See my face with different hairstyles

I never pressure someone to pick me. If your heart lean towards another direction feel free to follow it. Holding someone back isnt my style. Life's brevity teaches us to release the wavering about their place with us. I believe in the power of choice and genuine connection. If you decide to stay it should resonate with your deepest desires not because of my persuasion. I aspire to be someone’s conscious decision rather than a fall back. I deserve a partner who values my presence who see the difference I make. Not someone who remains by my side driven by the dread of solitude or mirror routine. I seek someone who stays, not imagining their life otherwise. Their exit is always there. You’re not captive. Should you find your joy somewhere else. I’ll gracefully step aside. And as you decide I’ll continue to forge my path finding happiness in my independence . My fulfillment is rooted in my personal journey. 🙂🙂😌

For probably 7-8 years I had a Ryzen 5 3600, 1060 and 16gb of ddr4 3200. I know the basics of hardware but I’m not a huge tech junky. I knew I needed to upgrade so I did a little research and bought a Ryzen 7 5700 and a 6700. It was a massive upgrade from what I was using. However, about 5-6 months later and for work related reasons. I bought a prebuilt laptop. I’ve always been skeptical of laptops. I don’t know why I just never felt like any of them were actually any good.
The laptop I bought is from a company called BIMBOX. They specialize in civil engineering equipment and sell us our software.
When I looked to see what the specs on these things were I was mind blown on how they fit it all into a laptop.
I bought the “slim series” which comes with the following specs:
Nvidia RTX 4070 Intel i9-14900 32gb DDR5 5600 Water cooling. 2TB M.2 drive
Ok for context this thing is no thicker than an inch. Maybe even a little less. How the hell did they get all that and a water cooler inside.
Anyways as far as performance goes, from the 1060 it’s alien different. Entirely different world it’s mind blowing. From the 6700 and 5700 I was using, also a completely different world.
Very satisfied with BIMBOX and very impressed with the modern hardware that’s out right now. This thing seems like it is 5-10x faster than my desktop I had last year and it’s an inch thick.
Well done tech industry, well done.

Article: https://es.motorsport.com/motogp/news/martin-cerrar-pronto-futuro-marquez-tranquilo/10618895/

While on Thursday everything pointed to Jorge Martín being the rider chosen by Ducati to partner Pecco Bagnaia in the factory team, on Sunday the sensations had changed slightly.
The publication of an Italian newspaper on Thursday claiming that Ducati had "chosen" Jorge Martin for the factory 2025 team and "expected" Marc Marquez to go to Pramac, set the Italian Grand Prix weekend ablaze in the media, especially when the current Gresini rider closed any possibility of switching from one satellite team to another: "It's not an option for me", in reference to riding with Pramac.
With no official confirmation, the riders tried to improve their cards on track. Martín took pole position on Saturday, but in the Sprint race Márquez overtook him, finishing on the podium as the Spaniard crashed out. This Sunday, Jorge rode a very solid race, but at the last minute he made a mistake and left an open door through which Enea Bastianini overtook him, completing a Ducati double, with Pecco Bagnaia, which was celebrated in style in a Mugello packed with fans as not seen since the days of Valentino Rossi.
In the afternoon, after the Italian GP race, Martin attended the microphones of DAZN, the platform that has the rights to MotoGP in Spain, as he always does.
In that appearance Jorge was asked if the rumours and questions surrounding his future and the news that he was the rider chosen by Ducati to join Pecco Bagnaia in 2025, could have affected him.
The Spaniard said no, but did admit that he did not want to go through that again at the upcoming Dutch Grand Prix, the last weekend in June.
"It has been a difficult weekend off track, but I think we have managed it well. And I hope to finally solve my future this week, if not next week. But arriving at Assen with a clear head will be important and with clear ideas, and hopefully with a signature on paper so I won't be thinking about these things".
Later, after the official podium press conference, in which Martín shared the stage with the pair of official Ducati riders, Bagnaia and Bastianini, the Spaniard spoke to the media in a 'huddle', where he was asked, among other things, if it was important to stop Pecco's streak (victory in Barcelona and Italy) with a view to Assen, in order to preserve the World Championship lead.
"We'll see what happens at Assen, but right now the main thing for me is to close my future," said the Pramac rider. "This weekend has been difficult, I have not been able to be 100% focused on riding and I don't feel comfortable with this situation. So my idea is to finish defining what will happen with this situation".
Martin's message on Sunday had nothing to do with the optimism with which he arrived at Mugello on Thursday, with the 'news' that he was the chosen one to go to the official Ducati next year.
"No idea, to be honest. Tomorrow we'll keep moving forward. I wanted to put it on hold for a bit this weekend so I don't keep thinking about it. But you want all the information that comes to you affects your subconscious and I suffered, on Friday a lot, on Saturday less and today I was calm and when you're calm the results come".
"Nothing has changed since Thursday".
Motorsport.com asked Jorge about his statement on television, when he said he planned to "sign a paper" and whether he expected that paper to carry the Ducati letterhead.
"I don't know, I don't know, in the end we'll see what happens and what is best for us".
A subject that on Thursday seemed closed and that now seems completely open.
"It's still the same, with the same options", although on Thursday Martin was happy, this Sunday not so much. "Nothing has changed, the same options as on Thursday and I'm still just as happy, just the same," said the #89 rider.
For his part, Márquez, when asked about Martin's words and whether he thought the balance had shifted over the weekend, put on a poker face and maintained his position. "I still have very clear ideas and I'm very calm," said the #93 rider.

To preface: I’m a detailed and literate player who cares about decent grammar and punctuation. I write a few sentences to three paragraphs, depending on whatever’s needed.
I’m looking to play a story that takes place in a non-canon version of Marvel/DC. Essentially, a combination of the two main universes but with each character differently named and with a unique backstory. I’ll be playing a 20 year old heroine based on Spider-Gwen, though my character’s real and codenames will be different, with similar abilities to the actual character.
Your character will be around street-level to mid-tier in power level, and in terms of what the exact story will be… That’s for us to come up with! This could simply start off as a fight scene, or turn into a romance, or simply be a team up adventure, what happens is whatever we decide. It could begin short-term and become long-term depending on if we mesh well and we decide to do more.
Marvel and DC fans preferred (comic book expertise not required). Open to anyone F, M, MtF, FtM, non-binary, etc. Open to discussing your character (must be Marvel or DC based). Prefer Reddit, but open to Discord.
See you~!
https://pm1.aminoapps.com/7108/8ba923436f678850327224c6af01f5ccba0e8b88r1-1000-1280v2_hq.jpg

Hi everyone,
I don't know if I've officially lost a friend but the distance between us feels like it.
TL;DR See "what I need help with" paragraph.
Our background: My friend (26M) and I (31M) have known each other for nearly 2 years and friends for nearly 1. I know that's not much time, but we've become really close. I've been there for him through many of his tough times, and he's done a lot to make me a better person. I see him as the brother I wish I had, and he described me as a role model and mentor. We've had ups-and-downs in our friendship, and in the past we talk it through and bounce back the next day.
The setback: Due to poor communication, he unknowingly did something that hurt me 7 weeks ago, and I made poor choices as a result that violated their boundaries on 2 separate occasions (6 weeks ago and 3 weeks ago). I apologized the day after both incidents. He knows how deeply sorry I am, and he told me to stop beating myself up over it when we met for lunch last week. He thinks I have made things worse by "overinflating the issue" (apologizing not just for my actions but for its potential implications/unintended consequences), but I am just so wracked with guilt.
The current situation: At lunch last week, he assured me he "want[s] to maintain this friendship" and that this is "just a bump in the road", that things will go back "all in good time", to "trust the process" and "go with the flow". We used to exchange a number of messages nearly everyday, but we haven't spoken much socially since my first mistake 6 weeks ago. My last "social" message from days ago remains unread (I replied to his reply to a meme I sent him), but he replied with kindness to a more "serious" message I sent him yesterday (different platforms). He has always been kind, though, so I don't want to read too much into it. However, I feel there is still some affection there on his end so not all is lost. I'd like to believe we both still see the good in each other and see a future as friends.
What I need help with (any of the below):

1. His actions make it seem like he needs space, but I've been missing him a lot. How do I deal with this? I don't know how much space to give and when to reach out again (they're not the type to initiate even when we're on good terms).
2. I'm having difficulty handling the uncertainty and believing him. I fear this friendship will never go back to the way things were. They say some friends are only meant to last for a season or to teach a lesson, but I don't want this friendship to become one of those.
3. I need hope - I want to hear stories of friends who had misunderstandings and somehow overcame the odds and went back to the way things were or became stronger than before.
4. I'm having difficulty forgiving myself even though he says I should let it go. I feel like I ruined our friendship. How do I practice more self-compassion?
5. Any other emotional support or words of hope/encouragement

Thank you.

I used to watch alot of lets play and rtaas when i was in middle school/ highschool but then with my schedule i guess i faded from Rooster teeth. i recently went back to see a completely different page. Was there a rebrand? mass layoffs?

Patricia and Susan started to speak at the same time while Emily raised her hand. JA waved for my aunt and sister to be quiet and asked Emily what questions she had.
Emily just wanted to know if she had to wait until she was 25 to receive her inheritance since she was under 25 but over 18. JA explained that she was under 18 when the will was written but since she was now an adult there would be no waiting period. He did caution her to be careful with the funds and offered to assist her in handling them at no charge. He told her they could either be a a lot of fun for a short period of time or could make a big difference in her life in the future if she was careful. Emily thanked him and said that’s all she wanted to know.
My sister raised her hand next while Patricia sat there looking annoyed. She asked how new the will was. JA explained that while this version was written two years ago it had basically been the same for almost 18 years with changes mostly just reflecting increases in his gifts to the family. Answering the unasked question, he added that I had always been the primary beneficiary and that Joe’s intentions had always been crystal clear.
JA also shared that during the 18 years that this version of will had been in force Joe had increased the value of the estate by well over $175 million dollars, and that his mental health was never in question. Finally, he looked directly at each of the family members there and told them that if I had passed away before Joe the entire estate would have gone into a conservation trust, there would have been no gifts to the family at all. As an attorney I thought his point was crystal clear, you were never considered, don’t make trouble, you won’t win.
Patricia evidently didn’t get the point, still refusing to wait to be acknowledged, she jumped in and asked whether he was he sure this was the only will, was there maybe one somewhere else? She said she couldn’t believe her Uncle would leave them out like this. I wanted to roll my eyes but just kept a straight face, she hadn’t bothered to speak to him for at least as long as Debbie had and probably significantly longer. She lived even closer to her than Debbie and it’s not like we lived in a huge city.
It was when she said “I think WE need to go through his things, he must have changed his will and just not told you. Alex obviously manipulated my dear Uncle Joe.” (yes, she actually sounded just like a soap opera cliché’) that my father had evidently heard enough.
He slammed his hand down on the conference room table and in a voice that was as commanding now as it likely was 30 years ago declared “You absolutely will not go through his things. You’ve squandered everything you’ve ever been given, you know it, Joe knew it, and you’ve made sure I know it because for the last several years you’ve had me supplementing both your income and your sister’s. Don’t even think about making trouble over this, not only can you not afford an attorney, if you do contest this I’ll cut you AND your sister both off. That goes for all my children as well.
Turning to his brother he look at him pointedly and said “Rick, I trust I don’t have to worry about you or your children doing something stupid.” Rick looked down at the table for a minute and then looked back at my dad before saying something to the effect of. “No, I know what happened between Dad and Joe, and looking back Joe was right. I understand why he did what he did and have known for a long time that we screwed up. I’m not going to make it worse, and neither will my children if they know what’s good for them.” He also looked at Patricia and told her that she had treated Uncle Joe terribly, just like everyone else, and that she needed to shut up before she made things worse.
After a moment of general quiet JA asked if anyone had any other questions. No one said a word so he said that we were done for today and that if anyone did think of more questions to just contact him at the office. He told everyone what the will was filed with the probate court that morning and that we’d all receive formal notices shortly. He offered to provide everyone with a copy of the will or told them they could request it directly from the probate court.
With that everyone stood up to leave he asked me to stay back and said we had a lot to cover. I turned to my dad and asked if he’d stay as well. He agreed, JA had lunch brought in and that’s when we really started getting into the details, which I’ll have to share as appropriate but suffice it to say that it’s a complex estate.
Other than that, there is SO much going on. Someday I’m going to be glad I wrote this all down, right now it’s just overwhelming. I may make an update about the family drama that’s unfolding, plus some more about Sam and I. I do think it’s worth sharing what Joe did to hold the family’s legacy together and to build on it. They say still waters run deep… I think I understand that expression better now. I hope I can do half as well as he did.
So much for making this brief!
*** UPDATE: Joe’s Legacy ***
I’m going to summarize what was a three hour initial meeting with JA, my father ,and a series of managers that oversaw Joe’s holdings. The bottom line is that Joe and his brother (my Great Grandfather) had a serious difference of opinion about how the land should be handled. Since the land was easily divided they split the tracts and each went their own way. Enough of the land was already producing revenue from land leases that the family lived very comfortably and didn’t even bother to push for more to be leased out. My Great Grandfather didn’t want to mess with the leases or see the money come in a little at a time, he wanted a lot of money and he wanted it right away. As a result he eventually started selling it off, just smaller parcels at first, but over time he started selling larger and larger tracts.
Joe couldn’t have been any more different but he couldn’t stand the idea of someone else owning our families land. He actively began marketing leases and finding users until about 80% of the property was producing revenue. That gave him the cash flow to buy the land my grandfather was selling. It couldn’t have been easy at first and JA said that in the beginning he had to take out loans to buy the property, but over time he was tucking away so much money every year that he was able to simply pay cash whenever his brother sold off a piece. By the time my grandfather died about 20 years ago he had consolidate 45,000 acres under group of holding companies, a large portion of it producing.
Joe never married (in fact he rarely dated, although I think there may be more to it that simply his desire for privacy) and maintained a simply life, He simply socked away all the revenue from the land and held it to buy more real estate as the opportunity existed. When the Great Recession hit in 2008 he had so much cash on hand that he was able to not only purchase the rest of the land that had ended up with my father and his siblings, he also was able to extend the land holdings significantly beyond that.
He had done something similar in the 70’s and 80’s when the small towns across the U.S. saw businesses closing and buildings sitting empty on Main Street. As those buildings sat vacant Joe purchased them for pennies on the dollar. Among the real estate held by the estate are dozens of buildings and parcels, primarily in our town but also throughout the rest of the valley. All are now occupied although many are rented far below market rates to local business owners. JA said the journals would explain that.
Outside of the real estate, Joe made investments in businesses that he thought had merit. His estate has interests in over 20 locally owned successful enterprises and a couple that eventually moved out of the valley and went public. He stayed away from most stocks, saying he didn’t know much about “big business” (ironic) but did invest in and hold blue chip stocks when the real estate market wasn’t offering “good deals”.
About 35 years ago though he stopped buying anything except for the a few properties that were particularly important to him, other than the land that his father had once held. He avoided making business investments or buying any stock that had any hint of instability. His focus was on building adequate cash to cover estate and inheritance taxes that couldn’t be mitigated or avoided completely by proper planning. As a result he was able to fund trusts establishing a community foundation and a family trust. In fact, both of those already exist outside of probate and will require some immediate attention.
At the end of the meeting JA passed me back the box of journals and the rolled maps he had laid out on the table. The maps contained detailed notes about the properties and the circumstances of their acquisition. It will take me quite a while to get familiarized with them as we didn’t touch on any particular parcels or buildings during the meeting, save one notable one.
After my recovery, but Joe asked me if I wanted to live with him while I figured out what I was going to do. Since the university where I was going to be going to law school was not far from town, I took him up on it. We lived together for nearly two years before my graduation, although I spent my fair share of nights staying at friends’ home after late night study sessions. Joe had a converted apartment above the barn where he kept the Jaguar and a couple of other cars and I moved into it, so we both had our privacy. Going up and down the steep stairs felt like an easier version of rehab and the quiet of being in a barn overlooking the woods was the perfect transition back to real life.
After I graduated, I made the decision to hang out my own shingle about a year after passing the Bar and working as a junior associate at a larger firm. Being older than all the other junior associates was fine but being with a large firm just wasn’t for me. Joe asked me if I was going to continue to stay with him but I told him I planned on moving closer to town as soon as I could find something cheap enough. I explained that I felt like I needed to get back into the community to start building the practice and be more accessible to clients. He thought that was a great idea and I started looking around but wasn’t in a hurry.
About a month later I “ran into” JA and he mentioned that he heard I was looking for an office. He said he had a client that had just renovated one of the downtown buildings and was looking for a tenant. His client didn’t want to give anyone long term lease and so he knew he had to make the rent cheap enough to accept the risk that they might have to move out on short notice. There was an apartment on the second floor and professional offices on the first floor. Once he told me how much the rent would be I took it sight unseen and have lived there for three years.
JA had a smile on his face when he mentioned that my home was now literally “my” home. Evidently, as soon as I told Joe I wanted to move closer to town he had contractors begin rehabbing the building as quickly as possible. Two crews had worked for a month to turn it into an incredible apartment for and the perfect office for a small town lawyer. I have to admit that for the last three years I had been keeping my fingers crossed that I wasn’t going to lose my “too good to be true” rent deal. There is no doubt in my mind that Joe had did more to influence things around this town than anyone, save a select few, ever knew.
JA said we had a lot more to go through but that it had been a long day for everyone. He suggested we pick up the conversation next week, at my convenience. He told me to call him anytime over the weekend if I had any immediate questions. He reminded me that in addition to being one of the firm’s largest clients Joe was also his best friend. He said he’d like to talk soon more about Joe – that there were things I needed to know that probably weren’t in the journals. I thanked him and asked if my dad and I could use the conference room a little while longer. He said of course and started gather his things up.
Before he stood-up to go he paused and with a look of momentary discomfort said: “One last item. The “assistant” we had in the back of the room is a sheriff’s deputy one county over. We felt it best to have security due to the size of the estate and the circumstances of the distribution. We’ve retained him along with several other deputies from nearby counties to maintain 24-hour security over the next several days, just until tempers cool down.”
I was shocked, I hadn’t even considered that someone in the family might want to harm me. I started to shake my head, getting ready to object, certain that it wasn’t necessary, when my father put his hand on my arm and spoke first. “That’s a great idea – I’m sure it won’t be needed but given the circumstance you can’t be too cautious, for Alex AND for anyone that might be around him.”
As he said that my thoughts went to Sam, and I felt guilty for not thinking of her safety. I just nodded and said thank you, that we’d revisit security needs next week after things cooled off.
With that, JA got up, shook our hands, and left. Dad and I sat quietly for a moment, looking at the papers in front of me. Dad spoke first. “You gave Joe something no one else in the family did and he gave back to you in an equal way. Don’t question this and don’t let anyone else cause you to doubt whether this was fair. You’re the only one in the family that Joe could count on to respect his life’s work. If it had been handled any other way his years would have been wasted and he knew it.”
Dad was right, Joe had instilled in me the same respect for our way of life and our family’s legacy that he had. I knew that it was up to me to pass it on. The money was a huge life changer, but the responsibility he had passed on to me was what really had me thinking. Protecting our family’s legacy and preserving our community’s heritage and way of life, he had spent a lifetime building the resources he knew I would need if I was going to honor his vision.
I hope I’m able to make him proud. I told Dad I’d appreciate his help navigating the situation and told him how unprepared I felt to take this on. I asked him how much he knew about everyone’s (our relatives) financial situation and whether he had any idea how people were going to react. He shared that both his sisters had been reckless, they were living on a minimal income, supplemented by him. That their kids had drained them over the years and were themselves, for the most part, overextended. His brother had been more careful and didn’t have to worry but that his divorce had cost him and that when he died there wouldn’t be much to leave the children.
I didn’t ask, but he told me that he was better off than the rest. Even though he had been married three times he and his first wife (my oldest brother’s mother) divorced after just a couple of years and it hadn’t been very costly. It was quite a few years later that he married my mother, we lost her to cancer around 15 years ago. Dad said that when he sold the land it wasn’t because he wanted to live it up, he just didn’t want to deal with the property or manage the leases anymore. He had invested well over the years and didn’t need the headache as he got older.
He also told me that he had a very clear prenup with Jessica and that if they remained married she would receive an allowance after he passed and have a condo in a nice resort community in the area to live in for the rest of her life, but that she was not going to be receiving a sizable portion of the estate. He told me that as immature as could be sometimes that she was well meaning and that after the loss of my mother she had brought him happiness again. He said she forced him to stay young in order to keep up with her.
He told me she felt horrible about the way she handled the call with me, she was trying to be helpful and went about it horribly wrong. She wanted to try and get in front of it with the family because she knew I would want the car. Evidently, she had also told Dad he needed to buy it for me if I didn’t have the cash. I guess I misjudged her as badly as Joe misread the situation with Dad. I’ve got to do better if I’m ever going to be able to bring the family together.
Since he and Joe didn’t speak anymore he never knew Joe had held onto his land (and he’d certainly never told me) or that he would have wanted to buy it, so he put it on the market and reinvested the proceeds of the sale. His investments had done well and although his estate was nothing like Joe’s he didn’t need to worry about money, could help his sisters, and expected each of his children to helped well along in their retirement planning when he died.
I couldn’t believe how much I’d mistaken I’d been about Dad’s financial planning – maybe I picked up on Joe’s disdain for what he thought everyone was doing or maybe it was because, as a family we really didn’t talk much about money.
Dad and his siblings never really had normal careers so us kids money just “was” – it wasn’t until later that you really got to understand how hard most people worked for it. I know that my oldest brother and some of my cousins had struggled to put together normal lives, lacking much in the way of an example from our parents.
Joe had assumed my father had as little regard for the opportunities he had been given as his brother had had. I can’t believe that my father and Joe shared so much more in common than they thought. I immediately realized unless we wanted the family’s “legacy” to be misunderstandings and unrealistic life expectations the first thing that would have to change was going to be how we communicated.
I feel like Dad was thinking the same thing I was. It had been a long and emotional day, it was almost 4:30 and I knew that most people had probably already left the firm’s offices for the day. I didn’t want to take advantage of anyone and suggested we talk over the weekend. Dad agreed and said he’d be making some calls this evening to talk to other people in the family and would update me.
Both of our phones had been on silent, and when he mentioned making calls I looked down to see I had 37 missed calls and over 20 new messages I noticed Dad looking at his and the expression on his face told me that he was seeing the same thing. We stood up and hugged before gathering up our folders. I grabbed my backpack and Dad packed his briefcase (I just can’t bring myself to carry one or an attache) and we headed to the door.
Leaving the conference room we found the deputy waiting outside the doors, waiting to introduce himself. Dad gave him his number and asked him to call if he needed anything. I explained I was going to be meeting a friend for dinner but that first I was going to go change. He said he’d be posted outside my building or wherever I went until 7:00, after which he’d would be changing places with the next deputy. I asked Dad not to say anything about the security since I didn’t want to drive a wedge between myself and the family and he agreed. In hindsight me might have avoided some drama later if I hadn’t asked that, but I still think it was for the best.
I had about two hours to kill before I was going to meet Sam and share what happened that day. I knew she’d be happy about the property and the car but I didn’t know how she’d react to the news. I will share that it wasn’t what I expected.
Sorry – this is long again. I’m going to have to try and catch-up at some point but I’ll have to save what happened during my talk with Sam and the first of this weekend’s “family issues” for the next post.
Thanks again for all the well wishes and for giving me things to think about.

Last week I was in my now long distance best friend's city, let's call her Abigail on a group trip/reunion of sorts as it was a good middle ground for all of us to meet as we all live in different states. Abigail and I used to live there together, and as states she still resides there, so I told her MONTHS in advance and she said she would block off the weekend and that she let her bf know if he in town as well. We talk on the daily as well, and had gone over our excitement for this trip multiple times. I let her know I'd be traveling with this group and she said that was fine, and I also let the group know Abigail may be joining us for a few things and she was ok with that. I even told both of them I might break away at some point to meet up with Abigail. I also gave Abigail a rough idea of what our itinerary would be like so she'd have an idea of the timeline once the trip was a couple feels out. I think maybe this freaked her out because there was a lot on it, but I assured her we wouldn't be doing everything on it and again that Id make time to meet up and it was an open invitation for her to join our group. I also made some suggestions and plans on her on when she could/would join. Well, cut to the weekend and I saw Abigail for 40 minutes tops. About 2 days before arriving, she let me know she and her boyfriend were actually going to be taking a spontaneous trip to go camping which cut back our potential days to meet in half. Even so, I thought that was ok because there was still quite a bit of time, as we had the Friday night and Saturday morning/day, but then she bailed on the Friday night out that we planned on meeting up because she and her boyfriend were "tired" and "it was far" (as I mentioned, I used to live in this city and it was a 15 minute drive tops and it was 9pm meetup). Then she also bailed on a brunch reservation I made for my group including her and her bf. (She told me that the reservation of 9:30 was not brunch and too early for a Saturday and that "she'd do it for me, but in the end, did not do it for me lol) she canceled and She said we could meet up before they left at a cafe after my brunch. I let her know that was fine, but it would be short because my friends and I had made some reservations for a popular museum in the area for the early afternoon. She suggested a place that was far from both of us (longer than the 15 minute drive that was too far the night before) but with the time crunch after brunch and before the museum reservations that wouldn't work well so I scrambled to pick one that gave us more time to hang out and happened to be closer to me and her as well. Luckily I also happened to pick a cafe that her boyfriend had been wanting to go to near where I was staying, but if I hadn't I don't think she'd have come. My issue is that she knew I was coming but didn't really make an effort to see me and it feels like she really prioritized her new boyfriend who she sees daily over me who she sees maybe once a year. I know it's a new relationship, and of course you want to hang out with your significant other, but I'm really hurt. The thing is I met him while there and she told me about his personality prior and he is absolutely not shy. Abigail is a bit shy herself, but again I let her know I could/would break off from the group to see her if needed, and she ok everything prior but then canceled last minute every time. I've also known her for quite sometime and she while on the quiet side is not averted to group settings and we've been in similar group situations and it was not a problem for her to meet up. I guess what bothers me is that If she had been in my city, boyfriend or not, I would have been making the time to see her and driving to her as A)I'd be the one who is more mobile and B) the opportunity to get together in person like that is rare. Am I overreacting being upset? Should I talk to her about it?
TLDR: was in the same city I used to live in with my best friend, bus eh kept canceling plans, hanging out with her bf instead, and making excuses for not meeting up. Should I talk to her about it? She did make a bit of an effort in the end but we only saw each other for a fraction of the time we were supposed to. Am I being a drama queen being upset by this? I just thought she'd make time for me like I'd make time for her but this kind of proved me wrong. I didnt expect to be this upset, but I guess because we call each other our best friend it hurts.

I’m old enough and smart enough to know that a week is definitely not a relationship and not long enough to truly know a person but we had a special connection. I truly believe we both think that. At some point I’m going to have to realize this was just a notch in my dating experience belt but the thought of meeting someone else repulses me. We went from smitten with each other to ending things amicably in 24 hours. I’d go on a tangent here with everything that was said but, in short, he ended things due to incompatibility in beliefs. I didn’t pressure him into trying to believe what I believe but we were drinking and I got into asking him if he’d come to church with me sometime, which he declined. The funny thing is I don’t even attend church regularly, and I’m a poor example of a Christian but I was bold enough to put it out there because I knew it would matter to me. When he walked me to my car he actually teared up and said he knew this wouldn’t work long term. He said he sees the future faster now and that I’d probably end up resenting him down the road for not going, etc. I went home numb and went to bed crying. I keep saying it would have hurt more if I slept with him but I think it hurts just as much even though I didn’t. We texted more and said sweet things to each other. I’m half-hoping he realizes he made a mistake before things even officially started. I feel like I’m just going to be another one of his dating stories we laughed about. “Oh yeah the last person I dated was great but she was church-y, and I wasn’t feeling that” while he kisses someone else’s face.
I had enough dignity to be a sweetheart and be nice about this but I really wish he’d snap out of it and give it another try. I’ve never had a guy get emotional over ending things like this, so remembering him wiping tears away is tricking my mind into believing I’m going to see a text in a few days or weeks saying, “I fucked up.” Guys, can I get some real or even hopeful insight in this?

Hello! Some background: I'm 27, MtF, been on HRT for 6 months but feel like I'm "stuck" boymoding because, while there've been changes, they've been agonizingly slow and I don't feel like they'll ever be enough, especially with facial changes. And considering where I'm starting from, I would've needed the changes to be pretty drastic to make a difference, so unless I'm waiting for some magical HRT moment that may never come (I know people say HRT can cause big changes even years in, but I remain pessimistic because even though my levels are immaculate, things have still been very slow) or surgery, I'll probably be stuck hating my body for the foreseeable future. Probably a consequence of taking too long to figure all this out and "missing my moment".
All of that said, I'm struggling to find a "reason" why any of that leaves me stuck boymoding, because it still feels like I "have to" or "am supposed to". I've told all of my friends and family about my plans and struggles, with not one of them showing anything less than full support, so its not like I'm afraid of rejection from them. And as far as accepting areas go, I could do a lot worse than where I am now. So with nothing concrete stopping me, I'm trying to figure out why I still have a strong aversion to presenting fem.
Maybe it has to do with some notion of needing to convincingly look like a girl before presenting fem, because otherwise it feels like I haven't "earned" the label. I know for a fact that I feel squeamish even referring to myself as a girl because I look so far from anything that could even be considered "feminine". Its not a standard I really apply to anyone else, but I feel guilty even aligning myself with other trans girls, even though I DESPERATELY want to be one, I would saw off one of my arms and gouge out one of my eyes just to look half as good as some of the girls that post across trans subreddits, but I don't think that will ever be me and that eats away at me. I know its dumb to be jealous of people who probably started earlier, had a more favorable starting point, or whose bodies were just "wired" to accept E more readily, but it leaves me feeling broken, unfixable, and like a failure...
I understand the irony of saying I want to "just boymode until I can pass" then say "I probably won't ever pass, let alone look attractive", but I'm afraid what would realistically happen is that I'd just end up being miserable whether I presented fem or not. It hurts me to present masculine, but the thought of someone seeing me and thinking "oh, he's trying his best to be a girl. Better be polite and indulge him by saying 'her'" kills me. But I'd probably end up thinking that's what's going through their heads regardless of whether I passed or not, so its kind of moot.
Basically what I'm trying to ask is whether anyone has advice on how to figure out how I can just accept that I'll be ugly and mannish forever but present feminine anyways without my own self-perception getting in the way. I've tried asking similar-ish questions in the past and was told to seek out a therapist that specializes in transgender issues, but the one I have now doesn't really seem to think my issues are anything important and more or less tells me "I think you'll be fine" and "if you just wore makeup I think you'd be ok", but I don't see what she sees and it makes me feel like a crazy person who's issue aren't real. I can't tell how much of that is not having a good client-patient fit, or how much of that is me genuinely having stupid thoughts/feelings, but since every other therapist in my area who works with trans people has a super long waitlist, I probably won't be able to switch any time soon.

To preface: I’m a detailed and literate player who cares about decent grammar and punctuation. I write a few sentences to three paragraphs, depending on whatever’s needed.
I’m looking to play a story that takes place in a non-canon version of Marvel/DC. Essentially, a combination of the two main universes but with each character differently named and with a unique backstory. I’ll be playing a 20 year old heroine based on Spider-Gwen, though my character’s real and codenames will be different, with similar abilities to the actual character.
Your character will be around street-level to mid-tier in power level, and in terms of what the exact story will be… That’s for us to come up with! This could simply start off as a fight scene, or turn into a romance, or simply be a team up adventure, what happens is whatever we decide. It could begin short-term and become long-term depending on if we mesh well and we decide to do more.
Marvel and DC fans preferred (comic book expertise not required). Open to anyone F, M, MtF, FtM, non-binary, etc. Open to discussing your character (must be Marvel or DC based). Prefer Reddit, but open to Discord.
See you~!
https://pm1.aminoapps.com/7108/8ba923436f678850327224c6af01f5ccba0e8b88r1-1000-1280v2_hq.jpg

apologies to Jobim, Astrud Gilberto and just everybody
Fat and stupid and mean and ugly
The guy from Mar-A-Lago goes lumping
And as he passes, each one he passes goes "ugh"
When he walks, like a digesting mamba
A face suggesting an impacted colon
And as he passes, each one he passes goes "ugh"
Ooh, but I watch him so sadly
How can I tell him he’s boorish?
I would tear out his heart gladly
But each day, he still walks to the mike
His mouth gaping and foul with more tripe
Fat and stupid and mean and ugly
The guy from Mar-A-Lago goes lumping
When he passes, I gag but he doesn't see
He’s on my teevee

Sorry for the long text in advance! I wanted y’all to have some background. English is not my first language so forgive me for the grammatical errors.
So my husband and I have been married for 3 years, together for 10 years. We were young when we first started dating 21 and 23 years old.
In the beginning our relationship was great, we didn’t really fight much. But the last couple years we’ve been arguing more and more. Usually small things that turn into big things. One major thing I’ve had an issue with these past years is his attitude towards other people and sometimes towards me. He can be rude and passive aggressive. He’s even told me before he enjoys arguing with people, for example when discussing political issues. Basically triggering people. I’ve told him to stop doing that, especially when a conversation gets heated he just doesn’t stop and ends up looking like an asshole. I find it embarrassing and I’ve told him this several times. He just keeps rubbing people the wrong way.
Our background and upbringing is different culturally and just generally. He comes from a relatively dysfunctional family where his parents constantly argue with each other and say mean things to one another. So much so they don’t have any contact with their own siblings because of conflicts. Anyway growing up he didn’t have great examples of conflict resolution, he struggled in school and was bullied a lot, in turn I guess as a defense mechanism he was mean and aggressive towards other kids. He grew out of that once he became an adult. However this all led to that he has basically no close friends. He spends a lot of time with his family and that’s basically the main social contact outside of me. Everytime we are with his parents though there is always a fight or some disagreement between them three (yelling & shouting), which can be very awkward for me since I wasn’t raised that way but they seem to just sweep it under the rug and act like nothing happened. This is normal behaviour for them. He’s even called his parents names.. something I can’t ever imagine doing. I don’t want our kids in that kind of environment either.
Over the past recent years he’s been struggling somewhat with work relationships. He’s had to fight for his job several times and he feels unappreciated at work and the industry. He kind of has a fuck all attitude towards some aspects of work and the people at work. He thinks he does a better job than most of the people there. We work in an area that requires good people skills not only for clients but coworkers as well. We work for the same company. He’s gotten critique about his attitude and that he made a coworker cry amongst other things that was reported to our boss and he says he can’t think of a moment where he was that rude to anyone in that particular department. He’s always defensive about it and says he’s tries to be as nice as possible. We don’t work in the same department often so I can’t see how he acts around others at work most of the time but the few times I have, there has been instances where he is slightly rude or condescending to someone, when I point it out to him he gets defensive and acts like it was nothing.
Anyway fast forward to now, I’m pregnant with our first child, about to give birth in a few weeks. I overheard him having a consult with a senior colleague who is probably the nicest person there and he was being blatantly rude because he disagreed with how the issue was being handled by their department. The senior colleague starts saying he’s starting to irritate her, I then interrupt and ask him to drop it. When she leaves I tell him I was embarrassed by his actions and demeanor, he starts arguing with me and saying that she was the one rude to him first and he was just returning the same energy. We’ve argued about similar situations several times and after a while he says sorry and says he will try to be better. This particular argument never got resolved between us, I tried forgetting about it because I have bigger things to worry about now.
Currently we are prepping the baby room and guest room since my mother is coming to help us out. I laid out a plan for the weekend and what we should get done and in what order. He agrees. We get in argument later on because he doesn’t want to go buy the furniture that day (even though it was planned) and when I insist he gets an attitude with me and starts being passive aggressive and saying stuff like it’s a bad idea and bad planning etc. He says he will do it later I blew a fuse and we started arguing and I unleashed all my feelings about him then and there, I was probably hysterical too but i had just had enough. I probably said some mean and hurtful things too bringing up the stuff at work and how people view him etc. I was so angry because here I am pregnant, dealing with PDS (pelvic pain) and gestational diabetes, working full time and then some and he wants to be passive aggressive with me.
I feel like I’m starting to resent him and I don’t want to. We didn’t have these issues before they started the last 2-3 years when the work problems started. It’s affected our sex life because I don’t feel attracted to him most of the time. Our emotional connection is what brought us together, not the physical, at least for me, so when we’re arguing all the time I just don’t find him attractive and he turns me off. He can forget about the argument and easily move on and act like nothing happened but I can’t, it lingers in my head.
I don’t know what to do, I’m so tired of the arguing. Is it wrong of me to care how my husband portrays himself to others? Like he is mostly sweet and nice to me but he just snaps at other people for no reason sometimes… I don’t think I would care as much if we worked at different companies but our profession is very specific he can’t just go work elsewhere and neither can I. I can’t seem to get him to understand that his attitude towards others affects me, especially since most of the time I have some kind of relationship with them.
I don’t know what I want to get out of writing this, maybe I’m just venting, but any advice is deeply appreciated.

• -

TL;DR;: How do I deal with a husband that is rude and passive aggressive in both our personal and professional lives? It’s affecting our relationship negatively and we can’t seem to stop arguing about it.

I have terrible terrible luck in general. But specifically when it comes to cars I have the worst luck imaginable. I have never had the same car for longer than 2 years since I was 16. I am 22 now. I know you’re probably thinking I am a terrible driver. Only two accidents of the 6 was my fault. (I know thats 1/3rd but the accidents where I was actually liable were 6 years apart.) The first, I was freshly 16 and driving at night in the rain. I hydroplaned and didn’t know what to do. I hit a bridge. I was at fault. The second, rear ended by a guy on his phone. The third, deemed my city’s fault for not properly setting up signs for construction changes to the road (a turning lane became a driving lane and I was tboned trying not to be in a head-on collision.) The fourth, rear ended again by a massive truck. The fifth, hail storm totaled my car (this was a year ago.) The sixth, water flooded the engine and hybrid battery of my Prius after I drove over a large puddle at night in the pouring rain. It was over a hill and I didn’t see the water before I was already in it. (2 weeks ago.)
My point is, my insurance is insane and my deductible was $2000 to try and lower the monthly costs. I am now in a position where shopping for a shitbox car with only $5000 to spend.
My parents never bought a car that wasn’t paid off in full. They taught me to do the same. My hands are tied right now though because I am not wanting to get a car that will break down or inevitably kill me in the event of another accident (I am a terrified driver now.) So my question is, should I buy another shitty used car with 150+ miles? Or should I finance a better car? (New, certified pre-owned, or pre-owned?) If I did finance, how the hell does any of that work? Eli5: Can you negotiate to dealerships? My credit score is short (8 months because my parents also didn’t believe in credit cards.) but my score is 720z If I put more down ($8000-10000,) will that be better? If I have another accident, will I still owe on the car? Is there anything I’m not thinking about? How does apr work? Should I scope for different insurance? Where can I find cheaper full coverage? Walk me through everything and give me whatever advice you have.
I know I sound like an idiot. I’m sorry in advance. I wish I could just do public transportation because I HATE DRIVING but it isn’t a thing in my city. I have to work. What do I need to know.

At about 3:30AM, I try to fall asleep, which should have been easy as i was very sleep deprived, but for some reason I hadn't been incredibly tired
I lay there tossing and turning, never getting comfortable or managing to keep my eyes shut as far as I can remember, yet somehow I had the most horrifying dream I have ever had in my life
I remember thinking of theses horrible things, and that a particular group of entities (definitely not human or anything that actually exists) was responsible for it. I saw myself as one of them, thinking of how fun it is to do these things, I don't remember what they were but I knew they were horrible and terrifying experiences for humans that were inflicted by these entities, I also knew that these entities found it funny and enjoyable, similar to how an immature kid would find it funny to ding dong ditch someone's house, this was not yet a dream, but rather a thought process that ran by me as I layed there
I'm seeing static-like flashes of color (not uncommon when I fall asleep normally) as I drift off, but I did not remember that part until well after the whole thing, this is likely my recollection of the moment when I finally got comfortable and tired enough to fall asleep
I was now in a dream, and almost instantly there were flashing images and vague "video clips" shown to me, I don't remember all of the details, but I knew they were definitely related to these entities and the events caused by them, at this point I had felt as though I was a human again, yet still found these events to be amusing. I had thought of my skin being removed from my body to be used as a disguise, though this was not paired with an image or "video" although there were still images flashing past me at the time, I saw this landscape made entirely of random letters or numbers, I'm not sure because I couldn't understand them whatsoever, and it looked entirely unrecognizable. I don't know how I knew it was a landscape, because I don't remember and destinct shapes that would differentiate it from a room or something, but I knew it was a landscape, i guess that could be an assumption due to the lack of walls, but that logic isn't followed later. The next thing I can remember in detail was the pictures and videos stopping, and I was in a room with my friend (we'll call him John) smoking a Cannabis Vape pen (note that during the time of this experience I was in the process of getting clean from cannabis for a drug test)
I had already taken plenty of puffs off of the device, although I didn't remember actually doing so, I knew I did. The flashing images prior had registered to me as hitting the vape pen, since I just hit a vape pen and I just saw flashing images, that must be what hitting the vape is. In the room with me was John as his younger self, standing clearly in the light, John at his current age, sitting in a chair half way into the darkness, but still mostly visible, a shadowy figure was sitting in a chair, closer to me than John (current age) and yet had no recognizable features due to the lack of visibility (he was under more light than either version of John, and yet was the least visible). There was also this stand in character, just a generic male human being who had nothing special about him, he was sitting in a chair under full light. Younger John has told me to hit the vape pen again and reached out to hand it to me (I don't know how he had it, i was holding it before he offered to let me hit it) and I said "I can't." Young John asked "Why?" and Older John said "Because he just got a job" (this doesn't make sense as that wouldn't stop me from smoking normally, since cannabis is legal in my place of residence). This is when I had noticed that there were 2 johns, but I kept my confusion to myself. At some point during this strange smoke session I had established that we had all taken a hallucinogenic drug of some sort, although I don't remember what details told me this. I had been made aware of this through conversation but I hadn't known what the drug was, and just assumed it was LSD (I have never used LSD, although I have a little experience with Psilocybin)
I had been awake somehow (or maybe dreaming of being awake) and had a thought that my laptop was just going to suddenly make loud noises, and delusionaly thought "if that happens I'll just scream for help"
After that the flashing images returned, this time accompanied by these weird garbled and somewhat static-like sounds that sounded similar to the sound system used on older video game consoles like the Gameboy, another landscape made of text, somehow unique from the previous one yet again having no identifying shapes. One image lasted particularly long and was shown to me after I had again though about the removal of my skin, it was still funny to me although this time I could feel it happening, a slice down the front half of my body and then the skin stretching to fit whatever was climbing inside of it, this had not felt painful, but very uncomfortable. The image I saw during this moment was a tall woman standing behind a bar, Hispanic with darker hair and gray eyes. The image was zooming in closer to her face. At first I had known it was a woman, then as I got closer I noticed that I couldn't tell what gender it was, then I started to notice that it wasn't human looking at all. It was at the time I noticed the that it wasn't human when the stretching sensation started, although I am not sure when exactly the slice that separated my skin was.
After that I had woken up, still not realizing that I had fell asleep, and no memory of the images or the strange smoke session with John at first, all I remembered was the image of the strange lady and the stretching sensation. I had realized that I was experiencing the start of a nightmare and didn't think to much of it, I just opened my door so some light from the living room tv could come into my room and so I knew I could make a noise loud enough to wake my parents if absolutely necessary. And after opening the door I had started regaining memory of the experience in part, starting from the end. Until I remembered the full dream state of the smoke session, I had thought that I hadn't yet fell asleep, and that I was only drifting out when these images occurred, once I did remember, I was immediately horrified. I checked the time and noticed that it was 4:30AM, an hour had passed even though I genuinely believed I was only laying there for 15 minutes at the most. From that point up until about 5:20AM when I decided to start typing this, I had been in an intense panic attack, I've experienced panic this intense before but it wasn't very often, although panic attacks in general are frequent for me, particularly at night.
I considered waking up my parents, but due to my lack of balance because of how shocking that occurrence was, and the fact that I knew I could manage the anxiety on my own, I just decided to sit there and cry for a while, sitting there just saying "what the fuck?"
It is now 5:51AM, I need some sleep for my shift at 4pm tomorrow (technically today but I say tomorrow because I haven't slept yet) so I'm going to go back to sleep, which should be a little easier than before because I actually feel tired now. I still see small spots of colors flashing around me, but not intensely, and not atypical of sleep deprived hallucinations in their earliest manifestation.
Update: I went to the bathroom before attempting to go back to sleep, in there I noticed that all of the muscles in and around my stomach were incredibly sore, I must have been incredibly tense for an extended period of time during the dream, I vomited up a small amount of stomach acid even though there should have been food from around 11PM that should have been there. After walking out of the bathroom I felt as though I was nowhere near tired enough to go to sleep, but I am currently ready to pass out as I type this, so I'm gonna go to sleep for real now, the time is 6:02AM

I have a coach rogue and my mom owns bags from brands like balenciaga and prada. I personally cannot see any quality difference. If anything those bags are worse quality than my coach.
I know I’m going to get flamed for this, but I popped by the chanel store with my mom and the quality wasn’t that different from coach either…

I see a lot of people ask where to find more stuff like Over the Garden Wall, I would suggest checking out "Return to Oz."
You want spooky fairy tales? Dark themes and spooky, surreal imagery? Early 20th century themes? Amazing music? Charming, funny, and whimsical characters? Blurred lines between reality and fantasy? Return to Oz has all of that.
They are still very different in stuff like the absence of fall themes, pretty different senses of humor, uh and the fact that one is animated and the other isn't, but there's still a decent amount of overlap I think.
Also this has nothing to do with Return to Oz being my favorite movie I swear.

Cover Art <<Previous Start Next >>
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."
<<Previous Start Next >>
Also to be found on Royal Road.
My Patreon My Discord Top Web Novels - Romance.io - TVTropes
$3. : 10 Early chapters, lore excerpts $5. : 20 Early chapters, Short Stories $10 : 30+ Early chapters, New stories not published anywhere else (Until after I finish this story at least) . . . . . "A Girl and Her Dungeon", "The Celestine Fox", and AU Core 1: "Coreless"

My boyfriend and I have been together for about 2.5 years (17m, 18f) and we are both graduating high school this year. We met through school and truth be told, most times we were at most a few hundred meters away from each other. Apart from that, we have been away from each other for about a month during summer breaks but we always knew we would get to see each other very soon so it wasn’t much of an issue.
Now though, he is going to a university in Netherlands while I’m going to study in England. While that may not sound like a huge distance when compared to others in this sub, it’s one I am very unfamiliar and thus uncomfortable with.
To give a little bit of context, he came over for the weekend last week and when he had to leave on Sunday, I literally cried my eyes out even though I would get to see him the next day at school. I’m very sorry if this sounds insensitive or too dramatic, but at the same time it’s just how I feel, and as dramatic as it is, it still affects me.
Also to clarify, I’m not worried about his commitment. I’ve been with him for a long time and even when we were having difficulties, he always kept a certain level of loyalty and respect towards our relationship.
What worries me though is if our relationship can handle this. We are both very clingy people and suddenly being that far away from each other will be a very new and frightening experience which we are not used to. Even if we can make it work, how worthwhile will the relationship be? Not saying LDRs are not worthwhile, it’s just that I don’t have any experience with it.
All the insecurities aside, here are my questions:

• how frequently should we visit each other? I was thinking we should visit each other at least twice a month but is this viable?
  
  • How different is a LDR from non LD relationships? How do the dynamics change?

And most importantly, I need some reassurance regarding the whole situation. I would very much appreciate anecdotes from those who’ve been in similar situations so I can prepare myself mentally.

I've been seeing my primary care doctor for several years, and have been moatly happy with the relationship because at least at first, she was relatively fresh out of med school and seemed empathetic and listemed.
When I started seeing her, I mentioned my frustration with some previous issues that I'd experienced with revolving door of mostly male doctors (due to mives, insurance changes, etc.).
The most traumatizing was a back injury that resulted in weight gain and numerous unsuccessful attempts to get a diagnosis and treatment... it took 7 years to find a back pain sepecialist, who sent me back to physical therapy just to create a paper trail for insurance before trying laser nerve ablation, only for this PT to discovetreat the muscle spasms and resulting impbalance that was the root of all of it.
The other was exercise-induced compartment syndrome, which was incorrectly assessed as shin splints during my entire 6 years of staggerring through PT tests in thr Army.
In retrospect, I think I was beyond clear what my symptoms were and these should have been readily diagnosed, had the providers I had access to at the time been even marginally curious, rather than seemingly chalking my symptoms up to weight or suspected malingering.
So, I admit I have a chip on my shoulder about not being heard.
With my current provider - I hadn't had anything too traumatic with her until recently. But I did have a negative experience with an orthopedist after I experienced arthritis in my knees, seemingly triggered by some kind of mild autoimmune response to an upper respiratory illness but also apparently just bad luck in the genetics dept. My symptoms were disproportionate to the degree of the arthritis, which either he or my PT explained was the result of patellar dislocation from the especially shallow groove. I still had to fight for cortisone injections, which are what ultimately calmed the inflammation (despite the orthooedist's extreme reluctance to treat with anything but advil, despite it giving me ulcer-like symptoms). I genuinely believe the arthritis was partly reactive to that initial illness or the continued inflammation (caught in an inflammatory cycle) because I haven't had issues since but I did not feel very validated when I tried to ask questions to get to the bottom of it, and ultimately switched orthopedists - though I haven't needed to see the new one again since the switch.
I actually don't want to keep switching doctors every time something goes wrong - so how do I find one that listens to patients?
So, here's the deal with my current doctor: I had been asking about ADHD for a few years, and she brushed me off or implied the only treatment for adults was skills based training and not worth pursuing. At the time, I was preparing for bariatric surgery and had too many appointments, and care was hard to come by during the pandemic, so I dropped it.
During the year post-surgery, my symptoms were getting substantially worse.
She insisted ADHD doesn't get worse.
I found a specialist on my own and asked for a referral when their waitlist opened, and she did write the referral - but also wanted me to see a psycologist who works with her medical system's practice.
That psychologist was terrible. She listened to me spill my guts for 30m, then said ADHD symptoms always appear in childhood and I appear to be successful at work, so I don't meet the criteria. When I tried to point out I had in fact pointed to many symptoms going back to childhood and mentioned how my job was being affected, she noted on my chart that I was noncooperative.
Now that I am working with a specialist, I think my symptoms are pretty obvious and that the issue is that perimenopause has a clear impact on ADHD traits that may have been better managed for, though definitely present, prior to horemonal or life changes around that age.
My PCM refused to manage my medication (saying "of course everyone feels more productive on amphatamines - despite the fact I don't even get a stimulant effect from my meds... because I have ADHD). So I continue to meet with a psychiatric nurse for that, which is OK, but one of my ADHD traits is rejection sensitive dysphoria - so it is tough continuing to see a doctor who so clearly does not believe/approve of my treatment for a documented medical issue, especially when it was diagnosed only after a lengthy and very thorough assessment by a specialist.
However, now I want to see an OBGYN to find out if HRT might also be beneficial, since perimenopause likely exacerbated their presentation. So during my recent physical, i mentioned HRT and asked for a referral, which she wrote.
On paper - so far, so good.
But then I read the chart notes.
Long story short, I feel like bits and peices of our visit were cherrypicked and framed, often misleadingly, in a way that suggests my request should not be taken seriously.
My doctor audio records our visits to help with charting, so there should be limited ambiguity - ans I studied communications in school, I do understand that people can have very different interpretations at time. But I make every effort to be clear when describing symptoms for this reason... and based on these notes, it's like we weren't even in the same conversation.
It's subtle, but... for example, I mentioned I had an appointment later that week to get some labs done (for my bariatric doctor), and that I'd hoped to have them done before the appointment - but I'd tried to drop in the previous week but the line was hours long.
She wrote that she "reminded me" to do this and "stressed their importance."
Then she noted she asked about my diet, and I "gave a vague answer" ... which is true, but it was because it was the very end of our visit and I interpreted it as a "how is that going, anyway?" question about my experiences post surgery, which was 18 months ago. I didn't realize she was expecting a more detailed accounting of my diet, and she didn't clarify, but now I feel like she's implying my answer was evasive.
There's a few other things like that, but it culminates with my ask for a referral to discuss HRT with an OBGYN, where she expresses skepticism ("no clear reason to believe") my concerns about focus/concentration and sleep are attributable to perimenopause, vs my "other" comorbid conditions (The ADHD she doesn't believe I have and my sleep apnea that's been treated for 10 years, presumably).
Except ... I literally walked her through why I do believe this, in detail. That declining estrogen, a neurotransmitter, exacerbated my ADHD focus issues. That it was right around a few years ago, in my early to mid 40s, my anxiety medication had seemed to stop working and the dosage had to be increased (though it was probably just inadvertently treating my then-unduagnosed ADHD). That I had also been waking up early lately, and having trouble fallijg back asleep, which is also a permemenopause symptom.
And then lastly, she writes I have a family history of breast cancer, which would appear to be a clear contraindiction for HRT.
Except ... what I mentioned during the visit is that I do have too much cancer in my family, but that its not clear to me at all if it would be a contraindiction because I have one aunt on my dad's side who has breast cancer in her late 70s, but it is triple hormone negative and that there is no other family history of breast cancer at all on that side of the family. And that on my mom's side, I have an aunt who had a different cancer - not breast cancer - that was discovered late in her treatment to be hormone sensitive, and that she'd subsequently tested positive for two BRCA mutations... but that my mom had been tested and had neither of the mutations in question.
So basically... am I reading too much into this, because doctors are busy and not writing a transcript? Or should I be legit concerned my doctor is trying to set me up as an unreliable narrator for the next provider by completely skipping over important info and then twisting other bits in ways that at best don't reflect our conversation, at middle, perhaps reflect mild biases on her part, or at worst, seem to present me as an unreliable narrator?