My (30f) boyfriend (30m) made plans a while ago that him and his future significant other would buy a home with his family. He currently lives with his family. He use to live on his own but moved in with family once his dad left his job and they asked the kids to move in with them to help with expenses. At the beginning of us dating, I expressed that I want to purchase a home with him and live on our own. He told me that he wants the same.
Lately his family has been pressuring him to go back to the decision they all planned saying that it’s not fair because they all agreed to move in together at first. They also told him that they overheard a conversation that we had where I asked for reassurance that he would get his finances together and move in with me (this conversation was had after he informed me that he would be staying with his family for one more year so that he can get his finances together) and that’s when they started pressuring him to change his mind again. They tried to spin it as if I’m making him make the decision to move in with me.
His family has terrible money management and always has issues with paying bills. He always tries to save money because at any point, a large bill will come out of nowhere requiring him to put money toward it. The family completely lives about their means with them living in a nice house and having nice cars that they can barely afford. On top of it all, we get no privacy as you all see. This is a deal breaker for me. How do I go about handling this?
TL;DR: Boyfriends family pressuring him to keep his word and maintain living with them instead of living on his own with me.

Monday
Dimmy: I hope you all had a great Mother’s Day! Stevie Kate surprised me with a balloon, baguette, half-eaten apple, and pinworms she picked up from the feral Denner tots, and I surprised Stevie Kate and London with a Sol Brush powdered sunscreen shill and carcinogenic particles of zinc oxide and titanium dioxide in their lungs. Stevie Kate’s spent the past 48 hours in her pajamas tearing through a bag of rotisserie chicken, so I decided to resume potty training to get her to stop binge-eating chicken. I am finally ready to start potty training again now that we are going through so many diapers with twice as many Contentots in the house.
Dimmy: Ta da! Here is Stevie Kate’s adorable potty setup! Complete with balloons and princess underwear! Stevie Kate, are you ready to go on the potty and wear your underwear? Stevie Kate: I’m ready right now! Neighbor Boy Harry: Uh… Imma head out and go help my mom with her shitty stationery line! 🏃‍♂️🎒
Tuesday
Dimmy: Would you like to give us an update on how potty training is going? Sassy Kate: Would you like to give us an update on how you and daddy exploit your children on the internet for financial gain? Dimmy: I’ll give you a cookie if you detail every bodily function from the past 24 hours. So Fed Up Kate: I’ll give you a swift kick in your bad knee if you don’t stop talking about my toilet training. Dimmy: That’s it, your punishment for being sassy is you have to stay in your pajamas again all day. Sleepwear Kate: We all knew that was going to happen anyway.
Dimmy: I need to get your guys’ thoughts. With potty training, do I just stay at home? Or do I carry the miniature singing toilet with balloons attached everywhere we go? I’ve been staying at home the past 24 hours and it is torture! We haven’t even been able to go visit the Astroturf at the shopping center by our house. Stevie Kate’s been doing pretty good. We’ve had a couple accidents today, but she’s been doing really well for the most part- OW! Why did you kick me in the knee, Stevie Kate? Here, go play with this bag containing an entire rotisserie chicken and eat as much of it as you want. Mommy’s busy talking to the people in her phone who fund our lifestyle. Anyway, I can’t just stay inside for the next two weeks! That’s insanity! I need your help! How do I go out with Stevie Kate while potty training? Drop your tips in the box! I know I could just ask my sisters, Iris, or Meta AI on Instagram instead, but that doesn’t drive up my engagement numbers like responses from you sorry losers do!
Dimmy: Speaking of Iris, I did text it for craft ideas to keep School’s Out Kate busy this summer. Also I contacted Iris for a color analysis and Iris responded that bright orange parachute I wore car shopping looked great with my skin tone, and I should consider cutting up some of the parachute material to sew it into a dress. I tried to explain to Iris that it already was a dress, albeit a voluminous one, but Iris just responded with these bizarre outfit suggestions of monochromatic business looks for fall and winter where each outfit is the color of Tiffany’s self-tanner-applied orange skin. I tried to tell Iris it’s summer time and it’s hot as fuck here in Texas, plus I mainly wear athleisure and billowy dresses, not business clothes, but Iris said who cares, these aren’t real clothes anyway, just weird hypothetical Fashion Plates looks a robot mocked up. Iris said whatever I do, to avoid wearing cheetah print. What the fuck! That’s never going to happen. I love cheetah print. Still, I think you gullible assholes should subscribe to Iris anyway and use my code BOYAREYOUDUMB for 50% off your first month! Don’t you want to be able to TEXT Iris instead of carry a computer around 24/7 to use ChatGPT? I know that question makes no sense, since you don’t need four laptops in a Nordace backpack to use ChatGPT, but all of my followers are gullible idiots and will subscribe to Iris despite my idiotic statements!
Thursday
Dimmy is wearing loads of dark makeup and another gigantic billowy dress, and you know what that means… time to go car shopping again with paid pal Diana! Dimmy shared stories from Wednesday’s car shopping excursion to Hyundai and Kia and once again the trimmed-down troll was “too busy” to go along. Sidekick Kate was a good sport through the whole car shopping ordeal, despite hopping from bathroom to bathroom, the charge running out on her Tonies box, and her Mylar princess balloon sailing away in search of a beach to pollute. Screenie Kate forgave Dimmy for losing her balloon since she knows there’s always plenty more where that came from and she has Wina from Balloonish on speed dial. Dimmy sailed from new car to new car thanks to a strong breeze and her billowy dress, looking for the SUV with the most charging ports for all of her devices and the largest number of adjustable cup holders big enough to fit even the most gigantic of Stanley cups in her collection. She found the “Hun-Die” Palisade fit the bill, with chargers and cup holders galore. She wasn’t as impressed with the Kia “Tell-a-ride” because it didn’t have as many cup holders and ports to charge her numerous devices. Dimmy is now torn between buying either the Palisade or the Escalade because those were the only cars she found that rhymed with “getting paid.” Should she go with the practical, convenient “Mom car” Palisade or the super nice and luxurious Escalade?
Today Jen is grateful Kimmy, Stevie Kate and London are coming over to bring hugs and content. Stevie Kate was excited to show off her potty training progress to Minnie and Papa.
Jen: Stevie Kate, what are we doing today? Sugarless Kate: Baking sugar-free cookies on this damn, dirty floor, like usual. Jen: Why are you using ghost-shaped cookie cutters? Spooky Kate: Because Mommy is a ghost! Jen: Your Mommy is a ghost? Stevie Chef: Yes! Because I want her to disappear!
Tiffany was furious when she saw on stories that Kimmy, Stevie Kate and London were getting all of Jen’s gratitude and attention, so she threw a giant bow and no shoes on Lily and sped over to crash their party and divert all the attention to herself. She immediately whipped out her boobs to shill her Eby bra when she saw Dimmy nursing, claiming she and Jen might start lactating at any moment. Then she publicly shamed Stevie Kate for having an accident in her car seat on the way to Jen’s.
Meanwhile, London is still alive despite the clouds of Sol Brush sunscreen powder raining down on her face yet again as Dimmy’s fascination with demonstrating how to use the high-commission product continues. Dimmy headed to the airport to pick up yet another sister to help her out with London, but not before posting a Ritual vitamin shill so she could take the day off stories tomorrow.
Saturday
London is finally being a cooperative Contentot, smiling for Instagram from beneath her giant bow, and doing a picture-perfect Swaddle Stretch channeling her older sister’s performances from back in her newborn days.
Sol Brush is back in stock and Dimmy is bursting with joy at all the commission she’s going to make from more sales of the ineffective sunscreen, her kids’ lungs be damned. If Sunburnt Kate doesn’t convince Dimmy’s followers it doesn’t work, I don’t know what will.
Stevie Sunburn headed indoors to get a break from the sun and play with the robot bug toy Dimmy’s sister brought her. Thank goodness the Tacky Screech Owl found an Amazon link for the gift so she can make money off that too. Dimmy even had an active Active Skin Repair code, so she shilled it them sprayed Stevie Sunburn to give her some relief.
Street Urchin Kate looked like a Victorian Orphan by mid-afternoon as her Belle princess dress mopped up dirt, sidewalk chalk, Dimmy’s makeup, and everything else in her path. Dimmy left Disheveled Kate with her sister and cleaned herself up, threw on her Paris dress, and headed to a baby shower for the Houghtons’ wealthy family friend Anna. The beautiful florals and tasteful spread at Grange Hall were too elegant for the tacky turtle bunch, so Jen set the centerpiece flowers on fire with the votive candles to protest the lack of balloon arches, then escaped by helicopter to go terrorize another Texas city, Austin.
With two days off this week and tomorrow being Sunday, Dimmy’s Saturday shilling was at an all-time high. She’s linking up everything but the kitchen sink, and she’d link that up too if she had a code for it.

I'm not really super competitive or anything, but my current pad (old Razer one) is super worn out and I'd like to get a desk pad because I like the look and how it makes my keyboard sound. I'm not super picky but I'd like something decent quality and that has a smooth surface that won't irritate my skin, but not a super slow glide or anything. I can go up to 1000x500mm dimensions but would prefer to stick with 900x400 or smaller because I would need to buy a monitor arm to make room for the depth on a 1000x500 or 950x450. Considered LGG pads (Saturn and Venus), Aqua Control 2/+, Fnatic Focus 3, new Razer Strider since I heard they made it smoother (but haven't actually felt any in person so don't know how I feel about the texture). Also some things more focused on the look and feel like a desk pad from Drop or The Mousepad Company. AC2 seems like my best bet but people say the stitching is raised and it has a rough texture, and poor stopping power (like I said, pretty casual, my aim isn't steady enough to get away with that). AC+ is harder for me to get my hands on but might be better for me. Would love opinions/advice/personal experience if at all possible.

So me and this friend (we will call them storm) became friends during Spanish class my sophomore year of high school and have been friends for about two years now. I became friends with them because we both shared a mutual friend and that mutual friend soon had a big falling out with storm and so I invited them to basically join my own friend group. During our Spanish class they would often mumble phrases in what sounded like a different language and when I asked them they said that they were mumbling Japanese because they are Japanese, they just don’t look like it. Their words exactly. I believed them thinking that no sane person would lie about being Japanese and storm seemed pretty normal to me at first. I asked more about their background and they told me that their mom was a white Christian southern woman and their dad was the Japanese one. However, their dad also doesn’t look Japanese because he hates being Japanese and so he got plastic surgery. Yes, fucking plastic surgery. I didn’t want to be rude so I once again believed them. Their dad was also directly from Japan since their grandparents still live in Japan but their dad somehow knew no Japanese whatsoever. They also told me that when they were born their parents sent them to live with their grandparents over in Japan from ages 0-8 and then they moved back to the U.S. (where we live). When I asked them what part of Japan they were from they told me that they lived in Kyoto. They would later go on to tell me that it was Osaka and then Hokkaido. Three completely different places. Storm and I were joking around one day in Spanish and they mumbled something in what I assumed was Japanese again and I asked them to say I’m a terrible person in Japanese as a joke and because I wanted to hear more of the language. They said a phrase and that was that. I asked them the very same thing the next day because I wanted to know the phrase for myself and they said something completely different. Not even remotely close to what they had said yesterday. I didn’t think much of it and just figured they used different wording or something. Storm tends to do this thing where they are very obviously lying about something that me and my friends are talking about just to join in on the conversation and have their own part. I usually have no problem with this since I think everyone lies a little to get to be better friends with people and to be included in conversations. However, I have been friends with them for 2 years now and the lying has just gotten worse. An example would be that just a few days ago me and my friends were talking about summer trips and how a few of us are going to Europe. Storm jumps into the conversation and says that they are going to Japan this summer. Mind you, they said this exact same thing last year and never went. They’ve also told me that they don’t have their passport and that their parents are awful and never let them go anywhere and are super strict. Why on earth would they suddenly let you go to Japan? It just never adds up but me and my friends never make a fuss about it. In March I was talking with a friend who also used to be friends with storm and they told me that they didn’t like them because they lied about being poor just to join in on the conversation. Storm tells people all the time how their dad gives them around 1k a week to spend and how they have a Camaro and they always offer to buy everything for their friends. I’ve been to their house and they have 5 cars on the driveway, including the Camaro. I know cars and 1k a week don’t exactly equal not being poor but it was kinda inconsiderate to say that they were since they are constantly bragging about how much money they have. It just doesn’t add up. I could see why my friend didn’t like them and I started to realize that a lot of what storm tells us doesn’t completely make sense. Now moving back to storms childhood. This is where everything really makes no sense at all. I myself am mixed (half Hispanic, half white) and one day I was talking about a horrible elementary school experience where I got bullied because of my unibrow and how I have darker hairs on my body than the other kids. Storm decided to join the conversation and says that they were bullied too for not knowing any English in elementary school. I was talking about the book Dune one day and Storm tells me that they have read Dune but they read it when they were really young to learn English. Fucking Dune. That book is hard for me to even read now how the fuck were you learning English from that at 8 years old. It could make sense if Storm was just really smart but they take all standard classes right now and get bad grades. I started to ask more people when Storm had told them the age that they had come over to the U.S. They all had different answers. I got 2,4,6,8, and the 6th grade. The person that said 8 was the mutual friend that me and storm shared before they had a falling out. I asked that friend more about what Storm had told them and they said that when they lived in Japan, their grandparents sent them away to this Buddhist camp for 6 months when they were 6 years old where they shaved their head. This threw me off completely and I started to experiment. I share art class with storm this year and I decided to ask them about their last name. I won’t disclose it here but it is a very white last name. I brought it up to them and they told me that they have their moms last name and not their dads Japanese one. When I asked what the Japanese last name was and they told me (I literally had them spell it out) and I looked it up on google. It wasn’t even a real fucking word . They told me it was Takamishido. They were silent and so I asked them more about their moms last name and they said that it was Russian and so they were part Russian because their moms parents are Russian. I looked up their last name and the only origins are Americanized Dutch. Nothing to do with being Russian at all. They were silent about that too . I asked them more about their childhood in Japan and they told me that they were homeschooled and don’t remember any Japanese or really anything from living in Japan from ages 0-8 because of a trauma response that made them forget everything. This all already made me mad since nothing was adding up but what really did it for me was when I got in trouble because during school there was a drug search in the parking lot and the cops dogs smelled weed on my car. The only friend I have that I knew for a fact smoked weed is storm and I know this because they have showed up to come hang out with me and my friends multiple times and been extremely high and smelled so strongly of weed. I had driven them to prom that last weekend and I guess they stunk up my car because they were high again. Stuff like this doesn’t usually happen to me so I was crying all day during school because I was confused and embarrassed. While my other friends comforted me, Storm ignored me all day and then at lunchtime proceeded to tell me to just fuck the cops. They know damn well they were the reason I got in trouble and said fucking nothing about it. They have also spoken multiple times about how they think people who do drugs are awful and affect others so bad yet they themselves do the exact thing. There are multiple other little horrible things they have done but these are just the main things. I’m writing this because I wanna know if I’m over exaggerating everything and they aren’t lying and I just can’t see it somehow. I feel like I am going crazy. Please help me.

I don't know what to do or if anyone can help me so this may just be a vent post idk.
I'm 23 and have a full time career job, living alone, drive a car etc.
I am almost 6 months on T and have been getting dog piled with wave after wave of teenage boy angst - I'm sad, I'm anxious, I'm insatiably hungry and horny, constantly sleepy and so fucking lazy.
It's incredibly difficult to function as an adult when all you want to do is eat, sleep and get off - not to mention how embarrassing and alien it feels considering it's such drastic change from how I've lived my life for so long.
I'm making stupid choices and after specifically telling myself I wasn't ready to seek out another relationship so soon - I not only go on the internet and start sexting randoms when I know it's probably not the best idea for me, but I go ahead and catch feelings for someone on the otherside of the globe whilst doing so.
This person is treating me better than I've ever been treated by anyone in my life so that's great but also last week I cried, genuinely sobbed because I might be in love with someone I may never be able to afford to meet because the travel.
The amount and intensity of the yearning is just ridiculous and completely unjustified given its only been a few weeks. I'm so ashamed of myself for being such a mess over it but I also can't stop.
I know logically it's not my fault cause T and I also have PMDD but I'm struggling to function. Dr said my T is looking good but my brain E levels are still far too high and that's why PMDD stupid is persistent despite my period stopping.
I don't know if I can be helped or if I just have to wait it out - just feel fucking awful rn.

I just put in 12 hours this weekend, from just after discovering terminal Victor. I... didn't have a great time.
Most of the advertising that really hooked me was the Base Building update and its beautiful buildings. I've played enough of these kinds of games (Satisfactory, Factorio) to know I should unlock the architecture parts first, then I can build my beautiful bases once and not have to go back to rebuild them. I also put monorails on my list, because they seemed like the best way to link up long-distance bases that would let me specialize production at each base.
But I didn't find X-Ray for hours! It was entirely detached from the main cave system and when I found it I realized unlocking pretty architecture was going to consume a lot more resources and planning effort than the main quest (again, I was only looking at Victor T1 by this point). But I tried for the first tier, at least, to see what I could unlock. The result was that I had a base at X-Ray that was making more parts than at Victor and I felt I needed to set up a monorail ASAP to get my bases operating correctly.
So, 100 blue cores later I built the depot, worked out the towers, and built a monorail halfway back to Victor. I decided the Red Vine cavern was central enough for a bunch of shuttle monorails to converge. I tested out the monorails and... they were extremely annoying.
I need to pause here and throw in loads of positives: I like that there are lots of intermediate parts, I like that the game hits the sweet spot of simple AND complex at the same time. I love the ambience, I love the terraforming (especially the HUD that took the guesswork out of carving up rock. Kudos to that dev!) I love all the plants and how it feels like rooms have a temperature. I love how all the caves are memorable so after a few walks I stopped getting lost and could recognize where rivers and tunnels went. I love the clunky, chunky dieselpunk aesthetic. I love that assemblers are 2x4 and encourage puzzle-solving to optimize inserter use! I love that everything glows, except for the dark factory caverns I carve out myself. I love that this game made brutalism and a dash of art deco go great together. I love the voice acting (although it does tend to be a little startling, maybe it needs a little radio static before and after?)
All of that is to, hopefully, convince whoever's reading this that I am no hater and I want this game to be the best in its niche. So here's the rant:
The monorail sucks. It runs contrary to an open-ended game experience about building multiple bases and encourages early players to build km-long conveyor systems instead. It's expensive, deep in the tech tree, power-hungry, logistically broken, and doesn't provide a good alternative to walking. Thankfully, almost all of these are easy fixes:

1. The monorail's need for electricity on both ends means it isn't meant to connect non-powered bases (like a dedicated mining and smelting operation) to powered bases. The rule of thumb for every other factory game has been "you shouldn't have to move resources to move resources", so I think making monorails only need one power source (or letting them run on fuel) would create more gameplay than it would remove.
2. The monorail is too deep in the tech tree, and players will want to start specializing and inter-meshing bases before they have the best tools for the job. Personally, I think Blue Science (where players have to automate mining, smelting, threshing, fueling, and about a dozen assemblers in a row) is too complicated to be completed in one base so I'd suggest dropping this back to Purple Science.
3. I already covered "power-hungry", but here's another suggestion that occurred to me: let an upgraded version of monorails function as high-voltage cable? That way extending to a new base only requires 1 hand-made connection.
4. The monorail models look great, but in operation the whole system looks wrong. The trains move way too fast, stockpile too slowly, spend too much of their station animation stalling, and frankly look ridiculous when the entire line is stuffed with trains each carrying 1 or 2 items. I can't imagine using these for more than 1 item type each way...so why not use conveyors instead? Here's a spitball: if you're sticking to 3 cars (and I'm going to suggest 4 in a minute) why not let players configure each car's item, and then the train only loads and launches the cars that are full on this end and empty on the other end. If a monorail can deliver and receive 3 or 4 different items (or belts worth of items) without any clog stopping the others I would use them no matter how much menu work I had to do to set them up.
5. Riding the any transit in games means letting go of gameplay and being subjected to a show. That means the experience must be enjoyable and brief, and currently it's neither. I feel like I'm getting decked by every pole I sail by while trains move way faster overhead. It also means that looking up at the trains keeps most of their design obscured by the tracks, which isn't ideal, and I'm tempted at every moment to let go, drop 1 foot, and just walk. The change I suggest is going to sound extreme, but I am certain it will be more enjoyable: flip the trains upside down and put the player on top. Suspended monorails are objectively cooler and will contrast nicely with the upward-facing conveyor belts. Letting the player use the top of the depots as launch pads onto a roller-coaster-slash-roller-skate experience will encourage verticality in construction and excavation... or they can opt out of the personal transport and keep the rails right up against the cave roof with no more clipping issues. This would simplify loading and unloading animations as well, hopefully giving us a 4th train car and improving the inter-base transit value of the monorail.

Okay "I'm just the idea guy"-rant over. I know the devs don't need ideas, and have much better ways to spend their limited time on the game. This is just my special interest and I wanted to share, just in case.
Back to progression though, I've ended the weekend moderately stressed out instead of relaxed. I feel like putting aesthetics behind an arbitary number of arbitrary tasks in a game about efficiency was the wrong move and I hope the devs move architecture from end-game content to the beginning. I'm just... so tired of scanning the ruins. This is a mining automation game where I'm gathering concrete blocks by hand. What went wrong?

Background (TLDR below):
I live in Noida, in a rented apartment, with my parents and my dog. We don't own any property (sold in 2021 due to dad's business issues). We own a car (~10L value, bought 7 years ago) and that's about it.
After a long bout with bad decisions and finishing off credit card debts, here's the current income split - Salary - 1.33L pm Amount to home/parents - 75k pm I keep ~58k pm I pay off credit cards (EMIs, previous months charges and a shared Amazon card for a lot of home expenses, internet & telephone bills, gym membership, life insurance policy) from 58k and am left with around 30-35k.
My fixed expenses are going out with friends once or twice a week, a lot of late night Swiggy/ Zomato orders (trynig to cut back) and some money (~3-4k) I spend on a little side business I'm trying to start. And I am always left with little to no money at the end of the month.
In terms of current saving - I have ~2.7L in mutual funds. Mom has her own saving but I don't ask her the numbers. With year end bonuses - I will have ~7.3L in mutual funds/stocks by end of next month. This is all the savings I have since I started working around 4 years ago.
TLDR: 27m, 4YOE Monthly Income - 1.3L pm Fixed amount to Home/Parents - 75k pm Current Stocks/Mutual Funds - 7.3L Current EPF - ~4L Self/Family owned assets - 1 car (7-8 years old)
And going forward,
I plan on getting an apartment and live alone, away from home for a while, for mental health which will bring increased costs of ~50k pm.
Parents want me to purchase a home/property but I sometimes feel it would be a bad decision as I don't want to get locked into a 20-30 year commitment, but then also think about the peace of mind it might bring to live in an apartment you own. A good apartment I would want to purchase for the long term would cost (1.5-2cr)
Really wanted to buy an additional car this year, but don't think I can afford it, but we will soon have to buy one as you can't drive diesel cars older than 10 years in Delhi and the current one has around 2 years left.
I am also due for an appraisal in June/July so income will be increasing by at least 20%. I have not been regular with savings, but plan on being more strict and save 20% of my salary before making any expenses (self or home).
Can anyone evaluate how I am doing so far? And how I should proceed going forward?
Thanks!

Man, I am trying my hardest to do my part to drive up bad tips and low flat fares but I only received 4 deliveries last night, accepted 2 (that were barely over 1.25$/mile and did one “scheduled opportunity” from Walmart that was 18.50$ for prob around 14 miles round trip. They have us over a barrel in this market (Fresno CA). I’m barely covering gas in a hybrid Prius. I can’t really do this for that much longer. My car is taking a beating and my cortisol levels are through the roof. Either a bunch of newbies or someone out there taking these less than a dollar per mile joke deliveries. Waiting on a second interview to be back of house service industry again but I think I’m going to keep the app, run it and refuse all the offers to drive up base fares for my market. I wonder how low I can get acceptance rate before they boot me off. What are the best ways to protest the app in your area? I’m sure nothing that a single driver can do makes any difference at all, but just for shits and giggles, what’s your either real or fantasy quiting/protesting Uber eats story, stories? Customer or driver (even though this is a driver sub). Also anyone else on this sub in my market? Judging by the amount of deliveries I get I’m guessing there’s around a million Uber eats drivers here, or 100 guys with 10,000 accounts. Grub hub and door dash have been at capacity for over 6 months now as well. I havnt even been driving that long I just checked it when I first came here for school, which was like early 2023

(Lol smosh if u end up seeing this plz put this on a reddit stories episode i would love to hear what you guys think)
(I’ve never posted here before sorry if I brake any rules, and let me know if theirs any other places I can post this)
Ive thought about this for a really long time and i want to confront her but i don’t know how or if i should. Every since I’ve known her she tells everyone shes Japanese and i think that she may be lying.
When we first started hanging around a lot i got curious and asked “what is your race“ she told me she was full Japanese. also she told me she was born in japan and moved to America when she was 5. I said “ohhh i thought you were hispanic.” I also thought “oh maybe she is hispanic but is Asian passing ??” Then later she tells me something different and said she was just born in Chicago. She also says she has a Japanese name “Aiko Takahashi“
in school we always called her by her Japanese name, but when they would call her name through the school intercoms, they called her by “Camila García” (fake name but it’s pretty close to her real name) one day she actually skipped picture day so she wouldn’t have her real name in the year book. One day yearsss later she told me that she is Half Filipino, which if thats true that could explain her real name.
i also asked her once “why do you have two different names?” She said “my stepmom didn’t like my Japanese name and forced me to change it legally because she couldn’t pronounce my real name”
Every since I’ve known her she has aways dated Asain guys, and always had Japanese cars (specifically mitsubishis) She would also lie about her car when i could literally see it. she would say “i have a 2020 Mitsubishi” when you could clearly look at it and it would be a 2010. She also introduced me to Kpop, we both use to love it together, but now i feel like the purposely mispronounces / misspells group names for some reason, maybe to make it seem like she knows nothing about it? Idkk. she also use to drink alot and had a huge obsession with being skinny. She was probably 90 pound’s soaking wet.
Ive known my her since middle school and Ive never met her family or anything. I didn’t even know she had siblings until her ex told me about them he also sent me video proof of her with her father and siblings at the mall. We have both seen her ID and it also has the same name of Camila Garcia. He even told me thats he’s met her family that they all looked Hispanic and that they all spoke Spanish. But i have never met her family so i would never know.
We are all in our 20s now and we live in different states but she would always travel just to hangout and see me. and for a little bit i disappeared on her (only for about a month) because i was kinda hurt knowing that she could be lying and not being truthful, because if we are really best friends she wouldn’t hide anything from me. We literally talk to each other about everything. and I’ve always wanted that best friend relationship where we met each others family’s and we could all be close.
She wants to move to my state and to roommate with me, I really want confront her but, i don’t want to confront her and hurt her. Im wondering if this coping thing. What if i ask her and it brings back some trauma and she disappears?
if your confused on anything or have any questions plz let me know in the comments so i can clear it up for you

37 F in a relationship with 36 M for 11 years now. Not legally married. I know that my relationship is not healthy. My partner is always angry with me. I think it really hit just hit me today that nothing is going to get better. I came home from a long weekend away with the kids on holiday (he chose to stay home) and he was immediately mad that I didnt greet him. I honestly wasn’t sure if he was home and had just spent 5 hours in the car with a 6 and 9 year old. He was enraged.
Nothing is going to change unless I change it. But I honestly don’t know what to do. I have two young kids and he threatens to take them every time I try to leave him. It’s so scary that he would try to separate them from me that I’ve felt like I can’t make a move. The thought of him using our children as leverage completely paralyzes me.
Has anyone else been here? How do you get away? I’m asking actual logistics. Like what you do first, second, third. It’s all so overwhelming.

So we have this neighborhood that the whole street refers to as the "neighborhood crazy". She constantly injects herself into situations that are none of her business. For example: there was a couple here that was dealing with something like a domestic disturbance or whatever, I'm not 100% sure & cops were out there. So this neighborhood crazy goes over there & proceeds to scream & swear & the couple got a restraining order. There's been similar situations with some of the other neighbors.
I mostly keep my distance from her & stay clear of the house she is renting.
However, today I accidentally backed my minivan into a car that was parked in my blind spot. I got out to look at damage & the neighborhood crazy comes running to me, screaming obscenities of garden variety & how I'm a b*** & an as*e. Mind you, this is not her car, it's not her house/property that the car was parked on, she was simply standing in front of house w/another neighbor (who had family visiting & this is one of those individuals' cars) & ranting & raving about an arguement she just had w her live in boyfriend. So they were standing & talking & saw me back up into the parked car. And that's when the neighborhood crazy took it upon herself to run up to me & curse me out. I told her calmly but firmly "this doesn't concern you, please go back to your house" I got back in my car to throw the hazards on & make sure I was off the road for oncoming traffic, got my license & insurance info. As I was gathering my things out of my purse, the crazy runs up to my passenger window & motions for me to roll window down. I did & she starts yelling that I need to call the cops & what a b* I am & how rude & I didn't even apologize (im wondring to whom? My neighbor that was standing outside talking to her earlier had gone inside to get the person who's car it was), so I rolled up my window & tried to calm my kids down, who were terrified & my toddler was crying, I have 3 under 9, for context. I got out of the car & told her again calmly but firmly "this is none of your business, go back to your house so I can talk to the driver of vehicle". She kept cursing & calling rude & at that point, 2 men emerged from neighbor's house to assess damages. I asked them if we can go inside & discuss bc of the crazy. They agreed. We talked inside calmly & we agreed the other driver doesn't want to deal w insurance & will get some quotes from a body shop & we can get it settled as the damages to car are very minimal. Just a few cosmetic scratches.
However, my question is regarding the crazy neighbor. I'm considering legal action to keep her away from my family & myself. What do I do to initiate an order of protection/restraining order? Does another incident need to occur & I call the police to get things rolling? Or can I file something now without having police involvement?
Like I mentioned earlier, my kids are terrified of her, my husband & I both keep away from her. I think her own boyfriend can't stand her bc they argue loudly biweekly, to the point where if my kids are playing in the front yard, I have them come inside bc of the crude language.
Please community, help!

[Part 1]
Day 3
I woke the next morning from the sunshine in my eyes. My head was resting ever so slightly on Eli's arm as we had both fallen asleep on my bed after I begged him to stay. I blanched in horror at the drool stain I had left on the arm of his white t-shirt.
I began to slowly move myself and retreat downstairs as the memories of the night before came flooding back. How I had broken, screaming in terror, and how Eli had saved me, not knowing the true reason he found me curled up on the floor crying.
As I stepped off the bed, my leg got snagged in the frilly bed cover, and I went crashing to the ground, making quite the noise as I landed. With a yawn, Eli's eyes opened, and I felt myself blushing as he turned to look at me.
We both kind of stared at each other for a moment, not speaking. Eli opened his mouth, then closed it again as if unsure of what to say.
"Coffee?" I asked quickly, filling the awkwardness of our situation.
"Please," Eli said, smiling.
In minutes, I had a pot brewing as I leaned against the kitchen counter. Eli was picking up the scattered photographs from the floor and looking at them quizzically.
"Why do you have pictures of the Harmons?" Eli asked, showing me the photos of the yellow-haired man and his family.
"Is that their names? I found them out in the barn under a blanket," I answered as I rooted around the cupboards for two mugs.
"In the barn? I cleaned it out just last week. No way I would have missed this trunk," Eli said while examining the wooden trunk with its simple rustic hinges. It was plain and unadorned with any embellishments. Basic as basic could be.
"Well, you must have missed it because it was there," I said, putting emphasis on the "was" in a way that reminded me of my mother chastising my father.
"That's so weird," he said, shifting through the photos while sitting at the table. I brought him a cup of coffee and sugar, and he began absentmindedly adding a lot of sugar to his coffee. About six scoops later, he began stirring and sipping it.
"Well, anyways, thanks for coming last night. I wasn't myself, I hope you know that I'm not some damsel in distress," I said quickly, like word vomit, and I even chuckled at the end, feeling like a total weirdo.
"What happened anyway? You didn't say last night," he said, putting the photos down in a jumble on the table.
I paused for a moment, considering how to answer. As I sipped my coffee, I stared out into the yard beside the barn where the scarecrow stood, glancing around the edge of the barn, hanging limply in his hole. His appearance once again sad and dejected instead of murderous and terrifying.
"I was just scared, I had a nightmare, and it just scared me," I said dumbly, trying not to turn crimson again under his intense gaze.
His eyes seemed to cut right through my lie, as if he were staring directly into my being before he simply glanced away out the window. We fell silent again, and I filled some moments by sipping my drink. It seemed to revitalize me; the sun and the company made me feel secure.
"Why were you here anyways?" I asked after a moment.
"I heard screaming, so I came running. I live just on the other side of the grass there, behind the barn," Eli said, pointing to the barn out the window.
"Must be really close, I didn't see any houses on the way in," I said, prying deeper into the situation.
"It's actually a trailer, maybe like two hundred yards from here. I was outside getting some air when I heard you scream. So, I came running," Eli said, finishing his cup of coffee and placing it in between us like a barrier, as if he was hiding something.
"Could you, uh, not do that?" Eli asked, with an uncertain grin on his face.
"What am I doing exactly?" I asked, startled for a moment, my stomach doing a sort of flip.
"It's just that you like stare at people. You've been staring at me for like my whole cup of coffee, I don't think you blinked the whole time," Eli said, averting his eyes shyly.
"No, I don't," I said until I realized he was right. I never noticed that about myself.
"Right, well, I've got to go. I am probably going to start painting today, so you might see me in a bit," Eli said, rising and heading to the door.
"Wait," I said, grabbing his arm for only a moment before releasing it like it was scalding hot.
Eli glanced at my hand for a moment, then at his arm, before he, too, blushed crimson.
"I just wanted to say thank you again. For last night, I mean. Well, what I mean is I appreciate it," I said, my eyes downcast in, for some reason, shame. Like he had seen me at my weakest and it weighed on my gaze appropriately.
"It was nothing, besides I didn't get much sleep with your constant snoring," Eli said, laughing at me.
"I so don't snore," I said, swatting at him but unable to control a smile creeping up onto my face.
After Eli left, I felt instantly colder, my eyes kept returning to the scarecrow. I grabbed my camera from upstairs and went out to the yard. I scanned the dirt for anything out of the ordinary. There was no blood, or anything on the dirt where the scarecrow stood just last night. I slowly made my way to the scarecrow, but nothing happened. I snapped a photo of the inanimate object, and it didn't even flinch. I poked it, but all I felt was straw underneath its clothes. I removed its mask, expecting a severed head, but it was just straw. Nothing was here but straw. I dropped the mask on the ground and took another photo proving it was just straw and nothing else.
An idea struck me as I regarded the source of my torment. If I planned to stay even one more night here, I needed to do something about this scarecrow. I rooted around in the barn, a series of tools hung from nails in the wall. On one hung what I was searching for. An old rusted shovel with a dirty wooden handle that was worn smooth from use.
I returned to the side of the barn beside the scarecrow, knowing for whatever reason this thing only came when night fell and didn't react at all when I moved or touched it during the day.
Before my morning coffee had even settled, I began to dig at the dusty earth, loose and easy to dig, it came away in shovelfuls. Within an hour, I had a fair-sized hole in front of me. Sweat dripped from my brow, and when I wiped under my eyes, they came away black from last night's makeup. Glancing at the field of grass and knowing Eli could appear at any time, I decided to head inside and shower. The hot water was a godsend, and I lingered for longer, letting the water drain down my head and back, my eyes closed, trying to forget the images from the last two nights. I should just pack up my car and leave right this minute. But how could I explain this to my family? I decided to go through with my plan and bury the scarecrow. I could last one more night if I prepared for it.
I left the shower and dressed modestly, in another one of my old rock t-shirts and a pair of shorts. I returned to the yard and with a satisfying push, I dropped the scarecrow into the pit. It fell with a nice thud, and I smiled at my power over it in the day; it's just at night when I should fear it.
As I threw the first shovel of dirt back on top, I heard a noise in the grass, and it parted, revealing Eli wearing the same pair of jeans and work boots, but he had changed his shirt to a plain black one. In each hand, he held cans of paint and a brush.
"Should I even ask why you are burying that old scarecrow?" He asked as he came to stand beside me.
"Probably best if you didn't," I admitted, leaning on the shovel.
"Well, I'm going to anyway. Polly, why are you burying that old scarecrow?" He asked, a rare smile coming to his face.
"Because it's been haunting me at night," I said bluntly.
"Mhm, yeah, okay. Fine, don't tell me. I've been meaning to get rid of it anyway, but normal people take things to the landfill," Eli said with a smirk as he turned to the house and began setting up for his painting.
I finished burying the scarecrow and stomped the dirt down flat. I finished my job by moving my car and parking it directly over top of the spot where I buried it.
Eli watched me curiously but didn't remark. I returned the shovel to the barn and went out into the yard. I decided to go for a hike around the property. I needed some time alone to think and unwind.
As I made my way through the grass, it began to confuse me. This had obviously been a large farmland, but how had the wild plants grown in such a thick, endless maze of greenery?
It gave me an eerie feeling, like I was being watched as the grass covered three-quarters of my body, like there would be something lurking out in the grass, crouched low, waiting for me.
After a half-hour or so, I came upon a clear lake, only big enough to be considered an old swimming hole, I thought as I dipped my hand into the cool water.
I took off my outer clothes and decided to go for a swim. I lowered myself in slowly and reveled at the cool water. The pond wasn't deep, but the water was clean. A small rope swing had been hung from a large oak tree that bordered the pond. It also provided a nice layer of shade that made it the ideal spot to spend the day. I floated on my back in the water for what seemed like hours. The day seemed to slip away from me. A small beach of sand sat at one side of the pond, so I lay out in the sun and closed my eyes. The warm day warmed my soul, and soon I felt myself drifting off into sleep.
I awoke to the sound of crickets and darkness. I couldn't believe it. I had slept through the day; the long nights had finally caught up to me, and now I was stuck far away from the farmhouse. I didn't know if my plan with the scarecrow had worked, and this wasn't the place to test my theory.
A full moon lay overhead, casting a silvery glow on the world before me. A sea of grass swayed gently in the wind, sending shivers down it in shuddering waves. I looked around, but I was thankfully alone, just the crickets chirping along melodically as my only companions.
I had to make it back to the house, so I started on my way, my hands trailing along the tall grass. The pale light played easily on the deep green grass. Step by step, I made my way back towards the farmhouse and the barn, throwing caution to the wind, and I started to jog along, anything to get back faster. I would have to find Eli; maybe if we were together, he could stop it like before.
If I thought the field was creepy during the day, by night, it was a whole new world. Every sound made my heart stop for a beat before restarting in protest. When all of a sudden, the crickets stopped chirping. I dropped to my knees, letting the long grass cover me from sight. Through the strands, I could make out a shape moving slowly through the tall grass, the swish of the plants as it made its passage through them. My heart dropped. Was this Eli looking for me, or was it the scarecrow come for me?
That's when I heard a voice, a voice cutting through the silence. It started off quiet and raspy as it sang an eerie children's song.
"Did you, did you, did you come for me?
Run and hide, don't you know that I seek
The world it claims that I be not clean
When I come, you'll see how filthy I can be.
Tonight, it is happening, tonight you'll see
Beneath the moon, my shadows they do creep.
In this world, at night I shall be free.
Tonight it's happening, tonight you'll see.
When I come, you had better flee, or else I'll come and give my filth to thee."
I was frozen to the spot. It hadn't found me, but it knew I was in the grass somewhere. Now, with each word, chewed up and spat out like it was unhappy with it, now it was accompanied by the whistle of something in the air and a slicing sound as it cut through the grass around me.
It finished another round of its song, but now it stood within feet of me, its blade whistling as it cut. I took a moment to ready myself, and as it raised its blade to cut through the grass I hid in, I dashed out of my hiding spot and slammed into it. But nothing resisted me; I fell through it like it was a ghost.
In a tangle of limbs, I landed hard on the ground and tried quickly rolling to my feet. The blade of its weapon pierced the earth beside me. Now I could see it was a two-handed scythe the scarecrow carried, but something was off, its hands were human. Pale milky skin like a newborn baby. I had little time to examine the creature except for the canvas bag over its head. Two large black eyes came out of the slits that leaked a dark red blood like tears.
It screeched loudly and swung its scythe, but it was slow, and I took off through the grass in the direction of what I hoped was the farmhouse.
I completely gave up all pretense of hiding and sprinted as fast as I could without looking back. The grass seemed to part for me as I ran in terror. I was just glad that in high school, I had taken track as it was paying off now.
I could hear the noise of footsteps behind me, but I never turned. I ran and ran until my lungs felt like they were going to burst Something silver flashed to my left, and I tripped over something hard and unexpected. The wind was driven from my lungs as my chin slammed hard into the earth. I scrambled back, trying to escape, but the scarecrow was on me, its blade flashing angrily in the pale moonlight.
I wanted to move, I wanted to fight, but my body was weak and unable to catch its breath, and I lay there helpless as it swung its scythe towards me. I closed my eyes in fear, but I only heard the thud of dirt before I opened my eyes. The scythe was discarded, and the scarecrow stood staring at me.
It seemed to be struggling with something, one hand reached out towards me only to be snapped back to its side. A roar of rage pierced the canvas sack over its head as it struggled against its invisible bonds. For a moment, I thought I saw something behind it, three sets of hands holding it back. One feminine in nature, and the other two must have belonged to children. In a flash, I saw a beautiful woman who looked vaguely familiar with her long brown hair and plain dress.
"Run," she moaned as the scarecrow swung around wildly.
I didn't hesitate and fled, my breath had returned, and while my body still ached from my fall, I powered on, knowing this was the only respite I would receive tonight.
In the distance, I could see a small sheet metal shape; Eli's trailer was slowly coming closer as I ran, and I beelined it for the trailer. I could hear the footsteps behind me again as the scarecrow resumed its chase after me.
I reached the old trailer and banged on the door as loud as I could; I rattled the handle, but it was locked.
"Eli, it's me. It's Polly, please let me in. Please," I begged as I banged over and over again on the door of his trailer.
Nothing responded to me, and the trailer was dark. The single window in the back held no life inside the trailer. From the trailer, I couldn't tell which direction the farmhouse was in the dark, so I fled into the tall grass and crouched low, watching the clearing around the trailer.
While I caught my breath, I watched the scarecrow enter the clearing, its scythe back in its hand as it circled the trailer. When its raspy voice began singing again low and quiet, only loud enough for me to hear.
"Did you, did you, did you come for me?
Run and hide, don't you know that I seek
The world it claims that I be not clean
When I come, you'll see how filthy I can be.
Tonight, it is happening, tonight you'll see
Beneath the moon, my shadows they do creep.
In this world, at night, I shall be free.
Tonight it's happening, tonight you'll see.
When I come, you had better flee, or else I'll come and give my filth to thee."
The song made me shiver uncontrollably at the lyrics and the voice; it sounded demented like a crazy person letting their demons out into a nursery rhyme.
I lay perfectly still; for some reason, it couldn't find me. This creature I assumed was all-knowing seemed to have some very human weaknesses. It moved and talked like a human, even had certain body parts that were from a human; it even felt human the way it chased and reacted.
The scarecrow moved on through the tall grass, and I let out a sigh of relief as it lost my trail. How terrifying that beast was. In my pocket was the keys to my car. Eli had told me that the farmhouse was fairly close to his trailer. I had to navigate to the car, then drive as fast as I can away from this place. The fact that I hadn't left already because I was worried about money was insane. Who cares, I could drive to Barb's and demand my money back. Go home and just tell my parents the truth. The whole reason for actually leaving home this summer, why I was actually here in this field shivering uncontrollably in fear. But I couldn't think about that now, not now, there will be time to deal with that later. Now I needed to focus on staying alive, getting to the car, and getting out of here.
I went in the direction the scarecrow had; he knew the land better than I did, and every noise I made in the silence of the night made my heart drop. It took all my courage there and then to take one step forward, then another. I felt like I was going to be sick; my stomach was in knots to where it felt like even if I was sick, the only thing to come out would be only bile and stomach acid.
With each careful step, I made my way closer to the farmhouse and the scarecrow. Through the darkness, I could see my goal, the farmhouse, and the barn. Within minutes, I had made it securely to the farmhouse yard.
My car still sat in the same spot overtop of the hole where I buried the scarecrow. In the moonlight, I could see that the dirt had not been disturbed.
The scarecrow was nowhere to be seen, and I cautiously made my way to my car, my keys in my hand as I approached the driver's door. I hadn't locked the car, and it opened on the first try. I turned on my car as quietly as I could, but nothing could have prepared me for what happened next.
Something landed heavily on top of the roof of my car, making it dent inwards slightly. With horror, I saw the scarecrow swing its scythe into the back window of my car. With a crash, the glass shattered inwards; I put my car into gear and roared away down the lane. In my rearview mirror, I couldn't see anything, so I swerved back and forth, trying to shake the creature from the roof of my car when the scythe crashed in through the front window, making a hole just large enough for it.
The glass spidered, and I couldn't see out the window very well. I swerved down the road, but the scythe remained in the car, allowing the creature purchase. In a panic, I spun my wheel wildly, trying to dislodge it, but I lost control, and soon felt something crash into the front of my car. The airbag went off in my face, and I hadn't been wearing my seatbelt. I slammed hard into something else, and my vision went dark. I was in a daze; I must have passed out because I don't remember a lot of what happened next. I felt the car door open with a crunching tear, and it landed loudly as it was torn off. My body being grabbed and tossed on the ground. I felt no pain, just a gentle numbness. I felt blood on my head as I raised my arm to touch my face.
Then just blackness, complete, and empty just feelings, fear, unease, sadness. My eyes opened, and the scarecrow was overtop of me. Pain on my chest and my vision went dark again. Coughing as something poured down my throat. I couldn't breathe, why couldn't I breathe?
My eyes opened one last time, and I saw the scarecrow pouring a dark liquid from its mouth directly into my mouth and eyes. My vision was red and bloody before I closed them one last time.
The words of its song echoed into the emptiness of my thoughts.
"Did you, did you, did you come for me?
Run and hide, don't you know that I seek?
The world it claims that I be not clean.
When I come, you'll see how filthy I can be.
Tonight, it is happening, tonight you'll see,
Beneath the moon, my shadows they do creep.
In this world, at night, I shall be free.
Tonight it's happening, tonight you'll see.
When I come, you had better flee, or else I'll come and give my filth to thee."
The darkness enveloped me, and I felt myself slipping away, the sounds of the night fading into oblivion.

My name is Dr. Smith, not my real name of course, but for purposes of storytelling it will have to suffice. I have been practicing medicine at an Asian country as a general practitioner. I'm relatively new and I practice at a small village, not too far from civilization, half a day's travel by car and a few hours by boat from the country's capital, but very rural nonetheless, complete with superstitious beliefs and customs. I decided to stay here when I first graduated and passed the licensure exam for two reasons: first, I have a place to stay here, my family's ancestral home (although none of my direct relatives have lived there for years), said ancestors being one of the first people to settle in the area and second, because my family had always been the physicians in this small community as far as anyone remembers. Me, my grandfather and his father before him all went to the city to study medicine and went back here to practice it, like there was a pull, a calling, to sacrifice the convenient, fast-paced city life for the quiet and serene. My mother hated the idea, as clingy as she is to me, saying things like she wanted me to always be around where she could protect me, but you can't really help it when purpose calls. To be honest, it feels good providing a wide range of services to the honest people of our small, humble town, no greater feeling than helping the less privelaged, educating them and dispelling preconceived notions and old wives tales which are aplenty in my country, especially here.
I still recall how everything began. I made a makeshift clinic at one of the rooms of my ancestral home, it used to be my grandfather's office, but it felt old, antique, and perhaps too... professional, nothing wrong with that, but I wanted my patients to feel a more homely setting. So, I rearranged a bit, removed the imposing self portrait of my great-grandfather wearing his white coat that hang on the wall and transferred it to a more private area of the house. I changed the dim, barely functioning lights into brighter, more modern ones, removed the exceedingly extravagant chandelier and equipped the room with materials and equipment that I deemed necessary for my practice. I retained the wooden floors, but outfitted the walls with charts and more colorful decorations, in anticipation for the occasional pediatric patient. It was beginning to look less like an old abandoned house where teenagers went for the spooks and more like a place of healing and betterment, a clean place offering a clean mind...or so I hope.
"Your grandfather would have a heart attack if he wasn't dead already, seeing what you've done with his old clinic" quipped Martha, our housekeeper. All I know about Martha is that my grandfather hired her as a young teen and she has been here since then, she babysat and raised my mother as her own, and even took care of me as a toddler. Considering her age, she mostly supervises the younger and more capable help rather than doing tasks herself. None of them stay at the house, but they get called upon when me or any of my relatives were expected. Most of the family consider her as one of our own at this point.
"Well i'm sure great grandpa on the other hand enjoys the change of view" I replied jokingly. "Besides, I bet the patients would appreciate not being treated in such a dark, gloomy room."
"You know how your grandfather was..." she replies, that the idea of a dark, gloomy, old man liking dark, gloomy, old places was a no brainer. "...but everything aside, it is so nice to see you again, have you been feeling better? What did your mother think of you staying here?" she said with what I felt as outmost sincerity, "I used to chase and carry you around this estate and now look at you, about to carry out your family's legacy as a physician yourself" she continued, with a hint of pride from her tone.
I smiled. I myself couldn't think of a reason why a well respected man, revered even, by this town and it's people for everything he has done would act nonchalant and depressed, always with a jaded look in his eyes and stay in an equally dim and depressing part of his house, I've always known him to be like that, but was he always?
"I am better now. It's good to see you too, I'm glad you're staying healthy, and mom sure did not like it but well...she told me to say hi on her behalf" I told Martha. She beams up and smiles on my mother's mention.
"Well...I took the liberty of digging up your grandfather's documents, records and his patient charts, I doubt many of them still live but I thought maybe you'd like to have a look, I placed them around your desk but I can relocate them if you want me to"
"No, that's perfect. That's something I actually intended to do, i'll give it a read, thank you" I replied. I know some of those patients were either old or probably dead to be honest, but seeing data as well as the cases my grandfather had to deal with might help me in the future.
"The villagers already know Dr. Smith's grandson is here, they know you're a doctor, so expect to have a patient one of these days, perhaps as soon as you give the word that your clinic is open" Martha said, as she walks out of the room smiling and slightly waving, signalling a goodbye.
"I'm not even surprised" I think to myself. Places like these, words spreads like wildfire on topics like these, the idea of someone from a known family, coming back from the city, not to mention deciding to stay indefinitely, like the whole village needed notification, like the village demands explanation.
Hours passed and as I was satisfied with my new setup for the clinic, I took a break, sitting down and looking at the mountain of paperwork and folders placed on and around my desk. I picked one, thinking to myself that I might as well have a look now, with nothing else of note to do.
Patient #010438 Name redacted 43/Female
History of present illness: Patient had 3 day history of undocumented fever, dysuria, and bilateral flank pain Did not seek consult, no medications taken
Past Medical History Unremarkable
Personal and Social History Unremarkable
OB history illegible
Physical Examination BP 110/80 HR 102 RR 20
Nonhyperemic tonsils No murmurs Clear breath sounds Nontender abdomen (+) Kidney punch test
Noted a signature of the patient claiming she was not pregnant as a form of waiver
"Jesus grandpa, couldn't your history and physical exam get any lazier?" I thought to myself. Seeing pertinent history not asked and multiple organ systems ignored on physical examination. Given, some of the writing were already faded, the quality of the paper had deteriorated greatly, and plenty of details already illegible, all in all the documents weren't that bad. It sure doesn't help though that he writes like someone in the middle of a warzone practicing heiroglyphs.
I skimmed through more of the documents and patient files, most of the cases are relatively benign, majority are outpatient visits, some are emergency cases and there are the rare ones requiring transfer to a more developed town hours from here with better services and equipment. Time passed and as I lay down the last folder in a pile, I noticed a moderately sized box, probably the size of a briefcase, placed on the floor, dusty but obviously ornate. It piqued my interest although in my mind, I was pretty sure it was nothing but more documents, I decided to give it a look.
I picked a stack up and I started to read:
Patient #00512c Name redacted 32/Female
"Weird" I thought, it was numbered differently, and definitely none of the other documents were lettered. I continued reading:
History of present illness: This is a case of a 32 year old female who came in on date redacted due to a chief complaint of multiple hematomas, abrasions, burn wounds and lacerations on her face, trunk and extremeties..."
"Trauma? An accident? Possible abuse?" I contemplated.
"...patient allegedly noticed easy bruisability 2 weeks prior to consult, followed by alleged spontaneous appearance of abrasions and lacerations 2-3 days from onset of bruising, supposedly waking the patient at night due to the sudden sharp and searing pain, initially small cuts 3-5cm widest on her extremeties and face but eventually progressing to deep cuts measuring approximately 10-50cm on her back, chest, abdomen and lower extremeties. 1 week prior to consult, patient started noticing burning sensations on her skin, causing extreme pain and leaving reddish burn marks on her body, patient also experienced lack of appetite and inability to sleep due to loud voices and..."
"Spontaneous appearance? Easy bruising could be a lot of things, but for it to occur with 'spontaneous' abrasions and lacerations? Not to mention burn marks?" I thought out loud, having doubts about the credibility of the use of the word "spontaneous". Surely it was not an accident, considering it started 2 weeks ago with noted progression. "It could be a hematologic problem with the bruising, but that wouldn't explain the sudden appearance of cuts...maybe accompanied by a dermatologic one, the patient is prone to breaks in the skin? But then again the burn marks...the voices..." I analyzed. I was leaning towards abuse, where the cuts and bruises were inflicted by someone else and the abused, whether in some form of fear or coping, decides that it was "spontaneous" rather than inflicted, but why bother lying to yourself, perhaps the one who did it to her is a partner? Or a loved one? It made sense, someone progressively becoming more aggressive with her as time went by, becoming more and more extreme, from bruises to eventually burning.
It could a combination of illnesses to be honest, one on top of another, perhaps an overly sensitive or extremely dry skin that breaks and peels until it bleeds, an allergic reaction prompting the patient to unconciously scratch till her skin became red and lichenified, voices due to lack of sleep or a mental disorder. But looking at my grandfather's physical examination of her, none of the findings solidifies the possibility of those i've mentioned. Truth be told I also partially allowed myself to tunnel vision on the prospect of an abuse, to the point I've skipped some of the chart's contents that I deemed weren't important and tried to look for information to support my claim, or perhaps to disprove it, rookie mistake, but well, I am a rookie then.
"Patient is widowed, lives alone at a secluded area near redacted, only goes out to buy some necessities from redacted but has very minimal interaction from anyone in the village"
Okay then, either she is hiding the fact someone was with her, who is abusing her like I initially thought of, or it's self harm. "I'm pretty sure grandpa considered everything that went through my mind right now. Let me check his initial impression" I thought, with a tinge of annoyance, considering I felt that the patient lied to my grandfather, and was lying to me, decades after the fact.

1 Trauma, to consider physical abuse versus self harm;

"Alright, now we're getting somewhere" I said to myself, with a bit of pride having the same thought process as a physician with decades more experience than I do.

2 To consider mental disorder, probably psychotic - premature dementia

I chuckled. Premature dementia, didn't think i'd see that term, I thought everyone including those from his time would have used schizophrenia already, then again medicine and medical knowledge isn't as easily passed around as it is now. Psychiatry as a science would be relatively new during his time compared to other disciplines so the fact he considered it based on the patient hearing "voices"? Bravo gramps.
"Well...", I thought to myself, "...plenty of things to consider and rule out, let me check what else is there." A bit of cockiness on picking my grandfather's brain out and feeling good about my train of thought, a practice consult and so far, I'm on my way to a perfect score...

3. To consider possession probably secondary to malevolent spirit

.................
I gave the document a stern look, unmoving, unblinking, emotionless. Time has stopped, and I haven't noticed. My brain trying to digest the information, the same way my stomach would probably digest a block of steel...it's just not possible. I read one of my grandfather's diagnosis again:

3 To consider possession probably secondary to malevolent spirit

I never been one for faith. Evidence is everything. Science is everything. You can replicate it, you can prove it. Most importantly...It. Makes. Sense. I look at beliefs not based on evidence and feel nothing but skepticism if not disdain. Why won't people listen to expert opinion? Why won't people believe in facts? Why explain the unknown in such convoluted ways, requiring submission of oneself when the only thing the truth requires is but comprehension. I looked at that diagnosis feeling disappointment.
Then I felt anger. "Grandpa, what the fuck is wrong with you?!" I thought to myself. Here is a woman, full of bruises, cuts and burns all over her body, claiming that she has been suffering for weeks, barely eats or sleeps, was having auditory hallucinations, in dire need of medical, if not emotional and psychological support and one of the things that comes across your mind is possession.
I tried to calm my mind, these are records of the past anyway, I thought. Maybe it was a resignation born out of incompetence. Maybe grandpa wasn't as good of a doctor as I thought he was, that the shortcomings of his knowledge and limited technology of his time prompted him to adopt a more...liberal viewpoint to medicine. Maybe he was just superstitious himself. Maybe the people of this place had leaked some of their local beliefs into his psyche. Maybe isolation changed the man. Or maybe...just maybe...there's something to it.
I've never been one for faith. That goes for my faith in science as well. To just say that something is stupid because it doesn't align with standard, accepted scientific belief is just as detrimental as its counterpart.
I decided to investigate further when I heard the entrance to the room open with force. One of the maids leaning onto the wall by the entrance, still grasping the doorknob and evidently out of breath.
"Sir...ma'am Martha...calling...for you...says...it's...it's...an emergency..." She says in between breaths.
I quickly stood up, feeling sorry for the woman, she just ran, obviously gasping for air as she arrived at the clinic and now has to lead me back to wherever she came from with the same urgency. At first I was worried something might have happened with Martha, what the maid said didn't really give much clarity, but upon arriving at the main hall I noticed Martha, standing beside a middle aged man and woman, carrying a child, no more than 10 years old. I notice the clear panic and worry on both of their eyes as the man held the boy, who was uncontrollably shaking.
"I know you're not taking any patients yet and I was considering the time, but nobody knows what to do so I..." Martha explains, quite concerned while I ordered the parents to put the child flat on the ground, with me assessing the situation. The first thing I noticed was that the child was burning hot, "possibly febrile seizure? No, too old" I thought. I asked both the parents important details while I ordered the other maid to time the duration of the child's seizure. All the while thinking of possible diseases that may present as such, "Seizure disorder? Epilepsy? Meningitis? Encephalitis?" Eventually the shaking stopped, much to the parents' relief, and I ordered them to carry the boy as we made our way back to the clinic.
"Was this the first time it ever happened?" I inquired, as I put the child on one of the beds in the clinic, securing the corners with additional pillows, noticing the sunken face and apparent exhaustion from the boy, possibly due to the ongoing fever and the recent seizure episode. Once secured, I face the parents and continued my inquiries, I eventually explained everything, elaborating on what I believe happened, I explained that for now, lowering the fever and investigating the source were what we could address, the battery of tests I plan to do (disappointingly, most of them cannot be done here, and I would have to accompany them to a hospital on another town as soon as first light breaks), and the medications and management I plan to give. Everything proceeded as planned and I asked both parents to relax and take a breather, offering them a seat and asking the help to give them water.
Things eventually settled, little Johnny's fever subsided and color came back to him. Nowhere near clear, he can worsen anytime, but that was the best that we could do at that time. The parents were still worried, understandably so, but to an extent reassured, we have a plan after all. Martha, as well as Diane (the help from earlier), now at a calmer state. We discussed the plan, how we would travel, who would accompany us and what we would bring. Eventually, our conversations became relaxed, started to shift to other things, trivial matters, such as were they lived in the village, the date and time of my arrival, recent gossip, where Martha was more than happy to share.
"I was worried the evil spirits might have gotten my baby..." Said the mother nonchalantly, as we talked about the occurrence on a lighter note. "...that's how they got Mrs. Johnson's middle child. That poor boy was never the same after."
I smiled. Not wanting to immediately correct them and sound like an uptight individual. It's part of our culture afterall, old belief systems and a way for people to cope with loss or difficulty, who was I to deny them that. I won't approach these people the hardheaded way, but I will slowly show them the realities and truths of the things they may not understand, well, at least with regards to their health.
"Well, little Johnny is safe here, we'll do what we can" pointing to their son.
Only, their son wasn't where he was supposed to be. I look at the parents, I look at both Martha and Diane, everyone who looked at where I pointed were just as shocked as I was, a split second of silence before panic ensued. Suddenly, everyone stood up on high alert and was looking everywhere. Under covers, under the bed, corners of the room, the desk, behind curtains, hell, I saw Diane look at one of the damn drawers, as if a 10 year old would fit there.
Suddenly I heard loud vomiting, retching, followed by sounds of splashing. I follow where the sounds came from and see a large pool of black, tarry liquid at a corner of my room. I slowly trace where it was coming from and there he was...little Johnny...standing...upside down...on the ceiling.
I hear everyone in the room scream, I was probably screaming too, I couldn't remember. I do remember little Johnny screaming with us though, extremely high pitched and mockingly, with bloodshot eyes, upside down, while black liquid poured from his mouth, covering his face and dripping from his hair. How was that even possible, screaming while liters of unknown fluid dripped from his mouth? I don't know.
Then he laughed, although I was pretty sure that wasn't his voice. It was deep and guttural, it cannot be the boy's voice, it cannot be any boy's voice.
Time seemed to move in slow motion, I was noticing every detail, every expression from everyone's face, I can feel the seconds hand on my wall clock move, the slow dripping of the viscous dark liquid from little Johnny, I can feel every drop of sweat on my body. I could not cope with what i'm experiencing, was it a trick of the mind, an organized prank, have I gone mad...again? So I did the only thing I know how to do...
I tried to diagnose.
"Maybe it was dengue shock all along!" I thought to myself. "Vomiting blood, paleness, fever, an episode of seizure and definitely change in sensorium" I reasoned to myself. I was coping, and I was coping hard. I was ready to drown on my self absorbtion when a booming voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
"YOU DUMB FUCK, WILL ANY ILLNESS EXPLAIN WHY YOUR FUCKING PATIENT IS HANGING UPSIDE DOWN ON THE FUCKING CEILING?" Said little Johnny, or at least whoever was speaking on his behalf, because from where I'm standing, I can clearly see that the boy was not mouthing any of the words he said.
"YOU'RE A FUCKING FAILURE, DOCTORS LIKE YOU SHOULD KILL THEMSELVES! HAHAHAHA" he laughed, I never knew laughs could sound like that, as if the words were nails, and his voice box a chalkboard.
"OH WAIT, YOU FAILED AT THAT TOO DOC! FUCKING PATHETIC!"
Of all the things that were happening...a young boy hanging upside down, a mother crying on the floor hysterically, a father staring at his son, eyes wide open and mouth agape, Martha and Diane, both crying while sharing a rosary, in the act of what I assume to be prayer...the thing that snapped me out of my trance was the words that came from little Johnny. Knowledge nobody but the closest to me should know. A secret I planned to leave behind when I left the city, a wound I intended to forget as I started anew.
Visions of my memories came flashing back...medical school...overwhelming duty...familial expectations...failure...depression...my attempt...a bottle of medications...my mother...crying...on my bedside...
"LEAVE MY SON ALONE!" Johnny's father screamed. Starling everyone in the room.
Nothing matters, the past is in the past, I am better now, and that boy needs help, more than anything.
"YOUR SON? WHY DON'T WE ASK THAT CRYING WHORE IF JOHNNY REALLY IS YOUR SON" The voice says, laughing.
At that point the mother stops crying, looks up towards johnny, then towards his husband, in a state of shock. Like what the voice said is crazier than whatever was happening at the moment.
"THE ONLY REASON THAT WHORE STUCK WITH YOU WAS BECAUSE JOHNNY'S REAAAAAAAL FATHER WOULD NOT TAKE HER!" The entity says, continuing the hysteric laughter.
We were being played. It was toying with us. And from the look on the mother's face...it seems like little Johnny did not even need to lie to do it.
Then, to everyone's horror..."It" started to run.
It ran across the ceiling in a rabid frenzy, erratic and forceful, running and jumping, hopping sideways then going on all fours, still attached to the ceiling, splashing bile and blood all over the room, all the while making a "hihihi" sound...childish and terrifying. It ran and ran, repeating the same erratic change in movements, repeating the same eerie giggle until it reached the window, stopping and standing straight, it stared outside for what felt like forever...then all of a sudden...johnny just fell, like whatever was attaching him to the ceiling just gave, headfirst into the floor, giving a very audible cracking sound.
I heard a gasp from johnny's mother. I can at least detect some miniscule chest expansion, but that cracking sound cannot be anything good. As if thinking the same thing, Martha, who was the nearest to where Johnny fell, while still clinging tightly to Diane's rosary, approached the boy.
"Johnny?" She said softly, all the while approaching an inch at a time.
As she was almost at arms length of the boy's body, she gives the mother a knowing look, confirming that he was breathing. Martha suddenly produces a piece of cloth from one of the pockets of her uniform, possibly to pack the bleeding from the head. She intended to put the cloth on top of the boy's head, but looked towards my direction, urging me forward, perhaps for me to place it properly. I walk towards the boy, takes the cloth from Martha and as I fold the cloth to circle Johnny's cranium with Martha's help, the boy immediately sat up, looks at Martha and smiles ear to ear...literally ear to ear.
"GET YOUR WRINKLY HANDS OFF ME YOU DUSTY OLD FUCK!" He barks at her, Martha screams in fear and I was taken aback.
That was all the time Johnny needed to stand and jump towards the window, breaking it and running towards the mountainside. I hear his father scream his name, quickly breaking more glass so he could fit, and immediately giving chase. The mother was still on the floor, wailing towards the direction of her child and husband. Martha, in shock, still holding the cloth she intended to wrap johnny with.
It took me a while to notice Diane shaking me vigorously. "Doctor!" She screams. "Doctor Smith! What should we do!?" She voices out, with obvious desperation.
I ignored her.
I feel scared, but taking all into consideration, I predominantly feel tired. Defeated. Insulted.
I have nothing more to give in the face of whatever that thing that took Johnny was.
I slowly walk towards my desk, I open my drawer, I take a piece of paper and I pull out my pen.
Patient #00001a Name redacted 10/M
I write, giving no thoughts to the people on the same room as me, those left behind by little Johnny and his father. "Did he catch up to him? Was the boy alright now?...is his father alright?" I wonder. I'll find out soon enough, I figured, rumors spread like wildfire around here anyways.
I continued to write with resignment, absorbed in my own little world, consumed by the horror I witnessed, the breaking of my spirit, of my beliefs, the questioning of my knowledge. I want to escape it, deny it, but that's not what should be done to the truth. So I surrendered.

1 To consider possession probably secondary to malevolent spirit

END

So recently my relationship has felt very cold and quiet. Ive been with my girlfriend for about a year now and the past month or two things have just been mundane and lackluster. At first everything was great, she was cool, holds down a job, helps me with my house, very loyal, great intimacy, everything I wanted in a women. She had some traumatic things happen to her in her childhood that kinda makes her hate most men. Because of these traumatic things our intimacy has gone completely nonexistent over the last 2 months. I don't hold this against her nor is it a deal breaker for me, however, more recently she's also become cold and distant toward me. We don't have those warm conversations or spend much quality time together anymore. We started living together more prematurely than what most people but from the beginning we had a good balance. I've owned my home for a couple years now and its far larger than I need for just me so when she started moving in after only a month or two, it didn't really bother me. I was happy not to be alone in this house anymore. I cover all the bills for the house, food expenses, and basically all of our life needs. She does most of the housework but I still try and do my fair share although it is less than her. Being the financial backbone doesn't bother me, I'm blessed to live as comfortably as I do. and, I'd rather her put her income into her bills like her Car, phone, and Insurance expenses as well as her lavish purchases. Basically I say all this just to give the dynamic of our relationship to you readers as best as I can.
Recently, we've just been disconnected from each other. I've tried to talk about this with her but she really just gets defensive and shuts down on me. She also hasn't really felt comfortable with me touching her in any endearing way like a hug. Which is understandable considering her tragic past. The only conversations that seem to mean anything to her is when she asks me for money for a bill she's behind on, or gas money, or money for a vape. Not only is there a clear lack of communication and intimacy, We also have very different religious beliefs. I'm a devout follower of Christ and she's more agnostic. Again that's not a deal breaker for me, I don't demand her worship to Christ just as she doesn't impose her spiritual beliefs on me, however, I believe my religion has in some way caused her to lose respect for me which I don't understand.
I would be lying if at times I didn't feel as though I was being used for my home and comfortable financial situation. Part of me believes that she's with me because she loves me, and the other part believes that she's scared to leave me because she financially cant.
To the point I've made earlier about how she hates most men, I feel like I've become another man who she looks at with distain simply because I'm a man. So what I'm asking are a few things, Am I going to get anywhere trying? Is it better for the both of us to go our separate ways? Is there an alternative that Im not seeing? Any advice or comment I would appreciate greatly. Thank You
TL:DR- Together a year. Great at first. Bad recently. No sex or quality time. We live together. Im financial backbone. I feel used for my finances. She was abused as a kid and hates men now. is she just using me for money and really hates me? What do i do?

I almost got hit on a small town backroad the other day by an idiot not looking left before making a left turn at a stop sign. I got more high vis clothing and a better helmet just in case… and my route is honestly pretty safe and things like this don’t happen much, but I was shaken up a little bit. anyway… I thought maybe I need to be more visible, so today on a leisure ride I rode more in the middle of the lane. I was almost home, on my town Main Street and an elderly couple honked at me and flipped me off while passing me…. And I literally almost caught up with them because they weren’t even going the 35mph posted speed limit. I’m sure they were mad that was in the middle of the lane? honestly I’m just venting. I posted our MD bicycle laws on a community Facebook page post and got two people saying “hippies” and “idiots” that should be moving over for cars. I just felt discouraged. I’ve been seriously commuting as often as possible since January and now that the weather is getting nicer, there’s more jerks out and about it seems.
On a positive note, I hit 1000 miles cycling since the beginning of the year and I’ve bike commuted to work 51 times and only driven 22. It’s a little over 8 miles on the rural eastern shore, MD. I have a preschooler so sometimes driving is necessary… but I’m really proud of how this year has gone. I just hope to encounter less jerks, even though I know other people seem to encounter this way more often than I do. It just shakes my confidence.

My understanding is this:
Stokoe notation is based around three parameters: Tabula (T), Designator (D) and Signation (S), and each sign is written in that order: TD and superscript S. Tabula roughly corresponds to position, Designator roughly corresponds to Handshape+Orientation and Signation roughly corresponds to movement. There is a more recent five parameter model, which teases out orientation separately, and also includes non-manual markers.
One critique people make of Stokoe notation is that it neglects sequential structure internal to signs and that's one critique used to motivate the movement-hold model.
So my question is this: in what sense is the system non-sequential? I haven't learned how to read Stokoe notation yet (partly because I'm still working out if I should) but it feels like if you've got an inventory of positions, and an inventory of handshapes/orientations, and you already have an inventory of movements, it should be possible to represent the sequential movements a hand goes through? I would have assumed that's what each TD^s does? Is the problem that while it can represent things happening in sequence, it can't (or just doesn't?) represent movement happening sequentially?
I also have a kind of motivations question: what was Stokoe's primary goal?:

• Trying to create strings with a one-to-one relationship with signs?
• Trying to create a writing system ASL speakers could use in the everyday?
• Trying to show already understood phonological processes were present in ASL (which I gather would be integrally tied to proving to people that ASL was a language?)
• Something else?

Edit: I tried to narrow things down and maybe understand the problem better.
Taking the sign REMEMBER, how would that be signed in Stokoe notation?
It starts with dominant hand at the forehead, so I guess it would be (in symbols): forehead, Open A, some sweeping movement... and then I realise okay, the next contact point is on the other hand. So I guess, is there a way to indicate I'm now going to describe the non-dominant hand? And is this where the "sequential-ness" critique comes in, that if we describe the non-dominant hand now, we're setting it up too late when it's already meant to be there? In which case I guess my question is: is the problem not that we're not representing sequentiality, but rather that we're not representing simultaneity?

Note: Questions about monetization? Check here: An Introduction To The Book That Is Me :
Note: Questions about what else I've done? Check here: Masterlist for edgiscript :
Part 6: [F4M] Mafia Dog - Part 6 of 7 [Confronting Your Yandere] [Sneaking Into The Mission] [Supporting Mom] :
Note: Just realized yesterday that the tags on every chapter should be [FF4M] instead of [F4M] which some are. Sorry about that.
Note to those of you who have been reading and enjoying this series: Thank you. I hope the finale meets your expectations. I said before that this was a post-horror-yandere story. If anyone feels like writing a backstory with Francine and Puppy before he was Puppy, go right ahead. I don't do horror.
Note for future stuff: At present (5/19/24) I'm adding nearly my entire library to Reddit 1 piece at a time with some exceptions. Most notably, Crazy Cat is doing a masterful job with Mayna in "Amazon's Surprise" and she's only posted parts 1-3 so far. I will only release parts 4-7 as she does them. 3 VAs have currently done the 1st part of "The Captive Yandere" and at least 2 are considering whether or not to do more, so I'm holding of on releasing parts 2-6. And Xarty was incredibly endearing as Kaylix in "The Weakest Orc - A Love Story" part 1. I'm holding off releasing parts 2-7 until she does them or decides she won't do any more. But if there are VAs interested in performing those series, contact me and I'll send you the full scripts so you can decide if you want to do them before they're released publicly.
Now for Part 7. (Bet you didn't know this movie would come with trailers.) :)

Part 7

Carissa: (Sorrowfully.) Friends, family, loved ones, we have come today to mourn a beloved friend and colleague. We are going to miss his smile, his warmth, his courage, and his genuine love for each and every one of us, but most of all we’re going to miss the sound of his voice…
(With humor.) …because now that Puppy has married Jane, every one of us here knows that he’s never going to get a word in again.
(Sound of mild laughter of people at the party.)
Jane, you’ve been my courage, my fire, and my wisdom for so long now, I’ve forgotten what it was like without you here. Your spark has kept me going through many trying times. I’ve been able to count on your unwavering patience and your perseverance since the moment you joined our group. You have been by my side through thick and thin and you will be missed.
Puppy, in the nearly two years since we rescued you, you have been my heart and my conscience. I’m proud, very proud that you consider me as your mother, because I most definitely think of you as my son. You have also been by my side through thick and thin and you will also be missed.
Jane and Puppy, my left hand and my right, as you leave us to begin your own journey, at least temporarily, may God watch over you both, and may everyone you meet bring you as much joy as you have brought to all of us. Kent, Mike, Ronnie, and everyone present, please lift your glasses with me as we toast, to Puppy and Jane.
(Pause while they drink, then sounds of minor applause.)
Jane: (Hugs Carissa.) Thank you, mom. We’ll miss you guys.
(Brief pause, then playfully.) Puppy, you can hug Mom in a second. Let me get mine in.
Carissa: You see, Puppy. It’s started. There’s still time. Save yourself. Run.
Jane: (Laughs, then with mock irritation.) Carissa!
Carissa: Nope. I’m still Puppy’s Mom and I’ve got to do what’s best for him.
(Both laugh.)
Carissa: Seriously, you guys, be well. I know you want to show Puppy so many things that he missed growing up the way he did, but… well, just… be safe. Ok?
Jane: Oh, Mom, we’ll be fine. Stop worrying. Puppy’s going to love it.
Carissa: I know. I know. But… (Sighs.) I love both of you so much. Go have fun. See the world. Hurry. Run now before I hug you both and refuse to let go. We’ll be here when you get back.
Jane: We love you too, Mom. Thank you. You’ve been…
Carissa: (Interrupting.) No. Seriously. Go now. Go! Go, go, go, go, go!
Jane: (Laughs.) All right. We’re going. Come on, Puppy. You heard her.
(Runs off. Car door opens and closes. Car sounds as they drive away.)
Well, Puppy. How does it feel?
(Pause.)
To be married? You’re not just Puppy now. You’re MY Puppy.
(Pause.)
(Laughs/Giggles.) Yes, you’ve been my Puppy for a while, but now it’s official. Or legal, anyway.
(Pause.)
Nope. I don’t care. You’re mine. The wedding and the reception are over. I don’t have to share you with another soul for the rest of our lives. (Giggles.)
(Pause.)
Ok, we’ll see them again. I’m not taking you away for good. But you’ll still always be mine no matter what anybody else says about it. (Giggles.)
(Pause.)
Yes, it’s definitely nicer that we can be open about it. We’re so used to living in the shadows, you and me. Being out in public like a regular couple… that’s nice.
(Pause)
(Giggle.) Yes, there are definitely some things we’re not going to do out in the open. Speaking of which, there’s our stop.
(Pause)
Yep. That little house by the ocean. I rented it out just for us.
(Pause. Car comes to a stop and car door opens and closes.)
Nope. I already put all of our luggage in there before the wedding. Now, all that’s left to do is for you to carry me across the threshold. Unless, of course, you want me to carry you. We’re not exactly the most traditional couple after all and…
(Jane is interrupted by Puppy picking her up.)
(Squeals as she’s picked up and laughs. Kiss.) Oh, Puppy. Does this all feel as magical and as much like a fairy tale to you as it does to me? I can’t believe I get to call myself your wife. I love you, Puppy.
(Pause. Front door opens and closes.)
Oh no. You don’t get to set me down yet. Not until we’ve reached the bedroom. (Giggles.) I’ve got a surprise for you.
(Pause.)
(Laughs.) No, that’s not it. That’s no surprise, silly. You already knew I was going to give you that. (Giggles.) No, I’ve got something else for you.
(Pause while they reach the bedroom.)
Here we are. Now, lay me down and then lay down beside me.
(Pause.)
I love you so much, Puppy.
(Pause.)
I know you love me too. And I’m not just saying that because it’s the proper response. I want you to really, truly know that I know you love me. I meant everything I said in my wedding vows. My heart and my soul belong to you now. Ever since I’ve known you after we rescued you from that personal prison of Francine’s, you’ve been nothing but kind, considerate of others, laughing and loving everyone when you could have been broken and bitter. I love you for that, Puppy.
(Pause.)
(Giggles.) Ok, you’re kinda cute too. (Giggles.)
(Pause.)
(Note: From here on, there are no instructions on how to say the rest of this. Please let your own emotions decide how it should be done. Tender and sweet? Tearful? Joyful? You decide.)
Thank you, Puppy. I will always love to hear you say that. But I wanted you to know just how much I love you. I know you said that when you were trapped by Francine, and while she was… well, you know. She would constantly tell you how much she loved you and needed you, even while she was hurting you. She didn’t know love, Puppy. She only knew her own obsession and her lust. She took what she wanted from you without any consideration for you. When she said that she loved you, all she did was hurt you.
I know it’s why you don’t even want me to call you by your given name. It brings back memories of her and even the broken life you had before she took you. I gave you the name Puppy, and when I say “I love you,” I actually do love you. You’ve told me that you only want me to call you Puppy because that marks you as mine, and that’s what you want.
Here. Before I go on, open that drawer. Yes, that one right beside the bed. Open it.
(Drawer opens.)
Take the key that’s in there. That’s the key to your chains. I found that after we rescued you when we did a sweep of Francine’s old headquarters. I saved it… for you. It’s yours now. Nobody owns you. Nobody controls you. You’re free. You can keep it as a symbol that you control your own destiny now, or you can throw it into the ocean tomorrow morning. But you decide. Nobody else.
I know that the pain she caused you happened because all she wanted to do was take from you with no thought of your well-being. She didn’t care how much it hurt you as long as it satisfied her needs. So, Puppy, when I say “I love you,” I want you to know that I’m not taking from you. I’m giving to you. I’m giving you me, Puppy. I’m yours. I’m your wife. I’m your love. I’m your friend. I’m whatever you need me to be. Whatever you need from me, I’m here to provide it for you. I really, really love you. Ok?
(Kiss.)
You’re the most wonderful thing that’s ever happened to me. And I vow to you that I will never let you forget that for as long as we both shall live.
(Kisses.)
(Fade out.)

Platform(s): Downloaded on my FIRE HD 10. May have also played it on my old Kindle (unsure of the exact make). I have the default Appstore and the Google Play store on my Fire, and I know I downloaded it from one of those.
Genre: Escape Game
Estimated year of release: I don't pay much attention to creation or development dates, so all I know is I played this when was younger. That puts the timeline for anytime from the 2000s go late 2010s. Most likely from 2010s though.
Graphics/art style: Attempt at realism. Like you knew it was fake, but the backgrounds had a lot of details and were reminiscent of their real-world counterparts. It took place in nature (a forest?), so most of the art was trees and such. Also lots of rocks (some i think had symbols that were part of a puzzle) and a rivewaterfall or two. (There may have been a rock cluster similar to the Stonehenge??) It was usually pretty bright, as in they seemed to really like adding sunlight or sunbeams for light.
Notable characters: Unless I am completely mistaken, there were no other characters. I don't even remember there being animals. Just you and the wilderness.
Notable gameplay mechanics: First person. I guess you would say slideshow-style? Like most escape games make you click on arrows to move across locations/perspectives, and I remember this game being the same. There was an inventory on the left-hand side with all the items you collected. I'm fairly certain each item got its own box, so you just scrolled across the side to see everything you had (and click on what you need). There also could have been a hint button (lightbulb icon) that created a yellow/glowing circle to show where you needed to go, but that may have been a different escape game entirely. Also, I think there was a way you could use a ladder or rope to climb up one of the trees to get an important item? It was probably one of the first steps of the game. Finally, the main point: you could change seasons in this game. Sadly I cannot remember how you switched between them, but I remember it was an integral part of the game. (e.g., I'm about 85% sure that river I mentioned froze in winter time so you could walk across it.) It also took place in a forest, so the seasonal changes were very obvious.
Other details: My sibling remembers this game too, so I know I didn't just imagine it.

So recently my relationship has felt very cold and quiet. Ive been with my girlfriend for about a year now and the past month or two things have just been mundane and lackluster. At first everything was great, she was cool, holds down a job, helps me with my house, very loyal, great intimacy, everything I wanted in a women. She had some traumatic things happen to her in her childhood that kinda makes her hate most men. Because of these traumatic things our intimacy has gone completely nonexistent over the last 2 months. I don't hold this against her nor is it a deal breaker for me, however, more recently she's also become cold and distant toward me. We don't have those warm conversations or spend much quality time together anymore. We started living together more prematurely than what most people but from the beginning we had a good balance. I've owned my home for a couple years now and its far larger than I need for just me so when she started moving in after only a month or two, it didn't really bother me. I was happy not to be alone in this house anymore. I cover all the bills for the house, food expenses, and basically all of our life needs. She does most of the housework but I still try and do my fair share although it is less than her. Being the financial backbone doesn't bother me, I'm blessed to live as comfortably as I do. and, I'd rather her put her income into her bills like her Car, phone, and Insurance expenses as well as her lavish purchases. Basically I say all this just to give the dynamic of our relationship to you readers as best as I can.
Recently, we've just been disconnected from each other. I've tried to talk about this with her but she really just gets defensive and shuts down on me. She also hasn't really felt comfortable with me touching her in any endearing way like a hug. Which is understandable considering her tragic past. The only conversations that seem to mean anything to her is when she asks me for money for a bill she's behind on, or gas money, or money for a vape. Not only is there a clear lack of communication and intimacy, We also have very different religious beliefs. I'm a devout follower of Christ and she's more agnostic. Again that's not a deal breaker for me, I don't demand her worship to Christ just as she doesn't impose her spiritual beliefs on me, however, I believe my religion has in some way caused her to lose respect for me which I don't understand.
I would be lying if at times I didn't feel as though I was being used for my home and comfortable financial situation. Part of me believes that she's with me because she loves me, and the other part believes that she's scared to leave me because she financially cant.
To the point I've made earlier about how she hates most men, I feel like I've become another man who she looks at with distain simply because I'm a man. So what I'm asking are a few things, Am I going to get anywhere trying? Is it better for the both of us to go our separate ways? Is there an alternative that Im not seeing? Any advice or comment I would appreciate greatly. Thank You

I would label myself an Agnostic Muslim or just a culturally Muslim dude.I’m also mixed race (Arab & white.)
I’ve been going to a lot of protests since October and some with threatening police presence.Every time I’ve went, let’s call him Mehmet, was always there. Over the past several months we’ve been through a lot. Our buddies getting arrested, people giving us death and rape threats, and running from violent cops. I guess when your lives are being threatened and staying close with the people you trust, you might develop some feelings towards some comrades.
Anyway he is such a nice person. Every time you are around him, you just know he cares about you.For example, I don’t like driving cars/ just use public transit and whenever I come to the function all exhausted and sweaty because our public transportation system is shit, he just gives me this look all the time like “you are dumb, I could have just drove you here”
I know this is literally the bare minimum, but he really does treat me like one of the guys. He knows I’m a guy and calls me “brother [name]” when introducing me to other people. He’s also been teaching me how to pray and how to read the Quran since I’ve sadly never learned because I lived with the white Christian half of my family my whole life. I might not fully believe in god. But praying (stretching), performing wudu (washing your feet,hands, etc), and learning Arabic all 5 times a day can be very good for your health. I have depression and I’ve noticed my mood and energy has been elevated because of these changes. I also really enjoy being around so many other brown and black people who share my culture. Being in a small 99.9% white and racist town your entire childhood, really does make you feel lonely. I actually get to talk about how much America fucking sucks and it’s horrible effect on the Middle East without feeling judged by my white community.
Anyway back to Mehmet. He is Turkish and here in America to get his doctorate in Computer Science. I’m also working on getting a degree in Computer Science :D He’s almost done thankfully (sadly for me) and is planning on gradating this December. The thing is, I STILL have a crush on him. I know it would never work out for obvious reasons but my brain is weird and still gets butterflies when I’m around him. How do I make it stop?????

(Lol smosh if u end up seeing this plz put this on a reddit stories episode i would love to hear what you guys think)
(I’ve never posted here before sorry if I brake any rules, and let me know if theirs any other places I can post this)
Ive thought about this for a really long time and i want to confront her but i don’t know how or if i should. Every since I’ve known her she tells everyone shes Japanese and i think that she may be lying.
When we first started hanging around a lot i got curious and asked “what is your race“ she told me she was full Japanese. also she told me she was born in japan and moved to America when she was 5. I said “ohhh i thought you were hispanic.” I also thought “oh maybe she is hispanic but is Asian passing ??” Then later she tells me something different and said she was just born in Chicago. She also says she has a Japanese name “Aiko Takahashi“
in school we always called her by her Japanese name, but when they would call her name through the school intercoms, they called her by “Camila García” (fake name but it’s pretty close to her real name) one day she actually skipped picture day so she wouldn’t have her real name in the year book. One day yearsss later she told me that she is Half Filipino, which if thats true that could explain her real name.
i also asked her once “why do you have two different names?” She said “my stepmom didn’t like my Japanese name and forced me to change it legally because she couldn’t pronounce my real name”
Every since I’ve known her she has aways dated Asain guys, and always had Japanese cars (specifically mitsubishis) She would also lie about her car when i could literally see it. she would say “i have a 2020 Mitsubishi” when you could clearly look at it and it would be a 2010. She also introduced me to Kpop, we both use to love it together, but now i feel like the purposely mispronounces / misspells group names for some reason, maybe to make it seem like she knows nothing about it? Idkk. she also use to drink alot and had a huge obsession with being skinny. She was probably 90 pound’s soaking wet.
Ive known my her since middle school and Ive never met her family or anything. I didn’t even know she had siblings until her ex told me about them he also sent me video proof of her with her father and siblings at the mall. We have both seen her ID and it also has the same name of Camila Garcia. He even told me thats he’s met her family that they all looked Hispanic and that they all spoke Spanish. But i have never met her family so i would never know.
We are all in our 20s now and we live in different states but she would always travel just to hangout and see me. and for a little bit i disappeared on her (only for about a month) because i was kinda hurt knowing that she could be lying and not being truthful, because if we are really best friends she wouldn’t hide anything from me. We literally talk to each other about everything. and I’ve always wanted that best friend relationship where we met each others family’s and we could all be close.
She wants to move to my state and to roommate with me, I really want confront her but, i don’t want to confront her and hurt her. Im wondering if this coping thing. What if i ask her and it brings back some trauma and she disappears?
if your confused on anything or have any questions plz let me know in the comments so i can clear it up for you