The transition from 1-2 (and 2-3, which they might experience sooner rather than later if they’re against birth control) is hard. Like, hard hard. One child is a lot of work, but it’s a cake walk compared to juggling the needs of multiples.
There are so many new challenges; kids staggering wake times to actually keep you up all night and day (no more sleeping when the baby sleeps), two kids crying at once, trying to breastfeed while a toddler wreaks havoc, potty training while accounting for newborn needs and feeds, less time with your spouse because you naturally divide and conquer, harder to get out solo once both are mobile, more difficulty getting a sitter, trying to juggle two bedtimes at once, no more break during the day once the oldest drops their nap…I could keep going for a long time. It’s way harder. And it’s not just the newborn phase, Luca is getting ready to hit what I consider the most grueling of stages (ages 2-4, with 3 being peak difficulty).
We always wanted a big family, and had to stop at three because I knew that was the most I could handle while still giving everyone the individual attention they deserve. I also have pretty ideal circumstances - my spouse takes on more than half the parenting when he’s home because he knows how tough it is and wants me to have a break. We also have no financial concerns, and send our kids to half day preschool starting at age two.
I don’t want this to get too personal and “dear diary” -ish, but I just really don’t know how they’re going to manage. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and the thought of doing it with a spouse like Paul….unfathomable. I sense a laundry room breakdown coming.

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Do not make changes to my script.
Summary:
You the listener have been fighting a terminal illness for a while now. Your boyfriend has been doing his best to take care of you. The world you live in is cold, cruel with little kindness or goodwill to be had. You can see the toll your sickness has taken on your lover, but he is determined to not give up on you...No matter the cost.
Script here: https://scriptbin.works/s/3h8m9

Context: You're hosting your first ever party, and your 'family' is being somewhat supportive. Your older brother, Nate, is, at least, being less of a dumbass than usual. His gruff best friend, however, appears to be willing to show you a new side of himself tonight. And he's a real sweet talker~
Setting: The Listener's house
Tags: [M4A][Frenemies to Lovers?][Established Relationship?][Tsundere AF Speaker][Nerd Listener][Mean]to[Sweet][Sleepy Boi][Sleep Confessions][Lawd, He's Drunk][Comfort][Reverse Comfort][A Little Comedy][No One Tell Him][CW: Emotionally Vulnerable Tsunderes]
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[Scene opens in your house]
[SFX: The Listener setting up hurriedly for a party / guests filtering in]
[You are scrambling about, desperate to set up for your first ever party. Your heart is pounding with each guest you greet, but you try to keep it together, because you know, eventually-:]
[SFX: The door getting kicked lightly open]
[Your older brother, Nate, and his best friend of many, many years trudge in, crating trays of food]
“Clear the way, brisket coming through! Anyone who disturbs her path will know my wrath, or whatever…”
[Pause!]
[He makes eye contact and you both sneer. Still, he makes a beeline toward you]
[SFX: Grumpy himbo parting the Party Sea]
“There’s the host with the most… problems hiding their anxiety, hehe. Pfft, about time I actually got to set sights on your dumb face.”
[Pause!]
“Yeah, yeah. ‘It’s my first time hosting a party, be supportive!’. I’m here, I brought a shit ton of food from the restaurant, so don’t get started. Relax, actually ENJOY your first party, Nerd.”
[Pause?]
“Am I gonna drink? Ah, good question. No way your dumbass brother isn’t going to get wasted and I’m his ride… Ugh, God I hate that man sometimes… Not sure why I’ve stuck with your family this long, not gonna lie. Hear that, Nate! You’re a dumbass!”
[Your brother flips him off with a friendly smile in response. Then you. You flip him off. The game continues for a bit before you all remember the lone brain cell not being used]
[Pause <3]
[He rolls his eyes but smiles]
“Oohh, ‘love you, too’? Well, butter me up, why don’t you? Quit while you’re ahead, Nerd. I’m favored out, ain’t no way I’m hanging out after to help with dishes and shit.”
[Pause.]
[He folds his broad arms and smirks]
“I am an asshole, yes. Why did you ask about drinking, though?”
[Pause?]
“Ohh, you were going to offer to let me stay over so I could relax, huh? … Mmh. I am really good at shooting myself in the foot, huh?”
[Pause??]
[He laughs]
“Maybe if I had been nice the decade we’ve known each other? My goodness, so spicy tonight. The survivor adrenaline kicking in to counter your introverted flee instincts must be giving you a bit more nerve than usual. Tell you what? You focus that into charming the lovely folks arriving, and we can argue later when you’re setting out a sleeping bag for me next to your bed?”
[. . . ]
[He laughs again]
“Ohh, Heavens, I know. I am King Bastard, King of all Bastards, with high Dominion over the Archangel of BASTARDOM!”
[Pause.]
“Hmhm… I hope you enjoy the party as well, Nerd! I’m going to go get obliterated on that whiskey, thank you very much for your hospitality!”
[Pause…]
[SFX: Fade out into party ambiance > Stretch for as long of a [Pause] as VA desires]
[Time seems to fly as you do your best not to collapse into an introverted black hole. It’s your first party, you’re determined not to fail. You’re sure at LEAST five hours have passed when you decide to call it]
“Hm? You heading upstairs already, Nerd?”
[Pause…]
“Uh… It’s ten…”
[. . . ]
“...It’s OK. Nate and I will finish things up. I’ll make sure to save you a plate of brisket and fixings.”
[Pause <3]
[He rolls his eyes and shoos you off]
“Go on. Go to bed. I’ll try not to make too much noise when I come to bed. Please, for my sake, make sure the path to the sleeping bag is clear, hm?”
[Before you can retort, he affixes you with an intense stare, knocking the words out of your brain. His voice is just as intense for his next sentence before he goes back to his normal gruffness:]
“...You could let me sleep with you instead, of course…”
[. . . ???]
[He laughs]
“Pfft, your face. Go to bed. Don’t make me chase you up there.”
[. . . ]
[You shake the confusion off enough to trudge upstairs, resisting the urge to lock your door from the inside as you prepare the sleeping bag, crawl into bed, and promptly pass out]
[SFX: Either fade out muffled party ambiance with / without acting out the above in SFX]
[Fade Out]
[Slow Fade In]
[SFX: The bed shifting to the Speaker’s weight/the blanket reacting in kind]
[You barely remember falling asleep. You’re still barely awake. That’s why it takes you a moment to realize you have acquired a cuddle buddy, of sorts. He’s slipping into bed behind you, cuddled up as though it’s a normal event]
“Mmmh…:”
[. . . ?]
“Mmh…? Nnh, go back to sleep, sweetie…”
[... Pause.]
[You roll over to look at him in disbelief. His eyes aren’t even open]
“Mmmh warm…”
[P-Pause…]
“...No sleep bag, thank you.”
[. . . ? ]
“Nuhh, I’m gonna stay here… Warm… Smells nice…”
[You’ve heard the word ‘flabbergasted’ many times in your life but never have you felt it so perfectly that it could be the picture in the dictionary]
[SFX: The bed shifting a bit as he cozies up]
[Pause…]
[He nuzzles closer, voice startling soft compared to its normal gruffness]
“Sshh… It’s OK, baby, go back to sleep…”
[He somewhat slurs it together but the ‘baby’ makes you stop. Flabbergasted]
[???]
“Shh… I’ve got you… You rest, you did a good job with your little party. Oh my god it was so cute, you’re so cute when you’re freaking out but acting through it.”
[Pause????]
“M’ feeling fine… Just dunk. Drunk. D-R-U-N… drunk…”
[. . . ]
“I am a very affectionate dunk, yes… Mmh, you feel really nice to hold… S’ not fair, you know? Always walking around in those shorts, pasty-ass Nerd legs just reflecting the sun and such… Your brother says he’ll kick my ass if I go after you, you know…”
[Pause…?]
[SFX: A slight snore from him]
[Pause????]
“Nuhhh… Ahm not that asleep… I love you…”
[. . . . ]
[Amused, you tousle his hair a little bit and play along]
“Mmhm, I put the kids to bed… Wish I had their energy, you know? They make me feel old as… dust.”
[Pause <3]
“I ‘ppreciate all the sacrifices you’ve made, too… Being a monster-fighting spy pilot s’ hard work…”
[...]
“Mmhm, pancakes sound really good… I could fry up some chicken in a really good Korean BBQ rub I have and we could just get MESSED up on calories…”
[P-Pause]
“Mmrlr…. Why are you giggling? Giggly thing…”
[Pause…]
“Whaaaat? ‘I’m not normally this nice?’ You’re not normally this brutal to my feelings… I am too, nice! Rackum frackum…”
[He nuzzles back into your neck, cutting your giggles into a slight gasp]
[Pause!]
“Yeah, nuzzling up to your neck got you to quit laughing… Mmh… You really do smell nice…”
[Pause…]
“Yeah, you can pet my hair, that’s cool. Totally cool… Mmh, hehe, I knew you’d scratch my head like I was a dog the second you got a chance. Nerd.”
[P-Pause!]
“It is really good conditioner, thank you… Mmh… Thank you for petting my hair, even though you’re super awkward about it…”
[. . . ? ]
“Am I sleep?”
[He pauses and, for a moment, you think you have your answer before he lets out a massive snore]
[SFX: A big old snore]
[. . . ]
[You look at him in abject disbelief as he snores against you, in a weird space between sleep and wake]
“Am sleep…”
[. . . ]
“Hey, good night, beautiful~”.
[He tries to kiss you but it sort of just lands on your chin before he curls right back up in his supernatural coma]
[P-Pause…]
[You’re somewhat pinned under him…. And the party still somewhat rages downstairs. You can’t decide which is theoretically worse - someone opening the door or him waking up and realizing what he’s said…]
[SFX: Fade out on the slightly muffled party ambiance]
[To be continued?]
Note: I am taking name suggestions for this colossal goober~

I am a 30 year old man with a 28 year old fiance. I have two kids, a 28 month old boy and a 13 month old girl. My fiancé (we will call her Becca) has had a strained, on and off relationship with her mom. Nothing abusive, her mom has been more like a “girlfriend” to my fiance rather than a mother her whole life. Becca has said that most of her mom’s boyfriends have been jerks at best, weirdos at worst.
This brings me to the past couple of months. Becca’s mom brings her boyfriend down, and we will call him Steve. Steve is a tall, heavyset corrections officer from GA. He has a lot of the “southern charm”, from his love of chewing tobacco and sweet tea, to an accent that makes him sound almost like Goofy from Micky Mouse.
The first time I meet him, several months ago, he’s talking in my living room about a Cards Against Humanity game he played a night or two prior. He was playing with Becca’s mother, Becca’s 17 yr old brother Joey, and Joey’s 15 yr old girlfriend. He references this card he played, that said “Tinker Bells Tiny Tits”, and he says it like two or three times throughout the convo. I just met this guy and he’s talking like this about a game he played with two teens. Okay, weird. He also likes to have my son on his lap to watch Mickey on his phone with my son. This I really don’t like, but the guy is sitting next to my mother in law so what am I going to say? There were a few other reddish flags that I can’t remember right here but this was the oddest to me.
Fast forward a few months. Steve surprises Becca’s mom and brings them down to FL where we live to surprise Becca for her birthday. Steve and Becca’s mom buy my kids all these cute Disney clothes, crayons, coloring books, etc. He is also telling my fiance and myself about these live Disney shows they have going on that they want to take my kids too. He just seems overly friendly, especially to my little boy. Always wanting to hold him, give him high fives, sit in his lap, run his hand through his hair, buying him snacks and drinks. At one point, my fiance gets ticked because Steve says my daughters breath smells like milk, and my fiance is wondering why the hell is your face so close to our daughters mouth?
Come to find out, the guy was married before and for some reason he and his wife wanted kids but could never have them. The dude has ALWAYS wanted kids. So I guess with my two cute kiddos and him dating my mother in law, he feels like he’s already settled into the grandpa role. But I hardly know the guy, he’s off putting physically, and he’s making me wonder about his interactions with my kids. This all comes to a head in the next paragraph.
My fiancés little brother is graduating high school. Mother in law and Steve are coming down to watch the graduation. I’m not too happy about it but whatever. At one point, he is saying bye to my kids in my living room, he picks up my son and kisses him on the cheek goodbye, then kisses him several more times behind the ear. Oh hell no. Unfortunately, mother in law, mother in laws mother, my fiance, and several others are over so I’m left just stewing while they all go to the graduation.
The next day, I straight up tell mother in law “i don’t know how to have this conversation, so I’m just going to rip it off like a bandage. I don’t want your boyfriend kissing my kids or having them in his lap. That is reserved for blood relatives only.” Which I think is extremely reasonable. Her mom says “you have no idea what kind of issues this is going to cause me.” Uhhhhh, the fuck??
“How is this going to create issues? I don’t feel comfortable with him doing this, and the only non blood relative I’m okay with doing it is my father’s wife who I have known for 15 years.”
She claps back with “well, how are you ever going to get to know Steve? We live in a different state and never get to see the babies”
At this point, I’m a little confused, because it’s my kids and it’s not an unreasonable request. Steve then knocks on my front door, interrupting the convo with my mother in law and myself. Awwwwkwwward. MIL starts to leave, and my fiance is wondering what the hell just happened since it appeared I was arguing with her mom. I told her what happened, and I said this was enough and went outside. I walked up to his truck window and said “hey man, I need to talk”
MIL interrupts me and says “i was going to talk to him” and I say it’s okay, I can do it. All I say was “Steve, I’m not okay with you kissing my kids. That’s reserved for blood relatives only and it makes me and my fiance uncomfortable.” I said this in a calm manner. All he said was “okay, I understand” and they leave.
Super long story short, the next day we are having the celebration dinner for younger brothers graduation at a restaurant. MIL and Steve pay for my kids, myself, and fiancée, say goodbye, and then leave for GA a night early, not saying a proper goodbye to my fiancee. MIL calls Becca the next day and says Steve now feels uncomfortable, he feels like he’s a p*** or he feels like he’s being accused of being a p### (don’t know the exact phrasing here).
I’m at the point where I’m like tough fucking luck. Dont kiss kids, and you won’t feel like a p###!! But I’m wondering like, did I go too far? Maybe all this is innocent behavior, but I’d rather hurt a somewhat strangers feelings than potentially have my kids mistreated or abused. On the other hand, maybe I am overreacting and being unfair to this guy because of his appearance, career, and his kind of dumb persona?
I don’t know how to proceed. He feels like a p###… okay… so what’s next? Steve just asked MIL to marry and she said yes, so I am now stuck with this guy as a freaking step father in law, but I really don’t even want him to see these kids again. However, MIL is on disability and can’t really get down here to see the kids without Steve (again, not my problem, but this affects my fiancee quite a bit).
Am I overreacting? Am I the asshole? All typed on mobile so ignore typos or weird misspellings.

So there was a recent thread that got me to look back on the original plans for the 2.0 expansion material and I ended up digging through it a bit more than I ever had before. I figured it might be fun to write up a full breakdown of what I was able to gleam from my digging.
Before I begin, I should mention that the information available is spotty and inconsistent in places. For example, according to the TORCommunity database, a lot of these files were added in version 1.3 and 2.0. However, going back to the files that are in those patches (I love you Jedipedia), a lot of those files are not present in those versions. I assume this is internal marking, and is based on the dev's versions and not the live versions. In fact the Sith Warrior dialogues only show up in live in 5.0.0. I have no idea why those dialogues just suddenly popped into existence there.
Generally speaking I have four types of files available to look through.

• The first are the cnv (conversation) files, which are the most useful as they give the actual dialogue thereby telling us what the plot was. We have these for Bothawui for all republic classes, Ziost for Sith Warrior, "open world" (term used for quests between planets or for small instanced planets) for all five of the above, and one random Imp World arc file for Yavin IV. There are some that are blank, but the majority have something.
• The second are quest files for the quests. We have quests for all of the classes on Bothawui, Ziost, and Open Worlds. We have quests for Jedi Knight on Sleheyron. We have world arc quests for Yavin IV for both factions, and side quests for every planet. Unfortunately, these are a bit more hit and miss in their usefulness because some of them are missing strings. So sometimes we can get what all the steps of a quest were going to be, other times the only things we can learn are a name the quest used to go by and how many steps the quest was supposed to have. Even the ones that have all their strings aren't necessarily useful. For example, we have all the steps for the Sith Inquisitor quest, "A Warm Welcome." Step 1, " Take a Shuttle to Your Estate." Great, now we know the SI has an estate! Step 2, " Talk to the Sith Lord." And the usefulness is gone.
• The third type are creature files. These tell us who was planned to show up where, but they are of limited usefulness without context as to what the NPC was doing. For example, I can't immediatly tell the difference between a friendly, an enemy that starts friendly and turns hostile after a conversation, or someone that appears via holo-recording.
• The fourth "type" are "phantom files" that are listed in TORCommunity's databases, but are missing from what I am able independently datamine. I trust that TORCommunity's listings are correct, but there also isn't much to gain from these files since they are all empty (included in these are some of the missing cnv files).

Overall Plan

So to begin, it should be noted that all of these cnv files are located in the directory cnv.exp.01. This is the same naming convention used for the released Rise of the Hutt Cartel files. This makes it difficult to tell what Makeb's original role in the expansion was. It appears that it was intended to be part of the expansion as there is the following line from the Supreme Chancellor that appears to vary based on whether a Smuggler did Makeb before starting Bothawui.

(Did not do Makeb) "Of course I am. The Voidwolf's defeat is the only reason I can ignore being referred to as "Madame Chance. "
(Did do Makeb) "Of course I am. Your success on Makeb bought you considerable leeway with me--but "Madame Chance" is pushing it. "

Additionally according to TORCommunity's "added in patch" data, the majority of Makeb's cnvs were initially added in 1.3, which was the same patch that most of the other files were added for the cut content.
So in addition to Makeb, the planned planets appear to have been Bothawui (Pub), Ziost (Imp), and Sleheyron (Both). These three planets were intended to have class stories and side quests (no evidence of a world arc, but I don't know if none was planned or if they just didn't get to it). There is no evidence that Makeb was ever meant to have any class stories on it. Additionally, there is one conversation file for Imp Yavin IV. It was early on in development when they stopped working on it since the dialogue is just a summary of what happens in the scenes (e.g., a shuttle crashes), but there are quests and NPCs for both Pub and Imp world arcs, so there was more planned.
So in summary the plan appears to have been something like:

• Makeb (Shared Planet with World Arcs)
• Bothawui/Ziost (Faction Exclusive Planets with Class Stories)
• Sleheyron (Shared Planet Class Stories)
• Yavin IV (Shared Planet with World Arcs, placement uncertain but has to be before or after the class stories as an NPC that is kidnapped in a class story is a quest NPC)

Now before I start on discussing the content from each planet, it is worth mentioning that I have little context for most quests and NPCs, so I'm just going to be putting them in alphabetical order.

Bothawui

The overall setting for this Planet seems to have been that the Republic is going on the offensive and the Imperials are going scorched earth while they get pushed off planet.
Something that is well known (I think) at this point is that Dantooine on live is a modified version of the map that originally made for Bothawui. From the dialogue files that I've looked through, I'm betting the dam in the portion of the map we are on was originally called the Bosnar Dam, which was a set piece for one of the JK missions. Also probably worth noting that the there are multiple mentions of Bothawui being an important source of food, which probably factored into their choice to reuse the area since Dantooine is also a farming planet.
Quests

• Storm of Destruction
• The Butchers of Bothawui
• The Stone Ray's Lair
• Wet Work
• (Bonus)
  • Search and Rescue

Ziost

I'm really not sure what the state of Ziost was supposed to be. SW seems to be dealing with Pubs having taken over the planet defense grid. SI and IA seem to be dealing with internal politics. And I have no idea of what BH is up to.
Quests

• [HEROIC 2] Battle of Xeno District
• Caged
• Gateway to the Empire
• [HEROIC 4] The Horror at Black Forge
• (Bonus)
  • Cathar Fury
  • Counter-offensive
  • The Ritual of Naga-Sadow

Sleheyron

Honestly I have less of an idea for Sleheyron than Ziost since Sleheyron is either the least finished planet or the planet with the least files that has slipped into live.
Quests

• (Pub General Quests)
  • Castles in the Skies
  • Devotion to Duty
  • The Battlefield of Tomorrow
  • Tibanna Exchange
• (Imp General Quests)
  • Doomsday Virus
  • Master Logrus
  • Quantum Javelin

Yavin IV

I have very little idea on the Pub side of things. There are some clues for the Imp side though. While he lacks a creature file, the Imp quests make mention of reporting to Servant One. So that means Imps were probably here on a mission for the Emperor. My first instinct is reviving the Emperor, but I don't have enough info. General Heskar also made a return. Oh Imps also spoke to Naga Sadow's force ghost as part of their world arc.
Quests

• (Pub World Arc)
  • Crossing the Guard
  • Kagan's Endgame
  • The Interceder's Vengeance
  • Triumph by Fire
  • Under the Stone
  • (Bonus)
    • Endgame For All
    • Preparing the Temple
    • Prison Camp Sabotage
• (Pub General Quests)
  • Unforgotten Deeds
• (Imp World Arc)
  • Doom
  • Extraction
  • Into the Jungle
  • Meeting the Massassi
  • Rise
  • The Cursed Legacy of Naga Sadow
  • The Empire's Last Stand
  • The Fate of the Empire
  • To Face a Dark Lord
  • (Bonus)
    • A Shrine to Defeat
    • Friendly Competition
    • Marching Orders
    • Old Idols
• (Imp General Quests)
  • For the Emperor
  • Slash and Burn
  • War Games
  • (Bonus)
    • Burning Legacy

Jedi Knight

So the JK's overreaching plot for seems to have been working together with the Protectors (the rescue team we met on Makeb) in order to help evacuate people.
There are multiple mentions of a place called Talravin, which I'm guessing is where the story would start as the JK helps evacuations there. From reading between the lines, it appears that the JK would be sending the refugees to a new world called New Euphrades...and of course the story finishes with us fighting a Sith in orbit as he is trying to destroy it.
Based on quest names, it seems we were meant to go to Alphelion Six, which does not have a wookiepedia article so I guess it was a new planet, at some point. Since the finale seemed to be New Euphrades, I'm guessing this happened between Bothawui and Sleheyron. Whenever it happened, the Protectors were apparently going to join you there.
Seems that there was an ending choice for the JK between joining the Protectors full time or becoming the Battlemaster. There is a lot of dialogue regarding the role of Jedis, so this seems like a conclusion to that arc as the JK chooses whether to be a protector or a warrior? Scourge also mentions that he had additional visions, but doesn't provide anything useful just kind of says "yeah I totally knew you were going to make that choice" after you made it.
Rough Map

• Talravin to start the plot?
• Bothawui to rescue civilians from the fighting
• ??? (Alphelion Six?)
• Sleheyron to ??? (probably rescue more civilians)
• Area where Talaravin gets the shield codes for New Euphrades
• Battle over New Euphrades
• Report to the Chancellor where you get the choice between joining the Protectors and Battlemaster

Quests

• Off World/Multi World
  • Crisis at Alphelion Six
  • Improving Performance
  • Soft Targets
  • The Parting Blow
  • The Price of Eternity
  • Welcome Captain Maddox
  • Welcome Doctor Kantos
  • Welcome Tefani
• Bothawui
  • A Rude Welcome
  • Blight of Bothawui
  • Double Time
  • Not a Drop to Drink
  • (Bonus)
    • Double Time
    • The Road to Vellik
• Sleheyron
  • A Hot Lead
  • Emergency Detour
  • Project Sever
  • The Ortis Problem

Notable NPCs

• Off World/Multi World
  • Captain Maddox - Leader of the Protectors that are joining the JK. He joins you on your ship (like members of the Rift Alliance did for the JC?). Also dies, so I assume you might be taking his role if you joined the protectors.
  • Doctor Kantos - Head medical officer for the Protectors. She also joins the JK's ship. You could flirt with her, and she seemed to be receptive to both genders. There are confrontations at the end of the story for both Kira and Doc where you have to choose between your LI or her. So I guess she was planned as a continuous love interest...not sure how that would have worked since she wasn't a companion.
  • Tefani - Tech head for the Protectors who also joined the JK's ship.
  • Darth Legius - Praetor of the Dark Council's army (no idea how that is different than the normal army). He appears to be the main villain for the JK. He had sworn vengeance over us for "lying" about killing the Emperor. Also he had two apprentices that get the one-off villain treatment on Bothawui. Our final battle would have taken place aboard his flagship, the Vindicator after he pissed off the Dark Council. One dialog implies that at some point he becomes the first Sith to publicly acknowledge the death of the Emperor.
  • Darth Marr - No idea what his role was (probably holo-call with Legius?), but he is in the JK files
  • General Var Suthra - He could reappear during the Aphelion Six quest
  • Master Orgus Din - He appears in the Soft Targets files, so I guess we were meant to get more force ghost lessons from him?
• Bothawui
  • Garith - Local resistance fighter who is your initial contact when you arrive
  • Colonel Blight - Villain and probably part time Captain Planet villain. He is an efficiency expert who has been brought in to kill as many civilians as possible as the Imps retreat.
• Sleheyron
  • Agent Galen - Our old cybernetic buddy could show up

Jedi Consular

The JC's arc seems to be the most clear cut. The JC gets a vision of the galaxy burning because of Torwin Vehls and then sets out to find them and stop them. On Bothawui, the JC discovers that Torwin has the power to give power to others, and this includes giving force sensitivity to non-sensitives (and also to animals).
The JC fails to catch Torwin on Bothawui and must continue chasing after him before he find "the Shrouded Ones," which were something related to the Rakata. "The Shrouded Ones were built to be the end of everything. A solution, to our empire's final problem." Not sure if they were something new or something that already exists given a mysterious name. There are talks about them that makes them sound like they are machines powered by the force, but I'm not sure how that solves the Rakata's final problem or meshes with Torwin's power. Then again the Rakata were evil jerks, so maybe their solution was to just murder everyone so they didn't go down alone?
I feel like there is a good chance that this unused arc is the inspiration for at least part of the current arc since one of the powers Darth Nul is mentioned as having is awakening force sensitivity in those unaware they had it (slightly different, but if anyone starts mentioning Shrouded Ones, we know that is not a good sign).
Rough Map

• Get a vision somewhere (Voss diplomatic mission?)
• Bothawui to hunt down Torwin
• ??? (Remnants of Natukar? You work with Darth Kallomena to find a Rakata map to the Shrouded Ones)
• Sleheyron to hunt down the Shrouded Ones
• ???

Quests

• Off World/Multi World
  • Remnants of Natukar
  • The Shrouded One
  • The Stack
  • Unforeseen Circumstances
  • (Bonus)
    • Clearing the Stack
    • Meeting the Delegates
    • Remnants Resistance
    • The Droids Within
• Bothawui
  • A Man of Vision
  • Broken Shield
  • Interpretations
  • Long Left Behind
  • (Bonus)
    • Healing the Land
    • Lured Beasts
    • Plowing the Fields
    • Skirmish at Narless
• Sleheyron
  • Conspicuous Consumption
  • Falling Sky
  • Groundbreaking
  • Into the Eye

Notable NPCs

• Off World/Multi World
  • Darth Kallomena - A masked Sith that the JC encounters on Bothawui. She is also seeking Torwin because he is her charge or something along those lines.
  • Gnost-Dural - Shows up in the Unforeseen Circumstances quest
  • Voss - Several Voss also appear in the Unforeseen Circumstances quest, seems to be a diplomatic conference about the Voss wanting to send their commandos home to deal with the Gormak. No Gaden Ko though
  • Hallow Voice - Has some dialogue talking about the Shrouded Ones
• Bothawui
  • The Custodian - A Rakata that was made force sensitive against his will by Torwin in an attempt to bribe The Custodian into giving info on the Shrouded Ones
• Sleheyron
  • (Nobody that I recognize)

Smuggler

Trying to describe this plot feels like a fever dream, but maybe that is appropriate for a continuation of the OG Smuggler story. So the Smuggler gets dragged into the story after an attack on Port Nowhere by a criminal gang.
The Smuggler tracks them down to Bothawui where you learn they are the Womp Family and that they have gotten ahold of a Superdreadnaught, which they refer to as a "space mansion." And they aren't just called the Womp Family, they actually are a family. The plot is essentially that a bunch of hillbillies got their hands on a...fully automated aircraft carrier(?) and are now going around launching air strikes on people that tipped their cows. They literally launch an orbital bombardment on the Smuggler at one point. Not his ship or base that he is at. Just the Smuggler after the Smuggler corners one of their members. They are also trying to extort the Republic. I don't know how things ended, but I imagine the dark side ending has the Smuggler getting a larger ship.
Rough Map

• Port Nowhere is attacked
• Bothawui to look into who was behind the attack
• ??? (Bothawui ends with Risha going to research Barabbula, so I assume we followed up on that lead next)
• Sleheyron to ???
• ??? (Probably the opportunity to steal the Superdreadnaught, but I don't have that dialogue)

Quests

• Off World/Multi World
  • Confidence and Influence
  • Days of Infamy
  • Decontamination
  • Party Down
  • Spoiling the Surprise
  • (Bonus)
    • Securing Valuables
    • Threat Recognition
• Bothawui
  • Bothan Beatdown
  • Camp Shatter
  • Clean Sweep
  • Harsh Introductions
  • (Bonus)
    • Hidden Reset Phase (probably not actually a quest)
    • I Was Never Here
• Sleheyron
  • Celebrity Spotlight
  • Lab Samples
  • Public Spectacles
  • The X Particles

Notable NPCs

• Off World/Multi World
  • Master Sumalee - She would have returned! And she had a fade to black! Also revealed that Satele dropped the prohibition against romance off screen. She seems to serve as the Smuggler's contact with the Republic (which was her job for one of the Smuggler endings).
  • Beryl Thorne - Don't know what she was up to, but she apparently reappeared in Party Down
  • Barrabula the Hutt - Owner of the superdreadnaught that was somehow stolen. Also the Supreme Mogul of the Cartel three hundred years ago.
• Bothawui
  • (Nobody I recognize)
• Sleheyron
  • (Nobody that I recognize)

Trooper

Trooper is leading the front lines of the battle on Bothawui with a reporter in tow. Had a scene that would have been interesting to see where the Trooper was to get airdropped in a bomb modified to serve as an entry craft. The reporter mentions having enough footage on Bothawui, so I'm not really sure where the expansion long arc was supposed to go from there. Immediately after Bothawui, you are the guest of honor at a party held by the Chancellor, so I guess the Sleheyron mission pops up there.
Rough Map

• ???
• Bothawui to liberate the world and get footage
• Be the guest of honor for a party the Chancellor is holding
• Sleheyron to ???
• ???

Quests

• Off World/Multi World
  • Elements of Surprise
  • Freedom from Fear
  • Mercy Mission
  • (Bonus)
    • Surprise Party
• Bothawui
  • Battle of Liahstarn
  • Firing Solutions
  • (Hidden) Speak with Jonas and Chall (Chill?)
  • Reversal of Fortunes
  • Tactical Payload
• Sleheyron
  • Grasp of Shadows
  • Picking Up
  • Sleep Wake Cycle
  • Two for One

Notable NPCs

• Off World/Multi World
  • Rylo Kann - Journalist that joins the Trooper for at least part of the expansion.
  • Jaxo - So I guess she was meant to reappear if alive.
• Bothawui
  • Jonas Balker - He would have returned. And he would have had a fade to black...something he still doesn't have on Live yet.
  • Dagger Wing - They would have returned from Belsavis to provide support on your campaign. They have an interesting choice where they ask you how to handle the reporter as he wants to interview them (unaware of the whole accidently war crimes backstory?).
  • Raven Squad - You were supposed to meet them on the battlefield, which would have included them calling bombers on your position. No idea if their current iteration is meant to be the same as this group, but they almost certainly reused the name since it wasn't otherwise being used. Their commander in this iteration is named Varis.
• Sleheyron
  • (Nobody that I recognize)

Sith Warrior

Sith Warrior is the only one of the Imp classes that I have dialog for. On Ziost, the SW is in charge of getting the planetary defenses back after Pubs take them over. However the planetary defenses might only be a distraction because there is dialogue referring to the Sith Warrior saving the Voice who is a necessary component for reviving the Emepror.
The overarching plot seems to be a conflict with Gnost-Dural who seems to be looking into ending the Emperor for good. While the SW is dealing with Ziost, Gnost-Dural prepares to attack the hidden fortress where the Hand resides. The attack starts while the SW is reporting on their success in protecting the Hand. Once here Gnost-Dural captures all of the Servants except for Servant Twelve who goes to the SW for help. Servant Twelve drops the tidbit that if the hand was severed than (in this timeline) the Emperor can no longer revived. Gnost Dural seems unaware of this as he puts the Servants in stasis and carefully probes their minds to get information about the Emperor without hurting them.
Interesting to note that one of the quests is called Showdown on Ossus, so that might have been the inspiration for Gnost-Dural being on Ossus in Jedi Under Siege.
Also there is a dialogue that mentions the Sith Warrior putting down two Dark Council members. Not entirely sure which Dark Council members they were though. Checking the NPC list for all the Sith Warrior locations, the only Darths that are mentioned are Darth Baras and Darth Vowrawn. So I guess they were including Baras. I'm thinking that Vowrawn might have actually sided with Gnost-Dural? There is a line in a conversation during the Hand's Fortress that states, "His source remains a mystery--not even Darth Vowrawn or Zujen Vale knew our location." Zujen Vale is mentioned to be a traitor in a different conversation. So I guess Vowrawn being opposed to the Hand on Rishi might have been inspired by the original plan to make him opposed to the Emperor? And now I have Emperor Vowrawn on live instead. Funny how these things work.
There is also mention of the Sith Warrior making a speech during/after Ziost, which appears to have been about reform and appears to have been directed at the Dark Council. So I guess a LS option to try and put the fear of Wrath into the Dark Council after the Wrath did some house cleaning.
Rough Map

• ??? (The Final Revenge of Darth Baras?)
• Ziost to take back the planetary defenses and save the Voice
• Hand's Fortress to save the Hand
• Sleheyron to track down Gnost-Dural by following a data drop off
• ??? (Track down Gnost-Dural for final confrontation? Showdown on Ossus?)

Quests

• Off World/Multi World
  • End Times
  • Fracture
  • Showdown on Ossus
  • The Blood Splattered Talz
  • The Emperor and His Wrath
  • The Final Revenge of Darth Baras
  • (Bonus)
    • Breached and Boarded
    • Shattering the Jedi Seal
    • The Emperor's Secrets
• Ziost
  • Armageddon Approaches
  • The Fires of Ziost
  • The Hunt Begins
  • Voice in the Darkness
• Sleheyron
  • Echoes of Gnost-Dural
  • Hook Line and Sinker
  • Shutter
  • Solar Spear

Notable NPCs

• Off World/Multi World
  • Servants 1-11 - Whole family reunion in this one
  • Servant 12 - Only one of the Servants to not get captured. Spends some time on your ship after the Hand's Fortress is raided. She is completely uninterested in the SW's attempts to flirt. Unlike the Protectors for the JK or Rylo for the Trooper, Servant Twelve does not have a creature file for the ship, so she might have been cutscene only.
  • Master Gnost-Dural - Seems to have been the main "villain"
  • Darth Vowrawn showed up in Fracture
  • Darth Baras could show up in The Final Revenge of Darth Baras
  • Lord Qet - Vowrawn's apprentice shows up too
  • Zujen Vale - A Sith you meet on Ziost. Secretly works for Gnost-Dural
• Ziost
  • Armageddon Battalion - They return to assist the Sith Warrior
  • Voice of the Emperor - Here to be rescued
• Sleheyron
  • (Nobody that I recognize)

Sith Inquisitor

I have very little idea of what the SI was supposed to get up to. The SI seems to be hobnobbing with the Dark Council on Ziost, but beyond that I'm not quite sure what is going on. You did apparently get your own estate on Ziost though. So neat?
Quests

• Off World/Multi World
  • A Party to Remember
  • An Empire Divided
  • The Sanctum
  • (Bonus)
    • Crast's Betrayal
• Ziost
  • A Warm Welcome
  • Convergence
  • Lost Army
  • The Emperor's Tower

Notable NPCs

• Off World/Multi World
  • Dark Council - Between An Empire Divided and a Party to Remember, I think we have a good chunk of the Dark Council showing up. I don't remember who was on the Council at this time, so I'm just listing all the Darths in the two quests and hope I'm not giving anyone a promotion. Arkov, Marr, Soverus, Acina, Mortis, and Ravage.
  • Lord Qet - I guess Vowrawn is represented by his apprentice while he's off doing things (and being killed?) in the SW story?
• Ziost
  • Moff Pyron - Everyone's favorite lackey showed up
• Sleheyron
  • (no NPCs in files I have)

Imperial Agent

At least part of the IA storyline seemed to be focused on cleaning up after Malgus's rebellion as there are NPCs with Malgus in their name. I'm not sure whether that was the focus of the entire expansion or if you stumble onto something else while dealing with "the betrayer's spymaster."
Quests

• Off World/Multi World
  • The Beast Awakens
  • The Broken Colonel
  • The Nightmare
  • The Player of Games
  • The Vigil
• Ziost
  • The Betrayer's Spymaster
  • The Grandfather of Terror
  • The Hidden War
  • The Secret Compact
• Sleheyron
  • Doppleganger
  • The Catcher and the Cage
  • The Highest Authority

Notable NPCs

• Off World/Multi World
  • Ardun Kothe - Every IA's best friend can return! Although I guess it makes sense as I assume he becomes your handler if you give him the Black Codex
  • Shara Jenn - She would have returned...and gone by the name Nexus? I'm really not sure where that comes from. Weird thing is that her creature file is named shara_jenn, but for whatever reason IA has some NPCs with names. Had her creature file just been named Nexus, I would not have known it was her
  • Colonel Niar - This seems to have been a recurring character who even joins you on your ship (no creature file for him though). I've seen someone say that the IA storyline got converted to be the Imp Makeb storyline, and I suspect this NPC is where that idea originated from. I don't have any dialogue associated with the NPC, but I feel confident is not Katha Niar from Makeb since this NPC is a male (and the gender attribute is properly assigned on other unfinished NPCs). Sort of off topic, but it seems Katha Niar was originally named Kiar Onila.
  • Darth Marr - No idea what his role was, but he shows up
  • Ocean - I guess this is a code name for someone? You bring them to an escape shuttle at one point
• Ziost
  • (Nobody that I recognize)
• Sleheyron
  • Saresh - Not sure what her role here was

Bounty Hunter

I have no context to make sense of the info I have for BH. An NPC named Zedania seems to be important. I can't tell what his role in the story was though. I think in one mission we are saving him though? So a client I guess? Also someone named Brand that we get a lot of holocalls from, so either an ally or a very mouthy antagonist?
Quests

• Off World/Multi World
  • Meeting the Board
  • Nebula Station
  • Socio Pathfinding
  • (Bonus)
    • Resorting to Violence
    • Security Shakedown
• Ziost
  • All or Nothing
  • Biding Time
  • Poised to Strike
  • Set the Sky on Fire

Notable NPCs

• Off World/Multi World
  • Darth Tormen - You don't get to lose your boss off screen in this timeline
  • Darth Marr - Dude was busy in this expansion. I'm guessing he was meant as an alternative for Darth Tormen
• Ziost
  • (Nobody that I recognize)
• Sleheyron
  • (Nobody that I recognize)

Random Observations and Quotes

• HK-51 and the ship droid both got reactions to the content in this 2.0. I think HK actually has some in vanilla that is no longer available since 4.0, but Ship Droid has none except for maybe some environmental reactions on Makeb?
• Smuggler (romancing Risha) after getting buried alive
  • If we only have a little air left, I say we use it up vigorously. How's that for a plan?
  • Like all your schemes, it's poorly thought-out and likely to end in violence. I'm in.
• Treek was not originally in the plans for this version of 2.0 as she is missing from the majority of companion reactions, but a small number of lines that mention her appear so I think they had decided to add her in the future before the scope was cut
• Servant One to the Sith Warrior
  • We also bore witness to your speech. The Empire's transformation does not concern the Emperor, but others may prove less tolerant.
• Kira to JK who has been flirting around
  • I'm starting to think that's true. I've been having all these violent urges lately... usually whenever I see you, or Doctor Kantos. And when I see you together? I mean, wow... kind of makes me want to hit you upside the head, you know?
• Elara after a flirt option (not sure if it is a kiss or fade to black since I only have dialogue) while waiting for a shuttle
  • I'm going to file an official commendation for the Bothan shuttle scheduling authority.
• Smuggler talking to someone he saved on Coruscant
  • Randomly shooting Imperials is one of my trademark moves. Glad you enjoyed the show.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed looking at this what if. If anyone has any questions about what is in the files, I can try to answer, but I can't make promises that the answers to your questions exist in the files.

Fantasy Booking Edge vs. Christian at WrestleMania XXVII (27):
SmackDown (Oct. 8 - Oct 22, 2010)
Christian comes to the ring the next week and claims this is the real celebration. Not the celebration with family, because you cant depend on family. This is the celebration of success, something you can actually depend on. Christian went through hell for Edge for 30 years as second place. Second place in school, in sports, in his own father’s eyes and worst of all, in the WWE. Christian had earned too much and gone through too much crap as Edge’s second place b**** and finally had enough. Christian has known he’s good enough to be #1. He’s a former Intercontinental Champion, former NWA World Heavyweight Champion and should’ve been a world champion in WWE a long time ago but now, everything is right. Edge then interrupts ready to fight when Christian stops Edge saying he knew Edge would be out here. Because although Christian spent 201 days by Edge’s side when he was World Heavyweight Champion, the second Christian is World Heavyweight Champion, Edge wants to fight him and come for his title. Christian says everyone was right about you, CM Punk, Kane, all of them. Edge then retorts saying he always knew Christian was great, he was world champion level. The only one who believed he was #2 to Edge was himself and once he got it in his head, he made the whole world believe it. It was Christian’s own self-fulfilling prophecy that made it happen and not because he didn’t have the talent to become a star, but because he didn’t have the balls to become a star. People can say a lot of things about what Edge did to become a start. Things Edge will regret for the rest of his life and will have enemies for the rest of his life for, but nobody can say he didn’t do everything he could to become a star. But Christian, when they broke up and it came time to become a star, things got tough and Christian left for 4 years. Then, when things got tough, Christian blamed Edge. Christian had the Money in the Bank Briefcase for 201 days and instead of cashing in on the WWE Champion or cashing in on Edge, he sat around like a little b**** and threw himself pity parties. Edge says if Christian cashed in on him that’s fine, Edge has been Mr. Money in the Bank before and knows it’s part of the game. They could’ve had a rivalry for the ages and remained friends throughout. Or, they ended WrestleMania XXVI as World Heavyweight Champion and Mr. Money in the Bank respectively, they could’ve ended WrestleMania XXVII as WWE Champion and World Heavyweight Champion respectively. However, Christian did none of those things because he didn’t want to step up, he wanted to be a little b****. While Edge thinks Christian is subhuman scum for what he did last week, at least for the first time in his career he showed some balls. But now, Edge is going to cut them off when he rips Christian apart and takes back his World Heavyweight Championship and Christian can go back to being #2 for the rest of his life. Christian slaps Edge and the two begin brawling. The brawl is interrupted when Edge is laid out by a huge man, Brodus Clay. Christian laughs as Brodus beats down Edge before laying him out next to the corner of the ring, before getting ready to hit a Vader Bomb or as he calls it, the Fall of Humanity. Before Brodus can hit it, Christian stops him, and grabs a chair, placing it around Edge’s neck and allowing Clay to continue. Clay jumps onto Edge, immediately injuring him on impact. Edge does not move as Teddy Long comes out, demanding a chuckling Christian & Clay leave the ring. Edge is stretchered out as he lays lifeless on the stretcher.
The next week, Christian and Brodus Clay are in the ring where Christian explains that Brodus empathised with Christian’s story of being ignored and pushed aside, with a man of Brodus’ size and talent being 37 years old and having never been given a shot in the big time. Christian saw Brodus, and Brodus saw Christian, and both men realised if they worked together, both men could achieve what they deserved. As Christian is speaking the #1 contender to the World Heavyweight Championship, Rey Mysterio interrupts. Rey Mysterio says Edge is one of Rey’s greatest friends and he is going to get revenge for what Christian did to him. Christian says one of his favourite things about taking the title from Edge was taking away Edge’s chance to have a World Heavyweight Championship match with his friend Rey. Christian tells Mysterio to quit kissing Edge’s a** and realise who he’s talking about. Christian says Rey Mysterio has been betrayed by all his closest friends. Eddie Guerrero, Batista, but at least those men had some morals. Everyone knows Edge is the sickest son of a b**** the WWE has ever seen. If he wasn’t laying in a hospital bed, he would’ve stabbed Rey Mysterio in the back to retain his World Heavyweight Championship without blinking an eye. However, truly, Christian is so glad Rey Mysterio is his first challenger as champion. Because now, as Edge watches the show from a hospital bed, Christian can force him to watch on as he tortures one of Edge’s closes friends. And Christian would actually like to start that tonight. Christian then slaps Rey Mysterio who goes to attack Christian before he is taken out by Brodus Clay who beats Rey Mysterio down. Christian then crouches over a lifeless Rey and grabs his held and holds it up close to the camera, talking trash to Edge as he sits in his hospital bed watching on.
Christian © w/ Brodus Clay vs. Rey Mysterio - World Heavyweight Championship - Bragging Rights (Oct. 24, 2010)
From this point on, Christian’s matches contain a lot of talking from Christian. Whenever he is on top, Christian looks directly into the camera and talks directly to Edge. Saying how this is going to happen to all of Edge’s closes friends, how Edge cant do anything about it from his hospital bed, how Christian is better than Edge, and how when Edge comes back the same thing is going to happen to him. This match begins no different as Christian works over Mysterio and talks his trash. However, Rey Mysterio fights from underneath and gets into the contest as well, despite Christian controlling the majority of the bout and talking trash throughout. As Rey begins his final comeback and scores a very close roll up, Christian becomes more focused and stops the talking. Christian tries to finish off Mysterio who fights back and has Christian in a precarious position when Brodus Clay distracts Rey Mysterio. This gives Christian time to recover and attack Mysterio before nailing him with a Killswitch. Instead of covering Rey, Christian slowly paces around the ring, laughing. Christian then heads to the corner where he begins running his fingers down his head as he readies for a Spear, mocking Edge. Christian nails Rey with the Spear before covering him and getting the win. Christian celebrates with Brodus Clay and his World Heavyweight Championship as he grabs the camera and speaks directly to Edge, telling him that he loves the fact that Edge watching Christian as World Heavyweight Champion makes him sick, and that there’s nothing he can do about it. Christian tells Edge to get used to it, because it’s not ending any time soon. Christian then gives the camera a big kiss, the speech while holding the camera and the kiss to Edge becoming a signature of Christian’s post-match celebration.
Winner: Christian
SmackDown (Oct. 29 - Nov. 19, 2010)
Following the interference of Brodus Clay at Bragging Rights, Rey Mysterio confronts Christian & Clay and demands a rematch. Christian admits that he actually wants a rematch with Rey Mysterio at Survivor Series as well. But considering Christian is the champion, Christian won at Bragging Rights, and that Christian is the #1 on SmackDown & in WWE, he gets to make the rules. You see, torturing Rey at Bragging Rights as he spoke to Edge from the hospital gave Christian this intense, sick, twisted kind of joy. A high Christian wants to feel course through his veins once again, a high Rey Mysterio can give him at Survivor Series. But this time, Christian wants more, Christian wants Edge to watch him destroy Rey in an “I Quit” Match, and make Edge watch on as he is forces Rey to say “I Quit” right down the camera lens, knowing Edge is the reason his dear friend has to go through all that pain and suffering. Rey tells Christian he’s glad that’s Christian’s motivation, because at Survivor Series when Christian is distracted with Edge, Rey is going to take his World Heavyweight Championship. Rey smiles before slapping Christian in the face. Brodus runs for Rey who ducks and begins flying at Clay with fast & evasive offence until Christian hits Rey in the back of the head with the World Heavyweight Championship. Christian and Clay stand over Rey as Christian talks to the camera, telling Edge that this is nothing compared to what Edge will be forced to watch at Survivor Series.
Christian © w/ Brodus Clay vs. Rey Mysterio - “I Quit” Match - World Heavyweight Championship - Survivor Series (Nov. 21, 2010)
The match begins as usual by this point, Christian working over Rey, talking to the camera. However, Rey’s promise comes through as Christian’s focus on Edge & the camera allows Rey to escape Christian’s control and take over. After a back-and forth bout with high-paced, high-flying action with a series of weapons, a well-timed interference by Brodus Clay as Rey Mysterio goes for a chair shot to a kneeling Christian allows Christian to completely take over. Christian & Brodus slowly and methodically torture Rey as Christian monologues to Edge through the camera. As the torture continues, the heels grow progressively frustrated as Rey refuses to give up every time the referee asks. This causes Christian to hold Rey and demand Brodus strikes Mysterio with a chair. Brodus swings the chair only for Mysterio to duck, causing Brodus to lay out Christian with a brutal chair shot, putting the champion to sleep. Mysterio and Clay battle it out with Clay’s size & power giving him the advantage. However, whilst Clay’s size & power are to his advantage, his inexperience proves to be his undoing. Brodus places Mysterio on the US announcer’s table before scaling the Spanish announcer’s table. Brodus runs across the Spanish tables and dives onto Mysterio and the US table. However, Mysterio manages to move just in time, causing Clay to go flying into the table himself, destroying it and taking himself out of the match. With Clay out of the equation, Mysterio re-enters the ring where a groggy Christian awaits him. Mysterio begins using all his signature moves on Christian before lining him up for a 619. Mysterio runs off the ropes but as he heads back towards Christian, Christian jumps up, striking Mysterio with a loose announcer’s table monitor, exploding on impact with Rey’s face. As Rey squirms around on the ground in pain, screaming and clutching at his face, Christian slowly recovers with an evil smirk on his face. Christian grabs the wire which the monitor was connected to, crouches over Mysterio’s body and gets ready to choke Mysterio. However, before Christian does so, Christian snatches the microphone out of the referee’s hand, and brings the camera right up close to him, and begins to speak to Edge. Christian begins with “Dear Edge, this is a letter for you” and goes onto to hope & pray that this image haunts Edge forever as he is constantly reminded that he is responsible for the suffering of his closest friends and that Christian always was and always will be better than him. Christian finishes off the speech like he would a letter, saying “yours truly, the man who will always be better than you, Christian”. Christian then throws the microphone down before grabbing the wire and wrapping it around Rey’s neck before wrenching back, choking the life out of Mysterio who has no choice but to quit. Christian then stands tall over Mysterio with his World Heavyweight Championship raised over his head. Before grabbing the camera and saying “one last thing”, before forcing Edge to watch on as Christian rips off Mysterio’s mask, who immediately covers his face as referees bring towels for Mysterio. Christian then lays a signature kiss on the camera and leaves with his World Heavyweight Championship and a hurt Brodus Clay.
Winner: Christian
SmackDown (Nov. 26 - Dec. 17, 2010)
As Christian celebrates with Brodus Clay in the ring after another victory for Christian, fire shoots out the turnbuckles as Kane’s music hits and the monster makes his first appearance since being hit with a Conchairto by Edge at Hell in a Cell. Kane enters the ring and stares down the two men. Kane motions to Christian that he wants the World Heavyweight Championship, before cackling.
Kane and Christian with Brodus Clay meet in the ring the next week. Kane looks Christian up and down with an evil smirk, as he admires what he claims is ‘his creation’. Kane says after Kane molded Christian into the man who could take the World Heavyweight Championship from Edge, it’s Kane’s time to reap the fruits of his labour, and claim his World Heavyweight Championship. If it wasn’t for Kane, Christian wouldn’t be World Heavyweight Champion. Christian retorts, saying what Kane did to Christian when he kidnapped him is the reason Kane will get a World Heavyweight Championship match. But not because it’s his reward, Christian earned the World Heavyweight Championship himself and the reason Kane will get a World Heavyweight Championship with is so Christian can finally get his revenge for what Kane did to him, and so Christian can prove to the world that whatever Edge can do, Christian can do better. Kane sniggers and tells Christian that’s the other thing, when Kane would tell Christian he could be just as good as Edge and be his own man, he lied. Kane only said that so he could manipulate everyone into exactly the position they wanted him. Kane says after having been in the ring with both Edge and Christian, it’s obvious Christian will NEVER be as good as Edge. Christian stands furious in complete frustration and denial over what Kane has just said. Christian loses control, gets in Kane’s face and shouts at him, before slapping him in the face. Kane’s smile immediately fades as Christian immediately cowers in fear, realising the grave mistake he has just made in the heat of the moment. Kane grabs Christian by the throat and goes to Chokeslam him when Brodus Clay takes out Kane from behind. Brodus picks up Kane and slams him down, laying him out before positioning Kane and nailing him with a Fall of Humanity. Christian then waits for Kane to get back to his feet before nailing him with a shot to the face with the World Heavyweight Championship.
After their altercation the week prior, Kane and Brodus Clay are set for a match on SmackDown.
Kane vs. Brodus Clay - SmackDown (Dec. 10, 2010)
Christian and Brodus Clay take the chance to talk trash before the match in a backstage interview. With Christian hyping up the still undefeated Clay who has won all his matches so far in dominant fashion.
Kane and Brodus both throw hard and heavy shots, with both monsters struggling to outmatch each other. However, Kane manages to prove to be the more powerful monster and has Clay in position for a Chokeslam when Christian sneaks in and gets ready to nail Kane with the World Heavyweight Championship. Kane turns around to a charging Christian who he catches by grabbing Christian by the throat. Kane nails Christian with a Chokeslam before turning around into Clay who has recovered and is charging at Kane. Kane catches Clay by the throat and nails Clay with a Chokeslam, pinning Brodus, getting the win, and handing Clay his first loss since his debut.
As Kane walks up the ramp, he has a microphone and a message for Christian who sits in the corner of the ring, defeated and clutching at his head. Kane tells Christian the reason Kane will win the World Heavyweight Championship at Tables, Ladders & Chairs, is because no matter how hard Christian tries to defeat Kane, Christian will never be as good as Edge. Kane cackles as Christian screams in the ring, protesting to Kane that he is better than Edge ever will be.
Winner: Kane
With the stipulation of Christian and Kane’s World Heavyweight Championship being a Tables, Ladders & Chairs Match, Kane uses this to play further mind games with his opponent. Kane reminds Christian of how him and Edge made the Tables, Ladders & Chairs Match famous. With matches against The Dudley Boyz and The Hardy Boyz that will live on forever. However, as both Edge and Christian became singles stars Edge continued to have notorious Tables, Ladders & Chairs matches against the likes of Ric Flair, John Cena, and even Kane’s depraved son of a b**** brother The Undertaker. However, Christian failed to step up, and proved the only reason he was in those famous Tables, Ladders & Chairs Matches to start with, was because he was riding Edge’s coattails. Christian, furious and insecure, promises he will do what Edge can do, only better and defeat Kane in the stipulation Edge is best known for, and make it his own stipulation. Kane says Christian will never be Edge, and every time he is hit with a chair, sent through a table, or desperately tries to drag his exhausted body up a ladder, let it be a reminder that he will never be as good as Edge.
Christian © w/ Brodus Clay vs. Kane - Tables, Ladders & Chairs Match - World Heavyweight Championship - Tables, Ladders & Chairs (Dec. 19, 2010)
Christian is thrown around the ring by Kane who uses tables, ladders and chairs to beat down the champion. However, Christian hides behind the tables, ladder and chairs, using them to his advantage as a cowardly champion, but also using them as a skilled, smart, innovative champion. Christian gets the better of Kane multiple times with Kane doing the same for himself. Kane then gets the final blow when after some brutal, innovative, high-flying action, Kane Chokelsams Christian through the announcer’s table, laying him out. Kane then re-enters the ring and begins scaling the ladder towards the World Heavyweight Championship. As Kane has the title in his fingertips, Brodus Clay runs out and makes the save tipping the ladder and sending Kane crashing to the mat. Brodus runs over to Christian and tries to wake him up, shaking him and pouring a bottle of water over him. Upon realising Christian is not waking up, Brodus picks up Christian and begins carrying him towards the ring. Before Clay can place Christian in the ring, Kane recovers and makes his way over to Clay, beating him down. Kane gets Clay back in the ring where he Chokeslams the big man through a table. Kane then turns back to the ladder and slowly, groggily scales the ladder once again. As Kane has the title in his fingertips, Christian, with a steel chair in hand, springboards off the ropes and onto the opposite side of the ladder to Kane. The two men battle it out at the top before Christian strikes Kane with the chair so hard, the chair flies out of Christian’s hands and to the floor. Kane loses grip of the ladder and crashes to the mat not far behind the chair before Christian captures the World Heavyweight Championship and wins the match. Christian gets back to the ground and grabs the camera, telling Edge this proves once and for all that anything Edge can do, Christian can do better. Christian tells Edge that tonight he made Tables, Ladders & Chairs his match. Christian kisses the camera and throws it to the ground. With Christian celebrating with his World Heavyweight Championship, the lights go out as a familiar Gong sounds hits. The crowd roars as the lights come back on, revealing The Undertaker who takes out Brodus Clay with a series of shots followed by a Chokeslam. Undertaker then turns to Christian, who is sitting in the corner, clutching his World Heavyweight Championship in fear. Undertaker slowly walks over to Christian who cowers in fear, before the Undertaker motions to Christian that he wants the World Heavyweight Championship, before slitting his throat and celebrating as Christian, frozen in fear, sits clutching World Heavyweight Championship.
Winner: Christian
SmackDown (Dec. 21 - Jan. 28, 2010/11)
With Christian in the ring with Brodus Clay and no Undertaker in sight, Christian seems to have gained all his confidence back and is no longer scared of Undertaker. Christian begins talking to the camera and tells Edge at Tables, Ladders & Chairs he made the Tables, Ladders & Chairs Match his match and defeated Kane. Proving anything Edge can do, Christian can do better. Christian says everyone is finally respecting him as #1 as after defeating the #2 brother, the #1 brother revealed himself and now all the greats want a piece of Christian. Christian says Undertaker is Edge’s greatest rival. Multiple great, iconic matches, and a rivalry Edge ultimately lost. This is Christian’s chance to finally set the record straight once and for all prove that he can do what Edge never could, defeat The Undertaker. The Gong then hits and as the lights go out, so does Christian’s confident persona, and all that’s left is frozen fear. Undertaker slowly makes his way down to the ring before beginning to speak. Undertaker explains the real reason he was at Tables, Ladders & Chairs was for Kane. Undertaker believed Kane would easily defeat a challenger as easy as Christian, then Undertaker could get revenge on his brother for SummerSlam and get back the World Heavyweight Championship. However, Undertaker was surprised when he watched on and Christian won. Christian, insulted and insecure as always and overlooked once again, promises to shock the entire world at Royal Rumble and after it’s all said and done, nobody can deny Christian anymore.
Also in this time, murmurings of Edge’s return begin circulating. Beginning with Christian walking backstage and overhearing superstars talking to each other about it, before growing into the commentators speculating about it as well. Christian clearly becomes paranoid and is seen asking Teddy Long if he knows anything about Edge appearing at the Royal Rumble. Teddy claims he doesn’t know anything about it. All this speculation results in Christian coming to the ring and addressing the rumours. Christian grabs the camera and speaks directly to Edge, saying he’s heard the rumours of Edge’s return at the Royal Rumble. Christian promises Edge if he dares to make a comeback at the Royal Rumble PPV, Christian will send him right back to the hospital bed he put him in. Because Edge doesn’t have a spot here in WWE anymore, Christian stepped up and took that spot, and now Edge is obsolete.
In a match on SmackDown, a paranoid Christian keeps suspiciously looking at a camera man at ringside, believing it may be Edge in disguise. After looking at him one too many times, Christian attacks the camera man, only to reveal it is an innocent man. This distraction results in Christian re-entering the ring and being rolled up and pinned by Kofi Kingston.
With Kofi Kingston having earned a World Heavyweight Championship Match by beating Christian, Christian is clearly paranoid and on the verge of losing his mind. With having to worry about defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Undertaker, a returning Edge, and now defending his World Heavyweight Championship against Kofi Kingston, Christian seems to not be able to handle it, despite it all being the sins of his past catching up to him.
Christian © w/ Brodus Clay vs. Kofi Kingston - World Heavyweight Championship - SmackDown (Jan. 21, 2010)
Christian and Kofi Kingston have a competitive back-and-forth match which Christian wins clean, using his veteran composure and experience to catch Kofi Kingston with a Killswitch and get the win. As Christian is celebrating, Christian looks at the camera and says “this is for you” before going into the corner and running his fingers down his head, before Spearing Kofi Kingston. Christian says he’s not done before he slits his throat and picks up Kofi Kingston for a Tombstone Piledriver. Before he can hit it, the lights go out. When they come back on, Undertaker is in the ring and fights with Christian and Clay. Undertaker takes out Clay and is hit with the World Heavyweight Championship by Christian. Christian laughs and talks to the camera, telling Edge he could never do this to The Undertaker. As Christian goes for the Killswitch, Undertaker counters it into a Tombstone Piledriver. Undertaker celebrates with the World Heavyweight Championship.
Winner: Christian
Christian © w/ Brodus Clay vs. Undertaker - World Heavyweight Championship - Royal Rumble (Jan. 30, 2011)
Christian uses his skill, speed and cunning to get his shots in on Undertaker who otherwise controls the majority of the match. Christian struggles to deal with Undertaker and is being beat down. As Undertaker readies for a Chokeslam, Brodus runs into the ring and goes to attack Undertaker. Undertaker gets the better of Brodus and lays him out with a Chokeslam. Undertaker turns around into a Disaster kick before Christian goes for a Killswitch which Undertaker counters into a Tombstone Piledriver which he hits. As Undertaker goes to pin Christian, Kane’s music hits. Looking for revenge on his brother after Undertaker claimed he was coming for revenge on SmackDown, Kane walks down and goes face-to-face with Undertaker. Kane breaks up the stare down by Big Booting the referee. The two brothers then immediately begin fighting back-and-forth with stiff strikes. Kane gets the better of the more tired Undertaker and goes for a Chokeslam which Undertaker counters before nailing a Chokeslam of his own on Kane. Undertaker turns around into a Killswitch by Christian. The referee slowly recovers as a tired Christian drapes an arm across Undertaker. The referee counts the 1, 2… Undertaker kicks out. As Christian sits in shock, Undertaker sits up. Undertaker takes the fight to Christian, beating him around before grabbing him by the throat. Undertaker goes for a Chokeslam which Christian escapes before going for a Spear. Undertaker dodges, sending Christian into the referee who he Spears instead. Christian turns around into a Tombstone Piledriver followed by a cover. The fans count all the way to 10 but it doesn’t matter as the referee lays lifeless. As Undertaker attempts to revive the referee, Edge’s music hits, finally making his rumoured shocking return. Edge makes his way down and stares down The Undertaker, before going into the corner, ready to Spear Christian. Christian recovers and Edge charges, shockingly changing direction and Spearing Undertaker instead. Christian looks up in fear at Edge who stares back at him. Christian crawls over and covers Undertaker as the referee recovers and counts the 1, 2… and 3. Edge stares as Christian sits in the corner and is handed his World Heavyweight Championship. As Christian slowly and sheepishly gets back to his feet Edge stares him down, Edge nails Christian with a Spear before beating the life out of him. Edge destroys a steel chair on Christian before wrapping it around his neck and going to the second rope, preparing to do the same thing that Brodus did to Edge. However, before Edge does it, Edge stops and walks toward Christian. Picking up the World Heavyweight Championship and taking a look at it, before dropping it and leaving.
Winner: Christian

Ok so I’m making this bc I think this is a story that needs to get told not bc I’m asking if this was a asshole moment because I know this was a asshole moment
Now let’s set the stage 8th grade middle school I had my best-friend will just call her Martha and me and Martha met in 6th grade and we have had some falling out but we have stayed best-friends
Now 8th grade is the year everyone gets a boyfriend or girlfriend it’s starts in 6th grade but by 8th everyone is in a relationship so I was super ready for one
Now Martha was in a relationship that she had told me about let’s call him James now she had told me about James of course so I knew who she was dating
Some times goes by and I get a instagram dm from a account with let’s say the name Jaylen on it who tells me he has seen me walking the hall and he thinks I’m cute and wants to go out with me again I’m desperate so I say yes Then I immediately tell my best friend hey I just got a boyfriend She is of course like who and I tell her a guy name Jaylen on instagram and send her the instagram when she sees it she immediately text back that’s my boyfriend
I’m flabbergasted at this point because that’s not the name she told me but I have never seen her boyfriend so anyway we confronted him the next day through my instagram and break up with him
Fast forward a few months and my bestfriend was very naive and sweet and she really loved him I would consider him her first love She got back with him A lot of stuff happened in between but that’s not my story to tell Now because Martha got back with him she told me to start becoming his friend and I was ok with that so I could make sure he wasn’t doing any sneaky stuff
Well in the next few months of school he keeps trying to get with me but I decline fast forward to after Christmas break I have had enough I want to see if this man is serious on keeping a relationship going with someone while dating my best friend So this is were I become a asshole I start talking like I want him but don’t want to hurt my best friend and then eventually I tell him I want to date him so we start talking My best friend has no idea I try to make it seem as real as possible by going to talk to him when he passes by during lunch Did I tell you he is a 6th grader and we’re in 8th grade Eventually though I felt like I had enough proof he was a snake and dumped him Then I told my best friend She was mad for a second but she told me to get back with him bc she wanted to see how long this would go to so I did and i only kept it going for about a week before breaking up with him again but my best friend stayed with him until after 8th grade so it didn’t work anyway but that’s it the time I was asshole

First_Previous_Royal Road
Trying to raise your magic energy, new try! Turning it off and on again.
________________________________________________________________________
°You know. Isn´t it strange that no one thinks twice about our body? I mean we are far from muscular, but at least we no longer count as "scrawny".° The human asked suddenly.
°Not really, the big school robes hide a lot, and you know "training your body is not possible". The only ones who might recognize the change would be my parents and Miss Amber. The question therefore would be, why didn´t she tell the headmaster or someone else?° Mor asked in turn. °That means we should ask her about it, which is not that problematic, as we want to talk to her none the less° The human said and Mor directed their steps to the infirmary.
Entering the infirmary, they were instantly welcomed by the Adept. "Mor! Did you hurt yourself again?!" "No Miss Amber, I just wanted to talk to you, about some things" Mor answered her inquiry. " "Then I guess you want to go on a date with me?" She teased him and Mor blushed. °Be smooth now.° The human joked. "Well, any man would be honored to take you out, Miss." Mor said with a bright smile and she chuckled. "Smooth talker, now if you are finished tell me what you are here for." She said.
"I wondered, about something. You are aware of my physical changes right?" Mor asked, getting straight to the point. "Yes?" Amber answered. "Why didn´t you tell the headmaster about it?" Mor asked, and Amber looked a bit surprised. "How would you know, if I told anyone? Are you stalking me?" She asked half jesting. "Well if you had told the headmaster, he would have reacted differently while questioning me today." Mor explained, and Amber nodded. "I understand, yes you are correct I told nobody because nobody would believe it and just think of it as the rambling of an old woman. In the worst case, they could even think I´m unfit to continue working as a healing adept." She ruefully explained.
"I get it, thank you for explaining to me." Mor answered with a smile "But you have to tell me, how did you do it?" she asked him and he smiled "Oh it´s not that hard, well in the beginning it is, but it gets easier every day. You just have to move your body a lot, without using magic, and then get used to the muscle pain." Mor explained.
"Interesting, but that explains, why nobody tried it for longer than a few days. Pain would discourage a lot of people, and depending on how bad it is, it would lead to just using magic for strenuous activities and therefore neglecting moving your body. It does make sense." Amber said.
"Yes" Mor agreed "Just like that, and it is so painful, that if I didn´t use pain-reducing healing magic I wouldn´t have been able to move at all." Amber whinced at that.
"Yes, no thank you. It sends shivers down my spine even listening to it. I will keep on using magic. But I´m interested in where this is going, so why don´t you come by regularly and let me document your progress?" She asked. "Only if you can do me a favor." Mor began °Good thinking° The human added. "I want to do something a bit dangerous, and need someone with medical expertise watching, so I don´t get hurt badly." Mor said and Amber threw him a questioning look. "That would be what?" She carefully asked "I want to see if I can "enlarge" my magic reservoir like I trained my body. I would like to empty it fully and go a step beyond, not enough to kill me, just a little to test if it will expand due to the higher demand." Mor asked. "Are you stupid boy!" Amber scolded him, but Mor stood his ground. °Make it or break it. The contest is on!° The human cheered.
"If you don´t want to help, I will do it on my own. Or ask Clare to help me." Mor huffed, and Amber deflated a bit. "Why do you young ones, always think you are smarter than your elders? Can you only learn from the mistakes you make yourself? Every year I have at least one of you idiots." She sighed. "Well, the "elders" thought it was impossible to get stronger, by training your body and as you had to recognize yourself, that was wrong." Mor stated calmly. "Be that way then, good I will help you once! But only because I like you, you are not as pompous as those other kids." she gave in. "Thank you." Mor said and gave Amber a quick hug, that she took with surprise. "Ah, sorry." He said shyly. "I get it, boy, it is a possibility to get stronger and catch up to the others. Still, it won´t work." she told him.
"Good, if you want to drain your magic energy, then might as well be useful with it. Let me teach you a spell to transfer your power to someone else. Then you will use your magic to heal others, and keep my magic topped up." She said and Mor agreed. °Seems easy enough.° The human added, and with that, they got to work, assisting Miss Amber in curing and healing the unexpected number of injuries a magic school produces on the daily. After a few hours, Mor was exhausted, slowly feeling the headache as a leading sign of magic deficiency.
As the day neared this end, the headache was more splitting than just unpleasant, and still Mor powered on. °Ow, ow, ow! I begin to think, that this really was a stupid idea.° The human complained, and Mor whinced. °Be quiet, this hurts me just as bad, but we need to know.° Mor said. "Good, that´s it for today, you still want to go through with it?" Amber asked. "Yes, please." Mor said, wincing again. "If you are so sure, then let your energy flow to me." She said and Mor did as he was told, blacking out in the process.
A short while later he opened his eyes again, completely exhausted and unable to move. "How long, was I out?" Mor asked groaning. "Just a few minutes and think it worked?" Amber asked him. "I don´t know, I probably need to regenerate my energy before being able to answer that." Mor said. °Yeah, good thing we tried to get close to our limits a few times and have a good feeling how many spells we can do, the most accurate reading, would be by using "Rock throw".° The human said. °Yes, until now we were at a constant 300 casts until the headaches became bad enough to stop.° Mor answered. °Then let´s rest up and try it after completely replenishing our energy.° The human said, and Mor agreed.
"Are you still with me, Mor?" The adept asked "Yes, sorry. I´m just exhausted. I will just take my leave and go to bed." Mor said, slowly standing up and taking his leave. Slowly walking to his room and instantly falling asleep on his bed, without even removing his clothes. The next morning he woke up, and his whole world was pure pain. °Outch! What is this? Why does everything hurt so much?!° The human complained. °I don´t know.° Mor answered and tried to cast a pain-reducing spell, which just gave him an instant headache. °Owww! Fuck this!° The human cried out. °We can´t even use magic right now.° Mor complained and they both regretted their curiosity and came to the same conclusion the rules for magic are bullshit!
Mor dragged himself back to the infirmary, each step a new flood of pain and exhaustion. "Mor! Good morning, how are you feeling?" an unusually chipper Amber welcomed him. "Bad" Mor groaned, Amber looked at him and said. "Told you so! Get yourself a bed, you are excused from the lessons today." Mor took her up on that offer, falling into a restless sleep and awakening often because of the pain. Mor wished this day of pain and despair would finally end, as did the human.
°No choice but to rest up, at least we know, why no one would try this more than once and why it is considered dangerous.° The human said and Mor agreed, or at least groaned in an agreeing way. It took two more days before Mor could move around without having constant pain. °Why wasn´t it like that after your stupid ritual? I can´t remember it being that painful.° The human said. °I don´t know, maybe something is different if you use the ritual and don´t have enough magic. But we would have to find out more about the soul-binding before having a definitive answer to that.° Mor said. °Means, we have no choice but to shelf it for now.° The human said. °All this magic shit is stupid...°
Finally, after a few more days, Mors' magic energy was refilled and they could finally test if that ordeal at least merited some kind of success, as they walked to the training space, and somehow felt like a lot of eyes rested on him. °Seems like someone is now popular with the ladies.° The human joked, and Mor groaned, as if they wouldn´t have enough problems already. °Nothing will come of that, because of the difference in status. It is probably just some sort of morbid curiosity.° Mor said and the human laughed at that.
While walking to the training space Mor gathered a bunch of stones, to test his magic energy reserve and finally, they got to testing, after a moment a rhythmic plock, plock was heard from the space, as Mor used his "Rock throw" over and over, the human counting every cast of the spell. When the headaches finally set in the human stated °And 300! Shit! No change at all, not even one more...° °Maybe we have to do this regularly?° Mor asked, and the human thought. °Maybe, but this would either destroy us or your grades, can´t let those slip.° They answered and Mor agreed. °Meaning we are still at square one and have no clues on how to get more magic. Now what?° He asked. °I don´t know, for now, we can only strengthen our body and try to get more used in the spells we currently have. Maybe another opportunity will arise and help us. Still very frustrating.° The human said. °Yes, feels a bit like all our work is for naught if we can´t get to the level of Orth, or Ranbor.° Mor said, and both quieted in grim silence.

My sister found this guy overseas and they had a baby. They flew to visit my family and i. I felt a strong responsibility that I picked up a second job to help her financially. My father found him a job but after one day he quit because he didn't like how the boss talked to him. My father kicked them out of the house and I proposed my sister to move in with me. My sister got a job at a market and he stays at home now. I got home yesterday at midnight and he wouldn't stop talking about how he wants another baby with her, that he'll be happy to be a stay at home dad and having money is not important if you're 'happy'. He mentioned how he doesn't want to me like me working 15 hours a day (they don't know I picked up a second job). This pissed me off NOT because they're sleeping in my bed while I'm in the living room floor but because they're here for 3 months and he has no plans in working while he is here. He said with confidence that he'll have another baby with her which really pissed me off. It pissed me off when he asked how many kids they need to be eligible for food stamps. All the sacrifices I'm making now is for my sister but he seems to be enjoying life in NYC unemployed while my sister works. I don't know how to mention it to my sister because I don't want her to go against me by defending him, nor I don't want my words to affect her actions. I don't mind them staying at my little apartment, but it pisses me off that he's happy to be a stay at home dad while my sister works and he wants another baby. Before all this situation my mother told me to send my sister money to help, instead I decided to buy baby products such as diapers, carriage, bed etc. But now I refuse to send them money because i he already feels comfortable. I want the best for my sister, I'm already sacrificing a lot for her but refuse to anymore because of what her boyfriend said to me.

https://preview.redd.it/1obbzemq663d1.png?width=910&format=png&auto=webp&s=f60625d4697ba540300faa1f282342fec199f299
Votes:
Axel - 7
At the elimination ceremony, Chris goes through his usual speech before announcing that in a shocking twist, today’s vote is completely unanimous. He calls everybody but Axel to get a marshmallow, and Dawn asks her why she voted herself. Axel explains that she and Shawn thought that if she voted herself, the vote would come down to a tie so that Chris would decide who goes home instead of her.
Axel then bids farewell to her friends before walking down the dock of shame. After she leaves on the boat of losers, Chris hands Sammy a vhs tape telling her that it’ll give some closure and maybe cause some drama, giving her the instructions: “You’ll know who this should go to.” This leaves Sammy confused as Chris turns to the camera for his outro.
Chris: Will Max ever have a change of heart? How much longer can Zoey withstand the torture that is Heather? And what secrets does the vhs tape hold? Find out next time, on Total Drama Island!
In-world votes:
Axel - Trent, Dawn, Sammy, Damien, Axel
Brunch Of Disgustingness
The episode opens with the Killer Bass returning to their cabin after the elimination ceremony. Sammy asks what the vhs tape is for, but no one knows. Damien tells her that it has to be important considering Chris himself gave it to her, but he doesn’t know where they could even find a vhs player. Dawn’s more confused about what Chris meant by “You’ll know who this should go to.” and asks why he wouldn’t just give it to whoever needs it. Sammy breaks out into a yawn, so Trent suggests that they all get some sleep and worry about it in the morning, so the four of them say goodbye before going to their separate parts of the cabin.
In the morning, Chris summons the campers to the mess hall, and Owen complains when breakfast isn’t waiting for them. Chris reassures Owen that there’ll be plenty of food soon, before he and Chef mischievously laugh. After regaining his composure, Chris congratulates the contestants on being the last ten remaining in the game, and that next week the teams will become one. Chris announces that with this, the guys and girls will each have one cabin to themselves, and that today’s challenge will be a battle of the sexes. He then says that the campers will have some time to settle down before everyone gets a bite to eat, but he and Chef start laughing again.
Trent and Damien welcome the Gopher guys with open arms and they start bonding over immature jokes. Meanwhile, the girls aren’t as friendly, as Heather shoots angry glares at Dawn and Sammy behind their backs, much to the embarrassment of Zoey.
Confessional:
Zoey: You’d think Heather could at least go five minutes without starting something, but nope! Already she’s lined up Dawn and Sammy like they’re set for execution!
Chris announces that he has good news: No one will be eliminated this week, and instead the challenge is only for a reward. The contestants cheer, and Chris decides to let everyone move their belongings to their new accommodations.
As everyone heads to the cabins, Heather complements Sammy’s hair to get on her good side. Sammy thanks Heather for the compliment, but Dawn is all but impressed.
In the Gopher cabin, Owen hugs Katie goodbye, and insists Max join them. However, Max says that evil doesn’t do hugs. Owen forces Max into a bear hug anyway, much to his dismay. Katie then asks him if he’s feeling okay, and Max questions why she would be asking that.
After packing up his stuff, Shawn heads to the Bass cabin, but is stopped by Heather along the way.
Heather: Look, just because we’re not on the same team anymore doesn’t mean you’re done working for me.
Shawn: Our deal was that I’d work with you. I’m still not part of your alliance.
Heather: With, for, all in the same if you want me to protect you.
Dawn and Sammy arrive in what is now the girls cabin, and Heather continues to sweet-talk Sammy. Dawn asks Zoey how two-faced Heather is, and Zoey rates her a seven. Out of five. Katie comments on how they’re probably getting along way better than the guys, and we cut to them partying over music and pop. Owen lets out a burp, so Shawn responds with an even bigger one, causing one of the doors to shake off its hinges, and even knocking over some trees in the distance. The guys are blown away, and Trent suggests they make Shawn captain. They all agree and cheer Shawn on for a speech.
The contestants return to the mess hall where Chris announces the challenge. He is interrupted by Max asking if they finally made breakfast, causing him and Chef to laugh yet again. Heather is annoyed and asks them why they keep laughing, so Chris tells the campers that the challenge is called The Brunch Of Disgustingness. Everyone will be served a nine course meal, and everyone on each team must finish the dish to get a point, and of course, most points at the end wins. However, everything being served is to be extremely gross. Chris explains that the winning team will get to spend two days at a five-star resort being pampered to their liking, while the losers are stuck at Camp Wawanakwa with Chef.
The guys and girls are presented with the first course: meatballs. Literally. As Owen chows down on his plate, Chef explains that these are beef testicles, causing Owen to frantically spit the food out onto Damien. The girls are also grossed out, but the boys can’t muster up the courage to eat something so personal, so they begin to fall behind. Eventually it’s down to Dawn, who refuses to eat meat, and the rest of the guys, who eventually give up on the inhumane act. Heather tries to pressure Dawn into eating the testicles but Dawn won’t budge. Chris says that while neither team completed the meal, the females performed better, so he gives them a point. He then tells the teams that from now on, the entire team must finish the food to get a point, with no exceptions.
Confessional:
Heather: Dawn’s “morals” might cause us to lose the challenge. I can’t let that tree hugger keep me away from a pedicure.
Chris reveals the next meal to be pizza, which gets the guys excited. However, it just so happens to be that the toppings are live grasshoppers, jellyfish, and live anchovies. Zoey is worried about how dangerous eating jellyfish sounds, but Chris insists that the ones Chef put on the pizzas are completely harmless, causing Chef to look suspiciously nervous all of a sudden. Owen easily gulps down his slice, and reaches for a second, but Shawn stops him, explaining that everyone needs to have a slice. Katie takes a bite of the pizza, and ends up freaking out when she realises she bit a grasshopper’s head off.
Confessional:
Trent: When I was a kid, my parents used to hold me down and force feed me broccoli. They only did it because broccoli is… (Gags) Good for you.
Trent is the last member of the boys to eat the pizza, so he tells Shawn to pin him down while Damien feeds him the pizza, and to not stop no matter how much he panics and fights. Shawn and Damien exchange glances before agreeing, and we see Shawn holding down Trent as he explains that it was just a joke. Damien ends up feeding Trent the pizza slice, winning the guys their first point.
Confessional:
Trent: It wasn’t that bad. I was playing it up for the cameras, you know, to boost ratings. I don’t really mind beef testicles or live grasshopper pizza with jellyfi- (Throws up)
Next up, earthworms covered in snail slime and hairballs. And although the girls put up a good fight, the guys use blindfolds and clothespins to help them believe they’re eating spaghetti. Somehow, it works, scoring them another point.
Chris says that no multi-course meal is complete without soup, so he reveals the next dish to be french bunion soup with hangnail crackers. Sammy decides that if the boys can use blindfolds, the girls can use some tricks of their own. She grabs some funnels from Chef’s kitchen and uses them to down the soup without tasting it. The funnels outspeed even Owen’s appetite, so the girls tie it up.
We then go through a montage of the last five courses. Giant balls of pre-chewed gum, point to guys. Skunk stink smoothies, point to girls. Sandals with caulk icing, point to guys. Garbage can soup, point to girls.
Eventually the campers make it to the final round, and since the score is tied four to four, Chris reminds them that whoever wins this round gets the reward. The campers wait to see what horrible concoction they must eat next, but Chef brings out what looks like normal hot dogs. Chris announces that it’s actually dolphin wieners, but the news doesn’t seem to make much of a difference. However, Dawn is quite upset, saying that eating animals is horrible enough, but dolphins cross the line. Similarly, Damien refuses to eat the hot dog because he finds dolphins super cute and can’t stand to eat one.
Confessional:
Chef: I slave over a hot stove cooking dolphin, no appreciation.
Seeing as neither team gets a point to break the tie, Chris decides that they’ll go to an eat-off. He asks the team who they think has the strongest stomach out of them, and after some consideration, the girls pick Zoey while the boys pick Owen without a second thought. Chris says that whoever can drink more glasses of blended cockroach wins the reward for their team. The two start downing the disgusting drink, and are horrified at its taste. When there’s only three shot glasses left, something gets stuck in Zoey’s throat, giving Owen the opportunity to drink the rest, winning the challenge.
Zoey then pukes up the drinks, and finds what she was choking on. Being a completely intact cockroach. This display causes some of the other campers to hurl as well, which in turn ends up being a chain reaction of people emptying their bowels. Even Chris and Chef start gagging as they wait for everyone to recover.
Chris narrates the aftermath of the challenge, with the guys getting on a yacht while the girls are left behind. And as Chris does his outro, the cameras zoom in on one specific object: The vhs tape.
Returnee Candidates:
Duncan - 3
Leshawna - 2
Scott - 1
Lightning - 1
And the wheel of names picks…
https://preview.redd.it/ai31d0gw663d1.png?width=662&format=png&auto=webp&s=098c2b4772743ec30a3472ae1413d1af530d56bf
Immunity Nominees:
Shawn - 2
Damien - 2
Sammy - 1
Dawn - 1
Tiebreaker results:
https://preview.redd.it/lpq1zzu0763d1.png?width=641&format=png&auto=webp&s=20842c6a59b4a745b1067dbae5a833bbf80146a2
https://preview.redd.it/dw4vpx05763d1.png?width=910&format=png&auto=webp&s=0cbf9cd7416f4a82c877e427b1ab5fce0305044b
No Pain, No Game
The episode opens with Dawn and Sammy discussing strategy on the beach. Dawn tells Sammy that she can’t trust Heather, but she’s unconvinced. She explains how Heather’s been treating her nicely, and doesn’t listen when Dawn tries to tell her that Heather’s just getting on her good side in order to use her.
A yacht pulls up to the dock, and the guys are dropped off. They’re bragging to each other about how pampered they were, and end up inadvertently making the girls annoyed with them for showing off. Owen brings a tray of chocolates for Katie, but Heather slaps it out of his hands and into the water.
The contestants then hear Chris announce over the loudspeakers that they have finally reached the merge, and that it is every camper for themselves. He then says that he has a little surprise for them as they hear a horn off in the distance. Another, smaller yacht has appeared, carrying Duncan and Chase. Chris explains that they are back by popular demand, and will be returning to the game. Heather asks how they were ever favorites with the audience, and Chris admits that they aren’t, but he and the producers liked them. Shawn reminds Chris of how he always said that no one could ever return to the island, so Chris tells Shawn that he lied.
The yacht stops at the dock, and while Chase seems pretty happy to be back on the show, Duncan is not. He notices that Axel isn’t there and makes fun of her for being eliminated right after him. Shawn defends Axel and insults Duncan back, causing them to almost get into a fight. However Chase breaks the two up and tells them to save the fighting for the next challenge.
Confessional:
Shawn: I can’t believe Duncan insulted Axel like that! She’s such a great person- I mean such a great survivalist. I’m gonna make him pay for that.
Chase: Apparently, when Emma told everyone on national television that I cut her brakes, I lost hundreds of subscribers! So now that I’m back on this show, I’m going to pull pranks and do the most outrageous stunts! I’m sure Chris will thank me once this show's ratings go up.
Chris tells the campers to meet him at the outdoor amphitheater for the challenge, which Owen is excited for. He attempts to give Max a high five, but Max reminds Owen about how Chris said it’s everyone for themselves. On their way to the amphitheater, Damien asks Dawn to fill him in on what happened while he was away.
Dawn: Heather’s been acting nice to Sammy, but she’s just trying to manipulate her.
Damien: Aren’t you and Sammy friends? I’m sure she’d understand if you told her.
Dawn: I tried, but I guess that meeting Trent made her more trusting of other people, because she at least wants to give Heather a chance.
Damien: Great. With no more teams, there’s nothing stopping Heather from sabotaging everyone’s game. It'd be a nice change of pace if she turned out to be a good person.
Dawn: I highly doubt it. I can sense in her aura that her anger stems back to her childhood.
Damien: I always forget that you can do that soul reading thing. It still creeps me out.
At the amphitheater, Chris has set up some makeshift gameshow rafters out of household furniture. He says that today’s challenge will be a twist on the classic game of Say Uncle. Contestants will be put through tests of endurance, aptly named tortures. If they chicken out or fail to last ten seconds, they will be eliminated. The last camper remaining will be rewarded with immunity and a decked out trailer to take home after the show.
Chris picks Max to go first and spins the Wheel Of Misfortune to decide his torture. The wheel lands on turtle puck shots, so Max has to stand unprotected in a hockey net while Chef pelts him with very angry snapping turtles. Max dodges some turtles but gets distracted when he stops to laugh at one that's stuck in the net. Chef then hits a direct shot, causing him to let out a pained yelp. More turtles hit Max, and the final one nails him right in the kiwis, but he stays in the goal so he gets to move onto the next round.
Zoey gets marshmallow waxing, so she has to endure being waxed by molten marshmallows. Once the marshmallows go on, Zoey starts screaming, but she’s muffled from under the molten mask. She lasts the ten seconds, so Chef takes the marshmallows off to reveal that the wax had actually worked. And as a bonus, Zoey gets to move on.
Chris tells Zoey that since she did so well, she gets to choose who goes next. However, he says that if whoever she picks survives the ten seconds, she goes out instead. Zoey thinks for a bit, and Heather starts whispering something in her ear. After Heather finishes, Zoey sighs and chooses Dawn.
Confessional:
Zoey: Apparently Dawn is catching on to what Heather’s trying to do with Sammy, so she wants to keep Dawn from winning immunity. I didn’t like the idea but Heather’s threatening to kick me out of the alliance after I didn’t break up Owen and Katie, so I have no choice.
Dawn gets lake leeches, so she has to survive in a barrel of leeches for ten seconds. Damien steps up and asks Chris if he can do the torture instead of Dawn. Chris tells him that he can, but if he fails, both he and Dawn will be out. Damien gets in and it’s clear the leeches aren’t sitting well with him. Eventually he can’t take it anymore and jumps out of the barrel covered in leeches. As he tries to get the leeches off him, Chris says that he had just missed the ten second mark, so he and Dawn are out.
It’s montage time and we get to see each contestant’s torture. Shawn wears wooden shorts while a woodpecker chips at it, success. Duncan gets his nose hairs plucked, success. Trent gets constricted by a snake, failure. Chase wears a shirt of bees, success. Heather has to jump over some skunks, failure. Sammy listens to some new age music, success. Katie must get a haircut from Chef with a chainsaw, failure. Owen goes to town on ice cream and has to survive a brain freeze, failure.
This leaves Duncan, Zoey, Max, Sammy, Shawn, and Chase for round two.
First up is Shawn, who gets electric eel defibrillation. Chef grabs some electric eels and shocks Shawn with it. To everyone’s surprise, not only does Shawn last the ten seconds, but he also seems completely unharmed.
Confessional:
Shawn: When you’re setting up a live electric fence for the zombie apocalypse, you’re going to electrocute yourself. A lot. Thankfully it means that now I’m practically invincible to being shocked!
Seeing as Shawn was unfazed by his torture, Chris lets him choose the next person to go. Shawn chooses Duncan, who gives him an angry glare.
Duncan gets the bigfoot storage container, in which he must spend ten seconds in a crate with the fabled Sasquatchanakwa. The crate in question is shaking violently and there is growling coming from inside. Duncan shoots another look at Shawn before going in. We hear fighting and Duncan insulting Sasquatchanakwa, before he kicks down the crate’s door while dragging Sasquatchanakwa behind him in a headlock. Chris congratulates Duncan on not only surviving, but somehow beating Sasquatchanakwa in a fight. However, he tells Duncan that since he left the crate of his own accord before the ten seconds was up, he is still eliminated. Duncan is furious by this technicality and swears to Shawn that he’ll get back at him, but Shawn just explains that that’s what happens when he insults Axel.
Chase gets jellyfish scuba diving, so he has to swim in an aquarium tank while dodging a box jellyfish. Some of the contestants gasp at how dangerous the torture is, but Chase eagerly agrees to do it. While in the tank, he swims around the jellyfish and taunts it. The box jellyfish stings him, but he makes it the ten seconds. Chris asks Chase if he needs to go to the infirmary, but he refuses, despite clearly being in pain.
Chris lets Chase choose the next victim, and he chooses by closing his eyes and picking randomly. He lands on Sammy, and asks Chris if he can choose the dare. Chris lets him pick from the Wheel Of Misfortune, and Chase explains that he’s looking for the best, most unbelievable dare. He picks the poison ivy spa treatment, and is disappointed when Sammy chooses to be eliminated instead.
The last two to go this round are Max and Zoey, and both fail at alligator wrestling and literal waterboarding respectively. (The latter of which Chris says he’s doing behind the producer’s back.) This means that Chase and Shawn are the last two remaining, and Chase isn’t looking too good. Damien asks Chase if he’s doing okay and he explains that other than the fact that he can’t feel his spine, he’s great. After hearing that statement, Chris lets Shawn go first.
Shawn gets the grizzly bear log roll, so Chris brings him and the rest of the campers out to the lake where the torture will take place. Chris explains that Shawn must log roll against Molotov the Bear, who happens to be the European log rolling champion for the past twelve years. Plus, Shawn and Molotov will be log rolling over piranha infested waters. Shawn has a stare off with Molotov before he steps onto the log, and the two start going. Shawn has trouble keeping up with Molotov, but soon gets the hang of it. He jumps on the log, and upon landing gets it to stop rolling. This causes Molotov to fall in the water, meaning Shawn moves on.
It’s Chase’ turn, and the jellyfish sting is definitely kicking in. He passes out, so Chris has Chef send him to the infirmary to get treated for the sting. He then announces that Shawn wins immunity and the trailer. As for everyone else, Chris tells them to get ready to vote between themselves.
Later, Dawn thanks Damien for taking the leech challenge instead of her, even if he failed. Damien asks her if she made any progress on getting to Sammy, and her answer disappoints him. He then realizes that Trent would probably have a better time convincing Sammy and that they should tell him what’s happening.
Max, Owen, and Katie are chatting and Max tells them that while he appreciates their help, he’s going to work alone from now on. He thanks them for being his friends and says that he has more evil inventions to tend to. After he leaves, Katie tells Owen that going alone is probably going to go bad for Max in one way or another, and that she’ll miss him.
Duncan finds Heather near the mess hall and tells her that as much as he hates to admit it, he needs allies, and that she’s his best bet. She finds his desperation to be convincing enough and tells him he can join her, but that he must be useful to be worth her protection.
Confessional:
Duncan: With Shawn having immunity, it wouldn’t take much for him to get votes against me. I hate the idea of working for Heather, but it’s not like I have much choice.
Vote off someone other than Shawn and come up with any plot points you want to see later.

I’ll start by saying now that this post will be very long but will add little, to nothing new. The most expected outcome is what happened. The reason I’m posting this is because I saw Celine for the final time a couple days ago, and I also want to clear the air on some matters.
For the sake of tracking time, let’s call Day 1 the day Celine broke up with me. Day 4 was when my initial post was published. I sat my final exam at Day 7, and didn’t actually check up on the post at all till Day 8.
I was very, very shocked reading the comments. To be blatantly honest, I wasn’t expecting like a thousand people calling me a huge bellend. I knew I made a mistake, but in my head, I thought I was a good person. You know how you just kinda perceive yourself to always try and do things with a good intention, so you think you can’t ever be a bad person?
Idk if that makes sense. But reading the post opened up my perspective and made me realize that the relationship was not salvageable, and also gave me depth on the hurt I caused Celine. I shattered her trust completely and was just not a good boyfriend for an entire month leading to the breakup.
So, I just didn’t contact her. As I’ll mention later on, I was not in a good headspace and I distanced myself because I was an even bigger ass than I let on previously. On Day 12, she messaged me to ask for her iPad back (she’d let me borrow it for my notes). We last met on Day 15 when she came to collect it, among other things.
We were both silent the whole time she was there, which must’ve only been like 5 mins or so. She returned some of my stuff I’d left in her apartment, and when she was about to leave, I told her I was sorry. She said ok. I said I never meant to hurt her. She, again, just said ok. I figured nothing I could say was the right thing at this point and we said goodbye.
So like I said, the very expected outcome occurred. I can’t lie and say that I’m instantaneously a better person now - I’m not. I want to be better but I can’t become a better person in a couple of weeks and will need to really work on my character in general. As for Celine, I can only just pray and wish for the best for her.
I’m going to answer some of the main questions that people had. I never went into the full depth of the story because there is a LOT of context behind it all and I just never expected the post to reach so many people.
Did Kaya know about Celine’s boundaries? Yes. I told her the day Celine and I discussed our boundaries. She seemed to be very understanding and we both kept distance since.
How did you lose consciousness from vomiting? It was from dehydration. On Day 1, I went to the hospital at noon because my condition wasn’t getting any better. I had a temperature of 104 and a blood test showed I was severely dehydrated, and I was put on a drip. None of this was mentioned because I never expected this to be a matter of criticism and thought “very ill” sufficed for it in my previous post.
What’s the need to be studying so hard? This is the question which needs a LOT of context to understand, and I’ll do my best to provide it now.
I’m Indian, and my father is very similar to those strict Indian dads that you’ll often see portrayed in movies. Take every Indian dad stereotype and you’ll get my dad. He’s in the military and is about a strict a man as you can imagine.
He wanted/tried forcing me to join the army. I wanted to choose my own career path, which was in computer science and we had a huge rift occur between us because of it.
I moved from India to the UK for my studies, and one of the only reasons he agreed to pay for my tuition fees was because a) the university I’d gotten into is prestigious, so he was happy with that and b) he had a way to monitor my grades and could use this as leverage to make me study harder.
In year 1, I did not do so splendidly. I finished with a grade average of 63%, which although is like the median score, upset my dad. A LOT. He got extremely physical and smacked me in the face a few times, and I had some bruises after.
He also threatened to not pay for my final year if I didn’t get an average of 70% this year, which would mean that the entire 2 years I’ve spent here would go to waste. I’m an international student, so I can’t get a loan either.
Furthermore, I did really bad on my summatives earlier in the year. I got a 41 on an exam worth 13% of my entire grade, and a 52 and 59 on two others worth 6% each.
Celine also knows everything about my dad. We had a whole conversation before I went absent in our relationship, where I told her I was very far behind on my studies and was afraid of the consequences this would cause. We agreed I should try and study as much as I can till my exams were over, and she said she’d be fine with being in contact less often.
Why did you barely stay in contact Celine? Very simply put, I was a bad boyfriend. This is going to sound awful, but I think a part of me was just didn’t want to have to deal with being in a relationship. I was overwhelmed and it felt like a “burden” having to talk to someone.
I completely acknowledge how horrible that is of me to even think. When I had those thoughts, I just down-played them and let myself believe it was just me being cranky. Anyway, there’s just never an excuse to go weeks without talking to your gf and I was an asshole for doing that.
However, I never, under any circumstances, had any intentions of cheating on her. I didn’t want to deal with anyone period, and so I didn’t want to be around Kaya either. I mention this because a lot of people speculated that Kaya and I had something going on, which isn’t the case. I just wanted to be alone till my exams were over.
Why did Kaya invite you to her bed? I asked her, and she said the following, “I was on my way out to an overnight study session, which meant no1 would be home, so I thought you might aswell sleep on my bed then… I didn’t think it would be such a big deal considering how bad of a condition you were in… I thought Celine would understand… I didn’t get in the bed when I got home, I slept on the couch” I could not sleep in my roommates bed because they were out of town and locked their rooms. Kaya throws parties every once in a while, so they lock their rooms incase.
I think that’s as much as I can say about this now. There’s not a great deal more to add rather than an apology to those who read all of this and still aren’t content with my answers.
As for what happens next, I don’t think I’ll be sprinting into a new relationship anytime soon. I’m long overdue some self-reflection and along with trying to enjoy my summer holidays, I hope I can figure myself out and try and do better from now on.
TL;DR we broke up and I now realize I’m not ready for relationships for a while.

For 2 months I would help my friend every week with a situation with her bf, and i would help her and be there for her all the time (she would ask me to be there too and i can't say no), but doing so i’d neglect my own mental health, things that i was doing etc while trying to help her. After a month and a half of them being together, for 2 weeks straight nonstop everyday there was something with her bf. throughout it all i would be by her side and help her, she also asked if i could because i want to be a good friend and make sure she is alright but it would also take a mental toll on me trying to be there all the time, neglecting my own things, my own mental health but i'd still try to support her as much as i could. In the end, me and our mutual friend were there for her when she was going to break up with him.
For context: they were supposed to break up before already because he was treating her bad and unfair but she forgave him and then few days later yet again something happened (he broke her boundaries really badly) and she was supposed to break up then too, and these were all during the 2 weeks when i would help her nonstop but every time she would just forgive him, and at that point i was already upset and stressed because i was helping her for nothing and another thing would come up in the future, (there was a cycle and he is a manipulator). and for more context they have already been in an online relationship in the past in 2020 and he abused her to the point she now has ptsd diagnosed so when they first got together again I told her if she is sure and to be safe and she told me she knew what she was doing (clearly not) because he supposedly changed and got mad at me because it’s her decision, which I agreed it was but I was still worried. He did change but he's still not good.
Continuing on though, they were finally going to break up and me and my mutual friend were there for her. Suddenly though, during it she left our call out of nowhere. I was worried but our mutual friend and I decided to just wait. After a bit of being in the dark, I texted her asking how it went and if she was okay and after a while all i got was a 'yup im alive'. I was a bit mad that she didn't answer my question (She does this a lot and then I get frustrated, I have autism and so I don’t understand intentions or emotions well and I need people to be straightforward, not avoidant and cryptic) so I asked again how it went, how she was and she just said girl it's fine. At this point I was a bit pissed that after all that she's not communicating anything to me (which ironically enough was one of the situations with her boyfriend during the 2 weeks).
So because of past situations with her boyfriend and her always saying it's fine when they would ‘talk’ things out and decide to stay together, i assumed and said 'so ur still together ? cool at least ur okay" and i texted her a bit more after about her and also if she was upset with me or something (because in the past there was something like that already after these situations). She then in the morning texted me 'what is wrong with you' and 'keep your assumptions to yourself' and I told her that she only told me “girl it's fine” so obviously I saw it as a 'me and him are fine again like always' because she wasn't communicating anything to me and yet again I have autism and she was cryptic and avoidant to my question so I just went off of things like how they would always be in the past. I told her that the what's wrong with you hurt too and after that she just snipped the so ur still together that i sent and spammed 'just stop' (for clearance she has bpd too and i didnt know she was in an episode cuz she wasn't communicating anything until the just stop) so i explained why i thought that and said id stop and that was the end of our convo for the day.
The next day all she tells me is how she is bmi 16.4 and i'm mad and worried that the first thing she tells me is that she's starving successfully and then said we should celebrate and i said no why would i celebrate that. I then asked her why she's starving, a bit more with that and then I made a remark about how she said what's wrong with you yesterday because I was still upset about it and all she said was 'there's something wrong with all of us'. I asked her why isn't she communicating anything and she would just say there's nothing to communicate and I told her what about yesterday, what about me trying rn and she only sends a snip of where a friend said to her that he heard she's breaking up with her boyfriend and all she said to him was 'maybe im gonna maybe im not gonna maybe i have maybe maybe i havent no one knows but me' and again told me “nothing to communicate”. I was mad because after everything I was left in the dark as always and she was acting off understandably so but still. then i asked her if this is the only reason she came to text me and she was like yes and then bye. i asked her wdym bye are you mad at me or something and she said 'don't read into it' and i was like oki bye then.
Later, at 1am she texted me "Hi im gonna be offline a lot i think or jsut not chat im not ignoring i just need space", and i respect that and said oki get better. At this point I knew they broke up because I have her on twitter and she posted there about breaking up and the cons and pros about it, which also made me a bit mad because the pro was 'no appetite to eat' or something like that and the con was depression, the con I understood. Plus her needing space told me they broke up too. The next day at 3am i texted her "Hi how r u holding up and ill just shorten all I sent to not be a bother. I saw u left the circle why and could have said i would have too then, ur med tweet was on my home and its worrying especially after this all and cant send u tiktoks anymore cuz no exist. only noticed each every now and then cuz of routine or accident but didnt wanna bug u but all added im worried if all good so decided to check in and ask, hope u reply and know why and if ur healing and r atleast alive cuz I'm just so lost on all this or intention or meaning behind it, anyway hope u get better soon love you"
For context: I said shorten because I decided to just put all messages I sent into one and shorten it to not make it too long and bug her. By circle i meant life360, me and her got it like 2 weeks ago as a joke friend thing and i got a bunch of notifications on it and decided to check in on the app that day and i noticed she fully left the circle (she was in it earlier that day because I was still getting notifications from it about her). Before that i was on twitter and i follow her obviously and her tweet she posted that day popped up on my home and it said "max dose of my medicine is like 100mg a day so what if i take 300mg will i be a walking zombie CANT WAIT to find out" i was already worried after these 2 but still didnt wanna bug her while she wasn't okay so that she wouldn't get upset or mad at me. Then at 3am i was on tiktok and wanted to send her a silly appreciation tik tok and i couldn't because both of her tiktoks account she deactivated. At this point I'm confused and extremely worried, so I decided to text her that.
The morning after i sent it (which is today), she doesn't reply and i thought maybe she just didn't see it still, but then i see that she left all the gc's with us and our friends and i'm just like okay well she just ignored me, now i'm just more worried and confused now. Then I went on twitter and I saw a tweet she posted around the same time I texted her at 3am. It was a reply to her previous tweet and it said “i was in fact a walking zombie. NOW it is time for me to sign out! forever“ and im just confused so i checked her profile and her most recent tweet was a face reveal and in it she says 'face reveal before i get of this app forever', she also changed her banner to "will u think of me on my birthday" and at this point im panicking and worried, shes ignoring me, i'm in the dark. I get she needs space but this isn't needing space she's doing such worrying and weird stuff. So I texted her again about it all and how I saw her twitter banner and that I'm super worried and that I just want to know if she's okay because she just ignored my message last night. I even texted her brother too and I hope he replies cause I just want to know if she's healing or if she's even alive. She's my best friend and I just want her to be okay.
This all is taking such a mental toll on me though and I can't focus on anything else except her and I'm worried she ended her life or something. I’m mentally exhausted and I'm already struggling with my own mental health and this is just piling on and I'm stressed 24/7. I even had a horrible panic attack and I didnt even know why until she texted me her going offline message and the panic attack got worse and then I realized it's because of her and her worrying behavior. I'm just so worried and mentally exhausted and so badly stressed, I can't take it anymore. I don't even know if she is alive or not and it's all killing me.
Do I have a right to be upset at all of this ? I’m I allowed to be mad and done with everything ?

For 2 months I would help my friend every week with a situation with her bf, and i would help her and be there for her all the time (she would ask me to be there too and i can't say no), but doing so i’d neglect my own mental health, things that i was doing etc while trying to help her. After a month and a half of them being together, for 2 weeks straight nonstop everyday there was something with her bf. throughout it all i would be by her side and help her, she also asked if i could because i want to be a good friend and make sure she is alright but it would also take a mental toll on me trying to be there all the time, neglecting my own things, my own mental health but i'd still try to support her as much as i could. In the end, me and our mutual friend were there for her when she was going to break up with him.
For context: they were supposed to break up before already because he was treating her bad and unfair but she forgave him and then few days later yet again something happened (he broke her boundaries really badly) and she was supposed to break up then too, and these were all during the 2 weeks when i would help her nonstop but every time she would just forgive him, and at that point i was already upset and stressed because i was helping her for nothing and another thing would come up in the future, (there was a cycle and he is a manipulator). and for more context they have already been in an online relationship in the past in 2020 and he abused her to the point she now has ptsd diagnosed so when they first got together again I told her if she is sure and to be safe and she told me she knew what she was doing (clearly not) because he supposedly changed and got mad at me because it’s her decision, which I agreed it was but I was still worried. He did change but he's still not good.
Continuing on though, they were finally going to break up and me and my mutual friend were there for her. Suddenly though, during it she left our call out of nowhere. I was worried but our mutual friend and I decided to just wait. After a bit of being in the dark, I texted her asking how it went and if she was okay and after a while all i got was a 'yup im alive'. I was a bit mad that she didn't answer my question (She does this a lot and then I get frustrated, I have autism and so I don’t understand intentions or emotions well and I need people to be straightforward, not avoidant and cryptic) so I asked again how it went, how she was and she just said girl it's fine. At this point I was a bit pissed that after all that she's not communicating anything to me (which ironically enough was one of the situations with her boyfriend during the 2 weeks).
So because of past situations with her boyfriend and her always saying it's fine when they would ‘talk’ things out and decide to stay together, i assumed and said 'so ur still together ? cool at least ur okay" and i texted her a bit more after about her and also if she was upset with me or something (because in the past there was something like that already after these situations). She then in the morning texted me 'what is wrong with you' and 'keep your assumptions to yourself' and I told her that she only told me “girl it's fine” so obviously I saw it as a 'me and him are fine again like always' because she wasn't communicating anything to me and yet again I have autism and she was cryptic and avoidant to my question so I just went off of things like how they would always be in the past. I told her that the what's wrong with you hurt too and after that she just snipped the so ur still together that i sent and spammed 'just stop' (for clearance she has bpd too and i didnt know she was in an episode cuz she wasn't communicating anything until the just stop) so i explained why i thought that and said id stop and that was the end of our convo for the day.
The next day all she tells me is how she is bmi 16.4 and i'm mad and worried that the first thing she tells me is that she's starving successfully and then said we should celebrate and i said no why would i celebrate that. I then asked her why she's starving, a bit more with that and then I made a remark about how she said what's wrong with you yesterday because I was still upset about it and all she said was 'there's something wrong with all of us'. I asked her why isn't she communicating anything and she would just say there's nothing to communicate and I told her what about yesterday, what about me trying rn and she only sends a snip of where a friend said to her that he heard she's breaking up with her boyfriend and all she said to him was 'maybe im gonna maybe im not gonna maybe i have maybe maybe i havent no one knows but me' and again told me “nothing to communicate”. I was mad because after everything I was left in the dark as always and she was acting off understandably so but still. then i asked her if this is the only reason she came to text me and she was like yes and then bye. i asked her wdym bye are you mad at me or something and she said 'don't read into it' and i was like oki bye then.
Later, at 1am she texted me "Hi im gonna be offline a lot i think or jsut not chat im not ignoring i just need space", and i respect that and said oki get better. At this point I knew they broke up because I have her on twitter and she posted there about breaking up and the cons and pros about it, which also made me a bit mad because the pro was 'no appetite to eat' or something like that and the con was depression, the con I understood. Plus her needing space told me they broke up too. The next day at 3am i texted her "Hi how r u holding up and ill just shorten all I sent to not be a bother. I saw u left the circle why and could have said i would have too then, ur med tweet was on my home and its worrying especially after this all and cant send u tiktoks anymore cuz no exist. only noticed each every now and then cuz of routine or accident but didnt wanna bug u but all added im worried if all good so decided to check in and ask, hope u reply and know why and if ur healing and r atleast alive cuz I'm just so lost on all this or intention or meaning behind it, anyway hope u get better soon love you"
For context: I said shorten because I decided to just put all messages I sent into one and shorten it to not make it too long and bug her. By circle i meant life360, me and her got it like 2 weeks ago as a joke friend thing and i got a bunch of notifications on it and decided to check in on the app that day and i noticed she fully left the circle (she was in it earlier that day because I was still getting notifications from it about her). Before that i was on twitter and i follow her obviously and her tweet she posted that day popped up on my home and it said "max dose of my medicine is like 100mg a day so what if i take 300mg will i be a walking zombie CANT WAIT to find out" i was already worried after these 2 but still didnt wanna bug her while she wasn't okay so that she wouldn't get upset or mad at me. Then at 3am i was on tiktok and wanted to send her a silly appreciation tik tok and i couldn't because both of her tiktoks account she deactivated. At this point I'm confused and extremely worried, so I decided to text her that.
The morning after i sent it (which is today), she doesn't reply and i thought maybe she just didn't see it still, but then i see that she left all the gc's with us and our friends and i'm just like okay well she just ignored me, now i'm just more worried and confused now. Then I went on twitter and I saw a tweet she posted around the same time I texted her at 3am. It was a reply to her previous tweet and it said “i was in fact a walking zombie. NOW it is time for me to sign out! forever“ and im just confused so i checked her profile and her most recent tweet was a face reveal and in it she says 'face reveal before i get of this app forever', she also changed her banner to "will u think of me on my birthday" and at this point im panicking and worried, shes ignoring me, i'm in the dark. I get she needs space but this isn't needing space she's doing such worrying and weird stuff. So I texted her again about it all and how I saw her twitter banner and that I'm super worried and that I just want to know if she's okay because she just ignored my message last night. I even texted her brother too and I hope he replies cause I just want to know if she's healing or if she's even alive. She's my best friend and I just want her to be okay.
This all is taking such a mental toll on me though and I can't focus on anything else except her and I'm worried she ended her life or something. I’m mentally exhausted and I'm already struggling with my own mental health and this is just piling on and I'm stressed 24/7. I even had a horrible panic attack and I didnt even know why until she texted me her going offline message and the panic attack got worse and then I realized it's because of her and her worrying behavior. I'm just so worried and mentally exhausted and so badly stressed, I can't take it anymore. I don't even know if she is alive or not and it's all killing me.
Do I have a right to be upset at all of this ? I’m I allowed to be mad and done with everything ?

For 2 months I would help my friend every week with a situation with her bf, and i would help her and be there for her all the time (she would ask me to be there too and i can't say no), but doing so i’d neglect my own mental health, things that i was doing etc while trying to help her. After a month and a half of them being together, for 2 weeks straight nonstop everyday there was something with her bf. throughout it all i would be by her side and help her, she also asked if i could because i want to be a good friend and make sure she is alright but it would also take a mental toll on me trying to be there all the time, neglecting my own things, my own mental health but i'd still try to support her as much as i could. In the end, me and our mutual friend were there for her when she was going to break up with him.
For context: they were supposed to break up before already because he was treating her bad and unfair but she forgave him and then few days later yet again something happened (he broke her boundaries really badly) and she was supposed to break up then too, and these were all during the 2 weeks when i would help her nonstop but every time she would just forgive him, and at that point i was already upset and stressed because i was helping her for nothing and another thing would come up in the future, (there was a cycle and he is a manipulator). and for more context they have already been in an online relationship in the past in 2020 and he abused her to the point she now has ptsd diagnosed so when they first got together again I told her if she is sure and to be safe and she told me she knew what she was doing (clearly not) because he supposedly changed and got mad at me because it’s her decision, which I agreed it was but I was still worried. He did change but he's still not good.
Continuing on though, they were finally going to break up and me and my mutual friend were there for her. Suddenly though, during it she left our call out of nowhere. I was worried but our mutual friend and I decided to just wait. After a bit of being in the dark, I texted her asking how it went and if she was okay and after a while all i got was a 'yup im alive'. I was a bit mad that she didn't answer my question (She does this a lot and then I get frustrated, I have autism and so I don’t understand intentions or emotions well and I need people to be straightforward, not avoidant and cryptic) so I asked again how it went, how she was and she just said girl it's fine. At this point I was a bit pissed that after all that she's not communicating anything to me (which ironically enough was one of the situations with her boyfriend during the 2 weeks).
So because of past situations with her boyfriend and her always saying it's fine when they would ‘talk’ things out and decide to stay together, i assumed and said 'so ur still together ? cool at least ur okay" and i texted her a bit more after about her and also if she was upset with me or something (because in the past there was something like that already after these situations). She then in the morning texted me 'what is wrong with you' and 'keep your assumptions to yourself' and I told her that she only told me “girl it's fine” so obviously I saw it as a 'me and him are fine again like always' because she wasn't communicating anything to me and yet again I have autism and she was cryptic and avoidant to my question so I just went off of things like how they would always be in the past. I told her that the what's wrong with you hurt too and after that she just snipped the so ur still together that i sent and spammed 'just stop' (for clearance she has bpd too and i didnt know she was in an episode cuz she wasn't communicating anything until the just stop) so i explained why i thought that and said id stop and that was the end of our convo for the day.
The next day all she tells me is how she is bmi 16.4 and i'm mad and worried that the first thing she tells me is that she's starving successfully and then said we should celebrate and i said no why would i celebrate that. I then asked her why she's starving, a bit more with that and then I made a remark about how she said what's wrong with you yesterday because I was still upset about it and all she said was 'there's something wrong with all of us'. I asked her why isn't she communicating anything and she would just say there's nothing to communicate and I told her what about yesterday, what about me trying rn and she only sends a snip of where a friend said to her that he heard she's breaking up with her boyfriend and all she said to him was 'maybe im gonna maybe im not gonna maybe i have maybe maybe i havent no one knows but me' and again told me “nothing to communicate”. I was mad because after everything I was left in the dark as always and she was acting off understandably so but still. then i asked her if this is the only reason she came to text me and she was like yes and then bye. i asked her wdym bye are you mad at me or something and she said 'don't read into it' and i was like oki bye then.
Later, at 1am she texted me "Hi im gonna be offline a lot i think or jsut not chat im not ignoring i just need space", and i respect that and said oki get better. At this point I knew they broke up because I have her on twitter and she posted there about breaking up and the cons and pros about it, which also made me a bit mad because the pro was 'no appetite to eat' or something like that and the con was depression, the con I understood. Plus her needing space told me they broke up too. The next day at 3am i texted her "Hi how r u holding up and ill just shorten all I sent to not be a bother. I saw u left the circle why and could have said i would have too then, ur med tweet was on my home and its worrying especially after this all and cant send u tiktoks anymore cuz no exist. only noticed each every now and then cuz of routine or accident but didnt wanna bug u but all added im worried if all good so decided to check in and ask, hope u reply and know why and if ur healing and r atleast alive cuz I'm just so lost on all this or intention or meaning behind it, anyway hope u get better soon love you"
For context: I said shorten because I decided to just put all messages I sent into one and shorten it to not make it too long and bug her. By circle i meant life360, me and her got it like 2 weeks ago as a joke friend thing and i got a bunch of notifications on it and decided to check in on the app that day and i noticed she fully left the circle (she was in it earlier that day because I was still getting notifications from it about her). Before that i was on twitter and i follow her obviously and her tweet she posted that day popped up on my home and it said "max dose of my medicine is like 100mg a day so what if i take 300mg will i be a walking zombie CANT WAIT to find out" i was already worried after these 2 but still didnt wanna bug her while she wasn't okay so that she wouldn't get upset or mad at me. Then at 3am i was on tiktok and wanted to send her a silly appreciation tik tok and i couldn't because both of her tiktoks account she deactivated. At this point I'm confused and extremely worried, so I decided to text her that.
The morning after i sent it (which is today), she doesn't reply and i thought maybe she just didn't see it still, but then i see that she left all the gc's with us and our friends and i'm just like okay well she just ignored me, now i'm just more worried and confused now. Then I went on twitter and I saw a tweet she posted around the same time I texted her at 3am. It was a reply to her previous tweet and it said “i was in fact a walking zombie. NOW it is time for me to sign out! forever“ and im just confused so i checked her profile and her most recent tweet was a face reveal and in it she says 'face reveal before i get of this app forever', she also changed her banner to "will u think of me on my birthday" and at this point im panicking and worried, shes ignoring me, i'm in the dark. I get she needs space but this isn't needing space she's doing such worrying and weird stuff. So I texted her again about it all and how I saw her twitter banner and that I'm super worried and that I just want to know if she's okay because she just ignored my message last night. I even texted her brother too and I hope he replies cause I just want to know if she's healing or if she's even alive. She's my best friend and I just want her to be okay.
This all is taking such a mental toll on me though and I can't focus on anything else except her and I'm worried she ended her life or something. I’m mentally exhausted and I'm already struggling with my own mental health and this is just piling on and I'm stressed 24/7. I even had a horrible panic attack and I didnt even know why until she texted me her going offline message and the panic attack got worse and then I realized it's because of her and her worrying behavior. I'm just so worried and mentally exhausted and so badly stressed, I can't take it anymore. I don't even know if she is alive or not and it's all killing me.
Do I have a right to be upset at all of this ? I’m I allowed to be mad and done with everything ?

[First] [Previous] [Next]
White marble built upon white sands, a white town built around a massive, white rocky crag.

Winds blew powerfully on the shores of the Isle of the Wise, heralding the massive storm that was to hit soon enough. Far away from any other piece of land in all of Jericho, the old, rocky and isolated island was the closest thing in existence to a ‘Magical Town’ in the world, with many workshops and residences built on the skirts of the crag, atop of which Castle Tranquility had been built.

This was the home of the Council of Exodus, the maximum authority on magical matters. This was also the one place in all of Jericho where a population of more than a thousand mages in the same spot was acceptable, thanks to the many glyphs and rituals that had been installed in the island since time immemorial, and the distance the place had from the rest of civilization.

If Pandaemonium was to strike here, the rest of the world would be safe, or at least would have enough time to react to the breaking tides of chaos unleashed by the excess of magic.

To be allowed residence here, was to be admitted among the absolute best that the magical world has to offer, to be certified as a ‘Master of the Art’, and to be admitted in the Council that guarded the wellbeing of humanity as a whole.

Despite how important this island may seem, the place was calm and often very silent, beyond the occasional tourist or visitor.

But some mages had another name for this calmness.

Stagnation.

Yes, reality was that the progress in magical research had been advancing at a slug’s pace for the last couple of decades. Was it for lack of effort? Some may think so, but things were often much more complicated than just that.

No. The main obstacle to progress, at least in the eyes of those who whispered and complained against the lackluster Council, were the many strict rules established to keep the world in ‘Balance’.

“Balance, balance, balance… that’s the Council’s favorite word…”

A figure cloaked in black sat at the top of one of Castle Tranquility’s many towers. A blond man wearing a long trenchcoat, observing the town with disdain in his blue eyes. He hated it, he hated the situation the world had devolved into, he hated the lack of advancement, the hypocrisy of the mage world, and how boring things had turned in general.

The world was in desperate need of a catastrophe.

“Brooding all by yourself, handsome?”

A blond woman in a long, black dress appeared from the shadows, hugging her beloved husband from behind and closing her eyes with a sigh of relief. The man smiled, the world recovering a bit of its colour as soon as his beloved wife had appeared, his hands going to cup hers and hold them close as he let out a deep sigh.

“Morgana, my beautiful black rose, why do you make me wait so? Is it that you enjoy knowing how much I suffer in your absence?”

“I would never be so cruel to my other half! But you speak as if I enjoyed my time without you.”

They both gazed lovingly into each other’s eyes for a moment, smiling calmly, before focusing once again on the situation at hand. The man sighed, gazing at the town once again while his wife pouted a little bit.

“The Second Sacrifice can’t arrive soon enough.” Said the man, shaking his head softly.

“It will arrive, don’t be impatient my love.” The woman took her beloved’s hands and then watched the horizon. The Sun was already setting. “Can you imagine? The many civilizations that will rise from our ashes…?”

The man’s bad mood disappeared, as he slowly cracked a little smile.

“A part of me is sad that we won’t be able to see them but… It’s a warming sensation, knowing that a new era is finally coming…”

The couple embraced, tightly. They didn’t fear death, or anything really. Not anymore.

They knew there was nothing that could stand in the way of their plans at this point.

And with every passing second, the fruits of their labor were closer and closer to mature and ready to fall to the ground.

With the echo of roaring thunder.


Pelafina’s poor old heart almost jumped straight out her throat when she heard Mustafá’s voice over the phone. The old alchemist was infamous in the Brotherhood, they knew how much she hated to communicate and hated even more to cooperate… and yet here she was, calling the Overseer of the Saüle District and demanding answers.

She was not ready for this, King Hamil had not prepared her for this whatsoever! Sitting on her bed while her husband slept deeply, the Overseer fumbled with her glasses before putting them on.

“I can talk, I can talk! It’s just… Your call took me by surprise, especially on my, uh, private phone…”

“The institutional phone didn’t pick up, so I figured you’d be on this one.”

“I-It didn’t pick up because it is eleven in the night, miss Mustafá…”

“Is that a problem?”

“N-No, no! Not at all.” Pelafina sighed, already hating every second of this conversation. “So, uhm. How can I help you?”

“I am aware that you have been making contact with my Pupil.”

“Your pupil?”

“Tav.”

“He’s your pupil!?”

“She goes by She.”

Pelafina repressed a disgruntled groan before continuing.

“Since when is she your pupil?”

“Today. But that is not important.”

“I didn’t know she was going to be your pupil, miss Mustafá!”

“Again. Not important. I need answers about a certain book that came to her hands, a book that you tasked her with translating.”

For a moment, Pelafina felt the blood freezing on her neck. How to even begin explaining that?

The old woman looked at a nearby mirror, and her reflection stared back… but her reflection did not share the overseer’s fear. The reflection smiled, a green and vibrant hue having replaced Pelafina’s natural brown eyes… she sighed in relief. Her King , he had come to her aid! The old woman relaxed, eyes glued to the mirror, and carefully began repeating the words that echoed in her mind.

“... Yes. A collection piece, sold to me by an old lady.” Pelafina nodded. “I only realized what I had in my hands after the seller was gone, this was probably by her design.”

“Did you happen to catch the name of the person who sold it to you?” Mustafá never showed emotion, and yet now the Overseer caught a hint of impatience in the alchemist’s voice.

“No.” She couldn’t just tell this woman that the item had come straight from the vaults of the Brotherhood. That would be way too much information to just give away like that. “I am sorry… But. She did mention a woman.”

“A woman?”

“A woman named ‘Humiko’. Is that name useful to you?”

There was silence on the line for a moment.

“... Yes. Thank you.”

“Oh it is nothing.” Pelafina sighed, feeling her nerves calming down.

“I will be overseeing the translation of this tome from now on. I suppose I can count on you not informing the Brotherhood of this.”

“Well—”

“I will send you a monthly progress report.”

“...I can accept those terms. Thank you, miss Mustafá.”

“I’ll contact you again. Soon. Keep quiet.”

Click.

The plan was back on track. The old lady looked back at the mirror with an excited smile, while the green hue in her reflection slowly faded. Her King looked after her, and he seemed happy with her work.

Surely, this was the way to go for his return… and with that, all the promises she had made would finally come true.

Pelafina looked down at her sleeping husband, partner of so many adventures, now in the twilight of his life… and smiled.

“Don’t worry Ricardo… we’ll all make it for sure.” She gently caressed the few hairs of the sleeping old man. “Our King will make sure of it.”


man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): ok so
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): the plan is
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): we confront 82 and ask what the fuck happened to tav
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): and if she doesn’t answer, we rat it all out
ケンジー・イズ・マイ・ワイフ!!!: Yeah!!! ò.o!!!
Jeepers creepers man: I feel like I should be doing something to stop this.
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): but you wont cause you ain’t a narc, mort
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): you’re a real one, aren’t you?
Jeepers creepers man: either that or very lazy
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): lol
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: I don’t like the plan but I don’t really have any alternatives… I just hope she’s okay
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: I AM ALIVE!! O_O
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): there she is
ケンジー・イズ・マイ・ワイフ!!!: TAVY-CHAAAAN TwT
Jeepers creepers man: are you okay tav?
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: saints above you gave us a good spook.
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: I am fine, I am fine TwT sorry for worrying you all.
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: I bring news though, BIG news O.o
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: After she almost killed me, 82 agreed to be my teacher OwO!!!
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: you’re kidding me
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: I swear it’s true!
Jeepers creepers man: congrats tav
ケンジー・イズ・マイ・ワイフ!!!: Taught by 82 herself? Nice O.o I never even thought she was real, I always assumed she was just a bot or something.
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Nope, very real ._. she’s eating my food right now.
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): aw man
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): i was lookin forward to be professor canny
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: You can still teach me stuff if you want! n.n I am open to that
man don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut 8): nah girl youre fine, im messing with ya

It was all fun and games in the chat, and honestly, Gal was trying to be happy for Tav and her meteoric advance through the magic world. She was going to be tutored by Mustafá, the Mustafá, herself! And somehow she had managed to survive a close encounter with her… but why? Why her? Why not him?

No, no. Gal shook his head and got away from the computer. He didn’t want to fall prey to such negative feelings. Tav was a friend, right!? Just a poor, newcomming bastard trying to move around, learn and live a simple life, right?

But then why did Gal feel so… invaded? As if someone had suddenly come over and taken stuff that was his?

He had always wanted to somehow gain the attention of the mods. He was good friends with Mort, and had talked to Ventotto a few times, but 82 had always ignored him…

Maybe it had something to do with that book.

Yeah, the physical guide she went looking for at her local library. Maybe the key was there? She came asking about Mustafá and Giovanni after going for that damn book, maybe it had something that made them pay notice?

Again, he shook his head firmly and sighed, tapping on the computer.

GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: gotta go sleep for now
GalaxyTaco to your rescue!: take care y’all
xXxCallMeBigCookiexXx: Sleep tight! n.n

God damn it and she was so polite too. If she was an asshole it would be so much easier to hate her.

“What the hell am I doing…?”

Feeling foolish and bitter, Gal stood up and turned off his computer, turning around to grab his black cloak.

The night was still young, Gangan was resting and the Coven was waiting for him.

Maybe he’d have some tales to tell them tonight.

My heart pulsed with furious terror and my eyes finally opened. My screams were muffled by the glass canopy of the Immersion Pod, and I hurriedly squealed the command to let me out. In full panic, I exited, removing feedback catheters and other equipment from me as the glass slowly opened. My screams echoed through the station's empty halls as I frantically clambered out of the pod and up against a wall, my teeth chattering from terror. I continued to scream for help that never came, yelling for subordinates long since gone.
This is the same scene that has played out nearly every day for the last two years. Every pod contains a new nightmare. Each time I closed my eyes I saw a new horror, experiencing a new heartbreak. Each time I got out, I screamed my antennae off and desperately clawed away at the glass to escape my confinement. And every single time it always ends the same. I get out, cower in a corner and continue to scream, while the images of everything that happened flashed in my mind.
Each time, it ended the same. No help comes. My screams were heard by only the empty walls of the station. I would always shake my head and return to my senses when the rush was over and my brain realized it was no longer in danger. I sat in the corner, shivering a bit. I could still feel their teeth gnawing at my flesh. I held my hands up, my three digits in front of me and the image of a set of two arms with five meaty digits flashes before my eyes. My recovery time is stifled by the familiar sound of metallic squeaking, followed by a familiar whirr.
I scoffed at it and stood up, my four footpads not used to the cold linoleum flooring and I shivered a bit. I looked up at the strange newcomer and approached it. A strange robot or droid, built into the station. It was a spherical orb, mounted onto an extendable robotic arm, with a single, large eye mounted in the middle of its frame. I scoffed at it again as the tiny motors inside its frame forced its various plates of armor and covering to form a facial expression, one which I could only consider to be a 'concerned smile'.
"Go away Orbie Thing." That was the nickname for it. "I don't need to deal with you right now."
I shoved it aside and retreated down the corridor. I could traverse this path in my sleep, having done it nearly every day for the last two years. I walked down two corridors, left, right, down a set of stairs and to the end towards the hangar bay. There, I stood quietly, staring intently at the entrance to the transport corvette my fellows left behind for me so many months ago. Every time I come here... It would always end the same way. I would stare at it for an hour. Figure that There was still too much to do, too much at stake. Like I was missing something.
And every time I did, I would shake my head, return to the interior and carry on, writing in my journal as I recalled every moment from what I just suffered. I went up to the control room and sat at the console. I began typing. Ignoring the whirrs of Orbie Thing appearing beside me. I ignored it and started my report.
"Researchers Log Date 11.8.99. Research Facility codename 'Echoes Of Man'. Operative Tharaxx Kanaar Of Brood Theta-Kai reporting. It seems all of the pods in 'Deck S, Section Z', all contain simulations of a thing the creators of this facility refer to as a 'zombie apocalypse', and thus far... this one was the worst."
I pressed a series of buttons and played a video on the holo screen in front of me, complimenting my log data. It played a recording of my latest sojourn, seemingly from the eyes of the very individual who experienced it.
"Pod contains an interactive recording, seemingly a creation of the user - of his final moments, as it appears as though it comes directly from his perspective. I believe it to be portable recording equipment of some kind, or some variant of bionics at least. Recording shows the result of what is known as a Zombie Outbreak."
I let the recording play and allowed the desperate screams of a man about to die once again echo through my ears. The video started with him desperately yelling a series of 'No, god no!' before bolstering himself and holding a rifle. A series of loud bangs can be heard as a horde of infected individuals bursts through the door to be met with gunfire.
I pause the recording. "The context of this recording I can... at least attempt to make sense of was that this individual was caught off guard and cornered by a horde of 'zombies', defined in Human media and historical archive as 'mindless shambling corpses whose only desire is to feed'. In this case, these 'zombies' were brought about due to a highly contagious strain of virus, callsign 'Knox'."
I let the recording play. It showed a legion of dozens of half-rotting corpses breaking each other's bones in order to get to the individual, just crawling over the bodies as they are gunned down. The weapon jammed, forcing the man into a blind panic as more of the undead encroached on him. I ended the recording there.
"For the sake of sanity, the remainder will be available on the transcript archive. For purposes of the record however, the subject is set upon, and torn limb from limb as he is eaten alive."
I sit back in my seat and take a deep breath, Orbie Thing watching me closely. His little face plates contorting into what he thinks may calm me down.
"Once again, the purpose and reason behind this facility and its contents, is yet to be determined. The 'Immersion Pods' as we know them, contain short or long term recordings of a subject's memories or experiences through means as yet undetermined. These experiences range from what you just saw, all the way to death defying stunts, high speed racing events, horrible crashes and acts of... unimaginable cruelty. Why... is as yet unknown. Log ends. Operative Tharaxx Kanaar Of Brood Theta-Kai."
I sat there, unmoving for a few minutes, just trying to calm down. I looked to my right and Orbie Thing was there but... he had... changed.
"Wh-Orbie Thing... Wasn't your eye blue earlier? Why is it... Purple?" I asked.
"It has been interesting observing your activities." A mechanical voice suddenly spoke.
I screamed and jumped out of my seat. "AH! WHAT!?"
He approached me by moving the little robotic arm toward me. "I said: 'It has been interesting observing your activities.' Was I not clear before?" It said again, contorting its little faceplates to taunt me.
"Two damn years you haven't said a word and now you speak! What are you!?" I stood up and pointed at him, demanding answers.
"There is no need to point. That is rude. Please stop that." He said to me, his faceplates moving to an expression of disgust. "My name is Wheatley. I am this station's Archive A.I."
"Impossible! Is this a prank!? Artificial Intelligence is impossible! We proved it so many times!" I yelled, looking around for a hidden control panel.
"For you, yes. You use crystal lattice matrices in your electronics, mostly made of semi or non-conductive materials. While impressive it is highly... Constraining for any kind of thought pattern. Your most complex computer is the equivalent of a twentieth century gaming computer. It's quite impressive how far you came with it." His face contorted into what could only be construed as a 'mocking smirk'.
"I do not know if I should be grateful or insulted..." I said and sat on my seat, unable to consider any further course of action.
"I apologize. It was not meant to be an insult. You simply have a difference in materials that limits your electronics ability to think. To actually be here with that limitation is by itself an impressive feat. But as always..." A holoscreen appeared in front of me. A technical blueprint. "Improvements can always be made."
I took one look at it and immediately copied it to my system archive and sent it through a relay back to home. I'm not an engineer by any means but even a simpleton could see the value in that blueprint. I stared at him, aware what I did was just plain rude but I had no idea how to proceed.
"I... I'm sorry, I don't..."
"A predictable response. It's okay. I'm used to it." He pulled up the holo screen and showed me a compilation of that same event happening a hundred times. Each time, a different species was at the controls and a different blueprint was displayed.
"Okay that's enough!" I yelled out and started my recording software, and a live link to home to be sure. "Let's do this properly. Please... Wheatley? Yes that was it. Wheatley, would you please explain to me, what the actual fuck is going on?"
His armor plating closed in all at once in a blink. The expression was clearly very shocked, very surprised. "Oh my... Congratulations. You are the first one to use the word 'please' since this experiment was started."
He let out a mechanical chuckle and I just sighed in response. "Okay... Thanks? So... What are you then?"
"Oh yes, forgive my indulgence. I am Management AI Variant 'Wheatley', I am the operator of this research facility. I am a Personality Core, a Quantum Computation Matrix Unit, built to operate the systems over long terms. Long terms as in, several thousand eons. Pleasure to meet you." He smiled at me.
"Quantum computation!? That... exists!?" I bent over the desk, cradling my head in preparation for a rapidly approaching migraine. "Ohhh my head..."
"I think I should be used to this now, really. Your electronics capabilities are so... forgive the term 'weak', that such things are pipedreams. No... Quantum computation is in fact, little more than the next step. Truth be told, my quality of computation system was outdated two centuries after I was pumped out of the factory. But... we shall talk about that later, shall we?" His faceplates contorted into a smile.
"Yes... I think that's good. What is this place, and what was it for?" I asked, paying full attention.
"This facility is one of very, very many. An exact copy of two hundred or so such units. My creatures, 'humans', built us specifically to teach the human experience, good and bad, to the wider universe. One facility sent to the four corners of each galaxy we can find. Do note though, this wasn't a civilisation effort. It was the craft of ONE man. He was a bit... eccentric." He said with a mechanical chuckle.
"Wait... One man built this!?" I said shocked.
"Let me elaborate. This was less a scientific endeavor and more an eccentric art project that nobody seemed to object to. It had one premise: Expose aliens, alternate civilisations and otherworldly entities to the human experience, both real and simulated, and see how they respond to it. Well... it started out like that and developed into something a bit more... meaningful." He replied.
"Oh... Ohhh... Okay." I relied, cradling my aching head. "So I have spent the last two years of my life subjecting myself to unimaginable torture for... an... art project? Made by some crazy guy?" I asked, my tone of voice full of defeat.
"Well yes. You consider it torture... but you havent... Looked at things... Have you? You've been too traumatized to notice the bigger picture. You haven't... shall we say, 'learned the lesson'? It's quite funny really! It seems to be a common occurrence." He twisted his faceplates into a mocking smirk.
"Elaborate. Please."
"This facility is meant not only to teach a lesson but to be rewarded for that lesson. These pods contain simulations or actual recovered memories of real life events. So let me make this simpler for you." He said as he drew a selection of videos on the holo-screen.
"Please do..." I asked, paying full attention.
"Imagine an emperor who enslaves others. Enslave HIM, strip him of his status and put him in chains. Show him what it means to be a slave. Show him the abuse. Show him the exhaustion. Show him the torture. Make him feel the suffering he inflicts on others. Ask yourself... Do you think he would still be in favor of slavery after that?"
The images flashing before me showed a recording from the eyes of the person suffering it, being whipped, being beaten, being... used... being forced to work endless hours digging, fighting, burning.
"Now go into something more... direct. An attorney with a habit of falsely accusing others of crimes. And prosecuting others on those terms. Put him in cuffs, put him behind bars with a rigged trial. Silence him. Do to him what he did to others. Let him understand what happens. Do you think he would be in favor of continuing his actions?"
The images passed over a criminal trial of some kind, from the perspective of a victim of a crooked lawyer who is held on trial for false pretenses, has his entire family ruined and is put in prison.
"Or perhaps something more... large scale? Do you think any politician or any form of leadership would start a war if HE was the one who had to fight in it?"
The video showed multiple perspectives of an active war, fought through the eyes of the soldiers who died in it. The first one in some kind of trench line as a gas attack hits. The second one in some kind of metal war machine that guns down dozens of men before being hit by artillery. The last one showing a ground perspective of a bombing campaign.
"This entire facility is dedicated entirely to the concept of 'to put oneself in someone else's shoes.' Of course when we ran out of lessons to teach, we... well. You figured that out yourself."
He chuckled as he played the recording of the zombie apocalypse I suffered through earlier. "Okay. I think I get it but... What puzzles are you talking about exactly? You said something about puzzles?"
"Oh that! Heh, that's hilarious. Nobody figures it out until way beyond the pale. Too little too late as it goes. I digress, sorry. Within some memories, some simulations and some systems, the creators crafted custom segments hidden in the background. You have to be VERY observant to notice them but, well, it's there. See for yourself."
He smiled again and played a certain segment of the zombie apocalypse recording, then paused it on a specific frame. There, sitting on the wall in front of me was the blueprint I just sent to home that this robot just casually gave me.
"OH COME ON!" I yelled out in frustration and slammed my head on the console to a gale of mocking mechanical laughter.
"Oh god I love that bit! When they realize the answer was literally staring them in the face and they missed it! Never gets old! Hahaha!" He continued to mock me for a little bit longer.
"Okay, okay! I get it! You can stop being such a gandus you know!"
"Ah yes... Gandus. Your specific word for 'dick'. That's still funny! Oh so many times that has happened! Your species is the tenth that has visited and occupied this facility. They all use that word! Anyway, back to work..." He was barely able to contain his laughter.
"Okay stop. One thing. Before we continue, I must ask. So others have been here?" I asked.
"Yes. Many others."
"And what happened to them?" I asked again, curious.
"Attempts at destruction that were ultimately fruitless. Abandonment of all projects and quarantining of the star system under dubious pretenses. Full on psychopathy as they cant process the images they witness. All sorts of stuff. You are the first one to survive past the first month. Congratulations!" He replied in kind with more mockery in his tone.
"I see. Let me think... Uhh... What are the blueprints? What exactly is the reward for solving this 'puzzle' thing?" I asked.
"Technical schematics, manufacturing specifications and operating blueprints for various pieces of technology we acquired through the time we were around. Dyson spheres, matryoshka brains, black hole inhibitors, wormhole units. All sorts of things, hidden deep in the code, some deeper than others, some as plain as day. I like to think of it as ah... hm... whats a suitable analogy... 'a helping hand at the tip of a middle finger' so to speak." He replied calmly, seemingly smugly.
"I... Oh I get it now. That's... That's just evil. That's just plain evil! Hiding the secrets to the universe within the bounds of immersive memories of horrifying circumstances! THAT. IS. EVIL!"
"Meh. It's more crazy than evil. Lets just say when we finally said goodbye, we did so with both middle fingers raised. The universe was not exactly friendly when humanity was around." He said with a frown.
"Why is that?" I asked, actually curious for once.
"The universe runs on a cycle. Civilisation rises, lives, exists, falls. Great Filter and all that. The last time the Universe ran its cycle, humanity were the only ones to actually survive their Filters. We entered the universal cycle late and by the time we expanded from our home galaxy - this one - we realized we had come too late. And we were alone. The universe was empty. Galaxy by galaxy, system by system. We. Were. Alone. It was very disappointing!" His tone of voice was odd, as if he didnt know how to be depressed.
"So... you left these stations behind because.. Don't tell me! Let me guess. Erm..." I said and thought for a bit. "You left them behind to teach the universe a lesson and then give them a chance to go farther than you did?"
"Well... half correct. To challenge you to rise above yourself, then allow you to earn your place alongside us after Ascension. Or at least, something like that!" He replied with a silly chuckle.
"Ah." I looked back at my console. "Operative Tharaxx Kanaar Of Brood Theta-Kai reporting. True purpose of the facility has been determined. Priority of further research is now regarded as absolute. Send." I said, heard a beep, then smiled.
"And thus it truly begins." He said.
"What?"
"Either a great victory for sentient life, or the catastrophic rise of a demon empire to rival even the worst we have seen or made ourselves. All I can say is, one way or another, at least we tried." He said, his eye turning back to blue, then wandered away.
Before he did, he opened a media file and played it. It was titled “How to Royally Fuck Up The Universe - Failing to Learn From Ones Mistakes.”

1. smoothies have been a game changer - I haven’t been in the mood to cook , these fill me up , without making me feel like crap. They easy my tummy , plus I use pretty healthy ingredients.
   
2. Do stuff - I know I’ve literally complained about having zero energy and feeling horrible. I mustered up the energy to fix my hair and go and run errands. It made me feel a lot better. I didn’t feel nauseous as much and overall I didn’t notice the fatigue. Plus it helped me sleep a little better during the night. This weekend was hot af , I filled my yeti with lemonade , and went to 3 nursery’s mentally it relieved stress.
   
3. Share everything with your partner- every time I read something or watch a pregnancy related video on social media , I share it with my partner. We’re extremely new to this , and he has no idea how to support me. And sending him funny pregnancy reels or tik toks helps him get that it’s not just me being a cry baby , it’s what happens to women. He’s been a lot more understanding and can be more supportive now.
   

Currently struggling with my mental health/ body image . - I’m scheduling an appointment with my therapist, asap. Ive only known the happy face people put on while pregnant, or what I’ve seen on tv. I’m actually really struggling with anxiety and depression during this which will also put me at a higher risk for postpartum depression. I’m finding it really difficult to enjoy this new step in my life . So I want to get that taken care of ..I just don’t hear anyone talk about their mental health when they’re pregnant.
My body image is something I’ve struggled with since high school , I’m 31 now. I’ve always kept in shape, I also even had a bbl. So I’m struggling with how I may look after this.
Anything anyone else want to share

I am not The OOP, OOP is u/ParticularLibrary618
Am I wrong for ending a 20 year marraige because I learned my wife cheated on my while we were dating?
Originally posted to amiwrong
Thanks to u/e_l_r for suggesting this BoRU
Previous BoRU
TRIGGER WARNING: infidelity, gaslighting
Original Post Jan 8, 2024
My wife (44F) and I (43M) have been married 20 years. We started dating in high school when I was a junior and she was a senior. We were long distance for her first two years of college while I was in high school and did one year at community college, then we went to college in the same city for a year, and have lived together since. We got married the summer after I graduated college. Our marraige has been pretty great so far, but I initated a divorce after I discovered that she was sleeping with multiple other men for the 2 years we were long distance.
Just after Christmas, we got together with a few friends of hers from college to catch up, have dinner, and hang out. We talked about a lot of stuff and my wife mentioned that we met in high school (not that we dated, just that we met). Her old college room commented that it was crazy that we met in high school, had a few wild years in college, then ended up together. I played along and commented that I didn't know if my wife was as crazy as I was. The roomate started to tell a story, but my wife cut her off and said she was uncomfortable about it. I sensed something was up, so I said that we actually started dating in high school and were together for my wife's entire time at college. All of my wives friends got real quiet and the rest of the dinner was awkward. On the way out, one of her other roomates took me aside and said I should have "an honest conversation" about what happened at college.
I asked my wife on the way home and she kind of blew me off. I told her it was important that she was honest with me and again she said it wasn't important. When we got home, I told her I was going to stay at my brother's house until she was ready to talk about what happened in college. The next day she came over and admitted to sleepting with "several" men during her first two years at college. She said she didn't consider it a big deal at the time because we were long distance and she didn't think a high school romance would last. I pressed for more details and she said it was at least 10 different men including at least 3 guys she introduced to me as friends when I came to visit on weekends and 1 guy she was still in contact with. I told her that I wanted a divorce and would be starting the paperwork as soon as I could (which I did on January 2nd).
Her family and most of my family is telling me I shouldn't throw away my marriage over a few mistakes. I've stood by my belief that cheating on me with multiple men for years is unacceptable no matter when it happened and the fact that she continued to maintain relationships with these guys right in front of me was an unacceptable amount of disrespect. We have two children, but they are 17 and 19 and I believe they will understand why I need to end the marraige. Am I wrong for leaving? I feel like I'm going crazy with the amount of people telling me to over look years of infidelty and decades of lies.
EDIT: Holy shit I'm glad I did this with a throwaway because the response here is unexpected.
I obviously can't answer every question/comment, but I wanted to provide some detail for common questions.
- The reason I posted this is that my wife and a few friends have been saying it's common to sleep with other folks when you're in an long distance relationship and that I'm kind of the odd one out for not sleeping around. I felt like I was being gaslit, but I wanted an outside perspective. We live in a state with a waiting period to finalize a divorce, so I felt it was a reasonable idea to get some insight before things are finalized. After these comments, I see a handful of folks saying it's normal to sleep around during a long distance relationship, but it seems to be a significant minority.
- We saw each other a couple of weekends a month during the two year college period. I lived about 3 hours away from her college, so it was long distance but not like cross country. This was not a situation where we went months without seeing each other.
- The 3 guys I met while she was in college were meetups that happened during parties. The subject of me being a boyfriend didn't really come up, so I honestly don't know if these guys knew anything.
- The one guy we're still in contact with married a mutual friend from college. This is not some guy she secretly messages on the side, it's somebody we've talked to regularly for years. I've talked to him a few times since I've learned about my wife. He's said he didn't know we were dating at the time and has since blocked my wife on social media.
- Some folks have asked how the roomates didn't realize at our wedding that the timelines didn't work out. The main reason is that my wife and I had a very small ceremony with just close family in Texas, then went back to the East Coast to have a big party with friends. The typical reception/sharing details about how we met stuff didn't really happen, so her roomates didn't realize we started dating before college. It sounds like they thought we only dated for the year we were both in the same city, then moved in together.
- I was open to therapy or some kind of attempt to save the marraige, but her insistence that this whole thing is common and I'm the one who's out of line is just too much for me. The only time she showed any remorse or even offerred to reconsile is when I started filing paper work. In the last week she's gone back to saying she's right and I'm overreacting. This is also why I feeling like I'm being gaslit. It seems obvious that this is a major issue, but I've got my wife and others telling me it's normal and I'm overreacting.
- I'm not getting a paternity test unless my kids want to get one. I don't have any doubts that they are biologically mine, and no test will make them not my kids. I love them more than anything in the world and my wife's infidelity won't change that even if one or both of them is not biologically mine. They've been my kids for 19 years and they will be my kids until I stop breathing.
FINAL EDIT: Hey all, I've been reading a bunch of the responses, but things are getting crazy and increasingly unhinged, so I probably won't be checking in more. Here are few more answers to common questions I've seen.
- We were definitely exclusively dating at the time. First, dating culture was a lot different 20ish years ago and exclusive was kind of the default for most people. Second, we had a long and difficult discussion before she left for college about continuing the relationship long distance. She specifically wanted to stay together and even joked about her dad coming after me if I started sleeping around with girls at my school. Finally, at my senior prom, she was not able to attend and was very upset when I proposed going with a platonnic female friend of mine. As a result I ended up skipping my prom and hanging out with her instead. While we never said the word exclusive, I think the above reasons, combined with the general relationship before she left, are enough to assume exclusivity.
- Based on some comments here, I followed up with the friend that said I should have an honest conversation. She told me that "10 guys would be on the low end" and that her biggest concern was that there was apparently at least one pregnancy scare that I didn't know about. I honestly don't think that really changes much. It's less about the number for me and more about the fact that she seems incapable of recognizing why this was wrong or why I feel betrayed.
Thank you all for the helpful responses, even those that disagree with me. I will still be open to therapy if she's willing, but I honestly feel like it would be more about us being successful coparents and finding closure than saving our marraige.
RELEVANT COMMENTS/ADDITIONAL INFO
On if the wife is willing to work to repair the marriage

It would change a lot if I felt that she wanted to fix this. Throughout our conversation about it, she repeatedly dismissed my feelings and told me I was overreacting to "totally normal behavior". She didn't show any regret or consideration for how it hurt me until she realized I was serious about divorce, then she got defensive and angry. She didn't offer to fix things in any way until I started the paper work and notified her that I had a lawyer.
I think we can navigate being parents. Our kids are older and I've been putting away money for college/post high school for a long time, so a lot of the custody and monetary issues that come up shouldn't be a big problem. We're also both financially stable and make good money.

On the timing of everything

I've hired a lawyer, he drafted an intent to seperate, and sent her a copy certified mail. As far as I know, that's not any legal divorce paper with the state, but rather a part of the process to ensure that she as an opportunity to hire her own lawyer if she wants to contest it.
Actually going through the divorce will likely take months.
I'm not really moved out. I've been crashing at my brother's place while I make arrangements for a more permentant living scenario.
As far as timing goes, the dinner happend on the 26th. I went to my brother's house that night to cool off and give her a chance to think about things. We talked several times over the course of 4-5 days and she made it clear that she didnt' believe she didn't anything wrong. If there was any kind of remorse/regret/basic consideration of my feelings on her part, I probably would have waited. However, she didn't so I found a divorce lawyer and he had boilerplate intent to seperate agreements that we filled out and sent over the same day.
Even now, we're obviously not legally divorced and I don't even know if there is a legal concept of seperation in my state, but I've made it clear this is happening and started the process.

Update Feb 5, 2024
I wanted to provide some updates here as my original post got a lot of traction.
TL;DR version: My wife and I are seeing a couples counselor and have been to 3 sessions now. Based on what my original post outlined, and what we've talked about in counseling, I'm still moving forward with the divorce. I believe that counseling was the right move, and I appreciate folks for recommending it. I don't think it's going to save our marraige, but it has helped me communicate my feelings, helped my wife understand where I'm coming from, and most importantly helped us be in a position to work together as co-parents.
First, let's talk about the things I learned about the situation in college. After talking to my wife in sessions and texting with two of her roomates, it's clear that her roomates knew something was up in college. They said they though the situation was weird and likely involved cheating. My wife had told them that we both had some wild times in college and worked it out before we got married, so they never really brought it up. The roommate who pulled me aside recently was uncomfortable with the fact that my wife clearly didn't talk it through with me, and wanted me to know.
As far as being introduced to guys she slept with, apparently that was not intended. For one of the guys, he ended up dating and then marrying one of our mutual friends from college. This is the guy she was in contact with. In the other situations, she initially blamed me in the counseling session, but has now agreed it was bad. When I went to visit her, she planned to hang out in the room or just hang out together alone, but I wanted to go to a few parties because in HS and community college, I didn't really have parties to go to. She didn't expect me to meet the guys, but they were at the parties and she felt she didn't really have a choice. I still think this is kind of shitty, but it's not as bad as her intentionally parading me infront of the guys.
Most of our discussion in therapy has been talking about why I think it's a big deal and she doesn't. She initially said that none of these guys were in relationships with her and it was mostly one night stands or FWB. Since she didn't view them as romantic relationships, she didn't see the big deal (her words not mine). My opinion is that we never said that was ok and she actively prevented me from doing the same. After digging into this across two sessions, and my wife talking to some friends, she now agrees that it was a breach of our trust/relationship. This is the shared understanding that has helped us talk about this situation more honestly and helped us get from arguing to talking (which is why I'm optimistic about co-parenting).
Now, here's why I'm 100% set on divorce. Two things came up that make me want to leave the marraige. First, about 10 years ago we went through a really rough patch and had a dead bedroom for about 2 years. She had expressed that our sex life was becoming boring, so I tried to spice things up (nothing crazy, just roleplay and like spencers gift level sex toys). Apparently, she had been hung up some sexual experiences that happened in college (that she is not comfortable talking about) and wanted me to try them, but when I did it made her feel awkward and guilty that it made her think of other men while she was with me. The fact that she's saying these experiences were meaningless, but they're still impacting our marraige tells me they meant more than she wants to say. Second, she admitted that she has been flirting with coworkers on business trips since the pandemic ended. She says she has never slept with anybody, but it got as far as going on a date with one of her male coworkers. That was the absolute dealbreaker for me.
We have told our children that we're getting a divorce. We told them it was due to some bad decisions that we made in college that we're having trouble moving past. My 19 year old (who is in college) asked me if I cheated on my wife while she was away at college. My wife got a little shaken up, but admitted to the kids that she's the one who cheated. We have agreed to not share any additional details with the kids. I reenforced that both us will be there for the kids and that we are in therapy to help make sure we handle this in the best way for the family. I also told the kids that if they wanted to talk to either of us or a therapist about it, that I would fully support it.
We've started talking to a mediator about how to proceed with the divorce, and unless things change, we should be able to have an amicable divorce. We're both financially stable on our own, we have no major debts, and our kids are older, so custody isn't a major issue. This has been a shitty couple of months for me, but I'm doing ok now and I honestly am grateful that my last post blew up because it both validated some of my feelings, but also motivated me to go to counseling with my wife.
RELEVANT COMMENTS
Historical-Pie-5052

Sorry OP but this is for the best. She's been keeping you in the dark for over twenty years.
"She says she has never slept with anybody, but it got as far as going on a date with one of her male coworkers."
If you believe this then I gotta bridge on Mars to sell you. Dead bedrooms for young couples usually mean someone is getting somewhere else.

OOP

I don't really believe it, but I also don't think it's worth it to dig into it more. I'm going to get an STD panel done to make sure I'm safe and I really don't need to know anymore.
If it was just a date, we're getting divorced. If it was more, we're still getting a divorce, so pushing the issue won't do anything but make it harder for us to co-parent. I'm also reasonably sure that she was cheating during our dead bedroom situation, we were having sex like once every 2-3 months and we usually have sex 2-3 times a week. Again, I have enough to know it's time to move on and I digging more into it will only make the divorce harder.

~
Know_1_7777777

Has she even apologized for everything she put you through? Especially the part where she went on a date with some asshole?

OOP

Before our counseling and at the first appointment, she was not apologetic. In the second appointment, the focus was for me to explain the effect it had on me. She has expressed remorse and apologized repeatedly since that session. It's too little too late, but she's not some kind of emotionless monster.

~
mofugly13

I'm super curious to know what kind of sexual things she was hung up on from her past but that she felt uncomfortable doing with you?
That alone seems very red flaggy.

OOP

I didn't really want to dig into it too much. Right before the dead bedroom stuff started, she was asking to experiment with new stuff in the bedroom. It was mostly BDSM kind of stuff that was a little more intense than I was comfortable with. At the time, Fifty shades was popular and she got into some other smutty kind of reading. I attributed the change in sex to that, but my guess is that some of the guys she was with in college were into BDSM stuff. Maybe it was a combination of the two.
She hasn't admitted to cheating during that time, but I'd be willing to bet the dead bedroom at home was because she found another person to do kinky shit with.

When asked about why the daughter thought he cheated

To be fair, my 19 year old daughter had some issues with shitty boyfriends who have either cheated or dumped her suddenly to be with somebody else. I'm also the one who left the house. Given her experience with men and the fact that I'm the one who left the house, it make sense that would be her first thought.
When cheating came up, my wife made it clear that she was the one who cheated.
TBH, I'm not really too concerned about the narrative here. From what I can tell, she hasn't said anything bad about me to our kids. In addition, given her admission of recent flirting/cheating and the fact that she's ready to file a joint, amicable divorce after 6 weeks and 3 counseling sessions, I think she was ready to move on before I was. It makes the logistics of the divorce easier, but it hurts a bit to realize she's having an easier time walking away from a 20 year marraige than I am.

OOP when told not to be surprised if she starts dating again

I'm pretty sure that she's already looking. We've had one meeting with an equitable divorce mediator and she specifically stated that we are married until the divorce is final and any adultery that happens before that date could jeopardize the amicable divorce settlement. It seems kind of dumb to me since we're getting divorced due to infidelity, but my STBX was visibly grumpy when that came up. I also imagine that the fact that I'm living in the guest room isn't helping her prospects.
At the end of the day, I'm doing my best to try to accept that our marraige is over and I've been going to therapy on my own (in addition to our couples therapy) to help deal with it. I'm mentally prepared for the fact that there's a good chance I see the coworker she "only dated" again, but I'm also hopeful that I can find a place and be ready to move out before the divorce is finalized. If everything goes well and we can create a plan with the mediator, we will be divorced by summer, I will be in my own place, and she can "just date" which ever coworkers she wants.

NEW UPDATE

*
Update 2 May 21, 2024 Hey all, this is likely the final update on this account as things have mostly resolved.
My wife and I have completed our divorce and everything is official. We had an uncontested, amicable divorce with minimal disagreements. Our lawyers worked together to create the plan through mediation and a judge signed off on it a few weeks ago. In the end, the actual divorce process was pretty straight forward. The only complication was that our 17 year old was adamant about my having custody because their relationship with my ex-wife has really fallen apart as a result of this. Initially my wife dug in her heals and was ready to give up on the uncontested marraige, but my son pretty much told her she could choose between letting him have a break for a few months to process and rebuild, or force him to live with her until he turns 18 and risk never seeing him again. I felt this was a bit harsh, but my wife backed down and we moved foward with my having primary physical custody until my son's birthday later this yer. For my part, I have encouraged my son to be open to fixing things as the actions my ex took before he was born didn't change the 17 years she cared for and loved him. Fortunately, as the divorce moved forward he has been spending more time with my ex and I'm optimistic they will work through this.
In the end, we pretty much split our retirement and investments 50/50. For our house, my wife really liked the house and I didn't, so she kept the house and most of the furnishings and took out a mortgage to pay me back half of the equity and half of the estimated replacement value of the furniture. Pretty much all of our other stuff was either easy to split (my car and her car, my music gear and her hobbies, clothing, personal effects, etc) or we just agreed to sell it and split the resulting profit. Things were a bit easier for us because we had already documented most of our valuable items and electronics for an insurance rider we added to our home insurance a few years ago.
Things have been going well for me personally. Both of the kids spend most of their time at my place and we are still very close, which was my biggest fear in the divorce. I have a new house that I really love and I gave into the mid-life crisis urge and traded in my outdated minivan for a Lexus LC550. I even had a woman at work (not a close coworker) invite me out to a coffee date. While I was up front with her that I'm not ready to date just yet, she said she would be happy to take a rain check and would be happy to go out with me when I'm ready. I'm honestly thrilled because she's really smart, has a great sense of humor, and our positions at work are far enough apart that we don't really work directly with each other at all.
My ex and I are continuing to go through couples counseling together. We have transitioned into having closure on our marraige and making sure we maintain our relationship enough to be effective coparents. While these sessions have been great to help me process things and keep things as healthy/positive as possible given the circumstances, it has also reenforced that divorce was the right option. It's clear from some answers in the sessions that my wife immediately started dating once the divorce process started, so whatever love was there was clearly on the way out already. I'm pretty sure the coworker she was "just friends" with dropped her off at our recent session. The fact that it doesn't even really make me mad is a good sign that I was also probably done with the marraige.
In the end, it will take a long time for me to heal from the betrayal, but I feel like I'm making good progress and I can honestly say that the divorce was unquestionably the right decision. I've probably cried more in the last 4 months than I have in the last 20 years, but for the last month or so I fell genuinely good about myself for the first time in a long time. I'm enjoying having my own life, been busy getting my 17 year old ready for college in the fall and looking forward to a coffee date with a smart, funny woman in a month or two.
THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT THE OOP
DO NOT CONTACT THE OOP's OR COMMENT ON LINKED POSTS, REMEMBER - RULE 7

Hello, all: time to dive in - the takeaway message here is that there is no evidence that Thomas Kingston had a funeral on March 12th as reported.
Every single article about this funeral informs us that William was present at the funeral, and with no photo or quote evidence, we need to seriously examine how flimsy the facts are that it even happened. I do believe Thomas Kingston is actually dead, and therefore something has to have happened with the body, but I DO NOT believe he had a service in the way it has been reported. The reports of his funeral were fabricated to send one message: William was present at his funeral.
Just the day prior, on March 11, Camilla and William appeared and were photographed sitting together at Westminster Abbey to mark Commonwealth Day. There are quite a few photos from that day, as are the many days before - folks will say there is a media block on these stories, but evidence shows there are many photos of the Royals taken and published the same day. Which makes it extremely strange that the next day, there are are NO photos from the funeral of Thomas Kingston - an event that allegedly had 140 guests, including Prince William, and had a funeral procession that went from Kensington Palace to St. James palace. No photos from outside, inside, or direct quotes from anyone who attended the funeral.
At this point, there was no official statement from Buckingham Palace or Kensington Palace on the death of Thomas Kingston, and no announced services. The funeral was first reported by Richard Eden to the Daily Mail at 12:44 EDT on March 12 (the same date as the alleged service).
Now, we are seeing articles in late May saying Lady Gabriella is being asked to appear at the Trooping of the Colors and that there will be another, larger service in honor of Thomas Kingston in June. Why are they having another service, and why would there be a second one? Why was the first one so small? How did the first service manage to stay so private when it was 140 people, including the Prince of Wales? Now, I found a Daily Beast article that claims "Buckingham Palace had requested that no media attended the service". Was the service ever announced? No. I'd like to see the email to the news outlets telling them no press allowed. If there is no media allowed, why would Buckingham Palace immediately confirm William's attendance and allow a dozen stories to run the same day? Sure, very private. Related - I'm making a master timeline of the RF since December 2023, and let me tell you - Camilla has been more active than any of them. She was just with William the day before, she's been the biggest show horse of them all this year, and yet she's not present for this tragic funeral? I don't buy it.
As with much of this Kate Missing saga, I don't know exactly how this piece fits or what it means. But it is a piece of the puzzle, no doubt. They want us to believe that Thomas Kingston's death was not suspicious, and that William appeared at his funeral. ------
Now let's examine some key dates and facts as they have been reported:
Thomas Kingston died Sunday, February 25, 2024

• "According to The Telegraph, Kingston died by suicide at his parents’ home in the Cotswolds on Sunday. He was 45. Senior coroner for Gloucestershire, Katy Skerrett, said Kingston had lunch with his parents before his father took their dogs on a walk. "On his return, Mr. Kingston was not in the house," according to the coroner's office. Kingston's mother began to search for him after 30 minutes, and his father "forced entry on a locked outbuilding when no reply could be gained. His father found Mr Kingston deceased, with a catastrophic head injury. A gun was present at the scene. The emergency services were called and the police are satisfied that the death is not suspicious," the coroner's office said." https://people.com/thomas-kingston-died-traumatic-head-wound-gunshot-lady-gabriella-husband-cause-of-death-age-45-8602940
• "died at the age of 45 on Sunday in Gloucestershire, England. He was found deceased at a home and emergency services were called at around 6:25 p.m." https://nypost.com/2024/02/28/entertainment/thomas-kingstons-final-days-before-death-with-wife-lady-gabriella-revealed/
• "Gloucestershire Constabulary has said it was called by the ambulance service about the death of Mr Kingston. The force said: “We were called by the ambulance service at 6.25pm on Sunday with a report of the death of a 45-year-old man at an address in the Cotswolds. The death is not being treated as suspicious and a file will be prepared for the coroner.”" https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/royals/thomas-kingston-cause-death-everything-32226346

Thomas Kingston's death was announced Feb 27

• Announced simultaneously by his family's statement and Buckingham Palace, both statements only released as quoted through the media. Earliest report of statements announcing death were late Tuesday Feb 27. (There was no official statement on royal.uk website or their social media. The quote from Buckingham Palace comes through an unnamed spokesperson.)
• Thomas' widow, parents family statement, unclear who released it (some articles say authorized/released by Buckingham palace for the family). According to Tatler, it came from Kingston's family first:
  • "Kingston’s parents, Martin and Jill Kingston, and his sisters Joanna Connolly and Emma Murray announced his death at 6pm on Tuesday 27 February, describing him as a ‘beloved husband, son and brother’, before asking the public to ‘respect our privacy as we mourn his passing.’ Kingston was found dead at an address in Gloucestershire, and a police spokesperson said that the ‘death is not being treated as suspicious’ and a ‘file will be prepared for the coroner.’" https://www.tatler.com/article/thomas-kingston-funeral-lady-gabriella-windsor
  • "A statement released on Tuesday on behalf of Lady Gabriella Kingston, Martin and Jill Kingston, Joanna Connolly and Emma Murray said, "It is with the deepest sorrow that we announce the death of Thomas Kingston, our beloved husband, son and brother. Tom was an exceptional man who lit up the lives of all who knew him. His death has come as a great shock to the whole family, and we ask you to respect our privacy as we mourn his passing."' https://people.com/thomas-kingston-dead-45-husband-lady-gabriella-windsor-former-boyfriend-pippa-middleton-details-8601086#:~:text=A%20statement%20released%20on%20Tuesday,of%20all%20who%20knew%20him
• Buckingham Palace statement through unnamed spokesperson -
  • "A palace spokesperson said that King Charles and Queen Camilla were informed of Kingston's death. "The King and The Queen have been informed of Thomas’s death and join Prince and Princess Michael of Kent and all those who knew him in grieving a much-loved member of the family. In particular, Their Majesties send their most heartfelt thoughts and prayers to Gabriella and to all the Kingston family," the palace spokesperson's statement said." https://people.com/thomas-kingston-dead-45-husband-lady-gabriella-windsor-former-boyfriend-pippa-middleton-details-8601086#:~:text=A%20statement%20released%20on%20Tuesday,of%20all%20who%20knew%20him

An inquest into the death was opened Friday, March 1

• "An inquest into Mr Kingston's death opened on 1 March at Gloucestershire Coroner's Court. His death was not being treated as suspicious, and no-one else was involved." https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-68549345
• "An ensuing inquest found that Kingston died by apparent suicide. A spokesperson for the coroner's office confirmed to PEOPLE that the cause of death was a "traumatic wound to the head," and a gun was found near his body. PEOPLE confirms the inquest has been adjourned to a later date." https://people.com/thomas-kingston-died-traumatic-head-wound-gunshot-lady-gabriella-husband-cause-of-death-age-45-8602940

A funeral was held on Tuesday, March 12, 2024 in London.

• "According to SkyNews, Kingston’s casket traveled from Kensington Palace to the Chapel Royal before the hour-long service began at 11:30 am. The BBC reports that the service was followed by a reception at St. James’s Palace and a private cremation." https://www.vanityfair.com/style/thomas-kingston-st-jamess-palace-funeral-prince-william
• "Mr Kingston’s coffin was brought from the chapel of Kensington Palace, accompanied by close family for the hour-long service which began at 11.30am. The service was led by the Sub-Dean of the Chapels Royal, the Rev Canon Paul Wright, with a sermon by the former Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Richard Chartres. The funeral was followed by a reception in St James’s Palace and a private cremation, but no details have been shared of Mr Kingston’s final resting place. A larger scale memorial service is expected to be held in honour of Mr Kingston in due course." https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-68549345
• "Tom’s body had been carried by hearse in a funeral procession from Kensington Palace. Lady Gabriella was joined by her parents, her brother, Lord Frederick Windsor, and his wife, the actress Sophie Winkleman." https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/royals/article-13425387/RICHARD-EDEN-heartfelt-royal-gesture-help-Lady-Gabriella-Windsor-recover-tragic-death-husband-Thomas-Kingston-powerful-signal-really-means.html
• Who attended the Funeral?
  • "On Tuesday, Prince William joined a group of 140 mourners in London to honor the life of Thomas Kingston, the husband of Lady Gabriella Kingston, who died February 25 at age 45. The funeral took place at Chapel Royal, a small chapel in St. James’s Palace, and other royal guests including Gabriella’s parents, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, the Duke of Kent, Princess Alexandra. Thomas’ parents, Martin and Jill Kingston and his two sisters, Joanna Connolly and Emma Murray, were also present." https://www.vanityfair.com/style/thomas-kingston-st-jamess-palace-funeral-prince-william
  • "Thomas Kingston was given a royal send-off today in a funeral attended by Prince William and other members of the Royal Family. The body of the financier, who was found dead last month aged 45, was carried in a procession that began at Kensington Palace, the family home of his widow, Lady Gabriella Windsor. The procession ended at Ambassador's Court at St James's Palace. A private family funeral was then held at the Chapel Royal" https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13188199/Prince-William-Thomas-Kingston-funeral.html
  • "King Charles was not in attendance as he continues to step back from public outings amid his cancer treatment. Meanwhile, Queen Camilla had prior commitments to host a reception at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday morning." https://people.com/prince-william-attends-thomas-kingston-funeral-8601555

Another service will be held in the future

• "A larger scale memorial service is expected to be held in honour of Mr Kingston in due course." https://uk.news.yahoo.com/william-royal-family-gather-private-161940842.html
• "Kingston’s hourlong service was followed by a private cremation, with a larger memorial service likely to be held in the near future." https://nypost.com/2024/03/12/entertainment/prince-william-attends-thomas-kingston-funeral-after-death/
• "According to Eden, Kingston's family, in partnership with the Royal Family, have organised a memorial service for the late financier. Some of Kingston's friends have already been invited. A source told The Mail: "It will be a wonderful chance to celebrate his life." Kingston's funeral took place at the Chapel Royal within St James’s Palace in March." https://www.gbnews.com/royal/king-charles-lady-gabriella-balcony-lovely-gesture#

Why no press at the funeral?
I just found this - I haven't seen this detail in any other article so I'll post it here.
"Buckingham Palace had requested that no media attended the service, which was held at Chapel Royal, St James’s, followed by a reception in St. James’s Palace.
A spokesperson for the palace Tuesday thanked the media for respecting the family’s privacy and said the funeral was attended by Prince William. The queen was not able to attend due to a prior engagement and the king could not attend due to medical advice to avoid large gatherings while he is being treated for cancer.
A larger memorial service is likely to be held in due course."
https://www.thedailybeast.com/prince-william-attends-thomas-kingstons-funeral-after-his-sudden-death