I am very much a lurker in this community. I feel passionate enough about the Dr K. convo and all the things that have transpired since then to speak up.
I can base a lot of what I'm saying on a possible assumption but, I'm going to say what I have to anyways despite not having clear evidence of it. Be mad, idc.
Self Sacrifice Schema
I watched the interaction between Steve and Dr. K through the youtube video and everything I heard Steven express struggling with, I expressed to my own therapist only a few months ago.
I started medicating for ADHD a year ago and I can now operate on a much higher emotional intelligence then I've ever been capable of. And it hit me like a bag of fucking bricks.
I learned that, through whatever past traumas I have, I felt like I couldn't disappoint people, even when it was a detriment to myself. I would do the most for others while I didn't allow anyone to do anything for me. And at times people take advantage of that. I hate when people compliment me or thank me because in my mind it was my responsibility and not something to be commended for. I can't even stand when people sing "Happy Birthday" on my fucking birthday.
That shit gets taken advantage of. And I don't blame the other party entirely because I understand that I set up the relationship dynamics that contribute to it. My lack of boundary setting was an opportunity for others.
However, whenever I felt slighted enough I am very capable of going scorched earth. Doing the most piece of shit things feeling like someone has awarded me the opportunity and I am very capable of doing that. And it was always when things went way beyond a boundary I should've actually set. And I was made to feel bad for this capability of going scorched earth better than most people and I made myself feel bad.
What's worse however is curbing yourself so much knowing how fucked up you can be that you do nothing and allow people to step all over you.
I've seen plenty of posts here of people asking why Steve shows so much grace to people when they don't deserve it. I think the Dr. K talk explains all of that exactly.
Boundary Setting
Since I've acknowledged my own issues I've set so many boundaries. With my immediately family, my wife, my ex-wife, my children. And that shit is hard. As well, due to a misunderstanding of boundary setting based on not setting correct boundaries in the past, the pendulum had to swing in the complete opposite direction in order to figure out what I should be doing. I became extremely restrictive on my boundary setting with other people.
And due to the dynamics I set up by being extremely graceful it was very difficult for every other party involved. And when they retaliated I had no choice but to stand my ground to get them to understand the dynamics have changed. If it meant being a piece of shit so fucking be it. For my own mental health I was changing the dynamic of relationships with others
In the past couple months we've seen Steve cut the bullshit people he showed more than enough grace to. He split from someone who stepped all over the established boundaries she agreed to. He was as graceful as possible even in those instances.
Opticsmaxxing/Going to far
About a month ago things have finally began to normalize with the people around me. I am a lot more content with myself and have so much more conviction in my approach to others. For the most part it means that my relationships with people who matter have matured and gotten better. But it also means that people who want to fuck around with me are more likely to find out a lot sooner then I would've in the past. And I am not fucking nice.
I struggled at first with this conviction of being straight vile to people who thought I could be fucked with. Thought I was a bad person for it. I realize that I've always done this to myself. I've always been this way and hated myself for it. I now hate that I ever hated myself for it.
I've always been capable of going scorched earth with people. Anytime in my life I've been brought to that point it was either always justified or I dialed my actions back enough knowing that I was taking things to far. When it was justified it was a benefit to others or myself. When I dialed it back it showed maturity, empathy, and understanding. I've today come to terms with that side of me and not longer make myself feel bad for it.
Steve has shown that hes tired of a lot of shit and, fuck it, its time to scorch the fucking earth.
Retaliation
Here's where things get personal for me and why I feel motivated to even post this as a lurker.
Trigger warning: I'm going to probably piss some people off.

1. This has been actually cathartic for me. So i appreciate if it even stays up and if you read through it
   
2. You fucking opticmaxxers in here need to stand the fuck down and eat some fucking shit
   

What I feel like I am witnessing is someone choosing to lean into who they are and always have been. Curbing themselves thinking they were suppose to due to these fucking societal norms of fucking "be nice"
Eat shit and die (in minecraft). The man has shown enough good will and has proven that even in these moments of retaliation he's capable of managing even through the lense of optics. To hear people complain about what hes doing knowing that hes done enough to prove that he knows what hes doing is fucking annoying. Let the man scorch the fucking earth. Its earned. Its deserved. These people in this clique have consistently had his name in their mouth with him showing more grace than any of them showed him.
Scorch the fucking earth
Tldr: Opticsmaxxers need to eat shit and die (in minecraft)

What Is Travel Agency CRM?

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Travel agency CRM platforms help agencies manage their online presence, schedule meetings, and even automate their usual tasks. They offer a comprehensive view of sales pipelines and customer relationships, making them an invaluable tool for any travel agency.

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Travel agency CRM helps in focusing your services, business processes, and employees on the acquisition and retention of faithful customers by answering their personal needs and values in the travel and hospitality business.

Companies may be effectively streamlined through the automated processes of activities like marketing, advertising, and customer support. The program assists in managing B2C and corporate clients with individualized trip schedules and fee sheets.

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In fact, Travel CRM authorizes you to keep an eye on booking management, user management, payment collection, alerts and notifications, email management, and so on. Thus, make sure to select the robust Travel CRM software that matches and fulfils your business requirements.

Want to Take Your Travel Business to Next Big Level? If Yes Then Travelopro Is Here

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Choose the right cloud-based CRM for your business that is able to satisfy your needs. Here at Travelopro Travel CRM software, we provide the best travel CRM, which comes with incredible features and functionalities that enhance your work productivity and also help in the growth of your business.

We are the best travel CRM provider that helps various travel companies cope with challenges including inquiries, itineraries, payment schedules, and lead management. Our travel agency CRM solution enables simple connection and communication with branch visitors, customers, agents, and suppliers with both automated and account-specific communication.

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We contain powerful features such as itinerary management, quotes, proposals, forms, tasks, lead management, etc., which can help travel advisors expand their business and provide extensive experience to their customers. It is an all-in-one solution for the travel business to manage qualified customers, quotes, and itineraries through simple CRM and forms.

We developed a travel website, and for the travel agency, we provide travel agency software that is sophisticated and automated for the travel work. By using the travel CRM tool, travel agents can collect all data regarding other travel agents, staff members, and travel itineraries.

We have a dedicated team of the best travel agency CRM software providers that offers you the best and most reasonable travel CRM software, which is exclusively made for small businesses to handle their workflow.

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Travelopro is an expert in this field, having helped many travel agencies and tour operators find the right travel CRM solutions to meet their needs and budget. We understand this and have over 10 years' experience in helping travel businesses find the right solution.

When Selecting A Travel Agency CRM, Which Factors Should We Consider?

· Features: Make sure that the CRM has features suitable to your travel business, such as booking management, lead tracking, communication tools, and reporting.

· Scalability: Choose a CRM that can amplify with your business as it expands.

· Integration: Check if the CRM integrates with other software you use, such as booking engines, marketing tools, and accounting systems.

· User Interface: The CRM should be user-friendly and smooth for your team to learn and use.

· Support: Look for a CRM provider that offers superior customer support and resources for training and troubleshooting.

· Cost: Consider your budget and whether the CRM's pricing structure corresponds with your financial plans.

Why Should You Choose Travelopro Travel Agency CRM?

· Travelopro is the leading provider of CRM for travel agencies and tour operators to let them work efficiently.

· Our travel agency CRM provides tailored solutions such as travel CRM software, holiday CRM, etc.

· Our cloud-based travel agency CRM tool offers apps that make the services one step away from the customers.

· Our travel agency CRM software helps businesses build robust customer relationships, generate revenue, and increase conversion rates.

· Our travel agency CRM helps travel businesses focus on their core tasks and any specific strategy.

· Our travel agency CRM helps retain existing customers by automating the travel process and employees in the organization. Further, it ensures flawless business administration.

· Through our years of expertise, we are in the best position to deliver the travel agency CRM solution that matches your business.

· We understand the market and, correspondingly, develop travel agency CRM software for the travel industry. It supports our clients in serving their customers better.

What Kind of Benefits Can A CRM Built Specifically for The Travel Agency Give to Your Business?

Improved Customer Retention: Retaining customers is vital to your business. Using a CRM allows you to better track your customers and instantly address their questions and concerns.

Centralized Database of Information: A CRM creates a centralized database of your customers' data, so anyone who may need it can access it. Travel agents can then see what types of trips customers may be interested in based on their past interactions with your company. As a result, your customers will have a more positive experience, and your employees will save time.

Increased Sales: By using a CRM program, you can design a particular sales plan, automate key parts of your sales process, and help you analyze the data being collected about your sales. All of this can help you improve both your sales and productivity. Furthermore, you can create a process for your employees that is easy to follow and can be effortlessly adjusted when necessary.

Higher Productivity: CRM systems use automation technology, which speeds up non-priority work. It also authorizes employees to focus on work that cannot be automated, such as creating content. This automation also ensures that no work is missed, and it even helps you enhance your workflow.

Better Customer Service: CRMs store information such as demographics, purchase history, and past communications in a single location. Storing all necessary data in a single place makes it easy for anyone in your company to find it. Observing customer information becomes much easier with all of your data in a single location.

Personalized Traveler Experience: Every person who travels is different, with their own preferences and interests. Some people prefer to go to the beach, while others stick to the mountains. Some people want to visit a big city, while others would rather go to a secluded cabin in the wilderness. With travelers who are so diverse, the way you interact with them should be as well. You can better understand the preferences of your audience with a CRM. You and your travel agents better tailor the experience you are offering them.

What Major Features Does CRM For Travel Agencies Have?

Travel agencies can utilize the CRM to manage their contact information, log communications via multiple channels, and automate endless tasks

· Attract and convert leads into recurring travelers.

· With custom fields, create traveler characters.

· Book your appointment at any channel or touchpoint.

· Securely store valuable data in the cloud.

· Get detailed analytics for sales reports.

· Monitor conversion rates and track lead conversations.

· Reporting data can help you make the necessary decisions.

· Personalized messaging sent to users based on their segments

· Automate invoicing and accounting with seamless workflows.

· Build pipelines to support all your communications, outreach, and workflow efforts.

Wrapping Up:

In the evolving landscape of the travel industry, travel agency CRM is a game-changer. It empowers travel agencies to harness the power of data for efficient retailing and personalization for success in the modern travel market.

Convert your travel agency into an easy-to-use and cost-effective CRM solution. Contact us today to schedule a demo and unlock the complete potential of CRM for your travel agency.

For more details, Pls visit our Website:
https://www.travelopro.com/travel-agency-crm.php

Every other post that hits my for you page from this sub is a new iteration of “I hate that xyz group calls themselves a lesbian”. More often than not, it’s some kind of jab against people who aren’t cis or have a non normative gender identity, or bisexual women.
It seems pointlessly bitter and small minded to obsess over the small subset of an already small subset of people who might identify as both lesbian and non-binary or both lesbian and trans masculine etc. It’s not those people who are threatening the right of queer people to exist and express ourselves in our diversity. It’s homophobic, transphobic christofascists who don’t like that cis lesbians exist, don’t like that trans people exist, don’t like that non-binary and gender nonconforming people exist etc. So many people who want to clog the airways of lgbtq discourse endlessly infighting - and rehashing who they think should be allowed to id as lesbian - revert to the very talking points of those same christofascists who also don’t want cis homosexual women to exist.
In that same vein, the argument that bisexual women who ID as lesbian is what causes men to sexually harass and assault lesbians is misogynistic and nonsensical. Do you think that a rapist or a serial sexual harasser would suddenly start caring about consent if a woman said she was a lesbian and he understood that to mean she was an exclusively homosexual woman? It’s not like they read some Reddit post by a a self identified bisexual lesbian and decided lesbians were now fair game. These guys aren’t studying up on queer theory or following online lesbian discourse to decide who they sexually harass. I can’t tell you how many times my masc for masc girlfriend and I have been hit on by men, even in gay bars, and even by men who have admitted that they could tell we weren’t attracted to men from our presentation. Men like that LIVE to cross the line. They are habitual line crossers.
Policing people’s queer identities, gender expression, pronouns, presentation, sexual histories all are not going to make it safer or happier or less confusing to be a lesbian. Expecting people to change how they live or stop existing because their diversity confuses you is fascist. There is no potential utopia where every single person who is a lesbian (or even every cis homosexual femme) is happily in agreement on a definition of the word lesbian that has neat, impermeable boundaries. There will always be people who aren’t your type who are lesbians, people who have different gender expressions than what we can relate to who are lesbians, people who have different views on sexuality than we do who are lesbians, people who we don’t like who are lesbians.
When I was a “baby gay” I spent an inordinate amount of time being frustrated with that fact, and with the fact that I couldn’t find a space for “just [my idea of] lesbians”. As a newly out, insecure homosexual, I resented being outnumbered by bisexual women even in spaces that were explicitly for lesbians. I resented accusations that it was biphobic to be a lesbian who prefers to date other lesbians (I still think that’s valid and not biphobia) because I believed that there was some kind of universal lesbian experience that we could all relate to in a way that bisexual women, many of whom still centered men in their lives, couldn’t. I’ve since realized how misguided it was to assume that there was some kind of universal lesbian experience that we could all kumbaya over as long as we kept the right people out of lesbian spaces. There are as many ways to be a lesbian as there are lesbians. There are lesbians who still benefit from their relationships with men. There are bisexuals who have completely decentered men.
I also realized that I was never going to agree with 100% of the people I shared space with or shared labels with, and the more time I spent resenting that, the less time I was spending just loving women and my fellow lgbtq folks.
Don’t we have better, more interesting things to talk about, better ways to engage with our community than by engaging in endless discourse about how annoyed we are with how other queer people identify? How can we foster a community that celebrates our diversity and engages in respectful discourse even with people we don’t relate to?

Hi reddit!
2 months ago I met this girl in Korea and we instantly clicked. She is intelligent and passionate about many things. From the day we met we have pretty much been seeing each other almost every day and now we even stay together. It seems to be moving fast but we get along quite well and its the first time she has ever lived with someone like this.
I started to notice a few red flags that I tried to ignore at first. I noticed she would get several Instagram DM notifications from guys and they all tended to be foreigners like me. When I asked how she knows so many guys, she said they were just friends and that I shouldn't worry. I never want to be a paranoid controlling boyfriend so I just took her word for it and moved on.
Later, she casually mentioned that she cheated several times on her ex. I asked how she could feel okay with that and she said that she feels no guilt because he never found out and therefore never got hurt. She also mentioned how her best friend cheats on all her boyfriends and that she thinks there is nothing wrong with it as long as they never find out. I told her that this means she will probably cheat on me too but she said I was different and that I am the first guy who she feels in love with and wants to settle down with.
This tension came to a head when I noticed she was texting a guy on Instagram and agreeing to meet up with him for a drink. When she exited the message I saw a list of guys in her inbox and in one of them, she called the guy babe. I also saw she was still texting her ex and another guy who she intended to meet when she goes to London in August. I went to our room, packed my bags and was ready to leave right there and then until she noticed what I was doing and begged me to talk to her and tell her what was wrong. I told her everything and she explained that she had no intention of meeting anyone and that she calls everyone babe. She apparently only said those things just to gently decline men's invitations later on when she would just flake on them. She then said that those men had girlfriends so there was no way she could possibly date them and she even offered to show me her messages so that I could trust her. I said no because I didn't want to set a toxic precedent for this relationship.
She said that she's not used to being in a serious committed relationship and assumed we were in a situationship and that's why she still talked to those men. But earlier on in our relationship she said she hoped I wasn't still talking to girls I met online. So there's some hypocrisy at work too.
There was another incident when I wanted to show her my favorite film, A Clockwork Orange, and it did not go well. She said she was disgusted, which is fair because it is a dark film. But then she said that maybe I'm not the guy she thought I was because I like this film. She was upset and went to bed.
The other night we went to a club, which really isn't my thing. We met her friend and I told her to have fun while I go outside and chill. Things were fine until I saw her talking to a bunch of guys and I could see by the body language that she was talking and gazing at this one tall guy with keen interest. I ignored it until I saw them exchange each other's Instagram's. There is nothing wrong with that alone, but I could just feel that deep inside she was attracted to this one tall guy and I could see it in her eyes and posture. So I decided to leave. I was about to leave in my uber until she came running out and told me she can't believe I'm leaving without her. Turns out her friend saw me leaving and told her so she panicked and ran out the club.
I told her that I could just feel that she was liked the male attention and it felt like she was monkey branching. She told me she just wanted connections for when she went to England. Turns out these guys came from the UK. She then begged me to trust her and started posting me on her IG story to let people know she wasn't single.
She tells me how she praises me in front of her friends and family and that I'm the first guy she has ever truly felt something for. She says she is trying her best to make me feel secure by ghosting all her male Instagram buddies and promising that she will never cheat. She smothers me with affection and always tells me how much she adores me. Trust me, I feel like an idiot because these are huge red flags and yet I'm still with her. The only reason I am with her is because I'm just not that much invested into this relationship and I don't feel hurt that deeply by these red flags. I know that I can just find someone else if this relationship doesn't work out so I'm taking this casually.
My question to reddit is not whether I should leave or not (because I think we all know the answer to that), but what do you think will happen if I continue this relationship? I hope you guys can share your experiences so that I am more motivated to rip off the band aid and just end things here and now.
TL;DR: My 2 month girlfriend has a history of cheating and she loves to get male attention and I have seen her texting exes and calling a guy babe on instagram. She promised me that she will never do anything to break my trust again and that she really does see me as a potential husband. What will happen if I continue this relationship? Will things get worse the longer it continues? Thanks everyone.

I'm a newbie at work and I'm still in my trial period, yesterday this intern came into our (me and my newbie collegue) office asking for "help", the engineer who was supervising him aka my superior wasn't around so i thought he was genuinely asking for help. Turns out he was just pulling a stunt to get the answers ready and not work for them, he asked for a report on this study and I thought it was fine to send it to him to help him out, when actually he had already tried to get another engineer to send it to him but it didn't work so he came to us newbies and I fell for it. I informed my superior today that i sent this stupid intern the report and he was like "i was refraining from doing so and he was just playing dumb i explained this to him already" and he said that i should try to keep this contained and not let it get to the boss and told me to avoid having this happen again cuz the reports are confidentiel and what if they fall in the hands of our competitors. But what if this kid sends this report to someone else and it gets out and my boss finds out, he'll yell at me and fire me. I feel so uneasy and idk what to do. My contract says if i make a grave mistake such as divulging confidentiel information or professional secrets it could warrant for my contract to be terminated with no compensation or a notice and idk if this mistake falls under that category cuz i didn't mean to get information out, i was just helping out an intern or so I thought. Idk if I'll make it and my superior isn't around rn so idk im in distress and my head hurts and i cant work effectively now thinking that I could be fired. What do you think?

While you're here, check out my Script Masterlist!
If you want your own script just like this one, I now have a Ko-Fi and Commissions are open!
Hi everyone!
Here is the first of four scripts I was endorsed by the ASMR RP Lounge to write. They'll be released over the next few days since it's now been a month since I posted them there.
I'm intending on writing a second part to this series, I'll get to it when I get to it.
I know I've been quite inactive recently (the most inactive since I started writing on this subreddit). There are reasons for that, mainly because I'm busy! So apologies, not sure when that'll change. Hope everyone enjoys this in the meantime.
If people want to fill this, please do! Monetization and paywalls are fine, just provide credit and a link.
This script is intended to be [A4A] so fill in any pronouns as necessary, and please ignore any I might have left in by mistake.
As always, please enjoy and have a good day.
***
(We’re on a quiet battlefield. After a moment we hear the sounds of giant footsteps coming closer).
Ah, a survivor… about time. I was beginning to think I hadn’t left any… other than the soldiers that ran of course. Not much I can do about them. Though I suppose their escaping is a boon… it’ll tell people to leave me alone…
Which, realistically, they should have known to begin with, shouldn’t they?
I mean… who looks at a giant and thinks “yes! I’ll take them on! That’s a fight worth fighting!”
(Sighs).
The people that came here were very foolish… just like you’re foolish for staying, my little friend. Though… it seems you didn’t have much choice in the matter, caged as you are. A curious situation to be in, I must say…
Hmm.
Let me get a look at you.
(Optional: We hear the Speaker crouch down. Given their size it’s quite the motion).
Startled so easily… does my size scare you?
I don’t blame you… but can’t say I relate. There are very few beings taller than myself… the few I’ve encountered are typically other giants, and while they may have been taller and stronger… they never stood a chance. I made up for it in skill, you see. And skill is always the thing that matters most in a fight. Once, I would have said it was numbers… but I think I proved that to be false today, didn’t I?
The army you came with must have been a few hundred strong! Now, they’re down to a couple dozen… their bodies decorating the battlefield… and the underside of my boots. Believe me, it wasn’t intentional… I hate scraping muck and gunk off my soles just as much as the next person… but it’s so hard to move around you little folks… you get everywhere.
…
“Like ants?”
I… don’t know what those are, little soldier… I’m not saying they don’t exist, but I’ve never seen them.
Another thing I’ve never seen… is someone willing to converse with a giant so quickly.
Not a moment ago, you were practically trembling in my presence… perhaps you’ve realised I’m not planning on harming you?
…yes, you heard right. I don’t intend to cause you any pain, little soldier… Believe it or not, I don’t actively seek out conflict. It’s just… being a giant… conflict always seems to seek out me.
I do have questions, however… and while I may not wish to harm you, you not answering them will make me angry… and you won’t be wanting that.
That cage you’re in… it would be very easy for me to destroy it.
I’m sure there’s a key for the door somewhere… perhaps on one of the bodies surrounding it… perhaps on the bottom of my boot… but I won’t be needing it. With a flicker of my finger, the door would collapse… but I won’t be doing it, unless you tell me what I want to hear.
Now… why did these people attack me?
I know it was due to my size… but I want to know specifically.
Prior to your assault upon my person, I was just exploring… that’s what I like to do, see. I’m an adventurer… a sight seer. I like finding new things and being by myself! Imagine my displeasure when I was enjoying a beautiful morning, only for hundreds of angry little people to come out and start attacking me, start… (effort) throwing these little sticks at me! Ugh… just pulled one out. I thought I’d gotten rid of all them… I barely felt them by the way… they were very ineffective. If I’m the first giant you people have hunted, you’re not very good at it.
…
Hmm… well, if this “king” ordered them to, I have no regret for what happened. They chose to follow those orders… which means they chose the consequences as well.
Was this king with them? Perhaps leading the charge? Did I smite him already?
…
Well, if he wasn’t, I suppose that says a lot about his character. Guess I’ll have to be paying him a visit, won’t I?
He wouldn’t happen to be the king of the kingdom I can see in the distance, would he?
…
(Amused) Yes, I know it’s many miles away for you, my little friend… but for me it’s less than a minute’s journey. It’s sorely tempting to head there now and have some words with this fellow… but there are other matters I must attend to here, first.
Namely… you.
…
Fear not, fear not, I said I would not harm you, didn’t I? And I’m not a liar… we giants don’t do that, despite the tales you humans tell, about us. I for one have never told a lie in my life and am certainly not going to start now.
I will not harm you. I promise. Though I am curious… how did you come to be in this cage? It locks from the outside, meaning it can’t have been voluntary… but at the same time… why would someone lock up a fellow soldier like this? And worse, leave them when the attack went sour? For all they knew I could have killed you once I found you…
…really? You were… protesting the attack? Telling the others, it was a fruitless endeavour?
Hmm. I’m not certain if I believe you…
But say you were. For what reason?
Was it because you felt I was an innocent and didn’t deserve such an assault?
…or was it due to cowardice? You knew your army didn’t stand a chance, and didn’t wish to die?
I must say, if it’s the latter, it does you no favours, little one… though at the same time… the former would sound quite… convenient. After all, a wolf would bite its own leg off to escape a trap… and while you humans are quick to call giants liars, you are awfully fond of doing the same!
Now look into my giant eyes and tell me… the truth.
Are you a coward, or are you a pacifist? Did you seek to escape harm… or prevent it?
…
Hmm, perhaps a mixture of both.
Yes, that sounds right… and fair.
Very well, little human… I’ve heard enough.
(The Speaker knocks the cell door open).
Go.
You’re free. You have answered the few questions I had in a sufficient enough manner… and I could not live with myself if I knowingly left a creature imprisoned… so go! I will not stop you. In fact, I may join you if you are returning to your kingdom… after all, I would not mind having words with the monarchy ther-
Hmm?
Is everything alright, my little friend? What is it you wish to say?
…
Well, of course I care what you have to say! I’m not a monster… and to tell the truth I have been enjoying our conversation so far. It’s been a nice change from the bloodshed that preceded it! So go ahead! Say what you want to say!
…
Ah. Yes, I suppose returning home could be a problem for you.
If your fellows were truly planning on executing you, I doubt returning after being freed by the giant they were hunting would do you any favours. They might just execute you… after all, they can’t do that to me, and might want to take their frustrations out on someone else…
But what of your family? Will they not miss you?
…ah, an orphan.
In that case then, my mind is made up. If there is no one that will miss you, and returning means certain death, I see no other choice… I must help you.
After all, you must be… cold. Perhaps starved and in need of something to eat, and if that is the case I would like to correct it.
I have a lair, not far from here… Well, not by my standards, anyway. Inside, I have plenty of food… uh, to you at least! Would you like to venture there and eat some with me?
…
Ah, the king can wait till tomorrow. It’s not like he’s going anywhere! Besides… that battle has left me awfully tired. I could do with a lie down… so come, my little friend… step into my hand. I promise you won’t fall! I’ll take you to my home, and from there…? Well! Who knows what the future holds?
(We fade out on the sound of the giant’s footsteps).

So, its 4 am and I'm still up dealing with a flea infestation that has been recurring for the shittier part of 6 months. That's not the self improvement per se, but it works as a vehicle to express my feelings at the moment.
Anyway.
It's annoying to be this grotesquely obsessed with finding meaning while there are actual fleas living in my home, but it's poignant. Fleas only go away if you are resilient enough to keep hitting them until the source is eradicated. The thought I'm having right now is something like , "Of course. Of course, no matter how much I change or try to work on myself, the problem keeps laying eggs, because I don't want to do the dirty work."
I know I didn't "manifest" the fleas. I know I just kept changing the sheets, bedding, using topicals, but avoiding the overhaul. Avoiding consistency and refusing to throw old clothes out that were probably infested, not even treating them. Somehow it's like? I convince myself over and over that the amount of effort must be so high if I feel so exhausted after doing what I can. But that's the annoying part. Being so exhausted by the amount of work that goes into fixing the problem that I refuse to be thorough. But I can't do that anymore.
This is a piss-poor metaphor(a decent rhyme here, tho), but it's all that makes sense.
I've struggled with my alcoholism and mental health for years, always, always, always convincing myself that I was doing what I could, but it was a comfortable lie. Because saving yourself means remebering that you can't save everyone else with you. You have to trim the excess somewhere; burn the clothes and spray the carpet. It took me a fucking blacked out, belligerant ride in a squad car FOR THE SECOND TIME to realize that I was being eaten alive and I've been sober since then. Two years. I'm also in therapy.
And yet? I still feel so painfully itchy. And its because I let myself get reinfected.
I had what I assume is a falling out with a dear friend 8 hours ago while nuking the hell out of my sheets at the laundromat and I just snapped. I said everything that I've held my tongue on for the last 3 years and even if it was in response to being confronted over petty telephone "he-said-she-said" drama, I meant it. I really meant it. I love him dearly but we are not friends wo can really be friends anymore. Not with who I am and want to be.
For context, I've know this friend since sophomore year of high school. I'm in my mid 20's now finishing a graduate degree while TAing. He's currently unemployed(this isn't 100% his fault and I don't want to shame him for it, but context) and only lives to party and post on socials. He regularly does coke, molly, LSD, and drinks heavily, sometimes until 6 or 7 am.
I've tried to be in his life by going out on these club nights, but I just Don't Get It Anymore. I do, but I don't, I guess. I only ever got fucked up because I was too scared to do the work of being a better person, but now that I've started? I just can't be around it anymore. I know he's going through his own personal metamorphosis that he's resisting (he's told me he wants change but can't because partying is easier), but I just can't sit around in crowded clubs--even if I trust my sobriety!-- waiting for him to actually connect with me like we used to instead of making a million outfit posts and tacking fake captions to every single one of them. And the moments where there's a glimpse of that person? The awkward kid who was nice to me in theater? It doesn't matter because he's fucked up and won't remember or care afterwards. The worst part is that anytime I bring this up, he's dismissed me and said that I'm taking shit too personally.
I was honest. And I can't backtrack now.
So, I deactivated the socials I still have left except for reddit(thin fuckin' ice) because I realize that seeing all of that reflected back at me in an endless doom scroll, hoping that something will change just keeps me from eradicating the problem. It's veneer that I need to shed.
I don't want to look at my life and feel this intense loneliness because I can't do what others do, because I can't sit down in flea infested carpet and pretend the problem isn't multiplying. I want to be a better person. I want to feel good about the people in my life and I want them to see value in me even when I can't be perfect for a post or supply a good time. I'm tired of pretending there aren't still issues to be worked out because I did the hard part and got help. I have to help myself.
Just a few more hours until I vacuum and pass out. I'm sleep-deprived and hungry. Thanks to anyone wo reads this.

DC Next Proudly Presents:

NIGHTWING:

In Hunter Hybrid
Issue Fourteen: The Meek Shall Inherit
Written by AdamantAce
Edited by PatrollinTheMojave
 
<< First Issue < Prev. Next Issue > Coming Next Month
 
 
Dick's heart hammered against his chest like a pounding storm as he stood amidst the laboratory, flanked by Artemis and Barry Allen, the Flash. The weight of worry for Mar'i bore down on him unbearably, each moment without her amplifying his anxiety.
In the secluded closet hidden at the back of the lab, Dick and Artemis had found something haunting: a trove of withered seedlings, dead plants that looked alien in nature. Assuming the worst, but needing to confirm, Dick had quickly summoned a friend with a history of running genetic samples - none other than the Scarlet Speedster - to the scene.
Barry’s brow furrowed in concentration as he examined the specimens, having already run several tests.
“I'm limited in what I can do here; I'm a CSI, not a xenologist,” Barry admitted with regret, evoking his favourite chief medical officer of fiction. “Really, this really feels like a job for someone like Cadmus. Alien DNA is their whole deal.”
Dick could only grimace at the suggestion, reminded of the sickening experiments he had unearthed in the bowels of the Chicago cloning laboratory, of the dozens of aborted attempts at cloning Bruce Wayne. It was hard to stomach, especially knowing that he still had no idea who was responsible. “Not an option," he replied firmly. “Not Cadmus.”
Barry raised an eyebrow, his curiosity evident in his expression. “You don't believe those rumours about the Superboy clones, do you?" he asked. “They’re Reawakened through and through. Blame the other universes’ Cadmuses.”
In response, Dick shook his head. “It’s not that. It’s… something else.”
Barry then looked to Artemis and smiled. “It’s, uh… nice to meet you properly by the way,” he said. “I heard you, uh, shoot arrows.”
Despite the terrible situation they were in, Artemis allowed herself a snicker in response to the Flash’s awkwardness. “Among other things. It’s important to branch out, seeing as I know you already have an arrows guy.”
Just then, Tim emerged from behind a sliding door, draped in his red and black Rook gear, a stack of papers in hand. “Got the printouts you asked for,” he said, handing them over to Barry.
Barry swiftly flipped through the pages at super speed, his expression growing grim as he absorbed the information.
“What is it?” asked Artemis.
“What we feared,” he announced somberly. “The dead seedlings match the profile of alien species, with a significant DNA match for the Morning Eclipse sample you got from Starling’s fingernails.”
Dick's frustration boiled over, his voice dripping with anger. “Wilkof,” he spat, his jaw clenched in fury. “He let that damn killer plant loose.”
Tim struck himself in the shoulder in self-reproach. “I should've put it together sooner,” he muttered. “Wilkof knew plenty about Tamaran even before you let him speak to Mar’i.”
“It’s worse than we thought,” added Barry, and everyone’s blood turned cold. “This Dr Wilkof wasn't just releasing the Morning Eclipse, he was trying to propagate them; taking cuttings to grow more of them. We’re just lucky the Earth's sunlight is too diffuse for their growth.”
Dick's eyes widened in horror. “So he’s trying to create an army of killer plants?”
Barry nodded solemnly. “An army or a particularly menacing greenhouse.”
Artemis's brow furrowed as she pieced together a crucial detail. “Wait, a couple years ago they had me subbing in the bio department at school for a few months. I’m pretty sure plants grown from cuttings are meant to be genetically identical to the parent.”
Tim cursed under his breath and then reached for the printouts to give them a check over himself. “You’re right! Genetic variation only occurs after pollination. But these plants aren't self-pollinated. They're too distinct from the original sample taken from Mar'i’s attack.”
Barry's voice quivered as he raised a troubling possibility. “Could there be two adult killer plants on the loose?”
“No, it's not that,” Tim quickly replied again, his expression grave as he looked up from the stack of papers. “It's worse.”
Artemis' heart sank. “How could it possibly be worse?”
“The dead seedlings share identical DNA with each other. And every single one of their genes is present in the parent sample. But the parent also has additional chromosomes that all of the seedlings lack,” Tim explained as his eyes traced the text on the papers once more. “The parent had an extra 48 chromosomes.”
Barry's face paled. "48? Are you sure?”
“48? What does that mean?” asked Dick, looking rapidly back and forth between Tim and Barry.
Artemis gritted her teeth. “Humans have 48 chromosomes. The adult plant is half human.”
“Fully human,” Barry corrected. “And fully plant too. A symbiosis.”
“What does that mean?” asked Dick, scared of the answer he would soon receive.
“It means I think Wilkof merged himself with the plant.”
 
🔹🔹 🪶 🔹🔹
 
Ker-tonk.
Ker-tonk.
Ker-tonk.
Mar’i lay in the darkness of the car’s trunk, helpless. She couldn’t tell how long it had been since she last felt the sun’s warmth on her skin. She tried to summon childhood memories of Tamaran, of the sun her father had found oppressive and her mother found liberating. But they were distant and blurred, echoes from another lifetime - and another timeline.
As the car rumbled on, she focused on her senses, trying to glean any information about her surroundings. The air was stale and musty, tinged with the scent of oil and rubber. The vibrations of the road beneath her reverberated through her body, a constant reminder of her captivity.
Eventually, the car came to a halt, and Mar’i braced herself as the trunk door creaked open, flooding the confined space with blinding light. Blinking rapidly, she squinted against the harsh glare, feeling the rejuvenating solar rays bathing her, a stark contrast to the cold darkness of her confinement.
Dr Wilkof loomed over her, his appearance now almost normal except for a slight pallor that hinted at something darker beneath the surface. He reached out, his hands enveloping her wrists, which were bound with withered rope. Thick, barbed vines extended from the sleeves of his coat, renewing her restraints and further draining what little power reserves she had left.
As he dragged her up out of the trunk, Mar’i found herself in the midst of a desolate car park, surrounded by nothing but empty space and the looming silhouette of a large hangar. She had nary a clue of where they were.
“It will be easier if you don’t struggle,” he said, his tone devoid of joy or malice, as if he were simply stating a fact. But Mar’i knew better than to trust his words.
As Wilkof led her towards the hangar, Mar’i stumbled along behind him, the vines around her wrists taut like a leash. She tried to reason with him, to appeal to the vestiges of his humanity buried beneath the madness that gripped him.
“You don’t have to do this,” she implored, unsure of how much of his humanity really remained. “The plant doesn’t have to control you.”
Wilkof's eyes gleamed with a haunted fervour as he shook his head, the vines’ grip tightening around Mar'i’s wrists. “I've sacrificed too much to stop now,” he muttered. Those words carried a strange quality,like they weren’t fully his. Maybe it was the plant talking, maybe they were words he had rehearsed to himself enough times for them to become hollow. “I won’t let it all be in vain.”
For a moment, Mar’i was left to wonder what he meant by that. Then she remembered what little she knew about him, and a shiver ran down her spine. (He had fed the rest of his team from the lab to the plant, a grim sacrifice to fuel his delusions of grandeur.*
“No one cared about mild-mannered Hunter Wilkof,” he continued, his voice cracking with bitterness. “The plant promised to make me someone special, to make me famous.”
Mar’i shook her head in disbelief as she continued to be lugged along. “The plant doesn’t speak,” she insisted with a rising urgency. “Its pheromones mess with your mind, make you see and hear things that aren’t there.”
But Wilkof brushed off her words with a scoff. “I don’t care,” he replied, his gaze fixed on the hangar ahead. “I fed the plant like I was told, but the fame never came. I let it eat the only thing I ever loved. But… nothing changed.”
Her heart yearned to find some way to free him of the plant’s clutches, to help him see the light, but she knew well what desperation could do to a person, if left unchecked. She knew how far someone could fall.
“Then I realised… I wasn’t meant for prizes and celebrity,” he continued, deranged. “That wasn’t what the plant had planned for us. It’s just like you said in your Tamaranean fairy tale, the Morning Eclipse and its legend. I knew we were meant for infamy, but just one plant and its keeper wouldn’t do the trick. We needed a bigger family.”
At this point, Hunter stopped, and the pair had finally reached the mouth of the hangar. Mar’i searched through the darkness, but was struggling to see straight at all thanks to the toxic, draining effect of her Morning Eclipse vine restraints.
Wilkof just stared into the darkness, and continued. “I tried taking cuttings, but no matter how much blood, meat or southern exposure I gave them… it wasn’t enough, and they wilted. It wouldn’t tell me why it wasn’t working, and all I knew was that the plant was from Tamaran,” he confessed, his voice growing hoarse with emotion. “So I went to look for Starfire, but she was in space. And then… then I found you. A hybrid like me.”
But throughout Hunter’s grim confession, Mar’i was still missing some important details. “How did you know the plant was from Tamaran?” She defied him, “It doesn’t have a mind of its own, so it couldn’t have told you.”
Hunter smiled. “I used to drive out into the countryside and just leave my car behind, go for these long walks to clear my head when city life got too much,” he explained, a shroud of something resembling peace slowly falling over him. “I always felt guilty for it, reasoning I should have been spending that time in the lab, looking for ways to help people. But this one day, a few years ago now, I realised it was all worth it.”
He then pulled a remote from his pocket and pressed a button at its centre. As the lights of the hangar flickered to life, they revealed a magnificent sight, something Mar’i immediately recognised as a First Class Vegan Star Cruiser - a Tamaranean space vessel from the shipyards of Okaara - resplendent in hues of silver and violet. The ship stood tall and proud, a beacon of extraterrestrial wonder amidst the mundane surroundings of the hangar. But why was it here? And how did Wilkof have it?
He gestured towards the ship with an odd gleam in his eyes. “Suddenly, and without warning, this spaceship came crashing down through the sky just a couple of miles away, out here, where it was just me there to see it,” he explained. “So I rushed over, I searched the wreckage… and that’s where I found it. It was only a sapling, a baby really, and it called out to me. I knew I needed to take it home, back to the lab, back for testing.”
Mar’i shook her head. How was he to have known back then that the plant was pulling his strings?
“I stashed the ship away, knowing its potential,” he confessed. “The ship’s computer confirmed its origins: Tamaran. Apparently it even used to belong to a princess named Komand’r.”
Mar’i's mind raced as she processed this revelation. Komand’r - also known as the tyrant queen Blackfire - was Koriand’r’s sister, and Mar’i’s aunt. Someone she had already come across early in her time in this universe. Then, just in time for him to answer it without her asking, Mar’i happened upon another awful question.
“I got some guys in to make repairs, and another guy to… basically hotwire the thing, before I fed them all to the plant. But the ship won’t fly without one final security measure,” continued Hunter, his gaze fixed on Mar’i. “A pilot with Tamaranean DNA.”
 
🔹🔹 🪶 🔹🔹
 
Back in the lab, Dick, Artemis and Tim continued to put the pieces together, now sans Barry who had raced off to join Wally in combing the city for either Mar’i or the Morning Eclipse, not knowing that both were far from the city limits.
“Why Mar’i?” Dick demanded. “What does Wilkof want with her? Her Starbolts could be used to fuel the plant and its cuttings, but that’d only make a difference at night, when they can’t get sunlight for themselves.”
Artemis nodded in agreement. “Surely they can survive a night without sunlight,” she surmised. “So what else would he come to Mar’i for?”
“Could it be her DNA?” posed Tim. “Maybe he has a use for DNA from a Tamanrean.”
“What kind of uses?” asked Dick. It wouldn’t be that, but his mind once again returned to the cloning vats of Cadmus. “No, it’s not that.”
“Then what else could it be?” Artemis sighed, frustrated. All of this analysis, brainstorming and scheming, and they were no closer to finding the missing Titan.
Then, Dick’s face blanched with fear. “She knows the way,” he said simply, his voice barely above a whisper.
“The way to what?” asked Tim, his own anxiety rising.
“To Tamaran,” Dick replied with dread. “A place where the sun shines bright enough for a hundred Morning Eclipses.”
 
🔹🔹 🪶 🔹🔹
 
In the dimly lit interior of what was once her aunt Komand'r's ship, Mar'i's heart raced with fear and uncertainty, now strapped into her seat beside the demented Dr Wilkof. The vessel, a marvel of Vega System technology, exuded an otherworldly aura, its sleek silver surfaces shimmering with an ethereal glow. Yet, to Mar'i, it felt more like a prison than a wonder.
She couldn't shake the sense of dread that gripped her. Tamaran, a place she once called home, now loomed before her as an unfamiliar and foreboding destination. She knew of the tumultuous history of this universe's Tamaran, the tales of military coups and the reign of the Orange Lantern Larfleeze, all of which added to her apprehension. The planet had hundreds of Morning Eclipses, but none had ever merged with a sapient vessel before. The killer plants were best survived by being completely ignored, which wouldn’t be possible with an intelligent host scheming and bringing the plants to their vulnerable prey. Could she inflict that threat on Tamaran?
Wilkof's jubilant smile did little to assuage her fears as he spoke. “When we reach the planet - with its gleaming sun - I’ll have everything I need. I'll create more Morning Eclipses, genetically superior ones, and they will bond with Tamaranean vessels to enhance their intelligence. And then there’ll be no more sacrifices, just feeding.”
Mar'i's stomach churned at the thought of being complicit in Wilkof's madness. But she also knew that she was in no position to bargain. And he knew it.
With a heavy heart and a sense of resignation, Mar'i steeled herself for the task ahead and the ship hummed to life around them, hurtling toward an uncertain destiny.
Then, as they quickly hit sonic speed, Hunter turned to his pilot and prisoner, keen to share a thought he hoped would bring her peace. “I want you to know… once we get to Tamaran, I’ll never have to return to Earth again. Don’t think about where we’re going, think about what we’re leaving behind. This is you saving planet Earth.”
 
 
Next: Sun it up in Nightwing #15
 

Going in backwards release date because I think it's easier to pick a favorite scene that way:
Alien Covenant: The neomorph birth. By far the best scene in the film. The frantic camerawork, the acting, the woman not knowing what to do so she just leans in for a hug, the effects of the neomorph bursting from the guy's back. Legit one of the best scenes from the franchise and deserved to be in a better movie.
Prometheus: Hmmmmm, no one scene really jumps to mind. But I've always been partial to when Shaw sees the engineer ship light up and kick into gear. The music brings a sense of awe and wonder.
AvP:R - The sewer fight. Because there were times where you saw the Predator's vision. Meaning you could see. Plus there was some decent fight moves.
AVP: This movie was good, dumb fun in retrospect, looking back 20 years on. The first fight between Celtic and the grid Zeno is the best representation of that.
Alien Resurrection: I always loved the underwatestair fight, but the bit where the poor worker wakes up to find a Facehugger egg in front of him is sick, twisted, evil, and right in line with the spirit of the films. They really went in hard with the evil of the company in this one.
Alien 3: Is it cheating if I say the entire chase? Felt genuinely on edge
Aliens: It always flip flops between the initial attack and the second one from where they cut the power to the escape through the vents. There's so much adrenaline in both scenes. The medical showdown might just take it here
Alien: Weirdly, for me its actually the Space Jockey. Its unnerving. Its freaky. An mainly because its so unexplained.

Being eaten.
No, I do not mean being on the receiving end as someone goes down on you. Sex seems to be popular in fiction these days, if the shitty Fifty Shades of Grey is any indication, and I sorely, desperately wish what I was about to write was all fiction. Then I could sprinkle some gratuitous sex on it, go to a publisher, and hope that it would sell. Then I would be not risking my job altogether sharing this so that strangers on the Internet would at least know of my suffering in having to watch human beings die brutal, bloody deaths to satisfy a desire even more primal than sex and far less pleasurable.
Yes, I’m talking about eating. And about being literally, bona fide eaten. An incredulous notion in modern society, where we live in concrete houses and walk on asphalt streets. Where the animals we encounter are anywhere between little quacking ducks and crotch-high geese. We live free of our early ancestor’s fear of becoming something else’s food. Crocodile, tiger, lion - pick your customer. It, in most cases, starts with the intense pressure of clamp-strong jaws, driving teeth into parts of your body where teeth should not be stabbing into. Depending on how lucky you are, there will likely be hellish pain lasting anywhere from seconds to minutes (that I am willing to bet feels much longer) before death takes you. What happens to your consciousness after that is a popular debate. What happens to your body is not. You get chewed into a consistency similar to hamburger patties in some cases, swallowed whole in others. Different vehicles to the same destination of an acidic stomach. Your useful parts are broken down into a mushy soup. The rest are ejected from the back end.
A shitty way to go, literally and metaphorically. A living human being, full of emotions and dreams and hope, turned into lifeless steak, soup then shit. At least three out of five young men and women whose last days I will recount below went that way. The other two… well, let’s say that it has been three weeks at this time of writing, and I do not have much hope.
The day started with Matthew dropping several paper files in beige covers on my desk. When I opened it and saw a report complete with pictures of grinning people on the first page, I knew right there and then that it was going to be anything but a normal day at work.
“Missing?” I asked, eyebrows raising. It was the single possibility. Police could have pictures on their desks for all kinds of stuff, but not us rangers. Only then did I notice the tight line Matthew’s lips had pressed into.
“Not like that, no.” He shook his head. “None of them got lost. All five came down here from Sydney, stayed at Winston Ward’s place. That’s Ward’s daughter, Madeleine.” His fingers pressed on the picture of a girl at the top of the page. Hair dyed blue and with the brightest smile of the bunch, I noticed. “She and one other, Cathy, their Indigenous guide, are the two still missing.” Matthew pointed next to the picture below Madeleine. Cathy was dark-skinned and had a hiking stick resting above her shoulder, clearly posing for some sort of promotional photo. “And these three, well…”
I took a quick glance at the other photos. Steve Wilson had the build of a runner, wiry and dressed in a tank top to match. Lisa Mooney, blonde with gold-rimmed glasses. Ashley Lo - his curly dark hair tied back into a ponytail. I knew I would not have to pay extra-close attention to their appearance. Two missing.
“I don’t know, man. Kind of wanted your input on it, too.” Matthew shook his head. “Best you see it for yourself. The police could not decide if it was murder or an animal attack, so they requested us. Found all three of them ripped apart. Caught, well, a suspect, I suppose, on their own cam-”
“You kidding? A suspect and they could not decide if it’s an animal attack or not?”
“I know, Tom, watch it for yourself and tell me I’m not crazy. Hells, they didn’t just have the pictures. Caught the damned killings on film, and still can’t decide if he, it - whatever - is man or animal. I will send the footage over in a bit. Some photos are in there, too. Just don’t puke up your breakfast. I’m seriously thinking of going vegan.”
What the fuck?
I frowned. Matthew could not wait for someone to share his hell, I supposed, and quickly retreated back into his office, leaving me alone with the papers.
Here are the facts.
Winston Ward, your typical real estate rich guy, bought some bushland last year next to our park. His plan was straightforward - setting up lavish air-conditioned bungalows amidst the Australian bush, complete with five-star hotel facilities such as private pools and a fine dining restaurant. A luxury retreat amidst trees and shrubs, letting you enjoy the best of nature and avoiding the worst. No insect stings, soaking rains or blistering heat that the normal campers had to suffer. Just a couple of hours drive from Sydney to boot. All well and good, except for the fact that it came alarmingly close to intruding on national park’s land. So Parks and Wildlife Service took notice and kept a close eye on Ward’s project. So far, even though he has not opened his retreat and nothing illegal had been done, Ward became a popular name among us rangers. Just in case.
I certainly did not expect his name - or his family’s name - rather, to come up this way.
It had been Ashley’s idea. An Ecology graduate, he wanted to make a documentary about Aboriginal people’s way of sustainable living among nature. He got his girlfriend, Madeleine Ward, into it, alongside fellow graduates Steve and Lisa. Madeleine easily secured the filming spot with her father. They hired Cathy as the expert for the film, and the five of them occupied two bungalows. Living in the lap of luxury while trying to promote sustainability. Three cameras were installed. Two security cams for each bungalow, expectedly. The third was a camera trap, the kind used on wildlife trails to capture pictures and videos of animals. Likely intended for fun.
As much as I respect the purpose of their never-finished documentary, I find twenty six-year-old Ashley rather hypocritical, and rather gross given how Madeleine only turned eighteen three months ago. But not to speak ill of the dead, I suppose.
I braced myself as I turned the page for the photos, and failed to stop the dry-heave that came up. Three bodies, gnawed clean of flesh. Strands of dark curly hair on the first mangled head identified it as Ashley’s. The skull was smashed open, its insides, empty where a brain had been licked clean, caked with dried blood. Shattered pieces of his bones were strewn over muddy soil, brown rain water filling in troughs where the marrow that had been sucked out. Steve and Lisa was in roughly a familiar state, and I shivered at how disturbingly clean the bones were. Take away the skull that clearly showed the remains to be human, and it could have been a smokehouse’s dump - filled with finished ribs and chicken wings.
And yet, the final photo proved even more unsettling.
It was a still taken from one of the security cameras. At night, judging from the grey filter. It was still bright enough, however, for me to make out the grassy front of a bungalow. Bushes and shrubs lined the far end. A dark figure loomed over them, casting a long shadow.
I shivered once more.
I had walked into the bushes hundreds, if not thousands, of times. I knew how dense they could be - reaching up to your chests in many places. That figure - standing on two legs with long arms drooping at its side - barely had its knees covered by the shrubs. The photo, even though grainy, was clear enough for me to make out a domed head resting upon a neck so thick the figure might as well be said to lack one. Matching broad shoulders held up that neck, deltoids bulging. The… thing, apparently, had little hair as far as I could see.
I did not notice how hard I had clenched my jaws until a cramp-like pain made me grunt. Matthew could not be fucking with me, could he? I had worked with the guy for years. I called the local police station. The woman on the other end confirmed it. Unless a whole station was in on the prank with Matthew - an idea equally impossible as what I was seeing - it seemed like we had won the reverse lottery of missing and dead people cases.
As much as the Internet likes to make fun of its deadly wildlife, most of Australia has no large land predators. Dingoes are pretty much your average dog. The huge crocs live way too far to the north and sharks do not magically appear in the middle of bushlands. Neither looked like some psychopathic, cannibalistic basketball player wearing a shaved-clean, badly proportioned gorilla suit. The police’s best option was us, I could tell, but as far as me and Matthew went, we were equally clueless.
I shook my head and rubbed my temples - for a moment questioning my sense of reality. That was until an alert jabbed into the screen of my desktop. Matthew’s email.
Here are the footages, Tom. Crazy stuff. I got them to send us a scan of Madeleine’s journal, too. Found where those kids were seen last.
An unholy amount of files came in a link he attached.
The rest of my day was spent going through them all. I still know not what to make of what I saw, and I need time to collect myself before I can write of what I have seen on those tapes.
I need a nap. And dinner. But no meat. I agree with Matthew. As much as I loved a nice scotch fillet, I’m probably going vegan for a while.

I'd like to preface this by stating that the way I behave on YouTube is the most G-Rated way I conduct myself both on and off the internet. I've kept up to date with YouTube's war on no-no words, dogwater automated moderation, and near decade-long censorship campaign following the adpocalypse & COPPA dilemma and have remained mindful of what I say on the platform for a very long time. I'm proactive about not using bad words, tastefully navigating sensitive subject matters, and preemptively censoring words I think might be flagged by T H E S Y S T E M. I rarely engage in heated discussions on YouTube, as I feel like a lot of commenters are probably kids. I pretty much never use cuss words, my display name isn't inappropriate, and I have zero history of abusive/offensive/inflammatory behavior on the platform. It's also probably worth stating that I do not harbor extreme views on most issues. I do not express any form(s) of homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, racism, etc. on YouTube.
However, over the past few months, all of my comments have been disappearing - and I mean almost ALL of them. I've seen posts about this issue all over the internet and decided to do some digging to find out what's happening.

YouTube on 'removed/disappearing comments'

The YouTube Help Community/Support forums have a bunch of posts about this that not only don't receive answers, but are locked and marked as redundant duplicates of this "Solved" post - a post that doesn't even address comments disappearing, but simply troubleshoots mobile app cache glitches where your comments won't display.
Delving into the actual documentation of automated comment removal on the site points to supposed "inappropriate comment" notification website features that I've never encountered or even knew existed:

Comment reminders
Before you post a comment, you may get a reminder that’s intended to encourage respectful interactions on YouTube. This reminder shows when our system finds that your comment could be considered offensive to others. Reflect on your comment, or review our Community Guidelines before you post it.
Note: This reminder is only available for English and Spanish comments right now.
Comment removal warnings
After you post a comment, you may get a notification that says the comment was removed. A comment may be removed when YouTube’s system finds your comments could be repeatedly violating YouTube’s Community Guidelines. If you disagree with the removal, you can submit feedback here.
Comment timeouts
After you post a comment, you may get a notification that says that commenting has been paused for your account. Commenting may be paused when YouTube’s system finds that you repeatedly left comments that could violate one or more of our Community Guidelines. Your ability to comment may be paused for up to 24 hours.Comment reminders
Before you post a comment, you may get a reminder that’s intended to encourage respectful interactions on YouTube. This reminder shows when our system finds that your comment could be considered offensive to others. Reflect on your comment, or review our Community Guidelines before you post it.
Note: This reminder is only available for English and Spanish comments right now.

I have never once received a comment removal warning notification. I have never received any notifications about my account/comments violating the Community Guidelines. I have never received a notification about my commenting privileges being paused/revoked due to Community Guideline violations. I have also scoured all my emails with YouTube to see if there was ever any notice of actions taken against my account and there's nothing.
I looked into people having issues who have received these notifications and was not surprised with what I found: If you receive Community Guideline violation notifications, YouTube doesn't tell you which comment was flagged and almost never accurately interprets your comment's subject matter. The system is plagued with false positives for inappropriate or abusive material. If you unintentionally or unwittingly posted something inappropriate, there is absolutely no way for you to know what you said that was wrong and take corrective action.
What does this all mean? Well, If you're familiar with YouTube, you'll know that whenever a "feature" or policy is poorly explained, hard to get clarification on, or otherwise opaque, it often means there is a hidden mechanism or internal position at play that they don't want to be widely known.

Experiment

Over the past few months, every time I leave a comment, I close out and come back later to see if it was removed, then try to determine if certain words I used were being flagged by YouTube as inappropriate slang or dog whistle terms. However, I couldn't identify anything specific in my comments that was problematic, nor could I find any correlation between their subject matter and YouTube's apparent dislike for them.
So then I just started commenting other comments verbatim to see what would happen. The single sentence drive-by-gag bot-like Top Comments that are just garbage recycled one liners that add zero value to the platform. Direct quotes from the video, "HE WAS READY FOR ALL THE SMOKE😂", "Nah bruh didn't have to do him like that ☠️", etc.
Those stay up.
Then I would occasionally post a comment I would normally post. A longform response to the subject matter of the video, thoughtful attempts at starting discussions, or actual comprehensive explanations of something. Some examples would be an interpretation of a movie/show scene, my opinion on a music album, or just literally the "thoughts" the video's creator told me to post below lmfao.
Gone.
Don't even show up in my activity history.

Conclusion

The only reasonable conclusion I have for why this is happening is that YouTube's automated content monitoring systems are inundated with parsing tremendous amounts of data and can't reasonably contend with users who regularly post long comments. On top of this, the somewhat unsupervised nature of their algorithms has led to their bots conflating longer form comments with abusive/inappropriate material for two reasons:

• Abusive/inappropriate comments are typically associated with arguments, which play out in longer form, or necessitate long responses.
  
• The most popular and well-received comments are short.
  

As a result, users who regularly post longer comments will inadvertently be flagged. Their activity will take longer to become public, they will receive Community Guideline violations for no reason, and their comments will begin to regularly disappear entirely. For the most part, only their simple, single-sentence comments will remain visible.
There's your YouTube conspiracy tea for the week. Let me know your thoughts.

AFAB, 42, type II diabetes, chronic migraines, hypertension, polycystic ovarian syndrome, hyperthyroidism, obese, ADHD, anxiety, depression, PTSD, agoraphobia.
Propranolol, metformin, levothyroxine, methylphenidate, methylphenidate extended release, desvenlafaxine, zomitriptan. No vitamins or supplements.
One pet cat, no lifestyle changes such as a new pet, partner, diet, or move.
I've had huge, red, raised, intensely itchy hives over 90% of my body for weeks, scalp, ears, chin, neck, shoulders, both arms, chest, back , stomach, butt, legs, feet, even the soles of my feet and palms of my hands. It started suddenly, with no history of hives. I've also had my eye randomly swell shut and my lip swell up a couple times.
I've been taking famotidine twice daily and diphenhydramine throughout the day. It mostly controls or at least lessens it but there's no sign of actual improvement. The moment it wears off, the hives come roaring back.
I saw the doctor, who was concerned it could be an autoimmune condition, and had blood work done. They did a bunch of tests because they did my usual thyroid and a1c in there too. I think the relevant ones for the hives were C-reactive protein and anti-nuclear antibody screen.
The C-reactive protein came back as 1.6mg/dL. The antibody screen came back negative.
From what I read, 1.6mg/dL (I think that's 16mg/L?) is associated with autoimmune conditions, and is considered kinda high?
My doctor called it mildly elevated, though, and I guess paired with a negative anti-nuclear antibody test, my doctor says it's not an autoimmune disease.
I'm just a little confused about why it's elevated and why what I read makes it seem more concerning than my doctor's interpretation seemed. Lupus would have kinda made sense, tbh. But I guess I'm in the clear for autoimmune stuff? So what does it mean that it's that high? Or is it really not that high and I read things that weren't accurate?
The only other test that was abnormal was that my thyroid medication does was a little high. My thyroid is never stable, though. It is always too low or too high and my dose always changes.
So my doctor wants me to try a combination of Zyrtec, Allegra, famotidine, and prescription Singulair for a month and see how it goes.
I could include pictures of the hives/swelling, but they look exactly like hives/swelling.

Trigger warning added because it may remind some of horrible experiences they have had
I know some of you may say, "No, how could I, after I discovered the truth?" and to be fair, that is understandable. However, recently, I wanted the faith to be true because I wanted a reason to actually exist, and I thought that you could only find that through God. Now, I realize this is not the case, as life does not have to have meaning for us to enjoy it.
The same old arguments that I used when I was a believer all failed in the end. Like biblical prophecy proving Jesus was the Messiah and "end time predictions" – none of them make sense. But due to the cognitive dissonance I experienced at the time, I just tried to tell myself they were true. However, in the end, I was lying to myself.
I prayed daily for a while to try to spark more faith, and when I thought my prayers were answered, I thought, "There you go, I am really with God!" But a Muslim, Hindu, and Pagan can all say the same, and we have no way of proving which one is right.
The real endpoint for me in all of this was realizing how God gave us a book that cannot be interpreted correctly. There is no true basis. Black Hebrew Israelites, Mormons, Catholics, Orthodox, and many more all claim to have the right interpretation, yet they are so drastically different (there are still more than what I listed). So, why would an all-knowing and loving God give us this book then? If he knew all this would be the case? And even the so-called right interpretation does not matter because the Bible is a false book no matter how you view it.
There are more reasons why I can explain if anyone cares, but this whole experience has been awful for me. As I write this, I feel liberated, but also my hands are shaking with all the stress I got from this whole religious thing. I have not been eating as much or focusing on my studies because this whole thing has affected me in the brain in obviously not the best way. But over time, like before, it will ease, and I will not fall into this trap again. My story is nowhere near as bad as what some of you have experienced, and I hope all of you who go through that find a way for it to be resolved and live a fulfilling life.
Thanks to whoever bothered to read this.
Also i used ChatGPT to grammar edit this because i am lazy so if anything seems AI automated that may be why

SO SORRY FOR THIS ONE. IT IS VERY LONG!!! <3
I am a little worried and would love some help/advise on how to control my emotions around some situations, or if i might be over reacting. My MIL to be can be rather overbearing and has an issue accepting boundaries. Over the past several months I have noticed that my MIL can be somewhat overly mothering and emotionally manipulative. She also seems to try to target me whenever my finance is not around, and when it is just me and her. i.e. She had a tantrum when I told her that she could not join us on a walk which my fiance and I wanted to do as a couple AS A DATE DAY. My fiance later tried to have a conversation with her about this and she described it as just being playful...
She also refers to my fiance, his two brothers, their partners and myself (as a collective) as children "Do you think the children will like this" or she will talk to my FIL in front of us as "The children..." - Bare in mind I am 30 in November - My own parents never categorize me as a child so I am somewhat shocked that she does this - All of the "so called Children" in my fiances family are 23 and over. At first I thought this was a term of endearment that she was just too used to saying, but after my fiance had a conversation with her about this asking her to stop saying this in reference to me, as it was making me extremely uncomfortable, I was asked so many questions as to why I didn't like it. I advised that I found it belittling and patronising as my own parents don't refer to me and my siblings in that way. And also that I was nearly 30 now and I find it a little offensive (I have my own house and worked hard for it, I have two degrees which again I worked hard for, and I have been through a lot in my life, I stopped being a 'child' a very long time ago)- I know that this could be me overreacting a little bit, but this is whole new territory for me as I have never been referred to as a 'child' in my adult life, not even by my own parents who refer to me either by my name, or as their eldest daughter.
I am sorry if anyone else has the same situation and is okay with it, but it just makes me uncomfortable. When I was explaining about how I was feeling she was smiling the entire time but looked so confused at the same time, as she couldn't understand why I felt the way I did. And she continues to use the word Children to describe me and my fiance. Even my FIL has told her to stop it, but she doesn't seem to understand or pay attention to it.
The big red flag for me was this: The other day my partner and I went to see his parents for a visit. He was in the garden in deep conversation with his dad, and I was talking to his mother in the dining area, the conversation was quite lovely at first... Until she started talking about buying fabric from a well know UK fabric and craft store to make some elegant dresses. She had a lovely royal blue material which she was showing me and advised that the both of us should go on a trip to the store together, as she really wanted to by the same type of fabric, but in emerald, green (WAIT FOR IT). She was going on about dresses and weddings, and my gut instantly knew where this was going. A few moments later, she says, “I would really love to make a nice dress in blue for *bother-in-laws wedding*” and then proceeded to say, “... and I would like to make something in the emerald green for your (and my fiancés) wedding” - HELL TO THE FRICKING NO!!! Please note, me and my fiancé got engaged in September of last year, and I happily told MIL and my fiancés family that I was not the conventional sort of gal, I never wanted to wear just white, or white at all. I showed them all, numerous times, the picture from my Pinterest board, of what I hoped my wedding dress would be or at least look like. And guess what colour that dress was and the colour I have wanted my dress to be ever since I can remember… IT’S EMERALD GREEN... I created my Wedding Planning Pinterest board in 2015 and I have always wanted to wear Green.
This conversation literally hit me to the point where I was either going to cry or blow up - Due to the share fact that she was so adamant that she wanted to wear the same colour as me, but also that she did this when it was just me and her in the room and no one else was around to hear it. Somehow, I just managed to keep my cool and I simply said, "NO. I am sorry, but you are not wearing the same-coloured dress as me on my wedding day. Absolutely not. And I am not meaning to sound like a bridezilla in any way here, but that is a very specific colour that I have had picked out in my mind for a long time now. No, please don't wear that colour, anything but emerald green" She seemed shocked at first, and then joked it off saying, “Well I don't have to wear emerald, green (DAMN RIGHT). I will wear blue or something.” And then she made a joke about the fact of me saying "on my wedding day" like "OOO MY WEDDING... OOO IT'S MY WEDDING DAY" . I didn't have the energy to question this so i just had to laugh it off. I later told my fiance about this and he was frustrated at the situation, and advised that she will not be wearing the same colour as me on our big day. It worried me that she does things like this when it is just me and her, sometimes it is very minor things, but they are noticeably overbearing and manipulative in my eyes.
She still treats my fiance like he is a teenager, and tried to do the same thing with me, like "oh let me clean you glasses for you" and "take a coat with you its cold" (I am always hot to the point I overheat, she is aware of this), "here you go let me do that for you" These are just examples, but she acts as though we cannot do things for ourselves at times, and her way is the best way. I have been very independent since I was 18 years old. So it is hard for me to see this as anything but patronising.
Do you think I am overacting or is it normal for me to feel uncomfortable? Any advise on how to tackle these issues would be really helpful. I have spoken to my mum and sister about this, and they are very hurt by the way I am feeling at the moment. I just wondered if this is how other people would also feel, or if anyone else is or has been through the same.
THANK YOU <3 And sorry again that it is so long. And if you have made it to this point. I appreciate it! x

tldr; considering implications of becoming overemployed short-term during buying a house ftb
I currently have 1 job (remote) and it was intended to be a stop gap (8 months in) and that feeling has been heightened by some bullying from my manager and senior management's attitude to do nothing (very small company, no HR, senior put my manager in that role because they manage similarly but means its a revolving door). Essentially I would like a new job and have been contacted about one that is what I was doing before this stop gap that I've intended to go back to for sometime, they have hired people who I used to work with who have the same skillset and experience as me and it sounds promising, would also be remote.
However, we are about to make an offer on a house. We have our decision in principle and the mortgage application will be made while I still have just J1. What I am considering is to proceed with the application for J2 while conveyancing happens which can take a few months, potentially being offered the job and then leaving J1 when I have the keys in my hand. Long-term I don't think I could handle OE due to workload and stress, I desire a simpler life but thats just me.
Does anyone know if there are risks to this kind of timeline with buying a house? I think my worry is that after initial mortgage application after offer is accepted, when it gets close to exchange and completion, they might want another look at my finances. Could getting paid into a different bank account help (I use RBS for bills and salary coming in but Monzo for spending/saving/everything else)?
This is all very conditional as if it risks getting a house I won't do it and will just suck it up at my job until keys in hand and then find the right one then or start looking much later into the house buying process

It candidly sucked being surrounded by constant reminders that you’d lost the genetic lottery. Sure, it was easier than some people thought to get around the world without powers; it wasn’t like the government expected everyone to be a speedster or to be able to fly. Hell, a hundred years ago, nobody even had powers. The infrastructure was there. Life went on.
That said, staying cheery about the hand I’d been dealt was difficult. Enhanced perception was useful for a lot of things, from party tricks to always reading the fine print, but next to flight? Next to teleportation?
I’d gotten hung up on movement powers because I’d taken the bus to the bar, and the only superpower buses had was being late.
I was specifically at the bar for the sake of a blind date set up by my best friend; Todd was about two times my size and could throw a car across the street. His powers did nothing to help me with his current obsession with my dating life, but here we were. I supposed it was a fair obsession. I hadn’t been trying.
It honestly made sense that Todd had been keenly aware of romance since he’d met his soul mate. See, a strange thing with powers was that when you were around your soulmate, they were inexplicably stronger. Todd had met Soo-jung when she’d been on vacation in Crescent three years ago. They’d been inseparable since, and he’d been able to throw a car down three blocks instead of across the street.
Or so he claimed. Nobody was eager to volunteer their car for a demonstration, or anything else heavy and expensive, for that matter.
For my part, I hadn’t spent a lot of time guessing what would happen if I met my soulmate. It was a common train of thought for some, but I never found that it stopped at any fun stations. Instead, I indulged Todd’s meddling because he was my friend and bad dates at least made good stories.
“Gimme a sec, I’ll grab us another round,” Todd announced as he pushed out from our table. “Emma said she’s going to be here soon.”
“You bought the last one.”
“Yeah, now you can buy two in a row once Emma gets here and look generous. Think about it, man.”
“Sure,” I answered, but Todd was already walking away from the table and toward the bar.
Soo-jung leaned in. “You know he’s trying, right?”
“I know, maybe a little too much.”
“You don’t hear the half of it.”
“Oh, good.”
“I had to tell him to calm down when it came to buttering you up to Emma,” Soo-jung explained as she took a sip from her drink. “Sometimes I wonder about him.”
“I’m surprised he says anything nice about me.”
“He’d never say it to your face.” She watched Todd at the bar instead of looking at me during our conversation.
“Does that mean you’ll do it for him?”
“He trusts me to keep his secrets.”
“How about I suggest things and read your reaction?” I asked.
Soo-jung frowned in response before she pointedly rolled her eyes. She knew that reading reactions was one of my party tricks. If you couldn’t be powerful, you could at least read a room.
“Okay, fine. What do you know about Emma?”
“Her last name’s Tavish.”
“That’s it?”
“She works with Todd.”
“I knew that. He kept telling me she was a co-worker.”
“Todd thinks she’s cute.”
“He told you that?”
“No, but he has high standards for you.”
“That’s all the detail you have?”
“Todd’s not allowed to talk about work at hom- Hey, honey.”
Todd was back at the table holding all three pints in one arm; he passed one to each of us despite Soo being less than halfway finished with her current drink. Once he’d finished distributing, he turned to Soo-jung and asked her a question in broken Korean.
He’d been trying to learn, and he was still struggling. Not that I knew the language.
“Yes,” Soo-jung responded in English, “we were talking about Emma; no Korean around Toby. It’s rude.”
“I thought you wanted me to practice?”
“You can practice at home.”
“So we were talking about Emma,” Todd jumped back to the previous topic instead of discussing his inconsistent study of Korean. “Awesome woman, perfect for you, man.”
“What makes you say that?” I asked.
“Oh, she sucks too.”
“Ah, thanks.”
“He means powers-wise,” Soo-jung stepped in.
“So you do know something about her,” I pointed out.
“Something? I’ve been telling Soo everything since we got in the car to come here.” Just as Todd finished, he flinched. Soo had kicked him under the table. “But it wasn’t much, really.”
“What do I get to know?”
“I don’t want to taint your expectations.” He pushed his empty glass away, swapping it with the new one. “But can I be serious for a second?”
I considered it. “Sure.”
“She’s like my boss’, boss’ boss. So best behavior.”
“Wait. Seriously?” I leaned in. Todd worked for the CPRU, which meant that she had to be a heavy hitter if she was high ranked in the city’s power regulation department. “She’s—”
“Not quite.” He backpedaled. “We share a building. She’s straight DPR.”
I blinked twice at that. “Way to set me up to fail.”
“You should believe in yourself,” Soo cut in.
“Todd I w—”
“And she’s here.” Todd had turned his attention away from me and toward his phone. “Hope you’re ready to meet your soulmate.”
“Honey, don’t set that expectation.”
The bar’s front door opened, and I was the only one who could hear it over the atmosphere. I glanced over, and there she was.
She was stunning by any definition, but especially mine. Maybe it was a strange way to describe someone, but she looked beautifully meticulous, from brunette hair to olive skin, to her light blue jacket; everything was in place, and everything about her was gorgeous. Assuming that was Emma, I owed Todd big time.
“Okay, that can’t be her, right?” I asked Todd. After a second, without a response, I checked to see if he was waving at her, but he was stock still, a stupid grin plastered over his face. “Todd?”
Holy shit. The DPR had some crazy people on their roster, but this- I waved a hand in front of Todd’s face and snapped my fingers, then caught the sound of a single cautious heel clicking against the floor.
I stood up from the table and looked back at the door. She’d taken one step into the bar but had gotten caught in the same shock I had. “Emma?” I asked.
She snapped her attention to me -god, her eyes were- but she just looked confused.
“Toby,” I explained, “I’m Todd’s friend.” I motioned over to Todd’s still body and took the first steps to say hello. “This is really impressive. I didn’t think this was possible. It’s cool to meet someone wh—”
“I’m not doing this,” she said. “This is impossible. How are yo—”
“Trust me, this isn’t in my…” We stared at each other for a moment. Somehow, time stopped more than it already was.
“Holy shit.” We both said it at once.
“So this isn’t you?” she asked. Her eyes were still meandering around the frozen bar instead of staying in the conversation with me.
“No, it’s not,” I walked along her gaze and ended up against the bar counter, “did Todd tell you what my power was?”
“He just told me you wouldn’t mind having me around,” Emma answered, which somehow just brought up more questions.
“Enhanced perception,” I grabbed a drink off of the bar to see if I could; As soon as I touched it, it seemed to animate back to life. “What do you mean, ‘mind having you around’?”
“I dampen powers,” she explained, a little quieter than anything else she’d said, “make them weaker, hard to use. The technical definition is long and wordy so…” She sighed as she watched me slosh the beer around. “It’s a lot of trouble, really.”
“Probably good for work,” I offered.
“Pretty much the whole reason I have my job, but Callum wouldn’t admit that.” She approached, but there wasn’t an open seat near where I was standing, nor could we ask for someone to move. “Callum is—”
“Callum Rehsman, head of the D.P.R for the past six years,” I stepped in, “sorry, comes with the perception thing.”
“Honestly, I’m just glad I don’t have to explain it,” Emma took to leaning against the bar instead of walking over to a seat. She undid the top button of her shirt, which was probably too high for a date, anyway. “Emma Terish. Ring any bells up there?”
“No.”
“And you’re?”
“Toby Vander,” I put down the beer to offer my hand, and it froze as soon as I let go. We both paid attention to that instead of the potential formal hello.
“So this isn’t you.” Emma reached for the glass and picked it up; once she did, it animated just like it had with me. “And it isn’t me…”
I swallowed nothing. We’d both said holy shit for a reason, but it felt impossible to admit it. Wasn’t there supposed to be a — Well, something? Anything?
Then again, we were stopping time, and what else could you ask for?
“Do you want a drink, Toby?” Emma asked. She vaulted herself over the bar with a frankly shocking amount of grace for someone in a pantsuit.
“Uh, sure.”
“I’d ask what you were drinking, but we might have limited options,” she was considering her new vantage point from behind the counter.
I took the opportunity to grab the drink I’d left behind on the table. “I’ll use the one I had.” I tapped Todd’s hand for posterity, and nothing happened to him. “Any idea what this might—”
“No idea,” she answered without letting me finish, “but my job involves dealing with unknown powers, so…” She tried to use the soda-gun and swore when it didn’t work. “You learn to roll with it until people cooperate.”
“You still think I’m doing this?”
“I know it’s not me, and there aren’t many options here with us,” she said as she ducked behind the bar and came back up with a lemonade cooler, “but I came here for a date, and I plan to have one. Been a long week.”
I returned to the bar, finding a seat now that she was on the other side. “I just need to establish that this isn’t me. I’m not trying to—”
“If it isn’t you and it’s not me stopping time around us, then someone is giving us a very private venue for our first date.”
“Isn’t that nice?”
“It really is.” She took a sip of her drink, then pulled it away before she had time to swallow. “Shit. Do you have cash?”
“I’ll cover you.” She frowned at that; clearly she wasn’t satisfied with someone else paying for everything. “Plus, you’re serving me tonight. So…” That seemed to be enough plausible deniability to satisfy her. “Cheers?”
“Cheers.”
Throughout drink one, we were casting nervous glances around the paused bar; by drink five, we were laughing, just the two of us. Hours dripped by with the free beer… or they didn’t… It was hard to tell.
Emma added her sixth can to her pyramid and composed herself. “Okay, okay, okay. One second.” She took a deep breath. “This has been so much fun, but I told Todd I’d tell him when I got here so” — she needed another second to find her verbal footing — “can you stop this now?”
“Stop what?” I was halfway through a sip.
“This is the coolest power I’ve seen but—”
“It’s not me, I promise,” my insistence ended up sounding more like a drunk debate. The drunk part was accurate.
“So your power really is enhanced perception.”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Okay. You’re not lying.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because that’s lame and—” She stopped herself. “Shit, sorry.”
“I am so used to it.”
“You wouldn’t say that drunk if you could stop time is my point,” she almost ducked down to grab another drink but thought better of it. “So, that makes us…”
We’d reached this impasse several times in the last hours. I scanned her. The lines on her face. The size of her irises. She was worried. Apprehensive.
So I said it first.
“We’re soul mates.”
She looked down and to the left, considering instead of answering.
“Why else would one of us display a power we’d never seen before? Unless you’re right and someone was stopping time for everyone but me and—”
“And the woman who’s immune to powers,” she cut in. “Maybe we are soul mates, but turn it off.”
“It’s not—”
“Toby, please.”
“I don’t—” I stopped short and instead tried even though I didn’t know how. My perception was passive. I didn’t get to choose whether I used it. Was there supposed to be a switch somewhere inside my head? Was I—
How long had it been at this point? Six, seven hours? We’d planned to meet pretty late and it would almost be light out by now. She was right. We had to get—
“I don’t know how,” I admitted, “if it’s me.”
Emma opened her mouth to say something, then reconsidered. Her perfectly manicured nails were digging into the vinyl of the bar top.
“Okay. It’s been lovely, but if you getting here started this then,” I said as I stood up, “maybe I just need to leave, and that will turn it off so we can figure out what’s going on.” I took the first steps toward the door.
“That’s a good plan,” she nodded along with what she was saying, like she was convincing herself, “I’ll reach out to you. It was an excellent date.”
“Let Todd know for me,” I added as I reached the door; a second later, I stepped into the chilled early-fall air. The door didn’t shut behind me, so I kept walking until I would have been out of eyesight.
Then I stopped.
Should I have turned around? What were the chances that she was my soul mate? What was I leaving behind if I didn’t see her again? It was a dumb thought, but the idea of walking away started gnawing at me.
But what choice did I have? In front of me, a couple was frozen in the middle of a quiet conversation on the way to the bar. Soul mates only affected one another when they were close by. I took a few more steps and started to sprint.
I was three blocks away when the world stuttered around me. My vision blurred, and the moonlight was shattered by the sun. I stumbled, almost crashing into a woman dressed like she was on her way to brunch.
Shit. I’d left my jacket at the bar, but—
I checked my watch; 8:06 AM.
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I F20 am having a falling out with my M21 boyfriend. He has been given an offer from two friends that they will have a room coming available in their house across the country. When I say it’s across the country, I mean it is 10 states away from me and a 6 hour flight. My boyfriend has always wanted to live on the west coast where as I have liked living in the midwest/south. I understand these are online friends he is quite close with and the town is exactly like he has always wanted. Small, Cold, and on the water. He has started off asking me if i think we should move in. He promises they are nice people. He shows me how beautiful the town is on google and tells me we would be paying cheap rent in a beautiful home. He says if i do not like it after 2 months we can go back home. He says it wouldn’t be till late august. I told him, i would have to think more about it as it is a big jump.
Let me say I don’t really know either of the roommates, I know of them and i know their names. that is it. I have grown up in my current town my whole life, i have traveled before. but i do have family here that i am attached to, and i have many friends i’ve known since i was a toddler. My boyfriend recently moved in with me 2 years ago all the way from New York. It’s a little far. He has been in many different states and has visited many different countries. I am only at the start of my adulthood and so is he. He has made it clear he doesn’t want to stay in our town as it offers nothing for him. I find comfort and safety in my town, i know i have friends and family that will be there for me or to spend time with. since he has been here h has made his own friends that he recently hangs out with. He doesn’t have a good relationship with his remaining family. My family has become his own. They welcomed him in when he had close to nothing. I love my boyfriend but I told him I am scared of such a jump. I personally don’t think i’m financially or mentally ready for such a change. He is aware i have extreme anxiety and depression, he has been good to me. He didn’t take my opinion well, we ended up telling my mother of the plan to get a proper grown ups advice and opinions on it, she said it could be good for me but we would have to be a team. I agree with her. She thinks he is quite tunnel visioned on the subject out of excitement.
After i told him i had given it more thought and i wasn’t sure i wanted to, he blew up at me. saying how much he hates everything around him and if it weren’t for me he would’ve bought a van and traveled the world. I asked him if i was given the same opportunity would he come with me, he said no, he explained our views are different and he wouldn’t want to live near the hot southern beaches. I felt sad to hear that. i couldn’t find how this was fair. I told him i loved him enough to try this out and go with him if given the two month agreement, he went back on his word and said he couldn’t promise me he would come back with me if i didn’t like living there. he said he would stay because he already knows he would enjoy it. honestly i felt lied to, i asked him how we would continue our relationship if i were t go back alone and he said he couldn’t promise anything but he would most likely break things off.
I feel broken, i feel as if our relationship could already be over. he knows i love him too much to leave this behind and that i will have to come with him even if i don’t want to. I told him i will come if it means keeping our relationship but now i ask myself, is this what i want? to leave everyone behind for a dream i don’t have? he says his mind is made up and he will go with or without me.
please give me advice, i am in pieces.

I have been trying to buy my little brother a copy of minecraft for over 2 hours now. I am a tech savvy person and its really not like I dont know how this stuff works, but the thing is ive been trying to be completely above board with microsoft, mojang, and xbox this entire time and I just wish I was not for the whole process of this purchase.
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My brother is 9. Meaning he is at the age that minecraft is rated at, 7+. Considering the fact that he is of the rated age of minecraft, none of the COPIUS amounts of checks for verification should really be there.
First off, I make him a gmail account, then a microsoft account. Now here's the thing, microsoft detects that he is 13 and under because I put his real age in. because of this, he is required to have a parental account linked to him and Im forced to have a family account with him. I find this all to be reasonable enough, and it is done by simply logging into my own account.
I really thought this would be the end of it. I would maybe adjust permissions here and there and it would be fine and dandy. But no.
I go to minecraft.net and log into his account to just buy minecraft and get on with it. But turns out, since he is under 13, he needs a family member to approve the purchase. Ok, fine. but how?
There is a button telling you that a message has been sent to the adult about the request but it does not say whatsoever where this message has been sent, instinctively I thought it would appear in my email as some sort of one time code, 10 mins pass, nothing turns up. Turns out, googling this issue, I have to install a fucking app to even get this notification. ok so I do, I install the app on my phone, logging in and going through 2FA again, and also have to deal with microsoft aggressively trying to take over my phone's autofill, but I did it, and nothing comes through, I wait 20 mins, nothing happens on the stupid app. so I try again, from opening the WINDOWS STORE on my own computer and get the app there. go through 2FA AGAIN to finally see the notifcation on my top right for that request to buy minecraft. Neat. except wait, it is asking for it in dollars, not in my currency, Philippine peso. I thought this would be fine, but later on it asks for my card details in the US, which im not based in. I thought I should be above board with this, and googling tells me I can change this by logging into my own microsoft profile and adding payment details there.
I do this, and yes I could change to PH there, GREAT. Finally, I can give them my money and just buy the game, but WAIT A SECOND, my payment information is still not yet on the family desktop app. its been another 20 mins, and the notification comes through on my phone, where I think maybe itll be updated there, but I never figure out of it does update overthere, because upon clicking the approve button, it opens up a window to what seems to be microsoft store page and 404's. fucking brilliant.
Turns out, on Minecraft.net, I have to switch the region youre trying to buy minecraft from from US, to whatever country, THEN hit F5 to refresh the page, and THEN you can press the button to request the parent for consent, and then finally everything will work to the correct country. Christ almighty, I thought I was done, just buying the game and launching minecraft for my little brother so we can play LAN.
Except, no.
Turns out, now that this computer is tied to someone who is younger than 13, literally every single app that is opened is tracked and flagged by microsoft for being a potentially bad app. and so, now, I have to fucking approve every single app that I open on the mobile app, and I cant even approve them globally, it has to be done case by case and is really slow since it works as some sort of DRM or something. so I cant run the installer, because the installer requires access to the Microsoft store, and I guess it just cant get the correct permissions? So it errors out until I try to get the installer directly from the microsoft store, but since the store is so dogshit, its just constantly stuck on pending and I cant stop it for some reason.
In the end I try to restart his computer in an attempt to force stop the "pending" thing with the minecraft installer and of course, I get a forced windows update.
AAAAAA
...after the restart, the windows store worked, I got the installer, and I ran java edition to try it out, see if it works. I tried buying it for him at 12:30 when I arrived home from school, it is now 2 o clock, and I had a class at 3. so I just wanted to see if things were ok. and of course, I see that MULTIPLAYER IS GREYED OUT.
Like the one thing I wanted to do with him is to do LAN, but he cannot lan with me if multiplayer is greyed out. at this point I was too frustrated to try and I go to school for my class and deal with it when I come back.
When I come back I do some googling to see what I can do, the minecraft sceen tells me to go to my brother's microsoft account settings to get it fixed, but nothing of the sort seems to come up at all in regards to that in the settings dashboard. I do even more googling but the articles keep talking about an Xbos family app? I already have a microsoft family app and minecrafts diagnosics are tracked in the family app so I think the permissions are somewhere there. I keep looking for a solid 30 minutes now, and I come to realize, oh shit XBOX FAMILY APP IS A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT APP.
WHY is it on a different app? why do I need two?? OK, fine, ill download it. But, to my utter shock, the Xbox Family Settings App, is NOT AVAILABLE IN MY COUNTRY. And the kicker? THERE IS NO DESKTOP ALTERNATIVE.
I am completely baffled. If I wanted to keep above board with all of this, I would have not only gone through this tedious process, but in the end I would have only had a java edition or bedrock edition account that is effectively useless as it can only play singleplayer because I cant get the xbox family app in any legal way. This is utterly unacceptable.
Who am I even gonna complain to? there are 3 different entities involved here, mojang, microsoft, and xbox, who would I even speak to to try and get any of this resolved???
I'm stunned.
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TL;DR legally buying a copy of Minecraft for a young person is littered with constant 2FA checks, parental control shenanigans, and app bloatware that is imposed for zero reason whatsoever other than to inaugurate you into the Microsoft ecosystem. If you want to have a smoother experience, it would be easier to just lie about said young person's age.
Edit: I know, there is a way I can get around this in an easier way. I could use more dubious means of getting things done, but I wanted to keep things official through Microsoft and Mojang since I plan on having this be my little brother's main Minecraft account like I have mine that I really hold dear to my heart. Having things done officially is what I hope will keep his account supported properly in the far far future like how I have had mine for 7 years now.

For some background, I’m 26, could maybe lose a pound or 2 but wouldn’t consider myself obese by any means and for the most part in good health. Don’t smoke, exercise decently often, I do drink but not an abnormal amount. I was born with a congenital heart condition (bicuspid aortic valve). This is very common and treatable in todays world so it should really be nothing to worry about. However, I have been having horrible anxiety around my heart for the past year or so. I complained of “chest pains” and my cardiologist had me take multiple EKG’s, a stress test, a blood test and of course examined me himself, all which came back negative. The best he could come up with is it’s most likely anxiety. How do I make it stop?! It wakes me up and night on occasion, I think about it almost daily. Still have these “chest pains” that last basically a couple seconds and go away. On a pain scale these pains are a 1-2 out of 10. People around me wouldn’t even know I was having them unless I told them. Idk, just venting at this point, somebody tell me I’m not crazy please

Idk if they are just acting dumb or if they are dumb but I’m truly shocked that the sisters and the husbands genuinely don’t see what they’ve done wrong. They think we’re attacking them because we think that they “didn’t post enough on instagram/tik tok but they are really missing the whole idea here. It’s the fact that they have ZERO accountability and openly worked with multiple boycotted brands and when anyone would call them out for it instead of admitting to it and apologising for it they would either block them, delete their comments or reply with some lame excuse like they can’t afford to not work with Israeli companies which is complete BS. They all have university degrees that they could easily find jobs in and husbands who work and support them financially. It’s not a necessity to live in a huge mansion with a million rooms and bathrooms. Not being financially able means that you genuinely don’t have enough money to provide your family with basic necessities like food, water and electricity. To them financially able is not having enough funds to buy their Louis Vuitton bags or beige furniture for crying out loud. I can’t believe how shallow minded they are. If money was truly a problem they could sell their house and downsize but no they are too greedy. So that’s why we are pissed off. Not because they didn’t post enough instagram stories.
Also, what truly boggles my mind out of all this is that they legit have PALESTINIAN blood! What about someone like Macklemore for example? Who has ZERO Palestinian blood who is so much more famous and has so much more to lose than them but he was willing to openly speak out about Palestine and didn’t give a sh*t about losing money. I bet he’s lost thousands of dollars by speaking out because of how many music labels and agencies are run by Israel, but he doesn’t care. The Asad sisters should take notes because that’s an example of someone who is genuine and not greedy.

According to current lore I'm sure they've always existed, but that's not what I mean. I mean that as I recall, the idea of the MTG universe being divided into planes and not just all taking place in (the then-unnamed) Dominaria, that wasn't in the original design - was it? Let alone that those planes were somewhat connected and some could travel between them. At what point (again: real world date) did that explicitly change? Was it tied to a specific set release?
Arabian Nights was supposed to almost be a different game altogether, not a different plane but a different take on/flavor of the game. It was later retconned to being on a different multiversal plane(s). Similarly, it doesn't seem like Homelands was designed to be on a different plane, it was just moved later because it was a poor fit where it was.
I've been trying to search google, reddit, wiki for a bit but can't seem to find a good answer. This is less about the lore and more about the real world game history of when it was introduced.
I'm an old player who played mainly back in '93-'97ish but haven't kept too much up with the game, and didn't pay attention to the lore much even then. I've just been checking in for a bit, making a deck here and there every few years, so to me it felt like planes and planeswalkers were just all of the sudden "a thing that had always been", though it felt like it hadn't been to me.