Looking for: -somewhat of an XP grind -gifts kind of frequently (every few days or so) ~I’ll gift back the same - sends cool postcards & stickers :)) -preferably different country (not us) -maybe will take on raids (I don’t have the money to personally do remote btw) ~but only do 0-2 max raids a day
0531 7526 6054 ~if you add me please put your “trainer name”, so I can add you back! :)

My partner and I became civil partners a year or so. All the paperwork and certificate just has our given names. Fake names but eg she is listed as Veronica Mars and I am Bart Simpson on the certificate. We both want to double barrel our names, becoming Veronica Simpson Mars and Bart Simpson Mars.
I Googled what to do and saw I had to change the land registry, but it was not clear at all. We filled out paperwork and just haven’t heard back, so I can only assume we did it wrong.
My partner is now pregnant and we’d like to get this sorted ahead of her due date in September. Help please!!

Much like Chris, Joseph, and Mathew are common in Christian countries, Islamic countries often adopt names from Islam, such as Muhammed, Ali, or Abdulaziz.
I am curious about what sort of names various countries commonly used before they adopted Islamic names. In my opinion, one reason islamic countries are poorly understood by outsiders is because of the verisimilitude between names and common use of Arabic (especially in regions that hustorically spoke other extinct Semitic languages).
It would be cool if I could tell if someone was potentially of Azeri, Syrian, or Afghan origin simply because certain names are not often found elsewhere.

Hello everyone, now I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask but I'm desperate...
A couple of years ago, I watched this furry vn on youtube, called Project 13 (I think?). The art was amazing and the story was really entertaining. One day all of it got taken down, I've been trying to find it ever since, but NOTHING. I dont remember much, so sorry if it's a little messy...
- It starts out with a troubled teen plotline, the main character is a cheetah. Idk if its revealed later in the story but he was part of some goverment experiments that gave him the power of telekinises (??).
- He teams up with a bunch of other mutant animals, all with powers. I think he ended up rescuing some of them from the same facillity. Everyone had a number. (??)
- Organized crime family led by jackals?
- Mayjor of the city was a siberian tigelion and had shady connections to the jackal gang?
- At some point the team master their powers but they encounter other mutant animals that fight against them and work with the gang/government.
-One of those was like Colossus from Xmen but a dog (afghan wind hound????).
- They have an epic showdown in a bunker of some sort and when they get past the goons they find humans locked in a vault.
- Turns out there was a nuclear war or virus or something that forced the humans to go underground. All the animals mutate into the anthro characters of the novel. The jackals find out about the humans first, and they make a deal that if the earth was habitable again, they would let the humans know and they could live in ''harmony''. One of the jackals doesn't care and they decide to fake test results so the humans would stay underground.
That was the plot as I remember... Other random things I still know:
- Called ''Project 13" or something along the lines of that.
- It had these really ''cool comic book'' -esque transitions and text bubbles
- High quality drawings, really polished overall.
- Uploaded to youtube in multiple parts, I think every chapter was around 10 minutes long
- Uploaded maybe 8-10 years ago (?)
- Another vn was uploaded with the same style, don't remember the name, but the MC ended up in a coma and his soul would body hop. It was always involuntary and happened every day (??). At one point he ended up in the body of a skunk and had a talk with his nurse without her knowing she was talking with the coma patient. Maybe she was a relative or his lover, I dont remember.
Again, sorry for the formatting, not sure on which flairs to add, but I'm hoping that someone knows anything about this.
TLDR: Looking for a furry VN, about anthro's with super powers, government conspiracies, gangs, and the aftermath of a nuclear wavirus.

I keep spiraling down. Idk what got into me, I've told my family lies about my standing in college, nag AWOL kasi ako nung pandemic so i faked my grades na pinakita sa kanila. And nasabi ko sa kanila gra-graduate na ko this sem but the truth is may remaining 12 units pa ako, next acad yr pa talaga if I pull myself together for real. And maybe to cover my shame, I lied ulit na na-hire ako as student assistant para di na sila ma-burden sa pagbigay ng allowance sakin nung nag start yung 2nd sem. At dahil alam nila na makakaipon ako by the end of sem, isho-shoulder ko yung iba naming expenses lalo na kasi naoperahan si mama nung april.
Despite digging myself into this shit, i did close to nothing para ma-address yung problema. I didnt even apply for a proper job, sinabi ko pa sa sarili ko bago magsimula yung sem na I'll take a night shift job at kahit 4-6 hrs lang maging tulog ko, kakayanin ko. Ang nangyari ngayon, pinapagkasya ko yung 200-300 per week and I gambled my remaining money away. What a fucking joke myself is. Writing this parang self pitying or being a sad girl bc I know I brought all of this to myself pero puta talaga ng sarili ko, iniisip ko kung kagatin ko na ba na maging puta talaga? Worth it din ba na ibenta ko na laptop ko kahit less than 7k? or yung phone tapos bibili na lang ng lower end, or kakapalan ko na ba yung mukha ko at mangutang sa mga kaklase ko para hindi malaman nina mama yung kasinungalingan ko, para kahit delayed ako, may pa-consuelo na may naiambag naman akong pera kahit papano?
Should I just confess to them? ang dami kong madidisappoint at may burden na rin kasi sa nanay ko na my older sis became a neet, so pag nalaman nila na failure ako, parang bukod sakin, my mom will also take the fall. Hindi niya deserve magsuffer kasi ganto yung mga anak niya. I'm really sorry mama. And I dont know where else to ask for help, sorry

Names are fake.
Ok, first some background. My wife Susan and I have been together since our early twenties. We both come from lower-class backgrounds but I always wanted to do better for myself and my kids (3F, 10F). I didn't go to college, but I managed to start my own business at a young age and slowly built it up throughout the past two decades. I met Susan soon after things started taking off, and she's always been incredibly supportive of everything I do and how much work I put into it, even when that meant I had to put in long hours and wasn't able to see the kids as much as I wanted to during difficult times. Thanks to that, I've been able to grow it into quite a successful business. We're not super rich, but we're doing very well, especially considering where we came from. I'm not sharing the details of the business for obvious reasons. My wife worked at first, but now stays at home. I don't imagine she'll ever go back to working, but if she does I would be fine with that. All in all, it's been very great. We have a wonderful marriage and I love her more than anything. However, we've had more and more issues since I hired my new secretary, Kate, a little less than a year ago.
First, some info about Kate: Last summer I decided that I needed to hire some sort of assistant since my workload was gradually increasing, and I wanted to be able to focus more on the important decisions while still knowing everything that was going on. So, I decided to hire someone for a personal assistant/secretary position. Kate applied straight out of college, and at first I was extremely hesitant to hire someone with very little relevant experience, but she went to a very good school, had excellent grades, and throughout the interview process it became clear that Kate was more than qualified for the position.I called her a secretary but that's definitely underselling what she does. She helps me with organization, finances, business events and trips, and countless other things that I couldn't even name. Like I said, Kate was more than qualified for the position. She's incredibly smart and competent, extremely hardworking, very good at dealing with people, and just very positive in general. She gets along with nearly everyone and has overall been a very positive force for the company. Hiring her was one of the best decisions I ever made for the company.
However, she is also incredibly attractive, and that is where many of the issues arise. I would never think about trying to do anything with her, because I love my wife and am 100% loyal to her, but I can't deny that Kate is an extremely attractive young woman—it's something that everyone notices about her almost immediately, and I've heard others in the company comment on it as well (in a respectful way; I don't tolerate any sort of sexual harassment here). It's simply a fact of life that she is one of those people who is very attractive, and puts a lot of outfit into her clothes, makeup, workouts, etc. I believe she even did some sort of modeling at some point, though I don't know the specifics.
Susan never expressed any reservations about my hiring a secretary, even knowing that it was a young woman, until she met her face to face at a company holiday party. I still remember that moment, she seemed almost stunned when she met Kate for the first time. Ever since then, the problems have started to pop up. It started with Susan making snide comments about Kate whenever I would mention her. Then she started to refuse going to any event if Kate would be there. Whenever I talk about anything at work or any social event, Susan will ask me if Kate was there (and she almost always is) and then will make some rude remark about her. Whenever I get home late, Susan seems mad at me, and distant. Recently I've started working late again because of some issues, and Susan keeps asking me questions about Kate then as well. I asked her if she thinks I'm cheating, and she said no.
Obviously, I'm not cheating and would never cheat. My relationship with Kate is 100% professional and neither of us has ever done or said anything inappropriate to the other. We have a very friendly relationship, and often talk about personal matters at work, but we never hang out outside work or company parties. Everything is 100% professional. However, even with my reassurances, Susan doesn't seem to be put at ease. The one company event that Susan did go to recently, she was extremely rude to Kate and almost made a scene. I think she's being totally unreasonable. We've been arguing A LOT more recently, and she's basically told me to fire Kate without saying it directly. She'll say stuff like "You care about Kate more than you care about me and the kids."
I don't know what to do. I can't prove to my wife that I'm not cheating, and she says she believes me anyway, but is still mad. And of course I can't fire Kate over this. I feel totally lost. What should I do? How can I fix this without being unfair to Kate?

Okay I literally finished the book a few minutes ago after spending 2 days binge reading it. I am going to mis a hilarous amount of details and important story bits, but I gotta stick with the vibe.
Here is the Dreadgod one Reddit - Dive into anything
You ready? No? Neither am I!
**SPACE ADVENTURES PART ONE**
Okay so we start in space again, and suriel and ozriel are like "yep we are def gonna die" and then eithan is like "Okay but hear me out...what if only one of us dies?" And suriel is like "You better not be up to some main character bullshit" and eithan then proceeds to pull a gandalf and fight the main baddy on his own while suriel goes back and goes to pick up something from Makiel, who would really like eithan to die please.
Makiel is looking for the ultimate killing tool everywhere and hopes to get it to kill ozriel, the mad king, and basically anyone who would fuck up the system. Suriel comes and is like "YOUR VIBES ARE ATROCIOUS AND YOU ARE UNDER ARREST" and makiel, having been a villian for a VERY long time, is like "bet. That makes sense."
Suriel, being the goodest girl, and not a hound, is super confused. Makiel explains, "Look I've seen like a billion villian stories. I knew after my final villianous act, I have to die to the hero or get diposed or something so I Was just gonna give up after I murdered your friend." Suriel who likes having friends, decides thats not okay and activates her trap card: Reaper's Gift!!!
By activating reapers gift, she can tap infinite black lands so long as she has the artifact equip. She then is like "Look...you've been a villian for a while." She then transfers the item to HIS character sheet "Wouldn't you rather go out like an anti-hero????" Makiel wasn't expecting someone to be nice to him, which might be a huge theme in this book.
So he says "fuck it we ball" and they go back to find eithan, SOMEHOW NOT DEAD YET, even though he has no super weapon, lost his mantle of ultimate protagonist power, and is literally fighting the solo boss with no equipment besides his pajamas. Makiel is like "Fuck dude I hate you." and ozriel is like "Feelings mutual buddy~" and the mad king tries to kill them both.
And then they realise that they both hate the same thing: Losing. Suddenly, united by the pettiness icon, Makiel and Ozriel trade weapons, and start wombo combing the Mad king like they are bros. They are both upset about the fact that they are actually doing really well. That said, its still a lot, and they are basically in a stalemate until eithan realises how to break it in a way that only he can.
By taunting the enemy in his final moments of life with a meme attack. He bops him on the head with the GOD SWORD OF AIM HAX and is like "Lmao get rektd" and then mcfucking dies, and then makiel super crits the mad king with the +100 sycthe of ultimate murder, and suriel jsut deletes him for good measure.
Then suriel is like "We gotta fix him, but he got mcfucking murdered, which is way worst than normal murder. What can we do?" And then makiel gives her his magic jacket and is like "One life...for another..." and suriel is like "WAIT YOU HATE HIM??? WHY WOULD YOU-"
"Because...nothing would piss him off more...than me going out like a hero...." and then he mcfucking dies to undo eithands death who comes back smiling, but on the inside, is morning the loss of his bro, the most petty man in existence. Truly and honor. Also everything has gone to shit.
**BABY BOX ADVENTURES** Back on baby box, Lindon and co go into the definitely not hyberbolic time chamber to super not go to super saiyan. Lindon is like 1/4 dreadgod and is ridiclously buff, and after having stolen everyones shit, makes sure to set up super training plans for everyone. But first, we gotta fix mercy, who got her ass kicked by her mom, because she's toxic. This will also be a theme for the book.
Mercy gets revived and is like "Fuck my mom IS the worst" and everyone side eyes because yeah, but shes having her time. After that, its time to get used to the weird training everyone has to do.
Orthos has to do cannibalism but not get feral or racist about it. He is very old, so its kinda hard to stop both of those things from happening, but he manages. Mostly. Drops a H slurr in there once.
Little Blue has to become a person. She makes a great mascot, but she has to get more substance to become a full fledged character with autonomy and shit.
Mercy has to deal with her mommy issues. No for real. Not a joke. She just has to deal with her mommy issues and get her own personality, outside of her mommy issues. This is a legitmate struggle for her, due to being the princess of the gaslight/gatekeep/girlboss empire.
Ziel needs to learn that he both has depression, and also, is a very angry person. Also to maybe not be so bloodthirsty. Also how to do time math. Also how to deal with the insanity caused by experiencing eternity....he has to deal with a lot.
Yerin is supposed to learn how to sword from her ghost dad, which lindon summons from a definitely not engagement ring box. Yerin pouts about this. Sword ghost dad says that she could probably get the sword icon if she just vibed correctly, and red faith agrees. She doesn't know WHAT vibe she is supposed to have though, until she thinks about eithan, and beating the shit out of red faith, and realises she REALLY wants to kill people. Like really bad. This is somehow ALSO a theme in this book.
Lindon...has to kill more dreadgods, each being a CR40 encounter. Also every time he does he has to make a will save or jsut straight up stop being a PC. This is fine he says. At least he still has the loot from the last one, right?
No one agrees with him.
Outside, Reigan shen decides to annoy lindon. Lindon responds by firing a **Death** arrow at reigan shen. He then runs the fuck a way because HOLY SHIT THE MAIN CHARACTER HAS A PROTAGONIST WEAPON NOW???? WTF GUYS WE GOTTA GET THEM!!!!
Malice + northsider agree, and decide to also annoy lindon. The more they annoy him, the less time he can spend digivolving his friends, and also prepping for the WEEPING DRAGON who is COMING TO FUCK EVERYONE UP. It is QUITE CROSS that SOMEHONE (hi lindon) MCFUCKING KILLED THEIR BRO!
Lindon uses his ghost dad jutsu to summon everyone has a ghost to fight...3 monarchs, 2 sages, a bunch of annoyances, and potentialyl a dreadgod. It is not a good day for him. Its not going to get better. Still, he has his protagonist weapon! And thats scary! Unforunately, being a protagonist weapon, he can only use as many times as the story allows...
Which is still enough to scare the shit out of reigan shin who just wants to end this all. So instead of using his usually gilgamesh bullshit, he instead uses his fusion ultimate doom attack of enkuidu + Enuma Ellish + Tiberian's Super Storm Beam of Triple Death. He is absolutely sure this combination of super attacks will wipe the protagonist off the face of the earth!
Unforunately, in his rage, he forgot that he was a villian that had just pulled out an ultimate weapon, which meant the hero HAD to pull out a hax option for the plot to continue. Said hax option, is literally just ghost eithan, who is like "bro, you sweep like this? Lemme show you how to clean house." He then proceeds to beat up all 3 monarchs in one attack and a dodge just to be a dick and is like "Oh btw that wasn't even like half my power, summon me when you have more juice homie."
Lindon, being tired of this bs, was like "Okay hear me out. How about 1v1s? You win, I stop being an asshole. I win, you fuck off." The monarchs, who had a lot more experience being assholes, accept this, and northstrider then proceeds to kick lindons ass. So much. So hard. His oracle codex is like "*He is weak. And dumb. And smelly. And he doesn't even sacred arts bro.*" and nothstrider is fine with that for a bit but then squints and reads the script again, and notices most of the lines were written over with sharpie.
Getting a copy of the ACTUAL script, he see's that lindon is drinking him, like a LOT and even stealing his icon and then slams him into the ground and points at Malice like "You want next?" malice, not giving a shit about men, says "Uhh nah im good." and fucks off back to her goth milf castle. Lindon then sighs because damn that was a long day. It'd be nice if he could get 5 minutes of-
Oh look shen found your hyperbolic time chamber, and is really mad that he's gotten his ass kicked twice today is going to take it out on all of your friends! Go lindon go! He does and shen is like "even if I am erased from the plot I am going to get ONE W IN THIS GOD DAMNED STORY!!!!" and lindon is like "Pls stop" and then shen does...but only after blowing up the door to the time chamber. Lindon is surprised that he was being so nice until he looked behind him and saw the weeping dragon charging up his forward smash.
Shen, being an asshole, decided that would have to due, and he'd have to rely on plan Q. He was...running low on plans. But at least he had more of them! Surely they couldnt all fail.
Back inside of the hyperbolic time chamber, yerin and co realise the door broke. Yerin is like "okay I...cut it open?" Breaking the fourth wall, and then, a door opened. Unforunately, she hadn't been specific when she wrote that and walked all the way to the rosegold continent. OOps.
Ziel and mercy also want to help, but are kinda weak. Ziel digivolves by learning how to harness the power of time, tbe universe, and everything, and mercy digivolves be realising that she honestly just wants to be a nice person and do nice things. She realises this by having a pity party about how she sucks and ziel being like "STFU you are a fucking main character. Act like it." and she realises, sHE IS!!!
So they go out to help lindon and he says "Okay uh no **GTFO**" because they will absolutely get stomped if they help. And they land...in the rosegold continent! How convient! Hey is that yerin using the death murder kill technique????
Anyway house eithan is fighting house shen and house shen is busted, with a herald who is a pixie, and a sage who is crazy, on team weeping dragon, and can regenerate from nothing. Which is absurd. Team eithan just has cladia, who is the best, but also an old lady. She has a thousand eyes, but could use more hands. Oh look, youths!
Mercy, being a nice young lady, helps her elder cross the battle field and annihilate threats. Cladia was sceptical about the girl until it slowly dawns on her that this girl is DEFINITELY a main character. In the super fight, yerin is learning how to murder death kill more effectively, but still doesn't have it down perfect. Ziel is trying to also murder death kill but it just isnt working, and instead, he's getting trolled by the calling storm sage, who seems to just like to see people suffer.
Ziel see's all his friends getting their asses kicked and decides "fuck man...that isnt cool" and unlocks the shield icon, as it turns out, he ALSO wants to be a protagonist, he just forgot. Together with mercy being nice, cladia being the best, and yerin using the art of murder death kill, they defeat house shen with style....but are also v tired. Cladia thanks the newly minted main characters and gives them the coveted mid story power up they will need to face the next boss: Weeping Dragon!
What is this powerup? Well a HUD of course! Turns out, very helpful to have. Also some of the weeping dragons stats. Turns out, its very good at lying and its dragons breath is *reads notes* THE MOST POWERFUL STRIKER TECHNIQUE ON THE PLANET. JUST. THE STRONGEST ONE. EVER. IT **CANNOT** Be blocked. In fact, as they get back to lindons side, the attack misses them entirely, firing mostly into the air....AND STILL NEARLY KILLS THEM. BY PROXIMITY!
luckily lindon kept them from being hyper murdered. Unforunately, as per the rules of cradle, in exchange he had to be hyper murded. So he just kinda falls over. Team main character take exception to this, and decide to beat the shit out of the dragon. The eight man empire is here and are trying to help, potentially in exchange for that SWEET SWEET LOOT...but also to not fucking die.
Also Orthos and Little blue got out of the time chamber and are now archlords! They go to find lindon to help him after super dying, and he says "Hey...you guys...are main characters...now..." And boom instantly, orthos becomes the black dragon sage, and little blue becomes a herald because, yeah he got that move from eithan in book 2. So now they can help fight! Also now everyone has a dross in them because reasons!
So they arent doing GREAT on that front because most of them are like broken and half and relying solely on hax to keep fighting. Few more than Laran, who got to use the protagonist bow for a little while!!! It felt good...like being significant....
ANYWAY, now its mercys turn to use it and WOOF that was scary...but oops that used up her protag powers.
Yerin, time to attack with the murder death kill move...which is great! But OOF that used up all of HER protag powers.
And so ziel is left with the s trongest monster who has like one bar of health left but hits for all of your HP. Can he do it? Its kick or carry time and...whats this? Is that ziel getting on the top ropes? With the DEATH ARROW? AND LOADING IT INTO HIS ALAPHABET ARRAY? AND INFUSING IT WITH TIME MAGIC! YO WATCH OUT **WATCH OUT**
And then THE MAN HIMSELF smites THE ULTIAMTE SUPER DRAGON with the INSTANT DEATH NO SCOPE HEADSHOT AIMBOT attack that kills god. Or almost kills god. He's got like...3 anime seconds to live.
Seeing that the fight was over, malice returns to be toxic and player kill all the exhausted PCs. She seems really eager about the idea for some reason and then right as she is about to kill lindon, she hears the weeping dragons timer about to run out. Quickly, she erases her own attack, because she is VERY genre savvy when it comes to romance, and if she kills yerin, the main male protagonist will DEFINITELY kill her.
Which he almost does anyway, because as soon as weeping dragon dies, lindon digivolveS AGAIN and nearly nukes her. She escapes, but FUCK man that was close. PHew. Live to gatekeep another day.
lindon and co return to their training fortress, and everyone is tired and sad. Lindon tries to cheer them up in the way he knows how: Advancement and new toys! They all groan.
lindon tries to cheer ziel up most of all, because he got the killing blow, and ziel is like "Bro I JUST got the chill icon, please no." and lindon smiles because that meant moRE LOOT FOR HIMSELF. Woo!
Mercy is fighting more of her mommy issues and is terrified that when she levels up to herald, itll kick her ass , because her mom's remnant was SUPER toxic and just started pking people to fuck with her. mercy prepares for the fight of her life...only to see that her spirit is a sweet bean and literally just wants to give hugs and encouragement. Mercy is very surprised that its being nice to her and everything goes perfectly fine because mercy is actually a very helpful and kind person. This is a small moment of celebration.
Taht is until he is YOINKED! GASP????? By what???Only reigan shen of course! He had taken sleeping ghosts binding and used it to summon lindon. Turns out, each time the dreadgods die, the rest of them get stronger...and smarter...and get more personalities. Like the bleeding phoniex deciding to be a she/they waifu apparently just to fuck with shen. Shen tries to convince her that he is a very important antagonist, and she responds with "You were." And this frightens him, given the page count. He tells her that she should get revenge on lindon and she is like "I dunno...I think I have a better plan for my otouto. ISn't that right Onii-chan?" She says to the wandering titan who was listening in over space discord. He agrees and shen realises that he has caught YET ANOTHER L.
Also where is emiriss? Wasn't she supposed to be helping??? Well she would be she got captured by northstrider who wanted to make sure that the protagonists had NO MORE ELDER MENTOR FIGURES! THEY HAD TO MANY! He is convinced that he can handle anything that happens...Which is why he is totally chill when lindon++ shows up and tells him to calm the fuck down and gives back tree grandma. Northstrider says fuck off, and lindon says "okay, but we are going to talk about this."
Northstrider thinks this is a threat. It was actually a promise, as he is pulled into lindons house and lindon is like "...So...I've been reading your character sheet...and it says you were...neutral good? And wanted to like...be a hero?" And northstrider squints because no one is supposed to read his cringe backstory. He tries to destroy it but lindon says "Ah ah ah...read it first." And then he relents because fuck this guy was a main character. What was the worst that could happen?
So he reads his character sheet and realises that he's been playing the character all wrong the whole time and was like "Fuck...I am kinda a dick now I...ya know what, I'ma drop before I get worse." And lindon is relieved that at least SOMEONE cared about being a dick. He also tells them how to get emiriss, who was happy to see that she only had to wait 5 dragon ballz minutes to get rescued. That was pretty short for an arc in her opinion.
Now back in the present lindon is dealing with 2 dreadgods, and regan shen at the time. Bleeding Waifu says, "Hey bro, we could just SHARE the planet and its fine!" and lindon says "mmm no sorry, kinda would be a shit ending to just change plot motivations here." The dreadgods nod and then try to kick his ass. Luckily he used the loot from his last 2 wins to summon his new god weapon Wavesplitter++, whose power is to fucking command super god lightning swords, and its companion Silent King.exe, that let dross be a pain in the ass, letting lindon temporarily digivolve to Dreadgod++
Which was JUST enough to survive a fight with 2 dreadgods...for a while....like about.....5 dragon ball z minutes.
So elsewhere, team friendship to go talk to malice, hoping she will be chill, Mercy, having realised the power of being nice, tries to be nice to malice. She is straight up like "Mom I know you are trying to be a protagonist but you are straight up Lawful evil rn. It's really fucked."
This goes very poorly. MAlice figures that being nice is a trap and only idiots are nice and if she has to kill her favorite person in the whole world, who is literally the embodiment of a good bean, she would rather be THE ABSOLUTE WORST. So she tries to kill all of the other people with hax abilities, constructs, powers, you name it, she has it.
Everyone is on the verge of death when dross is like "hey yerin, uh...if we want to live this, you are going to have to game out of control." And she is like "eh what else is new?" and is then overloaded with strats from every single sword artist in the entire series. In seconds, she almost manifests the sword icon, but then that would mean being a monarch. That was bad right? Thats what they were trying to get rid of.
And then Malice calls her a bitch, and yerin remembers that she REALLY wants to kill something. Like super bad. And then remembers wait...she wAS the fighty character...and she DID have a sword...and she DID love killing bad guys. Holy shit she could be the queen of killing. And so she does.
and then malice is like "Wait no what-" and then mcfucking dies to Yerin, monarch of murder death kill, apprentice of Eithan murder death kill. Charity, and mercy are very sad about this.
Back on the ship. Everyone is freaking out become lindon got yoinked and decide, alright we should all probably digivolve. Yerin points to ziel, "Okay time to fight your depression." He asks, "With like...meditation?" and then is immediately mauled by himself. He eventually realises he has a lot of self destructive tendencies and decides to keep the scars as a reminder to work on that. Dealing with his depression, for real this time, lets him be a monarch
Emriss then points to mercy and is like "You are a good person even if you are sad, and everyone actually likes you a lot." and she realises that omg, she doesnt have to be a gatekeeping,gaslighting,girlboss in order to succeed in the world. She could just be like...a good person. That revelation gives her so much relief that she actually becomes a monarch.
That said, this all took a while...like....4 dragon ball z minutes and 59 seconds.
Which is just enough time to save lindon! Hurray! The team works together and defeats wandering titan with a team attack, beat the shit out of the tiger boi, get sha miara on their side, and blow the fuck out of the bleeding waifu. Here's the problem. The second they do, lindon is going to go 100% Dreadgod x5 and...well thats less than ideal. Also means he can't finish the story....not yet.
So the crew all say their goodbyes really quick and decide OKAY WE CANNOT STAY ON BABYBOX! And so the like 7 monarchs leave and go to space.
**Space Adventures Part 2**
All of team babybox goes to space, including the rainbow baby monarch, and tree grandma. They decide they are done being characters and would like to leave the plot peacefully. The story allows that. The main characters ask where eithan is. Eithan, being a protagonist, appears and is very excited to see his squad. He is also excited to immediately get them back into trouble.
The Abidan is in DIRE need of protagonists. Actual DIRE NEED. If they don't get some more protagonists out there RIGHT NOW so many settings are going to collapse. But unforunately, they dont have a protagonist division, because every time they tried to make one, they kept getting ANTAGONISTS out of it. Something about raging against systemic injustice??? Anyway the new team become team protagonist and go do protagonist things which are so funny, I'll just list them out.
Yerin defeats an evil lich king in like 5 minutes and then leaves but not before becoming a legend...with the wrong name.
Mercy solves an ages old racism dispute by saying "I have fixed both of your systemic issues and if you do any more hate crimes, I am sorry, but I will have to kill you, please do not do any more hate crimes...or like any big obviously villianous plans like making an infiinite army of evil or making another sun to set everyone on fire. Okay? Again I fixed everything so just...be nice. Or you die."
Ziel writes a tax code and bill of rights for a planet likely destroyed by elon musk.
**Baby Box: Lindon Saga**
Lindon wakes up on baby box and is very upset that he couldn't go with his friends. So he does what anyone would do and bides his time until he can get everything back together. Has to take it easy ya know? he's on the path to recovery from his hunger addiction. So in order to chill out he-
Bribes the eight man empire with god weapons
Creates more god weapons
Establishes his sect more
Gets another icon
eats Reigan Shen's ghost and takes back his inheritence
meets li maruth, the wind god who killed him in book 1, who has all of the powers of every protagonist system, and smites the fuck out of him for daring to appear in the post credits scene
and generally just preps to leave baby box. Which is very hard considering everything has gone to fuck in space due to...a lot of people dying and being replaced.
**Space adventures part 3!**
So lindon finally gets to space! Woo! Orthos and Little blue are hyped! But oops...he landed on the bad guy side. And OOPS he had to fight a super bad guy like 5 minutes in. If only he had friends!
Akura fury, being trained to be a protagonist, could sense a good entry like a wolf, and thus came in as soon as there was a fight scene he could join in space. He was so happy. He then escorts lindon back to team protag, where lindon gives lindon 3 things she thinks she deserves.
A god killing sword of unspeakable power.
A wedding ring made out of one of the most powerful artifacts on their planet
And a mom...she's probably needed one of those for a while.
And then lindon and eithan hug. Its so pure.

I'm not going to talk about the epilogue but FUCK I LOVE CRADLE! This is easily my favorite magic system and series and OMG ITS SO GOOD AGGGGGHHHHHH

In the most recent chapter, we find out the names of the Five Elders. They all have names of planets from our solar system.
Shephard Ju Peter = Jupiter
Ethan Baron V. Nusjuro = Venus
Topman Valcurie = Mercury
Markus Mars = Mars
Jay Garcia Saturn = Saturn
In addition to the names of the ancient weapons, Uranus, Pluton/Pluto, and Poseidon/Neptune, this makes Earth the only planet from our solar system that is not tied to an individual or object.
However, in Chapter 244, the crew observes a statue on Sky Island that the Skypeians called "Vearth"! As you can see from the photo below, Vearth has similarities to Imu such as the big mouth that Imu used to defend themself from Sabo's attack. They would look even more similar if that tall crown Imu wears was put on the statue.
https://preview.redd.it/h5y9y022dn4b1.jpg?width=1439&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6811ae89ccb0c4c3398ff6bacab68253ecd02dec
Vearth is also described to be an object of "eternal" admiration and Imu had the "Eternal" Youth surgery performed on them. We know from Enel's cover story that the Skypeians, Shandians, and Birkans were originally from the Moon. If the sky people worshipped such a figure, is it possible that Imu was once their ruler? If so, this could mean that Imu is also from the Moon. To hit the point home even further, Enel wanted to go to Fairy Vearth which ended up being the Moon. There's also the recurring theme of the coming of dawn. It would be extremely fitting for Luffy, the Sun god, to overthrow Imu, the Moon.
https://preview.redd.it/6zukgr9adn4b1.jpg?width=860&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e2c516835243d7bd87aa4c70634843861bfa2577

New acct to protect my main.
I really don’t know where to even start. JNMIL is now exJNMIL (is that the right abbreviation for that?). She had a hand in the separation for sure. However, that was years ago now. My son was 3 when his dad and I split. I could have filled JNMIL boards with a new post every single day when my son was little (and also during that split. exJNMIL was so controlling and manipulative.) Let’s just say, one time I read a post about a JNMIL trying to breast feed her grandchild, and that story legit unlocked a new fear for me. I could have seen her doing this.
To start, my sons dad (let’s just refer to him a exFDH…we were engaged when we split), and I are on great terms. We coparent very well and we are very good friends.
exJNMIL is manipulative, attention seeking, controlling and loves to treat DS as her own son. Even worse, she’s so overly nice and sweet to your face and anyone just meeting her would think she’s a saint. But in a flash, she will talk shit about you behind your back. When DS was a baby, I worked nights and she would repeatedly, despite me asking her not to MANY times, go to my house in the middle of the night to take over parenting duties if exFDH called her or had even the slightest concern. This ended up being often, 1-2x weekly. (ExFDH used to have some real issues detaching) And she used to have her own little wardrobe for DS when she watched him and would never touch any of the clothes I brought. She would change him as soon as I dropped him off. For his 1st birthday, she completely took over the party planning, like completely. Made it all about her. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Present day: She used to live very close, but out of bitterness towards her sister-in-law’s, she and exFFIL (he’s wonderful, no sarcasm intended), moved to warmer places 3 years ago and only spends 3 months of the year instate. And when they are instate, they now live 2 hours away to just continue to stay as far away as possible from her SILs. In theory, this is really great for us, except she constantly complains about missing DS and expects me and exFDH to bend over backwards to create time for her with DS when they are instate. Last summer exFDH was having money issues, and exFJNMIL literally told him to get a side job even on his weekends with DS so that she could have him during that time.
exFDH and I do not sympathize with her when she complains about how much she misses DS. She doesn’t even come back for holidays and her distance is 100% her choice. She expects us to let DS practically spend half his summer with them over 2 hours away. exFDH and I both agree to avoid him being alone with her. She has made such a huge deal over wanting to just have alone time with him, it’s making both of us uncomfortable. And, she has guilt tripped DS in the past into spending more time with them.
Example: Last summer, He was bored at their little house with nothing to do and called exFDH asking when he was coming, and exFDH heard exFJNMIL say “Aw hear that exFFIL? He wants to go home and doesn’t want to spend any more time with us” queue this fake boo hoo cry she does.
That summer when they got into town, she came over to my house with a calendar thinking she was going to be writing down all these dates and weekends that she was going to be able to have DS (I have him the majority of the time). Well, she left disappointed. I had him signed up for camps first of all, and second of all I want to spend time with my son during the summer. Well, I found out that she had been telling exFDH how stupid it was for me to have him in day camps a couple days a week when he could be spending that time with her. Really? Away from his peers and friends and all the activities he enjoys? I literally just laughed.
If you’ve made it this far, you’re a trooper.
A couple weeks ago she messaged me saying that on DS last day of school, they are going to come down and surprise him when he gets off the bus and then “how about I take him up to the cottage for a few days after that?” I told her they are welcome to come down and stay for dinner, but that I am taking him to a baseball game the next day. Her response and I quote: “Aww that’s a nice invite. Thank you . We were hoping to be able to spend a couple of days with him. Could we come down [2 days later] , surprise him and then take him up to the cottage?” Well, that would be Father’s Day which is messed up for her to want to do that, so I told her it’s up to exFDH since he has him on Father’s Day. ExFDH and I, having talked on the phone about this conversation before he responded, says “I’m down to bring him up for Father’s Day weekend for sure. It would be cool to do some fishing with dad for Father’s Day and DS.” Her response “sounds good.”
Since then, exFDH continues to share messages with me from her trying to convince him to let her have him during basically all of his time this summer. exFDH well say that he wants to spend his summer with his son, and exFJNMIL will say “you can see him on the drive up to get him!” Or some equally ridiculous statement.
This is the first summer that I actually have exFDH standing up to exFJNMIL with me. Usually he caves and will oblige because he’s worried what kind of retaliation will follow or what rumor she may start about him.
There are so many severe JNMILs out there. Sometimes I honestly wonder if I overthink or overreact to some of these things, and then sometimes I snap out of it. What are your guys thoughts?

Last month, I was driving along the highway, coming back from a trip to my grandpa's house. I can't remember the exact second, but as I was driving, apparently a truck collided with my car and I was knocked unconscious. While I was out, I fell into a dream. One that will stick with me.
I need to type as many details as possible, so here's every single thing I remember.
I was a 7 year old boy, living in New Jersey rather than my real world home state of Massachusetts. My parents would drop me off at a school I never went to in the real world, and I would play with friends I never met.
2024 and 2025 were calm, upbeat years for me. I didn't care much for world events, so I barely paid attention to the news. It was just my toys, Disney Plus, and my friends, Josh, Emily, and Ryan. We played war and crime themed video games and watched hilarious videos on social media.
2026, however, was when things took a bit of a downturn. In March, my friend, Josh, died in a car accident, and they noticed his eyeballs were missing from their sockets after the wreck. I was shown a picture for god knows what reason, and I teared up as I saw my friend's red eye sockets and lifeless face.
That night, I kept my bedroom light on. I don't know exactly what time it was when this happened, but I was lying on my back, staring at the wall when a pair of black pants popped up out of nowhere at the foot of my bed. Sidetracked, I looked up and saw a rusted face. The thing, whatever I saw, vanished as I made eye contact with it. My heart dropped and I called for my Mom.
I chalked it up to the thing having been a ghost. I brought it up to my friends, Ryan and Emily, the next day. Emily told me she was in the car behind the one Josh was in, and saw a man with a rusted-looking face running towards the car, but for some reason she doesn't remember what happened next. Chills ran down my spine as I realized the man was real.
Together, my friends and I decided he was a ghost we needed to avoid. This pact made me feel less alone, and being as afraid of the ghost as I was, decided to never break it.
I slept under my covers to avoid seeing him, and I didn't see him again until the trip I took to Canada's Wonderland that summer. I was riding the Leviathan when I swore I saw a man a few rows ahead of where I sat, with a rust-coloured neck. The adrenaline I felt riding the coaster turned to panic. Time slowed and I wanted off the ride.
This man stole my friend's eyes and was probably after mine too. Once I was off the roller coaster, I looked around frantically for him. I managed to catch him walking into a bathroom. Was he following me? I begged my Mom to take me home as soon as possible.
My friends and I decided to go hunting for the man one day. I think before the end of August 2026. We walked into a nearby forest and waited for an hour. We didn't know where he came from, but Emily pointed out he was around at times we felt the most emotional, and we were telling each other how scared we were of him, which had to count.
Fortunately, he didn't show up. I was overwhelmed with chills, and told the two I didn't want to search for the rusted man anymore, and began walking home.
2027 and 2028 were my preteen years. I took my mind off of the rusted man by focusing on my favourite shows and musical artists. For the sake of getting all the details down, I watched a lot of Simpsons, Gumball, and this show called Camedon that went viral in 2027. The music I listened to was a rapper named Pestilence 40 and a pop singer named Rhonda Miller. In the Spring of 2028, I realized I was Asexual and Aromantic, meaning I didn't feel a sense of attraction towards anybody.
I spent a lot of time researching my favourite things while I'd overhear my parents freak out over a war that involved China. I have a hard time remembering anything more about said war.
The next time I saw the rusted man was shortly after I turned 13 in 2029. I was going through the pictures of my trip to Chicago, and, at the bottom of my camera roll, there was a picture of his face. I jumped.
When did that happen?
I went into the photo's details tab and found out it was dated February 5, 1950. Odd, considering there's no way the phone I was using was manufactured anytime around that year, but I sent it to my friends. Both of them responded by telling me the image was coming up blank. I went back to my Gallary, intenting to study the image closely, but it was gone.
A lot of the time after that were just casual memories of being dropped off at school, playing GTA 6 with friends, watching my favorite shows, listening to my favourite music, and joking about Secret Wars on Reddit and a viral app called BL. Nothing much about the man...
That is, until sometime in 2032, when I saw him walk by my bedroom window while I was right in the middle of a depressive episode. The chills I felt were one of the four emotional highs I felt that year. For the rest of the year, and for a lot of the following year, I felt numb, anxious, and mentally vacant. I barely cared about anything. Not even the man, or the flu epidemic going on at the time.
My friends were going through the same thing, so we exchanged affirmations and shared quotes from singers who were part of an indie wave trying to bring music back to its Billie Eilish phase. I was pretty much over the man at that point. I cared so much less about him, I considered seeking him out to let him kill me. I didn't think I was going to make it to 2034 anyway... so, why not?
Then in 2033, my depression began to lift, and I started to dread the thought of him again. I started drawing pictures of him and posted them on BL. Over the course of months, I gained a following who claimed to have seen him too. Some told me they saw him in their dreams, some told me they spotted him in a crowd, and others saw him in the window of a house they happened to be driving or walking by. Then there were a few people who told me they saw him running across roads and ripping eyeballs out of the heads of homeless people. By the end of the year, I had 10,000 followers.
In 2034, articles were being published about him. He became one of those big internet mysteries with dozens of videos and posts revolving around him and his actions, with some specific autobiographical drawings of mine being used as artistic renditions.
Some people made and posted highly vivid AI generated videos of him performing various tasks like midnight break-ins, murders, and to be jokingly relatable, cooking and cleaning. The videos looked like big budget movies, and, as I watched each of them, I got a deeper sense of dread. I avoided watching the videos altogether, as they began to scare the living shit out of me.
There was a popular form of technology at the time that let people share thoughts and feelings with others. Aside from, joking around with my friends, I used it to let people feel exactly how I felt during my encounters with him. I told them I hoped we'd get to a point where we'd be able to share memories with others, in order to give them the full observer experience.
In the fall of 2036, the FBI announced they were on the case of the rusted man after a string of murders across the US left victims without their eyeballs. I was overwhelmed with chills as I read the announcement. It was official confirmation of the rusted man's existence. I called the police, reporting my encounters with the rusted man. They told me they'd keep a look out for him.
Throughout 2037, 2038, and 2039, I'd hear reports about more victims being robbed of their eyes, yet no official photos or video of the rusted man ever surfaced. There were dozens of fakes all over the internet that were debunked, and I just wanted an official one. At the same time, however, I wanted it to be a hoax. I wanted it to turn out the man with a rusted face was just a murderer trying to become notorious by cosplaying an internet legend. I distracted myself from the whole fiasco by keeping up with the mission to Mars.
In 2040, the lack of photo and video evidence of the rusted man began to bug me. That was until that summer, when something was found. The FBI released security cam footage showing a man with a rust coloured face beating a police officer in a parking lot. His face resembled a mask, but looked organic at the same time. It was him. I knew it in my gut. Comments from other victims commented the same.
"That's him! I can't believe it took this long to get official footage of him."
"Yep. Definitely him. Right down to his eyes. I feel cold watching that."
"Yes, that is the man who stalked me when I was 7."
I too felt cold watching it. I deleted it from my search history and closed all my blinds. He was real. It was confirmed. I knew needed to hide away, even though I hadn't seen the man since I was 13. My friends told me they felt the same way.
The early 2040s were full of fear and doing as many things from home as possible. I made most of my money from making videos about music and movies. Occasionally, I'd make a video about the man, but only whenever he hit the news. I decided to share part of my revenue with my friends so they didn't need to go out as much and risk another encounter with the man. Luckily, most people just ordered food online anyway, which solved the hunger thing.
Sharing revenue with my friends became more important amidst a recession I only barely remember taking place in 2041 through 2043.
I began to go outside more in late 2043/early 2044. The man hadn't been in the news for a year, so I joked the FBI had caught him and found out he was an alien. It found it weird he was only reported in Canada and the US. Maybe it wasn't so weird in actuality, but it was as if something was missing. Like he was present in other places, but no reports had gotten out. I chalked it up to a random assumption and went along with my days.
In the summer of 2044, I discovered a conspiracy forum dedicated to the rusted man. I can remember some of the post titles quite vividly.
"The 'Rusted Man': what is his face really made of?"
"Is the Rusted Man the Last Resort for the US Government on Homelessness?"
"DNA CONNECTS THE RUSTED MAN TO DINAH CORTEZ"
I got out of that forum right away and blocked it from my search results. There was no reason to read any of that bologna...
Throughout 2045, Pop singers would insert references to the rusted man into their promotional music videos, but they usually either butchered him, had him get arrested, or portrayed him as a metaphor for the singer's own mental health issues.
While I was glad he was getting attention, I kinda regretted giving him so much coverage, as it meant I had to hear about him everywhere all the time. I brought it up to Emily.
"Yeah, but, I feel the same way," she said. "I sometimes wish I could hit a button and give everyone amnesia for a week."
While I kept hearing about him, I sure as hell hadn't seen him for a while. I thought I was free of him. Maybe he just left me alone... Maybe he leaves certain people alone after teasing them for a bit...
I was wrong. On one especially sunny afternoon in September 2045, I was jogging along the sidewalk on a road not too far from where I lived. I couldn't help but notice the sky looked like a painting. A really good one at that. As I stared up at the oddity, I bumped into somebody. My face colliding with theirs. Their complexion was odd. It was rough and almost felt like duct tape at the same time. I looked at him and told him I was sorry, but that's when I saw his face.
It was him. The fucking man with the fucking rusted out face. I went cold and felt I needed to force myself to step backwards. When I did, the man let out a chilling shriek. It sounded metallic, but like the climax of a sneeze at the same time. He stared into my eyes, which began to tingle. My heart dropped and I broke the stare, turning around and sprinting along the sidewalk.
Once I got home, I shut all my curtains, reported the man to the police, and texted my friends about the encounter. All I could think was, how long do I have to go through this? At least I was 29 years old, so people would believe it when I say it happened to me. I wasn't a kid anymore, but even then, I wished the rusted man was nothing more than a normal childhood hallucination.
I went to my doctor for my eyes, just to make sure they were alright. He found an odd transparent substance under each of my eyelids and referred me to a specialist. Some tests were done and I was told substance was the same one found in every crime scene involving the rusted man. They concluded I needed to be quarantined in my home for upwards of 20 years. I'm not kidding. That was the protocol.
During quarantine, the man never showed up at, or in, my house. I could only wonder what he was doing other than probably killing somebody. I dreaded the idea of him showing up. I had nightmares once a week... other than that, I still had access to the internet, so I watched as society developed while I was unable to go outside.
A political uprising happened in favour of conservatism in 2046, which was met with equal push from the liberal side due to proclaimations of violence towards those that wanted science to be taught in school.
In 2050, Russia collapsed and fell into a civil war, but was avenged by China and India.
By 2053, we were able to use MRI-like devices to project imagined images onto a screen. I ordered one for $100 and used it to recreate my memories of the rusted man and share them online. They were chilling to look at, so I considered not opening them for a while.
In 2056, a major cyberattack brought down various websites. Luckily, no archival sites were taken down.
Personally I just spent the years making content and building a fanbase that sent me emails all the time. The switch from foldable phones to perfectly flexible phones in the late 40s was fun. The phasing out of laptops due to phones becoming ever more useful was welcome.
Things were pretty normal for that stretch of time, aside from the quarantining. I got pretty used to it though, and developed a habit of jogging on the spot for exercise.
Throughout the 2050s, the rusted man made the news once a month. Throughout the early 2060s, he was making the news once a week. This I wanted to look at the news less often, but I had to because it was important. It didn't matter how dreadful the increased volume of attacks was.
Throughout the mid 2060s, reports came out about him destroying AIs, possibly because he didn't have high tech glasses that identified AIs as one of its features, so he likely thought they were human. This led to an upping of security around AIs and advancements in their security protocols. By 2067, a report came out stating less AIs were getting attacked by him.
The man spent the rest of the 2060s and the beginning of the 2070s continuing his murder spree without much to be discovered about him. He was still an unsolved mystery, and had become one of the most notorious figures of the 21st Century.
In 2071, reports about the rusted man's eye thieving became daily and worldwide. Major news talking heads began pushing the idea the rusted man is an alien who could attack a major celebrity or politician. Or course, celebrities and politicians upped their security ten-fold during the mid-2060s due to the weekly attacks, so nothing could go wrong, right?
That's what I thought, until May 2073, when a famous rapper named Fenny DON was found dead, inside his Atlanta mansion, without both his eyes. The security cameras caught the rusted man popping out of nowhere (in a very specific way that's difficult to explain. Either way, I went cold watching it,) restraining the rapper to their bed, removing their eyes, then vigorously ripping their brain out of their head. It was mortifying, and many people said they refuse to watch it, recreate it, share it, etc, but everybody had to have seen the screen shot of the man standing in the rapper's bedroom one second after appearing out of thin air. It was shared all over the internet for months. The video itself was proof this guy could teleport and move objects telekinetically.
The Pentagon released a report soon after, which included speculation about the rusted man's intentions. It was thought the rusted man was after people's eyes because they are impossible to reproduce alone and nothing beats them in terms of perception.
That wasn't the only thing I was wondering, however.
"Why he needs them is still very unknown and multiple theories so far haven't passed the merit test."
There it was. It needed to be figured out soon, because I wanted to know. I anticipated the day the truth came to be known. I needed the damn closure so bad.
In March 2074, I started to thinking of my life as wasted by the rusted man and my fear of him. I was 59 and rotting from the inside out. I didn't open up to my friends about it until I started slipping into a depression in May, despite my quarantine having just ended. That was when my friends told me the most assuring thing they could.
"Remember the little things, and we're here for you," Emily said.
"Yeah, all we can do now is whatever we want to do, because we're probably going to be killed at some point anyway," Ryan said.
It was cliche, but true. The emptiness lingered on through mid 2075, then it sorta lifted. Maybe I was desensitized, but at least I had my friends and the emotionally cathartic shows I was watching.
By the end of that year, I was thinking of upping my dosage of anti-depressants. Emily, Ryan, and I, were hanging out a lot more to make each other happier in spite of our emptiness and fear the rusted man would barge into our homes, randomly appear on the foot of our beds, or chase us down a road. And it was working. On December 29th, I felt the emptiness lift. Who needed pills? We just needed to stick together, like we always had. Emily suggested covering our heads to confuse the man, but I pointed out we'd need to know when he would arrive. We can't wear bags on our heads forever.
"We'll figure something out," Emily said.
In mid April 2076, I was eating dinner when I started hearing a loud rushing water-like sound coming from outside. I went outside to check out what was going on, but I couldn't find the source. I watched as my next door neighbor walked out onto their front porch, then the neighbor directly across the street stepped onto their porch, both of them looked up at the sky with looks of confusion.
I checked the news later on to find the sound was being reported all over Canada, all over the US, in the UK, Australia, Spain, Japan, South Africa, Chile... then pretty much everywhere else. The entire world was hearing this thing. The noise went on for days, then weeks, comments under articles were mixed about the sound. Some thought it was annoying, others enjoyed its fuzzyness. Both Emily and Ryan both told me they thought it was ear-piercingly horrible. Comedians joked about aliens, and NASA started to theorize it was actually extraterrestrial in nature. The sound finally faded in June 2076, and Emily, Ryan, and dozens of people across the internet expressed their relief.
Around August 10, 2076, I was mowing my lawn when I noticed him standing across the street from my house. The rusted man. He stared my way, not moving an inch. As he stared sinisterly into my soul, I was overwhelmed with chills. But that wasn't it. I noticed something off about the my surroundings. The trees, bushes, grass, were no longer moving in the wind. The man even looked static himself. I couldn't help but stare at the oddity. Everything that should've been moving just seemed so two-dimensional all of a sudden.
I pulled my digital glasses out of my pocket and attempted to call the police, but the numbers weren't in the right order. Attempting to dial 9-1-1 brought up a different combination of three numbers each time.
I sprinted back inside and shut all the curtains again, except for the ones in the kitchen, as they refused to move when I tried to shut them.
Over the following week, the fleeting rushing sound returned to the sky. This time, it sounded familiar. Not just because I heard it for two months straight not too long before. It seemed as if I had always known that sound. I realized it more and more as the weeks went on. In early September 2076, I went to the Museum. On my way to there, I noticed the trees were still static and fake looking. I tried my best to not even think about them, but rather on the technology of the early 21st Century.
When my phone decided to work, I texted Emily. Apparently, I had missed 20 messages from her, but I was too freaked out about my surroundings.
"Does anything seem off about the trees?" I asked.
"No? They look fine to me," Emily responded.
"They look fake all of a sudden. The grass too," I said. "Also, I feel like I've heard The Buzzy Static long before this year, and sometimes my phone looks off, which is why I missed your messages."
"Have you told your doctor about this?" she asked.
I hadn't, but I decided to make an appointment. On the day of the appointment, my doctor immediately diagnosed me with Schizophrenia, but I knew there was more to what I was experiencing. The day after my visit to the doctor, Emily and Ryan came over. I showed them the trees across the street and the grass on my lawn. I told them how fake it looked to me. They told me it all looked normal. They didn't notice anything unusual like I did, which only made my obsession deeper. I looked around at everything for a while. My friends tried to convince me to do stuff with them, but I refused. Eventually, they left, and I stood there, trying to make sense of what I was seeing.
Every day, I stood in my front yard for two hours, looking at the trees, bushes, and grass. In late September, the Buzzy Static began to feel more localized to my heart, and I could hear a subtle wooshing along with the buzzing. It too came from the sky.
By mid October, the sound dissipated, but the ambient noise was still going strong. People would walk past my house like there was no sound coming from the sky at all. On October 15, 2076, I stood on my front lawn, listening to the wooshing noise, and watching the trees cease to convince me they were normal. Then, the wooshing sounded localized to my lawn, and then it hit me.
None of this is real.
Suddenly, I immediately alternated from standing to laying down on my lawn without having moved a muscle. I was staring up at the sky, which was getting brighter. I could feel my heart beating. I began to hyperventilate, as this was new to me.
Where the hell am I going?
I looked at the unrealistic trees, then everything went blurry. Pain erupted in my chest, then I was lying on a stretcher. I wanted to move, but I was in shock.
What the... hell...? What's happening right now?
Then I remembered my life. My real life. Then the drive... The crash... I fished my phone out and looked at the date. May 23rd. I checked the calendar for the year. It was 2023. I was overcome with a heavy feeling of sadness. I thought I had spent 53 years being friends with two amazing people, but I was really just... unconscious for a short time?
I can't stop thinking about Emily and Ryan. The whole thing about the rusted man was crazy, but some things will never make sense. Last Thursday, I was sweeping my room, still feeling like I had lost real friends, when I turned around to sweep near the door and saw... the rusted man standing right outside my room. I went cold. It was really him... that rust coloured face... those eyes... I thought I was hallucinating at first. I knew I wasn't dreaming though, as you know when you're awake when you're dead awake. The rusted man lunged at me, and, before I could react, I was being tackled to the ground.
This isn't a hallucination at all... Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Dread overcame me as I struggled. Pain shot up through my back. At some point, I managed to get him off of me, then I sprinted into the living room and out the back door. I didn't have my phone with me, so I couldn't call the police. I looked back and saw the man's silhouette in the door frame. He lunged at me through the dark of the night. My heart sunk and I sprinted away, but tripped and fell face first onto the grass. Not a second later, I felt a painful thump.
I woke up in the hospital with that unexplainable liquid under my eyelids. The liquid I had in the same spot in the dream. My heart sank even further. Great... The doctors told me I'd be going in for testing, and asked me what happened. I told them, describing the man to them as well, but in a plausible way.
"He probably had face paint on or something. Something that made his face look like rusty metal."
Later that day, one of the doctors told me my tests have been scheduled for the 9th.
Just yestarday, I heard Emily's voice in a dream, but she was nowhere to be seen. I woke up with tears streaming down my face, wondering why the rusted man had to be real, but not the two people who were always there for me, or the other victims of the man himself.
My curtains have been shut for days now, I've informed my neighbors of the madman, and the police told me they're still on the lookout. All I want to know is who this man is, what he wants with my eyes, how much longer I'm going to live with him stalking me, and how dreaming truly works.

tldr: Just started e when I got to college, parents are aware im trans but are not fully supportive and Iwould like to tell them before the effects are noticable
Hiya!so just for context, I am currently 19 and living on my own in college and only see my parents 1-3 times a year for a few weeks and video call them every so often. I also started a low dose of e (1mg 2x daily) and t blockers two weeks ago!
So I found out I was trans a couple of years ago and have been waiting to get to college so that I could start E. I tried to come out to my parents first as nonbinary back in high school (they said it was fake and just flat out denied it) and then as properly transfem over-winter break (they where breifly supportive for like five minutes, said they would love and support me and wanted whats best for me, and spent the next thirty minutes making fun of my name, and how stupid/bad of a choice it was and how it will screw my future up) and since then they acted like nothing happened and havent exactly followed up on it or asked me about it and it sorta went under the table.
As such, im in a weird situation, where my parents know im trans, and are clearly not happy about me doing things that are more femenine or presenting that way in public and in general refuse to acknoledge it to the point that its just a topic thats ignored at home(even though I also dont really bring it up and just act like nothing is up to avoid drama), but also claim to be supportive?
any advice on how to handle this or anyone go through similar stuff in the past?
thank you!
-Jade

Ember played with the boys on the floor, their hands reaching for him. Pouring over the files of the latest security breach on our magical borders, my eyes fell on Alex playing with his new friends outside. Waving at me, Jack embraced me from behind. Kissing the top of my head, it felt as if something big was going to happen today. A tender blush rose to my cheeks, my hand cupping his face.
“We need to raid an outpost today. Hopefully we can get information on the main headquarters.” He informed me warmly, biting my neck. Drinking his fill, my crippling anxiety stole any joy it normally would have given me. Missions like these frightened me, every cell in me wanted to turn into a raven and fly away for the day. Finishing up his breakfast, he set down an armored filled dress with leggings. Salford whispered something in his ear, sliding him a pair of car keys. Rising to my feet, I took my new outfit to our bedroom. Changing quickly, the dress felt heavy on my frame, the leggings seemed to be lined with chain mail. Pulling my hair into a ponytail, I ran into Jack on the way out. Embracing me lovingly, the keys dangled off of his fingers. Feeling his simple black suit, a light armor lined it. Chewing on my lips, our friends waited for us in matching black armor.
“We are ready to go.” Raven announced proudly, my eyes falling on Salford. “Salford said that he was going to watch the boys.” Adjusting their backpacks, weapons clanged in their bags. Guilt gnawed at me, the concept of putting them in danger sickening. My lips parted in protest, Raven raising her finger.
“We are coming. Those bastards killed my family and they are going to pay.” She asserted firmly, pulling her hair into a ponytail. “Besides, I want to back my friend up.” A deep sadness haunted her eyes, my hands cupping hers. A gentle but broken smile dimmed her features, silent tears staining her cheeks.
“I appreciate it and I apologize for not being there to stop it. I ruined everyone’s life by not being there.” I choked out shamefully, bowing my head. “I failed you and everyone else. I will make it up to you guys, I fucking promise you that.” Grabbing my shoulder, her other hand lifted up my chin.
“You were busy doing your own shit. I heard you showed up, girl!” She chatted pleasantly, my shaking fingers wiping away her tears. “You have a place where humans and monsters get along with ease. Have you been sleeping? You look like hell.” A deadpan expression appeared on my face, her last comment ticking me off slightly. Brushing it off, Jack cleared his throat. Placing me on his back, he carried me to a delivery van. Hopping off of his back, I let myself in. The Tainsworth twins sat in the front with their armor on, Raven climbing in with Ruby. Messing with her curls, Raven basically sat on top of her. Adjusting my bell sleeves, the leather hugged my slender arms. Oppressive silence hung between us, Ruby refusing to look at me. Folding her arms across her chest, something needed to be said. Choosing not to say it, the time passed horribly slow. The van screeched to a halt, Jack pulling me into a hidden compartment. The door squeaked open, heavy footfalls echoed in the back.
“Who are you?” A gruff voice demanded, Ruby speaking up. Clearing her throat, her voice tone seemed rather bitter.
“We wish to join your ranks. I can’t stand vampires, especially their fucking queen. She could die for all I care.” She snapped hotly, truth oozing from her words. “She is hiding somewhere in this van.” Horror rounded our eyes, her betrayal striking us in the heart.” Opening the compartment hiding us, she took a step back. The hunters slapped handcuffs on us all, Ruby grinning evilly ear to ear. Wicked laughter rumbled in her throat, her head cocking back.
“I have been working with them the entire time. There is no information, just the home of your executions.” She gloated sensually, the twins cursing in her direction. “I am not even a teenager. I am a witch who has been alive for centuries. Can I tell you a secret? I am the leader of the hunters. Everyone else was just a puppet.” Sighing with satisfaction, she circled us. Tears welled up in my eyes, Raven sobbed softly next to me. Pulling a gun from her pocket, Ruby shot her in the head. Time slowed, the twins crying out. Emptying her gun into them, a broken wail burst from my lips. Their bodies dropped forward, ruby dripping from the holes in the middle of their foreheads. Jack twitched darkly next to me, my mind officially broken. His bangs hid his eyes, his claws extended from his fingernails. Unlocking his handcuffs, he pretended to get madder as he worked on mine. The metal clanged to the ground, Ruby’s eyes widening with terror. Tears blurred my vision, my scythe sliding into my eager palms.
“You fucking bitch!” I screamed vehemently, pacing back and forth. Reapers held their souls in their palms, all hope of saving them was gone. “You are going to pay.” Shrugging her shoulders, she leaned forward.
“How pathetic for the queen to lose her cool so quickly?” She taunted cruelly, Jack fumed dangerously next to me. “You can’t damage me. You can kill this body and all I have to do is find another one. Angel of darkness! Kill all of my hunters and give me their lives.” The hunters holding us hostage dropped to the ground, thousands of white glowing balls flowing into her. Panic gripped my face, reapers burst from the ground surrounding her. Death himself popped up next to me, one raise of his hand stopping them.
“I am going to bring these souls to Heaven. Take her out.” He commanded urgently, the balls floating into a worn leather sack hanging off of his wrists. “They are all dead. You did all that you could. Good luck.” The last ball of light floated into the sack, a snap of his finger signaling his disappearance. The three of us remained, a ball of shadowy energy building in her palm. A low hissing noise echoed around us, the delivery truck fading to the base of a dead twisted tree. Violet grass danced around me, a chill running up my spine. Gripping my scythe tightly, rage mixed with depression. Sauntering out from behind the tree, a single wave of her hand sent us a couple of yards away. Gone was the armor she wore, a tight leather number hugging her body. Violet needles rested in between her fingers, dead man’s blood dripped onto the grass.
“I suppose you want to hear about my tale and why I am doing this?” She mused with a wicked chuckle, licking the blood off her hand. “I have a bomb ticking away. The lovely thing will release a virus that will kill all of the monsters in the world. Humans will be infected with a magical mind control. Don’t worry about your friends. I killed them because they were annoying me. Do you know how hard it was to pretend to be friends with you and arrange your fucking role? I made a deal with your father to kill you. How did you like the little bonfire?” Wanting to charge at her, Jack held me back. Raising my scythe into the attack position, the corner of my lips curled into a snarl.
“You freaking bitch.” I growled through gritted teeth, leaping into the air. Raising her hands in the air, thousands of needles floated behind her. Flicking her wrists, the rain of needles tore through my body. Jack would die, my boots pushing off the branch. Covering Jack with my body, the needles struck me instead. A burning sensation coursed through my veins, inky sludge pouring from my eyes. Cracks lined her face as needles struck the tree, an idea coming to mind. Jack trembled underneath me, his eyes falling on the blackened veins coursing lining my porcelain skin.
“Shoot her in the hands. She can’t throw her needles if her wrists can’t move.” I wheezed, coughing up blood. Dragging him behind the tree, my chains blocked the needles heading towards Jack. His hand quaked, his bullets hitting everywhere but the target. Lining my free arm up with his, my hand steadied his.
“I can’t!” He protested with wet eyes, his mental state beyond repair. “My friends are dead. My friends are dead! She used to be my friend!” Shimmering teardrops crashed to the grass, the grass darkening to an inky black. Confusion dawned on his face the moment I held his gun underneath his eyes. Teardrops flooded the chamber, my hand guiding his hand to the level of his eyes. Getting behind him, I clicked the safety. Aiming for her palm, a quick yank sent a blackening bullet up her arm. A wave of relief washed over me the moment her needles glitched, the muzzle of his gun aimed for her other palm. Pulling the trigger, the bullet shattered her other arm. Dropping to her side, cracks echoed in the air. The cracks on her face had deepened, my attention turning towards her tree. Swinging my scythe into the tree, her shrill shrieks filled the air as flames raced into the center of the tree. Water snaked around their branches, my chains clinking their way around the thick trunk. Mouthing a silent spell, the needles floated out of me.
“Water from my heart! Flames of the Dead! Chains from my master! I call upon thee to burn the tree down, drown it from the inside. Choke the shit out of it.” I ordered sharply, each word hurting. “Final spell, turn my blood into venom for a witch.” Raising my right hand, a bell rang the moment the tip of my scythe made contact. Closing my fist, the needles dug themselves into the tree. Flames devoured her skin, cold water filled her lungs. Chains snaked up her body, a sea of fiery orange coloring her skin. My vision blurred, Jack snapping out of his paralyzed state. Raising his gun, a bullet whistled into the tree. The bullet being the last thing we needed, the tree decayed to dust along with her. The dimension crumbled away, my legs giving out. Leaning against the destroyed van, fresh tears flowed freely at the sight of our dead friends. Jack picked up one of their backpacks, his tears soaking the top of the bag. Pulling out a medical bag, he ripped out a needle filled with milky liquid. Jamming the needle into my leg, the effects of the venom dying down. Pressing my ear to the ground, an ominous ticking echoed in my ear. Tick, tick, tick! Feeling around the dirt, a metal door clanged underneath my hand. One look in Jack’s direction, he understood. Spinning the rusty handle, he lifted up the door. Gathering the rest of my strength, I popped in. Shutting the door behind me, the lock sealed my fate. Jack protested outside, the top refusing to budge, my heart sinking at the only option. The only way to stop the bomb was to set it off in a dome, the spell caster having to be in the center of it. Praying that my reaper side would keep me alive even Jack had to know that he didn’t stand a chance. Using my scythe as a walking stick, my feet moved with adrenaline. Sniffing the air, the sweet smell told me where to go. Limping through the twisted concrete halls, my breath hitched at the orange angry metal ball. Taking a deep breath, the image of my dead friends and that town I called home flashed in my mind. Pushing through, I sank to my knees. The last of my power built around my hands, a sad smile haunting my face the moment I placed my palms on the surface. A water dome glittered over me, reaper’s flames reinforcing it. Channeling the rest of my flames into core, the metal rattled violently. Preparing for the worst, a giant raven folded its wings around me.
“I will protect you no matter what.” Dr. Death promised warmly, his energy providing me safety as the chemical blasted everywhere but us. “Dissolve the poison.” The colorful particles lightened to a snow white, everything hitting me at once. Ruffling my hair, he disappeared back into my mind. Jack sprinted in, his shattered expression speaking volumes.
“I am so sorry I couldn’t save them.” I blubbered uncontrollably, falling to the floor. “I don’t deserve you. You should just k-” Rushing over to me, he clutched me desperately to his chest. Tears flowed freely, neither of us able to move. Laying back, the clarified chemicals reminding me of snow. A tortured wail burst from my lips, my quaking fingers clinging to his jacket. Saphiro and Hazard skidded to a stop, their faces dropping at the sight of us. Shaking our shoulders to see if we were alive, gracious grins brightened their features at us breathing. Their words faded in and out, a rough darkness enveloping me in it’s sea of madness.
Jerking awake, an eager Alex and Hazel hovered by the white hospital bed. Covering my eyes from the blinding lights, their arms embraced me from either side. Eloise smothered Jack in love, his numb expression matching mine. Bursting into tears, their smiling faces taunted me. Holding me tighter, his words faded in and out. Jack screamed for everyone to leave him alone. Kissing Hazel on the head, Alex dragged her out. Walking over to my bed, his little sister sulked out. Crawling in next to me, his head rested on my chest. Wail after wail burst from his lips, my slender hands being the only thing comforting him. These were his friends and now they were gone. The fault was all mine, guilt eating me raw from the inside. Hours passed like this, him going numb then screaming with raw emotional agony. Swinging his feet over the edge of the bed, he tugged on his boots.
“Are you coming?” He asked hoarsely, offering me his hand. “We need to go home and raise our family.” Accepting his hand cautiously, he yanked me to feet. Placing me on his back, the look in his eyes begged for me to rest my head on his back. Walking into the hall, he ignored the pleading nurses. Saphiro blocked his path, his depressed smile not helping the situation. Tugging anxiously on his navy vest, my mind chose to focus on the midnight black blouse underneath his vest. Clearing his throat, clammy sweat drenched his skin.
“Come with me.” He begged kindly, Jack seconds from saying no. “Please. I have a couple of things to show you.” Caving to his request, we walked for a solid ten minutes to the cemetery. Three caskets waited to be lowered to the ground, Jack dropping me. Struggling to my feet, my heart shattered at him draping his arms over the coffin. Whispering a prayer to them, he took a step back. Pulling me close to his waist, his sobs grew louder as they lowered the caskets into the ground. Death popped up behind us with three letters in his hands, his head bowed in respect to the dead bodies.
“These are from your friends. Call it one final letter.” He informed Jack sullenly, turning towards me. “Thank you for your services. Unfortunately, I can’t remove the curse.” Offering me his hand, my fingers curled around his hand. Shaking it once, he bowed in my direction. Pressing his palms together, a twinkle glinted in his eyes.
“Once everything settles down, we should get together to have tea. I am sorry for your loss.” He expressed serenely, understanding death but not the grief part. Snapping his fingers he was gone, an eager Jack reading the letters. Curiosity burned a bit but my inside voice told me to leave it alone. Tucking them into his pocket, he placed me on his back. Following Saphiro back into town, his crooked grin lit up his face for a quick second.
“They said not to lose you.” He chuckled softly, a bit of hope glinting in his eyes. “Time will heal my wounds.” Hundreds of eyes watched us enter back into town, my jaw dropping at the statue of the five of us. The plaque read the heroes of the dawn, the two of us unsure of what to feel. Jack thanked him profusely, Saphiro pointing to the Victorian mansion at the top of the nearby hill.
“That mansion is yours to conduct your business as well as living in it.” He promised earnestly, fresh tears flooding from my eyes. “We hope you choose this town as your home.” Jumping down, I cupped his hands. A tender blush rose to his cheeks, my real smile illuminating my features for the first time since yesterday.
“Only if you'll have me, good sir.” I returned politely, his brow cocking at my response. Alex ran up to me with the boys in his arms. Accepting them, life was okay. Please karma, grant me peace for the rest of my life.
Epilogue:
Alex had his head buried in his work, the twins ran around the yard. Elise read in the tree, the two kiddos looking so grown up. The morning sun bathed the idyllic scene, a good five years had passed. Holding my swollen bump, two wails snapped me out of my trance. Jack stepped out with our white haired twins Sammy and Raven, the one year old girls reaching for me. Their fiery orange and red eyes glittered with love, my arms scooping them up. Wrapping his arms around my bump, Mark was due in a couple of months.
“Alex, Elise!” He barked with his trademark grin as they rushed up to him. Elise smoothed out her white summer dress, Alex adjusting his glasses in a brisk manner. An irked look greeted him, his stern gaze shutting down any protest.
“Watch the boys for us.” He ordered lightly, passing them wrapped boxes. “I need to take your sister somewhere. Boys, go in and watch a show with your uncle and aunt.” Sprinting into the house, Alex shot him a thumbs up as he followed them inside. Guiding me down the hill and through the town, his beard kept capturing my attention. Grabbing three bouquets on the way, he dragged me to the cemetery. Stopping in front of our friends' graves, he laid a bouquet on each tombstone. Dusting off his navy designer suit, my simple orange summer dress felt like a sad attempt to match him. Rubbing my back, he kissed my bump.
“We came by to tell you how things are going. Alex and Elise are learning how to drive. Yeah, that is as scary as it sounds. Sammy and Raven’s birthday happened a couple of weeks ago. They are both one year old. Crazy, isn’t it?” He chatted pleasantly, happy tears welling up in his eyes. “We have one more on the way. It’s another boy. We are going to name him Mark. I miss you dummies every fucking day. I wouldn’t have survived if you gave me that letter. Thank you.” Wiping away his tears, Sammy and Raven cooed in my arms. Kissing the top of my head, Jack guided me to the square. Sitting me down at the fountain, he took the girls in his arms. Passing me a bundle of envelopes, they were all from the townsfolk and monsters all over the world.
“Word got out about where you live and they all wanted to write their thanks.” He explained jovially, sitting down next to me. “Read them tonight and write back. They would love to hear from you.” Flicking through the pile, this was going to take a while. Popping to my feet, I could sense that Alex was getting frustrated. Walking back home, the fact that people wanted to thank me touched my heart. Opening the door, my boys bounced towards me. Dragging me to the couch, one of Alex’s shows was playing. Climbing onto the couch next to me, Jack took the other seat next to me. Hazel skipped in, her long hair grazing the worn wooden floor. Sitting down by my feet, Elvira laid on her lap. Basking in the moment, this was how life was supposed to be. Thank you for the gift of a good life. All the tragedy led to this moment. All of the scars told the tale of my twisted journey here. Jack leaned his head on my shoulder, the boys laying on my lap. Playing with their hair, I hoped sincerely that this would never end.