Small half bath sinks

Marc gave it another go. He tipped his hand forward. The silver patty rolled off him, dropping toward the cave floor.
It stopped short of hitting the path. The shiny disc halted in the air, dangling at the end of a thin white line.
He watched the small wheel spin. It might have been the most fun he’d had all year. Even more fun than that mud puddle he’d found the other day.
How does it keep going? Marc thought to himself. And without any power??
Marc assumed the disc was some sort of technological marvel from the past. But the Archives had little information on it, only a name. It was called a “yo-yo.”
They all must have had one of these, he posited.
As Marc walked down the stone ramp, he cast the yo-yo again. The toy’s quiet spin was the only sound in the cavern. The soft hiss of string versus metal reverberated gently in the spacious cave.
Marc focused all his attention on the little gadget. He was determined to enjoy every last minute of the universe, no matter what. And that evening, the yo-yo more than accomplished that goal.
The shimmering yo-yo, however, couldn’t prevent the world around him from crumbling. The ground started to rumble. The rest of the cave shook with it. The underground city shook as the plasma storm above battered it—and the rest of the planet.
Marc’s home broke down. Cracks appeared in the ceiling. Waterfalls of dust poured out of them. It wouldn't be long before the whole thing collapsed. That is, if the plasma storm didn’t swallow it whole first.
Whatever.
A few clumps of dirt wouldn’t ruin Marc’s fun. He pulled the hood of his shawl over his head and extended his ragged sleeves toward each hand. His clothes shielded him from the falling dust; the gritty particles made themselves at home on his messy shawl. And Marc was free to perfect his newest trick.
The rumbling died down though as Marc descended the ramp. The yo-yo string didn’t wobble so much, and he didn't have to watch his steps as carefully. He just hoped the quaking wouldn’t come back to ruin his event.
Speaking of which, Marc glanced ahead toward his destination below. What he saw rocked him even harder than the earthquake had.
What in the sinkpits…?
Marc stopped in his tracks. He even started to reach for his knife. All because he’d detected a speck of something suspicious. Something he didn't see much of every day: color.
Showy landmarks weren’t something endemic to his home. The Outpost was more of a dusty gray-and-brown sort of place. The walls were sandstone. The floor was sandstone. And the ceiling? …Granite?
No, sandstone. All under the faint glow of a string of depressed lightbulbs.
The intriguing blip in the gray-and-tan collage was farther up the path. Ahead of the ramp, on Level 8, Marc saw the same three steel doors he was used to seeing. The front doors of underground homes, lined up in a row, each closed into the cave wall.
However, there was something different about the third door. It looked… alive. Like it didn’t belong in a dreary place like the Outpost. But it was too far away to tell what exactly had been done to it.
Marc squinted at it suspiciously. The third door happened to be his destination. And now it was weird.
He considered waiting and observing the mutated door. A child of the Outpost, Marc had developed a healthy fear of the unusual.
These habits, along with his instincts, kept him safe. They’d specifically preserved him while the rest of humanity perished.
But he shrugged off the instinct to wait. Something new and “different” was ahead, and he wanted to see it.
But just as a precaution, it was time for his yo-yo’s last trick. He got in one final throw then placed the toy into his satchel. He dropped it on top of his arsenal of cables, wrenches, and screwdrivers.
And by the time he’d snapped the satchel shut, the long ramp had bottomed out. He’d made it to the next level.
To his left, the wall had been spray-painted. Scrawled-out black letters stood against the sandy background. They stated, “Now Level 8.”
Marc followed the sign. He stayed close to the wall, crossing to the stone pedestrian path. He passed one untouched steel door with a dusted-over mail slot in the wall beside it. Then he passed a second home—abandoned like the first. And finally, he arrived at his friend’s place and the mysterious blip on Level 8.
To his surprise, the steel door elicited a flush of emotion. His heart floated upward. And the portrait before him drew his focus in like an otherworldly beacon.
How did it get so…?
Marc pulled back his hood. The ground popped with the sandy grains he released.
He could hardly believe the difference. The door used to blend in with the others: another ridged steel face that spent most of its time rusting or collecting dirt.
But it was no longer muffled by the dust and dirt that had built up over the years.
Today, it sung. Paint streaks flew across its visage. They swirled and spiraled, forming stars and other shapes. Where previously gray and rust dominated, colors sprang forth—colors that Marc didn't even have the names for. They were many, and they were warm, like the evening sky just after sunset. Marc could hardly wrap his head around the entire image.
He swelled with gratitude.
Only you could have pulled this off. He thought of his friend, the painter. The one person in the colony who’d ever been any fun. The one other person in the colony who was left…
The artist had done the unthinkable. Foraging the garden below for something other than food. Spending work time measuring and concocting the perfect blends of paint. And then slathering their fingers across the giant door, until its old face was but a memory. And all that effort for only a single other person to appreciate.
Newly inspired, Marc searched for an unpainted space on the metal canvas. He found one and knocked on the door.
He took a step back and waited. The outside of the Outpost was lively. Excited wind rushed through the canyon.
By contrast, the Outpost itself was silent. If there was anyone left to say anything, they may have even called it “dead.”
Or nearly dead, anyway. The last morsel of it came to life as the door in front of Marc groaned.
It floated off the ground, inching upward. On the other side, Marc could hear a hand crank clicking away.
Ktch… ktch… ktch… ktch…
The corrugated door lifted, and the door rolled up. The tip of the artist’s painting started to slip from view.
Ktch… ktch… ktch… ktch…
Behind the door, chains reeled at a slow clip. The heavy curtain was halfway up. Marc could now see his best friend's lower half. Buff Lenorkian legs pumped back and forth with each crank.
The door unveiled even more of the owner. A torso in a metal suit appeared. Four ripped arms stretched out of it. They rotated, moving to the clicking beats of the door.
Ktch… ktch… ktch… ktch…
The door raised a few inches further, uncovering the bottom half of a cobalt blue face. Two rows of razor-sharp teeth smiled from ear to ear. A few inches more, and Marc could see the whole of the Lenorkian’s face.
Sid greeted Marc as the last of the door raised.
“Finally!” he said.
Marc didn’t get a chance to respond. His body lurched forward involuntarily. He slammed into Sid’s metal suit.
Crrrrrick!
The armor squealed as Sid’s upper two arms squeezed him tighter. The lower set of arms had reeled Marc in.
Marc hated hugs. Stupid mushy emotional wraparounds. But just this one final time, Marc returned the gesture. He squeezed Sid back.
“Happy Worlds’ End!” Sid said from the other side of the embrace.
“Yeah,” Marc replied, “Happy Worlds’ End.”
The two separated.
“Cool painting, by the way,” Marc said. He pointed at the rolled-up door. “I didn’t think you’d top the one in the garden.”
“You think so?” Sid sheepishly smiled. “Well I’ve had more time to practice since… you know.”
“Yeah, I get it,” Marc said. “Me too. That’s how I actually got you something.”
Marc swung his heavy satchel around. He rifled through it, squeezing through cables, knocking handles and parts out of the way. And then—ah.
He fished out a crumpled rag. Holding it in one hand, he began to gently unfold it.
“I found this a few days ago in the garden,” he said. The edges of the cloth fell. They revealed a small, glass object. It sparkled.
Marc continued, “I think it fits your style—I mean, I know it’s a little smudged and chipped but...”
He swirled the crystal trinket around. The cavern’s incandescent light flittered across its clear edges.
He touched it too, tracing the slender portion of it with his thumb. It was the neck of the crystal swan.
“It’s yours,” Marc said, offering up the bird.
Sid cupped two shovel-sized hands and accepted the gift.
“It’s beautiful…” he said, examining it. “I can’t believe anything like this could have survived this long.” He looked up at Marc and smiled, “Thank you so much. I just wish I had a little longer to could enjoy it.”
They chuckled lightly about their impending obliteration.
“Well, come on in,” Sid said. He extended both of his left arms. They gestured toward the cave interior. “We’ll finish off this universe how it started,” he said. He mashed his upper two fists together. “With a bang!”
“I hear that!” Marc nodded. He crossed over into Sid’s house.
As Marc passed Sid, a wave of discomfort hit him. Sid had switched out his usual t-shirt and jeans. He wore old armor instead. And the metal plating taunted Marc.
Marc’s next question came out more accusatory than curious.
“So… a Lenorkian throwback, huh?” he asked Sid.
Sid had just finished finding the perfect home for his swan. He left it on a shelf next to the front door.
He turned to face Marc. He hid his embarrassment behind a jagged smile.
“Oh!” he said. “Uhhh…” Three of Sid’s arms disappeared behind his back. The cone-shaped cuffs at the end of each wrist clanked against the back of his chest armor. The fourth arm nervously scratched his blue head. “I don’t know,” he said. “It's stupid, I guess. I can take it off… if you want.”
Marc didn’t want to address the topic head-on. He stopped in the cave’s entry. He pretended to admire the walls—as if he’d never seen sandstone before.
“No, leave it on,” he said. “You look… like a true Lenorkian.” He turn around and forced a smile.
It wasn’t enough.
“Okay, let’s get this out of the way,” Sid said. He marched up to Marc.
Sid took a deep breath before he spoke.
“Tonight's really important to me,” he continued. “This is the last impression anyone’s going to make on the universe. So I need you on board.” He continued staring down at Marc. “Can you do that? For me?”
Marc didn’t see what the big deal was. It was just a couple of best friends hanging out.
“Yeah, why not?” he shrugged. “End it the way it started.”
The exchange turned into awkward silence. Neither knew what to do next. They had never been in a situation like this before—never attended such an event. What the Archives called: a par-ty.
Sid shook off the figurative mask he’d been wearing—one that was uncharacteristically dour. His eyes lightened, and he bobbed his head knowingly.
“I went through the Archives to see how this works,” he said. He walked toward the long horizontal counter against the wall—the kitchen.
On the counter, chaos ran wild. Bowls and kitchenware spread across the surface. And the insides of his pots and pans resembled the dirty mouth of a garbage chute.
Marc wasn’t sure what to think. Was cleaning the host’s kitchen a staple of ancient parties?
Sid too seemed a bit confused. His next words came out robotically, as if he was practicing a new word he’d learned.
“’Can-I-offer-you-a-drink?’” Sid asked. He stood nervously in front of the counter.
Looking closer at it, three unusual objects stood apart from the kitchenware mess. It took Marc a while to remember what their outdated, bendy material was called.
Plastic. Three pink and plastic cups sat equidistant from one another.
“I got these from here,” Sid reached under the counter and pulled up some sort of transparent bag. Pink cups just liked the others were stacked on top of each other inside.
Sid packed the bag back under the counter.
“So?” he asked after he finished. He held all four hands together in anticipation. His smile may have looked like an industrial-grade rock shredder, but it was hard to resist his innocent blue face and big wide eyes.
Marc eyed the pink cups one last time.
“This better not kill me,” he said.
Sid wasted no time. He excitedly grabbed a cup and walked over to a large pot sitting on the counter.
Using a nearby ladle, he plunged into the vat. An unappetizing sloshing sound resulted. And Sid, as strong as he was, seemed to struggle with scooping out some of the mystery liquid. But in the end, he pulled back the ladle and unloaded an opaque, muddy liquid into the cup.
“It's a homeworld classic called fludge,” Sid said as he finished pouring.
He treaded over to his reluctant friend and handed off the plastic cup.
“Did you say ‘fludge’?” Marc asked. He swished the cup around cautiously. The earthy liquid hardly budged.
“Yeah, fludge! Us Lenorkians invented it. It’s kind of the only tasty thing we ever bothered to make.”
Marc sniffed it. It smelled… burnt? Maybe a little dusty, too? But he could have just been smelling the cave.
Sid left Marc alone with Marc’s questionable new assignment. He returned to the pot to pour himself a drink.
“Just try it!” he said.
Marc looked down again at the dark soup. It could kill him. Or maybe it wouldn't.
Either way, it was his last drink.
He took a timid sip and waited to be repulsed. The fludge trickled to the back of his tongue. As it hit, Marc’s eyes widened. But not with regret.
He swallowed.
“Now wait a minute…” he said. He smacked his lips together. Then he took another, larger sip.
This curious dark liquid had a unique taste to it. The taste was earthen—but unoffending. It also had a subtle undercurrent of sweetness to it, combined with a spicy kick. It was delicious.
“This might be the best drink in the entire Outpost!” Marc exclaimed.
Pure joy bloomed on Sid’s face. “See! I told you: the greatest thing we ever made.”
He held his own cup above his open jaws. The falling fludge was no match for the alien. He guzzled it down, licked his lips, and then went back for more.
As Sid fashioned himself another drink, Marc noticed something a tad unsettling. A third pink cup stared back at him. It prompted an uncomfortable thought, but he shoved the thought back down.
The Lenorkian carried back his second drink. Though this time, he took it in small, human-sized sips.
But he quickly reanimated. In the middle of a sip, Sid got a wild look in his eyes. His irises turned from their natural violet to scarlet. He yanked the cup from his face and swallowed.
“Argh, how did I forget?” he said. “I got music!”
Marc cut his sip short too. “No way. You got music?”
“I think so!”
Sid did an about face. He slammed the half-empty cup on the counter. Then he shuffled toward a giant metal column protruding from the far wall. Four ink-blue hands wrapped around the cover of the vent. And he went for it.
Sid struggled to pull off the cover of the vent at first. His armor ballooned around his biceps as his muscles bulged outward. Yet the cover wouldn't budge.
But it seemed like an important part of his evening plans. He scolded the stubborn vent, banging on its top.
“Oh, you’re gonna get it now!” he said. He latched onto the vent again.
This time, he put even more effort in. To the point where Marc sensed that Sid was losing a grip on his own body. Out of his forehead, two thumb-sized cones began to rise. His breathing turned low and raspy. And his whole body seemed to expand as he repositioned himself for leverage. Then with one final pull, like a wild beast, he let out of a deep, guttural roar.
“HAWRRRRRRRRRRRGGH!” The roar echoed off the cave walls.
And with that, the stubborn vent cover finally popped off. A breath of wind pulsed through the room as the air pressure equalized itself.
But the wind wasn’t finished. After the initial pulse exited, a mighty gust picked up where the original pulse left off. The vent shot more wind into the room, but rapidly, like a storm. Tiny coarse particles rattled inside the duct. And in the room, a rush of wind whipped past Marc’s face. He felt little nips across his exposed skin as it passed him.
Both partiers shielded their faces from the most direct blasts of air. Sid smiled nervously as he looked to Marc. He raised his voice over the whining airstream.
“It’s from the sandplains above!” he said in an elevated voice. “I thought we’d use the sandstorm for music! Do you like it?”
Music… Marc wasn’t exactly an expert. Even though humans were said to be naturals at it, not much on the subject had made it into the Archives. The Outpost didn’t have much of it either. The closest he got was the occasional chant, stray birds twittering about, or maybe someone banging on rocks.
But Marc did know one thing on the subject. Where there was music, there was dancing.
That said, he had never danced before either. But a long time ago, his parents told him it was something all humans could do. It was something they carried in their blood. Once humans found a pattern in music, they could match it to their body language. And once they’d synced melody and movement, they could ride that wave to a whole new experience.
Might as well give it a shot, he thought. Marc too put his cup on the counter.
With his hands free, Marc backed up toward the middle of the room. He closed his eyes, felt the wind. It filled his ears with its gusty energy. It hit him in pumps as the storm raged above.
Though not totally predictable, the wind did hit him consistently. There was some sort of kinetic pattern to it.
Yes, a pattern.
Well actually, he’d heard it called by another name. What was that word his mother had used? He opened his eyes when he remembered: rhythm.
Marc stretched out his arms. He relaxed his hips. He felt the wind’s whips and waves across his arms. He let his arms follow them, swaying with the current. Not long after, his hips joined in. They too gyrated, trying to match the energetic gusts. He kept at it. And the first time Marc felt both himself and the wind moving together, he grinned.
“This is amazing!” he said. Around them, the wind crooned.
Sid was entranced. He nodded back while staring at Marc’s strange movements. He’d never really seen dancing either. But he figured he would give it a shot too. He loosened up his arms and walked onto the dance floor with Marc.
Before dancing himself, he studied Marc first. He watched how the scavenger moved his arms—and when the scavenger moved his arms.
Sid’s limbs followed. Four muscular arms rose in the air, like fighter jets on their way to a dogfight. And on a one or two second delay, they swayed after Marc’s.
For a while, they followed Marc completely. Then Sid went down his own path. The Lenorkian’s movements grew aggressive and battle-like. He punched at the wind swiping across him. He shuffled his feet as if swapping battle stances.
He caught Marc’s curiosity. Even as a novice, Marc could tell Sid’s movements weren’t traditional by any means. But to Marc, it was dancing all the same.
The two danced to the chorus of the air above. They laughed occasionally as changes in the rhythm of the wind tripped them up. In his head, Marc compared it to the painting on Sid’s door. The colony had never seen anything like this either.
Then something interrupted their dancing. The ground beneath them shook, throwing them off their feet. Heavy gray dirt trickled from the ceiling as the entire cave rumbled. And outside, the distant sky flashed and crackled. Its light illuminated the cave in violent spurts as the boys struggled to stand back up.
Eventually, the violent quaking and frightening flashes died down. The plasma storm held its breath once again.
The boys got back on their feet, but all the joy had seeped out of Sid’s face. He just stared at the floor in deep contemplation. Even as the windy music started back up.
Marc figured he would rescue his friend from whatever dark thoughts had turned up. Naturally, the end of the universe was a real bummer.
“End of the world got you down, huh?” He tried to laugh it off. The whole situation was pretty sad. Especially when they were having so much fun. But it was best to end the universe on a high note, right?
Nevertheless, Sid seemed dejected. He mumbled something inaudible.
“Dude, I can’t hear over the song!” Marc said in an elevated voice.
Sid spoke up over the wind. “That’s not what I’m upset about,” he said, his voice still fairly low.
“Then what are you upset about?”
Sid blurted out his response. “Because I invited Tōn-E, okay?”
He couldn’t bring himself to look Marc in the eye. Because he knew what was coming.
“YOU DID WHAT?!” Marc shouted over the music. Marc himself stomped over to the vent. He picked the cover off the floor—though he struggled quite a bit with it. It was heavier than Sid made it look. But he hoisted it back into the mouth of the vent. The music shut off. The steady drop of sand on the cave floor ceased.
“Say that again,” he leveled in Sid’s direction.
“What was I supposed to do?” Sid remade eye contact. “Not invite the only other intelligent being to the last party the universe will ever have?”
Marc needed no time to answer. He nodded insistently. “Yes. That was exactly what you were supposed to do. What the hell, Sid?” Marc would have continued, but there was another disturbance outside. He caught a glimpse of movement in the doorway.
--
Thanks for reading some of my words :) I’m trying stuff out, so let me know what you think.
The rest of the story is here
Based on a prompt by eithrotaur

I've participated for thirteen years, tried to be kind and play nice in the sandbox afforded to me by Reddit. I like it around here. For about half that time, I've moderated a comparatively sleepy, small subreddit in /martialarts- as a glorified janitor, essentially, since my philosophy is that the place is a public forum and I have no business putting a million-and-one rules to enforce my personal vision of what facepunching ought to be.
Now I'm finally cashing in my 'I never get mad and cause drama' chips- I've started a rabblerousing subreddit in protest of a recent Reddit policy change I dislike, announced I was shutting my subreddits down for a period in solidarity. I half-expected to get rotten fruit thrown at me- for people to tell me to STFU and let them keep having flame wars about karate vs. jujutsu, or for the place to fizzle out without getting much traction.
Instead, it has 1,500 users in 24 hours, and the support on my own subreddit has been almost totally unanimous. Swift success on that (still comparatively limited) scale feels nice- the more so because while I'm being loud, I'm still not being rude and haven't turned into a pathological Perpetual Drama Machine.
Realistically, I know it's probably not going to get Reddit to cave and work the change in the site I'd like it to. But as windmills to tilt at go, I'm pretty happy with it.

(Note: this is the second half of the story. Will link the first half shortly)
The two teens both looked toward the front of the room. There was a gray sphere. Hovering in the doorway.
But if you asked Marc, it was an annoying gray sphere. And it hovered in the doorway like an absolute rustnut.
Marc wasn’t sure where on the sphere to level his disdain. The whole dumb surface was the same all over. It was a series of interconnected, translucent hexagons. Stupid yellow lights blinked sporadically across its many faces—for no apparent rhyme or reason—perhaps just to further annoy Marc.
An electronic voice called out from the sphere. “Did I hear muuuuuusic?” he asked. “Before that last plasma burst?”
Marc shot Sid a glare that could kill. But the big blue alien didn’t back down.
“Last impression. Remember?” he told Marc before going toward Tōn-E with a brimming, sharp-toothed smile and arms extended. “Tōn-E! Glad you could make it! Come on in.”
On the inside, Marc cringed. He mostly tried to forget that Tōn-E walked (hovered?) the same Levels as them. Tōn-E represented the most self-destructive habits of the Outpost. The only features of the city indifferent to survival.
But Tōn-E was all too real. He entered the room like a ghost in a nightmare.
“I am also happy to be here,” he said. The faces of his sphere randomly lit up as he spoke. “I otherwise had no plans for tonight. Because the planet is set to explode.”
“Yes, I’ve heard,” Sid joked.
“I approximate it will only take a few more—hold on. What is this??”
Tōn-E spun slowly in the air. The side previously facing Sid rotated toward the ceiling. When it reached the top, a spotlight shot toward the ceiling—right where Sid’s door had slotted in.
The spotlight stretched horizontally across the door until it resembled a straight line. This line swept back and forth across the raised door. It moved as if he was cleaning it.
“I don’t believe it!” Tōn-E said. “What an exquisite painting. A remarkable addition to your growing and ever-expanding portfolio, Sid.”
Tōn-E finished his scan of the painting. His expanding spotlight shut off. And he re-centered himself to face Sid.
“Aww, shanks,” Sid said. Each of his right arms latched onto the bends of the left ones. “You really think so?”
“Of course! There are colors here I’ve only seen named in the logs. You have tastefully incorporated /#FF00FF: a color our ancestors previously referred to as ‘magenta.’”
“Yes! That’s right! I was going for ‘magenta!’ You really think I did it?”
Marc looked down to hide his face. He rolled his eyes. Magenta. He would have loved to tell Sid how much he liked it too. But Marc had spent his years surviving, not studying colors in old, useless historical archives.
Sid and Tōn-E continued their snooty, pretentious discussion.
“I made it mixing legblee blood and just a liiiiiiittle bit of groundwater,” Sid said.
“That was a very clever! Allow me to save your painting to my internal memory.”
“Really??” Sid’s cheeks greened a little.
“Yes, I will review at a later time when I am both unable to view the original but would still like to once again be inspired by your clever and skillful hands.”
“Tōn-E, I—I don’t know what to say. Thank you.”
Marc simmered in his anger. Stupid Tōn-E. Always ruining things. Making them about him and his dumb, endless archives.
“I am perhaps only more impressed by your chosen ensemble! Do my eyes perceive veritable Lenorkian armor?”
The talkative orb whooshed toward Sid. It began revolving around him like an annoyingly-attached moon. As his exo-orb hummed excitedly, Tōn-E rattled off his useless knowledge of antiquated armor.
“Snorp-resistant spiked shoulder caps?!” He spun around Sid’s midsection. “Triple-layered chest plates?!” He dropped closer to the floor. “Anti-gravity shin guards made from the rare lenorkium alloy?!”
Tōn-E giggled as he orbited Sid. His laugh disturbed Marc. It sounded like a space rat being strangled in the bowels of an undersea air vent.
Sid could hardly keep up with Tōn-E’s flying. But he looked happy with the attention. “Yeah! I’m told this suit was built for the Frost Ring wars,” he said. “It never got used.”
Marc continued to not engage. He slunk deeper into his shawl, folded his arms, and sighed.
“I don’t believe it!” Tōn-E said.
He backed off from Sid, flying back toward the doorway. He turned on his spotlight once again. It now stretched over Sid’s body. “Saving! Saving!”
Sid wasted no time posing for the occasion. He flexed all four arms and gritted his snaggling teeth. His irises turned a deep red and his two small horns protruded from his forehead. Tōn-E was overjoyed. “I did not think I would ever have the chance to record your agitated state,” he said.
I’ll show you an agitated state, Marc thought to himself.
“I’ve got a relic you’re going to love,” Tōn-E said. His tiny sphere filled the cave with noise. But it wasn’t Tōn-E’s usual metallic voice. The sound came from another species entirely.
“GwwwwwwuuuhhhAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR!”
His orb played an intense, ear-shuddering roar. The recording may have been slightly fuzzy, but Marc knew the source. It was unmistakably Lenorkian.
And like the gears in a drill, something appeared to “click” inside Sid. His eyes widened. His armored chest expanded. And he joined in. But Sid’s roar was… authentic.
“HRRRRRRRRRGAAAAAAAAHHHHH” he blasted out of mouth. Marc’s entire rib cage vibrated uncomfortably.
It spooked Marc. Igniting some primal desire to escape a dangerous predator. That was a feeling he never felt around Sid. He didn’t like it.
Sid himself even looked embarrassed for a second. Something he’d kept suppressed had slipped out. But Tōn-E turned up the volume on his recording. And with a cautious smile of someone nervously breaking a rule, Sid matched it. And then some. The two bellowed together. It was enough to make Marc queasy, although it was unclear whether it was due to the vibrations or Sid bonding so much with Tōn-E.
The roaring continued. Their talking continued. Tōn-E went on about Sid’s armor some more and his people’s valor and the hardship his ancestors must have faced.
“Usually I keep this stuff stashed away,” Sid said to Tōn-E in his soft normal voice. His horns had retracted, and his eyes had returned to normal. “These are shameful pieces of our history. Truly. And with a people I never really fit in with. But tonight, it just felt right to wear it, you know?”
“I understand completely,” Tōn-E said. “It is in these end times that we gravitate toward those traditions that were so much of what made us feel alive in the first place.”
The statement made Marc want to hurl. He didn’t want to entertain such stupid notions. But the gremlin rotated to him next.
“Hello Marc! Did you find any good junk today? Any new additions to your scrap pile?”
Marc seethed. “I didn't scavenge today, Tōn-E. There wouldn't be any use. It's the end of the universe.”
“That surprises me. Humans love their junk and doodads.”
“Yeah well, we don’t have to cling to the past, do we? Not like that ever saved anyone.” He hugged his wrapped arms even tighter, tilting his body away from Sid and Tōn-E. His cold shoulder ended the conversation.
Sid picked it back up. “So Tōn-E, do you, uh… drink?”
As it turned out, he did. Tōn-E accepted a cup of fludge. He held it with a robotic arm—one that had suddenly extended from his exo-orb. Tōn-E’s orb whirred as the center of his “face” sprouted a grotesque, needle-like proboscis. It poked outward like a long nose.
This straw extended into the cup he held. Tōn-E sipped the fludge like an insect sipping nectar (whatever those two things were; the Archives were spotty).
Sid waited with anticipation. Then Tōn-E’s sphere shuddered. The fludge must have reached the insufferable little creature on the inside. “Scrumptious!” he said.
Marc sighed quietly to himself. For some reason, he thought the night would have made a turn for the better if Tōn-E had hated it.
“Two for two!” Sid pumped three victorious fists into the air. He grinned as Tōn-E’s straw dipped into the cup once more. The straw made a little slurping sound.
“My taste buds are tingling!” Tōn-E said.
But the big cup was too much for him to finish. He returned the mostly-full drink to Sid. And his robotic straw receded to his exo-orb. Sid of course finished the cup, slurping up the remaining pool of fludge.
“So…” Sid said. He wiped his mouth. “Should I put some tunes back on?” He pointed over his shoulder to the idle vent. Then he looked across his two guests for an answer.
Marc shrugged. He didn’t care about anything anymore. Next to Marc, Tōn-E bobbed excitedly.
“Oh, yes!” he said. “One reads about concepts such as scales and measures, but it is entirely different to actually experience them with one’s own body!”
What body? Marc thought to himself. And what were the other things Tōn-E had mentioned? Something about… measuring… dragons?
He studied the cave floor while Sid skipped to the vent.
“That’s what I’m talking about!” Sid said. “Get those Level 7 legs ready!” He tugged at the creaking cover once more.
It came off easier this time. With a pop! the storm above returned to the cave. Its natural melody filled the room.
“Woooooooo!” Sid raised his hands again and walked back toward the other two.
Tōn-E mimicked him with two twig arms.
But the music didn’t have the same magic as before. The beats were stale. And Marc found himself unable to ignore the sting of the sand pelting his face. He lifted his shawl over his mouth. His voice was barely audible.
“I’m sitting this song out,” he said.
The other two didn't seem to hear him. They were facing each other, waving their arms sporadically against the air current.
Marc didn’t care. He grabbed his unfinished drink from the kitchen. Then he searched for a place to sit.
He found a couch, just in front of the dancing aliens. As he took his seat, his bottom started to sink into the sofa. The tarp covering the couch crinkled.
He tried guessing the material underneath it. Clay, maybe? He pondered the question while watching Sid and Tōn-E figure out dancing without him.
“This is how Marc was doing it before!” Sid said to Tōn-E. His four arms fanned across the breeze.
But he got everything wrong. His arms whipped around the wind, not with it. And he was thinking too much about his next move, as evidenced by his scrunched brows. But the greatest offense of all was his midsection: his hips and legs stayed in place—as if someone had threatened them.
A part of Marc wanted to get up and show him how it was done. But another part wanted to see Sid fail. Realize the effort was futile. Give up on bonding with Tōn-E. And kick the Sphere of Useless Facts out of his house.
“Am I doing it right, Marc?” Sid asked while each of his arms flew in a different direction.
“You look great!” Marc replied. He took a long sip of fludge.
Tōn-E, on the other hand, did his best to replicate Sid. He waved his skinny arms erratically. It almost made Marc laugh; Tōn-E looked like he’d been set on fire.
But in all, the whole thing was awful. A bad impression giving birth to an even worse impression.
And they didn’t seem to be enjoying it much either. Despite Marc’s glowing endorsement, Sid and Tōn-E danced themselves to the brink.
Sid kept losing his balance. He tried to keep up with the music but flung himself too hard in any one direction. And every time he made a misstep, he’d let loose an acidic snarl. Tōn-E grew frustrated as well. Every few seconds, he simply froze. His exterior lights would blink red in error. As Marc had hoped, the two “painting pals” quickly ran out of steam.
The dancing halted altogether. A tired Sid returned to the vent and hoisted the grate back onto the vent’s mouth. The music stopped.
“I’ll just turn it down for a minute,” he said. He adjusted a dial on the grate. The metal slits creaked open. And a muted sandstorm flowed through them.
The music reflected the overall energy in the room: depleted. Sid secured himself two more cups of fludge before joining Marc on the tarp couch.
Tōn-E followed his lead. The little troll took a seat too, which meant hovering over the last open spot on the other side of Marc.
The boys took a minute to relax on the couch. They sat quietly while the plasma storm above the Outpost boomed and cracked.
Well, Sid and Tōn-E relaxed. They chugged down another couple cups of fludge and floated quietly over the couch (respectively). Meanwhile, Marc continued to be annoyed. He considered stepping outside and climbing to Level 1. Offer himself to the plasma storm a few hours early. The non-stop hum of Tōn-E’s exo-orb goaded him further.
Brrrrrrrrr!
Did it really have to make that noise?
Marc didn’t think the afternoon could get any worse. And then it did. Because Tōn-E’s insufferable humming suddenly quieted. And that only could have meant…
“Oh!” Tōn-E exclaimed, “I know what we can talk about!”
Marc braced for impact. His nails dug into his knees.
Don’t you dare, he thought.
“I read the most interesting fact about cats today!” Tōn-E started.
Not again, Marc thought. Absolutely NOT again. His fists trembled with rage.
“Did you know cats were the central deity across ten different ancient civilizations? The trend started with humans, of course, but the religion quickly spread across the galaxy as interplanetary travel became more widely available.”
“I actually didn’t know that,” Sid said, entertaining Tōn-E’s ridiculous theory. “Where did you find that?”
“The Archives! They have somewhat documented this phenomenon. You see, it was a common practice to capture footage of cats, even in their sleeping state. They were so important to these cultures that even the most mundane moment yielded significant reason to capture and worship them. If you want to see, I can—”
Marc had had enough. He slammed his cup down on the floor and flew off the couch.
“—SHUT UP. SHUT UP ABOUT CATS!” he shouted. He swung back around to face the other two. “CATS AREN’T REAL TŌN-E! AND THEY WERE NEVER REAL!”
“That’s enough, Marc!” Sid clenched his teeth.“Don’t start this.”
Marc returned fire, “I didn’t start anything; that was YOU. Going behind my back! Inviting more of these… fairy tales!”
His emotions overwhelmed him. He didn’t know whether to yell more or start crying. He did both.
“It’s the end of the universe!” he said as tears streamed down his face. “We can’t keep clinging to the things that brought us to this point in the first place! All these stupid traditions are the reason no one’s even here with us now! IT KILLED THEM ALL! And anyone stupid enough to keep believing in them is—"
“—I said THAT’S ENOUGH!” Sid growled. Marc didn't care.
“NO!” he said. Then he looked back at Tōn-E. “NONE of what you’re seeing in the Archives is real! The data is corrupt! It’s ALL CORRUPT! And CATS are just another dumb fairy tale to keep people like you going, while…”
He ran out of steam. He realized there was no more “going.” In fact, there was no time remaining in the universe for anything. But that didn’t diminish his animosity and anger toward the world. He glared down at the gray sphere. His chest heaved.
Meanwhile, Sid kept a cooler, bluer head. He too looked to Tōn-E, but with compassion in his eyes.
Tōn-E didn’t immediately respond to either. The only sound in the room came from his exo-orb. Well, the exo-orb plus the ladle on the counter, which suddenly blooped into the big pot.
All eyes were on the atypically quiet alien, whose hexagonal faces began to light up.
“I suppose,” his voice trailed, “that cats may not have been real after all. You said it yourself: records are foggy. They’re all from thousands of years ago...” He sighed. Tōn-E’s lights transitioned to a new blinking pattern. “And I also suppose… that I should have been more mature about interpreting error-prone information in the Archives…”
“It's okay, man,” Sid said. “I like that you dream big.” He reached across the couch to place a comforting hand on Tōn-E. But Tōn-E floated out of reach.
“I understand my presence here is probably upsetting,” he said. “You two have a special bond. I should not have interfered with it in its last moments. I will go.”
“No, Tōn-E,” Sid said. Each pair of his hands met in front of his chest “Please stay. You have every right to be here too.”
“I should go,” Tōn-E said. “I will spend the rest of the evening focused on real things. And because I will no longer be here, I suppose it will be the perfect opportunity to review Sid’s art so I can feel inspired for the end times.”
He slipped between Sid and Marc toward the doorway.
“No, don’t!” Sid called after him. “We should do this together.”
But Tōn-E had already vanished outside.
The Lenorkian, hand extended, waited for Tōn-E to come back. But the floating sphere did not reappear in the doorway.
And that was when a low trill emanated from the couch. It was coming from Sid’s his chest. He looked up at Marc, glaring. He bared his pointed teeth. His horns reappeared. And his eyes flushed with scarlet pigment.
Yuh-oh, Marc thought. About half his prior anger evaporated. Fear of a fight took hold.
Marc didn’t exactly dislike his chances. Lenorkians may have been stronger, but Sid wasn't a fighter. Marc was.
But Sid stuck to his morals.
“GET OUT!” Sid shouted.
Marc reflexively jumped out of reach. The short hop sort of ruined his show of anger. But he was still boiling mad. After all, fifty percent of him hadn't abandoned the cat grudge.
“Fine!” he shouted back. “Have fun exploding alone.” He whipped away to the exit.
The party was finished now. He almost stopped and went back for his fludge. But he didn’t want it anymore either. He just wanted a nice end of the universe with his friend. And now the end of the universe was ruined.
At least the apocalypse outside was behaving predictably. Marc stepped into the adjacent cave corridor. He surveyed the damage outside, looking through the long, horizontal gap in the cave wall. As the experts had predicted, the plasma storm took its toll.
The canyon glowed eerily bright, despite it being evening time. The wind howled as it raced through the canyon. And the cliffs around the gorge flashed white and pink as the storm charged with electricity, preparing to make its final jump.
Lightning cracked toward the ground. Some of the bolts hit the opposing cliff, sending rubble deep into the gorge. A gentle tremor rumbled in the ground beneath him.
The plasma storm overhead only creeped further around the planet. As the canyon brightened, shockwaves coursed through the entire city. They threw Marc off his feet again. He hit the ground.
Behind him, thunderous clacking erupted. The sound of falling rocks filled the corridor. He flipped over to see what explosion had thrown him.
It was bad. He stopped breathing. Because he could no longer see Sid’s home. All he saw was a pile of rubble.

I've participated for thirteen years, tried to be kind and play nice in the sandbox afforded to me by Reddit. I like it around here. For about half that time, I've moderated a comparatively sleepy, small subreddit in /martialarts- as a glorified janitor, essentially, since my philosophy is that the place is a public forum and I have no business putting a million-and-one rules to enforce my personal vision of what facepunching ought to be.
Now I'm finally cashing in my 'I never get mad and cause drama' chips- I've started a rabblerousing subreddit in protest of a recent Reddit policy change I dislike, announced I was shutting my subreddits down for a period in solidarity. I half-expected to get rotten fruit thrown at me- for people to tell me to STFU and let them keep having flame wars about karate vs. jujutsu, or for the place to fizzle out without getting much traction.
Instead, it has 1,500 users in 24 hours. Swift success on that (still comparatively limited) scale feels nice- the more so because while I'm being loud, I'm still not being rude and haven't turned into a pathological Perpetual Drama Machine.
Realistically, I know it's probably not going to get Reddit to cave and work the change in the site I'd like it to. But as windmills to tilt at go, I'm pretty happy with it.

I'm looking into the whole 'buying a house for the first time' and even though I'm getting $25 per hour at my job, it's impossible for me to get a 1 bedroom, 1 bath house. Extremely crazy prices for ugly houses. There was someone trying to sell a one-floor house that has one bedroom, one bathroom, living room, kitchen, laundry area, garage, a very small backyard for more than $800,000?????? Like what the fuck is up with that?
I even have a co-worker who only gets $20 per hour, which is way less than me, yet he's living in a two-floor house. I don't know how he's making money, but I seriously feel like he's in heavy debt.
Then, I would look at personalfinance and similar subreddits like that. Way too many people posting things like, "I'm in grave debt. Mortgage loans, car fees, etc."
I even asked someone that if I somehow make $30 an hour instead of $25, will I be able to afford a house? They said no. It's impossible.
Like why the in ever loving fuck are such very ugly, small houses so outrageously priced today? Are they trying to push people to just only live in condos, apartments, etc.?
I'm seriously thinking how in the world can some people who make way less money than me are living in a house. Is it the crazy amount of loans and credit cards they are using? Or what???
And also, I would like to add that I'm not just only making $25 per hour at my job. I even invest a portion of that each paycheck into the stock market, day trading, bonds, etc. Yet, even those aren't enough to afford a house without me getting into debt.
So, again, do people actually purposely get into debt to live in a house, especially if they have a family?

Hoping for some breed recs and I’m not searching for a unicorn (like my current rescue mutt is).
Introduction 1) Will this be your first dog? If not, what experience do you have owning/training dogs?
A: no, I currently own two 50 lbs rescues
2) Do you have a preference for rescuing a dog vs. going through a reputable breeder?
A: I prefer to buy from an ethical breeder.
3) Describe your ideal dog.
A: alert of their surroundings (alert barks to strangers on the property), affectionate and cuddly with me, indifferent towards strangers, able to catch onto training quickly, food motivated, enjoys playing tug and fetch, up for anything from couch cuddles to nature walks, patient with indoor cats, neutral towards other dogs. Prefers dogs that are intimidating looking as we live in a sketchy neighborhood and my current rescue gives me scary dog privilege to walk at night.
4) What breeds or types of dogs are you interested in and why?
A: im not sure yet, I like the look of Dobermans, cane corso, bullmastiffs, giant breeds are cool but idk if they fit.
5) What sorts of things would you like to train your dog to do?
A: we would attend puppy classes together. I would also like to obtain a Canine Good Citizen Advanced and advanced trick dog title/award. In addition, I plan on task training for at home service work (not public access so a breed that isnt known for service work isn’t a deal breaker. I just plan on teaching the dog tasks to help me out with my BPD/PTSD at home). Teach basic commands, loose leash walking, following a lure, muzzle conditioning, and cooperative care. And whatever else may be needed.
6) Do you want to compete with your dog in a sport (e.g. agility, obedience, rally) or use your dog for a form of work (e.g. hunting, herding, livestock guarding)? If so, how much experience do you have with this work/sport?
A: although I’m new to sports, I would like to try fastcat.
Care Commitments 7) How long do you want to devote to training, playing with, or otherwise interacting with your dog each day?
A: im a stay at home “dog mom” so I have ample time
8) How long can you exercise your dog each day, on average? What sorts of exercise are you planning to give your dog regularly and does that include using a dog park?
A: about 1-1.5 hrs daily. Two 30 minute walks, swimming, fully fenced in backyard fetch, seasonal hikes- it just depends on how I’m feeling. I do not plan on going to the dog park as I don’t think they’re safe (my dog was attacked at one).
9) How much regular brushing are you willing to do? Are you open to trimming hair, cleaning ears, or doing other grooming at home? If not, would you be willing to pay a professional to do it regularly?
A: I would say a few minutes every week or so with a rubber curry brush (that’s what I do for my current dog), but prefer no trimming or professional grooming. Ok with baths when they get smelly and nail trims and ear cleaning, just no dogs that require haircuts.
Personal Preferences 10) What size dog are you looking for?
A: my ideal size would be 70 lbs, but I would prefer to go up in weight than to own a small dog. Just not my vibe. The biggest dog id own would be like 130lbs ish
11) How much shedding, barking, and slobber can you handle?
A: my short haired dog sheds in the spring and fall and is pretty much lower shedding in between and that what I want at most. I don’t want a heavy shedding dog please (that includes labs, goldens, huskies, gsd, any thick coated double coated breed). Barking when play and when there’s a stranger on the property is fine, but not a dog that barks at anything (no overly vocal high pitched barkers, I prefer deep barks). Slobber when eating and when being baited with treats is ok, but I don’t really want to have a dog that will shake and paint my walls with slobber.
12) How important is being able to let your dog off-leash in an unfenced area?
A: not the biggest priority, my current dog can’t be off leash and it’s not the end of the world. We walk on leashes and have a fully fenced in yard
Dog Personality and Behavior 13) Do you want a snuggly dog or one that prefers some personal space?
A: snuggle bug for sure, my current dog curls up next to me in bed and I love it.
14) Would you prefer a dog that wants to do its own thing or one that’s more eager-to-please?
A: eager to please
15) How would you prefer your dog to respond to someone knocking on the door or entering your yard? How would you prefer your dog to greet strangers or visitors?
A: barking until I tell them to stop (current dog barks to strangers walking by and I don’t mind it, but he won’t bark at everyone-just things in the yard. He doesn’t bark at the neighbors across the street for example). I want my dog to ignore strangers ideally, and focus on me. Dogs that want to be everyone’s bff turn me off, I prefer loyalty.
16) Are you willing to manage a dog that is aggressive to other dogs?
A: I will if it’s the right breed, my male is ssa and we muzzle train and crate train. This will be the only dog in the house when we bring it home (with the exception of 3 indoor cats). But I prefer dogs that aren’t aggressive.
17) Are there any other behaviors you can’t deal with or want to avoid?
A: aggression towards me, stubbornness, heavy vocality, reactivity, chasing our cats.
Lifestyle 18) How often and how long will the dog be left alone?
A: probably just a few hours if I went to run an errand, but even that’s not every day. I’m home pretty much 24/7 (unless I’m out waking).
19) What are the dog-related preferences of other people in the house and what will be their involvement in caring for the dog?
A: I live with my gf and she doesn’t mind as long as the dog fits my lifestyle. She will not be caring for the dog; I will.
20) Do you have other pets or are you planning on having other pets? What breed or type of animal are they?
A: yes we have three indoor cats
21) Will the dog be interacting with children regularly?
A: no we don’t have kids and don’t plan on having them
22) Do you rent or plan to rent in the future? If applicable, what breed or weight restrictions are on your current lease?
A: we own our home, no breed restrictions
23) What city or country do you live in and are you aware of any laws banning certain breeds?
A: live in Georgia, USA. None that I’m aware of.
24) What is the average temperature of a typical summer and winter day where you live?
A: July summers get to the upper 90s with 99% humidity; winters are snow free and at 20-30 degrees.
Any other questions just ask

I have a 1992 Kirsten and a 1994 Addy. The sunglasses from Julie’s Swim Set fit my Kirsten perfectly, but they don’t work on Addy’s face at all. The arms always end up in her ears and the frames are a touch small for her face. Has anyone else noticed that some accessories work with certain face molds better than others? I’m a bit disappointed because the bathing suit looks so cute on her!

I've been insisting I need a better chair to sit in when I paint for like a year. She keeps insisting I use the cheap low quality office chairs we already have around the house instead. She's generally a really cheap person to the point it makes everyone else in the home mad. We have amble money to afford a better chair and it be no big deal. As a result I've barely painted for a year now because I knew it was too dangerous in those chairs. Before this I regularly painted and sold my work but my back got too bad to sit in the only chairs I had. Today I had a commission I had to work on though so I went to do it. My spine and pelvic bones are now wrecked. It feels like something physically smashed them into each other. I have inflammatory arthritis that affects my spine and it just can't take poorly designed chairs.
Now that I'm injured and stuck in bed all day hyperventilating from pain of course it's "Oh I'll buy you a new chair! It's no big deal! You should have just asked before!" I did ask! It's always like this. She just insists upon waiting until I suffer physical injury to ever give me what I need. Need to move my room downstairs because my doctor warned I'd likely start having days I couldn't do stairs anymore? Waited until I physically collapsed half way up the stairs one day and couldn't go to bed to move me downstairs. Need a ceiling fan for my room because I have no heat tolerance? Waits until I pass out one day. It's just like every time she has to wait until I'm suffering serious consequences then acts like it's something she was totally willing to do all along after I'll have begged for months and months to get what I need and been told no.
The most illogical part, do you realize how much it costs to rehab injuries like this? The massages, medications, pt, injections, etc. and the weeks of pain. It's WAY more expensive than that chair is. It's the same end result too. She eventually gives me what I need it's just now I've suffered physically and possibly will have something that affects me for a really long time that I didn't need to have. And have to spend a ton of time and money recovering.
And my father will be on board with getting me what I need and try and insist but she just says no. She does the same to him too! He has chronic neck/back pain and really needs a standing desk for his office to relieve it. She just won't let him get one despite how much pain he's in. He usually has to take at least 1 day off a month for the pain. She's just an extremely lazy person who's never engaged in any amount of significant physical activity in her life and has never had anything more than a sprained ankle so doesn't understand pain. Yet when she sprained her ankle she tried to act like it was comparable and the same thing we feel.
She's even don't the same thing to dog now to and like trying to put her in a harness or cage that are too small for her because she doesn't want to buy her a new one. That me and my father have 0 tolerance for though. We might let her cause us pain, but the dog won't suffer for her selfishness.
Im just so tired of this horrid woman. I don't think she necessarily likes to see others suffer but is incapable of empathizing with anything she hasn't experienced so of she's able bodied the rest of the world also must be. She seriously makes my dad do all the physical labor around the house because "he's a man and she's not strong enough and can't". She can, she just doesn't want to so she makes him do it which causes him a lot of pain. She's also a hoarded that complains about everyone else being being unclean and having too much junk, and I'm pretty sure the not spending money thing is related to the hoarding.

Hey everyone, was hoping for some guidance as I seem to not be able to decide on the best financial path for my girlfriend and I.
Here’s some background information:
Myself

• 32 years old; $80K / year
• $25K in auto loan debt @ 9% APR
• $25K in federal student loan debt @ 4.14% APR

My Girlfriend

• 25 years old; $65K / year
• $20K in private student loan debt @ 9% APR
• $20k in auto loan debt @ 6.5% APR
• $30K in federal student loan debt @ 4.6% APR

Cumulative

• $3k emergency fund in a money market account (5% APR)
• $0 in retirement accounts
• Both have a 401K (neither of us have access to employer match, yet) and recently opened Roth IRA’s
• $9K / month take home
• $2K / month in rent (1 BD apartment)
• About $5K / month in total expenses
• $1,000 / month goes into sub-categories in our money market account for “sinking funds” (IE. Travel, Health Savings, Pet Fund, Auto Insurance, Car Maintenance, etc.)

We are both just getting started in our careers and have focused on educating ourselves about personal finance over the past couple months. We have read books like “I Will Teach You To Be Rich” by Ramit Sethi, “Total Money Makeover” by Dave Ramsey, and “The Little Book of Common Sense Investing” by John Bogle. Ultimately, we are thinking about doing a hybrid system that is part Ramsey’s plan and part Ramit’s plan. My girlfriend favors aggressively paying off all her debt before investing anything more than $100 per month. I personally feel the need to at least start investing something (was thinking about starting with 3% into my 401K and 3% into my Roth IRA). Mainly due to the fact that I’m 32 years old with nothing towards retirement. As far as investing goes, I feel like these are years I will never get back if we opt to pay off ALL debt before contributing to retirement (which would mean putting off investing until I’m 35+)
Should we contribute nothing towards investing until we pay off all our high interest debt? Start investing a small amount now and increase it once the higher interest debt has been paid off? Or aggressively pay off ALL debt before contributing to retirement?

So to start off, I am extremely in love with my boyfriend (m 26). I myself am a 25 year old woman and we have been dating for about a year. When I picture the rest of my life, I genuinely could picture it being us two in the end. My only fear is that I will be the one to ruin it. I do not know why I do this but I pick fights over very small things and let them escalate to the point of breaking up.
​
I absolutely hate this about myself and want to change. For example: 3 weeks ago I told my boyfriend that I would love to go away for a romantic weekend getaway for my birthday which at that point was in a month and a half. Fast forward to yesterday, I re-brought it up and told him a location which I thought would be nice. I think in doing this, I was hoping that it would say he already had something in the works but he didn't. In fact, he said "sure, ill do whatever you want, look into it babe". This really rubbed me the wrong way because I feel like I am always planning everything in our relationship and I was hoping that for my birthday, he would take the reigns and something for me.
​
Where it started getting toxic was when I called him and just immediately started telling him how I was feeling and according to him "screaming" and "questioning his character". He then went on to argue with me saying my birthday was still far enough away that he would have pulled something together etc. This argument escalated so bad to the point where I told him we should go on a real break when that honestly is the last thing id do. He then told me we needed space for a few days and I just lost it. He said he was thinking about forever and loves when we are good but that I just flip a switch sometimes and get so blunt and straightforward with my feelings that he shuts down. I do this all the time out the blue after months and months of good times and smooth sailing. I think he is losing patience with me and I fear every time I do this, he loves me less.
Does anyone else have experience with this? I feel like I am going crazy and just can not get a handle of my emotions. They come on so strong and so fast.

I (25M) feel that I have limerence for my 'friend' (22M). My friend and I met at work exactly a year ago, being office mates, and we connected quite well. But before I tell the story, I just want to say that as a bisexual person in a small town, the center of my social circle has always been straight guys, and I've never had issues with it. I've always had the ability to not develop romantic interest in friendships. So, when I look back at this situation, I don't know how I ended up here.
A year ago, when we became office mates, I did feel a crush on him. He's an attractive and sweet guy, and immediately, I remember perfectly, I tried not to get close to him, because I thought he was straight, at least until the crush faded away. But then, I felt that in our day-to-day interactions at work, there was some kind of reciprocation of attraction or at least; interest. It started with small gestures like getting me a more comfortable chair, waiting for me with coffee in the morning, the way his face lit up with a smile when I entered the office... Day by day, these details made me fall for him.
Perhaps they weren't the clearest signs of attraction, but... I let him in before the crush faded away.
During the following weeks and months at work, we started getting closer. I would say it was a pretty intimate friendship. After spending eight hours in a monotonous job, we would come home and call each other on the phone, talking until 2 am. We would spend weekends together, go out to dinner, make plans...
In one way or another, the relationship didn't feel like the ones I had with other friends. The closeness, the intimacy, the day-to-day interactions... It filled a loneliness that I didn't know existed, and yet, it intensified on the realization that he is straight.
But even so, I had already fallen for him.
Towards the end of the year, he met a girl, and I decided to meet new people as well. I met a girl, but it didn't work out. Shortly after, I met a guy, but that didn't work out either. I felt like I was already 'taken,' as if I had nothing more to offer in the romantic aspect, even though I knew it was all just an illusion.
Their relationship also ended up not working out. At some point, I don't remember the exact reason, driven definitely by my frustration, we had a discussion that forced us to sit down and talk honestly. We didn't define an "us," we weren't that brave, but we did address the situation. And that's when he said something that both excited and broke my heart.
"We're like a couple..." he said when we were talking about why it didn't work out with his ex, and he continued, "I didn't feel as appreciated as when I'm with you."
When we went out, he would sometimes comment on how comfortable he felt, maybe in our shared loneliness or heartbreak. He would say how he only wanted "this" (referring to the things we did together like going to the movies, eating, talking late into the night, making plans), but with a girl. My goodness! We even made plans to move in together.
At the beginning of this year, we both left our job. It was my escape route, a month of heartbreak, and eventually, I would forget about it. That was the plan, and I had executed it. I lasted only half a week until he came back to me, saying, "Let go of the nonsense. We're friends. We can stop talking for a couple of days to reduce the 'intensity' of the relationship, but we don't have to go away."After that, he didn't let go... He put more effort into staying close to me. And I, I let him do it.
By the end of January, I had landed a good job - remote, good pay, low responsibilities and stress. Sometimes there's nothing to do... (Truly a nearly perfect job xD). And when a position opened up in March, I gave it to him... Now we work together again.
And I feel like we're stuck in a loop. He's getting to know some girls, but he's already complaining about the same things, that it's not the same, that he doesn't feel 'appreciated.' And I... I feel trapped, hopeful, lonely, and in love.
So I ask for your advice. Just like that, it serves as a form of release.

Hi I’m currently looking for either a roommate to go half and half on a 2 bed 2 bath, or for someone willing to sublet a room for a 12 month lease period. Work in finance in the loop, looking to live in west loop.
Budget for 2 bed 2 bath is $3,400 total
Or $1,500-1,700 for a single room.

Hi I’m (17M) and my ex is (16F) we dated the whole school year kind of off and on because she had BPD and OCD which has been a big problem in our relationship since forever. It even is with her family. But we dated for 9 months and I really loved her I thought she was the one. We talked about moving out together, pets we would get etc. it was a really happy relationship for me aside from the times we had little arguments. Except one day she went too far and pushed my buttons in the middle of class after having been warned about doing it all week and the week before. She had just been initiating arguments over something small like 'you stepped on my foot'. Anyways I broke up with her and she suggested instead of breaking up we just take some time off for each other and get back together because we still care for each other greatly. I agreed because I felt the same way. It's been a month and a half and I really miss her so I reached out, low and behold she says "we shouldn't be together again, I love you but not like that anymore." And it broke me. What should I do? Should I try to win her back?

I don't know about yall, but this last winter was a doozy. It was the 3rd snowiest winter in recorded history here! I've had a long while to think about how I want my perfect summer to go, and it looks a little something like this...
I'm thinking farmers markets in the morning, laying under a tree reading aloud to each other, napping in the warm breeze, taking a stroll through an outdoor late night museum party...
...waking up early and baking muffins before the heat of the day, taking a day trip to a small town, a walk around the beach and dip our toes into the lake, telling stories and making smores at night...
...art festivals on the weekend, sharing snacks from a food truck, live music in the park, pulling up to a triple feature drive in at night and making out in the car like teenagers...
and I can do all this alone, and happily will given no other choice, but if I did have the choice, well, it'd be a damn sight nicer with someone by my side!
The basics -

• 36 years old
• single mom of 2 teens (they live with me half the week, I do have time to date!)
• cat mom to an adorable asshole
• usually found with my nose in a book
• prefer voice chat over text
• once won a dad joke contest, so you maybe will laugh!
• about 5'5" and full figured/curvy
• love to cook and bake
• bisexual ✨️
• will always go out and play in the rain given the opportunity
• recently been getting into movies so if you have any recommendations, let me know!

If you're interested, please send a message telling me about yourself & send pictures (will reciprocate)! :)
🖤

I know the albums been out for 5 minutes but i had some opinions on the current track order and im open to input if you disagree or have a better suggestion!

1. Nobody
2. Mattel
3. We Love You
4. Game Over
5. Beautiful Morning
6. Life is but a Dream
7. Easier
8. G
9. Ordinary
10. Death
11. Cosmic

I think Nobody works much better as an opener. Its different but still retains some qualities of “classic” A7X. This would lead into 2. Mattel still as this is where the “weird” starts to show itself. 3. We Love You continues this trend showcasing some new and some old Avenged. 4. Game Over gives us a nice classical guitar break before breaking right back into the heavy. Next is 5. Beautiful Morning which gives us this slow but heavy track that wouldnt be out of place on The Stage. Its haunting piano outro leads perfectly into 6. Life is but a Dream. This is the mid album pallette cleanser where you can let the first 5 tracks sink in (start stressing about the fact were all going to die and theres nothing you can do to stop it lol).
Next weve got tracks 7-11. Easier starts off the back half of the album with a little heavy and a little weird. Then the God trilogy remains intact obviously. Lastly 11. Cosmic closes the album out. Its a beautiful track with a completely new sort of epic bridge/outro thing weve never heard from Avenged.
Can i get some thoughts??
Have a great weekend!
Ps idk wtf is with the formatting.

Hey everyone! After two or three arguments with my(26F) boyfriend(24M) of 1 and a half years, I decided to get a vibrator for my solo play. Some background: He absolutely hates the idea of a vibrator in our couple play and toys in general. He used a dildo on me twice and it was very fun (for me) but he said he hated the experience because I seemed to enjoy that a lot more than sex with him. (I didn't, I was very turned on that he was using a toy on me). He forbade me from even looking vibrators up but one day he was like I'm over the issue, we can get one. I said I'd get one for myself and maybe we can integrate it slowly, so he sees how he feels about it etc. But it didn't seem ok to be prohibited to use it by myself. So I did. Along with a small dildo.
The vibrator itself makes me very horny, it makes every sensation amazing and I cum quite fast with it. Gone was the struggle to play with my clit manually for half an hour to get off. My hand didn't get tired. I didn't get frustrated. I was just enjoying the experience and I can't help think it would actually make sex a lot better, eliminating the issues above which are a big bummer for me.
Are there other women who actually use it regularly in the bedroom? How did you introduce it without your S/O being insecure about it?
Once I tried it, I honestly don't know how other women like me 'survive' without it. I am struggling having an orgasm during sex without A LOT of clitoral stimulation (like many others) and I think a vibrator would help with that extra push to get me there. Plus, it's an instant turn-on.
I feel guilty wanting it tho.
Tl;dr: I used a dildo and a clit vibe for my solo play and it was mind-blowing. Idk how to propose we bring it to the bedroom, I think it would change our sex life as I need a lot of clit stimulation to orgasm. Has anyone been in my shoes? Does anyone have similar stories or advice? I would love to hear it. Love you guys

hey
My name is Paul and as the Title suggests I´m just looking for my other half.
I currently am doing a FSJ in a Youthclub in my city. The time that I don´t spend at work is filled with lots of different things. I love biking and being creative. Whether I do that by painting or writing short stories, building Legos too or cooking new recipes.
There are other things I love. I care deeply about my friends, I love being nerdy (while many topics interest me Star Wars will always have a part in my heart) and I just love trying new things.
And if things go well maybe you are going to be something I love too ;)
(Just a small heads up I can be a bit weird sometimes, but I always try to be understanding and kind as I believe everyone should be)

Which is your favourite character ? Is it shemale spirit Kurt Tay, or skinny Kurt Tay, men spa Kurt Tay, WWE champion Kurt Tay, BDSM dog slave Kurt Tay or BDSM master Kurt Tay ?

This question depends on what spirit, what character I am. There is no direct answer. You should know that I have multi split personality. If right I have 100% WWE wrestling spirit, I will tell you WWE champion Kurt Tay is my favourite. If BDSM dog spirit is inside my body, I will tell you my favourite is the BDSM spirit dog slave Kurt Tay. There is no actual answer to this. It depends on what is the charactespirit I am in. Because you know I have the special multi split personality. It depends on what personality I am. All of them are the answer. It really depends.

Currently you are wrestling spirit or dog slave spirit ? I am confused.

Currently I am a bit of mixture. You know recently I have been possessed by the BDSM porn spirit. I have been possessed by the BDSM dog slave spirit. Because after I lose the fight to Loh Jia Hung, I suffered the brain damage. At first I was thinking how can BDSM spirit carry the championship belt then I remember last time got this character called Goldust, which is a BDSM character, BDSM gimmick. That one also a wrestler. Right now, I am half half. 50% wrestling spirit. 50% BDSM dog slave spirit. So half half. 50/50.

How would you have felt if got other strangers commented on your daughter's looks that she is chiobu ?

If someone comment that my daughter is a chiobu, this is a good thing. Not a bad thing. Of course right now, my daughter is 2.5 years old When she grow up like 14 years old, then people see my daughter, saw my daughter is a chiobu, of course I will feel happy. Because chiobu means beautiful. So if someone say my daughter is chiobu, I will feel very happy because it is 展眉。 That means someone is praising.

Why did you ban LT ?

LT formally known as Apple, last time on my instagram. Now known as LT. I was fucking pissed off with him because he purposely insult me creepy. And I hate the word. When I was at the JC, a lot of lot of students, I 展眉 my female fans that they are chiobu. They are beautiful. And this LT go and twist turn say I am creepy. And this makes me fucking pissed off. And even Mr Meow say my comment nothing wrong. That is why I was fucking fucking pissed off with LT and I ban him. Because he purposely want to insult me. So is a fucking fucking hater. I also see some stupid comments by some stupid haters, what my age not suitable to say what a girl chiobu. Chiobu is not an offensive word. Chiobu is trying to say a girl is beautiful. So what is wrong with saying a girl with beautiful. So if you saying what my age cannot say, is this an age discrimination or what ? So if a girl join a beauty pageant/content, is it only that young judges can say wow "you are beautiful chiobu" If the judges is 40 years above, if he say beautiful chiobu means he is creepy ah. This is totally nonsense. So that time I was fucking pissed off with lanjiao lang called LT, Apple. Because he is a fucking hater purposely say I am creepy. Then there are also people say will I be angry if someone say my daughter is a chiobu. This is really really nonsense. Why would I be angry if someone say my daughter is chiobu ? Because if someone say that my daughter is a chiobu, I will feel very very happy. When my daughter grows up, I won't have discrimination against people. What this people young can say. This people 40 year old cannot say. I don't have discimination against people who are old. Chiobu is a good thing. So if a girl is beautiful, am I supposed to say "you look ugly" ? Cannot be right ? So I was fucking fucking pissed off with this LT. He purposely want to gong lanjiao way about me.

Why hasn't Ricky hire you for Adhoc work yet ? You and him are best friends right ?

This question I got answer before but Keith forget already. Pay 100% attention to my Q&A. Don't skip here skip there. I got explain before. This is the final time I going to explain. Ricky, he got contact me to do adhoc job but I don't want. Why ? Because he supposed to give me OM job. OM don't have. At least OE. Not security guard Adhoc job. Why should I become a security guard for his new agency when I supposed to be Operation Manager (OM) or Operation Executive (OE) I am not going to his agency to work security guard Adhoc job.

How come you never wish happy birthday on Facebook. Last time every year, you will wish without fail.

Last time I have this habit on my Facebook. Whoever is on my friends list, I will go and wish them Happy Birthday. But what happened, I am the only one who gonggong dai dai wish them Happy Birthday. When its my Birthday, they never wish me. Worse still, some are actually haters. After I wish them Happy Birthday, they go and scold me. Some see my message, they ignore me. Ïts fucking wasting time. Some people they appreciate it, they will say Thank You to me. Some people they don't appreciate it, they don't give a damn fuck. Last time I was stupid. I wasting my time. A lot of things to do man. I very busy. Unless people wish me Happy Birthday then I will say Thank You to this person. Last time at night, my wife will ask me how come haven't sleep yet, I tell my wife that I need to wish Happy Birthday to my Facebook friends. So its a very stupid thing because people don't appreciate it. If people don't appreciate it, why should I waste my time go and wish people Happy Birthday for what ? For Fuck. I know there are some people who appreciate me wishing them. For those people who appreciate, I will say "you are a good person. you are nice person because you appreciate it" For those people who don't appreciate it, they are very ungrateful person.

So if next time, good fans want jio you makan, need to pay you ? If good fans like Eddy Low also need to pay meh ?

For people like Eddy Low, I already know him. I not only consider him as fans, I also consider as friends. For fans like Eddy Low, I no need to charge him money because I and him know each other for long time. But people who I never met before in real life then you can jio me out for friendship dating, you need to pay me because I running the business. I running the rent Kurt Tay date friendship services so of course i need to charge money. Only for people who I actually not so close. For people like Eddy Low, I already know him well. Of course no need lah. You see last time got fans they want to jio me for eating. If you are fans, you should support me, support my services. For example like Mermaid girl, also can have renting her out for a date. So for those people I never met before in real life. If you are real fans, you should support me because you know I have the low pay job. Also I got financial problems.

Can I pay you after the friendship date ?

Answer is No There is no such things as after the date then pay me You have to make the full payment first. What happen if the person say "sorry, I no money now" You cannot say you book the air ticket, you tell the airplane, you tell the flight agency. You say "I will pay you after I take the airplane". Cannot be right ? Of course you pay money first, you book the air ticket then you go and onboard the airplane and fly to other countries. Payment of course must make sure or people will scam you.

You intend to do BDSM until how old ? Until 70 years old still do ?

I dont know Mr Meow referring to BDSM master or slave. Whether it is BDSM master or slave, it doesn't matter. Because I mention before, I am a human God. I am half human half God. 50% human being. 50% God. So even if I 70 years old, I will look like maximum 44 years old. Because my whole body will stop aging once I reach 44 years old because I am human God. So I forever will be 44 years old. Even when I go and engage BDSM mistress, they will not know that I am 70 years old. Even I 100 years old, they will still unable to tell because I still look like maximum 44 years old. Because I won't grow old I won't become old and old and old. Age is just a number to me. BDSM master also same. I forever can be BDSM master. Can be BDSM slave.

You got start TikTok to sell stuff ? Guo Lai white white drink earn money. No need to work security.

BDBYZD. I don't think Guo Lai earn a living by selling things on TikTok. He is a Foodpanda rider. Selling things on TikTok. What you want me to sell ? There is nothing I can sell what. What you want me to sell ? I don't think its easy. There's nothing much for me to sell.

If Guo Lai can become a Foodpanda rider, why you cannot ?

I answer many many times before, I dont know how to ride bicycle. I cannot 认路。 If I become Foodpanda rider, I will 迷路, then I will become 迷路宾。 Then people will say how come food so long haven't come because I will lost my way. That's the reason. Not because I want to zuo bolan (do nothing) thats why I don't want become food rider.

Ah Kim or Mistress Luna, which one is more beautiful ?

Answer is both are beautiful. The thing is my wife. She don't like to put makeup. I ever see my wife put makeup before. Last time. I remember. When she put makeup, she stunning beautiful. Because you got see the Taiwan show, a lot of female before and after makeup is a lot of difference. Last time I ever see before my wife, she put the makeup, I was shocked. Wow Really become a beautiful chiobu. You see girls can become beautiful chiobu when you put makeup. Now you see Mistress Luna can become beautiful because she put makeup. Many many girls even Mediacorp artists, they put makeup also. So if you put makeup then you will look beautiful. My wife she like natural. Her biao mei / biao jie, every time she put make up, she become beautiful. Maybe she want 自然美。 So if you ask me, I will say both are equally beautiful.

Next time you can film Q&A on MRT. Can film one part Q&A .

How the fuck am I going to film Q&A inside MRT ? Cannot be right. Common sense. You think MRT I can film Q&A ah. People will be looking at you. People will think you are siaolang. MRT is not for you to film Q&A. MRT supposed to be for quiet quiet. Not for you to "Well, well well" MRT supposed to be quiet for you to take the journey. Not for you to film videos/Q&A.

Can hire you 2 hours ? Come and clean my house.

Last time clean North Point, your standard should be quite high BDBYZD. I already say this is a rent Kurt Tay for the friendship date. I am not a maid. I am not a cleaner. Which words you don't understand. Already say its for renting friendship. You are not renting a cleaner. You are not renting a maid. So answer is No.

You say yourself Wen Loong have $268K in his bank account but Sengkang 3 room HDB deed might not hit 1 million. If he is not millionaire, why do you believe that he will make you a millionaire ?

At first I believe. Later on, I don't believe. At first he say want to turn me into millionaire. Then later change his mind. I don't believe him anymore. Because 99.999% of what he says is not true. So I don't believe anymore.

Why can't we hold your hands during the date so that you can be faithful and loyal to your wife but Mistress can fist your anal hole during the BDSM session. That doesn't seems fair to us. Does that means we can fist your anal hole during the date ?

Is asking why my rent Kurt Tay friendship cannot hold hands. Let me explain to you. Rent Kurt Tay friendship is about friendship. Is not about boyfriend/girlfriend. If a girl rent a boyfriend, is a different thing. Because I already stated, its not renting boyfriend, its renting a friend. Which is why I also can say guy also can engage me. Because its only for friendship. BDSM is different thing. Is about Mistress/Slave session. If you say want to fist fuck me, then its not the friendship thing, its the BDSM thing. If I want to become BDSM slave, I only can accept female because I am not gay. If I master, both male and female to me no problems. You want talk about fist fuck unless you and me are doing BDSM session. But however, I don't anyhow go and do a BDSM session with any females unless I can confirm she is a professional BDSM mistress. If she is fake one, means she can find the chances to sabotage me. So I will make sure that this person is a real BDSM mistress. Not just anyhow anyhow female fans say I am your female fans. So want to become my BDSM mistress, so No. I will check carefully first, her profile.

If Singapore has Vietnamese BDSM mistresses, will you engage ?

Answer is No. Why ? Because if got Vietnamese BDSM mistress, that means she might know my wife. So Vietnamese community in Singapore is actually quite small. Why should I go and take the risk to engage a Vietnamese BDSM mistress. Later she know my wife, she go and tell my wife, I go and honggan already. Answer is No.

My partner and I live in a 1 bed 1 bath cottage, today our drains all stopped working, so a plumber came over and told us he wouldn’t be able to fix this until Monday, and our property management company is closed, the emergency maintenance line doesn’t go to the management company either. We have no working toilet, shower, kitchen, or bathroom sink. Aren’t they legally required to help us if we’re left without the most basic necessities? Like we don’t have anywhere to go. Can we withhold rent or do we demand reimbursement for a hotel like what do we do? We’re 22 and 26, this is only our 3rd year ever renting and we are children tell us what to do lol