Me (22F) living in Delhi is way willing to end my 5 year relationship with my bf (27M) living in Mumbai. The reason being we have been in a long distance relationship since the beginning and he had some past which was kinda dark to me as I never had a boyfriend before him because I am old school and wanted to date someone I could marry. So, there were a lot of issues like once he texted his ex saying ex's father died during covid and when I asked screenshots he said its deleted but I somehow overcame that (this was 3 years back). Back in present he doesn't put any efforts like literally this time in 2024 I managed to fly to Mumbai for our 5th year anniversary and stayed there for 20 days for a training of mine lying to my parents. So we never kinda celebrated valentine and this made me upset every valentine and we had fights every year this year it was good as I was in same city he surprised me on Valentine and our 5th Anniversary (bf gf wali). But the thing is he never put efforts in making me feel special its not that I crave for some expensive gifts infact he got a job in 2022 only the year I started my Articleship so before that I never even asked him to pay bills or anything whenever we met like once or twice a year. He never appreciates my gifts, surprises, never says sorry for even abusing me until I force him to (he abuses like once a month kinda almost), never asks to stop crying he simply says rori hai roti reh, keeps me blocked like 15 days a month I try to reach him through app calls, emails he ignores and then returns after 2 days saying ab sudhr gyi ki nhi and when I say please dont do this to me he says normal baat kr wrna nikal. I am the one who is trying to survive this relationship since very long but nhi hota ab more over when I went there for 20 days he said me in a public place chup baith wrna aisa thapar mrunga that evening when we met I was crying very badly infront of him but he didnt asked me once to be quiet (akele rona is normal to me so I have become even okay with that now I dont even tell him that I am crying). Once we had a big fight I was so scared of losing him that took a flight to Mumbai that very night because it was 5 days since when I was blocked even his friends with whom I used to share earlier said better leave but I am not able to there is nothing which can make me say yes I should be with him but I feel like suiciding (which I had attempted 3-4 times like cutting my veins going a railway station where my mother confronted me even lied to her). I dont have a friend circle only 2 friends who only say leave him but my mind and old school thinking only say that I should be there. I have never thought of dating someone so there is no other boy I don't even have a male friend. I have a crucial final exam in Nov this year which is like my final stage of a professional degree he even says you cant work beyond 6 pm in job (my dream job being Investment banking where there are no time limits). After all this I was okay with each and everything just asked him only put this much effort that talk to me with love he doesn't talks to me, ignores me, blocks me if I say anything when I ask him are you dating someone else as I only goes to talk to him at night rest I am involved in studies he says I am not cheating you.
Please suggest should I breakup or still there is some hope where I can make an effort.
tl;dr: I just asked him only put this much effort that talk to me with love he doesn't talks to me, ignores me, blocks me if I say anything.

In which this ficnapping first-timer tackles An Introduction to Terran Zoology by u/Still_Performance_39. I'm still a newbie author, so imagine my surprise when I'm handed one of the most popular stories on the sub. One that's received the rare honor of being approved by the fifteenth holy knight of space himself. No pressure I guess lol.
I knew what I wanted to write about, at least. I've been waiting for this series to cover the ocean, so this was the perfect opportunity to do it myself! I had to think hard about what to include; the ocean is a big place after all. See if you can guess the secret (really obvious) theme I went with! Fingers crossed I did this story justice! (Shoutout to Wikipedia btw)
Memory transcription subject: Rysel, Venlil Environmental Researcher
Date [standardized human time]: Idk sometime after Cilany’s broadcast
Brahk, brahk, brahk!
I tore across the campus, sprinting for the Terran Zoology lecture hall as fast as my legs could carry me.
I can’t believe I overslept! Of all days, it had to be today.
Dr. Bernard had teased today’s topic last time. “By now we’ve learned about animals from all over Earth, and through our simulation exercises you’ve seen for yourselves how intricate Terran ecosystems can be.” I couldn’t help but chuckle at that. Everybody’s simulated ecosystems had failed catastrophically on their first attempts. It’d taken a herd of paws for everyone to accept how necessary predators were to maintain balance in Earth’s ecosystems.
“With what we’ve learned so far, we are ready to finally tackle one of if not the most complex and vibrant ecosystems on Earth: the coral reef. This lesson even has some direct relevance to us here on Venlil Prime. You might have heard the recent news about those biologists exploring Venlil Prime’s oceans not far from here. Well, the region they’ve been studying shares many things in common with Terran coral reefs. Learning about reefs on Earth could be a useful reference point for uncovering the secrets of your own oceans. I hope to see you all tomorrow!”
I’d been so excited I could barely fall asleep. I’d also completely forgotten that Milam was away visiting family. Why did that matter? Well, without the raucous squawking of her alarm, I’d overslept, and now I was about to be late!
My lungs and legs burned, but I pressed forward. There, the lecture hall’s door was still open! I dashed inside and scrambled to my seat, gasping and wheezing as I tried to still my beating heart. I’d made it.
“Wow, Rysel, you’re right on time. That’s the latest you’ve been yet!”
I glanced to my right and saw Sandi chuckling heartily at my expense.
“I -hrrf- over -hrrf- slept,” I wheezed, “didn’t -huff- want to -huff- miss this -huff- though.”
“Hmph. Rysel, of all Venlil, oversleeping for one of the Doctor’s lessons. Never thought I’d see the day,” Kailo scoffed from my left, snuggled deep into his duvet. I supposed it was technically an insult, but there was no hostility in his tone. I knew what real anger and hostility sounded like from him, and he hadn’t done or said anything like that for some time. No, this was just Kailo being Kailo.
I flicked my tail at him in a friendly greeting. “Good paw to you too, Kailo.”
He huffed and turned away, but I didn’t miss his tail swishing under his seat.
Kailo’s changed so much since our first day. It’s like he’s a different person. Honestly, I sometimes feel like a different person too.
I’d come a long way from being scared of humans and enrolling in the exchange program for money. Now, these classes were the highlight of every paw, and I couldn’t imagine wanting to do anything else.
My reminiscing was cut short by a familiar series of sharp knocks on the doorframe. My tail whirled with glee at the sight of the familiar figure.
“Good morning everyone! How’re we all doing on this very fine paw?” Dr. Bernard greeted us with a beaming smile.
Most of us beeped out a cheery hello in response. I glanced around the room, warm contentment welling in my chest. We were no longer the nervous, skeptical, and borderline hostile class Dr. Bernard had to put up with on the first day. Now, even the shyest participants flicked a friendly greeting in his direction.
“Excellent! I’m always delighted to hear your enthusiasm. Now, just to remind you, today we’ll be taking our first proper look at one of the most beautiful biomes Earth’s oceans have to offer. I always enjoy chatting with you all, but we do have a lot to get through today. Would anyone object if we skipped the banter this time and dive straight into the material?”
Yes, I’m ready! Let’s go!
The rest of the class echoed my sentiment, beeping with varying levels of excitement and curiosity. Bernard smiled as he glanced over everyone, his gaze lingering on me. “I’m happy to see that everyone’s excited for today’s lesson.”
It was at this point that I noticed that in my excitement, I’d jumped out of my seat and lunged onto the table. Sandi was chuckling merrily, and I heard a cough from Kailo underneath his blanket cocoon. Did I say that out loud? I slowly slid back into my seat, my ears blooming hot orange from embarrassment. I knew at this point that Bernard wouldn’t take offense to my outburst, but that didn’t make it any less embarrassing for a grown man to be jumping up and down like a pup.
“Since everyone seems to be on board,” Bernard said, graciously distracting everyone from my faux pas, “let’s dive right into our ocean lesson, shall we?”
His pun was met with scattered beeps and groans, though most of the class let out merry bleats to express their excitement for the lesson. The classroom’s monitor flickered to life, and gasps echoed throughout the room. The image showed a rocky seabed covered with what looked like strangely shaped rocks in a wide array of bright colors. The fish swimming among the rocks, many of them as colorful as their environment, stood out against the deep blue background of the ocean water. Of all the gorgeous pictures of life on Earth I’d seen, none had ever been this vibrant, this full of color. It almost felt like I was looking at an art exhibit.
Wow… this develops naturally_? It’s so pretty! I wonder how the rocks form those bright colors._
“There’s really only one way to start a lecture about coral reefs, and that’s with the animals that give them their name. Coral!”
Bernard changed the screen to a close-up of the weird rocks.
“Now, at first glance, these may just look like a bunch of weird rocks.” Wait, they’re not? “But they are actually colonies of living creatures.”
Confused beeps and whispers broke out in the audience, as people tried to wrap their heads around how the objects on the screen could possibly be animals. My mind went back to our first day, when we classified a bunch of Earth creatures as prey or predator. There had been quite a few aquatic animals, and several of them hadn’t looked anything like animals. Maybe this was something like that?
It seemed my seat neighbors had come to similar conclusions, as both of them looked relatively unfazed by Bernard’s reveal, Milam instead flicking her ear in thought while Kailo leaned forward with intense focus.
“Each of these colorful formations is made up of hundreds of tiny, genetically identical individuals called polyps.”
The screen changed to a close-up shot of what at first glance looked like a fleshy plant that had grown roots into the rock, but the diagram next to it had labels that read things like “tentacle,” “mouth,” and “stomach.” Animal parts, not plant parts.
“This is an individual polyp. They are very small, typically only a few millimeters in diameter and a few centimeters in height. They anchor themselves in one place by secreting an exoskeleton of calcium carbonate from their base. From their anchored spot, they catch and eat any food that drifts by with the tentacles by their mouth. The exoskeleton they make gets left behind, allowing new generations of the colony to build on top of it. Thus, over many generations, the colony can build a skeleton like the ones you saw in the previous photo, up to several meters in size.”
So that was how it worked! It made sense once he explained it. Colonial organisms were an uncommon but familiar concept in the Federation, though they mostly consisted of various small insects. The idea of invertebrates secreting an exoskeleton was also a known concept. This was the first time I’d seen both traits in a single creature, though.
“These skeletons are the structure upon which the reef ecosystem grows, providing shelter for thousands of different species. Even though they occupy less than 0.1% of the world's ocean area, they provide a home for at least 25% of all marine species, making them one of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet.”
With the truly staggering variety of species on Earth, 25% was no small number. My ears tilted back in awe at the pictures of the reefs on screen. They were like… underwater cities! Living cities that built themselves and teemed with all kinds of wonderfully fascinating creatures.
Bernard glanced around the room, wearing his “I’m about to ask a question” smile. The question arrived soon after. “Would anyone like to guess what corals’ diet consists of?”
Let’s see… they grab things with their tentacles, but they don’t move, meaning that they have to subsist on whatever floats by. Hmmm, why does that sound familiar…
The images from our first day still floated around in my mind. Wait! That’s it! I raised my paw.
“Yes, Rysel?”
“Is it like the jellyfish from our first day? Snagging small creatures in their tentacles and pulling them into their mouths?”
Bernard grinned widely. “Excellent conclusion, Rysel. You are right, coral polyps do indeed have similar feeding habits to those of jellyfish. Both coral and jellyfish belong to the phylum Cnidaria, so you were correct to draw parallels between the two. Obviously, due to their size, any prey they catch must also be microscopic.”
My tail wagged proudly at his praise. The feeding behaviors of jellyfish had horrified me back then, but now I could take it in stride. The fact that I could even remotely navigate the humans’ complicated classification system gave me even more satisfaction. I glanced around the room. A few classmates seemed a bit uncomfortable at the mention of coral’s predatory nature, but most remained fascinated and engaged. It’d taken months, but we were finally beginning to appreciate predators as something more than monsters, even if they had to be predators that didn’t even look like animals.
“However, while corals do feed with their tentacles, that isn’t actually where most of their energy comes from. You see, most corals have evolved a symbiotic relationship with certain types of algae that live in their tissues, which they acquire from the surrounding environment. The algae produce energy through photosynthesis, which the coral can then use. Algae also aid the coral in calcification for the coral skeleton and waste removal. The algae, in turn, benefit by having a safe place to live, and by consuming the coral’s carbon dioxide and waste products as nutrients. Truly an excellent example of two species coming together for the mutual benefit of one another.”
I knew what symbiosis was, of course. Traditional Federation classes loved to highlight how different prey species united together to benefit one another. It was considered a major part of the innate empathy in prey species that predators lacked. Not only was Bernard showing us a symbiotic relationship involving what would traditionally be considered a predator, but said predator was allied with a plant, of all things!
Was this phenomenon unique to Earth, or was this yet another thing the Federation hid from all of us?
“The coral reef is filled with mutually beneficial relationships like this. Take, for example, one of the most iconic reef creatures, the sea anemone.”
With the push of a button, the screen changed to show a creature that loosely resembled a coral polyp, only bigger, more colorful, and with longer tentacles.
“Now, sea anemones are close relatives of coral, and they share many similarities. They feed in much the same way as coral, snaring prey with their stinging tentacles and drawing it into the mouth. Their diet mainly consists of small fish, crustaceans, and other appropriately sized organisms. Despite its predatory nature, the sea anemone is often considered the poster child of mutualism in the ocean.”
Bernard’s words prompted hushed murmuring throughout the classroom. I was a bit unsettled by the anemone’s predator status, but those feelings were overwhelmed by my sensation of curiosity. What was it about anemones that made their relationships so notable? I just had to know!
I turned my ears to the conversations around me. Some classmates were saying that any mutualistic relationships an anemone could have must be predatory in nature: a union with other predators to hunt and kill more efficiently. Others argued it could be something else, like the coral and algae from before. Someone suggested that the humans were wrong about them, but that notion was quickly shot down.
Everyone’s reactions made me realize just how desensitized we’d all become to “predatory” things. While the term was still uncomfortable, Bernard had, through his lessons, patiently instilled in us the idea that predators were more than wanton bloodlust and violence. There existed predators like that, of course, but with such a broad and diverse class of animals, one would expect some horrible ones due to sheer statistics. Likewise, there would be plenty of good ones.
Sea anemones are predators, yet they’re famous for their mutually beneficial relationships with other lifeforms. If someone said something like that to me months ago, I’d never have believed them. I was so certain that I knew the fundamental mechanisms of ecosystems like the back of my paw. I chuckled to myself. Stars, so much has changed since then.
“First of all, many sea anemones form symbiotic relationships with algae in the same way corals do, benefiting from their photosynthesis while offering shelter and protection in return. But that’s hardly the only relationship they’re known for.”
Bernard changed the screen to a video of an anemone. Bright orange fish with white stripes swam around its tentacles. My heart skipped a beat as one brushed up against the tentacles, but the fish seemed unaffected by the anemone’s venom, much to my relief.
“This right here is one of the most famous symbiotic relationships on Earth: the sea anemone and the clownfish. These small, colorful fish have adapted to the anemone’s stinging tentacles, allowing them to nestle among them. The anemone protects the clownfish from predators, functions as a safe nesting site, and provides food from the leftover scraps of the anemone’s meals. The clownfish, in turn, defend the anemone from its predators, provide nutrients through their excrement, and circulate the water around the anemone, improving its respiration.”
As Bernard talked, the fish on the screen frolicked around their tentacled friend, the adorable sight eliciting pleased mewls from several audience members.
They protect each other, they feed each other, and they play together too! Who knew that two wildly different species could have such a beautiful friendship, even when one of them doesn’t have a brain!
Vlek spoke up, his voice skeptical. “Excuse me Doctor. You said that clownfish feed off of anemones’ meals. They are predators as well, then?”
“One could make that argument,” Bernard replied, “clownfish are omnivorous, and primarily feed on ambient zooplankton, with their diets supplemented by their anemone’s scraps and algae. The microscopic organisms they eat are so abundant that they don’t really need to hunt; they can just munch on whatever happens to drift by.”
“Like their anemone friends!”
“Yes, Rova, like their anemone friends!”
The class seemed to have mixed feelings about the clownfish’s diet. Zooplankton being tiny, simple creatures made it easier, but some still squirmed at the thought. Personally, I didn’t think it took away from how fascinating this duo was. As I’d come to learn with most predators, their diets weren’t what defined them; they were just one of many facets of their nature.
Bernard changed the slide to a photo of a different fish. “While clownfish are the most famous species to form mutualistic relationships with sea anemones, they are hardly the only ones. Take this cardinalfish, for example…”
Bernard went on to highlight several more species with special relationships with sea anemones, each one fascinating in its own way. Fish that laid their eggs among their tentacles. Snails that used them as shelter from predators. Crabs that mounted them on their shells for defense. One type of crab even attached anemones to its claws, using them as living weapons!
Such a simplistic creature, yet it’s evolved a rich network of relationships with so many different species. No wonder Bernard called them iconic.
Kailo fidgeted next to me. Something was obviously bugging him, but he seemed hesitant to speak up.
“Before we move on, does anybody have questions?” Bernard asked smoothly. He probably noticed Kailo’s uncertainty too. He had a teacher’s eye for that sort of thing.
Kailo huffed with determination and raised his paw. “Yes, Kailo?”
“Um, all the animals you’ve talked about so far have been pred– carnivores and omnivores. Where are all the pre– herbivorous fish?”
Bernard grinned. “That’s an excellent question, Kailo. There are herbivorous fish that graze on the algae of the coral, such as the parrotfish and the rabbitfish. That said, true herbivores are relatively uncommon in the ocean. After all, there aren’t many plants around besides algae and seaweed, and a lot of the algae that is there is integrated into the bodies of coral polyps. Thus, thanks to natural selection, most underwater species consume flesh in some form.”
A few months ago Kailo would’ve exploded in anger and denial at that response, but now his ears just tilted in confusion. “But… how can that work?? How can an ecosystem with so many pred– meat eaters sustain any sort of population, let alone the vast numbers you told us?”
Several sets of ears flicked in agreement at Kailo’s question.
“Of course, given what we know about land ecosystems, it makes sense to assume that the base of the food chain would be mostly herbivores. Under the sea, however, plants are much less abundant, so that role is filled by other animals. Some creatures derive nutrition by filtering food from the water or sand, much like a plant would pull sustenance from the air and ground. Many species, especially smaller ones, reproduce frequently and in large quantities, allowing them to sustain significant populations even when predators regularly hunt them. Finally, and this is a good transition into our next section, not all carnivores are predators.”
Wait. Huh? How does that even work? Isn’t that an oxymoron?
“Well, technically they are predators to the microscopic organisms they feed on, but they certainly aren’t predators in the traditional sense.”
A new set of images appeared on the monitor, showing off a handful of small fish and crustaceans.
“Now, as I’m sure you all have noticed, most fish don’t have hands or paws.” My brain conjured an image of a fish with furry Venlil arms. I stifled a whistle at the silly thought.
“This means that they can’t groom themselves. Dead skin, infected tissue, and nasty parasites can just accumulate on their bodies, and there’s nothing they can do about it. What’s a poor fish to do? Well, that’s where these guys come in. These are cleaner fish and cleaner shrimp. They are carnivores whose diet consists of dead or infected skin and parasites from the bodies of bigger fish, like so.”
He switched the screen to two photos: the left showed a fish (the parrotfish he mentioned just now?) floating by some coral with two cleaner fish picking at it. One was nipping at its scales, the other nestled all up in its gills. On the right, a cleaner shrimp mounted the back of a different fish, presumably using its claws to pluck things off its skin.
“These cleaners congregate in areas called cleaning stations, and animals from all over the reef swim to them to get cleaned. The cleaners remove parasites and dead skin from all the hard-to-reach places, like their gills and even inside their mouths!”
The monitor now showed a video, the contents of which elicited several gasps from the audience. The spotty fish in the video had its mouth open, revealing rows of sharp, mean-looking teeth. Side-facing eyes notwithstanding, this was definitely a predator. And a cleaner fish was swimming into its mouth. On purpose. And the predator just let it. We watched for a tense moment, waiting for those jaws to clamp down, but the cleaner swam out of the mouth with no issue, and the predator fish just… left, revealing a surprisingly long body to the camera as it did.
“That was a moray eel, considered an apex predator of the coral reef. Despite that, it allowed that cleaner wrasse to clean its mouth safely, and the wrasse clearly wasn’t concerned about being eaten. Would anyone care to guess why?”
Silence filled the room as everyone thought, until Sandi raised her paw. “Well, the eel wanted to be cleaned, and it couldn’t be cleaned if it ate the cleaner, so it resisted the temptation.”
As usual, Bernard paused to allow us to digest the answer before replying. “You pretty much got it! Even predators like the moray need cleaning, and eating the cleaners is a good way to get refused service from the rest of their kin. One minor correction, though. The average customer is not tempted to eat the cleaners, even when it’s a predator. There are exceptions, of course, but customers generally aren’t hungry when they show up for cleaning, or else they’d be out hunting instead. Moreover, the cleaner’s size makes for a poor meal; hardly worth the cost of being refused service at the cleaning station in the future.”
A chatter of discussion erupted after Bernard finished his explanation. It made sense, but it was still so… odd, to think about. I listened to the scattered conversations around me.
“How could a predator ever not be hungry? Sure, humans aren’t like that, but they’re sapient! An animal couldn’t possibly control…”
“...such a beautiful relationship. To think these cleaners get their food by helping others…”
“...wonder if there are others like them?”
The chatter hadn’t yet died down when the break bell rang.
“Ah, looks like we’ll have to end our conversation here for now,” Bernard chuckled. “Not to worry, though! Part 2 of this presentation will be after lunch, in which I will talk about humanity’s relationship with reefs and highlight some more of the amazing features of reef creatures. See you in a claw!”
Aw come on, you can’t just tease us like that! I have so many questions!
Coral reefs were so cool! I’d always thought the ocean was a dark, scary place where incomprehensible terrors lurked in the depths. Who knew the seas could be so lively, colorful, and fascinating?
I can’t wait to learn more!

So I am planning a celebration event in honor of multiple squadrons and CMDRs in July. Back in 3307, as some here may have seen me say before, the star system of Bandjigali's native squadron and faction, MetaVem Brotherhood, was struggling to regain their home from a Federation backed native NPC faction that was forced in control and usurped us over a year before. We clawed our way upwards but as we approached war with Bandjigali Independent Labour after barely winning against LHS 3320 Progressive Party, the traffic skyrocketed and we were slowly losing Influence (which even at 2% a day is alarming in a 7 Billion population system). For a year we looked for help in the Empire, having two "allied" squadrons who always left us out to dry. We also reached out to the Federation, with only Federal Expeditionary Armed Response and our neighbors in Allied Rangers Coalition showing support in our claim to our home. Then, I made contact with a CMDR Novarek, who brought our struggle up to the Alioth Council in the Alliance playerbase.
What followed were numbers of Alliance and Independent players who came to our aid. Alliance Rapid-reaction Corps, Alliance Office of Statistics, Terran Colonial Task Force, and others showed up to help people they knew nothing about against an enemy who flew in Private and could not be stopped. As we struggled, independents such as members of Equestrian Naval Fleet and CMDRs without a tag charged in to help us. We barely won, I remember going to bed on July 16th, 3307/2021 to us being 3-3. We all fought hard, knowing we fought hard for the day. The next day I awoke to many congratulation on Inara dms and on Discord. MetaVem was in control of Bandjigali again. Sadly since then the Split has made me the only remaining custodian on Live. I still watch over it, even as I now am a member of the Alliance Rapid Reaction Corps. I remain vigilant, and humbled that a chunk of the playerbase came to the aid of my family when we had no one else.
That said, in honor of three years of liberty from Federal control in Bandjigali I wanted to plan something to celebrate the event in game. I plan to record a speech to play in a video, to have little "community goals" leading up where players are encouraged to deliver goods, and host events in system for a "festival" of sorts. I dont know what exactly I could do. I was thinking a PvP tournament, a fun game I thought of where players compete to pick up the most of a cargo dropped by a ship in waves, stuff like that. Problem is, I also planned to take a paid week off for it as this was one of the most exciting things in gaming for me three years ago, but I have a class coming up for a needed certification and it will leave me only able to be on when the European players are asleep. Hans v. Martell of ARRC suggested I do it on a weekend before or after, but I dont know. The idea waa do stuff leading up to July 10th when it began, like the cargo and such, then spend 10th-16th with regular events planned then a huge one on the 17th, or have it all just take place on the 17th itself, inviting all squadrons who were our allies in our darkest hour to be guests of honor.
I am looking for suggestions and input from the galactic community. You guys are always so fun to interact with, and often have great ideas. I want to hear what you think, what you suggest! Would it be worth it to do this year? Anything I could add or change? Please let me know!

Hello!
In this YouTube video I talk about everything I learned in my first year of training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. My goal is save you as much time as possible. Oh, and has your gi ever continued to smell after you wash it? I’ve got a trick for that.
I’m going to be documenting my BJJ training journey with fun / informational videos.
I’d obviously love for you to subscribe, or please tell me what you think I could be doing better.
You can also just ignore this and go back to figuring out how to do a forward roll (am I the only one who struggled with that for the first few months?)
Thank you! ☀️ ❤️
https://youtu.be/pGrXnY-M1Pc?si=PBYMJU6JG9niruFb

TLDR will be on the bottom, this is fairly long.
For context, I (34F) showed up to my step-son’s (4M) soccer practice because he, and his other siblings (16F) and (11F) asked me to go. I had a weird feeling about going knowing that their mother (39F) hates my presence. She has been diagnosed with BPD but states “I was misdiagnosed” and does have narcissistic tendencies when it comes to me and my partner (her ex husband 40M). My partner works off shore and stated the kids requested I go (recently the bio mom blocked them from talking to me so I can only talk to them through my partner). I have never approached her in a negative way. I attempted to build a relationship with her from the beginning and the entire time throughout our conversation she had already built an image of me in her mind that I could not convince her wasn’t true. So I stick to facts within our interactions, the few we have. I have been in her kids’ lives for going on 4 years now and they love me, their mother and stepfather are both diagnosed with cluster B disorders and are in denial but have all the behaviors (gaslighting the kids, not communicating, withholding event information, manipulating court order interpretations, etc) for context and I am in the field of psychology and qualified to recognize behavior patterns. Back to the issue at hand, and if anyone has questions for clarification etc. I will answer. I showed up to the park where the kids were practicing soccer, I was walking by myself ahead of everyone else, the kids see me and run and hug me, but their mother comes up behind me and shoos the kids away with her new husband and says “You don’t need to be here. Please leave!” I looked at her and say “This is a public park, what is the issue?” She says “You wouldn’t understand the issue and (your partner) states he does not want to talk about it!” And I asked “Does it pertain to me being here right now? At the park? I’m not sure how a past conversation pertains to this moment?” She retorts with “Just give us this practice, please!” Again I’m confused and asked, “Again, ‘give you this practice?’ This is the only one I have shown up to because the information of his soccer games and practices was not passed to us for a month.” Now getting I am adrenaline dump from the lack of communication. At that time her husband (NPD, 6’2” man, I am 4’10”) and stands there quietly glaring at me with his arms crossed when she states “I don’t want to start and argument or cause a scene” I looked across the field at the kids who were staring at us and I told them both to have a nice day and walked back to the car. I decided to stand on the fence line and watch them play from afar, which made their mom, and step dad visibly upset (pointing at me, flailing their hands around). The kids texted their father and were very upset and embarrassed at their mom and didn’t understand why she felt she need to “bully” and “start drama”. Two days later (yesterday) I went to the soccer game with my partners’ sister and we brought the kids snacks, etc. Bio mom was very nice and had a way different attitude in front of the other parents but made sure the other kids weren’t there. Except for her new baby (I cannot have kids and she has said to the kids that ‘God did not let me (their bonus mom) have kids for a reason’ and while she was pregnant, made it a point to flaunt her belly (which she admitted she did) and now I’m assuming “the baby” as well. Not clear if she’s flaunting the baby, but that’s my assumption. They were also angry that we showed up to the 11yr olds’ baptism recently because they intentionally withheld the information (they admitted they did, but gaslit the children) we found out through my partners’ mom who was asked about it by bio-moms’ new husbands’ ex wife. Husbands ex-wife and partner’s mom, as well as bio mom were in a church group together and have been friends for about 6 years. Bio mom obviously unsubscribed to the friendship when she married new hubby. Bio mom and hubby stated “we were heathens” to sum it up and that they “let the wolves in the church to sit next to their children”. So apparently they didn’t want us to “taint the church”. My partner and I have done nothing inappropriate with our children, we both have great jobs, live in a nice house, we don’t yell or berate the kids (as they report their mother does to them often ESPECIALLY if they want to see their dad more). My partner fights for his kids and has to constantly because bio mom violates the court orders or “interprets them in her own way” so partner deliberately gets less time and it’s very sad to watch. My sister (who is also BPD) says I don’t understand I am “crossing a boundary” and “unless I am a mother, I wouldn’t understand”. Her own grown children do not talk to her for a reason. So, AITA for showing up to support my step-son in a public place even though my very presence is crossing a “boundary” with mom? Am I not seeing it because I am not a “mom”? Can someone give me an unbiased explanation because I genuinely want to know. Being told “You wouldn’t understand because you’re not a mother” is very upsetting to me, so if there is a way that could be stated in a nicer way if that is the issue I politely ask to keep that in mind. I want to support my step kids, but I also don’t want drama and I know the more they see their mother act out, the more damaging it is for their relationship with her, which is also not what I want.
TLDR: Borderline bio mom doesn’t like me and sees my presence at public kid events is “crossing a boundary” even though I am there to support the kids at the kids’ request and told me to leave the public soccer practice. I only show to support the kid’s and try to avoid bio-mom. I was told because I couldn’t have kids and am not a “mother” I don’t understand how it’s crossing a boundary to support my step-kids.

She (25f) is from my hometown, and randomly reached out to me (26m) in June '23 via Facebook messenger. At that point and today I am living 4 hours away in the major city area of the Midwestern state for grad school, and I've also started a great career (things are going good for me, but my future plans are to move back to our hometown area; maybe within the next year). When I say randomly, she literally sent a "wave". We've never spoken before that, but I knew of her because of her family. I waved back, she offered her snapchat, and the rest is history. We maintained regular casual communication. Not every day at times, but it has been very consistent nonetheless. This girl is absolutely gorgeous, so obviously I was interested in her from the start.
We've both experienced what relationships have to offer in the past, and it seems like we are both at a point where we're only interested in something serious. I should also mention that she seems to be introverted and prefers to keep to herself generally. Anyways, there have been several instances where she's sent me very provocative selfies; nothing nude really except for one night where she had been drinking at home, and she made it sound like she didn't really remember. Most of them are standard, like in a bikini or underwear, sometimes it's just a regular selfie with obvious intentional cleavage. I should also add that she sends these in the middle of the night when she knows that I'm asleep. My normal response is to be respectful while letting her know how gorgeous she looks. This is definitely not the basis of our relationship, we have long and meaningful conversations regularly if not every day.
Anyways, around a month ago she asked me if I would ever want to go on a date when I was in town. I responded with a resounding yes, and she acted as if I was joking with her. I gave my reassurance, telling her that she is a cool and attractive girl and that it would be a lot of fun. The reason I hadn't made this sort of move before she did was because I've always been unsure of what her feelings are towards "us". She's complimented my looks before, and frequently tells my how "sweet" I am and how she values our interactions. But it seems like any time I had tried to make an advance towards anything romantic (not sexually necessarily), she wouldn't really shoot it down, but wouldn't foster the advances either.
Anyways, at this point I decided I would take the lead. I set a date for the next weekend (memorial day weekend), and suggested a picnic/walk type of situation. She picked the park where we would go. She and I were both nervous, but she was more nervous (she told me via our messages). So we met up at the park, I gave her a few flowers (small bouquet, she left them in her car so she didn't have to carry them around), and we walked to our picnic spot. I had brought a simple charcuterie arrangement, which we didn't touch at all (I was expecting that we wouldn't eat any of it, more of a formality). It was quite awkward at first, but we did warm up to each other eventually and talked for a few hours, playing an ice breaker card game and general conversation. I think I knew pretty quickly that I wanted to keep seeing her. When we were standing by our cars getting ready to leave, we had the stereotypical awkward standoff. I told her that I wanted to see her again, she agreed. I wasn't sure if a physical gesture was something she wanted as well, so we said our goodbyes and left (rooky mistake I guess, LOL). The next day she did tell me how she wished we had at least done something physical like a hug. I agreed and apologized because I'm not the greatest at reading the room. My bad! Next time I will know...
Anyways, in the next few days she was thanking me profusely, saying how sweet I was (what the hell does "sweet" mean???) and how she absolutely loved the flowers. She had them on her snapchat story and I've seen that they're in a vase on her window. Our communication escalated in terms of frequency and depth. I told her "You can tell me if this is out of line, but I think it's valid because we've been talking for a while, but I do care about you quite a bit". She responded with "I kind of care about you too.." (two periods?????). We're currently planning a weekend trip to see some waterfalls (her suggestion), but we'll probably go on some more dates before that. In general, it seems like I am normally the one to be flirtatious in terms of the things I say. Can I write this off to her shyness? Am I way off base? On paper, her and I are a great match. Our families are somewhat close, and our conversation comes very organically. I am head-over-heals for this girl, and I'm trying to be very calculated with my moves so as to not ruin it. I should also add that at this point, her provocative snapchats have pretty much stopped (not completely). I'm interpreting this as we're getting more serious and I don't think she wants to ruin it either.
She has not been blunt enough for me, and I am not great at reading signals. I have a few questions that I am desperate to get answers for:

• Does it sound like she has intimate feelings for me?
• Should I make more advances towards something romantic?
• Should I cool it down a little?

TL;DR, The girl I've been talking to gives me signals that I'm interpreting as mixed, but generally suggestive of romantic intentions. How should I proceed?

Here's how it goes.
I have a Discover credit card which earns me cash-back. One way of redeeming cashback is that I can purchase Gift cards of my choice for myself at a discount. I bought a $55 Macy's eCertificate (eGiftCard) this way.
In my Macy's account, I had $16 of Star Money.
Mon May 27th (Day 1): I went to Macy's website to purchase a perfume ($140+tax) and split the payment into 3 methods.
$16 (Star money) + $55 (eGiftCard) + remaining (my Amex BlueCash everyday credit card). The transaction was declined. I tried another Amex credit card (Amex Gold) but again got declined. So I called Amex, and they said the Amex CCs have no issue. They are working fine.
In this process, the $55 from the Gift card was deducted. So I called Macy's. The agent assured me that I should get a refund within 24hrs.
Tue May 28th (24hrs hrs passed):
I didn't get a refund, so I called back Macy's, and the new agent said I would get a refund in 24-48 hrs. I said okay and waited.
Wed May 29th (48 hrs passed):
This agent asked me to wait till Friday. I was angry, and after a lot of discussion, the agent said, I will get a refund by May 31st Friday. And that she will personally look into it. She said would call me back on Friday to follow up.
Fri May 31st (5th day):
I got no call from Macy's so I called back. This time new agent answered. Keep in mind that, every time I call, a new agent answers, so I have to tell the whole story all over. This time, I was a little frustrated and I was adamant on getting a refund. But this new agent now said I should wait 7-10 business days. But I was not having it. The discussion went on for almost an hour, so he told me that they would try to send me another (physical) Gift card to my address with the $55 loaded (^{subject to approval}). He mentioned that I will receive an email by Sat morning confirming whether or not the new Gift was was approved for me or not.
Sat Jun 1st and Sun Jun 2nd (6th day and 7th day):
I did not receive any email so far. The current eGC has not received a refund either. I am writing this post on Jun 2nd morning.

• First of all, I am speechless at how they are toying with me by feeding me false/empty promises of a callback and a new gift card. I am confident at this point that they knew from the beginning that I was not getting either a callback or a gift card. They just told me a white lie to my face just to get rid of me from the call and probably laughed at me too.
  
• During every call, I asked them to at least confirm that a refund had been initiated to my GC. They said yes verbally, but when I asked for the confirmation email (so that I have it in writing from them), they kept telling me "We don't have the facility to send an email". What the actual fuck?!!
  
• For a company this big, providing a refund of $55 should be a negligible thing, esp after a customer has been calling regularly to follow up for a week.
  
• I am trying to make up my mind that I am losing the $55 at this point. TBH, it is not a small amount, but it is not a very huge amount either. I am not sad/angry/frustrated at losing the $55, but I am all of those for how they are just getting away with it with no repercussions. On top of that, the $16 Star money is going to expire soon too. So there goes my $16 as well!! I feel unjust and unfair.
  

Hi guys! Im not sure im at the right place to ask for some advice! Im (F) monogamous and my husband (M) now after 5 years of marriage brought up to me he wants to be polygamous and find a new wife. I respect his decision but I dont see myself in this dynamic and its eating me alive because i think we might divorce and I love him. But he doesn’t understand He keeps saying if i love him i would embrace this new set up. Im trying to find examples if someone has this kind of relationship when one of the partner is monogamous? And does it work?? Im extremely sad and he keeps asking me to give him an answer when i dont think i can . I told him Im willing to try because i love him but im destroyed inside. Is there something that can help me or this kind of relationship doesn’t work? Thanks 🙏

Hey yall! I’ve been working on cars for fun and I’m looking to start working on different types of cars. I want to say first, I am NOT a certified mechanic, just a hobby. I drive a VW which is worlds different than other cars. I won’t touch engine stuff outside of spark plugs, but if anyone is needing any work done on their cars outside of engine and transmission work please let me know! I LOVE going scrapping so if I can scrap the parts it’ll also be a lot cheaper than going to a shop! Things I have done to mine and other vehicles to give y’all an idea of the type of repairs I’m comfortable doing: Headlight/taillight assembly replacement Trunk latch replacement Window switch/motor replacement Brake/rotor jobs I’ve done one dent removal, willing to do again depending on severity Blower motor replacement (if your AC/heat doesn’t blow, this will fix it as long as your Freon isn’t low/empty) Spark plugs Battery replacement
If something isn’t on this list don’t hesitate to reach out! I’m always working on doing new things and will likely be willing to give it a shot!

On Sunday mornings our meeting is set up so a speaker reads this and discusses, then passes it around the circle and we each discuss. It’s a beautiful way to start the week, a great way to get focused shares and does well at unifying the room. Hopefully we can do this daily. I’ll discuss in the first comment and feel free to comment your share as well! Cross talk allowed!
A message for you from 24 Hours a Day AA Thought for the Day Some more things I do not miss since becoming dry: wondering if the car is in the garage and how I got home; struggling to remember where I was and what I did since my last conscious moment; trying to delay getting off to work, and wondering how I will look when I get there; dreading the day ahead of me. I’m quite sure that I don’t miss these things, am I not? Meditation for the Day You cannot believe in God and keep your selfish ways. The old self shrivels up and dies, and upon the reborn soul God’s image becomes stamped. The gradual elimination of selfishness in the growth of love for God and your fellow human beings is the goal of life. At first, you have only a faint likeness to the Divine, but the picture grows and takes on more and more of the likeness of God until those who see you can see in you some of the power of God’s grace at work in a human life. Prayer for the Day I pray that I may develop that faint likeness I have to the Divine. I pray that others may see in me some of the power of God’s grace at work.
Quoted from the app 24 Hours a Day.

“Effective Team”
I was just in combat alongside Andreja, and just as we killed the last merc she said, “We make quite the effective team.” Or something of the sort. Those two words unlocked a core memory of mine for the movie Oblivion with Tom Cruise (loved the movie btw) where those exact words are mentioned multiple times.
Going to try and get her to repeat it back and record. Has anyone else noticed this quote reference?

She (25f) is from my hometown, and randomly reached out to me (26m) in June '23 via Facebook messenger. At that point and today I am living 4 hours away in the major city area of the Midwestern state for grad school, and I've also started a great career (things are going good for me, but my future plans are to move back to our hometown area; maybe within the next year). When I say randomly, she literally sent a "wave". We've never spoken before that, but I knew of her because of her family. I waved back, she offered her snapchat, and the rest is history. We maintained regular casual communication. Not every day at times, but it has been very consistent nonetheless. This girl is absolutely gorgeous, so obviously I was interested in her from the start.
We've both experienced what relationships have to offer in the past, and it seems like we are both at a point where we're only interested in something serious. I should also mention that she seems to be introverted and prefers to keep to herself generally. Anyways, there have been several instances where she's sent me very provocative selfies; nothing nude really except for one night where she had been drinking at home, and she made it sound like she didn't really remember. Most of them are standard, like in a bikini or underwear, sometimes it's just a regular selfie with obvious intentional cleavage. I should also add that she sends these in the middle of the night when she knows that I'm asleep. My normal response is to be respectful while letting her know how gorgeous she looks. This is definitely not the basis of our relationship, we have long and meaningful conversations regularly if not every day.
Anyways, around a month ago she asked me if I would ever want to go on a date when I was in town. I responded with a resounding yes, and she acted as if I was joking with her. I gave my reassurance, telling her that she is a cool and attractive girl and that it would be a lot of fun. The reason I hadn't made this sort of move before she did was because I've always been unsure of what her feelings are towards "us". She's complimented my looks before, and frequently tells my how "sweet" I am and how she values our interactions. But it seems like any time I had tried to make an advance towards anything romantic (not sexually necessarily), she wouldn't really shoot it down, but wouldn't foster the advances either.
Anyways, at this point I decided I would take the lead. I set a date for the next weekend (memorial day weekend), and suggested a picnic/walk type of situation. She picked the park where we would go. She and I were both nervous, but she was more nervous (she told me via our messages). So we met up at the park, I gave her a few flowers (small bouquet, she left them in her car so she didn't have to carry them around), and we walked to our picnic spot. I had brought a simple charcuterie arrangement, which we didn't touch at all (I was expecting that we wouldn't eat any of it, more of a formality). It was quite awkward at first, but we did warm up to each other eventually and talked for a few hours, playing an ice breaker card game and general conversation. I think I knew pretty quickly that I wanted to keep seeing her. When we were standing by our cars getting ready to leave, we had the stereotypical awkward standoff. I told her that I wanted to see her again, she agreed. I wasn't sure if a physical gesture was something she wanted as well, so we said our goodbyes and left (rooky mistake I guess, LOL). The next day she did tell me how she wished we had at least done something physical like a hug. I agreed and apologized because I'm not the greatest at reading the room. My bad! Next time I will know...
Anyways, in the next few days she was thanking me profusely, saying how sweet I was (what the hell does "sweet" mean???) and how she absolutely loved the flowers. She had them on her snapchat story and I've seen that they're in a vase on her window. Our communication escalated in terms of frequency and depth. I told her "You can tell me if this is out of line, but I think it's valid because we've been talking for a while, but I do care about you quite a bit". She responded with "I kind of care about you too.." (two periods?????). We're currently planning a weekend trip to see some waterfalls (her suggestion), but we'll probably go on some more dates before that. In general, it seems like I am normally the one to be flirtatious in terms of the things I say. Can I write this off to her shyness? Am I way off base? On paper, her and I are a great match. Our families are somewhat close, and our conversation comes very organically. I am head-over-heals for this girl, and I'm trying to be very calculated with my moves so as to not ruin it. I should also add that at this point, her provocative snapchats have pretty much stopped (not completely). I'm interpreting this as we're getting more serious and I don't think she wants to ruin it either.
She has not been blunt enough for me, and I am not great at reading signals. I have a few questions that I am desperate to get answers for:

• Does it sound like she has intimate feelings for me?
• Should I make more advances towards something romantic?
• Should I cool it down a little?

TL;DR, The girl I've been talking to gives me signals that I'm interpreting as mixed, but generally suggestive of romantic intentions. How should I proceed?

I'm reminded of the quote "little victories".
If you go against the system head on you'll always lose so you have to get smarter and savor the wins. Don't let the bastards grid you down.
Henry is someone you just root for and anytime he gets what he wants or gets one over on abusive authority figures and his awful peers it's great.

I’m looking for any advice regarding haircare for my hair type and situation.
I’ve grown my hair pretty long, about mid back, but my hair strands are quite thin which I believe is genetic. I also experience the typical dry ends and split ends. Overall my hair used to be decently healthy and strong. I also eat very healthy, and I am taking a probiotic for gut health.
However, as I am living in an apartment/dorm I have no control over the water I wash my hair with, which happens to be extremely hard water. I am experiencing very bad hair loss, not in clumps, but everytime I brush or run my fingers through many many hair strands will come out. I also shed hair everywhere I go. I also have terrible dandruff, not big flakes but little tiny specks throughout my hair. I have tried different shampoos and conditioners with no change in my hair. My hair continues to be stiff and dry to the touch, gets greasy after 1 day and just sheds all the time.
My hair is so important to me and has been one of my favorite parts about myself, so losing this much hair all the time has been extremely hard and depressing. I am willing to take any advice, but just looking for some nonjudgmental, affordable solutions, keeping in mind I am unable to change my water situation. I also plan to make an appointment with my doctor when I am able to get home, but that could be weeks.

One life to live your best life. DoN'T DiE!
Ultra-Hardcore mining for 252 weeks in a row. Yippee Ki Yay, Miner Crafters.
If you die... you can earn a revive back to the Overworld by beating the weekly Sunday competition.
Sundays at 12CT there is also a special Team Competition, going now for 218 weeks now.
Current prize selections could include a revive on the persistent ultra-hardcore world, or an in-game advancement shout-out. Details in the discord channel.
Minecraft multi-player server: gapple.mchost.pro
Direct IP if you prefer 108.181.149.16:26998
Goal: Stay alive and earn the most points doing it.
Score: +1 per minute you stay alive, +1 per experience point you earn.
Examples: killing a skeleton earns 3 points, and killing the dragon earns 12,000 points.
You will start in the Spawn Ship until you are ready to enter the world.
Hold a bone block to see the server's current top scoring players.
Server Rules:
Do we even need to mention play fair and friendly? That should be a given on every server.
Do not use client-side mods that give unfair advantages.
No hacking, xray resource packs, or hacked clients on our servers.
Apocalypse DataPack:
Players killed by a zombie will become a zombie.
10% of skeletons get an enhancement.
Bats bite, and can morph into an illusionist.
Spiders can spin webs.
Ox-Heads defend the pastures.
The Litch kills everything he touches, so repel him and stay away.
Herobrine is a veteran miner, and not to be trifled with.
Medusa guards the Nether. One look at her and you turn to stone.
Your Discord Invite: https://discord.gg/EP5Y9C7
A great summary typed up by Tfin:
This is UHC, but not the UHC you know! Read on to find out what's up here! I'll start with quotes from the MineCraft Wiki: Ultra Hardcore... the main difference being players cannot naturally regenerate health. Like regular Hardcore, players cannot respawn if they die. These are the important points. This is where we're coming from. This isn't one of those 30 minute speed UHCs, or even the collapsing border UHCs of later versions. GatKong created this MineCraft datapack in the spirit of that original UHC season, but made it more difficult with a few additions. On this server, this is how you'll be playing: There are no teams. Free-For-All is the order of business here. PvP is enabled, but you'll need to find other players if that's how you want to win. There's a whole world out there. No borders, shrinking or otherwise. Go see it! ... There are a lot of customizations, So check out the tips and rules. Oh, and have fun!

This is going to be a long post so bear with me...
We see young Chrollo being able to imitate other fictional characters in perfect manner, so much so that it appears that he is the guy who is performing the role instead of that character. This represents chrollo's innocent nature and we get the first glimpse of Chrollo's identity. His identity was of a young charismatic kid who was willing to go extra mile for his friends and just be good to everyone in general, just like a young shounen protagonist.
If everything went on smoothly we could have seen Chrollo grow up as a good natured man who is contributing positively to society in many ways, but things doesn't go as planned, his youngest sibling dies at the hands of Mafia and it completely shatters Chrollo's innocence, it essentially destroys his innocent identity and Chrollo is left without a specific nature, but one specific purpose i.e. revenge for Sarasa and making sure that what happened should never happen again to meteor city people.
He formulates Phantom troupe as an extension of himself, and sets up the organization in the manner of a company, where he is the director and the rest of phantom troupe are members of the company, if he dies some other member can take his place, but the most important thing is the survival of the company that is "Spider". Chrollo assumes that spider is his identity, but in reality he feels he is still missing something, a purpose(we get this info when Gon contronts chrollo on why he kills people who had nothing to do with him).
We notice that the initial purpose of the spider was to take revenge for Sarasa and create darknet to catch the culprits and make sure it never happens again. Along the ways we get clues that Spider have changes slightly, they have become an organization without a specific purpose, they do whatever they want. It seems Chrollo and other have at least achieved one specific objective i.e. finding Sarasa's killers, otherwise they would still be focusing on that aspect, maybe they found the people who killed Sarasa, but didn't find the main mastermind who was behind all the kidnappings. Now chrollo has done all this to establish his own identity which he lost years ago(The sweet innocent kid). HIs nen ability also reflects his lack of identity, Just like he steals the act of fictional power cleaners, he also steals nen abilities and makes them his own, he uses those nen abilities in ways the original user could not have even dreamt off.
Enter Hisoka, the clown Magician. Hisoka represents the exact opposite kind of entity to chrollo, he oozes personality and identity, he is absolutely sure of what he wants and he won't change his ways, he is set in his ways unlike anyone Chrollo has ever met. This fascinates Chrollo to no end, so much so that other phantom troupe members also takes notice.
https://preview.redd.it/92mjeysrj64d1.jpg?width=1066&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=95f0f3db0976d03e7997349399f958e853203456
Here Feitan is complaining to Nobunaga on why Chrollo let Hisoka do as he pleases, in return Nobunaga replies that because Hisoka is good. I believe the reason is because Chrollo is fascinated by Hisoka's character and wants to see him do as he wishes, as he seems someone with so much character and identity, something he lacks for himself. Chrollo feels compelled to let Hisoka do as he pleases.
We see that how Hisoka betrays the troupe, causing Chrollo to lose his nen and death of Uvogin and Pakunoda. Chrollo essentially agrees to deal with Hisoka so that he can get his nen back, but he remembers that he needs to teach Hisoka a lesson. Hisoka, whenever he fights someone goes out of his way to reveal about Bungee gun( Bungee gum has the properties of rubber and gum), essentially flexing on his opponents that even when he reveals the mechanics of his ability, he will still win, he is absolutely sure.
Chrollo decides that he will teach hisoka a good lesson by turning the tables on his, he immediately goes on to prepare for the battle, he steals Sun and Moon, Order stamp, and Convert Hands, he also borrows Black Voice and Gallery Fake from his teammates. He also modifies skill hunter by creating Bookmark to be able to use two abilities at the same time, by performing additional tedious conditions. He choses the location of the fight to give him home ground and on the day of the match he proceeds to explain all of his abilities and how they works to hisoka as a flex.
Notice that the entire strategy of Chrollo revolves around Sun and Moon nen ability, as this ability is a nen after death ability, the original owner of the ability is dead and the ability is still active in Chrollo's hands. Now it is not possible to remove Sun and Moon from Chrollo's arsenal as there is no possible way to do it, it is a permanent nen ability available with chrollo, as long as chrollo is alive and able to use nen, he will always be able to use Sun and Moon. This ability shows what Chrollo truly is capable of, with Sun and Moon he is capable of using at least 7 or more abilities at the same time, and that is without holding the book i.e. he doesn't need to hold the book to be able to use multiple abilities as sun and moon will force those other abilities to remain open.
https://preview.redd.it/79nls48pm64d1.jpg?width=1067&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e80f698176bd9086f22eb8d34d1acbef8b7c89f2
Now we should pay attention to the fact that Sun and Moon has become an anchor point to almost all of chrollo's abilities as only with Sun and Moon he is able to express himself at his core level, he is strongest and most dangerous when he is using sun and moon. No other combo of abilities can even match the sun and moon.
We notice that Chrollo has changed again and again, but after stealing Sun and Moon we see an identity of Chrollo at his most clearest, as with sun and moon he can express his will/nen the most
After Chrollo has killed Hioska and left the area presuming that Hisoka is done for, he informs Shalnark that they will be travelling on the boat to the Dark Continent and also steal the treasure from Kakin kingdom, but when he notices that two of his abilities are missing and Machi reports that Hisoka has revived himself and Killed Shalnark and kortopi, and has threatened to kill the entire phantom troupe. He is worried for the first time about losing what he has built all these years. While he is slowly gaining an identity of his own through sun and moon, he is losing his identity through the spider.
Now currently Chrollo is at his most vulnerable place, he doesn't have the abilities to utilize sun and moon at its most effective, he needs an abilities that manipulates either people or puppets, previously he needed Order stamp in conjunction with Gallery fake to manipulates puppets, but if Chrollo were to steal an ability that can manipulate large no of people without the puppet restriction of Order stamp, he will be able to use Sun and Moon at its fullest.
Now for the speculation of what is to come, I believe that Chrollo and Tserriednich will come in contact and somehow Chrollo's past will come to the forefront of the entire plot thread. Chrollo at his end will go out in a blast caused by Suicide Bombing of sun and moon by manipulating himself and self destructing.
Going forward all abilities that Chrollo steals will be either directly or indirectly in service to facilitate the full use of his sun and moon ability, and that will be Chrollo's identity, a terrorist who bombs people for revenge.

Hey everyone,
I've got a bit of a situation and I'm not quite sure what to make of it. Hoping to get some advice or hear if anyone else has experienced something similar.
I met my partner online in September 2023. Just a few weeks later, we met in person and decided to become a couple. I couldn't be happier; our relationship is fantastic. We’re in a long-distance relationship, but we make the best of it by visiting each other frequently. Honestly, I would rate our relationship a solid 10/10.
However, there’s one thing that’s been bothering me. When I first met him online, he introduced himself as "Theo," but his real name is "Jakob." He clarified this within a few days of us talking, which I appreciated, but it still felt a bit weird. He insists that no one online can know his real name for privacy reasons, not even his first name. He uses "Theo" on every platform except Instagram.
Sometimes, I jokingly think he might be in the mafia or something because of how secretive he is about his name. There was an incident where someone online called him by his real name, and he got extremely angry, cutting that person out of his life entirely. He assured me he wouldn’t do that to me, but I can’t shake off how strange it all seems.
What should I do about my partner’s extreme online privacy? How can I address my concerns without offending him or crossing his boundaries? Has anyone else dealt with something like this? Would love to hear your thoughts or any advice you might have.
Info: He does introduce himself by his real name to anyone he meets. All of his family, friends, neighbours, colleagues call him "Jakob", me and my friends & family do that too. He does not care about that.
Thanks in advance!

Content Warning: mentions of menstruation, intercourse, bodily pain.

I never thought I would reach the point of wanting to leave my clinic and change PCPs. I've been using the same self-proclaimed 'gender affirming' clinic ever since I first came out to my medical team when I was 16.
Finding that clinic at 16 was a major shift and made me feel good about myself. I'd found my voice and finally felt heard after my family denied my transness for so long. My team was great, but as a young trans boy, I couldn't yet detect the bullshit.
I turn 21 in less than a month. Over the past five years, I've experienced turnover from my first PCP & now turnover with my second at the end of June. My team isn't as great anymore. My last PCP was a man of color, very down to earth, and validated my medical experiences. He left my clinic when I was 18.
My current PCP being a cis, white, gay man, I've never felt understood. And there is a nurse who's also apart of the team who's a cis, white, older woman who often speaks over me when I'm voicing a medical concern. Whether it's speaking over me or diminishing my medical experiences, I'm often leaving my appointments with a weird heaviness. As he was informing of his near departure, he made sure to let me know that the nurse I dislike will still be there, and honestly, that's way more of a reason to make the switch to a new clinic.
As of now, my main medical issues are chronic joint pain (I've had for years), lower abdominal pain when being intimate or solo-intimate, and consistent breakthrough bleeding. I'm currently on T (four years), but T has not been able to stop the bleeding on its own. So, then I was put on DEPO. Now, I've been prescribed a pill that aids in stopping blood flow (although the blood still flows, so..).
On Wednesday, my team decided I need to get a pelvic ultrasound done and potentially physical therapy for pelvic floor (again), and I'm over it at this point. I'm honestly tired of not feeling heard. I've voiced wanting to get a hysterectomy a few times in the past, but because of how young I was when I brought it up, it was taken with a grain of salt.
I've stated on numerous occasions that I don't want to have children biologically, and that I would much rather yeet all of my innards to no longer have to deal with obnoxious recurrent episodes of my boxers getting ruined and pain in my lower regions. I want to be able to enjoy intercourse again.
I guess, my biggest concern: With the clinic I'm currently with, there are so many branches of the same clinic and hospitals all stemming from the same company that makes PCP referrals and recieving meds a LOT easier. All of these are under the same system, so if I have issues, I can be directed to a specialist fairly easy.
There is another clinic in my city, specifically geared towards LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC people. I've gone to this clinic a couple of times to get checkups and testing, etc. Even gotten my T from there while my main clinic had a backorder. I still get my prep from this second clinic.
I'd love to make this switch, but I'm worried that if I had another concern, like for example, needing to see a rheumatologist, I don't think they would be able to direct me to a specialist because this is a much smaller, nonprofit clinic that primarily specializes in LGBTQIA+ medical endeavors.
Of course, I can call tomorrow and ask about this, I just wanted to talk about it and get some support. Thanks for your time!

Gosh the difference from the first few days up until now is mind blowingly different!
Mine wasn’t a blind sided breakup - I left him after 3 years because his DA tendency’s got out of hand I was basically treated like shit the last few months of our relationship but found it so hard to let go!
I was considering ending things for a while and then one day after a lovely lunch I organised with HIS family he just lost it on me for no reason and then the click came! I stood up and basically told him I’m done… i walked away!
The shock in his face! I sent all his things back the next day in an uber and that was that!
Of course I sometimes miss him (the good times, especially the first year) and the first few weeks without him I was miserable.
But after all this time out and clarity sinking in I realized he was just not the one! I see everything better now! I gave him so much love! I didn’t deserve to be treated like dirt!
Hang in there guys! Things do get better! That person you left or who left you was taken away for a reason… There is someone better out there for you, they simply just were not your person!
🫶

Well this is gonna be a weird one. Back in 2020, I (then 21) met Tim (then 20) on discord during the COVID-19 lockdown. He and I fell for each other almost instantly and we started talking. We'd chat 24/7 for hours and hours until the lockdown ended. Then we started dating IRL. I thought everything was going amazing but a few months after dating, Tim basically dropped that he doesn't think he loves me and wants to see other women. Oh boy, was I shattered.
I cried, begged, pleaded, threatened. I bought him expensive gifts to convince him to stay. But he didn't. And I was in a terrible place after a while. He blocked me on all social media and would ignore me if he saw me in real life. Eventually, I gave up and stopped chasing him.
Afterwards life happened and we all graduated college. I started my post-grad degree and began working on my own self. In 2023, Tim reached out to apologize for his behavior and I gently forgave him. He told me softly that we can be friends if I stop acting like the crazy ex-girlfriend. I tried not take offense and befriended him again. Around that time, I met Jake through a friend of friend.
Jake and I clicked as well except this time it was different. We dated for about an year casually (I told only 2 female friends about Jake because I didn't want to jinx this relationship too) before he proposed to me. Now Jake and I are busy planning our 2025 wedding.
This is where the problem starts. Tim and a few friends asked me to hangout after my exams and I said I'd be glad.
We (5 guys and 3 girls) went to a fancy place, ordered our food then started updating each other on our lives. One girl mentioned that she is moving abroad. And I couldn't hide my shock. When everyone asked me why I'm worried, I shyly broke the news that I'm getting married soon and want the whole gang to be there. There was a moment of silence. Then the girls hugged me and squealed that I need to show pics. The boys watched awkwardly.
I showed pictures of Jake to the gang. And Tim looked mortified. He got up and left the table, leaving us all confused. Later he texted me that I did this on purpose to spark a reaction from him. I assured him that I genuinely like Jake and want to settle down with him. But Tim is pissed and accused me of being a crazy ex. I told Jake what happened and he got angry too and told me Tim is no longer invited to the wedding. So AITA?