My Kona rove nrb stolen!

Hello community , on the 28/04/24 my Kona rove Nrb ( 2020 series ) was stollen in my corridor at my work while i was working :/ I just send a bottle in the sea here but please if you see something let me know ! i'm ready to offer a little reward for it , this bike has some emotionnal attachment for me ! ( lot of travel and mind processing on it ) and definitely is was a good therapy for me ahah ;p
Bike details : It has a brown leather-style handlebar tape and a non-original Italia saddle, a sticker with a black cat's head at the front under the handlebars, black metal pedal with anti-theft nut a litlle stickers with flowers below the saddle Gravel 47mm tires
Frame number : F09GL8206
Bike stolen on the 28/04//24 in Brussels , Belgium
reward : 200$
cheers ! Paco

Selling more stuff to clear some space in my room, and just some stuff no longer needed. I can throw some of the stuff for free if you buy a lot. NO TRADE ATM.
Optics and accessories
Holosun HS515CM T1 Style Red Dot ($400) PENDING
https://imgur.com/a/4u3YvWo
BNIB 99% condition, never gamed but only mounted on my gun for pics and plinked in my backyard. Comes with the original box and all the accessories inside. It is solar powered and can switch between red dot and holo style reticle.
Vortex Crossfire ii 1-4x LPVO ($200) PENDING
https://imgur.com/a/2SwPRVO
I'm the second owner of this lpvo but thanks to the amazing vortex warranty policy, it really doesn't matter how many times you have used it. Has the original box, riser mount and a protective cap.
Unknown Brand Tracer Unit ($40)
https://imgur.com/a/1sRv2BE
It lights up the bbs just fine but I believe there's an issue with the muzzle flash function not properly operating.
NcStar Magnifier ($40)
https://imgur.com/a/mkK9Gxo
Red Repro Magnifier ($25)
https://imgur.com/a/tedonZj
CAR Style M4 Stock for GBBR or MTW ($15)
https://imgur.com/a/9hUYwpB
5KU Adaptor Buffer Tube AK to M4 ($25)
https://imgur.com/a/Umfdpgc
LCT B-11 AK Railed Lower Handguard ($35)
https://imgur.com/a/8vBsv4O
LCT AK105 Lower Handguard (free with any purchase)
https://imgur.com/a/l1x74qT
Gears
Matrix Hi Capa Holster ($20)
https://imgur.com/a/M7z0bv2
S-M size Gloves ($5)
https://imgur.com/a/DuapxRY
Tactical Waist Belt ($10)
https://imgur.com/a/sVqcX5z
Amomax BB Portable Storage Pouch ($10)
https://imgur.com/a/oP4dVo4
Valken Kilo Mesh Face Mask ($10)
https://imgur.com/a/sGk1EM1
Helmet Mount Face Protection ($10)
https://imgur.com/a/npCU7dZ
Tactical Helmet Mount for Headset ($10)
https://imgur.com/a/8RL8ZzE
Chest Belt for Holster ($5)
https://imgur.com/a/ivdV8gm
Heavy Duty Sling for AK ($10)
https://imgur.com/a/Re9yzbC
Woodland Color Balaclava ($5)
https://imgur.com/a/MSFvh0A
OD Color Mask for Silicone Protector ($5)
https://imgur.com/a/9UZjyAh
Razor Walker Style Ear Protection Not for Comms ($20)
https://imgur.com/a/NwwAyJu
Amazon Belt ($15)
https://imgur.com/LgP9gna
Leather Universal Holster ($30)
https://imgur.com/xDCMpWl
Magpul Magazine Pulls ($10)
https://imgur.com/zQqCgPm
Local pickup near my place in Scarborough, ON. Shipping on buyers. Thx for looking!

I'm a 31-year-old guy based in beautiful San Diego, and I'm looking to meet someone special to connect with on a deeper level. Here’s a bit about me:
About Me:
I’m a mix of a night owl and an early riser, always trying to find that perfect balance. I’m known for being smart with good recall, and I love diving deep into conversations about various topics. Friends describe me as thoughtful, introspective, and someone who genuinely cares about others. I believe in being kind and supportive, and I’m always striving to improve myself.
I’m a huge fan of sci-fi, fantasy, mystical realism, mystery, and horror. I’m part of a book club reading 'The Name of the Wind' by Patrick Rothfuss. I also love gaming, especially World of Warcraft, where I lead my guild.
I believe in setting healthy boundaries, self-improvement, and maintaining a positive mindset. I’m in therapy and always working on being the best version of myself.
What I’m Looking For:
Someone who sees me for who I am and appreciates the unique qualities I bring to the table. I value mutual respect, open communication, and emotional support.
Shared interests in books, gaming, or exploring the outdoors would be a great start. But more importantly, I’m looking for someone who is kind-hearted, understanding, and emotionally mature.
If you value genuine connections and are looking for a meaningful relationship, I’d love to hear from you. Let’s chat and see where things go!
Feel free to drop me a message or comment below. I am looking forward to connecting with you!

I'm a 31-year-old guy based in beautiful San Diego, and I'm looking to meet someone special to connect with on a deeper level. Here’s a bit about me:
About Me:
I’m a mix of a night owl and an early riser, always trying to find that perfect balance. I’m known for being smart with good recall, and I love diving deep into conversations about various topics. Friends describe me as thoughtful, introspective, and someone who genuinely cares about others. I believe in being kind and supportive, and I’m always striving to improve myself.
I’m a huge fan of sci-fi, fantasy, mystical realism, mystery, and horror. I’m part of a book club reading 'The Name of the Wind' by Patrick Rothfuss. I also love gaming, especially World of Warcraft, where I lead my guild.
I believe in setting healthy boundaries, self-improvement, and maintaining a positive mindset. I’m in therapy and always working on being the best version of myself.
What I’m Looking For:
Someone who sees me for who I am and appreciates the unique qualities I bring to the table. I value mutual respect, open communication, and emotional support.
Shared interests in books, gaming, or exploring the outdoors would be a great start. But more importantly, I’m looking for someone who is kind-hearted, understanding, and emotionally mature.
If you value genuine connections and are looking for a meaningful relationship, I’d love to hear from you. Let’s chat and see where things go!
Feel free to drop me a message or comment below. I am looking forward to connecting with you!

I'm a 31-year-old guy based in beautiful San Diego, and I'm looking to meet someone special to connect with on a deeper level. Here’s a bit about me:
About Me:
I’m a mix of a night owl and an early riser, always trying to find that perfect balance. I’m known for being smart with good recall, and I love diving deep into conversations about various topics. Friends describe me as thoughtful, introspective, and someone who genuinely cares about others. I believe in being kind and supportive, and I’m always striving to improve myself.
I’m a huge fan of sci-fi, fantasy, mystical realism, mystery, and horror. I’m part of a book club reading 'The Name of the Wind' by Patrick Rothfuss. I also love gaming, especially World of Warcraft, where I lead my guild.
I believe in setting healthy boundaries, self-improvement, and maintaining a positive mindset. I’m in therapy and always working on being the best version of myself.
What I’m Looking For:
Someone who sees me for who I am and appreciates the unique qualities I bring to the table. I value mutual respect, open communication, and emotional support.
Shared interests in books, gaming, or exploring the outdoors would be a great start. But more importantly, I’m looking for someone who is kind-hearted, understanding, and emotionally mature.
If you value genuine connections and are looking for a meaningful relationship, I’d love to hear from you. Let’s chat and see where things go!
Feel free to drop me a message or comment below. I am looking forward to connecting with you!

Content Warning: Blood and personal injury related content
(For the Reader: having grown up with Mr. Turner, I know his parents very well and this is a story that can be confirmed 100%. Medical records, receipts from the little league that year, scars...If you knew Mr. Turner you would know how deeply this incident effected him and still does to this day. He rarely shares this story with any one and this is the first time he has ever told it from this perspective. Somewhat like regression therapy. It was hard to hear my good friend tell this story. You would never know the difficult things he has encountered in his life because of his good nature and high spirited, out going personality.)
1996
Baseball.
Americas pastime.
I wipe the sweat from my brow as the sun stares down. The bill of my ballcap is rendered useless as the sun is just above eye level. I'm only playing catch with my buddy Dan, but it's a fun challenge. Were playing along the first base line just off the field.
It is the end of the season and me and my team are having a Banquet to celebrate our run in the final tournament. We dominated all summer. We were second in the league only but only because we missed one of the first couple games.
Chicken pox.
I'm only 8 but I'm good at the game. I was constantly overhearing the other adults making comments back and forth "He's a natural!", "'Raw talent' in that one" some would say.
My dad taught me everything I know. He was a coach himself and had played since he was a boy. He even took me to see a few Mariners games at the the 'King Dome'. Edgar Martinez, Alex Rodriguez, Randy Johnson, Jay Buhner...Ken Griffey Jr! They were living legends. Baseball was my thing.
Dan tossed the ball to me and I held my glove just below eye sight. I adjusted my body a little and 'THWAP' the ball struck the palm of my mitt. "Good Throw Dan. Excellent aim!" I say scooping the ball up with my free hand. I warn "Comin' in HOT!" as I wrenched my arm back and unloaded a fastball in his direction.
'THWAAP!'
"Good catch!"
I was having a blast. I couldn't wait to eat! The adults were setting up the food tables.
"Pop Fly!" Screamed Dan as he launched the ball into the sun.
The food smelt so good. I hadn't eaten at all that day just so I could have room for everything. Mac n Cheese, mashed potatoes', BBQ chicken, burgers, dogs. My mouth watered in anticipation. I was planning on eating like a king this evening.
I was so lost in the smell that I hadn't heard the warning cries from a couple adults. I was trying to stay ahead of that ball. I couldn't really see it but I knew its flight path. It would come into view and I'll be right under it.
Just as the ball finally came into view I could see I was right under it. I reached my hand up in time for the ball to fall right into the leather.
Before I could relish in my victory emulating catch, I'm jarred with such stopping force my head hurts. I'm beyond confused as my vision is not working correctly. Everything is dizzying and hard to make out or focus. The pain in my head was getting mor intense and more precise. My hearing was impaired to a degree. It sounded like I was under and I could hear screaming but it was muffled.
I tried to speak but I was incapable. I realized at that moment that the pain was radiating from my mouth. I let out a deep groan in panic and pain. My eyes were swelling up with tears but my vision came to and I'm tangled in the aluminum side line bleachers.
The cold metal shocked the rest of my body's senses back into order and I fall back to the ground as my dad fly's from out of no where to console me. The pain was so intense at this point and I felt like I was drooling a lot. As painful as this was it was also extremely embarrassing. I couldn't control my bodily functions properly. Trying to walk would have been impossible had my mom not made it to me. Some how she levitated me away from the impact site.
I passed one of my teammates and saw the look of horror in his face as he pointed at me and said "I've never seen that much blood in my life!"
My eyes widened as I look down at my hands cupped under my mouth to see the thickest red syrup like liquid I've seen this close. Bright red flooded my hand like an overflowing tube. My mouth was like a leaky sink dripping into a bucket. The sun light pierced it causing it to shimmer vibrantly. Mesmerizing!
Unfortunately I didn't get to eat like a king that evening and wouldn't even eat normal for the next few weeks and months with all the surgeries.
(Final Notes: Thank you for reading. -Dev)

TW for s/h mentions, self end mentions, and abuse mentions
Obligatory clarification that this was a few months ago, I just regularly feel guilty about it and wanted to see if I'm right in feeling that guilt. Also, apologies in advance since I think this is going to be a long post.
I(20ftm) was abused in multiple ways by my stepfather(46m). I filed a case against him two years ago, which finally got picked up after my younger sister(16f) ran away from the house. During these two years, no one in the family talked to me, as he convinced everyone that I was a liar, a manipulator, and was doing everything as an act of revenge on him for "treating me with the respect I deserved". He was sentenced last October to 15 years in prison, and then they began to investigate my mother(38f) because she knew about the physical/verbal/mental abuse of all of us kids(there were five of us, ages will be given as children are mentioned), and about the s/xual abuse toward me. I live out in Arizona, however when my mother lost custody of our siblings, my older sister(25f), who well call Molly, reached out to me asking if I would be willing to come back up to Ohio, my home state, to help her take temporary custody of the children. The plan was that I would come back up to Ohio, live with my old roommates, get a job, and watch the children in the morning to get them on the bus and afternoon until Molly got home from work. This was something that was agreed upon by everyone, and it was decided that due to a job opportunity I would be going back to Arizona in three months. I immediately explained to everyone involved that I would not flake out on these plans unless my mental health got to a point where I was actively considering self ending. Molly requested that she get "some sort of notice" before something like that we're to happen, and I told her that the best I could do was actively pointing out signs of mental health decline as they happened so she would know where I was in my headspace, to which she agreed.
Fast forward to the day I'm to fly up, and I get a call from Molly. She explains that our grandmother is giving her her old house in exchange for the childcare until my mother got out of jail should the worst case scenario happen, and she wanted to know if I could live in full time with her. In exchange she would pay my way through driving school and get me a car off Facebook marketplace, which would roughly equal out to three months of paid labor. She explained that I wouldn't have to do any chores(though it would be nice) and she would support me financially so that I didn't need to get a job(though I also could if I wanted to) and I could put my full time and care toward the children. This seemed like a fair deal to me, so I agreed. We talked about a few other minor details, such as my room(I wouldn't have one, and would be sleeping in the corner of the living room) and food(I requested that she get healthy food because eating excessive amounts of junk food triggers my ED, which she agreed to but more on that later).
I fly up and reconnect with all of my siblings(I hadn't talked to any of them in person since the incident two years ago), and talk with a close friend of mine, who I'll call Buddy. Buddy expressed that he didn't think that me moving in full time with Molly was a good idea, and tried to imply that she might try and take advantage of me while I was there and overstep boundaries. I told him that I trusted her not to do so, and she and I had agreed that I would be spending weekends with him at his place to decompress and regularly assess my mental health. This was almost immediately backtracked by Molly, saying she didn't expect me to actually take the whole weekend and she requested Saturdays to be her "day off", which I agreed to. About a week and a half after I arrived and was settled in, we started having violence issues with the youngest(10m), and they were mostly directed toward me. We assumed that this was because my stepfather had fed the kids a story about how I had left because I didn't care about them, and he was too young to understand the truth of the situation. Molly was very attentive to my needs at first, making sure to buy fruits and vegetables as well as having the children upstairs by 9 pm so that I could have some private time to relax each night. All was good other than the violent outbursts from the youngest(who I'll nickname Chris).
After about a month, we had to give Chris to an aunt due to the violent outbursts becoming more frequent and the police having to be called several times just to get him to stop attacking me. I explained to Molly that it was affecting me pretty badly, and she and I sat down and talked it out, deciding I wasn't at a point that I needed to leave yet, however if we kept him I would be. So we let Chris go up to my aunts, who we'll call Aunt Hayley. After that things calmed down in the household, with there only being two major fights between the remaining three children. During this time, Molly began to talk about how stressed she was about finances, as well as she signed up for a college course and got a boyfriend. I didn't see this as a big deal at the time, but it compiled with everything else. Molly began coming home at 6-7 and immediately going to her room, and I would end up keeping watch of the children for the remainder of the night. This didn't bother me too much at the time, as I saw it as helping her, however I could. Before this, she and I had pretty evenly split chores, with both of us doing dishes, laundry, and trash periodically. Once she began this college course, I took up the entirety of the dishes, laundry for all of the children, and majority of trash. Molly tended to her room and mandated when the children cleaned their rooms and their upstairs bathroom, but other than that was in her room either doing classwork or hanging out with her boyfriend. During this time she also stopped getting the healthier foods, despite me helping with grocery lists and requesting healthier foods, opting instead for snacks or frozen foods such as pizzas, hot pockets, bagel bites, etc. This upset me seeing as I had already explained to her my issues with said foods, but I didn't feel I had a right to make comment seeing as she was still financially supporting me.
During this time, my no contact order with my mother was lifted, and I agreed to speak with her again, seeing as she had eventually denounced her borderline worship of my stepfather and told the police everything, and was now in therapy and parenting classes. To be clear, from the moment I had arrived in Ohio, I had wanted nothing to do with her, and the only reason I had agreed to talk to her was to give her one last opportunity to man up and explain everything properly. She did, and as I had suspected, he had been severely abusing her in every way as well. I still didn't trust her, but I decided to give her a second chance at a relationship on the condition that she not bring any more men into my siblings lives until they were all 18 or older(which she agreed to). I began to visit her semi-regularly, and Molly and I agreed that I would go to her house Saturday nights for dinner, seeing as I was already going to Buddy's around 7 pm Saturday nights anyway, which meant it wouldn't really change any of Molly's plans. At this time I began having a friend over, who we'll call Max. Max is a close friend of mine since middle school, and Molly approved him to be around any time, however I only really had him around on Tuesdays due to his work schedule. As soon as Max met Molly, he said he didn't really like the way she talked to me, and when I didn't understand(I have autism) he explained that a lot of how she speaks to me sounds like she's talking down to/making fun of me, and that when I say something she doesn't seem to take me seriously. I brushed this off, thinking that it was just him not being used to her somewhat abrasive personality.
Molly continued to complain about finances, and I continued searching for a job as I had been since I got there, and then came the first weird incident during this. One day Molly said that our mother had offered her a motorcycle, but that she had a feeling that she wouldn't actually give it to her, and so she was going to go buy her own. I didn't mention how counter intuitive this was to her finance problem, though I should have in hindsight. She also went out that weekend to get her nails and hair professionally done(which she had told me at one point all together was around $200), as well as I believe the next weekend to get a $180 tattoo shaded. Seeing as Molly had gone out and bought a motorcycle, my mother instead offered me the bike, which I accepted. Molly then began making comments about how she knew my mother was going to give me the bike, and that was why she had gone out and gotten her own(despite the fact that I had asked for the bike before I knew it was supposed to be given to Molly, and was told only if she didn't want it because she got first dibs).
During the last month, my mental health began to hit the decline I had warned Molly about. I informed her of when it became hard to get out of bed, when I was having guilt or s/h urges, and then eventually I reached a point where I requested she take back up at least some responsibility of dishes and laundry because my mental health couldn't handle it. She got somewhat indignant about this, saying that because I was living there rent free I should be doing the majority of the chores. By this time, I had very much seen what Max had been saying about her talking down to me, however I wasn't in the mental state to go against her, so I just reiterated that I really wasn't doing well. She said that her classwork, job, and social life wouldn't allow her to have time for it, and since I had none of those I didn't have any reason to feel the way I was. At this point, Buddy and my two old roommates(who we'll call Rat and Iroh) started insisting that I should go back to the original plan and only go down in mornings and until she got home from work, however I felt obligated to help her so I stayed. They repeatedly reminded me that she still hadn't followed through on any of her promises regarding driving school, car, or respecting my triggers. I continued to stay, partially to help her and partially because I knew at this point that it would backfire on the children as well if I left.
Two weeks before I was supposed to leave, Molly pulled me aside and told me that due to financial concerns, she would be letting the children go to a foster home in two weeks, once I left. This confused me seeing as a) I hadn't been bringing in any financials, and b) she insisted on keeping the 16 year old(who I'll call Fiona) but refused to keep the other two, because (in her own words) "Fiona is the easiest to handle". I felt as if I was to blame for this because the way Molly had presented it to me made it seem like the only reason she was letting the children go was because I was leaving, and a few days earlier she had been trying to push "if you could only stay another month". This plummeted my mental health, and about a week later(a week before my stay was supposed to end) I hit the point of actively wanting to self end. I informed her of this, and she got cold with me, saying she wished I had told her sooner. I reminded her that I had vocalized every step for things going down hill, and she insisted that it wasnt enough and I should have given her more notice, as well as claiming she could have done this whole thing without me and that I was more trouble than I was worth at points. She then started saying that I had only come back to get close to our mother and that I didn't actually care about her or the children(as I said, I hated my mother when I arrived). I told her that I would stay till that Friday night as it was Thursday and I didn't want to force her to try to find last minute childcare so late at night. At some point in this conversation we got a call from the middle(14nb, whom we'll call Sora) child's school saying that Sora had assaulted another student. This student had been making fun of Sora for months, claiming that they deserved the abuse they went through and that she hoped my stepfather got out of jail so that he could hurt Sora worse. I requested Molly not be too intense on the punishment, seeing as this had been an ongoing issue that had been brought to both the principal and Molly's attention, and been brushed off by both. Molly started beating me about how disgusting it was that I was condoning violence, and I clarified that while I didn't condone it, this situation had been hard enough on Sora. At this point in time, I had had enough and told her that if she didn't want my input and wanted to belittle me and "put me in my place", then she could put her money where her mouth was about being able to do this without me and I would leave that night. She said fine, but that she knew I wasn't actually wanting to end myself and was just using it as a convenient out of the situation. I began to pack. As soon as she got home she said that I had been taking her tone wrong, and that she hadn't meant to attack me. She then started saying that I wasn't screwing her over in this, I was screwing the children over. This was while the children were out of the house, and I did raise my voice, telling her that I wasn't trying to screw anyone over, I was following exactly the boundaries I had set, as I should have from the beginning. Buddy came and picked me up, and I went and spent the night with my mother.
The next day I was informed that Molly had told our caseworker that I had bailed, and that the children were to be picked up the next day(all except Fiona, who would stay in Molly's care and eventually the possibility of Molly adopting her was discussed). That Friday was the court case which was to decide what was to happen with my mother. Molly had expressed throughout this entire process that she didn't want my mother to go to jail, and that she would do almost anything to keep her out. The prosecutors had also expressed that they didn't want her to get a full 3 year sentence. During the court proceedings, Molly was the only one in the room requesting the maximum sentence for my mother, and during her speech was consistently deadnaming and misgendering me, which no one else in the court room was doing. My mother walked out with a 60 day sentence, which wasn't terrible, but the damage was done to mine and Molly's relationship, seeing as it was already strained before I found out she had been lying to me for months about her stances on this. She and I had had several conversations about this, while I hated my mother and whole I was healing my relationship with her, and her stance of wanting her to stay out of jail had never wavered. I unfollowed her on most medias, but kept her unblocked on everything. Three days before I was supposed to leave, I realized that my leather jacket and my keys to my boyfriend's collar were still at her house, and I tried to contact her to ask for them back. I texted her twice, neither of which she responded to, and then Buddy called her. She claimed she hadn't seen them, but refused to let us come over to look for them, despite the fact that the last time I had seen either one was in the house because I had been too depressed to leave the house. She continuously refused to let me come check, or even let someone else come check, claiming that she didn't trust me to put things back the way they were, despite me never showing any inclination of touching anything that wasn't mine. I went to text her again on the matter and found that she had blocked me on all platforms. Shortly after this Fiona would start claiming the same things about me not actually wanting to end myself and just using it as an excuse, showing that she had been talking to Molly about this, and her views on pretty much everything shifted to Molly's views. This caused a rift to the point that while I have strong contact with my other siblings, I don't have much contact with Fiona.
I feel as though it was wrong to leave the children in the situation they were in, and I desperately wish I could have done more to help, but I knew that once I hit that mental state I was no longer safe to be around them and only ran the risk of traumatizing them further if I had stayed.

Heavy on the spoilers and devoid of all brevity, but if I do not get this off my chest I will lose my mind. I’ve been on a Shatter Me high all week. The first three books have altered my brain chemistry. I have said the words “Aaron Warner, the man you are” so many times I am beginning to question my sanity. I cracked open Restore Me last night, fully prepared to trust-fall into the arms of my #1 Fictional Boyfriend of all time.
So, um, what the fuck was that?
Look, I can forgive messy plotlines and overwriting, I can ignore ill-planned and lazily-executed rebel coups. I can even appreciate the absurd surplus of metaphors and similes crammed in between strings of dialogue, if for no reason other than comedic value.
What I can’t get behind is Book 4 Aaron Warner.
Seriously, who is this guy? Because I’ve gone through the five stages of grief, turned around and reread the entire book in frank disbelief, and the only conclusion I can possibly come to is that I’ve somehow picked up an imposter, written in very bad faith. When Adam Kent did a 180 in Ignite Me and went from “gentle, pathetic childhood crush who can suffer through Juliette’s touch in some small capacity” to “bitter, controlling ex-boyfriend driven mad with jealousy,” we all understood this to be much-needed fan service. Juliette was, after all, being an idiot; she needed a little push, to realize that Aaron Warner was the undisputed crown jewel. Most of us came to this conclusion two and a half books ahead of her, but better late than never. I walked away from Ignite Me feeling content. The power couple has been established. Anderson is dead. Juliette’s rise to Supreme Commander was satisfying, if a bit hasty. I went into Restore Me confident that, with Aaron at her side, Juliette could achieve anything.
The transition was…jarring, to say the least.

“The Reestablishment does not allow time for people to grieve.” - Book 3 Aaron.

(Alas, this is Book 4, and *insert obligatory Bob Dylan joke*)
The Times, They Are a’ Changin’
Anyway, what I’m getting at here is that Aaron is grieving, he is mourning, he is SAD. This is totally understandable, both to me as a reader and to Juliette as a character. It appears to be the guiding factor behind his new penchant for stonewalling and emotional blackmail. Before diving into THAT can of worms, I’d like to add a couple of bullets to my list of “Miscellaneous What-and-Why-the-Fucks:”

• Why does Juliette have zero advisors? Where is her council? Her attendants? Her scribe? Her translator? Her GUARDS?
• What, exactly, is Kenji’s job? She refers to him as her “second-in-command,” and while I adore his character, I can’t help but feel that lending snarky input does very little in the way of running a tight ship. Why is she entirely on her own?

Moving on.
A TIMELINE OF SHITTY EVENTS, IN WHICH I HANG UP MY ‘ADAM KENT’S #1 HATER’ JACKET AND SHRUG ON MY ‘AARON WARNER SUCKS’ VEST:

• Juliette is trying to make peace between two unruly schoolboys who refuse to get along at the playground. Sorry, Juliette is trying to make peace between two grown men, both of whom appear, in some capacity, involved in the running of North America. This is going “Not Very Well,” if Aaron’s botched haircut is any indication. Fortunately, he comes to terms with his Slim Shady Era, and while he’s clearly going through some things, I could roll with the punches and learn to love the buzz cut, if only he didn’t IMMEDIATELY TURN INTO THE JOKER AFTER THIS.
• Aaron knows better than anyone else about the role and responsibilities of a Supreme Commander. Still yet, he appears completely uninvolved in Juliette’s day-to-day regimen. He makes zero effort to inform her about details that might save her from needless embarrassment. Her fuck-ups seem imminent. Perhaps this is why he has no inclination to avoid them, nor lessen their impact on her pride or public image. Slim Shady is a lone wolf. He has completely forgotten that whole “I’ve told you from the start, we would make an excellent team” spiel. North America is a One-Woman (De?)establishment. Kenji appears to play the role of court jester, though he lends emotional support when necessary–and always with more empathy and forethought than Regent Warner, who, I might remind you, has the power of READING ENERGIES (“hers, especially”).
• Enter Delalieu, to inform Juliette her quarters are overflowing with unanswered mail, and worry that this may reflect poorly upon her as a new leader, to which she’s like “I have quarters?” This revelation comes on the heels of Castle’s memo that “all of her correspondence is being monitored.” I suspect somehow this is Castle’s fault, which brings me to my follow-up point.
• In Book 4, Castle becomes less of an incompetent hippie and more of a prick to Juliette. He terrorizes her with cryptic warnings, but refuses to divulge any information he may have about Warner’s past, which–given her new status–seems like it ought to be grounds for some sort of official noncompliance. He also had her reach out to the other supreme commanders “as an experiment.” It was at this point I decided I wasn’t a fan of how everyone kept undermining or making a mockery of Juliette at every turn. I couldn’t help but notice how Castle’s comments to Aaron about her went entirely unchecked. I am reminded, if you will, of that scene in Shatter Me, when Aaron staged a big spectacle in which a soldier was killed, to ensure his men knew not to fuck with Juliette. He seems to have forgotten this virtue, in Book 4.
• Despite being warned that Ibriham’s children are en route, Aaron lets a conversation with Kent take precedence over informing Juliette what to expect, how to dress, what to say, etc. Castle also informs him once Haider arrives. Juliette chooses to meet Haider without waiting for Aaron, but he should have been there regardless. He can FEEL her energy, he doesn’t need her to say it out loud to realize she’s insecure and needs him to be there, and she wouldn’t BE insecure about so much shit if he would step in and stop allowing everyone to make her the butt of every joke!!! Where’s that supportive boyfriend act you roped us all in with, buddy? Also, literally neither she nor Kenji know jack shit about politics, why would he let them walk into a meeting with the children of foreign leaders entirely blind?
• Speaking of the meeting with Haider, Aaron has a closet full of clothes organized by color and shade; yet he didn’t think to help Juliette pick out a new wardrobe for her designation as Supreme Commander? He literally chose her entire last wardrobe, and look, I get it, they’re busy with war things and his evil dad is dead and that’s sad and all, but don’t introduce us to a standard you can’t maintain! She goes to meet this snotty rich boy in BLUE JEANS AND A PINK SWEATER. Kenji “cringes” at her. This was so humiliating I literally felt my face getting hot when I read it.
• Again, Castle specifically *told* Aaron when Haider arrived, but when he and Juliette discuss it later, he turns it around on her to justify why he didn’t show up to support her!

“You didn’t tell me he’d arrived earlier. I wish I could’ve been there to assist somehow.”
Like, are you fucking kidding me? Again, he can FEEL her energy; he is well aware that she spent that meeting getting humiliated, and still decides to make his absence a product of her incompetence. Like, his entire pep talk after this left me filled with visceral rage.

• Allow me to share this absolutely infuriating passage in Aaron’s POV:

“She [Nazeera] has the same long legs and lean frame as her brother, and she carries herself with great pride, like someone who was born into position and privilege. She wears a gray tunic cut from fine, heavy fabric; skintight leather pants; heavy boots; and a set of glittering gold knuckles on both hands.
And I’m not the only one staring.
Juliette, who’s been watching quietly this whole time, is looking up, amazed. I can practically see her thought process as she suddenly stiffens, glances down at her own outfit, and crosses her arms over her chest as if to hide her pink sweater from view. She’s tugging at her sleeves as though she might tear them off.
It’s so adorable I almost kiss her right then.”

Are you fucking SERIOUS? So she is here, dying of embarrassment, already feeling inferior because she’s comically underdressed and only speaks one language, and his response is to GAWK AT A HOT GIRL IN FRONT OF HER AND INFANTILIZE HER IN HIS INNER MONOLOGUE. “I’m not the only one staring” ???? Be so for real right now, like I am lost for words!

• Aaron is “fairly certain” and generally insistent that Castle’s suspicions will prove false. Like, why would Castle just be pulling random hunches like this out of his ass? When I read it, I was like, “Hmm, kinda sounds like Aaron is just rationalizing why he isn’t going to tell Juliette any of this.” Spoiler alert: I was right.
• Aaron sits in silence and watches Juliette flounder helplessly while trying to explain to Haider how she only sort of knows what the “Continental Symposium” is.* OH YEAH, DID I MENTION IT IS ALSO TWO DAYS AWAY? Like, Aaron clearly knows this is a big deal, it appears to be a tradition of sorts. Why is he once again letting his girlfriend be humiliated and condescended by their guests? He also *CRINGES,* he CRINGES at her for not knowing about it. Like, at this point I am beginning to greatly resent this man.
• He also doesn’t defend Juliette when Haider calls her “some idiot psychotic girl” TO HIS FACE. RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER. Actually, SHE steps in and defends HIM. I wish she hadn’t. After this, in his inner monologue, Aaron is like, “I wonder if she knows I would do anything for her.” FUCKING DO SOMETHING WARNER, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.
• Juliette peeks in on Aaron in his office, finds him listening to old vinyl, discovers he likes Bob Dylan. ME TOO, BUDDY, I’ve seen him live. Might I suggest a little less “Like a Rolling Stone” and a little more “Just Like a Woman,” “Tangled Up in Blue,” “Lay Lady Lay,” ‘COZ I AM BEGINNING TO HATE YOUR ASS FOR THE WAY YOU ARE TREATING JULIETTE!
• Again, Aaron is fully aware of Castle’s warnings that people are coming for Juliette. WHY is she walking unarmed and unguarded on the beach at night? That’s right, because he ran off with Haider to count gold coins or suck each other off or something, leaving her to be sad and alone and not on the lookout for danger. Once again, he fails to come through and keep her safe, and she gets hit with some kind of bullet or dart or something.
• AGAIN, why is Castle allowed to stand here and disrespect Juliette right to Warner’s face, invalidate her and tell him how HE should have been the one who became Supreme Commander? Like, she already has zero support around her whatsoever and this rat is allowed to talk shit about all the things she does and doesn’t know, what she gets told, and potentially also her MAIL. Why hasn’t Warner killed this fucker yet? Warner, ARE YOU STILL IN THERE?
• Remember when Aaron was clever? Yeah, me too. He seems to have abandoned that trait in Book 4. Things like “taking basic precaution” no longer hold any precedence. He and Juliette have, however, found the time to fuck twice, despite having no time or opportunity for all the critical conversations they’re not having that could have redeemed Aaron Warner in my heart and mind. P R I O R I T I E S.
• *slams the back of his head against the wall in frustration* I actually had an ex who did this once when I caught him cheating. It is not something intelligent people do, in my experience. I am beginning to hate Aaron the way I hated Adam. Side note, I still hate Adam. Glad he kind of disappears after the first couple of chapters.
• Great, Juliette is now hallucinating from poison bullets. Good thing Aaron is there to…look really scared and terrify her even more. Moral support? Don’t know him! Just…staring fearfully, jumping in to prevent her from going outside. Maybe a pat on the head or something would help…no? Okay then.
• At this point he decides it’s time to fess up. He couldn’t have chosen a worse time, by the way. Juliette asks if it’s okay if she washes the blood and sand off first (she was just attacked on the beach, remember?). She is clearly still sick and “hallucinating” (seeing the bright white lights outside of her window, the way people do right before they die). Maybe he could…I don’t know…HELP HER? Run her bathwater? Help her clean up? Yeah no, he just nods. She can do all that by herself, just like everything around here. Juliette, girl, if you don’t kick this deadbeat to the curb I’m gonna SCREAM. P.S.: WHO IS THIS MAN? THIS IS NOT THE AARON WARNER I KNOW. Remember how he remembered to bring gloves and a coat for her before he dropped her off at Omega Point? They weren’t even dating yet. How hard did he slam his head into the wall? Maybe he should keep going. Maybe he would like a little help? I’m not busy at all rn.
• See the thing is, now Aaron has to do a big fess up about Juliette’s life. He’s obviously lied and withheld some vital information, but more importantly he spent a couple of years torturing a sister she doesn’t know about yet. And while I realize he didn’t have any CHOICE in this particular matter, I also loathe him at this point for a ton of other shit he’s done leading up to this, so it’s really hard to feel sorry for him when–REALLY THEY FIND TIME TO FUCK AGAIN AT THIS POINT? SOMETHING IS FUCKING WRONG WITH THESE TWO. I can’t help but notice she’s “crawled on top of him” both times now. Guess she’s doing all the work in the sack, as well. Remember that “flip over on your stomach” line from Ignite Me? That guy is dead now. This dude blows and I hate him. Separate LOL at “onto to the floor.” That’s really in there. You can check.
• So the only time these two can communicate is during coitus. Cool. Maybe instead of reminding each other of their mutual love, they could reinforce their bond with something like…confessional hour? Maybe Aaron could use his energy to feel her energy and figure out something safe to say, that isn’t super fucked up and wrong. Spoiler alert: he doesn’t.
• CONFESSION TIME! She starts crying when he gets to the “Reestablishment is coming for you, they’re coming to take you back” part. This is pretty reasonable, but he doesn’t pause to reassure her about it before he’s like, “Oh yeah and about your SISTER–” At this point she actually asks him to stop, probably so she can digest some of this horrifying information, but he says, and I quote, “No.” I really feel like he could have paused for a few minutes to let her process, maybe find some solid ground to stand on(since the man whose lap she is sitting in is a spineless moron and awful boyfriend, and thus not at all likely to be of any assistance).
• Juliette panics. Again, this is not entirely unjustified. Aaron speaks seven languages, none of which are “reassurance,” or “comfort,” and so when she actually gets up and runs away he just…accepts it. I want a refund. I want the first three books to apologize for love-bombing me. I made this man my #1 book boyfriend of all time. THIS Aaron Warner…this man is a fraud and I hate him. She should honestly just hook up with Kenji. At least he still calls her princess. Has Aaron called her love even once in this book? It’s possible I missed it, over the sound of his ceaseless letdowns from Chapter One onward.
• Aaron has a panic attack. Luckily his nemesis Kenji is there to comfort him. Why is no one worried about Juliette? While we are all crying over Warner’s psychosomatic breakdown, she is hysterical, hallucinating poison, has a voice in her head, and is being hunted by some kind of evil bureaucrats and possibly her own parents.
• Allow me to share yet another passage that made blink in disbelief:

He [Kenji] shakes his head. “You just can’t, man. You can’t be with someone and keep that many secrets from them.”
“It’s never stopped me before.”

At this point, Mafi, I already hate him. You did not need to include this passage, at all.

• **PARAPHRASING** Kenji’s like, “Hey man, you’re kind of being shitty to your girlfriend by not telling her about things like all your exes.” Aaron is like, “Well, I wouldn’t have ever done anything to hurt her (barring all those things I did to hurt her), but since I already lost her, who cares? Water under the bridge!” To which Kenji reminds him that ‘water under the bridge’ means Juliette can go out and fuck someone else, and Aaron doesn’t like the idea of that, so he decides he probably wants to fix things, after all.
• Aaron: “You couldn’t have called, Lieutenant? Isn’t that what our phones are for?”

Nothing significant here, although it is news to me that they have phones. When did they get phones?
Anyway, turns out Delalieu tried to call him, but Warner disconnected his phone. Can we like, demote this guy or something? This guy SUCKS.

• Juliette chooses the moron’s escape route (blind sprint into the open night), and gets snatched up by Jazeera (who can fly). This is the first time Jazeera has shared said secret with anyone, which she confides when they land in a tree. It’s a really great time for these two to kiss, and it’s only fair. After all, Warner never had any friends, so this childhood friend of Warner’s technically doesn’t count. Juliette lets Aaron block her blessings once again, but Jazeera is nonetheless more emotional support than Kenji and Aaron put together. You know, I usually read fantasy to ESCAPE the disappointing reality of Men. This book is reminding me they manage to infiltrate even sacred spaces like fiction. Jazeera is sucking on a hard candy, and I’M turned on, but Juliette is sad, so I’ll be quiet.
• Jazeera tells Juliette that Warner isn’t a bad person. Unfortunately, I must disagree. She’s still hot so I’m still listening.
• Lena Mishken? Yeah, no, never heard of her, but once again thank the gods for Jazeera, who spills the tea. It is…entirely embarrassing that since-revoked #1 fictional boyfriend Aaron Warner would let this information have to come to his girlfriend through a near stranger’s gossip, but turns out Lena is Aaron’s EX-GIRLFRIEND. I wonder how he could forget to mention a thing like that. Maybe Good Guy Aaron Warner didn’t anticipate she would still be part of the global, troubled teen Brady Bunch they’ve all been part of since they were kids, who are all apparently coming to visit. I’m not sure why he didn’t anticipate this, and I’m also not sure why all these people are showing up for this “Continental Symposium.” Symposiums typically involve presentations of some sort, that is the extent of my knowledge. I am sure if that was the case here, Warner would conveniently forget to remind his girlfriend about it. I am truly convinced at this point he gets off on humiliating her, so he’ll really enjoy making her walk on stage unprepared for something like this. I personally preferred when he was firmly ddlg/cgl coded in books 1-3. Uhhh, I would have appreciated a tw for this kind of content rebranding, but no matter.
• Did I mention Lena and Aaron were together for TWO YEARS?
• Did I mention Lena and Aaron only broke up EIGHT MONTHS AGO?
• Did I mention the Reestablishment is planning to destroy Sector 45?
• Also Lena is Russian. That seemed arbitrary, unless we are just supposed to know she’s extra hot or something. I don’t think Juliette needed any more tearing down, actually, but duly noted!
• Lena shows up outside of Warner’s room. Let me include this tiny snippet from his POV:

“Open the door, asshole.”
“You never did hold back with the flattery.”

Okay, this second line is what I would consider ‘flirting’ and I don’t like that. Good thing I decided I cannot stand this man like, twenty chapters ago, so at least this isn’t anything unexpected by now. This character is utterly irredeemable to me, and I wish I could act like I didn’t cry about it, but I can’t. I am devastated by the character assassination that took place in this book.

• Next up, Lena is attacking him because he broke up with her through a letter to his mom. Nothing surprises me at this point. Also, there is this:

She’s still thrashing against me, landing several kicks at my shins when I finally manage to gentle her arms and pull her close.

Suddenly, she stills.
My lips are at her ear when I say her name once, very gently.

This is an...awfully intimate way to subdue your ex-girlfriend. This would end any relationship in its tracks, for me. Also Kenji is here watching this all happen. He will not say a word to Juliette about it, if my guess is correct.
Why…did the author do this? I am literally sick to my stomach. This is worse than never getting a fourth book. I am really so hurt.

• Juliette has gone 2009 Britney and shaved her head. I really cannot take anymore humiliation of this protagonist who spent two and a half books learning how to make eye contact with other human beings and is now being torn down and betrayed by every single person she has ever cared about.
• For some reason Kenji and Warner walk in at this point. She is obviously wrecked and in her underwear, with a half shaven head. It’s nice to confirm that Kenji has sided with Warner in the breakup. This is the most debasing experience for me. Like I was really here for the found family and learning how to trust in love tropes. I wish I had never opened this one, to be quite honest.
• Warner talks to Juliette like she is a small, crippled animal (she is, essentially, and I would call this at least 75% his fault, but moving on). She is pathetic and drunk and we’ve all been there and I do not want to listen to her idolize her piece of shit boyfriend she broke up with but will get back with in the morning. She begs him to stay and hold her and he obviously can’t do that and still play the victim so he goes to the living room. I am honestly sick to my stomach.
• Warner has some “woe-is-me” inner monologue that I skim because I hate him with a burning passion at this point.
• Juliette wakes up and is, predictably humiliated. Now she has to go in front of all these terrible rich snobby assholes after manic shaving her head bald the night before. The author attempts to turn it into a big empowering moment, but this simply is not realistic as the author has just spent the entirety of the book tearing down and crippling every shred of confidence this girl gained over the course of the first three books.
• Lena is transphobic. That is an odd detail. Moving on.
• Warner tells Juliette he likes her hair. She asks him why he didn’t mention Lena. He tells her it “wasn’t a real relationship.” He tells her it was “purely physical.” The only explanation at this point is that the author did not want to write another book, but then she continued o write books after this so…I have no idea why she destroyed this man’s character so meticulously. I am honestly at a loss for words.
• Juliette is reasonably upset about this, and Warner launches into explanations and excuses for why he doesn’t think before he speaks or consider her feelings the way he did when he was trying to steal her away from Adam. Like, at this point it is safe to say Adam Kent was telling the truth, despite the fact that he also sucks very hard.
• He’s like “blah blah before you I never wanted to get close to anyone.” Well you clearly had no problem getting CLOSE to her, but you also refuse to be emotionally vulnerable with Juliette, so all of this is useless rabble and he is just a narcissist trying to win back a girl who will probably forgive him at the end of the day, to her own undoing. He says some lies and then ends with, “Give me another chance. Please. I swear on my life I won’t disappoint you.” Yes, yes, this is what they always say. If you keep refusing he’ll promise to go to therapy, too, Juliette, this is a universal experience and not the one any of us wanted when we cracked open this book. He kisses her after that and it’s special because it’s in front of all these people he’s been humiliating her in front of for like however many days it’s been now.
• After their kiss, Juliette runs away for…I don’t know. Theater?
• Castle shows up and pretends to be a father figure to Aaron, for some reason. I don’t like him so I don’t care to elaborate.
• Juliette stands at a podium and gives a speech about what she wants to make better in the world and nobody wants that so a bunch of people in the crowd advance on her and she gets shot in the forehead but she’s invincible somehow. Once the first bullet doesn’t do anything they all start shooting. It’s okay because she screams and kills 554 people, which may or may not have been real, I’m not really following at this point. She runs through all her old friends, most of whom she’s just killed, and then a couple greet her and tell her they’re her parents and they’ve come to take her home.
• Warner’s POV is blank. He’s probably still alive. Who cares? He’s ruined either way.
• Juliette wakes up in a child’s bedroom. Spoiler alert: it’s hers. She starts snooping and finds a letter from Warner’s dad about how they’ve found a suitable family for her (she is obviously the “her”). She finds photos of her and her sister before school, then photos of her, her sister, and Nazeera. Oh yeah, then she finds a photo of her and Aaron together as kids. Her real name is Ella.

This is all good and fine, the plot twist was even cool. But there is literally no salvaging what was done to Aaron Warner’s character or his relationship with Juliette in this book. Like, what was the point? I literally have cried way too many times about this and I thought reading it a second time would convince me I am being dramatic or embellishing the level of betrayal I feel but no, like, I am certain this was devastating.

Hi all! As my surgery date at the end of June has been quickly approaching (just filled out the consent forms and got my check-in time the other day), I have started to work on purchasing the supplies I need for recovery before everything gets more hectic shortly before surgery.
I’ll paste my supply list below and if anyone has any recommendations for anything else I should include, I’d be very appreciative to hear it:
• Heating pad
• Squishmallow (probably 16”)
• (possibly) Abdominal binder
• Bendy straws
• Compression socks
• Wedge pillows and U-shaped pregnancy pillow
• Recovery cart (to put meds and supplies in)
• Recliner (renting one because my couch recliner is too hard to get up from)
• Glycolic acid scrub (for showering the morning of because I sweat a LOT during the day)
• Gas X
• Miralax (starting a few days in advance)
• Aquaphor for chafing
• Throat lozenges and chapstick
• Extra cushion for sitting on couch (that someone recommended here)
• Lap tray
• Ice packs and heat packs
And then here is my other question: what clothing (and underwear) do you recommend for after surgery? Do you think loose and baggy clothing and underwear alone is fine? Is it better to wear button-down shirts versus shirts you have to pull over your head (especially since I already have elbow tendinitis right now too)? And do you recommend just loose underwear with pantyliners, period underwear, or disposable underwear?
I’m sure everyone has their own preferences and idea of what worked or didn’t work for them, but since this forum is so supportive, I wanted to check in to see what everyone thinks. I would rather be over prepared because I am a notoriously slow healer and am preparing to be on the recliner for quite a while until I’m feeling well enough to return to physical therapy and regular activity (with surgeon approval). Thank you!
(Edit: adding that my surgery is a total laparoscopic hysterectomy with bilateral salpingectomy)

Click the link for Lazyboy Recliner Sofa Leather Coupon Code. Save some money by selecting one of the current promo codes or coupons on that page. That page is updated regularly with the latest coupons, promo codes, and deals. Take advantage of the discounts by selecting one to use.

I won my insurance fight and 10 weeks after my original surgery date I'm finally going under the knife (robot? robot knife?). Just wanted to thank everyone for all the info they've shared here. I feel about as prepared as I can be going into this.
So my final preparation check list is this: Loose fitting comfy clothes gel ice packs for the incision slip on shoes grabber supplements to help with skin and bone healing motorized recliner and bed (had these for years but definitely going to help here) plenty of entertainment options (books, games, etc.) got flushable wipes for clean up until I can take a shower stocking up on food today
I've decided against the toilet riser for now, that's an Amazon order a way if I need it.
Haven't purchased yet but I'm considering hiking poles. Anyone use these with post op recovery? They seem like an interesting idea to help with stability afterwards.
Any other tips or helpful items people recommend?

I'm a 31-year-old guy based in beautiful San Diego, and I'm looking to meet someone special to connect with on a deeper level. Here’s a bit about me:
About Me:

• Personality: I’m a mix of a night owl and an early riser, always trying to find that perfect balance. I’m known for being smart with good recall, and I love diving deep into conversations about various topics. Friends describe me as thoughtful, introspective, and someone who genuinely cares about others. I believe in being kind and supportive, and I’m always striving to improve myself.
• Interests: I’m a huge fan of sci-fi, fantasy, mystical realism, mystery, and horror. I’m part of a book club reading 'The Name of the Wind' by Patrick Rothfuss. I also love gaming, especially World of Warcraft, where I lead my guild.
• Family: I have a wonderful 6-year-old daughter named Loey, who is my world. I cherish the time I spend with her and love being a dad.
• Values: I believe in setting healthy boundaries, self-improvement, and maintaining a positive mindset. I’m in therapy and always working on being the best version of myself.

What I’m Looking For:

• Connection: Someone who sees me for who I am and appreciates the unique qualities I bring to the table. I value mutual respect, open communication, and emotional support.
• Compatibility: Shared interests in books, gaming, or exploring the outdoors would be a great start. But more importantly, I’m looking for someone who is kind-hearted, understanding, and emotionally mature.

If you value genuine connections and are looking for a meaningful relationship, I’d love to hear from you. Let’s chat and see where things go!
Feel free to drop me a message or comment below. I am looking forward to connecting with you!

I'm a 31-year-old guy based in beautiful San Diego, and I'm looking to meet someone special to connect with on a deeper level. Here’s a bit about me:
About Me:

• Personality: I’m a mix of a night owl and an early riser, always trying to find that perfect balance. I’m known for being smart with good recall, and I love diving deep into conversations about various topics. Friends describe me as thoughtful, introspective, and someone who genuinely cares about others. I believe in being kind and supportive, and I’m always striving to improve myself.
• Interests: I’m a huge fan of sci-fi, fantasy, mystical realism, mystery, and horror. Currently, I’m part of a book club reading 'The Name of the Wind' by Patrick Rothfuss. I also love gaming, especially World of Warcraft, where I lead my own guild.
• Family: I have a wonderful 6-year-old daughter named Loey, who is my world. I cherish the time I spend with her and love being a dad.
• Values: I believe in setting healthy boundaries, self-improvement, and maintaining a positive mindset. I’m in therapy and always working on being the best version of myself.

What I’m Looking For:

• Connection: Someone who sees me for who I am and appreciates the unique qualities I bring to the table. I value mutual respect, open communication, and emotional support.
• Compatibility: Shared interests in books, gaming, or exploring the outdoors would be a great start. But more importantly, I’m looking for someone who is kind-hearted, understanding, and emotionally mature.

If you’re someone who values genuine connections and is looking for a meaningful relationship, I’d love to hear from you. Let’s chat and see where things go!
Feel free to drop me a message or comment below. Looking forward to connecting with you!

I'm a 31-year-old guy based in beautiful San Diego, and I'm looking to meet someone special to connect with on a deeper level. Here’s a bit about me:
About Me:

• Personality: I’m a mix of a night owl and an early riser, always trying to find that perfect balance. I’m known for being smart with good recall, and I love diving deep into conversations about various topics. Friends describe me as thoughtful, introspective, and someone who genuinely cares about others. I believe in being kind and supportive, and I’m always striving to improve myself.
• Interests: I’m a huge fan of sci-fi, fantasy, mystical realism, mystery, and horror. Currently, I’m part of a book club reading 'The Name of the Wind' by Patrick Rothfuss. I also love gaming, especially World of Warcraft, where I lead my own guild.
• Family: I have a wonderful 6-year-old daughter named Loey, who is my world. I cherish the time I spend with her and love being a dad.
• Values: I believe in setting healthy boundaries, self-improvement, and maintaining a positive mindset. I’m in therapy and always working on being the best version of myself.

What I’m Looking For:

• Connection: Someone who sees me for who I am and appreciates the unique qualities I bring to the table. I value mutual respect, open communication, and emotional support.
• Compatibility: Shared interests in books, gaming, or exploring the outdoors would be a great start. But more importantly, I’m looking for someone who is kind-hearted, understanding, and emotionally mature.

If you’re someone who values genuine connections and is looking for a meaningful relationship, I’d love to hear from you. Let’s chat and see where things go!
Feel free to drop me a message or comment below. Looking forward to connecting with you!

I'm a 31-year-old guy based in beautiful San Diego, and I'm looking to meet someone special to connect with on a deeper level. Here’s a bit about me:
About Me:

• Personality: I’m a mix of a night owl and an early riser, always trying to find that perfect balance. I’m known for being smart with good recall, and I love diving deep into conversations about various topics. Friends describe me as thoughtful, introspective, and someone who genuinely cares about others. I believe in being kind and supportive, and I’m always striving to improve myself.
• Interests: I’m a huge fan of sci-fi, fantasy, mystical realism, mystery, and horror. Currently, I’m part of a book club reading 'The Name of the Wind' by Patrick Rothfuss. I also love gaming, especially World of Warcraft, where I lead my own guild.
• Family: I have a wonderful 6-year-old daughter named Loey, who is my world. I cherish the time I spend with her and love being a dad.
• Values: I believe in setting healthy boundaries, self-improvement, and maintaining a positive mindset. I’m in therapy and always working on being the best version of myself.

What I’m Looking For:

• Connection: Someone who sees me for who I am and appreciates the unique qualities I bring to the table. I value mutual respect, open communication, and emotional support.
• Compatibility: Shared interests in books, gaming, or exploring the outdoors would be a great start. But more importantly, I’m looking for someone who is kind-hearted, understanding, and emotionally mature.

If you’re someone who values genuine connections and is looking for a meaningful relationship, I’d love to hear from you. Let’s chat and see where things go!
Feel free to drop me a message or comment below. Looking forward to connecting with you!

Everything is spiraling out of control. I’m a stay at home mom with a 4 year old son and a 1 year old son… 4 year old caught the stomach flu last Sunday (almost two weeks ago). Luckily my ex and I have a good relationship and even though I was supposed to pick my son up, he kept him for the next few days to take care of him. He came home on Wednesday completely symptom-free… but I KNEW he was still contagious. A FULL week later, my 1 year old caught it. He has been v* for almost 4 days now.
I am in therapy, but still in the early stages. Not much improvement yet, and I won’t see my therapist for another week because he is on vacation. I had the worst meltdown I have ever had. I haven’t eaten in four days. Barely drinking water because I’m terrified that I touch the water bottle caps and then the virus is on the cap. I can’t really do open cups because of the baby. Any time the baby even touches my water bottle, I throw it out. Ive been trying not to leave my bed and I’ve changed the sheets 8 times now. I have been taking zofran but I try not to take it too much because it gives me bad constipation. I took Xanax two nights in a row and my fiance has had to come home from work twice, even though he still has to work from home.
I am not ok. I had a little bit of soup and bread earlier which helped a little, but now I have severe body aches. I think it may be related to the Xanax but I’m not sure… I’ve never taken Xanax before and only had it prescribed for these extreme moments. But the aches are so bad and feel very flu-like.
I feel like the world’s worst mother. I sent my 4 year old to stay with grandma, and I can barely touch my 1 year old because I am so afraid of catching what he has. I have been showering multiple times a day and my hands look like they are made out of leather and hurt so bad from how dry they are because I wash my hands any time I touch literally anything in the house.
The emotional pain is unbearable. I am failing my children. I can’t stop crying. I don’t want to take Xanax again especially if these body aches are from the Xanax.
Oh, on top of it all, my fiance spent $10,000 on a special weekend trip for just the two of us that we have been planning for an entire year (non-refundable) and I am so terrified to even leave the house because I don’t want to be away from home and all of a sudden get sick from this virus. I don’t know what to do. I’ve told him I don’t want to go but I can see the sadness in his face even when he says “Please go. It’s going to be ok, but I also want to make sure you’re ok, too.” I know he is getting so backed up with work from having to come home to take the baby from me. He is hiding his stress so well and I feel so guilty. I can barely function. I don’t know what to do. I keep telling myself “Neither of the boys’ dads got sick you and they are not obsessively washing themselves like you are, you are going to be ok.” But also, I am the one who cleans up all of the sick because I feel I am the only one who will do a thorough enough job… so really, I’m exposed to it the most. What do I do? Do I risk going on this trip? How do I get out of this emotional pain? I’ve never had an episode this bad. I am completely lost. People don’t understand the pain we go through. It’s the worst pain. It truly is.

Here we are again in the shit stew that is the Fallowveil trailer park. We’ve got soul eating strippers, jobs that kill us, and plenty of weirdos, both the trailer trash and the potentially paranormal variety. It’s the place where even your own computer sometimes threatens to kill you. I can’t tell if I should be worried, or annoyed that all my neighbors have such irresponsible web habits. I know it’s not me that brings in all these machine wiping viruses.
So even though I got a system error that literally said “you’re useless and you should die” I’m less interested in that. Stupid thing. Like I don’t already know I’m useless. That’s not what I’m depressed about.
Well… I suppose it's tangentially related.
I hope anyone reading will forgive me. I’m feeling the sting of rejection right now. It was really stupid of me to ask. Especially now. Nobody here really likes me. They’ve only been nice to me as a courtesy because I was almost involved in a god damn shootout. And my idiot self decided that was the perfect time to push one of my few friends all the way away. Never ask your friends out on dates. It ruins everything.
So there’s this woman. I’ve talked about her in the past. Trista Ramone. She lives in the far back corner of the trailer park. You can instantly tell which unit is hers because she’s covered every square inch of the property with gardens and a rabbit hutch. The place usually has beads and colorful flags hanging on its walls as well. She’s kind of a right winger’s nightmare. I know some of those flags represent various lgbtq plus communities.
She and I have been friendly in the past. We’re both night shift workers. We crossed paths quite a bit going to and from work so we struck up a friendship over the years.
Let’s just ripped the band aid off. Recently I’ve started thinking I had… stronger feelings for Trista. I got stupid and decided to tell her about them. She wasn’t interested. I get why. We have very different lifestyles. I like meat, and she thinks the meat industry is murder. I’m not willing to give up meat, and she’s not willing to give up her beliefs. It's as simple as that. Now things are incredibly awkward with one of my closer friends and I’m still spiraling into self loathing, where I belong.
She swore up and down that she absolutely still wants to be friends with me, but I’m not sure I believe her. The look she gave me when I told her I’d like to ask her out. It looked like sadness, but a small part of me is convinced it was pity, or worse, disgust and loathing, and that small part of me never shuts the fuck up. But anyway, she gave me permission to write about her.
She is one of the creepy fixtures of our little neighborhood after all. She told me to make her seem as insane and scary as I possibly could and that she should get to kill me at the end. She also handed me a few of her high school yearbooks, advised me to chat with another neighbor of ours who she went to school with, and to only use creepy rumors for the rest.
Part of me is really willing to describe her as awful, but that’s just my anger. I don’t like that part of me. Trista’s not a bad person at all. She’s just weird and she doesn’t want to date me. God damn it, Petunia’s right. I need therapy.
So, I’ve told the story of the sexy, scary lady living in a polycule here in the trailer park. I think she’s got a bigger heart than she lets on. I’ve talked about the stories surrounding the Schroeder Slaughterhouse. Now let’s talk about the hippy everyone thinks is a vampire.
She’s a taller woman, maybe five-seven or eight, and she’s skinny. Her typical wardrobe is… interesting. Try to imagine your typical new-age hippy/stoner girl, wearing colorful sarongs, crop-tops, beanies, baggy sweaters, T-shirts with colorful sayings on them, sandals, boots woven from some sort of exotic plant, beaded necklaces, bracelets, a few too many piercings and some intricate tattoos. Can you picture that kind of person? Well, take that and dip them in “goth” dye. Everything is black, and contrasts to her pale white complexion, her eyes are this unusual violet color, and then make the woman wearing all that seem kind of depressed about something. That’s the look Trista has going on. Like if Wednesday Addams was forced to dress up for Hippy Day.
I’ve heard people call her an emo vampire, but as a former emo myself, she doesn’t fill out all the criteria. She doesn’t typically wear any super tight pants or cake on the eyeshadow. I guess she’s just Trista. It might sound weird (and it is) but the whole thing suits her. Her style, tattoos, and complexion all create this image of skinny vampiric waif with a mysterious past and a freaky sarcastic attitude and I found the whole thing… kinda hot.
Trista keeps to herself. She’s made the most out of her little corner of the trailer park. Like I said, she decked out her unit with garden squares, and a Rabbit pen. No idea why she’s allowed to do that. A lot of these places don’t allow pets. I heard she was also trying to put in a beehive too, but her neighbors are fighting her on that one. Our park is a bit too condensed for bees. She has a permit to grow hemp, but of course it’s not for recreational use. She treats it and uses it to weave things like handbags, clothes, and other stuff. There’s a consignment store in town that sells all kinds of things Trista has crafted herself. So she’s handy and self sufficient too. She paints, she carves wood, she weaves, she crochets, she sews, and who knows what else. She’s so good at her little crafts that apparently she’s able to support herself just selling them and working part time at the Moonlight Inn outside of town.
She’s also relatively friendly. I almost feel bad calling her weird, but here’s the thing, I’ve seen some REALLY weird shit. People jokingly call her a vampire, and she seems to embrace that, but part of me seriously wonders. The big clue is, like I mentioned, she’s completely nocturnal. She’s always asleep during the day, and every blind and curtain is drawn tight. The one time she came out during the day, she had on this full body suit with a helmet with UV glass and everything. Even then, she only showed up to give Petunia a hug, before leaving again.
That was the first time I saw Trista, come to think of it. I was kind of intrigued. It was kind of hard not to be when someone shows up to a community cookout in a freaking astronaut suit. I approached Petunia after she left.
“Who the heck was that?” I wondered.
“MASON! I’m so glad you could make it! You’ve been here about three months now! How’d that job interview go?”
“Oh. It went well. I might be doing janitorial work soon.”
“Night shift?”
“Maybe. I’m not sure.”
“If it’s the night shift, you’ll definitely meet the person who just left. That’s Trista. She’s the girl with the rabbits in the far corner. Poor girl. She’s got a really bad skin condition. Can’t let sunlight touch her.”
“Oh. Is she like… albino or something?”
“No, she’s got pigment. I don’t remember what the condition is called. I guess it started in high school or something. You’d have to ask her. And hey! If you work the night shift, you’ll probably get to chat with her!”
Petunia wasn’t wrong. I started working as a nighttime janitor for a number of local businesses. That was when I first started noticing the pale goth hippy. She rides around on a moped, with her dark hair and her sarong barely billowing behind her. I couldn’t see her face through the helmet, but she waved to me as she passed by.
The next time I saw her, she was jogging, but here’s where it gets weird. When I first stepped outside, all I saw was a blur. It actually startled me as I whipped toward it, but then there was this skinny tattooed pixie, somehow still looking like a stonehippy/vampire in jogging gear. I swear she was moving inhumanly fast when I first noticed her. That was when we introduced ourselves. She actually jogged over to say hello.
“Hey! You’re the new guy right?”
“Oh, uh, yeah. My name’s Mason!” I reached out to shake the pretty girl’s hand, like an awkward loser. She smirked and shook my hand. Her grip was weirdly strong, and a bit cold.
“I’m Trista. I’m the weirdo in the back with the rabbits.”
“Trista… oh, are you the one who has a thing with sunlight? I think Petunia mentioned you.”
“Yup! That’s me. Xerodoma pigmentosum. Sunlight hurts. I hate that it hurts.” She lamented.
“That’s gotta be rough,” I said sympathetically.
“You get used to it. You work at night?”
“Yeah. Works better for me.”
“I get that.”
And so on and so on. She’s pretty cool, with a bit of hilarious snark in there. And she secretly procured recreational weed she was willing to share. I kept working the night shift just hoping for another chance to talk to her and possibly buy a joint. Eventually she invited me over to share a joint. The inside of her place was actually pretty sparse and spartan compared to the outside. Though she was a fan of hanging beads. Most of the main room was taken up by her various crafting projects and supplies. Hemp weaves, some paintings, and even a wood carving of what I think was a rabbit, but it wasn’t anywhere near complete.
I followed her to her kitchen where she reached into the very back of her pantry and pulled out a shoebox. Inside was her stash, but there was something else which I found very strange. It was a pack of syringes and a thing I assume is to sterilize syringes. I know what you’re thinking, and that was my first thought too. It’s a poor neighborhood, the woman already smokes weed illegally, it’s not that big a shock that maybe she was involved in other drugs too. I decided not to ask at the time. We shared our joint, and we laughed, a lot. She made fun of me for being a lightweight, while I got completely hypnotized staring at the patterns of a shawl she had woven.
Months went by and we got closer, but I couldn’t forget those syringes. After a while I got worried. I’ve seen what heroine does to people. So the next time I went over to smoke and eat (vegan) pizza with her, I asked.
“Trista? Are you using anything other than weed?”
“Drugs?”
“Yeah.”
“No. Why?”
“You can tell me if you are.”
“Mason, sweetheart, I’m a stoner. I don’t fuck around with anything else and I never have.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Okay. Can I ask what that set of syringes are for?”
“Oh. In my stash box? Those are… part of my condition. I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Oh. Is it like… embarrassing?”
“Yeah. So don’t ask. Can we just watch a movie?”
So I don't ask anymore. But I still have no idea what she does with those syringes. Based on what I read about that Xerodoma Pigmentosum thing she says she has, I have no clue what she would need to inject herself with.
Another time she asked me to check on her rabbits for her during the day, as her usual “sitter” had something come up. All I had to do was chop up the lettuce and carrots she left out. As I was enjoying the adorable fluffy faces, one of Trista’s neighbors, a woman named Bridget, poked her head outside her door.
“Hey. Do you know what Trista injects those rabbits with?”
“I… what?”
“I’ve seen her use syringes on those rabbits. She said she was just giving them medicine, but I swear I see her inject them every week.”
“I… I wouldn't know. She just asked me to feed them.”
“I love Trista, but that always seemed so weird. She has to know vaccines are a hoax!” I tuned the woman out after that one. My mind was on that set of syringes. Why would she be using them on rabbits? These things were her pets.
I was starting to crush on her by then. But I couldn’t help feeling weirded out by that. I was actually going to confront her, but the next time I came to visit, she was literally inside the Rabbit hutch, on her back, squealing with delight as her rabbit friends nuzzled and played with her.
“Bonnibelle! That tickles! Marcy! No chewing. Finn? Watch where you’re sticking that foot! Jake? Where are you? EEEEE Lumpy! Not the neck!”
It was as silly and adorable as it sounds. She was forced to whip herself upright when two of her little friends tried to burrow under her dress. She finally stood up with a laugh, cradling a rabbit in her arms and cooing at it.
There was just no way in hell this woman was doing anything that would hurt these animals. Bridget is a paranoid antivax weirdo anyway. If Trista was using syringes on the rabbits, I was convinced it was only for their benefit.
So life went on. I got more and more reclusive over the years. Petunia, Trista, and my next door neighbor Fred were the only things keeping me remotely connected to the outside. And so we get to now. So let’s see. What are the stories about the weird vampire woman?
Well, there’s the fact that she jogs at night, solo, in a poor neighborhood. Petunia keeps the shitty people contained and behaving for the most part, but I still wouldn’t exactly call it safe, especially for a young skinny woman. But she does it without a care in the world.
There’s one strange event that some people like to connect to this. I never knew this guy, but from what I hear he was a total weirdo who leered at anyone even remotely female. And this is despite the fact he was married. His name was Josh.
I remember him a bit. He’s the guy that Petunia chased away from one of her barbecues. Supposedly he was heard saying inappropriate things to the groups of ten year old girls that were playing in the bounce house Petunia rented. Telling them how pretty they were. Trying to coax them to take off their jackets. Police reports were filed but ultimately nothing could be proven. The guy's wife, Carole, always defends him for some reason.
But anyway, I remember hanging out with Trista one night a little over a year ago. She hadn’t gone jogging like she normally did. I asked her what was up with that.
“That weirdo, Josh has started catcalling when I pass his place. It weirds me out.”
“There aren’t other people who do that at night? I’m still shocked you jog alone.”
“Not like this. I can flip off a wolf whistler. But this guy… he keeps trying to get me to stop and talk to him, and when I don’t? He shouts about my ass. I’m gonna have to talk to Petunia about that shithead, if anybody can reign him in, it’s her.”
I’m gonna guess she never got a chance. Two days later, the whole town was awoken by sirens. I was getting ready for my shift when I heard them. I walked down the road a bit to see if I could figure out what was going on. The cops were heading toward the other side of the park, so I couldn’t see much. But I did notice Trista, in her jogging gear, skulking in the shadows. I wondered if she was in trouble. But before I could call out to her, she sprinted straight to Petunia's house and banged on the door. Petunia welcomed her inside, and that was all I saw. I still wasn’t sure what was going on, so I just shrugged and headed to work, figuring I’d text Trista later.
I didn’t learn till later that Josh was found dead. He was lying prone, face down, partly hidden by bushes at the edge of the park. His neck was cut open. He’d bled out rapidly. He had a knife in his hand, and officially it’s believed he fell on it and accidentally killed himself. There was a cocktail of drugs in his system so most people accept that explanation. But others swear they saw Trista out for her jog around the same time Josh would have been bleeding to death. She got questioned, and she swore she didn’t see anything. Without evidence, there was nothing else that could be proven.
Trista’s a friend. I know that guy was being creepy to her. So I’m happy to take her word for what happened, even if my seeing her going to Petunia’s pokes a bit of a hole in that. I can’t be sure it was Trista though. So I’m not saying a word. But if a certain creep attacked a certain lady who is rumored to be a vampire, it’s not that surprising to me that he ended up dead after bleeding to death. I’m not all that broken up about it.
I’m not the one spreading that story. Josh’s wife was the one who started the rumor. So now some people are even more convinced that the weird nocturnal hippy chick is secretly a vampire.
She’s no killer. No matter what they say. She would only have defended herself.
So that’s all the stories I’ve heard that have any credibility to them. There’s more people who swear she and Petunia perform weird rituals, and people who saw her moving “inhumanly fast” and such.
But now I have to share what I found in the yearbooks Trista gave me. I wasn’t really expecting much. I checked her senior yearbook out first. She looks about the same. Pale, goth, hippy, and sort of sad. She kind of looks even sadder in these photos if I’m being honest, but that’s high school for you. She graduated in the top half of her class, no sports or extracurriculars. I’m left wondering how she managed to go to school at the time of sun was so bad for her. I’ll have to ask her about that. So nothing really new there.
It was the yearbook from her junior year where things got really interesting. I was in shock when I found her. Trista is somehow impossible to miss, but unrecognizable all at once. She’s full of color! She wore more typical tie dye hippy attire. Bright vibrant pinks, reds, blues, greens, and yellows, in every photo, and holy shit was she busy. Captain of the soccer team, first chair flutist, president of the “green living” club and the “vegan alliance,” top ten in her class, it was all incredible. I think the main reason I didn’t recognize her was her skin. It was tan, as though she were out in the sun a lot. Furthermore there were photos of her playing sports and standing outside in bright sunlight.
It was like her disease wasn’t there, which confused me. She told me it was something called Xeroderma Pigmentosa. But that’s a genetic condition. She would have had that from birth.
I sent her a text, wondering about this.
- Hey! Just went through your yearbooks. What happened? You had color? Did you discover Linkin Park?
- My disease happened. Right at the end of Jr. year. That’s why I wasn’t there for the final class photo.
- But your disease is genetic… isn’t it?
- I guess it was dormant in me.
- So it just… happened?
- Pretty much.
- I’m sorry.
- I got over it. Mostly. It was hard. My parents were both hardcore vegan naturalists and we lived in a place that was all natural light and such, so I had to live in a shed for a bit while they built a space for me. But in my family? We kinda lean into whatever life throws at us. It took months of depression to come to terms with it. All of a sudden I couldn’t be out in the sun, and I had new dietary needs that absolutely required non-vegan sources. So I leaned into it. I was a vampire now. I can dig dark colors and “vampire style.” I could make it my own by avoiding leather. And I’d be as vegan as I possibly could.
- You’re kind of awesome.
- Damn straight. So I learned to love the night too and now, here I am.
I gained new respect for her after that. Frankly I feel kinda shitty about making fun of her for being a vampire. There might not be anything paranormally weird about her after all.
She sent me one more text telling me I should talk to a guy named Frankie. She’d gone to school with him. He’s a decent enough guy. Works in the Bicounty mall in town.
I had to wait a day or two for another of Petunia’s get togethers to talk to him.
“Hey!” I said awkwardly as I tried to figure out how to strike up conversation with someone I haven’t really spoken to in a long time. “Frankie, right?”
“Oh. Yeah. Been a while. How are you Mason? You okay after that whole thing at Red Nights?”
“I’m trying to be. Look, I’ll cut to the chase. You went to school with Trista Ramone, right?”
“Ol’ Boho Ramone? Yeah. We were sort of friendly. But I was a jerk to vegans back then. Why do you ask?”
“I’ve been hanging out with her. She’s being all mysterious.” He chuckled at that. “She said I should talk to you to learn more about her… weirdness? Everyone thinks she’s a vampire now.”
“She’s totally a vampire. I have no idea what else to call her?”
“Why do you say that?”
“What did she tell you about school?”
“Nothing. She just showed me two yearbooks. Between Junior and Senior year she went from colorful club president, to lonely vampire, because of her disease.”
“Nah man. I don’t want to talk bad about her. But she was kind of a bitch, junior year. She wasn’t just a colorful vegan. She was one of those “holier than thou” types who scoffed and talked down to anyone who dared to eat meat. Her “hippy” thing meant she never hung out with the popular girls but still, she acted like she owned the place at times. I was friends with this weird guy named Steven Jones. He was just kind of a weirdo. Skulking around in the background, you know? He HATED Trista. For a while I totally understood. I thought she was kinda stuck up. But this guy was like… irrationally enraged by that girl’s existence. I guess he tried to ask her out when he was a freshman and she politely declined. But he took that shit personally.”
“Huh. So like… why’s that matter?”
“Because Steven kept saying to anyone who gave him a second look, that he was gonna ‘ruin’ her. Never elaborated. But then the last month of school rolls around, Trista gets assaulted by an unknown assailant and a week later she’s got this new disease. Meanwhile, Steven spent a week strutting around the school looking smug, and saying ‘she got what she deserved.’ Then he disappears too. Teachers said he moved away.”
“She was assaulted?”
“Yeah. Someone in a face wrap tackled her while she was at one of her protests at the meat factory. The dude freaking BIT her.”
“Jesus.”
“Yeah. I was there. I came to the protest. I’ll admit I was trying to hit on Trista or one of the other girls there. But yeah. Dude dressed in all gray with a face wrap just charged in and went right for Trista. Knocked her down, bit her like a freaking zombie, then ran away before anyone could stop him. Didn’t even take his face wrap off. It was freaky, man.”
“What the actual fuck.”
“That’s what we all said. Trista needed a stitch. But while she was at the hospital, I guess she started getting more symptoms. She was out for the rest of the year. From then on, she was like she is now. Total vampire.”
“Was Steven a vampire?”
“I dunno. Probably. Little dickhead is what he is. Must have been him that attacked Trista, but nobody could prove it. Bite mark didn’t match or something. So why are you asking? You hang out with her at night right? You asking her out or something?”
“Oh. No. Just a friend.”
That was all I really learned from Frankie. It’s quite a story, and it’s full of unknowns that Trista refuses to explain. So I guess I’ll let readers be the judge. Is she a “real” vampire? Or just a weirdo? All I know is, she’s totally standing behind me right now and now I’m dead. Bleh.
I did come back to life to talk to Trista once I finished writing this. She enjoyed it. I may as well include that interaction.
I went to her place on my night off. She read my take on her and what the neighbors thought and she grinned. “Ha! I’m a total monster!” She chuckled. “So. What do YOU think, Mason? Am I a vampire?” She cocked an eye and playfully gnashes her teeth at me, making a pleasant little click.
I sighed. “No idea. You’re Trista. And… you’re my friend. I’m sorry if I made things awkward.”
She looked surprised by that. “Aw. Thanks Mason. You’re my friend too. It’s okay. I’m flattered.”
“You don’t have to explain.”
“So we’re cool?”
“Absolutely not. We’re both weird shut ins.” She laughed. It was good to hear her laugh. It made me happy.
“Yeah but I got the ‘mysterious vampire’ thing going.”
“You have dirt in your hair from rolling around with bunnies. And you’re a vegan.”
“Bite me.”
“Says the vampire.”
“You know, if I were a vampire, I could have bitten you when we both went to the slaughterhouses a few weeks ago.”
“That just makes me stupid.”
“You’re not stupid, Mason. You’re not a loser either.”
“So. You know of any other good spooky town stories that I can do next?
“Oh, sure. You ever heard the tale of Salome? She was a witch who would mash up the seeds of a Sinapis Alba plant to make a diabolical potion she’d dump on herself. They called her the ‘Witch of the Sands.’”
I’m embarrassed to admit it took me four days to realize Trista was just fucking with me. I only figured it out when I looked up Sinapis Alba and learned that mashing the seeds just makes mustard. “Salomi the sand-witch.” Well played, vampire hippy…
Sexy Neighbor
Haunted Slaughterhouse

Timestamp
Bushnell TRS 25 with riser $50
ATS Antidote Hydration Carrier ranger green $40
Grey ghost gear inner belt large $10 add-on
Alice gear canteen pouch $10 add-on
Haley x strap no belly band $35
Ap5 lower $45
Hk hook gloves belt attachment $5 add-on
Magpul MOE SL carbine handguard dyed black from sand $23
OD Green duffel $25
Sig XTen Vedder Comfort-Tuck holster, may fit other Sig X series handguns $45
Wrmfzy leather patch $30
TruMod Hydration Reservoir 3.0 L $10 add on
Angry bear glock small frame blackout sights $35
Magpul SL MP5 Stock unused in box $120
Ruger pocket holster X2 each $7 add on
PTS Mtek flux black all pads basically unused $120
Flecktarn LBT 14L Day Pack $130
Cordell Combat Pants 40x32 Multicam $50
Multicam S.T.O.M.P $50
Safariland Mid Ride ubl $15
C & H plate for 320 RMR, model is SGRX-RSH-FIL $45
Alpha Shooting Sports Marksman V4 Glock 19 gen 3 rmr cut slide $250
Mossy oak leather sling $5 add on
Square forge upper with dust cover and forward assist $55
Guntec MLok sharkmouth 10" handguard, was painted and stripped $50
Paypal F & F, no notes. Make an offer if you don't like price.

In the hustle and bustle of modern life, where every moment is consumed by deadlines, responsibilities, and endless tasks, the idea of a full body massage is not merely a luxury—it's a necessity. It's a sanctuary where time stands still, and the outside world fades away, leaving behind only the gentle touch of skilled hands and the soothing scent of aromatic oils.
Entering the serene ambiance of a massage room is like stepping into another dimension, where stress and tension hold no power. Soft lighting casts a warm glow, while the faint strains of tranquil music fill the air, creating an atmosphere of pure relaxation. As you recline on the plush massage table, anticipation builds for the transformative journey that lies ahead.
The artistry of a full body massage begins with the expert hands of a trained therapist, whose touch seems to intuitively navigate the contours of your body. With a combination of gentle strokes and targeted pressure, they coax your muscles into a state of deep relaxation, unraveling knots of tension accumulated from the stresses of daily life.
Effleurage, the initial stage of the massage, sweeps across your skin like a gentle breeze, preparing your body for the deeper work to come. As the therapist's hands glide effortlessly, you can feel the cares of the world slipping away, replaced by a sense of profound calm.
But it's not just the physical touch that works its magic; it's also the healing properties of aromatic oils that elevate the experience to new heights. Each oil is carefully selected for its unique therapeutic benefits, whether it's the calming aroma of lavender, the invigorating scent of eucalyptus, or the uplifting fragrance of citrus. As the oil is applied to your skin, its warmth penetrates deep into your muscles, melting away tension and leaving behind a sense of serenity.
As the massage progresses, the therapist may incorporate a variety of techniques, from kneading and stretching to tapping and friction, each designed to address specific areas of tension and promote overall well-being. With each movement, you can feel your body responding, releasing stored stress and embracing a newfound sense of ease.
But the benefits of a full body massage extend far beyond the treatment room. Studies have shown that regular massage therapy can reduce anxiety, alleviate pain, improve circulation, and boost immune function. It's not just a momentary indulgence; it's an investment in your long-term health and happiness.
In a world that never seems to slow down, a full body massage offers a rare opportunity to pause, breathe, and reconnect with yourself. It's a reminder that self-care is not selfish but essential—a gift you give yourself to nourish your body, soothe your mind, and uplift your spirit. So, the next time life becomes overwhelming, remember the elixir of tranquility that awaits, and let the healing journey begin.