AITA- My family and I have always had issues, particularly with my dad. I'm turning 20 soon, and in February, I asked my dad about having a birthday dinner. He's always struggled with dates, so I confirmed the date with him multiple times through various means. He assured me it was okay each time. To accommodate him, I didn't invite my maternal grandpa and step-grandma because he doesn't get along with them, nor my mum or maternal grandma to avoid him feeling 'outnumbered.'
I live with my maternal grandpa and step-grandma while at college, which my dad isn't happy about, even though it saves money. Since my brothers likely couldn’t make it due to work, I invited my maternal grandpa and step-grandma after clearing it with my dad. He disliked it. During this conversation, he mentioned he was working on my birthday and couldn’t attend, despite his previous confirmations. Upset, I went to my mum's house to cool off.
A few days later, I visited my dad’s house to see my younger brothers. My dad was rude to us, so I left and texted him to cancel our camping trip. We've always gone camping, but this year was special because we planned to go in May and do a hike we've wanted for years. Given his rudeness and lack of apology, I felt it wouldn’t be fun anymore.
In response, my dad blew up about me missing the last seven Christmases. When I was younger, Christmas was split between my parents, but from age 14, I could choose where to spend it. Often, my dad had work and didn’t make plans, so I went with my mum to visit family. I always spent time with him during the holidays, just not always on Christmas Day. Despite this, he still holds it against me.
Now, we're arguing over text. It's not about him missing my birthday but his lack of remorse for messing up again. I've given him several months' notice and even considered not inviting my grandparents for his sake. This pattern has happened multiple times: he almost missed my high school graduation, dinners, dance recitals, concerts, and even needed coaxing to attend his niece's baby shower. I'm frustrated because I’ve tried everything, but he only seems to be mad about me not spending Christmas with him when I was younger. AITA?

(TW:we were 14, now I'm 15 and she's still 14/uncensored words about s*xual assault/cussing, just putting this in here since I know someone would most likely report me for not adding it) So just around Christmas eve last year, I started dating with one of my long-time friends, and my life prior to this was just empty, but she brought light in me, she made me feel something I never felt before, I felt alive for the first time in a long while, and everything was going great, I loved her, and she loved me, so I promised her that I will love her as much as I can until my heart stops and my mind fades, however things took a terrible turn when L (first letter in his name) entered our lives, originally it was just a one time thing where me, my GF, friends and L would go out, and we were drinking and shit, just having fun, we'll now comes the worst part, L was 21 at the time, and so to hang out a little longer we went to his place to chill, but then everyone left, and it was just me, GF and L, and we were just chatting, having fun, but then he started talking about our relationship, he started undermining it, talking about how we were not made for each other, that the only reason we are still dating is because we were long-time friends and shit, and I had none of that, however (I will start calling the GF, S) S took those words to her heart and started crying, I tried to comfort her but then he started putting pressure on me, bombarding me with questions like:DO you really love her? What do you love about her, why do you love her, do you think you two will last together? And under the pressure I just said that I loved her, and that's enough, but at this point S needed to go home, so I offered to walk with her like a good bf, however L said that I should stay and let her be, so she can think about this, and once again under pressure I folded and I stayed and she went home sobbing with me not having the chance to console her (looking at it now I should've persisted on walking her home, because he would start laying his manipulation on me, once again undermining me, and my love to S, but I did send her a voice message telling her all the things I love about her, and that I found the purpose for why I'm with her, she completes me) so after a few moments I left and came home, the next day I talked to my sister that we two are "friends" and she started going batshit, because my sister also has long extensive history with L, as well as my sister's friend, and my cousins, so she started telling me all the things, he did including (allegedly but probably truthfully) giving alcohol to one of my sister's friends (who was also around 14) getting her drunk, and then letting one of his friends rape her while watching (he probably joined in as I think about it) and many other stains, same thing with the cousin and sister's friend, but the problem was that S started liking L, and we started going out every single day after school, I took the info from the sister, cousin etc and I wanted to talk with S about it, however when I was about to initiate the conversation, I started overthinking and got to my head that I'm probably just being possessive, so we would continue these meet-ups with L for 2 more days,, every day ending with S crying, L completely undermining our trust and love, and me ultimately feeling shit, but at the last meet-up, just before it, I found cracks in our love, since L was dating with a 14 year old before that (He's 21 by the fucking way) S told me that 14 and 21 isn't too crazy and bad, I knew what was gonna happen, it would ultimately end up with her coming up to me, and telling me that "we need to talk tommorow" and I knew, I knew this was it, and I knew I was now powerless to do anything, she broke up with me, i was inconsolable, however the reason why she did it was the sentence that he said, that would turn out to be the most mind numbing, shit filled junk I'd ever hear "you need a man that can show you the world" I came home told my sister, and since she had S added on Instagram she started messaging her, warning her about L, his history, how he is, even her friend tried to tell her, and what his true colors are, even my cousin started planning with me and some of his friends, who L also fucked over, that we would beat the shit out of L, however, I started messaging him about it and the shit that happened, it was mostly just me writing a paragraph about how he was the biggest mistake in our lives and that he never acted like a true friend, he started firing back with shit like he never said anything bad, he was always supportive, and that I just overlooked it, however nothing changed, around a month came by, I started cutting myself, had the worst depression I've ever had, (I just recently realized this so I'll just put this out here) L and S started dating, I don't know for how long, when it started or when it ended, but L apparently spread the word of them two dating, all around the city, also at that point, L's manipulation started cracking too, and too little too late, S finally realized who Really is, so she broke up with him, (also in the month I asked her 3 times to reconsider, to think about it, and to give me one more chance, dismissing me every time) and so the depression arc continued until around April when I started slightly healing and getting used to not being with S, but then me and S started talking again, as friends, and I got re-added to a group chat I haven't mentioned before, (since it wasn't important) from which I got removed by one of the friends because she called me out for being a Wretch, so I got re-added and when I was gone, there have been some drama that I didn't knew of (that's where I found out that S and L were dating, and at prom where I danced with S, I found out something horrible which is the reason I added truthfully to the part where L probably raped the 14 year old girl too, I'm not gonna specify ) I was in utter shock, but yeah, shit went, and well we started talking more, that's where the promise I made turned into a curse, no matter how hard i tried, no matter how much I insisted and promised, my feelings never went away, so some more happened, and just yesterday until 3 am today (it's 5 am when I'm writing this) me and S went on a bike trip, since I want to stay close to her, we rode for 7 hours, chatting, laughing and having a good time, while I tried to make it as comfortable and enjoyable to her as possible, and we threw around a conversation about L, she said that he was the worst thing to ever happen, which I completely agree with, but I couldn't shake off this feeling because (it may just be overthinking) but it seemed like she started liking me again, she would constantly smile at me, look at me, having fun and it was just great, but now as I'm writing this I realized the situation, she is the reason why I continue living, her smile, her eyes, her personality, and just her, the only thing driving me into another day is the thought that one day I could maybe be hers again, and she could be mine. However I can't tell anyone expect the stranger on reddit, since if I'd tell my family they'd probably scold me, my friends would laugh at me, and God forbid I'd tell her eyes to eyes. I'm just at a crossroad where every turn I take is wrong and I'm just hanging on something that will never be, but the feeling that the impossible could happen, is the only thing keeping me going. Sorry for this long ass vent but I just needed to take it out, and I'm nearly sure someone will go full on detective mode to try and find, names, locations and shit, but I could just care less

The moment a lot of you have been waiting for is here!
A couple of notes before you read (or after because I would just jump into the list right away too)

1. Direct quotes from Ali herself are in italics.
2. I tried my best to keep everything in timeline order. Some people like The Come Back Kid I placed in the order where they reconnected/talked about on the pod. But I did my best to note this.
3. All this information came from the FMH podcast, the Patreon, the original FMH blog, TikTok and other podcast that feature FMH/Ali. I also crossed reference information with this sub. I got most of this done with the help of the Patreon and listening to 1.75x speed but I lost accessed to the Patreon because my subscription ended.
4. I'm open to edits! Things around the matchmaker era confused me and if anything is incorrect or if I'm missing someone, please let me know! I will note where corrections are made.
5. Some people don't have anything simply because only a name was said or I couldn't find any details about the person/date
6. And of course, please be respectful of all the sub rules!

Names on the original FMH blog

• Mr. Adorable aka The Coach
• Trouble
• Waffles
• Future Husband Brian (FHB)
• Cookie
• Peter Pan
• Ambiguous Goodbye Guy
• Bad Bitch Man

AOL chatroom Boyfriend
Mentioned on Tiktok and on the pod once
Myspace Boyfriend
Mentioned on Tiktok
Third Boyfriend
Met on eCrush.com in 2002 and this was mentioned on the Cracked Up podcast, The Dave Glaser Podcast and Tiktok
The Kiwi
Met on a 2 week Model UN type youth trip in high school when Ali was 15, never a boyfriend but she had a huge crush on him, he tried to kiss Ali and she literally ran away, didn’t talk the rest of the trip but exchanged numbers and screen names (Ali’s was FineGal13 or BeachJewel760), she made him a mixtape cd called “Ali’s really cool mix for The Kiwi” but never sent it and she still has it. In 2021, he DM’d her when she posted photos of her and her mom in France and invites her to visit him in London, she says she can’t but says they should catch up if he comes to NYC
Fourth Boyfriend
Met on OkCupid when you had to use it on the computer, this was mentioned on Tiktok
The Homecoming Date or Light Switch
First boyfriend? (she goes back and forth calling him her first bf or a situationship), a family friend, a month younger than Ali, dated in high school but went to different high schools, football player, made him ask her to her Homecoming dance over email (her words), Ali hid in the bathroom the whole Homecoming dance, 3-4 revisits of this situations as adults, saw him on Bumble a few years ago and texted him that he had a typo in his bio, “he very much wanted to be with me” and now he’s married with a kid. His mom is still “obsessed” with Ali and she listens to FMH
Random college guy
Freshman year of college, Ali doesn’t have a nickname for him/doesn’t remember his real name, met this guy through a friend, was texting him to invite him over to hot tub but her phone autocorrected to “how about some hot rubbing tonight?” but Ali didn’t noticed/didn’t correct it and he never replied, Ali had a house party and got really drunk and was all over him, he left the party early, she messaged him on MySpace 3-4 times asking why he left
The Resident
Matched on Match.com, first guy she dated in NYC after college, older than Ali, a doctor, lasted 3 months ”maybe”, he didn’t like Ali’s friends, got a card from him on her birthday and it said “Love, The Resident” and it took Ali back a little, Ali drinks black coffee because of him, he coordinated having her mom visit NYC for her birthday then he broke up with her a week later
The Ghost
Met at a bar when she was 25, turns out they matched on OkCupid and they already had a date scheduled next week, they dated for 6-8 weeks, had sleepovers, “The worst ghosting experience I’ve ever had”, he borrowed The Great Gatsby from Ali’s roommate, planned to make dinner together after a beach trip in August with her friends and never showed up, Ali is blowing up his phone and gets no reply, two weeks later she finally texts “are you alive? check yes or no” and he responds “Yes”, Ali then ask if he could return the book and gets no reply again, 5 months go by and she receives the book in the mail with the note: “Here’s the book back. Sorry. P.S. sorry about last summer. I was in a bad place. You’re a great person and your salmon is amazing”, since then she has ran into him twice on the streets and matched with him on Bumble
The Coach/Mr. Adorable
First serious boyfriend at 26/27 in 2013, matched on Match.com or met through work depending if you’re listening to the pod or reading her OG blog, clean-cut look, played volleyball, Ali invited him to a friend’s birthday party and they made out in the streets at 4am, on their second date he asked Ali if she was seeing any one and when Ali said no he ask her to be his girlfriend 3 days after their first date, dated for almost 1.5 years or almost 2 years depending on if you’re listening to the pod or the Patreon, first time saying “I love you” to a guy, “lovely guy“, never would posted Ali on his instagram until Ali said something, he “lived” with her for two weeks while he was in between apartments, tried blind folding/hair pulling during sex and she didn’t like it, by the end of their relationship Ali didn’t like sex and thought she wasn’t a very sexual person, after they broke up Ali drunk texted him at 2am and he picked her up and she spent the night and she took her things in the morning in a rolly suitcase, from her blog in 2015: “I just want to be careful I don’t end up with another Mr. Adorable situation, where I find myself dating my platonic best friend”, had drinks with him in 2016 from the blog: “Not in a romantic way (at least on my end)”, Ali still talks to him sometimes through casual instagram DMs, he’s currently (as of 2021) dating someone for 4+ years and Ali thinks they’re going to get engaged
Trouble
OG 2015 FMH blog, never mentioned on the pod, “I was immediately enamored with him”, met at a Beer Olympic party but he worked with one of Ali’s best friends (Ali was still dating The Coach at the time), lived in BK, tattoos and stubble, Ali’s best friend said he was a “fuck boy”, “he very much made me see that it was the right thing for me and The Coach to not be together”, from her blog in 2015: “he has this look in his eye like he’s constantly laughing at me – in a super sexy way”, he texted her saying he didn’t see anything romantically with her and she sent a gif of someone shrugging
Personal side note: Ali has mentioned she has cheated on someone but never disclosed who she cheated on or with. I feel like she cheated on Mr.A/The Coach with Trouble because of the timeline. Just a guess.
Waffles
Matched on Bumble, OG 2015 FMH blog, he asked Ali fuck/marry/kill breakfast foods, dated 2 months around summer time, on Fourth of July while watching fireworks he said how they had a great day and Ali replied with something along the lines with “yeah, it would be better if I could call you my boyfriend”, he said he wanted a relationship but just not with Ali and shortly afterwards they stopped seeing each other
The Buffalo
Lived in Buffalo NY, 6’5, Scorpio, met in 2015 at Adults National volleyball (Ali’s team won that year) where he was heckling her while she was playing, asks Ali’s mom for her number and Ali’s mom said “I guess you’re tall enough” and told him to ask her himself, he flew her out and she met his parents, dated over summer, exclusive but never boyfriend/girlfriend (but called him her LD boyfriend on TikTok), texted and talked on the phone a lot, Ali’s best friend’s favorite ex “they had really good banter”, in October he invited her to his cousins wedding and she invited him to her friends wedding, after Ali bought her ticket to his cousins wedding (with the promise he would buy her ticket to her friend’s wedding) he ghosted and stonewalled her, she “poured her heart out to him on voicemail” and he never replied, she asked him to pay her back for her ticket and he got mad that she “made this about money”, 2 years later he told Ali that he freaked out because he really liked her and saw a future with her but knew she would never move to Buffalo and it would “never work”, Ali said at the time she would have considered moving for him, Ali used to have him blocked on Facebook and told all her friends not to update her on info about him (unless she asked). He’s now married and goes to Disney with his wife (which Ali kind of scoffs at?), Ali said on TikTok that she dodged a bullet
Baby Bic
Met him at Adults National years ago, had a flirtationship with him in 2016 when he was 19 years old, ran into him at the Adults Nationals 2021, last texts she got from him were about getting his fake ID taken away at the bar and him visiting her in NYC but Ali didn’t want to buy him beer and drink at her apartment
The Chef
Matched on Tinder around 2016, he loved karaoke, “total shit”, asked Ali to be his girlfriend and to meet his mom after a month, off and on dating, broke up the first time because he was talking to his ex, lied and flew to Mexico to see his ex while dating Ali, that ex sent Ali a Snapchat of them in bed together on that Mexico trip, Ali broke up with him via text and called him a shitty boyfriend, he’s the reason Ali deleted her Snapchat because of drunk Snaps he would send post break up, FB messaged Ali 6 years later (while Roark was visiting/staying with Ali) and said sorry for being a shit head. Ali’s best friends hated him
The Dentist
Met on Halloween in the wild, Canadian, dated NYE 2016- May 2017 “nice guy, not my guy”, one of Ali’s best friend’s favorite ex “he adored you, “he was too sweet for me” and “he had no edge to him”, he painted Ali’s cat for her 30th birthday but she was annoyed it was just Rory and not both cats, The Chef texted Ali while on a date/sleeping at his house
ASV - Aspiring Sober Vegan
Met through a friend (her best guy friend’s college roommate) the day before she had to fly out to her dad’s memorial, a doctor, into meditation, remembered him “being cuter” when they went on a first date, felt “the spark”, had “omg this is awesome sex”, Ali described this relationship as a “slow burn” and “the most attracted she ever been to a partner” even thought she didn’t think he was that cute in the beginning, dated 2-3 months before he tried to ghost Ali but they talked and broke up, four months later they start casually dating/FWB because he’s moving but this turns into a ‘middle distance relationship’ and he moves to Philly, had a lot of communication issues but didn't have a lot of fights, wants to live in Ohio and give a % of his income to charity, Ali was close to saying ‘I love you’ but didn’t, he uninvited her to meet his extended family and they got in a fight, broke up with her a couple weeks before their 6 month anniversary at the park while on a picnic and told her that she’s still his favorite person, Ali used to think he was “the one that got away” and would frequently have dreams about him. From what Ali knows, he's sober but not vegan
The Scientist
2017 or 2018ish, from San Diego, went on one date, Ali ended up ghosting him due to the decline in her dad’s health, saw him on Hinge while she was in San Diego for 3 months in 2020, texted him and apologized for ghosting him, ended up going on 2-3 more dates, took a selfie in front of his house and sent it to him but acted like she didn’t know that was his house and made a TikTok about it, things ended up not working but she doesn’t make it clear on who ended it. She can now see she shouldn’t have been going on dates during this time when her dad was sick.
Good on Paper Divorced Dude
Met a couple of years ago (she told this story on TikTok in 2020) on Bumble
The Groomsman
Met at her friend Ashley’s wedding in Chicago Oct 2019, had a “two night stand” with him, texted/talked/FT’d for 3-4 months, divorced, never dated seriously/FWB, saw each other a couple time when he came to NYC, Ali stopped talking with him due to FMH and her trying to find a serious relationship, he starts dating someone, follows FMH on insta, slid into her DM in 2022 and then sent her soup while she was sick, turns out he’s single again, 2 months later Ali is heading to Chicago and texts him “Hello! Reminder that my arrival to your neck of the woods is imminent” and turns out he is now seeing someone and Ali doesn’t see him while in Chicago (at least she doesn’t mention it)
Unnicknamed person
He was her plus one at her best friend from college’s NYE wedding 2019/2020, met and hung out with Ali’s mom, posted photos of them together on her personal Insta story, “fully dating but weren’t official hehe” doesn’t have a nickname/never gave him a nickname? This could be The Latvian/the person she texted her friend in DC about saying “I think I’m on a date with my husband”

Starts FMH on January 2020 on Instagram/TikTok

The Traveler
He was browsing Bumble while Ali was in the bathroom during their first date, he was banned from Bumble and was using his grandma phone number. Ali turned down a second date
The Duke
Early FMH, went for long periods of time in between texts, 7-8 Zoom dates while Ali was in San Diego and he was in NY, Ali said you could see three of his ex’s on his instagram page (without scrolling), they finally went on one date and it was “meh” but they did kiss on their date
The Oyster
Matched on Bumble (he had one photo and no bio) two weeks before Valentines Day, Gemini, a lawyer, part of the 13 First Dates in 30 Days series (he was #13), dated Feb 2020-Aug 2020, love bomber, felt “the spark” and became official after 3 dates, best first date ever??? at the time, said “I love you” to Ali after two weeks, “For most of my relationship with The Oyster, he didn’t live in the city he had moved to Connecticut without telling me”, would fight all the time, opposite political views, Ali felt like a “fucking summer camp director” because she planned all their dates and he would get upset if Ali didn't have a plan, sought out a therapist (Megan) because of her relationship struggles because of him, went to Mass/church, he wanted a traditional marriage/life/wife/kids (at one point had Ali thinking she wanted that), didn’t want to live in NYC, didn’t support BLM, Cindy hated him
The Pilot
Went on 3 dates, texted a lot, didn’t hear back from him in four days and when she said she was looking to date someone who showed more consistency, he replied saying he met someone the day after their last date who seems to have more free time than Ali and he wants to pursue that but would like to be friends, Ali said on TikTok that this other women “bent her schedule to his schedule” and she was unwilling to do that. Mostly talked about him on TikTok
The Analyst
Matched on Bumble two years ago and went on one date, re matched in 2021 and he stood Ali up, she send him a text “getting stood up” script and he never replied. Only mentioned him on TikTok (?)

Ali and Roark start FMH: The Podcast February 2021

The Boomerang
First date on the pod? I couldn't find anything else about him
The Scuba Diver
The Music Man
One date, “he didn’t do anything wrong, he’s just not for me”, amped up small talk, complimented Ali a lot which made her feel awkward cause she wasn’t feeling it, he texted her and asked for a second date and Ali sent the no ghosting script
The Bet
Uses the phrase “ok bet”, 28 years old shoe designer, only went on one dinner date to a spot he picked, turns out its cash only and he didn’t bring cash, was not into him , not looking for the same thing
The Dinosaur
Nickname was previously The Hawaiian, first date at Dinosaur BBQ, stood in a parking spot to save for Ali, he asked for a kiss after their date and Ali declined saying maybe next time
The Rose
He sent her a rose on hinge, first date was an hour long walk in the park while drinking beer
The Comic
Matched on Hinge, older than Ali (Ali’s friends express how happy they were to hear that), had brunch on their first date (was the first part of a double header but the second guy canceled), listed as “moderate” politically on Hinge, good and easy convo, went back and forth twice over text and then never heard back from him, “technically not ghosting...”
The Camper
Met in the wild at a volleyball tournament in July, lives in Chicago, 27 years old, hung out the whole time, over heard Ali asking someone to get her a make out partner, gave Ali his number, drunkly ask him for a FT date in the future and he didn’t reply, Ali texts him again about a volleyball thing and he replied back with not a lot of enthusiasm, Ali is going to Chicago in Sept for a volleyball tournament and she’s already planning on playing 4-on-4 with her best friend vs. his roommate and maybe The Camper, he texts her saying he has to work on the date of the tournament and won’t be able to do the 4-on-4 game, “I feel like I got broken up with someone I never want to date in the first place”

Ali’s Matchmaker contract starts in August 2021 - 6 matches

The Schmoozer
Went on a dinner date, was chatting up the waitress in a kind of creepy way, was bragging about a lot of things and it turned Ali off and Ali texted him her no ghosting script
The Accountant
1st matchmaker match, 31 years old, lives in BK, his dad has also passed away, easy to talk to, on the third date she wasn’t sure if she saw a future with him and in her gut doesn’t feel like this would be a slow burn, Ali breaks things off with him, months (?) later he sent Ali a 5 min long voice memo and they said they were both down to see each other as friends. He later on dated and ghosted Erica
The Aussie
Matched on Hinge, in politics, from Australia but lived all over the place, asked Ali what she’s looking for on the first date and he said he’s “casually looking for something serious”, Ali accidentally walks up to a different person on their second date, Ali texts him saying she would love to see him before he leaves on a trip and she wasn’t happy that it took him till the next day to reply and he can’t see her before he leaves
The Goalie
Was supposed to be Ali’s 2nd match, he’s a paying client, Ali didn’t hear back from him for a while when she told him where she lived, he wrote to the matchmaker saying that she lived too far away even though it states where she lives in her matchmaker profile
The Journalist
2nd matchmaker match, ended things because she was dating/pursuing things with The Discoball and paused her matchmakers matches

The Threepeat
Matched multiple times on dating apps but this recent time with Hinge, Amazon seller, first date was a pizza lunch date (with bubbles aka champagne) and he gave her a single yellow carnation, talked a lot about her “side hustles” aka her food blog, coaching, FMH and the pod (Ali didn’t mentioned the name on FMH), had an awkward half kiss during the date and then gave her a peck when they said goodbye, he had no night stands by his bed?, spent the night but told public pod they had a movie night, different kissing styles, 6 dates, broke things off with Ali two days before her first date with The Rower WHILE Ali was on a Halloween girls trip
The Rower
Dated from Halloween 2021 till early Feb 2022, Pisces who is 6 days older than Ali, has an ex-fiancé (they dated for 8 years, engaged for two of them, she broke off the engagement with him 1.5 years ago once he started dating Ali), has a shared dog with this ex, slept together around Xmas on the fourth date and Ali got a UTI, first time having “omg this is awesome sex” since ASV, first person Ali slept next to wearing an eye mask "that's a big step for me", had him watch 90 Day Fiancé, on New Years Day told her that he sees “long term relationship potential” with her but doesn’t want to be exclusive after 5 dates, “we didn’t talk all week”, he said he wasn’t as ready as he though to date someone seriously and “I don’t know why I don’t want to be in a relationship with you” they broke up over the phone, Ali said he’s a good human and wants to date someone like him, 3.5 weeks later Ali drunk texted him at 3:00 am saying “its really hard not to talk to you” which Ali said was a lie, he replied back (few days? A week later?) while Ali was on another date and it made her cry a bit, she replied back saying “the door is closed but not locked” in regards if he wants to get back together. “Fin… for now”

2022

The Discoball
Matched on Hinge but didn’t go on a first date for two week, Gemini, used to be a singer in a band, moved from DC to NYC, went on 7 dates in 2022, had a dog w/ ex and ex got full custody once he moved, met one of his friends on the second date, slept with him on the second date “morning and night”, he tried to find the podcast without knowing the name, podcasted from his house in DC, he would send Ali photos of them together “all the time”, gave a virtual presentation from his hotel room, did Molly together in DC, had him watch 90 Day Fiancé, moved to BK (didn’t see each other for 2 months pre-move), had a sex-less sleepover (a milestone for Ali), he showed up for her on her dad’s death date (something that a person she’s dating has never done), used to listen to the pod but stopped before they stopped seeing each other, ghosted her after they had a talk about moving things forward to exclusive and Ali texted him something along the lines of “your silence is the answer” when she didn’t hear back from him for a week and he ghosted her. Ali said he sucks in #77 AUA
Lisbon
The Brit
M&M
The Come Back Kid
They went on 2-3 dates in Nov 2018 and reconnected in May 2022, "felt immediately comfortable", sat next to a very drunk lady on their second 1st date and was supportive but "didn't step on Ali's toes" when the drunk lady said something offensive to Ali, couldn’t remember if they slept together or not, knows about FMH, ghosted Ali
The Trainer
The Cold Brew
The Nomad
3rd matchmaker match, reminded Ali of The Oyster, wanted kids and didn’t want to live in NYC forever, Ali was upset at first because her matchmaker was supposed to screen for that but the matchmaker DID check and it wasn’t mentioned when she was screening The Nomad, no second date because those are dealbreakers to him
The Catcher
Matched on Bumble, “good not great” after their first date, ~April 2022, talked about sports a lot on their first date
The Gentleman
4th matchmaker match, knew about Ali’s FMH socials before their date, Ali didn’t like his texting style, awkward intro on their first date “like hugging a 2 x 4”, he runs a dating event company and actually email Ali to be a guest on the pod when FMH first started, awkward goodbye, didn’t discuss the actual first date on the main pod because she doesn’t want to give him a reason to reach out again
The Tennis Pro
Ali had a good time on their date, “He is an adult, he’s mature” BUT “I don’t think he was into it”
The Padre
Matched on Bumble, 3 dates, from San Diego, “energy mismatch”, doesn’t want to know or listen to FMH, no psychical connection/kiss, only a kiss on the cheek on their last date, “I haven’t spoken to him since Friday night [a week]”, she didn’t want to do what The Threepeat did to her (break up while on vacation/traveling), she said it might be a MOO

Roark leaves and Erica joins the pod Oct 31st 2022

Captain Kirk
5th matchmaker match, found him on Bumble before their in-person date, ghosted Ali AND the matchmaker???
6th matchmaker match
Last match and Ali states she will not talk about this date or anything about it
JFK Kirk?
Matched on Bumble, didn’t realize he’s located in SD, exchanged personal instagram info, not sure where things went or how things ended

Kirk #1
Met in the wild, make out a lot the night they met, “stealing kisses throughout the night”, exchanged numbers, planned a date (no specifics, just the day) but when Ali texted him day of he asked to reschedule (no specifics again), he replied back that he’s picking up a rental car, told him she’s looking for someone to respect her time and he never replied back

2023

The Falcon
First date of 2023, matched on The League, first nickname was “League Kirk”, hard to talk to, felt like Ali was always reaching for the next topic, likes to travel, “there wasn’t a vibe”, MOO
The Roommate
Used to be her friend’s roommate and have met before (Ali doesn’t remember but it was the day after that exclusive convo with The Rower), “totally cute”, reunited at their mutual friend’s engagement party January 2023, made out at the bar, comes back to her place and sleeps over (no sex), Ali questions why her friends never set them up and its because he was taking a break from dating, first date they made out a lot at the bar (again), “I really felt like we were already a couple”, “It didn’t feel like a first date”, mentions her FMH content has popped up on his FYP, tried texting him after their date and he wasn’t giving effort, she’s glad she didn’t sleep with him because “one night stands aren’t my thing”, MOO
The Belgian
Matched on Bumble, accidentally had their first date during a trivia night at a bar, easy to talk to
The Viking
Ali forgot they had a first date on the day of said date
Tinder Man
Matched on Tinder (duh) on Valentine’s Day, first Tinder date in three years, good convo on first date but got a pushy vibe from him at the second bar they went to, put his hand up her sweater and was kissing her in the bar, made Ali uncomfortable and she told him that after her asked her on a second date
The Historian
Matched on Bumble, good conversation on the first date with a wide range of topics like “urban planning and its impact on feminism”, he’s in grad school
The Georgian
Matched on Hinge, he asked if she was free on Friday and she said yes but didn’t hear back from him in two days and in that time she made plans for Friday, rescheduled for a Saturday afternoon date at a dive bar, ate on her way to her date “it would be next level rude to eat on the subway”, good first date, talked about places he wants to take her to
The Publicist
Matched on Tinder, lives in BK, Jewish, one year younger then Ali, good first date, invited him to the Chaotic Singles Party that night, came over to Ali's apartment (which Ali said was messy) before and he made her favorite cocktail for her, a couple of listeners met him at the CSP, goofy and silly convo mixed with deep and serious convos, second date was at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and a tasting menu dinner, he made a Resy reservation and Ali got an email saying she was added to it ”fuck receiving gifts, THAT’S my love language”, he's into words like Ali, he sneezed and Ali said "God bless you" but then corrected herself and said "gesundheit" and he leaned over and kissed her and said he loves that she cares about her words, he met her friends on the third date ”It felt so easy. It felt so comfortable”, her friends took “sneaky” picture and videos of them together which Ali said she loves a sneaky pic, took all their date recap videos on his phone, cooked Ali steak on their fourth date, "it's very comfortable", had him watch 90 Day Fiancé, Ali met two of his friends and some of his teammates he plays a rec sport with, had sex the day they took a trip outside of the city, Erica met him before their trip to Greece and I said “he’s dorky in a good way”, WhatsApp video chatted while in Greece and told her “see you in two days!” at the end of their call, said she felt less anxious about him compared to other relationships while on vacation, sent him a birthday present while she was in Greece, felt an energy shift coming back from vacation and didn’t hear back from him 3 days after she came home, Ali requested a call to talk about this distances she was feeling, ”I did the 12 date rule and it didn’t work!”, she said the distance help her see that they’re not compatible, went on a total of 9 dates. Ali talks about the “break up” on episode 123
Mr. Chaotic
Matched on Tinder but he saw Ali at the Chaotic Singles Party and Cassidy the host is there mutual friend, went to a brewery and played games on their first date (Ali said this was her favorite first dates in episode 147 where they recapped 2023), works in entertainment industry, very high energy, knows about FMH and he said she's entertaining to watch, splits his time between NYC and some unknown city, texted while she was in Greece, ”The man gives good texts”
Random Matchmaker Match
Withdrew his match to Ali because he found her FMH socials. Talked about on #71 AUA
Gone with the Wind
Matchmaker match, said some gross things about women in volleyball outfits on their first date, Ali told her matchmaker about this, ”I would describe him as misogynistic overall”, Ali was glad he did say those weird things so early on so she didn’t waste her time, the matchmaker flagged his account. This was around June 2023
The Rock
Ali knows him from an activity that they used to be involved with in the city (she's very vague about what this is) from 8 years ago, he had a very serious/long term GF when they met, follows her personal Insta, has never talked about him because he’s never been a “prospect”, summer 2023 they met up to catch up and found out that he’s now recently single but he’s moving out of NYC for work, Ali texts Cindy saying she thinks this is a date, Cindy said to tell him that you really want to kiss him, he ends up telling Ali “I really want to kiss you”, made out at the bar, Ali invited him back to her apartment and they had sex the night before Ali ended things with The Publicist, “one night stand vibes” but she said she was down to do it again, Patreon only and talked about on #75 AUA
The Tourist
Matched on Hinge, just moved to Brooklynn, went to a brewery in BK for their first date, Ali showed up to the date dripping in sweat, allergic to cats, he sent Ali a ‘no ghosting’ text the next morning
The Stout
Matched on Bumble, ”we had really great banter right away”, laughed the whole time on their first date, talked about going on a second date during their first date
Speed Racer
Matched on Bumble, drinks first date, axe throwing second date, made out after their second date, MOO, randomly texted Ali ~6 months later because he said one of Ali’s date recap videos about him popped up on his FYP (Ali and Erica think this is a lie), he thought Ali wasn’t into him, he claims he was doing all the work with texting even though there was only a few messages since they exchanged numbers after their second date
Billy Joel
Recently sober, Ali said she felt like they had several inside jokes before they met in person, ate pizza on her way to their first date, second date was getting coffee and going to the museum, they cooked dinner together for their third date at Ali’s apartment and they watched 90 Day Fiancé (he didn’t like it), he Googled how to clean a red wine stain when it spilled on her countertop, he asked if she wanted to have sex and she turned it down, the next day/the day before a 7am flight Ali booty called him and they had sex, she was drunk and said the sex wasn’t good/they stopped mid way, helped Ali pack for her flight, Ali said he’s at a crossroad and he doesn’t seem like a long term fit, Erica found a condom on the ground while cat sitting, Ali said she didn’t regret hooking up with him but wishes she hadn’t done it, MOO
Sales Cycle
30 seconds in and Ali said he was very boring, only really talked about his job, stared at Ali’s boobs, “might be a MOO”, texted her ‘merry christmas’

2024

Pie Guy/Dr. Laundry
Matched on The League, 34 years old, requested a nickname change from Pie Guy to Dr. Laundry, he had to cancel their second date because he got hit by a car, went on two dates, Ali sent him a pic of his subway stop saying something along the lines of “the stop isn’t looking as cute today” and turns out someone he dated with in that photo, were supposed to go on a third date the night she got back from a bachelorette party but he didn't answer her text when she said she landed, the next day he asked her how her trip was not acknowledging her previous text at all, Ali expressed her disappointment and he replied that he was tired last night, she said she would've been understanding if he said something then ghosted her
Andddd I stopped listening to the podcast around the Dr. Pie Laundry Guy but have stayed up to date with everything via this sub.
I have a huge interest in dating culture, human behavior and data similar to Ali and this little project of mine was really interesting once I got the framework of this list. I started this list once I found this sub in December 2023 and started re listening to the Patreon while working out (and lost 10 lbs ayeee) and writing down information in my notes app. I did my best to keep this list unbiased and just give facts and information that was said.
My own thoughts after making this list is that I'm very sad for Ali. I didn't realize the extent of her dating history. I think about my own dating history or even my friends who are in their 30's and dating and Ali's dating lore runs so deep. Is Ali unlucky with love? Did she pass on someone that could have been great for her? How has she had so many dates with little success in a long term partner or even going beyond 6-8 dates? Or is Skyline the person she has been waiting for? What's the pattern with all this dates/men? So many questions.
I truly do hope Ali finds her guy because I believe theres someone for everyone. Until then, I'll be hopping into this sub (cause y'all are too funny and give the best advice) and waiting for Ali to find Mr. Height.
Enjoy and I look forward to everyone thoughts! I'll keep my eye out for any edits that need to be made.
Bonus quotes:
“Longest relationship was a little under a year and a half. Haven’t made it past 6 months with anyone else” - AUA #7 11/27/21
“I spent the first 10+ years of my dating life being sort of perennially single” -1. The Actual First One episode 2/21/21
"I think my parent's story is the reason why I think that I can romantically get back together with an ex and it'll work out" -The Dave Glaser Podcast 4/5/21
“Almost every relationship I’ve ever been in, with a couple of exceptions, started as a situationship.” -21. The Undefined One 7/11/21
“All of my boyfriends have been white” -Ali’s BFF Special on Patreon 4/23/22
“You definitely need an older guy” -Cindy on Ali’s BFF Special on Patreon 4/23/22
“I’ve been on the dating apps since high school. Dating websites at the time” -Ali’s BFF Special on Patreon 4/23/22
“Who would be the perfect man for Ali?”
“Clearly a combination of the The Dentist and [the early stages of] The Buffalo” -Cindy on Ali’s BFF Special on Patreon 4/23/22
“Do you consider The Rower or Disco ball to have been situationships?”
“No, I don't consider either The Rower or The Disco Ball to be situationships” -question asked on TikTok 11/9/22

Archive:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vC9_wjnIAUIq9fila3GLv568ECCmk8rbzo9w9wmWEa4/edit?usp=sharing
"Are you sure about this?" I asked Maya.
"Yes," she replied, "I'm ready."
Maya had spent a week recovering from her injuries, The Coalition had been busy while she was bedridden. Not only had the attempted revival of Nezarec been thwarted, but the pawns of Darkness on the outside had been spread too thin. The hordes of Xivu Arath have dwindled, their leader cut off from her Throne World. House Salvation is falling apart even more without the Hive corralling them. The Coalition is attempting to take advantage of this.
It still felt too easy, especially since the discovery of the Subjugators and Grim. I had thought that the Pyramid Fleet only had Tormentors, with Iris making use of Sanguinaries. Now, I see that the omens in the Pyramid fought in Operation Pitfall were just the start. I can only guess what else has been hidden from me.
"Welcome back, Maya." Ak-Tol said.
"It's good to see you," Maya replied, "how have you been?"
"Well, thank you." He answered, "My followers have found refuge in the southern polar regions of Mars. We hope to start anew, without fear from the Hive Gods or the Worm Gods. We are thriving."
"You're giving your people a fresh start," Oztec added, "the same cannot be said for some species. This war has taken the lives of trillions."
"We try to hold some hope." Ak-Tol said.
A feeling. A faint pulse.
"How close are we to finding out how to go through?" Maya asked, "Last I checked, we were trying to get information from Savathûn."
"With her sister beaten, we're simply waiting on a definitive explanation." Ak-Tol said, "The Queen of Lies won't give up her secrets easily."
"We're running out of time." Maya said.
The pulse again. It's a-
"Distress call!" Zuloc announced, looking up from the holo-table, "It's coming from a place outside the system, but being directed here."
"To this ship?" Maya asked.
"Yes." Zuloc confirmed.
The group moved to the table as Zuloc pulled up a map, Oztect moving to help. The hologram showed the Solar System, Coalition and Pyramid markers dominating areas around celestial bodies. Zuloc drew a line from our location in the Reef to somewhere far beyond the Kuiper Belt, halfway across the galaxy.
"What is this?" I asked, "Why is-"
In that moment I understood. The feeling is unmistakably Vex. For the Collective to reach me, something truly terrible must be happening.
"Found a pathway." Zuloc said, "The call is being routed through a structure on the opposite side of Mercury's orbit."
"Vex?" I asked.
"Yes." Zuloc said, "How did you know?"
"I still feel them." I answered.
"The structure is surrounded by a barrier similar to what was recorded within the Pyramidion on Io." Oztect said.
"So it changes?" Maya asked.
"Maybe," I said, "anything in the signal itself?"
"Nothing understandable," Zuloc said, "whatever is being sent through is being corrupted by another force."
Oh no...
"Chart a course for the Vex structure!" I commanded.
"What is it?" Maya asked.
"The Vex wouldn't contact me unless it was something terrible." I said, "I think I have an idea as to what that is."
The Imperial Guard turned to face the sun. Within moments, we had made it. Before us was a massive construct that looked similar to the Citadel on Venus. In its center was a massive gateway. Everyone braced as the ship moved forward, carefully navigating into the portal.
Passing through, we found ourselves in a trinary star system. There were two smaller orange stars orbiting a massive blue one. Below us was a planet. It was grey with machinery, with the occasional blue light breaking up the monochromatic space. Despite being a Vex world, there were no hints of the stone that covered their machines, just the metal. The most noticeable feature was a pattern at least 10 kilometers in diameter. I recognized its symbol.
It was the same labyrinth pattern found on the base of the Tree of Silver Wings on Io...

I will be traveling soon with some important/expensive cargo in my trunk. It is important enough that I would ideally like to lock it to the car itself in a way that would require time or at least a special tool to remove it. Ideally this would be a metal point that I could fit a thick bike/motorcycle cable lock through. My real goal is just to deter anyone from stealing this particular item in the unlikely case that they decide to break in when the cargo may be briefly unattended. I really do not need much, just need to make it very inconvenient to steal.
My best plan is to loop a metal cable through the folding connection points in the trunk area (I am not sure what they are called/what their intended purpose is), but these seem to be plastic and flimsy. I would be worried that they may even be accidentally broken just by attempting to pull on them.
A good solution I could see would be to replace one of those tie-down points with a metal ring of sorts and secure it with either a security bolt or a star-pattern bolt/screw, but this is effort.
Any ideas would be appreciated!

Timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/vpGof94
Most parts are unused/never been fired or taken in the field. There may be small signs of test fitting.
Comment below with questions or dibs. PM me (Not Chat) - or I'll PM you - after dibs to confirm details and lock it down.
Payment via PayPal only. Prices include shipping. You pay the fees if you want G&S. NO COMMENTS. Thanks!
1: Magpul Ar-15 ODG K2-XL Grip w/ oil bottle - $20 SOLD
2: Takeoff RRA Overmolded A2 Grip w/grip screw- $15
3: Boyds Nutmeg Ar-15 Grip (w/screw) - $50
4: VZ AR-15 G10 Frag FDE Grip - $60
5: YHM HK Style Flip FSB - $75 Pending
6: Unobtanium NEW OLD STOCK Vltor VST-1C Gen 1 Flip FSB and original tool - $175 SOLD
7: POF Dictator Adjustable Gas Block + Tool w/rifle length gas tube - $80
8: FCD 6315XE Xeno Mount Flash Hider (perfect for 14.5) - $80
9: AR180 Parts AR180S Cone Flash Hider - $45
10: Helius Tactical 1/2x28 Compensator (Heat Treated) - $25
11: Helius Tactical 5/8x24 1776 Compensator + Extra Timing nuts - $20
12: K-SPEC Enhanced AR15 PCC 9.5 oz Buffer w/Flatware Spring - $75 SOLD
13: BKF 9mm AR Bolt, Nitride - $85 SOLD
14: Unobtanium NEW OLD STOCK Badger Ordnance Stabilizer Handguard (Carbine length or perfect for a quirky .300 blk) - $130 SOLD
15: SLR ION 12.5" Hybrid MLOK in factory Burnt Bronze Cerakote (Briefly test fit but never fully mounted/torqued down. Like New. SLR Specific Barrel Nut wrench, barrel nut, and wedge pieces included) - $250 $225
19: Parallax Tactical FFSSR 13.5" Rail in factory Tungsten Grey Cerkatote (+ barrel nut) - $105 $95
20: McGowen Custom 16" Stainless Rifle Gas .45 Raptor Bundle (for AR-10, 1-10 twist, includes Wojtek gas block) - $280 $160 GOOD FOR HOGS OR DINOSAURS Unfired, never installed This is a sweet set-up for a suppressed Ar10!
21: Ballistic Advantage (EPC9) Barrel 8.3" - $45 Unfired SOLD
22: Aero (EPC9) Barrel 16" - $60 Unfired SOLD
23: Aero 20" 5.56 CMV Barrel w/Pinned FSB, Rifle Length - $95 Unfired SOLD
24: Ruger Ar556 Upper w/CHF Barrel and Enhanced FSB (No BCG or Charging Handle) - $150 Unknown Round Count, Very Good Condition
25: SLR 7075 Aluminum Handstop/Barricade Stop - $40 SOLD
26: WTC Arms AR-15 Magwells (2 BLK, 1 FDE) - $ 21 for all three or ADD-ON FOR $8 EACH. SOLD
27: BAD ODG Anodized 7075 Rack Charging Handle (Ambi, NIB) - $70
28: Aero Enhanced Carbine Buffer Tube ODG Anodized - $25 SOLD
29: Aero Enhanced Carbine Buffer Tube Kodiak Brown Anodized - $25 SOLD
30: KA-BAR D2 Extreme Fighting Knife w/sheath - $110 excellent condition SOLD
31: Geissele DDC Government Charging Handle - $85 SOLD
32: Reptilia Lower 1/3 FDE/Tanodized Dot Mount FOR AIMPOINT Micro/T2 Unused, but the box is beat up - ~~$70 $60~~ SOLD
33: B&T Coyote Angled 45° Handstop - $45
34: Magpul ODG SL Stock + Enhanced Buttpad - $55
35: Wellsmade Company Navajo Pattern Sling - $45 SOLD
36: WOOX Walnut MLOK Panels - $40 (OR $25 if purchased with the Nill Grip!) SOLD
37: Ar15 PSG1 Style Nill Oiled Walnut Adjustable Match Grip + WOOX Walnut MLOK panels - $255 SOLD (Purchased for $320 + tax and shipping in 2020)
38: Elftmann Straight Match Trigger (New, hand-adjustable model + Antiwalk Pins) - $140 (Trigger is NIB, The pins have a bit of wear on one edge)
39: Doublestar 7075 Aluminum Folding A1 Rear Sight - $65
40: Spikes 7075 Micro Adjustable Folding Rear Peep Sight (perfect for under an LPVO) - $65
41: Battle Arms Development Blue Aluminum Enhanced Takedown and Pivot Pin Set - $15 (OR $10 with the Blue Safety) SOLD
42: Battle Arms Development BAD-ASS-LITE Ambidextrous Safety Selector, 90/60, Lightweight, Reversible, Anodized Blue - $40
43: Elftmann Stainless Push Button Speed Safeties - 2x at $25 Each SOLD
44: Phase5 Blk Aluminum Winter Trigger Guards - 1x unopened at $20, and 1x slightly scratched/salted at $15
45: Aero XL Stripped Big Bore Upper Receiver - $65

That’s all it was. A game.
Something my friends and I used to play during the summer when we had nothing better to do. I never expected that it would get so out of hand.
I never expected it to come back long after recovery.
To anyone reading, please don’t do what I did.
I’m putting this out there to warn people.
On that warm summer evening, we played the role of Pandora.
Except, the monsters we released were far worse than what’s told in stories.
Because stories end.
And this doesn’t.
I still remember the date. July 16, 2013. I was an upcoming senior in high school while the others were getting prepared for their freshman year of college, raving on about their majors, life plans, dorms, you get the point. The summer had been bittersweet as those months would be the last I’d see them for a while. Because of this, Anthony, Lola, Eliza, and I would spend the bulk of our time together going to festivals and various camping trips, trying to make the most out of the summer while we could. On that day, the day I wish I could forget, Eliza had run late to one of our hangouts at my place. This was odd since as an Ivy league student, she was usually early or right on time to these kind of things. Half past three, we heard her knocking on my door rapidly, which was also out of character considering that she was usually the calm one in our group. A bit worried, I hurried down the stairs with Anthony and Lola following close behind, expecting Eliza to be in hysterics due to her frantic behavior. When I opened the door, however, there she was with a bright smile on her face, her red hair getting in the way of her eyes, which were a dark green shade. She pushed her hair out of her face with one hand and held a brown box in the other, and she was bouncing up and down as she usually does when she’s about to talk about something exciting.
“You’ll never believe what I found.” Eliza’s voice could barely hold her impatience as she stepped inside and kicked her shoes off once she crossed over my threshold.
“What’s up with you today?” Anthony questioned, looking more confused than concerned now.
“I’ll show you guys in a minute. Can we go up to your room, Felix?” Eliza looked over at me with her trademark smile, knowing damn well we were all too curious to just leave that box unopened. Without a word, I led the group up to my room and shut the door after everyone had walked in. Anthony took his usual spot on my beanbag and unzipped his hoodie, which had the MSM logo sprawled across the front in big red letters. He adjusted his dark rimmed glasses and took on his usual stoic expression. Lola wore a dark blue FIT shirt, which she revealed more of when she moved her locs over her shoulder as she sat on my desk chair and wheeled over to us. As she did, the various necklaces she wore clinked against each other. Eliza herself was the smartest out of the group, and probably in the whole school as well. She had gotten accepted into multiple prestigious schools, but ultimately settled for Harvard to pursue a degree in some obscure philanthropic career. Unlike Anthony and Lola, Eliza wore her regular outfit –usually a white tank top and jeans– and sat on my bed with the box in her lap. I took a seat next to her to get a closer look.
“So what’d you find?” The others moved closer.
“Something we probably haven’t thought about for a really long time. Do you guys remember that one game we used to play in middle school? The one we made after Felix joined our class?” Eliza looked at our puzzled faces to see if we had connected the dots, but her clue didn’t seem to strike any of us with familiarity.
“After Felix joined? Didn’t we just hang out or something that weekend?” Anthony questioned.
“We did, but there was something else,” Eliza raised an eyebrow, “you guys seriously don’t remember?”
At that moment, I saw Lola’s eyes light up and a thin smile grew on her lips, something she always did whenever she was able to figure something out.
“You mean that little map game we played? Where we would go out to the woods and explore?”
Both Anthony and I seemed to have remembered as well with the mention of a ‘map game.’ I chimed in, “ yeah I remember! Every once in a while when we were all bored, we’d pick a random spot on a map to go to and explore there for a bit, right? When did we stop doing that anyways? I remember really enjoying it.”
“Well life happens,” Eliza responded to me, “but I was thinking of things to do for the rest of the summer when I suddenly remembered that game! That’s why I was so late for our meetup today, I was looking through my attic for this.” Eliza shook the box slightly and a couple things clattered around inside.
“There’s no way.” Anthony sounded like he was in disbelief.
“You mean…?” Lola sat forward in the chair. Eliza smirked, her adventurous nature creeping out as realization swept over us like a wave.
“Mhm! I found the map we used to use as well as the things we collected from our little escapades.” With that, Eliza opened the box, revealing a folded piece of paper and various trinkets scattered over the bottom of the capsule. Lola squealed with excitement and immediately snatched the box from Eliza, who simply chuckled and leaned back on the bed.
“No way! Everything’s still in here!” Lola digged through the box and placed whatever objects she found across the blanket. Anthony got up and sat at the foot of my bed, to observe our findings more closely. There was a piece of some clay pottery, some rusty springs and scraps of metal, an old digital camera, and some other random stuff I can’t recall to memory right now. Anthony picked up a spring and turned it in his palm.
“Shit man, this is from that abandoned junkyard we found in 8th grade…that feels like such a long time ago now.”
I examined the piece of pottery with Eliza looking over my shoulder. Lola picked up the digital camera.
“Do you remember where this came from?” I turned to Eliza and held up my discovery.
“No clue,” she shrugged. It must have been a while ago if even she didn’t remember. I turned the piece over and grew curious when I saw weird symbols inscribed on the inside of it. I squinted a bit, trying to discern some sort of pattern within the scribbles.
I turned to Eliza again, “hey, what do you think-”
“OH MY GOD GUYS IT STILL WORKS!” Lola’s voice went up a whole octave as she motioned to us.
The rest of us looked up as she turned the camera to face us. There were various photos we went through. All of us at lakes, museums, exploring the woods; everything we did from 7th grade until my freshman year seemed to be documented. The last photo was arguable the best and msot bittersweet. It was a picture of the whole group from a while ago. We were sitting at Eliza’s dinner table with a giant chocolate cake on the middle of it adorned with two candles shaped like the numbers one and five. Eliza was talking to me in the photo. Her hair was even more red at the time and she wore it in a braid. I looked about the same in the photo as I did then, with light brown hair, blue eyes, and freckles scattered all over my body and face. I was smiling sheepishly at Eliza. I now knew why Anthony said it was obvious I had a crush on her in 8th grade. Lola went through the most changes out of all of us. At the time in the photo, she had her hair straightened and side-swept, with a bright pink streak in her bangs. She wore clunky jewlery and a frilly skirt underneath a long tank top, leaning over the table to cut another slice of cake. All of us had birthday hats on except for Anthony, who kept his sitting on the table. He held up a peace sign staring straight into the camera with a stoic expression. He looked like a statue compared to the rest of us, who were laughing and smiling. You could tell he was having fun, though.
“Well don’t you look like a ray of sunshine,” Lola snickered as Anthony shot her a dirty look.
“At least I didn’t go through some weird scene phase in freshman year,” He smiled and watched Lola’s face, knowing she was blushing despite her dark skin which made it practically invisible. I let a laugh slip out, but quickly stifled it knowing that if I kept going it would mean death. Lola side-eyed me and continued, “I was using my creative liberty to experiment with my options as an artist,” she said with an overly-posh accent that made Eliza laugh.
“Yeah Anthony, don’t be such a downer,” Eliza teased. Anthony simply rolled his eyes and suppressed a smile to pretend like he was mad at all of us. He looked into the box and picked up the paper we left, unfolding it with a hint of excitement and curiosity. When he looked at it, only two words came out of his mouth.
“Holy shit.”
“What, what is it?” Lola tried to look at the other side of the paper, but Anthony quickly held it out of her view.
“What if I didn’t want to show you?” A smile crept onto his face. This was one of those rare moments where he’d be in the moos to joke around with us.
“Don’t be a dick bro,” I said, laughing as I went to grab for the paper. Anthony just held it up in the air and pushed me off of him and I landed on my floor. While he was distracted, though, Eliza took her chance and snatched the paper right out of his hand.
“You boys need to learn to be nice,” she warned in her jokingly stern voice as she unfolded the paper and spread it out onto my bed. We all leaned over to look.
It was a map of a couple towns including ours. There were around ten small star stickers placed on different areas on the map near the streets the four of us lived in. On the top of the map, a couple words were scrawled in black sharpie; “Pick a Place!” I could see everyone’s faces light up.
“Oh my god it’s our map!” Lola shouted and pointed to one of the stars near her street, “this was where we found that old junkyard right?”
Eliza smiled, “I remember that. It feels like such a long time ago now.” She pointed to another star, “and this is where we found that lake we made a hideout of. I still remember swimming in there in 8th grade…”
The four of us reminisced for a while, talking about where we had gone and what we did there, and how impressive it was that we didn’t get tetanus from that junkyard. After nearly an hour of conversation, Eliza asked something that made all of us stop.
“So how about it guys? Do you want to do one last round before the summer ends?”
The rest of us looked around at each other. It was clear we all wanted to do it. Eliza seemed to catch on and she nodded.
“Who wants to pick where we go?”
“How about you do the honors?” Lola suggested, motioning towards the map. “You’re the one that brought this stuff in anyways.”
Eliza raised her eyebrow but didn’t object. Without a word, she examined the map for a few minutes, then placed her finger on one spot a bit far from my house.
“How about here?”
“You think we can make it that far?” Anthony asked.
“Well, we can drive now so why not?”
“You sure there’s some type of trail we can drive on? That spot looks pretty deep in the woods”
“We can find a path to drive on for a bit then walk the rest of the way. C’mon guys, this is probably our last chance to do something like this! Felix, you can drive right?”
Eliza and the rest turned to me with a hopeful expression. I had to comply.
“Sure. No big deal, right?”
All three of them cheered and high fived each other, looking pretty excited to go on one last adventure.
“So when do we leave?” I questioned.
Eliza flashed that smile again, “right now.”
“Right now?!”
“Hell yeah,” Lola chimed in. “It shouldn’t take that long, right?”
“I guess…” Even then I felt uneasy about the whole thing. I didn’t feel prepared enough to go on some random trip into the woods. I needed to pack food, water, flashlights, I had no idea how long this was going to take. Little did I know that those things would be the least of my worries a couple hours from then. I wish I could go back and convince my 17-year-old self that it wasn’t worth it, that I should just convince my friends to stay and talk for the rest of the day. I wish Eliza had never remembered that stupid game. In a way, I’m almost mad at her for what happened, but I know it wasn’t anyones fault. We just wanted to have fun. I wish we could’ve just had fun. But God had a different plan for us. One that made me think Satan himself devised it instead. On July 16, 2013, Anthony He, Lola Smith, Eliza Landserson, and Felix Johanson went on an adventure that none of them were ready for.
Author's Note:
If you just read all of that then thank you so so so much for doing so! I'm a rookie writer, so feel free to comment any constructive criticism you might have if you have actual writing experience! This is the first silly little story I'm posting here, so I hope you enjoyed :)

I just finished Oathbringer and am fully invested in figuring out all of the intricate details of this series that has quickly become my new obsession. I’ve loved diving into the lore and seeing how our characters have been handling growing through their serious brokenness. Just wanted to post a lot of my thoughts, ideas, and questions here. Please let me know if any of these can be answered with information through OB. Otherwise, I’m sure most of this is RAFO and I’ll see as I jump right into Dawnshard and RoW!
Radiance

• Will Kaladin even say more of the Windrunner Ideals? There is something weird going on with the Radiants and why they decided to break their oaths at the Recreance and I don’t think we have the full story yet. Perhaps we don’t need our main characters to finish all of the Ideals? Not sure.
• I’m thinking that the 4th Windrunner Ideal might be something along the lines of “I accept that I can not protect everyone” and Kal must learn to live with the fact that sometimes he will fail and it will be very hard for him.
• What is our count on number of Ideals sworn by Shallan? Shallan’s are, of course, the truths that she tells to Pattern and those include the murders of each of her parents as we found in WoR. But what more could she say? There is still a lot of mystery with her family and their ties to the Ghostbloods, especially the mother and Helaran.
• Let’s get Shallan soulcasting more! She’s been way out of practice on that end.
• What about Dalinar’s Ideals? Dalinar becoming Unity seemed to be the second of his Ideals as the Stormfather accepted his words during the Battle for Thaylen City. I’m interested to see more of his development as a Radiant. It seems that the Bondsmiths are particularly important and I want to know more about each of the three of them and what their specific roles are. Will we see the other two appear as the series goes on?
• I’m glad Dalinar learns to read and write, it’s about time we give up some of those old-fashioned Vorin ideas. I was kinda hoping his Bondsmith powers would let him learn immediately in the same way he learns other languages by touching someone who speaks it, but oh well.
• I do not think we’ve seen much of the Surges of Cohesion and Tension (Stoneward territory) and I’d love to learn more about what they are, how they work, how different Radiants manifest powers through them. The Ars Arcanum descriptions of them are vague and mysterious. Dalinar can gain the power of Tension through being a Bondsmith, but I’m not sure if we’ve seen that explicitly yet?
• Just how powerful was Dalinar’s Unity stand? Odium retreated immediately after the conjunction of the three realms. Was Odium’s claim of (paraphrase) “I though we killed you” referring to Honor, or perhaps something different? Is this one of Dalinar’s powers now, i.e., will he be able to regenerate Stormlight at his will? It seems so since he reloaded Kaladin before he flew off to recover Skar, Drehy, and co., but it seemed to be quite taxing on him.
• Man I just want to know all about the different powers that Surgebinders carry. There are 10 surges total, and if each Order of the KR can access 2, then there are 10!/(8!2!) = 45 unique combinations of two surges… too bad there are only 10 orders instead of 45 to match all combinations :( Might have been an undertaking for Brandon to create all of these orders.
• It’s been hinted that upper-level Ideals must be sworn for Radiants to get Shardplate? Maybe we’ll see that happen in RoW.
• Of course Malata is siding with some antagonists. Fits the trope that fire/destruction powers = evil. Bummer. Maybe someone else will come up who can use this power for good.
• Renarin’s bond is interesting to me. His spren is either corrupted or simply one of the Voidspren, but he still seems to maintain good intentions as a character. I’m interested to see what happens with him. Maybe not all Voidspren have to side with Odium/the Fused. He is also mentioned (secretly to Odium) in the Diagram, so he’ll obviously play an important role.
• Similarly, I’m interested in Venli’s role. Seems like she recognizes that things are off with the Voidspren and Odium. Is her spren Timbre a lightspren? Willshaper Venli? Her ties to Odium, the Listeners, the Fused, etc. will be interesting after having said the First Ideal. Especially with the Voidspren that is in her gemheart.
• Jasnah clearly is very powerful (as shown at the Battle for Thaylen City) and it was an interesting choice to make her queen. I’d have figured she would want to devote her time to her scholarly work rather than dealing in politics, but we’ll see how it goes I guess. Might be hard to find time to mentor Shallan on Soulcasting too.
• Man we gotta find a way for Lift to either take in Stormlight in the normal way or to just get her a huge duffel bag full of food all the time, especially during battles.

Gods, Heralds, all things of power:

• What are the different “levels” of power that each of the gods possess? Honor has obviously been killed, but I get the sense that he might still be able to “come back” through DalinaStormfather? I don’t know. These gods can be killed I guess, so not quite true God-gods, just some supremely powerful beings.
• What are the motivations of these different gods (Odium, Cultivation, pre-death Honor, others)? It’s hard to get a reading on why Odium wants to be so involved with the Singers’/Listeners’ return instead of just existing as a god somewhere. I know he’s trapped somehow, hence the barter with Dalinar, but like why does he cause so much mischief in the first place? Just his nature I guess?
• Wit has got to be up here with this crew of gods, no?
• Who is Rayse? We hear about him through the letters exchanged with Wit in the epigraphs, but still so mysterious. Again, what are these higher-beings’ motivations? Perhaps his role is clearer by reading some of BS’s other books prior to the SA?
• I do believe that Adonalsium is the true OG God, and he somehow split into “Shards” that might be these other gods known as Honor, Odium, Cultivation, etc., but that is surmised through some reading online. Not sure exactly where that information has come out and what I need to read for better background on this. How did the Shattering occur? Why did the Shards gain sentience? Why do they have different personalities and motivations?
• This Voidlight is mysterious still. How is it different in nature to normal Stormlight? Can Knights Radiant take it in the same way? Can the Fused take in regular Stormlight? I don’t think it’s been explicitly stated, but this must be what was in the sphere that Gavilar gave the Szeth on the night of the assassination. Also is that sphere the same thing Navani hinted at when Dalinar showed her the Nergaoul-infused King’s Drop?
• I’m interested to find out why are Honorspren looked down upon in Shadesmar at the moment.
• Szeth’s blade is very different — talks to him, needs to be sheathed instead of vanishing, has a very skewed sense of time, drains color.
• I am hoping that the Heralds are able to make somewhat of a recovery from their insanity and we can see them in power. Too bad Jezrien has been killed. I was looking forward to his return in particular. Nale is… coming around? We got a few glimpses of Ash in Oathbringer, and I realized she is the same character as the woman destroying paintings in the WoK interlude. Taln is so noble… was not even mad about holding the gates for 4.5 thousand years, just happy to have given humans the time to develop. Taravangian hinted that Dova in Kharbranth is Battar. Seems like Ishar will come into play given all his mentions in Oathbringer. Haven’t heard much (or don’t remember) much of the others (Kalak, Pailiah, Vedel, and Chanarach), but hopefully they show themselves soon!
• Ok, so the secret came out that the humans are the Voidbringers and came from another planet that they destroyed and caused a lot of problems here on Roshar. The timeline for this is confusing to me. If the humans are the invasive species, then why were the Heralds created in the first place? It’s my understanding that the Heralds (or all of the ones we’ve seen so far) are human. The old story says (or implies) that the Heralds were created to bring an end to the Desolations. So does that mean that the humans invaded, then Honor gave a handful of them additional powers (Surges) to help exterminate the Singers and the other Rosharan inhabitants? And then, of course, the formation of the Knights Radiant. When did they come about? Did the Heralds fight for a few hundreds/thousands of years before the KR were formed or were they around earlier? I’m missing the motivations of the gods here… why would Honor create these powerful beings to help invade a new planet? Not very honorable if you ask me. What kinds of powers did the early Listeners have that required the use of Surgebinding to defeat? How do the Voidspren and Fused play into this? Are they native Roshar spren that are just angry at being taken over by humans with their bonds to other higher spren? Something is fishy with the relationship between the Listeners and the Voidspren — they banished them at risk of being enslaved for thousands of years. Most of the Listeners are rightfully angry at the humans for millennia of enslavement, but very few actually want to kill the humans. Rather, they seem content to just cohabit Roshar. I am hoping for further clarification in RoW.
• The Unmade are so fascinating to me. They are described as being of Odium, but do not necessarily want to remain tied to him, some of them having minds of their own, fueled by the specific Passions relevant to them. Interesting how these powerful spren will continue to influence Roshar. Also being made, then unmade?? What’s that all about?
• Cultivation is being foreshadowed a lot and I am wondering what her influence will be in the coming books. She had the interaction with Dalinar in his flashback, but they talk about her so much more than just referring to this one instance. The Nightwatcher’s powers (with the boons/curses) are still so interesting to me too.
• Have we seen Odium’s analog to the NightwatcheStormfather? I’m assuming that if Cultivation and Honor have these more-powerful spren, then so will he. Maybe you could consider the Unmade to satisfy this role?

Secret Organizations:

• Ghostbloods — I feel like we’ll get a lot of info. on these guys soon. We know somewhat little about them. Members include Mraize and Iyatil, both mysterious, and members of House Davar. They are good at finding Honorblades and Heralds. Lots and lots of secrets. They’re gonna keep on manipulating Shallan it seems… hopefully she can maintain an upper edge.
• The Diagram — I am inclined to think that the Diagram may be right, but I am hoping that it’s flawed. Interesting that there were parts of the Diagram that even Odium couldn’t see (Renarin’s name). Seems they have good intentions, but are ultimately perilous to our protagonists through their means to save Roshar and, thus, are “bad guys”. I seems to me that Taravangian just wants what’s best for Roshar, and it’s too bad his one day of genius has painted all of our main characters as roadblocks/liabilities/etc. Always so sneaky, Taravangian, but also very interesting. I hope he has another day of brilliance, I loved reading the day on Urithiru where he was quite intelligent (still not the same as the Diagram day, of course).
• Sons of Honor — my least favorite of the secrete organizations tbh. Glad Amaram is dead after being infused by the Unmade (can’t remember which one. Yelig-Nar maybe?). Amaram seemed to have met with Odium prior to the battle for Thaylen City though… is that consistent with the SoH or did he break off from the group to do this? Other members of SoH that we know of so far?

Bridge Four:

• The connection between squires and radiants is still kinda vague to me. What are the requirements for these squires to become full Radiants, if at all?
• I think Rock may be my favorite B4 member, so earnest and kind, doesn’t want to hurt anyone. And a good cook. I’d like to know more about his past, his family, really all about the Horneaters. I could tell right away that he’d be pretty distraught over having to take the Amaram kill shot.
• Love Skar and Drehy’s connection with Adolin.
• Teft has gotta figure out his firemoss shit
• How can you not love the Lopen?

Other mysteries and thoughts:

• Aimia — what happened here? What caused its destruction? It’s hinted in Mythica that one of the Unmade, the mysterious Dai-Gonarthis, may have caused the destruction of this country. There are still secrets lying in Akinah as suggested by the Oathbringer interludes that I’d love to discover more about.
• What of the Aimian people? Reading online hints that there are two types, iirc. The only things I remember are of Axies the collector and the Sleepless that Lift encounters in Edgedancer. I remember being thoroughly spooked by him, hordelings crawling around all the time. Perhaps as intended, every time there is mention of cremlings in the main SA series, I think it’s one of the Sleepless keeping an eye on things (Taln’s kidnapping at the end of WoR, e.g.).
• Zahel has a lot to yet reveal in these books. I feel like he’s pretty dang powerful and should have a bigger role in all of this.
• The country of Natanan is somewhat interesting right now too. Still surviving as a city-state over so close to the Origin. How are they doing? I want more on them too.
• There’s some sketchy stuff going on at the Origin too. We’ve got information about that story (from Wit’s story in WoK if I remember correctly) that people may live there and have their own kingdom and whatnot. This place gets hinted at from time to time. Was the Oathbringer interlude about the lighthouse taking place here?
• There’s something going on in the Horneater Peaks. There is a Perpendicularity there, but I feel that can’t be all.
• What’s the deal with the Greatshells? They seem important and… wise? Perhaps some relation to the Chasmfiends (unless they’re classified as Greatshells too? I’m mostly thinking of those that live in/near the Reshi Isles).
• So much of the Cognitive realm/Shadesmar still needs to be explored and understood from our perspective.
• Will the assassin hired by Jasnah on the night of Gavilar’s assassination come into play again? Can’t remember her name rn.
• Speaking of that day… why were the Heralds (Nale and Ash? Any more?) at the party?
• Who is Restares and why did Gavilar think he may have been involved with his murder? Is there some deeper involvement by House Sadeas in the assassination of Gavilar as well?
• We still don’t know the full details of Gavilar’s plan. What was he up to? The Listeners killed him for the desire to bring back their gods (which has proved disastrous), but what else was he getting into? He had clear ties to the Sons of Honor I think.
• Will Adolin be able to revive Maya and perhaps gain some Radiant powers?? I’m rooting for it to happen.
• Man, what’s going on over in the West? Iri and Rira just decided to submit to the Voidspren/Listeners immediately? And Shinovar is going to have an interesting story with it being the first-landing of humans and the storage space for most of the Honorblades for thousands of years.
• Wit found a Pattern at the end of part 5 and mentioned some of the First Ideal (interesting…). He’s always going to be a mystery to me, I fear. But also easily one of the, if not the, best character in the series.

So I, 22 M, have a pretty messed up home life, I'm visually impaired and the nearest city is a dozen or so miles from our house, my mom is the only person who drives and because of my disability I can't work most jobs, so getting around is rough.
I am trying to get my GED though but with little progress, I was pulled out of middle school at 13 essentially forced to drop out because my father was afraid his abuse toward his family (me and four others) would be discovered by authorities or our schools would get involved.
He then trapped me into living with him through the covid-19 pandemic until 2022 just before I turned 20 where I moved into a friend's house who soon betrayed me and left me on the streets. From there I was on the streets for about 3 months until I was able to fly out to live with my older brother who put his hands on me and got me kicked out of my next place to live after only 3 weeks of living there. And then lived in a homeless shelter until flying a couple more times and ending up with my mom, whom my father's side of my family had brainwashed me all my life to believe she was a horrible person, in truth she's not the greatest but she is much better than they made her out to be.
Now I've been living with her for a while, but things couldn't be worse, due to a volatile relationship between my mom and my little sister, my little sister ended up crashing two cars and landing my mom and stepdad and massive credit debt, everything came to a boil when she went off on Christmas and got herself kicked out, my little sister was the only other person in the house who could drive as my stepfather is out driving big rig trucks all over the country.
So now it's me and my mom, but then my little brother goes and gets himself kicked out of his college dorms, but thankfully he's now getting paid himself and we've banded together as far as finances go but that's not what I'm here to complain about.
My mom, 41 F, goes to work nearly all the time because she's trying to pay off the crippling debt her daughter left her with, leaving me and my younger brother (20 M) to do chores around the house and occasionally babysit our younger step brother (9 M).
Things can get pretty hectic and you have to add to the fact that we live in two separate buildings, have over a dozen pets to take care of on the daily, and we both have our own separate chores we have to take care of individually.
For example I have to wash the dishes, make sure the kitchen is clean, take out the trash and take the trash out to the curb once a week before pulling it back in the next day so that we can start loading more trash into our cans (God forbid I forget to do so where it's a shitstorm), additionally since I live in a separate building I have to clean half of it which is pretty big but mostly it's just some random food trash laying around although on the occasion we do have large amounts of styrofoam and boxes as we get a lot of packages, our space is also cramped and my brother barely ever cleans his space because he can't focus on cleaning with ADHD that I get but it is annoying as I have OCD and can't stand dirty spaces, that brings me to another problem of his, he barely ever does his chores and since he doesn't do them I'm basically the only person who can pick up the slack so I have to start doing his chores sometimes, cleaning his side of our building, cleaning the bathroom cleaning the floors ETC.
We also have to do our own individual laundry and I want you to note that I haven't even gotten into the biggest issue, we have three dogs but one of them is out on the road with my stepfather so we have two dogs to take care of but one of them is large and mostly untrained so she poops in her cage most of the time, we have to clean this up as well as let her out 3 to 4 times a day so that she can use the bathroom as well as feed her and let out the other dog with her who barks his head off and we have to ignore him until he shuts up because if we teach him that he can just bark to get his way out of the cage he'll never stop doing it and it's obnoxious, then once he shuts up we let him out and then we have to make sure that they both been out for at least 15 to 20 minutes each time, there's three cats in the back of the house that need to get fed and watered every day, watered multiple times a day sometimes, when our little brother isn't here we have to take care of his ferret which isn't hard but it's still a task, then you've got our mom's two birds who have a specific diet so getting them fed is a bit of a hassle, she has a tortoise but we don't usually have to check on that, then there's two cats in my mom's room that we need to go and feed individually, any pet due to your pee we have to clean up as soon as we find it obviously cuz that's gross, and she also has two snakes but we don't take care of them cuz she does, and then you have my cat and my little brother's cat who live in our building with us and we have to feed and water them once a day sometimes we have to water them multiple times a day because our cats are weird and love to drink water.
I think you can see where I'm going with this.
We have a crippling amount of chores to do and again that doesn't even cover everything, occasionally we have to go out in the yard and pick up sticks and branches because they like to blow everywhere with the Wind, and we've even had to drag entire fallen trees over into the backyard as well. Then there's the asinine rules that we have to follow. Some of them just don't make sense so I won't get into all of that cuz sometimes it just makes me too angry to think about.
We both pay rent and do our chores as a form of compensation for letting us live here past 18, I mean wow my brother does College from home and I'm still studying to get my GED but like I said due to Transportation issues progress is a bit stagnant at the moment.
I am thinking of doing my stuff online.
But besides the crippling number of tasks and odd jobs we have to do around the house on the daily I also have insomnia that I've never been able to control. My sleep patterns have never been normal and I'll always wake up at a different time every day sometimes sleeping through the majority of the morning and afternoon.
And then when I wake up at say 4:00 in the afternoon I feel guilty because I didn't end up getting anything done, then my lazy ass little brother who didn't do shit wants to sit there and complain to me how nothing got done even though I'm already beating myself up mentally because I slept too long and I know it's my problem, I've tried so many different methods whether it be medicine, herbal remedies, scented candles, soothing music, even tried changing my diet to fix my sleep but nothing helps, I might be able to have a normal sleep cycle for about 4 to 5 days before it ends up messed up again, and so here we are my little brother is complaining again about how nothing got done even though he could have done stuff on his own, and I'm left here to feel like shit while he berates me and I beat myself up at the same time, but to make matters worse my mom only complains all the time about the stuff that we didn't manage to get done and never thanks us, recently though that's changed a bit and she started thinking us although it's rare and I'd like to think that she's making progress and changing so I appreciate that from her but my little brother does not make it any easier, I've even tried sitting him down and having an honest conversation with him multiple times I even did it today but every time I get the same answer "I don't want to talk about this shit i don't care" needless to say my family is driving me insane and I need advice.

Race information

* **What?** Leeds Marathon
* **When?** May 12th 2024
* **How far?** 42.2 km
* **Where?** Leeds, West Yorkshire
* **Website:** [https://www.runforall.com/events/marathon/leeds-marathon/\](https://www.runforall.com/events/marathon/leeds-marathon/)
* **Strava activity:** [https://www.strava.com/activities/11393068144\](https://www.strava.com/activities/11393068144)
* **Finish time:** 03:35:35

Goals

Goal Description Completed?
-------------------------------
A Sub 3:30 *No*
B Sub 3:45 *Yes*
C Finish Strong *Yes*

Training

I'm a 46M, running consistently for the past 7 years, 6 marathons before this one, PB of 03:17:46. Local to Leeds and missed the inaugural Leeds Marathon last year so thought I would give it a go. Heard it wasn't a PB course for multi-marathoners so I set a realistic set of goals. For a good cause too, sad story about Rob Burrow, but it hasn't stopped him making a difference.
My partner bought me a Garmin Forerunner 955 (first new running watch for 6 years) for Christmas so I thought I'd set the Leeds Marathon as a goal race and so how it went. I also had a couple of trail half marathons as supporting races, Harewood House Half (January) and Baildon Boundary Way (April). Both mudfests with lots of elevation. The training schedule set by the watch was curious to me. The max long run it set was about 27km which seemed a little short but I've done a few marathons so I wasn't too concerned. It also had me do a 31 day streak as well which I suppose isn't too much but the rest of the time was standard pattern. Day off, long run, threshold, sprints, base and the odd recovery mixed up in a week. Taper time was about 8 days which felt short to me but arrived at race fairly fresh I think. Mixed in a monthly sports massage too, as I'm not getting any younger.
The mileage was less than I would have expected (biggest week was 82km) but the quality of the workouts was good, especially the threshold sessions. Challenging but doable. Might try the Runna app or something next time, see how they compare.

Pre-race

Preparation went really well. My brother lives pretty close to the start, so stayed at his the night before. Yet more pasta, nice walk around Meanwood, Eurovision, in bed for 2200, asleep for 2230.
Got up at 0645 for a 0900 race start. Coffee, overnight oats, banana, go over the plan in my head. Ron Hill vest, lovely and light for a hot day, new balance racing shorts, Hoka Carbon X with 100km or so on them. Write fueling strategy on hand to make sure I remember it. Toilet stop last thing before I headed out of the door at 0815. Jog to the start line. Stretch, couple of strides. Too warm in my extra top already, didn't need that layer at all. Was in the blue start, easy enough to find, popped in there and listened to speeches. A few minutes later and we were off.

Race

Two main parts to the strategy:
* Take it easy for the first 5km, aim to finish strong.
* Make sure to get fuel on board for the big bad Chevin hill at 28 or so km.
For the first part of the strategy I split the run into sections
* First 5km - steady
* 6 to 20km - build up the pace, get some fuel onboard
* 21 to 28km - hold steady, more fueling for the hill
* 29 to 32km - Big hill, get it done.
* Last 10 or so km - The hill is done, finish strong, no dawdling, no long drawn out suffering.
Fueling wise, I was using the OTE Strawberry Carb Chews, delicious and easy on the stomach. Also I took on water at all drinks stations, it was hot (for Yorkshire anyway).
At the drinks stations for 9, 12 and 15 miles, I munched a bunch of chews so I could get the benefit when the big hill came along. I was a little nervous about the Chevin hill, but in hindsight I overdid it. It was fine and its not even that steep. It was that it was so late in the race.
So how did I actually do?
Steady start was good, I tucked in with the 3:45 pacers and hung there for 5km, kept me well in the easy pace. Although I did miss the first drinks station in all the excitement. Put it down to experience and moved on. Headingley was buzzing and felt good getting stuck into the next phase. Pushed the pace a bit to 04:55 per km for the next 15 or so km but didn't quite sustain that for the following 8km. I felt the heat a bit going through Pool and along into Otley. Otley was very lively though, massive roar when we were on our way through, which was a welcome boost before the Chevin Road.
Left Otley and pushed on up the Chevin Road. I felt fine, could have pushed harder really. Still 10km to go afterwards, wanted to finish strong too. Lots of people saying you're near the top now. Other runners and cyclists using the Chevin too, not often that road is free of cars. Over the brow of the hill I went with 10km to go. This is it, its getting warmer and warmer, so you either suffer slowly or suffer quickly. I decided to get my skates on and get the job done, mostly downhill too. Was getting through it at a decent lick when I caught up with the slower half marathon finishers at Golden Acre park. Lots of dodging ensued but I kept up the pace as best I could. The finish straight led into Headingley Stadium which was great but too narrow to reconcile my attempted sprint finish with the said slower half marathoners.
In term of goals, sub 3:30 would have been great, probably held back a little too much for the Chevin hill and suffered a little in the heat mid race. I wasn't too disappointed. No wall hitting, strong finish without endless suffering and a decent time for a challenging course. I'm pretty happy! Next marathon will be the Yorkshireman on September 8th.

Splits

Section Time
------------
10KM 0:51:26
20KM 1:41:09
HALF 1:46:31
30KM 2:32:57
40KM 3:24:26
42.2KM 3:35:35
*This post was generated using [the new race-reportr](https://coachview.github.io/race-report), powered by [coachview](https://www.coachview.io), for making organized, easy-to-read, and beautiful race reports.*

Part 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, & 3 sale are still available here- Part 8, Part 7 , Part 6 , Part 5 , Part 4 , Part 3
*** Due to limited Characters anything left blank in the "Condition" Section is *Brand New, Sealed*
The Figures are all 100% Authentic.
- Shipping within the US, with Free shipping with orders $100+. I will pay for the PayPal fees.- Willing to ship Internationally as long as buyer can cover shipping cost.
*Discount Sale* If... - [5/+ figures = 5%] - - [10/+ figures = 8%] -
Images to the figures -<1-10><11-20><21-30><31-40><41-50><51-60><61-70><71-80><81-90><91-100><101-110><111-119><
​

Name	Manufacturer	Condition	Price (USD)
1. Huyao Xiao Hongniang - Tushan Honghong - 1/7 - Wan Shui Yi Shan Ver.	Solarain		$200
2. Kenja no Deshi wo Nanoru Kenja - Mira - 1/7	Kadokawa	Includes Blu-ray	$130
3. Yosuga no Sora - Kasugano Sora - 1/7	Alphamax		$145
Unavailable Arknights - Texas - 1/7 - Elite 2	Good Smile Company		$230
5. Azur Lane - St. Louis - 1/7	Alter		$160
6. Isekai Maou to Shoukan Shoujo no Dorei Majutsu - Shera L. Greenwood - B-style - 1/4 - Bare Leg Bunny Ver.	FREEing		$200
7. Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata fine - Sawamura Spencer Eriri - 1/7 - Maid ver.	Revolve		$140
8. Azur Lane - Illustrious - 1/7 - Owaranai Ochakai ver.	Kotobukiya		$150
9. [NSFW] - Valhellio - Iris Hartley - Skytube - T2 Art☆Girls - Seikai no Lorelei - 1/6	Alphamax	Preowned, Excellent condition. Displayed in dust free case, smoke free environment	$90
10. Fate/Stay Night - Altria Pendragon - 1/7 - Saber, 10th Royal Dress ver.	Aniplex		$130
11. [NSFW] - SoniComi (Super Sonico) - Sonico - 1/4.5 - Summer Vacation ver.	Orchid Seed		$200
12. SoniComi (Super Sonico) - Sonico - 1/7 - Jogging Ver.	Kaitendoh		$300
13. [NSFW] - SoniComi (Super Sonico) - Sonico - 1/7 - Pisces Ver.	Amakuni	Preowned, Excellent condition. Displayed in dust free case, smoke free environment	$290
14. SoniAni: Super Sonico The Animation - Sonico - 1/7 - Racing ver.	Max Factory		$190
15. [NSFW] - SoniComi (Super Sonico) - Sonico - 1/7 - Libra Ver.	Good Smile Company		$240
16. Girls' Frontline - HK416 - 1/7 - Black Cat’s Gift ver.	Hobby Max		$120
17. Choujigen Game Neptune: The Animation - Nepgear - 1/8 - Neoki Ver.	Broccoli		$190
18. Shining Blade - Xiao Mei - Shining Beach Heroines - 1/7 - Swimsuit Ver.	FREEing		$130
19. Girls' Frontline - UMP9 - 1/7	Funny Knights		$90
20. Girls' Frontline - Suomi KP/-31 - 1/7	Funny Knights	Brand New, Sealed. Box is damaged check for more photos *HERE. The figure is fine	$90
21. To LOVEru Darkness - Konjiki no Yami - B-style - 1/4 - Bare Leg Bunny Ver.	FREEing		$220
22. Toradora! - Aisaka Taiga - B-style - 1/4 - Bunny Ver.	FREEing		$190
23. Machikado Mazoku - Chiyoda Momo - 1/7	Medicos Entertainment		$90
24. SSSS.Dynazenon - Minami Yume - 1/6	Pony Canyon		$160
25. Overlord - Shalltear Bloodfallen - Shibuya Scramble Figure - 1/7 - Swimsuit Ver.	Alpha Satellite		$300
26. Ganbare, Douki-chan - Douki-chan	Union Creative International Ltd		$90
27. [NSFW] - Sonico - Character's Selection - 1/6 - Clumsy Office Lady Ver.	Native	Preowned, Excellent condition. Displayed in dust free case, smoke free environment	$280
28. Fate/Grand Order - Jeanne d'Arc (Alter) - 1/7 - Kuraki Homura o Matoishi Ryuu no Majo	Licorne		$380
29. A-Z: - [S] - 1/7	Myethos		$220
30. A-Z: - [B] - 1/7	Myethos		$220
31. To LOVEru Darkness - Mikado Ryouko - 1/6 - Darkness ver.	Union Creative International Ltd		$130
32. [NSFW] - To LOVEru Darkness - Lala Satalin Deviluke - 1/6 - Darkness ver.	Union Creative International Ltd		$130
HOLD To LOVEru Darkness - Lala Satalin Deviluke - B-style - 1/4 - Bunny Ver.	FREEing		$380
34. Card Captor Sakura - Kinomoto Sakura - 1/7 - Stars Bless You	Good Smile Company	Preowned, Excellent condition. Displayed in dust free case, smoke free environment	$290
35. Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata ♭ - Kasumigaoka Utaha - 1/7 - Swimsuit Ver.	Good Smile Company		$110
36. To LOVEru Darkness - Konjiki no Yami - White Trance ver.	Union Creative International Ltd	Preowned, Excellent condition. Displayed in dust free case, smoke free environment	$90
37. To LOVEru Darkness - Kotegawa Yui - 1/6 - Darkness ver.	Union Creative International Ltd		$120
38. [NSFW] - To LOVEru Darkness - Nemesis - 1/6 - Darkness Ver.	Union Creative International Ltd		$120
39. [NSFW] - To LOVEru Darkness - Lala Satalin Deviluke - 1/6 - Pastel Co-de ver.	Alter	Preowned, Excellent condition. Displayed in dust free case, smoke free environment	$90
40. To LOVEru Darkness - Lala Satalin Deviluke - 1/7 - Dress Style	Ques Q		$220
41. [NSFW] - SoniComi (Super Sonico) - Sonico - Dream Tech - 1/7 - Bikini Style	Wave		$200
42. GOOD SMILE Racing - Type-Moon Racing - Altria Pendragon - 1/7 - Racing Ver.	Good Smile Company	Brand New, Sealed. Box is damaged check for more photos *HERE. The figure is fine	$100
43. Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata ♭ - Kato Megumi - 1/7 - Swimsuit Ver.	Good Smile Company	Preowned, Excellent condition. Displayed in dust free case, smoke free environment	$90
44. Fate/Grand Order - Ishtar - 1/7 - Archer	Aniplex	Preowned, Excellent condition. Displayed in dust free case, smoke free environment	$250
45. Choujigen Game Neptune: The Animation - Purple Heart - 1/7 - Dress ver.	Wing		$140
46. [NSFW] - Zettai Junpaku♡Mahou Shoujo - Nitta Yui - Creator's Collection - 1/4 - Bunny Ver.	BINDing		$330
47. [NSFW] - Fault!! - Saeki Ai - Skytube - T2 Art☆Girls - 1/6 - Black Wedding ver.	Alphmax		$140
48. Choujigen Game Neptune: The Animation - Noire - 1/8 - Nightgown Ver.	Broccoli		$170
49. Fate/Grand Order - Altria Pendragon - 1/7 - Saber, Heroic Spirit Formal Dress Ver.	Good Smile Company		$120
50. Girls' Frontline - DSR-50 - 1/7 - ~Spring Peony~	Phat Company		$130
51. To LOVEru Darkness - Konjiki no Yami - 1/8 - -Trance of Darkness	Aquamarine	Preowned, Excellent condition. Displayed in dust free case, smoke free environment	$90
52. [NSFW] - Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata ♭ - Sawamura Spencer Eriri - 1/7 - Okigaechuu	Alphamax		$130
53. To LOVEru Darkness - Tearju Lunatique - 1/6 - Darkness ver.	Union Creative International Ltd		$150
54. [NSFW] - To LOVEru Darkness - Kurosaki Mea - 1/6 - Darkness Ver.	Union Creative International Ltd		$110
55. Tsuujou Kougeki ga Zentai Kougeki de Ni-kai Kougeki no Okaasan wa Suki desu ka? - Oosuki Mamako - 1/7	Kotobukiya		$180
56. THE iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls - Shibuya Rin - 1/8 - Triad Primus Ver.	Alpha X Omega		$80
57. Girls' Frontline - QBZ-97 - Juushou Ver.	Flare		$140
58. Sword Art Online - Leafa - Shibuya Scramble Figure - 1/4 - Negligee Ver.	Alpha Satellite		$240
59. Sword Art Online - Asuna - Shibuya Scramble Figure - 1/4 - Negligee Ver.	Alpha Satellite		$240
60. Sword Art Online - Sinon - Shibuya Scramble Figure - 1/4 - Negligee Ver.	Alpha Satellite		$240
61. Sword Art Online: Alicization - Alice Zuberg - 1/7	Wanderer		$190
62. Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou - Shea Haulia - 1/7	Kotobukiya		$180
63. Sword & Wizards ~The Emperor of Sword & Seven Lady Knight~ - Felicia von Flamberg - 1/7 - Bunny Ver.	Kotobukiya		$120
64. [NSFW] - Sword & Wizards ~The Emperor of Sword & Seven Lady Knight~ - Yukishiro Fuyuka - 1/7 - Bunny Ver.	Amakuni		$150
65. No Game No Life - Shiro - 1/7	Kotobukiya	Preowned, Excellent condition. Displayed in dust free case, smoke free environment	$65
66. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu - Emilia - 1/7	Good Smile Company		$170
67. Girls' Frontline - K2 - 1/7 - Before the Dawn ver.	Apex Innovation	Brand New, Sealed. Box is damaged check for more photos *HERE. The figure is fine	$140
68. Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari - Filo - KDcolle - 1/7	Kadokawa		$90
69. Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata ♭ - Kato Megumi - 1/7 - Lingerie ver.	Alter		$100
70. Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA 3rei!! - Illyasviel von Einzbern - 1/6 - China Dress Ver.	Phat Company		$120
71. Gekijouban Fate/stay night Heaven's Feel - Altria Pendragon - 1/7 - Saber, British Travelogue	Stronger		$120
72. Maoyuu Maou Yuusha - Maou - 1/8	Kotobukiya		$110
73. Bikini Warriors - Paladin - 1/7	Alphamax		$170
74. Fate/Grand Order - Scáthach - 1/7 - Lancer	Plum		$90
Unavailable Muv-Luv Alternative Total Eclipse - Takamura Yui - B-style - 1/4 - Bunny Ver.	FREEing		$450
76 Muse Dash - Rin - 1/8 - Bunny Girl Ver.	Apex Innovation	Brand New, Sealed. Box is damaged check for more photos *HERE. The figure is fine	$150
77. Dungeon Travelers 2 Ouritsu Toshokan to Mamono no Fuuin - Mefmera - 1/8	Alter		$130
Unavailable Yurucamp - Kagamihara Nadeshiko - 1/7	Phat Company		$120
79. [NSFW] - TSF Monogatari - Musashino Takumi - 1/6	Rocket Boy	Preowned, Excellent condition. Displayed in dust free case, smoke free environment	$380
80. Fate/Grand Order - Altria Pendragon - 1/7 - Santa Alter, Rider	Alter		$150
81. IS: Infinite Stratos - Charlotte Dunois - B-style - 1/4 - Bare Leg Bunny Ver.	FREEing		$190
Unavailable Overlord III - Albedo - so-bin ver.	Union Creative International Ltd		$130
83. Date A Live III - Tokisaki Kurumi - 1/7	Kadokawa	Includes DVD	$180
84. Date A Live - Tokisaki Kurumi - KDcolle - 1/7 - Bunny Ver.	KadoKawa		$150
85. Date A Live - Tokisaki Kurumi - 1/7 - Lingerie Ver.	Alphamax		$80
86. Diamond to Zirconia - Yuki Itoguchi - Skytube - 1/6	Alphamax	Preowned, Excellent condition. Displayed in dust free case, smoke free environment	$170
87. Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka - SoniComi (Super Sonico) - Sonico - 1/7 - Hestia ver.	Genco		$250
88. SSSS.Gridman - Takarada Rikka - 1/7	Alphamax		$110
89. Pocket Monsters - Huuro - Swanna - Pokémon Center Original Figure - 1/8	Kotobukiya		$220
90. Sword Art Online: Alicization - Alice Zuberg - 1/8	Genco	Preowned, Excellent condition. Displayed in dust free case, smoke free environment	$90
91. Date A Live - Kyouno Natsumi - 1/7 - DX Ver.	Bell Fine		$150
92. Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken - Rimuru Tempest - Shion - 1/6 - Swimsuit Gravure_style	Orca Toys		$180
93. Date A Live - Tokisaki Kurumi - 1/7 - Fantasia 30th Anniversary Ver.	Kadokawa	Preowned, Excellent condition. Displayed in dust free case, smoke free environment	$180
94. Fate/Grand Order - Altria Pendragon - 1/7 - Saber, (Alter), Casual ver.	Kotobukiya		$80
95. SoniComi (Super Sonico) - Sonico - White Cat Ver.	Union Creative International Ltd		$150
96. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu - Emilia - Puck - KDcolle - 1/7 - Birthday Cake Ver.	Kadokawa	Preowned, Excellent condition. Displayed in dust free case, smoke free environment	$110
HOLD Fate/Stay Night - Tohsaka Rin - 1/7 - Type-Moon Racing ver.	Stronger	Brand New, Sealed. Box is damaged check for more photos *HERE. The figure is fine	$170
98. Fate/Extella - Altria Pendragon - Nero Claudius - 1/7	Alphamax		$180
99. Yon Megami Online Cyber Dimension Neptune - Purple Heart - 1/7	Ascii Media Works	Preowned, Excellent condition. Displayed in dust free case, smoke free environment	$150
100. Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai - Sakurajima Mai - 1/7 - Water Gun Date Ver.	Chara-Ani		$100
101. Girls' Frontline - UMP9 - 1/7	Funny Knights		$90
102. Beatless - Lacia - 1/8 - 2018 Black Monolith Deployed Ver.	Good Smile Company		$130
103. Sword Art Online - Asuna - 1/8 - Knights of the Blood ver.	Good Smile Company		$110
104. Atelier Ryza ~Tokoyami no Joou to Himitsu no Kakurega~ - Reisalin Stout - 1/7	Wonderful Works		$140
105. Shin Jigen Game Neptune V II - Next Black - 1/7	Vertex		$320
106. Kantai Collection ~Kan Colle~ - Murakumo - Wonderful Hobby Selection - 1/8 - Kai Ni	Max Factory		$120
107. THE iDOLM@STER Million Live! Theater Days - Mochizuki Anna - 1/8 - Happy Merry Christmas Ver.	Good Smile Company		$80
108. Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata ♭ - Kato Megumi - 1/7	Max Factory		$150
109. Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata - Sawamura Spencer Eriri - 1/7	Good Smile Company		$110
110. [NSFW] - Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata ♭ - Kasumigaoka Utaha - 1/7 - Okigaechuu	Alphamax		$150
111. Kishuku Gakkou no Juliet - Juliet Persia - 1/7	kotobukiya		$140
112. A.I.Channel - Kizuna Ai - 1/7 - Hello, World, Blond Hair ver.	Stronger		$130
113. Teacher Teacher - Maeda Shiori	Union Creative International Ltd		$100
114. Kidou Sentai Iron Saga - Teresa - 1/7 - Bride	Animester		$160
115. Atelier Sophie ~Fushigi na Hon no Renkinjutsushi~ - Sophie Neuenmuller - 1/7	Alter		$150
116. [NSFW] - Original - Toraware no Elf	Eighteen		$150
Unavailable Darling in the FranXX - Zero Two - 1/7 - For My Darling](https://myfigurecollection.net/item/1064642)	Good Smile Company		$190
118. Senjou no Valkyria 4: Eastern Front - Riley Miller - 1/7 - Swimsuit Ver.	Bell Fine		$90
119. Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai - Sakurajima Mai - 1/7 - Bunny Girl ver.	Aniplex		$120

​

I’m thinking about making a simple hat and scarf set for a Christmas present. I’m having a hard time finding the yarn I’d like to use so I would really like to take a crack at combining the Hobbii Diablo Mohair with a nice wool or alpaca. Just to get a good frame of reference, how much extra does a strand of mohair add? If I picked out a pattern that called for (for example) DK, would I get my base yarn in worsted and add in the mohair? Or would I get the yarn weight the pattern calls for, do a gauge, and adjust the hook? Or just plan on adjusting the measurements a bit? Or would it make much of a difference?

-First- -Previous- -Next (on Patreon)-
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Hello again! This batch of chapters is looking pretty spicy, and I'm really excited to share them with you! Not really much else to say, tbh, other than that I'm once again really thankful for all of your patience and understanding when it comes to my upload schedule. I know it's tough sometimes to drop in and out of stories like this, and even worse to see the last upload date for a story you like being "100 days ago," but we're still making our way there slowly! Besides, the most tender dishes are the ones that boil slowly~
As always, I hope you enjoy reading! :D
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Fanart: The Brightest Star in the Night Sky, by u/Frostedscales
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Thank you to Philodox on discord for proofreading and editing RfD.
Thank you to Pampanope on reddit for the cover art.
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​
Memory Transcript Subject: Sylvan, Venlil Citizen
Date: [Standardized Human Time]: December 13, 2136
​
“Everything’s good to go over here, Kenta! How about you?”
“Fine on my end too boss! Though I still don’t know how to feel about how I’ve arranged the sandwiche– err… sylvanas. Cucumber salad next to blueberry? They kind of don’t match…”
“I already told you a million times, they look fine!”
“You sure…?”
“I’m sure! Now are you ready to start this thing?”
“Ready!”
“Then let’s go!”
I shut the door to the kitchen, making sure that I had not left anything behind that would be needed for the day, then began wheeling out the final cart of amenities. As I rolled it down the wooden floor of my emptied out diner, one long serving tray jostled back and forth across the surface top.
I looked down to recap my inventory. A motley of sylvanas cleanly cut into triangles lay in an ornate pattern atop a decorative bed of raw ipsom grain stalks, spiraling around the edges of the plate as it creeped its way closer to the center. The sylvanas were split into clear groups based not only on their filling, but of the colour of that filling as well, creating a literal rainbow of flavours to choose from. By all means, it was an absolutely marvelous display of art; a visual performance that I had no idea could be captured in something like a dish to be served at such a quaint event. Kenta, however, seemed to still be worrying over it.
Despite it apparently being part of the name according to my translator, the Terran fruit named “blueberry” was actually a deep shade of indigo rather than blue, especially when crushed into a form of jam. As a result, lacking any blue to connect the various green options of our rainbow to that of the very limited indigo, Kenta had ended up spending much too long worrying over such a minute detail.
‘What a dummy…’ I thought back to myself with a slight chuckle. ‘I guess he’s worrying about this just as much as I am.’
Hardly two or three steps remained between the food cart and the diner’s entrance. Hastily, I jogged up to the front door to prop it open. However, when I went to turn the handle, I felt it give way without even the slightest push. Someone was pulling it from the other side, causing me to be yanked forward and stumble. Looking up, I saw the rusty figure of Fehnel standing impatiently in the doorway.
“You almost done in here, Sylvan?” she asked in a hurried breath. “Here, let me help you with that.”
Before hearing my response, Fehnel had already grabbed ahold on the cart and began pulling it outside without delay. I let go and didn’t attempt to stop her, knowing full well the farm woman was likely much stronger than I. In a blur, she was already far from the door, and I began jogging after her in an attempt to keep up.
Just as the day before, the Inverter was powered on and running perfectly. The metal pylon let out a slight, continuous hum as it projected an energetic beam from its center, which split at the apex around the height of the Lackadaisy and fell down in a parabolic curve, creating a tangible anti-gravity field in its wake.
Just outside the field, it became immediately clear just how necessary this piece of advanced Federation technology was. Beyond the radiant dome, a thick rain riddled the sky and drowned the world it fell unto. A harsh wind howled and distant thunder roared, which combined with the rain to push against the field to no avail. Within, where so many confectionaries, decorations, and other preparations had been so carefully placed, not even the paw of Solgalick could disrupt us.
“You know this would be goin’ a lot faster if I could jus’ start grabbin’ the food ma’self,” Fehnel commented in a tone too preoccupied to be annoyed.
As I ran after the hauling Yotul, I tried to say, “Fehnel, I’d really appreciate it if you would–”
“I know, I know,” she interrupted back, seemingly distant. “You want me to ‘not go into the diner during the event.’ Listen Sylvan, I get that Kahnta back there is a fainter, but don’t you think that this is a tad extreme? We’re on a tight schedule here, y’know?”
“I know… it’s just kind of a golden rule. I can’t stress to you enough how important it is that nobody does so much as peak in there,” I reiterated as I jogged alongside the speeding Yotul. “And don’t worry. Once everything starts, then you can feel free to socialize and spend the day with your daughter. I’ll take care of restocking the food.”
“I suppose that’s awful nice of ya,” Fehnel breathed out. “Sure you won’t be tirin’ yourself out, hun?”
I shrugged. “Eh. How fast could people possibly eat? It’ll be fine.”
“Careful there. Don’t wanna be sprintin’ before your legs catch up,” Fehnel chuckled. “But I’m plenty thankful for the confidence. I’ll try to hold ya to your word.”
As we moved, I was able to take a brief second to look around. I began to marvel at how far the event had come since its initial inception. And under such short time restrictions as well! Through a combination of both the Lacakdaisy’s furniture, as well as a number of decorations that I had rented, we had ended up with something that I had truly considered exemplary. In traditional Venlil style, a forest of various greenery had been set out in a colourful array of paw-crafted pots and other containers. Small bushels, flowers, a few overhanging trees, and other vegetation stood proudly within. From each, incandescent ornaments of various hues emerged in a bright and brazen display. All of which combined to transform the normally secluded street atmosphere into one that was truly cozy, if not just the slightest bit packed within the bubble. In accordance with one of Fehnel’s initial requests, we had even arranged for a small wooden stage to be brought in, which fit neatly against… something that I would rather not look at…
Of course, decorations aside, one of the most enrapturing displays was that of the food itself. Positioned at various places all around the event’s area, tables upon tables of buffet items had been laid out. It was a marvelous display on all fronts. From the generously sized serving bowls of pasta, plates of still steaming gyoza, and the diverse types and variations of strayu laid in motley rows all throughout, the feast was like a colourful microcosm of everything Kenta and I had been working towards.
But what was even more impressive were all the new additions Kenta had made. Just as expected, my wayward chef had taken the original request and spun it on its tail, seemingly pulling no stops when it came to expanding our already diverse arrangement. From end to end, small, round discs of strayu called “Danishes” lay against each other down the side of one of the tables. Most impressively, the center of each had been filled in with various hues of jam, in a similar style to that of the sylvanas that I was currently wheeling towards it.
On the other side of the same table, a sundry of embellished wooden bowls sat parallel, each filled with various kinds of Venlilian-style salads. I had taken the time to teach him such recipes a good while back, but while at first these seemed to be rather unostentatious, a quick look revealed that Kenta had added his own twist to the otherwise typical mix of local produce. Tossed about each salad were dozens of small strayu cubes called “Croutons,” each baked until crisp and crunchy. What’s more, if the olfactory receptor in my mouth didn’t deceive me, I had even picked up the heavenly aroma of something Kenta had only introduced to me recently as “Garlic,” which had clearly been infused into the cubes.
On another table, steaming crocks of both soups and stews had been laid out for guests to self serve. But in lieu of a bowl, Kenta had elected to do something truly unique. It had taken me a moment to process his idea at first, but hollowed out husks of rotund strayu loaves had been left out for guests to grab, in which they were supposed to fill the “bread bowls” – as Kenta had called them – with the soup and eat them as normal. This even came with the advantage of being able to tear off small pieces of the now soup-soaked strayu, allowing one to enjoy the taste of both simultaneously. This idea, I had soon realized, would be the hardest to explain to any confused guests that might happen by.
As we approached the soup table, Fehnel and I began loading up the cart-full of sylvanas we had brought over onto a free area. We placed them right next to one other new recipe that Kenta had decided to share. A simple display of thinly cut slices of crunchy, lightly seasoned strayu, with a bright red sauce readied next to it that I instantly recognized as being the product of tomatoes mixed with oil. According to Kenta, these “Bruschetta” were a simple, yet simultaneously alluring appetizer, which would do well to pair with the soup he had stirred up.
Once the sylvanas had been laid out, Fehnel felt the urge to ask, “Is that the last of it?”
“Yes, for now,” I replied, absentmindedly stretching my back. “This’ll cover the initial rush of hungry people, I assume. But Kahnta’s already busy working on seconds.”
“Gotta say Sylvan, this is quite the impressive spread,” Fehnel said with a quick, delighted wag of the tail. “Y’know… When I asked for somethin’ new, I wasn’t expectin’ Kahnta over there to whip up so much.”
“Oh this isn’t the new dish you asked for,” I answered flatly. “That’s still being worked on.”
Fehnel froze solid, only her ears remaining seemingly automotive as they slowly shifted towards me. “Wait… what?
“Yeah all of this is just the appetizer according to Kahnta,” I explained, messing with a few arrant sylvanas that had broken symmetry. “There’s going to be one more plate of food that should be coming out shortly. And then dessert after that.”
“That’s… surely somethin’...” was all Fehnel could say. She opened her mouth as if to continue her train of thought, only to have something else pull her attention away.
Peering out into the stormy weather of the darkened town, an eye-catchingly large herd of people were making their way towards the bright dome that sketched our event’s area. Silhouettes of familiar patrons and wayward newcomers alike huddled under their umbrellas. All the while, an excited murmur hummed throughout the air, despite the noise of the rain around them. The guests were here, and they seemed excited.
I peered down at a small data pad. “Oh, second-sun already? Looks like we just barely made it on time.”
Fehnel simply wagged in acknowledgment, still the slightest bit flabbergasted.
I nudged her side, which seemed to knock her out of her trance. “Want to go greet them?”
Taking one look at me, then peering back at the ensemble of strange and alien foods behind her, one of Fehnel’s ears flicked a little. Then, she did the tail equivalent of a Human shrug, letting out a pleased chuckle. Whatever had been on her mind was apparently pushed to the side for now. “Heh, of course hun. Let’s treat ‘em to somethin’ special.”
With a newfound kick in her already hastened step, Fehnel began to proudly jog over towards the approaching crowd. By now, we could already begin to make out some faces, each looking more curious than the last.
In addition to the Brachistochrone Inverter itself, Jeela had also taken the liberty to have a reception area installed in the form of a metallic tunnel about the width of three Venlil. The tunnel seemed to fold and bend the anti-gravity energy around it, allowing for people to easily enter the repulsion field without having to tread through a torrent of redirected rainwater. Additionally, a series of hooks alongside the interior of the tunnel also served as a convenient area for the storage of umbrellas and coats, which our guests quickly began making use of the moment they started funneling through.
Fehnel and I stood at the side of the entrance, welcoming in guest after guest with the appropriate propriety. At first, many of them were stymied in their step, staring in awe at the sanctuary-like atmosphere that had been created in the middle of the street. But almost as soon as they got their bearings, most realigned their immediate priorities, and subsequently made a beeline for the buffet tables. That’s what they were here for, after all. Hopefully they’d come to appreciate the actual reason Fehnel was hosting this event soon enough.
As we busied ourselves, the voices of many excited guests made themselves audible.
“I’ve been looking forward to this!”
“Look at the decorations!”
“I feel like I’m in the Capital!”
“Are you sure all of this is free?”
“The ad said it was! Either way, I need to try some of this!”
Fehnel and I watched in delight as the crowd began to form around the tables, a number of plates I had left out disappearing as fast as the eye could blink. However, it was clear that a majority of the attention received had been focussed solely on the more familiar menu items already offered by the Lackadaisy.
“Think they’re gonna touch any of the new stuff?” Fehnel idly commented, her attention still fixed on the crowd. “It’d be a shame if any of it goes to waste.”
“Oh they will,” I answered without hesitation. “Just give them a moment. They’ll be all over it soon enough.”
Fehnel laughed. “You sound awful confident, don’tcha?”
“Oh please, this is hardly the first time I’ve served some wacky new thing to my customers,” I answered back with a chuckle of my own. “If anything, at this point I’d say I’m quite the expert. Just watch. You’ll see.”
Like clockwork, my precognitive claim had been proven true mere moments later. Some soul amongst the table’s crowd had seemingly been more curious than the rest, and ended up taste-testing one of the bruschetta. It was hard to make out from this distance, but if I had to guess, her ears had perked up and her eyes had widened in surprise. What was made clear, however, was their opinion of the new food, because only a few moments later could their voice be heard.
“You have got to try some of this stuff!” she practically yelled at anyone who would listen. “It tastes like the red stuff that’s on the pasta, but like… even stronger! It’s so good I feel like I died and am one with the Stars already!”
Like a Farsul unto a library, the crowd collectively swiveled their ears and began to gravitate towards the bruschetta with eager eyes. A few more voices piped up in glee, each more delighted than the last as paw after paw descended on the strayu until there was nothing scarce of crumbs left.
‘Guess that’ll be the first thing I’ll need to restock,’ I thought with a passive wave of the tail, before a sudden realization crept into my mind. ‘Ugh… Kenta and I might be busier today than I thought…’
It wasn’t long before the elation of trying something new, mixed with the sudden and devastating lack of bruschetta, had urged our party guests to move on to the other, never before seen options that laid out to fill their fancy. All at once, the wall of wool and fluff had spread out the slightest bit as fresher waters were explored. Plates were filled with various salads, despite the unfamiliar bits of crunchy strayu inside raising some skeptical ears. Helping after helping of the technicolour pastries were reached for as well, with the sylvanas not lasting much longer after that. And most impressively, it seemed that people had quickly begun to figure out the concept of Kenta’s cute “bread bowl” idea as well, even without instruction.
That last turn of events had actually caught me the slightest bit off guard. For the bread bowls being quite possibly the most unique aspect of the event – well, that I knew of – I found myself rather impressed by how fast people were getting the hang of it. Sure, it meant that I wouldn’t have to bother myself with having to go around explaining it to everybody, but in my eyes, there was a bit more to it than that. Perhaps it was a case of grasping at straws, but for the briefest moment, it made me wonder whether or not Humanity’s ideas had been affecting my people more than I had realized. Perhaps, if only in the slightest, Kenta had been opening their minds to more unique ideas than I had given him credit for. Without the slightest bit of hesitancy, the partygoers did well to experiment with more than the obvious, quickly wrapping their minds around something completely new and extraordinary.
I exhaled a short-breathed snicker, shaking the thought out of my head. ‘Calm down there, Sylvan. It’s just some soup and a piece of strayu shaped like a bowl. No need to get all philosophical about it. Still, I guess them figuring it out saves me some time. Good, cause it looks like I already need to start stocking the next round…’
I moved to grab my cart so that I could head back inside, only to have Fehnel call out and grab my attention instead.
“Sylvan, hun,” she began. “Before you go makin’ yourself scarce. I think there’s somethin’ about this here party that you haven’t explained yet.”
My head turned out to face her. “Hm?”
“Now, don’t get me wrong… What you did here is great and all. By all means, whenever it is that Kadew decides to show up here with that date of hers, I’m sure she’ll start coming around to the idea of my peoples’ Runnin’ Day. But…”
I now realized that Fehnel was completely focussed on something off in the distance.
“Oh,” I replied. “That…”
I had done well to ignore it up until this point. In fact, if I tried hard enough, I was even able to keep it completely hidden from my peripheral. But the truth was, no matter where I went or what I did to distract myself, there was no denying that it was there – that She was there.
At the opposite end of the dome, an onyx terror lurked over the ignorant, complacent masses. Its wicked enormity great, and the pressure about it even greater. The form it took was terrifying. An alien pose, unknown to the mind, originated from a people feared by many. Its peering eyes descended as domineering malevolence. And from its onyx chassis, a message rang clear as a day personally forged by Solgalick themself: Even if I couldn’t see her; if I shielded herself from my sight all day… No matter what, She could always see me.
“I’m gonna be honest Sylvan, I did not take you as someone that had a thing for Magister Jeela.”
I shot back quicker than a bolt of lighting. “I DO NOT HAVE A ‘THING’ FOR–” before stopping myself short.
Luckily, my voice had not been noticed among the now loud, chattering crowd about us. Which was good. I was pretty sure that my voice had cracked into an almost childishly high pitch. Taking a deep breath, I yanked my composure back, and stuffed an air of professionalism back into my voice yet again.
“I a-appologize…” I mumbled out, my head shrinking between my shoulders.
“No worries!” Fehnel replied. She couldn’t help but let a few chuckles pour into her voice. “I was just teasin’ is all. But seriously, you’re gonna have to whip up a pretty darn good explanation… Else I’m boutta start thinkin’ that what I just said was true.”
I took a deep breath, which soon shifted into a long-winded sigh. “Listen… It was part of the deal, alright? I’m not proud of it, but it’s there now, and unless you’ve got a herd of Mazic heavylifters at the beck and call, I can’t get rid of it.”
“Part of the deal?” Fehnel repeated.
“It’s my end of the bargain for us being able to have this Inverter during the event. And no, before you ask, it was not worth it,” I explained.
I could do nothing but feel immense shame for the inconvenience. To have something so overbearing, so shamelessly grandstanding placed in the middle of what was supposed to be a quaint event about cross-cultural understanding… It was beyond disrespectful to Fehnel’s original request. It took something that the poor woman had been planning for who knew how long, and brutally morphed it into a shadow of its former self. Into nothing but an ego trip for a politician that probably already surrounded themselves with weed biters and paw lickers.
“Listen…” I said, lowering both my tail and ears in respect. “Fehnel, I apologize profusely for allowing that thing to be placed here. I should have put my paw down and just hosted the event inside like we planned. But it’s too late now. I’m really sorry…”
But to my surprise, Fehnel had not been paying attention to my display of humility. Instead, her focus was still on that of the statue.
“I think it looks neat!” she said in a cheery tone.
“Y-you do?” I mumbled back.
“Well yeah!” She wagged her tail to assure me. “Sure it’s a bit, err… unconventional… But I think it’s got quite a bit of charm to it!”
“That’s… one way of saying it…”
“Besides, it might not be the worst thing to have somethin’ from the Magisters here with us,” Fehnel continued to think out loud. “Sorta gives this whole event a kinda official feel, y’know? Like it’s lettin’ everyone here know that the Yotul have got just as much right bein’ under the same heedin’ ears of the Governor as anyone else. Sure, dependin’ on where you are and who you ask, that may or may not be a good thing. But it at least means it’s harder to ignore us now. Heck, might even convince some of the people ‘round here to open up a little to the other parts of us.”
“Well… so long as you’re happy with it, I suppose?” I worded awkwardly.
If I had been completely honest with myself, I was expecting the slightest bit more… Well, I wasn’t sure. Perhaps anger? Annoyance? Unrelenting grief that invariably led to locking yourself in a closet, crying? But there was no sign of that in the rusty Yotul’s eyes. As she stared up at the onyx marvel, I couldn’t help but feel as though there was no sign of the negativity I had anticipated in the slightest. Instead, all that remained was that of a solemn pride. Maybe she was lying to herself. Like it was some sort of coping mechanism that helped her work around this unwelcome development in her plans. But regardless, the end result remained. And I was left feeling relieved at being able to avoid yet another hurdle.
‘Fehnel really knows how to look at the optimistic side of things, I guess… Good. I could really use some more of that around here.’
“Feel free to run along now, Sylvan,” she said, waving me a satisfied flick of the tail. “I’ll keep waitin’ here so I can greet the other guests. And I do hope you and Kahnta can bring out the main course whenever it’s ready. I wanna make sure everything’s ready to blow Kadew’s fur off whenever she decides to get here.”
I had to force myself not to flash a Human smile in return. She and the rest of the partygoers had no idea what was coming. And to a certain extent, neither did I. He did mention he had some sort of “surprise” coming, after all. But I always trusted Kenta for his word, and knowing what my chef was capable of, it never occurred to me once that it wouldn’t live up to the expectations. In fact, I was counting on him to exceed them.
I turned around and headed back to the kitchen. It was time to get the real party started.
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