I am F(22) and my ex girlfriend is 24. We dated for five months and she was my first wlw relationship. We cared about each other very much but she was moving away, and we already had issues with our communication styles (I work a demanding job and don’t love texting, she wanted to be in contact 24/7 and told me that) and love languages so we mutually broke up. We were on good terms, and would text and check up on each other. Well, that brings us to yesterday she starts texting me about a girl I knew from my high school we will call her E. I had spoken before about how E was one of the first girls I had a crush on,(when we were talking about our past gay experiences) showed her pictures and we had joked they could be doppelgängers because of how similar they looked. She calls me on the phone and says “If I have a really funny story but it involves me making out with a girl do you want to hear it?” I was immediately upset as we had been broken up about 6 days at this point. I said not really but she might as well tell me since she already kind of did. She proceeds to tell me she saw E at a bar, got her number and they made out all night. I hung up and she texted me over and over asking what was wrong, So I told her I thought it was fucked up to try and rub that in my face, and she knew I had liked E. She denied EVER knowing any of that, claimed she just wanted to be friends, she thought I’d find it hilarious etc. We basically went back and forth over text for awhile until I angrily asked her to please just give me space and I’m upset with her for being so petty. She sends me countless voice messages of her crying and voicemails while i’m at work and stuff. She said she can’t believe I would ever think she’s being petty or malicious after all we’ve been though, that she’s upset I can’t see her side, she doesn’t want to lose me as a friend etc. At this point I was sick of arguing and basically called a truce, I was like look I’m hurt I just don’t really believe your 100% innocence, but I don’t want to dwell, I said I still care about her and we can be friends but I needed some time. She kept bringing it up and drunk texting me and everytime I would try to explain why I was “still” mad she would just act like I was attacking her. I never said anything bad about her, her character, our past relationship or anything, only about the E situation, and yes I was angry, and felt betrayed but at the end of the day we were already broken up and long distance so I told her I don’t want to remain friends with someone I can’t trust, she says she doesn’t want to be friends with someone who “beats them over the head with their mistakes” even though I had tried to end this conversation multiple times. Well here’s the kicker, she asked if we could talk on the phone because she’s in a bad mental place. I said of course and told her when I would be off work that day. She texts me later and says she doesn’t want to speak to me actually and wants space. I say sure just let me know if you need anything, She proceeds to send me a 6 minute long voice message of her crying saying how the past three days she hasn’t ate or slept and how I caused her to have multiple panic attacks and the only person that ever made her feel as bad as I did is her emotionally abusive dad. She compares me to him multiple times and basically blames me for causing her so much stress. I am very hurt over this comparison, and as someone who grew up in a very chaotic broken home myself I feel it is very unfair to try to flip all that onto me. I would never compare her to my parents or try to pin any of my childhood issues on her. But now I’m just spiraling and really need some outside opinions. AITA for making her feel like her dad?
NOTE: I immediately put my feelings aside after the voice message and called her and told her that first and foremost I never want to make her feel like her father did, and regardless of whatever I intended that I am truly so sorry, and that’s not okay for me to make her feel like that, and that comparison shocked me and hurt to hear. *She didn’t really care to discuss anything I was upset about, but gladly accepted my apology.

The first time I saw this girl was probably around 2 weeks into the beginning of the school year. It was the end of the day and the bus that takes the kids from my early college to the high school was there parked at the front of the main gate. I looked at the bus and noticed a girl already there sitting even though. As I was looking at her I couldn’t note but see how pretty she was. I stared at her for a little bit then looked away knowing in my head i’ll probably never talk to her or she’s probably got a bf. The same thing would happen again a few times see her stare a bit look away. Eventually the bus would stop coming on time, and one day I saw her up close by the side of the gate and stared. She was talking to one of her friends and in my head i just said “damn she’s bad as fuck.” Anyways fast forward near the end of March I guess she’d noticed that I was always looking at her and the quick glances i’d take at her cause here’s what she did next. It was a friday afternoon and school was finally over. I was walking to the door and as I opened it I saw her standing right where I usually stand where I wait for my mom to pick me up at the end of the day, it’s very close to where she stands at the gate. Anyways I see her standing there and she was staring at the door with a smile as if she was waiting for someone. She sees me and stares and her smile gets even bigger. I didn’t think much about it and just pulled my phone out and doomscroll my chronically online tt posts and look up after a bit. I look around she’s like 2 feet away from me standing there smiling at me still I look at her for a bit seeing her just stare at me while she smiles at me I then just look down back on my phone and keep scrolling not thinking why she’s just there. I look up again and I see her still looking at me. Look up for a third time she’s still standing and staring with her pretty smile. Finally the bus comes and I look up again she’d prob been standing there for like 5-10 mins staring at me and this time she has the shocked sad face of disappointment. When the bus left I thought why she was just staring at me. It then hit and i realized how much of a dumbass I was and realized that she wanted me to talk to her and i’m just like holy shit I’m an idiot. Anyways 2 weeks later my mom picks me up and takes me back to her office and i’m staring at her computer which had the schools district website page. As i’m there staring at the computer screen seeing what events where happening or had happened I see a photo of a group of girls and see a familiar face, it was the girl that tried getting me to talk to her. In my head i’m like damn I sold. The next week and a half I purposely tried to look at her at her hoping maybe she’d notice that I’d be looking at her again, she did. Her second attempt at her trying to get me talking to her, she had put herself close to me again not as close but still close and was staring at me again. I noticed her staring and instantly pussied out. “Holy fuck she’s actually looking at me.” I pretended she wasn’t there and looked at the other direction and had sold again. The third time I was scrolling on my phone again and she was right there infront of me again I didn’t realize till I looked up seeing if my mom was there to pick me up, and boom she was right infront of me again staring. See her staring again I got nervous and looked down on my phone. Looked up again to see if she was staring and yup what do you know she still was. So that was that for a while until recently a few weeks ago I put myself near a bench that’s right infront of the gate where she stands. I wasn’t looking at her cuz I was faced slightly away from her. She was staring at me but I just pretended I didn’t see her. One of my hbs came up to me and I broke that blank robot face I usually have, in the corner of my eye i’m like 80% sure she smiled once she saw me smile and talk to my hb. The week after that on monday I was looking around for her and see her at the side of my eye. She was with one of her friends and they where looking at my direction I don’t know if they where talking about me but they where definitely staring. Then the same week on wednesday as the bus came I see her leaving, I was staring at her and she looked in my direction. She saw me staring at her and stared at me too then got on the bus. I forgot to mention that she doesn’t go to my school she goes to the high school and comes to my campus for cosmetology. She used to be here everyday but since it’s the end of the year I guess she doesn’t need to be here everyday and only comes Mondays and Wednesdays. Yesterday Wednesday , I told myself I was gonna get the balls to finally go up and talk to her. I’d gotten out 15 mins early from class cause the teacher i have last period M and W’s takes forever to dismiss us. Anyways I walked over to the door that we walk out and the security guard stood there waiting for the bell ring to open the door. As I was waiting I see one of her friends she’s always with smiling at someone, unknown to me at the moment it was the girl who I was gonna go up too was standing where I stand at the end of the day again this time exactly where I stand, and facing the direction where the door was. Her friend noticed I was standing at the door and stared at me. The bell rings I walk out, I see her, and IMMEDIATELY walk past her and sit at the bench that’s right next to where i stand. She stands there for another 20 seconds. Her friend was sitting across from where I was sitting and she went to sit with her. My back was faced to them and I was just thinking fuck what do I do, as I was about to look back they got up and walked to the parking lot for students. My hb who I told this situation came up to me and said “go talk to that girl u like.” I told him she’s right there walking, and as I did they turned around. They then came back and I was standing where she stands by the end of the day facing the gate, I look back and take a quick glance at her and i’m pretty sure she was me do this. Anyways by this time the bus was here and everyone piled up at the gate and there she was at the crowd. I was like 4 feet away from her and her friend turned around and saw me staring at her then they went back to their conversation. She got on the bus. Then My hb came up to me and said go on the bus and follow her. See id probably would have done that if I didn’t have to go to Mexico right after school for my stupid braces. And then the bus left. Yea that’s pretty much it, I don’t know if i’ll see her again today, tomorrow or even next week, grades are due this friday for everyone and I don’t see why’d they’d keep bussing kids to a campus they don’t need to go to anymore but maybe i’m wrong. If I see her again should I just go up and say hi to her even if she’s with one her friends? It’s probably more than likely over and that’s probably why she put herself right where I stand to maybe see what would happen. I fucking sold so hard guys i’ll probably never see her again after yesterday. Alice if you come across this post on social media sorry.

I'm a 21 year old male and I've been chronically, severely depressed since I was 13, felt hopeless about the future for about just as long, have diagnosed ADHD and executive dysfunction, have had a SEVERE edging addiction to porn in which I edge for 8-10 hours straight every other day or two since I was 17 years old, literally CANNOT get dopamine from ANYTHING in life besides watching porn and edging (no exagerrations), am a NEET, have no energy ever, have absolutely no sex drive in the slightest despite the fact that I'm 21 and should be the most energetic and horny that I'll be in my ENTIRE LIFE, have absolutely no friends and haven't ever really had any in my entire life, have no family members except for my parents (really just my Mom, I only see my Dad 3-4 times a year for 2 days per visit), am significantly underweight (I'm 5'11 and 137 LBS), have extremely bad flat feet, never "feel like a man," live as sedentary of a lifestyle as humanly possible, have the worst possible sleep schedule (I go to bed at 9 AM and wake up at 4 PM because why the fuck not), significant lack general life skills, am severely lonely, have no social life, no job, dropped out of college, have only $0 in my savings account and $0 in my checking account, have no drivers license (or even a learner's permit), have never even hugged a girl before, let alone been on a date, kissed, or had sex with one, and have zero good life memories, not even in grade school as the school I went to was awful in so many ways.
Where do I even start man? Shit's crazy. I didn't even know it was possible for somebody to have this many significant problems at once. I will never kill myself because of my fear of death, but life is just miserable and awful with no end in sight, ever.
Just, wow. Any advice on how to start fixing my life? Is it even possible for me to fix it?

There's a lot of things going on in my life right now and it's not very good things. Don't feel like explaining the other things but anyways recently I got into this dating app. I set my location for 100 miles since thats how far I'm willing to drive. I find this girl and she puts in her Twitter. I like butterfly knives, so when I see her post a video of herself playing with a butterfly knife in cosplay, I knew I had to talk to her. She's intelligent, talented, ambitious, and me and her have some common interests. I really wanted to get to know this woman even better so I ask her out.
You're probably expecting me to say that she said no right? Haha, nope. She said yes. Well gee...then why are you saying that you're gonna die alone? Because after I asked her out, she told me she lived all the way in the east coast. I live in the west coast. Unbelievable. The only woman in my pathetic life who actually likes me for who I am and she lives all the way in the other side of fhe country. What's funny too is that she could've stopped talking to me a while ago because I made a pretty awkward first impression but she didn't care. That has NEVER fucking happened. And no she doesn't want a long distance relationship and quite frankly I don't blame her. After this I literally spent the whole day yesterday sleeping and now I feel like I'm going to rot alone

I created a new account to post this because I am too embarrassed to use my regular one.
My now ex-boyfriend and I met on Facebook dating in September of 2022. We hit it off like I’ve never done with anyone else. I thought the age difference would be an issue but turns out it’s just a number. We never ever argued. We got along great. We always had a great time together. So many laughs. So much banter. So many jokes. I thought I’d found the one.
I have a history of being abused; physically, mentally, and emotionally. So needless to say being with someone who was so nice and caring to me was foreign territory. Deep down I thought I didn’t deserve it but as time went on I got used to it. I never let my history get in the way of our relationship.
I have always been supportive of him and his dreams, I never judged. I never talked down. I never nagged. I treated him like I wanted to be treated.
Fast forward to this past January: I found out I was pregnant. I was shocked because I didn’t think I could get pregnant again. Plus I follow my cycle like a hawk. I waited a couple of days to tell him because I was a pile of nerves.
He didn’t believe me at first. Asked me to see the test then asked if termination was an option. I said absolutely not. He proceeded to tell me he wasn’t ready to be a dad (even though he is very well-off). I said OK. I will handle this on my own.
To my surprise he walked in from work a couple of days later and the first words out of his mouth were “we are done”. I was shocked. Hurt. I didn’t even know how to react. I nearly passed out. He also said “I want you to be the one but you aren’t”. And a bunch of other things I can’t remember right now.
Four days later I ended up in the ER and I miscarried. He was there with me. I didn’t have the strength to drive in the middle of a blizzard. I have never cried so much in my life. I feel like I died inside. He cried with me, held my hand.
We ended up talking and he said he wanted to give us another shot. We “cleared the air” as he put it. I thought we were doing fine. We ended up going to couple’s therapy and I thought we were on the same page.
However, this gut feeling just wouldn’t go away. I thought maybe I was stressed over the loss, over work, over whatever and I was just reading into things that were no big deal to begin with.
No matter how many excuses I made for my feelings, it just wouldn’t go away. It led to many panic attacks, thoughts of ending my life, (yes it was that bad), feeling guilty over the loss of my baby. I was a mess.
So this Sunday I did something I never thought I’d do: go through his phone. I was not shocked at what I found. He had been sxting this woman whom he went on a date with before we met. Of course he used Snapchat. I loathe that app. I knew about her and it never sat right with me. Up until that point he never gave me a reason not to believe him.
To make a long story short: today I broke up with him. I told him I knew he was lying. He blamed the girl for sending him pictures without him asking. I said “that’s funny because your last message to her was “holy fuck”. Doesn’t sound like someone who is upset to be getting nudes.
In a way he tried to blame me and of course I called him out on his bullshit and said “nah, this is all on you”. There is no excuse for cheating in my eyes. None. Zero. And I refuse to take the blame. None of this is my fault.
He said he didn’t want to hurt me, that we weren’t meant to be, all kinds of bullshit.
My heart is in a million pieces. He was my best friend. He knows my deepest secrets, he is the only person in my life who knows about my past sucdal thoughts (I felt comfortable telling him because he struggled with the same thing as a teen). I felt so loved when I was with him. He was so affectionate all the time. It is something I had never experienced before.
Please please tell me it will be okay. Please give me any advice you can to help me move on from this without losing my sanity?
Tl;dr I need help dealing with the loss my partner and best friend. I never thought this day would come.

My husband’s mom is a generally unproblematic person, we’ve never really had conflict. She was a terrible alcoholic for the first few years of me and husband’s relationship so I just kept my distance. She’s sober now but there is a lot of broken trust because of things that happened while she was drinking and even after, she continued to show questionable judgement so we just didn’t spend a lot of time with her but it was never hostile. She has never had any sense of boundaries but it was more in a roll my eyes and ignore her kind of way, until baby was born.
My son is her first biological grandkid (husband’s sister had babies but they are MILs step-grandchildren.) I had an emergency C section, which was traumatic for me, and baby was born with some unexpected health issues. The stress of the situation made my milk super slow to come in and I was barely producing anything when it did come. I would let LO clusterfeed for hours and hours to get my supply up and he would cry whenever he was not in my arms/ on the boob. In addition to all of this I had postpartum insomnia, anxiety and depression and really struggled bonding with my baby. All that to say, I was going through hell the first few weeks of my baby’s life and it was genuinely the worst time of my life.
I decided not to have visitors in the hospital and for the first few days home besides for my own mom who was there to take care of me. When I did allow visitors (literally only 4dpp) my MIL was really sick so I had her wear a mask and did not let her hold baby. She then started asking to visit daily. We said no a lot but she was still coming over at a frequency of every few days, so multiple times a week. When she did come over she did nothing helpful, just wanted to sit on our couch and hold baby for HOURS. She’d ask us to make her coffee, to sample food from our fridge, etc. Incredibly inconsiderate and tone-deaf.
When LO was 2 weeks old FIL called my husband to talk to him on his mom’s behalf. Apparently she had been sobbing everyday that we said no to visitors and was asking FIL to appeal to my husband to let her see him more. Keeping in mind he was only TWO weeks old and she had seen him 6+ times. She said she had imagined that she would be a lot more involved in taking care of him and her feelings were hurt that I was “keeping her away” and she wanted to know what she had done wrong. When I tell you my jaw literally hit the floor when my husband told me this.
He called her directly and said I’m sorry that your feelings are hurt but we have so much on our plate right now and we do not need anyone piling on. She just doubled down and was crying and begging him to be able to come see baby “even just for a few minutes a day.” Husband said we’re not going to agree to that and then ended the call.
After that, she would start just coming to our house unannounced without asking so we would not have the chance to say no. Husband walks the dogs with FIL every day (FIL never entered our house, he just met husband outside) and MIL started coming when FIL came to walk and just literally came in my house without knocking. She walked in when I was breastfeeding or in my bra multiple times and she would always purposefully enter really loudly to wake up the baby if he was napping. My husband once again had to say no unannounced visitors and no drop in visits.
Husband is now back at work so it’s just me and baby during the day. Since he has been back she has texted me almost daily, maybe every other day, asking to come over. It’ll be like “hey I’m driving by your house in a few minutes, can I stop and see the baby?” and I always feel SO guilty saying no but like WHAT THE FUCK. It makes me feel like a hostage in my own house and that I have to keep my blinds closed and doors locked and pretend I’m not home. I see her drive by my house multiple times a day.
I genuinely think that she thought she was going to be like a second mom to LO. I have no idea how she got that impression, because she was never involved in our lives in the 8 years I’ve been with her husband. I personally think even ONE visit a week is excessive but I was willing to compromise by letting husband make the call to schedule those visits or not during his parenting time while I’m “off duty.” Her texting me multiple times a week asking to come over is driving me fucking insane. I only have 2 weeks left of my maternity leave and I don’t want to spend it fucking dodging my mother in law constantly!

I initially got into the show and later became a green stan for Alicent because I genuinely liked her character and felt for her, but as I’m seeing more of season 2 along with leaks etc I’m feeling down about where Alicent’s character is likely going.
Obviously, the season hasn’t aired yet so maybe I’m just being dramatic and I really want to be wrong but god her character is going to suck if they continue to make her this mopping loser whimpering for Rhaenyra. I understand her wanting peace and reprimanding Aemond for being violent because it’s in episode 1 and it’s established she wanted peace from the beginning, but if she continues to play more value in Rhaenyra over her own children it’s not going to translate well on screen.
Especially after blood and cheese. If she continues down this path of perpetual Rhaenyra apologism and ass-kissing, I’m fully done with the character. Your daughter had to watch her son get murdered and you still choose Rhaenyra over her? Ridiculous.
I know a lot of people will counter by saying Alicent is probably a lesbian and she did have a close bond with Rhaenyra in the beginning, but I just find myself more pissed off by that explanation than anything. I’m a bisexual woman who experienced similar traumas to Alicent so I understand some of her reactions (hence why I started liking her in the first place), so this whole “it’s because she’s gay” excuse doesn’t work, sorry. I don’t care how much I like anyone, I’m not going to continue to defend them when I have no reason to or when it could endanger my loved ones.
Ok we get it, she likes girls and felt attached to Rhaenyra because of a 20+ year situationship. Let’s wrap it up now. You can still make Rhaenyra and Alicent the center by allowing their relationship to naturally deteriorate, you don’t have to sacrifice their devotion to their causes or their character traits to make theme remain. Hell, I’d rather watch her fuck Johanna Westerling, a whore, literally anyone else if they want to shoehorn her being a lesbian that badly.
It’s not an act of force or love. It would just be plain betrayal, selfishness, and stupidity. She forced her kids into this. She raised them, specifically her sons, to be warriors and somehow resents them for becoming the violent and bloodthirsty men she wanted them to become. Regardless if she likes it or not, does she not have an ounce of sense or loyalty?
I’m just not buying it. Aegon never wanted to be king and was forced to by Alicent who constantly told him he would die if he didn’t. Aemond just wanted her love and would do almost anything for her approval. Helaena was a child bride at the behest of her own mother and gave birth to children early, proceeding to lose those children for the sake of a fraction Alicent doesn’t seem to care much about because “RhAeNyRA”. Daeron spent most of his life away from his family to secure the Reach and likely does not have a bond with them in preparation for this war. But they want me to believe Alicent is the biggest victim and I should care because she and Rhaenyra are the center?
Give me a fucking break.

im sorry for the long post. i had to get it out.
I had never had a panic attack in my life. I'm 34. I woke up on Mother's Day and my whole right side felt strange. Tingling, numb. I felt this sense of dread. I don't usually go to the ER for anything, but I felt like I had to. My partner drove me. As we drove the 30 or so minutes to the ER, the symptoms got worse. The tingling, but now a tightening in my chest and a pain when I breathed in too much. I began hyperventilating and I was 100 percent sure I was having a stroke. I'm telling my poor partner I'm dying. It's happening rn and I'm so sorry. I'm telling them I love them. By this point, my wholw body is vibrating, like I was turned to the static channel. And then my hands cramped up and my feet too. My mouth drooped and my speech began slurring. I was dry heaving. it was the most intense and terrifying experience of my life.
We get to the hospital and he runs inside and tells them he thinks I'm having a stroke. Everyone inside looks bored....or not concerned. I get back pretty quickly and the nurses rip my shirt off and start sticking shit on me. One of the nurses told me I was panicking and I needed to breathe. I wasn't having a stroke, it was a panic attack. After some time my hands uncramped. The doctor tells me it's a panic attack but they were still going to do tests.
everything came back normal. my blood pressure was 180/110. They gave me BP meds and sent me home with literature on blood pressure.
I worked the next day against doctors orders. My Jon informed me it would be okay as my job isn't "strenuous" (I work as a behavioral specialist in a group home for girls). Everything was fine with my shift. I knew I had to eventually follow up with a primary but my insurance had not kicked in at work yet. I was just waiting it out.
Turns out, I was not fine. The next day I had off and I relaxed and bed rotted as much as I could. I hadn't slept much since Sunday. I was so scared of it happening again. Wednesday was a treatment meeting with all the staff. As I'm sitting there, that fucking tingling started. I had done some reading in case this happened. I said my ABCs, I sang the lyrics to, "I saw the signs" in my head, tried to engage with people, but by this point I looked absolutely insane, I'm sure. my head was covered in sweat. I managed to get up and ask my boss to step outside with me. she escorted me to her office and I just let it all out. I'm crying and shaking and trying to explain what's happening. she's talking to me and asking questions but I can barely keep up.
I'm told I need to go to the walk in clinic and get anxiety meds immediately (by my boss). she told me to call. I call and they tell me I can't do a walk in, I need mental health help. they transfer me to another person. that person is very confused as to why I was given blood pressure meds for a panic attack. she tells me I'm having an emergency event and need to go to the er and I needed to call an ambulance. I tell her I can't afford that. My mom was on her way. I was not alone. All this while I'm crying shaking and feeling very out of control. it was definitely nowhere near the first, though. That was insane.
I get to the ER and this time, they get a health history, they give me something for anxiety, they give me resources for trauma, they are much more understanding and helpful than the first time. I'm really very grateful for then.
But now I'm on medical leave until I "sort this out" as my boss says. I have an appointment on the 30th for a primary follow up followed by a meeting with a therapist. I'm very confused. Why? Why out of nowhere? I do not want to talk about my feelings and trauma. I don't remember much of the details anymore. I just want to be okay. I'm scared I'm still going to die. I feel like a loser for having a panic attack in the middle of a fucking meeting. I'm embarrassed. I'm just sitting at home with nothing to do until the 30th.
How are you guys doing?

Just adopted our new girl at a rescue shelter here in Mexico. Thought on type of dog?

hi this is my first time writing something on too reddit and i just want an outside opinion on this. so me (14 F) invited my “friend” let’s call her alya (14 F) too my younger sister bella’s confirmation a few weeks ago. If your unsure what that is it’s basically a catholic thing where you dress up really nicely that consists of a prayer to the Holy Spirit, the laying on of hands while the prayer is said and the anointing of the candidate with oil of Chrism in the church, usually after you go for food and have a party.
Where i live you go to the church make your confirmation then go for food and go to this place we call “the dogs” i’m not so sure of the real name so forgive me. it’s where you watch racing dogs do races and you bet on them also get food there etc.
Now abit of backstory on me and alya, we went to primary school together but we didn’t really become friends until 5th class (10/11yrs). we we’re extremely close from 5th class too the start of second year (13yrs) she tends to have abit of a victim complex, she thinks she’s never wrong and i have seen her genuinely switch up the story in situations and convince herself that’s what’s happened to make her in the right which is why i tend not to start trouble with her.
at the start of summer 2023 my friend group made a new “friendgroup” group chat and didn’t add alya because she was in a fight with one of the girls in the friend group and i assume didn’t add me i was alyas closest friend ?? i don’t know but after that the only friends i was left with were alya and kara (me alya and kara were a trio btw.) i was friends with kara since january 2023 and alya started befriending her in may 2023 and they became really close. so me and kara’s only friends were eachother and alya and we live about 5 minutes from eachother, whilst alya lives about an hour away (we met through school) so alya had friends out where she lived that she could go out with in the summer me and kara didn’t but we couldn’t go out with eachother without alya or else we’d be “leaving her out”. so me and kara did basically nothing all summer and alya didn’t come down often only once or twice so we could all only text eachother. a few months later when it hit october me and kara had been trying to organise hang outs for us but alya always had something else to do , she either had plans with her other friends or her boyfriend but keep in mind she’d get mad if we hung out without her so we didn’t. At one point after trying to organise a sleepover for weeks we decided me and kara were gonna have one, invite alya and if she wouldn’t come we just would have it anyway because we we’re sick of only getting to hang out when she wanted too. So the sleepover day comes around and in school that friday she told us that she had plans to go to town with her friend from where she lives so she can’t have the sleepover , so we said okay and had the sleepover anyway . she got really mad and said we were leaving her out and we we’re bad friends and we stopped talking.
she mended things with our old friend group and hung out with them in school (btw me and alya are in the same class whilst kara is in the year above us) me and my other people from my old friend group never have beef or anything because i’m not a confrontational person so when i found out they had basically kicked me from the friend group i never said anything and acted normal with them when school came around so i wasn’t fighting with them we were already talking again.
now after the fight me and alya we’re civil with eachother she would sometimes throw sly dogs at me but i would just ignore them. when like december had come around me and alya were (what i thought) talking again. she would get the luas home and i would walk a different way since i lived like 20 minutes from the school and she lives an hour but in december i thought we were okay again because on the days kara didn’t come to school (which was often) she starts walking home with me and then getting the bus home again like she used too one day we were walking home after school and i looked over at her phone and she was texting out mutual friend and she said how we were walking home together and the mutual friend went “oh i thought you said you were sick of her following you around all the time and and we’re just gonna ignore her if she talked too you again?.” and i pretending not to have seen it and never said anything but the point i’m trying to make is i’m pretty sure she’s friends with me too my face but shit talked me too others, now at this point (may) she’s back in the friend group and going out with them again . so she hangs around with them in school and honestly she only talks to me if i talk to her first. she constantly leaves me on delivered if i message her. btw me and kara aren’t friends anymore because she just got really close to another girl in her year and we slowly drifted. Now because we went to the same primary schools she was like oh what are you doing for your sisters confo and i told her and she kinda just invited herself so i just let her because again when you fight with her she makes it into this whole thing so i thought it’s just not worth it because i love alya. honeslty as mean as she is sometimes when we have our moments there the best it’s like our best moments are amazing but our bad moments are horrible i miss how close we used to be and i guess that’s why i still try maintain a friendship with her but i can acknowledge that she isn’t a good person at times and often finds ways to make everything about herself . like a few weeks ago my mam had to get texted for cancer and i was really upset and i told alya when we were walking home together and she started talking to me and bout how mer nanny died of cancer when she was 3 and i thought that was really mean of her too do . i can’t drop her because she’s my only friend i don’t have any other friends outside of school or anything i’m completely alone my only form of socialisation is school
basically iv noticed she’s been inviting other people to come to the confo. not to the meal but to the dogs after so she can hang out with them aswell but i don’t want this i don’t want my mam to spend the day playing for a my sister who’s making her confermation, me my other sister and then pay for alya to come just for her to invite other people to hang out with and not even be with me so i want to i invite her but i don’t know if that’s cruel since the confo is tomorrow but the only time she really speaks to me is to talk about the confo. because on one hand this day could (maybe) get me back into the friendgroup and i won’t be alone. anymore or i could be miserable the whole time. if i don’t invite her i can sit with my family and i won’t be alone but if i do invite her i have to hang around with her if that makes sense? like if she invites her friends and she’s with them i’ll basically spend my whole day miserable and following her around so what do i do i really need advice it’s tomorrow.

How tf do these tyrant, narcissistic, psychos always make it to managment or higher!? My RM is fucking terrible. He throws shit, freaks out, yells at us, talks down to us like complete shit and acts like we're not human. The only time he will ever apologize is when he realized he yelled at someone under age and has to save his ass. He can't work open table for shit, terrible at hosting, will send food to wrong tables if working expo. Tells staff we can't eat or order food while he stands in the kitchen Snacking on anything and everything. He has 2 daughters and I just don't understand how or why he treats people so poorly, and can't see himself as a man raising girls that he should be better, cause god forbid his girls are ever treated the way he treats others. He doesn't seem to have an issue making male friends. His facade is 🤌 great! There are many people who don't think he's a raging POS, cause he CAN be pleasant and does well with face to face customer service. He will allow anything the customer wants, cause he won't be the one fulfilling the request. 95% of anything he demands doesn't make any actual sense! I love my company and most of the management throughout it, but he sucks so fucking much!! 😒 I want to walk out when i have to work with him so often! And we've lost plenty of employees because of him. Management just says "if you can't handle him you shouldn't be in the service industry " Why are we normalizing abuse to survive the service industry? Aren't we abused by the entitled customers enough? Shouldn't our coworkers and managers be a safe space when the client base already sucks?!
Uhgg!! Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.

FIRST CHAPTER
PREVIOUS CHAPTER
This product is a fanfic of the Sexy Space Babes/Between Worlds product of u/Bluefishcake and one I highly suggest you read. It was created with permission, but give the OG works some love.
Imgr gallery of Comissioned and Fan Artworks
I'm Back Bitches! Again!
//////////
Junior Systems Engineer First Class Che’keero knelt before a semi-sparking control panel and sighed. She, and a large band of her fellow Engineers with Marine support, had boarded the pirate frigate with the singular goal of ensuring that the pirates didn’t scuttle their floating hulk and doom the slaves aboard to a, if they were lucky, a swift death in space.
The problem, of course, came with the pirate’s maintenance schedules and decisions to forgo certain… safety measures when it came to repair.
Like the panel before her. Usually a perfectly functional control system for the reverse-magnetic bulkhead doors that ensured void seals in power outages, some pirate at some point in their dumb, dumb life decided to fix the panel blowing a fuse… by ripping the fuse out and replacing it with a high density power cable. Which meant the entire thing was one massive shock hazard and actively sparking as the reactors deep in the ship flickered and surged due to damage.
Che’keero swore as an arc of electricity flashed towards her face after a tool that was not supposed to be magnetized, cheap dick WaDepth requisitions, caught a magnetic field, fusing the entire system shut and turning the formerly barely functional control system into nothing but pretty, decorative wiring and cheap solder. She punched the now utterly unfunctional control box and toggled on her radio. “Three-Two to Three-Lead, this door’s fried. You’ll need to bring in the cutters if we want to get to the rest of the ship. Might as well also bring in an inflatable airlock, I’m not liking how some of the metal strain sensors are flashing at me.”
A semi-synthetic voice replied back to Che’keero, “Three-Lead copies. I’ll be over there shortly with the stuff. Double check those sensors, I’m not getting the same readings, so let’s make sure something isn’t blocking errors from reaching me.”
“Copy that Three-Lead, Three-Two ou-” Something tapped against the back of her helmet and Junior Systems Engineer First Class Che’keero mentally swore.
“Now, now, lassie, how about you sit right there and don’t move.” A nasally, unfamiliar voice called out to her while tapping what a camera she set up to watch her back revealed to be a laser pistol to Che’keero’s helmet. “I think that you’re going to be our new best friend and way off this dead end ship.”
Che’keero paused, letting the situation settle in her mind, “Wait, what? Are… are you taking me hostage?”
“Yes!” The pirate replied.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why are you taking me hostage? This won’t work, none of the shuttles are jump capable and if you try anything, you’ll just end up jumped by marines. They specifically train to deal with pirates taking their engineers hostage. If you want to survive, you should just surrender and take the penal colony when it’s offered.” Che’keero mentioned, shrugging and continuing her inspection of the door.
The pirate seemed baffled at the sheer nonchalance of this response, the pistol slowly falling to merely point at her upper back instead of her head, “You… you really aren’t taking this seriously. I’m a pirate! I’ve killed people! I’ve killed boys, and you’re just sitting there like this doesn’t mean anything!”
“I mean… I wouldn’t say that.” Che’keero replied.
“THEN WHAT DO YOU MEAN!” The pirate screamed, the pistol moving away from Che’keero’s body by a fraction of an inch during an angry gesture.
It was at that point, a ceramic alloyed, carbon steel blade punched clean through the back of the pirate’s suit, slicing through their central nervous system and striking with enough force to shatter the faceplate of said pirate’s helmet on the way out. Muscles twitching, the laser pistol fired off randomly, missing Che’keero and slagging a chunk of bulkhead.
“I’m just buying time,” Che’keero replied cheekily.
“You really need to remember to check your cameras,” The semi-synthetic voice of Ventures Forth Bravely Into Great Unknowns commented as the ex-pirate fell to the ground and blue blood dripped from the long blade sprouting from her right arm and a toolbox hanging from her left hand. “This isn’t the first time you have been flanked, and this one wasn’t during training.”
“Look, I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.” Che’keero replied a bit testily.
“I’m sorry…” Ventures Forth prodded.
“I’m sorry, Ma’am.”
“Much better. Right, now what do we see in this- yeah you were right on it being fried.” Ventures Forth gently shoved the Junior Systems Engineer aside and took her place at the control panel. “Do a sweep of the strain systems. I don’t want this section of the ship breaking apart. Feel free to call up our hull patches. We’ve got plenty to share and this might have to be a lifeboat.”
“Aye, ma’am aye,” Che’keero replied with a crisp salute before rushing off to her duty.
Deeper inside the ship, Ventures Forth could hear laser fire, clashing of metal on metal, and cries for help.
The pirate ship was doomed, it was shattered and broken, but it was not destroyed. Not yet. \
And if she had her way, Ventures Forth Bravely Into Great Unknowns would keep it that way.
//////////
Roshal stood still as her steward continued to clean the dark blue and rapidly congealing blood off her armored form. “Comms,” She called out, “Do we have any contact with the shuttle we sent to the station?”
“Negative, ma’am.” The comm officer replied. She wasn’t the same one that was present when Roshal left to fend off the boarders. At the unspoken question, the woman continued “Communication’s Mate Second Class Lev’tal, ma’am. My superior got a concussion when the pirate ship rocked our ship during boarding. Strap snapped, prior damage. I took over.”
Roshal nodded approvingly, “Good initiative. Send a message to the station, see if we can’t rai-”
“Ma’am! Contact!” One of her sensor techs called out, “Belay that, two contacts. First contact, nav point 782 spinward, possible bogey, cruiser weight. Unknown movements. Second contact, nav point 102 coreward, aerospace assets inbound. Small flight. Hard to determine numbers due to damage. No less than two, no more than five.”
“Focus on getting a hard contact on that possible cruiser. Weapons, what is the status of our anti-aerospace.” Roshal demanded, holding her sword arm out for the steward to scrub at a particularly clotted chunk of blood splattered over her wrist.
The weapons officer shook her head, “If we’re lucky, then we’ve got 20% coverage on half our sides. If we’re very lucky, I might be able to bump that number up to 35%. Not going to quote doctrine, but that’s not nearly enough to fend off a flight of Aerospace assets on a strike run, and that’s assuming they don’t hit us on an unprotected flank.”
Roshal nodded once more, “Sound general quarters and get weapons and tactical back online. Tell the damage control parties to not be distracted and focus on critical systems first. Engine room, report. Can you give me maneuvering thrust?”
The nearby ship phone chimed in with a staticy hiss, “Negative, ma’am. The shot we made with the spinal mount tripped breakers up and down the reactor room. This isn’t an engine problem, we need to make sure our reactor doesn’t blow up when we siphon power. Before you ask, emergency power is still flowing and none of their circuits tripped, but that means we’re down to life support, basic systems, and dockyard thrusters. It will take at least 20 to get the reactor in a safe state. If you want 10, send the chaplain down so we have someone praying for good luck. The fact most of our structural engineers are doing an EVA boarding to ensure the pirate ship next to us doesn’t go critical and render the entire exercise moot isn’t helping matters at all.” The engine room replied Roshal bit down a bit of annoyance at the snark, but engineers were always a finicky sort with authority. They were the first to remind uptight officers that while the Captain’s word may be iron law, it was their work that truly moved the ship.
“Confirmed, engine room.” Roshal instead replied. “Chaplains will be arriving shortly. Do what you can and inform me when you’re three minutes out from full power.”
The engine room didn’t even bother replying, just sending over the affirmative light as they got to work. Roshal approved of that. Sometimes, you just had to insult someone in order to get it working right.
“Captain, we have confirmation on contact. He’s an Alliance Karcharidon class Heavy Cruiser on intercept course. Energy readings are spiking… they’re charging their guns, ma’am!”
“Issue a hostile challenge and give me a firing solution with any gun still functional.”
“No response, ma’am. Hostile Karcharidon is increasing speed. Hard contact in 15 minutes.”
Roshal snarled, emotion breaking through her mask. “Of course, the pirates had one more vessel. Helm, fire our maneuvering thrusters, use the pirate hulk as cover. Weapons, get whoever’s left of our Interceptor flight to engage the enemy. Comms, get me in contact with the merchant fleet, tell them to evacuate. We’ll provide cover.”
“Aye ma’am.” The Communications Mate Second Class said with a shiver in her voice. “Sending-”
“Update on Aerospace assets!” Her sensor tech called out.
“Deliver!” Roshal demanded, cutting off the comms officer with a slice of her hand.
“Weapons fire. Definitely less than four contacts. Seems to be two grou- negative, only two contacts remaining- weaponsfire- one contac- IFF received, oh goddesses, IT’S RUNOFF THREE! FRIENDLY AEROSPACE INBOUND!”
//////////
Milk gripped her crash harness hard as Cookie slammed the Interceptor’s fusion torch clean past its safe thrust marker and into the red as g forces crushed her chest. “Last target down.” She reported after Cookie’s final laser burst hit something critical inside the final Aerospace fighter’s frame. “That’s 20 for 20. All enemy bogeys down. All standard munitions are in the black. Static drive is 48%, dump core ejected. All we’ve got left is our ASM and front laser.”
Cookie flashed back an affirmative signal.
“We going for that cruiser?”
Another affirmative.
“Well, I’m braced and ready on the release. Ready.”
“Ready.” Cookie spoke, his voice horse.
It’s funny what people think when their lives are on the line. Because charging towards a fresh enemy Heavy Cruiser, nothing but a single anti-shipping missile worth a damn, no allied support but the faint glimmer in IFF screens of their fellow flight doing the same… all Aoibhinn McDermott could think of was a poem she had read at least a decade ago or more at the Naval Academy.
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the Valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
//////////
Ventures Forth Bravely Into Great Unknowns could do nothing but furiously swear as the basic sensor system her engineering team had restored on the thoroughly ventilated secondary command bridge of the pirate hulk revealed an enemy Heavy Cruiser bearing down upon their homeship.
“Weapons are trashed. We cored their reactor, anyway.” One of the tangential engineers reported, “Other teams are calling in. Things are worse where they are. We’ve found the slaves, though, luckily it was one of the few airtight bays. Also, have some more captives, but that really doesn’t matter right now.”
“No shit.” Ventures Forth replied, “Can we do anything?”
The engineer looked back to her, visor depolarizing so the Gearschilde can look into the black and yellow eyes of her Shil coworker.
“Pray.” The woman replied simply.
Ventures Forth Bravely Into Great Unknowns did just that.
//////////
Low chanting filled the engine bay as a small group of priests stood around the engine praying to whichever god that would listen to allow them one more shot. One more fight.
Around them, black handed engineers scurried, ripping out blown fuses and replacing them with soldered in high strength wire. A final measure of desperation. Sparks flew as engineers swore and chaplains prayed, power still remaining in circuits needing to be bled out before bypasses could be installed, turning every bit of solder and every ripped out fuse into a deadly gamble.
Already, someone was lying on the ground, no longer twitching.
They didn’t have time to check on their fallen comrade, the work was too important.
A clock ticked down. Four minutes elapsed.
//////////
Lieutenant Commander Cenywyn swore as she watched Runoff 2 die.
Their single Interceptor had mistimed a maneuver and had been caught dead in the middle of an Anti-Aerospace array, shredded in an instant. The only consolation she could take was that, seeing as the first shot went clean through the cockpit, they didn’t even notice they died.
“Runoff 4, stay in formation.” She ordered over the radio, “We’ll lead you in for the run.”
“Yes ma’am.” The hesitant voice of Junior Flight Lieutenant Griogill replied. She swallowed, “We’re- we’re ready when you are.”
“No fear, Lieutenant,” Cenywyn called back to the child she was leading to her death. “We’re pilots in the Imperial Patrol. We do our duty. No fear.”
A clock ticked down. Six minutes elapsed.
//////////
“Talk to me!” The last remaining senior engineer in the reactor bay called out to anyone who was able to reply.
Someone, she didn’t even bother looking to see who, called back “We’ve bypassed 60% of the fuses. Should be able to give ourselves a burst of combat power. No more than 10 minutes of it before the entire system overheats and we either die, or the reactor shuts off.”
“Any chance we can get more than 10 minutes?”
“Not before that Heavy Cruiser delivers us straight to the stars.”
“Fuck it, good enough.” She slammed her fist on the ship phone’s dialing button resting near the console the engineer had just ripped the last safety override out of. “Captain. We’ve got your power. You give us the word, and we’ll give you ten minutes.”
//////////
Roshal breathed in, breathed out, and nodded. 10 minutes of combat power before the entire ship shut down into uselessness. She’d done more with less. She couldn’t remember when, but she had. Luckily, this was a Patrol Carrier instead of a standard ship, so it was more than capable of combat maneuvers with nothing but RCS thrusters. That should give her some time.
Movement, movement was going to be the key.
“Comms, tell the engineering crews on the hulk that they are ordered to figure out anything that could draw the attention of the Heavy Cruiser,” She began, “Systems, break our mooring lines. We’re going to have to split from the hulk. Helm, prepare for maneuvers. RCS only. We are going to have to do this carefully. Engineroom, prepare for power activation, but hold until my command.”
This needs to be perfect, Roshal thought, A single mistimed action ruins it all.
A clock ticked down. Ten minutes elapsed. The Karcharidon had entered maximum weapon’s range.
//////////
He of Slender Tail shivered where he stood. The secondary command bridge was silent as Roshal began giving orders to fight. This was… this was insane.
They were in a ruined ship with nothing but a merchant fleet beginning to flee and a three thirds dead pirate hulk on their side against a fresh Karcharidon class Heavy Cruiser.
They couldn’t win.
This was suicide.
They would die here.
\ So why didn’t He of Slender Tail feel afraid?
He stood at his post, a secondary bridge console where he would relay orders to other departments, freeing up the other Watchkeeper to collate those orders, there was nothing he could do to help win this impossible battle, and yet…
And yet he felt heat blossoming inside his chest with every single order delivered.
“Mooring teamsss, you are to cut your linesss immediately.” He relayed to a crew of Shil scurrying around the ruined bulkheads, “Damage control, prepare for electrical firesss and arcsss.” He commanded, switching between teams instantly.
He didn’t feel fear. He could see his Watchkeeper shiver every time the sensors reported the enemy contact was still closing, but he didn’t feel the same.
What he felt… was indignation.
How dare this pirate scum threaten his vessel, his crew. How dare they ambush this valiant ship after they had fought so hard to win. How dare they.
He let his fangs fold out as he spat the next order, “Anti-Aerossspace teamsss, prepare your batteriesss for grouped fire. Gunnery calculationsss are on their way.”
How dare they stand up to him.
A clock ticked down. 12 minutes elapsed. Weapons fire.
//////////
Roshal swayed slightly as she could feel the ship beneath her feet move. Movement is life in naval warfare, movement is death. “Right RCS fire, bring us clear of the hulk. Bow thrusters, up twenty.”
“Aye, ma’am, aye, right standard and bow up twenty.” The Helmswoman replied.
“Confirmed. Next maneuver, give us rear thrust-”
“Torpedo!” The sensor operator called out in a shrill voice, “Two marks on intercept course! Range, twelve K and closing fast!”
“Decorum!” Roshal snapped at the panicking sensor technician. “Comms, order Runoff flight to divert and intercept those torpedoes. Rear RCS to full, give us momentum.”
Roshal turned away from the bridge as affirmations were shouted, and the ship began to move, “Engineering, prepare to activate combat power on my mark and prepare for hard maneuvers. Mark in five.”
//////////
Griogill swallowed bile and tried not to feel too thankful that the enemy vessel had fired torpedoes at their home ship. Being diverted from an attack run had a much higher chance of survival than striking through an AA bubble.
“Runoff 4 engaging far torpedo. Moving in for intercept. Bre’kas, give me lock.”
Griogill’s backseater muttered something, and a target lock appeared on the far torpedo as Runoff 1, their previous Drill Sergeants, dashed by in a hard burn and blazed away at their own target.
“Right. We can do this. We can do this. No fear.” The rookie muttered as the sight of her friends in Runoff 3 being turned to vapor echoed in her mind. “I can do this.”
The target locked. She fired. The torpedo detonated.
A clock ticked down.
//////////
“Mark in four.”
//////////
The Heavy Cruiser loomed closer as the comparatively tiny Patrol Carrier spat its defiance in the form of two Interceptors dancing between the stars.
As a pair of torpedoes detonated, four more were launched, the anti-shipping weapons built for this specific purpose. Destroying disabled vessels.
And so the last two remaining Interceptors on CAP dove into the fray, risking themselves against an ever approaching AA bubble in order to save their ship.
A clock ticked down.
//////////
“Mark in three.”
//////////
All Cookie could do was stare and push his meager aerospace fighter further on its nuclear thrusters as shimmering dots of torpedoes lanced out from the Heavy Cruiser attacking his new home.
He pushed his hand forward and felt the throttle once more push back against him, the lever pushed all the way past safe thrust and into the further setting on his console.
The Interceptor was fast. It didn’t feel fast enough.
And so he spoke the words he spoke once before, back when he’d had to listen to his backseater’s screams of pain and the rush of wind after shrapnel pierced his fuselage, and the hospital was so, so far away.
Father, I pray that you will not hide your face from me. Whenever I pray, Lord please hear me and answer me speedily in Jesus' name. God, I pray that you will grant me speed through your help.
A clock ticked down.
//////////
“Mark in two.”
//////////
The Heavy Cruiser shifted, engine flaring and it began to close the range. A single disabled ship on emergency RCS thrusters and a pair of Aerospace fighters was nothing it would have to deal with.
It fired a third spread of torpedoes.
A clock ticked down.
//////////
They took the bait. Roshal thought with a vicious grin.
“Mark in one.” She paused, “Execute.”
In an instant, power flowed through the ship, emergency lights flickered off as the burning red boarding lights returned their fiery glow. The entire ship shook as the main thruster came back online, and capacitors began to charge for maneuvers.
“Hard burn, full thrusters, right, on my mark.” Roshal watched as the Heavy Cruiser began to react to her movements, the enemy ship was alive, you needed to roll to broadsides to begin bombardment, come on come on…
Roshal watched as a torpedo flickered out of existence, Runoff 4 gaining another kill.
Come on, dammit, you don’t get put in charge of a Heavy Cruiser without- THERE!
The Heavy Cruiser flinched, turning her bow away from the no longer stricken vessel, preparing for broadside.
The Captain’s grin showed more teeth than smile. “Execute! Full right thrust!”
“Full right thrust! Aye ma’am aye!” Her helmswoman called out as maneuvering thrusters dead cold roared to life and physically threw the vessel to the side, causing everyone not strapped in on the bridge to rock as a barrage of fire flew past their former location, manual targeting systems in play since the automatic systems would still be getting warmed up.
“Full thrust forward, prepare to divert all power to secondary weapons. Weapons, give me a firing solution.” Roshal commanded, hand raised and pointed at the enemy’s display as if she were commanding from a tall ship.
A chant of “Aye ma’am aye” flowed out across the bridge as the weaponsmistress was silent before calling out. “Port side is up to 45% secondary fires and 32% point defense. That’ll be our best bet.”
Roshal nodded. “Make it so. Target their main weapons. Helm, get us that facing.”
“Ma’am. We’re getting a call from Runoff 3. They are entering the AO and are asking for a target.”
Roshal smiled, “Weapons, shift target. Aim for the anti-aerospace systems. Let’s give Runoff 3 the opening they need.”
A clock ticked down.
//////////
“Cookie, we’ve got a targeting path.” Milk called forward. “Putting it up on your HUD.”
“One second… I’ve got it. Moving to comply. Did the Captain give us a plan?” her front seater replied, causing her stomach to do funny things as the Aerospace Fighter maneuvered while under high thrust.
“Something like that. She asked for a munitions report and specifically about our anti-shipping weapon.”
Cookie paused.
“Ah.” He finally said.
“Yeah.” She replied.
“Well, let’s hope they’re able to open us up to a window of opportunity. Or this will be a short charge.”
“Not our place to question why.”
“Just our place to do and die.”
Time to target… three minutes.
Into the valley of Death, rode the six hundred.
A clock ticked down.
//////////
Two vessels, three Aerospace fighters, one chance.
Six minutes of power remained. All actors took their places on the stage.
One hundred kilometers, close enough to check the weld quality of hull seams, the two ships danced across from each other. Maneuvering.
Five minutes of power remained.
The Karcharidon Heavy Cruiser rolled itself trying to keep the vulnerable top deck away from the Patrol Carrier’s presumably still working main gun as Roshal’s vessel jumped to the side. Thrusters roared.
Four minutes of power remained.
Runoff 1 and 4 shot towards their formerly separated comrade, forming up behind them in a wedge. The trio climbed towards the sun as their captain continued to chase and harass the Karcharidon.
Three minutes of power remained.
Roshal spoke. The lances of her vessel fired. Laser blasts carved across the hull of the enemy ship as it rolled.
The rolling ceased. A helmswoman swore as a full broadside caught the Patrol Carrier in the flank. The port hangar pod was ruined, armor shattered and all inside exposed to hard vacuum. Those who could scream died the fastest. The Interceptors had their opening.
Two minutes of power remained.
Silent wings swept through vacuum as three Interceptors began their dive, their formerly speedy arrowhead shape giving way to an inverted t as their wings swept out for stability, the ASF dove and dove and dove.
Five Kilometers away.
The range was too wide. They had one shot. It had to be perfect.
One minute of power remained.
The Into Harm’s Way spat its defiance into the world, limited power drained to give her pilots a seconds more of time.
30 seconds of power remained.
Three Kilometers.
Hard Lock! Milk shouted from the back seat of Runoff 3. Cookie was silent. The range was still too wide.
15 seconds of power remained.
Two Kilometers.
The Karcharidon seemingly began to roll before the Patrol Carrier once more fired, its last remaining weapons spouting their defiance against the world. Deep in engineering, systems began to blow, wires that replaced fuses sparked power and delicate circuit boards shorted out into useless scrap.
The lights went out.
No power remained.
Roshal, in her head, began to count down as lances of light began to sweep across her ship. Damage control did what they could, but the beams began to cut like an overly enthusiastic shipbreaker.
Five.
One Kilometer.
Four.
Cookie’s thumb depressed the firing stud as the Interceptor screamed at him.
Three.
The ASF launched its deadly payload.
Two.
Three Interceptors pulled back hard on their sticks to avoid colliding with the deck.
One.
The thruster of the anti-shipping missile roared as it rocketed the point blank aerospace distance to target.
Impact.
The armor piercing tip of the missile punched into the upper deck plating of the Heavy Cruiser, classified alloys allowing it to pierce into the armored plating just enough to allow the shaped charge to open up a hole as momentum kept the weapon moving.
Within the frame of a single second, the warhead of the missile had entered the ship and, before the alarms even had time to sound, detonated.
A new sun appeared in the void for a split second as a plasma-fusion warhead detonated inside the Karcharidon heavy cruiser’s hull.
//////////
Roshal allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief inside her head as the emergency power lights flickered overhead and the gravity ever so slightly lightened. What was left of their sensor arrays showed the enemy vessel powering down. “Engineering. Good work, your 10 minutes were just what she needed.” She called out, picking up the ship phone.
There was no answer from engineering.
She signed externally before pointing at one of the marines guarding the bridge, “Find a crewmate in a void suit. I have need of runners.” The marine clasped a fist to her chest before leaving to execute her captain’s commands. “Comms, do we have any contact with the engineering teams on the pirate hulk?”
The Comms officer held up a hand, Roshal waited, “No, ma’am. We aren’t getting- wait. We’ve got visual on flashing lights from the hull. Apparently, something shorted, so they’re having to rebuild broadcast arrays. They can receive just fine, though.”
“Good, once we can maneuver, bring us broadside of them. What’s the status of the merchant fleet?”
Navigation spoke up now, “Still heading for the Jump Point. Should we send the recall order?”
“Not yet, we are still unsure if the area is safe. If we have any sensors remaining, begin sca-”
The mentioned sensor technician interrupted Captain Roshal, “Ma’am, new contact, signature unknown. Just jumped in from outside the starlane!”
“Give me details. Course, range, and speed?” She demanded.
“Signal confused, can’t get a lock!” Navigation called out, “Can’t tell if confusion’s from them or us.”
Not another one… Roshal sighed, “All forces prepa-”
“Ma’am, we’re being hailed.” Communications called out.
“On squawk.”
“This is Captain Al’yosha Cal’rada of Her Imperial Majesty’s Ship Spear of the Knyaginya, responding to Merchant vessel distress calls. Imperial Patrol Carrier, are you in need of assistance at this time?”
Roshal recognized the voice. A junior officer from her days in the Navy and a fellow Sevastutavan. The memory of the fresh faced girl when she’d joined her as an Ensign straight of the Naval Academy flashed before her eyes. “Captain Cal’rada. Your timing is impeccable as always.”
“Admiral?” Roshal could hear the shock in her old protege’s voice.
“That’s Captain, now, Al’yosha. I require your aid in ensuring the disabled vessel still glowing from an ASM strike remains disabled along with Search and Rescue teams for our sister Carrier.
“Whatever you want, you’ll have it, Admiral_… Helm! All ahead flank and plot course to intercept. Launch gunships and prepare to deploy Bluejackets. We’ll test our _Orcas’ teeth today!”
The line cut out a moment later than it should have, and Roshal nodded in approval.
“Captain, I still don’t have a read on new contact. What is it?” Sensors asked.
“A Drep’na inspired vision, come to life.” Roshal watched, feeling an odd sort of parental pride as Al’yosha’s experimental warship began closing the distance towards the Karcharidon at breakneck speeds. “A swift sailing vessel and ten carriage guns…” Roshal murmured the line from an old Vaasconian poem from the ancient Age of Sail. She had heard Cal’rada had succeeded in petitioning the Navy to build her dream-ship, burning every favor and passing out favors to any and everyone to see the program through. Now, there she was, standing on the bridge bearing down on a ship twice her size, but if the rumors were true, only half her guns.
“Ma’am, contact is still not resolving, but IFF confirms Imperial Navy designation. An Akula Class Attack Transport. I’ve… I’ve never even heard of this class.”
“Perhaps we shall hear of them more in the future. Fortune favors the active.”
“Contact is disgorging multiple signals, moving at speeds consistent with aerospace assets.”
“That is our signal we may disengage. Comms, inform the merchant fleet that the area is secure and to begin refueling procedures. Helm, get us alongside the pirate hulk, we have people to recover. Marine, get me a runner to the MP’s, we shall need the port hangar prepared for an old tradition the Navy has regarding pirate prisoners…” Roshal commanded. The fight was over, it was time to begin the cleanup.
//////////
So… that took a while. Sorry about that.
Turns out when a combination of writer’s block, decision paralysis and LIFE hits you over the head, it becomes a touch difficult to get your shit together long enough to write something down.
On the plus side, we are out of the “unplanned bits” and right back into the parts I have brainstormed, so I won’t be staring at a screen trying to think how to make things connect as much anymore. On the other hand, that means we are now entering the epilogue of book 1 of Top Lasgun.
Don’t worry, the story isn’t ending, I’ve got “three” books plotted out in my head, so we’ll see how that shakes out, but for the most part, this is where I start wrapping up plot threads, laying down threads for what comes next, and all that other good stuff.
So yeah, next chapter is going to involve everyone wrapping up what happened here, some fun little Military Justice, and potentially a bunch of plot. Also, I’m planning on starting a “rewrite”/edited version of this to go up on AO3, so keep an eye out for that. Early installment weirdness is a bitch and I’m not proud of what the older stuff looked like.
Well, I hope you have a wonderful morning, afternoon or evening whenever you read this and I will see you next chapter.
[NEXT CHAPTER]

I’ve spent the last 30 minutes tryna work out the exact lyrics, this is what I’ve got (and brackets or slashes mean I’m not sure)
(Intro) Tied to the pulse of the sea
(Verse 1) Wake me up from drooling on the shoulder To watch the ? Of waves go rolling by the window Is it a glorious view unless you say so? Into/Unto the belly of a beast where we can lay low I can see his rotten toothbrush in the bathroom mirror selfie They say put him down, a sickly dog But competitions healthy, Coffee rings, a perfect circle I appreciate the beauty And you still have that one tattoo Well, that how it works of course you do.
(Chorus) A psychic wound, you can’t conceal Closing, opening never heals Its a constant cheque you never cash Curse the universe for what you lack.I tried to forget it, because they’re too mean Tied to the pulse of the sea
(Verse 2) Broke down blubbing at the pharmacy Begging to the doctor “dispense to me” It once was our but now its mine These things get better over time Love, life, living as a stalking horse Guinea pig headed I’m a marty of course If you’re not the one that’s leaving, you’re, The one that’s left behind. You can buy your hopes and dreams now (With/That/Through?) the affiliate link Selling back the solidarity that Got given as a gift
They call themselves artists while they’re Lapping up the paint they’ve spilled They exist with jesters privilege Secular girls with catholic (Kilt?)
(Chorus) A psychic wound, you can’t conceal Closing, opening never heals Its a constant cheque you never cash Curse the universe for what you lack.I tried to forget it, because they’re too mean Tied to the pulse of the sea
(Outro) I tried to forget it,
Tied to the pulse of the sea
I tried to forget it, because they’re too mean
Tied to the pulse of the sea

Hi everyone, I'm josh and I'm 27 and from the UK 🇬🇧.
I have used reddit a number of years ago and have no idea what my log in is so am having to make a new one 🙃
I'm just looking for some cool people to talk with on a daily basis to pass the time.
I welcome anyone to chat, even if you believe the earth is flat I promise to only judge you silently 😂
A few interests would be anime, football, tattoos as I have a few and I'm always down to see pics of your pets :) I have 2 dogs myself.
Guys/girls/ they/them, whatever you identify as I don't mind, as long as you can hold a conversation then we should chat:)

I know I have shit to focus on and I’ll continue to focus and work on them but after finally cutting off the girl I fucked up my chances with and another girl I was interested in wanting me to buy her DoorDash without us even going on a date I just need one girl who is actually interested in me, loyal, honest, has somewhat good communication skills, doesn’t even have to meet the social media standards in appearance. I know this sub isn’t for dating but if I can get one female I’ll be happy. Be wanting to shoot my brain out from this loneliness.

I went dumpster driving at my local Pet Smart around 7:30pmish on the way back from work yesterday my first time alone.
I was recently fired from my job, already started another job, but living pay check to pay check before like most has left me broke for weeks straight. I don’t get paid for another 8 days. I have 2 cats to feed, so I had to at least look.
Oh my GOD. The stuff I seen they just throw away!! HUGE bags of dog food. Cat food. What appeared to just be tears or rips in the bag. I seen a cat carrier, other toys, what appeared to be a hamster cage, the GOOD kind of cat litter, my heart lit up. I couldn’t believe how lucky I had got!!
I’m a young woman, not necessarily short, but I was having trouble getting a large cat food bag out and over the dump railing with how deep the dumpster was being careful as it was ripped. For a moment I was scared I couldn’t get back out (has happened once, had to stack up stuff/trash to pull myself over with my sisters help, LOL)
The entire time my heart was pounding a thousand miles per hour, I’m praying to ANYTHING that nobody sees me like this out of fear and just nerves.
Welp, minutes later two people come out and start saying “HEY, HEY”. I froze, like a dear in headlights, while they’re telling me they will call the police, this is trespassing, etc.. I start tearing up, I pleaded with them. I asked them if I could just take this bag, nothing more, I couldn’t even explain how bad my cats needed this, as if they cared, while one pulled out their phone, I guess going to seriously call the police.
I got the hell up out of there! The other was laughing as I got out, my legs were complete jello so I sorta stumbled when I came down. I was beyond embarrassed!! I felt physically sick to my stomach and humiliated.
All that pet food/stuff, trashed. Gone. Off to the landfill it goes. I can’t believe they still do that instead of donating it. When I was a little girl, after church my dad took us there once to dumpster dive as we had 30+ cats/5 dogs and his work would regularly have dry periods (roofer). We hit the jack pot that day. It made me remember that day how happy he was.
This experience has scared me from doing it else where again, or at least for a while until my nerves calm down. To be fair, I have never ever been caught at any of the places I’ve went to. I’ve also always went with my sister and her friend, so I naturally felt “safer”.
I’m wishing luck to everyone else out there! Be safe and don’t get caught.

Part 1

The official story is that I hit my head. According to the lawyer I wasn't lucid enough to be a reliable witness, and honestly, I'm starting to believe that might be the truth. It's certainly easier to accept that everything was all just some nightmare.
But if my mind wasn't playing tricks on me, and those fuck-heads didn’t have anything to do with my friend’s disappearance, then there truly is no explanation for what happened.
My therapist and parents both agree. The best way to preserve my sanity is to chalk it all up to my imagination. But I see understanding in their eyes when I recount the events. They want to believe me, I know it. That alone is enough to fuel my doubt.
—
School had begun that September with mourning. I only knew the guy who passed away by face and name. It had happened a month after his graduation, and two months before his first year at Cornell.
During the intercom-ordered moment of silence, I looked out through the classroom. Some were bored, some cried. Many shifted in their seats and were glancing around, like myself, counting every second till the awkwardness would end.
It ended sooner than we thought when a kid with sports goggles a size too big bouncing on his face slammed the door open, obliviously clarifying his attendance.
I'm embarrassed to say that this kid, Aiden, was the only friend I had made in high school until this point. I have a hard time introducing myself to others, but being friends with a prepubescent outcast wasn't making that any easier.
After middle school, my family moved to the small village we live in now. It was a brainless choice because my Mom had found better work, my Dad wanted to be closer to his aging parents, and I desperately wanted out of my old school.
Aiden was the first kid to introduce himself when I transferred last year. I realized he was the token 'weird kid' way too late to make it into any social circles. I know it sounds like I'm a shit friend, but that's the way our relationship turned out. Sure, we told our parents and teachers we were friends, but in reality, it was more a tolerance than friendship.
After all, we didn't have anyone else.
For once, I was thankful for Aiden's lack of awareness. It gave me something to focus on instead of the depressing silence strangling the room.
After realizing his mistake, he whispered an apology, sat down, and pulled out an insect encyclopedia from his book bag. What a nerd.
I distracted myself by reading the book from over his shoulder, and before I knew it, lights were turned back on and class began in earnest.
—
I was able to learn what had happened by eavesdropping on hallway gossip between my classes.
Eight kids, six seniors and two juniors, had found a cave in a region of forest known as Skeleton Park. With that discovery, they decided to add spelunking to their pre-graduation bucket list.
Skeleton Park is the setting of countless local ghost stories, which made it a hot spot for rebellious teen antics. Kids would do everything there: party, drink, smoke, fuck, and everything in between. They even crawled around in caves apparently.
When I first moved, I was a skeptic with no intent of exploring the woods. But one creepy phenomenon always unnerved me. For some reason, animals completely avoided the area.
I initially dismissed this as fiction, like all the other folk tales, until I started walking my dog, Paddy, along the town's bike trail.
The trail runs parallel to the remains of a stone wall outlining Skeleton Park. The first couple of times I walked along it, I didn't notice anything peculiar. But after my Dad first told me about the rumors, I became aware that the area was unnaturally silent. No birds chirped in the trees, no flies buzzing, and no rustling from rodents or any other animals.
Even more surreal, on several occasions I saw deer stop at the wall and walk along it instead of passing through the area. It was like there was an invisible border they refused to cross.
With this context, I'm sure you can understand the reaction of the locals when eight kids entered, and only seven escaped two days later, traumatized and bruised.
Honestly, I was surprised to not have heard about the event over the summer, closer to when it happened. Even more strange though, was how unwilling Aiden was to talk about the incident.
He was the kind of kid who had a strong opinion about everything. On top of that, he was constantly bringing up horror movies, or Creepypastas he had found online. But when I asked his opinion on this summer's events during recess, he only shrugged. Despite the nonchalant response, the look on his face told me that it bothered him. So I didn’t press, and let the subject go.
At the time I'd guessed that he might've had some connection to the kid that went missing. In a way, he did.
—
After an exhausting day of attempts from teachers to console their students with speeches, candy, and exceptional lenience, I was ready to go home.
I expected to find Aidan at the usual spot by the bike racks, where we met each day to walk home. Instead, there was an audience next to the bikes, forming a ring around two disheveled figures.
The flying fists and shouting could only mean one thing, so I kept my distance. Then I heard Aidan yell center, “Fucker!’ and saw a glimpse of his face spitting from a bloody mouth onto the other fighter.
Even though his back was to me, I could tell Aidan’s opponent was easily 5 inches, and 60 pounds heavier than my friend.
Teachers didn’t arrive to break up the fight before the two were on the ground, Aidan mounted with arms up, desperately trying to block blows.
A whistle was blown, and people began running away as my math teacher desperately tried to pry the football player off of Aidan.
He fought back the grown man and was finally pulled away when two more adults rushed to help. The boy was screaming at Aiden with carnal rage.
"You're a fucking liar! How dare you, I'm going to fucking kill you if I ever see you again!"
Aidan was still screaming too, but backed away willingly.
"I'm telling the truth dumbass! You were trespassing! You should be lucky we didn't press charges!"
Aiden looked bad but waved the teachers off whenever they asked if he was OK. Blood poured from his forehead, mouth, and nose. He had at least one black eye.
The other guy, I learned from the crowd, was one of the two juniors who had gone to the cave. He didn't have as many cuts or bruises but was supporting his weight on one leg and his friend's shoulder. Multiple teachers forced him into a chair while they waited for a nurse to arrive.
While the crowd control was distracted, Aiden sneaked over to me and whispered that we needed to get out of there. A couple of minutes later, the two of us were walking home like nothing had ever happened.
It took me a while before I dared to ask Aiden for the full story. He didn't even let me finish my question, which let me know he was more or less his usual self.
"My family inherited the property everyone calls Skeleton Park. It's not haunted, it's not toxic, it's not the home of a satanic sex cult; it's just a piece of forest that's been in my family for a couple of generations."
He spat a dribble of red onto the sidewalk, and I realized I'd never seen Aiden get violent before. We had our share of bullying this past year, but he would always shrug it off and laugh. He wouldn't even try to fight back. We would just get pushed around a bit, and he'd make a quip afterward about the guys' weight or smell.
"Every summer, my dad and I drive around the perimeter putting up trespassing signs, and every year they get ripped down. We get police calls once a month during the summer that somebody came limping out of there with a broken arm or leg, and they have the balls to demand we do something about it. It's not our fault nobody follows the law around here. It's the fucking woods, and it's our private property. What the hell are we even supposed to do?"
To be honest, I hadn't even considered Skeleton Park could've been private property. Though I believed everything Aiden said, I had never seen any signs along the border wall. Embarrassed from being one of those trespassers, I looked away and stayed silent as Aiden continued.
"The area is just too big. There are too many places to enter, and there's no way to block it all off. Though it's not like that'll stop anybody. I feel bad that somebody died, but I'm also a little bit thankful. Maybe now, people will think twice before messing around out there."
We walked in silence until reaching the junction where we would have to part ways. I was tired and wanted to head home, but I also was worried that Aiden would be jumped by some of the seniors if he was alone. It had happened before, and his earlier brawl could've been seen as a declaration of war.
Instead of voicing these concerns, however, I asked if he wanted to play video games at his house. He was surprised by the request but agreed.
I was on edge with every passing car, and every blind turn, but thankfully we weren’t attacked. After a couple more minutes of walking, we made it to Aiden’s house. His Dad was outside watering the garden. He turned, noticing our approach in the corner of his eye, but his planned greeting died in his mouth when he saw the dried blood coating Aiden’s face.
"Holy Shit! what did you do this time?" he exclaimed, running over to inspect his son’s injuries. "Oh, hey Brian," he added, smiling briefly at me before returning to his analysis.
Mr. Eriks was cool for a dad. Aiden never had a bad thing to say about him, and the way he handled everything that happened in the following months would only increase my admiration for him. He'd raised Aiden by himself, and I would've considered him a second friend if he wasn't 40 years older than me.
After determining the damage wasn't all that bad: a cut on Aidan's forehead and lip producing most of the blood, the three of us went inside.
Aiden went upstairs to take a shower, and his dad privately thanked me for walking him home. It didn’t take long for me to cave, and ask Mr. Eriks about the park.
"Yeah, we do own it," he answered while preparing snacks for Aiden and me. " My wife, Aiden's mom, inherited it before she passed away, and then it was signed over to me. To be honest, I don't know too much about it, and she didn't either. We just used it to go camping there sometimes, back before Aiden was born. Now we go together because it reminds us of her."
"Did you ever run into people up there, when you're camping?"
"Yeah, though not in the fall and winter when we usually go. I have the police's local number on speed dial for when it happens. Usually, it's just teens though. Kids tend to run away as soon as they see an adult with a flashlight. Paranormal or not, they know they're not supposed to be there- You staying with us for dinner Brian?"
At this point, I was too curious about the truth of Skeleton Park to leave, so I nodded and said I just needed to check with my parents.
After a phone call with my mom, some pizza rolls, and a couple of rounds of Fortnite, the afternoon stress had mostly faded away.
Me and Aidan were sitting in his room, scrolling Netflix for a slasher film to watch, when I finally asked what I'd been dying to know the entire afternoon.
"So, why was that guy saying you're a liar?"
Aiden chuckled at the question.
"He refused to believe my family owned the property his friend died on."
"Why did you even say anything? You know that just makes them want to beat you up more, right?"
"I'm tired of everybody using our land like a public park, I'm tired of picking up condoms left by people I go to school with, and I'm tired of keeping quiet about it. I tried explaining it to people in middle school. Our first project in fifth grade was a presentation about something important to us, I did mine about the park. Nobody believed me, and it got me socially exiled for the next four years. "
I ignored the urge to explain that there was probably more to his social exile than a get-to-know-you presentation from four years ago.
"That's fair I guess," I said instead. "You're dad says you go camping there."
"Yeah, on three-day weekends, and sometimes longer on breaks. Mostly in the fall and winter when there are less trespassers."
"You don't find it creepy camping there? Even without the trespassers?"
"You mean because of the silence?" Aiden smiled and looked over at me. "Yeah, the rumor about the animals is true as far as I can tell. Sure. It's kind of weird, but in winter it's kind of beautiful too. After a blizzard, there's nothing to disturb the snow, and it's kinda like the whole forest has gone to sleep. With the snow and no animals, it can get so quiet that you hear your own heart beating."
He looked off past me with a feeling of nostalgia, but all I felt was chills.
"I can take you if you want," Aiden added. "I'll have to ask my dad, but I think it would be fun to have another person camp with us."
"I'll think about it," was my way of declining without saying no.
Aiden just shrugged. "Suit yourself. Offer still stands if you ever change your mind."
Much to my annoyance, we weren’t even able to finish the movie. My Mom called, saying she was outside to pick me up an hour into our viewing of The Blair Witch Project.
I went to bed wondering how anyone could feel safe camping in a place like that. After contemplating taking Aidan up on his offer, I concluded there could be nothing that would make me spend the night there. Ironically, it would be less than a week before I changed my mind.
—
Three days later, I was walking Paddy along our usual route when she stopped and looked up at something beyond the stone wall, into Skeleton Park. She stood like a statue, eyes wide and fixated on some invisible thing.
I tried tugging the leash, pulling out a treat, begging, and making all kinds of sounds, but she just stood there. Paddy was a six-year-old golden retriever who easily weighed as much as I did, so I couldn't do much more than wait for her to move.
Suddenly, she began barking wildly at the air.
I tried approaching, but she growled at me, a sound I had never heard from her before, and I was forced to back away.
Before I could even process what was happening. She leaped over the wall and ran at full speed into the woods. It all happened so quickly that I had no time to tighten my grip on the leash.
She sprinted straight into the woods, and I chased after her, but I didn't make it far without tripping on a root hidden among the leaves. My knee was split open by something as I fell, and it took all my strength, fighting past the shock, to get back up. After recovering, I looked in all directions, but couldn't see Paddy anymore. I could only hear the tossing of leaves and branches in the distance.
Then there was nothing. Not a single sound. I'm not sure why I didn't question the sudden silence back then. It wasn't the gradual fade into silence you would expect from something running away. It was as if somebody had just hit a mute button on everything but the wind through the trees.
I don't know, maybe I'm misremembering the details.
Patty's disappearance doesn't matter anyway. We never found her, and dogs don’t live for twenty years, so at this point, we never will.
After taking a moment to recover from the shock, I limped home crying and told my parents what had happened. My Dad called the police because it was the only thing we could think of, but all they did was apologize and recommend we put up posters.
They couldn't do anything even if they wanted to. After all, she ran onto private property.
After that, the last thing I could think to do was call Aiden. His dad promised they could search the park that night, and he also offered to take me for an extended search the following weekend in case they didn’t find anything.
Of course, they didn't find her, just half of a leash wrapped around a branch. At least, that's what my parents told me the Eriks had found, they never actually let me see it.
A day before the trip, the Forecast started predicting snow: Saturday night into Sunday, eight inches, wet.
I probably should've given up then. Instead, I told Aiden this would probably be my only chance to find Paddy, insisting she wouldn't survive in the snow. After making sure with his dad, we continued with the plan and headed out after school Friday night.
—
While it hurts keeping this story in, reliving the memories is almost as painful. So I'm going to take a break writing for now and continue in a day or two. If anyone has a scientific explanation for why animals were avoiding that area, or for my dog's behavior, please let me know.
Thanks for reading, B
Part 1

My little dog was a teacup Maltese and she was 2 years 5 months old. I work from home with my wife so we got to spend every minute together for her whole life. We traveled together, flew from America to Korea with her and made countless memories with her.
She passed away this morning due to low blood! We took her to the vet 2 days ago and they did what they could to get her blood back to normal, but it wasn’t enough and she passed overnight. I have spent all day crying. I cried so much I had migraines. I broke down in a ball on the ground crying until I had no tears left.
I physically can’t go on without her in my life. My wife is devastated as well. My wife is also pregnant with our 4 month old baby. I need to stay strong for her and help my wife not stress so much! I don’t know what to do seriously.
I have never experienced loss in my life until this moment. I wanted to jump in the grave with my dog and lay next to her. How can I cope with this? How do I stay strong if I feel like I can’t move on without my little dog by my side.
That’s my little girl, that’s my little dog, I had her since 8 weeks old and never spent 1 night without her sleeping next to me! She passed away too young. I’m just not strong enough for this..

They are super pretty, nice, cool, loving, caring, and get prettier if you stare at them long enough. If you really think about women are awesome. Wouldn’t be here without them so… Let’s hear it for all the women!!! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 Ladies if you feel down just know you are not “just a girl” you can do anything with enough practice.
Unless you use that excuse for doing something extremely dumb then pfft….
(Boys are Ight I guess) ((I’m a boy)) Also I’m doing this bc I kinda feel bad about how women were being treated like for all over history. In early Japan, a woman was either a whore, a housewife, a princess, or a criminal. A man however had a lot more opportunities. A fuck ton actually.
Whatever what I’m trying to say is I love women. Not looking for validation just saying women are cool and if your level headed enough you would agree

Alright, so somebody else posted the clip on this sub, but Josie (who click baited everyone into watching her stream by saying she had "big news", only for it to be that she was going to an anime convention) confirmed that she will not be on season 2.5 on her stream.
I was already expecting that, but her reasoning was that she wanted to try being a better YouTuber first, but lets be real, NONE of us super giga chad Fish fans would actually want to be plopped into the North Atlantic wilderness in a Hunger Games + Survivor situation while being harassed by homeless people dressed as vampires, let alone a cutemaxxer hamster streamer girl. Even when she went into the desert to make a plastic fire chicken it was during the cold months and this would be in the summer, the lack of AC is enough to turn most of us away. Frankly, I think Tayleigh might be the only girl Fish that has that dog in her to survive out in the wild, but prove me wrong.
I know they said it was going to be the Fishtank All-Stars, but I doubt we'll be seeing Letty or Trisha for the previous reasons (Whatever happened to Letty? She kind of just disappeared???), but what other fan favorites are probably no going to be there? I dont think we're going to see Jimmy, even though this would have been right up his alley.