Using a throwaway account for obvious reasons. I just really need to tell this to people who will understand me.
I'm relatively new to this profession, only been working for the better part of a year as a teacher's aide. I've noticed many shady practices happen at this facility, and today I was pretty much let go.
Our facility is known in town to be the center that takes children with pretty intense behavioral issues. None of which any of the staff are trained for. In fact, when I was hired, I was hired on the spot and never informed of how severe the children's issues were. I was fed lies that I'd be trained better, except I never was, and that's pretty much how this whole thing started.
I was placed into a room I asked numerous times not to be put in. All my director had to say to that was "we need someone like you in that room!". Every time I complained, or directly asked not to be there, I was flat out ignored. The only reason they had stopped putting me in this room was because it got to the point where I was in tears and ready to walk out, only then did they stop putting me in that room.
I find it pretty infuriating, seeing as how certain staff seem to get certain privileges and placed in the rooms they want. But I never was treated very well at this place. I'm convinced the co-director had it out for me, every time we were in a room together, she found something to complain about. I got confronted for 'being on my phone and not watching the kids' to open our shared work app to ask when we were bringing the kids in. Another time she made a snide comment about my weight. A child who is a family member of hers attends that daycare, and she gets all the special treatment imaginable, and is terribly behaved. Said child hits, punches, kicks, ect whenever they're told to do something. Or they just scream at the top of their lungs and throw a huge tantrum, ruining whatever activity the other teachers had for the other students. When confronted, all the codirector had to say about this was "all the women in her family act like that". It's enabled, and I can't even list all of the other behavior I've seen that was downright encouraged and not broken.
I honest to God don't know why she didn't like me, but over time it really felt like the director didn't either. The only reason I'm really upset is because I don't know what I did wrong. I loved and cared for those children, but apparently I was disliked enough by my director and co-director.
This morning, I had gotten a call from my boss saying she was taking me off the schedule for 2 weeks because I needed to be 'trained better'. When I asked when I would be coming back she said she didn't know, which should have been my first red flag. The provided reasons were I "didn't change a diaper good enough twice" and I was 'too rough' with a student and family had complained.
I find the first claim a little out there, because she claimed it had happened this week. I was only in said room that it happened in once, and I wasn't in charge of diapers. It could well have been an error on my part, but I was never informed I didn't do a good enough job. The second time apparently she was sent home without a diaper, but I was not the one to change her. The error couldn't have been my fault. I feel like this could have been confronted with asking me to do a better job, but I never was. This has never been an issue before.
The second incident, a child in another room who absolutely knew better was terrorizing little girls he was sitting next to, hitting them and spitting at them. I told him to cut it out multiple times, and he just gave me a big smile and stuck his tongue out on me. I had enough and moved him to sit by himself, and he kicked and hit and screamed, throwing a huge tantrum when I moved him. I kept placing him back in the chair, but apparently that was enough to be complained about that I'm 'too rough' with the children. That day I was also sent home early because I was burnt out, and when asking if I did anything wrong or if I was in trouble I was told no. So I have no clue why this is being brought up weeks later.
I've pretty much come to the conclusion she suspended my work schedule because she didn't want me there. She didn't want to go through with the process of firing me, so she wanted me to do it by myself and just not come back. I'm a little surprised, given teachers at this facility have straight up restrained children and even lost them outside but still have a job, but what I did was too much? I don't even know what I did to be disliked so much, I really think it's a personal thing. She knew I was on the verge of being talked to for weeks, kept me on the schedule so she could hire new people, and screwed me over. As soon as I said I didn't think I wanted to come back, immediately I was booted from the work app. After I apologized profusely and asked questions. No reply, through text mind you. I really just think neither of the directors wanted me working for no reason, and came up with something to get me over.
I tried to work my hardest, I cared for these children with everything I had, and I wasn't supported or worked with in the slightest. All complaints went in one ear and out the other, and it devastates me. I was working with a facility who only cares about money and not the well-being and safety of the children, given all the violent students that attend and are never pulled out. I saw my director get punched in the face, sworn at, and threatened to sue by a child. She let that kid come back.
Maybe it's for the best, but I just don't want anyone to think I'm a bad person, I tried my hardest and it still wasn't enough, and I don't know why they didn't like me. I was never gossiped about to my knowledge, and most of my coworkers seemed to like me. In fact, I was the preferred person to work with from what I heard.
I think I'm done with childcare for now. My heart can't handle all of this. I just wanted to help out and I don't know why I was so disliked by my directors. It really does feel personal. I feel like I deserve to work somewhere where I'm not treated like garbage and actually appreciated.
Sorry for the super long rant, I'm just devastated. I'm not going to miss the toxic work environment, but I sure am going to miss some of my coworkers and kiddos.

The West is stomping around, bragging that "we've really pissed Putin off. Well... no. " It isn't that we've merely pissed them off- that implies a certain emotionalism or recklessness.
The Russians are far more cerebral than that. They're chess players. By comparison, Americans are playing tiddlywinks and throwing temper tantrums. What else do you call the antics of lawmakers like MTG?!
They've been watching America's habitual belligerence around the world for decades and they understand that when the American military industrial complex wants to pump up profits, they have to pick a fight. The fight has to be big enough to credibly scare the average American sitting in his easy chair, swilling beer and cussing at the tube, otherwise they don't get extra appropriations and their stock price doesn't go up. But it can't be TOO big, because then the hardware they built might be exposed as the fucking garbage that it is because it was designed to make defense industry profits rather than win wars.
Now, America has decided that, because Russia won't kiss the ring, trade in dollars, let American private equity buy up all of its useful assets or ship resources to the US for pennies on the dollar, that they're the "bad guys" and we need to "teach them a lesson."
Ukraine is a long standing project of the above kind of subjugation, the final step of which is to make them a NATO member so we can force them to go into crushing debt to buy billions of dollars worth of hot garbage from American defense contractors, just like we've done to the rest of Europe. Well, Russia has been very clear, again for decades, that they're not having it. They want a buffer between the kids table and themselves in case the little brats start throwing food and missiles - they want some distance between NATO and Moscow.
America is the ultimate spoiled rotten bully and you know how such impulsive thugs get when someone tells them, "no!" And so sure as hell, when all the children on Capitol Hill start screaming and yelling about how Russia is "the enemy" and start the same bullshit escalation ladder of rhetoric and sanctions that we've done a hundred times before against everyone from Iraq to Venezuela, Russia is paying attention. They have to; they're tiny compared to America in terms of population, GDP and manufacturing output. Ultimately, this posturing by America often leads to war. Again, America spends YEARS doing this so that canny leaders can see it coming. It's really, really stupid if you think about it.
So the United States fomented a coup in Ukraine in 2014 after other efforts to control the country had failed. Russia, the chess players that they are, saw this move coming a mile away and executed plans to protect their naval base in Crimea, to bring the ethnic Russian majority population under the protection of Russia, and even to build an engineering marvel called the Kursk Bridge so they could link it by road and railway to Russia.
The Ukrainians, now firmly under the control of Washington, started shelling, bombing and simply murdering ethnic Russians throughout the eastern part of the country. Russia tried everything to bring this under control, even signing the Minsk I and II Accords to bring peace and stability to the region. They were disrespected at every turn.
That's when Putin said enough was enough and they invaded Ukraine. The point was to clear out the Banderist thugs committing the ethnic cleansing against the ethnic Russian locals and to demilitarize Ukraine but the West kept pouring money and weapons into the country and now it's become the mess we see today.
For America in particular and more generally for their vassal States in Europe, this is just another square on the geostrategic playing field; they want Ukraine and by God, they're gonna have it- but it's on the far side of the planet from home. By contrast, the war is happening on Russia's front porch and so Russia sees this as an existential threat.
Let me say that again; the Russians see this as a threat to their homeland, ESPECIALLY now that Western backed forces are tossing missiles into Russia itself and we're placing nuclear capable missiles in eastern Europe. Remember how the US freaked out over nuclear capable missiles in Cuba? We damn near started WWIII. Well, now we're putting the Russians in the same position and telling the world that they're the belligerent ones. That might fly at cocktail parties in DC, London or Paris but Russia isn't playing games.
And now, here we are. French President Macaroni is planning to send troops to Ukraine. The United States is planning to send advanced weapons that the Ukrainians cannot operate themselves, so American soldiers will be in theater, operating those systems. The rest of the NATO alliance has already thrown their stockpile of reserve, cast off and obsolete arms at Ukraine, only to see it all trashed in short order- or sold on into the international arms black market.
The Russians have been warning the West that they WILL NOT tolerate a Ukraine under Western control, packed with NATO military hardware, a short jaunt from Moscow. They've been saying that for DECADES. The children on Capitol Hill hear only the defense industry lobbyists because that's who keeps them in their seats in Congress.
The Russians are winning the war in Ukraine and it would be long over if Ukraine hadn't gotten all that "help" from the West. They know that will not sit well with the United States and they want to make sure the spoiled brats in Washington understand that They. Are. Not. Playing. Russia has the largest nuclear weapons stockpile on the planet, the freshest fleet of ballistic missile submarines, nuclear capable hypersonic missiles and they will use them if push comes to shove.
But how do you demonstrate to the United States that you mean business without actually launching the nukes?
If you're not deeply, deeply concerned about where things are heading then it's probably only because no one laid it out for you like I just did.

Interesting comments from a doctor near me, found in an article online:
"Dr. Kieval adds, however, that the drive towards zero astigmatism may have a downside: forgetting those cataract patients who have successfully adapted to their astigmatism. “I’ve read articles over the years saying that zero astigmatism should be the standard of care,” he says, “but I think that’s a dangerously slippery slope when there are some elements of astigmatism that can be beneficial for patients.
“For example, you might have a patient with essentially zero sphericalequivalent and 0.75 to maybe 1.25 D of astigmatism,” Dr. Kieval continues. “Sometimes patients who have a zero spherical equivalent, but also a small amount of defocus from astigmatism, really love the effect that they get from their astigmatism, without understanding what it’s doing and why. Many of these patients are able to read reasonably comfortably at a computer or even at nearer distances because of the depth of focus that they’re getting from their astigmatism. Obviously, there are benefits to correcting it, but there are sometimes benefits to leaving it alone.”
Dr. Kieval looks at the spectacle wear of patients with zero spherical equivalent and a little astigmatism to determine which ones might appreciate more aggressive astigmatism treatment. “Sometimes the way I determine which ones will do better with the correction and which ones won’t is to ask, ‘Do you wear glasses?’ If they say, ‘I never really wore glasses, but sometimes I’ll put on a pair of reading glasses.’ That tells me they’re utilizing their astigmatism to get some depth of focus. If you correct that patient’s astigmatism to zero, they may say, ‘My distance vision is better, but I can’t read anymore or see things up close like I used to,’ and they might really be upset about that. The drive to zero astigmatism may not be the best thing for that particular patient,” he explains. “The patient who has the same refractive error but says, ‘I always wear glasses because my vision is blurry,’ is the patient for whom I’ll correct that astigmatism."
The full article is here:
https://www.reviewofophthalmology.com/article/astigmatism-how-low-can-you-go
Coincidentally, the last time I went for a checkup with the eye doc I had been seeing for years, he said my case was too challenging for his skill set. He said he was scheduling me to see Dr. Kieval next time.

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Might as well post publically too:
This is a letter to Lucien, the EM team, and anyone and everyone from the greater worldwide TST community. And isn’t that a trip to be able to say that it is worldwide? Which makes this all the much harder to write and all the more necessary.
Obviously, the recent events and the turmoil that it has created have been incredibly stressful, destabilizing, scary, and even maddening for so many of us. There are some fairly different perceptions of what has happened and what IS happening, and I suppose I am more looking at the path ahead…of what could happen, primarily because of the way things are being set up. And then forecasting what the future TST will look like due to the way they are being set up and the way this is all unfolding. Unfortunately, I have experienced this kind of thing before, and it’s all too familiar and predictable.
This points to one key issue I want to address that I do not think is being discussed enough, or maybe even at all: intent vs impact. A particular minister taking screenshots (fucking hell do I detest that term now!) of private minister conversations, which they thought were detrimental to the greater community, then sharing it with EM could possibly be seen as a cautionary and protective measure. Some would also view it as quite unsavory since nobody likes a narc. But that action COULD be seen as something done with a debatably “good” intention. I am being generous here. But then sharing those same screenshots of private conversations, from supposedly secure platforms, in our formerly private and secure Minister Slack, without obscuring any names or identifying pictures, during an EXCEPTIONALLY volatile time where our minister community was already incredibly scared, distrustful, with many entirely in the dark…the IMPACT of that action, regardless of intent, was incredibly harmful. The term adding fuel to a fire just could not be more appropriate here. It completely wrecked whatever trust was left. The level of fear increased drastically. I did not think things could get that much worse, but boy was I wrong!
It boggles my mind that Tracy Levin can’t admit and own the impact that had on our already fragile community. That lack of awareness and humility has also created some negative impacts, and that should be acknowledged as well.
Then let’s add in both Tracy's, and especially Tommy’s behavior and “communication skills” on said Slack. For sure I can say that Tommy has bullied, accused, name called, and just outright and unmistakably acted in ways that were utterly inappropriate as a minister and undoubtedly breaking our minister code of conduct. All the while other ministers are getting booted for similar and even not as harmful behaviour. Let’s set aside the intentions behind EM for allowing that to happen, but the impact that had just continued to retraumatize us all, continuing to destabilize and also solidifying the perception that Lucien’s movie night inner circle is getting more than special treatment. The fear of saying something “wrong” on our Slack, for fear of getting booted from Ministry, really started to set in.
Then, in maybe an incredible stroke of luck, a 10-day silent meditation retreat that I had scheduled six months ago took me away from this drama. I foolishly thought, or maybe hoped, that there was no way this could all get worse. Ha!
I just came out of retreat to find out Lucien created a Ministry Liaison team of his inner circle movie night friends. The impact of this has now PROVED without a doubt that LG is rewarding poor behavior to his buddies. Since I was previously asked to be the EM Liaison and a member of OrdCo, this all seemed very inappropriate, especially since some of these people aren’t even ministers! And then to give this team Admin access to Slack, especially the NONministers is another significant violation of trust and incredibly inappropriate and unacceptable. This is a Minister Slack, period. No one else admitted, full stop. There is no doubt LG sending his hit squad in to “clean up Slack” was just a thinly veiled mission to gather more screenshots, with the intention of booting more ministers, the ones that spoke negatively of EM, but even ones that simply, and in pretty benign ways, questioned what was going on. Which we just saw with the latest batch of “defrockings”.
The Ministry Slack is so quiet now, and in the little bit of catching up that I have done, ministers have straight out stated that they are afraid to say anything for fear of being fired, booted, or whatever we want to call it. What an impact this all has had on the people who oversee the whole community. There is so much continual trauma and painful suffering. That’s not an environment that I want to be in. I have done enough inner work that one of my most significant intentions in life is to make sure I don’t knowingly put myself in situations that are uncomfortable. And TST Ministry, hell, probably TST as a whole right now, feels very UNcomfortable for me.
I knew I would be wrestling with my relationship to this whole thing while on retreat, and it was really the first or second day that I had a big Captain Obvious inner question ringing through my head: Do I want more stress in my life, or less? It was not a hard choice to make, at all.
But beyond that, and thinking about how this continued harmful impact will potentially affect TST, that is an even bigger thing that I refuse to let myself endure.This LG inner circle Ministry Liaison team, Erin described to me as the one that will be helping rebuild TST Ministry. Well, the fact that some of the members, I’d say 5 conservatively, of this new team, are some of the most inflammatory and disruptive people in all of TST, and in my eyes, also some of the most unhealthy and unskillful as well. TST most certainly needs to get rebuilt, strengthened, and I think most importantly, HEALED. AND that will not be possible with this unqualified team, especially since Tommy and Tracy are the two who have caused some of the most significant harm.
This is another reason I just cannot have anything to do with TST now: if I stayed and tried to help, the perception of the community of ministers would be that I endorsed this team, and that’s something I could not live with. Stated clearly, I DO NOT approve of this Ministry Liaison Team and refuse to lower myself to work with them.
With all this in mind, I quit. I quit it all. Please remove me from all TST spaces and take down and delete all the services I have led and been a part of on TST TV and in the Ministry Archives. I cannot be associated with TST and its current path, especially with the ones steering and guiding the ship.
A warning to EM, you will NOT be able to rebuild something healthy and sustainable with the team you have assembled and the way you’ve been making decisions. Please reconsider, reevaluate, and take your time getting the right people—quality people with emotional intelligence and people skills, ones who have the best interest of TST in mind, not LG or whatever BS agenda they themselves may be holding. I truly hope you can pull out of this, and I wish you the best of luck.
I’m out.

So I was out with a buddy at one of those small town China buffets and he got a fortune cookie without any paper fortune in it. And I went home and made this. While listening to the album Wasteland to Wonderland by Paddy and the Rats.
It takes place in a world where science and magic coexist. Poorly. (Think S.T.A.L.K.E.R. but with wizards) The city and the countryside are ruled by a being known as the fateweaver. She rules with an iron fist, her command over sorcery absolute. Deep within the city her scientists are working on something. Something insidious. One of these decides that they wont be a part of it anymore. They are exiled from the city with a terrible curse and nowhere to go. There are rumors however of another sorcerer, who lives in an old estate far on the other side of the wastelands.
Bereft of any other ideas, they go. Ready to challenge fate.
Like my stuff? Check out the archive!: https://www.reddit.com/talkingtalltales/comments/1bdfpxb/timerafts_script_archive/
Want a comission of your own?: https://ko-fi.com/timeraft
Dialogue
SFX
Context
context that changes the audio
The listener has been cursed by a figure known as the fateweaver for refusing to work on a scientific project for them. They have fled from the fate weavers city and sought out a mysterious sorcerer to have the curse lifted
Unfortunately they didn't get very far past the edge of the estate.
Well well well what have my roses caught for me?
A trespasser all tangled up in the thorns. A dime a dozen drifter.
Trespasser trespasser why did come?
Seems you're a little tangled up there. Did you really think you’d just be able to waltz into my sanctuary? You have no idea how much danger you’re in right now.
You’re lucky that my roses judged you to be a good person at heart or their enchantments would have made you into a rat as soon as you pricked yourself on them. Then my cats would have probably eaten you.
So tell me why you came and I’ll cut you down and pretend I never saw you.
What's the matter trespasser? Devil got your throat?
What brought you here? Just what manner of mortal are you?
Oh it seems it can speak after all. Come on now.
You’re stammering. Talk slower.
A scientist you say? Well well well. It's not often I’m graced with the presence of a sage like yourself.
Tell me, child of science, why would you seek out a sorcerer? I don't suppose you came here just to check out my roses.
And what's this on your neck? Seems to my eyes to be a tendril from a curse mark.
Tongue clicking
Ooooh boy, somebody out there must really not like you huh? Why is that?
More stammering
Actually you know what? I’m not interested. Here let me unsheathe my knife and cut you down.
Cuts them down
Thud
Now I’m going to close my beautiful eyes for a moment. And when I open them you’re going to be gone. I'm going to go back to sleep and in the morning this will just seem like some silly dream.
Understand?
Alright sweet pea.
One
Two
Three
Deep breath
And you’re still here.
Ok let's try again shall we?
One…..
Two……
Frustrated sigh
Ok I’m starting to get a little bit angry now. You know you woke me up from a really wonderful dream?
I was driving down the coast roads in a long silver convertible. I think it was a thunderbird like from that Marc Cohn song.
I had the top down and the radio on. The sea breeze was tossing my hair just so and I had that lovely salty fresh taste in my mouth. You have no idea how much I long to return to the coast. To feel that breeze for real just one more time.
The sun was going down and the sky was a million radiant colors. Just exploding up from the ocean. I had my arm draped around the shoulder of some lounge singer. It was one of the nicest dreams I’ve had in a long long time.
And right in the middle of it, as my favorite song came on over the radio and that good looking singer started to sing along to it, so softly I could barely even hear. I leaned in for the kiss and what happened instead?
I woke up- alerted to a trespasser into my little sanctum. My hair is a mess and my mouth tastes like morning breath. And instead of some gorgeous singer, I get to spend this cloudy damp little night with you.
So you can see how I might be a little unamused right now. Clearly you’re not going to take the off ramp I so generously provided to you so explain why you’re here. It had better be a really good reason.
Listener stammers again
You know what shut up. Let me see that curse mark. The whole thing.
Shhhhh relax i just need to look. Take off your shirt.
Turn around.
Traces their finger over the curse mark
Oh ohh damn. You’re really up the creek aren't you? You’ve been cursed by the fateweaver herself.
I’ve seen this before. It's a very insidious little curse.
Your energy slowly sapped away. Day by day. Everything around you goes greyer and greyer. And then one day your tank finally goes empty and you sit down somewhere, close your eyes and turn into stone, never to stir again. It's a favorite of hers.
What did you do? You don't seem like the defiant type. I'm guessing it was something like speaking out of turn during a meeting. Something stupid and petty like that.
Ohhh you had some “concerns”? Didn't like the implications of what you were being told to research did you?
Laughs
I’ll paint the rest of the picture. You shared these “Concerns” with her, but to your incredible surprise (and nobody else's) instead of listening to your ethical concerns she cursed you.
Listener does not deny it
Hehe yeah I knew it.
I can tell you're the type to assume the best of people aren't you. That’s cute. That's why you came out here just assuming I'd lift your curse out of the kindness of my little old heart isn't it? The evil sorcerer in the heart of the wasteland is surely just a caring good Samaritan deep down.
Well why would I lift the curse even if I could? What's in it for me? Me and the fateweaver have an understanding. She gets the city and the mountains. And I get the wasteland. Sure we're enemies, but frankly she's beaten me. And I'm tired, so why Should I rock the boat for some no name labcoat like you? Why risk another confrontation?
So no, I don't think I’ll be helping you.
You can stay right here if you want though. I think a statue would look really nice right over…. There. Right over on that iron bench by the dry fountain. Make sure you strike a good pose when it starts, Sweet Pea.
Maybe sit right there with your head in your hands. Cry a little bit even. It'll give this place a real melancholy vibe. Maybe I'll let the roses grow over you. That doesn't sound so bad does it? Just try not to make too much noise. I need my beauty sleep. See ya in the morning!
Mocking laugh
Oh you look so cute when the light fades from your eyes like that. Whatcha gonna do? Beg? Cry?
Go right on ahead! Sadder stories than yours have failed to move me! But I love a good begging session as much as the next sorcerer! Come on then! Lets see it.
Listener gets angry. In a tranquil way.
Oooh a death glare. Shiver me timb-
Listener sucker punches them in the gut, tackles them and takes the knife. pinning them to the ground with the knife to their throat.
Wha-oof!!
Oh you're a tricky bastard aren't you? I have to admit that I never would have expected you to punch me in the gut like that. And you got your grubby little hands on my favorite knife.
You think you've got the upper hand don't you? Well go ahead try and slit my throat. Take that knife and do it.
Go on. Try it.
The knife won't cut me. I know it. And if you truly know something it can't hurt you. It's killed enough for me that it knows it won't be trusted by anyone else. That's old magic. Nice try though.
Of course you realize that this means war.
Punches listener in the face
Grunts
Shoves the listener off of them.
They square up with eachother
Come on you fool! Hit me again! Show me that you're made of blood and bone! Show me what you lose if your flesh becomes stone. Stand up for yourself! You deserve to live don't you?
Grunts as they throw a punch. Listener dodges
Well?! Show me that you want it! Show me how bad you want to live!
Dodges a punch
Is that all!? I was just starting to respect you!
Throws another punch and hits the listener. The listener is knocked back and lets out an angry primal yell.
Yeah that's it! Scream! Cry for blood! Get mad! Get angry! Live damn you! Live!
Punches the air
You've got too much to lose to let me stop you! Take your fate into your own hands! You know what you came here for! Take it!
Tries to punch out the listener. The listener dodges and counter punches. Hitting their cheek
Laughter
spits
You made me bite my cheek, you little piece of dirt. First blood goes to you.
My mouth tastes like blood, but tonight the blood tastes like wine. Images are flashing through my mind. Images of the past and the future. You're something else. Worth getting out of bed for at least.
Laughter
So you want to live? You're not the only one. I can help you with that, but it'll cost you.
This curse of yours isn't some run of the mill evil spell. It's not a matter of me just waving my hand and casting a good spell to counter the evil one. There's a reason she's called the fateweaver. You turning into stone has literally been written in the stars. It is your destiny, it's part of the great tapestry of the world's fate.
The sun will rise tomorrow, the river will flow to the sea, the moon shall wax and wane, and you will turn to stone. It is your fate.
Ha! There's always a way. I can change your fate, that's what it means to be a sorcerer after all, to change fate. Come with me. To the well of eternity.
Walking and talking
My estate is built around the well of eternity. It is the bedrock of everything I am. The little seed that became the core of my power, and the link that became the chains that bind me. I wasn't always what I am now. I used to be a dental hygienist, but I had a curse of my own I needed to break. I’ll spare you the gritty details but it led me here from my home dimension.
A great man once compared the world to an optometrist trapped on a rail car with one little hole in the wall. Forced to watch the world pass by but being unable to see where the train was going or where it had been, only where it was at that moment.
That is what it is to be bound by fate, but what if I told you there was a way out of the boxcar?
That great hole in the center of the brick plaza? That's the well of eternity.
We'll have to descend the staircase around it. Watch your step, the stairs are slippery and thin.
Conjures a magical fire for light.
A magical fire burning a brilliant shade of [whatever your favorite color is] it will guide our way.
This world of yours and mine is one of many. All that happens here is one way or another driven by a conflict between those who serve the princess of the tower, the goddess of order. And the Witch of the plains. The goddess of chaos.
The fateweaver serves the former, although she doesn't know it. And I served the latter, even though I despised it. All that happens in every universe on the most fundamental level, is driven by their eternal hatred. So if you ever felt like the gods were fools, well you weren't far off from the truth.
Or in any case that's how it has been explained to me. I'll freely admit I don't understand most things as much as I'd like to. I’m a lot less than I appear to be. Most sorcerers are. We’re all smoke and mirrors. Shadows on the wall. Ghost boxes and card tricks.
They are deep in the well. There's a quiet watery ambience.
The well of eternity may look like water, but in truth it is the stuff that makes up the void between universes. If you submerge yourself into the water you will cease to be a part of this world and the forces that command your destiny will have no power over you. Your life will be your own.
Whispers minus the debt you will be owing me
Wait, I want you to understand what exactly you are doing to yourself.
There was a kingdom once where the tribe of the valley and the tribe of the hill were all times at war. There was a trader who sold to both sides and became fabulously rich.
But one night as he was riding through a small city a great storm arrived suddenly.
He went to the valley tribe for shelter, but they had no love for someone who also knew the people of the hills.
He went to the people of the hills but they would not shelter a man who also knew the people of the valley.
Thus the storm descended upon him and he was without shelter. Even of the worst kind. He was never seen again.
Do you understand?
Look into the waters.
I can show you glimpses of the great cities of the multiverse.
Samandar, The Emerald City, Tanelorn, Coruscant, El Dorado, Tooner Flats, Numinor, Detroit.
None of them will ever be a home for you.
If there is a place anywhere in the multiverse for a soul that has been baptized in the well of eternity I don't know of it. And trust me, I've looked. You can't go home again.
If you let me lower you into these waters your fate will be your own, and that can be a terrible thing. For whatever happens this point forward will be your responsibility. And if things go poorly you will have no one you can blame save for yourself. Are you certain you want this? I won't blame you if you turn back. There are worse fates than being stone. Becoming like me for example.
Look me in the eye and tell me you want this. Only you can make this choice.
Pause
listener nods
Deep breath
Smooch!
For luck
Splash as they push the listener into the water.
Listener is submerged in the water
Swim up! Swim up!
Fade out
Listener wakes up in inside the speakers home on a couch
Hey. How you feeling?
Head hurts right? And it's not just because of that black eye I gave you last night.
You know you saw a lot of stuff in the waters but you can't remember any of it. That's how it went for me at least.
You'll remember what you saw in time. A little bit will come back to you bit by bit. And It will change you, in ways you might not like. Until then well, ignorance is bliss as they say.
Can you sit up?
Good job, drink this. It's spiced wine, it'll calm your senses a little.
They hand the listener a coffee mug full of warm spiced wine
Like it? I whipped it up while you were napping. It’s not magic. Just calming.
Listener suddenly notices that they have a tattoo of a broken chain on their arm.
Oh yeah I see you just noticed your sick tatt. I did mention something about a debt to me did I not?
Hey! I said my help would cost you didnt I? I mean sure yeah I’m basically a saint, but I still need something in return. That tattoo is just a little forget me not. Something to keep that fresh in your mind. Besides, it looks good on you. Gives you that little bit of edginess you’ve been missing.
The broken chain. It's a symbol of mine. There's thirteen links. One for every second you spent under the waters down there.
You see I’ve been thinking and I’ve decided I need to get more active outside of my garden again and I'm gonna need a….
Hmmm minion sounds a little too hierarchical. So does servant. I mean I’m just an ordinary guy/gal. I can't have a servant. Too rich for my blood.
Let's say I'll need a helper. Yeah helper sounds nice. Somebody to do my leg work while I focus on the more technical stuff. You’ll love it. Give you a chance to get out of the lab and punch something. If this bruise on my cheek means anything you’ve got some pent up energy you need to work out.
Simple proposition really. Every time you run an errand for me a link disappears from the chain. Help me out thirteen times and you’re free to go. Unless you ever knowingly lie to me, that's gonna add another link to the chain. In the meantime you can stay here.
Hey have you ever driven a Hi-Lo? Do you think you could steal one?
Visible confusion
Nevermind, we'll talk about errands later.
Finish the wine and take a nap for a while. You’ve had a rough night. And it won't be your last. For better or worse. You chose to live a life without a destiny.
When you wake up I’ll have an errand you can run with me.
Cheek kiss
Sleep tight Trespasser.
-30-

8 years ago, my step dad had stage 4 throat cancer and through radiation and other treatments he made an incredible recovery. He was completely cancer free after that. At that time though, unknowingly the biggest mistake was how much radiation they actually did give him.
Well, today, my mom told me that the cancer came back. He has a tumor in/on the back of his tongue I wasn’t given that level of detail and then it’s in his back. If he has surgery he won’t be able to swallow again..and he doesn’t want that quality of life living with feeding tubes. So the surgery isn’t an option for him. He’s going to be going through a lot of trials and immunotherapy. He and my mom are hopeful, and my mom told me not to be nervous or sad, but I’m obviously going to be very sad and stressed if anyone tells me that anyone I love has cancer. He was told that his previous radiation is the reason it came back again. He had gone to the doctors office on Friday because he had been having an ear ache and a mild sore throat - and with his history it was best he get it checked out. He and my mom went and that’s when he got testing and was told.
I’m very close to both my dad and step dad. My parents were incredible at co-parenting after their divorce and did such an amazing job they are all so great to each other. My dad and step dad both get along. You could say I am super blessed with a loving mom and 2 loving dads. My step dad is honestly my Mothers soulmate and I’m not sure what’s going to happen to her if she loses him. Heck, I’m sad but I’m worried even more for my mom and my heart is really with my mom right now despite caring for my own sadness. They are best friends, share the same interests, have the same hobbies, share the same views, never raise their voices at each other, they even do cute things like order takeout and watch their favorite Netflix shows all of the time. They read the same books together. They also both have their own healthy social lives and honestly have the most balanced, healthy, happy, loving relationship you’ll ever see. My entire extended family loves both my dad and step dad. As was my dad in the beginning, my step dad has also been accepted as forever family by all of my extended family since day 1. He is a really great man and doesn’t deserve this. I am deeply saddened and worried. So many people who never ever deserve cancer, get cancer. It’s cruel. He had a scope in August and was perfectly fine, but I guess a ton can happen in 10 months.
I’ve experienced family members having cancer before and they all made incredible recoveries but for some reason this time just feels different. Before the year even started I had a feeling that some sort of health ball was going to drop in 2024, and that mid to late this year something big was going to happen. I just didn’t know who or what. I know it sounds a bit out there but I always get these premonitions. Everything I feel is going to happen always comes true, good or bad. I was not looking forward to whatever it was. Well, here it is. It was this. :(
We are staying hopeful and strong, and there’s quite a journey ahead…but seriously, fuck you cancer!! You piece it of shit!🖕🏻<- this felt good.

My (m26) girlfriend (f34) is treating me like shit.
This is gonna be a bit long, so bear with me.
I (m26) have been together with my girlfriend (f34) for one year and two months. Everything has been great all this period. We are not living together. 3 months ago, she had to leave her apartment and look for a new place to live. I helped her out a lot and eventually she found a room in a shared apartment with other two girls. I did my best to help her moving, assembling furniture, etc... She is not happy about this new apartment, she doesn't like her roommates, she doesn't like the city where we live (we're from different countries, both foreigners in the country where we live), doesn't like her job, she's basically questioning her life choices and she's mad about everything. I've been nothing but supportive over this period, I went out of my way to be there for her, but she always ignores me, doesn't consider me, doesn't consider or appreciate anything anything I do. Two months ago I organized a trip for our anniversary and made sure we had the best time, she enjoyed it. Right after we came back, this all started. She doesn't text me, doesn't want to meet me, basically ignores me and doesn't consider my existence.
All of this made me reflect on things from the past. I went to visit my family in December (very far away), and made sure to come back before new year's eve to watch the fireworks together and celebrate. That day she disappeared the whole day and then texted me around 10 pm that she has a headache and doesn't feel like going out. I felt lonely af that night. Again, on Valentine's day, I organized a big day, even decorated my bedroom with rose petals and prepared a lot of things, and bought her a very thoughtful gift, she said again (around 4-5 pm) that she doesn't feel like doing anything this day. Again, I felt lonely and miserable. In all of these situations, I thought to myself that she must be tired and maybe having migraines so it's fine. I talked to her about each situation afterwards and she said she was sorry every time.
We work in the same place (that was actually where we met), I am pursuing my master's and I work there part-time, she works full-time.
Recently a new guy was hired, she was assigned to train him so they worked together everyday since 3 weeks now. We talked about it, I know I don't need to worry, I trust her.
10 days ago, she apologized and said that she will try to make her mood better and not ignore me, I was really annoyed by that time but I said it's okay, let's see. After that we didn't talk for a few days. I had a lot of thoughts and finally after a few days decided that I want to fix things and don't want this to go on any longer. I didn't know what to say so just decided to give it a few days. Next day, I was cleaning up and realized that my vacuum cleaner is still at her place. So I thought this is a chance. I texted to ask if I could come friday morning (before she goes go work) to take my vacuum. She replied "I'm not home this morning, you can come on Saturday if you don't mind", which is very formal and sounds weird between us. I said okay. I went there Saturday morning, it was raining heavily, so when I got there, she opened the door and handed me the keys to go get the vacuum from the storage area in the basement. I said I can't take it today, it's raining, but I wanted to take the chance to talk to you, can I come in? She let me in, I gave her a quick hug (at this point, we hadn't even hugged for weeks), but she looked annoyed and uncomfortable in total. I said how are you? I missed you. She didn't reply. I said I'm sorry if I reacted in an annoyed way, I wanna make things right, and you know that I'm always there for you and on your side. She said (almost screaming): I want to be alone this weekend, I don't wanna do anything (both of her roommates were out of town that weekend). Then she stood up and extended her hand pointing to the door, telling me to leave. I said okay I'm leaving. Took my jacket and left without saying any word. Ten minutes later, I texted her, I'm sorry for disturbing you. Idk if it matters, but she didn't open my message until two days later, she was online all the time on whatsapp. I noticed that because I have her chat pinned and I noticed the tick didn't turn blue. Anyway, later that day, I went to my part time job as usual, and that guy I mentioned earlier was there. He came to me and said "can I talk to you in private? Man to man?" I said yeah, we went outside and he started talking. He said "I know you guys are together, but I made a pact to treat whomever is gonna teach me at this new job with something, and I invited your girlfriend to dinner and she accepted. I asked her if I should talk to you about it and she said no, she will talk to you in her way. The dinner is scheduled for tonight, but I felt like going behind your back so I'm here telling you." When he was talking, he described it as a date 3 times. I was shocked but didn't show it. I said that I won't tell him what to do, he can do whatever he things is suitable for such a situation, and whatever he thinks is the right thing to do. Whether she tells me or not, whether I like it or not, that's for me and her to decide and talk about. Anyway, if you're treating someone with dinner because you're grateful for them for teaching you, you wouldn't call it a date. He said oh I said date! I meant dinner!
I ended the conversation there and went inside.
Some other colleagues noticed that I was annoyed that day, and one of them talked to me about it. Apparently a lot of people there know that he invited her, and I'm the last one to know. Later this guy told me that he cancelled the dinner. I didn't show any reaction. That Saturday, she kicked me out of her place, I've been trying to even "see" her for weeks and she's been declining, but she accepted a dinner invitation from this random guy. I didn't hear from her, so still he could be not saying the truth, and I'm more annoyed of everything else rather than this, but I still need to clear it up with her and know exactly wtf is going on.
We didn't talk since last Saturday (so it's been 9 days), and I've been thinking about it all this time.
I love her so much, we talked about the future together and planned a lot of things, it was all happy. I'm the kind of guy who can be called a keeper, I would do anything to fix my relationship, to help her go through hard times, idk if what she's going through can be considered a midlife crisis. On the other hand, I feel like I'm doing myself wrong, I shouldn't be treated like this by the person I love the most and who (hopefully) loves me. Logically, everything is telling me it's time to leave, but I don't wanna rush to conclusions and make a quick decision I might regret. Now I find myself confused, I really don't know what to do.
AITAH for not leaving her alone initially and wanting to help her and be there for her? AITAH for thinking about ending the relationship?
How can I proceed? I hope some of you might give me reasonable advice. Any piece of advice is much appreciated.
Sorry again for the long post.

Paradox, Viciate, and Lorenzo continued on their descent into the castle to the Well of Wisdom. A sacred place bestowed on the Alphaverse since its creation. A well that possess the most valuable wisdom from across the Megaverse. Paradox had his group stop in one of the chambers for he assumed his prisoners will be awaking from the poison soon. He then had his chains wrap around King Alexander, Venessa, Cross, Tray, Selena, Malissa, Lucrest, Leoped, and Phonix. Viciate deployed several drones that aimed their weapons at the chained prisoners with Paradox standing resolute holding the Matrix of Eternity in his hands. The prisoners eventually woke up one by one and were greeted by crude words and jeers directed towards them. The chains that bound them prevented them from utilizing their powers to break their bonds and even if they did, the bullets from the drones will prove extremely lethal to their weakened state. Paradox ordered the prisoners to be placed in a line on their knees as he snapped his fingers which summoned imps and more infernal warriors to act as guards. King Alexander, "You can't restore the Matrix in the Well of Wisdom, it will shred you to pieces." Paradox smugly, "Maybe, but that's why I'll have each of you go in for me and see who can withstand the Well." Malissa, "He's going to sacrifice us! Where is Joan? Did she escape?" Paradox, "Oh I believe Tray knows the answer to that." Everyone turned wondering where Tray could be until he finally spoke, the others were shock at his new appearance for he appeared otherworldly to them. Tray did not lift his eyes towards the group, but rather hung his head low. Paradox's eyes beamed with sadistic delight as he spoke, "I guess one can say your sister is now very OPEN MINDED!" It took a few seconds for this joke to register in the minds of the prisoners, but when it did, all of them violently shook the chains in order to be free. "Go ahead use all your powers to break those chains, it only transfers your power levels into my soul. Lockjaw was right, all of you are complete fools in underestimating these accursed chains!"
He grabbed Phonix as his victim but stopped when what seemed to be an earthquake began to shake the foundations of the castle. The earthquake only intensified the longer it went, Venessa, "Does anyone else hear bass boosted music?" In a spectacular explosion of dazzling lights and rifts across space and time, Diamond's glowing body appeared in a giant hole in one of the castle's walls while blaring Hit Me Baby One More Time. Everyone was left speechless when they saw Diamond, believing it to be a ghost. "PARADOX!!!!!" In terror Paradox began to back away, "Impossible, I scarred you for life! HOW ARE YOU EVEN STRONGER THAN BEFORE?!" "It is not for you to know the circumstances that brought me here before you today. Regardless I am back. AND THIS TIME THERE IS NO POWER IN THE MEGAVERSE OR THE NETHERWORLD THAT IS GOING TO STOP ME!" Paradox ordered Lorenzo, Viciate, and the rest of his minions to dispose of Diamond as he journeys deeper to the Well of Wisdom. Viciate used his powers to generate clones of his allies as he slowly approached Diamond. Observing this, Diamond began to smile, "How about I even those odds." After finishing his sentence, 20 identical clones of Diamond manifested themselves behind him. Unlike other clones or copies, these 20 were able to act independently as a collective hive mind. The original Diamond attacked Viciate head on while the duplicates attacked the other clones and others attempted to free the prisoners. Viciate attempted in drawing his sword to strike Diamond in an exposed position, but Diamond's intense senses was able to prevent Viciate from using his sword. In a matter of seconds, Diamond punched Viciate to a bloody mess before leaving him stuck on one of the walls.
His abilities alerted him of several imps closing on his position, and in a swift motion, Diamond created a new Sword of Light, which was far longer and sharper to simultaneously decapitate all of the imps that circled around him. While watching all of this unfold before her very eyes, Selena could not help but smile at seeing Diamond restored to his former self, "He's back." A clone of Diamond randomly appeared next to her, "Nice to know I'm no longer on house arrest." The clone was able to free Selena from her chains and started to free the rest of the prisoners. After freeing them, he gave the group a new set of orders, "I may not know all of you, but focus your abilities in taking down those devilish warriors over there. I'll handle Paradox." The clone soon vanished alongside the other copies leaving only the original Diamond left. Just when Diamond started to follow Paradox's trail, Lorenzo used his acidic whip to suspend Diamond in place. Lorenzo was successful in his attack and used this advantage to expel fatal toxins into Diamond's lungs. "Ugh. Dude, you got some serious oral hygiene problems. Here take a mint!" Lorenzo's mouth was open due to him being stunned seeing his foe unphased with his lethal toxin. The supposed mint landed on his tongue, which resulted in a strong electrical shock being sent all over his body causing him to black out. "Nice whip though, I'm for real going to take this for my collection." Diamond bent over and collected the whip before resuming on his mission to destroy Paradox. Paradox was nearly at the entrance of the Well, but felt his body frozen in place, no matter how hard he tried to move. He finally realized he was frozen by Diamond's soul manipulation, yet when he made this realization, Diamond was already floating horizontally whispering into Paradox's audio receptor, "I think I am going to show off my newfound abilities."
Paradox tried to slice Diamond with a chain along his back, but Diamond vanished before he could land a hit. He reappeared behind him and with a simple flick, Diamond sent Paradox crashing through the castle's walls and ceilings. Paradox regained his stance as he morphed into Astros as he stopped a punch from Diamond which sent shockwaves, shattering any neighboring glass. Paradox kicked Diamond at his shin before hitting him with brute force across his face. He summersaulted backwards a few yards as he morphed into the Ice King. He then summoned several frozen daggers and sharp projectiles as he sent them flying towards Diamond at light speed. Diamond noticed the projectiles flying towards him as he achieved speeds that made time around him slow down several seconds. It was if things were occurring to him at a quarter speed, so with a wave of his arm, he took control of the projectiles and had them float around him before resuming time and sending them back to Paradox. Paradox moaned loudly as the projectiles lodged themselves in tight crevasses of his body and interfering with some of the vital mechanisms. The two teleported away from the castle into the depths of the grand city where they continued their battle. Paradox changed into Shen the disgraced Shogun as he desperately tried to slice off Diamond's limbs and head. Diamond casually dodged each attack with ease he summoned the Sword of Light which has grown longer and sharper to reflect his reunion with the Light. The two blades collided with each other, but Paradox was no match for Diamond's swordsman skills.
Diamond noticed Paradox's right arm malfunctioning from one of the ice projectiles and taking advantage of this weakness, he punched Paradox repeatedly in the chest before kicking him to the floor. He then created a revolver from his nanites and fired four bullets consecutively into his weak spot. He knew his bullets succeeded in wounding his opponent, for the sound of loose air began to hiss from broken wires and Paradox's arm glitching by morphing into many different appearances before changing back to its default appearance. Diamond smiled smugly as he released that Paradox was truly terrified in that moment, "Where has your self-confidence gone? Are those appearances not making you comfortable in your mechanical body?" "SHUT UP!" Paradox then changed into Mecha-Diamond as he was able to grab Diamond by his throat and threw him into multiple buildings. The two eventually landed on top of a commuter train before Diamond could free himself. Diamond sliced his opponent's arm to free himself and used his thrusters to fly backwards as he observed Paradox's body shifting gears to re-forge the missing arm. While in the form of Mecha-Diamond, Paradox had four mechanical tentacles grow out of him, which resulted in Diamond activating his suit to grow tentacles of his own. The two opponents had their tentacles wrap around each other as they fired their blasters at each other. Diamond tried to create two clones of himself, but Paradox's tentacles grabbed him and tossed him into one of the train carts as the civilians screamed in terror. He gradually regained consciousness as he prepared to find Paradox, but for a long minute, he could not sense Paradox. It was not until a lady screamed of a large spider approaching them from the other end when Diamond released it is Paradox crawling on all fours with great speed. Paradox shifted back to full height in a most grotesque fashion as his body spun in different ways before his head shifted back to its normal size. Diamond yelled at the passengers to run to the other cart as he dealt with Paradox. While the passengers fled, two extra mechanical arms began to form on Paradox's appearance of Mecha-Diamond as all four of arms ignited red plasma blades. "Attack Diamond!" The four arms began to spin in opposite directions of his body in quick movements as he rapidly approached Diamond that it was impossible to strike him above or behind.
Confused on what his next move should be, Diamond noticed parts of Paradox's chest plate were loose as it was glitching in and out. Out of options, Diamond swung at Paradox which he swiftly blocked with the four blades, but Diamond was able to have his nanotech grow on Paradox's arms as he then had the nanites send an electric shock on the foreign host, which granted him an opening in tearing off the chest plate and firing two blasts from his repulsers into Paradox's chest. This stunned Paradox as Diamond charged at him and began to tear all the vital wires, buttons, and controls that operated Paradox's mechanical body. Paradox's voice box became affected as it began to shift into different tones and voices as he tried to speak, "No, I will.....not.....be bested a.....second......time." Paradox was able to gain control of his arms as he threw Diamond out of the train cart out into the city's skyline. Diamond was able to shoot a grapple around Paradox's legs as he pulled both of them out into the air as his body began to glow golden with pure Light. Paradox descended towards him with chains around his body as he prepared to strike fatal blows on Diamond's body. Diamond closed his eyes as he extended his right arm while having his fingers form a finger gun. He whispered silently with firm conviction, "Through the power of Heaven's Light all things are possible......grant me the power to send this foul demon of a man back to the infernal depths where he belongs." Diamond then fired a large blast of pure Light towards Paradox as his enemy screamed in anger, "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" The power caused from this blast was so strong and hot that it started to melt the metal on Paradox's body and causing any remaining circuits to fry.
Diamond floated towards the ground as he stared at a ball of fire fall towards the ground as it created a large crater. He stepped forward and saw Paradox's mangled body as his soul still held possession of it. Paradox was still able to manipulate his body to change into whoever he chooses, and as a last resort he changed to Diamond's mother. "Trevor.......how could you do this.....to me......your own mother.......after all your father and I have done for you this is how you repay us?" "Quit your bull you pathetic character of a soul. If I had the power to judge you in the afterlife, I would create a separate place for sadistic manipulators such as yourself so all you scoundrels can do nothing more than hurt yourselves for your sins!" Diamond then used his power to lift Paradox in the air and was about to crush his body and seal his soul permanently, but as he did so a blazing portal appeared as a pitch-black arm reached out and snatched Paradox before Diamond had time to react. Dumbfounded, Diamond de-activated his suit and left his Light form in order to process what happened. Realizing there was nothing else to do he traveled back to the castle. When he arrived, he saw how the group of heroes easily defeated all of the devilish creatures and were tossing all the dead bodies into a giant pile. Only one thing concerned him, the fact Lorenzo and Viciate's bodies were both missing from the battle. He reasoned they managed to escape, but with the injuries they sustained, it would be a long while before they would show themselves again. After making this assumption, Diamond's family greeted him with open arms and hugs, yet even Diamond did not recognize Tray's new body. Tray had to explain his entire story again to Diamond so he would understand why he looked like "A living glowstick." Hearing Tray's story about Joan made Diamond sorrowful and offered to help in making sure Joan's body receives a proper burial. King Alexander and Diamond hastily organized the funeral and gave Joan's family time to grieve and remember their youngest member that was stolen from them.
While the mourners were conversing with themselves, the king wanted to lead Diamond through the many rooms and wings of the enchanting castle. He wanted to show Diamond the inner secrets and history of this castle, so he very discretely led him down a flight of stairs into an older section of the castle where even most of the king's court were not allowed to enter. The two stepped through two enormous emerald doors and continued on through the darkness. The king ignited a turquoise flame from his hands and led Diamond to a large wall. King Alexander, "Stare at these murals Diamond. Notice the story they tell." Diamond stared at the murals and paintings on the wall trying to understand the history behind them. He saw what appeared to be angels directing two races. To the right were humans with their leader baring a resemblance to Alexander with folded hands in prayer as their eyes gazed at the Heavenly specters, in addition it appeared that swords and shields were descending towards them. To the left were the ancient race of Enders who also had their gaze towards Heaven, but descending towards their hands were scrolls with quills, signifying their role to write and document. At the front of the line of Enders stood none other than Ranfus, although significantly younger. Diamond continued down the wall as the next scene involved the leaders of the humans and enders being coronated with the two leaders' hands being locked in agreement. The next scene depicted what was either a battle or war where many humans and enders were dead, brough to their demise by rebellious humans. It depicted how after the battle Ranfus took the remaining enders away to a place that could supervise the entire Megaverse free from human interaction. The last scene showed the battle worn king of the humans siting on his throne with a tear in his left eye, while his right side remained stoic. His left arm pointed downwards to a decree while his right arm pointed upwards with a grand castle and city floating in the palm of his hand. "The Enders used to dwell with you?" "Indeed, for you see, the king in those murals is actually my great-grandfather. Time goes by very slowly for us here, not only that but we tend to live for thousands of years. Originally, after the first man and woman were created and fell into sin, we were created in the aftermath of that event. We bear the same weaknesses as other humans after the fall, but we were created to protect the Enders, who would document the shifting tide of Creation across the Megaverse. Our special duty connected us more in tune with the messengers of Heaven and we strived to live up to our mission of acting as the second example for the Megaverse, the Main Omniverse being the first. Yet, a few of the humans of my great-grandfather's time were seduced by the powers of evil for the many fallen angels, now turned demons, preyed upon their fallen status and sparked division between human and ender. Eventually a genocide broke out where rogue humans wanted the power of the Enders to themselves and would slaughter anyone who opposed them. My great-grandfather and Ranfus ultimately triumphed, but the damage had been done for the Enders no longer trusted us and collectively agreed humans everywhere were unpredictable and destructive. Ranfus left this Omniverse with the survivors of his race, thus leaving us as the sole inhabitants of this realm. From the ashes of the old kingdom, my great-grandfather led the creation of a new one as you can see here, but the reason why his left side is sad is the fact he did not kill the leaders of the rebellion. He did not want to take their lives, so instead he banished them to the wildness of the Megaverse. After casting them out of this Omniverse, he placed a ban where no one will be able to enter or leave. Using his divine gifts, he was able to practically make it seem like this Omniverse was erased and could not be discoverable unless him or another king wills its borders to open up once again."
"And what happened to the exiled ones?" "Most of them died across the Megaverse but their main leader, Mek'el continued following the path of evil and grew stronger in the powers of darkness. This granted him an unnatural talent of cheating death, but when an event in Omniverse 63,745 occurred when that Omniverse's Celestial had an offspring with that Omniverse's name for an angel, Mek'el sensed the potential of such an offspring." "Hold on, that's the Omniverse the Megaverse Council and I had named Evangelion. Yeah, those creatures they call angels are definitely not real angels, but you mean to tell me that this Mek'el influenced The Devourer?" "No, Mek'el BECAME The Devourer. He transferred his soul into the newborn soul of the deadly offspring, completely fusing with the new soul. In response to this, my great-grandfather on his deathbed, ordered my grandfather to create a device that could end Mek'el once and for all. That device was the Matrix of Eternity. It was hastily crafted before my grandfather sent it to Omniverse 63,745 hoping it could destroy Mek'el there. Unfortunately, it did not fulfill its original purpose due to Mek'el fully becoming The Devourer and traveled across the Megaverse eating the Core of whatever Omniverse he entered. His travels would take a long time to reach his next destination, but nothing could stop him. The Matrix continued to grow with wisdom in Omniverse 63,745 before an apparition of an Ender ordered a singular person to send the Matrix in the direction of the Main Omniverse. Eventually, the Matrix landed in your Omniverse, but was kept hidden for a long time with only glimpses and rumors of such a treasure of untold power being passed on from dimension to dimension. Finally at last, you found it in 2021 just as The Devourer arrived in your Omniverse. Little did you know, but upon his defeat when you unleashed the power of the Matrix, it sent shockwaves across the Megaverse. Myself along with my people celebrated when we felt the destruction of The Devourer, finally knowing a dark piece of our history has been put to rest." "When I traveled to Omniverse 63,745 last summer, it was promoted that they created the Matrix of Eternity." "Their leaders simply changed the story and wiped our part out of their history books, for the select few who told you it was their ancestors that created it are not at fault. For they too believe this error, this is simply a mistake on their ancestor's part and nothing more. Come along now, let's head back up a few stairs back to where there was an intersection, there is more I need to show you."
The king led Diamond to a room with many floating orbs that had different colors symbolizing a different Omniverse. "I am aware that you and the Megaverse Council have a broad idea to all the soldiers at the disposal of our enemy. But I want to show you some specific souls that are.......unique. The person known as The Ageless managed to recruit several corrupted versions of the strongest beings in your Omniverse's hierarchy. Among them consist of a fallen Omniversal Tribunal, Protectors, Insanity Trio, Bad Time Trio, many alternate timeline versions of you, and other powerful individuals from the Megaverse. The Ageless and Demonic Council calls this elite group the Bad End Friends. King Alexander brings forth an orb that displays the souls of those fallen humans. This reveals the true thoughts of their soul and what their soul really says." Diamond leaned forward to hear the cries of their souls and was surprised to hear their souls cry out in unison. "We just wanted to heal but now our nightmares are real, and we'll never wake up for we're torn apart! We want freedom! Freedom! Freedom!" Diamond could not believe what he heard, for it caused him to step back to avoid their cries. "Secondly, I want to briefly touch on the Ageless' story. Thousands of years ago lived a man born with unnatural gifts, he could enter into violent places and leave with minor bruises. He was able to kill the celestials in his world with his mere hands and crude weapons. Yet, he was not satisfied, he wanted more power and more entities to kill, for he enjoyed the bloodlust. This led to him being sought out by the fallen Seraphim now named Black Hat. He offered him more power and an entire place beyond his imagination to live the rest of his days as a butcher. The man agreed and henceforth became an unwavering servant directly to Black Hat. Eventually, he earned a reputation by parading himself as a savior wearing polished white and gold armor, in order to win the trust of many defenders who protected their native Omniverse. Once he won their complete trust and learned their secrets and fears, it would be too late for that Omniverse. For it would be a matter of time before complete carnage would be unleashed on all the helpless souls in that Omniverse. Thus, he was given the title Harbinger of the End.......a human who is an undisputed champion in gladiator battles with a mind to match his muscles.......a man always youthful, laughing at the hands of time........The Ageless."
"The last thing I want to reveal to you is the location of our enemy's base. The Megaverse Council has discovered it and that is Omniverse 6,666,666. That Omniverse had so many events that ran parallel with your Omniverse it was almost an exact copy. However, before your Omniverse was assaulted by Black Hat's forces in 2021, they won a resounding battle in that Omniverse. Everything that could have gone wrong in that final battle, did indeed go wrong." King Alexander used his powers to generate a vision of that fateful day. The scene pans to a bloodied and defeated Diamond with a shattered Sword of the Omniverse with Black Hat towering over him. The two listened intently when Black Hat spoke, "The Initiative has fallen. Its members......lost. You have been deceived......betrayed.........purged." The vision hovers over countless bodies of Initiative members that had died in the battle with some of their corpses disfigured and mutilated they were unidentifiable. "I can feel you are scared of judgement day. You led millions of souls to their grave. Your lukewarm faith shaken due to your pleas and petitions being ignored. So, I offer you a choice. Join us and postpone the judgement day, have all the pleasures of the world handed back to you, and avoid living the life as a failure!" The defeated Diamond raised his teary eyes and spoke, "I......accept!" The crowd around him chuckled as Black Hat stepped away with Alastor taking his place, "It's a deal!" The defeated Diamond shook his hand and became controlled and a vessel for Alastor until his original body could be restored. After this moment a large echo of thunder echoes across the battlefield with a bright light shining in the distance. The Ageless, "What is that?" Black Hat, "The veil of the Main Omniverse has been lifted. We are no longer kept out! We must seize this opportunity before it's too late." Ageless remain here with Alastor's vessel." "Why?" "If things go sour for me and my forces in the Main Omniverse, I want us to still have a strong foothold here in the Megaverse. This Omniverse will be perfect. I will be taking half of our forces with me." "What of the few people who survived this battle, should I find them and use them as prisoners and entertainment?" Black Hat had a sadistic smile, "There are no survivors!" The vision then played the sounds of screams with Diamond begging Alexander to end the vision. "That's enough! I cannot watch nor listen to this vision anymore! Please end this nightmare!"
Alexander ended the vision as the two were brought back to reality. Alexander spoke with sympathy to Diamond, "I did not show you that vision to torture you. I revealed it, because you need to understand exactly what to expect from our enemy and take deep root in your faith." "Why did the pleas and petitions of that Diamond go unanswered?" "Truthfully, that Diamond did not pray for deliverance, he instead wanted more glory and praise. When he was in public and prayed, it was for show, and he was not sincere in the words he said. Even at the last moment, he received a message from Heaven begging him to repent from his prideful ways and deliverance would come. Yet, in that last moment, he refused with his soul saying no it has to be my way and I do not want to change the life I am living and that's final. It was his fault no Heavenly aid came, now he has no one else to blame other than himself for his misdeeds and wickedness." Diamond's body had a series of goosebumps when King Alexander finished speaking. He always wondered what would have happened in the final battle for his Omniverse if there was no intervention, now he wished for this catastrophic example to leave his mind.
After this event, King Alexander led Diamond to a sacred place called the Veil of the Celestial Plane to speak with his angelic friends. Along the way, King Alexander explained to Diamond the difference between True Balance and Perfection. How True Balance is the perfect imperfect form of Perfection, because as mortal creatures that are finite with flaws no person alive can reach True Perfection. He explained how demons fear True Balance and how the demons only focus on temporal goals not eternal, for all that awaits them in eternity is eternal punishment. (This is a footnote, because at the end of this post in the comment section I will share the entire conversation in greater detail, for some reason the Sub-Reddit automatic rules count it as a rating post no matter how hard I rephrased the dialogue. Very weird that happened because it never happened before, but hopefully I will be able to share that conversation in full under this post, because it took a lot of effort in composing the dialogue.)
Filled with courage and zeal from their conversation, Diamond entered into the Veil and soon found himself in a vast empty white plain where numerous figures of light floated around him before manifesting themselves as angelic beings. He observed how each of the nine choirs of angels were present. "The Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels, and Angels. All present here at this very moment." A Seraphim spoke up, "Why do you wish to commune with us?" "I am here seeking advice from my Heavenly friends in these trying times. I'm sure all of you are very much aware and can sense in the Celestial Cosmic Plane that the forces of evil are growing ever so powerful. I can feel it within my being that soon a final confrontation may happen." Saint Michael the Archangel, "You already possess all that you need. You know the prayers for deliverance and aid. Furthermore, you know how your enemy thinks." "With all due respect, this time it is different. Different than the way it was for the fate of the Main Omnvierse. This....is the fate of the Megaverse....of everything that had exist, currently exists and will exist. Please there must be some advice all of you may be able to bestow upon me." A Virtue floated towards Diamond's soul to speak, "These particular demons feast on fear, chaos, and revenge. They want nothing more than to see the righteous fall, yet their common weakness is the sin of pride." Uriel intervened, "Pride, that ancient sin which was the sole root that led a third of our former brothers and sisters into disobedience. Fully rejecting the True Love of the Father and willingly following the arrogance of the fallen light bearer, who now brings darkness and death to everyone." Azrael quickly followed up with Uriel's statement, "When they fell from grace, they still retained their position and powers. Now with their leaders nearly having their bodies restored before their fall, through the power of The Seed, they are more of a threat to the Natural Order."
Diamond came to a sudden realization, "With Cloaked Shadow having control of the Dark and shadows in general, does that mean he was a Power before he fell?" The choirs nodded as Diamond responded with his hands near his mouth deep in thought. "I see, well if pride is their weakness than surely arrogance is a key factor in their personalities. Perhaps if the Matrix of Eternity is re-loaded with the knowledge accessible from the Alphaverse, it could overwhelm them." A Cherub, "Yes! The knowledge from the Alphaverse can restore the Matrix and used to harm the demons!" Saint Gabriel the Archangel, "Do not be afraid in this next step in your journey, Trevor. Since the fall of man, the Devil and his minions have actively been at war with mankind, searching for ways to snatch souls from Heaven. Yet, in the history of not only the Megaverse, but your own world, you know that God conquers all, even in the darkest times. From the persecution of the early Christians under the rule of the Mad Emperor Nero, deadly heresies, scandals, political and religious wars, the French Revolution, Napoleon Wars, Russian Revolution, Mexican Revolution, World Wars, down to the present. The demons worked through man to not only bring ruin to the face of the Earth, but to attack the Church. However, both the Earth and the Church have endured and will continue to endure until the end of time when God will come in all His splendor and glory and reward the just while punishing the wicked. For they will receive their reward." A Throne, "There is one more thing that will surely turn the tide of the war, but only as a last resort." Diamond, "What is it? Please share." A Seraphim, "The hypothesis of you being able to fuse with your friends Ben Tennyson and Xavier is true. If Xavier is fully in tune with his scarab and enter into his phase known as Sacred and Tennyson into Alien X, you three will become the singular most powerful entity in the entire Megaverse." Saint Michael the Archangel, "Be warned for this should only be used as a complete last resort. For there can be no going back when you three become a singular entity. There might be potential for you three to separate from this final form, but if there is, it will be certain death for no mortal can yield that much power. Arise young warrior, take courage, and have total faith on the Lord, He will hear your prayers. Remember we are at your side and every warrior in the final battle will have their guardian angel with them at all times."
The Heavenly beings once again became balls of bright light, which slowly blinded Diamond before he awoke from his vision back in his own body just before the Veil of the Celestial Plane. King Alexander stared at Diamond before helping him to his feet. Diamond, "I know what I must do. I must re-load the Matrix in the Well of the Megaverse." Alexander, "That's suicide. For you to be exposed to so much power and knowledge, it will vaporize you." "Believe me, it will work. Just help me recover the pieces of the Matrix and I will reforge it with the nanotech from my suit." Diamond sprinted with great haste through all the flights of stairs Alexander had them take, back to where the pieces of the Matrix laid. He had Alexander hold the pieces together in their proper position as the nanotech from his suit crawled around the broken pieces and fused the Matrix back together again. During this time the other heroes caught up to Diamond and Alexander and decided to watch as Diamond would enter the Well of the Megaverse. King Alexander led the group to the entrance of the Well where everyone wished him good luck. Diamond transformed into his Light form and entered the Well. This form allowed him to withstand the pressure around him as he opened the Matrix to collect wisdom from all corners of the Megaverse both the good and bad. When he did this, thousands of images and lifetimes flashed in his mind causing him to scream, in order to avoid his mind from overloading he constantly switched to different forms and phases every 30 seconds. Everyone waited anxiously outside after hearing Diamond's screams and began to fear for the worst, but just when their hope wavered, a silhouette started to walk towards them. From the depths of the Well emerged Diamond holding the restored Matrix of Eternity firmly in his right hand. King Alexander, "Welcome back Diamond!" "Thanks. With the Matrix restored and the new alliance your Omniverse has made with the Megaverse Council, hope for our victory has reached an all-time high." The heroes only stayed for a few more hours at the Alphaverse before returning back to the base of the Megaverse Council. Upon arrival, the Council members were stunned to see the return of their leader, and with swift orders, Diamond once again regained leadership of the Megaverse Council.
Epilogue
In a desolate place with abandoned buildings in Omniverse 3. "Volxi, can you head downstairs into our storage to bring some refreshment to our party?" "You got it sis!" Volxi entered into one of the chambers to find a spare stash of spiked beverages but was startled when she heard a voice echo in the darkness. "Time's running out Vol." She leaned over to view where the voice was coming from until her eyes landed on a glowing dark green warrior. She gasped as she recognized it was her old friend from Omniverse 8. "Cayden what happened to you?" "That name no longer has any meaning for me." "You look so different. Your skin is green and your eyes black. You look like......" "A ghost? Phantom? Condemned Soul?! Truly a miserable fate I have fallen into. Given a body constantly degenerating and repairing itself, allowing me to phase between matter but how painful it is feeling my cells destroy themselves before regenerating and repeating the process all over again." "Is this a dream?" "No." "I thought not, if it was there would be something to replenish my throat." Cayden hands Volxi a bottle. "Thanks mate. I still have a cup on me. Here it's on the house." Cayden took a long sip before speaking. "We haven't seen each other since the destruction of your people's original home. A lot has happened since then. Last year a terrible event plagued the Megaverse and I tried to stop it. I made my own device that enabled me to visit other Omniverses. I could sense something sinister causing many Omniverses to die. I took my weapons and went to who I thought was responsible. That man was so strong and talented, he mortally wounded me without taking our fight seriously. I thought at that moment when I laid dying that I would give anything to get a second chance at life. To see my friends and family again. My requests were answered by a figure in black business attire and a top hat."
Volxi groaned for she knew who he was referring to while Cayden continued on with his speech. "I accepted his offer and became what you see before you. The only part that was positive is in our contract, I managed to still own partial control of my soul. Perhaps it is through this partial ownership that causes me to experience great pains and desperately seek liberation." "And you came back to your friend for aid huh?" "No, I came as a messenger." Volxi stared at him with concern. "You struck a deal with him too, Volxi. A deal before your home, the ninth Omniverse was destroyed, causing you and all the survivors to wander throughout the Megaverse." "I forgot all about that deal. It can't happen this soon, he did not even stay true to his promise." "Is that really a surprise?" "DANG IT! Alright I'll wager my way out of it. I always do." "You can't talk to yourself out of this one!" "How long do I have Cayden?" Cayden stepped close to Volxi where he was only a few inches away from her face. "That name has no meaning for me, I'm The Shameful now. You have only a few hours. He will send his terrible leviathan to drag you, your sister, and this entire Omniverse along with you! Already his army sets their eyes on this world, drawn by ravenous hunger, by the one who bears the crimson scar." The Shameful laid his hand on a piece of Volxi's face that was not covered by cybernetics. "Make peace with your losses and may it only be a swift end and not a contract of servitude. Alas, he always comes to collect what is his." In that moment The Shameful vanished from her sight and without a moment to lose, she started running back upstairs into the settlement screaming for everyone to pack their things and prepare to leave. Her sister, Val stopped her, "Did you fall down the stairs giving you that slash across your face? What's coming after us?" Volxi stared deep into her sister's soul, "We need to run as far as we can and get our people to safety before it's too late." From a few hundred yards away The Ageless stood waiting for the perfect time to strike with Maestro Zorro summoning the nightmarish Leviathan.

I will probably come off as a hater now, and hey I am bitter that's for sure, but maybe not a full on hater since I'd still claim to love the franchise if you asked me.
So why am I here ? Well I couldn't find a single recent post or comment online talking about how absolutely unfair an ridiculous it is to release an expansion and expect us to pay. To put it in math, most people can agree d4 has been unplayable for about 60-75% of its life span and with 1 successful season out of 4 !!! (Bloody 4), blizzard expects us to be back on the hype train and cough up another 50$ without asking any questions... well I'm tired of being abused.. we have suffered under the chaos that was the first 3 seasons of d4 and we have barely gotten anything.. the only original content we've gotten is the vampire boss, and the rest is reskins and tweaks of existing stuff.. not a single new dungeon in all this time. Nothing interesting to speak of except the bare minimum of bosses which should have been there day 1, but it seems we've all just collectively forgotten because they happened to make one good season.
That doesent change the fact that we've been lied too.. they promised it wouldn't be a cartoon blitz game, but here we are, pets around the corner and running around with wings and big jungle cats zooming through hordes of monsters ignoring every single status effect in the game and heck something as simple as a resistance system doesent even work enough to have a proper impact in the game. Heck even the class that most people wanted "paladin" is being held back cuz let me guess, that's probably going to be the main selling point of the next expansion right ?
To be honest the features in the new expansion sounds cool but also lame.. 1 raid ? For 50 $ ? In a game where ground content is just giants who die in 3 seconds ? In what capacity have blizzard showed that they can't create fun group content in d4 ? They have shown us nothing, but we are content because it was so bad to begin with that the current state seems like paradise, but the fact is the game is still lacking. The gear is beginning to get there, but still takes no brain to get through. The bosses are multiplying and becoming more hard to take on and varied, but wtf is that grind for helltide ? Is it fun ? Yes.. but only because we don't have to do it very long and then we're lvl 100.. the way they fixed that the game sucks is to just shorten it .. wtf is that .. give us meaningful ways to progress and some interesting encounters.. redo those fucking dungeons so maybe finally it could feel satisfying to traverse them. Maybe show us some uniqueness as promised in the original trailer "100+ unique dungeons" - yea right maybe unique in name...
Can we all just please try to remember what happened.. and maybe do like with gamwstop stock.. have Diamond hands.. don't preorder don't buy.. wait it out. Show our discontent and wait it out for a bit. Play poe or le or anything else (helldivers 2 is fun).
I think it is important that we stand up a bit here because if blizzard (microsoft) can't see in their sales that people are not content, they they'll just continue to pull the whool over our eyes time and time again.
And I wanna call out rhykker and raxx and dmdarth specifically because they are peddling blizzard crap with no regard for us who consume it. I haven't seen any of them as much as even try and make people speculate or think before buying. They all just show off the new shiny stuff we can get if we press buy, so yea clearly they are blizzard lapdogs, so try not to get caught by their hype. Think for yourself if you need the expansion. What was the plan ? Wasn't diablo4 supposed to be updated again and again with new content season after ? Wasn't that the while reason that 70$ was even okay to begin with ? Do they deserve more of my money before they have paid any of their dues ?
I really think they should give the expansion away for free. That would be the only way to redeem themselves. It won't happen and that is fine, so I hope we can all unite against them till then. Hit them straight in the wallet, and be strong brothers and sisters.

CBR:
"George Takei, in a PBS interview, told the story of a time in 1968 when he tried to pitch Roddenberry on doing an LGBTQ+ character on Star Trek:

“I did very privately bring up the issue of gays and lesbians. And he was certainly, as a sophisticated man, mindful of that, but he said – in one episode we had a biracial kiss, Captain Kirk and Uhura had a kiss. That show was literally blacked out in the south, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia didn't air that; our ratings plummeted. It was the lowest rated episode that we had. And he said, “I'm treading a fine tight wire here. I'm dealing with issues of the time. I'm dealing with the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, the Cold War and I need to be able to make that statement by staying on the air.” He said, “If I dealt with that issue I wouldn't be able to deal with any issue because I would be canceled.”

Takei continued,

"And I understood that because I was still closeted at that time. I talked to him as a liberal rather than as a gay man and I understood his position on that. So that's the way Star Trek envisioned our future in the 23rd century, but I think we're getting closer to that utopian society that Gene Roddenberry visualized, much more rapidly than even the technology.”

[...]
The interesting thing about the network, at the time, is that it specifically ASKED its producers to find roles for Black actors, sending out a memo (courtesy of FactTrek) stating, "We urge producers to cast Negroes, subject to their availability and competence as performers, as people who are an integral segment of the population, as well as in those roles where the fact of their minority status is of significance. An earnest attempt has been made to see that their presence contributes to an honest and natural reflection of places, situations and events, and we desire to intensify and extend this effort."
In other words, casting a regular Black character or a regular Asian character was, while certainly admirable by Roddenberry, not something that the network even had a problem with at that point in time. Having an LGBTQ+ regular character, though, wasn't even in the realm of possibility in 1968 for a network TV series. In other words, Roddenberry might very well have been mindful of Takei's concern at the time, but there was no way he was ever seriously considering having an LGBTQ+ character on the series.
In a great 1991 interview with David Alexander, Roddenberry discussed how his views had changed over the years, and he specifically offered up that his views on LGBTQ+ people had evolved for the better:

In the early 1960s, I was much more a macho-type person. I was still accepting things from my childhood as necessary and part of reality — how men related to women, et cetera. My assistant, Susan Sackett, used to say to me, "You really put down women a lot for someone who is supposed to be thoughtful and liberal." I began listening to her and agreeing that she was right in her perceptions.
My attitude toward homosexuality has changed. I came to the conclusion that I was wrong. I was never someone who hunted down "fags" as we used to call them on the street. I would, sometimes, say something anti-homosexual off the top of my head because it was thought, in those days, to be funny. I never really deeply believed those comments, but I gave the impression of being thoughtless in these areas. I have, over many years, changed my attitude about gay men and women.

Again, by the launch of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Roddenberry was a different person, and society was thankfully different (David Gerrold has noted a number of times that Roddenberry specifically said circa 1986 that there WOULD be gay crew members on the Enterprise in The Next Generation), and it is VERY likely that, had Roddenberry lived, he would have made sure that there was an LGBTQ+ character on The Next Generation. Sadly, he died before that could ever happen.
However, there was no way that he was ever even considering having an LGBTQ+ character on Star Trek in the late 1960s, pre-Stonewall. Roddenberry was certainly ahead of his time in many ways, but this after the fact portrayal of him as a guy titling at windmills in the pursuit of progressive ideals doesn't fit the reality of the late 1960s. He certainly did what he could, and he should be praised for doing so, but he wasn't trying to have LGBTQ+ characters on his network science fiction TV series in 1968. [...]"
Link (CBR):
https://www.cbr.com/star-trek-gene-roddenberry-gay-characte

To make a long story short, me (AP) and this person (FA) only dated for about two months but they broke up with me because they realized that hadn't dealt with all this stuff going on in their life and their last relationship completely, along with not having anytime for a relationship, feelings of running away when I was asking for clarification on what he wanted. We met up one more time to get closure with each other about the break up and ended up hanging out for 9 hours that day. I wanted to understand his whole situation so I kept on asking questions about where he was at, why the relationship ended, etc. I kept on saying "You just didn't want a relationship WITH ME. It would help me move on faster if you told me you lost feelings or lost the spark" and he kept on insisting that would be a lie because he did have feelings but just couldn't be in a relationship because of his fear and feelings of running away. Finally he opened up about everything. (not gonna share his stuff but it's really difficult stuff) and he opened up about a story about a family member who traumatized him that he had never told anyone before. He was crying and I was comforting him about it and telling him he was just a kid at the time and it's not his fault.
After, he thanked me for allowing him to share and expressed he felt very seen and had never told anyone those things before and maybe one day we can try dating again when he's in a better place and how we get along super well and if we had met a year from now we would probably be still together but timing is everything. We decided we would be friends. I was hesitant initially and told him I couldn't just be his friend because of my feelings, but I became more open to it the more we talked because I did begin to understand how my thinking was very black and white.
At first the friendship was normal and fine. We just treated each other like I treat any of my other friends, texting occasionally and watching stories, liking posts. I didn't think anything of it. About two weeks after this convo, I began to notice him avoiding my stories and posts and not contacting me anymore.
So I reached out, and he didnt respond, so I sent a follow up text saying "I'm not sure if this is right but I am kind of getting the idea that maybe you don't want to be friends and things have changed since our last convo. I totally understand boundaries and needing space, and want to respect that if thats the case so I am going to unadd you off socials I hope you understand but I truly wish you the best." I just didn't want to continue being hurt by the situation and prevent both of us from healing. So I unadded him.
He responded a few hours later saying he was sorry and he missed my previous text and really wanted to be my friend and hang out again. He just felt like he kind of over thought our last interaction.
I then asked him about that, getting clarification on whether he felt judged or was worried I thought of him different after what he shared and he then said something along the lines of "I don’t really let people in on my trauma ever and probably for good reason. It's not really what I show people and project and I think I kinda got freaked out that you now know all of this trauma about me and you are a very cool person. I think I kind of overthought it and let it all soak for too long. I'm sorry I made assumptions about what you thought, that wasn't fair." He then continued to ask me when I was free to catch up and said he would be a better friend.
And I sent a response back that said something along the lines of: Being vulnerable is extremely hard and scary. I totally get it and I mean it when I say I really do appreciate you sharing those parts of yourself with me. I'd never judge you for anything you want to open up about. I'd never see you in a different light, it just makes me understand you a little bit more. It takes a lot of courage to be vulnerable and some people never are able to do it their whole lives. So it was super meaningful.
I then went on to talk about how I also felt embarrassed I overshared about my insecurities and things and felt scared to reach out again because of it, but we have to remember that we both see each other for who we are and accept each other for all those parts (something I mentioned in our last conversation).
I told him when I was free to catch up and then I never heard from him again. This was like 3 months ago.
I'm still kind of hurt and confused since it seemed like he genuinely wanted to be my friend and catch up. And I do genuinely care and want to be his friend. But I also understand he probably doesn't want to talk to me after sharing all that stuff he hadn't shared before and don't know if I should reach out ever again or would he prefer me to kind of leave him alone after all of this. I just wanted to get some thoughts on what happened and how I should proceed.

I got 3 letters from Wells Fargo that I thought were scams at first but after googling them found out that they are legit - related to settlement payouts for customers who were enrolled in their products without permission. I see that a 3rd party is handling the payouts related to these letters and I plan on calling them this week. As noted on these letters, I was enrolled without my permission in:

• Identity Theft Protection - Affinion product (Oct 2007-Mar 2008)
• "Preferred product" - Sept 2011-Aug 2016
• "Preferred Product" - November 2009-Oct 2017

This was a violation of my trust and of their fiduciary duty. Additionally, my SSN was used for nefarious purposes in that time range, and I can't count it out that the SSN wasn't mishandled by Affinion. This may have also impacted my credit score.
Nothing like this has ever happened to me before. How much money would be fair to ask from them?
Do I need to research all the fees I paid for the above products? Do I need to provide hard evidence of my identity theft incident? I haven't even banked with WF for years so I'm not even sure how I would go about looking up these records.

Is it just me or is Maggie so far up her own that every single time she talks it just sounds snooty? She walks into the show with the social skills of a 4 year old, but then she also just starts talking down to everyone around her? The way she quite literally forces her mom to die in pain. Or the way she killed Sabi because she was overconfident, grasping for straws by saying they weren’t actually “family”. Or the way she was convinced Dr. Webber was dying, when in reality she couldn’t tell the difference between curable cobalt poisoning and terminal cancer. She orders her husband around, making him complete her rounds. Probably because she’s the cardio chief and can tell people what to do, and he’s her husband, so she can just take full advantage of it. Specifically, in season 19 in the episode where they find out Zola is gifted, she would rather stand in the room (as a heart surgeon) with 6 other doctors while Ndugu is rounding for her. And for gods sakes, it gets to a point where I would rather hear nails on a chalkboard over how she went to college at 15 or whatever. Because now she’s in the same place as everyone else who went to college at 18. She’s overzealous and has killed not one, but 2 (Sabi and her mother), and almost 3 (confusing cobalt poisoning with alzheimers) members of her family with her arrogance. She might be some people’s favorite, but I would pay to see her killed off. Maybe by another surgeon so far up their own they think they could save her life. I wish the writers would seriously humble her.

All my life I've had no self identity and obsessed over romantic and sexual relationships. They have been the only thing that provides a sense of contentment in my life. I have no skills or passions, I just live life until I meet someone to date and then it's such a rush, the confidence boost of someone being interested in me, the cute romantic dates, the bonding.
I finally met the person that was perfect for me, I had no reason to ask any more from him. But I ruined it, self sabotaged that relationship all for no good reason. I mistreated him and devalued him when he was the most precious person in my life and after months of not prioritizing him, he left. Now I'm moved back in with my parents. I've been so depressed that I just lost my job from taking too many breaks and being unproductive. I self harmed at work multiple times and screamed at the top of my lungs like a lunatic outside the place on my breaks.
He used to love me, so much that it made him furious. His heart was on fire for me and now mine burns for him but it's burning me alive. All I want is him back and yet I know-- that wouldn't solve my problems.
When we were together I was still depressed, too depressed to be a decent partner. Too self absorbed. I didn't deserve him and now facing the consequences of my actions I'm here suffering in my parents home, now without a job, without any future prospects. I use relationships to avoid all these problems and inevitabilities. I spent two years revolving around him, following him around, living in his shadow. Now I'm left with nothing.
I've even burned bridges with the only healthy family members I had last year as well. All because I'm terrified of true intimacy. Even with my ex boyfriend I avoided it even though it's what I wanted most.
I don't see anything to live for now. It doesn't get better. I've been meditating for years, tried meds, tried dbt. I just become increasingly monstrous and terrible as I get older and can't bear to suffer like I used to, sitting on my PC every day wasting time and being miserable.
I'll never find love again, and thats the one thing I built my life around. Even if I did, it'll consume me and become my obsession until my lack of emotional maturity destroys it after a year or so. I don't know what's left.

Merchandise from this show seems rare as it is, but I really wish we got more newer stuff. How hasn't one of these newer toy companies like Funko or Super7 made new figures or something? Some ReAction figures would be great! I don't buy Pops, but I would buy every M*A*S*H pop without question. Imagine the different Klingers. On top of that I've always wanted a metal lunch box (I know they made a mesh one) but unsure why there was never one back in the day.
I know there's been a few jeeps and trucks made recently, but anything I've missed or anything else you'd like to see? C'mon Disney, put that licensing team to work!

What’s the Best way to get NBA Final Game 1 Games (free)Live Streams On Reddit? Hey fellow NBA Basketball viewers. As I’ve been watching NBA for quite a few seasons now, I've done some digging to access the trusty Celtics vs. Pacers Streams.
Here: **Mavericks vs Celtics live Free
Free: **NBA Final Games Live Streams
How/where to watch celtics vs mavericks 2024 NBA final game 1 live streams free, I pirate everything: sports, movies, TV Channels, and even made my own plex server. But lately I have gotten really into BaseballStreams and haven't found a great way to watch Major League Baseball live for free.
What app/website are you using to watch the NBA Streams? ... I'm not 100% it's basically a live stream of the NBA Streams.
TV Guide & Streaming
Everything you need to know about the NBA matchup between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Milwaukee Brewers, including how to watch and team news.
Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics lock horns in the NBA Finals 2024, starting from Friday. The Mavericks vs Celtics NBA Finals 2024 basketball games will be available on live streaming and live TV in Australia and other country.
Another way to stream the NBA finals online free? Use DirecTV Stream, which lets you watch the Mavericks vs. Celtics on ABC without cable.
All in Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST)
June 7, Friday: Game 1, Dallas Mavericks vs Boston Celtics – 10:30 AM
June 10, Monday: Game 2, Dallas Mavericks vs Boston Celtics – 10:00 AM
June 13, Thursday: Game 3, Boston Celtics vs Dallas Mavericks – 10:30 AM
June 15, Saturday: Game 4, Boston Celtics vs Dallas Mavericks – 10:30 AM
June 18, Tuesday: Game 5, Dallas Mavericks vs Boston Celtics – 10:30 AM*
June 21, Friday: Game 6, Boston Celtics vs Dallas Mavericks – 10:30 AM*
June 24, Monday: Game 7, Dallas Mavericks vs Boston Celtics – 10:00 AM*
Live streaming of the Dallas Mavericks vs Boston Celtics NBA Finals 2024 will be available on the NBA League Pass platform. The Mavericks vs Celtics basketball match will be broadcast live on the ESPN TV channel in Australia via Kayo Sports.oiut
ESPN, ABC or NBA Finals Network. I'm sure you can stream as well as way to watch it but I want to see what you guys recommend.Kukvaikuk

Hi all,
I’ll be honest, I’m way out of my depths when it comes to photo printing. I now realise this having purchased the aforementioned printer, and would really appreciate help with the following (as I’m willing to persevere):
I have landscape and portrait images that I’d like to print and hang up at home, and of course I want the colour matching to be as close as possible.
The things I now understand:

• Best to use Canon’s own printing paper (which I am, though I also have some off-brand “Koala” photo paper… more on that below)
  
• I’ve downloaded and installed the appropriate driver (I think), as well as the ICC profiles relevant to the paper being used.
  
• I don’t know whether to use Photoshop or Lightroom, or the other… Professional Layout (?) plug-in
  
• I’m using a MacBook Pro 2021 with a XDR display preset, but I don’t know if it needs recalibrating and how I do it (all tru-tone etc turned off in settings)
  
• I’m using a ViewSonic external monitor, which I’ve managed to get CLOSE to the MacBook colour, but not perfect (again, calibration?)
  
• I’ve now managed to get my image printed in a way that’s acceptable, but not good enough. I make sure to soft-proof (in LR for example) but I can’t really see how much difference it makes
  
• On PS I have used both the PS manages colours, as well as printer manages colours, both with perceptual rendering.
  
• Colour Space is usually set to Adobe RGB, and not sure if that’s the best. I’ve also tried P3 on LR.
  
• ColorSync for ICC profiles and PS manages colours, Canon Colour Match for printer manages colour
  
• The printer itself seems to have the option to use ICC rendering or perceptual, or colormetric etc, and I never know where to turn these options off… the printer? The printer dialog box? The print module on LR or PS?
  

As you can tell, I’m a bit overwhelmed now, and I was a bit naive thinking this would be easier. Any advice would be greatly appreciated and happy to provide further information about my workflow / set up.
Thank you!
Forgot to add, the additional photo paper is a brand called “Koala” and it’s 7x5 glossy… and for that I’m using printer manages colours for the time being.

What’s the Best way to get NBA Final Game 1 Games (free)Live Streams On Reddit? Hey fellow NBA Basketball viewers. As I’ve been watching NBA for quite a few seasons now, I've done some digging to access the trusty Celtics vs. Pacers Streams.
Here: **Mavericks vs Celtics live Free
Free: **NBA Final Games Live Streams
How/where to watch celtics vs mavericks 2024 NBA final game 1 live streams free, I pirate everything: sports, movies, TV Channels, and even made my own plex server. But lately I have gotten really into BaseballStreams and haven't found a great way to watch Major League Baseball live for free.
What app/website are you using to watch the NBA Streams? ... I'm not 100% it's basically a live stream of the NBA Streams.
TV Guide & Streaming
Everything you need to know about the NBA matchup between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Milwaukee Brewers, including how to watch and team news.
Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics lock horns in the NBA Finals 2024, starting from Friday. The Mavericks vs Celtics NBA Finals 2024 basketball games will be available on live streaming and live TV in Australia and other country.
Another way to stream the NBA finals online free? Use DirecTV Stream, which lets you watch the Mavericks vs. Celtics on ABC without cable.
All in Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST)
June 7, Friday: Game 1, Dallas Mavericks vs Boston Celtics – 10:30 AM
June 10, Monday: Game 2, Dallas Mavericks vs Boston Celtics – 10:00 AM
June 13, Thursday: Game 3, Boston Celtics vs Dallas Mavericks – 10:30 AM
June 15, Saturday: Game 4, Boston Celtics vs Dallas Mavericks – 10:30 AM
June 18, Tuesday: Game 5, Dallas Mavericks vs Boston Celtics – 10:30 AM*
June 21, Friday: Game 6, Boston Celtics vs Dallas Mavericks – 10:30 AM*
June 24, Monday: Game 7, Dallas Mavericks vs Boston Celtics – 10:00 AM*
Live streaming of the Dallas Mavericks vs Boston Celtics NBA Finals 2024 will be available on the NBA League Pass platform. The Mavericks vs Celtics basketball match will be broadcast live on the ESPN TV channel in Australia via Kayo Sports.oiut
ESPN, ABC or NBA Finals Network. I'm sure you can stream as well as way to watch it but I want to see what you guys recommend.Kukvaikuk

What’s the Best way to get NBA Final Game 1 Games (free)Live Streams On Reddit? Hey fellow NBA Basketball viewers. As I’ve been watching NBA for quite a few seasons now, I've done some digging to access the trusty Celtics vs. Pacers Streams.
Here: **Mavericks vs Celtics live Free
Free: **NBA Final Games Live Streams
How/where to watch celtics vs mavericks 2024 NBA final game 1 live streams free, I pirate everything: sports, movies, TV Channels, and even made my own plex server. But lately I have gotten really into BaseballStreams and haven't found a great way to watch Major League Baseball live for free.
What app/website are you using to watch the NBA Streams? ... I'm not 100% it's basically a live stream of the NBA Streams.
TV Guide & Streaming
Everything you need to know about the NBA matchup between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Milwaukee Brewers, including how to watch and team news.
Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics lock horns in the NBA Finals 2024, starting from Friday. The Mavericks vs Celtics NBA Finals 2024 basketball games will be available on live streaming and live TV in Australia and other country.
Another way to stream the NBA finals online free? Use DirecTV Stream, which lets you watch the Mavericks vs. Celtics on ABC without cable.
All in Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST)
June 7, Friday: Game 1, Dallas Mavericks vs Boston Celtics – 10:30 AM
June 10, Monday: Game 2, Dallas Mavericks vs Boston Celtics – 10:00 AM
June 13, Thursday: Game 3, Boston Celtics vs Dallas Mavericks – 10:30 AM
June 15, Saturday: Game 4, Boston Celtics vs Dallas Mavericks – 10:30 AM
June 18, Tuesday: Game 5, Dallas Mavericks vs Boston Celtics – 10:30 AM*
June 21, Friday: Game 6, Boston Celtics vs Dallas Mavericks – 10:30 AM*
June 24, Monday: Game 7, Dallas Mavericks vs Boston Celtics – 10:00 AM*
Live streaming of the Dallas Mavericks vs Boston Celtics NBA Finals 2024 will be available on the NBA League Pass platform. The Mavericks vs Celtics basketball match will be broadcast live on the ESPN TV channel in Australia via Kayo Sports.oiut
ESPN, ABC or NBA Finals Network. I'm sure you can stream as well as way to watch it but I want to see what you guys recommend.Kukvaikuk