After a wonderful year with an amazing girl (24F) who I(26M) fell in love with and was building a future with, I got suddenly dumped. Just a few days before the anniversary of the day we met.
About two months ago, after I returned from a trip, she came to meet me with the intention to break up because she felt the relationship had lost the ‘spark’. We had a healthy conversation and communicated the flaws and what was missing and decided that we would work on them together and revive it. Over the next month, we did exactly that, both proclaimed that we loved each other. We had our serious discussions and planned out the next couple months with weekend trips, and her introducing me to her mom who was supposed to visit this past weekend.
May 1st, her birthday, I surprised her, had a wonderful day on the weekend with her friends and everything seemed to be going great. She came by to spend the night next day and she would reiterate her feelings for me, through words and actions and everything seemed to be going great. May 8th, before going to sleep, I told her how much I missed her, and what exactly I missed about her to reiterate my feelings to show how serious I was as well. May 9th, morning, she replied normally and said she missed me as well and wished she could cuddle with me all day every day. I jokingly said I want to hear more, in detail as to how much she misses me. That message was followed by an entire day of silence. We were supposed to meet later that day however, she made up a reason to not meet and then called me later in the night and broke the news.
She felt she did not want to be in a relationship with me anymore. She had come to realize, that she would never love me the way I love her. We met a day later to say our goodbyes as I was in a state of shock. I was blindsided. I thought I only reciprocated the feelings. She mentioned that ‘I miss you’ message from me made her realize that she could never love me the same way. She said she will always hold love for me and care for me, and cherish the memories we made over the past year. I couldn’t muster up the courage to fight for us, how could I knowing that it was probably the last time I would be seeing her? I asked her what changed, what happened, what did I do and all she responded was ‘I don’t have an answer for you. I wish there was a reason, because you do and say everything that I want you to do and hear.’ Yet she left me. I didn’t beg, all I could say was, if that’s what you feel, how can I change your feelings?
I sent a letter proclaiming my feelings to her and why I said what I said and how ‘she’ had planned all those trips and plans over the next couple weekends and the summer. The day it got delivered, I sent her a message that I wasn’t expecting a response, even though I so much wanted to, and that I will be blocking/removing her from my instagram as that’s the only social media app I use.
She didn’t reply, it broke me apart, but maybe that was for the best? So, it’s been 17 days of no contact, and I miss her every day, all day. I truly loved her and this has broken me into a million pieces. She was the first girl I was going to confess my love for, to my conservative and religious mother. It felt like someone snatched the earth from beneath me. I wake up in the middle of the night multiple times trembling or sweating dreaming about her. I have lost 8 pounds due to a loss in appetite. I have been meditating, journaling, working out, playing soccer, staying busy as all of you have said but it still feels like a gaping hole in my heart. I get anxious and shortness of breath. I cry till I can’t cry anymore. Each day is a battle with myself so I don’t reach out to her.
How do you go from best friends one day and to being a stranger the next? She made me a better man than I was yesterday and now it feels like everything I had hoped for is shattered. I know time heals all wounds, but how do I go forward knowing she will not be a part of my life the way I had and atleast till the last day, she had envisioned as well? It hurts.
I miss her so much and I know I will always love her. But I’m doing my best to stay no contact so I can hopefully heal. Why is the world so cruel?
TL;DR Got dumped suddenly after a year because my ex realized that she couldn’t ever love me the way I loved her. Struggling to get through it now.

To preface: I love Chaos in 40k/30k. Its my favorite faction in the setting, and that will not change
Think, for a second if you will, about Chaos in 40k. It is, without a shadow of a doubt, my favorite overarching force and conglomerate of factions within the entire setting. Why? Well, as others have gone to great lengths to point out – both in and outside of the lore perspective and POV – Chaos is us; our thoughts, emotions, hopes, dreams and sins, dialed up to 11. You may start down the road to hell with noble intent, and you may even die on that same road nobly. Live long enough, however, and accrue too much infamy and corruption, you will court the favor of the Dark Gods, their neverborn, and a myriad of other warp entities, and it will damn you eternally.
With that being said, I think 40K Chaos, as it currently stands, gets absolutely shafted in one realm that AoS and, hell, even The Horus Heresy does better: the mysticism and esoterism surrounding corruption and ritual, as well as the variety in which the various “faces” of Chaos are presented.
Lets examine our “modern” 40k for a moment, shall we? It is often said that unsanctioned knowledge of the Chaos Gods most popular names - Khorne, Slaanesh, Tzeentch and Nurgle – is grounds for immediate execution and the purging of all known (and suspected) family and associates. Fair enough, you are invoking the names and the attention of four deities who’s desire is to add this universe to the infinite number of realms they’ve already subsumed with the warp in their Great Game. Even if that attention comes in the form of some undivided lesser daemon, maybe appearing as a shadowy figure in the rough shape of a human, that one daemon could spell utter doom for a Hive World of trillions.
Ok, yet, the “true” names of the Gods are subjective, aren’t they? Khar’neth, Nurgleth, Slaaneth, Tzaarneth. The more archaic, brutal sounding titles? She Who Thirsts, The Bloody Hunter, Lord of Ravens, and Grandfather Crow? Oftentimes, when Ecclesiarchal missions descend upon a world, especially feral planets, they encounter preexisting religions among the human populace. More often than not, via religious syncretism, the co-opt the tribal deities and spirits of these planets, supplanting them with Imperial Saints and directing total and unwavering devotion to a singular deity, the one true God Emperor of Mankind, in any face that may take. Yet, these planets are not populated by overt Chaos worshippers more often than not, are they? Some tribes, of course, may be deemed too barbaric and flirting with the Pantheon, and thus put to the sword. Yet, more often than not, they merely become new branches of the Imperial Creed.
Now, we all understand worship goes somewhere in the warp. More and more within the lore, the human emanations of faith is psychically reflected, applying the calculus of “structure” in the random, roiling seas of the empyrean. The Emperor of Mankind has, it would seem, indeed become The God Emperor of Mankind. Trillions-Quadrillions of humans, across millions of worlds, over ten thousand+ years, had supplemented The Emperor’s own singular psychic might into something that, if not truly divine under known definitions, warrants their re-examination.
So, where am I going with this? Well, the Chaos Gods operate under as many names and guises as there are planets and cultures within the galaxy. In the Screaming Vortex, whole tribes of warriors drench their blades in the vitae of their enemies in order to earn the favor of Baphtar (Khorne). Thagus Daravek, Abaddon’s main rival for the title of Warmaster during the formative years of the Black Legion, refers to Tzeentch as The Shifting Many. So on, and so on. In The Solar War, reference is made to the billions of mortal auxiliary soldiers on the side of The Warmaster’s Horde, cultists and Imperial Army alike, who “worship the same old gods, with different names” (paraphrasing off memory there, forgive me any inaccuracy).
Those forgotten and repressed faiths, surviving in the dark temples and cult lodges on the fringes of Imperial society, in ramshackle underhive temples or feral world sepulchers of painted rocks and skulls, formed much of the basis for esoterism and occult ritual much of 30k’s more nuanced and detailed approach to Chaos comes from. Maloghurst, burning incense and using Cthonian death coins as the catalyst for sorcerous ritual. The importance of ingredients like horsehair, or more mundane offerings like the tears of a virgin or the blood of a king, or how swords and other melee weaponry, through their symbolism, are far more effective at combatting daemons than conventional weaponry such as autoguns, lasrifles and bolters.
30k just did it better. The cosmology of Chaos – especially with the recent references of Aetheric Dominions – is so much more fleshed out, or to put it more aptly, diverse than in current 40k. Undivided Daemons running amok, ritual that isn’t just virgin’s blood being dumped on the bodies of psychic children daubed in the tears of those lashed 8-by-8 times to summon Borgathula, Eater of a Thousand Stars. The True Names of the Dark Gods are considered a privilege to know, and even then, what are they? Is it Khorne, or Khar’neth? Tzeentch or Tzen’eth? Etc etc..
If I were to take it a step further, I’d even argue Age of Sigmar, for its flaws, does so as well, with its Warcry Warbands (boo GW for discontinuing the bulk of those models, shame on you) and their lore providing some of the most interesting lore on just how certain groups can come to worship of their own aspects of Chaos. The Everflame? Coiled Ones? Great Gatherer? Supreme Predator? Tarantulos? Those are F****** awesome. Even in the Lord of the Endtimes novel, we get a superbly interesting depiction of a monk-like daemon prince, who’s followers offer their worship in caste-like tithes. The lowest of the mortal dregs in this prince’s fortress tithe their worship to more powerful warriors, who in turn pass their worship to mortal lieutenants and bound and subjugated daemons, who then offer their worship to the daemon prince, who is the only one allowed to offer the sum of their worship to the Dark Gods. Any others who do so are punished with death.
We get so much of that in 30k/Fantasy/AOS that just translates to so little in 40k, and I think that it’s a damn shame that more writers aren’t going that route
Or, are they?
Now, I understand that after 10,000 years and trillions/quadrillions of loyal Imperial souls imparting the significance of their own symbology into the warp, things may change. A bolter blessed by the local Ecclesiarch in incense and sprinkled with bone dust of holy men may be just as effective in combatting daemons as a sword these days, though I’d find that to be -slightly - lazy writing in context of time. Yet, I’d argue right now, certain writers are looking to The Horus Heresy for inspiration
We’ve had sprinklings of it throughout the decades. Balphomael, greater daemon of Chaos Undivided and a spirit of Faustian bargains, was the first reference we received in a while via FFG Dark Heresy supplements that Undivided Daemons were not simply retconned out of the setting. Then came Samus, first described as an undivided daemon, then assigned a “KHORNE” keyword, then a proto-daemon of The Dark King, and now once again undivided. Madail, Great Daemon and Herald of Undivided. Hell, from what I’ve recently read, even Malice was recently referenced as an entity of Chaos, still worshipped by the titularly named Sons of Malice as recently as BFGA 2. With that seems to be coming a re-examination from a small bit of writers, especially those who write Chaos well. I’ll cite examples such as the Fabius Bile trilogy, where it is acknowledged that the worship from the innumerable lines of mutants and new men spawned by Bile’s gene-tampering clings to him like a cloak, and “Pater Mutatis” is coalescing, or perhaps even already exists, as a chaotic entity within the warp. Vashtorr, Greater Daemon Undivided and Lord of the Soul Forge, has at least one warband who view him as a patron and focal point of worship, and he, as other daemon’s of sufficient power, offers them blessings and mutations in line with his sphere of influence. Yesugei, sealed away in the Blood Gorgon’s Cauldron of Blood, is their patron daemon, while the warband itself still venerates the Pantheon yet declare themselves free of the slavery to them other warbands and legions are bound to. Hell, somewhere in the warp, Madail still exists, Greater Daemon and Herald of Chaos Undivided
I think, as time goes on, many more writers are going to begin taking the nuanced, diverse approach to Chaos. I’d challenge the idea that Aetheric Dominions are a means of introducing future Chaos Gods to the setting, but rather that the five “open seats” or points on the octed star operate as contested spheres, planes of Chaos in which the big 4 all have stakes in, and thus those under which more powerful and, distinctly undivided entities can spawn and operate. With any luck, I believe even more diverse and interesting Chaos Cults may be featured, one’s whose beliefs don’t just boil down to “HARHARHAR I sip the blood of virgins from the skulls of my enemies in the name of my Dark Masters! Now bring me more heads to bash with my axe!” No, instead we’ll start seeing things like “The burning man comes, the head of a black wolf atop his ash-flecked molten form, and he commands me to spill the blood of the dishonorable… and there is none among this whole planet with honor aside from myself and my kin.”

Let's analyze an article that's not written from an employee's perspective and pushes the RTO narrative.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2024/05/27/less-high-paying-work-from-home-jobs/73838325007/

Analysis

TLDR
The article from USA Today (what about Tomorrow?) argues that high-paying remote and hybrid jobs have drastically decreased, suggesting a return-to-office trend. It uses scare tactics like highlighting a significant drop in $250,000 remote jobs, low percentages of remote work, relentless return-to-office mandates, and potential regulatory changes. Other tactics include framing remote work as a mere temporary pandemic solution, emphasizing managerial preferences for in-person supervision (without exceptions), and implying job insecurity for those resisting return-to-office mandates. Quoting influential CEOs like Jamie Dimon reinforces the narrative. The article appears biased, potentially driven by media sensationalism and sponsorship influences.

A few considerations

• Using the term Rude Awakening: The term "rude awakening" frames the entire article within the optics of inevitability (despite nothing is inevitable in this world), and I see it used in many other publications, always when speaking about RTO.
  
• Regulatory Changes: It mentions that FINRA could be reinstating rules making remote work more challenging - but then it also mentions FINRA denied that its rule requires people to work in the office five days a week (hilarious to see claim and related disproof appear a few words away from each other!).
  
• Managerial Preferences: The article states that managers prefer in-person supervision and visibility (it doesn't mention that most managers are stuck between a rock and a hard place, in the uncomfortable position of having to enforce rules dictated by higher-ups).
  
• Resistance to Change: It suggests some managers are attached to past ways of working, making remote work seem more unsustainable across the board than it potentially is.
  
• Conflict and Tension: The mention of control and supervision introduces a narrative of conflict between employees' desire for flexibility and managers' need for control, as if all the managers actually belonged to the controlling type.
  
• Questioning Effectiveness: By highlighting managerial preferences for in-person supervision, the article indirectly questions remote work's effectiveness.
  
• Temporary Solution: It implies that remote work was a necessary but temporary solution during the pandemic and that resistance to RTO would be futile (and I say nope: advocacy for remote work is what will change things faster for the better).
  
• Subtle Threats: The narrative implies that failure to comply with return-to-office mandates could result in job loss or reduced opportunities.
  
• Inevitability: Presenting Dimon's perspective fosters a sense of inevitability about returning to the office.
  

Conclusion

Long live remote work, the best innovation of the century in the work world along with the ban on non-compete agreements.

I think my only option is to completely resign as a stepparent. I desperately need advice about sustaining a marriage with polar opposite parenting styles, & how to deal with teenage boys with no manners or basic hygiene.
There is a lot of background here I will try to keep as to-the-point as possible. I am 34 with a 10 year-old daughter. My husband is 39 with a 15 year-old son. We each had kids at 23. We are 5 years apart, as are our kids. We were also friends for 5 years before “courting” & built a strong bond of trust already, so yes, we courted. I had rejected him a few times over the years, as I was abstinent after a toxic relationship & did not want to repeat the same patterns. Over the covid lockdowns, we started talking, texting, facetiming more than ever. When he asked me out again, I told him I was not interested in dating without the ultimate goal of marriage, to which he said, “Good. I don’t want a girlfriend, I want a wife.” 3 months later, we became engaged & our marriage is truly amazing & fulfilling in so nearly every way except one - my daughter & I, some of the most playful & outgoing outdoorsy girls you could meet, have no idea how to connect to his son. And there is nothing to make me think it is worth even trying anymore.
Miraculously, husband & I both get along extremely well with our co-parents. I could not see myself with someone that doesn’t. Neither of us have court orders or child support or rigid schedules. My daughter’s bio dad is one of my best friends, & I made very clear that a relationship with me means respecting his role. He said the same of his son’s bio mom. I come from a very blended family in which this is the ideal. My parents were at each other’s weddings & all get along & still get together. Our own coparents attended our wedding a year & a half ago. And that meant the absolute world to me & hopefully if not now, someday our kids.
For sure, my husband could not be a better stepfather. He & my daughter share inside jokes & their own games & pranks. She has her own nickname for him & will run to him & hug & climb all over him. They convinced me to add baby goats to our homestead, & have been tending to & bottle-feeding them both, a beautiful connection & commitment to share. He says, “She makes it easy.” And to put it lightly, his son does not - but I am absolutely not allowed to talk about it without getting ridiculed.
I first met the son when he was 13. Overweight, awkward, all of his hair in front of his eyes. He then retreated to his room. I know him to be the exact same now. He is 6’0 & I think over 200lbs, larger than my dad. He defaults to locking himself in his room. Unless asked to help stack wood or play a game with the rest of us, he only emerges to use the bathroom (in which he never brushes his teeth or washes his hands), or ask his dad for food - of which, he literally only eats yellow rice & chicken. He will otherwise smash an entire bag of “Takis” or flaming hot Cheetos at 10 AM & continuously throughout the day as they are available to him. He plays live multiplayer games from morning often to midnight or 3 AM, with my daughter’s room right next to him, where I blast the fan & AC & ocean sounds to drown him out. Calling this out seemed to be calling stepson out personally, so all I can do is adapt. Daughter thankfully likes it cold.
I have tried to be as soft & supportive in airing my grievances to husband, but they are never taken with grace or accountability. I am not perfect & have definitely been passive aggressive with his reactivity, as he takes my issues as insults rather than something to work on. He casts blame on bio mom or Covid, & now me. “I don’t know what goes on at bio-mom’s house, we moved an hour away & he gets carsick! I’m out of his life!” “It’s because he was stuck inside for 2 years!” “Are you sure you didn’t HEAR him say hi?” “Good news, I’ve been living with him 15 years, never sanitized a doorknob in his life, & I’ve been fine!” “I wouldn’t want to leave my room with you criticizing his every move either!”
Our first night in our new home for example, was a nightmare. My hand lotion moved from the bathroom counter to the back of the toilet - so then into our room immediately. He left the toilet seat open & my razor covered in pubes. He left open bags of chips with crumbs all over the counter. “It’s an adjustment, it’s hard on everyone!” Husband said over & over. This was an understatement, being that my daughter has been raised to ask for anything from snack time to screen time always with “please,” “thank you,” & we eat out of bowls that we put in the sink rather than stack in our room with soda cans & candy wrappers.. I am familiar with the saying, “Living room kids come from healthy families. Bedroom kids do not.” Daughter is a living room kid. Stepson is a bedroom kid. Either way, I had never had personal items used without asking &felt extremely violated by stepson, then upset that husband blamed me for it instead of understanding where I was coming from.
This remains true nearly a year later. My husband has started lashing out while drinking the past few months, accusing me of “HATING” his son, which is extremely hurtful as I do not harbor any hate in my heart for anyone. What I disdain is the way he is raising his son under our shared roof & living spaces, & that he refuses to acknowledge or communicate about it. As things were not greatly improving, I personally had a talk with stepson about basic manners. I said, “When you enter this house without a greeting or making eye contact, it is an insult. It comes off as rude & entitled & I don’t like feeling like a ghost in my own house. This is your house too & I want you to feel comfortable. But you can help me feel more comfortable too.” “Yeah, okay. Sorry.”
I have truly never had a real conversation with this kid. He does say “hi” & “bye” & the occasional “thank you” now. At this point, it is abundantly clear that he does not want me in a step role, & neither does his father, & neither does bio mom. So it seems I have no choice but to let it all go & suffer bad manners & hygiene, silence, & now bitter resentment from husband.
What I have observed is that I actually“coparent” with my daughter’s father. We coordinate around each other’s schedules, we make decisions together, we communicate about her physical, emotional, spiritual, educational, & social wellbeing. Husband & bio mom do not. They parent in isolation & simply let the other do as they please, which has resulted in a child without manners or discipline. This has led bio mom to put the kid on PROZAC without husband’s consent. This horrified me, as someone who only goes to the doctor for stitches. My daughter’s doctor is the naturopath who midwived her in the bedroom she still sleeps in at her father’s house. I understand not everyone is as holistically minded, but I begged husband to get him to a nutritionist first. The child is obese & malnourished. But too late. Bio mom did as she pleased without communication, which seems constant among them.
I have not shared my views as I know they are not welcome. Bio mom is medicated, her other 10 year-old son (deceased dad) is medicated, & now teenage stepson is as well. Husband blames our distance from him which feels like an indirect blame on me, as we are closer to my community & business as husband works from home. But truly they live in the ghetto, & I have always lived on the coast & barely like to drive through those inner cities. I set up a high school tour for them here which is one of the best schools in the state with a tech program I thought stepson would love, but he chose to stay with his friends, in one of the worst schools of the state. He incredibly won class president, though has dropped a bunch of honors classes & continues failing others.
My birthday was last week. When my husband asked what I wanted, I said baby back ribs & family. I just wanted to grill & chill due to an insane work week. I run a housekeeping business & worked for 24 hours in 3 days opening up for the summer rental season. I did not want to go crazy hosting & knew I would if we invited friends. “Are you sure? You wouldn’t be hosting, I will be! You don’t have to do a thing!” He emphasized over & again. So when a friend ended up visiting from out of state, I was ecstatic to invite her & our mutual close friend to BBQ with us. They are single moms with 4 toddlers between them & wanted to camp on our land.
We had a great day grilling & running the sprinkler & feeding the animals. Husband had promised stepson would be outside with us all day. Toward the evening, I asked where he was. “Do you see any other teenagers out there? What’s he supposed to do?” I was hurt. “Well I don’t see any 10 year-olds either, but [daughter] is still out there, & you actually said he would spend the whole day with us. I just want some time all together.” Husband knocked on his son’s door & said, “Hey it’s her birthday, it’d be nice if you come out & spend some time with us.” Then he did, & even if it was just a quick basketball game with his dad & he introduced himself to no one, it still meant so much to me.
So later when we had helped friends & toddlers set up a tent & fire in our woods, I hugged husband & thanked him for bringing stepson out with us, saying family time was all I wanted. “You two have such a healthy relationship,” my friend says. At the time, it uplifted him & he said he loved this friend to death. A few hours later, he said it was “hilarious.”
We had invited stepson’s mom, but she was out of town. My coparent joined us however, & he & husband stayed at camp with the moms & toddlers while I went to tuck daughter into bed around 9. We played some trivia to unwind, said a prayer, & I kissed her good night & went to start the dishes. Husband & coparent came back around 11 when I was ready to go to bed myself. They were suddenly on a completely different level as my slow & steady beer intake. Both their legs were gashed & covered in blood from their hike without a flashlight, which they thought was hysterical. They were loud & silly like, “You can’t go to bed, it’s your birrrfday!” & I realized, ah. They were drinking my girls’ tequila.
Coparent went on a drunk spiel thanking me so much for all the love I am, how I keep the family together, this & that & showering me with slurred praise. Husband was drunkenly yet enthusiastically agreeing & thanking me, saying I was the best. I tried staying up with them to be polite but they were so deep in conversation on a different level that I went to go make the baby goat formula for their 5AM feeding & go to bed. But I couldn’t find their bottles. I raised my hand with the men, gradually higher & higher to ask husband if he had seen them. “I see you have your hand raised, but hang on, let me finish this point,” coparent said. So husband finally noticed, & I cut in anyway asking if he had seen them. “As a matter of fact, no, YOU fed the goats last so I have no IDEA where they are,” he raised his voice, literally pointing a finger at me.
That suddenly spiraled into another drunken heated accusation of how much I hate his son. I started crying & saying all I wanted was for him to be with us today & that I was grateful he brought him out. He fought me saying they can never have a good weekend because of me, called me an “@$$hole,” & said “F you ,” 3 times in a row, upsetting me so much as there was absolutely nothing I could say, to the point I slugged him in the arm to get him to stop. This has happened twice before embarrassingly with alcohol, when he just yells & yells things that are not true & curses at me that I can’t even respond vocally. “You see how she treats me?!” Both men of course freaked out & coparent started yelling at me to listen to husband. This essentially turned into 2 hours of incessant berating from both of them. They both cried during their own tangents. It spun out of asking for baby goat bottles & continued til 2 AM with, for the first time, continual threats of divorce.
“You are not in this relationship & do not need to mediate it,” I told coparent.
“Like it or not, I am! How you treat husband affects all of us! His feelings are VALID & you need to be quiet & listen to him!” he said.
“I’ve heard this all before & it is simply not true! I do not hate stepson & he wants to divorce me because he thinks I do!”
“Emotions cause us to say things we don’t mean, he does not want to divorce you & knows you don’t hate him,” coparent said.
“Oh no, I DEFINITELY believe she hates him. And if I have to spend the last 4 years of his youth with my son being constantly criticized, I will absolutely divorce her!”
“I did not criticize him once today! I never criticize him, I am trying to help us become a functional household!”
And he just went round & round in the same circular aggressions that can only hear themselves. I continually begged for them to stop yelling as daughter’s window was open, the baby goats needed sleep, our rabbits didn’t need that stress. But I got yelled at more for that. “You can’t control passion & you need to sit down & LISTEN to your husband!” Coparent kept insisting. But I had heard it all many times before. I even tried to sleep in the goat pen, trying to settle the poor babies, still hearing the men raise their voices about me, how being critical was just my nature, & then got yelled out of there.
Around midnight, I tried to resign again & go back inside to finish dishes when stepson emerged. “Do you know where Dad is?” “Oh he’s outside, you can probably save him from [daughter’s dad].” He went into the bathroom. So I poked my head out while they continued bashing me & said, “Stepson needs you.” “I’ll be right there.” I went back to the dishes. Stepson comes out of the bathroom. As always, flushes, no faucet (or hand-washing). “He says he’ll be right there sweetie.” No words, back into his bedroom. 10 minutes go by & still no husband as I continue the endless dishes. I poke my head out again. “Did you not hear me? Your son needs you.” “ALL RIGHT!”
Turns out he needed dinner. Despite a huge spread of barbecue & potatoes & corn & pasta & salad & veggies & dips, stepson touched none of it & needed his chicken & yellow rice. So husband literally cooked him dinner at 1230AM, all the while continuing to accuse me of hating him whilst doing so.
Coparent authentically apologized the next morning on the phone. “You screamed at me for HOURS when I was ready for bed to listen to falsities I have heard over & over without ONCE trying to hear me.” He got it. He humbled & admitted specific wrongs & I accepted his apology.
“Sorry” does not seem to mean anything when you throw around the “D” word like that though. Husband pledged to stop drinking. To his credit, 3 days later, he still hasn’t. But when I said, “If you think I am capable of hate, you don’t know me at all,” the best apology he could give me was, “I’m sorry, I don’t think you hate him. But I know you don’t like him.” Then, “I don’t want to divorce you. I feel like I ruined our entire lives in one night.”
I told him that this is going to take more than “sorry” to heal, especially where blame is still cast, & he will have to “show” me. I don’t even know how, through more conscientious parenting? We haven’t slept in the same bed in 3 nights. I haven’t cooked for him, but I still clean after him. We finished some homestead projects in near-silence together.
I think I must resign to being the invisible ghost stepson makes me feel like. Do I have ANY role here but to resign & accept his parenting & continue mine with my daughter alone, while he reaps the benefits of an amazing relationship with her? Isolation parenting just like with stepson’s biomom ? If not for my daughter & our animals & gardens, I would just want to lock myself in a room all day too. But that’s what is so hard for me to get. We have nearly 30 acres & this child is permitted to be a blob on a screen living on empty calories all day & night. I cannot & will not blame a child for anything. I told my husband that when a plant isn’t thriving, you nourish it & improve its environment. He said he didn’t get it. And as deeply as I love him & don’t want to even think about divorce, I have never been so unattracted to him.

-3/+3 only
Giving this sub another shot. I just watched Casper, the friendly ghost and I was feeling lot of things when he got his body back and danced with Kat. I guess I miss having someone to love and vice versa. Anyways, the movie still slaps period lmao.
I'm actually GMT +8, so anyone closer to that timezone is better. I do gaming sometimes when I'm free from university, so I hope you're close. And it would be so better for sleep night calls, ykyk 🥺. So about me, I'm on my last year of university like few months till graduation. I would love to have someome accompanying me when I achieve that milestone. I'm 5'0, fairly long black hair, got chubby cheeks (as I have been told) and normal BMI lmao. I'm a homebody and introverted, I barely go out but when I do it's for uni stuffs. I always been a loner lmao, I do got friends but I do enjoy some me time. I go to cinemas, museums, mall, etc alone. I like taking my time observing people and stuff. But if you're around I definitely would send my whereabouts and share things I did ☺️.
I'm a professional yapper too. I spend my time learning or watching random stuffs. And I tend too share it even no one asked 😭. I just like telling stuff I guess. I mean I would also love to hear your stories about your life. Let's share our mundane life to each other 💓
I think I'm looking for, someone who is taller than me, normal BMI too I guess. Someone who is naturally funny, I like laughing so please please. Someone who is honest and would love to explore the world with me.
I would love to be part of your life. I would love to keep you in my life. Introduce yourself in my dms 💓

I'm starting a series, where I discuss where characters can go from where they currently are in the story in the context of their football gameplay. Since this is the first entry in this series of mine, I'll start with the protagonist: Isagi Yoichi.
Contextualizing Isagi:
Isagi playstyle is fairly straight forward. He runs up field evading and juking defenders when necessary and places himself in the most dangerous position not only for the defensive line but also for the goalkeeper. His goal scent/Metavision allow him to pinpoint said area. If he were to get the ball before being in said area he usually trades short passes with any allies as he makes with way through the enemy team using his off the ball. And once left unmarked, he waits for his pass so they can repeat the process until he can get in range to use his signature direct shot. This weapon can be fired from both of his feet, with the stipulation that his left foot is 60% less accurate/powerful (not sure which maybe it's both) then his right. When the opposing team has the ball he routinely uses his incredible stamina to fall back and help the defensive line or if the opposing team haven't reached the attacking third yet, he usually goes for interceptions. With his incredible vision, information gathering skills and general field IQ he can lead a match, without even having the majority of his team backing him up. With all of this taken into consideration, on top of the fact that his IQ on the human psyche (egocentrism and ego types: World-type/Self-type) and it's effects on players during matches, Isagi Yoichi can essentially see into the future.
Basic Improvements:
For how Isagi can improve his base play style as it is now, It's fairly simple.
Maintenance on defence
As is illustrated here
And the problem with such a play style
Given the length of NEL matches presumably shorter than geniune 90 min. matches. Going from end of the pitch to the other would require pace and stamina that allows him to complete both his offensive duties and his defensive ones. He would have increase his speed so he can get to his "Meta Burst Points" more successfully as the competition keeps ramping up. And he'd also have increase his stamina so he doesn't tire out during the full 90 minutes. But he seems to have remedied this problem in the NEL, so his current endurance regiment should be enough as long as he keeps breaking his limits during training.
As for the rest of his physicals he should be pretty good when it comes to being physically pressed even by larger opponents.
Karasu, larger opponent who gave him trouble in the past...
...He manages to hold his own agaisnt long enough to keep the ball safe from him and begin a tiktaka sequence his Kurona. Good chop pass as well
So when it comes to getting physically pressed Isagi's not as powerless as he was before and with the addition of his Two-Gun Volley to his arsenal he should be fine when it comes time to score.
Moving forward when comes to shooting, there's only two things he really needs to do.
MASTER IT
Mastering the Two-Gun Volley can entail so many things. Increased shot accuracy with his weaker foot, the ability to perform longer feint sequences, (more than one feint) or maybe increasing his shooting speed so he can still shoot with foot he feinted. There's a plethora of improvement that can be made this fundamentally dangerous weapon.
That's where I'll wrap it up for this section because frankly Isagi's base play style is already dangerous as is. And as your about to see in the next section there's very little overt or drastic additions or changes you can make to it, that won't fundamentally change Isagi as player.
Additions going forward/Story relevant changes:
Isagi is own to add weapons to his arsenal that aren't necessarily viewed as conventional: Metavision, Egocentrism and now his Egocentrism is evolving to take into account player's ego types so he can better predict their top performances. I'm sure that Isagi will continue to gather these brand of weapons, let's just call them mental weapons for simplicities sake. As for what they will be I have ZERO clue. I expected Metavision or something to the effect of it be introduced of course I didn't expect it to be depicted in the way it is. I did see Egocentrism coming especially considering how simple it is in nature. But Isagi's been characterized as some one who takes mental aspect of the game into account far more than other's do, so I can't be surprised at this development. Especially since having a protagonist who thinks in such a way helps us see how he makes these crazy decisions. And our protagonist behaving in such a way also helps us delve deeper into the psychology of the other players on the pitch, especially from outside view like Isagi's. Take for example is employment of verbal abuse towards Kaiser, to further deepen his adversary's obsession with him. Isagi taking the pride and joy's of his opponent's into account will always be part of his game. And how this evolves I cannot tell you. I for sure did not even think about ego-types when reading. But in hindsight, it's par for the course considering this is manga about "Ego" as a concept first and foremost. Holistically the football and it's logistics take a backseat to this central theme. It's more accurate say that football is simply medium in which this theme of "Egoism" is expressed in the story. But I digress. TL;DR I can't tell what Isagi's next mental weapon is going to be.
But I will attempt to make an estimation on what PHYSICAL weapon he might acquire. And this theory is going to be based on not only story implications or events that have previously happened in the story, but also on taking into account what his arsenal and play style already look like. So what's this weapon?
A Rainbow FLICK!
Yes I know Isagi sucks at dribbling (for the most part) but he's gotten drastically better as seen here:
Impressive lift
Not necessarily dribbling but still an impressively perfomed feint that lend credence not only for my theory on whether or not Isagi can learn the move. But also on why the Isagi will learn the move.
Even complimented by Yuki
Well executed evasion of a slide tackle
But with that aside, how would he even learn this? Simple the same way he acquired his left shot. His friends. It is perfectly within Isagi's character to reach out or take from those whom he needs help from. I predict that he'll go to Chigiri the same way he went to Kunigami. Of course not for the matter at hand, that being the rainbow flick but rather with help on his physicals, since Chigiri has great stamina, speed and probably everything else since he was a part of manshine. While, like I aforementioned, Isagi could use some of that. As for the rainbow flick I think he'll go to Hiori and/or Bachira for help on how to develop the ball control and skill to execute it.
Now as for WHY Isagi would want the rainbow flick. It's fairly simple, It's to aid his Two-Gun Volley.
My Idea for it's utilization in Isagi's bag is in the scenario he gets pressed from behind or even from the front he can use it to start using his off the ball (which is way better than his dribbling) to catch up to the ball while getting pass the defenders. From there the ball will still be in the air and he can use his two Volley from there.
I mainly got this Idea from rereading Ubers. (And watching football stuff on instagram) But I saw this sequence from Hiori in Ubers and I thought that if Isagi could do that but instead finish with a Two-Gun Volley in front of the goal he'd be a monster.
https://preview.redd.it/nxlahe2lca3d1.jpg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aaa1961ec910ca57fc77c4dcbcaf63b66254f150
https://preview.redd.it/sc17sugmca3d1.jpg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3a2b083b0e17ee99b834c98c18272ef524bcdc78
https://preview.redd.it/acpoj0onca3d1.jpg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b2ac49dcc6e71043e47106a04c9abf42ee6e5ed5
And another reason why I think this is in character for Isagi is that it follows (almost) the same principle as the lefty shot.
Simple weapon to help in tight spots
He doesn't need to be the next Bachira, Sae or Hiori but also doesn't need to be next Noa or Kunigami. He didn't seek to become completely ambidextrous after Kuni's warning, so he simplified his goal. He can't play completely ambidextrous like Kuni and Noa but he doesn't have to he simply needs to be able to shoot with left leg not play the entire game with it like it's his right. I believe this follows the same pattern, he doesn't need to perform 20 elasticos and nutmegs in a row but just being able to get the ball over his head, like how Hiori has done for him in the past with the no look assist and no look goal. But this time his Two-Gun Volley is waiting for the keeper on arrival, that's just what he needs to get pass the hurdle of a demon press from someone like Aiku when he has the ball.
Case in point
And even from that position he can get caught lacking from behind (no Diddy) while having do deal with defender in front of him if he can't pass
So i'll leave you with this sequence i've stitched together along with a in-motion I found to open up to better visualize it.
https://preview.redd.it/whb21mvgia3d1.jpg?width=1492&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c527ee48ace4a4a115af758c2203ca7a69ce53d0
https://i.redd.it/c1jajgx3fa3d1.gif
But yeah... Other than that I don't know how else Isagi can evolve. I mean there's always drive shots and more curved shots but I've seen that suggested so many times that I think I just wanted some different. But anyway, what's your Idea for an Isagi evolution. Please let me know and also let me know what you think of my theory.

Gratitude is a virtue not enough of us practice. In fact, most of us don't have virtues at all. However, it is with great pleasure to see studios like Turtle Rock Studios, Larian Studios, and Hello Games not continuing predatorial practices that prey on consumers.
I see a lot of people complain about how TRS "abandoned" B4B. Nah, they didn't abandon it, if they did they would have shut down servers and forced you to play entirely offline, or very least Peer-to-peer hosting. But they didn't, in fact just recently they switched servers to continue allowing their community to play. So, thanks TRS.
They released all content designed and planned, and left the game at a fairly balanced state which is more you could say about many others before moving on to their next project. And at a time before we had a sense of entitlement, this was how gaming was done.
We gotten so accustomed to frequent patches, and/or updates we never stopped to realize what all we were giving up in exchange for continuous support.
For us, it meant allowing price gouging intangible product, aka microtransactions, unethical forms of manipulations consume the gaming industry. For them, it meant developers had to give up their own personal lives to work on these monthly patches, updates, etc. But sadly, we also developed a "it's not Me so I don't care" mindset,and this is noticeable throughout, outside of the gaming communities. Take the wars around the world, or even the current political division here at home in the U.S. for example. It's like thinking about anyone but ourselves is impossible.
Anyways, the gratitude I have is for B4B. This game is great, and I'm glad people are starting to realize that. TRS is a small studio, and I hope they continue to expand, and continue on as a private business. One of my biggest gratification is the sound cues of this game. I could pinpoint where ridden and mutations are coming from, and because of this I take less damage when I play with my headset on than without. I could load LAMEpex Legends, and get ran up on by 3 squads and not hear a single step of the 9 sprinting, or sliding towards me. And that's a "multi-billion" dollar game who hasn't fixed that issue since it launched, nor the no hit registration (also a problem since launch) and they don't care to fix it.
Sure, Back4blood could have been better. I don't like the legendary attachments they added, or how easy they made the game. But it's fun, and It works well. And I'm grateful to have experienced this game, and I believe I got my money's worth.
I bought 2 DLCs separately, then the whole DLC bundle, and base game. And I am glad to have helped support B4B and am only excited to see what's next from TRS because from I can tell this is only the beginning for TRS, they have learned to not sell their IP/ideas to publishers who will screw them, like valve/2k did. They learn from their mistakes, and experience. Just as we should do as human beings. So, maybe now that they own the rights to B4B they could do whatever they want, and comeback with an improved IP!

Throwaway because my girlfriend knows my main. So as it states in the title, I (A 27-year-old man) have a girlfriend (a 27-year-old woman) of 3 years. We met through a mutual friend who had been insistent on introducing the two of us because we would, and I quote “automatically fall in love”
Well he was right, that son of a bitch. The moment I met her I knew I would never meet anyone else like her. I stand firm on my belief that she is too pure for this world, she is an eternally kind and loving person. She is the kind of person to give you the food on her plate even it means she starves. I assume that's a trait that comes from growing up as the oldest daughter in a house of 6 brothers. But nevertheless, she's the best person I know and I love her to death.
Now, here is where my problem comes into play. My girlfriend is a songwriter, she writes songs and sells them, and works with different artists on different projects. Recently, she has been working on an album with this guy, Alex. I was first introduced to him about two months ago when she brought him and his band over for dinner, me and my girlfriend cooked it together and even taught one of the bandmates how to make bread from scratch. It was a wonderful night and I was thankful to be able to be a part of my girlfriend's job like that. As for Alex, he seemed like a decent guy, very much a jokester as he had most of us laughing the entire time. Just seems like a very good guy.
My problem started around week two of knowing him. My girlfriend came home practically jumping for joy as she told me she was going to be singing on one of the songs. Alex had apparently asked her to do a duet with him. I was over the moon excited for her, she has a beautiful singing voice, and its one of the things I love about her. She told me that they were going to be recording the next day and she would love it if I stopped by. I didn't think twice before agreeing and when I went the next day I was in awe of her. I stood outside of the booth, next to this couch where the other bandmates were. Alex and her were both in the recording booth. I remember just listening to my girlfriend and all of a sudden I caught a glance of the look on Alex’s face and to say he was completely entranced would be an understatement. He was looking at her with this look that I can't even begin to explain but it was just like he was completely captivated by her. I brushed it off after that because knowing my girlfriend it's hard not to be just in awe of her. I didn't think too much about it for about another week.
Until I got a call from a buddy of mine, he called me and told me to check Alex’s Instagram story. I did and the first thing I see is a picture of my girlfriend in the studio with the words “If I'm dreaming, never wake me up” and a pink heart emoji. My friend is practically fuming saying things like “That's so rude, why would he do that, he knows she is dating you, etc.” I immediately tell my friend to calm down, because it's not the most damaging post ever and in hindsight, it could be a joke. I brought it up to my girlfriend later and she told me that he verbally said that to his friends and everyone laughed so she knows it was a joke that he put it as the caption. I just accepted that answer and moved on.
Then a couple of days after that, we all went out for drinks as a little celebration of my girlfriend and Alex finishing the song. My girlfriend and I excused ourselves to get more drinks, we got them and she told me she was going to the restroom so I should go back to the table. I was walking to the table when I overheard them talking. It was dark and there was a good crowd so I don't think they saw me walking up. But I overheard this exchange;
Guy 1: “She literally brought him, what don’t you get?”
Alex: “It's not like they're married. Plus she hardly talks about him, maybe she's bored.”
Guy 1: “That doesn't mean she wants you.”
Alex: “It's worth a shot.”
I kind of slowed my steps, not really processing what I was hearing. My immediate thought was the optimistic “Maybe they're talking about someone else?” But when I later got home I realized the obvious, my girlfriend was the only girl there. Who else could they be talking about? Again, I tried to brush it off. I didn't want to be the guy who didn’t trust his girlfriend.
Then the second shoe finally came down. About two days ago, I was on a call with this guy, I'll call him Tim. Tim is the assistant manager for the band, and has been the only one I seriously became friends with out of these band guys. I was on the phone with him yesterday and we were chatting about miscellaneous things and it was casual. Until I brought up my girlfriend. I told him how excited she was about this album. Tim got quiet and his voice started to get a bit guilty. I asked him what was wrong and that's when the dam broke. He told me about how Alex had been telling people he is in love with my girlfriend a long time. How almost all the love songs on the album, which Alex has said to my face were about an ex of his, were really about my girlfriend. Tim told me that he constantly talks about getting her away from me, and how he could give her a better life. With fancier things and luxurious vacations. I was sick to my stomach.
I'm a pretty normal guy, I think I'm decently attractive, I take good care of myself, and work out a good amount. I try to give my girlfriend the best things but I'm a junior associate at my law firm, so I make at best 50,000 a year. I give her everything I can even when she doesn't ask for it and the thought that it might not be enough just kills me. Tim was extremely apologetic for not telling me sooner, and I forgave him, I can understand the situation. After the call, I couldn't shake this nagging anxiety. I love my girlfriend, she has never given me a reason not to trust her. I believe that she would never in a million years cheat on me, or even consider it. So it's not her I am particularly worried about. I don't even want to be worried in general, I trust her, and I love her. But there's this nagging feeling of just anxiety I get at all times of the day. I feel helpless to do anything because I don't want to tell her this and ruin one of the best music opportunities she's ever had. Something which she is so excited about. I just can't stand this worthless feeling, this feeling like I'm not enough for her or that I need to do more. Call me insecure, I probably am. I just can't stand to lose her. It would probably kill me. So what should I do? I'll take any advice at this point.
TL;DR: My girlfriend's coworker is in love with her and actively is trying to win her over. I love and trust my grilfriend but I am still feeling poorly about this. What should I do?

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Last Week's List: https://www.reddit.com/RocketLeagueEsports/comments/1cxr3pk/our_top_100_pro_players_may_1319_update/
Last Standings of Split 1: https://www.reddit.com/RocketLeagueEsports/comments/1c56gss/our_top_100_pro_players_2024_splitmajor_1_last/
22-23 Season Last Standings: https://www.reddit.com/RocketLeagueEsports/comments/16gfxlt/our_top_100_rlcs_players_2223_season_last/
____________________________________
A summary of the main criteria (and some observations) I'm using as I update this list:

• 1st: Good Consistency >> Peak and Floor (the main purpose of this list is to rank the good individual consistency of players, whether in games with his teammates, random people, or solo. What I mean by good consistency is a set of several factors that tell me, in my view, whether what the player is doing is normal or is he reaching his ceiling/floor, such as making fewer mistakes, being more confident in plays, having a balance between individual plays and team plays, not straying too far from his defined playstyle, all this over several games, among other factors)
• 2nd: Majors/Other Lans > Online (It's obvious that any RLCS player's goal is to win Majors and finish far in Worlds, so presumably they will put more focus and effort into these events than anything else, which is why I put the performance that players result in Lans as a priority above online events, in addition to having external factors such as the nervousness of playing at a Lan because of the crowd or other reasons, which might affect the performance and consistency of a player, are also important factors that might change the performance of a player)
• 3rd: Worlds >> Majors/Other Lans (Worlds is like Lans, only with more risk and reward, so every good or bad performance in it will change a player's placement with more weight than any other criteria, and not only will it change at the moment, but if a team or individual players perform excellently at Worlds, their ranking will be harder to drop for some time, even though this can sometimes result in a player who currently doesn't perform as expected to be quite high on the list because they won Worlds or performed well in it, but in my opinion I see that as I assume that the ultimate goal of many players is to win at least one Worlds, many players will put their all into achieving this, so they will be at their best overall performance, thus making me have to put them very high those who have good performance in it. And note that at no point do I specify that I use team result as a factor in changing player ranks, with the exception of winning Worlds. This is because for me an individual player can often be performing well but his team is not, so I try first to see how the players on that team acted as a group and as individuals, impartial to the outcome of that match)
• 4th: 3v3 > 1v1 > 2v2 (As I want to compare players on their individual overall performances, I also use the performance of those who practice the other main game modes, even though they are not official modes in RLCS, 1v1 and 2v2. This may seem unfair, as there are numerous players on the list who do not practice, or are not seen practicing, the other game modes, but in these situations I do two things: first, that player will have some disadvantage because of this on my list, even if he is having more success and results at RLCS 3v3 than a player who practices all modes but has a better current overall than him. Second, I try to either base how that player who only focuses on RLCS would perform in 1s and 2s with the way he plays, which isn't easy but since I just use my opinion without seeing a lot of stat numbers it's not so hard to just imagine, or I just do it as a imaginary balance, if that player is very consistent in 3v3 but doesn't play other modes, that player will have his overall compensated for his performance in that game mode, as it happens with RLCS players who are extremely good at 1s but do not have significant recent results on RLCS)
• 5th: RLCS > Unofficial Events (the same reasons used in the Majors and Worlds criteria can be used here as well, such as the importance of the event having more influence, the material and mental value of good performance, etc.)
• 6th: My Opinion = Our Opinion (peoples comments - and PMs - and my views on the week have the same weight, so everyone is free to say their opinion and we'll debate and make the changes that were decided)
• And lastly, some answers to pertinent questions that I think are easier to answer here than to answer each comment asking these:
• "Why do some players have a number saying how much they have moved up/down, while others don't? Or why does player A who was overtaken in place by player B not have a down arrow?" Well, those of you who have already seen some of these updates may have noticed that there are three ways for a player to move in this list, the most obvious way is for me to manually move the player up or down a defined number of positions, according to what I thought of their performance this week and/or according to your feedback, this form of movement affects other players around player A, but I do not choose to place arrows for these players who have had an indirect change in the list just to avoid filling up the updates with unnecessary symbols, I just want to focus on the player who had a direct position change. The other way for a player A to move on the list is by swapping places with a player B, this is also the way in which players enter the list, because for one player to enter, another must leave, these changes I inform below the list in the "Recent Notes" and I choose not to write the numbers on the player's side on this way again because I don't want to fill the list with information that is not necessarily needed, also other players around these who had their positions swapped are not affected. The last way for a player to change position on the list is as I said in the first way, when a player indirectly changes position because player A next to him has moved up or down, this way I don't include any arrow or number because I don't want to highlight this change so much because it was not caused by opinion or feedback from the week;
• "Why is player A below player B? Player A is clearly better than player B in all aspects, and player A beat player B this week in the regional/major" These questions are good because I can demonstrate the main factor of this list. This is not a power ranking of players, nor is it a sum of victories and positive results of each player and their teams, much less head-to-head results. In this list I try to place the most consistent players in their individual performances, so to be at the top of this list a player does not need his team to win all the time, or that he has the best mechanics of everyone on the list, he just needs to perform well over time, make fewer mistakes than others, and be crucial in important moments. Player A's team is winning a lot and player B's is losing a lot, this also matters of course, player A is mechanically gifted while player B is the "glue" of his team, this also influences the positions, but the main focus is who is being most consistent in their performance over a "long" period of time, using what you have in skills well in solo and cooperative play, no matter who your team is. Who player A faces certainly matters too, otherwise the list would be a little more messy if consistency was the only factor used when including players from less competitive or balanced regions.
• "Why don't you move player A up from 70th to 10th when he's clearly been playing really well these past few weeks?" This question also has something to do with the last question, as the answer would also be consistency, but not just for player A, but for the list as well. My goal was for this list to be a single thing that shaped itself a little each week, with gradual changes that gain pace as player A continues to perform good or bad, which demonstrates the weight of each change. If I changed a few players with such big moves each week, I would be missing out on some of that, and practically be making a new list every week. Even when there are cases where player B was playing reasonably and then the next week he becomes a sub and stops playing for the rest of the season, I can't remove him from the list straight away, as I would be saying according to the criteria that player B suddenly lost all his consistency from one moment to the next, and there is also the chance that player B will leave the sub and return to playing the way he used to.
• "And why 100 players? It would be much easier 20 or 30 at most" For this, I completely agree that making a top 20 would be much more acceptable than what I've been doing, but I also see countless other lists like that, so for me it would be more boring to make a list like that using only 20 or 30 players when you have other more "true" lists like that to see, which have more concrete data than pure opinion. This way of doing I also think it's cool to represent more players, more regions, more teams, and it's much more dynamic with more options of players to choose from. So in short, I only do it this way because I think it's cooler lol.

____________________________________
The List (15th of the Season):

1. 🟰🇫🇷 Zen 👑
2. ⬆️🇺🇸 BeastMode
3. 🟰🇲🇦 Itachi
4. 🔻🇫🇷 Vatira
5. 🟰🇫🇷 Seikoo
6. ⬆️🇫🇷 M0nkeyM00n
7. ⬆️🇺🇸 Daniel
8. ⬆️🇸🇦 Trk511 (+1)
9. 🔻🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Rise
10. 🔻🇺🇸 Firstkiller
11. ⬆️🇺🇸 Atomic
12. 🟰🇫🇷 Alpha54
13. 🔻🇧🇪 Atow
14. 🟰🇫🇷 Juicy
15. 🟰🇸🇦 Rw9
16. 🟰🇲🇦 Dralii
17. 🟰🇸🇦 Nwpo
18. 🟰🇫🇷 ExoTiiK
19. ⬆️🇸🇦 Kiileerrz (+1)
20. ⬆️🇵🇱 Oski (+2)
21. 🟰🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 ApparentlyJack
22. ⬆️🇫🇷 Radosin (+1)
23. 🟰🇧🇷 Yanxnz
24. ⬆️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Joyo
25. 🟰🇺🇸 Lj
26. 🟰🇧🇷 Lostt
27. 🔻🇺🇸 Chronic
28. 🟰🇧🇷 Drufinho
29. 🟰🇺🇸 Hockser
30. 🟰🇪🇸 Crr
31. 🟰🇪🇸 AtomiK
32. ⬆️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Noly
33. ⬆️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Archie (+3)
34. 🟰🇨🇱 Reysbull
35. 🟰🇳🇱 Joreuz
36. 🔻🇺🇸 Chicago
37. ⬆️🇨🇦 JKnaps
38. 🟰🇸🇦 Smw
39. ⬆️🇧🇷 Kv1 (+2)
40. 🔻🇲🇦 Nass
41. 🟰🇸🇦 Ahmad
42. ⬆️🇺🇸 Justin
43. 🟰🇺🇸 Ayyjayy
44. 🟰🇺🇸 Cheese
45. ⬆️🇵🇹 AcroniK (+2)
46. 🟰🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Kash
47. 🔻🇺🇸 Retals
48. ⬆️🇺🇸 Comm
49. 🟰🇧🇷 Diaz
50. 🔻🇺🇸 Arsenal
51. 🟰🇧🇷 Nxghtt
52. ⬆️🇧🇷 Motta
53. 🔻🇺🇸 Majicbear (-2)
54. 🟰🇸🇦 M7sn
55. ⬆️🇺🇸 2Piece (+2)
56. 🟰🇪🇸 Stizzy
57. 🟰🇺🇸 LionBlaze
58. 🔻🇪🇸 Dorito
59. 🟰🇧🇷 Swiftt
60. 🟰🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Eekso
61. ⬆️🇺🇸 Paarth
62. 🟰🇩🇪 Rezears
63. ⬆️🇧🇷 Aztromick
64. ⬆️🇦🇹 Ivn (+2)
65. 🟰🇦🇷 Ajg
66. 🔻🇸🇦 Okhalid
67. 🔻🇺🇸 Evoh
68. ⬆️🇺🇸 Andy
69. 🟰🇩🇪 Tox
70. ⬆️🇦🇺 Bananahead
71. 🔻🇺🇸 Wahvey
72. 🔻🇧🇷 Droppz
73. ⬆️🇦🇺 Fever (+4)
74. 🟰🇳🇱 Oaly
75. 🟰🇧🇷 Brad
76. 🟰🇺🇸 Zineel
77. 🟰🇩🇪 Catalysm
78. 🟰🇧🇷 Sad
79. 🟰🇦🇺 Amphis
80. 🟰🇪🇸 MaRc_By_8
81. 🟰🇺🇸 Frosty
82. 🟰🇧🇷 Bemmz
83. ⬆️🇺🇸 Aqua
84. ⬆️🇪🇸 TehQoz
85. 🔻🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Creamz
86. 🔻🇧🇪 AztraL (-1)
87. 🔻🇺🇸 GarrettG
88. 🟰🇧🇷 Wisty
89. 🟰🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Rehzzy
90. ⬆️🇺🇸 Aris (+6)
91. 🟰🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 RelatingWave
92. ⬆️🇸🇦 Venom (New)
93. 🟰🇦🇺 Superlachie
94. ⬆️🇺🇸 Fiv3Up (New)
95. 🟰🇺🇸 Percy
96. ⬆️🇩🇪Rizex45 (+1)
97. ⬆️🇺🇸 Gyro
98. ⬆️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Toxiic (+2)
99. 🟰🇦🇺 Torsos
100. 🔻🇺🇸 Reveal

(⬆️): Rising, (🔻): Falling, (🟰): No Direct Change
____________________________________
Recent Notes:
• Out of the List: 🇸🇦 T7LM and 🇺🇸 Mist 😰
• 🇸🇦 Venom re-enters the list in place of 🇸🇦 T7LM at 92nd place 👏
• 🇺🇸 Fiv3Up re-enters the list in place of 🇺🇸 Mist at 94th place 👏
• 🇺🇸 Gyro and 🇺🇸 Reveal swap places
• 🇪🇸 TehQoz and 🇺🇸 GarrettG swap places
•🇺🇸 Aqua and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Creamz swap places
• 🇦🇺 Bananahead and 🇧🇷 Droppz swap places
• 🇺🇸 Andy and 🇺🇸 Wahvey swap places
• 🇧🇷 Aztromick and 🇺🇸 Evoh swap places
• 🇺🇸 Paarth and 🇸🇦 Okhalid swap places
• 🇧🇷 Motta and 🇪🇸 Dorito swap places
• 🇺🇸 Comm and 🇺🇸 Arsenal swap places
• 🇺🇸 Justin and 🇺🇸 Retals swap places
• 🇨🇦 JKnaps and 🇲🇦 Nass swap places
• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Noly and 🇺🇸 Chicago swap places
• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Joyo and 🇺🇸 Chronic swap places
• 🇺🇸 Atomic and 🇧🇪 Atow swap places
• 🇺🇸 Daniel and 🇺🇸 Firstkiller swap places
• 🇫🇷 M0nkeyM00n and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Rise swap places
• 🇺🇸 BeastMode and 🇫🇷 Vatira swap places
____________________________________
Top 5 Rising and Falling Players (Past Two Updates):
Fastest ⬆️

• 1st: 🇦🇺 Fever +13
• 2nd: 🇦🇺 Bananahead +10
• 3rd: 🇧🇷 Aztromick +7
• 4th: 🇺🇸 2Piece, 🇺🇸 Aris, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Joyo and 🇺🇸 Justin +6
• 5th: 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Archie, 🇦🇹 Ivn, 🇫🇷 M0nkeyM00n, 🇸🇦 Smw and 🇪🇸 TehQoz +5

Fastest 🔻

• 1st: 🇧🇪 AztraL, 🇪🇸 Dorito and 🇸🇦 Okhalid -9
• 2nd: 🇺🇸 Evoh and 🇪🇸 MaRc_By_8 -8
• 3rd: 🇺🇸 Firstkiller and 🇺🇸 Retals -7
• 4th: 🇺🇸 Ayyjayy, 🇺🇸 GarrettG and 🇲🇦 Nass -6
• 5th: 🇧🇪 Atow, 🇺🇸 Chronic, 🇧🇷 Droppz, 🇺🇸 Reveal and 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Rise -5

____________________________________
Average Top 10 Teams (as of player rankings this week):

1. G2 Stride 🇺🇸 - (6.6) ⬆️
2. Gentle Mates 🇲🇦🇫🇷 - (7.3)
3. Karmine Corp 🇫🇷🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇧🇪 - (8.6) 🔻
4. Vitality 🇫🇷 - (11.6) ⬆️
5. Team BDS 🇫🇷🇲🇦 - (13.3) ⬆️
6. Team Falcons 🇸🇦 - (14) ⬆️
7. Gen.G 🇺🇸🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 - (19.3) 🔻
8. Oxygen Esports 🇵🇱🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 - (25.6) ⬆️
9. Furia 🇧🇷 - (25.6) 🔻
10. Spacestation 🇺🇸 - (30) 🔻

____________________________________

I am NOT OOP. OOP is u/Chemical-Scarcity964
Originally posted to AITAH
Previous BoRU
[New Update]: AITAH for refusing to help my FIL with a vehicle?
Trigger Warnings: emotional manipulation, deaths of loved ones, financial struggles, cancer
RECAP
Original Post: December 3, 2023
I (38F) have been married to my husband (43M) for almost 15 years. My FIL has never really accepted me as family. He referred to me as "my son's wife" for the first 5 years of my marriage & when he convinced us to go halves on a property insisted on only his & my husband's names on a survivors deed, "in case we divorced". In the last few years, he has struggled financially due mostly to poor choices he made. His wife, husband's step mom, is much older & has medical problems leading him to choose to work mostly from home. He has traded in vehicles numerous times in the last few years, supposedly trying to lower his payments, but is always upside-down on the loans that it doesn't work. He is paying close to $1000 a month on a minivan. Now here is my problem.
My FIL is currently trying to guilt trip my husband into giving him one of several vehicles I inherited. I had two uncles pass away 3 weeks apart during the holidays more than a year ago & I am still going through the probate process because they passed so close together. I do not have the court's permission to do anything with their vehicles yet.
He told my husband how much it would help him to have one of the vehicles so that he could let his car go back on repo & not have to make the payments. I may have considered it too, if he had waited more than a couple weeks after my both uncles passed away. I was, quite litterally, knee deep in a horders paradise, trying to clean out their apartment within the month to avoid having to pay rent because i couldnt afford it and had no access to their money (strike one). He picked out which vehicle he wanted, the most valuable of the 4, rather than asking if we had plans for them yet (strike two). Then he asked my husband to give him said vehicle (strike three). As a cherry on top, asked my husband again (still has never asked me) to give him a $10k vehicle after we pay for all the little repairs it needs, of course.
Here is where I might me the Asshole: Do I need the vehicle? No. Could I use the money from its sale? Yes, but I could live without it, too, as our finances are better now. Will I sign it over to him? Never. This is far from the first time that man has shown utter disrespect for me & he can pay for rides before I give him any vehicle. Yes, I am probably being a little childish. The only reason I hesitate, I actually like his wife & it would help her to some extent.
Edit to add: My husband has already told me that the vehicles are mine & I can do whatever I want with them.
Since it's been mentioned a few times: he has been bought out on the property & my name added.
Edit for clarity & to address the most common responses: My husband acts as a buffer against FIL for the sake of my sanity. He has told FIL multiple times that the vehicles are not his to do anything with, but the man is intentionally dense. His wife cannot legally own a car as it cannot be registered in her name (no license) I will not loan/rent him a vehicle as I can't trust that he will maintain it.
 
Relevant Comments
akhoneygirl: Offer him the worst for 3 or 4000!

OP: That's part of it. He wants us to fix & give him the vehicle. All of them need at least a few hundred in repairs. He has no interest in paying us for anything. He is just set on guilt tripping his son. My husband has told me everything from the start & said it's all up to me, my uncles, my vehicles, my decision.

SawwhetMA: So FIL set you up to lose out on a property if your SO passed away before FIL did? I'm glad to hear you bought him out and that's set now . If you find it in your heart to give him one of the vehicles then you may be a better person than I because I'm not sure if I could, given the history. What if (when probate is set and all) you offer to rent him one of the vehicles? Obviously that isn't what he wants, but you'd get some income but still own it to sell it when he was done with the vehicle?
Good luck!

OP: He would run it into the ground & I would end up having to go get it when he refused to pay. It's just frustrating because I like his wife & would consider doing it to help her, if he would just man up & ask. Instead, he tries to play the poor me card.

Dixieland_Insanity: INFO:
How does he know what you're inheriting from your uncles. Why does he think he's entitles to any of it?

OP: He knew my uncles fairly well since they were basically the last of my family. He doesn't really know what the full inheritance is, but the vehicles were the most obvious. He has told him no a couple of times. Everything FIL gets tight on funds he asks again.

Cdn_Giants_Fan: Not The A•H. But that said I would probably sell him one of the vehicles for its bluebook value and say pay 100 bucks a week. And if he says anything about it saybthat perhaps if you weren't such an asshat to me I would've just let you have it. Then if he starts being nice after it's partially paid off tell him hes good. He learns a lesson and you earn some money.

OP: I would never see a dime. He thinks that being "the father" means he is owed something from my husband and, by extension, me. Honestly, even if he offered me full value in cash, I would probably laugh at him & tell him to shove off.

VadersLoversLover: Gift it to your MIL with a lien on it so he can’t change to title.

OP: Due to a medical issue, she can't drive and had to surrender her license. That makes it impossible to register it in her name because she can't be insured as a driver.

 
Update #1: December 11, 2023
You guys asked for an update, so here you go. I have had a long talk with my husband about FIL & his "request" for one of the vehicles I had inherited. I showed him my original post & he got a good laugh out of some of the suggestions (especially the toy car). We have agreed that the only way to handle his constant hints & requests, is for me to draft an email to him. For reference: FIL loves to send me rude & demanding emails when he "feels unheard."
The email will not be sent until I know that probate is done & is as "polite & civil" as I can possibly write it. The jist of the email I typed up is this:
"I understand that you have been asking husband to gift you one of my uncles' vehicles. Unfortunately, you have chosen to speak to the wrong person. I have told you before that, in some things, his business is his & mine is mine. The vehicles that you keep asking about are mine. As such, I have decided that they will be sold at a fair market value. The funds will be split evenly into savings accounts for my daughters, as a seed for their futures. I already have buyers lined up for the vehicles & will be arranging times for them to be collected shortly. I hope you can understand my desire to ensure that my childrens' futures are secure, as my uncles would have wanted."
I am tempted to sign it as "husband's wife" but am undecided right now.
Thank you to everyone who commented on my previous post. Your thoughts & support helped me a lot. I was genuinely on the fence as to whether or not I was being too sensitive about everything. You were all amazing & supportive about the entire mess. I just hope that this email to him puts an end to his covert begging once & for all (at least about this). And yes, my husband is behind me 100% and has no issues with my approach.
 

----NEW UPDATE----

Final Update: May 22, 2024 (five months later)
A few people have reached out to ask so here it goes.
Everything is finally settled. The vehicles are sold, except one I decided to keep for my oldest to learn on when she gets her permit.
I didn't send my FIL the email, although I do still have it saved. Turns out I won't have to. As of a few weeks ago, I am getting a divorce. My, now stbx, husband decided that he no longer wants to play house. He moved out & I am in the process of packing his things. Since the vehicles and my house were all inherited, he has no claim to them or the money from their sale. Yes I double checked the law in my state. If he would have waited a few more weeks, I would have paid off every debt we had, but he didn't. So he saved me a bunch of money by telling me before I commingled my inheritance funds with joint assets.
I don't know how his family will act towards me & our kids when he finally tells them all. His brother has called to make sure he is still allowed to keep in touch but he is the only one I've heard from so far.
Oh and as a bonus: the week before I found out about my impending divorce, my mother (who I was never close to) was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She passed away a week later. She was 58 years old, the same age my uncles were. So, yeah, it's basically just me & my kids against the world now.
Anyway, that's the update.
Relevant Comments
OOP on moving forward with her life and personal issues going on in her family especially health issues

OOP: Thank you. Its kinda sad that your kind words are enough to make me want to cry because it's expected that I am the strong one for everyone else. I don't really get to give myself time to be weak. And you are right. If it were not for my kids, I probably would have been completely broken.
My uncles had other health problems, no cancer at all that I know of & most of our family lived into their 70s and 80s. I am definitely working on getting my little health concerns checked out, though.

 

DO NOT COMMENT IN LINKED POSTS OR MESSAGE OOPs – BoRU Rule #7

THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT OOP

I, 35 female, had been in an on again off again relationship with my boyfriend, 45 male, for the last 3 years. I won't bore you with the details of how we met and what went on for the last 3 years of our relationship, I'm just going to get to the point.
Back in late September 2023, my boyfriend moved to Iowa. We had just gotten back together when he sprung that on me and I was rather upset at first but knew that he was only moving because it was for his mental health. Living in the big city can be very costly and stressful, so I understood his reasoning. I did not go with him and figured we would go our separate ways. Fast forward four months later and I get a message from him through Facebook messenger asking me to call him. I call him and learned rather quickly that he had been drinking but he was asking why I suddenly ghosted him by not replying back to his texts or calls. For context, I never blocked his number.
I told him that I did not get any of his texts or calls. He asked me why I never tried reaching out to him and I explained that I thought him moving away and not staying in contact meant the end of our relationship. We had a lengthy conversation that night and he asked me to come visit him. I told him that I will consider it but would need to build up some PTO as I had just started a new job and didn't want to risk anything during my first 90 days. We stayed in touch after that, calling each other daily and talking on the phone for hours just catching up and going over mutual interests and so on until I've built up enough PTO to go visit him.
You may wonder why I was the one to go visit him in Iowa. Firstly, he wanted me to see the town he had decided to settle in. Secondly, we had discussed resuming our relationship and possibly having me move out there as it was out of the question for him to move back to the city where I live. I understood his reasoning for moving but felt that leaving the life I have behind for him felt a bit extreme. But I kept an open mind about Iowa and went to visit (side note, there are no direct flights to where he moved to. I had to fly to Chicago, which is a 2.5 hour drive away and he had to rent a car to pick me up). I spent a four day weekend with him, and I'm not going to lie and say that it was magical and romantic because it's Iowa. Seeing him again, however, brought back all the feelings I had for him and I realized just how much I had missed him.
I honestly didn't see much during my visit as it wasn't a dense town like I would see back home, as everything was very spread out. That should have been my very first clue to the kind of life it was like. It was very quiet and peaceful, which was a change. Unlike the city where it was always busy and sirens going off in the distance was a constant, at night it's dead silent. It was definitely a change in pace and I was more or less charmed, but not impressed. My weekend visit was over before we knew it and I returned home back to the life I was most comfortable with.
My boyfriend and I resumed our daily phone calls, but I noticed our conversations began to shift towards me moving out to Iowa. And in truth I was swayed by the idea of leaving the big city for small town life, however, my biggest hesitation was job security. I work in the medical field and finding a job with my skill-sets wasn't a huge challenge aside from the lack of urgency of callbacks from the jobs I had applied to. My boyfriend reassured me that it was just how things were in Iowa, that unlike the city, the businesses moved through a system that was much slower than what I was used to. I had my doubts but then again I didn't know much about the hiring process in the mid-west. My boyfriend then said it would probably go a lot faster if I was actually in the area (which I was skeptical about but didn't comment). I knew he just wanted me there with him and, at that time, I wanted to be with him because I had truly believed that we had talked through our past issues and were now on the same wavelength of what we wanted as a couple moving forward.
Boy was I in for a rude awakening.
I literally packed up my life into my SUV. I didn't take any furniture with me knowing that what my boyfriend lacked we could always buy. It took me 3 days of driving to reach Iowa and I had never thought I'd be so happy to be in Iowa or all places, but I was. I was blinded by hopes and dreams of a happy life with the man I thought I was in love with. I should mention that I have been saving money for a down payment on a house for the last 5 years and have managed to save $20k. It has been a personal goal, not dream, for myself to be a homeowner, not because I want that white picket fence dream, but because I simply want a home that is truly MY home. I want a safe space that truly feels mine and have it reflect the type of person that I am, instead of apartments where I would have to return the space to the manufactured setting once I leave.
Now, the housing market in Iowa is relatively cheap compared to Washington. And when I saw the cheap listings, cheap as in less than $200k for a 3 bedroom 2 bath, move-in ready house I was ready to commit my new life in Iowa with my boyfriend. At first, my boyfriend was very supportive of my house hunting, he knew that it was personal goal of mine and had always said how he admired my ambition to become a home owner. I got in touch with a realtor agent who collaborated with me on what my boyfriend and I were looking for in a home. I probably saw about a dozen houses within my first 2 weeks since arriving to Iowa and I actually found a house that we both really liked. I was ready to put in an offer when my boyfriend suddenly told me that he didn't want to become a home owner, saying that it was too much of a commitment that he never wants to make.
It gave me pause, and though I was very disappointed in having to put aside a goal I made for myself, I half-heartedly agreed. It was then things started to unravel between us and his mood just quickly declined. I should note that my boyfriend has diagnosed PTSD from childhood trauma and he has a tendency to become anxious and agitated when stressed out. The days that followed I had noticed a shift in him and because he works from home, I just assumed it was because his work was stressing him out.
I tried to be a good girlfriend by staying out of his way while he was working and try to be as quiet as possible while at home. I would try to help out with small things like letting the dogs out to relieve themselves and take them on short walks. I tried to be mindful to not make a mess. Along with my boyfriend's anxiety and mental health struggles he also has OCD, and while back in Seattle I had noticed he liked to keep a clean home, out in Iowa it had become abundantly clear that the smallest mess would upset him.
His bad mood only worsened. One day, while he was folding laundry, I asked him if there was anything he'd like me to do around the house because I wanted to be helpful. He said "If you see a mess, clean it." That came off as truly strange to me.
"Do you want me to vacuum or clean the bathrooms?" I asked.
He looked at me like what I had asked was the dumbest question he had ever heard and snapped at me with: "If you see a mess, clean it. You're not 12 years old, you're not being paid an allowance to do simple chores. You're an adult, you should already know what to do."
What he said embarrassed me and made me feel so small and inferior, but it also truly angered me. Where was all this hostility suddenly coming from? I didn't want to start a fight over chores and simply helped him fold the laundry. We eventually had a talk, which turned into him going on a tangent about how he requires to keep a clean and sterile house, that "everything has its place" in the house. He then went on about not wanting the commitment of home ownership and that he has no intentions of ever returning to Seattle. He told me how all my stuff cluttering the bedroom and office is taking a toll on his mental health and that it's my job to make sure that they're all put away so he doesn't have to see them (mind you, I was still unpacking and with limited storage space the rest of my belongings are still packed away).
Then he suggested something that blindsided me. He suggested that I possibly look for my own place so that we live separately and slowly integrate into each other's lives again. It was then that I took account of all the red flags that had sprung up from before I foolishly packed up my life to be with this man that I suddenly no longer loved. It was as if a switch in me had been flipped and all those feelings of affection just left my system. I told him that what he was proposing wasn't possible because I was struggling to find employment and didn't want to waste my savings on a brand new lease, especially since I was just added onto his lease.
I tried to find a middle ground with him, especially when it came to my personal belongings. I knew that he was talking about my makeup being out on the counter. Mind you, my second day in Iowa, we had gone to Costco where I found a makeup organizer and purchased it. All my makeup fits neatly in it and isn't scattered all over the place, he just doesn't like seeing them. That still wasn't good enough for him but I had to point it out to him by saying "I live here, too. It's only fair that I should feel like this is my home."
After that, the tension between us only got worse. He would have angry outbursts over the smallest inconveniences and prioritize more on his "mental and physical health" than work on our rapidly deteriorating relationship. I'm also at fault for not trying harder to talk things out but after he suggested I find my own place I subconsciously knew our relationship was over, on top of that, I was also emotionally drained and feeling depressed.
Now moving to the present, I had finally secured a job that would be opening a clinic nearby, meaning I wouldn't have to waste gas as much and would finally be able to contribute financially to the household. When I told my boyfriend the news it was received with a rather lackluster response but I still held out hope that once I start working and be out of the house more things might mellow out. Then, over the weekend, everything fell apart.
I had woken up early because the dogs needed to go outside. I knew my boyfriend wasn't getting much sleep lately so I let him sleep in as much as possible. Once the dogs had finished relieving themselves I had the intention of going back to bed to get another hour or so of sleep but the dogs came in to disrupt that plan. My boyfriend didn't like that and got up explosively, cursing and yelling as he stomped downstairs about how he couldn't get any sleep. I go downstairs to tell him that he can go back to bed, that I forgot to feed the dogs after letting them outside and that I would take care of it. He yells at me that he would do it since he's up and then goes on a rant about how his life was disrupted ever since I arrived. Let me remind you that he wanted me there in the first place.
He blamed me for the poor sleep he's been having ever since I arrived (there is also 3 dogs sleeping in the bed with us). He blamed me for his financial woes (he took care of the bills until I found a job). He blamed me for the hit to his credit score (I took a hit as well because we were getting pre-approval for a home loan before he said he didn't want to move forward with it). Blamed me for the decline in his mental and physical health (he vapes throughout the day and his vices are scotch and ice cream). And he blamed me for his inability to focus on drawing his comic series because of his mental health decline (he's a decent artist but I can't take credit for his creative block).
While he listed off all the things I am to be blamed for and how he had made so many compromises for me I reflected back on my surprisingly short time here (3 weeks, nearing 4), I was the one who made all the compromises. I was the one who made the bigger sacrifice. I traveled half-way across the country for a man who will never make my happiness a priority. From the start of our relationship 3 years ago to now, I was the only one who had to make sacrifices just to pacify this giant man-child.
He brought up me finding my own place again and I told him that if I have to move out then I'm returning to Seattle. He didn't fight me on that but the downside is that I have to wait for my parents, who had planned to drive out this way in June from Seattle, to visit friends in Chicago. They've been made aware of the situation and will be driving out in my step-dad's pickup truck to haul back all of my belongings and we would leave together in both my step-dad;s truck and my SUV. I had emailed the hiring manager I had gone through my interview process with, letting her know that I unfortunately will be returning to Seattle due to personal circumstances.
In the meantime I have begun submitting my resume to clinics and hospitals back in Seattle and already have several interviews set up (much faster turn-around than Iowa) and hopefully soon I will have secured a job before my return home.

After a wonderful year with an amazing girl (24F) who I(26M) fell in love with and was building a future with, I got suddenly dumped. Just a few days before the anniversary of the day we met.
About two months ago, after I returned from a trip, she came to meet me with the intention to break up because she felt the relationship had lost the ‘spark’. We had a healthy conversation and communicated the flaws and what was missing and decided that we would work on them together and revive it. Over the next month, we did exactly that, both proclaimed that we loved each other. We had our serious discussions and planned out the next couple months with weekend trips, and her introducing me to her mom who was supposed to visit this past weekend.
May 1st, her birthday, I surprised her, had a wonderful day on the weekend with her friends and everything seemed to be going great. She came by to spend the night next day and she would reiterate her feelings for me, through words and actions and everything seemed to be going great. May 8th, before going to sleep, I told her how much I missed her, and what exactly I missed about her to reiterate my feelings to show how serious I was as well. May 9th, morning, she replied normally and said she missed me as well and wished she could cuddle with me all day every day. I jokingly said I want to hear more, in detail as to how much she misses me. That message was followed by an entire day of silence. We were supposed to meet later that day however, she made up a reason to not meet and then called me later in the night and broke the news.
She felt she did not want to be in a relationship with me anymore. She had come to realize, that she would never love me the way I love her. We met a day later to say our goodbyes as I was in a state of shock. I was blindsided. I thought I only reciprocated the feelings. She mentioned that ‘I miss you’ message from me made her realize that she could never love me the same way. She said she will always hold love for me and care for me, and cherish the memories we made over the past year. I couldn’t muster up the courage to fight for us, how could I knowing that it was probably the last time I would be seeing her? I asked her what changed, what happened, what did I do and all she responded was ‘I don’t have an answer for you. I wish there was a reason, because you do and say everything that I want you to do and hear.’ Yet she left me. I didn’t beg, all I could say was, if that’s what you feel, how can I change your feelings?
I sent a letter proclaiming my feelings to her and why I said what I said and how ‘she’ had planned all those trips and plans over the next couple weekends and the summer. The day it got delivered, I sent her a message that I wasn’t expecting a response, even though I so much wanted to, and that I will be blocking/removing her from my instagram as that’s the only social media app I use.
She didn’t reply, it broke me apart, but maybe that was for the best? So, it’s been 17 days of no contact, and I miss her every day, all day. I truly loved her and this has broken me into a million pieces. She was the first girl I was going to confess my love for, to my conservative and religious mother. It felt like someone snatched the earth from beneath me. I wake up in the middle of the night multiple times trembling or sweating dreaming about her. I have lost 8 pounds due to a loss in appetite. I have been meditating, journaling, working out, playing soccer, staying busy as all of you have said but it still feels like a gaping hole in my heart. I get anxious and shortness of breath. I cry till I can’t cry anymore. Each day is a battle with myself so I don’t reach out to her.
How do you go from best friends one day and to being a stranger the next? She made me a better man than I was yesterday and now it feels like everything I had hoped for is shattered. I know time heals all wounds, but how do I go forward knowing she will not be a part of my life the way I had and atleast till the last day, she had envisioned as well? It hurts.
I miss her so much and I know I will always love her. But I’m doing my best to stay no contact so I can hopefully heal. Why is the world so cruel?

After a wonderful year with an amazing girl (24F) who I(26M) fell in love with and was building a future with, I got suddenly dumped. Just a few days before the anniversary of the day we met.
About two months ago, after I returned from a trip, she came to meet me with the intention to break up because she felt the relationship had lost the ‘spark’. We had a healthy conversation and communicated the flaws and what was missing and decided that we would work on them together and revive it. Over the next month, we did exactly that, both proclaimed that we loved each other. We had our serious discussions and planned out the next couple months with weekend trips, and her introducing me to her mom who was supposed to visit this past weekend.
May 1st, her birthday, I surprised her, had a wonderful day on the weekend with her friends and everything seemed to be going great. She came by to spend the night next day and she would reiterate her feelings for me, through words and actions and everything seemed to be going great. May 8th, before going to sleep, I told her how much I missed her, and what exactly I missed about her to reiterate my feelings to show how serious I was as well. May 9th, morning, she replied normally and said she missed me as well and wished she could cuddle with me all day every day. I jokingly said I want to hear more, in detail as to how much she misses me. That message was followed by an entire day of silence. We were supposed to meet later that day however, she made up a reason to not meet and then called me later in the night and broke the news.
She felt she did not want to be in a relationship with me anymore. She had come to realize, that she would never love me the way I love her. We met a day later to say our goodbyes as I was in a state of shock. I was blindsided. I thought I only reciprocated the feelings. She mentioned that ‘I miss you’ message from me made her realize that she could never love me the same way. She said she will always hold love for me and care for me, and cherish the memories we made over the past year. I couldn’t muster up the courage to fight for us, how could I knowing that it was probably the last time I would be seeing her? I asked her what changed, what happened, what did I do and all she responded was ‘I don’t have an answer for you. I wish there was a reason, because you do and say everything that I want you to do and hear.’ Yet she left me. I didn’t beg, all I could say was, if that’s what you feel, how can I change your feelings?
I sent a letter proclaiming my feelings to her and why I said what I said and how ‘she’ had planned all those trips and plans over the next couple weekends and the summer. The day it got delivered, I sent her a message that I wasn’t expecting a response, even though I so much wanted to, and that I will be blocking/removing her from my instagram as that’s the only social media app I use.
She didn’t reply, it broke me apart, but maybe that was for the best? So, it’s been 17 days of no contact, and I miss her every day, all day. I truly loved her and this has broken me into a million pieces. She was the first girl I was going to confess my love for, to my conservative and religious mother. It felt like someone snatched the earth from beneath me. I wake up in the middle of the night multiple times trembling or sweating dreaming about her. I have lost 8 pounds due to a loss in appetite. I have been meditating, journaling, working out, playing soccer, staying busy as all of you have said but it still feels like a gaping hole in my heart. I get anxious and shortness of breath. I cry till I can’t cry anymore. Each day is a battle with myself so I don’t reach out to her.
How do you go from best friends one day and to being a stranger the next? She made me a better man than I was yesterday and now it feels like everything I had hoped for is shattered. I know time heals all wounds, but how do I go forward knowing she will not be a part of my life the way I had and atleast till the last day, she had envisioned as well? It hurts.
I miss her so much and I know I will always love her. But I’m doing my best to stay no contact so I can hopefully heal. Why is the world so cruel?

In this I'll go over each characters feats and make sure this debate ends fairly on both sides. We will do both anime and manga interpretations, if anyone would like me to do only manga or only anime I'll be happy to do so. Without further or do let's get started:
Now this isn't to be a Gokutard or Goku d-rider but as of now Son Goku slams Saitama almost effortlessly, I'll explain.
We will be giving both of them all their abilities, power ups, and we will be using statements heavily (ofc we are using feats but to scale feats we need statements to back them up, not all the time necessarily, but in this case we do for context)
Saitama before he became the opm he was a regular human who simply worked out every single day until he became so powerful he could one punch any enemy
Some fans of the show take this way to literal as we've seen people who can tank hits from him like boros and garou. Saitama has only been shown to one shot enemies that are weaker than him since we know he has never shown his true power or speed at all in the first parts of the series and chapters of the manga.
People also misinterpret the statement of saitama breaking his limiter as a way of saying he now has no limits whatsoever, which was debunked heavily by lots of powerscalers, just because you break a limiter doesn't automatically make you limitless, we see characters like goku break their limiter multiple times but we know goku isn't limitless he just has limitless potential.
Saitama has alot of statements over feats especially in some of his first appearances, I feel like any sane person would understand that saitama can't actually one punch characters that are on his level or above his level.
Let's get into speed feats for saitama so we can start getting into the differences.
Saitamas moon feat where he jumps from the moon back to earth took him 1.5 seconds( which would mean he was moving at around 260,000km/s) only .2 off from the speed of light (which takes 1.3 seconds to get from the moon back to earth)
The distance between the moon and earth is approximately 384,400km (or 238,855 miles)
This would mean, not even at full power he was close to hitting the speed of light.
Let's move on to other speed feats, flashy flash stated that he has already met four people who surpassed him in speed including saitama and if the name didn't already give it away then yes in this moment saitama was moving faster than the speed of light, later down the line he fights cosmic garou which introduces some crazy speed feats
When him and garou was fighting he demonstrated some very fast fighting speed when he uses his omnidirectional punch, which took incredible speed this would put him at mftl and he could calc even higher when he simply farts to catch up to cosmic garou which would put him at mftl+ and he would cap at that.
Strength feats:
Saitama has alot of Strength feats
When saitama uses serious table flip he lifts the surface of Jupiter's moon and nearly destroys it which is impressive since this feat was performed outer space and can be calculated from moon level Strength to planet surface level Strength.
Power( including AP):
Saitama shows great power as he was able to sneeze and separate the gases of jupiter, which is a great and heavily impressive feat due to the fact that jupiter is is 11x bigger than earth and he was able to casually sneeze the gases away mind you ITS A SNEEZE. But sadly he didn't destroy the planet which can't be used to say he can sneeze planets away because that's not demonstrated.
Him and garous clashing destroyed multiple stars which would include the galaxies surrounding them, which could calc saitama and garou to multi galaxy level easily but they would cap at that, they have not demonstrated any further feats that put thm above that.
Durability and endurance(stamina):
Saitamas Durability is absolutely bonkers as he survived hits that could destroy the surface of planets and could also survive attacks that can destroy actual planets
When garou and saitama were clashing blast had to move them to the moon or else earth would be destroyed sadly that feat alone would put both of them at planetary but ofc they get more powerful and become multi galaxy.
Saitama was able to survive attacks such as gamma ray burst, collapsing star roaring cannon, etc.
Saitama is also able to continuously fight without showing any signs of being tired whatsoever as we see once garou gives up Saitama is still chilling ready for more and still has enough power left to live up to his name and simply go back in time to one punch garou before the punch even lands.
This is where we get into the true scaling of his power growth and "limitless potential"
A graph shows Saitamas growth compared to garous and it was stated that under intense emotion he grew exponentially in seconds, and no one could keep up with him or was on par with him.
This statement shows that saitama can grow endlessly under intense emotion but that statement tends to get overlooked by alot of saitama fans because they don't like to admit that saitama doesn't grow as he fights he grows depending on his emotions.
Therefore saitama would scale to
Galaxy-Multi galaxy level MFTL+
With moon level to planet surface level Strength and Between planetary and Galaxy level durability/AP
Time for son goku
Speed:
In the frieza saga goku was already thousands of times faster than light as we see he can handle burter and jiece as burter was stated to be "the fastest in the universe" and goku casually outscales him in speed.
Goku was also fast enough to one shot recoome before recomme even noticed he disappeared.
Skipping to the cell saga
Goku and cell were fighting so fast it was hard for the z fighters to keep up, as piccolo stated that he couldn't see them and in dragon ball we all understand the fights are slowed down so we can see what they are doing.
Jumping to super, goku fought hit who has the ability to manipulate time by skipping into the future goku was able to catch up to him and hit him, which can be calculated from infinite to immeasurable speed, since he is moving forward in time with just raw speed alone, he also was able to move in a area that has no time/space( Zeno destroys trunks timeline) which would require absurd amounts of speed
Power and AP:
Back to the frieza arc goku was able to best frieza who was destroying planets by creating supernova with a lift of his finger as we seen when he destroyed planet vegeta.
Frieza was also stated to have the power capable enough to destroy the universe which is inconsistent since we don't see him actually destroy the universe, and cell was also stating that he can destroy the whole solar system which is crazy already since solar systems are bigger than galaxies which means cell would be well than enough to take on saitama.
This shows that saitama wouldn't even get past cell😭 and thats before super perfect
Mind you cell stated that he has infinite or bottomless power and strength which can easily be misinterpreted as cell simply meant his energy not his actual power or strength, this means cell already has more stamina than saitama by an infinite amount
Back to goku
Goku was clashing fists with beerus that would destroy the entire macrocosm even though goku was simply nullifying beerus attacks by matching them so he wouldn't destroy the universe, elder kai stated that the Shockwaves were getting stronger but thats only cause gokus nullifying was losing its affect the further they went.
This is similar to how bulletproof glass stops a bullet, the glass simply nullifies the bullets affect.
The dragon ball macrocosm or universe is a infinite growing universe as its already infinite, this universe also has 7 infinite realms inside of it with the kaioshin realm and otherworldly being deemed as super transcendental or just superdimensional which means they transcend the casual time/space and live outside of it
With that being explained beerus could've destroyed all of that in a single punch if goku wasn't there mind you beerus wasn't at full power when he was fighting goku
And goku matches those same punches, he eventually absorbs this same energy or power into his base form and now has that power in base meaning in base gokus universal+ in base...IN BASE.
Strength and durability:
Goku is able to easily lift and drag weights nearly the same size as buildings which is scary asf(this is before beerus shows up)
But the things goku lift are never stated he just lifts huge things without context lol
Goku is able to tank attacks that can destroy universes and even can withstand the gravitational pull of backhoes casually while damaged, backholes can destroy planets instantly meaning a weekend goku can withstand planet destroying attacks and he also casually compares the blackhole to bulmas gravity chamber
Stamina:
Goku has shown to get tired but after fighting for hours on end which means goku can fight for close to what seems like a day at best, we could use the hyperbolic time chamber as him fighting for a year but we simply don't actually know if goku fights the whole time while he is in there or not.
Goku based off of those feats alone would scale from
Low multiversal-low comp multiversal Infinite- irrelevant speed
With AP at universal+ Durability at universal-universal+
The fact that ppl truly think this is a debate is outrageous

In this I'll go over each characters feats and make sure this debate ends fairly on both sides. We will do both anime and manga interpretations, if anyone would like me to do only manga or only anime I'll be happy to do so. Without further or do let's get started:
Now this isn't to be a Gokutard or Goku d-rider but as of now Son Goku slams Saitama almost effortlessly, I'll explain.
We will be giving both of them all their abilities, power ups, and we will be using statements heavily (ofc we are using feats but to scale feats we need statements to back them up, not all the time necessarily, but in this case we do for context)
Saitama before he became the opm he was a regular human who simply worked out every single day until he became so powerful he could one punch any enemy
Some fans of the show take this way to literal as we've seen people who can tank hits from him like boros and garou. Saitama has only been shown to one shot enemies that are weaker than him since we know he has never shown his true power or speed at all in the first parts of the series and chapters of the manga.
People also misinterpret the statement of saitama breaking his limiter as a way of saying he now has no limits whatsoever, which was debunked heavily by lots of powerscalers, just because you break a limiter doesn't automatically make you limitless, we see characters like goku break their limiter multiple times but we know goku isn't limitless he just has limitless potential.
Saitama has alot of statements over feats especially in some of his first appearances, I feel like any sane person would understand that saitama can't actually one punch characters that are on his level or above his level.
Let's get into speed feats for saitama so we can start getting into the differences.
Saitamas moon feat where he jumps from the moon back to earth took him 1.5 seconds( which would mean he was moving at around 260,000km/s) only .2 off from the speed of light (which takes 1.3 seconds to get from the moon back to earth)
The distance between the moon and earth is approximately 384,400km (or 238,855 miles)
This would mean, not even at full power he was close to hitting the speed of light.
Let's move on to other speed feats, flashy flash stated that he has already met four people who surpassed him in speed including saitama and if the name didn't already give it away then yes in this moment saitama was moving faster than the speed of light, later down the line he fights cosmic garou which introduces some crazy speed feats
When him and garou was fighting he demonstrated some very fast fighting speed when he uses his omnidirectional punch, which took incredible speed this would put him at mftl and he could calc even higher when he simply farts to catch up to cosmic garou which would put him at mftl+ and he would cap at that.
Strength feats:
Saitama has alot of Strength feats
When saitama uses serious table flip he lifts the surface of Jupiter's moon and nearly destroys it which is impressive since this feat was performed outer space and can be calculated from moon level Strength to planet surface level Strength.
Power( including AP):
Saitama shows great power as he was able to sneeze and separate the gases of jupiter, which is a great and heavily impressive feat due to the fact that jupiter is is 11x bigger than earth and he was able to casually sneeze the gases away mind you ITS A SNEEZE. But sadly he didn't destroy the planet which can't be used to say he can sneeze planets away because that's not demonstrated.
Him and garous clashing destroyed multiple stars which would include the galaxies surrounding them, which could calc saitama and garou to multi galaxy level easily but they would cap at that, they have not demonstrated any further feats that put thm above that.
Durability and endurance(stamina):
Saitamas Durability is absolutely bonkers as he survived hits that could destroy the surface of planets and could also survive attacks that can destroy actual planets
When garou and saitama were clashing blast had to move them to the moon or else earth would be destroyed sadly that feat alone would put both of them at planetary but ofc they get more powerful and become multi galaxy.
Saitama was able to survive attacks such as gamma ray burst, collapsing star roaring cannon, etc.
Saitama is also able to continuously fight without showing any signs of being tired whatsoever as we see once garou gives up Saitama is still chilling ready for more and still has enough power left to live up to his name and simply go back in time to one punch garou before the punch even lands.
This is where we get into the true scaling of his power growth and "limitless potential"
A graph shows Saitamas growth compared to garous and it was stated that under intense emotion he grew exponentially in seconds, and no one could keep up with him or was on par with him.
This statement shows that saitama can grow endlessly under intense emotion but that statement tends to get overlooked by alot of saitama fans because they don't like to admit that saitama doesn't grow as he fights he grows depending on his emotions.
Therefore saitama would scale to
Galaxy-Multi galaxy level MFTL+
With moon level to planet surface level Strength and Between planetary and Galaxy level durability/AP
Time for son goku
Speed:
In the frieza saga goku was already thousands of times faster than light as we see he can handle burter and jiece as burter was stated to be "the fastest in the universe" and goku casually outscales him in speed.
Goku was also fast enough to one shot recoome before recomme even noticed he disappeared.
Skipping to the cell saga
Goku and cell were fighting so fast it was hard for the z fighters to keep up, as piccolo stated that he couldn't see them and in dragon ball we all understand the fights are slowed down so we can see what they are doing.
Jumping to super, goku fought hit who has the ability to manipulate time by skipping into the future goku was able to catch up to him and hit him, which can be calculated from infinite to immeasurable speed, since he is moving forward in time with just raw speed alone, he also was able to move in a area that has no time/space( Zeno destroys trunks timeline) which would require absurd amounts of speed
Power and AP:
Back to the frieza arc goku was able to best frieza who was destroying planets by creating supernova with a lift of his finger as we seen when he destroyed planet vegeta.
Frieza was also stated to have the power capable enough to destroy the universe which is inconsistent since we don't see him actually destroy the universe, and cell was also stating that he can destroy the whole solar system which is crazy already since solar systems are bigger than galaxies which means cell would be well than enough to take on saitama.
This shows that saitama wouldn't even get past cell😭 and thats before super perfect
Mind you cell stated that he has infinite or bottomless power and strength which can easily be misinterpreted as cell simply meant his energy not his actual power or strength, this means cell already has more stamina than saitama by an infinite amount
Back to goku
Goku was clashing fists with beerus that would destroy the entire macrocosm even though goku was simply nullifying beerus attacks by matching them so he wouldn't destroy the universe, elder kai stated that the Shockwaves were getting stronger but thats only cause gokus nullifying was losing its affect the further they went.
This is similar to how bulletproof glass stops a bullet, the glass simply nullifies the bullets affect.
The dragon ball macrocosm or universe is a infinite growing universe as its already infinite, this universe also has 7 infinite realms inside of it with the kaioshin realm and otherworldly being deemed as super transcendental or just superdimensional which means they transcend the casual time/space and live outside of it
With that being explained beerus could've destroyed all of that in a single punch if goku wasn't there mind you beerus wasn't at full power when he was fighting goku
And goku matches those same punches, he eventually absorbs this same energy or power into his base form and now has that power in base meaning in base gokus universal+ in base...IN BASE.
Strength and durability:
Goku is able to easily lift and drag weights nearly the same size as buildings which is scary asf(this is before beerus shows up)
But the things goku lift are never stated he just lifts huge things without context lol
Goku is able to tank attacks that can destroy universes and even can withstand the gravitational pull of backhoes casually while damaged, backholes can destroy planets instantly meaning a weekend goku can withstand planet destroying attacks and he also casually compares the blackhole to bulmas gravity chamber
Stamina:
Goku has shown to get tired but after fighting for hours on end which means goku can fight for close to what seems like a day at best, we could use the hyperbolic time chamber as him fighting for a year but we simply don't actually know if goku fights the whole time while he is in there or not.
Goku based off of those feats alone would scale from
Low multiversal-low comp multiversal Infinite- irrelevant speed
With AP at universal+ Durability at universal-universal+
The fact that ppl truly think this is a debate is outrageous

Why did the farmer drive his tractor to the pharmacy? He wanted to visit the farm-assist!
Hi and welcome to my post! Wanted to start off with a funny to me dad joke.
Nice to meet you, I'm Dylan! To put it simple, I am a single 22 year old person who has been pretty lonely in life and lacking human connection. Any gender is welcome :) part of what comes with that is the desire to be intimate with a person. I am very mature for my age and will always be respectful of your boundaries and feelings, especially with anything sexual. Lately all I have is myself when it comes to sexual desires, so I would like to have someone to keep company with in that regard too. And I've also been fairly horny lately so perhaps if you are too we can help each other.
I'm just relaxing at work tonight as it's a slow day. Thinking about going home and burning a woodwick candle. I love candles! 🕯️ Sometimes a campfire outside on a fall night or a crackling WoodWick candle is a relaxing constant among our busy and hectic world. It's nice to just disconnect, feel grounded and happy in your own little cozy space. Feeling calm and collected and at peace. Something that fewer people take the time to do these days.
I am seeking a woman around my age or older to build a close connection with that could possibly lead to a something intimate which includes the possibility of teasing/sharing pics etc. but only when we were comfortable. Figured I would be open in my Intentions as that's the best way to be.
You:
Kind, respectful, and easy going.
Comfortable with the idea of eventually sharing intimate things together.
Willing to eventually move off of Reddit.
Want something genuine and fun!
Are honest in your intentions and a good person to be around!
That's about it, we will get along great I know it.
I've been feeling a little bummed out lately. I always try and stay happy and see the best in things. But.. I've just been so alone. Most of my whole childhood and adult years have been spent feeling lonely. I grew up surrounded by cornfields which was peaceful but also has a lonely aspect to it. My family never really were close and never did anything as a family really. And part of it too is the fact that I never had any neighbors my age to interact with. But aside from that, my adult life has been very lonely. I'm just always by myself. I barely have any meaningful adult relationships or experiences, or even any friends.
I work a 3-11 job in building maintenance at my company world headquarters building which I love, but again it's very lonely. I work the off shift so the building is always empty. I don't get normal social interaction with people my age or a chance to build relationships. I only have 3 older men as co-workers and we are mostly in the basement away from any people on the floors from knowing our existence. I always walk the floors and see office people laughing and chatting with their coworkers and I just don't have that kind of experience. And just.. no one knows I exist really. Everyone probably assumes I have a lot of friends, but I'm struggling inside with being so alone and trying to meet people and get past the "hi how are you?" "I'm good thanks" stage. Most people don't seem to want to talk beyond that. And most women are already in relationships and thus it would seem weird to approach them in an office setting trying to get to know them deeper. But man those "hi how are yous" are the only real interactions I get during my day.. so thus I decided to come here lol. Rant over, sorry! I promise I'm not a downer. 😅
Now for some things about me!
I am left handed which is pretty cool. I'm not much of a party person or a drinker, I much prefer a quiet night at home and maybe a beer or two on a weekend but that's about it. I am simple and stay out of drama and trouble and don't get much into politics or other things that cause drama with people. I much prefer a relaxing campfire and a night at home and to just let the world keep on turning haha.
Physically I'm 180 pounds, have brown hair, green eyes, and a typical build. There's a few pictures on my profile.
Some of my hobbies are:
• Photography
I have a Nikon D200 and D5500 that I love to shoot with. I love nature scenes, abstract, black and white/goth kinda photography, sunsets, etc. it's so fun to just let your mind explore. It's not about what camera you have, but those who are behind the camera!
• Cooking and baking
I loveeee to cook and bake! I enjoy making various meals but also love to just have a frozen pizza once in awhile or something like that. I recently made homemade chili which turned out great. I love to bake, especially in the fall! I love pies, cakes, pastries, cookies, etc. I restored a vintage KitchenAid mixer that needed tbe gearbox rebuilt. Eventually I would love to practice home canning my own food.
• Music
Oh my gosh, I like so much!! Alternative rock, punk, post punk, electronic, synth pop, psychedelic rock, hard rock, etc. I am very non judgemental and open when it comes to music. My three current favorite bands are Type O Negative, Joy Division, and the Cure.
• Nature walks and camping
I really enjoy camping, making fires, and relaxing by a campfire. I love to take walks outside and just enjoy the beauty and simplicity of nature. It's wonderful, especially in a world so focused on everything digital.
• Repairing things
I'm a maintenance guy and one of my hobbies is electronics repair so I am good with my hands and just all around good at troubleshooting and fixing all sorts of things around the house. Last week I helped my elderly neighbor get his tractor started, it needed a new component in the starting circuit. So I'm pretty handy which... Comes in handy! 😂
• Autumn 🍁
This isn't a hobby per say, but man do I love the fall!!! It's my absolute favorite time of the year. Oh my gosh. The beautiful colors, crisp cool air, misty and foggy days, rain, lack of bugs, being cuddled up with a candle or by the fire drinking a tea, etc. I love it! There's only two seasons for me. Fall, and waiting for fall! Haha.
• Scented Candles and incense
Going along with my love for fall, I absolutely love candles! I have like 30 something lol. 😂 Currently my favorite are WoodWick, which are owned by Yankee candle. They have such a soothing crackle and the scents are great! I also love to burn incense from time to time as well. I have cottagecore hippie vibes.
• Old houses and architecture
I love old houses! Especially 1900s and Victorian era homes. Old homes have so much character to them and are just so beautiful from a time when people took pride in their craft. I strongly dislike the modern cookie cutter cheap construction of homes today. I would love to live in an old home one day. I also love their architecture and uniqueness, as well as architecture of old cathedrals and other buildings.
• Relaxing
Basic I know, but sometimes on the weekend I just love to get cozy in bed and relax and put on a YouTube video or an album! 😊
That's about it for me, I'm a pretty laid back and simple person. My ideal person is someone who is respectful and honest! I am very straightforward and open minded and would hope that you are as well.
If I seem interesting to you at all I would love to hear from you!
Thank you so much for reading.

"Good afternoon Ms. Lopez." I say, warmly greeting an elderly Cuban woman in her sixties. She smiles sweetly at me as she asks me if I am the chef behind today's food, in Spanish. I smile and nod at her, and she excitedly begins to chatter in Spanish, telling me the latest chisme regarding the latest romantic escapades occurring in her son's life.
I lightly place some ham on the sandwich I'm preparing for her as she excitedly gossips with me. I cleverly practice my active listening skills, while occasionally chiming in to let her know that I am actively aware of what she's saying. The woman is one of the last people to arrive during today's meal hour. She seems to operate on a sense of punctuality that is uniquely hers, almost like a force of nature. I almost admire it, if I'm being honest. My fellow volunteers look at me and smile as they sense the passive patience I radiate in this minor interaction.
The day has been one of the more chill ones in the soup kitchen, especially since I started actively championing the place. At our most busy we've served hundreds of families in a single day, and today we've served a few dozen. There's something quite nice about this moment of normalcy. I wonder if I sometimes took this level of mundanity for granted during this jump...
To be fair to myself a part of me is almost acting like I'm guaranteed to send myself to some apocalyptic hellscape and that's just not happening. I'm almost guaranteed to go to a place more dangerous than "9-5; a white-collar simulator", but I'm picking my next destination and after the decade of serenity I've had here I've got no reason to act like a dumbass and jeopardize my odds of long-term success in this career by sending myself to a death trap. Ms. Lopez smiles as she walks away, clearly believing she's shared vital chisme with me. To be fair, she did share gossip plenty of people would find juicy, but since I'm not some gossip I was the wrong audience for her words.
My fellow volunteers look at me and glance at my phone with curious looks. I pick up the thing and see that I've been missing an exhilarating conversation in our group chat. I skim the thing, my perfected memory allowing me to instantly catch up with the conversation the small gaggle of brave volunteers who kindly donate our weekend hours have been having before I begin to text the group back.
The rest of the day passes by in a blur. We wait for the people who've come for a meal to finish their food up and then we get to cleaning. After that we do a few sweeps of the parts of the church we've used before going our separate ways. I make my way home, and I do some light meal-prepping as well as practice a few more of my skills. At this point in my stay I've perfected my routine and could do it in my sleep... If I ever slept that is. In the entire time I've been in this setting I don't believe I've slept once. That is a nice feeling, since it means I never wasted an hour of my time, much less six.
The work week is a bit of a slog, since I am eagerly anticipating the news regarding my final promotion. I was never the sort to believe that time felt longer when you were excited about something, or dreading it, but in the time since I came to this setting I've gradually become a believer in such ideas even if they still feel a bit silly. Nonetheless. I diligently work through the week, keep my team on track, and when Friday rolls around I get the news I've waited for.
Thanks to "Gamer's Mind" I am able to keep my face even as the office's general supervisor explains this news to me and not outwardly express my excitement, but internally I am more excited than I've been about anything since I first entered this world. This news means that I'll be getting right around $3,000 dollars every two weeks just for existing! This means that in future jumps working will be optional unless I get really greedy, which frees me up to decide what I want to do in most modern settings. In medieval settings this amount of money could be even more vital, though at the same time such a thing could just... not matter, since in such a setting I could easily just avoid civilization, but this money will certainly liberate me from a lot of the struggles of wasting vast swathes of a jump at a job I don't want.
At the time that I was being told the good news I almost began to cry. Thank goodness for Gamer's Mind, I guess.
Nine years ago I was down on my luck and down to my last dollars when I got the job offer that led me here and this news means that I am free from such things. The freedom and power that comes with making enough to get by, especially passively, is awe-inspiring, and it's quite difficult for me to find the words to express how excited it makes me feel even days after it. I spend... close to a week passively smiling and being just ambiently happy, as I begin to integrate a new set of responsibilities into my work life.
During this time my decision to fix the coffee machine in the office break-room by hand after it almost burns a colleague results in me getting a new class; "Handyman" and the initial ability I receive is a simple one that bolsters my agility a touch, agility being my attribute tied to fine motor skills. I skillfully use this class to actually fix various things by hand, and I begin to steadily accrue various maintenance skills. In days I gain class levels, and with each class level I am able to repair things faster, more cheaply, and eventually my ability to fix matures into an ability to improve things, which I instinctively know will lead to some shenanigans down the line. Before I know it days have turned into weeks, which age and turn into months. My skills with leadership and motivation have continued to improve and I lead my team with my full focus and skillful decision-making. Before I know it I am in the final leg of the final stretch of my first jump.
I've been here for 119 months. Nine years and eleven months. It's actually been... even longer than that. I'm at the beginning of the final week of my stay here, and my hands idly clean a dish as I passively listen to Pastor Charlie, one of the few guest pastors the church has invited in years deliver a sermon. He has the congregants enraptured and eating out of the palm of his hand as he speaks about a miracle that "Our Lord" once performed. His voice is a pleasant distraction and one of my twin trains of thought listens and takes notes on how the man delivers his sermon. Physically I seem to be engrossed in the man's sermon when someone, one of the church's assistants, taps on my shoulder and gestures for me to walk over to the pastor's office. I stealthy get up, activating "Rogue" and make my way out of the serving area adjacent to the kitchen. I relax a touch when I'm in the long hallway leading me to Tyler's, Pastor Rhodes's, office.
As I walk down the humble hallway I feel a strange sense of finality wash over me. There's something uncommonly... real about this trek. I feel more solid, more whole than I have in a while, and I suspect that it's because this is my last time in this soup kitchen, this church. I won't be returning here, at least not for a while, and that's sad. It's not the saddest thing that's ever happened to me, but it is kind of a bummer and I allow myself to feel a touch of real, genuine sadness at the sobering realization that when I leave this place I'll be leaving for a long time.
I eventually put that thought away, shelving it and compartmentalizing my thoughts so I can focus on better, happier things. My enhanced senses allow me to spot things like faint cracks too thin for normal humans to spot, and as I walk past them I cast my handy spell on them. I watch as the walls of the hallway repair themselves and I smile, sensing the powerful potential of the spell at my fingertips. I reach the office of the man I've spent plenty of weekends working alongside, and under, and I smile, even internally, when he looks up and spots me. He greets me with a smile and motions for me to sit down. When I do what he asks, he immediately begins to speak.
"Lucas, I apologize for calling out to you but I wanted to check in. Today you seemed... Out of it." The man exclaims, and judging from the way my heart jumps in my chest I realize that some people are just.... more intuitive than others. My acting skill gets a nice little load of experience when I mask my reaction to his words and let out a small, natural sounding laugh in response to his question.
"Tyler," I begin, causing the man to wince. I'm an atheist, or at least I was pre-chain, now... well, now I'm a lot more curious about religion than I was before. I'm not sure if gods exist, but I sure as shit know the supernatural does and I'm not in the business of denying what I can see. I've made my vague religious position clear to the man long ago so he insists I call him "Tyler" which I've personally always found a bit awkward, but there's something a little funny about how it disarms him so cleanly during this interaction. "I'm doing... Okay. I AM bummed I won't be here next week." I state, calmly. This causes my friend's eyes to widen in surprise.
"You're missing a week? I'm sure some of our regulars will be disappointed. Is everything alright?" The man asks. His question is so sincere, so genuine that it's mildly disarming.
I'm... not a nice person. I'm far from mean, sure, but I've come to accept that there's a core of kindness in some people, even in many people, and I am not someone who has that core, that central, unconscious, guiding light that moves them towards kindness with the ease and naturalness of a heartbeat. At my core rests something else, something I don't know if I can articulate in just a few words.
I wouldn't say I'm mean or anything like that but I'm far more cynical than a lot of the people I've met are. In this world, especially, it seems like a lot of people are just decent at heart and I suspect that that was and is the case in the world I was born on as well. Tyler is one of the people I've met whose central guiding light seems to be centered around decency and kindness and I think in any world the man could find himself in he'd strive to be kind. It's almost like interacting with a real version of Ned Flanders from The Simpsons...
"I'm okay. I'm gonna be doing other stuff, and I normally prioritize the soup kitchen over my work or social life," I state, and this isn't a flex it's simply a very true statement. Tyler hears the remark and smiles faintly. "But I've been asked to help out with other stuff from friends who wouldn't ask if it wasn't something they really felt they could handle alone. I'm just gonna miss one weekend, and then I'll be back." I remark, and Tyler smiles at me.
"Okay Lucas. If you need any help you'd ask, right?" Tyler asks, and I consider the question. This is only somewhat an act, as I don't know if I'd ask for help if I needed it. I ultimately nod at the man and I can sense a touch of sadness as he studies my response, which I don't love but I also don't really feel right lying anymore than is necessary. The man makes some small talk and I quickly breeze through it. In minutes I am back in the kitchen with the others. And minutes after that I am cleaning with my fellow volunteers. Almost before I know it I'm stepping out of the church after we've cleaned out the kitchen. I glance at it one last time before I make my way home.
The next few days pass by in a blur, with only two minor oddities; the first being that I ask Hannah to come out with me on Friday night. I have got to see if I can stomach the idea of any sort of romance in a jump, and this is a consequence free way for me to do something along those lines. The second oddity is that I spend nearly all of my money purchasing... well, everything. Every night after work I go to various stores and spend the money that I really haven't needed all that much until now, purchasing things like weapons, food, and especially books. I buy boatloads of books, both ready and willing to use up something I won't be able to take with me into future jumps anyway in exchange for stuff I CAN take with me, thanks to the fiat-backed power of an infinite inventory.
The work week is, aside from what I do after work every night, pretty normal but Friday itself is weirdly solemn. The day passes by as quickly as any other day has, filled with minor encounters with glitches, and a few more annoyances with my small number of drawbacks but when five rolls around I clock out one last time and give the office a final look. I am weirdly slow when it comes to getting up and leaving my cubicle, in fact I'm actually one of the last office workers to leave the office but as I step out of the building I experience another burst of gratitude to Gamer's Mind, which keeps me from acting odd or even tearing up as I glance back at the place I've spent thousands of hours in.
I allow myself a beat to... honestly, grieve. I tell myself that it's okay to have feelings about leaving, even if those feelings are big and weird and are not the most fun. Nonetheless I don't linger here, at my place of employment, I have other things I both need and want to do. I use my inventory and change into a pretty casual outfit before I begin a brief walk. _________________________________________________________________________
​The park beside the office building is a rare example of a pristine location in the city. It is filled with natural greenery, and at the moment a stunningly pretty redhead glances at her phone waiting for someone to pop into view.
The redhead is wearing a pleasant looking dress and a jacket, as the weather is just beginning to take the seasonal turn towards the unpleasant. It's still warm enough that the clothes are mostly unnecessary but as she waits for her friend, a young man who has finally gotten the courage to ask her out on something vaguely approximating a date, she appreciates the wisdom of her decision to wear the slightly warmer than necessary clothes.
Her "date", mostly in her eyes though he is aware of her feelings and a part of him feels some happiness in the idea that this is a date, enters the park and spots her before she spots him. He reaches into his inventory and he retrieves something, a nice little bouquet he purchased earlier today and safely stored away. The flowers, prettily packed and all, appear as he walks towards the young woman.
Lucas is testing the waters here. He isn't testing the waters with Hannah specifically, but rather what it feels like to go on a date as a jumper. He has long had strange feelings about this, but he knows that he is going to leave tomorrow and so he wants to see if he can enjoy a date as a jumper, so he is doing a scientific experiment even if he feels... less than great about some aspects of all of this.
"Hannah!" Lucas says, calling out to one of his first, in fact one of his only, real friends in this world. The redhead excitedly turns and spots her longtime friend, waving at him and waving him over. She spots the bouquet and lets out a delighted sounding laugh, and when Lucas hears it the smile that alights his features is heartwarming.
In his day to day life some facets of Lucas's charisma-heavy build only rarely surface in ways that matter and his looks tends to be one such thing He is attractive enough that his looks can captivate and reside in one's imagination for a while after they first meet him, but right now, this early on along his chain his looks are only enough to make people have schoolgirl crushes on him and people can and do get used to his looks after a while. Still, in some moments this is enough to color the impression he makes on people. Right now, in a romantic context, his supernatural attractiveness is enough to change the sort of impression he makes on someone.
The handsome actor reaches his friend and sits down next to her. He hands her the flowers and for a moment a strange serenity washes over the two as they enjoy each other's company. Lucas looks inward and he realizes that he genuinely, well and truly, likes this moment. Hannah looks at him and eventually asks an important question.
"Lucas... how am I gonna hold these flowers?" She asks, and this makes him smile. He is quick to offer her a response.
"I'll take them when we get going but I saw them and I thought of you. I felt like I'd regret it if I didn't give you these." He says, and there is an odd, for him, level of sincerity and genuineness in his voice that makes Hannah giggle girlishly. Lucas right now is relying on his perk-enhanced instincts and the charisma he has honed through social encounters for the last decade, and he's enjoying how it feels.
Both of the figures on the "Date", though neither of them officially dubbed it that, enjoy the moment. Their passive delight and infatuation create an envy-inducing atmosphere of closeness and quiet joy that radiates outward. The park is nearly abandoned so there is no one to witness this moment other than Lucas's benefactor, and Lucas is simply at peace.
Eventually he lightly touches Hannah's hand, and asks her if she'd like to go and get dinner before they go to the movie they agreed on going to watch earlier this week. Hannah agrees, handing Lucas the bouquet and he, to her surprise, puts it in the bag he has on his person. When she asks if that will squish or hurt the flowers Lucas tells her, with a bizarre amount of confidence, that it won't. She eventually accepts this, having learned to trust that Lucas knows what he is doing, and the two of them begin a short walk to a mall they both know well.

Today, I address you not merely as investors but as warriors of a new financial era. An era where the collective strength and resolve of ordinary people can stand up against the might of the financial elite. We are not just holding shares of GameStop; we are holding the line for fairness, for justice, and for the belief that together, we can achieve the impossible.
Last week, we witnessed an extraordinary surge in price action. A surge that reaffirmed our belief in the potential of GameStop and, more importantly, in the strength of our community. It was a powerful reminder that we are on the right path, that our conviction is not in vain. We saw glimpses of what we have always believed, MOASS is not just a distant dream but a looming reality. The dramatic increase in price, despite all attempts to suppress it, is undeniable evidence that the pressure is building, that the hedge funds are feeling the strain, and that our perseverance is making a tangible impact.
The hedgies have done everything in their power to suppress the price, to shake our resolve, and to force us to give up. They have tried to spread fear and doubt, hoping that we would falter. But here we stand, stronger than ever, our belief unshaken, our resolve unbreakable.
We are not in this for quick gains or fleeting victories. We are in this for the long haul. Whether MOASS comes tomorrow, next year, or in a hundred years, we will hold our purple donuts with pride. Because this is not just about money. This is about sending a message that the collective power of everyday people can challenge the status quo.
Every share we hold is a symbol of our defiance, a declaration that we will not be manipulated by the whims of the financial giants. We have seen the tactics, the fearmongering, the attempts to drive us away. But we are still here. We are still holding.
Our journey is not just about financial gain. It is about making history, about proving that when people come together with a common purpose, they can achieve extraordinary things. It is about standing up for what we believe is right and not giving in to pressure, no matter how immense.
So let us hold our shares with unwavering faith. Let us continue to stand firm, knowing that our persistence will pay off. We are part of a movement that is changing the landscape of the financial world. We are proving that the power of unity and perseverance can overcome even the most formidable challenges.
No matter how long it takes, we will be here, holding our purple donuts with pride, ready to witness the moment when our conviction is vindicated.
Thank you, and stay strong. Our journey is far from over, and the best is yet to come. Together, we will make history. Together, we will never sell.

Cover Art!
Just because you’re transported to another world, doesn’t mean you’ll escape from your pain.
Abused by her parents, thirteen-year-old Frances only wants to be safe and for her life not to hurt so much. And when she and her class are transported to the magical world of Durannon to fight the monsters invading the human kingdoms and defeat the self-titled Demon King, Frances is presented with a golden opportunity. If she succeeds, Frances will have the home she never had. If she fails, Frances will be summoned back to the home she escaped.
Yet, despite her newfound magic and friends, Frances finds that trauma is not so easily lost. She is dogged by her abuse and its physical and invisible scars. Not only does she have to learn magic, she has to survive the nightmares of her past, and wrestle with her feelings of doubt and self-loathing.
If she can heal from her trauma, though, she might be able to defeat the Demon King and maybe, just maybe, she can find a home for herself.
[The Beginning] [<=Chapter 217] [Chapter Index and Blurb] [Chapter 219 June 11 or see the next chapter now on Patreon]
The Fractured Song Index
Discord Channel Just let me know when you arrive in the server that you’re a Patreon so you can access your special channel.
***
Ginger makes an offer to Lakadara. The rest of Telkandra's remaining brood discuss the fate of their allies.
“Not good?” Sara asked as Helias strode into the tent and made his way straight to the bottle of wine.
“Not good,” Helias muttered.
Sara nodded woodenly. “Privacy spell?
The tauroll waved his sheathed Fangroar and after pouring himself and his wife a drink, sat down. “We’re safe. Oh Galena, this is really not good.”
“How dead are we?” Sara asked, her tone light.
“We’re not dead. We’re just in a lot of danger and even if we somehow force the humans to retreat, we’ve lost this war,” said Helias.
“Explain.”
Helias drank deep, noting that Sara was also drinking deep as well. “Thorgoth is going after the humans. That part of the plan is as good as it gets. We’ll be attacking them, and using the dragons, whilst our forces hold off Titania. Our objectives are also well-chosen.” Helias buried his head into his hands and let out a deep groan. “But winning this doesn’t change anything.”
“If we can defeat the humans, why won’t that change anything?” Sara bit her lip. “Unless it renders us unable to beat Titania?”
“Yes. Even on the chance we beat the humans we won’t be able to invade them, we won’t be able to defeat Titania. We’d be at a stalemate and both armies would have to withdraw.” His hands dropping to the table, Helias stared at his wife. “And we don’t have any reserves left. We’re going to lose the war, even if Thorgoth lives.”
“If we defeat the humans—”
The general shook his head. “By defeat, I mean we’ll hurt them but we can’t prevent them from withdrawing. We might kill a few of their leaders, their important mages and Otherworlders, but they will still have soldiers. After coming so close, they won’t surrender. They’ll keep attacking until they kill enough of Thorgoth and Berengaria’s supporters that nobody will help them, or until both of them die.”
“Alright so, what do we do?” Sara asked. Helias looked at his wife, noting how still she sat. Her wings were clamped tight to her back and her lips were drawn tight.
“Sara, I don’t have good answers.”
Sara steepled her trembling fingers as best she could. “They’re going to be better than mine. I don’t know anything about war.”
“Right. Well, you need to surrender to the humans if you are captured. Present yourself as a non-combatant. Cry, scream, anything to declare that you don’t mean any harm,” Helias said.
“Why not Titania?” Sara asked.
“She has every incentive to kill you off and far less compunction about doing so. Killing our family off would allow her to have more land to give away to her loyalists. In contrast, the humans have Erlenberg troops fighting with them along with those of the Lightning Battalion. They’re going to be far more friendly to Alavari civilians,” Helias said.
Soft hands, grabbed onto Helias’s waist with a surprisingly firm grip. “What about you? I can get away, but how are you going to survive this?”
“I don’t know. I—”
“Don’t you dare! Our daughter needs her father and I need my husband!”
The general stared at his wife. “Sara, I can’t surrender to the humans if we win. They want me dead.”
Sara refilled Helias’s glass. “Then you need to help Thorgoth defeat them.”
“Then what? We’re never winning this war. Thorgoth is going to be invaded and—”
Cutting him off with the clink of her goblet against the table, Sara hissed, “And what? Why think that far? We can plan for that after this battle, so long as you are still here and with me.”
Letting out a breath Helias pushed his hair back and allowed himself a sigh. Reaching across the table, he took his wife’s hand.
“Sara, you’re right, but you know you can escape this if Thorgoth is defeated.”
The harorc placed her other hand on top of his. “We’re partners. I need you. We need you. So promise me that you’ll do your damndest to live.”
Helias closed his eyes and nodded. “I promise. First things first, before we turn in we need to talk to the dragons.”
***
Fennokra stalked slowly toward the camp. This wasn’t the collapsed side-passage where she and Yolandra had some privacy. This was the main camp where Thorgoth and their army were preparing for what had to be the final battle.
It was also where her siblings were swallowing the last of what seemed to be a side of salted pork.
“Velkandra, Makentra, we need to talk.”
Their second-eldest sister licked her lips, her neck rising to Fennokra’s level. “I am assuming you mean in private?”
“Of course.” Fennokra could see Velkandra’s haunches tensing to raise herself higher. Her sister was trying to look down on her. Allowing her head to dip, she held her height.
“Alright.” Velkandra flicked her tail and Makentra, licking his lips, followed them.
Since their enemies had set up their siege camp behind them, the Alavari camp had been reduced in size. Still, there was the alcove of the collapsed tunnel. Whilst couriers and soldiers crossed across this natural cavern to the defenses on the other side, they kept a good distance away.
Yolandra was waiting for them, scratching something into the cave wall. Fennokra let out a rumble in her throat and her sister turned from the wall suddenly, shaking her head.
“Velkandra, Mankentra—”
Velkandra puffed a cloud of smoke out. “What’s this all about?” she hissed, lips drawn back to show teeth.
Fennokra took a step away from her sister to take Yolandra’s side, her eyes narrowed. “Are you joking? Do you not think we should at least discuss what is going on?”
“And what would be the point? It is a bit late to be having this discussion. The course of the winds have been chosen,” said Velkandra.
Yolandra rose to her full height on her four legs, but even so she was still shorter than the silent Makendra. “The winds can be fickle, Velkandra, and where we are is proof.”
Velkandra pursed her lips, eyes for the first time, looking toward the ground. “The survival of our family is tied to that of Thorgoth. To abandon him would be death by the hand of the Stormcaller and her allies or by his hand.”
“Besides, if we were to abandon Thorgoth’s cause, that would be dishonorable. We promised to assist him,” said Makendra.
Fennokra blinked at her brother’s tone. It was quiet and yet there was a touch of a deep growl to his voice. His claws were ever so slightly digging into the ground.
“We are dragons. We can think and make decisions for ourselves. We are allowed to consider other options, are we not?” Fennokra asked.
Velkandra’s tail flicked violently side to side as her neck turned to her younger sibling. “Then why does it sound as if you wish to follow in the wingbeats of our elder sister?”
“Who we killed. I was there. I lost a claw striking her down!” Fennokra raised one clawed hand, flexing the remaining digits.
“On that, why did we have to kill Lakadara?”
All golden eyes fixed on Yolandra, who held the gaze of her siblings with a contemptuous scowl.
“Lakadara betrayed us,” said Velkandra, almost growling.
“I’ve been thinking over what happened. Lakadara said nothing about betraying our mother. She merely was questioning if Thorgoth was trustworthy,” Yolandra said.
A scowl flaring his nostrils, Makentra growled. “He fed us, trained us in how the humans and their allies fought. Hid us from their eyes—”
“And now Caldra is dead!” Yolandra exclaimed.
“Which is why we must kill the Stormcaller and her friends! So we can avenge him and our mother!” Velkandra almost completely unfurled her wings. Only the tips slapping the stone forced her to pull them back.
“Then what?” Yolandra asked.
Velkandra frowned. “Then what? We’d have our revenge—”
Yolandra’s tail cracked against the ground. “Then what? You all must have heard of what Thorgoth is capable of. What he’s done to others.”
Makentra rolled his eyes. “Sara’s story is just a story. She might have been just trying to turn you.”
“She was honest and she is not the only tale I’ve heard. You must have heard rumors of what Thorgoth did to his own son, Teutobal,” said Fennokra.
“Propaganda,” Velkandra hissed through her gritted teeth, while smoke wafted through the gaps. “In any case, we have no other option. We fight or we die.”
Fennokra, her claws grinding against the floor, had had enough.
“Velkandra, Makentra, have you ever considered that Thorgoth is perhaps using us for his own goals? We have not even considered what he might do to us after we’ve destroyed the humans and their allies. How do we know the Stormcaller and her allies might treat us better? Besides in the first place, she never intended to kill our mother—”
Fennokra blinked. She was flying backwards, something hard was bearing her into the wall. Dizzy as if struck by one of the Stormcaller’s spells, she realized that the force was the foreclaws of her elder sister. Mad rage lit those golden eyes that were the exact same shade as hers. Horrified, Fennokra tried to throw Velkandra off, but her sister was larger and heavier than her.
“Say that again. I dare you to say that again—ARGH!”
Velkandra rolled off, forced off of Fennokra by the Yolandra shoving into her side. As the elder dragon recovered, the smallest of Telkandra’s brood hissed, “It’s the truth! You are a fool to deny it!”
An ugly sneer on her lips, wings quivering with fury, Velkandra snorted. “The truth? Oh right so we are speaking the truth then. Well here’s the truth. Our kind is doomed!”
Makentra blinked. “Sister?”
“Of course Thorgoth is going to get rid of us or try to after this campaign. He has to, but right now he needs us and that’s what we need to rely on until we gain more strength. Of course, whether he wins or the Stormcaller’s allies win, how can we expect to survive in a world dominated by these lesser species hm? How could they ever not see us as a threat?”
Velkandra stalked toward the wide-eyed Fennokra and Yoandra. Her head turned side to side as she fixed her sisters with wild wide eyes.
“Well? Tell me Fennokra. Speak the truth Yolandra. Or are you both too afraid to admit that our kind are doomed and the only thing is to live as long as we can and hopefully avenge those that hurt us as we do so.”
“You’d have us fly to our deaths?” Makentra asked.
The stammering voice brought Velkandra around. Extending a wing, she touched its tip to her brother’s. “I would at least have us fly together.”
Fennokra shook her head. “We’d knowingly fly with a murderer of children and someone who would want to kill us after we’ve stopped being helpful to him.”
“And we have no other options,” said Makentra. Letting out a breath, he rose to his claws and walked away. “I’ll see you tomorrow, sisters.”
Velkandra, without another word, turned for the exit. “You know it’s true, Fennokra, Yolandra.”
Fennokra closed her eyes. Yolandra, though, narrowed hers. “Doesn’t change that Lakadra’s blood is on our claws.”
Velkandra flinched and left. She strode away so quickly she nearly stepped on Helias and Sara as they came to the cave. She gave the pair no acknowledgement other than a growl.
“See you tomorrow, General,” said Makentra, his tone curt. “We will talk to King Thorgoth ourselves for the plan’s details.”
“Of course,” said Helias. He bowed as the pair left before turning to Yolandra and Fennokra. “I believe we missed something important?”
“Be honest, General Helias. Even if we succeed tomorrow, your king has no use for us after we help him kill the Stormcaller, am I correct?” Fennokra asked.
Sara and Helias didn’t say anything. Their slight move to stand closer so they could hold hands was enough.
“I thought so,” said Fennokra. She let out a sigh and glanced at Yolandra, who nodded. “We will be on the battlefield tomorrow. Where are we going?”
“You’re going with me. We’re attacking the forces sallying from Kairon-Aoun. The plan is that you dragons breathe flame over their army to soften them before we attack.
“Understood. Any questions Fennokra?” Yolandra asked.
Fennokra shook her head. What could be asked anyway?”
Yolandra flashed the pair a joyless smile. “For what it is worth, you two have been good caretakers to us. Even if it was to preserve your own lives.”
Helias didn’t bow. Instead he extended a hand. Yolandra stared at him, but Fennokra, recognizing the gesture, extended a single talon.
“May you always be able to see the sun.” At the dragon’s blink, Helias smiled. “It’s an Alavari saying. It may come from when we used to be enslaved by the Goblin Empire. It means good luck.”
Yolandra nodded and Fennokra found herself smiling.
“Our mother taught us a saying as well. May you never fly alone. I wish that for you both,” said Fennokra.
“Thank you,” said Sara in a quiet voice. She curtsied and the two dragons dipped their heads. They watched Helias and Sara leave with placid smiles.
Then, when nobody was looking, they turned from the entrance to hide their bulks as best they could. The gloomy light of the alcove their only curtain of privacy.
***
Frances slowed slightly as they approached Lakadara’s enclosure. However, Ginger did not slow down.
“Hold on, Ginger, what’s the plan?” Frances asked.
Adjusting her new crown mid-stride, Ginger said, “I’ll show you. I’m certain it’ll work, though.”
Frances’ eyebrows rose. “Is that crown getting to your head already?”
The new Queen of Erisdale flashed a slightly nervous grin over her shoulder. “Yes actually, but I think that’s a good thing in some way. Don’t you?”
Frances found herself nodding. It was strange to see her friend even more confident than usual and so comfortable in the regal crown that she wore atop of a standard Lightning Battalion light blue uniform. Yet she rather enjoyed the new gait that Ginger had.
“I do.” Frances smirked. “Your Majesty.”
Ginger rolled her eyes. “Fuck you.”
Giggling, Frances stopped herself as they drew even closer to Lakadara. The dragon was drawing herself up, placing her massive foreclaws over each other.
“Lakadara. I am Ginger, the new Queen of Erisdale. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”
The dragon coughed, blowing out a puff of smoke. “Greetings Ginger, Queen of Erisdale. I’m sorry for your predecessor’s demise.” Lakadara’s golden eyes narrowed. “Why are you here?”
Ginger dipped her head. “Thank you and as to why I’m here. I have a proposition. If you accept it, I will grant you and your kin, the domain of the Erisdalian mountains marked by the Kwent River Valley, Freeburg and Athelda-Aoun as your home in perpetuity, so long as you do not attack humans unless in self-defense.”
“I am unfamiliar with human geography. From the Stormcaller’s expression, I assume that is a lot.”
Frances swallowed and closed her mouth, but she didn’t question her friend. Ginger, still smiling slyly, nudged her. “It is. Frances, can you lend me a hand here?”
Nodding, Frances closed her eyes and imagined a rough map of Erisdale and its territories. With a wave of Ivy’s Sting she created an image of Erisdale, highlighting in red the expanse of the mountains that bordered Alavaria and Erisdale. The area that Ginger had described sketched a rough red triangle between the three points. It was a fairly sizeable area with a low and Alavari human population.
“My husband is in negotiations with Queen Titania and I’ll have to talk to Frances and Prince Timur, but we are quite certain that Athelda-Aoun will also be included in this area,” Ginger said.
Lakadara’s golden eyes were flickering as she examined the land. Suddenly, she turned, long neck arching toward the Erisdalian Queen. “And what must I do? Fight on your kingdom’s behalf?”
Ginger shook her head. “No.”
“No?”
“Nope. If you would like to do so we can renegotiate the agreement, but my husband and I fully intend to grant you this land.”
The dragon’s tail lifted up as her eyes narrowed. “Explain yourself and the favor you seek. This is far too generous.”
“Let me explain myself first. If what I’m told by my experts is correct, you can lay eggs by yourself without a mate, but it takes time right? A few decades?”
“Yes. Still, that doesn’t explain—”
“Here me out. This war is going to end. We may lose, but if we win, banishing you to the north is making you Queen Titania’s problem and she’ll have more than enough problems to deal with. You might just end up coming south again and we know how that ended. I’d prefer to avoid that so that means we need to make an agreement. You need a new home and I need peace for Erisdale. If the kingdom has to give up some poor agricultural land then I’m all for it.”
The dragon nodded. “I see, but why so much land? Why not just give me a cave? Or request my service as Thorgoth did?”
“And how will you eat? Hunt? Where will your grown children go? I’m making an agreement that will last for decades, not just a few years. As for service? I was tempted, but you wouldn’t agree to that anyway and why should you? We haven’t given you any reason to agree.” Ginger gave Frances a wave to dispel the map. “Maybe in the future we can work something out, especially if the dragon population increases. Your service in return for more food, but again, I want to start us off on the right path, not the left path.”
“Left path?” Lakadara asked.
“Erisdalian expression. It means the wrong path,” Frances said helpfully.
Lakadara nodded slowly. “You still ask for a boon, though.”
Ginger nodded. “Yes. I want you to speak to your siblings. Before the upcoming battle starts, tell them of my deal with you. So long as they choose to accept that deal and defect, then I will have it so our forces will not hurt them. After that, you may leave. I will not request you to fight with us.”
“You want me to show myself to Thorgoth? To the siblings that tried to kill me?” Lakadara asked, mouth agape.
Ginger stepped closer to the dragon, who lifted her head away from the queen. “I want you to save your siblings. I want you to save yourself from becoming the last purple dragon in existence. I would rather you not be alone, stewing in hatred for my kingdom and our allies who brought down your family, even if we had just cause. I want peace. What do you want?”
“How do I know I can trust you?” The dragon suddenly grimaced. “Ah, right, you want a lasting peace. You have every reason to want peace.”
Ginger, arms crossed tapped her foot. Frances could see how stiff her friend was, but the action was also comforting. That her magic-less friend had such control over the situation, despite being faced with the dragon was rather…badass.
Letting out a puff of smoke that slowly drifted into the cavern, the dragon pondered the queen’s proposal. Frances held her breath and yet the dragon remained silent, only her tail moving from side to side.
Ginger waited, still content to wait for the dragon’s answer. Frances couldn’t. The tension coiled in her chest, waiting to explode.
“Lakadara, what do you want for your future?” Frances asked.
The dragon glanced at Frances, golden eyes wide. She turned back to Ginger, who continued to stand tall, awaiting Lakadara’s answer patiently.
“I accept your offer, and your promise for the future,” said Lakadara, dipping her head.
“We are glad that you wish the same as we do,” said Ginger. She extended her hand and Lakadara, took her claw and put the tip of it on the queen’s palm.
*Author’s Note: Queenly Ginger was really neat to write 😀 *

To get this up early, I’m splitting the two days of round 2. Here’s Wednesday’s ATP. The WTA Wednesday matches will go up around 12:30AM EST.

Rublev vs Martinez :

For a good chunk of his career, Rublev has made quick work of matches like this. When he’s the bigger hitter and his opponent doesn’t have a huge serve, he’s supposed to thrive. Lately though, Andrey hasn’t been automatic in these spots. He’s always had a temper, but it’s been on display following his errors lately and it has given his opponents belief. Taro Daniel won a set, and Martinez is at least as good as him. 5 sets with Tirante doesn’t indicate he’s ready to upset Rublev, but I would expect the bulk of this to be fairly competitive. Rublev in 4.

Muller vs Arnadli :

Muller scored a comfortable victory against Luca Nardi in the opening round, and he will continue to battle the Italian federation in round two against Matteo Arnaldi. Arnaldi had a fairly easy time with Arthur Fils, despite getting broken 6 times. Fils is a solid player with all the attributes to be a top player on clay, but he has no patience. He’s extremely willing to go for broke from any position, and when the rally stretches long he tries to hit the big shot as soon as it appears. As a fan, I want to see big shots, but to win on clay you need to play a more conservative approach. Arnaldi is way more stable from the baseline than Fils, but bailing out of rallies early isn’t the right plan because it means Arnaldi doesn’t really feel like he has to do anything special to win.
Muller will hang in rallies longer and is a good bit better than Fils on clay, but he doesn’t have this level of win on his resume yet. Arnaldi’s register is very high and I mostly only see him losing to players who hit bigger. I expect him to have to work harder and longer than he did against Fils, but this should go to Arnaldi in 3-4.

Sonego vs Zhang :

Immense power. A huge forehand. Inconsistent results. A cannon of a serve but a slightly subpar backhand. Which player am I describing? This is a matchup that is very close. Humbert fell apart against Koepfer last week in Lyon and his slump continued, allowing Sonego to get a much-needed win. Zhang had a great draw and took advantage of it, besting Vukic in 4. The big difference I see in these two players is the speed. Sonego is a bit quicker around the court and that might allow him to win a few extra points. Given they both have the ability to protect their service games I would expect a tiebreaker or two, and at least 4 sets. I’m a big Zhang fan but he hasn’t been as good on clay as he was in the Challenger grind, so Sonego in 4-5.

Altmaier vs Tsitsipas :

Tsitsipas was clinical in beating Fucsovics in round one. He’s back with Badosa, he’s a dark horse to win this event, and he’s playing great tennis. Having that focus is big for a player who’s struggled for confidence, and Altmaier is a player he can probably beat. Daniel has always been capable on clay, and he has some amazing clashes with big name players like Sinner in the past, but lately I haven’t loved his level. Beating an inactive Djere was honestly good, but I think Tsitsipas is fresh and will be hitting the ball bigger the entire match here. Altmaier moves the ball well but he will very likely get worn down as this progresses. Tsitsipas in 4.

Shelton vs Nishikori :

Nishikori pulling up and beating one of the better qualifiers was impressive, but I guess if we’re being honest Diallo isn’t automatic yet. He has a bright future, but big hitters can often be undone by a slick defender and Nishikori has all the experience in the world. I think this will be fun because Shelton is a lefty. Attacking Nishikori’s backhand will get him punished up the line and cross-court, because Kei has one of the best backhands the tour has ever seen. The downside is Kei just played a five setter so he might be a bit tired, and he’s not serving well enough to score easy points. Shelton’s team hopefully has told him to take his forehand inside out and down the line as often as possible. Shelton in 4.

Auger-Alliassime vs Squire :

Gutsy performance in round one from Squire. Even in the fifth set tiebreak he was still hitting his backhand down the line for effect, and while he double faulted in a few crucial moments he served effectively the entire match. I’m not sure how his game will fare against Felix. FAA is inconsistent but he’s had a good month and he does everything a little bigger than Squire here. Felix in 3-4.

Korda vs Kwon :

Korda winning in straight sets is honestly surprising the way it feels like his season is going. Checking his history though he’s been winning his fair share of matches, it’s just watching his losses that makes me feel he’s struggling. More surprising is Kwon winning in straights. Ruusuvuori continues to struggle on clay and Kwon returning from a layoff to black him is a great result for him. His insistence on pushing the pace and hitting to the open court will bother Korda a bit, but he’s a bit out of his weight class here. Korda’s serving is good enough to get him through here, but Kwon winning in straights means expecting him to just lose in straights is pretty unreasonable. Korda in 4-5. The problem here is Korda is supposed to win this in straights, but Kwon is supposed to lose round one so he’s at a level beyond what we’re estimating him at when we say Korda in 3.

De Jong vs Alcaraz :

Jesper De Jong won the best match of his career in round one, getting past Jack Draper and setting up a matchup against the current tournament favorite. It almost has to be the end of the road, but De Jong will give us our first look at how Alcaraz is playing. Carlos was immaculate in round one, losing only 4 games, but Wolf is just not good on clay, and is having one of his worst runs ever on tour. Alcaraz in 3 is likely again because De Jong doesn’t have the hugest serve, but this will be much more competitive than the Wolf match. Alcaraz in 3-4.

Hurkacz vs Nakashima :

Considering Mochizuki took Hurkacz to 5, Nakashima has to like his chances here. Mochigoat is one of the fun players to watch on tour and his volleys at net are unreal, but Hurkacz is supposed to win that match in a safe manner. Now he’s playing Nakashima who won against Moreno De Alboran in a solid performance, and has been grinding clay events the entire year, using them almost exclusively to earn his way back into the top 100. Hurkacz won’t necessarily struggle as much in this one; it’s fairly common on tour for players to squeak through a strugglebus performance and feel like they’re freerolling in the next round. You already should have been out, so you play with no pressure and your best tennis comes out.
Hubert’s serve can get him to the finish line against pretty much anyone as well, so Nakashima will have to lock in and try to wear Hurkacz down. It may sound silly, but Isner used to struggle more against the guys that couldn’t ace him. Putting the serve return in is great, but if the other player is a solid baseliner, it means you’re playing 6-8 shot rallies over and over. This can take the legs away from a big server, and Nakashima fits this bill. While I’m bullish on Nakashima here, I think it’s more likely that this will be close enough that anyone can win, and whoever plays the big points better will. A server like Hurkacz in tiebreakers is pretty efficient, and playing a servebot in a 5th is a really tough ask if they’re serving first. Honestly, I saw this match in the draw and thought Nakashima was 50/50, so I’m sticking with it. Nakashima in 5.

Shapovalov vs Tiafoe :

Shapovalov is winning tennis matches again. It’s great to see, but he’s in Dimitrov territory for me. Sure he’s winning, but I’m not going near it because I don’t want to get hurt again. His opponent this round is a player whose range of play goes from “does he even play tennis anymore?” to “omg he’s going to win the US Open” Bellucci almost had Tiafoe, and a few big returns for Tiafoe ended up being the key in the end. Tiafoe will probably be competitive here, and playing a lefty the round before means his backhand got a good workout and he’ll be comfortable with the generic patterns that a lefty will bring. Shapovalov hits bigger than Tiafoe regularly, and it will take a big step up in effort/consistency from Tiafoe to win this. Given his serving ability and the underlying ability to play top level tennis, being sure Tiafoe will lose here doesn’t make sense. I’m expecting a match where both players will be pretty frustrated at times, and I think the one who’s more willing to lock in and play stingy defensive tennis will win. For once, that seems to be Shapo. Shapovalov in 4-5.

Bergs vs Marterer :

There were some wild first round results, but Tabilo losing quickly to Zizou Bergs was one of the biggest. Not only does he get a huge result, but he’s a favorite to win his second round also. Marterer has gotten a lot of respect and fallen short on tour for a few seasons, but he made good on the respect and beat Thompson in 3. Marterer is a powerful lefty who crushes the ball, and the one problem with his game is he sort of plays at one speed. Hitting big is great but he sometimes plays his opponents into form by showing them the same pace over and over. Shapovalov had a similar problem during his slump as well. Marterer shouldn’t be counted out of this match at all, but Bergs is much quicker around the court and I think Maximilian’s backhand will get worn down eventually. Bergs in 4.

Maroszan vs Dimitrov :

I’ll take tickets to this match. Both are through in straight sets, and both hit extremely clean and play skilled tennis. Maroszan can win this match, but I think Dimitrov’s ability to defend will eventually get him through. Maroszan’s power and forehand are good enough to hit some winners, but he also scores a lot off of dropshots. I think it’s still a viable option, but Dimitrov’s speed will make it a risky option. Expecting a high level clash here and when both players are extremely skilled sets usually get traded. Dimitrov in 4 is what I suspect, but since it’s his defense I expect to get him across the finish line this could easily go 5. Maroszan is really good, and it’s just fitness and decision-making that are left for him to work on.

Moutet vs Shevchenko :

Moutet’s coach got a bit spicy before the Jarry match, allegedly mad about fans’ behavior in the Moutet Jarry clash in Chile. It seemed to work, as Moutet played some of the best tennis he ever has and beat Jarry in 4 exhilarating sets. That same level should win this contest, but a slightly different style of opponent can complicate things. Shevchenko is a plucky baseliner and he will make Moutet earn all his points. He managed to outlast Karatsev in round one in a 5 set clash that had a million changes in momentum and 21 breaks. Moutet’s level was higher, but besting another offense is sometimes a simpler task. Shevchenko is going to put the ball in annoying spots and try to outlast Moutet, so this is a mental test. I think Moutet is up for it, but I could see it taking some time to happen. Moutet in 4.

Ofner vs Baez :

Gustavo Heide should be on everyone’s radar now. He hits the ball huge and clean, and has one of the better serves from the young crop of talents on tour. Honestly, when I first saw him 2 years ago I think he was a servebot and an old guy, and now his baseline game has developed in a major way and somehow he’s 22. Stay still Gustavo! Baez had this mostly wrapped up and Heide was tired, and then he won 2 lopsided sets in a row. I was expecting Baez to go on a run here, and he played Ruud close in Geneva so this is a good reprieve for him (playing Ofner). Ofner beat Atmane in 5 and he has the power to compete with Baez, but not the consistency. The 5 setter with Heide was surprising, but I’m willing to chalk it up to Heide’s high level rather than Baez being a flight risk. Baez in 4.

Kotov vs Wawrinka :

Hehe. Kinda fair for these two to play each other. If there were any two players to look both ways during a changeover and then sneak a cupcake out of their bag and scarf it, it’s these two offensive wizards. Kotov managed to outlast Norrie which is honestly a tremendous win, and Wawrinka continued his clay dominance against Murray in a straight set win. Kotov is a little better and has more stamina at this point, but Wawrinka is serving well and I expect him to win at least 1 of the first two sets.
Wawrinka has been losing to a lot of players right around Kotov’s level recently (Martinez in 2, ARV in 3, Borges in 3) so it’s tempting but tricky to declare him a winner. Tennis-wise, my brain won’t let me see Kotov winning. Pavel serves well and hits big, and for a guy who appears out of shape he wins a lot of marathon matches and has good power late in the game. 5 sets with Norrie isn’t going to help him here, and if Wawrinka can get up 2-0 or 2-1 it could easily be goodnight just because he can then open up. Norrie is a tough out, but on clay his shots don’t really clear the court. Wawrinka is almost a clay specialist at this point in his career, and he serves a lot bigger than Cam also.
This is wide open, and if I could skip a match, it’d be this one. Wawrinka in 4 or Kotov in 5. Stan needs to win quickly, but his recent results don’t make it realistic. You can point to him smoking Murray, but Murray is really a gimme these days on clay.

Gasquet vs Sinner :

Jannik Sinner has filled the void that the gradual departure of the big 3 is creating. He was always a tremendous player, but now he’s become extremely reliable at that level. His returning is world class, his serve is constantly improving, and his baseline game is now measured and tactical rather than an all-out assault. He knows when to just put the ball in play, and his footwork is constant. I love it. Gasquet turned back the clock and smoked Coric in straight sets, but the road probably ends here. This will be a high-level match and the crowd will be behind Gasquet in a major way. Jannik is a classy kid and will understand the atmosphere and respect it enough to navigate to the finish line. Sinner in 3-4.

Wall of text warning: I was writing a comment on another post but I figured I'd just make my own topic on it with my full thoughts on each faction and their skills, balancing, etc, after about 20 hours of playing (enough to get a decent idea). Personally I don't feel like any particular faction is especially strong currently and I think the balance of the factions is actually pretty decent overall.
Cleaners are the weakest by far (not very far, though) and seem to suffer from some confused design choices. The Firebomb is great for punishing bunched enemies or denying area but this is a ranged game at the core so it often is completely useless on many maps or just makes you vulnerable if you try to use it aggressively, and particularly in mobile modes like Escort where there is high kill turnover and less opportunity for anyone to keep a strong foothold. The Incendiary Drone is decent, does what it should, not a lot to say about it. Strong alternative skill to Firebomb for mobile modes. Their Incendiary Ammo is a bit useless in a vacuum due to the nature of the TTK because most of the time it will not result in a kill you wouldn't have already gotten and it doesn't deal enough damage on its own to really speed up the TTK in any meaningful way. You still have to shoot someone the same number of times to get a kill and if you stop shooting to let the DOT tick instead you'll just die. On top of that, Incendiary Ammo actually reduces your weapon optimal range, and as mentioned before, this is typically a ranged game. The Incendiary Ammo shines more in situations where someone is running away and a teammate can finish them off instead since then it may have done enough damage or canceled their regen enough. It seems as though the Incendiary Ammo might be meant to offer a counter to Libertad's healing-oriented skills but it usually doesn't make a great deal of difference even there. Weirdly, the best weapons for taking advantage of Incendiary Ammo are snipers since it more or less guarantees a kill no matter where you hit someone with the Tac-50 even if it's a leg or arm shot, and guarantees a kill with the M44 in the body, in spite of the "reduced range". Personally the times I've seen Incendiary Ammo end up killing me is right after I had already killed them first anyways, so it was more of a kill guarantee after death than a true advantage in the fight itself. The Cleaners are still playable, just kinda why would you choose them over anything else if you aren't playing them because you like them. Also the Cleaner ultra is ridiculous if you get in a good spot to use it because it instantly kills anyone you hit but again its range makes you vulnerable. The Cleaners biggest strength at the moment seems to be that they have messed up hitboxes, honestly. I think that the Cleaners really need some kind of help on their skills as they are now, they are weirdly situational and difficult to safely employ, but I suppose that is the real philosophy of the Cleaners as it is, they run around with explosive tanks on their backs that instantly kill them in The Division so an exploding flaming firebomber that may or may not live through their skill is oddly appropriate.
Echelon is strong by nature of being a crutch. Intel Suit lets the enemy team know you're nearby and can see them thanks to the notification, smart/skilled players will just listen for you and it's not a huge advantage against them, below average players won't pay attention to it though and it's quite strong against players that don't have good audio or are unaware of where their flanks are. However, the main advantage of the Intel Suit is that it reveals the enemies for your whole team no matter where they are. While you have to be in closer range to detect enemies with it, your teammates can be on the opposite side of the map and still see exactly where the enemy is which is a massive advantage. Digital Ghillie Suit is honestly a pretty balanced skill, someone paying attention will still notice you and Intel Suit counters it (weirdly, same faction counter) but it has a lot of outplay potential and lets you reposition or get into weird spots that the enemy team might not expect if they are distracted. It offers a similar advantage that Phantoms skills do in that it can easily be used to disengage a losing gunfight back into your advantage for a kill instead. Not much wrong with it, it's a well designed skill-expression skill. Echelon passive is kind of whatever, I don't feel like it's a great advantage because it gives you no direct benefit in a gunfight or even while traversing the map most of the time, it's another thing that is strong against unaware or distracted players. The Echelon ultra is of course quite strong in even an average-skilled players hands thanks to real-time wallhacks and a Golden Gun, although the sound it makes and sonar waves effects do put a bit of a target on you and sometimes the OHK gun doesn't actually get a OHK (somehow) but even being guaranteed just 2-3 kills for the duration is still enough to wipe an objective and some players will even try to hide from it. Echelon is overall a strong faction to use against players that are worse than you (likely why it is the most popular faction seemingly at the moment) but it doesn't provide any major meaningful advantage against equal or more skilled players since that will come down to your more practical gunfighting skills instead the majority of the time. Digital Ghillie offers some potential to outplay even skilled opponents but aside from that their skills heavily depend on their opponents being distracted to take advantage of them fully. Given that, the faction is pretty well balanced even with multiple players spamming Intel Suits on one team, since it only offers opportunities, it doesn't exploit them for you.
Phantoms are my personal favorite faction because I feel as though they have the widest degree of skill expression over any of the others. Mag Barrier used smartly can completely turn a lost gunfight around in your favor, especially if there is a choke point or corner you can use to make enemies chase you. Mag Barrier is one of the few skills in the game that is actually a punish skill when you use it correctly by letting an enemy get caught out if they try to ego on you or think they are winning the fight. That's on top of everything else it does. The EMP grenade is only a "counter" to it if someone is mindlessly spamming it because when used correctly you don't have time to throw an EMP grenade. You would have to pre-emptively EMP the Phantom player for every encounter if they use it well and that's not very feasible in a dynamic scenario. That said, Mag Barrier is fairly weak in terms of pure cover and a determined player can chew through it in a few seconds if you carelessly use it without exploiting the advantage it gives, or grenades can be thrown around it, enemies can run through it, its strength comes down entirely to the user. Blitz Shield is also a strong punish skill but currently the way player collision works makes it difficult to use against anyone that is experienced or skilled because no enemy player collision means they can jump through you. You can't really use the shield to turtle 1v1s since enemies can just run through and behind you, even if you're in a corner. Most players won't do this or know it's possible, so it can be a bit of a crutch against less skilled players at least. The Blitz Shield is mainly strong for punishing around corners if someone chases you since you can typically swap to it fast enough to surprise them before they get around the corner. It's also good for absorbing damage at range or aggressively disrupting enemy players on an objective for your team to pick off but that depends a lot on how good your team is and less on the shield itself. Phantoms passive is honestly extremely strong, and IMO the best passive in the game currently. Having 20 more health is massive when 110 damage OHK body shots exist since it allows you to survive hits no other faction can and combined with the other skills it offers retaliation and outplay potential no other faction has. The Phantom ultra is a bit mediocre in terms of kill potential, due to lack of range or mobility, vulnerable to grenades, and various other problems that come with moving slow and telegraphing yourself to the entire map as a giant target. The ultra's primary purpose is of course simply being a big shield to deny area to the enemy team or offer your team a safe place to stand on objectives for pushes. The Phantoms are a well-balanced and strong faction currently that offers a lot to players that know how to take advantage of their skills properly.
Libertad is probably the most well-balanced faction in the game at the moment. It's very straightforward and easy to grasp for players of all skill levels and doesn't depend on a lot of gun skill, map knowledge, or general experience to perform decently. Since none of their skills are directly offensive, they are easy to employ in a variety of situations, like fortifying an objective or pre-emptively giving your teammates an advantage for a push, refreshing a teammate after a close gunfight, using mid-gunfight for a surprise comeback, etc. El Remedio is such a strong heal that it can greatly increase your EHP in a straight gunfight to the point you need multiple extra hits to kill if the enemy misses any shots, and if you manage to break contact with them briefly you can set up the heal on yourself for a surprise punish similar to the Phantom Mag Barrier. It forces the enemy to decide if they try to kill you or break the canister first and assuming you are equally skilled, you will usually end up winning the 1v1. The main downside to El Remedio is its fairly long cooldown so you have to use it smartly or else you won't have it for major moments when your team might have needed it. It's strong and has some skill expression to it in a variety of ways. BioVida Boost is one-time instant version of El Remedio with similar uses, but it works much better with a unified team push and has a shorter cooldown which makes it much more useful for a more mobile style of play. Not only that but its heal is essentially instant, again being very strong if you manage to break contact for a moment in a gunfight to come back with full health before the enemy got their natural regen. Libertad's passive has no strings attached, simply natural regen with no downtime for you and any teammates near you, doesn't require you to do anything and is always active which makes it great for people of all skill levels since it's always being taken advantage of. The Libertad ultra is literally just an even bigger version of El Remedio that also increases your and teammates max HP massively, it can guarantee a last second payload push or let you lock down a critical objective to break out a losing zone match. Libertad is generally the best faction for anyone that's really new or isn't that great at FPS games since it doesn't depend on your technical skill too much aside from simply staying alive to give your team a constant advantage. Another nice thing about Libertad is they synergize incredibly well with the Phantoms' huge health pool. The only outstanding weakness of Libertad is the old classic: your teammates. It has very little potential to actually carry and under focused fire their healing is pretty irrelevant so you're not exactly going to go tank a payload by yourself. Even with the ultra on, a single person can chew through it and kill you if you give them long enough (not very long).
I've not gotten to play around a ton with DedSec yet but my initial impression is that they are very similar to Phantoms in terms of skill expression and offer a ton of flexibility that other factions don't have through being able to hack enemy deployables and regenerating devices. I would not call them imbalanced, but I do think they are the one faction that currently does lean the most into that because they counter every single other faction. Being able to shut off enemy skills and ultras is huge, even if it takes their own ultra to do it. But you are effectively turning everyone on the enemy team into the Rookie from Rainbow Six Siege temporarily while all the players on your team get to keep their skills. If you have multiple DedSec players on your team and properly chain the ultras then you are looking at a free objective push every single time. The Spiderbot is fairly alright, but it's currently bugged and sometimes enemy players can't destroy it properly which makes it stronger than it actually is, and that's on top of it taking more than one hit to kill anyways which I personally think shouldn't be a thing either. In its current state it is basically a guaranteed kill on anyone you hit with it if you use it aggressively, though, and I do think it should be adjusted in some way after they fix the desync issues with it. Hijack isn't always super relevant because at the moment deployables aren't very long-lived or common, but being able to flip a Phantom Mag Barrier is wildly strong and is the only counter play to a choke point punish in that it punishes the punish. Hijack is fairly useless though if the enemy team all happen to pick Echelon or Cleaners (which is a fair possibility). I think the skill is still a good skill expression skill and fine, though. The DedSec passive is unsurprisingly very strong because being able to throw two proximity mines on an objective or get multiple uses of grenades is obviously something no other faction can do and those things are one per life for a reason. The passive doesn't benefit if you don't live long enough to use it, though, so it can be kinda useless depending on the situation: if you never throw your grenade or mine, the passive literally does nothing. DedSec is currently in a very strong state overall, while I wouldn't say it's imbalanced, it's definitely one of the better factions if only for the fact it can shut off every enemy skill and ultra and has a way to essentially guarantee a kill.
If I had to "tier" each faction in terms of their effectiveness in a vacuum regardless of skill, I'd probably rank them (from best to worst): DedSec > Phantoms/Echelon > Libertad > Cleaners. But that is a very shallow slope with all factions being very much viable to play and do well with.
All of this is also given without thought to the current state of weapon balance generally speaking, while I do feel that Phantoms have a particular advantage currently due to the prevalence of Tac-50s. Echelon's Digital Ghillie also helps them get in close to employ some of the better weapons in the game currently like the MP7 or double barrel. DedSec's spiderbot sets them up for kills with all kinds of weapons, particularly the Tac-50. I don't see any of these skills being worse off without the existence of those weapons, however.
If I were to speculate on any adjustments that should be made: Spiderbots need to be fixed ASAP so they always properly appear on the targets screen to destroy them (not really an "adjustment", a bug fix). Libertad needs some kind of light buff in my opinion, maybe a bonus effect on a skill like slightly increasing max HP (good to help deal with prevalence of OHK snipers) or an alternate mode that poisons or debuffs enemies (Viviro would make sense because it's the chemical weapon made by the same company in Far Cry 6). Cleaners need a little bit of help, maybe allow them to also select Molotov cocktails as grenades that make small fire puddles that aren't quite as strong as their skills as a form of area denial to sort of solidify their "stay the fuck away from me" presence as a faction. The big one people talk about is the Intel Suit for Echelon but I honestly don't see much issue with this. The game literally highlights enemies for you already as it is, seeing them through walls briefly isn't a huge stretch when you can already hear people running around anyways since (thank god) we don't have anything like Dead Silence/Ninja/Covert Sneakers in this game. Echelon is a noob stomping faction and that's why it's generally popular right now but I think once more people get access to DedSec we will start to see more of them instead.
Anyways, that's all for today. I do really hope Ubi upkeeps this game well and makes smart balancing decisions that keep the game fun and engaging without oversimplifying or nerfing anything for the sake of salty people. If it were up to me, they'd reduce the TTK to 4 body shots max like original COD4 and then we'd really be cooking (after they fix the netcode, that is). Also hoping for The Division themselves to be introduced as a playable faction with deployable drones or even seeker mines...