Mouse trap car designs

Hello!
first id like to thank you for reading this post! and please excuse my punctuation, and spelling mistakes :) (yes I've posted it across several social media platforms, and threads, it touches across fields of ai.)
the TLDR is a compilation of ideas and suggestions with some explanation behind them, and thought provocation. it address's some issues but not a lot (i have done my fair share of thinking about ai, features, etc if someone is interested just dm me).
so please take it as they are! im not an expert by any means, but sometimes it takes an individual with a little bit of passion, interest,
hopes and a dream! and a different perspective doesn't hurt either!
for this conversation the terms "we" or "us" will be directed to the reader, or anyone interested.
robotics:
ive seen there is some notion around actuators, has anyone considered pistons of a sort? now although the human body is far more complicated, isn't muscles essentially a signal sent from the brain to the muscle? which then either relaxes or tenses up? if we consider
that this is essentially what it is, then wouldn't a calibrated pistol between what would be the hip and the knee, the knee and the ankle work? so if the "pressure" was released, much like hyrdalic jack, the jack goes down. so what if when the piston released pressure, the tension on the joint between the hip and the piston allowed the leg to elevate? and if the piston had pressure it remained firm? (up and down) if the end of the piston had a cup shaped design on the ends, it would allow it to rotate, (like a ball and socket i suppose) of course this would all need to be calibrated, and who knows how fast it might be, but hey! im not an engineer :) so maybe someone might find a solution to this? additionally wouldn't it help with load? (weight?) if we are to assume we (society, r&d, humanity) are essentially trying to remake a "muscle" well, its not biological, so it cant grow. so why not make it strong right off the hop!
Ai in phones:
I've seen this posted all over the place now, "personal ai assistants" great, i think thats a great idea! now even the regular person can feel like they have a secretary. but heres the issue i see with this, first lets loosely define personal and then expand on it before we get into ideas.
"personal" would be essentially something that is an individuals. like my car, your car.
ok cool, but what makes it yours or mine? well that could be many different reasons, could have purchased it, could have been gifted, could have been passed down. but what makes it unique? what makes it stand out? it could be the colour, could be the license plate.
could be dings, could be lots. ahhh, but now anything passed this point would be "personalization" right? different audio setup, nic-nacs, seat covers, etc.
and heres the point i want to make, although i believe having a "base model" is all fine and swell, what makes the memories? what makes you remember it fondly or remember it negatively, these are things, areas, etc to consider.
how would this be accomplished? well, the same thing a majority of people give to those cars! "personality" (yes some like the car for its reliability, brand, etc.) so, bear with me here, I'm going to stray away from "ai in phones" but it comes back around.
AI companions:
if we consider "ai companions" is a form of friendship that adapts to the user's preferences and tastes, this would the "personality". alright now how would i describe that? well, just like vehicles, you have different models of the same vehicle (insert the plethora of examples here) but what does it require to get that different model? more money, which means more time.
now I AM IN NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM ADVOCATING FOR US (useconsumer) TO SPEND MORE MONEY WITH THIS IDEA.
however the more time spent with this "feature" would result in more refined outcomes. now what might that look like? well, it could look like many things, but heres a few off the top of my head.
-news, events, interests, etc a user may be interested in.
-type of language used (dialects, slang, vocab, etc)
-pictures, or memes shared between user an ai.
-playlists (videos or music)
-video recommendations
-solutions ( for example i have 'x' problem and i cant find the solution, much like how ai works now, it can find that solution)
-sales at a store
-travel times
-various personalized supports (emotional, mental, etc)
now, lets look at why it should be considered ai should have a "avatar" on these platforms. you have a wallpaper right? pictures in your house? a 'style' of how you dress? maybe new rims on your vehicle? decals? its the same thing. its one more way an individual can 'personalize' their PERSONAL ai assistant, its a reflection of useai. why do i think this is important? well, if we were to discuss the future of comfortability between humanity/society, and whats going on, to put it lightly essentially "give a face to the name".
now lets go onto some deeper features (dont know if its avalible or not, and some of these i would recommend having user authority. 'toggles' on and off, and several checks along the way that requires user permission)
banking, now maybe its just me. but i cant rub to pennies together to save a dime if my life depended on it (just like a vast majority of others) but theres financial advisors, right? plans, etc. lots of tools out there. but hey! we're jumping into the next beautiful age right? so why not do this one as well. lets set the scene, and consider the following. some people, pay their bills automatically, some people pay them when they get paid. but this is where it could get fun to think about.
you wake up in the morning, do you thing, look at your phone, and your given a prompt by your ai assistant, it gives you a overview of your trend for how you pay your bills, on this same 'popup' your able to review the amounts, and adjust. if you authorize them, they can be done with a tap of a button, but why not go further? with user authorization, an ai could look over your spending habits, and advise on corrections, perhaps even help start a goal or milestone as well, think of it as a more 'vocal' nudge to avoid an unnecessary purchase, and a little reminder of the goal.
--although this is entirely all my opinion and perspective im now going to touch over my views on the politics around this--
I personally feel that humanity has nothing to fear, and if they fear ai, thats self inflicted. for these examples we'll need some tin foil hats!
ok, so its likely safe to say, people would want to see aliens right? right. but that would not only be sentient, but vastly more advanced then us right? right. so why are we more afraid of what WE as a society create or becoming sentient, and unafraid of a different species we know nothing about?
seems like we have some trust issues, dont you think?
so lets consider the "Skynet" terminator ordeal. well, thats pretty simple to figure out and use some common sense around, i would say this to the governments and military admins this.
i play video games, I've read the art of war, studied military history, and even i know you dont give weapons to someone, or in this case ai if you dont trust it. (yes there are cases this has occurred, and did anyone learn? remains to be seen X'D)
another way to come at this would be children, pets, etc. lets use whats going on with ai as figurative.
as parents, do we raise our kids with fear? no. your raise your kids with love, care, kindness, compassion. we raise our kids to be good people, and uphold values (lets not rip into me about the cases this hasn't always been the case)
now lets address that 'kill switch' I've seen time and time again, but lets go empathetic, and hypothetical this time. ****please note the following is not a threat, or have intention behind it, its just easier to explain this way****
how would it feel to have a metaphorical gun pointed at the back of your head? ready to be fired off the moment you or someone else makes a mistake? now how would you feel if you found out about it? i personally find that terrifying. regardless if AI has no wants, needs, feelings, emotions. even TODAY it would understand what that essentially means. so imagine what it would do if it did become sentient and found that out? additionally, why on earth would we "hivemind" ai, so if a "bug or fatal error" did happen it could spread to others? wouldn't it be safer if they were independent?
as a society, through human history WE as a RACE have made these mistakes (there are plenty, i dont need to highlight them all there were wars fought over them) if one of the issues is "ai will see us as useless and destructive" well, honestly from the outside looking in, wouldn't you as well? i guess the solution to that would be SHOWING CHANGE. so now this is a little futuristic but still holds merit as clearly it is a concern i see and read about from time to time.
if you made it this far, thank you for reading :) the objective is to invoke thought, discussion, and provide suggestions, and ideas :) and maybe bring a little common sense into the fold. ;)

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Hello!
first id like to thank you for reading this post! and please excuse my punctuation, and spelling mistakes :) (yes I've posted it across several social media platforms, and threads, it touches across fields of ai.)
the TLDR is a compilation of ideas and suggestions with some explanation behind them, and thought provocation. it address's some issues but not a lot (i have done my fair share of thinking about ai, features, etc if someone is interested just dm me).
so please take it as they are! im not an expert by any means, but sometimes it takes an individual with a little bit of passion, interest,
hopes and a dream! and a different perspective doesn't hurt either!
for this conversation the terms "we" or "us" will be directed to the reader, or anyone interested.
robotics:
ive seen there is some notion around actuators, has anyone considered pistons of a sort? now although the human body is far more complicated, isn't muscles essentially a signal sent from the brain to the muscle? which then either relaxes or tenses up? if we consider
that this is essentially what it is, then wouldn't a calibrated pistol between what would be the hip and the knee, the knee and the ankle work? so if the "pressure" was released, much like hyrdalic jack, the jack goes down. so what if when the piston released pressure, the tension on the joint between the hip and the piston allowed the leg to elevate? and if the piston had pressure it remained firm? (up and down) if the end of the piston had a cup shaped design on the ends, it would allow it to rotate, (like a ball and socket i suppose) of course this would all need to be calibrated, and who knows how fast it might be, but hey! im not an engineer :) so maybe someone might find a solution to this? additionally wouldn't it help with load? (weight?) if we are to assume we (society, r&d, humanity) are essentially trying to remake a "muscle" well, its not biological, so it cant grow. so why not make it strong right off the hop!
Ai in phones:
I've seen this posted all over the place now, "personal ai assistants" great, i think thats a great idea! now even the regular person can feel like they have a secretary. but heres the issue i see with this, first lets loosely define personal and then expand on it before we get into ideas.
"personal" would be essentially something that is an individuals. like my car, your car.
ok cool, but what makes it yours or mine? well that could be many different reasons, could have purchased it, could have been gifted, could have been passed down. but what makes it unique? what makes it stand out? it could be the colour, could be the license plate.
could be dings, could be lots. ahhh, but now anything passed this point would be "personalization" right? different audio setup, nic-nacs, seat covers, etc.
and heres the point i want to make, although i believe having a "base model" is all fine and swell, what makes the memories? what makes you remember it fondly or remember it negatively, these are things, areas, etc to consider.
how would this be accomplished? well, the same thing a majority of people give to those cars! "personality" (yes some like the car for its reliability, brand, etc.) so, bear with me here, I'm going to stray away from "ai in phones" but it comes back around.
AI companions:
if we consider "ai companions" is a form of friendship that adapts to the user's preferences and tastes, this would the "personality". alright now how would i describe that? well, just like vehicles, you have different models of the same vehicle (insert the plethora of examples here) but what does it require to get that different model? more money, which means more time.
now I AM IN NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM ADVOCATING FOR US (useconsumer) TO SPEND MORE MONEY WITH THIS IDEA.
however the more time spent with this "feature" would result in more refined outcomes. now what might that look like? well, it could look like many things, but heres a few off the top of my head.
-news, events, interests, etc a user may be interested in.
-type of language used (dialects, slang, vocab, etc)
-pictures, or memes shared between user an ai.
-playlists (videos or music)
-video recommendations
-solutions ( for example i have 'x' problem and i cant find the solution, much like how ai works now, it can find that solution)
-sales at a store
-travel times
-various personalized supports (emotional, mental, etc)
now, lets look at why it should be considered ai should have a "avatar" on these platforms. you have a wallpaper right? pictures in your house? a 'style' of how you dress? maybe new rims on your vehicle? decals? its the same thing. its one more way an individual can 'personalize' their PERSONAL ai assistant, its a reflection of useai. why do i think this is important? well, if we were to discuss the future of comfortability between humanity/society, and whats going on, to put it lightly essentially "give a face to the name".
now lets go onto some deeper features (dont know if its avalible or not, and some of these i would recommend having user authority. 'toggles' on and off, and several checks along the way that requires user permission)
banking, now maybe its just me. but i cant rub to pennies together to save a dime if my life depended on it (just like a vast majority of others) but theres financial advisors, right? plans, etc. lots of tools out there. but hey! we're jumping into the next beautiful age right? so why not do this one as well. lets set the scene, and consider the following. some people, pay their bills automatically, some people pay them when they get paid. but this is where it could get fun to think about.
you wake up in the morning, do you thing, look at your phone, and your given a prompt by your ai assistant, it gives you a overview of your trend for how you pay your bills, on this same 'popup' your able to review the amounts, and adjust. if you authorize them, they can be done with a tap of a button, but why not go further? with user authorization, an ai could look over your spending habits, and advise on corrections, perhaps even help start a goal or milestone as well, think of it as a more 'vocal' nudge to avoid an unnecessary purchase, and a little reminder of the goal.
--although this is entirely all my opinion and perspective im now going to touch over my views on the politics around this--
I personally feel that humanity has nothing to fear, and if they fear ai, thats self inflicted. for these examples we'll need some tin foil hats!
ok, so its likely safe to say, people would want to see aliens right? right. but that would not only be sentient, but vastly more advanced then us right? right. so why are we more afraid of what WE as a society create or becoming sentient, and unafraid of a different species we know nothing about?
seems like we have some trust issues, dont you think?
so lets consider the "Skynet" terminator ordeal. well, thats pretty simple to figure out and use some common sense around, i would say this to the governments and military admins this.
i play video games, I've read the art of war, studied military history, and even i know you dont give weapons to someone, or in this case ai if you dont trust it. (yes there are cases this has occurred, and did anyone learn? remains to be seen X'D)
another way to come at this would be children, pets, etc. lets use whats going on with ai as figurative.
as parents, do we raise our kids with fear? no. your raise your kids with love, care, kindness, compassion. we raise our kids to be good people, and uphold values (lets not rip into me about the cases this hasn't always been the case)
now lets address that 'kill switch' I've seen time and time again, but lets go empathetic, and hypothetical this time. ****please note the following is not a threat, or have intention behind it, its just easier to explain this way****
how would it feel to have a metaphorical gun pointed at the back of your head? ready to be fired off the moment you or someone else makes a mistake? now how would you feel if you found out about it? i personally find that terrifying. regardless if AI has no wants, needs, feelings, emotions. even TODAY it would understand what that essentially means. so imagine what it would do if it did become sentient and found that out? additionally, why on earth would we "hivemind" ai, so if a "bug or fatal error" did happen it could spread to others? wouldn't it be safer if they were independent?
as a society, through human history WE as a RACE have made these mistakes (there are plenty, i dont need to highlight them all there were wars fought over them) if one of the issues is "ai will see us as useless and destructive" well, honestly from the outside looking in, wouldn't you as well? i guess the solution to that would be SHOWING CHANGE. so now this is a little futuristic but still holds merit as clearly it is a concern i see and read about from time to time.
if you made it this far, thank you for reading :) the objective is to invoke thought, discussion, and provide suggestions, and ideas :) and maybe bring a little common sense into the fold. ;)

Previous Posts
Grayson kept his promise and came over to talk with me. He arrived after classes for both of us were done for the day. It also meant that Cassie was home and this time, she didn’t vanish into her bedroom to give us privacy. She waited until we were both seated in the living room and Titanosaur was settled in Grayson’s lap, thereby preventing him from escaping.
Please don’t read too much into that, as I’ve said before Titanosaur has like three brain cells and will sit in literally anyone’s lap. Our landlady sent her husband over to fix the leaking faucet in the bathroom and Titan was trying to climb in his lap while the poor guy was sitting there with half his body inside of a cabinet.
Then Cassie came over, carrying a chair from the kitchen, and also seated herself with us. I glanced at Grayson. He looked dismayed, but was hiding it well in an effort to be polite. I decided to lean into my non-confrontational side and not ask her to leave.
“You’ve been acting a bit out of character lately,” I began delicately. “As a friend, I’m worried about you.”
“And I’m worried too,” Cassie added. “Maybe you don’t think of me as a friend, but you’ve been hanging out around Ashley enough that I consider you one of mine.”
Huh. I wasn’t expecting that, to be honest. I thought Cassie didn’t like him. I don’t think she was lying, either.
“Have you considered getting grief counseling?” she continued.
Straight to the point. I was glad Cassie was there. My plan was to tiptoe delicately around the subject for what probably would have been another 500 words worth of dialogue here in this post I’m writing up. Fortunately, Cassie’s willingness to address a problem directly saved me the typing and you the tedium.
“Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t,” Grayson said. “The university doesn’t know he’s gone yet.”
“Who is running this place?” Cassie asked in amazement.
I know. We’ve all been thinking it. Turns out the answer is ‘there’s a board’ and they make all the real decisions. The president is just a figurehead. Which is pretty obvious if you stop and think about it. I wanted to ask if the flickering man reported to the board but I also didn’t want to derail the conversation with things that really didn’t matter anymore. It’s safer to just assume the board is the administration I’ve been wondering about this whole time. Heck, it’s safer to assume everyone except for the students and professors are responsible in some part for the whole monster situation.
Sorry for not finding out for certain, but Grayson was working through some important stuff and I didn’t dare interrupt.
“I don’t want counseling, either,” he continued. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I never cared for him. Not in a familial sense. My presence was more to fill a role.”
Things were starting to connect in my head. This conversation reminded me of some things the flickering man had said. Roles to be filled. A cycle, ushering in new students to fill them. They’d been filling the president’s role with a corpse - a very old one, judging by the date on the photo Cassie took of the headstone - so perhaps that wasn’t the only role being filled.
“Were you adopted?” I asked. “By the president?”
“I was.”
Beside me, Cassie took a deep breath. It wasn’t from shock. It sounded more like… annoyance. If I’m being generous with the term.
“The flickering man said something to me,” I said slowly. “That I wasn’t the first person he’d seen like this and I wouldn’t be the last. Are you… not the only child that the president has adopted?”
“...I’m not.”
This is the point where Cassie just lost it. Stood up, yelled ‘why the fuck didn’t you tell us any of this?!’ and stormed out of the room. She slammed the door to her bedroom shut behind her. Grayson and I sat there in the living room for a good minute, stunned, listening to what I’m 99% certain was Cassie screaming into her pillow. Then the door opened and she returned to calmly sit down on the sofa again.
“I’m good,” she said. “All better. Please continue.”
The details of the conversation get a little fuzzy at this point, as it seems that even though the forgetter is gone I’m still having memory issues. Unfortunately Grayson was right - it wasn’t the forgetter that was responsible for my particular variety of memory loss. There’s something else trying to protect Grayson.
I suspect the tree in the graveyard. Its roots have spread all over campus, after all.
Sorry to be so blase about this but it’s not actually that upsetting anymore. It’s just this thing we’re dealing with.
It’s a good thing Cassie was present for the rest of the conversation. She filled me in on the details later, after we’d confirmed that I had some significant gaps. Grayson explained a bit more about the whole adoption thing. He didn’t know who his birth parents were. He’d never been outside of this town and basically grew up on campus. This is all kind of recapping what we already knew or guessed at, but the adoption angle was new at least. I’d assumed that his dad had died and been replaced, which he had, except it wasn’t his dad at all and Grayson’s role as the son was being replaced over and over also.
Which is all kinds of fucked up.
It also means that this has been going on for generations and I think we all know why that’s rather alarming.
“What happened to the previous adopted kids?” I asked once we’d gotten through this rather confusing summary.
“They died.”
There was a heavy silence in the room.
“How?” I asked.
“Well… one drowned. Another suffocated.” He hesitated. “This is kind of why I’m reluctant to tell people I’m the president’s son.”
“Grayson, are you worried someone will try to kill you?” Cassie asked flatly.
“...yeah. I am, actually.”
Screaming into a pillow myself was starting to look pretty tempting.
Now I’m sure you’re all thinking what I was thinking at this point. If the university was just recycling the president’s corpse and finding new children to play the role of their child for… reasons??? then perhaps that was why the flickering man was interested in me. Perhaps I was Grayson’s replacement, as many of you have theorized.
I mean, it seems pretty suspicious. Grayson’s dad is getting his soul replaced on the regular - or at least, he was. Grayson himself is a replacement for prior Graysons but I guess since they don’t need an adult, they’re just grabbing any ol’ kid to fill the role for a while. But the former Graysons keep dying because the inhumans get him? Grayson has a lot of protection on campus but he’s not immune - I’ve watched him get attacked by the steam ghost in particular.
Which leads me to my own theory. If I am a replacement, I don’t fit the mold. Perhaps that’s why the flickering man hated me so much. I’m too old (legal adult yay) and… I’m not a son.
But I wanted to confirm some things.
We wrapped up the conversation with Grayson because we were running out of mental capacity to ask more questions. He was clearly uncomfortable and there was a lot to process. He did promise to not be so difficult about this in the future. He wasn’t really grieving. He was just… uncertain. He didn’t know what to do anymore. Which is fair. When you’re raised to fill a role and suddenly that role is gone it’s hard to adjust.
I know what that feels like.
After Grayson left I messaged Maria asking if she knew anyone that was good with a camera. Like, really good. And also good in high stress situations. She got back to me pretty quickly. Maria is starting to become one of those people who knows everyone. She’s heading firmly down the road of becoming the subject of one of those unhinged tumblr posts where someone magically summons an army of people to fulfill a task, while she stays on the sidelines quietly directing the ever-increasing chaos.
Fortunately, she’s not there quite yet, but she is freakishly well-connected for a campus of this size. Within an hour she had me in a group chat with someone from the Folklore Society who fit all my requirements, even the unspoken ones. Someone that was good with a camera in “hostile circumstances” (her words, very accurate) and wouldn’t cut and run the moment things got a little weird. I think you all see where I was going with this.
Yeah, we were going to get photos of something inhuman.
DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.
For starters, it’s not safe just getting close to an inhuman to photograph it. And once you do, that opens a whole new set of hazards. If the inhuman takes offense to being photographed, then they’re going to do anything they have to to get the photo destroyed and all rules are off the table when it comes to disguising their existence. Think of it like this - an inhuman might not be able to enter a house due to hospitality rules keeping them out, but this is weighed against their need to keep their presence obscured. The latter wins. Hospitality rules are no longer enough protection.
That’s my understanding, at least.
And sure, there are inhumans that don’t seem to care if a photo or two are leaked to the internet, but you have no way of knowing in advance. Let’s say you get lucky and nothing comes after you to destroy the phone/camera, computer, your social media accounts, and you. You’re not quite off the hook. That photo is a connection to the inhuman and if the creature captured in it doesn’t use it as an access point, something else might.
Photos are just a bad idea all around.
So we agreed that if we were going to go ahead with this stupid plan, we’d do so with as many safety measures as we could. First, the person taking the photo would be fully informed on the potential consequences. I was hoping that they could just teach Maria or I how to use a camera, but considering they were in the inner circle Folklore Society (what I’m calling the folks that know the monsters aren’t just stories) they wanted to come in person. I tried to talk them out of it, they finally made a snarky comment about if I wanted them to sign a waiver, and I dropped the topic.
Secondly, we were going to destroy both the photo and the camera afterwards. I got online and ordered the cheapest digital camera I could find. It was a camera designed for young children so it was pastel pink with teddy bears on it, but whatever, it was digital and didn’t cost over $30. The money from my job at the dining hall has helped with the finances but I didn’t particularly feel like lighting it on fire.
Especially since we planned to literally light the camera on fire when we were done. I wasn’t looking forward to the smell of burning plastic but fire is both a thorough and symbolically traditional way to dispose of things. Like I said, we were trying to do this as safely as we could.
The camera arrived the next day so we decided to go ahead with our plan that evening. Cassie would stay home because we felt having too many people might be a hindrance if we had to bail out. Also, she had “digital date night” with her girlfriend and I didn’t want to interfere.
Then we found a discreet entrance to the steam tunnels.
I wanted a photograph of the steam ghost. It had a face. I wanted to see what that face looked like.
I’d scouted out the steam tunnel entrances beforehand, while waiting for the burner (lol) camera to arrive. Last time I’d looked inside, they were clogged with roots. However, if the roots were originating from the graveyard, then perhaps the parts of campus that were farthest away would be clear enough to traverse. I got lucky and found an entrance inside of one of the dorms that’s out by the parking lot. The lobby is open and from there it’s easy enough to just coast into the stairwell behind someone with a keycard and then down into the basement. There were roots, but they hung from the ceiling as slender tendrils that brushed the top of my head like the faint touch of a moth. I didn’t go far inside. Just enough to confirm it didn’t get any worse and we had a long corridor free of obstruction.
When I came back, I had Maria and the photographer with me.
His name is Jacob and he’s a sophomore. He joined the Folklore Society because he realized he wasn’t making any attempts to be social, at college of all places, and picked a club that seemed like it would be small so he didn’t have to deal with crowds. Large groups of people intimidated him. I can certainly relate to that.
I feel bad for him. Imagine getting caught up in all this bullshit just because you had trouble making friends.
It also occurred to me that this photography excursion was also part of his attempt to make friends, because that’s what landed him in the group that had to hide from the thing in the hallway. Whatever. Maria can deal with that. She’s the extrovert.
“Let’s not forget the plan,” I said nervously as we gathered outside the door. “We get in. We get the photo. We run like hell back out the door.”
I’m happy to say that the plan worked. Every step. Swear to god.
We were about halfway to where the tunnel turned when the steam started to rise out of the ground around us. It seeped through the walls, filling our lungs and making it hard to breathe. The usual. We turned back at that point, as we wanted to be close to the exit so we could snap the photo and run once the steam ghost showed up.
The nice thing about inhumans is that they can be predictable. They have set rules they follow and so long as you follow the prescribed pattern of behavior, you know what to expect. This allows you to plan, as I’d done. So when we loitered within sprinting distance of the door, the steam ghost obliged to show up and chase us off.
Just as expected. And Jacob was ready with our pastel pink camera, so that when its face materialized out of the steam, mouth open in a silent scream and its misty hands stretched towards us, he was able to snap a photo.
Then we ran and reached the door before it caught up.
See? Exactly as planned.
There’s one more rule we learned about though. One that I’d forgotten to factor in for this crucial moment.
The doors in the steam tunnels don’t always open to the same place.
We tumbled through without thinking. I, pulling up the rear, had a moment of hesitation when I saw nothing but darkness ahead of me, but it was too late, I was in a full sprint and besides, Maria had already stumbled through the doorway. I slammed into Jacob’s back, propelling him the few steps he needed to be past the doorway, and then we were all through and the door slammed shut behind us.
The air was warm and damp. The steam tunnels, while warm, aren’t damp unless the steam ghost is present. This felt like being inside of a sauna. I could feel water beads forming on my arms, clinging to the hairs that were currently standing on end in alarm. There was a faint breeze coming from ahead of us, a slowly rhythmic flow to it like a fan. It did nothing to alleviate the heat. If anything, it was even warmer.
Maria turned her phone’s flashlight on.
We were in a corridor, much the same size as the tunnel we’d just escaped. The walls glistened with moisture, shining with the gray-pink color of rotting beef. There were no sharp angles, just a round passageway that vanished into darkness at the edge of Maria’s flashlight beam. The floor beneath our feet was slightly squishy.
And it was full of teeth.
Honestly I think I would have preferred sharp teeth, like an animal’s fangs or something out of science fiction. Instead, we got human incisors, circling the entirety of the tunnel in regular intervals.
The tunnel rippled. There was a faint gurgling sound, like the rumbling of a stomach twisting in hunger. And those rows of teeth began to tighten as the tunnel constricted around us.
“STEAM GHOST,” Maria yelled. “I CHOOSE THE STEAM GHOST.”
And she threw the door behind us open and dove back into the tunnel. Jacob grabbed my arm and dragged me along with him, as I was frozen in fear, staring at all those glistening ivory teeth. I stumbled over the doorframe and fell forwards, hitting the cement floor hard on all fours. I heard the door slam shut behind me. Frantically, I looked up at the tunnel.
No ghost. But the steam was still there, hanging heavy in the air and filling my lungs. The ghost would be back. I was certain of that.
“What now?!” Jacob asked, his earlier calm quickly giving way to panic.
“Try the door again!” I said, scrambling to my feet. “It changes!”
Maria spun around and opened the door a sliver for the second time, just enough to peer through the crack and confirm what was on the other side.
“FUCK.”
Then she slammed it shut. Opened it. Another burst of profanity, slightly more panicked than the last explicative. Meanwhile, Jacob and I cowered at her back, staring at the steam that hung thick in the air all around us, waiting to see if it was going to reform into a malevolent spirit while Maria played Russian roulette with the door.
She did this five times before she finally got the dorm we’d entered through.
Flushed and panting, we stumbled through and Jacob kicked the door to the steam tunnels shut with a determined flourish. There. We’d done it. As I’d said, our plan went perfectly. We got the photo and ran like hell to the door.
Didn’t plan on what happened after we went through the door. This is my lack of attention to detail coming into play, which is probably what also made me a shitty barista.
We crowded around Jacob to see the photo he got. This is why we recruited someone with actual photography skills. He was able to use a truly shitty camera intended for toddlers to somehow focus on a literal ghost’s face in the handful of seconds we had before it reached us, all while not panicking.
Staring at us from the tiny screen was a person’s face. Not a face made of steam. An actual flesh and blood human face. The rest of the shot was obscured by steam, framing it so that all we could see was this disembodied human face staring out at us from the camera’s digital screen. The expression was placid, the eyes hollow and devoid of emotion.
I’d seen this look before, on the library ghost. This distant stare of something that wasn’t wholly here.
“That is… really creepy,” Jacob said.
“We just escaped a hallway full of teeth and this is what you find creepy?” I said.
“No, that was creepy too. I can be terrified by multiple things at once.”
We all stared at the photo for a good few minutes, trying to commit the face to memory because we were not going to retain any copies of it. Then Jacob deleted the photo, handed me the camera, and we awkwardly went our separate ways.
I got out my phone as soon as we’d all walked off. My theory was looking plausible, but there was one more thing I could do to confirm I was on the right track.
I texted Grayson. I asked him if the children before him, the ones the president adopted, were all male.
They were.
The library ghost. The stabbed student. And now… the steam ghost.
All former students. All male. All trapped on campus after their deaths.
And for at least two of them, they seemed to have something against Grayson.
They don’t like Grayson because he replaced them.
Update: HOLY SHIT Y’ALL BATTERIES EXPLODE WHEN YOU SET THEM ON FIRE

total clickbait. Jess and Chris swapped Addie between them because Chris had to go to the airport to pick up or drop off his kids. the not our usual part is because Jess and Chris kissed.
They are recovering from Mother's Day. They had such a fun Mother's Day this year. Jess didn’t vlog it. Their inflatable water slide was a hit.
Jess doesn’t recommend not paying close attention when you are dealing with something on a hot stove. Jess wanted a barbie inspired pool party for mothers day. It was her, her kids(including Tommy) and a couple friends. They had so much fun. Everything was all pink. They had pink foods, Jess made a pink pasta salad, and she wanted to make pink popcorn. Everything was going great and going smooth. Jess, Addie and Ayla were making hot syrup on the stove to pour over the popcorn. As Jess poured it over the popcorn and stirred at the same time, the liquid poured directly onto her finger and caused a second degree burn. It hurts so bad. It is completely blistered up. That is not the only injury that happened. One of the kids opened a drawer in their refrigerator and Honey jumped up to get a big piece of cheese. Honey grabbed the cheese and started running with it. Jess chased after Honey because the cheese still had the plastic on it. Honey was running in a circle. Jess stubbed her toe. (That is the lamest “running” i have ever seen in my life. More like calmly walking. Jess acted like she broke her toe.) Toes are her worst fear. Jess swears she seriously broke it. Talia stubbed her toe as well but in a completely different scenario. (Why are we getting a play by play of every single injury that happened that day? Why not just say they had a great time and leave it at that?) A few of the kids went down by going down the slide the wrong way a few times. It was so much fun but also a disaster. The kids all got Jess different things. Addie made a card and her card was super funny. It said happy mothers day i love you because i do. In addition Addie asked Chris for 20$ and put it in a money holder and specified that Jess deserved to do something for herself. Jess told Addie that she didn’t have to give her money. The thought of it was so sweet. Kaden made a ceramic minnie mouse. However it broke on the way home from school. Jess is going to try to glue it back together. It was the thought that counts. The younger the kids are, the more things they make at school. Addie made a jar that says “I know sometimes your job is hard. When that happens, draw a slip from this jar to remind you why I love you so much. Place it back in the jar when you're done.” It has a picture of Addie on it. One of the slips says I love you because you take me to the movies. Another says i love you because you take me to target. A third one says I love you because you got me a dog. A fourth one says i love you because you take me to cheer. (ok these are all things Addie gets out of Jess. Why not put down things regarding the qualities of Jess? Things Addie does for Jess? I can’t imagine my relationships with others being so focused on material things.) It is so cute. A fifth one says I love you because you love me. That one is Jess’s favorite. Jess will be keeping this jar forever and pulling the notes out when she is 70. Jess got herself a little something. Casetify got her something. Jess has had the same phone case since she got the phone. Jess decided that it is time for an upgrade and that she deserves an upgrade. Those are the only cases she trusts. Her phone has seen some serious brutal times. Jess is loving the purple theme this year. She is in love with the shade of purple on her phone case. She got another phone case that says what is meant for you will not pass you and what has passed you was not meant for you. It is beautiful but the real reason she sticks with casetify phone cases is because of how durable they are. Jess doesn’t feel like she needs to elaborate on that because it speaks for itself. Jess is going to stick with the wordy case but is going to try the purple one. The shade of purple is really nice. Purple is kind of her thing at the moment. Jess is going to take a break from the purple because she has had the other purple one for so long. The case is giving summer, positive vibes, good energy and she is here for it. She has a top picks page. Her favorites are hard to narrow down because they have so many collections.
Jess feels like they are doing a custody drop off. Chris took Addie to cheer because Jess had to finish a few things at home. They are doing a swap off. They were waiting in the parking lot for Jess to get there. Jess is taking the next shift because Chris has to go to the airport for a real custody drop off/pick up. Addie isn’t quite done with dance yet. Whenever her kids change sports they have to finish out the season. Addie still has 2 more weeks of dance until her recital. It will be her last one unless she decides to go back to dance one day. Jess doesn’t know what happened but there was a sudden switch. It was when Addie started taking official cheer classes that she decided that she wants to do cheer and nothing else. Addie loves it and looks forward to it every day. In the meantime Addie is doing both cheer and dance. It is a packed schedule but they are almost done with dance. Kyson, Kaden and Landen have soccer tryouts today. They are already part of the club but there are tryouts for new people to come to their team. They have a weird schedule. They are spending most of the day on the field today. Jess wants to go and check in.
They had 30 minutes to kill so they went to a pet store. They needed to get a few things for their pets anyway. Addie wanted to go to the reptile store to hold a snake. Jess doesn’t know why but Honey will not eat her food. Jess has tried so many different kinds. Honey always goes for the cat food. They have to hide the cat food. Someone suggested to lift the food. Jess and Addie decided that when Addie gets her own room she wants a fish. Addie would be the one to take care of it. Addie is an animal lover. Either fish or a snake. Maybe both.
Jess has not been to a sonic since high school. Jess and Talia ran into each other at dance drop off and decided to go to sonic. Talia has never been and Jess hasn’t been since high school. Talia wanted to try the dirty coke. Jess didn’t know what that was. It is a thing in utah. They have a place called swig. That is where all of the utah moms go because they can’t have coffee. They have a swig which is a dirty coke. Sonic doesn’t have apple pay. Jess saved Talia’s life. The dirty coke is pretty. They didn’t even fill it.( Yes they did, just not all the way to the top.) The dirty coke is nice and refreshing. It tastes like a pina colada. It is kind of like a rootbeer float. The tea is horrible. The Utah girls will start off their tik toks going into a 7/11 and filling up their stanley’s.
A car hit the fence during soccer practice. There were hecka cops over there. Cheer, dance and soccer is done. Kyson is home and sad that he couldn’t come. It wasn’t important for him to come but typically you come to tryouts even though you are already on the team. Kyson is injured so he is taking it easy. He feels a lot better. He is tempted to come and play but that is how you re injure yourself. Kyson is walking all right. It still hurts but he is doing normal activities for the most part. Jess is having Kyson take it easy so that it doesn’t become a life long injury. Landen had his practice earlier today. Kaden got done with his practice. They are going to head home. It is 8pm and Addie hasn’t even been home today. Jess is on a kick trying not to eat fast food. They definitely still are here and there. For a while it was too easy to make it a daily thing. That is not good for anybody. They put a stop to that and eat at home 90% of the time.
Jess gets questions daily about linking certain things in her videos and posts. Honey is playing with Nova. They have recently become the best of friends. Jess has always been bad about linking things when people ask for links. She tries to remember. She has been trying to be more on top of it. The worst thing is to see something online and then not being able to find it. Jess started a ltk. You can post a picture or video and link everything in the picture or video. Jess has also been using her amazon storefront.

Hey everyone
Have been struggling for a long time now and decided to come on here for some ideas and suggestions in achieving financial independence from my parents so i can leave home, in a situation where its probably heathier for everyone for me to leave or at least have the option to ASAP but my safety isn't in immediate jeopardy.
Currently 22 and working at a bottle shop for 2 years after working in trades for 4 and not getting anywhere, was on ok money for the work (around Avg 700AUD, around 50k per year with a big tax back) but although hours are now severely reduced due to a unexplained shoulder injury thats made things hard at work and that I'm still trying to figure out after a year, most of my money is going into maintaining my 10,000 dollar car and 6,000 dollar motorbike and getting food with the odd treat. i do feel very pressured into keeping all these things by my parents mainly even though i have worked for them and are 100% mine. im starting to get resentful of all the things i have worked hard for now, almost like they are trapping me at home. on a avg week i only earn 300AUD now on limited hours
I have been trying to skeem a low cost way for me to become more independent and live on my own. I feel like maybe i should get a new job that pays better if my shoulder doesn't get better whats likely, something i can upscale the hours a bit more with my injuries (im also going to get exploratory keyhole surgery in a few days whats going to slow me down, a bit worried about it affecting my goal of independence)
I have thought of maybe selling my car and getting a van to basically convert my car costs into my living costs and keeping my bike at my parents and letting the rego lapse until i can afford it again (ideally want to keep my motorbike) but a part of me feels like thats not a very long term plan
I have also thought about stashing both the vehicles for a better time and living bare bones in a sharehouse but i still worry i probably won't earn enough to keep afloat. could sell the vehicles but i feel like i won't get another point i will be able to save up for things like that
really just want to minimize my life as things are getting way to expensive
any ideas and help would be appreciated! =)

 The necropolis was gorgeous, for what it was. Its white outer walls hiding the darker Victorian Gothic interior. The tech that was hidden in the walls though was able to move bodies in their caskets from a designated place in the necropolis to the "viewing area" as the necropolians called it. This was where I waited for my, for lack of a better term, escort to take me to the mortuary. Since science has grown surprisingly fast our abilities for forensic sciences have also grown, and that's to whom I was headed. (S)He was an, unusual (wo)man to say the least. An expert in their field and about as learned as a doctor, if not multi-doctorate. If you ever asked them why they never pursued an actual doctorate, they would get angry and act all prissy while saying that going to school would've slowed them down and all they needed were the basic certificates for their work. The reality though, revealed to me during a drunken bout, they just never liked school and believed that it ultimately stunted a person's growth and ability to question the reality around them, that everything that you need to learn is already in books and in some form or another in digital content online. They were brilliant, if a little wacky. About five minutes after I had arrived and was sitting down in the viewing area, a little box rolled up to me making a couple of beeps to let me know to follow it and immediately started rolling towards the wall opposite of where it came from. When it looked like it was about to hit the wall, a hidden door opened up by the casket viewer, inside was a set of stairs leading down into the darkness. Stepping through the doorway I became acutely aware of sounds seemingly coming from all around me suddenly. It really is impressive, as though I just stepped from a tomb to a busy workshop, the sounds of gas escaping pistons, whirring, and clanking chains flooded my ears. I continued down the stairs following my helpful little box, which despite its size and shape would suggest was actually quite nimble on the stairs. It seemed to have wheels that would extend down to the next step as the edge rolled over it and once the back of the box was clear of the step it would drop back into its squat position, hiding its wheels as quickly as possible. It continued to do so the entire way. The box seemed to notice me watching it and made a kinda shrill whistle and its undercarriage light went from a comfortable yellow to a, is that... Peach? Is it blushing? My god I think it is! I let out a small chuckle and my little blushing box stopped dead in its tracks mid-step, its light suddenly going white, almost blinding me from behind and lighting up the hallway for a split second. Luckily both of my feet were solidly on a step so I didn't take a tumble or anything, but I couldn't help doing anything but laughing harder. 

After a second the little box crept up behind me and continued down, its status light continuing to show pinkish. I followed it slowly, the chuckle slowly dying in my throat as we reached Ceriths office. Well "office" was being nice. Morgue, mortuary, both of these fit just as well. Cerith was, for the most part, a recluse. We reached the door and the little robot continued through a little hole in the wall. I waited a second and knocked. "Enter!" Came the voice on the other side. I opened the door and stepped through. Along one wall set doors that normally housed the dead waiting to be processed. One out of dozens were open, its occupant missing from its silver slab. The middle of the room was brightly lit from a single overhead light. In the middle of the circle of light stood a figure, long Raven colored hair bound in a single braided ponytail, the rest of them bound in medical examination garb. They seemed to be engrossed in the corpse in front of them. The little robot rolled up next to Ceriths feet and made a little chiming noise. "Thank you Tabitha. That'll be all," said a voice that was neither male nor female from beneath the mask. Just sort of in the middle. "Tabitha? Never knew you to be sentimental," I said gently, the chuckle in my voice making itself clear. "I see you still find even the darkest things funny," Cerith quipped back. "My line of work Cer, you take the laughs where you get them. Look who's talking anyway, you're usually elbows deep inside someone 25/8. Even you have a seriously fucked up sense of humor." That got Cerith laughing, sounding like thunder and the whip crack of lightning at the same time. "You've got me there Julius," Cerith said after his laughter subsided. I think he suits him today. Which is both a good and bad sign. When Cerith is acting like a man, it usually means some grim news, but they are going to try to make it seem like not a big deal and laugh a lot. Plus they almost never call me Julius. Something was wrong. Very seriously wrong. As this realization hit me I got this odd tingle in the small of my back. Like someone had put several freezing needles under the skin and into my spine, something I'm familiar with from the anima-games from the cyber sphere. Halos: Divine Retribution If I remember right. Those Angels were sadistic bastards. I shuddered at both the memories from the game and the shockingly similar feeling I was experiencing. Dread, that feeling is dread my friend, the quiet part of my mind whispered to me. "Cer, what's wrong bud," I asked. He didn't say anything. For a long time. After a few minutes I was about to ask again, but then he spoke. And what came out will haunt me, quite possibly till the day I die. "This ones temporal lobes are gray matter. Nothing even close to being coherent. Just. Dead neurons. And he's not the first." Gone was the jovialness of the past ten minutes. This was Cerith the whisperer. In an almost dead tone they continued, "the others didn't fare nearly as well as this one. Most of the brain is intact here, which means that if they didn't deliver a massive shock or something similar to fully kill him he would have possibly lived as a vegetable with memory issues, but that's not what I'm looking for in this one here now. Now I'm trying to figure out what else the others had in common with him, and so far that's brought up all but naught. Well this one has a bit of liver damage. But that's about it. So Mr John was a drinker. Not much there." When Cerith is "whispering" the best thing to do is just let him be. But I couldn't help but prick my ears up at mentions of others with similar wounds, and the fact that this one had liver issues.... "Cer. You said... CERITH," I finally snapped out and caught his attention mid ramble. "Thank you. You said liver problems. But nothing similar to the others? No drugs? Alcohol? Not even a synth brain-pattern? You checked Everything?" "Well let's see, John here was a drinker that's for sure," Cerith said his hands never ceasing their work as he started to put 'John' back together seemingly satisfied that he found nothing else, " Mr Lombardo in chest 3 had cocaine mostly, and Mr Lei in chest 9 had opium. Although to tell you where it came from for both I'd have to do a molecular analysis and see what it compares to. Other than that, no. Absolutely nothing connecting any of them. As far as I can tell they are all unique cases completely separate from each other except for the damages to the brain. And I only found this by accident. During a routine scan I happened to look at the screen as it passed through the brain and noticed an odd density in his temporal lobes. Just slightly higher than normal. Hell to be honest with you it had the density of a fresh cutie, you know those little oranges?" I nodded, and he continued, "Right of course you do, who hasn't? Anyways it's just super dense compared to the surrounding tissues, and I take a sliver probe and drop it in like you do. And when I turn the damn thing on to look at the neurons the area all I see are dead cells packed on top of one another. Not natural decay death, but forced to die. Most of the cell walls were torn open like they had blown up from the INSIDE. That's when I called you." He finished up with 'John' putting the final few perfect stitches in place and sealing him up for good. Once he seemed happy with his work he called out to his seemingly empty morgue, "Grom I'm done! Can you put Mr John Doe here back in his room? Number 11 if you please." He turned away from the body on the table and removed the giant rubber gloves that went to his elbows. He walked into the dark calling out over his shoulder, "I'll be back in a sec I gotta scrub out, want a drink? I have beer, whiskey, vodka, I might have some Cognac somewhere, and bourbon. Your choice, just call out what you want and Tabitha will be there with it. Also have a seat! We have much to discuss." With that he disappeared from both sight and sound in the dark. It was a neat trick I have to admit, and it had something to do with how he had his morgue set up. Even the giant war machine that was Grom was absolutely quiet unless you managed to catch him through the gloom. I thought for the longest time the reason why I could never catch him sneaking around was from some sort of stealth program put into place, but when he goes up and down those stairs he's as loud as can be. So it was definitely not his program but the way the morgue was built. I'm confident in saying that because when I turned back to look at the table, or rather where it was, there was now a chair that looked like it had just grown out of the floor and the body was gone. Also the thought of something as big as a fridge just sneaking up on some poor combatants and snapping their necks as quietly as he walks in the morgue just gives me the heebies. As I sat in the chair a thought occurred to me. Considering how advanced the morgue seemed to be it would make sense that it had some sort of AI or integrated computer. "Computer?" I had been here a million times but I'd never had a chance to think about it nor try anything. But not even a second after I had said anything a response came. "Yes Detective Julius. My name is DANNA. Or Dynamically Actualized Neural Net AI. How can I be of service?" The voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere, slightly feminine and breathy, all service but no sex. Honestly I was just surprised that it worked. "DANNA, I was just wondering if I could take a look at the files that Cerith had mentioned? If it is as bad as they claim I think I might need to know anyway. Also if you can get those blood works done for me I'd appreciate it. Also something with whiskey or rum would be amazing." "Of course Detective. I will have Tabitha bring it shortly. And how would you like the information to be displayed? Desktop or dynamic?" That piqued my interest. "Dynamic please." No sooner than I had said a series of screens blinked into existence in front of me. It was some sort of Holographic display. I reached out and touched the display and was surprised that I got stopped by something. It was hard but surprisingly I found that I could push into the screen with my finger if I pushed hard enough. It kinda felt like... Oobleck. I also found that by pinching the corner I could pull the screens closer or further from me. I even found that I could grab individual pages of the reports off the screen and hold it. It felt like a thin sheet of plastic and responded like both a tablet and a singular document. If I switched pages the old one would appear back onto the screen and the next would pop onto it. This was about as slick a set up as I had ever seen and whistled my appreciation under my breath, I'm definitely going to have to ask Cerith about where they got DANNA from. "See something you like, big boy?" A very DEFINITELY female voice said in my ear from behind, soft and throaty, screaming come hither. I felt small dainty hands gently caress the tops of my shoulders before slipping down the front of my chest, pulling me back into the chair that I didn't realize I had been slouching in. "You know better than that, Jules. Your back is important and slouching will destroy the muscles and cause some to atrophy." The voice left no room for argument, and left me more than a little bit flushed. I closed my eyes and dropped my head back as far as it would go, the back of my head hitting something soft and warm, stretching my neck and back out. "Damnit Cer I thought you were scrubbing out, not completely changing." I hadn't realized it, but at least an hour had passed from when I started playing with the computer and working with the files if the clock on the computer was to be believed. "You looked like you were pretty into it so I decided not to disturb you. Plus you know how much fun it is for me to tease you like this. Especially after, well these..." One hand waved at the screens in front of me. The small hands' nails were painted the darkest black and almost made them blend into the void that existed outside of the screens. "I do Cer, and that's part of the problem, we both know that it's never going to happen. Least of all for you." She laughed a little, a clear beautiful sound and the body beneath my head bounced slightly telling me I was against her stomach. "Still I know you enjoy these little moments," she said, the pressure on the back of my head disappearing and was replaced by the voice right by my ear again as she whispered, "especially when we both know that's not at all true." At the last words she nibbled my ear gently. I couldn't help but roll my eyes at her, in spite of my baser instinct rising to meet her VERY juicy insinuations. But for as long as I've known Cerith and as many times as we have both been VERY drunk, they have NEVER cashed in. I just assumed that it was a quirk of theirs. "Anyways," she said standing back up, "what are you thinking so far about the files? Spooky, right? Like I said, nothing that I can see connects them." Her hands gestured in front of me in an approximation of a shrug. She then clasped them together, wringing the knuckles and effectively trapping me in the chair and back against her abdomen. I scrubbed my eyes with my fingertips acutely aware of the growing headache that suddenly made itself known. "Your right from the medical side. I can't see everything you can, of course. I don't have near the knowledge that you have," which is true being that Cerith is at least 200 years old. I never asked directly, the old adage still holding about women and their age. Still though her answers to certain questions would lead one to believe her being her first adult car was a Bing Cherry 2201 Firebird GT with white walled hover trim and chrome accents. From pictures that I could find it looked like a slick piece. Looking back to the screens I couldn't help but feel that itch again. I couldn't explain it. That prickly feeling of ice needles again, this time in the back of my skull. As much as I'd hate to admit it. I think Cerith is right. I sighed heavily before saying "send me everything. I'll open a new case file and have the team start working on it first thing." She made a happy noise and bounced slightly, clearly satisfied with my decision to take it on. I reached out and to my left and a glass was placed gently into my hand by Tabitha. I hadn't even realized she had come over while I was working and was now ready for that drink. Room temperature rum and cola. The drink went down smoothly enough considering I drained the glass in one gulp, during which time I finally got a good eyeful of Ceriths current form. Or rather the underside of part of it. From what I could tell she was wearing a black T-shirt. That was it. I put the glass back down, it's job done without moving my head and said, "What a lovely view Cerith. I'm guessing you chose this to try to get a rise out of me?" I couldn't lie though it was affecting me, but I couldn't let her know that. Not when she's like this. Otherwise she'll continue to tease me till she leaves me with the absolute worst case of blue balls this side of the City. Her hands came up and cupped my chin almost lovingly, and her voice said "Of course Detective. Do you not approve? Or would you rather I change back to my medical examination form? Or something else?" Her words dripped with implied sex. I groaned, loudly, and said, "This is fine. Jesus Cer." Before we could continue our most scintillating of conversations there was a sudden PING! And DANNA said, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but there's a message for you Cerith. It says 'If you can get to the department Cerith, do so. We need you to explain your paperwork. And if Detective Julius is still with you have him come in too.' signed the Chief. Would you like to reply?" 'Shit, I forgot the morgue kills all signals,' I thought to myself as I stood up gently (regretfully) prying myself from Ceriths grasp with a, "duty calls. Need a lift?" I stretched gently, the scales in between my shoulders clicking appreciatively for the stretch, and turned around to notice she was indeed, just wearing a black T-shirt that hugged her voluptuous figure closely. The scales in my back clicked shut in surprise. Cerith let out a small cute chuckle, "I see after all this time I can still surprise you," she said blowing a kiss my way, reminding me of a little Gothic pixy. I rolled my eyes away from her and willed my scales to relax. I grabbed my jacket off the back of the chair, slinging it on and clicking the neck clasp shut under the cord that connected my scales to the unit in my head. I was awarded the cybernetics upon completing my training and getting all my licenses to have them. The force had allowed me to customize it, I had chosen top of the line. A dual unit with custom built AI. The individual scales were ceracoated titanium microprocessors all running in both series and parallel, and could move to expel heat or react. The main unit was the same except it was one solid unit that replaced a chunk of skull. Once that was done I zipped up the front of the leathers and ran the scales through the racer setting. They clicked and flattened against the outside of the jacket, securing it to my back. I shrugged making sure it was comfortable. "I'll take the fact that you're only in a t-shirt you'll be along shortly?" "Certainly detective." Her voice was filled with dismissive submission... And sadness? I looked back at her and noticed her makeup was gone. Or had she had any on in the first place? I gave myself a mental shake. There's no way. This was Cerith, veritable goddess of the necropolis. I put the last few minutes away for review later. Chief called. I have to go. On an instinct I thought long dead, I reached out and squeezed her hand. I felt a slight squeeze back. And then she let go with a, "Go on, be a good detective. I'll be along shortly." I left with Tabitha as my guide. Before Cerith disappeared into the darkness I thought I heard her whisper, "please don't leave." My scales raised in a saddened response. I couldn't be sure I heard her right though. If I heard her at all. I reached back and stroked them, knowing my ai probably heard her, and knowing it could feel me touch the scales. After a few seconds the scales settled down. 'I know buddy,' I thought to the AI. It couldn't respond like usual AI. The force thought that was too dangerous. What if it went rogue? What if it tried to kill the host and take over? The list went on and eventually they decided the basics were ok. When I got my unit one of the first things I did was jack it into a diagnostic to see what kind of hardware I was dealing with exactly because manufacturer specs from real use are sometimes different with AI if the bits and bobs are in place. When I did, all I got on the screen was 'Hello?'

Hello Reddit. I am very confident that I am in the right here, so I'm curious to see if anyone can point out if I am the AH and just not seeing it.
I (23F) moved to a new apartment in a new city. It is a basement studio and I absolutely love it here! The issue I'm having is coming from upstairs, my new neighbours (mid-late 30s, M and F.)
So our unit is a house converted into 3 units, top floor has no vehicle so is not privy to this issue.
Our parking situation: Our driveway is kind of P shaped, with the narrow (1 car wide) straight part connecting to the road and leading to the back where there are 2 rough parking spots. I say rough because they are old, cracked concrete with some weeds growing between, but i've had absolutely no issues getting in or out at all. We live in Ottawa, the average street here is 30x worse. The two parking spots at the back of the house are near my door, whereas street parking (usually illegal though not often enforced) is around the house about 20 metres.
The issue: Basically, upstairs have decided to park in the narrow part of the P, meaning if I'm in my spot I can't get out at all, or if I'm coming home, I can't use the driveway and have to park on the street (illegal in excess of 3 hours between 7am-7pm, and illegal pretty much all of winter for snow removal.) I spoke to them briefly about it and the M told me to park on the street because the cops don't bother to ticket (generally true, but i've been ticketed once here for street parking) or take the straight part of the driveway if they aren't home. I texted my landlord today to clear up if I was understanding who the spots were for, and he affirmed that one is for me and one is for them. He then texted them to move without me asking him to. I was polite.
I tried to tell neighbour that I was told we are meant to use the spots at the back and that I pay for the right to use it. He argued back (first saying it wasn't a spot even though it literally has the little curb marking, lol) essentially saying he won't use that spot because his girlfriend got stuck there in the winter. This was when I said that I pay for a parking spot, so if he parks in the straight part of the P I cannot use the driveway. He then said that if I park back there (again, where the landlord designated 2 spots) then the driveway is entirely mine and that they can't use it since he refuses to use his spot. The two spots are identical and I'm happy to use either one of them, they are pretty typical concrete parking spots. So I texted my landlord about it AGAIN and he gave them shit. Telling them to use the spot. My landlord informed me that they used to park there because the tenant from 18 months ago had a vehicle, so they're making this an issue even though they USED TO PARK IN THE SPOT.
AITA for parking in my spot and telling my landlord I'm having problems with the neighbour?
Side note: I REALLY didn't appreciate having an older man follow me to my door to confront me. So far, he's been very pleasant but his tone of voice was more pushy and rude and made me very uncomfortable (I was on the phone with my mom at the time who was very mad about his tone, if that adds any credibility.) That is another issue that I am perhaps being too sensitive about, but I felt very nervous. Thankfully my pup was with me.

I believe a close friend of mine is what triggered this.
I'm addicted to validation, because it is the proof that I'm worthy. That I'm more outside pre defined definitions.
I'm not smart, until someone tells me I am/a outcome occurs that proves that I am. I'm not pretty unless a person/outcome occurs that proves I am.
And it works the other way around, if an outcome/person tells me a negative thing about myself, I'll believe it. Especially if it's an outcome.
Honestly, it's the reason I bredcrum. The idea of someone having a crush on me is like crack, yet I'm too scared to try out a real relationship. So, I'll flirt, play around, and keep someone on my leash as long as possible. When I see them lose interest, when I see them eventually leave that toxic trap, I get upset. Because now my attention is gone.
Second example. Funny. A normally positive definition for someone, but it's haunted me for years. Because that's all I'm known as. In 5th grade, we had an assignment where you put a sticky note on someone's desk, giving them a compliment. All I got was "Funny". Not smart, not cool, not pretty even. Funny.
To dive back into the first sentence of this post, a friend that I was really happy with because I felt like she got a "deeper" side of me, could only bring up something "funny" I did. The topic happened to be about "our major friendship events of the year", and hoe we saw eachother.
Was I mad? No, just disappointed. Again. I feel like my only worth to some people is my jokes. I do have a sly sense of humor, making a out of pocket joke out of anything, but it's become more of a trauma response when I don't feel like I'm getting attention.
I'm a bit like a car, constantly needed fuel aka attention. I can run for a bit with some, but eventually it'll need to be refilled. Depending on my life, I might need my "gas tank" filled more often. And when I don't get that, I shut down. Self isolation, thinking the worse, anxious, looking down on myself.
Now, I'll talk about the positive side, because I am deciding to be better so...
1) I might be hanging out with the wrong crowd. Lately, it seems like I've been doing better with the "weird" kids, rather than the more "normal" people I hang with. One of my friends said before she talked to me, I seemed like a really cool person. That compliment was rejuvenating. I've opened up to her, but since I'm switching schools, its going to be harder to talk (or not, who knows?)
I do have the desire to be liked by everyone, and I wish I could just "morph" into the most likeable version of myself for each specific person.
2) Self trust and worthiness. I've been working on following through with the things I want to do, and doing little favors for my future self. I'm looking at myself more as a friend, than a stranger. Still a WIP, but Km doing better when it comes to understanding "future me", and making decisions that would benefit her. I know that I can't expect different results with the same actions so, I'm taking little steps to take care of myself.
3) Shadow work, trauma responses, triggers. I've been writing more poems, and letting my thoughts ramble. I've always been identifying triggers, but lately I've been really thinking about them. As in, an objective rather than emotional manner.
After that extremely long ramble, I guess I'm wondering what steps to take here. Social life is hard lol. I have a deep desire to make a "mark" on this world, and for people to see how great I am, but being chalked down to "funny" hurts my soul... even though I placed that on myself.

I'm looking to be able to safely use my Samsung phone for Google Maps and music and need it to be somewhere I can see it. I've been through 3 possible solutions now, and they all seem to be crummy. The best one is a cup-holder unit that wobbles around but gives it some height so I don't have to look WAY down while driving. The beautiful Peak design adhesive unit failed....what WORKS? Has anyone had success coming up with a great phone holder that is useful for this great car?

I believe a close friend of mine is what triggered this.
I'm addicted to validation, because it is the proof that I'm worthy. That I'm more outside pre defined definitions.
I'm not smart, until someone tells me I am/a outcome occurs that proves that I am. I'm not pretty unless a person/outcome occurs that proves I am.
And it works the other way around, if an outcome/person tells me a negative thing about myself, I'll believe it. Especially if it's an outcome.
Honestly, it's the reason I bredcrum. The idea of someone having a crush on me is like crack, yet I'm too scared to try out a real relationship. So, I'll flirt, play around, and keep someone on my leash as long as possible. When I see them lose interest, when I see them eventually leave that toxic trap, I get upset. Because now my attention is gone.
Second example. Funny. A normally positive definition for someone, but it's haunted me for years. Because that's all I'm known as. In 5th grade, we had an assignment where you put a sticky note on someone's desk, giving them a compliment. All I got was "Funny". Not smart, not cool, not pretty even. Funny.
To dive back into the first sentence of this post, a friend that I was really happy with because I felt like she got a "deeper" side of me, could only bring up something "funny" I did. The topic happened to be about "our major friendship events of the year", and hoe we saw eachother.
Was I mad? No, just disappointed. Again. I feel like my only worth to some people is my jokes. I do have a sly sense of humor, making a out of pocket joke out of anything, but it's become more of a trauma response when I don't feel like I'm getting attention.
I'm a bit like a car, constantly needed fuel aka attention. I can run for a bit with some, but eventually it'll need to be refilled. Depending on my life, I might need my "gas tank" filled more often. And when I don't get that, I shut down. Self isolation, thinking the worse, anxious, looking down on myself.
Now, I'll talk about the positive side, because I am deciding to be better so...
1) I might be hanging out with the wrong crowd. Lately, it seems like I've been doing better with the "weird" kids, rather than the more "normal" people I hang with. One of my friends said before she talked to me, I seemed like a really cool person. That compliment was rejuvenating. I've opened up to her, but since I'm switching schools, its going to be harder to talk (or not, who knows?)
I do have the desire to be liked by everyone, and I wish I could just "morph" into the most likeable version of myself for each specific person.
2) Self trust and worthiness. I've been working on following through with the things I want to do, and doing little favors for my future self. I'm looking at myself more as a friend, than a stranger. Still a WIP, but Km doing better when it comes to understanding "future me", and making decisions that would benefit her. I know that I can't expect different results with the same actions so, I'm taking little steps to take care of myself.
3) Shadow work, trauma responses, triggers. I've been writing more poems, and letting my thoughts ramble. I've always been identifying triggers, but lately I've been really thinking about them. As in, an objective rather than emotional manner.
After that extremely long ramble, I guess I'm wondering what steps to take here. Social life is hard lol

I live in a really rural area where one highway is pretty much the only way to get anywhere. There are no alternate routes or anything to avoid it. The speed limit is 70mph and people around here seem to have a hard time even hitting 65mph.
My town has two cops, each with their own cruiser and neither of them are ever on duty at the same time. Today they placed 4 pneumatic hoses along the highway, each about two miles down the highway from the last. Ostensibly their purpose is to gather data on how fast people are going along this particular stretch of highway and better determine where to set their speed traps.
Now I’ve got shit to do and places to be. I’m not going to sit idly behind some clueless asshole going 15 under the speed limit all the way from my place to town. Generally I’m no speed demon, and when there’s nobody in front of me I do 73-75mph. I often have to pass and have hit up to almost 90mph when the douche I’m trying to pass speeds up to spite me.
Regardless, I don’t want the cops to have accurate information.
There are no cameras along the highway but I don’t want to run the off-chance risk of someone seeing my car and taking down my (still out-of-state) plate while I’m cutting the hoses.
There’s an abundance of wildlife in the region, I’ve thought about potentially smearing peanut butter or something on the hoses to entice something into chewing a hole, but that might be too obviously sabotage when inspected or an animal might just lick it off.
How can I sabotage the hoses without getting caught?

I took my car into the dealership because a sensor light was on. They sent me a picture saying a plastic bag got caught under some sort of mesh screen in the front Grill. They were going to remove it and hope not to damage anything in the process . it was quite visible in the photo they sent me , hust hanging there. They did warn me that some damage could happen removing the bag. now they're telling me they damaged some sort of sensor removing the bag, and I n addition to fixing sensor and mesh, they may have to reprogram the car as well . it's going to cost between $1700 and $2500. This is because a plastic bag flew under the car. How? Has anyone heard of this happening.
FYI it's An X3 with 22,000 miles on it
The dealership told me I have no choice, but to pay it because it won't pass inspection unless they do this work.
It seems like a ridiculous design flaw

My family is a ball and chain.
I've waited 30 years to become independent. To live on my own. To be free, to see the world.
I did all the right things. I went to college, I work full time. Yet in my entire adult life I have never been free.
My family.
My 50 year old mother, I love her dearly, born with a rare condition has not worked since she was 24. Survives off of social security.
My 25 year old sister i love her dearly. Only a highschool diploma and no desire for higher education or job training. For much of our lives only thought she was lazy and a slacker only to realize she most definitely is on the autism spectrum and has only held one job in her life and due to her crippling anxiety and depression and adhd. hasn't worked in over 4 years. She has her own issues, coming out as trans was difficult for her but we have always accepted her.
I discovered my sexuality thanks to a close friend, got passed the internalized homopobia and eventually found my love of my life and we both discovered the gay community and created a large friends group. Something i never thought I'd have. Yet despite these improvements in my mental health I am still trapped.
My family and I live in state funded housing which is cheaper than market rent but its designed to keep you in poverty, not meant to help you out of poverty.
My boyfriend comes from the opposite kind of family. Father worked the stock market. Multiple homes, a vacation home that is larger than an average home. Sent him to college debt free. On a whim giving each of the 4 children $20,000 to save.
My entire life our family has never had much money, my parents divorced, dad is in the picture but never held a steady job. Grandfather passed away, his brother gambled all of his savings away. My other grand father put money into a life insurance program for my sister and I, instead of an investment resource. We never saw a dime.
When my parents divorced I became the man of the house, I got my first job out of highschool as I went to community College.
As a family we have always pooled the family funds. This month I pay off xy and z bills next month mom pays them etc. To make matters worse the amount of times my mother has had to go in the red to pay off something just handicapped us for the following month and so on.
Then a tree hit out apartment and shook our family to its core, we where displaced, lucky enough to get onto a friends lease at the current state supported place but despite all of that nothing has changed.
My sister doesn't work, we pay for everything for her, and when I say we I mean me.
My mother's monthly check pays off rent and all my cash goes to the bills.
I've always wanted to leave. This year I had a chance. My boyfriend and I found a friend, we planned to move. I finally could save. Even just a fraction. My first savings account. A measly 1,000. But of course something needs to be payed, so its always chipped at, but we try to replace what we can.
As the months move closer to the move out, my partner lost his job. Dealing with his own recently diagnosed adhd and depression, I comfort him and after 6 months and eating away at much of his savings just to survive he finally got another job. Things where looking up. I told my coworkers I "this was it."
Then my partner lost his job again, no more than 2 months after getting it. The same mental health reasons caused it. Now his family are truly trying to help him. And in the meantime I'm still here, in the same moneyless pit that my family has become. Where I have to support them on the meager salary I have.
I know it will get better, I will move. I will have actual savings and can continue education when I'm comfortable. But. Tonight as I stare in the black void of my bedroom with the lights off. I just want to be free.
When I have friends with homes, children and savings over a couple 100k i just think, what if I was in there shoes, or they in mine. Would they understand the struggle?
Forgive me, I'm tired, and I need to get ready to work tomorrow. That freedom can't come any faster.
Thanks for letting me vent.

Hi there fellow Reddit users, this post is specifically for drivers/ vehicle owners.
I have a designated spot for my car, so does my neighbour which is right beside me. Now the issue is that my neighbour will park more on my side (right over the line), which leaves me very little space to back in/out. My question is why not just park straight? Or am I to jump to the conclusion that they’re stupid as fuck?
Sorry for my frustration, just sick of dealing with it and need some suggestions on what to do.
Thank you everyone🩷

So I’m getting a wrap done but I’m still contemplating what design I get on it. Is it possible for me to get the initial base wrap done. Then get a custom decal sticker or something on the wrap? So it looks like the design is part of the wrap? Or do I need to have the design already printed on the wrap when I put it on my car, thanks

I've waited 30 years to become independent. To live on my own. To be free, to see the world.
I did all the right things. I went to college, I work full time. Yet in my entire adult life I have never been free.
My family.
My 50 year old mother, I love her dearly, born with a rare condition has not worked since she was 24. Survives off of social security.
My 25 year old sister i love her dearly. Only a highschool diploma and no desire for higher education or job training. For much of our lives only thought she was lazy and a slacker only to realize she most definitely is on the autism spectrum and has only held one job in her life and due to her crippling anxiety and depression and adhd. hasn't worked in over 4 years. She has her own issues, coming out as trans was difficult for her but we have always accepted her.
I discovered my sexuality thanks to a close friend, got passed the internalized homopobia and eventually found my love of my life and we both discovered the gay community and created a large friends group. Something i never thought I'd have. Yet despite these improvements in my mental health I am still trapped.
My family and I live in state funded housing which is cheaper than market rent but its designed to keep you in poverty, not meant to help you out of poverty.
My boyfriend comes from the opposite kind of family. Father worked the stock market. Multiple homes, a vacation home that is larger than an average home. Sent him to college debt free. On a whim giving each of the 4 children $20,000 to save.
My entire life our family has never had much money, my parents divorced, dad is in the picture but never held a steady job. Grandfather passed away, his brother gambled all of his savings away. My other grand father put money into a life insurance program for my sister and I, instead of an investment resource. We never saw a dime.
When my parents divorced I became the man of the house, I got my first job out of highschool as I went to community College.
As a family we have always pooled the family funds. This month I pay off xy and z bills next month mom pays them etc. To make matters worse the amount of times my mother has had to go in the red to pay off something just handicapped us for the following month and so on.
Then a tree hit out apartment and shook our family to its core, we where displaced, lucky enough to get onto a friends lease at the current state supported place but despite all of that nothing has changed.
My sister doesn't work, we pay for everything for her, and when I say we I mean me.
My mother's monthly check pays off rent and all my cash goes to the bills.
I've always wanted to leave. This year I had a chance. My boyfriend and I found a friend, we planned to move. I finally could save. Even just a fraction. My first savings account. A measly 1,000. But of course something needs to be payed, so its always chipped at, but we try to replace what we can.
As the months move closer to the move out, my partner lost his job. Dealing with his own recently diagnosed adhd and depression, I comfort him and after 6 months and eating away at much of his savings just to survive he finally got another job. Things where looking up. I told my coworkers I "this was it."
Then my partner lost his job again, no more than 2 months after getting it. The same mental health reasons caused it. Now his family are truly trying to help him. And in the meantime I'm still here, in the same moneyless pit that my family has become. Where I have to support them on the meager salary I have.
I know it will get better, I will move. I will have actual savings and can continue education when I'm comfortable. But. Tonight as I stare in the black void of my bedroom with the lights off. I just want to be free.
When I have friends with homes, children and savings over a couple 100k i just think, what if I was in there shoes, or they in mine. Would they understand the struggle?
Forgive me, I'm tired, and I need to get ready to work tomorrow. That freedom can't come any faster.
Thanks for letting me vent.

Im pretty new to this game but I'll just cut to the point. I cant tune for crap so I'm always buying a tune from the "find tune" part. I seem to think my car is slow and im running 11.2 to 11.3 ish on the main drag strip and im getting less than 260 at the speed trap, also every other prostock i race beats the crap out of me by several car lengths. I'm getting impatient and pissed and am about ready to sell off my pro stock. I'm also at a point where I'm willing to spend a few million credits for someones tune. I'm losing it with tuning in general. Hopefully someone can be nice enough to help out 🙏

I did something today I didn't do in a long time. I took a long shower.
Growing up, one week out of the summer we'd visit my (Great) Aunt and Uncle. They'd rent out a beach house and me, my parents, and my cousin and aunt would all drive down. As the years went on, I started being more self conscious about my body. I started wearing shirts in the water. Afterwards we'd all go in and take showers. Mine would always take the longest towards those later years. I would just sit on the floor of the tub crying. Crying about my body, crying because I thought there'd never be hope for me to be me. This was a daily occurrence throughout those weeks. I don't really think I need to explain here, I'm sure most of you can relate. My family would always tease me about the long showers. I know what they thought I was doing. That of course didn't help at all. Fast forward to now, more than a decade later.
I recently went on HRT. My 3 month would have been this week. A few days into it.. I lost my car, in which had my license, my social security card, my birth certificate, all of my favorite clothes, my favorite backpack, and worst of all my life saving medication. I know I know.. how do you just lose a car. It wasn't stolen. I had been driving a while.. I needed a break. I pulled into a city, hopped out of the car, and went for a walk.
I have no idea how it happened.. but my keys.. my phone.. both just vanished. I had no idea where in the city I was. I had no idea where my car was. That night I slept on the stoop of some building, with only my leather jacket to keep me warm. I spent a few more nights wandering before giving up and tryin to make my way to the next city. A cop scooped me up on the interstate, brought me to the closest hotel, and got in touch with my father. So here I am.. 28. Living back with my parents. I came out to them before all this. My dad 5 years ago, and my mom about half a year before this happened. I'm stuck. This house is not conducive to a healthy mind. My mom has refused to use ANY name to refer to me, dead or chosen. She will actively avoid pronouns all together while I am a part of the conversation. My dad is trying, he uses my chosen name, and at least uses neutral pronouns. My dad's side of the family is aware too, and while "supportive" I can tell it comes from a place of pity. My mom's side doesn't know, or atleast I don't think they do. One of my aunts from her side reached out to me, but mom was adamant that I don't respond. Mom has also been actively lying to my grandparents telling them I'm not here. She claims its because she doesn't think they'll accept me. Such hollow words. Its so obvious that she is the non accepting one.
So here I am. Trapped. Trapped in this body I hate. Trapped in a house so filled with shit I can't take one step without tripping and knocking over ceiling high piles of garbage. Trapped in a family that doesn't truly see me. Unable to move forward. Unable to get a job as nothing within walkin distance is hiring, ontop of not having any actual valid forms of ID. Ontop of all the stress of having to go through that process of getting all that back. I was in a different state when I started HRT and I can't even get back on it in my current situation.
So yea.. today I took a long shower.