Over the course of my 4 year marriage to my partner, I have arrived at the position that I was abused, manipulated, and functionally enslaved to a mentally ill partner.
In simplest form, the progression is apparently observable. She was diagnosed with cancer in October of 2019 while we were engaged. Due to the diagnosis, we moved up our actual marriage date (our wedding was still set for mid-April) to December 1, 2019. Her surgery was December 13, 2019. In my compassion for her, I agreed to move our wedding date up to offset her anxiety around who would be responsible for her if things went south with her surgical treatment.
Our first month of marriage was straightforward; she was on pain meds recovering from surgery, so the main engagement that occurred was me walking her up and down the hospital hallway as she recovered and trying to meet her base physical needs of hygiene, food, and presence. We stayed in the hospital for 2-3 weeks (with recurring hospital visits for complications).
Quickly after we figured out our marital living situation in her small 3-bed apartment with 2 roommates, our relationship devolved. Specifically, she was irritable because of the pain she was in, causing her to lash out at me with regular frequency for small things. If I didn’t put clothes away in the right place, didn’t anticipate her needs (without her communicating them), or ate the wrong food in front of her she would shout at me and decry me for my thoughtlessness.
These small, critical engagements were wounding and created a distance between us – and there was no upside. She was never kind, never paid mind to needs I might have, and started down a path of cultivating a root of bitterness in her soul. She quickly revealed herself to be venomous, hateful, and vindictive when she felt like she was wronged — and any observation of concern about our marriage resulted me in being accused of being mean or insensitive, even if I spent hours or days calculating the best way to share my concern (and I have a master’s degree in communication where I focused in studying disagreement — I know how to carefully package concerns).
During this time, I worked hard to provide for us, foreseeing a significant time period where I would have to be primary financial provider and caregiver. I increased my income each year we were married by around 25%, finishing our marriage at >$80,000 in yearly income, compared to starting our marriage at a modest $42,000 salary (including dramatically improving our healthcare). Frankly, I increased my income to provide for us in spite of the lack of support at home.
But to be clear: I don’t think it would have been particularly difficult to provide financially if I had an ounce of support at home.
However, the relentless criticism and expectation of mind-reading continued through the years. I rationalized this abuse for the first year of our marriage because of all the excuses to be cruel, she had a good one – she had cancer. I hung onto a hope that it would stop. Contrary to my hope, as the years went on – and our expenses climbed – and I continued to work myself to the bone – she continued to relentlessly critique and even started being more emotionally demanding, expecting me to take responsibility for her inability to cope with her emotions – I was drowning. She was asking too much of me. There was no deliverance from her abuse.
I was exhausted. In the peak of the abuse I endured at her hand, I was working multiple jobs, sleeping 10+ hours a night and napping frequently during the day around meetings and work, then coping with alcohol to numb myself to the abusive dynamic and fall asleep with no support from her. The only time I could approach her sexually was when I was intoxicated, with inhibitions lowered. The only time I could have a conversation with her was with a counselor in the room. Without something to mitigate opportunity for her to be cruel to me, either a mediator or self-medication, I was scared.
I lived at home in a constant state of alert and cognitive fatigue. No matter how I tried to make sense of my home life, I couldn’t. When she looked at or touched me, I would recoil in fear, anticipating some sort of incisive critique or demand expressed. Then she would criticize me for not responding warmly to her, exacerbating the cycle.
I couldn’t meet her needs – I was utterly exhausted. When I would tell her of the exhaustion I experienced in marital counseling, her responses were typically something along the lines of not believing me, denying what I was saying was true, or calling my exhaustion an ‘excuse’. I could interact happily with my friends… why not her?
I did not deny her demands were legitimate; rather, I expressed my inability to meet them because of how fatigued I was. I said ‘I can’t’ so many times. I realize her demands were small; affection, saying ‘i love you’, complimenting her. But it’s disorienting to be consistently berated and belittled by a person and then asked to compliment them and tell them you love them.
The push and pull of abuse is exhausting to a person who is not mentally because it does not make sense.
Further, in counseling I realized that I have forgotten that I have needs. I have lost the tools to even evaluate what my needs might be because, implicitly and explicitly in my marriage, I was told my needs don’t matter.
My marriage made no sense; I was obviously drowning, exhausted with the demands our life imposed on me. I was doing everything I could to get straight. I was in individual therapy, marital counseling, pastoral counseling, trying different antidepressants (4 in total – all with no effect), changing eating habits, trying to reduce my drinking, getting medical tests to see if I had health issues causing my fatigue, and being vulnerable in my friendships in an attempt to invite others in to process and move forward and figure out my marriage. I desperately shared everything I could about my marriage, hoping someone else would crack the code where I couldn’t.
None of my efforts worked. I could not get out of the exhausted state I was in. It’s worth noting here that within weeks of separating I almost completely cut out alcohol, got into a regular sleep schedule, was waking up at 6-7am every day and reading multiple hours (which I couldn’t do in marriage due to cognitive fatigue/distraction), and experienced a resurgence of energy. I have felt the duress I was under lift and lift and lift and the weeks and months have went on.
In retrospect, I was experiencing cognitive fatigue because I was taking the demands my wife was placing on me seriously, but no matter what I did I could not make sense of them. How could she not see that I was doing everything I could to make ends meet – the ends which she was imposing on me? I did not have additional energy left. She would ask me ‘Do you love me?’ and I didn’t know how to respond. How is my work not at least some symbol of love? My dream was to be a poor professor, which she knew – instead I was grinding myself to the bone, working in digital marketing with multiple freelance projects, picking up a bartending gig and a teaching gig on top of full-time employment.
The last straw was when she accused me of abuse. I took that accusation seriously, and weighed it against my experience. ‘Am I an abuser?’ I asked myself. I sorted through my behavior and how I treated her. I came to the conclusion that I may be a poor husband in serious ways; but I am not an abuser. And the abuse question opened the door to the question… ‘I may not be an abuser… but is there abuse in our marriage?’ And the answer quickly became ‘Yes.’
When we were married, I understood that she wasn’t going to work much for a while. However, she worked the bare minimum she could for 4 years, earning at most in a single year $18,000. As the years went on and my income climbed, our debt continued to climb as well. She was still contributing the same, yet spending frivolously on useless knick knacks for our home and a cat. As I packed up our home to sell, the majority of items were dozens of boxes of useless junk she’d accumulated.
She lived a life of mania around finances. We would go to marital counseling and she would regularly express, ‘I would rather be poor and happy than rich and sad’. We were poor and sad. Sure, my income was the highest it’d ever been – but we were still drowning, with debts climbing. At the end of our marriage, we’d accumulated about $20,000 in consumer debt between credit cards and personal loans.
It was traumatizing (and abusive) to go to counseling and be told by my partner she would ‘rather be poor and happy and than rich and sad’ when the factual scenario we were living was neither. She actively denied reality – both my lived experience and the reality of our finances – at my expense. It was killing me, trying to make sense of what we were going through but being unable to make sense of what I was being told and what I was experiencing.
Throughout this time, it is worth adding that she also leveraged my spiritual leadership to ‘set me straight’. I was in a conservative Evangelical space, believing that men are the ultimate provider in a family unit and primarily responsible for the status of the marriage. Because I was not doing what she wanted me to (lavishing her with affection), I was muscled into multiple groups and meetings where pastoral care intervened to restore our marriage. In the moment, I submitted to my pastoral care because of my trust for them and my faith in God. Now, I believe this dynamic was abusive; my pastoral care did not care in any sense for my soul; they only cared about fixing my marriage. No questions around ‘why’ my marriage was so bad were asked; only what was going on and how it could be fixed. I relish the thought of my pastoral care being held accountable for the abuse they exercised upon me during this time on judgment day, albeit through a shaken faith in a God that would enable this dynamic.
With my spiritual community, I shared that I felt like she was my tormentor; that she it felt as if I were on the ground due to exhaustion, and she was standing on my throat, telling me to ‘get up’ and ‘tell me you love me’; that our metaphorical life was a boat, sinking, and I was desperately bailing out water. All the while, she stood at the other end of the boat, desperately bailing water in and looking at me like I was a maniac.
And yet, because there was no adultery, there was no category for divorce. We had sworn an oath before God and were required to fix this.
As I reflect upon my marriage (and the ongoing divorce proceedings), a few things are clear.
She is an abuser. I don’t think she intends to be, but impact matters. She is mentally ill and unable to reckon with basic reality.
She is a manipulator. She manipulated my spiritual community against me. I was viewed as someone to be corrected while begging for help from my trusted friends and pastoral care, whom I now regret being vulnerable with due to their abuse and denial of my reality because I didn’t fit neatly into their thin theological categories.
She is an enslaver. In divorce proceedings, she is doing everything she can to get every dollar from me, leveraging student loans I did not co-sign, my continually increasing income due to my hard work, and denying every claim of dissipated assets she can.
It is truly a mind-breaking experience to see your compassion leveraged against you for money. I had to sit under an attorney proclaiming to a judge that, since I consented to move up our marriage date before her cancer surgery, ‘I knew what I was getting into’. That she is entitled to large sums of money (that do not exist; we never had more than $3000 in our bank account during marriage) due to that decision.
Even apart from the abuse, I did not know what I was getting into. Including the abuse, I am full of remorse for having invited such an evil, hateful person into my life.
This experience has been the most challenging to my faith. As I endured abuse from her, I trusted God in a few ways. That the compassion I showed would maybe be rewarded – or, at least not punished. That my spiritual community wanted what was best for me. That God was not a punitive, hateful God (like my partner). I do not believe this trust was well placed, but am open to shortcomings in my views here.
I struggle to consent to a God that allowed my experience to occur. I’m open and processing in some kind of faith, but I really don’t know what it looks like to find a place to put this pain and betrayal that I’m experiencing.
I am a survivor of abuse, and the abuse I endured was mind-shattering. I sacrificed everything to support a partner diagnosed with serious bodily illness, which drove her to hate me and deny my lived experience because she could not reconcile it with the hatefulness she cultivated over our marriage, choosing bitterness over any positivity for four years, poisoning my well-being in the process.
What I envisioned to be the most compassionate moment of my life — marrying a person with cancer and promising to support and love them — has become nothing but a symbol of pain and remorse. I envisioned a life where my partner and I would fight against the terror of cancer; instead she hopped to the other side, choosing her ongoing health issues as the ally and myself as the enemy.
It took me 4 years to realize it. And as she drags me through court to leverage every dollar out of me I can, my only regret is that I didn’t leave my abuser to her own devices sooner; self-pity, hatefulness, and a sheer disregard toward taking responsibility for anything.
I am grateful but drowning. As we are negotiating settlement, the end is near, and my abuser will soon be unable to execute any influence in my life.

Long Rant here and i dont really care if i get downvoted or banned.
But what the fuck are we celebrating?
Oh yeah, we fucked our country to the point where our own Tamil brothers and sisters (with whom weve lived side by side with for good portions of the last 2000 years), felt like they had no choice but to pick up a g*n and start a war. And then have that war destory the entire island for 30 years. And then only have the war end in the death of tens of thousands of innocent civilians.
Yeah go us! /s
WTF is wrong with everyone? The fact that people celebrate this as "Victory" Day is not only so unbelievably insensitive but just proves that our people havent learnt SHIT.
Im not saying you have to be spineless and lick the ass of LTTE either. They did fucked up shit to Sinhala people and Muslim people (including ethnic cleansing, bombings and all the other fucked up stuff), and even Tamil people too. There is a time and place for that criticism too.
But my god, look at things in context. There were at least 4 seperate pogroms against Tamils prior to the war. When Tamils protested peacefully, they were violently assaulted or ignored.
Ill tell you a story of one of my uncles. He is one of dads oldest friends. This is a man who has known me since birth and i have photos of me sitting on his lap when I was a kid.
A few years ago my dad told me of what happened to this uncle during Black July '83. He was hiding in a drain on the side of the road desperately trying to avoid being found by the racist murderous mobs of Sinhala rioters.
Can you imagine that? A human being hiding in a drain because he was that scared?
Its very easy to say LTTE this, Tamil Diaspora this etc etc. But all of this is a symptom of what the country has created. The cruelty we have inflicted upon them.
For a country apparently based on "Buddhism" and protecting the "values of the Dhamma", we sure do a great job of showing absolutely zero compassion for people when it becomes slightly inconvenient.
I dont know how well I expressed myself but here are a few quotes from Lasantha Wickramatunge, a Sinhala journalist who was allegedly assassinated by the Government in 2009. These quotes are still relevant today.
"we have consistently espoused the view that while separatist terrorism must be eradicated, it is more important to address the root causes of terrorism, and urged government to view Sri Lanka’s ethnic strife in the context of history and not through the telescope of terrorism. We have also agitated against state terrorism in the so-called war against terror, and made no secret of our horror that Sri Lanka is the only country in the world routinely to bomb its own citizens. For these views we have been labelled traitors, and if this be treachery, we wear that label proudly."
"What is more, a military occupation of the country’s north and east will require the Tamil people of those regions to live eternally as second-class citizens, deprived of all self respect. Do not imagine that you can placate them by showering “development” and “reconstruction” on them in the post-war era. The wounds of war will scar them forever, and you will also have an even more bitter and hateful Diaspora to contend with. A problem amenable to a political solution will thus become a festering wound that will yield strife for all eternity. If I seem angry and frustrated, it is only because most of my countrymen - and all of the government - cannot see this writing so plainly on the wall."

I'm never really active on reddit but I've decided to write this post about some of my thoughts and experiences as an ex-muslim atheist for almost 10 years who lived his entire life in Egypt, I'm gonna talk about some of my life aspects and how they're affected by my beliefs and how I coped with some of the hardships and challenges being an atheist in this society. So let's think about it as part venting part sharing experiences for anyone whom it might be helpful to.
A bit about my background:
I come from a lower middle class family, Like many Egyptians from such class, I never received the best education, my entire education up until college was in Arabic and most teachers always found a way to teach you some of the Islamic values somehow, being indoctrinated from a young age creates fears in a kid's mind, such as fears from the afterlife, fears from the supernatural and fears from the Islamic apocalypse and the horrific pictures drawn to us which was repeatedly being to reassured to be happening soon. As I grow older and more rational, those things bothered me less with time, I soon realized that it's all nonsense and with time, any feeling that this might be slightly true has vanished, now I'm more concerned about normal adult stuff, like economy, war and the possibility of dying alone....
I've become an atheist in my late teens and now that I'm in my late twenties, the process of leaving the religion itself wasn't that emotionally tough for me particularly, but the difficulty comes from being different in this society, having to hide parts of you from your family and friends is always the toughest part, although my journey wasn't that emotional, I still stuck to some of the Islamic ideas even after deciding to stop believing, after all, it's the one idea that I was brought up to believe, that however faded as time passed and I clung less to this religion as I found out more about it.
Although I was never that open about my beliefs, I've just recently been trying to be a bit more open about them with more people (of course trustworthy people) even if they're not close friends and they don't share the same views, but I try to be careful with the family, although they're not gonna hurt me in anyway, I'm afraid knowing that about me might hurt them, which I find tough, having to hide parts of you from your family, but I'd say try to be as smart as you can regarding that. And of course I try to hide it as much as possible with people I work with, but sometimes some stuff slips through the cracks and it can't be helped, but I don't think it's very wise letting them suspect anything.
I've made some friends years ago who share the same beliefs, or are open minded enough to accept them, but I find my social life unfulfilling now, I'm kinda picky when it comes to people anyway, and finding people who share the same values and who you like is even harder, then you have to invest the energy to build a friendship with them, but I'm lucky enough to have those few people in my life, but it's very hard making friends in this country who I can connect with.
Relationships are much of the same as friendships, it's hard finding a suitable partner in this society, because your mutual values aren't everything, you'll need connection and chemistry and shared life goals, so yeah it's not easy.
How I coped with depression and loneliness:
I've had depression years ago, accompanied by low self-esteem, self hatred, feeling of uselessness, social anxiety and crippling shyness, and I was able to overcome a great deal of those with time and perseverance, some of the things I did was learning new things, new talents helped me boost my self confidence and feel better about myself, even it seemed hard, I just kept going. Realizing my value as a human being helped me a lot, even things as simple as being able to break out of the norm and think for myself is something not everyone does, being able to introspect and realize you were wrong is a very valuable thing on itself, of course everyone has different strengths and weakness, but if you're reading this far, I advise you to think about things that make you special and work on improving them.
Other things that helped me where some philosophies like Stoicism, Stoicism philosophy revolves around that life is gonna be tough, but you'll be able to endure it. Look it up if you're not familiar with it.
That's gonna be it I guess, hopefully this was an enjoyable read and I hope it was of help.

Hey all!
My second (much shorter) script!
This is based on real events. My childhood dog was put to sleep when I was sat in a bar one time, and the barmaid who served me was so lovely to me about it. She had some mutual friends that I knew and posted about me on Facebook afterwards. I never forgot how nice she was, and was really sad to learn she died a few years back in a car accident :(
In honour of her, and the kindness of strangers, I put together this little script below.
I doubt anyone will want to, but open for YouTube/Patreon etc and monetization. Just credit and link to me :)
Sound of clinking glasses. Maybe some background noise but the bar isn’t too busy.

Barmaid
Hey, what can I get you? Pint of lager? Sure thing, coming up.

Sound of pint being poured.

Barmaid
There you go. [specifies the price – the currency of your country] Thankyou.

Sound of drink being drunk quickly.

Barmaid
Are you okay? Sorry, don’t mean to pry, but you look a little down.

Sound of a phone ringing. More clinking glasses for a second.

Barmaid
A shock of straight whisky? Urm, okay. Here you go. Look, are you sure you’re okay? It’s just, you’re on your own, it’s midday, and you’re downing whisky. Plus, don’t often see people your age in here.
(softly)
You may have noticed, our cliental is a bit older than you.
(louder)
No offence, Brian. You still look no older than 50!
(softly)
I swear that guy was coming in here before they invented the TV.

Sound of a drink being drunk quick. A bit of a gasp.

Barmaid
Yeah, that stuff is pretty grim on it’s own. Would you like some water? What was that? Oh no, really? I’m so sorry hon.
(voice softens)
When did it happen? Just now? That was your Dad on the phone? Oh, honey, that’s really sad. I don’t think a lot of people fully appreciate how much pets are a big part of our life. Here, let me get you some water.

Sound of water being poured.

Barmaid
There you go. Drink that. Trust me. You’re too young to be downing whisky like this. It’s okay, you can have a little cry if you want. Nobody’s going to mind here. We’re really not that busy. I just need to dry these glasses.
(beat)
Nope, I don’t have a pet. My arsehole landlord won’t allow them! My mum has a cat though. To be honest, he’s a right vicious sod. Scratched my arm last week. But she loves him to bits. He gets better food than I do! Was yours a cat, or… a dog? Aww, I love dogs! They’re tying, but they bring so much love to a house. What breed was yours?
(beat)
A boxer girl? Aww, they’re awesome dogs! So funny. Great with kids. I’m guessing you were young when you got her?
(beat)
10? Aww man, I’m jealous. I always wanted a dog but mum always said no. Said they were too messy, but I could have a goldfish. Won one at a fair once. Ended up down the toilet two days later. Sorry, I know I’m rambling on. Do you want to be alone?
(beat)
Well, I’m just here then. You can tell me about your girl if you like. What was her name?
(beat)
Sorry, I misheard… Crotchet? That’s an, urm, unusual name. If you don’t mind me asking… oh, you mean like the music note? Ahh I see! You play piano? Your sister’s idea, eh? No, it isn’t silly! Come on, my mum’s cat is called Miss Kitty Fantastico. Yeah, really. No, I don’t know either.
(beat)
You got her when she was eight weeks old? Aww I bet she was so cute! Yeah, I’d love to see a photo! Aww, look at her! I bet she followed you guys around everywhere! I can see her in the sea there with you two! Dogs love swimming, don’t they? Oh, boxers not really a big fan of it? Looks like she didn’t want to leave you guys alone in the scary water then! Bet you’ve got lots of stories about her. What, a ‘famous poop’?
(beat)
Oh my god, no way! So your mum picked her up mid-poop to try and stop her? Bet it went all over her carpet! Haha, I’m not surprised she was fuming! Sure she was a good girl when she got older, though?
(beat)
Haha really? She just sat down mid-walk and refused to move? You know, my uncle had an old lab once that used to do that. They’d get half way up a hill near his house and his dog would just sit and stare at him. He wouldn’t budge until my uncle turned round, then he’d jump up like a snake had bit him. He was called Bullet.
(beat)
Yeah, Bullet slowed down a lot as he got older too. Couldn’t be bothered to get out of his chair. Crotchet was the same? Bet she thought she was royalty. Awww, look at her on the sofa. Yeah honey, she does look a bit ill there. That’s her last photo? Aww, bless her.
Well, from those pics it really looks like she had a great life. She was clearly adored by you all. It does suck that we have to lose them so soon, but if she was in pain then at least she is at peace now. Aww, it’s okay, please don’t worry. You have a little cry. There, there. It’s okay.
(beat)
It’s hard today, but eventually you’ll focus on the good times. The times in the park, that day on the beach, her ‘famous poop’. You were blessed to have her there with you to grow up with. Bet she didn’t like it when you cried, did she? She wouldn’t want you to be sad. And I’m a firm believer that the ones we love never truly leave us. You feel sad now, but just picture here there, watching over you and wagging her tail.
It’s probably the last thing you want to think about now, but one day you may get another pet. They’ll be different, but they’ll also do little things that remind you of Crotchet, and you’ll smile to yourself. My uncle got a little Dalmatian called Freddie and they’re inseparable. It’s kinda funny.
(beat)
Okay honey. You go. Take care of yourself, and I’m sorry for your loss.

For context, this story happened nearly 3 years ago, however a recent late-night conversation with a friend made it clear to me that the repercussions of this incident are still being felt to this day.
I (25M) met my now-ex girlfriend (25F), whom I will be assigning the fake name "Anne," when we were both 17 at our small town high school in semi-rural Georgia. Our romantic relationship began following our senior prom which we attended together. Despite our approaching high school graduations, the two of us decided that we could make our relationship work beyond high school and into college since we would both be attending different universities in the same city. We each grew up in typical southern protestant traditions and casually held onto some sort of religious beliefs. I, myself, have always identified religiously as something of a deist, meaning I believed (and still do to this day) that some sort of higher entity, force, or meaning was responsible for existence. Anne, at that time, would have self-identified as a Christian and attended church semi-regularly, however it was never a significant part of her life or attitude toward the world.
Shortly after we both began our new lives as college students in an unfamiliar city, Anne expressed that she would like to search for a new church to attend regularly as it helped create a sense of community and belonging for her which she had been missing since moving away from home. I strongly encouraged this, since I wanted her to be able to make friends and discover herself philosophically. The church that caught her attention was a non-denominational "modern" church that seemed to emphasize community at least on a surface level basis. However, out of curiosity, I took a look at the church's website and did notice a few mentions of "Pentecostal experience", which worried me since my only knowledge of Pentecostals was rumors of snake handling, especially in the more rural areas of the South. However, I chose to not be too judgmental upfront and continued to encourage her to find herself and meet new people.
Over the next few months, Anne started to spend more and more time devoted to bible studies and attending gatherings for women at the church. She specifically asked me not to accompany her on Sunday services since, as she put it, the elder members of the church would not act too kindly about unmarried woman "dragging around" some unfamiliar man who was not her husband. It became clear pretty quickly that she was becoming more than just a casual Christian and I supported this, however we did not talk much about the specifics of what she was being taught at this church.
This all came to a head when one night, Anne asked me if she could pray over me in something she called a "spiritual language." Having only ever heard vaguely of speaking in tongues, I obliged. I sat next to her on my couch and watched as she raised one hand and began quietly chanting in complete gibberish. My heart immediately sank in discomfort and fear but I was too stunned to do anything. so I just sat and watched for several minutes until she finally went quiet. All I could do or say was tell her that I appreciated her thoughtfulness and went about my day.
Pretty soon, the behaviors and acts became more and more extreme. Her "tongues" became louder and more intense and began to include violent shakes and lots (and I mean LOTS) of crying. She spoke of seeing "signs" and hearing "the voice of God" in a very literal sense. Her grades in college even began to suffer as more and more of her time was devoted to these newfound beliefs. Naturally, I became extremely worried that she was slowly slipping into some sort of paranoid delusional psychosis. At the very least, these teachings made her into a much angrier and more paranoid person. It was clear that her new beliefs were more than just a spiritual awakening but also a nose-dive into a mental health crisis.
Our relationship, at this point, was very clearly waning but my feelings toward the woman I once knew were still strong. I decided that it was time for an intervention of sorts. This resulted in me spending a whole weekend studying Pentecostal beliefs and reading Reddit stories from ex-Pentecostals about what it took to break them out of their conditioning. It was on a Monday night when I invited her over to my apartment to confront her about how the things her church were teaching her were actively harming her and even presented her with evidence of how these churches prey on mentally unwell people and how "speaking in tongues" was nothing more than an experience in her own brain chemicals. While I had hoped that hearing her new beliefs be directly confronted would help break the spell they had on her, it seemed to have no effect. Surprisingly, she did not fight back or show much anger toward my confrontation, instead resorting to the "please respect my beliefs" argument that made it so hard to push back against, since, at this time, I was still concerned about preserving our relationship.
Unfortunately, things only got worse from here. I spent some time trying to ignore the issue for the sake of the relationship, especially because I did not sense that I had many other romantic options given my shy nature and struggles to make new friends at college. However, my new "ignorance is bliss" approach to our relationship did not last long. At this point, we had been together for about 3 years and the conversation of marriage and kids started to become serious. I have always wanted kids since I come from a large family with many siblings, which Anne seemingly was excited about as well. However, after a pleasant conversation in which we fantasized about what we would name our children, she said something that sparked an anger in me that I did not often feel. She told me that if any of our future children came out to us as gay, lesbian, bi, transgender, or anything like that, that we would have to disown that child at all costs and that she could not love her child knowing that they were a "sodomite" (her words). I have always considered myself an ally of LGBTQ+ folks and wouldn't think twice about loving my children any less if they came out to me and have always felt this way. I did not say much in the moment out of pure shock and instead steered the conversation elsewhere while I quietly boiled over in anger over this comment.
Here is where the title of this post comes into play and where my role in this interaction enters a grey area. I spent several days unable to let this anger subside while imagining my own perspective children being thrown to the streets for bravely coming out to their own parents. I decided that another intervention was necessary, except this time I didn't want to be ignored. I came up with a plan that I referred to as a "scorched earth" intervention. Over the course of an evening, I began texting, calling, or messaging almost every person that Anne was close to. This included family, friends, past friends, classmates, and even some plain old acquaintances. I needed her paranoid and hateful beliefs to be confronted by more than just myself and hoped that if everyone important to her also expressed concern; that she would separate herself from this church and seek proper mental health counseling.
The responses I received from Anne's friends and family ranged significantly. Some people, including her mother whom I was close with, asked that I not try to "insert myself between Anne and God". Some friends agreed with me wholeheartedly and would reach out to Anne over text or in person to try and offer help. Some people met me with total apathy. Unsurprisingly, once Anne found out what I did, she broke things off over a brief but highly emotional phone call. She told me that I had embarrassed her and that supposedly God was telling her I wasn't the man she was supposed to marry. It did not hurt too bad since I was anticipating the end of this relationship for a while. The effects of my approach seemingly had lasting impacts on many of her relationships, however. At least one longtime friendship had ended because the friend was appalled by Anne's new paranoid beliefs. It was also unsuccessful, as Anne would never seek mental health counseling. In fact, it probably pushed her further into her church crowd - only further bolstering her new delusions.
Since much time has passed, I have started to feel uncertain whether or not I did the right thing in trying to have all of Anne's friends and family confront her about her extreme beliefs. At the time, I felt that I was justified and doing the right thing by trying to encourage a clearly delusion person to seek mental health counseling by any means necessary. Now, I am able to realize that I acted out of anger and permanently damaged how some of her oldest friends view her. I also realize that I acted immaturely and probably should not have tried to bring in every person close to Anne to fight a battle on my behalf.
Nowadays, Anne is still with that church and regularly posts on Facebook all sorts of whacky spiritual conspiracies. She is still very clearly paranoid and delusional all while putting on a facade of normalcy. I just pity her for living in a constant state of paranoia at this point. She even works full time with the church as a "worship leader," although I am not sure what exactly that means. She actually got married about a year after the relationship ended to a man she met at her church. They met, got engaged, and married all within 12 months. Thankfully, no children have been brought into this world yet from their relationship, which is surprising to me considering how urgent it seemed to her during our relationship. I do not hear much from any friends or family of hers anymore, other than one mutual friend who told me that Anne frequently refers to me as "that demon." As for myself, I finished school and have not married but was able to finally make friends and go on dates and my future is looking bright.
So, Reddit, am I the asshole for my "scorched earth" methods towards my fanatical ex-girlfriend?

No questions on accommodation here. Thanks to the existing threads and comments on /chicago , /chicagoapartments and /AskChicago, we identified Hayes and Bertsch as preferred landlords and were able to get an apartment with the lease starting 1st July. It's small and yet has a compact washer drier in the unit!
We visited Chicago in March 2024 and absolutely loved the weather, the people and the Arts Institute of Chicago. We have heard that Chicago is famous for its food scene and we are looking to experience / experiment. My favorite cuisine is Japanese; wife loves exquisite duck and lamb preparations apart from seafood. Any recommendations on restaurants? We would be happy to try out new cuisines.
We plan to visit the Arts Institute of Chicago repeatedly for our first month in Chicago. There is so much that we did not get to cover in our first visit. We did get the membership! Any other museums that the reddit crowd would recommend?
I am looking forward to explore the Shedd aquarium.
Is it a bad idea to attempt to learn swimming in ones 40's? It's been on my bucket list forever and I'm thinking of taking a shot at it in Chicago. When I tried as a preteen, I could not figure out how to float.
My other interests include gardening, reading, philately, travel and automation/technology. I currently have a set of tech related interests I plan to explore and am trying to decide which rabbit hold I want to disappear into first.
We have been based in DFW for over a decade and are planning to make Chicago our new home. We both felt Chicago was a more friendly city and will be looking to be more social and make some good friends. Are there any meetup or other groups we should join?
Any other advice or tips you wish to share with newbies in Chicago?

Greetings Guardians (and potential future TSOLites)!
I’m Stevie and I’m an admin here at The Servants Of Light. We are a broad group of gamers and friends who like to hang out, chat and play games, sometimes even Destiny. Take a moment to read through our little recruitment post here and see if you think that our little corner of the internet is somewhere you would like to call home.

The Essentials

System: PC - All platforms are welcome thanks to crossplay. But please make sure you have a way to chat with us over discord as that's how we arrange everything.
Region: We are primarily based in the UK. We have a fair few EU members and even 1 or 2 on other timezones. We don't really recommend signing up if you are US based as you will likely miss out on alot of our events and fun things due to the time difference. (sorry)
Active Times: You will usually find us active from late afternoon/early evening and sticking around toward midnight.
Rules Summary: Our rules boil down to not being an idiot or a bigot. We love to joke around with each other but we do not tolerate hate. No homophobia, sexism, racism or any kind of gender or religious attacks. We are a welcoming place for all people but if you harbour distaste for anyone for just existing as their true self, you don't belong with us.

Who Are The Servants Of Light?

About Us: So, The Servants Of Light (or TSOL [tee-sol] for short) started out as another Destiny 2 clan made to give a few people a way to earn some extra rewards and group up easier. Over the past 5 years we have grown and evolved into so much more. Destiny is, of course, a big part of what we do and who we are, but I think that what makes TSOL special is everything else we get up to. From just talking to each other in the general chat, debating silly things like what counts as a sandwich all the way to all our events. We have fortnightly Game Nights, Movie Nights and a special raid night known as Raid Roulette. We also like to do bigger events throughout the year, the biggest of which is our end of year BONANZA! A huge gameshow style event where we like to dress up all fancy, announce the winners of our community voted awards and challenge you to various themed rounds with a prize on offer. We even have a yearly meetup for those so inclined towards in-person interaction.As for our general focuses for within Destiny, we do a little bit of everything. I would probably say we are a much more PvE leaning clan, we have teams going for clears on contest mode (and may have a space or two open for the next one if you are into that kind of thing and get along with us), we do GM’s and raids every season and aren’t scared off by legend difficulty activities. PvP wise, we have a few guardians who jump into things like trials regularly but for most of us PvP is an ‘as and when’ kind of activity, stacking 6 in iron banner is always fun though.No activity is mandatory and we really just want to play the game we love with people we like, in whatever form that takes. (NOTICE: If Gambit is your favourite gamemode then you will be judged for it but not penalised)

The Testimonials

Not something you see much of in your average recruitment post but I asked some of our current members as well as some friends of the clan to give a little insight into what people really think of the clan named TSOL.
NebulaAndi (our clan leader): "TSOL was created as a place for people to come together and hang out, not just play destiny. It has blossomed into something I'm incredibly proud of, and has fostered some amazing friendships and memories. I've watched many of our longer-standing members grow, and everyone continues to welcome new people with open arms. We've got so many things going on - day one raids, movie nights, and we even had our second irl meetup last year which was incredible. I love these guys with all my heart, and despite them forcing me at gunpoint to write this, I know they'll welcome you too."
Lucasacul (one of our mods): “If you are looking for the funniest, kindest and most helpful clan in Destiny 2 then join us here at The Servants of Light. This is not a cult”
Weiland: "very welcoming group of people, almost always down to run stuff/help people out."
Rapideagle147: "It's a clan full of muppets"
Havelock: "TSOL is a really welcoming, friendly and diverse clan and absolutely not a cult. Brilliantly social not just playing Destiny but having DnD, Minecraft, games/film nights and solid definitely not cultist chat."
Kenny: “A clan so good, you’ll kill your old clan just for the chance with them”
DT: "I used to hate destiny 2 the video game with a passion, now I hate destiny 2 the video game with a passion, but with friends."
Evey: "TSOL - A Haiku Sherpa'd my first raid, Then soon became dearest friends: This weird clan is great!"
Sheep: “TSOL is a fantasic clan, who really go out of their way to be welcoming and inclusive to anyone that joins. Destiny with them is always fun and there's a great community where anyone will try to help with whatever you want which just makes destiny, even when it's not fun, just that little bit more enjoyable”
Nuggets: "excited monkey noises"
Athena: "Found TSOL about a year ago and the people here are nothing short of being the weirdest and loveliest folk that I've ever met. There's always something going on in the server, even during the quiet periods of Destiny."
yapX: "TSOL allows you to actually enjoy Destiny 2, a remarkable achievement that Bungie haven't been able to replicate"

How to get involved

Requirements: The only real requirements we have for joining the clan are 1) to use Discord, which is how we communicate with everyone and arrange all our activities. It's also where you can chat to your clanmates and have fun. 2) follow the rules. The full rules list is in our server for you to read through.
How to: So, if you somehow made it through all that and still think that this is a clan you would like to check out, add or shoot me a DM over on Discord (indigostevie) and I'll get you sorted. If you wanna jump in the server and get to know us a little before you join the in game clan, that's fine too, same deal.
I love this clan with all my heart. They are some of the best friends I've ever known. I hope you like us too :)
https://www.bungie.net/en/ClanV2/Index?groupId=3541785 (we will not accept join requests without a message to an Admin just FYI)

I (F22) have a friend we can fall Max M(21) we started out as co-workers in college (January 2022) Max was in a long term relationship with his HS gf and I had just gotten out of a super toxic relationship. We were purely platonic and in a friend group together. I started dating guys causally and he stayed with his girlfriend often times doing group dates. Everything was going well. Fast forward to August 2022 Max broke up with his girlfriend. I wasn’t seeing anyone at the time and we hung out in friend groups, he was a little flirty and a mutual friend we had (Ashley) would always ask me if I would ever be into Max and would say we would be so cute together. At the time it was so platonic I couldn’t see myself with him at all, he was cute and kind but I just couldn’t imagine myself being sexual with him. I didn’t think too much about Ashley’s comments and I assumed she was just being a typical girl trying to be a match maker. I also didn’t think much about Max’s flirty vibe because he was naturally like that and he had mention he was crushing on a regular customer we had at work. I even encouraged him to date her. And after a while he did date her, it lasted 4 months and he dumped (February 2023) her because it wasn’t going well.
Fast forward to April 2023 I was about to graduate college and move across the country when Max started asking to hang out one on one, we went on three unofficial dates and it finally hit me that he did actually like me, I still did not like him in that way but I hadn’t had sex in about a year and didn’t want to move to a new place with out having had sex in such a long time and being rusty (I know stupid logic) so we started sleeping together and it went from friends, to friends with benefits, to just hooking up and leaving without speaking much really quickly. We did this for a month and half and then I had to move (May 2023). At this point I had finally developed feelings for him but he now only saw me as a sex object (I assume).
His brother lived where I was moving so in July 2023 he went to see his brother and came to see me a few times. I did not treat him too well, I let him sleep over one night and didn’t make him breakfast and kinda rushed him out the next morning, in my defense I was acting like the sex object he saw me as, I wasn’t going to act like a girlfriend and do things he didn’t deserve. (He did Uber 40 minutes one way to see, I don’t think any guy in their right mind would do that for just sex) I then over the course of next year flew home a few times and saw him each time, when I flew home he would take me out to dinner first and then we’d go back to his place. We never texted or talked unless I was flying home and it was only to set up our “date” then we’d go back to never texting.
Then he went to basic training in April 2024. He asked me to write him letters everyday and I did. In one of his letters he sent to me he wrote that if he saw me he would cry, elope, and run away with me. When he got out of basic training it was a complete 360 from our usual behavior , he texted me every day for about 2 weeks and called me a few times. He even sent me a picture of himself and asked me to put it in my wallet. He also asked me to keep writing him letters even though he was out of basic training. He said he would re-read my letters and that they made him so happy, he said thought a lot about me while at basic and after. He was being very flirty again.
Something I forgot to mention: We both have jobs that make us move around a lot and would be difficult to ever be in the same place.
It seems like thing went from him liking me> him treating me like a sex object> back to friends with benefits but only speaking when I flew home> him speaking to me everyday> to now?
The advise I’m looking for is: Does he like me or is it just a typical case of a man playing games and wanting no strings sex ?
Are his intentions pure and this is just a confusing situation?
could this ever work and how would it work?
And just generally what the fuck is going on here?
Thanks Reddit! This is my first post so apologies if it’s long and poorly written!
Real life Max if you read this pretend like you didn’t.

Greetings Guardians (and potential future TSOLites)!
I’m Stevie and I’m an admin here at The Servants Of Light. We are a broad group of gamers and friends who like to hang out, chat and play games, sometimes even Destiny. Take a moment to read through our little recruitment post here and see if you think that our little corner of the internet is somewhere you would like to call home.

The Essentials

System: PC - All platforms are welcome thanks to crossplay. But please make sure you have a way to chat with us over discord as that's how we arrange everything.
Region: We are primarily based in the UK. We have a fair few EU members and even 1 or 2 on other timezones. We don't really recommend signing up if you are US based as you will likely miss out on alot of our events and fun things due to the time difference. (sorry)
Active Times: You will usually find us active from late afternoon/early evening and sticking around toward midnight.
Rules Summary: Our rules boil down to not being an idiot or a bigot. We love to joke around with each other but we do not tolerate hate. No homophobia, sexism, racism or any kind of gender or religious attacks. We are a welcoming place for all people but if you harbour distaste for anyone for just existing as their true self, you don't belong with us.

Who Are The Servants Of Light?

About Us: So, The Servants Of Light (or TSOL [tee-sol] for short) started out as another Destiny 2 clan made to give a few people a way to earn some extra rewards and group up easier. Over the past 5 years we have grown and evolved into so much more. Destiny is, of course, a big part of what we do and who we are, but I think that what makes TSOL special is everything else we get up to. From just talking to each other in the general chat, debating silly things like what counts as a sandwich all the way to all our events. We have fortnightly Game Nights, Movie Nights and a special raid night known as Raid Roulette. We also like to do bigger events throughout the year, the biggest of which is our end of year BONANZA! A huge gameshow style event where we like to dress up all fancy, announce the winners of our community voted awards and challenge you to various themed rounds with a prize on offer. We even have a yearly meetup for those so inclined towards in-person interaction.As for our general focuses for within Destiny, we do a little bit of everything. I would probably say we are a much more PvE leaning clan, we have teams going for clears on contest mode (and may have a space or two open for the next one if you are into that kind of thing and get along with us), we do GM’s and raids every season and aren’t scared off by legend difficulty activities. PvP wise, we have a few guardians who jump into things like trials regularly but for most of us PvP is an ‘as and when’ kind of activity, stacking 6 in iron banner is always fun though.No activity is mandatory and we really just want to play the game we love with people we like, in whatever form that takes. (NOTICE: If Gambit is your favourite gamemode then you will be judged for it but not penalised)

The Testimonials

Not something you see much of in your average recruitment post but I asked some of our current members as well as some friends of the clan to give a little insight into what people really think of the clan named TSOL.
NebulaAndi (our clan leader): "TSOL was created as a place for people to come together and hang out, not just play destiny. It has blossomed into something I'm incredibly proud of, and has fostered some amazing friendships and memories. I've watched many of our longer-standing members grow, and everyone continues to welcome new people with open arms. We've got so many things going on - day one raids, movie nights, and we even had our second irl meetup last year which was incredible. I love these guys with all my heart, and despite them forcing me at gunpoint to write this, I know they'll welcome you too."
Lucasacul (one of our mods): “If you are looking for the funniest, kindest and most helpful clan in Destiny 2 then join us here at The Servants of Light. This is not a cult”
Weiland: "very welcoming group of people, almost always down to run stuff/help people out."
Rapideagle147: "It's a clan full of muppets"
Havelock: "TSOL is a really welcoming, friendly and diverse clan and absolutely not a cult. Brilliantly social not just playing Destiny but having DnD, Minecraft, games/film nights and solid definitely not cultist chat."
Kenny: “A clan so good, you’ll kill your old clan just for the chance with them”
DT: "I used to hate destiny 2 the video game with a passion, now I hate destiny 2 the video game with a passion, but with friends."
Evey: "TSOL - A Haiku Sherpa'd my first raid, Then soon became dearest friends: This weird clan is great!"
Sheep: “TSOL is a fantasic clan, who really go out of their way to be welcoming and inclusive to anyone that joins. Destiny with them is always fun and there's a great community where anyone will try to help with whatever you want which just makes destiny, even when it's not fun, just that little bit more enjoyable”
Nuggets: "excited monkey noises"
Athena: "Found TSOL about a year ago and the people here are nothing short of being the weirdest and loveliest folk that I've ever met. There's always something going on in the server, even during the quiet periods of Destiny."
yapX: "TSOL allows you to actually enjoy Destiny 2, a remarkable achievement that Bungie haven't been able to replicate"

How to get involved

Requirements: The only real requirements we have for joining the clan are 1) to use Discord, which is how we communicate with everyone and arrange all our activities. It's also where you can chat to your clanmates and have fun. 2) follow the rules. The full rules list is in our server for you to read through.
How to: So, if you somehow made it through all that and still think that this is a clan you would like to check out, add or shoot me a DM over on Discord (indigostevie) and I'll get you sorted. If you wanna jump in the server and get to know us a little before you join the in game clan, that's fine too, same deal.
I love this clan with all my heart. They are some of the best friends I've ever known. I hope you like us too :)
https://www.bungie.net/en/ClanV2/Index?groupId=3541785 (we will not accept join requests without a message to an Admin just FYI)

Damn this is a long post. 😅 Sorry to whoever reads this I'm a wordy person.
I'm kind of thinking of nachoing. Not because I hate my step daughter but because I really really love her and her relationship is so important to me.
Basically since my fiance and I got serious I have stepped in as a parental figure to my SD who is now a young 5. I love her as much as I could love a kid that I didn't give birth to. She is smart, funny, sweet, energetic, sassy and curious.
We have 60/40 custody and her mom is involved and HC only with my fiance. Her mom teaches her bad manners (like that it's funny to be mean to people, she doesn't need to say please and thank you, swearing is encouraged etc etc), let's her eat all the junk food and treats she wants, is a little neglectful in the love and comfort area and both of her parents (and both sets of grandparents) baby her and coddle her (she RARELY gets told no from anyone in her life). She has a switch (from dad) and an iPad (from mom) with snapchat and messanger on it (which I get the premise. She can talk to us while at mom's and mom while here) and both her and my fiance call our Xbox her Xbox. I can already see a technology addiction surfacing in her, she's already talking about us getting her a phone, 1000 times a day she's like "I just need to snapchat this" and she spends probably a good hour a day staring at herself with filters on. At our house we only let her have her iPad when we are actively watching her. But I am so concerned over the long term affects this will have on her. My fiance says he is concerned only when I push him on it and sometimes comes back with "yes of course I agree. I can't do anything about it. Her mom got her the iPad".
We are also trying to encourage her to be more independent and help out a bit around the house....things like bringing her plate to the kitchen after supper, putting her shoes away in her cubby, hanging up her towel and hair towel after her bath and filling up her water bottle.
This week has been a very taxing week because my fiance hasn't been home much because of work so I've been home with her 24/7 and everyday has been met with "I don't want to do it I want you to do it for me", "I hate doing things for myself", "I like when you do it", "I can't do it", her throwing her hair towel at me while she is playing her switch and saying "here go hang this up" with a bossy tone or full on temper tantrums. This went on the last time we had her too. She sometimes has had bad days where she throws a tantrum but this week especially it's been multiple times every single day. It is mostly stemming from her not wanting to do things for herself because she's so used to us catering 24 hours a day.
The other dynamic is that she wants everything I have. She loves me and I'm her idol and it's absolutely exhausting. She will happily be playing until she sees me and my fiance holding hands and then she needs to break it up and go in the middle. Or we are holding hands in the car and she tells me to let you of his hand so I can hold hers. I get a new dress why didn't I get her the matching one and she gets upset. My fiance buys me flowers and she complains she didn't get any (last time I got flowers I happened to be in the city and found a cute sticker book I thought she would love.) when she came home I gave her her books and she was happy for 2 minutes until she realized my fiance got me flowers and for the next 24 hours she constantly was like "why did you get SM flowers but not me" "I want flowers too", my best friend made me a painting for my engagement and she kept asking why my best friend made me one and not her. She even talks nonstop about how her dad is gonna buy her a ring like mine (engagement ring) for like a month after my engagement. I don't blame her and I understand that a) she wants to be included and b) she wants to be exactly like me (she has told me as much). But it's exhausting and sometimes when I can't even get a kiss from my fiance without her needing one too it stings. (I don't blame her and I would never expect my fiance to not give her a kiss if she asks for one after I get one)
So like I said this week I have been with her 90% of the time. I've kept up with laundry, housework, yard work, transportation and I usually get up before my fiance to make him coffee and pack his lunch so he can sleep in a bit (it's something I LOVE doing for him so he can sleep in.) she has been a bit of a menace with talking back and arguing, entitlement and tantrums but I've dealt with it and always bounce back and try to stay calm and steady and understanding in the face of her big emotions.
Last night my fiance and I talked about how if we ask her to do something we are not going to be doing it for her.
So flash forward to this morning. I wake up and brush my teeth with SD (she complains nonstop or doesn't do it unless Indo it with her). Go downstairs and my fiance comes down 10 minutes later he gives me a kiss and SD starts asking why I get a kiss and she doesn't so he gave her one as well. Things like that sometimes sting and it did this morning so I went upstairs for 5 minutes to regroup and tell myself it's not a big deal. I can be hurt but no one did anything wrong. Then my fiance was taking SD with him and asked her to get her water bottle and fill it up (he asked her like 5 times). She refused to fill it up so he went to do it and I reminded I'm about our talk last night and he disregarded that and did it anyway.
I texted him and told him that when he brushes me off that way it makes me feel like he doesn't value what we decide on together and it's very important to me that when we ask her to do something she does it and if she refuses to she deals with the natural consequences (ie she chose not to fill her water bottle up she will have to go the car ride without water). He brushed that off and told me he was just not wanting to fight with her about it. And then told me that he felt "unloved when I went upstairs this morning" and so I explained that when I can't get a moment of affection for myself sometimes it really stings and today was one of those days (but that I also don't expect him to refuse to give SD a kiss because that's unfair to her and she deserves affection too) so I went upstairs to regroup and came back down after I had 5 minutes. And he responded with "how unacceptable that a child wants affection from her parent" and that just felt very condescending and cycled into a fight.
Anyways I kind of feel like I am at my limit. I don't feel like my perspective and advice is valued and that response from my fiance really makes me feel icky. There was no kindness and compassion in it.
I'm thinking maybe I should nacho from any parental duties for the time being, still give her love and affection but really prioritize myself and my needs day to day instead of bending over backwards for her and my fiance. Let him deal with his child. And I know the affection thing I'm just gonna have to get over and figure out a way to handle better when it feel like it stings.
Any advice or encouragement or even constructive criticism would be so helpful

Before starting, TW, briefly talking about SH/Suicide threats, so if that’s something you can’t handle, take care of yourself and don’t read further ❤️
Hi! I have a big problem that I don’t know how to solve. So, In my friend circle I have a “friend” (Em) that always acts badly towards my other friend (Jennie). She always tries to push her buttons and trigger her. (Jennie suffers from mental illness)
This often happens when Em has had a fight with Jennie or if Jennie doesn’t give her enough attention. She doesn’t do this to her face, however, instead she likes to post things on her Facebook and/or Snapchat story in order to trigger Jennie and make her feel like a shit person/friend.
She’ll upload things like “I only have fake friends” and other stuff about how she has shit friends that use her and don’t care and stuff. (At one point she fully admitted that that’s what she intends for the posts to do.)
But at other points when she has been called out she makes up that it’s about someone else despite her posting things about ALL her friends or how EVERYONE is this and that and she’s better off alone etc.
This “friend” is also extremely jealous of the friendship between Jennie and another friend in the group (Jasmine) so she has now started making posts about Jasmine where she is trying to trigger her and talk shit about her.
At first Em REFUSED to admit that she’s doing this towards us (especially Jennie and now Jasmine) but after a while she did admit that she does all of this to get Jennies attention and to trigger her.
We have tried to have calm, adult conversations with her and this behaviour but it hasn’t helped. Instead of acting like a grown woman and take responsibility she instead turns around and says that we made her end up in the psych ward and stuff (she said that I specifically made her end up there once because she reacted so badly and basically got traumatised because I called her out for one of her posts shortly after she made another one.)
She threatens with suicide and self harm (she has never actually done it, she has faked self harm at least once though, she lives with her mom and her mom is there to stop her if she were to actually attempt it. However after so many lies it feels like she only says it to make us feel bad and get on our hands and knees. I have attempted several times so this really pisses me off.) If she doesn’t do that she instead gets an awful attitude and starts trying to say that we’re wrong and we are just twisting her words to be mean and start fights.
Then she tries to make us feel bad again by talking about how she should just leave social media all together and leave us alone because all she does is ruin things before going back on the offensive and being rude.
The one most affected by this is Jennie since most of us don’t talk to her more than necessary since we all work together. I can’t say what kind of job because it’s not a common job. (Sorry, I know how annoying the “I have a niche job” thing is.) Jennie owns the business and we are a small bunch working with her, we call each other sisters and love each other very much (except Em, of course.)
Despite Em having a terrible behaviour she does help Jennie a lot with the company and on top of that, she does make Jennie stay with her even though their friendship is very tumultuous.
I don’t know what to do at this point, I don’t think that Jennie will ditch her but it also doesn’t seem that Em will change. She is of great help for Jennie and can also be super kind when she wants to be but can also turn around and be disgusting in the blink of an eye.
Help, I feel like there is no way of solving this situation, do I just sit back and hope that Jennie will ditch her too?

I am an life-long atheist from a Christian country living in a city where about 70% are muslims. Most of my friends from that city are muslims, and I have one friend that really likes to discuss, especially about religion. He constantly tries talking me into reading the Quran, which I constantly refuse saying "it doesn't interest me" and he says he respects it, but then goes onto asking why I don't believe in Islam, even though I've been to the mosque and thought about converting (I got my heartbroken for the first time and was confused, trying to look for meaning, etc.).
My excuse then was that I wouldn't be able to control my desires (sex and bacon mmm) and my father wouldn't accept it. But in reality I think religion is the cause of so many real world crisis (such as Palestine and Israel) and will hold back development, like some of their ethical beliefs such as how he shouldn't act like gods (things we can do with AI). I've never told him, but given him hints about that I think religion is stupid by comparing Islam with the belief that everything is a simulation, as it's all about faith. There is no hard evidence of either and therefore I don't believe in it. It doesn't make logical sense to me and he even once said "you're a pretty logical sense, so don't you think Islam is logical?". I just think it's absurd man.
Parents beliefs will affect their children's belief. I hope the death of religion will happen in the near future (a couple of hundred years or less). I have nothing against people who believe in islam, it's their life and I don't wanna waste my time trying to convince them otherwise. I do believe in fate and a higher power. Not necessarily Allah, just something out there, as I have a very hard time believing that everything happened for no reason and it's all just a coincidence (the precision of physics and math in general is insane and small changes in decimals would be the death of the universe). I wouldn't say I have a lot of knowledge about Islam, but I would say I have enough to not believe in it.
Sorry if there are any spelling or grammatical errors... English is not my first language....
Now for my questions to all you ex-muslims: * Have you had similar experiences, when discussing beliefs with others/muslims? Were you once like this?
* Do you still believe in higher power or officially nothing or maybe another religion?
* What's your view on the conflicts created by religion?
* Are there still things you agree with thats connected with Islam? (not sure if this is phrased correctly...)

Previous Part
Morning eventually came, banishing the eyes that seemed to peer at me through the night. It was strange how suddenly the feeling left me, making me think that someone really was watching me. The whole thing was really doing wonders for my paranoia. Despite the rough morning and sleepless night, I still found myself waiting outside Bianca’s house bright and early that morning. The air was cool but not chilly, one of those perfect days that’s cold enough you’ll never start sweating unless you really try, but warm enough that a T-shirt will get you through without too much trouble.
I only had to knock once before Bianca threw open the door.
“Where you just waiting there for me?”
I asked, cracking a smile and raising an eyebrow.
“You’ll never know” she added playfully, “Are we ready to go then?”
Bianca had made some preparations for the trip, she didn’t have a backpack ready to go but she definitely made an effort to dress the part… sort of. She was wearing an old grey combat jacket that I imagine she pulled out of Stein’s closet. The jacket was way to big for her but she made it work. Her combat boots matched the jacket, looking old and well worn. What didn’t match was the bright red yoga pants she was wearing, but I wasn’t about to complain. Besides, I had packed each of us a spare set of clothes just in case.
“Oh! So I had an idea, its a long walk, not crazy but I’d rather not just walk the whole way if we can help it. Frank and Stein used to have some bicycles when we first came here so I asked them about it and well.”
Bianca chirped, as she led me around the back of the house and pulled a tarp off two abysmal looking bicycles. The bikes were both red at one point but that was a long time ago. Now they were covered in a layer of rust and I could barely make out the branding that may have once read, “Shwinn”.
“Um… Bianca I think I might get tetanus if I sit on that thing.”
“Oh come on! Aren’t you tired of walking everywhere? Lets just give the bikes a shot, if they crumble to dust we can leave them.”
“And get me a tetanus shot.”
I added quickly
“Fine, and get you a tetanus shot.”
Bianca shot back, she feigned annoyance but she couldn’t hide the smile that crossed her face.
Laughing to ourselves, we got on the bikes and took off North, out of town and onto a dirt path leading to the woods. Bianca didn’t say much on the way out but I could tell she was having a good time. This may have been her first time out of the house for something other than supervising Frank and Stein. She tried to hide it by riding fast and staying out in front of me, but I could still catch her eyes literally glowing with happiness every now and then. I thought back to what Frank had said about her eyes glowing when she experiences strong emotion. I hoped that was the case and she wasn’t just trying really hard to influence me, which he had also said would make her eyes glow.
As we neared the end of the path, the forest’s edge came into view. we let the bikes roll to a stop then got off and let them fall over onto the dirt. I half expected them to explode into a puff of rusty brown dust the second they touched the ground but to my surprise, neither bike did. I could’ve swore I heard Bianca sniffle almost like she’d been crying. I opened my mouth to say something and then thought better of it, if she wanted to tell me what was going on she would. Well, that or she’d just manipulate me away from the question. Wait, was she doing that now? It’s hard to tell, maybe that’s how everyone around her feels. The more I thought about it the more I realized how difficult it must be for her just to have friends or form relationships with people at all. If she told them the truth they’d never know if what they were feeling around her at any given moment was real. All they’d have to go on would be her word, could they really trust that, could I? If she kept her secret she’d know that at any moment she could just change how they felt about her, manipulate them into anything she wanted. Could she resist that kind of power over them and still look someone in the eyes and say she was their friend. Not to mention how hard it would be to keep that secret over years of knowing someone.
“So Keith, were exactly are we headed? You do have some Idea where this mine you’re looking for is right?”
Bianca asked skeptically, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“Well about that…. I just know its out here in the forest somewhere. That’s pretty much all I have to go on from Frank, Stein, and that massive bartender in town.”
I told her sheepishly.
“Well that explains why you over-packed so much then. Seriously? How long do you think we we’re going to be out here, you’re packed like some kind of survivalist.”
She mocked, picking through the pack I’d made for her. After she finished rooting through the pack I made for her like some kind of giant squirrel and, chastised me yet again for not doing more research on the mine, we set off.
The forest felt imposing as we walked into the woods through a manicured patch of trees. Someone had gone to great lengths to braid a few trees over this little path before the forest turned back into its natural wild state. It gave off the feeling that civilization ended with this path and something else entirely began. As we got off the path our light faded quickly, chocked out by the limbs of massive pine trees. All this cover meant there was very little foliage on the ground which was covered in a blanket of needles. The though occurred to me that we were looking for a mine in a valley. That’s weird because what exactly would be in a valley that warranted the creation of a mine? Usually you’ll find them in mountains so what exactly was one doing out here.
“Bianca I just had a thought, Why would they build a mine out here? I mean what’s the point, is there even anything valuable out here to mine?”
“Yeah, come to think of it your right. What other reason would there be to have a mine out here?”
“Unless they were just mining from a cave but that still doesn’t answer the question of what they were…”
Bianca cut me off
“What was that first thing you said?”
“Um… mining from a cave?”
A lightbulb went off over her head as she exclaimed,
“That’s it! There’s caves under the town, I’ve heard Frank talk about them before! Maybe they didn’t have a real mine so they were just mining something out of the caves.”
“Not to burst your bubble Bianca, but that still doesn’t get us any closer to these caves or mines or whatever it is.”
I responded cautiously, trying not to sound to critical of her revelation.
“Well not exactly, Frank said they were in the East of the forest somewhere so all we have to do is head East till we run into them.”
Bianca said, full of confidence. Then something occurred to me, we had no real way of getting back to the bikes other than retracing our steps. Now that was easy enough now, if we went deeper into the woods we would get lost pretty quickly.
“One more thing Bianca, Maybe we should come up with a way to find our way out? I really don’t want to end up lost out here.”
I asked nervously, fidgeting with my hands.
“Way ahead of you on that one, I left my phone back by the bikes. Here give me yours and I’ll put my number in so you can track it and find our way back.”
She said, taking my phone, putting her number into it, and turning it to me to show she’d tracked her own phones location with it, giving us a path back to the bikes.
As we turned East and headed even deeper into the forest the terrain started to change. Instead of the pine needle coating we started to see rocks and the ground was more rugged. Here and there we’d even pass a boulder or two. I decided to break the silence of our search.
“So are you ever going to tell me how you met Frank and Stein?”
Bianca sighed before responding.
“I suppose you deserve to know if your sticking around. You probably guessed I wasn’t always living with them. Lets just say before that I was with someone who I though meant the world to me but I never meant the same to him. It was all a game to him and eventually I noticed that. Then, a little while afterwards I realized I wasn’t exactly powerless anymore and I did some things that I’m not exactly proud of to survive on my own.”
I could tell talking about this hurt her but I needed more.
“That’s not exactly telling me a whole lot Bianca.”
I pressed, maybe a little to hard.
“I found out I had powers and I used them ok! I got myself out of a situation where I was pulled so many way I didn’t know which direction was up! The second I found out I could do the same thing to people myself, I did! You’re the first person to actually seem to give a shit that wasn’t some crazy doctor that tolerates my existence or someone I just manipulated into caring! Maybe I even did that with you! I JUST DON’T KNOW ANYMORE!”
Bianca screamed at me, getting in my face with tears beginning to run down her own. Her eyes were glowing electric blue again and I knew I’d crossed a line.
“Hey I’m sorry I didn’t mean to hurt you. I… I didn’t know.”
“No.. you didn’t but I guess you should”
Bianca sniffled out, trying desperately to pull herself back together and keep up the act the everything was ok. Bianca went silent for a while as we kept walking along, crying to herself before she finally took a deep breath and said,
“You know, this is the first time someone’s asked me to come along and do something outside the house in years. I spend so much time cooped up in there just helping with experiments and looking after Rocco. It’s actually nice to get out and talk for once.”
Her voice still a lifts hoarse from screaming at me before.
“Look if you want to talk about it we’ve got nothing but time out here. I’d like to know a bit more about you anyways.”
I said taking her hand and trying to sound comforting.
“Yeah maybe I should get some of it off my chest. Here it goes I guess.”
Bianca said, taking a deep breath and tightening her grip on my hand. Her eyes still glowed faintly as she told me her story as we ventured deeper into the forest.
I’ll give you the shorter version of it here, mostly cause I’m not sure how she’d feel about me spoiling all her secrets.. She ran away from her family and her college education for a guy, his name was Brooke. Brooke was from money and had a job lined up by his family at a law firm so Bianca thought she was set for life with him. Bianca was madly in love with him at the time but as days grew into months and years, Brooke became a monster. He cheated on her and told her she wasn’t enough, that her shortcomings drove him to do it over and over again and somehow it was all her fault every time. He became abusive not long after the cheating started, flying into fits of hysteric apology afterwards only further convincing Bianca she was somehow at fault. After three years of this she eventually got up the courage to leave and never looked back. On the road she discovered her powers of manipulation, letting her play with people’s emotions and she only got better at it with time. Unfortunately her abilities got her into a very specific form of getting money out of people, prostitution. One day she tried to solicit Stein and he saw straight through her. Stein took her with him to the hotel he and Frank were staying at and they took her in on the spot. The trio traveled together ever since, Bianca becoming a kind of daughter to them.
I was in shock once she finished her story, it sounded like she’d really been through the ringer.“I don’t know what to say, that’s awful, all of it.”
“It was, I lived it. But I made it through, doesn’t matter how at the end of the day. I’ve got Frank and Stein and that’s enough, they let me into their home and I recovered in my own way, I’m still here so I’ll take what I can get right?”
Bianca stated with a cold loom of determination on her face. It was painfully obvious to me that despite the masquerade of being fine she was barley holding it together underneath. Like just talking about it with me was driving a finger into old wounds.
“At least you’ll never have to go through something like that again. With your abilities you never have to get pushed around like that.”
I said with completely no tact whatsoever. Bianca stopped suddenly as I said this and whirled around to face me. The fire I’d seen in her eyes earlier reigniting in seconds.
“Do you really think that’s all this is?! I’m no better than him, even you don’t know what you really think when you look at me! Admit ti!”
Bianca growled at me, hysterical once again.
“No, Bianca I…”
“Look I know your trying to help but just leave it, ok? I’m done talking about this”
She cut me off, pulling herself back together and signaling very clearly we were done with that particular conversation.
“Besides look over there, That hole in the rock see it? That might be what we’re looking for.”
Bianca said, gesturing to the stone wall that now jutted out of the ground beside us.
The rock wall she pointed out was chipped near the middle in a way that couldn’t have been natural. Straight lines don’t really exist in nature and this hole was cut squarely into this rock wall. As we got closer I could see that it wasn’t just an entrance either. The hole opened into the rock wall but then suddenly dropped, like whoever carved it had hit a point where the ground just fell out from under them. From where Bianca and I were looking into the hole we couldn’t quite see the bottom.
“Well we found what we were looking for, is this bringing back any memories from those dreams you had?”
Bianca asked, sounding a little short tempered still as I searched through my bag.
“What are you looking for in there?”
“Rope, I’ve got to see what’s in there and I’m hoping I brought enough to climb down there.”
I replied hurriedly, still tearing apart my bag to get to the rope I had packed underneath everything else.
“Rope? you’re not seriously going to climb down that pit are you? I can barely see down there.”
Bianca complained, sounding exasperated.
“Here, this should help you see down there.”
I said, tossing her one of the two head mounted flashlights I brought along.
“ME? I never said we were going down there!”
Bianca panicked momentarily.
“Look, you can stay up here and wait for me if you really don’t want to go down there. But I would appreciate having you to watch my back.”
I added trying to soften her up. Bianca opened her mouth like she was going to say something but stopped, instead dropping her own pack to the ground and searching through it.
“Look if I’m going down there I’m going to need something better than yoga pants on and…. You actually packed a change of clothes in here. Geez you really did think of everything.”
As Bianca took the jeans I packed and went off to find somewhere to change I finally found the rope. It was about 50 feet of strong climbing rope that I kept for an occasion just like this. Now that’s not to say I was a professional climber by any means but a 20 or 30 foot rappel I should be able to do. I was hoping that the descent wasn’t much further than that. I anchored the rope to a tree a little ways away from the hole in the rock face and tossed the rope down the hole. It hit the bottom with a satisfying thud just as Bianca got back from changing. The jeans I had packed were a little big on her but she’d manage. She looked like a mess in her ancient combat boot and jacket, all of which were too big for her. I tried to open my mouth to tell her she looked nice, I swear I really did but what came out was hyena-like laughter at her appearance.
“I…. Oh god I’m…. It’s just”
I struggled to get out, laughing all the while.
“Well I’m glad you like it at least, ok seriously come on, stop laughing.”
Bianca scolded as she began giggling herself. Soon enough we were both laughing, Bianca’s earlier storminess cleared up by the absurdity of the situation.
Here we were, a succubus and a guy with a strange mark out in the woods getting ready to rappel into a hole in the ground that apparently didn’t exist. All this was almost starting to feel… I’m not really sure how to put it, not normal but not so strange. Honestly I finally felt like I’d found some kind of purpose again out here. As weird as it all was I was starting to enjoy… this, this whole odd situation I’d found myself in. Bianca and I finally got ahold of the laughter and stood back up from our place on the ground.
“Do I really look that bad?”
She asked
“I’ve never heard you complain about your looks before. But no, with those jeans on you look like maybe, just maybe you prepared a little bit for coming out here.”
I teased, getting a little wry grin out of her.
“Come on, lets get going. Hopefully we can be in and out of there pretty quickly.”
I said, handing Bianca her pack and shouldering my own.
Rappelling in wasn’t actually all that hard, really dangerous without safety equipment sure, but neither of us had any trouble descending the maybe 20 foot drop. At the bottom I saw something that shocked me, this place wasn’t abandoned. I saw lighting set up, not on but very clearly set up recently. Bits of old mining equipment were scattered around the… cave? Mine? Im not really sure what to call it anymore. What concerned me more than anything was the light I saw at the far end of the cave (I’m settling on calling it a cave). The light came from a massive bonfire and I could just make out the shadows of several people sitting around it. I have no idea how we didn’t see the smoke on our way in. It wasn’t filling the cave but it also wasn’t coming out from anywhere I saw on the way here.
“Bianca get down!”
I whisper shouted at her, turning off my headlamp and falling flat to the ground myself. Bianca dropped to the ground as she heard me with unexpected grace. I didn’t know if those figures by the fire had seen us but I certainly wasn’t taking chances.
“Ok, I’m going to creep up and see if I can hear them talking or something. Can you just stay here and watch my back? I don’t want you getting any closer than you have to.”
I instructed Bianca who answered with a quick nod and reached into the inner pocket of her jacket. She withdrew a jeweled golden dagger from it.
“I sorry, what’s this now?”
I asked, confused and thrown off guard by the weapon. It was a really beautiful blade, the hilt was silver with several purple gems inlaid in it. The blade was golden save for the razor sharp edge which was some kind of strange blue material that was roughly the same color Blanca’s eyes glowed.
“I had a life before this you know.”
Bianca responded.
“Yeah we talked about it but you didn’t really tell me much about this part apparently. Doesn’t matter I guess just surprised you have Jeff Bezos’s butter knife in your jacket pocket.”
I whispered, pointing at the dagger in her hand.
“Well we can talk more about how I ended up with this later, not really the time now. Just be careful ok.”
I got up as she said this, realizing she was right. Now really wasn’t the time to be asking about strange daggers, I had more pressing issues.
I crouched down and started creeping towards the figures by the bonfire, careful to avoid the rusty machinery bits scattered across the ground. As I got closer I saw a passage I had missed in the dark. I dared to turn my headlamp on for just a second, trying to block out most of the light with my hand. What I saw through the dim light and shadows of my finger left me awestruck. Inside the passage a coliseum had been constructed, with seats carved into the stone. The structure itself was made up of the rusted metal pieces that littered the room, collected and smelted together to form the walls of the structure. What frightened me the most was the symbol clearly and meticulously drawn on the dirt floor, the same symbol that adorned my back, the symbol of the thunderbird. Moving on, more shaken than ever I crept closer still to the roaring bonfire. I could just about make out the words the figures were saying. When I got close enough to make out the word “tests” the fire suddenly went out with a gust of wind.The room temperature must have dropped 10 degrees immediately and I could swear I heard the sounds of heavy rain above us. But the sudden lack of light isn’t what rooted me in place, cowering on the cave floor. What did that was the two illuminated grey eyes that pierced through the darkness like lightning in a storm, eyes I would never forget, the eyes of the woman from Imalone.
This time I clearly heard the voices of the figures from around the bonfire as they all dropped to their knees.
“Shaoni! We weren’t expecting you till later, Stormcaller.”
The figures all said some variation of in unison. Their tone sounding almost as though they were begging for forgiveness. In a voice that hissed like rain on pavement the woman apparently named Shaoni spoke.
“I’ve come to oversee the start of the trials, is everything prepared?”
In one bone chilling moment her eyes locked on mine and she said the one thing I’d hoped she wouldn’t.
“You didn’t tell me we had guests.”
The moment the words left her lips I turned back to where Bianca was waiting, her now glowing eyes cutting through the darkness of the cave. Giving up any form of subtly, I bolted for the rope behind Bianca. I just wanted to be out of this cave, whatever I might learn from searching around was far outweighed by the fact that Shaoni was here. I’d seen the kind of destruction she’d left in her wake in Imalone and I had no desire to see it happen again here. I banged my ankle on several of the little bits of rusty metal on the floor as I ran, sending sparks of pain up my leg. I didn’t hear anything behind me at all which was almost more unnerving than the footsteps I expected to hear. I closed in on Bianca and saw she hadn’t moved at all, her eyes fixed on something behind me. I dared to take a quick glance back over my shoulder and saw Shaoni taking her first step away from the extinguished bonfire. Lightning crackled around her like one of those novelty plasma globes. In the flashes of light I could see her face. There was no smile or frown, no emotion at all. She simply stared straight ahead towards me and took slow calm steps, inching ever closer.
“Bianca we’ve got to go… NOW!”
I shouted, snapping her to attention. She nodded and turned on her heels, back toward the rope we’d thrown in earlier. Only, when we got to the rope and gave it a tug, it came falling back toward us.
“There’s no way. I…I anchored it to that tree, it should’ve held!”
I cried in disbelief. Bianca and I starred up at the now stormy sky through the hole we would’ve escaped from. Two men walked into view on either side of the hole, glowering down at us. I notice a marking on one of the men’s hands in a flash of lightning from the storm. I could only assume if I was able to make it out I would’ve seen a marking just like the one on my back. Just as soon as the men had appeared a shape flew in from the left with a low growl, taking both men along with it.
“Ok, new plan! There’s something else up there and I really don’t want to get involved with… whatever that was either. I didn’t see any footprints near the entrance so I’m assuming those guys we saw by the bonfire got in another way. We’re just going to have to find where that was and get out that way.”
I instructed Bianca, gesturing to the men in toe with Shaoni and trying not to sound as afraid as I was.
“Ok, I’m with you but lets get moving, I don’t want to any closer to her than I have to be.”
Bianca answered, putting her hand on my shoulder. I suddenly felt a wave of calm rush over me and for the second time I was grateful for Bianca’s ability to simply turn off my fear response.
Shaoni now stood about 50 feet from us with four men following behind her. In the light she gave off I could see the men were all dressed like normal people. I kind of figured they would be more of those canvas wrapped weirdos from Imalone but no. There stood four men in jeans and flannels standing there. Shaoni looked like she could’ve stepped right out of a painting of Pocahontas. She wore an animal hide dress with frills along the bottom and arms. Her head was adorned with a leather band containing several hawk feathers. In short she looked like she’d stepped out of a different time. But I had no time to look over the finer details of her clothing as Bianca and I rushed towards her. Once we got within striking distance I pulled Bianca to the left, towards the passage I had seen earlier. Shaoni never made a move towards us, she just simply looked at me, the ghost of a smile briefly crossing her lips. One of the men with her grabbed at Bianca though, pulling her out of my grasp momentarily. That was a mistake because she was on him immediately with the ornate dagger I’d seen before. As the man grabbed her Bianca lashed out with the dagger, sticking him in the gut with the blade. He screamed in anguish and let go of her but Bianca wasn’t done yet. She followed up by stabbing the man in the back of the neck as he bent over, grabbing at the hole in his abdomen. The other three men were so taken aback by the sudden ferocity she displayed that they didn’t come any closer. As time stood still for a second the men all looked toward Shaoni, awaiting instructions but hesitant to get any closer to Bianca. Using the brief moment of disbelief Bianca had caused, we ran down the side passage towards the coliseum.
“What was that?”
I asked, still shocked by how suddenly Bianca had acted.
“He tried to grab me, I don’t like when they try to grab me”
Bianca responded, distant and… scared? I got the sense she was still in shock at what she had done too. But I couldn’t worry about that right now, we still had to get out of here. Luckily the men didn’t seem to be following us. Wether Shaoni called them off or they stopped to care for their friend I didn’t know, and frankly I didn’t care.
Rushing through the rusty coliseum was haunting. I expected something to jump out of every shadow in the imposing structure. As we slowed to a jog in the middle of the coliseum, right where that eagle symbol was, we stopped to look around. We had come into this arena through an open arch but the only other exit I could see was a similar but barred archway. The coliseum was huge for something constructed in a cave, probably 400 feet across. I had no idea how this thing could’ve been made without anybody finding out.
“Bianca are you seeing anyway out of here? Bianca!”
I asked, then shouted as I turned to see her standing still as a statue in the middle of the Eagle symbol. She was staring at the dagger she had stabbed that man with. Blood still stained the blade and dripped from it intermittently.
“Bianca are you alright?”
I questioned as I walked over to her. She still had this look in her eyes, like she was miles away.
“Bianca? Come on talk to me. Look, you did what you had to do back there, sure it wasn’t exactly pretty but it had to be done.”
I tried to comfort her with my words but the truth is, my heart just wasn’t in it. I was a little scared of what I saw from her in those few moments. She just lashed out and attacked him, not that he didn’t deserve it but going back for more was too much. But what would’ve happened if she didn’t act? It’s not something I could really dwell on now and I’m not sure it really mattered. I just wasn’t feeling all that great about the fact we may have killed someone.
“I don’t like it when they grab me.”
Bianca finally repeated, still appearing catatonic. I leaned down to her level, putting my face right in-front of her’s and putting her head in between my hands.
“Bianca I know enough to know that whole situation may have dug up some memories for you but nows really not the time. We have to keep moving, we have to find a way out of here, and I can’t do that without you right now.”
Bianca tensed up as I spoke to her, but I could feel her relax as I finished. A single tear fell from her eye as she gave me a nod and followed behind me as I walked toward the barred off archway.
Before I made it to the archway there was a massive crash as something tore the rusty bars from their mountings and fell into the room.
“Tuck?!”
I exclaimed, recognizing his colossal figure on the floor immediately. His shirt and pants were torn to shreds though, Like he’d flexed too hard and burst out of his clothes. Bianca and I rushed over to check on him but apparently he was fine. Before we even started walking towards him he was already back up on his feet and lumbering towards us.
“Tuck what are you doing here? Actually never mind, are you ok?”
I asked, concern in my voice.
“It’s going to take more than this to stop me son. I figured you might go looking for that old mine I mentioned the other night so I came to find you. I feel real bad about ya run’in off the way ya did and I got to thinking. Maybe I could make it up to ya if I told ya about the mine. So I came out here and found some shady look’in fellas poking around and figured maybe ya needed help, looks like I was right.”
Tuck explained, dusting himself off and brushing away some of the tattered remains of his shirt. I didn’t buy his story for a second but I wasn’t going to argue with this bear of a man.
“So how did you get in anyway?”
“Used the old entrance from back when this place was still run’in, come on I’ll lead ya out.”
Tuck answered, already turning and walking back the way he came.
The walk out was long and none of us talked much so I just looked around. The further we walked down this little tunnel the more I noticed crushed equipment. The walls looked like they were made up of bits and pieces of crumbled rock that may have once been the ceiling of a much bigger tunnel here.
“There was a collapse, just like the report said only, whatever caused it wasn’t any fault of ours. It was that damn thunderbird waking up.”
Tuck piped up, answering one question and making me ask another.
“Wait you knew about her?!”
“All the miners did, some decided to follow her after she woke up and brought the walls down on us. Others wanted revenge for the brothers we lost, I’m one of the former. You see son, the reason I stayed around this town so long was because of that bird. I want a chance to return the favor.”
“But what about Robert? If you hate the thunderbird so much why’d you let him in? You had to see that tattoo on his hand.”
“I know he thinks that damned bird will “save” him or something but I don’t blame him. Everyone deals with things in their own way and it’s not my place to judge folk for it.”
Tuck lectured, as we made our way further down the passage. His words made sense to me but I didn’t understand how he could be so understanding. From what I understood the thunderbird had a part to play in the original mine’s collapse and the death of the workers there. Only for some of the survivors to revere this creature. If I were in Tuck’s shoes I don’t think I could forgive and forget.
Finally we saw light at the end of the tunnel. We emerged into the whispers of what I’m sure was a monster of a storm. But that’s not what drew my attention, what did were the boulders scattered around the hole we just came out of. It looked like they had been moved, and recently. The suspicious red stain just barley peaking out from the bottom of one of them only served to convince me further. Tuck’s story didn’t quite make sense and this entrance seemed like it should’ve been blocked up until very recently. I wasn’t about to question the guy who saved us though, so I let the issue rest.
Bianca’s idea of tracking her phone to find our way to the bikes worked like a charm. We followed the directions my phone spit at us and eventually found our way back to the bikes. Tuck’s old Ford Bronco sat behind our bikes leaving me to question if he followed us on our way here.
“Well do you kids want a ride back to town?”
Tuck asked, his voice bellowing across the forest. Seriously it was like the guy swallowed a loudspeaker at some point and just spoke through it now.
“No we’ll find our own way back.”
“Alrighty then, stay safe son.”
Tuck called back to me as he got into his truck and drove off. Bianca and I stood up our bikes and got ready to head back to town.
“Hey Keith?”
“Yeah what is it Bianca?”
“Next time you offer to bring me along somewhere can you warn me about the damn thunderbird that seems to just show up around you.”
I laughed at this, it was nice to see Bianca joking around again. After what happened in the caves she seemed like someone else, none of her usual cheeriness was there. Not that I knew if that was what she wanted me to see from her or how she actually presented herself but still. I trusted her enough at this point to assume she wasn’t using her abilities to mess with my head.
When we got back to Bianca’s house the sun was just beginning to set, washing the town in shades of purple, orange, and red. We walked the bikes around to their place behind the house and I walked Bianca back to the front door.
“Thanks for today Keith,I don’t… get out very much anymore and it was… nice… to do something other than sit around the house for once. You know, despite everything that happened it was actually fun.”
I was taken aback by her words at first. If it was me I’d immediately want nothing to do with this person who just put me in danger.
“You had fun? The thunderbird showed up again and we may have killed a guy and you had fun?”
I asked, raising and eyebrow suspiciously.
“Can we not talk about that right now? Anyways I don’t exactly have a high bar for what is and isn’t fun at this point. I’ll see you later Keith.”
Bianca said, cracking a smile and walking into her house.
I was about halfway back to my own house when I realized she never gave me my backpack back. Well, looks like I’d be seeing her again then because I need that stuff back. I wasn’t sure what to think about what I’d seen today. If the thunderbird was in those mines years ago why did she end up in Wisconsin? There was also a very real possibility some people in this town worshipped her so I’d have to keep an eye out for that. The really interesting thing to me was the Shaoni never seemed to want to hurt me in the cave today. She was terrifying as all hell sure, but I didn’t get the sense that she wanted to cause me any sort of harm. If she wanted to do that my gut told me she would’ve done it quickly and efficiently.
Thunder suddenly cracked outside, interrupting my train of thought. As I stood up to see what time it was a knock came from the front door. I froze, who exactly could it be? I doubt Bianca would come over, I don’t think she even knows where I live but maybe she came by to drop off the backpack she absconded with? The knock came again, more forcefully this time.
“I’m coming, I’m coming!”
I shouted, as I jogged to the door. My heart dropped as soon as I opened it, On the other side of the door stood Shaoni. She was dressed normally for once, wearing a long flowing white nightgown. Shaoni stepped into my house as she cooed in her usual misty voice.
“Good evening. Keith was it? We have much to discuss.”

Before starting, TW, briefly talking about SH/Suicide threats, so if that’s something you can’t handle, take care of yourself and don’t read further ❤️
Hi! I have a big problem that I don’t know how to solve. So, In my friend circle I have a “friend” (Em) that always acts badly towards my other friend (Jennie). She always tries to push her buttons and trigger her. (Jennie suffers from mental illness)
This often happens when Em has had a fight with Jennie or if Jennie doesn’t give her enough attention. She doesn’t do this to her face, however, instead she likes to post things on her Facebook and/or Snapchat story in order to trigger Jennie and make her feel like a shit person/friend.
She’ll upload things like “I only have fake friends” and other stuff about how she has shit friends that use her and don’t care and stuff. (At one point she fully admitted that that’s what she intends for the posts to do.)
But at other points when she has been called out she makes up that it’s about someone else despite her posting things about ALL her friends or how EVERYONE is this and that and she’s better off alone etc.
This “friend” is also extremely jealous of the friendship between Jennie and another friend in the group (Jasmine) so she has now started making posts about Jasmine where she is trying to trigger her and talk shit about her.
At first Em REFUSED to admit that she’s doing this towards us (especially Jennie and now Jasmine) but after a while she did admit that she does all of this to get Jennies attention and to trigger her.
We have tried to have calm, adult conversations with her and this behaviour but it hasn’t helped. Instead of acting like a grown woman and take responsibility she instead turns around and says that we made her end up in the psych ward and stuff (she said that I specifically made her end up there once because she reacted so badly and basically got traumatised because I called her out for one of her posts shortly after she made another one.)
She threatens with suicide and self harm (she has never actually done it, she has faked self harm at least once though, she lives with her mom and her mom is there to stop her if she were to actually attempt it. However after so many lies it feels like she only says it to make us feel bad and get on our hands and knees. I have attempted several times so this really pisses me off.) If she doesn’t do that she instead gets an awful attitude and starts trying to say that we’re wrong and we are just twisting her words to be mean and start fights.
Then she tries to make us feel bad again by talking about how she should just leave social media all together and leave us alone because all she does is ruin things before going back on the offensive and being rude.
The one most affected by this is Jennie since most of us don’t talk to her more than necessary since we all work together. I can’t say what kind of job because it’s not a common job. (Sorry, I know how annoying the “I have a niche job” thing is.) Jennie owns the business and we are a small bunch working with her, we call each other sisters and love each other very much (except Em, of course.)
Despite Em having a terrible behaviour she does help Jennie a lot with the company and on top of that, she does make Jennie stay with her even though their friendship is very tumultuous.
I don’t know what to do at this point, I don’t think that Jennie will ditch her but it also doesn’t seem that Em will change. She is of great help for Jennie and can also be super kind when she wants to be but can also turn around and be disgusting in the blink of an eye.
Help, I feel like there is no way of solving this situation, do I just sit back and hope that Jennie will ditch her too?

Previous Part
I woke up to the smell of sausage and eggs. Over by the side of my bed was a tray with a masterfully prepared omelet and sausage to match. That’s not what caught my eye though. What did that was the little note stuck to the side of they tray.
“Sorry for terrorizing you- R”
Was scrawled in barley legible hand writing, Rocco’s I imagined.
“So it can cook but not write?”
I muttered to myself as I got out of bed.
A fresh change of clothes was laid out for me and I decided just not to question it. The clothes fit perfectly and I tried not to let my mind wander as to why that was while I ate breakfast. Rocco’s omelet was outstanding, for a trash panda he made a great cook but I have no idea where he would’ve picked that up. After I finished I brought my dishes downstairs and ran into Stein in the kitchen.
“The clothes fit don’t they? My eyes aren’t what they used to be, I should’ve just sent Rocco up to ask your size.”
“No no, they fit fine, and please don’t send Rocco to do anything without telling me. I think that might just give me a heart attack on the spot. I’m still really not used to all… this going on”
I said gesturing to the raccoon who had wandered into the kitchen and was now flipping me the bird with both his paws.

Stein nodded to me with what I hoped was understanding. As much as Rocco seemed harmless (Maybe… hopefully?) I really didn’t want the furry little demon arriving anywhere near me unexpectedly. We already saw how that went in the basement yesterday. I finished washing my dishes in the sink as Stein ate his breakfast. He seemed so calm and normal, compared to the things I’d seen in this house so far. If you took one look at Bianca you say she looked too good to be true. Rocco is… well, he’s a talking raccoon, that’s immediately strange. But when it came to Frank and Stein you couldn’t tell there was anything off about them. Honestly I still had trouble seeing where they fit into this whole thing.
I was lost in this train of thought as I went through the motions of taking my groceries out of the refrigerator where someone had put them. I didn’t even realize Bianca was standing behind me till she tapped my shoulder. Jumping out of my skin I screeched out,
“Jesus Rocco what the hell!”
Bianca went from serious to laughing hysterically in no time flat.
“He really has you spooked after last night doesn’t he?”
She barely got out between bouts of laughter.
“I’m sorry really, oh and I’ve got this for you.”
Chuckled Bianca, handing me a wad of cash with a face that didn’t look remotely sorry for laughing at me.
“Just for that I’ll take it! But I’ve got to ask, how do you have this much cash just lying around, isn’t that a little risky?”
“You’d have to ask my unc… Frank or Stein.”
Bianca answered, stumbling on the apparently familiar lie. As she said this Stein stood up from the table and answered my question.
“Researching the supernatural isn’t always safe but Germany pays its scientists well, even if we don’t work for them anymore.”
“Germany? When did you work with the German government?”
I asked, a sinking suspicion settling into the pit of my stomach.
“1941, The Führer requested me specifically and I met Frank there. Oh don’t look at me like that! I didn’t support his cause, he simply wanted to look into forces outside his control and that was my specialty. It was business nothing more.”
Stein responded, pointing his finger at me and sounding a little annoyed.
“But that would make you… there’s no way you’re that old. Uh I don’t mean!”
“Think nothing of it, if anything, it means our serum worked. Distilled it from the DNA of a few pureblooded vampires and designed it to slow human aging to a crawl.”
Bianca cut him off,
“Stein, I think I can see steam coming out his ears. Can we maybe give the supernatural stuff a rest? I know you’ve been around it all your life but I think its a bit much for him.”
“Yes, I suppose your right Bianca. I’ll leave you two be then.”
Stein surrendered, as he turned and walked out of the room. Like he hadn’t just dropped yet another bomb on me.
I held myself together much better this time. After talking raccoons and succubi, learning vampires apparently existed in such an offhanded manner just didn’t surprise me as much. At this point I was just about ready to accept any supernatural entity I’d ever heard of existed in some capacity. In fact that might be the best policy moving forward.
“Hey you’re not going to pass out on us again right?”
Bianca asked turning back to me, genuine concern in her voice.
“No, I’ll be fine. The more I hear about this kind of thing the better I am at just accepting it. It’s a lot easier hearing it from one of you guys than having it drop out of the sky at me.”
I joked, walking with Bianca to the door. I noticed my poor attempt at a joke was the first time I said anything about Imalone without feeling like someone would call me crazy. I couldn’t dwell on that for too long right now though, I had to drop off the groceries that had taken me a full day to get. In hindsight though, I’ve had worst trips to the grocery store.
The next few days passed without any real issues, I got things set up in the house and ordered some furniture with the money I got from Bianca. On the second day I figured I should go out and explore the town a bit. I was getting bored being cooped up doing normal things and apparently I wanted to throw a wrench in all that.
“Maybe a bar” I thought to myself as I walked out the door just as the sun had started to think about setting, “Those are always a good place to meet people”.
This is where I tell you I may be just a little awkward. Even back home I didn’t really get out and meet new people much but I figured now is as good a time as any to start. I threw together a quick outfit with the clothes I brought with me from home. Hopefully I looked at least a little bit presentable in khakis and a red dress shirt. I walked out my door and immediately saw Bianca’s house peering out over the town. I considered dropping by to see if Bianca wanted to join me. I had told her about the reasons I ended up in Eagles Peak but I still knew precious little about her. I assumed her past wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. I wanted to know what exactly drew someone like her to a sleepy little town like this. Maybe seeing if she wanted to join me would be a good opportunity to learn something about her? It’s entirely possible I just wanted to spend more time around her because she was drop dead gorgeous. Maybe it was because she was the first person I bumped into in town? I couldn’t put my finger on it and if we’re being honest I didn’t want to admit the real reason to myself.
That would have to wait for another day though. I had spent so much time thinking about it that by the time I snapped back to reality I was by the greyhound bus stop, well past her house. There was another bus stopped there and people were getting off of it. None of them looked like what I would call a local but its not like I’d really know what a “local” looked like here anyways. Still, this town couldn’t get this many visitors right? It was weird but probably had a completely reasonable explanation.
“The Eagle’s Roost” read the sign above the bar’s entrance, it was actually a pretty high class looking establishment. The fresh red paint gleamed against the faded whites and grays of the other buildings on the street. Inside, a well polished dark wood floor greeted me. The room was completed by a roaring stone fireplace and a well used set of stools by the counter.
“Hey there! Anyone home?!”
I called out into the empty bar.
“Give me a minute!”
Replied a deep gruff voice form the back room. Eventually a man emerged from the room, well I say man but what I mean was a mountain in human form. This guy had to be about 7 feet tall and built from solid granite. Seriously, the muscles on this guy would’ve put The Rock to shame.
“Little early to start drinkin’ isn’t it?”
The mountain grunted judgmentally.
“Well I’m new here I just wanted to see the town. I could come back later if you want.”
“New, why didn’t you say so! New here, I haven’t seen anyone new here in years! come sit down if you’ve got questions about this place I can probably answer them!”
The now elated giant boomed at me. He turned hospitable in an instant, offering me a drink on the house for his poor manners before. His name was Tucker and he’d come to the town years ago as a foreman for it’s mine. The mine dried up and the workers moved on but something about this town spoke to him and he decided to stay. He opened up this bar and the rest is history. Something about the way he talked about the mine did’t sit right with me though. He kept mentioning how it dried up like he was trying to convince me that was what happened. Plus a mine out here didn’t exactly make much sense to me.
“So you run this place alone then?”
I asked, more to be polite than out of genuine curiosity. We had started to run out of things to talk about after conversation about the mine dried up much like it apparently had.
“Never needed any help besides my wife’s, but most days I just run the place alone, yes. No sense in hiring help here, not many people looking for work outside of the ones working at that grocery store down the street. Anyways I should get back to work, its getting to be about time we actually open to the public.”
I turned my head to look at the sign I now realized was stuck to the door. “Eagle’s Roost Hours: 6PM-1AM every night”. I realized with embarrassment I had walked through the door an hour before opening. Tuck had been nothing but friendly though, and I almost felt bad for assuming the locals like him would want to shoo me away. After all, everyone I’d met so far had been nothing but nice, not including Rocco that is.
As I turned my attention back to my drink I thought about the mine again. I hadn’t seen any records of the mine Tuck mentioned in my internet searches of the town before I came here. Honestly it had been incredibly difficult to dig up anything on the town. I wasn’t necessarily the most thorough in my search, but mines tend to be a staple of the towns they’re located in. This mine in particular seems to be what the town was built on. I’m not sure what had me so worked up on this mine issue but I was sure it was important. I sat there at the bar, mulling it over and sipping on my drink when a hand slapped down on my shoulder.
The man it was attached to said something but I couldn’t catch it even if I wanted to. I was far to laser focused on the mark seared black into the mans hand, the exact same eagle that was burned into my back. I pushed him off and bolted for the door, all I heard behind me was the mans confused “What?” And Tuck shouting at him.
“Now what in the Blazes did you do to the poor kid Robert!”
I shot off into the street from the bar, no one was chasing me but the fact that the symbol was here had set me off like a deer running from a gunshot.
“What the hell happened to you?”
Called a now familiar, heavily accented voice from the alleyway.
“Rocco, what are you doing out here?”
I questioned, bewildered at finding him out in the open. I’d never admit it but seeing a familiar face, even Rocco’s, calmed me down a little
“I’m a raccoon in an alleyway, what do you think I’m doing, fishing? No, I’m rootin' around in the trash, Frank needs some lithium foil and he can’t be bothered to run out and buy some batteries himself, stingy bastard.”
He retorted, looking for all intents and purposes like a normal raccoon at the moment.
“Even if I were to guess I wouldn’t have even come close to that.”
“I live to surprise”
Rocco sneered, taking a bow dripping with sarcasm.
“Anyways Frank is back at the house right? There’s something I’ve got to tell him.”
I asked, turning and running as soon as I got a response in the affirmative.
“Yeah he is, what exactly is so importa…. And he’s gone”
I made it to their strange high house in record time and burst through the door like I owned the place. For some reason Bianca seemed completely unfazed as I crashed into the entryway without so much as a knock.
“You know, you don’t live here right?”
“Oh yeah, good to see you too Bianca. Anyways, were is Frank, or Stein for that matter I’ve got something to ask.”
“They’re in the basement.”
Bianca said pointing to the door without looking up from the book she was reading.
Her dismissive attitude didn’t even register to me as I made my way down the basement steps. I got to the bottom and an acrid scent assaulted my nostrils.
“Do I even want to know what that is?”
I called into the basement, announcing my presence. Frank emerged from a room to my side decked out in a full lab coat and goggles along with a hairnet to protect what little of his still remained.
“What do you need?”
“You guys seem to know a lot about the supernatural right? Well, does this symbol mean anything to you?”
I said pulling off my shirt and turning my back to show him the mark that woman had left me with. His reaction could best be described by the sound of shattering glass as he dropped the beaker he was holding as he saw the symbol.
“Where did you get that?!”
He yelled more than asked.
“Back in Imalone.”
“Imalone? What’s that supposed to mean?”
It dawned on me that I hadn’t explained it to him like I had Bianca, so I filled him in. I told him the whole truth this time, where the mark came from, what really drove me to Eagles Peak, all of it. Frank listened diligently looking more concerned by the minute, at some point Stein joined him. A similarly shocked look was plastered across his face. I swear he was turning white when he answered my question.
“It’s the mark of the Thunderbird, and from what you told us, you met… her in person.”
“So why do you look so worried about it?”
I asked, feeling a little worried.
“Well she’s marked you personally, most people that have that mark would’ve gotten it to show devotion or allegiance and it certainly wouldn’t have come directly from the Thunderbird.”
The way Stein talked about this “Thunderbird” made me think I may be in even deeper shit than I realized.
“So do you two actually know anything about the Thunderbird?”
I asked, hoping these two would know something considering their long study of the supernatural.
“Until recently I only knew of the native legends surrounding the creature. I heard of people marking themselves with that symbol so I assumed there must be some truth to the legends. But neither me nor Frank has ever seen the Thunderbird, much less seen it..er, her take a human form.”
Stein answered, sounding almost disappointed in himself. I got the sense that not knowing something like this really ate at him. Which was just further proven by what he said next, a grin suddenly appearing on his face.
“Frank, I think we have our next big research project on our hands then.”
“I’ll start pulling any records I can find of accounts like Keith’s here.”
Frank said, hurrying over to a computer in the basement corner that looked ancient.
“Yes and compare those to the various legends surrounding the Thunderbird.”
Stein responded, rifling through a row of cabinets against the far wall.
Those two seemed to be whipped into a frenzy by something they knew next to nothing about being dropped in their laps.
“Guys… Guys! Can we hold off on going full mad scientist mode for just a second I’ve got one more thing to ask!”
I yelled trying to get their attention. when they turned to me I could see the spark in both their eyes as they hastily responded in unison.
“Yes, what!”
“Have either of you heard about a mine in this town? Tuck at “Eagle’s Roost” mentioned it but I don’t remember seeing anything about it when I looked into this town.”
“Ah the mine, it’s out in the forest north of town somewhere. There was a collapse or something a few years after it opened and the town covered it up. It would’ve been very embarrassing for them to admit the screw up so they just… didn’t, that’s all there is too it.”
Frank answered, seemingly bothered by the mundaneness of that question.
“So the mine is still out there then?”
“Of course! What did you think it just walked away? No, leave us be we’ve got work to do.”
Stein snapped.
As I left the two to their business and made my way out of the house I ran into Rocco, several grimy batteries grasped in his paws.
“They uh… I don’t think they’ll need those batteries anymore bud.”
“God damnit! That’s what I get for trying to be helpful.”
Rocco yelled, as he threw the batteries against the wall. I had to chuckle at the absurdity of it all. Here I was walking past a talking raccoon on his way down to two scientists looking into a Thunderbird. That’s a real thing that’s currently happening to me. Just a few days ago simply seeing Rocco knocked me out almost immediately and now he was just a minor inconvenience. Could it be that I was actually adjusting to all the crazy things that had been happening around me? I sure thought so.
Upstairs, Bianca was still nose deep in her book at the kitchen table.
“Hey can I ask you something?”
“Yeah sure, what is it?”
“Ever been into the woods around town? There’s something I want to check out there.”
“I don’t usually leave the house all that much if I’m honest.”
Bianca answered, a touch of sadness in her voice.
“Do you want too? Leave the house I mean.”
“What are you getting at?”
“Well, I’m going to be headed out there tomorrow looking for the old mine.”
“And why are you looking for that?”
She questioned suspiciously.
“I have a feeling it has something to do with the mark that woman… and I forgot I didn’t tell you about that.”
Bianca looked up at me as she said with a smirk.
“I knew there was more to that story from the other night. Why didn’t you tell me?”
I’ll spare you the details but needless to say I told the story again. I really need to start bringing everyone together when I do these things, it would save me time.
“So that’s why you came here, and you think this mine has something to do with it?”
Bianca exclaimed excitedly. I could almost see the lightbulb going off over her head.
“Yeah that’s pretty much it, do you want to come with? I mean you don’t have to go but I”
She cut me off,
“You know what maybe I should go. Two sets of eyes gives us better odds right? And you have a bad history with forgotten places I seem to recall.”
Bianca said with a coy smile.
“That’s what we’ll do then, I’ll get some things ready and stop by tomorrow, we’ll leave from there.”
And before she had a chance to rethink her answer I left feeling pleased with myself.
My next stop was the hardware store on the other side of town. Of course I still had my travel bag from the good old Imalone trip but I figured I’d pick up some more tools that could come in handy.. I ended up with two heavy duty flashlights, some work gloves of various sizes cause I had no idea what size would fit Bianca, and a set of bolt cutters. It was only when I got up to the counter and the clerk gave me the stink eye that I noticed my mistake.
“You planning to break into something kid?”
Questioned the older guy cashing me out. I responded before my brain caught up with my mouth.
“I was planning on it but you guys didn’t sell balaclavas. So I guess I’ll have to wait.”
The man eyed me for a second then burst out laughing as he handed me my things. Which was good because I knew a few places back in Wisconsin where pulling that would’ve got me pulled into a backroom for questioning. Not a lot of people knew how to take a joke back home. Weirdly enough it was the first time I thought of home since coming here. Obviously I had family back there but we weren’t exactly close like I said before. I just found myself missing the familiarity of the area I had lived in for the past 24 years of my life. I think that’s why I came to the decision to call my mother when I got home later that night.
The whole walk home I had this strange feeling of being watched. No-one was there, I’m sure because I checked… several times. But even as I locked the door to my house and starting sorting out a bag of supplies for Bianca, the feeling didn’t go away. As I pulled out my phone to call my mother the feeling finally faded into the background as I got her familiar answering machine.
“Hi, you’ve reached Carla, leave your name and number after the tone.”
Straight and to the point as quickly as possible, that was the best way to describe mom and it showed even in her answering machine.
“Hi mom I bet you’re wondering where I ended up. Well I’m in New York now, in a sleepy little town. Its nice really, I already met some new people they’re… well they’re a bit strange but I think I might fit in with them. I’m still looking for a job but I had a really well paying temp thing the other day so I’ll be fine for a little while. Anyways, hope you’re doing well, love you.”
I teared up a bit as I ended the call, I hadn’t called my mother in at least a year. She never checked up on me and I never checked in with her. We’d see each other at family gatherings and talk but outside of that I didn’t really contact her much anymore. It was sort of a mutual agreement that we both had, we assumed the other was alright. But being this far from Wisconsin, this far from home, had finally caught up with me. I wanted to at least hear her voice, even if it was just a recording.
As I finished up packing for tomorrow I was quite proud of myself. I’d thought of just about everything, I dug some old hiking boots out for myself and some rope from my old travel bag. Several different sets of flint and steel and about three days worth of dehydrated food adorned the top pocket of both bags. I’d even found an old water purification kit that ended up in one of the duffle bags I brought from my apartment. In short, I was the most over prepared for an excursion like this I’d ever been. It did help push back the eyes I felt peering at me from somewhere over my shoulder, the feeling of being watched still not leaving me. Once I laid down and tried to fall asleep the feeling only intensified. Sounds of rolling thunder in the distance reminding me of my time in Imalone and the fury of the storm the Thunderbird brought. I felt strangely confident as well though, tomorrow Bianca and I may finally start to uncover some answers as to why I felt called to this town, and maybe even what this mark could mean for me.

About DJ
[](https://imgur.com/a/MzsJJtM) I live in the Midwest (apologies for my region of the country) and write M/M romances about everyday life but extraordinary love featuring a variety of queer characters, from gay to bisexual to asexual. I spent more than a decade in the newspaper industry before pursuing my first dream to write fiction. I am a lifelong introvert and avid reader, and I continue to get my social fixes through books and a screen more than any other way!
I’ve been published since 2015, but I wrote my first piece of fiction in second grade. It was a skit about dental care, and the teacher had the class perform it.
About DJ’s Books
I write low-angst, tropey, fun contemporary M/M romance. I’ve gone through some evolutions as an author, and in the past couple of years, I’ve been writing more quirky small-town romances with tight-knit groups of friends, nosy neighbors, “punny” business names, and old ladies who make a nuisance of themselves but have big hearts!
I really enjoy the world building in these types of books where the town is like another character that readers enjoy. But I also have quite a few books in my catalog that are not so focused on the small town aspect. Thrust into Love, for example, is about college students and app hookups that go awry in all the best ways.
My newest book is Dock Tease, Book 1 of Swallow Cove, set in a quirky lake town in the Ozarks. I am also writing a Rom-Com Reboot series inspired by Hollywood movies. Sexless in Seattle is out now, and You’ve Got Male is dropping May 22.
My most popular series is Games We Play, about a group of friends in small-town Granville stumbling into their HEAs via party games like Never Have I Ever and Truth or Dare. Two Truths and a Lyle, a prequel novella that launches that series, is free!
My entire catalog is in Kindle Unlimited (except for Lyle, which is free). I also have a growing selection of audios, some of which are distributed wide.
Where to Find Me

• Visit my website ReadingDJ.com
• Visit my FB group, D Town, or find me on Insta
• Newsletter + free bonus content
• Join a membership to get your HEA’S sooner with early access to WIPs, advance ebooks, and more.

GIVEAWAY
To show my appreciation to everyone for being here, I’d like to give away your choice of an ebook or signed paperback of my newest release, Dock Tease! As long as you’ve asked a question below during the hours of this AMA, your name will be entered to win. The winner will be chosen at random after the AMA and contacted through Reddit!

Damn this is a long post. 😅 Sorry to whoever reads this I'm a wordy person.
I'm kind of thinking of nachoing. Not because I hate my step daughter but because I really really love her and her relationship is so important to me.
Basically since my fiance and I got serious I have stepped in as a parental figure to my SD who is now a young 5. I love her as much as I could love a kid that I didn't give birth to. She is smart, funny, sweet, energetic, sassy and curious.
We have 60/40 custody and her mom is involved and HC only with my fiance. Her mom teaches her bad manners (like that it's funny to be mean to people, she doesn't need to say please and thank you, swearing is encouraged etc etc), let's her eat all the junk food and treats she wants, is a little neglectful in the love and comfort area and both of her parents (and both sets of grandparents) baby her and coddle her (she RARELY gets told no from anyone in her life). She has a switch (from dad) and an iPad (from mom) with snapchat and messanger on it (which I get the premise. She can talk to us while at mom's and mom while here) and both her and my fiance call our Xbox her Xbox. I can already see a technology addiction surfacing in her, she's already talking about us getting her a phone, 1000 times a day she's like "I just need to snapchat this" and she spends probably a good hour a day staring at herself with filters on. At our house we only let her have her iPad when we are actively watching her. But I am so concerned over the long term affects this will have on her. My fiance says he is concerned only when I push him on it and sometimes comes back with "yes of course I agree. I can't do anything about it. Her mom got her the iPad".
We are also trying to encourage her to be more independent and help out a bit around the house....things like bringing her plate to the kitchen after supper, putting her shoes away in her cubby, hanging up her towel and hair towel after her bath and filling up her water bottle.
This week has been a very taxing week because my fiance hasn't been home much because of work so I've been home with her 24/7 and everyday has been met with "I don't want to do it I want you to do it for me", "I hate doing things for myself", "I like when you do it", "I can't do it", her throwing her hair towel at me while she is playing her switch and saying "here go hang this up" with a bossy tone or full on temper tantrums. This went on the last time we had her too. She sometimes has had bad days where she throws a tantrum but this week especially it's been multiple times every single day. It is mostly stemming from her not wanting to do things for herself because she's so used to us catering 24 hours a day.
The other dynamic is that she wants everything I have. She loves me and I'm her idol and it's absolutely exhausting. She will happily be playing until she sees me and my fiance holding hands and then she needs to break it up and go in the middle. Or we are holding hands in the car and she tells me to let you of his hand so I can hold hers. I get a new dress why didn't I get her the matching one and she gets upset. My fiance buys me flowers and she complains she didn't get any (last time I got flowers I happened to be in the city and found a cute sticker book I thought she would love.) when she came home I gave her her books and she was happy for 2 minutes until she realized my fiance got me flowers and for the next 24 hours she constantly was like "why did you get SM flowers but not me" "I want flowers too", my best friend made me a painting for my engagement and she kept asking why my best friend made me one and not her. She even talks nonstop about how her dad is gonna buy her a ring like mine (engagement ring) for like a month after my engagement. I don't blame her and I understand that a) she wants to be included and b) she wants to be exactly like me (she has told me as much). But it's exhausting and sometimes when I can't even get a kiss from my fiance without her needing one too it stings. (I don't blame her and I would never expect my fiance to not give her a kiss if she asks for one after I get one)
So like I said this week I have been with her 90% of the time. I've kept up with laundry, housework, yard work, transportation and I usually get up before my fiance to make him coffee and pack his lunch so he can sleep in a bit (it's something I LOVE doing for him so he can sleep in.) she has been a bit of a menace with talking back and arguing, entitlement and tantrums but I've dealt with it and always bounce back and try to stay calm and steady and understanding in the face of her big emotions.
Last night my fiance and I talked about how if we ask her to do something we are not going to be doing it for her.
So flash forward to this morning. I wake up and brush my teeth with SD (she complains nonstop or doesn't do it unless Indo it with her). Go downstairs and my fiance comes down 10 minutes later he gives me a kiss and SD starts asking why I get a kiss and she doesn't so he gave her one as well. Things like that sometimes sting and it did this morning so I went upstairs for 5 minutes to regroup and tell myself it's not a big deal. I can be hurt but no one did anything wrong. Then my fiance was taking SD with him and asked her to get her water bottle and fill it up (he asked her like 5 times). She refused to fill it up so he went to do it and I reminded I'm about our talk last night and he disregarded that and did it anyway.
I texted him and told him that when he brushes me off that way it makes me feel like he doesn't value what we decide on together and it's very important to me that when we ask her to do something she does it and if she refuses to she deals with the natural consequences (ie she chose not to fill her water bottle up she will have to go the car ride without water). He brushed that off and told me he was just not wanting to fight with her about it. And then told me that he felt "unloved when I went upstairs this morning" and so I explained that when I can't get a moment of affection for myself sometimes it really stings and today was one of those days (but that I also don't expect him to refuse to give SD a kiss because that's unfair to her and she deserves affection too) so I went upstairs to regroup and came back down after I had 5 minutes. And he responded with "how unacceptable that a child wants affection from her parent" and that just felt very condescending and cycled into a fight.
Anyways I kind of feel like I am at my limit. I don't feel like my perspective and advice is valued and that response from my fiance really makes me feel icky. There was no kindness and compassion in it.
I'm thinking maybe I should nacho from any parental duties for the time being, still give her love and affection but really prioritize myself and my needs day to day instead of bending over backwards for her and my fiance. Let him deal with his child. And I know the affection thing I'm just gonna have to get over and figure out a way to handle better when it feel like it stings.
Any advice or encouragement or even constructive criticism would be so helpful.

First of all, I would like to say THANK YOU to all of you that showed so much love to my first post ever in Reddit!
Since my girl Millie got too much hate for wearing white and ruining the best photo of the wedding, I decided to write her sad story and share it with all of you. It's a LONG tale, full of ups and mostly downs (TLDR at the end of the post). Sooo, grab some cookies and popcorn while I spill the tea ;)
******WARNING******** The story features what I believe to be unsettling content (pregnancy loss) for some. It's hidden as spoiler, so please don't click it if it's a sensitive issue for you. <3
Our story starts with poor young adult who shall not be named (because I don't remember her name). God (me) had big plans and challenges for her, as she started with 0 simoleons in an off the grid island, with hopes of her becoming a millionaire. She moved in the big island without money, a place to sleep, a toilet, nothing. The challenge goes like this: raise money from beachcombing, buy a towel to sleep on, buy a bush to pee in, snorkel, plant and build a life from zero. And, under no circumstances communicate with another sim.
This challenge was too difficult. The loneliness and hardships, the struggle to just survive and find food, led this young girl to her death by drowning in the middle of the ocean. It was too soon, so God decided to try this challenge again, giving the new sim a head start.
That leads us to the protagonist of the story, Millie Carson.
Millie Carson is a young adult who moved in the same island, like a castaway. All she found on that island was a towel, some planted trees, a toilet bush and a grave.
The ghost from the grave came often to haunt and tease her and finally became her enemy.
At first, young Millie tried to stay away from other sims but, since they kept coming and visiting, God decided that it was ok for her to have some friends.
Millie's neighbors were Miki and Ali, a happy couple with two babies. They kept visiting and bringing food to their poor young neighbor, since she was struggling so much. Millie grew close with Ali, who came swimming to her island sometimes.
Meanwhile, Millie learned some skills that earned her some money and food. She became really good at fitness, gardening and fishing. Little by little, she earned enough money to buy diving supplies and took up some diving photography and treasure hunting. All those helped her build a tiny wood home which finally had a toilet and a shower and even a fridge. Life was getting better for Millie, until she started having feelings for her married neighbor...
Millie was attracted to Ali: his long blond hair, his green eyes and dark skin. To her surprise, Ali was interested in her as well. She tried to fight it but it was over her own power to resist. They made sweet woohoo and became a couple, while he was still married with two kids.
Love makes you do stupid things and that's what happened to Millie. She fell in love with a married man and, surprise surprise, she got pregnant with his kid.
While on her 1st trimester, she visited her neighbolover's home to tell him the news. His wife, Miki, opened the door and the sight was unbelievable: She was pregnant as well, on her 3rd trimester. Millie chatted with Miki as nothing was wrong and even socialized with her kids for a bit. But it was now time for Ali to learn the truth. Millie pulled him aside and told him everything.
To her surprise, Ali was content with being a parent to their child. Millie felt his support and fell even harder for him, causing her to do the unthinkable: Woohoo with him all over his tiny house while his wife and two kids were inside! They woohood EVERYWHERE: The small single bed, the kitchen sink, the counters, standing... They almost got caught by Miki, but hopefully she was so pregnant that it took her an eternity to reach the woohoo spot.
Millie started thinking about their future. Tormented by her jealousy, she asked Ali about Miki. Miki's super pregnant belly was an indicator that Ali still loves and woohoos with his wife, two-timing both women. To her dismay, Ali confessed his love about Miki, but he was willing to keep his relationship with Millie. But that wasn't enough for Millie...
Without hesitation, Millie served Ali an ultimatum: It's her or Miki. No love triangles, no hiding. Her kid needed a father and she needed support as a poor young woman. All those pregnancy hormones made her unreasonable - she came between a happy couple and now she felt that her lover's wife stole him from her, even though they were already together! The irony!
Millie couldn't get over her feelings, so she invited Miki over and told her EVERYTHING. That she was pregnant. That the father was poor Miki's husband. Miki got even yelled at for sleeping with her own husband. Millie was out of control.
Like a tsunami, a force that couldn't be stopped, Millie called over Ali and told him to break it off with his wife. It was now or never. Ali did as told and suddenly Miki broke down crying, hating life and those two who ruined it.
Eventually, Miki left and the.. happy couple were finally alone. Millie asked Ali to move in and he gladly accepted. He even proposed and they stayed engaged until after their baby girl, Angelique, was born.
Meanwhile, even though Miki was hating them, she still came over with extra food like a good neighbor. But her relations with the couple never improved much.
The happy couple decided to get married. Millie wore a pretty but simple boho white dress, hair down and golden jewelry. But her joyful smile was the prettiest jewel she could wear. It was a lovely, quiet wedding on the seashore, during sunset.
Soon after, Millie got pregnant again but wasn't ready or happy for it. Unfortunately, there were some complications with the pregnancy and baby Donovan was born dead. They buried him under a lemon tree and cried for many seasons about him.
Ali started helping Millie with gardening, fishing and diving. But his dream was to finally earn his degree in Communications. He still had 3 classes to pass and then he could enter the PR world. He soon earned his degree with a low to medium score and was ready to start working. There was a huge problem, though...
The island was off the grid and he could not apply for the job, not use the very much needed internet. A decision had to be made: Should they live on this island forever, living off the land, or they should move somewhere else and follow Millie's dream to become millionaires?
The choice was easy. The couple moved to Finchwick, in a big cottage house with a big garden, front and back. They brought with them the plants they had gardened with so much love and also bought some chickens. Life was good for a while, baby Angelique was growing but woohoo life was... fine.
Ali found a job in PR and had to work all day, even from home. He had to polish his charisma and writing skills and meet new people. So, that made Millie a stay at home mom, a gardener, a housekeeper. But there was no time for her lifestyle needs: outdoor living and working out. She became frustrated and was always in a bad and uncomfortable mood. She had gained a lot of weight from her pregnancy, she hardly recognized herself in the mirror...All this bad mood made her cranky. Everytime Ali tried to woohoo with her, she had no drive. So, their love life went down the drain...
Meanwhile, Ali was doing great at work, earning at least 2000 simoleons per day. He had met many people, and one of them became a really good friend of his. His name was Gabriel and he was thin, with black short hair, dark skin and modern makeup.
Ali was tormented by his feelings when he hang out with Gabriel. He couldn't understand how a man can be attracted to another guy like that. He was open to the idea, but had never acted upon it. It wasn't the looks - Gabriel was pretty basic. But there was something about the both of them that made him feel... amazing. The attention he got from Gabriel, the friendship.. It was like they knew each other from another lifetime.
Every time Gabriel came over, Ali got excited. He was interested in his words and inner world, not only his appearance. One night, he couldn't take it anymore. While they were talking the backyard table, Ali started flirting with Gabriel. Things got heated fast and they shared the most beautiful first kiss. That was exactly what he always wanted to feel, but was missing from his other relationships. He proposed to have woohoo in the home office, while Millie and Angelique were sleeping unaware upstairs...
They woohood hard and many times. It was a total WoohooFest. Morning came and Ali, having not slept at all, got ready to go to work. He didn't forget to kiss his wife goodbye, but he spent the entire day thinking about Gabriel. By night, he had decided to ask Gabriel to become his boyfriend.
Millie on the other side, was getting better. She bought a walking machine and she often went swimming in the river. Her woohoo drive was coming back strong and that meant more time with her beloved husband. They started woohooing more often, but Ali was also missing Gabriel...
God suddenly had an idea! Ali should ask Millie to have expanded woohoo with someone else, and that someone else couldn't be other than (yes, you guessed it) Gabriel. Ali went on and asked his wife and God told her that yes, it would be fun! So, unaware of God and her husband's plans, she happily accepted to engage in multiple sim woohoo...
Ali was so excited! He couldn't believe his ears! He immediately called over Gabriel and explained the situation. Gabriel accepted as well and it was time for Gabriel to meet with Millie. Millie tried to get to know him but for some reason he was distant. She tried to flirt with him but he didn't reciprocate. Millie got embarrassed and locked herself in her room for some time, to recollect herself. It shouldn't be so hard, right?
At the same time, Ali made his move on Gabriel and they woohood. Gabriel was more than excited to get together with Ali. So, why not Millie?
After Millie got over her embarrassment, she came out the room. Ali proposed having multiple woohoo and they did it. Everyone had a pleasant time.
After that, they got together two more times. But, the last time, at Gabriel's house, was the final blow.
Millie kept trying to flirt alone with Gabriel, not getting the message but, DUDE. He was NOT into her. It was heartbreaking. She tried so hard for her husband, her self esteem and again, she was turned down. A second choice. She didn't deserve it. And then, she though about it. The flirt between Ali and Gabriel. How they would have woohoo, the three of them, but Gabriel was rejecting her. It was time for answers...
Millie first told Ali to end the expanded woohoo agreement. It was too much for her. He wasn't happy about it, but he agreed. And then, she asked the million dollar question: "What's going on between you two?". Ali tried to hide it, told her they were only friends. But God was starting to feel bad about poor Millie, so had her ask again: "WHAT'S GOING ON BETWEEN YOU TWO?"
The answer was like a knife, going through her heart. Ali loved Gabriel and that's all she needed to know. Their woohoo life was non existent before and now had found someone who made him feel better, more... alive! That's all Millie needed to know. She went over to Gabriel and try to make a last, desperate woohoo pass at him. Once more, he rejected her. It was all so clear. She was the third wheel.
Her ego and her heart were stomped on the ground, like a cockroach. A beautiful, kind, hard working sim shouldn't go through all that. She headed back home, to the privacy of her bedroom and cried her eyeballs out. Ali didn't come home that night and went straight to work.
The next day, Millie invited Gabriel over. Oooh no, she wouldn't let him have Ali so easily. She would humiliate him first. He came over and she started yelling at him. Her face was red and hot, she was fueled by rage. She ending up giving him the beating of his life. When Ali came home from work, both his lovers were black and blue from fighting.
Baby Angelique started crying. She had woken up. Millie rushed upstairs to help her toddler with her needs, but Ali and Gabriel stayed downstairs. Ali tried to comfort Gabriel, asking him to stay. He didn't care about his marriage anymore. God led them to the hall upstairs, outside the bedrooms. They started woohooing again, right there, like animals!
Poor Millie, as she opened her daughter's bedroom's door, she caught her cheater husband in the act! THE AUDACITY!!! And if it that wasn't enough, when she went over to slap him, he acted like she wasn't there and went to woohoo in the shower with his boyfriend - AGAIN! WTH!!!
At this point, Millie knew it was time to give Ali the boot and kick him the hell out of their home, and so she did. After Ali's lover left, the married couple had a long, heated conversation that only had one outcome - Ali had to move out immediately.
So, he left and rented a one-bedroom apartment in the city. He also decided to ask Gabriel to live with him, and Gabriel happily accepted. A new chapter started for Ali but unresolved things were left in the middle with his wife that needed to be dealt with.
While all these took place, Millie had gotten close with celebrity Rahul Chopra. They became good friends and she was invited to his wedding. It was a one of a kind event because Rahul had a shotgun wedding with his wife when they were teenagers due to unwanted pregnancy. After many kids later, Rahul's eldest daughter, with the villainous valentine aspiration (long story) decided to break her eternally faithful parents up for fun. So they did break up, but they were so made for each other, like puzzle pieces, that it was impossible to not end up together again.
Rahul fell back in love with his wife and they decided to do it right this time. They planned the perfect wedding event in San Myshuno's park, during sunset. The whole family was there and their 2nd child, Philip (YA) would take the professional pictures of the wedding.
The ceremony started, everyone (almost) was seated and the photographer (and me) were preoccupied with taking the happy couples pictures. As the ceremony ended, the couple was ready to share their first kiss as husband and wife. The air was filled with confetti that floated playfully around them, the fireworks were set off behing them and the sun was showering them with the warmest rays. It was a one time opportunity to get the perfect picture. Philip got ready to press click. And then, she appeared.
Millie, clearly bothered and heartbroken by other people's love, made a run for the exit and ruined Philip's perfect photograph. The angry look on her face would forever haunt Philip's mind. Why would that woman ruin this happy moment and why the hell would she wear white at someone's wedding? I mean, you wouldn't mistake her for the bride, who wore an expensive wedding gown, but still... Something was wrong with this girl and Philip had to find out...
After the wedding, Millie went back home. The days passed and the divorce was not finalized. She asked her kid who she wanted to stay with, but without reply. She called Ali over, but he texted back he didn't want to come over. Millie had her -now child- daughter call over her dad. This time, Ali responded positively and soon after he arrived. Millie took him straight to the lawyers to see who will get custody of Angelique.
This time, God had no plans, God left it all to luck. So, unfortunately, Ali won custody of Angelique, who immediately went to live with him. Now, Millie was alone. Only her and her money and her baby son's grave in the front yard. Now she was angry, NOW HE WOULD PAY.
Millie grabbed Ali and went once again to the lawyers. It was now time to split the estate. At least 100k simoleons in the bank, plus whatever the house is worth. Millie wants to get everything, but once again, God won't interfere. She comes back home, head down, beaten - she lost 80k.
She turns to her new friend, Philip. He is basic, but he's a good guy. He lives alone in an apartment in San Myshuno, studies Fine Arts in university, comes from a good family. He also has a girlfriend that lives across the hall from him, but Millie doesn't know. And God tells her to come onto him. Now Philip has two girlfriends and God must interfere.
God and luck are playing games with Millie's life.
As I'm writing her story, there's only one thing I feel: Sad.
This girl started out with hopes and dreams. So I think that we should forgive her for attending a friend's wedding wearing white. Some God forgot to change her formal outfit and it was all she had to wear. She's going through a lot!
Her story ends for now, but if you guys like it I might write more about her life's adventures.
Also, what should she do with Philip? Let me know in the comments!
If you read this whole essay / story , you are amazing! And thanks! Hope you liked it! :)
TLDR: YA woman starts with 0 money in off the grid island. Wants to earn a million. Gets pregnant by married neighbor with kids. Marries him and they buy new home. They get pregnant second time, lose the baby.He gets a good job, meets new people, gets new guy friend, has woohoo with that friend. The 3 of them have expanded woohoo. Woman breaks it off. Woman confronts husband about loving other man, he confesses he loves him. Woman kicks him out and he lives alone in flat. The other guy moves in with him. Woman heartbroken, goes to friends wedding wearing white, is angry at happy couple's love, ruins the married couple kiss photo. Photo becomes famous on Reddit. Woman loses custody of only child. Woman loses 80k simoleons after splitting estate. Woman becomes girlfriend of the photographer from the friend's wedding. Photographer already has another girlfriend.
*****EDIT*********** I can't believe I forgot to write this, but Millie also drowned in the ocean while being fatigued from diving for treasures. I decided to not save and give her a second chance. Her life is dramatic, UUUUUUGH!!!!

Greetings Guardians (and potential future TSOLites)!
I’m Stevie and I’m an admin here at The Servants Of Light. We are a broad group of gamers and friends who like to hang out, chat and play games, sometimes even Destiny. Take a moment to read through our little recruitment post here and see if you think that our little corner of the internet is somewhere you would like to call home.

The Essentials

System: PC - All platforms are welcome thanks to crossplay. But please make sure you have a way to chat with us over discord as that's how we arrange everything.
Region: We are primarily based in the UK. We have a fair few EU members and even 1 or 2 on other timezones. We don't really recommend signing up if you are US based as you will likely miss out on alot of our events and fun things due to the time difference. (sorry)
Active Times: You will usually find us active from late afternoon/early evening and sticking around toward midnight.
Rules Summary: Our rules boil down to not being an idiot or a bigot. We love to joke around with each other but we do not tolerate hate. No homophobia, sexism, racism or any kind of gender or religious attacks. We are a welcoming place for all people but if you harbour distaste for anyone for just existing as their true self, you don't belong with us.

Who Are The Servants Of Light?

About Us: So, The Servants Of Light (or TSOL [tee-sol] for short) started out as another Destiny 2 clan made to give a few people a way to earn some extra rewards and group up easier. Over the past 5 years we have grown and evolved into so much more. Destiny is, of course, a big part of what we do and who we are, but I think that what makes TSOL special is everything else we get up to. From just talking to each other in the general chat, debating silly things like what counts as a sandwich all the way to all our events. We have fortnightly Game Nights, Movie Nights and a special raid night known as Raid Roulette. We also like to do bigger events throughout the year, the biggest of which is our end of year BONANZA! A huge gameshow style event where we like to dress up all fancy, announce the winners of our community voted awards and challenge you to various themed rounds with a prize on offer. We even have a yearly meetup for those so inclined towards in-person interaction. As for our general focuses for within Destiny, we do a little bit of everything. I would probably say we are a much more PvE leaning clan, we have teams going for clears on contest mode (and may have a space or two open for the next one if you are into that kind of thing and get along with us), we do GM’s and raids every season and aren’t scared off by legend difficulty activities. PvP wise, we have a few guardians who jump into things like trials regularly but for most of us PvP is an ‘as and when’ kind of activity, stacking 6 in iron banner is always fun though. No activity is mandatory and we really just want to play the game we love with people we like, in whatever form that takes. (NOTICE: If Gambit is your favourite gamemode then you will be judged for it but not penalised)

The Testimonials

Not something you see much of in your average recruitment post but I asked some of our current members as well as some friends of the clan to give a little insight into what people really think of the clan named TSOL.
NebulaAndi (our clan leader): "TSOL was created as a place for people to come together and hang out, not just play destiny. It has blossomed into something I'm incredibly proud of, and has fostered some amazing friendships and memories. I've watched many of our longer-standing members grow, and everyone continues to welcome new people with open arms. We've got so many things going on - day one raids, movie nights, and we even had our second irl meetup last year which was incredible. I love these guys with all my heart, and despite them forcing me at gunpoint to write this, I know they'll welcome you too."
Lucasacul (one of our mods): “If you are looking for the funniest, kindest and most helpful clan in Destiny 2 then join us here at The Servants of Light. This is not a cult”
Weiland: "very welcoming group of people, almost always down to run stuff/help people out."
Rapideagle147: "It's a clan full of muppets"
Havelock: "TSOL is a really welcoming, friendly and diverse clan and absolutely not a cult. Brilliantly social not just playing Destiny but having DnD, Minecraft, games/film nights and solid definitely not cultist chat."
Kenny: “A clan so good, you’ll kill your old clan just for the chance with them”
DT: "I used to hate destiny 2 the video game with a passion, now I hate destiny 2 the video game with a passion, but with friends."
Evey: "TSOL - A Haiku Sherpa'd my first raid, Then soon became dearest friends: This weird clan is great!"
Sheep: “TSOL is a fantasic clan, who really go out of their way to be welcoming and inclusive to anyone that joins. Destiny with them is always fun and there's a great community where anyone will try to help with whatever you want which just makes destiny, even when it's not fun, just that little bit more enjoyable”
Nuggets: "excited monkey noises"
Athena: "Found TSOL about a year ago and the people here are nothing short of being the weirdest and loveliest folk that I've ever met. There's always something going on in the server, even during the quiet periods of Destiny."
yapX: "TSOL allows you to actually enjoy Destiny 2, a remarkable achievement that Bungie haven't been able to replicate"

How to get involved

Requirements: The only real requirements we have for joining the clan are 1) to use Discord, which is how we communicate with everyone and arrange all our activities. It's also where you can chat to your clanmates and have fun. 2) follow the rules. The full rules list is in our server for you to read through.
How to: So, if you somehow made it through all that and still think that this is a clan you would like to check out, add or shoot me a DM over on Discord (indigostevie) and I'll get you sorted. If you wanna jump in the server and get to know us a little before you join the in game clan, that's fine too, same deal.
I love this clan with all my heart. They are some of the best friends I've ever known. I hope you like us too :)
https://www.bungie.net/en/ClanV2/Index?groupId=3541785 (we will not accept join requests without a message to an Admin just FYI)

How to begin?
I'm a 38F; single.
My hobbies are D&D, art, video games, traveling, and karate. I play D&D every weekend, and go to karate 3xs/week. I work full-time doing tech-related things for a small department.
While I have "friends", I feel as though I'm often the only one reaching out to see how they are, or the only one wanting to spend time together.
I've given up the dating scene for now as it's been really disappointing after the last 3 months with local men, and a hurtful last year with falling for someone who never did (and still doesn't 'see me' or know what makes me tick.) He and I were friends before the situation, and still are, but he's distant; which sucks as I feel the closest to him more than anyone else in the area....though it may be one-sided at this point.
At work, I feel like an outlier as I don't fit in with the other girls in the department that I work with. Hobbies, age, body type; everything is different. Most of them are married as well. None of them do tech, and I feel awkward being in groups of women as most of my hobbies have always been male-dominated and I'm more comfortable talking about geek stuff than getting my nails done or the latest video on Tiktok.
D&D is fun, and I like several of the people that I play with, but they are all married/have children, while I have neither of those. And some of them are good friends of people who I don't get along with at all, and would rather not be around.
I love karate. I would go to class every day if I could. The dojo feels like my spiritual home, but it's small with a lot of kids. I would love to spend time with some of the people that go there, but they're always so busy; usually with their families or their jobs. They'll make promises to hang out, and not follow through. Or they'll make plans with me, and then change them without discussing them with me first; telling me afterwards when I've already made other plans and can't join them with their new plans.
I think the worst thing is hearing them talk about going home to their families, or the ones who are roommates; ask each other what they want for dinner as they walk out together...They say we're friends, but friends make time to hang out together, don't they? I often just end up sitting in my car for awhile after class; either in the parking lot or at home, as I don't want to return to an empty place. (I can't afford a pet right now.)
I spent 7.5 years teaching English both in Korea and Japan. The isolation and loneliness there was to be expected; with the language and cultural barrier and whatnot. I even got so lonely that I signed up for junk emails just so 'someone' would email me. I also started writing a diary and emails that I never sent to feel like maybe someone was hearing me. So I guess that I felt like when I got back here, I would naturally fall into friendships and relationships, but that hasn't been the case. My local friends from high school I feel as though I've outgrown, and my foreigner friends that I made in Japan aren't allowed to talk after a certain time, are busy with s/os, or are depressed so don't want to talk anymore.
I know that I'm "really cool" and a good person and friend with a big heart. I've heard it alot. But it just feels like if I were to slowly disappear, would people notice? Would they even care past the work I do or me being one of the few women at the dojo? I love the dojo, and I want to help there with whatever I can, but I often feel shot down when I offer to help with things; even if I have the skills or experience to help and they could really use my help.
Sometimes I fantasize that my friends would call upon me for help and support with something and I could swoop in there and be appreciated by them. I guess I just want to be wanted and needed by someone, if not something. I want to be included, and invited to things. I want to help my friends and have a strong bond with them and spend time outside of our shared hobbies with each other. I want to belong somewhere.
I miss the community that I had in high school. I tried joining community band here, but it didn't go well so I joined karate instead. My online gaming friends either are busy with their gfs and we very rarely game together now, or they no longer have a subscription to play online.
I've tried to embrace the fun parts about being alone; like staying in pajamas or staying up late or following my own plans. I'll take myself out to do fun things, like seeing a movie, or lunch, or the beach, but the novelty wears off when I get home and I'm alone and have no one to really share it with. Except Facebook.
While I was invited to a friend's birthday party last-minute, I'm also currently under an incredible amount of stress at the moment with my dad being in the hospital, and having to see him nearly every day. I haven't been able to focus on work, and when I get home, I'm mentally and physically tapped out. Household affairs have greatly fallen behind and it makes me come down on myself even harder...why do other people not have this problem and not break down and cry like I do? I've been so frustrated and hard on myself lately... I have a therapy appointment next month, but that's still so far away.
I just really need a hug, and an invitation to hang out with friends and be seen and understood without judgement.
Thank you for listening.