Went thru a bad break up she was an alcoholic. The day of the break up I was going to move my furniture and belongings that were at her house in Indiana ( i moved from Kentucky to be with her) and put them in storage because I was debating to go back home to KY. The storage unit was located in the town she stayed at. I was working a weekend part time job at a gas station for extra cash. When I had mentioned to my boss at the gas station andninformed him about the situation in which I wasputting my stuff in storage he offered to let me keep it in the back of the stores storage unit, and some in his garage. I want to make it clear i never asked, I was ina tough spot and opened up to someone I had just started working for, he proceeded to tell me it would be fine to store it in the above mentioned locations. Two weeks after moving it there I was being threatened by my ex's friends and co-workers over Facebook, some even would come to the store. I suffer from severe PTSD I grew up in a war in my home country in the 90s and have very vivid memories of things I never wanted to live thru, so when the heckling began I would get triggers. I didn't like where it was going and how fearful I was getting. Instead it would be best to move back to KY before I had caused harm to someone. So I notified my boss at the gas station put my two weeks in at my full time job and moved back. However his wife started to ask when the stuff would be picked up, I told her of my financial situation, the harassment at the store she responded with, she didn't care about my issues and fair enough she didn't have to. She than proceeded to tell me my stuff would get tossed outside. Mind you again i never went to them to store the stuff they came to me and offered to let it stay there. With no timeline the words were "until you figure out your living situation and get a apartment" I wasn't trying to free load in my head i thought in two months I can get my apartment and get settled. I had lost almost everything i saved financially to my ex I take responsibility for that, it is what it is lessons learned. I was living out of my car during this. She than gave me an ultimatum that i would have to come get it that weekend because she was cleaning her garage, or again its being tossed. I told her I would try and come up that weekend to get my stuff, I had a friend who was going to loan me extra cash to cover the 4 hr U-Haul trip. That fell thru and I wasn't able to afford the U-Haul. She tossed my stuff, furniture,all my daughters clothing, their furniture, I had birth certificates and important documents in those drawers locked up stuff i can't replace that easily. What are my options? Am i SOL here?

https://abc7chicago.com/amp/chicago-memorial-day-weekend-shootings-shooting-crime-crimes/13318549/
Dont know how this wasnt posted yet. But looks like JB and Chicago sure stopped the violence. Worse weekend since 2015. Love to see fat man continue to spit lies to his cronies.

Shady's back, tell a friend. Guess who's back, guess who's back.
Anyway, yeah. I'm back for the ten people or probably less that have the attention span to get through this monstrosity, I'm back.
Back again.
Ok, thats enough of the joke. I'll post the next part of chapter four tomorrow, and hopefully I can get back on track with it. Enjoy-
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Chapter Four
Eventful Events
“-ubber flobber glibber gobbler-” A was cut off.
“I’m sorry, what?” The stranger tilted their head.
They were likely a man by their voice, but you could never really tell.
“What do you mean, ‘what?’?” A asked in kind.
“What kind of swear was that?” The newcomer sounded confused.
“Nevermind that, what even are YOU?” A got to his feet. “I’m fairly sure that any sane worker drone wouldn’t have come anywhere near us, and since K and X haven’t killed you, I would like to know.” A questioned.
“Well sir, I was just telling you-” K began.
“I’m the one talking right now, shut up.” A waved dismissively at K, who shrank down to a meager size.
“Uh, I’m me.” The stranger suggested.
“Yes, I can see that, but what ARE you, specifically.” A insisted.
“Uh, I’m somebody, or something, you never know.” The newcomer was dodging the question.
“Alright, I’m done.” A retracted his hand, a gun taking its place, before aiming it directly at the person’s face.
“Okay, alright!” The unknown person put up their hands. “Calm down. I’m a human.”
A didn’t lower his gun. “That's a lie.”
K intervened, stepping in between the stranger and A. “It's true sir. He was the origin of the distress signal.”
A fixed K with a withering stare, who bravely didn’t back down.
“Sir! You said it yourself that the possibility of a human being there was possible!” K exclaimed.
A scoffed. “Well I didn’t mean it! That was just to get both of you up and away from here.”
“Well sir, it appears that the mission has borne a rather precious fruit.” K gestured towards the person, who gave a little wave.
“As a certified me, I can certainly say that I’m me, which is also a human.” The apparent human stated.
A’s mind just fogged with confusion. “Uh, what?”
“You heard me.” The person didn’t elaborate.
“You know what? You must be a human, because you just said the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” A lowered his gun, shaking his head.
Suddenly, with a yelp of surprise, the human was pushed down to the floor, landing on shaky feet.
“Oh nice.” The human murmured.
X then leapt through the opening, nearly squashing K. “Wassup, I’m back. Who died?”
A shook his head again. “Idiots. I’m surrounded by idiots.”
“Not me!” The human spoke up.
A looked back at the human, remembering something.
“What's your name again?” A asked.
“Oh, I’m Jacob. I’m kinda the resident important person here.” Jacob’s hands strayed towards his chest, as if to adjust a tie, only to remember that he wasn’t wearing a tie, so they just folded themselves across his chest.
A let a moment of silence sound through the pod. “OK, why don’t you take off your helmet?”
Jacob shook his head. “Can’t take it off.”
“Why?” A inquired.
“Toxic atmosphere.” Jacob explained.
“Oh, yeah. Well, can you just make the visor clear?” A suggested.
“I don’t know how to do that, I just got this thing after all.” Jacob shrugged.
“You just got it? What were you doing here anyway?” A’s eyes narrowed in suspicion yet again.
K stepped in again to defuse the situation. “Listen, sir. We can all explain this, if you just give us time.”
A stared back at her, who shook slightly under the beam.
“Well then, get started.” A sat down. “We’ve got time.”
* * *
“Ugh, what's that scratching noise?”
A pair of drones walked along a mostly intact pathway covered in rubble and snow, lighting up the darkness with built-in lights.
“That would be ice building up in our armor, I think.” The second drone answered.
“Really? You know how to get rid of it?” The first drone asked.
The second drone shook her head. “Nah, we can’t. Trust me, I’ve tried before, and while I can get the surface level ice, the stuff that coalesces in between the chinks is too deep to get out.”
“Just use something sharp and thin then.” The first drone suggested.
“Where can I find something sharp and thin, Carl?” The second drone replied.
“I dunno, somewhere on the ground, I guess.” Carl looked around the floor, searching.
“You’d be surprised at how hard it is to find something thin enough to fit in between our armor plates around here, and rubble doesn’t really match specifications.” The second drone kicked a rock into a small crater.
“Nobodys got any knives or something?” Carl questioned.
“You think we have knives? Anything that isn’t a nanoblade will only be useful for cooking, and since we don’t even have kitchens, that's out of the question. And nanoblades are impractical, one minute you’re flipping the blade around in your hand, and the next your hand is on the ground, cut clean through.” The second drone explained. “That's why we don’t have them, they’ll slice anything off that isn’t an artificial experimental alloy.”
“I know that, but you would think somebody would have something. What about a pencil?” Carl stopped walking for a moment.
“Pencils will just break, and keep walking, we gotta hurry up.” The second drone motioned for Carl to resume movement.
“Alright, fine. But the moment we finish our shift, I’m going around to see if anybody has something, and we’ll see who has the last laugh, Damina.” Carl glared at Damina.
“Yeah, alright.” She replied.
The pair walked in silence for a few seconds.
“By the way, you ever hear about that Sterl guy?” Carl spoke up again.
“Who?” Damina asked.
“You know, Sterl. He’s one of the only people who survived one of those hunter drones attacking him.” Carl explained.
“So that's what we're calling them? Hunter drones?” Damina said in a dry tone.
“What else would we call them? Killer drones?” Carl stared pointedly at Damina.
“Well I guess the name fits, hunter drones. But I feel like it doesn’t really match their . . .” Damina trailed off.
“Their what?” Carl insisted.
“Their aura.” Damina finished.
“Their aura? THAT'S what you're going with?” Carl said.
“It's the best word I could use. ‘Hunter’ just feels really underwhelming I guess.” Damina shrugged.
“Well, what would you suggest? I’m open to them.” Carl inquired.
“Uh, you’re kinda putting me on the spot here.” Damina scratched her head.
“Take your time.” Carl replied.
“Uh, maybe, murder drones?” Damina suggested, not letting the credits roll just yet.
“Murder drones.” Carl deadpanned.
“Yes.” Damina confirmed.
“Murder drones?” Carl repeated.
“Uh, yes?” Damina sounded more unsure.
“You really think that's better?” Carl questioned.
“I dunno, you didn’t really give me a lot of time to come up with one.” Damina defended herself.
“Hunter drones are better, I’m saying it right now.” Carl crossed his arms.
“Okay, fine, it's better.” Damina relented. “But what about, uh, reaper drones?”
Carl tilted his head in thought, so Damina continued.
“You know, because they only strike from the shadows, and when they come, they only cause death.” Damina clarified.
Carl slowly nodded. “Alright, I’ll give you that, that is a much cooler sounding name, but it's too poetic.”
“TOO, poetic?” Damina asked.
“Yeah, too poetic.” Carl confirmed. “I mean, yeah, they are pretty deadly, but we can’t really be calling those things reapers, can we?”
Damina grunted. “Back then, they used to call early attack drones reapers.”
“What? They did? How do you even know that?” Carl said in a surprised tone.
Damina shrugged. “I must’ve heard it somewhere.”
“Is that even real? I mean, how long ago are we talking here? A few decades, or a few centuries? Attack drones have been around for a really long time, I need specifications.” Carl questioned.
“Like, a thousand years, I think.” Damina explained.
“A thousand years!” Carl exclaimed. “You’re trying to tell me that we got information out of the ancient dark ages!?”
Damina shrugged again. “Yeah, pretty much.”
Carl shook his head. “You’re crazy.”
Damina scoffed. “Whatever. Come on, we need to get moving.”
* * *
Silence filled the pod.
A sat in a chair, arms crossed, eyes staring in the general direction of Jacob, who was sitting directly across from him. K looked around nervously, while Jacob just seemed confused. X had left the pod at some point to go jump off a rooftop for something, doing whatever thing he did to pass the time.
A had listened to K, X, and Jacob explain their small adventure, with K doing most of the talking, because X just told straight up lies most of the time, like claiming that they had found a whole farm of enslaved tornados who were aptly named, “Whiggers” and that they had participated in the freeing of those tornados from enslavement, establishing a new state in the middle east for them afterwards. Jacob was forced out of the explanation because the majority of his speech consisted of, “Uh”, “Um”, “Like so”, “You see”, “Kinda”, and multiple backtracks because he had forgotten to say something important. So, it was only reasonable to just shut up before he embarrassed himself any further, the goddamn idiot.
Finally, K spoke up.
“So, what do you think sir?”
A glanced up at K. “What do I think?”
K squirmed under his gaze. “Er, yes sir.”
A sat up in his chair. “Well, I think that it's a miracle that the human is still somehow alive.”
“Some would say otherwise.” Jacob interjected.
“I feel halfway partial to just calling it all a lie and putting a bullet through this guy’s head.” A ignored the comment.
“I’m . . . not sure if that is the right course of action, sir.” K replied.
A scoffed. “It's a figure of speech, K, calm down.”
K blinked. “Oh, uh, sorry sir.”
“And stop saying sorry so much, it's annoying me.” A added.
“Yes sir, sorry sir.” K said quickly.
A shook his head, before looking at Jacob. “And what are we going to do with you?”
Jacob shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
A leaned forward. “Don’t you humans have to eat regularly to stay alive?”
“I have to take my helmet off to eat, and I’m not really sure that’s a good idea.” Jacob explained.
“Hmm, I see.” A leaned back, deep in thought.
This proved to be a problem, since the survival of the human was paramount to A and his squad’s success. When the distress signal had come through, A had taken an arguably large gamble on it. He had sent the majority of his team out to investigate an unknown signal, when they could’ve spent those days and nights grinding for extra credit.
While some might think that a few days shouldn’t have made a difference, the reality was much harsher. With a whole planet full of competing teams, all vying for control, one had to remain constantly vigilant and active to stay up top. While most of the time in a standard squads lives were spent just cutting down the occasional worker drone that was foolish enough to go outside, which happened quite often, sometimes they would crack open a bunker, which was more than enough to boost them to the peak of the leaderboard.
One wouldn’t even have to tackle a whole bunker, if they so desired. They could just put in overtime hours, spending night after night slaughtering any drone who had stumbled into danger, rapidly clearing out a zone empty of all life, save for the ones that caused it. This could bear a great number of points if it was executed correctly, and while it was time and energy consuming, it was very effective.
So far, A’s team had been doing neither, just killing the stray worker drone that stumbled in their path every now and then, which is what most squads did, just to a higher extent. This was causing them to lag behind, as stated earlier. Also stated earlier, the recent destruction of the local worker drone bunker had boosted them up high into the rankings, but it wasn’t meant to last. And if their scores weren’t up to par, disassembly for themselves was an option.
But now, through some stroke of magnificent luck, A had been thrown a lifeline in the form of the adolescent human boy sitting across from him. If no other humans were hiding in some small nook or cranny around the planet, then that would make Jacob the last living human on the entire planet. Even an idiot could tell you that that arguably made him the most important thing for miles, which made Jacob’s earlier statement somewhat true. If A and his squad were able to somehow return Jacob to the company’s hands, then they would likely be rewarded a large amount of points for their innovative and smart behavior, shooting them up through the ranks until nothing could challenge them for a while.
And so, that made the consequences for failure even higher.
If Jacob were to die, or even suffer from some sort of severe injury, then the blame would lie at their feet. They would be blamed for any and all harm that came to the human, and would be punished accordingly. They likely wouldn’t even know they had been punished, as their memories probably would’ve been scrapped as well.
All in all, A was taking yet another big gamble. They had very high rewards, since if they could place Jacob back into company hands, they would be set. However, they had high risk as well, since they had to keep him in perfect condition along the way, like a small, delicate package that was prone to breaking. A was willing to take that risk, since frankly, he saw no other option. They were too deep in to back out, even if they wanted to. Abandoning Jacob to the elements would garner an even harsher punishment than if they had tried to protect him and failed.
And so, A now had to devise a way to keep Jacob perfectly well, and that began with a rather pressing issue.
“Hey, kid-” A began.
“Name’s Jacob.” Jacob interrupted.
“Uh, I know.” A continued. “Kid, listen, do you even have anything to eat at all?”
Jacob pulled out a shiny silvery package from an armored pocket. “Yep, this here.”
“Are you sure that's edible?” A didn’t relent.
“Uh, yeah. It says, ‘RATION’ on the side so it probably is.” Jacob replied.
“And it's not expired?” A inquired.
“No, it isn’t. I’m good, I have tons of food, it's fine man, calm down.” Jacob tilted his head to the side, before pocketing the ration bar.
A grunted. “What about water?”
Jacob froze. “Uh, I dunno.”
“You thought to take ‘tons of food’ but didn’t take any sort of form of hydration.” It wasn’t a question.
“Erm, yes.” Jacob fidgeted.
A facepalmed. “Do you know WHERE you can get any water?”
Jacob shrugged. “Snow? Ice?”
“The snow and ice on this planet likely contains copious amounts of toxic gasses.” A stated.
“Well what do you want me to say, that I just pulled a random depot of fresh water from nowhere?” Jacob complained.
“Well I don’t know, I figured that the ‘hyper-intelligent’ and ‘oh-so-smart’ human would’ve thought to bring some goddamn water.” A replied, annoyed.
“Well I didn’t think a few days ago that I would be trekking through a freezing wasteland!” Jacob cried out.
“Speaking of, what were you doing a few days ago? I doubt that you were ‘just chilling’ in a cryo pod that failed to break down when every other one did.” A’s eyes narrowed yet again.
“Well I just was! That's the truth of it, kind of . . .” Jacob trailed off.
A felt his opportunity. “Continue.”
“Besides, I’m pretty sure that you aren’t cleared for that information.” Jacob finished.
A inwardly cursed. Once Jacob had subtly implied that there was something more to the story than what he had let on, A had believed that he would be able to get some more out of him, maybe even deducing what made the kid so important. A wasn’t gonna believe for a second that Jacob had just happened to stumble upon a facility full of autonomous guards that had just somehow happened to decide to protect him with their lives, while finding the sole fully-operational cryo pod on the planet, and just so happened to survive for a good amount of time while everybody else died. And the fact that A had received the distress signal on a government transmitter that had just so happened to be placed in their ship made Jacob even more suspicious.
Multiple things weren’t adding up, which is why A had jumped at the chance to wring Jacob dry of any more information he could get. But, A hadn’t expected him to pull out the ‘Classified Information” card. While it did confirm that something bigger was going on behind the scenes, A was now effectively neutered in his future chances to learn, because since he now knew that the information he was searching for was behind higher clearance, continuing his search would be a clear breach of company protocol. Breaching company protocol, like many other things, leads to a rather bad chance of living.
A leaned back in his chair, contemplating his next course of action. He first had to find a breathable atmosphere for Jacob, as well as finding an uncontaminated source of water. Next, and perhaps the most difficult of all, A had to somehow get Jacob off planet. Some very high orders for his little squad.
“How long can humans go without needing food or water?” A questioned.
“Uh, I can’t remember exactly, but I think that if I don’t have any sort of water, then I’ll die within three days.” Jacob answered.
A cursed yet again. Three days wasn’t a time frame big enough to get a source of reliable water in this wasteland.
K coughed politely. “Uh, if I may, sir.”
A’s gaze shot to K. “What?”
“Well, we could scavenge.” K suggested.
“I’m fairly sure that I could’ve come up with that myself.” A replied.
“Oh, uh, sorry sir.” K backed down.
A, in fact, hadn’t come up with that himself, for some odd reason. It seemed like the only viable course of action, and yet he hadn’t even given it a modicum of thought. Strange, but not important.
A stood up. “Well, I guess that's settled. X,” X looked back up from his little thumb game. “You’re going with K.”
“To do what?” X asked, confused.
“Of course you weren’t listening. You’re going to try and find some water for the human.” A answered.
“What!? I don’t wanna do that, why can’t she do it by herself!?” X cried out, pointing at K.
“Because in your absence, I’ve found that I rather like having both of you away from me. And plus, the more the merrier.” A pointed at the exit. “And you’re going right now.”
The night was still hanging ever-present over the planet, a fact made clear by X’s careful inspection from his undesirable point of view.
X opened his mouth to protest further, but the act was cut off by A.
“And that's final.” A glared at X. “Understand?”
X scoffed. “Alright man, fine. No need to get all worked up.”
A turned to K. “Anything you want to say?”
K seemed caught off guard. “Oh, uh, no sir, I’m fine.”
A nodded. “Good. Now off you go.”
Jacob watched the pair leave the pod with a watchful gaze.
A turned towards Jacob.
“Now what do you want me to do?” Jacob asked.
“Now that's the big question.” A replied. “I’ve never really had a human with me.”
“Well, I’m not really gonna just sit here, doing nothing.” Jacob stated.
“You might have to deal with it.” A dryly replied.
The two stared at each other in silence for a moment.
“Listen man, how about we talk?” Jacob broke the silence.
A’s LED screen formed an eyebrow and raised it. “About what?”
Jacob was a bit unnerved by the display A’s face just did, but pressed on. “I dunno.”
“I’m not giving a suggestion.” A said.
Jacob thought for a moment. “Well, those guys that just left didn’t really tell me a lot about what’s really going on, so how about that?”
A pondered on the notion. He was tempted to turn it into an exchange of information, but that would still be a violation of policy, and he wasn’t sure if the human would even oblige. And plus, he didn’t really see that issue with giving out that kind of information, as it would even endear Jacob to A, which might pay off in the long run.
“Alright, I can do that.” A agreed.
“Oh nice.” Jacob replied.
“So, it all started with . . .”
* * *
The clacking of the keyboard.
A familiar sound to anyone living within the modern era, or anyone past the 1990s. Commonplace in areas such as work offices, accounting offices, home offices, government offices, probably a lot more offices, and gaming rooms that were only occupied with hunch-backed teenagers who were chronically online. Or maybe just avid fan fiction writers, you never know.
However, those that weren’t accustomed to the fast-paced rapid clicking of buttons would often find the sound annoying or unrestful, especially when the area was overly silent. In this case, a duo were inside a small tent, lit only by the glow of a computer screen, with a robot sat over the keyboard, typing away at the device with the surety of a slight breeze; soft, yet clearly ever-present. The second robot was currently sitting in another chair that was on the other side of the room, trying to fall asleep. But, it appeared as though that they weren’t a fan of the constant noise, deafening in the silence of the night.
Groaning, the second drone called out to the one at the computer.
“Ugh, man, keep it down.” He whispered.
“What do you expect me to do? Type slower? I wanna get this done as soon as possible.” The first drone replied, also whispering.
“Just be quieter, I’m tryna sleep here.” The second drone murmured.
“Why are you sleeping!? You’re supposed to be awake and watching, not dozing off!” The first drone whisper-yelled back.
“You’re awake right now, so it's fine.” The second drone waved his hand.
“No it’s not! I could be stabbed by one of those hunters when my back is turned and you’re asleep!” The first drone exclaimed quietly.
“Don’t care.” The second drone laid back in his chair.
“You know what, Frant!? Get up here, this’ll keep you awake.” The first drone called to Frant.
“No, lemme go to sleep.” Frant replied sleepily.
“Get up here, before I report you, and then you’ll be sleeping forever.” The first drone narrowed his eyes.
This proved to wake up Frant to the fullest extent, causing him to shoot upwards in his seat.
“Are you serious Carme!?” Frant spat between clenched teeth.
“Just come over here, it’ll keep you awake.” Carme ignored the question.
Frant obliged, stomping over to Carme, leaning over his shoulder to see the glowing screen.
“What are you even doing here?” Frant inquired.
“I’m reviewing our files to make sure nothing got lost in the transition.” Carme answered.
“What if something did get lost?” Frant continued.
“Then I notify the experts.” Carme simply replied.
“Uh, okay then.” Frant pulled his seat over, plopping down next to Carme. “Why’d they have to assign me to watch? Couldn’t they have just gotten a soldier to do it?”
Carme shrugged. “They’re spread too thin, the military’s having a hard enough time already trying to maintain a proper perimeter. Watching over the workers would be asking for numbers they don’t have.”
Frant nodded. “I guess that makes sense.” Frant then paused to think. “Hey, why do you know all this stuff anyway?”
“They sent it in a memo.” Carme handed a sheet of paper to Frant, who took it.
Frant skimmed over the paper, taking in all the essential bits.
“You get it now?” Carme looked over his shoulder at Frant.
Frant nodded again. “Yeah, but why didn’t I get this?”
Carme shrugged yet again. “You probably did.”
“Huh.” Frant scratched the back of his head, before squinting at a document on the computer. “Uh, what's that?”
Carme followed Frant’s gaze to the icon on the screen. The file in question was an innocuous little folder that simply read, “DO NOT OPEN WITHOUT PROPER AUTHORIZATION” which was a bit dramatic.
Carme and Frant looked at each other, before settling their focus back on the screen.
“. . . you wanna open it or something?” Frant suggested.
Carme thought for a moment, before shrugging for the hundredth time in a minute. “I’m down.”
Carme moved the cursor over to the icon, double clicking it. The page entered a loading phase, with nothing but a blank screen to greet them for a moment before it opened the file. Inside was a document that had several pages, with the first one having some rather disturbing text.
“‘DO NOT LET ROBOTS READ, THEY WILL NOT LIKE IT’? Why? What does that even mean?” Frant asked no one in particular.
“Probably to make sure robots don’t read it.” Carme answered.
“Yeah, I get it. Scroll down, I wanna see the rest.” Frant leaned in, completely disregarding the warning.
Carme obliged, scrolling down to the first page which had more large, bold text, which read, “NO SERIOUSLY, WE MEAN IT”.
Carme and Frant scrolled down to the next page, which also had more text, which said, “ALRIGHT THEN, JUST MAKING SURE THIS TIME”.
Scrolling down to what would hopefully be the last page with warnings on it, Carme and Frant gazed upon the holy scriptures, which now read, “YOU WOULD THINK THAT WE WOULD PUT A TEST IN HERE TO MAKE SURE YOU AREN’T A ROBOT, BUT THEY DIDN’T GIVE US ENOUGH BUDGET FOR THAT”
Frant groaned. “What is this guy’s deal? Just let us through.”
Carme scrolled past the warning, finally arriving at a page which had something other than a loud warning. A logo could be seen at the top, proclaiming whatever they were to the few that could read the document.
“What is, ‘JCJenson, IN SPAAAAACEE!!!!’?” Frant asked, squinting at the computer.
“I dunno.” Carme shrugged, goddamn man, stop shrugging.
“I thought you knew everything?” Frant looked at Carme.
“I just pay attention, nothing else, and nothing I’ve seen mentions that.” Carme gestured towards the screen.
“Whatever, keep scrolling.” Frant looked back at the display.
Carme and Frant looked on at the screen, scrolling slowly so that they could both see. As they read, their expressions went from curious, to confused, to disturbed, to confused again. The strange document was filled with strange labels and diagrams that just didn’t make sense to either of them, displaying graining images of what appeared to be a drone, with some . . . interesting . . . additions.
“What the hell is a zombie drone?” Carme asked, LED eyebrows furrowed.
* * *
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Again, I'm gonna post the second part tomorrow, and after that it'll take about a week to finish the fifth chapter. This will hopefully be segmented into three parts instead of four like that last one that was more than two, but no promises. Reddit character capacity is a cruel mistress. Hopefully I'll have more free time on my hands going forward, and maybe I will. See y'all.

I took Memorial Day weekend off and headed to Vegas. Now I’m back in Az after three days and have received little to know offers. Does anyone know if not opening or using the app affects offers??

Hey guys, she’s 25 and I’m 28 I haven’t wrote in here in a long time but there’s a girl I met back in November. Things were great and then it kind of died out she dated someone else and I did the same. Then come March she contacted me and I was single so we picked it back up. Everything was great until she started acting different and really anxious all the time. Replies took longer to get back to me and so I would match and mirror her behavior. It kind of feels like deja vu really, but last time I saw her before I had to travel for work we had a great time and night. But, in the middle of the night she woke me up saying how her anxiety was really bad and she needed to be alone? I was out of it but agreed to be taken back and we talked for 30-40 mins on what was going on. A lot of it was her anxiety but other part she’s been thinking about doing some travel nursing and it’s been on her mind a lot.
I do believe her as she’s always been honest. She still texted me here and there on her work trip, but still short and not like before. Anyway, I texted her back after a few days when I was back in town over memorial weekend she said she had plans but would love to see me next week. I asked her what day she was free and nothing I texted a few days later seeing if she could meet up the next day. She texted back at the end of the night it’s been a busy week she had plans and that she is thinking about moving when the lease is up. I told her she will know when the time is right and she was all happy/kissing me a lot after we spoke and also said she can always move back if it doesn’t workout.
I responded saying that’s awesome and I’m proud of her because it’s not an easy decision. I also said we should get together to catch up/ talk about what’s going on when she’s ready. Any advice on what to do or say when I do here back from her? I’m not calling/texting from here on out. Really was into her and where things were going and just want to at least meet up and talk in person. Could be another person in picture, but she would tell me that(like before) and could be really thinking about traveling I know I will hate to see her go, but would never hold her back from her dreams and goals. I feel like there’s still something there because why even bother responding or saying she’s thinking about it and not knowing. I know women’s emotions are up and down so could be many things what do you guys think? Think I may have over pursued like Corey mentions back to the book I go regardless but not reaching out ever again.

How can there be different BPD subtypes recognised but not CPTSD subtypes?
We all went through complex trauma - of course we develop different truama responses to different triggers. I hate personality disorder diagnoses. They can often be viewed through the lens of CPTSD except its a stain on your medical record and if you assert yourself to a psychiatrist you are told to take a deep breath, you are told you are beyond treatment etc.
Most people with BPD have childhood trauma. Why can't this be viewed through a lens of CPTSD instead of blaming someone for their broken personality? BPD symptoms often result from triggers that look irrational to most people but are perfectly normal responses to the traumas they have gone through. We struggle with emotional dysregulation like people with BPD because of these triggers.
Personality disorders (particularly B and C cluster) have huge responses to perceived threat. Isnt that just textbook hypervigilance and feeling unsafe in the world?
Let's look at BPD symptoms from a CPTSD lens shall we.
Strong mood swings in response to small, inconsequential events This sounds exactly like emotional flashbacks which are often irrational, huge reactions to triggers that we often don't even notice.
Unstable self image It's said people with CPTSD have stable self image as a core difference between the two but... how can we? How can we separate ourselves from the abuse? I've changed my appearance a lot to try and look as unappealing as possible to deter any possible predators. Plus CPTSD is a requirement for OSDD, DID etc which involve major identity disturbances. So clearly CPTSD must have issues with unstable self-image to a degree? I feel fragmented. Like there are lots of parts of me that are still me, just completely different.
Transient dissociation/psychosis under stress Massive hyperarousal or hypoarousal in response to ongoing triggers or stressful life events. A truama response clearly. Of course we would experience paranoia that others are out to get us under times of high stress when in the past, others WERE out to get us and we were chronically under high stress. Is this even any different than hypervigilance?
Fear of abandonment A lot of us have abandonment or neglect trauma. Is there anyone with CPTSD who isn't terrified of having to relive these experiences of feeling unloved? Our entire mental illness stems from being unloved, abused, neglected or abandoned as children. Of course many of us would have this specific trauma as a trigger. A lot of us have a disorganised attachment style which means we naturally will experience a push-pull dynamic because of our core beliefs of who we are - that we don't deserve to be with someone who treats us as a person. This was instilled in us from childhood.
Chronic emptiness Structural dissociation. Our 'apparently normal part' which navigates day to day life. Or hypoarousal under stress - freeze response.
Inappropriate, explosive anger Fight response. Appears inappropriate - some of us weren't allowed to feel those emotions so they come on fucking strong. Some of us had to have a fight response to survive.
Difficulty maintaining stable relationships When all you have known is dysfunction, of course you will have Intense relationships that often mimic that of your abuser. It is often all we have known. That is why we get revictimised so often. This is just straight up attachment theory taken out of context. We crave the ups and the downs because that's all we have ever known.
Negative self-image, suicidal ideation, self-harm People with CPTSD have chronic feelings of shame, unworthiness, suicidality because of our fucking trauma. I don't think self harming should be counted as a symptom of anything let alone a personality disorder - its a coping mechanism. Chronic suicidal ideation is clearly a sign that life is just too difficult to live - something we as CPTSDers know too well.
Seeing the world in extremes Again, disorganised attachment. Everything is a threat and we have to be hypervigilant. Anyone we love could quickly become dangerous. We have a sense of impending doom. For a lot of us, our abusers would idealise then devalue us. Of course we would copy this pattern. We also may find it hard to trust others so when they break our trust it's gone. This is just more hyperarousal and hypoarousal, as well as distorted cognitive beliefs about ourselves because of our abuse. Of course we see our partners as perfect for putting up with us as burdens and always being there for us in our dark days. Of course when they unintentionally trigger us and remind us of an abuser we see that in them and fear them/want to distance ourselves from them/want to fight back. A lot of us were brainwashed by our abusers to see the world a certain way - in extremes.
Impulsivity and risk-taking behaviour A lot of us are reckless with our lives. Substabce abuse is just classic flight mode, trying to run away from the intense feelings. Risky sex is often a result of sexual trauma. We don't feel our life is worth much so of course we spend money carelessly to fill the void when we often don't even feel like we will last until next week. Of course we will do whatever we can to numb the pain even if just for a second.
This is just for the main symptoms not taking into account the different 'subtypes' which could truly just be different presentations of CPTSD. I feel this way about all Cluster B and C personality disorders. If you've only ever received love when you've achieved perfection, why wouldn't you develop NPD symptoms? If you've been taught violence is just how life is and others will hurt you as a stepping stone to achieve their own goals, why wouldn't you develop ASPD symptoms? If the only time you ever experienced love and compassion was when you had to seek attention, why wouldn't you have HPD symptoms?
A lot of us also have repressed memories or traumas that occurred before we could form visual memories. So some of us feel really disconnected from our trauma, hence we might only have somatic or emotional flashbacks rather than visual/auditory flashbacks.
I just don't see where the difference is between CPTSD and a lot of personality disorders. If you can have a PD 'subtype', why wouldn't that just be our COMPLEX array of ongoing traumas rearing their ugly heads in response to what was happening to us? That is why I think so many cluster Bs and Cs also fit symptoms of other personality disorders - because its not their personality that is the problem, it's that they are constantly reliving their traumas and haven't been given the tools to help reparent themselves. But instead they are psychiatrically labelled as problematic, abusive and difficult to work with rather than traumatised individuals who developed maladaptive responses which made perfect sense at the time.
Sigh. Just thinking about my BPD diagnosis and how it has ruined my psychiatric quality of care. I have a first appointment for mentalization - based psychotherapy soon because I told my mental health team that my childhood trauma is making my life difficult as well as my caring responsibilities for my partner. Just another therapy that blames the BPD patient for unstable relationships even if they don't have them. Just another therapy that tells traumatised people they are unable to empathise or understand that others have feelings of their own.
I wonder what would be different for me if I never got that diagnosis after a 20 minute consultation during a depressive episode after having experienced a very traumatic abandonment event by my abuser. All they saw was that I was in and out of tears, that I had an unstable relationship with my abuser, that I self harmed to cope and had chronic suicidal ideation from being around him. They saw that I numbed the pain with substances. They saw I was afraid of abandonment after I had JUST been abandoned incredibly traumatically. They saw I hated myself, had deep feelings of shame but also anger towards my abuser. This was all a sign of a disordered personality. A 20 minute consultation with a woman I had never met and I was given a diagnosis of BPD because of my recent trauma. I had an entire history of notes accessible to her from age 12-17 being in the mental health system that long and she couldn't be bothered to access my records and see that I was an abused child, she didn't even ask about any history of abuse. The only reason I don't have records from even longer ago is because I was being emotionally neglected, quiet and kept to myself, and only started acting out when I moved countries. My diagnosis is a stain that undermines what I've been through and treats me as a problem. I was in the mental health system from fucking 12 years old and all I got was this lousy personality disorder diagnosis that treats my trauma responses as a core issue with me, I'm broken and can't be fixed. This POV still fucking exists with psychistrists and psychotherapists.
This isnt meant to undermine anyone's PD diagnosis if they feel it fits them. More power to you, I'm happy for you if you feel seen finally. I just wonder how much of it is just... a presentation of CPTSD. Considering how many psychistrists don't even believe in CPTSD and just see patients as labels. It's infuriating.

Has anyone else experienced a terrible emotional relapse since Memorial Day Weekend? As I knew the long weekend would be a difficult one to tolerate alone and without work to distract me, I made sure I filled it with plans with friends and things to do every single day. Now since Tuesday, I have been horrendously depressed, crying throughout the day harder than I have since the first week of Adrian's passing in April, and absolutely defeated and just begging for death to come take me so I can rejoin him wherever he may be. It feels like emotional whiplash - the pendulum swings one way, and the back the other way even harder. I haven't been able to sleep, have barely been able to work, and have been unable to speak to anyone. I've also noticed I'm much more angry - something that's has spared me thus far in my month and a half of grieving.
I am curious if others maybe further along in their grieving process may be able to share their experiences with this sort of emotional whiplash. I feel so defeated, so tired, and now so mad as hell.

I'm not sure if this kind of post is allowed here, since it technically doesn't pertain to Honkai Star Rail, but is more-so targeted towards those players, so remove if necessary. Over the past few weeks I've seen a lot of players from HSR coming over to the various HI3 subreddits and asking various, but generally similar questions. I'm not sure if this has been done before, but I thought I'd make a post with all the information you need to know if you're a HSR player interested in HI3.
There are 3 main reasons I've seen for why HSR players are interested in HI3.

1. You want to learn more about Welt and his past/power.
2. You want to learn about the parallels between the characters in HI3 and HSR(Bronya, Seele, etc)
3. You are interested in HI3, the game itself.

I will provide resources for each of these reasons.

1) You're interested in Welt

Welt is quite the character. He is the only character(that we've seen in-game so far) in HSR that is directly from HI3. As in, they are the same person. There is a lot to him but you won't find much information about him in HSR. There are 2 main HI3 manga which heavily feature Welt:

1. Alien Space (17 Chapters) This manga serves as the bridge between HI3 and HSR, showing why Welt and Void Archives travelled there in the first place. You'll also get to see some of the backstory of HI3's Himeko, and her little adventure with Welt. Even with no knowledge of anything HI3, you should be able to understand this manga fairly well and enjoy it.
2. Second Eruption (66 chapters) This manga features Welt in his prime, during the war between humanity and the Herrscher of the Void during the 2nd Eruption. Welt uses his powers to the best of his ability here, and if you recognize the line "I am Welt of Humanity!...", yeah, that's here. Do note however, this manga will be very difficult to understand without any knowledge of HI3. If you just want to see Welt doing cool stuff, then by all means go ahead and read, but just be prepared to be confused. This is the best HI3 manga in the eyes of most, and also the longest by far, so maybe it might get you interested in HI3's story, for which, you can check the next the section.

Additionally, this post does a fantastic job of summarizing Welt's journey.
There is more to Welt, but this is all you'll get without playing the game.

2) You're interested in the characters/story

If you're interested in what the HSR characters are like in HI3, you'll have to go through HI3's story. But you don't actually have to be playing the game to do so! For the first 6 chapters, you can easily finish them with just the starter characters, and after that, the game will give you trial characters to use for every story chapter. So you can just login whenever you want to do story and not have to worry about actively playing the game.
The story is very highly praised by the community, but it's definitely not easy to get into. In order to get the full experience, you'll have to be jumping between different forms of media, as it is a multimedia story. There are the in-game chapters, several manga, 3 visual novels, anime(yes actual anime), and some amazing YouTube animations. The story is very long, and it will take some effort to go through. But it's definitely worth it. Hoyostans has put together an amazing story guide that you can follow, with everything linked right in the guide so you don't have to be searching for things yourself. Here is the guide
Do note that the early stuff(about the first half of Phase 1 in that guide) is pretty bad in comparison to what comes later, so don't let that discourage you from moving on. The story jumps in quality after chapter 7 and will keep getting better from there. (Ofc, this is an opinion)

3) You're interested in the game

Now if I were to talk about every aspect of the game in detail, this post would be like 10x longer. So I'll try to keep it short(I failed lol). I will also be making some comparisons to HSR and by extension Genshin(yes yes I know...) since this post is mainly targeted towards those players.
HI3 is difficult. As a F2P new player, it will definitely take you a long time to catch up. Powercreep is very present in this game, and characters get replaced fast(within 1 year even). But once your account gets the ball rolling(As in you get 3 teams fairly well built) things get alot easier and you''ll be able to keep up. The endgame starts post level 80, and you will get to level 80 very quickly with the amount of EXP you'll be flooded with. Luckily at level 80 its optional to breakthrough to higher levels and "enter the endgame". So you can remain at level 80 until you feel comfortable with your account to breakthrough.
Team and character building In terms of team building, you don't have much diversity. The teams are pretty much set in stone and there isn't much room for experimentation. "This character only does this and must go on this type of team and is pretty useless elsewhere" is the case for the majority of characters. Of course you can still mix and match but the ideal teams will always be the same. Characters however have alot to them, not just 3 moves. Like, alot. For example, there's a character with 4 different weapons and different movesets for each. (Yatta!).
In terms of character building, unlike Genshin and HSR, we don't technically have 5* gear. Signature gear is actually 4 star. You know the guaranteed 4 star every 10 pulls? You got a pretty good chance of pulling a character's signature gear from that. Unfortunately, every DPS needs their signature weapon. There isn't really any F2P alternatives that can come close to the signature for the majority of DPS, so you'll have to pull it. Supports have some more leeway with weapons but some still require their signature to work.
Artifacts/Relics Unlike Genshin and HSR, we don't have artifacts/relics. We have stigmata(stigma for short). Each character can be slotted with 3 stigma, with 2 piece and 3 piece set bonuses. You have to pull stigma and all signature stigma is 4 star. Therefore on your 10 pull 4* pity, you might either get a stigma or a weapon. Luckily stigma is not as mandatory as weapons, and there is a lot of craftable stigma that can substitute for signature.
Banners There is no 50/50 on character banner. Same 90 hard pity, 75 soft pity. Equipment banners have 5 stigma sets and 5 weapons in the pool, with 1 stigma set and the corresponding weapon rate up. Which means your 4* can be 20 different things, and if you only want 1 specific thing, yeah its tough, but there's a chance you might end up fully gearing another character by complete accident because of this. We also usually know the schedule for the next patch and maybe even the following patch, with all the banner details and events, so it's easy to plan your spending.
Events Honkai has events very often, and they are quite fun and sometimes "inspired" from other games. We essentially had a Fall Guys event, a Plants vs Zombies event, a somewhat Pokemon event and others. Event dialogue is usually pretty humorous and light hearted, and are pretty fun to read through.
End Game Activities There is alot to do in endgame.
Superstring Dimension AKA Abyss Every abyss cycle, you get grouped with a certain number of players, and you compete for score on a leaderboard tied to your group. Depending on your placement, you will earn trophies and either move to higher abyss levels, stay where you are, or move down, with different rewards for each level. Therefore HI3 can be said to be a competitive game. Every 3 days we get a new abyss cycle (not as long as Memory of Chaos or Spiral Abyss of course) and hence rewards.
Memorial Arena Every week, there are 3 bosses which players can compete for score on a global leaderboard(tied to your server like NA, SEA etc). This gives you the opportunity to use your various teams every week as each boss has their own weaknesses. Your score determines your rewards(not relative to other people's score) and your ranking affects some rewards as well but that one isn't really a big deal.
Elysian Realm This is HI3's equivalent of Simulated Universe, with some slightly different mechanics. This technically isn't an endgame activity, but getting higher scores will require you to have good gear. Its a weekly thing with good rewards, and the way characters play in Elysian Realm is fundamentally different from the regular game, since they might get new abilities specific to each character.
Raids Honkai has Co-op. Every week you can team up with 2 other players to go through 6 stages for rewards. To be very honest, Co-op is pretty meh. You'll be able to matchmake with other people easily but alot of people kinda just ignore this.
Oh, and we also have a customizable housing system with Chibi characters, and a global chat where people talk about all kinds of usually crazy stuff(looking at room 1). These are the real endgame activities 👍.
That's the main content besides the dailies, which you can finish with just a few mouse clicks. You will find lots of useful resources in the pinned post on the houkai3rd subreddit, so be sure to read through it if you get into the game.
Thank you for reading! I hope this information will be of use to anyone interested in HI3, and if you have any other things you may want to know, please leave a comment and I will answer if it's within my ability.

Over Memorial Day weekend, I caught my (27M) girlfriend (28F) cheating on me. I have a lot on my mind so this is going to be a long one... apologies in advance. I want to talk about the night it all went down, the days since, and life going forward.
Context:
I have been with my (likely soon to be ex) girlfriend for nearly 8 years. We met in college at a party and never looked back. Our relationship was never the most exciting or passionate, but we loved each other.
I will be the first to admit I was not a perfect partner. I struggled with alcohol and we both smoked a fair bit of marijuana through college and our early 20s. I also struggled greatly with depression and anxiety. Despite these issues, I always held down a job and paid the bills. We also rarely fought.
I have made great strides in my life to put these issues behind me. I am completely sober and have worked very hard to become the best future husband and father I can be for our family.
Over the years we built a life together. We both graduated college, moved to the big city, and began our careers. We have 2 dogs (luckily no kids) and live in a nice house in a nice suburb that we split rent on. Our lives are integrated. She is a part of my family and I am a part of hers. We have lived together for years and have shared expenses.
We are not engaged yet but I have had a ring for several months now. I had not proposed because I felt there were cracks in our relationship that I wanted to work on before taking that next step. I had tried to have conversations about these issues but was never met with any meaningful dialogue or action.
"D-day":
I think the story of my D-day actually start a couple weeks before it actually happened. One day before work, I had asked my GF (I'll call her J) if she could please clean her dishes in the sink and clean up her pile of laundry in the bathroom. No demands or anything, just "please, I'd appreciate it". J blew up at me. "Do you know how long you were a mess and I put up with it??". I was hurt but at this point I needed to leave for work so I said we need to talk later and headed out the door. I gathered my thoughts during the day and came home a little early from work. We sat down and I laid out the following points:
1. Please stop using the past against me. I know I wasn't perfect but I've worked very hard to become a better person. I cannot be in a relationship where my partner will hold my darkest days over my head to win an argument.
2. J works the nightshift and I have struggled with this in the past. We don't see each other very often as our schedules are completely opposite. She was open to changing to the day shift in the past but recently has hardened her stance. Recently, she has been sleeping a LOT on her days off. I understand nightshift is brutal on one's sleep schedule but it was getting to the point where she would only be awake 4-6 hours on her days off. These few hours she was awake she would lay on the couch and watch TV. It made having a relationship difficult, and it also meant her share of house duties was falling behind (leaving her dishes in the sink, her clothes all over the place, etc).
3. Sex. Our sex life has never been great. I have been open about my desire to improve things, have worked on myself to be an attractive partner, and have tried to discuss her wants and needs as well. There was never any progress.
During this conversation, I asked for her thoughts and feelings on each topic. I desperately wanted an actual dialogue but she was giving me nothing. Ultimately, she said she needed time to think about what I said. Since the conversation, I had not seen her hardly seen her at all. She had been gone almost a week on a hiking trip with some co-workers that had been planned for a while. Then because of work there was another week of not really seeing each other.
Friday night, J asks if I want to go to a birthday dinner for a family friend on Saturday. I had plans that required me to be up early on Sunday, so I said probably not as I knew she would want to stay and hang out late with them. She swore she would not as she had work on Sunday. I only half believed her, but agreed to go because I knew it'd make her happy.
Towards the end of dinner I go to the restroom and when I come back, what always happens happened. "Would you be ok if I actually went out? I won't be out much later" She asked in front of the entire group so I said "sure, you can do what you want" A few minutes later off to the side, I let her know I was upset that she went back on her word but she was un-phased. She promised she wouldn't be out very late and I believed her as the group was primarily mid-30s people with young kids. One of the other people at the birthday dinner assured me they would give her a ride home.
I drove home alone and the anger built. I typed out a long text about how I was hurt that she didn't come home with me like she said she would, but ultimately deleted it before sending. I didn't want to needlessly make her night worse and told myself we would talk in the morning. I go to bed.
2AM I wake up to go pee. She isn't there. I check my phone and she hasn't texted me at all either. We share locations with each other so I check and it's not loading so I am getting a bit worried for her safety at this point.
I call her and she picks up "Hello?" "Hey J where are you??" "Oh I decided to sleep over at family friend's house" This alone wasn't concerning as the family friends were a married couple with young children. We have known them for years and it was not unusual for her to spend the night there after going out with them.
At this point my concern quickly turns back to anger because not only did she lie to me again about coming home early, she didn't even text me to let me know her plans changed. I told J to get an Uber and come home, we need to talk. She was annoyed and let me know it but I didn't care. She told me she would order an Uber.
Nearly 30 minutes had passed and I had not heard from her. I check her location again to see if she's on her way. Unlike before, it does load this time. Not only was she not on the way back, she was at a house I didn't recognize. I call her back "Hey I thought you said you were ordering an Uber and coming home? Also where are you? Your location is showing you at some house I've never seen".
She sticks to her story. She is at family friend's. She has no idea why her location is showing the other house, because she is definitely at family friend's. I'm uneasy at this point but still haven't jumped to any conclusions. Maybe it was a glitch. Seemed to be pretty far away from where she was claiming to be for a glitch and it also hadn't moved at all in a while... but whatever, anything is possible I suppose.
I am asking her why she keeps lying to me. Lied about not going out in the first place, lied about how long she'd be gone, and lied about calling an Uber 30 minutes ago. She says the Uber is coming in 4 minutes and that she will call me when it picks her up because she doesn't want to argue with me in front of family friends.
I watch her location, expecting it to jump and correct itself once she starts moving. Instead, it moves exactly as if she was picked up in an Uber from that house. Whatever, she is on her way.
I go downstairs and wait for her to arrive. Once she does I ask what she did tonight. "I went to the bar and then to family friends". I ask her what she was doing at family friends. "Just talking. You know I stay there sometimes what's the big deal?". I ask what on earth they were talking until 2:30 in the morning. It just didn't make sense, they're a mid-30s married couple with young kids and full time jobs. Staying awake this late just to talk?
"Well we were talking about you for one" "Me? What about me" "For starters your psychotic behavior tonight."
I was mad sure but my behavior had been far from "psychotic". I never raised my voice and never accused her of anything. I demanded she come home sure but I felt I was justified in that.
From here she continues to say they talked about the discussion from 2 weeks ago. How I "attacked her" and "piled on her for no reason". I was shocked. I thought I had handled that conversation a couple weeks ago very maturely. I was actually proud of myself for taking time to gather my thoughts so that I could calmly lay them out when I got home. At this point however, I was questioning myself.
Did I dog pile her for no reason? Was the way I approached it an "attack"? My only thought was maybe it felt one sided because she refused to engage in any discussion. I asked why she could talk to other people about our relationship but not me.
It would never become clear however as she said she was done talking and was going to bed. I begged her to give me something, anything. I didn't care if her response was in the form of yelling at me. I just needed SOMETHING.
As she's walking up the stairs I ask her to explain why her location was at that house. The story was the same. She didn't know, she was at family friends house. I told her I want to believe her but I know what I saw with my own eyes. It just didn't make sense. I would have believed anything that plausibly put her at that house. "I was at family friends and that's that. If you don't believe me, the we have MUCH bigger problems"
That was that. I did trust her and so I accepted it and went up to join her in bed. There was a little voice in the back of my mind that knew what I saw but she wouldn't lie, she definitely wouldn't cheat.
As I am about to fall asleep, I sit up suddenly and say "J I have an idea" *half asleep* "what?" "Show me your Uber receipts. That will prove you're telling the truth, any small doubts I have will be gone and we can just move on from this. Now she seems to be completely asleep (almost certainly faking it looking back). I grab her phone from under her pillow and unlock it.
On the screen is a text thread to a guy I'll call Jake. There were only 2 messages. First from earlier in the evening "It's J". The kind of message you send when someone puts their number in your phone and you text them so they have your number now. Then one she forgot to send "Hey sorry about that... I made it home ok".
Even at this point, my naïve ass did not jump to cheating. I truly assumed it was probably someone who was also at the dinner and stayed the night at family friends. But then I saw the Uber receipt. It had picked her up from the house her location showed her at.
"J WAKE UP. YOU WERE AT THAT HOUSE. WHAT IS GOING ON? WHAT HAPPENED?"
"It's what it looks like"
I asked how could she do this to me? Why would she do this to me? Nothing. Not a single sentence that could be considered a thoughtful response. Despite my demands to know what happened that night, she, as usual, gave me nothing. "It's over. You threw away an 8 year relationship. We were supposed to be together forever. You were supposed to be the mother of my children." Only after those words "It's over" did she show any remorse.
The very little information I did get out of her was:
-This was the first time
-I caught her before anything actually happened
I'm not sure I believe either. It also doesn't really matter to me. Interestingly, about a month prior she told me she had HPV. She assured me that monogamous people can get it. Based on the research I did, it seemed possible, so I didn't think much of it. Now I wonder...
The next few hours were an unproductive loop of various iterations of "How could you" and "I'm sorry I'll do anything to make it up".
Eventually it was 6am and I still had those plans that brought me home early the night before. A 7am tee time. So I left.
It was actually a blessing but I had already had pretty much a full day of plans with some friends. First was golf, then some time at the shooting range with another friend who was going to show me the ropes. These are close friends and I told them everything. They listened to me ramble all day and spent as much time as I needed.
Once I knew J had left for work, I decided it was time to go back home. I had been up since 2am and I was exhausted. I don't fall asleep until midnight. Awake for about 22 hours on the worst day of my life.
The Aftermath:
Honestly... not much happened after. I hurt. It is a deep, constant ache. It was not overwhelming pain like hearing a family member had died. No... just a constant, deep, ache.
I reached out to some more friends who have all been incredibly supportive. I am truly blessed to have the support system I do.
The people I really want to talk to, but haven't had the courage to call yet are my parents. I can't explain why, but I feel almost embarrassed. I also know that once I tell them, the relationship is 100% over with J. They will never see her the same, and she'll know it. I can't live with that tension my whole life.
While I am 99.9% sure this relationship is over, it's hard to say 100%. She was in my life for 8 years. It means a fundamental change to my life presently, and the entire future I had planned.
Work has been hard. I haven't gotten a lot done this week. I've been distracting myself by talking to my co-workers. Today though... I was the only one in the office. Seems everyone else happened to be working from home.
It was not a good day. I have been in my head replaying the events of the weekend and spiraling. Until this point I was weirdly ok. I think it's the first time I've been alone since it happened so all the feelings are coming out.
Going Forward:
I'm not sure what the future holds. I have a few short term plans:
1. STD test
2. Therapy
3. Talk to my parents and likely make a trip home
I also need to talk to J. While I repeatedly said it was over the night it all went down, I think it still needs to be made official. I have not seen J since that night. After work Sunday and Monday night, she has been home. I don't think she's left the house. However, I've been spending as much time away as possible and the little bit I am home, she is in the guest bedroom. I have not had the strength or desire to talk to her.
What I'm most scared of it my living situation and the dogs. While one dog is clearly mine and one is clearly hers, there's a part of me that worries she may do something crazy. I don't know what she's capable of anymore.
We are locked into this lease until February. I have re-read the lease and it seems were pretty much stuck. She has family in town she could stay with but I've got nowhere to go. While it wouldn't ruin me, it would certainly be financially painful if she stopped paying her half of the rent. Best case scenario seems to be we live as roommates and stay out of each other's way for 8 months... A pretty bleak best case scenario.
Once we do separate, there's going to be the challenge of divvying up the stuff. We own a lot of nice furniture together. That furniture probably wouldn't fit well into the apartments we'll likely have to move back into after this. It's all just so unclear at this point.
Conclusion:
If you've made it this far, thank you for listening. Just writing this was very cathartic. I am open to hearing advice on how I should proceed. Nothing in my life has prepared me for something like this.

Hey everyone! I managed to finally do what I planned and alternate fics with each chapter xD. I don't know what it is, but I get hyper focused here and there and then I can get such writer's block with certain things while writing but then get in a zone after managing to get past certain sections. Anyway, this is the second of three planned Linked Souls Day chapters, the next one being the last and from there just hopefully one more chapter that serves as a prelude and transition into the canon events. But don't quote me fully on this as it MIGHT turn into two chapters depending on if I can fit everything in it. But I'm excited to get into the canon material as I've had plans for it since 2020 xD. Anyway, I'm going to likely swap back to my Helluva Boss fic to do a chapter than swap back to this as I want to try to prevent any burn out. Fair warning, I might get a lil hyper focused on the HB fic, but I will do my best to keep a good balance and get back to this as soon as possible.
As I've said before both of these fics are passion projects that I intend to finish no matter how long it takes as I love writing in both worlds. Also, I'm still sticking to this being set pretty much in Japan given everything in canon and sticking to those sensibilities and laws while not neglecting my own western ones and other westerners. I know I've put the disclaimer bout the Nazomi and Sebastian relationship on every prior chapter focusing on then, I just want to make it clear each time this is being handled with care and the maturity it demands. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy and I might get the next chapter out maybe early next month or near the end of this one depending on how things go, but I WILL get it out.
Also, curious what everyone thinks about my introduction of a Valentines equivalent.
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After Shinoku and Vega left to meet up with Anya and Sheila, Sebastian took the time to finish getting ready for when he’d meet up with Nazomi. Just like his friends, Sebastian took his time to make sure that he looked good enough for their rendezvous, putting on some clothes he had that looked very similar to the Cherryton uniform aside from differing colors and other minor things. Also like Shinoku and Vega, he had gotten Nazomi a gift as well. After making sure he was good and ready for his meet up with Nazomi, Sebastian went back to reading to pass the time till he needed to head down the hill to meet up with her. As he waited, Sebastian heard his phone ring, quickly going to see who it was and answering it when he saw it was his mother.
“Hello Sebastian.” His mother said as he answered the phone. “I hope you’re well.”
“Hi mom.” he replied. “Yeah, I’m doing well.”
“That’s good to hear. How are your grades, I trust you’re keeping them high like you always do.” His mother inquired.
“I am.”
“That’s good to hear, you always do your best. Though, I’m not sure why you don’t do cram school like your brother did and your sister is doing. It’s nice that you work hard, don’t get me wrong, but I just want to make sure you’re living up to your full potential.” She said, her tone carrying that always subtle pressure of a proud lioness with high expectations.
And there it was; while she did care for him like any lion mother, she always wanted him to live up to the standards and the image of what a lion should be. Not that she was any different from any other lioness towards her kids, they all knew they had to make sure that the reputation of the king of beasts was maintained. It was an ever present driving force for lions; to stand apart, set the example, excel and push yourself to ever higher points and positions. It was both the greatest driving factor, and the most dangerous threat to a lion. While most would manage to get by and repress the toll it took or even thrive; for others, it would be far too much pressure. It was what lead to so many lions to go to the back alley, to form the likes of the shishigumi or join it.
Sebastian took a moment, the pressure of his mother’s expectations briefly showing before he quickly composed himself. “I understand mom, don’t worry, I have everything planned out.” he assured her. “I’m just tackling things in a way that allows me to give my full attention to my grades here. It’s not that I’m not interested in cram school, I just think it’s more logical to not have my focus split too much.”
“Always the analytical one my little Seby.” his mother commented. “But you only focus on your schoolwork and your reading, even your brother managed to handle doing cram school AND being on his school’s baseball team. He always did so well, even as a cub. Your sister’s also excelling in her gymnastics.” She added. His mother never overtly sounded disappointed, but the subtle nudges and constant reminding of his siblings’ achievements spoke volumes of her wanting him to be like them and every other lion. Why couldn’t she just understand that while he had the potential like every other lion, he just didn’t have the interest? Wasn’t it enough that they were bringing home trophies to show off?
Sebastian let the pressure he felt slip slightly once more before regaining his composure again. “That’s good to hear they’re doing so well…” he said in a cheerful voice. “You don’t need to worry though mom, I’ll make sure I get into a good college, plus all my teachers like me. Getting a recommendation good enough to be accepted won’t be hard to get.”
“True, your teachers always liked you.” His mother said. “But it’s just so rare for a lion not to do cram school. At least, in terms of the ones wanting to make a good life for themselves.” she commented in a veiled implication that a lot of the lions who chose not to were always trouble makers and bad seeds.
“I know mom.” Sebastian replied. “But I do have a career path set and I’m not going to stray from it.”
“And given the way you study and your grades I have no doubt. I can’t wait to hear what prestigious college you become the head over. But you might decide to be something equally important to society.” his mother commented. He never dared once to say he wanted to just teach, he didn’t even care where. All he ever said when what he wanted to be came up was something potentially in education and just smile and nod when his mother would suggest stuff. “By the way, have you found a nice lioness yet?”
“No, not yet mom.” Sebastian replied. He didn’t even dare to think about giving her a hint that he had found someone, knowing full well the questions that ensue about her and wanting to see a picture of or talk to her.
“That’s a shame, I hate to hear that you’re alone on Linked Souls Day. Are you looking?” his mother asked.
“Yes mom, I am.” Sebastian lied. “I’ll find someone, it just takes time for some.”
“But you’re so handsome, are you sure you’re looking or giving good impressions?”
“I am…” Sebastian replied as he held back a sigh.
“Alright. But just know that I have a few friends with very nice daughters, I could always introduce you to.”
Sebastian pinched his brow. “Thanks...but I’m sure I’ll find someone soon.”
“OK, just don’t get so caught up in your studies that you forget.” his mother commented. “Anyway, I need to get going, your father’s going to be taking me out for a romantic date. He says hi by the way.”
“I won’t.” Sebastian said as he composed himself once more. “And that sounds nice, tell him I say hello.”
“Sure. And Sebastian, keep working hard and making us proud.” his mother said before hanging up.
Sebastian let out a sigh as he hung up his phone, putting it back in his pocket. As he did so, Hassan looked at him. “I get the whole familial pressure, it’s not fun. I can only imagine what it’s like with being a lion.”
“She means well…” Sebastian replied.
“Clearly given the expressions you let slip.” Hassan pointed out. “I’m not trying to say your mother’s horrible, but her intentions aren’t exactly selfless.”
“It’s just how it is for us lions.”
“Well if you ask me it’s a bunch of bullshit.” Jax commented.
Hassan just shrugged. “Like Sebastian said, it’s just what it is. All we can do is just not let it get to us and forge our own paths the best we can when it comes to expectations.”
“Anyway, I better start heading out, it’s getting close to time for me to meet up with miss Nazomi.” Sebastian said as he stood up, walking over to get the flowers and gift for Nazomi.
“Sure you don’t need any help?” Hassan asked.
“I’ll be fine.”
Hassan nodded. “Alright.”
“Keep living the dream dude, maybe you’ll get to spend the night with her.” Jax said with a wide grin.
Sebastian just rolled his eyes at Jax before walking out to meet up with Nazomi, not even wanting to respond to the comment. As he headed down to the main floor of the dorm, Sebastian felt a combination of excitement and nervousness. It was his first time celebrating Linked Souls Day with anyone, not that he was ever really bothered about not being able to do so in the past. Sebastian also felt a bit guilty due to the fact that because he was a student and Nazomi a teacher, he couldn’t really do anything publicly with her let alone the fact that she was preparing the meal for them to eat.
Deep down he was a romantic at heart, much maligning the fact that he couldn’t be the one to treat her to a cooked meal. It didn’t really feel right that on Linked Souls Day she was doing most the work. It was just something that he would make sure to do in the future if things got that far with them. Although he still worried about being the potential cause of her losing her job. That, and exactly when and how he was going to introduce her to his parents when he was no longer a student. Hopefully he’d have it figured out when the time came.
Sebastian let out a sigh as he exited the boy’s dorm. Despite all the worries, he still deep down found himself hoping that this would work out. Even with the returning thought of this being just a potential rebellion against his parents and their expectations, he could not deny how he felt about the older feline. Especially with their first date still ever present in his mind. No matter what challenges or obstacles they might face, he was willing to face them, his resolve hardening all the more. Even if it ended up with them having to end things before something bad happened, he’d rather live knowing he tried his best than giving into the fear and not trying to fight for his own happiness.
It didn’t take long for Sebastian to leave the school and get down the hill to where Nazomi said she would be waiting for him, and as he got to their rendezvous spot he stopped. His eyes widened as he felt his heart about to beat out of his chest. Before him stood Nazomi next to her car, dressed in a rather nice satin button down green blouse and black business skirt with a slit on the left side that fit her perfectly. She looked beautiful, so much so that Sebastian felt his cheeks were on fire and his heart was about toleap out of his chest as he blushed, unable to really say anything for a few moments.
“W-wow…” he managed to say as he managed to walk over to Nazomi. “You look...amazing.”
Nazomi smiled a bit. “Thank you, I did try.” she said as she blushed ever so slightly. “I would have worn a dress, but I didn’t want to arouse any real suspicion…”
“It’s fine, there’s not a time I’ve seen you where you didn’t look beautiful.” Sebastian said as he continued to blush, rubbing the back of his head as he did so.
Nazomi blushed more. “You look quite handsome yourself, and just as professional as I do.” she commented. “At least it won’t look too suspicious...I hope.”
“I’m sure it won’t.” Sebastian commented before blinking. “Oh, right, I got you these.” Sebastian added as he handed her the bouquet.
“Awe, thank you love.” Nazomi almost cooed as she took the flowers. “They’re beautiful, I can’t remember the last time I got flowers...Thank you.”
Sebastian smiled as he then handed her a smallish wrapped box. “I also got you this.”
Nazomi blinked as she took the gift, opening it to see it was a bottle of perfume. Taking it out of the box she gave it a sniff. “It smells wonderful, I can’t imagine how much this was…”
“It’s nothing, I saw it one day and thought it’d suit you. So I saved up to make sure I could get you it for today.”
Nazomi smiled, tail flicking as a purr emitted from her throat. “You really are too sweet.” she said as she moved to put the gifts up and then hugged Sebastian. “Again, thanks.” she added as she gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Shall we?”
“Yes.” Sebastian replied, giving Nazomi a nuzzle.
The two got in Nazomi’s car, Sebastian first asking if he should maybe hide out of site like in the trunk only for Nazomi to insist that he sit in the passenger seat. Despite his concerns she said if anyone asked, she was just helping him get to Linked Souls Day meet up. Which, in the most technical sense was not a lie. Sebastian nodded, getting in the passenger seat before Nazomi started her car up and drove.
As They drove through the city to Nazomi’s house something hit Sebastian that he could not believe he didn’t think about even when he had first seen the female cat. “Hey, Mrs. Nazomi?” he asked as he looked at her.
“Yes love?” she asked.
“I just realized...you’re a bit tall for an oriental shorthair. It’s something I should have realized sooner, are you…”
“A mixed species?” Nazomi finished asking for him with a slight smile. “Most don’t really take note until they hit their growth spurts and outgrow me by whatever their heights usually are depending on species. But yes, I am.” she answered. “I’m one third panther on my mother’s side.”
Sebastian blinked, that would explain why she was a bit more ebony in her fur color and why she was taller than the typical shorthair. In fact, her coming up to just under the mid point of his chest hadn’t come off as odd until he thought about it. With some growth still to come, odds are she’d likely be at his gut or just over his waist by the time he finished growing. Not that it was really a problem or he minded, it was just an observation he made.
His eyes glanced over at the scenery as they drove, taking in the buildings and noting that they were sticking to a fairly nice part of town. He then glanced over at Nazomi, taking in how beautiful she looked with a blush, she really was quite something. Sebastian found himself moving his hand closer to hers when they stopped at a red light. Nazomi smiled as she noticed, her hand moving towards his as they held hands for a moment before the light turned green. It did become a thing though with each stop they had to make, both of them enjoying the sign of affection.
It didn’t take too long until they had entered in a rather nice looking neighborhood, about the kind Sebastian assumed Nazomi might live in. It was nice and modest and the house that Nazomi pulled in to was just as nice looking. Thankfully, most of her neighbors were either out celebrating the holiday or doing so in their homes.“Here we are.” Nazomi said warmly.
“It’s a nice looking home.” Sebastian said as the two got out.
“Thanks. It’s really nothing all that special, but it’s nice and cozy and it’s really all I need.” Nazomi replied as she got the gifts Sebastian had gotten before heading to the door with the lion, both their tails flicking and even entwining a bit as they approached it. When they got to the door Nazomi fumbled a bit as she got her keys to unlock it.
“Allow me.” Sebastian offered as he helped her unlock the door, opening it for her.
“Thank you.” Nazomi smiled as she took a quick look around before pecking his cheek. “I’ll put these up while you make yourself at home. I haven’t quite started what I was going to fix, so it will be a bit longer before we eat.”
“You haven’t?” Sebastian inquired. “Then mind if I help? I feel bad that you’re doing a lot of the work and it’s only right that I do everything I can for you today.”
Nazomi smiled as she looked at him. “You’re such a kind, sweet, animal Sebastian. I don’t mind, really.”
“I insist.”
Nazomi chuckled slightly. “You really are a gentleman aren’t you?” she mused.
Sebastian blushed a bit as he rubbed the back of his head. “I just...I want to do whatever I can. You’re a wonderful woman and a great teacher. And, well, I want to take any and every opportunity I can get to treat you right because you deserve it.” the lion said as he blushed some more, conviction clear to see in his eyes.
Nazomi couldn’t help but blush, his words having touched her more than anything in her past relationships. “Alright, how about this? If you want to help me then let’s make it a thing and finish cooking it together?” she offered with a smile.
“I’d like that.” Sebastian agreed with his own smile.
“Alright, just give me a moment.”
Sebastian nodded as Nazomi went to go put up the gifts that Sebastian jad gotten her. As she headed off, Sebastian found his eyes wandering over her form, taking in her figure that was shown off by her attire as well as lower, noting her slightly swaying hips and…tail. Sebastian cursed himself as he moved his eyes to something else. Sure he was still a teenager, a boy, but he prided himself in being better than most. Sure he had his...moments, as Jax so brazenly pointed out. But the last thing he wanted was to be that inappropriate towards Nazomi, even if he did, at times, allow some indulgences here and there.
When Nazomi got back she smiled. “Alright, ready?”
Sebastian nodded. “Yes.”
“OK, should be done in half the time with both of us working on it.”
Nazomi lead Sebastian to the kitchen to show him that she was preparing, a fruit lasagna with the usual accompaniments. After Sebastian looked over the recipe she was using, one from the cooking show Happy Happy Cooking that was toted to be one of their more popular ones among carnivores. he set to work helping her, working side by side as they prepared the fruit, making sure that everything was layered properly. Like in the car, ever now and then Nazomi and Sebastian would briefly hold hands as they prepared the meal, satisfying their feline proclivity for touch contact. It wasn’t too long before they had the lasagna in the oven and the accompanying bread.
“Alright, shouldn’t be too long for it to fully cook, thanks for the help.” Nazomi said as she nuzzled Sebastian, giving him an affectionate hug as well. “In the meantime, we can go over some of my old notes and other things while we wait to help you out with your career path if you like.”
“Sure.” Sebastian smiled as he nuzzled and hugged her back, the two staying like that for a good minute.
“I’ll go get them then.” Nazomi said as she finally and somewhat hesitantly separated to go get her old college notes and study material, returning shortly after with them.
While the food cooked Nazomi went over various things she had to study and learn with Sebastian, covering things they hadn’t gone over from prior times and quizzing him on material they had. To Sebastian, this was like cram school in a sense, getting ready for what he’d need to know to excel in college, only with a more...personal and romantic one on one touch. While he never had issue with paying attention to any of his teachers, Sebastian always hung on every word Nazomi said. To him, her voice was just as beautiful as everything else about her. And just like all the times before, they shared affections with each other.
It seemed like no time at all when the food was done, the two of them chalking it up to them just enjoying each other’s company so much. As Nazomi got the lasagna and bread Sebastian set the table before helping her prepare their plates. As he finished helping her he noticed her take out some wine glasses and a bottle of wine and pouring some of the red liquid in each, although one was more of a sample serving compared to the other, before putting it up and placing them on the table.
“Wine?” Sebastian inquired.
“Just to help things feel a bit more normal.” Nazomi explained. “You don’t have to even drink it. But I was your age once, Rex it only feels like yesterday, and even back then sampling wine wasn’t wrong. That first date we had where you encouraged me to not deny myself any wine, where we acted like a teacher and student just having a meet up to discuss things, stayed on my mind for a while. It wasn’t right that there was some inequality, a full romantic atmosphere. So, I figured sense we’re in private I’d have us on an even level or give the feeling of it. But as I said, you don’t have to drink it.” she said before sitting down.
Sebastian blushed, smiling as he sat down. “Thank you, love.” he said with a fair bit of warmth in hid voice.
It never ceased to surprise the other that both worried about the other’s feelings and the challenges they had to face with their secretive relationship. Something that mad each grow more attached to the other was when a few days after their first date Nazomi had confessed to Sebastian that she was far more hesitant and worried than she let on. Revealing she had been hiding the anxiety of them being a thing and was actually on the verge of suggesting they just call the attempt off out of fear as well as the revelation of his uncle. But she had decided to go through with it because of how truly genuine and good a man he was among other things that made her want to try. Sebastian himself had also confided in her his own concerns and worries about it and her, which made her just feel all the stronger for him over time.
“By the way, how has your day been so far?” Sebastian asked as he began to eat, taking a bite of the lasagna. “Oh, this is delicious.”
“It is.” Nazomi agreed as she took a bite of it. “It’s all thanks to you though, doubt it would have been as good without a little help.” she said with a smile. “As for my day, it’s gone well so far, just the usual grading of papers and preparing for the coming weeks’ lessons. Same old, same old, really. So far the rest of the students I have are nice and do there best. Despite what issues some might cause outside of the classroom I don’t really have to deal with any troublemakers really. Maybe a few slackers or an unmotivated student, but that’s about it.”
“Well you’re a great teacher, I find it hard to believe that any pf my peers would want to cause any trouble in your class. Not only that, but you’re very nice and helpful too.” Sebastian commented.
A smile formed on Nazomi’s mouth as her ebony fur darkened. “Thank you, you’re always so sweet Sebastian.” she said as she purred a bit. “Honestly, I think you’re one of the best students at the school, you work hard and are always so polite. I know you’ll go far with being a teacher.”
Sebastian blushed heavily. “Thank you…” he said with a half smile. “Though I will admit, keeping it up can be a bit— stressful. Comes with being a lion, expectations and familial pressure.” he admitted
Nazomi blinked as she looked at him. “Is it that hard?”
“It’s, well…”
Nazomi moved her hand to rest on top of his. “You can tell me if this is something negatively effecting you Sebastian.”
The lion sighed a bit. “It is hard. Being a lion you’re seen as the king of beasts, someone who’ll go far and have high positioned jobs or in some form of leadership. That image both helps and hurts us, becoming a driving factor of pushing ourselves as much as possible to keep to a standard. It’s something that permeates every lion family, the mothers and fathers pushing their kids to do something worthy of being a lion. Cram school is seen as an expected and normal thing to do and those who don’t do it are mostly looked down on as they are often those that end up in gangs or didn’t try hard enough.”
Nazomi’s hand gripped his, squeezing gently. “Is your family pressuring you?”
“Not...entirely. My mother often brings up what my older brother and my sister are doing and keeps suggesting I try to do the same. She doesn’t seem disappointed, but there’s just something about her voice…” Sebastian admitted. “She is happy that I’m doing well, but I know she expects more. She thinks I’m planning to go into an education position that’s high up, or at a prestigious university when I don’t care where I teach so long as I do some good.”
Nazomi squeezed his hand again, feeling bad for the lion. “That’s not all that good Sebastian, have you thought about bringing it up to a councilor?”
Sebastian shrugged. “Somewhat. But as I said, this permeates lions as a whole, it’s far too ingrained to really be dealt with. Thankfully my situation isn’t too bad, it cab be far worse. Plus, I like learning so it’s not that big of a deal. I also have my friends and, well, you.” he smiled.
Nazomi blushed heavily. “I see…”
“I hope I didn’t make things awkward or anything…”
“No, no! You’re fine Sebastian.” Nazomi assured. “It’s good you have a support system and you don’t really let it get to you, you’re very strong for that. Will you tell your mother you’ll try to teach anywhere?”
“Eventually, yes, when I’m nearing the end of my higher education and am about to apply to various places.” Sebastian answered. “Just like how I’ll tell her about us when I’m a bit into my freshman year at college or before I get into college if we get that far, which I hope we do and keep doing. You are an amazing woman and to be honest, to me you are far more exceptional than any other.”
Nazomi blinked, her fur becoming more dark red than ebony black as her heart melted. He was the kindest, most genuine soul she had ever met and continued to prove he was mature beyond his years. “I— thank you Sebastian.” she said with a soft purr, falling a fair bit more for the lion.
From there the two continued to talk as they ate, taking their time and enjoying each other’s company as they swapped stories about their childhood. Nazomi found herself surprised as she learned that even as a young kid Sebastian was well mannered and somewhat bookish. She felt comfortable around him, able to share with him more embarrassing things like the time she was so nervous to do a presentation in high school that she messed up a word or two or when she practically face planted when she was looking at a crush. It just felt right and natural to be so open with him.
When they had finished eating, Sebastian even having drank the small bit of wine, he and Nazomi cleared the table. Sebastian even helped her with the dishes before they went back to going over some more of Nazomi’s old papers and work to help prepare him. It seemed like no time once more as they noticed the sun was start to set.
“Is it really that late already?” Nazomi asked as she looked at her clock, taking note of the time.
“Looks like it.” Sebastian commented.
“My how time flies, it seems to go so slow until well…” she blushed. “I’m around you.”
Sebastian blushed heavily. “Yeah…”
“Thank you for the lovely time, as well as the gifts and helping out, not many guys are as considerate as you.” Nazomi commented.
“Well, you’re worth any effort…” the lion blushed.
Nazomi smiled, blushing as well. How could this lion keep finding ways to make her heart feel like it was a puddle? She hadn’t really met many guys with the ability to do that over the years, more so not in recent years. It had gotten to the point where she just really stopped looking. But then Sebastian came around and made her feel things she hadn’t felt in a long time. His gentlemanly studious nature and willingness to be so considerate, among other things, just had her more enamored with each time they were together. The fact that he was willing to take things so slow, deny himself the most basic of typical teenage experiences that most his age were having just made him seem too good to be true. And yet, there he was proving to be just that good.
Then there was the fact that while she did do a fare share for the holiday he had not only helped out, but went out of his way to get her flowers and a rather nice gift, not expecting anything special in return and just wanting to treat her right. As the lion got up from where they had been sitting she stood. “Sebastian, before I take you back to Cherryton...I think you deserve another kiss.”
Sebastian blinked as he blushed. “I don’t want you to feel obligated to…”
“No, I want to.” Nazomi admitted with a smile. “The only true thing that’s tricky with our relationship is that you’re a student and I’m a teacher. You’ve proven time and again just how good a man you are and that you are someone I...have looked for.” she blushed. “So I don’t see us kissing, at least in private and while off school grounds as being an issue. I know you’d never take advantage of me and I want to reward you for such, and for treating me to one of the best times I’ve had in a while.”
Sebastian’s tail started to flick happily as he smiled. “Alright.”
The two approached each other, embracing as they leaned in to share a kiss. Just like with their first, it was utterly electrifying for Sebastian. The feel of Nazomi’s lips unlike anything he felt before as his heart beat out of his chest as he started to purr. Sebastian enjoyed every second that the kiss lasted, his hands starting to subconsciously roam along her back a bit, though he would catch and restrain himself before they went too low.
Nazomi for her part pressed a bit firmer than last time, what with it being a holiday for love. As they kissed she noticed that Sebastian’s hands roaming along her back, taking in her form and the feel of her body and causing her to purr a fair bit. She smiled as she noticed he restrained himself from doing anything inappropriate, knowing her trust in him would never be misplaced. Although she promised to herself one day when he was no longer a student, she’d allow him to no longer restrain himself.
As she finally broke the kiss Nazomi smiled. “That was a wonderful kiss, possibly better than the first.” she giggled.
“Y-yeah…” Sebastian agreed, his cheeks a dark red.
“Thank you for being such a gentleman and not taking advantage.” Nazomi commented as they stayed embraced.
“I’d never.”
“I know love.” she smiled. “And that is why I will make you this promise. If we manage to make it to when you are out of school, then you have permission to not restrain yourself anymore as we’ll be in the clear. Not that you’d need my permission at that point” Nazomi giggled. “Anyway, we best get going before it gets too dark.”
Sebastian’s blush deepened all the more. “Yeah…”
The two headed back out to Nazomi’s car, first checking for anyone that might notice before getting in and driving off. The ride back went much like the first, the two briefly holding hands here and there as they made their way through the city. It was something that both Sebastian and Nazomi seemed almost unable to resist doing. Hell, when they had walked back to Nazomi’s car their tails entwined again.
When they got back to the bottom of the hill that Cherryton rested on the moon had not been fully risen for too long. “Thanks again for the lovely Linked Souls Day, I haven’t really celebrated it in so long.” Nazomi said as she parked the car.
“No problem, hopefully our next date can be somewhat soon.” Sebastian replied with a smile. “I hope the rest of your weekend goes well.”
“Thank you Sebastian, you too, I’ll see you Monday.” Nazomi smiled.
Sebastian was about to get out when he stopped. “Nazomi?”
“Yes?”
“Mind if we...have one more kiss?” Sebastian asked as he blushed.
Nazomi smiled as a giggle escaped her lips. “I suppose not, it’s only right to have a goodnight kiss after a date.”
The two leaned in close, sharing in one more kiss as they rested a paw on the back of each other’s head, purring loudly as they did so. When the kiss broke a few moments later Sebastian smiled. “Good night.”
“Good night love.”
Sebastian got out of the car, walking back up the hill as Nazomi turned her car around and left. The lion smiled as his heart continued to race, he was as happy as he had ever felt and was all the happier that Nazomi felt the same way as he did. While it was true their relationship had a strong possibility of stopping if they were ever in great enough danger of being found out, it seemed that she was daring for it to work as much as he was. Whether it did or not, only the future knew.

This subreddit allowed me to plan our wedding. I am so grateful and found these breakdowns especially useful, and now a cathartic experience for me and hopefully a way to give back!
Photos
First step that helped us the most was deciding as a team early on what we wanted our wedding to bring to us and our future.
We were inspired early on by This Post and the comments.
We have both been through a lot of life and have a lot of gratitude for the people that have gotten us to this point and wanted to make space to celebrate with all of them in a big way. This inspired the rest of our wedding planning, committing us to a big guest list, requiring a big venue. We invited 304 people (154 households), 179 RSVP’d yes, and had ~10 no-show. Our family and friends live all over the country and some abroad, so we decided to pick a location close to us, but that had multiple houses on site to host our family/bridal party for the weekend (thurs-sunday; saturday wedding) so that we could have more time with those people closest to us.
Total: $69,407 (MCOL area)
Venue: $28,250 “Weekend Package”

• Indoor and outdoor space for ceremony/reception
• Lodging for ~60 people w/Lake access
• Rehearsal dinner space (same as wedding reception)
• Weekend coordinators
• Tables/chairs/arbor
• Additional costs - $1500: rehearsal dinner speakers/mic, bars, extra chairs/tables, late checkout, event insurance

Additional Lodging: $3965

• 2 additional houses near venue (lodging for 15 people)
• Because we were about 30min from the nearest city, we decided it was important to us to be able to have close family nearby, and rented out these houses as a gift for close family and friends. We debated a few different ways to have people rent the rooms back from us, but in the end felt like covering lodging cost was the better option.

Paper: $845

• Postcard STD ($60), Invites w/vellum paper + details/rsvp insert + personalized sticker ($298), Thank you cards ($25), Seating Chart ($20 - GotPrint, 24”x30” foam board, used coupon), Table Numbers ($35 - printed on shutterfly sale 5x7), Programs w/menu ($200), Postage ($207 - estimating on thank you cards, saved money with postcard stamps).
• I designed everything on Canva (free), and printed almost everything above through canva as well with a few exceptions. They were excellent. I had fun making my own wedding “suite” that suited our personalities and could be used from the invites to the table numbers.
• Program was a booklet that was made using x2 8x11 sheets printed as “letterhead” folded to have a welcome page, ceremony structure, wedding party, community vow, wedding day timeline, our love story timeline, the menu, and a thank you back page with a map I designed using SnazzyMaps with pins from every state/country people traveled from
• We did online RSVP through WithJoy and it was great. We also used GoogleForms early in the planning process to collect addresses that autopopulated into an excel spreadsheet.

Decor: $992

• Linens** ($360 - bought, (40 round, 10 rectangle) split cost as sharing with a friend. The cost to rent and have the linens transported to the venue would’ve been $2000. This was one of the toughest parts of the DIY wedding - happy to post more info if other people are also trying to do this.)
• Sign holders ($80 - 5x7 off amazon for 48 total), bud vases ($22 - most vases were borrowed from friends/family), Guest “book” ($180- we bought 4 nice photo frames with mattes and took the mattes out and had people sign them - came out beautifully), Bathroom baskets ($189), Glowsticks/Foam party sticks ($63), Sparklers ($97 - last minute add and I’m glad we did. It was special to have a “closing ceremony” of sorts - even though we all went back to the house at the venue for an after party)
• Photo backdrop and neon “good vibes only” sign - gifted

Florals: $2322

• Flower Moxie “Wildflower Package” with additional add ins ($2260) - these flowers were amazing. (photo of my bouquet in a vase - I’d had the flowers for 1 week!) We got buckets from Trader Joes for free. We had pruning shears and gloves on hand. We have a family member that has done florals for a few weddings and works at a plant shop. She gave us the amazing gift of doing our bouquets and bringing in potted flowers and ferns as well. She also designed a faux flower arbor accent for us based on our flowers. This work was incredible. Happy to answer more DIY flower questions.
• Grandparent charms ($102): both sets of my grandparents passed away. I had these designed from etsy with 3 charms including their wedding photo, kiss photo, and cake cutting photo. Absolutely worth it. Planning to re-purpose as a christmas tree ornament heirloom.

Food: $8133

• Wedding catered for 174 people, Chickfila for wedding day lunch (~70 people), PapaJohn’s Thursday night of wedding weekend
• Catering was buffet and “Heavy Hors d'oeuvres” style with a mac n’cheese bar and we heard only good things from everyone
• Included cake cutting service, coffee/tea/watelemonade, and sodas/mixers/ice for the bar
• Bride mom paid for costco snacks/sandwiches for the weekend
• Groom family paid for catered rehearsal dinner
• Bride mom mom paid for wedding cake ($75) also from costco which was amazing - we did 3 sheet cakes and 1 round cake for cutting. We had 1 entire sheet cake leftover.

Alcohol: $3752

• BeeWine for wedding and rehearsal dinner ($1557); wedding day bartenders x3 for 5.5hrs ($1950), personalized koozies ($245)
• Groom’s family had a contact and bought all the liquor for the rehearsal dinnewedding
• Our venue allowed BYOB, and some of this cost includes extra alcohol for the wedding weekend, though we also had friends BYOB
• Beer from Sam’s Club and Total Wine ($727) - mix of Miller, Coors, Ultra, Founder’s IPA, Stella (this is the only alcohol that ran out)
• Wine from Trader Joes ($830)- you can talk with someone about ordering cases in advance and it took about 5 days to arrive. We did not do a champagne toast, but I got 10 bottles of trader joe’s prosecco to have at the bridal party house for the weekend. We got 2 cases of red, 6 cases of white, 2 cases of rose and had between 6-12 bottles of each type of wine leftover. I only bought wine that we like, so plan to drink it in the coming months and did not ask about their return policy.

DJ: $1925

• Included ceremony speakers/2 mics, had a fun video display that rotated out photos of people dancing, and including lighting

Photography/Videography: $9839

• Photo ($4839) 10 hours day of wedding and an engagement session.
• Video ($5000) 9 hours day of and includes a short video plus we paid extra to have all the raw footage
• These were some of our biggest hype people! It was definitely a price point early in the planning process where we had sticker shock, but we are very happy with the decisions we made here. These memories are priceless and the day really does fly by. They made us feel so at ease and so comfortable just being ourselves and coordinating chaotic big families and making the day all about us being in love and celebrating our love.

Clothing: $3930

• Groom suit ($462 - mens warehouse custom, “lifetime” alterations - was a mess. Dropped it off 6 weeks before the wedding, they didn’t call and tell us it was ready, called them the week before the wedding and they said it was ready, the pants were not even hemmed and incorrect alterations had been done. We bought a “back-up” sale suit from J Crew that night for ~$300 and that’s what my husband ended up wearing- no alterations but fit and looked better than the men’s warehouse. Hopefully we get other uses out of both suits).
• Groom shoes, tie, belt, suit shirt ($180)
• Bride Dress ($2299- Stella York- included steaming, storage, preservation), alterations ($410- 7 point bustle, hemmed, shoulders shortened, felt added to shoulder straps, button loops added - was just a zipper, back taken in slightly).
• Bride Shoes ($99 - custom converse, wore several times again already!), Bra ($50- boomba, worked great!), accessories ($130), Veil $20 on amazon and perfect.
• Last minute also added in a new rehearsal dinner dress and short party dress that can be worn for other occasions. I loved my wedding dress and really wanted to wear it all night but about 30min into dancing I wasn’t able to party as much as I wanted to and was glad I had the party dress to swap into!

Other: $3349

• Wedding bands from Brilliant Earth: Groom ($1285- platinum), Bride ($1069- white gold)
• HMUA $125 for haimakeup/lashes- (was also $125 for the trial - glad I did it!)- there was also a travel fee as we had it done at the venue that I paid.
• Marriage License $85, Notary $60
• Officiant $300
• Groomsman Gift ($300)
• Bridesmaid Gift ($0- family friend quilted large tote bags for everyone)
• Bridesmaid/Groomsmen Attire ($0 for us - we had large bridal parties so did not cover this cost. Bridesmaid’s ordered their preference of Azazie dress - decided on bermuda blue to contrast the wildflowers- and groomsmen rented from Men’s Warehouse).

Tips: $770

• We tipped our day of coordinator $100, DJ $100 (owns the business, but did great!), HMUA 20% ($300 - I paid the entire tip cost for my bridal party but they paid for the HMU cost).
• Photo/Video own their businesses so did not tip- (leaving reviews!)
• Asked catering about tipping and they said they pay all staff a fair wage and it is not expected and gave a range of what people sometimes do tip. We ended up tipping the 9 staff/bartenders $30 each.

Our wedding was amazing for us. It felt like an event that truly encapsulated who we are as individuals and as a couple, and that chance to celebrate with so many people we love was priceless. It felt like all the spreadsheets we’d worked on for the last 2 years turned into reality. This is the main master spreadsheet I used:
Google Spreadsheet Wedding Planning
It’s created from all sorts of different helpful spreadsheets I found here and from other wedding websites. The “Checklist” really doesn’t start until I realized how easy it is to get lost in needing to capture so many personal little details that would keep me up at night feeling like they were slipping through the cracks. But if you’re starting from the beginning, you will need to include the big ticket “check boxes” that are in the budget portion. Hopefully it can help some others! Happy planning Weddit!

GREAT GIGANTIC PREMISE This timeline is half fanmade and I want to know your opinion.
1) In the various dialogues throughout the series we learn that Thawn and Barry have faced each other several times during Thawne's personal timeline and before the night of March 18, 2000. The CW has decided to always use Tom Cavanagh to play the Reverse Flash in the subsequent appearances and, therefore, made it post season 1. This does not suit me and therefore I took the slightest crack of the story to create another justification.
2) This timeline will take into account the one and only fact that an original timeline does not exist and has never existed
TIMELINE
Distant Future Eodbard Thawne is born.
Throughout his life he grows to idolize the hero Flash.
During his university years he learned a lot about the age of heroes and decided he wanted to become one too.
In the search he came into the possession of the artificial intelligence Gideon and eventually managed to replicate the formula that had allowed the Flash to obtain the powers through the BLOC.
Finally obtained the coveted powers, he began to test them and go further and further, until he traveled through time. As soon as he arrived in the past, in an era unknown to him (2021), he immediately tried to go back in order to study this new skill. Using his speed to use the Whormole, he accidentally creates a version of himself (a time remnant) that gets stuck in 2021 with no memory.
ET Original Eodbard Thawne, now able to return to his present, begins to study this new ability. Being bound to the remnant stuck in the past, he occasionally had visions of his other life.
After spending a long period of his life studying many of his skills, giving up his life, he is finally ready to introduce himself to the world.
Just before he announced himself, however, the scarlet speedster arrived and unwittingly stole Eodbard's attention. After he saved the day, the crowd started cheering him on.
Disappointed and discouraged, he decided to follow him to meet him officially. The Flash, however, avoided the fight and brought Thawne face to face with Superman. He managed to escape because he was faster than the Kryptonian.
Totally confused by the latest events, the visions attack him again. This time they are fatal, as Eodbard discovers that he will become the Flash's greatest enemy.
At this point the negative Speedforce tries to take advantage of him, but he tries to resist them by exploiting their power anyway.
Using Gideon, he decides to travel back in time and discover the Flash's period of activity
2x11
ET Time Remnant 1
8x17 - 8x18 - 8x19 - 8x20
ET Original After returning to his own time, he realizes that the Flash is getting faster than he is, which is why he was able to return. Realizing this, she figured out a plan to defeat him... Kill him as a child. Having no idea, however, who was hiding under the mask, he began to investigate.
During one of these searches his Time Remnant died and he took all his memories. Thanks to this he understood the identity of his enemy... Barry Allen. In addition to this, he had memories of his life with Mina and of Barry's phrase associating Iris with his lightning rod.
Given this knowledge, he put his plan into action...
9x10
...kill his enemy as a child. He could not make it. He was willing to do anything to get what he wanted, but he wasn't deranged, the negative Speedforce hadn't managed to fully corrupt him yet. So Eodbard planned more. Stealing the life that Barry was supposed to have...
8x03 - 8x04 - 8x05 - 8x17 - 8x18 - 8x19
The negative Speedforce killed him and brought him back to life on another Earth. He finally decided to fully embrace the negative forces. The Flash had once again prevented him from living the life he deserved, and imprisoned him for almost a year. And even more important was that the entire web of continued unhappiness is connected to the existence of the Speedforce and its negative counterpart. Existence that was enabled by Barry Allen. From that day on, Eodbard became aware of this and blamed the Flash for turning his entire life upside down and sending him to hell.
After reverting to Wells' appearance, he joined the Nazi forces as he knew they would be his key to returning to Earth - 1
S3x08 - A6x08 - F4x08 - LoT3x08
After yet another defeat and, by now, totally corrupted, he finally gathered the courage to do what he always wanted to do... Kill the young Flash.
9x10 before Nora Murder - 2x02 - 3x01
ET Time Remnant 2 After escaping his nemesis' house, like the previous time, he began to have visions of the life he was meant to live. All this while discovering that he was being chased by a strange creature with incredible speed.
ET Original
Season 1 to 1x21
Knowing he could die at any moment (revealed by Barry in 2015), he created a time remnant as a precaution
1x22 - 1x23
ET Time Remnant 3 Plan B was to bribe Barry Allen's future daughter, so he crossed the Whormole and headed to the future, where he got himself arrested
Season 5
ET Time Remnant 2 One of the visions made everything clearer, his ancestor shot himself and the negative Speedforce didn't allow them to stay alive anymore. No longer relying on the negative speed force's grand plan, he decided to create another plan to alter his fate.
LoT Season2
ET Original
6x14 - 6x15
After Flash's request for a helping hand, the Speedforce momentarily brought Eodbard back to life for this one purpose only
7x18 - 8x20 - 9x13 - 8x20
After the negative Speedforce overwhelmed him, he and his time-remnants reunited into one Eodbard Thawne. A single being who was re-educated by the ghosts of time and deprived of his speed.
The job for him was to secure all the fixed points in time and his most recent job was to preserve the bombing of Sarajevo.
LoT 7x10 - 7x11

Note: I wasn't sure what tag to use so I think vent/rant is the best fit.
It had building up for...I don't know...days, months, years, decades perhaps.
It really started coming to the surface over last weekend. I started reading Stephanie Foo's book, What My Bones Know. I felt heartbroken reading about the abuse she suffered. I also know she experiences a happy ending. I then thought about my ex-fiancee. We mutually split a few years ago. She has moved on...started seeing a man a few months after she moved out. They are living together. I overheard my neighbor talking to another neighbor. She and her boyfriend got engaged last fall and she will be selling her house and moving in with him. Of course, she has to get her first marriage annuled before they can get married. I started comparing myself to them (which is always a bad idea), thinking about how they were able to move on, to start over...and I feel like I am stuck...still a teenager. The teenager who became withdrawn because that's what he did to survive all the drama...the trauma when his father walked out.
Over the weekend, I also invited that isolationist part to share whatever he wants with me. I learned about IFS through my therapist (who is great, by the way. I'm lucky to have found her.) and I will use writing as a way to let my parts communicate as it seems to work best. All kinds of hurt, anger, distrust, all kinds of stuff was written on paper both Saturday and Sunday. I met with my T on Tuesday. We talked a lot about what I wrote, what feelings it brought up. At one point, I was talking about whatever I said and it was good stuff about I'm learning...and then I shit on myself. My inner critic came up and ripped into me...I didn't realize I was doing it until she told me what I said. She then said, "I heard your mother's voice, not yours." It's not the first time I've been told that. I don't want to be like my mother....the source of that codependcy, the enmeshment, the feeling of "you don't matter". Memories going back to when I was around 4 years old have been strong for the past several months. That inner child part who didn't get any nurturing when he woke up with that terrible headache. He was just harshly told to go back to bed, fearing that his mother was going to hit him. Being ignored the following morning.
Yesterday...I felt that inner 4-year old child coming up during the afternoon while I was at work. I wrote down whatever came in my mind on a piece of paper...loss, sadness, broken, grief, abandonment, damn this hell I feel I'm in, will I find healing, what the hell is true romantic love anyway, family - what is that, loneliness, the name of my 1st girlfriend back in 4th grade. After work, I went to the gym...talked to one my friends there about it (bless her)...got about 3/4 of my workout routine done then went home...I just couldn't make myself finish it. Did my usual chores...then sat outside...feeling whatever was coming. I named out loud the sounds I heard - the birds, the traffic, people talking nearby. What did I see - birds, the iris blooming deep purple blossoms, the oak tree, my cat wandering around in the backyard (it's fenced in). Trying to use the coping skills I have learned. Then I couldn't take it any longer and went inside...immediately lay down on the living room floor and the flood came. I cried...hard...tears all over my face, snot running out of my nose...I went through several tissues. It lasted for 15, maybe 20 minutes then I was finally able to get myself to the couch...my best friend texted me all through it (I had texted her when I was outside) to check in on me. I replied when I could. I was spent emotionally and felt like I just ran a marathon. My heart hurt.
I emailed my therapist (been seeing her for about 7 months now) that evening and she replied back this morning with words of encouragement. She is really awesome. I went to work today as I felt it would be worse to isolate myself at home and I survived the day.
I fucking cried yesterday, for real, for the first time in I don't know how long. There is more in me...I feel it. I know there is anger somewhere it there, too. And whatever else hasn't come up yet. I'm still so raw. Why couldn't I have been diagnosed with this sort of thing when I was 30...other than the fact that was over 20 years ago. I wasn't...I was diagnosed with CPTSD last summer after my first flashback hit me. I read a quote a while back...something like "the best way around is through" and that's what I have to do to heal from all of this. To have a chance to stop hating myself, for wanting to fix other people, to stop people-pleasing, to not want to walk in front of a moving train (which I wouldn't actually do).
If you read all the way to the end, I thank you. This shit sucks, doesn't it?

‘The Little Mermaid’ is finally here. Find out how to watch Disney's latest live-action adaptation animated film The Little Mermaid online for free.
Watch Now: The Little Mermaid 2023 Movie Online Free
Link: https://actionfilx.com/en/movie/447277/the-little-mermaid
Animated Film! Here are options for downloading or watching The Little Mermaid streaming the full movie online for free on 123movies & Reddit, including where to watch Disney's latest live-action adaptation movies at home. Is The Little Mermaid 2023 available to stream? Is watching The Little Mermaid on Peacock, Disney Plus, HBO Max, Netflix or Amazon Prime? Yes, we have found an authentic streaming option/service.
The new live-action 'The Little Mermaid' movie stars Halle Bailey and Melissa McCarthy. Make sure to keep on reading to learn where you can watch and stream it.
Folks, it's time to dive under the sea once again. Over the last few years, Disney has recreated their top animated musical films into live-action movies. The Little Mermaid is no different, and viewers can't wait to swim into theaters to catch a glimpse of how the movie will stand up against the original version.
Walt Disney Studios has established a remarkable trend of making live-action remakes of its classic stories. One after the other, all the fairytales of the past era are being brought to life by the studio in an attempt to tell the magical stories in a new light of living characters. With the live-action Peter Pan & Wendy due out in April, Disney will continue their string of live-action remakes a month later with The Little Mermaid.
Get ready to go "under the sea!" The latest of Disney's hugely successful line of live-action remakes, Ariel (Halle Bailey) is set to return to theaters for the first time in almost thirty-five years with The Little Mermaid (2023). The Walt Disney Company once again invites audiences to travel under the sea to see Princess Ariel's story unfold like never before. Featuring direction from veteran musical filmmaker Rob Marshall and other roles inhabited by major Hollywood stars like Melissa McCarthy as Ursula the Sea Witch and Javier Bardem as King Triton, the film is bound to be a bona fide hit at the box office.
Though the upcoming and highly anticipated film will have stiff competition against two stand-up comedians on the weekend it releases, The Little Mermaid is destined to show that life is better down where it's wetter under the sea this Summer movie season. To find showtimes and streaming information on Disney's latest big-budget reimagining of an animated classic, here is where you can watch The Little Mermaid.
Actress Halle Bailey as Ariel, the iconic mermaid princess who longs to be part of the the mysteriously world housed above the ocean floor. When she saves the handsome Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) from a shipwreck, she makes a deal with the sea witch Ursula (Melissa McCarthy) in order to gain human legs and go on land to impress him. But there's one catch to the transaction: Ariel must trade her voice in order for her to try and see the things she's after. But as fans of the original 1989 film know, this comes with a series of consequences that threaten both her existence and the lives of those she loves.
Before we ask if you're interested in seeing this, we know you are. But like us, you're probably wondering how to watch and stream The Little Mermaid online. Luckily, we have some clues and it's likely to land on a major streaming site very soon. So climb aboard, because here's where to watch and stream The Little Mermaid online.
What Is the Release Date for The Little Mermaid?
Ariel's quest to go from a mermaid into a human begins anew when The Little Mermaid premieres this Memorial Day Weekend on Friday, May 26th, 2023. The film will be going up against not one, but two stand-up comedians and their films that weekend, with Sebastian Maniscalco's About My Father and Bert Kreischer's The Machine premiering on the same day. That said, The Little Mermaid will almost certainly be the choice for younger audiences and families.
While some Disney films are heading straight to Disney+, The Little Mermaid will first be shown exclusively in theaters.
Where To Watch The Little Mermaid Online:
As of now, the only way to watch Fast X is to head out to a movie theater when it premieres on May 26, 2023. You can find a local showing on Fandango.
Watch Now: The Little Mermaid (2023) Movie Online Free
Otherwise, you’ll just have to wait for it to become available to rent or purchase on digital platforms like Amazon, Vudu, YouTube or Apple, or become available to stream on Disney+.
How to Watch The Little Mermaid
At the moment, you can watch The Little Mermaid at your local theater. But like most movies these days, it should hit a streaming website in the near future.
Like its predecessor, The Little Mermaid is a flick produced by multimedia conglomerate Disney. What's more, the production studio owns a number of other famous franchises, like the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars. Titles made under these umbrellas have both hit Disney+ sometime after arriving at the box office. Fans may also know the original Little Mermaid is currently available to stream on the site as well. So, if the 2023 version follows the same pattern, folks will likely get to see The Little Mermaid on Disney+ later this year too.
As for an exact release date for The Little Mermaid, that's more complicated. Most movies produced by Disney often go to its streamer site within three months after debuting in theaters, like the most recent Marvel film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. If this is the case for The Little Mermaid, it will probably drop in late August 2023 or sometime near Labor Day in early September.
When the time comes for The Little Mermaid to splash onto Disney+ though, make sure you're all prepared to watch it. If you don't have access yet, you can opt into a 30-day free trial before choosing a plan that start at $7.99 per month or $79.99 per year. After your account is all set, click on the title page on Disney+'s official website or the Disney+ app.
As you wait for The Little Mermaid to hit the streamer, why don't you watch the animated version and its sequel The Little Mermaid 2: Return to the Sea? Or if you want to immerse yourself in another live-action version, click on the 2019 ABC TV special The Little Mermaid Live!. Enjoy!
Will The Little Mermaid Be in Theaters or on Streaming?
Unlike several of Disney's other live-action remakes such as Pinocchio and Peter Pan & Wendy, The Little Mermaid will be exclusively in movie theaters first with tickets available for pre-sale now.
After The Little Mermaid has completed its exclusive theatrical run, the film will be released on the Disney+ streaming service. Based on Disney's past release models, the film won't be made available to stream before 45 to 90 days after its theatrical release.
When will The Little Mermaid be streaming on Disney+?
The Little Mermaid Disney+ premiere date is tentatively estimated to be August 30, 2023.
While no official Little Mermaid streaming date has been confirmed by Disney, most of its major movie releases drop on Disney+ following a minimum 90-day period, and typically premiere on the platform on Wednesdays, making Wednesday, August 30 the most likely date for Disney’s The Little Mermaid live-action streaming release.
Will The Little Mermaid Be Streaming On Disney+?
The 2023 version of The Little Mermaid will only be in theaters initially. After The Little Mermaid has completed its exclusive theatrical run, it is likely to stream on Disney Plus. You can also watch the animated version of Hans Christian Andersen's 1837 fairy tale of Ariel on Disney Plus now.
While you will only be able to catch the new "The Little Mermaid" in theaters starting next Friday, you can still sign up for Disney+ now to refresh yourself on the characters, song, plot and magical fun from the highly anticipated film. The 1989 version of the movie was a catalyst for Disney's animation renaissance throughout the '90s and it still holds up today.
An ad-supported Disney+ subscription starts at $8 per month, but you can get an ad-free access to the service for $11 monthly or bundle the Disney streaming service with Hulu and ESPN+ starting at $13 per month. Disney+ boasts a huge collection of movies and television series, including Marvel and Star Wars content. If you add in Hulu and ESPN, you have nearly unlimited entertainment at your fingertips.
Is The Little Mermaid streaming on Netflix?
No, The Little Mermaid will not be on Netflix — at least not any time soon. In the meantime, you’ll just have to head out to a movie theater or wait for it to become available to stream on Disney+.
Will The Little Mermaid Be On HBO Max?
No, The Little Mermaid will not be on HBO Max since it’s not a Universal Pictures movie. Last year, the company released its films in theaters and on the streamer on the same day. However, they now allow a 45-day window between the theatrical release and the streaming release.
Is The Little Mermaid Available On Hulu?
Viewers are saying that they want to view the new animation movie The Little Mermaid on Hulu. Unfortunately, this is not possible since Hulu currently does not offer any of the free episodes of this series streaming at this time. It will be exclusive to the MTV channel, which you get by subscribing to cable or satellite TV services. You will not be able to watch it on Hulu or any other free streaming service.
How to Watch The Little Mermaid Online For Free?'
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There are a few ways to watch The Little Mermaid online in the U.S. You can use a streaming service such as Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime Video. You can also rent or buy the movie on iTunes or Google Play. You can also watch it on-demand or on a streaming app available on your TV or streaming device if you have cable.
The Little Mermaid Cast and Characters
The Little Mermaid was written by David Magee and directed by Rob Marshall. It stars the following actors:

• Halle Bailey as Ariel
• Melissa McCarthy as Ursula
• Javier Bardem as King Triton
• Noma Dumezweni as Queen Selina
• Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric
• Daveed Diggs as Sebastian
• Awkwafina as Scuttle
• Jacob Tremblay as Flounder
• Art Malik as Sir Grimsby

What is The Little Mermaid About?
The official synopsis for The Little Mermaid by Walt Disney Studios read:
“The Little Mermaid” is the beloved story of Ariel, a beautiful and spirited young mermaid with a thirst for adventure. The youngest of King Triton’s daughters and the most defiant, Ariel longs to find out more about the world beyond the sea, and while visiting the surface, falls for the dashing Prince Eric. While mermaids are forbidden to interact with humans, Ariel must follow her heart. She makes a deal with the evil sea witch, Ursula, which gives her a chance to experience life on land, but ultimately places her life – and her father’s crown – in jeopardy.
There is not much mystery in The Little Mermaid's plot. As seen in Disney's many other live-action remakes, it is anticipated that the film's plot will largely stick to the original. With the well-known song "Part of Your World," in which Ariel sings about her wish to be a part of the world beyond the water, i.e., the human realm, the teaser already alluded to Ariel's fascination with the human world. Fans will get to see Ariel and Prince Eric's romance as they deal with the challenges posed by their differences.

Has anyone else experienced a terrible emotional relapse since Memorial Day Weekend? As I knew the long weekend would be a difficult one to tolerate alone and without work to distract me, I made sure I filled it with plans with friends and things to do every single day. Now since Tuesday, I have been horrendously depressed, crying throughout the day harder than I have since the first week of Adrian's passing in April, and absolutely defeated and just begging for death to come take me so I can rejoin him wherever he may be. It feels like emotional whiplash - the pendulum swings one way, and the back the other way even harder. I haven't been able to sleep, have barely been able to work, and have been unable to speak to anyone. I've also noticed I'm much more angry - something that's has spared me thus far in my month and a half of grieving.
I am curious if others maybe further along in their grieving process may be able to share their experiences with this sort of emotional whiplash. I feel so defeated, so tired, and now so mad as hell.

I have recently begun travelling over the course of the past two years as my current job gives me 4-5 weeks of PTO, and things started opening up after the pandemic lockdowns. I have had some great trips, I've been in a few countries in Latin America, Canada, Spain and France. A number of cities in the USA. I live in a different state from my family and have my own home.
However, my family (primarily parents), have attempted to gaslight me to not go and travel anytime I was planning a vacation. I generally ignored them and went anyways as I'm an adult man. My parents have only been out of the country once in their lives: my dad in the Vietnam War, and my mother 1 year of graduate school in the UK in the 1970s. My mother hated being in the UK. They almost never travel anywhere as my mom hates travelling.
My family has become very aggressive in gaslighting about going on vacation, claiming that my travels DIRECTLY cause them health issues, particularly my mother. In their retirement they begun to obsessively consume certain...media sources that everyone is aware of (I want to keep the politics out of this post so I'm not going to go any further on that subject). Relevant to my problem from their media consumption, is that they begun to fervently believe such things as Chicago being an absolute warzone, that Americans if they go to Europe will be made "not alive" right when they step off of the plane. That people in foreign countries run around just waiting to kidnap Americans, even in first world countries such as Canada. They have gone to extreme lengths to try to convince me not to travel. For example, when I went to Colombia and Puerto Rico they called their local police station and bombarded me with calls, texts, and emails about how the police officer said that where I was going is too dangerous to travel to.
They have gotten so "afraid" and xenophobic that they won't even drive thru non-white neighborhoods to go to their local Trader Joes.
I am currently planning a trip to Chile and Argentina to see Patagonia and do some hiking and mountain climbing in the Andes. I went to see my family over the memorial day weekend and casually mentioned that I am excited to go in early December to Chile and Argentina. My family FREAKED OUT. My mother had a panic attack, screaming about how the drug lords control Chile and Argentina (they don't) and lots of yelling from family members. Total chaos.
I drove back to where I live on Tuesday. This morning I received a stern message from my parents that they will be excluding me from their will (two houses, and a couple million $ in inheritance money) if I move forward with my travel plans. They also stated that they have contacted their attorney and are prepared to change their will immediately if I don't cancel my flights.
Reddit: is there anyway I continue to enjoy traveling and not be cut out of their will? I've tried logically reasoning with them that the media over-exaggerates and pointing out to them that I have not gone to dangerous locations, rather to normal tourist destinations and that I practice reasonable safety practices in my travels. My arguments were completely useless.
TL;DR Parents threatening to cut me out of their will for going on vacations.

As someone who has lent out thousands of dollars to never be repaid, the title alone here is a big red flag. I very well may be in the wrong here, which is why I'm asking y'all.
A few weeks ago, I told my friend about an upcoming festival. This reminded her that 2 years prior, she bought us both tickets for the same festival. We never went.
She was very excited about the festival two years ago and was urging me to commit. At her insistence, we had a phone call about it and planned it out, and she bought the passes immediately. I remember telling her to wait one more day so I could be sure, but she insisted that we'd already made the plans. (I don't know why she bought both. Maybe she did it so that the plans would be "locked in.")
The very next day after she bought the tickets, I told her that I had been booked to work that weekend (irregular work schedule.)
The festival was 3 months later. The plan was for her to resell the tickets online. Had I known that she was struggling to resell the tickets, I could have bought mine off of her and resold it myself. I'm pretty good at that -- I've done it a lot in the past. Apparently, she never successfully resold those tickets and was out $500 total. We didn't talk about this at all over the past 2 years. She never brought it up again, even when I asked.
So, when I brought up the festival recently, she asked me if I would reimburse her for the festival from 2021. I told her no, and that I'm sad that this happened, as I believe it could have been avoided. I never had the ticket in hand, and therefore never had the opportunity to resell it myself, so I rejected her request. I believe the proper way to handle this would have been for her to sell me and transfer me the ticket two years ago. If she told me she was struggling to sell it as intended, I would have taken care of it.
I instead offered to pay for her tickets if we decide to go to another festival together. We went to a festival together last year in 2022, so this seemed reasonable to me. Again, she had not brought up this issue even last year. I guess she forgot until now.
She never responded to my offer. She didn't respond to anything else that I sent her in the following weeks either. She's gone completely silent. I thought my counter offer to buy the next round of tickets was reasonable if not generous, as we do enjoy going to these events and I would hope we go to some more in the future. Was that really an offensive counter on my part? I want to have open communication, but that's not happening.

In Deutschland’s realm, Dürer’s truth unfurled, Reformation’s fire, chaos hurled. Yet Shakespeare’s words, in England’s sway, Illuminate the human’s timeless play. 

After a successful Memorial Day weekend of trout fishing up north, I’ve reignited my fishing bug since moving here from NY 3 years ago.
I’ve heard Tempe Town Lake is as good a local spot of any for those of us who live downtown. I’ve been down there once for a non-fishing venture and saw a few rods set up under what I believe to remember was the Mill Avenue bridge. Are there any spots that are off-limits for fishing? Any spots you’d stay away from?
Planning on setting up my medium-light rod with a simple Carolina rig on garlic soaked hot dog and then throwing a jointed swimbait on my ultralight. If you have any advice there, also appreciated.
Thanks y’all!

Hey all. In a few weekends I will be doing my first HPDE event at High Plains Raceway near Denver. Looks like it should be around 87 degrees for the weekend. This will be my first ever track day. Do I really need to switch away from 0W-20 to 5W-30 for my first track day? I just changed my oil a few weeks ago and have less than 1k on it. In hindsight I should have just put 5W-30 but didn’t think of it and really don’t wanna have to drain out good oil and go buy some heavier oil, especially when I have a lot of 0W-20 stockpiled and would be fine with just switching it immediately after the track day. Also, I will have to drive 8 hours down and 8 hours back too from the track.
What do you guys think? Can I get away with 0W-20? What temperature should I back off at? I have an UltraGauge on the car and typically get around 230 when I’m really beating on it on back twisties.
Thanks!