I'm talking about parents that work regular full day, full time jobs and still make it to all of their kids' after-school activities, go on constant trips, vacations, etc? I too work full time (weekdays 9-6) and everything my kids want to do are held on weekdays during my work hours and by the time I get home, I'm exhausted and everything is closed. I know a mom that went on a 3 day field trip with her son just two weeks after giving birth and going back to work and she doesn't look exhausted or stressed. How do they DO IT?
I don't have family or a "village", or friends that are just...there. My husband works 3rd shift so he tries his best to make it to as many school things my kids are involved in during the day but I have to admit we're thrilled school is out and that stress is gone for awhile. I actually faked sick at work just so I could go to my son's graduation, it's rough out here. Am I just really bad at time management or am I screwed and unintentionally being a horrible parent because I can't just do whatever I want, whenever I want with my kids. I can't just quit my job lol.

This has happened twice so far: During Boetha's Proving, I can't damage/kill the follower stuck to the Pillar of Sacrifice, and I can't damage Vilkas when sparring at the beginning of the Companions quest line.
I'm assuming some mod is to blame, but I can't find anything similar that anyone has asked about before. Any time I look it up, people are saying that the fight went wrong, or killing the follower does nothing, etc. but nothing about not being able to do any damage to them.
I would appreciate if someone could see whether my load order has problems? It's being managed by Vortex, so I doubt it's the \*order\* itself, but maybe some incompatibilities:

Automatically generated by Vortex

*Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch.esp
*HeimskrOnlyPreachesWeekends.esl
*Expressive Facegen Morphs.esl
*HSResources.esl
*High Poly Head.esm
*Landscape and Water Fixes.esp
*LegacyoftheDragonborn.esm
*Water for ENB.esm
*Lux - Master plugin.esm
*Natural Waterfalls.esp
*Obsidian Mountain Fogs.esm
*Lux - Resources.esp
*Lux Via.esp
*Natural Waterfalls - Dawnguard.esp
*Natural Waterfalls - Dragonborn.esp
*Praedys_Soulcairn.esm
*PraedysSkeletons.esl
*SmoothCam.esl
*UnreadBooksGlow.esl
*AHZmoreHUDInventory.esl
*Particle Patch for ENB.esp
*SkyUI_SE.esp
*Immersive Sounds - Compendium.esp
*SMIM-SE-Merged-All.esp
*EnhancedLightsandFX.esp
*Fabled Forests.esp
*Relationship Dialogue Overhaul.esp
*RDO Updated.esp
*ELFX Fixes.esp
*JKs Skyrim.esp
*Landscape Fixes For Grass Mods.esp
*Lux Via - Brighter lighting patch.esp
*AI Overhaul.esp
*SoundsofSkyrimComplete.esp
*Cathedral Weathers.esp
*Cathedral Weathers - Patch - Rudy ENB.esp
*Store Quest Items.esp
HPP - Vaermina's Torpor.esp
*FNIS.esp
*PAN_Initiates.esp
*JK's Understone Keep.esp
*Lux Via - plugin.esp
*JK's The Bards College.esp
*JK's Markarth Outskirts.esp
*TCBM.esp
*Embers XD.esp
*JK's Whiterun's Outskirts.esp
*JK's Castle Dour.esp
*JK's Blue Palace.esp
*JK's High Hrothgar.esp
*JK's Solitude Outskirts.esp
*JK's Temple of the Divines.esp
*JK's Sky Haven Temple.esp
*JK's Windhelm's Outskirts.esp
*JK's Riften Outskirts.esp
*JK's Arnleif and Sons Trading Company.esp
*JK's Jorrvaskr.esp
*JK's Mistveil Keep.esp
*JK's Temple of Mara.esp
*JK's Palace of the Kings.esp
*SoS_ELFX_Patch.esp
*TrainAndStudy.esp
*Hothtrooper44_ArmorCompilation.esp
*Guard Dialogue Overhaul.esp
*Weapons Armor Clothing & Clutter Fixes.esp
*JK's Temple of Dibella.esp
*JK's The Hag's Cure.esp
*JK's Sinderion's Field Laboratory.esp
*JK's Dragonsreach.esp
*Remodeled Armor - Vanilla Replacer.esp
*Guards_Armor_Replacer.esp
*HearthfireMultiKid.esp
*JK's Silver-Blood Inn.esp
*JK's Elgrims Elixirs.esp
*ImprovedCompanionsBoogaloo.esp
*ElderOutfit.esp
*ElderOutfit - AI Overhaul.esp
*Bijin AIO.esp
*Bijin AIO - YBMT.esp
*100pMaxPickpocketChance.esp
*dkad_AdoptionWithoutMurder.esp
*AcquisitiveSoulGemMultithreaded.esp
*Bears of the North.esp
*JK's New Gnisis Cornerclub.esp
*zMirai.esp
*JK's Riverwood Trader.esp
*JK's Riverwood.esp
*JK's Radiant Raiment.esp
*JK's The Bannered Mare.esp
*JK's White Phial.esp
*Run For Your Lives.esp
*SaveTheIcerunner.esp
*Fabled Forests - No Aspens Outside the Rift.esp
*JK's Angelines Aromatics.esp
*JK's Temple of Talos.esp
*JK's The Ragged Flagon.esp
*JK's Septimus Signus's Outpost.esp
*JK's Bits and Pieces.esp
*JK's Arcadia's Cauldron.esp
*JK's Temple of Kynareth.esp
*Recorder Follower Base.esp
*Recorder Follower Patch.esp
*DBM_JKSkyrim_Patch.esp
*PROTEUS.esp
*Better Courier.esp
*Bijin Warmaidens.esp
*Bijin Wives.esp
*Bijin NPCs.esp
*cs_soulfragmentstosoulgems.esp
*3BBB.esp
*CBBE.esp
*RaceMenu.esp
*RaceMenuPlugin.esp
*RaceMenuMorphsCBBE.esp
*SOSPhysicsManager.esp
*AutoConsumePotions.esp
*ThievesGuildShortcut.esp
*College Of Winterhold - Quest Expansion.esp
*CathedralWeatherMCM.esp
*PrinceandPauper.esp
*ColovianNobleClothes.esp
*DBM_ELFX_Patch.esp
*crimson nirnroot cheat.esp
*Carry Weight x100.esp
*Bad Slaughterfish.esp
*BetterThirdPersonSelection.esp
*DaedricPunishmentForSweetrolls.esp
*DragonPunishmentForCloudDistrict.esp
*Lux Via - He-Man patch.esp
*Katana.esp
*The Paarthurnax Dilemma.esp
*Embers XD - Patch - Lux Via.esp
*JK's SkyHaven Forge.esp
*JKs The Drunken Huntsman.esp
*Recorder - JKs Skyrim Patch.esp
*My Home Is Your Home.esp
*MBW Dragon Souls to Perk Points - v3.esp
*ColovianLeatherArmor.esp
*Ars Metallica.esp
*DwemerCrapTweaks.esp
*ENB Light.esp
*ELFX Fixes Ragged Flagon Fix.esp
*Embers XD - Patch - ELFX.esp
*Embers XD - Patch - JKs Dragonsreach.esp
*Embers XD - Patch - JKs Skyrim.esp
*ELFX - NoBreezehome.esp
*Extra Effect x3.esp
*IcePenguinWorldMap.esp
*FNIS_PCEA2.esp
*FNISSexyMove.esp
*FemaleOutfitReplacer.esp
*Fletching - Craft Arrows Anywhere.esp
*DBM_JKDragonsreach_Patch.esp
*Golden Rings Of Craft.esp
*ImGladYoureHere.esp
*DBM_ISC_Patch.esp
*VisualAnimatedEnchants2023.esp
*DBM_WACCF_Patch.esp
*imp_helm_legend.esp
*GuardsArmor - ImprovedClosefacedHelmets Patch.esp
*DBM_JKBluePalace_Patch.esp
*GDOS - Glorious Solitude Door - Rotation Fix.esp
*GDOS - Splendid Mechanized Dwemer Door.esp
*HearthfireMultiKid_LastName.esp
*HeimskrOnlyPreachesWeekends.esp
*Hun Lovaas.esp
*High Poly Head Vampire Fix.esp
*Hothtrooper44_Armor_Ecksstra.esp
*ISC WACCF Patch.esp
*IA CBBE Patch.esp
*HelpfulLoadTips.esp
*JK's Belethor's General Goods.esp
*IFDL_BijinWarmaidensAIO_Patch.esp
*LydiaPatchForLOTD.esp
*JS Armored Circlets SE.esp
*Jewelry limiter.esp
*JS Barenziah SE - Johnskyrim.esp
*KatanaCrafting.esp
*KS Hairdo's.esp
*KSHairdosSMP.esp
*JK's Bee and Barb - Katana.esp
*JK's Drunken Huntsman - Katana.esp
*DBM_RelicNotifications.esp
*DBM_GuardsArmorReplacer_Patch.esp
*LOTD_TCC_GuardArm.esp
*DBM_IA_Patch.esp
*LOTD_TCC_ImmArm.esp
*DBM_JKArcadia_Patch.esp
*DBM_JKBannered_Patch.esp
*DBM_JKBelethor_Patch.esp
*DBM_JKDrunken_Patch.esp
*DBM_SMIM_Patch.esp
*DBM_VAE2_Patch.esp
*LustmordVampireArmor.esp
*[Imp] Modular Mage.esp
*Leveling Freedom.esp
*Muiri.esp
*HT More NPC Pocket Money.esp
*NoBSAIProjectileDodge.esp
*Praedy's ShrineOfAzuraSizeX3.esp
*Praedy's SoulEssenceGem.esp
*Praedy's SoulGems.esp
*Noct_Adze.esp
*PAN_Frea.esp
*PAN_Frida.esp
*PAN_Sovngarde.esp
*PositiveUndressedReactions.esp
*PraedysElderScrollSoulCairnFix.esp
*MoonGlowSize.esp
*PlantableNirnrootv03.esp
*DawnGuardDoors.esp
*DawnguardBanner.esp
*PnP - HFMultiKid Patch.esp
*Project ja-Kha'jay- Khajiit Diversity.esp
*JKJ - AI Overhaul Patch.esp
*RaceMenuHH.esp
*Remodeled Armor - Elder-Bijin.esp
*Remodeled Armor - ISC.esp
*RichMerchantsSkyrim_x5.esp
*RiftenRumbleFix.esp
*Rumble - Beasts.esp
*Rumble - Crafting.esp
*Rumble - Crafting - ISC Patch.esp
*Rumble - Items.esp
*Rumble - Items - ISC Patch.esp
*Rumble - Jumping.esp
*Rumble - Jumping - ISC Patch.esp
*Rumble - Swimming.esp
*Rumble - UI.esp
*Rumble - UI - ISC Patch.esp
*Rumble - Weapons.esp
*Rumble - Weapons - ISC.esp
*Skoglendi - A Grass Mod.esp
*SimplyKnock.esp
*Shiva's Vanilla Hair Replacer.esp
*Landscape and Water Fixes - Patch - ELFX.esp
*SmartHarvestSE.esp
*SSoB.esp
*SoS_Cathedral_Patch.esp
*Praedy's StavesAIOLotd.esp
*RiverStaff.esp
*TGGiveGoldToBeggarsPatch.esp
*True Scholar.esp
*UIExtensions.esp
*UnequipQuiverSE.esp
*Vampire Clothing Expansion.esp
*Water for ENB - Patch - JKs Bannered Mare.esp
*AHZmoreHUD.esp
*XPMSE.esp
*cathedralbrighter100.esp
*Alternate Start - Live Another Life.esp
*nwsFollowerFramework.esp
*Water for ENB (Shades of Skyrim).esp
*Water for ENB - Patch - Rudy ENB.esp
*Water for ENB - Patch - JKs Ragged Flagon.esp
*Water for ENB - Patch - Landscape Fixes for Grass Mods.esp
*Lux.esp
*HSPlayerHomes - Breezehome.esp
*Lux - Katana Follower.esp
*Lux - Brighter interior nights.esp
*Lux - No grass in caves patch.esp
*Lux - USSEP patch.esp
*Lux - CC Fish patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Angelines Aromatics patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Arcadia's Cauldron patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Arnleif and Sons Trading Company patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Bannered Mare patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Bards College patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Belethor's General Goods patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Bits and Pieces patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Blood Inn patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Blue Palace patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Castle Dour patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Dragonsreach patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Drunken Huntsman patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Elgrims Elixirs patch.esp
*Lux - JK's High Hrothgar patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Jorrvaskr patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Mistveil Keep patch.esp
*Lux - JK's New Gnisis Cornerclub patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Palace of Kings patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Radiant Raiment patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Ragged Flagon patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Riverwood Trader patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Septimus Signus Outpost patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Sinderion's Lab patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Sky Haven patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Skyrim.esp
*Lux - JK's Temple of Dibella patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Temple of Divines patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Temple of Kynareth patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Temple of Mara patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Temple of Talos patch.esp
*Lux - JK's The Hag's Cure patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Understone Keep patch.esp
*Lux - JK's White Phial patch.esp
*Lux - JK's Whiterun Outskirts patch.esp
*Lux - Live Another Life patch.esp
*Lux - Saints and Seducers patch.esp
*Water for ENB - Patch - Lux - JKs Ragged Flagon.esp

how would u feel if some punk and his daddy came into your community and your community just go’s down hill from the moment he stepped through.
THEN ON TOP OF THAT his dad is trying to fuck on your mom while his son is trying to fuck on your girl
then his dad proceeds to kill yours (ik he was abusive to jessie but it’s still his dad so he had the right to be upset and feel some type of way when rick killed him.)
THEN after that his son is trying to be all buddy buddy with you after he was fw YOUR GIRL IN YOUR FACE, then hes mad that your mad and you don’t wanna befriend him after we was messing with your gf.
you wouldn’t like them either would you?
the only reason you don’t like him is cause he doesn’t like carl and carls a fan favorite.
ron’s feelings were valid, no one can tell me otherwise. ron defender 4L.

Context:
I’m rewriting my WIP for the fifth (and hopefully last) time to make the story more character driven and make my characters motivations stronger. I’ve changed the first three chapters so many times I have no idea what’s good anymore. It’s a portal fantasy Reverse Harem with fated mates. You only meet two love interests in the intro (and one of them only shows up towards the very end of the set up), but I am just looking to see if my FMC's motivations make sense, or if I have made the Set Up too convoluted and given her too many goals.
**Please note the scenes I am posting have been written as an outline, and is not intended to read line by line like a finished manuscript. I will be writing it in First person POV when I finish plotting.**
Backstory (TLDR; Character A needs to gain access to the Other World so she can make a bargain to trade her Father's life for hers, we open on the 6th anniversary of him being taken, her 24th birthday. I ramble on for quite a bit so if you would like to get right into it please skip to Intro/Set Up)
Motivation:
Character A’s Father was stolen by otherworldly creatures 6 years ago and taken to their lands. Character A harbours guilt and blames herself because she disobeyed her Fathers rules and snuck into the woods with her friends on her 18th birthday to go swimming. Her Father came looking for her and that is when she witnessed him being taken.
In the area they live in, disappearances around the full moon were common, with many losing their loved ones over the last 50 years with no explanation. There were a lot of theories of aliens, bigfoot, cougars, werewolves, and only her Father claimed that magic wielding creatures were responsible.
Character A grew up being told stories about these lands, how the creatures enslaved humans to play in their games until they died for entertainment. Her Father told her magic was real but it was to be feared and to run from any sign of the unusual, forbade her from leaving her house after sunset or from ever going into the woods, and he always tried to keep her close to him.
He had a hard time holding down a job due to the grief he felt from losing Character A’s mother during childbirth and when he would drink he would make it known that he resented Character A for derailing his life, because now he was burdened with protecting her instead of living as a family. Her mother was buried there and her father refused to move away from her body. Character A internalized this, feeling guilty for being the reason he struggled so much, and spent her life caring for her father the way she would a child. Cooking, cleaning, paying bills, etc. She would even get revenge on his bosses for firing him. Her Father always claimed it was never his fault, that they were abusing their power and couldn’t handle somebody smarter than them, and losing his job would send him into an alcoholic depression.
Character A heard her Fathers words, and combined with the way out-of town business men had turned her small mountain town into their own personal resort, developed a deep hatred for anyone that held power. She would find little ways to get revenge on her Fathers bosses, and when she was older, spent her spare time getting revenge on the trust fund kids who didn’t care if their actions had consequences for the people living there.
She had a big dream of leaving her small town and exploring the world, but she felt responsible for her Father. She took care of him, and she was afraid of what would happen to him if she left, but she knew she was suffocating under him. Although her guilt and love for her father prevented her from seeing the full truth of what he was, narcissistic and abusive, deep down she knew and she became restless under his restriction.
When she was young she believed his stories but as she got older and never saw any evidence to back up his claims, the more she chaffed against his rules and started sneaking out. She wasn’t dumb, she always carried a knife and bear spray. She read up on what to do if you encountered a predator in the forest, and she begun stealing what little freedom she could for herself. She didn’t believe in magic, wolves and mountain lions were the only things that made sense to her.
Wound:
After her Father is taken Character A is broken. Everything her Father said was true, all he was trying to do was keep her safe, but she disobeyed him and now he was taken to a magical land to be tortured by never ending games. She is distraught and depressed. She begins sleeping in the woods, hoping to be taken too so her pain can end.
A few months later, at the end of summer, her best friend and boyfriend, the only people her father approved of her spending time with, tell her that they still plan to leave for the year long trip they were all going on. They want to start their lives, they think Character A has become delusional in the wake of her Fathers disappearance, they can’t be stuck there taking care of her, they can’t handle her emotions, they need a fresh start. She realizes they have been having an affair, she internalizes them telling her she is too much to handle and that she is unlovable. She was a burden on her father and then a burden on them. She doesn’t see them again for six years.
Present Day:
Character A has spent the last six years trying to get to the other world during the full moon. The weeks in between she spends physically training, researching anything she can, working just enough to cover her bills for the month, and distracting herself with casual flings or sleeping with the trust fund kids in order to gain access to something she wants to steal from them as payback for something they have done. She never lets herself get too close to anyone, knowing that she plans to disappear, but she partied with whoever is willing to distract herself until the next full moon.
Every passing year on her birthday she grows more and more desperate. She begins researching magic spells and rituals that might show her the entrance to the otherworld. She finds a newly discovered mushroom being sold that claims to help you see what is hidden from human eyes.
Character B:
A month ago Character B was sent from the other wolrld to retrieve Character A. She is the descendant of a lost royal line and they have received a vision from the goddess that she is her Heir, the key to defeating the darkness and restoring balance to the land. Character B does not live a good life in the other world, he is nothing but a glorified prisoner in his own life, and all he’s ever wanted was a family of his own, but because of the queen and his father, he cannot have that. He avoids confrontation, always choosing to run from his problems instead of fight. He first lays eyes on Character A as she is driving a motorcycle into a lake.
He is unsure if the vehicle is supposed to drive under water, so he waits a moment before trying to do a rescue. He doesn’t know it’s her until she swims up into the shore, and begins gathering weeds from the lakebed. he thinks she’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen and can’t imagine dragging her back to his world where she could be in danger. He wants to watch the curious human for a bit longer to see what she does
He silently follows her and watches her climb into a window and place the weeds around a man sleeping in a bed, then creep down the hallway to an office where she unlocks a safe and pulls out a stack of papers. She then meets up with somebody, hands over the papers with a hug, then walks into the forest.
She walks and walks and he realizes she heading towards the portal and gets nervous, until she reaches a tree with five different coloured ribbons tied around one branch. She takes a new yellow ribbon , adds it to the branch and continues walking until she reaches another tree with ribbons where she adds another ribbon, then walks to the very centre of both trees and sits down. She softly hums a tune to herself.
She seems relaxed, strong and confident, he thinks this must be some new human ritual he hadn’t heard of yet and her humming is soothing to him, but he notices a shiver. He feels a strong need. To wrap her up in a blanket and make her warm. He decides right then that he cannot take her back and ruin her peace, that he himself would not go back, that he would befriend her and they would hide together her in her world and they would be safe and happy. It was pointless trying to fight anyway, they were never going to win and it would be better for them both to be safe and far away from the evil queen.
The next morning he follows her to her favourite coffee shop, glamoured to look more human and remove his pointy ears, and introduces himself as a man trying to get away from his overbearing parents and family he doesn’t get along with.
Intro/Set Up
Chapter 1
-Character A is thinking about how she has to get laid tonight, because it will be her last chance before she disappears and probably dies. Character A is stealing some documents and a bunch of cash from a safe in The Guys home office, she pulls a bag out of her pocket and with it, a card for the bookstore she works at flutters under his desk. She puts the documents and money in the bag and bends down to pick it up when she notices the family photo on the desk and she stops.
It is a picture of The Guy, His Son that she stole and crashed his bike into a lake last month, and The Other Son that she may have killed nine months ago when she burned his cabin down. She is filled with rage when she looks at the photo and thinks she doesn’t regret what she’s done. Character B calling her phone snaps her out of it and when she hears someone come home, she leaves, but she forgets the card.
-She stops at the bookstore to give Coworker 1 the documents and money. Coworker 1 says she will never be able to thank her, that this was the last thing she needed she could get out of town. Character A tells her good luck and to give them hell. Coworker 1 is leaving town tomorrow, she connected with a journalist who can help her expose The Guy and once she does she won’t be able to come back. Coworker 1 is very grateful to her, and Character A makes sure to tell herself that they aren't friends, because friendship requires a level of vulnerability that Olivia could not give her, but she knew Coworker 1 was a good person and deserved so much more than what she got when The Other Son sexually assaulted her at work while His Son filmed it. How when she received a payout in exchange for her silence they knew it wasn’t the first time. They were determined to find further evidence, and they did. Signed NDA’s from all of the employees they had paid off in the past.
Character B joins them at the store. Character A is petting her beloved bookstore cat and goes to pull some treats out of her bag. Her hand brushes against a vial of red and white mushrooms and Character A hopes that they are the key she has been searching for. For six years she has felt like she has been brushing up against the edge of something, but has never been able to get herself to the other side. She was deep in a witchcraft discussion forum when somebody posted about a new discovery of mushrooms, one that allowed the ingestor to see through the Veil, to show them all the magic they cannot see. The poster was pretty insistent that it wasn’t just a trip, that they were able to see threads of magic. After years of failed meditating, drinking teas, burning herbs,and chanting spells around the ley line conversion and not finding anything, what did she have to lose with some magic mushrooms?
Character B calls her name, startling her from her thoughts and she knocks over a box of alien and bigfoot merch. Coworker 1 cracks a joke about being careful with the product or else the alien truthers will riot, Character A rolls her eyes at the people who flocked there in search of the wrong thing. Character B apologizes for startling her and says he was just admiring one of her new Boxwood Topiaries, three trees of varying height that ended with hearts on top, and she says she finished it yesterday.
She loves plants but, like a cat, she can’t commit to having them because she doesn’t plan to be around long, so she does topiary art as a compromise, and the extra money she earns goes towards buying her herbs and mushrooms. Her Father never managed to save much money and she wasn’t left with much after he was taken. She had to use her savings replacing the furnace in her home shortly after her Father was taken, and now she only worked enough to keep her living until the next paycheck. She spent the rest of her time training and researching. Preparing to go to Wonderland in search of her Father.
Character B is making friends with the cat, having charmed it onto its belly, and Coworker 1 gives Character A a knowing look. Character A shakes her head, says they are just hanging out, nothing serious. Coworker 1 says he could be good for her. She knew they had been hanging out, that Character A had let him stay at her house for the last two weeks. She wasn’t judging though, Character A seemed lighter around him, and he was so nice. She had seen him helping Mrs. Smith with her groceries the other day.
Character A thinks that was what initially warmed her up to him. Coworker 1 was right, she never brought guys home, but the first week that he was here he had never failed to notice when people needed help and always offered to lend a hand. Plus he was fun, and fun to look at, and he was always looking for a new adventure. He took her mind off of what a failure she was for not saving her Father yet, and he seemed relatively harmless. So when he said he had never seen her favorite comedy movie she just HAD to take him home to watch it. And he hadn’t left, she hadn’t asked him to. It was becoming a problem. Because she was going to disappear tonight, and a small part of her was beginning to feel sad she would never see him again. It was why she hadn’t slept with him yet, she knew she enjoyed his company just a little too much and wouldn’t risk any further attachment. Character A agreed that he was a good person but emphasized that it was just casual. Coworker 1 says alright, she will back off, and she will let them get to the party. She needs to finish packing and wants to leave as soon as possible. Character A says she understand, they hug and say goodbye.
Chapter 2
-Character A and Character B are walking to the Board Game party. They are dressed as Clue characters, she is Miss. Scarlet and Character B is Mr. Green. They had played every board game she owned, which was a lot of them, in order to decide what to dress up as for the Your Favorite Board Game Party. He turned out to be a good competitor and got way more into the games than she expected him to.
He hands her a cinnamon bun, her favorite, and tells her he had made a whole batch for her, claiming that he knew she hadn’t gotten one since they were hiking that morning, and all she had eaten that day was trail mix and beef jerky and he refuses to let her party on an empty stomach. She happily takes a huge bite, grateful for this one thing she loved before she left this world forever.
He says he’s been thinking and asks her to go traveling with him. She almost chokes on her food. His words rush out and he assures her he has money and can pay for everything and they can go anywhere she wants. Her heart sinks into her stomach. Before her Father went missing, an offer like that from a hot guy would have been her dream, but she couldn’t now, or ever. She looks at the half eaten cinnamon bun, thinks how he had made them because he had gotten coffee with her every morning for the last three weeks, and he saw how every Saturday and Sunday morning she would get a cinnamon bun the size of her face and eat it. She looks at the Green jacket he wore and remembers laughing in the thrift shop as he tried on a full leather catsuit while they searched for the perfect outfit for the party. He was too good. She begins to think that in another life, they could go. They could adopt an adventure cat and take it with them on their world travels, but that wasn’t possible for her. She wasn’t staying in this world, and even if she was, she was too messed up. Too broken. Too much of a burden. And she could never give all of herself to one person ever again, she did it twice, and was broken by both of them because she was too much.
She decides he’s gotten too close and she needs to push him away, so in the hopes that it will scare him, she explains that she can’t leave because her Father was stolen by a magical creature and taken to the Other World. She tells him the entire story her father told her, of creatures luring people to the Other World and keeping them for the Queen's entertainment, forced to be pawns in her games. They are ruthless and obsessed with games and everything reeks of roses. She tells him its her fault that he got taken and she can’t live with herself until she either gets him back or gets revenge for his death.
Character B begins pleading with her, telling her she shouldn't go. She is surprised he doesn’t balk or think she is crazy. He isn’t looking at her the way Ex-Bestfriend and Ex-Boyfriend did, like they feared she would infect them with her crazy, no, he looks at her with genuine terror in his eyes. She stops walking, they are just outside the party house. What do you know? She says. He inhales and steps forward, desperation etched into hs features, and says that he knows that everything she said was true, and that it is much worse than she even thinks. That if she goes, she will not make it back here. It’s too dangerous, and he just wants to keep her safe. She is flabbergasted, and checks over his features for signs. No pointed ears, no animalistic features such as scales or a tail, no strange eyes. How do you know all this? He doesn’t answer, his mouth works like he’s trying to come up with something and betrayal starts to roil in her gut.
Before he has the chance to lie, two men throw their arms around their shoulders. It is the couple that Character A hooks up with on occasion. They start walking them into the house and the one with Character A asks if she wants to come over later for a joint and to hook up. She tries to muster up a yes, it is what she wanted after all, but she can’t think straight after her conversation with Character B. She turns back to see he’s been steered into a conversation with a few other people and thinks she needs a drink to calm herself and give her some courage.
-She walks into the kitchen for a glass and bumps into her Ex-Boyfriend. She is thrown for a loop again. He says Happy Birthday and remarks that he didn’t think he would find her at a party today, since he knows how much she hates her birthday. Character A is surprised to see him and momentarily forgets about Character B, and asks what they’re doing back in town. He says its because Ex-Bestfriends mom is still missing. Character A says, oh, right. And feels stupid for thinking she wouldn’t run into them. She was devastated to hear Ex-BFFs Mom had been taken, she was like a second mother to her, but after Ex-BFF left she couldn’t stand to look at her Mom anymore and remember what she had lost.
He mentions something about the baby coming soon and Ex-BFF wanting to be as close to her mom as she can. Character A questions the baby and he tells her they are pregnant. Character A flashes back to both of them telling her they were leaving and couldn’t stay in contact with her anymore, that she had become too much for them to handle on the horizon of their new lives. She noted the way they looked at each other and how their knees pressed together, and that was when she knew they had been having an affair. She comes back to the present when he leans in close and says he actually wants to ask her some questions about her dad. She sees a familiar head with a mop of blonde hair moving through the crowd towards them. Seeing Ex-Boyfriend was bad enough, she cannot see Ex-Bestfriend. See her pregnant. And now he wants to hear what she has to say about the disappearances? You can go fuck yourself, she spits and walks away before he can say anything else, and thankfully, before Ex-Bestfriend reaches her. She thinks his betrayal hurt her, but her betrayal broke her.
-She is fleeing the kitchen, heading for the back door, desperate to get away from them, when she bumps into an attractive man in a red velvet sport coat with a red velvet top hat. They are both imprinted with roses. He apologizes for bumping into her and her heart skips a beat, thinking of the Queen's obsession with roses. She asks him who he's supposed to be and he smiles but pauses before saying his name is Character C, he’s friends with Character B, and her heart stops all together. A chill runs through her and Character B interrupts and asks him what he’s doing here. Character C hugs him and says its good to see him and says he thought he was dead. Character C turns to Character A and says that he took off for a month without saying anything, could she even believe it? And they had an important event that the three of them needed to attend tonight. Character B starts to argue with Character C when Character A hears her name called. The Guy she stole from is there, he holds up the card to the bookstore that fell under his desk and said he wants the contents of his safe back, and maybe the sheriff will go easy on her if she returns it, or maybe he won't since he will also be investigating his cabin burning down and one of his sons going missing. Character A plays dumb but he grabs her around the neck and says he knows it was her, she’s a pathetic bum just like her father. Character B punches him, forcing him to release her and they begin fighting. The other partygoers jump to Character A’s defense and start fighting the other guys that came with him. Character C picks up Character A after she was knocked over to keep her from being trampled, and Character B breaks away when The Guy starts fighting with someone else. So they turn and head for the door, but The Guy's Son, the same one from last month who she stole the bike from, blocked the back door.
-Character A turns and together they run into the basement, locking the door behind them. They run down the stairs and into a bedroom where she locks the door again. She whips out her knives and points one at Character C. “Why do you want me to go to the Other World?” He holds up his hands and smiles, “I need your help finding a weapon that will help me defeat the Queen .” “Why me?” “The Goddess showed me in a dream that it is you. I will pay you in gold and return you back here, unharmed, once you find it.” Character A hears them break through the basement door and descend the stairs. “Fine, I’ll help you do it.” Character B protests and steps forward but she gestures the knife at him and he stops. “But first, you will help me find my Father and send him back here. Alive. And healthy.” All she knows about the Other World is what she could glean from her Fathers stories and what she was able to research about lore, but she had no idea what was accurate and what was not. She would be a fool to think she should turn away help if she could bargain for it. “I will help you find you Father, but it won’t be until after tonight, we must attend the Queens party so you can search for the weapon, this is the best opportunity we will have for another year.” The Guy begins banging on the door. She took it back, she was being a fool, she had very little hope that she would be able to fulfill her end of the bargain, but she was out of time, and she may never have a chance to get to the Other World again. “Deal.” She says as she steps forward to shake his hand. Character C grasps it and an electrical charge runs up her arm. He pulls a small vial out of his pocket. He dumps some black sparkly powder on his tongue and a hole appears in the floor. Grabbing Character B’s hand as well they jump through it just as the door breaks open.
If you have read this far, seriously thank you so much and I love you and if you want feedback on anything please direct me to where I can provide it!
I wanted to note that the mention about her potentially killing The Other Son is relevant to the plot because he did not die in the fire, he was lured to the Other World and will be there as an antagonist when Character A shows up. Also, the mushrooms become relevant to her finding the weapon in book 2. She gets sidetracked this book by finding her father and bargaining to take his place in the game (the party they are attending is to watch this game take place) and having to fight her way out of them. The entire first book takes place over the course of one single night.

OOC: Co-Written with u/VictoriousBaffon :)
When Maxwell took the job to refuel the car, he figured he would be the one doing the oil change. Quick business, 20 minutes in and out. Wrenches, rags, the whole shabang. Easy job, easy brownie points for the empty Techne cabin. Let’s clear the three elephants in the room, though.
Firstly. Why is the job labeled as refueling the car when it actually needs an oil change? That’s not a refueling! That’s an oil change!
Secondly! Why did he need to find a mechanic? Maxwell could do it! It’s easy! You just put the car on a jack, crawl under it, remove the oil pan screw, wait for it to drain, screw it back in, remove the filter, replace it with the new one, and then add oil at the top! Whatever. One day, he might just do something like that here.
Thirdly…
“Theo, why did you sign up for this?” Maxwell questioned his girlfriend as she approached, a grin plastered on her face.
“Oh, come on, Max. It says it right there! One of you probably needs to know how to drive! I can drive, and, besides, if you went alone, someone might try to steal you from me, and I can’t have that.” She said simply, patting Maxwell’s cheek affectionately.
“Theo, nobody would try to steal me from you. Besides, it’s not like the mechanic is far. Maybe… 12 miles? That’s, what…” He scratched his head, his fingers moving in a way as if they were typing on an invisible keyboard, “20 minutes? Half an hour? If that.” He said simply before something clicked in his brain. “Hey! I can drive too!”
“Mario Kart doesn’t count. Not even that old one from some 30 years ago where you actually steer with the remote.”
“Mario Kart Wii is probably more realistic than what you’ve done. Besides, when have you driven?”
Theodora shrugged nonchalantly as she explained, “Nikita showed me how. I’ve driven around in an empty parking lot once or twice, so I figure I’m more qualified.”
Maxwell sighed, shaking his head. “I really feel like we should get someone who has an actual license on hand. Besides, Theo, this is an entirely different beast! New York traffic is infamous for being impossible to navigate without wanting to burn your horn out with how much you use it!”
“Max, c’mon. We’ve got seatbelts for a reason. ‘Sides, who’s gonna know?”
“Me! You! Hell, I wouldn’t be shocked if Mr. D, Chiron, or Lady A found out! No, I will not let you drive!” Maxwell stomped his foot on the ground as he huffed, coming off as more adorable than actually scary or intimidating. Of course, unphased as always, Theodora just laughed as she kissed her boyfriend.
“You’re the worst…”
“I love you too, Max.”
Maxwell stood beside the van, looking down at the ground as he nudged Theo, nodding towards an approaching NPC daughter of Hypnos. Theodora glanced at her boyfriend exasperatedly, making the son of Techne just shake his head as the daughter of the god of sleep got into the driver’s seat.
Maxwell got into the back seats of the van, leaving shotgun open if Theo wanted it. She did not. Instead, she decided to get back at her boyfriend for daring to doubt her ability to drive, license be damned. That’s why she got in the backseat with Maxwell, deciding to get into his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck, taking great satisfaction in the flushing of his face.
The daughter of Nike couldn’t help but laugh slightly at how easily the boy flushed, teasing him. “Something wrong, Max?” She asked nonchalantly as she fiddled and toyed with the drawstrings on Maxwell’s hoodie.
“Yes? One. We’re about to leave, and you’re on my lap. That’s… Not safe. Two. We’re not exactly alone, Theo. Three. This is my seat!” Maxwell listed off his reasons for wanting Theo to get off of his lap, unable to meet her eyes as he did so.
“Buzzkill.” Theo rolled her eyes as she slid off of Maxwell’s lap, plopping down right next to him afterwards. She got adjusted in her seat, wrapping an arm around Maxwell’s shoulder, pulling him close to her as the three demigods rode off towards the mechanic.
The mechanic was no further than half an hour out from camp, and the car ride was… Uneventful, to say the least. Mostly the occasional murmur from the young couple in the back, mostly about things such as Sam– Theo’s cousin, the son of Hecate– and his relationship with the other Sam, or about how Theo could go to the Techne cabin at any time due to it being mostly empty now.
Thankfully, right as Theodora was about to fall asleep from boredom, the car came to a halt as the daughter of sleep, who had driven them here with a valid driver’s license, of course, gave the keys to the mortal mechanic, telling him they needed an oil change. This was, of course, the cue for Maxwell, Theo, and their chauffeur to get out of the van, Maxwell stretching out as he did so.
Now, it was pleasantly warm outside today, and, as such, Maxwell decided to take his hoodie off, revealing a pair of overalls underneath. By the look of things, he really had his little heart set on changing the oil himself. Now, of course, the instant he took his hoodie off, Theo paused to check her boyfriend out just a bit think about something. For all of a second. The daughter of victory was quick to the draw thanks to her superior speed. Maxwell’s own creation, the flight-capable Omnichao, could only fly at 15 miles to the hour. Theodora, on the other hand, at her maximum potential, could blast past the automaton at a mindboggling 23 miles an hour. With this speed, dexterity, and agility, Theo could do a lot of things.
This includes stealing the seafoam green hoodie from Maxwell’s hands.
Maxwell’s eyes went wide as the hoodie was ripped from his hands. Of course, he kept a loose grip on it, but he didn’t expect it to just be ripped out like that. “Theo!” Maxwell said sharply, turning around, pouting as he saw her putting his hoodie on. There was a decent size difference between Maxwell’s clothes and Theo’s, and it showed. Maxie’s hoodie was just a little bit large on Theodora, and it was clear she was loving this. The grin on her face said it all as she spoke, “What? You clearly don’t want it on right now. That’s why you took it off, right? For me?”
“That’s–”
“That’s not–”
“I didn’t–”
“I knew it. Oh, I must be the luckiest girl alive.” Theo stuck her tongue out as Maxwell attempted to plead his case. “‘Sides, it smells like you, and I like having things which remind me of you.” Seeing Maxwell’s eyes roll, Theo clicked her tongue before she approached Maxwell, wrapping her arms around his neck as she kissed his nose. “I’ll let you have one of mine in exchange. Deal?”
“...Deal.” Maxwell sighed, folding his arms across his chest as he subconsciously used his thermal grasp power to steal some bodily heat from the blonde.
Mortal mechanics work fast. Provided they’re competent, that is. This particular mortal, who semeed no more than 40, seemed competent, though, as if making sure, Maxwell subtly watched from behind. The last thing he needed was for the three of them to be on their way back, only for the car to try to use gunk shot, and blast oil all over the freeway like they were laying the course for a Mario Kart track.
Thankfully, Maxwell couldn’t find any faults within the mechanic’s working. The man charged the trio of demigods a large fee of 70 USD, which made Maxwell cringe, taking a mental note to just ask if he could do it himself next time. He could’ve done it for a fraction of that price. 30 USD, if that. But, whatever. Not his problem. It would normally have been the problem of Theo’s moms, except for two issues. One. It’s not even a problem– they’re millionaires. 70 dollars is like pricking someone on the finger for one measly droplet of blood. They’d survive. Two. It seemed as though the daughter of Hypnos had them covered. Well, that was nice of her. The three campers all climbed back into the van after they paid for the mechanic’s service, riding back off to camp. Discussions between Maxwell and Theo mostly consisted of topics such as, ”When are we going to spar?”, ”My sleep schedule is fine.”, and, ”Since when did you appear in the news?” Normal demigod business. Another half of an hour passed, and the three demigods rolled up, the van still notably in one piece. Maxwell and Theo talked about it before they decided that they probably(?) didn’t have to go to the big house to make an announcement. It’s not like they fought monsters, much to the disappointment of Theodora.
Instead, Maxwell allowed himself to be dragged off to cabin 17 for the hoodie he was promised from Theo.

I've never done this before as in I've never made a post on reddit. I'm a pretty private individual and I think previous trauma in my life has made it difficult for me to want to reach out/trust people. This may be one of the reasons I'm where I'm at now. Onto the vent...
I (27F) am in a relationship with BF (32M). We have been together for almost 4 years.... I moved in with him close to the end of 2021. We met during the start of the pandemic as coworkers, and he had just moved from a very conservative, southern state. I also moved from a state with similar.. views and social standards? as he did but this was almost 8 years ago for me at the time. We both live on the west coast now. Just for context here.
When I first met this guy I was about 5 months out of a very long, abusive relationship. I spent almost 7 years with my high-school sweetheart and it was very tumultuous, long story short I finally realized I needed to leave that when after a suicide attempt (at the hand of being broken down by my ex and truly thinking I would be doing those in my life a favor) and when he (luckily) called our friends - because even tho he constantly told me I should kill myself i guess actually trying was "crazy" of me to do... my friends showed up and gave me the intervention I needed and I started going to therapy. Over time with all the realizations through getting help, making adjustments in my life, and still undergoing abuse I finally snapped out of it and realized I wasn't the problem, and I needed to leave the relationship.
So needless to say, I was vulnerable when I met BF, and while he didn't know the extent of things, he definetly knew how fresh my breakup was. This didn't seem to deter him at all. I did my best to tell him I needed to take my time in a lot of ways, and he gave the impression he was being patient, but really I just think he did a good job of dressing up his impatience with love bombing, so he did a good job of making me feel loved and cared for and safe, I think I gave into a lot of things too early.
We started dating a few months into me meeting him, and he seemed wonderful. Patient, open minded, he really gave me this idea that where he was from he knew he stood out, and moved where he moved to fit in with people that he could vibe with better. This meant in my eyes we shouldn't have too many issues agreeing on a lot of views. To put it simply. I'm not very political, but I do find that some people with the extreme side of conservative values tend to take issue with ME, just existing with tattoos and being a strong willed woman who likes her independence and not being told that im supposed to stay in the kitchen or whatever.... but let me be clear. I've always been the "mom friend" and I tend to take a caregiver role a lot. I think he liked that about me. He also always told me how cool it was that I was against the grain, cool that im closer to vegetarian than not, cool i dye my hair, ect.
Well fast forward to almost a year in and im realizing this dude is very clingy. He wants one of us to be at eachothers house every night. He's getting jelous all the time over me having to work with men for BUSINESS REASONS. literally one night he saw me post a snapchat story inside my house and he saw I still had shoes on and I had to spend like an hour convincing him that just because it was late and I still had shoes on that doesn't mean there's someone in my house that I'm lying about??? Anyways, the accusations of me cheating finally did die down when I blew up on him one day and told him I've never cheated on anyone in my life and I won't put up with this.
But yet I just took it as him really liking me, because hey the last guy told me no one would ever love someone as difficult as me and I was lucky he put up with me...
So this turned into him convincing me that i had to move in with him because the 30 minute drive to my house every night was too much and sleeping alone without me was too much to handle. I had the cheaper rent, bigger house... but that's not what he wanted. He didn't like the area, whatever, I tell him this isn't gonna work. I have 2 dogs. He lives in a 900sq ft box. He's convinced he can handle it. Did I mention this guy has insane cleanliness standards? The place needs to look show room quality at all times. Just remember that detail.
Btw, im very very clean, always referred to by my friends as the uptight show room house. Boy, I thought I was bad but im realistic. BF doesn't seem to have patience for the extra mess that dogs include. I also am in the midst of starting my own business. I'm apologizing every day, doing my best, but there are still boxes taking up space because WE LIVE IN A BOX.
I quickly learn that BF has a violent streak and alcoholism. Not towards me, but objects. One day he's drunk and screams in my face that I'm a bitch and I don't care about him because I tell him that maybe he's being too hard on his boss at work (I was just trying to be honest with him, he seems to have really high standards for a lot of situations). Another time he comes home and im on my period (forgot this, but I have endometriosis, and it often makes me feel like it's ruining my life by how badly it puts me down for 3-4 days at a time sometimes) so I wasn't able to clean up some of the boxes he asked me too that morning. (Knowing I was on my period, with me having explained several times that i can't physically get much done around that time) and when he came in the door he threw such a fit that he kicked a box with expensive items (equipment for my business) across the room and broke things.
He would always apologize profusely, tell me I didn't deserve it, but his violent tendencies kept stacking. I'm not always easy to argue with, im one of those "actually" people but its because I'm f**king honest and real and I only argue with facts instead of point fingers/name calling. He on the other hand, is a name caller and spiteful. This kept leading to major blowups. I mean literally one day he almost wrecked his car( swears he had total control of the car the whole time) because he was talking over me while I was on the phone and I got off the phone and was like "dude I couldn't hear her" and he flew off the handle saying "I was trying to include important information!!!" When I explained that it was okay and his information wasn't going to help, he got angry, said I was being a bitch to him, I got an attitude about that, he ended up driving like a maniac and screaming at me until I literally almost threw myself out of the car because I was having a panic attack (I have ptsd from getting abused, and sexually assaulted in the past).
One good thing I can give him is he did decide to go sober started in 2022 and has remained sober since, so know that much. Half of these things are done out of him being drunk, it's literally just his temper.
Another example of a time my view of who he was changed was when I finally decided to confide in him that I was coerced into getting drunk and then raped when I was 14. And his response was to tell me "that was high-school stuff though, you're really still not over it?" I don't think I felt the same about him afterwards but again, I took it as a me problem, maybe i expected too much.
Fast forward again to he can't live like this anymore, he can't live in a house this small with these dogs, he can't have my business mess around any longer, but the rental market has been shit, I can't find any rent that we can afford, and hes being picky about finding a new job, since he quit his last 2 while having a temper tantrum about something. Not saying he didn't need to leave them, but he didn't line anything up before leaving. And I'm having to help cover bills, try to run my business, cook dinner every night because that's what he expects, and ive also got an inflammatory disease that makes me suffer most days so I'm not always the fastest, most productive person. Another thing, this is the kind of guy who wakes up in the morning and is already zooming at 1000mph and "beast moding" while I'm shuffling around in the morning waiting for some of my inflammation to subside while I get ready.
So I apply for part time job to work alongside starting my business, I find another opportunity where if I work part time at another place, I can then use the property to conduct my business, what are the chances! I find a solution to making more money and getting the business out of the house? Now we just need a bigger place to live! And hopefully this means BF can be left to find a decent job right?
Well he eventually did, and that's nice. But he's still short tempered. He's always upset because I don't thank him for "washing a weeks worth of dishes" even tho... they were only the dishes from us eating dinner the night before. I've washed dishes every day that week without a single thank you, which I didn't care for, because I knew that it was a team effort. That was when it was clear that everything I do is unnoticed, but god forbid he does somthing without his accolades afterwards.
We finally find a 2 bedroom house that solves a lot of issues. I thought well part of the problem is we are just on top of eachother. It will get easier. If we both have personal space right? Well it's just different now.
We've passed the point where I told him if he calls me names or breaks somthing again then I'm leaving him. I told him he has to go to therapy for his issues. No more violence. Instead he just doesn't even kiss me goodbye before he walks out the door and if I ask him too, he gives me a side hug and mashes his lips against me for a couple seconds and says "bye" before shutting the door in my face. Every nice thing I do to try and spark up a good time I get looked at and asked "why I'm acting like I actually care".
Everything is always on me, I need to find him a therapist, he doesn't know how, I need to help him with his temper, it's not his fault, he's like his dad, he can't help cook dinner, he doesn't know how, it's not his fault, so these are all things I'm expected to do.
At this point all I do is work. I work all day every day. Even weekends. Sometimes I enforce a day off, but it means all I do is lay around and think about what I'm getting behind on. And he resents me for everything.
He gets off at 3 or earlier most days, he has a ton of freedom in his job because he works sales, but im the one who isn't trying hard enough because I won't cook dinner with him or spend time with him. I don't have sex with him anymore because i have so much resentment, and he blames me for that too. "Well maybe I would be in a better mood if you actually had sex with me" and when we do and it's short lived "well maybe if you maintained me better I wouldn't finish so fast"
The way that I have to sit here and listen to him talk about cars and fishing for hours, and I do it just to be supportive, and yet I can't get him to stop looking at his phone anytime I want to talk. If I do vent about my day he just tries to tell me what I'm doing wrong and what I need to fix.
I just finally sat him down and told him how I felt. How I think he doesn't realize how selfish he can be, how everything I've done that he hates about me now has been for him, how I've watched him essentially ask me to be his mom(that woman literally will still buy him clothes and handle life things for him and he's a grown ass man, she often thanks me for "putting up with her bratty son and he loves you girls so much") which almost feels like she's known he's a brat this whole time.... and anyways what's his response?
"Well im not happy either. You're a slob and all you do is work and when you don't work you just lay around and complain, you never have sex with me and you're not fun"
To say that I'm so lost is an understatement. We live in a time where it's not easy to afford living alone. I like my house but I don't think I can afford it alone. I haven't been able to grow my own business because of everything I've just been doing for years to try and make BF happy and yet I'm sitting here and feeling like I've just once again wasted my life for a man who doesn't respect me for who I am, and only loves me conditionally. I just feel so stupid, that I've let it get this far. I literally contributed to breaking myself down into someone that he can't respect and now it's easy for him to say it's all my fault and he cannot understand the idea that im a shell of myself because of how much I've put into this. He thinks I'm wrong, he says I'm his everything and he's put everything into us, and I know he has, but it's always been on his terms, where as for my needs it's still also always been on his..... I'm sorry. I'm sure it's been difficult for anyone to read this long. I am just going to leave it here.
Yall can let me have it in the comments. I'd love the honesty....

My cousin is in the ICU and we don’t expect her to come out of this. My siblings and other cousins are trying to figure out what to do to help her and I have some general questions. We are located in Northern California.
For context, my cousin, Kathy, is 60 and has worked for a private insurance company for 27 years and she’s now an assistant manager. Her adult son passed away 2 weeks ago unexpectedly. Her mom and dad passed within 9 months of each other during Covid (3 years ago). Kathy was the heir and trustee to their house and money. Kathy does have a nephew, Chris, who is (maybe) 19 and away at college. Chris’s dad is incredibly shady and was married to Kathy’s sister (who also passed 10 years ago). We have not notified Chris or his dad about her being in the ICU yet.
Here are my questions in order of urgency

1. If we tell her employer she is incapacitated are they legally obligated to maintain her medical insurance in California?

Her co worker is shielding it from other co workers because we don’t want them nosing around the hospital. But Kathy is in unpaid status and we need to keep her insurance going. We were going to pay it on her behal directly to the employer but now I’m thinking we need to notify her employer for her protection.

1. How can we get a medical directive for her? She has no close family here except cousins who are all very close to her and know her wishes and want to protect her but we’re only cousins. I lost my mom this same way many years ago and say how the whole system worked and am concerned she doesn’t have a husband or son to make those decisions.

My other question have to deal with her estate and her moms estate but we’ll have to deal with that all later.
Hopefully I gave all the important details. I’m going to do some researching tonight and we’ll probably have to go through a lawyer soon but we’re concerned about these two main things over the next few days.

Warning: abuse
At 19F in the middle of active alcoholism 3 years after my mom went to jail for murder for hire, I was a SW (looking?) for a SD? - while out at a bar I got approached by a 43M that I found attractive and very charismatic. Thinking we’d end up having “fun”, I returned the honest sentiment of attraction. We stayed together 2.5 years after that. He was a Chemist who laughed and made light of everything, his alcoholism and drug addiction became apparent from the beginning, but not to the extent that it got to/really was.
Like all relationships, things started out fun, a very Glee movie summer-like love, very free-ing. He was a Doctor of chemistry and worked in the oil field prior to my meeting him, because of his living situation and luxury cars he seemed like he was doing well. He never was any type of SD. The night I met him, we made eye contact and never looked away. Our chemistry, pun intended- was like nothing I’ve ever experienced.
I’m the youngest, not the smartest nor prettiest. I quit my jobs because I simply didn’t want to work sometimes, I made a lot of mistakes and I’ve been in the receiving end of family based bullying and school bullying, SA, R@p€, abandonment and trust issues, I’m bipolar, I practice/d SH, depression, GAD… things of the human condition that make it feel like I’m faulty.
This man was the first person that ever sat with me and listened to me vent to the extent that I did the first tight we spent together. We rarely had sex, but we shared breaths as we slept, (he inhales my breath as I exhale his breath, vise-versa and so on and so forth) to keep it brief and give example. He’s the most intimate partner I’ve ever experienced.
I notice others micro expressions and cater to their benefit if it seems they are troubled or asking for help.
I’m having so much trouble these days accepting the fact that I’m never going to meet him again. Specifically because he was so attentive and catering to my needs. He knew immediately when I was masking. I’m so confused and perplexed about the feeling of not having anyone in my life that has that interest in me. I felt so understood. That’s been my first and last experience with feeling understood like that.
He drank from morning to night nonstop. Together we became aware of what alcoholism was. Brown urine, blood, pain… regret that then led to arguments, accidents, threats, drugs, danger, fear turned to bonding, helping each other, trying to get better, failing. Trying again. Do it all over again. Fail. Again and again.
We managed to get sober a few days. His parents loved me. I understood and loved him. He hadn’t been sober for that long and trying for a long time. He was doing better, that’s what his mom would say.
Every relapse got harder, more dangerous medically and physically as well as economically.
Sleep deprivation was torture I hadn’t experienced before. I would be awoken with yelling because of delirium, anger and he would degrade me so badly. Use that bond we had against me, my own experiences turned against me he’d repeat the insults I shared with him to me. Yell those at me. Then love bomb. Then threaten me and my family with guns. I lived in fear when he blacked out. Felt lonely because with all of the yelling, smashing things around, being stared at by neighbors crying, being called an idiot dumbass in front of people and them witnessing me at a low point and then, agreeing with him? No neighbor knocked after crying and yelling to see if anyone was ok or dying. Public shame feels so. Fucking. Lonely. Isolation doesn’t help.
He stopped functioning. His body started giving out. I loved him. Took care of him cleaned his wounds after falls, his body after incontinence. He literally shed blood, shit and tears, regret and asked for forgiveness when I cared for him in his sober state.
In return, I’d receive non stop verbal abuse if I didn’t stop and do what he wanted me to at the time he wanted me to and how he wanted me to. If I didn’t give him my attention he’d end up getting it by threatening my family. And he would! Fight my brother and go after him with loaded guns. So there I would go do what he said. Forced to ride in a vehicle, with him locking the doors, blasting Phil Collins yelling at me. Driving erratically, dangerously. And I’d be so fucking scared of crashing. Just imagining the police report, “f19 dead alongside 43m after drunk reckless driving”. He’d speed in traffic so I couldn’t really jump out the car. I’d end up just drinking to numb the fear.
I had enough and attempted to sleepies forever by taking a sweet deadly cocktail of whatever handful of pills I could get my hands on. We had plastic gallon moving boxes filled with narcotics- he was a pharmacist too. I told him I was going to KMS he said go ahead, so I attempted and I filmed it.
From the setting up the phone in that closet, the one I color coordinated for him, his button-ups and suits in those dry-cleaning bags that hadn’t been opened since leaving the laundry shop… I watched my su!c!d€ afterwards. Out of morbid curiosity. “What a dumbass!” was what he said when he found me. I won’t go into detail of the full video but chest compressions hurt a lot, 10/10 would not recommend. And EMS left the AED stickers on my chest 🤷🏽‍♀️
After that 24hr watch, an awkward taxi drive to a crisis clinic that was understaffed and left me in a room by myself for two hours and walking in public with those see-through paper hospital clothes. Embarrassment is a light expression. When I was taken home, I didn’t have keys, or phone, or anything. Just my discharge papers and my cut vomit stained pajamas in a biohazard bag. - I lived in a gated neighborhood with key-fob-entry-only. I was fucked and waited what seemed like 4 hours for anyone to help me but no one showed up until HE did WITH MY BROTHER. The one who was threatened with a gun, that brother.
JFC the amount of insults, “what a fucking dumbass, what were you thinking? You’re a fucking idiot!” To summarize in the friendliest way. I was dressed in a see through hospital gown, I went straight to the shower, didn’t have the energy to get dressed when they kept just YELLING at me. INSULTING me- I had enough and wanted to defend myself. That’s when my brother pulled out his phone and started filming me pleading with them to let me sleep, calling me crazy, threatening to “show the family how fucking crazy you are!” - I threw my phone. Broke the microwave door. More insults, while still filming me, I was ordered to, “clean it up” - and at that moment. Completely detached, I did.
I put my brother on the soon-est bus to Mexico and sent him to rehab after 2 hell filled weeks of him living with us because he was so fucked in alcoholism he was homeless. To this day I don’t know how I did that.
I managed to leave my ex. 2 weeks later I receive calls from worried friends. Ryan was missing.
After investigating, (calls to police,hospitals, checking out the “usual” spots) - turns out he went to a Circle K looking for Peroni after the liquor store wouldn’t sell to him, tripped on the steps, hit his head on the pavement, STILL MANAGED TO PURCHASE ALCOHOL, left, got into a fight, and somehow miraculously ended up in his apartment where he tried to shower, fell face forward towards the water tap, (which left a softball sized bruise on his right eye and fractured his nose) he then tried to walk towards the kitchen? Passed out in the living room leaving blood all over the walls, puddles on the ground and the biggest blood clot stain on the floor ( we had to get crime scene cleaners). He apparently had a fit where he trashed the apartment by throwing my things, my plants, bottles of crown… anything. Everything was trashed when I found him in the apartment. I counted at LEAST 20 bottles of crown. He was so fucked up we thought he had been assaulted.
COVID hit and hospitals were in full lockdown. As an “essential worker” I could travel to the hospital to see him, and because someone somewhere said I was his wife/fiancée I was the ONLY one allowed to see him.
I snuck behind friends and family’s backs checking in on him at the hospital. Singing The Carpenters songs, wearing his favorite perfumes, reading Bill’s Story (IYKYK), playing Phil Collins. The whole 9 yards.
The last time I saw him, he was in Physical therapy/Rehab. He ended up moving back to his parents in California. Then February the next year, on Valentine’s Day - his mom let me know he passed.
She grieved very much attached to me. It was one of the saddest things I ever had to help someone through - alongside helping her son go through alcoholism.
I became a CNA as a tribute to helping him during those hard sober times where his body gave out. Helping others like that, bathing them, diaper changing, g-tube cleaning, hygiene essentials…
The classic grief started with what-if’s. Etc. it’s been hard lately because all my family is against him and his family resents me for being the only one with access to his medical records during COVID. I’m in a relationship now and our therapist told me to “put a break on it”. Recently. My mental illnesses keep getting worse and I feel like no other has taken such interest in me as much as Ryan did. He was so observant. So in-sync with me. And he was so shitty to me. He’s like the sweetest tasting radioactive flower that once was and will never be. And I’m grieving. And it’s so lonely out here.
I don’t know. I’m not suicid@l, I’m medicated and 4 years sober. It’s been hard and it’s getting harder to understand. I feel neglected and lonely. Anything helps please.

I am a son going through and my parents are going through a divorce, I reside with my mom and my brother, the lease for the apartment that we are currently renting is about to be over and our landlord is selling the house, so we have to go elsewhere. My mom doesn’t have enough funds and loan to buy a big enough house for all 3 of us, so we need a co-signer. My question is whether my dad can co sign with my mom even though they are going through a divorce. I would think they can since anyone can co sign for anyone, but my dad worries that this will affect the divorce process, what do you guys think?

I (26F) am from India. I have a close friend (26F). We are friends since childhood.
My friend has been in a serious relationship with a boy (27M). He was our classmate. Here in our place religion and caste are very important for someone to get married.
My friend and her boyfriend are from different castes and different religions. They also have different mother tongues. They decided to fight with family and get married at any cost even if the families oppose for their wedding.
Both of them are in long distance for a few years now. And as they are in long distance relationship They started sharing private pics and videos etc.
My friend's bf convinced his family for their wedding. But her parents opposed it saying people from that boys state are very bad people. After a few days her dad died because of a long term illness. She has been very depressed since then.
The problem started here. The bf accidentally opened her private pics not seeing if anyone is there. Suddenly his mom came from behind and saw everything. Since then the mom is continuously contacting her and asking her to do those videos for her and blackmailing that if she won't do she will get her son married to another woman.
The bf fought with his mom about it but she took his phone and locked it for a few days and got another girl and tried get them together physically. He escaped from her and he tried to reach my friend. Just when he reached she has sent someone to fetch him immediately and seperated them.
Not knowing what to do she did those videos for the bf's mother. Since then she said she should do those videos everyday with particular poses and all for 45 min etc..if not she is making another girl do those videos and making her son watch them
She was on the verge of suicide because of the trauma that woman caused and she told me all these today... I told her to either register a police complaint on that woman. Or to elope and get married and stay in no contact with the mother.. She denied doing both and I told her it's better to break their relationship?
I feel bad about what's happening to her what should I do ? Am I wrong ?

I have my 4 YO son with one PCM, but my week old newborn daughter is on BCBS right now and with another. I love her pediatrician. She will be added to DEERS and switched to Tricare next week. So I’ll then have one kid with one PCM and the other with a different one. Both kids live in the same city. My son’s mom wants to keep his current PCM, but I don’t know if Tricare can even do that? I’m definitely not changing my daughter to my son’s PCM.
Long story short, simple question, can 2 of your kids living in the same city be seeing different PCMs? Or do they have to be the same one?
Edit: to clarify, it’s not one pediatric center with different doctors… or even one pediatric company with different locations and providers in each.
But totally separate and non affiliated places.

It was an early morning in the Border Collie Household. The sun was just beginning to peek through the curtains, casting a warm glow into the living room where Mackenzie, Minnie, and Little Mack were sitting, looking rather bored.
Mackenzie, the eldest of the three siblings, let out a sigh as he tossed his stuffed Bilby, Billy, up in the air and caught it repeatedly. "I'm so bored," he grumbled, glancing over at his younger siblings.
Minnie, her bright eyes filled with mischief, grinned mischievously. "I know! Let's go bug Mom and Dad until they play with us!"
Little Mack's face lit up at the suggestion. "Yeah! That sounds like fun!"
“Alright, alright. Let's go see what they're up to." Mackenzie said as he placed Billy next to Bandido and lead his siblings out of his room and to the kitchen.
Meanwhile in the kitchen, Hunter and Queen were in the kitchen, having just finished the coffee they made a couple of minutes before.
“Honey?” Queen called.
“Yeah babe?” Hunter asked.
“What’s your stopwatch say?” Queen asked. Hunter looked at the stopwatch on the table next to them.
“12:22.” Hunter said. The two of them looked at each other for five seconds and then smirked.
“Three...two...one.” They both counted down. As they reached "one," Mackenzie, Minnie, and Little Mack burst into the kitchen, their faces filled with excitement.
"We're bored!" Minnie declared dramatically, throwing herself onto one of the kitchen chairs. “Can you play with us?”
“I don’t see why not.” Hunter answered as he turned to face the three. “What game do you wanna play?”
That was the thing. They didn’t exactly know what they wanted to play. Queen glanced at Hunter with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
"I have an idea," she said, her lips curling into a playful grin. "How about we play... Smoochy Tag?"
“Smoochy Tag? Now THAT is a game I haven’t played in a long time.” Hunter said with a laugh.
“What’s smoochy tag?” Little Mack asked.
“It’s like normal tag, but you have to smooch someone to tag them. When you tag them, they help you tag the others. It’s really fun!” Mackenzie said as his tail wagged a bit.
“I’ll be it first. Mackenzie, can you pick a number between one and ten?” Queen asked. Mackenzie paused for a moment.
“Seven!” Mackenzie said happily.
“Seven.” Queen repeated, then she smirked. “Six…Five…Four-”
Realizing she was counting down, Hunter and the kids took off running. Hunter opened the front door and ran out of the house with the laughing children. Queen reached one and then grabbed her coffee mug.
“I’ll just finish this first.” She stated while also putting Hunter’s mug in the sink.
After a couple of seconds of running, the four of them stopped for a moment and looked around.
“We need to hide.” Hunter said as he looked around.
“But where?” Mackenzie asked. That’s when they heard a door open, they all turned to see Bandit standing at the opening.
“Oh, morning Border Collies!” Bandit said with a wave.
“Morning Bluey’s Dad, can we hide in your house?” Mackenzie asked. Bandit raised an eyebrow almost immediately, leaving Hunter to clarify.
“We’re playing a game and Queen is it.” Hunter told him.
“Say no more, c’mon in.” Bandit said almost immediately, opening the door a little bit more for them. The four Border Collies ran inside and Bandit closed the door, looking through the peephole.
“Sorry to involve you in our game Bandit.” Hunter told him. Bandit turned to him and waved it away.
“No worries, we do that to our neighbor Pat all the time. Looks like karma finally caught up.” Bandit said, he then walked away from the door. “What game are you playing?”
“We call it smoochy tag.” Hunter said, that’s when the doorbell rang. Bandit walked over to open it and saw that no one was there.
“Huh, no one. Weird.” Bandit said before closing the door and walking back to Hunter. “What’s Smoochy tag?”
“Basically a cross between tag and playing zombies, but a kiss is how you tag the others.” Hunter answered. The doorbell rang again. Bandit opened the door and looked around this time, again, seeing no one.
“Kids playing ding dong ditch?” Hunter asked. Bandit closed the door and walked back over.
“Probably.” Bandit said as Chilli walked into the room.
“Who’s dinging the doorbell?” Chilli asked.
“Probably the kids.” Bandit said. That was before he saw Bluey and Bingo hiding Mackenzie and Little Mack somewhere in the living room, and then hearing the doorbell again. “Okay, definitely not the kids.”This time, Hunter walked over to the door to open it, and when he did, Queen grabbed his arm and pulled him outside.
“Gotcha! C’mere you!” Queen smirked as she attempted to pull him into a kiss. However, Bandit and Chilli grabbed Hunter to pull him into the house, joining the game.
“Not so fast!” Bandit said as he pulled Hunter into the house. Chilli also pulled, whilst chuckling.
“It’s not gonna be that easy.” Chilli told her. Queen continued trying to kiss Hunter, but Hunter was pulled away and Chilli got a cushion to poke Queen back out of the house. “Out, out with ya.”
With Queen back out of the house, Chilli closed the door. Chilli wiped her brow with a ‘phew’ and looked at Bandit.
“What was that all about?” Chilli asked.
“It’s a game called Smoochy Tag.” Bandit told her.
“Sounds fun, I’ll ask the kids if they wanna play.” Chilli said as she walked to the living room. Bandit looked at Hunter with wide eyes.
“Run upstairs, quick.” Bandit told him. Hunter nodded and ran upstairs with Bandit. Chilli walked to the living room where she saw Bingo hiding Little Mack behind the plant.
"Hey, Bingo," Chilli said with a warm smile. "Are you and your new friend playing Smoochy Tag too?"
Bingo looked up from her hiding spot with a wide grin. "Yeah, Mum! We're helping hide Little Mack from his mum."
“Well guess what, your dad and I are playing too. But I need to know the rules first.” Chilli said as he kneeled down to Little Mack’s height. “Can you tell me the rules?”
Little Mack got out from under the table and began to explain the rules of the game.
“It’s like normal tag, but you have to smooch someone to tag them. When you tag them, they help you tag the others. Mackenzie says it’s really fun.” Little Mack answers. Chilli tapped her chin.
“Smooch someone, like this?” Chilli asked, placing a kiss on Little Mack’s forehead. Little Mack giggled.
“Yes, exactly like that.” Little Mack said.
“Good. Looks like we’re helping your mom now.” Chilli said, revealing she made herself it when she played the game. Which also meant she that Little Mack was also it. Much to the four year old’s playful disappointment.
“Aw bugger.” Little Mack said. Then both of them turned to Bingo. She quickly turned around to run.
“Quick, let’s get her!” Chilli exclaimed as she and Little Mack ran after her. The moment they were out of the living room, Bluey and Mackenzie ran out from behind the couch and ran to the backyard where they got cut off by Queen.
“Going somewhere?” She teased before running after them. Bluey and Mackenzie playfully screamed before running back inside. Queen ran after them and was gaining on them pretty quickly. She would’ve caught up if it wasn’t for Minnie running in front of her, running away from Bingo who was also running away from Chilli and Little Mack. Switching targets, Queen grabbed Minnie and kissed her forehead.“No!” Minnie exclaimed while laughing. Bingo was gonna run past, but Queen grabbed her too and kissed her on the forehead as well. Now the only ones left were Mackenzie, Bluey, Hunter and Bandit. Bluey and Mackenzie were seen running up stairs. Upstairs, the hallway presented several doors, providing ample hiding spots. Bluey gestured excitedly to the linen closet. "Quick, hide in here!" she whispered urgently to Mackenzie.
Mackenzie nodded, running into the closet with Bluey. Bluey closed the door, while Hunter and Bandit veered into the Heeler bedroom just as they heard footsteps approaching. Inside the linen closet, Bluey and Mackenzie huddled together, barely able to contain their giggles. Bluey put a finger to her lips, motioning for Mackenzie to stay quiet as they listened to the footsteps draw closer. They held their breath as the footsteps walked towards them, stopped, and then walked away from them. Allowing them to let out a sigh of relief.
In the bedroom, Hunter and Bandit were both were under the bed, and practically arguing with each other silently.
“Find your own hiding spot!” Bandit whisper yelled to him.
“I don’t know this house! This is the best I can do!” Hunter replied. The two of them where still arguing when Queen and Chilli walked into the room, and from the footsteps abruptly stopping, they more than likely got found out.
“You think they heard us?” Bandit asked. Suddenly, Hunter’s ankles were grabbed and he was yanked out from under the bed. Bandit’s wrists were grabbed and he was pulled out as well. When they were out, they realized that the other’s wife had pulled them out. Bandit was pulled out by Queen and Hunter was pulled out by Chilli. The two ladies looked at each other, smirked, nodded and switched locations, kissing their husbands to tag them.
“And then there were two.” Hunter said as he stood up looking out in the hall.
“I heard whispering in the closet before walking in here.” Chilli said as she pointed to the linen closet. Queen and Hunter started to walk towards that door and counted backwards from three before opening the door and seeing….nothing.
“Huh?” Queen questioned. Inside Bluey’s room, Mackenzie and Bluey were sneaking back down the stairs and was making their way to the playroom. On the way there, Mackenzie accidentally bumped into one of the dressers and knocked over the lamp. Mackenzie was fast enough to catch the lamp before it could hit the ground.
“That was close.” Mackenzie said in relief.
“He’s downstairs!” Little Mack exclaimed, having heard him. Mackenzie put the lamp back and he and Bluey ran out to the backyard. Little Mack was the first to go outside to try and catch at least one of them. Minnie ran outside too and both were going straight for Mackenzie, who was not too keen with getting caught so he kept dodging and juking them like he was playing a game of rugby. Bluey on the other hand was running from Bingo and ran right into Bandit who picked her up and kissed her on the nose.
“Gotcha Bluey!” Bandit told her. He then looked at Mackenzie who juked Little Mack and made him run into Minnie. Mackenzie was gonna run back inside, but Hunter was guarding the door. “Let’s get em Bluey.”
Mackenzie turned around and Queen was blocking his path back.
“Where’re you gonna go now mate?” Hunter asked him. Mackenzie looked right and saw Bandit and Bluey walking towards him.
“Going left!” Mackenzie said as he ran left. He was gonna run down the left side of the house to go to the front yard, but the moment he ran around the corner, Chilli was right there. Mackenzie turned around to run again, but he was grabbed by Hunter, who jumped over the railing the moment he went around the corner. Mackenzie laughed as he was caught, squirming playfully in Hunter's grasp.
"Nice try, buddy." Hunter chuckled before planting a kiss on his son’s forehead, ending the game. “Man, you’re getting faster kid.”
"You're not too bad yourself, Dad." Mackenzie replied, his tail wagging happily. "That was so much fun!"
"You did great, champ," Hunter said, ruffling Mackenzie's hair. "But all that running around has made me hungry, lets go get brunch.”
Mackenzie's stomach growled in agreement, and he nodded eagerly. "Yeah, brunch sounds awesome!"
Chilli and Bandit looked at each other and then nodded before turning back over to the Border Collies.
“Would you like to stay for Brunch?” Chilli asked them.
"That sounds lovely," Queen replied with a smile, glancing at Hunter for confirmation.
Hunter nodded, returning the smile. "Yeah, we'd love to stay. Thanks for the invitation."
Chilli beamed. "Great! Let's head to the kitchen then. I'll whip up something delicious for all of us."
“Allow me to help.” Queen said as she and Chilli walked upstairs to the kitchen. Hunter and Bandit played with the kids to keep them occupied. s they all made their way to the kitchen, the Border Collies chatted happily, their laughter filling the air. Hunter and Bandit found themselves engaged in a playful game of catch with Mackenzie, Bluey, Minnie, and Little Mack, while Queen and Chilli worked together to prepare brunch.
In the kitchen, Queen and Chilli shared stories and laughter as they cooked, enjoying each other's company. Queen expertly cracked eggs into a bowl while Chilli chopped vegetables for an omelet. The aroma of sizzling bacon filled the air, making everyone's stomachs growl in anticipation.
Meanwhile, downstairs, Hunter and Bandit continued their game with the kids, tossing a ball back and forth and dodging around the furniture. Mackenzie's tail wagged furiously as he chased after the ball, his laughter echoing through the house.
As brunch neared completion, Queen and Chilli set the table with plates, utensils, and glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice. The tantalizing smell of food wafted through the house, drawing everyone to the kitchen.
With everything ready, they all gathered around the table, exchanging smiles and stories as they enjoyed the delicious brunch together. Plates were filled with fluffy omelets, crispy bacon, and buttery toast, and the conversation flowed effortlessly as they savored the meal.
Later on, Queen and Chilli were playing with the kids as Hunter and Bandit were on the balcony watching them as they played, drinking some soda as they watched.
“Made quite the first impression you know.” Bandit said to Hunter, who chuckled.
“Sweet as, Bandit. You know I was a bit skeptical about the move but now...” Hunter responded, watching as Bluey playfully managed to tackle Mackenzie to the ground. “..I think I made the right choice.”
“While I don’t doubt that mate, I’m sure we’ll see.” Bandit told him.
“Yeah…we’ll see.” Hunter replied. Soon, it was time for the Border Collies to head home and the Heelers waved goodbye to them as they walked off.
“You know, I think I like our new neighbors.” Chilli said to her family.
“Will they be back to play again?” Bingo asked her dad. Bandit smiled and watched the Border Collies walk off.
“We’ll see.”

I am a son going through and my parents are going through a divorce, I reside with my mom and my brother, the lease for the apartment that we are currently renting is about to be over and our landlord is selling the house, so we have to go elsewhere. My mom doesn’t have enough funds and loan to buy a big enough house for all 3 of us, so we need a co-signer. My question is whether my dad can co sign with my mom even though they are going through a divorce. I would think they can since anyone can co sign for anyone, but my dad worries that this will affect the divorce process, what do you guys think?

What are the chances of my step sons bio mother getting custody of him? She has no relationship with him and he has no idea who she is but she has been texting us asking to see him. My husband has sole custody and bio mom doesn't have a good track record (off and on addict, abandoning her kids for long periods of time with family, etc). We are located in Oregon.

My husband and I were high school sweethearts and got married very young (I was 19), but more on that later.
For now, backstory: we both come from rather toxic families and are both black sheep. The difference being I realized early on and my husband, being very sweet and naïve at times, didn’t realize his until I started pointing it out. My intentions were never to alienate his family, however, I’ve never liked the way they treated him. Especially his mother’s side.
One of the biggest examples that comes to mind was how he worked over the summer for his Aunt one year before we even met, and instead of giving the money to him, the money was given to his mom‘s parents who kept it in an account “for him“ that he couldn’t access. Later, they bought him a car with it, but put it in their name. When I found out, I immediately pointed out that that was kind of messed up, it’s nice that he got a car, but that money should’ve been given to him and at the very least the car should have been in his name. But as he usually does, he chose to see the bright side of things, so for the most part he was just happy that he had a car. Fast-forward a year or two, and he was driving up most weekends to visit me in college when he wasn’t working (about 1 1/2 hours each way, so not very far by Texas standards), when his grandparents decided that they didn’t like that and they tried to stop him, but that argument didn’t last very long and they relented. It wasn’t until they started telling him that he couldn’t visit his dad using the car that things really got dicey.
And it’s not like his dad lived very far, he lived in the same neighborhood as his mom, and in the same neighborhood that we had grown up in. And this time they would not relent, they absolutely despise his father. The divorce was messy and even though neither is completely blameless, she definitely had the worst offenses. Just trust me on that. Since then, it’s like she never learned how to be an adult and has been a perpetual 16-year-old, always complaining about everything and with her parents always holding the purse strings (though you could argue it’s always been that way, her parents paid for her schooling to be a dance major and she never did anything with that, they defended her bad decisions during the divorce, paid the mortgage on her large house afterwards, and even now after expressing how much she doesn’t enjoy being around her parents, she refuses to leave and still lives with a family member).
Anyways, after his grandparents threatened to take away the car (which he used for work as a pizza delivery man and obviously his mom didn’t stand up for him) if he tried to visit his dad, he let his dad know and I helped him move out of his mom‘s house that night while she was at work. It made him terribly unhappy at first, especially to leave his younger siblings behind, but he knew what they were doing was wrong, and he was over 18 and thats simply a line you don’t cross. His dad baught him a car to use.
It should be noted that he likely would not have said anything to his father or moved out if I hadn’t pushed him to, and that’s probably why a good portion of his family aren’t really big fans of mine. Even several years after we were married and possibly even to this day, they think I make all of the decisions in our relationship and force him to do what makes me happy even if he doesn’t want to, which of course is not the case, we discuss and agree on every major decision. When I was pregnant with our son, our first child, we were at his dad‘s mom‘s house and I was often sitting and asking him to get things for me and the like and he ended up going to get food with one of his sisters and she literally told him that she didn’t like how I was constantly asking him to do things and I wasn’t doing anything for myself. The pregnancy was very hard on me, I LOST 11 lbs and had to work the whole time and had no paid leave, so yes I tried to relax as much as I could. These are just a few examples of their behavior, his mother and her parents are also often emotionally and psychologically manipulative and abusive, comparing him to his cousins which they often consider “more successful“ especially since he decided he didn’t want to be a doctor and wanted to work in a lab instead, and anytime he tries to argue back with his mom she does the whole “I guess I’m just a horrible mom“ thing. Something I am very well familiar with in my own life. Needless to say, I am not the biggest fan of his family.
I did one year of my university before I decided it wasn’t the right path for me and about that time he was about finished with community college and was looking to go to university next. He ended up getting excepted into the university that I had gone to, but didn’t really want to move into the dorms as someone who was older than most freshman, but also couldn’t afford an apartment on his own. So we decided that we would get married and move up there together, we were already engaged as he proposed to me on my 18th birthday. It was the perfect set up as being under the same roof as my mother again really sucked.
I don’t quite remember why we decided to get married three months from that point, it was kind of stressful. But during that time him and his mother had another huge falling out, of course with her parents being on her side, and the deal with the car was still fresh in everyone’s minds. After that I didn’t want her at the wedding, or her parents, and while it did upset him a bit(notice a trend? He is very sweet and has a tender heart and is a recovering people-pleaser) he agreed that it would just be unnecessary drama.
It was a very small wedding as my parents gave me $2000 and I used half of that on a weekend honeymoon and the other half to cover the cupcakes and the photographer (who was an old friend of ours from high school). My youth pastor who at this point also knew my (soon to be) husband was the officiant and graciously let us use the foyer the youth building free of charge for the ceremony. This was a small neighborhood church so the room wasn’t very big but we weren’t inviting a ton of people so we were fine with it, especially since it was mostly windows and it was pretty nice especially since we didn’t have to pay for it. We ended up inviting both sets of my parents, my sister and her small family, and my little sister and my mom‘s parents. (note the parents, siblings, and my closest grandparents) In the end, after his mother begged, we did end up letting her come, and then of course his father came and his siblings and his father‘s mom. (Note the parents, siblings, and his closest grandparent). Our closest friends were there which was 6 people, and then my small group from church had spent the night decorating the foyer for the ceremony so of course they were invited too. The numbers were slightly skewed in my favor as both of my parents have remarried, my sister was married with 2 kids, and both of my grandparents were still alive at the time. So yes, technicality he had less people there, but he told me that he didn’t mind after I pointed this out to him back when we were talking about who to invite. And his family really didn’t like this. We both have large families. Only mine was scattered to the four winds and his lived exclusively in Texas. If his mom‘s parents hadn’t been treating him like dirt I happily would’ve invited them too, and seeing as I didn’t even invite my step sisters who had been in my life since I was two, I didn’t think it would be appropriate to invite his cousins, especially since the room was plenty full as it was. Again, he understood and was OK with all of this.
In the end, it was very sweet and small and the reception just took place at one of our favorite restaurants.
To this day, he still catches flack for more of his family not being invited, especially is mom’s parents, and we are always told by third parties about things his family say about us and especially me. (one of them even called me a gold digger, even though at the time was working at Domino’s. His mom told us she was the only one who “stood up for me” in that moment, but the best response she could come up with was “my son doesn’t have money“).
I have no qualms about what we did. We have since moved halfway across the country, recently celebrated our 8 year anniversary, and are very happy. The things they say still weigh on us though, so I was hoping to prove a point with this post.
So, are we the assholes for not inviting most of my husband’s family to the wedding?

(On mobile so sorry if the format is weird.) Long story short, I (22F) am stuck. Like, stuck stuck. My Mom (50’sF) has been unemployed for a couple of years now, and in the beginning I agreed to pay for all of her bills until either she or my brother got a job to help me out because what 20 something wants to give their entire paycheck to their mom? Well that’s exactly what I’m doing. She has lymphedema, and that’s not her fault but my family has spent thousands of dollars on equipment and treatments to fix it but she gets demotivated and stops trying after awhile, it’s to the point she struggles to get in and out of the car. Meanwhile my brother (20M) does nothing but play roblox all night and talk to his friends on discord. Sure he helps around the house sometimes but every time my mom picks me up from work (no car. Tried saving but my mom got into bankruptcy debt so all of it went to that. Which I’m also paying for and I guess she goes to jail if I stop.) she complains about how her legs are getting worse and it makes me so frustrated because your unemployed son is right there! Let him help you, I’m at work literally all day and can’t do anything about it. I did in the beginning, but if I’d kept doing it we would’ve been homeless by now cause I’m the only one out of the three working. I tried showing my bro how to wrap her legs but he always had an excuse not to do it. Anyways, that’s not even the big issue- my girlfriend (24F) wants me to move in with her, but she’s about 21 hours away by car and I have no idea what to do. I’ve always dreamed about getting out of here- my bros always been the favorite and I know that my mom only started being nice to me because I’m funding her lifestyle. Would I be a bad person if I just left? It would be a rug pull sure but everyone here is extremely religious and don’t think I should move out until I’ve got a husband or whatever. Not to mention my coworker has vacation in November and is counting on me to cover his shift but I’m just so tired. At this point it might just be easier to kms. Any advice would be helpful, please. I’m supposed to be moving in June. I love this girl, and I want to go there so bad but will I even be able to live with the guilt? Am I a bad person for even thinking about it? I’m so tired. I keep begging for help but I guess I have to save myself, if I can. I don’t know what to do.

Had to get this out or else I'll lose it lol.
My sister and I always had a rocky relationship ever since I warned her about these particular types of people she hung out with. One of those people was an obsessive stalker and the other was toxic and using her for money. Still, my sister got angry at me and held a grudge ever since. She preferred acting impulsively, being allowed to do whatever she wanted/ get whatever she wanted, and preferred not to deal with her responsibilities/ the consequences. But, now comes her boyfriend and he's just like her 🫠 They are both extremely annoying to deal with.
They ended up with a child at 17 and made my mom pay for all their baby's supplies, even when they had money. They never wasted a cent on their child, instead using it for fast food, weed, new phones or consoles, etc. Most of the time, my parents are the ones dealing with their kid too. They would constantly keep most of the dishes in their room and never bring them to the kitchen, and when they do, they never wash their plates. They bring their dirty shoes into the house and spread the dirt into the neighboring rooms. They always have the TV loud and my sister's boyfriend would play music on a speaker at the highest volume, even around the baby in the same room, or he'll be constantly yelling at someone through the phone.
They both impulsively brought 3 big dogs and 2 cats into the house, which they can't even afford, and expect anyone else to take care of them. In fact, they just expect anyone to do everything for them in general. Sometimes, my sister's boyfriend would invite their friends to the house without informing anyone. Both my sister and her bf have the maturity of a 14-year-old, despite both turning 19 in a few months. If someone were to bring up these issues to them, they would literally hold a grudge against them or throw a tantrum instead of bettering themselves.
Not to mention their behavior. In general, they are both obnoxious and too full of themselves. I remember my mother telling me that my sister was telling her how she was better than me and my siblings in the middle of an argument between the two over the phone, it's ridiculous. And, sometimes my sister would be emotionally manipulative just to get things she wanted from my parents, such as threatening to cut them out of her son's life or crying constantly until things were done for he given to her.
I already cut contact with my sister, but I just feel bad for my parents and my nephew.

I am posting this here because I want to share a secret with my mother, but I don’t know how she would react. I feel like I should be able to go to my mother about anything, but this is hard to talk about.
I’m 31 and in my early teens and twenties I used to Snapchat with teenage girls and watch videos of teenage girls twerking and stuff like that. I know that all of that content is bad, but I never watched anything considered hardcore. I always felt guilty and ashamed of myself, but I kept coming back to these videos. I would download videos and then delete them all and then download them again.
I haven’t done that In five or more years, but I still feel intense guilt and shame over what I did. The worst time was when I found a video of someone younger than a teenager and there was a man involved and I saw maybe a few seconds of the video before I turned it off. I was so disgusted and I hated myself. I was glad that I didn’t enjoy the video, but I still hate that I clicked on it.
I don’t really deal with thoughts about teenage girls anymore, but I can’t change what I’ve done in the past. I feel like the only safe place I can go to is my mom, but I’m afraid that what I say would change our relationship in a bad way. I just want to know that my mom would still love me even if I struggled with this. Every time I see her around the house I want to reach out and say something but I just imagine her disowning me or something like that. I know that some women on here are mothers. How would you react if your son told you they struggled with these kinds of thoughts?

I had my son four months ago and he is the best thing that has ever happened to me (other than my husband). I love him more than words can express and I wouldn't trade him for the world.
But I'm spiralling. I've felt it coming for a while now and I know it's because I'm a working mom. I work 12 hr shifts being in healthcare and it hurts so much being away from him that long. My husband and I have been blessed that one of us had been able to be home for the last four months because of state paid child bonding leave even though we both need to work to pay the bills.
My husband goes back to work from his leave in a few weeks and my son will be going to daycare and in order to afford it I'm picking up an extra shift a week once daycare starts. Oh and part time isn't a option since every place we've looked into is only doing full time admission. We make too much to get any real help from the government and both our families can't take him in order for us to have a parent home while the other works. I already switched from working nights to days because my husband and I knew that would be best for us, so that was a cut to my pay.
I'm barely surviving three shifts, I don't know how I'm going to do four. Besides that I'm having to change how I care for him to prepare him for daycare.
I hate it. I hate having to teach my baby to sleep without someone holding him because the daycare won't. I hate thinking that the daycare is going to see a lot of his firsts. I hate that I'm pumping instead of just feeding him.
I just want to be his mom, but I can't. It's killing me inside. I don't have PPD, I already took that test. I'm just a mom with no options.

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post here because I'm not married. But my boyfriend's mother is a psychopath with control issues who is sick in the head. When I was over at his house a few months ago she was in the middle of yelling at my boyfriend for his bad grades (he's a college student) and I snickered a little because she was behaving like a clown. When she noticed that I laughed, she said "oh you think this is funny?!" and then screamed at me to get out of her house. I tried to leave but she grabbed me by the arm and pulled me back inside and closed the door behind me, continued to scream at me, and started lecturing me about how I am a bad influence on her son. I told her "don't touch me" and left. The next day she sent me a text saying I was disrespectful to her and she asked for an apology.
A little later in the semester, my boyfriend asked me for help moving some things to his dorm room so I agreed and I drove to his house. He put a few bags full of his things in my car, and I waited while he went back inside to get more. Then he called me and said his mother is coming to take his stuff out of my car. Apparently his mother said that I'm a manipulative person and that I manipulated her son into going to his dorm room (which is not true, he asked for my help.) So my boyfriend just said I should drive to his dorm, and I did, but his parents got in their car and started following me. His stepdad was driving and his mom was in the passenger seat. I tried to lose them by driving around their neighborhood and into a grocery store parking lot. But his stepdad cornered me in the parking lot and tried to block my car in so that I couldn't leave. I was so terrified when his mother got out of her car and started banging on my window and trying to open my door. I pulled out my phone and started recording. Finally I managed to get away and I drove to his dorm room.
When I was at my boyfriend's dorm, I called the police and explained what happened. I filed a police report later that night and I added the video of his mom to my case. The officer's advice was to file a restraining order, which I have not done yet but I sent sent both of his parents a very long text establishing some boundaries.
I've been called worse things by his family besides "manipulative" such as "bitch", "fucked in the head", etc. For extra context, I am a black woman and my boyfriend & his family are white.

My husband and I have 2 girls (4 and 15 months).
SIL and her husband have 1 boy (5) and 1 girl (19 months).
My MIL is Chinese and born and raised in China. In China, it’s really sad to say that most grandparents prefer boys.
Ok so this grandson is straight up spoiled.. it’s MIL’s fault and SIL allows it to happen because she doesn’t want to care for her highly opinionated son (in her words it’s a trade-off she’s willing to accept). Spoiled grandson gets a new present every single week. Grandson goes over to sleep over grandma’s house once a week since he was 2. SIL has a daughter and never sees grandma… the parents obviously favor their daughter. The whole situation is just honestly sad.
Every family gathering we see the in-laws and MIL is only playing with grandson and following him around. And this grandson isn’t a well behaved child either. He’s never had anyone tell him no or else he’ll go full on meltdown mode. So every single family gathering grandson will be like, I want grandma to sit next to me! And she’s like, okay!! Umm hello bitch, you have other grandchildren… you can give them attention…
Honestly, I suppose I shouldn’t let this bother me as much as it does because my girls love me and their daddy so much. They don’t even like to spend time one and one with grandma often. Grandma has asked before and my older one says she’d rather be with us. Which is why I think I might be overreacting. In general, MIL is nice to my girls. They have fun with her but my older one says she would rather be with us. 🥰 Vs grandson just straight up tells his parents he loves grandma more than them and would rather be with her (not his fault because who wouldn’t want to be with the person who gives you brand new toys and undivided attention every week?)
Husband knows his mom has favoritism but is kind of ok with it because now his mom leaves him alone (the only “win” from this situation since husband was the favorite child growing up because…boy🙄). Before, his mom was always telling husband how to dress, how to eat, etc (as an adult(!) but that’s shifted because her focus is on grandson now. However, husband said if our daughters ever tell us how they feel about grandma’s favoritism then he will be straight with his mom. But right now it’s not a big deal since our girls don’t care about grandma. I just think it’s just so sad because it’s not only our girls but SIL’s daughter who gets ZERO attention from grandma too but I guess they don’t care?
I think it just bothers me because my grandma and grandpa had 12 grandkids and showed us ALL the same kind of love. There was no favoritism.