The profusion of identical green tents at this spring’s anti-Israel protests struck many as odd. “Why is everybody’s tent the same?,” asked New York mayor Eric Adams. Like others, the mayor suspected “a well-concerted organizing effort” driving the protests. More recent reporting shows a concerted push behind the Gaza protest movement. But it is not as simple as a single organization secretly rallying protesters or buying tents. Instead, the movement’s most determined activists represent a network of loosely linked far-left groups. Some are openly affiliated with well-known progressive nonprofits; others work in the shadows.
The movement also draws on diverse but generous sources of financial backing. Those funding streams may soon be augmented by the federal government. As I chronicled last year in a Manhattan Institute report, “The Big Squeeze: How Biden’s Environmental Justice Agenda Hurts the Economy and the Environment,” the administration’s massive program of environmental justice grants seems designed to prioritize the funding of highly ideological local groups. The Inflation Reduction Act, for example, earmarks $3 billion for “environmental and climate justice block grants” intended for local nonprofits. Today, hundreds of far-left political groups include language about environmental issues and “climate justice” in their mission statements. If just a fraction of planned grants flows to such groups, the effect will be a gusher of new funding for radical causes.
As the Gaza protests spread across U.S. college campuses, many observers noted an eerie uniformity among them. From one campus to the next, protesters operated in disciplined cadres, keeping their faces covered and using identical rote phrases as they refused to talk with reporters. The Atlantic noted the strangeness of seeing elite college students “chanting like automatons.” Students held up keffiyeh scarves or umbrellas to block the view of prying cameras and linked arms to halt the movements of outsiders. At Columbia University and elsewhere, protesters formed “liberated zones,” from which “Zionists” were excluded. Around the edges of the encampments, the more militaristic activists donned helmets and goggles and carried crude weapons, apparently eager to mix it up with police or counter-protesters. We’ve seen these tactics before—notably during the “mostly peaceful” Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, when full-time agitators helped ignite riots, set up a police-free (and violence-plagued) zone in Seattle, and laid nightly siege to Portland, Oregon’s federal courthouse.
In a remarkable work of reporting, Park MacDougald recently traced the tangled roots of organizations backing pro-jihad protests, both on and off campuses. These include Antifa and other networks of anonymous anarchists, along with “various communist and Marxist-Leninist groups, including the Maoist Revolutionary Communist Party, the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), and the International ANSWER coalition,” MacDougald writes. Higher up the food chain, we find groups openly supported by America’s growing class of super-rich tech execs or the anti-capitalist heirs of great fortunes. For example, retired tech mogul Neville Roy Singham, who is married to Code Pink founder Jodie Evans, funds The People’s Forum, a lavish Manhattan resource center for far-left groups. As the Columbia protests intensified, the center urged members to head uptown to “support our students.” Following the money trail of other protest groups, MacDougald finds connections to the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Ford Foundation, and—surprising no one—the George Soros-backed Tides Foundation.
Of course, the current wave of anti-Israel protests also involves alliances with pro-Hamas organizations such as Students for Justice in Palestine. Last November, Jonathan Schanzer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies testified to the House Ways and Means Committee that SJP and similar groups have deep ties to global terrorist organizations, including Hamas.
For many keffiyeh-wearing protestors, however, a recently professed concern for Palestinians is just the latest in a long list of causes they believe justify taking over streets and college quads. In Unherd, Mary Harrington dubs this medley of political beliefs the “omnicause,” writing that “all contemporary radical causes seem somehow to have been absorbed into one.” Today’s leftist activists share an interlocking worldview that sees racism, income inequality, trans intolerance, climate change, alleged police violence, and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts all as products of capitalism and “colonialism.” Therefore, the stated rationale for any individual protest is a stand-in for the real battle: attacking Western society and its institutions.
In the U.S., this type of general-purpose uprising goes back at least to the riots at the 1999 meeting of the World Trade Organization in Seattle. In those protests, mainstream liberal factions—including labor unions and environmentalists—were joined by “black bloc” anarchists and other radicals eager to engage in “direct action” against police. That pattern—relatively moderate demonstrators providing a friendly envelope for hard-core disruptors—formed the template for many later protests: the Occupy Wall Street encampments in 2011, demonstrations following the police shooting of Michael Brown in 2014, 2016’s Standing Rock anti-pipeline movement, and of course, the calamitous summer of 2020.
These uprisings were not entirely spontaneous. In some cases, activists spend months planning mass actions—for example, against economic summits or political conventions—and can recruit street fighters from across the country. In others, an event, such as George Floyd’s death, sparks popular protests involving neophyte demonstrators. Those attract far-left activists, who swoop in to organize and expand the struggle, often tilting it toward more radical action.
That has certainly been the case at the college Gaza-paloozas. At Columbia, the New York Times spotted a woman old enough to be a student’s grandmother in the thick of the action as protesters barricaded that school’s Hamilton Hall. The woman was 63-year-old Lisa Fithian, a lifetime activist, who Portland’s alternative weekly Street Roots approvingly calls “a trainer of mass rebellion.” A counter-protester trying to block the pro-Hamas demonstrators told NBC News, “She was right in the middle of it, instructing them how to better set up the barriers.” Fithian told the Times she’d been invited to train students in protest safety and “general logistics.” She claims to have taken part in almost every major U.S. protest movement going back to the 1999 “Battle in Seattle.”
America’s radical network has plenty of Lisa Fithians, with the time and resources to travel the country educating newcomers about the “logistics” of disruptive protests. And these activists appear to have played key roles in the college occupations. The New York City Police Department says nearly half the demonstrators arrested on the Columbia and City University of New York (CUNY) campuses on April 30 were not affiliated with the schools. One hooded Hamilton Hall occupier—photographed scuffling with a Columbia custodian before getting arrested—turned out to be 40-year-old James Carlson, heir to a large advertising fortune. According to the New York Post, Carlson lives in a $2.3 million Park Slope townhouse and has a long rap sheet. For example, in 2005, he was arrested in San Francisco during the violent “West Coast Anti-Capitalist Mobilization and March Against the G8.” (Those charges were dropped.)
For a quarter-century now, Antifa and other anarchist networks have worked to refine tactics and share lessons following each major action. At Columbia, UCLA, and other schools, authorities found printouts of a “Do-It Yourself Occupation Guide” and similar documents. The young campus radicals are eager to learn from their more experienced elders. And, like the high-achieving students they are, they follow directions carefully. MacDougald asked Kyle Shideler, the director for homeland security and counterterrorism at the Center for Security Policy, about the mystery of the identical tents. There was no need for a central group to distribute hundreds of tents, Shideler said. Instead, “the organizers told [students] to buy a tent, and sent around a Google Doc with a link to that specific tent on Amazon. So they all went out and bought the same tent.”
In other words, America’s radical class has gotten very skilled at recruiting and instructing new activists—even from among the ranks of elite college students with a good deal to lose. How much more could this movement accomplish with hundreds of millions in federal dollars flooding activist groups around the country?
From its first week in office, the Biden administration has trumpeted its goal to funnel more environmental spending toward “disadvantaged communities that have been historically marginalized,” partly by issuing grants to grassroots organizations. Previous environmental justice (EJ) grant programs were small in scope. But, with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in August 2022, a huge pool of grant money became available. EPA administrator Michael Regan told reporters, “We’re going from tens of thousands of dollars to developing and designing a program that will distribute billions.”
More than a year and a half later, it remains hard to nail down just where the Biden administration’s billions in EJ grants will wind up. Money is being distributed through a confusing variety of programs, and the process of identifying recipients is ongoing. To help outsource the job of sifting through proposals, the EPA last year designated 11 institutions as “Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmakers.” These groups are empowered to make subgrants directly to community organizations, under streamlined EPA oversight. In all, the Biden administration has entrusted these outfits with distributing a staggering $600 million in funding. The money is expected to start flowing this summer.
The EPA’s grantmakers include a number of educational institutions and left-leaning nonprofits. For example, the EPA chose Fordham University as its lead grantmaker in the New York region. Fordham, in turn, lists as partners two nonprofits that oppose immigration enforcement. (One, the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, states on its website: “NJAIJ believes in the human right to migrate, regardless of citizenship or political status.”) Neither group claims expertise in environmental issues. Given that the IRA’s eligibility requirements for EJ grants are extremely vague, however, perhaps that’s not a problem. Almost any activity that could help “spur economic opportunity for disadvantaged communities” (in the words of Biden’s EJ executive order) might qualify.
Perhaps the most prominent—and problematic—EPA grantmaker is the Berkeley, California-based Climate Justice Alliance. The CJA is a consortium of mostly far-left activist groups. It describes its mission as working for “regenerative economic solutions and ecological justice—under a framework that challenges capitalism and both white supremacy and hetero-patriarchy.” The group is a vigorous proponent of the omnicause, embracing almost every left-wing concern as a manifestation of climate change. For example, the CJA website proclaims: “The path to climate justice travels through a free Palestine.” MacDougald notes that the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, one of CJA’s affiliated groups, “organized an illegal anti-Israel protest in the Capitol Rotunda in December at which more than 50 activists were arrested.”
The CJA website also includes a section dedicated to the cause known as Stop Cop City. It refers to an effort to halt the construction of an 85-acre police and firefighter training center outside Atlanta. Rag-tag activists from around the country have gathered around the facility since 2021. They have repeatedly battled with police—sometimes with fireworks and Molotov cocktails—and used bolt cutters to enter the site and torch construction equipment. (CJA’s Stop Cop City page features a cartoon illustration of three childlike activists; one brandishes bolt cutters.) The group also backs a legal defense fund for activists arrested in attacks on the training center or in other protests. For those looking for more inspiration, CJA links to an interview with former Black Panther and self-described revolutionary Angela Davis.
The Alliance is not an ideological outlier in Biden’s EJ coalition. On the contrary, when the White House assembled its White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC), a panel of outside experts meant to provide “horizon-expanding EJ advice and recommendations,” it chose CJA co-chair Elizabeth Yeampierre to help lead the committee. Like other members of the panel, she sees environmental issues through an ideological, not a scientific, lens. “Climate change is the result of a legacy of extraction, of colonialism, of slavery,” Yeampierre told Yale Environment 360. As a group, radical EJ activists tend not to focus on pragmatic ways to reduce pollution and carbon emissions; for them, the real goal is overturning what they see as an exploitative economic and political system. Since these are the voices the White House chose to help shape its EJ policies, we can assume this worldview will dominate grantmaking decisions.
In February 2023, House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer, along with fellow committee member Pat Fallon, wrote to EPA administrator Regan asking for more information on the EPA’s grant programs. They noted that the EPA’s own studies of EJ grants issued in previous years showed sloppy supervision. According to an EPA report, an earlier version of the program funded projects that did “not logically lead to the desired environmental and/or public health [result].” Without better oversight and more clearly defined goals, the congressmen wrote, the EPA’s EJ grant machine risks becoming simply a “slush fund for far-left organizations.”
Since then, the administration has done little to reassure skeptics. To the contrary, the EPA has put at least one far-left organization—CJA—in charge of distributing $50 million in grant money. No doubt, many of the EPA grants will go to worthwhile projects. But money is fungible. A group that gets a large grant to, say, clean up dirty parks or teach children about recycling will also be able to hire more staff and divert more resources to political action.
With graduation behind them, most of the anti-Israel college protesters have stowed away their keffiyehs and moved on to summer vacations or internships. But the peripatetic activists who helped guide and intensify those uprisings are doubtless already planning their next actions. After all, two political conventions are looming. This fall, the college protests will likely flare up again, though by then perhaps focused on a different facet of the omnicause. And, with hundreds of millions in fresh funding flowing through the activist ecosystem, the groups that quietly nurture extremists—like those who firebombed “Cop City,” or who chant “Intifada Revolution!,” or who block bridges in the name of “climate”—will be more emboldened than ever.
A Slush Fund for Radical Protesters? City Journal (city-journal.org)
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I'll be leaving uni for home in a few days time, but I just got off the phone after talking with my parents and siblings and had felt triggered about the past 2 years and how I almost commited suicide because of all the stress and pressure of putting up with what had transpired. For context, I'm 24 (F) in my last year of uni, and I have two brothers 30(M) and (5M) who live with my parents (Both in their late 50's), who live in the country side. I had been diagnosed with heart disease when I was in highschool and since then things have been tough for me, with losing all my weight and having to go through three different schools just to complete high school because of my health, but since then I have got the hang of taking care of myself and my symptoms, I have gained weight, made it to uni (which was a suprise not only to myself but my teachers as well) and am almost done with uni, and I could not be prouder. However, this past week has been a roller coaster, with thoughts of committing suicide lurking in every corner, I didn't know why at first but after talking to my parents on the phone bits of memories came flooding back to me about how I thought I reached my point of living and that my heart was gonna give out any moment or that it would be better if I'd just off myself with that sharp knife in the corner by slitting my wrists open. You see, my mum had this really bad lung infection the Christmas of 2022 while I was home for the holidays, and I took on most of the responsibility of taking care of her from 5am in the morning to the next morning where I'd sleep at 3am after ensuring she was okay, then wake up to do it all again. Don't get me wrong, I loved taking care of my mum, it made me happy that I could be there when she was at her weakest to lend her the strength and care she deserved after taking care of me all these years. It all happened one afternoon when my brother has come home afted being gone all day and did not even receive an earful from my parents (or mainly my dad) like I did for being out for just 2 hours to unwind from taking care of my mum and nursing her back to health all while not having any contact with friends or the outside world then our yard for almost 2 months, I was called selfish by my dad and told that my actions were stupid that if my mum would die I'd look stupid crying for her just like my mum's sister who chose to go out and meet friends the day her father died, that I was supposed to be at home with mum taking care of her. My dad is a stay at home dad, my older brother dropped out of college and my mum is the sole bread winner of the family. While my mum was sick, my dad would get groceries, attend to church meetings, ensure the yard was kept clean lend a hand when it was needed with caring for mum while my brother ate, slept on time, had time to meet friends, throw his plates in the sink without washing them and not lending a hand with helping mum. Meanwhile I spent my days bathing her, dressing her, feeding her, massaging her body, changing her hot water in her mugs to ensure she stayed hydrated because that's all she could drink without coughing , cleaning her sleeping area and sanitizing it everytime she had to go to bed after a warm bath as well as watching over her as she slept to ensure her pillows were placed in a way that didn't obstruct her airflow all while also ensuring that everyone's laundry was done and put away, food was cooked and served, plates were washed and put away, my little brother was cared for also while doing part of my dad's work around the house to ensure he got enoughg sleep at night, since we lived by the country side there were a lot of chores to do around the house as most of the things were done manually or by hand. I did this until she got back on her feet and was able to do little things around the house without my help. After a week or two when my mum had improved told my parents that I'll be gone the next day after lunch to see my friend and that normally before mum got sick Friday was a free day for me that I get an off day of doing house work. So the day came, I dressed up (I felt pretty after not being able to do that in a whole) and left after ensuring that my big brother was home to assist mum whenever she needed and also checked on my mum to see if she was okay and that she didn't need my help before I stepped out of the house at 2pm. The walk to my friend's house felt like heaven, with sun in my face, the breeze on my face and the skip in my step. I spent the afternoon talking, laughing and having a good time with my friend before going home at 5pm, happy and satisfied that the day had brought me so much joy and relieved my stress. I got and came in with a big Hello, to everyone in the house, my dad didn't say anything, he just sat there looking so mad. And that's when he proceeded to call me selfish and compare me to my mother's sister all while my mother and brother sat there saying nothing, I atleast thought they would've spoken up to say that I needed the break, but they didn't. I cried as ai stood there listening to my dad utter out harsh words until I couldn't listen to him anymore. I proceeded muster up a less shaky voice and said the following "I apologies for going out to see my friend and I apologies mum and dad it won't happen again, but the thing is I needed this, after taking care of mum and the house I just needed a break. My brother gets to go out, meet friend and talk to them and even stay out till late but he never gets scolded but when I do it's different. I do everything in this house, I take care of mum, wash all of your clothes, cook the food, feed you all and even wash up after everything and you big brother can't even wash your own plate or lend a hand. Oh and dad I spend the time I get after mum finally rests during the day to do some of your chores to cut down the amount of time you spend doing them in order for you to get a good night's rest and I go to sleep early in the morning just to wake up after 2 hours and do it all again. So I'm sorry that I had to go out, but I really needed it." After saying all that, I went up to my room and cried the whole night. The next morning I came downstairs at 10am to find my dad washing up and my mum on her phone, it was a quiet day, I thought my brother was in his room, then the we got heard that he had actually left in the morning to go visit my aunt who is a 30 minute drive from our house, where he spent the day hanging out with friends and cousins before coming back home at 6pm with my grandma who came to spend a week with us. My dad upon hearing the news that my brother was had left in the morning just shook his head and said that my brother should have stayed and lend a hand around the house, but after my brother got back I was hoping he'd get the same scolding my dad gave me, well that never happened. I went to my mum and asked her why wasn't daddy scolding my big brother and she did not say anything so I spoke up and said aloud, "wow, so I get a scolding for staying out for just 3 hours but he gets to stay out for an entire day without helping out around here and he gets welcomed home?" I then went to my room because I didn't want them to see the tears that started to fall, then it hit me when I was in my room crying, everything that happened over the years on how differently I was treated, my accomplishments my birthday's and even my sickness. It hit me how differently I was treated, my brother had big graduation foods prepared and his graduations were celebrated from primary all the way to high school and little courses while I just had a well done from my parents even after taking in prices since I was in elementary, thought they'd take me out to eat a celebratory lunch after my high school graduation because it was the hardest part of my life to pass but all I got was a disgusted look and a 'thats what your wearing?' after at my graduation after I took my gown off to take pictures. I can't remember the time I blew out candles for my birthday or when a party was thrown for me, but my brother somehow has a cake for most of his birthdays and he had a really big party once with four big cakes, a whole roasted pig, lots of food and even had all his friends invited. When i reaches the age of 14, the same age he was when my parents threw him a party, I thought I'd have the same too, but I didn't, and still had not one party until I turned 24. The day I turned 23, was a month after my mum got better, I spent the whole day cooking for everyone, was wished happy birthday after realising it was my birthday, I then told them I'd come down to eat later after I take a nap and that they should serve the food and leave mine on the dining table. I came down to find they ate most of the food, and I was only placed only a bit of food in my plate. I got mad and hit my plate on the table with just a little food spilling over, my dad saw this and screamed at me and told me that my future husband would beat me up and that my life will be miserable and bad because of what I did. Well you guessed it, I went back to my room crying, and that blade in my bag looked so tempting against my wrists. I also remember when my brother dropped out of college that I was blamed by my parents, with my dad telling me on my way back from the grocery store that I'm the reason my brother ended up like how he is because they show me too much favour growing up. And when my big brother was diagnosed with bipolar disorder after dropping out of college after misuse of alcohol and drugs my mum religiously took to the internet to search for diets, information and everything to do with it until he became better and she continued doing so for every little sickness like flu, meanwhile my heart disease was never on her search list. She even signed up for YouTube videos and lessons on everything to do with my brother health, and mind you my heart disease was diagnosed 6 years before he got bipolar. I left for school after the holidays, still exhausted and stressed from the entire experience. My body had reached its lowest point, I could feel my heart was tired, I was ready to die in my bed in my dorm, I had made peace that if my heart passed out before while rest I'd be okay with it. That's third year of uni was hell for me, my body never really recovered, I kept getting sick, had malaria countless times as well as typhoid three times in a row the same year. The stress combined with with the state of my immunity caused me to be sent to various medical officers and clinics to get my blood samples and x-rays to find what was wrong with me, why after being treated and cured my body felt sick. They thought I had tuberculosis, others thought I had STI's but all tests came back negative, and mind you all these tests cost money and my parents weren't happy with what they were spending for me to get this tests. It came to a point when I called my mum to tell her that I feel really sick and I'm stressed with my assignments, only for her to say "you're always sick, everytime we call you're sick. Don't you know we're tired of this, stop trying to get sick!". I'm tired of getting sick too mum, I thought to myself as I got off the call and stared at the pile of medicine Infront of me prescribed by the doctor as well as my heart meds, and they were too much, my mum's words over the phone kept playing in my head I I got my the blade on my study table and pressed it into my left wrist lightly drew it over to cut the skin, the pain felt soothinf, calming even, then I wondered how it would feel if I placed the knife on my study table and fell on it to pierce my heart, would the pain feel good? Would the thoughts stop? Would mum stop complaining? Would they mis me? What would happen to my body? Then I thought better of it and wrote in my dairy ro stop myself from doing ealxactly that then I was distracted by my medicine Infront of me with thoughts of "they would never know if you take all these and overdose, it'll be a painless death." The remainder of third year continued like these, with sickness and suicide thoughts until I went for job internship at a company I've always wanted to work in and life was good because i didnt for home for the holidays and I spent the holidays at school in my little dorm room with friends who looked out for me. Then 2024 rolled around and I'm properly rested, no stress and I'm happy. That's is until a month ago when my parents bought me my ticket to go back home to see them for the holidays that I spiralled, I had completely locked those memories away, but after every phone call this past month I'm left a crying mess with flashes of words said and feelings felt during that time and I go back to thinking of suicide. I nearly commited suicide on the 16th of may, i was truly gonna go throught with it, I wanted to so bad if only I did not see the bible verses in front of me amd if my roommates hadn't come back early. But I know, if I do go home now, I might actually commit suicide, if something like what happened in the past happens again, or if they say another harsh word, I wouldn't think twice of dying, because I'm done, I truly am.

So this might come out a little sporadic but I'm typing as it the conversations come out. Also on mobile apologies for format. Also I've tried to talk to them about my wife's feelings about being here but they brush it off and said well suck it up.
So after struggling to keep up with rent our landlord said to have 1300 by last friday or be gone. We had no way of coming up with 1300 in 5 days (she told us the monday of that week). So we told her we would be gone so we started packing. Called my parents to see if we could temporarily move in with them and they said yes, it should be noted they have spent the better part this year pushing to have me, my wife and our daughter move in with them rent free. My wife and I are both pretty private so the thought of living with other people was too much even if it was family. Being our only choice I had to reach out, we spent monday afternoon through Wednesday night packing our home of 3.5 years. They came down thursday and we started loading the truck (just my wife and i) while they kept our daughter busy. After the truck is loaded and they have our mattress and a few other items loaded in their truck they take us out to eat, we then take the truck to the storage unit, unload and make our way to their house 2.5 hours away.
My parents and I have a semi strenuous relationship, being they like to control and guilt trip me since I'm a only child and my dad is now disabled. Their on fixed income. My wife and I spent the better part of the next 4 days applying for jobs through various job websites. It's been fine up until Tuesday when we head 45 minutes away to the nearest town with staffing agencies. We fill out info and were told to wait for a call. That was about 3 or 4 hours, knowing we did all we could we headed back. We get back to my parents house(really a trailer on some land) the first thing out of my moms mouth was "yall are back already. I figured you would make a day of it" mind you we've been applying online to anything and everything but so far no calls. As I've already checked the jobs in town (as small as it is) only accept online applications, it's not like we could fill out paper ones and et hired on the spot. My wife and I spend the rest of the day in our room still applying for what we can find. My parents want us to sit out in the living room with them, we do for a little bit until it's time to put our daughter to sleep.
Wednesday comes and it goes pretty much like tuesday, along with the sly comments when we get back, except this time we head another 30 minutes away to another town and we have a interview set for this coming monday.
Thursday comes and we dont go out because we've already hit the staffing agencies even remotely close to us, which any job we get requires up to a hour of driving one way. Now this trailer is hoooot and the ac doesnt work all that well on our side so my dad and I take a window unit out of his work shed and fit it in the window of our room. All that was said before we spent half a day getting to this point was any extra electricity we use we would pay the difference, that was fine with me. My parents are older and get cold easily so setting the ac temperature to 78 is normal for them but again the ac sucks on our side and we're sweating our asses off the previous nights.
Meanwhile they have been pressuring us to spend our free time in the living room to watch movies with them, while they have their faces buried in their phones and not paying any attention to anything else.
So now its Friday, exactly 1 week from our first full day out here. We're down to 1 vehicles right now and the engine temp gauge starts going out as we ran into town for baby stuff. We make it home and I noticed I missed a call from my mom. I call her back and she asks where we are at, I said we just got back because the car was acting up. " well I thought yall would he out applying for jobs" I said again we've been applying for jobs for a week now. "Well you need to figure something out soon especially since your car is messing up". So then I spend the next 4 hours helping my dad around the property and listen to him complain that we've been using too much electricity with the window unit and they cant afford a $500 electric bill. We've kept the ac at 70 and it barely comes on with 2 fans going. We have a 2 year old and she doesnt need to be sweating in her sleep. I say ok and try to move on. After taking a shower and laying down to rest I get up and grab some leftovers from the previous night. Now before I continue I should mention that when I was still living at home while my wife and started dating, my parents would ambush me after getting home with 2 or 3 hour discussions on how my behavior is unacceptable. Meaning me going out with my girlfriend at the time, now wife and walking through the park after work or going on a date on our days off. This continued until we moved in together. Even me moving out was a problem when I didnt want to take towels and cookware with me because we already bought some. They always guilt trip me into helping them with something. Now after a 1.5 years of my wife and I living together my parents lost their house(my mom didnt tell my dad until a week before they had to leave) she knew for a while but never got a job or asked for help. So my wife and I got 1k each loans from work to help them move(which they have paid back) but then spent the next 3 days helping them move 20 years worth of living 2.5 hours away.
My wife has tried to get along with them but they just rub her the wrong way with comments, behavior and attitudes.
But now we have a kid so I feel compelled to go out there as often as possible so they can spend time with their grandchild.
Now cut to friday(yesterday now) and I'm heating up leftovers. As soon as I set my bowl on the table they come sit down, oh joy another round table discussion. They start off with how we sleep in too late(9 or 10am is too late I guess) we dont spend time with them, also a lie because we spent 6 hours in the living room the day before and they barely acknowledged us, we dont seem to be doing anything. Also a lie, coming straight from their mouths, they dont believe we have been putting any effort to find a job since we dont do it in the living room and tell them watch what yall want we're putting in applications. I cannot make this up. How I have to ask if they need any chores or anything done around the house to help out. Also a lie because I ask do you need help with dinner, do you need help with cleaning up, and my dad has been asking for my help for every little job he wants to do around the house. I may be your child but I'm not a child. They dont like how we sit in our room, for maybe half a day, I've spent more time doing shit around the house or looking for a job than I have spent chilling with my wife and daughter. How we dont seem to have a plan and their not going to be paying our way, now mind you they've been hounding us to move in, we have to find jobs, shit doesnt come by easily anymore. One thing they kept saying before was yall dont have to come in the living room with us, you can come and go as you please, that was bullshit. As far as places reaching out to us for interviews it's only been 5 business days since we've been here, between the 2 of us we have nearly 150 applications out and nearly all of those are 45-1.5hrs away. We do have 2 interviews set for monday.
So they wait until I've sat down to eat since I've been busy all day and haven't eaten to ambush me again with a talk. They love to control me by guilt, before it was fine because it was just me dealing with them since my wife refuses to play their games but now your trying to do this shit in front of my wife and daughter.
Side note I told my mom not to feed our daughter with her spoon the night before, " well we've been doing you just havent been here to see it" and continued to do it. I started to raise my voice but my wife shook her head no.
Where did all the promises before go to? Why is it now we're just lazy bums sleeping all day(lie). I have a plan, I know what I need to do, as I'm telling them this I get the "dont be so defensive"line. I'm not being defensive, I'm telling you we have interviews set and applications out, it's a waiting game. Anytime in that discussion I say something that disproves what their saying they turn it around to well that's not the point that's exactly the point, what I said proves that your talking out your ass but you sont see it that way. Earlier in the day for the 3rd time in 2 days they berate me about the extra electricity. Why offer to have a window unit put in if you sidnt expect us to use it. We're not talking 60 degrees 24/7. 70 at night(which is still hot in the room but bearable and off during the day.
Also my wife doesnt feel comfortable eating around people, so really the only time she eats is dinner at the table(mandatory apparently) or if I bring food in the room, with my parents behavior its makes her uncomfortable to be out in the living room(where the spend nearly all day) to grab a snack. I get it, your in someone else's house you dont want to dig around the fridge. So now my wife is barely eating.
I've been trying to keep a relationship going for the sake of my daughter but this shit is the last straw. I feel like your trying to drive a wedge between my wife and I(like they've been trying to under the guise of have we want to spend time with yall but making sly comments to piss us off) my wife is ready to leave and I'm with her. I cant do this game with them anymore.
Yall offer help with one hand and have a knife in the other. Everything has strings attached to it.
Over the years my dad has giving me some thing she doesnt use anymore. A old laptop (by today's standards but usable) Xbox one which I still use A old digital camera Old tablet with cracked screen Set of battery powered drills(heavily used) These are the only items they bring up and ask if I still have them or I sold them. They are all in storage, I should know by now any gift will be used against me later on by accusing me of selling them.
So now I'm on reddit after my wife and I talking about the entire week, 1 week, 7 days of being here. Until she fell asleep about 1am. I'm still up pissed off and typing this. I'm not sure what to do, we talked about gettig 2 checks and getting a pay by the week hotel to get out of here quickly or try to deal with it for 2 months until we save enough to rent a place(security and at least 2 months rent)
I'm ready to ghost them and move on, my behavior is suddenly a problem when it doesnt involve them.
Side side note, for our daughters birthday we decided not to do a party and just the 3 of us go to zoo. We had a blast, lot of laughs and pictures, it was a great day until my dad took offense that he wasnt invited. Nobody wss invited because it was the 3 of us. But again everything has to be about them.
So thank you if you made it this far, I may add more as it comes to me but this is the basic idea of my situation.

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Shoes: Insert small sachets or solid air fresheners into shoes to eliminate foot odor.

First/Previous
“How’d you think that was going to go?” asked a voice from the other side of the door.
I lay on the bunk and stared at the ceiling; my head throbbed. The place where I’d been grazed stung whenever I touched my fingers to it. A bullet had—by whoever’s grace—scraped my scalp and traced a line from the far corner of my right eyebrow. It'd only been three days and it still caused pain. No doctors came and I was certain there would be infection—if not plain infection, then it could always be the worser: skitterbugs. I ached still. I had never fully recovered, not like how I should have.
The day of anger, as I’d begun to think of it in my mind, had caused no great ruckus beyond a few dead men. Two were Bosses, but who knew if they’d announce that as casually as they’d surely announce my execution. Perhaps they’d string me up alongside thieves. A good thief and a bad. What a riot; I deserved no thieves, of course.
What was I? Some great hero? Some idiot was more likely. I wanted misery to befall those that perpetrated it themselves and there I was, more miserable. Perhaps the wrath in my heart came from some mutation; the demon Mephisto resurrected me (so said the demon) and I’d begun to accept it. It was the reason for my poor state, surely, and the more I thought on it, the more I believed it was true; it felt true right down to my bones. The truth hurt or it was age and I rose from the cot I lay on; I’d been detained in a room beside the one I’d visited Andrew many months prior. They’d starved me, rattled the door to try and frighten me, and they’d wasted water on my head to keep me from good sleep.
I did not respond to the voice from the other side of the door and the object rattled in its frame and the voice came again, this time angrier, “Really? How did you think that was going to go? Crazy bastard! Thought you’d put the hurt on the Bosses? Thought you’d kill us at our worst? First, it’s that explosion. You have something to do with that? No! First, it was Harold’s daughter running off!” The voice on the other side of the door grew with mirth as it did with anger. “I’d seen you around town a bit. Thought the Bosses always liked you. Huh. Boss Harold mentioned you at his parties and said how you were a smart fella’, a good fella’, and there you killed him. Stone cold.” The man which spoke was a jailor that tortured me in those dreamlike days I spent locked in their prison, and he seemed personally affronted. “So first it’s the explosions; steam or dust rose out of cracks in the ground you know—some thought hell was rising up, but the Bosses put those thoughts to bed. God, what’s it with the likes of you? The explosions and now I’ve lost an eye and its because of the skitterbugs. You probably brought that on!” The voice muttered and then the door shook in its frame again, seemingly from a hard kick. I wished I could see the face of the man throwing his tantrum. “Can’t wait to see you hang.”
“So, I’ll hang?” I asked the door. There was a long silence, and I was uncertain if I’d pitched my voice enough for the man on the other side to hear me. I opened my mouth to ask, “So-
“You’ll hang.” The man on other side seemed to knock his knuckles against the surface of the door. “Or you’ll die here.”
“What’s Maron said?”
“Don’t you worry about him.”
“What’s he said?”
“Said you’d probably appreciate the punishment that we’d put on you. Said you’re a sick man. Said you like speaking with devils and people like you only find pleasure in such things.”
“So, I won’t hang?”
“Oh, you’ll hang, sir. You’ll hang if I need to do it myself with no one else. If not that, I’ll be sure to put you under one way or another. Accidents happen.” He chuckled. “Maybe you’d enjoy it, but it doesn’t matter. Whatever enjoyment you find in your tortures won’t compare to what ideas I have.”
A long silence followed, and I watched dust motes dance in the air; the place was stagnant and even a breath caused a shift in their glide. I closed my eyes and tried to remember a better time. I thought of Suzanne. I thought of Gemma. What a time to be alive. I thought of the movies, the books, the musical cartridges that sung of yesteryears. How unlucky I’d been, of course. Something had changed in me though and it was totally refreshing. Perhaps it was in realizing the evils of my brothers was that of a man and not some otherworldly force, or perhaps it was a push that came from years of terrible inconsistencies. All that living in the past and so it was. It didn’t matter—the past. I’d been so busy with it that I’d been in a constant state of unliving. I’d known that always, of course—something new had come.
“You dozing off in there?” asked the jailor.
“Nah.”
“Good. Stay awake or I’ll be forced to stay you awake.”
I’d been reborn with a rage, justified or otherwise, and it was felt all over. It was a wild compulsion. All that time and it had been me that was brought back.
The wound on my head throbbed and I prodded it with a finger and brought the finger away and examined the digit; it was dried well enough, and I did not smell infection nor were there any of the accompanying symptoms of a fever or hallucination. I was me, through and through. For now.
The door banged. I didn’t bother an answer and the door banged again.
“Who’s there?” I asked, surprising myself with the sarcasm.
“Why’d you do it?” asked the jailor.
“You wanna’ ask me about it now?”
“Tell me.” The voice on the other side of the door was serious entirely.
“Bah!” “Bah to you! Why’d you do it?”
“Is there a reason to explain myself? If you knew better the things I knew, would it get you to unlock that door and let me walk free? Would it change your mind even?”
The jailor caught a laugh before responding. “Can’t say it would.”
“So, what’s it that you want? You won’t understand me, and I don’t think I’ve got the energies of persuasion to try.”
“Try.”
“You like the Bosses?”
“They’re okay. Keep me in work anyway. Keep people safe.” I slumped forward onto my knees where I sat and placed my elbows on my knees and watched the crack at the base of the door on the other side of the prison cell. “What’s it matter if they keep you in work? Think they care about you anymore than what you represent?”
“Huh?”
“I mean, you keep riffraff down and they like you for it. I wonder if they know you. You ever get invited to the feasts they hold at the hall? You ever worry about your water rations? You ever wonder why it is that so few of the women or men invited to the hall return? Children too, now that I think of it. They’d call those captured criminals, I know. Those brothers—the sheriff is to blame too—they’re bastards. You know they are.”
“Is that so? What’s that make me? A bastard too?”
“By proxy maybe.” I dryly chuckled. “What’s it matter? What do you want outta’ me anyhow? Some gratification? Some confession—you’ve gotten that already, ain’tcha? Maybe a repentance? Why don’t you call one of those Bosses on down from their throne and have them here on the other side of the door so I can apologize? Or call Lady and I’ll get her to channel some message to the afterlife and I’ll plead for forgiveness. That what you want? Now I’m a bad man and I know it, but it ain’t for the reasons you believe. What you want is belief that there’s a man under the skin of the monster you’ve projected? No, I won’t shoo away your boogeyman for you. It can’t be done, not from me.”
“You talk big for someone in your predicament. I like how you talk so holier. Like you’re talking down on me. I just wanted to know what made you want to go on a mad-killing spree the way you did.”
“Mm.” I cupped my hands together; as it was, my left knee shot off with pain and I tried to massage it to little comfort and stretched it out straight from my body. “When violence keeps you bound, violence is necessary to free yourself. That’s all I’ll say about it. If you hang me, then hang me. Spill my guts out for the birds and put a sack over my head so you won’t be sick by my face.”
“You’re a mouthy pig.”
I listened to the jailor’s footfalls disappear down the hall and finally it was totally quiet and all I could hear was the throb on my head. Lucky or unlucky? No, it wasn’t luck. I’d been marked. I was the payment, and I knew the price. The demon had my soul. Whatever protection it afforded me, I intended on using.
The image of that room continued over in my mind, with the peasantry (that’s what I saw them as then) knelt in front of the Bosses and the wall men, with the intense blood-smell, with the surprise on Maron’s face. Billy’s face. There was still a part of me, however small, that wanted to plead with him to change his ways. That wasn’t the part that welled up in me then though. The piece of me that wanted to see him die was what took over. It hadn’t been Maron that fired his gun; he’d still been fighting with his holster. I’d only taken a step in through the door and a spray of gunfire from one of the wall men’s rifles exploded and I was sure I was dead because I fell, and my vision went white. They should’ve put me down then.
I didn’t come too fully until I had a few goons on me, hauling me upright roughly under my arms. Maron didn’t say anything at first and those wall men took over; they shouted that I was alive still and I felt a hot gun barrel against my cheek.
“Stop!” shouted Maron. The Boss Sheriff stepped forward with his stilted gait and looked me over thoroughly. The gun barrel fell from my cheek, but they held me still; it wasn’t like I planned on fighting. “You got uglier,” said Boss Maron, “Really ugly.” His left eye, afflicted by the skitterbug infestation, had gone dead white with only the faintest trace of an iris; it dribbled pus.
I held his stare to the point that my eyes watered—whether from anger or sorrow or both—and my muscles tightened like an animal threatening to pounce. It was a ridiculous display.
“Lock him up,” said Boss Maron.
So, I was locked up and those uncounted days I was mildly tortured: sleep deprivation, pummeling, and sometimes they spit on me. It could have been worse. I’d seen worse.
The cell was numbingly quiet, and I continued to massage my knee, continued in thinking about how investing so much thought with the past twisted any future of mine into a dismal satire.
I could not tell how long it had been without sunlight and the jailor returned (he was bulbous and fattened and old but very strong—it could be sensed in how he carried himself) pushed through the door this time with a tray of diced potatoes, steamed but cold, and a metal cup of water. He sat them on the floor, stared at the tray there with his one good left eye, and it was like I could read his mind as he looked at the food there. He could destroy it; he jerked from the tray without saying a word to me then disappeared behind the door he closed. The jailor remained there outside.
Pride swelled in me momentarily before I pushed whatever silliness that was and devoured the food and drank the clear water. If it was poison, so be it. If it was poison, then all the problems of the world would disperse.
Again, the jailor pushed in through the door and bent to remove the tray and I was struck by the immediate thought of strangling him. So, I tried and threw myself at the man.
My hands felt the scruff around his throat, and I pressed hard with my fingers on his Adams apple. He’d lurched forward to lift the tray and he immediately came up with force, throwing me off him; my nails raked his cheek as I scrambled for purchase. He took the metal tray in both of his hands and thwapped me across the head—it rang, and I was stunned while he lifted back his right hand in a swing. In the dizziness, I momentarily caught a glimpse of the holster on his left hip and reached out dumbly for the revolver there. A meaty smack could be heard, and I didn’t even feel it when his fist met my face the second time. My head rocked and I fought to look upright, and his hand came again, and I put up my own hand in return; it was pushed away, and he continued at me, muttering epithets he found useful.
Once he was heaving and spitting, he left me on the cot and directly before slamming the door, he mentioned something about violence and how if I liked violence so much that he’d show it to me.
I nursed myself to sitting right-up and though adrenaline kept the pain away, I felt my face bruising already. There was no way for me to inspect the welts his hands had left, but I could guess their places by touch and how they thrummed with my heart.
Two days passed, if I counted them by the visits from the jailor and then Maron made his appearance to me, and I was surprised to see him with a leather eye patch over his left eye; he seemed ill on his feet and the jailor, though the man was there, did not move to stop Maron from entering the room and relieving me of my prison. He and the jailor roped my hands together in front of my pelvis and I didn’t fight.
Boss Maron stank of infection and yellow oozed from beneath his eye patch and he kept his cowboy hat pulled snugly over both his ears and did not speak so jovially—there were no crude jokes at my expense. A warmth radiated off him. The Boss carried my shotgun with him but made no remark on it. He marched me from the prison, and I met daylight, and it burned my eyes while I stared up into the reddish sky. Dust scattered from the nearest portion of wall and caught on the wind till it was carried and disappeared overhead, and I briefly thought how nice it must be to fly.
Golgotha stirred as ever, and people spoke loudly and candidly as I passed them by. Words came my way from passing faces like, “You kissed the devil’s ass!” or, “You sure are a monster, look at you!” and Maron pushed me on with the gun at my back, and I wavered on my legs like I was without any control.
“Is it true?” asked Boss Maron, “Did you kiss the devil’s ass?” He tilted the shotgun casually on his shoulder and kept me ahead of himself. He was taking me to hang—and making a big deal out of it too. “I know how you like to speak to them. The demons. I know how you conspire with them. I told them all how you do. Now they know I was right.”
What a rotten town it was, and it smelled like it. The atrophied muscles and diseased infections of those fine folks emanated in the air, flies buzzed around my head, bloated and doubtlessly happy from whatever corpse they’d sprung from.
“Say somethin’,” said Maron.
“What do you want?” I asked, watching my footfalls, ignoring the screeches of those on the sidelines; he marched me through the runways, past the onlookers which saw me with faces of twisted hatred. The tension was palpable—I could feel the venom off the eyes of those that watched. Blood red eyes which judged carelessly.
“I want you to say it,” said Maron; I felt the nudge of the shotgun at my back again and I stumbled forward, caught myself, carried on, “I want you to admit it to me. You’re like a mutant, ain’tcha? No better than any other monster. I knew it all them years. I seen it.” We took an alley and cretins followed behind; wall men flanked Maron and on either side of the narrow stretch there were faces made even with the wall, pressed there like they were afraid to be involved.
“Whatever you say, brother.”
“Don’t,” hissed Maron, “Don’t even.”
“What?” I spat the word, “Afraid they’ll treat you differently if they all know how close we are?” I felt the gun barrel press against my back, and I yelped out the words, “Hey! He’s my brother! My baby brother!” The barrel jabbed me in the spine, and I spilled forward, catching myself on one of those nearby faces. It was an old woman. She shoved me from her, and I flailed across the ground after trying to catch myself with my bound hands. Dirt met my face and exploded around me. I laughed, blinking through the dust. I spit too. He couldn’t kill me. Whatever black magic there was in me—bequeathed by Mephisto—refused me death. Maron lifted me with the help of his wall men, pinching the coat around my throat with his fist. He shoved me on, and we continued.
“You smell that?” I asked Maron.
“Stop talkin’. You might not be a man, but you’ll die like one,” he said. The wall men around muttered, and we took the way to the front square; already there were looky-loos gathered, throngs of them not at all bashful to see the day’s line-up—it was just me. The platform was emptier and that was good (Frank, Paul, and Matt looked naked without their eldest brother). Those Bosses which remained looked drunk as they did for any other execution. It was a good day for it. Warm. The stink of the crowd was worse and as those gathered parted for my entourage, the warmth of them cloistered us like the blood of a wound.
Even through the vile aroma, the smell of rotted poultry rose like nothing else. “You don’t smell it then?”
The roar, a cacophony of the damned souls stolen, shook the ground and the air changed. A dragon—Leviathan.
Along the wall which old skeletal corpses hung against dried blood stains from hook-chains, men and women scattered the length of the parapets with their weapons. Gunfire came and one of those atop the wall shouted, “Artillery! Dragon! Big guns!”
There was fire in the sky and the creature circled overhead and its wings beat the wind like mad; those organic ropes that hung from its body took on horrid shapes with its movement in the high noon sunlight.
Screams filled the air as the square erupted into panic. I dove into the sickly crowd; among the loudness, the horses which were lined by the big door fought against their ties and bolted across the square. Arms and heads disappeared beneath those dashing hooves, and it was not long before people were trampling people and in a quick glance I saw the Boss platform came down in splinters as the horses rushes it. Blood slickened the feet of many as they rushed to the buildings adjacent the square—what a small protection that’d be against Leviathan. A wall man went stumbling over the wall’s ledge and his body met the ground beneath the hanging corpses and he didn’t get up.
In the wild fray, Maron fired the shotgun into the air, and I briefly thought of where the pellets might fall.
Finally, artillery fire came and put a hole in the creature. It wavered in the air, its head lurched downward like it might pierce the ground and it pulled its long neck back and blew flames across the buildings. The heat was immaculate. Rotted chicken filled my lungs.
“There’s more!” shouted a wall man above, “Running across the field.”
The crowd grew more enamored with escape; there’s no good way to say it—blood frothed around our heels as I was shoved through the avenues of elbows, rocking heads, plunging knees. I pushed on, shielding myself with my bound hands as well as I could. I kept my head as high, and felt scratches reach my throat—doubtlessly those which could not continue—nails and fists came from every direction. In the ephemeral madness, I too screamed and it did not stop until I spilled into an alleyway along the wall nearest the execution chains. I ran and tripped from the crowd, slid, and bit my tongue so thoroughly that my teeth clicked together though the tissue; my breath was knocked from me. My pants were wet from the viscera. Others too had found the opening and barreled past me. I went to my feet and panted thought the pain, through the twinge in my left knee. I took the walls for support and still, those which rushed past nearly knocked me from my feet.
Some poor child—a lean, bony-faced boy—fell in the rush and before I had a moment to reach out, he was gone. Whether he lived or not, I did not stop to know. The crunch of bones as more people spilled into the narrow stretch indicated the worst.
First/Previous
Archive

Chapter 1: Hope’s 16th Birthday
As the rays of the sun hits her eyes Hope Moonshine wakes up excited, she was waiting for this day for all her life
She jumps out of her bed and rushes to her mom's room excited and she accidentally flung the door open too fast making a loud cranking noise waking her mother, Queen Matilda up
"Oops didn't mean to wake you up" hope said awkwardly"Honey I know you are excited for your birthday but you need to be patient the sun has just risen everyone is still asleep" Matilda said tiredly, "please go back to sleep darling you will have a long day today and you will need the energy, your party wont be begin till noon"
"Ok mom, sorry for waking you up" said Hope as she was trying to close the door slowly enough that it doesn't crank but it still did "Not an issue dear", said Matilda
As the door closed Matilda took a deep breath and closed her eyes her emblem on her right shoulder a pink diamond glowed she opened her eyes and she made a finger gun with her right hand pointing at the hinges and a shiny pink light zaps comes out of her index and zaps the hinges, the beam turns into a hand and it open the door and then closes without making a cranking noise, "I should have done that a long time ago" said Matilda
She removes the blankets from her bed to reveal she is already clothed for a serious occasion, as she goes towards the mirror she is wearing a long cyan dress that trails all the way to her feed her top being smartly tight with short shoulder sleeves, she puts on long white gloves and glances over her diamond ring she lets out a small sigh and frown and puts it on, she trances over the mirror for a few seconds before snapping out of it, and she looks over to a miniature painting of her an her daughter when she was 6 she picks it up and smiles "I know you are eager dear you won't have to wait for long"
After Matilda ready's herself she open her window and conjures a light bird of the palm of her hand, the bird flew off to Hope's room where it sees her lying in her bed on her stomach, the bird soon returns to Matilda's room and land on her palm her eyes glows for a moment and the bird fizzes into a yellow cloud, "Well it looks like she actually listened not very common of her to do so, it means I can continue to do my plan unobstructed" she said with a smile.
Matilda leaves her room and walk across the hallway to the main hall then she claps her hand twice, and snap her finger, suddenly a figure jumps into the window it spins 180° and a muscular women stands up, she has a scar on her left cheek and short brown hair, she wore knight armour that cuts of at her shoulder emblem that looks like a dark grey shield.
"At your service my queen", she said with a salute
Matilda is startled for a moment, but then composes herself, "Sally there is no need for you to enter that way you can just wait for me at the hall entrance", she said.
"I was scouting the perimeter we have to make sure this place is safe and to make sure no one can harm the princess at her important day, I was up all night with my team searching every corner of the upper ring for any danger and-" Sally was abruptly cut off by Matilda.
"It was not your fault Sally, there is no need for you to prove yourself to me" Matilda said remorsefully, "You tried your best so you must eventually forgive yourself it wasn't anyone fault, it truly came from nowhere"
Sally's serious expression break into expression of regret as she shamefully looks at the ground
"Now is not time to punish ourselves over who we failed to protect but to make sure my daughter has a great birthday" Matilda said with determination
Sally's expressions of regret turned to a smile, "Yes my Queen, me and the royal guards have spent last few weeks clearing a safe path from the upper ring to the more presentable areas of the lower ring that ends at the great barrier" Sally says with a salute.
"Well I trust your judgement, you are now dismissed" said Matilda
Sally goes down the stairs of the central hall towards the doors "I won't mess up again" Sally said with determination
"Oh Houston" Matilda said while turning her head left and right, "where is he when I need him",
"I am right here your majesty" Houston whispered from behind, Matilda was startled and was annoyed on how everyone seems to sneak up on her, "Sorry for spooking you" said Houston as he polished his monocle "We are well prepared to begin celebration soon" he said as his hand pointed towards the empty hall.
Matilda stared at him, he then clapped his hands and an army of servants entered the hall setting up the chairs and tables, followed up by waiters quickly setting food on the table, and then 6 waiters came together to slowly lift the large 4 layered birthday cake with a milk white colour with chocolate cream on top of each layer, with "happy birthday Hope" spelled with strawberry topping on the side of each layer, with the glowing yellow number "16" candle at the top.
"As I was saying my Queen" Houston started "We just need to wait for the guests to arrive, I will let you know when you can call your daughter" Houston stops from a moment "Do you want anything else your majesty or am I dismissed?" he asked.
"You are dismissed Houston" said Matilda
Matilda walks up to Hope's room and slowly opens the door to find her laying in her bed
"One thousand one hundred and forty-two" Hope counted to herself, she paused and took a deep sigh, and tried to continue but then paused scratching her head "Um One-".
she was interrupted by her mother saying "Thousand one hundred and forty-three", "Unable to sleep dear?" She said with a smile, Hope gasped and she had the biggest smile in her face, her mother was a bit startled and asked "what is it you are smiling at?".
Hope pointed at her, jumped from her bed and as she was taking heavy breathes pointing at her mother clothes, "You don't sleep in this" she takes a deep breath and exclaims "which means I have got to get ready" and she runs to her closet to pick up something to wear.
Matilda takes a glance down at her clothes and rolls her eyes "so much for a surprise"
"I am ready mom" Hope said ecstatically, she was wearing a beautiful turquoise dress which complemented her hair colour styled in two plates with with joined with a pink band and wearing her favourite golden necklace,
"That was quick" her mother commented
As they enter the main hall a bunch of guests are seated drinking beverages and helping themselves to freshly baked foods, "Attention everybody, I would like you to welcome the birthday girl" said Houston, everyone stopped what they were doing and turned their heads towards the princess.
She gets a bit nervous and let out an awkward "hey guys", she didn't recognize any of them but she had to pretend to know all of them while hoping they don't ask her if she knows them, they all continue to stare as she and her mother get seated.
Houston lets out a forced cough to break the awkward silence, he says "and now Princess that you have come here you may blow the candles", the table the cake was on was carried towards Hope and her mother seated on there high chair, Hope tries to mask her excitement as she takes a deep breath and gently blow the candles, which fire off the cake and make a small explosion spelling out "Happy Birthday Princess!", Hope's eyes lit with joy.
Trumpets play and two royal servants come into the hall holding a gold plated chest decorated with diamonds, the chest is slowly opened and a blinding bright light shined from inside it, "Go ahead dear" said Matilda as her eyes pointed to the chest.
Hope goes down towards the chest and slowly lowers her hand inside of it and grabs what inside, as she removes her hand from the chest it reveals her to be holding the magic wand, it had a purple handle with a sparkly cyan diamond at its back end and a translucent turquoise sphere at it top decorated with a white glowing shape which resembled the combination of a two star into two different planes inside, and topped off with a small yellow crown at the top
Hope's shoulder emblem a pink heart with a tiny crown on top of both curves starts glowing, she raises the top of the wand at eye level, "ooh what's this" she says as she tries to stick her finger inside it to touch the spinning star
"HOPE DONT" shouted her mother, as soon as hope touched it burnt her finger and she let out a painful screech and fires a yellow glowing beam fires from the wand at some guest who were quick enough to duck, it hits a glowing orange decorative plant crushing it against the wall,
"hehe this could have been worse", Hope said awkwardly, the wreckage catches fire...
"FIRE" yells Sally, the guards that were standing by the walls quickly moved and shoved away all nearby guest as Sally goes and faces the fire here shoulder emblem glows and she fires yellow beam at it from her hands she then she clenches her fist and the beam turns into water extinguishing the fire and a yellow cloud evaporates from it, she quickly turn over to Hope and rushes over to her "ARE YOU OKAY PRINCESS" she exclaimed worryingly.
"I am fine it's just my finger is a little -" before she finishes her sentence Sally picks her up and running with her in her arms and runs up to the door and out of the Palace.
Queen Matilda is left with the guests and lets out an awkward chuckle and says "so who wants some drinks?", "Please help yourself to the finest wines in the whole kingdom" she said as a servant reveals a bunch of wine bottles in gold coating, the guests all rushed to get a sip
"I am telling you I am fine it's just a little scratch its rude for me to leave suddenl-" Hope was interrupted by Sally kicking the door open.
"PA-" Sally yelled before being interrupted by a "SHHHH", she was shushed by a woman with a white robe that cut offs at the shoulder, and a hand crafted necklace made of cotton around her neck, she had red hair tied into a bun and a green plus sign as her shoulder emblem.
"Seriously Sally how many times do I have to tell you to be quiet in here" said healer Pam with frustration she lets out a sigh and asks, "So what seems to be the problem?" Sally pulls out Hope and holds her at arms length right Infront of her Hope lets out a "Hi".
Pam gasps "Oh my princess sorry I didn't know you were coming, are you hurt?"
"No not at all it's ju-" Hope was interrupted yet again it seems like although she is becoming a grownup no one seems to want to listen to her
"She burned herself quickly check up on her" commanded Sally as she lowered Hope to her feet, Pam glanced at her up and down
"Where was she hurt", asked her confused. Hope sheepishly pointed to her left index finger it was a bit red which could be easily seen as it contrasted with her smooth white skin, but it was also accompanied by a yellow 'liquid', Pam conjured a white napkin to clean the site of the injury and singled out the injured finger from Hope's hand and put her hand on it and made into a fist and then she took a deep breath and closed her eyes her shoulder mark started having a green glow for a few seconds and then it suddenly went dim, she opened her hand to find the finger fully healed like it was never even scratched.
"Oh wow t-thanks" said Hope with a smile.
"Oh it's nothing" said pam, she took out her napkin it had some yellow glowing spots of what looks like fluid except its it didn't soak in but floated around it, "I see you can use magic now, what was your first spell" Pam said with excitement.
"I-i just shot this out of the wand" she said as she pointed at liquid on the napkin that started evaporating considerably, she then lowered her voice and talked faster "and it hit a plant and set it on fire" she was saying as she looked at the floor, Pam laughed and Hope was starting to blush.
"Oh don't worry dear we all mess up at the start, when I first started I accidentally broke a boy's arm" Pam said with a laugh.
"Is he okay now?" Hope asked with curiosity
"Well when I was your age healing wasn't what it is today they just put his arm in a cast and said if he was lucky his arm would be usable in three years", "I never was interested in healing like my mom but I wanted to fix my mistake so I studied and practiced for months to focus my healing and one day it just clicked, I got back to him and I was able to heal his arm and this happiness a patient feels when they are treated makes this all worth it" she let out a calm sigh and continued "It was not an easy journey but in just 8 years I was able to reach my peak"
"Eight years?" Hope said in disbelief
"Don't worry your path is way longer than mine my peak is at least four levels lower than you" Pam said with a grin
"It isn't that huge difference right?" Hope inquired hoping her journey wont be in the double digits because that's a very long time
Pam laughed and then said "Oh it way larger than it looks, but don't worry royals don't have a peak at least not one that one knows off" she put her hand on Hope's shoulder "Don't let the long road overwhelm you as long as you are better than yesterday you will be a great princess"
Hope smiled at her and said, "Thanks a lot Pam"
"So is everything alright with her, she stuck her finger into the wand are you sure there wont be any complications" asked Sally
"She will be alright she might have lost her finger if she went deeper and then It will actually a challenge to fix, but this is what pain reflexes are for, it a blessing in disguise", replied Pam
Sally clapped her hands and said "Well we got to go now we cant keep the guests waiting thanks for your help Pam"
Hope looked over to her and said "You should come over it's my birthday you can go change the setting", "No dear being a Healer is big commitment what if someone is in need of assistance and I am not here but I appreciate the gesture, maybe I could arrange my schedule to be there next time, go enjoy yourself".
"Pam the amputee is ready for his second regeneration session" a voice called.
"The what?" exclaimed Hope.
"Oh it's a bit graphic you really don't want to see it, I got to go now send your mother my regards" replied Pam as she ran over to a patient
Sally and Hope went to the door and left.
"You know I was really fine, it was just a scratch" Hope said as she looked up to Sally, "It's kind of rude to just leave the guests hanging I could have just sucked it up-"
Hope tried to continue when Sally muttered under her breath "I won't forgive myself".
"What was that?" asked Hope.
"Nothing, it's just you can never be so sure and no one was stupid enough to stick there finger in the wand I was just making sure but since it wasn't serious we don't need to worry" Sally said with an anxious fake smile, Hope sensed there was something off about her tone but she didn't want to push Sally into an uncomfortable spot so she left it at that
Sally and Hope make it back to the palace and Matilda rushes to her daughter "Oh dear are you ok"
She said as she gave her girl a hug, Everyone was staring and Hope got a bit embarrassed "yeah Mom I am ok" Hope said, Matilda stood up and was about to say something before Hope pre-emptively said, "I know I know it was pretty stupid from me to to do what I did, I know the wand is not a toy and I promise I will be more careful with it" she said while avoiding eye contact
Matilda smiled and said "Well I appreciate that you understand that you messed up but that not what I wanted to say" Hope made eye contact and Matilda continued "As princess and future queen we will have you visit the LOWER RING" Matilda took her daughter's hand "Sure its not the safest or best place in the kingdom but a hermit ruler is a bad ruler"
Hope got extremely excited over this as she always wanted to see the rest of the kingdom the Lower ring, the Outer ring but she was always told no because Sally's word "It's way to dangerous, you are not ready, you aren't old enough" or her mother's word "Is there something there that you cant find at home?, The place isn't very hygienic" but how bad could it be it was still under the rule of the Moonshines. Life in the Upper ring and the palace get boring after a while, why would she wants to stay put there when there a whole world to explore?
"The escorts are waiting for us outside those who want to go with us are welcome to go" Said Matilda looking at the guests with a forced smile almost knowing the reaction. All of them tried to mask there faces of disgust as if Matilda just asked them to bathe in mud or even worse she said that the food at the legendary "façade haut de gamme" was just an overpriced scam. They didn't look very impressed, Matilda coughed and asked "Well?".
One couple went towards the exit and when they got to Matilda the man said "We are truly flattered by your invite my queen but I am afraid we have something important to do" the man paused and scratched his head trying to think of an excuse Hope looked over him and asked
"What's more important to than a trip to see the rest of kingdom its not like we can always get to do it" with an ecstatic smile the woman who was scratching her head stopped as if she got an idea she went over looked to Hope with a stupid fake smile and said
"Well sweetie we forgot to sign up our son for school and registration will be closing today" she turned over to her husband and elbowed him in ribs and asked "Isn't that right honey?"
The man nodded in agreement and they walked out and they led out an audible sigh and when they were just outside of earshot the man told his wife "Moonshines huh? You would think after what happened a decade ago they would get the memo" the woman looked back at the Queen then waved and looked back at her husband and said
"She is weak if this happened to me I will make sure those pigs wish they weren't born".
Following into there footsteps and sensing an opening other guests decided to excuse themselves outside and at this point Matilda stopped resisting she knew some wouldn't want to go but she didn't think that many would go and she looked defeated Hope turned to her and said "Well mom we don't need those nose in the airers it's there loss anyways"
A woman walked up to them "She is right you know in-law" that woman was Hope's paternal aunt Mary, she had short blonde hair and brown eyes wearing a yellow dress for the occasion "The only reason any off these arrogant buffoons came here is societal expectations much like basically everything here" she said while rolling her eyes "and they all dipped the second they had the chance, come on lets go"
As they walked past the doors Sally was standing just outside the door scanning the setting with her eyes, her eyes wandered and locked with Mary "You should relax Sally no need for you to be so tense" she said with a smile she then changed her tone suddenly and said with a frown and a in a low voice that Hope and Matilda couldn't hear "Me and Matilda can protect ourselves and we aren't relying on you and my niece was under my protection since she was six, all you need to do is drive the horses and look menacing" and then she put her hand on her shoulder and smiled and said with an audible voice "So you can feel a lot more at ease dear", Sally tried hid her feeling of guilt with a fake smile "Let's go" said Mary joyfully
Everyone got on the horse driven chariot, just a classical chariot nothing magical about it, it's a very ineffective method of transport but one of the most relaxing ones
"HEEEEEY WAIT FOR ME" yelled a girl from as she was she surfing a purple cloud wearing a long sleeved purple sweater and blue pants as she got closer she tried to slow down by tilting her body backwards but she lost control and started flying at high speeds towards Hope
"EM SLOW DOWN" shouted Hope.
"I CANT BRACE FOR IMPACT" they both closed there eyes with their arms covering there eyes but just before contact she was caught effortlessly by Sally one hand and her cloud in the other she crushed the cloud in her fist into yellow mist that faded away and put the girl on her feet she then crossed her arms and looked down and barked
"Miss Emberlynn Springfield you should know how dangerous using magic without experience is, and you can't just rely on something you can't even responsibly use to make up for your own lack of punctuality"
Ember looked taken aback but she didn't want to look stupid so she snapped back with "I didn't know Hope is celebrating her birthday early in the morning, birthdays are a night activity".
Sally who was crossing her arms now raised her eyebrow and simply replied with,"Lies you were told everyday for the last week not my fault you can't seem to be able to be punctual friend's birthday, do you simply not care?".
Ember now looked embarrassed and now was rolling her finger around her dyed purple hair "M-M-My rooster didn't wake me up" she said with a smile while shrugging her shoulder as if she is asking question and the question was 'will Sally let the lecture go'.
"This doesn't matter now anyways it's that Ems is here" interjected Hope with excitement as she put her arm around Ember's shoulder "We shouldn't be wasting time let's go" she said as she punched her hand up in the sky.
Matilda, Hope, Ember and Mary entered the Chariot while Sally rode one of the two horses moving it while the other was being moved by an over-armoured and visibly nervous man.
"Calm down Edmund its just a short trip by a defined path we will be in an out in an hour or two" commanded Sally looking at Edmund clearly getting tired of his lack of confidence.
"I am trying but its such a big deal, escorting not one not two but three royals into the lower ring, I am not sure if I can do this, If I mess up-- I am too young for the consequences" he said clearly on the edge of panic
Sally slapped her hands on his cheeks "Edmund calm down you can do this I know you can" she said, Edmund seemed to calm down a bit "The whole path is being heavily guarded you and me are the last line of an extremely deep wall of defences we are most likely just going to be there for company" she looked back at the cart and said "and besides it's not like the royals can't protect themselves, they are much stronger than us after all"
"That's what they said about fre-" Edmund mumbled before putting his hand on his mouth mid sentence, Sally expression changed to that of anger.
"What did you just say?" she barked.
Edmund realising his mess up and started shaking "Um- I was talking about ---- the nice weather we are having" he said trying to pretend that this wasn't the stupidest attempt at backtracking, before Sally was going to give him a piece of her mind Mary stuck her head out and said in annoyed tone
"Hey I am not getting any younger here", Sally and Edmund looked forwards and shook the horse reins and they got moving forward
As they got to the edges of the Upper ring they reached translucent yellow barrier "We are reaching the barrier you might feel a tickle" proclaimed Sally.
As the horse crossed the barrier the barrier walls phased through the cart and it phased through Mary and Matilda there shoulder emblems glowed a four pointed star and a diamond respectfully in a yellow hue when it got to Hope and Ember the cart got to a sudden halt and they were thrown forwards Hope fell on her mother while Ember face was slapped into the barrier which was at this point halfway through the cart.
Sally opened the door "Everyone ok" she took one look at Ember and let out an annoyed sigh she dragged her hand out of the cart and asked while trying to hide her frustration "Show me your emblem"
Ember scoffed and tried to tuck back her long sleeves but she couldn't get back enough and said while crossing her arms "I can't and I am not removing my shirt".
Sally wasn't having any of it and from tip of her index made a sharp grey magic beam, she flattened Ember's sleeve and made a small cut in her right shoulder showing a yellow star rotated slightly to the left, after the cut yellow gas evaporated from it "And this is why emblems aren't covered it's common knowledge Springfield" said Sally annoyed.
"My favourite shirt! This was very unnecessary" whined Ember and before she could say anything Sally went back to her horse leaving her alone she scoffed and went back to the cart and sat next to Hope crossing her arms.
"You okay there", asked Hope concerned.
"Yeah I am fine just another lecture", said ember looking at the windows
As Hope looked out the window the lower ring didn't seem so different from home, people dressed and walked smartly roads were clean but something was off she couldn't help but notice everyone wore long sleeves even though it was a summer and it's not proper etiquette and that's something else it was surprisingly hot, She took her head out through the windows "Hello stranger" she greeted a man walking nearby he took one solid look at her and looked towards her mother and Sally who was frowning and her hands free with her emblem glowing, he didn't say anything and turned back and proceeded to speed walk away in a few seconds he ditched the subtlety and ran away, Hope was pretty disappointed and got her head into the cart
"What did I do wrong?", Hope asked.
"Girl it's either because you were too friendly it felt fake" said Ember, Hope looked down "Or they were made to feel unwelcome by misses buzzkill in the driving seat" she remarked
A loud sound of crashing wooden boxes was heard and cart went to a halt
"What was that" commented Mary
"Something that isn't boring" Hope said with excitement before leaving the cart.
"Make sure all of them stay put in the cart I will be gone for a short while" said Sally to Edmund before running to the source of the sound Hope tried to follow her but was body blocked by Edmund with his arms crossed
"Sorry I can't let you go princess, Superior's orders", he glanced to the left of him to seeing Ember touching a fancy table Infront of a café just for it to poof into a yellow cloud,
"Ow splinters" she cried, the yellow cloud fizzled reveal a wooden table barely clinging to its shape with a bunch of makeshift wooden fixes that don't even match in colour
Edmund looked like he just saw a ghost and ran towards Ember who was now transforming outdoor expensive furniture into splinter traps
"Stop touching it" said Edmund before shooting out a grey magical hands towards her subduing her, "What's your deal" he scolded annoyed.
"No what's this place deal why is everything here so fake?" snapped Ember "You hearing this Hope this place is fa-" she then stopped and asked "Aye were is Hope?"
Edmund let her go and pulled on his hair "Oh no no no no no no no" he cried
"Is everything alright where is my daughter?" asked Matilda concerned, Edmund didn't know what to say but before he could make up an explanation Mary interjected
"Oh don't worry Mati she will be ok she is probably with Sally and besides she still has this necklace I gave her so I am sure she will be just fine" Mary said with her hand on Matilda's shoulder "and we can go have some tea and chit-chat while we wait I heard that Gilbert's tea shop has actually potable tea" she suggested Matilda sighed and decided to go with what Mary said and walked towards the shop. "What about me?" asked Ember, Edmund turned towards her with anger and barked "You are staying right here!".
"Sally where are you?" called Hope as she was walking she saw a little girl wearing a cute pink dress and smooth brown hair walking alone Infront of her, she approached her and asked
"Hey do you happen to see a tall lady around here?" she tapped on her shoulder to get her attention and suddenly a cloud of yellow gas evaporated out of her Hope and the little girl coughed and as the smoke cleared the little girl was wearing a poorly knit patchwork of randoms scraps of fabric and her hair was covered in dirt she had a brown circle on the side of her shoulder, Hope froze in shock "I- I am so sorry, it was an accident" she apologised "I can go get you a new dress or--" the girl just looked at Hope her eyes glanced her wand which was in her right hand as well as her royal emblem and then she started hyperventilating and burst into tears.
Hope got on to her knees and she gently put her hands on the girl's shoulder "Calm down calm down, it's alright, It's not your fault but mine"
"P-P-pwease do-don hu-hur meeee" the girl sobbed.
"What hurt you? no no no no" Hope explained trying to figure out from where the girl got the idea
Hope hugged the girl "Here calm down see I am friendly" she soothed, the girl seemed to calm down a bit and she started sniffing
She let her go and asked "So what's your name?"
"R-R-Rosie" replied Rosie.
"Ok Rosie I am so sorry for ruining your dress, do you remember were you got it from?" she asked
"Ms Bea had guys gib it to us" Rosie said
"Misses Bea huh" she wondered out loud "Well can you tell me were misses Bea is"
"Sowwy I can't tell you misses moonnnn" Rosie was saying before she looked she wanted to cry again
"Please don't cry" Hope pleaded "You don't need to tell me where you live just wait" Hope passed her wand to her left hand and put her now free hand to her pocket and pulled out a purple wallet and she pulled out a golden note with 50 written on it she passed the note to Rosie and said "Here give this to misses Bea and tell her I am so sorry for destroying your dress also" Rosie grabbed the note and stared at it, Hope pulled some wrapped candy she got from the party "Her have some candy too" the girl put her the note in her pocket and grabbed the wrapped candy she struggled with it a bit and she then passed it back
"Open it please" Rosie asked
"Oh you can't? it's quite simple here" Hope said she gently tapped the candy her emblem glowed for a moment and the wrapping fizzed out.
Rosie put the candy in her mouth and quickly chewed and swallowed it, she then gave Hope a hug, she let go after a moment "Thank you miss, Ms Bea says Moosines are scawy but aren't scawy"
"Scary why would we be scary" Hope asked in disbelief with a smile
Rosie looked around and said "I am sowwy I need to go" she turned back and ran away and took a turn and was just out of sight.
"You couldn't just stop causing trouble for one day? what did we pay you for?" Hope heard Sally barking.
The sound of Sally's voice came from an alleyway, as Hope entered the alley the clean white paint started fading into rotting maroon bricks and the smell became foul coming from the open dumpster "Ewwwww" Hope said as she lowered the lid to try and lessen the stench
"Hey you know it's rude to close the lid on someone trying to fetch themselves a meal" a bald man barked as he popped out like a jack in the box he had a white beard wearing over shoulder strapped brown pants with a black plastic bag for a shirt and a metal can of beans for a hat and his left eye with a grey iris spinning his shoulder emblem only consisted of a simple brown circle, Hope screamed and ran away "Oh beans was that a Moonshine?" the man asked himself "Well I probably should skip town" he said to himself with a goofy smile while snapping his fingers.
Hope stopped running and started panting "Now you are lucky I am not here in head bashing duty or I would have sent you to a one way trip to the Outer ring and the monsters there could deal with you" Hope heard Sally scolding, she walked to the end of the alleyway the place beyond it was extremely different people clothes were worn out in which the holes were covered up by half baked sewn rotting fabric the road didn't exist it was simply a dirt undefined path and walls were all made of rotting bricks same as that of the alley, windows were broken and the stench of garbage filled the air, Hope saw Sally tying up a bunch of muscular men with a magic rope.
Sally glanced over and saw Hope "Princess what are you doing here?" she asked with dismay the rope holding the gangsters vanished they got up and shook of the dust and looked up and saw Hope and they all ran away in terror "Moonshine here run awway". All of a sudden all the people went indoors and the windows were sealed shut with wood and hammered with nails and just like that the place looked like a ghost town.

A bit of background, first of all. I (25F) work in a very male dominated workplace where I've been for 3 years, and have a lot of male friends, but more female friends than most of my coworkers do. I threw a party to celebrate my old friend Emma (25F) being hired at my company (thanks to a recommendation from me). All in all, there were 4 women at the party (including me and Emma) and 12 men.
One of the guys, Jack, who was there, was lamenting to me right from the start what a "sausage fest" it was. He said he was expecting "more chicks" because it was hosted by a woman to celebrate the hiring of a woman. We ordered some large pizzas, and a man came to deliver them.
I jokingly said to the pizza man Jay, "Hey, welcome to the party!"
He said to me "Sounds fun. I used to love parties but I haven't been to a party in a long time."
I asked him when he was done work and he said he was done in an hour. I told him to come over then. I promised him beer and pizza when he arrived. The party continued and I danced with a few people before Jay got there. He showed up and we started talking. I ended up dancing with him, and introducing him to some of the other guests. At the end of the party, I said goodbye to everyone else and went upstairs with Jay
Jack texted my after, asking me "Why did you invite one more dude when it was already a sausage fest? Then you gave him free beer after telling everyone else to bring their own. You asked him to dance but didn't dance at all with half the other men there. Then you asked him to stay in front of everyone else while they were leaving which seems extremely rude. It makes it even worse that you invited him while the party was already in progress. All I'm saying is that when you throw a party, respect your guests."
Was I in the wrong for bring the pizza man into the party and then giving him so much attention and free beer?

Hello! Thank you for viewing my post ^^
Currently, I am looking for a small group of four to run my campaign!
-Intro-
Please call me Dio! I'm an 18-year-old from the Midwest who enjoys D&D and would love to DM for more people. I started playing in 7th grade and quickly became a DM rather than a player. My first campaign was trash, but I have grown from it. D&D slowly became a hobby that I haven't been able to stop doing, though I've had some rough moments with it. I was a forever DM for a group of my IRL friends! I would DM for them quite often, but life got in my way, so I've taken a break from DMing for them and playing D&D in general.
Currently I have a Thursday group that I really like playing with! I am looking for a new group because I just quit my job to focus on my passions so I want to have another session during the week!
-How I am as a DM-
I am generally a chill person when it comes to DMing. I give players a lot of freedom when it comes to the game! However, I do have my limits. I've had so many situations where things like that have happened, i.e., a time a past party of mine 'Tokyo drifted' a giant alligator. I'm not a very combat-heavy DM; expect more roleplay than combat. I also really like homebrew and involving it in my campaigns. It's usually a fun touch to add. I also particularly like describing scenes, usually the places you visit or battle scenes. Since I had to take a break from D&D, I'm still reading up on things to get myself back into the groove. If I mess up anything or seem to get something wrong, I do not mind if you take the time to inform me of the correct way of doing something.
-Lore-
From each corner of the land, folks who have no idea of one another existence are called upon by carrier pigeons to come to visit a dead man at his funeral. This dead man is someone you once knew in the past, but you physically cannot remember more than the fact he was important to you. Most of your memories of the man and times with him are gone, but you still choose to pay your respects to him and his family. Upon arrival to an unknown empire, it is revealed that you weren't the only person called to this funeral. Others unknown to you were also invited. They were possibly in the same boat as you. It's a funeral; you pay your respects and are about to leave when a woman calls upon you."Are you the people my father sent letters to?"
-Rules-

• We start at level one and will stop around level 25 (I have a homebrew rule I like to use for that!)
  
• We're doing milestone advancement!
  
• Please be at least 18; as long as you aren't 30+, I'm fine with DMing for you!
  
• No power-gaming, rules lawyering, or meta-gaming.
  
• No sexism, homophobia, racism, transphobia, or other real-world discrimination.
  
• Please be able to use Discord and have a mic!
  
• Be okay with having 2- to 3-hour-long sessions. Hopefully, we can figure out the best time for everyone regarding the sessions' length.
  
• Have some experience with roleplaying
  
• Be open to new ideas! I use a certain mechanic in my campaigns, so if you want to join (in which all documents for it will be sent over), at least acknowledge that's what I use.
  
• Apply over private messages! I feel more comfortable talking to people and getting them on board over dms rather than comments.
  

If you have any questions about the story, rules, etc., feel free to ask! I would be more than happy to explain anything! Thank you for viewing my post, and I hope all who read have a great night ^^

Believe it or not, there is a very large slew of kaiju or giant monsters in the public domain that could be used for Gigabash's original roster since they do not strictly require copyright permits due to either lapsing in copyright or being of long natural folklore and mythology.
​

• Apep- A ancient Egyptian deity and a ginormous long serpent that represents the darkness to light.
  
• Arctic giant- A giant syberian permafrosted Dinosaur kaiju from the Fletcher studios film of the same name.
  
• Behemoth- A creature described in the biblical folklore as a lumbering beast of god's first creation.
  
• Cerebex- A colossal multi-tentacular robot monster with the brain of a human from the forgotten "planet comic" series; and a possible inspirator behind brainiac's ship from the DC universe as well as the concepts of robot hiveminds.
  
• Charybdis- A mysterious deadly giant whirl-pool-like Mouth monster from the greek mythos.
  
• Cthulu- a colossal winged demonic deity with the face of a cephalopod, from the tales of H.P. lovecraft. as with most other monsters in the novella, H.P. lovecraft's works have majorally entered the public domain.
  
• Fenrir- A norse mythological being in the form of a giant-sized wolf.
  
• Gertie- A giant-sized sauropod dinosaur and the first ever drawn dinosaur featured on major film strips, created by Winsor McCay. Gertie also made a surprise cameo in the IDW comic adaptations of Dinosaurs attack!, and is in the public domain.
  
• Buddha- The giant buddha statue of "Great buddha arrival", a lost 1934 film that was later remade as a meta fictional documentary in 2018. as all media made before 1953 was ruled as "public domain" by japanese court law as of latest, the buddha (possibly the first ever JAPANESE KAIJU) is in the public domain. There are many other mediums out there that depict a giant buddha statue attacking, including Ninja gaiden Sigma 2.
  
• Paul bunyan and Babe the blue ox- A legendary duo from the folktales of Paul bunyan. Paul is a giant-sized lumberjack and Babe is his trusty Blue-colored Ox pet. Bunyan is a very well known figure of stories and has been featured in giant monster scenarios in some way (IE- the simpsons)
  
• Giant gila monster- From the 1959 film of the same name, the giant gila monster fell into public domain due to missing copyright notices (alongside its sister film, Attack of the killer shrews). Like the Comic book kaiju Reptisaurus, it was remade into a modern B-movie retake with more than questionable CGI. Fun fact: Giant gila is actually portrayed by a Mexican bearded dragon, not a gila!
  
• Golem- A giant clay figure of the Jerusalem folktales.
  
• Heffalump- A giant Elephant monster that exists solely in the dreams of none other than Winnie the pooh himself! as heffalump was introduced in "the house on pooh corner" (which entered public domain this year), he's free to use!
  
• Kong- King of the apes, ruler of man, and conqueror of the dangerous beasts of skull mountain island. While The RKO film remains in copyright until 2029, kong himself (and the story) is accidentally in the public domain thanks to a mistake with the original novella by Lovelace! Just try to avoid any mention trademark wise of "king kong" or anything not in the novel.
  
• Konga- King kong's estranged copycat cousin from britain, who is a mutated enlarged chimpanzee from the jungle instead of a naturally giant gorilla species. Konga suffers from the same slip up as some of charlton comic's other kaiju, as they were made before the films and ended up lapsing into public domain following the closure of the comic company. Konga in the comics is also considered distinct from the film version.
  
• Kraken- a legendary colossal sized Squid monster from Caribbean Sea folktales.
  
• Leviathan- A terrible sea serpent beast accounted in the books of hebrew and the bible.
  
• Yamata no-orochi: A multi-headed serpent and beast of Japanese mythology tales.
  
• Fafnir- A germanic legendary tale creature and serpentine beast.
  
• Micromegas- A giant-sized man from a 1700s french sci-fi novel who hails from another planet and engages in a slew of various fascinating feats.
  
• Twrch Trwth- A giant boar monster from the legendary tales of king arthur.
  
• Pulgasari- North korea's (unnecessary) answer to Godzilla and an iron-consuming behemoth. As copyright law was not established in NK until 2001, Pulgasari can safely be assumed to be in the public domain for free use. Additionally, his more archaic counterpart from a lost film "Bulgasari", exists in works.
  
• Pet- A mysterious, size growing Canid drawn by Winsor McCay that increases mass for everything it eats. It ends up giant size at its climax in the film.
  
• Scylla- The other half of Charybdis in greek mythology and a mysterious half-multiheaded serpent Half-reptile humanoid colossus.
  
• Umibozu- A japanese folklore monster, and a giant shadowy yokai.
  
• Meat-eater: A giant Tyrannosaurid species, also from the world of king kong. like kong himself, the meat eater is up for grabs thanks to the novel losing copyright.
  
• Jormungandr- A giant legendary serpent from the tales of H.P. lovecraft.
  
• Dagon- A giant legendary monster conjured up by H.P. lovecraft from the syrian folk myths.
  
• Jabberwock- A cryptic giant dragon monster from the novels of the original Alice in wonderland series. He lives to be slain by the Vorple sword artefact.
  
• Blunderbore: a giant from the tales of Jack the giant killer.
  
• MMX-2: A giant mechanical satellite from the premiere animation for Disney channel's opening. Both the poster and Disney channel broadcast lack copyright notices and as its based on the likeness of the original mickey mouse, this enigmatic mickey satellite could very well be up for grabs.
  
• Reptilicus- A danish-answer to godzilla, and later adapted by Charlton comics. This semi-comical serpent with stunted wings and stumped limbs is highly likely to be in the public domain due to either possible lack of copyright notice, or regardless a lack of a copyright renewal.
  
• Reptisaurus- Charlton comic's backup replacement over Reptilicus after their license expired. First starting out as a red colored version of Reptilicus until becoming a giant pterosaur-esque dragon monster, it like the other kaiju adapted by Charlton comics are in the public domain.
  
• Gorgo- The ever famous British take on godzilla, is in fact, IN the public domain. like Konga and kong, Gorgo was first introduced in a series of Comics made by charlton comics before the release of their staple films. As gorgo first appeared in the comics which entered the public domain, Gorgo is a fully free-to-use kaiju as long as you only source from the comic and not the film. Gorgo's abilities are much more robust in the comics anyway...
  
• Yeti: from the film "yeti: giant of the 20th century", an obvious Kong rip-off like Konga is also in the public domain. he's more human-looking.
  
• Mighty Peking man: Another Bootleg kong from a film that lapsed into public domain. Mighty Peking man looks more like a gorilla suit.
  
• Kabagon: A mysterious described japanese cryptid said to resemble a giant Grey hippo beast peaking its head out of the water.
  
• Green giant: Yes, the green giant is so old that he's actually public domain (and one of the only instances of a famous still used Business mascot having entered the public domain). So long as you don't use him strictly for misleading advertisements and trademark tricks, Green giant is freely useable in stories. Green giant vs. Gorgo anyone?
  

Bonus:
The Retrosaur lineages of TyrantisTerror: Tyrantis terror (a kaiju artist with his own website and novella) has fully offered up their basic lineages of the giant dinosaur kaiju "retrosaurs" into the public domain, since they are technical blankish templates inloosely following into the kaiju he owns (also, its possible for people to willingly put things they own whether copyrighted or intellectual property into the public domain). The retrosaur lineage templates (a whopping 16!) up for grabs include: Transitional tyrant, Primitive Carnivorous retrosaur, Primitive herbivorous retrosaur, True tyrant, Tiny tyrant, Egg theif, Flying tyrants, Long-necked sea tyrant, Long tailed sea tyrant, Short-tailed sea tyrant, Long necked goliath, Duck-billed goliath, Helmeted goliath, Spike-tailed goliath, Club-tailed goliath, and Horned goliath.

TLDR; 20 years of some kind of magnetic pull to this man, can't decide if it's fate, some kind of divine connection or if I'm deluded.
First post. Nervous. Really cannot figure out if this is a TF journey, something I have only in the last few years started to research or if I am actually losing my mind.
I met this man when I was 14 years old. I'm now 36. We became best friends at 14, he was a big part of my life for about 2 years, he really looked out for me and helped me through some difficult times, we kissed a few times around age 16 but it never became any deeper than that. Life happened and we lost contact for a few years. He reappeared in my life 5 years later, we reminisced and spoke of how much (mostly platonic) love we have for each other, planned to meet up/catch up then he ghosted. 5 years later (give or take a couple of months) he was back again. We met up, he was so nervous he was shaking and stumbling over his words and I couldn't understand why he felt like this as we had known each other such a long time, I felt completely comfortable in his company, but he told me he had always had feelings for me but was worried I would reject him and he didn't know how to act on those feelings. We very quickly found ourselves in an all consuming relationship.
It only lasted around a year, we had the highest highs where I unexpectedly felt like I had finally found what had been missing from my life the whole time. I am not the most forthcoming in relationships due to fear of abandonment, trust issues, etc. So he did a lot of coaxing. He was very full on, pushing for us to be together, gushing to family and friends about our relationship very early on, wanting to spend all of our time together, becoming quite upset when I wasn't 'all in' straight away. Constantly needing reassurance, very clingy and needy, talking about marriage and children (we both already have children with other people) how he wished we had gotten together properly all those years ago, he wishes I was the mother of his children, how much he admired me etc. I tried to always be completely honest about how I was feeling, that I was enjoying our relationship, but was worried about jumping in too quickly. But after a few months of him basically worshipping the ground I walked on, I started to let my guard down, I already loved him very much as a friend, valued our relationship, appreciated him and all that he had done for me and I did fantasise that one day we would be together.
Around the 6 month mark, and after more coaxing from him, I really opened up to him and told him I loved him, and that I could really see this working out. He seemed to be elated. He pushed to meet my children, wanted us to move in together, although I said I wasn't ready for that yet, but he wouldn't let it go. He met my children and was wonderful to them. He did spend a lot of time at our home but did not fully move in. But it seemed that the more I came around to the idea of this working out, the more I opened up and fell in love, the more distant he got. He started going out a lot, not showing up when he said he would, going awol for a day or two at a time, saying he had been with friends. Arranging dates with me, but never showing up on time, sometimes not calling until 11 at night, drunk, asking to come to my home.
As I said I have a fear of abandonment, my way of coping with that at the time, was to never show any vulnerability. No matter how I felt about the person, I would act indifferent. If he didn't show up at 7pm like he had arranged I wouldn't call or text him, he was where he wanted to be, and I wouldn't embarrass myself by begging him to be with me. I also wouldn't allow him to turn up drunk in the middle of the night and treat me like a booty call. We started to argue, I told him I felt disrespected, he would make promises to never treat me that way again, but then do it anyway. By this point I was in deep. I really couldn't believe I had allowed myself to open up and fall in love just for it to be like this.
Eventually he admitted he had a problem with cocaine. That the late nights, and not turning up, not being able to drag himself away from nights our, parties, friends houses was because he was a drug addict. I offered him help, he said he wanted it. He got sober, he went back to being the sweetheart that I had always known. He took a job working offshore, partly for the money, but mostly to help keep him sober. In the run up to his first trip away he was so positive, so loving and reassuring. The weekend before he left was the best weekend of my life. I have never felt so in love, so connected to another person, that weekend I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. He said he felt the same.
The few weeks he was away we called and facetimed and text every chance that he got. He said he couldnt wait to be back, I told him how much I missed him, we made plans for when he was home, it would be bonfire night, he sent me money to buy fireworks for him to set off for the kids, he asked me to pick him up ingredients for his favourite dinner, snacks and drinks that he likes, he was due back around 7pm on the Friday night. He called around 5 to tell me he was two hours away, to start dinner, that he couldn't wait to see me. He never turned up. I tried to call him at 9pm - no answer. I sent a text. Unread. I was frantic. I called and text him so many times. Eventually all my texts were opened at once. Was it him? The police? Paramedics looking for next of kin information? Then I remembered he would have his Snapchat location on, he was at his friends house. The friend he would usually be with when he disappeared for days on booze and cocaine binges. I blocked him there and then. He could still have contacted me on the landline phone or show up at the house but he never did.
I didn't see or hear from him for 4 years and 8 months. Almost the 5 year mark again. I bumped into him in the street. He was with a mutual friend so I was polite, I didn't want the mutual friend to feel awkward. We exchanged pleasantries and went our separate ways. I just had this feeling that I would hear from him that night. And I did. Around midnight. I had a message request from him on Facebook. Hey it was so good to see you today. I hope you're well. I miss you. - I felt sick, I was shaking, my heart was pounding, my chest felt so heavy. Almost like a panic attack. Maybe it was just because it was confirmation of that feeling I had had all day that I would hear from him that night. I don't know why, but even though I wanted to continue the conversation, to call him, to invite him to meet, I just replied yea you too, take care. I sent it. I regretted it. Why did I brush him off like that when I knew that I didn't want to? He just replied yea take care, speak soon..
But we didn't speak soon. It would be another (almost) 5 years before we spoke again. In that 5 years the thought of him never once left my mind. I think about him every single day. I miss him. I have this overwhelming yearning feeling, my chest aches, my heart feels sore, I feel like part of me is missing. I look him up on social media, but his profiles are locked down, I can't see anything. I have an overwhelming urge to reach out to him, to ask mutual friends about him, but that fear of rejection, or abandonment kicks in and I stop myself. I've had flings and short lived, non-serious relationships in between each of our periods of contact but I feel completely indifferent towards them, comparing them to him, knowing I will never love them the way I loved him. It starts to consume my every thought. Is this some weird soulmate thing? Are we supposed to be together? Why does he come back into life every 5 years. Why do I feel this weird magnetic pull to him, why does my normal self-preservation indifference towards relationship breakdowns not work when it comes to him. Why do I feel physically sore when I think about him. I've never felt that for any relationship before. Is it just that there was no closure? Is this just how it feels to be ghosted? I start to research why I can't get over this, I read about twin flames.
This must be what it is? This feeling is not normal. It's not just heartbreak. Yes heartbreak sucks, you feel sad and disappointed and sometimes you feel like you failed somewhere but this is different. It's a physical pain. It feels like he is haunting me. Like his energy is still here, around me, in my home, I see and hear signs and synchronisities everywhere. Are we communicating telepathically? No I am clearly losing my damn mind.
I throw myself into my kids, my work, my friendships, my hobbies, everything to distract myself. But he is always there, in my mind. Some days it's just a few fleeting thoughts throughout the day, some days are unbearable. Some days I have the strongest feelings that I will hear from him that day. I don't.
But last month, I got a friend request on Facebook. Out of nowhere. I felt like my heart literally stopped when I seen it. I hadn't had the feeling, no warning signs that I would hear from him. So unexpected. I accepted his request, he messaged, we chit-chatted, small talk, catching up. He's still working offshore, he's away right now, I have dinner plans that night but we say we will call afterwards to chat properly. He calls that night, tells me he misses me so much, that he thinks about me a lot, that he regrets how things ended, that he is home the following week and he would really love to meet up. I say OK sounds good, let me know when you're free. Ghosted. I don't hear from him the following week. I don't hear from him for 5 weeks.
This week he messages me, asks if he can call me. He calls, tells me he's offshore again, that he lost his job but has just this week started a new one, same line of work. Tells me his life has fallen apart in the past 5 weeks, lost his job, had "sorted his shit out", that things had been messy, he's fallen out with his mum, fallen out with friends, had to sell his car... He didn't want to contact me and "drag me in to his shit".. But can we please meet up in two weeks when he is home so we can talk, he has so much he wants to say to me, I say OK. We text a bit over the past couple of days, nothing heavy, general chit chat. He called last night, more chit chat. All very light. Nothing too personal. We just had a catch up, we laughed so much. He said he had missed my laugh, missed me, missed our friendship that he really wants to see me when he's home, to speak to me properly about everything. He says he'll call tomorrow (today) we say goodnight. Not 1 single text or call today. Ghosted. Why is this happening. I had wanted to question the previous ghosting but decided to wait until we spoke in person. I didn't want to have heavy discussions over the phone. I also want to look him in the eye when he tells me, to better gauge how truthful he is being..
When we were texting and calling the last few days, he did mention a few times how he thought I wouldn't reply to his text, thought I wouldn't answer his calls but he's so glad I did. I can't work him out at all. I have never felt so confused, hurt, abandoned, used, ever in my life.
Is this a TF? Is this a narcissist? Friends have said so but I can't see it, I'm definitely not blind to these things, I'm usually very shrewd and can spot a liar a mile off. I've had a good few serious relationships, I'm not naive. I don't believe so anyway. I've never told my friends the true extent of my feelings for him and this relentless bee I have in my bonnet over him. But a small few do know that he gets under my skin, they are shocked by it, because as I said I am usually so indifferent about breakups because of my own issues. Is this breadcrumbing? Love bombing? I have never been so confused in my life. I'm usually quite intuitive, but this one has really thrown me off. I don't feel like I can trust my own opinion on this. I feel like I'm batshit crazy. I have crazy thoughts about paying for a fortune teller, a medium, a palmreader, anything to help confirm or deny these crazy thoughts I'm having. Sometimes I really do believe I am telepathically communicating with him... Then I think I might need to see a doctor. Sometimes I'm convinced I'm seeing signs and synchronisities everywhere, then I think I am subconsciously looking for these things because I want it to be true and I'm actually just creepily obsessed with this man and probably need some kind of injunction taken out on me. Genuinely cannot work out if this is some divine connection or if I am utterly deluded.

I've been logging into "Adopt Me!" for over 2 years. I'll one day get my 1,000th day streak, a milestone I doubt anyone reached, but after what I went through, I don't think I'd play "Adopt Me!" anytime soon.
On the day where I should've gotten by 1,000th day streak, I knew something was off as the game loaded. Instead of having the familiar and cheery intro screen, I was already in the game (it just popped up). The usual iconic music was replaced by a stinging silence. I once prided as a very rich player, but I now had no bucks and only one Flare-age Neon dog named Alex, and a Luminous-age Neon cat named Lilly.
It had been a long time ago since I played "Adopt Me!" for the first time, but I couldn't bring up anytime where I had a Neon dog which I named Alex, nor a Neon cat named Lilly.
I didn't even think that was possible, because I never recalled creating a new account, and even if I did, only either a dog OR a cat would hatch from the Starter Egg, and it definitely wouldn't have a Neon cat/dog of ANY age.
I began getting worried. Had I been hacked? Had I loaded into the wrong server (I realized I had been playing alone)? Or was some other technical issue? But if it was a technical issue, how could I just get two Neon pets for free?
I looked further into my pets, and found something that was DEFINITELY not right. Why did the pets have healthbars, along with a stamina, energy, hunger, and thirst bar? Was this a survival game? "Adopt Me!" hadn't ever been a survival game- it was always an RP and pet-raising game!
Not even my avatar was the same. It was reduced to the standard Roblox Noob, when I really had a lot of Robux. Had I logged into a doppelganger account?
I looked into my 'Toys' section, and all I had were a Flashlight and Toy Sword. Had someone hacked this into a survival game? If so, what kind?
But I wasn't gonna sit around to find out. I called the Roblox support number, but the voicemail was just dead silence even as I turned up to full volume, almost as if it was off-duty.
When I looked back in my game screen, I found a note on the ground, I picked it up by pressing E, and it read:
"I know you. I know you're wondering why this game seems so out of place, and you tried to call Roblox support. A virus has just started spreading in the Nursery and much of Adoption Island has been destroyed by its hosts. The infection doesn't spread by air, but if they touch you, well, you know. Wait... someone's-" I immediately put the note down and ran my avatar back home, not thinking of looking back. But then a dialogue box opened.
LILLY: Wait! I can't keep up!
I wanted to slow down, but I was afraid of what was behind me. I realized my avatar was almost out of stamina, so I cut behind a tree to recharge. I realized Lilly's healthbar was completely red, and I dreaded to think on what would happen if either pets' or my HP reached 0. I tried carrying them both, but that left me defenseless. As I listened closely, I didn't hear anything, so it might be safe again. But I couldn't relax as a message popped up that said, "DON'T MAKE A NOISE!" with an audio recording waveform that had a bar limit. I held my breath and remained as quiet as possible, not as quiet as the game's ambience.
After quietly breathing in and out of what felt like forever, the warning message finally faded. I picked up the two pets, and snuck quietly back into my home. When I got home, though, I realized there had been a crate in there.
"Do I open the crate?" I asked myself. "What if it's infected?" I drew my Toy Sword and pressed 'E' to open it. What I found inside washed most of my worries away. Inside there was a Flame Sword, with the typical blade replaced by a 2D fire icon. I didn't know what this new weapon would do, but I wasn't gonna keep my blunt Toy Sword around.
Suddenly, a speech bubble popped up on what seemed to be behind me. "ANNA: You've upgraded your weapon." I dragged my camera around, and there was Anna, the young girl typically from the Nursery with blonde hair and a pink onesie with a rabbit tail.
"What's going on?" I typed in the chat.
I didn't expect her to respond, as she's just an NPC. But merely 3 seconds later, she replied, "I... I don't know." She responded. "But I think the source is in the Nursery."
Another chat bubble popped up from behind.
"ALEX: But what if we die, even if we destroyed the beacon?"
"We have no choice," I typed back. "It's either us, or them. But maybe, if we just work together, we could make it out alive."
As we stepped out with my volume as high as possible to sense any infected, suddenly, as we were about to enter the Nursery, the ground below us suddenly gave away, and it was dark, too dark, so dark I worried that if I were to turn on my flashlight, I would get jump scared.
I equipped my flashlight and covered my eyes and slowly pressed the left mouse button, preparing for the worst. But nothing happened. The cave was lit up slightly, and after a few tense seconds, no monster came.
But another thing made me flinch- the torches around suddenly burst alight, nearly making me spill water all over my keyboard. I could vividly hear my avatar's footsteps as I inconsistently tapped the 'W' key to try not to make too much noise.
After tapping the 'W' key on what felt like forever, we came across a very questionable door. As I selected the Flame Sword, I realized it had a series of abilities. I used 'One Slash,' which had the least required energy, but it easily sliced the hinges off and the door fell.
But we were met with a horrible sight. I expected the source to be some like reactor core, but I nearly puked over my computer screen. It was a number of masses of unknown fluid tied together by what appear to be veins. But one mass in the center seemed to be distinctive from the rest, almost as if it had an eye in it.
But I realized that all too late as the central mass began to crack, as if it were an egg. As I drew my Flame Sword open, a huge tentacle burst open from the center mass. I nearly froze. As I panned my camera back facing the door, the door was shut. I tried pressing 'E' opening the door and running, but a dialogue box popped up.
"ANNA: We can't leave yet! Otherwise, the virus would spread out of control!"
I reluctantly panned my camera back to the single tentacle, and shakily pressed the '1' key, equipping my Flame Sword again. But I noticed all too late that that single imposing tentacle was a mere decoy as 8 other tentacles popped open from the other masses.
I quickly popped open my Flame Sword move lists, and I scrolled left to right at what felt like the speed of light, desperately trying to find a good attack. I figured that "Fire Cage" would trap the thing and slow it down as I try to find a new attack.
As I thought, the tentacles were immobile and couldn't move. As I scrolled left to right amid the Flame Sword's attacks, one of them caught my eye, "Infernadius Executionis." It sounded rather powerful, but just as I hovered my mouse over the button, I quickly saw a message:
"DO NOT USE UNLESS LAST RESORT. THIS WILL UNPOWER YOUR SWORD."
But I figured I wouldn't need it as the cage seemed to be burning the thing itself. Without hesitating, I began clicking my left mouse button as fast as I could. I began thinking my finger would create a trance because of how fast I was clicking, then, as the multiple slashes piled up, I was faced with a "time-it-perfect" press circle and ring. I pressed almost perfectly, and the slashes blew the being into nothing.
There was no time to celebrate, though. Almost immediately, a hole appeared in place of the being. The place around began crumbling and a wall of very toxic materials of what seemed to contain the virus began tracing the hind wall. I pressed 'E' as fast as I could to try to push open the heavy door. But it didn't work and I clicked the left mouse button. That triggered a slice which bust the door down into two molten pieces.
As we ran out of the main chamber, we saw more infected monsters that began charging at us immediately followed by a jump scare. But I was so focused on killing the monsters I merely blinked.
I swiped my camera down and slashed, jumping into the air with an incendiary jump. Then, an idea immediately sparked into my mind. I scrolled my camera backwards and looking down about 45 degrees. As I swiped the sword repeatedly about 2 times per second, the monsters began falling like bowling pins.
But all that stopped when I hit a wall on the other side. At this point my Flame Sword was completely drained of energy and was basically a Toy Sword now. But my avatar automatically dropped it and I really couldn't fight off all of them with a mere Toy Sword.
I swiped my camera around in all directions, trying to look for some way to get out. I even spammed the left mouse button to try and see if I could escape. But it all stopped as I heard repeated gunshots behind me and I quickly swiped my camera.
It was Anna, and she seemed to now be around in her teens, with an assault rifle in her hands. Before I could type anything in chat, she spoke up in a voice bubble, "ANNA: Don't worry. I've been in Arsenal before."
Another voice bubble popped up.
"ALEX: But we still have to get out. I can smell the virus from here. If we don't get out, we'll all get infected."
My camera view began developing a red, blurry, vignette. I feared what would happen if my camera became completely opaque. I thought I heard the ceiling crack as I slashed it, so I panned up as hard as I could, and began clicking faster than I ever had.
I thought my mouse was gonna shatter, but all that faded away as the ceiling opened and the camera refreshed. Back out of the ground, the ground patched back up, almost as if nothing was there.
The sky had been clear again, and one last message appeared.
"Congratulations! You've saved Adoption Island from certain extinction, thanks to your party's hard work and determination."
This would be an experience I would never forget or unsee. As I finish this post, I want to remind you that after what I've been through, I'll likely never see "Adopt Me!" the same way ever again.
After all, who knows if the virus is really dead? Is it still buried underground? All I can hope is that another disaster doesn't happen which triggers the virus to be released again, and I REALLY hope this cruel hacker doesn't spread the virus to other games.

There is now a new historical parallel to Gaza in Donald Trump being found guilty of 34 felonies. It's an example where in Gaza there was no way to stop before starting. Jury Duty service, I'm old enough to have experience with. As long as you're physically able we have a civic responsibility to report when called to the Jury Pool. Once there they play a video of how there is a good chance they will not need us. Once they played a good part of the Spider Man movie I never saw before, good versus evil theme just right for the occasion. One time I was called as a juror. It was an easy case to decide, done that day.
There is no dictator deciding. It's what I as juror decided, happy to have served in. At first I wished I could stay home. Feel good once there. Not as boring as I thought. They try to make it a fun learning experience about how the judicial system works.
Gazans wanting this judicial system in the government to replace Hamas dictatorship, would be something the free-world would be excited by. Want to invest in the fastest rebuild in history. Otherwise the Republican plan looks better all the time. Instead get UN tents to match the "refugee" status Hamas depended on for charity money. Made it seem like all wanted to leave Gaza anyway. The image made it easy for that to be stolen by the real estate sharks already swimming around offshore. The biggest of them all just had a jury of peers bring him down. Moral lesson of King Nothing plays on.
Rebuilds for Gaza can include modern court buildings planned for jury pool comfort. In getting back to WW2 the very lenient denazification method of the French might work as long as they can take their place in it. Can help now by figuring out how to adapt the USA material to educate and entertain a jury pool. Judges and all others are just to make sure we the jury get all the facts.
Those who are waiting out the battle together can use the time to plan for when its time for the IDF to be their entourage back home to safely implement. It's not what Israel would have come up with. But they have to love them, or even President Biden might get angry. He's into history, reminds us it's watching. A Reddit sub for doing what Ben Franklin would do looks like is not exactly what President Biden was imagining either. With all said, it's even better. Gaza and the USA are for different reasons both back to the scientist founder of this nation. Independence was from British colonialism, while for Gaza it's a WW2 German taxation without representation colonialism controlled in the Middle East through the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem then later Hamas.
Colonists want adherence to their religion and rules no choice. Jury system does the opposite by giving that power to we the people. It's then an in it together sort of thing, not something unique to Gaza, at just the right time in history to help Gazans prepare for rebuilding society with them in control of important court actions this time. Colonists like Christian nationalists were using Trump to impose a religious dictatorship.
The more a shared history the better, for planning strategy where on side the only orders in the (as in psychology for this purpose) parallel culture/structure/society to find sanity and reason inside are from Sheryl Crow to Lighten Up and Soak Up the Sun plays on!
What matters for Gaza and the USA is presented in a video with a famous history professor, Allan Lichtman, who for Times Radio brilliantly answers questions we most need answered for how the jury system relates to the future of the USA, Gazans who want Hamas to stay gone also need to know. Goes with the stickied on top strategy from Korean War success that led to K-Pop then "election fever" in South Korea. The best way to present this became in an environment where these parallels make sense together, in context of a much larger biblical sized united Palestine. Think big!
https://www.reddit.com/UnitedStatesPalestine/comments/1d4qada/selfdenazification_of_the_united_states_of/
There has been enough positive response to know I am not alone, I am confident the message is making it through to Gaza, and Democratic Party where Donald's example likewise connects their example into what is going on regarding culture change of both happening in parallel. It's then not an issue the Democratic Party is stuck in the middle of with no other way to really help them at the people level. It's then their example, where they here forward can keep in mind Gazans having a worse but same problem. It's outside "colonialism" from a scientist who knew religious "colonists" and would likely be here at this sub right now helping to explain all this to us. He was such a role model to me, my earlier posting of WW2 history at Palestinian made it easy to see by thinking of a United States of Palestine, by the year 2100..Thanks to Donald it's simpler than ever. Before then not even I was sure what next, in that to some crazy sounding direction, then there it was!
I have been watching how for many here the "Free Palestine" movement ended up turning you off after seeing the trouble it led. Needed a new direction. Good time to explain where what I have been working on, has just gone. In this case, we don't need politicians. IDF soldiers are already showing off their dancing skills, and have a fun new way to help end the war for good. They only have to combine with the emerging sound of Gaza towards a K-Pop but higher level science, history, and working together to end the latest echo of WW2 before it's a WW3. Already have the To Gaza with Love playlist to help get the party started. Another for WW2 era Andrews Sisters into Trump family history.
IDF troops are already singing and dancing on the battlefield. They don't need permission to do more, Gazans invited. Maybe compose a catchy welcoming song that invites them to make new music together towards a united Palestine by 2100, see what happens. Israel already has a close enough system, not for them. It's from Reddit for the other four states involved in the same conflict. By example Gaza uniting with Israel shows the way for the other three, or more possible states in the union, Israel already fits into when the time comes. Can do without the fence.
To a Gazan youngster not old enough to have been fully indoctrinated into the Hamas conditioning (to make them hate others instead of normal accepting) it's a life changer to sense the war is not against them. Palestine as Hamas saw it is replaced with a map of Palestine in Biblical days with various states in it. A teaching moment for the IDF to surprise with. Are then obviously are not against Palestine either. Otherwise they have to try making them stop believing, not work.
It's a tradeoff the IDF entertainers can live with, will control, towards rebuilding their culture with new role models like Ben Franklin and required jury duty. It's then possible to explain WW2 history of the Middle East holocaust that Israelis are frustrated by not being able to accept when it comes from them.
Reddit's /Palestinian is in no denial. Credit to subs in the network the IDF can give credit back, to avoid Israeli politicians from having to come up with strategy from their state government model or UN. It's a Palestinian cause they can personally support, and are at liberty to discuss with those who need to know. Best for Hamas to not know. Mostly kids who are impressed by their music and want to help make more. Something worth giving a try when IDF are outside of direct combat with Hamas. I hope you agree it is, or at least is not object.

TLDR; I've had limited experience w ladies (I'm a lady), only sexual. Now I live with one and I'm actually in love. She's aware of my intense feelings and attraction. With her permission, I have been courting her - flirting, teasing, genuinely showing care in my everyday actions. I put control in her hands from the time I first expressed feelings in terms of please let me know to stop if this is ever unwelcome. So far we're both curious and open and haven't been sexual, but she seems to be enjoying the dynamic. I've also had a recent spiritual experience which has shifted my internal, and I am mentally committed to her and view her as a partner. As the one in the 'masc' role of the cat-mouse game, how can I drive a femme woman crazy? What are some nonverbal communications I might receive that indicate obvious green or red flags? Most of all I want to be respectful and make sure I haven't missed obvious or non-obvious signals of being uncomfortable. But I'm ready to step it up and I want to drive her crazy. Next step I was thinking of asking her to do rope play. This isn't too much is it?
So this post is mostly geared towards any women who have had experiences with dating women, but anyone is welcome to provide input. So far, my experience with women is limited to a couple sexual experiences, both of which both parties were not in a fully lucid state so I don't fully count. I'm generally not a super girly girl, and I'm not 'masc' either, but I seem to fall more into the masc role overall, and top.
This brings me to now, I've finally had the chance to actually talk with and learn sapphic dynamics. For 7 months, a female roommate has lived with us, and I am absolutely crazy for her. Not just sexually, I really like her. I'm no good at masking, and feelings have been so intense from the beginning, so I told her early on. I've told her every incremental step of this pursuit what is going to happen next and given her control from square 1 to stop it at any point if anything is unwelcome/uncomfortable, because her safety is of number one importance. I've got an inkling that she's overall curious/open and generally attracted because of the fact she gave me explicit permission to court her. We've made a great connection and friendship and at this point, I've mentally committed myself to her and view her as a partner - this has been a recent mental development. She has not given obvious red flags to stop. Up to this point I've been having so much fun with the game of chasing her and teasing her by playing on what kinks I know she has - just generally learning sapphic flirting, and more importantly learning her. The sexual tension and slow burn of two curious and inexperienced bi women figuring it out in the same house is so thrilling for me.
I guess my question is, I believe I've played a more masculine role in terms of cat/mouse chase. As the one in this role, is there something I can do to me more inviting to the feminine? Do they enjoy the chase from another woman? What does a femme expect at this point from another woman in the masc role and does it differ from what she may expect from a man in courting? What will absolutely drive a curious bi femme woman crazy coming from a woman she knows absolutely desires her and is ready to please in any way? What might be an open-ended option I can provide her which will give her the choice to escalate?
I do know there's no guarantee she likes me back or will like me and I'm happy with this dynamic regardless of if it develops sexually or not, my feelings are genuine - I love her. I also know that inexperienced women like myself can miss cues and communications, especially nonverbal, coming from other women - I don't want to make an ass of myself and miss any non-obvious red flag signals she's sending me. But I do want to step it up and I just want to know I'm doing is ok and that I'm not being a pig or disrespectful to her. I know she's a rope bunny, and I was going to ask her if she'd like to do some rope play (non-sexual of course). I'm just very nervous, as I usually am when I make a move. I get the whole nine yards - butterflies like a rollercoaster in my tummy, sweaty palms, racing thoughts, hesitation, bashful feelings. She usually giggles when I ask something bold but doesn't ever seem uncomfortable and hasn't told me its uncool. What do you ladies think, am I overthinking any of this?

TLDR; I've had limited experience w ladies (I'm a lady), only sexual. Now I live with one and I'm actually in love. She's aware of my intense feelings and attraction. With her permission, I have been courting her - flirting, teasing, genuinely showing care in my everyday actions. I put control in her hands from the time I first expressed feelings in terms of please let me know to stop if this is ever unwelcome. So far we're both curious and open and haven't been sexual, but she seems to be enjoying the dynamic. I've also had a recent spiritual experience which has shifted my internal, and I am mentally committed to her and view her as a partner. As the one in the 'masc' role of the cat-mouse game, how can I drive a femme woman crazy? What are some nonverbal communications I might receive that indicate obvious green or red flags? Most of all I want to be respectful and make sure I haven't missed obvious or non-obvious signals of being uncomfortable. But I'm ready to step it up and I want to drive her crazy. Next step I was thinking of asking her to do rope play. This isn't too much is it?
So this post is mostly geared towards any women who have had experiences with dating women, but anyone is welcome to provide input. So far, my experience with women is limited to a couple sexual experiences, both of which both parties were not in a fully lucid state so I don't fully count. I'm generally not a super girly girl, and I'm not 'masc' either, but I seem to fall more into the masc role overall, and top.
This brings me to now, I've finally had the chance to actually talk with and learn sapphic dynamics. For 7 months, a female roommate has lived with us, and I am absolutely crazy for her. Not just sexually, I really like her. I'm no good at masking, and feelings have been so intense from the beginning, so I told her early on. I've told her every incremental step of this pursuit what is going to happen next and given her control from square 1 to stop it at any point if anything is unwelcome/uncomfortable, because her safety is of number one importance. I've got an inkling that she's overall curious/open and generally attracted because of the fact she gave me explicit permission to court her. We've made a great connection and friendship and at this point, I've mentally committed myself to her and view her as a partner - this has been a recent mental development. She has not given obvious red flags to stop. Up to this point I've been having so much fun with the game of chasing her and teasing her by playing on what kinks I know she has - just generally learning sapphic flirting, and more importantly learning her. The sexual tension and slow burn of two curious and inexperienced bi women figuring it out in the same house is so thrilling for me.
I guess my question is, I believe I've played a more masculine role in terms of cat/mouse chase. As the one in this role, is there something I can do to me more inviting to the feminine? Do they enjoy the chase from another woman? What does a femme expect at this point from another woman in the masc role and does it differ from what she may expect from a man in courting? What will absolutely drive a curious bi femme woman crazy coming from a woman she knows absolutely desires her and is ready to please in any way? What might be an open-ended option I can provide her which will give her the choice to escalate?
I do know there's no guarantee she likes me back or will like me and I'm happy with this dynamic regardless of if it develops sexually or not, my feelings are genuine - I love her. I also know that inexperienced women like myself can miss cues and communications, especially nonverbal, coming from other women - I don't want to make an ass of myself and miss any non-obvious red flag signals she's sending me. But I do want to step it up and I just want to know I'm doing is ok and that I'm not being a pig or disrespectful to her. I know she's a rope bunny, and I was going to ask her if she'd like to do some rope play (non-sexual of course). I'm just very nervous, as I usually am when I make a move. I get the whole nine yards - butterflies like a rollercoaster in my tummy, sweaty palms, racing thoughts, hesitation, bashful feelings. She usually giggles when I ask something bold but doesn't ever seem uncomfortable and hasn't told me its uncool. What do you ladies think, am I overthinking any of this?

Howdy friends!
We recently started a West Marches-style D&D setting to bring together casual, good-natured people to enjoy some intense, shenanigans-filled, high-fantasy adventures. Initially a group of Bay Area locals, we are opening up the world of Lor'Turan to host online sessions. We pride ourselves on being a fun and welcoming environment for new players or those who just want to to give this whole thing a shot, so don't worry most of this is more interesting than understandable.
Some FAQs below:
Who are you?
I am a DM of ~15 years experience who's taken players through several standard-format campaigns and received pretty good reviews (toot toot goes my horn). The players include my lovely fiancée, some close friends, some Redditors who responded to previous solicitations, old friends, interested locals…we have all kinds.
What is "West Marches"?
West Marches is a way of playing D&D that is a little different from a traditional campaign.

• Rather than one unified story from start to finish, adventures are more episodic in nature, taking one to three sessions at most. There are fewer "big bads" and far more "medium bads". Also, the DM (hi!) will make custom adventures to suit the players who schedule the session. You want a zany romp through the county fair? Done. You want a gothic horror monster hunt? We'll make it happen. Get on the same page as your party and the adventure will come!
• Rather than being stuck with one party, characters are free to group up with new allies from adventure to adventure. Find a crew you like? Great! But if you want to mix and match, maybe play the field, the world (well, demi-plane) is your oyster.
• Rather than a party of "chosen ones," your characters are heroes adventuring through a world that very much could kill them. The stakes are a bit higher for some sessions, and the difficulty is more what you make of it than what a long-standing narrative requires.
• Rather than weekly sessions, you join when you can! Got time for D&D? Set up a session or two. Life got you down? Take care of business; we'll be here when you return!
• Rather than marriage to a character, feel free to retire your character or spin up a couple!

Who is this invitation for?
People who want to have crazy fantasy adventures with other nice people. The structure and focus of this setting is designed to permit real people (with jobs and other commitments) to participate in D&D to the fullest. If you take your involvement seriously and treat others with respect, we'll find a way to make this work for you.
What are the rules?
Be a good human. We will play with any good humans, and not hesitate to punt bad humans. It's so easy to be a good human; why would you not be?
Awww, come on, give me a li'l taste!
This weekend, we have a group finishing the purging of a yuan-ti temple to an undead snake goddess occupied by kobolds! Next weekend, a trip from a beleaguered town of the Forsaken Sprawl to a nearby orc fortress rife with diplomatic opportunity.
If you are interested in joining this merry band, please shoot me a message and we'll get you spun up! No questionnaires, just a conversation. Have questions? Great! Same thing; I am here to answer anything that comes to mind. Never played D&D before? Great, we'll make you a sample platter.

Howdy friends!
We recently started a West Marches-style D&D setting to bring together casual, good-natured people to enjoy some intense, shenanigans-filled, high-fantasy adventures. Initially a group of Bay Area locals, we are opening up the world of Lor'Turan to host online sessions.
Some FAQs below:
Who are you?
I am a DM of ~15 years experience who's taken players through several standard-format campaigns and received pretty good reviews (toot toot goes my horn). The players include my lovely fiancée, some close friends, some Redditors who responded to previous solicitations, old friends, interested locals…we have all kinds.
What is "West Marches"?
West Marches is a way of playing D&D that is a little different from a traditional campaign.

• Rather than one unified story from start to finish, adventures are more episodic in nature, taking one to three sessions at most. There are fewer "big bads" and far more "medium bads". Also, the DM (hi!) will make custom adventures to suit the players who schedule the session. You want a zany romp through the county fair? Done. You want a gothic horror monster hunt? We'll make it happen. Get on the same page as your party and the adventure will come!
• Rather than being stuck with one party, characters are free to group up with new allies from adventure to adventure. Find a crew you like? Great! But if you want to mix and match, maybe play the field, the world (well, demi-plane) is your oyster.
• Rather than a party of "chosen ones," your characters are heroes adventuring through a world that very much could kill them. The stakes are a bit higher for some sessions, and the difficulty is more what you make of it than what a long-standing narrative requires.
• Rather than weekly sessions, you join when you can! Got time for D&D? Set up a session or two. Life got you down? Take care of business; we'll be here when you return!
• Rather than marriage to a character, feel free to retire your character or spin up a couple!

Who is this invitation for?
People who want to have crazy fantasy adventures with other nice people. The structure and focus of this setting is designed to permit real people (with jobs and other commitments) to participate in D&D to the fullest. If you take your involvement seriously and treat others with respect, we'll find a way to make this work for you.
What are the rules?
Be a good human. We will play with any good humans, and not hesitate to punt bad humans. It's so easy to be a good human; why would you not be?
Awww, come on, give me a li'l taste!
This weekend, we have a group finishing the purging of a yuan-ti temple to an undead snake goddess occupied by kobolds! Next weekend, a trip from a beleaguered town of the Forsaken Sprawl to a nearby orc fortress rife with diplomatic opportunity.
If you are interested in joining this merry band, please shoot me a message and we'll get you spun up! No questionnaires, just a conversation. Have questions? Great! Same thing; I am here to answer anything that comes to mind. Never played D&D before? Great, we'll make you a sample platter.

Howdy friends!
We recently started a West Marches-style D&D setting to bring together casual, good-natured people to enjoy some intense, shenanigans-filled, high-fantasy adventures. We are hosting in-person sessions to bring our local TTRPG enthusiasts together.
Some FAQs below:
Who are you?
I am a game master of ~15 years experience who's taken players through several standard-format campaigns and received pretty good reviews (toot toot goes my horn). The players include my lovely fiancée, some close friends, some Redditors who responded to previous solicitations, old friends, interested locals…we have all kinds.
What is "West Marches"?
West Marches is a way of playing D&D that is a little different from a traditional campaign.

• Rather than one unified story from start to finish, adventures are more episodic in nature, taking one to three sessions at most. There are fewer "big bads" and far more "medium bads". Also, the DM (hi!) will make custom adventures to suit the players who schedule the session. You want a zany romp through the county fair? Done. You want a gothic horror monster hunt? We'll make it happen. Get on the same page as your party and the adventure will come!
• Rather than being stuck with one party, characters are free to group up with new allies from adventure to adventure. Find a crew you like? Great! But if you want to mix and match, maybe play the field, the world (well, demi-plane) is your oyster.
• Rather than a party of "chosen ones," your characters are heroes adventuring through a world that very much could kill them. The stakes are a bit higher for some sessions, and the difficulty is more what you make of it than what a long-standing narrative requires.
• Rather than weekly sessions, you join when you can! Got time for D&D? Set up a session or two. Life got you down? Take care of business; we'll be here when you return!
• Rather than marriage to a character, feel free to retire your character or spin up a couple!

Who is this invitation for?
People who want to have crazy fantasy adventures with other nice people. The structure and focus of this setting is designed to permit real people (with jobs and other commitments) to participate in D&D to the fullest. If you take your involvement seriously and treat others with respect, we'll find a way to make this work for you.
What are the rules?
Be a good human. We will play with any good humans, and not hesitate to punt bad humans. It's so easy to be a good human; why would you not be?
Awww, come on, give me a li'l taste!
This weekend, we have a group finishing the purging of a yuan-ti temple to an undead snake goddess occupied by kobolds! Next weekend, a trip from a beleaguered town of the Forsaken Sprawl to a nearby orc fortress rife with diplomatic opportunity.
If you are interested in joining this merry band, please shoot me a message and we'll get you spun up! No questionnaires, just a conversation. Have questions? Great! Same thing; I am here to answer anything that comes to mind. Never played D&D before? Great, we'll make you a sample platter. Looking forward to seeing you in the wilds!