This was meant to be an academic examination of what modern academic theories of fascism have to do with contemporary US politics. I asked ChatGPT-4o to compare the core of these theories with Trump's and the GOP's current policy positions. Here is what I got:
The policies of Donald Trump and his GOP have been compared to neofascism by various scholars and political analysts. Neofascism, a post-World War II ideology, retains elements of traditional fascism but adapts them to contemporary political, social, and economic contexts. Below is a comparison of Trump's policies and the theory of neofascism:

Neofascism: Key Characteristics

1. **Populist Nationalism:** Strong emphasis on national identity and sovereignty, often coupled with xenophobic and anti-immigrant rhetoric.
   
2. **Authoritarianism:** Preference for centralized power and leadership, often at the expense of democratic institutions and norms.
   
3. **Anti-globalism:** Rejection of international cooperation and institutions, promoting a return to national self-sufficiency.
   
4. **Cultural and Racial Homogeneity:** Promotion of a homogeneous national identity, often at the expense of minority rights.
   
5. **Militarism and Law and Order:** Emphasis on a strong military and law enforcement to maintain order and protect the nation.
   
6. **Economic Protectionism:** Policies favoring national industries and workers, often involving trade barriers and opposition to free trade agreements.
   
7. **Charismatic Leadership:** Reliance on a charismatic leader who claims to represent the will of the people against corrupt elites.
   

Trump and GOP Policies: Comparison to Neofascism

1. Populist Nationalism

• **Trump/GOP:** Trump's "America First" slogan and policies reflect populist nationalism. His rhetoric often included anti-immigrant sentiments, particularly targeting Muslims and Mexicans, and promoting a strong national identity.
  
• **Neofascism:** This aligns with neofascism's emphasis on nationalism and xenophobia.
  

2. Authoritarianism

• **Trump/GOP:** Trump's administration showed tendencies towards authoritarianism, such as undermining the media, challenging the results of the 2020 election, and exerting pressure on judicial and law enforcement institutions.
  
• **Neofascism:** These actions resonate with neofascist preferences for centralized, strong leadership and undermining democratic institutions.
  

3. Anti-globalism

• **Trump/GOP:** Trump withdrew from international agreements like the Paris Climate Accord, criticized NATO, and imposed tariffs on trade partners, reflecting a move towards isolationism.
  
• **Neofascism:** This is consistent with neofascist anti-globalist views.
  

4. Cultural and Racial Homogeneity

• **Trump/GOP:** Policies such as the travel ban on several Muslim-majority countries, and efforts to reduce immigration from non-European countries, reflect a desire for cultural and racial homogeneity.
  
• **Neofascism:** This mirrors neofascist goals of maintaining a culturally and racially homogeneous nation.
  

5. Militarism and Law and Order

• **Trump/GOP:** The Trump administration emphasized "law and order," particularly in response to protests against police brutality. Trump also increased military spending.
  
• **Neofascism:** This corresponds with neofascist emphasis on strong law enforcement and military presence.
  

6. Economic Protectionism

• **Trump/GOP:** Trump's economic policies included renegotiating trade deals, imposing tariffs, and promoting domestic manufacturing. His administration was also skeptical of free trade agreements.
  
• **Neofascism:** These policies are in line with neofascist economic protectionism.
  

7. Charismatic Leadership

• **Trump/GOP:** Trump's leadership style was highly charismatic and personalized, often portraying himself as the voice of the people against a corrupt elite.
  
• **Neofascism:** This aligns with neofascist reliance on charismatic leadership.
  

Conclusion

While not all of Trump's policies and those of the GOP can be categorized as neofascist, there are significant overlaps, particularly in areas such as nationalism, authoritarianism, anti-globalism, and economic protectionism. These similarities have led some analysts to describe Trump's movement as having neofascist characteristics, although it operates within the context of the existing democratic framework of the United States. The comparison highlights the ways in which neofascist elements can manifest in modern political movements, adapted to contemporary societal and political landscapes.

My wife went into labor on May 11th with twins and our girl had a small respiratory discomfort despite being born with an apgar of 9/10. After 2 hours in an oxygen helmet we had to free up the OR (C-section because our boy was sitting instead of upside down), so the pediatrician decided to move her to NICU to keep her on a oxygenared thing. She ended up staying on NICU for 3 days not because it was necessary but just because of bullshit protocols that doesn't consider the best course of action of an individual but instead uses statistical averages. Anyway, on NICU they made a kind-of-pacifier out of a glove and cotton to stimulate her suction ability and now she won't sleep without my wife's breasts. I have been doing everything I can for the past 10 days caring for our babies but I'm at a complete defeat of pointless exhaustion because she just won't stop crying with me. I was holding onto the fact that she misses the pacifier thingy and she has a short-fuse temper like her mother, but for the last 24 hours our boy, who almost never cries and is at peace with pretty much anything has started to reject me as well and have been crying while on my arms. Since my wife does the feeding due to biology making man's breasts useless, I take most of the burping, all the diaper changes and most of the soothing them to sleep. But it seems like my job has been reduced to that of a Boomer: wake up the wife because the baby won't stop crying and they need her breast. She also pumps milk and I have fed them multiple times using a baby spoon. This is a moment where they don't cry because their mouth is busy feeding, but even after feeding them all they need, they want the mother's breasts for suction otherwise they don't sleep.
How do you survive the sleepless nights with such a feeling of uselessness despite doing everything humanly possible for me to do?

Hi! This is going to be a long one/rant and story because I really don’t know who to talk to about this in real life because I’m not in therapy and I’m so embarrassed to be feeling this way knowing I made all the choices to be here and people are already flying in from out of state to come to our wedding. Also I’m diagnosed adhd incase any of yall are wondering what’s wrong with me once I tell you all the decisions I made to get here. I am getting married in three months and have a son who is 15 months old. My now fiance 28m and I 27f met whenever we were thirteen years old in middle school and started a tumultuous up and down / on and off again relationship. We were together all the way up until junior year in high school and we broke up. I come from a broken home and he does not. Looking back I realize how much of me staying with him and trying to keep his attention stemmed from my abandonment issues that I must have had from my own parents. After we broke up he joined a gang in my local hometown and I was still in love with him so I decided to still be involved with him even though I was not in a relationship with him. I ended up losing my virginity to him while we were not together just because I wanted to be with him and we said we were friends with benefits but really I was just in love with him and thought by doing that maybe he would want to be with me again but he didn’t and continued to sleep with other girls and do drugs. I also started doing drugs like Xanax and smoking to fit in with him and be cool. I ended up getting a horrible tattoo because one of the other girls he was also seeing had a bunch of tattoos. I dropped out of my high school college courses and ended up going to jail for marijuana in high school and got kicked out of cheer and softball. I ended up on probation and having to be drug tested for a year. Within that year after being heart broken and realizing nothing I did would make him change into who he was before he got involved in our local gang or make him want to be with me… I ended up enrolling in college and getting accepted to a university where I would move about two hours away from our home town to live on campus and study to be a nurse. While on probation, so I couldn’t really party or anything in college which was good (even though I was never really addicted to anything and it wouldn’t be that hard for me) I wanted to save money for a car so I ended up getting a job at the hooters next to my college and was in college full time and working at hooters. My sister happened to go to that same college before I did and live in that town with her ex bf and they would give me rides to and from work back to campus. Low and behold after about two semesters of me being in college and finally feeling like I was moving on from him, he came back messaging me and telling me he missed me and wanted to be with me again. I was stupid and so excited that I agreed and asked him to come see me at college where he would stay for the weekend and we would have an amazing time. I felt so good about myself doing what I was doing and being able to show my growth. Despite all that he was still able to convince me to leave school and come back to be with him and live with him and go to the college near our hometown and work at the hooters near our hometown. I had already felt like I didn’t want to be a nurse at the time because my sister who was a nurse told me you could never leave the state as a nurse if you get your license there (which she didn’t know at the time that you could) and I knew I didn’t want to stay where I was from and wanted to eventually travel. So I decided to leave and move back with him in his bedroom at his parents house where I would work at the hooters close to our home town and never enroll in the college. He would eventually break up with me while I was at work one day even though I was living with him and since I didn’t have a car he continued to take me back in forth from work and I continued to live with him and continued to be in love with him while he committed to the fact that he didn’t want to be in a relationship but wanted to marry me one day and just wasn’t ready for anything right now and still wanted to have sex with me which I did. From working at hooters I had auditioned for the calendar and ended up being really liked by the photographer and started doing some modeling from that which was super exciting for me because I always was interested in that and the pictures we took would blow up and I started getting well known in my area for modeling even though they were just pictures and I wasn’t making any money off of it. Eventually a guy came into hooters telling me about working as an exotic dancer and how much they could make and I still needed a car really badly and was desperate to get out of my ex’s (now fiance) house. So I told him I would be waitressing and that I heard the waitresses make good money there and asked him to give me a ride there one day and so he started giving me a ride everyday. The money was so good to me and the most money I had ever seen. I ended up staying in a hotel closer to the club I worked at and sometimes he would come stay with me and I would just uber to work. Eventually I had gotten a car which I was so happy about. A couple of weeks after I got a car I ended up getting sucked into human trafficking with a friend where I would live in a house with multiple girls for 6 months and go to work at the club every day of the week except Saturday and Sundays. I wasn’t doing anything extra just dancing but the money was going to some random guy. It’s crazy I know. I was stupid and young and my family were not concerned for me at all or involved in my life. unfortunately my friend is just now leaving that situation. I got out without anything no car or nothing and had nowhere to go so back to my exes I went where I decided I was going to buy a cash car again and I worked everyday like I was used to saved money and got a car. Moved to my sisters and stayed with her for a little where i decided I didn’t want to dance anymore and I got a job as a bottle service girl and then waitressing at another waitress. I continued modeling because it made me happy and I never told anyone the truth about the deep things that were happening in my life except for my now fiance. So nobody had no idea about me dancing or the human trafficking or anything. Everyone just knew I modeled. I ended up getting an apartment with some friends and One day I got the urge to go to California randomly and at my waitressing job I was handed $800 and I took it as a sign and booked a flight the next day. Where I went by myself my first time ever on a flight with no plans at all. The day I got there I got asked to be in a commercial two days later. My roommate and her friends flew out there to get me and she ended up being able to be in the commercial with me which ended up on tbs but I had to go back home to my apartment and responsibilities and couldn’t leave my roommate stranded. Even though months later we would end up getting in an argument and I’d move out and move back with my ex (now fiance) where I would continue to work and model (for free) and went back to the club to dance and then my sister ended up going to California for a travel nursing assignment and her and her bf broke up and she asked me to move with her. I had nothing else here, my ex was still saying he didn’t want to be in a relationship, he was consistently sleeping with other girls while we lived together and expected relationship things from me. I was paying for everything for him. I paid for him while he was in school for audio engineer, his gas, lunch, school clothes, shopping, I helped him open his own studio and bought his equipment and Mac for it, even though his parents were very involved in his life. I got all his family bday gifts and Christmas gifts every year. He was honestly just using me but I was so in love and blind. He encouraged me to go to California too so I had nothing else there for me, if he had told me to stay and he wanted to be with me I would’ve. I flew out on my 21st birthday and met my sister and Vegas where we would have such a great time and my ex spent that day hanging out with a girl that tried to fight me and didn’t even tell me happy birthday, I was crying in the bathroom in Vegas until my sister shook me and told me to get it together we’re in Vegas. I was so heart broken to be leaving him but he didn’t care. I got to LA and I instantly started modeling on day one I booked a photo shoot where I met a guy that reminded me of my ex (I know) but we instantly clicked and he was 7 years older than me. We ended up talking for a little bit and pursuing something even though I wasn’t ready emotionally but he didn’t really care and I was kind of star struck a little because he was a music producer for a very famous musician and he was very persistent but that’s another story. I ended up booking a music video as a main girl for my ex’s (now fiance) favorite artist. When it came out it was crazy because I felt like the universe and God was just blessing me for leaving that situation and I knew he would see it because he was so obsessed with that artist and it shook up the whole small town I was from. After that I booked a lot of cool jobs like Sephora and worked with a lot of companies, and did some music videos for other super famous artists, and walked in fashion shows and modeled for clothing brands etc. I was working all the time as an extra to pay my bills and I was meeting cool people. I was always getting invited to celebrities parties and just having such a fun time. I decided to start getting into acting instead and started going to acting school where a lot of well known celebrities also went to and I started having meetings with very popular directors and I was being mentored by famous directors and another person that created an tv entertainment channel that I won’t say here also mentored me a lot and got me a lot of meetings with these people and would go to dinners and stuff etc with a list celebrities. I truly was living the life. And coming from where I can it was almost a dream. I had gotten in a relationship my first year there with that other guy I mentioned who ended up being super possessive of me but he treated me like a queen in the sense of paying for everything, giving me a safe space to tell my feelings, open up, the sex was amazing, he would take me on trips, took me out of the country for the first time. We ended up not working out due to lifestyle differences and just being at two different places and wanting different things. He wanted to move out of the country and have a farm and I wasn’t ready to do that as I wanted to focus on my career. (But I would die to move out of the country on a farm now ironically and he is doing just that now like he said he would haha) anyway, I ended up having my own studio apartment by myself that I loved so much and was so proud of. My sister had moved to Montana and it took a lot for me to get my apartment like staying in a house with other girls for a little to sleeping in my car and at a spa for a couple days. When I would fly home or drive home to see my family I would always see my ex, everytime. We kept a friendship and sometimes I would still help him out if needed, he was interning at a church through his school for audio engineering and recording people at his studio in our hometown. By this time I was going to New York and Miami also sometimes and doing work there. I wasn’t as stressed about bills anymore. I was seeing guys every now and then but not at all interested in a relationship, my heart was still healing from the past and both my exes but mainly my first (now fiance). I was super focused on my career and optimistic, I was used to the grind and in no way ever thinking of quitting. It just wasn’t an option because I knew I would make it wherever that would be because to me that is all I had for me and all I ever knew I wanted and the only thing that saved me. Skip to around October 2019 I had found out about a girl my ex was seeing and it crushed me. He was doing with her just like he was with me though. Just “friends with benefits” I was living in my apartment in LA still and my uncle that helped raise me was getting really sick back home and put on hospice so I decided to take a trip back to see him. I would go to restaurants in my state and near my home town and people would ask to take pictures with me, and at the little ceasars drive through someone asked if I was me and stuff it was crazy because I hadn’t been home in awhile and I felt like what I was doing was finally paying off and people were recognizing me. It was surreal. I ended up going to see my ex. I had such a fear of losing him to this other girl for some reason. I was so scared he would get her pregnant or get in a serious relationship since I was gone so far away and I would never be with him, I would end up sleeping with him again and the girl found out and drove by his house mad and cussing me out and throwing stuff at me. We ended up getting in a fight which is so embarrassing and beneath me. I ended up crying to him that I wanted to be with him and don’t know why he never wanted to be with me which at this time he honestly was not even in my playing field anymore. He told me if I wanted to be with him I had to move back to my hometown.. my heart dropped to my stomach and I knew it wasn’t what I was supposed to do but I said okay… all because this is what I had wanted all those years. I decided to stay where the next two years all I would think about everyday was I was making the wrong decision and needed to go back to my life. My hometown had nothing for me.. COVID hit a couple months after me being there and we were terrified. We ended up getting everything out of my apartment and moving into a house around the corner from his parents. I had to tell him how I liked to communicate now without yelling and stuff which I learned from the boyfriend I had in LA and that I wasn’t going to put up with that disrespect but he never listened. Eventually everything went back to normal. I ended up going back to the club again dancing because I didn’t want to go backward and model here. He never wanted me to go back to LA even for a little bit even though that’s where my career and heart was so I had no idea what to do with my life. I started waitressing as well and getting back on my adhd meds. People started pressuring us to get pregnant and we tried for a year and 6 months. The month I found out I was pregnant before I knew, I quit my job and decided I was going to move back and get my life back. Two days later I found out I was pregnant…. Finally after trying for over a year. Our relationship was toxic just like the past he always yelled, I could never talk to him about my feelings without him saying I was trying to fight, he spit in my face once, threatened me, put his hands on me, he would tell me he was going to take my baby away from me as soon as I had it. I started asking him about getting married while I was pregnant and the proposal wasn’t even that. He got mad at me for asking one day and walked in the room and handed me the ring. It didn’t fit because I was pregnant & it was $27 (not that that matters but the proposal sucked).. he drained both my bank accounts and they closed it, charged my credit card up and put me in debt, he has not let me do anything I want to do like school or anything. He is so bad with money. He has an action figure addiction and at one point was spending 3k on action figures every month and turned one of the rooms in our house into a collection room so I had to take everything out of my closet and put my sons crib in there for the first year of his life. we have good times and I feel comfortable with him. He knows everything about me but he doesn’t respect me and sometimes I feel like he is intimidated by me. The sex isn’t good at all we always just ask “do you want to have sex” he never gives oral or foreplay, I never get pleasure. He’s an amazing dad though and loves his son. We have the most sweet and beautiful little boy now who I love so much and he loves him also. He’s very attentive to his son. But I still feel unheard. I can’t talk about my feelings. If I do it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t change anything. He is so defensive and we never communicate for a solution it’s always just pointing fingers. I have started yelling again because I’m so used to it now and I hate it because I grew up like that and I finally grew out of it until I got back with him and recently started again and now he throws it in my face and knows I begged him not to do it forever but he never stopped and now I am too. I’ve asked him to take me to the movies and he hasn’t still. I just ask for more romance and stuff but it just feels like I have a roommate. I have nothing now. I had my car and we traded it in for a new car that he wanted. I always dreamed of the next car I’d get once I paid it off but he got it & it’s in his name now so I paid it off for nothing. I’m driving around his dream car. I’ve been planning our wedding since I birthed our son and everything is going good. Money is tight. He works at the church now full time and makes about 45k a year or so, my son has been waiting to start daycare for awhile so I have been home with him. I’ve tried starting jobs multiple times but he is against it unless it’s super fast money like going to the club which I am so repulsed by and absolutely hate it now. I tried going back to college but my old college won’t release my transcripts for fasfa because I owe them money. I started cosmetology school a few months ago which he was all for but two months in freaked out and him and his mom guilt tripped me that we can’t handle this right now and he was having a hard time doing the night time routine for the baby while I was at school so I had to leave and now owe that’s school for my kit unless I enroll again in 128 days. I also miss modeling so much and sometimes think I can start again but it’s been five years. My body is so different too after a baby. Everything I want is a no go. Especially moving out of our hometown. He says he wants to but I don’t think he does. We are constantly at his moms and dads and they tell us all the time we aren’t moving anywhere which is really hard for me as this place is super toxic for my soul. Anytime I get money he spends it. Anytime I save money he spends it. Even if it does go towards our bills. His action figure habit is almost nonexistent now and he has grown a lot in the past few months from that since I demanded my son have his own bedroom after his first bday and all his figures are in boxes now and told him he could turn the shed into his man cave. He says we can’t save because we have nothing to save after bills but I believe in saving anything even $5 a paycheck. It’s doable. I grew up poor so this is nothing to me but after living the lifestyle I lived in LA and going out with guys that respected me and cherished me it’s hard. I know nobody is perfect but we are about to get married and I’m scared… I have nothing though anymore. I’ve threatened to leave a couple times and he says he will take me to court and take my baby. I’m scared he might. I don’t want my son to be angry like him or not respect women how he does. In public he’s a saint. He also has a very supportive family that it’s almost toxic. They all blame me for his anger issues and say I make him that way. But he’s been punching walls since I met him in 8th grade. I know it’s not because of me. But I have nobody else and nowhere else to go. No money. No car. I’m at the bottom again where I was before. Only difference is now I have a son. And we are getting married in three months and I can’t call it off. I am older now and looking back on my life I realize he maybe truly never loved me and I was just so desperate for love. I got myself here nobody else. I accepted everything, even when my gut told me not to. ( he is not just horrible, he’s a great person just with some bad qualities like everyone but I’m tired of feeling stuck with someone that never truly wanted me and doesn’t care to grow in some ways or show me )
Please help.. what do I do?

This might be all over the place, im sorry. Im tired and my brain is in adhd overdrive. I (26f) was with my ex (32f) for almost a year. For clarity purposes we did not live togther but she would get me to stay with her for days at a time. I noticed some yellow flags before it abruptly got downright toxic. She ended up getting physical with me on more than one occasion, she'd take my keys from me or remove them from the ignition while waiting at a traffic light. I would attempt to communicate with her that the relationship wasn't working for me and in fact it was actually triggering a lot of PTSD from a prior abusive relationship. She would have a variety of reactions, all of which ended up causing me to stay with her. At first I accepted that her reactions were from her past traumas and I wanted to work through them with her. Eventually I got emotionally exhausted and couldn't wait for the change she kept claiming was going to come. Throughout a good portion of our relationship, starting at maybe month 3 or 4 she began referring to me as her wife. I struggled a lot with this because of how unhealthy the relationship was. I tried to express my feelings about that as well and she continued to do it anyway. Now that we are broken up i feel incredibly conflicted. I still have love for her but my brain replays a lot of the bad things that happened. I had her blocked and went no contact for almost 2 weeks, but I broke down and responded to one of her text free numbers she used to contact me with. Now she tells me she is changing and ive really helped open her eyes. She says she knows now this always needed to happen so we can come back together. She has begged to see me, and tells me that she still refers to me as her wife when she speaks on me. A part of me thinks we could be friends. I feel like I miss her until i talk to her. Then i feel drained all over again. Do I go no contact or keep doing the minimal communication thing? We had to have a conversation last night (again) about her calling me repeatedly when i dont answer.

This could end up being a book, but I don’t know how to change how I’m feeling. Before you come in here really harshly judging me or screaming that I am making accusations and being crazy, full disclosure that I am autistic and I have NEVER hidden this from my friends or any man I’ve dated.
Now that that’s out of the way, let me continue. I was in a Christian singles group in my area that used to get together fairly often (it was usually once a month, but drama happened after the guy that started it made a mess…so we disbanded). Everyone is 21-40 and unmarried. I have a very close friend in this group. I’ve known her for many years and I met her outside of it. We did hikes and trips and lots of fun stuff together during that weird limbo after Covid. We stayed solid once work picked back up, but doing as much did slow down.
One of the other girls from the group and I became pretty close pretty fast (this was over the course of a year, so, May 2023 to now). My gut about her told me that I should maybe be worried and run (comes off as strong!), while everything else said that she was cool. She was kinda pushy to be close as friends, so I was okay with that, especially since my really close friend got buried in her work and had even told me that she gets a bit more introverted when she has to work (I’m 50/50 introvert/extrovert) and to broaden my circle (I was her shadow for a bit there…lol). For context, we are both straight 30 something year old women that have successful careers. The new girl is 29, straight with a boyfriend, and has a good job that keeps her busy.
I check in with them both, to see if they have any interest in the three of us hanging out and being friends. I always get shut down…my long time friend says that she is at a different place in life. New girl says nearly the same thing. What’s really weird though, is that New girls parents live just down the road from my good friend, so, they literally can hang out anytime she visits her parents…which varies…
Time passes and the new girl and I make a plan to move in together, because our city in the US is very expensive and living alone just won’t work anymore for either of us, even on our salaries. Once that was planned, I feel like everything started changing.
So, and this is where autism comes into play. If you have any triggers about cyber stalking or stress from things like that, please stop reading now. I really don’t need someone getting really worked up and laying into me. As the subreddit is called “advice”, I’m seeking advice, not to be screamed at and/or called crazy.
I ended up moving in with newer friend. I let her know of all of my quirks and odd things while we were still friends (not roommates yet), and she has been so great…(I think).
Here is where I’m truly hung up, and it all sounds really odd and off and wrong, because, to my knowledge, both of these people have been great and honest with me.
Right around when I started saying I was going to be roomies with her, I think around the start of the year because of leases and things, I noticed a shift in chat patterns online. It was really odd, but what was also odd was how my two friends started sounding alike. They were night and day for a reason, and it truly balanced out my life. They were online a lot together, and then, I noticed a few of the church ladies, specifically from my church, which, new girl really didn’t like the service at, were online too. I felt like I was getting left out, but, when I would ask my two friends that I was closer to about it, they both denied anything was happening (I asked a few times). I asked another friend that I’m pretty close with about it that was online when they were all online, and she said that she had only talked to my roommate the once, at the singles event (she’s always been close to my long time friend…additionally, the way she answered, I could see her pulse was racing), and she didn’t know of anything.
One of my siblings pointed out the logical answer - these were hot times for people to be online. Right after work. Right after dinner. Etc. But then it started getting specific when one girl moved away for just a few months to take a contract. Again - all on at the same time (there are four of them), but to accommodate the girl that moved. For a bit there, I was gathering my receipts/screen shots, but I deleted them and stopped that once she moved in. The last thing I needed was her seeing that somehow and drama happening.
She and I had a good conversation on the first night that she lived with me about how I have but one thing that could hurt my feelings/is my insecurity, and that was being left out and having stuff hidden from me, and people lying to me. Just to tell me the truth always. I don’t get angry or jealous if I know what’s going on and I don’t feel like things are being hidden from me. I told her that I felt like she was becoming friends with my group of church friends behind my back, and I was really insecure about it. She insisted that wasn’t the case. We shook on being honest about friendships and whatnot, and everything seemed okay.
For those of you wondering/that don’t know - a lot of times, the autistic mind will cling to what it doesn’t know in confusion/curiosity, and obsess. This is what I explained to both friends. I don’t mean to be that way. I was literally born with this, and I’m trying to navigate it as best I can. I just need transparency and honesty always, even if you think it could hurt my feelings.
Well, things got weirder once new girl moved in. She started writing this short story that used the name of my good friends dog in it over and over (not a super common word/name). My close friend had a container in the back of her car that she had mentioned to me she finally got rid of. When roomie showed up with it, I was SHOCKED! I called her on it, and she insisted that her mom gave it to her, but, it had a very odd and specific part marked up ( I’m autistic…I remember these things…every detail….) exactly how my good friends did. I guess that my friend could have tossed it out, and my roomies mom could have done a dumpster dive 🤷‍♀️ It just doesn’t seem likely at all. My close friend and I met for coffee one day, and she got this deer in the headlights look on her face after her Facebook messenger went off, just a minute or two before I went home. Once I was alone, I saw that roomie was on Facebook messenger and was the only common friend we had online at that moment (I guess my good friend added her on fb one day).
I’m so lost on what to do, because when I ask them for honesty (which, they are allowed to be friends, I’m not like, weird about that…) they just insist that they aren’t friends. Why would roomie have moved in with me if she could have lived down the street from a friend for FREE at her parents? That’s what they both ask 🤷‍♀️ I’m at a loss right now. Like, it’s really hard living with someone that I don’t fully trust. I just need to know for my piece of mind…What do I do? Thank you for reading all of that.

Even though I am in pain, it is kinda funny, so I wanted to share.
I logged in at my camp right as a nuke went off, and thought "What a great way to start the night!" So I immediately joined the event, completely forgetting that I had been crafting when I logged off. And also neglecting to check the event location. Turns out it was in the center of the blast radius. So I spawn in with a loadout not equipped for fighting, and gear not equipped for all those rads.
So I start spamming radaway just to stay alive long enough to fast travel out of there. Guess what my crafting loadout doesn't have. Starched Genes. I lost ALL of my hard earned mutations. And it didn't even mean anything because I used that prime meat event to get out free and fast, but somebody had already started it and I spawned in surrounded by enemies with no marsupial and no combat ability so I just died anyway!
And for the cherry on top, guess who spent all their caps on camp plans yesterday? That's right, me! So that rules out Modus serums.
Very big thanks the player who sold me some for cheap. Just gotta get myself a Bird Bones and Eagle Eyes now.

Like many of you I've been replaying the base game in prep for the DLC and along with that second play through I've been hoovering up what lore I can.
One area I keep getting stuck on is the duality of Marika and Radagon. It always strange to me that they were one yet two. Was that always the case? How did it come to be, if not? I've begun forming the opinion that, despite being the same "entity", they were two distinct people, at least for a period of time. Now, this isn't a new theory, and it is one that has already been discussed at length elsewhere.
However, what if the union wasn't one that was desired, but a union forced on both of them?
The description for the Soreseals states "Solemn duty weighs upon the one beholden; not unlike a gnawing curse from which there is no deliverance." implying, to me, that duty to the Greater Will isn't always that great. We even get hints that Marika was becoming disillusioned with the whole thing.
What if, as she was delving the depths of the Golden Order, she was forced into union with Radagon by the Greater Will. It may have been that Radagon was more blindly loyal to the Greater will, and that this union was viewed as a way of tempering Marika. One might even say they were "grafted" together. Ultimately, this union might not have been wholly desired, but born out of loyalty and duty.
Marika and Radagon's Seals joined
We can see this union in the Elden Ring itself, where we see both Marika's and Radagon's seals joined in the Rings.
Then comes the Night of Black Knives, where Radagon's daughter kills Marika's son. Marika, in her grief, and perhaps in her hatred towards Radagon and his kin, attempts to undo the union of her self and Radagon by shattering the Elden Ring.
Considering we know the Elden Ring resides in hethey're body, perhaps the Shattering was Marika's attempt to be whole and free from Radagon and the Influence of the Greater Will, destroying what spiritually bound them together. But Radagon, ever loyal, attempted to fix the Elden Ring and preserve their grafted union. Perhaps as punishment, or maybe as a means of even greater control over Marika, the Greater Will bound them even tighter, where they then truly became the one entity that we see in the game.
TLDR Marika and Radagon were two separate beings forced into one spiritual entity. The Shattering was Marika's attempt to undo that grafted union. Afterwards, they were forced into not just a single spiritual entity, but a physical one as well.

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

My husband recently died. He was hard to insure due to his military related health problems. He finally got life insurance when he got his full VA disability. Too padded it didn’t pay out since he had the audacity to die less than two years after starting the policy.
While dealing with transferring our insurance policies, they talked to me about more life insurance for myself and for the kids. It always made me uncomfortable thinking about it for the kids, but knowing how hard their dad tried (applied everywhere) and how stressed it made him, it hit home when they said it protects future insurability. I don’t want them to find themselves in the same position.
My kids are 6, 13, and 15. It would be $230 per month for 20 years for a whole life policy on all 3. Last night the company told me my 13 year old got denied because she saw a grief counselor 3x after her dad’s sudden death. Kids with “mental health problems” are uninsurable. Well that makes me wanted to cancel all 4 policy applications. I read up here and it seems policies for kids are generally not recommended.
For me, I have 1.3 million term life through my job. I don’t think I’ll be leaving my job but that’s a concern with it tied to employment. They recommended another 2 million. I have about $200k in private student loans that defaulted before bankruptcy. Now that the bankruptcy is over, they’ll likely come to collect again. Hopefully they’ll try to settle and hopefully I can come up with enough. If I die, the house will likely be sold as the family member who will raise them lives in another state. Not a ton of equity, been here 7 years. They want $580 per month for $2 million 20 year term life plan. Apparently history of PTSD makes me high risk to insure…
I have $11k emergency fund in savings. $78k in thrift savings plan. Wiped a huge chunk of TSP out to pay for flood damages last year. Employer matches 5% and I’m back to contributing 5% now that bankruptcy ended.
Kids have 529 with only a few hundred in each. They do have free in-state tuition plus room and board for state schools due to their veteran father’s disability. They get the equivalent amount at non-state schools if they stay in this state. Any schools out of state get nothing. They also will get a federal stipend for 3 years during college or trade school, currently about $1300 per month. They can basically get paid to go to a state school. One heck of a backup plan, but one kid is an athlete and may choose an out of state school based on team offers.
If I die, each kid should get about $3k per month between both Social Security survivor benefits. They’d also be eligible for my federal pension as minors up to age 22 if in school but it’s unclear how much they’d get. So it’s a decent amount to raise them with.
Any recommendations for life insurance for me and the kids vs investing. Would you do 529 for them given the circumstances of something else? I want to build up money to potentially settle my private loans in the next year or two as well. Income is $260k. Federal loans recently discharged through PSLF so yay for that! My husband and I really wanted our kids to come out of college debt free since our student debt has been such a burden. I would like to be able to help with down payments on houses too if I can and was taking investing the money instead of life insurance would help with that.
Thank you so much for reading this and any suggestions.

One of my closest friends (of 10+ years) is beginning to be more difficult to deal with due to her avoidant attachment. She comes from a very broken family and has become highly independent and hard working which I admire, but can make her a bit emotionally detached, dismissive and disorganised. Planning is 10 times harder with her than with any of my other friends.
The most recent occurrence:
She insists we do monthly meetups (she’s the only friend I do this with because she wants to be organised and on top of her socials). However, she postponed our meetup last weekend to a brunch this weekend (no problem for me) and changed it to a double date which I thought was nice of her to invite our partners. But then she tried to postpone again, suggesting 10th June but I said I’ll be overseas then. She backtracked anyway and said this weekend was fine. I asked if things were ok on her end, she insisted it was fine (but as usual, not telling me any details) and said to book it in, so my partner booked a local brunch place for our double date.
Turns out she forgot to even ask her partner 🤡 and he wasn’t even free so she essentially gave me an ultimatum that either I needed to uninvite my partner or we book a double date for the 10th June (the day I already said I’m overseas for, meaning she didn’t really listen beforehand. She has a habit of doing this) and that any other time is impossible because she’s busy. I relented and asked my partner if it was ok, he didn’t mind and was happy to just drop me off at brunch this weekend. She tried to change the times again (the time she set, mind you) and then said she will pick me up 2 hours before the booking (at 6am?!) even though I told her I’ll meet her there. I asked her why since the brunch place is only 10 minutes from our homes, she said it’s to stick to her daily routine (she leaves home each day at 6am for work). I told her to just enjoy the sleep in, that I have plans the night before and wouldn’t mind the sleep in myself. But she didn’t like that, then admitted she’s crammed all weekend with lots of work to do on Sunday and needs our meetup to start earlier so she can get on with other things.
I told her that maybe we should reschedule but she insists it’s fine. Annoyed and feeling like I’m not being heard or considered, I decided to bow out. I politely told her that I’m not comfortable knowing my friend is under a lot of stress and pressure like this and I feel bad taking up her precious time, things are sounding a bit to difficult so that we try again another time. I tried to reassure her that it’s fine and suggested we just wait for next month (I suggested a few dates) and she just responded with “K”. We’ve never fought before and I’m worried tensions are high.
Some other reflections:
I find she can be quite stern and guarded when we text and plan things. And I started noticing this avoidant vibe a few years ago, one time she was an hour late to our dinner booking one time, and while I waited a public incident occurred and I was victim to it (won’t go into detail but it was highly distressing, I cried a lot and police were involved and helped me) yet when she eventually arrived she told me to get over it and that we were late to our dinner booking. I ended up cancelling and going home, not feeling well I eventually saw a therapist for PTSD from that incident and I couldn’t entirely understand her dismissive response until she reminded me of her past. She said she’s tried therapy for her avoidant attachment and childhood trauma but says she knows more than the therapists and gave up.
Since then, my family discourage me from travelling overseas with her despite her insistence to travel (they worry she’d ditch me or not look out for my safety) so I try keep things simple.
She has difficulty making it to things on time and often refuses to give explanations or open up when things are clearly too much so I tend to be her “mind reader” and say “never mind, let’s try again when you feel ready”.
I just find that planning things can be so stressful and frustrating. Yet, once we meet up it’s like fireworks and we get along so well. She’s very insightful so we can talk for hours on end, we celebrate our life achievements together and I’ve opened up a lot to her- I’d even consider her my maid of honour once I get married.
How would you deal with a friendship like this? I don’t want to hurt her but these situations are starting to eat away at me, I’m trying to be patient and nice about it but not sure what else to do.

Hello! My name is Aimee. I live in Southern California. I enjoy spending my free time at home, listening to music, playing video games, and watching movies / television. I enjoy going out to eat, attending concerts, and taking late night drives.
Looking for someone who is serious about a relationship, and nothing casual. A part that is respectful, intelligent, caring, honest, and a hard worker. Someone with a good sense of humor, strong family values, and who I am able to be comfortable around.
If anything sparked your interest...just message me on here or on discord (same username) Open to chatting and seeing where things go :)

Hi! This is going to be a long one/rant and story because I really don’t know who to talk to about this in real life because I’m not in therapy and I’m so embarrassed to be feeling this way knowing I made all the choices to be here and people are already flying in from out of state to come to our wedding. Also I’m diagnosed adhd incase any of yall are wondering what’s wrong with me once I tell you all the decisions I made to get here. I am getting married in three months and have a son who is 15 months old. My now fiance 28m and I 27f met whenever we were thirteen years old in middle school and started a tumultuous up and down / on and off again relationship. We were together all the way up until junior year in high school and we broke up. I come from a broken home and he does not. Looking back I realize how much of me staying with him and trying to keep his attention stemmed from my abandonment issues that I must have had from my own parents. After we broke up he joined a gang in my local hometown and I was still in love with him so I decided to still be involved with him even though I was not in a relationship with him. I ended up losing my virginity to him while we were not together just because I wanted to be with him and we said we were friends with benefits but really I was just in love with him and thought by doing that maybe he would want to be with me again but he didn’t and continued to sleep with other girls and do drugs. I also started doing drugs like Xanax and smoking to fit in with him and be cool. I ended up getting a horrible tattoo because one of the other girls he was also seeing had a bunch of tattoos. I dropped out of my high school college courses and ended up going to jail for marijuana in high school and got kicked out of cheer and softball. I ended up on probation and having to be drug tested for a year. Within that year after being heart broken and realizing nothing I did would make him change into who he was before he got involved in our local gang or make him want to be with me… I ended up enrolling in college and getting accepted to a university where I would move about two hours away from our home town to live on campus and study to be a nurse. While on probation, so I couldn’t really party or anything in college which was good (even though I was never really addicted to anything and it wouldn’t be that hard for me) I wanted to save money for a car so I ended up getting a job at the hooters next to my college and was in college full time and working at hooters. My sister happened to go to that same college before I did and live in that town with her ex bf and they would give me rides to and from work back to campus. Low and behold after about two semesters of me being in college and finally feeling like I was moving on from him, he came back messaging me and telling me he missed me and wanted to be with me again. I was stupid and so excited that I agreed and asked him to come see me at college where he would stay for the weekend and we would have an amazing time. I felt so good about myself doing what I was doing and being able to show my growth. Despite all that he was still able to convince me to leave school and come back to be with him and live with him and go to the college near our hometown and work at the hooters near our hometown. I had already felt like I didn’t want to be a nurse at the time because my sister who was a nurse told me you could never leave the state as a nurse if you get your license there (which she didn’t know at the time that you could) and I knew I didn’t want to stay where I was from and wanted to eventually travel. So I decided to leave and move back with him in his bedroom at his parents house where I would work at the hooters close to our home town and never enroll in the college. He would eventually break up with me while I was at work one day even though I was living with him and since I didn’t have a car he continued to take me back in forth from work and I continued to live with him and continued to be in love with him while he committed to the fact that he didn’t want to be in a relationship but wanted to marry me one day and just wasn’t ready for anything right now and still wanted to have sex with me which I did. From working at hooters I had auditioned for the calendar and ended up being really liked by the photographer and started doing some modeling from that which was super exciting for me because I always was interested in that and the pictures we took would blow up and I started getting well known in my area for modeling even though they were just pictures and I wasn’t making any money off of it. Eventually a guy came into hooters telling me about working as an exotic dancer and how much they could make and I still needed a car really badly and was desperate to get out of my ex’s (now fiance) house. So I told him I would be waitressing and that I heard the waitresses make good money there and asked him to give me a ride there one day and so he started giving me a ride everyday. The money was so good to me and the most money I had ever seen. I ended up staying in a hotel closer to the club I worked at and sometimes he would come stay with me and I would just uber to work. Eventually I had gotten a car which I was so happy about. A couple of weeks after I got a car I ended up getting sucked into human trafficking with a friend where I would live in a house with multiple girls for 6 months and go to work at the club every day of the week except Saturday and Sundays. I wasn’t doing anything extra just dancing but the money was going to some random guy. It’s crazy I know. I was stupid and young and my family were not concerned for me at all or involved in my life. unfortunately my friend is just now leaving that situation. I got out without anything no car or nothing and had nowhere to go so back to my exes I went where I decided I was going to buy a cash car again and I worked everyday like I was used to saved money and got a car. Moved to my sisters and stayed with her for a little where i decided I didn’t want to dance anymore and I got a job as a bottle service girl and then waitressing at another waitress. I continued modeling because it made me happy and I never told anyone the truth about the deep things that were happening in my life except for my now fiance. So nobody had no idea about me dancing or the human trafficking or anything. Everyone just knew I modeled. I ended up getting an apartment with some friends and One day I got the urge to go to California randomly and at my waitressing job I was handed $800 and I took it as a sign and booked a flight the next day. Where I went by myself my first time ever on a flight with no plans at all. The day I got there I got asked to be in a commercial two days later. My roommate and her friends flew out there to get me and she ended up being able to be in the commercial with me which ended up on tbs but I had to go back home to my apartment and responsibilities and couldn’t leave my roommate stranded. Even though months later we would end up getting in an argument and I’d move out and move back with my ex (now fiance) where I would continue to work and model (for free) and went back to the club to dance and then my sister ended up going to California for a travel nursing assignment and her and her bf broke up and she asked me to move with her. I had nothing else here, my ex was still saying he didn’t want to be in a relationship, he was consistently sleeping with other girls while we lived together and expected relationship things from me. I was paying for everything for him. I paid for him while he was in school for audio engineer, his gas, lunch, school clothes, shopping, I helped him open his own studio and bought his equipment and Mac for it, even though his parents were very involved in his life. I got all his family bday gifts and Christmas gifts every year. He was honestly just using me but I was so in love and blind. He encouraged me to go to California too so I had nothing else there for me, if he had told me to stay and he wanted to be with me I would’ve. I flew out on my 21st birthday and met my sister and Vegas where we would have such a great time and my ex spent that day hanging out with a girl that tried to fight me and didn’t even tell me happy birthday, I was crying in the bathroom in Vegas until my sister shook me and told me to get it together we’re in Vegas. I was so heart broken to be leaving him but he didn’t care. I got to LA and I instantly started modeling on day one I booked a photo shoot where I met a guy that reminded me of my ex (I know) but we instantly clicked and he was 7 years older than me. We ended up talking for a little bit and pursuing something even though I wasn’t ready emotionally but he didn’t really care and I was kind of star struck a little because he was a music producer for a very famous musician and he was very persistent but that’s another story. I ended up booking a music video as a main girl for my ex’s (now fiance) favorite artist. When it came out it was crazy because I felt like the universe and God was just blessing me for leaving that situation and I knew he would see it because he was so obsessed with that artist and it shook up the whole small town I was from. After that I booked a lot of cool jobs like Sephora and worked with a lot of companies, and did some music videos for other super famous artists, and walked in fashion shows and modeled for clothing brands etc. I was working all the time as an extra to pay my bills and I was meeting cool people. I was always getting invited to celebrities parties and just having such a fun time. I decided to start getting into acting instead and started going to acting school where a lot of well known celebrities also went to and I started having meetings with very popular directors and I was being mentored by famous directors and another person that created an tv entertainment channel that I won’t say here also mentored me a lot and got me a lot of meetings with these people and would go to dinners and stuff etc with a list celebrities. I truly was living the life. And coming from where I can it was almost a dream. I had gotten in a relationship my first year there with that other guy I mentioned who ended up being super possessive of me but he treated me like a queen in the sense of paying for everything, giving me a safe space to tell my feelings, open up, the sex was amazing, he would take me on trips, took me out of the country for the first time. We ended up not working out due to lifestyle differences and just being at two different places and wanting different things. He wanted to move out of the country and have a farm and I wasn’t ready to do that as I wanted to focus on my career. (But I would die to move out of the country on a farm now ironically and he is doing just that now like he said he would haha) anyway, I ended up having my own studio apartment by myself that I loved so much and was so proud of. My sister had moved to Montana and it took a lot for me to get my apartment like staying in a house with other girls for a little to sleeping in my car and at a spa for a couple days. When I would fly home or drive home to see my family I would always see my ex, everytime. We kept a friendship and sometimes I would still help him out if needed, he was interning at a church through his school for audio engineering and recording people at his studio in our hometown. By this time I was going to New York and Miami also sometimes and doing work there. I wasn’t as stressed about bills anymore. I was seeing guys every now and then but not at all interested in a relationship, my heart was still healing from the past and both my exes but mainly my first (now fiance). I was super focused on my career and optimistic, I was used to the grind and in no way ever thinking of quitting. It just wasn’t an option because I knew I would make it wherever that would be because to me that is all I had for me and all I ever knew I wanted and the only thing that saved me. Skip to around October 2019 I had found out about a girl my ex was seeing and it crushed me. He was doing with her just like he was with me though. Just “friends with benefits” I was living in my apartment in LA still and my uncle that helped raise me was getting really sick back home and put on hospice so I decided to take a trip back to see him. I would go to restaurants in my state and near my home town and people would ask to take pictures with me, and at the little ceasars drive through someone asked if I was me and stuff it was crazy because I hadn’t been home in awhile and I felt like what I was doing was finally paying off and people were recognizing me. It was surreal. I ended up going to see my ex. I had such a fear of losing him to this other girl for some reason. I was so scared he would get her pregnant or get in a serious relationship since I was gone so far away and I would never be with him, I would end up sleeping with him again and the girl found out and drove by his house mad and cussing me out and throwing stuff at me. We ended up getting in a fight which is so embarrassing and beneath me. I ended up crying to him that I wanted to be with him and don’t know why he never wanted to be with me which at this time he honestly was not even in my playing field anymore. He told me if I wanted to be with him I had to move back to my hometown.. my heart dropped to my stomach and I knew it wasn’t what I was supposed to do but I said okay… all because this is what I had wanted all those years. I decided to stay where the next two years all I would think about everyday was I was making the wrong decision and needed to go back to my life. My hometown had nothing for me.. COVID hit a couple months after me being there and we were terrified. We ended up getting everything out of my apartment and moving into a house around the corner from his parents. I had to tell him how I liked to communicate now without yelling and stuff which I learned from the boyfriend I had in LA and that I wasn’t going to put up with that disrespect but he never listened. Eventually everything went back to normal. I ended up going back to the club again dancing because I didn’t want to go backward and model here. He never wanted me to go back to LA even for a little bit even though that’s where my career and heart was so I had no idea what to do with my life. I started waitressing as well and getting back on my adhd meds. People started pressuring us to get pregnant and we tried for a year and 6 months. The month I found out I was pregnant before I knew, I quit my job and decided I was going to move back and get my life back. Two days later I found out I was pregnant…. Finally after trying for over a year. Our relationship was toxic just like the past he always yelled, I could never talk to him about my feelings without him saying I was trying to fight, he spit in my face once, threatened me, put his hands on me, he would tell me he was going to take my baby away from me as soon as I had it. I started asking him about getting married while I was pregnant and the proposal wasn’t even that. He got mad at me for asking one day and walked in the room and handed me the ring. It didn’t fit because I was pregnant & it was $27 (not that that matters but the proposal sucked).. he drained both my bank accounts and they closed it, charged my credit card up and put me in debt, he has not let me do anything I want to do like school or anything. He is so bad with money. He has an action figure addiction and at one point was spending 3k on action figures every month and turned one of the rooms in our house into a collection room so I had to take everything out of my closet and put my sons crib in there for the first year of his life. we have good times and I feel comfortable with him. He knows everything about me but he doesn’t respect me and sometimes I feel like he is intimidated by me. The sex isn’t good at all we always just ask “do you want to have sex” he never gives oral or foreplay, I never get pleasure. He’s an amazing dad though and loves his son. We have the most sweet and beautiful little boy now who I love so much and he loves him also. He’s very attentive to his son. But I still feel unheard. I can’t talk about my feelings. If I do it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t change anything. He is so defensive and we never communicate for a solution it’s always just pointing fingers. I have started yelling again because I’m so used to it now and I hate it because I grew up like that and I finally grew out of it until I got back with him and recently started again and now he throws it in my face and knows I begged him not to do it forever but he never stopped and now I am too. I’ve asked him to take me to the movies and he hasn’t still. I just ask for more romance and stuff but it just feels like I have a roommate. I have nothing now. I had my car and we traded it in for a new car that he wanted. I always dreamed of the next car I’d get once I paid it off but he got it & it’s in his name now so I paid it off for nothing. I’m driving around his dream car. I’ve been planning our wedding since I birthed our son and everything is going good. Money is tight. He works at the church now full time and makes about 45k a year or so, my son has been waiting to start daycare for awhile so I have been home with him. I’ve tried starting jobs multiple times but he is against it unless it’s super fast money like going to the club which I am so repulsed by and absolutely hate it now. I tried going back to college but my old college won’t release my transcripts for fasfa because I owe them money. I started cosmetology school a few months ago which he was all for but two months in freaked out and him and his mom guilt tripped me that we can’t handle this right now and he was having a hard time doing the night time routine for the baby while I was at school so I had to leave and now owe that’s school for my kit unless I enroll again in 128 days. I also miss modeling so much and sometimes think I can start again but it’s been five years. My body is so different too after a baby. Everything I want is a no go. Especially moving out of our hometown. He says he wants to but I don’t think he does. We are constantly at his moms and dads and they tell us all the time we aren’t moving anywhere which is really hard for me as this place is super toxic for my soul. Anytime I get money he spends it. Anytime I save money he spends it. Even if it does go towards our bills. His action figure habit is almost nonexistent now and he has grown a lot in the past few months from that since I demanded my son have his own bedroom after his first bday and all his figures are in boxes now and told him he could turn the shed into his man cave. He says we can’t save because we have nothing to save after bills but I believe in saving anything even $5 a paycheck. It’s doable. I grew up poor so this is nothing to me but after living the lifestyle I lived in LA and going out with guys that respected me and cherished me it’s hard. I know nobody is perfect but we are about to get married and I’m scared… I have nothing though anymore. I’ve threatened to leave a couple times and he says he will take me to court and take my baby. I’m scared he might. I don’t want my son to be angry like him or not respect women how he does. In public he’s a saint. He also has a very supportive family that it’s almost toxic. They all blame me for his anger issues and say I make him that way. But he’s been punching walls since I met him in 8th grade. I know it’s not because of me. But I have nobody else and nowhere else to go. No money. No car. I’m at the bottom again where I was before. Only difference is now I have a son. And we are getting married in three months and I can’t call it off. I am older now and looking back on my life I realize he maybe truly never loved me and I was just so desperate for love. I got myself here nobody else. I accepted everything, even when my gut told me not to. ( he is not just horrible, he’s a great person just with some bad qualities like everyone but I’m tired of feeling stuck with someone that never truly wanted me and doesn’t care to grow in some ways or show me )
Please help.. what do I do?

We Started sleeping training for my 4-month-old last week and is going great. We wait for the “drowsy but awake” moment and put her on the crib, pat her a bit and then wait next to her until she crashes.
She has already changed her habits. After that, naps on the crib became a reality (my main goal, totally life-changing).
When we watch her on the monitor, we can see that she wakes up and soothes herself back to sleep again a few times.
My questions are:
1) is it really necessary to make her fall asleep by herself on the crib, since it is pretty clear that she can soothe herself back to sleep when wakes up, and since bouncing her is way faster and stress-free? (when putting awake in the crib, she keeps complaining for around 15/25 minutes before crashing). Is there a risk of regression if we stop doing it?
2) will her night training be affected if we do not follow the “drowsy but awake” strategy for the naps, and put her directly crashed on the crib?
3) if keeping the “drowsy but awake”, when should we stop patting her and staying in the room? A few days? Weeks? How to know when just to put her and leave?
Tkssss in advance

Somebody please tell me how this is okay or what this means?
So my ex and I broke up in July last year. We are both in new relationships. We reconnected in January when I decided new year new me and didn’t want to hold grudges and ended up forgiving my ex after the shit he pulled on me when he broke up with me. Mind you we met on hinge and dated for 3 months. So nothing long term but still emotional connection was built and had my heartbroken.
Backstory: He broke up with me as it was getting too serious and then 2 weeks later got in a serious relationship and 6 weeks later he saw me at the gym, texted me that he saw me and misses me and wants to hang out. I absolutely lost my shit as he didn’t mention this new gf the 2 weeks we were talking and pretty much just blocked him. Fast forward new years and we both reconnected and forgave each other and tried to be friends.
We would text here and there but nothing too deep. But he would always drop life updates I didn’t ask for and I didn’t care too much to be involved. I guess he needed a listening ear 🤷🏻‍♀️ mind you I am now in a new relationship and he is still in that relationship that he got in 2 weeks after breaking up with me…
Fast forward to last Monday after no talk and haven’t seen each other since last July. We ran into each other at the gym and we actually talked but he tried to drop life updates on me and asked if I was still with my boyfriend… I didn’t say much but my ex dropped sorry I haven’t texted I just got back from a trip with gf to Italy! I was like wow fun…. And then he still wanted to talk but I told him I gotta go as I was here with a friend and walked away. Told me to text him but I said to him text me and maybe we can get a group to go play soccer or something. Just a friendly gesture…
He texted me later that night saying it was great seeing me today. I did not respond and was thinking he won’t reach out. 4 days later he texts me and asked if I was free this week. I didn’t text him as i didn’t want to. Mind you when we were together he would ghost me for multiple days… fast forward to today…. He double texts me and wrote “giving me a taste of my own medicine” as I didn’t respond. I ended up texting him saying I’m not free and that I hope he has a good holiday weekend.
He responds with thanks you too and drops info with his life and his gf name… blah blah blah
I did not respond and am just surprised and concerned for him as we re both in relationships. I have voiced this to my boyfriend and have been honest with him regarding this and we both think this is weird.
Am curious of what everyone thinks of this? What is the meaning of this? I know being friends with exes is dangerous but I didn’t think it would be this. Betting that he didn’t tell his gf about seeing/reaching out to me because he thinks this is harmless.

Hear me out first. A lot of Pinays who are 18 and above are offering video call sex (VCS) and selling nudes (pussy and boob pics) for 100 pesos per 2-3 pictures. Madami sa Telegram at kahit dito sa reddit. Now, imagine if the average daily customers per girl is around 15-20 men, the total earnings would be around 1500-2000 pesos per day. That doesn't even constitute an 8 hour workshift. Pagpalagay na natin na sa loob lang ng 4 na oras, ilang tigang ang gusto makakita ng nudes and are willing to pay wholeheartedly even if pwede naman magsearch for free. Let's assume that a content seller gets around 50 men within 8 hours per day, if she sells her pics for 100 pesos, that would mean earning around 5000 pesos. Take note that according to PSA, the male population in the country is higher (Of the 108.67 million household population in 2020, 55.02 million (50.6%) were males while 53.65 million (49.4%) were females), inshort madaming customer segment.
Definition of terms: 1. Escort (sex in exchange of money; mas sosyal pakinggan ang escort para hindi naman degrading) 2. Pops (number of orgasm; example: 1 pop = one orgasm)
Let's now move on to the escorts. Since not everyone who sells their pics and vids are open for meetups, the escorts are the ones who are willing to do the deed aside from selling contents. Now, an average escort offers sex services with the following rates: 3k- 1 pop 5k -2 pops to unli pops (depends on who you're dealing with) *Pano pag nag avail ka ng 3 hours for 1 pop pero nilabasan ka na after 20 minutes? Answer: E di tapos na ang session.
Now, some model body type escorts/foreign escorts working in Ph has the following rates: 25k pesos- 3 hours unli pops 30k pesos- unli pops overnight And some professionals or high calibre university students who are hiding their identities para hindi madiskubre at sumikat even reaches 50k pesos for 3 hours.
With that information, let's compute: If the average escort has 2 clients per day. If the rate is 3k pesos, that person can earn 6k pesos per day or 30k pesos per week if she agrees to meet up 2 clients daily. Okay, lets reduce it to 1 client per day, that would mean earning 3k pesos per day or 15k pesos a week. Mind you, the average wage in Metro Manila is 570 pesos per day or 2850 pesos per week and you need to render a total of 40 hours to earn that amount whereas pag pekpek ang puhunan mo, you only need to lay down for an hour or two cause let's face it, a typical guy doesn't even last for an hour. Pag yan nag-cum, tapos na ang service kahit pa nakaka-10 minutes of a 3 hour session ka pa lang.
Let us now compute further. Let's say you're that university student with reputation and you classify yourself as the ultimate prize, if your rate for 3 hours is around 30-50k pesos with unlimited pops, say you have a total of 8 clients for the month, that will generate you an income of mininum 240k pesos for the month (30k per customer) or max of 400k pesos (50k per customer) in a month. Magpapakantot ka lang, ang laki ng take home mo. An average lawyer can easily make 5-10k per day pero ang daming pagdadaanan somehow.
Let's see the bigger picture, sabihin na nating there are around 2,000,000 pinays who are offering 3k pesos per 1 pop, if they do it for 5 days weekly, the total income would be the following: A. 2,000,000 pinays for 3k unli pops per day generates 6,000,000 pesos. B. 2,000,000 pinays for 3k unli pops per 5 days a week generates 30,000,000 pesos C. 2,000,000 pinays for 3k unli pops per 5 days a week for a month (20 working days) generates 120,000,000 pesos.
Excluding weekends, we have a total of 260 working days per year. If 2,000,000 pinays would use pekpek once a day for a year, that would generate a total of 1,440,000,000 billion pesos, tax free. The annual GDP of the National Capital Region in the year 2023 is 7,572,347.073 billion pesos. The pekpek income of 1,440,000,000 billion pesos alone constitutes around 19% of the annual GDP of NCR.
Hindi kaya pekpek ang solusyon sa kahirapan ng Pilipinas?

Hi! Can anyone recommend a musician that might be interested in playing for 2-3 hours during a restaurant’s first night? Pay is about $100 per hour and they would also get free meal/drinks and a gift card to use at the restaurant for the future.
Thanks!

Like many of you I've been replaying the base game in prep for the DLC and along with that second play through I've been hoovering up what lore I can.
One area I keep getting stuck on is the duality of Marika and Radagon. It always strange to me that they were one yet two. Was that always the case? How did it come to be, if not? I've begun forming the opinion that, despite being the same "entity", they were two distinct people, at least for a period of time. Now, this isn't a new theory, and it is one that has already been discussed at length elsewhere.
However, what if the union wasn't one that was desired, but a union forced on both of them?
The description for the Soreseals states "Solemn duty weighs upon the one beholden; not unlike a gnawing curse from which there is no deliverance." implying, to me, that duty to the Greater Will isn't always that great. We even get hints that Marika was becoming disillusioned with the whole thing.
What if, as she was delving the depths of the Golden Order, she was forced into union with Radagon by the Greater Will. It may have been that Radagon was more blindly loyal to the Greater will, and that this union was viewed as a way of tempering Marika. One might even say they were "grafted" together. Ultimately, this union might not have been wholly desired, but born out of loyalty and duty.
Marika and Radagon's Seals joined
We can see this union in the Elden Ring itself, where we see both Marika's and Radagon's seals joined in the Rings.
Then comes the Night of Black Knives, where Radagon's daughter kills Marika's son. Marika, in her grief, and perhaps in her hatred towards Radagon and his kin, attempts to undo the union of her self and Radagon by shattering the Elden Ring.
Considering we know the Elden Ring resides in hethey're body, perhaps the Shattering was Marika's attempt to be whole and free from Radagon and the Influence of the Greater Will, destroying what spiritually bound them together. But Radagon, ever loyal, attempted to fix the Elden Ring and preserve their grafted union. Perhaps as punishment, or maybe as a means of even greater control over Marika, the Greater Will bound them even tighter, where they then truly became the one entity that we see in the game.
TLDR Marika and Radagon were two separate beings forced into one spiritual entity. The Shattering was Marika's attempt to undo that grafted union. Afterwards, they were forced into not just a single spiritual entity, but a physical one as well.

Live Music

• Jim Lamb, Mill Top Tavern, 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm
• Smokin' Joe Schauer, Tradewinds Lounge, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
• Jim Johnston, Pierre's Pub, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
• Reggie Starrett, Mill Top Tavern, 4:30 pm – 8:30 pm
• Burn Unit, The Tides Oyster Co. & Grill, 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
• Evan D, Guy Harvey Resort, 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
• Gary Douglas Campbell, O.C. White's Seafood, 5:30 pm – 8:30 pm
• Adam Latiff, Pierre's Pub, 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm
• Rob Peck, Fuzion 904 Eatery, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
• Alex Richman, Fuzion 904 Eatery, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
• Sam Pacetti, Old Coast Ales, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
• Those Guys, Music and Art by the Sea 2024, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Wednesday Pier Farmers Market

• The Wednesday Pier Farmers Market at the St. Johns County Pier offers fresh fruit, vegetables, bread, and local arts and crafts every week**.** With a number of different vendors, visitors can find a variety of unique, quality goods. Each item is handcrafted by these dedicated artists, and the food is locally grown and handpicked.
• This beachside farmers market makes for a great outing on Wednesday mornings. Visitors can browse the huge selection of locally grown goods and then afterward take a stroll along scenic St. Augustine Beach. Farmers markets boost the local economy by giving local merchants an outlet to sell their wares. They also benefit the community by offering fresh, local, seasonal foods.
• Admission: FREE
• When: 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. every Wednesday
• Where: St. Johns County Pier Park is located at the St. Johns County Ocean Pier at 350 A1A Beach Blvd in St. Augustine Beach, Florida 32080

Music and Art by the Sea 2024

• Season 22 of Music and Art by the Sea begins May 22, 2024, and continues each Wednesday through June 25, 2024, from 3:00 to 9:00 p.m. After taking a break during the summer's hottest weeks, the event starts again and runs for seven weeks from August 14 through September 25, 2024.
• Music and Art by the Sea begins each Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. and features a weekly art show, live music, and the option to purchase dinner from a local food truck — all on beautiful St. Augustine Beach. DJ Dan from VIP Entertainment will start playing tunes each week at 5:30 p.m.
• From 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., attendees can enjoy live music performed by a local musician or group. A different musical act performs each week so that many genres are represented throughout the summer — from jazz and R&B to disco, Americana, folk, classic rock, and pop, among others.
• Guests are welcome to bring coolers and picnic baskets. Chairs and bug spray are encouraged. Chairs can be placed in the pavilion as early as 4:00 p.m. Each week, from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. (or when the food runs out) at least one food truck from the Village Garden Food Truck Park will offer menu items for snacks or dinner.
• The bands and food trucks are subject to change. For updated information check the Music by the Sea website or the event's Facebook Page.
• Admission: Free
• When: 3:00 to 9:00 p.m. on select Wednesdays from May 22 through September 24, 2024. Chairs cannot be placed in the pavilion before 4:00 p.m. Music by the Sea will take a break after the June 25 show, and start up again on August 14. A local art show opens each week at 3:00 p.m. The food trucks start serving at 5:00 p.m. DJ Dan plays tunes beginning at 5:30 p.m., and the live music concert starts at 7:00 and goes until 9:00 p.m.
• Where: St. Augustine Beach Pier is located at 350 A1A Beach Blvd. St. Augustine Beach, FL 32080.

Improv Night at Colonial Oak Music Park

• Trained comedy professionals dive headfirst into any challenge the audience throws at them in this unscripted, interactive comedy experience held each Wednesday at Colonial Oak Music Park in Historic Downtown.
• Suitable for the whole family, the show is always clean and never mean. Staged by First Coast Comedy, Improv Night features comedians trained by actor and comedian, Alex Grindeland, and veteran improv comedian, David Bogan.
• Admission: There is no set price, and ticket donations of $10.00 to $25.00 are appreciated. Tickets can be purchased in advance, or on the day of the show, for this general admission seating event.
• When: 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. Wednesdays through 2024
• Where: The Colonial Oak Music Park is located at 21 St. George St. in Historic Downtown.

Joanna Connor At Cafe Eleven

• Cafe Eleven presents Joanna Connor in their listening room on Monday, May 22, 2024, at 8:00 p.m.
• Demonstrated by successful albums like Fight, Living on the Road, and Rock and Roll Gypsy, Joanna Connor, a singer, songwriter, and guitarist, proves she is more than just a blues vocalist.
• During her early years, she collaborated with renowned musicians like Samy Lawhorn, Otis Rush, and Magic Slim, among others. Her reputation grew, leading to shared stages with icons such as Etta James, Jay Hawkins, and other sensational bands.
• Joanna Connor remains a dynamic performer, captivating audiences with her impassioned voice, lyrically charged compositions, and raw emotional delivery.
• Admission: Tickets cost $25.00 if purchased in advance and $30.00 on the day of the show. Reserved table seating costs $35.00. Purchase tickets in advance online or purchase them at Café Eleven on the day of the show.
• When: Monday, May 22, 2024, at 8:00 p.m.
• Where: Cafe Eleven, located at 501 A1A Beach Boulevard, St. Augustine, Florida, 32080.

I am unable to post the sources because they are getting flagged as spam since they are all similar in name. So please visit this site for the list.
Written out urls here tinyurl.com/yjkw32kd

For future events please visit the Discord.

https://discord.gg/NG4eZSWAgR

Live Music

• Jim Lamb, Mill Top Tavern, 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm
• Smokin' Joe Schauer, Tradewinds Lounge, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
• Jim Johnston, Pierre's Pub, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
• Reggie Starrett, Mill Top Tavern, 4:30 pm – 8:30 pm
• Burn Unit, The Tides Oyster Co. & Grill, 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
• Evan D, Guy Harvey Resort, 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
• Gary Douglas Campbell, O.C. White's Seafood, 5:30 pm – 8:30 pm
• Adam Latiff, Pierre's Pub, 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm
• Rob Peck, Fuzion 904 Eatery, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
• Alex Richman, Fuzion 904 Eatery, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
• Sam Pacetti, Old Coast Ales, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm
• Those Guys, Music and Art by the Sea 2024, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Wednesday Pier Farmers Market

• The Wednesday Pier Farmers Market at the St. Johns County Pier offers fresh fruit, vegetables, bread, and local arts and crafts every week**.** With a number of different vendors, visitors can find a variety of unique, quality goods. Each item is handcrafted by these dedicated artists, and the food is locally grown and handpicked.
• This beachside farmers market makes for a great outing on Wednesday mornings. Visitors can browse the huge selection of locally grown goods and then afterward take a stroll along scenic St. Augustine Beach. Farmers markets boost the local economy by giving local merchants an outlet to sell their wares. They also benefit the community by offering fresh, local, seasonal foods.
• Admission: FREE
• When: 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. every Wednesday
• Where: St. Johns County Pier Park is located at the St. Johns County Ocean Pier at 350 A1A Beach Blvd in St. Augustine Beach, Florida 32080

Music and Art by the Sea 2024

• Season 22 of Music and Art by the Sea begins May 22, 2024, and continues each Wednesday through June 25, 2024, from 3:00 to 9:00 p.m. After taking a break during the summer's hottest weeks, the event starts again and runs for seven weeks from August 14 through September 25, 2024.
• Music and Art by the Sea begins each Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. and features a weekly art show, live music, and the option to purchase dinner from a local food truck — all on beautiful St. Augustine Beach. DJ Dan from VIP Entertainment will start playing tunes each week at 5:30 p.m.
• From 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., attendees can enjoy live music performed by a local musician or group. A different musical act performs each week so that many genres are represented throughout the summer — from jazz and R&B to disco, Americana, folk, classic rock, and pop, among others.
• Guests are welcome to bring coolers and picnic baskets. Chairs and bug spray are encouraged. Chairs can be placed in the pavilion as early as 4:00 p.m. Each week, from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. (or when the food runs out) at least one food truck from the Village Garden Food Truck Park will offer menu items for snacks or dinner.
• The bands and food trucks are subject to change. For updated information check the Music by the Sea website or the event's Facebook Page.
• Admission: Free
• When: 3:00 to 9:00 p.m. on select Wednesdays from May 22 through September 24, 2024. Chairs cannot be placed in the pavilion before 4:00 p.m. Music by the Sea will take a break after the June 25 show, and start up again on August 14. A local art show opens each week at 3:00 p.m. The food trucks start serving at 5:00 p.m. DJ Dan plays tunes beginning at 5:30 p.m., and the live music concert starts at 7:00 and goes until 9:00 p.m.
• Where: St. Augustine Beach Pier is located at 350 A1A Beach Blvd. St. Augustine Beach, FL 32080.

Improv Night at Colonial Oak Music Park

• Trained comedy professionals dive headfirst into any challenge the audience throws at them in this unscripted, interactive comedy experience held each Wednesday at Colonial Oak Music Park in Historic Downtown.
• Suitable for the whole family, the show is always clean and never mean. Staged by First Coast Comedy, Improv Night features comedians trained by actor and comedian, Alex Grindeland, and veteran improv comedian, David Bogan.
• Admission: There is no set price, and ticket donations of $10.00 to $25.00 are appreciated. Tickets can be purchased in advance, or on the day of the show, for this general admission seating event.
• When: 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. Wednesdays through 2024
• Where: The Colonial Oak Music Park is located at 21 St. George St. in Historic Downtown.

Joanna Connor At Cafe Eleven

• Cafe Eleven presents Joanna Connor in their listening room on Monday, May 22, 2024, at 8:00 p.m.
• Demonstrated by successful albums like Fight, Living on the Road, and Rock and Roll Gypsy, Joanna Connor, a singer, songwriter, and guitarist, proves she is more than just a blues vocalist.
• During her early years, she collaborated with renowned musicians like Samy Lawhorn, Otis Rush, and Magic Slim, among others. Her reputation grew, leading to shared stages with icons such as Etta James, Jay Hawkins, and other sensational bands.
• Joanna Connor remains a dynamic performer, captivating audiences with her impassioned voice, lyrically charged compositions, and raw emotional delivery.
• Admission: Tickets cost $25.00 if purchased in advance and $30.00 on the day of the show. Reserved table seating costs $35.00. Purchase tickets in advance online or purchase them at Café Eleven on the day of the show.
• When: Monday, May 22, 2024, at 8:00 p.m.
• Where: Cafe Eleven, located at 501 A1A Beach Boulevard, St. Augustine, Florida, 32080.

I am unable to post the sources because they are getting flagged as spam since they are all similar in name. So please visit this site for the list.
Written out urls here tinyurl.com/yjkw32kd

For future events please visit the Discord.

https://discord.gg/NG4eZSWAgR

Hello fellow writers! I am once again on the hunt for a roleplay partner 🤗
I want to do a medieval, arranged marriage roleplay where are characters are from rival nations, and perhaps even from different fantasy races. Enemies to lovers is one of my all time favorite plots.
I'd like the story to incorporate the differences between our character's cultures, have them drop their hatred and prejudices for one another, learn from the other and grow closer as their romance develops within their forced marriage.
Let's play up politics, love triangles, espionage, drama, life, death, magic, anything we can think of.
A little about me, I'm 30 female from the States. I've been roleplaying on and off for about 13 plus years. I'm semi to advanced literate, depending on the plot, the scene and my partner. I write mostly in 3rd person, I'm comfortable with themes that are 🌠romantic🌶 in nature, and discord is my preferred platform for roleplaying. I prefer my partner to be 21 plus and also in the States, though I'm pretty flexible in that regard.
I do prefer stories that are long term, that can span over years of the character's lives with numerous plot points throughout. It always creates a more in depth story! I love chatting outside of the roleplay as well 💖
I'm a mom to a one year old. My day job is very easy, so I'm free on and off for most of my working hours, evenings and the occasional middle of the night feeding lol I'm in desperate need for some creativity in my life
Please send me a message detailing some of your ideas for the story so we can discuss more. I really look forward to hearing from you! Let's get creative!

The HRRFY.
It’s the horror movie festival where something genuinely fucked happens every year. And I mean every year.
Like, there are some screenings that unleash hordes of bats while the movie is playing. You're free to leave whenever you want, but the movie will still play for 2 hours and 15 minutes.
Other screenings hire actors to turn at you and scream at some point in the movie. You have no idea when, or how many times.
It's a festival where the word "illegal" can't even begin to describe what happens. You'd only attend if you were a young, stupid edgelord like me who was trying to prove he was hardcore to his friends.
Trust me. DO NOT GO.
You have nothing to prove to anyone. Don't be stupid.
Wait for the lamer film versions to come out streaming. That's what everyone else does. They're neutered edits but they're fine.
All they lack is the real gleaming thing everyone wants to see at HRRFY, but who cares. At least you don’t get traumatized. At least you’re not risking your life.
Anyway, if you really want to know what attending HRRFY is like. I’ll be quick and summarize the one screening I went to. It was the 20th anniversary, and I was lucky enough to get in.
***
I had signed up for the HRRFY mailing list, and joined the subreddit. Through a series of cryptic online emails I solved a sequence of riddles and was entered in the lottery for a HRRFY entry.
Lady Luck took a shine to me, because one day in my mailbox, I received a physical ticket. I had done it.
I was going.
The actual ‘ticket’ was a black USB key that announced the location of the festival the night before (which I won’t disclose here) and it did force me to pay for a very expensive flight in order for me to make it on time.
You see, to prevent getting shut down, the location of HRRFY changes every year. Some years the local police have managed to stop it, but for the most part, authorities have given up. What’s the point of arresting or charging anyone, if all the organizers and attendees actually want to be there?
Upon arrival, I had to pick between three participating theaters.
Based on title alone, I decided to go see “Many Drownings” (directed by Oleksander Gołański.) It was in the theater that was furthest away from the downtown core, which meant it was likely the one where the craziest shit was bound to happen.
That’s what I came here for right?
I lined up a solid two hours before the screening like everyone else. The entire line was jittering, just vibrating with excited twenty-somethings. Rumors flew left and right.
“I heard they’re going to force everyone to take acid.”
“I heard an actor’s gonna run in and shotgun the ceiling.”
“I heard they’re going to disappear like four more people this year. At this screening!”
Each year people disappeared. And each year the same people were ‘found.’ And yes this is the worst part, and why should never, ever, ever go to this event.
Again I will repeat myself. DO NOT GO.
No one has ever truly gone 'missing' at HRRFY in any legal or physical sense, because every missing person always shows up a day later, convinced that they are fine—refusing to elaborate further.
There are some small support groups for people who have family members who had gone to HRRFY, and came back irrevocably changed after being ‘found.’
These few unlucky people lose all semblance of personality. They don’t want interviews, or help, or therapy, or contact of any kind. And they never, ever want to talk about what they saw.
Some HRRFY fans think that these ‘found’ people were body-snatched. Cloned in a lab or replaced by a cyborg, or something stupid like that.
But I think there’s a far simpler explanation. The ‘found’ are still the same people. They're just terrified. They got shaken by something that shattered the foundation of their mind, body and soul. They got too scared.
They got HRRFY’d.
***
I should mention I had a cough the day I went. And I was worried my sickly appearance might give me trouble at the airport.
So I invested in an intense double N95 mask which I wore for the whole flight, and continued to wear even at the screening of “Many Drownings.”
It made my face hot and uncomfortable, but it still didn’t stop me from yelling “excuse me, excuse me!” as I ran to snag a seat in the back of the theater.
I always preferred sitting in the far back. You get a good view of the whole screen, and a good view of the whole audience.
Beside me sat a big dude named Sylvester, who apparently flew all the way from Australia to attend HRRFY.
“Worth the full Seventeen hours mate! It’s gonna be epic!” he dropped a massive camping backpack beside me, which I assume contained all of his luggage.
The lights dimmed, and the production company logos started to play.
The whispering, giggling and suspense all stacked upon each other to create an electric feeling in the air. I was giddy. It's like the entire audience was embarking on a massive roller coaster.
The anticipation was the best part for sure. It might have been the only good part.
Then the movie started.
It was a wide shot of a gray, stormy sea. The waves were massive, and the thunderclouds were looming. There was no land visible in any direction.
All we could hear was the sound of waves foaming, swirling, and crashing over and over. Lightning crackled. Rain poured. The camera held perfectly still over this storm as if it was mounted on a perfectly hovering drone. A drone so resilient that it didn’t waver at all.
I thought it had to be CGI.
The shot held like this for the next few moments. Everyone sat glued to their seats. Everyone was thinking the same thing.
What’s going to happen? How are they going to scare us?
People chuckled. People cheered. People wanted to tease whatever was going to happen—to happen already.
But nothing did.
Five, ten, maybe fifteen minutes went by without any change. People started snoring.
I looked beside me and saw that Sylvester—the most excited audience member of them all—had fallen totally asleep. The jet lag must’ve gotten to him.
Then I peered beyond the rest of the audience members and saw other people snoozing too. Heads were keeled over, some people were curled in their seats, some had even spilled out into the aisle and were dozing on the floor.
I looked above the bright screen, at the huge vents in the corner of the theater. I saw a faint white gas emerging from the vents.
Holy shit. What have we been breathing? I tightened the straps on my N95 mask, and made my breathing shallower.
The gas must have been pumping since the opening credits—because how else would an audience of two hundred people all fall asleep?
As I moved my hand through the air in front of me, I could sense the thickness. It was definitely hazier than usual. I took the scarf off my neck and wrapped it around my mouth as well.
Then I spotted movement in front of the screen.
It was a tall blonde man, wearing a black trenchcoat and military-grade gas mask. Beside him arrived six hazmat suits who started pointing at various audience members.
I slunk in my chair, pretending to sleep like everyone else.
Two hazmats walked over to the front row and picked out a sleeping guy in flannel. They lifted flannel up, under the armpits and by his ankles, carrying him between them both like a hammock.
The hazmats walked back up to the stage, where the blonde leader inspected the flannel man and tapped his head. Something was approved?
The hazmats began to swing flannel back and forth, as if they were getting ready to toss him. Despite their masks, I could hear a very muffled, very distant countdown.
“Three…”
“Two…”
“One…”
The flannel audience member was tossed into the screen.
I literally watched him fly into the image of stormy waves … andfallinto them. The flannel man sank into the gray water like a rock, leaving a few bubbles and foam. A wave came crashing down. All trace of him was gone.
What the fuck.
All six hazmats began grabbing more audience members with much more urgency. It became a minute-long process where they would pick the sleeping person up, bring them beside the screen, and then swing-toss them into it.
How was this possible?
I turned slightly to see if there was a projector above me, and realized there was none. Which meant maybe there was no screen on stage.
Which meant … maybe it was a portal?
I tried to wake Sylvester by shaking him. I pinched his leg and arm a bunch.
He was out cold.
The hazmats started grabbing audience members from the middle rows now. They were emptying the whole theater. What the hell was I supposed to do?
I waited until they grabbed another batch, only a few rows down from me. When all hazmats had their backs turned—I broke into a run.
With my left arm, I tightly gripped my mask and scarf against my face, while my right arm vaulted me over seat after seat.
I had never breathed so hard—through so much fabric—in my life.
The hazmats all turned to me. “Hey! Hey!” But their hands were full with their next victims.
I ran all the way down the aisle, to the big exit sign on the left. My heartbeat filled my head. My plan was to dropkick through the exit door.
I imagined myself breaking through like some flying gazelle.
I jumped.
I angled my kick.
It might as well have been a brick wall. I fell ass-first to the ground, followed by my head. Of course the door was locked.
Through a muffled mask I heard a sneering scoff.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Above me stood the one wearing a trenchcoat. I could see his piercing gray eyes through his gas mask.
I rolled aside and tried to run by him. He lifted a foot and tripped me without effort.
My forehead bashed into an empty seat. It dazed me.
The blonde leader bent down and grabbed me by the neck, tearing away my scarf and mask.
“No! No!”
A sweet, ether-like smell filled my nostrils. I did my best to hold my breath, but I could already feel myself getting light-headed.
The other hazmats joined in, grabbing me from all sides. Even if I had the strength to struggle, there was no escape now.
Above me, all I could see was the dark theater ceiling, and some of the light behind me from the cinema screen.
“Three…”
“Two…”
“No. Please. Don’t do thi—”
SPLASH.
I was plunged deep into cold, wet chaos. My head was completely underwater.
Gagging. Bubbles. Spinning.
I fought for dear life, dog-paddling like a maniac.
Churning. Freezing. Panic.
For a second, my head popped above the water. I inhaled all the air my lungs could muster. I stared across a vast, violent ocean.
An enormous thirty foot wave came in my direction.
My whole body lifted higher and higher as the wave approached. I did my best to tread water. It seemed to be working.
Then a series of smaller waves arrived and smacked my chest.
SPLASH.
Spinning. Kicking. Flipping.
My view alternated between the pitch dark ocean beneath me, and the moonlit night sky above.
Again I swam to the surface, popped my head out. Ravenously sucked in air.
There was a small lull in the water.
Around me I now registered the other theater goers. Most of them were lying face-down or sinking … but a few were flapping about like me, fighting for their life.
And above all of us, a floating white shape.
It was painfully bright, I had to lift one hand to look at it.
My jaw dropped.
It was the movie screen, hanging completely still in the air. It showed a dark, empty theater. The exact same theater we all occupied moments ago.
It was tremendously high, above all of our heads. There was no way of reaching it.
Then I saw another thirty foot wave come our way. It grazed the bottom of the screen.
I knew what had to be done.
***
One of the theater goers happened to be on a college swim team. She was the first one able to traverse one of the giant waves and climb into the screen.
Once she was up there, she found a firehose in the theater and reeled it out to us like a rope.
One by one, we swam as hard as we could, praying to God we could reach the rope. Everyone’s energy was sapped. Your body can only sustain itself on adrenaline and fear for so long.
By some miracle, five of us got out.
I was the last.
I climbed the rope coughing and vomiting. I had swallowed so much water that my stomach felt swollen.
When I reached the top and they pulled me into the screen, I sobbed. I couldn’t stop crying.
My life had flashed countless times before my eyes. In bubbling, suffocating visions, I saw both my parents and my brother. I saw my highschool graduation. I saw my favorite Christmas from when I was six years old.
I had almost lost all of that. I had lost almost everything.
On the dirty, carpeted theater floor, I lay with my face down, savoring the fact that I now lay on a hard surface. God bless ground. God bless this filthy, popcorn-strewn ground.
Beside me I heard bantering, hugging, the wringing of wet clothes. Sylvester was the second last to be saved, and he was particularly vocal.
“Wooooooaaaaahh!” He came and drummed me on the back, lifted me up. “Oh my god dude! Holy shit!”
I sat on my knees, wiping the tears and snot off my mouth.
Sylvester clapped his hands, held his face and screamed some more.
“Holy shit dude! That was so fucking scary! Like literally people were dying beside us. Like I SAW people die!”
I nodded, shivering in my drenched clothes. “ I know it was—”
“—That was craaaaazy!”
He laughed and stood up, patting everyone on the back. He kept clapping his hands like this was some sports event.
“That was sick! That was siiiiiiiiick!”
He ruffled someone’s hair then ran up to me with an open palm.
“High five dude! WE MADE IT! High five!
“Don’t leave me hangin’ dude!”

Hello fellow writers! I am once again on the hunt for a roleplay partner 🤗
I want to do a medieval, arranged marriage roleplay where are characters are from rival nations, and perhaps even from different fantasy races. Enemies to lovers is one of my all time favorite plots.
I'd like the story to incorporate the differences between our character's cultures, have them drop their hatred and prejudices for one another, learn from the other and grow closer as their romance develops within their forced marriage.
Let's play up politics, love triangles, espionage, drama, life, death, magic, anything we can think of.
A little about me, I'm 30 female from the States. I've been roleplaying on and off for about 13 plus years. I'm semi to advanced literate, depending on the plot, the scene and my partner. I write mostly in 3rd person, I'm comfortable with themes that are 🌠romantic🌶 in nature, and discord is my preferred platform for roleplaying. I prefer my partner to be 21 plus and also in the States, though I'm pretty flexible in that regard.
I do prefer stories that are long term, that can span over years of the character's lives with numerous plot points throughout. It always creates a more in depth story! I love chatting outside of the roleplay as well 💖
I'm a mom to a one year old. My day job is very easy, so I'm free on and off for most of my working hours, evenings and the occasional middle of the night feeding lol I'm in desperate need for some creativity in my life
Please send me a message detailing some of your ideas for the story so we can discuss more. I really look forward to hearing from you! Let's get creative!