Okay so to preface, I know I am young and I still have my whole life ahead of me, but this truly feels like something I don't know how to come back from. The beginning is a vent but the last paragraph is the actual question.
TL;DR I was in a completely healthy happy relationship that now after it ended, I don't know how to move on or love again. i feel completely stuck on him and would do anything to get him back.
I (18F) met my ex-boyfriend Nick (20M) after I graduated high school through a mutual friend. He was on a road trip at the time to visit his family back home, he lived across the country from his family for work, I had gotten his Snapchat through one of my close girlfriends who was dating one of his friends. One of the first things I was told was he had never been in a relationship, and never kissed a girl. I thought this was INSANE because if you saw this man (tall, muscular, dark hair and iconic jawline) you wouldn't believe for a second that he doesn't have girls fawning all over him.
Ironically, I had gotten his snap right as he left for this week-long road trip, so the first week we communicated was solely through pictures. I thought he was dry at first, but he was really (and I mean really) cute. I ended up getting the courage to call him so we could properly chat. He was super funny, sweet, and nerdy. I remember I couldn't wait for our first date. Fast forward a month and Nick and I are dating, things are going better than ever. I truly have never felt more loved, supported, and protected than when I was with him. He bought me flowers "just because", and would keep his fridge stocked with my favorite drinks. He taught me how to play chess and video games, would always have a hand on the small of my back, and for the entire length of our relationship, I never so much as touched a door handle.
I have a history of problems with mental health, specifically eating disorders and depression. Even though I was his first relationship, he handled it in stride. I occasionally had panic attacks, and somehow he just knew innately how to deal with them. One thing I had never experienced before was someone lightly blowing on me while having a panic attack, which I have since learned is one of the only things that can calm me down. I had asked him once how he knew what to do and he just said it just "felt right" . That was how things worked with him. He saw a problem and solved it. I barely ever had to ask him to do anything more than once if at all. My family loved him, and he helped my dad out around the house, joked around with my sister, and had a great relationship with my mom. We were the couple my single friends wanted to be like. I had been through so many awful relationships and situationships that I truly thought this was the universe apologizing.
The issue, however, comes down to how we grew up. Nick grew up in a very religious and right-wing state, whereas I grew up more west coast in a relatively liberal area. Before I met Nick, when I started recovery from my ED, I discovered marijuana. Weed was something that genuinely helped me eat, deal with my anxiety, and helped me sleep. I can admit during my senior year of high school I took it a bit far, and definitely smoked more than my fair share. He knew about this early into the relationship, and he never really liked it, but he knew it was part of my life. Being someone who grew up religious, Nick was adamantly anti-weed, and I knew this so while we both knew about my usage, it was kind of an unspoken issue. I never smoked around him, avoided calling or messaging him when I was high to avoid him being uncomfortable, and I did my best to not talk to my friends about weed when around him either.
Fast forward a few more months, and we had plans to go to the zoo after I had gone on a hike with my friends. He picked me up and drove me to a parking lot off the highway and explained that he wanted to talk. I have pretty bad abandonment issues so I immediately went into fight or flight mode and asked if he was breaking up with me. With tears in his eyes, and not looking at me, Nick mumbled yes. Cue the instant and debilitating panic attack from me (arguably the worst one I've ever had). He somehow managed to calm me down enough to talk, and he explained that the weed was a huge issue for him even though he said he was fine with it in the past. I was shocked and blindsided because as far as I knew, we were just going to the zoo. I tried to explain how it helps me and I could quit if he wanted me to, and he said that was not what he wanted. he just couldn't think of me the same way knowing I smoke. While we were talking, I had texted my mom to come get me. We were trying to work things out, at this point we are both crying, he said he loves me and wanted to be with me, but he doesn't think he could get over this. My mom gets to the parking lot, I sort of stumbled to the car, basically holding myself together by a thread. As soon as I closed the door I screamed. A blood curdling scream that held so much anguish and pain that my mom started crying. I truly felt like I had lost a limb.
Those three days without contact were brutal, and on the fourth day, I caved and called him. We met up that day (I called him at 5am and we met up around 6am) and we both apologized. He said he felt like he made a huge mistake, and that he hadn't been able to stop thinking about me. I promised I would stop smoking weed, and we both swore to each other that there would be no more secrets or issues between us, that we would talk about how we feel as soon as we feel like something is wrong.
For a while this worked, the no-smoking wasn't too bad, even though it was still a point of contention between us. But then I started to remember why I smoked in the first place. I became more depressed, food stopped looking good, and I was withdrawing into myself. He noticed this and we talk about it, but ultimately there was nothing we could do, because I knew I would lose him if I went back to smoking.
Things were good for a while, we talked about everything, and every issue got resolved within the week if not the day. I had my person back, and life felt good again. Everything was going smoothly up unitl a few weeks before our 6 months (I know this was a lot to happen in 6 months). I started to feel Nick going distant, not cold or anything, and he said nothing was wrong, but I could tell something was nagging at him. One Monday, he called me and said he wanted to talk. This immediantly raised red flags because last time he said that we broke up. we facetimed and he confessed he was feeling like he wasn't being true to himself in the relationship. He felt like he wasn't going to the gym as often as he wants, and he doesn't have any time to himself. This one conversation ended in him driving to my house, a hours-long confession of everything he had been bottling up, and when he left that evening, I was single again.
My actual question paragraph is below:
I hope now everyone has context for why this relationship was so influencial in my life, and now getting to the part i need advice on. It has currently been about a month and a half since we broke up, and though I was half-hearted trying on dating apps, and I am somewhat talking to a guy right now, I can't stop thinking about Nick. I know if it didn't work out not once but twice, its probably going to happen, but I haven't had such a deep connection so fast before, and I don't want to give up on us just yet. its not that I don't want a relationship right now, but if its not with Nick I don't know if I want one ever, he taught me to never accept less than I deserve, and that I am worth loving and being treated like a princess. I have never felt more appreciated, safe, or cherished than when I was with Nick. Is it worth moving on? Or am I leaving my soulmate? Is it possible to feel love like this again? Is it worth messaging him or will I just get my heart broken instead?
Sorry for the long post, I guess I needed to get stuff off my chest. Any advice or similar experiences are welcomed, thank you!!

That 2.5% is completely my fault. I go to class and sleep. I come home and sleep. Play a few games, scroll through yt and insta and go to sleep to repeat the same shit again. I sleep arround 16 hours a day depending on the day and I know this is unnatural, but I can't stop. Even as I write this, I am hella sleepy and I just got up from a 2 hour nap. What do I do? I think the worst part is that I don't give a shit. I have been failing for the past year, usually end up passing in the finals but this is a new low for me. I need to get serious about my life but these days it seems like the only thing that I care about is sleeping. Even playing games or watching movies is boring which are things that I used to be very passionate about.
I need help, please tell me somethings that worked for you if you ever went through a similar phase in your life because I am genuinely fearing that I might have to repeat the year if I do this, because I have failed in every subject of mine.

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.

This story takes place around 15 years ago, I was 18 years old then. My brother, my cousin and I just to sing at church choir. I was very innocent at 18, we moved to the US just 3 years before, never had a boyfriend and knew nothing about relationships, so at church I met this guy, I’ll call him John, he was around 10 years older than me. John was extremely nice, sweet, and my brother’s best friend. I did not care much about him by then. But he started to email me(cause I didn’t have a cellphone yet). Anyway, he started emailing, so we got to get to know each other better, I fell in love with him, he was the best boyfriend you could ever imagine, the first 6 months. After those, it became a nightmare, I met another guy, he had a girlfriend. I was not interested in him, he was just a friend that I saw very occasionally. This guys gf and my bf started talking to each other a lot, she was pregnant(she cheated on her bf and was trying to convince him to take care of her child) she was paranoid that her bf would fall in love with me and she got my bf paranoid as well. They started pressuring us to stop talking to each other and that just pushed us to talk a little more about what was happening. My bf began pressuring me to have sex with him, he said he loved me too much and wanted to be with me. He was very good at manipulation, he succeded. There was only one very small issue(I think that pretty much says it all). So it was good for him I guess, but for me it was not a nice experience, I hated it. After the first time he pressured me so much that it happened very often. I felt violated every time because I didn’t want to do it. It is getting long. Long story short. When I tried to brake up with him, he texted all of my male friends which at that time I had around 4, and he told them extremely nasty things about me. None of them wanted to tell me what he said, they just told me that those were things that a man should never say about a woman. They helped me end up things, I was in a very bad place mentally. I finally broke up with him and told him I would report him to the police if he ever tried to contact me again. He told me I would end up pregnant very soon and wished me the worst luck ever. By then, my friend had also broken up with his gf due to her toxicity and not being able to forgive the cheating. Plus, when all this was happening, we were talking a lot, I guess we fell in love, but were not ready to start dating since I was traumatized with everything that happened to me. Anyway, my ex got married one year later to one of my friends, for what I heard, they have not been able to have kids. They separated and I think they got together again. I, on the other hand, dated my friend for four years, got married, have 2 kids, our home, and are very happy. For me, that us revenge.

the title makes it sound worse but i don’t really know where to start this. my boyfriend and I have been together for close to 3 and years and have lived together for almost 1. everything has been perfect up until recently. we’ve never been in a real argument because we are so open on communication and making sure the other is feeling loved, constantly working on all areas. we have been a little distant recently, and i’ve brought it up, but it felt more like since we’ve been living together for almost a year we just got so comfortable and have become more like roommates than “dating” each other if that makes any sense. he told me yesterday he was having doubts and he doesn’t know why. he said it was just a small 1% chance of him that has been questioning it and he’s so confused on why he’s unsure. it hurts, i know he’s my soulmate and we’re so connected. while he was telling me, he kept saying it wasn’t anything i did or was doing and i was perfect and i’m his girl and he doesn’t know why he’s having these feelings but he didn’t want to hide them from me or feel like he’s lying to me. i’m glad he said something so he didn’t continue to push away and we can work on it. we both do want to work on it and we’re renewing our lease still and i want to spend my life with him, but it’s scary knowing there’s a doubt in his head about the same. i would work through anything for him, other than cheating, and i just want to put in all of the effort we can. i said we can do more dates since we haven’t been doing that as much or anything with more quality time. maybe therapy, not sure if couples or individual would be better but that’s an option. we lost touch on the little things, and we talked about that, but i’m so scared to lose him because he truly is the love of my life. i don’t ever want to love someone the way i love him. he said he can’t promise me anything other than us trying our best to make this work and he’s hopeful we will make it through. he gave me a promise ring, he promised, i’m just really scared to lose him. anyone have any advice or similar experience??

Firstly, in one word: Clutter There are so many pieces of furniture, vases, railings, tools etc that are already in game that would make the game significantly better if they were made available to build. You don't even have to put it in the craft peoples options creatively.
You could just simply jam it all in under clutter and then worry about it later (it's EA after all ;) )
It is just hard to see people using cheat engine and the like so that they can do what we all want to do.
I don't need new fancy stuff that is in hollow halls just give me the things that I see in front of me in towns and let me build it please.
Secondly: A scythe that fast harvests every plant it touches/destroys that I can swing like a 2 handed weapon.
But if you can't do second please just do clutter. A friend of mine has just started to play the game and she said she is excited to be able to make the stove tops in the kitchen (non functioning just decoration) and I had to tell her that she won't be able to yet without a cheat engine. She just assumed it was available because we see it in towns.
Anyway end rant. I really appreciate you as developers. Your game is incredible. I just want to build what I can see :)
Sincerely
Just a Builder

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!

AI is fucking terrifying. It's running off of all our ad bullshit. It knows who we are and what we believe. There is international law that we can't create a killing machine that is run by AI. That shit will last until the first shitty dictatorship makes a program that runs off of AI that targets specific people. Honestly it doesn't matter what it does, the second a near peer uses it, is the second America, or the UK or any "democratic" power uses it for war. It will be more effective than anything humans have ever fought against. In that effectiveness AI will be a tool to take control over the people. We will become slaves. All of us.
With enough money and power, there will be nothing that we can do. Little rich assholes will enforce fear and control upon us all. They will lose that power themselves. All it would take is some group that could use the AI death swarm more efficiently. We will be at the mercy of any power that knows how to use this shit efficiently.
I've been fucking around with this AI shit and it's scary. I'm an artist and I can clock it from a mile away but it doesn't stop shitty little assholes from using this fake art instead of human art. It can be trained on us but it isn't us.
It's like chemical weapons or atomics. If you were a world power and your enemy used a highly advanced AI what the fuck are you gonna do? The same fucking thing. Then you're gonna realize how much control you can enforce with this power. You'll be able to enslave people with no effort.
I'm looking at the glass mostly empty but fuck you. You all know what happens with absolute power. It corrupts absolutely.
There are so many useful idiots that hate people of color, trans people, gay people, immigrants, etc. All scapegoats that draw your attention away from the real fuckers. Well those assholes are going to make it to where you can't ever be free. The worst cyberpunk dystopia will be our reality and you'll realize they used any bullshit culture war talking point to distract you from the real enemy.
I really want you assholes on the right to realize that were on the same side. Stop fucking with people trying to just live their lives, why do you think you should have control over other people? Yall love freedom, where the fuck is that sentiment?
Yeah cool, AI can help us write emails and do schoolwork, but it will become a highly efficient killing machine that we will have a very hard time fighting against.
Don't let the rich assholes tell you who to hate. They're only trying to deflect hate that rightfully should fall upon them. Within the next few years, shit is going to get scary. Drones will kill any person fighting for a better world.

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.

I (45 f) have one daughter (18) and no grandchildren.
My boyfriend’s best friend, Andy, started dating a single mom, Jessica, with a 2 year old (Karla) about 2 years ago. Right after they started dating her mom had issues with her regular sitter and even though I work full time, I volunteered to keep Karla on my 2 week days off. I like Karla a lot and if I have errands to run I just take her with me. She’s a typical child, but I didn’t and don’t mind planning my things around her. She’s neither exceptionally well-behaved nor a terror. On the rare occasion that I can’t take her (like a doctor’s appointment), I leave her with my teenage daughter or in a pinch bf will come home from work and watch her until I get home. Now that she’s in preschool, I usually pick her up at noon on my days off because they do school work in the morning. On days I don’t pick her up she stays in aftercare until 5:30 when her mom gets off of work.
Jessica’s sister left her husband and has gone to work for the first time since her 3 year old was born. The three year old is attending the same preschool as Karla and also generally stays in after care until her mom gets off work. I don’t really know her sister or niece except for having seen them at birthday parties and stuff like that. From what I have seen she was never a well-behaved child. Whining, crying, fit throwing when told no, demanding (walks up to her mom and says, “Fill my cup.” And mom does it.), hitting adults and other children, biting, snatching things from other children. None of this corrected by her mom who shrugs and says, “She’s an only child.” Jessica mentioned that her niece is having a difficult time adjusting and has been worse than typical for her and is now refusing to use the potty and is wetting herself again and is back in pull-ups. It’s all very understandable because she’s 3 and has gone through a ton of life changes.
Without talking to me they promised both girls I’d pick them up if the 3 year old goes all day at school (so from 7:30 until noon) without an accident and tells the school that as well. This literally gets sprung on me in the car pick up line. I only had one car seat so I take Karla as planned, leave the other child to finish her school day and call Jessica as soon as I get home. She hadn’t thought about the car seat thing.
When Jessica picked Karla up I explained to her that while I love children, I only like having 1 child at a time. (That’s why I only had 1). I enjoy spending time with Karla but have no intention regularly taking both girls. I was as polite as I could be in an awkward situation, but left no doubt that I’m not watching a 3 year old and a 4 year old on a regular or semi regular basis, and it is definitely not okay to spring it on me without talking to me. Jessica seemed to understand.
Andy called bf and said that they decided that instead of taking Karla 2 afternoons a week that I should take one day to rest with no kids and have both girls the other, or take 1 child each afternoon. I took the phone from bf and explained (again) that I am absolutely not keeping both girls any day of the week and that I’m not keeping Jessica’s niece at all. Andy said he thought I was a nicer, more understanding person and can’t believe how heartless I am being towards Jessica’s sister and niece, who are having a really hard time right now. He also said that they’ve decided that I can’t take just Karla. The girls are now a package deal and I have to do for both of them or neither.
Now Andy and Jessica are boarder line rude to me at social functions and they have told Karla that I’m too busy to pick her up from school.
Am I the asshole because I don’t want to babysit a random poorly behaved 3 year old?

Note to the reader: This is a one-shot for writing practice and not canon to the Trappist universe I normally write in.
Everybody scoffs and rolls their eyes when given instructions they have no plan on following, and this was no different. Torrent Vindicti couldn't hit the delete button hard enough, the mutarin nearly chipping her claw in the moment of indignation.
A voice came from the other end of the bunks, “you alright, Tory? I felt that anger flare way over here.”
She silently scowled for a moment, exchanging an accusatory glance with one of her symbiont's tentacles before replying, “sorry, just really pissed off at some bureaucracy. Did I wake you?”
Kyle yawned and hopped down from his bunk, “Yeah. Was having a really good dream, was on this beach with a chick and…I'll skip the details but suddenly she's you and you were shouting something about murder and cowardice?”
She sent another telepathic flare, this time deliberately, contrition and apology, before speaking, “Yeah. A general advisory just came through on the news feeds. I um…I don't want to be the one to tell you, but your homeworld just had war declared on it.”
Kyle laughed a bit, getting a cup of khali juice from the drink dispenser, “who is it this time?”
“It still unnerves me just how efficient humans are at compartmentalizing their emotions. It's the Arakhin, who else?”
“That's hardly news. They're warmongers and the empire's got our back.”
“That's the part that pissed me off. I…look, I'm…so, our ship is technically company property and…”
The telepathic equivalent of an eyeroll came through before her symbiont began speaking through her, “Torrent sucks at using words, hi, Eddy here, we were ordered to send you to your death.”
Kyle just blinked, stopping mid-sip on his drink, “Okay, you have my attention. It's gotta be bad if Cur's hijacking your voice.”
Torrent and Eddy's tentacles twitched and she narrowed her eyes, still Eddy speaking, “please stop calling me that. I am Eddy, my image name is a type of current, not a canine.”
He just shrugged, “And my image name is a college frat stereotype, nobody's perfect. So how are you killing me, exactly?”
Torrent resumed being the one speaking, “The arakhin announced any and all humans found will be killed or taken as hosts on sight. The company has decided that having human crew onboard presents an unacceptable risk. We're supposed to give you your severance and dump you at the nearest station.”
She mentally braced, hardening her empathic receptors, expecting fury, worry, sorrow, anything in that spectrum. Instead she felt pure, unadulterated humor. The shock threw her completely off balance and she stared at him in confusion, both her minds struggling to make sense. It wasn't a trauma response, she'd been around humans enough to recognize the feeling when they slammed a door shut on an unwanted emotion, this was genuine.
Kyle noticed her blank stare and limp tentacles and he just smirked, “Glad to know they're finally afraid of us.”
She just blinked, giving a slight shimmer of her markings, a reaction he'd seen enough times to know it was the mutarin version of a confused shrug, as once again he was the source of the reaction.
He finished his drink before elaborating, “For being sanguivores, you guys really lack that predator insight. What kind of person puts out a KOS on an entire species?”
“Somebody who's angry?”
“Right. And arakhin are parasites, predators, egocentric to a fault. What makes a megalomaniac angry?”
It clicked and she gave an understanding “oohhh” in stereo, “heh, they're angry because they can't push you around?”
“Like a bully on the playground.”
“That's great for your species, but what about you personally? If I just dump you on a fuel depot on the tail-end of nowhere, you won't be able to find anybody willing to ferry a human, you might even get kicked out of the depot itself. People are panicking, arakhin are horrifying on a good day, but now they're on the warpath.”
“Let me worry about that. I take it Tourin and Granite don't know yet?”
“They're still in bed.”
“Look, I know it's eating you up, but–”
“Just say you don't want to go. I'll…we're near a nebula, I could say the transmission got corrupted. I could bide some time or something…”
“Tory, Cur, you two are a fine captain and I'm not gonna let my situation ruin a spotless record. I'll be fine. Just, you know, swing back around to pick me up after my friends finish making the galaxy's biggest lobster boil.”
“The other two won't stand for it.”
“Then don't tell them till after I'm gone. I'll borrow the starboard escape pod, we need to take it in for maintenance anyways, I'll patch it up while I'm out, maybe pick up some milk and bread…”
There it was, the pang she was waiting for. Finally his humor broke and she saw other emotions under the surface. It wasn't fear, though, it was sadness, with an undercurrent of loneliness, and something else, something buried. In spite of Eddy actively whispering in her mind not to reach out to it, she did. It was frustration, frustration and seething anger, pure, primal, and held like a caged beast deep in his subconscious. She doubted he was even aware it was there and quickly backed out before her intrusion into his mind was noticed.
He began transferring his passwords and files over, then gave her a terse salute, “Let's not complicate it with long goodbyes, alright? Just send the severance to that crypto account you kept mocking me for having. Finally coming in handy for something, right?”
She wanted to offer some platitude, but his emotions were starting to worry her. It was like watching a pot about to boil over. No, it was more like watching dents forming in a door as something on the other side strikes it, trying to escape. She simply gave a pulse of her markings, the equivalent of a nod, and sent him on his way.
The beast she saw lurking in his mind was actively burrowing to the surface.
She sighed to herself as she watched the escape pod shrink into the distance and Eddy spoke up in her mind, “I'd always thought the feral instinct thing was a myth. Never thought Kyle had something like that in him.”
Fear crept into the corners of Torrent's mind and Eddy coiled his tentacles on her arms, holding his host protectively, “You did the right thing for the safety of the ship.”
She sat like that for a while, staring at the black outside until she was snapped out of her trance by Taurin at the doorway, the Yenesh looked irritated and was holding up an empty box, “Where's Kyle? We're missing a rifle and ten plasma cells from the armory.”
Torrent couldn't help but smirk and start laughing, markings nearly strobing, “Oh I do not envy whatever arakhin bastard he crosses paths with first.”

Hey all! I’m 51 and recently started using estrogen creams on my face, neck, upper chest. I’d researched it and learned it is very helpful for perimenopausal and menopausal women’s skin (I also researched all the other stuff ie potential for cancer - none for me - etc etc). Anyways - one thing the research did NOT tell me is that doing this can also potentially increase melasma. I noticed an increase in mine and finally started putting 2 and 2 together and the culprit is the estrogen cream. I just wanted to warn everyone about this on this sub. For me, I think I will keep using it bc melasma is easier to cover up than all the other havoc low estrogen causes in your face…. But I’ll keep a closer eye on it and avoid some areas that are already very melasma-y.

So this happened recently and I already know I was a bit of an AH when I was younger but I just got home from a college semester and already my parents and I are off to a rocky start. For context, my family are dysfunctional to say the least, my dad thinks yelling is a normal way to have a conversation and my mother can almost always turn any conversation into an argument. This may seem biased bc I am from the receiving end but still. Anyways, last night we had dinner that my dad made (my mom and dad alternate making dinner since I’m a really terrible cook - I am trying tho), and I made a comment how the breaded chicken tasted like fish. We were also having a risotto, both frozen. I have made it very clear in the past that risotto is not my favorite as the texture really grosses me out but I still eat it as they taught me to never leave food on your plate (which honestly has made me really anxious and guilty whenever I don’t want to finish food I dislike). My dad gets very annoyed by this and starts yelling so I go to my room bc after years of this, I know the only thing to do is to wait until tomorrow and pretend it never happened. My mom came to my room later and said I would be cooking dinner on Friday and I said it was a terrible idea since I don’t know how to cook. Today, I’m on my way to work with my mom (we only have one car so I couldn’t monopolize it today) and she starts telling me that I need to have a meal planned and I tell her it’s probably going to not be the greatest since I don’t really know how to cook. For context, I’ve asked my parents to teach me how to cook but they really dislike when they cannot control everything in the kitchen, so I usually end up just cutting vegetables. Anyways, I tell my mom that I’ll make the frozen shrimp we have, pasta, and roasted vegetables like broccoli, since these are things that I can make decently. She says this is unacceptable since I wanted to learn to cook so I have to make the meal from start to finish without frozen food and I had to go buy the ingredients and not just cook whatever we had in the cupboard (which is what I said about the pasta since I know we have some but I’m not sure the type). I called her hypocritical since we just had a frozen meal and my parents always try to eat out of the house. The only thing new we would be getting would be the vegetables. AITA?

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]

So we live in a subdivision and we have a neighbor on one side and they were on the other side so the neighbors who moved in because we were here first and it's a brand new subdivision they are pretty cool they keep themselves they are kind of private just like us, the other neighbors beside us they from the start have been very adamant and in your face kind of neighbors
But that's not the issue the issue is how we ended up on meeting and what's been going on ever since
Usually my family we go ahead and we take my children myself and my husband to go knock or ring the doorbell and introduce ourselves and strike up friendly conversation etc, this is how we see it appropriate or just meeting everybody so we're not going back and forth then doing that whole thing we just want to get it out the way and have everybody meet everybody
So I'm working from home in my home and my husband is outside playing basketball with my children and the neighbors who are kind of in your face are home but the husband and the wife are home and the children the woman next door sends her children inside and then walks over to my husband and just loudly just waves him over and she's like always your wife home and he's like she's busy, and she just like oh I wanted to meet all y'all and all this other stuff and she just said that her children have been trying to meet my children and it was kind of odd because she sent them in before she came over to say hello to my husband and didn't bring her children to say hello to my children who are out there playing basketball with my husband also she didn't make it a point to go inside and get her husband who was also in the home to come outside so they can all collectively say hello which was kind of off-putting.
But nothing else was thought of it so it had been a while since any interaction, me and my children ended up bumping into her husband on our way to the mailbox and we had a conversation and said hello and a few things and my children met his children they started to play because they actually wanted to meet them just like she said and what not so we let them play for a little bit we only just talked for a moment and then I left went back home and then shortly later in the day the whole family comes and shows up to our home I guess he told her that we had a conversation and the children played so I guess she then wanted to come and meet me.
So they show up to the door they come at dinner time and we're just kind of in a rush and so we all say hello and this is when the red flag weird stuff starts to happen is after her husband is standing in front of her she's lightly kind of behind him so he can't really see what she's doing but she's just like back and forth staring down my husband like a piece of meat, giggling and trying to catch his gays repeatedly, and then looking back and forth at her husband trying to see if he's looking or not she didn't look at me one time while she was standing on my porch and then I made a comment and said that I had met one of her relatives when I was going on a bike ride and she said that she likes my hair and my outfit and she said oh okay and then she continued to glance back and forth at my husband and her husband and she had no interest in me and having any kind of conversation or real meeting of hello or anything.
So after that it left a bitter taste in my mouth because people like that they tend to have it all but they need more and they need like attention from the outside even though they have everything right in front of them they can't really see it. but anyway she struck me as this attention seeker and it turns out she actually is.
so her whole family came to the door, we were eating dinner, and they wanted to know if our children could come out and play and I said we just sat down to eat and you can tell that she was bothered by that and bothered by the fact that I answered the door because before she came up she was primping herself on the doorbell camera,
So I let her know that we would be coming out later after we're done so we go over and then I have her children come out and play with my children for a little bit.
We end up having a conversation while they were playing and at first she did seem kind of genuine but then she started to get over the top and just started saying I was so funny and she kept hitting me and trying to be buddy buddy and over and over again putting her hands on me laughing and it was very off putting and very fake feeling like she was trying to get bloody buddy with me somehow very quickly.
She referred to my husband as Daddy and it was kind of off-putting the way she had said it and then because I didn't like the way she said, what about daaaadyy is what she said when she asked about my husbands involvement in our day today which was kind of weird.
So I went ahead and when we were talking I said it back to her yeah your children probably need daddy too and I said exactly how she did and hopefully she got the head but nope and also she was asking me for advice about staying home and needing to be out just needing to be doing something because her husband was taken care of her too much and working but he wasn't even working a lot he work from home and in the office but he said she didn't have to and that he takes care of her but she doesn't want him to she wants to just be out there in the streets essentially doing something and being seen.
Her words not mine.
And she said she can't help it because she had her children she doesn't want to be just cooped up in the house everyday or something like that.
And so that was kind of off-putting and then I mentioned focusing on your family like being present with them and focusing solely on them reaps really good benefits because you create a closer Bond and you don't need outside anything to feel complete essentially what you have is inside of you and I just kind of reference that when she kept saying that she needs to just be on the go when she can't sit still and she said her husband always says that he's got her and that their mom needs them and things like that and I said I agree because I know how I am with my children and I have my children all the time and my family works really great because of the way our dynamic works and I tried to like give some knowledge and information to her but she kind of wasn't hearing it and didn't seem interested really in that dynamic.
So after that day she text me and wants me to go to the park with him but I'm in the shower and I never see her text message till I'm done and I have like this whole routine so it takes about an hour or so until she's just like in the park and I finally text her back the park is up the street and I text her back and she's just like kind of upset that I didn't show up and that's understandable but I did let her know like hey I was busy and I didn't see your text message can we try and do something else and so I let her know that we can have the boys hang out and we hang out tomorrow and then the next day me and my kids went for a walk and she was also on a walk with her child, we briefly passed each other cuz I'm coming out of my house and she's entering up the sidewalk to the driveway to her house she sees me and I just kind of stand there waiting so I can wave her and she just like looks through me and continues to walk
So I didn't think anything of I just kind of laughed to myself because it was kind of a petty cuz she clearly saw me but whatever but I texted her when I got back from the walk and said hey I saw you on our walk a few minutes ago I don't know if you saw me, but I just wanted to let you know that the boys are available at this x amount of time, she text me back later lets me know the time works out so the boys and I come out there later on that day at that time then this was before our dinner time so I tried to accompany and accommodate, my children are out there playing basketball and this woman literally at the exact time at her children are supposed to be out there text me and said one of her children were in trouble and can't come out there we'll catch you all next time
And I said thanks for the courtesy etc and so the next time we saw her was when my husband was cutting the grass I was inside doing some housework he was outside cutting the grass with my children running back and forth doing everything like they usually do and so during that time she makes her way outside and she's got this really short pink dress on and it's like really cold outside and it was just like really alarming to me and she's just like out there walking around sweeping her front porch and then like while my husband is cutting the side that's closest to their house she's like back to back with him and she just makes it a point to be like hey how you doing and just other stuff even though earlier in the day when we got home we both wave to them from the car and said hey and so it was kind of odd that she made another appearance to try and speak to my husband, he brought this to my attention and he said that he was very brief about it because he knows how things are between me and her and how we revives were between us and so he just briefly said Hi and then turn back around and kept cutting the grass and so I guess that wasn't enough attention for her
So after he was done cutting the grass I never took myself outside even though he said that she was out there and was trying to strike up a conversation, after that and he started to do the wrap up , but the hose away put the gutters back on and all that stuff blow the grass away.
And so basically I get a notification on my phone from the doorbell camera and the garage camera went off as well and I'm like okay someone has been spotted that's what it says and I look and I see this person standing there in a pink dress mini dress she's right there in front of my house sweeping the grass out of my driveway and sweep in the grass almost basically to the other side of the neighbor's house she's directly in front of my house sweeping my grass up going back and forth essentially waiting for my husband to come out there and I don't know what have an interaction talk I don't know look at me I'm cleaning up your grass I have no idea
And so I let my husband know like I see this happening right now on the camera and then he's just like I'm about to go cook dinner he goes to go cook dinner and I let him know I'm going to handle the cleanup and then I go out there with the broom and I walk out there I don't say anything to her and I just started sweeping and then she looks shocked to see me cuz I don't even think she knew I was home because the car wasn't in the driveway and then she just walks past and she's just wiping her nose and has her head down and she just walks back up to her driveway, her husband was cutting the grass on the other side of the house by the way her children were running around but she was in front of my house and in my driveway back and forth sweeping my grass instead of over there helping her husband with his yard work she was in my driveway and the other side of my yard sweeping the grass
And then she just after she gets back to her side of the house she's just like hey how you doing? And I say good and then I keep sweeping and then like she got this like grin on her face and she's just like see that I'm like visibly like annoyed with her and so she just keeps it moving, and so after that I went to the house and got the leaf blower and just started blowing the grass out so I can get back in the house cuz I was just like I was just really irritable, I'm blowing the grass and then I hear her come up right behind me and say hey hey where did you get that leaf blower at and I turned around and I said I don't know it's old and then I continue to blow the grass away and I guess she took the hat because I was pretty Stern with it and I think she came back to say something to me to see if I was in a good mood or to see if I was still like angry essentially because she got caught doing what she was doing
I didn't sugar coat when I spoke to her and I'm thinking okay she got the hint. And then a few days later she tried to make a playdate and then I said my children are unavailable at that time then, we were going to a nearby Creek and taking my children they wanted to go and we ate before we left we were going to leave around like 4:30 and so we didn't leave at 4:30 we ate and then we were going to leave now as we are eating I get a notification on the doorbell camera and the garage camera yet again and it says person has been spotted I checked the camera and she's out there walking back and forth back and forth back and forth with her children trying to see if we're going to come out trying to see if she can wave at us in miraculous and any kind of way I don't know but she's in front of our house her house on the complete other side and she's just back and forth walking with them
And we ended up leaving a close to 5:00 p.m. so by that time she already went in the house
And after that I just was done with any kind of interactions with her because she is very off putting and she gives off this vibe and energy of I am being fake. And I have an ulterior motive and I need to Garner attention from Men even though I have one.
Even the guy next to us was outside cleaning his car and then her husband was in the house yet again and after he went inside I guess he was like busy , So she took it upon herself to scream across the yard and say ooh that looks good. Referring to his car and so he comes over and then starts talking to her across from our yard and and her yard and she starts complimenting his car ridiculously and was just asking a bunch of stuff about his car and his pain and and what he does and how does he get it to look like that and just a bunch of stuff and what crossed my mind was the whole married women complimenting another man's car perfusively was kind of off-putting.
And so they carried conversation for a while and then to the point that he ended up getting his phone and trying to show her something about his paint job and then he actually paused before he actually had her come over and like look at the phone and she goes oh you can send it to me and I don't know if they have each other's numbers or whatever but I heard her say that and then he actually paused and said I sent it to your husband actually and then she was just like oh okay and then she stopped the conversation and went in the house
Just yesterday because we haven't had a moment to cut the grass in a while my husband cut the grass after he got off of work so me and the children were outside and we were all doing yard work like we usually do I was trimming and the boys were trimming and picking things up in the yard and she pulls up. Usually she picks up her kids and then goes in the home closes the garage and we don't see her the rest of the day, but since we are all out here and my husband's got in the grass she made it a point to pull up leave the garage open open trunk and just bring her kids out and have them running around in the driveway which I knew was going to happen, because whenever my husband's out there she makes it a point to be out there but when I hop out she flies inside of her house
So I'm out there packing up my grass and I was done because my mom had called and so I'm on the phone with her and my husband is starting to cut the side of the grass closest to her house and so, I say on the phone and I'm just like talking on the phone while looking into her driveway and garage knowing that she's going to pop out at any second to try and get some kind of attention from my husband because she's been doing that, she actually came out when I was right there just waiting and then she briefly raised her hand and waved while my husband didn't see her so he's over pushing the mower back and forth back and forth and conveniently she's in the garage going from one side of the car to the next side of the car from one side of the car to the next side of the car she did this about eight times
And he never looked her way didn't give her any kind of attention so eventually she went ahead and close the garage cuz I guess she saw me actually noticing what she was doing so she closed the garage and went house so my husband stops or is finished cutting the grass on that side of the house so he pushes it to almost the back of the outside of the fence now they don't have a fence, so her kids ran out and were right there while my husband was cutting the grass I'm guessing she was all so back there as well to try and say hello to my husband from the back of the house because she knew I was in the front of the house
And he said he didn't actually see her he was just focused on cutting the grass but I'm sure she was back there since her children were running around back and forth back there as well.
So that was pretty long but that's what has been happening since she moved in here, I am not sure how to go about anything her children seem very kind her husband is very nice and not red flaggy at all she on the other hand has the need to go up to every single neighbor and talk up people but specifically because I live next door to her it's like a game to her because she finds every moment to speak to my husband I haven't even mentioned the other times that he was out there just like cleaning out the car and she just hopped out it would just stand there and try and get his attention and then he would not give her any attention I wouldn't even look her way, it's like she can hear when we're out there or here when he's out there doing something and she can find a way to speak to him and it's really off putting and I'm not really sure what to do I've been closing all of my curtains and blinds because when she first got here she was actually looking and standing straight across looking straight. Into my house for a lot of good 5 minutes while I was vacuuming and so I close all my stuff up.
I would love some recommendations on how to peacefully handle this situation I am not sure what is going on mentally in this woman's head or why she needs to Garner this attention and I just want to be kind about it because I actually tried again and wished her a happy mother's day but then this incident happened after that so I am just done with the situation I feel like, I don't have any desire to try and be friends with her or even just be neighborly.
I would love some feedback or advice on how to peacefully go about this, the only time we are really out there is to cut the grass and do yard work which is pretty rare so I guess we don't have to really see them.
All feedback is welcome, I am close to pushing 40 so I really don't have the mental energy to deal with this kind of situation anymore I'm feeling like it's beneath me and very childish to actually do any kind of intentional situation as far as ignoring and things like that or being unkind I don't want to get roped into drama and things like that and I just wish that woman healing to be honest.
But I would love some feedback on this scenario thank you.

Hi Reddit,
I'm currently in a relationship for 1 year with my boyfriend and everything is going fine execpt for one thing, his ex.
To give a little background informantion, they've dated for 10 years and broke up about 3 years ago. The reason for this is that he fell in love with someone else during their relationship but they've seperated as friends. The reason things ended with this previous girl 26f, is because she also had a lot of troubles with his ex. I know he still feels guilty about what he did to her and it's a nice thing you can still be friends after this, well they have dated for 10 years so I can understand it's hard if you have to choose between friends and let some of them go because of this. I would never expect from him to drop his friends because his ex is also there a lot in some occasions, like festivals, drinks, weddings, etc. But my definition of seperating as friends is a lot different than his.
Like her, I feel like I'm not the priority, more like a third wheel sometimes. I'm very insecure about this topic probably because my ex cheated on me with 2 of his exes. It was a very dramatic breakup because of a number of reasons and a long story but I know this made me so insecure and fear it might happen again.
I told him this quite early in our relationship that this is a huge insecurity of mine and I have certain boundaries which he accepted I thought. But I know they have contact quite regularly, mostly text. I told him I wouldn't be comfortable if they were seeing each other just one on one, which I know they did a lot when he was dating the other girl. I'm not sure if he did it in our relationship, I just know of one instance. She was just getting some stuff in the house, were we now live together but he could have just communicated that to me. I know he asked her to come before I was home, which is very weird, if you don't have anything to hide then why do this. Tomorrow it's gonna be the same, she's getting some stuff while I'm at work and he just says I have to accept it and get over my insecurities. We had a lot of fights because of her. I can see her name constantly popping up his phone, so I know they text a lot. He told me they only text each other a couple of times a year, so I know that's a lie. But he just doesn't care anymore, he even enjoys it a litte bit to see me getting afraid I think. He just gets angry and there's no empathy at all.
I remember from the beginning when we were dating he told me to just accept the fact that he's friends with is ex, and I think he said it that blunt because of past frustrations with the other girl. But I was new in the situation and didn't have anything to do with that, in my opinion it was not needed to state it that harsh to me. I told him my story with my ex, but I feel he doesn't quite understand what it did to me. He has never been cheated on, which is good for him ofcourse, but he just doesn't get it what it can do to you. I know I'm overreacting as well, and I'm taking the steps to keep my emotions in control, like going to a therapist for this specific issue. My insecurity is getting the better of me and I'm also being to harsh to him sometimes, I know that. But it takes 2. He assures me he doesn't have feelings anymore, and I do believe that somehow. It's just the communication I don't get from him and understanding, why get so angry, why lie about stuff.
When we were together for a month we were supposed to go to a festival with some friends of his so I'd get to know them better but she was also going to be there. It was a group of 9 people so quite small. I told him that I wasn't comfortable yet doing so, I'm quite introverted and it takes a lot of energy for me to get to know new people. But he just expected me to do this so I could see I have nothing to worry about and everything would be chill and fine from then, but it's not chill and fine for me. I didn't go, but he did anyways and that just hurt me a lot. The first time meeting her was a kind of set up from him and he just pretended like he didn't know this would happen and got angry again at me because I was not prepared for that. And I cannot stress this enough but I told him, communicate these things with me, especially regarding your ex, because of my past experieces.
He just doesn't understand this is a very difficult topic for me and I have other boundaries than most people in this matter I suppose. I told him as well, if you cannot agree with my boundaries then it's no use to be in a relationship with me but he does want to stay and I know he loves me but this bothers me so much. It's no use forcing someone and everyone has different boundaries and insecurities due to past relationships. It's wonderful if you can find someone who can heal with you. I know I have to do a lot of that myself and cannot rely on another person to do that completely for me but still.
I'm someone who needs to talk about stuff and I know he's not used to that. His ex was not like that and they didn't really have that much deep conversations which he missed and he likes the fact that I do. But I can tell this is not in his comfort zone at all. I said it a number of times I really wanted to talk about this topic with him, properly. And he told me I can and I should, 'I promise we'll talk about it, you can ask me anything'. He even admits he avoids it. But it never really happened, and I'm confused as to why he gets so angry and why there's no empathy from his side. He just gets really awkward about it, even when I try to be nice to his ex, and I can because she's a nice girl, he just finds it really awkward. I just don't get it. He wants to push me into this 'friendship' with her but on the other hand that's too awkward for him. He gets angry because I'm insecure and I don't trust him, but he is just so vague about this topic and get no communication, only if I ask the questions.
Can anyone relate to this situation and give me some advice on how to handle this?
TL;DR! I'm very insecure about the relationship between my bf and his ex because of my past expierence of being cheated on with my previous partners ex. My bf expects me to just get over myself and stop being insecure. If I want to talk about it he gets angry because I don't give him trust, but he doesn't want to give me communication around the topic when I ask for it.

This is just a rant, some of you might disagree.
When dogs stay with me, they are crated if I’m not around and also overnight. I tell clients this up front and it’s on my profile as well. Recently I’ve run into a lot of humans that make a face or even argue with me about crating their dogs, even if it’s just overnight. The common sentiment is “I’m not sure why they need to be crated if they are good outside the crate at our house.”
We’ll just ignore the reality that most dogs act differently when not at home, but I also find it ridiculous that some people expect you to literally work 24/7. At the end of every day, I want to make sure I have time to myself with my dogs outside of their crates so that I can unwind too. If your dog is out and about, and I’ve never met them, I’m going to have to constantly be watching them. All of this for $50/24 hours? Get out of here.
I’ve just been losing a lot of business over this and it’s kind of annoying. I know it’s just a seasonal thing and the summer will pick up and plenty of people come through, but I just find it incredibly selfish that some humans are so entitled that they think that you should constantly be monitoring their dog for not a lot of money. If you wanna pay me $200 a day I suppose I could just give up my personal time and take the risk your dog might damage something in my home. But of course no one is looking to spend that much!
I just wish humans would stop thinking of their dogs like children, that’s all.

I do feel quite hungry and my mouth is longing for the taste of water. I haven't talked to anyone all day, and I haven't gone downstairs. All I've been doing is alternating between attending classes (I'm homeschooled) and crying / coping in bed.
My situation has gotten much worse these past few weeks. This is the 6th day in a row where I've cried. Otherwise, I could probably count the amount times I've cried in the past 4 years on my two hands.
On the other hand, I started dating a really sweet girl. I've known her for a while now prior to developing romantic feelings for her, and I'm really glad to have her in life.
"Why are you starving yourself then?", you might ask. I think she deserves better. I'm short, ugly skinny, lagging behind in school, etc. I'm practicing hard to get into career with a marginal chance of me making any sort of money or obtaining any form of success. I live on the other side of the country from her, meaning I can't be there for her properly when she needs someone to comfort her or to have a shoulder to cry on. I can't keep doing this to her. She deserves someone better, who can actually provide for her and be there for her when she needs it.
Although regardless of my flaws, she still accepts me for who I am. She tries her best to console me and to help me erase the self-deprecating thoughts circling in my head, the voices telling me that I don't matter and that I should die. I feel guilty, stupid, and like a burden everytime I vent to her and I make her listen to me and expend effort to go that far for me. I love her so much for caring to that extent, and I'm forever thankful. But I think she deserves someone who's mentally stable and doesn't drift in and out of being suicidal every couple days.
When we go to college, we'll probably both leave the country and to different ones at that. She would be a young woman in her 20s. She's pretty, and a wonderful girl too. So many people would be after her. I don't want to rob her of her prime years.
I don't have access to firearms, rope, and we don't we have strong medication in the house. It's either I deprive myself of the things necessary for my body to continue functioning, or I stab myself with a knife.
It's 10pm here now. I might be going to sleep in a few hours. Supposedly, death kicks in after 3 days of no water. It's already been 1 day. Maybe I won't wake up, and that's probably for the better. I think my partner and the other people around me would be much better off when I'm gone.
I hope that when I finally croak, no burial or memorial services are held for me. Then again, hardly anyone would be willing / able to go, just for me. I just want my organs donated if anyone can make use of them, and the rest to be cremated. Then the ashes thrown away in some corner to be forgotten.
Chantal, if you're reading this, I love you. You mean the world to me.

Not sure if this is the right sub but- Just something I think about every now and then.
When I first came out as trans (FtM) to my ex-partner, they were extremely supportive. I'm using gender-neutral terms here since I'm actually not sure how they identify currently. I haven't spoken to them or seen them in 3 years. When we broke up (due to issues unrelated to being trans) it was pretty messy I won't lie. We were highschool sweethearts, so we were together for long while.
About a year into our relationship, they brought up that they had watched a video that they really resonated with (I can't remember the video exactly but it was a short film relating to gender ) this was the piece of media that “cracked my egg”. We spoke about the video and how it was relatable but never really brought up the video or gender again after that. And about a month later I came out to them as trans. They were super supportive and I'm to greatful for that.
Three years into our relationship (two years after I came out) they began questioning and exploring their gender identit. They leaned mostly towards masc identifying but fem presenting most of the time. Sometimes gender fluid, sometimes non binary. Either way i was a pretty happy that I wasn't “alone” in a sense. Hated that they weren't feeling unsure about their identity because Iknow gender dysphoria is hell…but it was kind of comforting to be able to talk to someone about dysphoria. I would always try and comfort and validate them whenever I could since they did the same for me.
Anyway, when we broke up, we had a pretty lengthy argument and at some point during the fight I remember them telling me that they never came out as trans because they had help me with my transition. They admitted that the first time they brought up that video, they were trying to let me know that they were questioning their identity… but since I came out first they suppressed their feelings so they could support me better. Which they said made them feel worse later down the line. And which is why they felt to confused with their identity.
Now, I struggle to read between the lines so I often miss social cues and nuances in conversations which is something that they knew. So this made me feel like shit for a long time Even though I would help them with makeup, hair and lent them clothes to try support them when they did tell me they questioning, it Felt like I had failed as a boyfriend. Like I somehow stole their idea I guess?
I know gender dysphoria and break up stress can really get to a person so I honestly don't hold any grudges. Just hurts when you think you're doing good but turns out you're not
Anyway TLDR: Ex suppressed feelings of gender dysphoria because I came out first
This was supposed to be a short rant :’)
Edit: spelling

Hi there, i hope you are all having a great day! i would like to take your opinion guys I'm an IT engineer with a background in CS, but I've been unsure about where to focus my career. I have a passion and thriving for art and creativity and creating masterpieces, so I've developed my creativity to an advanced level. I also can validate that by my artworks as I used to do digital arts that i found people really loved my creations like some suggested that i need to put that skill in some thing worth it for me cause not all the people had the same creativity level and art vision as me, which prompts me to explore other areas like front-end development, back end, game development, AI, and machine learning. which i already knew and had some experience level with it but for sure im little rusty now i can bet on that but i can get back or even leave my current job and fucking camp as i used to do though im feeling confused where to go im scared to shift career and don't fined what im lookimg for like a more creative path were i get the chance to put my artistic vision into action in a feild that it could make a difference or get me into level to stand out of the crowed cause i can tell and even people around me say that im gifted with imagination and strong creativity that i was born with and i love art and creating something unique that really super awesome and i value art so much.
so my situation are currently i almost finish a year in IT, I'm feeling stuck and wondering if my artistic talents and fast learning abilities could set me apart in web development, particularly in front-end. I'm concerned about potentially wasting my IT experience, but I'm eager to pursue a path where I can leverage my creativity and maybe stand out of the crowed by having my artistic talent and ideas that could set me apart from the crowd as i said before so i would like to know the truth for real does it makes a difference to be an artist or not ? also if you were me what would you do would you waste your IT skills to shift and possibly take alot of time to get to the level im in right now in IT despite you don't like it that much also don't hate it ?
Do you think transitioning to web development would be worth it for someone like me? Would my unique skill set make me stand out in the field, or would I just be another candidate? I'd appreciate any insights or advice you can offer. Thanks !