and dangerous aspects of toxic masculinity, who took embodiment in God form (in comics). They were dehumanized and depicted as pure evil. Why do we give them very human reactions when they have nothing good in them that can make them sorry?
Now, to resolution of the conflict with Apollo. Pepe, honey, take a seat. Persephone had much more intense dialogues with innocent women. One of them was turned into a plant. Because Pepe got mad. Can you feel me? At first, I was thinking that maybe I’m thinking too much, but RS is REALLY forgiving to men who did the most evil things in the story, one got his cheeks clapped and was dissolved AND FORGIVEN, the other got silent treatment and a panic attack. She could at least turn him into a plant or a tree as a reference for Daphne, but no, MF sobbed a little and fell on his knees.
When he was answering her, I wanted to cry. I still feel like crying. It’s so wrong. There was no rage. There was only a panic attack and MF got dialogue options like in an angst novel or something. You know, when one really f_up, but they still love MC, and they really care that they f_up? It’s a toxic writing but, still… She did nothing to punish him, she did nothing to reclaim her “power”. She just shushed him and said, “go tell others what you have done”.
I hate that RS gave Apollo dialog. Because for the first time, Persephone had all right to suppress him with power, but he still got a say.
RS builds this absolutely horrifying characters, just to turn their boss fight into a few sobs and “sorry”. Cronus should have died without acknowledging that he was wrong. He was the embodiment of toxic masculinity, he should have been wiped as he was - a horrible man who wouldn’t let his delusions go even in the face of death. Apollo should have been tortured by Persephone, not given a panic attack and few sons. Why am I sound so bloodthirsty? Maybe because Persephone was threatening a girl with a knife? Maybe because she turned her boyfriend ex into a plant? For a very long time? Maybe because she’s capable of rage? So why she used said rage on innocent people while forgiving the one that turned her life into hell?

How can I (34F) break up with a friend (60M) without a good reason?
I have reasons but I keep telling myself they’re not legitimate. That said, I’m committed to this.
My friend: 60, divorced, happily a bachelor, works in healthcare, and his son lives with him. He and I met on a dating app, casually dated for a few months, then transitioned to just friends. He’s been financially supportive through the years and took me on lots of trips. Never romantic or physical.
Reason 1: he is immature and throws fits when he doesn’t get his way. This includes being stuck in traffic, cut off by another driver, told he can’t check into a hotel room early, slow restaurant service. The worst for me was when he thought he’d booked seats next to each other on a flight, but the gate agent told him that wasn’t the case. He yelled, huffed, called them names. I grew up in a household with lots of yelling and SHUT DOWN when people yell. It is embarassing but more, it’s so against how I treat people or my version of appropriate-ness.
Reason 2: he doesn’t express any interest in people I introduce him to. When I introduced him to my best friend, he monologued about his experience in HER work field (he’s never worked in her industry) and asked zero questions about her. That’s been the same in every other situation. That’d be fine but I don’t like keeping my friends separate or having to manage everything and every convo and then apologize for someone.
Reason 3: he says things I find very degrading about women, to me and to people I introduce him to. When I worked up the courage to introduce him to my boyfriend, he talked on and on about how he’s taking young hot girls he met on dating sites on vacation and also how they’re crazy, unreliable, selfish. It isn’t for me. I’m not criticizing who he is, we just aren’t aligned and I find it really uncomfortable. And ironic for someone who preaches women’s rights and voting liberal.
Reason 4: my boyfriend feels uncomfortable with him.
Reason 5: this isn’t a reason but added detail: he doesn’t have any other friends. He has temporary girlfriends but they all write him off eventually. Or - if it’s a Seeking Arrangement type situation - the “agreement” (?) ends.
I don’t want to go into all of this with my friend. I don’t think he will see what I see, and I don’t want to hurt his feelings. If I thought he’d be open to hearing it and it could help him, I would. But I have never seen that be the case.
TLDR: my friend’s treatment of other people has worn on me - and sketched out my boyfriend - enough that I can’t see keeping him in my life.
What on earth do I do!
ETA: just sent him a voicenote that our friendship puts pressure on my relationship with my boyfriend and I have to respect and be loyal to him and our future. It is uncomfortable to say but I want to be clear etc etc because that’s only fair. I chickened out and didn’t say, and we will never be friends again, but, I said what I said. Thanks for y’all’s help and candor!

Introduction:

I do not understand how people looked at chapter 148 And automatically believe Kana. And that Akane somehow has won the shipping war.
Like did we l not learn anything from previous arcs?
Here is why kana is objectively wrong and why it's horrible to rely on her perspective but also why i don't think Akane won. (if anything its the opposite)

Actually do know why, and its because majority of people in the subreddit thinks that Aqua is telling the truth in chapter 97.and that Akane somehow saved Aqua little by little.
Believing Aqua was happy with Akane, is like saying Aqua was happy becoming surgeon. and believing Aqua was happy becoming surgeon is like believing him when he says "Ai never cried"

GPS TAG

https://preview.redd.it/19vjf7d2s60d1.png?width=354&format=png&auto=webp&s=ea68656fe32183f0d5821277040c82584eaa1a4d
Gps tag where did it come from?.
to answer that we must go to chapter 30.
Where decided he wanted to use Akane because she understood Ai's mindset. but most impiortantly Akane understood the type of man Ai Hoshino liked.
https://preview.redd.it/c90rev36s60d1.png?width=434&format=png&auto=webp&s=168ae181a105cd5c1b5f68fd1da68130a362b85b
(Keep in chapter 98,Aqua said that he implemented the Gps tag some time after love now ended.) And lovenow ended in chapter 31. But what is most important in chapter 31, is the fact kaburagi asked him out for some sushi to get more information about Ai hoshino.
https://preview.redd.it/w7ut1rges60d1.png?width=366&format=png&auto=webp&s=c577af3d08437211f684d370d4efaf9f1e33f63e
In chapter 33, they get sushi together. And while Kaburagi is explaining everything to Aqua. He also says that his father and I met in lalalie. The first thing that comes to Aqua's mind is the fact that Akane goes to Lalalie. So now, we have his motivation. And later on we will see this again Chapter 40 when they are talking lalalie and TB, the fact that Akane goes there appears is his mind again.
https://preview.redd.it/mkqrnv4ms60d1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=6c195445361fee0d8840771a7ceaa53c9f6f131a
As for when he put the tracker on to Akane, it is around chapter 40 since the balcony scene makes no sense because Akane would have noticed something was wrong considering she would have now known Aqua's intentions.
Now we know where the GPS tag come from and Aqua's motivations. Let's go to the elephant in the room.

SURGEON

After TB, Aqua goes and confront Taiki about their father. Only to found out his dead. The entire arc shows that Aqua without his revenge wouldn't be any better. He would've just relived his life as Gorou Amamiya. Aqua with no stars, have 0 purpose. Aqua did genuienely believe this deep down inside he did genuienely want his revenge to be over.
However, without his revenge he wouldn't be happy either because he would've lived for the happiness of others not for himself and would've become a doctor again.
keep in mind, the biggest question here is, Who was Gorou Amamiya and Why was he reincarnated? Why was he reincarnated with his memories? And why was the day he died so important?
https://preview.redd.it/me2szkhus60d1.png?width=856&format=png&auto=webp&s=76306133795e4d193660801294fffa09e2780cc2
"In the end, He couldn't let go of the guilt of having his mother lose her life to giv e birth to him." - C75
So Aqua/Gorou had this guilt wayy before he was reincarnated. And way before he became gynecologist.
He claims that he wanted to become surgeon.
https://preview.redd.it/llo6m95ys60d1.png?width=856&format=png&auto=webp&s=e3d421473ba9a0e2ca9f92e91cc3fd52cfbd2910
He is lying because not only does he never shows any excitement when he says he wants to be surgeon. But also because how he died. If Gorou true dreams, was to become a surgeon why was he reincarnated as an idol's son?
When he was dying it was Sarina's words about the idea of being an idol's child.
chapter 1
So, if Aqua's actual dream was to be a surgeon, then he would have never become an idol's child the first place. (Also, for doctor he does know alot about the entertaintment industry.)

(A brief) Aqua's perspective explanation:

In Aqua's perspective during this time, He can live normal life and have been thinking about other people around him's future. Aqua's definition of "Normal" is everything he did his old life. Date some girls, live for other people's happiness, go to medical school, And isolating himself as doctor forever.
https://preview.redd.it/6599fk4ft60d1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=a04368ec9082f408d41c1f5cc276f62465bd49b5
At first Aqua wanted to break up with Akane because he thinks he shouldn't hold back a girl with a brighjt future like Akane any longer. "bright future" is a implication that Aqua knows about Akane's upcoming movie. And he wanted to break up with her because he didn't want to hold her back in her career. But also their relationship was fake
https://preview.redd.it/gdp7pocit60d1.png?width=418&format=png&auto=webp&s=73d42a3d72e4ee6d896d1184f0956207f39b60cf
I will not get into too much about the bridge scene. And everything in Aqua's perspective because the entire essay is supposed to be Akane and Kana's perspective but Aqua is also important.
All you need to know is that Aqua ends up changing his mind, after seeing Akane cry. Why? Because he thinks Akane needs him. Since her weird reaction on the bridge was what stuck with him.
https://preview.redd.it/4zhf6rurt60d1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=c7e737fb140333580a36f9bf45e36be420089ca7
And decided to live for her happiness because his trait of living for the happiness of others not for himself. since he knows that he is Akane's first boyfriend and Akane isn't the most mentallyt strong person to survive in the entertaintment industry (Her suicide). So, he was worried if he didn't date her, she might become mentally unstable again and do something reckless just like in lovenow. But, Also, he can protect Kana. Because he isn't busy with work, He is going on dates with Akane.
Everything else that followed was already analyzed by user mission-raccon, in his character studies essays. here he made an entire essay partaining to the love triangle between Akane and Kana and how Aqua kept a distance in both. unavailable for Akane and invesible for Kana.

LOOPHOLE

Akane ran away because she realized the loophole. In her monologue she says this.
Akane's monologue in chapter 72:

"What should I do?" Akane doesn't know what to do with the loophole when she noticed it, that's why she ask what should she do? about the loophole. Should she tell him or not. neither option are good because without the revenge, Aqua isn'tr truly happy and just go back to living for other people's happiness and isolate himself. And With revenge Aqua will live for revenge. (As self destructive it is and it is a terrible thing, it is the better option for Aqua, cause with his revenge, their is actually a potential of being saved and without the revenge the movie would've never happened and he would've known that Ruby was Sarina and him and Kana would have never reunite.)
https://preview.redd.it/ll1g5ud4u60d1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=c49d1f2d6158fc0883f318ba042c5360b713b592
Anyway, Akane brings this confusion up later in Chapter 78, because in chaptyer 78 in her inner monologue she askes herself again, "what should I do?" And during this breakdown, Aqua gets up and kisses her. And that's when Akane made her decision.
"I want Aqua to forget about that incident"- akane chapter 80. How is Akane going to make Aqua forget the incident? By keeping the loophole from him and hoping he doesn't find out.
Now let me, clarify, Her intentions are good and reasonable but unfortunately for Akane, Aqua is reincarnated. and isn't normal ass dude.Therapy and keeping him away from his revenge isn't going to help him. because he is reincarnated and his trauma stems from his past life not current. So, he isn't going to heal and forget Ai because the guilt is still there. it was always there since his old life.
Aqua's guilt is the reason why wants revenge. Because it's the only he feels liuke he can repent for what happened to Ai Hoshino.

Aka's writing style:

Aka's writing style is that everything comes in full circle. He starts of one thing, after some chapters ends it off with the other thing, connecting them together.

everything in oshi no ko is connected.

an obvious example of this would chapter 122 and chapter 14. in Chapter 122 Gorou tells Sarina that he will protect her from underground idols and bad recruiters which is exactly what Aqua did in chapter 14. Protecting Ruby from those bad recruiters and underground idols.
https://preview.redd.it/dbrmua7cu60d1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=22c9e7582625f25ad58fa0efa804aab14a46fff5
And the bird fact from Chapter 77 and 145
Those are just few examples on how Akasaka connect chapters together. And he does this alot throughout the story, in fact that is how I was able to understand the characters perspective connecting them together. because that's how a story works. You won't understand the author or any of the characters if you don't try and connect them together.

Fake Relationship

https://preview.redd.it/o0a2ruxhu60d1.png?width=302&format=png&auto=webp&s=e7cc003779e3004d17ccc4c43e617d62c48b7847
"We're a fake couple whose relationship started in a dating show"- Akane chapter 87
Chapter 87, have a lot of clues , not only is she aware that Aqua is attracted to Kana she laso hopes will become the truth since their relationship is fake.
Akane and Aqua started dating for real but their relatiionship was still fake, Why? because Aqua lives for the happiness of others. Like I said many times before, When he was dating Akane all he did was act like his good boyfriend.
(we also see this fakeness play out with Aqua in Chapter 96, On the phone with Akane, Aqua overexaggerates his line.
"Akane kurokawa forceful enough to knock down a birds in flight, Can feel nervous too?" - Aqua C96.
One thing, I noticed is this scene alot of people take it in face value. Akane refers to them as a fake couple who started in dating show. Meaning they are still a fake couple despite dating for real. And then says Aqua is a liar trying his best not to lie to her.
When she says"Aqua-kun is a liar trying his best not to lie to me" Alot people take this explanation ins face value and think that Aqua actually trying to be honest with Akane.
But he isn't, if he was trying to be honest with her, Akane wouldn't need to hope that little by little lies become the truth. It's because Akane thinks that the lies will become the truth therefore Aqua is trying his best not to lie to her because the lies will eventually become the truth.
Spoiler alert; it doesn't :)
Now for chapter 97, And why it's actually not as romantic as people love romanticising it.
Remember when I said everything ONK is connected? yeah, let's start with chapter 98.
Chaprter 98:
https://preview.redd.it/eb306g9zv60d1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=36ff2bf84e2563e100e4e085bbf4ea980b1d3197
Akane

Chapter 97: Aqua

Akane:

Because of the GPS tag, Aqua already knows Akane was sleepy so then he ask.
Aqua:

he is actively getting confirmation that Akane will not be going to work on her next day. Hence why chapter 98, he is in his regular clothes and not his school uniform.
And yes, He does suspect Akane of knowing about the loophole. since he does remember her weird reaction and excuse in chapter 72.

Reason why the lies did not become the truth for Akane:

After she makes her excuse that she is on a diet, Akane askes Aqua that she wouldn't like him if she was fat, in which Aqua replied with I like you no matter what.
Akane believes Aqua's words, And thinks the lies have become the truth. (based on Akane's suirprise and smile)
So then slips up:

The choice that Akane is talking about is in Chapter 80, Where she said she wanted Aqua to forget about the incident.
Alot of shippers think that Akane is talking but the dating show even though in reality she isn't talking about the dating show. Since in Chapter 71, Akane said they have never kissed or held hands after the show ended.
"We haven't even kissed since that one time during the show's run. We haven't held hands." - C71
The last time they kissed was in chapter 78. And in Chapter 80, she made the choice to not tell about the loophole. After Akane claims she is so happy.
Aqua starts his monologue on how Akane saved him little by little.
He is lying, because how can Akane "save" him when she knows nothing about Gorou and the reincarnation. Furthermore, Those memories are not Aqua's memories.
Because when he said "Save me little by little" it's the umbrella scene, Why would Aqua imagine the umbrella scene when little by little is Akane's monologue in chapter 87.
"When you tell that its wrong, you say that it's wrong" - And it's from Chapter And hows Chapter 43 designated loser, Why would Aqua be wrong for telling Akane she will lose to Kana?
Again, I won't spent to much time analyzing Chapter 97, Also, The part that gets msinterpreted theb most is the What should I do question from Aqua, What should I do? He already decided to go back to his revenge (The moment he called Akane)
So, he isn't telling her that he wants to be with her, He says.

":Should I just forget everything and live happily ever after like this? OR?" - Aqua C97

His asking Akane how far he should take his revenge whether he should live happily ever after like this. I love the phrase "happily ever after" because it's such common phrase used in fairy tales again highlighting the superficialness and fakeness of their relationship.
And by "Forget everything" Aqua means whether he should kill his father and forget anything ever happened. "OR" Implying he should self destruct, and go with original plan, kill his father and end his life.
And Akane's second slip up, Was when she said she'll help him carry burden. In chapter 72, she said that because she wanted to help kill his father. Chapter 97, she then slips up again. This time she didn't tell Aqua about the loophole hence how Aqua already knew Akane was going to kill hios father.
Chapter 72 Akane (before loophole) :

You've told me about before right?
That you enter the show business to kill a certain person.
Well,, its not like i am against breaking up. but still, (showing that she did see it coming)
I thought you need someone to share a little bit of these burden with you

Chapter 97 Akane (After hiding the from Aqua):

I told you before didn't I?
I want to help you carry your buden together.

That's how Akane got caught, because their is no burden to carry in chapter 97 because she hid the truth from Aqua.
He doesn't break up with her over the phone because he needs her to finish her investigation. That's why in chapter 99 Aqua already knew who his real father was.
https://preview.redd.it/4m9an8fmy60d1.png?width=546&format=png&auto=webp&s=6898ee1d3ae017cb9bb1ba14ef2dd47b1e6e0454
needless, to say, Akane realizes that she couldn't save Aqua at all.
But, Akane also realized that his revenge self isn't his true self. I repeat Aqua isn't suited for revenge, true self is not his revenge self. I don't understand the people who try to make the fact Akane agreed to Aqua's revenge a good thing.
Again, Someone already made in entire analysis, explaining this. and Aqua's and Akane's perspective in chapter 97 and how Aqua operates between Kana and Akane. It's called the Love triangle of distance relations. (needlless to say Chapter 97, isn't supposed to be veiwed romantically)
The character study of Gorou Amamiya: Here

AKANE'S WISH

https://preview.redd.it/n4yepsoaz60d1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=c2bc10d19dfc52b82d1bf5ff10d83571bc7a4181
Akane has been wanting to make Aqua ever since he saved her life. That was her goal.
Chapter 28:

Chapter 148:

Akane's wish from the start was to make Aqua happy because Aqua saved her life. She still needs to repay him and she wants to repay him by making him happy.
Hence why she agrees to the revenge no questions ask, because she thought that would make him happy.
When He tells her about the news of his dead father, She is confused the loophole present itself. but then choose to not tell him and try to make him forget about the incident to try make him happy. (which also failed because Aqua is reincarnated And Aqua also doesn't love her and they were in fake relationship. He also attracted to Kana.)
Her last resort was to kill Hikaru which again failed because Aqua stopped her. She realizes Aqua's true nature (Revenge self isn't his true self and it isn't something that is righteous or good) , And decides to stop him instead. But still wants to make him happy.
How is she going to make him happy and pay off her debt?
(Well, If she ever finds out the twins secret and starts digging into gorou's past in order to have him realize that his birth mom in previous life loved him so he can stop feeling guilty for existencing and stop doing things out of guilt.)
The other resort is Kana.

KANA IS WRONG

Kana thinks Aqua actually loves Akane.
Hence why he choose Akane over her.
Kana thinks Akane makes Aqua happy because she saw them together. throughout the whole day we hardly see Aqua and Kana interact. So her seeing them together makes hergive up.

But what does not know:

• is that Aqua and Akane's relationship was still fake even though they were dating for real.
• She doesn't know that Aqua put gps tag on Akane for a year
• She doesn't know about revenge or the reason why thety broke up.
• And she doesn't know that Aqua is attracted to her.

But you know who deoes know the truth? that's right! Akane!
Akane knows that Aqua is attracted to Kana and recently She knows that Kana likes Akane. So what is Akane going to do, well, if she learned anything keeping the loophole from Aqua. then obviously going to tell Kana the truth.

KANA IS WRONG

Kana thinks Aqua actually loves Akane.
Hence why he choose Akane over her.
Kana thinks Akane makes Aqua happy because she saw them together. throughout the whole day we hardly see Aqua and Kana interact. So her seeing them together makes hergive up.

But what does not know:

• is that Aqua and Akane's relationship was still fake even though they were dating for real.
• She doesn't know that Aqua put gps tag on Akane for a year
• She doesn't know about revenge or the reason why they broke up.
• And she doesn't know that Aqua is attracted to her.

But you know who deoes know the truth? that's right! Akane!
Akane knows that Aqua is attracted to Kana and recently She knows that Kana likes Aqua. So what is Akane going to do? well, if she learned anything keeping the loophole from Aqua. then obviously going to tell Kana the truth.
https://preview.redd.it/3ki0vevg170d1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=63aee7b275abbe86310f442ec4f7093e571639e1
There is no reason why she would hide how she noticed Aqua was attracted to Kana when they were dating. Unlike Kana, Akane is a reliable source, Since she has dating Aqua for 6 months. Half a year. So she had enough time to think this over and come down to a conslusion that Aqua was attracted to Kana. (Which is true, because the anime made that clear, When Aqua said "that's right that's her speciality, after looking at her in awe when she perform in sweet today (which is also his favorite manga) But Aqua being attracted to Kana deserves seperate essay on its own.)
in comparsion, To Kana who just saw them together and immediately gave up. because Aqua spent the whole day not talking to her and isolating himself. Plus, she thinks that Aqua choose Akane in the beginning because He liked her. She doesn't know about revenge or how their relationship was actually like. And certainly doesn't know about the gps tag.
If she did she wouldn't be reccommending it lol.

WHY KANA AND SARINA IS ABLE TO CHANGE HIS STARS:

No stars means no purpose, But Aqua with the stars have purpose. Black stars is him being hyperfocus on revenge. And they only change black to white when he is with people who he has sympathy for.
Like for example, He has sympathy for Sarina, she is someone who is special to him. And he always admired her radiance and light.
Kana is able to do the same thing because its a callback to chapter 40,
https://preview.redd.it/bhnycvwu270d1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=ffcbc0ec1dad9d08cf2106e734ec07755f3a0cca
If you want i guess you can put that old Akasaka tweet there too.
that when he is with Kana he becomes his old self. Not just look wise personaity wise too. Since she was giggling when he was talking to Kana.

Kana:Seriously you mustn't tell Ruby about this! She'll eat all the chips in the office!! Aqua: pffttt!

https://preview.redd.it/8a6i2eqb370d1.png?width=256&format=png&auto=webp&s=a2aaf391b3af7a12012acbfbd9aada35ce43c1c5

• But, it really shows that he genuienely has fun. I mean she literally had an entire panel to herself when he thought about Happy memories.
• Got offended memcho said he took a pass on her. lol that is still funny to me.
• "You think i am doing this cause I want to?" Showing that Aqua is obligated himself to do this.
• He probably missed Kana, that's probably why in Chapter 81 when planning a date with Akane. He looks depressed before the panel cutting to depressed Kana.
• He hesistated on using her in Chapter108. (and still didn't use her) And i don't think he will, Since their conversation before that she complimented him by telling him he was an encyclopedia. And trhen he proceeded to give her an entire essay about pandas. So yeah must've been having fun before the realization.

But those are just few moments.
I think Kana is endgame because Aqua's interveiw gave that away.
I will probably analyze Aqua's entire perspective in love since he did say he won't love anybody in Chapter 9 the interveiw in my "Aqua can't fall in love but Kana is still endgame" essay.
But all you need to know know is that their are 2 things that Aqua have fun in, Acting and kana.
https://preview.redd.it/54lq7msw370d1.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=e7393324d9cae6b78e627da40bd1049e31fbab69
In his interveiw, Aqua says he won't fall in love, if he did he wouldn't be able to reciprocate and Then he said he only acts for revenge.

The reason why Aqua acts for revenge:

It was actually told to us in TB, As Gotanda observed that when Aqua starts to have fun he gets a panic attack. Hence why he shall never have fun in acting and only act for revenge.
Without revenge: He is acting to keep a distance from Kana and protect her by keeping himself busy.

In his love life however, As Gorou Amamiya: He lives for other people's happiness. And let's them do what they want.

"He'll probably tell me to do what I want or something half assed like that:"- Ruby C69
Ruby said that sensei would perobably tell do whateecver she wants if he found out the reincanration. But that;'s exactly Aqua did for Ruby.
"Can't I just let her do what she want?" -Aqua C124 Also, notice how he doesn't touch Ruby back when she sits on his lap.
Similar to what he did to Akane, Akane him suspecting he may need her because of her excuse and providing emotional support for Akane in her upcoming movie. He does something similar top Ruby since she is playing Ai Hoshino. But I will explain more of this comparison in my "Aqua can't fall love but Kana is endgame essay"
Since we are getting closer to the interveiws and the movie is finished. I'll be covering how all the kisses are out of obligation or he didn't see coming and How Aqua's messed up approach to love.
But all that you need to know is that with Akane, he was the "good boyfriend" and with Ruby he was "The DoctoSensei" Letting Ruby do what she wants.
However, with Kana their does not have a role to play. He isn't dating her and she certainly doesn't know about him being reincarnated. And she ISN'T throwing herself at him so could be Gorou let do what she was.
Hence in C146, Aqua stated Kana troubling for him. Not only does he have fun with her. He also doesn't have a role to play. So when he is around it's usually genuine. And that's a red flag for Aqua. because how on earth is he going the Gloomy emo, When he is with a girl who turns him into the opposite.?
Also, the more he hangs out the Kana, likely he will get a panic attack (Just like how he has fun with acting, Kana is no different. ) In the next chapter, assuming Akane would tell Kana the truth, the developments might be interesting, Kana will have the confidence to try and become Aqua's star again.
since the reason why gave up on becoming Aqua's star is because she didn't think liked her
"I'll be your favorite idol what a foolish dream, he comes to hate so much for pete sake" - kana C99.
She also said she make him love her but due to the following events of him dating Akane, and avoiding her to protect her. It's reasonable why she had given up. from her perspective.
(Keep in mind she doesn't know why Aqua choose Akane or how their relationship was like and she doesn't know that Aqua put a gps tag on to Akane for a year. )
But if Akane tells the truth, She will confidence again and try again in the Summer concert.
Thanks for reading!

There is no guarantee that what we do or say will bring an understanding smile or a happy outcome. But there are ways to make it easier for the other person to accept the reality of the situation. Basically, the core idea is: don't cheat, don't hide, and try to manage the other person's misunderstandings and prejudices. I just have herpes, so what, I'm still in control.
1. Don't say how you contracted genital herpes, say what genital herpes is.

• Tell the person some scientific medical facts. For example, what is HSV, what is the herpes virus, and how is it transmitted. These words are really alarming when they come out, but the information behind these words is very useful.
• It's a lot smarter to get the facts out and tell the person what the genital herpes virus is than to come up to them and say, "I accidentally got infected by someone I was having sex with. "This kind of factual opening will focus the person's attention on the fact that genital herpes is really just a skin problem.

2. Don't assume that just because other people have heard of genital herpes they really know (understand) genital herpes.
For some basic questions like the prevalence of the herpes virus, are oral herpes and genital herpes are contagious to each other, etc., choose 4-5 key facts and keep them in mind, it will keep you and the other person grounded.
3. Don't just tell the person that you have genital herpes, but also tell them how you are treating your herpes virus.
If you've done the first two, you're already halfway there, the next thing you need to do is to tell the person how you're being proactive and tell them that these are efforts you're making to prevent recurrences. For example, exercising, boosting the immune system, taking vitamins, or taking suppressive therapies, and more importantly, letting them know that by taking these positive actions, we are also doing our part to protect others.
4. Don't sing a monologue, create a dialog.
Since genital herpes is a very common virus, your partner has likely heard that the chances of people around hehim having the infection are still high. If this is the case, then it is a good entry point to start a conversation with the person about genital herpes to know how much she/he knows about the virus, what hehis views are, etc.

• After you inform him/her that you have the genital herpes virus, try asking some questions: do you know anyone else who is infected/carrying this virus? Or have you heard of anyone infected with this virus? Have you ever socialized with someone with the herpes virus before? And so on.
• Make sure you can have big and accurate enough information to give the person a sense of security when being honest with them. For example, they can ask me any question about herpes that I can answer. Generally, conversations with this kind of content seem to be awkward, but it's actually a turning point because regardless of whether or not you and your partner are going to have further intimacy after this, notice that you're genuinely, honestly, communicating about this stuff that you wouldn't normally discuss on a date.

5. Don't feel ashamed! Be confident!
At the same time, we need to know. As long as there is an intimate relationship there is a chance of being infected. Whether it's with a boyfriend, with a girlfriend, with a stranger, for the first time, for the 100th time, with protection, or without protection, all of these situations, the risk of contracting genital herpes exists.
We are not being alarmist or bringing despair, this is the truth. We need to stick to that and hope that the person we are with can do the same.

• There is a "seven percent rule" when it comes to communicating with people, which means that only 7% of a conversation is actually verbal, while the remaining 93% is non-verbal, such as body language, facial expressions, tone of voice, volume of voice, body posture, and so on.
• What you say is important, how you say it is even more important. Look the other person in the eye and make eye contact. Your attitude is important. As you express your own feelings, it's also how you see yourself. Remember you are not begging the other person to accept your herpes.

Finally, to summarize, you could start like this:
"We've been on two dates now, and there's something I'd like to talk to you about; I have a skin problem that breaks out once in a while when my immune system is low."
"This skin problem is genital herpes, which you may have heard of, but I'm guessing you don't know much about it."
"I have tried suppressive therapy to prevent recurrences, specifically, I would take anti-viral medication every day to keep this virus at bay."
"It's a very common virus, one in six Americans carries it, and over 400 million people worldwide carry it, so maybe you know someone who has it?"
...
That's pretty much the structure, feel free to give each other all the science you know, and remember, don't be a crybaby, the sky isn't falling.
Good luck!

There is no guarantee that what we do or say will bring an understanding smile or a happy outcome. But there are ways to make it easier for the other person to accept the reality of the situation. Basically, the core idea is: don't cheat, don't hide, and try to manage the other person's misunderstandings and prejudices. I just have herpes, so what, I'm still in control.
1. Don't say how you contracted genital herpes, say what genital herpes is.

• Tell the person some scientific medical facts. For example, what is HSV, what is the herpes virus, and how is it transmitted. These words are really alarming when they come out, but the information behind these words is very useful.
• It's a lot smarter to get the facts out and tell the person what the genital herpes virus is than to come up to them and say, "I accidentally got infected by someone I was having sex with. "This kind of factual opening will focus the person's attention on the fact that genital herpes is really just a skin problem.

2. Don't assume that just because other people have heard of genital herpes they really know (understand) genital herpes.
For some basic questions like the prevalence of the herpes virus, are oral herpes and genital herpes are contagious to each other, etc., choose 4-5 key facts and keep them in mind, it will keep you and the other person grounded.
3. Don't just tell the person that you have genital herpes, but also tell them how you are treating your herpes virus .
If you've done the first two, you're already halfway there, the next thing you need to do is to tell the person how you're being proactive and tell them that these are efforts you're making to prevent recurrences. For example, exercising, boosting the immune system, taking vitamins, or taking suppressive therapies, and more importantly, letting them know that by taking these positive actions, we are also doing our part to protect others.
4. Don't sing a monologue, create a dialog.
Since genital herpes is a very common virus, your partner has likely heard that the chances of people around hehim having the infection are still high. If this is the case, then it is a good entry point to start a conversation with the person about genital herpes to know how much she/he knows about the virus, what hehis views are, etc.

• After you inform him/her that you have the genital herpes virus, try asking some questions: do you know anyone else who is infected/carrying this virus? Or have you heard of anyone infected with this virus? Have you ever socialized with someone with the herpes virus before? And so on.
• Make sure you can have big and accurate enough information to give the person a sense of security when being honest with them. For example, they can ask me any question about herpes that I can answer. Generally, conversations with this kind of content seem to be awkward, but it's actually a turning point because regardless of whether or not you and your partner are going to have further intimacy after this, notice that you're genuinely, honestly, communicating about this stuff that you wouldn't normally discuss on a date.

5. Don't feel ashamed! Be confident!
At the same time, we need to know. As long as there is an intimate relationship there is a chance of being infected. Whether it's with a boyfriend, with a girlfriend, with a stranger, for the first time, for the 100th time, with protection, or without protection, all of these situations, the risk of contracting genital herpes exists.
We are not being alarmist or bringing despair, this is the truth. We need to stick to that and hope that the person we are with can do the same.

• There is a "seven percent rule" when it comes to communicating with people, which means that only 7% of a conversation is actually verbal, while the remaining 93% is non-verbal, such as body language, facial expressions, tone of voice, volume of voice, body posture, and so on.
• What you say is important, how you say it is even more important. Look the other person in the eye and make eye contact. Your attitude is important. As you express your own feelings, it's also how you see yourself. Remember you are not begging the other person to accept your herpes.

Finally, to summarize, you could start like this:
"We've been on two dates now, and there's something I'd like to talk to you about; I have a skin problem that breaks out once in a while when my immune system is low."
"This skin problem is genital herpes, which you may have heard of, but I'm guessing you don't know much about it."
"I have tried suppressive therapy to prevent recurrences, specifically, I would take anti-viral medication every day to keep this virus at bay."
"It's a very common virus, one in six Americans carries it, and over 400 million people worldwide carry it, so maybe you know someone who has it?"
...
That's pretty much the structure, feel free to give each other all the science you know, and remember, don't be a crybaby, the sky isn't falling.
Good luck!

I’ll start this rant by saying I love the romantasy genre, it’s brought me immeasurable joy over many years, and I’ll carry on reading it ‘til the worms make a meal of me… BUT (here she goes) I’ve noticed a really irritating trend of ‘telling’ instead of ‘showing’ cropping up a lot more in many of these books, and it’s starting to give me the proper sh*t’s.
A classic example is the MC who has a very sudden, very convenient realisation/change of heart, and then spends the next ten pages justifying that decision with a rambling, repetitive, overexplained internal monologue. It’s like incremental plot and character development have been completely subbed out for sloppy, long purges of internal chatter, crammed into the story at the writer’s nearest convenience. I find these 'speeches to the author' especially excruciating when it’s in the middle of an argument or rapid-fire dialogue. You’ll be knee deep in a deliciously tense, heated exchange and the MC will stop down for a mammoth paragraph of inner jabber to explain their feelings. MY GOD. If the writing is good, we should already know why they feel the way they do.
These monologues aren’t always predicated on a sudden plot shift either, sometimes the MC just likes to f*cking ramble. For instance (and this isn’t an attack on the series as a whole, because I liked a lot about it) but Violet in Iron Flame nearly ENDED me. God’s have mercy, the girl just went round in badly drawn circles for literal chapters at a time. It was like getting stuck talking to that friend who’s been complaining about the same dead sh*t boyfriend for the past six years, but would sooner French kiss a volcano than take any actual advice on the subject.
Anyway, I guess I just wanted to see if anyone else had experienced frustration with this and perhaps suss if anyone had any recommendations of books that don’t lean into it as much. I just finished The Heartless Hunter (book one of the Crimson Moth series) and flipping adored it, for several reasons, but mainly for avoiding the aforementioned nonsense. Also, I am fully aware that by posting this, I too have become a rambling, complaining, incoherent whiner, but that's just the way the cookie has crumbled today.

Context: You go into your boyfriend's bedroom and snuggle with them during a thunderstorm because of your fear of it.
Tags: [M4F] [Wholesome] [Comfort] [Kissing] [Soft spoken] [Soft humming]
Usage: You may tweak or record this script.
Monetization: All forms of monetization are OK with me! YouTube, Patreon, etc. I would appreciate being able to listen to the recording, if possible. Let me know if you have any questions. Thank you!
[Scene opens up in the middle of the night during a thunderstorm]
***
[SFX: Thunder booming]
"*Inner monologue* *Sigh* I guess there will be some cuddling coming up."
[SFX: Rustling towards you]
"*Yawn* Issues with the thunderstorm again honey?"
[You nods]
"Ok. I get it. Come in here."
[You lift up the blanket and she snuggles next to you]
"Just don't mind me if I toss around a little."
[SFX: Thunder boom]
"Oof, easy honey. I'm not going anywhere."
[You apologizes]
"Hey, there's no need to apologize. If anything, I should feel honored that when your afraid, you would come to me."
[Pause]
"I know what your thinking; "Isn't it weird for a grown woman to be afraid of a little thunder?"
[You nods]
"I don't think that's weird. There are still fears that we never get over. Even after childhood."
[You ask why isn't he afraid of thunderstorms]
"Why am I not afraid? Well, I guess it was because I always had family and friends who always loved it."
[Pause]
"I know it may sound weird, but whenever there's a thunderstorm; I think of them. Even if it's only for a brief moment."
[SFX: Fabric moving]
"Trying to get a little more comfortable?"
[You nod]
"It's fine, just try to relax."
[SFX: Thunder booming]
[You hold him tighter]
"Um...Honey? As much as I love your hugs, your squeezing a little too tightly right now."
[You apologize again]
"It's fine. Just try to think of things you love. Perhaps that will make you feel more at ease."
[Pause]
"At least try it out."
[You mention a few things]
"Pizza? Okay? What else?"
[You mention a few more]
"Ah yes, Ice cream? Can't forget that...Oh, Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens? You sure your not just saying lyrics to the Sound of Music?"
[You and her chuckle]
"Anyways. You feeling any better?"
[You nod]
"That's good. I was beginning to worry that you wouldn't be able to sleep honey."
[SFX: Rubbing back]
"Just take it easy, and know that the thunder won't hurt you. It's just hot and cold air rapidly expanding and contrasting together to cause the flash that you see."
[Pause]
"I know I was nerding out there for a bit. Also that "Technically" they are also caused by lightning bolts, it's just better to know that lightning might not always strike."
[Pause]
"Your still worried huh?"
[You nod]
"Ok, well we can look on the bright side. It would only be really dangerous if we had an "Amateur lightning rod" In our back yard."
[Pause]
"I mean the chances of getting struck by lightning are astronomical if not nearly-"
[SFX: Lightning strike]
"Woah!. That was surely something."
[He nervously chuckles]
"Maybe after a few more strikes, we should get a lottery ticket."
[Pause]
"I know, that was a bad joke. You got to admit though, what were the chances considering we were just taking about it?"
[Pause]
"How about we just take it easy for now? Maybe some breathing exercises to calm down with?"
[You nod]
"Ok, so just breath in-"
[SFX: Breathing in]
"Hold it,"
[Pause]
"Then out."
[SFX: Breathing out]
"Breath in-"
[SFX: Breathing in]
"Hold,"
[Pause]
"And out again."
[SFX: Breathing out]
"Better?"
[You nod]
"Glad to hear it. If there's anything else you might need just let me know."
[You ask for a good night kiss]
"A good night kiss? I mean, I did give you just one before we went to bed."
[Pause]
"Considering how nervous you are right now though, I think I might make an acceptation."
[SFX: Kissing]
"Hey..."
[Pause]
"Just so you know, I still love you. Even though your afraid of a little thunder."
[Pause]
"I'm teasing. I know that you just needed a little comfort was all."
[SFX: rain]
"Oh, and it seems like the worst of the thunder is over too."
[You ask if he could hum to you]
"I don't see why not. I'll hum until either one of us fall asleep. Will that be ok?"
[You nod]
"Ok."
[SFX: Kissing]
"Just relax, I'll take it from here."
[He gently hums to you until you fall asleep and it fades to black.]
[The end]
Note: I've oven heard a POV of someone afraid of thunder but never from the other perspective. Figure I'd experiment with this. Hope you enjoyed this short but sweet script and have a lovely day/night.

Hi guys. Looking for some male perspective on this:
My boyfriend (35M) and I (30F NDX, but strongly suspicious of inattentive ADHD) have been together for a year and for the most part, it's been wonderful. I consider this my first real relationship and my healthiest. We currently have plans to move in together and eventually marriage and maybe kids. He's extremely caring, thoughtful, and verbally and physically affectionate; an overall goofball and very passionate. This passion is great as I am more stoic and tend to internalize a lot and I've had serious issues with acute clinical depression in the past. I truly like being around him for the color he adds to my life that I sometimes can't see on my own. However, this excess of energy bleeds over into negative areas as well and we don't process conflict the same way...at all.
He will "rant" and continuously work himself up over things that frankly feel like a complete waste of energy to me. In general, it feels like he's happy to finally have a captive audience at whom he can spew a monologue of increasingly intense "gems" of thought. You can probably tell I'm getting a bit resentful...
When he does this I can feel myself automatically dissociate and pull inside myself to get away. My throat closes, my chest tightens, and in a case where he came WAY too close to hitting someone in a crosswalk with the car bc he was so worked up and not paying attention, I legit felt like I was going to be sick. When we started dating I told him I didn't like the ranting and that it felt like he was taking an opportunity to stroke his own ego while self-soothing instead of connecting to me in a real conversation. He said he got it, but months later it's still happening (I know he's trying to temper it) and recently has led me to be more bitchy and at one point I told him "shut the FUCK up I'm NOT doing this right now" and hung up the phone because I hate when he hijacks phone calls to do this and i was about to get in the shower (which he knew); it was legit the only way to make him stop. He called me later very apologetic.
My issue is that he's never ranting about me, but he directs his arguments at me as if I'm the person or thing he has an issue with and he's not satisfied until he feels he's "made me understand." I've pushed back and tried to point out to him that it's fine if he has big feelings about things, but I'm not his substitute punching bag, and that he speaks as if he doesn't trust that he will be able to impart every single one of his "amazing" thoughts on the issue so it comes out as a torrential monologue instead of a conversation. He says that he gets it to a degree and he will try to tone it down but that it's cultural and has alluded to me being too sensitive at one point saying "Ranting is normal...try and date another guy he'll be the same" He believes this is how he expresses himself and manages stress and anger....but to me, it just seems like it makes it worse. And if I'm being totally honest.....chronic complaining about things you don't have control over or are not actively making moves to fix is petulant and insecure and it's affecting my attraction to him.
For some context: he was born in a European country during a time of conflict and his family fled to the US when he was 8; his culture is very generous, loud, argumentative, and tends towards complaining for complaining's sake as a way to bond although I’ve had people from the area tell me what he does isn’t necessarily a normal level). I grew up in a tight-lipped upper-middle-class family with a lot of coldness, individualism, and passive aggressiveness. My dad also had a habit of verbally bullying everyone in the family (especially my mom) with monologues (the irony..) but he was more methodical and cold when he did it...you always left his office feeling like the stupidest person on the planet. As we've all aged my mom, brother (DX ADHD), and I strongly suspect my dad also has ADHD as he has MASSIVE problems with RSD and appropriate/proportional emotional responses and is a chronic cheater and liar...my childhood watching my parents was....not good to say the least and I honestly don't have much if any love for my dad now. I also have an autoimmune disease that is severely exacerbated by stress and have made a lot of efforts to increase my flexibility towards situations to decrease my overall stress. I tend to see things from many angles where my bf tends to dig in on one POV obsessively.
We've reached a point where he's said he'll just stop talking to me about certain things and talk to his best friend and r*nt online in subreddits instead. I said that didn't feel like a solution and that I would try to work on my resilience so we could still talk about things that upset him but that he needed to bring the overall tone down substantially.
I'll be honest I'm tired of managing my own anxiety about what might set him off and tired of being a personal punching bag. I love him a LOT but I'm not sure what he'll be like if we were to have kids and things will get infinitely more stressful. And there's NO way the solution is for me to break his self-imposed rage trance by screaming at him to STFU in front of children........
Help...Do I need to toughen up? How the heck do I feel ok with potentially managing this issue for the rest of my life? Is there some other angle here I'm not considering? And no he won't do therapy...the Eastern European in him would never
—
Thanks for all the support/responses guys. I def do not have plans to break up with him. This is one (big) issue but it doesn’t eclipse all the amazing qualities he has and parts of our dynamic that I really love - I’m just not here to make a post about those. I really feel like this is something he will be motivated to work on with me as long as I stand firm in my boundaries. He was single for 5 years before we met and tied up in a shitty situationship with someone who constantly belittled and invalidated him, so between the lack of practice having someone so close all the time and the damage his ex did I really feel like this is hopefully more of a learning curve situation. And I do understand that this is an automatic habit/reaction for him and those are hard to break and I’m the first to really push back on him for it. If it continues to be an issue I’ll def be requesting we do couples therapy.
However, I’m not one to deal with negative/toxic/incompatible situations for long (quite avoidant normally thanks to my parents dynamic) so I am confident if we reach a critical mass point I will act accordingly.

My Q is my (48f) boyfriend (49m). We have been dating just a few years but have been friends and musicians together for more than 20 years.
After our divorces we got friendlier and eventually decided to date. When we were young as musicians we had our share of after parties but he was mostly responsible. He ended up developing an autoimmune disorder and left professional music and ended up on disability only playing a little for recreation when he can.
Before we moved in together he rarely drank around me and he blamed a lot of his symptoms on his disability. I’m beginning to have doubts about if ANYTHING is actually wrong with him but alcoholism. He tells me his tremors are pain. He tells me the night sweats and days of sleeping and frailty and unsteady gait and extreme thinness and dry skin and all kinds of things are his illness. He’s on a pain management plan taking opiates and gets SSDI. But now I’m beginning to question everything. He is resistant to tests. He is resistant to basically any medical intervention aside from his pain management. Getting to claim he’s frail and disabled really has worked out for him. He gets a check from the government every month, he gets prescription opiates from the government and has an excuse for literally everything. Doesn’t have to walk anyplace, (has a wheelchair) doesn’t have to lift a finger around the house and can basically just sit around drunk 24/7 watching TV and claim his disability is “acting up”.
I agreed to care for him and date him when I thought this poor sweet guy I had known for 20 years was suffering from this awful disease and wasting away in a terrible place. I didn’t really even want to date anyone but we always got on well so it seemed like I could help him out and have companionship and keep other men away from me if I have one living with me and he doesn’t harm me or try to be controlling or demand sex or do anything really. Now that I’m doubting his actual disability I’m beginning to feel used and conflicted though.
He’s not a mean drunk. I kind of wish he would be. If he was mean or got into trouble or pissed himself or literally anything I would have an excuse to tell him to leave and not feel bad about it. But he’s not. At worst he’s really annoying. The more he drinks the more he bores me to death with monologues about movie trivia and celebrity gossip which I find more boring than watching paint dry. And often he does it while I’m reading or studying (I’m working on a professional certification) and it drives me up the wall. I want to tell him to shut up so badly but it’s so mean to say that when he’s not being mean or anything. Just interrupting me while I’m busy to monologue me with boring topics.
So now I’m torn. He’s mostly innocuous, mostly covers his own expenses and not mean but he’s also useless. He has children and I like his kids. I know breaking up with him will mean I no longer have a relationship with the kids and I think that’s the part that kind of guts me. He drinks a handle of vodka per day. I keep thinking he’s on deaths door but I asked him to stop drinking and get some blood work and told him if it was good I would leave him alone about the drinking. Somehow (and I was there for the blood draw and results) his tests are all good. I don’t know how. But they are. So now I have no real reason to ask him not to drink aside from it’s annoying. I never wanted to be with an addict but here I am and it bothers me. I have almost told him to move out several times in the last few days but then I don’t because I can’t think of a reason aside from “you’re useless and embarrassing when you’re so wasted.” And the consequences would be that I lose my relationship with his kids and don’t have an easy companion for anything I want to do. I just don’t know what to do. I wanted to put this out there and see what Reddit thinks.

I'm not sure if I'm in the right place but after stumbling across some other posts on here I'd like to run my issue by this community. Apologies for the length.
My boyfriend (35 NDX) and I (30 NDX, but strongly suspicious of inattentive) have been together for a year and for the most part, it's been wonderful. I consider this my first real relationship and my healthiest. We have plans to move in together and eventually marriage and maybe kids. He's extremely caring, thoughtful, and verbally and physically affectionate; an overall goofball and very passionate. This passion is great as I am more stoic and tend to internalize a lot and I've had serious issues with acute clinical depression in the past. I truly like being around him for the color he adds to my life that I sometimes can't see on my own. However, this excess of energy bleeds over into negative areas as well and we don't process conflict the same way...at all.
He will "rnt" and continuously work himself up over things that frankly feel like a complete waste of energy to me. In general, it feels like he's happy to finally have a captive audience at whom he can spew a monologue of increasingly intense "gems" of thought. You can probably tell I'm getting a bit resentful... When he does this I can feel myself automatically dissociate and pull inside myself to get away. My throat closes, my chest tightens, and in a case where he came WAY too close to hitting someone in a crosswalk bc he was so worked up and not paying attention, I legit felt like I was going to be sick. When we started dating I told him I didn't like the rnting and that it felt like he was taking an opportunity to stroke his own ego while self-soothing instead of connecting to me in a real conversation. He said he got it, but months later it's still happening (I know he's trying to temper it) and recently has led me to be more bitchy and at one point I told him "shut the fuck up I'm not doing this right now" and hung up the phone because it was the only way to make him stop. He called me later very apologetic.
My issue is that he's never rnting about me, but he directs his arguments at me as if I'm the person or thing he has an issue with and he's not satisfied until he feels he's "made me understand." I've pushed back and tried to point out to him that it's fine if he has big feelings about things, but I'm not his substitute punching bag, and that he speaks as if he doesn't trust that he will be able to impart every single one of his "amazing" thoughts on the issue so it comes out as a torrential monologue instead of a conversation. He says that he gets it to a degree and he will try to tone it down but that it's cultural and has alluded to me being too sensitive at one point saying "Rnting is normal...try and date another guy he'll be the same" He believes this is how he expresses himself and manages stress and anger....but to me, it just seems like it makes it worse. And if I'm being totally honest.....chronic complaining about things you don't have control over or are not actively making moves to fix is small dick energy and it's affecting my attraction to him.
For some context: he was born in a European country during a time of conflict and his family fled to the US when he was 8; his culture is very generous, loud, argumentative, and tends towards complaining for complaining's sake as a way to bond. I grew up in a tight-lipped upper-middle-class family with a lot of coldness, individualism, and passive aggressiveness. My dad also had a habit of verbally bullying everyone in the family (especially my mom) with monologues (the irony..) but he was more methodical and cold when he did it...you always left his office feeling like the stupidest person on the planet. As we've all aged my mom, brother (DX), and I strongly suspect my dad also has ADHD and he has MASSIVE problems with RSD and appropriate/proportional emotional responses and is a chronic cheater and liar...my childhood watching my parents was....not good to say the least and I honestly don't have much if any love for my dad now. I also have an autoimmune disease that is severely exacerbated by stress and have made a lot of efforts to increase my flexibility towards situations to decrease my overall stress. I tend to see things from many angles where my bf tends to dig in on one POV obsessively.
We've reached a point where he's said he'll just stop talking to me about certain things and talk to his best friend and r*nt online in subreddits instead. I said that didn't feel like a solution and that I would try to work on my resilience so we could still talk about things that upset him but that he needed to bring the overall tone down substantially.
I'll be honest I'm tired of managing my own anxiety about what might set him off and tired of being a personal punching bag. I love him a LOT but I'm not sure what he'll be like if we were to have kids and things will get infinitely more stressful. And there's no way the solution is for me to break his self-imposed rage trance by screaming at him to STFU in front of children........
Help...Do I need to toughen up? How the heck do I feel ok with potentially managing this issue for the rest of my life? Is there some other angle here I'm not considering? And no he won't do therapy...the Eastern European in him would never.
[Edited: formatting]

I am so smert. But I am also other things (don't look at my post history, messed up nsfw stuff). I'm looking for a lady that would say stuff like "hey cutie" and have a whole monologue about whatever's lovely.
There's currently someone screaming in my ear, and I love it (music).
Look, if you like a rambley perverted edgelord, then maybe we'll click lol.
I like passionate and creative women. Someone who knows what to do (or is willing to learn) when they have an emotional boyfriend. It's a coin toss as to whether I make you cry tears of joy after a night of "fun." Like, in a cathartic way, not a pervy way. Also I'm a bit of silly goose, as I've been told. I'd like you to vibe with that, without weed.
I'm more of a thinker than a doer right now, which is not very practical. I'm changing it with therapy (and rn teaching myself excel, blegghh). My main goal in life is to have the most enriching romantic relationship I possibly can, and everything else is just a means to that end per se.
Idk what else to say. I like weird women. Hmu :)

Who in your opinion was the most effective Ghostface?
Here's my personal breakdown.
Billy gets points for almost getting away with Maureen's murder, and for being the mastermind of Scream (1996). However, he also failed to kill Dewey and Randy, one of whom was with a gun at point blank range. Plus he fell into the classic villain trap of needing to monologue, and even choosing to stab himself and Stu BEFORE taking care of Sidney. I believe his kills are Maureen, Casey, Himbry, and Tatum, bringing him to four successful kills and three failed kills (four if you count Sidney's father, five if you account for being about to shoot Gale before Sidney slips away).
Stu gets points for having two of the most tense chase scenes in the first film, but he also failed to kill Sidney during those two chases. Plus his failure to make sure Gale was dead was both his and Billy's ultimate undoing. I credit him with Steve and Kenny's deaths, bringing him to 2 successes and 3 failures.
Mickey is unique in that he never wanted to get away with it and was heavily implied to have already been an active serial killer prior to donning the mask. He basically succeeds in killing everyone he tries to kill, as its implied he injured Derek more to mess with Sidney and plant the seed of doubt in her mind that Derek was in on it. He only fails to kill Sidney and Gale, and also fails to realize Mrs. Loomis was playing him. Final count: 7 successful kills, 3 failures.
Mrs. Loomis succeeds in killing Randy (RIP), but apart from him, she has few likely successful kills as Mickey seemed to be the one who want to do the copycat kills while she prioritized the revenge plot. (She could be the one who killed Phil Stevens but it's hard to know Mickey was almost certainly the one who killed Maureen Evans while in Phil's jacket). Plus, like her son before her, she fails to kill Dewey, fails to kill Gale twice, and fails to kill Sidney. 1 successful kill (possible double points for killing a returning character), 4 failures.
Roman gets all the points for being the only solo Ghostface and therefore having the highest on-screen kill rate of all the killers. 9 kills overall (including killing Cotton who survived the first two movies), but he does ultimately fail to kill Sidney, Dewey, and Gale, leaving him with 9 successes and 3 failures.
Most people agree that Charlie did most of the killing in Scream 4, with him getting 8 of Ghostface's 10 kills. However, he failed to kill Kirby and also failed to realize Jill was going to betray him, which brings him to 8 successful kills and 2 failures, one of which cost him his life.
I personally think Jill killed the 2 police officers outside her house and killed her own mother but also acknowledge that the attack on Gale complicates things (I'm not gonna count that as a fail as it was implied that Jill wanted Gale to survive to be able to write about her). For sure, Jill successfully killed Trevor and Charlie; however, despite her whole plan hingeing on Sidney dying, she fails to make sure Sidney is dead. She then fails to kill Sidney again, and then fails to kill Gale, Dewey, and Judy Hicks when they come to the rescue. Points for effort but she gets only 2 successes and 5 failures.
Amber kills Dewey, who, in terms of surviving actual attacks, is almost harder to kill than Sidney. She also for sure kills Liv and probably kills Judy, another character who a previous Ghostface failed to kill. However, I'm unsure how many of her attempts to kill Tara were sincere or were just attempts to draw out Sam plus she fails to kill Chad, Gale, Sidney, and Tara at least once. 3 successful kills (double points for Dewey and Judy as returning characters) and 4+ failures.
Richie, despite Sam stating he "made his girlfriend do all the killing" seems to have been pretty equal, likely being the one to kill Vince, Wes, and the hospital security guard. Still, he fails to kill Mindy and then fails to kill Sidney, Gale, and Sam, despite all of them being pretty badly injured. 3 successful kills, 4 failed kills.
Jason the prologue killer gets one kill before being taken out. 1 successful kill, I'm not gonna say he failed to kill anyone else because he never got the chance.
Wayne (Richie's Dad) is implied to have killed Jason and his roommate, plus the three Bodega victims, as Ethan and Quinn were with Tara, Chad, Mindy, and Co at the Halloween parties / watching the news at their apartment. He still failed to kill Sam, Tara, and Kirby. Honestly, his attacking the sisters in public, while terrifying, makes very little sense for wanting to frame Sam. Even if the Bodega had no security footage, who were they gonna pin that attack on? Sam was there with Tara and Kirby wasn't a player yet. 5 successful kills, 3 failed kills.
Ethan is implied to have killed Sam's psychiatrist, Quinn's hook up in the bathtub, and Anika (RIP to the best GF). We do get a funny moment of retrospect since he helps Quinn fake her death, but that ultimately doesn't count toward or against either total. Still, he fails to kill Chad, Tara, Sam, and Mindy, even helping Mindy get medical attention after Quinn fails to kill her, which I didn't really understand. 3 successful kills, 4 failed kills.
Quinn is implied to have killed Gale's boyfriend, but ultimately failed to kill Gale herself and also failed to kill Mindy on the train and then failed to kill Chad, Sam, and Tara in the theater. 1 success, 5 failures+.
Overall, Roman, Charlie, and Mickey, seem to be the most successful killers when comparing successes vs failures. I do think it's kinda sad that most of the female Ghostfaces are sporting pretty bad averages. Amber has the highest kill count and even she has a bunch of failed attempts (seriously, Tara is made of iron for surviving 3 back-to-back attempts on her life).

I was at the dress rehearsal for the Dua Lipa episode tonight (via standby) and can summarize what what was changed/cut to the best of my memory. If anyone else was at dress, feel free to correct or add anything I missed :)
Student Protests

• Heidi had a bob wig at dress
  
• If I remember correctly, Mikey and Heidi’s characters were more anti-protest at dress than at live.
  
• Kenan got cheers at dress during his initial lines supporting the protests
  
• During his line about his daughter getting her degree, Kenan had a line mentioning "someone's dean" giving it to her.
  

Monologue

• I don't think her parents were shown at dress (although the lines referencing them were still there).
  
• The question from Andrew Dismukes was originally from Michael Longfellow
  

Young Spicy

• Young Spicy added additional context at the start that he needs a new tag cause there are a lot of beefs and diss tracks goin around right now in rap (indirectly referencing the Kendrick/Drake feud).
  
• When saying to "make it quick", in addition to the meter running, Kenan said he left a sandwich in the car with the windows open.
  
• At one point, Kenan asked everyone for quarters to pay for the parking meter.
  
• Kenan's joke about Young Spicy's neighbors was gone. Instead the sketch ended with Kenan's car getting towed.
  

Anomalous Man

• No changes I noticed.

Good Morning Greenville

• No changes I noticed.

Challengers Baby

• After Bowen and Marcello's back and forth "I'm 41 so it's not weird." "Yes it is!" There was an additional line from Bowen where he says it's weird "in a different way." [Correction] Marcello full line at dress was "Yes it is! Just, like, in a new way!"
  
• Edit: Bowen posted the dress version on his Instagram.
  

Penne alla Vodka

• No changes I noticed.

Dua Lipa - Illusion

• Introduced by Sarah Sherman instead of Troye Sivan.

Weekend Update: Colin Jost and Michael Che

• Colin did not say "It's the first night of spring, so we'll start tonight with puppy murder."
  
• Joke added for live: "President Trump seen here definitely not sleeping."
  
• Joke added for live: Che's follow-up to the Columbia students joke where he says the school should "stop telling students the truth" like him with his girlfriends.
  
• I believe Che's punchline about the Final Four was about a different sports event.
  
• Joke added for live: Colin's 11-day cruise joke
  
• Colin cut joke about a guy who killed some people and the punchline is that he ate them (cause he's fat)
  
• Colin cut joke: [paraphrased] Hope Hicks testified at the Trump trial, where she proved that the courtroom sketch artist can draw people that look human (cut to side by side of Hicks and Trump's sketches)
  
• Colin cut joke: [paraphrased] In the Trump trial, Hope Hicks testified that Trump trusts Melania's advice. Well we know at least one time that wasn't true (cut to picture of Trump and Stormy Daniels)
  
• Che did the same ad-lib after a bomb about Drake dropping another diss track, but he also did another one on a later bomb at dress, saying "And Kendrick just released a reply!"
  
• At one point after a joke bomb, Che said something that sounded to me like "Just put me on the cast, Lorne!"
  

Weekend Update: Kristi Noem's other dog

• There was joke using "All Dogs Go to Heaven" where they added a couple words making it specific to Noem's dogs.
  
• Marcello also held up a book he is going to release [can't remember the title]
  

Weekend Update: Jojo Siwa

• I don't recall hearing the snippets of her song played at dress.
  
• She originally ate the cigarette. (I think it didn't get a big enough reaction to warrant doing it again).
  
• Gay pop joke - Instead of Colin saying “I think that’s just pop”, he said “there’s been loads of other gay pop artists: Elton John, Ricky Martin, Renee Rapp. Also make up my gym playlist.”
  

Weekend Update: Jerry Seinfeld

• They punched up the Ryan Gosling part a bit for live. I don't remember it having as many jokes, and there was originally a line advising Gosling to stay at home with his wife and kids.

Fat Daddy

• No changes that I noticed.
  
• As they were setting this up, I could hear Punkie telling Kenan and a few crew members about something she had cooking in her dressing room.
  

Dua Lipa - Happy for You

• Introduced by Marcello Hernandez instead of Jerry Seinfeld.

Tiny Statement Pin

• This was slightly longer at dress. I remember there was a pin mentioning Trans rights on screen with the Ceasefire pin.

Jingle

• The Dua's "5 daqs deep" was originally said by Bowen.

Cut for Time
\1. Hotel/Restaurant (live sketch)

• Chloe Fineman is at the front desk of a fancy hotel/restaurant. On the phone she says they are fully booked, but they can make room for Leonardo DiCaprio and his five guests. Mikey Day and Heidi Gardner (Mikey looks dressed like a 00s rock band frontman and Heidi looks a little Paris Hilton-esque) come in and ask for a room/table. Chloe denies them and they go into the “do you know who I am?” routine. Mikey (who has a ridiculous name I can’t remember) is from a “famous” band known for their song “Becky’s Mouth”, which Mikey sings for Chloe and it sounds like Jessie’s Girl, as Chloe points out. Heidi (also with a ridiculous name) is a model/actress and she mentions a commercial she was in. Dua Lipa enters as the third in their group. She cites her own list of silly sounding credits. Kenan comes out as the manager and gets mad at the group. Mikey tries to prove his importance by pointing out his car (not shown) from [fake car brand with silly name] which he got before it even released to the public. Kenan calls it ugly. Mikey also cites his expensive [fake clothing brand with silly name] clothing and Heidi her fancy bag with an LLF on it (standing for something starting with Luigi). Heidi pulls out a bottle of their brand of Ferret Vodka, which has a Ferret-haped stopper. Then, Colin Jost comes out in full vacation get-up, who the staff recognize as Colin Jost, and says he knows the trio and they can come sit at his table. He says he was just listening to “Becky’s Mouth”. End of sketch.
  
• I thought this was pretty good. Sad to see a rare Colin Jost sketch appearance cut.
  

\2. What Would You Do? (live sketch)

• There is a standard “What would you do?” intro where the premise is explained. In this episode, two actors will simulate a racist encounter in a pizza place to see how the patrons will react. Andrew Dismukes is the actor playing the guy behind the counter, and Marcello Hernandez is the actor playing a Latino guy with an accent buying a pizza. Marcello tries to order a pizza and Andrew suggests he illegally immigrated. As Molly Kearney, playing a nearby patron, is about to react, Dua Lipa and Ego Nwodim barge in. The narrator explains that these two women came in and interrupted the shoot so they couldn’t get the patrons’ reaction. They are both in fancy tracksuits (different colors) with a lot of makeup on and Dua has big hoop earrings. Both in trashy English accents, they start accosting Andrew. They say they’ve both been experiencing terrible diarrhea and it’s because of the pizza. They say they’ve only been in the US for a day and have just had the pizza, a pretzel, and some oysters a guy on the street offered them. They describe in excruciating detail how bad their diarrhea was and how it hit them as they were getting on the subway with a joke to the effect of “Stand clear of the expelling women”. Andrew tries a few times to unsuccessfully explain to them that he is just an actor and that they are shooting. Dua and Ego say that they themselves were “shooting” (referring to the diarrhea). They eventually get it when he says they are on TV. They get all excited, but say they wish they were prepared and Dua laments that she has her small hoops on. And I believe it ends with them realizing that they’re “dia-ruh-rhea” story got recorded and the narrator says that they kept it as revenge for ruining their shoot.
  
• This was one of Dua’s best comedic roles all night so it was a shame it was cut. I guess the toilet humor could be a lot for some people, but it worked for me (and I thought the audience liked it).
  
• Marcello was also wearing a mustache that IMO was really working for him.
  

\3. Graduation (live sketch)

• Bowen Yang, Chloe Troast, Marcello Hernandez, Ego Nwodim, Dua Lipa [Corrected by u/wincew, Dua was not in this], and one or two others are on a college campus. They talk about their upcoming graduation and Chloe Troast with a guitar starts to lead them in a song to the tune of Graduation by Vitamin C. They recap their college experience year by year for a chorus/verse, with every year getting ruined by some world event. For each year, Kenan comes out with the respective NYE glasses for that year and for each bad news topic, they cut to JAJ as an anchor reporting that event. In 2020 they had Covid. Then they had the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Kenan says “How did you forget about January 6th?” The students all say at least they had some good things like corn kid, and the Ice Bucket Challenge (“that was 10 years ago!”). Then they show Ego and Marcello in bed together (still standing with a sheet placed in front of them and a bed stood up behind them), which cuts to Roe v. Wade being overturned. Then graduation comes in 2024, but they find out the ceremony is canceled because [they say something to indicate the Gaza protests, without mentioning them explicitly] reasons.
  
• Maybe not the most original observation, but I liked it and liked what it was saying. Not really surprised it got cut though.
  

\4. Drinks after Work Promotion (live sketch)

• Bowen Yang, Ego Nwodim, Andrew Dismukes, Dua Lipa, and Molly Kearney (?) are out for drinks at a bar after work. They are talking about a promotion Andrew just got (due to nepotism) and how he is now their boss. Andrew makes a comment about removing a framed photo of Dua and her son. She gets offended since it’s actually a picture of her and her husband. Andrew points out she looks much older than him. Something causes the whole group minus Andrew to sing the song “Don’t Matter” by Akon. Andrew says he loves that song and it’s actually it’s his favorite song. Dua doubts him and asks what his favorite part is. He sings the chorus “Nobody wanna see us together”. Dua points out that his favorite part is just the chorus, to which he responds “that’s why it’s the chorus”. Dua insists he doesn’t actually know the song and challenges him to sing along if she plays it on the jukebox. As the song starts, Andrew sings the chorus, and then when the verse starts, he says his throat is dry and starts sipping his beer. Dua calls him out, but the rest of the group tells her to calm down. He finishes his beer just as the chorus comes back in and sings the chorus. When the next verse comes, he repeats the dry throat thing and grabs Ego’s wine and does the same thing. Dua gets more mad as the group polices her. The next verse Andrew fakes having to sneeze. Then he fakes getting a phone call about his mom being in the hospital “oh she’s okay?” and immediately breaks back into the chorus. He fakes the phone call again, but Dua grabs his phone and throws it. After the group gets upset with her again, she admits she was really just mad about the promotion, cause she really thought she was gonna get it, and is just taking it out on Andrew. Bowen then reminds her that she didn’t get the promotion because she twisted the nipples of the water cooler guy and the only reason she didn’t get fired is because he spilled it on her and she threatened to sue. The sketch ends with Dua and Andrew singing the “best part” together, with Andrew taking a high harmony.
  
• I liked it, mainly for Andrew’s killer timing with each of his verse-chorus gags, but I’m not surprised it got cut.
  
• As they were setting up this sketch, I waved at Dua and she made eye contact and waved back at me and so I was slightly distracted and starstruck at the beginning of this one.
  

\5. Babysitter (live sketch)

• Sophie (Dua Lipa) is trying out for a babysitter gig for parents Mikey Day and Heidi Gardner. She seems to be getting along with the kids (extras) and Mikey and Heidi say how they don’t even want to see the other candidates cause they like Dua. Dua says how she appreciates that they don’t judge her for her past. They didn’t realize she had a past, which leads to her revealing she was in jail for DUIs. But she reassures them she doesn’t drink any more except [punchline I don’t remember]. She also mentions how she can’t read, and how in jail she fell in love with a guy, Winslow. She holds up a crayon drawing the kids made for her, with her as a stick figure behind bars, and written “visiting Sophie at [funny alternate name for jail]”. Mikey reads it aloud and Dua goes “so that’s what it says!” Dua asks if it’s alright that she invited her boyfriend over. There is a knock at the door and it is Kenan as Winslow. He has a long straight black wig and a long straight brown goatee and he is (as described by Mikey) “dressed like Carmen Sandiego”. Dua mentions something implying he runs a cult. Behind him are Chloe Troast and either Sarah Sherman or Chloe Fineman, who are dressed a little like what I imagine a Victorian schoolgirl would look like. Kenan introduces them both as Sophie. Mikey and Heidi ask “did he make you all change your name to Sophie?” to which all the girls confirm. Kenan then asks Heidi if she is “bleeding” because he needs it for a ritual. She is scandalized. The kids come back after interacting with Kenan and they both have red cloaks now, to Heidi and Mikey’s horror. That might have been the end of the sketch, but I can’t remember.
  
• I think the weakest sketch of the night so this was a fair cut.
  

I thought overall it was a good episode, but I personally would have cut the Young Spicy sketch and replaced it with the What Would You Do? sketch.

The Plan:

1. My friend and I convince our girlfriends to go mountain hiking with us.
   
2. As soon as we make it to the top of the mountain, my friend and I get on our knees and propose to our girlfriends together.
   
3. Our girlfriends say yes and we celebrate a special moment with a spectacular view.
   

The Fail:

1. My friend and I convinced our girlfriends to go Mountain hiking with us.
   
2. As we approached the midway point, we spotted what appeared to be a dead snake ahead of us. We paused to assess the situation. The snake never moved, even when we tossed a couple of random twigs at it from a distance to hopefully scare it away or at least give us an indication that it was in fact dead. The girls wanted us to change course to avoid crossing paths with the shake, regardless if it was dead or alive, but my friend and I opted for the less intelligent approach. We decided to challenge each other to a game of rock, paper, scissors to determine who should inspect the snake up close. I lost. So, there I was, walking towards the snake as slowly as possible while extending my hand like Chris Pratt does in the Jurassic World movies. I must admit, my heart was pounding. However, when I got close enough, it became obvious to me that the snake was no longer among the living. Me being me, I carefully picked up the dead snake and PSSSSSSSS!!! AAAAAAAAH!!! All of a sudden I was fighting the snake as if it was trying to bite me! I was wrestling that snake like it was an anaconda. The screams from the girls prompted me to abruptly stop my foolishness and confirm that Slytherin was defeated. It was immature as fuck, I know, but the reactions I got were priceless.
   
3. We made it to the top of the mountain and appreciated the breathtaking view before my friend and I locked eyes and gave each other... the nod. My friend dropped down on one knee and so did I. The girls freaked out as soon as they noticed both boyfriends bending the knee. As my friend presented his ring and proceeded with his speech, I was unable to do the same because I realized that my ring was not in my pocket anymore. It was gone. My girlfriend looked as confused as I was because I was prepared to propose, but I had no ring to propose with. The two of us teamed up to look for the ring where were, which distracted my friend who was now struggling to focus on his speech and get to the part of popping the question. My friend eventually paused mid monologue and finally said "really bro?" I apologized to everyone and said I think I might have lost my ring when I was fake fighting the dead snake. My girlfriend called me an idiot. My friend sighed and skipped to the end of his speech. His girlfriend said yes, they kissed, an awkward and time sensitive celebration happened, and then we retraced our steps to look for the missing wedding ring.
   
4. No ring was found.
   
5. No one was happy with me.
   
6. The snake won.
   

TL:DR The plan was simple. Ask my gf to marry me on top of a majestic mountain. The end. But, because I'm obviously a kid disguised as a grown up, I just had to go and play with a dead snake I found along the way and pretend that I was fighting an anaconda. I didn't realize I lost the wedding ring during the fake fight until it was time for me to propose. Needless to say, my gf was not impressed.

I'll start off by saying I absolutely adore the costume Oliver has this season. Arguably the best of the whole show, easily up there with the Season 1 look. It goes back to a more simplistic, minimal design that suits him best, with a longer Hood, and back to the classy recurve bow. I love it. Probably my favorite Green Arrow outfit. Just a shame it's only used in a handful of episodes. I wish this could've been the look from Season 5 to now.
 
Well, I thought the majority of the season was fairly good. True, it was mostly just nostalgia reliving the best moments of the show, but for a concluding run there's nothing wrong with that. The excuse of the "Monitor" gave them a reason to have these episodes. If something doesn't make sense, ah well, chalk it up to these grand cosmic things beyond your understanding.
 
Other than the fact that "Crisis" had little logical consistency to it; i.e. "This happened! And then that happened! And then that happened!" without much logical flow between events, I really don't mind. It's all supernatural/magical B.S. anyway. I really enjoyed the crossover, plot holes be damned. I thought they were going to do a Jekyll and Hyde thing, with the Monitor and Anti-Monitor being two sides of the same god-like entity. He just left out that part where the anti-Monitor is his sinister alter-ego he is doomed to become. I thought that would've been a lot cooler than just, "He's the me of the anti-matter universe." (God there are so many universes as it is in the multiverse, now there's a multiverse in anti-matter too?)
All in all though, the crossover was suitably epic, and they gave Oliver a good death. Well, no, actually he had a pretty lame death, but it's okay because he comes back as a ghost, and then he gets a good death there.
 
I really loved the Obi-Wan Kenobi thing he had going on at the end. In fact, the scene of him dueling the anti-Monitor (who is not dissimilar to Darth Vader) as the younger heroes look on from a distance reminded me a lot of that scene in A New Hope where Kenobi says, "If you strike me down now, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine," before sacrificing himself and disappearing into the ether.
 
Oliver had an excellent final goodbye there. Short, sweet, and to the point. It doesn't need to be anymore than that; we've been anticipating this moment all season, since last season in fact. The series should have ended on the second last episode of "Crisis on Infinite Earths." Despite a rocky last two--three--four--hell pretty much everything since Season 3--seasons, they pulled through strong at the end, and went out on a high note...
 
...is what I wish I could say, but sadly, it didn't end there.
 
The following episode deals with the aftermath, which is fine as an epilogue episode, except that there is a tonal whiplash between one moment Barry and Sara mourning Oliver and the very next minute there's giant CGI killer teddy bears running around the city. I mean they literally have a funeral service, and as soon as it's over, Barry turns around and gleefully geeks out, "Hey guys check out my sweet new Justice League round table!" IN THE SAME FREAKING ROOM as the still-burning funeral pyre! Complete tonal whiplash.
 
But wait, there's more. Another whole episode dedicated to the painfully bad drudgery of the future Star City, made even more confusing because in this new timeline the entire storyline (which was pretty incredulous and boring to begin with) has been tossed out in favor of an entirely new character and story in the future only being introduced just now. I couldn't stand to even finish this episode, it was so cringeworthy. The only time I actually like the future kid characters is when they interacted in the present with their parents, our heroes. Those moments are always great drama. Otherwise though, their own story just isn't at all interesting.
 
The finale, "Fadeout," had a couple decent things in it. I liked the flashback moment. The extended fight scene with early Oliver in the iconic S1 outfit was well choreographed and pretty badass. At least they didn't completely insult the memory of S1 Oliver like they did in S5 with the flashback then (trying to make him out to be some sadistic psycho killer which he wasn't). Other than that though, the only good scenes are with Felicity, and Diggle's final monologue.
 
This final episode is simultaneously a "so bad it's good" joke, and also a huge middle finger to the audience. They completely erased the show's ENTIRE history. Yeah, screw you, dear viewer, for actually being invested these past 8 years (10 for me, I started watching this show in 2013 or 14). Everything in the entire mythos has now been completely re-written and undone, with a wave of plot magic. One would think at least the early show, when it actually was dark, gritty, grounded, mature, realistic, serious, etc. before there were alternate Earths and time travel and magic and Lazarus Pits and superhero nonsense of characters staying dead all of 2 minutes--before all of that, one would think they would at least keep that early era untouched. Moira's and Tommy's deaths are tragic, but that's what makes for good storytelling! Don't undo that!
 
Quentin Lance had a great exit from the show in Season 6. (One of the few good things to come out of the later seasons.) It's one thing to have him back as a guest star through this Monitor-induced time loop dream sequence/alternate reality thing. I actually really liked that. That episode, "RESET," is the highlight of the season, my favorite episode. However, the understanding was that version of him was a fiction, concocted by the Monitor to help Laurel-2 come to terms with Quentin's death, and help Oliver come to terms with his own. Bringing Quentin back for real just nullifies that, and it undoes the fantastic exit he already had.
 
This whole season, even in S7, they keep treating Oliver as this holier than thou, messianic, Jesus-like figure. But that's not really who he is. He is a complex character, or at least he was originally. He ultimately is a hero, but he never set out to be one. It was a journey of personal redemption and redemption for his family's sins every bit as it was a crusade to clean up the city. He was immensely strong as a warrior and a leader, but deeply wounded and broken on the inside, all the same. He was the hero, but he had moral failings, blindspots for family and lovers, moments of succumbing to violent rage. His story is not supposed to be that of an anointed savior who always wins the day, but of a dark, damaged man, weighed heavy with the toll of far too many great losses. That he somehow kept going, that he didn't let his grief consume or define him, but instead temper him into a better man--that alone is something. Let's keep that complexity to his character. He doesn't need to be a saint to still be loved and respected.
 
How many times are Thea and Roy supposed to have their "happily ever after"? They keep bringing them back as guest cameos once a year, and each time they need an excuse for why only one actor is back, and also to have some drama. Their character arcs ended years ago. It's quite ridiculous how many times they rode off into the proverbial sunset, but then broke up off-screen at some point, then they re-unite; rinse, repeat.
 
Crime magically disappears? Does nobody in the city find it just a slight bit odd that Star(ling) City was mostly a safe place, until the Arrow/Oliver returns, then suddenly terrorists are conquering or nuking the city every single year, but the moment Oliver dies, suddenly all crime for ever and ever magically goes away? Almost like he was the cause of the suffering, rather than the hero. Hey, writers, that would've been a fantastic story! Imagine if Season 5/Prometheus was not about revenge for killing Daddy, but instead about making Oliver see that his being the Arrow ultimately caused more suffering and destruction, in a sort of "Spec Ops: The Line" / Apocalpyse Now / Heart of Darkness way. After all, the only reason for Deathstroke and Ra's al Ghul seeking to destroy the city is Oliver. He spurned and insulted his friend Anatoli, thus inciting the wrath of the Bratva on the city. He plays the hero, but his actions are what nearly always brought about the damnation he sought to fight. That would've been a great story, and the psychological thriller they tried to do that season would've actually been believable without needing to entirely retcon Season 1 Oliver into being a serial killer.
 
That said, if you were a criminal, would you want to do crime in the city where some lunatic Robin Hood-wannabe is going all William Tell on your ass, or would you do it in the city where he's not around? Logically, shouldn't crime spike up now that Oliver is dead? In the past, when everyone thought he was dead, that's exactly what happened. Oh sure, they tried to keep up appearances by having Dig under the hood, but that only lasts for so long before criminals realize it's not the real Arrow. It doesn't make any sense that crime should go down with him gone.
 
The unintentionally funniest part of this episode for me was Talia telling Nyssa, "All Father ever wanted for you was to have a normal life." Bitch, she was heir to the Demon, an Assassin on the FBI's Most Wanted list, a lesbian in love with the girl whose boyfriend she's married to, and was to be executed as a traitor by her father. A NORMAL LIFE??????
 
I shit you not, I was laughing so hard at that for 3 minutes straight, I was in tears. The dialogue is awful, but sometimes it's so bad, it's fucking hilarious.
 
Some of the cameos are just criminal. How can they have Manu Bennett back for a scene, and it's just an alternate version of the night Moira died, so they can retcon her into being alive? How the hell was Slade Wilson not the star of one of these nostalgia-tour episodes? He should have had at least a whole episode. They brought back Yao Fei and Fyers who are both dead, somehow, but no Slade fucking Wilson? I mean, he's half the reason for the show's success! That character was amazing. No Felicity? How come she's only a cameo in the final episode? She should've been here all season long! I know they established she's looking after baby Mia somewhere, but c'mon, that didn't stop Dig from returning; besides they changed the future a dozen times anyway! How come Talia gets a whole episode, but not Nyssa, who was way bigger? But I'll tell you who they didn't forget to call back, the fucking Ragman. The goddamn Ragman. Why. That character was such a mistake then, and one I tried hard to forget ever happened.
 
I was almost excited at the prospect of Diggle's character continuing on in Supergirl. It would've given me a reason to actually watch that show, besides the dude from "Two and a Half Men" playing Lex Luthor (that was pretty cool). But then they did it. They actually did it. They made Diggle into Green Lantern? Are you freaking kidding me! It was stupid enough giving him a costume and calling him "Spartan." He was always coolest as himself, no hood needed. But going full on superhero? The same guy who could never wrap his head around the Flash in every crossover? Just insulting the memory of that great character on the final episode.
 
It seems that Arrow died as it lived. Burned bright, and was fun while it was good, but it inevitably sours. Later episodes are penned by such amateurish writers, and it shows. The writers knew they weren't going to do a full season, but somehow even with only being on contract for 10 episodes, they only really had enough story for 8. The last two (three if you count Legends' season premiere) were totally disposable filler that sadly tanked my opinion of the otherwise top notch season.

"Third Wheel" by Nick Spalding is a funny romantic comedy that chronicles the misadventures of a man named Will as he navigates the stormy world of internet dating. Will, a newly divorced parent, unwillingly enters the dating scene at the encouragement of his friends and finds himself thrown into a series of comically disastrous experiences.
The novel takes readers on a rollercoaster ride of awkward dates, embarrassing mistakes, and unexpected turns as Will strives to find love while juggling the obligations of single motherhood. From botched blind dates to cringe-worthy interactions with his ex-wife's new boyfriend, Will's journey is loaded with laugh-out-loud moments and genuine problems.
Spalding's writing is snappy and humorous, full with smart dialogue and unique characters that spring off the page. Will's inner monologues provide insight into his insecurities and flaws, while the supporting cast adds depth and humor to the plot. Whether it's his eccentric best friend, his smart daughter, or the eclectic mix of women he encounters online, each character adds something new to the table, keeping the narrative fresh and fascinating.
What sets "Third Wheel" apart is its blend of humor and heart. Beneath the laugh-out-loud antics and cringe-worthy escapades, there's a genuine exploration of love, friendship, and the significance of being true to oneself. As Will navigates the challenges of modern dating, he learns crucial lessons about self-acceptance and the true meaning of happiness.
Overall, "Third Wheel" is a fun escapade that will leave readers grinning from ear to ear. Spalding's keen wit and sympathetic characters make for an enjoyable book that's excellent for anyone in need of a good chuckle and a dose of romantic romance.
Free Audiobook with a free trial of Audible

Those who have read this series, please tell me what's up with Victor having strange feelings about Crash. And Stefan.
In the book 4: Secrets, he feels jealous about Crash spending night out with a stranger. There are also instances when he's outright thinking about what it might feel like to be with him, even when he's with Jacob. I mean, yeah Crash's hot and all but wtf?! And this isn't even the first time he's thought of getting hot and heavy with him. There was also a scene where he was literally contemplating cheating on Jacob. It wasn't outright but something along the lines of- "if I turn back, I'll end up taking Crash on his offer." Crash is Crash and has been flirting with Victor since the day they met each other.
Currently reading book 5: Camp Hell and I don't know what to think. The plot is damn good but it's Victor's inner monologue about other men that's making me feel icky. There was a scene where he was having sex with Jacob and....started thinking about Stefan, his previous boyfriend from the camp.
Please. Someone tell me is thinking about being with other people, while you are having sex with your partner, normal? Is it just me who's having these "uhhhhh" feelings while reading such scenes???
And is Jacob and Victor's relationship going to stay monogamous throughout the series or are they going to bring someone (Crash. I don't see Stefan doing anything of the sort but what do I know) into it?

For context, I've been watching a lot of Star Wars What ifs recently. Things like "What if Order 66 failed?" Things like that. I decided to do my own fan fiction, but with Hatchetfield. This is all just for fun, and isn't canon. Hope you all enjoy.
Paul walks out to meet Emma. Emma is overjoyed to see him alive. As they embrace, Paul starts to sing. As it turns out, Paul didn’t stop the hive, he had been infected. Paul and the members of the hive sing Inevitable. Emma tries to flee but is unsuccessful. When the song ends, Emma screams for help as they drag her away. The hive throws Emma to the ground in the hallway of the hospital. The infected Bill, Ted, Nora, and Mr. Davidson hold her limbs down. Paul stands over Emma, smiling at her, eyes completely blue. He asks Emma why she isn’t happy. He’s happy. Emma yells at him, “You’re not Paul. You’re a fucking alien. You killed Paul. I don’t love you.” She is trying to stall, by herself more time so that anyone might be able to save her. Paul tries to make Emma calm down, but Emma resists. Eventually, the hive realizes what Emma is doing, and Paul proclaims “I am done monologuing.”
BANG! BANG! Two gunshots sound. Emma and the hive look up in shock to see infected Hidgens slowly fall to the ground, two bullet holes in his chest. Colonel Schaffer has a pistol in her hand at the end of the hall. She is joined by two people. One is a young boy in a green Clivesdale Chemists jacket, a shotgun in his hands. The other is a woman in a denim jacket and jeans, holding a revolver. The three open fire on the hive. Paul takes the brunt of the gunfire, his body knocked off its feet in a barrage of bullets. Bill, Ted, Mr. Davidson, and Nora release Emma as they get shot. The nurse dodges the first shots and tries to bite Emma’s leg. She’s shot in the head. Schaffer calls out “You alright, Kelly?” “I’m fine,” said Emma. The boy and woman come over to Emma. The woman is cautious, but the boy looks into Emma’s eyes and nods. “She’s not infected.” They help her to her feet. “General MacNamera has been flying infected citizens from Hatchetfield over to Clivesdale via helicopter,” said Schaffer. “We’re assuming the hive is trying to lower the bridge between us and them. We have to stop it.”
All around Clivesdale, the citizens are trying to get to safety or fight the hive. Bill’s ex runs out of her house, shutting the door on an infected, only to find herself cornered by more infected outside. A helicopter lands in a lot behind a Burger King. A man runs out to intercept it. He fires a handgun at the chopper, killing the pilot on the first shot. He then takes down the members of the hive on board. A girl in the high school is pinned by an infected P.E.I.P. agent. Another girl and boy come and kill the agent, but the girl is already dead. They shoot her head and lock her in a closet.
Back at the hospital, Emma and the others are making their way to the lobby. The boy introduces himself as Mitch, a senior at Clivesdale High. The woman's name is Skarloey. She reveals that she drives the ambulance, but was off for the day. Emma reveals her real name and that she’s the only survivor from Hatchetfield. Schaffer tells them to shut up. In the lobby is General MacNamera and four P.E.I.P. agents, looking for anyone. Mitch asks Emma, “Do you know how to shoot?” Emma hesitates, “Sure?” Mitch takes a handgun from his jacket and hands it to her. They wait a moment. “Now,” said Schaffer. The four of them pop out and open fire on the infected. MacNamera goes down instantly. The other agents aren’t able to react fast enough. Only one manages to fire off one shot before dying. The four of them run out of the lobby and into Skarloey’s car. “We got to get to the bridge,” said Schaffer. “We cannot let them lower it.”
Five helicopters carrying more members of the hive fly overhead. Citizens look up to see the arrival of more infected. BOOM! One of the choppers is blown out of the air. The remnants of P.E.I.P., along with other military reinforcements, were able to set up some artillery to take the choppers out. Another helicopter is blown up. Across the town, the few infected that made it across are falling. Because the hive has gotten more violent, they don’t resort to luring people in that much. Also, Hatchetfield knows little about the town, other than that they hate it. The citizens of Clivesdale fight back, managing to kill every member of the hive that flew in. Emma notices the explosions in the air as they drive. “Looks like you got some help.” Schaffer chuckles, “Those of us that are left were able to set up a solid defense. They reacted quickly.” They watch as the last few helicopters are blown up. “Let’s hope they did the same with the bridge.”
Sadly, they didn’t. The few soldiers at the bridge got there too late, and all of them were caught off guard. The citizens were able to show up and kill the hive members there, but the bridge had already begun to lower. Schaffer, Emma, Mitch, and Skarloey pull up in the car not far from the bridge, ready to help defend. An agent runs over, “We can’t stop it, Colonel. They sabotaged the controls. That bridge is coming down.” Schaffer sighs, “Alright, we’ll just have to kill them all.” Mitch grabs a rifle from a fallen soldier and tosses the shotgun to Skarloey. Emma turns around to see several citizens arriving to help defend. They have guns, bats, knives, and even grenades. She’s almost shocked.
CRASH! The bridge has finally lowered. The crowd goes quiet, waiting to see anything. On the other side of the bridge, there is a faint chanting. It grows louder and louder. The infected have begun to cross the bridge. As they get closer, people begin to hear what they are singing. “Fuck you, Clivesdale!” The townsfolk are confused. Mitch raises an eyebrow, “What the?” “The hatred runs deep,” says Emma. “Don’t ask.” They are getting closer. Some of them are starting to move faster. There are far too many for all of them to deal with. They would be overwhelmed. But they know that they have no choice, if they want to survive, they have to hold them back.
Emma takes a deep breath, “I am not going to die here. Not in Clivesdale.” She raises her gun into the air and yells, “FUCK YOU, HATCHETFIELD.” The crowd yells and charges down the street, towards the bridge. The infected are moving faster now, sensing what is coming. They sing in unison, about taking over, how unstoppable they are, and that they’ll “fucking kick their asses.” Mitch, Skarloey, Schaffer, and many of the people reach the edge of the bridge. They aim and begin to fire. The infected at the front start to drop like flies. As more people arrive, the faster the infected fall. But, there are still too many to hold off. Grenades are thrown and some infected are blown up. Mitch reloads his rifle and continues to fire. The infected keep advancing. They’ve gotten too close now. They will overpower them soon. The crowd starts to back up. They start running out of ammo. The infected are almost at the edge of the bridge.
WOOSH! Two jet planes fly overhead. They pass over the bridge and the town of Hatchetfield. The people and the hive turn and watch as the bombs drop on the Starlight Theatre. BOOM! The massive explosion goes from orange and black to blue. The essence of the meteorite and the blue shit has been destroyed. The crowd watches in awe. The explosion starts to rise, the sky seemingly pulling the blue shit away from the earth. Emma notices a blue light coming out of the faces of the hive. Almost as if the blue is fading from them. The blue light is sucked into the sky and is gone.
The crowd stands there, stunned. At the same time, several of the citizens of Hatchetfield fall to the ground. Some lie dead, others struggle for breath. Those still standing look around in shock, wondering how they got there. Emma notices one of the few people standing at the front. It’s a woman in a nurse's outfit, with long, red hair. She turns to the crowd and drops with her hands over her. “Please,” cried Becky Barnes. “Don’t shoot me!” The crowd is uncertain, but Mitch notices her sclera (white of the eye) is white, not blue. “She’s not infected anymore,” he said. But even Mitch was uncertain. Then, they noticed a corpse at the front. Their blood was previously blue but had now turned red. The infection was gone.
P.E.I.P., the medical personnel in Clivesdale, and any Hatchetfield citizen that had recovered worked to set up sites to nurse the citizens back to health. There are stretchers, beds, and cots everywhere. The agents and medics are doing whatever they can to try to save the citizens. Emma walks with Mitch and Skarloey. “I can’t believe this.” Skarloey turns to her, “Tell me about it.” Emma pauses, “No, not about the hive, about you all.” Mitch and Skarloey stare at her. “We hated you guys,” Emma explained. “We did not like you. I never really knew why. Now I’m here, that hatred makes no fucking sense.” Mitch and Skarloey stare and then laugh. “We almost died, people are still dying now, and you decide that you want to tell us the Hatchetfield hates Clivesdale?” Emma shrugs. “Guess so, don’t have much else to do.”
Then, she notices someone. On a stretcher not far from her is a man with dirty blonde hair, a beard, and a red and black flannel. “Tom!” Tom Houston turns away from Becky Barnes to see Emma. She runs over to him. “Hey, Emma,” said Tom. “Good to see you.” He grunts as he tries to sit up. Becky puts a hand on his shoulder. “I’m alright, Beck. What happened, Emma?” “You became a musical alien,” said Emma. Tom’s winces, “So I’ve been told.” Emma tries to distract. “Is Tim ok?” As if on cue, Tom’s son walks up to Emma and grabs her leg. She turns and smiles at him, hugging the boy. Tim then goes over and hugs his dad. “I’m so glad you’re alive, Dad.” Tom pats his son on the back, “Me too, bud. Me too.” He looks up at Emma. She smiles and embraces both of them. Becky Barnes smiles at them. “I’ll leave you three for now.”
The next few days were interesting. Zoey Chambers, who somehow managed to survive the helicopter crash, was able to recover early. Emma revealed to her that their boss, Zoey’s boyfriend, and his wife were dead. Tom and Tim recovered early. After a day or two, Tom and Becky decided to get back together. Tim liked Becky and was happy to have her there. After finding Tom, Ethan Green and Hannah Foster learned that Lex Foster died during the charge. This seemed to be too much for Ethan, as while he seemed to recover early on, he wasn’t able to keep it together and died a few days later. Hannah had to confide in Webby to keep her spirit up. Tom and Becky, feeling awful for Hannah, Ethan, and Lex, decide to take care of Hannah. Tim welcomed the idea of having an older sister. Alice Woodward woke up asking where her father was. Emma told her what Paul had said, that Alice killed Bill herself. She then mentioned that Bill was present at the hospital, where he was gunned down. Alice had already found out that her mother had been infected and killed, while Deb died of gunfire. She was overcome with grief and spent the rest of her time looking for anyone she knew. Miss Holloway recovered right away, and with her help, she was able to nurse many people back to health, including Duke. The two spent most of their time together. Mark and Karen Chasity found that their daughter, Grace, had failed to recover. Mayor Solomon Lauter woke up with an injured leg. The body of his daughter, Steph, was never found. Melissa was one of the last people to recover. She became heartbroken when she found out that Paul was dead. The agents had to make sure she wouldn’t harm herself.
During those few days. Emma was spending her time with Tom. One day, she mentioned the plot of land in Colorado that had been granted to her by P.E.I.P. She told Tom that she wanted to start a pot farm, but now wanted to focus on getting everyone on track. She asked Tom if they would come with her to Colorado, to start over. He agrees with her, although still sketched out by the idea of a pot farm. Emma promises him that she is done with weed, for now. Emma Perkins, Tom Houston, Tim Houston, Becky Barnes, and Hannah Foster move to Colorado. Emma, with assistance from P.E.I.P., manages to let her leg heal and get back on her feet. She decides to go back to school to pursue a different career. Becky remains in the medical industry and Tom gets back into teaching. Tim and Hannah grow super close, with Webby at their side. As they get older, Hannah starts to distance herself from Webby, but Tim manages to convince her to not let Webby go. Emma graduates from college and gets a job working at a bank. Tom and Becky get married around the time Emma graduates. Hannah is in her sophomore year of high school while Tim entered the 7th grade. The five of them are sad for what they lost back in Hatchetfield, but at least they didn’t end up dying there nor in Clivesdale. At least for now, they are safe and happy.