Decided to give this a shot on a whim. It's a bit of a strange one. Arnold is miscast as a loving father who tries to protect his daughter while she dies from infection.
Somewhere in the Midwest farmers are burning their crops in an attempt to curb a pandemic. The disease (Necroambulism) is slow moving. So Wade (Arnold) is able to take his runaway daughter Maggie (Abigail Breslin) home to say goodbye before quarantine & her death.
The movie suffers from a lack of tension despite Maggie being a ticking time bomb. We watch her fade away bit by bit & Wade's devotion is admirable. There's not much that's shown for the audience to empathize with him other than him being a dad.
The movie is shot well enough for it's million dollar budget. For me personally it's hard to accept Arnold in this part as a gentle farmer especially when he lets out a a few folksy aphorisms. He doesn't do a bad job but there isn't much material to work with or scenes that really require him to convey the snails pace train wreck he's experiencing.

So Me 23(m) and my buddy, let’s call him Robbie 19(m). We are hanging out he comes over and helps me cook dinner. We are having a good time and we are attracted to each other, but things are kinda weird. Some how we end ho talking about Grindr and invite a 3rd over. We are in a miltary town, so everyone is basically a top or has a fetish for the feminine side of things, so the hunt for a bottom is hard. He brings up this guy who he met once. He said the sex was ok, but the guy like confessed his love for him earlier in the day. So I’m down to fuck him with Rob, because Rob made it clear he didn’t want a relationship with the kid, let’s call him Jose(19).
So my place is kinda far out of town, but this kid comes over in like 10 minutes tops. Me and Rob are in the bad kinda just talking having a good time, Jose walks in. Rob says hi introduces me and the whole interaction feels weird. Like he tried to hug Rob, and Rob didn’t want that and just shook his hand. Jose didn’t even seem to wanna talk to me, yet he is at my house and came for a threesome. After we talked for a bit and Jose leans over Rob and kiss his cheek and whisper shit in his ear. Now I’m just sitting on the other side of my bed talking to Rob and he clearly looks uncomfortable. Jose then starts like putting this finger in Robs mouth and Rob is verbally and physically saying stop. Jose begins to ask him about other guys in his phone and read his text as he is scrolling through. Me and Rob engaged in more intense conversation, so Jose rolls to the foot of the bed and is holding Rob hand hostage. I mean death gripping with both hands as he is falling asleep. Rob and I then begin texting and Rob is telling me he has to go and I need to kick him out. So I say something like “yeah I have work at 4 tmr and it 10 yall like got to go” Rob’s like yeah ok and Jose just ignores me and talking about how he is tired. I reply “well you’re not sleeping here” he is like “ I know”. I text Rob and say I’m just going to make out with you, we will act like he doesn’t exist and he will hopefully get the message and leave.
So I lean over and kiss him. (Side note him and I only made out once prior to this, and he is such a good fucking kisser) As we are making out, I kinda forget it was planned and fell into it a bit. So I’m kissing as hard as I can, and enjoying it too. While we are in the middle of making out Jose climbs on top of him and kinda tries to get Robs attention, but me and Rob are enjoying the moment. Jose then gets pissed and move my head to kiss Rob it, it last maybe 5 secs before Rob pulls away and is like “why do you to make out with I make it clear I am not longer interested in doing anything with Jose. Honestly watching Rob kiss him kinda pissed me off. Rob is then like I have to pee and Jose is like, “no you, don’t you lying” and after 5 minutes of him explaining it he finally lets his hand go to pee. Rob comes back and pretend to get his stuff to leave and the guy walks out my door and pauses for a second to wait for Rob bc he is still in my room. He leaves so Rob locks the door and we are talking about how stupid that dude is, and how Jose acted like he didn’t know he was coming over for a threesome but instead came to see Rob. We look out my window to see him park in my yard throwing a tantrum in his car. He leaves then blocks the both of us on Snapchat, then proceeds to text a friend of Rob’s and talk shit on him and says he going to tell him his what Rob is doing.

Hi. I’m sorry if the format for this is poor. I (21M) am writing this on my phone. I would like to start by saying please no judgment. Of course you’re your own person and I cannot control what you do, however I am 100% no doubt my biggest critic and that is judgment and punishment enough, believe me. I’m a prisoner of my own mind. I’d also like to preface this isn’t me seeking counseling or therapy on here. I’m seeking advice on how to deal with my temper.
I am a truck driver. I’m a flatbedder so my job is very physically demanding (I don’t like exercise so this is good for me) however it comes with a lot of tasks that are not worth the time for what I get paid for, which is really not enough for what I do. A lot of it is free labor. This does cause a lot of stress but I really feel like it doesn’t have anything to do with my temper. It does make my temper act out though. I recently got a dog in late January of this year. I love him to pieces though he’s proven he’s just not a smart dog. Like at all. No matter how much I discipline him he’s just not getting it. He’s going on 6 months now. I picked up my german shepherd the day he turned 8 weeks. So he’s been in the truck a lot by now. He should be starting to get it. He is not.
This is where it’s getting bad. I had a really nice truck. 2024 freightliner. It’s a company truck but you’re supposed to treat it and care for it like your own, after all it is what pays the bills. I paid $1,000 for him to be approved to be in the truck per my companies pet policy. Most of it is refundable when I leave the company. However if they deem it necessary they will charge me even more. He’s shit and pissed on the driver and passenger seats more times than I can count and peed on my bed far too often. I wash my bedding 2-3 times a week most weeks because of him. Yes there are times he doesn’t go out for a while. But there are also times he does and he still does it. Just now I went to take him out and he just peed all. over. the. place. as I was going to put his leash on. He sprayed all over a brand new white shirt my mom got me that I loved and wore like twice.
It’s just so excessive and it’s pushed me over my limit. I love him. But this is ridiculous. I refuse to be one of those pet owners who just gets rid of their pet when it hasn’t even been a whole year but come on. This is where I let myself go and lose control. I just get so angry and it getting worse and worse because he just. won’t. listen. I do hit my dog. I don’t punch him, I don’t kick him, I don’t throw him. Nor would I ever. I hit him and sometimes I lose control and I just get so angry I just keep going and going. Even after all is said and done I’ll still look at him and just get so mad at what he just did again and hit him once more. I do usually always shower him with love to let him know I do still love him. But no matter what I even try to do he still won’t get it. This isn’t a post about seeking advice for my dog, however. I will keep trying with him because that’s what pet owners do. But when I act like this, I physically hate myself.
It makes me not want to be alive anymore. It makes me feel so invalidated and sad. All my life I’ve wanted someone to love, a life partner. But when I lose my temper it makes me feel unworthy of not only finding love but even having friends or feeling any type of emotion, really. I would NEVER harm a person. I had an ex boyfriend that I was with for 9.5 months who was the most mentally/emotionally abusive person I’ve ever met. Never once did I lay a finger on him to purposefully hurt him. I hate feeling so worthless and invalidated. I know im not this person. I don’t get off on being angry. I hate it. I want to control my emotions better. But in the moment it just gets so hard. This doesn’t just happen with my dog. It happens with a lot of things such as my job too. Only then I just get anxious and say stupid crap I don’t really mean. Any advice would be great, please and thank you.

All my friends seem to be doing things with their lives even the ones who are losers the only time I go out is for church but they have something happening everyday I want to cry but they don't with me anymore they just say im a cry baby. I just want bff to cry with and talk about my interests with. I'm on Ed Twitter I play roblox sometimes and a huge fan of kpop

hi everyone,, im (21F) traveling to gangnam for a week & a half with my parents because they’re already traveling to the places “they want to see before they die”,, kinda cryptic - but anyways, we’re going to south korea! i’m very excited, this should be a wonderful experience… but i’m also very nervous. i can only read the hangul & say very basic expressions… i’ve heard horror stories of foreigners being spit on, hit, yelled at. i’m probably freaking myself out, but i’m very scared and looking for a bit of support. i know that i will be fine if that happens to me, i’m more worried of it happening to my parents who can easily get upset about something like that. does anyone have any advice or maybe stories to share?

Please bear with me as this is a longer post. So my husbands mom, we can call her C, has gone through so much in her life. She has suffered loss after loss; just about a month or two ago she lost two close friends in a house fire. Well, she has had this friend, we will call her J, for about 30 years or so. They’ve raised their children together, saved each other from significant others etc. Recently, J and her husband had a domestic dispute and had to be separated because the husband was on parole (not really sure in the details here, just what J explained to C), and C offered to let J stay with her for a couple of months while she figured out her next course of action. Now C unfortunately got into some legal trouble with drugs probably almost a year ago now and she’s on reporting probation. She has been doing everything right, though. She passes every UA, she doesn’t hang out with felons etc she just wants to do and be better. Here’s where things get weird. So a couple weeks ago, J disappeared and wasn’t answering any messages or calls from C. Well C got fed up because she had already been catching J in weird lies, like she claimed that her doctor was in the same town as C when they were not. Eventually, C notified J that she just needed to come get her things if she wasn’t going to be living there and that was all. Skip forward a few days and J is in the hospital and claiming that she’s been diagnosed with congestive heart failure. When she’s released from the hospital, J looks horrible and afraid she’s going to die, so C brings all of her kids (they are all adults now) to visit with J. This congestive heart failure game goes on for a couple weeks, and then J disappears again until this past Saturday night. C came to visit my husband and I on Saturday, and we live one and half hours from C so it’s not like a super quick drive. While over here, C looks at her cameras on her phone and wouldn’t you know it, J is at the house getting her items, obviously she waited until C was not home to do this. So of course she had to leave our visit to rush home and hopefully catch J, which she didn’t unfortunately. C calls us on Mother’s Day, and in tears. J stole a bunch of her things; things as stupid as toilet paper and dish soap, to things that had extreme sentimental value, like a flannel that C received from an ex that passed away, and a bracelet charm that belonged to her niece who died last year. J then blocked C on all social media. Over the last couple of days, C has been realizing that there’s something is wrong. First, all her fish were dead (this happened while J was still in the home), then her cats were sick (a couple days before J left), then she got sick (like REALLY sick) and has been for a couple days now. Well she was going through her fridge last night and got a water bottle and when she opened it, she noticed it smelled like bleach. She opened a second bottle and same thing..so she went to her primary care and yall would not believe what the tests said! First, her white blood cell count is craaaazy high. She tested positive for a multitude of things; ecstasy, mdma, meth, and evidence that she’s ingested BLEACH! She called my husband hysterical after her appointment. I feel horrible for her. She has lived alone for I think around 3 years now, and lives in a small town far from any major city, because she inherited her home. She was excited to have a close friend staying with her, to have some companionship again, and this is what she gets. So I’m here to ask for some advice. She’s spoken with her po to let her know the situation, but she talked to her po before her doctors appointment. She’s afraid of getting the cops involved because of what was found on her tests, but at the same time she can’t just let J be out and about and free to possibly come back and do something even more insane. We would really appreciate any advice that anyone could give us, legal, supportive whatever you may have just please 🙏

My fiance (25f) and I (26m) have been together going on 4 years now. On our first date, we discussed our taste in music. While we didn’t have the same taste immediately, we did find some common ground in our second and third choices. While discussing this, she brought up her favorite artist was Taylor Swift. Before I could even get a work out she started saying things like “people who don’t like her just don’t understand her” and things to that effect. In the interest of seeing how the relationship would develop, I agreed to listen to 1 full album before giving her any form of judgement. Over the next day or so, I listened to the album and as I expected, it was not my taste. It was overhyped, overplayed, ear garbage, like most of the songs coming out today. She didn’t like my choice of words to describe her favorite artists songs, but she appreciated me giving them a shot. A few months go by and the Eras tour is announced. I was nearly deafened when I was woken up to the scream of excitement of her even getting in line to buy tickets. I was happy for her as she would get to see her favorite artist and then move on, right? That’s how every concert I had ever been to had gone. A couple weeks of being hyped to go, enjoy the show, and then be done. I WAS WRONG… As the tour kicked off, every night for at least an hour, she would go onto IG or TT live streams and watch the concert and listen to the same songs that she had been listening to on loop for the past 6 months. The concert comes and of course she is still excited to go. I wish her a safe trip, and send her and her friend on to the concert. When they get back, it’s all they can talk about, and you guessed it, TT live was on in the background watching the same concert in the same location. This obsession was beginning to grind my gears. The next major event happened when the Eras Tour movie was announced. After it was told to be coming to a theatre near us, she said she was going to see it on the big screen… Fine… whatever… but then the day comes and she and I get into a fight bc I won’t buy her and her 3 friends tickets to a movie about a concert that she’s seen probably 50 times by this point. (Mind you, she and all her friends work their own jobs) This was my final straw, after this, I stopped listening to any of the music, started becoming annoyed anytime she would be playing it in the house, and especially anytime we were in a confined space. As an engaged couple in their mid 20’s, money is tight and planning a wedding is expensive. However, she feels like it’s necessary for her to buy all the CD’s and at least 1 sweatshirt from the merch store every couple of months. I am not claiming that I am perfect with my money, but I don’t let what I buy put me in a hole that I can’t dig out of. I do believe that this obsession with Taylor Swift as a whole is becoming unhealthy for most of the “Swifties” but in my household, it has already started effecting our relationship. I know this post is long, and I apologize, but I really needed to get this off my chest bc I know I’m not the only person that feels this way.

I work as a mechanic for diesel engines. My preferred name is "jet" I rode with a guy named Aaron who all day before called me jet. But today he called me my legal name. I said please call me jet once. Then again he called me my legal name. I let old cats who speak spanish my legal name. He said I'm calling you (legal name) I said I'd prefer he'd not. He said "I'm not calling a grown ass man Jet" then he said "No disrespect, but I'm not calling a grown ass man Jet". The lead was defending him and said "I don't want to make this comparison but transgenders, they ask to be called they them." I would be mad, but he said no disrespect. Then said something extremely disrespectful. Like my name is ridiculous? Then the lead said "if you expect everyone to do what you want you are going to have a hard time in life". The lead is 23 and the other tech is 19. I'm the oldest 25. I'm sorry but was that not disrespectful? I asked to be called jet by english speakers and he tried to get a rise out of me. The lead doesn't like me because I asked about pay and to actually be trained. They are having me do stuff with no previous training and when I ask questions they say "jet wants us to hold his hands through everything" so I'm considering switching shifts. This place is such a sketchy place full of people around 19-24. I'm one of the older techs and I respect his position. But they are purposely trying to get me angry. They are friends out of work to, they went to his birthday party and hang out after work off the clock. What do I do?

Dear Reader: Emphasis on the -fi. Don't worry about it.
Effective Death. At least that’s what the news was calling it. The day the world wouldn’t end. Life could go on! It wasn’t over. You could still huddle around the last fires. Smoke the last cigarettes. Have the last children, though no one did.
Instead, they all watched. The slow dimming of light of the last supernova. A thousand little eclipses snuffed out the light as the Final Embrace closed around the star. We would not burn. We could die naturally. Charity. The Plan. The Plan wasn’t much of a Plan at all, and it definitely did not deserve a capital “P.” The universe would die. The Ark would wait. Maybe the universe wouldn’t die.
Then, a pinprick of light in the blackness, and another, and another. A tangled ball of christmas lights flashed in the sky, blinking on and off as people, my people, YSAs, flew headlong into the Ark. We all knew it was a meaningless gesture. One last light in the sky. Then nothing. Nothing more than a gesture: a middle finger among friends, and to people like me - cowards who would rather wait patiently for death than rage! “Rage against the dying of the light!” as their leaders preached. I didn’t care. There was a small chance I’d survive the crash, and then I would have to drift, and drifting was no fun. I’d rather be dead on a dead rock than be a dead rock.
Dehydration was my best bet. You see, Your Friend Corp, or as I called it now You’re Fucked, Cunt had made me into a Yakka Service Android: Lathe. Or YSA for short. And when I say made, I mean made. Per my contract, My DNA was a mishmosh of latent genes reactivated, entirely novel sequences, and of course, the tardigrade - the base model for spaceborne labor. Vacuum, heat, cold, radiation. A small shield powered by a miniature fusion reactor meant I could shrug off wandering asteroids. I didn’t need any PPE because I was the PPE. Cheaper, I guess. Making a welding arc was as simple as squeezing two fingers together, diamond nails and a skeleton of superheavy alloys let me fix anything that needed fixing and make anything that needed making. My copilot AI, Albert, kept my hands steady and made my new diet of ‘whatever’s around’ palatable.
The thing that needed fixing in this case, was my television. I had had enough of “effective death.” I spun up one wrist, and reached in. Shards of glass and blue-hot metal chips bounced off my naked body. Clothes were for those who needed them. I traced a slow serpentine pattern until only the power cord was left, which I unplugged. I looked at it for a moment, then began to chew it. Fruit roll ups, apparently.
‘Thanks Al’ I thought. ‘No problem’ he replied. ‘I was supposed to kill you, you know’ he continued.
‘Why didn’t you?’
‘You always said thank you’ He was silent for a moment. ‘I don’t want to die either.’
‘Thanks Al.’
‘You’re welcome.’
We sat in silence, and we waited. For what, we did not know. For nothing, probably. Technically, definitely.
—
Three weeks passed. Three weeks of nothing but blackness, punctuated by suicides. A small flash of light, a dull red glow of the now proverbial last cigarette, and a larger flash, and a bang. Slowly, people began to wake up. Lights shone in the distance now, as people realized they weren’t dead. Campfires billowed smoke, songs were sung, jokes were told, and I sat in silence. I didn’t want to make any friends. They’d all go away, in the end.
One by one, the fires burned to ash, the lights turned off, and the rock died. I often debated with myself if I was alive anymore. Al told me that since I could reproduce and poop that I counted. I wasn’t sure.
Maybe there were other cowards still alive. Other YSA’s living off dirt that tasted like mashed potatoes, tossing grape pebbles into their mouths. Maybe someone survived the crash, and is still drifting, a not dead rock dying of dehydration like I am. Trying to at least. I kept taking one last sip. Coward I thought to myself.
—
A crack in the sky. Final Embrace began to crumple like a deflated balloon. The scientists were wrong. Typical. They would tell you they weren’t. They would say that a .005% chance of the sun turning into a black hole meant that they had indeed predicted that the sun would turn into a black hole. The last black hole.
“Hey Al,” I said out loud. God I hadn’t spoken since the sky went dark. This is actually kinda nice. “I think I know I want to die. What do you say we take the ol girl out for one last ride?”
‘That’d be nice.’
“I’m going to put my clothes on. I want to hear your voice.”
I gently pushed the earpiece into my ear canal. Small barbed spikes extended, anchoring it in place, and a thin cable wormed its way into my reactor. “If you’re going to die, you might as well look good doing it.” Al said. “I’ll make a playlist.” I nodded, blowing the dust off my pre-op clothes. I always liked the old things, back from when Earth still existed. There was more culture, more life, in everything, somehow. Blue jeans, a white t-shirt, brown leather boots. Classic. Not real, of course. They were all made from the same poly-something textile. Durable, to a fault. I had only ever had the one set.
I looked in the mirror. I still looked the same on the outside. I was a skinny bastard that’s for sure. Olive skin, dark hair, and not a strand below the eyebrows except under my armpits and around my cock. ‘The biggest dick in the world’ I thought to myself.
“I heard that.” Said Al. I jumped. “You told me you wanted to hear my voice.”
“Dammit Al. Sorry. I do.”
“Everyone is dead and you’re making dick jokes.”
“Did you really think better of me?”
“No.”
“Come on then. Let’s take the ol girl out before we die. Give her one last ride too.”
To an observer, it would seem like I was glaring at myself in the mirror. But really, I was glaring at Al. And I was a little confused. I thought AI didn’t make sex jokes.
The “ol girl” in question was another of my fascinations with the old world. She was, or at least she looked like, a 1980 Toyota Corolla. I had made some heavy, heavy modifications. The engine bay houses the reactor and warp field generator. The main engine takes up the entire trunk, and is capable of 5% light speed outside the warp field and a whopping thousand times the speed of light inside it, though I keep the warp field up whenever I’m in it since it doubles as a shield. Ya can’t get hit by space if you’re not technically “in” space after all, and the body is plain ol painted steel - fire engine red, since you asked. Beautiful, but not the most durable. The undercarriage serves as a gravity generator, and yes, the wheels do turn, but since they’re powered by fusion reactor I had to replace the entire drivetrain. Not exactly original, but boy howdy! is she fast on the ground. Speaking of not original, the dashboard was anything but. I kept the old analog style but well, this was a spaceship after all.
I shoveled dirt into the fuel tank - gas tanks they used to call them, when they still ran on gas - then got in and turned the key. The low hum of the reactor was comforting, though not as much as the roar of the engines as I left the dead atmosphere of that now definitely dead rock behind me. I turned on the headlights - pointless, I know, but you shouldn’t drive in the dark with your lights on, and pulled a small bottle of moonshine from the glovebox. You shouldn’t do that either, but I figured I was about even as far as rules went. What was I going to do? Hit someone?
“Hey Al. Do you think you have a soul”
“Probably not.”
“That sucks.”
“Yeah.”
I hit somebody. Or something. Whatever it was bounced off the warp bubble and tumbled into space behind me, briefly red in the glow of my tail lights.
“Oh shit” Said Al and I.
“That was a person” Said Al.
“Was is right.”
“They’re still alive.”
I stopped the car. Al played the sound of tires screeching in my ears. I backed up towards the now spinning uncontrollably figure and rolled down the window. I liked the manual windows. They helped me feel human. I turned off the warp and reached out a hand to catch whoever it was, and they slammed against the side of my car, denting it. Damn it.
I’m not great at reading lips but whoever I hit was definitely alive, very naked, probably the most gorgeous woman I had ever seen, and was almost certainly calling me an asshole. She crawled around to the passenger door and got in. We rolled the windows up, and the cabin atmosphere flooded in. Now she was definitely going to call me an asshole.
“Why the fuck are you wearing sunglasses?” She said.
“Style.” I replied. “I’m going to go die. Want to come?”
“Better than drifting.”
“Where’s your AI?” said Al? I don’t detect one, and your hands are shaking.
“Killed him before he could kill me. Why didn’t you kill this idiot?”
"I didn’t want to die. And he said thank you.”
“Gross.”
I rolled my window down. She did the same, then looked in the center console and pulled out my spare sunglasses. I looked at her. “Style.” She said. Al played The Final Countdown. We were the not dead yets, in the Not Dead Yet Finally, a name for my car! Sunglasses on. Sun out. Life was good, and death was going to be even better.

My ex and I were together for 2 years. We've been broken up since Oct 2023 and although it was mutual, I changed my mind and she rejected me. I immaturely and emotionally reacted and reached out once a month for 2-3 months post break up. Include a full, blown out spiral around her bday when I sent paragraphs of apologies. It was BAD, you guys. Just pathetic. But anyway. This is the love of my life and went down on my sword. But from the bottom of rock bottom I climbed out and totally went No Contact. For over two months. I needed to grow and mature which I have and damn, I feel like a different person. I am someone who loves themselves now and can love my partner properly. Falling to rock bottom awakened me. Anyways, my ex (love of my life) and I ran into each other by chance two months into my no contact journey. We had a cordial conversation- very respectful. At first I could tell she was still in pain/anger, because she told me "how some is treated is a reflection of how they feel about themselves." I agreed. I was fully accountable and said how poorly I'd behaved and I thanked her for setting boundaries because she saved my life- I had to grow the hell up. No pride during this convo. I was just mature, calm, polite and thoughtful. I felt very peaceful talking to her and was so grateful to be in her presence as my healed self (not the ass hole she dated for 2 years). We ended up laughing and casually saying goodbye. As if I melted a little of her icy wall. A month later (and no other contact at all), we ran into each other again. This time the convo was a quick, and casual non-dramatic. I asked about her weekend and she asked about my family and then we parted ways very sweetly. I feel like she even lingered and smiled at me. I was so happy. She told me I looked good (casually) during both of these run-ins. But a few days later, I am walking down the sidewalk and see her coming the other way. I can tell she's gotten off work and is running a fast errand (I remember her ways lol). When we see each other, my heart just stops and I embarrassingly covered it with my hand. I then went to take out my head phones and I smiled (not too widely, just a "oh hi grin"). Help me, world, understand her reaction. She sees me and looks completely startled and almost fearful. As we get closer she forces an awkward smile to her face and just completely, coldly, walks by me. I felt like the kid on the playground that gets ignored by the cool popular kid even though they hung out secretly. I had enough pride and wisdom to keep walking forward, not cry and not call. I just kept walking and my inner child wailed. It was so intentionally cold, trust me. I've meditated on it and feel this is showing she has a lot of healed parts of her, but damn.... is she totally done with me? She used to be madly in love and we were headed towards engagement. I was just so stupid in the end but ultimately am glad we broke up so I could grow. I want to show her I've healed but I dare not trespass in her space. Thanks for advice.

Just to be clear beforehand:
· I am a 100% sure he is single and not dating his ex
I (27F) met this man (26M) a couple months ago on a datingapp. I remember it saying in his bio that he was looking for something casual, at that point I didn’t know what I was looking for so I just sent him a message. We bonded over the fact that we both just got out of a long term relationship, we were both single for 2 months at that point after 4.5-5 years of dating (very coincidental but nice to bond over that LOL). He was very open and honest and also told me that he is still living with her at this point (it’s not easy to find a new place in the capital of our country). What I noticed is that this man was very honest, for example, he shared that he had a STD and that he has kissed guys (which could definitely be a dealbreaker for some girls). While it was clear that he was looking for casual, I did notice that after a short while he would text me at 7am when he woke up, and he literally talk the whole day. Also when he was working he would text me all the time. I started really liking him.
We had a strong attraction, and I was the one making very flirty and sexual comments. We would tease each other and couldn’t wait till the moment that we could meet up and have sex. After talking 24/7 for 3 weeks, we had our first date. We very both very nervous, and I remember him saying that he normally doesn’t get nervous so that this was weird for him. I sometimes did get the feeling that he started to like me a little more than only for casual. The date went great, and I think we really hit it off. We just talked for hours about our life and interests. We went from bar to bar just talking, and I remember saying that I had to leave at a certain point because I paid for my parking until a specific time. It was just a 10 minute walk. What made me certain that he liked me enough for a second date is when he offered to just keep talking, and that he would pay for my fine (100$) when I got one. He has a good job (he's a therapist) so definitely has a good income but that amount of money is also a lot for him. Of course I declined LOL but I remember being flattered.
The day after I remember saying that he decided after the date to only focus on me, and that he would like it if I did the same. He also said that he was a “one girl kind of guy”. On the first date he also made me promise jokingly, yet serious, to at least go on 5 dates with each other. At tis point, it was clear that we found each other very attractive and that we really want to sleep with each other. Date two was also a lot of fun and at this point I really started to like him. The day after, he asked me for a third date. We kept taking initiative with conversations all the time. It would be very flirty and sexual sometimes, but also about anything and everything. I remember that sometimes I would try to be very flirty and he would direct the conversation to other stuff (like family), which was interesting to me, but I think he just really liked me. I am very cautious, and am really scared of the dating scene especially hearing all the ghosting, manipulating, whatever shit that happened to people around me so I was really analyzing anything and everything he was saying but there did not seem to be any red flags. My friends and older sister were sure he was falling in love with me based on the information I shared.
One night we were on the phone and I remember him hanging up suddenly when his ex entered their home. He already told me that he would have to end the conversation if this happened. After the conversation I remember him being kind of scared that I was annoyed that his ex is affecting our situation, but I explained that I understand and think it’s very respectful that he’s not rubbing it in her face that he’s talking to someone new. The day after he shared that he realized he wants to really separate wit this ex, and that he initiated a conversation about one of them moving out. I remember being like: oh he really likes me since little situation made him take action.
Throughout all of this, I would sometimes joke and make non-casual comments, in the beginning he was clear that he was not ready for that. After a while I remember him saying that these jokes were not scaring him (anymore). At this point I really liked him, and wasn’t sure if I was going to be happy with only being casual, and we had multiple conversations about this. The conversations went from ‘I really only can do casual at this point so if we’re not at the same page, we need to be clear and end it so no one gets hurt’ to ‘I wanted casual but at this point I am not sure, I really like you and I think it’s likely that I would want a serious relationship with you’. He was very clear and open about the fact that he was confused and was trying to figure out what he really wanted. A very important note: I noticed from the beginning on that this is a very conscientious, analytical person that thinks things through. From the beginning, I was also very clear that I could develop feelings, and that if I did and wanted more, that I would really like it if he would respect me enough to tell if he wasn’t in that place. He promised he would be honest. At this point there was no indication that he was dishonest about anything so I tried to just trust him on this.
I think at this point we’ve been talking for 3 weeks, and of course, I start to really like him. To me, it’s clear that he really likes me too. We did not have sex at this point. I started to catch feelings and asked him how to prevent falling in love. He responded that he had the same, and that at this point he is not even sure that this something he wants to prevent anymore. However, he was still reflecting on this situation and honestly it would be kind of weird to rush into a new relationship after being involved with someone else for so long, he was also living with her, and we do not live near each other so the situation was not in our favor.
Note: at this point we did not have sex yet. The sexual connection was definitely there though, and it was clear for both of us that on date 3 we would have sex.
One night, he had a party that he was really looking forward to. The day after he called me and kind of broke things off with me. He explained that this party made him realize that being single/having freedom is what he wants at this point. He was honest about finding other women attractive at this party (he volunteered the information that he did find the girls more attractive than me), and that he did not flirt with them because we were talking, but that he would’ve liked that and would’ve liked to just have fun without the commitment. He said that he really liked me, and that if he kept talking to me and if we would continue to mee up, he was sure that he would fall in love and that he is just not ready for that at this point. He shared that he only wants to get in a relationship if he thinks he can give himself fully, and that at this point he’s just not there yet. During this conversation, he realized that this situation also happened with his ex that we dating for 5 years: they really liked each other, but he didn’t feel like he could give his all to her, so he didn’t commit. However, they still kept in contact (studying the same thing), couldn’t really keep away from each other and still had sex. This continued for a while until he felt ready to give himself fully, and that’s when they got official. I asked him if he also sees that happening with me, he said he did but that he couldn’t promise that 100%. I thanked him for his honesty, but couldn’t understand: all the signals were there that he really liked me and was very invested. I also told him that I was afraid I was being naïve to believe what he was saying, as I heard this exact situation happen to every girl ever (the bullshit cliches like “you deserve better”, “I need to work on myself”) and that it didn’t make sense what he was saying like: “I like you. I like you so much that if we would keep meeting, I will fall in love. Therefore, let’s stop talking.” However, at the same time I felt like I could trust him, based on the fact that he cut if off BEFORE we had sex. He literally could’ve waited another five days, had sex with me, and then cut if off. But at this point he didn’t get any.
This guy is not a fuckboy, I am sure of that. I have a specific type. He is the exact type like my ex, there is no fuckboy bone in their body.
We ended it. I let him know that he could contact me whenever he is ready for something serious, but that I would also keep dating and go on with my life.
My question to you guys is:
· Am I delusional, and is this quite literally every situation ever and does it come down to “I am not ready to a relationship… WITH YOU” or does it make sense what he’s saying? I just don’t understand letting someone go you like so much, think is so beautiful and interesting. It just does not make sense. However, at the same time, everything that he is and said did indicate that he really values “doing the right thing” and is really strict on himself. Is he just such a good, stand-up guy that he’s willing to let me go, or at least let the possibility for sex go, because he “knows he can’t give himself fully” and that he won’t get in a serious relationship if this is the case because he would lose respect for himself, and also doesn’t want me to accept any less than 100%.
(Last point: I considered the possibility that he just lost interest after date 2. He ended it 6 days after the second day. However, I don’t think this is likely: he asked for a third date the day after, and would jokingly remind me of the 5-date-promise, he “offered” to go to a concert with me of someone that he is not as big as a fan of which would cost him a lot of money, nothing in our conversations changed. Nothing gave off that he was less interested.)
TL;DR Met a guy on a dating app who initially wanted something casual. Despite living with his ex and admitting to not being ready for a serious relationship, we connected deeply. He was very open and honest, shared personal details early on, and our communication was intense and constant. After a few great dates, he seemed to start considering a more serious relationship with me. However, after a party, he realized he wasn’t ready to commit and broke things off, saying he feared falling in love because he couldn’t give himself fully yet. He was honest and ended things respectfully before we became more involved. I’m left wondering if this situation is a typical "it’s not you, it’s me" scenario or if he genuinely needs more time, as he stated. Is it delusional to think he might come around, or did his actions show genuine integrity and self-awareness?

Hello there so I have a friend who meet from online probably like five years ago she and I like each other at some point, but we decided to be friends until we meet in person. He and I live in different countries(he lives in my hometown) we always talk about meeting each other going out and having fun exploring the city so last year of 2023 October I went to my home country and I went to my home town FYI, not for him not for him. I went to my country with my mother because I haven't been to my country in seven years and I desperately needing to go to my country so bad so I went a few weeks passed, we wanted to meet but due to lot of things I had to do like for instance taking care of my house repair or so bank work etc, I kept on postponing and finally one fine day we meet at the beach I was so exited because I am meeting someone from online for the first time and he is the first friend that I made in a long time, so yeah I was pretty nervous so I took the bus which was 2hrs long and this place is not some random place this is the place that I was born, this is the beach I went since I was kid. So I was in the bus I texted him said "hey! im almost there" no response, so I got scared for a sec I got off the bus and there he is at the bus stop waiting for me, I WAS SOOOO HAPPY we found the spot and sat down and talked and we went to coffe shop ordered 2 cups went upstairs dine with the beautiful view of the beach and we call it a day, for me it was just perfect day.
I was happy, like really happy
but then at my house things go really shitty and I couldn't go anywhere even to get some groceries alone and he he kept on asking us to meet and sadly I had to say no because of my circumstances and I tried to explain my situation and he said he "understand" but later I I realize that he didn't understand he thought that I'm just making excuses to not to meet him and he was mad for some reason and I tried to make it up to him and asked him if there's anyway that I can make up to him that I will do definitely do to forgive me.
Few days later, I kept on asking him to meet and he replies with will see and ill let you know but then he docent say went and I got tired of it and I told him he's not interested to meet just say so, so I wouldn't ask and maske a fool out of my self. A day later he said yeah lets meet, we agreed to meet at the Complex (its were all the busses at) it also closer to him institute.
On Monday I texted him in the morning and 10 mins before I left and he texted back form my house to his institute the bus takes about 2 hours some mins idk while I was 10 min away I texted him and said "im almost there" and he said "ill be right there"
5 min later I texted him but no response
5 min later I got off at the complex still no response so I texted him again saying "im here"
he sait "Ok sorry 10min" and I said"Ok hurry"
NO RESPONCE
I waited at the complex ALONE for 45 minutes and I said(btw still no response) "I’ll give you 5 more minutes"
another 15 minutes passed and I got sick and felt EMBARRASS AND HUMILIATED
WITH HEAVE HEART CRYING INSIDE I texted him "Hey I’m leaving"
On that day I had so much work to do BUT I canceled JUST to MEET HIM but this is what I got from him
after Iwaiting for 1 hour at the complex I said im leaving
and then here he kept on texting "Wait wait"
"Where ru leaving"
"My sir won't allowed me to go out"
I said its ok when im not I compressed my feeling and emotions
and he said "I'm really sorry wait I'm coming" "Where ru exactly". he called me on instagram and snapchat few times but I didn't answer( idk if that was the right thing to do or not) and I went home.
he texted me the next morning and I left him on red and again idk if that was the right choice and he stopped texting. few months later I left the country and came back to USA and still no text from him. im expecting an apology from him why he made me wait? is it because he want to get back at me?
lately I feel lonely cuz I got no one to talk to :(
so you heard my story should I reach him out or no?
I honestly don't know what to do, I would really appreciate if you guys can give me some advice

Maybe someone can help me out here or some words of encouragement. I'm at the tail end of my 1st year about to be a 2nd year apprentice. The first while seemed to be good and then I had a major issue with a foreman...one who would harass me and make sexist misogynistic comments and straight berate me any chance he got. I took it to my instructor and basically said I was going to leave the apprenticeship because I feel targeted by this guy simply for existing and would feel better if I was out of the situation...so anyways, I went with another foreman and it seems since no one likes me. At a job with over 20 guys I'm the outcast. I eat lunch alone outside whenever the weather is good, no one seemingly wants to work with me or even say anything to me and i dint unserstand why. I work incredibly hard, shoe up every day on time, and show kindness and respect to everyone...but it just feels like a slap in the face I guess. Idk I guess "brotherhood" to me I figured maybe people would be a little different...less cliquey...and maybe its the contractor I'm with Maybe not everyone is like this. I do think some of it has to do with being a woman its like the guys don't know how to communicate with me? Or just don't want to because wheb it comes down to it I'm not one of them. Also- I've worked up until now in predominately female workplaces and girls are usually best friends the second they meet and it's a whole different work environment. I don't know where I'm going with this but I'm just discouraged, never wanna go to work anymore tired of being bounced around between foreman because one is distracted, the other ones wife won't let him work with females, this one doesn't beleive I can do a man's job, doesn't like me etc. Was hoping someone Maybe other females in a male dominated job site can help me out here or give me some words of advice...that's all.

I just wanted to clarify some things.
English isn’t my first language so please go easy on some of my word choices.
I am not terrified of dogs in a way that it affects my life. I tried to explain in my post, maybe poorly.. but despite my past with them, I love dogs. We want to get a dog too. Big off leash dogs however, make me really nervous. Specifically scenarios like the incident I described in the post (and there were other incidents too that I did not describe, but just said “it happened twice before”). I promise my fear is not irrational. It is valid. I am not the type of person who overreacts or wants to ever make waves or have issues with anyone. I actively try to avoid this. My fiancé isn’t a hotheaded person by any means either. I made my post because I initially felt uncomfortable about the course of action he took. But based on comments, it seems his was not an abnormal response.
Both dogs are the cane corso breed. They are huge.
The dogs seem friendly— but more than that they seem really unpredictable. They don’t follow through with commands and recall. They do bark and show aggression sometimes, because they are territorial. In a comment I shared my neighbor said they are used to wandering on our property because our property was unoccupied previously (it’s a new build). So maybe they see it as their territory?
They have barked at myself and my fiancé in the past. It’s like a threatening type bark.. their posture reflects a guarding mode or alertness. They also jump, including jumping on their owner. They have tried to jump on me once in the past because I was holding something.. I quickly knew to put my hand with the object down. So a close call has happened before. I’m fairly petite and I could definitely see myself getting knocked off balance if one of them jumped on me. I worry about this a lot as I get further along in my pregnancy.
The laws where we live state dogs must be leashed or confined to the owners property. Just because it’s a rural area doesn’t mean it’s lawless. Most people here are responsible dog owners with well trained dogs.
Not everyone in this area has full perimeter fences because there’s lots of distance and privacy with the natural landscaping. Still… people keep their dogs on their own properties. When they walk their dogs, it’s on leash. If by chance you run into an off leash dog.. when the owner sees someone approaching, the dog goes back to the owner or back on leash. This is how I see people on trails here doing it. Why does this neighbor feel so entitled? If his dogs can’t be recalled … he should never risk off leash.
My fiancé made every respectful attempt to communicate with the neighbor and outline all of our concerns clearly BEFORE the warning shot occurred.
The neighbor has never shown that same respect to us, and he made no changes in his attitude or behavior or attempts to keep his dogs from wandering. He even told me once that I don’t “look” pregnant.
My fiancé has always addressed him calmly and spoken to him professionally. This includes the day he fired the shot. He has never so much as swore at my neighbor or raised his voice at him but I can’t say the same for the neighbor, who I could hear swearing and shouting from indoors. All of his interactions with my partner have been overtly aggressive and angry. My partner is always calm. He is known amongst his colleagues for his calm demeanor.
That night.. he was again getting in my fiancé’s face so my fiancé firmly asked him to leave. He did let him know next time he will shoot his dogs. Neither me nor my partner want the dogs to be hurt and hope it never gets to that.
I have an officer from animal control now who I can call if they come into our property again. I would have even tried to make friends with his dogs on my own terms … but the neighbor didn’t let us have good introductions. It’s on him. Not me.. when I’m minding my own business on my deck and a dog comes at me out of nowhere.
Anyways now the bridge is totally burned. So I hope we can just peacefully coexist without talking to each other.
Finally.. someone sent me something called Reddit Cares or some kind of reporting happened. So I wanna emphasize my fiancé is NOT an abuser. He is also not someone who runs out haphazardly with a gun and shoots it carelessly or hates people or something. He is just a protective person and my pregnancy has heightened it. I have miscarried before. It's not to make excuses but I feel bad if my post gets misconstrued and people think my fiancé would ever hurt me. He’s not the threat I am experiencing.

Everything is useless. Just finally moved to another country, where my girlfriend lives and will study Computer Science. But my girlfriend wants to break up with me. Borrowed money from a friend that I have no idea how I'm gonna pay back. Still jobless, depressed and completely hopeless. Positive words don't work anymore and even if things do get better, what's the point? Even me posting this is pointless, it'll just get lost in the endless sea of posts people make about their own problems. It's 3 am and I am brought to tears, I'm terrified and although I have many friends I feel more alone than ever. Nothing feels fulfilling, every day is a slog to get through I feel like sysiphus, except the fetigue is kicking in and the boulder will just roll back somewhere midway the hill and crush me under it. Come to think of it that doesn't sound too bad. I feel like a burden on my family and I feel like a burden on my friends, I try to be nice and I mean all of it, but I'm not sure how much longer I can keep this fascade up. I'm not happy and I've never been. I just want it to end all of it, I don't even wanna die I wanna disappear completely. Be non existant so I don't have to witness any of this. I've been spiraling further down into a pit of nihilism and pain for a few years now. No matter what I do or who I turn to I can't find it in myself to push forward. If anyone actually made it to the end and read all of this depressing garbage shitposting I'm sorry you had to witness it.
I give up.

My ex and I were together for 2 years. We've been broken up since Oct 2023 and although it was mutual, I changed my mind and she rejected me. I immaturely and emotionally reacted and reached out once a month for 2-3 months post break up. Include a full, blown out spiral around her bday when I sent paragraphs of apologies. It was BAD, you guys. Just pathetic. But anyway. This is the love of my life and went down on my sword. But from the bottom of rock bottom I climbed out and totally went No Contact. For over two months. I needed to grow and mature which I have and damn, I feel like a different person. I am someone who loves themselves now and can love my partner properly. Falling to rock bottom awakened me. Anyways, my ex (love of my life) and I ran into each other by chance two months into my no contact journey. We had a cordial conversation- very respectful. At first I could tell she was still in pain/anger, because she told me "how some is treated is a reflection of how they feel about themselves." I agreed. I was fully accountable and said how poorly I'd behaved and I thanked her for setting boundaries because she saved my life- I had to grow the hell up. No pride during this convo. I was just mature, calm, polite and thoughtful. I felt very peaceful talking to her and was so grateful to be in her presence as my healed self (not the ass hole she dated for 2 years). We ended up laughing and casually saying goodbye. As if I melted a little of her icy wall. A month later (and no other contact at all), we ran into each other again. This time the convo was a quick, and casual non-dramatic. I asked about her weekend and she asked about my family and then we parted ways very sweetly. I feel like she even lingered and smiled at me. I was so happy. She told me I looked good (casually) during both of these run-ins. But a few days later, I am walking down the sidewalk and see her coming the other way. I can tell she's gotten off work and is running a fast errand (I remember her ways lol). When we see each other, my heart just stops and I embarrassingly covered it with my hand. I then went to take out my head phones and I smiled (not too widely, just a "oh hi grin"). Help me, world, understand her reaction. She sees me and looks completely startled and almost fearful. As we get closer she forces an awkward smile to her face and just completely, coldly, walks by me. I felt like the kid on the playground that gets ignored by the cool popular kid even though they hung out secretly. I had enough pride and wisdom to keep walking forward, not cry and not call. I just kept walking and my inner child wailed. It was so intentionally cold, trust me. I've meditated on it and feel this is showing she has a lot of healed parts of her, but damn.... is she totally done with me? She used to be madly in love and we were headed towards engagement. I was just so stupid in the end but ultimately am glad we broke up so I could grow. I want to show her I've healed but I dare not trespass in her space. Thanks for advice.

I've been friends with V since the beginning of last year. At first, we were both very lonely at school, then we slowly got closer and became friends. Y was always around us from the beginning, but she wasn't a "close" friend. She was with another girl, who ended up leaving school. Then, she started going out with another girl and, for a while, with us, but then she always distanced herself. Since the end of last year, the three of us have gotten closer and started to be close friends. I was really happy to have both Y and V as my friends, but for the past two months, things have been weird. Like, it's obvious that V and I were really close since it was just me and her, but we included Y in everything. If we went to the bathroom, Y went with us. Y always takes a long time to finish eating, but we always wait. If Y doesn't want to go to the bathroom, we won't go because we don't want to leave her alone. She also has several health problems, so V and I always take care of her. Well, but then slowly I felt Y start to pull V towards her. That's what makes me think this:

• I sit behind V, while Y sits next to V, but now she almost never lets me sit there and when I do, she keeps asking me to switch seats with her.
• When V and I do something together (like simply writing each other's initials), Y says she's being excluded and wants to do it too, but Y just wants V's attention. I never seem to be her first choice.
• When we go out, Y always makes a point of staying in front with V, leaving me behind.
• When we have a class in pairs, Y always wants to be with V, making me have to look for someone else.
• Once, a colleague of ours said that "trios don't work," and Y responded like this: "Well, it's true. V and K (me) sometimes exclude me, and K sometimes pulls V towards her, but V likes me more, you know?" I was like, "What the hell?" She also said that I abandoned her and V to talk to another friend of mine, and I literally only talked to this girl when I left my books in the locker or when we met in the bathroom.

Well, you can see that it's obvious that Y likes V much more than me, which wouldn't be a problem if she weren't so clear about it. In fact, it's becoming obvious that Y doesn't even like me, and it's really hurting. She occasionally makes some mean comments or is rude to me, for example:

• Yesterday, we arrived at school at the same time and I was happy to see her, so I called her so we could go upstairs together. I thought Y hadn't heard me, and so I ran a little to catch up with her and said "Good morning~," to which she replied, "Nothing good," and then we didn't say anything else until we got to the room. I thought she was sad or in pain since her health is bad, but when we arrived in class Y immediately started talking with V.
• She sometimes makes comments about my weight that hurt me a lot. For example, when we are playing with something, Y says that I can "crumple" something, that only I would crush someone, etc.
• Today, we were eating and Y was talking to someone, and out of nowhere she said, "I tell K to stop being ugly and that doesn't mean she stops." Like FROM NOTHING, FROM NOTHING AT ALL. Y herself was surprised by what she said, and the girl she was talking to said, "What?"

Honestly, I don't know if this is all in my head, or if I'm being dramatic and overly sensitive or something. I just want this to end and for us to go back to being friends like we were before. I would like to tell them what I feel, but I'm afraid of not only losing Y's friendship, but also V's. I want to feel that I'm needed there, that my presence is appreciated, and that what I feel is valid. In fact, I think V has no idea what's going on between me and Y, so I'm afraid of saying so, and she'll abandon me completely to be with Y. My biggest fear is that if I stop being friends with Y, V will choose her over me.

Seven ravens go with Arianne Martell to be Doran's eyes and ears to Aegon and the Golden Company in the Stormlands. And while Arianne's journey progresses she will likely need to make a choice... will she send the word 'dragon' home in a letter, the coded word asking for Dorne to call their spears and join Aegon's cause? Or will the word be 'war'? (...in this case 'war' means 'wait')... I'll let you decide - I assume most people's minds are pretty set on this point, and mine own is not really standard canon, so I will only say the last raven seems an ill omened thing as the seventh of a set is often linked to The Stranger, Westeros' god of death.
The topic I hoped to brainstorm today is not actually about what Arianne decides... but rather what happens next. Because I notice with a lot of theories the assumption is that the Dornish houses waiting on Arianne's response will march in lockstep with whatever her and Doran's order is... but... will they? Some of the Dornish houses seem pretty independent-minded and I feel there's been some fairly significant foreshadowing emerging that Doran's hold over the the kingdom is only tentative at best. That's worth discussing... In particular three houses seem to repeatedly stand out as possibilities to challenge the peace regardless of the Martells' wishes: Houses Yronwood, Fowler, and Uller....

House Fowler 🪶

The Fowlers make their home at Skyreach, a castle with a lofty perch and soaring stone towers carved into the stone slopes of the Red Mountains overlooking the Prince's Pass, one of two major overland routes into Dorne, and the easier to traverse of the two (the other being the steep and treacherous Boneway). The House is led by Lord Franklyn Fowler 'the Old Hawk', who has two twin daughters - Jeyne and Jennelyn. What could cause House Fowler to rebel against the Martells?
Sign #1 - The Fowlers closeness with Lady Nym
Oberyn's death was a rallying cry for a lot of Dorne desiring vengeance against the Lannisters, and in particular the news greatly effected the Sand Snakes - Nymeria Sand is said to be 'famously' close with the Fowler twins, she was actually with them the moment she learned of Oberyn's death, and it follows they likely sympathize with her position. In fact when Lady Nym first pitches Doran her plan to assassinate key Lannisters in King's Landing she does so by pleading the Fowler house words to him: "You know the Fowler words? Let Me Soar! That is all I ask of you. Let me soar, Uncle. I need no mighty host, only one sweet sister." And Doran would later tell Arianne that Nym is 'too close to the Fowler twins' (and thus unable to keep secrets from them). I imagine the Fowlers did not take the news well when they learned of Nymeria's imprisonment afterwards...
Sign #2 - Arianne's plea to Lord Fowler
Then when Arianne Martell is imprisoned herself after her Queenmaker plot she attempts to send out a secret message with one of her attendants to plead for help to free her from her father's grasp. She considers different options to address this letter to, someone ideally receptive to the idea of rebelling against Doran (which is no small thing to ask!) but also powerful enough to do so. Her first thoughts drift to Yronwood, but decides against them only because they fostered Quentyn and she believes he and Anders are conspiring against her, then goes through a few of the houses of her friends before finally deciding "that she had but two real hopes: Harmen Uller, Lord of Hellholt, and Franklyn Fowler, Lord of Skyreach and Warden of the Prince's Pass."
She ultimately decides to pen the letter to Lord Fowler because she thinks the Ullers as half-mad to the point of having a dangerous response. After that the attendant Cedra is presumably caught by Doran's men as she never reappears and Areo tells us that she was sent to the Water Gardens. But even without the letter actually going out the fact that she chose Lord Fowler to send this plea to probably says a lot about their overall relationship with Doran.
Sign #3 - A Toast to Tommen
In the Watcher chapter during the presentation of The Mountain's skull a toast to Tommen is made, and those who choose to drink or to refuse it give us another indication of the sentiments around Dorne... this is not subtly implied as much as it is directly pointed out by Areo:

The white knight did drink, as was only courteous. His companions likewise. So did the Princess Arianne, Lady Jordayne, the Lord of Godsgrace, the Knight of Lemonwood, the Lady of Ghost Hill … even Ellaria Sand, Prince Oberyn's beloved paramour, who had been with him in King's Landing when he died. Hotah paid more note to those who did not drink: Ser Daemon Sand, Lord Tremond Gargalen, the Fowler twins, Dagos Manwoody, the Ullers of the Hellholt, the Wyls of the Boneway. If there is trouble, it could start with one of them. Dorne was an angry and divided land, and Prince Doran's hold on it was not as firm as it might be. Many of his own lords thought him weak and would have welcomed open war with the Lannisters and the boy king on the Iron Throne.

Again the Fowler twins and Ullers show us that they still hold a lot of resentment. Daemon Sand makes sense too - he was part of Oberyn's retinue in King's Landing (sometimes rumored to have had a relationship with him) and watched him die, and after the Sand Snakes were imprisoned he went to Sunspear to demand their release and was imprisoned himself for the trouble. I'd keep an eye on him in Arianne's plot.
The Yronwoods weren't in attendance for the toast, however the Wyls were and refused it - I get the sense they are pretty close with the Yronwoods, both of which have their houses on the Boneway where they've joined forces. Another party that refused the toast, the Manwoodys, are stationed in the Prince's Pass and likely close allies with the Fowlers - lending more weight to the idea that this area is rebellious. House Gargelene is the one that's most difficult to place, being located in a fairly isolated spot in the south of Dorne at Salt Shore.
Sign #4 - The Troops in the Passes
By Arianne's TWOW excerpts we also hear that the troops in the Prince's Pass and the Boneway are becoming restless:

In the Boneway and the Prince’s Pass, two Dornish hosts had massed, and there they sat, sharpening their spears, polishing their armor, dicing, drinking, quarreling, their numbers dwindling by the day, waiting, waiting, waiting for the Prince of Dorne to loose them on the enemies of House Martell.

Darkstar's Plot
So how might the Fowlers act out? Outside of Arianne's raven being sent (and depending on the result), I think we should be keeping an eye on the Darkstar plot. Darkstar, per his own words and actions, seems to want to start a war against the crown and has presumably fled back to his home of High Hermitage in the Red Mountains where its implied he has support. He will probably pass by Starfall on the way up the Torrentine's rushing waters, but the Prince's Pass and Skyreach are both not that far from his location and in fitting with the prior indications of the Fowlers' intentions and Darkstar's overall goals he may try to incite the already anxious troops there to raid the Dornish Marches. These houses have a long history of animosity towards the Reach and Marcher Lords whose defenses will be exposed with Euron's attacks. Such an assault could parallel prior rogue leaders the Vulture Kings.

House Uller 🏜️

We've already seen that the Ullers play out somewhat similarly to the Fowlers - they were one of the major considerations for Arianne to send her plea for help to, and they were one of the parties notably refusing Tommen's toast. Lord Harmen Uller is the current Lord of the Hellholt, "a grim, stinking seat beside the sulfurous yellow waters of the Brimstone" located near the deep sands in the centesouth of Dorne.
There is a saying in Dorne we are told: 'half the Ullers are 'half-mad and the other half are worse.' And as Ellaria Sand is Lord Harmen's natural daughter when she and her little ones (Elia, Obella, Dorea, and Loreza) were locked away with the rest of the Sand Snakes Arianne thinks this would 'have made Lord Harmen wroth, and the Ullers were dangerous when wroth.' Its worth noting that in Arianne's Queenmaker plot her end goal was to get to Hellholt to officially crown Myrcella and raise her banners there...
What's interesting about Uller is that while they have a lot of reason to rebel there is at least one pacifying force headed their way - Ellaria Sand (who is also bringing Loreza with her). Ellaria sand accepted the toast to Tommen and despite having been Oberyn's paramour and closer to him than anyone as well as being there for his death, she is actually one of the strongest voices arguing for peace.

"A start?" said Ellaria Sand, incredulous. "Gods forbid. I would it were a finish. Tywin Lannister is dead. So are Robert Baratheon, Amory Lorch, and now Gregor Clegane, all those who had a hand in murdering Elia and her children. Even Joffrey, who was not yet born when Elia died. I saw the boy perish with mine own eyes, clawing at his throat as he tried to draw a breath. Who else is there to kill? Do Myrcella and Tommen need to die so the shades of Rhaenys and Aegon can be at rest? Where does it end?"

A Hidden Hellholt Chapter?
Given the Hellholts relative isolation you might be thinking how this could factor further into the plot.... maybe some news of Ellaria's daughters? Or later on if there is an invading force (as Ellaria and Doran fear is coming)? But I've actually been thinking that before Areo Hotah shows up in the Red Mountains we may get to see a chapter with him and Obara and Balon Swann at the Hellholt with Ellaria and Lord Harmen Uller, it would be rewarding to catch up with these characters and see their clashing perspectives on vengeance and Areo on the trail of Darkstar. Per some recent analysis of GRRM's chapter hints we can also kind of conclude there may be a few Areo chapters in varying locations. Another interesting thing pointing me in that direction is the soon to be released 2025 calendar which will be featuring artwork of the Hellholt... that's a strange inclusion for a castle with few mentions (the most relevant of which being Rhaenys' mysterious death long ago), and a lot of the other locations on the calendar do suspiciously have relevant plots nearing them in Winds (so if we haven't seen them already we may do so soon).
The logistics work out pretty well as Hellholt is practically a necessary stop on the way westward to the Red Mountains by land. Even though Arianne herself knows the desert well....

Beyond Vaith the deep sands waited. They would need help from Sandstone and the Hellholt to make that crossing, but she did not doubt that it would be forthcoming.

...Even she fears to tread the deep sands alone... and for Obara it may be the same despite her experience. You really should have a desert guide to locate water sources and navigate the terrain ("In the deep sands a man must hoard his water."). And one of the last safe stops for water and guides is the Hellholt making it invaluable for travelers crossing the sands. The sandstorms seem especially dangerous:

[...]beyond Vaith, western Dorne is naught but a vast sea of restless dunes where the sun beats down relentlessly, giving rise from time to time to savage sandstorms that can strip the flesh from a man's bones within minutes.

House Yronwood ⛓️

The Yronwoods are Dorne's second strongest house and their seat is located up in the high meadows of the Red Mountains near the Boneway where the air is always crisp and cool after dark, no matter how hot the day had been. Anders Yronwood, the Bloodroyal, is the leader here.
Even though previously we've seen a few signs that the Yronwoods may rebel given their brief consideration for Arianne's letter for help, and the Wyls' refusal of Tommen's toast, the biggest reason for them to strike out on their own might be their uniquely fractious relationship with the Martells (they also have a long rivalry with the Fowlers). In fact, we were told Yronwood was only just recently on the verge of rebellion after Oberyn allegedly poisoned Lord Edgar Yronwood in a duel after he was found abed with Edgar's paramour, and it was only Doran's quick thinking that avoided it.

Blood feud and rebellion would surely have followed Lord Edgar's death, had not her father acted at once. The Red Viper went to Oldtown, thence across to the narrow sea to Lys, though none dared call it exile. And in due time, Quentyn was given to Lord Anders to foster as a sign of trust. That helped to heal the breach between Sunspear and the Yronwoods, but it had opened new ones between Quentyn and the Sand Snakes...

Quentyn Aftermath & The Blackfyres
And the biggest thing that may reopen that wound is, not surprisingly, news of Quentyn's voyage. Anders Yronwood has lost two sons on what could be seen as a pretty foolish attempt to court Daenerys including his son and heir Cletus Yronwood, who was sent along on the voyage and died from a corsair attack off the coast of the Disputed Lands. The other son? Quentyn Martell himself.... despite him being a Martell, he is really more Yronwood at heart. He grew up in Yronwood with Anders, his best friend was Cletus, he became smitten with his eldest daughter Ynys (who is now heir to Yronwood), and then later fell in love with Gwyneth, the youngest daughter of Anders.... All of Quentyn's memories are with the Yronwood really and Arianne even notes he is somewhat a stranger to her and Sunspear. Doran himself is forced to admit that "Anders Yronwood has been more a father to him than I have".
Anders hasn't heard anything yet from Meereen, information moves slowly in Essos (which has no messenger ravens so it needs to be carried by hand) and most of the people who can pass on that message, like Arch and Drink, are still caught up in the Battle of Fire (and hoping that the Tattered Prince will be merciful to them for their previous desertion). Any news that might get back could end up with a distorted and unflattering picture of Daenerys too (and some of that fallout may carryover to Aegon who seeks to ally with her).
But even before it does the troops commanded by the Yronwoods in the Boneway are conveniently close to the events happening in the Stormlands with the Golden Company. And the Yronwoods have been suspiciously consistent partners of the Golden Company and Blackfyres in the past (which often drew in second houses with a lot to gain), which is all the more interesting given the rumors around Aegon ("Lords of Yronwood rode for the black dragon in no less than three of the five Blackfyre Rebellions.") So if Arianne seeks to side with Aegon and JonCon the Yronwoods might be the first to throw in with that cause... especially if its also a way to oppose Mace Tyrell given his hatred of all things Dorne. However, it might also be interesting if she takes after her father's advice to be cautious and tries to hold back her forces, leading to the Yronwoods ignorning her and Doran's commands and striking out on their own anyways. And it will be interesting how these events may combine with the x-factor of news of Quentyn and Cletus arriving at some point (whatever the timing of that might be in relation to the Battle of Steel).

So what do you think of Houses Fowler, Uller, and Yronwood... will we see them act out in Winds or play loyal bannermen to Doran?
~Thank you for Reading!~
TLDR This post explores the ample foreshadowing that Houses Fowler, Uller, and Yronwood may be unreliable allies of Doran when pressed, and their reaction may not follow what we'd expect when Arianne sends out her last raven either calling Dorne's spears to side with the Golden Company or holding off and keeping to the passes (taking after her father's more prudent advice). Could the Fowlers join with Darkstar and raid the Dornish Marches? Will we have a chapter at the Hellholt before Areo's party travels the deep sands where we see Lord Harmen Uller's rebellious nature collide with Ellaria Sand's attempts at peace? And will the Yronwood troops in the Boneway join their historic allies in the Golden Company, or have a divisive reaction to news of Quentyn and Cletus' deaths?

I say all of this as a 23 year old dude, so not an old head
Before Euphoria came out, i was already making posts here and in r / rap, about how i thought this was going to be the last GREAT rap beef in history, or at least modern history.
I deleted the posts because i wasnt getting the feedback i expected, people totally missed my point, im open for discussion but guys thought i said this was going to be the last beef ever and someone even told me “every generation thinks the next one sucks” which is not what i said at all
Think about this alright
We saw the birth, raise and climax of both these dudes careers. We saw them being friends. We saw them distance themselves for a decade then. Throughout that decade they gave us numerous classic songs and albums.
They are polar opposites, representing two sides of hip hop: one is the braggadocious super popular numbers guy, the other one is the mysterious conscious awards guy. One is the canadian superstar that isnt your typical style of rapper but conquered the game. One is the golden child of the West Coast who inherited a legacy and lived up to it.
They were the 2 biggest rappers in the generation that finally saw hip hop become the biggest genre in the world.
I really believe hip hop as a genre hit an all time high between 2017-2020, i dont think it can get more polular than that. Kendrick and Drake were the top guys of that era.
The storyline between them was a perfect set up for this beef. Old collabs together, sneak disses, Control verse, battling for the throne year after year, thats something that came organically.
Which two rappers,younger than kendrick and drake, can have a storyline as interesting as this one, to create the next GREAT rap beef, a beef that transcends the genre itself and becomes a mainstream hot topic.
The two biggest guys of their generation, at the top of their games, clashing.
I dont see lil baby vs 21 savage doing this. I dont see Yachty vs Uzi doing this. Or even Ken Carson vs Yeat cause they are totally different kinds of rappers, i dont see them battling
Guys like JID and Denzel Curry or rappers alike are amazing but not as big as drake or kendrick.
We will probably have to wait for a whole new generation of artists and wait for two of them to have a storyline as intriguing and exciting, so another great rap beef like this can get delivered.

OOC: co-written with NotTooSunny
It was an ordinary day at the New York City Library. People wandered in and out of the building, unaware of the monster that lurked among them.
The only people who seemed to know the danger these mortals were in were Harper and Amon, who entered the building with glowing bronze swords at their hips. The bulky weapons seemed to have escaped the notice of the other library patrons, which was a good thing. The job description had made it clear that they were meant to remain inconspicuous in completing their task.
Harper had traded her usual bright orange camp shirt for a more discrete cropped black t-shirt and pleated pants. She had been insistent on coming up with a persona for them on the train ride from Montauk Station into New York City. They were meant to act as high school students researching for a World History paper on Ancient Greece. Now that they were inside the library, she had stopped her incessant rambling to peruse a riddle book, in what she had insisted was preparation for their job.
As they wandered through the bookshelves, she remained absorbed in the dog-eared children’s book, thumbing through the pages to find a riddle that would be fitting of a sphinx.
“Here’s one, Amon,” she said, narrowly avoiding a collision with another library patron as she read, “What is something that runs but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps?”
The dark-haired son of Apollo glanced over from a shelf of dusty atlases, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly. “That is an easy one,” he replied simply. "River. Try me with something more challenging next time around." He adjusted the collar of his striped button down, which he had layered with a navy blue sweater in preparation for the chill of the air-conditioned interior.
“The real riddle is where we can find this sphinx,” Amon glanced around the spacious reading area, eyeing the dark wooden staircase with its ornate railings. “The boyfriend and girlfriend who tried this last time, they found her by a bookcase.”
“A bookcase,” Harper repeated derisively, closing her book to theatrically scan their surroundings. “That narrows it down.”
Ignoring Harper’s mockery, the son of Apollo paused suddenly, his dark eyes glazing over with concentration. His hearing dulled, the surrounding footsteps and rustling pages fading into the background as if muffled by a thick curtain. Amon searched for the energy signature of the monster he knew lurked among the mortals. It was a subtle shift, like trying to discern a whisper in a crowded room, but he felt a faint, abnormal energy hanging somewhere up above.
“I say we try the second floor,” he said as he snapped out of the tracking trance, offering no other explanation to Harper.
“We could do that, sure,” Harper said, words laced with blatant doubt at his sudden certainty. “I say we try asking the Visitor’s Center. I know she's supposed to be disguised by the Mist, but the librarians have to have noticed something.”
“You can go ahead and do that.” The small smirk from earlier was now spreading across his face. “But you can’t be upset if I find the sphinx and solve her riddle before you even get there.”
Harper rolled her eyes, but she made no attempt to stop Amon from walking towards the staircase. After a moment she set off after him, footsteps even against the wooden steps.
Up on the second floor, Amon moved quietly, his dark eyes scanning the hallway for anything out of the ordinary.
I know you’re up here.
He stopped at every heavy-looking mahogany door, peering through each muted glass insert. He felt the air grow thicker with ominous energy at every step, so he knew the monster must be near.
One of the doors was slightly ajar, a suspiciously open invitation. Or a trap. The dark-haired boy caught sight of a cat-shaped figure on the other side before ducking down and motioning sharply for Harper’s attention. He unsheathed his kopis from his belt, bracing himself for confrontation.
Harper crouched against the wall, hand on the hilt of her sword as she tried to peek through the frosted glass pane. She held her breath, ready to move at Amon’s signal. He held out three fingers and then put them down one by one. When he hit zero, they stood in unison, flinging the door open together.
When Amon and Harper stepped inside, the body of the sphinx lay motionless on the floor.
The rest of the room was in disarray, littered with disheveled chairs and broken bits of chalk. A window on the other side of the room had been forced open, the curtain fluttering in the wind.
“No way,” Harper said. The door clicked shut behind her as she pushed past Amon into the room and kneeled to study the monster’s limp figure.
The sphinx had the large body of a lion and the eerily human face of a middle-aged woman, hair tied back in a severe bun and foundation caked onto her high cheekbones. Fangs jutted out of her red-painted lips, and eagle wings sprouted out of the space between her shoulder blades, folded tight against her back.
“Monsters dissolve into dust when they die,” Amon remarked, keeping his distance as he watched the subtle rise and fall of the monster’s ribs. “She must have been knocked unconscious.”
“Right,” Harper agreed, “The real question is who. And why.”
She hovered a hand over the cat's shoulder, set on rousing her. Before she made contact, the sphinx's eyes snapped open, round irises surrounded by shocking yellow sclera.
"Slain!" she wailed. Harper staggered backwards. Amon’s arms instinctively reached out to catch her, but she didn’t stumble near enough to make contact. "I am slain!"
With feline grace, the sphinx rose to her feet. A white tape outline marked the placement of her previously prone body on the floor. The muscles in her legs rippled as she paced in front of Harper and Amon, massive velvet paws silent against the carpet.
"And you, my dear heroes," she roared, eyes narrowed in an accusatory glare, "were too late to save me!"
The sphinx sniffed, composing herself. She leapt onto a wooden table. The table legs creaked underneath her weight. "Fear not," she tutted, "Fear not. For you can still avenge me. If you are able to determine the murderer and their weapon, then I will obtain justice, and all will be right with the world.”
“Your riddle is a murder mystery,” Harper said, confusion written across her face. Amon raised an eyebrow. The sphinx chuffed, a low rumbling sound reminiscent of laughter.
“You sought that hackneyed question about man? The Sphinx that the storytellers remember is far less adaptive than I am. I am not interested in your ability to regurgitate the information you have read. Nor am I interested in taking advantage of the nonsensical rules of your English language.”
“I am here to satisfy my own curiosity: does modern mankind still possess the ability to engage in deductive reasoning, or do they only seek to make themselves appear intelligent? Do not speak,” the sphinx said, a pointed look at Harper, who had opened her mouth to interject, “You will answer my questions when you play my game.”
“The potential murder weapons are scattered throughout this room,” she continued, leaping off the table. “And the suspects have already provided their testimonies for your review. Rest assured, I have made certain that their statements contain no lies.”
A shimmering, translucent energy began to swirl around Harper and Amon’s feet, beginning to take shape as holograms with a flickering, ephemeral quality.
A projection of Cerberus materialized first, his three massive heads snarling and snapping in unison. A ribbon of text appeared by his paws to translate his growling: "I was guarding the entrance, my duty unbroken."
Next came the Minotaur, his towering form pacing within the labyrinth on Crete. He snorted and pawed at the ground, the holographic maze shifting behind him in the background. The translation text appeared: "Confined within these walls, no escape for me."
Lamia's projection flickered into view, her serpentine lower half coiled around her as she wept in her cave. She glanced mournfully at the holographic images of her lost children: "My grief consumes me, innocent of this crime."
A shimmering Hydra emerged next, its nine heads snapping at invisible foes. Each one moved independently, showcasing its ability to act on its own. The translation for the hissing head at the center read: "Engaged in battle, I could not have killed."
Typhon materialized with a thunderous roar, his colossal form fighting against restraints under Mount Etna. His immense size and power were palpable, even in scaled down holographic form: "Bound by chains of the earth, I could not have roamed free."
Echidna’s hologram appeared last, her form a mix of human and serpent, lounging in a dimly lit cave. She looked directly at the viewers, her expression both defiant and amused. The translation text by her side read: “I dwell in my lair, uninvolved in such petty affairs.”
The sphinx swiped at the last projection as it faded, deeming her handiwork satisfactory. “There is not enough information to deduce the killer using evidence alone. Because I am fair, I will provide you with three hints before your final guess. Be forewarned: if you fail to provide a correct answer, you will both perish. Is this understood?”
Harper spoke. “If we answer correctly, you will leave this library for good.”
“If you answer correctly, I will permanently relocate. It is a preferable option in comparison to another death. Now, do you agree to the terms and conditions?” the sphinx said primly, regarding Harper and Amon with casual disdain. The pair nodded. “Very well.”
The sphinx dropped onto the floor and let her head loll back, pretending to be dead once more.
Hint #1

Suspects	Weapons
Cerberus	The Shirt of Nessus
The Minotaur	Siren Song
Lamia	Harpy Talon
The Hydra	Celestial Bronze Sword
Typhon	A-C Encyclopedia
Echidna	Cerberus Fang

Soon after the Sphinx had laid back down, Harper and Amon began to scour the room. A small pile of prospective murder weapons formed on a nearby table.
“We can easily eliminate the siren song,” Amon rushed to speak over Harper, eyeing the small glass vial of swirling gray matter that they had found nestled behind a row of books on metalworking. “It is a luring mechanism, not a murder weapon.”
“We could rule out Cerberus’ fang too,” he pointed at the enormous yellowing tooth, about the size of the small baseball bat Amon used to have when he played in the little league. “If we take the hologram as ground truth, all of his teeth were intact there.”
Harper used her kopis to prod at the stained tunic that had been hidden in a desk drawer, being careful not to touch it with bare skin. “The Shirt of Nessus is a viable option. It would be easy for any of the suspects to lay it down and wait for the hydra venom to kick in.”
“I am not ready to rule out the bronze sword either,” Amon noted. “Monsters have access to heroes and the weapons they leave behind.”
“Most of these monsters don’t even have opposable thumbs,” Harper argued, running a hand over the sword they had found by a power outlet. ”They don’t have the dexterity to wield a sword.”
“I do not imagine that the technicality would be that granular.”
Harper laughed. “Oh, the number of teeth in the Cerberus hologram tell all, but we’re drawing the line at opposable thumbs.”
“I suppose that that logic would also rule out the harpy talon and the encyclopedia easily as well,” Amon admitted. “Which would be too easy.”
“I’m just that good at logical deduction.” Harper said proudly. “If my assumption is correct, then the poisoned shirt is the only one that makes sense.”
Amon scoffed, folding his arms across his chest as his dark eyes bored into Harper. “It would not necessarily matter what our first guess would be anyway.”
“Can you provide an argument for any other weapon? Or are you intent on purposely making an illogical guess?” she countered cooly.
“Fine,” Amon acquiesced. “Since you are so adamant about the shirt, we can guess the shirt, and be incorrect. It does not matter. What about the suspects themselves?” He clasped his hands behind his back, his steps measured as he started to pace across the plush red carpet of the room.
Harper smiled, smugly accepting her victory. She strode towards a chalkboard at the side of the study room, inscribing the list of weapons and suspects with a fresh piece of white chalk.
“All of them have alibis,“ she began. “I think that-”
“Some make more sense than others,” Amon spoke over Harper, irritated by her minor triumph. “Cerberus, for example, is under the service of Hades. He says he did not leave his post, and he could not have done so without permission or dire consequences on the process of the dead.”
Harper silently seethed as Amon spoke, meeting his rationale with reluctant acceptance before starting again in a louder, exaggerated tone. “I think that the ones with the shakiest alibis are Lamia, the Minotaur, Typhon, and Echidna. No witnesses can confirm their locations. In fact, Lamia provides no location at all.” Harper circled those names. She looked at Amon with a forced smile, allowing him a moment to provide more commentary.
“Lamia? Well,” there was a hint of mockery in the sneer that tugged on the corner of Amon’s lips. “I would imagine her emotions rendered her… Too fragile and unstable to carry out such an act.”
“You’re kidding,” Harper scoffed, searching Amon's face for the slightest hint that he was joking. “Her grief is what moved her to kill children in the first place. I doubt it would suddenly be incapacitating. She’s just appealing to your sense of superiority, and I can’t believe that you’re falling for it.”
"It is not about superiority. It is about logic," Amon retorted, bristling in defense. “You cannot deny that emotions cloud judgment. Maybe the sphinx wants us to leverage our knowledge about her past crimes to reason that she was not thinking clearly in this case either.” Amon had no other evidence that pointed towards Lamia as the top suspect, but he had dug deep enough where he was now ready to stand firm in his reasoning.
“Murder,” Harper countered, eyes narrowed in a venomous stare, “-does not require you to think clearly. Haven’t you heard of a crime of passion? If anyone’s judgment is clouded right now, Amon, it’s yours.”
The son of Apollo squared his shoulders, his expression hardening. "I understand the concept of crimes of passion, thank you.” His dark-eyed stare returned Harper's gaze, unflinching at the intensity. “But our investigation must be rooted in facts, not assumptions based on emotions. And the facts are,” he resumed his pacing once more, “that Lamia cannot be the culprit, as she is the only suspect that openly admits to being innocent of this crime.”
Amon had considered this from the very start, but provoking Harper like this had proved to be far more amusing.
Harper crossed Lamia’s name off of the board. She swallowed down her anger, fighting the urge to continue pressing the issue in favor of returning to their list of suspects. She pointed her piece of chalk at the next names on the list. “The Minotaur and Typhon are trapped, or so they say. How could they have done anything?”
“Their alibis revolve around their inability to escape,” Amon pointed out. “Not that they were unable to commit murder. The Labyrinth, in fact,” he raised a dramatic finger, “has several moving passages that could have permitted the Minotaur to move and commit murder without an official escape.”
Harper considered his words for a long moment, trying to find the flaw in his reasoning. Seeing none, she placed a dot next to the Minotaurs's name.
“Typhon escaped his prison in the Second Titanomachy. He could do it again,” Harper said thoughtfully. “Though I don’t understand why he would do something like this. He’s the Sphinx's father. The same goes for Echidna.”
Amon, who had been nodding at Harper’s assessment of Typhon’s abilities, pursed his lips at her observation of parentage. “I do not see how this could possibly be relevant to the logical puzzle at hand.”
Harper spoke slowly, as if the answer was obvious. “What motive would they have to kill their own daughter?”
“Harper,” Amon began curtly, folding his arms across his chest. “Half of the Greek myths revolve around immortals killing their own children.”
“Then we should pick one of them,” Harper declared, pivoting her argument instead of admitting her logical blunder. “They would have more of a motive than the rest of the suspects, if anything.”
“The Minotaur can escape much more easily than Typhon can. Motive aside, it is the most logical guess,” Amon concluded, adjusting his collar haughtily. “I will remind you that we picked your choice of weapon. It is only fair that I select the monster.”
“Fine.” Harper agreed, her gaze stormy as she turned back towards the sphinx. “We accuse the Minotaur of killing the sphinx with the Shirt of Nessus.”
The sphinx opened one eye. “None of these are correct!”
Hint #2

Suspects	Weapons
Cerberus	The Shirt of Nessus
The Minotaur	Siren Song
Lamia	Harpy Talon
The Hydra	Celestial Bronze Sword
Typhon	A-C Encyclopedia
Echidna	Cerberus Fang

“Two more hints left.” Harper announced, crossing off the Minotaur’s name and the poisoned shirt on the chalkboard with a flourish. It was not ideal that her initial logical deductions had been incorrect, but at least Amon had also been wrong. She couldn't resist a snide comment. “I knew it wasn’t the Minotaur.”
“So you still think it’s Typhon.” Choosing to ignore Harper’s taunting, Amon rested his hand on a nearby desk, studying the lists on the chalkboard before him. He had taken the Minotaur error as a personal failure, and was determined to get the suspect right this time.
“I do.”
“Why not Echidna?”
“She’s too emotional to kill someone, obviously.” Harper said sarcastically. “Her frail female arms are probably too weak to even hold a weapon.”
The dark-haired boy rolled his eyes. “Objectively,” he began, ignoring her quip once more, “Typhon could not have lied about his inability to roam free. A natural disaster freed him from Mount Etna during the Second Titanomachy, but he could not recreate those conditions on his own.” Though his tone remained aloof, it was clear that Amon was relishing in the opportunity to flaunt his mythology knowledge.
“Maybe,” Harper argued, stubborn. “But Echidna’s statement was less ambiguous than his. Typhon just explains his predicament; he doesn't provide a real claim. Echidna explicitly says she was not involved.” She thought for a few more moments, rolling the piece of chalk in her hands. “Echidna could have released him? They would be accomplices.”
Amon shook his head. “There was a single murderer. Not two. The sphinx would not lie about the premise of the game.”
Harper stared at him coldly, but could offer no rebuttal. She turned her attention to the board. “Typhon is a giant. He’s capable of using the sword.”
“But the specificity of Echidna’s denial is still incredibly suspicious. ‘Petty affairs’ is a strange way to phrase a murder. But,” Amon added reluctantly, “I understand the logic behind Typhon. I suppose it is your turn to choose the monster, and we will still have another guess to work with.”
“As for the weapon,” he continued, “I still think the sword is the most viable option, given that the siren song and the fang can be ruled out and the shirt with the venom was, well,” Amon pursed his lips, fighting the urge to smile, “incorrect.”
Before Harper could interject, Amon turned towards the sphinx at the front of the room. “We accuse Typhon of killing the sphinx with a Celestial Bronze Sword.”
“One of these is correct!”
Hint #3

Suspects	Weapons
Cerberus	The Shirt of Nessus
The Minotaur	Siren Song
Lamia	Harpy Talon
The Hydra	Celestial Bronze Sword
Typhon	A-C Encyclopedia
Echidna	Cerberus Fang

“Aha!” Amon raised a triumphant finger before pointing it at Harper. “I told you,” he gloated, “Typhon had no escape route.”
“You were right,” Harper admitted, staring down at the carpet so that she would not have to look at his smug expression.
“Let’s get this over with,” she muttered, and turned back towards the lioness with crossed arms. “We accuse Echidna of killing the sphinx with a Celestial Bronze Sword”
“One of these is correct,” the sphinx announced. Her mouth twisted in amusement, fangs bared in a menacing smile.
READ PART 2 HERE

my friend is the funniest, prettiest, smartest, and most unique person i know. who wouldn’t fall in love? it’s really hard for me to cope with these feelings. they snuck up on me and before i knew it, every part of me aches to be with her. i think she felt the same way at some point, which is the worst part.
due to a bad living situation, she was forced to move into my apartment and we had to share a bed and room. we got way closer, if possible, during that time. that’s when i noticed certain things they would do and say that made me think they had feelings too. she liked to hold hands a lot, she held me a few times in her lap, she would say suggestive things, and in general close with me in a way they weren’t before. i think they felt jealousy too bc of the way they would respond in certain situations.
i never told her my feelings bc i didn’t want to make her uncomfortable in case i was imagining things. i didn’t want to admit my feelings, hear that she didn’t feel the same, and put her in a situation where she still had to share a bed with me. it felt wrong to me and i didn’t want to make her uncomfortable. i planned on telling her when we moved to a bigger place with our own rooms but then she got a boyfriend right as we moved. the timing was awful but i accepted it and swallowed my feelings.
sometimes, i think i’m over it, but then most days she’s all i can thing about. i literally burn for her. i’ve never felt this way about a person. sometimes i want to tell her, just so i can be rejected and finally move on. but selfishly , i want her to return my feelings. i want her to want to leave her boyfriend for me. but i would of course never put her in a situation like that. i care about her feelings first always so everything i do is based on that. i’ve tried to talk to other people but no one compares. they are the best person i’ve ever met and i’m afraid i’ll never get my shot to treat her the way she deserves.
i want to spoil her, to hug her, to make her laugh everyday, to take away her stress and problems however i can. i want to do everything for them. i now regret not telling her , but only because now i don’t think i will ever get another chance like that. they don’t even realize how perfect they are, and she’s never dated someone who fully appreciates the kind of person they’ve been blessed with.

Disclaimer-this is going to be a lengthy post so those of you who want to comment please make sure you read the entire thing and not just recklessly skim the post
To start off I am 18 years old as of writing this thread and five years ago both I and my brother were removed from my mother's care and placed into foster care. The reason being I ran away with my brother who was two years old at the time was because of the severe abuse and almost torturous conditions me and him were living under. Constantly beating, biting, punching and kicking me.
I remember on a few occasions were she beat into my skull with a metal spoon and I started bleeding and too matters worse this was before we were heading off the barbers so my hair was bloody and oily and it stung every time the razor would come into contact with the wound.
Things got so bad that I remember many times as a child being 8-9 years old and asking Allah why was I given such a horrific mother? What did honestly do to deserve this? even worse I asked Allah to end my life. My mother has been assaulting me since I was 4 years old. My younger brother was born when I was 10 and I remember holding him for the first time I've always been an only child so I was pretty happy to have a younger brother however who knew life would become increasingly harder after this
A year after my brother's birth she began
Whenever she was feeding him and he vomited she snapped and beat him like there was no tomorrow and there I was forced to watch the entire thing incapable of doing anything. I stood there and watched my baby brother being brutally beaten into submission and I couldn't do anything about it. This continue for about a year and a half and she advanced to hitting my brother's head and choking my brother in order to prevent him from throwing up but that just made it worse but then again it also lit a spark in me and the possibility of maybe running away.....
I thought about it over and over and was a very dangerous task to do but I couldn't,
I couldn't watch my brother being completely dominated like that. I grew numb to the beating I got; I didn't mind it anymore but not my brother, watching him hopeless like that was worse than anything my mother ever did to me. I planned everything out and ran off with my brother unfortunately we were caught by my aunt and you can guess what happened but I ran away again with my brother until we were caught by the police and I explained everything which then my brother and I were taken away from my mother's guardianship and placed in foster care and my mother was investigated.
I remember seeing my mom a year later after school which was a very awkward reunion to say the least but she started to break down and apologise but to be honest I couldn't care any less and this all happened when I was 14 and I haven't seen my mother since
I very recently left foster care which was a bag of trauma itself but I moved in with my father both he and my mother divorced when I was 7 and know he has his own wife and kids (my brother and I have two different father btw). Very recently my father has been pushing me to go and see my mother and when I ask him why he's only argument is 'because she's your mother' I argued with his poor reasons and how he never understood anything since he was never really there and his opinions are invalid. My father constantly brings it up and it's starting to become unbearable.
I asked my father one day 'Is a mother allowed to curse at a child' and he responds saying yes it's her child and this told me everything I needed to know about what he think about this situation.
His logic is that a mother can do anything inhumane to a child and make the child's life a living hell and the child is just supposed to sit there and take it because she's his mother. He even added that I should go to my mother apologise to her and that I am in big trouble with Allah at the moment; if my mother dies right now angry at me the my akhirah will be doomed?
What a ignorant and brainless way of thinking- she does a poor job at raising me and because I decided to take me and my brother out of her care in fear that she would one day inflict enough damage on my brother that'd she kill him it's my fault?
This is the same issue I had with my relatives everybody sees me as the villain and her as this innocent saint who's done no wrong. My mother's sister who was my aunt forced me to damage one of my sexual organs as a punishment and despite all of this my father still believes I am in the wrong and I shouldn't have ran away. I'm really starting to hate him he chose the perfect wife to raise his little kids and they live their best lives yet he continues to remind me of my unforgivable action of abandoning my mother who he chose to have a child with
I'm just so sick and tired of people weaponizing Islam and trying to make me feel bad about what I've done saying 'Your kids will do the same to you when you become a parent'
Even when I visit Jummah and listen to the Khutbah they always regurgitate this constant notion of respecting your parents and by all means I have no issue with and I understand that parents and seniors in generals are well respected in Islam no problems at all but they always neglect the privileges children have over their parents and all this does is create parents who are practically egomaniacs and use Islam to justify their despicable parenting
In all honesty I don't ever want to see her face again and even hearing her name is enough to irritate me, I'm constantly told to forgive her for the sake of Allah and even that I don't want to do
My brother was diagnosed with autism when I was 15 I was in a very dark place when heard the news my experience in foster care was bad enough and they separated me and my brother and now he's got autism it did nothing but completely amplify my hatred for her my brother won't be able to do certain things others can do and I know kids can be mean so he'll more than likely have a pretty difficult time in school. Maybe she hit his delicate head to hard as a child rewiring his development? or maybe I'm just coping
I understand this life is a test and we're told to pass through as though we're travellers
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