Celebrating my son’s birthday and graduation on Friday night so we decided to bring the family over to Taco Bell which we go to all the time and bring lots of business and overall a family vibe. It was my weekend with the kids and he was graduating 5th grade heading to middle school next year and I’m super proud of him. We were going to grab some food to go, and head over to watch the new Planet Apes movie. That was all until today they decided to get snippy with my family and speak down to my mother when we made a simple request. We were aware we had a bigger order coming thru, and first we gave them a call on our way over and let them know we would be coming inside to avoid clogging the drive thru line even tho that would be preferred by they screamed at us one time for waiting in the line with a big party so we decieded to play there rules tho even that didn’t seem to be enough. We then came inside and ordered for 17 of us (some of my crew members from BBTGG rolled with) , which I can understand being a lot of people but they weren’t busy at all and had plenty of staff working. Lots of young kids super excited and we were showing them the ropes on how to bring food in to theater. Much more affordable overall than concessions and drinks sodas candy hotdogs slushees nachos all that BS they overcharge for at theaters. We ordered $290 worth of food and sodas (keep in mind we filled the sodas up ourselves) but we let them know we completely understood if it would take some time. Out of the order, only 40% of it contained special requests. My son and I prefer extra onions while my mom enjoys extra tomatoes and beans on her burritos. A few other modifications with quesadillas and such but again not even half the order. The rest straight from the menu. I asked for an estimate and they said probably 20-25 minutes. That would have been a good estimate for how long it would take for us to finish our sodas, because we waited 47 minutes and received only part of our order. They specifically missed the request for extra tomatoes / beans on half of the burritos , giving us extra onions and beans on all burritos. While I wouldn’t mind keeping the burritos, my mother specially requested the extra tomatoes and beans, and my son was not wanting extra beams. It was turning into a fiasco and as mentioned a lot of other food had not been finished yet. We asked if we would be receiving the remaining burritos that were done incorrectly and they said it would take another 15 minutes. We had to be at the theater in 25 minutes. We asked if they could expedite and they said they had drive thru orders to complete? When we had ordered again 47 minutes earlier. Knowing we could Spare 10 minutes , miss the trailers, and have the food hot and ready to go for the movie wasn’t the worse case. We were being team players until my mother kindly asked again how long it would take. The employee threw turned to her and said “how about don’t order the whole menu and change it up next time”. Witihout hesitation I banged on the counter to break up the tension between the 2 and stop the argument. I knew my mom was going to snap. She was fuming at the disrespect. We then logically requested to get a refund on the part of the order that was done incorrectly, which unfortunately for them was a $100 mistake they weren’t willing to rectify. They gave us the bag of the rest of our food which we didn’t have time to check to make sure it was done write and then I asked them for the contact information and name of the GM as well as every single employee working. They refused to oblige and began pointing at the door to us saying “leave now or the police will be called”. So of course we left. Son and his friends were all bummed out but we surprised them with popcorn candy and sodas in the movie after we all finished the Bell. Amazing movie, terrible experience at Taco Bell. Has anyone else experienced this? I know they’re a corporation but we’re a small enough town here in Billings to have a community vibe even at fast food restaurants. I go to this location often, I give them my business and refer it to all my colleagues / crew. Love this city with all my heart but this one hurt. Much love to everyone happy Sunday.

Author’s Notes:
Finally, I’m back yet again! I finally got the time to write this wonderful little story project again; Senior year of high school has me super busy. I’ll be leaving for Air Force Basic Training in early June to go be a 5th Gen Crew Chief, so expect a roughly 5-6 month hiatus until I can keep writing.
I also got a PS2 emulator running on my PC, so I did a playthrough of each of the three Ace Combat games featured for that console, as well as 7 and Project Wingman. In later parts, you’ll definitely be able to tell the inspiration I got from all of the games.
I forgot to mention this in my last part, but last year I was able to head to Norfolk and see the USS George Washington in person, which was really cool. Writing about it is one thing, but actually getting to go on it and walk around was another experience entirely.
This part was kind of hastily put together to give you guys something to read, since It’s been way too long since I got a part for you. Once I get time after BMT and Tech School, I’ll continue and eventually finish off the story (If I can fit it in between doing MX stuff all day). Story wise, this part is just a setup for the massive port raid that will happen in the next part; I’m planning 2 more parts after that to finish off the story. Overall this project’s been fun, but I have to cap it off eventually.
Happy Reading!
…
“Alright, settle down, settle down.”
All the members of VF-102 quickly stopped talking to each other and looked towards the front of the room.
The CO then pulled down the paper map attached to the ready room wall. He pointed to the large port city that was slightly inland and surrounded by topographical marks denoting mountainous terrain on all sides.
“Before we can hit their fleet in port, we have to get through their coastal defenses.”
The CO pointed to a narrow stretch of water on the map that opened up into the large bay.“
“The kingdom we’re up against were smart with their port city positioning; they have an island in the middle of this strait with a heavy stone fortress on it. From the imagery we were able to collect on it, the fort apparently acts as a naval defense platform for their main port city. In conjunction with the strait, it’s a perfect defensive position to lock down entry and exit into the bay. We’re going to hit the fort today before we hit their fleet early tomorrow.”
Each pilot and RIO nodded in understanding.
“We’re sending four of you up as a two-ship strike package alongside VFA-86. Those assigned to hop today are going to get MK83s with Snakeyes to do the initial strike, and then the Hornets are going to mop up with some Mavericks and Rockeyes. The rest of you flying today are going to run the usual CAP up along the coastline.”
The CO gave out crew assignments for the fort strike package, which included Type and Wizard in Diamondback 110, and another Tomcat crew in Diamondback 113.
“The fort island is roughly Alcatraz Island-sized, so four MK83s rippled should be sufficient enough to crack the outer walls of the fort. Just be careful, as we don’t know if they have any Triple-A or not. Other than that, you guys are dismissed. Good luck out there.”
Type and Wizard hopped up and headed out of the ready room with the other VF-102 pilots and RIOs following. They weaved through the narrow gray halls of the carrier slipping past Sailors while hanging onto their flight bags and helmets.
…
As the evening sun shined down on the carrier deck, Type walked up to the Plane Captain waiting next to Diamondback 110.
“Hi, how’s it going?”
“All good sir, we just pulled the pins and the Ordnance guys just finished up fitting on the Sparrows.”
“Perfect, let’s get rolling with the preflight.”
The Plane Captain nodded, and got to work doing the final preflight check alongside Type and Wizard.
…
After the preflight, Type and Wizard both climbed the ladders to the aircraft and got seated. Both of them fit on their Woodland camouflage-covered helmets and flipped down the dark visors. Type ran through the comms check with Wizard, and started up the aircraft.
After the aircraft was started and all the systems were good, the Sailors on deck pulled out the cart connections and drove it away. Wizard dropped the canopy, and the Director in front marshaled them out from their parking spot.
…
Lining up on Catapult 4 behind 113, Type watched as two of the VFA-86 F/A-18Cs on Catapults 1 and 2 were tandem launched with the other two Hornets waiting behind the blast deflectors. Type brought the Tomcat through the catapult connection process, with the Shooter signaling him in.
…
Both Shooters for 3 and 4 signaled for engine start right as both blast panels were raised. The Cat 3 Shooter knelt down and sent his arm forward, followed by the Cat 4 Shooter.
113 was sent from the deck first, with 110 following soon after. Wizard gripped his handlebars as the Tomcat rattled with the catapult launch, while Type applied backwards stick pressure as soon as the Tomcat left the deck. He quickly pulled the gear switch up as well, rolling left with 113 right as the gear doors sealed.
…
Coming high to Angels 6 at Mil Power, both 102 Tomcats formed up with the Hornets that had CBUs equipped; Sidewinder 402 and 406. The other two Hornets with Mavericks on their wings, Sidewinder 404 and 411, caught up and formed up behind them.
The six-ship traversed north at 450 knots before reaching 5 miles out from the fort.
…
Before they descended in, each aircraft engaged their Master Arm switches and readied up their ordnance. 404 and 411 warmed up their Mavericks, while 113, 110, 402, and 406 each readied up their bombs.
“Warden, 113, Master Arm on.”
“110, Master Arm.”
Type had ‘ORD’ indicated on his HUD, with the impact point cross displayed on the lower end.
In the back, Wizard flicked the weapons station switches for the centerline pylons on and rotated the bomb selector to the ‘Ripple’ setting.
“Scope’s clear, hit the deck and ingress. Cleared hot on target.”
“113 Roger, goin’ in.”
Diamondback 113 pitched down and broke through the heavy cloud layer, with each aircraft following. Each of them reached roughly 500 feet off the water’s surface and leveled off. Sidewinder 404 and 411 split left and right to line up their Mavericks.
Right before they encountered the fort, each pilot noticed a large stone bridge spanning the length of the bay with 113 doing a full 360-degree right roll as the flight passed over it.
402 and 406 slowed down ready to lob their Rockeyes up and into the fort, while 110 and 113 made slight adjustments to line up with the west and east wall lengths of the fort.
Popping up extremely low over the fort’s walls, the Tomcats started the strike.
“Ready for drop….Shit, that’s flak!”
On the walls of the fort, cannon operators quickly tried to react to the airstrike by raising their flak cannons towards the incoming aircraft. Some of them opened up, creating thin stretches of black flak puffs around the four fighter aircraft rapidly approaching.
113 made it over the western wall stretch and dropped their four MK83s, which opened their fins and slowed down behind the aircraft.
With a small delay, Type pulled the trigger for weapons release. Both him and Wizard audibly heard ThThThThunk come from the underside of their aircraft.
“Pickle, Pickle, Pickle!”
…
On the top of the fort walls, archers and flak cannon operators watched with fear-filled wide eyes as large green cylinders with fins slowly came down on them. They accepted their fate as they detonated on impact, blowing stone everywhere and collapsing the wall sections. Ammunition dumps in the walls detonated with a chain reaction, causing even more destruction.
…
The pilot of Sidewinder 404 finished up locking his target on the island; a large naval cannon reminiscent of an Ottoman siege cannon. Looking at his MFD, he noted the lock indication for his Maverick and hit the weapon release, calling out:
“404, Rifle, East Cannon.”
The AGM-65F ignited and slid off its rail with its optics focusing directly on the massive naval cannon, impacting it a short time later. Soon after, a Maverick from Sidewinder 411 impacted the large cannon on the west side of the island, blowing it to bits.
“Shack Cannons, 404, defending Triple-A…”
…
The other two Hornets pitched up into burner with both pilots attempting to line up their HUD CCIP markers on the center of the fort.
As they popped up, the flak started to get more intense. Both pilots pushed into burner to drop quickly.
“406, Pickle!”
“402, Pickle…”
The CBU-100s detached from underneath the Hornets, coming in an upwards arc over the fort. Each bomb split open, releasing a large amount of smaller bomblets which coated the fort’s central structure. Anything or anyone in the blast radius was now dust.
“406, egressing-”
As Sidewinder 406 split left, the Hornet flew through a flak burst and took structural damage. The cockpit was penetrated by metal shards, impacting the pilot in his left arm and torso. He also took hits to the left end of his helmet, with his visor becoming cracked.
“Shit, I’m hit!”
…
Type and Wizard listened over the radio while climbing up back over the clouds with the rest of the aircraft, getting more and more concerned as 406 seethed in pain. Each aircraft was able to egress successfully, but Sidewinder 406 was trailing smoke and was starting to have engine issues as well.
“Warden, 406…..Took a hit…”
“406, Warden copies.”…
Warden relayed the information back to the controllers onboard CVN-73, who scrambled the Crash Teams for the hit Hornet. Sidewinder 406 was brought to the front of the pattern, and lined up for a trap. Getting the most assistance out of his aircraft systems as he could, he successfully put down the Hornet with a 1-wire while fighting his bleeding and severe pain.
A tug quickly pulled the Hornet out of the landing area, allowing the rest of the aircraft to trap. As the canopy raised, the Crash Team Sailors in their silver firefighting equipment pulled the injured pilot out, who was clutching his bleeding shoulder.
…
As Type and Wizard trapped and taxied off of the wires, they looked at the empty and damaged Hornet sitting off to the side.
“Man, hope he’s alright…”
“Yeah, too damn close today.”
They parked their Tomcat, and shut down the aircraft.
…
In the ready room, the CO went over the HUD footage from 110 and 113 for the debrief.
“That’s a mission success, we took out the fort and we have an open path for the port strike in sixteen hours. The only issue is, one of 82’s guys was hit during the strike. Thank God he made it back alive; it would’ve been bad had we lost him out here.”…
With the naval fort down, CVW-1 has a clear opening into the enemy kingdom’s main port for their anti-shipping strike. The injured Hornet pilot serves as a warning for all of them:
This conflict won’t be an easy one.

I am NOT OOP, OOP is u/AcceptableWar5433
Originally posted to AITAH
I think this woman is using me for free-childcare
Trigger Warnings: entitlement
Original Post: April 21, 2024
I 24M teach boxing in my spare time, and one day a week, I teach it to kids.
There's a mom who i'm starting to feel like is taking advantage of these classes.
She's increasingly late with picking up her kid after the session.
To give some context, this is a rich woman. It's not that she's out working a job. She is a stay at home parent. No other kids. She told me all this because another thing she loves to do is have really long conversations with me on top of already being late.
She's been late most of March (3 classes). I talked to her about it at the end of the month and she apologized and said it won't happen again. It did. x2 now. So I started timing her.
The second week of April (no class the first week), she arrived 45 minutes late. Then spent maybe 20 minutes talking to me. The other day, I timed her again. She got there around the 1 hour mark. I made a point to show her my timer and I gave her a warning that I will remove her kid from my class. She tried to derail the conversation so I raised the timer and turned it on again. She said I was being 'unjustifiably rude' (exact words).
I explained (politely) that I have other obligations and her consistent lateness throws my schedule off.
She didn't want to have this conversation, stomped to the driver's side of her car. Her kid lowered his window to say thank you and 'bye' to me. I told him bye and added 'tell your mom to stop being late'.
She reported our conversation to my boss but twisted it. She said that I threatened her kid with getting kicked out of the program. I didn't say it like that. And I didn't say it to her kid. There are other instructors, I was just implying (to her) that I won't have him in my group. My boss still gave me a lecture about how I don't have that power and can't make the statements I did. He went over professionalism and how i'm being too hard on this mom who could have other circumstances going on.
But i'm not getting paid for the hour after this class that I spend hanging out with her kid.
The kid's great.. but I have things to do.
For people who work with kids, what's the etiquette here? do I give parents grace?
I told my boss i'm going to start adding up all the hours and one of them is going to have to pay me.
AITAH?
AITAH has no consensus bot, OOP was NTA
Relevant Comments
OOP on wanting to set in the boundaries and fine system for late pickups and to have the boss set the firm approach for it.

OOP: See. That's how it should be. Unfortunately, I don't think my boss has any policy around it judging from the way our conversation went. If this continues to be an issue, I'm going to push for compensation since his approach currently has me taking responsibility for it. I'll send an email to him about clarifying so I have some kind of a written response.

OOP on the policy and the front desk staff to deal with the phone calls to parents for pickups

OOP: There is no front desk. I didn't want to immediately escalate to CPS and cops before making some attempts with the mom. The (lack of?) policy is definitely an issue.. that I am now going to push to address/seek further info about.

OOP on getting paid for his time of the hours he did outside his duties

OOP: I added them up, sent it to him and everything— he told me he will only pay me moving forward. I should let it go, and then made a point to remind me that I volunteered for this job knowing it was new and there would be hiccups.

 
Update: May 1, 2024
Previous post.
I appreciate the advice I got on the post I made. I learned a lot from you.
Here's the update:
I took various notes from the people who gave me tips here. I wrote a detailed email to my boss and cc'd other people who run this program, including co-instructors. I did this for transparency, accountability, and to put pressure on my boss to provide a policy around the issue instead of him dealing with us all individually / case by case.
My boss didn't respond to the email, instead he called me in to see him. I kind of had a feeling he’d do that.
He asked me why I sent the email cc'ing everyone and was clearly not happy about my approach. He kept trying to minimize the situation, and make me feel that I am in the wrong. He told me that I'm being greedy. That my attitude about one parent being late is exaggerated and I'm looking for problems. I should essentially just wait around after-hours if I need to sometimes (unpaid) because it's a program for kids. I should do this with some heart and "Do it for the kids". I had to turn my face to hide the fact that I wanted to laugh in that moment. But mostly I was frustrated.
Having proper policies in place not only protects the staff, it protects the kids, not to mention his fucking business. After I made my perspective clear (in a mostly professional manner).. he came around a little.
Unfortunately, he flat out told me he will not back-pay me for the time that I've logged waiting for this mom, but he will implement a late policy moving forward. He's followed through on that. He tried to throw in other useless incentives for me. I didn't accept them.
That mom wasn't late this week. She did try to catch my eye when she picked her son up and I ignored her. She ended up getting out of her car and asked me if I saw her waving. I kept ignoring her. She wore me down because she kept following me around while I locked up. I informed her why she's getting the silent treatment. She apologized and also tried to write me a check on the spot. I didn't take the money. I told her... honestly, I might quit instead. I am sharing this because the woman clearly lives in her own world. Here, just take my money and stop being mad at me. I was so furious. It took everything in me to keep the words that I said to her to a minimum.
I am on the fence about just letting this go. Maybe the program will get smoother with time. It's not a lot of money worth fighting over... I am so disappointed in my boss. I’ve known him for a long time as a mentofriend. Being his employee has been something else. The program itself is very new and disorganized. Due to differences of opinion about how its run, I doubt I will stay with it.
This is my first time working a job that involves kids. My actual profession is unrelated to boxing. This was mostly something I picked up spontaneously, because I saw the merit in it and I wanted to do my part to help. I admit I could use the extra money too. I don’t mean to be greedy or stingy, but I live in an insanely expensive city and I take care of someone with expensive medical bills.
I haven't proof-read this, but it looks longer than I wanted it to be. I’m sorry. I’m tired.
Relevant Comments
OOP on being frustrated with his boss and the situation

OOP: I wouldn’t say I’m angry about the situation.. I think I am mostly frustrated with my boss’s approach in dealing with issues. It’s hard to convey all of it in writing but he’s extremely stubborn and hard headed. He takes unnecessary offence to constructive feedback and then holds grudges. Getting him to do anything is always more difficult than it needs to be. He will try to bulldoze you, there’s always friction no matter what you suggest. It shouldn’t have to be like that.
I think I’m coming to terms with the realization that he’s a great friend and mentor but a terrible person to collaborate or do business with. I wish he would have taken what I said more seriously instead of focusing so much on this being an isolated issue when it could easily happen again with another parent. Even though he’s implemented the new policies, he’s acting as if he did me a favor.
The person I was angry at, is the mom.. because of the way she talked to me and threw money at me. There was no understanding.
She was so quick to report me to my boss and twist my words last week, and this week shes at pickup trying to flag me to chat like it never happened. The entitlement of this woman. She can’t stand being ignored. And when I reminded her what she did she acted as if it was just a money problem. Who cares about the appointments I got late for and the trouble she caused me— she can write me a check right now and order me to stop being mad at her. It definitely rubbed me the wrong way.
I absolutely hear you though. Thank you.

WaitUntilIDie: You'd make the right call to cut your loses, see this as a learning opportunity for what is not only intolerable but most likely illegal. I can't think of any state where you can be expected to continue working without pay. Id go as far as to suggest reporting the hours you were unpaid to the labor board in your state if you are from the states.
You are being taken advantage of here, but you know that. Do what's best for you. I'm not only suggesting making the report so you get paid, but also to put this business on notice because you probably aren't the only person they will try to exploit this way especially after you've left and having that record is important to show a pattern of behavior on the business owners part.
ERVetSurgeon: Report him to the Dept of Labor at the federal level. You cannot force someone to stay on the job "off the clock." If they did that, you will get back pay.
Hellokitty55: I'm so sorry this is happening to you. You're NTA. You tried to level with your boss and get him to understand. I'm guessing he doesn't want any backlash bc of business. I wish there weren't people out there that takes advantage of kindness.
 
Last Update: May 13, 2024
Previous post: https://www.reddit.com/AITAH/s/7naOmsQ5tU
I got other instructors to get on my boss’s case with me. I also informed him I have to quit the kids class and I will quit the training I do with adults too / leave the gym and our friendship if he doesn’t hear me out respectfully.
The reason I wanted to avoid reporting my boss is because I have a relationship with him and nearly everyone at this gym going back almost 10 years. I didn’t want to resort to making a report without exploring every other option first.
My boss caved. I’ll get paid for the extra hours I logged on the next paycheck.
Moving forward, I will no longer teach the kids, because although we have a policy and late pickup fee in place, as it stands right now, instructors are still responsible to stay back until the last kid leaves and my boss doesn’t want to negotiate on that. I can’t stay behind after classes. I have other obligations the same day as the class I teach. It’s unfortunate because this one parent is the only one currently abusing the system because she can afford to.
That kid’s mom was late this week again by 30 minutes. Showed her my timer. I also told her I’ve quit. She asked me if the late warnings “reset” when a new instructor takes over (they don’t). She then tried to hire me out from under my boss as her kid’s private instructor. I said no, but I might reconsider if she ever wants lessons. I would love to give that woman hell.
Alright, that’s the end of that. I feel bad I couldn’t stick it out with this kids program but it’s too disorganized for me right now.
Relevant Comment
RaptorOO7: Sounds like she has zero respect for anyone else’s time, sure who doesn’t love money, but my time is money and I value my time a lot more than her money.
Good call not working for her who knows what kind of hell she would put you through.
People with money know that money talks and most will take it. When you don’t out of principle they just can’t understand it.

OOP: People like her ruin it for other parents and my boss refuses to implement a condition like .. X amount of lates will result in your kid being dropped from the class.

 

DO NOT COMMENT IN LINKED POSTS OR MESSAGE OOPs – BoRU Rule #7

THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT OOP

I am not The OOP, OOP is u/IcemanEx54
GM Locked Me Out Of Interacting With Other Players Because I Got Confused
Originally posted to rpghorrorstories
TRIGGER WARNING: manipulation, controlling behavior, sexism
Original Post March 6, 2024
I'm a player in a tabletop RPG campaign and I just wanted to vent about this session. The GM uses a "rules light" homebrew system and it's his homebrew world as well. He's been doing this campaign for years now, but I just joined through a mutual friend after another player left recently.
When I joined the campaign, the GM had told me he wanted me to be from a particular country as a prince, and since it was his homebrewed world, I went with it. The country I'm a prince of is a massive empire that has conquered many lands. I wanted to be a morally good character so I made up a backstory where my prince had a secret romance with a commoner so it gave me more empathy and understanding than my other royal peers would have. Then in session 1, he had the commoner immediately break up with me since the players were all leaving the city session 1.
Several sessions later, there is a carnival being hosted in the empire and all the players are attending. The players split up and my part began with my character watching as a mentally handicap child was put in the dunk tank and was being dunked against his will. So I had my character help the child and stop the game (This isn't relevant to the larger story but I thought it was really weird). Then I am told I have to go to the "main stage" which is just a strip club seemingly. And of course, walking around topless serving drinks is my character's commoner love interest that I made in session 0. The GM laughs a bit and comments, "Isn't it funny? Look at what your ex has to do without you." I have my character give her the shirt off his back and we go to the outskirts of the carnival to find a quiet place to talk, but then the carnival was ambushed by some enemies as arrows and fire rained down on the parade.
Suddenly, my character and his ex are teleported back to the main stage and the GM starts jumping back and forth between all the player characters asking what we want to do without any sort of initiative and if we don't respond quickly enough he skips to another player. I ask, "What direction are the arrows coming from?" GM, "You can't tell". "Which direction to the palace?" I ask. "You don't know," he tells me. I'm honestly genuinely confused about what to do here and my mind goes blank, but then the GM has my bodyguard (a Brienne of Tarth type) tell me to follow her so I do. As he cuts back and forth, another player loses his mom in the chaos, I tell GM, "I want to help him find his mom." "You can't see him" GM tells me. Then I ended up surrounded by 12 ambushers in the "Pleasure Gardens". GM asked what I would do. I say since the carnival is burning, I look for a piece of wood on fire and since it's the pleasure gardens maybe there's some oil I can spill and light on fire to separate myself, my bodyguard, and ex who are all with me from the ambushers. He tells me there's no oil and then I'm held down by the men. I tried to escape, but he says I failed (he just did a dice roll behind his screen and didn't tell me the results). I am then hogtied by the ambushers with my bodyguard and ex and thrown in a cart. Meanwhile, the other two players have stolen a cart and are escaping. I try to do a goofy wave as my character is tied up towards my companions and he just says, the carts never pass each other so the other players don't see you. Before the session ends he tells me my bodyguard is dead.
After the session, I think my body language showed I was a bit bummed. So GM pipes in, "You want to know why you failed that encounter?" He proceeded to tell me it was because I followed my bodyguard and there was no way a woman could have protected me and I needed to make the choice instead. Some of the other players chimed in and said it was surprising my bodyguard failed since in the lore she was a 20-year veteran who survived "The Great War". The GM keeps defending his choice. Then he started making self-deprecating jokes about how he just sucks then and he's the worst GM ever until the other players all reassure him it's fine. I kind of just sat there shell-shocked.
His system reduces dice rolls to a rarity and he does them all himself as a "way to keep tension". I'm honestly more about hanging out with my friends than judging the quality of any campaign or system but this was my first "combat" of any sort in the campaign and I just felt so helpless in this system and it was frustrating. Plus there are no insight or persuasion rolls, just what the GM claims "my character would know" and "how his NPCs would act". So I'm not sure how I was supposed to handle this encounter. Being a GM myself, I thought he was using my bodyguard character to get me back on track, but I thought wrong. I honestly wouldn't have minded if he was just railroading me for a plot point, but him trying to manipulate me and saying his hands were tied when he essentially locked me out of interacting with the other players for the rest of the session is what bothers me the most.
Edit: Changed gaslighting to manipulating since I was using the term wrong and don't want to dilute it's meaning.
Update: GM Defends Style And Told Me He Owns My Character March 20, 2024
This is an update from my post a couple of weeks ago.
One of my friends in the group reached out to me and asked me to not leave the group. He told me there were only 2 sessions left and asked me to stick around as a favor to him. I told him I'd reach out to GM and see if we could get on the same page. So I texted the GM and told him I wanted to talk because I had some concerns after the way everything went down last session. He was down and we talked on the phone a couple of days later. To my surprise, the first thing he did was profusely apologize. I hadn't been responding in our group chat, partly because I was mad and partly because my partner had a death in her family. I guess me not responding caused him to dwell on the last session a bunch. He said he was going to retcon my bodyguard's death and keep her alive. I even told him that the treatment of women in the campaign was bad and that it was making the story worse, he told me that it is something that he can work on being better about too. I was surprised, but all this gave me a lot of optimism for this conversation.
I was honest and I told him that his homebrew system is very difficult for me since I don't have a character sheet. So my character doesn't have abilities, he doesn't level up, and I can't do things like roll investigate or perception rolls which makes it hard for me to make informed decisions. I told him it makes me very risk adverse because I don't have things like HP to even know if I'm in danger. He responded to this by telling me I shouldn't worry about that because his GM style rewards me if I roleplay well enough. He went on to say he hates systems with things like perception rolls because that's "Not how real life works".
I also lamented the fact that I also don't get to interact with the other players much. I didn't mention this in my first post, but he plays with all of us in a Discord call but he only plays with us one at a time, and the two of us who aren't playing are expected to listen and record notable quotes for his notes. He'll switch between characters where each player gets 2-3 "scenes" in a 3 hour session. He has our characters all spread out across the country Game of Thrones style and I've only gotten to play with another player in 2 sessions so far. This was also why that carnival scene was so frustrating because all 3 players were finally in the same place and we were trying to find each other and he just kept saying, "You don't see them".
He told me that he doesn't do party-based adventures because you can't get character growth that way. I pushed back and said I've seen awesome character growth in traditional DnD style games in the past, it just depends on the group. I also said he's just making things harder for himself by trying to run three campaigns instead of one. And if we don't have character sheets and aren't in a party then this is all more dramatic improv than a tabletop RPG.
He responded by saying his way is better because it creates a real story and that I should be happy because he made me the main character. (I guess that is what me being the prince means?) He then went on a rant about how much he loves the game world he created and he's very grateful that our characters brought it to life. But then he says that since it's his world, he feels like he owns our characters now and that after the campaign he wants us all to sign off on him using the characters to write books and a screenplay. And if we don't he'll just change their names and do it anyway. He then thanks me and tells me that this campaign is the main thing that has been stopping him from self-harm and going to dark places. Then he says he has to go and he rushes to hang up before I can say anything else.
I'm dumbfounded after that rapid-fire series of bombshells. I've known since the first few sessions that this was barely a TTRPG, but I got to hang out with my friends so I didn't care what it was. It was nice to hang out with old friends a couple times each month. Then the story got weird, and there was so much misogyny, and then I had the horrible session that caused my original post. Then in this conversation, he throws up even more red flags that I'm not blind to, but he is also planting a seed that he may harm himself without the campaign which is not something I want on my conscience. I'm just exhausted at this point.
TLDR: GM says that abilities and parties make TTRPGs worse and he wants to use our characters to write books/movies after the campaign because he owns them since we're playing in his world. He says he may fall back to self-harm without the campaign, making me feel guilty for wanting to leave.
RELEVANT COMMENTS
ShitThroughAGoose

Any update to this?

OOP

I ended up doing one more session for the finale. There was some drama during that session and when I mentioned that I didn't want to play in the next season of the campaign. I wasn't sure if I wanted to post about it again. I might still, but I think I want to take some time and reflect on everything.

Final Update May 11, 2024
[Final Update] Moving On From My Toxic DM And Losing A Friend In The Process
This will hopefully be my last post on this sub for a long time, but I’ve been using this place to vent about my toxic situation for a while so I figured I might as well post how everything concluded and what happened when I left. I’m going to reflect on everything and recap the important parts so no one has to read 3 posts.
It all started when I decided to start DMing to keep in touch with some college friends after graduation. During my first campaign, one of the players, Pirate, asked if his friend, Colorado, could join. I didn't really know Colorado, but I figured, "the more, the merrier."
Colorado had some issues early on, giving unsolicited advice to everyone on how to play and viewing newer or shy players as “side characters”. However, he frequently missed sessions, only showing up for less than half of them for the first few years so nothing came to a head early on. Then, Colorado decided he wanted to bring back his tabletop campaign from his college days and started trying to recruit players after my sessions. Pirate suggested I join the campaign, promising that Colorado was a better DM than player. Since I had been the Forever DM up to that point, I agreed to give it a go.
I created a character who was part of the royal family but enjoyed interacting with commoners in the slums, even having a secret girlfriend from that background. After that, Colorado also started hitting me up to help with the campaign. I ended up photoshopping character art for a bunch of his NPCs and I even drew his world map for him. I didn't mind doing it, as I do that kind of stuff for fun.
For our first session, Colorado had already created character sheets for us based on our backstories, but only he could see them. Colorado would also roll all the dice himself so “all we had to focus on is roleplaying”. We played one on one in different "scenes" that could last around 30 minutes to an hour each. We usually had around 2 to 4 scenes per session, depending on what Colorado thought was important. During the game, Colorado asked us to write down quotes from him and the other players when it wasn't our turn.
I had to wait for well over an hour before I could finally play. My first session was on rails. I mostly just had to repeat after Colorado during a ceremony. Afterwards, I got to sneak out of the castle and meet with my commoner girlfriend, but Colorado immediately had her break up with me. Then I was told that I had to leave the city. I was essentially locked out of my hanging out in the slums and commoner girlfriend subplots. NPCs generally disliked my morally good character, especially my sister who was depicted as purely evil towards me. Despite my efforts to mend the relationship, she never changed her mind and Colorado never rolled any dice to determine that. Later Colorado revealed to me the character was based on his ex-girlfriend, who was originally intended to be the player character from my country before they broke up.
Eventually, I finally got to interact with another player, Soldier, who I had really good chemistry with and we had a really fun scene. Which Colorado exclaimed, “See! This is why I keep you apart. It makes these moments so much more epic!” But I’m just thinking that if we were in a party, every session could be this epic.
Then Colorado got busy. He went to some alternative medicine nature retreat and didn’t pay his rent the whole time he was gone so he got evicted. At that point, the campaign went on hiatus as people got busy and Colorado was couch hopping. It was during that time I considered the campaign over and made my first post because I thought it fit the sub. Then a year after the last session, Colorado started trying to organize the group to do 3 more sessions to finish the campaign. I just ghosted the group chat for a while, but Pirate’s roommate is a player in the campaign I DM so Pirate started hopping on the call asking me to come back for the finale. Pirate told me that it would be different this time because all of our characters were going to meet up for the finale and he really wanted to play with me. I naively agreed to give the game a second chance.
The first of those three sessions led to this post and this follow up.
[TLDR - I never got to meet up with the other characters. Colorado made my ex a stripper and I was captured by invaders with no dice rolls to prevent it. I had a conversation with him about my concerns after the last session. He apologized and agreed to make changes saying he needed the campaign for his mental health.]
Colorado decided to have a single super finale session, which I reluctantly attended because of sunk cost fallacy. I was imprisoned, beaten and whipped, separated from my girlfriend and recently resurrected bodyguard. A deus-ex ninja offered to help me escape, but I wanted to save all the prisoners. So I helped the commoners escape with the ninja before saving my girlfriend. My bodyguard got captured, but I made sure my girlfriend escaped and then I went to save my bodyguard because I wasn’t letting her die after she just got resurrected. I tried to find my bodyguard but every door was locked and I was forced into a long one on one fight with a guard that would make John Carpenter blush. I lost the fight due to an unknown -2 modifier on my fighting rolls, leading to my re-imprisonment.
Pirate tried to board a boat to reach my location, but was unsuccessful. Colorado informed him that the sailors refused to let him on the ship because they didn't like his tone. Fortunately, Soldier saved me and we agreed to stop the big bad and rescue my bodyguard together. With a squad of Soldier's peers, we pursued the big bad into the woods. Without any rolls, all the other soldiers were sniped by archers.
Finally, the two of us reached the clearing where the big bad and his followers were. We were outnumbered about 30-2. My bodyguard and the other commoners were tied to a tree. Soldier was the same race as the villain so he approached while I stayed hidden. He delivered an awesome passionate speech against the big bad's actions saying that it wasn’t what their ancestors would want. I’m sitting there waiting and hoping for a persuasion roll… and nothing. Colorado says the big bad doesn’t change his mind and he sets the tree on fire, causing my bodyguard and the commoners to burn to death. Soldier and I retreated into the woods to end the campaign.
Pirate was supposed to have a scene after us, but he fell asleep because it was past 1am. Colorado kept trying to call Pirate on the phone. I joke, “Hey, we’re old now, being up past midnight isn’t as easy as it used to.” To which Colorado replies, “I just thought Pirate had more respect for me than this.” The Discord call becomes quiet and after Colorado starts focusing on Soldier and I. He wants to know why we’re not discussing the ending more. I remarked that it was a bit of a downer and I’m tired. Then Colorado starts spiraling, saying that RPGs are just another medium that he failed at just like film and music. HE STARTS CRYING and hangs up from the Discord call. Soldier and I stayed on and had a short “That was awkward” conversation. I don’t know Soldier well so I didn’t say much about my grievances with the campaign and eventually we ended up just talking about Baldur’s Gate 3 for an hour.
The next day, I wake up to a barrage of texts from Colorado apologizing, mansplaining how hard it is to be a DM as if I’ve never done it myself. He then starts sending me messages with all his ideas for my character in the next season and how he promises I’ll have more freedom next time. I wouldn’t understand, but he NEEDED to do the prison sequence and my bodyguard to die for my character growth, but next season will be different. I tell him I’m not doing another season. Colorado replies saying that he thought I’d say that because Pirate (who was apparently not sleeping) told him Soldier and I were bitching about the campaign after the session. Colorado said that once I get over it, we can start talking about season 3. I reaffirmed my stance. Then Colorado texts me one last time and asks if I’ll still make his maps and character art even if I don’t play. I said no again.
It's been two months since I last heard from Colorado or Pirate. We used to play games and talk about pro wrestling all the time, but now there's been no contact. A lot of the comments on my posts helped me realize I was prioritizing Colorado’s mental health over my own and I felt like it was my responsibility to support his campaign because he constantly referenced how important it was to his mental health. Intentional or not, he preyed upon my empathy. I’m not his Giving Tree and I shouldn’t be left a stump for a campaign where he doesn’t even want us to affect the world.
I sometimes worry Pirate is going through a similar situation to me, but for a longer period of time. Pirate introduced me to Colorado, and he's really loyal to him. I think that slowed down my exit from the group because I trusted Pirate to be my friend as well. I remember opening up to Pirate about a panic attack I had while Colorado was spiraling one day, and he just shrugged it off as me being dramatic. It's frustrating. I want both of them to be happy, but I can't make that happen for them, especially if it comes at the expense of my own well-being.
I ended up venting to some of my irl friends and they really supported and listened to me which is why I didn’t feel a need to vent here. I learned a lot about what not to do when DMing from this campaign and it made me reevaluate my approach to playing RPGs. Now I'm in a group with my irl friends and it's a blast. I can relax and just have fun playing again.
TLDR - I started DMing to stay connected with college friends who were scattered across the country. One player, Pirate, introduced me to Colorado, who eventually took over as the DM. Colorado had some unconventional methods, such as not using character sheets and controlling all the dice rolls. The game became focused on his storyline and my character had limited agency. Despite this, I gave the campaign a second chance. In the final session, things went poorly, and Colorado had a breakdown. Despite his apologies and promises for the next season, I decided not to continue playing. I have not heard from Colorado or Pirate since. I now play with my real-life friends and it's much more enjoyable.
RELEVANT COMMENTS/ADDED INFO
TicketPrestigious

Glad you're doing better. That does sound like quite a toxic situation.
If I've understood it right, the stuff with Pirate 'falling asleep' but actually listening in to you and Soldier talking feels like a massive red flag to me. I understand worrying about him since you were/felt like you were friends, but if he's enabling Colorado with that sort of stuff then it's probably best to move on.

OOP

Yeah even the best case would be that Pirate woke up after Colorado left the call and just overheard Soldier and me talking without us realizing because his mic was muted and we assumed he had passed out and then he snitched after which is still a bad look tbh. I had been distancing myself from Pirate since he invalidated my panic attack prior to this. It's just hard to be vulnerable with someone again after that.

THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT THE OOP
DO NOT CONTACT THE OOP's OR COMMENT ON LINKED POSTS, REMEMBER - RULE 7

First Previous
"Scargiver, this is Scathach." The Warmaster's voice came out of the Captain's wrist console. The wrist console looked the same as the ones they'd used in the Confederation, but it had been extensively modified to prevent anyone from hacking into it.
"Scathach, Mims." Captain Mims kept walking. They were almost to the bridge of the Encounter. "Go ahead."
"The Klaath are here."
"We know." Mims slapped a control panel. The door to the bridge slipped open. "The Federation called them, somehow."
"We saw the energy surge," the Warmaster informed him, "and we saw you disable the human ship. Do you intend to take up the hunt?"
The Oluken had roughly ten thousand Military ships in Tendril Sector. They were oddly designed, with glowing lines that shifted in strange patterns across their oblong hulls. Long metal tentacles sprouted from the ships, each tipped with some variety of energy cannon. Ten thousand ships was plenty for keeping order in a trading sector, but Yvian doubted it was enough to repel an Incursion.
"Hell yes," The Captain walked past the holodisplay, heading for the consoles at the far end of the bridge. "I never pass up an opportunity to kill the Klaath."
"I thought as much." The Warmaster grunted. "Have your Queenships protect the Gates. My Hunters will secure the stations. I've called reinforcements, and they will be here shortly." He gave a short, annoyed growl. "Someone will have to speak with the Oluken before they soil themselves."
Mims pointed at Lissa as he took a seat in front of the center console. "I'm on it," she acknowledged, taking the console to his left.
"Alert," said Kilroy. "Klaath clusters detected in Aldara sector."
"Of course they are," Mims gritted his teeth. He commed the Warmaster. "Lissa's taking care of the Oluken. We're having," he pointed at Kilroy, "two Queenships jump to each Gate. That should be more than enough."
"Affirmative," Kilroy acknowledged.
"The rest are coming with me," the human continued. "There's another Incursion at Aldara."
"Aldara?" Yvian could hear the Warmaster's raised eyebrows. "If the humans want to throw their planet away, let them."
"I can't do that." Mims took his hand off the comm and pointed at Yvian. "Systems check."
Yvian nodded and took the console to his right. She started a diagnostic routines. Scarrend squatted on his haunches next to her, pulling up a sensor display on his console.
"You can and you should," Scathach disagreed. "The humans are using the Klaath as a diversion. We're bound to defend the Oluken by treaty, but wasting forces on an uninhabited world is foolish."
"I know." Mims pulled up flight control on his console. The Random Encounter was nestled up against the massive hull of the Monster In Paradise. He eased the ship away from the Peacekeeper Queen and raised the shields. "I'm not asking you or the Empire to help. The Peacekeepers and I will be enough."
"Perhaps." The Vrrl allowed. "Unless the humans are dividing our forces in preparation for an attack."
"It's possible." Mims shrugged. "But I think this diversion's for something else. I'll explain later. I've got Klaath to kill."
"Then kill them here," Warmaster Scathach voiced. "Don't let the humans dictate your actions, Scargiver. Protecting their world is an act kindness that will come with a cost."
"This isn't kindness," Mims told him. "It's spite. The Klaath will never have Aldara. Not while I breathe. Can I count on you to take care of things here?"
Yvian's diagnostic programs finished. "All systems green," she reported.
"Foolish." The Warmaster chuffed in resignation. "But I suppose it can't be helped. Go defend your territory human, even if it's not your territory anymore. The Vrrl Starfang Empire will take care of things here."
"Thank you," said Mims.
"Do not thank me, Scargiver," Scathach chided. "The Oluken are of use to the Empire. An attack on them is a challenge to us, and challenges are answered with tooth and claw. We are the Apex."
"Fair enough." Mims pulled up a Nav console and entered the coordinates for Aldara Sector. "May Fortune favor you on the cusp of The Crunch."
The Warmaster grunted. "May your prey be worthy of the hunt." He ended the transmission.
"Our weapon systems are fully functional," Scarrend reported. "Shields are still charging. They will be at full in twenty three minutes."
"We'll go when they're full," said the Captain. "Kilroy, I want two Queenships at every Gate in Aldara. Have Admiral Zhukov send in half a million Stinger units, too. I want half of those protecting the planet. The rest will break off into groups of a thousand and go hunting."
"Big Daddy Mims," Kilroy objected, "we only have eight hundred twenty three thousand and four Peacekeeper Stinger Units. Sending that many to Aldara will greatly reduce the defenses of New Pixa Sector."
"Just do it, Kilroy," Mims ordered. "We've still got forty Queens and millions of convectional ships. If we get hit with more than they can handle, half a million Stingers won't make that much difference anyway."
"Affirmative." Kilroy hesitated. His eyes flashed purple before returning to the red of combat. "Big Daddy Mims, there is no reason for you to go to Aldara yourself. Peacekeeper units will be sufficient."
"No, Kilroy," Lissa disagreed. "We have to go." Yvian nodded her agreement. She knew the man's history, too.
"This ship is a standard Federation built gladiator," the Peacekeeper reminded them. "It will have negligible impact on an Incursion, and is at significant risk of being destroyed."
"I know," the Captain snapped. Kilroy's eyes flashed blue. Mims took a breath. "Sorry, Kilroy. I know the Encounter's not built for this. I know the Peacekeepers can handle this better than I can." He shook his head. "It doesn't matter. It's Aldara. The last time the Klaath came there I... I can't leave it alone. I have to go. I have to make sure they can't take anything else."
The machine left his console, eyes still blue. He walked over to Mims and put a hand on his shoulder. "This unit understands." He returned to his station, eyes flicking back to crimson. "Aldara will be protected. The Klaath will be destroyed. We will be sufficient."
"We will be sufficient," the Captain echoed.
"This is foolish," Scarrend objected. "You are throwing away Peacekeeper lives for sentiment."
"You're not wrong," the human admitted. He tilted his head, thinking. "Though to be fair, we'd probably be sending them anyway. A chance to capture more Klaath Queens is too good to pass up."
"Affirmative," Kilroy agreed.
Yvian pulled up a sensor display. Tendril Sector had a sizeable solar system. Lots of planets, and three hefty asteroid belts. None of the planets were habitable, but there were plenty of resources for mines and manufacturing. The sector doubled as a trading hub, and there were nearly a million stations scattered throughout the system. Most of the stations were unarmed. It was something Yvian had expected growing up in the Confederation, but now that she'd seen more of the galaxy unarmed stations struck her as a terrible idea.
Despite the large number of stations, there were only a few hundred thousand ships in the sector. Mostly unarmed Oluken cargo haulers. Yvian assumed anyone who had a jumpdrive had already escaped, leaving the rest of those poor souls to flee to the nearest station and pray that the Elders would drop shields long enough to let them dock. There were also a few hundred ships of the Vrrl Starfang Empire circling a few of the trading posts, gunning down any Klaath that came close. Several dozen vessels of the Pixen Technocracy were doing the same.
Half a million Vrrl capitol ships were dividing into smaller fleets and heading for the stations. The Priderender had already left the formation with an escort of four battlecruisers. More Vrrl were pouring out of each of the Gates, with fighter class Hissiths and Clawwings undocking from battlecruisers and running for the farthest stations at maximum acceleration. None of the Vrrl bothered avoiding the Klaath. Nor did they seek them out. They just moved to their destinations, smashing anything stupid enough to get in their way.
There were roughly fifty thousand Klaath Klusters so far, but more were appearing every second. Each Kluster was a sphere, made up of twenty Raiders grouped around a single Klaath Fighter and fused together. Most of them would drift aimlessly through the void until they came within a few hundred kilometers of a ship or a station. Then the Klusters would erupt, the ships separating and zooming in for the kill. Other Klusters gathered together, forming circles of spinning ships. Space rippled within the circles, opening portals to allow Corvettes, Frigates, and the dreaded Destroyers into the sector.
Two Peacekeeper Queenships were coming out of Tendril Sector's East, South, and North Gates. The Queens would take half an hour to exit the Gates completely, but that didn't stop them from putting their beam weapons to devastating use. The Queens concentrated their fire on the Klaath nearest the Gates. The Klaath didn't use Jumpgates, and destroying the Gates would be the first thing they tried. A few thousand Stinger units detached themselves from each of the Queens, switching their diffused anti-MAC weapons back to traditional long range beam cannons. They would circle around behind the Gates and kill any Klaath attacking from that direction.
The Monster in Paradise and one other Queenship stayed where they were, about two hundred thousand kilometers from the West Gate. Their Stinger units were launching as well. The Random Encounter idled within the Monster's shield bubble, staying protected until its own shields were charged.
The Oluken Military were doing what they could, where they could. All their ships were roughly frigate sized, about two thirds of a kilometer in length. They were fast, almost as fast as a Federation ship, and their shields were much stronger than Yvian expected. Their weapons were less impressive. Each ship had thirty two metal tentacles with cannons on the end, but they packed less punch then Confederation guns, far less than the humans and the Vrrl. The Random Encounter had more firepower, and it was just a fighter. The Oluken had been patrolling in groups of eight, and they were desperately trying to link up with each other or the Vrrl before the Klaath overwhelmed them.
Yvian moved to access the sensor reports of Aldara Sector, but a question from Scarrend interrupted her. "Shouldn't we be sending someone after the spy?"
"In the middle of all this?" Lissa gestured at the sensor display.
"We don't have to hunt her down ourselves," Scarrend pointed out. "A few dozen Peacekeeper units would be more than enough."
"There's no point," said the Captain. "The Peacekeepers let Myrsa get away on purpose."
"They did?" Yvian frowned at the machine.
"Think about it," said Mims. "A Peacekeeper unit's a walking lie detector. Do you really think they didn't know Myrsa was a spy? Or that she wasn't being monitored? There's no way she got to an unattended ship without them knowing."
"Affirmative," Kilroy agreed. "Peacekeeper units had to manufacture an emergency to explain why Myrsa Trin was unattended. The riots provided excellent cover."
"Ok, but... why?" Yvian frowned harder. "Why let her get away? Why let a spy work with Lissa at all?"
"I've got a better question." Lissa's tone was frosty. "Why didn't you tell me about it?"
"That was my call," said Mims. "You're an amazing person, Lissa, and I love you dearly, but you're not cut out for spycraft."
Lissa regarded the human with a glare so furious Yvian could see it through her helmet. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Mims returned her look with the seriousness it was due. "Lissa. If you knew Myrsa was a spy, would you have still made friends with her?"
"What? No!" The glare receded. "I wouldn't have let her work for me at all."
"Exactly," said the human. "It's standard practice to keep track of known spies. If our enemies have a spy in place they're less likely to try sneaking in another one, and it lets us feed false intel and uncover other spies. It's good spycraft, but it only works if they don't know their cover's blown. You're smart, beautiful, and a born leader, but you don't have it in you to pretend to be someone's friend when you're not. Not for long, at least. If we told you about Myrsa, she'd know you were on to her within a day."
"That's..." Lissa started. "I could... No." She sighed. "You're right. I don't have to like it, though."
"Intelligence is a dirty business," said the Captain. "No one likes it."
"Ok, but why'd we let her go?" Yvian came back to the matter at hand. "Why give the humans their spy back?"
"Good question," said Mims. "Kilroy?"
"Myrsa Trin has gathered extensive intelligence on our capabilities," Kilroy answered. "The information she has acquired implies that we are considerably more powerful and dangerous than we actually are. This will increase the likelihood the meatbags will surrender. More importantly, Myrsa Trin will give the humans access to a Lucendian crystal implant."
"What good will that do them?" asked Scarrend. "The only Lucendian ship outside of New Pixa is the child yoked to their anti-tech ship, and that specimen is too small and weak for the humans to pilot."
"Negative," said the machine. "There is one other Lucendian vessel outside of our custody. A vessel with the same capabilities as the fallen Skygem."
Another Skygem? Oh. Oh, Bright Lady. "Blingy," Yvian breathed. She'd handed the ship to the Xill shortly after getting her implant. She'd known the ship was alive. She hadn't realized just how sapient the crystal ships were, but she'd known she was alive. She'd known, and she handed her over anyway. Condemned Blingy to torture and experimentation at the hands of the machines. It might be the worst thing she'd ever done. "You're talking about Blingy."
"Affirmative," Kilroy confirmed. "The ship known as Blingy is still in the custody of the Xill. Specifically, the ship is located at Hub 14, under Reba's control. It is not possible for Peacekeeper units to retrieve the vessel without provoking a war with the Xill. Nor is it likely Exodus the Genocide can convince Consensus to return the ship to us if they succeed in defeating Reba."
"But Reba might give the ship to the humans," Yvian guessed.
"Especially if it'll help screw us over," Lissa added.
"Affirmative," said Kilroy. "Without a functioning Lucendian vessel, the Pixen Technocracy has no way to counter the Vore when they return. We cannot retrieve Blingy from the Xill, so we must take Blingy from the humans."
"A dangerous play," Scarrend remarked. "I have seen what these ships are capable of. If the humans have one when we do not..."
"They might be able to win," said Lissa. "And they know it. Why else would they do..." she gestured at her sensor display. "All this?"
"It's a big risk," Mims agreed. "But I think it's one worth taking. Good work, Kilroy. Tell the other units I'm impressed." He glowered down at his console. "I just wish... What the hell?"
Yvian checked her own display. The Klaath were leaving. Fast. Klusters circled up, opening portals to take the bigger ships out of the system. Those Klusters not forming portals disappeared, going back to wherever they came from. Raiders and Fighters still mindlessly shot at whatever targets they'd found, but the rest of the Klaath were leaving. In a few more minutes they'd all be gone.
"I've never heard of the Klaath just leaving." Yvian could hear Lissa's frown.
"We've never seen an Incursion without a habitable planet either," said Scarrend. "Maybe they figured out there's nothing here but gas giants and barren rocks."
"We get Klusters in uninhabited sectors all the time," said Mims. "Usually just a couple, but I saw a couple thousand pop in at Trinog Sector a few years back. They don't leave. They just float around until the bastards starve to death or someone kills them."
"Big Daddy Mims," Kilroy spoke up. "The Klaath are leaving Aldara Sector as well."
"What the hell?" Mims repeated himself. He typed into his console. Yvian followed his example, pulling up the sensor feed being relayed from the ships in Aldara Sector. It was just as the Peacekeeper said. The Klaath were leaving.
"Strange," Scarrend remarked, "but I suppose we shouldn't complain when a problem solves itself."
"No." The Captain's shoulders were taught. "It can't be that easy. Not with the Klaath." He was silent for a moment, head bowed, breathing slowly. His shoulders relaxed slightly, and he raised his head. "Kilroy, I want everything we can spare at Aldara. Right now."
"What do you mean everything?" Lissa asked.
"I mean fucking everything." The Captain was grim. "Every ship, every weapon platform, every fucking gun Zhukov can spare."
"Are you experiencing a hunch, Big Daddy Mims?" A tinge of purple crept into the red of Kilroy's eyes.
It was another scary thing about the humans. Premonitions. Hunches. Mims claimed there was nothing supernatural about it. Just his subconscious processing information, a benefit born of experience and the brain's tendency towards pattern recognition. Yvian wasn't sure it was that simple, but she did know one thing. When the Captain had a bad feeling, things tended to go very bad, very quickly.
"I don't know. Could be PTSD." Mims clenched his fists. "But better safe than sorry."

I don’t know why I keep giving my NMom chances or think she’ll change. I know she won’t, but for some odd reason I try to see the good in everyone. Below is a conversation she and I had today via text. For some context, Memorial Day weekend is very busy for me, I’ve got concerts or events happening everyday. I’m a SAHM but also a musician who is involved with a lot of things. However Memorial Day weekend is also important to my family and people throw parties and stuff. I live 90 minutes from them all and my parents still visit us once every one or two weeks to see their granddaughter.
Me: I don’t need you over here next weekend NMom: I know…. Me: Plus if you were here it would probably get in the way. Like I said Saturday-Monday I have stuff going on. NMom: It kind of sounds dismissive….like you don’t need us in your life….l Me: I did not say that NMom: It sounds that way……we’ve always enjoyed Memorial Day….(cousin who lost her husband, always has MDay party) is already crying over it. Yesterday was a year that (husband) went into the hospital….we were both crying…. Me: No but when you’re here it’s hard to relax when you’re asking what I’m doing or why I’m watching something NMom: Good grief…of course it’s all my fault….of course… Thanks a lot, mom…..you gave us enough…I don’t need you anymore…. Bye…thanks Me: I did not say any of that NMom: Yes you did!! You can’t relax with me?? I enjoy and look forward to visits…. Me: I did not say I don’t need you NMom: Well, that’s good….but I need you too. Me: and (my 22mo daughter) enjoys the visits, but I also need some me time and that is few and far between. NMom: I hope so….i miss her every single day and thought and prayed for her in church….that she would start walking and talking When you are a mom, there’s never me time. I would go to school and never have 5 minutes alone…..I’d get you at (babysitter) or you’d ride home with me. As you got to school age…..and I couldn’t even send you across to street to see grandma because she was gone…. Me: Yes I know there’s no time. But a few minutes to myself would be nice once in awhile. NMom: it’s called nap time I guess…..
*A little backstory, she was a 1st grade teacher for 37 years, before I got to kindergarten I would be at a babysitters who was also a nurse and growing up I had severe asthma and other health problems so this babysitter was the only person my NMom trusted to take care of me when she was teaching.
The conversation continued but it went back again all about her. Every day I deal with realizing how much love I have for my daughter, but with that comes intense PTSD of realizing what I never had growing up. Also my Nmoms parents use to live next door. But it was the country so next door was still half a mile down the road. She has lived on the same street her whole life, all 73 years.
Also, my daughter who will be 2 in July is the absolute light of my life and a true miracle: when she was born she had to be hooked up to an ECMO machine for the first week of her life. I didn’t hold her in my arms until she was a week old. She only had a 1 in 5 chance but she made it. She was in the NICU for 46 days. She is babbling like mad and is very close to walking. Because she was in the NICU for so long, her core strength is a little behind but we work with a physical therapist once a week. Every time we go to a doctor for check ups they all say how amazing she is and how well she is doing. But that doesn’t stop my NMom from picking apart my parenting.
I’m tired, yall. She’ll never accept me but yet says all the time “you don’t know how much I love you” and some days I just want to scream “NO YOU DONT, YOU CHOOSE CERTAIN PARTS OF ME TO LOVE BUT NEVER ACCEPTED ME FOR ME.”
Have I mentioned I’m tired?

Sorry for the length. There's a lot to this.
My friend group for years has had a lot of people come and go, but what I call the "core group" has stayed the same. It started out with me and my friend Sarah, then Sarah started dating her husband Herb and through him his best friend Chris and Chris's wife Jasmine were introduced. This became the "core group" with each of us inviting other friends occasionally who sometimes stuck around for a while and sometimes didn't.
From the very beginning, Jasmine and I just clicked. We got to be close friends almost instantly and quickly became closer than Sarah and I ever were. Jasmine was also close with Sarah, but I always felt it was a bit one-sided. Jasmine is the type of person who gives her all in a friendship but doesn't complain when that isn't returned. She's a very kind-hearted and giving person and because of that gets mistreated by people and taken advantage of a lot.
A few years ago, Jasmine's husband Chris got sick and nearly died. He never fully recovered, and Jasmine is now his sole caregiver while also working full time. At first, everyone in the group rallied around Chris and Jasmine and went out of our way to help them in every way possible.
When it became clear Jasmine was no longer able to return that due to her new responsibilities people slowly began flaking off and just not even trying to be any sort of part of the group anymore until it was just the core friend group again. Eventually, Jasmine stopped asking all of us for help as well. She told us she felt bad because she couldn't be there for us like she had been, and it felt to her like she was taking advantage of us by asking for help.
I made an effort to offer help when/where I could, but it wasn't much. Eventually, Jasmine started asking me for help again and trying to give me help where she could. By this point, my life was pretty hectic, as was everyone else's, so we didn't all get together much.
About a month of that and Jasmine was over at my house hanging out during a rare "time off" for her and I mentioned that Sarah and Herb were coming by and we could maybe do a game night like we used to. Jasmine suddenly said she had to get home and left. Later she apologized to me and said she didn't want to put me in the middle but that she didn't consider Herb and Sarah friends anymore and didn't want to be around them if she didn't have to. She explained that they had reported her for neglect and abuse of her husband after she asked them for help in getting her house reorganized so that her husband was able to get around better. She also ended up sharing a few examples of them not following through on promises made to her and her husband. I kind of took a break from them for a while because of this news.
I considered if I wanted to make the effort to remain friends with someone who treats a supposed good friend who has done as much for them as Jasmine has like that. In the end, I decided to give them a chance because I only had one side of the story.
A few months later, Jasmine called me up in hysterics, saying her husband was having emergency surgery. I rushed to the hospital to support her and noticed her mom and I were the only ones there. I asked her if she wanted me to let Herb and Sarah know what was going on and she said she had already told them and they said they couldn't leave work but would check in with her after they got off. I knew for a fact that neither of them were at work because they had invited me over for games right before Jasmine had called me to which I had declined because of other plans. I didn't tell Jasmine this. Late that night, her mom mentioned Herb and Sarah hadn't stopped by and asked if we should call and check on them. Jasmine said she hadn't expected them to, and it was fine. I texted Sarah at this point to update her on the situation, and she asked if she was going to come over at all for games. I told her I thought supporting Jasmine was more important.
That was last year and since then I've noticed that Herb and Sarah never seem to know how Chris is doing and consistently blame it on Jasmine not updating them but Jasmine regularly sends updates in a group chat with all of us in it. I also found out through someone else that Sarah has been telling other people that Jasmine is a "bad friend" because Sarah asked her for a favor and Jasmine said she couldn't help her due to having to work. She also told me directly that Jasmine never wants to hang out and doesn't act like a friend. I asked her if she ever stopped to consider Jasmine is exhausted and wanted to sleep during her limited free time. Her response was, "That's just an excuse to be a lousy friend."
Since then, I've distanced myself from both Herb and Sarah. They live right next door to Jasmine, so when I was over there yesterday, they saw me, and Sarah texted me, asking me why I never had time to hang with her but was always hanging with Jasmine I told her Jasmine needed my help with something, and so I made time to help her because she's my friend. I'm not going to ask my husband to give up his limited free time to watch all the kids alone so I can play games, but I will ask him to do that to help a friend.
Sarah and I ended up in an argument over it where I told her I wasn't really interested in being friends with her and Herb because of the way they have been treating Jasmine and Chris.
My husband overheard the argument and said I shouldn't have said all that because he was there when Jasmine said she hadn't confronted Sarah or Herb either one about their failure as friends towards her because she knows they are vindictive and is worried they will try to cause problems with their landlord (they rent from the same person) or report her to APS again. I think that's just Jasmine letting her anxiety take over, but I could be wrong. Sarah and Herb have never acted like that towards me, but I stand up for myself more than Jasmine does, and they know it, so that may be a contributing factor. I texted Jasmine and apologized for kind of throwing her under the bus like I did. She said it's fine, but I know she's upset about it based on how she responded.
I really just wasn't thinking when I told Sarah why I was upset with her. I'm not trying to fight Jasmine's battles for her but I don't want to be friends with someone who thinks it's okay to treat friends the way Sarah and Herb have been treating Jasmine and I am very protective of my friends especially those like Jasmine who don't stand up for themselves often.
So am I wrong for telling Sarah why I'm done with her as a friend?

I’m an INFJ (20F) and my first love was an ENTP (19M). Four years ago, (he was 16 and i was 17) he started pursuing me intensely, asked lots of personal questions, debated me, teased me, and was incredibly supportive of my dreams. He would be touchy, flirty, and look at me lovingly. I realized I had caught feelings for him and told him while we were on a walk. He pretended not to hear me 3 times but spammed my phone after I went home until I admitted it over text. Then he asked “what do you want to do about it?” and I said “I don’t know this has never happened before,” (which was true because I had no experience with boys before that) to which he said “Lol another girl told me the same thing today.”
Looking back, I think that he was hurt by my lack of initiative (he was always the one who pursued me, flirted, etc. while I was just sort of quiet and avoidant), but I felt really betrayed by what he said. Other guys would try to talk to me but I literally couldn’t even think of talking to anyone else because I liked him so much, so I expected him to be loyal too. We had never discussed monogamy and the proper response would’ve been to ask him if he wanted to be exclusive, but I was dismissive avoidant at the time and told him to never talk to me again. Seeing that we worked together and lived next to each other, that was not possible. I did a typical INFJ door slam for 3 months, but he kept trying to talk to me and crept back into my life. However, after I confessed he would avoid hanging out with me alone (only with our other mutual friend). When I asked to hangout alone, he said no. But he practically forced me to hangout everyday with him and our other mutual friend, and would never hangout with the other friend alone (only wanted me there). But right before I left for college, he talked about graduating early so we’d both be in the same grade and hanging out more to see my reaction. I really wanted to tell him I loved him but I was so scared of opening up again and him not being responsive and hurting me again.
He really never let me go even after I left for college a year afterwards. We talked for a little bit, but then I told him “I wanted to be with you for the longest time but I’m tired of your games. Bye” and unfollowed him on all socials. He stalked me on burners the whole time we were in no contact. Anyways, I went to therapy last year and healed a lot of my avoidant attachment and learned how to stick up for myself. I realized through more experiences with guys that I’m scared of vulnerability and love and realized that we both self-sabotaged. We reconnected at an event on New Year’s and all my feelings were the same after all these years. He requested me on Instagram the day after and has been watching all my stories. I asked him to hangout alone twice over text during winter break and he made excuses that he was busy (before he would always hangout with me). I want him back really bad but I’m scared that we have too much water under the bridge. I also don’t know if he’s grown from our experiences. I don’t know if he ever loved me or just loved toying with me, but I’ll never know unless I try. I want to tell him that I can’t stop thinking about us, but how do I go about it normally?

I’m sorry for how off-the-rails this is going to sound. I’ve just had something very painful happen, and I just need to vent.
Do you ever just think back to when you were a baby, just born? You were innocent then. All the hardships, all the mistakes you or others made, none of it had happened yet. You didn’t choose the life you were given. You didn’t ask for anything that would happen next. Any pain, any loss. None of it was on you, not that young. You looked at the world with so much wonder, so much curiosity. Things hadn’t gone bad yet. Or maybe they had, and you just didn’t know. And they’ll leave their mark. And maybe there’s a better way than the life you’ll end up knowing. Maybe there’s a solution, one you’ll find eventually. But you don’t know what it is. And you won’t know, not for a long time. By then, so much pain will have come for you, and the people you care about.
Do you ever wish you could just go back, hold that little version of you in your arms, and tell them, even if they won’t remember it, that they’re strong? That they CAN make it? Would that do something, somehow?
God, I just wish I had held my anger in a little longer tonight.
I went off on someone who has caused me a lot of hardship. This is someone who’s very close to me, and someone who is the way they are for reasons that aren’t entirely under their control. They’re my older sibling. I’ve known them my entire life, and there’s always been problems. Tonight, they were very mad about something that had nothing to do with me. I walked in at the wrong time. I didn’t know what was going on, and they snapped at me to get out. I wasn’t going to say or do anything. I had to be in the room because I had to retrieve something. I got what I needed and left. A few minutes later, they were rude to me again. It was passive-aggressive. It wasn’t the intense, out-of-nowhere anger it had been. But the camel’s back broke. I screamed. I punched the door. It was disproportionate, but it was just after everything else I couldn’t take it anymore. And it became an entire thing. The two of us and our mom. It was only after it got that big that I saw just how hurt we all were, how hurt we’d always been. And then I just wanted the fighting to stop. And it did, eventually. And maybe it’s better that we just got everything out. Maybe things can change. I pray to whatever or whoever’s up there, if anything/anyone, that things finally will.
People are okay now. My sibling and I are okay. We’ve apologized to each other. Our mom and I are okay. Things are stable enough between the two of them. But nothing does this to me like home. Nothing makes me feel this fear, this pain, this loneliness. I’m in college, home now for the summer. This doesn’t happen to me there.
We’re born innocent. We’re not born wanting to do harm to others. We just want to know this world we have.
Things can be better. Things WILL be better than they are today. I just… wish they already were.

Sorry, I'll delete this in a bit, I just need to rant.
My mom has been through a lot and I get it I really do. But she makes me out to be such a horrible child just because I'm not smart and I haven't done anything remarkable. She doesn't understand that I'm not capable for great success I'm just not build that way, and her high expectations are just too much to handle.
I don't do drugs or have sex or anything, I don't have irl friends anymore and stay in my room and I don't leave the house by myself. I clean and I take care of my sister and our pets. She gets mad at me for wanting to be alone and threatens to take my door if I lock it. I've never done anything myself and I have horrible self esteem. All the friends I've had are moving on with their lives and I feel like I'm stuck in time.
I graduated high school and I went to college for a while like my mom wanted. It seems like nothing I did was enough, and I had a breakdown. I dropped out of college which made me feel like such a failure, and that began showing my moms true colors.
If I wasn't doing something she deemed to be "successful" she would gossip about me to her family and call me lazy and ridiculous. She yells at me to get a job and says Ill be a loser if I don't grow up and start working. I have been applying to every job I can like crazy but not like she believes me.
She subtly tries to push me back into doing what she wants. She forces me into a corner and doesn't let me leave until I tell her what she wants to hear. She says horrible things to me lately, and horrible things about my girlfriend. She says I'm a horrible person like her family that takes advantage of her.
My dad never does anything, and my family doesn't like talking about problems. After every fight we always go back to normal the next day.
After my mom made me cry all night with her words and belittlement, and my family ignored me and my sister told me to stop crying since it was annoying her, I decided I don't want to live here anymore.
I say this, but every time I thought about it in the past, my mom the next few days would make an active effort to be nice and sweet to me. She would take me out somewhere nice and buy us food and be funny. She would say sorry and she only wants me to be happy.
But I know I'm capable of more, and capable of success, I can't do it if I'm here. It's a weird feeling but I know if I just get away, I can truly start to thrive. I want to leave so far away, and that fills me with guilt because I know deep down maybe she's just wanting the best for me, but she really hurts me. She's hurt me a lot and I always forgive her. I don't want her to keep hurting me though, so I think this is the right decision.
This year I will move out somehow. I want to be happy.

There is someone out there reading this waiting for a message from someone that may be drawing my attention towards because of my topics I write about.
I am a former and currently struggling addict. I'm not perfect, I don't try to be someone I am not. I am blunt, honest, alone.... Mostly alone.... A lot!
I am a human being that has stumbled many upon many times..... I'm doing it again not all or all at once, but I did all in my past.
Let me break the ice and list some of my sins and addictions.
watching inappropriate films of all topics.
Fornication
Smoking
Drinking
Gossip
Gluttony
In a nice way to list it without the drama story attached to it. I'm guilty of it all.
Don't give in, even though you messed up today. I did too....
Just socializing, I take a drag of a cigarette and then another and then another....
Well, I just smoked and broke my promise again for the millionthteenth time.... So, I'll just smoke for tonight only......
It's 1am now, but I didn't fall asleep yet, so I can smoke until my day actually ends.
F* it, I'll just buy a pack because I'm already smoked yesterday and broke my promise.
You see my demons there!
Yeah, this is current and I'm ashamed and holding myself accountable. I told my person my struggles and allowed them to share their anger towards me for falling back into my old patterns. I still told them and I am working on myself. I am reminding myself where I was and how long I stopped and how far I've come and to not fall back into hurting my body anymore. To love myself more and not harm it because I am not afraid of dying. I need to stop wanting it to happen to me. I need to accept that my life has a purpose and masking my pain won't stop when I am hiding my emotions for a nicotine buzz when I take a break at work.
That is no excuse to pick up the habit. Let your coworkers do it without you. Don't go back to your old habits. Stop it!
That's my Dad yelling at me. I get him interrupting when I free write.
I want you to see that I struggle everyday. I miss smoking every day. I chose the other options to seek a substance over another. I am just like my father. I have an addictive personality and behavior pattern.
I also see where I need to work on myself and I get back in the game. I don't keep with the habit because I fell out of it for a weekend. My Dad won't shut up.
My father died of lung cancer and he never smoked and he is very upset at me for smoking so I could be with him in heaven. He cried next to me as I cried and I gave up singing. I left choir and I had throat problems when I was a senior in college. I didn't get to sing my recital to my father, he passed away before he saw me graduate.
He doesn't want anyone to give in to their addictions. He wishes he followed his dreams of being a service with God by his side. He gave into alcohol and pills. He sees me talking about him on here. I'm letting you see me for who I am and I am not afraid of how you read my story. This is real. This is me. Deal with it or move on.
Sorry about that side tangent. Suz showed up.
She helps me get my throat chakra open so I can share my feelings and stick up for myself. She is well aware of my past and been warning me ever since.
This is about addiction. This is about letting go.
They show up at the worst times, sorry you guys....
I am here to receive and share my story and I fall apart. I am being tested by my enemy and I am sharing my struggles to show my gratitude for awareness. I am more aware to see where I am falling short and work on nurturing those wounds to avoid the old habits of treating it. My inner child, my 20 year old self showed up and what I did back then was miss my Dad and smoke.
I can never fall too far, my Dad shows up and reminds me to write and he helps me get back on track with the topics I write about. It's him taking over my hands and I just start writing.
It's really cool. I miss him and it's weird how he does this, it took me a few tries after becoming very intoxicated with a substance I don't want to trigger you anymore..... Sorry....
I'm not the only one that has this problem. When some of us become intoxicated, we are more intune with spirits. It's not a psychotic break down. It took me a long time to see why my father kept escaping when he had no reason.
He had good reasons, but I wasn't old enough to understand. Until he passed, we are very close, he shares with me many memories and stories of my family I never knew. He taught me how to talk to my Grandmother through music. He lets me know how to handle my mom. He calms me down when I am having a breakdown and my arms hold my body in a hug. I don't move my body, I let my body move on its own. When I allow this to happen, especially when I drank, I saw my father in my memory hugging me tightly. That was when he taught me how to see and communicate with him.
I got used to wanting to be around him more, I kept trying to find how to bring him back, it only happens on special occasions. I don't get to decide how he wants to show up. He just does and I have to be ready to see his signs and feel every moment to enjoy the experience.
He told me today.
"Knock it off! Go write!"
So, here I am. I was wrong. This journey doesn't let me get away with much anymore. I have a purpose why I chose to stray away from God after I went to college and do this stuff.... My adult self is really mad for smoking and drinking so heavily.....
If you are still young, but feel like you did yourself enough damage you don't see the point in stopping......
Just stop.
There's no plan to it, you just do it. It's gonna suck. That part you got to fix is how you think about it once you stop.
This isn't me talking, this is still my Dad teaching me a lesson to not smoke. Because he died a terrible death and he doesn't want me to go the same way. We are working on forgiving each other in giving into our patterns we learned from our family patterns of raising kids. We all have a story. We all came from some form of trauma.
They want to show me how to stop repeating it. I failed this week. It's been a week, not gonna lie and I enjoyed it, but now, I feel regret. Because I do know better.
I know someone out there wants to be serious and stop, but feel alone without someone to show active encouragement.....
Be my cheerleader too!
I need one so I can stop messing up my clean lungs. I worked hard to get them there. I'm gonna get back on track and stop. I hope you are able to get a hold of your addictions too, Whatever it may be.
I feel a little weird about posting this, but they are double dog daring me to do it.
SO, don't judge, but yeah..... Here it is.... Unedited. All me.... Being weird.
Peace,
Tina

My husband (I’ll call him C) and I just bought our first home a few months ago. We were so excited, we got a great deal because the homeowners were eager to get out. Our friend is an inspector and made sure everything was in tip top shape with the home- told us the roof needed to be replaced and the homeowners immediately had it replaced and we went in contract. I wondered why they were so eager to leave… (to paint a better picture they were asking 395 and sold us the home for 300). C said jokingly I bet the house is haunted! But we didn’t care about that as we just moved from an apartment that was built in 1890 and was originally the town morgue. Anywho, we finally met the sellers to go over a few details of the home. The wife ,Alice, wore J.Crew head to toe, had long beautiful curly blonde hair and jingled from her charm bracelets. Her husband, James, was super shy and didn’t really talk. He was about 6 ft, extremely thin (almost skeletal), bald, and wore round thick black framed glasses and a sweater vest. He let Alice take the lead on showing us the home but he stayed close by with a smile on his face. At the end of the meeting Alice walked us outside to our car and after wishing us luck on our new venture- in the same breath mentioned they were moving because James was sick. We felt so bad for them, that they took such a pay cut to get out of their home and with how frail James looked and not having a single hair on his face or head, we could only assume he had cancer.
Fast forward 2 months and I had finally unpacked the last box. C and I were finally feeling settled in as well. C travels for work, 3 weeks out of the month to be exact. It’s always worked for us, I love the alone time and we cherish the time we have together. Thunderstorm nights definitely make me miss him though, and I cant watch any scary movies by myself knowing he won’t be home to sleep with me. Anyways, one day when he was out of town I was at home folding laundry in the living room. As I was getting up to grab a basket I noticed someone was standing at my front door. I couldn’t see who it was since we have some sort of marbled glass, and I definitely didn’t hear a knock or bell. I quickly walked to my room to wait out the solicitor. Then I remembered one of our neighbors sons was supposed to be going around the neighborhood to sell something for school so I walked to front door and no one was there. Shrugged it off. Then 2 days later I was watching a movie getting ready to fall asleep when I heard our garage open…. I quickly reached for my gun and followed my dog to the laundry room to peek into the garage, I opened the door, gun in front of me and searched the garage. Nothing. I looked outside and saw a car driving away down the street. Far fetched but I decided to ask my neighbors across the street if I could check their camera footage. Cameras weren’t working. Ugh.
I told C about what was happening and when he came back in town he put motion sensor cameras all around our house and quickly installed our ring door bell camera. And we took a trip to the gun range for target practice. He left town again the following week. All went smoothly until the last night of C’s work trip. I was laying in bed and saw through my closed blinds all the motion light detectors go off one by one in our back yard and then my dog jumped up right as someone started to jiggle our back door handle. I once again grabbed my gun and said to myself, I’m done with this shit I’m going to figure out what’s going on. I call the cops first, and they write it off as kids because of the neighborhood I live in but assure me they will send a unit out. I can’t wait, I go through the side door and enter our back yard. The motion light next to me turns on and I look across the yard by the back door there’s a man standing in the shadows. He doesn’t move an inch, hence why the motion lights are not on around him but I could see the outline of his body.. tall and slender… then I could see a shimmer- glasses? I yell out “I am armed and police are on the way so I suggest you don’t make any sudden movements” The motion light next to me turns off. It’s damn near pitch black outside, but I hear footsteps in the grass. I again yell “I have a gun, and I will shoot if you come near me” footsteps stop. I wave my hand to set off the motion detector. Light comes on. It’s James. The original owner. Standing 20 feet from me, smiling. I say “James, are you ok? What are you doing here?” No response. Only smile. As my mind races on what to do I hear the gate open behind me and footsteps… I spin around gun pointed to see April. I say “what the FUCK is going on” As she raises her hands in a surrendering fashion she says “I’m am so sorry, I saw James’ car was gone and knew he would try to come here… James has early onset Alzheimer’s… we moved so we could be somewhere more secluded without as much neighborhood traffic and I just didn’t realize he would have an issue with the move…”
Cops showed up. Told them everything was fine. Told April I can’t handle her husband showing up at my house anymore and she assured me it wouldn’t happen again…
James still likes to visit at night.
Side note: I have a relative with Alzheimer’s and understand how devastating the disease is and this whole situation is so sad. But as a woman living alone majority of the time…. Hell nah.

This game feels like an escape room of sorts. Hints everywhere with only your brain stopping you from the next thing to unlock. All these little pieces hidden in the background the whole time.
I lovedddddd the game, but I’m sad I got to it late. It feels like I missed out on something that was made to be a far bigger more community driven experience. And instead I’m just left here by myself with all my keys on the keychain looking for the next door to unlock while everyone is already 20 rooms ahead.

I've made a few posts, but summary, I'm 34 F have been a binge drinker for the past 15 years. I've always had a problem stopping when I started drinking. But it wasn't an everyday thing so I wasn't really putting my health at risk.
The past few months I've been getting wasted every single night. I keep it private so my spouse and family don't know. I was able to resist a few days ago, but only the one day and went right back. It doesn't help I've had some of my old traumas resurfacing recently that I haven't had pop up in a very long time.
I didn't tell my family the exent, but I did open up quite a bit about my struggles currently. As I said, I've been struggling quite a bit with past traumas. A lot of these traumas are from my late teens/early 20s when I was in a very bad self destructive phase and surrounded myself with dangerous people. I for the first time have been processing these traumas and relationships (these were "friends" I didn't date these guys) as an adult and processing everything that happened from that lens has been pretty difficult. I'm so angry at my past self for how I allowed myself to be abused and allowed myself to be friends with such horrible people. I had one person in particular who was the one who introduced me to alcohol and I always wonder if things would've been different had I been introduced to alcohol under normal circumstances. Not him constantly pushing me to drink to absolute excess. And what's crazy is at the time my boyfriend (who is my now husband and we are very happily married) was a wonderful person. Even though I had a great guy, my relationship overall with men was so messed up I still chose to be friends with awful people. I was just so self destructive.
Well anyways. In recent years I've really learned to let go of a lot of these self destructive patterns. I'm stopped trying to over compensate and be someone I'm not. I've really grown and matured past all that but this ONE thing, the drinking is where I'm still stuck. Last night I had kind of a switch go off in my brain. Like if I can let go of this one last thing I can really separate myself from who I used to be. Well today was the first day I didn't struggle not to drink. I'd say since covid 2020, every day I haven't drank has been a mental struggle to not do it. But I didn't have any temptation or desire today. I felt normal.
I don't know if this will last. I don't want to give myself false hope. But I'm hoping this feeling can last a while. My parents were really supportive and helpful. They suggested I take steps to avoid triggers for a while.

I, (22F), for a year now have lived in a one bedroom apartment alone. I go to my parents every Sunday and i usually come home around the same time at night. In my apartment complex my parking spot faces the units right next to mine. I spilled a bunch of crumbs in the side of my drivers side door and i was outside crouched down trying to clean it up for a solid 5 mins when I looked up and noticed a man was standing staring at me out his window on the second floor.
Keep in mind it was 10 pm, dark and nobody coming or going in the area. He noticed I saw him and immediately looked off like he was prtending to watch something in the distance. I stood there and stared back for a couple of minutes till we caught each others eye contact again and he walked away.
I looked up again a minute later and he was back staring once again, so I waved at him. He waved back and smiled at me like we were some fucking old friends. I have never seen this man before even in passing…Stange. I then threw up my arms as to say what the fuck do you want, motioning to go away.
He walked off and i started to act like i was recording where his window was and I could still see him off to the side looking out. I once again try to just forget ab it, put my phone down and kept unloading my car to bring my stuff inside.
That’s when I looked up… he came back AGAIN and he noticed I was still looking up there. He walked off to the side once again to hide so I screamed at the top of my lungs “stop starting at me you fucking creep go do something else”. Instantly his apartment lights went off. I waited and decided to just walk inside but it freaked me the fuck out. I don’t know if I overreacted or not, but I feel it felt it was borderline predatory the way he was staring at me. Thoughts and opinions please- should i feel nervous?

Hello, Im fairly new to sewing, so idk if there exists a name or pattern for what Im trying to do - Ive made a gathered skirt using tulle, starting with a rectangle and I gathered at the top. Now I have too much length for the skirt and instead of trimming it off I was wanting to make it bunched up to make it look sort of like the foams of the bottom of a waterfall. So if you were to lay down a gathered skirt, and at the bottom you bunch it up about 10cm upwards, thats the look Im trying to achieve. How would I go about doing this? I thought maybe folding the hem like an accordian and sewing it on the outside of the skirt might work, but thats just looks like Ive added layers of tulle at the hem.

I never thought I’d see myself writing on this forum or at least I hope I wouldn’t have to. My name is Miriam Jackson and I’m looking for a friend. Her name is Jocelyn Willard and I haven’t received anything from her for over a month.
Jocelyn went to Jonesborough, Tennessee for an investigative story on Reverend Somber.
I have only 6 files she sent me while on this trip, as I sometimes help her with editing and filing notes. Hopefully, they can help give the person who’s reading this the information necessary to help find her.
Jocelyn is a freelance journalist, who delved into journalism as she sees it as “the beacon of truth” Her newest fixation was televangelism. I know… I know in this day and age who's watching cable but that to Jocelyn is what made it more interesting.
Especially when she stumbled across Reverend Somber, unlike his name Reverend Sombers is charismatic ( as most in televangelism are) and speaks with such a feverish devotion you’d think you’re hearing the voice of God speak through him. He can often be found preaching on CTN at around 2 A.M. In his words `` Jesus had not come to talk to the righteous but to those who know they are sinners, and at this time sweetheart only sinners are watching.”
What caused Jocylen to want to investigate Somber’s I don’t know.

File#1: Gas Station _Towns People_Sombers Letter.Doc

I’m about a little less than a mile out on the outskirts of Jonesborough. I make a stop at the only gas station I’ve seen since leaving Route 321 about 30 minutes ago.
As I get out of my car I take in the sun something I don’t get enough of in Seattle. The gas station still has the reminiscence of different decades passed; with its paint chipped around the brick exposing its rustic hues and the sign tilted “Whitmens Gas Station Est.1910”.
I open the door causing a bell to ring,
“Hello, what can I help you with today darlin’,” said the lady behind the counter. She seemed about 60 years old her hair not yet fully gray and her face showing the emotions she’s worn over the years.
“ Hi, I just want to fill up my tank, I’m parked at pump 1,” I said.
“Well alright, what got you coming to these parts?”
“Oh, I’m writing on Reverend Sombers I’m supposed to go follow him as he goes live tonight for CTN”
“Ain’t that a treat, I swear when I hear him preach on Sundays it’s like the Lord is speaking through him,” she said in such a way you’d think she’d seen Heaven in that man's eyes.
“Well isn’t that something…How long has he been preaching for?” I ask as I pick at the hangnail on my finger. The admiration she had for the Reverend made me uneasy but I’d figured she’d know some background on him. Oddly she didn’t.
“Oh, He came around 3 years ago, it seemed like he just popped up at the church now that I think about it, The town was nothing like the peace it is now, Sombers brought this town into prosperity I tell ya.”Her brows furrowed as though she just realized something.
“I almost forgot to tell Earl to put the gas in ya car, go wait out there I’ll go tell him.”
Taking this as my queue that the interview is over I walk over to my car and wait inside for the man to arrive. A tap on my passenger-side window snaps me out of my daydreaming.
“I filled your gas up, Ruth told me you’ve been askin bout Reverend Sombers said you’d be writin on him.” Earl said.
“Yeah, do you have anything you’d like to share?” I shift in my seat as I take in Earl. He seems a bit younger than Ruth, his hands caked with oil stains and his shirt spotting the same look. A small towel lays on his shoulder. He leans into my passenger-side window before he answers
“I ain’t too fond of him don’t tell Ruth now she’d be madder than a wet hen I tell ya.” he coughs and laughs
“What are you not fond of?” Interested in figuring out what Earl knows that Ruth doesn’t
“I don’t speak too much on him don’t want him comin round here, you best be goin now ya tank is full. Have a good stay now ma’am” He smiled his teeth showing a testament to years of tobacco use.
I smile meekly back and wave bye as I head into town. Left with more questions I know I’ve not made a dumb decision by investigating Somber.
The town is picturesque many of it still having the structures from the 1800s it’s the oldest town in Tennessee after all. As I drive through town I take in the families walking and neighbors saying hi to each other. Almost too cookie-cutter.
I parked my car in front of Jonesborough Bed and Breakfast a quaint Victorian-era cottage. The overgrown bushes cover the majority of the white picket fence. A homey cottage and a hot meal sounds great right about now. I enter and am warmly greeted by the B&B owner.
“Hi, I’m Mary-Ann you must be Jocylen only person we have booked to stay for so long.”
“Yes, that would be me. I’m wondering if you could recommend a place for lunch. I'm quite hungry.” I put a hand to my stomach. I should've grabbed a snack at the gas station I thought.
“There’s the local diner just up the street, Your room is the first door on the right upstairs. It’s the Reverend's favorite. He thought you’d like it… that reminds me Reverend Somber will be having dinner with you today and said he’d want to speak with ya before you go follow him around. He left a lil welcome basket for ya upstairs,” she said
I thanked her then made my way to my room wondering what he’d left for me.
The room has a king-sized canopy bed in the middle with a white- Linen curtain draped on top. Stands out from the rest of the room, The canopy is supported by twisted columns and the back wall of the bed is structured architecturally containing a niche with a shell decoration and four more smaller twisted columns surrounded by leaf decorations. The deep walnut wood of the bed is a contrast to the faded yellow stained floral wallpaper and average closet in the corner of the room. The bed was foreign to this room, I just knew it.
I look at the welcome basket on the bed filled with fruit, wine, a letter, and oddly finger cots. The letter stated the following
Dear, Miss Willard
Thank you for your interest in my humble serving of the lord. I’d like to take ya to dinner at The Black Olive to better acquaint ourselves before you shadow me today. I hope the finger cots give you rest from your constant finger picking what a painful nervous tick to have for the past 20 years. Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus Christ.
Sincerely,
Reverend Somber
I felt the sweat dripping from the back of my neck and my hands shaking as I folded the letter back up. All I can think is
who the fuck is Reverand Sombers.