DC, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, and South Dakota are holding primaries for at least some state and/or local offices today in addition to the statewide presidential preference primaries.
Iowa, having held its presidential nominating events already, is holding its primary elections for some non-presidential offices today including US House, both chambers of the state legislature, the state supreme court and intermediate appellate courts, municipal government, and two statewide ballot measures.
There are also local elections happening in California (a recall election in Anaheim's District 3, a special election in Monterey County's Harnell CCD, and a school district recall election in Temecula Valley Unified School District), Colorado (a recall election in Cherokee Metropolitan District), and South Carolina (Burnettown, which has a special general election for mayor).

California

News, Analysis, and Resources

• KQED: California Recall Elections Test Strength of Conservative School Board Movement

Colorado

News, Analysis, and Resources

• The Denver Gazette: Cherokee Metro District voters have until Tuesday to turn in ballots for recall election

District of Columbia

News, Analysis, and Resources

• The Washington Post (soft paywall): Trickle of voters heads to polls for D.C.’s primary races Several competitive races are on the ballot, including the council race in Ward 7, where 10 candidates are vying to succeed outgoing council member Vincent C. Gray (D).
  
• AP: Democratic primary for DC Council held against a backdrop of crime in the nation’s capital
  
• WTOP: Meet the candidates: DC’s primary election headlined by several contested council races
  

Live Updates and Results

• WTOP: 2024 DC Primary Election: Council, presidential and congressional races
  
• ABC: Washington, DC, 2024 Democratic primary results
  

Iowa

News, Analysis, and Resources

• Des Moines Register: Right-wing challenges, legislative matchups: 3 things to watch in Iowa's June 4 primary
  
• Iowa Public Radio: Iowa's 2024 Primary is June 4. Take a look at the ballot for each district
  
• KCCI: Primary primer: What you need to know ahead of Iowa's June 4 primary elections
  

Iowa Results

• Iowa Secretary of State: Election Results & Statistics

Montana

News and Analysis

• AP: Primary in Montana will lock in GOP challenger to 3-term US Sen. Jon Tester

Live Updates

• NBC Montana: Decision 2024: NBC Montana Primary Election Day Blog

Results

• WSIU: Montana Results

New Jersey

News and Analysis

• NPR: Andy Kim upended New Jersey politics. Now he’s on track to become a senator
  
• AP: AP Decision Notes: What to expect in the New Jersey presidential and state primaries
  

Live Updates

• WHYY: Election 2024 updates: New Jersey voters to weigh in on U.S. Senate, House races

Results

• NPR: New Jersey Results

New Mexico

News and Analysis

• Soure NM: The primary election is today. More than one-third of legislative candidates have already won. Most New Mexico Democrats and Republicans have one or zero choices for Legislature
  
• KRQE: What to watch out for in New Mexico’s 2024 primary election
  

Results

• WSIU: Here are New Mexico's 2024 primary election results
  
• Politico: New Mexico 2024 primary results
  

South Dakota

News and Analysis

• South Dakota Searchlight: Republican factions fighting for control of the party in Tuesday’s primary election Rival groups spending money to influence GOP legislative races
  
• Dakota News Now: Primary day in South Dakota: A guide to the election
  

Local Results

• Iowa Public Radio: Here are South Dakota's 2024 primary election results
  
• ABC: South Dakota 2024 primary results
  

So you're looking to create a Channel 5 midday movie? Look no further. Follow these steps and you'll be well on your way to making forgettable predictable fluff not even fit for the DVD bargain-bin at the local charity shop.
First, establish your premise, there are three to choose from:

• A white upper-middle-class family's life is turned upside down when their new hot blonde nanny turns out to be a raging baby-mad lunatic operating under a false name to hide her extensive history of being sectioned.
• A couple's relationship is thrown into turmoil when the husband's new hot blonde assistant turns out to be a duplicitous home-wrecking slag with a penchant for kidnapping and owning unregistered firearms.
• Everything seems to be going perfect for the Smith family until a hot blonde unknown long lost relative appears on their doorstep, ingratiates themselves into the family within 6 minutes, and then later is revealed to be some sort of psychopathic serial killing nutcase.

(Remember, crazies are always attractive blonde women, if your antagonist is a lip-licking trainspotter in a trench coat, they won't be able to ingratiate themselves with the family)
Now establish the setting

• The family should live in an inexplicably massive suburban house located somewhere within the American mid-west. From the outside it should appear to have at least 12 bedrooms, three garages, and a front garden the size of a local playground.
• When the clearly batshit-insane new addition to the household is about to move in, have the two precocious teenagers moan about having to share their bedroom even though the house is the size of a Tesla Gigafactory.
• If your antagonist is some sort of live-in physiotherapist, nanny or nurse, the house may start out unkempt so that she can further ingratiate herself with the family by tidying the place.

Now refine your characters

• The wife can have either of two careers. Either she is an artist struggling to get her work into a local gallery, or she's a lawyer who is working overtime in a desperate attempt to "make partner at the firm". Ensure that she is overworked and inattentive to her husband so you have a catalyst for the inevitable affair.
• The husband can be an architect, doctor, or working as a marketing whiz trying to get the business of . You can at this point give him a rival colleague so your lunatic blonde has someone of little value to kill 30 minutes into the film, sort of a "warm up" murdering.
• There should be either a friend of the wife or an angsty teenage daughter who quickly notices the blonde's strange behaviour. The wife will then brush these legitimate concerns aside as "jealousy" because the antagonist has done at least one important favour for them. If it's a daughter, she will live, if it's a friend, she's gonna get bludgeoned in her car.
• If your antagonist is a baby-mad fruitcake with a tragic backstory of giving up her own daughter for adoption before she was carted off to the mental asylum, you should have one daughter approximately 6 to 10 years old with whom the antagonist can displace her homicidal maternal yearnings. This child may also be used in the last act as your antagonist's hostage.

Introduce the antagonist

• The antagonist should appear almost instantly. Solidify early on that they are clearly insane by having them glare at their target from a parked SUV. When their target (usually the husband) gets into his car and starts driving, she should follow, giving his car about 3 yards worth of distance (this makes her invisible).
• The antagonist should immediately become an indispensable cornerstone of the family by being polite, washing the dishes, and assisting whichever member of the couple is the most career-oriented during a time of career difficulty. If she is seeking to displace the wife, she may make a number of "innocent mistakes" that cause the wife to lose a big client.
• Have the antagonist rifle through the family's belongings when nobody is home. When discovered mid-way through her rifling by the daughtefriend of the wife, the antagonist will excuse try to her behaviour with either an irrelevant sob-story, rapidly changing the subject, or by saying that she was looking for the Windex in the underwear drawer.

Have the antagonist foster a division between the couple

• This is the easiest part of designing the story. Simply have your antagonist plant her bra in the husband's car, or failing that, have her ply him with wine. The husband may ask why she's changed into a sultry red dress, but this can be easily explained away by saying she spilled something on her nurse uniform.
• As the husband gets more drunk, shown by how loose his tie is, have the antagonist make clearly two-faced disingenuously supportive remarks about how the absent wife isn't prioritising their relationship. "She doesn't have time for you John", "You work hard, you deserve a woman who can make you a home cooked meal", etc.
• The simple act of preparing one dinner for a dissatisfied husband who has been living on Chinese takeaways is usually enough to drive the couple to the point of having a loud argument about how the wife is supposedly ruining their relationship, not the complete stranger living in their spare-room, at which point the antagonist should be listening from the stairwell or front-door, probably smirking.

Now that the wife is suspicious, have her find out the antagonist's backstory

• This usually involves the wife rifling through the antagonist's suitcase/purse. She will find some innocuous business card, keyring, or the antagonist's drivers license with a different surname. This leads the wife to drive over to the next state and attempt to learn more about her mysterious house-guest, usually culminating in a visit to the mental hospital.
• The wife will try to convince the apathetic receptionist at the mental hospital to release confidential patient files. The receptionist will refuse this request, however another employee or former associate of the antagonist will be listening to the conversation from around the corner.
• The other employee or former associate will chase down the wife in the car-park, and then give pointlessly cryptic details. "I can't say much, but you have to get her out of your house, she's dangerous". The employee hands her a beige folder containing a picture of the antagonist with ratty unkempt hair in prison overalls.

With the wife's suspicions now at maximum, have her call the husband

• "HONEY?! HONEY GET OUT OF THERE, IT'S EMILY, SHE'S NOT WHO SHE SAYS SHE IS, HELLO? HELLO!? JOHN!?", the call ends and she dramatically accelerates her nondescript grey saloon with the hood ornament removed.
• Wife returns home to find the husband unconscious with a serious headwound. At this point the antagonist will come out of the kitchen, gun in hand, and the wife will ask "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?". The antagonist will then say "You had it all, and I had NOTHING, you don't appreciate what you have so I'm gonna take it" *cocks gun*.
• Police sirens are approaching. The wife called them before she came in (the only intelligent move made by anyone in the entire movie). "IT'S OVER EMILY". The sirens distract the antagonist long enough for the wife to rugby tackle her.
• A struggle for the gun will ensue, the two women will roll around on the floor for a bit kicking each other, before finally a gunshot is heard, they both look down, see the blood, there's about 20 seconds where they don't know whose blood it is, and then it becomes apparent that it's the antagonist's blood.
• Despite it being merely a gut-shot with a peashooter of a handgun, she dies instantly. If she's especially crazy, she might laugh as her light goes out, or die with a Joker-like grin.

Now you can do the conclusion:

• Fast forward to 6 months later. The wife is completely unaffected by having taken a human life. Everyone is laughing at the barbecue, the husband is healed, everything is perfect.
• Husband will then introduce his new assistant at the law/architecture/marketing firm, they may joke about how they hope this one is sane.
• 5 solid minutes of credits listing way more people than necessary to create such a substandard low-budget mess.

Author note: The Cryopod to Hell is a Reddit-exclusive story with over three years of editing and refining. As of this post, the total rewrite is 2,200,000+ words long! For more information, check out the link below:
What is the Cryopod to Hell?
Join the Cryoverse Discord server!
Here's a list of all Cryopod's chapters, along with an ePub/Mobi/PDF version!
Want to stay up to date on TCTH? Subscribe to Cryopodbot!
...................................
(Previous Part)
(Part 001)
In the immediate aftermath of his empowerment, Henry basks in the glow of adoration from his fellow Parahumans. A deep sense of satisfaction wells up in his chest after slaughtering the five Changelings who dared to infiltrate their solemn ceremony, and he looks at the Second Wordsmith with gratitude and profound respect. Without Hope Hiro, he would still be a mere civilian, doomed to live a life of mediocrity. All of that has changed now.
As for Hope, he pats Henry's blood-covered shoulder and smiles. "Well done, Henry. Anyone here could have killed those Changelings, but you were the first to react. Maybe you even managed to prevent them from leaking what happened here, too. I sure hope you did."
Henry grins. "Just doing my duty for the good of humanity, Commander."
Several soldiers nearby whoop and cheer as they slap Henry's back and congratulate him. But while they give the young man the credit he deserves, Hope has a few other people gather the bodies of the Changelings and lie them down, side to side. Despite the gruesome sights of their mangled corpses, Hope doesn't even blink. He's long become desensitized to such violent imagery.
"Scan. Examine." Hope says, sending Words of Power out to probe the corpses. "Hmm."
Henry pulls away from the crowd to walk over and crouch down beside his Commander. "Notice something, sir?"
"I haven't." Hope says. "That's the problem. Every inch of these people looks identical to the average human. You're... sure they were Volgrim Changelings, right? Like, you're one hundred percent sure? Because everything I'm seeing here indicates they're ordinary humans."
Henry nods seriously. "Without a doubt. When Jepthath connected to my mind, I could read the thoughts and sense the emotions of everyone around me. But not these five. Their minds were... void. When I probed deeper, I came into contact with words and thoughts that didn't feel human. It was like if I tried to describe to you how a slug experiences the world around it. Completely alien."
"So you could only tell because of Jepthath's power." Hope muses. "That poses a problem. I can't verify these are aliens at all. If they really are Changelings, their disguises are incredible. The blood is slightly discolored, so that might be worth looking into, but otherwise even their genetic makeup is identical to that of any human."
"I think you should examine their souls, sir." Henry suggests. "Or their brains. I'm telling you, they didn't think in the same way I did at all. It was almost frightening how weird their thought patterns were. I can't really put the experience into words."
Another man nearby nods. "I felt the same thing too, Commander. Lord Henry isn't lying."
"I know he isn't." Hope says with a smile, before raising an eyebrow. "Wait, 'Lord' Henry?"
"That is what the Sovereign has decreed all of us should call him by." The man says. "He is Jepthath's Champion. He possesses the same strength and power the Sovereign did when he walked the Earth. It's only fair to call him our Lord."
Hope looks at Henry. The young man doesn't physically appear any different from before. Compared to the roided-up Parahumans who also ascended, Henry appears the same as before, almost as if he didn't power up in the slightest.
"I want some of you to deliver these corpses to Neil in secret." Hope says to a nearby soldier. "I'll let him know you're coming ahead of time. Don't tell anyone these are Changelings. Just say they were training casualties."
"Yes sir!" The soldier says, before gathering a few other people to cover the bodies and drag them away.
As the crowd disperses to discuss the day's events, Hope slaps Henry's back. "Come with me."
He and Henry stand up, then they exit the church and head deep into the woods. After walking for a couple of kilometers, Hope cracks his neck, then turns to face Henry.
"We'll spar here."
Henry blinks. "Sir?"
"My body is augmented." Hope says mildly. "Due to an accident six years ago, billions of nanites ended up embedded under my skin. Over time, they're merged with my biological makeup and enhanced me in lots of different ways. My bones are durable, my mind is quicker, even my blood pumps a little faster."
Hope assumes a guarding stance. He raises both of his fists and looks at Henry seriously. "We'll start off light, but as long as neither of us ends up dead because of a single sudden hit, I should be able to heal any damage we take."
Henry nods. He takes a deep breath, then assumes his own combat stance, dancing between his heels and toes as he starts moving from side to side.
"I've gotta warn you, Commander." Henry says. "I haven't tested my strength yet, but the Sovereign says I'm as strong as he was when he was alive. I also have access to all of his knowledge on fighting, as well as the knowledge of everyone he's ever connected with, and the 10,000 who joined his consciousness today."
"That's why I said we'll start light." Hope says with a smile. "I'm no novice, but when it comes to combat? I doubt I'm Jepthath's match. HUH!"
He suddenly lunges toward Henry and sends a jab at his opponent's right shoulder. Henry lightly pivots from the flat of his foot to his heel, turning slightly to avoid the attack.
THWAP!
Hope sees stars as the side of Henry's fist bashes against his left ear, sending him sprawling to the dirt. Hope blinks his eyes, needing a few seconds to register just what in the hell happened.
"Commander!" Henry exclaims. "Are you okay?!"
He quickly leans down to pick Hope up, and the Wordsmith clumsily climbs to his feet, visibly dazed.
"...huh? Huh?? You... hit me?" Hope asks, incredulous. "I didn't... even... see you move."
"I tried to restrain my strength." Henry says, blushing in embarrassment. "I thought that backfist would only knock you to the side a little bit."
Hope rubs the side of his head. He opens and closes his jaw while a ringing sound squeals in his ear. "Normalize. Heal. It's no problem, Henry. That's the whole point of this exercise, to see how strong you are. Clearly, I was way off the mark in my estimations. I'm going to need to take this a lot more seriously."
Hope once again assumes his guarded-stance. "Empower. Strength. Defense. Swiftness. Agility. Reaction. Prediction..."
He strings along several dozen Words of Power, all of them being spells that he has confirmed will help him during hand-to-hand combat fights thanks to his six years of practice, as well as his training inside the Hall of Heroes.
Finally, he finishes off with one last word. "Invincibility. There, that should make my body basically a slab of tungsten."
"You're all done, sir?" Henry asks, his eyes sparkling innocently. "I'll make sure not to hit you in the head again."
"I'm far stronger than before." Hope warns him. "Don't hold back on my account. Though, do try to avoid my jaw. I can't Wordsmith if I can't speak."
"Noted, sir." Henry says back, as he once again resumes his dance-like steps of combat footwork.
The two men start trading blows once more. This time, Hope manages to match his opponent in the physicality department. When Henry sends a crushing blow toward Hope's chest, the Wordsmith takes the hit, staggers back, then leaps forward to spike a jab at Henry's throat. Henry slaps his fist aside, than ducks low and tries sweeping Hope's feet. The Wordsmith lightly hops, evades the sweep, and plants his feet firmly on the ground before punching down at Henry's lowered head.
Over and over, the two men attack and defend, the sounds of their fists, arms, feet, and legs making contact as they disturb the nearby woodland creatures.
For twenty long minutes, they fight. Eventually, Hope pulls back, sweat covering his whole body. Comparatively, Henry appears somewhat relaxed, as if the sparring session was barely even a warmup.
"I'm not your equal." Hope says mildly. "Strength-wise, I can barely match up to you. But when it comes to technique? I feel like a toddler fighting a martial arts master. I can barely even land any hits, but you're constantly knocking me around like I'm in a goddamn pinball machine."
Henry blushes again. "Sorry, Commander. I held back as best as I could to match your strength level."
"Wait, you're still holding back??" Hope asks, bewildered.
"Well, yes, sir." Henry says, scratching his nose sheepishly. "You said this was only a sparring match. If I were to go all-out I'd probably have easily..."
He trails off, causing the implication to linger in the air.
Hope blinks his eyes, feeling as if a bomb has exploded in his mind. "Henry! Be honest with me. How much have you been holding back?"
"Well. I don't have any exact numbers or whatever." Henry says, looking away. "I mean, I probably used less than half my strength? Can you perhaps boost yourself more? Then I can get a more accurate estimate..."
Visibly dismayed, Hope hangs his head and looks at the ground in disbelief.
"...So this is what Solomon meant when he said Specialists are better than Generalists in their specific field. Sorry, Henry, but if I strengthen my body any more, I'll probably explode. This is all I can manage for now. Let's call it good for today."
"Oh. Alright then!" Henry says, cheering up a bit. "It was a lot of fun anyway, Commander! I feel so powerful now, like I could rip a tank apart with my bare hands! If I have any one complaint, it would just be..."
He pauses, then looks away.
"Well. I'm not usually one for using my fists. I was a sniper when I worked under Neil. I'd rather be using a gun if I'm being honest, but now it feels like I'd be wasting my strength if I did that instead of using my whole body."
"Yeah. Maybe..." Hope says uncertainly. "Or perhaps we need to get you a new weapon and set of armor that better matches what your body can accomplish now, to say nothing of your new status. I'll talk to Hans Wagner and see what he thinks."
With their sparring session complete, both men teleport back to Maiuran High Command, now located in the city of Adamsburg, a fortress built atop the planet's tallest mountain. Despite its immense height and seemingly awkward geographical positioning, because of the efforts of several Fairy Princesses, there exist teleportation matrices at the bottom that can send any number of civilians and troops upward and downward as needed.
This city atop a peak, named Mount Adams after the commander himself, stands as a testament to what humanity can accomplish even with surprisingly limited resources. In fact, Hope Hiro had almost nothing to do with its construction. It was built a few years earlier at the command of Neil himself, who wished to have a secure fallback location in the event of a total collapse of humanity's ranks. While it would normally be quite secure, its carrying capacity was unfortunately too limited to hold all the humans in existence during the Stormbringer assault.
Now though, with humanity's population having been decreased by a significant margin, Adamsburg provides a safe and secure shelter for the humans to start from, allowing them to begin working their way outward to conquer more of Maiura's fertile territory.
As Hope and Henry teleport into the city built atop the mountain, Henry looks around in wonder. "Wow! I should have come here sooner."
Hundreds of residences made of rock and stone dot the city's interior. Thirty-foot walls shield the city from external attacks, which would also have to aim those attacks upward to even reach the city's underside.
In many ways, it resembles a medieval city, but with electricity powering it courtesy of Hope's few material contributions. Thanks to his Wordsmithing, he was able to add a miniaturized fusion reactor to the city's electrical grid, allowing it to self-sustain its residents as needed for the next several hundred years.
When the two men arrive inside Adamsburg, Hope starts walking toward the city center, where Neil's personal office sits comfortably within a few minutes of walking distance in any direction. But hardly has Hope taken ten steps before a series of invisible question marks pop up over his head. He turns around to see Henry standing in place, clearly content to stay behind.
"What are you doing?" Hope asks. "Come on! Let's go see Neil!"
"Huh? Me?" Henry asks, his face paling. "You want... me... to see the Commander? I- I don't know, Hope. That doesn't seem- I don't think that would be a good idea. I know he hates me for what I did. I can't look him in the eye anymore."
Hope realizes the reason for Henry's lollygagging. He chuckles under his breath. "You don't need to worry about that. Neil's not the sort of guy to hold a grudge. Even if he is, all you have to do is sit through one tongue-lashing and admit you screwed up, and he'll forgive you."
"Are... are you sure?" Henry asks, wincing. "I don't know."
"I've known Neil for six years. We're extremely close, almost like father and son." Hope says. "Now come on! If you're going to call yourself 'Jepthath's Envoy' then you're gonna need to grow a goddamn spine, man."
"I have a spine!" Henry protests. "But... it's easier killing demons than facing Commander Adams again. I hate that I nearly got him killed, all because of that demon bitch."
"Good. Be sure and tell him that." Hope concludes.
The two men resume walking. They pass by hundreds of civilians in the bustling city, many of whom have only migrated within the past few days. In fact, more than eighty percent of Maiura's human population have come from Tarus II after the Great Debate, which has caused a certain amount of friction among those who settled here for a longer time before.
"Goddammit!" One man yells as he stands in a line outside a popular restaurant. "Ever since you Tarus yokels came along, this place has been packed every day! I used to be able to walk in and sit down. Why do I need a reservation just because you yahoos moved here, huh??"
"Quiet down!" A man ahead of him yells back. "We're all waiting. Fair is fair!"
Hope observes the interaction as he passes, then swiftly forgets about it a few moments later. Squabbles of this level aren't of any interest to him, and will instead be dealt with by the city enforcers if things turn violent.
He and Henry eventually arrive at a sizable building that resembles a library, with architectural flourishes that give it a classical look, yet without skimping on the security. Numerous troopers patrol outside, while a half-dozen sit and stand atop the slanted roof, keeping an eye out for airborne threats. When Neil is on base, everyone always remains on high alert, just in case.
Both men walk inside, and Hope nods at a blonde woman with glasses. "Debra. Is Neil busy right now?"
"Only if it's not you asking." Debra says with a smile. Then her eyes meet Henry's and that smile disappears. "You brought him here?"
"I have a good reason." Hope says, ignoring the protest in her eyes as he walks Henry over to Neil's office door. He knocks twice, then lowers the handle to push the door open.
Neil looks up, momentarily surprised someone would just walk right in, but only until he realizes it's Hope. "How did the ceremony go?" He asks.
Hope doesn't say anything. He steps into the room, then gestures behind himself at Henry, who slowly walks inside, reflexively lowering his head out of shame.
"C-commander." Henry mumbles, wringing his hands together.
"So it's you." Neil says. He looks at Hope with narrowed eyes. "You brought him here because...?"
Instead of answering, Hope tilts his head up. "Privacy. Barrier. Solidify. Opaque. Scan..."
He erects a privacy field around the room, taking care to triple-check and ensure no Psions are inside the bubble where they can listen in. After satisfying his desire for privacy, he smiles politely at Neil.
"I'd like to introduce you to the strongest member of the Parahuman Corps, Neil. Henry Cliff has obtained a perfect compatibility rating with Jepthath's power. He is as strong as the ancient Hero-King was when he walked the Earth, and has thus been named Jepthath's Champion. You can also call him Lord Henry, or the Illuminator's Envoy, if you prefer."
Neil listens to Hope's introduction. He looks Henry up and down, but to his layman eyes, the young man still appears only as strong as any average soldier. Certainly not as impressive as Hope seems to think.
"I- uh, Commander." Henry says, stuttering and mashing his words together. "Don't- don't let my, uh, appearance fool you. Ahaha... I'm pretty strong."
"He beat my ass during our sparring session." Hope says plainly. "And I was going at him with everything I had. Henry here didn't even break a sweat."
For several long seconds, the room falls into an awkward silence.
Neil simply stares at Henry, and the young man becomes visibly more uncomfortable by the second. Finally, he breaks composure and steps toward Neil while holding his palms out.
"Commander! I... I am so sorry. I am filled with shame at my actions during Stormbringer. I betrayed you! I betrayed humanity. Ose may have assumed the form of a beautiful human woman, but I didn't follow protocol and report her to the higher-ups! Because of me, you ended up captured by the demons and suffered terrible torture! I don't know how I can redeem myself, but I'll do anything- ANYTHING, if it satisfies you."
Neil continues to remain silent for a few seconds longer.
"...Will you kill yourself if I ask you to do so?"
Henry flinches at the question. He starts to open his mouth, but then he pauses for a moment before lowering his head.
"I'm sorry, Commander. That's the one thing I cannot do for you."
"Oh? And why is that?" Neil asks, unfazed.
"Because, sir. I'm not some ordinary civilian anymore. I answer to a higher power. I have a Calling now, and a strength that I cannot throw away uselessly. I need to use Jepthath's strength to save as many human lives as possible! But if, in the future, my power becomes irrelevant, I would be willing to follow your... request."
Neil again stays quiet. He looks Henry up and down a few times, clearly thinking to himself about something unknown.
Finally, he stands up from his chair and folds his hands behind his back.
"That was an excellent response. It seems the time spent in that prison cell gave you a chance to think about what sort of person you were becoming, and what sort of person you'd want to be."
He continues. "I'll be honest, boy. I never blamed you for what you did. Demons are wiley. Crafty. You are young and stupid. You thought with your lower head instead of the brain the Creator gave you. Even so, I know if Ose hadn't pretended to be a human, you'd never have done as she asked. You'd have turned against her the moment you realized she was a demon."
The Commander inhales sharply. "Every man makes mistakes. But it is not these errors which define us. Rather, it is the lessons we learn from them that shape our potential and turn boys into men. I see now that you have grown a little wiser and will not be fooled so easily in the future."
Henry nods heavily. "I cannot claim I'll never make another mistake, Commander. But I promise to do my best not to fall for any bloodskin's forked tongue again."
Neil chuckles. "You know, when I was younger- before Bahamut took me, that is, I fought under a Hero named Napoleon."
He continues. "In Napoleon's army, there were plenty of fellows who screwed up basic orders, failed to follow simple commands, but Napoleon often forgave them even when it seemed nonsensical. Why, on one occasion, some fool lit a cigar near a barrel of gunpowder and damn near killed three people nearby, not to mention himself. When Napoleon only let the man off with a stern rebuke... I was so confused at the time. I questioned him about the matter in private, and do you know what he told me?"
Hope and Henry both listen intently as Neil pauses to let their minds run wild.
"He told me, 'Neil, what would you have me do? Kill the bastard? Better to let him live. For the price of one barrel of gunpowder, we taught that man a valuable lesson. You can bet going forward he'll be far more prudent about his actions!' And I must say, Napoleon was right. That person ended up becoming a lieutenant toward the end of the war, decorated for his valor, and well known for his sometimes-excessive level of caution."
Neil shrugs. "Compared to the price you paid, which actually ended up being nothing at all, I'd say the lesson you learned was equally valuable. I'm fine in the end. Alive and fully intact in body, mind, and soul. Contrary to what you might believe, no demons tortured me, though they did deny me a bit of food in a pathetic, half-assed attempt to weaken my morale. It's too bad they underestimated the indomitable will of the human spirit."
Henry nods, fully comprehending Neil's words. "I understand, Commander. Your wisdom is truly sublime."
"I'm glad to have you back, Henry." Neil says with a smile. "You were my best sniper. I'll be watching your military career with great interest in the future. Don't disappoint me."
Henry slaps his chest. "I promise I won't, sir!"
After the two men exchange a few more pleasantries, Neil has Hope teleport Henry outside of the privacy barrier, leaving the Wordsmith and Commander Adams alone.
In an instant, Neil's smile vanishes. In its face, an icy-cold gaze fixates on Hope.
"That Jepthath is really something." Neil says frostily. "I'll bet you didn't even notice what just happened."
Hope blinks twice. "Huh? What- what do you mean? Are you telling me you only pretended to accept Henry's apology?"
"Henry didn't apologize. Jepthath did." Neil explains slowly, waiting for Hope to catch on. "Come on, boy. You're smarter than this. Don't tell me you didn't notice the abrupt change in Henry's demeanor. I'm not a close friend of his, but we've spoken on several occasions. He's never been this decisive before."
"I... I don't know." Hope says, frowning at Neil. "I think Henry really wanted to get that apology off his chest, Neil. Why are you saying it was Jepthath talking? I mean, I know Jepthath could have used the Dominion Rod's connection to seize control of Henry, but that seems unlikely, don't you think??"
Neil shrugs again. "Maybe you're right. Maybe Jepthath didn't take direct control. But that whole shpiel about a 'higher calling'? Give me a break. Don't you know who Henry is? He's an illiterate human we rescued from one of the savage worlds. He's adapted to modern human society somewhat, true, but since when has he ever been so well-spoken? No, I can state with absolute confidence that Jepthath had a hand in that boy's emotional transformation. It's up to you whether you believe me or not."
Hope's frown deepens. He glances behind himself, as if trying to see the doorway hidden by his Privacy Field. He turns back to Neil, unwilling to concede this point.
"Let's agree to disagree, Neil. Henry's a good guy. He screwed up once, yeah, but you didn't have to lie to him to make him feel better."
"I spoke no lies. I meant every word I said." Neil counters calmly. "Whether or not Jepthath took over for a while, Henry has learned a lesson and it may just turn him into a true man. But we won't know for the foreseeable future, so let's move on to other things."
He meets Hope's gaze. "Have you spoken to Diablo yet?"
"No. I was waiting to see how the Illumination Ceremony played out." Hope explains. "Now I know, and we've gained a lot of bargaining chips. If you really want me to lead troopers into battle alongside the demons, then I'll do it."
"It has to be you." Neil says. "My reputation won't allow me to take Diablo's deal, but you can play the moderate in this situation."
Hope snorts. "Heh. Sometimes you make me think you're a real funny guy, Neil. I'll go find and talk to Diablo after this, don't you worry. Maybe within the next week we can start fighting alongside him."
"That would be for the best." Neil concludes. "Anything else?"
"Yeah. One last thing." Hope says, his tone of voice changing to something resembling a bubbling anger. "There were five Changelings that tried to attend the ceremony. Jepthath sniffed them out when he tried connecting to their minds, and Henry killed them. Our troops should be bringing the bodies soon."
"Changelings." Neil says, tightening his eyebrows. "You're positive it was them? To date, we haven't had any luck detecting them."
"Jepthath's power seems to be the key." Hope explains. "Now that we have five bodies to examine, we'll need to do so in absolute secrecy. I fear the Volgrim already know about the deaths of their spies, but it's possible they might not. In any case, with five bodies to examine, we might find a biological marker or some sort of DNA sequence we can use to identify other Changelings in the future."
A few seconds pass. Neil looks at Hope questioningly.
"You're telling me the differences aren't obvious? Did you even examine their corpses?"
"Of course." Hope says. "That's the first thing I did! But no dice. I'm telling you Neil, if the Parahumans weren't swearing up and down these five were Changelings, I'd have no idea! Their internal organs, their brains, every piece of them came up human even when I looked at them with my Wordsmithing. It's fucking uncanny is what it is. And creepy."
Neil's expression turns ugly. "All along I assumed they were only deceiving us with their outward appearance. If their entire body can blend in with any populace, then we're in real trouble, Hope. We have five bodies to cut open but even those might not help us identify other Volgrim spies!"
"Yeah. You're telling me." Hope mutters.
The two of them chatter a while longer, then Hope turns to leave.
"I'll be visiting Diablo next." Hope says. "Until next time, Neil."
"Until next time." Neil says, as Hope dissipates the Privacy Field.
The Wordsmith teleports away, leaving Neil to plunk back in his chair and rest his elbows on his desk.
Humanity's Military Commander stares vacantly ahead for a long while, thinking about various things.
Jepthath, you are a sneaky one.

I (FYA) recently got into a fight my father. I won't go into details, but he basically reprimanded me for not disciplining my son enough to the point he's become evil.
Why is this an issue, you ask? My son (MT) got into a bad fight with his dad (MYA).
It's well-known in our family that my son despises his father but adores me. He'd be fussy and throw tantrums around his dad when he was a toddler, ignored and taunted him as a child, and now as a teen he's started getting verbal and a little violent.
A few days ago, they got into a huge fight and were yelling and insulting each other for hours. My son basically declared his father as his number one enemy and then stomped off, leaving his dad to stew in his anger at the aggravating conversation. A day later, my son begged him for forgiveness and suggested they go swimming together to reconcile. But he ended up trying to drown his father. And that caused a fight between my son and his grandfather, my dad.
Well, my dad came to talk to me about it but I refuse to punish my son. He's allowed to hate whoever he wants and he's never hurt anyone like that before. Besides, he does great at school, helps around the house and helps his grandma cook. I think he's allowed to act out every now and again. But my dad doesn't see it that way. Even though he knows why my son hates his father.
For background: His dad and I met when we were children and became high school sweethearts not long after. We got married as soon as we could and he moved in with me and my family. Then I got pregnant with my son.
While I was pregnant, my husband had affairs with both my parents multiple times. In fact, he missed the birth of our son because he was in bed with my dad. I was sick and tired of his cheating, so I divorced him. My son knew of all this because I lowkey vented to him while he was young and his grandmother often told him the story whenever my husband made a mistake. Kind of like a jab to show she doesn't forgive him for what he did to me.
Well, when my son was a child, I got back together with his dad. My son wasn't happy at all and still harbors resentment towards his dad.
When the drowning incident happened, my mother told me it was basically my fault and my dad agreed. I asked why and my mother said that it wouldn't have happened if I had just kicked my son's dad out instead of taking him back. My son agrees, but also won't directly tell me because he knows that I'm happy with his father.
AITA for taking my ex back and inadvertently causing him to nearly die?

I love animals so much (we have several pets: cats and guinea pigs), am lukewarm on dogs, but am very anti-pit. I have a high energy toddler who loves spending time with the animals. I have made it no secret to my husband my stance on having dogs around my toddler who won’t be calm and doesn’t know any better. The current problem is that my MIL who comes to my house everyday to provide childcare is talking more and more about getting a dog. I hate the idea. It obviously can’t come to our house. Her husband has shown no interest in helping with dog care or getting up to let their previous dogs out. Anyways, last week she got the kiddo a plastic dog (kids toy) that resembles a pit and barks and rips and shakes a sock in its mouth. Gross. And I have overheard her say “glad you like dogs, I’m getting one soon.”
Today she proudly says she’s been window shopping at the local shelter (south GA) and there’s lots of “lab mixes”. So I get really serious and explain that those most likely are heavily pit. She denies that they would do that. I say, any chance that she gets any dog, it needs a DNA test. She says those things aren’t accurate anyway. I look her in the eye and say that I am firm on this. No pit anything around my child. I am deeply concerned and sensitive on the issue. She replied that she actually wouldn’t mind a pit bull, she would just want to get it as a puppy so she can love and train it. Omg, when?? She’s at our place 11 hours a day. And they’re not puppies long. And still, any argument she gives will still be a hard no from me. I will die on this hill. She’s pushing my boundaries, and yes, my husband will be getting involved. Anyway, I would love to come with hard facts. She doesn’t Reddit and showing her this sub would probably put her off. Any comparable mainstream versions of this sub /statistics/stories that can be found on the more accessible web that I can share with her? I also want some good links to drop in the comments of the endless pit posts on Nextdoor. If you got this far, thanks for hearing my troubles.

I'm getting divorced in Arlington, VA, where home costs are very high. I must spend more than I have to stay in my kid's school cluster. I'm currently in grad school for two more years, but I will be making little as a public school counselor (I was a teacher and expect to earn around 60k a year).
My sister and her husband offered to put money in my home so I could afford the monthly mortgage payments. They would have to invest about $250,000 (or more) in my down payment. I would like them to make out well in this venture, as they are helping me so much. Ideally, I'd like to give them back the percentage of the profit when I eventually sell the home (most likely a townhome). So, if they pay for a quarter of the house, they receive a quarter of the sale price. I want to pay for all maintenance, monthly fees, and upgrades, and I want this done legally. Does anyone know where I can find an attorney to do this?
I read an older post that warned off a fellow from getting his brother-in-law to invest in his house as an investment, but I feel this is a different story. They are helping me maintain a part of my children's lives that this divorce will upend. I know they will own part of the house and have a say in things, and that is fine, and I would never want to burden them more since they are helping me so much. If I had to take on some debt for a flood or something, I would happily do that not to have them have to give me more money.
I really appreciate any help you can provide.

My SM decided to change the schedule this last Friday so I got the weekend off, at the expense of all of this week.. I close every night this week. ( just like every shift I've worked for 3 months) I have 2 to 10:30 shifts every single day this week. The catch is I will be completely alone. We have a full staff at our store, SM is dealing with a nearby store that's not worth the time, so she will not be present. The schedule is a mess, we had all our new workers quit within the last month. I've wanted to quit a month into working there, I didn't have a car and I live in a small town. I got the car and license, I could go anywhere but I've stuck to this shitty store. But with all the recent quittings, I felt the need to stay. Until recently, I had my co keyholder show his true colors, very mentally I'll, very dangerous. He was a quiet worker, good at stock not much else, I closed with him most days of the week. He tried a lot of questionable conversations that made me uncomfortable, weeks before he quit he said something ridiculous then told me to NEVER tell anyone, had a crazy look in his eye. Week later he set the top safe wrong several times over, I was trapped in a store with this guy questioning the hell out of me. He missed his shift on mothers day and i got called in to work it, came in the next day and put in his 2 weeks/ got fired. He's been gone for weeks, but came looking for me on my birthday when I wasn't scheduled saying I vandalized his house. ( I didnt) he was caught on a tree cam with a gun on private property, threatened combative customers with a pocket knife, and threatened that the CIA is after me, on my birthday?
To wrap it all up, New assistant manager accused me stealing from the register, I counted my oversized till lastnight and it had a lot, I didn't take 80 from it, I didn't miss count it. I'm going to get yelled at over something out of my control and I'm thinking either close the store with a note saying I quit, or I'm putting my 2 weeks in. Closing every night for 3 and a half months has drained me, with no one else at the store to talk to or help during the busy part of the year will only make it worse and it's only Tuesday. I don't hate my other co workers but I will never work for another dollar general.

I'm a SAHM and I'm due with my second baby in September. Right now we have no help aside from my in laws coming over one day/month- MIL can watch my son and FIL helps my husband on house or yard projects. They would come over probably 3 weekends/month if we asked/allowed them to, but we usually don't because the effort it takes me to prepare the house, cook and clean for them, and deal with my own anxiety/issues with them kind of neutralizes any help they provide for me.
Regarding how I'll handle an infant and toddler by myself (my son is 22 months now), I'm hearing things from both sides. Some people say I'll be fine, people do it all the time. That's kind of where my mindset is. But a lot of other people say it's not possible without help.
We can hire a cleaning person for at least bi-weekly house cleaning, and we can get prepared food or takeout or MIL can drop off food for us when they visit. I can probably have as much help from my in laws on the weekends, but again that's a trade for the anxiety and stress of hosting them (MIL is 'all knowing', I'm not comfortable around them). They also live 1.5 hours away so their visits are very long and planned ahead.
We interviewed a babysitter last week and she has great references and my son was super comfortable with her right away. She is in her 40's with no kids or spouse, she is a nanny for another toddler 2 days/week but can help us the other days. She can also assist me with things like going to the store for or with me and the babies, accompanying me on outings, meal prep, light cleaning, like a mother's helper.
We can afford to hire her for as much time as I need basically.
It sounds like a dream come true, but when she was over for the interview/trial babysitting appointment, I just watched her in the backyard with my son and felt weird about it. As much as I wanted a break, I wanted to be out there with him. She doesn't know all of his little words and everything, I just feel like our son should be with family. I'm not sure if I'm projecting though because I had a pretty bad upbringing and remeber anytime I was with a babysitter, inhated it. But I also was in daycare very young and hardly saw my mom and when I did see her, she was super stressed from work (she was a teacher but for some reason had us in childcare for insane hours and all summer). My husband agrees and says any outside help will just see our son as a $30/hour paycheck. But he knows his parents make me uneasy so he's not even suggesting his parents come more often.
I'm just wondering if anyone else has felt this way before welcoming their second baby? I feel very comfortable and confident parenting my toddler, he tags along as I cook and clean and we go to the beach and do fun stuff together. Is it realistic to just not have a babysitter?

Hey guys! So I am planning to bring a new Sammie puppy into my boyfriend and I’s life next month. It’s currently two weeks old and I will be bringing it home by 8-10 weeks old. I have a two year old Husky mix whom is very depressed and just sleeps all day but will happily play when my boyfriend’s family dog comes to visit time to time. I feel like he needs a constant buddy to play and interact with since he is a hyper active dog. I graduated a little over a year ago from college and now am getting into the working world so I know I might be gone a lot more, so I want my dog to not be bored and alone all day every day.
Is it okay to have two dogs or how much more stress and work will it be? I grew up with two dogs and never felt like it was worse having two over one. My bf thinks we will be tied down and held back in life with two. He also thinks we won’t be able to travel ever which I don’t think is true.
Can you guys give your opinions and advice/personal stories of this? I just think for my dogs happiness, and with how much he loves to be around a dog instead of alone, that he needs this more than anything.

Today, my late grandpa's villa and house where presented in the court for the 2nd time to get auctioned, my mom was present and she noticed for the second time that no one shows up for the auctions, there were 6 cases and no one showed up, some people told her that it's because people fear buying these kind of houses because of inheritance problems? Even tho it's in the laws hands and nothing should be feared? I personally don't know. The only thing is that my grandpa's properties that are now up for sale are really such a steal. Could you believe a 3 stories house getting sold in marakesh for 55 million dirhams? And a villa that 400m for 270 million dirham? And anyone that showed up for that auction could've bought it without having to debate for it because no one came. Am asking everyone that's reading this post. Please if you have any infos or anything that could help us on this matter, please tell us what should we do.

It was a cold, stormy night when Emily and her friends decided to explore the old, abandoned mansion at the edge of town. The house had been vacant for decades, its darkened windows and creaking timbers a testament to its eerie reputation. Locals whispered of ghostly apparitions and strange sounds that emanated from within, but Emily was skeptical of such tales.
Determined to prove the ghost stories wrong, Emily and her friends, armed with flashlights and a sense of adventure, made their way through the overgrown garden and up the steps to the front door. It groaned in protest as they pushed it open, revealing a grand, yet decayed, foyer. The air inside was heavy with the scent of mold and decay, and their footsteps echoed ominously on the cracked marble floor.
As they ventured deeper into the house, the temperature seemed to drop, and a sense of unease settled over the group. They passed through dimly lit rooms filled with dusty furniture and cobwebs, each more foreboding than the last. In one of the upstairs bedrooms, they found an old diary lying on a vanity table. Curiosity piqued, Emily picked it up and began to read.
The diary belonged to a young woman named Isabella, who had lived in the house over a century ago. Her entries spoke of a happy life at first, filled with balls and social gatherings. But as the pages turned, the tone darkened. Isabella wrote of a mysterious figure who visited her in her dreams, whispering sinister things. She described waking up to find objects moved and strange symbols drawn on her walls.
One night, Isabella wrote of waking to the sensation of being watched. She turned to see a shadowy figure standing at the foot of her bed, its eyes glowing with a malevolent light. Terrified, she screamed, but no one came to her aid. The entries ended abruptly, leaving the fate of Isabella a mystery.
As Emily finished reading, a chill ran down her spine. Suddenly, a loud bang echoed through the house, followed by the unmistakable sound of footsteps coming from the hallway. The group exchanged fearful glances, their bravado evaporating. They followed the sound, their flashlights trembling in their hands.
The footsteps led them to the attic, a place none of them had dared to venture before. As they climbed the narrow staircase, the air grew colder, and an oppressive feeling weighed down on them. Reaching the top, they found the attic door slightly ajar, a thin sliver of light seeping through.
Pushing the door open, they were met with a sight that made their blood run cold. In the center of the attic was a circle of old, decaying dolls, their glassy eyes staring blankly. In the middle of the circle lay a large, ornate mirror, its surface cracked and tarnished. Emily’s flashlight flickered, and for a brief moment, she saw a shadowy figure reflected in the mirror, standing behind them.
Before they could react, the door slammed shut, plunging them into darkness. The temperature plummeted, and they could hear whispers, like a dozen voices speaking in hushed tones. Panic set in as they fumbled for the door, but it wouldn’t budge.
Just as they thought they were trapped, the whispers grew louder, forming a single, chilling word: “Leave.”
With a final, desperate push, the door flew open, and they stumbled out, racing down the stairs and out of the house without looking back. They didn’t stop running until they were safely back in town, hearts pounding and breath coming in ragged gasps.
From that night on, none of them spoke of the mansion or what they had experienced. But Emily couldn’t shake the feeling that they had disturbed something that should have been left alone. And sometimes, in the dead of night, she could still hear those faint whispers, urging her to return.

My husband (28) and I, (f23), have been married since September of last year, 2023. We started dating in April of 2022, right after a nasty breakup of mine, which was maybe a little too soon, but the past is the past. Like I said, we tied the know last September and we've had nothing but issue after issue since. Being short on money, house and car issues, and most recently, intimacy issues.
For context, my first bf, almost 6 years ago, really messed me up, kind of tarnishing the act of kissing and intimacy. Long story short, a lot of abuse in multiple different ways and I was able to get out about 6 months into the relationship. That lead me into a lot of issues that 18 yrs olds aren't ready for or should ever get into. Luckily, I have an amazing family that pulled me out and got me started new in a new town, and I lived with family. I started dating a new guy online, super sweet man, for 2 years. I won't get into the nitty gritty, but it ended up not working out and we parted on not so good terms.
Cue my now husband coming into the picture. I've known him for over 19 yrs, so it didn't take long for us to grow smitten with each other. We got married, and almost immediately our marriage was being tested. House issues, car breakdowns, ER visits for myself, you name it, it happened. Our most recent and problematic issue, intimacy. Like I said, my first bf kind of messed up my feelings on sex, so sometimes sex doesn't feel as intimate as it should and that really messes with my husband. Whenever he wants to be intimate, there's never any romance, just do you want to or not? Idk if it's him trying to be respectful, but it got to the point where he told me he doesn't ever have sex with me because I "never want to be intimate with him." Sometimes I get to the point where I'm so emotionally drained, I can't find the energy to have sex, and it must have lasted a long time without me realizing it. So I tried to initiate it and he said to leave him alone, that I'm faking it, or that I'll say in the middle of intimacy that I'm done. I'm extremely hurt by this, but I figure it's my own fault. Yes, he knows abouty past but I think he believes I'm using it as an excuse to get out of intimacy. I'm hurt beyond words because a couple days ago he told me he doesn't want to sleep in the same room as me, or even cuddle, which is due to a different issue I won't get into. But I genuinely believe it was influenced because of this said issue.
Any advice is much appreciated and I'll try to reply to each comment.

So I had maintenance done on my AC unit (it's all good thankfully!) However the company we used also inspected our duct work and said it needs replacing. It is original from 1991. The tech showed us photos from the attic, and yes, it does look pretty bad. Our house is 2 story, a little less than 1800 sq/ft with one A/C unit. The first quote was $12.2k. We're not made of money, so that was an obvious hard pass. Then it went down to $10k. They were trying to pressure us to go with it on the spot, but we said no, that we needed to discuss it since that's a lot of money for us. We will likely get a couple more quotes. Since we have never had to deal with this before, is 10k a fair price? Thanks in advance!

First off, sorry if this in the wrong spot. Sitting here stewing in my thoughts at work and I figured I’d ask a question I’ve had for a while. I have a couple of bookshelf speakers, two towers, and a 10” subwoofer. It’s nothing impressive, but my 4th story neighbors did call the cops on our parties a few times. Anyway, we’re out of the dorms and into a house. This is where the setup sits now (and I want it to stay there if I can). Everything except for the bass is perfect. I have a feeling that the space under the staircase is completely swallowing my bass. Sounds like a teenagers Honda Civic when I squeeze myself in there behind the sub. I tried sound proof foam inside the space but it didn’t really help. What do you guys think? Should I move the sub to the back of the space under the staircase?
TLDR- Bass is being swallowed by space under the staircase, where should I move it to? Perhaps build something?

My husband and I are in the process of buying a house. Previously, our house was a ranch with no stairs, but our new house is two stories. We have a three year old who is competent at climbing stairs and have very good motor control, but he’s also has the impulse control of, well, a toddler. I’m terrified of him tumbling down the stairs. My husband thinks baby gates are a good idea. While gates may slow him down, they certainly wouldn’t stop him and I’m worried if he tries to climb over the baby gate at the top of the stairs we may be in for an even worse result. Of course we will immediately enforce that we don’t play on the stairs and supervise him, but we’d like to be as prepared and safe as possible. Anyone in similar circumstances? What would you or did you do?

If the story from unnamed sources about E-Trade /Morgan Stanley closing Kieth Gill's account is true why would they stop with just him and what would stop any other trading platforms from following suit? As an individual investor in GME and other stocks this worries me greatly and I hope that it worries anyone that participates in the stock market. Seems like the only true way to own your stock once again points directly to DRS. Yes, he has a large account but if this stock is as short as the evidence seems to show eventually a few shares will be worth big money and you too will need to be closed to "save retail traders". If a company tells you what action they will take please do not be surprised when they do it. This is purely my opinion and not investment advice in any way I am a holder of GME in two brokerage accounts and through computer share.

Hi all, I'm trying to find the name of this book, but I'm pretty sure it's maybe an online fanfiction/story on AO3 or another online story forum, so I'm not sure if it can be found, but I had to try!
I'll try to lay out all the details as much as I can:
The story starts out with a girl at school comforting her best friend, who was just broken up with by the popular player guy. The main guy is part of a guy friend group where they have a deal to never have a serious relationship again or something, so they agree that they can date, but once they have sex, they break things off immediately with the girl and move onto someone else. This exact thing happened with FL's friend, and so FL decides to try to date him for revenge and break up with him instead.
They start dating, but they get really close, and the guy takes him to her house, and they have a huge mansion, but their family is basically broke and they're doing all they can just to keep up appearances that they're not poor. At one point it's the ML's birthday, and the FL gives him a coupon book for "one ticket good for one day of time together."
At one point they go skinny dipping and almost have sex but don't b/c ML didn't bring a condom (I'm remembering very specific parts of this story 😅). Later, the FL thinks they're going to have sex soon, so she asks her guy friend to help her pick out lingerie, and then the FL and ML have sex, and the ML breaks up with her afterwards. FL tries to get back with him using all her might by using her guy friend, kissing ML's friend, and doing everything possible to get him back.
That's where I stopped reading the story b/c it wasn't finished, but it's been years since then, and it just crossed my mind the other day, and I wanted to see how it ended, but I couldn't find it for the life of me - I hope you all can help!! 🙏

You can answer as few or as many as you like! And any other things you can think of.
This is me daydreaming about the 7-book rewrite fanfic I will absolutely never get around to doing. With how many are out there, there's no way I could contribute something original at this point anyways.

1. Would the Dursleys still get Harry, or would he have other relatives on his mum's side to take him - like grandparents or great grandparents or a great aunt or such?
2. If Harry still goes with the Dursleys, do they treat him the same by making him sleep in a hall pantry under the stairs and starving him when he gets in trouble?
3. Do the older generations still keep their houses? Like, Severus Snape in Slytherin, Peter Pettigrew in Gryffindor, etc.
4. What about the current generation - do they all keep their houses?
5. Do you keep or eliminate the deathly hallows? Personally, I'd eliminate them.
6. Would you change Dumbledore's death?
7. Would you keep the horcrux story arc the same or change it, for example by drawing it out?
8. Will you keep the Slytherins the same - evil death eaters in training, or make a few of them a merit to their house with ambitious dream jobs, etc?
   • Whatever an 11yo who's family values things like ambition, leadership, and resourcefulness would do. The way I see it, kids being sorted like their parents are partly because they would naturally value the things their parents do and hold similar opinions until they're exposed to more/new things as they get older. Or like Harry, his living environment still promoted Gryffindor and Slytherin like qualities.
9. What changes would you make to make the books feel like a more...thoroughly planned work, down to the details? Like, apparition and floo transport didn't exist until she wrote them in, so in book 1 Dumbledore flies on his broom to the Ministry of Magic.
10. Speaking of which, would you keep the more whimsical tone to the first few books or change it to align more with the last few books' tone?

i had a real nightmare last night for the first time in a while but of like all my delusions/old delusions and similar type things and old common nightmares id have and all types of bad shit like that, it was all coming true in my dream. it was coming very to life more than it did before.
ive been having such a hard time distinguishing between whats real and fake irl so much lately. when i was asleep, i became aware at once point that i was asleep and “let go” which usually lets me die in the dream by whatever was wanting to get me or the environment, and normally thats when id wake up. but this time i didnt wake up, this time i was stuck and couldnt gain control and the dream kept going, and i was questioning whether i was actually sleeping or lucid or if i was awake and having some sort of episode and it was like, i could tell what was happening was stuff that happens im my dreams, but since my “dreams” have been “coming to life” lately, when i was ACTUALLY dreaming (experiencing a truly false reality), i couldnt tell, and i couldnt become fully lucid and wake myself up or gain any control.
im pretty sure if it was a nightmare that was a random dream environment and story and not one based in real life and real life stuff and feelings and experiences, like most my dreams, i woulda been able to be fine and wake up.
i feel so odd, i feel like this experience with my nightmare has made it harder to tell whats real or fake. im so used to being “dreaming while awake” that now when im actually dreaming ig, i can barely even tell theyre dreams or what they even are, i just have a vague sense of being awake or being asleep, whether its a “dream” or not or what, idk, idk anymore.
reality used to have such a clear line, being dreaming and asleep and imagination used to have such a clearer line of thats all it is. over time its just gotten weirder, i cant tell what memories are real life which are day dreams which are sleeping dreams which are almost asleep hallucination memories, which are stuff from movies which is stuff i made up and what actually happened, and real memories get mixed with other seperate real ones or fake ones. ive never been able to clearly tell 100% but i still could easily, but now its like idk, when i wake up i dont feel like ive woke up, i just feel like its all the same life, same dream. that the days im actually fully awake, are slowly decreasing over the years and months and weeks and days. and this nightmare just added a weird experience on top.
the thing is, none of it is bothering me to the point that its effecting my ability to accomplish what i want and be happy and feel at peace, like my life is good its okay im chillin, ive learned in a dark moment that i always have me the earth the sun and the universe, one of if not all, gives me peace when theres hunters outside or people controlling my thoughts, or my ppl arent being there for me or anything. i truly feel in love with existing and the life i have especially with my struggles. its just an extremely really fucking weird odd experience that its slightly worrying and very confusing.

Hello all! It’s been a good while since I’ve initiated any sort of discussion related to FFXIV. With Dawntrail right around the corner I figured it would be interesting to discuss and speculate possible story beats. Please remember none of this factual and all speculation for the sake of fun and chat.
So first let’s knock out a few things that are all but a given. Dungeons take place at odd levels and trials usually take place in the beginning and very end of the story ie: levels 93, 97 or 99, and 100. We also know that we’ll get 2 cities and 6 Areas. In every expansion except Heavensward, the two Cities are always introduced extremely early within the first level up ie: levels 90 and 91. Lastly, the first two or three Areas are always divided between a low level and high level area. We’ve also been shown footage regarding Areas and Dungeons as well as an updated map showing the lay of the land in the New World. With this information, we can begin to attempt to deduce when we’ll reach certain Cities, Areas, Dungeons and Trials and how that might affect the story.
So, here is my guess on when and how we’ll get to certain places.
Level 90 - Tuliyollal will be our first stop in the expansion via Ship with Urqopacha and Shaaloani being our two branch off zones. You may be wondering why not Kozama’uka? Well we know Solution Nine is north of both Tuliyollal and Shaaloani. Being a City, Solution Nine will very likely be introduced early in the story by level 91. Therefore we’ll likely see our groups split up between going North to Shaaloani or South to Urqopacha. Also, note that during the liveletter when Yoshi-P was playing Viper and Picto, he was in Urqopacha hitting level 90 striking dummies and starting Areas always have striking dummies somewhere in them.
Level 91 - Our first dungeon will almost certainly pop up here. The only exception is back in Heavensward where Dusk Vigil was optional. Typically, soon after the first dungeon we are thrusted into a new Area or City and I believe we’ll be pushed right into Solution Nine at this point in the story. The fact they have revealed the City to us so nonchalantly leads me to believe it’s not going to be as big a deal as people make it out to be. I think this dungeon will actually be the high tech dungeon we saw in the dungeon crawl. Similar to how we got Siren Song Sea then went right into Kugane.
Level 92 - This is when I think we’ll head to Heritage Found. The similarities between it and Solution Nine are uncanny. On the Special Site for Dawntrail, all the shown Areas talk about their relationship to Tural except for Heritage Found so I have a feeling that Heritage Found will be on a completely different shard and Solution Nine will host a “portal” that sends us there. Because of this, I strongly believe Y’Shtola will want to travel north to Shaaloani in the beginning of the story during the split to hopefully discover something to help her research. I could be wrong however and Heritage Foundation is in fact in Tural.
Level 93 - Another dungeon, probably not optional. This dungeon has two possibilities for me. One is it will be leading us to our next Area which will likely be Kozama’uka. Or it will take place in Heritage Found where we discover tech allowing shard hopping. Judging by the dungeon crawl video we know Kozama’uka will have a dungeon starting on a boat. Taking a look at the last 3 Benchmarks, the level x3 dungeon is always used as the location so this is probably where Kozama’uka’s dungeon will take place.
Level 95 - I’ll be honest I’m not sure what exactly will be going on by this point, but I’m fairly certain that if I’m right about the above, the dungeon here will either take us from Kozama’uka to Yak T’el or will just take place in Yak T’el. Judging from the map, Yak T’el is south of Kozama’uka but somewhat closed off. I really think it will just be a dungeon in Yak T’el similar to Bardam’s Mettle.
Level 96 - This is when we’ll likely start circling back to the higher level of previous Areas, in particular Shaaloani. It’s possible we’ll need to utilize the deposits of ceruleum for something we discovered in Solution Nine or Heritage Found later in the story.
Level 97 - Another Dungeon and possible trial. No clue as to what, but probably has to do with the ceruleum from Shaaloani.
Level 98 - Finally we circle back to Urqopacha’s higher level Area and get ready for the climax of the story.
Level 99 - Here we get yet another dungeon and possible trial as well as the final Area. As per usual, the final Area is completely unknown to us. There are still clouds on the map both north of Solution Nine and south of Urqopacha. One of these could house the final Area and I think they do. If the City of Gold exists it certainly is no longer a “City” and would be in an Area. There is also the possibility they pull an Ala Mhigo on us and simply turn it into a dungeon or a Garlemald situation where it’s just straight up destroyed which would be awful. I think it’ll be a Lochs situation where the final Area will house the City of Gold similar to how the Ala Mhigan quarter is technically in The Lochs.
Level 100 - Last story dungeon and trial. Bunch of cutscenes and resolution to the story. I don’t think it’s going to take the entire 7.0 story to figure out the successor to the throne and in fact I think that plot line is going to get resolved fairly early. I believe Dawntrail is going expand a bit more on Etheiry’s lore and then open up to explore more shards and worlds. We know the Exploratory Zones in DT will have to do with shard travel so it makes sense to introduce and solve that thread in the story somehow.
Thanks for reading if you did, and let me know what you think. Again, I could be way off base and likely wrong about a lot of things. Still I’m curious to know what others are thinking up.