Before I dive in, know that I love my wife and I want to fix this. I’m posting in RelationshipAdvice for a reason. It will be a lot, but please don’t read it like an AITA post and pass judgment. I need some honest advice, and I’m miles away from my real-life support network.
The TL; DR is that my wife has (re)developed a bunch of conversational habits from hanging out with her brother. These habits leave me feeling excluded, stressed, and are messing with my work. Trying to address them has opened a whole can of worms, mainly that my wife hates my entire problem-solving style.
I’m keeping details vague in case she stumbles upon this post. Please, if you think my story doesn’t add up, or you think you know where I am and want to offer real estate advice or whatever, keep it to yourself.
We got hitched and moved in together right before before Covid hit. Started off great, but after six months of lockdowns and masks, we realized we could live anywhere in the country without paying through the nose for coastal housing. For context: I work in tech, and my wife is a performer. We met in a bar, and honestly, Covid was the wake-up call that my career hadn’t lived up to my potential, probably due to alcohol. So I accepted the reality that maybe my career isn’t going where I hoped, and isn’t likely to – and instead of chasing after it, we should downsize our expenses. I counted my blessings for having a wonderful wife instead.
I negotiated permanent remote work. We aimed to move to the low-cost state she grew up in. Her brother, who I like way more than my own family, hooked us up with a place to rent near his house. Bigger than we needed, but I was okay with it because it had space for a home office. We boxed up our lives into a truck and moved.
Here’s where it gets complicated. My wife has always been talkative, and she can be pretty dang loud. Not sure how much of this I didn’t fully realize before. When we were dating, we only saw each other a couple of days a week, and in our first place together, we never had visitors thanks to the pandemic. But when she's with her brother, she talks like she's trying to command a room full of first-graders. She also doesn’t adjust her volume when she’s close to me. I have tinnitus, and she has literally made my ears ring by talking while leaning on me
Next up. I feel like a jerk saying this, given what I know about the word ‘shrill’, but hear me out. If the two of us are in the same room, she’ll use a tone of voice that seems intended to be impossible to ignore.
Third, if I try to join the conversation, my wife will interrupt me and steamroll right over me. Part of this is because she has a strange conversational rhythm where she seems to be done talking but then BAM! She jumps back in at an even higher volume, after the pause. So if you think it’s your turn to speak, you get interrupted. She does this even when no one else is talking. She will interrupt me to finish my sentences, nearly always incorrectly. She will interrupt me to tell me I’m wrong about something, ruining my flow. She will interrupt me to take over telling a story, telling it worse by missing key facts and rambling at higher speed.
Fourth, she doesn't seem to organize her thoughts before speaking. At all. Couple with what I just mentioned, you've got her cutting off anyone who dares to chime in until she's “talked out” the subject with everything she can think of. By then, everyone else is bored and over being interrupted when they try to jump in. So, the topic just fizzles out, and she covers that up with nervous laughter.
Fifth, if I try to ask questions to follow along, she gets mad that I’m interrupting her or ruining her flow. So I’ve given up on questions. If I lose track, I either catch up or I don’t. I can’t zone out because of her volume and tone.
Sixth, after she’s been around her brother, she maintains this kind of conversational energy when it’s just us. Her brother can be just as loud, and raises his voice and talks over her right back in the moment. But when we’re in any group that does not include my wife, he’s back to an energy I can converse with. She does not switch back, not unless she hasn’t seen him for at least a week.
Seventh, their parents’ first language isn’t English, and they immediately switch to it as soon as I leave the room. If you know the language I mean, it makes every conversation sound like a fight. I figure, if they’re not including me anyway, why talk in English while I’m around? Why can’t I just leave you guys to talk? No, because then my wife gets mad that I’m a bad host, that I “hate” her brother, or calls me a “rude teenager”.
Eighth, 90% of their what they talk about are their opinions, mostly of family members, reality TV, or random AITA stuff. They just keep regurgitating the same views about people, social issues, capitalism, America, over and over. When I do get to throw in my two cents, they often react with anger. It feels like a low-effort bonding activity: like we’re constantly reaffirming the group values – and verbally punishing transgression – rather than discuss anything new. Her brother isn’t like this away from her.
However I slice this, it’s incongruent. If they want me involved by speaking English, why not let me chime in? If they think they're entertaining me, why not make sure I'm following? And if I'm supposed to zone out, why use a tone and volume that's impossible to ignore?
The impression I get is that my wife thinks my role is to be her passive audience, plain and simple.
There’s more about my job, but first, how I’ve failed to address this so far.
First, the loudness. According to both of them ‘that’s just the way we are,’ so it ain’t changing.
I haven’t addressed the tone, I can’t figure out how to without starting a fight.
Interruptions. My wife has had four levels of reactions when I have brought this up. First, she straight-up ignores it. Second, she acknowledges it, but with an eye roll like I'm just being petty. Third is to get mad, call me an asshole, or accuse me of silencing her. Fourth, she blows up and yells all kinds of crap (“you’re evil,” “you just hate my brother,” and incongruently, “you two are douche-bros together”), which after she’ll say she didn’t mean. She’ll then start crying about losing me, or even making her brother hate her. She’ll make me swear to keep reminding her. But in the moment, when she’s not upset, she’s back to eye rolling.
Rambling. My wife’s response is that I do the exact same thing, and that when I do it, it’s extremely boring. What she means is that if I’m excited by or trying to explain anything technical, she tunes out as soon as she hears a word she doesn’t understand, and stares right through my head until I stop talking. Apparently, this is ‘polite’. Asking questions, saying I'm not interested? Just rude.
How she changes her behavior around her brother. Raising it makes her mad. She has straight-up told me, “I will always pick my brother over you.” In her more honest moments, she’s admitted the thought of me developing a beef with her brother is one of her worst nightmares, so her anger is really for of that outcome, directed at me. She gets that this is counterproductive, sometimes. But this conversation is tough.
Switching in English. They forget this and slip back to ‘politeness’ rules. I have to be careful how I word ‘I have no interest in this conversation’ or ‘You don’t need to talk in English’ or they both say I’m rude and get mad.
My wife has also said she hates the way I solve relationship problems, calling it ‘patronizing hippy crap’. For instance, I ask people what their goal is in saying or doing certain thing (“What’s your intention in talking so loud?”). This immediately makes my wife mad, like she thinks I’m playing sociology professor and using brains to outsmart her. Thing is, she will say a LOT of things she doesn’t mean in an argument, and I tend to take things literally, so I need to check that she doesn’t actually mean “You’re evil”, otherwise the argument escalates for other reasons.
I feel like she retaliates for feeling like I’m trying to impose some kind of intellectual superiority over her by trying to impose some kind of “social intelligence” superiority over me. “Of course people don’t mean everything they say in fucking arguments, are you retarded?”. She’ll misinterpret what I’m saying in a way that implies I’m real dumb, then moves the conversation on before I can defend myself. All of which is exacerbated by how her habits push me out of the conversation.
Onto work problems. My job requires two things from me: hard problem-solving which needs long periods of uninterrupted focus, and rapid incident response. Being interrupted/talked to while I’m deep in work disrupts both of those. Neither my wife nor her brother (who’s a contractor) stick to regular office hours, and they both like to knock back a few during the day. Now, I have no issue with that, but I do have a problem when he comes over, starts drinking with my wife, they have loud conversations which I can hear from my office. Often from one room to another.
My wife doesn’t appreciate me complaining about this since she “should be free to enjoy her own home” and I “can easily get another job.” I’ve tried explaining to her that no, I can’t easily get a job that pays the same in this state. Either I’d have to hunt for increasingly scarce remote work, or we’d need to suck up downsizing and potentially moving away from her brother. She refuses to entertain any of this.
Things have improved slightly since I started composing this post, but only after a chaotic incident. She stormed into my office to look for something, mid-argument with her brother. In frustration, I took off for a drive to clear my head. Of course, there was an incident while I was out, I missed the notification, and got written up for it.
I’ve tried talking to her brother one-on-one. He’s a realist. Rent a private office, and get ourselves into couples therapy. My objection is straightforward: the cost of commuting, office rent, couples therapy (no cheaper here, lower quality by all accounts), on top of our current expenses, exceed what we were paying before we moved. All this because my wife won't adjust her behavior to accommodate my needs, or respect my job.
They often invite me to drink with them during lunch and sometimes suggest blowing off the rest of the day. Despite my repeated refusals, they persist, considering it polite. I find it rude and disrespectful to keep pushing. They've even labeled me as "boring”. But what really grinds my gears is when they invite me out and I decline, they think they've got a right to grill me about why. A few times, when I've had enough of their pestering, I’ll state my position more firmly, and then they’ll get real mad that I’m being “judgmental”, and think I’m better than them. So now if they invite me anywhere, I just shut it down with a simple "no" and zero explanation. Which bugs them, but at least it keeps the peace.
There are a ton of other emergent/secondary annoyances I could get into, but let's cap it at three.
One, since I’ve said they’re both being hypocritical about me being ‘judgmental’ (even though I wasn’t) in refusing to join their plans, when the majority of their conversations are judging other people: it has become a game to them to point out every time they think I’m a hypocrite. I answered my wife from another room once. She brings it up as my ‘hypocrisy’ whenever I mention she’s yelling to her brother in another room, and she’s right next to me.
I think it’s different: her yelling in the house upsets me, but my ‘hypocrisy’, she enjoys that. We aren’t trading vices. If I realize I’m upsetting my wife, I stop doing whatever it is that’s upsetting her. She seems to be telling me that she doesn’t care to adjust her behavior to stop upsetting me. And that the real problem is that I keep talking about it, rather than just quietly suffering through it.
Two I've likely developed obnoxious habits just to maintain some space in conversations with my wife, such as speaking louder to overcome interruptions.
Three, my wife will talk to me at any time, without paying any attention to what I’m doing or even whether I’m wearing noise-cancelling headphones. She’ll interrupt me whilst I’m holding a mop, vacuum, trash bag to remind me to mop, vacuum, or take out the trash. She’ll interrupt me while I’m tackling a chore to give me instructions. I don't understand them, she'll take over, do it the exact same way I was, then huff about it. She’ll interrupt me whilst I’m getting ready to remind me to take my wallet, throwing off my train of thought and making me forget what I was looking for. Which I’ll then forget. She’ll interrupt me while driving, for random observations (‘look, a cute dog!’) no matter how many times I tell her it’s dangerous.
It’s hard to explain how much more restrictive this makes my life feel. I avoid tasks that will take over 20 minutes unless my wife is out. My wife and brother both mock me for traits (lousy memory, lack of focus, disorganization) which they exacerbate with their behavior.
When my wife is away from her brother, she returns to her usual self, the woman I fell for.
My gut tells me her family has a toxic way of communicating (the rest of her family are borderline abusive), and she learnt to tone down of those tendencies while away from them. She is more at ease with that way of speaking with her brother, and she falls back to it with him – and is trying to force me to adapt to it. There’s probably a side order of some history of feeling sidelined in male-dominated groups, so she’s acting out on that trauma and making sure out-talks us both. She’s got zero patience for boredom, which is why she butts in and won’t take extra time to make sure I understand – and why she thinks my ‘long rants’ are way longer and more boring than hers.
Her view is that conversations are boring unless people are excited, and excited people interrupt and talk over each other constantly. I hate that, because a conversation just feels like a constant fight to participate. It’s draining and I’d rather not socialize at all.
She describes the way I’d rather talk – back and forth – as “pompous, like you think you’re a king who can’t be interrupted”.
I don’t have a support system here since everyone I know here is through them, and everyone back home still believes I successfully rode off into the sunset. So, Reddit, how do I better communicate my needs to my wife? Both to not lose my job, and to enjoy conversations with her?

Let's talk about this. He is very upset bc Miami douche bag took Siwas Link. She stood up to the douche bag more than Johnny Mac did. Maybe that is why he is so upset. Like dude if someone threatened my daughters like that his ass would be in the cemetery or the jail. Sounds like he is big mad bc SM handled it better than he did!!! JMO

I saw Soldier at a grocery store in Teufort yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn't want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything. He said, "Oh, like you're doing now?" I was taken aback, and all I could say was "Huh?" but he kept cutting me off and going "huh? huh? huh?" and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying. The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like "Sir, you need to pay for those first." At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter. When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her an told her to scan them each individually "to prevent any electrical infetterance” and then turned around and winked at me. I don't even think that's a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.

This happened a little bit ago. I go to Tucker‘s onion burgers to pick up an order. They handed me an empty cup, every once in a while I will just fill the drinks to avoid an awkward convo, but today I just did not feel like doing somebody else’s job. So I do what I normally do and politely ask if they can fill it, and the lady was an immediate bi*ch and said no. I informed her that per the contract it is her job to fulfill the order and she responded with “I don’t give a F, this is how we do it here if you don’t like it, get the F out“.
So I called DoorDash and told them that the restaurant was refusing to fulfill the drink. Agent seemed to know immediately what to do and rang the restaurant, I walked back inside to listen and an argument between DoorDash and the manager lady ensued. She was screaming at the support agent asking for another driver, because “this driver is a douche that doesn’t wanna do his job“, I could barely hear, but it sounded like the agent said “it’s actually your job and we’re not sending another driver. You either fulfill this order or we cancel it and report the restaurant”
After a little bit more bickering between the two, the call ended and the agent picked up the on my end. He said that he was making a report because he heard the nasty names she was calling me and that this restaurant will be undergoing a review by DoorDash for violating the merchant contract.
For those of you that say it’s just a drink it’s not a big deal, I tend to agree. However, where do you draw the line? Soon we will be bagging the orders if we don’t push back a little. And it seems support has our back on this!
Edit: I almost forgot the most important part, she filled the drink!!

I saw bruce johnston at a gas station by disney world the other day. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything. He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?” I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen tootsie roll boxes in his hands without paying. The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter. When she took one of the boxes and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan each tootsie roll individually “to prevent any electoral infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each roll and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by adjusting an imaginary mic in her face

I saw Joji at a grocery store in New York yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn't want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything. He said, "Oh, like you're doing now?" I was taken aback, and all I could say was "Huh?" but he kept cutting me off and going "huh? huh? huh?" and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying. The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like "Sir, you need to pay for those first." At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter. When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her an told her to scan them each individually "to prevent any electrical interference” and then turned around and winked at me. I don't even think that's a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.

So i was out in town skateboarding at 3in the morning bc why not we ballin, that was what i needed yk (my bf at the time and i had got in a fight and broke up so i went skateboarding to clear my head,
Anyways So a cop sees me skateboarding on the side of the road theres zero cars around its just me and that cop. She stops me ask where im headin, for id, reasons i was out so late etc... i told her i was just out clearing my head this is what i chose to do instead of anything else, she understood and asked some more questions looked up my name yada yada
Also i am 19 female talked to the cops like 2 weeks or so before my 19th bday (may 11) im in texas. So, she said she would feel safer if she took me home and i wasnt gonna say no to a cop (i get really bad anxiety when having to deal with them bc every cop in my town sucks) she pats me down and then i get in and shes driving were talking etc she askin me a whole bunch of personal questions. We get there and theres another cop with 2 males one was a Sargent. Same thing askin me questions, asked me if i knew any drug dealers etc🤣 then they say they were gonna go through my bag and if there was anything there shouldn't be in there and im like all i have in there is a speaker a water bottle and a vape. The girl goes thro my shit finds the vape, takes it and the cops are scolding me about having it and then the male cop not the sargent was like "do you really think youre smart riding around town at 3am" i said no sir and he said "why" i said, "i can get kidnappped, hit by a carrrr, etc and then he said something douche baggy i cant remember and i tuned him out im ngl.. LOL oh i also had another vape in my pocket they took too
So now i have a charge for "possession of cigarettes" as it was a regular vape... But yh they gave me court for it. Everyone ive talked to said they had no reason to search me and i should fight it but with the way cops are around here i will honestly just make myself a target to them over what probably a not thaat bad fine. I also dont even know how i would.. but im not fighting it. I got some cool vids n pics skateboarding on the dead main roads with some music going, no regrets it was a vibe
But court date lingering giving me anxiety 😤

I get this type of comment a lot since I began dating my gf. People tell her she looks like a model. I take care of myself (I go gym 6x a week for years) and have visible muscles in a t shirt, but my face is very average.
Since I began dating her people will say that I’m punching above my weight, “how have you landed her” or “what’s she doing with you” (this is said in a sarcastic tone but it still annoys me)
Ever since then I began just saying things like “of course she’s with me, just look at me”, or “who wouldn’t be into me? I’m great” or “I can pull anyone”. Ever since I began saying this, my friends have said I sound like a huge douche bag. The thing is, I think they’re limiting themselves with the concepts of “leagues” and stuff. I never had this view of someone being out of my league before, so when I hear people trying to force me into a box or certain number, I get very annoyed. AITA?

I saw the Dragonborn at the market in Whiterun yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything. He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?” I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen potatoes in his hands without paying. The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter. When she took one of the potatoes and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.

So I am Team Jess and have been since the original run (I was 12 when season 1 aired). Every year I re-watch and I'm always curious to see if my opinion changes. I feel like Logan is often presented as the mature choice but I'm 36 and still find him to be a massive douche bag.
My question is, if you're team Logan, at what point does that happen?
Straight away? In season 6? Season 7? AYITL?
I've just watched the infamous stealing a yacht episode which is clearly presented as being Rory's idea so I don't blame him for that... but so far he and his friends are just massive douche bags?! And Rory has changed since being with him, and not for the better... I'm just really curious if people find him charming at this stage and, if so, why?!

okay so i made a post when i first started QoS, and here’s my take for after. it’s always the last 100 or so pages man, it’s all i can think about. go grab some popcorn, here we go. i love rowen and aelin, i don’t care about the age gap and i know he was a douche canoe in the beginning but IMO aelin needed to be humbled. she needed someone to push her and to tell her no. i love rowan and that’s that. Manon, you miss girl.. thank you for finally getting off your high wyvern witch shiz and understanding it’s okay have feelings, my gosh. that took long enough. i still really want her to back Terrasen when it comes down to the big bang though. i hope the realizes what Perrington, i mean Erawan, is AKA a bag of crazy nuts. Im so proud of Aelin for how far she’s come and her acceptance in becoming Queen. the growth man🥺 i love her story and what she stands for. i do want to know how arobyn found her though. did he off her family? did he send assassins to off her family? idk but i am sure as heck glad he’s offed. he deserved he, he was always a POS but that ring stunt?!?! oh goodness. Lysandra, girl you did that!!! i wanted to hate you because of the beginning of the series but i don’t, not even a bit. you have grown so much and you really played the part well when needed. thank you for your hard work. i really want to see you happy and fall in love. maybe Aedion?!?! i can kinda see it… Aedion to me is just there so far, he’s a huge part of aelins journey in building terrasen but nonetheless just there… he does get points though for being willing to sacrifice himself for rowen. Poor Chaol though, that guy was done dirty. He too was a douche canoe however, i did want to see him happy. and he is with Nesryn (love her) but that man can never catch a break. hopefully the SC can help with the back issues. My guy Dorian, long time no see. Glad to see you’re back, maybe not better than ever, but at least you’re not a wimp anymore. and thank goodness you weren’t a goner because that collar almost had ya, woof…. please seek help about the nightmares and keep working on controlling that power. you give me golden retriever vibes with a hint of spice and i’ve always loved that about you. i think i have ptsd though from other books because in the back of my head i question if the demon dude is gone. i sure as crap hope. lastly THE KING BRO WTH. DIDNT SEE THAT ONE COMING. i thought he was Earwan but was i wrong. i still have trouble if i believe him or not about wanting to have done the right thing all these years but not having control. it makes sense, but also id definitely make up some stuff if i was on my death bed. but he did wish to be unalived so there’s that too. i hope we learn more about that situation because so many unanswered questions. also i want to learn more about Elide. she popped up out of nowhere where and we don’t have enough about her. so far she’s a badass and i hope she finds celaena aka aelin and rallies with her. plus someone fix the girls leg please.
thanks for reading! :) onto the tandem!

I saw Jeff at a grocery store in Virginia Beach yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything.
He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?” I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen Milky Ways in his hands without paying.
The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter.
When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bar and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.

The following is an original work of fan fiction. It will only make sense if you’ve read Corpies and SP4
“Fucking bullshit cock-garglers!” Hannah, formerly known as Hexcellent, uttered louder than she intended.
Luckily, she was sitting by herself in a third floor private room in the brand new wing of the Sizemore undergraduate library. On the main floor, any sound louder than a fart would’ve earned a collective, “shhhhh,” and annoyed stares from half the people studying. And frankly, as difficult as these Gen Chem practice exams were, the former PEERS would be spitting out a few more expletives before she was done.
Hannah glanced at her watch and sighed heavily. It was 4:43 PM. She still had two and a half hours before she’d need to head to the lift to meet Devon and Kacey, two other first year HCP students, for some evening training. Okay, you got this girl. You just fucked up some amped criminal supers, you can handle goddamn mass to mole composition formula and stoichiom-whatever-the-fuck, she thought to herself. With resigned determination, the HCP student began swiping through class presentation slides on her tablet, reviewing problems she had trouble with. For a solid 2 hours her eyes never left the material and she honestly started to feel more comfortable with what she needed to know. Hannah was in the zone. That was until she was interrupted by a knock on the door.
“What. The actual. Fuck?“ Hannah said slowly as she looked up towards the door and the adjacent window.
The summoner saw two boys standing outside, one of whom was a short muscular guy with dark brown hair that she recognized. She was fairly certain his name was Lucas, and that he was another HCP first year. He was in the alternative class though, while Hannah was in combat, so they hadn’t been around each other a whole hell of a lot. The other seemed familiar, but she couldn’t put her finger or on where she’d seen him before. They were each moving their mouths, and pointing a finger at themselves and into the room clearly asking if they could come in. Hannah got up and opened the door.
“Hey, Helen, right? You think that we can study in here with you? All the good tables downstairs are full. I just met Tristan here and he’s in the same predicament as me,” said Lucas before he lowered his voice to a whisper, leaned his head in, and pointed to the boy he referred to as Tristan. “He’s in the same ummm…special program as us. In his 2nd year.”
With that information, Hannah realized where she’d seen that guy. He was at the freshman party hosted by the second years. She remembered thinking that he came off as kind of a douchebag by the way he was standing around, nursing the same drink with a smug look on his face the whole time.
“Yeah, sure, whatever. As long as you guys dont act like complete assholes and make a bunch of noise. I gotta focus for about another 30 minutes then the room is yours. Cool?”
“Cool,” the boys said in unison.
“And it’s Hannah by the way. Not Helen. You’re Lucas, right?” She held out her hand towards him.
Lucas politely shook her hand. “Sorry about that Hannah. I’m terrible at remembering names,” he said with a slight shrug. “Just gonna grab a seat on this side so I can stay outta your way.” He held out his arm towards the opposite side of the table from where Hannah had been sitting and started walking over there.
Tristan walked in and closed the door behind himself. He gave Hannah a simple head nod and smirk but never formerly introduced himself. Very similar to his demeanor at the party; as though he couldn’t be bothered.
Yep, arrogant douche, she thought. Then she pictured the look of surprise on the 2nd year’s face if she were to manifest her big furry friend to accidentally-on-purpose kick him in the balls.
Hannah had often wondered if anyone in the HCP realized her summon was the same giant bunny that helped save Brewster almost a year ago. Titan had told her the DVA would hide any association between the tower-sized rabbit and her PEERS persona but she figured that once classmates saw her summon for the first time they’d make the connection. That didn’t seem to be the case though, at least as far as she knew. It helped that when she summoned Hopcules these days, he was about the same height and stature as Titan. None of her combat training took place outside yet, so no one in HCP got to see her manifestation at his full potential size. He’d also taken on more humanistic facial expressions lately and had been appearing in a variety of different clothes and accessories. Hell, the last time she trained with Kacey, the hulking rabbit materialized in a denim vest, a blue bandanna on his head, metal spiked leather bracelets around his wrists, brass knuckles, and with gold chains around his neck. Kacey couldn’t stop laughing during their sparring session until Hopcules had her bound and hog tied. Even with her enhanced strength, she couldn’t break free of what evidently weren’t just plain gold necklaces. It hadn’t dawned on Hannah until later that, the night before, she’d fallen asleep to an old 80s action flick about a renegade cop taking on a vicious street gang. She wondered if tonight her childhood protector would show up in a lab coat, holding a periodic table. The Sizemore freshman briefly shook her head to snap herself out of her thoughts and sat down to resume her work. She’d gotten fully back into her study mode until…
“Yo, does sound carry out of this room?” Tristan asked.
“Seriously?! You do remember that whole bit about NOT being obnoxious assholes, right?”Hannah asked incredulously.
“Damn girl chill. I just wanted to ask my guy here a question and didn’t want to risk being overheard. You should smile more girl. You know what I mean?“
Relax. Breathe. You don’t want to be seen as a troublemaker. It would not be a good idea to kick this fucker’s ass while inside of the school library. Or would it be? No. No. Definitely not a good idea, she thought to herself.
“Well unless you two were standing outside of here practicing at being mimes as a back up in case you don’t make it to graduation, I’m pretty sure this room is well insulated to sound.”
Tristan grunted in indignation and sarcastically replied, “you’re hilarious.”
“I’m definitely going all the way through. No way I won’t graduate,” Lucas chimed in, seemingly oblivious to the tension that’d just arisen between the other two people in the room. I’ve known I wanted to be a hero ever since I was little. My parents have spent a fortune sending me to an elite training camp for the last seven summers to make sure I’d be as prepared as possible for the HCP. Plus I’ve had personal coaches work with me for years on new ways to use my power.”
“Bro! That’s what I was wanting to ask you about. I saw the logo on on your bag. Holy shit, did you do the SETA training camps?” asked Tristan.
“Yeah, I take it you’ve heard of it.”
“Hell yeah I have. The Super Elite Training Academy. Who hasn’t? I hear those workouts are so intense. No wonder you’re so jacked. You must’ve been in great shape for your first day here. Mad props bro. Is it true you get to fight against human looking robot…”
“Hey! Tweedledum and tweedle-dickless, I honestly didn’t know there was such a thing as a two-man circle jerk, so I really appreciate the show but is there any chance I can get back to work without any more distractions?“
Lucas had mixture surprise and guilt run across his face. He opened his mouth as though he was about to say something, but glanced over to Tristan and stayed silent.
“What? You mad because you’re realizing you can’t stack up against the competition. Guess what. My guy here isn’t the only one who’s been preparing for this program long before he was admitted. I’ve been getting ready for years too. Trained in jiu-jitsu and boxing on top of honing my super abilities. Have you even done anything? Or did you just apply and cross your fingers?”
Hannah could see where this was going in. She decided in that moment to just let it play out. Fuck it, she thought. She was basically done studying. Even if she failed the final, which she was confident that she wouldn’t, she’d still pass the class. She stood up, pressed an icon on her tablet touchscreen and began putting other things away in her bag while she spoke. “Actually, I never had any special training as a kid. To tell you the truth, I shouldn’t even be here. I got into some trouble years ago. The kind of trouble that normally prevents one from getting admitted into an HCP. But, I was on a PEERS team for years and I got to do a lot of…
“Ha! You’re telling us you’re fucking a Corpie. Can you believe this, dude?“ Tristan nudged Lucas, looking for his agreement. To his credit, Lucas appeared visibly uncomfortable and leaned away from the other boy.
“Don’t know what it says about your class if they’re letting Corpies in,” continued Tristan with a sneer. “I guess you really do need to study. Obviously you’re the one that needs a back up plan. And here’s another thing little girl. It’s not just about how much you’ve trained beforehand, it’s also about who you know. And I know people. My mom‘s best friend is related to the Hero, Unseelie. So I’ve actually met a few Heroes who I’m sure will vouch for me when the time comes. Pity you can’t say the same. We all know Heroes don’t give two shits about Corpies.”
For a moment Hannah’s face expressed a flat affect. Then suddenly she burst into laughter. And not just some derisive laugh as though she was trying to convey to Tristan that she didn’t take his comments seriously. But an eye watering, oxygen depriving, honest to the Gods belly laugh. The kind of laugh that would’ve been contagious had she been around friends. She carried on for a minute until her amusement died down to a just a mild chortle. Hannah wiped her eyes. “You know people?“ She started laughing again, even louder than the first time. “Oh my Gods. Stop. Stop. I can’t breathe. Is this your fucking power?” Hannah was bent over at the waist still laughing hysterically, holding out one finger as to communicate, “give me a second.” After another minute, she wiped her eyes again, took a big gulp of air, and collected herself. “Woooh. Now that was some funny fucking shit.”
“Who in the hell do you think…“ Tristan started to say through gritted teeth.
“No no no. Please don’t get me started again. I don’t think my ribs can take it,“ said Hannah still chuckling some. “Let’s see what have I done and who do I know? You know I always knew that eventually I’d tell people about this, I just didn’t think it would go down like this.” The summoner raised her hand, then slowly curled it into a fist. Standing 3ft tall and leaning into the corner so as not to be visible to anyone who happened to be looking into the room at that moment, was Hopcules, adorned in the same armor he’d worn on the day he helped to save Brewster. “Look familiar to anyone?”
“That looks like the giant rabbit that fought robots with Titan. Hare-a-clees or something like that. My little sister has like 5 of its t-shirts,” Lucas responded.
“Wow kid, you really are shit with remembering names. Hop-cu-les is the name I gave him when I was just a child. Surprised the shit outta me that he came out the size of a skyscraper when those robots nearly killed me and my team, ” Hannah stated nonchalantly as she waved her hand and made Hopcules fade away.
With a grudging realization, Tristan began to ask, “wait, you’re not actually saying…”
“Oh look, captain mc-douche-nozzle is catching on. Somebody give the kid a prize. Yes, dumbass, I’m actually saying I fought with Titan, yes, thee fucking Titan, with every other Hero team in Brewster to stop those mechs from destroying the entire city. I’m saying the strongest hero alive is my personal mentor and it was his recommendation that got me into this program.”
Lucas looked back and forth between Hannah and Tristan having already realized that the sophomore might be one of those guys who’d lash out over his perceived inferiority. Lucas was so curious though he had to ask, “but… But, that rabbit is everywhere these days. Not just T-shirts. Toys, a cartoon, and I just read there’s going to be a next-gen console video game based on his character. If you own the rights to that image, you’d be loaded.“
“Eh,” Hannah said with shrug. “Youre leaving out the movie deal Lenny just got for me, but not something I talk about too much . It leaves me enough to be comfortable and to be able to donate a library wing to the university thats giving me a shot at being a hero.” Hannah responded. She gave Tristan a quick wink and glanced over her shoulder towards the door.
Tristan looked in the same direction and noticed something he hadn’t bothered paying attention to before, a small engraving on the center of the door of a bipedal rabbit. This would’ve been the most surprising thing that he’d seen since he set foot in the room if it wasn’t for the photo that appeared on Hannah’s tablet now facing him. It was an image of five people: Graham De Soto, the new head of the DVA, Titan in his iconic Hero costume, Dean Jackson, a large muscular young man with a shit eating grin who Tristan didn’t recognize, and another person in a generic gray mask, presumably female, and wearing a smile of malicious enjoyment, the same as the woman standing before him.
Hannah saw what caught his attention and picked up her tablet. “Oh, did you notice this? I love this picture. Titan called me in for back up as a Temporary Emergency Hero Asset. We beat the shit out of a literal army of enhanced criminal supers and took this picture after everything calmed down. All the other HCP deans were there too. Mr. Desoto actually told me if I ever needed a favor, he owed me one.” Hannah wore a wistful expression as she thought back on that day with fondness.
“Anyway, I gotta get outta here. S’posed to meet up with my training partners. Cause no matter what your background is or who you know, no one is a shoe-in for the final 10. Lucas, feel free to meet us in the combat cells tonight if you want to get a work out in and get tired of hanging out with this fuckwad. Later losers!” Hannah said this last part as she turned around and headed towards the door while holding up her middle finger for all to see.
Tristan was obviously livid. His hands had been visibly shaking as he stood and listened to all the ways this 1st year had accomplished more than he’d even thought possible for student. Who does this little bitch think she is? She’s full of shit. She has to be. I’ll show her. From his elbows down, Tristan‘s arms began to darken. In seconds the two appendages looked like small tree trunks, with his fingers elongating into barbed tendril-liked branches rapidly moving towards Hannah.
Although Lucas had worked for years to improve his ability to cast his energy based illusionary environments-referred to by one quirky coach in the past as a “holodeck”- speed was an element that he continued to struggle with. He began to cast a simple illusion of darkness, so as to blind Tristan, but he knew almost immediately that it wouldn’t reach him in time. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw furry white movement. The miniature Hopcules had reappeared and was running towards the back of the chair Tristan had been sitting in. With a parkour maneuver that would make Jackie Chan jealous, Hopcules leapt from the floor to the chair, then from the chair to the rear wall. He torpedoed off of the wall with the force of both hind paws and made contact Tristan’s head, knocking the arrogant second year to the floor. He laid there dazed and confused about what had just struck him as his branches retracted and his arms returned to normal. The summon vanished before he even touched the ground.
Hannah smiled as she exited the room. Thanks be to the Gods. I was hoping that piece of shit would try something so I could have self-defense as an excuse. Kacey and Devon better be ready. I’m already warmed up.

I used to watch this guy years ago and was subscribed to him on YouTube. I appreciated his simple takes on tool care, knife & axe sharpening, best knife blade shapes to get a splinter out, etc. Stuff like that. When he started preaching I’d just hit the next button, same thing when he would pull his guns out. Over time I watched him less and less as he became more and more righteous. Eventually, I unsubscribed and he just seemed to go away from my online experience until this week.
He showed up in a YouTube short with his water meter valve stick and bolt cutters explaining how the Filthy Gubment will shut off your water, none of it made any sense. I started investigating further just to see how far this guy sunk. Next video short I saw was him explaining how to stop the robots with rope in a completely dorky new look and get up, to me looked like a South Park character. Then another video short on guys who don’t wash their Jean jackets (so not ruin the deep rich dark blue color)and put them in the freezer to kill the bacteria.
I read the Rolling Stone article and thankfully I missed the videos where he showed how to make a bomb, the UN helmet tips, the video where he’s drunk bashing women and all the other bullshit like that.
I’ve watched so many people on YouTube go from nothing to complete douche bags throwing cash at everything that was simple in the beginning and became materialistic, but seeing this dork’s anti-gubment angle is a new one to me.

I saw Ludwig at a grocery store in Los Angeles a couple years ago. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything. He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?” I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen cheese ball buckets in his hands without paying.
The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter.
When she took one of the buckets and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each bucket and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly and saying something about immaculate vibes.

So I’m well versed when it comes to the stuff surrounding the band whether it be the accusations tillian had or other things that happened with the band in the past but I’ve been seeing a lot AND I MEAN a lot of people complaining and starting a mob over Ronnie Radke and I do not understand why in the slightest , now maybe it’s because I don’t have the same attitude that most of the people who listen to this band do cuz a lot of you say he’s a douche bag and this that and the other and I can’t help but think it’s hilarious to watch the entire subreddit ( people on Reddit being the vocal minority most of the time) say a bunch of shit about him even tho he’s a genuinely down to earth and funny person and someone I think that the rock/metal/-core scene needs rn , his attitude of just idgaf what anyone else is saying cuz in the end I’m here and you’re there attitude is what’s keeping him above most of the people I hear whining about him and FIR, and I genuinely would like to know wtf he did that has yall so up in arms like , the mic stand incident? , the prison time?? Who gaf. Even when the accusations came out about tilian I waited and I watched and I remained neutral cuz at the end of the day I’m in the minority cuz I dgaf

PLEASE DM ME DIRECTLY REGARDING THIS - THANK YOU

Douche bag Hotdog claimed they were going to sue me for posting a video on the YouTube channel. They quickly backtracked and claimed they were going to make a Patreon to charge for their own content, then report the video(s) I have uploaded on YouTube for content/IP theft. SO, for the time being, I'm going to private all of the videos on the YouTube channel (Adora and Mel's videos too) until I can find a way to either post them somewhere with private access OR find a way to change the videos where they are not breaking any sort of copyright law.
I'm aware that this is going to be quite a bummer for a lot of people, but quite frankly, I do not want any of these videos to get taken down. All of these assholes need to be accountable for the harm they're causing. Me recording these live streams are the only way we're going to have some receipts if they say some fuck shit. Therefore, I'm not going to stop recording - things are going to keep being recorded, this is my promise. It may just not be uploaded to YouTube. If anyone has any suggestions or ideas for where I could keep these videos where you all could still view them, I'd be more than happy to welcome them all.
In the meantime, if someone has something that they want specifically clipped out of one of the streams or a particular guest segment, please let me know and I'll post it directly to the Reddit. You're more than welcome to DM me on here.
Much love,
Turbo <3
Edit 1: Pretty sure I was accidentally misgendering hotdog, so I changed the pronouns. Edit 2: I want to thank everyone for all of the kind words, especially the ones that have offered up ideas for me to get these videos back into your hands - it will be soon, I promise. I also want to thank everyone for the words of encouragement, it genuinely means a lot to me. Edit 3: While you wait, I'm putting together a YouTube playlist of my favorite music. The range of my taste is quite wide, so I hope you find something you like or discover something new. Edit 4: Okay, so I'm still getting questions sometimes on a random comment of mine and even posts about this PLEASE PLEASE understand that you are genuinely MORE THAN WELCOME TO DM ME. I know not everyone saw this post and that's okay, but please don't be afraid to reach out to me directly. I promise I'm not angry or irritated at all with the people who have asked about it, your questions are totally understandable - I mainly prefer the DM because I'm much more likely to see it. Edit 5: I'm currently trying to go back through these videos and descriptions to add fair use disclaimers. Also, thanks to a great suggestion from u/PrettyPrune3812 I'm going to mark all of the videos as "Unlisted" and not private for the time being. I will link a document below that has links to all the videos. While I totally get this isn't exactly the easiest way for you all to watch these, just wanting to stress that I'm doing it for reasons listed above.
Edit 6: Welp, someone ruined all the fun. Unfortunately, you'll have to DM me if you want the link to new the document. I apologize, but this is how it's gonna be for a minute until I get the videos reworked. Thanks again for the patience.
Again, I appreciate you all and I greatly apologize for the temporary inconvenience. Thanks so much for the kind words and the patience. You're all awesome!

Game is a great sequel and enjoying how much content they gave us! Just curious, did you all focus on beating Chronos first before diving into whats happening on the surface? Or go back and forth? I go to the surface to get supplies I need but mainly am focused on beating Douche bag time lord first haha. I am wondering how other's minds work!

Hi everyone so my fiancé and I have been engaged for about a 6 months, been together for five years. my fiancé is the oldest of three siblings the youngest is a special needs sister which means she takes up both of her parents life caring for her. Father does morning shift the mom does everything else.
Throughout my fiancé and I's relationship her father and her mother have been hot and cold on and off 1000 times and most recently on the verge of divorce because my fiancé‘s father treats his wife with absolute disrespect and insults on a daily basis.
This is especially hard on my fiancé because we’re getting married in one year next June 2025 and she’s witnessing her parents marriage for almost 30 years end.
When I first met my fiancé she told me about how her dad is a real douche bag to her mom. He's lazy and takes her for granted. Her mom is the breadwinner and he's a sole plumber with his business he works whenever he feels like it. I’ve gotten to know him over the years and he’s only been kind to me. but he definitely is a wanna be tough guy he thinks because he has a motorcycle he can walk all over his wife.
I’ve seen the two of them fight from last Thanksgiving and other previous holidays and it isn’t pretty. Ultimately ends up with my fiancé‘s father leaving the house and not to be seen until the event is over or he plays that he’s sick and goes upstairs and not to be seen again.
Today was the last straw. it’s Mother’s Day and he makes my future mother-in-law cry. I don’t know all the context but I know that animosity towards each other is off the charts. he is probably clinically bipolar, how he treats my future wife’s mother is destroying the whole family.
I wish I could ask him do you see how the way you act affects your children and everyone else in the family. you can have disagreements with your spouse but you don’t have to call them a fucking idiot in front of us constantly.
And just stop being an asshole and just get a divorce if you really can’t stand being with her. just know that you will lose everything and everyone that has ever done a nice thing for you. And you will be a lonely man with memories of your children.
Now I know some of you might be thinking well what is the mother like. when I tell you this is the sweetest person and most selfless person I’ve ever met in my life I’m not joking. She is the most kind lady and She is the one that has drafted up divorce papers because he keeps calling her by her maiden name because he doesn’t feel she's actually his wife. He's a lazy scum bag with a lonely sole plumbing business that can barely bring in enough to to feed him one night a week.
Whew. So obviously this sucks for my fiance andI. Once or twice a week we have to talk about how he upset someone in the family. I said to my fiancé and future mother-in-law I’ll talk to him. they wrote it off and are like he’s just acting up and they dont go any further from there.
What to say what to do people