Hi all! Apologies, didn’t really know what to title this 😭 just wanted to hop in here since the Melb concert is only a month and a bit away.
Will everyone be exchanging friendship bracelets / guitar picks? And are we doing anything special for this tour in terms of outfit, makeup etc.?
I’m beginning to plan things out so wanting to make sure I’m in the loop with everything 💜

Alright, to make long story short from my last no contact we both really needed closure from our fight that resulted in our break-up. We hanged out every other weekend and talked for about a month. Why we broke up was due to pettiness, ego, and pride on both sides and she was on her menstrual cycle too, I was also very confused on her antics during our relationship and didn’t communicate at all with her on how I felt about, in which resulted for a perfect storm for us to break up. Fast forward a month, she reacts to a message I sent on Instagram before we broke up with a bunny on Easter. I tell her my apology and hope she and her family were doing okay, the following week calls me drunk and all emotional about wanting to be back together and wants me to go see her calling me “babe” “I love you,” etc. We hanged out, watched the Total Eclipse, a movie the following weekend, trip to Dallas (she lives in another city not too far ((kinda far actually))😭But then, she told her father after he called her during our date in Dallas. Now I already told my mom that I was seeing her again, she didn’t say anything and really didn’t care. She told it was my choice in the end of the day. Will her Dad wasn’t too fond of her being with me and after I broke up with her. After I dropped her off I messaged her the day after because she was kinda ghosting me that night I dropped her off. She just told me that her father wasn’t too happy that she was hanging with me so she said that we shouldn’t hang out anymore and or talk all together. I totally agreed as I talked to her on the way dropping her off about how I felt and if a scenario ever happened where I got a disapproval from her family it would result to me leaving because I care for her and I don’t want them and her to be unhappy for us being together after betraying there trust with there daughter. After that, we parted ways and thanked each other for the great memories and we didn’t speak for a couple days until she messages me 2 days later “ ____ 😭😭” (fill in blank with an imaginary name) I responded with “is everything okay” and then … radio silence. For a day, then messages me with “I fell asleep” at like 9PM which she knows I’m asleep because I have to wake up at 5am. I tell to stop being dry and to spit it out. I was honestly kinda annoyed because she was just drowning me in like suspense or something so I sent her a paragraph telling her I love her and care for her but it’s best for us to go no contact. AND… was left on delivered again. Now to current events, sorry the ‘ prologue’ was not “long story short.”💀
Fast forward two weeks later. It was ruff on not only me but her too. I honestly was really depressed and honestly praying to god for another chance and will, he delivered. On Thursday I took a nap of misery and told god for her to message me and give me on last time with her. Waking up at 12am all sweaty, stinky breath, thirsty as hell, I check my phone and I see a notification from her. My first thought was “my prayer was actually answered.” She just said if we could talk and how she wasn’t really handing our break up #2? She stated her dad got drunk and just told her he wasn’t mad about hanging out with me but not telling him she was hanging out with me. I told her that I was honestly really depressed and wanted her back in my life because I can’t see myself with someone else. We accepted that we will AGAIN rekindle our “friendship” (seeking to rebuild our relationship back but slow and exclusive) but here’s what’s troubling me now.
She’s being all shallow and ghosting me for hours sometimes even days. I can’t process her telling me she’s “not doing so good” without me but ends up ghosting me or being dry at times and honestly it’s bringing me the assumption she doesn’t really miss me but just likes the company and the attention. It’s very frustrating that she comes back to my life, twists the knife even deeper and then puts little effort in trying to fix it (I thought I did something there😭🔥) But Yha, this is my biggest struggle by far right now with her. And this isn’t new, after our first initial no contact she was the same, ghosting me being dry as the savannah desert, and now. So what do you guys think if someone even read this far😭 if you did, ummm… I’ll pray for you tonight🥹 anyways have a great day people of Reddit🫡

I've been friends with this guy named Thomas for four years at this point. We originally met because I was friends with his girlfriend, but eventually, I drifted apart from his girlfriend but stayed friends with Thomas. We've always been pretty casual friends, not too close. But this past 6 months, we've gotten a lot closer because we have so many similarities and found that we have a lot more in common than I first realized. Even though he had a long-time girlfriend, I unfortunately developed feelings for him. However, it's important to note, that I never ever pursued him during this time, and even tried to distance myself from him when I realized my feelings. My feelings eventually faded, and I was able to really appreciate our friendship.
Around this period, I met Zach. He is BEST friends with Thomas from childhood, like, they are so close, and tell each other EVERYTHING (which you'll see...I'll realize). We had already met each other briefly a couple of years before at a party, but we began talking and getting to know each other. He made it very clear up front that he was interested in being more than friends. I thought he was pretty cute, respectful, and very direct with his feelings and communication (something I had never experienced with a guy before). He asked me out and we went on a first date, and it honestly went a lot better than I expected to--one of the best first dates I've been on. Zach made it clear afterwards that he really was interested in pursuing something more serious.
However, at the same time, I was going through a really rough period mentally. I was having many anxiety attacks and insomnia, and I quickly realized that adding Zach into the picture--no matter how sweet he was--made it worse. As much as I was interested in him, I realized it was best to cut things off and not lead him on. I clearly communicated this to him and let him know, and he was actually incredibly supportive and understanding. This is my only regret though: after a couple of weeks of texting back and forth AFTER this, I did ghost him....I really regret it, but in the moment I thought it was the best to not lead him on.
Fast forward a couple of months. My feelings for Thomas come back. I try to distance myself. He makes it impossible. The cycle repeats. Until one day, I find out he broke up with his long term girl friend, with the explanation of he basically lost feelings for her.
Then, things change between us. At least I feel like they do. We spend a lot more time together, and he seeks me out more. However, this could just be because he's in a period where he's trying to reach out socially after his relationship. I don't know if that makes sense lol.
Now knowing he's single, my feelings for him come back with a FORCE. I am crushing so hard, but at the same time trying not to push things because he's just out of a relationship and I don't want to ruin our friendship. But at the same time, I'm down bad. Stuttering, giggling...literally so into him I can't think straight when he smiles at me.
Just when I'm the midst of this humungous crush...Zach comes back into the picture. Thomas brings him a formal event, and I physically don't know what to do seeing them both dressed up, both looking fine....in the same room. I kind of avoid them the entire night, because I so afraid I'm going to act awkward. But, the entire night, I get a vibe that they're trying to get my attention; my friends made the same remarks also, so I swear I wasn't being delusional. I heard from someone else too, that Thomas probably brought Zach to try to get us together again. But, this is entirely just a theory from a friend, so.
I wave at them briefly once, but for the rest of the time we don't talk. Then, at the end of the night, I'm exhausted, and I have completely lost all of belongings somehow. I am visibly distressed, and both of them ended up helping me, but mostly Thomas. He was really worried for me, and stayed with me to make sure I was okay, and really helped cheer me up and make me feel better. Zach was there too, but he seemed more nervous to talk to me, so I mostly talked to Thomas.
Since then, I am so completely confused. Since seeing Zach, my feelings were a bit scrambled, but I can't deny that I definitely have stronger feelings for Thomas. I don't know how in the world to proceed with my life, so ANY advice or thoughts would be welcome !!!!! HELP!!!!!!!

So basically I recently entered to a call center job. When February was ending, was the time when I started my training for the job and my coworkers were really nice since the begging, but I found myself feeling interested in this boy. When we first met I realized we had a lot of things in common, like our taste in music, clothes, taste of humor and we just matched in some kind of way. At first I felt intrigued since he is a very extroverted person, and I tend to be more shy normally, so what I felt for him first was a feeling of admire. After that, I realized I caught myself liking him in a romantic way. I never wanted something serious with him since I knew from the start that he was no good for me, he was full of red flags like: Alcoholic, addicted to nicotine and weed, and a player. Overall, he was still a nice person, he treated me in a nice way, we would make jokes with each other and I never told anybody that I liked him, but those first 2 months he was really sweet with me and he made me feel special, it was the first time I had a crush for a long time.
One day, on our last days of training we had an activity of making confessions, and they asked my crush if he had ever liked somebody from the class and he mentioned my name. My heart dropped and they asked me the same question and I had no other option than tell the truth, It was the first time I had ever confessed my feelings to someone.
The next days we started giving each other hugs, or talk about our feelings, but itdidn't last long because he started avoiding me(? you could say. I would try to hug him or do things with him but he started giving me the cold shoulder, which left me thinking what the actual fuck. I decided to start being cold with him and let me tell you I was devastated, I felt so confused even though I didn´t want anything with him.
We went to a party together with some other coworkers 1 week or 2 after all of that happened. I got high for the first time with him and he told me what did I think of him and I expressed everything with no filters. He gave the the most genuine speech of how he like me so much but knew that I wasn´t good for him, that he would corrupt me if he was with me and how he didn´t want to destroy my inocence and if we kissed, he would end up falling deep for me. I belived him and understood, and stated that we would only be friends.
Now, a couple of weeks have passed since that day, and I felt so much better with myself and was starting to forget but one friend of mine from my workplace that I shared very personal things told me that she wanted to talk with me. She said: "I need to confess something because I feel bad if you don't know". I kind of suspected where she was going because I had a bad feeling but wanted to trust in her, that she wouldn´t do smth like that. I guess I was wrong 🤡. She told me she did things with him. I said, well, at least you could kiss him not like me LMAOO, he will be our humble moment. She replied with, I went lower than you, since I slept with him with tears in her eyes. They both did it after knowing that I had feelings for him, a couple of weeks after the day we confessed to each other.
I understand my friend, she just went through a heartbreak and he manipulated her into sleeping with her and he played with my feelings as well, but I can´t help to feel a little bit of disappointment in her. I don't want to ruin our friendship due to a man, but I can't avoid feeling kind of sad and disappointed in her, is it normal or am I being to emotional and overthinking the situation I wonder. Since I was never anything with my crush anyways.
He is now being cold with the both of us wtf 😭

Ok so I’m going to use real names because I could care less if they see this, but I genuinely want to know if I was in the wrong.
My (19 F) best friend, Taylor, of 4 years, had been talking crap about our mutual friend, (18 F) Peyton. Her and Peyton had been friends for 14 years, and Taylor would tell me about how abusive Peyton was and it was a conversation we had, and talked about for multiple hours, every time we hung out. However, it would seriously make me mad about what I was hearing and I wanted to call Peyton out on what she was doing, but Taylor made me promise to never say anything to Peyton cuz she was afraid she would try to hurt her.
Here’s a backstory on me, Peyton, and Taylor. I met Taylor through Peyton and became best friends with her not long after. But Taylor started to make me hate Peyton. Taylor had a horrible home life and faced homelessness 2x. She dropped out in 3rd grade, never got her GED, doesn’t have a drivers license, and can’t hold down a job. Knowing this, I paid for everything every time we hung out, but it was all worth it to me to know that I was helping her out and making her life “better” her words. In this time I spent around $7-8K on her.
Back to the story, I started dating this one guy who was bad news and that’s around the time things started changing for the worst. Taylor started role playing S/A, with her being the victim, on Red Dead Redemption, for hours with me in the room, knowing how extremely triggering that was for me. She would fake getting her paycheck and then ask us to go out, then I ended up paying for it with the money I don’t have. She also started telling me about stuff that Peyton was saying about me, regarding my recent trauma and mental illness, but what caught my attention is that I never told Peyton about that stuff, which made me super confused. I asked her to stop telling me about what Peyton was saying about me on multiple occasions, but she persisted in telling me every little detail about how “I’m borderline, which means I’m abusive and manipulative and I will hurt her.” Around then I actually had a pretty good grip on my mental state and rarely ever got mad(Taylor was never there, and I hadn’t had an episode in over 3 years).
I got tired of hearing about it so I texted Peyton, for the first time in almost 2 years as we had drifted apart after the stuff Taylor was saying about her. I asked her to stop talking bad about me to Taylor, or to at least loosen up a bit about it, and then she told me the most guy wrenching truth.
She told me that Taylor was telling her I tried to kill her, used her for money, mentally and emotionally abused her, and a bunch more of stuff. I was completely heartbroken. So I told what she was saying about Peyton, and what she was saying about her was pretty much the same thing she was telling Peyton about me. But Peyton completely disregarded what I was saying and told me she hoped I succumbed to my mental illness and died.
Next thing I did was text Taylor, I just wanted to have a talk with her, since the stuff she was saying about me was pretty recent, as she had never talked about me before this time, I thought that maybe she was going thru something. But she basically accused me of trying to ruin her friendship with Peyton and how bad of a friend I am. She called me a cold hearted wh*re and I realized I wasn’t going to get thru to her so I told her we shouldn’t be friends anymore and blocked her. It’s been over a year and it still bothers me, did I do the right thing? AITAH?
EDIT
As of the mention of my mental issues, the first and only time I ever raged, or got aggressive, around Taylor was when she was getting sexually assaulted right in front of me by an older guy, maybe in his 50s, in their apartment pool. I broke his nose and I grabbed her and ran as fast as I could. This was 2 hours after she was roleplaying rape in front of me in a video game. What I didn’t know is she was intentionally staying in the pool after I asked her multiple times if she wanted to get out while he was trying to touch her, which he progressively got worse every attempt. After the fact she told me she was staying just so she could see if I would get mad.

So I have this guy friend of mine for over a year now, I want to ask for insights and advice that would help me decide what to do next.
So when I went to another school for senior high, I met this guy, I really didn't pay any attention to him during my first few weeks at school, he's my classmate btw but I don't even know his name until a month after for a group activity, he's really good at socializing with people, maybe because he had a humorous personality, he's often loud when he's with his friends, i bet he's an extrovert, he's the type of person that would get along well with both guys and girls. I just observed my classmates during those times, I'm new to the school, and I'm bad at socializing, but can also easily blend in with people once I get to a conversation with them. Moving forward, after a few months, I got close to his circle due to our similarities with each other, they play mobile games and I often play with them during our free time after class, so basically it's like I became a part of their circle but not really, in my opinion I'm nothing more than a classmate they get along well with, but that's not the case with this guy, he's not my type at all but I find him cute because I kind of see him like my little brother, when I got quite close to him, I often sit with them at the back of our class, I talk with his circle and shares laughter with their jokes, his circle consists of 4 guys and 4 girls, 3 of the guys has their own girlfriend, including him, when i knew about it i really didn't care, i couldn't care less about it because i'm not interested at him at all, i don't see him anything more than someone who resembles a little brother, he's not young, there's like 8 months gap between our age, the same cycle continued for like 2 months, i laugh with them like normal classmates socializing with each other.
A few months later, he and his girlfriend broke up, i didn't know anything about it and got the news while they were making jokes about it while at the same time comforting him, it was like already a week after their breakup during that time and I was like "oh, really, sad to hear" then continued blending in with them like before, then that's where we unexpectedly got closer to each other, a little closer than before, not a single motive or intentions involved, everything just happened naturally, the two of us often play together, shares jokes and food. Fast forward, I kind of developed a liking to him, removing that little brother image of him.
And now after 2 months, I confessed everything to him, that i like him, and everything between, but expectedly, he rejected me, with the reason "i don't feel anything for you, because i thought you didn't like me." and included that he feels that even if he tells me that 'he does' like me, he feels like we would not last long because I still don't know him well, and he thinks that he's not the best fit for someone like me because he's 'seloso' raw when it comes to love, and thinks that i wouldn't like someone like that, especially with someone like me that has multiple guy friends (not really friends but i get along well with them), he also said that he doesn't want to get hurt again because of that (he and his gf broke up because of another guy na pinagseselosan n'ya dati), so according to him, even if it's selfish of him, it's better off for both of us the be bff's and hoped that after what happened between us, nothing changes, him and I will stay close like before. He then clarified afterwards that he does feel something for me, but doesn't want to get into a relationship with me because of that reason (the seloso reason), and he's rejecting me in terms of having a relationship with each other. We got closer after what happened, I mean he got more talkative than before, he also invites me to watch movies together too, that got me even more confused.
I clearly know that I only wanted to give him a proper confession (I don't want to keep my feelings to myself that's why I told him), I'm not ready to enter any relationships right now (he knew abt that and exactly said "ayaw mo rin naman diba pumasok sa rs? edi wala ka nawala, wala ka rin na gain so neutral lang?"), but still, I don't know what to do, should I keep our friendship going and suffer like this and hope that in the future, he'll finally consider being in a relationship with me once we're both ready, or stop everything for good and lose everything including our friendship? Does he really like me the same way I do or he just sugar-coated his rejection?

Hey, my name is Simon, I'm a French guy living near Paris. I'm looking for some foreign friends to practice my English, but I'm also open to conversations in French. Also, I'm learning Russian, so if you're a Russian speaker I'll be glad to practice a bit :) Most of all, I'm interested in long term friendship. Learning about each others life and culture, fav music, movies,etc.
I'm working as a psychologist, with mentally disabled and autistic people. I like science fiction books and movies, psychedelic and experimental music, going to concerts and museums, art, traveling (so far I've been to Russia, Malaysia, Turkey, and many European countries), going to the gym, watching sport on TV and especially football, video games (I play on Switch)...
My only request is: please, if you decide to text me, write a few things about yourself:)
À bientôt,

i met my current roommate through my ex 5 years ago and weve been living together for roughly 3 years.
i am no contact with her but weve both talked in explicit detail about how wrong shes done us and i cant help but feel like shes only treating them right because we broke up. its been three years and i still have a visceral reaction hearing her name or seeing her username on his screen LOL.
i wish i could stop caring but i cant help but wonder why you would want to continue talking to someone like that after they hurt both of us so badly. it seriously upsets me and ive already lost enough friends bc of that asshole. anyone else relate… im really struggling to move past this or want to hold on to my friendship w my roommie.

First off, feel free to comment about your own experiences. I would love it if anybody can relate. I'm also open to questions, advice, whatever you wanna write. This is gonna be a bit longer, just fyi. Excuse lack of proper chronological order and maybe some wonky sentences, English isn't my first language.
I was parentified.
For context, my mother has three children, I'm the youngest one, then there's my older half-brother (30) and my older half-sister (36). Their father was a violent alcoholic with schizophrenic tendencies (official diagnosis), luckily I never met him. I refer to them as brother and sister. I'm 21 now. I'm the only child of my mom and my dad, my dad has three other kids who are in the same age group as my maternal siblings. Lots of history with divorces and family fights, I'm the center of a complete patchwork family, everybody moved towns a lot, it's all a bit messy and disorganized.
My mother has severe borderline disorder and has massive trauma from several age stages, especially involving men. She was heavily parentified and yet socially cast out by her family herself. I don't remember a time where I didn't act like her father, emotionally. This is made worse by the fact that I'm trans so I was like her bestie before I began socially transitioning in my early teen years. Of course, this was a massive issue for her. She told me she had only ever wanted daughters. Materially she was taking care of things until I was about 11 - walked me to school and took care of the household, used to work, everything.
I remember sitting next to her during a talk/fight she had with my dad while she was sobbing, I can't have been older than 3 or 4. They got divorced around that time. As I grew older, I came to be my mom's sole emotional support person. We had moved to an isolated village with my step-father and she developed a severe agoraphobia for some time. My step-father avoided all emotionality with both her and me and therefore I was now her only friend. I overheard conversations that she shouldn't be having with her child next door and was told about her most severe fears and traumas from a young age. I was lashed out at on a near daily basis and punishment came unexpectedly. It would consist of being screamed at for minutes on end until I would cry and hyperventilate, but she wouldn't stop then.
In spite of her idea of punishment and raising children, she was incredibly attached to me, still is. This would include massive anxiety fits when she didn't know where I was or when I was getting into activities she didn't approve of. One time, when I was about 17, I went to a party in my friend's basement. She knew about this and approved it, knew my friends and where they lived. I didn't have any signal in that basenent so she couldn't reach me. She proceeded to look up my other friends' parents' phone number and call them to contact me. There was nothing she wanted except to know that I had arrived there.
Whereas my other siblings had long left the household years apart from eachother, both with specific and complex fights and banging doors and screaming fits, I was, as the youngest child, turned into a confessional and a therapist. I would mediate fights from a young age. I witnessed physical violence between my brother, my mother and my sister. My brother was the perpetrator for the most part (however, I was neither hurt nor threatened myself). Nobody proceeded to remove me from the situation or stop me from getting involved. From then on, every fight and every drama caused me intense bouts of anxiety and it, to this day, remains to be the only thing that makes me cry and/or lash out.
In a household full of anger, my anger was not tolerated. I was raised with some old-timey sort of black paedagogy (edit: by this i mean some nazi-era remnants type of paedagogy) (I'm German so it is something of a generational curse for some): I was to have unwavering respect for my parents, I was expected to be obedient, "let him cry it out" type stuff. At least when I was a younger child. When I got older, my emotions did not matter either. After stressful situations or fights that I proceeded to witness for most of my life, nobody ever asked me how I felt or explained to me what had actually gone down. I was left alone while not being left alone at all.
If I failed to provide emotional security for my mother or even attempted to call her out, I was made to feel immensely guilty. This could range from her crying/yelling things like "Why is it always me that must suffer" to guilt-tripping texts and blocking my contact for a while to very action-based suicide threats, depending on the situation. Her emotions were forced to be my emotions if I wanted to "stay alive".
At the same time, I still proceeded to excel in school. I felt like dying but nobody, and I tell you, nobody, noticed. I was a teacher's pet, I still had some loose friendships, I visited my dad once a month or more ever since my parents divorced. Nobody realized what I felt. I felt alone and had the worst depressive episode of my life when I was 13. I neglected personal hygiene. I never opened up to my father for many years. To this day I think he doesn't know everything. Especially during covid, him and my ex-stepmother were my safe space. When I first opened up to them, they welcomed me with open arms, my father was very strict and cold when I was young, but he softened, changed, and is everything and more I could ask for in a father. He is among the most positive examples of masculinity and especially of fatherhood that I know in my circles. He sends me postcards several times a month, wants me to visit, hugs me and tells me he loves me and that he's proud, gives me space. The dad who remembers the names of our childhood stuffed animals. Literally. I love him to death. He was also the only parent who engaged in activities with me and would play with me, later on take me to the movies, go to bars and restaurants, go to museums with me etc.
My mother got worse both psychologically and physically, she is chronically ill and needs immense support in a lot of things now. For about a year, my stepfather worked in a town far away and only came home during the weekends. This was during covid. Within a year, I developed a hatred so deep for my mother that I had thoughts that scared me. I took care of our pets and the household, was not allowed to get into any activities after school other than coming home and spent hours after my day listening to her rants, anxieties, fears. I get hateful goosebumps when I remember the way she used to call my name when she wanted me to do something for her. Sometimes she would make me stay awake for longer, knowing that I had to get up at 6am again. It was usually already around 12 at night. She wanted me to walk the dog before SHE went to bed because otherwise it would ruin her otherwise horribly insomniac circadian rhythm. Therefore I was not allowed to go to sleep. At that point she had not worked for more than 6 years and stayed home all the time. My stepfather and I did grocery shopping. She rarely ever leaves the house if she can avoid it. This was during the German version of my GCSE's.
I was denied medical care that could have potentially fixed my posture issues and other orthopedic issues. My mother deemed physiotherapy as inefficient and got mad when I asked her about it again. Money was always an issue. We were evicted once. I was denied certain things and never asked for extra cash because we ran low on money, my stepfather was blamed for smoking and consuming a lot of meat (which indeed is pricy), but my mother never reflected on her online shopping addiction and I'm aware that she is in an ongoing debt. Has been for years now.
Things got a bit better when my stepfather moved back and Covid cleared up somewhat. Regardless, I used pure spite to continue studying hard while they were yelling at eachother from the top of their lungs for hours on end and did the best I could to get the hell out of there. I've had therapy with several years' of breaks for a total of nearly 3 years now, that I partially applied for myself and I'm working on tackling everything. I live in a different city, studying subjects that I love. I get all my shit done, for the most part, I know how to do paperwork and know how all of the chores work. I can regulate myself in terms of sleep and food and cheap thrills. I have a (milder) case of anxiety. I keep meaningful friendships in which I find myself capable of avoiding all the harmful behaviors and attitudes I was taught. I'm learning to stand my ground and take responsibility for my own decisions and actions.
When I establish my boundaries with her now, she turns into some sort of anxious-attached mess. She over-apologizes to me. She puts me on a pedestal and I'm living a life that she is jealous of. She is intensely attached to me and considers me her favorite child and also hasn't properly gotten over my father, over 15 years of them being divorced. She will do anything to support me materially and then tear me down emotionally. Everything I tell her is followed by her mourning the life she doesn't have and never had instead of properly celebrating with me. She gets noticeably sad when I refuse to give her my full attention, she yearns for what she considered a deep and important relationship to me. But it was all just emotional neglect and emotional abuse. Now I sometimes can't help but meet her with the same attitude she gave me.
This is not perfectly chronological and all over the place. I have complicated relationships with my siblings and other relatives, which I don't mourn, but feel guilty about. My father and I are very good with eachother although I need to confront him about some things as well. With my mother I do the bare minimum to avoid conflict, yet without throwing my sense of self out of the window again. She is the only human who can easily cause anxiety attacks in me, no matter where or when. I sometimes wish I was not in contact with her. I have a tendency for smoking too much weed and being just a bit too careless with other drugs (although I rarely do those in comparison), but I also try and regulate this heavily (e.g. not finding a dealer but asking friends every once in a while etcetc). I think this stems from these experiences. Apart from that, I think I'm coping very well.
To everybody: it does get better. It does. Even when your emotions are a rollercoaster sometimes. You will be in a different place, maybe you already are, and you'll escape from these structures. I think the hardest pill for me to swallow is that I create my own reality and that nobody will give me my stolen childhood back. I am an (albeit young) adult now and I must do everything I can to avoid becoming like her. Her life is not a life I want to lead. There's hope and you won't always be in this place.

WARNING! VERY LONG POST
i'm excpecting a lot of downvoyes, because i'm about to heavily critizized KH3 RE:Mind's story instead of praising it tio high heaven, and also critizise MoM's ending... but here goes...
as much as i enjoyed Re:mind and MoM my biggest gripe with re:mind's ending and the end of MoM is that they make the entire "sora is missing we gotta find him!" act completly meaningless, because everyone's efforts amount to absolutly nothing and the fairy godmother and ansem the wise just poof in as a deus-ex machina to tell the gaurdians exactly where Sora is, and even drop riku off right at the portal to quadratumn, I hate this, because not only is it a total cop-out and makes RE:mind's limit cut completly pointless, It throws out the year without Sora that could of been used to flesh everyone else out and reflect on the Xehanort saga so the gaurdians of light could learn and grow as Keyblade weilders, but no, Seems they can;t stell a story without Sora, despite the fans wantng to see more of the other characters...
so, after doing a bit of brainstorming,l I came up with a concept for a hypothetical KH game ((that won;t happen because MoM and re:mind are already done, and the story is moving on)) taht could of allowed Everyone the chance to be relevant in the search for Sora opposed to a deus Ex machina happening, and develop the characters we know and love,
Kingdom hearts 3 X 3 ((the search for Sora))
a hypothetical fan concept for a game that better adresses the time Sora wwas gone and makes sora being gone actually a hurdle instead of something just brushed aside, giving most other characters a time to shine
i'm going to break this into structure, Gameplay and then break down what happens in each individual trio in a general sence, i am not going to wirte full cutscenes or flesh out entre wolds in this summary, but i will give an idea of what the cutscen3es would be like for the trios
Structure opening:
KH 3X3's opening cutscene would start immedietly after the data battlesd in RE:mind, inseated of Cid's PC crashing immedietky and giving out nothing of use, Cid would recover 3 files.... and then the PC would crash and reboot, Within these files, we see 3 things:
1: files on the organization members, both in KH2 and the real org in KH3. allowing the gaurdians of light to actually reasearch and understand the organization for more infomation and start bringing the past of members like marluxia into the main series organically, instead of marlucia, larxine and Ventus being union X to brute force a connection. Could also tie into dark road an introduce Xehanort's past and the foretellers.
2; A dark city, Quadratumn, but the gaurdians don't know that yet,
3: a picture of some fragments, Riku sort of regonizwes them, but isn;t 100% sure,
these are pased onto Ienzo, evan and ansem the wise for investigation, and the trios set off to where they planned to look for Sora, Micky, donald and goofy, ((MDG)) Terra, Aqua, Ventus ((TVA)) and Roxas, Axel Xion ((RAX))
STRUCTURE: GAMPLAY
for the sake of ease of creation, KH 3X3 would be comparable to a fragmentary passage in terms of overall legnh, and each party's section would be about the lengh of one 'world' in Fragmentary passage,
most combat aspects from KH3 and RE:mind would carry over, with each of the 9 characters having a simplified moveset, with only one formchange and a shotlock, and fixed combos and magic avalible, like they are in RE:mind, there are no attractions, links or flowmotion
like BBS, you'd be able to choose which trio you'd like to start as, but like DDD, yopu will be playing as each trio all on one save file, you can play the three trios in any order you like,
a big new feature in this game would be Character switching, with a press of the d-pad, you can immeditly switch character, like you would keyblades in KH3, you can do this at any time, so you can play as Terra, Aqua, Ventus, Micky, Donald, Goofy, Roxas, Axel and Xion, unfortunatly, Kairi is already asleep, so she won;t be playable and i can't think of anythig for Namine ((feel free to share ideas though!)) Riku is also not playable because he is with the FF team investigating what was found on Cid's computer.
Disney trio: MDG
in the disney trio's story, you'd play through the surface of Olympus ((sorry, this is to tie it into the KH4 trailer, I was originally going to have a diffrent world here)) looking for clues to Sora's wearabouts, during the story, MDG would potentally struggle without sora, much like how Micky did in the keyblade war, this prompts the trio to realize trhat maybe all this time, the severly underestimated Sora, after all, he did carry everyone for most of the keyblade war, and saved the worlds twice before and in donald and goofy's cases, they realze how much they doubted themselves and decide to step up their game and venture intyo the underwold alone to comfront hades, meanwhile, Micky would return to Yen-sid to stand up for Sora and make it clear how Sora is, to hopefully get Yen-sid to re-evaluate his stance on Sora's self taught skills ((micky could even be bold enough to point out how they almost lost Sora because Yen-sid put him though the Mark of mastery wiithout Sora's self taught skills))
Wayfinder trio: TVA
in the wayfinder trio's story, the trio would head into the realm of darkness as planned, where their bonds of friendship would be put to the test while they search for Sora, being stalked by the vanitas Reanment, during cutscenes, TVA would reflect on their journey and how their lack of faith and trust lead to them being seperated for so long and almost allowed Master Xehanort to forge the Xbalde, as well as kill Master eraqus, because rather than Fight together like the friends they claim they are, they constantly scolded and scorned each other, Aqua and Terra would have a heart to heart about their idividual struggles with darkness and Aqua would apologize to Terra for not beleaving in him just because of bkindly following her master's philosophies, bith Aqua and Terra would also consol Ven and apologize for not helping him realize his potental, and the trio Vow to stick together and have more faith in each other and with their newfound bonds, they easily overpower and defeat the vanitas Reanimant, almost as easily as Roxas beat SIax in KH3 with a trinity finisher to boot, after this, Ventus would begin to recall some of his past ((more subtly bringing in KHUX lore instead of shoehorning it in)) and Aqua and Terra would vow to help Ventus recover his memories... after they find Sora
DAYS TRIO: RAX
in the days trio story, RAX would be searching in both twilight town and maybe the renimants of the world that never was for clues to Sora, durning the cutscenes, Axel would open up to Roxas and Xion about Isa and his long standing friendhip with him in more detail, as well as organically introduce subject X, opposed to her just being shoehorned in for the sake of a mystrery, reflecting on the good times he, Isa and X spent together and maybe giving some more clues as to who she is, Roxas and Xion;s relationship would of course, be explored more, with Axel also helping to Guide Xion and Roxas now they are no longer nobodies, but normal people, and help them to discover and explore their own indentities, not just their connection to Sora
CONCLUSION:
after all 3 trios scenarios are played though there is a final cutscene with Yen sid where everyone ((except donald, Goofy, Kairi and Namine)) is together to discuss their findings, it doesn't mater which trio finds what, but 3 items are recovered, ione by each trio, they are the following
1: A wooden Sword
2: a Crystal religa, like the one we get after defeating Youzora
3: some fragments of... something
there would be a long discussion,with the characters initally reflecting on the Xahanort arc as a whole and what they've learned from it about themselves and how to be better keyblade weilders, as well as discussing the organization's past, Subject X, and Ven's lost memories before Kairi finally wakes up and joins the discussion, with everyone here, the group carfully studies the 3 objects and pictures Cid has, and begin to make connections, Riku remembers playing with the wooden sword with Sora andc realizes his bond with Sora is a key to finding Sora, Kairi also regonizes the fragments, and so does Riku, it's the charm that Kairi gave to Sora back in KH1! so they realize that Kairi is also a key to finsing Sora, finally, the religa and the dark city, there is a long discussion about weather it vcould be the end of the world, or the world that never was, but boith those theories shut down quick, it's only after a genuine effort to solve this themselves, would the rtrio ask Ansem the wise and fairy godmother for help, it is then that they l;earn that Sora is in unrealitry, With micky, TVA and RAX opting to stay behinf just in case the foretellers or Xehanort comes back, Riku and Kairi head for Quadratumn, with Kairi backing out in the last moment, like she already does, joining Aqua for actually meaninful traning, not just sitting around talking,
whew! and that is my idea for KH 3X3, a breather game focused on giving growth to almost all the characters who arn;t named Sora, I hope you like it and thank you if you read this far, feedback and critisisem is appreciated so long as you are constructive about it,

Name: man of stars Powers: The Visionary: Can turn imagination into reality. Erase: Allows them to erase anything in any universe. Holopsicon: Can rewrite the story of any character in their universe. The Hand: Allows them to erase any form of space. Infinity: Can create infinite space between themselves and an enemy. Book of the End: Can use victims' memories to alter reality. Wish Granting: Can do anything desired. Power of Chaos: Can alter reality at will. Gate of Babylon: Can summon millions of gods. Infinite Kugi Punch: Can deliver infinite punches in zero time. Vector Manipulation: Can control vectors. Imagine Breaker: Can neutralize any enemy power. Hakai: Can erase spirits and souls. Red Thread of Fate: Can control enemies' fates. Bites the Dust: Automatically kills those who come near their desire. Complete Hypnosis: Can control all senses of opponents. Authority of Vainglory: Can rewrite any phenomenon in their favor. Divine Protection: Can receive any divine protection. Egil Grone Angdroa (Anos): Can destroy thousands of worlds. Power of Friendship: Can instantly befriend anyone. Turn Null (Rimuru): Can delete infinite universes across timelines and dimensions. Gold Experience Requiem: Can reset any phenomenon to zero. All Fiction: Can deny aspects of reality, including death. The Almighty: Cannot be harmed by any force knowing or seeing the future. The End: Can copy any ability and use it to 1000% efficiency. Endless Nine: Completely immune to attacks. I Win (Featherine): Can decide if they win or lose. Gear 1-Infinity: Access to all Gear forms from One Piece. Absolute Destruction: Can destroy absolutely anything. Omnilock: Can exist outside of anything. Absolute Immortality: Can never die under any circumstances. OmniForm: Can create, destroy, or manipulate aspects, avatars, or clones. Author Authority: Has absolute plot control. Complete Arsenal: Possesses all abilities and powers. Absolute Invincibility: Cannot be harmed physically or mentally. Absolute Eraser: Can erase timelines, gods, etc. Absolute Transcendence: Can surpass any power level instantly. Omnikinesis: Can use any form of magic. Omnipotence: Can do anything, anytime, anywhere. Omnipresence: Exists in fiction and beyond. Internal Existence: Immune to damage, death, and aging. Absolute Internal Power: Has all powers and abilities from every character in DB series, Medaka Box, DC, and Marvel (excluding bad ones). Paradox Immunity: Immune to paradoxes and logical contradictions. Power giving: allows him to have any power he wants if desired
Strength: Hyper♾️^{♾️/irrelevant/irrelevant/Omniverse} Level (Unlimited/Indefinite)
Durability: Hyper♾️^{♾️/irrelevant/irrelevant/Omniverse} Level (Unlimited/Indefinite)
Speed: Hyper♾️^{♾️/irrelevant/irrelevant/Omniverse} Level (Unlimited/Indefinite)
Stamina: Hyper♾️^{♾️/irrelevant/irrelevant/Omniverse} Level (Unlimited/Indefinite)
Regeneration: Hyper♾️^{♾️/irrelevant/irrelevant/Omniverse} Level (Unlimited/Indefinite)
Lifting strength: Hyper♾️^{♾️/irrelevant/irrelevant/Omniverse} Level (Unlimited/Indefinite)
Striking strength: Hyper♾️^{♾️/irrelevant/irrelevant/Omniverse} Level (Unlimited/Indefinite)
Attack potency: Hyper♾️^{♾️/irrelevant/Omniverse} Level (Unlimited/Indefinite)
Traits: The lonelier he gets the stronger he becomes (he exist beyond the Multiverse, so he’s very lonely) he has grabbed the very concept of fiction and threw it at his enemy. He has affected things in reality above fiction (made the book hes in move) You can create and destroy an infinite amount of Multiverse and beyond in seconds He is completely irrelevant because of how strong is he is He isn’t completely untouched by any nullification powers of the opponent. Kind of like goku, every fight he gets infinitely more powerful If someone is stronger than him (somehow) he will immediately adapt to their power level and then beyond
PS: when I say he has all powers/abilities, that means not the bad ones like random self-destruction. Same with magic and stuff

This is something I struggle with, even with some people who are used to respecting pronouns and chosen names and such. I feel like I'm burdening people by asking them to even just acknowledge our plurality. My best friend told me it was "bothersome and borderline rude" to involve other people in it. My closest partner gets weirdly triggered by it and has some feelings that seem almost adjacent to sysmed stuff (talking about how they can't understand me not wanting to integrate my headmates.) And a lot of people just sorta let me do my thing but don't acknowledge it at all. Which is kinda okay, but it still feels nice to have my headmates get some individual recognition.
Anyone else who struggles with this? I know some people are just totally closeted about it, but I'd like to hear experiences of people who are openly plural with friends and partners, and how you navigate things. I feel like people will pretend to respect this kind of stuff, but then don't want to actually do the work of distinguishing between my headmates and using our names (I only have four, one of which almost never fronts, and we wear color-coded bracelets to show who's fronting to make it easy.)
There's no social script for this, and I want to find the right balance of asking for my identity to be respected without overly micromanaging how others see and interact with me. Advice and thoughts?

hello livies! I just about managed to get tickets in Korea!!! is there anyone else going there? I was wondering if anyone wanted to meet up with me and exchange friendship bracelets? I know that making bracelets was more of a eras tour thing but I still think that it would be nice to make friends and I think friendship bracelets are a great way to do it. I was also wondering if anyone knew if the jamsil areana venue had a merch truck as well as store? please let me know if anyone knows more about the merch situation in Korea and if you want to exchange friendship bracelets with me there! thank you

Context:
I’m rewriting my WIP for the fifth (and hopefully last) time to make the story more character driven and make my characters motivations stronger. I’ve changed the first three chapters so many times I have no idea what’s good anymore. It’s a portal fantasy Reverse Harem with fated mates. You only meet two love interests in the intro (and one of them only shows up towards the very end of the set up), but I am just looking to see if my FMC's motivations make sense, or if I have made the Set Up too convoluted and given her too many goals.
**Please note the scenes I am posting have been written as an outline, and is not intended to read line by line like a finished manuscript. I will be writing it in First person POV when I finish plotting.**
Backstory (TLDR; Character A needs to gain access to the Other World so she can make a bargain to trade her Father's life for hers, we open on the 6th anniversary of him being taken, her 24th birthday. I ramble on for quite a bit so if you would like to get right into it please skip to Intro/Set Up)
Motivation:
Character A’s Father was stolen by otherworldly creatures 6 years ago and taken to their lands. Character A harbours guilt and blames herself because she disobeyed her Fathers rules and snuck into the woods with her friends on her 18th birthday to go swimming. Her Father came looking for her and that is when she witnessed him being taken.
In the area they live in, disappearances around the full moon were common, with many losing their loved ones over the last 50 years with no explanation. There were a lot of theories of aliens, bigfoot, cougars, werewolves, and only her Father claimed that magic wielding creatures were responsible.
Character A grew up being told stories about these lands, how the creatures enslaved humans to play in their games until they died for entertainment. Her Father told her magic was real but it was to be feared and to run from any sign of the unusual, forbade her from leaving her house after sunset or from ever going into the woods, and he always tried to keep her close to him.
He had a hard time holding down a job due to the grief he felt from losing Character A’s mother during childbirth and when he would drink he would make it known that he resented Character A for derailing his life, because now he was burdened with protecting her instead of living as a family. Her mother was buried there and her father refused to move away from her body. Character A internalized this, feeling guilty for being the reason he struggled so much, and spent her life caring for her father the way she would a child. Cooking, cleaning, paying bills, etc. She would even get revenge on his bosses for firing him. Her Father always claimed it was never his fault, that they were abusing their power and couldn’t handle somebody smarter than them, and losing his job would send him into an alcoholic depression.
Character A heard her Fathers words, and combined with the way out-of town business men had turned her small mountain town into their own personal resort, developed a deep hatred for anyone that held power. She would find little ways to get revenge on her Fathers bosses, and when she was older, spent her spare time getting revenge on the trust fund kids who didn’t care if their actions had consequences for the people living there.
She had a big dream of leaving her small town and exploring the world, but she felt responsible for her Father. She took care of him, and she was afraid of what would happen to him if she left, but she knew she was suffocating under him. Although her guilt and love for her father prevented her from seeing the full truth of what he was, narcissistic and abusive, deep down she knew and she became restless under his restriction.
When she was young she believed his stories but as she got older and never saw any evidence to back up his claims, the more she chaffed against his rules and started sneaking out. She wasn’t dumb, she always carried a knife and bear spray. She read up on what to do if you encountered a predator in the forest, and she begun stealing what little freedom she could for herself. She didn’t believe in magic, wolves and mountain lions were the only things that made sense to her.
Wound:
After her Father is taken Character A is broken. Everything her Father said was true, all he was trying to do was keep her safe, but she disobeyed him and now he was taken to a magical land to be tortured by never ending games. She is distraught and depressed. She begins sleeping in the woods, hoping to be taken too so her pain can end.
A few months later, at the end of summer, her best friend and boyfriend, the only people her father approved of her spending time with, tell her that they still plan to leave for the year long trip they were all going on. They want to start their lives, they think Character A has become delusional in the wake of her Fathers disappearance, they can’t be stuck there taking care of her, they can’t handle her emotions, they need a fresh start. She realizes they have been having an affair, she internalizes them telling her she is too much to handle and that she is unlovable. She was a burden on her father and then a burden on them. She doesn’t see them again for six years.
Present Day:
Character A has spent the last six years trying to get to the other world during the full moon. The weeks in between she spends physically training, researching anything she can, working just enough to cover her bills for the month, and distracting herself with casual flings or sleeping with the trust fund kids in order to gain access to something she wants to steal from them as payback for something they have done. She never lets herself get too close to anyone, knowing that she plans to disappear, but she partied with whoever is willing to distract herself until the next full moon.
Every passing year on her birthday she grows more and more desperate. She begins researching magic spells and rituals that might show her the entrance to the otherworld. She finds a newly discovered mushroom being sold that claims to help you see what is hidden from human eyes.
Character B:
A month ago Character B was sent from the other wolrld to retrieve Character A. She is the descendant of a lost royal line and they have received a vision from the goddess that she is her Heir, the key to defeating the darkness and restoring balance to the land. Character B does not live a good life in the other world, he is nothing but a glorified prisoner in his own life, and all he’s ever wanted was a family of his own, but because of the queen and his father, he cannot have that. He avoids confrontation, always choosing to run from his problems instead of fight. He first lays eyes on Character A as she is driving a motorcycle into a lake.
He is unsure if the vehicle is supposed to drive under water, so he waits a moment before trying to do a rescue. He doesn’t know it’s her until she swims up into the shore, and begins gathering weeds from the lakebed. he thinks she’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen and can’t imagine dragging her back to his world where she could be in danger. He wants to watch the curious human for a bit longer to see what she does
He silently follows her and watches her climb into a window and place the weeds around a man sleeping in a bed, then creep down the hallway to an office where she unlocks a safe and pulls out a stack of papers. She then meets up with somebody, hands over the papers with a hug, then walks into the forest.
She walks and walks and he realizes she heading towards the portal and gets nervous, until she reaches a tree with five different coloured ribbons tied around one branch. She takes a new yellow ribbon , adds it to the branch and continues walking until she reaches another tree with ribbons where she adds another ribbon, then walks to the very centre of both trees and sits down. She softly hums a tune to herself.
She seems relaxed, strong and confident, he thinks this must be some new human ritual he hadn’t heard of yet and her humming is soothing to him, but he notices a shiver. He feels a strong need. To wrap her up in a blanket and make her warm. He decides right then that he cannot take her back and ruin her peace, that he himself would not go back, that he would befriend her and they would hide together her in her world and they would be safe and happy. It was pointless trying to fight anyway, they were never going to win and it would be better for them both to be safe and far away from the evil queen.
The next morning he follows her to her favourite coffee shop, glamoured to look more human and remove his pointy ears, and introduces himself as a man trying to get away from his overbearing parents and family he doesn’t get along with.
Intro/Set Up
Chapter 1
-Character A is thinking about how she has to get laid tonight, because it will be her last chance before she disappears and probably dies. Character A is stealing some documents and a bunch of cash from a safe in The Guys home office, she pulls a bag out of her pocket and with it, a card for the bookstore she works at flutters under his desk. She puts the documents and money in the bag and bends down to pick it up when she notices the family photo on the desk and she stops.
It is a picture of The Guy, His Son that she stole and crashed his bike into a lake last month, and The Other Son that she may have killed nine months ago when she burned his cabin down. She is filled with rage when she looks at the photo and thinks she doesn’t regret what she’s done. Character B calling her phone snaps her out of it and when she hears someone come home, she leaves, but she forgets the card.
-She stops at the bookstore to give Coworker 1 the documents and money. Coworker 1 says she will never be able to thank her, that this was the last thing she needed she could get out of town. Character A tells her good luck and to give them hell. Coworker 1 is leaving town tomorrow, she connected with a journalist who can help her expose The Guy and once she does she won’t be able to come back. Coworker 1 is very grateful to her, and Character A makes sure to tell herself that they aren't friends, because friendship requires a level of vulnerability that Olivia could not give her, but she knew Coworker 1 was a good person and deserved so much more than what she got when The Other Son sexually assaulted her at work while His Son filmed it. How when she received a payout in exchange for her silence they knew it wasn’t the first time. They were determined to find further evidence, and they did. Signed NDA’s from all of the employees they had paid off in the past.
Character B joins them at the store. Character A is petting her beloved bookstore cat and goes to pull some treats out of her bag. Her hand brushes against a vial of red and white mushrooms and Character A hopes that they are the key she has been searching for. For six years she has felt like she has been brushing up against the edge of something, but has never been able to get herself to the other side. She was deep in a witchcraft discussion forum when somebody posted about a new discovery of mushrooms, one that allowed the ingestor to see through the Veil, to show them all the magic they cannot see. The poster was pretty insistent that it wasn’t just a trip, that they were able to see threads of magic. After years of failed meditating, drinking teas, burning herbs,and chanting spells around the ley line conversion and not finding anything, what did she have to lose with some magic mushrooms?
Character B calls her name, startling her from her thoughts and she knocks over a box of alien and bigfoot merch. Coworker 1 cracks a joke about being careful with the product or else the alien truthers will riot, Character A rolls her eyes at the people who flocked there in search of the wrong thing. Character B apologizes for startling her and says he was just admiring one of her new Boxwood Topiaries, three trees of varying height that ended with hearts on top, and she says she finished it yesterday.
She loves plants but, like a cat, she can’t commit to having them because she doesn’t plan to be around long, so she does topiary art as a compromise, and the extra money she earns goes towards buying her herbs and mushrooms. Her Father never managed to save much money and she wasn’t left with much after he was taken. She had to use her savings replacing the furnace in her home shortly after her Father was taken, and now she only worked enough to keep her living until the next paycheck. She spent the rest of her time training and researching. Preparing to go to Wonderland in search of her Father.
Character B is making friends with the cat, having charmed it onto its belly, and Coworker 1 gives Character A a knowing look. Character A shakes her head, says they are just hanging out, nothing serious. Coworker 1 says he could be good for her. She knew they had been hanging out, that Character A had let him stay at her house for the last two weeks. She wasn’t judging though, Character A seemed lighter around him, and he was so nice. She had seen him helping Mrs. Smith with her groceries the other day.
Character A thinks that was what initially warmed her up to him. Coworker 1 was right, she never brought guys home, but the first week that he was here he had never failed to notice when people needed help and always offered to lend a hand. Plus he was fun, and fun to look at, and he was always looking for a new adventure. He took her mind off of what a failure she was for not saving her Father yet, and he seemed relatively harmless. So when he said he had never seen her favorite comedy movie she just HAD to take him home to watch it. And he hadn’t left, she hadn’t asked him to. It was becoming a problem. Because she was going to disappear tonight, and a small part of her was beginning to feel sad she would never see him again. It was why she hadn’t slept with him yet, she knew she enjoyed his company just a little too much and wouldn’t risk any further attachment. Character A agreed that he was a good person but emphasized that it was just casual. Coworker 1 says alright, she will back off, and she will let them get to the party. She needs to finish packing and wants to leave as soon as possible. Character A says she understand, they hug and say goodbye.
Chapter 2
-Character A and Character B are walking to the Board Game party. They are dressed as Clue characters, she is Miss. Scarlet and Character B is Mr. Green. They had played every board game she owned, which was a lot of them, in order to decide what to dress up as for the Your Favorite Board Game Party. He turned out to be a good competitor and got way more into the games than she expected him to.
He hands her a cinnamon bun, her favorite, and tells her he had made a whole batch for her, claiming that he knew she hadn’t gotten one since they were hiking that morning, and all she had eaten that day was trail mix and beef jerky and he refuses to let her party on an empty stomach. She happily takes a huge bite, grateful for this one thing she loved before she left this world forever.
He says he’s been thinking and asks her to go traveling with him. She almost chokes on her food. His words rush out and he assures her he has money and can pay for everything and they can go anywhere she wants. Her heart sinks into her stomach. Before her Father went missing, an offer like that from a hot guy would have been her dream, but she couldn’t now, or ever. She looks at the half eaten cinnamon bun, thinks how he had made them because he had gotten coffee with her every morning for the last three weeks, and he saw how every Saturday and Sunday morning she would get a cinnamon bun the size of her face and eat it. She looks at the Green jacket he wore and remembers laughing in the thrift shop as he tried on a full leather catsuit while they searched for the perfect outfit for the party. He was too good. She begins to think that in another life, they could go. They could adopt an adventure cat and take it with them on their world travels, but that wasn’t possible for her. She wasn’t staying in this world, and even if she was, she was too messed up. Too broken. Too much of a burden. And she could never give all of herself to one person ever again, she did it twice, and was broken by both of them because she was too much.
She decides he’s gotten too close and she needs to push him away, so in the hopes that it will scare him, she explains that she can’t leave because her Father was stolen by a magical creature and taken to the Other World. She tells him the entire story her father told her, of creatures luring people to the Other World and keeping them for the Queen's entertainment, forced to be pawns in her games. They are ruthless and obsessed with games and everything reeks of roses. She tells him its her fault that he got taken and she can’t live with herself until she either gets him back or gets revenge for his death.
Character B begins pleading with her, telling her she shouldn't go. She is surprised he doesn’t balk or think she is crazy. He isn’t looking at her the way Ex-Bestfriend and Ex-Boyfriend did, like they feared she would infect them with her crazy, no, he looks at her with genuine terror in his eyes. She stops walking, they are just outside the party house. What do you know? She says. He inhales and steps forward, desperation etched into hs features, and says that he knows that everything she said was true, and that it is much worse than she even thinks. That if she goes, she will not make it back here. It’s too dangerous, and he just wants to keep her safe. She is flabbergasted, and checks over his features for signs. No pointed ears, no animalistic features such as scales or a tail, no strange eyes. How do you know all this? He doesn’t answer, his mouth works like he’s trying to come up with something and betrayal starts to roil in her gut.
Before he has the chance to lie, two men throw their arms around their shoulders. It is the couple that Character A hooks up with on occasion. They start walking them into the house and the one with Character A asks if she wants to come over later for a joint and to hook up. She tries to muster up a yes, it is what she wanted after all, but she can’t think straight after her conversation with Character B. She turns back to see he’s been steered into a conversation with a few other people and thinks she needs a drink to calm herself and give her some courage.
-She walks into the kitchen for a glass and bumps into her Ex-Boyfriend. She is thrown for a loop again. He says Happy Birthday and remarks that he didn’t think he would find her at a party today, since he knows how much she hates her birthday. Character A is surprised to see him and momentarily forgets about Character B, and asks what they’re doing back in town. He says its because Ex-Bestfriends mom is still missing. Character A says, oh, right. And feels stupid for thinking she wouldn’t run into them. She was devastated to hear Ex-BFFs Mom had been taken, she was like a second mother to her, but after Ex-BFF left she couldn’t stand to look at her Mom anymore and remember what she had lost.
He mentions something about the baby coming soon and Ex-BFF wanting to be as close to her mom as she can. Character A questions the baby and he tells her they are pregnant. Character A flashes back to both of them telling her they were leaving and couldn’t stay in contact with her anymore, that she had become too much for them to handle on the horizon of their new lives. She noted the way they looked at each other and how their knees pressed together, and that was when she knew they had been having an affair. She comes back to the present when he leans in close and says he actually wants to ask her some questions about her dad. She sees a familiar head with a mop of blonde hair moving through the crowd towards them. Seeing Ex-Boyfriend was bad enough, she cannot see Ex-Bestfriend. See her pregnant. And now he wants to hear what she has to say about the disappearances? You can go fuck yourself, she spits and walks away before he can say anything else, and thankfully, before Ex-Bestfriend reaches her. She thinks his betrayal hurt her, but her betrayal broke her.
-She is fleeing the kitchen, heading for the back door, desperate to get away from them, when she bumps into an attractive man in a red velvet sport coat with a red velvet top hat. They are both imprinted with roses. He apologizes for bumping into her and her heart skips a beat, thinking of the Queen's obsession with roses. She asks him who he's supposed to be and he smiles but pauses before saying his name is Character C, he’s friends with Character B, and her heart stops all together. A chill runs through her and Character B interrupts and asks him what he’s doing here. Character C hugs him and says its good to see him and says he thought he was dead. Character C turns to Character A and says that he took off for a month without saying anything, could she even believe it? And they had an important event that the three of them needed to attend tonight. Character B starts to argue with Character C when Character A hears her name called. The Guy she stole from is there, he holds up the card to the bookstore that fell under his desk and said he wants the contents of his safe back, and maybe the sheriff will go easy on her if she returns it, or maybe he won't since he will also be investigating his cabin burning down and one of his sons going missing. Character A plays dumb but he grabs her around the neck and says he knows it was her, she’s a pathetic bum just like her father. Character B punches him, forcing him to release her and they begin fighting. The other partygoers jump to Character A’s defense and start fighting the other guys that came with him. Character C picks up Character A after she was knocked over to keep her from being trampled, and Character B breaks away when The Guy starts fighting with someone else. So they turn and head for the door, but The Guy's Son, the same one from last month who she stole the bike from, blocked the back door.
-Character A turns and together they run into the basement, locking the door behind them. They run down the stairs and into a bedroom where she locks the door again. She whips out her knives and points one at Character C. “Why do you want me to go to the Other World?” He holds up his hands and smiles, “I need your help finding a weapon that will help me defeat the Queen .” “Why me?” “The Goddess showed me in a dream that it is you. I will pay you in gold and return you back here, unharmed, once you find it.” Character A hears them break through the basement door and descend the stairs. “Fine, I’ll help you do it.” Character B protests and steps forward but she gestures the knife at him and he stops. “But first, you will help me find my Father and send him back here. Alive. And healthy.” All she knows about the Other World is what she could glean from her Fathers stories and what she was able to research about lore, but she had no idea what was accurate and what was not. She would be a fool to think she should turn away help if she could bargain for it. “I will help you find you Father, but it won’t be until after tonight, we must attend the Queens party so you can search for the weapon, this is the best opportunity we will have for another year.” The Guy begins banging on the door. She took it back, she was being a fool, she had very little hope that she would be able to fulfill her end of the bargain, but she was out of time, and she may never have a chance to get to the Other World again. “Deal.” She says as she steps forward to shake his hand. Character C grasps it and an electrical charge runs up her arm. He pulls a small vial out of his pocket. He dumps some black sparkly powder on his tongue and a hole appears in the floor. Grabbing Character B’s hand as well they jump through it just as the door breaks open.
If you have read this far, seriously thank you so much and I love you and if you want feedback on anything please direct me to where I can provide it!
I wanted to note that the mention about her potentially killing The Other Son is relevant to the plot because he did not die in the fire, he was lured to the Other World and will be there as an antagonist when Character A shows up. Also, the mushrooms become relevant to her finding the weapon in book 2. She gets sidetracked this book by finding her father and bargaining to take his place in the game (the party they are attending is to watch this game take place) and having to fight her way out of them. The entire first book takes place over the course of one single night.

This is the story of Gavicus XXIX, the leader of the Aurean Dominate at the beginning of my book series. The Aurean Dominate is a declining empire centered around the Planet Aurea and a few pieces of the surrounding worlds. Despite this, the Aurean Dominate still remains one of the four great powers in the South Nebula, competing with the Haxamanian Empire over its southern and eastern worlds. The north is dominated by the Ishga Empire and the west is controlled by the mysterious and brand-new Tatiians. Minor powers include the Kingdom of Arturia, the Aztlanian Empire, the numerous Atlantean states, and the Kingdom of Vigam. Was Gavicus XXIX a good ruler in your opinion? Why or why not?
INFO ABOUT GAVICUS XXIX:
Gavicus XXIX was a Guant born somewhere in Occidens on Aurea 65 years before the end of Book 1. Not much is known about his early life, but it is known that Gavicus XXIX's birth name was Galerius Decimus Tranio and that he spent most of his young adulthood serving in the army during the war against Beyin Epivoulos and his criminal empire. He eventually became a Senator representing an area of rural Occidens, and after a few terms in the Aurean Senate, was chosen to become the Consigliere of Dominus Theodosius IV after the former Consigliere was ousted in the aftermath of the Great Nicopolitan Scandal. His tenure as Consigliere was short, however, as Theodosius IV died of the Blood Bleaching less than a year later. Galerius ascended the throne in Theodosius's place, and took the name Gavicus XXIX upon doing so. He was 47 years old at the time.
Gavicus inherited a bureaucracy that had just been stripped of the vast majority of its talent, as many of the best officials that had served under Theodosius had been implicated in the Great Nicopolitan Scandal and thus were barred from future office. Syagrios Komnenos, the Exarch of Tifinagh under Theodosius who had helped defeat Majorian IX when he tried to use Tifinagh as a base to usurp the throne, was replaced by Marcus Septimius Massgaba. Massgaba was an incompetent wealthy landowner who had bought his way into the Aurean Senate and would go on to spend his tenure as Exarch raising taxes like a maniac, triggering several small revolts, needlessly prolonging the war with the Haxamanians through his impatience and battlefield incompetence, and dying pathetically in the Battle of Tasfahn. Nassenia Montana, the highly capable Magistra Milita that had served under Theodosius IV was replaced by Gaius Caesonius Theodosius (no relation to Theodosius IV), a somewhat competent general who would go on to serve Gavicus well in the wars in Amorica but utterly fail him in the Battle of Tasfahn. For his Consigliere (2nd-in-command/heir in case of his resignation or death), Gavicus chose Tiverios Theodosiopoulos, the most capable of Theodosius IV's sons, who by this time was serving in the army and Senate as a Legate (Senator in command of a legion). As Gavicus was often away on campaign, Tiverios would go on to amass plenty of political clout and power for himself, as he is who Gavicus always left in charge of governance while out of the capital.
Almost immediately after ascending the throne, Gavicus was forced to deal with a crisis. In Lapum, a working-class satellite city of Aurea's largest city Nicopolis, an ethnic Tangolian civilian named Arslan Yi'it was murdered by Aurean legionaries stationed in the city, causing four days of ethnic violence and chaos known as the Lapum Riots. Large portions of the city were burned and looted. Gavicus personally led a legion into the city to quell the uprising, doing so with only 50 civilian deaths and a few hundred injuries, but this did little to quell the underlying ethnic tensions in the city and elsewhere in Aurea. Despite Gavicus's best attempts to invest in Lapum in the years following the violence, much of Lapum's terrified, ethnically Aurean and Centralian upper and middle class fled the city for Nicopolis and elsewhere, resulting in the beginnings of the urban decay the city is known for today.
Additionally and most importantly, Gavicus had inherited the war with the Haxamanian Empire that had cost the Aureans almost all of their territories on the Planet Awal. Only Tifinagh's islands and a small scrap of the mainland Theodosius IV reconquered just before his death remained under Aurean control. Immediately after dealing with the Lapum Riots, Gavicus traveled to Tifinagh, hoping to cement his legitimacy by reconquering the rest of Tifinagh. Due to the Haxamanians' attention largely being focused elsewhere, Gavicus and Massgaba managed to get significantly further than Theodosius IV did, marching east along mainland Tifinagh's northern coast to little resistance. A small Haxamanian force that tried to stop them outside the city of Dymox was easily defeated, and they took Chera, one of the largest cities on Tifinagh's mainland, with no resistance. However, the city had been emptied by the Haxamanians of its food, its civilians, its water, and its supplies. Immediately knowing this was a trap, Gavicus sent for reinforcements, naval resupply, and a fleet from Carthadasta, Tifinagh's capital. Too impatient to wait for supplies, Massgaba disobeyed Gavicus's orders to stay put and led small bands of cavalry to plunder what they could from the local countryside.
While on one of these raids, they clashed with a small band of Imazi cavalry, previously Aurean subjects who'd switched sides to the Haxamanians after the latter captured their land. The Aureans were victorious and managed to capture some, learning from them that the Haxamanians were amassing a massive army nearby, led personally by the Haxamanian Shahanshah (King of Kings) Bahram VII and his Spahbed (top general) Bacha Hilazai. Only a day later, a Haxamanian fleet appeared from the northwest and parked itself in Chera Bay, blocking reinforcements from reaching the city. However, just as according to Gavicus's plan, the Aurean fleet arrived soon after and defeated it, allowing the simultaneously arriving food and supplies to enter the city. Having lost their advantage in a siege, the Haxamanians instead opted to meet the Aureans in open battle, choosing a nearby site at the edge of the Imazi Desert. Gaius Caesonius Theodosius, who had arrived with the reinforcements, along with Gavicus and Massgaba, led the Aureans to a resounding victory, killing or capturing half the Haxamanian force and routing the rest. The victory at the Battle of the Imazi Desert allowed the Aureans to march much further into mainland Tifinagh, recapturing essentially the entire western half of the Exarchate. Meanwhile, Bahram and Bacha retreated to the fortified port of Vasanos to lick their wounds and await reinforcements. Hoping to return to governance, Gavicus left the situation on Awal to Gaius Caesonius Theodosius and Massgaba for the time being and returned to Aurea proper.
In his early reign, Gavicus focused primarily on strengthening trade relations with the Ishgas, but was soon forced to shift his attention elsewhere. 4 years into his reign, the galactic warlord Tate released a magical cataclysm known as the Iteru Genocide on Iteru, a moon of the Planet Awal with close relations to the Aurean Dominate, as it was a former Aurean possession. With Iteru's Pharaoh Nuterhek, a close personal friend of Gavicus, begging him for help, Gavicus provided what rice and wheat the Aurean Dominate could spare to help with the associated famine. While it wasn't enough to save Iteru, the food aid bought many of Iteru's people the time they needed to flee the doomed moon. Despite the Aurean Dominate's extremely isolationist policies for the past few centuries, Gavicus made an agreement with Nuterhek to resettle some Iteru refugees on Aurea, angering many hardliners in the Aurean Senate. The decision was only able to pass the Aurean Senate when Gavicus agreed to cap the total number of migrants at 60,000 and restrict Iteru settlement to the cities of Astras and Olinthaseia. Most consequential of these arrivals was Taftenkhamun, Nuterhek's 10-year-old son and heir to Iteru's throne, whom Gavicus agreed with Nuterhek to adopt as a son. Despite Gavicus's efforts, however, the Iteru Genocide killed or forced into exile all sentient life on Iteru, taking the life of his friend Nuterhek as well, who chose to die with his people rather than flee to Aurea. Gavicus would live with the guilt of not doing more to help Iteru for the rest of his life.
Gavicus would raise Taftenkhamun, much better known by his Aurean name of Taftus, as the son he never had. He allowed Taftus to live with him in the Palace of the Domini, continued his education, and did his best to balance spending time with him and showing him love and affection with the duties of being the Aurean Dominus. Despite Gavicus trying to push Taftus into going into politics like he did, Taftus was far more interested in the military, and enlisted in the Aurean legions at 17, as soon as he became of age.
After a year of scheming to turn the tide of the war, Bahram sent Bacha undercover to the rebellious Aurean Province of Tangolia, tasked with fomenting a rebellion so they could use the province as a springboard to attack Aurea proper. Many Tangolians, particularly the Otrar and Gazan Tangolians, both felt mistreatment under Aurean rule and had more in common culturally with the Haxamanians than the Aureans, and many flocked to join the revolt, which quickly took control of the north and center of the province. Qajeer, the Tangolian Khan loyal to the Aureans, fought off several attempts by the rebels to capture Tengribalik, the Tangolian Capital. However, once the Haxamanians arrived, led by Bacha Hilazai, their combined strength was too much for Qajeer to deal with and he was forced to abandon the city to the rebels and Haxamanians, fleeing to Tangolia's eastern seaboard, an area much more loyal to the Aureans. With Gaius Caesonius Theodosius tied down in Tifinagh and not trusting Massgaba to defend the Exarchate on his own, Gavicus was forced to rely on what was left of Qajeer's force, border guard units, and regional commanders to stop the ensuing Haxamanian-Tangolian invasion of Argentolia, the Aurean heartland. The border guard units proved to be little more than a speed bump for the combined Haxamanian-Tangolian force, which easily broke through the border wall and crossed the Hsia River, invading Argentolia. As most of eastern Argentolia's regional commanders with any actual talent had been implicated in the Great Nicopolitan Scandal under Gavicus's predecessor and thus were no longer in command, almost all of them were fairly new recruits with little experience leading troops, resulting in disaster after disaster. Daion was the first city to fall to the Haxamanian-Tangolian force, which then followed that up by defeating an Aurean field army near Cannoria. Within three months, both Cannoria and Ferum, the latter being one of the largest and most important cities in the Aurean Dominate, would be in enemy hands. Over the following six months, poorly led field army after poorly led field army would fall to the invaders, with the major cities of Eresus, Cercapese, Ager Capulum, and Sacrini all falling within the next year. For the first time since the Aurean Dominate's founding, the capital of Astras was within striking distance.
Under immense pressure from the Aurean Senate and general public, Gavicus finally recalled Gaius Caesonius Theodosius from Tifinagh after Sacrini fell, as the enemy was nearing Astras, thought for millennia to be untouchable. By the time Gaius Caesonius Theodosius had arrived, the Haxamanian-Tangolian force had seized Artegion, on the doorstep of Astras, and with it, a fleet. With the combined arms of their massive land force and this fleet, the Haxamanian-Tangolian force laid siege to Astras, with Gaius Caesonius Theodosius and Gavicus leading the defense of the city. The city's massive, three-layered walls, combined with its easily defensible location on the sea with only a few land entrances, allowed the Aureans to repel the invaders, marking a turning point in the war. While the Haxamanians under Bacha Hilazai simply sailed back to Awal, the Tangolians, with no such option and trapped thousands of miles deep in Aurean territory, would be dealt with piecemeal over the next three years. Around the same time, Qajeer had managed to reverse his fortunes in Tangolia and recapture Tengribalik and much of the province's center.
By year 6 of Gavicus's reign, the situation with the Tangolians was under enough control for Gavicus to return his military attention to Awal. While Gaius Caesonius Theodosius and Gavicus had been busy fighting off Bacha Hilazai and the Tangolians, Massgaba had lost some ground to Bahram VII in Tifinagh, having been pushed back to the city of Thubiscurum. Taking advantage of low Haxamanian morale after the failed Siege of Astras, the Aureans were able to push the Haxamanians out of Tifinagh entirely when Gavicus and Gaius Caesonius Theodosius returned, restoring the Aurean Exarchate of Tifinagh to full Aurean control for the first time in decades. Other lost Aurean Exarchates in the area - Kilikia, Meroe, Adua, and the Imazi Tribal Lands - were restored to Aurean hands over the next six years, putting the Haxamanians decisively on the back foot. During this time, Bacha Hilazai was killed at the Battle of Taoudenni, greatly weakening the Haxamanians and lowering their morale.
Relations with the Kingdom of Arturia were fraught, with conflict erupting 7 years into Gavicus's reign over the Aurean Exarchate of Amorica, an isolated Aurean territory on the Planet Arturia that the Kingdom of Arturia continued to claim. Paradoxically, these tensions began when Arturia's king, King Arturius, traveled to Aurea to meet with Gavicus to negotiate an end to their millennia-long conflict. While Gavicus was personally in favor of a deal, King Arturius refused to relinquish his claim on Amorica, leading to the Aurean Senate rejecting the deal and forcing Gavicus to continue the conflict. Additionally angering the Aurean Senate, Gavicus made the mistake of insisting that he meet with Arturius in Astras rather than on Arturia. Despite Gavicus's attempt to pitch it as a beginning of the end of Aurea's centuries of isolationism that even many Aureans were starting to regard as self destructive, this was seen as a bridge too far for most. During the failed negotiations, Gavicus briefly met Pompeia, a young disciple of King Arturius who would become of note much later. In order to make up his lost standing in the Aurean Senate, Gavicus was forced to escalate the situation in Arturia immediately after the negotiations broke down, distracting King Arturius with a vacation in Astras while he ordered a massive invasion force to land in Amorica and seize as much Arturian land as possible.
Exceeding even Gavicus's expectations, this force managed to break through the Arturian Alps and put Caerbannog, the Kingdom of Arturia's capital, under siege. Upon his return, however, Arturius managed to break the siege despite being taken completely by surprise, and defeated the Aureans in several battles, pushing them all the way back into Amorica. Eventually, Arturius, livid at Gavicus's betrayal, managed to invade into Amorica itself and fought the Aureans, led personally by Gavicus as he had traveled there by this point, to a stalemate at the Battle of Caerwent. While Gavicus still had enough resources to continue prosecuting the war, he felt that this particular episode proved there was no reason to continue the constant skirmishes with Arturia, and accepted an offer to negotiate peace terms with Arturius again, this time in Amorica.
The ensuing peace deal returned Aurea's and Arturia's borders to status quo antebellum, although Arturius was not happy about Aurea retaining Amorica. However, Aurea had to bite the bullet and recognize the Kingdom of Arturia's independence and normalize relations, as all of Aurea's previous Domini had refused to do this despite it having been fait accompli for millennia at this point. Aurea had previously seen the entire Kingdom of Arturia as little more than a rogue province that had somehow managed to slip from its control long ago. Aurea paid Arturia a hefty war indemnity, but this was paltry compared to the money that new trade relations between Arturia and Aurea brought in for both nations. Although recognizing Arturia's independence was not popular on Aurea at first, Gavicus was able to sell it based on the fact that he had retained Amorica, held the peace negotiations off-planet this time, and most importantly because of all the money that new trade relations with Arturia brought in, as Arturia sat along a key trade route linking Aurea more closely with the wealthy and technologically advanced Ishgas far beyond. This allowed Gavicus to hold lavish games, as well as expand Aurea's existing food dole for the poor to include protoceratops and psittacosaurus meat in addition to wheat, olive oil, rice, pork, and chicken. His popularity spiked, and in the tenth year of his reign, he would go on to sail to reelection against Qajeer Khan, winning 55% of the vote nationwide.
In the ninth year of Gavicus's reign, the last holdouts of the Tangolian revolt had been put down by Qajeer. Qajeer had his uncle Jamukha, who had led the revolt, strangled for doing so. However, Qajeer had his own reasons for helping crush the revolt instead of participating in it himself. While he secretly loathed the Aureans and the way they treated his people, Qajeer instead chose to bide his time, gaining the Aureans' trust and building a robust local power base while he waited for his own opening to revolt. For the entire rest of his life, Gavicus would be none the wiser. Qajeer would eventually revolt under Gavicus's successor, resulting in a multi-year civil war that would leave the already exhausted Aurean Dominate open to the machinations of Tate soon after.
Gavicus tried his best to manage the Blood Bleaching pandemic that circulated on Aurea during the first few years of his reign, but little could be done to spare Aurea from the destruction of that disease, and like most of the rest of the galaxy, Aurea lost a substantial chunk of its population. Thanks largely to Gavicus's enforcement of strict social distancing throughout its duration, however, the Blood Bleaching killed far less of the population on Aurea than it did on the hardest-hit worlds of Arturia and Iteru, each of which lost half or more of their pre-pandemic populations. In total, it is estimated around 10-15% of the Aurean Dominate's pre-pandemic population was killed by the Blood Bleaching, compared to around 50% on Arturia and a whopping 70% on Iteru. Even Aurea's relatively small loss was not without its consequences, however, as this caused a decline in tax revenue for years and a noticeable strain on the military's recruitment pool.
In the first four years after his reelection, Gaius Caesonius Theodosius managed to reconquer all of the lost Exarchates on Awal the Haxamanians had taken from the Aureans during Theodosius IV's reign. Nova Aurea, Caria, and finally Carmania were all finally returned to the Aurean Dominate after decades of Haxamanian occupation, and Gavicus's popularity soared as a result.
Despite having recognized Arturia's independence earlier, 14 years into Gavicus's reign, tensions flared up with Arturia again Amorica again. An Arturian garrison had left a border fort in the Arturian Alps briefly undefended, and a small Aurean force seized it without orders, prompting a small-scale war between Aurea and Arturia. This conflict was over in about two months, with the Kingdom of Arturia suing for peace after the Aureans seized a few more border forts and badly defeated an Arturian field army at the Battle of Allt-Gollau. At the negotiating table, Gavicus agreed to return the border between the Aurean Exarchate of Amorica and the Kingdom of Arturia to status quo antebellum in exchange for the freeing of 500 Aurean hostages Arturia took during the fighting and the Aureans who seized the initial border fort without orders were put on trial. Most notable about this conflict was the brilliance of an Aurean cavalry commander named Gorgo Gualtera at the Battle of Allt-Gollau, resulting in her catching Gavicus's eye. Gavicus promoted her to Exarch of Amorica, giving her full military and civilian control of the territory. Unbeknownst to Gavicus or anyone else, however, Gorgo was both the daughter of the dead Aurean crimelord Beyin Epivoulos (the crimelord whose forces Gavicus had fought in his youth), as well as a deep cover agent for Tate (the architect of the Iteru Genocide and many other atrocities across the galaxy).
The next year, the Haxamanian Empire was engulfed in a civil war, and Gavicus saw the perfect opportunity to strike at the Haxamanian Capital while the area was engulfed in turmoil, finally ending the decades-long war or maybe even conquering the Haxamanians completely in the process. However, things did not at all go according to plan, and all the armies he brought with him got destroyed by the forces of Rukhsana I Shahanzai, a disaffected member of the Haxamanian royal family who had escaped from prison, gotten an army together, annihilated the Aureans in the disastrous Battle of Tasfahn, and took the Haxamanian throne for herself. Several Aurean generals and other military leaders, including Massgaba, were killed, and Gavicus barely escaped the battle with his life. The Aureans had no forces left on Awal after this to protect their holdings there. On the other hand, Taftus, who was also present during the campaign, became a national hero when he used his tactical prowess to save the troops under his command from annihilation by a Haxamanian ambush deep in the mountains.
In the aftermath, Gavicus was forced to enter into peace negotiations. At first, Rukhsana demanded the Aureans cede all their lands on Awal to the Haxamanians, which Gavicus flatly refused (The Exarchate of Tifinagh on Awal was one of Aurea's most valuable regions and ceding it to the Haxamanians would have meant an end to the grain dole and mass starvation across Aurea). Eventually, a deal was reached in which the Aureans would cede all their lands on Awal except the Exarchate of Tifinagh to the Haxamanians, and the Aureans would have to pay a huge war indemnity to the Haxamanians as well. The Aurean Exarchates of Nova Aurea, Kilikia, Meroe, Adua, the Imazi Tribal Lands, Carmania, and Caria were all permanently handed over to the Haxamanians, essentially rendering all of Gavicus's reconquests except those in Tifinagh moot. This was formalized in the humiliating Treaty of Mingora, which Gavicus was forced to sign.
Gavicus's popularity took a nosedive in the aftermath of this event, and he dedicated the rest of his reign to domestic policy, commissioning public works projects, throwing lavish games, and beginning by far his most important legacy: he decided that to keep up with the rest of the galaxy, Aurea needed to end its isolationism and industrialize along the Ishga model. He decided that Aurea's largest city, Nicopolis, would be a good place to test industrialization, and he hired Ishga scientists, architects, engineers, and developers to transform Nicopolis into a modern city. While Gavicus's popularity would never recover to the heights it was at after his victory over the Arturians, this was enough to keep him from being assassinated (at least for a while).
For the rest of Gavicus's life, Taftus would alternate between his extremely promising military career and a middling-to-poor one as an elected politician, helping Gavicus with some of his later projects such as industrialization but turning out to be too scandal-ridden and debauched to be the protege Gavicus wanted. For all his military talent, Taftus had a reputation for extreme abrasiveness and anger issues, and it seemed every other week there was another rumor going around about Taftus having massive orgies involving female politicians and/or prostitutes. While Gavicus would never fully disown Taftus, he had largely abandoned him as a protege by the end of his reign, assigning him military command of the backwater province of Tiorangi where he didn't have to pay much attention to him. The year before Gavicus died, he made Gorgo Gualtera his Magister Equitum, supreme commander of all cavalry forces in the Aurean Dominate after the previous officeholder died suddenly of a stroke. While Gavicus had no way of knowing this at the time, this decision would eventually result in both his own death and Aurea being pulled into the galaxy's broader confrontation with Tate years later that would result in the bloodiest war in galactic history.
Towards the end of his life, Gavicus befriended Pompeia, a young woman of mixed Aurean and Tangolian heritage who had spent much of her life on the Planet Arturia before returning to Aurea by accident. She rose to superstardom as a gladiator, having trained in magic under King Arturius, utilizing magic in combat in ways that hadn't been seen in millennia. He was both shocked and intrigued by Pomepeia's friendship and past brief romantic involvement with Rukhsana I Shahanzai of the Haxamanian Empire. Gavicus saw great potential in Pompeia and reinstated her Aurean citizenship, even allowing her to serve as his Consigliere after Tiverios was indicted on corruption charges. However, there was some tension between the two, as Pompeia was from Lapum, had witnessed the Lapum Riots as a child, and was critical of Gavicus's failure to address the longstanding discrimination against Tangolians that led to them. Less than a year later, Gavicus was assassinated under mysterious circumstances (it would later be discovered that Gorgo Gualtera arranged his murder and covered it up so well that no one even suspected her until she would eventually reveal her true intentions years later), and Pompeia ascended the throne as the first female Dominus (Domina) in history. Gavicus's body was cremated after his death and his urn was placed in the Mausoleum of the Domini in Astras. Decades of constant conflict with the Haxamanians, both under Gavicus and his predecessor Theodosius IV, as well as civil conflict, multiple Tangolian revolts, the Hoc Nostrum conflict, and the Amorican Wars with Arturia would leave Pompeia with an exhausted Aurean Dominate, bereft of manpower, resources, money, and talent that would be completely unprepared to deal with Tate and his machinations only a few years after Gavicus's death.

Hi, my name is paulo andré, im from brazil and i 11 years old. (warning: Maybe there are some writing errors because I don't know how to speak English fluently, sorry.)
anyway, some months ago, i dreamed that i meet a guy in school, and he was from russia for some reason. He walked with me to my house, in the meantime we talked, we talked about our lives, about random things, things like that, and there it was like a friendship, I felt as if we had known each other for a long time. And when you stop to think about it today, it gives you a very strange feeling. and after all that we arrived at my house, we said goodbye, and the dream ended.
and today, i dreamed something like this again
I dreamed that I was at another friend of mine's house, this time he wasn't from another country, he was just from Brazil. Anyway, at his house we did a lot of things, we talked, we talked about our lives, we played games,anyway children's things, and again, I felt like I'd known that guy for a long time, even though I'd never seen his face. After playing for a while, I had to leave for a reason I don't remember. I just remember that we said goodbye, he said: "bye bro! can you come to my house again on friday?" and I replied: "sure bro! see ya!"
idk what that means, if these dreams have any kind of meaning, but they were certainly very strange. If someone could tell me what these dreams were, what they mean, I would be very happy. I'm going to post this here and on another reddit so I can get as many responses as possible. good bye.

Hi, my name is paulo andré, im from brazil and i 11 years old. (warning: Maybe there are some writing errors because I don't know how to speak English fluently, sorry.)
anyway, some months ago, i dreamed that i meet a guy in school, and he was from russia for some reason. He walked with me to my house, in the meantime we talked, we talked about our lives, about random things, things like that, and there it was like a friendship, I felt as if we had known each other for a long time. And when you stop to think about it today, it gives you a very strange feeling. and after all that we arrived at my house, we said goodbye, and the dream ended.
and today, i dreamed something like this again
I dreamed that I was at another friend of mine's house, this time he wasn't from another country, he was just from Brazil. Anyway, at his house we did a lot of things, we talked, we talked about our lives, we played games,anyway children's things, and again, I felt like I'd known that guy for a long time, even though I'd never seen his face. After playing for a while, I had to leave for a reason I don't remember. I just remember that we said goodbye, he said: "bye bro! can you come to my house again on friday?" and I replied: "sure bro! see ya!"
idk what that means, if these dreams have any kind of meaning, but they were certainly very strange. If someone could tell me what these dreams were, what they mean, I would be very happy. I'm going to post this here and on another reddit so I can get as many responses as possible. good bye.

Wanna talk to this girl but I'm scared. What should do?
Tidal basically. Other University student and a foreign country, so I don't have many friends here, and I'm still learning the language. I study at a library, and the other day, a friend of mine told me that this girl keeps on staring at me. I looked, and we made eye contact a couple of times.
Later, my friend and I go to another place to read so that we can talk aloud, and she follows us there and starts to read a book. My friend told me that she might be into me and I should go talk to her. But I'm really awkward around girls, so I went up and told her I have some issues later, my friend and I go to another place to read so that we can talk aloud, and she follows us there and starts to read a book. My friend told me that she might be into me and I should go talk to her. But I'm really awkward around girls, so I went up and told her I I'm learning the language and have homework which I don't know how to solve and if she can help me. She said sure, so I showed her, and she helped me. I didn't actually need help with the homework, I'd already solved it. I just wanted to talk to her. I told her if she ever needs anything for karma she can ask me. She said sure.
I later go and buy some chocolate for myself and give some to her to as a thanks for helping me. I asked you about her name and introduced myself, and then she told me that if I have other questions I can ask her. I said of course, and if she ever needed help with English because she doesn't speak English, I'd help her.
A couple days later, I asked her another question, and she helped me . Later, she went outside, and I followed her and pretended to be on a break too period so I started talking to her, and asking her what she studies and stuff period she's a year younger than me period later her friends joined us although they weren't talking to me, they just talked to her period I felt that I took too much of her time, so I told her that I had to get back to steady now, and that I was sorry if I took up too much of her time come but I was really helped happy so I have had a chat with her and to get to know her better period she said okay come up but you didn't take up any of my time, I'm on a break anyways. I said that's good, I hope to see you again soon. And I went back to my studying. Around 15 minutes later she went back inside picked up her stuff and went home because it was near closing time, and on the way, she said goodbye to me.
Keep in mind, that I come from a conservative country, and the country I meant is also slightly conservative, which is why I didn't immediately ask her out on a date, or ask her for her number. On one hand, I want to have a friendship with her, and not just asking her bullshit questions about homework. But on the other hand, I don't know exactly how to approach. Keep in mind, she told me she has college entrance exams in 30 days. So I don't know how to progress the relationship further.
What advice do you have for me? I know I'm stupid, and probably a coward kr whatever, but please help me.

Hey there!
like the title says I'm looking for my best friend, someone I can vibe with and talk to about anything never feeling judged or uncomfortable about it. someone I can watch movies with, joke around with go get some amazing food with and just genuinely enjoy our time together!
Honestly I would love for it to blossom into something romantic at some point however I want there to be a strong connection and friendship first and foremost.
You're probably wondering a bit about me so here's some quick info - I am a father to a beautiful 4 year old girl, I have a stable job and work from home, I have my own place too! I like to play PC games (wow, league, apex, POE to name a few), I love to cook and miss having someone to cook for, I love all animals and recently really got into fish keeping. as for movies I usually tend to watch comedies or thrillers as my main go-tos but happy to watch anything with the right person. as you can probably tell I'm a bit of a nerd which is very true so almost anything nerdy I'll probably like haha.
Physically I'm 6ft tall, and on the chubbier side of a dad body and while I do embrace the dad bod, as I am a dad, I am working on that by going to the gym and trying to live a healthier lifestyle as I want to stay active to keep up with my kiddo.
If this has peaked your interests and you'd like to talk more, please feel free to shoot me a message on here and I'll get back to you as fast as I can. Maybe start by letting me know the last thing that made you smile, and why? :)

Tidal basically. Other University student and a foreign country, so I don't have many friends here, and I'm still learning the language. I study at a library, and the other day, a friend of mine told me that this girl keeps on staring at me. I looked, and we made eye contact a couple of times.
Later, my friend and I go to another place to read so that we can talk aloud, and she follows us there and starts to read a book. My friend told me that she might be into me and I should go talk to her. But I'm really awkward around girls, so I went up and told her I have some issues later, my friend and I go to another place to read so that we can talk aloud, and she follows us there and starts to read a book. My friend told me that she might be into me and I should go talk to her. But I'm really awkward around girls, so I went up and told her I I'm learning the language and have homework which I don't know how to solve and if she can help me. She said sure, so I showed her, and she helped me. I didn't actually need help with the homework, I'd already solved it. I just wanted to talk to her. I told her if she ever needs anything for karma she can ask me. She said sure.
I later go and buy some chocolate for myself and give some to her to as a thanks for helping me. I asked you about her name and introduced myself, and then she told me that if I have other questions I can ask her. I said of course, and if she ever needed help with English because she doesn't speak English, I'd help her.
A couple days later, I asked her another question, and she helped me . Later, she went outside, and I followed her and pretended to be on a break too period so I started talking to her, and asking her what she studies and stuff period she's a year younger than me period later her friends joined us although they weren't talking to me, they just talked to her period I felt that I took too much of her time, so I told her that I had to get back to steady now, and that I was sorry if I took up too much of her time come but I was really helped happy so I have had a chat with her and to get to know her better period she said okay come up but you didn't take up any of my time, I'm on a break anyways. I said that's good, I hope to see you again soon. And I went back to my studying. Around 15 minutes later she went back inside picked up her stuff and went home because it was near closing time, and on the way, she said goodbye to me.
Keep in mind, that I come from a conservative country, and the country I meant is also slightly conservative, which is why I didn't immediately ask her out on a date, or ask her for her number. On one hand, I want to have a friendship with her, and not just asking her bullshit questions about homework. But on the other hand, I don't know exactly how to approach. Keep in mind, she told me she has college entrance exams in 30 days. So I don't know how to progress the relationship further.
What advice do you have for me? I know I'm stupid, and probably a coward kr whatever, but please help me.