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GLOSSARY This links to a post on the free section of my Patreon. Note: "Book 1" is chapters 1-59, "Book 2" is chapters 60-133, "Book 3", is 134-193, "Book 4" is CH 194-(ongoing)
The vastness of the ocean was hard to understand until you truly saw it. Kazue mused upon this thought as she and Moriko walked slowly along the beach of this port city. It was the third and last day they would be spending here before they moved on. Since they had left the capital, they had been much more careful about how long they lingered in any one location. Most places they gave no more than one non-traveling day to, but this city was Kazue's first visit to the sea, and there was much to see and learn here.
Though somewhat surprisingly, neither of the spirits she currently had bonded to her related directly to the sea or sand, or other such ocean themed concepts. The first of them was a rather esoteric, ephemeral entity; a creature of light and shadow, of liminal places and the borders between. Kazue still didn't know why this was the spirit that responded when she was seeking a solution to how the sun readily burned her skin, but she suspected it had more to do with the light and shadow aspects than the liminal aspects, even if these things weren't entirely separable. And it had provided her with the spell she needed.
Of course, the reason she needed it was that Moriko had insisted they buy dresses in the local fashion, though Kazue had insisted that Moriko join her in wearing the short pants that were commonly paired with the lightweight dresses that barely fell to mid-thigh. The fabric was thankfully thicker across the chest because it was borderline sheer in other places, and it was only held up by a thin pair of straps for the shoulders.
And this exposure was no doubt a good portion of why Moriko had insisted on such flimsy casual wear. Not that Kazue had much to complain about, as it did give such a wonderful view of her wife's legs and the way the sun shone on Moriko's skin as the muscles beneath flexed. Yum. While the wide-brimmed hat that Kazue was wearing did make it harder to look up to see people, it did help hide her gaze when she wanted to admire her wife's figure discreetly.
That figure had been such a beautiful sight last night, when Moriko had recklessly chosen to dance in the air with the thunderstorm. It had been both enthralling and terrifying to watch the half-elf laughing almost maniacally as she leapt across the sky; wind, rain, and lightning swirling about her lithe form. While Kazue might have been able to pull together enough spells to enable her to at least join her wife up there, it wouldn't have really been dancing the same way. Kazue would have been moving despite the elements, not with and because of the elements, and she would have had to put a lot more effort into ensuring that lightning didn't strike her.
Not that Moriko was immune to a direct hit from a natural bolt of lightning, no, the reckless woman was entrusting to her control of the elements to keep such a strike from hitting her.
But if Moriko hadn't gone out to dance in that storm, Kazue wouldn't have met the second spirit she was keeping bonded right now: a spirit of lightning and storms. While not so esoteric as her liminal spirit, it could be almost as ephemeral. She knew that they would continue to exist as discrete entities so long as they were bonded with her, but they were the sort of spirit that might otherwise dissipate when conditions were no longer optimal for them. Especially the liminal one; Kazue thought it might have come into existence because she'd been putting effort into finding something that could help her out.
What she was hoping was that if she could keep them bonded long enough to give them a stronger sense of identity and self that they'd be able to exist independently. It was limiting for her to keep them bonded; she could only keep two bonded at a time, and it took several minutes under optimal conditions to bond with a new one. But she didn't mind and thought that her liminal spirit worked really well with her ability to bring dreams and imagination briefly to the surface of reality. Her trick for making it briefly hard to tell where she was as random images of might-have-beens flickered around her could be amplified along the edges of spaces, letting her slide through reality a bit more. She could move further so long as it was along a border and squeeze through gaps she otherwise shouldn't be able to fit through.
Her lightning and storm spirit did not synergize quite so well, though it could speed her up and that did help, and its bolts of lighting were probably her most powerful ranged abilities at the moment. But she hadn't had a good chance to test it out yet, not inside of city limits. But maybe tomorrow while they were on the road.
For now, Kazue was listening to Moriko recount yesterday's events back home.
"So after breakfast, Mordecai tormented the kids by waiting a while before asking if there was anything that wanted to talk about. Then he just nodded thoughtfully when they spoke and asked things like 'is there anything else?' while smiling patiently and encouragingly. The two of them spilled their guts." Moriko was having trouble not laughing while she recounted the tale, and it made Kazue grin.
Nothing truly inappropriate had happened, but it they were at the edge of different social rules. There was a difference between the three of them sharing a room with well-understood rules, and very different for one of them to spend the night in the other's private room. And it certainly wasn't the dungeon's place to 'punish' them for any sort of indiscretion, perceived or otherwise. But as the adults in charge of the area, it certainly fell to them to help encourage a healthy amount of responsibility. Thus Mordecai 'forcing' Derek and Shizoku to tattle on themselves and explain exactly why that wasn't supposed to happen.
Moriko continued happily, "After he'd gotten them to give themselves their own guilt trip, Mordecai gave the pair heavy head rubs and laughed at them before letting them know they weren't in any trouble. His only real concern was responsibility, and he thought that they were both pretty responsible overall but that going forward they should be more careful. He didn't say it directly, but he implied that being responsible might be harder as time went on."
Which was a pretty fair assessment. The Azeria clan worried about it a lot less than even other kitsune clans as all pregnancies were causes for celebration and there was plenty of support for the girl without a need for the father to be in the picture. Kazue had no illusions that this meant her clan was some bastion of enlightenment. Part of the reason that Shizoku leaned so heavily on her grandmother and the forest spirit for parental guidance was that her father had five wives who also wanted his attention and Shizoku's mother hadn't felt the need to be very responsible when there were other women who were happy to spend time cooing over Shizoku and taking care of her. Kazue was fairly certain that this was also the reason that the young kitsune had a tendency to crush on older men, but hopefully, that was taken care of now.
"So after that, Fuyuko decided she wanted to make her contract with the dungeon official. Mordecai made sure to write everything up with her becoming our ward and after it was done he sent a copy of it to both Riverbridge and Azeria to get her status recorded. And then it was on to training! Gentle training this time. Well, mostly. For Shizoku and Fuyuko it was focused around marksmanship practice, mixed with switching their weapons out on the fly. He doesn't think that Shizoku would need to swap between gun and staff quickly very often, but there was no reason to skip that part of the training. For Fuyuko, he's popping up surprise targets for her and mixing them up with some 'targets' that are actually innocents. He says that it should help her get her battle rage under control. Oh, and the swords that came with her bracers are falcatas. They aren't good for fancy sword work but he figures that sometimes she might just need to hit things hard, so these will be better than her long daggers. I have to say, the only reason those things are 'daggers' is because of how tall she is. They'd probably feel like short swords for me, and almost certainly be swords for you, ankle biter."
Well, Kazue wouldn't mind biting Moriko, but that was a slightly different topic and she had her honor to defend. "Careful what you say, my love. This little ankle biter has very sharp teeth and knows exactly where you sleep every night. And she might just think you are tasty enough to take a big bite out of."
"Eek, I am terrified," Moriko said while laughing, "oh please don't eat me all up scary fox lady, I don't know what I'd do." Ignoring Kazue's threatening glare Moriko continued passing on the dungeon's events. "Anyway, the blades are heavier than Fuyuko is used to and weighted a little strangely, but Mordecai says she's adapting fast. Now, as for Derek, well, Mordecai is pushing him a little bit more. Our husband has sectioned off part of the arena to be an elemental testing and training ground. It generates random sparks and bubbles of different elements which naturally drift toward any living thing in the area and speed up as they get closer. Derek has been sitting in the middle of it and his training is to use only his elemental abilities to push them away. And Mordecai has made sure to lean heavily on fire and lightning as those seem to be Derek's weakest elements right now. Man, the poor kid. But he at least has some moral support, Bellona is right there with him. She's taking more of a beating actually, she doesn't have any influence over wood and only indirect influence on metal. She's not going to be there every day though, and Mordecai plans on this being the majority of their training to finish out the first month of the exchange program."
Given how long it had taken the kids to get through the dungeon, there wasn't a lot more time to finish out a month, so everyone had agreed to just start the program early. After this, Derek and Shizoku would arrange to travel with other groups back to his home and after a few days of rest head back to the dungeon, where Fuyuko would rejoin them and they would all head to the Azeria clan to begin a month of training.
"Everything else has just been going smoothly. With your non-combat path, we've been attracting a lot of people who are willing to spend weeks to get through the dungeon instead of the days it takes the combat teams. Though there aren't a lot of teams clearing the wetlands, most of the ones who finish the river zone don't even try it. The people on your path usually only give up if it's taking too long. Oh, and Mordecai says he'd like you to practice working with enchanting crystal-focused items, especially anything that involves altering the crystal itself. He's hoping that the two of you combined might be able to manually convert other gems and crystals into core matrix, though it will probably take both of you to figure it out."
Well, as much as Kazue admired their husband, she did have to admit to herself that it was kind of nice to see that he wasn't as all-knowing as he sometimes appeared to be. And that wasn't a bad idea, it could make a nice project over the winter, when they weren't occupied by other things. Warm thoughts and feelings flowed with that idea, only to be dashed by a sudden sensation of dread and danger. Kazue spun to put her back to Moriko as she frantically searched for the source of that sensation.
A few moments later she realized that the source was inside her, a tug and pull toward her faraway home. She crushed down the panic that wanted to bubble forth and turned back to Moriko, who had gone still and pale.
Moriko met her worried gaze and confirmed Kazue's fears. "We're under attack."
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The finale finally aired.
And by God was it disappointing.
From the get-go of this chapter, nothing felt right or earned. Including the title.
"You're Welcome."
Now, it does play into the later part of this chapter and whatnot, but I just want to preface that even without context, no. No I will not be thanking Rachel for this chapter. I will not thank her for allowing this story to fall so poorly, especially during the finale where her fans deserved a better ending regardless of what I or others may think of the story as a whole. They deserved better. The people who stuck with her for 8+ years when LO was still on Canvas deserved better.
They deserved better than being told "You're welcome" for a chapter that felt utterly thankless in it's rushed conclusion and fraying plot threads.
Anyways, to sum it up before getting into the grit and grime, this entire finale could be described as one giant TLDR. And a very incoherent one at that. Parts were scattered about and so, so many plot points were left to be wrapped up in the most disappointing narration over a party ever.
But, to truly grasp this chapter, let's start from the beginning.
☆Spoilers ahead for those who havent read yet and be prepared to get comfy with food and a drink cause this thing is LONG☆
Starting off, we get the return of Gaia. Aaaand not even 5 panels in and she already offs Ouranos like it's nothing. The supposed puppet master and big bad of the series and he's dead in record time. Perhaps I should feel more regarding this moment of a woman finally breaking free of her eternal entrapment due to her selfish lover, but I really can't when there was no rhyme or reason to the dialog as Gaia hole punches him and rips out a yokeified Apollo while walking away with Ouranos' hula hoop.
What happens to Ouranos? Psh, heck if we know. We have to cut to dropping off Apollo and looking for Persephone. Why? To "set things right."
Only we don't see what that means because now, we're jumping ahead 3 WHOLE MONTHS just to see a depressed Hades going about a morning routine. Why? Again, heck if we know. We have to watch Hecate and Hades play console a friend telephone and be completely ambiguous over the situation. Hades then finishes getting ready before he makes a trip to the mortal realm with Cerberus in tow.
Only to then CUT RIGHT BACK TO WHERE WE LEFT OFF BEFORE THE DAMN TIME SKIP!!!!
(ノ｀Д´)ノ彡┻━┻
WHAT WAS THE POINT?!?! WHAT WAS THE REASON?!?!
Okok...anyways, back to prior time skip, Gaia too has subscribed to the H+P fanclub and talks about how they've proven how 'true love is real.'
I've got several problems with this:
For starters, how? In what way have they proven that 'true love' exists? Hades fell 'in love' with a barely legal (by our standards) teenager while he was still seeing someone else. He also allowed said teenager to become his employee and later became her only crutch to lean on when she had nowhere else to go. They both have done horrible things to other people for the sake of the others pride, reputation, etc. Not to mention that we've barely seen them learn anything about each other or actually stick to the boundaries that were set up by both parties. Literally almost anything Hades has supposedly learned about Persephone has been thrown to the wayside just so he can 'spoil her.' Any of their flaws just gets ignored or discarded in favor of showing how 'in love' they are.
And for another, how did Hades sharing his power with Persephone actually show this? The whole "real love should go both ways" thing doesn't prove this. You can have two people be infatuated with each other and still not have it be true love. And so little of the fertility goddess lore is actually maintained that it's hard to figure out how the rules established actually prove that what they have is true love. For all we know, none of the males in the relationships just ever bothered to try giving their female partners their powers because of their arrogance or thinking it didn't work. If they had shared their powers, would that then be considered 'true love'? Even though they're still abusive and toxic individuals?
The implications here are both ridiculous and unnerving, especially given what Gaia says after about how true love can be nurturing and healing and is not a force for greed and destruction.
We literally have a Greek myth that talks about how an entire war was kicked off over two men who were in love with the same woman. Whether they were truly in love with her or not, their love/lust and desire for her still sparked the Trojan War. Love can be just as destructive as hate when placed in the wrong hands. It can absolutely be used as a source of greed and destruction and is literally shown in one of the most well known Greek myths, the very religion this story relies upon to make it work.
Sigh...Anyways, Gaia then talks about how they freed her and how their love proves Hydros wrong which, why should we care? Hydros still had a point that giving her power to Ouranos was a foolish idea and again, why should we care what Hydros thinks when we've only seen them brought up once in this entire comic?
For the next section, there's something I want to bring up and that's the dialog in this comic since this plays an important role in the next scene. The dialog in this chapter was very stilted. Not much of the conversations between these characters made sense, especially this exchange between Gaia and Persephone:
Gaia: "I can tell you made quite the deal with Erebos, which has put you through a lot."
Persephone: "That is true, but it was a deal I was willing to make and ties me to the Underworld. Please don't change me."
I-...what? What does this even mean??? Gaia never said anything about changing her or removing her ties to the Underworld. This feels like something she would've said to Erebos of they had actually met and changed the deal. Gaia hasn't implied anything of the sort. So...why is Persephone saying this??? Unless the story got changed at some point due to Webtoon giving a definitive end date or Rachel scrapped the idea and forgot to rework the dialog, there's no reason for Persephone to mention this.
And then after this exchange, Gaia just says she can't remove it anyways and that with her help, she can just bring back all the life that passed from the plague?!?! WHAT?!?! BUT-BUT WHY?!?!
Why is it so difficult to allow Persephone to have consequences for her actions?!?! Why?!?! Nearly this whole comic, we haven't seen Persephone do things that have consequences without it either being someone else's fault or someone else taking care of it for her. And even in the literal finale of this comic, Persephone can't live with the guilt that her actions caused the near destruction of the mortal realm! Gaia can now just magically bring everyone back to life who died with Persephones help! Once again, Persephone cannot be held accountable for her choices and cannot be given any form of agency, good or bad. This whole situation has really been for nothing, hasn't it? Because if breaking Gaia out of Earth jail was the magical solution they needed, that means the stakes for the mortal realm getting completely frosted over, killing millions of people, and causing this giant cascade of events for the better half of these recent chapters, has practically been for nothing. So what if these characters died, Gaia will just revive them with Persephones help!
This however brings me to the next and possibly the most infuriating part yet. Gaia then says that Persephone has two roles in two realms and to relieve her of the uncertainty and drama, Persephone will spend 3 months in the mortal realm for spring and the rest in the Underworld.
(=д= ) You're kidding, right?
So, not only did we remove Demeters agency in her own myth regarding her love for her daughter and seeing her child again and also being the one to start winter out of her grief for losing her child, but now we can't even have Persephone be in the mortal realm longer than she is in the Underworld??? She's literally spending more time with Hades than Demeter!
Yet despite this, IT STILL ISNT ENOUGH FOR EITHER OF THEM AND THEY'RE STILL UPSET OVER IT!!! This is the least they can do after all they've put everyone through is being forced to separate for a bit so Persephone can deal with spring and still be apart of both worlds. Sure, they've been separated plenty of times by now, but this isn't even forever! It's just 3 months! Yet even 3 months is far too much of a time for H+P to be separated even though it's completely fair! It's not like they're being separated for years! It's just 3 months yet if they aren't able to be together 24/7 then it's something to be upset over!
But wait, there's more! Because apparently, Hades isn't barred from seeing Persephone WHILE SHE'S IN THE MORTAL REALM! So technically, they aren't even separated at all!!! They can literally see each other whenever they please!
Gaia talks about this whole reunion hoopla and how they can make a special occasion out if it. EXCEPT THEN IT WOULDNT BE A REUNION THEN GAIA, NOW WOULD IT?!?! THEY WOULD STILL BE ABLE TO SEE EACH OTHER DAMMIT!!!! ヽ( `Д´)ﾉ
A reunion is what happens when two people have been apart for a long time and haven't been able to see each other in person during that time! It can't be a reunion of they can literally see each other whenever the other pleases!
(T_T) I want to cry. Why? Just-... never mind, let's continue.
So anywho, we cut back to the present (what is the present anymore?) with Hades arriving in the mortal realm to greet Persephone who has spent time with Demeter and Metis (who is still alive for some reason,) and the two teleport back to the Underworld and Hades house where they makeout.
Once again, we are treated to horny H+P as Persephone undresses Hades as he suggests they go upstairs while she comments how she can't wait to see his ass. Only to then trail off into assistant when they notice the various people in his home.
Why are they in his home you may ask? Because apparently, it's also Persephones coronation day as the official Queen of the Underworld. Why they decided to have it the day Persephone gets back, I will never know and I'm too tired to consider it.
The next scene starts off with a news reporter at the scene of the event telling us what we already know: Persephone is back, she's becoming Queen now, her return marks the end of spring, etc.
But, what the reporter also brings up is Apollo. Why? To tell us he will not be in attendance and to tell us that he's serving his punishment doing TEMPLE RESTORATION IN THE MORTAL REALM!!!!
ARE. YOU. SERIOUS?!?!?! (＃ﾟДﾟ)
WHY?!?!?! WHY IS HE GETTING WHAT EQUATES TO COMMUNITY SERVICE?!?!?! (ノ｀△´)ノ
Ok, we need to take a step back and just go through exactly what has happened regarding Apollo. Up until this point, he has:
-SA Persephone -Took non consenting photos of Persephone -Blackmailed Persephone -Blackmailed Hebe -Tried to assassinate Zeus -Tried to kill Eris -Tried to kill Daphne -Nearly had Kassandra killed -Threatened multiple people with violence -Kidnapped two gods and kept them locked up in his basement -Tried to force Persephone into marriage -Tried to cover up his crimes
And last but not least:
-CONSPIRED WITH THE TITAN OF THE SKY TO BRING CHAOS TO THE MORTAL REALM AND THE OTHER EXISTING KINGDOMS TO ALLOW HIM TO COME BACK AND TAKE OVER AS RULER OF THE GODS ONCE MORE.
All of that! All. Of. That.
He could've gotten entire realms destroyed, he tried to kill his own father, he tried to hide and cover up his crimes while doing all this...
And the only punishment he gets equates to community service????
We have seen other characters get harsher punishments than this! Persephone had her 10 years in the mortal realm for trying to cover up the act of wrath! Demeter was stripped of her powers for the same thing! Leuce had her home filled with animals and her life threatened for trying to flirt with Hades! MINTHE GOT TURNED INTO A PLANT BECAUSE SHE TOLD ZEUS ABOUT WHAT PERSEPHONE DID! ALEX HAD HIS EYE TAKEN OUT, LEGS BROKEN, AND WAS SENT TO THE HOSPITAL FOR TAKING A PICTURE OF PERSEPHONE FOR THE TABLOIDS!!!
All of these characters got far more serious punishments for what is considered far less heinous crimes than what Apollo has racked up against him!
And it's not as if he sees it as demeaning or if he had his own powers stripped or there's some sort of emotional or psychological side to this punishment, no! He's just repairing temples! He still has his powers, he's still in love with Persephone, and he's still free for the most part!
After everything that's happened, after all the insidious and horrible things he's done, after all this time waiting to see Persephone get her justice for her SA, to finally see Apollo pay for what he did to Persephone, to his other victims...this is it?!
What happened to this being a feminist retelling?! What happened to getting justice against those who have wronged women and are still free to continue harming others?!
Not only can we not be free of seeing Apollo at every turn when it comes to Persephone moving on from that trauma, but now we're ending this series seeing Apollo, one of the worst characters there is, practically get away with the crimes he's committed by doing his time in the mortal realm fixing temples.
I know others may say that it's a fitting punishment and that's fine for them, I won't judge. But in my opinion, this was not a fitting punishment. Justice was not served.
This was not the way to finish off this plot line after everything we've seen and have been told.
Unfortunately, the chapter keeps going on as we transition from the news to Hera officiating the coronation and Persephone becoming the official Queen of the Underworld.
And thus begins the most boring conclusive TLDR I have ever witnessed.
As Hades and Persephone have their first dance, Persephone blandly talks about how so much has changed in the past 3 months, how living in the mortal realm is so much easier because Hades can see her whenever he likes. She talks about her mother and her son and how he's taken up farming.
It is then revealed that Dio has aged up to a teenageyoung adult and that Hades brought his bio mother, Semele, back to life.
So...not only did you steal Dios myth of going to find his mother and bring her back, but we're practically just saying 'f₩ck all' with Dio being an adopted child.
Screw adoptive kids apparently. All they need to do is find their birth parents and everything will be fine!/s
It's not like we never got to see Dio make this choice on his own or got to see him ask Hades if he could bring back Semele because he wants to get to know her or see Hades and Persephone actually parent this child they brought into their lives that they've practically neglected since the day Persephone stole him from Zeus. No, no. Everything just works out and they've dumped Dio back onto Semele!
I just-...I can't even right now.
How tone deaf does this have to be? All of the drama over getting Dio out of Zeus' hands only for H+P to practically ignore and neglect him to the point Dio was practically moving the plot on his own because even he too was done with this. All of this fuss about making sure Dio was taken care of, of treating him like their child and looking after him...and they just don't care. Just like with Thanatos, they neglected and ignored this child they chose to raise. And now, they've just dumped him back on his bio mother and we don't even know if it was his choice to see her again. Not to mention this whole series of events has set up a horrible idea of adoptive children being less than biological children. Dio was not treated like their child, merely another accessory or tool for H+P. Hades showed more care and consideration for his future biological daughter than he ever has for EITHER of his adoptive sons. And that's horrible. Thanatos and Dio deserved better. They deserved so much better than the abuse and neglect Hades and Persephone put them through (mainly Hades since Persephone didn't raise Thanatos.)
Continuing on, we are told Zeus was healed and is awake, but is now a figurehead King while Hera takes care of everything and that his powers haven't been the same since he woke up. Why? We don't know. Why is Hera running the show now? We also don't know. Did Zeus read Heras note? Did they talk about what happened? Did they discuss anything about their divorce? The world will never know and we certainly don't either.
Speaking of Hera, she apparently got divorced and is now dating Echo. Yup, the nymph racist alcoholic got together with a nymph who was once her employee without any sort of development or effort into changing her behavior. You know, it's a little funny that the goddess of marriage got divorced. It's especially interesting because that's a focal point of why Hera could never leave or take power from Zeus. Because this is her role as the wife of Zeus, no matter how many partners her husband takes to bed. In canon mythology, the one time she tries to userp Zeus, she gets hung from Olympus, in the sky, with weights attached to her feet.
Yet here, she's free to lead and leave Zeus without any kickback.
To continue, Area asks fir a dance and once more, we have to cut down Ares as the god of war to being nothing mire than a horny dog.
And as if demonizing TGOEM wasn't bad enough, it has now been disbanded. Why? Who knows. You would think that after everything that's happened, it could be repurposed into a women's help group or something similar to help women out of rough situations like forced marriages, abuse, SA, etc. But nope. Simply disbanded and Artemis is now hanging out with Selene, the goddess of the moon. We don't know why and we don't know what their connections are cause now it's onto the next scene which involves Hades trying to talk with Thanatos.
"Sonetimes they even have a conversation." (-_-) This is the furthest thing from funny and quite honestly, it's sad that apparently, this is the best Hades has to give for his adoptive child who he neglected with his own problems. I'd understand if it were that Hades and Thanatos are trying to reconnect and are taking things slow, but no. No, this was the line given and it just makes this all the more annoying and depressing.
"Eros and Psyche are enjoying parenthood." I will admit, their child is cute, I like the butterfly wings. I just wished those wasn't the only time we see them and Hades is asking for Persephones attention yet again. And for some reason, they're still searching for Kassandra? But, why? Why are they looking for her? She doesn't have anything else to do with them besides the oracle stuff but, that wasn't elaborated upon.
Thankfully that's the end of this horrible TLDR and we're back to dialog. Persephone and Hades dance alone, talk about how they couldn't get privacy, if they're enjoying the party and how Hades has the best date. The two dance for a bit before they start thanking each other for making their lives better with Persephone just telling Hades to say "You're Welcome."
Sigh while not as horrible as in the past, these interactions feel so dry. I don't hate it but I'm not exactly convinced they have chemistry.
They're grateful for all they've done for each other and they say they love each other while also mentioning their titles for some reason and they kiss. The last few panels say how the mortals never forgot about H+P love and how they remained forever in love.
THE END.
OH THANK GOD ITS OVER. IT'S DONE! I'M FREE!!! I'M FINALLY FREE OF THIS HELL!!! I CAN FINALLY LEAVE!!! MARTHA I'M COMING HOME SWEETIE!!!!
Wait...
What do you mean 'many, many years later'...?
WHAT DO YOU MEAN ITS NOT OVER YET?!?! IT JUST SAID THE END!
I'M BACK IN THE F₩CKING BUILDING AGAIN!!!!!
For f₩cks sake when will it end?!?! Just let me go, dammit!!! (ＴДＴ)
I'm still trapped here!!! What is there more to tell that hasn't already been skimmed over?!?!
Apparently Melinoe waking up because of Demeter and explains that she had a weird dream which we can only assume is remnants of her time stuck with Kronos.
I already despise the fact that Hades had Melinoes memories wiped without asking her or involving her in the process, but the fact that she still recalls some of what happened is also another reason why I disliked this so much. Cause she still knows to an extent subconsciously. But she will never understand why she has these weird dreams or why she recalls some things that seem weird. And she will.never know unless Hades ever decides to tell her.
Anyways, they both go into a room where there's a doctor and H+P are there with Hades holding a baby. Melinoe joins them and is introduced to her sister, H+P sit with her and reminisce about how far they've come as they hold each other and their two bio kids in a nuclear family photo.
And finally, FINALLY ITS OVER NOW.
JESUS TAP DANCING CHRIST TAKE THE WHEEL AND GET ME OUT OF HERE.
Oh thank goodness it's over...it's finally over...I'll probably have words for how I feel overall later, but I want to get out of here. My brain hurts and my soul feels defeated.
All I can say right now...is no thank you. No thank you to LO, no thank you to the false endings and the horrible tying up of losses ends. No thank you to anymore of this chaos...I'm done. I'm truly done.
Hope you all enjoyed my unhinged rambling for a good read and thank you all for your time! :3

Narcissistic grandmothefamily ( mostly grandmother )
Where do i begin.... So my grandmother has always been abusive to me. For as long as i can remember.
As a child my mum and dad practically dumped me on my grandmother and grandfather's step. They took me in. My grandad was always my angel. He loved me so much and I was always the apple of his eye. Sadly in 2009 he died from leukaemia. He was diagnosed on his birthday. Died a year later on his birthday 😔 me and my grandmother never really got along. She always looked down her nose at me. Like I was a piece of shit under her shoe.
It was just me who got dumped on my grandparents step. My sisters went with my mum and my brother with my dad when they split up.
Now.... I don't know much about her upbringing because I literally can't speak to the woman. She is very... Undermining and passive agressive. So I just don't bother as its never pleasant to speak to her. Never has been.
So I have 2 sisters and a brother. My grandmother idolises them. Very openly, almost like it's done purposely to make me feel as low as possible. I am constantly left out of family outings, holidays, meals. You name it. It's making me resent my own siblings.
I became the black sheep very quickly. I have to watch my family doing things together, while I'm constantly left out. Watching from the sidelines, Unacknowledged, Forgotten about if you will.
Fast forward... At this point id had enough. So I moved in with my then boyfriend. I was obviously extremely happy to get away from my grandmother and family. I moved to a different city.
Things were great at first... Sadly he started to change after a while. He started to abuse me also and get violent towards me. I found out he had abused 2 women before me. I escaped with my life barely. But I had nowhere to live or any money as my ex had taken everything off me and used me for my money the entire time and I would like to add that this man also made me disabled. ( trauma induced fibromyalgia, chronic pain and fatigue, ptsd, depression, the whole lot )
So I had to move back in with my evil grandmother, but this time... I'm disabled at this point 😔 the trauma and stress of previous life abuses and obviously the trauma of domestic violence had made me extremely ill. I couldn't even walk. I've been in and out of hospital and doctors you name it.
So now, my grandmother has an evil new tactic up her sleeve. Because I'm now disabled, she uses my illness as a weapon to abuse me. Saying "your brain has gone" " you're crazy " . And calling me and i quote a " fat tw*t " obviously because of my ptsd, I was terrified to leave the house and now my own grandmother is attacking my appearance and mental health and disability all at the same time. My illness has turned my life upside down.
She is taking nearly all my money from me, so I'm unable to save up to leave. Shelters are only offering me places half way across the country, alone, which would absolutely terrify me.
I have had a pretty lonely existence and still live a lonely existence. My pets are my everything and shelters also do not allow pets. So I feel trapped now. I cannot survive without my pets. They're all I have.
I'm trapped with a woman who causes a fight with me any time I leave my bedroom. She attacks my disibilty, my mental health, calls me names, she bins my belongings and throws my stuff around all over the floor. She purposely breaks my belongings. Then she gaslights me.
She literally says I'm imagining things when she does all this stuff to me. All while turning the rest of my family against me by telling them, I'm unruly. Because I'm defending myself and standing my ground on what I know to be true. I've even resorted to recording her when she starts these fights with me. But even when I show my siblings. They instantly side with her or say it's nothing to do with them. Even if I tell my mum. She doesn't care. My mum is a very selfish woman. She has a drug addiction. So she only cares about herself and herself only. My dad has just got a whole seperate life now and a new gf. Wants nothing to do with me or anyone else besides his gf.
I've been abused my entire life. I'm still being abused. I've had enough.
What do I even do about this? I feel like I'm getting more sick by the day because of all this trauma. I'm literally trapped. I'm tired. My soul is literally tired.
If I alert authorities. My entire family will turn on me. All but one. My grandmother's daughter. My auntie. Is also cast out by her. So I do speak to her about the abuse which helps.
But it doesn't help my situation. I'm still trapped here. My auntie has a full house and is also dealing with illness herself. So that's not an option unfortunately.
Has anyone experienced anything like this with their grandmother?
It makes me sick because everyone thinks she's a lovely old lady. She puts on this false image in public. But behind closed doors. She's a monster. An absolute monster. You wouldn't believe some of the stuff she says to me I can barely believe it myself. She's told me to unalive myself and that nobody loves me and she hates me.
I know it's awful to say. But I cant wait until she passes 😢 I can then be free of her abuse once and for all. I hate that I think this way about someone. But when theyve abused you your entire life, Belittled you, called you names, attack you, bullied you, destroys and bins your belongings and has trapped you, then blames you for it. You will think and feel the same way. All whilst rubbing how much she loves my siblings in my face.
She makes me feel like there's something wrong with me. Like I'm unlovable. What did I ever do to her!?!
I remember asking this question once and she said I'm imagining things and im being childish and told to grow up and stop being crazy and that I'm weak.
She loves calling me weak and keeps telling me I'm playing the victim. Well.... I am the victim. You're literally abusing me.
It's not crazy if it's reality right?
Sometimes I feel like Im just not from this family. Even my siblings have nothing in common with me and look down on me and don't bother with me. We are 100% from the same mother and father. I just can't understand how I'm cast out and treated like this. I've never done anything wrong to anyone 😔😔
I've asked many times what I've done to deserve this treatment and they just keep saying the same thing. Stop playing the victim or I'm imagining things and to grow up. My feelings are not valid.
I'm constantly just in my bedroom, because if I come out. I become a target. I barely even eat 😢😢 I have 2 meals a week if that and that's when my grandmother goes out. I go down and make something quick to eat. I tend to buy a lot of snacks online. Things I can keep in my bedroom to snack on when I get real hungry, just to avoid coming out of my bedroom.
Not sure how much more heartbreak I can take.
I've planned a day out at the weekend for the first time in 2 years to go see all my friends. To a rave. Because my legs have gained a bit of strength recently after being bed bound for over a year because I've been so ill. Obviously I'm extremely nervous about leaving my house, but I'm trying to force myself to try get myself out of this rut I'm in. My grandmother has done nothing but attack my image, calling me fat and basically trying to destroy my confidence, so I don't go out and calling me other horrible names because it's a rave I'm going to.
Now I used to rave a lot. So it's the only time I get to mix with like minded people. It's always the same people who go and i class them all as my rave family. I've been super excited and obviously nervous about this rave. I planned it just a week ago. My grandmother of course. Is doing everything in her power to try get me to not go. My friends all live dotted around the country, so i barely ever get to see anyone.
I'm not allowed to be happy. Or have a life or do anything for that matter.
I've been trying to exercise using my hula hoops and other flowtoys. Like my leviwand for example. It cost over 300 pound and my grandmother has gone into the tube it's kept in and binned the chargers and string for it. Rendering it useless and saying she's not touched it and im making stuff up and im going crazy!!!
I know she had done it as it was in her cupboard in her room. It had moved completely from where I actually put it. My room is very cluttered as I've had to cram me, my things and my pets all in here with me, due to having left my ex in such a hurry. I feel like I'm living in a closet. So I thought this one item would be safe in that cupboard as it was expensive. She had moved it and shoved something in its box that I know wasn't in there when I put it in there. She's lost all the attatchments, which I know was all together in that box. So now I can't use it at all. Of course.... It's all in my head and I'm the one who's lost these things even though i know for a fact I kept it all safe and together.
She's constantly sabataging me and saying it's all in my head.
I'm Quickly fading. Giving up. But then.... She will attack me for that too. Fcked if I do. Fcked if i don't. I can't win. No matter what I do.
Even if for example... Something has been on its way out... Breaking for a while and she's aware of it, if it breaks, it's automatically my fault.
According to her... Anything that breaks. Even if I haven't touched it. It's my fault. She will deliberately leave things to deteriorate and then blame me when it finally breaks completely. I'm at my wits end.
I'm so lost and just devastated at how horrible my life has been.
Can anyone give me any advice on what I should do about this situation?

If you came here from AITAH then you've possibly already read this... if not, this is the story of what unfolded after my Great Uncle Joe passed away, and what has turned into a crazy few days - and maybe a story that will continue for years to come.
A couple of days ago, my Joe passed away at the age of 92. The best way to describe Joe was “eccentric.” He was reclusive and very private, living on what I assume was the last little piece of our family’s property (my great-grandfather had amassed a large amount of land that had been sold off over the decades after his death). A lot of people thought he was a hermit, but I never saw him like that. To me, he was the most compassionate person I knew. He was wise, caring, and honestly the only person in the family that ever spent serious quality time with me.
Joe had always been the odd man out in our family. He was the youngest of three brothers – Alex, (who I’m named after) died in the Korean war and my grandfather Robert passed away when I was still in high school. My family never bothered to pay attention to Joe; he was never invited to family events. In fact, I think he was ignored because he lived a simple life in a shotgun house on what I guess was the last piece of land that my Great Grandfather (GG) had owned. I got the feeling that no one wanted to bother him, thinking he’d just cause them trouble or maybe ask them for money, but I spent a lot of time with him, and we shared many conversations about life, legacy, and the things that truly matter – he never appeared to need anything and certainly never asked me for money.
Now, a bit more backstory on the family. We’ve been in this area for generations, and there's a strong sense of unearned privilege among many of my relatives. Like I said earlier, my GG owned a lot of land, around 60,000 acres to be exact. It was fertile farmland, tracts of timber, and stretched into the mountains where he had leased out select areas for mining, and some of the most beautiful lakes and riverfront in the state. When he died, each of the brothers inherited 30,000 acres from their parents (1/2 to each surviving son of the 60,000 total acres of timberland, mining leases, and game land my GG owned). Our grandfather, like his brothers, sold off his share over the years. He lived large and was married three times, having children with each wife. By the time he died, he had sold off about half his land, and his children (including my father) each received a nice cash inheritance and split the remaining land among them equally.
This should have been plenty for most people to retire comfortably, but not for my family. Each of the children, my dad included, then sold off their land to fund their standard of living until finally there was nothing left. There was a lot of resentment among the uncles and aunts and particularly among the cousins who experienced different upbringings—some of whom had little to no memory of their grandfather and even less knowledge of the legacy my family had been gifted, and squandered. Joe was the only one that seemed to care about the family’s legacy and wanted to preserve some record of it. He would sit with me for hours telling stories. When I came back from Afghanistan and was slowly recovering from my injuries he came and saw me every day. He’d share stories and I’d write them down – I’ve got a heck of a collection to share with my children one day, if I’m ever lucky enough to meet the right lady.
From a young age, I was captivated by Joe's stories about his oldest brother, who died in the Korean War. There was an 18-year age difference between them, so they didn’t share many adventures, but Joe idolized his brother as a hero. Those stories inspired me deeply, and I was the only one in the family who chose to serve in the military. Joe was my biggest supporter during my service and, later, when I was injured and medically retired before I turned 30. After my recovery, Joe encouraged me to pursue a career that would make a difference. Ultimately, I decided to go back to college and attend law school. The two years of law school were a nice distraction from the physical and mental pain I brought back with me from the war, and I ultimately became an attorney advocating for veterans. Now I have a small practice in town and focus most of my efforts on pro-bono work (I’m comfortable on the few paying cases I take at a time and my military retirement). I live and work in a cool old space on our town’s main street that I lucked into at a super cheap rent.
This morning I got a call from my great-uncle’s attorney (who was also one of his only friends). I know him professionally, and he’s a good man – he feeds me the occasional client that’s not right for his firm, and we’ve got a good working relationship. He said that Joe had instructed him to prepare me to be ready to deal with some family drama after his will was read. He said Joe wanted me to know he loved me, that he had confidence that I’d do the right thing, and that he was sorry that I was the only one he could trust to handle “things” appropriately. Cryptic, right? Well, that was pretty much normal for Joe! Damn, I’m going to miss him, but I guess I already said that.
Joe always implied that I was the only one in the family that ever showed him any concern and that he’d never forget it, but we never talked about money or anything else; it wasn’t important to either of us. I think Joe made me realize how much more important it was to be a good man than a rich man and that nothing else ever really mattered. The rest of my family definitely doesn’t see it like this.
Like I said, Joe was the black sheep because he didn’t fit into the mold of privilege and entitlement. Most of the family didn’t treat him with the respect he deserved, and they really missed out on getting to know an amazing person. I will say though that Joe had a sharp wit and wasn’t shy about sharing his opinions of how my father and his siblings had treated the family’s legacy. There’s a part of me that thinks Joe might have set things up to mess with those who ignored him and didn’t honor their heritage and ancestors.
I’m not sure what to expect to come from this, but Joe was eccentric, not delusional – if he said that he was getting ready to deal me some “family drama” to deal with then I believe him, but honestly I can’t figure what it would be. Joe was a simple guy – he never worked that I knew of, and the times I asked him what he did for a living, he’d just tell me that he had my great-grandfather to thank for a nice life. I assume he’s referring to the land he sold off, giving him the means to just hunt, fish, raise his dogs (I’ll have to tell you about them sometime), and spend time with me. Maybe Joe managed to hold onto some cash and was going to make a big deal about what he was doing with it? I suppose some of the family might get spun up about that given the fact there is not much left from what my GG passed on?
I’ll know more tomorrow. The will is supposed to be read on Friday, and I’ll update you then. Maybe I’m worried about nothing, but I feel like I’m about to be in a battle, and I haven’t felt like this since Kabul. I know this isn’t an AITA post yet, but I guess I’m wondering if AIGTBTA – Am I Going To Be The Asshole?
*** MINI-UPDATE **\*
I've had several more calls from extended family asking if I knew anything and I still don't have anything concrete to share but it sounds like everyone over the age of 18 has been asked to come to the reading, that's a little unusual in my opinion but then again I don't know how long ago Joe wrote this will. By my count there could be up to 15 people there tomorrow.
I went to Joe's place to pick up his dog's stuff early this morning (he's living with me now) and as much as I'd have liked to nose around to try and figure out what's going on I have too much respect for him to do that (plus it's not my stuff). There was a stack of bound journals (he's the one that had me start journaling) and other documents on the dining table. Joe had set a note on top asking for them to be delivered to his attorney in the event he passed. I think he knew he wasn't coming back and set them out there so they wouldn't be overlooked when the family came in after he died. He was very concerned that a lot of family history was going to be forgotten when he died. I'll make sure that doesn't happen.
One thing did stick out as strange - the other reason I went by was to pick up his mail so I could drop it at his attorney's office this afternoon before the meeting tomorrow - lucky I did since he left that pile of stuff. Obviously I didn't open any mail, but I can say that it's not what I expected. He spent several days in the hospital before he died and I hadn't been back to his house since he went in, so I knew there would be about a week's worth of mail piled up. I figured it would be mostly bills and junk but several of the letters looked like checks from corporations, including a couple I'm personally familiar with. Maybe he did have more going on than I thought, but honestly it just wasn't ever something we talked about.
Last quick thing and nothing to do with the AITAH thing- only sharing because I'm actually personally excited about something that happened and this is taking the place of my journaling for a couple of day. About a month ago my high-school sweetheart moved back to town to take a position with the local hospital. She used to come to Joe's with me when we were in high school and Joe let us take his brother's car to go to Prom. He really liked her and she always said she enjoyed spending time with him too.
She was a year behind me in school. We tried to keep seeing each other after I enlisted but that almost never works out. After graduation she went to college, then medical school, and did her residency on the West Coast. She rarely came back and I was gone for so long we totally lost touch. It's been over decade since we've actually seen each other, although I did hear from her a couple times after I was injured. Back then she was just starting her residency and between her schedule, the time difference, and my rehab we never really got could find the time to really reconnect.
Yesterday she called me to tell me how sorry she was to hear he had passed and we're planning on meeting for drinks tonight to catch up - hopefully tonight. I really needed something to look forward to and this definitely qualifies!
*** (NOT SO) MINI-UPDATE 2 **\*
Ok, I didn't think I'd be updating again until have the reading tomorrow morning at 10:30, but things are heating up a little already. In addition to the random calls from cousins who knew that Joe and I were close as well as from my siblings, I’ve gotten three phone calls today from the "previous generation".
First call was from my Aunt Debbie, she’s the youngest of my dad’s brothers and sisters and always has been a lot to deal with. She married a nice guy but always is complaining about money, wanting to travel more, buy a nicer home, etc. After my grandfather passed away she spent the money he left her on who-knows-what and within 10 years had sold off all of the land she had inherited. Unfortunately she was selling off land when the market was down during the recession, so what would have probably been worth well over $30,000,000 today she sold for less than a third of that. That’s still a lot of money but it seems like she’s burned through a lot of it already (or given it to her kids). Anyway – she called me to tell me that she knows I’m the only one with a key to Joe’s place and she wanted me to meet her there and let her in this afternoon. I told her I was already busy today and she got a little annoyed and told me not to forget to bring it with me to the reading tomorrow. She said they want to clear the house out ASAP because she's going to develop the land into homesites and needs to get things rolling. This was news to me but I just ignored her and told her I’d see her tomorrow. For reference, I know for a fact that despite living within 30 minutes of Joe she hadn’t spoken to him in over a DECADE!
The next call I got was from my father’s current wife, Jessica. She’s 20 years younger than he is and is the only wife he didn’t have kids with (thank God, and no, I don't care if she reads this). Anyway – my dad’s wife called me and said she knew how much Joe / Alex’s car meant to me and told me that if I wanted to buy it she’d try to give me the first shot at it. I just thanked her and got off the phone. This woman has literally never even met Joe.
Finally, I just got off the phone with my dad. He called me about 30 minutes after his wife did. This is the first time I’ve heard from him since Joe died. My Dad is actually closer to Joe’s age than Joe was to Alex’s. Joe was 14 when my dad was born, like me he was so much younger than his brothers that there was almost a generational gap between them. Joe was probably more like an older brother than a young uncle and for a while they were really close but something happened (no one ever told me what) and there was a falling out.
My dad has a big personality – he’s lived a pretty extravagant life and for despite being nearly 80 years old (yeah, he was over 60 before I got out of high school) he’s still the “big man” when he goes into a room. He was my Grandfather’s oldest son so he’s always taken on the lead role at family events. Like his sisters and brother he sold off his land too, although I know he sold it off in smaller pieces and over a longer period of time. He basically used it as bank account and selling it off was his version of making a withdrawal. I assume he’s set for the rest of his life and I know my brothers and sister are expecting an inheritance when he dies. In fact - they speak pretty openly about it.
My Dad's call was a welcome change after the calls from Debbie and Jessica. My dad actually sounded pretty reserved and a little down. The first thing he did was apologize to me for Jessica’s call. He told me she had no right to do that and she had no say in anything that was going to happen with Joe’s property - or his one day for that matter. Evidently he tore her a new one after walking in on the tail-end of her conversation with me. He told me that he knew I was the only one in the family that spent time with Joe and that regardless of what happens at reading tomorrow he was going to give me anything Joe left him – if he left him anything at all. He told me that he appreciated how much I had done for Joe and that he had regrets about how their relationship had soured. I’ve literally never heard him talk like that before and it honestly has me a little emotional. It sucks that he has to live with those regrets when a 30 minute drive was all it would have taken to start fixing a relationship.
Finally – he told me that he didn’t really know for sure but he suspected tomorrow might hold some surprises. He told me that he’d be there to back me up no matter what happened and that I wasn’t going to be alone. I asked him if he knew something but he promised me he didn’t know anything for sure and that he would have told me if he did. He said he'd just always had suspicions about "some things" and that depending on how things unfolded he didn’t want to see any more relationships go the way his and Joe’s had, or the way Joe and my grandfather’s had.
I told him about the call from Debbie and he said she was way out of line and to not worry about it, that he'd be giving her a call immediately after he got off the phone with me. He also told me that I shouldn’t let anyone else in Joe’s house, that I was the only one Joe gave a key to for a reason and that no one had any business going in there until after the will was read.
Obviously I wasn’t planning on letting anyone in but this was possibly the most supportive call I’ve ever had with my father and I just appreciated that he was planning on standing up for me. My brothers, sister, and cousins (I’ve got 2 brothers, 1 sister and 8 cousins) all got used to a certain way of life from their parents but frankly none of them have been able to maintain it on their own and most of them are pretty petty about it. Their parents aren't much better, despite having had the benefit of a generous inheritance.
I’ve got to stop by the attorney’s office at 4:30 and then I’m meeting Samantha (Sam) for drinks and maybe dinner if we both have time. If you want to hear about that let me know, otherwise I’ll just stick to the family stuff.
*** up-DATE **\*
It’s late – I don’t know if I’ll get all this out but I wanted to write it down before I forgot.
First, Joe’s attorney looks worn out. He didn’t share much when I dropped everything off, just thanked me and we chatted for a few minutes. He did say that he hoped I was going to get a good night’s rest, that tomorrow was going to be long. He also asked how many clients I was working with right now, which was odd, we rarely talk about caseloads. I told him I was just handling some contract work and a few family estate planning matters (ironic, right?). He just nodded and said “Good.” I could tell he wanted to say more but he just shook my hand and said he’d see me in the morning.
Drinks with Sam turned into dinner and then dinner turned into an after-dinner drink before we both had to get home since it’s a “school night”. Seeing her was like stepping back in time... I don’t know about her, but for me all the feelings that I thought were just a high school crush came rushing back as soon as I sat down with her. I know I might just be feeling a little bit stressed by what’s going on and maybe she’s just a welcome relief from a bad week, but I’ll take it for now. She’s done everything she said she would in high school – stayed focused in college and medical school, did her surgical residency in under six years and then her cardiothoracic fellowship. She literally just finished and moved back here as soon as she was done. Evidently she received a full scholarship from a foundation associated with the hospital on the condition she return to provide surgical support to the community for 5 years after she finished her fellowship. We’ve got a fantastic hospital but I guess it’s always a challenge to recruit talented surgeons. I told her about my practice and the veteran advocacy work I do. I told her I didn’t plan on getting rich doing it but that I enjoyed being home and that the connection I felt to the land here just keeps growing stronger.
We talked a lot about Joe. She surprised me when she told me that she kept in touch with him even after we stopped seeing each other. She’d call him once a month or so to see how he was doing and she had evidently visited him when he was in the hospital during his last few days. He never told me that she stayed in touch – in fact we never spoke much about her at all. I hadn’t seen her in ten years and frankly didn’t think she’d ever come back from the West Coast. I’m starting to think that Joe kept a lot of secrets.
I told her about the reading of the will tomorrow and the phone calls I’d gotten today she got visibly upset when I mentioned the comment about the car and I think she almost cried when I told her my aunt wanted to tear down Joe’s house and divide the land up for a bunch of houses.
Then she reminded me about Joe’s plans for a house… I had completely forgotten that back when she and I would go over there regularly he had pulled out these extensive plans for a large home that he said was designed to be built on the slope of the valley, overlooking the river below that fronts the property. It was intended to be a family home, but without a family he never saw the point of living anywhere other than his house.
He had done the designs himself, drawing every architectural detail, making landscaping plans, even identified the site. He was quite an artist and had put so much of himself into those plans. I can’t believe she remembered them but she said she always wanted to see that cabin in person and couldn’t bare the thought that someone would chop up the beautiful property just to put in a bunch of McMansions for the crowd coming out from the city for the weekend and summers. I told her I was going to do everything I could to prevent that from happening but that I didn’t know how it was going to turn out.
For a while I forgot about tomorrow and we just got caught up on what we’d been doing. She let me share what I wanted to and never pried for more information. We ended up holding hands across the table, which somehow felt incredibly intimate. When it was time to go I walked her to her car and opened her door for her. She turned to me and we hugged for what seemed like a full minute before she sat down and I closed the door. She rolled the window down and told me she wanted me to call her right after the will is read and that if I needed her to she’d be there if things got unpleasant.
So that’s it – kind of a perfect way to end the day. I wanted to get this out before I went to bed, it’s helping me keep my head clear. Next update will be after the will is read.
NOPE: I was literally about to hit post on this and my phone dinged with a text from Sam. I’ll just put it here exactly as I got it: “Tonight made me feel like life interrupted something special 18 years ago. Let's not let it interrupt us again.” I guess it wasn’t just me.
I think whatever happens tomorrow I’ll be fine. Next update will be after the will is read. Thanks for all the comments - honestly this is very cathartic - even the ugly ones.
*** UPDATE-ISH **\*
Ok - this morning has been crazy. There is too much to unpack here all at once and I'm supposed to go back in with Joe's attorneys in a few minutes. The family is mostly gone (I asked my dad to stay) and the firm is bringing in lunch shortly so we can keep working through the details.
Honestly, I don't know what to think. I know I promised an update and I'll try to get one out today, but more happened this morning than I can even think about getting down on paper. I haven't processed most of it myself and this afternoon sounds like it's going to be more of the same.
Some of you were right, and yes, there was drama. Also - I know I'm not going to be the asshole but I can already tell not everyone is going to feel the same way.
Side note - Sam called me this morning and told me not to let the property go no matter what. She even offered to help me pay for it while I figured things out. I've got a lot to talk to her about. I know I need to get to know the adult Sam and she needs to get to know me but for now it's good to have someone to talk to since I can't talk to Joe.
*** Update : Reading of the Will Part 1 - The Letter **\*
This day has been ridiculous. I'm sad, angry, honored, and humbled all at once, and processing that is harder than I thought it would be. I'm waiting on Sam to get done at the hospital – she’ll call me on the way here. I've got a lot to talk to her about and I haven’t told her anything yet. Let me first say that I'm not comfortable sharing the full details on everything going on right now but I won't hold back on the people side of things. I’m also going to have to break this up into a couple of posts I’m sure… sorry this is long but this is just how I journal.
As I mentioned already, the day started really well. Samantha called me first thing this morning - I didn't text her back last night because it was so late and I was really tired. I also wanted time to think about "us" (if there can even be an us already?) before I spoke with her again. I'm not a rash person. I've never been someone to rush into anything and frankly I've not had a serious relationship since Sam and I broke up. I've had a series of girlfriends, some that I loved in many ways, but no one that, in hindsight, I was "in love with".
Between trying to juggle school and the service, two deployments, and then the transition back to civilian life, I just wasn't that interested. Now that I'm back home and have settled in to a life and a sort-of career I've been ready to find someone but frankly I just haven't met anyone who I connect with on a level deeper than just shared interests.
When I woke up this morning I knew that something was different. Despite everything going, on my first thoughts weren't about the reading today, or losing Joe, they were about Sam. As much as I loved that feeling I know it's time to be cautious. I don't want to hurt Sam or frankly, to get hurt.
When she called I wasn't sure what she was going to say but I was honestly a little worried that we wouldn't be on the same page - I shouldn't have been. She told me she didn't want me to freak out about what she said, but that she also meant every word. She wanted me to understand that she isn’t into games, that she’s serious about seeing if the older versions of us are everything we’re both looking for. She wants to pick up where we left off 18 years ago but take it slowly, and get to know each other again. It sounds like we’re on the exact same page, so I guess I’m going steady with my high school girlfriend?
She also wanted me to not worry about the property – she offered to help me buy it if I needed to come up with the money quickly and that no matter what happened between us she didn’t want to see it broken up – that Joe meant too much to both of us to let that happen.
As kind as that was I went ahead called our local bank this morning to ask about getting a loan quickly if I needed one. The loan officer put me on hold when I explained the situation and the potential need to move quickly. He came back and said he had asked the bank president if there was any way they could help. He had been assured that there would be no issue securing any financing necessary. He asked the loan officer to pass along his condolences about Joe, he evidently had known him for a long time, and said that he was looking forward to meeting me soon.
This left me feeling much more comfortable going into the meeting with my family but nothing could have prepared me for the rest of the day. Now, if I’m being completely honest I really did feel like there was a good chance that Joe would leave the house and car to me simply because he didn’t have a relationship with anyone else in the family, I just didn’t want to make assumption and I didn’t feel like I was entitled to anything simply because of my relationship with Joe.
When I got to the firm’s offices I was shown in to their largest conference room. I was surprised to see several people there other than Joe’s attorney. My father was the only other person there when I arrived, he and the attorney were having a quiet conversation in at the head of the table but stopped when I walked in. Since I’m going to mention him frequently let’s just call Joe’s Attorney JA. JA introduced me to everyone in the room, which included a stenographer, an associate attorney, a gentleman he just referred to as an assistant brought in for the reading stood at the back of the room by the doors.
Now, readings themselves are a little uncommon these days, but still done on occasion (I typically do one or two a year), however I’ve never had anyone else in the room with me and thought this was very strange. I guess I must have been looking at JA with a funny expression because he just raised an eyebrow and shrugged. At about that time people started trickling in until 10:30 rolled around and JA stood and asked everyone to be seated. He then nodded to the gentleman that had been standing in the back who went to the doors where he closed and locked them.
In all there were 9 of us in the room, me, my father, his younger brother and oldest sister, my sister Sarah. Four of my cousins showed up, including my youngest, Emily who was one of the few people that I enjoyed seeing at family events. She’s creative and smart – she just graduated from high school and is getting ready to go to college. I was surprised that she came but I had spent a lot of time telling her about Joe over the last couple of years and had been hoping they’d get a chance to know each other now that she was older.
JA started speaking, thanking everyone for coming and sharing how much he was going to miss Joe, that he was more than a client, he was his oldest friend and he was glad to see at least a few family members come. About 10 minutes after 10:30 someone tried the door and found it locked. They started banging on it and the gentleman in the back quickly moved to open it and step outside. I could see my oldest brother and Aunt Debbie try to push in as he opened the door, only to be firmly moved back as he stepped outside to speak to them. JA stood quietly for a moment and everyone could hear raised voices coming through the heavy oak doors. I heard my brother say something to the effect of “this is bullshit” and Debbie started shrieking before it sounded like both of them were abruptly cut off. A moment later the doors re-opened and the gentleman came back in. Debbie and my brother were gone.
JA paused another moment and then carried on. He explained that Joe had instructed him to ensure that no one join after the meeting began – he told us he was now going to read a letter from Joe, this is a slightly edited copy of the letter he wrote that JA read from:
Thank you to those that showed up, since most of you never bothered to show up while I was alive I wasn’t sure you’d come today! Those that didn’t come, or couldn’t be bothered to on time aren’t missing anything since they aren’t going to be getting anything now anyway.
For the rest of you, thank you, no matter what your motivation was you at least showed up. I’ve left instructions for each of you to receive $100,000 as my final gift to the family. There are not stipulations and no conditions, have fun, do good, use it as your heart tells you. To those grand-nieces and nephews that are under the age of 18 and were not invited, I gift each of them $100,000, which will be held in trust until their 25th birthday.
(It was at this point that I knew something was up – Joe had just given away over a million dollars to people just for showing up on time. If everyone that had been invited had shown up it would have been over 2 million dollars – that was honestly more than I thought his entire estate would be worth.)
Family is important, something that has been lost of too many of you. Some of you got caught up the trappings that came from other people’s hard work, took for granted the efforts of your ancestors and squandered their gifts - and that’s what an inheritance is, a gift, not a right. You prioritized having fun over protecting the legacy so you could pass it on to the next generation.
Only one of you chose to put others before himself. Only one of you has shown respect and appreciation for the gifts of the land, the community that we live in, and the people that came before him, just as his namesake did.
Robert, I hope you’re here for this, we didn’t always agree, and I have so much regret about how our relationship went the wrong way, the fight with your father about his decisions and behavior, shouldn’t have become our fight as well. I want you to know how much I appreciate you bringing Alex into this family, for honoring my brother by passing on his name to him, and for allowing me to have a relationship with him. You’ll never know what that meant to me. I want you to know that I love you like a brother and wish I had tried harder to bridge the divide created by my relationship with your father while we still had time.
(I've never seen my father look so emotional. It was difficult to see the sadness in his eyes but I felt like I also saw pride. Watching him made me start to get emotional as well and I struggled to put my attention back on the reading)
With regard to the bulk of my estate, I leave all my possessions, the land, the house and its contents along with my investments and holdings to Alex. Alex, it will take time for you to go through everything and familiarize yourself with what this means. We’ve been planning this for almost 20 years, your training as a lawyer will be very helpful but pay attention to the advisors we’ve assembled. There will be decisions that must be made. I’ve asked (JA) to give you my journals, along with some thoughts I wanted to save just for you. Please read them and don’t feel like you’re intruding, they’re all that is left of me and I hope they’ll help guide you, my mistakes don’t have to be yours. Someday you may also want to share them with family, they are yours to do with as you wish, these too are part of my legacy.
Now, to the rest of the family, I know that you’ve sold off the land that my father left my brother and me. I know this because I’ve spent the last 50 years secretly buying up every acre you wanted to sell, or buying it back if I didn’t find out in time. I’ve preserved what you were willing to destroy and built on it. I know that most of you have very little left to pass on to your children. So, to you, my family, I leave a chance at a new legacy. I have established a family trust to be overseen and directed by Alex. The trust has been funded with $XX million dollars. It will be up to Alex to decide how the funds are used but he is to appoint a family board of advisors to help preserve our legacy.
Finally, I have established a community foundation, tasked with the mission of helping preserve the way of life that has made this valley special for hundreds of years. I’ve directed $XX million from the estate to create the initial fund but expect that others in the community will add to it. I’ve entrusted the responsibility to oversee this fund to Alex and a select group of community leaders. The others have already agreed to help and contribute, and I hope Alex will honor my wishes that he oversee the fund.
Alex, our family has been part of this valley for over 150 years. For all it has given to us it is now our responsibility to help sustain it and protect it. I know I can count on you to do everything you can to carry on this family’s legacy but beyond that, what I truly hope is that you don’t have to do it alone, as I did. You will always have my love, thank you for giving me yours.
JA looked up from the paper and for a heartbeat the silence was deafening, then the shouting began.
I’ve got to stop here – Sam is on her way and we have a lot to talk about. I was with the attorneys until 4pm. After all the drama unfolded (thank God my dad was there, and that Debbie didn’t show up on time) I still had to spend several hours with the attorneys. I’ll spend the weekend with the journals but I’m sure I’ll be hearing from family all weekend too. I might have to turn my phone off.
Part 2 will probably be tomorrow – I’m hoping to just decompress with Sam tonight. I need a break. Thank you everyone for the well wishes and the good thoughts.
*** Update : Reading of the Will Part 2 - The Drama Begins **\*
I’m going to try and get this out quickly and maybe a little more briefly because honestly things are happening so fast now that I don’t think I’ll be able to keep up with these posts.
Before I pick-up where I left off yesterday let me just share that the Chief of Police has been out to see me twice, two of my relatives are facing charges, and more than half of the family has been raging. More on that later.
Not everyone has been toxic though, I’ve had calls and visits from several relatives that told me they were happy for me and offered their support and my father has been there every step of the way. More on that later.
Sam has been the bright spot in all of this, her schedule at the hospital is crazy but when she isn’t there or at her house sleeping or changing, she’s been with me. She and I were together all the way through junior and senior high so she was basically part of the family but now she’s getting to a whole new level of insanity firsthand. She's remained supportive during all of it. When I told her last night about what Joe had done, well - that's a whole nother story!
Anyway – back to The Reading:
As soon as JA put down Joe’s letter and reached for a file, my aunt Patricia and my sister Sarah both started yelling, my cousin David stood up looking furious, jerked the door to the conference room open and left, slamming it behind him and my cousin Steven started coming around the conference table, not sure if he was coming at me or JA but he didn’t look happy. My uncle, Emily, and my other cousin were just staring at everyone in disbelief.
My father jumped up to get in between Steven and JA / me but the gentleman in the back was already on him. At this point it was obvious why he’d been brought in, turns out he’s a sheriff’s deputy from a neighboring county and the JA and Joe had wanted to err on the side of caution by having someone there. As soon as he grabbed Steven my Aunt and sister immediately shut-up to see what was happening. Steven was frog marched out of the conference room and JA followed him out along with my father. A few minutes later they all came back in except for the deputy who remained outside the door for the rest of the meeting. While they were gone everyone was completely silent and JA walked back in to a much more attentive group.
Obviously annoyed, he grabbed his file and asked everyone to wait until he was finished before anyone asked any questions. He explained there while he had been instructed to open the meeting by reading Joe’s letter there had been some updates to the will since Joe’s wrote the letter. Cousins who did not live within 100 miles of our town would receive the $100,000 even if they didn’t attend the reading. Joe had evidently also amended the will at some point after the letter was written to gift members of the family that did not attend $50,000.
JA went on to clarify that while Joe’s will had no conditions on the use of the money it did stipulate that should there be any challenge to the will or attempt to interfere with the orderly estate closure the individuals involved would not receive anything at all.
He wrapped up by explaining that there was adequate cash in the estate to pay any taxes associated with he estate and inheritance in addition to the cash gifts given to each of the family members. All property taxes had already been paid on the real estate and that was no debt associated with the estate. As a result, he expected an uncontested and simple probate period, despite the size of the estate. He shared that he hoped to see the funds distributed in a few months and asked if anyone had any questions.

Quote texts are his comments that I replied to.

It’s been shoved down our throats 24/7 since 2020-2021.

Pride has existed way longer than then. The reason Pride exists, the reason there’s an emphasis on promoting LGBT people in media, is to normalize their existence for millions of people who are often times indoctrinated by their parents into hating those people. Pride is the only reason I broke out of the homophobic, bigoted environment I was raised in and began to accept people.

Prior to that, no one knew or cared about pronouns, now it’s all the rage.

Pronouns have existed for as long as various languages have existed. Even the use of the singular “they” has been used in English since the 1300s. The “rage” surrounding pronouns is merely people stating what shortened form to calling them by their name they prefer. That’s it. You’re acting like this is some “Let’s eat TidePods” -esque internet trend. It’s harmless. I’ve been on the internet in plenty of spaces that had LGBT people, and, in the past 3 years or so, I can count on one hand the amount of times I had to make any effort to remember someone’s pronouns. It’s not that complicated, nor does it signify the downfall of society that you make it out to be.

God forbid I call a man a man, a woman a woman, or people, people.
You literally can’t make any sort of valid criticism towards LGBT without getting labeled a homophobe / transphobe.

Damn. I wonder why they call you a transphobe. What an enigma.

There’s the option to put your pronouns on social media, which is absolutely fucking stupid.

Why? Because you don’t want to use it? Then don’t. There also remains the option to link your other social medias, link your website, post your phone number, advertise your business, pay to promote your own ads on other people’s feeds, direct message celebrities who obviously won’t respond to you, or follow bot accounts that will probably just send your porn or try to scam you out of your money. All of these things have something in common: you can choose to participate, or you can choose to ignore. If it bothers you, just don’t use the feature or delete the app. To your surprise, I’m sure, there are millions of people who gladly use the pronouns feature. You are extremely sensitive and bigoted if this genuinely gets you up in arms. My lord.

There’s people who honestly believe that men menstruate.

Transgender men and intersex men can and do menstruate in many occasions. Cisgender men obviously cannot. When people say “men can menstruate” they are speaking of trans or intersex men. You just choose to ignore this fact because you believe there is no such thing, which you are wrong about.

There’s men dressing up as women desperately trying to get near children to read them books for “Drag Queen story time”.

There’s adult men putting on ridiculous costumes and wearing makeup and attending children’s gatherings to entertain them. What are we gonna do about clowns?
“Desperately trying to get near children” Sounds to me like you can’t imagine a scenario where an adult can wish to read to children they aren’t related to without immediately thinking of sexual abuse. These events occur in public spaces under the supervision of parents. They read to these kids books about loving and accepting yourself and treating people equally. You act like they’re a bunch of sex offenders straight out of prison trying to show children what dildos are. You are absolutely delusional, and your homophobia is showing.

I go to Target, and there’s rainbows and LGBT flags printed all over children’s clothing. Not just in June during “Pride” month. It’s there year-round.

Oh, I know. When I was a kid I had to endure the trauma of reading books about families with straight couples. Oh, the horror! How dare they introduce children to such filth! Leave the kids alone!
I can’t believe they put ideological flags all over kids’ clothes regarding topics they don’t understand. Stop putting those American flags on my kids’ clothes! Quit indoctrinating them into a tribalistic belief of national supremacy!
In all seriousness, why is this an issue? If you believe it’s okay to be gay in the same ways you believe it’s okay to be straight you would not act this way. If you don’t like the existence of gay people (you know, almost like a homophobe), then just say so. Stop pretending to view straight and gay people the same. You don’t.

You have our President announcing Easter Sunday that day is “Trans Awareness” day.

Trans Awareness day has occurred on March 31 every year for the past fifteen years. In case you weren’t aware, the date of Easter changes every single year. This year, both events happened to fall on the same day. President Biden acknowledged both events on that day. Anyways, since when is only one celebration allowed to occur per day? Hanukkah and Kwanzaa occur at the same time. Should they fight to see who deserves their holiday the most? That’s like being mad that some people are born on Christmas and celebrate both occasions. Besides, why is it so blasphemous to celebrate those specific events on the same day? If you believe in Jesus, don’t you believe he loved everyone and wanted everybody to care for their neighbor? Why do you fight so valiantly to demean LGBT people? That seems to go against a belief that we are all created and loved equally, but you can just go ahead and make up your own rules to the religion. That’s how it works, right?

Now June is known as “Pride” month, when in reality, it’s Mens Mental Health month.

Now October is known as “ADHD Awareness” month, when in reality, it’s Breast Cancer Awareness month. Fuck your ADHD awareness! My condition takes priority over yours! This month is all mine! No one else’s!
It’s ridiculous and tribalistic to act like every month should only focus on one unprivileged group at a time. I guess we have to consolidate all the cancers into one month, first off. Maybe combine all the historically oppressed minority groups into one month as well. This guy on Reddit knows to focus on the real issues.
Men’s mental health has only gotten worse since the awareness month became a thing in 1994. The month obviously hasn’t worked very well. Especially considering I didn’t even know it was a thing until 10 minutes ago. Pride Month has been celebrated since 1970, and it became official in 1999. Since then, support for LGBT rights has skyrocketed. To claim that a wholly ineffective month takes precedent over something as iconic and impactful as Pride month shows how out of touch you are.
For the record, I’m entirely in support of acknowledging Men’s mental health awareness, and I am sorry for the loss of your friend, but whoever is promoting this month needs to do a WAY better job. Male suicide has only increased since that month became a thing. These days, too many men try hard to act tough instead of admitting their true emotions, resulting in pent up anger that is often times lashed out at innocent people for unnecessary reasons. I think that’s why you have so much hate for the LGBT community; either that or you’re very susceptible to propaganda.
I can assure you the reason men’s mental health is shit is not because of some kinky pride events. It’s because we are a society by men, for men, expecting all men to be breadwinners who are also tall, buff, and attractive. It’s because women have become commodified and it’s way easier to get a boyfriend as a girl than it is to get a girlfriend as a man. There are many things to blame: political leaders, our economic system, our own testosterone…
LGBT people are not one of them.
Shift your focus to the real issues at hand and stop demonizing people who suffer many of the same mental health issues you to claim to care about.

Narcissistic grandmother.
Where do i begin.... So my grandmother has always been abusive to me. For as long as i can remember.
As a child my mum and dad practically dumped me on my grandmother and grandfather's step. They took me in. My grandad was always my angel. He loved me so much and I was always the apple of his eye. Sadly in 2009 he died from leukaemia. He was diagnosed on his birthday. Died a year later on his birthday 😔 me and my grandmother never really got along. She always looked down her nose at me. Like I was a piece of shit under her shoe.
It was just me who got dumped on my grandparents step. My sisters went with my mum and my brother with my dad when they split up.
Now.... I don't know much about her upbringing because I literally can't speak to the woman. She is very... Undermining and passive agressive. So I just don't bother as its never pleasant to speak to her. Never has been.
So I have 2 sisters and a brother. My grandmother idolises them. Very openly, almost like it's done purposely to make me feel as low as possible. I am constantly left out of family outings, holidays, meals. You name it. It's making me resent my own siblings.
I became the black sheep very quickly. I have to watch my family doing things together, while I'm constantly left out. Watching from the sidelines, Unacknowledged, Forgotten about if you will.
Fast forward... At this point id had enough. So I moved in with my then boyfriend. I was obviously extremely happy to get away from my grandmother and family. I moved to a different city.
Things were great at first... Sadly he started to change after a while. He started to abuse me also and get violent towards me. I found out he had abused 2 women before me. I escaped with my life barely. But I had nowhere to live or any money as my ex had taken everything off me and used me for my money the entire time and I would like to add that this man also made me disabled. ( trauma induced fibromyalgia, chronic pain and fatigue, ptsd, depression, the whole lot )
So I had to move back in with my evil grandmother, but this time... I'm disabled at this point 😔 the trauma and stress of previous life abuses and obviously the trauma of domestic violence had made me extremely ill. I couldn't even walk. I've been in and out of hospital and doctors you name it.
So now, my grandmother has an evil new tactic up her sleeve. Because I'm now disabled, she uses my illness as a weapon to abuse me. Saying "your brain has gone" " you're crazy " . And calling me and i quote a " fat tw*t " obviously because of my ptsd, I was terrified to leave the house and now my own grandmother is attacking my appearance and mental health and disability all at the same time. My illness has turned my life upside down.
She is taking nearly all my money from me, so I'm unable to save up to leave. Shelters are only offering me places half way across the country, alone, which would absolutely terrify me.
I have had a pretty lonely existence and still live a lonely existence. My pets are my everything and shelters also do not allow pets. So I feel trapped now. I cannot survive without my pets. They're all I have.
I'm trapped with a woman who causes a fight with me any time I leave my bedroom. She attacks my disibilty, my mental health, calls me names, she bins my belongings and throws my stuff around all over the floor. She purposely breaks my belongings. Then she gaslights me.
She literally says I'm imagining things when she does all this stuff to me. All while turning the rest of my family against me by telling them, I'm unruly. Because I'm defending myself and standing my ground on what I know to be true. I've even resorted to recording her when she starts these fights with me. But even when I show my siblings. They instantly side with her or say it's nothing to do with them. Even if I tell my mum. She doesn't care. My mum is a very selfish woman. She has a drug addiction. So she only cares about herself and herself only. My dad has just got a whole seperate life now and a new gf. Wants nothing to do with me or anyone else besides his gf.
I've been abused my entire life. I'm still being abused. I've had enough.
What do I even do about this? I feel like I'm getting more sick by the day because of all this trauma. I'm literally trapped. I'm tired. My soul is literally tired.
If I alert authorities. My entire family will turn on me. All but one. My grandmother's daughter. My auntie. Is also cast out by her. So I do speak to her about the abuse which helps.
But it doesn't help my situation. I'm still trapped here. My auntie has a full house and is also dealing with illness herself. So that's not an option unfortunately.
Has anyone experienced anything like this with their grandmother?
It makes me sick because everyone thinks she's a lovely old lady. She puts on this false image in public. But behind closed doors. She's a monster. An absolute monster. You wouldn't believe some of the stuff she says to me I can barely believe it myself. She's told me to unalive myself and that nobody loves me and she hates me.
I know it's awful to say. But I cant wait until she passes 😢 I can then be free of her abuse once and for all. I hate that I think this way about someone. But when theyve abused you your entire life, Belittled you, called you names, attack you, bullied you, destroys and bins your belongings and has trapped you, then blames you for it. You will think and feel the same way. All whilst rubbing how much she loves my siblings in my face.
She makes me feel like there's something wrong with me. Like I'm unlovable. What did I ever do to her!?!
I remember asking this question once and she said I'm imagining things and im being childish and told to grow up and stop being crazy and that I'm weak.
She loves calling me weak and keeps telling me I'm playing the victim. Well.... I am the victim. You're literally abusing me.
It's not crazy if it's reality right?
Sometimes I feel like Im just not from this family. Even my siblings have nothing in common with me and look down on me and don't bother with me. We are 100% from the same mother and father. I just can't understand how I'm cast out and treated like this. I've never done anything wrong to anyone 😔😔
I've asked many times what I've done to deserve this treatment and they just keep saying the same thing. Stop playing the victim or I'm imagining things and to grow up. My feelings are not valid.
I'm constantly just in my bedroom, because if I come out. I become a target. I barely even eat 😢😢 I have 2 meals a week if that and that's when my grandmother goes out. I go down and make something quick to eat. I tend to buy a lot of snacks online. Things I can keep in my bedroom to snack on when I get real hungry, just to avoid coming out of my bedroom.
Not sure how much more heartbreak I can take.
I've planned a day out at the weekend for the first time in 2 years to go see all my friends. To a rave. Because my legs have gained a bit of strength recently after being bed bound for over a year because I've been so ill. Obviously I'm extremely nervous about leaving my house, but I'm trying to force myself to try get myself out of this rut I'm in. My grandmother has done nothing but attack my image, calling me fat and basically trying to destroy my confidence, so I don't go out and calling me other horrible names because it's a rave I'm going to.
Now I used to rave a lot. So it's the only time I get to mix with like minded people. It's always the same people who go and i class them all as my rave family. I've been super excited and obviously nervous about this rave. I planned it just a week ago. My grandmother of course. Is doing everything in her power to try get me to not go. My friends all live dotted around the country, so i barely ever get to see anyone.
I'm not allowed to be happy. Or have a life or do anything for that matter.
I've been trying to exercise using my hula hoops and other flowtoys. Like my leviwand for example. It cost over 300 pound and my grandmother has gone into the tube it's kept in and binned the chargers and string for it. Rendering it useless and saying she's not touched it and im making stuff up and im going crazy!!!
I know she had done it as it was in her cupboard in her room. It had moved completely from where I actually put it. My room is very cluttered as I've had to cram me, my things and my pets all in here with me, due to having left my ex in such a hurry. I feel like I'm living in a closet. So I thought this one item would be safe in that cupboard as it was expensive. She had moved it and shoved something in its box that I know wasn't in there when I put it in there. She's lost all the attatchments, which I know was all together in that box. So now I can't use it at all. Of course.... It's all in my head and I'm the one who's lost these things even though i know for a fact I kept it all safe and together.
She's constantly sabataging me and saying it's all in my head.
I'm Quickly fading. Giving up. But then.... She will attack me for that too. Fcked if I do. Fcked if i don't. I can't win. No matter what I do.
Even if for example... Something has been on its way out... Breaking for a while and she's aware of it, if it breaks, it's automatically my fault.
According to her... Anything that breaks. Even if I haven't touched it. It's my fault. She will deliberately leave things to deteriorate and then blame me when it finally breaks completely. I'm at my wits end.
I'm so lost and just devastated at how horrible my life has been.
Can anyone give me any advice on what I should do about this situation?

Jack walked into the ship’s medical bay with his hands across his stomach, feeling like the damned thing was doing an entire circus’ worth of acrobatics, and a decided look of discomfort on his otherwise handsome face. The Jal’kek doctor, who looked a bit like a mythical Naga with a serpentine lower body and humanoid upper body covered in fine scales, must have thought Jack was pissed or something because he recoiled in terror briefly before composing himself and straightening.
“How can I help you,” he asked Jack smoothly, trying to hide his initial discomfort.
Jack didn’t hold it against him. Despite First Contact happening almost 25 years ago, he knew most species in the galaxy regarded humans with more than a little trepidation. Apart from Terra being classified as a “Deathworld,” humanity had made a name for itself in what was called, by humans, the First Contact War and by the rest of the galaxy as the Terran/Tal’check War. The Tal’check were an aggressive species and were only kept in check by the Galactic Federation, a group of 50 or so worlds determined to stop the Tal’check before they conquered the entire galaxy. Then Humanity stepped onto the stage.
Humans had been trying for decades to unlock the secrets of FTL travel but their lack of it didn’t keep them down. Luna was settled first, followed by Mars (mostly terraforming crews), then Venus and several of the larger asteroids that didn’t have high amounts of valuable minerals. There were teasing issues, as always happens with humans, but they were quickly solved diplomatically with the help of a rather forceful diplomat. The Terran Alliance was thus born. Eventually Terran scientists created the first successful warp drive and made contact with the Federation, which had grown to encompass almost a hundred worlds. First Contact with the Federation went surprisingly well despite the inherent terror most of the Federation species felt at encountering a predator species. First Contact with the Tal’check however, did not. The Tal’check hated humanity from the very first, for reasons no one could adequately explain, even the Tal’check, who set out to conquer Terra almost immediately.
Humanity fought back, naturally, and while their ships weren’t as sophisticated as the Tal’check ships, their captains were adaptable, innovative, and had far better training than their counterparts. The Tal’check, and the Federation for that matter, were used to fighting in a far more formal manner and their officers were exclusively from their society’s nobility rather than promoting those who were most capable.
The Battle of Jupiter was the war’s grand opening and the battle fleet the Tal’check had sent to conquer Terra was swiftly defeated with acceptable losses to the Terran Alliance. Most of the enemy ships were destroyed but more than a few were captured and while some were sent to the tech geeks, who were salivating at the chance to study them, most were retrofitted for human use and turned against their builders. The Federation offered assistance at first, which humanity gladly accepted, but after witnessing humanity’s ferocity and determination in battle, which the Federation ambassadors called insanity, they eventually withdrew their support. The human ambassador had just shrugged, told them that humanity didn’t really need their assistance anymore and went on to discuss a new trade deal as though nothing had happened. This disconcerted the Federation ambassadors a lot. They were disconcerted even more when, after just over a year of fighting, humanity conquered the Tal’check Empire in its entirety.
Rather than exterminate the whole race as the Federation had feared, humanity integrated them into its own alliance and now controlled a vast swath of territory and a military that dwarfed even the Federation. Not only that, but they had gained a reputation as fierce, if insane fighters.
Jack himself was about 6’ 2” with piercing green eyes, shockingly red hair cut in the traditional military manner and, unusually for a ginger, nicely tanned skin. The rolled-up sleeves of his uniform jacket were stretched tight over his biceps and looked as though they might rip with the slightest movement of his arms. He knew he intimidated most people, and most aliens found any human intimidating, so he paid the doctor’s reaction no mind.
“I was actually looking for Dr. Rodriguez,” Jack replied, referring to the human doctor who was part of his squad and had come on board with them when they had agreed to be security for this trip.
The Doctor, whose name was Chal, Jack remembered, looked a little disappointed, but then brightened.
“I’m afraid she went to get something to eat, but if it’s nothing too serious I’m sure I can handle it. I’ve been brushing up on human anatomy,” he said proudly.
Jack hesitated for a moment. Doctor Chal had sounded confident, but Jack had taken it about as well as someone saying they knew how to perform open heart surgery after watching a YouTube video. It didn’t exactly fill him with confidence to put it mildly. His stomach gave another flip and he grimaced.
“Ok,” he said at last and shuffled over to lay on one of the biobeds, whose monitors lit up and began to display his vitals as soon as he was settled.
Doctor Chal eagerly slithered over, a little too eagerly if you’d asked Jack, and pulled out a hand scanner. As he ran the scanner up and down Jack’s body, he glanced at the vitals monitors.
“Your vitals look good for the most part,” Doctor Chal said. “Heart rate and blood pressure are a little elevated, but I’m given to understand that that is normal for humans under these conditions.”
“Great, doc,” Jack said dryly. He knew Chal was trying to be reassuring but he was failing miserably and didn’t seem to recognize it.
After a few more passes with the scanner, Chal looked at the screen with a puzzled expression.
“Hmmm,” Chal said consideringly.
Like most humans, Jack really hated when most doctors did that.
“What,” Jack asked trying not to let his alarm show. “What’s hmmm?”
Chal seemed not to hear him for a minute before he replied in what Jack was sure he thought was a reassuring tone. Jack was anything but reassured. “Tell me, what was the last thing you ate?”
“A roast beef sandwich and a bag of potato chips?” Jack said, more like asked, confused.
“Is that a fairly normal meal for you?”
“Fairly normal, yeah. What’s wrong doc?”
“I’m sure it’s fine,” Chal said, patting him somewhat awkwardly on the head like Jack was some kind of pet. “I’m just going to go run these results through the computer really quick. I’m not entirely sure this scanner was properly calibrated for humans.”
He slithered away into his office before Jack could do more than blink stupidly at him. Jack felt like he’d been hit over the head with a hammer.
A few minutes later he heard, “Doctor Rodriguez please report to sick bay, Doctor Rodriguez, please report to sick bay,” come from outside. It was somewhat muffled by the closed sick bay doors, but it was distinct. Jack tried to breathe slowly as his mind raced with ever more terrible predictions of what was wrong with him.
An interminable amount of time later, the doors to sick bay wooshed open and the tall form of Doctor Rodriguez strolled into the room. She had long black hair, beautiful brown eyes that usually sparkled with humor when off duty, and curves in all the right places. Her skin was that amazing bronze color everyone of South American descent seemed to possess and while her chest wasn’t huge, Jack knew his sister would be jealous of it. If he swung that way, Jack would probably try to hit on her and be shot down as viciously as she shot down everyone on the team who had tried. The veterans on the squad knew better.
She glanced at him lying on the biobed and stopped, shaking her head in disbelief.
“Stevenson,” she said knowingly, her voice like ice. She walked over to the biobed as she kept talking and stopped beside it. “I should have known. What did you do this time?”
“I have no idea.”
She gave him a look that said, just how stupid do you think I am?
“Scout’s honor,” he said innocently, holding up three fingers.
She huffed in amusement. “Like you were ever a scout.”
“Doctor Rodriguez,” Doctor Chal said leaning out of his office door. When she looked up at him, he continued. “Could I speak to you for a moment?”
She frowned but nodded and patted Jack on the shoulder before going into the office. Jack hadn’t even had time to say that he had, in fact, been a scout, if briefly.
A few minutes later, Doctor Rodriguez came back out and stood beside his biobed. She was rubbing her forehead, which did nothing to help Jack’s nerves. He knew she thought him a bit of a clutz with the number of times she’d had to patch up his minor, and not so minor, wounds. Most of which were self-inflicted.
“OK Stevenson,” she said putting her hands on her hips. “Just what the hell was on that sandwich?”
Jack was taken aback and slightly confused by her question. “Ummm, mayo, two slices of roast beef, provolone cheese, and some mustard. Why?”
“And the chips,” she asked, ignoring his question.
“Sour cream and onion.”
She stood there for a minute thinking, then sighed. “Somehow, you’ve picked up some kind of parasite. The readings are a bit off, so Doctor Chal is still going through them, but it looks like we may have to do surgery to remove it.”
Jack sighed and fell back onto his pillow. “Great,” he said dry as dust.
“You’re telling me,” Rodriguez replied. “It seems…”
Before she could continue, Doctor Chal slithered up next to her, a strange look on his face.
“What is it doc?” Jack asked his concern rising again.
“Is there some kind of complication?” Rodriguez asked in a defeated sort of way. Her face conveyed that she wouldn’t be surprised considering the patient.
“Some kind, yes,” Chal replied nervously. “I’m really not sure how to…put this. Normally it would be good news, but…”
When he didn’t seem inclined to continue, even with both humans staring at him expectantly, Doctor Rodriguez exclaimed, “Spit it out already!”
The doctor looked at Jack and tried to smile.
“Congratulations PFC! You’re pregnant!” he said in a jovial tone.
In the stunned silence that followed, a pin was heard hitting the floor somewhere.
…
It was chaos in sick bay for a while after that. Jack contacted his husband, who was also on the squad, and he came bursting into sick bay demanding answers as he rushed up to Jack on the biobed and grabbed his hand. Regulations being what they were, the ship’s captain and Jack’s CO were also summoned to sick bay. Other crew members had heard that something was going on and a few of them came to sick bay to see what all the fuss was about. They were quickly kicked out. Rumors started among the crew ranging from the dangerous to the idiotic as rumors so often do. It was only when everyone was assembled and Doctor Rodriguez had explained what was going on that silence fell again, if only briefly.
“WHAT?!” Roger yelped, his voice a little higher than he would have liked under normal circumstances. These were decidedly not normal circumstances.
“How,” several voices asked at the same time including Captain Finnegan, Jack’s CO. Captain Finnegan had seen a lot in her time in the Terran Alliance Space Navy, but this was a first for her. She kept her red hair cut short enough that the natural curls wouldn’t show, and she was the kind of pale that burned in the barest amount of sunlight but never tanned. Her green eyes were normally stern with just a hint of mischief, but all they showed now was confusion. And probably more than a little humor. It might have been a serious situation, and one of her soldiers may be in serious trouble, but she couldn’t help but find a little humor in it. Hell, if Doctor Rodriguez was any indication, she wasn’t the only one to see the humor in it, but they were both hiding it well. Some of the junior officers weren’t doing such a good job and she saw PFC Stevenson shoot a couple of them glares every now and then. She suspected Specialist Singh was recording the whole scenario on his implants, but she couldn’t be sure. She wasn’t even sure what he was doing there, but no one had told him to leave, or seemed to know when he’d even entered the room, so she didn’t give it much thought.
“I am unsure as to the how,” Doctor Chal replied looking up from a pad, and trying not to appear nervous in front of so many agitated humans. “From my studies, I understand human males are not the ones to carry the children in your species, yes?”
“That’s correct,” Doctor Rodriguez replied. “Human females, such as myself and Captain Finnegan, are typically the ones to carry and birth our young. Males don’t have the anatomy to give birth.”
Captain Finnegan shuddered at the thought of having kids. She was career military through and through. While she wasn’t opposed to the occasional romp while on leave, she preferred children be kept as far away from her as possible. On the other side of the galaxy perhaps. Or even better, in a different galaxy altogether. If they had to be near her, she preferred that they be poached and served on toast with a side of bacon.
Doctor Chal nodded in understanding. “As I said, I am unsure how this happened, but I have a theory.”
“Which is,” Rodriguez asked when Chal’s pause went on a tad too long for her liking.
“The scans reveal that the…fetus has half human, half Glorn DNA,” Chal said slowly. “I don’t know how much you know about the Glorn, but their home world has high levels of various acids. As a result, their reproductive systems involve acid, specifically hydrochloric acid…”
“The same kind of acid as human stomach acid,” Rodriguez asked somewhat incredulously.
“Exactly. In fact, the human digestive system is surprisingly similar to the Glorn reproductive system.”
“Similar how,” Jack asked, curious despite himself. Rodriguez seemed fascinated as well.
“Well…” Chal began. “A Glorn’s womb is built much like your stomachs, very similar in fact. Now that I think about it, their similarities would be a great subject for a study on…”
“Doctor,” Rodriguez exclaimed, throwing her hands up and looking at the ceiling in exasperation. Chal recoiled in terror reflexively before he composed himself. She put her hands on her hips and looked directly at Chal. “We can discuss a paper on cross-species similarities later. How about we get back on track?”
“Right,” Chal said, chastened. “The Glorn are a single sex species and only produce their sex cells when they go into heat once a month, which is actually about two human months. During reproduction, the…receptive Glorn takes the other’s penis into their mouth and…um…stimulates it to release. A valve in the throat ensures that the ejaculate enters the reproductive system instead of the digestive. The sex cells, which are closer to human egg cells than sperm, take in DNA from the cells of the throat as they pass through and the fertilized embryo, or sometimes embryos, then settle in the womb. The acids in the womb bring in nutrients from the stomach, which get absorbed through the protective layers the embryo develops. After gestation, birth proceeds much as it does for humans.”
Doctor Chal finished his speech and looked around at the humans with a somewhat satisfied expression on his face. It quickly turned into worry as he looked at the stunned humans around him.
“Are…are you saying,” Specialist Singh asked, clearly trying to hold back laughter. “Are you saying that the Glorn reproduce via blowjob?”
As the non-humans in the room consulted their implants to figure out what he meant, some of the humans guffawed, some laughed outright, and a few coughed trying to hide their laughter. Captain Finnegan coughed into her hand a couple times, getting her own laughter under control. She couldn’t help the smile on her face though. As she looked at the biobed, she saw PFC Stevenson looking a little green. His husband, Corporal Huxley, looked like he could shit a brick. The two seemed to have a quick conversation through their implants while everyone around them tried to gather themselves.
“It’s a damn good thing humans don’t reproduce that way,” Rodriguez mutters to herself. “Gay men alone would make the population growth unsustainable, even with all the habitable planets in the galaxy.”
Captain Finnegan coughs into her hand again.
“If I understand your terminology correctly,” Doctor Chal says after a moment. “Then yes. Fortunately, there is only one Glorn aboard the ship at the moment, Weapons-master Krulmash, so the identity of the…other father, isn’t in question.”
“BUT I DIDN’T SUCK HIM OFF!” Jack yelled. “I’ve never even talked to him!”
He sounded near tears as he stared into Rodger’s eyes, begging him to believe him. Rodger stared back; expression unreadable. Everyone went quiet as they waited with bated breath. Finally, Rodger let out a sigh and kissed Jack on the forehead.
“I believe you,” he whispered to Jack. “It’s ok baby. We’ll figure this out.”
Jack let out a sob and curled into Rodger’s arms, crying in relief.
“If you did not willingly preform this act with Weapons-master Krulmash, then we must find out how this happened.”
“I have sent a quiet summons to the Weapons-master to report here at once,” came the captain’s watery sounding voice. The captain was a Mabon, an amphibious species that looked a bit like the Creature from the Black Lagoon. “He’s on his way.”
“What’s the gestation rate for a Glorn,” Doctor Rodriguez asked.
“Typically, only about six human hours,” Doctor Chal replied. “The human DNA has slowed things significantly,” he added hastily at seeing her look of alarm. “We have another three hours or so before we need to operate. If necessary, we can remove the fetus in two hours and place it in an incubation chamber.”
“We can’t just cut into his stomach,” Doctor Rodriguez said. “Doing a C-section on a woman is one thing but this…”
“I’ve already considered that,” Doctor Chal replied calmly. “Which is why I sent for Engineer Veela.” He waved over a tall creature with four arms that vaguely resembled a stick covered in brown fur. It’s four eyes gleamed with mirth and Doctor Rodriguez noticed a toolbelt slung around where the creature’s waist might be if it had one she could discern.
“I’ve gotta admit,” it said in a high-pitched voice. “You doctors sure know how to put on a good show. My nest-mates will find this whole thing hysterical!”
“I’m sure they will,” Doctor Chal said genially before Doctor Rodriguez could reply. “Engineer, is it possible to use the sick bay transporter to transport something out of a living body?”
Doctor Rodriguez gave Doctor Chal a sharp look. “You want to use the sick bay transporter to teleport the baby out of Stevenson? Is that even safe?”
“Oh sure,” the engineer said with far more ease than Doctor Rodriguez was comfortable with. “If I can get the sensors tuned correctly it should be safe enough.”
“If? Should be?” Doctor Rodriguez exclaimed, her eyes bulging. “There are two lives at stake here. “If” isn’t good enough.”
“Relax doc,” the engineer said holding up one hand to forestall anymore of Doctor Rodriguez’s tirade. It used another hand to pull what looked suspiciously like a wrench out of its toolbelt. “I’ve got this.”
Without another word, the engineer walked over to a console and began removing a panel from its side.
Before Doctor Rodriguez could say anything, the sick bay doors wooshed open again and in walked a creature that looked vaguely human but had giant bat like ears sticking out to the sides of its head. Its skin was a dark brown color and bulged here and there with muscle. The Glorn Weapons-master towered over most of the others in the room. Only Corporal Huxley stood as tall as Kurlmash and he glared at the Glorn as it stepped into the room.
Kurlmash ignored him, walked up to the captain, saluted and said, “Weapons-master Kurlmash reporting as ordered sir.”
The captain returned the salute and opened his mouth to speak, but the Corporal beat him to it.
“What the FUCK have you done to my husband, you bastard,” Corporal Huxley yelled at him.
“I…I don’t understand,” he replied taking a step back in shock.
“It seems Weapons-master,” the captain replied calmly. “That you have somehow impregnated young, PFC Stevenson here. We are all keen to know how this has happened. Especially since the PFC claims that you two have not been…intimate.”
“We haven’t,” Kurlmash said in surprise. “Pregnant? Are you sure? Are you sure it’s mine?”
His last question was almost hopeful, and the Corporal’s shoulders eased a bit.
“The DNA scans are rather conclusive,” Doctor Chal answered. “If you two have not been intimate then we must figure out how this happened.”
“You said that Glorn only produce sex cells during their heat cycles,” Doctor Rodriguez asked Doctor Chal who nodded in assent. She turned to Kurlmash. “Which means you either just went through a heat cycle or are in one right know.”
“It ended yesterday,” he said nodding. “Doctor Chal was storing my seed for me so my mate could use it to become pregnant upon our return to base.”
“You missed your last appointment, as I recall,” Doctor Chal said.
“I overheard one of the engineers talking about a problem with a freezer. I thought he was talking about the sick bay freezers. I was going to call you about it until I found the container you were using,” Kurlmash replied sounding puzzled.
Both doctors looked at each other in bewilderment. Doctor Chal slithered over to a wall and opened a door, taking out a plastic cylindrical container that had a cone shaped opening at the top. The clear plastic showed the yellow contents of the container clearly.
“There was no issue with the sick bay freezers,” Doctor Chal said. “I’ve had it here the whole time.”
“May I see that,” Doctor Rodriguez asked, a look of puzzled curiosity on her face as she held out her hand. Doctor Chal handed it over and Rodriguez inspected it carefully. To everyone’s shock, she opened the lid and took a sniff. “Smells like…” she began and then stopped, a look of dawning horror washing over her face. She quickly replaced the lid before turning to Stevenson who was watching her warily, one of Rodger’s arms over his shoulders.
“You said you put mustard on your sandwich,” she asked him. He just nodded. “Did it happen to be in something that looked like this?” She held up the container.
All the humans in the room stared at the little container, the very familiar looking container. They had all seen one just like it before, had all used one, sometimes two before. The container in Doctor Rodriguez’s hand looked very much like a plastic ketchup, or in this case, mustard container one might find in any human restaurant.
“Dude,” Jack yelled at the top of his voice. “You jerked off into my mustard?!”
Once again, the non-humans in the room consulted their implants while the humans variously tried to stifle their laughter or not throw up.
“I…I don’t…What is mustard,” Kurlmash asks helplessly.
“It’s…” Rodriguez starts.
“Not fucking important,” Jack exclaims. “You went into my fucking food and jerked off into it! You…you impregnated me! Against my will! Without my knowledge! You violated me! I should wring your fucking neck!”
He tried getting up from the biobed, the look on his face downright murderous, but Rodger held him down, surprise clear on his face.
“Baby. Baby look at me,” he said, his voice calm. When Jack looked at him, Rodger smiled. “It’s ok. I’m right here. Everything will be ok.”
They stared at each other for a minute before Jack broke down again crying and Rodger wrapped his arms around him.
“What is wrong with him,” Captain Finnegan muttered to herself.
“Pregnant,” Doctor Rodriguez whispered to her.
Captain Finnegan jumped and looked at the doctor. When had she gotten so close? Then she turned back to look at Jack and noticed his swollen stomach. Right. The man was pregnant. That was going to take some getting used to.
“Is this normal for pregnant humans,” Kurlmash asked Doctor Rodriguez who nodded.
“Pretty normal, yeah,” she replied thoughtfully. “For human women anyway. Human men don’t normally get pregnant.”
“Ah. I see. So, the death threats are because he’s male?”
“HA! No. Human females will issue death threats too. Usually during labor, along with threatening to cut off the male reproductive organs if they ever come near them again. Fairly standard.”
“I see,” Kurlmash said looking worried.
“What? Pregnant Glorn don’t have mood swings or make threats?”
“No, they have mood swings, as you call them, but I’ve never heard of one making such threats before.”
“Probably because they don’t spend nine months carrying the kid only to be put through agony, sometimes for days, just to give birth,” Captain Finnegan snorted.
“Nine months? Days?” Kurlmash looked even more worried now and he glanced at the biobed.
“Don’t worry,” Doctor Rodriguez told him. “This pregnancy may be a little slower than what you’re used to, but this baby will be here by the end of the day.” She frowned. “Or not.”
She walked up to the biobed and placed a gentle hand on Jack’s shoulder. He looked up at her, his eyes wet and red.
“I’m sorry,” she said kindly. “But no one has asked...and…well…do you even want this baby? It’s not too late to abort.”
Jack stared at her in shock, though she didn’t think it was for the suggestion. She thought it was more because he hadn’t thought of it either.
“I could do that, couldn’t I?”
Doctor Rodriguez shrugged. “Your body, your choice. That’s Terran Alliance law.”
Jack looked to his husband. “What do you think?”
“What are the risks,” Corporal Huxley asked her.
“At a guess, because this an entirely new situation and we have zero idea about anything, I’d say probably the same as the pregnancy itself. I’ve been watching his vitals and as the pregnancy develops, more and more strain is being put onto Jack’s body. A body that was not designed for it. I think he may be able to carry the baby to term, but that’s just a guess. Any pregnancy has its risks, and this is a whole new type of crazy. I have no idea what could happen.”
Rodger looked back at Jack. “Your choice my love. I’ll support your decision; unless it looks like I’ll lose you. I won’t do that. I love you too much, searched for you for too long, to risk losing you.”
“I love you too,” Jack said and the two kissed. And kissed. And kept kissing. Just when things were about to turn awkward, Doctor Rodriguez cleared her throat and the two separated, breathing hard.
“So, does that mean you’re keeping the baby,” Doctor Rodriguez asked.
“Please,” Weapons-master Kurlmash said, and they all turned to face him. He wrung his hands and stared at Jack with a longing look. “I realize I have no right to ask this of you, given the…less than ideal circumstances, but please. My mate and I have been trying to have a child for a long time and, I would really like to start a family.”
“Are you sure they’d be ok with a half human child?” Corporal Huxley asked seriously.
“It…will take some explaining,” Kurlmash admitted. “And probably some time to get used to the idea, but I’m sure the four of us can make it work.”
He stared at them hopefully and eventually Jack nodded.
“Alright doc. Looks like we’re having a baby. But if it looks like I might…ya know…die? Well, don’t let that happen. Dying in combat is one thing. Dying in childbirth? My mother would never let me hear the end of it.”
Rodger snorted. “She may not let you hear the end of it anyway. Not to mention your dad…”
“Please don’t,” Jack said with a groan. “Don’t suppose there’s any way we can just…not tell them?”
Rodger gave him a look and he groaned again. “You’re right.”
“I’m afraid it gets worse, PFC,” Captain Finnegan said with a slight wince. “I’m going to need to file a report with Alliance command. To apprise them of the situation. Alliance medical is probably going to want to know too.”
It was Doctor Rodriguez’s turn to groan. “Fuck! They are going to want to know. Every. Single. Detail. I’m going to be in meetings about this for years!”
She glared at the three prospective parents. “The three of you are officially on my shit list,” she said before angrily turning to talk to Doctor Chal. “We’d better make sure this goes smoothly. The less I have to put into this report the better. I hate paperwork!”

Shortform

• Massive exploration of the Society beyond the big names we've spent time with in Across
• Villains forsaking their rivalries for survival and universes paving their own roads
• Gwen temporarily eating it but coming back, then leaning on her comic self (A variant)'s new Ghost-Spider ident to mark her defying fate's scythe

Premise

Here is the textual taxonomy of trilogys as I've heard in (obscure, hard-to-find) writing structure lessons

• Installment 1: Exposit - What is the subject
• Installment 2: Analyze - What is the subject's meaning
• Installment 3: Perspectivize - What is the subject's value and suasoria

Across may not have been a conclusive Act 2, but it is definitely a valid standalone one

• Expanded the 'verse and the major cast by throwing a curve into their relationships and own philosophies
• Delved deeper into what makes a Spider-Man by presenting a free will vs. determinism arc a la Civil War that also happens to have metacommentary

"I'ma do my own thing."
"We're supposed to be the good guys."
Miles summarized his new path throughout the movie, then Gwen called out the Society for their enabling of so much death and suffering to serve a misguided dogma.
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/File:Spider-Man_Across_the_Spider-Verse_poster_003_textless.jpg
There's almost certainly gonna an all-out ideological civil war (fists or not, composite of MCU and comics, but Spiders-only) like that split poster teased.
Gonna be grimly hilarious seeing Spinneret/Spiderling fight Peter B. and Mayday (the former are on Miguel's side to the left, along with Insomniac Spidey)
Yes, I believe there will be a few more new support characters in Beyond - there's a reason certain folks were at the front, and it's just really curious and a wasted opportunity that this Spider-MJ didn't interact at all with this active version of her other (stillborn) daughter or her (Mayday-616B) dad.
I very much appreciate the lifting of other Spidey variants to the zeitgeist fold - Noir, Ham, Gwendy-65, the UK/Punk and Indian ones, the weirdos like Parkedcar from Not! Pixar's Cars, a damn popsicle possibly (lol), a plushie, etc. - but they

Events and Themes

1. Universes

Serving the Installment 3 role, Beyond will probably tie up loose ends and make the above themes reverberate across universes. Like, for 42:

• Miles Prowler can prove that the world doesn't always need Spider-Heroes to save itself, only the spirit of the concept - Spider-Man isn't the center of the multiverse, and given the last movie's title, it will navigate its own fate independent of any Spider at all - let the world do its own thing

Beyond the 'verse of men of spiders, Reality-42 rises up against villainy.

• Maybe Kingpin and Dr. Octopus return someway, then emulate their TAS 1994 counterparts in allying with the Spiders out of existential pragmatics

2. Characters and Developments

By "reverberate," the Spider-Hero question is going to strike real nerves that change the Society and the world, making them examine the morality of the war they fight against anomalies like Spot; survival at all means and costs vs. idealistic stand against fate. And for certain Spiders, we could get more screentime with certain Society members and ex-members - preferably Spinneret and Spiderling, the Insomniac Spideys, and Scarlet Spider - and Endgame-ify Beyond's length.

• The RYV (Reality-18119, Renew Your Vows) Parkers confide with the others including Peter B. on family and how do they keep it together in light of their role as preserving fate and existence itself
• PS4/5 bros relate their experiences of loss and keeping going, especially to 1610B Miles. A great way of giving a layman on the games' plots while relaying their themes to the wider non-gamer audience
• Ben Reilly (Scarlet bro), being a Pete clone and a technical predecessor to Miles, will have his status put to address. His struggles with his inheritance and identity - bearing the names of Peter's parental figures - will probably mirror Ultimate Spider-Woman, and hopefully, he's a major outcrier against Miguel's misguided cause
• Jess-332's and Peter B's babies will interact, leading to the former's moral realization due to Peter B's time with Miles being the reason for his family's reconstruction - influenced solely by extrauniversal (of course anomalous) factors. Throw that Madame Web Spidey (Julia Carpenter) into the fray somehow?
• Interuniversal linkage like in the comics (616/928 and 65/8) can be explored to further the fate-changing theme; whether 928B the bad future of 616B is an inevitability - we haven't really explored 928B - and whether 42 is 1610B's worst possible self and how it can change. The Miles/Gwen dynamic could play here too, 65B and 1610B and the references to the number 8 (which happens to resemble the infinity sign - "infinite Spider possibilities") in Across. Not suggesting that Comics Earth 8's characters play any role, tho, 'cuz per the themes, the duo should connect on their terms
• Variant Miguels when, Sony - like the variant MJs, Harrys, Normans, Flashes, and Gwens, etc. Get freaking Edge of Time, not just Ultimate and 1994, in it
• The locked-up anomalous villains perhaps even helping stop Spot - like Kingpin and Ock above. Basically No Way Home's scenario but tweaked a bit and writ large; let them decide whether to have a new lease of life or to keep their exploits going - their outcomes, their terms as usual. I wonder how would Atari Osborn fare, though, XD

Feel free to add more :) Not quite a Marvel binger yet, XD

3. Fates

Another element to be addressed is the room elephant of canon events. Their loopholes, their flexibility have to be expanded upon: They are fluid like time's arrows and oceans. For one:

• George lives? Sorry, but Gwen's relationship with him remains strained, on top of her guilt from treachery and deception. Also, the canon event ain't really death, but the Captain losing their job

Maybe we even trade one event for another, as in a major death of sorts. In my opinion:

• Not Peter B., because he's a living meta rebuttal to people holding off (at the very least) on an aged-up/married/parent Peter, the 616 editorial included. Him dying, let alone Mayday (toddler, so definite write-off), would undermine this subtext
• Not Jess, 'cuz she's a mother and despite her jerkish mentor habits seems willing to look the other way for turncoats like Margo/Byte
• Not Jeff, 'cuz that would just prove Miggy's point in light of George being living proof, as well as utterly render worthless all the effort thrown into saving him
• Not Miguel (yes, how dare I), 'cuz for all his pain-motivated harshness, he deserves better than the cliche'd fatal redemption trope of villains, of which he technically ain't one (and don't "Thanos" this as unlike Migs, he knew of better options but foregone it)

Here's a unique twist: The mastermind behind this Spider- conspiracy grows a conscience after all the breaking lectures against his warped view of canon events, then resolves to save as many lives as possible, dropping all pretenses of controlling the Spider-War
At risk to himself, he'll unhesitatingly save lives while one/some of those who blindly followed him give theirs. As shitty as his Society's turned out to be, they still have their main directive of fixing multiversal incursions, and someone has to keep giving the orders, someone with the most drive and commitment (especially for atonement)
Why on Miguel? Matured thinking aside, it evokes how science and philosophy works; cognitive science has this cliché of at least two sides theorizing extremes that are contrary to one another, and as time passes with discovery, the proof points to both sides having a point and deciding on a compromise; this of course goes beyond simple personal disagreement
So who'll it be?
Spider-gents and ladies, none other than Gwendolyn Maxine Stacy of Earth-65B
In the vein of MCU Aunt May being her Pete's Uncle Ben delivering that responsibility quote, and through it occurs the Spider-Verse's true Ultimate Fallout/Death of a Spider event this way
Gwen being slain and (certainly) coming back would be a wakeup call to both her world and the Society, as well as the latter group's morality in their internal strife and conflict against Spot. Redeem her image to everybody, Miles included, while allowing them to get together on solitary terms
That way:

• Miguel's right that being a Spider is a sacrifice, it's just their assigned canon events ain't 1:1 across every universe
• Miles' right that you can have and eat two cakes - meaning canon events can be alleviated (such as debris falling on Singh without killing him) - it's just that there's a cost

It'd also be a roundabout redemption for blindly following the Society's beliefs and causing unnecessary pain to Miles, deeper than "My well-meaning side right, your well-meaning side wrong" - no, both sides can have their two cakes; say, the rest save Jeff, Gwen herself - the motherless one - saves Rio, let 1610B not be 1610A in this particular way
I'ma spitball here, but it's kinda like Nolanverse (TDKR) Batman, come to think of it. Maybe George is informed of and reveals his daughter's "demise" and publicizes her ident? The latter I admit is questionable
Maybe Gwen goes to 1610B and RVs with Miles to Florence - there's this café on the banks of the Arno - for a fine evening sitting there and ordering a Fernet Branca
XD

(Potential) Foreshadowing

• Proof for the 42 antiheroes' case:

... "We wanted to craft this moment where Miles encounters this powerful figure in his life that he loved so much and he lost," says director Justin K. Thompson. "That's when he realizes that he is not really in his own dimension, as well as the gravity of what he has lost. In this reality, Aaron had to shake off his life of crime and became a surrogate father figure to Miles."
... In this alternate reality, the Sinister Six have been able to flourish and take over the world. "Criminality runs rampant," says Thompson. "We wanted to create a world where it felt like Aaron and Miles G. Morales of Earth-42 [this reality's counterpart to Miles Morales] are the only heroes.
Zahed, R. (2023). Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: The Art of the Movie. Abrams Books. THE WORLDS → Earth-42, p.190
... This version of the character was never bitten by a radioactive spider and doesn't have any superpowers, but he has fallen into the role of becoming the vigilante the Prowler, under the tutelage of his uncle Aaron. ...
Zahed, R. (2023). Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: The Art of the Movie. Abrams Books. THE WORLDS → Miles G. Morales: The Prowler, p.200

• Here's a pattern: We meet multiple Spidey-Peters and our intro hero is, well, RIPeter, then some podcast revealed we'd be meeting multiple Gwens in Beyond; timestamp 17:51-18:45

Interviewer: Will we see other multiversal variants of Gwen Stacy in the future even if they don't have spider powers, like you do with MJ, Uncle Aaron, and Miles?
Lord: Currently yes. ... But there’s one I’m very excited about.
Miller: Yes, yeah, I know exactly the one you’re talking about.
Lord: You know the one I’m thinking of, which is based on... I’m not gonna say anything, I’m not gonna say anything.
Miller: But it is sort of plot-integral, I would say.
Interviewer: If there are other multiversal variants of Gwen in Beyond the Spider-Verse, will they impact her arc, her relationship with Miles?
Lord: I would say yes.

The Pete variants showed up after Blondie's demise, so they might reverse the sequence here - as I said, a bookend.
Yea, all these signs totally bode well for the other blonde Spidey here
https://preview.redd.it/kpz7vzvub64d1.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=8d25e78b18f3fc82e58eb1516d1ac915fc130470

• Friendly reminder they referenced fuckin' Ultimate Fallout of all storylines in Gwen's room, under which she mostly lingers while speaking with her dad. Are you telling me that scene just happened to be shot like that? No, they orchestrated it! L&M! The story that deals with Miles' overall debut and the (of course, cue pathos) fallout of 1610A Spidey's demise! Been struggling to find and spot it honestly, damn lighting and coloring
• Guess what's 1610A Pete (the original Ultimate comics version, not blond RIPeter)'s death age? 16, exactly 65B Gwen's present age. MCU Pete's too when he was snapped
• Notice the last part of the Canon Event exposition scene; Hobie's got the Spider-Man No More comic panel, Jess-332 the If This Be My Destiny one, Peter B. the wedding, and Gwen? Spidey rising from the grave in Kraven's Last Hunt, modified with herself doing the feat. The kicker here: Neither Hobie nor Gwen's displayed events have official releases yet, although Hobie did say he opted out of chasing Miles - which is to say she's next and last, as well as #4 (so deathly the connotations) on the shown list

In Defense

Now calm down before you web pitchforks on me

• People keep saying there has to be a much more nuanced wrap-up - an idea with traction around these subs in a good way; to this day, people argue whether that Mumbattan hole was Spot BS or a canon event's unraveling. Mine has that nuance IMO
• Migs up and stated Mumbattan wasn't their first canon event ruptures rodeo and they couldn't save some 'verses from them, why would he be bullshitting or even fully wrong on CEs if he had that Spider team with specialized equipment for canon event containment? They were conveniently there right as that hole formed, and hell, they could reconcile that hole with the Dead Migs dimension where everything digitally evaporates as the latter being the end result
• He put on his shitlist Spider-Holland (maybe along with Maguire, Garfield (the light one)) for a reason - not hesitating to save MCU MJ (Michelle Jones-Watson) rather than let her be Spider-Tom's ASM-121 moment - although one can argue the memory wipe counts as first love loss, along with his Iron Man being his police captain canon event - and Raimi-verse Gwen is very much (per that meme) hot, single, and alive. Observing Sinister, Supreme, and 838/Illuminati-Strange's destroyed realities made him a rage button for 2099
• Showing the other 'verses like the comic-based What Ifs and that Armored Spider-Man one from the 1994 cartoon? It's kind of like a cheat out of the dilemma, and I'm not sure the other viewers would agree. Miguel also knows of Dr. Strange and possibly his What If? versions
  • Before someone "Absolute Points solve themselves, Society's unneeded" me, we know too the APs are a nascent concept and Miguel probably thought no two universes will always solve themselves and CEs are probably spontaneous - maybe a day, a week, or even a year plus, they will happen, scapegoat or not
  • To the people who say Migs was mistaken in how he destroyed that reality and that it was an Incursion: IT WASN'T ONE, because it would have caused a collision course between that 'verse and 928B, which I don't think they have any means to stop - only someone like Strange. Aside from the trolley sacrifice of one Earth, we're not privy to what are the other seven ways to averting Incursions. Guess what, Gabri's reality went poof on its apparent own while 928B stayed very much alive. Didn't even look like 928B was approaching from the skies at the time either
  • Returning to Miles' side, I also hear of the fixed time points comparison from Dr. Who; I'd like to point out the Doctor was able to fake his death by hiding inside a, uh, humanoid ship at Lake Silencio, so I've read, despite records saying so
• They keep insisting "First time for everything," right, plus the cake stuff? Why not a Venom Blast resuscitation somehow on the brink of death, then being comatose or some other critical injury so the "lost Lenore" event doesn't stick? Or! In the style of BvS Dawn of Justice and What if? Spider-Man The Other (plus Ultimate Gwen ofc)...symbiotic resurrection (possibly even transporting that one symbiote drop in that bar in the MCU), and cue Gwenom arc in some spinoff like Spider-Women
• Alternatively, to avoid the fridged LI trope absolutely, Rio gets the Ultimate comics treatment of death somehow - but as said repeatedly, doing one's own thing, and I think this Spider-War's seen enough dead Moraleses. Miles has already grown and seen enough from the other Spiders' losses and his own. Honestly, people need to hear comic quotes often, take Mark Waid's Daredevil run:

Rachel Cole: You know what gives me the strength? My loss. We're alike that way, I imagine. Admit it, nobody who's a stranger to that particular pain could ever be as driven as us.
Daredevil: Never... Don't you ever say that to me ever again, that is a repellent statement, it's a vomituous insult to every cop, every fireman, every soldier alive who steps up to fight for those who can't! I am sorry for your loss, but if you genuinely believe that only the death of a loved one can motivate a human being to take up a cause...then get your pathetic cynical ass out of my way so I can do my job!

It's relevant because Rachel's stance here was that people like them who fight for causes are solely inspired by loss, only for Matt to verbally skewer her. The subtext here, synthesizing it with the Spidey mythos is that it's misguided to think that losing forever more loved ones is the only way to make a true Spider-Hero.
Flip the narrative and say "Villainy only happens if they're abused/poorly raised, alas, poor villain;" one is warranted to call it a vomitous insult to every abuse victim/improperly raised junior out there who became better than their elders/superiors - i.e. not go evil.
Either way, the greater gist of this is losing a close one for good isn't the way, emphasis on "for good"

Future Implications

Wrapping everything up like above (I mean the objectives), one way or another (not necessarily mine), would show full commitment to the theme of forging one's own destiny right down to the metatextual. The Spidersoc let confirmation bias blind themselves to possibilities and seemingly have yet to expose themselves to the preestablished branch realities where, say, Spider-People lose nobody or a Gwen Stacy ties neatly her romance quest with a Spidey. The themes of doing your own thing openly and honestly and in safety - rather than requesting permission from broken systems - resonate much with an Excel list: People who are queeof colowomen/disabled
Beyond that obviousness, we have disabled Spideys, Muslim Spideys (that female UK one), Blob-fat Spideys - even PLUSHIE Spideys, just to name a few, all to show the movie being the most diverse and inclusive Spidey work to date. These themes are so incredibly applicable to the lives of atypical people or otherwise people who live under systems that aren't designed for them to succeed. IE: POC, women, queer people, people with disabilities, etc. One can argue "doing your own thing" was what made ItSV such a breakthrough success and a decade phenomenon: Everything about the animation
I get that a teen girl dying, even temporarily - especially one who resonates much with LGBT (transgwender specifically) themes - is real bad optics, but we went through this before with Luz Noceda (bi rep exactly) from The Owl House, and things landed on their feet :)
If/When she comes back to crimefighting, this would be the moment she goes by Ghost Spider like her A self - a Gwen who fought fate and died for it, but another Spider loved her so much, he raised her from death to life in Ultimate defiance (getting flowery prose here) that prevails

Narcissistic grandmother.
Where do i begin.... So my grandmother has always been abusive to me. For as long as i can remember.
As a child my mum and dad practically dumped me on my grandmother and grandfather's step. They took me in. My grandad was always my angel. He loved me so much and I was always the apple of his eye. Sadly in 2009 he died from leukaemia. He was diagnosed on his birthday. Died a year later on his birthday 😔 me and my grandmother never really got along. She always looked down her nose at me. Like I was a piece of shit under her shoe.
It was just me who got dumped on my grandparents step. My sisters went with my mum and my brother with my dad when they split up.
Now.... I don't know much about her upbringing because I literally can't speak to the woman. She is very... Undermining and passive agressive. So I just don't bother as its never pleasant to speak to her. Never has been.
So I have 2 sisters and a brother. My grandmother idolises them. Very openly, almost like it's done purposely to make me feel as low as possible. I am constantly left out of family outings, holidays, meals. You name it. It's making me resent my own siblings.
I became the black sheep very quickly. I have to watch my family doing things together, while I'm constantly left out. Watching from the sidelines, Unacknowledged, Forgotten about if you will.
Fast forward... At this point id had enough. So I moved in with my then boyfriend. I was obviously extremely happy to get away from my grandmother and family. I moved to a different city.
Things were great at first... Sadly he started to change after a while. He started to abuse me also and get violent towards me. I found out he had abused 2 women before me. I escaped with my life barely. But I had nowhere to live or any money as my ex had taken everything off me and used me for my money the entire time and I would like to add that this man also made me disabled. ( trauma induced fibromyalgia, chronic pain and fatigue, ptsd, depression, the whole lot )
So I had to move back in with my evil grandmother, but this time... I'm disabled at this point 😔 the trauma and stress of previous life abuses and obviously the trauma of domestic violence had made me extremely ill. I couldn't even walk. I've been in and out of hospital and doctors you name it.
So now, my grandmother has an evil new tactic up her sleeve. Because I'm now disabled, she uses my illness as a weapon to abuse me. Saying "your brain has gone" " you're crazy " . And calling me and i quote a " fat tw*t " obviously because of my ptsd, I was terrified to leave the house and now my own grandmother is attacking my appearance and mental health and disability all at the same time. My illness has turned my life upside down.
She is taking nearly all my money from me, so I'm unable to save up to leave. Shelters are only offering me places half way across the country, alone, which would absolutely terrify me.
I have had a pretty lonely existence and still live a lonely existence. My pets are my everything and shelters also do not allow pets. So I feel trapped now. I cannot survive without my pets. They're all I have.
I'm trapped with a woman who causes a fight with me any time I leave my bedroom. She attacks my disibilty, my mental health, calls me names, she bins my belongings and throws my stuff around all over the floor. She purposely breaks my belongings. Then she gaslights me.
She literally says I'm imagining things when she does all this stuff to me. All while turning the rest of my family against me by telling them, I'm unruly. Because I'm defending myself and standing my ground on what I know to be true. I've even resorted to recording her when she starts these fights with me. But even when I show my siblings. They instantly side with her or say it's nothing to do with them. Even if I tell my mum. She doesn't care. My mum is a very selfish woman. She has a drug addiction. So she only cares about herself and herself only. My dad has just got a whole seperate life now and a new gf. Wants nothing to do with me or anyone else besides his gf.
I've been abused my entire life. I'm still being abused. I've had enough.
What do I even do about this? I feel like I'm getting more sick by the day because of all this trauma. I'm literally trapped. I'm tired. My soul is literally tired.
If I alert authorities. My entire family will turn on me. All but one. My grandmother's daughter. My auntie. Is also cast out by her. So I do speak to her about the abuse which helps.
But it doesn't help my situation. I'm still trapped here. My auntie has a full house and is also dealing with illness herself. So that's not an option unfortunately.
Has anyone experienced anything like this with their grandmother?
It makes me sick because everyone thinks she's a lovely old lady. She puts on this false image in public. But behind closed doors. She's a monster. An absolute monster. You wouldn't believe some of the stuff she says to me I can barely believe it myself. She's told me to unalive myself and that nobody loves me and she hates me.
I know it's awful to say. But I cant wait until she passes 😢 I can then be free of her abuse once and for all. I hate that I think this way about someone. But when theyve abused you your entire life, Belittled you, called you names, attack you, bullied you, destroys and bins your belongings and has trapped you, then blames you for it. You will think and feel the same way. All whilst rubbing how much she loves my siblings in my face.
She makes me feel like there's something wrong with me. Like I'm unlovable. What did I ever do to her!?!
I remember asking this question once and she said I'm imagining things and im being childish and told to grow up and stop being crazy and that I'm weak.
She loves calling me weak and keeps telling me I'm playing the victim. Well.... I am the victim. You're literally abusing me.
It's not crazy if it's reality right?
Sometimes I feel like Im just not from this family. Even my siblings have nothing in common with me and look down on me and don't bother with me. We are 100% from the same mother and father. I just can't understand how I'm cast out and treated like this. I've never done anything wrong to anyone 😔😔
I've asked many times what I've done to deserve this treatment and they just keep saying the same thing. Stop playing the victim or I'm imagining things and to grow up. My feelings are not valid.
I'm constantly just in my bedroom, because if I come out. I become a target. I barely even eat 😢😢 I have 2 meals a week if that and that's when my grandmother goes out. I go down and make something quick to eat. I tend to buy a lot of snacks online. Things I can keep in my bedroom to snack on when I get real hungry, just to avoid coming out of my bedroom.
Not sure how much more heartbreak I can take.
I've planned a day out at the weekend for the first time in 2 years to go see all my friends. To a rave. Because my legs have gained a bit of strength recently after being bed bound for over a year because I've been so ill. Obviously I'm extremely nervous about leaving my house, but I'm trying to force myself to try get myself out of this rut I'm in. My grandmother has done nothing but attack my image, calling me fat and basically trying to destroy my confidence, so I don't go out and calling me other horrible names because it's a rave I'm going to.
Now I used to rave a lot. So it's the only time I get to mix with like minded people. It's always the same people who go and i class them all as my rave family. I've been super excited and obviously nervous about this rave. I planned it just a week ago. My grandmother of course. Is doing everything in her power to try get me to not go. My friends all live dotted around the country, so i barely ever get to see anyone.
I'm not allowed to be happy. Or have a life or do anything for that matter.
I've been trying to exercise using my hula hoops and other flowtoys. Like my leviwand for example. It cost over 300 pound and my grandmother has gone into the tube it's kept in and binned the chargers and string for it. Rendering it useless and saying she's not touched it and im making stuff up and im going crazy!!!
I know she had done it as it was in her cupboard in her room. It had moved completely from where I actually put it. My room is very cluttered as I've had to cram me, my things and my pets all in here with me, due to having left my ex in such a hurry. I feel like I'm living in a closet. So I thought this one item would be safe in that cupboard as it was expensive. She had moved it and shoved something in its box that I know wasn't in there when I put it in there. She's lost all the attatchments, which I know was all together in that box. So now I can't use it at all. Of course.... It's all in my head and I'm the one who's lost these things even though i know for a fact I kept it all safe and together.
She's constantly sabataging me and saying it's all in my head.
I'm Quickly fading. Giving up. But then.... She will attack me for that too. Fcked if I do. Fcked if i don't. I can't win. No matter what I do.
Even if for example... Something has been on its way out... Breaking for a while and she's aware of it, if it breaks, it's automatically my fault.
According to her... Anything that breaks. Even if I haven't touched it. It's my fault. She will deliberately leave things to deteriorate and then blame me when it finally breaks completely. I'm at my wits end.
I'm so lost and just devastated at how horrible my life has been.
Can anyone give me any advice on what I should do about this situation?

Script Gallery along with my terms, please read before recording!
Link to Part 1!
Roughly 1300 words!
(Please notify about questions/concerns.)
(The listener is laying in bed, recovering from their blood loss. Dylan is sitting in a chair near them, as if he’s been waiting for them to wake up. There is a clock ticking in the background.)
Dylan:
“Looks like someone’s finally decided to wake up.”
Dylan:
“Believe it or not, it’s only been a few hours.”
Dylan:
“That’s right, no coma, no permanent damage, nothing. If I thought you were in a coma, I would’ve taken you to a hospital.”
Dylan:
“The closest hospital is roughly an hour away on foot, and I don’t have a car, so, I guess you’re quite lucky.”
Dylan:
“For the average human it would be two hours. Being a vampire has its advantages.”
Dylan:
“How did you sleep?”
Dylan:
“You were out cold, it had me a little worried. Eight hours passed and you hadn’t moved an inch..”
Dylan:
“I’ve just been sitting here, watching you. It’s not like I had any other preoccupations.”
Dylan:
“I’m sure you didn’t know that your resting breath rate is around 16 breaths per minute. That’s not all! Your resting heart rate is 80 beats per minute..!”
Dylan:
“There wasn’t much else to do.. I suppose I could’ve taken a little walk..”
Dylan:
“The evening sky does look beautiful.. Perhaps I can take you out for a stroll one day..?”
Dylan:
“One day, but not today, no, no.. You’d try running off, not that you would get very far.”
Dylan:
“I noticed you were wearing a necklace, I took it off for you so it wouldn't get damaged in your sleep. No need to thank me.”
Dylan:
“Oh.? What's with that look, it’s not important to you, is it?”
Dylan:
“Now that I know you have an attachment to it, I don’t think I want to give it back to you..”
Dylan:
“Is it some kind of heirloom? Perhaps a Valentine's day gift from a special someone?”
Dylan:
“Oh, I'm only teasing. It doesn’t really matter who you got it from; you won’t be seeing them again.”
Dylan:
“It’s on the table, just over there.”
(The listener attempts to get up.)
Dylan:
“Ah-ah, stay down. I don’t want you getting dizzy and falling. Then we’d have another problem on our hands.”
(Sigh.)
Dylan:
“You’re a rather quiet one. Are you contemplating something, like your mortality? Or are you just shy?”
Dylan:
“There’s no need to be shy, after all, I don’t bite.”
Dylan:
“Hm?”
(Evil chuckle.)
Dylan:
“Lying through my teeth, it’s what I do best.”
Dylan:
“On a serious note, come on, talk to me, it wouldn't hurt you to. You’re in good hands, so just relax and let yourself talk.”
(Sigh.)
Dylan:
“Do you need anything to eat, or drink? Is that why you’re so quiet?”
Dylan:
“Well, I can go get food tomorrow, but I do have some water. Hold on, I’ll be right back.”
Dylan:
“Before I go..”
(He grabs the necklace.)
Dylan:
“Just in case you try to run off, I’m taking this with me.”
Dylan:
“Stay there.”
(Fade to black, only a few minutes have passed when Dylan reenters the room, he sets the necklace down on the table, and places the water next to the listener.)
Dylan:
“Here’s your drink.”
Dylan:
“How are you feeling?”
Dylan:
“Disoriented? I’m sorry. You’ll be back to normal in a few hours, I’m sure of it.”
Dylan:
“I’m very sure, and considering my status as a vampire and former doctor, I’d trust my opinion on blood loss recovery if I were you.”
Dylan:
“I've seen many people recover from a bite, it barely hurts them in the long run.”
Dylan:
“Well, maybe many is an overstatement..”
Dylan:
“I may not have seen many people recover from a bite, but I’ve seen countless people recover from general blood loss completely unrelated to vampirism.”
Dylan:
“You’d be surprised by the stupid things people do that land them in a hospital bed.”
Dylan:
“There was a time where we had some very obviously drunk college students come in because of, and I quote, ‘bloodletting gone wrong’.”
Dylan:
“Yes, bloodletting. The historical medical practice.”
Dylan:
“I still remember my exact thoughts when they said that.. Bloodletting gone wrong? How could it possibly go right?”
Dylan:
“Don’t give me that look. That happened before I became a vampire.”
Dylan:
“No, I wasn’t born one.”
Dylan:
“Anyway, where was I..? Oh, right.. Most vampires, myself included, don’t bother to keep tabs on their victims after they feed, it’s just far too risky. Besides, there’s not much of a point. Why stick around to see how one little victim fares after a bite when it’s much safer to simply move on?”
Dylan:
“Well, there’s hunters out there. For all I know, you could be one of them, but you wouldn’t dare to harm me..”
Dylan:
“Right?”
Dylan:
“It doesn't look to me like you have any weapons..”
Dylan:
“As long as you aren’t planning to maim me with your bare hands, I should be fine.”
Dylan:
“Come to think of it, you're free right now, you have been since right before you passed out.”
Dylan:
“I untied you before I put you to bed, were you too woozy to notice?”
Dylan:
“Don’t-”
Dylan:
“...be getting any ideas.”
Dylan:
“I may have untied you, but that doesn’t mean I’m letting you leave.”
Dylan:
“Moving on, now that you’re clearly awake enough to speak.. Talk to me.”
Dylan:
“I don’t think you understand, I’m not giving you a choice.”
(He whispers into the listener’s ear.)
Dylan:
“You shouldn’t be so stubborn with someone who has your life in their hands.”
Dylan:
“Talk.”
Dylan:
“I have an idea. Let’s take baby steps, we’ll start with a yes-or-no question..”
Dylan:
“Are you a vampire hunter?”
Dylan:
“I'm not going to hurt you if you are, it’s just something I need to know in order to proceed.”
Dylan:
“Well, hunter or not, it's nice to have company around, someone to talk to, a reliable source of blood.. Another thing, if someone comes all the way up here and tries to kill me, I could always use your life as a bargaining chip for them to leave me alone.”
Dylan:
“Oh, don’t cry. I wouldn’t actually kill you. I already like you too much.”
Dylan:
“As I was saying, it doesn’t seem like you have any weapons, but you could always be hiding something up your sleeve..”
Dylan:
“So, look at me and tell me the truth.”
Dylan:
“Cat got your tongue?”
Dylan:
“Is it about that necklace?”
(He picks up the necklace from the table nearby.)
Dylan:
“It looks like there’s some compartments to this thing, I wonder what’s inside..”
Dylan:
“Oh? Apprehensive much? What’s the problem? I’m not going to break it.”
Dylan:
“It looks harmless enough.. I’m a little shocked that there’s no hidden knives, no tiny containers of holy water, nothing.”
Dylan:
“This seems like it’s made of some fine metals, where did you get this from?”
Dylan:
“‘A friend.’ Hm.”
(He sets the necklace back down.)
Dylan:
“You don’t seem like a hunter, and if you are, I’m assuming you’re brand new, because clearly you aren’t very good at your job.”
Dylan:
“If you were any good, I would be dead, and you would be miles away by now.”
Dylan:
“Aw, it’s ok.. If you weren’t such an uncoordinated hunter, I wouldn’t be having this conversation with you right now.”
Dylan:
“Still insisting you aren’t a hunter? Alright, whatever you say..”
Dylan:
“You seem to be rather interested in that clock over there.. We’re in no hurry. Now that I think about it, maybe I should take it down and hang it up in my room instead..”
(Sigh.)
Dylan:
“Looks like it’s almost 7:00 AM..”
Dylan:
“If I opened those curtains over there, the sun would probably blind me.. Which means.. it's probably time for bed.”
Dylan:
“I go to bed at sunrise, and you’ll be adopting that schedule as well.”
Dylan:
“How will I ever get the chance to talk to you if you’re always sound asleep while I’m awake?”
Dylan:
“You’ll get used to it in due time.”
Dylan:
“I'll be locking your door, so don't even think about sneaking off.”
Dylan:
“I.”
Dylan:
“Hear.”
Dylan:
“Everything.”
Dylan:
“I’ll get you some food at sundown.”
Dylan:
“Sweet dreams..”
(Dylan walks out and shuts the door behind him.)
(Part 2 end.)

For those of you who don’t know, there are several wikis for villains.
One of them is called Pure Evil wiki (which, in short, is about villains with no redeeming or sympathetic qualities), the second is called Near Pure Evil wiki (Which, in short, is about villains with almost no redeeming or sympathetic qualities but they still can’t qualify for the Pure Evil wiki for some reason. However, there are other cases where a villain can be Near Pure Evil even if they don't have any redeemable qualities like slightly lacking moral agency or slightly failing the heinous standard of the series because they don't go the extra mile in terms of crimes). There is also a third wiki called the Inconsistently Heinous wiki (which, in short, is about characters who have committed awful crimes, but they still have too many redeeming and sympathetic qualities and excuses for their actions to qualify as Pure Evil or Near Pure Evil). The name “Inconsistently Heinous” means that the characters are too inconsistent in their heinousness to be Near Pure Evil and they need to have many redeeming and sympathetic qualities and/or excuses for their actions. Often times Inconsistently Heinous characters can even be morally ambiguous heroes in the stories they are depicted, but they also do some bad things along the way.
Tyrion and Cersei from ASOIAF are both listed on the Inconsistently Heinous wiki which means they have both done some terrible things, but they can't qualify as Pure Evil or Near Pure Evil because they have excuses for they actions and many redeeming qualities and sympathetic moments.
The characters who listed on the Pure Evil wiki in the books are Joffrey, Ramsay, Gregor, Rorge, Craster, Euron and Maegor Targaryen.
The characters who listed on the Near Pure Evil wiki in the books are Tywin, Littlefinger, Roose Bolton, Walder Frey, Lothar Frey, Kraznys mo Nakloz, Aerys Targaryen, Lo Bu, Janos Slynt, Varamyr Sixskins, Rossart, Joron I Blacktyde, Khal Moro and Wyl of Wyl. There are of course many more characters who could fit on the Near Pure Evil wiki, but so far those are the only ones who have been proposed.
At this point, Tyrion has armed the clans from the mountains and has incited them to attack and pillage the Vale and has expressed a desire to reduce it to ash through said attacks (which gives him a higher body count than Cersei), has given the Antler's men to Joffrey to be brutally tortured and killed, has killed a singer and had his body cooked into stew and fed to poor people, has murdered his former girlfrined Shae and has raped at least one sex slave out of spite, yet many fans think he is a good person or at least a "grey character" who deserves to get a happy ending.
At the same time, Cersei, who has suffered a lot throughout her life and who has lived in fear her whole life that she and her children would get killed which is what fuels most of her actions as she is trying to protect her family and her killing Robert and her actions against Ned are also fueled by trauma from the rapes she has endured and by a desire to save herself and her children from an unjust execution which is enforced by the sexist laws of Westeros who say that a woman who cheats on her husband should be executed while him cheating on her is fine, is somehow "irredeemably evil" and she apparently desrves to be punished and apparently doesn't deserve a chance to change unlike Tyrion even though the two of them have both terrible things.
The way in which Cersei is judged for her actions even though a lot of fans would do them if they were in her place and they think she is "evil" and should be punished, while they give free pass to other characters who do equally horrible things (and sometimes for far less justifiable reason like with Tywin who has suffered FAR LESS than Cersei throughout his life and doesn't even have the excuse that he believes he and his children are going to die if he doesn't do what he does and doesn't have the excuse of being brought by someone like himself) and they don't think the characters they like are "evil" or should be punished for their actions is one of the biggest double standards I have seen.
This is a list of the terrible actions Tyrion has done:

• He crushed the musician Marillion's fingers out of spite.
• He took revenge on Lysa Arryn for imprisoning him by arming the mountain clans with new weapons and armors and then goaded them into attacking the villages of the Vale. While those raids are not shown, from what is described in the books by other people and what is presented about the mountain clans, it is still clear that they were devastating for the people of Vale. Tyrion himself even thought about how the Vale is going to be "reduced to a smoking wasteland" which further shows the destructive nature of his plan.
• While he has a soft spot for underdogs, he has no problem with armies raiding, killing, raping and burning villages down, saying it is just a part of war.
• He seemingly allowed Allar Deem to take the black in and go to the Night's Watch but instead he ordered the captain who was transporting him to throw him off-board on their way to the Wall (granted, Allar Deem had it coming for killing an innocent woman and her baby).
  • He then replaced him with Bronn, someone who is just as amoral. When asked if he would kill a baby without question, Bronn replied he wouldn't kill one without asking how much.
• When Cersei had a prostitute captured, Tyrion threatened that any harm that would come to the prostitute, including rape, he would inflict upon Tommen who is his nephew and a child. When he hears that the prostitute had been whipped bloodily (which was actually done by Tywin, but at the time Tyrion thinks it's Cersei), he thinks with sadness about how he is going to have to do the same to Tommen because otherwise Cersei would win which heavily indicates his threat was actually true.
• When Varys informs him that a large group of men called the Antler Men were planning to sabotage the defenses of the city and let Stannis conquer it, Tyrion has them all arrested and gives them to Joffrey to be brutally tortured and killed. Joffrey nailed antlers to their heads and then shot them with trebuchets against the enemy forces and Tyrion doesn't seem to feel any remorse about it.
• Even though he knew his nephew Joffrey is not the rightful heir to Robert Baratheon and would be a terrible and cruel king, he still supported his claim to the throne and organized the defense of King's Landing against Stannis' forces. His plan to use wildfire to destroy Stannis' fleet which killed many of the sailors, including Davos' four sons, and his management over the defense of the city is what ensured that Joffrey would remain in power.
• He ordered Bron to kill a singer who was trying to extort him. He then ordered him to get rid of the body by giving it to an inn to be cooked into a stew which was then fed to the poor people of King's Landing who didn't even suspect they were eating human flesh.
• When he learned the truth about Tysha, he swore revenge on his entire family, including Jaime, who loved him. He even lied about killing Joffrey and confessed that Cersei is cheating on Jaime, just for the sake of hurting him.
• While he was escaping from execution, he killed his former lover Shae on his way for giving false testimony against him. This act is presented as more heinous than it is in the show because in the books Shae doesn't try to kill him but instead starts apologizing to him and says that she was forced to testify against her will by Tywin and she was too afraid to refuse but Tyrion kills her anyway.
• He shot his father, Tywin Lannister, with a crossbow and killed him (granted, Tywin had it coming for all the abuse he put Tyrion through and for his other actions).
• After his kills his father, he takes a drastic turn for the worst, becoming more cynical and bitter than ever.
• He often fantasizes about hurting his family, often of him raping and strangling Cersei to death. He also fantasizes about Jaime and Cersei's heads on spikes.
• In the fifth book, he goes into a brothel, and even after learning that the girls there are sex slaves who were kidnapped from their homelands and forced to please men against their will, he still forced himself on one of them even after he saw that she is uncomfortable with it.
  • He also threatened to rape another sex slave in Illyrio's mansion as he commented that he is going to claim her after his dinner with Illyrio. He even threatens that if he kills her, her master wouldn't mind because Tyrion is more important to him than some sex slave. The only reason why Tyrion threatens her like that is because he enjoys seeing her afraid of him.
• He manipulated Jon Connington and Young Griff to attack Westeros early, leading to more war and death in Westeros.
• When he became a slave, he took the opportunity when one of the guards gets sick, to feed him poisoned mushrooms, so he can watch him die (though the guard had it coming for his mistreatment of Tyrion and the other slaves).

Tyrion and Cersei have both done terrible things and they both have a lot of excuses for their actions as well as redeeming and sympathetic qualities, but fans only think one of them is "evil" and think that only one of them deserves sympathy and a chance to get better.
This is a list of Cersei's redeeming and sympathetic qualities for reference:

• She loves her family members except for Tyrion (more specifically, her children,her father, Tywin and her mother, Joanna). She is very protective of her children, doesn't want them to die and constantly fears for their safety.

1. When her son Joffrey dies, she breaks down over his corpse and cries and then she stays with his corpse and mourns it for days. At one point, she has a nice dream where Joffrey is still alive and she marries her brother, Jaime.
2. She is angry when Tyrion sends her daughter, Myrcella, to Dorn without her permission and starts threatening him. She breaks down into tears when he mentions that if Myrcella stays, she could be killed in the coming battle. She is also shocked when she learns that Myrcella has lost one of her ears.
3. In the fourth book she gets very protective of her son, Tommen, after the death of Joffrey. When Tommen chokes on his wine, she is afraid that someone had poisoned him, quickly stands up and goes to him to help. When she discovers that no one has poisoned him, she goes away and starts crying. During her imprisonment by the Faith Militant, she constantly thinks about her son and how she wants to go back to him. When she goes back to him, she starts spending a lot more time with him than ever before because she was relieved to see him again after her long imprisonment.
4. At one point, she had a nightmare where Tyrion has tied her up. She begs him to spare her kids, even though in the dream her own life is in danger.
5. She loves her father as she wants his respect, constantly thinks about what he would do and is sad when he dies.
6. She loves her mother. She blames her younger brother, Tyrion, for "killing" her mother because this is what she saw from her father. She also mentions to Sansa that when she was a little girl she prayed to the Gods to give her mother back.

• Another prevention is that Cersei is a bit too tragic and her tragedy holds up. She lost her mother at the age of 7, she was born in a highly sexist society where women are inferior to men and she had to witness every day how she and Jaime would be treated differently (one example is that Jaime was groomed to be Tywin's heir because he was a boy, even though Cersei was older than him) and this treatment made Cersei extremely resentful of her status.

1. At the age of 10, Cersei received a prophecy from Maggy that all of her kids would die, that a younger and more baeutiful queen would take everything she holds dear and then Cersei herself would be killed by her younger brother. Needless to say, this made Cersei very paranoid about her life and the lives of her children and made her even more abusive towards Tyrion because she believes that he is the younger brother from the prophecy. A lot of the crimes that are listed above are an attempt to prevent this prophecy from happening and saving her children and herself.
2. Another aspect that makes her tragic is that her father, Tywin, was neglectful most of the time and he was a brutal ruler who taught his kids that they should be merciless, that they should care about morality only about the end results and so on. There is enough evidence that Cersei was seriously affecte by this upbringing. For example, on one occasion, while she is torturing the Blue Bard, she feels bad for him and wants to stop the torture. But then, she remembers that her father would probably be ashamed of her sign of weakness and he wouldn't do something like that, so she continues with the torture.
3. She was married to Robert Baratheon, who cheated on her and abused her by sometimes even raping her which also has an affect on her because she feels powerless during the rapes and she doesn't want this to happen again.
4. In the world of Westeros if it's discovered that she had cheated on her husband with Jaime, she and all of her kids would be executed. The reason why she kills Robert and Ned is because she wants to protect her life and the life of her kids from execution.
5. In general, she has suffered from systematic sexism for most of her life starting from childhood where she and Jaime were treated differently because of their gender and Jaime was groomed to become the heir to Casterly Rock while she was groomed to be married off despite being older than her brother. When she was married to her husband, she also suffered from the sexism of her society because her husband was allowed to cheat on her while if she was caught cheating, she and her entire family would be executed. She was also raped because there was no definition of marital rape in Westeros.
6. She suffers from a lot of insecurities (about being a woman, winning her father's approval, being fit to rule, etc.). She also has insecurities about not having any friends and she immediately decides to befriend the first woman she meets in the fourth book simply because she doesn't want to feel lonely.

• On one occasion, after Ned gives her a chance to escape with her children from the city before he reports to Robert that she had been cheating on him, Cersei tells him that because of this she would allow him to go back to Winterfell and live out the rest of his life if he kneels to Joffrey and swears fealty to him. Ned doesn't do it and he ends up dead for this reason, but there is no indication Cersei wouldn't have kept her word if he had accepted and she still doesn't agree with Joffrey executing him.
• Even though she is rude to Sansa, she still tries to give her advice about how to rule as a Queen, about the specifics of the female body and that she shouldn't love too many people or else she would get hurt. It's implied that the reason for this is because Cersei sees Sansa as a younger and more inexperienced version of herself. While, Cersei lates desires to execute Sansa because she believes that Sansa was involved in Joffrey's death, it doesn't entirely subvert her prevention because during her Walk of Shame, she still noticebly feels bad about how things turned out and that Cersei could have provided a good marriage for her if Joffrey hadn't beheaded her father. Sansa is also one of the people Cersei hallucinates about which indicates that she feels guilty about how she treated her
• She is capable of feeling remorse on certain occasions. After the torture of the Blue Bard, she feels bad for him and tries to justify herself even if she doesn't take moral responsibility for what she did, and for a moment she even considers stopping his torture.
• She is also played for sympathy a lot as shown by the above examples. Aside from the examples that are already mentioned, during the Walk of Shame when she paraded naked through the streets of the city and the common people throw things at her, the story tries to frame the moment as an "Alas. Poor Villain" by presenting it from Cersei's point of view, presenting it in excrusiating detail, showing how it affects her psyche. The story clearly tries to make the readers feel bad for her during this chapter.

Lifetime - Staked: 921.15u, Profit/Loss: +14.81u, ROI: 1.61%, Parlay Suggestions: 177-69 Dog of the Week: 13-18, Picks: 8-3 (73% accuracy)
2024 - Staked: 274.05u, Profit/Loss: -18.55u
As always, scroll down for UFC Louisville Breakdowns. The following is just a recap of last event’s results.
~UFC 302 (PREVIOUS CARD)~
Staked: 12.5u
Profit/Loss: +7.64u
ROI: 61%
Parlay Suggestions: 3-0
Dog of the week: Cesar Almeida ❌
Picks: 8-3
Underwhelming card, but as expected it was a pretty easy one to predict. The favourites were mostly consistent, and most of the expected methods of victory landed. Nice profit made for once, but I think I had some fantastic reads on the card in spots that I didn’t bet. I said I expected Poirier to be competitive, and that Islam ITD wasn’t the lock people said it was. Matthews Decision was one I wanted to bet. I warned people that Hafez or Morono were the most likely bed-shitters. Basically, I think last week’s post would have been very useful to read.
✅ 2u Sean Strickland + Over 1.5 Rounds (-130) (won +1.54u)
✅ 2u Sean Strickland in R4, 5 or by Decision (+175) (won +3.5u) (accidentally edited this to 1u on the previous post, which wasn’t the intention. It’s was originally listed as 2u, and was tracked as such on my BetMMA record).
✅ 2u Kevin Holland + Grant Dawson (+110) (won 2.2u)
❌ 2u Cesar Almeida (+125)
❌ 1u Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos (+150)
✅ 2u Ailin Perez + Over 1.5 Rounds (-120) (won +1.66u)
✅ 1u Makhachev, Strickland, Holland, J. Almeida (+224) (won +2.24u)
❌ 0.5u Morono, Matthews, Hafez, Perez (+401)

~UFC Louisville~
Good to see more touring cards, and a slight step up in calibre from the usual Apex shit. Not a lot of spots I am confident in, I have to be honest…but I see a few underdogs that I’m sprinkling on.

~Jared Cannonier v Nassourdine Imavov~
Not another Nassourdine Imavov five rounder! I’m a fan of his skillset, but I think his cardio is suspect across 25 minutes, which ultimately makes his fights tricky to predict in spots like this. He’s not exactly a potent finisher, and I can’t trust him to win rounds four and five…so I think his path to victory is therefore limited by principal. A Nassourdine Imavov in a main event relies heavily on him winning R1, 2 and 3.
On the other side, Jared Cannonier is a guy I’ve never truly given the respect he deserves. A split decision win over Sean Strickland in a 25-minute fight is certainly impressive, as is the absolute beating he put on Marvin Vettori straight after* (* I believe Vettori has declined massively and is washed, so I won’t be going crazy in overreacting to that). Cannonier is a hard hitter, but he’s also gotten really comfortable in upping his volume across five round too, landing 141 and 241 significant strikes in those two aforementioned bouts respectively. The quantity didn’t dip in rounds 4 and 5 either, which is key considering my comments on Imavov’s cardio.
So I give Cannonier an advantage in R4 and 5, but what about across the other three? Well, the power advantage also goes to him, but the diversity with grappling and submission attempts falls with the Frenchman. Cannonier has started mixing takedowns into his game a bit more, which does present an opportunity for Imavov’s nasty front chokes…but other than that I’m not really sure where else I give Imavov a clear advantage outside of age and height. He’s the bigger fighter, but Cannonier is a strong dude and has looked just fine against other Middleweights (no one of Imavov’s size, to be fair).
Jared is now 40 years old, which is a bit of a dreaded number, which I think is the reasoning for this line being the way it is. People seem keen to blindly fade that age, regardless of whether it’s presented itself on tape. I see what they’re getting at, but Cannonier has put in two of his best performances of his career in his last two…I am not convinced it’s as simple as fading a 40 year old here.
So with that aside, I see far more merit to Cannonier’s side than Imavov’s, so the +100/-125 betting line feels off to me. I understand that Nassourdine just put in convincing performances against Roman Dolidze and Chris Curtis, but personally I think both of those fighters are a cut below Jared Cannonier (and I bet Nassourdine in both spots there). Cannonier would have looked good there too.
However, we have seen Imavov challenged against some of Middleweight’s common names, such as Sean Strickland and Joaquin Buckley…whilst Cannonier has looked good everywhere except against Izzy and Whittaker (he did drop a couple of rounds to Kelvin Gastelum, but it’s hardly raises alarm bells to me as Kelvin’s a tough guy to beat across 25 minutes of kickboxing).
I would personally make Cannonier the favourite here, anywhere between -125 and -150, and I assume the dreaded age of 40 is the reason for the odds here. I ask you this…if Jared Cannonier was 35, would the line be different? I believe it would be, and age is relative in MMA. It’s something to take seriously, of course, but I don’t think Cannonier even looked like he had started to decline in his most recent fight against Vettori last year.
I’ll be backing the underdog here at +100 or better. The line looks to be moving in Imavov’s favour so I will be patient.
How I line this fight: Jared Cannonier -137 (58%), Nassourdine Imavov +137 (42%)
Bet or pass: 1u Jared Cannonier to Win (+100 or better)
Prop leans: None
Live Betting Leans: If Cannonier looks to have won any of R1, 2, or 3 but is still a bettable price going into the championship rounds, I think he should be favoured to win those so could be a good entry in-play.

~Dominick Reyes v Dustin Jacoby~
This one should be fun for the live audience, but it’s an incredibly volatile fight for the bettors.
Very obvious to see why that’s the case for Dom Reyes – he’s got heaps of potential on a good day, but his chin is dust at this point. Seriously, he got knocked out cold by the jab of Ryan Spann. In a striking based fight at 205lbs, that’s all you need to know to decide that putting money on him is an uncomfortable idea.
Dustin Jacoby on the other hand is not the most potent finisher at Light Heavyweight, which immediately makes me think that Dustin isn’t the kind of guy you’d want to play executioner when he’s the favourite against someone with a flaw like Reyes’ chin. You want someone you can trust to put dudes to sleep in one punch – I don’t think that’s Jacoby (having gone the distance in seven of his 11 fights in this second UFC stint, and winning via leg kicks in one of the stoppages). Also, he’s not even particularly reliable to win rounds either, given that he was supposed to be the more technical fighter compared to Alonzo Menifield, Khalil Rountree, Azamat Murzakanov, and Maxim Grishin – where he was a moderate/big favourite every time, and never covered the price.
I still expect Jacoby to probably be the superior fighter across 15 minutes, but his -225 price tag definitely implies that a finish is expected by the oddsmakers…and I just have a whole lot less confidence that he lands it. From there, I also have less confidence that he’ll be the one winning rounds, given how easily he’s fumbled that in the past…so I just don’t see how you can have around 70% confidence in him winning here. Honestly I don’t really think Jacoby can ever justify that kind of pricetag at a UFC level when we have seen him shit the bed so many times.
On the other hand, I couldn’t trust Dominick Reyes’ chin to survive a strong gust of wind, so there’s no way I’d want to play him either. A very easy pass. I’ll pick Jacoby to win though, but I’d never bet him at this number.
In terms of thinking about props, I might be interested in looking at the Over 1.5 Rounds here, given that I disagree with the oddsmaker’s believe in Jacoby’s finishing ability. That’s going to be a horrible bet to sit through, so I’d probably need a decent price like +150 or better. We’ll see what they’re offering, but I doubt it’s that good.
How I line this fight: Dominick Reyes +175 (36%), Dustin Jacoby -175 (64%)
Bet or pass: Over 1.5 Rounds (+150 or better…no idea if that’s anywhere near what we’ll get)
Prop leans: See above

~Julian Marquez v Zach Reese~
Julian Marquez is a really fun fighter to watch, I’m glad to see him back inside the cage. He’s never been the most talented, but he’s a C+ at everything and has A grade heart. To beat him, you need to be clinical or vastly superior in one area, or Marquez might surprise you and turn the fight into a war of attrition.
Zach Reese is a 6-1 fighter that lost his debut Cody Brundage (I actually bet Brundage there, haha). Talk about fumbling the bag. He just seems like a classic DWCS fighter, who scores quick finishes against taxi drivers and then is suddenly expected to be diverse and talented enough to take on an actual trained professional that’s been competing against a much higher level for years. The difference between the regionals and the UFC has always been vast, and DWCS proves that time and time again.
Zach Reese’s longest fight time is 4 minutes and 13 seconds. He has literally never been in a fight that’s hit the second round. Julian Marquez, on the other hand, has gone longer than that in five of his 6 UFC appearances to date – and his opponents have all competed in the organisation at least five times. I genuinely think that tells you all you need to know.
And the craziest part is that Zach Reese ain’t even an inexperienced young gun. Him fumbling the debut wasn’t like Tom Nolan, a 24 year old kid that believed his own hype and got sloppy in his debut. Reese is THIRTY YEARS OLD.
The gulf in experience is massive, and the difference in age isn’t. I know Julian Marquez’s UFC record isn’t pretty at all, but how well do you think Zach Reese would fare if he faced the same opponents at the time Marquez did? I reckon he’d be 0-6.
Maybe I’m crazy, but Julian Marquez deserves better than to be a + money underdog against a literal regional opponent. Reese has tall man’s defence, he got tagged in both fights in DWCS/UFC and they were on the feet about 20 seconds combined. Yes he’s clearly got a great submission game on bottom, but Marquez has never been submitted, is a BJJ purple belt and has trained at decent camps before. He’s currently at the MMA Lab and has been training with Cannonier for this one.
I’ll be rolling the dice on the more proven fighter at +100.
How I line this fight: Julian Marquez -150 (60%), Zach Reese +150 (40%)
Bet or pass: 1u Julian Marquez to Win (+100)
Prop leans: None
Live Betting Leans: R1 finishers often have bad cardio, so if we get to the stool then Marquez is definitely worth a bet to turn the tide.

~Brunno Ferreira v Dustin Stoltzfus~
I can’t figure Dustin Stoltzfus out. He’s always presented himself as a good but one-dimensional grappler, judging by performances against high level competition such as Rodolpho Vieira and Gerald Meerschaert…but the way he showed up against Punahele Soriano made him look like a completely different guy. He was supposed to be easily outgunned on the feet there, but he looked seasoned and composed in the striking, and ultimately ended up getting a finish that I think very few people saw coming.
Brunno Ferreira is a super explosive Brazilian powerhouse that hasn’t gone past the halfway point in a fight yet. He throws heat and has that madman style, but his fights are so short I’ve no idea if he actually has any redeeming qualities from a technical or minute-winning perspective. As you probably know by now, my least favourite fighting style is ‘big strike go brrrr’. Ferreira has also had some bizarre results himself, pulling off a huge upset against Gregory Rodrigues, and then getting starched by Nursulton Ruziboev.
The only thing I know about Brunno is that he’ll go to war with an opponent that wants to meet him in the middle…I’ve no idea if Dustin Stoltzfus really wants to do that. He handled himself really well against a similar kind of style in Puna Soriano…but he’s also the same guy that got womped in under 20 seconds by Abus Magomedov.
To conclude, I think I could easily see Brunno Ferreira scoring an easy KO inside a couple of minutes, but I could also see this one looking way more competitive and close than the betting line suggests if Stoltzfus makes it to the stool. Lots of different possibilities, not a lot of confidence in any one outcome.
Brunno Ferreira kind of presents similar red flags to Zach Reese in the last breakdown. The difference between the two, and the reason I am fading Reese and not Brunno, is that I have confidence and knowledge that Marquez can handle that early chaos. I can’t say the same about Stoltzfus, so I won’t be taking a stab on him. Personally I think he’s absolutely the value side though, so if you’re someone who wants to bet every fight then absolutely take him.
I will also be picking him to win, but not because I think he does so 51% or more of the time…just because Ferreira is only known to have a limited path to victory that could easily fall apart.
How I line this fight: Such a volatile fight, I have no idea.
Bet or pass: Pass
Prop leans: None

~Punahele Soriano v Miguel Baeza~
Speak of the devil!
Punahele Soriano is so, so overrated. I have no idea how he’s even still in the UFC, or how he even got there in the first place. He was hyped up by Dana and the promo team as this scary and lethal striker….but then he pussy’d out and grappled his way to a decision win against Jamie Pickett on DWCS. Surprisingly they rewarded him with a contract (but didn’t want Brendan Loughnane!). Since then, lethal KO artist Puna has scored just three knockouts…but in the four fights he hasn’t, he’s looked like absolute shit. Getting schooled on the feet by Dustin Stoltzfus and Brendan Allen is a really bad look when you’re being advertised as a striker…and losing a decision to Nick Maximov isn’t a good look either!
To their credit, this fight against Miguel Baeza is a genius pairing by the UFC matchmakers though, because Baeza’s career has kind of panned out the same as Soriano’s. A hard hitting DWCS graduate, Baeza got off to a decent start with three consecutive finishes, most notably against Matt Brown. He stepped up the level of competition to face Santiago Ponzinibbio, which resulted in a life and death decision that he narrowly lost. Unfortunately, the losses snowballed dramatically as he was later KO’d by Khaos Williams and Andre Fialho. The latter result the most shocking, given that Fialho is dogshit. Baeza has since taken two years off…and everyone forgot he existed.
Apologies for taking two massive paragraphs to give you both men’s life stories, but it really does paint the picture of this fight from a betting perspective. Both men are overhyped KO artists - with one lacking in durability, and the other lacking in brain cells.
Puna is probably more likely to walk away with the KO win due to Baeza’s declining durability, but he’s also the more likely to get out-struck and styled on if this one turns into a longer distanced fight. Who wins that kind of fight? I have absolutely no idea. I’m just glad that one guy gets to stick around after this fight is over, because I’d be keen to fade both guys in the future.
I have little confidence so it counts for nothing, but I’ll pick Baeza simply because I like to fade finish-reliant fighters, and Miguel seems to be the more technical. His leg kick should work nicely here.
How I line this fight: Punahele Soriano +125 (45%), Miguel Baeza -125 (55%)
Bet or pass: Pass
Prop leans: None

~Raul Rosas Jr. vs Ricky Turcios~
I’ve copy/pasted my breakdown for this fight from the UFC Mexico event, and made some updated changes:
I’m still pretty gassed about hitting the fade on Raul Rosas Jr with Christian Rodriguez – definitely one of my favourite bets of 2023. I saw an untested 18 year old that was the beneficiary the UFC hype machine, and a then unknown opponent who had proven tricky to beat with the style Rosas Jr has. I saw it as a pick’em, and Rodriguez was +200. Easy bet to make.
In that fight, Rosas Jr kind of cardio-dumped and gave up once it was obvious that early finish wasn’t going to present itself, and that’s certainly a concern until we see him fight competently for 15 minutes at this level. I can think of countless UFC hype trains that hid their shocking minute winning ability behind dominant and exciting R1 finishes (Edmen Shahbazyan was my initial example, but since writing this Joe Pyfer has given another great recent example), and I therefore simply cannot trust Raul Rosas at this stage in his career when he’s still going to be sitting at -250 on the betting line due to his popularity.
Is Ricky Turcios worth the gamble as an underdog? I don’t really think so. He has been taken down seven and six times in two different UFC fights, has losses to Aimann Zahabi and Boston Salmon, and his wins were against Kevin Natividad and Brady Hiestand…which were both splits. The UFC are clearly treating this as a lay-up fight for Rosas Jr, but without feeding him a promotional newcomer or a fellow inexperienced guy. I don’t mean lay-up as if it’s a squash match, but it’s assumed that he SHOULD win here, instead of them throwing him to the wolves or making him go up against a fellow serious prospect.
Stylistically this one all revolves around the cardio for me, because I don’t think Turcios has what it takes to win this fight off the merit of his own skillset. He needs Rosas Jr. to gas out first, if he’s going to have any hope of having his way here. We have no way of knowing whether or not Rosas will gas, as it could have just been a one off and he’s so young that he could make the improvements quickly.
Personally, I’d be willing to give Rosas Jr the benefit of the doubt. The Rodriguez loss really should have opened his eyes, and it’s often the best thing for a young prospect to get that wake up call sometimes, as he was probably starting to believe his own hype. If the cardio is fixable, I assume he’s done all he can to fix it. He therefore deserves to be the favourite, but I won’t be betting on it.
How I line this fight: Raul Rosas Jr -200 (67%), Ricky Turcios +200 (33%)
Bet or pass: Pass
Prop leans: I was originally going to bet the Over 2.5 rounds, but I’ll pass on that now.

~Eduarda Moura v Denise Gomes~
Eduarda Moura’s UFC debut did not impress me at all. I didn’t bother researching her regional footage, and from what I saw in that debut she’s a size/weight bully that isn’t even that amazing at what she does. Yes she outgrappled and mauled that Mexican woman, but the size difference was comical and she couldn’t have found an easier opponent to beat if she tried.
I had one of my best bets of 2023 on Denise Gomes’ last fight against Angela Hill (big up Angie for winning a couple of weeks ago, she’s such a money train for me), opting to fade the scary finishing ability of a WMMA fighter for a more technical and historically durable veteran on the return. Not only did Angie school her, she even managed to mix in some grappling to make the win even more stylish. That gets the alarm bells ringing here, as Moura’s MO is definitely to grapple, and Angie’s no grappler.
I don’t have a strong opinion on this one, because both women give me very strong fraud vibes. I think Moura is absolutely going to be one to fade in the future, and Gomes has already been faded in the past. Personally I don’t think the equally limited Denise Gomes is the woman to give Moura her first L, because stylistically this looks like a tricky fight for her. Fingers crossed Moura wins and the fade opportunity is live next time. It’s an easy pass for me.
How I line this fight: No idea, they’re both frauds
Bet or pass: Pass
Prop leans: None

~Puja Tomar v Rayanne Amanda (dos Santos)~
Some people believe in the narrative that you should try and fade Indian fighters. That worked pretty well last time Jeka Sarragih fought!
I bet on Rayanne dos Santos in her UFC debut, and she lost a split to an inexperienced opponent with bad cardio. I was impressed with her striking in Invicta, but she struggled to do anything meaningful stuff in that UFC debut. By the looks of the early line I’m seeing, she’s about -180 here. Who the hell is going to bet that!?
I obviously know nothing about Puja, but her record shows she’s fought two serious opponents. You know I love WMMA more than anyone else, but I have absolutely no interest in doing tape for this one. Pass.
How I line this fight: No idea
Bet or pass: Pass
Prop leans: None

~Cody Stamann v Taylor Lapilus~
Very disappointed by the betting line here. When a fight like this gets announced, I immediately get excited because I think there’s a chance the books might get caught out and give a very bettable price on a fight that seems close on paper, but should be quite one-sided in reality, due to the stylistics.
Taylor Lapilus deserves to be -200 here, maybe even steeper. Reason being, he’s great where Stamann is average, but he’s also good where Stamann is good. The Frenchman is a slick striker that should certainly be expected to land the more eye-catching shots, when compared to Stamann’s T-Rex boxing. He will enjoy a 9-inch reach advantage, and should just be able to hit and not get hit. Stamann barely has any power either, so even if he does land a punch for every two he absorbs, I doubt it’s going to do much to convince the judges to credit him as the round winner.
Cody Stamann has veered away from his wrestling roots in recent fights, but you’d think it would serve him well here, given the reach and technical disadvantage he will find himself at. Whilst this would be true against another opponent, Taylor Lapilus has a very good anti-grappling game. His takedown defence is good, but even when he does get floored he works hard and effectively to get back to his feet, or at the very least nullify his opponent. His most recent fight was an exception to that as Farid Basharat made light work of him…but that was a very impressive performance that I don’t think many could replicate.
So in summary, I think Stamann is going to be shut out here, and I don’t think he’s going to really be able to find success anywhere in this fight. He will either stand at distance and clearly get outstruck by the fighter with the better footwork that will keep him at range…or he attempts to wrestle and likely has little luck at finding any real success. At the very least, the success he does have probably won’t be enough to erase the striking deficit he’s already accrued.
On a more narrative based note, Stamann also appears to have regressed a fair bit in recent years. He was once a gatekeeper to the top 15, drawing with the likes of Song Yadong and even winning a round against Merab…but since then losing decisions to 37-year-old Douglas Silva de Andrade and winning questionable decisions against Luan Lacerda. I’d say this is a tricky fight for Stamann in his prime, but Cody’s trending downwards too.
As I said in the opening paragraph, I’m disappointed that the books didn’t offer a better price on Lapilus, and I’m interested to see if money comes in on Cody still. Personally I’d be happy to bet Lapilus at -175 or better, but I’d need the line to improve slightly before I could play it. I might parlay him with someone on next week’s card once I get further down the line researching it.
How I line this fight: Cody Stamann +225 (31%), Taylor Lapilus -225 (69%)
Bet or pass: No bet, for now.
Prop leans: None

~Brad Katona v Jesse Butler~
The less time spent talking about this one, the better. Brad Katona is possibly the least intimidating MMA fighter to have ever graced the UFC, both in the way he fights, and his demeanour. The former is more important, because he can sometimes struggle to win rounds because he’s outgunned most of the time. He needs to put on a perfect defensive display to win striking fights, because if he gets wobbled he probably can’t get the round back.
Jesse Butler is a can with about as much of a right to be on the UFC’s roster as I do. He has no striking ability, as seen in his 23 second KO MASSACRE at the hands of 40-year-old Jim Miller (one of my favourite KOs of 2023 that one, definitely recommend if you didn’t see it!). That lack of striking ability, both offensively and defensively, means that he is very unlikely to get the better of a good point fighter like Brad Katona. But everyone has a puncher’s chance.
Katona is nearly -600 here. Mostly justified, but also eye-wateringly steep at the exact same time when you consider Katona’s path to victory is almost exclusively by decision! Pass.
How I line this fight: Brad Katona -400 (80%), Jesse Butler +400 (20%)
Bet or pass: Pass
Prop leans: Me to fall asleep watching this one (+200 or better)

~Ludovit Klein v Thiago Moises~
Two guys I have historically had a very tricky time analysing. I was high on Klein when he made his debut, then I turned my back on him after the losses to Trizano and Landwehr – and since then he’s been pulling off upsets and continuing to prove he was worth the hype he entered the UFC with. The dude has some of the best high kicks I’ve ever seen from a fighter.
Thiago Moises has always been credentialed and talented, but he’s failed to deliver on the promises his abilities make on paper. Moises is capable of taking fighters down and submitting them early, but it’s genuinely taken nine UFC fights for him to actually go out there and do that. And then he did it twice in a row (against Giagos and Melq Costa).
So I think that does a good job of explaining why I am going to be non-committal and just leave this fight alone. Klein is great when he’s on form, but he’s shown himself to be capable of dropping the ball in fights he really should win. He’s proven himself to be a guy that you back as an underdog, but avoid as a favourite. He’s barely either here, but he does have a minus next to his name.
Moises is also too inconsistent to trust either. I think there’s a chance that this could be a winnable fight for him, as his grappling will definitely be superior if he can force things to the floor. That sounds like a great opportunity for a +100 fighter…but Moises definitely won’t look that number if he decides to stand and trade – and his 1.64 takedowns landed per 15 minutes statistic is enough to assume he won’t.
The oddsmakers are right in lining this one close, because both men have very legitimate paths to victory with only a few small factors landing in their favour. I’d argue that Klein is the rightful favourite (and therefore my pick) due to all fights starting standing and Moises’ track record…but this is a close one.
How I line this fight: Ludovit Klein -125 (55%), Thiago Moises +125 (45%)
Bet or pass: Pass
Prop leans: None

~Charles Radtke v Carlos Prates~
If you’re a regular reader of my posts, you may know that historically I am someone who genuinely thinks Trevin Giles has some redeeming qualities. In fact, I claimed in his recent fight against Carlos Prates that the line was wide, and that Giles may be able to find a way to have some success. Having watched that fight back, I think I was justified to feel that way.
I liked what I saw from Prates on DWCS, with the way he mixed up volume, pressure and power…but ultimately that performance against Giles was a bit concerning. He definitely lost round one, and by the end of the fight he was outstruck almost two to one. Of course, he won via KO…but to expect a fighter to be bailed out by their raw power every time is a bit foolish.
Charles Radtke is ironically a fighter I’ve had nothing but bad things to say about. I slated his debut win against Mike Mathetha (the artist formally known as Blood Diamond), and tried to fade him when he faced Gilbert Urbina. Boy did he look great in that sophomore appearance, I was really impressed. His striking just seemed so tight, accurate and crisp, I couldn’t believe how easily he pieced up Urbina.
I’m obviously not super confident in my analysis here, simply due to the lack of tape we have on both guys…but I don’t really understand what we are supposed to have seen from Prates to justify a -200 pricetag? He was struggling against Giles, and had he not landed the precise punch that ended things…he could easily have lost that one! I get that he has a big size advantage…but Urbina was taller and Radtke approached the striking gameplan perfectly. He also has Belal Muhammad in his corner (or at least he did vs Urbina), who I rate as a pretty intelligent fighter.
This one feel like it could develop into a very competitive fight, and the finishing ability is strong on either side. Radtke has also shown a diverse game and an ability to mix in grappling when necessary, which could serve him well here. For those reasons, I’m happy to roll the dice on yet another underdog here, and back Charles Radtke for 1u at +150 or better. I’ll be waiting a little bit to see what the initial line movement does.
How I line this fight: Charles Radtke +100 (50%), Carlos Prates +100 (50%)
Bet or pass: 1u Charles Radtke to Win (+150 or better)
Prop leans: None

~Daniel Marcos v John Castaneda~
I’m quite high on Daniel Marcos. I just think he’s a really talented striker. I bet him heavily against Aoriqileng, and were it not for the unfortunate NC, I think that would have looked like a really smart bet (not the only time that’s even happened to me this year…thanks Piera Rodriguez). People still hate on him for potentially getting a robbery over Davey Grant…but Grant is a very tricky guy to look good against at the best of times. The likes of Jonathan Martinez, Adrian Yanez, and even Marlon Vera have all struggled to decisively beat Davey.
John Castaneda is certainly the more well-rounded martial artist here, as the way he’s mixed takedowns into his game has been really intelligent. He’s also shown much more dangerousness than Marcos, landing a knockdown in four of his six UFC performances, and even scoring a submission win over Miles Johns.
For as long as this one stays standing, I think it’s a close fight that’s hard to call. Whilst I give a slight minute winning edge to Marcos for his higher level of technicality to his striking, I think Castaneda’s power can be a great equaliser, as can his ability to mix in takedowns. I’ve not seen much of Marcos’ anti-grappling to believe he can fend off a takedown threat if Castaneda wants to force things there.
So yeah, a non-committal breakdown but I think this is a close fight to call. There certainly isn’t any betting value to a fight this close anyway. I’ll pick Castaneda and give him the slight edge on the betting line for his diversity and finishing upside.
How I line this fight: John Castaneda -125 (55%), Daniel Marcos +125 (45%)
Bet or pass: Pass
Prop leans: None

~Andrea Lee v Montana De La Rosa~
It’s always tricky to navigate the fade when you see a fighter with a glaring deficiency that keeps taking losses. Andrea Lee is on a sharp downwards slope – she’s 35 years old, she cannot stop takedowns, and she’s got a 3-7 record in decisions in the UFC. Those are some pretty damning facts, but what’s worse is that Lee’s decline is really showing in her performances. I confidently bet Miranda Maverick against her at near pick’em due to her grappling superiority, but I was very surprised to see Maverick actually clearly outrstriking Lee across 15 minutes. That was a terrible look because Maverick’s striking really has never looked good. That should not have happened.
The reason I began by saying that it’s difficult fading a fighter in Lee’s position, is because there comes a time where the calibre of opponent clearly takes a downwards step. I’ve always been a big believer in Miranda Maverick, and I believe she’s top 10 in the division, so trusting her to feast on Andrea Lee’s carcass was easy. This time however, we’re being asked to trust Montana De La Rosa, a clearly inferior fighter, to do the same. Historically, Lee is certainly a cut above her, and Lee’s 30-27 victory over MDLR in 2019 demonstrated that perfectly.
Montana’s not bad bad, she’s just lacking in physicality to really be able to get her game going. She’s definitely a grappler, but a 31% takedown accuracy and poor top control means that she struggles to really find openings to do her best work...so she just kind of survives in fights if she can’t grapple you. Just looking through her UFC fights and it’s so obvious where her calibre lies…none of the girls she’s beaten apart from Ariane Lipski have been in the UFC for years, and even some of the names she’s beaten aren’t super elite either. And back when she fought Lipski, the Brazilian had some of the worst anti-grappling we’d seen in WMMA.
So this is clearly one of those fights where my predictions and probabilities for the fight weigh more on how either woman loses, as opposed to how they win. Right off the bat, that’s an awful premise to be considering a bet, so I can easily tell you this is one to avoid…and I haven’t even looked at the betting line yet.
Yep, Andrea lee sits around -130. I expected exactly that, as it’s a coin-toss as to which woman is inferior, but history is worth something and Lee does have a win over her opponent here. I guess Andrea Lee is the pick because MDLR already landed five takedowns the first time and did fuck all with them, but I have little to no confidence here. I’m sure no one is even reading this far into the breakdown because no one even cares about WMMA like I do. It’s a pass. I'll keep an eye out for Lee by Decision, assuming it's around the +200 mark.
How I line this fight: Andrea Lee -150 (60%), Montana De La Rosa +150 (40%)
Bet or pass: Pass
Prop leans: None

Bets (Bold = been placed)
1u Jared Cannonier to Win (+100 or better)
1u Jacoby v Reyes Over 1.5 Rounds (+150 or better….I could be way off the mark there)
1u Julian Marquez to Win (+100)
1u Charles Radtke to Win (+150 or better)
1u Andrea Lee to Win by Decision (+200 or better...might not get anywhere near that number, idk)

Parlay Pieces: Julian Marquez, Taylor Lapilus
Dog of the Week: Jared Cannonier
Picks: Jared Cannonier, Dustin Jacoby, Julian Marquez, Dustin Stoltzfus, Miguel Baeza, Raul Rosas Jr, Denise Gomes, Taylor Lapilus, Brad Katona, Moises/Klein, Radtke/Prates, Marcos/Castaneda, Andrea Lee

Hi everyone:
My husband and I were attending a church that, steadily, caused us to question the doctrine. Numerous members in the congregation said unusual things that fed into a good deal of feasuspicion on my end (not unwarranted) but it led to what I believe was an intentionally guided breakdown. Over the course of a year, hyper-specific conversations we'd had in our home would be repeated word-for-word by church members. Many had said that they "felt like the church was a cult" when they first joined (this was meant in jest, but the volume of people who said it was such that it planted a seed). Others still, spoke about the church collectively, as in: "Yes, he left because he didn't love us." and "Yeah, a lot of people leave the church and say it's not because of us; they don't come back." Just a bit unusual.
So, we decided we'd leave and didn't announce this to any congregants. Our final Sunday, a hymn they'd never sung before in church was used for communion. This was the exact song I'd been singing all week long in my own home, less than a mile from the church. (Perhaps that can be chalked up to coincidence, however....) That same day, six women said "goodbye" to me in weird ways, all speaking to me in past tense: "You know, had you never come up and prayed for me, I never would have known you", "What was your name again? I'm just so sorry I never got the chance to know you," "You were always such a light," etc. And people were oddly affectionate, planting kisses on the top of my head, squeezing shoulders....just...weird. I've been in church for decades and no one has ever "sent me off" like that.
I had been making mention of some light criticisms of the priest at home (I didn't like his imperious behavior or how quickly he angered) and my husband said, "you really need to stop talking about Father A______". I told him I was uncomfortable taking communion at the church, and he said, "It would be a bold move not to".
My husband says I am being sensitive but believe me that is not what is going on. The priest was talking about "thought implantation" from December to February, and once we left the church, it was as though all manner of vices, words, and illnesses mentioned by congregants suddenly befell our home, and me most specifically. I need expedient prayer for healing from all the psychological, physical, mental, and spiritual trauma this whole thing has caused. We've gone through MONTHS now of one terrifying circumstance after another. I need my soul to feel reconnected to the Holy Spirit, for all that I say to be received by Christ exactly as I'm saying it. (I was under some very strong and weird influence for several months....need deliverance from any spiritual stronghold or psychological block that may have me convinced of things that are not true.)
I will say this: I know how this sounds, but I have to have support from those who are willing to believe what I'm saying. I felt like my mind was "reprogrammed" during all of these last few months and I need all manner of ungodliness to be permanently removed from memory and habit. I've always been pure, God-fearing, showing the evidence of the Fruit of the Spirit, etc. But I had said "everything was opposite" and that "no one could help", that "I wasn't receiving the good," etc. and need those words to be bound and cast out forever. Please pray that my life will feel REAL again, that I will feel God's presence in my heart and my mind; that He will totally and completely heal whatever this has been and protect our home from further attack in the future.
Thank you for reading this long request and joining me in prayer!

I took a week off of work and college had started their two-week break before the next semester. I took my chance and cleared my calendar and booked a trip to the town where my grandfather stayed while he was a journalist. The greyhound ride was a good time for me to figure out my approach, while the busy cityscape outside my window slowly faded into Southern African wilderness, nothing but trees and empty kilometers of road before I reached my stop, a homely town that seemed well connected to the rest despite the distance. It had been many years since my grandfather had set foot in this town, yet I could feel his influence. The roads were now cracked and showed their wear, shops and residences had been renovated and upgraded, looking more modern and slightly out of place.
The hotel my grandfather stayed at while on the investigation was now a more comfortable looking lodge, with a view over the rolling foothills of the Drakensberg and the surrounding cities, one of which I could see my home, vaguely. The sun had begun to set and I still needed to get my information from the residents. I unpacked my things after booking my room and set out, like a tourist with a pen and notebook in hand asking anyone what they may know. To no one’s surprise, they mostly looked at me like I was insane or a knock off Leon Schuster trying to get them to react in a funny way. I had almost given up completely until I sat near one of the social areas where they would light a fire and residents at the lodge would sit and relax while watching the sun go down. I was alone there and just sat drawing the distant landscape dreading the silence for the next week while I waited for the next bus to arrive and I’d return home. Two days passed in mainly silence.
That was until a man sat near me, dressed in weathered jeans and an old top with work boots covered in dust and dirt, his face obscured by a large hat covering his face, his hands in his pockets even as he sat but his arms almost looked skeleton like, his long white hair flowing from either side of his hat.
“Can I help you?” I asked, feeling like he was trying to get my attention.
“No, but I can help you. You cause quite a lot of noise, trying to get the people to talk about something that scares them.” He said, his voice didn’t come across as harsh, more like cautious. The first person who decided to talk to me in a casual manner since a couple days ago. He wanted to tell me what I wanted to know.
Without any hesitation I turned to the page I set aside for notes when the man chuckled.
“Something funny?” I asked.
“You’re going to need more pages than that.” He said, flicking his hat up slightly while he sat back and got comfortable.
“Trust me, this is all I need.” I said feeling like I had to tiptoe around the subject as to not let the opportunity slip, but I also felt overwhelmingly anxious, almost like someone else was watching us. I felt my gaze shift every so often over my shoulder trying to find the entity that was staring a hole through me, apart from a quiet street crossing and some pedestrians; nothing.
“Something there?” Asked the man, as I shook off the feeling. I started getting a bit annoyed by the short answers and questions.
“Just feel like-, never mind. If you’re ready to help give me some information, what should I call you?” I asked as the man took a moment.
“Call me ‘Farmhand’. Since it’ll sound better than my real name, you’ll find that out in time.” Said Farmhand as I wrote that down in my notebook and began phrasing the question in my mind as to get the proper answer. Furiously tapping my pen on the page.
“Just ask, I already know what you want to know.” He said, I looked up from the page, slightly irritated by the confidence.
“How can you be so sure, Farmhand?” I blurted.
“You aren’t the first person to go on this goose chase. The Lady in White is very particular in her targets.” Farmhand explained, I wrote down everything.
“What’s her story, like the true story; why does she haunt this stretch of road?” I asked. Farmhand chuckled.
“She doesn’t haunt, she’s simply looking for a lift.” He said in the distinct Afrikaans twang that so many white South Africans have, it’s by no means ominous, more of a conversation encouragement than anything else.
“A lift? To where?” I asked. I heard so many different types of tales, from her being hostile to men, a companion to young women and a bit of both to younger males. But the main part that stayed the same was that they were alone.
“Her matric dance, my seun.” Farmhand said, the only other person to call me ‘Seun’ was my dad, the Afrikaans for son.
“What exactly happened?” I asked, pen at the ready.
“The legend goes far back, but the main story that my pa always told me was that she was with her boyfriend in the car, they went along this road and broke down; one of the worst places to break down since around eight is when the busses shut down and the last train has departed from the station. She chose to try down the street, bearing in mind how dangerous that is these days, it was a little bit less so then.” Farmhand said as he took off his hat, keeping his gaze at the setting sun.
“How much less dangerous?” I asked.
“Snakes, though the venomous Boomslang doesn’t go out of its way to kill you, no Black Mamba’s live up here. No, we have jackals and caracals, they hunt in packs and pick you off in the dead of night.” Farmhand explained.
“Is that how it happened, how she died?” Farmhand chuckled lightly.
“Nope, she saw a car in the distance and flagged them down, asked them to help take her to town or help her boyfriend. The man took her up the road and when they started to approach where she had broken down, the boyfriend tried flagging them down. Her joy turned to terror as the stranger sped up and before the boyfriend knew it, the car had hit him. The last she saw of him was him tumbling down the hill among the trees.” Farmhand said. Placing his hat on his chest, closing his eyes and bowing his head. After a short silence, I asked:
“What happened next?”
“Well, the girl was hysterical, the car was still speeding up and she yelled at the man to stop, and kept pleading for him to let her go. Eventually the man had stopped, the girl got out and started calling to the boyfriend to see if he had somehow survived, as she did, the stranger hit her on the back of her head and had his way with her.” Farmhand said, provoking a sour taste in my mouth, a sheer sense of guilt welled up in my stomach.
“Now I understand why no one was willing to tell me the story.” I said, slightly defeated. The man put a hand on my knee like my grandfather used to and looked me in the eye. For the first time I noticed his wrinkled but kind face, he smiled.
“It’s not a story everyone can stomach. Come, let’s finish this so you can write your story.” Farmhand said as he sat back on the couch, a thought struck me; was I so obvious that he knew I was a journalist writing a story? Because I don’t remember ever disclosing the fact I was a journalist. Regardless, we continued.
“After the stranger- did the act, what happened?” I asked uneasily, feeling sick to my stomach.
“He put her in his car, and drove back to the spot where they broke down, but a half a kilometer away she woke up and he pushed her out of the car at high speed. She should’ve died there, but she crawled, half her body scratched, scraped and broken. She died slowly and alone. Before she died she heard her boyfriend calling for her.” Farmhand continued.
“Did he ever find her?”
There was silence, even the birds had stopped chirping and the street had gone quiet.
“No, I don’t believe he did. Whether or not he died looking is another story, but that’s not what you’re here for.” The Farmer said as he stood up, placed his hat on his head and began to walk off, before he passed me, he put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it.
“Promise me one thing; be careful. Can you do that for me, Alex?” Farmhand said before he patted me on the shoulder and walked off without waiting for my answer. I turned to confront him but he was gone, it couldn’t have been more than a second, but it was like he vanished into thin air. I was left confused and bewildered. The notes were real, the pen marks solid and clear. The events I was informed of felt vivid, yet the silence that fell around me felt otherworldly. I was feeling lost and exhausted before, now I was more awake than I had ever been.
Around eight that night, the sun had set and the mountain had cast a chilling shadow over the down I stayed, sleet had been reported near us and snow on the mountain. If I was going to get the answer I so desperately wanted, I was going to have to earn it. I walked to my car, steam cascading from my nostrils as the cold air turned frigid with even the slightest of breezes. I got in my car and drove to the first rest point along the mountain to gather some supplies: Some water and snacks, a couple of pre-charged battery packs for my recorder as I don’t want to stop every fifteen to twenty minutes to write down my experience. This would also prove if I was going insane or not, when asked by a couple of the staff at the store, I told them my intentions and they sounded interested for the first time. When I left I tested the packs and sure enough; fully charged and my recorder was clean and ready to be used.
I approached the entrance to the mountain pass that had been the setting for this ghost story that has latched on to me since childhood. No street lamps, no signs, yet the road itself was painted brightly and every so often a glowing marker was placed to ensure you knew when to turn and when to slow down. The threshold felt like a portal, the point where light didn’t reach and would not pass, even down to the road, where it was light, it looked traveled on, occupied and used; the mountain pass looked pristine; almost as if it hadn’t been touched for decades. As I looked beyond the pass, far below what was called the foothills of the Drakensberg, a large highway was built, the lights from the cars, the lamps and signs glowed for kilometers in the distance. After delaying for twenty minutes, I turned my car on, flicked on the high-beams and began my journey.
Every few minutes I would check my recorder, to make sure it was on and still functioning, it lay on the passenger seat in plain view, I could see some bright lights giving me the information if the screen was somehow obscured. It was a long while before anything happened. Maybe it was paranoia, maybe it was anxiety, whatever it was wouldn’t stop me from exploring this legend. Worst thing that could happen is I travel sixty kilometers and nothing happens and it turns out my grandfather was just trying to scare me. I turned again after a lengthy passage of time and I got my answer.
I don’t remember stopping, I don’t even think I saw anyone on the side of the road, maybe it was while I was looking at my recorder, but I felt a cold presence behind me.
“Do you know where you’re going?” Asked a voice, a quiet but feminine voice. A chill erupted throughout my body; a violent sense of panic coursed through my mind because I knew where the sound came from. It came from behind me. My hands began to shake but I dared not take my hands away from the wheel.
“Do you?” It asked again. The answer got caught in my throat, I found myself unable to speak.
“No, not really.” I managed though my voice felt hoarse.
“You seem to know what you want.” The voice said again, it sounded curious. I stayed silent, the road twisted and wound around the mountain in a chaotic and frantic fashion.
“Are you scared?” She asked again, the voice coming from next to me. I turned to look but a cold hand kept my eyes glued to the road.
“Keep your eyes on the road, enough people have died here.” She said, as my nerves calmed slightly.
“Who are you?” I asked, my eyes focused and the world around me much less than an echo.
“Why do you want to know?” She asked, sounding more like she was in a void, her voice had more of an echo than anything else.
“I want to know what happened here. The true story.” I said after taking a breath and gathering my nerves, the road seemed to calm down, from sharp uphill turns to moonlight sweeping curves that allowed my gaze to rest as the shadow of the trees passed us by.
“Can I trust you?” She asked, the question rang through my head as I remember what Farmhand said, how she trusted a stranger who took advantage of her.
“Yes. Yes you can.” I said after a while. The figure turned to me; I could feel her eyes scrutinize every inch of me.
“You’re not like him?” Her questions kept hammering into me, I felt a mix of fear and guilt, knowing who she was referring to.
“I won’t hurt you. I want to help.” I said after a while, gathering a fragile sense of courage as my hands shook furiously. The road seemed to twist and turn, harsh rising hills. Sharp corners told the tale of her many victims as my headlights passed by, the scrapes and dents of hard hits leading to a drop that seemed to have no end, not a single tree could be seen and the moonlight from high above could not pierce the dark veil that lingered joust over the edge of the road. After a while, she spoke again.
“Alright, I trust you.” She said as I allowed my eyes to wander, the figure relaxed in the passenger seat for a while, my recorder on the center console as I saw her blue skin, almost emitting a frozen chill as I saw her dress, torn and tattered, my stomach felt uneasy when I saw bruising and swelling near her inner thighs. Her hands crossed in her lap as I saw the scratches and what looked like deep cuts on her arms and exposed shoulders from the straps on her dress. I could not see much of her face as it seemed her face was bleeding.
“What happened that night?” I asked, concentrating on the road again. My passenger stayed quiet for a while, quietly shuddering and sniffing before she spoke again.
“I was happy, a man I loved decided I would be his date for the matric dance. We’d known each other since we were children. My best friend. We were driving along this road to get to the lodge, where the dance was being held.” Her voice sounded sourly-joyful, her hands didn’t move from her lap much, so as to not distract me with her hand movements.
“It was a while before town, the car started shaking. I thought the tire had blown, but smoke came from the front. We stopped nearby.” She pointed and I could see the flashing of hazard lights and the smell of smoke invaded my nostrils.
“I thought I’d get some help, he said he’d be fine and that I should hurry back. I walked for a while; it was a cold night still. I walked for, I don’t know how long. But I managed to get an old man to stop. He said he’d help; we just need to get my man and he’d sort out the car.” She said as the road began to crack and fall apart at the edge.
“Do you know what he did?” She asked me, I assumed it was a test to see if I was listening.
“He deceived you.” I answered. She nodded, looking down for a short while before continuing.
“He asked why I was alone on this road. I told him I wasn’t, that I was on my way to town with my man, and I told him about who he was, what he meant to me. I was overjoyed when I saw him, my joy turned to confusion, to horror as he sped up and ran him over. I saw his body roll into the trees, I thought for sure he was dead.” She pointed to the part of the road that had a piece of cloth swaying in the breeze, marking where her man was hit and last seen by her.
“After I witnessed my childhood innocence be ripped from me, he finally stopped, that butcher! I blacked out with a sharp pain, when next I woke, I couldn't feel my legs and my fingers were numb. Just before I said anything, he pushed me out of his car. I remember falling, the road was like ice, all I could do was crawl.” She said, her anger translating to the road shifting and breaking apart, turning violently uphill only for the sheer drops and sharp turns that threatened to throw me off the edge. I barely managed to keep the car on the road as the road shifted again, it was so silent that I could hear the tires screeching like a distant wail.
“I’ve searched for years, if he’d ever return, I’d make sure he never left like he left me.” She said as the note my grandfather left in his books, the man who was panicked and sketchy, had his autopsy reveal that he was of the elderly group. I felt a slight pang of guilt as I realized that the man who did this to her was probably dead for a while. I weathered her storm of rage as the stretch of road became calm, as did she.
“I’m sorry you suffered like that; I wish there was something I could do.” I said unconsciously. I felt her gaze soften to me; her rage calmed as she went back to her neutral position.
“He was called ‘Farmhand. Because he was trustworthy, kind and reliable..” My eyes widened as the realization crashed on my face: He lived.
“If you aren’t like how he was, then you don’t deserve to leave this road.” Her voice was harsh, the road began to fall apart, the cracks forming as parts fell away like they had been falling apart for years, though my body was fatigued, I kept the car on the road. As uncomfortable as the ride was, the road soon turned into dirt paths, completely unlit and unpredictable. It felt like hours before it returned to normal, albeit slowly, my hands still shook relentlessly. I understood her outrage. I couldn’t imagine the trauma she experienced, the sadness.
“If you would like, I can take you back to town.” I asked. In retrospect, that was a stupid question.
“I don’t know.” She replied, unsure and confused.
“No rush, we have time.” I said as I turned around and began my long drive back to town. The road swerved and waved calmly, completely different to the approach. I drove to the point where The Lady in White was last seen, after a while I parked my car near the spot and looked to my side. The woman wasn’t there. I looked at my watch and my recorder. The sun had begun to rise over the hills, the air was crisp and fresh, I stayed for a while to just take in the sight of a calm morning before turning my recorder off and driving back.
I returned to my hotel room and after placing everything on the desk, I fell onto my bed and fell asleep, my body was exhausted and my mind was fatigued beyond words. I fell into a dreamless sleep and woke up in the afternoon. Having something to eat I went over the events from last night, pen and paper at the ready, I prepared to hear myself talking to nothing and no one. The doubt set in before I even hit the play button, after a while of convincing myself that I have some concrete evidence, I pressed play. To my surprise, it sounded like there were two people in the car, me and a woman, although the woman’s voice was covered by static. I wrote down all I could, that is what you’re reading.
The next couple of days went by and nothing special happened, I kept to myself most of the time. While analyzing everything I captured. It all seemed like a dream, an incredibly vivid dream. The last note I made during this investigation was: if something like that exists here, surely more stories remain in this part of the world. As the trees faded into the distance as the bus trundled along the trail back, the forest retreating as I returned back to the concrete and steel, it wasn’t long before the questions I had before, followed me home.

Shortform

• Massive exploration of the Society beyond the big names we've spent time with in Across
• Villains forsaking their rivalries for survival and universes paving their own roads
• Gwen temporarily eating it but coming back, then leaning on her comic self (A variant)'s new Ghost-Spider ident to mark her defying fate's scythe

Premise

Here is the textual taxonomy of trilogys as I've heard in (obscure, hard-to-find) writing structure lessons

• Installment 1: Exposit - What is the subject
• Installment 2: Analyze - What is the subject's meaning
• Installment 3: Perspectivize - What is the subject's value and suasoria

Across may not have been a conclusive Act 2, but it is definitely a valid standalone one

• Expanded the 'verse and the major cast by throwing a curve into their relationships and own philosophies
• Delved deeper into what makes a Spider-Man by presenting a free will vs. determinism arc a la Civil War that also happens to have metacommentary

"I'ma do my own thing."
"We're supposed to be the good guys."
Miles summarized his new path throughout the movie, then Gwen called out the Society for their enabling of so much death and suffering to serve a misguided dogma.
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/File:Spider-Man_Across_the_Spider-Verse_poster_003_textless.jpg
There's almost certainly gonna an all-out ideological civil war (fists or not, composite of MCU and comics, but Spiders-only) like that split poster teased.
Gonna be grimly hilarious seeing Spinneret/Spiderling fight Peter B. and Mayday (the former are on Miguel's side to the left, along with Insomniac Spidey)
Yes, I believe there will be a few more new support characters in Beyond - there's a reason certain folks were at the front, and it's just really curious and a wasted opportunity that this Spider-MJ didn't interact at all with this active version of her other (stillborn) daughter or her (Mayday-616B) dad.
I very much appreciate the lifting of other Spidey variants to the zeitgeist fold - Noir, Ham, Gwendy-65, the UK/Punk and Indian ones, the weirdos like Parkedcar from Not! Pixar's Cars, a damn popsicle possibly (lol), a plushie, etc. - but they

Events and Themes

1. Universes

Serving the Installment 3 role, Beyond will probably tie up loose ends and make the above themes reverberate across universes. Like, for 42:

• Miles Prowler can prove that the world doesn't always need Spider-Heroes to save itself, only the spirit of the concept - Spider-Man isn't the center of the multiverse, and given the last movie's title, it will navigate its own fate independent of any Spider at all - let the world do its own thing

Beyond the 'verse of men of spiders, Reality-42 rises up against villainy.

• Maybe Kingpin and Dr. Octopus return someway, then emulate their TAS 1994 counterparts in allying with the Spiders out of existential pragmatics

2. Characters and Developments

By "reverberate," the Spider-Hero question is going to strike real nerves that change the Society and the world, making them examine the morality of the war they fight against anomalies like Spot; survival at all means and costs vs. idealistic stand against fate. And for certain Spiders, we could get more screentime with certain Society members and ex-members - preferably Spinneret and Spiderling, the Insomniac Spideys, and Scarlet Spider - and Endgame-ify Beyond's length.

• The RYV (Reality-18119, Renew Your Vows) Parkers confide with the others including Peter B. on family and how do they keep it together in light of their role as preserving fate and existence itself
• PS4/5 bros relate their experiences of loss and keeping going, especially to 1610B Miles. A great way of giving a layman on the games' plots while relaying their themes to the wider non-gamer audience
• Ben Reilly (Scarlet bro), being a Pete clone and a technical predecessor to Miles, will have his status put to address. His struggles with his inheritance and identity - bearing the names of Peter's parental figures - will probably mirror Ultimate Spider-Woman, and hopefully, he's a major outcrier against Miguel's misguided cause
• Jess-332's and Peter B's babies will interact, leading to the former's moral realization due to Peter B's time with Miles being the reason for his family's reconstruction - influenced solely by extrauniversal (of course anomalous) factors. Throw that Madame Web Spidey (Julia Carpenter) into the fray somehow?
• Interuniversal linkage like in the comics (616/928 and 65/8) can be explored to further the fate-changing theme; whether 928B the bad future of 616B is an inevitability - we haven't really explored 928B - and whether 42 is 1610B's worst possible self and how it can change. The Miles/Gwen dynamic could play here too, 65B and 1610B and the references to the number 8 (which happens to resemble the infinity sign - "infinite Spider possibilities") in Across. Not suggesting that Comics Earth 8's characters play any role, tho, 'cuz per the themes, the duo should connect on their terms
• Variant Miguels when, Sony - like the variant MJs, Harrys, Normans, Flashes, and Gwens, etc. Get freaking Edge of Time, not just Ultimate and 1994, in it
• The locked-up anomalous villains perhaps even helping stop Spot - like Kingpin and Ock above. Basically No Way Home's scenario but tweaked a bit and writ large; let them decide whether to have a new lease of life or to keep their exploits going - their outcomes, their terms as usual. I wonder how would Atari Osborn fare, though, XD

Feel free to add more :) Not quite a Marvel binger yet, XD

3. Fates

Another element to be addressed is the room elephant of canon events. Their loopholes, their flexibility have to be expanded upon: They are fluid like time's arrows and oceans. For one:

• George lives? Sorry, but Gwen's relationship with him remains strained, on top of her guilt from treachery and deception. Also, the canon event ain't really death, but the Captain losing their job

Maybe we even trade one event for another, as in a major death of sorts. In my opinion:

• Not Peter B., because he's a living meta rebuttal to people holding off (at the very least) on an aged-up/married/parent Peter, the 616 editorial included. Him dying, let alone Mayday (toddler, so definite write-off), would undermine this subtext
• Not Jess, 'cuz she's a mother and despite her jerkish mentor habits seems willing to look the other way for turncoats like Margo/Byte
• Not Jeff, 'cuz that would just prove Miggy's point in light of George being living proof, as well as utterly render worthless all the effort thrown into saving him
• Not Miguel (yes, how dare I), 'cuz for all his pain-motivated harshness, he deserves better than the cliche'd fatal redemption trope of villains, of which he technically ain't one (and don't "Thanos" this as unlike Migs, he knew of better options but foregone it)

Here's a unique twist: The mastermind behind this Spider- conspiracy grows a conscience after all the breaking lectures against his warped view of canon events, then resolves to save as many lives as possible, dropping all pretenses of controlling the Spider-War
At risk to himself, he'll unhesitatingly save lives while one/some of those who blindly followed him give theirs. As shitty as his Society's turned out to be, they still have their main directive of fixing multiversal incursions, and someone has to keep giving the orders, someone with the most drive and commitment (especially for atonement)
Why on Miguel? Matured thinking aside, it evokes how science and philosophy works; cognitive science has this cliché of at least two sides theorizing extremes that are contrary to one another, and as time passes with discovery, the proof points to both sides having a point and deciding on a compromise; this of course goes beyond simple personal disagreement
So who'll it be?
Spider-gents and ladies, none other than Gwendolyn Maxine Stacy of Earth-65B
In the vein of MCU Aunt May being her Pete's Uncle Ben delivering that responsibility quote, and through it occurs the Spider-Verse's true Ultimate Fallout/Death of a Spider event this way
Gwen being slain and (certainly) coming back would be a wakeup call to both her world and the Society, as well as the latter group's morality in their internal strife and conflict against Spot. Redeem her image to everybody, Miles included, while allowing them to get together on solitary terms
That way:

• Miguel's right that being a Spider is a sacrifice, it's just their assigned canon events ain't 1:1 across every universe
• Miles' right that you can have and eat two cakes - meaning canon events can be alleviated (such as debris falling on Singh without killing him) - it's just that there's a cost

It'd also be a roundabout redemption for blindly following the Society's beliefs and causing unnecessary pain to Miles, deeper than "My well-meaning side right, your well-meaning side wrong" - no, both sides can have their two cakes; say, the rest save Jeff, Gwen herself - the motherless one - saves Rio, let 1610B not be 1610A in this particular way
I'ma spitball here, but it's kinda like Nolanverse (TDKR) Batman, come to think of it. Maybe George is informed of and reveals his daughter's "demise" and publicizes her ident? The latter I admit is questionable
Maybe Gwen goes to 1610B and RVs with Miles to Florence - there's this café on the banks of the Arno - for a fine evening sitting there and ordering a Fernet Branca
XD

(Potential) Foreshadowing

• Proof for the 42 antiheroes' case:

... "We wanted to craft this moment where Miles encounters this powerful figure in his life that he loved so much and he lost," says director Justin K. Thompson. "That's when he realizes that he is not really in his own dimension, as well as the gravity of what he has lost. In this reality, Aaron had to shake off his life of crime and became a surrogate father figure to Miles."
... In this alternate reality, the Sinister Six have been able to flourish and take over the world. "Criminality runs rampant," says Thompson. "We wanted to create a world where it felt like Aaron and Miles G. Morales of Earth-42 [this reality's counterpart to Miles Morales] are the only heroes.
Zahed, R. (2023). Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: The Art of the Movie. Abrams Books. THE WORLDS → Earth-42, p.190
... This version of the character was never bitten by a radioactive spider and doesn't have any superpowers, but he has fallen into the role of becoming the vigilante the Prowler, under the tutelage of his uncle Aaron. ...
Zahed, R. (2023). Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: The Art of the Movie. Abrams Books. THE WORLDS → Miles G. Morales: The Prowler, p.200

• Here's a pattern: We meet multiple Spidey-Peters and our intro hero is, well, RIPeter, then some podcast revealed we'd be meeting multiple Gwens in Beyond; timestamp 17:51-18:45

Interviewer: Will we see other multiversal variants of Gwen Stacy in the future even if they don't have spider powers, like you do with MJ, Uncle Aaron, and Miles?
Lord: Currently yes. ... But there’s one I’m very excited about.
Miller: Yes, yeah, I know exactly the one you’re talking about.
Lord: You know the one I’m thinking of, which is based on... I’m not gonna say anything, I’m not gonna say anything.
Miller: But it is sort of plot-integral, I would say.
Interviewer: If there are other multiversal variants of Gwen in Beyond the Spider-Verse, will they impact her arc, her relationship with Miles?
Lord: I would say yes.

The Pete variants showed up after Blondie's demise, so they might reverse the sequence here - as I said, a bookend.
Yea, all these signs totally bode well for the other blonde Spidey here
https://preview.redd.it/kpz7vzvub64d1.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=8d25e78b18f3fc82e58eb1516d1ac915fc130470

• Friendly reminder they referenced fuckin' Ultimate Fallout of all storylines in Gwen's room, under which she mostly lingers while speaking with her dad. Are you telling me that scene just happened to be shot like that? No, they orchestrated it! L&M! The story that deals with Miles' overall debut and the (of course, cue pathos) fallout of 1610A Spidey's demise! Been struggling to find and spot it honestly, damn lighting and coloring
• Guess what's 1610A Pete (the original Ultimate comics version, not blond RIPeter)'s death age? 16, exactly 65B Gwen's present age. MCU Pete's too when he was snapped
• Notice the last part of the Canon Event exposition scene; Hobie's got the Spider-Man No More comic panel, Jess-332 the If This Be My Destiny one, Peter B. the wedding, and Gwen? Spidey rising from the grave in Kraven's Last Hunt, modified with herself doing the feat. The kicker here: Neither Hobie nor Gwen's displayed events have official releases yet, although Hobie did say he opted out of chasing Miles - which is to say she's next and last, as well as #4 (so deathly the connotations) on the shown list

In Defense

Now calm down before you web pitchforks on me

• People keep saying there has to be a much more nuanced wrap-up - an idea with traction around these subs in a good way; to this day, people argue whether that Mumbattan hole was Spot BS or a canon event's unraveling. Mine has that nuance IMO
• Migs up and stated Mumbattan wasn't their first canon event ruptures rodeo and they couldn't save some 'verses from them, why would he be bullshitting or even fully wrong on CEs if he had that Spider team with specialized equipment for canon event containment? They were conveniently there right as that hole formed, and hell, they could reconcile that hole with the Dead Migs dimension where everything digitally evaporates as the latter being the end result
• He put on his shitlist Spider-Holland (maybe along with Maguire, Garfield (the light one)) for a reason - not hesitating to save MCU MJ (Michelle Jones-Watson) rather than let her be Spider-Tom's ASM-121 moment - although one can argue the memory wipe counts as first love loss, along with his Iron Man being his police captain canon event - and Raimi-verse Gwen is very much (per that meme) hot, single, and alive. Observing Sinister, Supreme, and 838/Illuminati-Strange's destroyed realities made him a rage button for 2099
• Showing the other 'verses like the comic-based What Ifs and that Armored Spider-Man one from the 1994 cartoon? It's kind of like a cheat out of the dilemma, and I'm not sure the other viewers would agree. Miguel also knows of Dr. Strange and possibly his What If? versions
  • Before someone "Absolute Points solve themselves, Society's unneeded" me, we know too the APs are a nascent concept and Miguel probably thought no two universes will always solve themselves and CEs are probably spontaneous - maybe a day, a week, or even a year plus, they will happen, scapegoat or not
  • To the people who say Migs was mistaken in how he destroyed that reality and that it was an Incursion: IT WASN'T ONE, because it would have caused a collision course between that 'verse and 928B, which I don't think they have any means to stop - only someone like Strange. Aside from the trolley sacrifice of one Earth, we're not privy to what are the other seven ways to averting Incursions. Guess what, Gabri's reality went poof on its apparent own while 928B stayed very much alive. Didn't even look like 928B was approaching from the skies at the time either
  • Returning to Miles' side, I also hear of the fixed time points comparison from Dr. Who; I'd like to point out the Doctor was able to fake his death by hiding inside a, uh, humanoid ship at Lake Silencio, so I've read, despite records saying so
• They keep insisting "First time for everything," right, plus the cake stuff? Why not a Venom Blast resuscitation somehow on the brink of death, then being comatose or some other critical injury so the "lost Lenore" event doesn't stick? Or! In the style of BvS Dawn of Justice and What if? Spider-Man The Other (plus Ultimate Gwen ofc)...symbiotic resurrection (possibly even transporting that one symbiote drop in that bar in the MCU), and cue Gwenom arc in some spinoff like Spider-Women
• Alternatively, to avoid the fridged LI trope absolutely, Rio gets the Ultimate comics treatment of death somehow - but as said repeatedly, doing one's own thing, and I think this Spider-War's seen enough dead Moraleses. Miles has already grown and seen enough from the other Spiders' losses and his own. Honestly, people need to hear comic quotes often, take Mark Waid's Daredevil run:

Rachel Cole: You know what gives me the strength? My loss. We're alike that way, I imagine. Admit it, nobody who's a stranger to that particular pain could ever be as driven as us.
Daredevil: Never... Don't you ever say that to me ever again, that is a repellent statement, it's a vomituous insult to every cop, every fireman, every soldier alive who steps up to fight for those who can't! I am sorry for your loss, but if you genuinely believe that only the death of a loved one can motivate a human being to take up a cause...then get your pathetic cynical ass out of my way so I can do my job!

It's relevant because Rachel's stance here was that people like them who fight for causes are solely inspired by loss, only for Matt to verbally skewer her. The subtext here, synthesizing it with the Spidey mythos is that it's misguided to think that losing forever more loved ones is the only way to make a true Spider-Hero.
Flip the narrative and say "Villainy only happens if they're abused/poorly raised, alas, poor villain;" one is warranted to call it a vomitous insult to every abuse victim/improperly raised junior out there who became better than their elders/superiors - i.e. not go evil.
Either way, the greater gist of this is losing a close one for good isn't the way, emphasis on "for good"

Future Implications

Wrapping everything up like above (I mean the objectives), one way or another (not necessarily mine), would show full commitment to the theme of forging one's own destiny right down to the metatextual. The Spidersoc let confirmation bias blind themselves to possibilities and seemingly have yet to expose themselves to the preestablished branch realities where, say, Spider-People lose nobody or a Gwen Stacy ties neatly her romance quest with a Spidey. The themes of doing your own thing openly and honestly and in safety - rather than requesting permission from broken systems - resonate much with an Excel list: People who are queeof colowomen/disabled
Beyond that obviousness, we have disabled Spideys, Muslim Spideys (that female UK one), Blob-fat Spideys - even PLUSHIE Spideys, just to name a few, all to show the movie being the most diverse and inclusive Spidey work to date. These themes are so incredibly applicable to the lives of atypical people or otherwise people who live under systems that aren't designed for them to succeed. IE: POC, women, queer people, people with disabilities, etc. One can argue "doing your own thing" was what made ItSV such a breakthrough success and a decade phenomenon: Everything about the animation
I get that a teen girl dying, even temporarily - especially one who resonates much with LGBT (transgwender specifically) themes - is real bad optics, but we went through this before with Luz Noceda (bi rep exactly) from The Owl House, and things landed on their feet :)
If/When she comes back to crimefighting, this would be the moment she goes by Ghost Spider like her A self - a Gwen who fought fate and died for it, but another Spider loved her so much, he raised her from death to life in Ultimate defiance (getting flowery prose here) that prevails

Shortform

• Massive exploration of the Society beyond the big names we've spent time with in Across
• Villains forsaking their rivalries for survival and universes paving their own roads
• Gwen temporarily eating it but coming back, then leaning on her comic self (A variant)'s new Ghost-Spider ident to mark her defying fate's scythe

Premise

Here is the textual taxonomy of trilogys as I've heard in (obscure, hard-to-find) writing structure lessons

• Installment 1: Exposit - What is the subject
• Installment 2: Analyze - What is the subject's meaning
• Installment 3: Perspectivize - What is the subject's value and suasoria

Across may not have been a conclusive Act 2, but it is definitely a valid standalone one

• Expanded the 'verse and the major cast by throwing a curve into their relationships and own philosophies
• Delved deeper into what makes a Spider-Man by presenting a free will vs. determinism arc a la Civil War that also happens to have metacommentary

"I'ma do my own thing."
"We're supposed to be the good guys."
Miles summarized his new path throughout the movie, then Gwen called out the Society for their enabling of so much death and suffering to serve a misguided dogma.
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/File:Spider-Man_Across_the_Spider-Verse_poster_003_textless.jpg
There's almost certainly gonna an all-out ideological civil war (fists or not, composite of MCU and comics, but Spiders-only) like that split poster teased.
Gonna be grimly hilarious seeing Spinneret/Spiderling fight Peter B. and Mayday (the former are on Miguel's side to the left, along with Insomniac Spidey)
Yes, I believe there will be a few more new support characters in Beyond - there's a reason certain folks were at the front, and it's just really curious and a wasted opportunity that this Spider-MJ didn't interact at all with this active version of her other (stillborn) daughter or her (Mayday-616B) dad.
I very much appreciate the lifting of other Spidey variants to the zeitgeist fold - Noir, Ham, Gwendy-65, the UK/Punk and Indian ones, the weirdos like Parkedcar from Not! Pixar's Cars, a damn popsicle possibly (lol), a plushie, etc. - but they

Events and Themes

1. Universes

Serving the Installment 3 role, Beyond will probably tie up loose ends and make the above themes reverberate across universes. Like, for 42:

• Miles Prowler can prove that the world doesn't always need Spider-Heroes to save itself, only the spirit of the concept - Spider-Man isn't the center of the multiverse, and given the last movie's title, it will navigate its own fate independent of any Spider at all - let the world do its own thing

Beyond the 'verse of men of spiders, Reality-42 rises up against villainy.

• Maybe Kingpin and Dr. Octopus return someway, then emulate their TAS 1994 counterparts in allying with the Spiders out of existential pragmatics

2. Characters and Developments

By "reverberate," the Spider-Hero question is going to strike real nerves that change the Society and the world, making them examine the morality of the war they fight against anomalies like Spot; survival at all means and costs vs. idealistic stand against fate. And for certain Spiders, we could get more screentime with certain Society members and ex-members - preferably Spinneret and Spiderling, the Insomniac Spideys, and Scarlet Spider - and Endgame-ify Beyond's length.

• The RYV (Reality-18119, Renew Your Vows) Parkers confide with the others including Peter B. on family and how do they keep it together in light of their role as preserving fate and existence itself
• PS4/5 bros relate their experiences of loss and keeping going, especially to 1610B Miles. A great way of giving a layman on the games' plots while relaying their themes to the wider non-gamer audience
• Ben Reilly (Scarlet bro), being a Pete clone and a technical predecessor to Miles, will have his status put to address. His struggles with his inheritance and identity - bearing the names of Peter's parental figures - will probably mirror Ultimate Spider-Woman, and hopefully, he's a major outcrier against Miguel's misguided cause
• Jess-332's and Peter B's babies will interact, leading to the former's moral realization due to Peter B's time with Miles being the reason for his family's reconstruction - influenced solely by extrauniversal (of course anomalous) factors. Throw that Madame Web Spidey (Julia Carpenter) into the fray somehow?
• Interuniversal linkage like in the comics (616/928 and 65/8) can be explored to further the fate-changing theme; whether 928B the bad future of 616B is an inevitability - we haven't really explored 928B - and whether 42 is 1610B's worst possible self and how it can change. The Miles/Gwen dynamic could play here too, 65B and 1610B and the references to the number 8 (which happens to resemble the infinity sign - "infinite Spider possibilities") in Across. Not suggesting that Comics Earth 8's characters play any role, tho, 'cuz per the themes, the duo should connect on their terms
• Variant Miguels when, Sony - like the variant MJs, Harrys, Normans, Flashes, and Gwens, etc. Get freaking Edge of Time, not just Ultimate and 1994, in it
• The locked-up anomalous villains perhaps even helping stop Spot - like Kingpin and Ock above. Basically No Way Home's scenario but tweaked a bit and writ large; let them decide whether to have a new lease of life or to keep their exploits going - their outcomes, their terms as usual. I wonder how would Atari Osborn fare, though, XD

Feel free to add more :) Not quite a Marvel binger yet, XD

3. Fates

Another element to be addressed is the room elephant of canon events. Their loopholes, their flexibility have to be expanded upon: They are fluid like time's arrows and oceans. For one:

• George lives? Sorry, but Gwen's relationship with him remains strained, on top of her guilt from treachery and deception. Also, the canon event ain't really death, but the Captain losing their job

Maybe we even trade one event for another, as in a major death of sorts. In my opinion:

• Not Peter B., because he's a living meta rebuttal to people holding off (at the very least) on an aged-up/married/parent Peter, the 616 editorial included. Him dying, let alone Mayday (toddler, so definite write-off), would undermine this subtext
• Not Jess, 'cuz she's a mother and despite her jerkish mentor habits seems willing to look the other way for turncoats like Margo/Byte
• Not Jeff, 'cuz that would just prove Miggy's point in light of George being living proof, as well as utterly render worthless all the effort thrown into saving him
• Not Miguel (yes, how dare I), 'cuz for all his pain-motivated harshness, he deserves better than the cliche'd fatal redemption trope of villains, of which he technically ain't one (and don't "Thanos" this as unlike Migs, he knew of better options but foregone it)

Here's a unique twist: The mastermind behind this Spider- conspiracy grows a conscience after all the breaking lectures against his warped view of canon events, then resolves to save as many lives as possible, dropping all pretenses of controlling the Spider-War
At risk to himself, he'll unhesitatingly save lives while one/some of those who blindly followed him give theirs. As shitty as his Society's turned out to be, they still have their main directive of fixing multiversal incursions, and someone has to keep giving the orders, someone with the most drive and commitment (especially for atonement)
Why on Miguel? Matured thinking aside, it evokes how science and philosophy works; cognitive science has this cliché of at least two sides theorizing extremes that are contrary to one another, and as time passes with discovery, the proof points to both sides having a point and deciding on a compromise; this of course goes beyond simple personal disagreement
So who'll it be?
Spider-gents and ladies, none other than Gwendolyn Maxine Stacy of Earth-65B
In the vein of MCU Aunt May being her Pete's Uncle Ben delivering that responsibility quote, and through it occurs the Spider-Verse's true Ultimate Fallout/Death of a Spider event this way
Gwen being slain and (certainly) coming back would be a wakeup call to both her world and the Society, as well as the latter group's morality in their internal strife and conflict against Spot. Redeem her image to everybody, Miles included, while allowing them to get together on solitary terms
That way:

• Miguel's right that being a Spider is a sacrifice, it's just their assigned canon events ain't 1:1 across every universe
• Miles' right that you can have and eat two cakes - meaning canon events can be alleviated (such as debris falling on Singh without killing him) - it's just that there's a cost

It'd also be a roundabout redemption for blindly following the Society's beliefs and causing unnecessary pain to Miles, deeper than "My well-meaning side right, your well-meaning side wrong" - no, both sides can have their two cakes; say, the rest save Jeff, Gwen herself - the motherless one - saves Rio, let 1610B not be 1610A in this particular way
I'ma spitball here, but it's kinda like Nolanverse (TDKR) Batman, come to think of it. Maybe George is informed of and reveals his daughter's "demise" and publicizes her ident? The latter I admit is questionable
Maybe Gwen goes to 1610B and RVs with Miles to Florence - there's this café on the banks of the Arno - for a fine evening sitting there and ordering a Fernet Branca
XD

(Potential) Foreshadowing

• Proof for the 42 antiheroes' case:

... "We wanted to craft this moment where Miles encounters this powerful figure in his life that he loved so much and he lost," says director Justin K. Thompson. "That's when he realizes that he is not really in his own dimension, as well as the gravity of what he has lost. In this reality, Aaron had to shake off his life of crime and became a surrogate father figure to Miles."
... In this alternate reality, the Sinister Six have been able to flourish and take over the world. "Criminality runs rampant," says Thompson. "We wanted to create a world where it felt like Aaron and Miles G. Morales of Earth-42 [this reality's counterpart to Miles Morales] are the only heroes.
Zahed, R. (2023). Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: The Art of the Movie. Abrams Books. THE WORLDS → Earth-42, p.190
... This version of the character was never bitten by a radioactive spider and doesn't have any superpowers, but he has fallen into the role of becoming the vigilante the Prowler, under the tutelage of his uncle Aaron. ...
Zahed, R. (2023). Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: The Art of the Movie. Abrams Books. THE WORLDS → Miles G. Morales: The Prowler, p.200

• Here's a pattern: We meet multiple Spidey-Peters and our intro hero is, well, RIPeter, then some podcast revealed we'd be meeting multiple Gwens in Beyond; timestamp 17:51-18:45

Interviewer: Will we see other multiversal variants of Gwen Stacy in the future even if they don't have spider powers, like you do with MJ, Uncle Aaron, and Miles?
Lord: Currently yes. ... But there’s one I’m very excited about.
Miller: Yes, yeah, I know exactly the one you’re talking about.
Lord: You know the one I’m thinking of, which is based on... I’m not gonna say anything, I’m not gonna say anything.
Miller: But it is sort of plot-integral, I would say.
Interviewer: If there are other multiversal variants of Gwen in Beyond the Spider-Verse, will they impact her arc, her relationship with Miles?
Lord: I would say yes.

The Pete variants showed up after Blondie's demise, so they might reverse the sequence here - as I said, a bookend.
Yea, all these signs totally bode well for the other blonde Spidey here
https://preview.redd.it/kpz7vzvub64d1.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=8d25e78b18f3fc82e58eb1516d1ac915fc130470

• Friendly reminder they referenced fuckin' Ultimate Fallout of all storylines in Gwen's room, under which she mostly lingers while speaking with her dad. Are you telling me that scene just happened to be shot like that? No, they orchestrated it! L&M! The story that deals with Miles' overall debut and the (of course, cue pathos) fallout of 1610A Spidey's demise! Been struggling to find and spot it honestly, damn lighting and coloring
• Guess what's 1610A Pete (the original Ultimate comics version, not blond RIPeter)'s death age? 16, exactly 65B Gwen's present age. MCU Pete's too when he was snapped
• Notice the last part of the Canon Event exposition scene; Hobie's got the Spider-Man No More comic panel, Jess-332 the If This Be My Destiny one, Peter B. the wedding, and Gwen? Spidey rising from the grave in Kraven's Last Hunt, modified with herself doing the feat. The kicker here: Neither Hobie nor Gwen's displayed events have official releases yet, although Hobie did say he opted out of chasing Miles - which is to say she's next and last, as well as #4 (so deathly the connotations) on the shown list

In Defense

Now calm down before you web pitchforks on me

• People keep saying there has to be a much more nuanced wrap-up - an idea with traction around these subs in a good way; to this day, people argue whether that Mumbattan hole was Spot BS or a canon event's unraveling. Mine has that nuance IMO
• Migs up and stated Mumbattan wasn't their first canon event ruptures rodeo and they couldn't save some 'verses from them, why would he be bullshitting or even fully wrong on CEs if he had that Spider team with specialized equipment for canon event containment? They were conveniently there right as that hole formed, and hell, they could reconcile that hole with the Dead Migs dimension where everything digitally evaporates as the latter being the end result
• He put on his shitlist Spider-Holland (maybe along with Maguire, Garfield (the light one)) for a reason - not hesitating to save MCU MJ (Michelle Jones-Watson) rather than let her be Spider-Tom's ASM-121 moment - although one can argue the memory wipe counts as first love loss, along with his Iron Man being his police captain canon event - and Raimi-verse Gwen is very much (per that meme) hot, single, and alive. Observing Sinister, Supreme, and 838/Illuminati-Strange's destroyed realities made him a rage button for 2099
• Showing the other 'verses like the comic-based What Ifs and that Armored Spider-Man one from the 1994 cartoon? It's kind of like a cheat out of the dilemma, and I'm not sure the other viewers would agree. Miguel also knows of Dr. Strange and possibly his What If? versions
  • Before someone "Absolute Points solve themselves, Society's unneeded" me, we know too the APs are a nascent concept and Miguel probably thought no two universes will always solve themselves and CEs are probably spontaneous - maybe a day, a week, or even a year plus, they will happen, scapegoat or not
  • To the people who say Migs was mistaken in how he destroyed that reality and that it was an Incursion: IT WASN'T ONE, because it would have caused a collision course between that 'verse and 928B, which I don't think they have any means to stop - only someone like Strange. Aside from the trolley sacrifice of one Earth, we're not privy to what are the other seven ways to averting Incursions. Guess what, Gabri's reality went poof on its apparent own while 928B stayed very much alive. Didn't even look like 928B was approaching from the skies at the time either
  • Returning to Miles' side, I also hear of the fixed time points comparison from Dr. Who; I'd like to point out the Doctor was able to fake his death by hiding inside a, uh, humanoid ship at Lake Silencio, so I've read, despite records saying so
• They keep insisting "First time for everything," right, plus the cake stuff? Why not a Venom Blast resuscitation somehow on the brink of death, then being comatose or some other critical injury so the "lost Lenore" event doesn't stick? Or! In the style of BvS Dawn of Justice and What if? Spider-Man The Other (plus Ultimate Gwen ofc)...symbiotic resurrection (possibly even transporting that one symbiote drop in that bar in the MCU), and cue Gwenom arc in some spinoff like Spider-Women
• Alternatively, to avoid the fridged LI trope absolutely, Rio gets the Ultimate comics treatment of death somehow - but as said repeatedly, doing one's own thing, and I think this Spider-War's seen enough dead Moraleses. Miles has already grown and seen enough from the other Spiders' losses and his own. Honestly, people need to hear comic quotes often, take Mark Waid's Daredevil run:

Rachel Cole: You know what gives me the strength? My loss. We're alike that way, I imagine. Admit it, nobody who's a stranger to that particular pain could ever be as driven as us.
Daredevil: Never... Don't you ever say that to me ever again, that is a repellent statement, it's a vomituous insult to every cop, every fireman, every soldier alive who steps up to fight for those who can't! I am sorry for your loss, but if you genuinely believe that only the death of a loved one can motivate a human being to take up a cause...then get your pathetic cynical ass out of my way so I can do my job!

It's relevant because Rachel's stance here was that people like them who fight for causes are solely inspired by loss, only for Matt to verbally skewer her. The subtext here, synthesizing it with the Spidey mythos is that it's misguided to think that losing forever more loved ones is the only way to make a true Spider-Hero.
Flip the narrative and say "Villainy only happens if they're abused/poorly raised, alas, poor villain;" one is warranted to call it a vomitous insult to every abuse victim/improperly raised junior out there who became better than their elders/superiors - i.e. not go evil.
Either way, the greater gist of this is losing a close one for good isn't the way, emphasis on "for good"

Future Implications

Wrapping everything up like above (I mean the objectives), one way or another (not necessarily mine), would show full commitment to the theme of forging one's own destiny right down to the metatextual. The Spidersoc let confirmation bias blind themselves to possibilities and seemingly have yet to expose themselves to the preestablished branch realities where, say, Spider-People lose nobody or a Gwen Stacy ties neatly her romance quest with a Spidey. The themes of doing your own thing openly and honestly and in safety - rather than requesting permission from broken systems - resonate much with an Excel list: People who are queeof colowomen/disabled
Beyond that obviousness, we have disabled Spideys, Muslim Spideys (that female UK one), Blob-fat Spideys - even PLUSHIE Spideys, just to name a few, all to show the movie being the most diverse and inclusive Spidey work to date. These themes are so incredibly applicable to the lives of atypical people or otherwise people who live under systems that aren't designed for them to succeed. IE: POC, women, queer people, people with disabilities, etc. One can argue "doing your own thing" was what made ItSV such a breakthrough success and a decade phenomenon: Everything about the animation
I get that a teen girl dying, even temporarily - especially one who resonates much with LGBT (transgwender specifically) themes - is real bad optics, but we went through this before with Luz Noceda (bi rep exactly) from The Owl House, and things landed on their feet :)
If/When she comes back to crimefighting, this would be the moment she goes by Ghost Spider like her A self - a Gwen who fought fate and died for it, but another Spider loved her so much, he raised her from death to life in Ultimate defiance (getting flowery prose here) that prevails

Shortform

• Massive exploration of the Society beyond the big names we've spent time with in Across
• Villains forsaking their rivalries for survival and universes paving their own roads
• Gwen temporarily eating it but coming back, then leaning on her comic self (A variant)'s new Ghost-Spider ident to mark her defying fate's scythe

Premise

Here is the textual taxonomy of trilogys as I've heard in (obscure, hard-to-find) writing structure lessons

• Installment 1: Exposit - What is the subject
• Installment 2: Analyze - What is the subject's meaning
• Installment 3: Perspectivize - What is the subject's value and suasoria

Across may not have been a conclusive Act 2, but it is definitely a valid standalone one

• Expanded the 'verse and the major cast by throwing a curve into their relationships and own philosophies
• Delved deeper into what makes a Spider-Man by presenting a free will vs. determinism arc a la Civil War that also happens to have metacommentary

"I'ma do my own thing."
"We're supposed to be the good guys."
Miles summarized his new path throughout the movie, then Gwen called out the Society for their enabling of so much death and suffering to serve a misguided dogma.
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/File:Spider-Man_Across_the_Spider-Verse_poster_003_textless.jpg
There's almost certainly gonna an all-out ideological civil war (fists or not, composite of MCU and comics, but Spiders-only) like that split poster teased.
Gonna be grimly hilarious seeing Spinneret/Spiderling fight Peter B. and Mayday (the former are on Miguel's side to the left, along with Insomniac Spidey)
Yes, I believe there will be a few more new support characters in Beyond - there's a reason certain folks were at the front, and it's just really curious and a wasted opportunity that this Spider-MJ didn't interact at all with this active version of her other (stillborn) daughter or her (Mayday-616B) dad.
I very much appreciate the lifting of other Spidey variants to the zeitgeist fold - Noir, Ham, Gwendy-65, the UK/Punk and Indian ones, the weirdos like Parkedcar from Not! Pixar's Cars, a damn popsicle possibly (lol), a plushie, etc. - but they

Events and Themes

1. Universes

Serving the Installment 3 role, Beyond will probably tie up loose ends and make the above themes reverberate across universes. Like, for 42:

• Miles Prowler can prove that the world doesn't always need Spider-Heroes to save itself, only the spirit of the concept - Spider-Man isn't the center of the multiverse, and given the last movie's title, it will navigate its own fate independent of any Spider at all - let the world do its own thing

Beyond the 'verse of men of spiders, Reality-42 rises up against villainy.

• Maybe Kingpin and Dr. Octopus return someway, then emulate their TAS 1994 counterparts in allying with the Spiders out of existential pragmatics

2. Characters and Developments

By "reverberate," the Spider-Hero question is going to strike real nerves that change the Society and the world, making them examine the morality of the war they fight against anomalies like Spot; survival at all means and costs vs. idealistic stand against fate. And for certain Spiders, we could get more screentime with certain Society members and ex-members - preferably Spinneret and Spiderling, the Insomniac Spideys, and Scarlet Spider - and Endgame-ify Beyond's length.

• The RYV (Reality-18119, Renew Your Vows) Parkers confide with the others including Peter B. on family and how do they keep it together in light of their role as preserving fate and existence itself
• PS4/5 bros relate their experiences of loss and keeping going, especially to 1610B Miles. A great way of giving a layman on the games' plots while relaying their themes to the wider non-gamer audience
• Ben Reilly (Scarlet bro), being a Pete clone and a technical predecessor to Miles, will have his status put to address. His struggles with his inheritance and identity - bearing the names of Peter's parental figures - will probably mirror Ultimate Spider-Woman, and hopefully, he's a major outcrier against Miguel's misguided cause
• Jess-332's and Peter B's babies will interact, leading to the former's moral realization due to Peter B's time with Miles being the reason for his family's reconstruction - influenced solely by extrauniversal (of course anomalous) factors. Throw that Madame Web Spidey (Julia Carpenter) into the fray somehow?
• Interuniversal linkage like in the comics (616/928 and 65/8) can be explored to further the fate-changing theme; whether 928B the bad future of 616B is an inevitability - we haven't really explored 928B - and whether 42 is 1610B's worst possible self and how it can change. The Miles/Gwen dynamic could play here too, 65B and 1610B and the references to the number 8 (which happens to resemble the infinity sign - "infinite Spider possibilities") in Across. Not suggesting that Comics Earth 8's characters play any role, tho, 'cuz per the themes, the duo should connect on their terms
• Variant Miguels when, Sony - like the variant MJs, Harrys, Normans, Flashes, and Gwens, etc. Get freaking Edge of Time, not just Ultimate and 1994, in it
• The locked-up anomalous villains perhaps even helping stop Spot - like Kingpin and Ock above. Basically No Way Home's scenario but tweaked a bit and writ large; let them decide whether to have a new lease of life or to keep their exploits going - their outcomes, their terms as usual. I wonder how would Atari Osborn fare, though, XD

Feel free to add more :) Not quite a Marvel binger yet, XD

3. Fates

Another element to be addressed is the room elephant of canon events. Their loopholes, their flexibility have to be expanded upon: They are fluid like time's arrows and oceans. For one:

• George lives? Sorry, but Gwen's relationship with him remains strained, on top of her guilt from treachery and deception. Also, the canon event ain't really death, but the Captain losing their job

Maybe we even trade one event for another, as in a major death of sorts. In my opinion:

• Not Peter B., because he's a living meta rebuttal to people holding off (at the very least) on an aged-up/married/parent Peter, the 616 editorial included. Him dying, let alone Mayday (toddler, so definite write-off), would undermine this subtext
• Not Jess, 'cuz she's a mother and despite her jerkish mentor habits seems willing to look the other way for turncoats like Margo/Byte
• Not Jeff, 'cuz that would just prove Miggy's point in light of George being living proof, as well as utterly render worthless all the effort thrown into saving him
• Not Miguel (yes, how dare I), 'cuz for all his pain-motivated harshness, he deserves better than the cliche'd fatal redemption trope of villains, of which he technically ain't one (and don't "Thanos" this as unlike Migs, he knew of better options but foregone it)

Here's a unique twist: The mastermind behind this Spider- conspiracy grows a conscience after all the breaking lectures against his warped view of canon events, then resolves to save as many lives as possible, dropping all pretenses of controlling the Spider-War
At risk to himself, he'll unhesitatingly save lives while one/some of those who blindly followed him give theirs. As shitty as his Society's turned out to be, they still have their main directive of fixing multiversal incursions, and someone has to keep giving the orders, someone with the most drive and commitment (especially for atonement)
Why on Miguel? Matured thinking aside, it evokes how science and philosophy works; cognitive science has this cliché of at least two sides theorizing extremes that are contrary to one another, and as time passes with discovery, the proof points to both sides having a point and deciding on a compromise; this of course goes beyond simple personal disagreement
So who'll it be?
Spider-gents and ladies, none other than Gwendolyn Maxine Stacy of Earth-65B
In the vein of MCU Aunt May being her Pete's Uncle Ben delivering that responsibility quote, and through it occurs the Spider-Verse's true Ultimate Fallout/Death of a Spider event this way
Gwen being slain and (certainly) coming back would be a wakeup call to both her world and the Society, as well as the latter group's morality in their internal strife and conflict against Spot. Redeem her image to everybody, Miles included, while allowing them to get together on solitary terms
That way:

• Miguel's right that being a Spider is a sacrifice, it's just their assigned canon events ain't 1:1 across every universe
• Miles' right that you can have and eat two cakes - meaning canon events can be alleviated (such as debris falling on Singh without killing him) - it's just that there's a cost

It'd also be a roundabout redemption for blindly following the Society's beliefs and causing unnecessary pain to Miles, deeper than "My well-meaning side right, your well-meaning side wrong" - no, both sides can have their two cakes; say, the rest save Jeff, Gwen herself - the motherless one - saves Rio, let 1610B not be 1610A in this particular way
I'ma spitball here, but it's kinda like Nolanverse (TDKR) Batman, come to think of it. Maybe George is informed of and reveals his daughter's "demise" and publicizes her ident? The latter I admit is questionable
Maybe Gwen goes to 1610B and RVs with Miles to Florence - there's this café on the banks of the Arno - for a fine evening sitting there and ordering a Fernet Branca
XD

(Potential) Foreshadowing

• Proof for the 42 antiheroes' case:

... "We wanted to craft this moment where Miles encounters this powerful figure in his life that he loved so much and he lost," says director Justin K. Thompson. "That's when he realizes that he is not really in his own dimension, as well as the gravity of what he has lost. In this reality, Aaron had to shake off his life of crime and became a surrogate father figure to Miles."
... In this alternate reality, the Sinister Six have been able to flourish and take over the world. "Criminality runs rampant," says Thompson. "We wanted to create a world where it felt like Aaron and Miles G. Morales of Earth-42 [this reality's counterpart to Miles Morales] are the only heroes.
Zahed, R. (2023). Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: The Art of the Movie. Abrams Books. THE WORLDS → Earth-42, p.190
... This version of the character was never bitten by a radioactive spider and doesn't have any superpowers, but he has fallen into the role of becoming the vigilante the Prowler, under the tutelage of his uncle Aaron. ...
Zahed, R. (2023). Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: The Art of the Movie. Abrams Books. THE WORLDS → Miles G. Morales: The Prowler, p.200

• Here's a pattern: We meet multiple Spidey-Peters and our intro hero is, well, RIPeter, then some podcast revealed we'd be meeting multiple Gwens in Beyond; timestamp 17:51-18:45

Interviewer: Will we see other multiversal variants of Gwen Stacy in the future even if they don't have spider powers, like you do with MJ, Uncle Aaron, and Miles?
Lord: Currently yes. ... But there’s one I’m very excited about.
Miller: Yes, yeah, I know exactly the one you’re talking about.
Lord: You know the one I’m thinking of, which is based on... I’m not gonna say anything, I’m not gonna say anything.
Miller: But it is sort of plot-integral, I would say.
Interviewer: If there are other multiversal variants of Gwen in Beyond the Spider-Verse, will they impact her arc, her relationship with Miles?
Lord: I would say yes.

The Pete variants showed up after Blondie's demise, so they might reverse the sequence here - as I said, a bookend.
Yea, all these signs totally bode well for the other blonde Spidey here
https://preview.redd.it/kpz7vzvub64d1.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=8d25e78b18f3fc82e58eb1516d1ac915fc130470

• Friendly reminder they referenced fuckin' Ultimate Fallout of all storylines in Gwen's room, under which she mostly lingers while speaking with her dad. Are you telling me that scene just happened to be shot like that? No, they orchestrated it! L&M! The story that deals with Miles' overall debut and the (of course, cue pathos) fallout of 1610A Spidey's demise! Been struggling to find and spot it honestly, damn lighting and coloring
• Guess what's 1610A Pete (the original Ultimate comics version, not blond RIPeter)'s death age? 16, exactly 65B Gwen's present age. MCU Pete's too when he was snapped
• Notice the last part of the Canon Event exposition scene; Hobie's got the Spider-Man No More comic panel, Jess-332 the If This Be My Destiny one, Peter B. the wedding, and Gwen? Spidey rising from the grave in Kraven's Last Hunt, modified with herself doing the feat. The kicker here: Neither Hobie nor Gwen's displayed events have official releases yet, although Hobie did say he opted out of chasing Miles - which is to say she's next and last, as well as #4 (so deathly the connotations) on the shown list

In Defense

Now calm down before you web pitchforks on me

• People keep saying there has to be a much more nuanced wrap-up - an idea with traction around these subs in a good way; to this day, people argue whether that Mumbattan hole was Spot BS or a canon event's unraveling. Mine has that nuance IMO
• Migs up and stated Mumbattan wasn't their first canon event ruptures rodeo and they couldn't save some 'verses from them, why would he be bullshitting or even fully wrong on CEs if he had that Spider team with specialized equipment for canon event containment? They were conveniently there right as that hole formed, and hell, they could reconcile that hole with the Dead Migs dimension where everything digitally evaporates as the latter being the end result
• He put on his shitlist Spider-Holland (maybe along with Maguire, Garfield (the light one)) for a reason - not hesitating to save MCU MJ (Michelle Jones-Watson) rather than let her be Spider-Tom's ASM-121 moment - although one can argue the memory wipe counts as first love loss, along with his Iron Man being his police captain canon event - and Raimi-verse Gwen is very much (per that meme) hot, single, and alive. Observing Sinister, Supreme, and 838/Illuminati-Strange's destroyed realities made him a rage button for 2099
• Showing the other 'verses like the comic-based What Ifs and that Armored Spider-Man one from the 1994 cartoon? It's kind of like a cheat out of the dilemma, and I'm not sure the other viewers would agree. Miguel also knows of Dr. Strange and possibly his What If? versions
  • Before someone "Absolute Points solve themselves, Society's unneeded" me, we know too the APs are a nascent concept and Miguel probably thought no two universes will always solve themselves and CEs are probably spontaneous - maybe a day, a week, or even a year plus, they will happen, scapegoat or not
  • To the people who say Migs was mistaken in how he destroyed that reality and that it was an Incursion: IT WASN'T ONE, because it would have caused a collision course between that 'verse and 928B, which I don't think they have any means to stop - only someone like Strange. Aside from the trolley sacrifice of one Earth, we're not privy to what are the other seven ways to averting Incursions. Guess what, Gabri's reality went poof on its apparent own while 928B stayed very much alive. Didn't even look like 928B was approaching from the skies at the time either
  • Returning to Miles' side, I also hear of the fixed time points comparison from Dr. Who; I'd like to point out the Doctor was able to fake his death by hiding inside a, uh, humanoid ship at Lake Silencio, so I've read, despite records saying so
• They keep insisting "First time for everything," right, plus the cake stuff? Why not a Venom Blast resuscitation somehow on the brink of death, then being comatose or some other critical injury so the "lost Lenore" event doesn't stick? Or! In the style of BvS Dawn of Justice and What if? Spider-Man The Other (plus Ultimate Gwen ofc)...symbiotic resurrection (possibly even transporting that one symbiote drop in that bar in the MCU), and cue Gwenom arc in some spinoff like Spider-Women
• Alternatively, to avoid the fridged LI trope absolutely, Rio gets the Ultimate comics treatment of death somehow - but as said repeatedly, doing one's own thing, and I think this Spider-War's seen enough dead Moraleses. Miles has already grown and seen enough from the other Spiders' losses and his own. Honestly, people need to hear comic quotes often, take Mark Waid's Daredevil run:

Rachel Cole: You know what gives me the strength? My loss. We're alike that way, I imagine. Admit it, nobody who's a stranger to that particular pain could ever be as driven as us.
Daredevil: Never... Don't you ever say that to me ever again, that is a repellent statement, it's a vomituous insult to every cop, every fireman, every soldier alive who steps up to fight for those who can't! I am sorry for your loss, but if you genuinely believe that only the death of a loved one can motivate a human being to take up a cause...then get your pathetic cynical ass out of my way so I can do my job!

It's relevant because Rachel's stance here was that people like them who fight for causes are solely inspired by loss, only for Matt to verbally skewer her. The subtext here, synthesizing it with the Spidey mythos is that it's misguided to think that losing forever more loved ones is the only way to make a true Spider-Hero.
Flip the narrative and say "Villainy only happens if they're abused/poorly raised, alas, poor villain;" one is warranted to call it a vomitous insult to every abuse victim/improperly raised junior out there who became better than their elders/superiors - i.e. not go evil.
Either way, the greater gist of this is losing a close one for good isn't the way, emphasis on "for good"

Future Implications

Wrapping everything up like above (I mean the objectives), one way or another (not necessarily mine), would show full commitment to the theme of forging one's own destiny right down to the metatextual. The Spidersoc let confirmation bias blind themselves to possibilities and seemingly have yet to expose themselves to the preestablished branch realities where, say, Spider-People lose nobody or a Gwen Stacy ties neatly her romance quest with a Spidey. The themes of doing your own thing openly and honestly and in safety - rather than requesting permission from broken systems - resonate much with an Excel list: People who are queeof colowomen/disabled
Beyond that obviousness, we have disabled Spideys, Muslim Spideys (that female UK one), Blob-fat Spideys - even PLUSHIE Spideys, just to name a few, all to show the movie being the most diverse and inclusive Spidey work to date. These themes are so incredibly applicable to the lives of atypical people or otherwise people who live under systems that aren't designed for them to succeed. IE: POC, women, queer people, people with disabilities, etc. One can argue "doing your own thing" was what made ItSV such a breakthrough success and a decade phenomenon: Everything about the animation
I get that a teen girl dying, even temporarily - especially one who resonates much with LGBT (transgwender specifically) themes - is real bad optics, but we went through this before with Luz Noceda (bi rep exactly) from The Owl House, and things landed on their feet :)
If/When she comes back to crimefighting, this would be the moment she goes by Ghost Spider like her A self - a Gwen who fought fate and died for it, but another Spider loved her so much, he raised her from death to life in Ultimate defiance (getting flowery prose here) that prevails

Shortform

• Massive exploration of the Society beyond the big names we've spent time with in Across
• Villains forsaking their rivalries for survival and universes paving their own roads
• Gwen temporarily eating it but coming back, then leaning on her comic self (A variant)'s new Ghost-Spider ident to mark her defying fate's scythe

Premise

Here is the textual taxonomy of trilogys as I've heard in (obscure, hard-to-find) writing structure lessons

• Installment 1: Exposit - What is the subject
• Installment 2: Analyze - What is the subject's meaning
• Installment 3: Perspectivize - What is the subject's value and suasoria

Across may not have been a conclusive Act 2, but it is definitely a valid standalone one

• Expanded the 'verse and the major cast by throwing a curve into their relationships and own philosophies
• Delved deeper into what makes a Spider-Man by presenting a free will vs. determinism arc a la Civil War that also happens to have metacommentary

"I'ma do my own thing."
"We're supposed to be the good guys."
Miles summarized his new path throughout the movie, then Gwen called out the Society for their enabling of so much death and suffering to serve a misguided dogma.
https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/File:Spider-Man_Across_the_Spider-Verse_poster_003_textless.jpg
There's almost certainly gonna an all-out ideological civil war (fists or not, composite of MCU and comics, but Spiders-only) like that split poster teased.
Gonna be grimly hilarious seeing Spinneret/Spiderling fight Peter B. and Mayday (the former are on Miguel's side to the left, along with Insomniac Spidey)
Yes, I believe there will be a few more new support characters in Beyond - there's a reason certain folks were at the front, and it's just really curious and a wasted opportunity that this Spider-MJ didn't interact at all with this active version of her other (stillborn) daughter or her (Mayday-616B) dad.
I very much appreciate the lifting of other Spidey variants to the zeitgeist fold - Noir, Ham, Gwendy-65, the UK/Punk and Indian ones, the weirdos like Parkedcar from Not! Pixar's Cars, a damn popsicle possibly (lol), a plushie, etc. - but they

Events and Themes

1. Universes

Serving the Installment 3 role, Beyond will probably tie up loose ends and make the above themes reverberate across universes. Like, for 42:

• Miles Prowler can prove that the world doesn't always need Spider-Heroes to save itself, only the spirit of the concept - Spider-Man isn't the center of the multiverse, and given the last movie's title, it will navigate its own fate independent of any Spider at all - let the world do its own thing

Beyond the 'verse of men of spiders, Reality-42 rises up against villainy.

• Maybe Kingpin and Dr. Octopus return someway, then emulate their TAS 1994 counterparts in allying with the Spiders out of existential pragmatics

2. Characters and Developments

By "reverberate," the Spider-Hero question is going to strike real nerves that change the Society and the world, making them examine the morality of the war they fight against anomalies like Spot; survival at all means and costs vs. idealistic stand against fate. And for certain Spiders, we could get more screentime with certain Society members and ex-members - preferably Spinneret and Spiderling, the Insomniac Spideys, and Scarlet Spider - and Endgame-ify Beyond's length.

• The RYV (Reality-18119, Renew Your Vows) Parkers confide with the others including Peter B. on family and how do they keep it together in light of their role as preserving fate and existence itself
• PS4/5 bros relate their experiences of loss and keeping going, especially to 1610B Miles. A great way of giving a layman on the games' plots while relaying their themes to the wider non-gamer audience
• Ben Reilly (Scarlet bro), being a Pete clone and a technical predecessor to Miles, will have his status put to address. His struggles with his inheritance and identity - bearing the names of Peter's parental figures - will probably mirror Ultimate Spider-Woman, and hopefully, he's a major outcrier against Miguel's misguided cause
• Jess-332's and Peter B's babies will interact, leading to the former's moral realization due to Peter B's time with Miles being the reason for his family's reconstruction - influenced solely by extrauniversal (of course anomalous) factors. Throw that Madame Web Spidey (Julia Carpenter) into the fray somehow?
• Interuniversal linkage like in the comics (616/928 and 65/8) can be explored to further the fate-changing theme; whether 928B the bad future of 616B is an inevitability - we haven't really explored 928B - and whether 42 is 1610B's worst possible self and how it can change. The Miles/Gwen dynamic could play here too, 65B and 1610B and the references to the number 8 (which happens to resemble the infinity sign - "infinite Spider possibilities") in Across. Not suggesting that Comics Earth 8's characters play any role, tho, 'cuz per the themes, the duo should connect on their terms
• Variant Miguels when, Sony - like the variant MJs, Harrys, Normans, Flashes, and Gwens, etc. Get freaking Edge of Time, not just Ultimate and 1994, in it
• The locked-up anomalous villains perhaps even helping stop Spot - like Kingpin and Ock above. Basically No Way Home's scenario but tweaked a bit and writ large; let them decide whether to have a new lease of life or to keep their exploits going - their outcomes, their terms as usual. I wonder how would Atari Osborn fare, though, XD

Feel free to add more :) Not quite a Marvel binger yet, XD

3. Fates

Another element to be addressed is the room elephant of canon events. Their loopholes, their flexibility have to be expanded upon: They are fluid like time's arrows and oceans. For one:

• George lives? Sorry, but Gwen's relationship with him remains strained, on top of her guilt from treachery and deception. Also, the canon event ain't really death, but the Captain losing their job

Maybe we even trade one event for another, as in a major death of sorts. In my opinion:

• Not Peter B., because he's a living meta rebuttal to people holding off (at the very least) on an aged-up/married/parent Peter, the 616 editorial included. Him dying, let alone Mayday (toddler, so definite write-off), would undermine this subtext
• Not Jess, 'cuz she's a mother and despite her jerkish mentor habits seems willing to look the other way for turncoats like Margo/Byte
• Not Jeff, 'cuz that would just prove Miggy's point in light of George being living proof, as well as utterly render worthless all the effort thrown into saving him
• Not Miguel (yes, how dare I), 'cuz for all his pain-motivated harshness, he deserves better than the cliche'd fatal redemption trope of villains, of which he technically ain't one (and don't "Thanos" this as unlike Migs, he knew of better options but foregone it)

Here's a unique twist: The mastermind behind this Spider- conspiracy grows a conscience after all the breaking lectures against his warped view of canon events, then resolves to save as many lives as possible, dropping all pretenses of controlling the Spider-War
At risk to himself, he'll unhesitatingly save lives while one/some of those who blindly followed him give theirs. As shitty as his Society's turned out to be, they still have their main directive of fixing multiversal incursions, and someone has to keep giving the orders, someone with the most drive and commitment (especially for atonement)
Why on Miguel? Matured thinking aside, it evokes how science and philosophy works; cognitive science has this cliché of at least two sides theorizing extremes that are contrary to one another, and as time passes with discovery, the proof points to both sides having a point and deciding on a compromise; this of course goes beyond simple personal disagreement
So who'll it be?
Spider-gents and ladies, none other than Gwendolyn Maxine Stacy of Earth-65B
In the vein of MCU Aunt May being her Pete's Uncle Ben delivering that responsibility quote, and through it occurs the Spider-Verse's true Ultimate Fallout/Death of a Spider event this way
Gwen being slain and (certainly) coming back would be a wakeup call to both her world and the Society, as well as the latter group's morality in their internal strife and conflict against Spot. Redeem her image to everybody, Miles included, while allowing them to get together on solitary terms
That way:

• Miguel's right that being a Spider is a sacrifice, it's just their assigned canon events ain't 1:1 across every universe
• Miles' right that you can have and eat two cakes - meaning canon events can be alleviated (such as debris falling on Singh without killing him) - it's just that there's a cost

It'd also be a roundabout redemption for blindly following the Society's beliefs and causing unnecessary pain to Miles, deeper than "My well-meaning side right, your well-meaning side wrong" - no, both sides can have their two cakes; say, the rest save Jeff, Gwen herself - the motherless one - saves Rio, let 1610B not be 1610A in this particular way
I'ma spitball here, but it's kinda like Nolanverse (TDKR) Batman, come to think of it. Maybe George is informed of and reveals his daughter's "demise" and publicizes her ident? The latter I admit is questionable
Maybe Gwen goes to 1610B and RVs with Miles to Florence - there's this café on the banks of the Arno - for a fine evening sitting there and ordering a Fernet Branca
XD

(Potential) Foreshadowing

• Proof for the 42 antiheroes' case:

... "We wanted to craft this moment where Miles encounters this powerful figure in his life that he loved so much and he lost," says director Justin K. Thompson. "That's when he realizes that he is not really in his own dimension, as well as the gravity of what he has lost. In this reality, Aaron had to shake off his life of crime and became a surrogate father figure to Miles."
... In this alternate reality, the Sinister Six have been able to flourish and take over the world. "Criminality runs rampant," says Thompson. "We wanted to create a world where it felt like Aaron and Miles G. Morales of Earth-42 [this reality's counterpart to Miles Morales] are the only heroes.
Zahed, R. (2023). Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: The Art of the Movie. Abrams Books. THE WORLDS → Earth-42, p.190
... This version of the character was never bitten by a radioactive spider and doesn't have any superpowers, but he has fallen into the role of becoming the vigilante the Prowler, under the tutelage of his uncle Aaron. ...
Zahed, R. (2023). Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: The Art of the Movie. Abrams Books. THE WORLDS → Miles G. Morales: The Prowler, p.200

• Here's a pattern: We meet multiple Spidey-Peters and our intro hero is, well, RIPeter, then some podcast revealed we'd be meeting multiple Gwens in Beyond; timestamp 17:51-18:45

Interviewer: Will we see other multiversal variants of Gwen Stacy in the future even if they don't have spider powers, like you do with MJ, Uncle Aaron, and Miles?
Lord: Currently yes. ... But there’s one I’m very excited about.
Miller: Yes, yeah, I know exactly the one you’re talking about.
Lord: You know the one I’m thinking of, which is based on... I’m not gonna say anything, I’m not gonna say anything.
Miller: But it is sort of plot-integral, I would say.
Interviewer: If there are other multiversal variants of Gwen in Beyond the Spider-Verse, will they impact her arc, her relationship with Miles?
Lord: I would say yes.

The Pete variants showed up after Blondie's demise, so they might reverse the sequence here - as I said, a bookend.
Yea, all these signs totally bode well for the other blonde Spidey here
https://preview.redd.it/kpz7vzvub64d1.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=8d25e78b18f3fc82e58eb1516d1ac915fc130470

• Friendly reminder they referenced fuckin' Ultimate Fallout of all storylines in Gwen's room, under which she mostly lingers while speaking with her dad. Are you telling me that scene just happened to be shot like that? No, they orchestrated it! L&M! The story that deals with Miles' overall debut and the (of course, cue pathos) fallout of 1610A Spidey's demise! Been struggling to find and spot it honestly, damn lighting and coloring
• Guess what's 1610A Pete (the original Ultimate comics version, not blond RIPeter)'s death age? 16, exactly 65B Gwen's present age. MCU Pete's too when he was snapped
• Notice the last part of the Canon Event exposition scene; Hobie's got the Spider-Man No More comic panel, Jess-332 the If This Be My Destiny one, Peter B. the wedding, and Gwen? Spidey rising from the grave in Kraven's Last Hunt, modified with herself doing the feat. The kicker here: Neither Hobie nor Gwen's displayed events have official releases yet, although Hobie did say he opted out of chasing Miles - which is to say she's next and last, as well as #4 (so deathly the connotations) on the shown list

In Defense

Now calm down before you web pitchforks on me

• People keep saying there has to be a much more nuanced wrap-up - an idea with traction around these subs in a good way; to this day, people argue whether that Mumbattan hole was Spot BS or a canon event's unraveling. Mine has that nuance IMO
• Migs up and stated Mumbattan wasn't their first canon event ruptures rodeo and they couldn't save some 'verses from them, why would he be bullshitting or even fully wrong on CEs if he had that Spider team with specialized equipment for canon event containment? They were conveniently there right as that hole formed, and hell, they could reconcile that hole with the Dead Migs dimension where everything digitally evaporates as the latter being the end result
• He put on his shitlist Spider-Holland (maybe along with Maguire, Garfield (the light one)) for a reason - not hesitating to save MCU MJ (Michelle Jones-Watson) rather than let her be Spider-Tom's ASM-121 moment - although one can argue the memory wipe counts as first love loss, along with his Iron Man being his police captain canon event - and Raimi-verse Gwen is very much (per that meme) hot, single, and alive. Observing Sinister, Supreme, and 838/Illuminati-Strange's destroyed realities made him a rage button for 2099
• Showing the other 'verses like the comic-based What Ifs and that Armored Spider-Man one from the 1994 cartoon? It's kind of like a cheat out of the dilemma, and I'm not sure the other viewers would agree. Miguel also knows of Dr. Strange and possibly his What If? versions
  • Before someone "Absolute Points solve themselves, Society's unneeded" me, we know too the APs are a nascent concept and Miguel probably thought no two universes will always solve themselves and CEs are probably spontaneous - maybe a day, a week, or even a year plus, they will happen, scapegoat or not
  • To the people who say Migs was mistaken in how he destroyed that reality and that it was an Incursion: IT WASN'T ONE, because it would have caused a collision course between that 'verse and 928B, which I don't think they have any means to stop - only someone like Strange. Aside from the trolley sacrifice of one Earth, we're not privy to what are the other seven ways to averting Incursions. Guess what, Gabri's reality went poof on its apparent own while 928B stayed very much alive. Didn't even look like 928B was approaching from the skies at the time either
  • Returning to Miles' side, I also hear of the fixed time points comparison from Dr. Who; I'd like to point out the Doctor was able to fake his death by hiding inside a, uh, humanoid ship at Lake Silencio, so I've read, despite records saying so
• They keep insisting "First time for everything," right, plus the cake stuff? Why not a Venom Blast resuscitation somehow on the brink of death, then being comatose or some other critical injury so the "lost Lenore" event doesn't stick? Or! In the style of BvS Dawn of Justice and What if? Spider-Man The Other (plus Ultimate Gwen ofc)...symbiotic resurrection (possibly even transporting that one symbiote drop in that bar in the MCU), and cue Gwenom arc in some spinoff like Spider-Women
• Alternatively, to avoid the fridged LI trope absolutely, Rio gets the Ultimate comics treatment of death somehow - but as said repeatedly, doing one's own thing, and I think this Spider-War's seen enough dead Moraleses. Miles has already grown and seen enough from the other Spiders' losses and his own. Honestly, people need to hear comic quotes often, take Mark Waid's Daredevil run:

Rachel Cole: You know what gives me the strength? My loss. We're alike that way, I imagine. Admit it, nobody who's a stranger to that particular pain could ever be as driven as us.
Daredevil: Never... Don't you ever say that to me ever again, that is a repellent statement, it's a vomituous insult to every cop, every fireman, every soldier alive who steps up to fight for those who can't! I am sorry for your loss, but if you genuinely believe that only the death of a loved one can motivate a human being to take up a cause...then get your pathetic cynical ass out of my way so I can do my job!

It's relevant because Rachel's stance here was that people like them who fight for causes are solely inspired by loss, only for Matt to verbally skewer her. The subtext here, synthesizing it with the Spidey mythos is that it's misguided to think that losing forever more loved ones is the only way to make a true Spider-Hero.
Flip the narrative and say "Villainy only happens if they're abused/poorly raised, alas, poor villain;" one is warranted to call it a vomitous insult to every abuse victim/improperly raised junior out there who became better than their elders/superiors - i.e. not go evil.
Either way, the greater gist of this is losing a close one for good isn't the way, emphasis on "for good"

Future Implications

Wrapping everything up like above (I mean the objectives), one way or another (not necessarily mine), would show full commitment to the theme of forging one's own destiny right down to the metatextual. The Spidersoc let confirmation bias blind themselves to possibilities and seemingly have yet to expose themselves to the preestablished branch realities where, say, Spider-People lose nobody or a Gwen Stacy ties neatly her romance quest with a Spidey. The themes of doing your own thing openly and honestly and in safety - rather than requesting permission from broken systems - resonate much with an Excel list: People who are queeof colowomen/disabled
Beyond that obviousness, we have disabled Spideys, Muslim Spideys (that female UK one), Blob-fat Spideys - even PLUSHIE Spideys, just to name a few, all to show the movie being the most diverse and inclusive Spidey work to date. These themes are so incredibly applicable to the lives of atypical people or otherwise people who live under systems that aren't designed for them to succeed. IE: POC, women, queer people, people with disabilities, etc. One can argue "doing your own thing" was what made ItSV such a breakthrough success and a decade phenomenon: Everything about the animation
I get that a teen girl dying, even temporarily - especially one who resonates much with LGBT (transgwender specifically) themes - is real bad optics, but we went through this before with Luz Noceda (bi rep exactly) from The Owl House, and things landed on their feet :)
If/When she comes back to crimefighting, this would be the moment she goes by Ghost Spider like her A self - a Gwen who fought fate and died for it, but another Spider loved her so much, he raised her from death to life in Ultimate defiance (getting flowery prose here) that prevails

Hi I’m Li 14 (f) and my sister Dia is 17. It all started in December, my sister asked me and my mom if we could got to our schools rival basketball game, of course me being happy that my sister wanted to hang out with said yes. Little did I know that was a big mistake. During the game me and my sister got separated and she snuck off and left the building so I was alone with a lot of people that I didn’t know. I have extreme social anxiety and I have to calm myself down in big crowds. During that time my sister was hanging out with her foolish friends and got Sa’d. After that there was a shooting that we were caught in the middle of. Thankfully me and her got out because I observed the crowd and noticed that the police were not calm and were putting on vest. Fast forward to January my sister got raped. She snuck out again and I was the one that had to tell my mom. And my mom is really sensitive. But when I told her the only thing that she was talking about was different ways to beat Dia and the scary thing was that she would actually do it, si I begged her to be optimistic about why she might have snuck out. I told my mom to wait to call the police until 9 a.m. During that time I went to what I knew best which was going mute and not talking, crying, and cleaning. I didn’t have thoughts, ideas, it was like there was a black hole inside of me. When I felt like the time was right it told my mom to go outside, and there was a police officer driving past and my mom flagged him down, when the police officer was in the house, I heard crying but when I saw my mom it was her fake cry, not her real one, it made me feel disgusted, and like she only wanted the attention. There was only one person that I knew she could be at but we were on bad terms, and that was my dad. He was the first person that I called, after one ring he answered, and I asked where is she to him crying and sounding defeated, he told me to calm down then we need to talk and that she is okay and it would be best if we meet up. So we all meet up at my great aunts house. I saw my dad for the first time in over a year, and although it wasn’t on the best terms, I still wanted to run up to him and cry, but I didn’t because it wasn’t about me it was about Dia. She told me, my dad, my mom, and my great aunt that she was raped and threatened. My dad being the protective guy that he is said that we should go and talk to the police and got to the hospital to confirm that she was sa’d. We stayed in the hospital for about 10-12 hours taking shifts, because there could only be 2 people back there at a time. My mom and stepmom talked to each other for the first time, and I hung out with my dad and younger sister Ayah. The process took a long time, but it was confirmed that she was raped. After we left the hospital, we went back to our moms house and started packing to stay with our dad until everything was situated. When I got done putting the last suitcase in the trunk, my mom leaned down at the window at 11:50 p.m. and said “ I hope y’all are up and ready for school” after she said that I started crying, like what did she not get by her daughter was raped, it’s not something that goes away in a few hours. I lost so much respect for her after that. And for the next couple of months we were living with our dad full time until the case was figured out. During that time me and Dia would make jokes on our moms mental and physical abuse. One day our stepmom overheard me and asked what we were talking about, and if everything was okay at my moms house, and me and Dia saying yes, because she had normalized the abuse for years. But my stepmom told my dad and they had a talk on abuse and how it wasn’t normal. My dad and stepmom then contacted their lawyer and told him what happened. Then my sister Dia said that we should write letters on how the abuse was carried out, and why. And I agreed that it should be fine, but it wasn’t, during the time of her writing her letters, she would stay up trying to perfect them, she started sleeping in my room because she felt scared, and me being comforting, said yes, but that would be my biggest mistake inviting her in my personal space. One night she climbed up my stairs on my bunk bed and held my hands and stared into my eyes at like 3 in the morning and that scared the heck out of me. I’m not one to have any fears but whenever she came near me she scared me so much as if she was possessed and I can feel when something isn’t right but that’s were she got me. Every time me and her were alone she would say something that made no sense, and I felt like I was going crazy until she left to go to the bathroom and it was me, my stepmom and my dad, I had a panic attack and told them how she was acting, and at first they thought I was jealous, because she was getting all of the attention, but I don’t blame them for thinking that way. That night when they all went to sleep, Dia cried at my doorway where I couldn’t see her face, but there was light behind her, she said “I’m the sacrifice” and then left out of the room and went down to the second floor. I was so scared that night because I thought she was going to be harmed, or do the harming. It didn’t take me that long to fall asleep but I told me too long to wake up. All I could hear was my dad calling my name and I eventually got up. I unlocked my door, I walked out to my sisters outside my room. My little sister playing with cards, cards that I had never seen. And Dia looking menacingly in the corner of her room. My stepmom had jury duty that day and my dad was going to take her. As soon as they left my sister had two phones in her hand, and started talking about how we’re Dominican, mind you we are African American and Indigenous, and my little sister is mixed with African American and Haitian, so I was so confused and I looked at my phone for the time and Dia tried to take it say that the wasn’t real and that everything was fake the she started yelling. And attacked me, I was on the edge of my lower bunk, and my litter sister was right next to me. I put her in the corner of my room, to protect her because I thought I was going to have to fight Dia physically, which I’m 5”2, 115 pounds and I’m buff, and do weightlifting and know mixed martial arts, so I kinda of could hold my own, but she didn’t know her strength, she’s smaller than me, but it felt like I was trying to fight a leopard. But my dad ended up calling me and telling me to bring my little sister down to the car because they didn’t have a good feeling, and by the time he took her in the car Dia was acting as crazy as the joker. And apparently she called the police with my mom and made it seem like there was child abuse going on at my dads house but honestly it was the complete opposite, I’ve never felt a sense of normalcy in years. We went down to the first floor and the police were at the front door, they asked specifically for all the women in the house, because there was an incomplete call and they said it was a women’s voice. The only person that I thought of was my sister Dia because she was the only one with the house phones in her hands. And the police asked if everything was okay and she turned to my stepmom and said she needs to leave and said a lot of bad stuff, but in conclusion, she assaulted two police officers, recorded like she wasn’t acting completely insane, and she also lied and said that me and her were kidnapped and that she’s 18 and I’m 16, which I talked to the police separately and told them that she had been through a lot, and that we were not kidnapped and that we came here on our own terms, and that I’m 14 and she’s 16. The police were very nice and understanding. Because we are black in a mainly white neighborhood my dad begged them to please have mercy on her and I’ve never seen him cry like he did that day, it broke me mentally and cause my trust issues to go up. That day was long a traumatizing because I get really scared when people are yelling at me are shouting. My stepmom and dad fought so hard for my sister and me and now they have major trust issues with everyone, I feel really bad for them because Dia has put our younger sister on the line of possibly being adopted because of her false lies, she also lied and said that I was doing heavy drugs and I had to take a drug test in front on my dad and stepmom which was humiliating and I degraded my name and I felt like I didn’t have purpose on this earth because of my sister Dia. We had court and the judge said that I had to go back with my mom, hi to therapy, and that I wouldn’t be able to see my dad until the next weekend, I took a walk during the court case and I was apparently wanted by 50 different sheriffs, they found me and I was really confused, I gave my dad and stepmom one last hug that day and cried profusely, I saw about three other sheriffs crying as well. My mom made two walk me to her car, and made it seem like I was a prisoner just missing the chains and jumpsuit. I ended up talking to one of the sheriffs and he gave me some good advice to keep my head up and keep going, so that’s what I did and I talked to him about possibly getting myself emancipated, which I don’t really want. I went in the car with my sister and she was yelling a crying the entire time I was in the car and scared the absolute crap out of me. That next Friday I packed my clothes and stuff that I wanted to go to my dad’s house, and my sister started coming at me with words and I tried to take my water bottle back from her and she kicked me in my stomach and told me to start crying but I didn’t and I pushed her back off of me, I’m self defense and I got so mad at the fact that I couldn’t really fight her, so I let out every word that would hurt someone and I never cussed that much in my life but I didn’t notice how much I was cussing until I heard my Nana at the bottom of the stairs, my sister went downstairs and laughed at me, and then she went into the living room where I sleep every night and she took my Beats, phone charger, and epi pen and hid them throughout the house. She’s had so many episodes that I feel like I’m going crazy, I have multiple videos of her episodes out of self defense. My mom told me that I couldn’t text or call my dad, so I snuck and called him to inform him of what has been happening, I believe that it’s child endangerment if my mom leaves me alone with my sister. She honestly does stuff or says stuff when my mom leaves me alone with her. She was jealous of me and tried to attack me, she even threw a full candle at my head because she thought I was the cause of all of the false and childish decisions she made. She still has episodes a lot, and I want to live with my dad. She put such a negative effect on their lives, and now we all have to go to court because of her lies. She even knows who raped her and she protects them with her whole life and lies for them, and she lied about my dad trying to kidnap us, she ruined her relationship with a lot of people and all for what? Just to fit in, it’s really sad how much people change their lives for other peoples judgment. Today is my birthday and I’m at my dads house. I really don’t want to go over to my mom’s house. I really need advice. I just want a better and more peaceful life.

This chapter was too long to post as one, so I’m dividing into two parts. Apologies for it being a bit disjointed.
On Thursday morning, after Luke left early for work and Brooke went for a run, I removed from Brooke’s closet the the gossamer jacket I had worn to the Ren fair and put it into the trunk of my Prius along with the canvas shoes and white tights that had completed my humiliating “Little Foot Page” costume. I dared not disappoint Anna a second time.
Fortunately, I didn’t have any punishment writing lines to complete after I cleaned her and Paul’s apartment on Tuesday. Brooke didn’t force me to wear any new feminine accessory that day. She was so fond of the choker that it had become an almost regular part of my daily attire.
As she kissed me goodbye that morning before I left for campus, she fingered the choker and my neck, saying, “I like this on you. Maybe I’ll order another one with a subtle little ring on it.”
I often couldn’t tell when Brooke was joking or not.
“You mean something where someone could attach a leash? Like a slave collar? Please, Brooke. This is bad enough.”
“No, it wouldn’t have to stick out like that. I said ‘subtle,’ didn’t I? The ring could be flat against your neck. That style is very common. It’s sexy. But I do think we can get you a proper collar to wear at home. I’m thinking leather with silver studs and a nice ring in the front. That one will definitely stick out. Luke and I will look for something on-line.”
Again, was she joking or not? She gave me her full, dimpled smile as she spoke, but that didn’t tell me conclusively one way or another. Nevertheless, her smile, her touch and the nature of the conversation all conspired to cause my liberated cock to grow hard in the lace panties I was wearing under my khakis. I was hoping she wouldn’t notice, so she wouldn’t lock me back up; several hours later, I was wishing that she had noticed.
Except for regular cleanings, and one or two supervised, humiliating releases, I had been locked up pretty consistently over the previous 2 1/2 months. Therefore, I truly enjoyed my freedom most of that Thursday. I had an almost incessant erection, fortunately mostly concealed by my khakis (which were looser than most of the pants I was permitted to wear), even while waiting in line to get Neil’s coffee and while walking across campus in a light snow to bring it to his office. The phrase “microaggressions” had become trendy on college campuses such as mine, referring to insensitive comments people make that are discriminatory or insulting, often even without intending to be. As I knocked on the door to Neil’s office, I thought to myself how I was being subjected not to microaggesions at my college, but rather to microhumiliations. Such as fetching Neil’s coffee.
“Come in,” said Neil, through the door.
Remarkably, seated in the one chair across from Neil’s desk was Paul Betz. Yet again! Alarming and suspicious. Or was I simply being paranoid? Neither of them made any effort to get up from their seats.
I was holding the cup of coffee in a paper bag. Feeling like an idiot, I placed the bag on Neil’s desk.
“Thanks for the coffee, pal,” Neil said, as he removed the cup from the bag. “It’s a bit cold.”
“Sorry, it’s snowing out there,” I replied, absurdly, as if it was even remotely somehow my fault that his coffee wasn’t hot.
“No worries. I’ll warm it up in my microwave. Paul and I were just discussing some swimming techniques. Paul’s team has a big meet this weekend. Is it okay if I catch up with you later?”
Paul looked up at me with an arrogant smirk. I thought to myself: how much strategy could there possibly be to discuss? You jump in the pool and you swim.
“Of course,” I said. “I’ll talk to you later.”
And just like that, I was dismissed. The coffee boy had delivered the coffee and was no longer needed. Why should I care about suffering this microhumiliation in front of Paul, who a few hours later would be subjecting me to any number of macro humiliations? Simply because he was gaining even greater knowledge about me, the nature of my relationships with others in my social circle and the breadth of my submission. Knowledge is power. More knowledge about me, more power over me. Nothing good could possibly come of it.
Paul was his usual arrogant self in class that afternoon, and it was clear that he, Anna and Kelly were all in exaggeratedly good moods, no doubt savoring the thought of interacting with me under radically different circumstances only a few hours later.
Anna was wearing black tights, a short, plaid skirt and black ankle boots. She propped her feet up on the desk in front of her next to Paul’s and said, “Oh, look how dirty my boots are from all the puddles of slush.”
Paul added, “Mine too. Fortunately, our shoeshine boy will be visiting later.”
Kelly sitting two seats to their left, giggled and said, “The cold weather makes me ravenous. What’s for dinner tonight, Anna?”
Anna grinned and answered, “Beef stroganoff. Our shoeshine boy is also an excellent cook, supposedly. A real Renaissance boy.”
“Not a Medieval boy?”, said Kelly. She and Anna both laughed.
Scanning the room, I didn’t believe the other students were picking up on all of the innuendo (or, if they were, I didn’t think they understood what it meant). Nevertheless, one serious female student, not part of Kelly’s clique, looked at me as if to say, “Why are you letting these clowns do and say whatever they want? Why don’t you take control of your classroom?” How I longed to do just that, to put the three of them in their place with some witty remark, as I would have done in the past. The pain of Paul’s spanking on Tuesday still fresh in my mind (if not on my bottom), however, I bit my tongue and timidly began my lecture.
After class, I went to the grocery store to purchase all of the ingredients for Anna’s prescribed menu of beef stroganoff, Italian green beans, and a starter spinach salad with warm bacon dressing (she had even directed me to her preferred recipes on-line — I had tested the salad and dressing on Brooke, with positive reviews). I also purchased the two bottles of not inexpensive red wine specified by Paul.
When I arrived at their condo, holding multiple grocery bags, my nemesis doorman was lying in wait for me, like a snarky Cerberus dressed as a bellhop. My underworld was eleven flights up, however.
“I’m going to apartment 11B. Paul Betz.”
“I have to announce you. Who should I say is calling?”
“The cook. Please tell him the cook is here.”
He spoke into the intercom phone, smirking at me, “Mr. Betz. Someone calling himself the cook is here to visit you. Although I’m pretty sure it’s the same guy who announced himself as the maid on Tuesday. May I send him up?”
Still holding the phone, he then addressed me: “Mr. Betz said they are expecting the maid, not the cook. What should I tell him?”
I sighed. “Please tell him the maid is here.”
“Mr. Betz. He is now no longer pretending to be a cook, but has announced himself as the maid. Very good, sir, I’ll send him right up then.” He put down the phone, his expression more smug by the second, and said, “You may now go up. The elevator…”
I interrupted him. “I know perfectly well where the elevator is, thank you.”
He stopped smirking to glare at me with annoyance for a moment, before resuming his smirk as I entered the elevator with my shopping bags.
When I got to their door, I got down on my knees and waited. Behind the door, I heard talking and sporadic laughter. They only kept me waiting about five minutes that day, and fortunately I was spared any encounters with Paul’s and Anna’s neighbors. It was during those five minutes on my knees, staring down at my cock pushing out my khakis, that I came to the belated realization that it probably wasn’t a good thing to be free of my chastity cage in the circumstances in which I then found myself. As I continued to wait, a sense of panic began to set in, which paradoxically only increased my arousal.
When the door finally opened, I was greeted by Kelly. I was eye level with her short, blue skirt. I looked down at her sheer stocking-encased legs and black, strap-on heels before looking up at her grinning face. She had been wearing jeans in class, but had obviously dressed up for the exciting occasion of being served dinner by her submissive professor. I have not really described Kelly’s appearance much before now, other than to say that she is attractive. Kelly has shoulder length, thick, brown hair and sort of a button nose. She is slender, but not as tall as Anna or Brooke. I would describe her more as cute than truly beautiful like the other two. However, by “cute,“ I don’t want to suggest that Kelly isn’t sexy. She is, but more in a teasing, playful way than the regal Anna. Sometimes it’s those cute, playful ones that you really have to watch out for, I was to learn.
Generally speaking, it occurred to me that, on the cusp of turning 40, I was surrounded by – and subservient to – a number of meaningfully younger people, most of whom were well above average in the looks department. There are a lot of overweight Americans – more in Ohio than in the Northeast, I thought (I’m sure Neil would have said that observation was still further evidence of my elitism) – including a lot of overweight students on my campus. For whatever reason, however, I was this bookish, unathletic guy now surrounded by athletes (Luke, Paul, Anna, Kevin, and even my one contemporary in terms of age, Neil), or fitness freaks (Brooke) or the generally attractive people who they chose to associate with (like Kelly, Laura, and Brooke’s estranged friend, Michelle). Growing up, my social circle tended to consist of the less attractive – the geeks, the nerds, the social outcasts. So, being surrounded by the cool, beautiful people was new for me, and exciting. So much toned, taut young flesh. Of course, I was not, nor am not now, their equal. Not even close. I’m their servant, their lackey, their toy. But that’s part of what makes the dynamic so exciting, so arousing. For me, certainly. But also for most of them, I believe (Brooke excepted; I am confident that there is a lot more depth to our relationship with each other, than to our relationships with all the others).
As I looked up at Kelly, these thoughts running through my head, I consoled myself that at least I wasn’t being subjugated, teased and tormented by physically repulsive people. Remembering Brooke’s advice to go with the flow, I tried to tell myself to be grateful for small favors.
“Hi, Professor Rollins!“, said Kelly, brightly.
“Hi, Kelly,” I sheepishly replied.
“Oh, come now, professor. We’re not in class now. I think the proper way to address me here is Miss Kelly, don’t you agree?”
“Yes, Miss Kelly, of course.”
“You may enter,” she said. Seeing Paul behind her, I remembered to shuffle on my knees into the apartment, bags in either hand.
Paul said, ”What time do you need to be home tonight, Rollins? Where are Luke and Brooke?”
“Thursday night they almost always go out, sir. If you recall, that’s why we picked Thursday evenings for me to…to come here. Luke is taking Brooke out to dinner tonight at a restaurant near his house. The earliest they’ll be home, I think, is around 10:30, unless they decide to spend the night at Luke’s. I’d like to be home by 10, just to be on the safe side, sir, if possible,” I replied.
Kelly said to Paul, “I like the ‘sirs.’ I see that you’ve been training him well.“
“You may leave at 10. That means we have you for 5 hours. Put the food away and then get dressed,” ordered Paul. Anna and Kelly’s boyfriend, Archer, were sitting on the couch in the living room.
“Wait a minute,” said Anna. “Did you bring your Ren fair costume this time?”
“Yes, Princess Anna.”
“‘Princess?’ I really like that. Call me ‘Princess,’ too,” Kelly said to me, giggling.
“Yes, Princess Kelly,” I replied.
Smiling with delight, Kelly asked Archer, “Do you wish him to address you as Prince Archer?”
Archer, who I later learned was Paul’s teammate on the college swimming team, said, “No, he can just call me ‘sir’.”
“You’re no fun,” said Kelly.
“Put on your Little Foot Page costume, professor,” said Anna.
“Hold on,” said Paul. “If he’s serving us dinner, shouldn’t he be dressed as a waitress? Or as a maid? What about the pink uniform Chrissy wears? That’s sort of a waitress maid hybrid,” Paul explained to Archer.
“Or what about the Hooters uniform?”, asked Archer.
“But the Little Foot Page uniform is so cute!”, said Kelly.
Anna said, “Well, everybody seems to have an opinion. The only way to settle this democratically is through a vote. Let’s all write down our top choice on a scrap of paper and toss it into my baseball cap. There are three options and four votes, so there will be a clear winner.”
“I think he should model each uniform first, so we can make an informed decision,” said Archer.
“Great idea, Archer! Who doesn’t love a little, impromptu fashion show? Kelly, please tear up four pieces of paper and get a pen while I show our dear professor where we keep Chrissy’s uniforms,” said Anna.
I listened to this rather extraordinary conversation while still kneeling in the entrance hall. I had managed to will my erection down, at least partially, so had escaped detection for the moment. Obviously, this was only a temporary victory, however.
After being permitted to stand, I first put away the food and then followed Anna upstairs into the dungeon. She opened a closet and pulled out two plastic bags that she draped over the spanking bench.
“Here are the other two uniforms you will model for us. I want you to start with the waitress uniform. Make sure you wear the black stockings and the heels with the dress. And the cap. There are hairpins in the bag you can use to make sure that it doesn’t fall off your head. Once you’re dressed, we’ll be waiting for you in the living room. I expect you to walk the length of the living room, stand before us, curtsy, do a slow 360, face us again and curtsy a second time. Then walk back up here, put on the Hooter’s uniform, and repeat the same steps. Remember to put on the flesh colored pantyhose; they’re what really make the Hooters uniform, don’t you think?”
I had never darkened the doors of a Hooters before, but nodded my ascent.
“Well, the pantyhose along with the white socks and sneakers. You didn’t bring those, did you?”
“No, princess. Besides the shoes I’m wearing, I only brought the canvas shoes I wore to the Ren fair. As you commanded, princess.”
“All the more reason the Hooters uniform just won’t cut it tonight. But we have to humor Archer, don’t we? So, wear your canvas shoes with it. You’ll look preposterous, but that’s the point, I suppose. Right?”
“Yes, princess.”
“You’ll finish with your Little Foot Page uniform. The same steps. That’s my top choice, so make sure that you really sell that one. I’ll be watching closely. If you fail to do any of the steps I just told you, or don’t do any of them satisfactorily, I’ll ask Paul and/or Archer to take you over their knees and spank you, hard, 10 times for each mistake. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Princess Anna.”
She left me in the dungeon to change. Paul’s description of the first uniform was accurate. Imagine a pink maid’s uniform, with a V-neck, black collar, black buttons and a black apron. It came with a matching cap, pink with black trim. After putting on the dress, I rolled the sheer, black stockings up my legs and smoothed out the skirt, my fully erect cock still concealed for the time being beneath it. The short skirt only came down to my mid thigh. I then put on the heels and the cap, fumbling with the hairpins, and regarded myself in the mirror. I was dressed like a fetishized waitress in a retro diner. Could I look any more ridiculous? As I practiced curtsying a few times in front of the mirror, I answered my own rhetorical question.
Worried about keeping my students and Archer waiting, I descended the stairs and followed Anna’s instructions, listening to the strange sound of my heels clicking on the hardwood floor of the living room.
As I curtsied before the four of them relaxing on the couch, Kelly giggled with glee and Paul said, “Now that’s an appropriate uniform for dinner service.”
“It is, yes, but we see Chrissy in it all the time. A little variety is nice,” Anna replied.
As I went through my steps, I watched Anna hold the same little book they had used to record my shortcomings in cleaning – my demerits as they called them – and make notes in it with a pen. That couldn’t be a good thing, I thought to myself, although I was quite certain that I was following her instructions to a T.
After I did my 360° turn, I did a brief second curtsy, as Anna had ordered, but she stopped me as I was turning around to go back upstairs.
“Wait, professor maid. Curtsy to us again, but this time make it a deep curtsy. I want to make sure that you’ve been practicing.“
I did as she commanded, bending my legs, one behind the other, lifting my skirt with my hands and holding the dipped, bowed position for a few seconds before straightening back up.
“What do you think?”, Anna asked Kelly.
“Not too bad for a relative novice, I suppose, although his technique could definitely use some work,” said Kelly.
“Do you hear that, professor maid? You need to spend a lot more time practicing your curtsying. Also, you’re walking in the heels better than on Tuesday, but you’re still pretty unsteady. We expect our servants to be graceful,” said Anna, imperiously, as she made additional notations in her little notebook. “You need to practice walking in heels somewhere besides your time here with us. We do not tolerate on-the-job training here. Got it?”
“Yes, Princess Anna. I understand.”
“Good. Move along now. We need to decide on your uniform so you can start serving us cocktails and hors d’oeuvres.”
I hurried back upstairs as quickly and gracefully as was within my power and changed into the Hooters uniform. I put on the nude pantyhose first, my cock distressingly hard beneath the transparent nylon. So much for further concealing my liberation from chastity! Freedom can be a dangerous thing, I was to soon learn. I next put on the U-shaped, white T-shirt with the big orange letters, the two ‘Os’ doubling as eyes for the owl. The shirt was tight against even my flat chest; I could only imagine what it must’ve felt like to the well endowed women for whom the shirt was designed. Next, I pulled up the skimpy, bright orange shorts, hoping like hell that they might hide my erection. They did quite the opposite, in fact. Made of some synthetic fabric, they were incredibly snug and almost looked like a bikini the way they rode up the side of my legs next to my crotch. The shorts hugged my small balls, the outline of which was readily apparent through the fabric, my cock making a small, but unmistakable protrusion above them. As humiliating as the waitress uniform was, this was worse, I felt. I groaned as I observed myself in the mirror. I then put on my canvas shoes and descended the stairs to begin another degrading catwalk.
Archer laughed and clapped. “Thats fucking hilarious. Look at the loser!”
“Ha ha, look our professor has a little stiffie,” said Kelly, pointing at my crotch and snickering.
Anna said, “Oh, my God. Paul. She’s right. Look! They must’ve taken off his chastity cage.”
Paul said, “Well, this opens up all kinds of new possibilities, doesn’t it?”
“It most certainly does!”, agreed Anna.
This conversation, so intensely humiliating, resulted in my already hard cock twitching beneath the tight orange shorts, growing harder still.
Kelly said, “But he doesn’t have any boobs. What kind of Hooters waitress is that? At least Chrissy is growing boobs, thanks to the hormones.”
As I was curtsying, Paul asked, “What happened to Chrissy’s breast forms?”
Anna answered, “We let her throw them out after she started growing her own tits.“
“Too bad,” Archer replied.
Anna added, “And the whole outfit just doesn’t work without the white tennis shoes and socks. Also, our Hooters girl forgot to do her second curtsy.” As I turned back around to comply, Anna added, “No, no professor pantywaist, it’s too late now. That’s another demerit, I’m afraid. Now hurry along and model your last outfit for us.”
I scampered up the stairs and quickly changed into my Little Foot Page costume from the Ren fair, the one inspired by the Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale’s painting, a favorite of Brooke’s. How I wished at that moment that it was her I was dressing for instead! The short, nearly transparent jacket barely concealed my cock, jutting out shamefully through my white tights.
Remembering Anna’s insistence that I really “sell” this outfit, I took special care to complete each step to the best of my abilities. I held my back straight and practically pranced into the room and across the living room floor. I held my curtsy longer than usual, somewhere between the duration of a regular curtsy and a deep curtsy.
Both of the girls applauded, gleefully.
“See. The foot page costume is adorable. And it’s unique,” said Kelly.
“But pages don’t serve dinner. Pages do all kinds of other things for their masters, like clean their clothes and shoes, help them get dressed, deliver messages, and so forth,” said Paul.
“Oh you’re such a stickler for authenticity. I’m sure plenty of pages served their masters and mistresses meals as well. They were utility servants, and I’m sure did whatever was required of them,“ said Anna. “Besides, with this uniform, we have the best view of his hard, little cock. Look, it’s fun size!“, she added, pointing.
“With equipment like that, it’s no wonder that his wife cuckolded him,” chuckled Archer.
“From the look of him and his attitude, I’ll bet Luke is hung like a horse. Is that true, professor baby cock?”, asked Anna.
“Yes, Princess Anna,” I answered meekly.
“Look how red his face is!,” said Kelly. “We’re not embarrassing you, are we, professor?”
“Yes…I mean no, Miss…I mean Princess Kelly.”
“Okay, it’s time to vote,” said Anna.
“Why bother. We all know which one will win. Archer will vote for Hooters, I will vote for sissy waitress, and you and Kelly will vote for this silly page costume, inappropriate as it may be,” said Paul, sulkily. “So, the foot page it is.”
“Oh, goody!”, said Kelly, clapping her hands together with delight.
“Time for cocktails! Take everyone’s order,” Paul said to me sternly, seemingly still annoyed that he didn’t get his way.
Paul and Anna had a well equipped bar, so making the drinks was relatively easy. Anna insisted that I curtsy after serving each person. I, of course, would’ve felt ridiculous curtsying under any circumstances, but felt particularly so dressed in my page costume. Paul had a point; there was something incongruous about it. After serving them, I began prepping for dinner in what was truly a chef’s kitchen. The meat needed to simmer for a while to be sufficiently tender.
Anna had shown me a little brass bell that they would use to summon me for drink refills or anything else they desired. I heard it jingling about 20 minutes into my prep work and hurried back into the living room.
Paul said, “Archer and I are ready for refills.”
“Yes, sir.”
“From now on, curtsy every time you enter or leave a room any of us are in, and every time any of us gives you an order,” Anna interjected.
“Yes, princess,” I said, curtsying as I took their glasses.
By the time I returned a few minutes later with Paul’s and Archer’s fresh old fashioneds, curtsying again, Anna was also ready to for new martini. Of course, by the time I returned with her martini, Kelly was finally ready for her second cosmopolitan. Would this ever end?, I wondered. How would I ever have time to prepare the rest of dinner?
Fortunately, rather than request a third old-fashioned Paul said to the others, “Let’s go for a swim.” I was back in the kitchen working when the four of them left the apartment to take the elevator down to the building’s large indoor pool. Things got more interesting about an hour later when my young superiors returned to the apartment in their bathing suits.

It has been over a week since I last left the apartment. I was meant to return to work the other day, but have been avoiding my boss’ calls. She’s out there now, watching me. I can see her through the window. She’ll leave soon, but then she’ll be back tomorrow. If not tomorrow, then the day after that. Same time. Same place. Always watching.
It started in the bathroom of a McDonald’s just down the road from where I work. It had been a long shift and I had to stay behind two hours as a coworker called in sick. My legs were tired from standing all day and my eyes were drooping from exhaustion.
I washed my hands at the sink. The mirror reflected my awful features. Bags under the eyes. Acne scarring on my face. I felt icky.
“What are you doing here?”
A woman called from behind me. I flicked my hands in the sink to quickly dry them as I turned to face her.
“Excuse me,” she continued, “What are you doing in here?”
In front of me was a 40 something year old woman. Blonde hair and wearing sunglasses indoors. She looked furious.
“Just washing my hands,” I said.
“You’re a man,” she said.
“I’m not…”
“What are you doing in the female bathroom you freak?” she raised her voice over mine.
“I’m just using the toilet...”
The woman pulled out her phone and, presumably, started recording me, “This pervert is in the ladies bathroom checking on women.”
I lifted my hand up to block my face from the camera and walked brusquely out into the restaurant. I could hear the woman’s heavy footfalls trail behind me.
“Look at this groomer walking off now he’s been called out,” she said.
I walked up to the front counter. No doubt she was there too. A member of staff was standing there putting an order together.
“Hey,” I leaned over, “Can you stop her?”
“Oh yeah! Call the cops! We’ll see what they have to say when they arrive!” she said behind me.
“Sorry ma’am?” the staff member said, “What’s going on here?”
“I don’t know,” I said, “I’m just trying to use the bathroom and she’s harassing me.”
“Go on! Call them! They’ll kick this freak out!”
“Ma’am,” the worker said to her, “I’m going to have to ask you to stop or leave.”
“Stop what?” she said, “I’m just calling out this pedophile so they’ll stop creeping on little girls!”
The worker sighed, “I’ll just call the cops.”
“Yeah, they’ll get this sicko out of here!” she said.
I sighed, “You know what, I’ll just go.”
“Are you sure, ma’am?” the worker said.
“Ma’am?” the woman said, “That’s a dude!”
“Yeah, I just needed the toilet anyway,” I said, “I don’t want to make a fuss.”
“Run away!” she said, “Run away like the freak you are!”
Apart from the shouting woman, the place was completely silent as every bystander watched the situation unfold. I pulled my hoodie over my head and walked out the building as fast as I could. She followed.
I walked across the McDonald’s parking lot over to the supermarket next to me where I parked my car. The entire time, the heckler followed me, her phone still up and recording. I tried to ignore her as she kept screaming absurd shit over and over.
It didn’t take long to make it back to the car. I jumped in and locked the door. The woman pulled the handle as soon as it clicked. Luckily, she was too slow. My hands choked the wheel as the adrenaline started to fade. I didn’t realize how fast my heart was beating until it began to slow. She stood outside the window still filming and shouting her obscenities as I got control of my breathing.
After a minute, I started the car and reversed out of the space. She followed still recording from the window. Once on the road, I put it into drive and sped out of the parking lot. I saw her standing in the rear view mirror, phone in hand. Still screaming.
A day later, the experience still left a mark on me. I dreamed about it overnight. Her face was vivid in my mind. All day I was filled with regret that I didn’t let the police take care of it and hopefully get the woman taken away. Everything I didn’t say to her floated in my head.
I noticed it first when I took my dog out for a walk. A banged up blue Chevrolet. Must have been from the 70s. The paint was peeling, replaced with rust. I didn’t get a good look in from across the street. The glare from the sun was too strong. But it left an impression on me. I’d never seen a vehicle so distinct on this street before.
Throughout the day, I kept looking out the window. The car was still there. Down the road. I couldn’t make out any features from the distance, but there was someone sitting in the driver’s seat. It was freaking me out. I closed all the blinds in my apartment and tried to put it out of my mind for the time being.
I was working the next day. It was at a cafe franchise in the same complex as the McDonald’s. Most of my shift was spent making coffee and wiping down tables. The same old shit every day. Customers ranged from okay to horrible. I was just happy to get a paycheck.
We closed later than most cafes at around 10pm, though we were usually out of there by 10:45pm. I noticed it when mopping the front of house. It wasn’t so easy to see in the dark of night, but there was a blue Chevrolet—same model, same rusted coat—in the parking lot just outside the store. Again, I couldn’t see the person sitting in the driver’s seat, so I wandered out back and checked the cameras. Also not good enough, even when zoomed in.
My coworker kept asking if I was okay. Even though he tried to hide it, he was clearly annoyed that I was slowing down the close for no reason. I got on with mopping, but kept my eye on the parking lot. By the time we got out, the car was gone.
It was back outside the apartment the next day. The car would arrive at around 10am and leave at 9pm. A few times throughout the day, it would leave and then come back an hour or so later. I could see the person sitting there for hours and hours. But I didn’t want to confront them out of fear of what they might do.
When I went in for my next shift, my coworkers were all staring at me. I greeted them with a good afternoon, but everyone returned it with a harsh glare. As I was stuffing my bag into a locker in the back office, the store phone began ringing. My other coworker in the back quickly shuffled out of there, ignoring the ringing. After a couple of seconds, it stopped.
I closed the locker and put the key into my trouser pocket. The phone began ringing again. No one from front came out back. It was company policy that the phone must be picked up, but I wasn’t to start my shift for another five minutes. I sat down at the office, and listened to it ring until it eventually stopped.
10 seconds hadn’t passed before the phone started to ring again. I picked it up. “No CallerID” was displayed on the screen.
“You’ve reached…”
“Who is this?” a woman’s voice commanded on the other end.
“This is…”
“Is this Amy?”
I was shocked into silence for a moment, “How do you know me?”
“What’s your real name?”
“What?”
“You need to stop playing dress up, it doesn’t suit you well.”
“Who is this?”
I looked at the monitor and saw the blue Chevrolet parked outside.
“Is that you following me?” I asked.
“Stop pretending to be a woman then I’ll leave you alone.”
She hung-up.
I watched the Chevrolet pull out of the space and exit the parking lot on the monitor. I didn’t see her again all day.
When I got home after closing, a notification appeared from Facebook Messenger. It was a random account—no photo, fake name—requesting to DM me. I opened their request:
"Hey,
You don’t know me, but I’ve been following this random page for a while. A handful of people are sharing your photos and private information around. Sorry you had to find out this way."
They attached screenshots of posts from this group. All of them had my photos, ripped from my Facebook and Instagram accounts, posted along with disparaging comments and personal information. One of the posts even shared my address and work place. Some screenshots of comments showed people taking glee in the idea of hurting me. All of them made fun of how I looked. Picking apart all my insecurities one-by-one.
He’s too tall
Look at those big hands
Why is he caked in makeup in every photo?
The anonymous account linked the group, but it was private.
I called in sick the next day and took everything I had seen to the police. I told a detective about the Chevrolet, the online posts, the woman in the McDonalds. Everything. I printed off the screenshots, I gave them the link to the account, I noted the reg number of the car. All the detective did was assure me everything was going to be okay and made a report. Although the lack of immediate action was concerning.
I got home two hours later. The car was parked up on the same spot it had occupied for days. I called the police then, wanting to make sure a tangible incident report was made, hopefully creating a paper trail if it ever escalated. However, before the cops could arrive, the car was gone. They somehow knew the police were coming. I made my report to the officers and they scolded me for wasting their time before driving off.
When I got into work the next day, my manager pulled me aside before I started my shift. He sat me down next to him in the office.
“We’ve been getting reports,” he said, “From employees here and head office of someone harassing everyone? And they keep naming you. I just want to make sure everything’s okay and know if I can do anything to help.”
“What?” I was taken aback, “What about the head office.”
“Well,” he said, “HR have been getting floods of calls from No CallerID numbers and emails spammed to them. It’s clear they’re getting put into spam databases and stuff. We’ve had to turn the phone off here because people keep calling at all hours of the day. Head office have made reports to the police but they’re still investigating and want to make sure we give you the proper support.”
My heart sank. Everyone in the store had heard the women’s rants. Even the middle management that know of me through the paperwork they receive. All of them know the embarrassing comments some random woman made about me. All of them knew I was being stalked.
The surveillance monitors were open on the desk. I looked up at them and saw the blue Chevrolet was in the parking lot. Something broke.
I got up and walked out the door. My manager called after me, though I can’t recall his words. There was a sizable chunk of concrete broken off the sidewalk just outside. I took it in my hand and made for the car.
I got a close look at the driver. The same blonde, 40 something woman that had harassed me in the McDonald’s. She saw me coming and immediately started the ignition and drove for the exit.
“Leave me the fuck alone!” I screamed.
I arced my hand. The concrete left my palm and flew towards the Chevrolet. It missed the roof by a few inches and kept flying until it hit a black BMW parked behind it. The concrete broke in half as it left a massive crack on the windscreen.
I fell to the floor. The emotions had finally hit me as the adrenaline wore off. I began crying and didn’t stop for an hour.
The police came. When the customer eventually came back to their car from the supermarket, he was pissed. Luckily the two officers were able to keep things relatively calm. My manager spoke for me as I sat in the cafe. The two officers came in and informed me that he wasn’t pressing charges so long as I covered the damages. Even though I had little money to my name, I agreed.
My manager then told me to take a couple days off and said he was there if I needed help. All my coworkers stared at me in complete shock as I left the cafe. None of them said a word.
I drove home by myself. Even though he needed it, I decided not to take my dog for a walk. I didn’t want to be outside by myself at that moment. Instead, I made a cup of coffee and sat by the window. The blue Chevrolet is parked down the street.
Always watching.

Exactly what the title says. I guess it also depends how you define “staying power.” To me it means, do you think she will be considered iconic/legendary in a few decades or generations? Do you think her songs will still be in media? Are there songs of hers or accomplishments of hers or relationships of hers or anything you think will still be widely known about?
I got in a debate with someone a few weeks ago about this and honestly don’t know where I stand. He said no — in part he just isn’t a fan of her, but also just did not find her to be as influential as other women in music who have had staying power (his examples were Whitney Houston and Stevie Nicks). I said yes she does — i think re-recording all her albums as one of the top artists as her time and speaking up against men in the music industry exploiting young female artists, her awards/accolades, the eras tour and just doing this concert where she’s singing and dancing for over three hours, and her diaristic confessions in her songwriting that’s been a key feature of her music since she was a child and I think has many universal themes that will continue to be relevant for people as they grow older, etc.
But now thinking about it, I honestly don’t know. I’m not big into music history or anything like that and I’m also very biased because I’ve been listening to her since I was 6.
Remember, this isn’t necessarily a question of how likable she is, I think more so a question of her long term impact on the music industry or how famous she will be considered beyond her own lifetime. Only time will tell, really, but curious about people’s thoughts.
Edit: I think also an interesting question given that you can’t exactly compare metrics in the same way given the way streaming has altered the way people purchase/listen to music.