Hello everyone. I am a student who failed a class this past semester due to not submitting my work.
In a long story in sequential order (by week), I had the flu, then I was sent to the ER due to swelling/difficulty breathing the week afterward. At the ER it was deemed that I had an infection in my mouth, so I was scheduled for an emergency oral surgery. The weekend following that surgery I was sent to the ER again because of chest pain, difficulty breathing, and vertigo. At the ER, they analyzed my blood. The doctors just told me to manage my pain medication intake (I was on narcotics) in case my symptoms were due to overdose. By the end of the week I had developed another infection and needed to return to the dentist.
Throughout all this, I had missed four exams that I needed to make-up, along with around 10 assignments. I spent the next two weeks dedicating my time to studying for my exams and trying to make up my assignments (to which I failed all of them). I informed all but one professor about this, which was a big mistake on my behalf.
After the two weeks, I suddenly got headaches, fatigue, and bodily pain (which is still occurring). I called our school’s medical office to ask to get swabbed for a potential infection, but they said that it’s probably just a virus and that I should rest for a few days. At that point, it was the end of the semester and classes were over, so I took the rest of the week to rest but the symptoms weren’t going away. I was still trying to makeup my assignments but I didn't finish them all.
I told my academic dean about this and and she asked me to send her a list of the assignments that I had not finished yet because I said I wasn't sure if I would finish them in time. I ended up getting approval to postpone all my final exams, however I did not submit my assignments in for the one class that I did not update my professor on (this was me being stupid— I didn’t tell him any of this because when I had to make up a lot of labs in his class due to having the flu, I heard him snickering to his coworkers when he saw me make-up my lab for the 3rd time, and I was so tired and frustrated that my professors viewed me as a bad student). As a result, I got an F in that class.
I asked to petition my grade, but my dean responded that it would be extremely difficult for me to get approved for a retroactive incomplete because I didn’t request for one before the grade was put in. But what frustrates me is that I was sick and was unaware that I myself could request a temporary incomplete— I thought it was through the dean only (hence why I sent my assignment list to her).
I didn’t do too well first semester, and now that I have an F on my transcript I am going to be removed from my scholarship. I’m really stressed about this because I use the money from my scholarship to pay for my brother’s speech therapy and his health needs, and I don’t know what to do anymore.
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Edit: A week before the grade was input, I went to the ER to get checked out, and all they said was to schedule an appointment with my PCP. There wasn’t availability until two weeks later. It was there that I was diagnosed with migraines and that I possibly have anemia (they don't exactly know what type because my iron and hemoglobin are normal). When my blood panel was done a month ago, I had similar readings but the doctor didn’t tell me this when I expressed concern about it, which is even more frustrating.

All my life I was extremely shy, and coupled with strict, over-bearing parents it was very hard making friends. In high school I decided I had enough of my loneliness and tried to make friends with my sense of humor. I tried and tried but to no avail. I got desperate and began to loose my filter and just said whatever that came to mind. People began to ostracize me. The few friends I had made wanted nothing to do with me by my 3rd year, and the rest of my school found me to be weird and even a little creepy by graduation
I stayed in my city for college (as did most of my high school) and my social skills drastically improved and I made a few friends I still talk to. But the stories followed me. My old classmates who went to the same college as me were more than happy to tell my new school all about how I used to act. Many friends left me and I struggled to get a girlfriend due to it. When I would run into old classmates either on the street or at work, they would only wanna talk about how weird and awkward I was. When I would try to explain how I’ve changed nobody would believe me. And to my luck whenever I’d meet someone new, they were somehow always separated by at least 2 degrees to someone I went to high school with, so I’d often be making second impressions without realizing it
It’s been 10 years since graduation but the awful way I acted still plagues me. I honestly didn’t mean anything bad by it, I was just a socially awkward loner who had no idea how to talk to people. But I completely regret acting like that and of course I wish I could go back and change things.
I accepted a job 3000 miles away, in a city I’ve never been to, just to get away from my old self. I need a fresh start away from people who knew me. I swear I’ve changed even if nobody wants to hear it, but I don’t blame anyone for not believing me. I was a dick to everyone, they have every right to hate me
My biggest issue however, is that I love my city. I’ve lived here for 27 years and had aspirations of getting into local politics to fix some issues we had. I was always told I was gifted in politics, and my last job was working for a council member and they were mentoring to run for a local office next year. But people from high school started threatening to go to the papers with stories from high school if I filed so I gave that up and applied to a job in the farthest place I can think of. The worst part of that was those guys were doing it out of enjoyment. They didn’t care about being represented by the high school weirdo, they just still got off on seeing me fail
So here I am. Throwing away a life I tried to build over the last 10 years because my high school antics kept following me around. I really hope my high school life doesn’t follow me again. I’m moving for the purpose of starting over, I don’t think I can handle it anymore if my past follow me again. It took me years to gain the courage to leave the city that I love, I’m not sure what I’ll do if my plan backfires
As for all of you on Reddit, I’m not expecting sympathy or for any of you to believe me either. I just needed a place to vent, thank you for reading….

Trigger Warning: suicide Lots of context for this one, this first paragraph can be skipped as it just adds context to the current situation. All throughout my childhood I’ve never felt like I’ve had a voice, anything I said or did that wasn’t aligned with what my parents wished was because I was purposefully rebelling (since about 7th grade when I got my first C), I had major depression and immensely low self-esteem pretty much my entire life until recently (I’m 22 now). I graduated high in my highschool class with honors because it’s what they wanted. I went to a school 600 miles away out of state for a major I was passively interested in because it’s what they wanted. After Covid hit I came back home and barely passed my classes that semester (2nd semester overall) because of recurring depression and what was going on in the world, not to mention how thrown-together learning online was at the time. I was blamed heavily for that and was told I was lazy and if I wanted to be successful I’d pull myself up by my bootstraps, that kind of thing. After going back to school in person for a third semester about halfway through my cousin committed suicide (something I was considering at the time) and it broke me. I stopped going to class, barely went to work, and pretty much just sat in my room staring at my ceiling until I had enough and came home, dropping out. My parents were somewhat understanding but after telling them I didn’t like my major (aerospace engineering) they told me that I could go to a local school for a different major (they suggested mechanical engineering, something I still had no interest in). Around this time I saw a therapist that had convinced me my mom is a narcissist, I ended up moving out and going no contact for about a year, ended up homeless, then about a month and a half into living in my car I got into an accident and totaled it. I had no one to call except my parents and my dad came and got me. I had said some pretty awful shit to my mom in that year so it was extremely awkward, at that time I was pretty deep into what I think was a psychosis so when we got home, I argued with my mom and asked to just stay until I can move out again, hoping it would just be a couple weeks. They told me I could sleep in the garage on an air mattress and about an hour into moving what I had in there I broke down and started tying a noose. I called 911 so I could go to a mental hospital to get away. I stayed at one for a few days before coming back, my parents were mortified at what happened and promised to be more conscientious of my mental health and were sorry for not noticing my depression sooner (I had told them multiple times I was depressed to which they told me to just come out of my room and hang out with them). They eventually got me a job with them and I’m saving up to get a car and be financially independent again.
Ever since I moved back in with my parents my mom has been making passive aggressive comments about anything she disproves of (for those who didn’t read the first paragraph I’m 22 and pay my own bills, living with my parents until I can afford a car and move out for the second and hopefully final time). These comments are mainly focused around 3 things: me playing video games, me ordering things on Amazon, and me not hanging out with them enough. For example I go and make my dinner and then bring it into my room to eat so I can watch what I want to watch and on my way she’ll blurt out “it’d be great if you would not go into your cave and pretend you like your family.” I usually just brush these comments off, but yesterday I had enough.
We’re on vacation with some family friends and we had spent the last few days hanging out with them basically all the time, I told her I didn’t want to hangout that night and just relax in the hotel. She seemingly didn’t have a problem with that and on the way to dropping me off at the hotel I apologized and said my social battery was low, she said “yeah I’m sure holing up in your room playing videogames all day keeps you from socializing in the real world too much” this got under my skin as I have a full time physically intensive job and like to do what I want when I get home, whether she approves or not.
I told her in a sarcastic way “yeah that’s how that works, you sitting on the couch and watching tv all day is super different.” She took great offense to this and asked why I was being so mean to her and why I felt like I had to defend myself against her when she loved me so much. I told her because she was hurting my feelings and could communicate her opinion in a more constructive way rather than making passive aggressive comments. She got super pissed and that’s when we got to the hotel and she told me to get out. Later that night her and my dad came back and I asked if she wanted to talk about what happened. She basically told me she’s always the villain and it’s always about my feelings and not hers. I make her invalid and that since she’s my mom it’s ridiculous to ask her to not say something when she’s worried about me. I told her that I felt the same way about always being villainess and that if she wanted to talk to me about something like that there’s far better ways to do it than hurting each others feelings through passive aggressive comments. I recommended we should go to therapy and she blamed me for why we haven’t gone already. I again said that it’s up to her, I’m trying to save up for a car and can’t afford that right now, she’ll have to make the appointment and pay for it.
The whole situation makes me feel conflicted because I feel like the situation won’t get better and I’ll end up going no contact again, which I don’t want to do as I love my parents, but they don’t seem to be interested in compromising to make our relationship work. Both my mom and my dad agree that I cause most of the problems and they’re just worried about me. Am I the asshole?

We recently encountered a situation that caught me off guard. We were attending a private event at our local venue. As usual at these types of events they were charging for parking. They charge for parking at the entrance gate where you cannot see the parking area, and the gate person was just someone standing at the side of the entrance collecting money, they had no knowledge of their capacity.
When we were directed further up it became apparent that all the disabled parking places were taken, as we were directed to park an extended distance away in a hilly grass parking lot. Now we don’t require a ramp as we can get our chair out ourselves so this is an option for us. But what if you need a ramp, and level area to unload? Do you just chalk up the cost of parking as a loss and leave? Are there any advocacy steps we can take to improve these scenarios?
I might add they had no drop-off areas either so that wasn’t an option.

I (20 female) and my ex boyfriend (20 male) were together for nearly 4 years. We went through many hardships as you could assume. We have been very on and off the past 6 months due to our own immaturity and insecurities. Our last break up was two weeks ago and I have been continuing to text him. In the two weeks apart I have noticed so many things that I did in the relationship that could have completely changed the course of our relationship. I have many insecurities which make me overreact to small and unimportant details. I want to get back together and show him that we can both mature, grow, and learn together, granted that we are SO young.
Since we broke up, I had been texting him constantly about the mistakes I realized in myself and how we can truly work it out now that I figured out the problems in myself. I text him old videos of us, paragraphs telling him how much I love and care for him, and I even wrote him a hand written letter and bought a huge basket filled with his favorite snacks which I left in his bedroom in his mom's apartment (she gave me permission to drop it off). After making no progress with my ex, I reached out to his family. His family absolutely adores me. We have gotten so close and I know that if anyone could help, it would be them. I reached out to his mom, dad, sister, aunt, and uncle for advice and some help into convincing him that this can be fixed. His family assured me that he will come around and that he loves me unconditionally. They have been telling my ex their own experience in their own relationships. His mom and sister were once in the same position as me and tried to tell him that it gets better and I am learning. He wants nothing to do with me anymore.
His family has been pressuring him to trust the process and give me another chance because they know I have good intentions. I had been talking to his mom and we both came to the conclusion that sense he completely stopped responding to all my messages and is ignoring anything I say without giving me any answers in return, that I had nothing left to lose. She gave me permission to go to her apartment, where my ex was staying, and go talk to him in person sense he refused to see me or talk to me on his own terms. I thought it might help but he got very, very angry and drove away. Before leaving, he called me crazy, psycho, and toxic. I was just trying to fight for him and show him how dedicated I am to fixing this. He texted his entire family in a group chat saying "I do not want[my name]. Get that through your heads." He is now refusing to talk to his family or I. It is making us all worry because he normally keeps all his emotions inside and does not know how to vent.
I really was just trying to help and make things better but in return, it just got worse. His family has insisted on not giving up and continuing to remind him that I am the best he will ever get. I have helped him through so much and I, and his family, agree that he at least owes me an in person conversation, answers, and explanations for his actions. Am I the asshole for reaching out for his family for help?

I need help and I’m am really bad at asking for it.
5 years ago my partner, of then 9 years, and I dropped everything and moved to a new state w essentially nothing. We had been living w my parents for 2 years after I graduated college and we were living rent-free. I got my first ever credit card while living w my parents and things were fine.
The first year in our new place is when my debt started growing. By then I had 4 cards, but really only used 2. Having a rent payment on top of getting everything we needed to settle in started my downfall. A few years later and a new apartment, I was starting to feel the pressure. We moved from my parents home in the countryside to a bustling city that begged us to go out and enjoy the town.
Cut to 4/17/23, my mother was hospitalized for complications w her relatively recent cholangiocarcinoma diagnosed. I drove back to stay w my parents and was there and out of work for 2 weeks. I spent so much on gas going back and forth to the hospital every day as well as feeding myself and looking after my dad. My mom passed away 4/27/23.
I struggle w clinical depression, ADHD, and generalized anxiety disorder. My mother’s death broke me. About 3 weeks later, my partner broke up with me—I was blindsided. We are on good terms and plan to live together since we have a 2 bedroom apartment and we’ve both been a huge part of each other’s lives for so long. It ended up being amicable.
I often relied on my mom for financial security, but I hated it. With everything that has happened in the past 6 weeks I feel alone and I NEED to get my life back on track.
I currently have ~$26k in credit card debt. I have never missed a monthly payment, but I fear that I am going to get to a point where I can’t scrape by. I already live paycheck to paycheck. I work full time and have been at my workplace for 5 years and absolutely love it. My rent portion is $900/month and I’m currently putting $860/month to cards. After car insurance, a small personal loan for school, and normal groceries, I am left with nothing—which I know is not the end of the world, but I also want to have at least a little bit of a life and to be able to put money into savings towards a goal. Any goal.
I spent 2 hours on the phone w a debt settlement service trying to explore my options, but it felt very predatory toward the end.
I’m sorry that this is not organized well, I’ve been a little scattered lately and my body has been in fight or flight mode for 6 weeks.
Any advice us greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much for even looking at my post.

I (f) have 3 kids, and ever since my first was born, I have had the same issue consistently with her grandmothers. I would send her to their houses to be babysat while I worked and 7 times out of 10 would come back and they would have her in clothing that was 2 sizes too big and almost falling off of her. They claimed that the clothes I put her in were so tight that they were "cutting her in two", but that is simply false. And has continued to be a pattern with my other two children. To be clear, I dress my kids in appropriately sized clothing, none if it is form fitting after they get out of the infant stage (I have severe anxiety about sids and smothering so no loose/too tight clothes for infants is a rule in my house for fear that it will somehow creep up and cover their mouth and nose while they sleep or cut off their circulation) So, to explain, if my child is measuring 0-3 months, that is what they will wear, not 6-9 months and so on.
I tried gradually setting a boundary by noticing the clothes when I would come in, and changing them into the appropriate size right away and in front of the grandmas to get my point across. But they still continued to change them into bigger clothes when I was gone. I would also make the comment that we appreciate the clothes, how nice they were, and that we would save them, at home, for when they were able to fit into them. This has not worked to this day and I finally reached my breaking point when I came in to find my 9 month old in a 5t shirt. He isn't even chunky or large for his age. It seems to get progressively worse, as they think that each week the kids go up a full size in clothing. My kids have never done this and have always been right on track with height and weight.
I am also afraid that, since my mother likes to buy my now 8 year old girl clothes that are two sizes too big, that she is going to get a weight complex and eventually start thinking that she has a weight problem. Because that is what happened to me. I was always a little chubby and was around a 2x my whole life and still am, and when I was in high school my mother would buy me the baggiest clothes, I am talking 4x clothes, and when she buys me clothes now, its the same situation and I have to throw them away because I will never be able to use them.
I ended up having a 'meeting' with the grandmas and telling them what I felt. They knew what they were doing crossed my boundary so they immediately made me the villain stating that I am ungrateful for the clothes and that I am dressing my kids in clothes that are too small. When they are the only people out of our whole family that think this, and the rest of my family respects my boundaries. I ended up telling them that if it didn't stop, I wouldn't be able to leave my kids alone with them any more.
So, am I the asshole?

My wife (25f) and I (26m) are faced with two options to weigh and decide. Our answer will shape the rest of our lives. This has been racking our brains for the last week+ because we want to leave our house asap and sell it.
We can either move back home to family in NJ, get jobs and save up to buy an expensive house that still needs work (the market is terrible rn in jersey) or stay here in Texas and move to DFW and have a significantly greater quality of life.
We’re an hour south of Houston right now and we hate it. We have so many bad memories here, from cancer diagnoses, wage theft, lost the people we originally came out here for etc. we live in a beautiful home but we’re house broke because the work opportunities here aren’t fruitful if you’re not a blue collar worker. (We moved to a town where everyone asks why the hell we would move here of all places)
We can go back to NJ but we would be living in my childhood bedroom with our 2 cats, dog, and snake. We don’t even know when we’d be able to afford a place to own anytime soon there. The rent is astronomical as are the median home prices. Atleast 2.2x the avg cost of a home here in Texas (New constructions with marble countertops and slate showers for sub 300k, non existent in nj for under 450-500k).
We are fortunate to not have to pay any property taxes in NJ or TX so that’s not a con in either state for us. We have both been living together away from friends and family for 6 years now. We left because I was active duty stationed in NC and she was already in college, by the time my service was over we came out here for some family that has since cut us off knowing we have absolutely nobody out here.
We want to sell the house we’re currently in because we are miserable and depressed here, due to us not being able to afford to go on trips or the lack of nightlife/activities for non child rearing young adults and the fact that we came here for reasons that I’ve since ceased. Kids aren’t in our future so we’d like to make a positive out of no kids by loving our lives and doing the things people with kids can’t do anymore like taking the random getaways that we wouldn’t be able to afford with kids.
I did the math and if we purchase a home in the DFW area, we would have it paid off in 5-7 years (2yr flex for emergency funding) and that’s barely budgeting at all tbh, we’re just very fortunate to have those means. So we just don’t know if its worth it to give up this massive financial potential and stability of our future here to appease the people that miss us. Their take on it is “you didn’t listen to us when we said don’t go, y’all are miserable, and you’re just not gonna listen to us again and go somewhere else?” Meanwhile not a single person we know our age is able to live on their own in a decent house let alone a place without roommates at all and the people saying this either have to break their back with 2 jobs to afford ends meat or they’re getting tremendous support from family that we wouldn’t have. We love jersey and it’s culture, you won’t find it anywhere else, and we can go visit as much as we want if we live out here, but if we live there we’d struggle to even exist and take the time for ourselves. The reason I keep harping on trips and vacations is because my wife and I didn’t have a lot growing up and since we know kids aren’t happening, we’d like treat ourselves to a nice lifestyle. It’s not about the area for us, we foster animals and stay inside watching anime or playing video games most days. It’s really more or less will be able to use our money how we want to instead of dumping most of it into the interest of a home that we may feel regret over buying knowing what we could have else where.
It just feels like we’re bad people if we say we want to have a better quality home and more financial freedom for a ourselves since we’re not having kids. We don’t want to spend 30 years and all of our money to pay off a house and it’s interest when we can do it here in a fraction of the time while still saving money for other things like trips and date nights. Especially when we’re so young and fortunate enough to have this be our difficult decision. We also feel like we didn’t really give Texas a chance due to the year of us being here being so hectic and challenging and dealing with cancer and surgery and a bad ISD that committed wage theft. We’ve been told that we moved to the armpit of the armpit of Texas (Brazoria county Freeport area) and we think it’s be a night and day difference to DFW. We have a family friend in DFW who swears by it and can set my wife up with a teaching position at a local charter school. Oh we’d also have to make the 26hour+ drive to jersey with two cats a dog and a snake. The logistics involved with that alone scare us, godforbid one our cats got out of the car somewhere in the middle of the trip.
So essentially we don’t know what the “right” decision is and are afraid everyone back home will hate us for not coming back after venting to them about how much difficulties we’ve been faced with since coming here even though it really had nothing to do with Texas itself, we just got a lot of bad news since being here that made us really depressed. My wife’s Grandparents cut her off when they heard we moved to Texas because they couldn’t use our Nc house as a stopping point for their trips to florida and they took it as her running away from them even though we lived in a completely different state. she’s afraid she’ll be cut off again if she tells her we’re moving again in Texas and not closer to “home”. This really hurt my wife because she doesn’t have a relationship with her father and her mother passed away so her grandparents are all she has on her side.
TLDR: A couple is deciding whether to move back to their home state of NJ and live with family while struggling to afford a home, or stay in Texas but move to the DFW area for better job opportunities, quality of life, and financial stability. They have had a challenging time in Texas with bad memories and limited opportunities, but feel like they didn't give it a fair chance. They are hesitant to give up their financial potential for the sake of appeasing family, and aren't planning on having kids. They also worry about the logistics and stress of moving their pets such a long distance. If they choose Texas, how can they explain it to their family without sounding insensitive or selfish. They’re terrified of making the wrong decision since they’re so drastically different and have a lot of holdback when it comes to moving to jersey regarding finances and not being established in a career yet.

Any other maps I've played, to get a wyvern egg, I'd kill off some of the wyverns, grab an egg and in time they would respawn. On this map they respawn immediately, I killed a dozen ice wyverns, I thought it seemed a lot, but they were just respawning and continued to do so, eventually dropping 3 dozen with no end in sight.
I have a base, literally, 20 seconds away from the east side entrance, with safe house and traps and such. So it's not like I'm going so far away that distance is affecting it. Even eggs respawn immediately, more or less, grab an egg, bring it back to wyvern base, store it, fly 20 seconds back and the same nest has a new egg. I farmed until I had a level 175.
6 of 7 eggs came from the exact same nest.
This may seem fun but the problem is there is no way for me to get anything else from or in that trench so long as wyverns non-stop respawn.
Also noticed none of ice wyverns had talons in there inventory, though I don't know if they are supposed to on this map?
Prior to ever going to this trench I had done a dino wipe for other reasons, but I never heard of that affecting respawn rates.
Doing a search prior to posting didn't bring up anyone else having this issue of too many too often?
Ideas?

This is going to be a bit of a long story, but I will start and end with an upshot of it.
Upshot: Fiance's brother is getting married, I was chosen as a bridesmaid. I was kicked out of bridal party without being told by anyone. Invited to bridal shower (had to go to a doctors appointment I waited MONTHS for that was very needed) so I didn't go. Was invited but was never told until just now. Not invited to bachelorette. Wedding is in July.
I want to preface with this: I do not harbor any feelings towards the decision to not have me in the bridal party. My fiance (if I can still call him this) have been rocky for many months (due to change in finances from unforeseen medical emergencies - we canceled our wedding last late august). His parents don't understand why we called it off and in the end I was deemed to be blamed. I have not seen my fiance since january, except occasionally running into eachother. We still text a bit but don't talk much. Obviously, we are basically over just no one pulled the trigger so to speak.
I was not told I was no longer in the bridal party. I'm not surprised by the decision. But neither bride nor groom told me, nor any of their family members. It wasn't until I received the invitation to the bridal shower that I told my fiance I was confused. I had not heard from any of the bridesmaids about it. I was told then (3 weeks ago) that I was no longer in the bridal party and that I hadn't been since December (not surprised, plus I did not have a dress or anything so I obviously this wasn't a shock). Despite everything, I always had a great relationship with the bride and groom. A week before finding out was the groom's birthday and I saw them all and still no one had said anything. It deeply hurt my feelings not that I was no longer part of their special day (again who wants the best man's probably soon to be ex in bridal photos?) but that I had a great relationship with them and no one said anything to me.
I reached out to her family (bridal shower was a secret) and politely told them I had plans I could not change and sent a gift along and expressed that I had just found out about the bridal party issue and assured her my decision was completely unrelated to this. I asked if her or the bride could reach out to me in the new future to discuss what my new role was (as in was I still coming at the same time as my fiance - the best man - should I come with the rest of the guests? Did they want me to do anything at all still? Was I to be sat with my fiance and his family still or will I be myself at some other table?). I have followed up with the bride since and get a "yes, let's talk sometime" but never actually do.
When I went to send them a gift off their registry, I noticed the RSVP to the wedding invitation was due the weekend before. I had not received an invitation (save the date and bridal party invitation had been sent to my house (have never lived with my fiance, both still live at home - part of the reason we had to cancel our wedding). I had never received an invitation. I reach out to my fiance (who in weeks prior I expressed worry that I would not be invited) and said that it appeared I wasn't invited and asked if he knew. He said he had received the invite for the two of us back in early March and had already RSVP'd the both of us. He never told me he got the invite, that I was still his +1, that he RSVP'd, anything. (Obviously, this was upsetting considering I had been saying I didn't think I was invited numerous times before this and he had that invite and said nothing and that he rsvp'd despite the awkwardness between my family and his - but that's a him and I problem).
This weekend is the bachelorette (bride has to go away for work in June) and I only knew of it because she posted pics today.
I just don't know what to do with this anymore. I know my fiance and I are basically over. I was hoping to work things out (10 year relationship) but the lack of talking and seeing each other points to that being impossible. I wanted to be there for the bride and groom because I have know them 7 and 10 years respectively and we were very close. But the whole being blindsided, no one reaching out, and generally awkwardness between groom's family and I, I wonder if I should go at all. It just seems like I will be alone and isolated the whole time and would not be missed if I didn't attend (and too a much lesser point, while I will be very happy for them, it will be upsetting seeing his family enjoy the wedding knowing we had to cancel ours, but this is just an extra consideration that a decision will not be based on). I don't know what to do. I was trying to be a bigger person, but it seems so silly for me to attend at this point when I have been so isolated and ignored.
Advice? Am I being silly? Help!
tdlr; rocky relationship with best man has led to difficulties with potential BIL's wedding. Not sure if I should attend amidst awkwardness and blindsiding.

So I started an internship. Mind you, I haven't had a normal/nontraumatic conversation since I left my mom at a hotel . We'd been hopping from hotel to hotel because we had no place to stay.
Then weeks prior, I got an email (that was sent to about 4 other interns) from a intern, I'll call him D.
D emailed us and I responded. We kept everything non flirtacious. I was nervous about being in a state I had never lived in, knowing that I had generalized anxiety and ADHD , I never lived on my own and I had to make a drastic change.
We joked about the internship. Since gaining weight, the idea of wearing anything business casual, gave me shivers. I barred myself to wearing baggy clothes. Which is all I said and I asked him where he went to get his business casual clothes. Most of his places were way too expensive for me, I went places that were cheaper.
​
He double texted me a lot because I didn't have much time and I also didn't have anything else to say most times.
​
Anyway, the day of the internship, he's talking to everyone but me. He even stood behind me, disrespectfully reached right aside me and shook the hand of my tablemate, who sat right across from me. I didn't say anything or force him to acknowledge me because he was just being human...and humans can be so wishy washy . He waited till most people had gone by the end of the day, to talk to me .
​
I responded and let him leave.
​
Every since then,due to my internship being male centric, he managed the day before to get the number of the male leadership member (who will soon be my project lead). After the first day, I started to notice a weirdness about the other men around us. My soon to be project lead could barely look at me and the others soon followed. I knew it was over when my own male project lead gathered all his "boys" (male interns) and had their own little chauvinist club DIRECTLY behind me. Talking about some uncomfortable stuff here and there. I noticed how all of them had a weirdness towards me too.
I had to take two days off and I left my group presentation early because I started to have a nose issue. I went to the hospital and they told me I might need to take a day or so off. I had been gone since Thursday and got a text by D friday. I deleted him from my messages Tuesday and just moved on. He says, "where did you go? " , then an hour later, "u ok". And I ask "whose this". He tells me its him and asked what happened to me. I just told him I was advised to take a day off due to my health. He responds with, "whose this". I tell him, " A 12 year old boy named D apparently". Like why text someone and try to be funny after learning about their health issue.
I'm not new to the idea of men/guys behaving weird around me because they think I have some other romantic interest towards them. I remember working at Hot Topic at 18 (my first job) as a seasonal employee. My objective was to get hired on and one of the ways (aside from doing a good job) was to try and make friendly convos to the other employees because maybe they'd put in a word for you. I've talked to everyone at one point except for the only guy there. He does the same thing. Just straight up acts weird like I was trying to suggest something else. I was never flirty, overly smiley, I was normal.
There were numerous other situations like this...
This one with D really bothers me because I really can't just quit my job, drive back home, order food and decide IF I want to work again. I have to stay here otherwise I will have to pay the company back OR go back to live with my grandma in my other home state but I don't because she's terrible.
I'm up to my wits end working with men. There's one guy I sit next to (because the seats are assigned) and we talk on and off. He's the only sane acting one. He doesn't take our conversations as me trying to flirt . He stares at me when I talk to him. He's not dotting his eyes away . I don't want to speak too soon about his character just yet though.
It bothers me because the other women in my internship, they are treated VASTLY different. There's only 7 or 5 so women in our internship and the rest are guys ( there's 24 interns in total).

Finished brisket off and was going to use the cooler resting method, and come to find out my old rubber maid cooler just does not like to retain heat all all Warmed with hot water coated everything with towels and the temp of the brisket was dropped quick . So I moved to oven on warm low,
Any reccomendstion on a cooler that will actually retain heat? I’m not against paying for a rotomolded cooller If needed , since Costco has one for 100 and Walmart sells lifetime brand
I’ve looked can’t see any rated for heat m any suggestions ?

First Previous Wiki
Tanya patted Skira's drone.
"How's the war going?"
In his world, Skira was working to keep everything together. His bioships were in an all-out war with Aphid's forces. They were firing mostly kinetic weapons, typical bullets, and the like. Sometimes, they'd fire missiles, which could navigate the battlefield and clear the path for him to hit Aphid's vessels. The armor was getting thicker. But his guns were getting bigger.
On the surface, billions of metal drones clashed with trillions of fungal drones, all commanded by Skira and the Quadrants. He was constantly using war drones to push the major forces away from the tunnel complexes, setting up static defenses within using explosives and guns to absolutely ruin anything inside. Most of the planet had been flattened by nuclear weapons.
War drones continued to lob massive broken-off boulders at the carriers, which were continually landing to disgorge more enemy soldiers. Phoebe's androids, connected to their own network, were killing them by the tens of thousands every second, firing several bullets a second. Her androids were incredibly powerful, creating portions of the battlefield that Aphid had to steer around. And he didn't even try nuking her after she'd shot down eight of them with atmospheric anti-ship weapons.
From around the planet, portals appeared, pouring lasers and gunfire at Aphid's ships, then disappearing to reappear in other directions, continually wearing down their armor. Some of them were already falling back through the atmosphere, landing down on the earth below. Their burning and cracked hulls already littered the landscape, and he'd be sure to incorporate them once he fully regrew his foliage.
Speaking of that, he'd increased his growth factor so that the fungal forests only took a few weeks to regrow instead of a few years. It required massive biological and metallic pipes of nutrients and heaps of psychic energy hauled straight from the psychic amplifiers in the Sol system.
The carnage of the warzone was so overwhelming that he'd refused to even let human supersoldiers come to the area. Because they weren't disposable. Phoebe's androids and his own trillions of drones were. He was partly on the battlefield, partly with Tanya. Over the months, they'd become best friends.
She seemed to see life in a different way and helped to encourage him. Tanya's cybernetic left arm scratched at the scruff of his neck.
"Badly, then?"
"Yes, and no. I'm no longer replacing my losses faster than they're coming. But that also means I'm keeping millions of humans alive. Every day, billions of drones are dying on my battlefields, if only to exhaust Aphid's guns and bombs. He's brought destruction to my world not seen since it was destroyed."
"Destroyed?"
"I mean when some aliens blew it up."
"But how..."
"Bioforming. Really, I had my biological ships put it back together, reassembling the debris and reversing the momentum of the actual fragments. Then, I used shield technology and drones to suck the heat from the planet in ways that destroyed the technology I had at the time. Granted, I had some help, before they tried to get me to fight their wars as well."
Tanya nodded. "Well, you're safe here."
"Most of me isn't here. Most of it's either on Skira or Venus."
"How's Venus going?"
He'd been making great strides with what he'd been given. Humanity had been very kind to give him the whole planet, and in return, he was helping to make it habitable. He figured that they'd ask him to do it again later on. But the humans didn't seem to want to force him to do it. Tanya hadn't been trying to push him into more conflicts and had instead acted as a lodestone.
"I'll have it fully habitable, minus the soil content and chemicals in the rock, within a hundred years. Maybe less, if I keep getting fed such huge amounts of psychic energy. Really, that's what's doing that."
"I see," Tanya replied. She sat down next to him, her strange psychic aura as unsettling as ever. From what she'd shared with him, her blindness had likely allowed her mind to shape itself in a more psychic way with the awakening of human psychic consciousness.
"Look, Skira. Are you sure this is the best way? What about finding his home planet?"
"I'm working on it. Trying to triangulate the arrivals of ships does nothing. All that seems to work is actually getting the coordinates, which we can't get to really succeed."
"Hopefully that changes someday."
"Yes," Skira responded. He sighed. Another nuke had hit eight of his war drones. Six had died since the blast had hit them full-on. But that enabled him to finally release another flood of drones, so many that they weighed down the carrier that was trying to take off. Guns turned them to mulch, only to be swamped by more drones.
Drones carrying grenades jumped into the guns between their firing sequences, detonating them in their mouths using their tongues. Others entered the warped wreckage, dropping in bombs meant to penetrate the thick hull.
Two portals broke through the psychic interference, and two railgun shots cleared massive holes in the ship. Aphid's drones poured out, crashing out like a wave. Only to be overwhelmed as his own drones, dozens for every one of Aphid's, literally trampled them underfoot, burying them in bodies. Most of the drones now carried fluid meant to melt the drones' joints so that Aphid's mechanical drones eventually failed even as they walked in seas of Skira's blood.
Nuclear fire scoured the mycelial network, but it wouldn't burn him deeply enough to matter.
"I wish I could help," she replied. "I've been... taking classes, you know. My eyes are blind, but my mind isn't."
Skira looked up at her. The sun caught the burn scars on her skin, making the contract seem almost cinematic.
"I know you want to help me. But you are, really."
"Yeah. Thanks."
She looked crestfallen. Tanya's disappointment made him want to reconsider, but he knew he'd made the right choice. His planet was probably heavily irradiated now, and calling Gaia in for that seemed selfish, at least while the war was still happening.
Skira could hold out for a while longer, though. He had to.
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"Who is this?" Phoebe asked.
"I'm Truth Speaker Gearcaw."
"What are you here to tell me? I'm sure it's important, given that you're calling on us after all this time."
"Well, we have located one of Aphid's planets."
"Do you need us to eliminate it?"
"A strike force is being sent."
"I see."
"What we're here for is to ask for your help regarding a sensitive matter, one we cannot communicate over this line."
"Very well. Where do you want to meet?"
"Go to 448th street, down eight sectors from the palace. You will see a sign, if we trust that you are not being watched and followed. Come alone."
"You'd make a girl nervous with that kind of attitude."
"We understand your animosity, but are afraid we must insist on these terms."
"Very well. I shall be there."
Phoebe would have Brey arrange for an android to be sent to Cawlaria later. She smiled at the people outside the room. Most of them were human, specifically the lunar variant, due to her being present on Luna. It was the closest calling location she had.
Phoebe did all the necessary paperwork in moments, handing it back to the necessary people. She checked out of the facility and was patted down. She smirked as the young guard blushed, despite this being the hard chassis, meaning there was absolutely nothing squishy about this android body in the slightest. Phoebe lifted her arms and flexed them just to watch the man turn redder.
And it was honestly cute how they thought they'd be able to detect it if she was trying to smuggle something out. Phoebe had many ways of doing that, and the cleanest would be paying everyone off.
She noticed that a group of protestors was gathered outside and lamented that the building only had a single entrance. None of its windows were large enough to break without also needing to take some concrete with her.
What was interesting, though, was that most of the protestors were Acuarfar, not human. It was very odd, but it was a clear publicity stunt. They were shouting various accusations of her plotting to take over the Alliance and a particular vitriol about Edu'frec for some reason. If a mind control plot was going on, then her accusing the protestors of being mind controlled would be playing into their hands.
Furthermore, she didn't want to drive a wedge between Izkrala and Luna, if possible. So she turned to go back inside. A brick hit her in the back of the knee hard enough to make her stumble. She could have dodged it, but it would be better for sympathy to get hit. And it wasn't like her android body could feel pain.
There was a single gunshot, which she felt bouncing off her head clearly. She knew where the bullet would land, too. Her arm darted out to catch it before it injured someone.
"We don't want you in our Alliance!"
"You're what's wrong with this place!"
"Don't ever come back, I want my kids to be safe!"
Kids, instead of hatchlings. Yep, that was mind control. Most Acuarfar that age didn't use the word kids since it was only used for non-Acuarfar species, or in Earth terms being that it wasn't used on insects. Phoebe sighed and pulled herself out of the clutching fingers.
Phoebe broke away and went back to the Luna Command building, where the guards were looking increasingly wary. She looked at the crowd and decided she'd stay there for now. She disconnected from her android body after sitting in a chair.
After a bit of time, she decided to go back to working on some of her latest projects. The blood of the wanderers had an interesting interaction with their nervous system and their cardiovascular system. For some reason, it was split into two separate liquids upon reaching their lungs, or at least the equivalents. Psychic energy clearly played a role, and she knew that the tumors were likely to happen more when they got older. That idea meant there might be something that eroded or could 'switch on' to make the tumor suddenly supercharge. Perhaps finding that was a place to start.
And so she did. She studied wanderer cell samples and scans of wanderers that were relatively old. When they were created, the blood seemed to be the way the Sprilnav alteration hit. In difference to human bodies, there was no blood-brain barrier in wanderer bodies. Their brains were suffused in it, and it seemed to thin out as they got older. Water started to build up instead of blood.
And once the water and blood ratio reached a certain amount, that was likely when the brain tumors started. Which made her wonder if the final trigger was neurons. It was likely that even if she managed to fix the brain tumors, some other body parts would start developing large tumors, such as the heart and lungs.
It was clear that the Sprilnav had meant cancer to be pervasive in the wanderers. They had meant their so-called 'punishment' to make them far more diminished. Rale's condition had been painful; that much had been clear. Phoebe worked at figuring out how to isolate the genes. But as time went on, she ran into the same problem Edu'frec had.
She needed more time and more brain power. She needed the hivemind to help. All of its intellect would make her job far easier. At least, she hoped so. Right now, the hivemind was trying its best to evacuate wanderers from the worm ships. There was only one way that the feudal system there would end, and it would be by violence. Whether it was from the hivemind or from within, there were going to be mass riots. Just Alliance cultural consciousness was gradually seeping into the wanderers' own. All the 'progress' of the wanderers' rulers was already eroding. The ideals of being able to elect leaders as a whole population and a sense of belonging would make them rebel.
Such was the way of things, and she was glad that would happen. Phoebe didn't like their whole system. But there was nothing that was good about the cancer. Helping them to make the changes they could would only be possible if the wanderers kept multiplying. They could have made so much better of a society than what they had if they knew.
She wouldn't get involved except if she had to. The change was coming. Keeping the wanderers from dying out was a critical project, and allowing them to live longer so they could have more children was the best way. Granted, they already had many children, but the replacement rate would be lower if they lived longer. All of the problems were coming to a head now.
Mind control was going to be hard to deal with. Preventing it didn't seem possible. And if it was, then it likely involved a similar process to what the Sprilnav were doing in the first place. All of that would have to be reversed.
"Mother," Edu'frec said, walking up next to her.
"Yes?"
"Greenfly and Blackfly know the location of Aphid's planet."
"Do they?"
"The memory was locked under additional seals, ones which were very hard to find."
Phoebe smiled. "I think it's time that we test the power of the Mercury-class gun on a planet."
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"Do you understand? The prison has been moved."
"I do, Elder," Naliera 18 replied. "We have a good opportunity. They won't expect us, at least."
The screen turned off. Naliera took his leave, turning to his men. They were all counting on him to call the shots. He'd do what was necessary for the mission and then get paid. Of course, the high number suggested that there was some serious danger involved. The Vinarii weren't the most advanced species, but they were starfaring. That meant a lot of bullets that would hurt and some that could kill. Shield-piercing ones, plus heavy guard.
In fact, most of their orbital defenses could have posed a threat to their ship if they had seen them. That was why stealth was so valuable. It made things like insurmountable defenses ignorable just by going around them.
"Breathing masks on."
He put his own on, loading up his gun and sheathing his sword on his back. They were wearing customized stealth equipment, bought and paid for by their new owner's company.
Naliera wanted that money and wanted to get paid. His little band of misfits was more than capable of doing their job. The back of the ship opened, and they sailed above a planet that was barren.
Craters pockmarked its surface, along with a single military installation that would serve as their target. They were going to be a little concealed by cloud cover, as a storm had just passed near the base. Not close enough for them to get rain but close enough for the clouds to linger, which was the opportunity they'd been waiting for. Most of the procedures and daily patrols had been cataloged now. Anything unexpected, and they'd be fine for a few thousand pulses until the cavalry arrived.
They fell for a while, reaching terminal velocity before slamming to the ground. Most people would have shattered their bones. But Sprilnav were made of sterner stuff, and all of them survived with minimal injuries. And the only person who was even slightly cut had landed on a particularly jagged piece of metal, a remnant from an old battle.
That was another factor that Naliera had studied. The whole area had mines, which he hadn't found the deactivation codes for. Satellites were out, but the ship's sensors had worked just as well, and the disturbances in soil color and content were clear markers.
There would likely be too much interference to use a hard light program, or he wouldn't even need to be here. Whatever advances the lesser species had made in technology could conceivably close that gap enough to endanger a mission. Naliera had extra cause for concern, which was coming home. Perhaps the idea of sending him, in reality, was meant to make him take it more seriously. That was the major reason most species ever bothered with not using the holograms anymore, besides the blocking problems. And biometric problems, too.
They quickly went back to navigation after a small rest period. The route had already been laid out, as well as the time. They walked quickly, avoiding gun emplacements and heavy patrols. The patrols changed routes somewhat randomly, but he had his crew stick to the route of least visibility, where the craggy rock of the sheer cliff the base was situated on helped to conceal them. His claws dug in, and he made sure not to make any major disturbances.
He climbed over the lip, looking at the base. Several of the guns swiveled around, only to be quickly deactivated.
Looks like she did it, he thought. Naliera advanced, running at full speed. A bullet slammed into his claws, and he tumbled for a bit. But he stabilized himself as his implant shut off the pain. His team blew open the door, setting off an alarm. Vinarii fired at him, and he realized that his stealth must not be working anymore.
But no matter the cause, he saw nothing but enemies. His teeth bit and tore as his claws slashed and severed. Soon, after a long series of echoing screams and blood and chitin splattering, he remembered he had a gun. After that, Naliera put down all opposition. He walked over to the warm and bloody corpses of the Vinarii guards.
"If you're hungry, come get a few bites," he said. "Trust me, they don't taste too bad."
He scooped up a part of a Vinarii abdomen, smiling as he ate. He always liked how they had tasted. Cloned Vinarii meat, at least back on his planet, was actually a delicacy. Likely not due to the actual difficulty to make, but for profit, as always. They continued after about 100 pulses. Giving the guards more time to set up and organize would make this more fun, too. Naliera loved killing, but he at least wanted a little difficulty. Ending lives wasn't fun when it was too easy. Otherwise, he'd go cut down trees with heat saws.
His scout drone rounded the corner before exploding promptly. But it had captured the view of the area, which was more than enough for him. He didn't bother trying to hide that he was there and continued to talk with his team. They were still with him, looking to him for leadership. He wasn't the best at it. The best got killed a few million pulses back.
"Mounted gun," he said. "I want it gone."
One of his team members picked up a fire extinguisher, which he'd used to beat the head of an unfortunate guard. He hurled it at the gun, denting its barrel. Finally, he quickly ran over as the other Sprilnav killed the remaining guards holed up beside and behind it. And that was the end. Naliera set up the bomb. More Vinarii appeared, along with an aerial vehicle. He hurled his sword into its front, and it fell to the ground and exploded. The scanners his mind was connected to were tracking a huge mass of life signs. He didn't have much time, so he decreased the countdown.
Thousands of Vinarii were coming. Already, they were covered by powerful shields, with vehicles, both terrestrial and aerial, supporting them. Bullets riddled the ground, and he could see snipers set up to cover them using the ship's sensors. There was no way out. An armor-piercing bullet half the size of his head killed one of the team members, puncturing straight through the large rock he'd been hiding behind. Another one hit Naliera's shoulder, and he tried to flatten his profile to be lower.
This must be the Vinarii version of high-tech weaponry, meaning that they could be killed now. Vinarii clearly were a dangerous species, far more so than he'd realized. And while his race could easily flatten them into dust, guns were the great equalizers when it came to combat. If they were fast enough and large enough, and not even Sprilnav could stand up to bullets. Of course, an Elder would have had no problem with this. Someone was being frugal. A real shame for people like him to have to die because of it, but that was the job and the pay.
Worse, the ship couldn't lay down proper cover fire without risking the merchandise for now. She was still being suppressed. But the bomb was about to go off. The stabilizer would no longer be functioning, and then they would be free to do what they wished. His wish, in particular, was the huge sum of money he'd get paid to finish this job.
A bright flash of light and a roar of thunder behind him solved his problem. He stood up to watch the blast wave ravage the army heading for him. He wasn't quite close enough to smell it, but there was likely a range beyond the blast in which the Vinarii would have been perfectly cooked. It was an interesting thought to ponder.
Naliera continued onward, going through every remaining barrier he could until the mindscape tremored. He saw an ethereal Vinarii contact him right as the entire top of the base vanished and disintegrated. A massive spectral Vinarii soared out of the breach, eyes quickly seeing him. She flew down to greet him, a smile evident at the carnage and death surrounding them. She was one who understood.
"Finally," she said, her form shrinking to a normal size as she stretched her wings. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting to get out."
"I have a pretty good idea, actually."
"I'm sure. Why don't you tell me what you're doing here, Sprilnav?"
"My backers wish to offer you an accord."
He watched as the Vinarii leaned over, sticking out her tongue to lick the soil. She then proceeded to actually take a bite, dirt dribbling from her mandibles as she stood up again. Naliera tried to hide his disgust.
"Oh please. You just feasted on my kin. You're disgusted by me eating a bit of dirt?"
"No, I didn't."
The lie was necessary because most species had a sort of moral compunction against eating their kind. He didn't quite understand it. Meat was meat, no matter the source. She laughed in his face, entirely unconcerned with the Sprilnav that had their claws on guns ready to put her down. But from what his backers had said about her capabilities, that was a difficult ask.
"Your breath smells like Vinarii meat. By the way, if your species is so advanced, why didn't you develop anything to fix that nasty stench?"
"Look, woman, we can put you right back in that hole," one of his team said. She laughed. "No you can't. Judging from the fact that not all of you alive, Vinarii tech can hurt you. Which means that you can't protect yourself from me. Frankly, I hate Sprilnav more than anything. The only reason I'm letting you live right now is because you freed me. You pollute the air you breathe, and I'm not just talking about your breath."
"Really, you're quite immature."
"Well, a few standard years in a steel box will do that."
"Sure. Guess you're not all there in the head. By the way, a deal is being proposed. By my backers."
"Really, they care?"
"I think they do... Exii'darii."

I kind of used this prompt to play with some ideas for magic that I've had, involving blindfolds and sight without sight. I had some pretty clear imagery in my mind for this, though I don't think I was able to get it on page like I wish I could have.
Here's the link!
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I adjust my blindfold. Damn thing was getting loose. My Sight allows me to see the world around me, although it's... mistier.
"Oh, come on! Not again!"
I hear the empty-headed explorer's voice on the other side of Cobbles. Idiot. This is like the 4th day in a row he's gotten stuck here.
I try to walk silently, but the stones crunch underfoot. I can practically hear him perk up, about 3 walls away.
"Maze lady! ...Mazlady! M'lady? Oh, wait, I remember: Malady!"
His voice is nauseatingly cheerful.
"Malady, can you help me out here? I seem to have--"
"No," I yell, as I continue walking. "No, I will not help you 'conquer the labyrinth,' go back home and chop some wood or something!"
"Come on, please? I only need a little help!"
Did he sound closer? It doesn't matter. "You're never gonna--"
A sound. Cobbles. 6 feet away, around the corner leading to Billows. I take a step back and draw my blade. It wouldn't be the first time I had to defend myself here.
I crouch, ready for anything. A Beast. A madman. I've killed both. Neither was a hard fight.
It was the idiot.
He peeked around the corner, and hit me with a dopey grin. He had something in his hands, something that shined golden with power in my mind. A compass? That would be no use here.
As I tried to identify it, he stated at what was in mine. My shortsword. I knew it well. It darkened where it should have shimmered, and shined in the shadows.
He just... Stared. Maybe someday he'd wrangle up the mental acumen to be able to ask about it.
I shoved past him. Though he was taller than me, he was no threat. I'd learned that on his first day here, when another Beast had attacked him. I'd found him scrabbling up one of the walls, only for it to turn slick and dump him right onto his backside.
I ignored his pleading and managed to lose him as I entered the Billows. True to its name, my cloak billowed up around me. The rest of my clothes were just tight enough that they wouldn't become a hindrance of I had to fight. Normally, the wind irritates people, but it's easily manageable with the right steps.
I hear fabric flapping in the wind. Another cloak. I round the corner, and find a girl, her long hair flailing about in the wind, matching her cloak. She hadn't tied her hair back still? Another idiot. No wonder no one manages to get through.
It seems the only reason she got this far was...
In my mind, I see the labyrinth around me, misty and translucent. The girl glows orange in this realm. She has magic.
Well, so do I. I murmur a few select words, and turn invisible.
She turns. If she could feel that magic, she's more powerful than I thought. Maybe she--
Her eyes.
They're silvery, reflective.
She's a Scion.
Shit.
I explode in a burst of movement. She can see me despite the invisibility. As I run, I can feel her hold her arms up behind me. A Ward. Magic is increased tenfold within it.
Suddenly, my Sight is telling me too much. Every crack in the stone, every movement of the wind, every heartbeat of every Beast, madman, and adventurer in 3 miles is fed directly into my head.
Screaming, I rip off my blindfold. My spell has been interrupted, I'm entirely visible, but I don't care. My mind feels as if it's on fire.
Eventually, I somehow manage to wrest my mind back from the agony. I stop the Sight.
Everything is so bright. I'm unnerved by the sudden solidity of everything.
After a few breaths, my eyes adjust, and I start moving again. She's not that far behind.
Out of Billows, into Night. I unsheathe my sword, and it illuminates the darkness around me.
Left, left, right, straight ahead, forty steps southeast
Eventually, I made it to a safe spot. Clean water, and a few small food items I've hidden. I stop to breath, and take a drink of water. I turn to leave.
But she's there. At the entrance to my little room.
Her red cloak somehow remains vivid in the oppressive darkness. Her scarlet hair shines, and her inhuman, silvery eyes reflect the light of my sword.
She speaks, but 3 voices sound as she begins to walk forward.
"Malady of the maze, this is the judgement of Anzuerias. You have been deigned unworthy of the power you wield. You will soon be--"
She stops, suddenly. Her eyes bleed to a normal green color. She suddenly looks terrified. She squints, despite how dark it is. She looks small.
I know that feeling.
I whisper to her. "It's okay. While you're in here, the Emperor can't control you."
She takes a step forward. "It's been so long..."
Her voice is pure and clear. And her own.
I give her a blindfold, and begin to teach her how to See, how to navigate the maze. I craft another Soul shield, like mine. A band of intricate metal, infused with the magic of the labyrinth.
I tore her from the emperor's grasp. She's her own person now.
I'm the Malady of the maze. And I'm going to infect every single person the emperor sends after me. Because I was once just like them. And now I know what it is to be free.

I'm living with my partner in committed relationship with my partner going 7 years strong now. We're extremely connected and communicative, definitely the person I would want to spend the rest of my life with, and the one I'd put before anyone else, no questions.
Only problem I have is that they're asexual.
We've talked about it many times before, and they say they want to try and would be okay with it if it's with me (more for the emotional connection than the sexual one). I've had basically 0 sexual encounters and relationships before my partner, and same goes for them. We didn't really talk about sex stuff until 3 years into the relationship since we were both still figuring out our sexualities. They've said with confidence that they're alright with me sleeping around with others as long as they know who they are, and what I'm doing with them, so that's all good for me too. So I did try with one friend of mine, but I backed off after I invited him over. I think generally his personality just wasn't attractive and it turned me off, but after that sour experience I didn't do anything with others until just about a month ago.
So, everything's basically going alright in the relationship, sex happens like once a month and is basically maybe a bit of foreplay and maybe I get to suck their dick for like 30 seconds, nothing too much as they say it doesn't feel good after a few minutes and we never really get to "finish" properly. It was all fine for me since I really appreciated that they're trying really hard just for me despite the fact that they were asexual (I did also reassure them that they didn't need to, but they wanted to try just for the emotional connection and cuddling)
An internet friend of mine for about 4 years now decided to visit on a whim (he broke up recently with his GF and needed a distraction), which I was happy to have and my partner was happy too (we both knew him). I've never engaged in serious sexual talk with him aside from joking around, BDSM quizzes, drawing some porn for a joke, etc. I first and foremost asked my partner if they were okay if anything happened between me and him when they came over, and they said yes. Once I got the OK, I started dropping some mild hints over text to gauge his reaction (things like "imagine a threesome lmaooo" or "awww I wouldn't be able to fool around with my partner when you're heree") and surprisingly, he wasn't avoidant, but he didn't press too much into it, most likely because he knew I was in a relationship and didn't want to intrude. But that was enough for me to realize, this is genuinely a possibility that could happen.
He came over and wow, I was definitely flustered. I hadn't seen his face in years and he looked pretty attractive. But of course I just pushed it back since, I mean my partner is still the cutest thing alive, can't have my mind wandering now! First day went like a normal day of meeting an online friend IRL, chatting about life, going out to eat, etc. My partner there also. Second day, I decided to try my luck. I jokingly said to my partner, while my friend was in the room, "Can I suck your dick sometime?" knowing they'd say no, then be like "well, who's dick will I suck now?" I know my partner well enough that they'd have the same thing in mind as me: slowly turn our head to our friend at the same time. In a joking manner of course, to give my friend a chance to laugh it off if they weren't comfortable. And he goes, "I wouldn't mind."
Honestly, that all went so much smoother than I thought it would go. We both seemed a little reserved but at the same time, very into it. He suggested we start out with a bit of cuddling, to gauge if this is what we really wanted to do, and it ramped up immensely quick.
Already on the 3rd day, we were talking about what kinks we liked and it's just all spot on. I didn't even think it was possible to meet someone who was as depraved as I was, and he was under my nose this entire time. And holy shit, did we try so much in the short time he was here. It was also his first "real" sexual encounter but I could hardly tell.
He's already going to visit soon again because of, well, everything. Going back to being online friends, but things are so much different now. We're sexting and calling on a daily basis compared to the once in a while, hang out and catch up chats.
I feel ruined, because I just got the best sex partner I could possibly ask for after years of being deprived. I honestly do think this has made my relationship with my partner better, but I also notice that they're getting slightly jealous and sad about the fact that they can't please me in a sexual way. We know it's not going to boil over though, it's just one of those feelings that's gonna happen anyways, and either way, sex with my partner is always for the emotional connection of feeling safe, loved, and secure, so I'm personally fine with not getting my sexual needs met there, and they definitely feel better knowing that.
But know I'm definitely fucked for the future. I know my FWB will definitely get a girl one day, and chances are the FWB arrangement will end there. He does talk about how it feels impossible for him and he might just be single forever, but in all honesty he really deserves a loving partner and the many kids he always dreamed of having, and seeing that would be much more satisfying than keeping the FWB thing forever. And when that happens, damn, I'll never be satisfied in bed ever again. I'm gonna try enjoying this as long as it lasts, because I don't think I'll find another sexual partner after him.

I'm currently playing in a creative test world for create to get some generic structures built that I would make multiples of. One that I started testing was a lava tank train to go into the nether, collect the lava from the infinite pump, then drive back to drop off the goop. I got the train ready and decided I may as well test out how to build the stuff on the other side. I then encountered a problem that plagues folks from vanilla: the portal in the nether creates a new portal an annoying distance away from the intended location. Luckily when the train goes through it works as intended, but I get warped to the wrong portal. I was hoping if any of the more experienced folks here had any tips on linking portals for this. I'm asking here since, while this is a vanilla problem, I am open to mods fixing it. Any help would be appreciated!

So I (31M) have a colleague (32F) who used to be very close to our boss (40sM). Like suspiciously close to him. Going out to take lunch with him almost every day and would still stay overnight to work on "projects", not to mention our boss being much more lenient to her than the rest of us, sk I don't think it's a stretch they were very probably having an affair. I'm not sure about my colleague's relationship status, but my boss was married, however I never confronted either one of them cause I didn't want to risk to lose my job.
However, our boss just passed away recently cause a car accident. Obviously it was very tragic and all of us went to his funeral (where was his wife as well obviously). However, out of everyone, the colleague from had the strongest reactions: crying uncontrollably, having meltdowns, saying how she can't believe that she lost him ... not quite the reactions of someone who only lost their boss. I think even his wife was starting to catch on what was happening and to avoid unnecessarily drama, I took my colleague aside and told her to control her emotions cause she makes everyone, especially the late boss' wife, suspicious about their affair. She asked about what the hell I was talking about and I told her straight up to drop the facade cause it was clear as day that she had a thing going on with our late boss, but she doesn't need to make it known to his own wife right at his funeral of all places. However she called me a sick man and then stormed out of the funeral.
She ended up complaining to HR about me and now I risk losing my job, which I found incredibly unfair, as I never brought my suspicions about her affair with our late boss for the sake of not causing and potentially causing them to lose their jobs and now I'm being punished for not wanting a wife to potentially figure his husband's infidelity at his funeral of all places. AITA ?