God damn i hate this game sometimes. I have a close friend as a player who just... does not get d&d. It's been constant issues since day 1, basically around him not being able to handle any negative consequences.
Recently, his character died. He brute forced a 'dodge the lazers' puzzle so he took some damage and activated the alarms, leading to combat. Then, he brute forced a door puzzle ("there are only 68 possible combinations so let's just try one by one") which led to 7x40 damage over the course of the puzzle. Left the party at ~5hp with no spell slots. Met an NPC who was obviously shifty, didn't want to hear what he had to say, just kept asking him for free items. Got led into an ambush. Combat started.
Miraculously, he was the only one who died permanently thanks to some crazy rolls and big sacrifices from other players. He was clearly very upset. He asked me to dinner to discuss "the dnd issue" and basically called me a coward for not killing everyone, argued I should have given everyone inspiration or otherwise intervened to keep him alive. I have it in my Session 0 rules that the goal of dnd is to have fun, not to "win" the game. He says death isn't fun, so I broke the rules. He says that being the only one dying was unfair and isolating and it would have been much better for him if they all suffered together.
We had an in-game funeral. One of the players wrote him a song. At the dinner he said I should've also wrote him a song. Like... how much of my time do we have to spend soothing your ego?
Next session he comes back as his characters twin brother. Supposedly his first character has been having secret conversations with his twin, so his twin has all the same knowledge and grudges etc. Total bullshit, I should have shut it down there. He then spends the whole session pushing really hard for combat and doing things to start fights. In my heart I know he just wants everyone else to die. At one point we're in a room with 2 BBEGS, one of whom is functionally immortal right now, plus 20 minions, and the entire dialogue he's throwing out insults or telling the other players to attack. We got through 4 rooms that night and in every single one the other players had to fight really hard to stop him getting them killed.
It's seriously so upsetting. Gonna kick him from the group when I see him next but Jesus Christmas. Who plays a game like this? I hate that this is going to cause even more issues out of game but like... I've been having an awful time for the last 12 weeks so it's fair right?

Barely standing and gasping for air, Nathan takes a moment to stop running and realizes he has no idea where he is going. He begins looking around to see if there’s anywhere to hide or even, hopefully, find food or at least water. After a moment, he finally spots a few buildings in the nearby distance. With high hopes, Nathan sprints past the remaining trees ahead and makes it to the buildings. Only one specific building catches his eye. A large sign that reads GROCERY stares at Nathan from the top of the building. Without hesitation, he rushes inside and much to his amazement, there are aisles! Nathan quickly but quietly scans each aisle. Sadly, he sees nothing. Not until he sees a small pile of snacks lying next to a fallen end cap at the end of an aisle. Excitement dances through Nathan’s body as he runs to the food and begins eating it like a wild animal. He devours every ounce of food he finds until he suddenly hears an unnerving sound. Listening closely as possible, Nathan hears the sound of cracking bones and ripping flesh. Afraid, yet curious, he looks around the corner of the aisle and spots the legs of a woman lying in her own blood and entrails. Upon further inspection, Nathan sees what he believes to be the creature he and Charlie had seen before. It’s a large thin four-legged animal that most likely was a wolf at one point but is now just a beast. It’s feasting on the entrails of the woman’s corpse and refusing to take its taste buds away from its food. That is until it hears Nathan, who accidentally steps on a bag of chips. It swiftly averts its attention to Nathan and the sight of its face is terrifying. Its face is half torn and its eyes show exactly how bloodthirsty it is. With blood and entrails dangling from its teeth, the beast fully turns its body to Nathan and lets out a deep and disturbing growl. Believing this to be his final moments alive, Nathan backs up and stumbles into the wall with his eyes closed and fists clenched. He is ready for the reaper to take his soul. The beast closes in on him and readies itself to charge its prey but is suddenly distracted by the voice of unwanted company. “Heel, you stupid mutt!” It’s once again Subject Zero, who is this time covered in large amounts of blood. The beast diverts its attention to Subject Zero and prepares for a fight. Unsure as to why Subject Zero didn’t just let the beast kill him, Nathan, stands and stares in terrified confusion. As Nathan watches, Subject Zero is attacked by the beast after a failed attempt at taming it. Directly after its attack, the beast is grabbed and bashed against a wall then thrown to the floor. The animal, no longer looking like a beast compared to Subject Zero, stands again and viciously sinks its teeth into Subject Zero’s arm but its life is soon ended. With a large and swift pull on the animal’s rear legs with its teeth still bore into Subject Zero’s arm, its body rips apart and its entrails fall out onto the floor. “I knew you were a waste,” Subject Zero says with disappointment in his voice. Nathan quickly snaps back to reality and runs out the nearby emergency exit. No longer caring about hunger or thirst, he just keeps running and doesn’t stop even when he stumbles from exhaustion. Inevitably, any hope he once had, is lost when in the not so far distance he hears, “Just because the mutt didn’t kill you, that doesn’t mean that I won’t!” Still running further into the woods, Nathan begins to stumble. He finally stops and falls to his knees as he begins to believe he is going to die here. He falls onto his back and lies in the grass around him while releasing a long but relaxing sigh. Nathan can feel the cold hard ground beneath him as he looks up to the sky. Filled with raging guilt and regrets, Nathan stares up to the sky in silence. It gets so silent, he can hear everything around him. He hears the wind sing through the leaves of trees. He can even hear water flowing nearby. Water! Unsure of where, he looks up quickly and listens. Finally, he spots a creek nearby and climbs to his hands and knees. Unable to fully stand, Nathan crawls his way to the creek ignoring all of his surroundings. He reaches the creek and practically bathes himself in the near freezing water in an attempt to feel refreshed. Afterwards, he begins to guzzle the water in handfuls. After many handfuls of water, Nathan notices something odd. The water tastes metallic as if you were sucking on an old copper penny or silver spoon. Upon this realization, he also notices the color of the water seems off. Unsure of why, he looks around only to find something far more disturbing than he imagined. An amalgamation of mutilated corpses sit nearby rotting on the rocks of the creek shore. Realizing he had just drank water contaminated with rotting corpses of innocent people, Nathan starts getting a sick feeling in his stomach and attempts to look away but can’t get his eyes off the sight. Finally breaking, he begins gagging vigorously. He loses control and starts puking uncontrollably before ultimately collapsing from pain and disgust. Nathan finally gets up after lying on the ground for a moment. Hoping to find at least some form of shelter, he manages to get himself up to his aching feet and stumbles his way down the creek. Eventually, he reaches the end of the creek where a large pipe is sticking out from the ground at an angle. The pipe, being large enough to fit a man, seems like a perfect place to shelter in. Before fully deciding to sleep there, Nathan looks inside hoping that it may lead to an exit from the dome but is quickly disappointed when he sees only dirt and mud. Nathan no longer cares and decides to climb into the pipe. He manages to make it an adequate resting area. Soon after, he is unable to keep his eyes open and finally falls asleep. “Nathan, wake up. You’re going on live television.” A very familiar voice whispers to Nathan. He opens his eyes expecting to see different surroundings, but instead, he sees Charlie sitting next to him in an unfamiliar building. Obviously confused, Nathan hesitates to even move but decides to go with it. He’s led out to a room with a male interviewer, revealing that he is on a live television interview. The interviewer looks to the camera and says, “Welcome to TalkTime, I’m your host, Tim Wiesly, and today, we have Nathan White. Just in case you don’t know, Nathan is a brilliant reporter and reports anything in the most brilliant ways. One specific story he covered about his near-death experience is what we would like to talk about today. So, Nathan, could you tell the viewers more about your experience?” Nathan hesitates at first but oddly starts believing that he made it out of the hell he was in and just dissociated. He starts telling the interviewer everything that happened to him. “Well, Tim, for starters, my colleague and I had found evidence that Envirodome was a test facility. Little did we know, one test they ran there was still in the facility after decades. We then found all the missing people over the years but they were unfortunate and passed away at the hands of the facilities test subject. I eventually lost my colleague and had a run in with a rabid animal as well but I got away and managed to find a place to sleep. After that, I climbed out and decided to… to…” Nathan stops in his tracks as he realizes he can’t remember what happened after the tunnel. “Wait. Wait, this can’t be real. I vividly remember Charlie going insane. And all those other people started losing their minds and they all started killing each other. I remember all that, yet I can’t remember a damn thing after falling asleep in that tunnel! What the fuck is going on?” Charlie comes running out and attempts to calm Nathan but fails as Nathan screams back. “You’re dead! You’re fucking dead! I know you are! You aren’t real. None of you, none of this! None of it is real!” Soon after realizing everything is fake, all of Nathan’s surroundings start changing. Everything around him becomes morbidly dark and people become mutated corpses, all of which walk over to him. They all start screaming at Nathan, resulting in him breaking and he loses his mind to the brink of insanity. Out of the dark shadows, Subject Zero walks into the area as if he were a dark god who created him and was ready to destroy him. Suddenly, everyone surrounding Nathan abruptly stops screaming and looks at him. Then they all in perfect sync say, “You’re losing control, Nathan.” Nathan angrily stands tall and yells, “Leave me alone!” After this fierce scream with his eyes shut, Nathan suddenly hears nothing but the sound of running water. He opens his eyes only to find he was still in the town under the dome. Only, now, it is somehow nighttime. Suddenly, he’s startled by the sound of splashing water. Nathan quietly looks up from the inside of the tunnel he’s lying in. In a decent distance away, Nathan sees two mannequins throwing multiple bodies into the already corpse-filled creek. Although, one body stands out amongst the rest. Charlie's. His body is mangled and mutilated. Nathan feels sick and guilty as he stares at his dead friend. Soon, Subject Zero’s voice is heard, resulting in Nathan realizing he needs to sneak out of the area. He quickly climbs out of the tunnel and looks around. He decides his best option is to go in one direction until he hopefully reaches an edge of the dome. He believes it may help him reach the overseer’s office where the self-destruct button is. With his new plan, Nathan quietly sneaks away until he accidentally rams into the edge of the dome. He becomes angry at first for being dumb enough to run into it, but eventually realizes he could be on his way to salvation. Nathan, still tired, stumbles around the edge of the dome and looks strange considering the walls are simulated to look like more land. Even though Nathan can barely handle all the stress, he still forces himself to keep moving with high hopes to avenge his deceased friend. He keeps going until he stumbles over a small brush pile. He falls onto his face and notices blood pouring from his nose. Assuming his nose has broken from the fall, Nathan quickly checks it but oddly there is no pain and the bleeding has already stopped. He’s confused but doesn’t care as he’s determined to escape. He gets up and eventually reaches an odd looking spot of the dome wall. With a closer look, he realizes it’s a door. Full of hope, Nathan quickly opens it and discovers a staircase leading to the overseer’s office. Nathan runs up without hesitation. He reaches the top of the stairs and makes it to the controls. Being dark, Nathan feels around for a light switch but as he thinks it, the lights come on. Now with light, he sees papers lying everywhere, all with information of the dome. Apparently, the government had the technology to make all this without ever letting the public know. It was built with a self-destruct button as safety measures if anything within the dome went horribly wrong. Although Nathan thought it would be an explosion as most self-destruct buttons cause, the dome was made to disassemble itself as it counted down, allowing the slight possibility of reaching the only entrance and exit doors of the facility. Nathan realizes he may actually have a chance to escape this hell and avenge his friend. After a small pause, he gets back to searching for the self-destruct button. He stumbles across a glass casing labeled ‘FOR EMERGENCIES ONLY’. Nathan opens the casing and prepares to press the button but is quickly distracted as a voice breaks the silence. “This place hasn’t been real after all these damned years?” Subject Zero reacts angrily as he slowly walks toward Nathan. “I knew this place seemed a bit small, but now that I know I can get out of here, I’ll bring my tests to the whole damn world!” “Why would you even want that?! Every single test you have done with that fucking serum has been a failure!” “No… No, I’ve perfected my serum.” “What the FUCK do you mean?” Without a single other word, Subject Zero rushes toward Nathan. Nathan quickly reacts and raises his arms in defense. Suddenly, Subject Zero flies backwards as if he was shoved with incredible force. They both now know Nathan was the cause. “That. That is what I mean.” Subject Zero says with a grin on his face. “No, no, what the fuck. How?!” “You really think I didn’t take the opportunity to inject a new version of the serum into you.” “But- but there wasn’t an injection hole. Everyone else had one.” “That’s the great thing about it. I perfected it so much that your healing is far greater than even mine AND you didn’t lose your mind like I did. That’s all I ever wanted…” “Screw you…” Nathan clenches his fist and swings a punch at Subject Zero. Realizing things move just from his thought now, Nathan opens his hand and telekinetically throws things at Subject Zero. The two begin to have an all-out super powered brawl as Subject Zero explains to Nathan that the serum is why every pain he’s felt while in the dome went away nearly immediately. The telekinesis just happened to come into play later on. Then suddenly, Nathan is slammed through and out the overseer’s office windows. Subject Zero jumps down onto him. Nathan gets weaker with each hit he takes but still fights on. Before he gets up, he notices that where the broken window is, the walls show their true colors of concrete gray and glass. Aside from the window, Nathan notices the door to the office is still wide open. He quickly gives Subject Zero a powerful kick to his abdomen and jumps up to run. Nathan runs quickly up the stairs and to the self-destruct button after leaving his enemy on the ground outside. As he reaches the button, Nathan looks out the broken window at Subject Zero and prepares to press the button. Nathan slams his hand onto the button as Subject Zero yells out in hatred. Nathan, expecting something to happen, waits. Subject Zero laughs hysterically but then suddenly is cut off by a loud voice projecting across the whole dome. “COMMENCING SELF-DESTRUCTION SEQUENCE.” Nathan notices Subject Zero is distracted and uses this as his chance to escape. 10, 9, 8…… The countdown begins and the sun begins to rise as Nathan runs out of the office and past the unaware Subject Zero. 7, 6, 5…… The countdown continues and the facility begins to collapse as Nathan passes through the woods where he drank from the creek and soon passes the concrete room where the other people were held captive. 4, 3, 2…… The countdown gets closer to an end as the dome collapses quicker and Nathan rushes past the old house he was stuck in before. Soon enough, he gets onto the road that led him and Charlie to the town inside the dome and gets even closer to the door but suddenly Subject Zero is following behind. This time, he’s so angry and determined, Subject Zero uses his telekinetic powers to control the mangled corpses that he’s kept. He’s headed for either the door or Nathan, but Nathan doesn’t care. 1…… The countdown comes to an end and the entire dome collapses above. Subject Zero, far behind with his army of corpses, stops and accepts what is coming but Nathan keeps running in hopes to escape before the weight of a million tons comes crashing down onto him. Soon enough, the dome becomes nothing but rubble. The entire area where the dome once stood, is now a ginormous pile of rubble and all that stands are a few trees and small bits of buildings. Nothing could have lived from inside. Unless you were close to the doors. Nathan, barely standing or even really alive, stumbles around the rubble. With his new powers, he uses his telekinesis to move a large piece of steel revealing a small group of men nearby. Within this group are a couple of men who are clearly scientists of some sort but the others are clearly military. Nathan runs to them with hopes of help but suddenly… “Stop right there!” One of the men yells out angrily but with a quiver in his voice. “Put your heads above your head and don’t speak!” “Wait! I just need help!” “I said put your hands above your head!” Nathan is confused so he looks around in the hopes that maybe Subject Zero is who he spotted. Sadly, the guns are all being aimed straight for him.

I am not well versed legally. I thought by simply removing him from the lease, it would be free game to kick out, if he became troublesome again.
There are four of us, including *Tyrant* who has caused everyone mental duress and has proven to be a threat to himself and sometimes others.
For context, the roommate is a bipolar (+ a ton of other mental issues) + unmedicated, but he at least goes to therapy. The events leading to us wanting to kick him out happened over the course of a year.
When we first rented, it was just me and tyrant over the summer. The place was largely empty, at some point he had mentioned struggling with suicide and depression. A couple weeks into living together, he tries to overdose on a bunch of pills, and confesses that to me (after ingesting them). I tried to get him to vomit but he wasn't interested. Dealing with similar issues in high school, I knew it wasn't remotely enough to kill him, just that he would get kinda woozy (maybe get a bad stomach ache) and maybe see some "spiders", I babysat him the rest of the night and we talked about mental health and I tried to reason with him. I confiscated all the pills in the house the next day as added precaution.
The following morning he had a bad phone call with his parents and then proceeded to scream at me about putting knives in the sink and washing dishes. We had not even had a conversation about household cleaning habits at this point, so to say it was unprompted would be an understatement.
I later noticed this as a habit of his, something would go wrong in his personal life (or his mental health would deteriorate) and he would fixate on something to direct at me. At first I thought he just really needed a clean space (I can be a bit of slob), but as time passed I was doing most of the chores. If I was gone for a week he would fill the sink with his dishes, let food rot in an airfryer, pile trash bags inside rather than taking them out. Despite this, he would still find things to nitpick on. I largely tolerated it because it was the way I was raised. During all of this happening, he had more suicide attempts, which meant me having to hide more things (the toaster, kitchen knives, razors, etc...). I know some of you are probably thinking why didn't you call the cops? Or tell the landlord?* (i'll get into later)
He was originally my friend, and there was a time where I felt responsible for his well-being. I didn't want to get him sent to an institute or mess up his life if the cops perceived him to be a threat. I kept thinking that it was temporary, and if I rally enough support, things will improve. And to be fair, that is what got him voluntarily into therapy.
I never yelled at him or "stood up to him" because I don't like yelling. I am large male, he is short. When I was younger I had outbursts. I never hurt anyone, but I learned that sometimes raising your voice is all it takes to be perceived as threat. I always tried to reason with him, but it never seem to stick.
At some point I had family over, granted with little notice, but I was previously told he was going to be gone that week. He snapped multiple times about how 'they live like animals' and 'armed men are going rob the house' because it was unlocked. It was noon, on a saturday, and my father was sitting on the porch. He got pissy that we put a street couch on the balcony. A bunch of other upsetting things happened, mostly yelling, I always responded jovially to keep things light for my family.
After he sent a message to the our house chat about "my shit being everywhere" I was done with his behavior. In the picture he conveniently moved all of his things out of frame, and since I was away I literally could not do anything about it, this also painted me as a slob to our roommates yet to move in.
I drove to the house and waited for his girlfriend to finish visiting to confront him (an affordance he never once had granted me). I asked him if he wanted to talk about the way he has been acting over the last month. He tried to brush me off, but I was persistent, he then ran to his room and tried to slam the door on me. This is typically how he handled confrontation.
I have a voice recording of the incident. I was mostly just asking him if he felt it was acceptable to yell at someone do to household chores, or to yell at / in front of someone's family and partner over personal issues. Before I could finish the first sentence he started walking to his room.
I held my hand in the door because I wanted a response or something, an apology. He slammed the door on my hand multiple times (probably over 10). At some point, he got sick of my questions and screamed "I tried to kill myself today!". I said "So what? That justifies the way you've been acting?" "You're not trying to get help, you just take it out on me, and you ignore everyone else who's trying to help you". I said some other things, but I don't want to re-listen to the recording right now.
I know I said nothing that could be perceived as threat, but I don't know if putting my hand in the door against his will is illegal.
After that, it was radio silence. If he saw me, he would run to his room. Eleanor (one of the roomates yet to move in) came over for a day. We hung up a spice rack while he was preheating his fryer for a meal. His response was to throw the frozen chicken into the fridge and run to his room. He is of drinking age, and two years older than me.
This went on for 3 weeks, at first the space was nice, but I started to wonder If I undid all the progress towards him getting help. I felt bad at this point. I left a notes at his door, apologizing and saying people cared about him. I left him a meal when it seemed like he wasn't eating.
Eventually he snapped back. No apology, no conversation. He was just out and about again. He presented me with small talk. I tried to talk about what happened and he broadly spoke about his mental health, and vaguely mentioned being sorry. Great. I decided to let things go, and that I would confront whatever happens next in the moment. Months pass. A couple spats happen, I sometimes snap back at him now and call out his hypocrisy. Summer is ending.
Things stabilized and the other roommates moved in. Fast forward a couple months and they all develop problems with Tyrant, but we don't want to break the lease, and can't find a new roommate, also none of us know how to kick out a roommate who shares a lease with us. We settle for house meetings, none of which stick for tyrant, we decide will not renew with him on the lease and just have to get through the year.
Also the two new roommates are both girls who are avoidant of confrontation, so now I am the one to bat for everyone. As a result, tyrant hates me. If there's a mess it must be me, if someone took someone's food I am the first to blame, if there is damage I must be responsible. I just deal with it, as I know living with both of them and a normal roommate will be a dream.
Tyrant has a mental break while I am away, and threatens to kill himself after getting frustrated that he had to be present for the landlord to fix something. He throws a laptop at Iris, and then locks himself in my room after grabbing several knives. Everyone is now ready to kick out tyrant.
The lease is approaching. I start working on removing tyrant from the lease before it renews, but it turns out the lease auto renewed, so its a bigger process. *After the landlords told us we need tyrants consent to remove him, I informed them of the situation, but they do not care. They tell me to try and find a way for him to sign anyways.
After flipflopping on it for weeks, I finally get tyrant to sign the forums removing him from the lease.
I mail it in, but only mail one of the two copies as only one will fit in the envelope, I think it went through because they almost always reply if they still need something from us. I am waiting on a response to see if it was finalized. I thought it was but I am now double checking.
Here is the situation:
Tyrant wants to move out july 1st. I want him out on the 18th.
My girlfriend will be taking his place over the summer, and her job starts soon, we previously told him multiple times that the latest we could do is mid june. But, none of this is in writing.
I offered to pay him the amount of rent that he would be losing by moving out early. He barely stays here now, only coming into town for work. I also offered to store all his things in the attic / basement, so he would be able to access them once he does move into his new place. I know he doesn't need to live here, as he constantly stays at his parents. If it's about work he could crash at his brothers place (in MKE) for the the two weekends of work.
I don't feel safe leaving my girlfriend here while he is still living here. But I need to see my grandmother because she is dying. I want him out, but I don't think the landlords will do anything. I am willing to involve the cops but I don't know what to say, and I consume illicit substances so I worry about him turning it into a mudfest. We are also not supposed to technically supposed use the attic, so I worry about that getting brought up. He isn't conniving but I just want to be airtight.
Also due to the timing and lack of funds, I wonder if I should just wait until july first. But then its the whole issue of how long will it take him to actually move out, if it took this much time to get him to agree to it?
I'd like to know what I legally can and can't do, what his protections are as paying unleased tenant. And what I can do given the history and people willing to testify, but having a lack of a court order or restraining order.
Should I have a firmer talk threatening to make his actions into a legal issue? I don't know what to do.

Long and the short - friend is a builder, installed a new front door for me, wasn't a small job as a lot of resizing and shaping the door and frame, probably took longer than normal as we chatted a bit but he was here most of the day. Also put in two new locks and had to figure out how the digital one worked and order and collect the door. Only charged me $200 labour which seems way too low so I want to pay him the correct rate for 6ish hours plus whatever they usually add on (not the doolocks). Any ideas?
Thanks.
Edit - if you think 6hrs was too long then fine but I couldn't do it myself and was very happy with the finished job

EcoFlow Delta 2 & Anker Solix C1000 (Batteries). They both kick ass, but neither can handle the huge start up load of my AC. My deep cell batteries suck. I hate them. I want to go 100% Solar & only use generator from time to time. So my question is…. I wire up 3 cords together (M, M, F) plug each into the batteries, and next into my shore power. I can do this easily one at a time. But I want to split the load. If I do it now I’m assuming of course it would trip, because no incoming load should be happening. So how tf do I install a diode to make this happen? Is that what I want? I’m like 90% , but looking on Amazon I’m not even sure how I’d really connect a wire to the component. 🤷‍♂️

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.

Wasn't sure were to post this so if this is the wrong spot I will delete it but just wasn't sure what to do in this scenario.
To set the basics I am part of a pretty big family, my parents had 12 children and I am the 10th child in the lineup, so pretty far down. To be honest big families like this aren’t as rare as you would think especially in more rural states like the one we live in. Big families do come with a whole host of other issues which is what is causing this post.
Some of my older siblings have basically been dancing around the subject that they think we were abused/neglected. Or at least they are from my perspective and after talking with my friends who also think that I am getting really confused. When I think of abuse I guess I always think of the most extreme cases like beatings and stuff but my friends pointed out that there has to be milder cases which is what they think we were.
I grew up Christian (Not currently religious but no one in my family knows that yet) and my parents are pretty mainstream in that aspect. My mom’s dad was a pastor and was one of this fire and brimstone bible thumping ones. He was a riot when he wasn’t preaching though :D My dad had gone to college to be a pastor before deciding to go into another field, we grew up non-denominational but really baptist leaning for those who know those terms.
To get this out of the way from the beginning my parents did believe in spanking which I know is contentious in some circles as being abuse or not. In my families circles its not as long as it’s not done in anger and doesn’t leave bruises. (Funny story about that later)
My parents had kids pretty young which is why they were able to squeeze out 12 all in a row, no double ups or adoptions, 1 kid every 2 years. Of course this inevitably led to parentification (according to my friends) They had a buddy system. Each person had a younger sibling they took care of and the tasks varied. (for privacy reasons all siblings will be referred to by their number in order of age)
Sibling1 was my buddy, for me at least she did basically everything, she made sure I brushed my teeth at night, helped me get dressed in the morning, she taught me to read, helped me with school, did my hair, in public spaces made sure I didn’t wander off and get myself killed (this was a real worry lol I was a wild child) and generally was basically like a nanny to me. As I grew up her tasks slowed until eventually I took care of myself with no help but I remember a lot of times when I was sick, her still being the one to come in and make sure I was feeling okay.
My friends say that could be considered neglect but I am torn because like my parents couldn’t have handled all those kids themselves and really had to have the help but I digress.
I do have a scar on my hand from when my dad threw a glass at my sister and it broke and the shards hit me since I was next to her. My sister Sibling11 was also told that really early on (like age 4-6 I believe) she was spanked so hard she had bruises for a couple weeks on her bum. My dad did kick out some of my siblings when they were underaged but that only ever lasted like a couple hours so it was seen more as like an empty threat than an actual worry?
My dad does this thing when he’s mad were he grabs that back of your neck in like a “friendly” and “comforting” way but in reality he is squeezing really hard and it gives me like the heeby jeebies. I actively don’t stand near him when he is mad because of it. I remember listening for the back door because if he was mad you could tell by how it slammed and if he was mad you DIDN’T want to be the next person he saw. If you disobeyed or did something stupid at like the dinner table he would send you to his room in front of everyone which was humiliating as HELL and everyone knew you were going to be get spanked and then either you were sent to your room or sent back to the table with a smarting butt and I hated being humiliated like that (but that could be a personal issue)
I remember being chased by a dog down the street and screaming for my sisters who were really far ahead to come back because I was scared and mom and dad heard me and got mad that I was screaming in public and I got sent to my room for a couple hours because of it.
But all of these were really spaced out isolated incidents. I guess it also came in like waves? Usually we would get like really terrible and mom and dad would come down hard and then when we were more obedient they loosened up and like that might just be parenting right?
I feel kinda groddy saying it’s abuse and trying to claim something that awful happened to me because thats me trying to claim my issues were just as bad as like legitimate abuse which is exactly what I’m trying not to do. I know my parents loved me and did the best with what they had but I also remember I lot of my childhood being overlooked and really just kinda terrible? I always thought it was just because I was a bad kid on some way and now people are saying it might not actually be my fault which is apparently a very radical thought for me. I remember having fun. Dad taking us to Disneyland, us listening to him read aloud. I guess it’s hard to think he could be both things at the same time?
My dad has said some really messed up things in the past. I’ve been called obese (I was like 150 lbs which didn’t make me feel great) a slut, a whore, a prostitute etc. I was told when I moved out at 20 years old that I wasn’t ready, had no street smarts and would become an alcoholic because I have an obsessive personality. (Let’s just say Dad did NOT agree with me becoming a Doctor Who fan and getting merchandise like a sonic screwdriver replica) Not sure how fandom leads to alcoholism but I am here at 24 still waiting for the magical switch to flip. It is seen as a hobby though if its something they agree with which is way they didn’t think me being interested in learning how to write with a quill was in anyway strange. I have like 4 quills all supplied by them, I have books on the subject. I was told several times that I should have been born in the victorian times. I was allowed to sew dresses and WEAR dresses that were period accurate. Mom bought me an etiquette book from that time period because I was curious. So like actually cosplaying in everyday life as a victorian women was totally okay but wanting to own all the seasons of Doctor Who and buying a plastic nick nack that stayed on my shelf and was only used as a flash light to get to the BATHROOM was seen as concerning.
I actually recently got into kpop and my favorite group right now is Stray Kids for those who know and I told my parents. For my birthday I asked for one of their albums because I haven’t really been able to justify making that purchase on my own because of bills and stuff. My dad immediately said no. My birthday rolled around and they had bought me a record album (vinyl) of Owl City’s lasted album. Not to bash Owl City I do actually enjoy his music but not as much as other artists. When I asked Sibling11 why that gift was any different then me asking for a Stray Kids album she told me that I just had to face it like the Doctor Who stuff that they would never buy me those things because they think I am obsessed and so I would just suffer with other gifts instead. Anyway this probably to long already so I will leave it at this. Just really confused and don’t know what to do.

I work at a hotel and I came across a scenario that... I'm wondering what other hotels would do.
Couple around retirement age checks in with us for 3 nights. No worries, no issues, no red flags. On the second night, the man comes down to the front desk on his way out the door for the evening, and says to me in a nice, calm way:
"Hi there. I'm in room 3xx and some of the trim is falling down. Where the curtain rod is, there is this large piece of trim and it's just... coming down."
"Oh goodness, sir, I'm so sorry. It's just... hanging off the wall or something?"
"Yeah. If someone could take a look at it..."
"Of course, I'll have my engineers look at it right away. Can they enter the room in your absence?"
"Yes, that's fine."
"Great. So sorry about that again, sir. We'll get on it right away."
He walks away, I radio engineering, and they go to work on it.
Basically, the trim is done dor. It can't be fixed, and the wood split somewhere in the middle. For context, this trim is DUMMY THICC. Not your standard Home Depot molding. This is a boutique hotel, so you know it's unique and extra. Plus the curtain rod is attached to it. The way this was installed, it looks like nail into drywall, which isn't exactly textbook, but it is SECURE. In fact, the main reason it hadn't hit the floor year was cause it was so tightly wedged into the wall, that only the fact that the wood split is what gave it some room to slide down a bit. One engineer couldn't lift it, it was so heavy, so he called his manager off vacation real quick to help and they both agreed on this:
There is no way this just happened. The guest had to have pulled on it, tugged it extra hard, maybe fell and held onto it for support, SOMETHING. But that trim was SECURE. No way it happened on its' own. I asked several times about likelihood, possibilities, etc etc, and they would swear on their careers that something happened to it, it didn't just fall apart on its own. So this means, the guest had to have done it.
Boss engineer leaves again, assistant still on shift, guest comes back QUITE DRUNK. I tried to cancel his room key so he'd HAVE to stop by front desk before entering his room so I could speak with him, but I think my canceling card was outdated. Anyways, he complains that now the trim is on the floor and the curtain is on his bed. Mind you, engineering left it propped and wedged. The thing just fell while no one was in the room. I told him we have to move him because that room was no longer habitable. He makes a small stink out of it, but in the end, we help him move from one standard room to our GENUINELY LAST ROOM IN THE HOTEL (the only room stopping us from selling out completely) which is a nicer view, high floor room (but the room size and bed count is the same. Normally the upgrade is $80 more but of course, no charge for this situation) and leave him with a free breakfast voucher.
He comes back down very shortly after and complains "all this unpacking, repacking, unpacking, and shit, and you put me in the SAME ROOM? Not even an upgrade??"
"Sir, I'm so sorry again. If we could have avoided the room move, we would have, but the old room is not safe anymore and we gave you our last room in the building."
"Oh bullshit. When I booked, there were suites available."
"Yes , you booked a week ago. Just yesterday, I had 16 rooms today, and now I'm down to that last one because of how quickly people will rent our rooms."
"Well it's not right! Only a free breakfast?"
"Well, sir, we're still investigating how the trim came to fail. So far it looks like some sort of external force may have pulled it down..."
"Are you saying I DID IT?!"
"All I'm saying, sir, is that now the room is out of order for 2 weeks and we're still investigating the cause. Regardless, I apologize for the inconvenience, but I promise you it is our last available room and if the situation could have been avoided, we would avoid it. But our hands are tied and we could not have left you in that room."
He grumbles away, leaving, still complaining about only getting a free breakfast.
Here's the question: because the guest refuses to accept responsibility for the damages to the room and we have no CONCRETE PROOF that the guest did such damage with ill intent or anything like that, we didn't charge the guest the $400 we were quoted by engineering. The GM says that it would be too much headache, so much charge chargeback back and forth, just to end up writing it off anyway and getting a bad review, so just leave it alone.
What would you guys have done? Charge the guest anyway? Prove to the guest they did it? Keep in mind, the molding, while not professionally installed correctly, was NAILED and SECURED... until I guess old man Banner decided to tug it down?? Would your property do anything differently?
Tl;Dr drunk guest refuses to confirm he was responsible for damages, trim was damaged for $400, GM says don't bother fighting the guest... would your property handle this differently? Is there a way where everyone walks away happy here?

“And for the missing person reports that date back many years, police still have not found any leads to the odd disappearance of multiple people around our little town of Welks, Utah. If police find any new leads, I, Nathan White, will be the first to give you the news.” Nathan White is a small town reporter who is finishing up his final words of the day's news. Charlie Akins, Nathan’s colleague and long time friend is manning the camera. Nathan is your typical guy who never gives up and has the determination of a beaver building its dam. He will take any story he is given and will do his best to make it the best. Charlie on the other hand is about as outgoing as a sloth and so paranoid he can’t go anywhere without thinking the worst, but will never leave his friend’s side. Soon after the two wrap up, Charlie gets a call from their boss who claims to have a new story they could cover. Nathan places their gear in the news van as Charlie walks over. With the way Charlie nervously walks over, Nathan knows something is odd. “So what’s the deal? We got a story or what?” Charlie gets in the driver seat of the van without saying a word and Nathan quickly follows, getting into the passenger seat. As Charlie begins driving, he tells Nathan what their boss had spoken to him about. An old abandoned government facility sits out in the farthest outskirts of the town. It’s in the shape of a dome that’s large enough to house an entire town. There’s no records of anyone ever entering the facility since the 50’s and no one seems to know what it was for. Only thing anyone knows, or suspects, is that it may be cursed or haunted as people who have ever been near it claim to hear screams and voices coming from within. Charlie is hesitant of even the thought of covering the story but continues to drive assuming Nathan will be intrigued. Charlie was correct, of course, as Nathan quickly calls their boss to inform him that they’re checking it out. Without question, Charlie continues driving until they are so far out that Welks is completely out of sight in the rearview mirror. They eventually see a large structure in the distance that they quickly realize is the center of their new story. “Holy shit, Charlie! I’ve never seen this place before and just… Wow,” Nathan says excitedly. “Nathan, I don’t know about this one. Something seems off. Even the boss seemed hesitant to tell me about this place,” Charlie responds. “Come on, Charlie. We’ve always wanted to cover a GHOST STORY.” “No, YOU have always wanted to cover a ghost story. I’ve always wanted to get the hell away from every single person I come in contact with and sleep in my bed.” “Don’t do me like that.” “You know I’ve got your back through thick and thin, Nate. But I’ve seriously got a bad feeling about this one.” “I know but come on, serious-... ly…” Nathan is awestruck by the sight of a large sign on the outer brink of a long driveway leading to the entrance of the dome. The sign reads:
RESTRICTED AREA
ENVIRODOME “WE EXPERIMENT FOR THE SAFETY OF OUR PEOPLE”
SPECIAL ACCESS IS NEEDED BEYOND THIS POINT
Although it was obvious by the city-sized dome in the middle of the desert, this sign fully confirmed they were in the right place. They continue down the driveway until they finally reach a parking lot that lies in front of the only noticeably cube-like design of the entire facility. The parking lot was small, or at least it seemed that way based on how huge the building was. Nathan and Charlie assumed it would be glass, but instead, the decrepit building, now known to be The Envirodome, was made of a strong thick, yet rusted metal. They realized this was most likely by design considering the people who created it wouldn’t have wanted anyone to know what went on inside. Almost the entire building was covered in a thick layer of vines except for the front door. The doors at the entrance were oddly only covered in smaller vine growth that was far more fragile than the rest. Charlie parks the van as an awestruck Nathan barely waits for him to stop and exits the passenger side. Charlie hesitantly follows suit. Nathan reaches the double entrance doors and rips away the vines. He quickly finds the handle of the right door and much to his surprise, it cracks open. “Ooh spooky,” Nathan jokingly says to Charlie. “Shut up,” Charlie snaps back. As Nathan and Charlie open the large metal door and walk inside, they find far more than, yet somehow everything, they had expected. The duo walk inside only to find an entire small community within. Businesses, homes, trees and more fill the miles long dome in all directions, seemingly to no end. “There’s a whole damn town in this place?! How the hell did not a single person know this existed,” Charlie exclaims out of pure shock. “Dude… How the fuck am I suppose to know? That’s why we’re here, remember? To cover the story of this place and get it out to the people…” Nathan sarcastically snaps back. Charlie, nervous as all hell, ignores Nathan as they continue forward in the hopes to find information on this place somewhere inside. They don’t even reach but about 10-15 feet inside before the door slams shut behind them and locks itself into place. Once fully locked, the doors start to change as if there was never a door or wall there at all. It quickly changes into a hyper-realistic hologram of more trees and roads. Soon enough, it looked as if an exit never even existed. Nathan quickly realizes that there seemingly are no walls in any direction. However, realistically and logically, there must be dead ends in all directions, the dome was obviously designed in a special way. Although there was a dome surrounding the town inside, there were still plenty of places Nathan and Charlie could explore. With beautifully green trees all around, houses and even rundown businesses, the entire place looked and felt like a normal little town instead of the inside of a previously government owned facility. Despite absolutely not a single structural flaw in the dome, a small breeze glides through the air, whistling to the ears of any who would listen. Both Nathan and Charlie are confused, yet in awe, by the experience at hand, but still they carry on. Nathan suggests going to the nearest building to search for information as he takes his next steps into the oddly beautiful scenery. Charlie, however, hesitates his next step until he realizes Nathan is already further ahead of him. Trees dance and sway in the cool breeze, grass and vines grow over large rocks and multiple buildings, and even clouds sail through the beautifully blue skies that couldn’t possibly be real but at this point it’s not unbelievable. With so much to admire, Nathan quickly loses focus on the task at hand until Charlie speaks up. “Hey, Nate. Shouldn’t we hurry up and get to wherever the hell we’re going?” “Huh? Oh… Yeah, yeah. Sorry…” Nathan snaps back to his senses and continues forward. As they continue to what seems like a small neighborhood, they notice something in the distant wooded area. It’s a four-legged creature that could be a wolf or coyote. Nathan and Charlie pick up speed as they are unsure of what it could really be and prefer not to be attacked. On arrival to the neighborhood, the two men notice that multiple mannequins are oddly placed around as if they had been living a life. An eerie feeling washes over them as they both become a little more skeptical of being there. Nathan looks back to check on his friend and notices Charlie is visibly paranoid as he looks around. He feels a moment of guilt for making him come here for a story to cover, but that moment was just that. A moment. Nathan quickly nudges Charlie to get him to come with him as he walks up to an open house. As they walk in, they split up. Charlie searches the living room and kitchen. Nathan goes straight to the farthest bedroom in the back. Searching every nook and cranny, Nathan finds absolutely nothing but an old withered bible. He begins to walk into another room when suddenly, Charlie’s voice echoes through the empty hallway. “Holy fuck,” Charlie exclaims. “What’s wrong,” Nathan yells while running into the living room. Nathan finds Charlie holding an old yellowed stack of papers. Charlie hands them to Nathan without uttering a single word. On top is an old document that reads:
Aug. 17, 1953: Testing is ready to commence for Project 718/Operation “SUPER” in the environment dome. However, there are no volunteers for testing just yet.
Aug. 18, 1953: Chief scientist, Dr. Maximus Woods, has volunteered as prime subject under the name: Subject Zero. All tests are now being prepared.
Aug. 20, 1953: Day 1 of testing has started. The Super Serum has been injected into Dr. Maximus Woods A.K.A Subject Zero at approximately 12:53 A.M. It has been hours and nothing has happened thus far.
Aug. 25, 1953: Subject Zero has gained a slight form of telekinesis. Small signs of abnormally quick healing factors have also appeared, taking only a couple of hours to fully heal mid-large wounds made on the subject's body. Tests, so far, seem to be successful with no side effects.
Aug. 30, 1953: Subject Zero has had impressive changes with easy to control telekinesis, rapid healing, and even large amounts of strength.
Sep. 5, 1953: Over the past week, Subject Zero has been undergoing small changes in personality, possibly a slight side effect of the serum. This will be monitored.
Sep. 10, 1953: Subject Zero has become rapidly unstable, showing major signs of insanity. Subject does not seem to realize the environment is simulated and treats test mannequins placed around the environment dome as if they were living beings.
Sep. 17, 1953: Multiple teams have been sent in to try and allow real communication with living beings. However, all teams have been killed by Subject Zero. He also does not allow anyone to retrieve the bodies and it is unclear what he does with them.
Oct. 3, 1953: Subject has become far too unstable to continue any further testing. All research will be abandoned but a small team will remain in the overseer’s office. For full safety measures, this team has agreed that if the facility must be destroyed then they will die with it. This was the intended way in case of emergency. If the facility is self-destructed, no one inside will survive.
“What the hell…” Nathan says fearfully. “Read the newspaper article that’s attached,” says Charlie. The newspaper article reads:
October 3, 1953 Today, the government-run facility, Envirodome, had been shut down after multiple men had been slaughtered at the hands of the company’s very own test subject, Subject Zero. The few men who made it out alive today could not speak of or about the tests done but we were told that their subject is still inside the facility. Test Subject Zero was locked inside only as a safety protocol but many wonder, how long will he remain there?
Upon this discovery, Nathan stops to think and wonders if he screwed up by taking on this story to cover. Nathan, being himself, tries to lighten the mood but before uttering a single word, he is cut off by a rough and deep voice in the distance. The voice now being the only thing to focus on, Nathan and Charlie look out the front windows of the old house and spot the figure of a man playing baseball with a mannequin. Upon further inspection, the man is wearing clothes obviously not of this era. With an old 50’s jacket that is nearly torn to shreds, an old pair of blue jean slacks, a red shoe on one foot and a black one on the other and hair that clearly hasn’t been washed in years, the man is the exact look and description of pure insanity. Not just with his looks but also with his actions, he clearly is not a stable man. In the yard of the next house over, the man is talking and playing catch with a mannequin. “For the last time Jimmy, I’m tired of your shit! Catch the damn ball or at the very least attempt to instead of just standing there,” the crazed man screams as he chucks a baseball at its head resulting in its immediate decapitation. Nathan, with a humor full of bad timing, nearly bursts into laughter. “Shut the fuck up, Nathan! That’s the guy from the document and newspaper article. He’s Dr… Uh… Maximus Woods! Subject Zero! He’s been here since the 50’s,” Charlie fearfully exclaims. “There’s no way in hell, Charlie. The guy doesn’t even look like he’s past his mid-30’s.” “I told you to call me Subject Zero! That old name is dead to me!” The man, now confirmed to be Subject Zero, yells out to another mannequin. “Believe me now, asshat,” Charlie snaps at Nathan. “Shush! What was that?” Subject Zero quickly snaps his attention to Nathan and Charlie’s direction and begins to walk to them. The two men look at each other in fearful confusion and simultaneously say, “oh shit.” Instinctually, Charlie runs out of the house from fear and with a quick, “FUCK!” Nathan follows him. Running out of the house like a couple of preyed upon animals, they run up the street further into the neighborhood. Taking a quick glance, Nathan spots a strange sight. Subject Zero and many other figures are chasing after them. Upon further examination, Nathan realizes that what he’s witnessing is something straight out of a horror movie. The other figures are , in fact, not even humans. They’re mannequins! All the mannequins they had seen back at the other houses are now moving like humans and coming right for them alongside Subject Zero. Nathan is running so fast you could mistake him for a train breaking loose from its tracks, but sadly, Charlie is slowing down, unable to keep up with his friend. Nathan manages to reach a hiding spot behind a dumpster, unintentionally leaving Charlie to await his own horrors as Nathan is nothing but forced to watch. Charlie begins to stumble and trips over his own feet. Soon after, the mannequins catch up to him. Nathan wants to help, but knows he can’t so all he does is watch in horror. Lying on the ground, Charlie gasps for air as the mannequins and Subject Zero surround him. They stare at him for a moment before eventually beating him simultaneously until Charlie is soaked in his own blood, barely alive. Suddenly, they stop. Charlie, nearly lifeless, drags his gaze in Nathan’s direction. He mouths, “GO” before coughing up blood. Nathan holds back tears and vomit as he looks away in guilt. All the mannequins that were once beating the life out of Charlie turn around and scatter before ultimately becoming, once again, inanimate objects. Like a lion searching for its prey, Subject Zero scans the area. With danger nearby, Nathan looks around to find a house with any open doors to attempt to find safety. He spots a nearby house with an open window and decides it's his best option. Without hesitation, Nathan sprints to the window and leaps in like a gazelle escaping its demise. Much to his surprise, he went unnoticed. “I might be insane, but I know I wasn't just seeing double of your little friend here. Where the hell are you,” screams Subject Zero as two mannequins carry Charlie's bloodied, yet still alive, body away. Nathan, afraid, yet determined, locks himself inside the house and sits behind a kitchen counter. He looks up to see if it's safe enough to search the house. Once he realizes it is, he begins to look around. The kitchen is oddly empty. Not a single piece of silverware, plate or food. Out of the entire house, the living room is the best looking part, even though it still looks like a tornado came through it. With hopes of finding something, Nathan scrummages through everything lying on the decrepit wooden floor. After a moment of searching, Nathan notices multiple papers scattered around all dated October of 1953. All the papers say different things about Project ‘SUPER’ and Subject Zero. Although most papers essentially say the same things, one paper stands out the most. It’s a newspaper dated a few days after the imminent shutdown of the facility. October 9, 1953 The project was abandoned and only a few escaped but one former employee of Envirodome decides to speak up about the events. “The main doors may have been closed but they sadly were not locked,” the scientist tells our interviewer, “Oddly, the doors were made to allow people in but not back out unless you went to the overseer’s office and unlocked the main doors. All this means, anyone who decides to go inside without knowing this info will be trapped forever with a psycho maniac. Fortunately, Subject Zero’s insanity affected his mind so badly he doesn’t even realize he’s in a fake little world that’s specially made for him.”
A little further down the same newspaper article it reads:
The former Envirodome employee continues. “All documents will state that Dr. Maximus Woods volunteered to be Subject Zero, but that just isn’t true. We tricked him. You see, we needed someone and Dr. Woods was just this weird scientist that no one really liked. We convinced him that if he volunteered that he would be a hero. Someone who could save our world if the serum worked. He was so happy and we just laughed at him but knew we needed him for the tests. As soon as everything began, it all ended. As he became more and more deranged, he also became more determined to make the serum work. He eventually took living people he kept with him and made his own serum to try and perfect it. But it never worked. It just leads to each person to become crazier and far quicker. He ended up just killing everyone that the serum didn’t work on. God knows what he does to any poor soul that innocently walks into that building and gets trapped.”
With this new knowledge, Nathan knew he fucked up by coming into this beautiful hell. Now filled with dreaded emotions, he gets onto his feet and sets onward through the hallway. As he reaches the beginning of the hallway, the front door is unexpectedly busted down by an already all too familiar figure, Subject Zero. Reacting quickly, Nathan sprints to the farthest back room of the house. Being the master bedroom, it has plenty of space but sadly doesn’t have a lock on the door. Thinking quickly, Nathan slams the door and nervously shoves a large stand up dresser down on its side and in front of the doorway. He knows it won’t hold for long, especially considering, just a mere seconds ago, he witnessed Subject Zero burst a door off its hinges in the blink of an eye. Subject Zero is on the hunt, looking in every room all while Nathan stands in the master bedroom freaking out. Eventually, he comes to his senses and looks out the room's only window. It’s quite a drop below due to the house sitting on a slanted yard. Without hesitation, Nathan prepares himself for his only option. He opens the window and prepares to jump as the door of the room begins to be beaten upon. The door eventually breaks in half and standing on the other side is Subject Zero. Nathan slings himself out the window but it inevitably leads to pain. Nathan, with a possibly broken ankle, stands against the wall to stay as Subject Zero looks through the window wondering how he could lose his only entertainment so easily. Subject Zero eventually angrily wanders off as he cusses at himself. Nathan takes that as his cue to stumble his way into the nearby forest. Nathan manages to make it a decent distance into the forest before stumbling and falling next to a large oak tree. Expecting to be free from danger for at least a while, he relaxes against the tree and closes his eyes. Far too early for assumptions, he hears something and quickly opens his eyes to see Subject Zero’s fist unexpectedly rushing to his face, resulting in a knockout. After a while, Nathan cracks his eyes open, barely able to see. He looks around in a trance until he hears a familiar voice. “Hey, Nate! Nate! Wake the fuck up! I’m not dead!” Nathan fully comes to and looks over to see an upside down Charlie. Confused, he looks at Charlie unsure of what to say. Eventually he speaks. “What the fuck…? Why the hell are you upside down?” Charlie points to Nathan’s feet, revealing he is in fact, the one upside down hanging by his feet. “Oh, fuck… WHAT THE FUCK?!? Get me down, you asshole!” Charlie unties the rope, leading to Nathan falling on his head. Rubbing his head, Nathan gets up with ease, which leads him to wonder why there’s no pain in his ankle. He quickly shrugs it off and looks back at Charlie as he finally realizes the situation. “Wait a damn minute, how the hell are you alive? I saw you get beaten to a pulp.” “Yeahhhh… Well, first off, thanks for leaving me, but I’ll tell you everything I know, just as they did for me.” Charlie points over to a small crowd of people waiting behind the dark shadows of the room. With a short, yet detailed, briefing, he tells Nathan that these people are all the missing people they’ve been reporting about. They all have been curious people who have wandered into the facility but inevitably became a morbid science experiment by Subject Zero. Charlie continues on to tell Nathan that every single one of these people have been injected with a similar serum as Subject Zero but each one is a slightly altered version. “So, let me get this straight… These people have all been injected with the same damn insanity poison as that madman and there’s absolutely no telling who could lose it and kill us with FUCKING TELEKINISIS!” “Yeah, pretty much. But I’ve been told that Subject Zero murders every failed attempt before they hurt any of his other precious test subjects. So far, all he’s done is prolong the insanity effects.” “Charlie, we have to somehow get the fuck out of here.” “We can’t. Do you not understand what I just said?” “Look, I get that these people are innocent but they’re obviously going to be massive dangers to humanity. We can get out of here. I don’t know how but… Somehow!” “Nate! I can’t get out of here.” “What the fuck are you talking about?” Charlie raises up his arm and reveals a small pinprick of a needle in his skin. “Charlie, what is that? No… Wait, you were injected too?” “Yeah.” “FUCK!” “Look, as far as I’m concerned, you haven’t been injected. There’s no needle mark in your skin. YOU could actually get out of here.” “I’m not leaving you behind again, Charlie! It was a nightmare seeing what they did to you the first time.” “Nathan, I -” Suddenly and very unexpectedly, one of the people in the crowd begins to scream from within the shadows. Nathan, confused and afraid, looks over at the man losing his sanity. Within seconds, the man stops screaming as the entire room falls into a deafening silence. The man looks in Nathan’s direction and shines a demonic grin with a stare that could pierce the soul of any mortal man. Knowing the man is coming toward him, Nathan slowly starts backing up against the cold concrete walls. The man, with all new senses, uses his new telekinetic ability to push others from the crowd aside. Charlie, being brave for the first and possibly final time in his life, attempts to stand in the way but is quickly subdued as he’s flung against the wall. Finally reaching Nathan, the man brings his gaze into a full on stare into Nathan’s soul. For Nathan, it’s as if death has come for him. Suddenly, the man’s gaze is ripped away by a familiar face of evil. Subject Zero heard the screams and came to claim his failed experiment. This led to an all-out brawl between the two men. Anyone would describe it in the same way you would if two rabid dogs were fighting over food. One dog gets up after being ripped open and the other gets its face gashed by a hard hitting blow, yet they still fight. Only difference between the two, one is just a dog wanting its food and the other is trained to kill. Suddenly, with a vicious blow, Subject Zero wins the fight when he takes the man’s head and slams it so hard into the concrete floor that his skull cracks open causing blood, brains, and skull fragments to fly over the silent crowd. With one final glance, Subject Zero looks over the entire crowd. He ends his gaze by making sure Nathan is the last to see his devilish eyes. Soon after, he leaves the room and locks the door. Nathan stares at the corpse lying on the ground with a look of pure terror and proceeds to collapse onto the floor while holding back tears. The small concrete room soon fills with despair as everyone watches the tears of pain and fear run down Nathan’s face. Charlie tries to make his long-time friend feel a little more hopeful, although he soon gives up as well until he has a moment of realization. He remembers back to when they first were searching for information he had found an article with some intriguing details. “Okay, so, there may be some hope after all.” “Charlie, what hope is there? Huh?! You’re pretty much fucked and I don’t exactly see a way out of here.” “One of the articles back at the house we were in said something about a self-destruct button. That’s also how you open the main doors. Apparently, no one ever bothered, or I guess, never got the chance to hit the self-destruct timer and run their asses to the door. What if we- I mean, YOU could actually do that?” “Charlie, I already told you I don’t want to leave you behind.” “GOD DAMN IT, NATHAN! I know… FUCK! I know. But I want you to survive. Can’t you just listen to me for once?! I would follow you through hell and back and it kind of feels that way right now. So? Can you just listen to what I want you to do for once while I’m practically on my deathbed?!” “Okay! Okay…” Suddenly, an unexpected chance of escape arrives at their feet. Subject Zero and a few of his mannequins walk in to remove the mutilated corpse from the room. Unexpectedly, one of the people in the crowd begins to scream out in pain just like the other man did moments ago before his demise. “Oh, great…” Subject Zero says irritatedly. Soon after, multiple others begin to scream out in pain until eventually the entire crowd follows suit. Nathan, and somehow Charlie have not been affected. The room quickly becomes engulfed in a hurricane of insanity. This leads Subject Zero and the mannequins to getting distracted by the madness and accidentally leaves the door open. Subject Zero quickly gets attacked by everyone in the room but he holds his ground firmly. Nathan knows this is the perfect chance to escape and signals Charlie to come with him. Charlie hesitantly comes along but right as they reach the door Nathan turns to hear the sounds of Charlie going through the worst pain of his life. Nathan looks in confusion but quickly realizes he’s about to have to accept his friend’s fate. Nathan refuses to accept it, but he knows he needs to. Charlie suddenly lunges at Nathan and uses his last act of sanity and control to push him out the door. “Get. To the button. Please.” “Charlie, I- I’m-” “I’m sorry…” Charlie finally snaps and is engulfed in pure raging insanity. He lunges at Nathan but before he reaches him, Nathan, with teary eyes, slams the door onto his friend, turns, and begins running out into the seemingly vast wilderness. As he runs, Nathan hears the cries of a dozen men and women as they get ripped apart. Knowing that among them is his best friend, Nathan begins to cry as he continues to run away from his previous hell.
End of Part 1.

We have a 2 year old as well ((asleep and away from the situation)
So my partner has been making really mean sarcastic comments and Ive been trying but with my MH I'm not able to focus well. I've been trying to get us into couples therapy but he keeps replying with "you're the problem" "if we go to couples counseling they'll say that you need the work, you need to start listening, you need to respect him".
Basically I said to him before going to bed "You know, at least I'm not doing things to make you feel like shit on purpose, I'm just forgetful, make silly mistakes or this morning and yesterday really unwell, where you make snide comments in front of Light and family and youre passive aggressive or just mean to me, being obviously sarcastic but not trying to be funny etc" and then he said that he's got work and if I wanna chat then to come downstairs, I didn't want to as I am ill etc. so I replied with "Okay, goodnight" then went to sleep. I thought it'd be nice to change the subject to something lighter so I spoke about something on his work collueges, he asked me if I wanted a tea and thought oh okay, fine get some chill time or w/e.
Came downstairs and I said "I'm tired, ive been ill, I just wanna chill" then he kept saying "do you wanna know why I'm pissed off?" Like he weren't really asking but looking for a reaction, so I said "go on", he immedietely started with "you don't respect me and I know this, you know how I know? Because you don't listen to what I say, you're always butting in on how we need to raise our child_".(I'm an early years educator) I replied with "I came down to chill not just have an argument with you, I've been ill do I've been out of it but I've taken in stuff you say like asking to be more on top of making sure our child doesn't eat too much of a mouth full and I do apologize when I don't realize I've just shut down your ideas you have of our child." Him: "This is why we are having arguments because You're just going mad when I'm trying to talk to you" Me: "no, I'm going mad because I've come downstairs to chill and you've started attacking me. You can't just come through with "you don't respect me and this is why" and expect me not to get defensive" Him: "well youre literally attacking me right now" The argument was already heated by this time and I just couldn't take it so I just went upstairs to bed I said "I can't do this. I'm going upstairs to chill and sleep" (We have been sleeping in separate beds) I went to go upstairs with me tea to chill out while he followed me shouting at me about "we aren't going to couples therapy just for someone to tell you that you need to listen." Then followed me upstairs, I was getting overwhelmed and cryinng. He's still blabbing on about me not listening and how I weren't listening now because I just wanted to stop the argument. By this time I'm in the bedroom and trying to have some peace, he's in the doorway banging on at me about how I'm not listening, how I dont respect him etc. I was getting so overwhelmed and telling him to "just get out. Please just get out. I need space." And he was laughing at me in the doorway. I went to close the door but he put his feet in the way. I was panicking so hard and trying to hard to keep composure, I went to push the door and didn't care anymore that he put his toe to block the door and started saying that I was using physical violence against him and I needed therapy and that we don't need couples counseling because look at how I'm reacting basically...
I just don't know what to do. I wanna work on the relationship. We have a house together, a child, we have been together for so long, if I leave him I won't be able to keep the house going, I have all my belongings here. I just don't know what to do.
Any advice on how to handle the situation?

Link to Hooks: https://www.amazon.com/Daughter-Birthday-Boyfriend-Valentines-Christmas/dp/B0BYMLWMJR?pd_rd_w=TmUWr&content-id=amzn1.sym.7379aab7-0dd8-4729-b0b5-2074f1cb413d&pf_rd_p=7379aab7-0dd8-4729-b0b5-2074f1cb413d&pf_rd_r=4K78K0715NZ188MWMMFE&pd_rd_wg=wEQ5G&pd_rd_r=0ce266b4-236f-4e7a-9854-6df376b940c7&pd_rd_i=B0C8HL56NY&th=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=vorrto-20&linkId=570f929a4f980675479219a2f5f9c9c6&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl
Hey ,
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Key Features

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My Experience

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Pros:

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• Simple to Install: The installation process was straightforward. The hooks come with all the necessary screws and anchors, and they fit securely to the wall.
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Cons:

• Wall Compatibility: Make sure your walls are compatible with the provided anchors. I had to use different anchors for some of my drywall sections.
• Initial Setup Time: While installation is easy, it does take a bit of time to measure and ensure everything is level and evenly spaced.

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Would love to hear how others are organizing their garages or any other cool DIY storage hacks!

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Long Story Long: But I’d seriously appreciate some insight!
My husband (38M) and I (38F) are high school sweethearts and have been together over 20 years, married for 17. We don’t fight, nor argue really. I would call disagreements intense discussions. He’s the ying to my yang, we just fit and have developed pretty good communication over the years - but we’ve also put in the work for it.
He became close friends with 2 guys in our neighborhood and since we are moving out of state, the previous weekend has been a blowout. These 2 have joked for over a year about doing mushrooms with him. My husband and I always laughed it off because the man hasn’t ever done anything that wasn’t prescribed to him by a doctor. I have said to the 3 stooges whenever they brought that topic up that I don’t care (because he’s a grown man) but I do think there should be someone sober just in case, especially because my husband is a novice when it comes to that recreation.
Friday was apparently the night - he didn’t come home until 4 am and slept on the couch. I was with everyone until about 8, and went home to clean up and do some chores before the party the next day. Being out later isn’t uncommon, these guys play darts or ride around on the golf car listening to music and drinking a bit. (It’s not often, but there have been some late nights when I can be found right along with them). Saturday evening we had people over for a BBQ and friend #1, James, was recounting some tales to me, his wife and another friend. They were funny, but out of character for my husband when he’s drunk. James’ wife asked, so … what else was involved? James smiled and whispered ‘shrooms’. I didn’t skip a beat and continued on with our conversation.
Fast forward - he’s sawing logs by the time I get in bed. I lay there but can’t fall asleep, my heart is racing and I need to get it off my chest (something we’ve learned together, if its on your mind say it, don’t let it fester and grow).
+I ask why he didn’t tell me about the mushrooms.
+“James said you knew”.
+Um, no, I knew it was talked about previously, but I had no idea there was a plan. Okay, benefit of the doubt, it was a “surprise buddy! Let’s do these!” after I went home for the night. Why could I have not received any communication about it then, nor a mention of it the next day? If James hadn’t said anything would you have even talked to me about it? You know .. how it went, what it felt like .. etc?
+“I didn’t talk to you much today” and again, “James said you knew about it, I didn’t think it was a big deal”
+Well, it hurts that you wouldn’t divulge any of it to me, especially since you want me to pour out my soul to you any time something seems off. It’s kind of hypocritical because we both know you would have lost your mind if you found out from someone else that I had been out until 4am doing shrooms with my 2 friends, riding around and drinking. *I would like to note that I do get animated when I talk, and I was a Disney illustration at this point.*
I think the role reversal scenario is what did it because he leapt out of bed and turned the light on, slamming the door open and YELLING at me (why he opened the door I don’t know, nor do I really remember what was being said in the moment due to my shock). I instinctually jumped up and when I heard the door hit the stopper I started to bend down to grab a pillow; serious childhood trauma kicked in and it was full fight or flight mode, I felt like I needed to get out of there as a panic attack was imminent. When he saw the pillow in my hand he yelled “What the hell are you doing?!!” as he slammed the door closed staying in front of it.
I instantly started to shake and sob uncontrollably at the same time and mumbled “You are scaring the shit out of me”. I was frozen because on the inside I was a small kid again. This man has NEVER raised his voice, let alone his tone to me. He immediately changed his entire demeanor and walked over to hold me, saying how sorry he was. I can’t remember if I hugged back to be completely honest. I did say that “you made me flash back to my father .. you’ve never yelled at me before .. I don’t understand.”
After calming down he held me in bed while I cried and told him how sorry I am, that it’s my fault, I shouldn’t have opened my mouth, I should have waited until the morning .. over and over again. I don’t know why .. it was instinctual I guess. He finally sighed heavily and said “No, not at all. If I had just told you about it to begin with none of this would have happened”. The remorse was real, but I still cried myself to sleep, waking up with swollen eyelids from all of it.
We talked it over Sunday after some reflection; I get it - he probably just wanted to live it up with his pals without a “handler”. But reasonable me would have liked to have known, God forbid anything happened, or I could have at least checked on them every now and then. I don’t hover and can read a room pretty well, so it just hurt my heart that I wasn’t included in the knowledge of the events whatsoever .. especially because he didn’t tell me himself. I didn’t care about the shrooms, I just wanted to know they were being done, does that make sense?
Our talked concluded - nothing bad happened that night, I said my peace, let’s move on from it. I did reiterate how much I was bothered by the argument, his response and my fear. I could see the sorrow and regret in his face, so we decided to put that away too.
My problem is that I have realized that I am not really over that part as much as I want to be. I have replayed it a few times this past week while alone, resulting in the same feelings surfacing again with some tears. I can’t help it. When I say I have no one to talk to … I have no one. My husband is probably the most amazing man you could meet. I couldn’t imaging divulging this to anyone and having their view of him a-skewed; I know he’d be mortified. And I don’t want to bring it back up, having him relive probably the worse night he can remember, like I am rubbing salt into the wound - even more so because I said let’s move on from it. I don’t want him beating himself up again and again (Though that may very well be the case, I would hate to make it worse).
I am pretty sure his lack of reaction (which pushed my frustration) followed by overreaction was due to guilt, knowing he hurt me, and that what I said was probably true - he just handled it poorly after a couple of days with little to no sleep; not to mention the additional stressors in our lives right now with the move. I could have done things differently as well; he rarely hurts my feelings, so I don’t handle it as well as I would if it was coming from someone else. He’s my kryptonite.
I know this was a one off, however I do have to admit that I am subconsciously anxious whenever he’s gotten irritated with normal everyday annoyances (just life, packing .. logistics .. etc) this past week. Almost like I am gun-shy that he’ll pop off again (even though my rational mind knows he won’t). I just can’t shake the feeling of not recognizing the man that was in front of me, nor the fear I had caused by the one person who has always been my ‘safe space’ and protector.
I feel like I am being ridiculous and irrational. Any advice, or do I just let time take care of it?

I've been watching some youtube videos about BPD and I am pretty sure this girl I had been dating had it.
We had been dating on and off for about a year and a half. When I first met her she said that she was separated and going through a divorce. She would call everyone around her a narcist - her family, her ex husband, her friends.
I planned on going on a weeklong beach trip with her last August. 3 days before she cancels on me and says we aren't in the same place emotionally. (First discard). I end up having to go on the trip alone and lose a bunch of money on it.
3 weeks later she starts talking to me again. We talk here and there and start hanging out again.
Second discard came around Halloween. We had plans to do pumpkin painting and to go to a Halloween bar crawl. She asked to come over the night before, that she was feeling down. I said I have to hit the gym but you can stop by at 10 or later. She gets mad and says nevermind, I will find another way to care for myself and flakes on the Halloween stuff. We don't talk for a while.
She starts talking to me on NYE. We hang out here and there between then and now with her leaving one more time in February.
After knowing her for a year she tells me she has two kids. She also says her divorce isn't finalized yet, that she trying to figure out where to move to because there are too many bad memories in this city. That she is taking her time to make sure it is the right thing and she doesn't want to make that decision while she is trying to heal emotionally. I find out she is still living with her "ex" husband. She says she is just doing that until she figures out where to move, that she doesn't want to stay here so she isn't going to get a place here. She pushed for us to be bf/gf, I tell her her divorce needs to be finalized and she needs to get her own place before we get anywhere close to that.
She kept saying she wants to move to a city 4 hours away and she may go down there and not come back. I ask why would she move away and leave her kids with her husband if he is a narcissist and mentally abusive. She says they are boys and need a man to raise them properly, that a woman can't raise boys on her own. And that he is a low key narcist and her boys are strong willed so they will be fine.
I plan on taking a week long road trip to the beach, the same place she flaked on me last year. I tell her I am going on a road trip with my buddy. I don't tell her that he may not join me til later in the trip because he may have his kids. The same weekend I leave she had said she may go to the other city and not come back.
It turns out he did have has kids that weekend so he told me he would meet me later in the trip.
I go on my trip. 2 days in I start getting really rude texts from her. Calling me names, that I am a narcist, I used her, I'm an asshole, I just need to go suck my moms tits. That if I was a real man I would have taken her on a relaxing trip to let her unwind and start the long process of healing. I'm like WTF, I didn't do anything to you.
She says how my friend is a family law lawyer and I just watched her flail around. That I should have stepped in and stopped her when she was acting crazy and I'm not a real man. She then asks if my friends kids are with me. I say no, he has a custody issue to deal with with his kids and he is going to fly out and meet me later in the week. She starts accusing me of taking another girl on this trip and that she has "receipts".
This keeps going on and I have to block her for a day because it is stressing me out and ruining my trip. The next morning she shows up uninvited to my apartment and sits outside my door and looks at the camera for a minute and leaves.
I unblock her later that night and say she is being rude and that I did nothing wrong. She sends me a screenshot of my friends profile. The day after I left for my trip he posted a photo of his kids. She said that proves I lied to her. I told her I didn't lie to her and that the plans changed, that he had a custody issue with his kids but he is still joining me later in the week on the trip. She won't listen and is convinced I am sleeping around, took a girl on this trip and lied to her. Keep in mind she has never met my friend before and is not friends with him on social media so she went way out of her way to creep on him and jump to conclusions.
She called me a couple times from a private number and leaves me odd messages. You can tell she is very emotionally disregulated. Saying she doesn't want to see me again but we need to talk. That we weren't honest with each other, that she is going to make me heal one way or another. It will help her heal and I don't get to tell her how she heals.
I call her a couple hours later and she doesn't answer.
I get another call or two from a private number over the next couple days with no voicemail.
She gave me a painting she made a few months ago. She texts me and says I either need to pay her $50 for the painting she gifted me or her ex-husband will come and get it. Says things like he doesn't know where you live but I'm sure he can find out.
I say I like your painting but I will give it back if you insist. What address would you like it sent to? I also didn't do anything to you and this is a misunderstanding. The plans on my trip simply changed and I didn't go with anyone else. I'm willing to talk to her if she stops calling me names.
She says she has "receipts" and she knows what is going on. She never wants to see or talk to me again. That its fine, her ex husband will come get the paintings, that she doesn't have an address. I say I'm not meeting him, why don't you just give me an address to send it to. Your ex husbands, a friends, somewhere you are staying and stop making this difficult and I will mail it to you.
3 days and nothing. 3 days later she texts me and says pay me or my ex husband will come get the painting today.
I block her on everything.
I hung the painting outside my front door so if she does stop by she can just take it and not talk to me.
It has been 2 days now and the painting is still there and no one has stopped by my place. I installed another camera outside of my door. The way she was acting in the end was scaring me. It is obvious she didn't really want the painting back as she wouldn't give me an address to send it to, she just was playing some kind of games.

[INDEX]
Blackheart Bill stared at us from the porch of the tiny cabin, his eyes filled with murder. A cruel smile crept across his face, causing me to break into a sweat — this was a man who enjoyed the suffering of others.
“Well, well. If it isn’t the two bounty hunters that killed half my gang,” Bill drawled, his voice dripping malice. “What do ya think we should do with them, boys?”
“Face me like a man,” I shouted at him. “I refuse to be hung like a criminal!”
Bill’s lips twisted into a grin. “Is that so?” He said. “You think I had you brought here so you can challenge me to a duel? You’re mistaken kid.”
“I don’t want to be hung,” I said, mentally instructing Horse edge closer to Silas’ mount.
“What you want and what I want are different things, boy,” Bill said, his face relaxing into an unreadable mask. “And what I want is for you to suffer for killing my men. Jim, get a rope.”
Gap-tooth laughed like a drunken donkey and swung down from his horse.
I brushed against Silas, pulling his gun from my Inventory. Silas was fast, insanely fast. The gun appeared in my hand for a split-second before Silas had it pointed at the outlaw and was firing sizzling black bolts of energy.
Blackheart Bill was faster.
The outlaw dodged to the side in a blur, firing off three wild Kinetic bolts, one passing on each side of Silas before the final one tagged the man in the chest with the sound of shattering glass.
I pulled my gun from inventory a moment later, regretting my decision to load it with Lightning rounds as I pulled the trigger. Thunder roared as I shot the bandit behind me, then I squeezed the trigger again, clipping the other with a finger-thick bolt of electricity. Stone bullets whizzed around me as Horse hightailed it around the corner of the shack. Triggering [Aimed Shot] I fired a third round and a clap of thunder fried the man guarding the wood door set into the canyon wall.
Silas rounded the building a second later, his gun firing wildly at the remaining bandits. Quick as a flash, he ejected the spent brass and reloaded from his gun belt, picking off two more as they rounded the corner.
A Metal bullet burst from the wood next to my face, grazing my temple. I shoved my Mongoose into a gap between the weathered boards and fired off the remainder of my Lightning rounds, setting the front of the shack on fire. My fingers flickered as I reloaded unprimed rounds into the gun, slamming the cylinder closed.
Silas took one edge of the cabin and I took the other, shooting at anyone who moved, trapped in a standoff with the remaining five bandits and Bill, who continued shooting through the walls at us while screaming obscenities.
“Told you I didn’t want to hang, you scar-faced freak,” I taunted the man, firing a shot at one of the bandits scurrying to find better cover behind a broken wagon missing its rear axle. The Kinetic Bolt spread as it covered the distance, growing from a finger-sized bolt of blue energy into a basketball sized cloud that dispersed with a crackle and pop. Somewhere in the back of my head I knew the range was only about twenty yards and chastised myself for wasting the bullet.
I had less than 550BP remaining, which was a lot for unprimed shots, but only 54 [Aimed Shots] or about 100 primed shots. If I needed to use any of my other Utilities, it would drop fast. The bandit I had missed popped off a shot from his new vantage point, punching a hole in the wall above my head. I sent a Stone bullet in reply, causing him to duck from sight.
\Ding**
A popup blocked the lower half of my vision.
-=-=-
📱 [New Power-Up Available!] 📱
🔫 Pinned down behind an old shack? Bullets not packing enough punch? Try [Overcharge]! 🔫
💥 Just 500 credits, Limited time only! 💥
🌟 Features Include: - [Overcharge] Utility**: Infuse your bullets with extra battery points and surprise everyone! - Costs 500 credits - Requires 82 Memory
⚠️ Important Notes: - Cannot be stacked with active Utilities - Overcharge can severely damage firearms
[Get Overcharge Now ✅] [Maybe Later ❌]
-=-=-
The 60 second timer counted down 2 seconds before I punched accept.
[Downloading…20%…32%…68%…87%…Done!] [Installing…8%…12%…49%…52%…91%…Done!]
“You get shot?” Silas asked, sparing me a glance while I was stuck waiting for my upgrade to finish.
I shook my head. “Psychic thing,” I said once the System was done shoving data in my head. The knowledge of how to use [Overcharge], was simple enough — just push extra BP through the runestone and increase the destructive power of the bullet.
I triggered [Overcharge] and pushed an extra 5 Battery Points into the runestone, bringing the total cost of the Stone bullet to 6BP, then squeezed the trigger. The projectile impacted the broken wagon like a grenade, sending fragments of wood flying everywhere.
The screaming started a second later, followed by the bandit whose face was covered in blood and splinters. Selecting [Aimed Shot] I put a Stone bullet into his head, shocked by the spray of gore that filled the air. Hot bile burned the back of my throat, forcing me to swallow hard and refocus on the immediate situation.
The sound of hooves reached my ears, followed by Silas swearing. “They’re escaping,” He said, turning to mount his horse and swearing again. The animal was trembling in shock, bloody froth covering its mouth as it struggled to breathe. I noticed the blood covering its side then, where it had been shot when we had retreated behind the shack.
The shack was now burning quite impressively. The flames had grown to the point that it was uncomfortable to remain close, so I moved to a cooler spot and took a seat on the sandy ground. Pulling the Marlin from inventory, I popped off the leather caps that protected the scope lenses and took aim at the fleeing bandits. The scope pulled them in close enough that I felt I could reach out and snatch them with my hand even though they were over a hundred yards away now.
Bracing the rifle on my knee, I sighted through the scope and pulled the trigger, worked the lever to eject the shell and fired again. On the fourth shot I watched as Blackheart Bill’s horse stumbled and dropped to the dirt. I was aiming at Bill, but taking out his horse was good enough.
I watched as Bill took cover behind his downed horse and yelled at his men to come back and get him. They didn’t even look back, hunkering down as he started shooting at them, hitting one and dropping him from the saddle. Taking aim through the scope, I shot a few more rounds at Bill, causing him to turn his attention back to me and return fire.
A gunshot from behind me caused me to jump. Turning to see the source of the gunfire I saw Silas standing over the body of his horse. I guess he decided to end its misery.
Holstering his weapon, Silas yelled at the outlaw. “It’s over, Bill! Throw down your guns!”
Bill fired off another few rounds, none of them even coming close. A gunslinger like Bill might be deadly at close range, but he was just as accurate with a pistol as everyone else at a hundred yards.
I fired off a Metal slug from the Marlin and Bill returned fire. Our standoff continued, none of us wanting to commit to a move.
“How far you think that is?” I asked Silas.
“About a hundred ten, hundred twenty yards. Why?”
“Long as I’m here I might as well try to zero in this scope,” I replied, sighting down the barrel while adjusting the stupidly expensive piece of equipment.
“It’s a nice scope,” Silas admitted, rolling a cigarette. “You’re only as good as your gun.”
I nodded, fired off another shot, adjusted the scope, then fired off another. Until I got this thing in a vise and did it properly, this was as good as I was going to get.
The top of Bill’s hat was just visible over the ribs of the dead animal, so I used [Aimed Shot] and fired, eliciting a string of curses from the outlaw as it was knocked from his head.
I grinned at Silas, who returned it with a smile of his own. “You think this is gonna take long?” I asked.
“Put a few of those explosive rounds into that horse. That should get ‘em moving,” Silas answered.
“That was an [Overcharged] stone bullet,” I said. “Not sure it’ll have the same effect with a Metal slug.”
Silas nodded his head. “Be careful you don’t Overcharge too much, you can damage the core of your gun or even cause it to explode,” he said.
I sighted down the scope and triggered [Overcharge] with 5BP, sending another five Metal slugs downrange just as quick as I could work the lever-action. The slugs tore through the carcass, kicking up little puffs of dust as they tore into the ground beyond it.
Bills hat began to wave over the remains of the horse, then it dropped from sight.
“Let’s give him a few minutes,” Silas suggested. “If he’s playing games, he’ll lose patience. No sense endangering ourselves if he decides to pop up and start firing.”
I shot a few more [Overcharged] Metal slugs into the carcass, the last one causing the hat to fall out of Bills hand. Through the scope I could see his limp arm draped over the side of the horse.
Pushing the Marlin back into Inventory, I rose from the ground and looked at Silas. “You take the left and I’ll take the right?” I offered.
Silas loosened his pistol in its holster and began walking.
“Is it always like this?” I asked the bounty hunter.
“Like what?”
“So…messy.”
Silas tossed the remains of his cigarette onto the ground. “This was pretty bad,” He admitted. “Most times it’s just some guy in a small town saloon or holed up in a shack somewhere in the woods. Someone who thinks moving a few towns away will cover their tracks. Some even try to start their lives over. Bill was a two gold bounty, someone a posse would chase down, not two men.”
“So why did we go after him?”
“Because I thought he was in the Hardash forest, not running roughshod over the patriarch of Silvertown,” Silas laughed suddenly, shaking his head. “The plan was to locate his hideout, collect a few more men to handle his gang, and ambush them.”
We eased around the bullet-ridden horse to discover Blackheart Bill bleeding out. One of my bullets had gone through the horse, through his back and exited his chest. He gave us a bloody grin as we approached with guns drawn.
“There’s a healing potion in the saddle bag under the horse,” the bandit said, spitting out a mouthful of blood. “I’m worth more alive than dead and you don’t want to throw away good money, do ya?”
Silas pulled the hammer back on his gun, pointing it at the outlaw’s head.
“Wait,” Bill said, coughing weakly. “I got a dragon core, a real dragon core. I’ll tell you where to get it.”
“Now where would you get a dragon core?” Silas asked.
“From the Silvertown mines,” Bill rasped. “One of my boys, his brother works the mines and told him that they found dragon bones. That’s when I took the girl and made her daddy my bitch. He’d do anything to get her back.”
Silas pulled the trigger, splattering the outlaws head all over the remains of the horse.
“I’ve heard enough,” He said, holstering his pistol. “He kidnapped the girl and the others, holding them hostage so the Patriarch and other townsfolk wouldn’t interfere with his scheme. Let’s find the girl and get back to town.”
“Damn, Silas. In cold blood,” I said, turning my head from the sight of the gore. This is twice today I’ve seen the inside of a man’s skull. I should be bothered by this, like really bothered, but I’m not. Not really. It’s like there’s a disconnect and the only thing my brain can process is how smooth and efficient Silas was when he pulled the trigger. I can still taste bile in the back of my throat though.
“You want to do that thing of yours? Or you want me to dig his core out?”
“I’ll handle it,” I said, kneeling to touch the man so I could trigger [Disassembly]. “You should go see about the girl, she’s trying to use my Horse to get away and is having a nervous breakdown because he won’t move.”
I asked Horse to mosey around the burning remains of the shack with his new rider and to meet Silas. He sent back an image of him riding in a wagon with me pulling it. I’m guessing that he’s not enthused about being a taxi service.
The girl, Loretta Jurgens, was not in good shape.
The door set into the wall of the canyon covered the dead-end shaft of an abandoned moon silver mine left behind by some prospector. Loretta had been kept in there for the better part of a month and was in hysterics trying to get Horse to move. I'll let Silas deal with her while I process everything.
I collected 2100 credits for the all bandits, another 130 silver that I split with Silas, and of course, all their cores which would need to be turned in for bounties. A dozen pistols and several score of bullets were added to my inventory as well, including several knives and other personal effects that Silas assured me would fetch a few coin at a local pawnshop or general store. And gold teeth.
All that remained now was to locate the loot and leave this hell hole.
[INDEX]

Hi, been searching and scrolling this subreddit after receiving a mildly threatening letter from my next door neighbor. She claims two trees I have in my backyard are invading her backyard with roots. She included photos of extensive above-ground coverage of a root system that seems to have gone unchecked for a very long time. I have never interacted with this neighbor as they seem to keep to themselves and have a large privacy fence around their backyard so I have not personally seen this myself.
I don't know a ton about trees but it seems a bit strange to me that the roots of my tree would have only spread to her yard, which is up a slope from my home, to break through the surface and cover her yard, and I have absolutely nothing of the sort within my yard where the trees are, or the neighbor behind me. I guess it's possible they only grew that direction but how could she definitively say they're from my tree? This neighborhood has lots of old trees and is very green overall for a suburban neighborhood, though she has none directly growing in her yard. My trees in question I imagine have to be pretty old as they're probably 60-70 feet tall or more. I've only lived here 3 years so those trees existed long before I moved into this home.
She claims the roots are close to her foundation and new driveway and alleges they're impacting the plumbing (but doesn't specify any details). From the way she phrased the letter it implies she intends to seek legal action against me if there is damage from this. From the looks of the photos she has left whatever is growing there, whether from my trees or not, unchecked for a very long time and my feeling is they want to try and make me pay for it so they don't have to handle their property issue themselves. This is my first home though so I'm very nervous if I could be held responsible for this?

Exploring Email Testing with Cypress and Mailtrap

Email testing plays a crucial role in ensuring the reliability and effectiveness of communication strategies in web applications. With the advent of virtual SMTP servers like Mailtrap, developers can simulate email sending in a safe and controlled environment, avoiding the pitfalls of sending test emails to real addresses. This process is vital for verifying both the functionality and appearance of emails before they reach the end user. The integration of such tools into testing frameworks has become increasingly popular, reflecting the growing emphasis on comprehensive automated testing in development cycles.
However, integrating these tools with modern testing frameworks like Cypress poses its unique challenges, especially when documentation is scarce or outdated. The search for a reliable solution to incorporate Mailtrap's capabilities with Cypress led to the discovery of the "cypress-mailtrap" package. Unfortunately, this package appears to be abandoned, lacking both updates and usage instructions. This scenario underscores the necessity for innovative approaches and community collaboration to create seamless workflows for email testing within development projects.

Command	Description
require('cypress')	Imports the Cypress testing framework into the script.
require('nodemailer')	Imports the Nodemailer library for sending emails in Node.js.
require('./config')	Imports configuration settings, such as Mailtrap credentials, from a local file.
nodemailer.createTransport()	Creates a transport instance using Mailtrap's SMTP settings, which can be used to send emails.
transporter.sendMail()	Sends an email using the configured transporter instance and Mailtrap SMTP settings.
describe()	Defines a suite of tests in Cypress for organizing multiple related tests.
it()	Defines an individual test case in Cypress, describing a single behavior or feature to test.
console.log()	Prints a message to the console, useful for debugging or logging information during tests.
module.exports	Exports a set of configurations or settings from a module, making them available for use in other parts of the application.
npm install cypress nodemailer --save-dev	Command to install Cypress and Nodemailer as development dependencies in a Node.js project.

Advancements in Automated Email Testing

Email testing within the scope of application development serves a pivotal role, ensuring that all aspects of email communication, from delivery to content accuracy, function as intended. This need is particularly acute in environments where email interactions form a critical part of the user experience, such as in account verification, notifications, and promotional campaigns. Traditional email testing methods often involve manual checks and limited automation, which can be time-consuming and prone to human error. The integration of automated testing frameworks like Cypress with virtual SMTP services like Mailtrap represents a significant leap forward. These tools offer a controlled environment for developers to simulate the sending and receiving of emails without spamming real users, enabling thorough testing of email workflows and content.
This automated approach allows for the simulation of various scenarios that could affect email delivery and presentation, including spam filter behavior, email client formatting differences, and response time under load. Advanced testing strategies might include automated content validation to ensure that dynamic content, such as personalized greetings or account details, is correctly inserted into emails. Furthermore, integrating these tests into continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines automates the validation process, catching issues early in the development cycle. This not only improves the quality and reliability of email communications but also significantly speeds up the development process by allowing developers to focus on feature development rather than manual testing.

Setting Up Cypress with Mailtrap for Enhanced Email Testing

JavaScript with Cypress and Node.js

const cypress = require('cypress'); const nodemailer = require('nodemailer'); const config = require('./config'); // Assuming this file contains your Mailtrap credentials // Set up Nodemailer with Mailtrap configuration const transporter = nodemailer.createTransport({ host: 'smtp.mailtrap.io', port: 2525, auth: { user: config.mailtrapUser, pass: config.mailtrapPassword } }); // Example email sending function function sendTestEmail() { const mailOptions = { from: '"Test" ', to: 'recipient@example.com', // Replace with a Mailtrap inbox address or your testing address subject: 'Testing Email with Mailtrap', text: 'Hello world?', html: 'Hello world?' }; transporter.sendMail(mailOptions, function(error, info) { if (error) { console.log(error); } else { console.log('Email sent: ' + info.response); } }); } // Cypress test to check email content describe('Email Testing with Mailtrap', function() { it('sends an email and checks its content', function() { sendTestEmail(); // Add your logic here to connect to Mailtrap's API, fetch the email, and assert its contents // Since Mailtrap's API might be used, refer to their documentation for the correct API endpoints and usage }); }); 

Automating Email Verification in Testing Workflows

Environment Setup and Configuration

// Environment setup for using Mailtrap with Cypress // This script assumes you have a Cypress testing environment already set up. // Install dependencies: Cypress, Nodemailer // npm install cypress nodemailer --save-dev // Configure your Mailtrap credentials securely // Create a config.js file or set environment variables module.exports = { mailtrapUser: 'your_mailtrap_username', mailtrapPassword: 'your_mailtrap_password' }; // Ensure you handle environment variables securely and do not hard-code credentials // Use process.env for accessing environment variables // Use the sendTestEmail function and Cypress tests from the previous script to integrate testing // Remember to adjust the to field in the mailOptions to match your Mailtrap inbox 

Enhancing Development Workflows with Email Testing Automation

The adoption of automated email testing through platforms like Cypress and virtual SMTP servers such as Mailtrap brings numerous advantages to the software development lifecycle. By automating the process of testing emails, developers can ensure that their applications send emails correctly under various circumstances, including testing for content accuracy, format consistency across email clients, and timely delivery. This form of testing becomes crucial for applications where email is a key component of the user interaction, such as in e-commerce platforms, online services, and social networks, where transactional emails, notifications, and marketing communications are frequent.
Moreover, automated email testing contributes to a more robust quality assurance (QA) process by allowing for repetitive testing without manual intervention. This is particularly beneficial in agile development environments, where changes are made frequently and need to be tested quickly. Automation also supports the implementation of continuous integration and deployment pipelines, enabling teams to identify and rectify email-related issues promptly, thus reducing the risk of production bugs. The ultimate goal is to streamline the development process, ensuring that all email functionality works seamlessly before deployment, enhancing user satisfaction and engagement.

Frequently Asked Questions on Email Testing with Cypress and Mailtrap

1. Question: What is Cypress?
2. Answer: Cypress is a front-end automated testing application designed for web applications to make testing easier.
3. Question: Why use Mailtrap for email testing?
4. Answer: Mailtrap provides a fake SMTP server to catch test emails, allowing developers to view and debug emails before they are sent to actual users.
5. Question: Can Cypress test emails directly from the inbox?
6. Answer: Cypress itself cannot directly interact with email inboxes, but it can be integrated with services like Mailtrap to test emails.
7. Question: How does Mailtrap work with Cypress?
8. Answer: Developers can use Mailtrap's API to fetch emails sent to the virtual SMTP server and use Cypress to automate tests on these emails, such as verifying content and testing links.
9. Question: Is automated email testing necessary?
10. Answer: Yes, it ensures that all automated email functionalities work as expected, improving the reliability and quality of web applications.
11. Question: How can I set up Mailtrap with my testing environment?
12. Answer: You need to configure your application to use Mailtrap's SMTP settings and then use its API for fetching and testing emails within your test scripts.
13. Question: Does Mailtrap support all types of email testing?
14. Answer: Mailtrap is versatile and supports various email testing scenarios, including HTML content, attachments, and spam testing.
15. Question: Can I use Mailtrap in a CI/CD pipeline?
16. Answer: Yes, Mailtrap can be integrated into CI/CD pipelines for automated testing of emails as part of the deployment process.
17. Question: Is there a cost to using Mailtrap?
18. Answer: Mailtrap offers both free and paid plans, depending on the volume of emails and features required.

Streamlining Development with Advanced Email Testing Strategies

The exploration of automated email testing through Cypress and Mailtrap underscores a pivotal advancement in the realm of software development and quality assurance. This integration not only facilitates a more efficient and error-free development process but also significantly enhances the end-user experience by ensuring that all email communications function correctly. By leveraging these tools, developers can simulate real-world email scenarios in a safe, controlled environment, enabling them to identify and rectify potential issues before they impact users. Furthermore, the incorporation of these automated testing practices into CI/CD pipelines exemplifies a commitment to continuous improvement and operational excellence. Ultimately, the adoption of Cypress and Mailtrap for email testing represents a forward-thinking approach to software development, emphasizing the importance of reliability, user satisfaction, and quality assurance in the digital age.
https://www.tempmail.us.com/en/cypress/integrating-mailtrap-with-cypress-for-email-testing

I (18F) do not like talking to my mother. Though what I’m about to tell you is solely about my relationship to her, she generally does not know how to interact with people in a pro-social way, so most of what I reveal about it also applies to the few interactions she has with others. My mother is constantly referencing her trauma in even the most banal and irrelevant of discussions and doesn’t know how to take a joke—how to differentiate between a serious statement and one made in jest. (I’m not saying something that could be interpreted as offensive, rather merely dad jokes, etc.) Additionally, for the majority of my teenage years, I couldn’t come to my mother with the few emotional problems I had and wasn’t really allowed to exhibit the hormonal behavior typically attributed to the teenage years because it would always result in her throwing a tantrum and slamming her door rather than handling me as she should’ve.
With all that being said, though we live in the same home due to financial constraints, I don’t talk to my mother except for when I absolutely have to. She doesn’t like this, as she perceives our relationship to be close—thinks we get along well—and is constantly urging me to speak to her more often. But I gain no pleasure from doing so and our conversations almost always dissolve into her lamenting everything she finds wrong with my personality, which—though I am no longer hurt by—gets annoying and boring.
After another typical day of silence on my part, she sat me down and asked why I didn’t seem to be interested in conversing with her. I gave her the same lies I always did whenever she posed that question: “Sometimes, I just don’t feel like talking,” and “I prefer interacting with people my own age given that we’re more likely to have things in common”. She called B.S. and insisted I give her the truth, so I did. I told her I found the way she deals with me to be off-putting and so I’m rarely inspired to interact with her with the same enthusiasm I do others.
After reeling off everything she found wrong with me—starting first by asserting her age, listing her credentials, and providing exaggerated stories about the various instances in which she was wronged (dating all the way back to the 1980s), as she always does whenever she thinks she’s being “attacked” (see: valid criticism, humble suggestion)—she stormed off to her room and slammed the door.
I talked to a trusted individual about the event later that day and she told me I had been too direct, given that I know she has some sort of undiagnosed mental illness she refuses to seek help for and has yet to heal from her trauma. “Hurt people hurt people,” she said, “you need to change the way you approach her. She’s more sensitive than you and I.”
I argued that I’m under no obligation to consistently accept violation and will not be altering my perfectly normal way of interacting with a person for the sake of another who has yet to afford me similar consideration.
AITA?

I'm on mobile, writing this brought back a lot of emotions. So if it's sloppy,I apologize.....
I've debated about posting this, but it's been a year now. So I should be ok. I've posted on Reddit before, asking about situations at the company but changed some things. So here we are, and here's a full run down of my time there
I started in May, 2019. Part time and straight out of highschool. By November, I was full time and had store keys, training to be a closing manager (RSS)
In 2020, we had a coworker stalk a new hire, as he really wanted to date her, she felt uncomfortable but since he was a manager, she felt inclined to do as he wanted. She came to me as we were close in age. I helped her talk with our boss. He was soon let go.
Then we hired another girl, and she was.... Something.
She decided that she was going to get the boss to fall for her, and be the favorite. Boss was annoyed by her, and she found it funny to walk up behind me when I was on a phone call, reach around and grab my chest. She did this in front of customers as well. Our store had no cameras.
Even after I told her to knock it off, she kept on. Soon the customers were trying to treat me the same. Trying to touch me, asking if they can "Rent me" and other gross things.
I'd told my boss, SM. But at the time, we had a very.... Slow to act DM. So nothing was done.
One day, I was training a new hire. I was on the phone with a customer, and he was beside me at the counter with a customer. She walked up behind me, reached around, but this time, one hand went up, one went down and she was telling our new hire "it's ok to do this cause there's no cameras" and slowly started undoing the buttons on my shirt.
I'd gotten permission from my boss at the time to react in anyway I had to to get her off me, as our DM didn't want to get involved but wouldn't allow him to fire her.
so I kicked her as hard as I could. She fell, and started laughing. After she left, I explained to him what's been going on. He understood but was upset and uncomfortable, not that I blame him. She'd been written up for this before.
The next day, DM was there. New hire had called tips, and told them if they didn't do anything about this he would go public, forcing the DM to do something. Well, we found out this day, that we had a new DM. As the company "had decided due to so many complaints under this DM, that they needed to take him from DM, and make him a SM again for awhile"
This one took swift action. She was canned. After this, the new hires we got were so much better. But unfortunately, the system we used, showed our phone numbers and addresses. So this, now ex coworker, started stalking me. Sending me threatening messages and following me home, company said just block and ignore. Police wouldn't help til she did something threatening my life. I'd come outside to my tires all flat, my car scratched, I'd be followed home, it was a mess. A few times I'd be followed, run off the road, one morning on the way to work, I called the store and told them I was being followed. Everyone knew by now what was happening, and they watched as I pulled in, my SM went outside to tell the girl to leave, as she tried to slam her car into mine. I'd Changed everything by then, moved, new number, new route to abd from work. Hadn't seen her in awhile.
I left that store in Feb of 2021, and went to a bigger store to be trained as a ASM and as a safety precaution, to create more space in case the chic came back. (As she still circled the store time to time) Once there, I helped run the store. I was there til August of that same year, I was "loaned" out to help a different store, but still was expected to run my second store. As the SM was out due to family issues.
So now I'm running two stores, one store where no one respects the store manager, and one store where there is no store manager. So I'm training people at one location while running this other store as the store manager is sleeping off a hangover In the office.
During this, I was training some guys from the second store, and on October 19th, 2021. I had been at store #3 getting stuff ready for the upcoming inventory, so I got home around 12AM. My phone was dead, I was tired and I had a husky needing to go outside. When two of the guys I was training pull up. They had gotten my address off of the computer and were here because "they were sick of the management and needed me back there" they knew what apartment number I was so they ran up the stairs and beat me to the door. I was tired and not in the mood to get into it that night, so they passed out on the couch and next morning, I'm being called due to them not coming in. So I answer and told them that they are currently passed out on my couch, I got in trouble for them not coming into work.
It went smoothly for awhile, then December 13th, 2021 comes along. At this time, my relationship with my mother was rocky. I had gone low contact with her. I also never told anyone my business, as I figured it wasn't anyones need to know. My personal life stays personal. Well, two store managers take it upon themselves to integrate me. It's their day off, so I'm running the store, only have one delivery driver that day, short staffed, they pull up and have me go into the back of the store, which has no walls. So everyone can hear what's being said.
And they lay into me. For 3hrs til I'm in tears and have told them everything that went on with my mother and why we're low contact. The store manager decides she's going to be my hero and go confront my mother, have her husband beat my mother up and have this show down. They told me to not worry, return to work and they'll handle it. And left. Leaving me crying, shaking and still trying to run a store, get people to lunch and my teams now more focused on me, what they heard in the conversation and some are calling the DM to report what just happened. This made a very awkward month, as now DM is involved, the SM's got a talking to and I had to relive this twice more. Once with the DM, then HR. Tho HR labeled this a "in house issue" and weren't willing to help.
After this, it calmed down. The SM's were now out to get me for "getting them in trouble" but otherwise, it seemed fine. Tho I was working with the store managers daughter, so she kept her mom updated, and made sure to mention my mothers abuse towards me and tell others about it as well. She liked the gossip of it.
Then on March 5th, 2022. The store managers daughter had been slacking. Big time. On her phone in the office, taking "favors" for reduced product, or just ignoring her job and making others pick up the slack. I was spread thin, mentally and physically. Trying to help with training a new store manager, training staff at my second store, and keeping this third one up. So when I was catching up on freight, and found she was off in the back on her phone watching TikTok, I got on her about it. She got upset, and said "you've been really moody lately. I think you're pregnant" to which I told her I'm stressed trying to get stuff going, I haven't had a break in awhile, and you aren't helping at all.( She also has this mindset that I slept with my first store manager. And that I was still with him and pregnant by him. )
She rolled her eyes, and on her break, she went out and bought a pregnancy test. When she returns, she hides my clipboard and paperwork, and had blocked my car in. Then, in front of the few staff I had that day, announces that I'm to take this pregnancy test, or she'll destroy the paperwork, and tell the SM that I wasn't actually in store, didn't do my paperwork and have been flaky. She had the DM and SM's wrapped around her finger. So I told her this isn't appropriate and that I'd rather not. This went back and forth, to the point of her getting in the way of me answering phones and helping customers, she'd physically take the phone from my hand and hang up, or tell the customer that I couldn't help them at this time.
So I told her, if I do, I'm going home for the rest of the day. I had 2 hours left of my shift. She said fine. But she needed to be in the bathroom as I took it, so I don't "cheat".
After that, she moved her car and I left. For the day. Went home, called HR. They told me it's an in store issue, and unfortunately they rather not get involved with it. So I told the DM. He had already received reports from the other staff, telling him what happened. She was talked to, but that's it. For the rest of the week, she talked about how cute it would be if I had a baby with my first SM, asked about what he was like in bed and if we did it in the store - this SM and I were close, he was a father figure/role model to me. If I couldn't figure something out, he was my first call. She ruined the friendship I had with him, as we both felt awkward when we worked together due to her. As she told her mom and the gossip spread like wildfire.
March 15th, 2022. I requested a week off. I needed a break, my car needed maintenance and I figured I would head to the ocean with my husky for a couple days. So the first day off, the 12th, I drop my car off at the dealership so they can replace a recall. They say it'll be 5 hours so I walk around town, just relaxing. Then they tell me that unfortunately, they found a new issue and are going to keep my car for a month, and have no way of giving me a loaner. I try to figure out why and it's the runaround, my buddy comes to my aid and helps me get my stuff from my car as they wouldn't let me back there to get my stuff. Then we go to my mother's house to try and get the spare car I have. But the rack and pinion blew on it the same day. So next day I spend trying to tear it apart. I get halfway through when work calls, and let's me know my vacation request ends early as the SM's daughter had an emergency and I need to cover for her. I tell them I'm without a car, in a city an hour away, and the SM says "not my problem. Figure it out. I need you in. If you aren't in, I'm writing you up and firing you"
So I rush to get the car going, and on the 14th, Im stressed, tired, sore and anxious. I push a tool a bit to hard and it slips on grease, comes flying out of the wheel well and hits me in the head, hard. My mother comes back an hour later to find me knocked out. My first concussion. (By this time, we'd had a better relationship/understanding and were working towards building it)
So that night, she drops me off at my apartment. No rental places had any cars, so that morning, I grab my scooter, my husky, and walk the 4hrs to the store. Two hours in, I start to have an asthma attack. My body's shaking, my heads killing me, but we get there. Almost falling in the parking lot. We get in, I sit by the door catching my breath. A driver who used to volunteer at the fire station, comes over and checks my pulse, gets worried and recommends I go to the ER. I tell him I'm okay, the SM has already left for the day. So I need to be here to close. I get cleaned up, and the DM calls. Saying the SM called to tell him I hadn't shown up, and to ask where I was. I told him I just walked there, im wheezing and he's concerned too. I tell him she threatened to fire me if I didn't get here. He said he'd talk to her. Nothing ever came of it.
July 6th, 2022. The DM decided to move me permanently back to my 2nd store, as the store manager was going through personal stuff and I was needed there. So I went. It had been a couple weeks before this, but on the 6th, my shifts were 7am to 7pm. Or til 9:30 if the closer didn't come in. So I come in on time, start working, and go into the back of the store to get hose for a customer. I'm still feeling the symptoms of the concussion from March, but power through. I'm not sure how, but I managed to slip on a piece of paper, fall back and hit the base of my skull on the shelf, then when I was getting up, hit my forehead on it too. A coworker came looking for me. And found me, in his words "in a puddle of blood". He gets me up and takes care of the customer, and gets me to the bathroom and cleaned up. Then we go to the SM and let her know.
She says "You're standing up. You can work. Clean yourself up and get on the counter" I had a two week vacation scheduled, starting the next day. So she thought I was trying to get off work early. Something I had never done. So I go the front after cleaning myself up, the nasty gash on my head swelling up and getting attention. The store is hot, it's 90 outside, and I'm in my jacket shivering cause I'm cold. This happened at about 9AM. I went to her at 12PM and requested a break so I could go out to my car, grab some pain pills and come back. She said no, as I might not return. So I worked through it. I tried calling a couple people to see if they could cover me, as I was feeling worse and worse. But nothing. By 3, a coworker comes in and sees me. His shift didn't start for another two hours, but he immediately told me to go home.
By how, the SM has sent two others home early as we were " slow" and didn't need them. She also wanted to leave, which would mean I'd be the only manager there. He was a manager in training. But he counted my til down and the SM said as I left "since you don't feel good, maybe you shouldn't go to your sister's and just relax. But if I see any pictures of you on vacation after this, I'll know you lied to get out of it."
I went out to my car, which was a 2019 base model Sentra, I left at 4pm. I didn't get home til 8:30/9pm. A drive, with traffic takes an hour. My car had no lane deparcher or blindspot monitoring. When I pulled into my spot at my boyfriend's apartment, as I had moved in with him after coworkers kept finding out where I lived, or gave my address out to random people. My car was scratched up, the rims had curb rash, the passenger side had scratches. I don't know where I went or why it took so long to get home. I remember getting into my car, turning it on, turning on the A/C and that's it.
I went inside and passed out on the bed, my boyfriend couldn't wake me up for dinner, next morning my mother came and got me, taking me to the ER. I had yet another concussion. The doctor told me to stay away from screens, loud noises, drink water and just relax. Refrain from hitting my head again.
After my vacation, I returned with a letter of resignation. As I did some thinking. I couldn't stand the job anymore, the gossip, the crap... The random guys who would get my number and say "someone gave me your number at the store." And I'd have to change my number again. I have a folder of some of the weirdest ones.
I gave my resignation to the SM I currently was under. She denied it. Said no, she needed me to run her store while she took care of stuff, but this was the same SM who believed that I slept with my first SM, denied my raise and SM training as "according to the 3rd store I was sent to. I didn't do anything of what I was supposed to do, got the SM and her friend and the daughter in trouble, I took my vacations without thinking of anyone else"
I went to my first SM, he faxed the paperwork in. My last day was scheduled for August 18th, 2022. Clearly stated on my resignation letter. I gave my two weeks notice on Aug. 4th. 2022.
Everyone started freaking out in management. My DM tried getting me to stay, as it was a shock to him. But I couldn't. On my last day, she scheduled me for a closing shift. With nothing on the following days. She put me on for that Saturday. She calls me, asking where I am. I tell her my last day was Thursday. She tells me no. That she decides when my last day is, and I'm needed there right now. She thought we had talked it out, and that I would "come to my senses" and see reasoning. I told her I was firm on no longer working there, and I had already turned in all my keys. She blew up. Calling me every name in the book, degrading me, she called other stores and a lot of my friends there, turned on me. As she told them straight lies.
I blocked everyone as I started getting hate messages, people commenting on my social media, saying awful stuff. It was hell. I blocked everyone, and for awhile. I had to block accounts or deactivate my stuff. Finally, it all stopped.
I thought I was going to be with that company forever. I missed friends events for it. Family stuff, and events I wanted to go to, cuz of the job..,.. but in the end, those who were assholes to me, got placed in higher positions. Praised for "dealing with everything" and took credit for everything I did. I still get messages asking how to do something, but those go unanswered.
I miss the challenges, the interactions with customers and cars. But I don't miss how HR worked. How tight some are, that they can easily sway things to benefit them just cuz they know each other outside of the company.
It was fun. But I'm glad I got out, and it's burned me... I miss certain people there. But I can't ever be positive about that company again

Pretty new to home security and trying to figure out what my options are. My fiancee and I are looking to install a pretty simple-ish home security set up for a new house. The home is about 3k sqft on 2 acres, in a solid area with low reported crime rates. No specific budget but we don't need anything super high tech or any monitoring / expensive monthly service. What we're looing for:
A doorbell cam, plus 2-3 exterior cameras to capture different angles of the exterior of the house. These do not need to be 4k. These are mostly for peace of mind, not going to be checking them every hour .. but obviously need reliability and somewhat clear footage
An alarm system we can set when sleeping / away that will sound when any of 3 downstairs doors are opened. So 3 door sensors, plus possibly window sensors too if not super costly. Does not need to be monitored.
I'd ideally like everything (or as much as possible) to be hardwired. Haven't moved into the house yet so not totally sure how feasible this is. But from a reliability standpoint feel it may be worth it, plus we turn our WiFi off at night. So ideally camera footage is being saved somewhere via ethernet and can be accessed via our phones when needed. Would be great if we can view live footage, especially for doorbell cam, but not a dealbreaker.
Good idea to go with PoE cameras and sensors, even with added cost? Any specific brands or products that may be best for my use case? Any advice is much appreciated