21+
please message me with more than "hi, how are you?" + do not chat message me, send me a DM! it's so much easier for me since i use the app on my phone.
just your local girlfriend stealing, alternative, bisexual here. 👋 but you know what? let's set that aside for now (your girlfriend is safe for the moment) because i'm looking for friends that are as good to me as i am to others, which is apparently *harder than it should be. i am a genuinely kind, loving person even if my face says otherwise. oops. i have a severe case of resting sad face, so sorry.
i'm smitten with people who are weird but not weird enough to make others uncomfy, or unable to enjoy the weirdness, ya know? i know you know. i like people who are into things that others mostly aren't: tarot, astrology, deep conversations, things like that. i might not actively be participating in said things but i like hearing the perspective of people who are! my friends always joke that i'm the person people say "i can fix her!" about but uh, i'm awesome. i don't need fixed. ✨i will admit though, i hesitate about people a lot because while i do want a best friend -- mine have scorned me, so i need someone patient with me and understanding of that, please. please. i adore social connections but i do come with a social battery and it needs refilled. me needing that time does not negate the connection i have built with you and am nurturing with you.
i will genuinely offer you diamonds in the form of friendship, just reciprocate it. i will offer you the safest, most non-judgement free zone you can imagine, you are always - always, safe with me. i just ask that you are a good, kind, compassionate friend to me. you can literally tell me anything in the world and if it isn't hurting anyone else, i will listen without judgment. i promise you. i'll also send you spotify songs that i really like, so hi. hello.
on to the fun tingz (and the stuff that will hopefully bring you in),

• watching my first ever anime, try to guess it [let's pretend my first actual one wasn't death note & that it wasn't the live action]
• i'm the best wingman, hypeman & support team all in one
• horror fan through & through, but honestly, i prefer them less gory now lol, especially emotional horror
• cat loverrrr but will accept your frog [& all other animals] - so send pics. stat.
• known for dirty looks when i'm dissociating
• graphic design major who switched to cybersecurity & will be starting june, wish ya girl luck 💅
• gamer [valorant, ow2, cs2, hunt: showdown, pummel party, modded Minecraft, modded stardew,++]
• i don't play league, my mental health is terrible enough, thank you. i also don't play wow, my attention span could never. i do, however, play valorant because i don't like myself that much. i got you there, didn't i?
• loves to make make random noises but forgets my krisp isn't on
• mexican food 4 ever
• someone give me a banh mi please, they look so good, i'm desperate

i am ✨sPiCy✨so if that bothers you, i am sorry. i, again, am a genuinely kind person but i do have a snarkiness to me that is meant to be a slight "i love you" + dash of bully. ❤

Chapter 2. (Dracula)
Nine Hundred years later deep deep far in the the Shadow Forest a place called Castlevania in the black castles the kings chambers a beautiful black haired blue eyed woman named Isabell Bolton was travailing in pain as she was giving birth to her first born child, the queens maid that was there helping deliver the baby held the little child cleaned him up and wrapped him in the blanket.
“Is the Baby ok Sara?” Isabell asked very exhausted.
“Yes it’s a boy!” Sara said very excited as she gave the mother her baby.
“He’s So Handsome. Luther come quick see our boy!” Isabell said with glee.
King Luther Bolton came in and grabbed his son hugged him.
“My boy Oh my baby boy.” King Luther said very happily.
Suddenly a dark and evil witch named Festus appeared in the room with them she was pure evil.
“Oh! what do we have here aww how sweet the Dark One was finally born He will be called Dracula he will be a terror of this world he will be known all over the nation and he shall live till the end of time his power will come on his thirtieth birthday when he drinks from the cup of Shalom that’s full of blood of the wolfs tears no one will stop his destiny he is a warrior of Econdire!” The witch said with a wicked evil laugh.
King Luther drew his blade and pointed it to her as he gave the baby back to the mother.
“You will not take my child and he will not become what you said!!! You will die this night!” King Luther shouted as he charged at the witch. She disappeared as King Luther swung his blade.
“Hahahaha you can’t kill me mortal and you can’t change what is to come I’m just here to warn you if you don’t want that to happen then you must kill the baby you can change prophecy Luther Bolton! Or seek out the skull face man named Slaygar he will gladly take the child and the Prophecy will not come true! Or should I say. “Your Majesty” hahahaha! Oh Luther. Ten years from now on a day before your wife gives birth to Your fourth son you will die and Dracula will be crowned King then time will count down. Hahahahahaha!!!” Festus said laughing as she disappeared out from a window in black smoke. Luther ran to the the window she disappeared from then she went to his wife who was weeping and crying out of fear
“Honey shush it’s ok!” King Luther said as he looked with worry and concern out the window.
“We’er not calling him Dracula we’er not his name is Gabriel Luther Bolton!” Isabell said sternly. “He will be a beacon of Hope.” Isabell said smiling.
“Yes That’s Beautiful, Gabriel. I like that name. Gabriel.” King Luther said in his thoughts he was worried about the prophecy.
Years passed and Gabriel had three more brothers Drakeul, Nathen, and Samuel, Then his father got sick Gabriel was ten years old and he was trying everything he could to heal his father he was a mage a healer and he put all his herbs and couldn’t stop his father infection nor could he keep him from getting sicker. He was only able to take the pain away for a wile. But King Luther got worse and worse. The King grabbed Gabriel by the arm as he coughed and said.
“We got to get you better father I....” Gabriel said his voice shaken as he was interrupted.
“Gabriel listen it’s over there’s nothing more you can do. I feel my body shutting down before I go...” King Luther said as he winced in pain.
“No Father!” Gabriel said weeping.
“Shush! Gabriel be strong for your mother and your brothers she’s in labor now so you got to be Strong your a good man and you be a good king but I got to tell you something and you got to fight for what’s right no matter what! Your hear me son?” King Luther said as he was feeling weaker and weaker.
“Yes sir.” Gabriel said as he straightened his shoulders.
“Ten years ago when you was born a evil witch came and told us that you was the Dark One and you was to be the terror of the world til the end of time and you had a different name but I’m not at all going to speak that name and she said you was to be the warrior of Evondire.” King Luther said as he looked a his handsome boy and he smiled at him.
“Econdire? The evil prince?” Gabriel asked confused.
“Yes son and....” Luther told him all what had happened even to the point where they searched for the good witches mages sorcerers and wizards.
“They said Love is the first thing that change this fate and they said have more children as many as possible before My death and to surround you with Love and train you to be the best of yourself that love and good will overcome evil.” King Luther said as he tried hard to make sure His son knew to not loose his Live for others and those who loves him.
Gabriel looked at his father he didn’t know what to say but he swallowed and said.
Gabriel: I will live to the best of my ability to Love and be good to all.
“Good now go be with your mother and the child they need you...” King Luther didn’t finish his statement when he took his last breath and he left this world.
“Father! Father! No Father come back! Father!!!” Gabriel shouted and wept over his dead father.
King Luther died, Gabriel put his head on his fathers chest and wept the tears fell from his face on to his fathers chest. One of the Priests of Shalom walked up his name was Dagon Gibbs.
“My son he’s gone hey come here hush now.” The Priest Gibbs said with comfort.
“Bring him back Father Gibbs! Bring him Back!” Gabriel shouted still crying.
“Hush now I can’t do that I’m not God my son. I’m sorry for your loss I will prepare his ceremony but you mother gave birth to a son you need to go to her. Your coronation to be Crowned King after the ceremony of your father’s funeral. Life must go on Prince Gabriel you have a lot of priorities and obligations that Have to be done be strong Prince Gabriel.” Priest Gibbs said with a comforting voice.
Gabriel walked to the room his mother was and heard the cry of the baby he opened the doors to see his smiling mom holding her baby boy her blue eyes sparkled. She saw her firstborn and her smile faded. She then said to Gabriel.
“Gabriel come see your baby brother! I named him Logan!” Isabell said as she noticed the look on Gabriel’s face.
Gabriel held his baby brother.
“He’s so handsome and healthy, Luther would be so so happy.” Isabell said as she put her hand on Gabriel’s shoulder.
Gabriel looked at his mother and the tears fell from his eyes as well as his mothers.
“I know he be in here if he wasn’t gone but he is I know it. It was prophesied by that witch.” Isabell said as her voice shook with grief.
Gabriel put his head down.
“Oh I know baby you tried your best but his time was up sweetie. We talked long about this. I can’t grieve now you got to be ready for what’s come Gabriel.” Isabell said with sadness.
She began to weep, as she held Gabriel close to her. Gabriel gave the baby to Drakeul and hugged his mother as they wept for her for their loss. They had the beautiful ceremony for King Luther they buried him in a tomb under the castle.
Seventeen years passed the palace grew and the people where happy everything looked great Gabriel had a beautiful women they got married his it was so beautiful they had two sons identical twins Trevor and Alucard.
The year started off wonderful but then an man named John Bayn a wicked king from the deepest part north he was full of rage and sought nothing but power he attacked Transylvania and declared war against Gabriel, the king caused Gabriel to loose his source for food and he cut his supply of water king Bayn got some men inside Gabriel’s city who turned some of the people against Gabriel.
“Gabriel my brother what is your plan we have to do something we have to fight against these basters or we going to loose the city!” Drakeul said as he looked at his brother who was now king.
“Easy Drakeul getting angry at the King won’t fix this.” Samuel said as he grinned.
“He has a point Samuel we got to do something!” Nathen said to them both.
Gabriel turned around and looked at his brothers.
“Tonight we will gather the most faithful soldiers and we will attack and kill that king. I will not loose my city I will destroy my enemy!” Gabriel said with determination.
The Priest Gibbs walked up to the war table And looked at King Gabriel.
“Your Majesty. Think before you act I pray you. I dreamed of you last night, you was dark cold bitter your eyes were as red as the blood I seen you drink from the cup of Holy water from Shalom’s Temple but it was filled with blood blood that came from the Wolf’s tears you must not give in to this anger it take you far then you want to go.” Priest Gibbs Said with a Urgency and a warning.
Gabriel looked at the Priest as did everyone in the room.
“King Gabriel I beg you sir be patient don’t go wait the Lord will make away and give you Victory! Please Your Majesty stay they will come to you and the witches prophecy won’t come to pass! If you go out there, My King. The curse will happen three years early then what was told!” The Priest Gibbs said again with Urgency.
“Father Gibbs. I will not give into a witches curse I will not let a curse stop me from protecting my people I will do what has to be done and show them I am not to be played with they will know not to come against me! Like they knew not to come against my father.” King Gabriel said as he began to give out his plan.
“My King...” The Priest Gibbs said as he put his hand on King Gabriel’s shoulder.
“No Father Gibbs! They killed your son today! It stops now!” King Gabriel said as he gently put his hands on the Priest Cheek. “I will not give in to the Curse I will hold on to my Love for others and the Love y’all have for me” King Gabriel said as him and his knights went out the war room.
The Priest swallowed hard, tears fell from his eyes he didn’t know he lost his son last he spoke he sent him to the market to get bread.
“How...” He asked his voice shaky.
King Gabriel turned and looked at the Priest “They skinned him alive and put him on a spike right out the gate I’m sorry we took him down and took him to his chambers.”
Tears fell down his cheeks he walked towards Gabriel. One of the knights put their hand on the Priest shoulder to push him back, the king lift his hand stopping the knight, Gabriel walked to the Priest. The Priest put both his hands on Gabriel’s cheeks.
“Gabriel please I beg you my son is dead please heed my warning don’t make me loose another son. Listen to me don’t go out there bad things will take place that will hurt you in a way that you will curse the Lord in His temple! Please Gabriel hear me.”
Gabriel hugged the old priest as he wept over the lost of his son, not knowing that the old man was weeping over him that night was the last night of Gabriel would be a human king but Gabriel didn’t realize that the Lord himself was trying to talk through Gibbs and Gibbs was weeping because he knew Gabriel would not take heed to his warning.
Later that day just before the king and his twelve knights were going to fight for their land he kissed his wife Hope, and his two sons Trevor and Alucard.
“Here Sweet Husband.” Queen Hope Said with a sweetness in her voice.
She put a letter in his hand.
“I will be waiting their.” Hope said with love in her voice.
“Ok I’ll meet you and the kids there.” King Gabriel answered as he smiled at his beautiful wife.
Logan came running up.
“Brother!” The Prince Logan shouted.
“Logan what are you doing?” King Gabriel asked seeing Logan was decked in armor.
“Let me fight I can fight!” Logan asked determined to fight.
“No Logan you must stay here!” Gabriel demanded.
“But Brother I can fight I’m not a child I’m seventeen! I killed a Lion and stopped a thief and kept several prisoners from escaping! Please let me fight for our kingdom!” Logan asked with hope in his eyes.
“I know! What you been doing it has not been unnoticed. That’s why I need you here protect my wife and kids stay with them ok! Please Logan do this for me brother.” Gabriel said as he walked passed Logan. Logan didn’t like it but he nodded and went and stood by Hope.
They walked out the city Drakeul, Nathen, and Samuel walked side by side with their king brother Gabriel tonight was the night for Victory! The 12 Knights walked behind them as well as fifteen thousand of the faithful soldiers.
The war began the fight was harsh side by side the Bolton brother’s fault side by side and backed to back fighting the enemies as well as the twelve knights who was protecting them they fault and killed many, then faced the face King Gabriel and King Bayn began to fight each other it was a hideous battle Gabriel took a lot of wounds but before it was over King Bayn was on his knees.
“You Won but I have brothers and friends they come and avenge me! You will not stand! Your own people don’t even trust your leadership! Hahaha!” King Bayn taunted.
Gabriel swung his sword cutting Bayns head off, he picked up Bayns Crown and handed it to a red haired knight named Andrew Archer, who seemed to loose his helmet during the battle.
“Take this that will be one of my trophies.” King Gabriel said as he handed the crown to the red haired knight.
The Red head Knight Spoke.
“What about the rest any prisoners?” Andrew asked with concern.
Gabriel looked at the village that was still burning and relived walking through and seeing again what they did to those poor people. He looked at Andrew and said very coldly.
“We will show no mercy they all will die but slow I will hang them on a spike and point the towards the village they destroyed and the people they murdered so they see why they are dying so painfully!” Gabriel said with anger in his eyes. Andrew Swallowed hard and they all did as they were told and they left back to the city the screaming and pleads for mercy echoed in their ears.
Back at the castle of Transylvania a war broke out Gabriel’s soldiers was fighting for their lives against some other soldiers who was turned by the King Bayns men. Hope Trevor and Alucard was in the Temple of Shalom and the Logan was fighting to protect them Hope was a Mage she used her magic to destroy the last few guards that turned against her, she looked at Logan.
“Logan You Ben and Cole take my Sons and go!!! Go Now!!! Keep them safe!” Hope said scared for their lives.
“I can’t just Leave you!” Logan shouted.
“You must Logan protect my babies please!” Hope said with urgency.
Logan Ben and Cole took Trevor and Alucard and ran them out of the city they got on their horses and headed south. Gabriel came and saw what was going on they went and fought killing every betrayer and every last one of Bayns men. Then Gabriel remembered the note and ran to the temple and when he Got there he saw the Priest Gibbs knelt down by Hope her stomach was carved into with a knife her hands cut off her throat slit. Gabriel fell beside her.
“NO!!!! MY BABY!!!! HOPE!!!! NOOO!” King Gabriel shouted tears falling downs his cheeks as he wept. He stood up anger and raged filled him he cursed cursed the temple and the wolves he cursed everything that the temple represented and he pointed at the Priest and yelled!
“THIS IS YOUR FAULT!!!!” King Gabriel shouted in anger tears screaming down his cheeks falling to the floor.
He cursed the priest. All the 12 knights stood around him his brothers got between him and the Priest.
“Gabriel! What are you doing! It’s not his fault!” Drakeul said trying to get Gabriel under control.
“Gabriel calm down you.... Oh My God!” Samuel said as his mouth dropped open his eyes widen.
Gabriel turn to see what everyone was looking at and saw the statue of the Wolf of Shalom from its eyes were tears of blood that dropped into the Holy Water cup. Gabriel was then immediately A trance he walked to the cup.
“NO!!! STOP HIM DONT LET HIM DRINK FROM THE CUP!!!” The Priest Gibbs said with urgency.
His brothers ran to him and pulled on him he sent them flying back with a wave of his hand.
“That ain’t no magic I ever seen.” Nathen said his eyes widen and his voice shaken with fear.
Gabriel picked the cup which was full of blood and began to drink it the priest and Drakeul yelled!
Drakeul and Priest Gibbs Shouted as One. “GABRIEL!!! NOOO!!!
Gabriel drunk the cup all of the blood in the cup then the curse happened but three years early. Gabriel yelled as his body changed and his face went pale and fangs grew in his mouth and his eyes went from a beautiful blue to crimson red.
Then the Angel of the Lord appeared and said. “My name is Gabriel I am the Messenger of the Lord you have defiled this temple of the Lord and you cursed the God that created you and came against the church of the most high God you our forever cursed to walk this earth as a monster til the end of time you will bring fear and terror....”
The Angel stopped when Drakeul walked up to him, Drakeul look the Angel in the eye fear filled him he trembling knelt down grabbed the Angel by his feet he felt the Archangels Power he spoke his voice shaky.
“Please I inquire a audience with the Lord!” Drakeul asked shaking.
“You cannot see the Lord you will not survive.” The Angel Gabriel said.
“Then please tell him applaud him to have mercy no he didn’t show mercy and he did the most worse thing but please I beg you don’t let him be damned take me instead give him another chance! Please don’t let him be damned!” Drakeul pleaded with him and his brothers salvation.
Drakeul began to weep at the Angels feet, The Archangel looked at Drakeul was a little fascinated how he a soldier who Stern and cold would be weeping over his brother who did such terrible deed. Then the Lord Spoke to the Angel.
“Gabriel Bolton will still be cursed but there is away that he can redeem himself but he will have to find it but he is forever bound from the temple of the Lord until he redeems himself and only you Brothers can help him find the boy that can change him the boy must become Him and he must become the boy and the certain deeds must be done, only then shall the spirit of your Brother be redeemed however the curse of Your Brother will be on a innocent Christian who will battle to redeem the Spirit of Dracula. Your brother Gabriel’s name will change this day he will be known as Dracula the rest of this worlds time! You will share his curse soon and help him walk the right path.
The brothers looked at each other confused.
The Angel looked at the twelve knights.
“From this day till the end y’all are the wolves of Shalom there shall be many of warrior wolves through y’all and y’all will fight against Dracula and all that becomes as he is that choose evil over good and there will come a time where Vampires and Werewolves will join together to fight an even. Greater foe an evil that has been locked away. There will rise a dark mage who will set the dark lord free and become the dark lord this will be the road that may redeem Dracula. But as of now your fight is to get and keep Dracula out of the temple this day!” The Angel of the demanded.
The twelve Knights became Werewolves the first ever to walk on earth. The Angel looked at Gabriel.
“Take him Out!” The Angel commanded. Then he disappeared!
Gabriel attacked the Werewolves and the fight was extremely hideous the werewolves gave a beating but each place they clawed open healed instantly, Gabriel beat them till the turn back in human form his blood was ragging but the. The power hit them and they arose again as the werewolves and begin to drive him out of the temple.
As Gabriel taught them he saw himself in a mirror the monster he became the crimson red eyes sharp fangs pale face the sharp claw like finger nails and at that moment he saw what he done and he saw what he did to the knights and as he saw them in wolf form walking towards him wounded even but still coming he didn’t want to hurt them they were his men his people and he was hurting them and he defiled the Lords Temple. He ran out the temple his brothers followed him.
“Gabriel! Gabriel! Drakeul Shouted.
He turned around quickly he put his hand around his brothers shoulder and with that same hand lifted him off the ground like he was paper without the help of his other hand.
“My Name Is not Gabriel!!! I am Dracula!” Dracula shouted. Gabriel Bolton was no more.
He threw his brother into his other brothers Nathen and Samuel caught Drakeul and the impact knocked them three feet back they pulled themselves up off the ground and they saw his face pale as the dead his eyes which used to be beautiful blue was now bloody red, he spoke again.
“My name is Dracula every King every army will never dare to attack my country or my family I will crush them and they will know the meaning of fear!!!” Dracula shouted crazily.
Dracula said his blood boiling hot as things were transitioning in his body.
And so the prophecy was fulfilled but three years before the time. And so fear filled the land the terror of Dracula spread through each city of Transylvania and Castlevania where Dracula’s Castle was the place which was beautiful and full of light was now darkened and full of fear.
Three days later at the docks of Dragons Bridge Logan asked Ben and Cole to take his little nephews to a safe place he was going back to his brothers to help fight.
“Logan! Are you crazy man Hope asked you to get Alucard and Trevor to safety man come on with us.” Cole said with concern for Logan.
“Yea man we’re young we got to get to Safety” Ben said.
“I must go back make sure it’s safe and send for y’all. And no y’all can’t come with me y’all thirteen and fourteen” Logan said sharply.
“No I’m fifteen Logan and you need to come with us man” Ben shouted at Logan.
Cole: And I’m two days from Sixteen. And your not seventeen yet your three days from seventeen and Hope asked you to save her nephews!
“I know y’all keep them safe now please go! I will not hear anymore.” Logan said as he turned from them.
And with that Logan turns away from them in the boat and went off towards home with his friends calling for him to come back and to not be stupid, but Logan kept on walking. Ben spoke.
“Come on Cole he’s not gonna listen to us.” Ben shouted angrily.
They set out for the other side which lead to a country called Albion and to a city called Camelot where King Constantine Pendragon III ruled and Uther Pendragon was a young mighty Prince who had a Amethyst who used a spell to keep him young for a thousand years. The children would be safe there the Ben and Cole thought.
As for Logan three days passed it was his birthday he turned seventeen and he was not happy for the things he was seeing and home the enemy that attacked the city was outside the gate dead hanging from a spike he heard on of them groan he drew his sword and thrust it through the dying mans heart to end his suffering he heard more, and saw a whole line of them he went by killing them ending their suffering. Dracula stood in front of his brothers and spoke.
“No one will dare to attack me now unless they want to die which I’m more then happy to oblige, brothers with this power we’re unstoppable I can give you this gift and you can be stronger.”Dracula said to his brothers. Drakeul Samuel and Nathen couldn’t believe what they were hearing from there Brother. “Was Gabriel really gone.” They both thought. Drakeul walk up to his Brother.
“Brother! Listen to yourself this is insane! look at you! this ain’t no gift it’s a curse! The Father Shalom Cursed you made you this monster, I will not become this thing you are!” Drakeul shouted out. Dracula looked at his brother with a elite shock look the laughed mockingly
“O dear Brother you actually think I’m giving you a choice that’s rather cute.” Dracula Taunted.
In a flash he grabbed his brother he moved faster then lighting he but Drakeuls neck and began to suck his blood Drakeul went limp almost dead Dracula bit his wrist and let the blood poured down to Drakeuls lips then Drakeul died. Samuel turn to run as did Nathen out the door, Dracula flicked his hand and the door slammed shut in his face Dracula grabbed him and done the same thing to Samuel as he did Drakeul. And Nathen tried to fight Dracula but failed and suffered the same fate. Dracula took a red towel and wiped his mouth and turned around to see Logan looking straight at him fear hit him hard he watched his brother suck the blood from his other two brothers.
“Gabriel what....” Logan said scared and shaken over what he saw.
“Hush now Logan they be back and my name is no longer Gabriel it’s Dracula I am a Vampire”Dracula said with a soft a soothing voice. He was hoping to calm his baby brother.
“What Happened to you what did you do what did you become? This isn’t right Gabriel it’s not right!” Logan said still scared and shaken he never seen something like this before.
“It’s a gift Logan and I can give it to you and you never be weak again!” Dracula said trying to tempt him.
“No!!! Your a Monster this is a curse you are not my brother I don’t want your gift!” Logan shouted.
Logan turned and walked outside straight into Dracula’s arms. Fear jumped in Logan’s chest his heart started beating very fast. Dracula embraced him with a loving hug put his cheek to his brothers in a gentle hug.
“Easy baby brother I hear your heart beating way too fast trust me you be way stronger.” Dracula said as he pulled Logan back in the door and closed it then he tilted Logan’s head to the side and he bit his neck as Logan screamed.
“NOOO! BROTHER!!!! NOOO! PLEASE!!!! NOOO!” Logan screamed.
Logan died with the blood of Dracula running through his vainest and Dracula’s blood was very powerful. Dracula put his brothers in three tombs and closed them up and said. “In Three days they will be reborn more powerful then before.”
Three knights past and Dracula’s brothers came out of their tombs.
“I refuse to be evil!” Logan Shouted.
His eyes red as blood face pale white he looks like his brothers as they all looked like Dracula.
“We all refuse to be evil!” Drakeul said.
“Lets remove ourselves from this Kingdom of Dracula!” Nathen said.
“I Agree!” Samuel said.
Suddenly The Angel of the Lord appeared it was the Angel Gabriel again.
“No harm can be done to Dracula. Like you he is immortal and will forever be so as for you friends your decisions and Trevor and Alucards decisions will be the results of Dracula’s salvation or his soul forever damned. Now go you are the Guardians of Shalom save the world from your brothers wrath and hunger and save your brother.” The Angel Gabriel said. Then the Angel disappeared Logan up looked and said to his Brothers.
“Y’all go I’m going to Dracula!” Logan said as he walked to the Throne Room of Dracula.
“Little brother you can’t.” Samuel said with concern.
“Yes I have to!” Logan replied.
Logan went out to find his brother. He found his brother in the Castle sitting on his throne with a golden cup full of fresh blood.
“Logan! How’s my baby brother? You looking handsome.” Dracula asked.
“Dracula I will not follow you I will not be evil...” Logan snapped.
“Brother I’m not evil! I did what I had to do!...” Dracula interrupted and said as Logan interrupted him saying.
“Shut up Brother look at yourself look what you become look at the hideous mess you done at front gate half of them was still alive! No brother there’s nothing you can say or do to get me to follow you! You can burn in Harcarsh with the devil! But as long as I can breath you never see your children again.” Logan shouted at Dracula. Logan walked out the door and flew like lightning towards Albion and to the city Camelot he was going to do all he could to make sure those baby boys never be in reach of Dracula.
Ben and Cole made it into Albion and got off at the docks in at a small village of Noplend. No sooner then they showed up Dracula walked the land. Cole was looking at the beautiful land, Ben spoke.
“Cole this is so beautiful!” Ben said
“Yes it is!” Cole replied.
“So glad to see my little brothers friends are keeping my two boys safe.” Dracula said behind them.
They both turned around and saw their King they heard the rumors that spread about the good Great King Gabriel turned to an evil monster known as Dracula, when they saw him fear hit them their kings face was Pale white hair to his shoulders his eyes bloody red his fingernails were like claws and talons.
“My King Gabriel...” Cole said shaken as he tried to bow.
“Stop! My name is Dracula! You two kept my children alive for that I’m grateful but Logan will soon join you and I must show him something when he finds you you be dead and the message will be clear of what I can do, and when you come back as the same as he is he realize I could have kept you both dead!”
In a flash he rushed at Ben but His neck drained his blood and gave him his blood forcing him to swallow it then he broke his neck. Cole seen what happen drew his sword and attacked Dracula yelling at him for killing his best friend. Dracula drew his sword blocking Coles blade and he played with Cole speaking to him as each time the blades met.
“Cole don’t take it personal boy, it has to be this way.” Dracula said to him.
“You killed my Brother.” Cole shouted in anger trying to kill his King that looked like a monster with his red eyes and sharp fangs showing as Dracula started laughing.
“And your next it has to be this way and o yes y’all thank me later.” Dracula said as he grabbed Cole.
“Do you hear your self Dracula or who ever you are now your killing your own!” Cory shouted scared.
Dracula thrust his sword into Coles chest and pulled it out, Cole dropped his sword and feeling the life drain drone him as he felt Dracula bite his neck and drink his blood, Cole pulled away fast Dracula held his weak body closer to him Cole was getting weaker by the second, Dracula bit his wrist and forced Cole to open his mouth and the blood poured in Cole spit it out and Dracula did it again and Cole tried to resist but Dracula covered his mouth with his hand Cole kicked and and tried to get away he died with Dracula’s blood in his mouth the blood went down his throat and spreading through his veins. Dracula heard his sons crying he went and picked them up.
“Hush now it’s ok they both be back watch them and watch Logan. Logan needs to learn you can’t take my sons from me and not get away with it.” Dracula said as he kissed both his sons before he disappeared in blood red smoke.
Logan came and saw what Dracula did to his friends he fell to his knees and wept.
“NOOO!!! NOOO!!!” Logan shouted crying.
He heard Cole gasp air and he rose up quickly as did Ben they both were now vampires their eyes bloody red as Dracula’s and Logan’s was.
“What NO! I’m sorry I’m so sorry this happened to you!” Logan said as he could feel a sharp pain in his heart. The pain was intense more then usual and it stayed it didn’t ease like it used to after awhile.
Dracula laughed.
“Well now sense everyone is up and doing good let’s have a talk about my children!” Dracula said still laughing.
“Brother why did you do this?!?” Logan shouted his tears dropping to the ground like rain.
“Because I can and you learn to love it! Now as for my sons you should know better then to try to keep my children away from me. Y’all will protect my children and y’all find a good family for them and let them be raised by a mother and father and you protect them. Yes I’m not crazy look at me I know I can’t raise my children alone don’t ever try to keep them away from me?” Dracula said stern and angrily.
“Take my kids to King Arther and Queen Guinevere make sure their safe.” Dracula demanded not knowing that Arther and Guinevere didn’t exist yet.
“Um King Gabriel...” Cole said his voice shaken.
Dracula looked at him with a cold glare.
“Dracula Sorry. Um their is no King Arther Or a Queen Guinevere.” Cole corrected himself and then said plainly.
Dracula put his head down confused he started having visions that morning and he was have more he shook his head again.
“Right King Constantine III Arther Pendragon is not born yet. Take my sons to Constantine.
“Dracula are you ok? Brother” Logan said. Despite the situation Logan still Loved Dracula and he could feel the love.
“Shut up and Go!!! Get my kids there!” Dracula shouted he could feel Logan’s love and it was a warmth to his cold heart and it hurt him cause all he could think about was Hope.
When the red smoke he disappeared from them. Logan covered his face and shook his head and looked at the children sleeping and he looked at his friends and said.
“Ben, Cole, I’m sorry I’m sorry he did this to you.” Logan said tears falling from his eyes.
“It’s ok Logan I feel good and strong better then I ever had. But we need to figure out what to do to keep Trevor and Alucard safe.” Ben said hoping to make Logan feel better.
“Your right well let’s go to Camelot.” Logan replied.
“I’m so thirsty. I... I want blood!” Cole said as he held his stomach.
Logan’s thirst hit him to as well as Bens.
“Logan the babies.” Ben said with concern.
A mage appeared he was old his hair and beard was long and white his name was Amorous.
“Logan Bolton Son of Luther Bolton the Vampire that will save Emyrs and Merlin and set them on their paths to their destiny.” Amorous said very happily.
Logan, Ben, and Cole, looked at the mage their mouth was open the smelt his blood and he looked like food to them. Amorous pulled out three big water bags that were full of blood.
“Here drink and get your strength there’s much you have to learn. And let’s get the little ones to a good home.” Amorous said as he gave them the blood to drink. Their long journey began.

So after asking this sub-reddit if I should get the game or not and getting lots of helpful replies, I got it! Some people asked if I could record what happened and commentate, but I don't have a good enough mic for that. Instead I'll post what I was thinking and attach the video. (turns out reddit doesn't like how large the video file was so I'll just have to share clips of the best moments in the future)
First off I explored around a bit and said hello to the local aliens. I noticed that when I fell too far or jumped into the ghosty stuff four eye shadows appeared on my screen, so I must be an alien too! I experimented with the scout launcher, so it shoots cameras? cool. Then I headed down into the zero g cave like I was told and experimented with how the jetpack suit works. I figured out that the observatory must be the big building with the telescope sticking out so I headed over there. I looked at some of the alien stuff like the statue and the writing, I wonder if they're going to involve humans in the story? that would be a cool fourth wall break. After looking at the gravity crystal and the angler fish I headed up the ramp and found a map! the solar system is really small and looks ready to be explored. Then I said hello to the alien who gave me the launch codes, and I headed back down the stairs. As I was about to leave, the statue that I saw before turned around and looked at me! It looked like it flashed everything that I had recently done in front of my eyes? that was weird. I head outside and find the alien who showed me the statue before and tell them all about it. They seem surprised and tell me to go talk with someone on another planet. I decide it would be quicker for me to jump down, but apparently I jumped too far. What a tragic ending to the game, right? But I'm back at the start? I tell the alien by the campfire what happened and now he thinks that I'm insane. At least I still have the launch codes.
I get into my spaceship and after a quick bit of exploration launch off into the sky. I fly around the planet and see a weird spiky thing in a crater, so I head down to look. Apparently it's some sort of seed? I shoot my scout into like I was told and it seems to fall for ages. Also music is coming out if it? After a few shots I manage to get a view of a campfire... inside of the seed? maybe that's the music that I'm picking up! Maybe there's somebody lost in there! I decide to leave the planet and explore the solar system. I fly up to the sun and notice two twin planets. I try to catch up but unfortunately my piloting skills aren't up to it. I drift off and look at my map, I'm heading in the direction of the spooky place. Might as well go visit it. I fly up to it and bump my ship a bit too hard, best repair that before heading on. I explore the planet a bit and space seems... funky to say the least. Things seems to grow the closer I get and I follow some red lights into the fog. Turns out the lights were angler fish, duh. I get swallowed by the largest angler fish I've ever seen and get sent back to the start. I'm so lucky I'm in a loop of some sort.
Let me know if you liked this, because if I write more of these entirely depends on how you guys respond. So far the game seems fun and I can't wait to explore more!

Trigger Warning: Mention of suicide, TL;DR at the end.
Hello everyone, I (22m) have a friend (20nb) from college who I've been messaging frequently in the past week, especially since my mood has become elevated (which may be either due to my mood disorder or increase in antidepressant dosage). I've been sending them nice messages everyday, but I fear that it's not enough or that it may be too much.
Lately they've been mentioning about how they feel burnt out from college and don't like being with other students because they feel alienated by them and felt betrayed because they used to have other friends. But 2 weeks ago during a college break, they suddenly went silent on me for several days, and after that said that they've been only talking with their long-distance partner (21b) because that's who they're comfortable with.
Last week, they came to college and I was with them most of the time and they often seemed sad and tired, but they didn't say anything bad about me and even invited me to go outside to a cafe with them for a while. A day later, I attempted suicide due to some argument I had with my family which is a complete other story, but long story short they called me that time and I reconsidered and stopped my suicide attempt thanks to their kind words.
The day after that, we met on college again and while they said they're ok with me, they said that they had to go home immediately so I just respected that and let them. There was a field trip on the next day, but I didn't attend due to a death anniversary and I wanted some time to reflect on and heal from my attempt. I let them know they can text me during the field trip but they didn't really text much aside from saying they feel tired and overwhelmed and want to go home.
We were supposed to call when they got home but we didn't get to and on the next day they said the passed out. In the last several days, I tend to ask them how they're doing but they usually reply very late, saying that they're sorry cause they've been sleeping a lot. I suggested that they might be severely depressed but that it's a treatable condition, but refused, saying that they're not depressed because they don't want to overthink things. I asked them if they're taking their prescribed medication since they have a psychiatrist, and they indirectly answered by saying that they're taking their anxiety medication. When I asked them if they have medication for depression, they said they're not depressed and the conversation stopped there because I didn't want to argue.
It's been like this for several days, and what's worse is that their long-distance partner has been busy lately due to family matters and hasn't been responding much either, only replying every several hour intervals. I'm really worried about my friend and I don't want to lose them. Should I contact their family so they can help them out somehow? I also told my friend to contact their psychiatrist but they said that their next appointment is on June 1.
I've talked about this with another friend but they told me not to contact the family unless I'm sure because the family might be causing the problem and potentially abusing my friend, and while I don't know much about their family, I don't know much evidence to suggest this either. Should I contact them anyways? I know I can contact them through Facebook, but it would be my first time directly messaging them.
TL;DR: My friend has been telling me that they feel tired, sad, and overwhelmed, but refuse the possibility of being depressed to avoid overthinking. Recently, they don't talk to me as often and say they're sleeping most of the time. I'm worried about them and want to get them help before it worsens. What should I do? Should I contact the family they live with? Ask them about their psychiatrist?

I'll make it as concise as possible, if more details are needed I'll be happy to provide them:

• Us :M40, F40, plus a young child, downstairs neighbour : F40
  
• Our downstairs neighbour (we're in a condo) has had mental health issues for the last 2 years. We've known this through other people. Prior to that, we just exchanged a hello and a smile when we saw each other in the stairs, and never said more than a few words;
  
• However, she started targeting us in the last couple of months, there were 3 incidents that were out of line but individually could seem like a unhinged Karen fed up with her upstairs neighbours.
  
• In the meantime, I learned from neighbours that on her Facebook, she talked about us, and other neighbours, and other people as well, but they were madman's rantings. I said it had to be taken seriously, was promised the account's name as I couldn't find it by myself, but in the next few days I had no news on that front.
  
• Fourth incident was yesterday: we were working from home, and suddenly heard her banging on the door and screaming at the top of her lungs. When I opened the door, she yelled at my wife and I that I raped her daughter, and that my wife poisoned her, and... a few other things that we didn't understand. Another neighbour opened her door and heard her.
  
• I called back the neighbours who mentioned the Facebook messages, explained what had just happened, and insisted that I would need the account's name urgently. They got back to me quickly, took a few screenshots, it was worse than expected. A lot of rambling messages about us, about our daughter, that we were international spies, that I had raped her, raped her daughter, that her daughter had been killed in another neighbour's apartment, with a picture of her kid and a picture of a knife, that my wife is a whore, that she slept with other men, that our daughter isn't ours, and that we should be deported and/or executed, that she wishes we were dead, that she wants us dead, that we're evil, etc, etc.
  
• Because of that, I called the police. I spared no details, told them everything. They told me there were no death threats because she didn't clearly say that she wanted to kill us, but that the repeated incidents were enough to qualify for harassment. They made the clear distinction that any slandelibel would be a civil case and that I should pursue these matters through a lawyer, but that I should know that because of the limited reach of her facebook profile it was unlikely that the endeavor would go far). However, they went to talk to her, and a service called "psycho-social emergencies" was involved.
  
• Police came back to me, told me she was to be committed immediately because of some signs given to the psycho-social emergencies, and asked me if this meant that I felt safer and still wanted to file a criminal complaint for harassment. I thought that since she's a mother, and since it seems like a mental health issue first and foremost, I would not file a complaint yet, but would if anything new ever happened. The police accepted my answer. I got the file # as a reference.
  
• More as a side note than anything: when I saw the status with a pic of her girl and a pic of a knife, I called CPS (the DPJ in Québec). The child hasn't lived with her recently though, but I thought that was one of these "better safe than sorry" situations.
  

My two questions are :

• Did I do the right thing about not filing a complaint just yet? There is now a file # that mentions the harassment situation, she was committed and will receive the care and medication that she needs, and I hope she comes back in a better place mentally.
  
• What should we do about the content on her Facebook? My wife is livid, she wants that gone. However, I say it's a blessing in disguise because at least we have a way to monitor her mental health, and could use any ranting status as a new sign of harassment, and call the police again if need be. Better that than having to wait for her to act. Especially since we have to walk right in front of her door every time we leave the building. If Facebook closed down her account, we'd lose that monitoring tool. On the other hand, while I've been unable to Google her Facebook page in private mode using specific terms and names used in her Facebook messages, I wonder if someday further down the road it could change, and say 5 years from now a future potential employer sees Facebook messages about me being accused of raping a child...
  

My GC sister (27f) is emotionally manipulating me (25f) with her kids and guilt trips. I’m fine with all the help I’ve done for her as it was out of the kindness of my heart, but she always likes to throw things she’s done for me, back in my face, or tries to embarrass or confront me only in front of others even though we have been texting on several other social media accounts. The help I’ve given her can never be repaid, as I’ve given her money, time, and energy to raise her kids and get her out of a bind time and time again. I don’t want to be resentful as I saw a good quote about not being able to pay back debt. The thing is, I didn’t view it as a debt until she started acting like I’m shortchanging her, like I owe her something. I’ve never even gotten a thank you, but it wasn’t a big deal, but if she’s going to have a double standard I can only tally and count everything I’ve done for her is more than her husband has ever given her and they’ve been together for over 10 years. I get so angry I can’t even talk to her anymore. Normally I’m okay with all the comments on my clothes, hair, body, I am under a microscope when I visit. And on top of that, I don’t tell my whole family when I’m visiting as there is not enough time or energy for me to visit everyone in the day or two I randomly get to visit, she will tell EVERYONE that I came by. Like you’re making me look bad, you’re making our family upset, and you’re making me not want to visit or talk to you because you twist everything I say. Why do you keep doing stuff like that? Why isn’t there ever any respect for me? You always slander my name and now I just don’t care. I feel so much better now that we are VLC. She doesn’t really get it I guess tho because she keeps calling and texting me everyday even if I don’t respond. And the thing is we’ve NEVER be close or talked a ton. She never wanted to be close. She was always bullying me mentally and physically, and when her husband put his hands on me she got mad at me. Now her calling me everyday just pisses me off. And If I don’t send her some kind of supply she will get the rest of the family I don’t even talk to to tell me to stop being mean to her even though most of our fights are initiated by her. As she is now chronically ill, she doesn’t have the physician leverage over me anymore (6’1GC, and me 5’5 SG). So now she either rages or starts acting really clingy. It’s driving me crazy. Idk what to do I feel like I backtracked so hard inviting them back into my life, idk what to do next if she’s so persistent despite my lack of returning her messages. I do help her financially, but I have stopped as I am in school and working part time. And I have no car, school loans, and no savings, I’ve given her everything I had, because she made me feel like I owed her and later learned she helped facilitate a lot of problems my Nmom caused for me financially. Being around them causes me anxiety, and I forgot that I didn’t have to see them anymore. Crazy right? I’ve just been on go mode after my bfs Covert mom moved in with us begging for some place to stay because she was mad her friend didn’t want to be with her even though he did a ton for her. He gave her $7,000 to find a place. She bought a ton of stuff off Amazon, never paid her share of bills, and never cleaned. She’s triangulated me and my bf for 8 months straight. It took me back to when my mother kicked me out. Having to walk on eggshells, finding new sabotages done by her daily. Like putting her bidet wash clothes under my bath towel instead of where it’s been for months. Like letting it touch. She hated me. She loved her son like you could tell she thought they were dating. He obviously didn’t stick up for me but didn’t want me to leave on my own. She never apologized to me but she apologized to him after she disowned him because he told her that if she wasn’t going to be helpful she could wait in the car, when we were moving and we have BOTH helped her move and she bothered me DAILY for helping her with her projects. On top of not cleaning she had three long hair cats, fought with only the neighbors children and never the parents, yells at everyone, and overall super moody and unpleasant to be around. She sent me PARAGRAPHS. About how hurt she was because she thought I was mad at her. And my bf made me tell her if I was or wasn’t and I asked her and she wouldn’t answer. I’ve been feeling so alone. I’m supposed to graduate college next term and my sister expects to be invited and she’s never asked me about school or anything. No one in my family has. She only talks about herself. Am I narcissistic since I keep attracting the same people with different faces. I don’t got for them they come to me and LATCH. I’ve only picked 3/7 for friends the rest were just victim of circumstance. Do you guys have this problem?

graduating hs senior: never felt more lonely
i feel so distant from you guys now. i remember when we used to be so close last semester. The late night talks, the manicalnlaughing, the boba runs, rush of summer fun. i remember even choosing to skip thanksgiving dinner with my family cause i wanted to hang out with you guys. i get that ppl drift..so my awful emotions are not about you guys. they’re about me and my inability to cope with my loneliness.
Even though I know i’m horrible at initiating hangouts (i get anxious doing so but it’s no excuse), i always try to be a good friend in other ways like tiny but consistent acts of service (ex:staying consistent on our game apps, sending hw help, listening to vents, helping with projects and spending hours and literal days on it during my weekends—- which when i heard that you ended up not using the material i made i understood but kinda felt like, wow everything i did those 2 months was completely pointless when i could’ve focused on more of the stuff i wanted to do, and i have to act polite and be chill with it cause otherwise i feel like a petty weirdo) and don’t really know any other reason why I feel so lonely.
you guys know that saying, “in every trio there’s a duo?” I always thought that it wouldn’t apply to us but i think it does. when Im talking to you guys, all I can think of is how unfunny I am, how i can be more interesting…except they never really work and just instead are greeted with a quiet nod, a raised eyebrow, a forced smile, a “that was a weird thing to say”, or sometimes just being ignored…maybe I should just shut up and nod. Maybe I have nothing worthwhile to say and no story to tell and my only way to hold onto you as friends is to listen as much as possible. You guys seem so much more at ease and have so much more fun talking together.
I understand that maybe you guys click better together. And that’s fine. people drift. But even tho i tried to branch out to find other friends and spend time with them, by the end of the year, I realized that I really had no one I felt close with. No one I could take a picture with by the last day of school sign or throw papers with or feel safe to hug or cry with. Everybody had their own little clique and bubble that I had to stand around and just watch. and it made my feel so miserable and cry myself to sleep every night. at school i just wanted to stare in the distance and sink into a ball and cry forever for hours until my eyes were swollen, but i know that no one really wants to be around a negative person so i tried to remain calm or be smiley.
i have my own hobbies i focus on. i walk, i exercise, i play the violin, i paint, i sleep, i read, i bake and cook, but in a way i feel friendship is important to me and i spend a lot of time analyzing where i went wrong in a convo or pushing myself to stop over analyzing/being in my head and wondering why the fuck i am so awkward and pushed around by strangers and quiet and what’s wrong with me i hate myself and who i am. therapy doesn’t really help either..
but i get tired sometimes and i just give up the facade and just become quiet or be cold and stop talking or engaging in conversations. like on the last day of school for being so quiet. im really sorry.
I’m honestly really afraid to show this to u guys bc i didn’t want to sound like a victim or whiner or toxic or clingy or a “nice guy” that is entitled and expects that they’re owed friendship and make you guys feel sick of me. of course i can’t control how yall think of me regardless but I really don’t want to lose a friendship. at the same time, at this pt in the year I don’t think I have anything to lose since we’re all saying goodbye now. I also couldn’t tell if I was overthinking like always and that it was all in my head and maybe something else going on in my life was distorting my perspective, because it’s happened so many times in the past. maybe this entire entry is biased because it’s late a night, i’m alone, and i’m so focused on the negative that I neglect all the wonderful things you guys have helped me with or done together. my brain feels clouded.
i had to delete insta for a while cause seeing how much you guys hanged out together without me hurt or hid your insta stories from me, even tho i knew it was irrational to expect to always hang out or be together, i remember that time in winter we said something along the lines of how “we’d go to downtown and make our project and hangout a bunch”, but it ended up just being you two doing it multiple times without even inviting me. it felt purposeful to exclude me. which is also another reason i don’t really wanna talk to you guys abt it cause if yall are purposely wanting to distance yourself from me… what is the point of telling u guys how i feel if yall will just be completely apathetic abt it. but goddamnit idk what i did wrong. and im scared that this won’t be the last time ill be hurt. and that maybe i will never find a friend in college as im heading off there soon bc ill always be the forgotten or less of a priority friend.

-First- -Previous- -Next (on Patreon)-
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My second to last quarter just ended and I'm pretty swamped with final reports right now, but I'm almost through. Not to mention, the next seven weeks are going to be pretty light because of a sudden lack of classes, since I busted my butt finishing up my remaining credits. I've decided to dedicate this time to (among other things) a writing frenzy! I wanna get some serioussss backlogs up because who knows how busy I'm going to be after graduation. (Not to mention, I'm having some troubles getting my VISA renewed, but that's a personal issue).
Anyways, don't wanna bore you with irl stuff. You're here for food and gay furry romance! So as always, I hope you enjoy reading! :D
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Note: This is a Fanfic of the Nature of Predators series by u/Spacepaladin15, that is being reposted from the NatureofPredators sub. Please support the original content.
Thank you to Philodox on discord for proofreading and editing RfD.
Thank you to Pampanope on reddit for the cover art.
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Memory Transcript Subject: Sylvan, Venlil Citizen
Date: [Standardized Human Time]: December 13, 2136
​
It wasn’t too long that I was absent from the event. Sure, Kenta and I had run into a few hiccups when trying to load up the cart, but that was to be expected. Just looking at the absolute behemoth of an edible pile that he had somehow been able to put together in such a short amount of time, it was a wonder just how we were able to fit them all on there in the first place. And the promise that there was still more yet to be brought out had left me astonished. If I hadn’t already seen the ravenous vortex of Venlil that had so efficiently done away with the other dishes, I might have actually been worried about leftovers.
The food in question, long tubes made out of some kind of starchy form of strayu and packaged in an even starchier husk, were stacked in circular pyramids atop three large trays. As it turned out, this delicacy was the same “Tamale” recipe that I had heard mentioned the day before, the sheer amount being the product of Kenta’s, Julio’s, and even Jeela’s preparations. Unfortunately, I hadn’t received the full explanation of what they were just yet, but Kenta had thankfully given me at least a quick rundown.
Using the same steaming methods as the gyoza, these tamales had been folded carefully over a mix of fresh, crisp vegetables whose scent floated around each in a rich aura. They were hot out of the steamer, a cloud of gaseous water encircling the air above it in a decadent plume. If I hadn’t known better, with the combined mass of the tamales and the sheer volume of steam they collectively released, it might have made me believe the cart itself to be on fire. But of course, there was no such thing, and the cloud that spread into the sky only served to sweeten the air.
As I rolled out the cart, I looked at one last addition to the ensemble. There in a large bowl was something that Kenta hadn’t mentioned in the slightest when explaining the recipe and reasonings behind the tamales, and I had been so urgent to get these out the door that I’d forgotten to press for more details. It had been left in the refrigerator since the day before, which I had only noticed when doing inventory after the fiasco of event preparations.
‘It completely slipped my mind until now… I’m glad I didn’t forget it. Especially after what that note said.’
When I had found the bowl, a small piece of paper had been taped to it. On which, an alien text had been inscribed that required me to use my visual translator to make any sense of. It had been nothing but obvious that holding up the translator informed me that the language was indeed Terran. But what confused me was that instead of the morphemic script that I had come to slightly recognize from Kenta’s subculture, it instead appeared to be something more alphabetic.
On it, the note simply read: “Make sure to serve this with the tamales, my friend. Don’t forget!”
Additionally, below those words had appeared to be an additional message. That one, however, was partially scribbled out. When I scanned that one as well, the translator had taken a long time to process, and its output remained considerably fractured: “**od l*ck wit* y*u* n*w boyf***nd.”
Having not thought much of the note, I had just barely remembered to retrieve the bowl from the fridge and put it on the card while Kenta was off busy grabbing one last batch of tamales before rushing me out the door. I shook it out of my mind for the time being. After all, right now there were more pressing things to manage.
Wheeling the cart back outside, I was hit with the briefest shortage of breath. It had only been a momentary respite, but shifting from the quiet of the empty diner to the lively atmosphere of a crowded party would never not be a shock. By now, enough people had shown up that the event could already be considered at max capacity. People from all over filled the street, chatting and conversing in a rambunctious, lively gusto.
To see so many people take the time out of their schedules and come down to my family’s diner just because of the promise of our food… It was almost overwhelming, enough to bring a brief tear to the eye reminiscent of my reaction to that very first wave of people Ginro had brought soon after I first hired Kenta. I took a moment just to bask in it. A feeling I had all but begun to grow almost too accustomed to. A feeling of success, and of pride. And as I once again continued pushing the cart past the crowds of chatty party attendees, along with the piles of wool that it entailed, that feeling continued to pour into me. It was all almost too much to hear at once.
“Hey Sylvan! Great party!” said one voice to my left.
“Amazing food as always, Lackadaisy guy! I can’t get enough of these little strayu things in the salad!” piped another to my right.
“Ooooo! What are those things?” asked one more as I passed by them, who excitedly eyed up the stack of tamales I was delivering.
I laughed along and chatted with people on my way to one of the tables, chuckling at their jokes and accepting their praise on behalf of both myself and the mysterious ‘Kahnta.’ With each pleased guest and hungry gaze, I couldn’t help but feel myself bloom in sheer joy at the tidal wave of enthusiastic complements.
That was… until one otherwise innocent comment sounded from behind me.
“So you’re telling me this was all made by one chef?” they asked one of their friends, not intending me to hear as they talked with their mouth half stuffed with food. Looking closer, I could see that they were two Gojids chatting with one another. “Better enjoy it now, I guess. Not gonna be long before some fancy place in the Capital comes and recruits them. Honestly, if the owner of this place wants to have any hope of holding on to them, he better marry them or something.”
The partygoer’s friend laughed, “Well if he doesn’t, then I will! Can you imagine eating something like this every day?”
I couldn’t help but bloom even more overhearing this. But this was a different kind of feeling. Not the gentle warmth of normal delight, but instead the torrid heat of surging emotions. And as I began nonchalantly transferring the steaming tamales to one of the tables, these emotions steamed to the surface of my mind as well.
It was a mix of things that fueled my silent reaction. At first, the implication of asking Kenta into matehood was… well it was certainly something. I was sure the two Gojids were simply making innocent remarks, assuming that the lie about my precious chef being another, completely ordinary Venlil was correct, not realizing in the slightest just how much the implication left me flummoxed. And in normal circumstances, it would have been just that, a simple perk of the ears and a brief daydream of something so far away from me. But after yesterday, things had changed.
The previous day had been eventful, to say the least. I had eaten some amazing pastries and listened to an even more amazing alien melody. Only for it all to come crashing down when my idiotic brain forgot to turn back on the translator before pouring out my entire menagerie of pent up emotions before Kenta. My one chance to seize an opportunity at the height of a courageous high, only to tumble and fall flat during the execution. Even worse, I couldn’t muster the bravery to say the same thing even one more time.
I had completely blown it. And needless to say, I wasn’t exactly keen on remembering my mistakes from that previous day, especially during such a pivotal event. The only mediocre condolence I could take from the whole ordeal being the opportunity of waking up next to Kenta that same day. But even that was cut much too short by the mad rush to get preparation ready for the event.
‘I can still remember how warm he felt… And how peaceful he looked when his eyes were closed…’ I thought to myself in deep reminiscence.
“Hey there Sylvan!”
‘I can’t get it out of my head…! Ugh! I wish it wasn’t just a one time thing…’
“Sylvan?”
‘If we really were together romantically, then maybe I could see that every day… But that’s not–’
“Sylvan!!”
The moment my attention was pulled away from my internal thoughts, I audibly bleated out a high pitched noise of surprise, “Eeep!”
My ears jutted up and my tail straightened like a steel beam. My attention shifted over to my side, where I soon realized Fehnel now stood. She had her paws held firmly on her hips, with a head tilted to the side in a half puzzled, half amused demeanor. Then, when I realized I had been staring a little too long without saying anything, I quickly turned my attention back to the table.
“Oh hey Fehnel!” I stuttered out. “Didn’t see you there!”
“Sorry if I sneaked up on ya, hun,” Fehnel replied with a single wag of the tail. “Got somethin’ on the mind, I’m assumin’?”
The image of Kenta and I huddled together on my couch flashed through my mind once more, before I quickly shook it away. “Uhhhh… Nope! I’m just really focussing here on getting these tamales out.”
“‘Tamales,’ huh?” Fehnel chuckled. “Well between this and that ‘gee-yo-za’ stuff, I think I’m startin’ to give up on predictin’ what crazy name Kahnta’ll come up with next.”
“Yeah it’s pretty… uh–” I coughed awkwardly, clearing something nonexistent out of my throat. “It’s pretty creative.”
“You can say that again. By this point, they’re startin’ to sound almost alien!” Fehnel laughed again, and I cringed as the irony fell over deaf ears. “But hey, who am I to judge! I mean, to me all the stuff on this planet is alien, so what’s another ‘Tamale’ added to the pile, yeah?”
I had to stop my ears and head from shrinking too far towards the ground.
“Anyways, I’m assumin’ these are the actual foods I requested Kahnta to create, right?” Fehnel continued to ask.
“Uh– Y-yeah, yes they ar–” I tried to say before one of Fehnel’s paws suddenly reached out and grabbed my wrist.
“Great!” she beamed, before dragging me away into one of the many chatty piles of fluffy wool that constituted our event.
It didn’t take more than a few rushed steps before I was suddenly pulled in front of another Yotul and Venlil, who I did well to recognize immediately. It seemed as though Kadew and Vuilen had arrived, the former of which looking just about as nervous as I had expected. Vuilen, on the other paw, was anything but. Her tail was wagging furiously, almost impossibly giddy with enthusiasm as her ears shifted around a swivel, likely allowing every new smell and sound to pull her attention to and fro.
Fehnel dragged me forward and plopped me down right in front of the two, before saying, “Tell them what you just told me.”
Vuilen leaned forward, bestowing me her full attention, while Kadew remained stationary, only doing as much as to straighten a single, skeptical ear.
“W-well, uh…” I stumbled, before quickly getting my act together. “Among a number of new strayu recipes, the main entree for today’s event is called ‘Tamales.’”
“Oooo!” Vuilen beamed. “What’s that, Lackadaisy guy? It sounds awesome!”
“According to Kahnta, it’s a mix of vegetables folded in a spongy strayu wrap and steamed inside a starchy husk. And…” I tilted my ears towards Kadew, “It’s supposedly a specialty that is designed to be eaten during times of celebration with family. Regardless of whether they be by blood, or found.”
Kadew huffed a short breath, before folding her arms. But before she got the chance to speak, Vuilen’s enthused voice overtook it. The black and white wooled Venlil leaned into her smaller Yotul partner and pulled them into a strong hug.
“Hear that, Dew? It’s like this food was MADE for your Running Day!” Vuilen piped, bouncing up and down like a cub and bringing the now deeply blooming Kadew along for the ride. “Well… I guess it literally was, but you know what I mean! Either way, there’s like a million new kinds of strayu foods here! Can you believe that? I think I even saw some sylvanas over on that table there! Can you even begin to wonder what they taste like? Oh my Sol, I’m so excited!”
Kadew, whose previously unimpressed countenance now had more steam coming out of her ears than the tamales off in the distance, stuttered out her response. “Uh– Uhmm– That’s… that’s great…”
“I know right!” Vuilen squealed. “This is going to be the BEST Running Day ever! I’m so happy for you!”
I couldn’t help but giggle out in response to this, something which Fehnel had long since been doing on her own volition. Unfortunately for Kadew, this did nothing to ease the sheer amount of embarrassment already flying around her dazed face.
“Of course, all guests are free to eat their fill, especially those invited by the Claw’s Lady herself,” I said, before gesturing a paw towards Fehnel. “All of it has been covered in advance by our generous sponsor.”
Vuilen retreated from her hug just as quickly as it had started, twisting her attention back towards Fehnel and I. “Really? I still can’t believe you’re just giving away all this for free!”
She walked towards the two of us, leaving a still dazed Kadew behind her, before rushing to give Fehnel herself another brief hug. “Thank you so much again for organizing something like this, ma’am.”
Fehnel returned the embrace, having nothing but pure pride and joy radiate through her voice. “Of course, hun. I hope you and my daughter enjoy your date.”
“Oh we will!” Vuilen replied quickly, pulling back once again. Just as fast, she began making a beeline for the buffet tables, almost disappearing into the crowd of fellow Venlil fluff before her voice was heard once more. “I’ll be back in a jiffy, Dew! I just gotta try some of this stuff before it’s all gone!”
Before she was out of range, I twisted around, raised a paw up to my mouth, and stood up high to help carry my voice after her. “Don’t forget to save room for dessert!”
Turning back, I joined Fehnel once again in her chuckling. It didn’t take long for Fehnel to comment on the situation now that Vuilen was out of earshot.
She leaned over and gently nudged me in the leg with her tail. “She’s a riot, ain’t she? Does my daughter know how to pick em’, or what?”
“Oh yeah, I’ve seen them together in the diner all the time. Honestly, I’ve been wondering how long it was going to take to knit that scarf,” I commented, referencing one of the more common and romantic Venlil courtship rituals.
“Guys I can HEAR YOU!” Kadew yelped, now seemingly freed of her hug-induced daze.
“Oh hun don’t you worry yourself about us,” Fehnel replied, a slight hum to her voice. “Us adults can’t help but watch the young love bloom.”
“That guy’s barely older than I am!” Kadew shot back, raising a finger to point at me.
I raised two paws in defence, much too similar to the way Kenta does when he’s been caught teasing me. “Hey, doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate it when I see it. You’re doing great, by the way.”
The teasing, however, had been lost on her. I had meant it in good will, but my words had only served to aggravate Kadew, and she huffed out an annoyed breath. Then, she started stomping rapidly in place, her trained legs moving in a blur like overclocked turbines. From even the briefest glance, I could tell that something had been pulling away at her tail, and our comments were doing it no favours.
“Uhh… are you alright?” I asked tentatively.
“ARGH!” she groaned back. “No! No, I am very much NOT alright! Running Day’s here already, I feel like a pile of speh, my fur’s a mess, and I’m FREAKING THE BRAHK OUT!!”
‘Quite the vocabulary on this one, apparently,’ I judged silently, wondering how my mother would have reacted to hearing me talk like that.
“Honey, Vuilen’s not gonna care about any of that silly stuff,” Fehnel said jovially. “Why, I remember bein’ covered in dried mud the first time I went on a date with your father. We went down to the creek together and took turns tossing water at each other. Then, we went down to the local actin’ house and watched a show. But even after all of that, I still had a bit of dried mud crusted on my fur, but your father didn’t mind. Said it gave me ‘character,’ of all the silly things.”
“Isn’t dried mud just dirt?” I asked.
“Naw, see, dirt is sand, silt, and clay, but it only becomes mud when it has a higher content of clay.”
“So then what happens when dirt gets wet but doesn’t have a lot of clay?”
“Wet dirt.”
“Ah.”
“WHAT ARE YOU BRAHKING TALKING ABOUT!?” Kadew squealed in a panic, her stomping had not ceased in the slightest. She threw her paws up and pulled her ears down over her eyes. “Dirt and mud! That’s all that we Yotul talk about apparently! And trains! Can’t forget the brahking trains! Stars above, that’s all people ever say!”
“Trains are cool,” I said indifferently.
“I don’t care!” she huffed, before turning to Fehnel. “Mom. What if Vuilen comes back and sees you talking about dirt? She’ll just see that it’s the only thing a primitive uplift is capable of understanding! Do you really want to prove her right?”
Fehnel looked shocked, but replied nonetheless. “Has… she said something like that before?”
“Well…! No…! But…” Kadew stomped again. “She might, okay!? Especially if she sees you actively talking about it!”
“To be fair, I asked,” I replied. “Besides, Vuilen seems like a smart girl. She wouldn’t make a rash assumption about the Yotul based off some random remark. Relationships are stronger than that. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
“What do you know about it!?” Kadew shot back, releasing her ears and letting them perk up to max height. “Unless I missed something, I don’t see you dating any other Venlil in that restaurant of yours! How do you know if any of this is fine!?”
Fehnel’s voice soured immediately. “Kadew! That is no way to talk to our new business partner! He was just tryin’ to help! Apologize this instant!”
Realizing something had shifted without my notice, I tried to mellow my voice in an attempt to calm the situation down. “Oh, that won’t be necessar–”
“No,” Fehnel interrupted. “I refuse to let my daughter be rude to anyone. We might not have much, but we at least have manners.” She turned her attention back to her daughter. “Kadew, if you have a problem, then I want you to tell me about it. If there’s somethin’ we can do to help, then–”
“No no, it’s not…” Kadew replied, bringing two fingers up to pinch the bridge of her snout. “It’s not that…”
“It’s not what?” Fehnel tried to guess. “It’s with Vuilen, isn’t it? You’re afraid she’ll not be able to appreciate the Runnin’ Day? Listen, I know this isn’t Leirn, but Sylvan and I are kickin’ our hardest to make it special for you regardless. Sure, it’s not the most traditional, but I’m sure Vuilen won’t mind! I understand that livin’ on a new planet is taxin’, the gravity here especially, but as foreigners it’s our job to show these nice people where we come from. We’re Yotul, and nothin’ will change that!”
“Mom…” Kadew grunted back, before taking a deep breath.
Before she could speak, Fehnel continued with a proud wag to her tail. “Do you remember what a Runnin’ Day is all about, Kadew? It’s about all the cubs that came of age that year comin’ together and sayin’ that they’ll be fine by themselves. But it’s also about family. It’s about knowin’ that no matter where you run off to, I’ll be there to support you. But you’re makin’ it real hard to do that every time you don’t tell me what the matter is! And if you don’t, how can I make this Runnin’ Day the best it can–”
“But it’s not a Running Day, is it!” Kadew yelled, instantly shutting Fehnel up.
Her mother stared forward blankly, stumbling over a few unclear words. “Wh-what do you…”
“It’s not a Running Day!” Kadew repeated. “It’s not! I mean look around you!” She lifted her arms up dramatically, motioning towards the crowds of unaware Venlil around us. “We’re the only Yotul here! We’re the only two people that even know what a Running Day is, and I’m pretty sure we’re the only people that care!”
I tried to speak, “Umm… I know what a Running Day i–” but the look of animosity Kadew immediately shot my way gave me Jeela flashbacks, and I shut up just as quick.
“Kadew… Hun, that’s not true,” Fehnel tried to defend. “I’m sure they’d be willing to open their minds if we just–”
“What? Tell them all about how great it is to come from an Uplift planet? Talk about brahking DIRT some more!? Careful there Mom, don’t want to spoil their meal!” Kadew continued her berating. “Because you and I both know that the only reason anyone even showed up to this thing is because of that guy’s food!” Another finger was shot out in my direction. “Even you know there’s nothing special about your stupid Uplift culture! There’s nothing here even remotely related to the Yotul! It’s all just Venlil decorations and Venlil food, for our solely Venlil guests! And look!!” She pointed directly at the statue Jeela had placed as the centerpiece. “They have a statue of a Venlil as the center of everything! It’s the star attraction, not us! They couldn’t give a damn about me or Running Day or our culture or… or anything!”
Fehnel appeared to be on the verge of tears.
“And now I’ve got to find some kind of excuse for all this!” Kadew added. “It’s bad enough I had to drag Vuilen into pretending to care about the Yotul. But now the entire town is a part of it too! They’re laughing at us, Mom! Just like at school! Just like everywhere else I go! They’re laughing at us and you’re proud about it!”
From the verge of tears, Fehnel’s voice had croaked into a soft weep. A glimmering stream of water had begun to crawl down the ridge of her rust-coloured face.
“I hate being born a Yotul! I hate this gross, rusty fur! I hate everyone thinking I’m primitive and that I must be in love with trains and steam engines! And I hate you trying to push your culture on me! Cause guess what? I’ve never even seen Leirn! It’s NOT my home and you need to stop pretending it is!”
Fehnel stood simply aghast, the occasional choked-up garble of sounds emerging from her throat. Meanwhile, I stood speechless as well. Obviously, I had accidentally walked in on and been exposed to something that had been going on for quite a while. But even worse, it seems as though I had done nothing but fanned the flame of this long-fueled fire. Instinctively, I began taking a few steps back to give the two their space, which went unnoticed by either party.
Fehnel swallowed, her eyes still welling tears. “I… I…” she tried to say, but no words would form. Instead, she choked on her own voice. And Kadew, who stood waiting for a response, sucked in heavy loads of air in the fleeting hope to catch her breath.
But instead of an answer, all that any of us heard was a scream.
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This is going to be a long story y’all, buckle up!
My father, Matthew, has always been an unstable man. When I was growing up, he would regularly lash out physically and verbally towards those closest to him, but he would put on a façade when around anyone else. Those who are closest to him know just how awful a person he is yet how good he is a covering it all up to convince people outside the family that everything is ok.
My mother and father had gotten divorced when I was young and I, along with my two siblings, would go to his house on the weekends. When we lived at his house, he would never let us go outside, he would forget to feed us, he would make us do chores to clean up after him, he had cameras all over the house, and he would lash out violently if his standards weren’t met.
When I was 14~, I stopped going to Matt’s house. I had forgotten a book at my mom’s house that I needed for homework over the weekend, and I asked Matt if my stepdad could drop it off out front of the house so that I could get it done still. Matt started to yell at me saying how forgetful I am and how my stepdad is not allowed anywhere near the house and all these other nonsense things and then demanded that I hand over my phone to him and that I was grounded for the weekend.
I yelled back at my dad that he doesn’t pay for the phone, Mom does, so he has no right to take it from me. He did not take this kindly and proceeded to tackle me into the doorframe to get the phone out of my hand.
Now, keep in mind, I was a small kid growing up and he is a very fat man that was much taller than me at the time. I got a serious bruise on my shoulder.
After being tackled, I took off into the street running every which way to hide from him. I did not want to be hurt like that by him ever again. I found solace in an old man’s house after I had run for 20 or so minutes. We called the police and my parents and that was the last day that I would speak to my father for the next four years.

Fast forward 4 years, my great grandmother (Nan) who is Matthew’s grandmother was in the hospital and her condition was grim. Her organs were shutting down one by one due to her age.
Nan meant so much to me, when I got my driver's license her house was the first place that I went to. I would drive to see her as often as I could, and I would keep her up to date on everything that was happening in my life. And when she fell ill was no exception, I was glued to her bedside all day every day.
I was a senior in high school when she was sick and all I needed to graduate was an English credit, so I got out of school at 10:30 every day. Once Nan was hospitalized, I was there by her side from 11am to 11pm on most days. I talked with her for hours about her life, about meeting my Pap, about how her siblings had passed in a fire when she was young, and everything else under the stars.
For almost 30 days in a row, I was there for her, calling off work and putting my life on hold just so that I could be there for what was left of hers. She had many visitors, some family members came from Nebraska, Florida, and hours away by car just to spend time with her in her last days. One person that was absent, however, was Matthew.
Matthew was raised by Nan growing up. His mom had him when she was way too young. In fact, my father was the product of my grandmother’s sister’s husband and my grandmother. So, my Nan raised him instead.
At first, my Nan would ask when Matthew was going to stop by, but over the month she asked less and less.
They moved her to a hospital that was closer to her home and the rest of her family, and I kept going to see her, but this time the commute was an hour instead of 10 minutes. This hospital was conveniently located 5 minutes away from Matthew's house, but still no sign of him. Not until things took a turn for the worst that is.
My Nan’s condition was getting very bad and my grandmother, Matthew’s mom, had asked me to go and pick up my Nan’s husband because everyone thought that this was the last chance that they would have to see each other. Little did I know, as I was out to get Pap, my gram had called my dad and told him that this was it and he had to come and say goodbye.
When I returned with Pap, my dad and his girlfriend were there at her bedside for the first time since she had fallen ill. The moment I saw my dad, I started to shut down. I feared him. Even though it could have been the last time that I could have seen my Nan, I left the room to cry in the hallway. This is the man that had abused me, my siblings, and my mom for so many years yet now all of a sudden, he was there like he was the golden child.
After having only been there for about an hour, my dad and his girlfriend decided that it was time to leave. My gram turned to me and told me that my dad loves me still and he didn’t mean any of that stuff from the past and that he wanted to talk to me. Idiotically, I listened to her and walked after him and his girlfriend and called out, saying, “dad, do you have a minute?”
He snapped back with “no, I don’t” and then grabbed a nurse and told her that “this kid is following me, and I don’t feel safe enough to walk to my car, I need security to make sure he doesn’t harm me”
I broke down and asked him if he even remembered me or if he cared enough to ever want to reconcile with me and his girlfriend chimed that I need to leave him alone and that I don’t understand what he’s going through.
If there was any part of this story that I regret, it is what I said next. My dad’s girlfriend was born and raised in Germany and had talked about German history and that sort of thing with us in the past, and well... she didn’t denounce what the N@zi's did, let's just say that.
I told her “Shut up you stupid kraut, I’m not talking to you”
After this my dad yelled at me in the hospital and said “way to show your true colors, I knew I was right about you all along”
The next morning on my drive to the hospital I got a call from an attorney saying that Matthew had filed an emergency protection from abuse against me (my state doesn’t do restraining orders, but just think that).
In my state there are 2 types of PFA’s, EPFAs and regular ones. The kind that my dad filed against me was the Emergency kind that would get immediately granted in order to protect the person that filed from imminent dangeserious harm, then they would retroactively checkup to see if the EPFA was warranted after it was filed.
This meant that I could not go and see Nan again, not as long as I had this EPFA hanging over my head.
The claim that Matthew made against me, his own son, had so many errors and made-up nonsense. For example, he said that I am 6’2”, 220lbs, brown eyes, mentally unstable/dangerous, threatened his life, that I own guns and that he fears I’d use them on him, that I abuse my brother and sister, that I abuse my Nan, that I followed him to his car and all of these other things. He even spelled my name wrong in the document. A name that HE gave to me.
At most I’m 5’10”, 160lbs, green eyes and never shot a gun before, you get the picture. All of it was nonsense. The judge didn’t know that though when he filed it, he just heard a story of a crazed man who owns guns and wants to use them.
I got in contact with a lawyer once I got off the phone and tried to find any way around this so that I could go and see my Nan before she passed.
Unfortunately, I was too late. My Nan passed the next day, and I could not say goodbye. She had her funeral (which she asked me to sing at) and was buried all before I could get this EPFA overturned so that I could go and see her.
I missed all of it and Matthew got to walk away unscathed.
This happened a year ago and I am just finally getting it off my chest. I don’t even care if anyone reads this, I just wanted to type it.
If it makes anyone feel better, my dad was a middle school music teacher, but wasn’t allowed to go work around kids this year because of another lawsuit that he got himself.

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My second to last quarter just ended and I'm pretty swamped with final reports right now, but I'm almost through. Not to mention, the next seven weeks are going to be pretty light because of a sudden lack of classes, since I busted my butt finishing up my remaining credits. I've decided to dedicate this time to (among other things) a writing frenzy! I wanna get some serioussss backlogs up because who knows how busy I'm going to be after graduation. (Not to mention, I'm having some troubles getting my VISA renewed, but that's a personal issue).
Anyways, don't wanna bore you with irl stuff. You're here for food and gay furry romance! So as always, I hope you enjoy reading! :D
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Thank you to Philodox on discord for proofreading and editing RfD.
Thank you to Pampanope on reddit for the cover art.
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Memory Transcript Subject: Sylvan, Venlil Citizen
Date: [Standardized Human Time]: December 13, 2136
​
It wasn’t too long that I was absent from the event. Sure, Kenta and I had run into a few hiccups when trying to load up the cart, but that was to be expected. Just looking at the absolute behemoth of an edible pile that he had somehow been able to put together in such a short amount of time, it was a wonder just how we were able to fit them all on there in the first place. And the promise that there was still more yet to be brought out had left me astonished. If I hadn’t already seen the ravenous vortex of Venlil that had so efficiently done away with the other dishes, I might have actually been worried about leftovers.
The food in question, long tubes made out of some kind of starchy form of strayu and packaged in an even starchier husk, were stacked in circular pyramids atop three large trays. As it turned out, this delicacy was the same “Tamale” recipe that I had heard mentioned the day before, the sheer amount being the product of Kenta’s, Julio’s, and even Jeela’s preparations. Unfortunately, I hadn’t received the full explanation of what they were just yet, but Kenta had thankfully given me at least a quick rundown.
Using the same steaming methods as the gyoza, these tamales had been folded carefully over a mix of fresh, crisp vegetables whose scent floated around each in a rich aura. They were hot out of the steamer, a cloud of gaseous water encircling the air above it in a decadent plume. If I hadn’t known better, with the combined mass of the tamales and the sheer volume of steam they collectively released, it might have made me believe the cart itself to be on fire. But of course, there was no such thing, and the cloud that spread into the sky only served to sweeten the air.
As I rolled out the cart, I looked at one last addition to the ensemble. There in a large bowl was something that Kenta hadn’t mentioned in the slightest when explaining the recipe and reasonings behind the tamales, and I had been so urgent to get these out the door that I’d forgotten to press for more details. It had been left in the refrigerator since the day before, which I had only noticed when doing inventory after the fiasco of event preparations.
‘It completely slipped my mind until now… I’m glad I didn’t forget it. Especially after what that note said.’
When I had found the bowl, a small piece of paper had been taped to it. On which, an alien text had been inscribed that required me to use my visual translator to make any sense of. It had been nothing but obvious that holding up the translator informed me that the language was indeed Terran. But what confused me was that instead of the morphemic script that I had come to slightly recognize from Kenta’s subculture, it instead appeared to be something more alphabetic.
On it, the note simply read: “Make sure to serve this with the tamales, my friend. Don’t forget!”
Additionally, below those words had appeared to be an additional message. That one, however, was partially scribbled out. When I scanned that one as well, the translator had taken a long time to process, and its output remained considerably fractured: “**od l*ck wit* y*u* n*w boyf***nd.”
Having not thought much of the note, I had just barely remembered to retrieve the bowl from the fridge and put it on the card while Kenta was off busy grabbing one last batch of tamales before rushing me out the door. I shook it out of my mind for the time being. After all, right now there were more pressing things to manage.
Wheeling the cart back outside, I was hit with the briefest shortage of breath. It had only been a momentary respite, but shifting from the quiet of the empty diner to the lively atmosphere of a crowded party would never not be a shock. By now, enough people had shown up that the event could already be considered at max capacity. People from all over filled the street, chatting and conversing in a rambunctious, lively gusto.
To see so many people take the time out of their schedules and come down to my family’s diner just because of the promise of our food… It was almost overwhelming, enough to bring a brief tear to the eye reminiscent of my reaction to that very first wave of people Ginro had brought soon after I first hired Kenta. I took a moment just to bask in it. A feeling I had all but begun to grow almost too accustomed to. A feeling of success, and of pride. And as I once again continued pushing the cart past the crowds of chatty party attendees, along with the piles of wool that it entailed, that feeling continued to pour into me. It was all almost too much to hear at once.
“Hey Sylvan! Great party!” said one voice to my left.
“Amazing food as always, Lackadaisy guy! I can’t get enough of these little strayu things in the salad!” piped another to my right.
“Ooooo! What are those things?” asked one more as I passed by them, who excitedly eyed up the stack of tamales I was delivering.
I laughed along and chatted with people on my way to one of the tables, chuckling at their jokes and accepting their praise on behalf of both myself and the mysterious ‘Kahnta.’ With each pleased guest and hungry gaze, I couldn’t help but feel myself bloom in sheer joy at the tidal wave of enthusiastic complements.
That was… until one otherwise innocent comment sounded from behind me.
“So you’re telling me this was all made by one chef?” they asked one of their friends, not intending me to hear as they talked with their mouth half stuffed with food. Looking closer, I could see that they were two Gojids chatting with one another. “Better enjoy it now, I guess. Not gonna be long before some fancy place in the Capital comes and recruits them. Honestly, if the owner of this place wants to have any hope of holding on to them, he better marry them or something.”
The partygoer’s friend laughed, “Well if he doesn’t, then I will! Can you imagine eating something like this every day?”
I couldn’t help but bloom even more overhearing this. But this was a different kind of feeling. Not the gentle warmth of normal delight, but instead the torrid heat of surging emotions. And as I began nonchalantly transferring the steaming tamales to one of the tables, these emotions steamed to the surface of my mind as well.
It was a mix of things that fueled my silent reaction. At first, the implication of asking Kenta into matehood was… well it was certainly something. I was sure the two Gojids were simply making innocent remarks, assuming that the lie about my precious chef being another, completely ordinary Venlil was correct, not realizing in the slightest just how much the implication left me flummoxed. And in normal circumstances, it would have been just that, a simple perk of the ears and a brief daydream of something so far away from me. But after yesterday, things had changed.
The previous day had been eventful, to say the least. I had eaten some amazing pastries and listened to an even more amazing alien melody. Only for it all to come crashing down when my idiotic brain forgot to turn back on the translator before pouring out my entire menagerie of pent up emotions before Kenta. My one chance to seize an opportunity at the height of a courageous high, only to tumble and fall flat during the execution. Even worse, I couldn’t muster the bravery to say the same thing even one more time.
I had completely blown it. And needless to say, I wasn’t exactly keen on remembering my mistakes from that previous day, especially during such a pivotal event. The only mediocre condolence I could take from the whole ordeal being the opportunity of waking up next to Kenta that same day. But even that was cut much too short by the mad rush to get preparation ready for the event.
‘I can still remember how warm he felt… And how peaceful he looked when his eyes were closed…’ I thought to myself in deep reminiscence.
“Hey there Sylvan!”
‘I can’t get it out of my head…! Ugh! I wish it wasn’t just a one time thing…’
“Sylvan?”
‘If we really were together romantically, then maybe I could see that every day… But that’s not–’
“Sylvan!!”
The moment my attention was pulled away from my internal thoughts, I audibly bleated out a high pitched noise of surprise, “Eeep!”
My ears jutted up and my tail straightened like a steel beam. My attention shifted over to my side, where I soon realized Fehnel now stood. She had her paws held firmly on her hips, with a head tilted to the side in a half puzzled, half amused demeanor. Then, when I realized I had been staring a little too long without saying anything, I quickly turned my attention back to the table.
“Oh hey Fehnel!” I stuttered out. “Didn’t see you there!”
“Sorry if I sneaked up on ya, hun,” Fehnel replied with a single wag of the tail. “Got somethin’ on the mind, I’m assumin’?”
The image of Kenta and I huddled together on my couch flashed through my mind once more, before I quickly shook it away. “Uhhhh… Nope! I’m just really focussing here on getting these tamales out.”
“‘Tamales,’ huh?” Fehnel chuckled. “Well between this and that ‘gee-yo-za’ stuff, I think I’m startin’ to give up on predictin’ what crazy name Kahnta’ll come up with next.”
“Yeah it’s pretty… uh–” I coughed awkwardly, clearing something nonexistent out of my throat. “It’s pretty creative.”
“You can say that again. By this point, they’re startin’ to sound almost alien!” Fehnel laughed again, and I cringed as the irony fell over deaf ears. “But hey, who am I to judge! I mean, to me all the stuff on this planet is alien, so what’s another ‘Tamale’ added to the pile, yeah?”
I had to stop my ears and head from shrinking too far towards the ground.
“Anyways, I’m assumin’ these are the actual foods I requested Kahnta to create, right?” Fehnel continued to ask.
“Uh– Y-yeah, yes they ar–” I tried to say before one of Fehnel’s paws suddenly reached out and grabbed my wrist.
“Great!” she beamed, before dragging me away into one of the many chatty piles of fluffy wool that constituted our event.
It didn’t take more than a few rushed steps before I was suddenly pulled in front of another Yotul and Venlil, who I did well to recognize immediately. It seemed as though Kadew and Vuilen had arrived, the former of which looking just about as nervous as I had expected. Vuilen, on the other paw, was anything but. Her tail was wagging furiously, almost impossibly giddy with enthusiasm as her ears shifted around a swivel, likely allowing every new smell and sound to pull her attention to and fro.
Fehnel dragged me forward and plopped me down right in front of the two, before saying, “Tell them what you just told me.”
Vuilen leaned forward, bestowing me her full attention, while Kadew remained stationary, only doing as much as to straighten a single, skeptical ear.
“W-well, uh…” I stumbled, before quickly getting my act together. “Among a number of new strayu recipes, the main entree for today’s event is called ‘Tamales.’”
“Oooo!” Vuilen beamed. “What’s that, Lackadaisy guy? It sounds awesome!”
“According to Kahnta, it’s a mix of vegetables folded in a spongy strayu wrap and steamed inside a starchy husk. And…” I tilted my ears towards Kadew, “It’s supposedly a specialty that is designed to be eaten during times of celebration with family. Regardless of whether they be by blood, or found.”
Kadew huffed a short breath, before folding her arms. But before she got the chance to speak, Vuilen’s enthused voice overtook it. The black and white wooled Venlil leaned into her smaller Yotul partner and pulled them into a strong hug.
“Hear that, Dew? It’s like this food was MADE for your Running Day!” Vuilen piped, bouncing up and down like a cub and bringing the now deeply blooming Kadew along for the ride. “Well… I guess it literally was, but you know what I mean! Either way, there’s like a million new kinds of strayu foods here! Can you believe that? I think I even saw some sylvanas over on that table there! Can you even begin to wonder what they taste like? Oh my Sol, I’m so excited!”
Kadew, whose previously unimpressed countenance now had more steam coming out of her ears than the tamales off in the distance, stuttered out her response. “Uh– Uhmm– That’s… that’s great…”
“I know right!” Vuilen squealed. “This is going to be the BEST Running Day ever! I’m so happy for you!”
I couldn’t help but giggle out in response to this, something which Fehnel had long since been doing on her own volition. Unfortunately for Kadew, this did nothing to ease the sheer amount of embarrassment already flying around her dazed face.
“Of course, all guests are free to eat their fill, especially those invited by the Claw’s Lady herself,” I said, before gesturing a paw towards Fehnel. “All of it has been covered in advance by our generous sponsor.”
Vuilen retreated from her hug just as quickly as it had started, twisting her attention back towards Fehnel and I. “Really? I still can’t believe you’re just giving away all this for free!”
She walked towards the two of us, leaving a still dazed Kadew behind her, before rushing to give Fehnel herself another brief hug. “Thank you so much again for organizing something like this, ma’am.”
Fehnel returned the embrace, having nothing but pure pride and joy radiate through her voice. “Of course, hun. I hope you and my daughter enjoy your date.”
“Oh we will!” Vuilen replied quickly, pulling back once again. Just as fast, she began making a beeline for the buffet tables, almost disappearing into the crowd of fellow Venlil fluff before her voice was heard once more. “I’ll be back in a jiffy, Dew! I just gotta try some of this stuff before it’s all gone!”
Before she was out of range, I twisted around, raised a paw up to my mouth, and stood up high to help carry my voice after her. “Don’t forget to save room for dessert!”
Turning back, I joined Fehnel once again in her chuckling. It didn’t take long for Fehnel to comment on the situation now that Vuilen was out of earshot.
She leaned over and gently nudged me in the leg with her tail. “She’s a riot, ain’t she? Does my daughter know how to pick em’, or what?”
“Oh yeah, I’ve seen them together in the diner all the time. Honestly, I’ve been wondering how long it was going to take to knit that scarf,” I commented, referencing one of the more common and romantic Venlil courtship rituals.
“Guys I can HEAR YOU!” Kadew yelped, now seemingly freed of her hug-induced daze.
“Oh hun don’t you worry yourself about us,” Fehnel replied, a slight hum to her voice. “Us adults can’t help but watch the young love bloom.”
“That guy’s barely older than I am!” Kadew shot back, raising a finger to point at me.
I raised two paws in defence, much too similar to the way Kenta does when he’s been caught teasing me. “Hey, doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate it when I see it. You’re doing great, by the way.”
The teasing, however, had been lost on her. I had meant it in good will, but my words had only served to aggravate Kadew, and she huffed out an annoyed breath. Then, she started stomping rapidly in place, her trained legs moving in a blur like overclocked turbines. From even the briefest glance, I could tell that something had been pulling away at her tail, and our comments were doing it no favours.
“Uhh… are you alright?” I asked tentatively.
“ARGH!” she groaned back. “No! No, I am very much NOT alright! Running Day’s here already, I feel like a pile of speh, my fur’s a mess, and I’m FREAKING THE BRAHK OUT!!”
‘Quite the vocabulary on this one, apparently,’ I judged silently, wondering how my mother would have reacted to hearing me talk like that.
“Honey, Vuilen’s not gonna care about any of that silly stuff,” Fehnel said jovially. “Why, I remember bein’ covered in dried mud the first time I went on a date with your father. We went down to the creek together and took turns tossing water at each other. Then, we went down to the local actin’ house and watched a show. But even after all of that, I still had a bit of dried mud crusted on my fur, but your father didn’t mind. Said it gave me ‘character,’ of all the silly things.”
“Isn’t dried mud just dirt?” I asked.
“Naw, see, dirt is sand, silt, and clay, but it only becomes mud when it has a higher content of clay.”
“So then what happens when dirt gets wet but doesn’t have a lot of clay?”
“Wet dirt.”
“Ah.”
“WHAT ARE YOU BRAHKING TALKING ABOUT!?” Kadew squealed in a panic, her stomping had not ceased in the slightest. She threw her paws up and pulled her ears down over her eyes. “Dirt and mud! That’s all that we Yotul talk about apparently! And trains! Can’t forget the brahking trains! Stars above, that’s all people ever say!”
“Trains are cool,” I said indifferently.
“I don’t care!” she huffed, before turning to Fehnel. “Mom. What if Vuilen comes back and sees you talking about dirt? She’ll just see that it’s the only thing a primitive uplift is capable of understanding! Do you really want to prove her right?”
Fehnel looked shocked, but replied nonetheless. “Has… she said something like that before?”
“Well…! No…! But…” Kadew stomped again. “She might, okay!? Especially if she sees you actively talking about it!”
“To be fair, I asked,” I replied. “Besides, Vuilen seems like a smart girl. She wouldn’t make a rash assumption about the Yotul based off some random remark. Relationships are stronger than that. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
“What do you know about it!?” Kadew shot back, releasing her ears and letting them perk up to max height. “Unless I missed something, I don’t see you dating any other Venlil in that restaurant of yours! How do you know if any of this is fine!?”
Fehnel’s voice soured immediately. “Kadew! That is no way to talk to our new business partner! He was just tryin’ to help! Apologize this instant!”
Realizing something had shifted without my notice, I tried to mellow my voice in an attempt to calm the situation down. “Oh, that won’t be necessar–”
“No,” Fehnel interrupted. “I refuse to let my daughter be rude to anyone. We might not have much, but we at least have manners.” She turned her attention back to her daughter. “Kadew, if you have a problem, then I want you to tell me about it. If there’s somethin’ we can do to help, then–”
“No no, it’s not…” Kadew replied, bringing two fingers up to pinch the bridge of her snout. “It’s not that…”
“It’s not what?” Fehnel tried to guess. “It’s with Vuilen, isn’t it? You’re afraid she’ll not be able to appreciate the Runnin’ Day? Listen, I know this isn’t Leirn, but Sylvan and I are kickin’ our hardest to make it special for you regardless. Sure, it’s not the most traditional, but I’m sure Vuilen won’t mind! I understand that livin’ on a new planet is taxin’, the gravity here especially, but as foreigners it’s our job to show these nice people where we come from. We’re Yotul, and nothin’ will change that!”
“Mom…” Kadew grunted back, before taking a deep breath.
Before she could speak, Fehnel continued with a proud wag to her tail. “Do you remember what a Runnin’ Day is all about, Kadew? It’s about all the cubs that came of age that year comin’ together and sayin’ that they’ll be fine by themselves. But it’s also about family. It’s about knowin’ that no matter where you run off to, I’ll be there to support you. But you’re makin’ it real hard to do that every time you don’t tell me what the matter is! And if you don’t, how can I make this Runnin’ Day the best it can–”
“But it’s not a Running Day, is it!” Kadew yelled, instantly shutting Fehnel up.
Her mother stared forward blankly, stumbling over a few unclear words. “Wh-what do you…”
“It’s not a Running Day!” Kadew repeated. “It’s not! I mean look around you!” She lifted her arms up dramatically, motioning towards the crowds of unaware Venlil around us. “We’re the only Yotul here! We’re the only two people that even know what a Running Day is, and I’m pretty sure we’re the only people that care!”
I tried to speak, “Umm… I know what a Running Day i–” but the look of animosity Kadew immediately shot my way gave me Jeela flashbacks, and I shut up just as quick.
“Kadew… Hun, that’s not true,” Fehnel tried to defend. “I’m sure they’d be willing to open their minds if we just–”
“What? Tell them all about how great it is to come from an Uplift planet? Talk about brahking DIRT some more!? Careful there Mom, don’t want to spoil their meal!” Kadew continued her berating. “Because you and I both know that the only reason anyone even showed up to this thing is because of that guy’s food!” Another finger was shot out in my direction. “Even you know there’s nothing special about your stupid Uplift culture! There’s nothing here even remotely related to the Yotul! It’s all just Venlil decorations and Venlil food, for our solely Venlil guests! And look!!” She pointed directly at the statue Jeela had placed as the centerpiece. “They have a statue of a Venlil as the center of everything! It’s the star attraction, not us! They couldn’t give a damn about me or Running Day or our culture or… or anything!”
Fehnel appeared to be on the verge of tears.
“And now I’ve got to find some kind of excuse for all this!” Kadew added. “It’s bad enough I had to drag Vuilen into pretending to care about the Yotul. But now the entire town is a part of it too! They’re laughing at us, Mom! Just like at school! Just like everywhere else I go! They’re laughing at us and you’re proud about it!”
From the verge of tears, Fehnel’s voice had croaked into a soft weep. A glimmering stream of water had begun to crawl down the ridge of her rust-coloured face.
“I hate being born a Yotul! I hate this gross, rusty fur! I hate everyone thinking I’m primitive and that I must be in love with trains and steam engines! And I hate you trying to push your culture on me! Cause guess what? I’ve never even seen Leirn! It’s NOT my home and you need to stop pretending it is!”
Fehnel stood simply aghast, the occasional choked-up garble of sounds emerging from her throat. Meanwhile, I stood speechless as well. Obviously, I had accidentally walked in on and been exposed to something that had been going on for quite a while. But even worse, it seems as though I had done nothing but fanned the flame of this long-fueled fire. Instinctively, I began taking a few steps back to give the two their space, which went unnoticed by either party.
Fehnel swallowed, her eyes still welling tears. “I… I…” she tried to say, but no words would form. Instead, she choked on her own voice. And Kadew, who stood waiting for a response, sucked in heavy loads of air in the fleeting hope to catch her breath.
But instead of an answer, all that any of us heard was a scream.
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I yohoho'd it 2-3 years ago. I remember trying to read the mildly useless tutorials in-game. Getting frustrated and reading a guide on how to start. Mining copper? Okay, did that for a bit, lured some starving guys for a bit and got bored.
Just bought it today on a whim because it just sounds like a game I would like and I wanted to give it another try, plus mod support is always great.
Anyway, started again in hub, got my ass handed to me a few times, almost lost an arm.
Made a bit of cash and found a crossbow and a bunch of bolts. Can't hit a thing for shite but that's okay. Make enough to recruit a basic Shek, Astrian or something.
Both get some heavy armor but notice it weighs us down big time. Get in a fight with some drunks and they end up dead thanks to the folks around us. They had some nice looking jackets and chain shirts. Iron hat, even a nodachi for my Shek, bit of an upgrade here.
Feeling good, go fight 3 starving bandits and get our asses kicked.
Don't know what to do, despair. Decide fuck it, gonna explore. Head south towards a bit of different colored area in the map. It's a swamp? Cool. Trade with the human at the store and keep going.
End up finding a waystation and a band of hostile sheks, bone something's. Lure them to the waystation to have a bloody brawl. Kind of figuring out how to kite 1v1 with crossbow. Sell all their shit, sleep in their camp and what's this? Training dummies? I train our melee skills from 2 to 12.
I head out and find a few starving bandits and we wipe the desert floor with them. Feeling okay now, able to somewhat defend ourselves. Find some animal traders in the road and buy a bone hound pup (not the first time I've seen them, but the first time Astrain saw one and didn't get mauled to almost death) and a pack bull pup.
And that's where I ended for tonight. There's a lot I left out from my adventure, but I gotta say, I get what it's about now.

Chris says we have limited lives, Chris mentioned this impacts our reputation, losing a chunk of what we've earned. This impacts our ability to make money in the game, and have to work our way back up by increasing our rep once again.
But this also includes skill loss, as Chris has this idea before telling us he was putting RPG-like skills in the game. So for example, if you are an Ace combat pilot that can pull the maximum amount of G's in a fighter, after you die, you won't be able to achieve this anymore due to skill loss. So if you are preparing for a combat mission and you:
a) Don't take a friend who might know where you died to help rescue you in the event of losing the fight or
b) Don't have the credits to pay for a medical rescue beacon in the event of being incapacitated
You could be a bit screwed.
Combat Pilots and Mercenaries are putting their lives on the line for each mission. So you'd want the rewards for these activities to be MUCH MUCH higher than someone who trades cargo, or mines big rocks, into little rocks. Combat must be lucrative, else the players will deem it "not worth", and we'll have a game full of fluffy space care bears. Running from a PVP fight you didn't plan for, will always be preferable to taking the fight.
As you can see, I have outlined how this "Death of a Spaceman" skews the risk/reward away from combat. Many risk averse players won't want to be in a fight at all, simply because they like their character and don't want to lose it. Others, will never fly alone, even in PVE activities, to ensure there is always someone who can rescue them. Medical vehicles and ships will become coveted, Players will ensure they are not only available, but can be depended upon if a fight doesn't go our way.
As a combat pilot I don't particularly like this death mechanic, and will definitely be avoiding the harder PVE activities. It would be much more worth to do the easy combat missions repeatedly. and if the "easy" ones don't pay enough, it won't be worth doing them at all, and I'll likely get bored move on to another game.
What are your opinions on risk vs reward in SC?

This is going to sound like we're crazy but I promise we are not. Just moved into this house 3 weeks ago and ever since we've had the weirdest, unexplainable fucking things happen to us.
Instance 1) Literally the first night we are in our house at 4am our dog goes apeshit at this wall in the basement, like would not calm down we had to put him on the leash and take him upstairs and shut the door. 30 minutes pass and it sounded like a thud on that basement door, our room is right next to it. Nothing there, figured it may be the dog trying to get in.
Instance 2) Fast forward a week and we come home after dinner and one room in the basement is not quite right, items look as if they are moved ever so slightly and some items are on the floor, we attribute the items on the floor to the cat maybe but not sure what caused the heavier items to shift.
Instance 3) Next day we're watching a movie at like midnight and it sounded like someone either slammed a door shut extremely hard or banged on it, scared my girlfriend to absolute death, shes crying at this point. I scour the entire house with my gun and there is nobody inside or around the house.
At this point enough is enough and I buy a bunch of ring cameras and set them around the inside and outside of the house so we dont sound crazy.
Instance 4) Few days after we set up cameras our dog goes insane again at the back door and from what I heard it sounded like someone shaking the lock on the gate like crazy, cameras show absolutely nobody there. Nothing there. Once again we're crazy. It stops after 5ish minutes
Instance 5) At this point we're tired, wondering when our next sleepless night will come. About a week ago we're cleaning up after a birthday party, its about 11pm at night, and our of nowhere my girlfriend jumps a mil high screaming. She claims she heard someone say a few words that made no sense in her ear while I was in the garage. She absolutely refuses to stay in the house any longer but I convince her I'm there, it's ok. Nothing on the cameras except her jumping.
Instance 6) This just happened tonight and I'm so fed up, I'm dead tired and dont know what to do. We're asleep and our dog starts barking at the basement door again. I log into the Ring system and theres nothing down there or anywhere. A few minutes elapse and we hear the SAME banging sound again. At this point my gf is crying her head off, I'm stressed because it feels like I cant do anything, tired because of the stress.
Give us some advice please, convince us we're not crazy. Tomorrow I'm investing in cameras that can record noises while idle. I'm tempted to go to the church and ask our pastor about it, maybe even praying in our house. I'm also thinking about hiring a paranormal investigation team to do some investigations in our home, they may hear or see stuff that we cant. Nobody believes us, this is our new home and we dont even feel comfortable. As I write this my GF headed to her friend's house to sleep while I stay in the house and it fucking feels like someone is watching me 24/7.
Any advice you guys have I'll take, I truly did not believe in this stuff until it started happening to me, but its so tiring.

No, but understanding the "idiom of permission" is necessary. This concept refers to God creating everything, but within that creation exists the possibility of evil due to free will. This is what angels or god(with a lowercase "g") referred to as the Devil or demons represent. For example, Isaiah 45:7 uses the idiom of permission. God is not creating "evil" directly, but rather the potential for evil exists because He created angels who could choose to rebel.
In Isaiah 45:7 “I make peace and create evil.” God does not “create evil.” That would be against His character and contradict the fact that He is love. Love and evil are mutually exclusive. This is the common Semitic “idiom of permission,” in which God is said to actively do something that He was only related to in some way. In this case, when God created the earth and created humankind to live on it, and gave humans (and spirit beings such as angels) freedom of will, He “created” the possibility of evil.
God gave people free will, and also gave them laws, rules, and norms that made a distinction between good and evil. Thus, when spirit beings or humans used the free will that God gave them and did evil, by the Semitic “idiom of permission” God was said to have caused the evil.
Another example of the idiom of permission is found in Job 2:10. The Devil, or the Accuser, tells God that Job has remained righteous only because he is under God's protection. Here, God allows Satan to afflict Job, resulting in the loss of his livelihood and children. It's important to understand that the Devil is often the source of division and throughout the Old and New Testaments, people are given the choice to obey or disobey based on free will.
In the case of Pharaoh in Exodus, God asked Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. At that point, Pharaoh could have said, “Okay,” and let them go, and he and Egypt would have been unhurt, and even blessed for obeying God. But God’s demand forced Pharaoh to make a choice: he could either let God’s people go, or he could harden his heart and say, “No,” which is what he did. As Pharaoh continued to say “No,” time after time, God put more and more pressure on him in the form of plagues that affected the land and people of Egypt. As the intensity of the plagues increased and there was more and more damage to Egypt and the Egyptians, Pharaoh’s heart had to become harder and harder in order for him to keep saying “No” to God’s request to release the Israelites. But God was not the problem; Pharaoh was the problem. However, because God was the one making the request and putting the pressure on Pharaoh, the Semitic idiom of permission is expressed by the phrase “God hardened Pharaoh’s heart.” It simply means that God acted in such a way that Pharaoh had to harden his heart to resist God. God did not harden Pharaoh’s heart, Pharaoh hardened his own heart because he did not want to obey God’s request.
We use the same kind of idiom in English. If a person does something that upsets us, we might say to them, “You made me mad.” But the person did not actually “make” us mad; anger was our personal response to what the person did to us. Someone else may have the same thing happen to them as happened to us but not get angry at all. So, when we say, “You made me mad,” we are using an idiom that expresses that anger was our response to what someone else did. A trained psychologist would not say, “You made me mad,” they would say, “I responded with anger when you did what you did.”
It was due to his understanding of the Semitic idiom of permission that Joseph Rotherham, in his Emphasized Bible, translated Exodus 4:21 as, “I will let his heart wax bold,” rather than “I will harden his heart.” The literal truth of what was going on with Pharaoh is stated in Exodus 9:34, that he hardened his own heart. God is love. He does not do evil. But because He created people with free will, and because He set laws and norms in place that require people to live righteous lives, when people do evil it is often, via the Semitic idiom of permission, spoken of as if God was the one who did the evil.
In Mathew 4:1 “by the spirit.” The Greek text reads, hupo tou pneumatos (ὑπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος), using the preposition hupo followed by “the spirit,” in the genitive case. Thus here, hupo denotes agency and tells us that Jesus was led “by” the spirit. It is difficult to decide whether we should say “by the Spirit,” i.e. “by God;” or “by the spirit,” that is, by the gift of God that Jesus had just received 2 verses earlier. The ancient texts were all capital letters, so it was up to the reader to decide what PNEUMATOS (Spirit or spirit) meant. Because English forces the translator to choose between “Spirit” and “spirit,” or "Holy Spirit" modern translators have to make a decision for the reader and hope to educate the reader via commentary.
Actually, in this case, it is likely that both “Spirit” and “spirit” are true, and this is an example of the figure of speech amphibologia, where there are two meanings, both of them true. God, the Spirit, led Jesus into the desert, communicating and leading him “by the spirit,” just as He had done for millennia with Moses, Joshua, David, and the prophets and prophetesses. What actually happened was that Jesus was led “by the Spirit by the spirit.” This clarifies some misunderstandings of holy scriptures, but it requires deep research and good translations. Consider the Revised English Version (REV), which often includes commentary for challenging verses. While difficult, grappling with these complexities can lead to a deeper understanding of the truth.
Here are some examples of Satan's role in evil. However, hardship should be normalized, as free will allows for both good and evil choices (obedience and disobedience). It's important to note that the Old Testament doesn't explicitly mention the war between good and evil in heaven. This concept is revealed later in the New Testament through Jesus Christ. Therefore, people in the Old Testament might have attributed their suffering to God, while it could have been the influence of the Devil tempting them away from God's plan. It's also worth noting that God calls and appoints specific people to pave the way for the coming of the Messiah.
1 John 5:19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the control of the Wicked One.
John 12:31 Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out.
Acts 10:38 Jesus, the one from Nazareth—how God anointed him with holy spirit and with power, and he went around doing good and healing all those who were being oppressed by the Devil, for God was with him.
Judges 2:11-13 Then the children of Israel did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and served the Baals, and they forsook Yahweh the God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them; and they made Yahweh angry. They forsook Yahweh and served Baal and the Ashtaroths.
Acts 14:21-23 And when they had proclaimed the good news in that city, and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, and to Iconium, and to Antioch of Pisidia, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying that we cannot avoid going through many hardships on our way into the Kingdom of God.
John 16:33 I have told you these things so that, in union with me, you have peace. In the world you will have hardships, but have courage; I have overcome the world.”
Hebrews 1:36-38 And others experienced mockings and floggings, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were murdered with the sword, they went around in sheepskins, in goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, mistreated (of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains, and hiding in caves and the holes in the ground.
Job 1:20-22 Then Job arose and tore his cloak and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground and worshiped. He said, “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked I will return there. Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away. Blessed be the name of Yahweh.” In all this Job did not sin nor did he charge God with wrongdoing.
Job 2:7-10 (Satan is responsible of Job misfortune) So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh and struck Job with painful sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. But he said to her, “You are speaking like one of the godless women would speak. What? Should we accept good at the hand of God but not accept evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Luke 10:17-18 (Satan or the Adversary accusing humans in the court of heaven, he was cast down to aid his brothers being cast out or exorcist that explain why many was possessed) And the 72 returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” And he said to them, “I saw the Adversary falling like lightning from heaven.
Mark 5:9 (Legion was a large unit in the Roman army, typically numbering around 5,000 soldiers. By using this term, the Gospel implies a vast number of demons inhabiting the possessed man) And he asked him, “What is your name?” And he said to him, “My name is Legion, because we are many.”
Matthew 43-45 (A demon commonly as aid from more demons to afflict the same person) “Now when an unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places, seeking a resting place, and yet does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will go back to my house from which I left,’ and when it comes, it finds the house empty, having been swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings with itself seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter in and live there; and the last condition of that person becomes worse than the first. This is also how it will be with this evil generation.”
Luke 10:23-24 And turning to the disciples, he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see the things that you see, for I say to you, that many prophets and kings desired to see the things that you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things that you hear, and did not hear them.”
Ruth 1:20 (She became bitter because the death of her Husband and sons. but we should learn from the New Testament that there is a furious war going on between Good and Evil, and God does not cause harm to believers. The New Testament lesson is that it is wrong to blame God for evil and misfortune; those things come from the Devil) She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi. Call me Mara, for El Shaddai has dealt very bitterly with me.
Romans 8:28 Now we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him—for those who are the called ones in accordance with his purpose
Thank you for reading until the end

Self improvement often feels like an uphill battle. I work a 40 hour work week as a kitchen assistant. (A job I am not satisfied in.) I am 21 years old and did not attend college. (Not through choice.) I am dyslexic and have dyscalculia….I don’t feel like listing off the other stuff.
It is a wonder I even got any of my GCSEs in the first place.
When I mention my disliking of my current job my friends and family call me “ungrateful “. Perhaps I am too westernised and ungrateful for the provisions God (AKA the universe or faith if you don’t view God as real.) has blessed me with.
Part of the reason I dislike my job is because I don’t cope well with stress. (If you have ever worked in a kitchen you already know what I am referring to. 😂🫠)
I still live with my family which I am grateful for. But, it worries me that I can’t afford a place of my own despite putting in the hours at work. (I live in a place called Glasgow in Scotland. Housing is expensive.) I dont want to rent or set up a mortgage outside of Glasgow as I don’t want to live away from my friends and family.
I just want to make my mum and dad proud of me. My other sibling had already accomplished so much more than me when she was my age. She went to college and University and has a job she is happy in.
I would be telling a big fat lie if I said I wasn’t jealous of her. (Don’t get me wrong. I love her to death.) But, I am deeply jealous but try to make sure not to project it out to her.
Not her fault she is more of an accomplished adult than me. 🫠😂
Here is a list of things I would like my future accountability partner to hold me accountable for.
1) Mediation habit.
2) Journaling daily.
3) Wasting money on clothes I don’t need. (Yes, I am a basic bish.)
4) Getting 7 or 9 hours of sleep per day. (I say day and not night because I often work night shifts.) Ik I don’t sleep enough as I should.
I have been watching Hamza on YouTube. (His old videos not the new ones.) First time I started watching him was over 2 years ago. I know that Exercise Reading,Journaling,Meditation and learning will help me one day become a person my parents are proud of.
Ik his videos are mainly for men but watching Hamzas old videos has helped me become a better human to an extent but I have issues committing to the golden habits.
What I will offer in exchange for an accountability partner is a vice versa situation.
I will also hold you accountable for any habits you want to be held accountable for. I can commit to checking in at least weekly.
Lets improve together.
Thankyou for taking the time to read. I wish you luck on your journey to becoming a better human.
Have a good Sunday.

it's been 2 months. at first i was just relieved to have an explanation, and it wasn't that you just randomly decided you didn't like me. i just wasn't expecting the reason to be because you liked me TOO much. i didn't feel angry at first because i felt like i didn't have a right to. but i have since realized that i do. i was a great friend to you, and you were willing to cut me out of your life like i meant nothing to you. would you have given me closure if i didn't explicitly ask for it? i don't think you would've. i think you would have just pushed me further and further away until i became a stranger. and i have a right to be angry about that. i've spent the past three years being your shoulder to cry on; and you couldn't even give me the courtesy of a proper goodbye. do you remember when you witnessed a murder, and you called me to tell me that you love me because you took it as a reminder that life is so short? all the times you told me you were grateful for my friendship? i listened to you when no one else would. i was there for you when you were alone at your grandma's house in texas and contemplating suicide. i'm not saying you owe me back everything i gave to you, but the least you could've do was fucking say goodbye.

I was playing GTAV online and while playing on a team, I was invited to speak “in a party” to other players to collaborate/coordinate on missions.
After doing the fourth mission together, one of the players thought I killed him and took this as a personal attack and while killing me over 100 times (which is a lot in GTA) he was using very dull insults like b***** or fa**** and your mom is a **** and you should **** yourself etc. he thinks he’s getting back at me because people who play the game sometimes care too much about “kill death ratio“ but I don’t really care so I’m just having fun trying to kill him back.
And because I’ve been playing online for a while, and I’ve heard every insult I could possibly hear and understand that insults are based on my personal reflections/relation to the insult, all insults said to me are a form of entertainment always.
Now I’m getting the idea that people ONLY ask questions about insults that are said when they are offended because other players in the party started telling me “to chill” and “not take it so seriously” and “ if I want to keep playing GTA, I’m going to have to learn to deal with it” etc (I didn’t even know what I would have to learn to deal with) and made it a big deal when I was asking “the abuser” where his inspiration came from to come up with each of his insults.
They told me that’s not a normal response and I shouldn’t be so worried about his thoughts, but I told him that I’m not worried and that I’m just curious about him as a unique individual.
I told them that “I understand that most people might only show interest in someone’s words when their feelings get involved, but I’m just intellectually addicted to trying to figure out different patterns and because your friend’s insults are as baseless as calling me a pillow, and so I’m curious where his inspiration came from.”
And so I demonstrated:
“Hey man, let me just say this real quick: ‘you’re a pillow’.”
“Ok”….
“Are you offended?”
“No?”….
“Exactly, no, you may not be curious why I called you a pillow, but I would be and I waste zero energy trying to figure that out.
If you don’t want me asking your friend a shit load of questions, tell him not to say dull baseless things to insult me, because when I’m kicking back, I’m letting my brain relax, and it’s easy to see contradictions when I’m chilling.”
“Ok. That makes sense”
I think it’s really weird how reactive they were for many minutes because they thought I was being reactive when I was just responding just as quickly as the other guy was saying insults out of pure wonder and fun.
They told me that I have “too much” wonder.

Before I say my story, this is a throw away account and I will be getting help after this post.
(15f) here, porn addiction. I know you might be reading this and think, "oh it's normal at a young age to be yk watching porn and masturbation and what not" My case is different. In a twisted and horrible way.
let me start by saying, I'm a horrible human being for even any of what I'm going to say. I watch a lot of rape porn, and I'm not talking about CNC (consent non consensual). I'm talking about darkweb, real actual rape videos. I started watching porn at around 7 when my older brother introduced me to it. as a 7 year old I was really intrigued by the whole sex concept and bodies touching or whatever, You know like a very curious 7 year old. I wasn't a late bloomer but also not an early one, I started getting into puberty at 9 and had my period at about 10. When I was in 6th grade I had sex ED class that talked about how consent works and you could say no at any given moment if you felt like you didn't like it or even forced. They also talked about how you need to seek how adult help if anything happens to you. Every girl in my class looked disgusted by the idea of rape, but weirdly I was curious, maybe even turned on(?). At about 10 I started masturbation. Accidentally about a year ago I stumbled upon a website that was more on the rough gory side. I'm not talking about dead bodies and shit but very.... explicit. Girls being gaged, tied up and stuff like that. I was turned on and wanted more. eventually it led me to going on really sketchy websites. (before I continue let me just say I DO NOT condone rape at all!!!)
eventually that lead me to watching more videos, girls being raped by guys in the forest, girls begging for guys to stop even drunk/passed out girls being raped. but the worst part is that it's not just humans, but animals too, I puke after I do it when it comes to them because I would never hurt an animal ever. but for some twisted reason It turned me on so much. But the moment I thought about me being raped I was turned off. Idk if it's a kink or anything like that, but when I was about 13-14 I used to watch voyeur sex which was also a big hit. I know that I'm writing this down like it's nothing but I genuinely think I'm a horrible person and deserve to die for liking stuff like that. Every time I'm alone I think about how better the world would be better off without me and I just feel disgusted by myself. I know I could find a boyfriend or girlfriend that could do stuff with me to satisfy my sexual needs, I'm not bad looking. I'm 5'4, brunette and purple blue eyes. It would be very easy for me to find someone but I just don't feel ready to lose my virginity yet with someone. I also have some questionable kinks for my age such as bondage, domination, etc... In all my kinks I am the one in control. I have an explanation for this, even though I don't think it will really help my case much. I've lived in a very abusive household where my dad was physically and emotionally abusive towards my brothers and I, including my mom. Which might explain a little why I like seeing men rape women but like being in control (sexually????) anyways. Point is I used to have a therapist, but I stopped seeing her after a while because she thought I had gotten better and didn't need to see her anymore.
I know I need help, because if I don't change, I might as well kill myself out of shame. anyways reddit. Do you guys have any advice on what I can do to better myself. because I am disgusted

Before I say my story, this is a throw away account and I will be getting help after this post.
(15f) here, porn addiction. I know you might be reading this and think, "oh it's normal at a young age to be yk watching porn and masturbation and what not" My case is different. In a twisted and horrible way.
let me start by saying, I'm a horrible human being for even any of what I'm going to say. I watch a lot of rape porn, and I'm not talking about CNC (consent non consensual). I'm talking about darkweb, real actual rape videos. I started watching porn at around 7 when my older brother introduced me to it. as a 7 year old I was really intrigued by the whole sex concept and bodies touching or whatever, You know like a very curious 7 year old. I wasn't a late bloomer but also not an early one, I started getting into puberty at 9 and had my period at about 10. When I was in 6th grade I had sex ED class that talked about how consent works and you could say no at any given moment if you felt like you didn't like it or even forced. They also talked about how you need to seek how adult help if anything happens to you. Every girl in my class looked disgusted by the idea of rape, but weirdly I was curious, maybe even turned on(?). At about 10 I started masturbation. Accidentally about a year ago I stumbled upon a website that was more on the rough gory side. I'm not talking about dead bodies and shit but very.... explicit. Girls being gaged, tied up and stuff like that. I was turned on and wanted more. eventually it led me to going on really sketchy websites. (before I continue let me just say I DO NOT condone rape at all!!!)
eventually that lead me to watching more videos, girls being raped by guys in the forest, girls begging for guys to stop even drunk/passed out girls being raped. but the worst part is that it's not just humans, but animals too, I puke after I do it when it comes to them because I would never hurt an animal ever. but for some twisted reason It turned me on so much. But the moment I thought about me being raped I was turned off. Idk if it's a kink or anything like that, but when I was about 13-14 I used to watch voyeur sex which was also a big hit. I know that I'm writing this down like it's nothing but I genuinely think I'm a horrible person and deserve to die for liking stuff like that. Every time I'm alone I think about how better the world would be better off without me and I just feel disgusted by myself. I know I could find a boyfriend or girlfriend that could do stuff with me to satisfy my sexual needs, I'm not bad looking. I'm 5'4, brunette and purple blue eyes. It would be very easy for me to find someone but I just don't feel ready to lose my virginity yet with someone. I also have some questionable kinks for my age such as bondage, domination, etc... In all my kinks I am the one in control. I have an explanation for this, even though I don't think it will really help my case much. I've lived in a very abusive household where my dad was physically and emotionally abusive towards my brothers and I, including my mom. Which might explain a little why I like seeing men rape women but like being in control (sexually????) anyways. Point is I used to have a therapist, but I stopped seeing her after a while because she thought I had gotten better and didn't need to see her anymore.
I know I need help, because if I don't change, I might as well kill myself out of shame. anyways reddit. Do you guys have any advice on what I can do to better myself. because I am disgusted

Hello all, I’m a 20yo male who really wants to get out and make connections, but the whole thing is perplexing me.
I was a social kid, but around middle school I got in my head too much, and didn’t have enough sense of self to really maintain friendships. Even today I don’t really feel I can be myself, I don’t know my own voice and everything I say feels like I’m just copying something I heard somewhere before. A few people have made NPC jokes which I try not to dwell on but it still hurts
But anyways, the idea of approaching someone in public just breaks my mind. I feel like I need a really good reason if I’m gonna talk to someone. I am the “quiet and mysterious” guy in public. Small talk is just not what I look like. If I approached someone, I can already see the confusion they’d have
I can’t even figure out my own aura. I don’t want to be quiet and mysterious, but I don’t have the confidence to be assertive and talkative. Every time I make eye contact I break pretty quickly because like, what the actual fuck are you supposed to do just staring at a stranger
I see a lot of people saying, talk to whoever interests you, start with a compliment or joke, but like, then what? You just talk and you don’t know how it will go or for how long? I feel like that will be awkward for them, they can see what’s going on
I haven’t even mentioned one of the worst parts, which is the idea of OTHER PEOPLE overhearing my awkward ass conversations. Fuck that, in public there’s literally all these factors stressing me out and I gotta pretend to be good and talk about Batman or some shit?
And to top it all off, I think maintaining relationships gives me anxiety. A feeling like I have to be “on” all the time or ready if they need me
Looking over this post I see a lot of stress and failure to get over past negative experiences, so somehow I’ll have to fix that. If anybody made it through this post, thank you and I would appreciate any words or advice you may have.