Surprised nude moms

How do I respond if I get asked about some off putting post cards my step mom has sent?
Hi all - this is a throw away account.
I (39f) am 18 weeks pregnant and my narcissist step mother has started up her nonsense. A lot of family members have gone no contact with her over the past few years, but in an attempt to maintain a relationship with my father I have tried to maintain a boundaried relationship with both of them. I have spent years in therapy unpacking the damage this woman (and, lets be honest, my dad) have inflicted and I expect most people will encourage me to just go no contact with them but I’m hoping for some nuanced advice because I will be seeing them in a few weeks.
First of all, we live on opposite sides of the US so I only see them once or twice a year. My husband and I are going to visit our niece and nephew so by default we are seeing my parents because they live in the same town. We aren’t staying with them or requiring anything from them. We are meeting them for a restaurant dinner one of the nights we’re in town and that is the only time I am planning on seeing them.
I told them we were pregnant 4 weeks ago. Since then I have received 4 very upsetting post cards in the mail. They are all water color painted by her (she’s not an artist). Three of the four of them are addressed to my unborn child and all four of them are creepy rants about how she can’t wait to be apart of this baby’s life.
It probably won’t surprise anyone to know that these two were the most stressful element when it came to my wedding and I am starting to have that feeling well up again while I’m having a visceral reaction to these post cards. I feel physically sick thinking about her holding my baby. She will never be alone with this child, let alone “apart of its life”.
I’m probably very close to no contact but regardless - I will be seeing them in a few weeks.
I ripped up the post cards and threw them away and I’m trying not to give her any fuel at all by even acknowledging them, let alone give her any sort of reaction. What should I say if she asks about them? I don’t want her to think that this is ok at all but I also don’t want to react negatively because she’ll love that, too.

I’ll always feel guilty for the loss of a potential family, but I desperately want this man off my mind. I don’t even know where to begin. I just have a lot to say and no one who really has the time to listen. I’ll try to stay vague but our social circles don’t really intermingle and I don’t think I know anyone on here in real life. I can barely remember specific moments or map together periods of time cohesively but I’ll try my best. I used bullet points on my notes app to try to organize the important parts. So if it reads weird or blocky, I apologize. Trying to post multiple places for multiple opinions.
I hate to admit that I think I 23/F still love my baby’s father 30/M. That may not even be true. I’m hoping it’s just the drastic hormone changes after having a baby. I don’t want to reconcile or get back together, I just want a genuine opinion from anyone that bothers to read the entire thing or advise from anyone that may have been in a similar situation. It was a very toxic and abusive relationship due to both parties. I toyed with his feelings until it was too late and he would drink and get physical. I was always accusing him of cheating or wanting to cheat because my ex had cheated. Meanwhile I was in fact projecting in a way because I was still messaging said ex. Ex and I were friends before we had dated and were together for 2 years. He had cheated on his other relationships so I should have seen it coming, but he ended up trying to cheat on me and I ended things. I was 19-20 at the time and joined tinder. Experimented a little but ended up hooking up with a guy that had a crush on me in HS. We only hooked up 2-3 times but it started getting weird and I chickened out. Then I got an apartment and a better job and started casually hooking up with the ex again. I think he had a gf at this time but I didn’t ask. At the new job is where I met BD. He started a few weeks after me. I was 20 and he was 28 at the time. We started hanging out after work to smoke. It’s not something I would normally do with just one person and he wasn’t really my type. But the hangouts got longer and more frequent. And I ended up cutting the ex off again. A couple months in, I moved in way too soon because my roommate and I didn’t get along. My ex would still message me occasionally for some reason. He definitely had a gf at this time. Some would be nudes. I didn’t encourage the behavior but I also didn’t discourage it. Bd saw the messages while we were on vacation and was understandably upset. I was upset with myself for responding. I justified it to myself by claiming I was trying to waste his time. In reality he was wasting mine and not suffering in the slightest. There couldn’t have been a worse moment for him to find the messages. The week was supposed to be a huge step in our relationship and I could see how crushed he was. If I were him I would have left me in the hotel states away and gone home that morning. The whole ride home I was sick. I couldn’t imagine how he was feeling, over something I so easily could have avoided and someone I had no interest in romantically or sexually anymore. I believe this is the first time Things got physical but as I said, the timeline is super blurry now. Regardless, if it was the first time, it should’ve been the last. No one should put up with being hit. And No one should feel that their only option is to put their hands on someone. This was when we were finally getting back to his house in our own state. He had picked up a few beers before hand, and that was generally his fuel to either argue or get violent. He had slapped me, choked me and spit in my face, all to which I gave him no reaction. I just sat on the bed silently, or tried to lock myself in the bathroom. He would walk away to smoke a cigarette and immediately come back to fight some more. He told me to pack up my shit but got more pissed off when he came inside to see me packing up my shit. I eventually got a few things packed up and made it to my grandmas’s house. We both calmed down and after a few calls and texts. he wanted to see where I was staying. I picked him up and brought him to my grandma‘s house. (Note: I should probably add that right before we got together. He got in a car accident that totally totaled his car and got a DUI. Since then I had been his ride and always joked That that’s all he kept me around for) We arrived at my grandma’s house, where she had a guestroom ready for me. He just sat on the bed with his head down and cried. He said that it looked like it was so easy for me to move on without him. Looking back, this should’ve been another red flag. All I had was a place to stay after being kicked out. He couldn’t accept that I would land on my feet without him. Most of my belongings were still at his house, and I didn’t want to burden my grandmother any further So I ended up going back with him. At this time I was still apologizing to him for what I had done and how I had made him react. One night after an argument, and a rough day in general. He walked out to grab a case of beer from the gas station and didn’t come back for hours. When I finally went out looking for him, he was at the spot that we had first kissed. There He told me I was holding him back From what he envisioned for his future. It was a lot more drawn out, less cohesive and not so nice (he had been well into his beer by then) but that was the gist of it. One of my biggest fears is being a burden, or anyone holding some secret resentment towards me. Him drinking only let me know how he truly felt and how he wanted to react. I could never put the same effort into the relationship after that. I felt like it was already over and had been over for a long time. A while later, he had seen that my ex reached out again nothing flirtatious this time, but he was still upset, understandably. He got violent again, and I locked myself in the bathroom. He took my keys and my phone and said he was going to go find him. I packed up a few things again and tried to walk over to my dad‘s house. His mission was futile and he ended up finding me walking and brought me back home. The whole night was tense and I didn’t feel safe in the morning before he woke up. I started quietly packing up my things. He woke up and immediately flew into a rage and started dumping my things out onto the ground. I called my mom to help me get out all the big things because I wanted to be all out in one trip. As I was leaving, he was screaming at my mother and I about how much a piece of shit I was, but was right back to begging for me back as soon as I was down the road. This was a reoccurring cycle for us. I’d always keep my phone and keys together in a designated spot in the house so I could get them quickly if I needed to leave. The ex no longer reached out, but we were both still suspicious of one another. Sometimes I would be gone for days sometimes weeks my belongings no longer came back because it didn’t feel like home anymore. It didn’t Feel like a safe or stable place for me. This also made him upset. Every time I would leave we would still text every day. It was an extremely toxic situation. During one period of time that i was gone He had one of our coworkers over for about a week sleeping in my bed with my cats. Throughout our entire relationship and our brakes I never met up with another person. I did leave so I didn’t have the right to be too upset. But He wasted no time having her over for an extended period of time while still begging for me to come back every day. Then I had to coax this information out of him after finding her clothes all over the house. I couldn’t get over the feeling that he had her and others lined up for when I was gone and him wanting me back meant nothing. By this time the dude I had gone to school/hooked up with had started at our job (This would seem like a cruel joke but we were in the same trade and this was one of the only decent jobs in our town.) I guess we had had a silent mutual agreement to keep out past between us because they became friends. Well, After finding out about his coworker, I told him about mine. It didn’t matter that the dates didn’t overlap. He went nutts. I don’t remember exactly how it all went down after that, but I left of course and he ended up going to this 20 year olds apartment. His roommate answered and BD demanded to know where this dude was and ends up slapping the roommate. (I have no idea why I kept going back. Typing this out, I feel so stupid. He was clearly fucking crazy and my brain was telling me to get the fuck out.) I was already suspicious of him because of how we both acted before we got together, but all of this just made it so much worse. I wanted to know why he felt the need to intimidate me into staying with him and calling it “crazy love” when he could so easily move on and leave me alone. (Why did infidelity have to be the dealbreaker and not everything else?) Bringing up my suspicions or insecurities, just made him defensive and occasionally violent. I never got any reassurance and my reasons for staying were few and far between. Then we found out I was pregnant. We found out when I was about seven weeks pregnant. The last time we had gotten into a physical fight I had been about 4 to 5 weeks pregnant. I was scared. Bd seemed happy. He said he wanted to be a family. Over the next few weeks, I was having extremely bad morning sickness I was in and out of the hospital on an IV for fluids and couldn’t leave our bedroom or bathroom. I still had to drive him to and from work which was only about 30 min round trip but I’d always have to stop on the side of the road to puke. (Note: There were five cats living in this house that I was Feeding and cleaning up after. We inherited two from the homeowner and three were ours) The house started to smell because I could no longer keep up with the cats, and this just made my morning sickness even worse. On top of this, I was having extremely bad back pain that I thought was just a symptom of pregnancy. After one of my trips to the hospital for fluids, they informed me that I had a UTI. I was about 10-11 weeks pregnant by then. I tried to tell him that I needed help with the house and that it was making me miserable. He just expressed that I would be complaining regardless. Whether it be about him spending enough time with me, helping clean, or working. This wasn’t even the worst of the treatment that I had received, but being pregnant, This was the last straw. I knew I couldn’t bring a baby into the abusive cycle that we were putting each other through. I don’t remember exactly how it happened. At this point I was looking for any reason to leave. But it happened and again I started packing up my shit. This time he barely put up a fight. He tried to dump my stuff out on the floor once, but I said if he tried to put his hands on me, I’d call the police this time. He sat in the kitchen on his phone until I was done packing. As I was carrying my belongings out to my car still weak and sick, we were screaming back-and-forth about how much we hated each other, and how I would never give him the chance to put his hands on my child. He shouted that he didn’t think the baby was even his, to which I replied, “Good, then I’ll never have to fight you in court”. That was our last face to face interaction. I filed for a civil protection order. It’s been about a year and since then, he has been claiming to his coworkers and his mother that my ex is the father. His mother doesn’t seem to believe him as she had kept in contact with me throughout my pregnancy, and since the baby’s been born. She requests a paternity test just to be sure, but I have no doubts that the baby is his. I am almost positive that he knows the baby is his too. His claims of me cheating are only his way of justifying me leaving and making it my fault. I sent her the information to reach out for a paternity test, but she hasn’t shown me any indication that he wants to be part of the baby’s life. Any time she brings up the situation to him, he gets angry with her and hangs up. I don’t know what’s going on in his life and I don’t want to. I’d only obsess over it and make myself upset if I did. I assume he’s living his dream and chasing his goals without me there to hold him back, especially with a child. Even after typing all this out and rereading and editing, I still miss him. I shouldn’t. I can’t tell if it’s the cycle calling me back or the drastic changes in hormones. I can’t even think of a reason that I should miss him. I don’t even think I miss him, just his presence or energy? It’s so hard to explain and I don’t want to feel this way. I have nightmares about trying to get away from him and out of the house but try to force myself back into the same dream just so I can see him. Is this normal? Do any other moms feel this way? Only attracted to the baby’s father even while split up? I have no sex drive when I used to be a fiend. I heard this can be a side-effect of the drastic hormone changes, but I don’t even feel an attraction anymore. Unless they’re a very specific type (My BD). I have no desire to move on or find a romantic connection. I do more harm than good and I’d rather focus on being a mom (which I’m loving aside from this issue).I know there’s no way of going back even if I wanted to. The damage has been more than done. I just want to make moving on easier and forget him. Do I just have to wait?

Tried to get these in some sort of order….. let’s start slow….
The faces
Get your screenshots
Tongue
The face I make when police check cavities
Cheese teeth
Bursting out the cage
Kratom lick
Embarrassing 🙈
Body shake faces
Caked up shawty
Chris Chan
Ankle biter
Period Pooh
Bottom
Big Ed
Kratom spill faces
Tiny diny / roses / peach ice cream / Turkey
Tiny diny
Rose / Tiny Diny
Rose
Peach ice cream
Turkey
BAD CHAT !
Shape up chat !
Fitwithnips
Chat did it !
TIME OUT !
Our short knight
Nicks favorite gift
Nick hates the tall knight
Mom troll gifts
Rant interruption
Bear mask era ✨
Bear masking
Menacingly
Terrified kids
Disgusted girl
Battle beef with mask
GET OUT OF MY ROOM !
Keep trollin’ , trollin’ , trollin’ , trollin’
Clown
Harris vs tree
Valentine’s Day cards
Airplane girl
EDP445
Sean Gatz
Threats
Sober king
Hurting people
Boys hate little girls
T’was the night before eviction
Soft voice prince
Soft voice prince pt2
Soft voice prince pt3
Troll accounts
Chipotle
Nicks mom
Nicks stuffed owl
Nicks stuffed owl pt2
The plaque on nicks teeth
Haywood mall security
Nicks trespass warrant
Battle fun / speed dating
Face down ass up
Tweaker talent show
Bridget speed dating
Bridget speed dating pt2
Flirting with Sophia
Sadie pt1
Sadie pt2
Don’t ignore lil Nicky
Megan - Morgan?
Unimpressed queen
Not cute call out
Plenty of women want him ?
Fighting with lip singer
Monkey kiss kiss
BRITNEY GO AWAY
Terri joe pt1
Terri joe pt2
Dance off
Handstand
Lil flippy
Wet stain
Happy birthday Gino
The call out
Passive aggressive
What does strangler mean ?
Delusions
No one letting him make them smile
I would treat you like my woman
All Reddit girls want me
It’s all the girls
Him making sense ?
Low standards
Domestic violence isn’t a joke
Not a snowflake
Taking to air pt1
Taking to air pt2
Troll army - troll king
Positive king
The lies
Ramblings of an unhinged man
Ummm…. Moves
Ummm…. Moves pt2
Face down ass up
Fart noise
Remembers us all
Sees us in public
Act your rating
Hurt king
Hurt king pt2
Happy to unhinged
Happy to unhinged pt2
Happy to unhinged pt3
Happy Birthday
Can’t hold liqour
Leave me alone
Up for a day
Up for a day pt2
Crying about Laura
Yelling at him
Putting for on plates & making legs shake
Knife
No proof
Fake crying
Because he don’t have a car
How he could be famous
Tina
He’s walking away…. Or jumping ?
Slow ??
Pick me
Misandrist
We are sick
Maturing
Incidents
Dogs out
Dogs out pt2
Hand situation
Lactation
Toothbrush boycott
Shower boycott
Bricky Nicky
Swamp ass
Swamp ass pt2
Nose in ass
Nude flash
Nude flash pt2
Cinnabeef
Whopper lies
Kratom spill
Yogurt cup
RIP bed frame
Drugs
Desk tour pt1
Desk tour pt2
Nick leaks #
Breakdown
Elf on the shelf
Admits bisexual
Haywood mall blowie
Toe sucking pt1
Toe sucking pt2
Co-worker
Mommy issues Fb post
Mommy video
Woman who tried selling pics of minors
Being creepy with minors
Drew afualo

 Cops incident 

Pre-cop
Cops pt1
Cops pt2
Cops pt3
Cops pt4
Cops pt5
Cops pt6
Cops pt7
Cops pt8
Cops pt9

 Cop incident x2 

Cops pt1
Cops pt2

 Matt alright incident 

Matt alright IG post
Nick’s response
Explanation of Matt alright
Live pt1
Live pt2
Live pt3
Live pt4
Live pt5
Post live pt1
Post live pt2

 Coffee shop incident 

Coffee shop live pt1
Coffee shop live pt2
Coffee shop live pt3
Coffee shop live pt4

 Gym ban incident 

Gym ban confirmation
New gym doxx
Gym ban talk
Blame for gym ban

 Mall trespass incident 

Mall trespass announcement
Pre trespass encounter
Mall insanity
Mall dance
JCP floor
Cop encounter pt1
Cop encounter pt2
Cop encounter pt3
Cop encounter pt4
Post mall trespass

 Wine night lore 

Chugging wine
Rambling
Puking
Rolling in puke
Post wine night
Wine stain
Hope this clears some of the lore and incidents up for anyone curious ! Again I am truly thankful for all of you for making this group what it is today! Let me know if I forgot anything or you think should be added!
Shout out to the posters of these videos and anyone who had input on the lore/trolls!
Happy snarking 🫶🏼🫶🏼

For context before I talk about recent events I just want to say my MIL and I had a pretty great relationship before we got married. Up until the wedding we were fine but after the wedding everything shifted and she became distant and just negative towards me.
She never gave anyone a reason as to why she was now cold to me and I tried to at first kept being friendly but after a few years stopped because it was no use.
Anytime there was an event or holiday planned I was exclusively excluded. MIL would act surprised when called out on it then made the excuse plans were to late to be changed. This wasn't a thing of she easily forgot me since when both of my BIL's got married she did the same to the other SO's. My husband over the years has stopped showing up to most things if him and kids can go.
Over the years my husband hasn't exactly talked to his mom about any of this his main reason is MIL used to have alot of control over his childhood while his dad was away and any drop of independence/ doing things for himself MIL would apparently go on several days of arguments. The worst one he has told me is a trip him and his friends wanted to take a vacation after they graduated and MIL spent several days telling him why he can't go and how vacations were a family thing.
This time around we booked a holiday for start of the summer and haven't told anyone until mother's day when MIL brought up she was organising a family vacation for the time we already would be away. My husband told her we had other plans and couldn't change it. This started her 'But we are family' and she started crying while asking why we didn't invite her to join us. I didn't want to stay there because to me I'd seen this situation enough time that I hardly felt like she actually was crying. I told my husband we had to leave to get our youngest home to nap. Which he agreed to and we left.
Even days later my husband will come home from whatever shift with several messages from MIL about us not taking a vacation as a 'family' and we needed to talk to her about it. This is my breakingpoint and I asked my husband why he can't do anything about it.
He told me he really doesn't know how to deal with him. He admitted to dealing with the people he deals with everyday at work then his own mom.
The thing I'm dumbfounded about it and like to add is how much she will cut me out of everything but will do the whole 'But we are family' everytime I plans things for my family. Ever since 2020 and we have cut back on alot of things it's a problem 3-4 times a year.

One of my closest friends recently got married and neither myself or my partner went.
She got engaged last year and we were all very happy for her. She asked me to be a bridesmaid and I was over the moon. She had 6 bridesmaids in total. Four of us are best friends, one was a childhood friend and another was her younger cousin. We were all good friends so we were even more excited to go through this whole experience together.
The brides mom had warned us that she could be a bit of a drama queen and let us know we were probably going to have a bridezilla on our hands…if only I had listened.
Since her engagement (last year) she had multiple tantrums saying that we weren’t excited enough for her wedding, not speaking about it enough, she felt like we didn’t care that she was getting married etc. (It was actually all we ever spoke about). She even told us on more than one occasion that if we didn’t want to be her bridesmaids anymore or weren’t “up to the task” we should let her know so she could find new ones.
In February this year the bride had a conversation with her 18 year old cousin (who was also a bridesmaid) and realised her cousin knew very little about the bachelorette and kitchen tea plans. The bride got super angry at us and messaged us because she thought we hadn’t been communicating with her cousin. The annoying part was she didn’t get angry with all of us on the bridesmaids group, she sent a message on our friends group (that only included her, my two best friends and I) and complained that WE were the problem.
She proceeded to tell us that the wedding was giving her too much anxiety and she wasn’t enjoying the experience. Once again she told us that if we didn’t want to be her bridesmaids anymore we should let her know.
We tried to calm her down as best as we could. We told her that we had made a separate group for the surprise plans and her cousin only needed to read through the messages and it would clear up any of her confusion. No matter what we said, or how nicely, she kept going on and on, getting ruder as she went.
Eventually I had enough and sent her a message letting her know that I didn’t appreciate the way she was treating us. I told her that it was her wedding, not ours, but we were making a massive effort to create her perfect day. I ended off by saying that I understand her frustration but she she didn’t need to be as stressed as she was, and that we had everything under control. I also told her that if she was struggling with things we didn’t know about, she could reach out and we would help. It was a straightforward message but sent with love and in a kind way with heart emojis and all.
Her response to this was to leave every single friend group that I’m a part of and not speak to me for weeks. I reached out to her later that day and apologised if I had offended her, that I got upset in the heat of the moment and I over reacted (which I don’t think I did by the way, I was just trying to be the bigger person). She replied, said that I pissed her off and that she didn’t want to speak to me, so I left it. I reached out twice more over the next few days and got no response.
Nearly three weeks later she sent me a very long message explaining why she was upset with me and why my message hurt her. The entire message focused on her and her feelings. She never apologised or even acknowledged the way she had been treating us and the reason for my message in the first place. This aside I really wanted to sort this situation out so I apologised. We made a plan to speak in person that weekend but the conversation ended on good terms and we seemed to be back to normal…or so I thought.
I didn’t hear anything from her after that. She didn’t contact me about meeting up and I even found out that she purposely didn’t come to an event we were having with friends because she didn’t want to bump into me. Behind the scenes I was still planning and spending my own money on her bachelorette/kitchen tea and wedding.
An entire month went by and she still hadn’t contacted me. I reached out to her twice more as the bachelorette was coming up and I was feeling awkward about where our friendship stood.
Eventually I reached out to her and said to her that I didn’t apprecite the way she was treating me again, I felt that she was avoiding me and I didn’t understand why she was being so distant after we had seemingly resolved the situation.
She replied by saying that she hasn’t been avoiding me, she’s been “keeping to herself” and doesn’t see how she has mistreated me in any way. She said that the way I treated her and my message was way worse than what she had been doing to me and basically repeated again why she was hurt.
At this point I was tired of the back and forth. I had now apologised way more than I needed to for something I didn’t even feel I was in the wrong for. I said to her that the bottom line is she either forgives me (or wants to) and we could move forward or she didn’t forgive me and that was that.
She proceeded to say she’s not sure about me and that I shouldn’t worry about coming to the wedding. I saw this as another cry for attention from her so I didn’t respond. I messaged the bridesmaids to let them know I was asked not to come to the wedding and left the group. I changed mine and my partners rsvp to ‘not attending’ and left it at that. She tried to call me twice and when I didn’t answer she told me to “Grow up”. She got married a few days ago and I still haven’t heard anything from her since then.

Hello everyone. My boyfriend (M23) and I (F20) have been together for over 2 years. He is my first serious boyfriend, and he treats me so well. He has so many great qualities, and he is my exact type. We moved in together one year ago, and it’s been going well. We live in a very expensive area, which we are able to afford due to his well-paying job. He got me out of a bad situation with my family, where I wasn’t being fed properly and was emotionally abused daily. I have a better relationship with my parents now that I am out of that house, but I still need distance from them. My dad and I used to be extremely close, but now we rarely talk to one another. My mom and I talk weekly, so I’m glad I have that with her. My boyfriend has an amazing family. They are the family that I wish I was a part of while growing up. His parents are so sweet and supportive of us. His mom and I are like best friends, and I love talking to her. His dad is so helpful and always gives me good life advice.
My boyfriend introduced his uncle (M48) to me when we were one year into dating. I will call him Ned. I remember the first time I met Ned. I came over to say hello, and we made eye contact, and my heart was racing. I thought he was one of the most handsome men I had ever seen in my life. He and my boyfriend look so much alike. Ned has such a confident and attractive demeanor. He has a high-paying job and loves traveling and doing adventurous things. He has always been friendly to me, greeting me with hugs. He calls me cute and was making lots of eye contact the first time we met. Flash forward to a year later, and my boyfriend and I decided to move in together, and the area we live in is about an hour's drive away from Ned and his family. So when my boyfriend and I drove down with all our belongings in our cars, Ned offered for us to spend the weekend at his house and for me to meet his family. They live in a mansion and are very well off.
Ned has a pretty and cool wife, whom I believe is in her 30s, who is hardworking and has an amazing business. He also has two beautiful children under the age of ten that I adore. I hit it off with his family; they immediately reminded me of the family I want to have one day. The entire weekend, his uncle was making eye contact with me, calling me beautiful and cute. Flash forward to six months later. Ned visits my boyfriend and I at our place, where my boyfriend and I smoke with him and just relax and banter with one another. Ned kept going off about how much my boyfriend’s family loves me and how beautiful I am. Ned also brought up how big his thing is compared to my boyfriend, to which I gasped and looked over at my boyfriend, who was dying of laughter.
Flash forward to six months later. My boyfriend's entire family comes over to Ned’s house to have a boat day. Everyone was there except Ned's wife, and the entire time he was touching me by the shoulder and hand again, giving me alcohol, making lots of eye contact, and I even caught him looking at me, to which he looked away. He always comes up to me to start a conversation and get to know me better. He hands me glasses filled to the brim with wine and touches my hand so caressingly. I don’t think much of it, and while this happens, The morning of the boat ride, we get on the boat, and Ned introduces me to friends of his and once again gives me alcohol. My boyfriend is very close with his uncle, and they get along so well. Ned made a joke about how many fingers it takes to get inside a woman, to which my boyfriend just laughed.
I’m playing with his kids the entire time, and Ned comments that I would be an amazing mom and that I am so good with them. He took lots of pictures of me and the kids, as well as pictures of me when I wasn't looking. We get back to the house to eat, and I catch him constantly staring at me once again. My boyfriend and I then leave. A week later, Ned texted my boyfriend to go have sex with me so that he could use our streaming service to watch a game since we were using it, and this caught me by surprise. We went to visit Ned and his family a week later to watch a game, and Ned’s wife was there. Whenever she is around, Ned is not flirtatious with me at all and tries to cut conversations short. He still makes lots of eye contact with me, asks for my age, and gives me plenty of alcohol.
I think Ned’s wife notices him staring at me and laughing with me, to which she gives me dirty looks and makes rude remarks. I made an inside joke with my boyfriend, asking if he recognized some songs that were playing "in the streets," to which Ned's wife replied, saying I was trying to act "ghetto" and giving me dirty looks, which made me pause and go silent the rest of the night. We finally leave, and my boyfriend tells me that Ned was married three times and that his wife is not affectionate towards him and the kids that much, and she can’t relax. Ever since then, I can’t stop thinking about Ned. He is on my mind 24/7. He is twice my age, and I dream about him constantly and have sexual thoughts about him. I would never hurt my boyfriend and his family, whom I adore. But I can’t get Ned out of my head. What do I do?
TL;DR: I love my boyfriend, but I cannot stop thinking about his uncle, and I have a massive crush on him. What do I do?

I can't be a girl's girl now
Rant coming ahead
My ex boyfriend called me few days ago with whom I broke up with cause we were allegedly incompatible acc to my mom and I was 18-17 at that time, he is three years elder than me so I thought yea he must be weird and all and even now Ik you guys would bash him for many reasons.
But trust me, he was literally the best boyfriend ever we did our fair shares of mistakes but can you imagine that being in a ldr for almost 1 year and a guy never sexting or asking for nudes for you
He groomed me but in a good way he told me about what kind of people are in this world I was too naive to think that he was controlling me.
I miss him, But he is in a relationship now and seeing him fearing some other girl breaks my heart, someone else is important in his life now maybe not more than me but still important enough to care about em.
He called me because he wanted to talk to me normally about how I am doing in life and then we ended up talking for 8-9hrs in the same day, can you imagine talking to your ex after 2years almost and then having the same bond as before. Like we were literally roasting each other.
He said while kissing her he remembered me damnn dude you kissed her ?😭
He said I regret a lot that you broke up with me, I loved you a lot, you shouldn't have done that, etc...
Things between him and his current gf aren't going good either I told him if you guys ever broke up come back to me I never thought I would say these words to anyone but ig now I am really desperate for him
I am even manifesting that girl leave him so bad that he would hate her, I obviously don't want him to cheat on her with me but it hurts seeing some other woman at my place with my guy who is also her guy 😭😭😭😭
Like thing is I love him He still loves me (he didn't said that but Ik and no I am not being delusional) But he can't breakup because he is also attached to her and it would be morally wrong (also it's my pov only
Maybe he moved on, maybe that was the end of our story ....fucking incomplete cause of my stupidity... it hurts seeing her in his posts it hurts that he cares about her although I was the one who wanted that all for him 😭😭
And not to mention I was missing him from many days and he was calling me and my friends from like January but I didn't accepted his calls because I didn't wanted to ruin his relationship.
So I just blocked him and everything now depends upon my fate😭

I (25f) was with my ex (29) boyfriend for 3 years off and on. Looking back, it was never a good, healthy relationship. The first time we broke up, he broke up with me a week before my birthday to try and hook up with a coworker at a party. When he failed, he came back to me and lied about what happened. I found out through one of his friends. That should’ve been the end. Flash forward to this past year, he would ask me fairly often to help him pay for his car payments and insurance. I was stupid enough to say yes. At first he would pay me back, then ask again a month or two later. In august, we got our own place. Rent was $1650 a month. I paid first and last with my line of credit. That was the beginning of the debt. After that, we agreed to go 50/50. That didn’t last long. Eventually, I was paying for groceries, rent, his car payments, and insurance. He was working in a factory making $18-19 an hour. I was working basically part-time at a local sandwich place making $17 an hour. I’m not exactly sure where his money was going. On top of that, we were fighting constantly over the division of chores. I felt I was doing everything while he was sitting there gaming with his younger brother and his friends until 3 or 4 am. During one of these fights, he told me the reasons I had no friends; that I was basically too hard to be around. I had tried to break up with him multiple times, but he replied with excuses and promises to change, and I had no plan on where I was going to go or what I was going to do, so I stayed. Around Christmas time, he told me not to worry about rent, that he would pay all of it. I felt relieved, but I was cautious. On New Year’s Day, he said he didn’t have the money, and I only had $200 in my account. So I had to put it on my line of credit... again. That was when I knew I had to get out. He was never going to stop asking me for more, he was never going to pay me back like this, and I felt so trapped. At this time, I started looking on dating apps, thinking I could start something new and maybe they would let me crash. I knew it was a long shot but I didn’t know what else to do. I started talking to this guy, we met up when my ex was at work. As soon as I was in the elevator going down to meet him, I felt sick. I got in his car anyway, and we drove around. He was nice enough but clearly he wasn’t looking for anything serious. I felt sick to my stomach and asked him to drive me back home, that I couldn’t do it. He obliged. At this point I had been talking to an ex from high school for a few weeks, and I told him what I had almost done. He was surprised but empathetic. I told him I thought about propositioning him, but didn’t because I thought he’d reject me. Eventually he did invite me over. Over the next month, I went over to his place about 4 times. Sometimes when ex was at work, other times telling him I was going for drinks with a coworker. I was telling my coworkers about seeing someone new, waiting for someone to tell me I was being an asshole or something, but they never did. They told me I deserve to be happy. New guy knew the situation I was in, so we had a conversation about what would happen when I told ex and broke it off. He said I could stay with him, he didn’t want me to lose my job or have to move to the next town over back to my grandparents. So after a month of seeing him, I spent my last night in the apartment I went into debt paying for, I told ex what I’d done. He cried, telling me he bought a ring, saying he had been making a plan with my grandma to propose to me. He told me he thought it would fix things. I didn’t believe him. He didn’t like my family, and no way in hell was my grandma going to give her blessing in that way. She tolerated him because she thought I was happy. This was just another tactic to make me stay or feel guilty. Which I partly already felt. I just wanted it to end. When he said he wanted to make things work, I told him no. That the trust was gone, the love was gone. He got angry, calling me a whore, saying he was keeping the cats and I would never see them again. I left and stayed with new guy, saying I’d figure something out to pick up my stuff. I was more heartbroken over the cats than I was him. I called my grandma and told her everything, about the debt about the new guy, asked her about the “proposal”. She told me he never talked to her. Then I called my mom to ask if she could help me move. She agreed and just to let her know when. The next few months were hell. Ex constantly blowing up my phone, calling me names, telling me my family hated me for what I’d done, accusing me of starting rumours that he rped me. None of which were true. I ended up taking the cats, after an incident where he broke his tv. He had bought it around Christmas and apparently it fell off the wall. I didn’t trust the story and thought he might do something to the cats if I left them there just to spite me. He still texts me weekly to ask how the cats are, sometimes I’d send him photos of them but stopped after he asked to have them over for a sleepover. Fckin weird. We made a payment agreement between us to get the debt paid off. He said it’d be paid off in 4 months. I left in January, and it’s still being paid off. He started seeing someone new and moved an hour or two away, I’m assuming with her. His last text was at 3am last night, asking for $10. I asked him why he doesn’t ask his girlfriend, that it wasn’t my problem. After putting me over $15000 in debt, I’m not sending him a penny.

My last post in this sub about the wrap up...
Though shaken by last week incident, we all sailed through, it was touching to see Sheldon imagining various alternative scenarios implying he was missing his dad way more than he says in words. Missy throwing fits which is understandable though not nice. It continued her spatting back, eye rolling and messy behaviour. Didn't like her leaving her mom alone and throwing a fit at baptism. Mary does things for missy even when she doesn't like and if forbidden missy always says eye rolling "uh I hate this family " , but she couldn't do one little thing of 2mins baptism to soothe her grieving mother and broken down grandmother, utter immaturity displayed, hard to sympathise.
No surprises from Mandy, as usual useless character, not once had done chores or helped Coopers in entire series. "Mary chicken is nice". Girl atleast now prepare dinner, take responsibility , good for nothing woman Mandy. The spinoff if there is sure to be doomed if she is there, but silver lining is Georgie divorces her aptly.
Lastly loved the part where Sheldon cares for his mom and gets baptised. It doesn't matter what we believe when it's the person who loved u so much, it's small thing to do for them.
It was pleasant to see Miam & Jim, though Leonard hockey thing felt repetitive, could have shortened their screen time, Also whole TBBT team could have small cameo instead of long hockey thing and a scenewould have given to Georgie, Mary, Meemaw & missy bading goodbye to Sheldon.

I honestly don't know where to start. My dad has never been a good person for as long as I can remember. I (18) have 3 siblings. 24,23 and 4. Growing up me and my siblings were always abused. We would get thrown into walls, beat until we were bloody and weak. Handcuffed to our beds and couldn't get up unless we screamed out and asked. We couldn't get water unless we asked. We couldn't use the bathroom unless we screamed and begged. Even then my dad would stand outside the bathroom and if we were there linger than 5 minutes he would open the door or even rip us out the bathroom. It was worse for both my siblings. I was my dad's favourite. I wish I wasn't. But it made things easier. I experienced what they went through but less. My brother used to wake up with my dad beating on him. Sometimes for things he didn't even do. My dad would fight us at the ripe age of 7. I dint mean whoop our ass either. I mean actually beat us. Chase us around the house, pull our hair punch us in the rips. Make holes in the walls from our body. And my mom stood by, watching. She too was afraid. Some days we were forced to get naked. He would bring people over like his friends or his family and they would watch him beat us in our underwear. We were kids. We were girls. Girls getting beat in front of grown men. Screaming and crying begging to stop and let us go. Nobody helped us. They just watched. They sat by and just fucking watched. Some came back and were still around my father but most left. They couldn't be friends with a man like him. I wish I could describe what that man had done to my brother but my sibling won't tell me. It's been years since my brother moved out, he's left that life behind him and I'm so thankful for it. My brother is happy. Living with his girlfriend and making music now. My sister's however, we all live with our parents. And every day, I see my mother in agony. He beats her. He Screams in her face. He throws knifes at hern and when she says she's gonna leave he throws himself in our garage and tells her he's going to kill himself. So she fights for him to stay alive. Because she still loves him even though she's being mistreated. Even though he's mistreated us. Her children. He cheated on her with his friend. (Let's call her B)
B had a child of her own, she came into our lives when I was in about 6th grade. She was horrible. She clearly wanted my father. She made up things about me and told them to my dad so I would get in trouble. She misconstrued my words till I was grounded for being disrespectful or thrown at my mother. My mom knew everything that went on. She saw her. B would push me into the walls and on the floor. They forced me to call her daughter my sister. Throughout my protests, they never stopped. I would actually get beat for saying she wasn't. She called my dad, daddy even though she HAD a dad. This is the woman my dad first started cheating on my mom with. My mom would coom and clean. Take care of him financially . Let this woman into our house. Into our lives only for her to turn around and fuck it up. One day I went to walk my dog and when I got back my father was in handcuffs. How funny. It wasn't me anymore. It wasn't us being Handcuffed. In some twisted fate there he was. Sitting in our lawn. 10 police cars all over my street. So many officers guarding the house and him. I cried. Maybe he was gone forever. I don't care about what he did. I care about how long he's going to be gone. My mother informed me that his mistress b scratched his face in an argument and he abused the fuck outta her in front of her child. Then took her phone and left. I prayed that day. I prayed he would be gone forever. I prayed he would never make it back home. And yet he did. My mom begged me and my sister's for bail money. And it's my mom. As much as I hate that man. I love my mom. I would do anything for her. I tried to tell her I didn't want to. He wasn't good for us but she cried into my arms. She didn't want my little sister to grow up without a dad. She was financially dependent on him even tho he didn't have a job at the time. I'm guessing he got a check because he was ex military but I'm not sure. He came back the night before thanks giving. Next morning he disappeared. Told my mom he was gonna kill himself then went silent. Mom begged me to talk to him. SHE said he was only willing to talk to me. She begged and begged " please baby, please I don't want to lose him" I couldn't say no. So I sat outside by the ring camera. Alone. At the age of 14 I talked my dad out of killing himself. By. Myself.
Now years later, B hasn't been in out lives and he's cheating again. My mother despises him. If he drops dead today she wouldn't care. She just wants to be a person. She's told us to pack a bag in case he goes crazy she's ready to leave. He's cheating on her with a woman from him new job. She found pictures of her nudes on his watch. I pray for my mommas safety. I will fight for her. I'm old enough now to understand that my mom was afraid too. I'm old enough to understand that sometimes you just need to put down a man if he hurts your family. He isn't my dad and he's not a real man. I wouldn't normally wish death. But he may deserve it.
(Sorry if there's typos I literally broke the right hand side of my screen so I can't see anything n I don't have money or a car to go fix it ) <3

My wife’s best friend who I will call Sarah moved in with us about 1 month ago after her husband had her arrested for getting physical with him and scratching his face. I have been a mutual friend with both Sarah and her husband that I will John. Our kids are friends and we would often get the families together. We have been put in the middle of the feud. John has a restraining order out on Sarah and the only way she gets to see the kids is supervised visitation. John listed my wife as the person that has to be present while her kids visit in 3 hour time blocks. I thought it was weird that John only listed my wife on there considering I am the only one (between my wife and I) that directly communicates with him (text and calls). John and my wife were always cordial to one another but between all 4 of us, they are the only two that had no real friendship. My wife is prettier than Sarah, and I have caught John staring at my wife’s chest and ass in the past. It never bothered me. During one of John and Sarah’s last fights, he said that Sarah’s face looked much older than my wife’s (both are very into skincare and anti-aging, so this really pissed Sarah off). John is an incredibly controlling husband that treated Sarah very poorly and my wife has always said that he is such an asshole and that she can’t stand him.
This is where things began to get weird…
After Sarah moved in, John continued to call me to discuss his wife. My wife told me that I was being too kind to him after the way he has treated her so poorly over the years, and having her arrested. My wife told me that it was time to choose a side (Sarah’s) and to stop talking with John. She told me I was two faced for continuing to speak with him. She called him Satan because he was already running around with a few different women and their kids, all while taunting her in various ways and trying to destroy her life. Suddenly John starts reaching out to my wife to schedule visitations with their kids based on my wife’s schedule. He could’ve listed both of us on the supervision list but he only put my wife. I suspect that he felt like it would lead to an open line of communication between the two of them(previously my wife didn’t even have his number in her phone) My wife acted very annoyed that she was put in that position because he never asked beforehand.. basically if Sarah wanted to see her kids, my wife would need to be involved. Here is where things got weird…
We had a birthday party for one of our daughters and we invited his kids to her party. He brought the kids and oddly stayed in the area with his youngest and waited around, but didn’t join the party. Later that day I sent him a text thanking him for the gifts they got. The next morning(Mother’s Day), one of the first things my wife does is send him a thank you text that I felt was a “gushing” thank you. It was weird to me that he was not only the first thank you text that she sent, but she only sent 3 out of the 8-9 parents that were there.
Is this thank you a bit much?
“We had the gifts mixed up but Sarah later clarified the gifts with the flower wrapping paper were from y'all! But as you can see, she loved them. Thank you very much for going out of your way to get them and for bringing the kids out to celebrate with Tara(our daughter) and waiting so patiently with jane(his youngest daughter). It meant so much to us!”
Here was my thank you the night before …
“Thanks a lot for all the stuff for Tara. She loved it all. You got much more than you should’ve”
John’s reply to my wife’s thank you text and then wishing her happy Mother’s Day.
“You are so welcome, a bit sad we were not able to be there as a complete family. Praying next year is different.”
“Happy Mothers Day, the kids and Dave are so blessed to have you.” (Clearly a compliment to her and a dig at his wife)
My wife’s reply…
Sunday 1:56 PM Thank you! I am sorry for leaving you hanging about today. Would you like to plan for around 430-730? We are getting a slow start and I just hoped to go to the beach for a little bit.
(She just says thank you? I would’ve thought she would’ve also said that their kids are blessed to have her best friend as a mom as well)
-John’s reply- That sounds perfect. See you then. Sunday 2:58 PM
(Sarah then sent a screenshot of the family app that they are legally allowed to communicate on. She told him that he was intruding on my wife’s Mother’s Day, and it was stressing my wife out, which was true. After seeing what Sarah told John, my wife felt compelled to reach back out to John with the following…
“Hey John. I'm not stressed. It just took forever to get the kids ready and out”
Keep in mind that he has repeatedly verbally abused her friend, has been hanging out with other woman, kicked her out of her house without her belongings, reported her to the state licensing board for her “arrest” and caused her license to be suspended, told her that he hope she died during an upcoming surgery she was supposed to have, and insulted her by implying that she was a harm to her kids and her best friend needed supervision during the time she spent with her kids… I was called “two faced” and told I was betraying Sarah, simply because I would answer John’s calls and texts.
We get home and John brings his kids over with a Mother’s Day plant and card (same ones, for my wife and Sarah). I thought this was weird and another way of slighting at Sarah, putting the two of them on the same level. The next day, my wife (who doesn’t garden) was watering the plants and walking around with the plants looking for a place to plant them. (I mentioned to Sarah that my wife watered the plants and she seems very surprised and upset that she did that, considering it was intended to be a slight to her.). I was very surprised considering our 9-year-old got her a plant from Lowe’s a year or two ago and she simply let it dry out and die on the counter (never watering it) which really hurt our daughters feelings….
Two days later I looked at my wife’s messages with John and was very surprised. My wife knew I had looked at her phone and sent me a nasty text to stay off of it. I told her that I was surprised that she was being so chummy with John considering how he has been treating Sarah, and had previously called me “two faced” for continuing to talk to John. I told her that her thank you to John was “gushing” and clearly made him feel good as he gave her a compliment about how blessed we were to have her immediately after that. I told her I was also surprised that she didn’t just have me tell him thank you considering she knows we talk and are friends. My wife got really mad and said she did nothing wrong and called me a jealous psycho. She said she would show the thread to Sarah because she had nothing to hide and did nothing wrong. I told her that I would strongly advise against it because I think it would hurt Sarah’s feelings and cause her to be upset with my wife. My wife continued to call me a lot of mean names and told me I needed professional mental help. She then changed the password on her phone. She then told Sarah that it would prob be best for her and John to coordinate through the app because I was acting very bothered by her talking to John (implying jealousy).
My wife and I began talking about the situation again yesterday and I told her that I wasn’t dwelling on it but wish she would acknowledge the inappropriateness of the conversation, considering the circumstances. She refused and again began calling me a psycho that is destroying her life. I told her that if she felt like it was a completely appropriate conversation, then she should show Sarah. She refused. She then sends me the following :
“I deleted his thread and his contact information. Accidentally called his number while I was trying to figure out how and immediately hung up. I’m sure you’ll say I called him on purpose. I have a screenshot of the thread so you won’t accuse me of trying to get rid of evidence.”
As it turned out, she didn’t have a screenshot of the thread. I found it very odd that she deleted the conversation (she did it during this last argument we were having about the appropriateness of it and telling her to show Sarah..
The other things that bothered me was that I wrote a kind Mother’s Day message on her Facebook, which she saw but never acknowledged on Facebook or said anything to me, and she completely ignored my happy birthday post to our daughter on Facebook. She was so quick to acknowledge the person she called “Satan” but not to her husband. I am considering the possibility that I am overly sensitive these days. My wife just went through a real bad case of postpartum rage where she was verbally abusive toward me and I genuinely felt like she hated me. It has left me with what she believes to be ptsd and says she feels very badly about it. It was the worst thing I have ever experienced and it nearly ended our family. Am I over-reacting or was my wife out of line?
Why did she delete the thread when I pressed her to show Sarah?
Was her thank you “gushing” and a bit much, considering the circumstances?
Is my wife really the one that’s two faced?
What should I make of John’s actions with my wife? Should it rub me the wrong way!?
Was telling my wife that we were so lucky to have her flirtatious and should she have replied that they were blessed to have Sarah!?
Would Sarah be hurt by my wife’s conversation with her husband?
Why did my wife feel so anxious to be the one to thank him for the gifts directly and praise him for coming and telling him it meant so much that he brought the kids and waited around?
Thanks in advance

she's just break up with her bf for a stupid reason , then she decided to like this you.lets call him "adam". i kinda like adam seen last year.its not big crush , but i kinda like him.i didn't tell anyone about this because he kinda a playboy type. after i knew my sister like him . i thought she was joking.ngl i was trying to make her hate adam by told her how playboy is he . which he is.even her friends once get in relationships with adam.. just now she told my mom that he take a picture with adam yesterday.i don't know how to feel because it's the same day she get back with her bf.plus I'm jelous how confident she asked adam to take pictures with him. I'm not surprised he agreed to take a picture with her. I hate to say this but she's beautiful and thin. I'm fat and have tan skin. It's not that I don't like it. I'm sure boys only like bright skin.

hello, I am an 18 (F) I plan to die before I’m 30. If not sooner, I at least have a plan. I don’t understand how I’ve lived this long honestly I don’t remember when I started feeling different but I never had the right support system. I’m used to pushing my depression away by sleeping and going numb. Im afraid of pain so I don’t self harm which made younger me think I didn’t even have depression. I don’t really understand what I have even now. I didn’t have to guts to kill myself with the amount of opportunities I had so now I have to watch all my friends graduate while I try to at least live. It didn’t help that all of my teachers assumed I was lazy and didn’t care about school. I used to only care about school, it’s weird.. the people I feel like I’m screaming for help to are the farthest from hearing me. I feel like I’m drowning constantly. My mom seems surprised though because some people wouldn’t even keep trying with school. (I plan to get my GED) She doesn’t even know the amount of times I’ve tried to die. The only reason I keep pushing myself is because I can’t die, isn’t that funny? I don’t actually know why I’m saying all this.. maybe it’s to get it all out? Maybe I just want someone to understand me, tell me it’s okay. I wish I had someone like that. I wish I could live past 30.

Hey, so you ever get a birthday present that's so not your style, but you really can't return it because it'd be really awkward? Normally it's like, I dunno. Shoes, or shirts or something like that, right?
For me it was four fire-breathing horses.
Okay, so I should clarify. My dad didn't really give me four fire-breathing ponies to keep. It was more of a test for him to treat me like his son again.
See, I just recently got out of a Styx oath that would have led me to eternal damnation if I didn't fulfill it. It's a long story, but to keep it short: I swore an oath on the Styx to be a brave hero by my eighteenth birthday when I really should have just pinkie promised. But yeah. My dad, God of War and dad of the year took it well. …In that he pretty much said that I was a waste of space, disowned me and he'd personally hand me over to the Styx for eternal damnation.
Nice guy. Really should get into motivational speeches.
The night before, after riding the high of not having the threat of being sent to Super Hell I had a pretty bad dream. I mean, it wasn’t the normal David nightmare. It wasn't me killing endless hordes of monsters while my dad laughed at how pathetic I was.
Well, half of that. It was just my dad. To be honest, rather I’d take the monsters.
He was laughing at me, with that smug face of his, in that all-leather biker outfit with the shades that made him look even more like an asshole, as if that's hard to believe.
Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to cuss. Anyways yeah. Me and my dad. Not the best relationship, even by demigod standards.
He gave me a toothy grin, like a shark’s as he circled around me. I instinctively stood up straight, at attention. As much as I hate my dad, ticking off a god is a pretty dumb thing to do. Plus, I was pretty dumbfounded to see him here in my dream of all things.
“Well, color me surprised. To be honest, boy, I thought I'd end up taking care of this myself. So, congratulations on that front. But, sorry to burst your bubble, it might be good enough for ol’ Styxy but…it’s not good enough for me. But, you know, I'm a generous guy! Prove me you're a warrior. Do that, and I'll welcome you back in the family with open arms. I even got the perfect way for you to prove yourself.”
Without warning, he tossed me a set of keys with a miniature boar-headed keychain and a really big switchblade on the end of it. I fumbled with it before slipping it into my pocket.
“An oldie but a goodie. Used to let my sons prove themselves to me all the time with this one. Now, I'm sure once you see what I got planned you'll know the rules, considering you're a fuckin’ nerd. But in case you forget…”
He lowered his shades, revealing balls of fire as he glared right at me.
“Sundown. My temple. Don't be late or I'll toss you in the Styx myself. Well! Have fun, yeah? I'm looking forward to watching you fail this one, like your last quest. Now, get up. Clock’s ticking after all…”
“Gaah!”
I snapped my eyes open, falling out of my bed and onto the hard floor under me. As soon as I hit the floor, I could hear one of my many siblings start to stir from their sleep. Immediately, my sister Tiffany started to sigh as she shot up from her bed. I could see her pastel pink sleep mask perched on her head as she glared into the darkness of the early morning. She groaned in frustration, her words cutting through the quiet of the dawn.
"What the hell are you idiots doing?"
To be fair, I could see why she’d think that. Most of my siblings were fond of pranking each other every now and then. The chaos of the Ares cabin was unmatched from most cabins, except maybe Hermes. But, when you cut off her beauty sleep, the threat of an angry Tiff was usually was enough to make nighttime a truce. Usually.
My sister rubbed her eyes and looked down at me. I sheepishly gave a smile as I rubbed my head, still sore from when it hit the floor.
"Seriously, David?"
Tiffany got out of bed and silently made her way to me. She wordlessly held out a hand and I grasped at it as she pulled me up.
"Thanks Tiff. I had this dream, where Dad called me a nerd and was talking to me about testing me now that my Styx Oath is..."
I felt something hard and metallic poke against my leg, from my sweats pocket. I pulled out the unfamiliar object and to my surprise, there were the same keys from my dream. My eyes widened as I realized that my dream was a little bit more than usual demigod stuff.
"Oh. That...wasn't a dream."
She raised an eyebrow as she looked at the keys that sat in my hand. I played with the accessories, absentmindedly feeling the boar head and the switchblade knife. She leaned in, peering at the keys as the dawn started to rise.
"What the hell are those for?"
She looked to the keys, then back at my face, and then the keys again. She looked at me as if I just said that Kronos was about to come back and throw an ice cream party courtesy of the Titans.
"You're telling me Dad gave those to you or something? You're joking. Have to be."
I shook my head, but I could see why she thought so. I was pretty sure I was near the bottom, if not at the bottom of his list of favorite kids. If I was being honest, I was pretty sure he wanted me dead more than a few times.
"Tiff, you know that I'm not exactly Dad's favorite by a long shot. Why would I say something like that and risk him getting even mad more mad at me because of my lying? Dad disowned me, remember? He mentioned something along the line in my dream that if I pass his test I'd be treated as one of his sons again but he didn't mention what it..."
The gears started turning as I looked at the keys in my hands.
”A test…keys…sundown…oh no. Oh, no.”
I immediately pocketed up my keys and started putting on my shoes. No time for pants, sweats would do just fine, I just had to make sure to take my wallet with me, considering I was going to New York now. I had to be quick or this test was over before it even started.
"No. I...I think I know what it is. But if I'm right, then shoot I gotta get going then! Before our brothers take it."
In hindsight, I probably should have told Tiff a bit about my thoughts. But, the more I delayed the more issues that could have cropped up. I just had to make sure it was safe.
"Take what? Where the hell are you going?!"
I burst out of the cabin, staring at what was in front of our cabin. I felt a bit of nervousness bubble up as my thoughts were proven true. Tiffany was close behind me as she walked outside our cabin. I looked at her face and caught an expression of wonder as whatever she was going to ask me was forgotten. Parked in front of the cabin was a red and gold Harley. The seat was white leather and gave a sorta…humany vibe to it that I did not wanna think about. Only one thing came to mind, something I knew instinctively from the moment I saw it. Dad's War Chariot.
Or as the god of war would call it, his chariot.
"I...I think dad wants me to take his ride for a spin."
I ran my hand over the cold metal, and I realized what Dad meant about the “oldie but a goodie.” A while back, before the Second Titan war ended, and all of the children of the gods had to be claimed, there was a ritual all sons of Ares went through. It was something all my brothers did at fifteen. Drive around his Chariot and return it before sundown. It wasn't easy, my Godly siblings, Phobos and Deimos both loved to mess with whoever was in charge of the chariot at the time. And you had to deal with monsters too, but overall when it came to demigod stuff it wasn’t the most dangerous around. I dunno if that says a lot about how dangerous this life can get though.
But, shortly after the then-counselor Clarisse La Rue became the first girl to do it, Dad pulled the plug. I dunno if it was good ol’ sexism, someone totaling it, or dad not wanting to let all of his kids drive his ride, either way it wasn't super common nowadays. It wasn't like he stopped, but it was something given, not a right. Dad letting me do this was him at least giving me a chance to prove myself to be one of his kids, which was more than I expected to be honest.
I took a breath as I looked at Dad’s ride, feeling a pit of unease in my stomach as I started to climb in. If it wouldn't end up with me being tormented for the rest of my short life, I'd tell him no and go back to sleep. But, telling a god no, especially my dad is a neat way to be turned into a rodent. Or a fine red paste. Or a rodent that would be turned into said paste.
Tiffany's brows furrowed as she processed my words, a layer of disbelief on her face as she chewed over it.
You? He wants you to drive it? I...that...what the hell?"
I fought off a wince as she looked at me, then the ride, then back at me again. I could tell she was a bit annoyed. I mean, yeah from her perspective I was singled out by dad to do something she probably wanted to do for a while. I felt a pit of guilt in my stomach, it wasn't fair, really. But at the same time I had to do this.
"I mean, seriously? He must be out-"
She cut herself off. Calling my dad crazy was another way to get turned into a rat that would then be turned into a fine paste. Actually a lot of things carried the threat, my dad is kinda a jerk. I sighed, figuring I might as well tell her about why Dad was doing this. I didn't wanna hide it, but it's not like I like to talk about the fact that I've been disowned for two years. She knew, most of us did. But it's not something I like bringing up, because yeah. It sucks.
"I read a bit about previous Ares campers. He used to do this more often, at first only his sons did, but later his daughters could. I dunno why he stopped but, this isn't really like he's doing it because he's proud of me. I'm sorta disowned, remember? He said if I can drive the chariot, he'll take me back as one of you guys again. It's...more of a test to earn myself back into his good graces, I think.”
Tiffany listened to my explanation, not saying anything for a bit She looked a bit bothered about the fact that I was chosen to drive the Chariot, which again, not surprising.
"Ugh, I guess that makes sense."
I could hear the frustration in her voice as she crossed her arms. I winced again, preparing for her to resent or hate me. But to my surprise, I heard her add more in a softer voice.
"Well, don't get yourself killed trying to pass this stupid test, I don't want to have to explain to everyone why you're not coming back."
Her icy tone defrosted as she looked back at me with a bit of concern in her eyes. She seemed less annoyed and more worried about me, which was sweet. Not that I'd let her hear that. I hoped that maybe, dad would let her give it for a spin later down the road. If anyone deserved it, it would be her. I gave a nervous laugh as I took the keys out of my pocket.
"Of course, I passed my Styx Oath, didn't I? It'd be really dumb of me to die right after barely avoiding that, right? Oh, yeah. If Ellie asks for me, tell her about dad's little test he has for me. Hopefully it won't be too long but you know how it is with godly stuff. I should be back in time for us to hang out for the rest of my birthday once I do this for dad. I'll bring back something cool!”
I felt my trepidation fade away as I prepared to drive. Lots of my siblings dreamed of piloting the chariot. It wouldn't be right to reject the opportunity when it was given to me. And, who knows? Getting back in Dad's good graces (or as much as one can get in them) might help me out. At least I would have one less target on my back. As I sat down in the white leather seat, I put the keys in the ignition and instantly it began to morph.
OOC:Read this while listening to whats coming up
The front split apart into one steel horse that slowly split into two, and then four cream-colored horses that looked around with a cruel intelligence. The seat dipped, and warped before it became a horse-drawn chariot I was now standing in. The chariot was gold and blood red, adorned with the lovely images of people dying gruesome deaths, because Dad's taste in decor is somewhere between military surplus and serial killer, apparently.
“Okay…so, I need to get to Dad's temple before sundown. I don't know New York highways though, so how can I…oh hey! A gps!”
My fingers brushed against a touch screen set up on the chariot and punched The Intrepid into the coordinates. I gave one last wave to my sister before I lashed the horses and they immediately took off. I led them out of camp easily enough, but as we reached the highway they sped up to an impossible speed for a chariot. Their speed was even faster than any cars on the highway, rivaling the time that Aphrodite camper drove us to the beach once. I pulled back on the reins, trying to get them to slow down. Instead, they gave a rebellious snort and went even faster.
I would like to say that I embraced my inner Ares kid and relished the challenge. But I'm not going to lie, when you end up going past 80 MPH in a chariot, you tend to think you're going to die, fun fact. I screamed for most of the way, yanking and pulling at their reins so we could bob and weave through traffic.
It's a bit of a drive from Camp Half-Blood to New York City, I know it well, it’s a pretty common place for me to go for some monster slaying. But, up until now, I've been in the passenger seat while Argus drives. The speed of the horses really made the time go by faster. As we entered the city, the horses started to slow down and I felt a ray of hope as I started to steer them through the city. I gave a triumphant laugh as I looked down at my ETA. It was surprisingly quick, considering how congested New York can get. And I didn't see hide or hair of either one of my godly brothers, so I felt pretty good, all things considered.
“Huh. That's weird. There's not many cars today…my luck must be turning around!”
“Traffic update: Incoming Monsters. Rerouting. Cannot reroute.”
“Huh?”
Immediately, a massive boar the size of a garbage truck burst from a nearby alley way behind me. Behind the massive pig, two armored bank cars recklessly merged into traffic. One leaned out, revealing a gray-skinned human in body armor brandishing a shotgun.
“Of course! I had to open my big mouth! Is there anything that I’m going to have to deal with?”
“You are on the fastest route!”
“Well that’s just GREAT! Now I can be on the quickest way to the underworld!”
”Rerouting to: D.O.A. Records, Los Angeles.”
“Woah, woah, woah, no! Keep me on The Intrepid! The Intrepid!”
Seeing all these enemies together though, I started to put a thought in my head. They all had something in common, now that I saw them all in front of me. A boar was sacred to Ares, Spartoi too came from a dragon sacred to him. I put the pieces together as I saw the monsters come out of the woodwork and all to me. Now things made sense. The lack of Phobos and Deimos, the sacred beings to Ares, the lack of mortals on the street.
I didn't see my siblings because Dad wanted to mess with me personally.
Even now, I don't know if he wanted to test me in a Spartan way, or if he just wanted to get rid of me without kinslaying. Either way, I couldn't back down now. Not when I was so close. I snapped on the reins and the rebellious horses continued on their path, bickering and weaving left and right as they snorted and whinnied.
I heard the wiz of something traveling through the air and quickly moved out of the way. A metal feather hit the chariot, bouncing off the hull and onto the ground. I looked up and saw a few birds. They were black and crow-like, but their feathers had a metallic sheen, like iron. Their wings flapped and I heard the sound of metal on metal as they soared above me.
“Dad called in feather-shooters too? Come on!”
I steered left and right as I evaded the metal feathers shooting at me. The newcomers behind me quickly gained as I bobbed and weaved. I had to figure a way out of this, and fast. Problem was, I was quickly outnumbered and outmatched. I wasn't the best at archery, and my sword could shoot a blast of force, courtesy of the then Forgemaster. Main issue was it took a bit to charge, and I couldn't take them on so high up.
I couldn't run. I needed to fight out of this. But even if I could fight the two Spartoi and the big pig, the problem was the birds. I didn't have a ranged option…or did I? I looked to the horses, breathing embers as they huffed and pulled the chariot further on. Ares kids couldn't talk to horses, but these were godly horses. They seemed smarter than your average horse. Maybe I could talk them into behaving, the same way I got some of my siblings to listen to the plan during Capture the Flag.
“Hey guys, are you bored? I'm sure Dad and my brothers take all the good fights, huh? You know, if you guys continue fighting each other, I might lose this and you guys will miss out on a good fight.”
At first, I thought it fell on deaf ears. But then, they stopped their jostling and started to take a more unified path as we raced along the streets. Like I thought, they enjoyed a good fight as much as their owner did.
“That's what I like to see. Look, we're pretty surrounded right now. What do you say we rampage a bit before I take you guys home?”
An evil-sounding whinny came from the horses. I couldn’t really speak horse, but I took that as an okay and pointed at the birds above us. Did I feel stupid? Kinda. But as long as it worked, I couldn’t complain.
“See them? All yours. I'll cover you guys from the ground forces, and in exchange, you guys fall in line. Alright?”
A burst of fire came from one of the horses in response and I heard a loud squawk as it engulfed one of the feather-shooters. I breathed a sigh in relief as the rest of the birds started to scatter. They veered left and right in an attempt to avoid the flaming streams that were now sporadically being fired in their direction.
“Alright! Good job, I'll leave it to you!”
I gave a smile as I turned behind to my land-based foes, quickly gaining on me. I could hear the occasional woosh of fire as the horses fought the birds. One of the armored trucks caught up to my right and one of the spartoi leaned out of the vehicle. They aimed down the sights and pointed their shotgun at me.
“Sudden traffic in your area. You will be delayed by…five minutes. You are still on the fastest route!”
“Woah, that’s not fair! Come on Dad! A gun? Really!?”
I felt a tug in my stomach. It wasn’t something I could do a lot in a row without being exhausted, but I had some sorta pull when it came to weapons. When I gave a command, they were able to fall right out of their owner’s hands.
“Alright, let’s even the playerfield shall we?”
I held out my hand and they dropped it, the gun fell onto the ground, crushed by the wheels of the car. The second caught up to my left and once again, a spartoi leaned out of their car, weapon in hand.
“Another one!? Come on! How am I going to…”
I was jerked to the side as the horses suddenly veered right. At first, I thought it was the horses misbehaving again, but then a monstrous squeal came from behind me, rushing forwards.
Crash
I heard the sound of steel groaning as the boar rushed past the truck, pushing their truck out of the way as they aggressively charged forward. It was a good thing I managed to get out of the way, or else I would have been in trouble. I could see the spartoi shaking their fist as they spun out, their car massively dented with a massive gash in the armor. Now that I had to deal with two enemies, I decided to use the boar’s momentum to my advantage. I pulled back on the reins and the boar kept barreling on, too fast to stop as I made the chariot suddenly stop and then take a sudden turn away from the temple. The boar ran straight into a brick wall, seemingly dazed but otherwise okay.
”Rerouting...”
That temporarily took care of two of my enemies. Now that I had one to worry about, and my horses were pretty steady, I could start this fight in earnest. I kept one hand on the reins as I grabbed my Miku keychain. I unclipped it, and the keychain turned into a katana, with said keychain still on the bottom. It was my sword, Anime (I want to clarify, my friend Jules named it, not me). One of the Spartoi readied a spear and lunged at me. I parried it with my blade, and stabbed at their chest. I felt my blade plunge into their body. I pulled away at it, slashing at it again to tear it apart. To my disappointment though, the monster quickly reformed.
I don't know what I expected, to be honest. They wouldn't be much of an immortal soldier if they died after the first hit. But it bought me valuable time as we pushed forward. Almost as soon as its bones knit back together, it struck at me. I guarded once again, my sword starting to glow brighter and brighter with each strike. Our blades clashed and separated again and again for, I don’t know how long to be honest. I was putting up a good fight, but I just couldn’t gain the upperhand in that fight. For starters, if it was a monster or even a demigod it’d be ten ways to Tartarus at the moment. But, no matter how I sliced or diced it, the immortal soldier kept on coming back. Also, I just wasn't used to multitasking like that, I held on as tightly as I could, but the brief times I practiced Chariot combat with my friends Jules and Cel, I was either driving or fighting. Both at the same time was hard, and I was lucky that the horses were so cooperative.
I heard the whinny of one of the horses ahead as I looked back to the front. No sign of the birds meant that there was a few extra-crispy feather-shooters along the road somewhere, which was good news. But then, I looked out in front and realized that there was a big problem. One of the trucks we left behind somehow got in front of us, blocking the road with their car. Five spartoi were standing outside of the car, swords and spears drawn as they headed the chariot off.
At this moment, I knew I was screwed. I was too fast to just stop. And, even if I did stop, I’d have to deal with all the angry skeleton men chasing me down. I just winced, bracing for impact. But then, I heard a neigh as the horses pulling my chariot started to turn into steel and combined once more. The chariot started to shift, the creak of metal folding and turning. I quickly sheathed my sword as the reins turned into chrome handlebars which I gripped like my life depended on it. The chariot continued to morph until once again it was a motorcycle with flame patterns. I veered as left as I could, narrowly avoiding hitting the side of a nearby building as I sped past the skeletal blockade. I braked, motorcycle now turning back into the chariot form as I turned back and watched as the car that was chasing me slammed straight into the other.
The now pissed spartoi stumbled out of the wreckage and started to scream undead obscenities to each other. I couldn’t speak ghost, but whatever they said seemed to be pretty rude, because both sides started to unsheath their swords and get into an all-out brawl. One of the spartoi sliced the other in two, and they didn’t reform this time as their essence slid into their black sword.
Huh. Well, that was one way to deal with them.
“Whew! Good horses.”
I turned, ready to snap the reins once again, but I stopped as I saw what was waiting for me at the other end of the road. The boar, still very much on my trail stood in front of me. It pawed at the ground in front of it, and my horses started to do the same. I stared at the boar, unsheathing Anime once again as we stared off.
“Keep straight for…500 feet.”
The thing about boars is that they can be pretty deadly. They’re brutish and aggressive, and they go down fighting. You know the crossguard that’s near the pointy end of a spear? That’s so the animal doesn’t run up the spear to take you out with it. You don’t think them being that dangerous, but there’s a reason that dad’s symbol is a boar.
I had to make this quick, and efficient or I’d end up maimed, or worse. I snapped the reins one more time, and the horses started to dash down the street. The boar squealed as it barreled to me. I could see it get closer and closer. I grit my teeth, holding my blade in my right hand as it started to shine more and more brightly. My hand held onto the grip tightly, bracing for my next action.
I’d have one shot at this.
I miss, I’m dead.
I hesitate, I’m dead.
I don’t hit the vitals, I’m dead.
Time started to slow around me as I watched the boar rush at the chariot, enraged as it reached the point where there was no stopping it now. I could see the powerful muscles push and pull, the beast using all its power in an attempt to off me for good. I felt heat coming from the front as all four horses breathed a stream of flames at the swine. The boar kept on charging forwards, through the fire as the flames engulfed it. An angry squeal erupted from the inferno as it lept up from the sea of flames, still on fire as it used its strong legs to clear the horses and go straight for me.
Breathe in
I felt a sense of calm wash over me as I pulled my sword hand back. My blade shined brilliantly, even in the May sun. I watched it fall ever closer to me, the flames still eating away at the flesh. I stared into its ever-angry eyes, burning brighter than the flames surrounding it. I don’t falter. I’ve faced monsters that have crushed my bones. I don’t feel fear. I’ve fought creatures that could have killed me in five seconds. This is it. I need it to be perfect.
Breathe out.
SHING
I swung my blade and a rush of air followed it, making an arc that flew to the boar. I don’t doubt my skills. I simply watch, confident that this will end the monster once and for all. The blast, charged from my fight flew unimpeded. The beast’s chuffs turned into surprised squeal as it sliced the boar cleanly in two, bisecting it from the snout down. I sheathed my sword and put both hands back on the reins, eyes on the road as I barely watched what came next. The flaming boar started to fade into dust, still falling through the air until only a tusk was left. I held out my arm and caught it with my right hand.
“Oh hot, hot!”
I juggled it a bit with one hand before placing it down on the chariot floor. I grinned triumphantly as I realized what happened. Dad tried to test me, to see if I was “worthy” or he genuinely tried to kill me. Either way, I beat him this time, proving to him that I was more. That he underestimated me when we first met, that I was a brave warrior all along. In the end, I proved to him that I could fulfill my Styx oath even past what was expected of me. I laughed as I sped up, I felt pretty good about my victory. I wondered how his face would look, or if I could read his expression past his dumb sunglasses.
But as I rounded the corner, a terrifying sight came to my face as my glee turned to sorrow. I watched with horror as I realized Dad’s influence on the fight kept a more dangerous foe than any before at bay. Now that the fight was over, he had no reason to keep it around, and for once, I wasn’t sure if I could get through this unscathed. I gulped as I put my hands on the reins, not ready to face the impossible challenge alone. I hoped it wouldn’t break me as I prepared what little I had to fight this foe.
”There is an unusual amount of traffic in your area today.”
“Now you tell me…”
None other, than New York traffic.
I’d like to say that I did something else. Like I defeated an army of drakons on my way, or managed to fight off crazed demigods sent by my dad…but no. It was pretty much just traffic the rest of the way there. It was long and arduous, but I managed to make my way over to The Intrepid. After that traffic,I had to say, the amount of crazy drivers was almost San Francisco bad. I’d have taken as many spartoi and boars as dad could throw at me, if it meant I wasn’t drowning in the sea of cars. I drove down Pier 86, feeling a sense of relief as I got closer and closer to the aircraft carrier turned museum. As I got within eyeshot, I realized that dad said to take it to the temple, but not where to drop it off at.
It would be really stupid to end up failing just because I wasn’t sure where to leave dad’s ride. I got off the chariot, and was eyeing the prices of a ticket.
“Adults are thirty-six, Seniors and College Students…thirty four… Oh hey! Children of Ares get in free! Now, how do I wheel dad’s chariot through the front…”
Suddenly the side gate opened, lights flashing and clanging as it automatically retracted. The person standing in the booth waved me over and I hopped back onto the chariot, driving it by cautiously. They were dressed like a security guard, shades covering their eyes as they looked down onto their phone that they were absentmindedly playing with. Eyebrow piercings peeked out from behind the shades. They were tall, looked about early twenties, and seemed like your average bored museum guard, if not for that sorta godly aura I got from them.
“Take the chariot this way, Lord Ares will be at the end of Pier 86. Can’t miss him.”
I eyed the godling suspiciously. They seemed like one of those myriad younger and minor gods I saw when I was on Olympus. Not anyone I’d know, but if they wanted to stop me, it’d be annoying to get past them. They didn’t seem to be that dangerous, at least right now. But when you were a demigod, you learned to be wary of free handouts.
“Uh…look man, I’m going to be honest. I just got through some hellish traffic to get through here. So if like, you’re leading me into a trap or if my godly brothers are going to show up to try and take this, can you just start the fight and save me the trouble? It’s been a long morning, and I just wanna get this over with.”
I stared back at my reflection through their mirrored shades. Growing up, I always thought of myself as gangly and awkward. I could see my messed up hair, tousled from the wind. I stood tall, and although I wasn’t the buffest Ares kid around, you couldn’t call me skinny anymore. I looked almost heroic as I held the reins atop the chariot. Was that how I looked now? The godling shook their head as they chuckled, putting down their phone as they looked at me in the eyes.
“Kid, even for a god like Ares who likes conflict, you don’t do something like that in a temple. You can’t just attack his kid on his own grounds. Plus, it's part of the rules of war to respect neutralized zones. Trust me, you’re home free.”
“Oh. Um, thank you.”
He nodded and went back on his phone. I snapped on the reins and the chariot trotted along, even fire-breathing horses had to follow traffic laws apparently. I was on guard, not taking the godling’s words at face value. Mortals in a daze parted around the chariot, a few snapping pictures at me. I freaked out for a split second before I heard the tourists being in awe at what I heard to be a “vintage bomber”. Dumbfounded, I stopped for a brief second. It didn’t even have wings! But, I could see the mist shimmer around me and for a brief moment, see the silhouette of the plane around the chariot. It was an old fighter, a single propellor with flaming horse art on the nose.
“P-40B Warhawk? Alright, guess we’re working with that.”
I frowned a bit, trying to think if I knew that before this, from a school project or if it was more demigod shenanigans. I was never into fighter jets, but when you’re a demigod sometimes your parent’s godly influence shoves itself into your head and it’s always confusing when it does.
I drove the “plane” to the end of the pier, where I could see my dad sitting down on a barricade, blocking off a massive plane above him. It wasn’t used for war apparently, because I had no clue what type of plane it was. Looked cool though, it was really narrow around the nose end and the wings were all near the back end. He had a big wicked-looking combat knife in his hand that he used to clean his nails. He looked up at me, disinterestedly, before going back down to the knife.
“You’re alive.”
I couldn’t tell from his tone if that was a good or bad thing. It seemed… neutral. Like he was stating the sky was blue. But, overall I’d take that as a good thing, considering our last meeting. I spoke a bit warily, not sure if he was in a good or bad mood considering my victory.
“Uh, so Father. I’m finished with what you-”
“No. You’re not.”
“I’m not!? Do I need to do anything or-”
A moment of panic snuck up into my chest. For a brief moment I was afraid he was going to pull a twelve labors on me, but then he whistled and held out his hand.
“Not until you give me the keys kid, then it’s done.”
I hopped out of the chariot, the reins in my hand turning into keys as the horses went back into their motorcycle form. I somewhat clumsily tossed it to my dad, who grabbed it. He pushed himself off his perch, first making sure his motorcycle was unharmed. Then, he turned to me, eying me up and down as he circled around where I stood. I stood still, at attention as I felt my heart racing in my chest. I felt like a deer, cornered by a wolf just waiting to strike. Yet, the first pang of anxiety soon settled down. If he wanted to take care of me, he would have done so already. Or sent something more dangerous like a Drakon at me when I was driving. I felt my heart leap up into my throat as he clapped a big hand on my shoulder. The gesture wasn’t hostile, if anything, the motion seemed friendly. But his grip was anything but. His hand, like the claws of a tiger dug into my shoulder as he grinned at me.
“I have to say, I thought you were a lost cause, but look at you kid. Took you long enough, but I guess you have enough of me in you after all. Well, a late bloomer is better than being completely useless, but man! You were one of my most pathetic kids when you took that oath. I don’t think I had a kid as wimpy as you in a long time. Well, I’m glad my little nudge helped you keep that oath up after all. It would have been a waste of a perfectly good warrior if you didn’t shape up.”
I looked at him, dumbfounded. He helped me? He didn’t do anything! I wasn’t stupid enough to point it out, but I guess he knew what I was thinking as I felt his grip tighten as he growled.
“Come on, don’t give me that look, kid. Oh, don’t look so surprised. Tip of advice: don’t dip your toes into cards. You have a horrible poker face. Your mom was the same way. But, yes. I helped. Not that kids these days would understand. Parents these days are too soft, including most of us gods. Back in Sparta, we’d leave our kids to fend for themselves. Just give them barely enough food and let them hunt or steal the rest. If they end up dying in the hunt or starved, well that’s fine. They were too weak to do anything of note anyway. You should consider yourself lucky I was generous enough to just turn my back on you.”
He chuckled low, and my blood ran cold as he shook me. I shook my head, fighting off a wave of dizziness as he threatened to take off my arm.
“Oh, but that’s in the past! You passed your agōgē period, all by yourself. Now that is true strength.”
His evil grin widened as he gave me the closest thing to an approved look he’d ever given me. I furrowed my brow as I shook my head. This credit, it wasn’t mine to take, was it? Before I could think, I spoke what was on my mind.
“I’m sorry, but I didn’t do this by myself. Everywhere I went, I had someone to help me out. If it wasn’t for the help from my friends, I don’t think I would be standing here. I didn’t-”
My dad’s good mood instantly soured as his grin warped into a snarl. His grip, although somewhat friendly now seemed dangerously tight as he frustratingly interrupted me.
“Oh for the love of! I’m complimenting you, kid. Look. I don’t care about those other twerps one way or another. Allies are fine enough in war, as long as you don’t make them do all the work. Kid, you’ve gotten strong all on your own, like a true son of mine. Don’t deny you and me the kleos you rightfully deserve ever again. Shut up and just take the honor.”
“I…uh…yes, Dad.”
I was surprised that all it accounted to was a mild scolding. My dad, too seemed to calm down after I agreed with his words, as he went back to a smile. He put his hand back into his pocket as he started to walk up to his chariot. He ran his finger across the chrome finish, taking out a cloth and cleaning off my fingerprints from the metal.
“About your joyride. Not bad, not bad at all. It took you a bit to embrace your birthright, but you ended up not even scratching my ride. Nice. Nice. Saves me the trouble of buffing it out. Now, if you could only stop complaining at everything that opposed you. You’re a man, aren’t you David? Start acting like it. If you think a bag of bones and a pig are hard, just wait until your future. The stronger a warrior gets, the stronger their foes get. Make sure you’re strong enough to stand up against them before you end up a stain on the pavement.”
I heard the engine rev as he got into the seat. He threw a bag at me that I clumsily fumbled with before I fully caught it. I opened it, and a few golden drachmas shined back at me.
“Since your agōgē finished up, consider yourself un-cut off. Even I’m not heartless enough to leave a son of mine stranded in New York. Keep the rest. Feel free to hang around my temple, and help yourself to the gift shop if you want, it’s on the house, happy birthday and all that. Just don’t go overboard.”
He turned the motorcycle, wheeling it around so he could leave the pier. He turned around, giving me a few more parting words he shouted over the roar of the engine.
“Don’t think you’re done yet, David. You got a lot more to grow. Especially now that you can receive my blessings again. What, did you think that taking a good hit was all you can do? You’ll see sooner or later. See ya kid! Don’t disappoint me.”
He revved his engine one more time and took off, leaving me behind on the pier. As I watched my dad leave, I realized that with that resolved, the last of what made my Styx Oath so suffocating was finally finished. A part of me felt that I’d always keep the consequences of it with me. Either dad would continue to disown me, or I’d be horribly injured from my jobs. But, to my surprise, everything worked out alright. I worked as hard as I could, and now everything was over, truly over. I…wasn’t sure how I felt about it. I mean, like obviously I didn’t wanna have them with me for the rest of my life. But, for all of my oath’s lifespan I had the deadline looming overhead, and my expectation was that something would happen to me as a result. I was glad to have it over with, but I never felt that I could relax until now. The feeling of not having the anxiety of my imminent demise was something I wasn’t familiar with, and to be honest I still have trouble relaxing. As he disappeared into the afternoon traffic, I realized that, so too did my previous life.
Maybe…maybe I could afford to enjoy my life now after all.
OOC: And there we have it! The final David storymode relevant to this storyline! I meant to have this yesterday but I didn't see the modmail that gave me the okay until literally an hour ago oop. Which means that yes, the Chariot and Ares both are approved from the mods.
Big thank you to Tiffany's writer, angelspoint for helping me with her parts, I had a blast working with them! Hope you enjoyed David's Victory lap!

Hi, first time here. I'm sorry in advance for any mistakes in my writing, I'm spanish and my english skills are a little rusty lol
So I've (21F) been going on dates for 5 months with my current boyfriend (22M) but we only made it official a bit over a month ago. He's in the process of medically transitioning, he's on T and planning to get a mastectomy, but he's still saving up for that.
My family is a bit conservative and because of that I decided to not tell them anything so far. I've known I'm bisexual since I was 13 but I never told them because I didn't absolutely need to. They're not actively homophobic or anything but I've heard my mom say some homophobic comments about gays being "too open about their sexuality" and that "god created adam and eve" and that sort of things. Still, she's not against gay marriage or anything, and I'm sure she would eventually be okay with me being bisexual, I just never felt the need to tell her.
The thing is, some years ago I had a trans friend (ftm) and I made the mistake to tell my mom that he is trans. The moment I told her, she suddenly started confusing his pronouns, sometimes using she/her. And because in spanish every adjective is gendered, it was not just about pronouns... My mom never actually saw my friend in person, so she had no reason to confuse him with a girl by any means, it just seemed like the word "trans" made his gender less serious. I got mad at her when she misgendered him, and she sometimes corrected herself, but it kept happening. It seemed like she didn't actually believe he was a man. And this was just a friend I would hang out with sometimes.
I didn't plan on telling my mom (or anyone in my family) about my boyfriend being trans because of that. However, because my bf only started medically transitioning recently, he still gets misgendered by many people, in his workplace, in the street, by his mom, many places we go, he's perceived as a girl at times. Because of that, I'm really scared to bring him to my house and him meeting my family. I've shown them photos of him and there was no problem, they didn't perceive him as a girl. But I'm still scared that when they see him in person they will view him as a woman. And they will be quite confused.
I would rather wait until he's further into his transition, but the thing is my graduation is coming up very soon. I met my bf in uni so we're graduating together. My family will be there too and I guess them meeting at some point is bound to happen? Maybe nothing will happen, or maybe they see him and don't think anything of it (other than being surprised because he's quite short). But they might be very confused about his appearance and I don't want them to ask him uncomfortable questions. Or maybe they'll flat out perceive him as a girl and ask me why I didn't tell them and make a big deal out of it. Anything could happen.
So this is why I'm considering telling them in advance. After all I think it is very likely they will eventually know, unless we wait years for them to meet him (so he's finished his transition). But I don't know how to approach it. My parents are not bad tempered, but my mom is quite close minded - she already didn't like it when I dated a foreigner. I'm scared she will no longer see him as a man when I tell her he's trans, and that she'll keep misgendering him.
Besides, if she sees him as a girl, I would eventually need to come out as bisexual for them to understand, I guess? But I don't want this to be the reason why I come out. For all they know, I'm straight and they should respect the boy I am dating.

It really started yesterday when I heard about the ios update bringing back old photos. I called my dad asking for his password but I told him I was looking “for an old world file.” My mom and have had our suspicions before but when I unlocked the iPad the photos app was already open. I saw a video where he recorded his phone opening a sent video on WhatsApp of a woman showing her breasts. Before he opens that video I see their messages and they’re all sexual. I begin going through the iPad and I keep finding nude images of women, sometimes I found random pornography. I’m devastated because I love my dad but I can’t just pretend this isn’t happening either. I was thinking of telling one of my cousins so that he could possibly tell my aunt and uncle I just worry because they are on my dad’s side of the family and my mom would explode if I told her. Do I just confront him? Do I just tell my mom? What can I possibly do?

My catfish story - trigger warning talk of suicide and abuse
Soo this still lives rent free in my mind though its been about a year since loss of contact with said catfish. The emotional and mental damage that came from my experience still haunts me and the constant questions I have constantly cross my mind. Who was he? Why? Was anything real? What was the end goal? Are my pictures floating around? Did he sell photos of my son? That last one hits right in the mom guilt...
My story starts the end of 2019 early 2020. I was a new mom struggling with PPD on-top of my already bad depression, untreated ADHD, insomnia and my then husband was no help. For example I had issues with breastfeeding and would often try to nurse for a small amount of time then supplement with formula. One night I was going down to warm up the bottle after another failed attempt of nursing that night. It had been a difficult night and sleep at this time was none existent. I heard my son crying harder after a few moments and heard my ex yelling at him to stop crying. By the time I got upstairs I walked in on him shaking him out of frustration. I took my son, got him settled and fed them attempted to have a conversation with my ex about what happened and as per usual it ended in a verbal fight. I took over all night time wake times from this point forward. I took care of the house, cooking, cleaning, paying bills etc. it was a very hard time in my life and I started having small joints or bowls after giving up breastfeeding to help control my constant anxiety and sleep. I never did this when I was alone with my son and only once he was asleep at night. My ex began to get more and more verbally abusive in the relationship and my mental health took a downward spiral. He blamed my smoking for my lake of affection towards him, my baby weight staying on and causing me not to be a 10 among many other nasty things. He began to pressure me to quite and seek help for my addiction but for free and online as I needed to be home with my son and had minimal money. (My ex hide a huge amount of debt before we got married, had me build us a brand new home to fit his life style as I was fortunate to be in a good finical standing at that time so money was tight) So I joined an app called Sober grid. And that's how I met "Michael"....
So I joined as mentioned about late 2019 earlier 2020, I had received numerous messages on the app from people reaching out to support me becoming sober. Michael was one of them. He was sweet and extremely charming. He came off extremely carrying and empathetic to my situation. As time progressed we chatted more and more and it slowly became more about our personal life's then sobriety. He would make jokes, send memes, listen to me cry over my house situation.. basically became my best friend. We stopped talking on the app and moved to what up as we live in seperate countries but only a few hours apart (he is in the states and I am in Canada) . He began to open up about his personal situation, informing me of his childhood trauma and war traumas as he had been a marine during the height of the Afghan war. I was 27 at the time and he 33. He knew I was married and had a son. He would ask questions about my son, never anything to personal or sus and about my husband. Eventually we began talking on the phone, I was enjoying the feeling of being desired, being appreciated, being dodted on even though he was hours away, he always seemed to make time for me.
Eventually as you all can assume that friendship grew feelings. So I began an emotional affair seeking all the things I was missing and to supplement my lack of self love. We talked from sun rise to sun down. Text and phone calls. The feelings grew, the texts and phone calls became more and more intense and pictures were sent. He sent me millions of photos of himself in different cloths, doing different things, and they mostly matched what he said he was doing at the time. I attempted FaceTime a few times but things just didn't work out. I didn't think much of it as I was addicted to the feeling I was feeling and my mental health was a mess...
Things between my wx husband and I deterated. I was primary caregiver and 9months after having my son I had to return to work so we wouldn't lose our home and could afford food. Mat leave in Canada is 12-18months.. I opted 12 and returned early. At this point my mental health went further down the gutter, my ex and I were seperation and getting back together on repeat and constantly fighting. I am so glad my son will have no memories of this time due to being so young. My choices became worse and judgement continued to be clouded by this delusion that me and "Michael" would be together as he promised. In sept 2020 I began having suicidal ideation a believing I was a horrible human and mom and absolutely useless. I spent sometime in therapy and got medication but I didn't continued the treatments as in my mind once I get to make a plan and remove my marriage I can be with this person who makes me feel like a queen and talks to highly of my son.
I did send him a few photos of my son solo and some of me and him. Never anything exposing just mostly of us playing and what we were up to. He always spoke so kindly of my son, told me he wanted to be a bonus dad and take care of us.
Like I said, I really just ran past those flags..
In Jan 2021 everything in my life came to a crashing end. I ended up informing my ex of "Michael" and explained that this man was going to get himself killed because of me. At the time "Michael" had convinced me that he was going to rejoin the marines and remove himself from this situation n find peace in death as he couldn't live without me and couldn't commit suicide.. Due to the poor state my mental health came to a crashing point in this moment. My ex said some harsh things (deservingly so I was an idiot at this time - though he was abusive an ass what I did was wrong) and "Michael" walked away... I thought... To get himself killed because of me.
I ended up in a spiral and attempting suicide believing that was the only way out. Michael began calling and texting me off 2 numbers (his work and personal cell) to tell me he made a mistake and he wanted to stay in my life. I ended up on a form and in inpatient mental health unit for treatment. I was there for 4 days.
Upon discharge I attempted marriage counseling and personal counseling but things between myself and ex never improved only worsened. And "Michael" had gotten in contact with me and sweet talked his way back into my life..
I left my husband a few weeks later in 2021..
I fully committed to "Michael" and hung off his every word, photo and phone call. He spoke to my friends, my son, and sent me surprise flowers and pizza all the time. Though hours away always tried to look out for me...
This is when I started to become more aware of the flags. Through 2021 and the beginning of 2022 we continued down our path of on and off relationship, him always leaving and coming back. He said he was afraid of me leaving him over his PTSD and wounds from war. That's what he stated then.. the facetiming never happened, he always face timed when I was busy or never answered mine. I became aware of the toxicity that had began happening, him leaving saying he was not good enough for me and my son, me fighting, him coming back and promising me things and then repeat. One time he told me he had obtained a job in my area and was moving here. He was apparently here, completed some training and then the night we were to meet he chickened out and pulled one of his I'm not good enough, I'm a horrible person act as he always did. He would get jealous easy, he had found an inactive dating profile once from a period of time we were not talking and lost his mind. He called me "mo" as he always wanted more of me.
I could provide so many stories and examples of these fights, toxic behavior, red flags I ran past etc.
Then one day he told me he wasn't who he said he was, his storyline was true but the person was not. I asked him to explain and he covered it up with a war PTSD storey, foster home story or homeless teenage story that would distract me to thinking he ment personality wise and decency wise not looks.
I was very on my toes with him at this point but trusted him...why I do not know...
This continued till the end of 2022 when I bought a home and started to live life and not wait for him to join me. We slowly driftes apart as clearly after basically 2 years of this I was at a point where he needed to meet me or leave me.. in early 2023 all contact stopped. Not blocked but I had started treatment a few months earlier, got medicated and mentally stable.. I noticed the red flags and began calling him on them. Asking him about his pipe fitting at "Nicor" and how they let him leave to go to Ukraine. He was trying to convince me he had went to Ukraine to stand with them, text me as if he was there in war fighting to get back to me. Purposing to me over the phone, telling me he placed me as his beneficiary, giving me a marine number that would identify him and allow me access to his fund if something happened.
I did some digging as things just didn't add up. At this point I asked more questions and became more stand off.
This man never told me who he was, why, or that he was even a catfish.
He began to distance himself from me and I to him.
Later 2023 I found out about face ID websites and uploaded one of the images I still had of him just put of curiousity. He had never had any social media - told me he didn't like it but I'm assuming my guliable ass just fell for a lie there.
Well.... He was not in fact the person he sent me all those photos of.. I'm genuinely concerned how he got all these photos of this person he had so many different ones.. the person in those photos was an Italian soccer player..I attempted to confront him up n both numbers but have never recieved an answer. Just silence... He's never blocked me either and clearly still has the number as the person never responds.
I have come a very far way from who I was when I met this man. I have come even further since becoming more active in my mental health care. I am at the most stable I have ever been, the happiest I have ever been, and overall just happy with who I have grown into. I have done some stupid shit and this was probably the number one thing (though it did help me leave a horrific situation I should of handled it way better).
Don't be me.. ask the questions, do the face times and ask for all the proof. Don't be left haunted by a bad choice and if this person, who you have no idea what they look like, could be around you or your son. If your in an abusive relationship, find a safe way out and take your time to heal.
I hope someone who reads this avoids being dragged through it like I did and asks all the smart questions..
Remember it's not capture the flag ppl

Soo this still lives rent free in my mind though its been about a year since loss of contact with said catfish. The emotional and mental damage that came from my experience still haunts me and the constant questions I have constantly cross my mind. Who was he? Why? Was anything real? What was the end goal? Are my pictures floating around? Did he sell photos of my son? That last one hits right in the mom guilt...
My story starts the end of 2019 early 2020. I was a new mom struggling with PPD on-top of my already bad depression, untreated ADHD, insomnia and my then husband was no help. For example I had issues with breastfeeding and would often try to nurse for a small amount of time then supplement with formula. One night I was going down to warm up the bottle after another failed attempt of nursing that night. It had been a difficult night and sleep at this time was none existent. I heard my son crying harder after a few moments and heard my ex yelling at him to stop crying. By the time I got upstairs I walked in on him shaking him out of frustration. I took my son, got him settled and fed them attempted to have a conversation with my ex about what happened and as per usual it ended in a verbal fight. I took over all night time wake times from this point forward. I took care of the house, cooking, cleaning, paying bills etc. it was a very hard time in my life and I started having small joints or bowls after giving up breastfeeding to help control my constant anxiety and sleep. I never did this when I was alone with my son and only once he was asleep at night. My ex began to get more and more verbally abusive in the relationship and my mental health took a downward spiral. He blamed my smoking for my lake of affection towards him, my baby weight staying on and causing me not to be a 10 among many other nasty things. He began to pressure me to quite and seek help for my addiction but for free and online as I needed to be home with my son and had minimal money. (My ex hide a huge amount of debt before we got married, had me build us a brand new home to fit his life style as I was fortunate to be in a good finical standing at that time so money was tight) So I joined an app called Sober grid. And that's how I met "Michael"....
So I joined as mentioned about late 2019 earlier 2020, I had received numerous messages on the app from people reaching out to support me becoming sober. Michael was one of them. He was sweet and extremely charming. He came off extremely carrying and empathetic to my situation. As time progressed we chatted more and more and it slowly became more about our personal life's then sobriety. He would make jokes, send memes, listen to me cry over my house situation.. basically became my best friend. We stopped talking on the app and moved to what up as we live in seperate countries but only a few hours apart (he is in the states and I am in Canada) . He began to open up about his personal situation, informing me of his childhood trauma and war traumas as he had been a marine during the height of the Afghan war. I was 27 at the time and he 33. He knew I was married and had a son. He would ask questions about my son, never anything to personal or sus and about my husband. Eventually we began talking on the phone, I was enjoying the feeling of being desired, being appreciated, being dodted on even though he was hours away, he always seemed to make time for me.
Eventually as you all can assume that friendship grew feelings. So I began an emotional affair seeking all the things I was missing and to supplement my lack of self love. We talked from sun rise to sun down. Text and phone calls. The feelings grew, the texts and phone calls became more and more intense and pictures were sent. He sent me millions of photos of himself in different cloths, doing different things, and they mostly matched what he said he was doing at the time. I attempted FaceTime a few times but things just didn't work out. I didn't think much of it as I was addicted to the feeling I was feeling and my mental health was a mess...
Things between my wx husband and I deterated. I was primary caregiver and 9months after having my son I had to return to work so we wouldn't lose our home and could afford food. Mat leave in Canada is 12-18months.. I opted 12 and returned early. At this point my mental health went further down the gutter, my ex and I were seperation and getting back together on repeat and constantly fighting. I am so glad my son will have no memories of this time due to being so young. My choices became worse and judgement continued to be clouded by this delusion that me and "Michael" would be together as he promised. In sept 2020 I began having suicidal ideation a believing I was a horrible human and mom and absolutely useless. I spent sometime in therapy and got medication but I didn't continued the treatments as in my mind once I get to make a plan and remove my marriage I can be with this person who makes me feel like a queen and talks to highly of my son.
I did send him a few photos of my son solo and some of me and him. Never anything exposing just mostly of us playing and what we were up to. He always spoke so kindly of my son, told me he wanted to be a bonus dad and take care of us.
Like I said, I really just ran past those flags..
In Jan 2021 everything in my life came to a crashing end. I ended up informing my ex of "Michael" and explained that this man was going to get himself killed because of me. At the time "Michael" had convinced me that he was going to rejoin the marines and remove himself from this situation n find peace in death as he couldn't live without me and couldn't commit suicide.. Due to the poor state my mental health came to a crashing point in this moment. My ex said some harsh things (deservingly so I was an idiot at this time - though he was abusive an ass what I did was wrong) and "Michael" walked away... I thought... To get himself killed because of me.
I ended up in a spiral and attempting suicide believing that was the only way out. Michael began calling and texting me off 2 numbers (his work and personal cell) to tell me he made a mistake and he wanted to stay in my life. I ended up on a form and in inpatient mental health unit for treatment. I was there for 4 days.
Upon discharge I attempted marriage counseling and personal counseling but things between myself and ex never improved only worsened. And "Michael" had gotten in contact with me and sweet talked his way back into my life..
I left my husband a few weeks later in 2021..
I fully committed to "Michael" and hung off his every word, photo and phone call. He spoke to my friends, my son, and sent me surprise flowers and pizza all the time. Though hours away always tried to look out for me...
This is when I started to become more aware of the flags. Through 2021 and the beginning of 2022 we continued down our path of on and off relationship, him always leaving and coming back. He said he was afraid of me leaving him over his PTSD and wounds from war. That's what he stated then.. the facetiming never happened, he always face timed when I was busy or never answered mine. I became aware of the toxicity that had began happening, him leaving saying he was not good enough for me and my son, me fighting, him coming back and promising me things and then repeat. One time he told me he had obtained a job in my area and was moving here. He was apparently here, completed some training and then the night we were to meet he chickened out and pulled one of his I'm not good enough, I'm a horrible person act as he always did. He would get jealous easy, he had found an inactive dating profile once from a period of time we were not talking and lost his mind. He called me "mo" as he always wanted more of me.
I could provide so many stories and examples of these fights, toxic behavior, red flags I ran past etc.
Then one day he told me he wasn't who he said he was, his storyline was true but the person was not. I asked him to explain and he covered it up with a war PTSD storey, foster home story or homeless teenage story that would distract me to thinking he ment personality wise and decency wise not looks.
I was very on my toes with him at this point but trusted him...why I do not know...
This continued till the end of 2022 when I bought a home and started to live life and not wait for him to join me. We slowly driftes apart as clearly after basically 2 years of this I was at a point where he needed to meet me or leave me.. in early 2023 all contact stopped. Not blocked but I had started treatment a few months earlier, got medicated and mentally stable.. I noticed the red flags and began calling him on them. Asking him about his pipe fitting at "Nicor" and how they let him leave to go to Ukraine. He was trying to convince me he had went to Ukraine to stand with them, text me as if he was there in war fighting to get back to me. Purposing to me over the phone, telling me he placed me as his beneficiary, giving me a marine number that would identify him and allow me access to his fund if something happened.
I did some digging as things just didn't add up. At this point I asked more questions and became more stand off.
This man never told me who he was, why, or that he was even a catfish.
He began to distance himself from me and I to him.
Later 2023 I found out about face ID websites and uploaded one of the images I still had of him just put of curiousity. He had never had any social media - told me he didn't like it but I'm assuming my guliable ass just fell for a lie there.
Well.... He was not in fact the person he sent me all those photos of.. I'm genuinely concerned how he got all these photos of this person he had so many different ones.. the person in those photos was an Italian soccer player..I attempted to confront him up n both numbers but have never recieved an answer. Just silence... He's never blocked me either and clearly still has the number as the person never responds.
I have come a very far way from who I was when I met this man. I have come even further since becoming more active in my mental health care. I am at the most stable I have ever been, the happiest I have ever been, and overall just happy with who I have grown into. I have done some stupid shit and this was probably the number one thing (though it did help me leave a horrific situation I should of handled it way better).
Don't be me.. ask the questions, do the face times and ask for all the proof. Don't be left haunted by a bad choice and if this person, who you have no idea what they look like, could be around you or your son. If your in an abusive relationship, find a safe way out and take your time to heal.
I hope someone who reads this avoids being dragged through it like I did and asks all the smart questions..
Remember it's not capture the flag ppl

Hi Everyone! As titled I'm very noob when it comes to sport watches. I owned an Apple Watch for the majority of my "tech, adult" life but I have recently decided to sell it (gen 1 ultra) thinking I was going back to my trusty SS series 7. Mom needed it though to replace her small-ish 40mm, Series 5 so I gave it to her.
Was gonna buy a second-hand or refurb one, but I recalled that I already had a Polar Vantage M lying around somewhere. Surprise surprise it still works after being in a drawer for at least 2+ years.
Sooooo I said to myself "you need to workout more and be more active bla bla" and yea yea for casual stuff the AW is awesome but surprise surprise it's barely 1.5-ish day of battery life and tooooo damn distracting. Also, very subjective, and please don't roast me but where I live everyone seems to own an Apple Watch and I kinda hate being so generic with my tech (please don't roast me). I still rock an awesome green iPhone 13 mini, actually I'm kinda used to being roasted for using it till date but that's hopefully another story for another day.
I'm temporarily daily-ing (for two days so far) the Polar. Kinda used to its chunky case and awful lag but hey it works well and there are some stuff about Polar's approach that I kinda admire namely FitSpark.
So I was thinking let's find a decent alternative to the M, so I started looking at Pacer & Pacer Pro which both seem decent for the price, but I'm also underwhelmed by their battery life and overall design (subjective I know).
Started to look into Garmins but I'm really sorry nothing appeals to me from both design and available choices (very weird to say I know) standpoints.
So I said, why not stick to what you "know" and just get a Polar!
NO.
That's when I came across Suunto! Watched videos and reviews yada yada but something I didn't quite find an answer to was if there's something that mimics Polar's FitSpark on Suunto.
Currently eying the 9 peak pro ( I have small man wrists) or the AMOLED (yummy) Race. What do you all think?
Apologies for the hopefully non-boring long a$$ post!
Cheers from the hot land of -redacted-!

I(16F) have always been a picky eater, and only eat food i am comfortable with (safe foods) I do not usually experiment with food. There was a time where i ate ramen every day for lunch. recently my dad (he dose made cookies, but not regular sugar cookies (safe food) but oat cookies with raisins. i tried to avoid them but today he forced me to eat half it was disgusting and i felt like throwing up. later he called me downstairs and told me to finish the other half i tried to keep it down but ended up throwing up he than gave me another cookie but to nobodies surprise i threw it up again. he than told me that " being a picky eater dose not make me special" i got mad at him and told him if his cooking didn't suck than maybe i wouldn't have thrown up my mom told me to apologize but i said I'm not sorry so why should i apologize
PS sorry if my English sucks I'm also sorry if their is not enough punctation English is not my first language
So, Reddit am i the A-hole

I was having a conversation with someone that basically went like
Me: Oh yeah I saw that on a Reddit video
Them: Not Reddit?
Me: Nah, I'm not big on Reddit. I mostly use it to look at childfree and whatisthisbug. Anything else is really just convenience posting if I have content for it
Them: You have Reddit and primarily use it for childfree????
Me: ... Yeah? And whatisthisbug, like I said
Them: Ew, why are you in a community for not having kids?
Me: Because I don't want kids lol
Them: But that place is only like, 50 year old guys, teenagers, and menopausal women
Me: Woah, that's not fully true. There's genders and age ranges for everyone, but a large majority of posts I see are young women between 18 and 35.
Them:
Me: You'd be surprised how normal it is for any age or gender to not be interested in having kids. Lots of young women are deciding not to be parents
Them: I like humansbeingbros and other wholesome reddits
The abrupt topic change told me I caught their argument, but at first I was really taken aback. It's so normalized in my life to be childfree and to talk with other childfree people that I forget it's not as normalized to the rest of the world and it confuses people who aren't.
I'm not really afraid to talk about it and voice my childfree choice, so sometimes I meet people that have a different reaction.
I wish it was more normal to talk about and be open with. If moms can sit in a circle to drink wine and talk about their kids I should be able to do the same and talk about not having kids. I really can't understand why even just mentioning childfree (and the community) is met with such a stigma. Plus, even if the collective group age/gender was this person's idea of it, what's so wrong with that? Teens and older adults making a choice to not have kids doesn't automatically invalidate it because of their age either.