From JShoujo Scans: Akari, who loves books, moves to Tokyo to go work at the head office of a bookstore. There she meets the assistant manager Terayama Morizou, who loves books more than people. Up 'til now Akari hasn't worked at such a large store yet so she feels a lot of pressure, but at the same time she realizes she really loves her job. This manga depicts the struggles she experiences at wor ... Read Honya no Mori no Akari - Chapter 21.1 - MangaPuma. Read more at https://mangapuma.com/honya-no-mori-no-akari/chapter-21-1

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New Terran Refugee (Pt - 20) : An NOP fanfic
Thanks to u/SpacePaladin15 for letting people write fanfics.
This is just a fanfic of course.
This chapter went through several iterations, I might have let myself think I could release it 1 week late (and failed). Also, I might have gotten sidetracked with other non-writing thing, oops.
TL;DR:
“OOPS! All Rewrites! And side projects!” – Me
In any case, here’s the chapter:
Memory transcription subject: Tayla, Venlil Widow
Date [standardized human time]: October 18, 2136
The first thing I became aware of was that I had awoken enveloping a richly warm pillow with a soft surface from above, and that not only was it hot but that it was also soft and squishy but without too much give, in fact it was somehow firmer below the surface, I snuggled closer to the material that was emanating heat below me and drove off my mind’s attempts at waking me up, this was too blissful an experience to stop suddenly.
The second thing I became aware of was that I didn’t remember replacing my heated pillow as the cold wind season was still expected to be a good deal of time away and that I had much more important things to spend my limited budget on.
The third thing I became aware of was that I wasn’t hugging a pillow, this only happened when I noticed that it wasn’t moving because I was snuggling into it, but rather moving in a steady motion against me, like when someone breathes while asleep.
The fourth thing I became aware of, were the memories of what led me into this situation ‘Just gonna close my eyes for a moment’; Why did I lie to myself like that?
The final thing I became aware of snapped me out of my musings, it was the reason I woke up, and the reason I had crashed so hard into sleepiness.
The consequence of drinking copious amounts of [shade root] tea to keep watch over Jorge until I could call the number in the email during the schedule it had included beneath itself, this was made worse by the cans of ‘Twilight Energy’ I had drank at the end when more drastic measures had to be taken.
I couldn’t ignore it I couldn’t help but feel the pressure mounting inside my bladder as I peeled myself off from on top of Jorge. Why did I move so much while asleep?
Oh Protector, I missed his warmth already…
I made a mental note to look into repairing my heated pillow for cheap due to a sudden urge to sleep with something warm more frequently, the abrupt thought jogging loose some memories about contact information of some local repairvenlil I’d called before for one reason or another, along with the memory of the number I called before… napping with Jorge…
A great feeling of chagrin manifested along with my bloom while closing Jorge’s bathroom door behind me as I remembered the text beneath the schedule, ‘Extended working hours during emergency situations’, the aftermath of antimatter bombing definitely applied… especially since that Mrs. Bennet sounded so exhausted so soon after the supposed start of her work claw.
I decided to chalk up my lapse in judgement to have been due to how Jorge’s expression before he sealed himself in had left my thoughts racing and heart pounding in worry over him.
With my thoughts somewhat settled, I examined the strange toilet that had been installed, before throwing caution to the winds when the urgency I felt reasserted itself with force.
…
After closing the lid and washing my paws, I finally found what had to be the equivalent of the pulley and chain, a small, recessed button parted into 2 asymmetric parts on the top middle part behind the seat.
I pressed both parts at the same time just in case.
FWOOOSH
A small eep escaped me but was drowned out by the noises that were still coming from the strange toilet!
Finally, the ruckus ended, letting me calm down from the unexpected loudness. Wait, did that noise wak-
THUNK THUNK THUNK
A bigger eep escaped me as I jumped a little into the air; However this time it wasn’t drowned out by another noise.
“¿you ok in there?” I could barely make out Jorge’s voice through the door, like he was putting in the barest effort needed to speak.
“Y-yeah, j-just startled…” I opened the door as I trailed off, a sudden realization had me asking him a question, “I guess I know how It felt w-when I s-startled you h-huh?”
His normally expressive face remained still, the only reaction to my attempt at lightening the mood a brief exhale from his nose; He simply slipped past me as I left the bathroom and muttered something I didn’t quite hear just before shutting the door softly.
I went back to the bed and turned on his pad, after a few seconds of waiting for it to turn on, and a few more waiting for my translator to parse the strange [date and time] format the humans used (Honestly, who separated the [hours] and the [days/months] like that?) I felt a bit of relief as I sank a bit into the still warm bed.
According to the pad, I’d just taken a short nap, I still had plenty of time until my children came back home, hopefully I had enough time to actually have some kind of talk with Jorge.
I’d have to somehow get him to talk about last Paw’s… reaction of his, and find a way to convince him to talk about his family, It’d be good for him to recognize that pain, maybe he’d even hold onto it like me…
^FWOOOSH
That thing that the humans called a toilet interrupted my train of thought before I could do more than think of the barest of ways I could breeze into such heavy topics, the small delay between the toilet’s sound, the groaning of water travelling to the faucet, and the door opening wasn’t even enough to get back on my mind’s [zephyr].
A quick focus on Jorge’s face made my determination start to breeze away a bit, it was much easier to think of how to talk to him when I couldn’t see just how heavily everything [to wear down like a long strong gale would] on him.
Jorge deflated slightly but visibly at how I apparently froze up at the sight of him.
“well, thanks, i… feel better, you can just… leave me be for now”
Jorge stood still, averting his eyes from me until he shrugged strangely after turning to look at the barricade, he then shuffled over and started to shift it to the side a bit, evidently wishing to put it back in place after I left.
“ah” he cleared his throat, “sorry, you can leave now” he returned to averting his eyes from looking at me and awkwardly motioned towards the wide opening he had made after dragging the barricade as he stepped away morosely.
“Jorge.” I paused to breathe; I’d managed to huff out his name just as I needed to exhale.
Jorge stood still for a moment before tentatively focusing on me, a strangely vulnerable expression sat on his face.
I patted the bed (an appropriate and proper distance away from me) with my tail before curling it away from the spot, he seemed to get the message and soon he had sat down beside me, brief moment of hesitation notwithstanding.
I turned my head towards him as I’d seen him do when talking, he flinched a little when his eyes met mine, closing them and averting his face, I reached out for his nearby claw with my tail and put it down gently on top.
I waited patiently for him to start talking; Thankfully the wait was short.
“this… ¿is this about… my reaction yesterday?”
“Yes,” I squeezed down on his claw softly with my tail in a comforting gesture, “I wanted to speak with you about that sooner, but for now…” another gentle squeeze, “I’m just glad you seem to be doing a little bit better.”
Silence enveloped us as Jorge seemed to mull over what I’d just said.
A small hint of a hunch had me examining him more closely, it seemed he was anxiously waiting for me to talk some more.
I chastised myself internally, ‘Of course he wasn’t going to be feeling very talkative…’, how could someone jump straight into talking about such a topic? It’d probably be better to start with other stuff and gauge things from there; With that my mind sifted through possible topics until one stood out.
“S-so, I kind of… used up a lot of your powdered ingredients… heh…” I took in his features, he seemed halfway here and halfway far away.
Maybe… Maybe if I somehow mentioned the call to remind him that there were more humans he could try talking to? Just in case he was getting tired of my clumsy attempts at talking with him…
“I, uh, didn’t think of asking Mrs. Bennet about their availability when I called her this Paw, s-sorry about that… b-but I’m sure they’ll get some more that you can use soon, right?”
That got a reaction, a small one, out of him; His eyes widened. It… felt wrong.
“o-oh, well, i’d better get started packing then…”
An impossibly heavy weight settled deep inside my stomach as he moved his claw out from under my frozen tail tip, my throat clenched up as Jorge got up and limply started wading to his bag.
I stared in mute horror as he dumped his clean body coverings into it, trying to communicate anything to him, and failing miserably as the sheer disbelief of just how horribly I had miscommunicated kept me frozen, while the pain and betrayal I could imagine him feeling kept my mind reeling.
He stopped just as he reached his bag, his claws clenched for a moment before he unclenched them slowly and turned around to look directly at me.
He’d shed more tears, his eyes were an ugly and fresher shade of red.
“y-you were waiting down here for me to wake up again just to have this conversation as soon as possible. ¿am i right?”
Th-this wasn’t supposed to go like this!
“I… I was-”
“I!” interrupted Jorge with an elevated tone of voice, “…Earlier, I woke up and went back to sleep a few times, I could see you sitting on the stairs, sometimes you and your pad would be missing, I kept thinking that maybe you were worried about me ¿you know?”
“I-” An intense look from him kept the rest of my response in my head; ‘I was!’ I wanted to plead.
“I guess you didn’t plan for me falling asleep after crying…” He trailed off and seemed to go into deep thought for a moment, before his eyes narrowed dangerously. “¿Did you just bring me that Atole to soften the blow?” He held up one of his claws towards me while making a stabbing motion with it, his voice came out as a much lower growl than normal from him. “¿Or was putting me to sleep part of the plan?”
My face felt as if I’d been hit by an icy gale. ‘Did he just insinua-?’
“You’re fucking heartless.” That last sentence from him was punctuated by a fresh set of tears from his eyes, though no sobbing came from him as he let himself fall backwards down onto the floor, like a puppet with its strings suddenly cut.
My heart was beating wildly, and my eyes stung from the horrible accusations that he was making, and from how I’d probably be doing just what he had said if this had happened a few days ago…
I gave myself a moment to recollect myself, I’d thought similar enough things when I was alone in the hospital after losing my family, not nearly as extreme but… my circumstances back then and his right now weren’t comparable.
I shuddered internally at how much worse I’d have fared if it had been Venlil Prime that had been attacked; I’d probably… I’d have tried to do what he tried last night…
With a sigh I focused consciously on Jorge, who was breathing a bit more steadily now, as I picked up the bottle and moved steadily towards his alert gaze.
I sat down in front of him and opened the bottle, he narrowed his eyes even further in response, making the redness and glistening more pronounced, the patches of fur above his eyes changed position as well; I didn’t quite know what it meant, but it couldn’t possibly have been from him feeling happy or at peace.
I pushed through the sense of fear that was starting to form from being under his stare and took in the rest of his body language… I readjusted my position and observed as he flinched away from me…
I slowly raised the bottle and drank; The patches of fur over his eyes returned to their normal position, overshot and stayed raised while the intensity of his stare diminished. Finally, he tilted his head ever so slightly.
After a few gulps more I stopped drinking and offered him the bottle, he still wasn’t accepting it; I wiped my lips and prepared to speak.
“…I wouldn’t do that to you…” A small quiver at the end made me trail off until I was certain my voice wouldn’t fail me. I wouldn’t do that now. “None of those things, I mean… Even after all I did… You gave me a chance…”
“When you put it like that…” Jorge wiped his eyes. “I mean, I don’t know what came over me…” He looked to the side and deflated a little.
“I understand… I was like this too…” A small shiver traveled through my spine, thinking about it always did… I ignored the shiver by standing up and offering him the bottle again, this time he grabbed it and drank deeply.
He trailed behind me, we sat down on opposite sides of the bed, him hugging his legs as he sat against the wall, and me with one leg over the edge of the bed with the other one crossed over it.
Dozens of starting points were flurrying in my head, I couldn’t decide on one, so I cleared my throat and let myself say whatever came out first.
“I’m married.” Jorge became extremely visibly confused. “I-I’m a Widow, I meant to say…” The familiar sting of pain grounded me as his expression changed into one I could recognize even from him, pity.
“He-” died “…It happened 11 years ago, I… I lost my family at the same time…”
Jorge’s expression softened even more, no longer out of pity, but out of understanding… of the pain we shared…
“It was my dad’s idea, he’s always wanted to have a big family homestead… when the latest batch of colonies were finally cleared for habitation he bought a plot immediately, my sister and her husband went with them first, then my brother and his wife, and finally me and…”
This whole talking thing was much harder than I thought… I cleared my throat; I couldn’t go on just omitting any names in my retelling…
“Krayla, that’s my mother’s name.” I paused, waiting for his reaction, he ‘nodded’ slowly, solemnly. “Tavk’io, my dad; Talnum, my b-brother; Tahyiya, m-my sister; …a-and Glim, m-my husband…”
I buried my head in my paws, this was too much…
A moment passed, I felt something brush against my tail; Opening my eyes I saw that it was Jorge’s claw, he patted the tip gently until his eyes met mine.
“Emiliano José Cauich Ayala, t-that’s my father’s name.” He paused to breathe and wiped his eyes. “Ixchel Paola Rojas Canul, that’s my mother’s name.”
We stayed in silence for a while longer, at least in my case recovering from the emotional toll that I had just gone through.
“S-shortly after we arrived at the colony,” I began. “I l-learned I was p-pregnant, G-Glim and I celebrated it with my family, we were going to name our baby after my brother and his wife, Kiyomi. It… It was something we had all come up with [years] before, everything was going just like we had dreamed and talked so much about…”
I squeezed my tail against myself, all those nights at the colony laughing and joking with each other about increasingly outlandish names (ones that we’d never use of course), gone just like that…
“G-Glim and Talnum were busy helping the colony expand by clearing new plots for development and as buffer zones, I helped around with Taylee and Talim when needed but I helped dad with the house most of the time; There were always things that needed to be taken care of after all. Th-then one day in the colony, I f-fainted while picking up Taylee and Talim from school, a f-few [weeks] after that… I had to be sent back here since the colony’s hospital had lost their last equipment shipment to an Arxur raid.” I paused and lowered my voice. “G-Glim stayed behind to take extra assignments, t-to cover expenses, h-he… he was… he was on his last pawful of shifts b-before leave wh-when…”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“…D-dad was at home looking after the kids, he’d sprained his leg while doing some maintenance, he called me early in the morning there, Talnum and Glim were in some kind of assignment together, and my mother had taken everyone else to get stuff from the market to prepare a farewell meal f-for Glim…” And after that… “The call disconnected abruptly, it had happened before so I… I j-joked to m-myself a-and the nurse that it was p-probably j-just the signal failing because I wasn’t there to maintain things p-properly…”
Tears started forming in my eyes again, Jorge shuffled closer, put his soft claw on my shoulder and gave a light squeeze, his warmth spread throughout me.
“…A few claws later I learnt the truth, that the colony had been raided and that the shelter had been breached, shortly after that, I… I lost my…” I did my best to look him directly in his eyes. “After that… I started planning how to get to the hospital’s roof…” There, a glint of recognition and pain in his eyes. “I was just waiting for the rescue fleet to finish up there, just in case, thankfully… my dad hid Taylee and Talim in one of the [Kitchen] cabinets after taking down the family pictures, since he couldn’t take them to the shelter, he… Taylee told me that he… he begged her to keep quiet before closing the cabinet. She stayed in there with Talim for I don’t even know how long… She… She hasn’t talked about it ever again.”
Another squeeze, then silence and cold as he retracted his claw back towards him, his face turning to another side while taking on some kind of thoughtful intensity.
“S-So… What I’ve been trying to say was… I kind of understand what you’re going through… A-and if you want to talk… I-I’m here?”
A small ‘nod’, and more silence. My eyes were beginning to feel heavy again, that nap hadn’t been enough it seemed.
Jorge harrumphed, causing a bolt of wakefulness to course through me as he began speaking, filling in the silence that had fallen on the room.
“…I don’t think I’m ready yet…” His face turned towards me once more. “But… thank you, for sharing, and for worrying about me, I… If you hadn’t been there when I drifted into and out of sleep…” His eyes widened in a flash. “Wait. ¿You haven’t slept right? ¿Are you feeling OK?”
“I-I t-took a nap after you f-fell asleep…” B-beneath him… “Y-you left a lot of space…” He did, but I couldn’t get to it from under his legs…
“Good, good…” His eyes flicked between me and the door. “Well… I suppose you’ve got stuff to do now. ¿Am I right?” Somehow, the expression that sat now on his face felt forced in a way. I kept quiet as I rummaged through my memories of The Aftermath.
Of course, he was trying to get me out to wallow in peace, just as I did…
That was the last thing he needed right now.
I needed to find a way to get him out of this room…
“Actually… I’m free until my kids get back, I’m used to taking care of chores quickly.”
“Right…” Jorge seemed to slowly steel himself, if I didn’t interrupt me, he’d just ask me to leave directly…
I tried to think faster, but the drowsiness was returning in force, it was no use… Unless…
“H-Hey!” My exclamation startled him, I pressed on to keep the momentum strong. “I uh, I kind of went through my whole supply of [shade root] tea to stay awake…” I didn’t. “And… I don’t really want to drink more energy drinks this Paw, I don’t suppose you have something to stay awake with you?”
Jorge blinked, again, once more, and again one last time before responding.
“¿I… think I have some coffee I could make?” He tilted his head adorably to one side as he scratched his head with one claw.
“Sounds perfect! Would you please make me some?” I stood up before he could even answer, reached for his idle claw and tugged at it towards me; He stood up in what seemed like a daze out of reflex.
We spent the next few [minutes] browsing the intact shelf, whatever this coffee was, it wasn’t there, the tentatively positive mood that had formed cracked a little as Jorge looked at the shelf barricade before he trudged over to it, stopping beside it where he gestured at vaguely with his claw.
We stepped past the barricade, tried not to look at each other, failed, shuffled in place for a moment and began sifting through the items strewn about the floor in an unspoken agreement.
It wasn’t long until I found myself holding a container that my translator insisted was labeled ‘Instant Coffee’. “Hey,” I started while turning, “is this the ri-” Jorge was looking intensely at something on the floor, I followed his gaze and saw it, the broken remains of the flame projector.
“J-Jorge?” I extended my tail cautiously towards his arm, his claws ceased to strain against themselves following the subtle flinch he had when the tip of my tail made contact with him.
I gave him the ‘Instant Coffee’ I was holding and scooped up the remains to dispose of them properly this time; Jorge held up the container and murmured an affirmation at me, I gestured for him to lead the way and proceeded to follow him to the [kitchen].
I raced my way directly to the trash container, separated the single-use fuel cannister from the remains I was holding, and dumped the inert bits inside; I’d have to take this last part to a proper disposal collection point in town some other time. For now, I glanced at Jorge and tucked it into a discreet spot in the cabinets when he wasn’t looking. Only after that did I notice what a mess I’d made up here despite my best efforts at cleaning up…
Jorge’s eyes were scanning all over the [kitchen], taking in every splotch, every spill and every crusted over utensil I’d used, he lingered noticeably longer on the open and haphazardly arranged containers of his that I had used, finally he stared at the Vanilla Extract bottle with a soft expression, it was the only container that had remained completely spotless and didn’t have a significant amount of its contents drained.
Yet another unreadable expression had settled on his face as he took a big pot and barely put any water in it, the other more reasonably sized ones just too dirty to deal with quickly, before putting it to boil on the [stove top].
“Uh…” He shifted his weight from one leg to the other a few times. “I… never did thank you for the drink earlier ¿Didn’t I?”
“N-no but there’s no ne-”
The patches of fur above his eyes furrowed together.
“You… mentioned before that you entered the program for money…” He looked confused. “¿Why didn’t you just… ask for me to be picked up? You’d have gotten someone else in no time… Hell, I’d still understand if you did it now. You don’t have to go through all this trouble for me.” The confused expression deepened as he gestured at the messy remains around us.
“…”
He was waiting for an answer.
“I… w-well I d-did enter for the money… b-but… I don’t want to just replace you… I like being around you. I d-don’t know if we’re there yet… But I’d like to be… f-friends! W-with you someday…” Oh Protector, I couldn’t be more obvious unless I just came out and said it…
“Well for what it’s worth… Thank you Tayla, you don’t know what that means to me right now.” He was looking directly at me, with raw emotion and palpable aliveness, my face started to feel as if I was standing under sunlight…
“I-It was the l-least I could d-do…” It was worth it even though he didn’t seem to understand quite what I accidentally meant before…
I was spared from further embarrassment by the pot of water sizzling violently behind Jorge who turned around in a blur to turn the heat off, while he did that I grabbed two (clean) mugs and set them down near him, though I didn’t move my paws quite fast enough as his claw brushed against me while he moved the mugs closer to him to pour the water on them.
He let the water cool down a little as he put his sugar and ‘Instant Coffee’ containers close to the mugs; He poured the less-than-boiling water into the mugs, stirred in a measure of ‘Instant Coffee’ and a measure of sugar as well.
He passed me a mug with a cryptic warning. “If it’s not to your taste, let me know.” Then he grabbed the other one, sipped a little and waited.
The mischievous glint in his eyes left me no choice, I’d have to play along for now; I raised the mug and sipped…
SPEH
WHY WAS EVERYTHING THESE HUMANS HAD SO BITTER?
I futilely attempted to remove the grimace from my face; Strangely, the roar of laughter I expected was nowhere to be heard, I found myself looking at Jorge with some amount of concern, though the clear, if understated, smile he sported calmed me down somewhat.
Wordlessly, Jorge reached for my mug and the can of powdered coconut milk, he then proceeded to mix in a little of it in both mugs, turning the liquid from a dark oily brown to a much lighter tone. Finally he mixed in a single drop of his Vanilla Extract in each mug and gave me back mine.
I gave him the best glare I could manage as I pouted at him, he took a deep drink from his own mug and held it up for me to examine.
With a sigh I tried mine again.
Warm. Flowery. Smooth. Bitter but not too much, like a perfectly harvested root. But most importantly of all, I could feel myself waking slightly more already, whether it was just self-suggestion or the drink having an effect so soon I couldn’t tell.
Once more, the reaction I expected from Jorge was missing, this time he seemed to be lost in thought, staring at a distant point in the air.
I took a moment to examine him, whatever he was thinking, it was starting to fester. It’d be better to get him talking “What’s wrong?” I asked.
“It’s no-” He shook his head. “It’s just… I… my dad… he liked to drink his without adding anything, no sugar, no… coconut milk…, and… me and mom used to tease him about it…” He was retreating into himself once more.
I kept drinking my coffee; There had to be something else I could talk with him about…
Jorge straightened up, something about his posture, about the way he held himself had changed.
“Say… Tayla… ¿Can I ask you for a favor?” Despite the confidence he exuded he was running one of his claws over the back of his mug repeatedly.
“W-what kind of favor?”
“There’s something I want, no, something I need to make for the end of the [month], and… I’m going to need your help getting the stuff, I’d just ask you to get it all for me, but honestly that wouldn’t be right.”
“O-ok, but you still haven’t told me what the favor is?”
“I need to buy flowers, candles, a good tablecloth, and see what dishes I can actually make here that’d be good enough.”
“W-What for?” W-Was he? My heart was beating wildly in a peculiar mix of elation, nervousness and apprehension.
“I’m going to make an Altar for Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos), it’s the least I can do for my family all the way over here.”
W-
Wh-
WHAT?

From JShoujo Scans:Akari, who loves books, moves to Tokyo to go work at the head office of a bookstore. There she meets the assistant manager Terayama Morizou, who loves books more than people. Up 'til now Akari hasn't worked at such a large store yet so she feels a lot of pressure, but at the same time she realizes she really loves her job. This manga depicts the struggles she experiences at work ... Read Honya No Mori No Akari - Chapter 21.2 - MangaPuma. Read more at https://mangapuma.com/honya-no-mori-no-akari/chapter-21-2

Family Matters to me…
Looking in the mirror and rubbing my face the stress has been taking a toll on my mental state. I've been deployed three times for a year each, and what makes it worse is that the Ironbloods are causing issues with the rest of Azur Lane. Last year I lost all contact with my half brother Ludwig and his mother Bismarck. My dad was called upon to resign from his position and did so willingly. They tried that on me, but my Mom Minneapolis shut that down quickly. The only other person I was I contact with is Edinburgh's son Duncan who I hate to admit, has grown on me since I taught him a lesson in manners. He's on base with his mother and baby sister, due to safety insurance for them.
Lifting my left arm and running my fingers from my right over a white ink tattoo that Ludwig wanted me to get to match his black ink one two years ago I felt anger and rage building inside me.
Bringing me from my thoughts, was my phone chiming with an unknown number on the screen. Picking it, I answered.
"Daniels speaking, who's this?"
The voice on the other end shook me to my core.
"I found you… I finally found you." The cold feminine voice crackled through my phone.
"I don't know what you want, or why you are calling me, but my calls are monitored closely…" I retorted as I was about to hang up. I heard another person. Laughing in the background, and then something about my sister.
"Sister? I don't have a sister. If this is a joke I swear-"
Just as I was about to scream the call ended and left me with high blood pressure. Then a heavy knock echoed through my quarters, which caused me to slip and fall out of the bathroom and into my living room.
"Bloody hell! Put on yer clothes Maria!" Duncan all but shouted with his eyes closed and a red blush across his pale face.
"My clothes? Wait, why are you in my dorm room?!" I shouted and grabbed a slipper and spiked it off of his forehead before he could react.
Covering myself, well covering my chest as I scurried around on the floor towards my tank top hitting Duncan across his shins and sending him toppling right down on top of me.
Slowly regaining myself Duncan's body weight wasn't on my torso. Raising my head, I realized where his weight was…
"D-Duncan… " I started shaking as Duncan had a blush across his face after lifting it from between my legs
Soon enough he shot up and began apologizing.
"I'm sorry! Please don't hit me!" Duncan pleaded.
Seeing him almost in tears over what just happened broke my heart. My fears of being sexually assaulted when I was in the academy needed to be put away. Reaching over to him, and grabbing his cheeks in my hands I pulled him in and held his head against my chest. Despite all the shaking I managed to steady my breathing.
"No… don't cry it's not your fault Duncan…" I softly spoke with my hands on his back.
"I didn't mean to plant my face there…" Duncan quietly whimpered as we sat there for a few hours.
"I'm glad my day was empty…" I groaned as I set a plate of sausage and gravy down in front of Duncan. "You got a good view of my body… what did you think?"
Duncan quietly tried to eat the food I just set down, but I pulled it away slowly. "Beautiful… extremely beautiful… I only cried because of where my face landed."
Sitting right beside him, I reached over and placed my fingers with his. "I owe you something for causing you to cry… so will you hear me out?"
He nodded and gently squeezed my hand.
Taking a deep breath I started.
XXXVVVVXXX
As I was about to get Duncan off my couch the entire base was drowned in the emergency alarms blaring and I quickly turned around and ran out of my quarters grabbing my plate carrier and sidearm.
"What the hell?!" I shouted as I watched three massive mechanical dragons rise out of the ocean and were coming right for us.
I covered my face with my arms as a giant metal claw came down right above my body.
"Halt! Do not harm her!" A deep, cold, yet soft voice ordered as the shadows from the claw moved away as I fell on my ass, holding my pistol out aiming at the muscle bound mountain of a figure in front of me.
When they moved from the shadows of the mechanical beast my eyes went wide.
"Ludy?" I forced my body to ask.
Ludwig pushed his hands against the beast and it gently moved over. His face was not how I remembered it. Mature and serious just like Bismarck…
"Where is your new Kommandant?" He asked, ignoring my calling of his name.
I tried to respond but it took too long for him, and within an instant he grabbed my plate carrier and lifted me off the ground.
"Where is the bastard that hurt Dad!? Where is he at!?" Ludwig shouted as he tossed me up to the jaws of his rigging, letting it clamp down on my arm.
Trying to get his rigging to release my arm was fruitless and wasn't going to help me, so I grabbed Ludwig's shoulder with my free hand while shaking from fear.
"L-ludy… you're hurting me…please tell it to let go. Commander Reyes isn't…isn't here. Don't destroy the base." The pain was becoming too much to handle as I had tears rolling down my face.
I watched as his face softened. Then suddenly my arm was free from his riggings mouth, and I was wrapped up in his arms.
"Es tut mir so leid, Maria... Ich wollte dich nicht verletzen." He said softly before checking my right arm for any injury besides the bruise.
I held my head and leaned on my brother. "Why would Commander Reyes hurt Dad? And when? I was visiting him on Monday…"
"Mother sent me to find Kommandant Reyes, and drag him to Berlin despite the conflict between the Eagle Union and Iron Blood…" Ludwig helped me stand up as Duncan landed on the concrete a few yard's behind us. His rigging pointed at Ludwig's.
"Ironblood…" Duncan groaned.
"Tea drinker…" Ludwig sneered.
"Duncan put your rigging away." I turned around and stood between the two. "Ludy… Call off your beast…"
I forced myself to raise my right arm and pulled out my phone. If Reyes is doing things behind the eyes of the board, and government officials, then I'm going to have to do something about it. As Ludwig and Duncan slowly lowered their rigging and stood down I started to dial my commander.
XXXVVVVXXX
Sitting in a lead back cushioned chair, was a girl with similar looks to Maria, yet a completely different demeanor than the militaristic young woman. Calm, stoic and yet she had a Chaotic aura surrounding her. Clearly busy doing something that required her to wear a headset over the top of her head. She was in control of something else.
"Why don't you remember me… Maria?" The young woman whispered to herself.
Blue lights slowly came to life illuminating the entire room she was in. Something, or someone was checking on her.
"Salem… Zero wishes to speak with you…" muttered the tall, dark and menacing figure that was slouched over by the all too small doorway.
"Yes Miss Strength." Salem set the headset aside and stood up from the lounge chair. "Let me wipe my eyes…"
Strength moved towards Salem. Her feet hit the metal floor with an obscene amount of weight, and knelt down to her level. "She will not know you, until she manifests her vessel… you have tried to push it, but it won't budge unless she wants to… Human emotions are not my high point. So I do not know the answers you seek, but Zero has decided to assist you in your wishes…"
Salem ran the sleeve of her Eagle Union branded coat across her face and gave the large Siren a hug, despite protests.
XXXVVVVXXX
A/N: Book 2 started! 3 years have passed! Will family betray each other for country or will a dark past bring them together even more! Find out more in chapter 2!

Part 1
"When we Firmas were pushed north into the Pyrimian mountain valley after the death of their chain of command, they settled down and instead of focusing on expansion focused on necessities like food. With co-operation from the first goblins and other creative minds that joined the First Wave of the migration, they managed to grow food over the summer in first-iteration greenhouses. "My parents were part of the first wave. They were old for a couple, but joined the Firma clan in founding a government and keeping the area safe, as well as spreading word. The dragonic gods didn't like their behavior at all; cities burning is more entertainment for them, so they were the first to be Forsaken in this era, publicly, in the main square of the old Dragonic Capital. "However, that backfired, with more and more dragons tired of running around and fighting all the time, they decided to settle down in a place where nobody would bother them; now that they had this place given to them, and the Second Wave started. Basically the entirety of the dragonic clans and several other species amassed in this wave, and the Sapient Unification Government held. "My parents had an egg in one of the more northern caves, right on the coast. Then, the third wave arrived and everything went downhill from there. "The Unification Wars were fought between those who wanted one government to cover this region, and those who wanted governments segregated by species. This would have been fine if the secessionists didn't step in on people's behalves, without their consent; it took fifteen years of war for the war to end. Millions died and some species like the Snow Fox beastpeople almost went extinct. My parent were part of the death wave. "The war evolved so rapidly it was impossible for a commander to last more than two months. It started with sticks and stones and within a month there were arrow volleys. A year saw guns, two tanks, three battleships, four planes. Bombs, bigger bullets, bigger guns, bigger bombs. "In the last few months of the war, the first nuclear devices were used, creating miniature stars on the land with immense destructive potential unleashed. It ended with mutually assured destruction protocols being activated, and when all was said and done the land was a snow-fallen irradiated dustball. "It took years for the survivors to pick up the remnants of our short-lived civilization and restart it into the Terra Firma Sapience Union. All the time, my egg didn't hatch because I had no incubator, but didn't die thanks to my ice type. It was located close enough to a mana vein where I just... absorbed the entire vein. When the cave was found by explorers following maps for my parents den, all they found was my egg glowing brighter than Sunstones. "I was taken to an incubation facility in Cellyia, one of the bigger cities. There I hatched, and after more than one test I grew. My growth was still... affected by the time without an incubator, so my already slow growth stopped after fifty years instead of continuing to infinity. And then I took some magic courses, did my best to drain my mana reserves, and settled down here, well away from... the bustle of Cellyia. It never quite felt like a home, you know. It was a good place to grow up, don't get me wrong, but I like it here better. Remote, and in the same place my parents met for the first time. As much as I can tell, anyway; a number of records were destroyed in the Unification War. "When your heroes continued to come up here, I would be the one on first guard. Damming a river, I used water magic to break it. Trying to destroy some transit infrastructure, I would be the first one to either fake it, finish it off, or lure them away. When your latest one decided to head for Cellyia, it was out of my range for such activities. I shadowed the party on the way and let others take care of it. "I never thought that your 'heroes' would be heartless enough to burn what they were told and even acknowledged as a hospital with patients inside. A library and museum with most of our pre-unification works inside. An orphanage, a school... an entire neighborhood of ten thousand citizens' homes. What for? To try to kill just one of us. "We... couldn't take that kind of behavior. Cellyia might have not been the best place for someone with my personality to grow up, especially without parental figures, but that orphanage still had some good memories. An all-citizens vote was called, an all-citizens vote was passed, and we started a counter-offensive military campaign into your Civilization Nations. We've been waiting for you elves, leaders of the Civilized Nations, to advance your society; it's been seven hundred years, all the most you've done is grow your population and add an extra floor to your townhomes. "So we're going to do it for you. You ran our patience down, so we're going to change your society for you. Is it a repeat of the Unification War? I don't think so, given that you Civilized Nations never rescinded the declaration of war against us 'monsters' over two thousand years ago; one that you still follow through on to this day. "But that isn't the end of my story. "When the gods forsook us, they tried to pry away our magic, our land, and our lives. So we defended. Space radars monitor their movements on the mortal plane. There's so many more technical details I can go into. All I can tell you is, at one point, the old god of Dragonic Princess-kidnapping; yes, they were a god; they came and asked us to restart worshiping them. "That went over as well as you'd expect, and the next thing that happened... was that I absorbed her mana and powers. Technically, I am an undefined god, and... at this point, I'm afraid to get a definition. "What if it's something I don't like? Something evil, immoral... something my parents, the leaders of the Second Wave, wouldn't be proud of? What if... what if it kills me? Everyone hates me? I'd no longer be free... "So my solution was to hide. Here, in a mountain cave in the middle of nowhere. This is my life, all of it... and I don't know where to go from here." ----- "So... you're a god?" I asked. I couldn't think of another question to ask. "Yes and no." The cat replied. It did nothing to satisfy my fearful curiosity. How could one both be and not be a god? "Princess-kidnapping was a... niche god, rarely prayed to by still enough to be, you know, and actual deity. So her mana ran out first, and most of it dissipated back into the environment yada yada yada, but like the sponge my mana reserves are, I sucked more of it up than I should have; enough to had just a slight touch of divine control. On par with a low-level demigod. If I was omnipresent, I'd solve me problems with a snap of my claws, and then I wouldn't be hiding from my problems here." "If your powers came from a god, how are yours undefined?" My mind was seeking knowledge now. I was a mage, after all, and this was more than just the opportunity of a lifetime; it was the opportunity of a aeon. "Because I absorbed her essence from the environment before it had the chance to fully dissipate, but still late enough where it was no longer hers." Vixie shrugged "Or something like that, mana gets weird sometimes. All that matters now is my stockpile is slowly increasing its grow rate, which gets annoying pretty fast." "Annoying?" The cat laughed again. "Do you think this is all of my baseline reserve? Half of the reason I stay away from the rest of society is because the last time someone with multiple aura got involved with politics..." She trailed off, and then let another, this time impeccably cast illusion fall. The air around her was burnt crisp with the power of several mandatory auras in her current small size. Twelve tails flicked behind her back, eleven of them made of energy. Floating specs of light, some smaller while others the size of ice crystals surrounded the air around her. The six orbs on her back were joined by six more, and were attached to a ring. Her head had two halos, and her entire body was engraved with glowing lines. If she before radiated power, now she was made of it. The lights on the cave's ceiling flickered as more and more of the illusion fell away. Geometric shapes orbiting her body, a platform made of mana at her feet, lightning whizzing between all sorts of objects. Finally, it was gone, and the cat that stared at me with big, sad, glowing blue eyes had told me her deepest secret. As soon as it had started, the illusion repaired itself, and before me was one cat, a halo, six orbs, two crystals, and two mana tails. I did the second most instinctive thing when it came to seeing a cat. I pulled her in for a hug. There was a quickly quieted hiss as she squirmed a bit in my grip, trying to get more comfortable, before letting herself get stroked by me. Several images flashed before my eyes, and a tear came out of mine. We had gone to war against the less lucky sapients on our world, and were now paying the price. It felt like hours, but then my stomach growled, reminding me I hadn't eaten in literal days. Vixie shot out of my grip and led the way down into the cave. I followed, and soon enough I was eating some salted crackers with dried meat and cheese while Vixie moved around between other caves. "What are you doing?" I asked her between bites. "Packing," She replied. "Why?" "It's time I got out of here and, to follow the phrase, touched some grass." ----- It took three days for the elf, whose name was Nick, to recover enough to be able to make the journey to Cellyia. In those three days, I realized just how - and why - the Civilized Races looked at us the way they did. For starters, I'd forgotten just how many things ran on electricity, let alone other, more complicated mechanics. Pressurized water, instant hot water, even sinks, showers, and toilets were all completely unknown to the 'civilized races.' Ah, yes. Civilized without toilet paper. Bitter ramblings about the people who set off the chain reaction of events that killed my family aside, those were the second longest three days of my life; the first was my thirteenth birthday so I could get a personal HUD and social media. I was also a mess of thoughts. The elf had shown me, over the course of the three days - aside from the two-minute get-my-life-together moment - that I couldn't hide from my problems forever, or they would team up and try to hunt me. Hence my new, reluctant guest from the overflowing hospital they had oh-so-nicely delivered to my door. I had words for the medical staff. And I was also a mess of thoughts. Did I mention that one already. In all seriousness, Nick adapted to electronics pretty well. All I had to do was explain what it was, what it did, and file it under the name of science. It took an impressive four minutes of rambling about quantum mechanics before Vick realized that he was in way over his head asking how the 'magic rock that can half-think with bottled lightning' worked. He backed out when I yanked a textbook from my knowledge hoard and flipped through the pages to the start to explain how quantum superposition affected the set of particles it was entangled to. Fun. Finding out what toothbrushes were took some convincing, but soon the elf's teeth started to recover from lack of proper dental care. Food was easier than I expected, and Vick was pretty accepting of whatever I tossed on his plate. Except for artichokes, for some reason he hated those. Over the three days we bonded, and Nick got pretty used to life in my home. On the second day I moved him to the guest bedroom I had built but never maintained, but one wave of my paw and a splurge of magic later that was solved. "Why don't you use magic more often?" Nick asked. I explained that was much as I wanted to burn my reserves like they were a forest before a forest fire, the mental strain was tough without learning proper casting, which requires one to drain their reserves to practice wielding physical willpower. That meant that I was caught in an infinite loop of negativity, so I could only get away with a couple spells a day before the mental exhaustion metaphorically turned my brain to mush. On the morning of the fourth day, we left. Honestly, Nick could have left on the first day but I wanted him to be able to have the stamina to walk around for hours on end with me in Cellyia. Either way, as long as he kept by me it would be fine. There was a small population of elves, humans, and dwarves who had come up to the TFSU for one reason or another and never left, which meant that he wouldn't be too far out of place. My plan, instead of just flying into the Cellyia while steering clear of the airport, was to make it to the closest town, Lymian, and take a train from there north to Union Station. It would dump us a bit further downtown than I liked, but Cellyia was built in levels, and I could take the footpath level to wherever I needed. All said and done and one passenger seat clipped to my saddlebag harness on my dragon form, I opened the door to my cave. And was promptly blocked by a wall of snow. "Right," I half-grumbled. I enjoyed tunneling through snow, but spray would make the entrance cave wet and that wouldn't dry for another couple days, and until it did the sound of drips would echo throughout my home like nothing else. Either way, checking one last time that Nick was secure, I prepared my wings and powered forward. The snow and ice parted for me, and then melted and fixed itself back together behind me as I power-swam through the snow the same way I would through water. After ten seconds of this, I burst up from the snow-covered mountain the snowstorm had left behind and started to change my heading for Lymian. It would take thirty minutes of flying to get there, as I was flying lower and slower than usual to take care of my passenger, but we soon enough turned the next mountain and saw the town. The elf gasped as he took in the sights, while I kept my eye out for more activity. It had been fortified as a military base due to the war, but not by much; the town was useless from a defensive standpoint anyway. I spotted the next train arriving from its winding track around the next mountain, which also meant that I was a bit early. The citizens of Lymian were used to my presence, as I usually stopped by to pick up supplies and occasionally a bit of correspondence. So when I landed on top of a several story tall snow pile, nobody cared. I let Nick out, and then transformed into my cat form and slid down the snow pile to start to jogging towards the train station. That's when I remembered that unlike me, elves without snowshoes do not float on snow. Oops. ----- The sights were more than pretty, more than beautiful... If the gods had rejected these people, they might have just as well done it out of jealousy. After I'd been dropped off on top of a snow mound, I immediately flattened myself on my stomach to not fall through. I'd been in more than enough snowstorms and snow mounds to know how it would go if I didn't. The cat climbed the hill below me, reappearing as naturally as the snow fell. "Sorry," Vixie apologized. "Here, let me..." I felt the snow melt around me and we descended down to the ground. Vixie glowed brightly, literally; Even using as little magic as reshaping some snow was threatening to cascade out of her form. We moved to the train station without incident, where the massive 'train cars' were loaded full of passengers and cargo and then taken off towards the big city. Apparently this was the same one the hero burned, but the 'rebuilding and recovery efforts we going well; no critical infrastructure had been severely damaged.' Either way, the ride there was uneventful. Stepping out into Union Station was different. It was like I had entered a busy capital marketplace or square, with everyone rushing in another direction to another place. I trailed after Vixie, where even the oddity of an elf in these mountains was outshone by just how many different races there were; beastkin and kobolds and orcs and undead all filled the streets in, well, peace. "The city is built in layers," Vixie explained. "So while yes, residential and office towers here in the capital were set alight, underground public transit, personal transit, and cargo and fluid transit was all untouched, so we were able to circle around the hero and put out the fires to be replaced with smoke generators, and a couple holograms snatched from a nearby cargo transport." I had no idea what any of that meant, only that the city also had extensive underground bits. The towers soared over everything, and lights covered every spare centimeter of the city. Vixie led me down market stalls, across plazas, through parks and through building lobbies. Eventually, the babble increased, something I didn't think was possible. "Welcome to the commercial district," Vixie said after she had pulled me into a corner away from the masses of people and crowds moving around. "We're right near the harbor, and when we get there I'm going to show you the lighthouse and explain the city a bit better." I almost lost track of Vixie as we continued to move through the throngs of people going about their daily lives. I saw a couple boarded up shops, but most of them were either undamaged or didn't care about the scorch marks on their shops. Jewelry boutiques and grocery stores lived in tandem with furniture stores and a massive slab of too-smooth-to-be-natural stone of a rock type I had never seen before. It was covered in signs depicting some kind of diagram. Right around the corner was the waterfront, with a massive promenade running alongside it. Snow-covered trees lined the walkways, and soon enough Vixie and I came out of the crowd near a large, tall abandoned - though no unmaintained - building. "Right then," Vixie explained and started climbing. "Here's the old lighthouse, it's perfect for seeing the city. They never officially decommissioned it, so it's still legal to climb and properly maintained, but they never use it either." "What was the large thing they were building?" I asked, clambering onto the next ladder. "That? Oh, that was the space elevator." Vixie replied. "The ground part has been completed for three years now, we're just waiting for the rest of the nanotubes to make it into orbit and then run a kevlar cord up, follow it down with the space-grade heavy-duty nanotube cord, and then that's that." "Space?..." I was confused. "When the gods said that they were higher than mortals, you took that both figuratively and literally; they live above you and in a higher dimension. In this case, space is where they live in terms of height, but not number of dimensions. We're working on interdimensional travel, and interuniversal too, but those aren't replicatable on any sort of large scale yet." Vixie shrugged. "Either way, it's not like I care." "But you have it?" I pressed. "Dimensional travel." "Yes." She replied. "Well," I let out a short laughed. "The Civilized Nations are screwed over." "That's putting it lightly," She climbed on top of the last platform and showed me the city against the setting sun, lit up brighter than the night sky and more lively than the earth. It was beautiful. I sat there and watched the city glow with a power not even the gods had, side by side with not a dragon or monster, but a friend. END. A/N: Rushed this last bit of the arc, but school is ramping up at the end of the year so it was either fast story or incomplete story, and I chose fast story. Happy pride month, everyone, and I hope to see more of you when I have more time.
Original Prompt: [WP] For as long as all the races have known, Dragons have been seen as violent, destructive creatures. After an attack on your village, you black out and find yourself in the den of a dragon. It's rather annoyed that that is how they're seen, and wants to prove that isn't the case.
u/Lycan_Jedi thank you for the prompt!
Part 1

Part 2
If you travel far enough North on the map, well above where the Civilized Nations stop because no crops grow, you'll find a mountain range. Crossing this range leads to the Monster Kingdom, though for some reason they prefer the name 'TFSU.' Yes, they prefer. The literal forces of anarchy and chaos in the universe have a government. However, ignoring that whole thing, the Monster Kingdom is fine. No armies march on them, mostly because of supply and logistical issues. The Monsters never say how they grow their own food, but given that they don't trade and millions of kobolds worth of food don't go missing every day, it's safe to say they make their own. Now, that doesn't stop the Civilized Nations to send one hero a decade to 'keep them in check.' Four decades ago, the hero closed off a mountain pass, which was supposed to cause a massive flood. Four days later, it was cleared, and the only thing to show for it were the cities that glow like the sun at night. However, yesterday, the Hero returned having burnt one of the bigger cities down. It was empty of all monsters, but the act was the first real damage they had taken in seven hundred years, since their founding. For seven hundred years, the TFSU have taken the beating of seventy heroes and simply moved on. But now. Now, millions of kobolds make up heavy 'machinery' units that march in armored, self-moving caridges that spit fire and metal. Thousands of beastpeople make up scouting and light infantry ranks. The TFSU use hellish 'guns' that hit harder than a catapult from kilometers away, all in a single 'bullet' not the size of a human's thumb. Metal birds and dragonflies join dragons as they assault cities. We poke the very literal sleeping dragon in the eye. Yet the armies don't do much. They march for our capitals and leaders, but on the way our civilians live. Surendees live. People go about their daily lives without too much change. Of course, that fact didn't stop the front line from finally crashing over my small village, located so close to the pass for a while we thought they the monsters had bypassed us entirely. The Civilized Nations had decided to send an entire legion to prevent the Monsters from getting across a nearby canyon pass. We were hit with an air-based assault with only dragons and metal dragonflies, our balista uselessly demolished by pillars of metal and flame thrown out of the metal dragonflies. I blacked out when the legion managed to shoot enough arrows to take down one of the dragonflies. I remember it crashing down onto my house... and then nothing.
-----
The elf stirred as they woke up. I'd been raised in the Terra Firma Sapience Union, so I was... less than familiar with the clothing and lifestyle the Southerners used. The elf groaned again, before their eyes shot open and they looked around, quickly settling on my frame. "A-Are you going to kill me now?" They asked, their voice shaken with fear. I let out a laugh. "If I wanted you dead, you'd already be dead." I decided to transmorph into my secondary form - a cat - to help the conversation go better. In a land where humans lived to forty, elves only lived to a hundred, and that meant that even I was older than this elf, and they were no older than thirty. The elf, to their credit, quickly figured out I wasn't pulling any mindgames. I'd heard tales from my relatives before the Kobolds founded the TFSU. People, especially when panicked, usual acted with more than enough stupidity to make the situation worse. "Where am I?" The elf asked. Their tone told me that they were still suspicious, but it wasn't outright denial of the situation. "My home," I answered bluntly. "Your village tried to fight our ground forces when they moved in, so most of them are currently under house arrest." Still in my cat form, I created a portal into my storage cavern and reached my arm through, while summoning a lab coat around my shoulders and glasses. It was a trick I had only learned to do recently. "Let's see..." I found the clipboard and brought it out, flipping to the elft's page and taping the pen against the paper. "You suffered a collapsed lung, severe burns on the right side of your body, three broken ribs and two fractured ones, shattered three wrist bones, three breaks in your right upper arm and another two in your lower arm, and on the left side you have another fractured rib and three broken fingers. Your left leg was shattered and your left foot was completely torn up. Healing magic stabilized you and surgery did the rest. You've been comatose for the past three days, and was brought to my home yesterday due to a surge in hospital patients from the seige of Trembolorne. "In terms of organ damage, that was also severe. A busted kidney, I already mentioned a collapsed lung, and your entire digestive system was... well, pulverized would be putting it lightly. Also, unrelated to the incident with the helicopter, you had cancer in your liver and kidney. "In terms of medical treatment, you've been given an IV line for the past couple days and several painkillers, and you underwent four separate surgeries. We reconstructed your organs, welded your bones to metal plates, and used a genetic printer to replace your skin. You're lucky to have gotten time with the genetic printer in the first place, you know; those things are expensive, and I mean expensive to run. Though it's all billed on the government anyway, but that just means that they'll only run it if they have to." The elf sat up in bed looking at me as I just stood on two paws on the cave floor. "Right, sorry, you wouldn't understand most of that." I sheepishly scratched the back of my head with my right paw. "Um... put this way, you were crushed by debris and we basically reconstructed your body before you died. So not necromancy, though you did get close to needing more advanced magical treatment." "Oh," The elf replied. The cat thing seemed to have helped, because they were no longer stuttering with their single word response. "Um... do you want anything to drink?" I tried to kickstart a conversation. "Where am I?" The elf asked again. I was silent for a second. "My home? It's right on the edge of TFSU territory, one of the southernmost places you can be while still being with the recognized borders. I chose this place because I like to fly out in the summer over the flowers in the forest at the foot of the mountains. Your village is a couple hour dragon-flight time away." "Mmmhm." The elf commented halfheartedly. "OK, um... who are you?" "My dragonic name isn't something most can pronounce, so my public name is just Vixie Remminie." I answered. "What's yours?"
The elf's eyes narrowed. "Why do you want to know my name." I blinked. "Because... It's a name? I'm not a Fey, you know, it's not like I can tie ancient demons to your soul and call it a prank or something ridiculous like that. Besides, you asked for mine; now I get to ask for yours." "And who says you won't just burn my village to the ground and eat me right now!?!" The elf suddenly burst out. "You monsters ruin everything! You trespass on our land, take our resources, and kill our people! All we did was try to defend ourselv-" I cut him off, and poured just a bit of attention in giving myself an aura. Blue fire licked the bottom of my vision as I rebuttaled his point. "Don't forget, you stole the land from us. We were the ones living in the wild when you razed our forests and grew crops. We couldn't even purchase land to live on! So yes, we stole what we could to survive and those who didn't starved and died! And when all was said and done, you tried to kill us and turned it into a war, one where we had no choice but to kill you back. And when we found someplace to run, a spot to hide and do our own thing with our own land? You blistering idiots sent you 'courageous heroes' to try and kill us! What for? Nothing! Just your stupid, moronic fear making, forcing you to decide to 'kill the big thing over there!' We can't even have freaking farmland, we have to grow it all in hydroponic farms and harvest thousand-year-old vines out of caves because this is all we have!" I realized that my aura was burning fully and scorching the ground around me. I let out a long sigh, and it died down. Several memories flashed through my head, but I pushed them away. "Apologies, my parents are still a... sensitive topic for me. It would be best if we just stayed away from talking about the war until the hospital has room for more patients again." "Yeah?" The elf was still enraged. Even sitting down, they were still trying to construct an argument. "You parents who killed how many? Your family killed how many more? You dragons, you monsters are nothing more than one large grouping of murders that deserve to die! As the gods will!" The elf was spitting in rage, but I recognized his determination to hold onto his worldview. It was the one thing I needed to pry away before it got out of hand. "And you elves killed how many more?" I asked in a low voice. "Can you tell me the number of kobold dens exterminated in caves, the number of beastpeople sent to an early grave in slave camps? Because I can tell you ours. My father's was two, my mother's four, and my extended family including deceased relatives is one hundred and thirty seven. "You declared war against monsters, you child of an elf," I growled. "And death the reality of war. We know. The Unification Wars weren't fought with swords and honor. They were fought with artillery barrages and death. They were fought with miniature suns and political backstabbing, with tanks and guns and submarines and warships and all the more death. "You say the gods don't like us! That's put lightly. They forsook us! Abandoned us in our hour of need. So we learned to live without them. There are no gods we pray to anymore, elfling. Only each other, our creations, and the universe itself. They don't want us, we don't need them. It's more than they deserve." My aura was once again charring the floor and I had transformed back into my dragon form, but this time I refused to cool it down. "You call us creations of death, the primal forces of anarchy? We are you. You are us. We are sapient, we are all mortals, no matter our advantages. We are bound to this dimensional plane, forced to serve our betters, and live out our lives not with earnest but with trepredition for when it ends. We are all death incarnate, because we can all die. That is just the way it is. Besides, you've wondered about my kill count; tell me, can you tell me the gods'? Can you tell me how many souls they have cut from fate for their own entertainment? No? I can tell you." I growled, moving closer until the blue flames enveloping my body threatened to light the elf's cot on fire. "More people than are alive on this planet right now." I pulled back, bottling up my aura and reverting to my cat form. "We can talk all we want about death and destruction, and I won't lie and say you aren't victims of the war; pre-unification dragons we're exactly kind and merciful to those with treasure hoards. But perhaps, I implore you to consider that maybe we both are victims of the war, and maybe we can one day work together instead of fighting each other. "Maybe, one day, we can fight for our rights against the gods." I moved into my dragon form and darted deeper into my cave, moving so fast I could hear the howl of the wind against my ears. Only when I had reached my memorial wall for my parents did I stop and take a breath and think over my conversation with the elf. We had a long way to go, but I hoped I had put a little bit of sense into him. I hoped that the world could change.
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When the dragon cat thing sped away, I took a moment to survey my surroundings. Only now did the effects of my first question hit my formerly-groggy head. "My home." He said. Dragons live in caves. Oooooh. I'm screwed. However, there were no treasure hoards visible from my perspective; then again, while the Monsters were stupid, they still had brains to them, and carrying me into a treasure room would probably be something they'd be able to tell was a bad idea. Pops said never underestimate you foe, A voice in the back of my head said, and the dragon even launched in a full conversation with you. You're selling the dragon very, very shor- Shut up I growled internally to the treacherous voice in my head. The cave itself was... a cave. There was a metal slab on one end, it went deeper in the other, and that was that. In a 'corner' of the jagged room there were a number of red, glowing rods attached to some kind of giant mechanism three elfs wide and six deep, but the rods glowed against the cave's light- What light source? My eyes darted around looking for one. Only now was I aware of how unnatural each shadow was, how awkward each shining rock looked, how each stalagmite could hide an entire dragon, and that was before they started transfiguring into cats. How bright the ceiling- I looked up. The bright light burned my eyes, but I needed to know what fiendish magic was in play so I could counter it. But the light didn't flicker like fire - they were far too bright for that anyway - but they also didn't have the magical circles surrounding each spell. They were... lights. As if the universe simply willed brightness into existence. Each far-too-bright-hurts-to-look-ats was placed along a main hallway clear of stalagmites running from the metal slab deeper and around a corner where I couldn't see. The lights were only poised above this one hall, and they just... shone one the rest of the cave. Looking closer, I could see thin black lines, too thin to be mana feeds, running along the walls to both the glowing red rods and to the so-shiny-the-lit-up-the-cave. And... that was that. There was no massive pile of treasure in the hall, though I suspected the dragon kept their hoard deeper than... wherever I was. There was no pile of skull trophies or the banner of cities and armies slain, and I noted that while he had told me his parents', the dragon had never told me his own. Then again, the cat thing could be lying. Dragon transfigured into a cat. Probably has Circle Of Truth around his entire den. Nonsense, dragons can only do elemental magic. Evidently not. Would you just shut up already? No- I moved my attention back to the metal slab, cutting off whatever the voice in my head had to say about my current situation; it wasn't every day one just got kidnapped by a nation of monsters, after all. The slab was truly elegant. It was painted with the monster language, and then was painted with some kind of mural. I could barely make out a blue circle with green splotches on it surrounded by twelve rings in the bottom corner because most of the door was taken up by a ice-blue cat with lighter strips engulfed in blue fire. It was a mural of the dragon cat thing. That didn't stop it from being pretty, and someone had obviously put a lot of effort into it. The flames looked realistic from what I had seen minutes ago, and the cat's details were perfectly engraved. It was... acurrate. Yeah, because I think Vixie was just trying to tell you that they built their civilization for a reason, and it wasn't carnage. You don't know what you're talking about. We both know I do. How else to you think- Listen to me, you treasonous voice of a- No, you listen to me, you pathetic excuse for a brain. The dragon was able to hold and win an argument with you, fixed your wounds that would've been a dead write-off for any other hospital, and then you think SHE barely meets the threshold for sapient? THE ABSOLUTE MORON I'M ARGUING WITH IS THE ONE YOU BARELY MEETS IT!!! You moved to your frontier village because the world was changing, Lazerot the Sixth. Congrats, you were right. It did change. Now shut your OVERSIZED EGO up at being bested by a creature ten times older than you, and go appologies before they decide that saving your life wasn't worth it. I... I... OK- No. I'm in control now. Shut up. I....... yes, sir. Good. With new resolve, I stood up. My head throbbed, and the next thing I knew was my face hitting my cot again.
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When I heard the thud of something falling in the entrance cave, I carefully moved back into the entrance cave. The elf was face-down in their cot, unconscious again. It looked like they had tried to stand and just.... fallen over. I sighed and used a claw to nudge the elf back onto his pillow, and then covered him with a blanket. I watched him for a minute, and then returned to the deeper parts of my home. The TFSU was completely overloaded with the number of patients needing treatment. Apparently, the Southener's hospitals just... didn't do anything, so in addition to soldiers, there was a massive influx of civilians to our hospitals too. Of course, this meant that they were absolutely overloaded, and the Civilized Nations strategy of fighting to near-death and then surrendering wasn't helping. So, stable recovering civilians like the elf were just... shipped out. When shelters filled up because the Civilized Nations overpopulation crisis was too bad to do anything, people just had to take them into their homes. Long story short, the government was in way over their head attempting upgrade the standard of care in the Civilized Nations while occupying their territory. My job so close to the border was remote infrastructure maintenance, and my ability to change size while not dissolving made me an expert at it - and that was before my two hundred years of experience. And then I didn't need a vehicle to get on-site, and was fast. The alarm pinging me that one of the space radars was down again gave me an excuse to avoid the elf and do some work. I grabbed a pack of supplies, put on my shapeshift-compatible uniform, and wrote down a note on a piece of paper. On my out past the sleeping elf, I dropped it for him.

Space radar system needs repair, as it's returning a false positive. It's my job to repair all the infrastructure around here, so I need to go fix it. I'll be back soon. If you're hungry, my pantry is the first cave on the right. You can just eat anything that's easily open-able in there. If it has a lock or airtight opening mechanism (anything more than a clip, really) then don't eat it. If your thirsty, there's a stream in the entrance cave near the heaters. When the door mechanism beeps, step back. Sometimes pressure in the cave can get a bit wonky, and I don't want you to get hurt. Other than that, feel free to explore. I've locked all the doors to the rooms I don't want you to enter. For toilet necessities, the second cave on the left has a properly-sized toilet. And running water, but stuff I can explain later means don't drink it. See you soon! - Vixie.

Satisfied, I left opened the door. There was a puff as the air from inside flowed out to the lower-pressure atmosphere. I could spot a snow squall to the north, and the pressure meant that it was probably coming my way. I moved out onto the ledge and closed the door behind me. At high altitudes this far north, the air was already near-zero and it was still five in the afternoon. I took just a second to confirm with the weather report that the snowstorm was in fact going to arrive on my doorledge using a smartwatch I had strapped around my wrist. When I found that the storm was coming, I opened my wings and flew. Being an Ice Dragon had its advantages, but being a Water-Ice Combined Dragon was much better. The frosty air curled around my wings as the freedom of ignoring gravity filled my brain. Ice and Water dragons both had large wings to deal with the cold air (and lower pressure leading to the requirement for more surface area to achieve the same amount of lift) and incompressable water physics (to let the wings act like a one-way fan blade as they move back and forth, increasing efficient). Dragons might be magestic creatures, but we were still bound to the physics of the mortal plane, after all. Being part of both, my wings were even bigger, making me one of the best high-altitude fliers on the planet. The ability to use both gills and lungs at said altitudes helped with oxygen also helped. Air Dragons were better at flying in normal air, but I liked to think of it like stats from a video game. Air Dragons min-maxed their stats for low-altitude, but I could go anywhere - even underwater - can keep my speed relatively high. I took full advantage of this on my way to the space radar, soaring well above the cloud ceiling and to the point where I could make out the curvature of the planet below me. The ocean spread out to my west, while more land was to my east. Snow covered the north as to the south was the telltale splotchy color of industrialism. My smartwatch beeped, as I crossed the normal altitude limit. I hadn't realized I'd gone so high; I had a radar to repair, after all. I dove down towards the surface, ignoring more beeps as I crossed half the way to the speed of sound. The wind howled angrily in my ears, but I flattened those (thank you, streamlined water genetics) and came out of my death dive right over the radar. The repair itself went relativity smoothly, though I couldn't find a broken component and chalked it up to more space anomalies. They weren't infrequent, and usually marked where the gods decided to look over the planet. For my radars, anyway. Further north, ignoring the north pole, almost no gods came out and wanted to deal with us. Our unspoken agreement was held that way. I flew straight back for my return journey. The storm was definitely closer, but fifteen minutes of flying later and I was entering the opening mechanism for my door. As it swung inwards, I heard the high-pitched scream of an elf.
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When I awoke, I found myself tucked into some covers. It took all of seven seconds for reality to catch up with me. Right. I got into a heated argument with a dragon. I instinctively touched the part of my face that had been closest to the dragon's flame. I'd read about Auras in books, but never thought I'd get to see one. They were only ever found in the most powerful and competent individuals of a race in an entire plan of existence. I wondered which skill gave the dragon hers - Vixie, I reminded myself. Either way, given that Auras are technically illusions, I wasn't hurt. The flames didn't get close enough to hurt anyway, but that didn't stop me from checking. This time, I was much more careful when I stood up. I sat up first, then started to kick my legs back and forth. That's when I spotted a paper on the other side of my cot. I stood up without thinking, but managed to keep my consciousness this time and moved towards the note. It was handwritten and contained a lot of jargon that I wasn't familiar with. Space. Radar. False positive. Airtight opening mechanism. Heater. Beep. Pressure. Toilet. Running water. I could deduce some of it. A message had come in requesting the services of the local dragon to repair a thing that has an issue, and that she would return shortly. I could wander around as I pleased, besides eating food that wasn't open or contained in a clip bag. From the tone of the message, I could deduce what a 'toilet' was. The heaters would logically be things that produced heat, so all I had to do was look for those. I wasn't able to tell time, but I supposed at this point it didn't matter. I moved over deeper into the cave, and quickly heard the sound of a stream. It led directly into a forest of stalagmites. After clambering over those, the temperature started to increase, which was all I needed to know that I was getting a drink of water. I was only now catching up to the fact that I had been out for three days, and that meant that I was extremely thirsty. I wasn't sure how I wasn't dead of dehydration at this point. I found the stream next to the glowing metal rods, and with it a clear path to my location. Sighing slightly at the wasted effort on climbing through Rock Forest, I snatched an undersized cup off a rack built into a nearby jut in the cave wall and filled it, before entering the bliss of fresh water. Back in the village, we had some of the best and cleanest water in all the land thanks to snow melt, but this took that to a new level. Cold, crisp water melted in the sun only minutes ago. It was... pure. I spent the next couple minutes simply drinking and processing everything over in my mind. The gods might have willed the monster dead, but if even the monster gods had abandoned them and survived... then how come the Pantheon never told us? Religious issues aside, there were more practical issues regarding my own survival. How did I get out. There was a thud at the metal slab, and I moved back towards it, leaving my cup to dry on the rack I pulled it from. The engraving of the cat on the metal slab was- BEEEP! What was that sound? There was a hiss, and the slab started to peel away. A gust of frigid cold air washed over me as a mage Ice-Water hybrid Aura-capable dragon that I had argued with stared me down. I did the instinctive thing and let out the scream of a human three year old, squeezing my eyes shut and waiting for the final blow. When the end of my life didn't arrive, I reopened my eyes to find the sky-blue cat standing in the hole where the metal slab was supposed to be. Then there was another... sound, and the metal slab started to move back into position. The cat was surprised for a single moment before simply charging the door and jumping through, skidding to a halt right in front of me. Which meant that I got a closer look at her. Ocean-blue strips crossed an ice-blue body fur in a fifty-fifty ratio. Small crystals of ice twinkled, floating here her wings would be. One tail was accompanied by two more made of pure blue-white energy, and the cat even had a halo. Six orbs of blue-white light hovered in lazy circles around her back, and even in a diminutive form the size of a cat the being radiated the power of an aura-capable creature. "Oh, right, sorry," Vixie said, and all the ethirial energy disappeared. Now that I knew what I was looking for, however, I could just barely tell, using my power as a mage, that Vixie was using illusion magic to hide her true energy. "You don't need to hide your reserves," I said. "Though if you're shapeshifting into forms so small that you need to expose yours, then you should just burn yours instead. It's not worth the trouble of people bottling yours." Vixie gave some kind of half-shrug. "They're not reserves, no." She said, emphasizing the word. I looked at Vixie with a sharp look, and for a second I forgot I was talking to a dragon. "Then what are they?" "They're..." The cat blushed, something I wasn't even aware was possible. She let the illusion fall away, and the tails, crystals, orbs and halo returned. "They're my regenerative baseline minimum." I looked her up and down for a second, dumbstruck. She really is a creature of power, huh? "Um.... uh..." I stuttered. "Is... that where you get your aura from?" I asked. Vixie closed her eyes with an expression on her face, and this time green flame started to peel off her. "Part of it, yeah." To control an aura like that... two auras. Just how powerful is she? I was so deep in thought that I didn't realize that the expression on her face was pain. "I... uh... what happened?" I asked, shellshocked. "Why aren't you fighting in the war?" The worldwide-powerful dragon masquerading as a cat sighed. "I... haven't told anyone. It's... personal." "I..." Only now did it hit me that I was talking with a dragon, not another person. Not just a monster, but a... creature with emotions. "You don't have to tell me." I quickly backtracked. "No, no, it's a fair question. It..." The cat let out a chuckle, and it filled the cave with a beautiful sound. "I suppose it's kind of ironic... but it starts with a kobold and a god, back when the Firma kobold tribe decided to travel north to escape the civilized nations, shortly before the amassing of all creatures in these same northern mountains and the Unification War. "Back before the gods forsook us."
Original Prompt: [WP] For as long as all the races have known, Dragons have been seen as violent, destructive creatures. After an attack on your village, you black out and find yourself in the den of a dragon. It's rather annoyed that that is how they're seen, and wants to prove that isn't the case.
u/Lycan_Jedi thank you for the prompt!
Part 2

Hi guys, I just started my first restaurant gig as a hostess about a month ago. From what I hear from the servers, it's how they all started before moving up into serving. I don't hate the job, since the popular chain sports bar I work for is a nice change of pace from being a nursing assistant. But lately I've noticed that on weekends especially, these people come in and want huge tables, be it from a kids baseball team or a big family. And when these 10, 15 and sometimes 20+ tops come in, they get impatient and sometimes get an attitude when no tables are open at the moment. I then have to go to the servers, and ask them whether they want the table, and most are cool, but a few of them don't want the large tables, so I have to figure out how to seat the guests in another section.
I've also noticed that seemingly EVERYONE wants a booth. Often I've seated customers at a table, only for them to ask, "can we have a booth?" And when there are none available, they'll look at any booths that haven't been bussed yet by the busser. They then tell me (usually women while the family stays quiet) to go over to the booth and clear it off and bus it immediately. I usually have people waiting at the door waiting for me to seat them, and instead have to hold them up to cater to these Karens.. I will bus tables when I'm not busy to help the servers and to open up tables/booths for future guests, but I feel pressured when Karen is standing two feet behind me while I stack dishes and glasses in my arms. I will wipe the tables afterward, but some people don't think I "did a good enough job" so they'll ask me to clean it again. The best part is when Karens will literally bitch about their table being wet right after they watched me clean it. One woman even laughed at me, saying that I'm supposed to dry the table before seating her and her yuppy family, who then started fanning the table with their menus, laughing to each other about how incompetent I was..
Another issue I find, is that I was told to rotate clientele to sections evenly, but often servers either are overloaded with tables or want to go home so they want one or two tables at max in order to close out their section. It's gotten to the point where if I try to seat people in a server's section, they won't tell me beforehand, or they'll shake their head at me while seating, indicating that I can't sit the people in their section, even if the customers request that section. I've gotten yelled at many times by the servers for sitting people in their sections, so I make it a point to constantly communicate with each server, in order to avoid conflict, or to avoid looking like an imbecile to the customers when I walk to one side of the restaurant, only to have to redirect them to a table (or god forbid a fucking booth) in another server's section.
There are a couple of girls who don't like me for some reason (I think it's either my lack of assertiveness and/or my being too nice) but when I've been told to NOT seat clients in their sections for whatever reason, I offer to relocate them, but the servers snap at me, saying, "well it's too late now!!" I work every 8 hour shift with no break, and I often have to walk around looking for servers, who frequently hang out in the BOH or out back smoking, to let them know I've seated someone. I can order a meal to take home as my lunch, which I give to my young son because I can barely afford food, and sometimes servers either ignore me when I politely ask them to put in an order for myself, or in one case, a server was bartending and had turned in my direction, when I was heading home and asked her to put in an order really quick, to which she snapped at me, saying "I'm talking to a customer, stop bugging me." Since she was the only person who could take my order, I left and my son didn't get dinner.
On top of everything, at the end of every shift my feet hurt so bad, since I can't sit down during my nine hour shifts, and I am paid $14/hour which doesn't include tips. And over the weekend I had a NIGHTMARE KAREN who had to wait for a table since the house was full, and she went off on me, yelling "oh, there's got to be a table open, you're just too fat and lazy to waddle around and get me one!!" I had to bite my tongue to keep from exploding or from walking out. I just cried on my way home instead...Sorry for the long rant you guys, I just needed to vent. On the bright side, many servers are nice to me, and when I rarely go out when my husband and I get paid, my son wants to come here. The last time we dined here I got one of the servers who was always nice to me. I tipped him $20 for a $45.00 bill, just for having my back and being nice to me no matter what. (And the other servers caught wind of this and have been nicer to me (more often than not) which is helping me get through my shift.
Do you guys have any advice for me? I still love my work and my coworkers regardless, but I've heard that servers make more than hosts/hostesses. Is this true? Last but not least, are/were your service industry experiences this bad or is it just my workplace?
Thanks for reading and thanks for your time and consideration in advance 🙂

Ok so my son is a little over 2.5 years. We have been successfully using the potty for pee for MONTHS now. We still will not poop in the potty. I brought it up with the pediatrician and she said "stop giving him pull ups. He can do it." So we tried that...he went 5 days without pooping and, at the advice of a potty training book that his pediatrician had recommended to us, we ended up giving him a suppository. We thought, "great, this is our chance to coach him to use the potty for poop." This kid is the most stubborn I've ever seen. He HELD HIS POOP for HOURS after the suppository. We had him bare butt and near the potty afterwards. **Gross stuff after these asterisks** He was leaking liquid doo doo out of his booty but did not release the motherload until finally we couldn't take him being in discomfort (and cleaning leaky poo) anymore and gave him his pull up.
I messaged the pediatrician after that with a "WTF else do we do?" and the clinic nurse says "yeah if it's been some days, give him the pull up."
We cannot seem to convince him to poop on the potty. CUrrently, we are putting him in a pull up and making him stand in the bathroom while he poops (he usually would poop in his play kitchen). We've offered a potty in the play kitchen (his safe space) but he refuses. We also have tried to let him poop a little then transition to the potty, which he responds with just not pooping anymore. We also try to get him to sit on the potty with his pull up on, which sometimes he poops, but usually not.
I'm getting concerned because pee has been successful for a long time. We aren't in pull ups anymore except for naps and a night time diaper for sleeping. He ONLY asks for a pull up for pooping. It's now getting to the point where if we remind him that pull up pooping only happens in the bathroom, he'll just refuse it all together. I'm sad and worried cause I know his little tummy is hurting. It also feels like we're just never going to go poop. He doesn't poop in his undies, either.
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Everything I look at for guidance has been really unhelpful as we've already tried most things with no success, or they aren't reasonable for our family and schedule. I work shift work that has me out of the house for about 14 hours 3-4 days a week and husband works from home but not in a capacity that allows for easy child-rearing. We send our son to daycare, but the peer pressure from his friends hasn't helped with the poop thing (but does wonders for everything else).
I'm not sure what else, if anything to try. I don't want him to think this is forever. We read books and talk a lot about poop and where it goes and how you feel and how we need to practice going poop on the potty and one day we'll get it and we'll get our "big boy bed" (our only real bargaining chip at this point). We don't bribe with food or toys really, and he's only somewhat motivated with sticker charts.
Help? solidarity? What do?! Will he EVER poo?
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TL;DR: My son is a super star with peeing but only poops in a pull up and we've tried a lot and can't seem to get the poo in the toilet.

** Noob question** I'm trying to replace my toilet seat, but having trouble figuring out the model number etc. Its a quiet close, elongated, Kohler toulet seat but it also has a separate Bidet attached (non-Kohler). Wasn't sure where I could get an answer so thought of posting here, let me know if anyone here can help guide me?
Appreciate the help.

It's pretty simple. We have a 2023 Coleman travel trailer with a standard foot-pump-flush Dometic toilet. We've taken about 4 trips in the thing since buying it. Toilet water pressure/flow has always been superb. When Memorial Day weekend came along, we towed from our home in Vegas to an RV park in Arizona and hit some insanely bumpy roads along the way.
We parked and set up, and the toilet flowed at the regular high pressure the first time. The second time I tried to flush, it was only a slow drip. Every time after that was just the same slow drip, and it has not returned to the regular flow/pressure.
Trailer is not leaking to the ground below, nor is it leaking inside the unit - from what we can tell (and we actually looked pretty hard). The unit was level. Shower is functioning and flowing normally, as is the sink/kitchen sink/etc. All of this is while hooked to city water with a full fresh water tank.
Any specific suggestions on what I might check? It's still under warranty but if there's anything I can check or do myself to avoid dragging it out to the dealer for a service appointment, that would be cool. Thank you!
[EDIT: We made it through the weekend because our space was very close to the restrooms, and we flushed with sink water when needed. But would still like to get this fixed before taking out again!]

Alright, so I was playing Paradise Lost waiting in line for the toilet paper on Tuesday. I noticed that my quality was kinda down (if I see a loading zone sign from up close, it's fine, but the farther I get, the more pixelated it is). I started tweaking with performance settings, and I forgot what triggered the game to crash. I booted it up again to load the save, but I keep getting the same error message as seen below:

An error has occurred. If this is the first time you've received this error, try loading a previous save file. If you continually get the same error, submit a bug report and/or check the Support Forums for assistance.
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POSTAL 2 Build Apr 17 2023 17:34:38
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OS: Windows NT 6.2 (Build: 9200)
CPU: AuthenticAMD Unknown processor @ 1999 MHz with 4095MB RAM
Video: AMD Radeon (TM) Graphics (5006)
Level: ..\PLSave\Save18.usa - Trainyard Area
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CreateTexture failed(D3DERR_INVALIDCALL).
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History: FD3DTexture::Cache <- FD3DRenderInterface::CacheTexture <- FD3DRenderInterface::HandleCombinedMaterial <- FD3DRenderInterface::SetShaderMaterial <- FD3DRenderInterface::SetMaterial <- RenderStaticMesh <- FDynamicActor::Render <- RenderLevel <- FLevelSceneNode::Render <- RenderLevel <- FLevelSceneNode::Render <- FCameraSceneNode::Render <- UGameEngine::Draw <- UWindowsViewport::Repaint <- UWindowsClient::Tick <- ClientTick <- UGameEngine::Tick <- UpdateWorld <- MainLoop

If anyone could provide something to help, then I would welcome it. Idk why it decided to crash on me before it was running fine. Thanks in advance :] (also if someone knows how to deal with objects becoming lower quality and pixelated the farther you get then please let me know)

TLDR: suddenly got a stage 3 endo diagnosis after ruptured cyst caused appendicitis; 4th traumatic experience involving my womb now (intense decidual cast event, a traumatic birth, blood transfusion after “a forest” of polyps…. Ugh!!)
I have got some questions below which I’d really love thoughts on… then my womb related drama afterwards (honestly, I think I’d love a bit of validation that this is Mega Shit and unusual and that my womb is extremely angry and badly behaved…. I find most people don’t believe me when I say I had to have a blood transfusion because of a period! I honestly feel like my reproductive organs have got it in for me.
Questions for people who know more than I do:
1) What should I look out for with cyst growth? Are there signs to watch out for?
2) if you have endometrial polyps and/or endometriosis and/or Endometrioma, can you tell symptoms apart? How do you keep on top of it all?
3) have you experienced early menopause alongside any of these conditions?
4) would you consider a hysterectomy given my history? If you have had one are you happy with the decision?
5) how do I stop medical professionals fretting over my fertility? I’ve had one child and it was highly traumatising I cannot and will not risk my mental health having any further children. My psychiatrist said as much. And yet I feel consistently ignored when I raise this?!
6) if you have uterine polyps / endometrial polyps, have you ever experienced bleeding that you think is some of them getting dislodged?
7) bleeding after lap - normal or a sign my womb is full of polyps again and getting angry and/or vengeful?
History and most recent event leading to diagnosis:
So, I’ve had a bit of a wild ride the past week… Currently recovering from surgery after getting appendicitis. It looked like a simple case, but in fact it turned out I had an Endometrioma burst, which apparently caused the appendicitis. Luckily, a gynaecology specialist was available to step in during the operation to assist with it. Apparently there wasn’t much left of the cyst, but it had made a huge mess everywhere inside that took ages to clean up.
It was a bit of a shock to say the least - whilst I’d been told that endometriosis and pcos might be worth investigating, it’s never been something doctors have given much thought to or seemed to really care about. I’ve now been told I’ve been diagnosed with stage 3 Endometriosis. I feel a bit concerned because my body clearly really went for it making a giant cyst, but apparently there wasn’t much endometriosis found other than on the back of the ovary where the cyst was.
I had no idea the cyst was there (although i have been feeling rotten for months, fatigued and in pain and just Not Right).
The CT scan with contrast that was performed suggested it was simple appendicitis with no doubt about the diagnosis. Almost all my pain was in the right hand lower side of my stomach, even when pressure was applied on the left hand side… whereas the cyst was on my left ovary. The… filling… must have exploded everywhere because it was all over my appendix and the photos I saw were kind of grim. No idea on the size of it or how long it had been growing.
I wish this was my first brush with my angry womb, but it’s not.
However, about 7 years ago I had to have a blood transfusion after losing a huge amount of blood during a period. Nothing showed up on an ultrasound following it, but I had a hysteroscopy conducted privately under general anaesthetic a month later, where a uterine polypectomy was done. The consultant said it was the most polyps she had ever seen and described it as a forest. An IUD was placed and this is still in (horribly overdue a replacement, thanks ptsd and trauma for making that more difficult than it has to be!). It was discovered that my womb was heart-shaped, which meant there was more surface area for the polyps to grow.
Before that, I had a traumatic birth where the placenta tried to detach itself, I bled heavily, my baby was breech and couldn’t turn around. I had to have a c section where I lost a lot of blood (but not enough to require a transfusion). It turned out the placenta placement meant I should have been treated as high risk for the entire pregnancy but this was missed.
Prior to that, I had a crazy reaction to nexplanon years beforehand - a month after it was fitted I was in so much pain I fell over at work. Bleeding through pads once an hour. The doctor tried to straighten me out on the bed to feel my stomach and I screamed. I couldn’t do a urine sample because it hurt so much to bend or move or pee. This was chalked up to potentially a miscarriage. I had to fight like crazy for a blood test which said it wasn’t. The doctors didn’t care and sent me home without pain medication.
Later on, I passed a grey fleshy lump. Thanks to this subreddit, 13 years later, I now know that this was a decidual cast that I passed. I suppose the grey colour was where it struggles to pass for so long? I guess I’ll never know!
Prior to all this is a history of thinking I was being a wuss or couldn’t take the pain of my periods. I’d sit with my legs and back aching, bleed through everything and generally be utterly miserable for 10 days at a time for my periods all through my teen years. My mother normalised heavy bleeding and I assumed I just was weak and couldn’t cope with it when my friends would sometimes have pain medication or be off school because of their periods .

Mid thirties, completely pressured into going by this girl. Hadn't been out with anyone since I was a child with my parents. No idea what to do, how to order etc. Walked in and immediately felt like a fraud! Thankful she said she'd go and get a table so she couldn't witness. Ordered her drink and my first pint, ok said the young lady can I just see your ID. My ID, not even close to 25 years old. No ID because I've no passport or driving licence. Terrific start, I demanded to see someone more senior, thankfully I got my request unfortunately her judgement was every bit as bad as her younger colleagues! Mortified I had to get her to order drinks for us! So back she comes with our drinks, now my first pint how fast should I drink this. I certainly didn't want to get pissed but I didn't want to arouse any suspicion so I decide I'd knock the first one back pretty quick, then slow down. Ordered our food and great it arrives fairly quickly and there's nothing for me to fuck up. 4 pints later (3 trips to the toilet) and we are about done and ready to leave, not before time because I am not sure if it was paranoia or I was starting to feel something from the beer. Now how the hell do I pay for this! Sat there awkwardly expecting a bill until she says erm you know how to pay for this right? Don't they give us a bill? Erm no, you just tell them the table number when you pay....FML. Seriously as bad as I feared. Going to revert to hermitism once again and ignore this girl.

First off, I would like to say that overall I am pleased with the patch. There are a couple things I have an issue with that some people might not agree with but I digress. I would like to start with what I love about the patch;

• Universal Beam Changes: They give everyone new combo routes that lead to superb corner carry and damage output. Characters who really excel in the corner like Cell or Black will appreciate this change
• Balance: Every character feels viable and good to play when placed with the right team composition
• Super Saiyan Vegeta: He went from arguably bottom 1 to one of the strongest characters right now. I strongly recommend those who still think he's weak to go check out Inzems latest video. He really goes in depth on the character and points out just how strong some of his options are. Amazing meter build (very important this patch), great damage, 50/50s. Every light and medium normal is safe. The list goes on.
• Trunks: HE HAS METERLESS KNOCKDOWN. I know the Trunks mains still aren't satisfied but at this point I don't think anything can satisfy yall. Now that he doesn't have to spend meter just to get a knockdown, this means more meter for ex flip which is a very strong move. Trunks mobility when mastered is honestly unrivaled and I feel like in a game like DBFZ that is huge and not to be underestimated. His assists are all good too. A assist buff was great for neutral control, B benefits from the beam buffs, and C is a great choice for lockdown and even has a reduced CD now. Stop calling this character bad.
• Blue Vegeta: I love how he is finally as strong as he should be right beside Bluku. He feels so much better to play and his assist buffs were super nice. I never thought Id be a Blue Vegeta main but I'm seriously loving him. I don't think double big bang was intended though so I wonder what will become of that.
• Assist buffs: Making assists across the board stronger means if you want strong support value, you have more options now.

Now for the things I'm neutral about;

• This really is a 2 touch game now. Even if you aren't running the meta characters from the previous season, every character when optimized can seriously dump damage now. Some characters can 1 touch you without sparking- and thats not just S Broly anymore. Cell's new optimal corner combo that starts off with 2.5 bars is a TOD- and no it does not use perfect attack. I don't know if this is necessarily a good thing because now you really get punished for getting hit in a very fast game with crazy mix options.
• A18: I actually have always liked Android 18 as a character, but now she might just be too good. Her sheer amount options in neutral, combined with her scary block pressure and season 1 oki might just be a little much.
• Ginyu: I'm glad to see him gaining more interest but let me be the first to say this character is probably the most unfun thing in the game to play against right now. Especially if they are running his B assist. There is just too much screen clutter and even though he is difficult to play at the highest level, when the player masters him its completely overwhelming for the opponent to deal with assists that don't go away even when the point character is hit. If you do so manage to find a way through all of the nonsense he has on the screen, there's a good chance you might just get hit for punishing him. He also builds an absurd amount of meter which he can use to level 7 now. At any given moment, you could potentially be dealing with Ginyu, 2 other members of the force, and his 2 assists all at once. It's just too much.

Lastly, lets talk about the the big one here:

• The meter gain nerf: While it was an effective way to prevent people from running stacked teams, I also feel like it was a very lazy way to do it. It dramatically hurts team building, and also feels like its way more detrimental to some characters more than others. Gogeta Blue, who was very strong in shells but as a solo character the weakest of the fusions, somehow feels the most affected by it since he was the only one who was primarily played point. Now his only viable position is mid since he cannot reliably point or anchor due to his weak solo play. Gogeta 4 while also primarily being a point is less affected since the meter gain nerf is only 25% and he still has his level shenanigans. Vegito doesn't feel as much affected since he is typically played mid/anchor and tagged in for his level 3 mix. Same thing with Janemba. Zamasu didnt really build much meter outside of combo extensions through assists, so it was an odd choice. He's still good in the mid position. Nerfing Hit's meter gain was a weird choice as well. I understand the logic of less meter to work means less use of his very strong EX moves, but as a character currently played mid/anchor- its not the most effective nerf.
• Beerus buffed: His 2M and level 3 is absurd now. As an already meta character, he didn't need those changes. His level 3 was already one of the strongest in the games in terms of damage, combined with the fact that it does all of its damage in one burst which is amazing against spark. To top it off, as a reversal he basically cant be punished for it.

Overall the patch has been fun but I'm hoping that with the follow up patch, they maybe tone down the meter gain nerfs slightly and explore other options to keep those characters in line. It is nice however to not see the fusions in every single match.
EDIT: Added a Blue Vegeta section because i forgot to talk about him and I feel hes worth mentioning.

will try to keep this concise, this is most likely a situation where I am not the a-hole, but it would be nice to have some insight into this ongoing situation. I’ll just start w/ a timeline:I met my bf in July of last year so we’ve been dating almost a year. I love him dearly and we’ve had similar hardships in childhood where our parents got divorced when we were young, him at 7 and me at 13. Trauma bonding to an extent I know…. but the point is we understand each other’s experience. He doesn’t talk about his childhood much and at times he says he can’t remember everything about it which is troubling to me. I only ever met his mom and sister once in person because they both live on the east coast and we are west coast. Anyways, I have a room share situation in a city 20 minutes away from where he lives which is with his dad. This room share situation is my first moving out experience/ living on my own experience and he has only ever lived in a college dorm and then after college moved back in with his dad. His dad has been battling throat cancer for the past 10 years, thankfully he seems to be in remission and it seems it won’t be coming back. I learned this information 1 month into dating my bf.
2 months into dating he has me over to meet his dad and step mom, they have been married for like 20 years. His step mom seemed like a lovely person and his dad was very quiet. 2 weeks after I meet them my bfs step mom left his dad in the middle of the night, didn't take any of her things, just left. Not knowing a lot about his dad at this time this really bothered me, that kind of behavior is something abuse victims do. She had a lot of nice stuff like expensive artwork and furniture, it's almost been a year and she has yet to get those things which is crazy to me. About a week before she left she was acting strange and gave my bf a big hug when his dad wasn't around and told him something to the effect of I love you and I'm sorry and you'll be ok, he didn't understand why she did this until she left. See, I have a BA in Society Ethics and Human Behavior, so I understand a bit of psychology and wanted to be a therapist at some point, so all of this stuff was pointing me into a dark direction, but my bf just couldn't see it at the time. See what I think happened is his dad told everyone his cancer was in remission and then step mom met me and liked me and knew my bf would have support (me) so she probably felt comfortable leaving him, she probably considered it for some time. I refrained telling my bf these theories because once again he just couldn't see it at the time/ didn't want to admit this was happening, and he's a very sensitive person which I love about him. The other unfortunate aspect of this situation is that my bfs stepmom was the breadwinner of the household. His dad used to be a doctor and retired 10 years ago, while she was a ER nurse and paying the mortgage on their house which he originally purchased on his own 20 years ago. At this time they are going to court to divy up/ divide the monetary worth of the house.
Because of this unfortunate situation, and the fact that he has no retirement money to speak of for some reason I don't even know... my bf while already paying rent to live with him had to chip in even more money for paying the utilities and groceries and what not. If you're curious his dad was charging him $800 to live in this small rambler house built in the 50s (don't get me wrong it's a lovely house but that's kind of steep to ask from your own son). You may be asking, why doesn't he just get a loan and not put this burden on his son who did nothing wrong? HE WAS ALREADY IN DEBT. A couple months in I started having a unfortunate and abuse related issue of my own in my house sharing experience. I had naively neglected to realize it's probably not a good idea to live with your landlord, let alone a very mentally unwell landlord. That story is long and egregious and probably worth a post all of it's own but I'll skip to the inciting incident which was 4 months into us dating. Covid was spreading around our city and everyone was getting it. I had unfortunately gotten it probably from riding the bus and most likely despite my best efforts, gave it to my landlord before she went on a business trip to a different city. She was so mad at me that despite how hard I tried I still gave it to her (I mean we share the same kitchen and live on the same floor). She came home and threw her suitcase on the floor multiple times, threw a heavy object near my head in the kitchen, slammed doors, cursed, stomped and mumbled to herself all day. I know it doesn't sound too terrible but it gave me a panic attack and I basically felt unsafe and trapped. I asked my mom what I should do and I don't understand why but she told me not to break the lease and it will look bad, but I really wanted to. Because she signed the lease with me she would not agree to me breaking the lease, I was literally trapped. This may be a good time to quickly mention my own family relationships. See through my education in college on mental disorders, I only about a year ago realized that my mom is probably a narcissist or at the very least has narcissistic traits. Examples? She once straightforwardly told me and my brother her romantic life comes before us and our needs, she told me when I was seriously depressed and suicidal that "it's not my fault you want to jump off a bridge" when she literally ripped me away from my dad and my friends in my home town to live with her bf, and she quietly gave away MY 2 dogs when I was 16 and we moved because she was afraid it would be a "big hassle." Ok, I think you get the picture. I'll wrap this thought up by concluding that I have someone very close to me who is a narcissist so I understand how they act and because of this issue with my landlord I started spending more and more and more time living with my bf and his dad.
At first everything was great between the 3 of us. Family dinners, great discussions, inside jokes and nicknames. But I eventually started to notice that my bfs dad (I'll just call him B from now on) was actually a lot like my mom, hyper intelligent but lacking insight and neglectful of other people's needs and feelings. He would always be short w/ my bf and he always had to be right, I started to realize that he's quite pompes. A small example would be that sometimes we all 3 would forget to turn the heat down at night and my bf suggested we just put a sticky note on the wall by the thermostat until we all have the idea ingrained. B scoffed at this idea and basically said that was stupid, but we did it anyway and it worked for all 3 of us, just a very small example there. As time went on I started nudging my bf into the idea that his dad needs to figure out what to do about this whole divorce and money thing on his own and my bf needs to start his own life, whether that's living with me or not. This was difficult because I didn't want him to think I don't care about his dad because I really do. Despite the messed up things my mom has done to me I, if you can believe it, have actually patched a lot of things up with her. I believe in second chances and just because someone has narcissistic traits it doesn't mean they don't deserve love, you just have to be really careful about it. My belief is we all can co-exist together if we just try, I understand not everyone feels that way and I totally respect that. So basically I just said we need to help him the best we can while also thinking about ourselves and our life together.
I was really patient on this point and was basically just waiting out my year long lease. Now this is the part where I feel a little selfish and bad about my actions. Initially I had thought when my lease was up I was just going to live with B and my bf ..... I know I know, "you just said you were nudging your bf to move out!" Admittedly, I was flip flopping on the issue, I felt terrible to leave B! Basically the feelings come down to this; this is really all his fault, he got himself into this, this isn't our problem, and moreover he should realize all of this and yet he doesn't. And, but he's been through so much with the cancer and the divorce and he's all alone because all of his immediate family wants nothing to do with him, and then I wonder... hey wait why is that? And the cycle continues. I thought there was something redeemable in him. However it's important to note I never promised this or even ever said this to B that I would move in and pay rent, he suggested it and I said maybe, we'll have to see how things shake out. Eventually a bunch of little things piled up that made me realize I just can't live under his roof. He is a super nitpicky and poking person who makes a big deal out of everything. One small example is I purchased a alcoholic tall boy that was in a plastic bag and in my haste I put it down in a cabinet where we store alcohol while it was still in the plastic bag. He called my bf while he was at work and made it this HUGE thing because the plastic bag looked... ugly?? In a place where no one can see it.... a bunch of little things like that piled up and basically my mom is like that, my landlord is like that, a bunch of people in my life are like that and I just can't take it. I need to live with people who understand it's ok to make a mistake, like my bf. Admittedly even though I'm explaining why that doesn't work for me, my reasoning does bother me and I feel selfish.
Anyways, I was lucky enough to find a place just in time before my lease was up and around this time my bf was realizing that he can't keep doing this with his dad and he needs to start his own life. So we singed the lease together and I think it's going to be great. However, I'm not trying to speak for my bf too much here but this is where I think he could have done better, I think he needed to give his dad more notice that we were no longer going to be living with him, I mean yes we told him we were before we signed the lease but I don't think it really sank in for him, I think he really doubted we would do that. My theory is that I think my bf is more scared of B than he realizes, and he's scared to tell him hard facts, and I think he knows B is very manipulative and if we had told him sooner, it's possible he would have broken us down into not doing it. That's one perspective I guess. It's important to note that before we signed the lease but after we agreed to move out, my bf told me he will sign the lease with me, but he can't move in just yet because he wants to set an ultimatum with his dad of 3 months of financial support and in that time he will need to figure out what to do, once again remember B has no income coming in at all, just a small social security check and my bfs rent and other assistance. I was upset at first but as you can maybe tell I'm an understanding person and sympathetic to the whole situation. Additionally, 3 months from now is when the trial will start with his ex wife/ my bfs stepmom, so he will have a better grasp of the situation by then.
Well apparently this arrangement is not enough for him, and he basically flipped out when my bf made it clear we are actually doing this, he sent him a bunch of guilt tripping text messages told him "we made a deal" (when they didn't) and all of this stuff. What really hurt is he told my bf that I basically "run his life" when this could be farther from the truth. The fact is my bf has probably been through some kind of abuse he doesn't realize quit yet and may be suffering from some PTSD. He has a terrible memory and is sensitive and is moreover just a special guy, I have never made him do anything he doesn't want to, I didn't make him live with me, and if he felt stifled he is free to leave the relationship whenever he wants, or he can just talk to me about it. I will say that I probably "mom" him a little too much, I know you may cringe from reading that but I want to be honest and it's something I'm working on, and this is probably where B is thinking the "running of his life" is coming from. All I want more than anything is for my bf to be happy and free so B saying that really hurt me. It made me realize he probably never liked me to begin with, also he is really disrespectful to women in general so I should have probably realized that. To end this thought I want to make it clear the person I feel for the most is my bf, this whole thing is tearing him apart and it's not fair, he's facing pressure from me and his dad and that's just not what I want. I don't want this to sour their relationship, even though he's acting this way deep down I don't hate him.
Ok 2 more points and the stories over lol. In addition to him guilting my bf this is where the "taken advantage of" part comes in. After dating my bf for like 6 months and basically living at their house for 3 months, B did in fact bring up the fact that he would kind of like me to start paying rent. I explained to both B and my bf that I'm so gracious and thankful for his hospitality, I will help pay for utilities, and groceries etc, but I cannot pay him rent when I'm already trapped in a lease agreement somewhere else, I wanted to I really did but I just couldn't do that, my job at the time was not paying me well and all in all it would have amounted to me shelling out $2,000 a month when I made $3,000 from my last job. I just wish he understood that the reason why I was there all the time is because I felt safe with them, I do have friends but their living situation wasn't conducive to me also living there. He said he was sympathetic to my situation but I don't think he actually was, I think he thought I was playing victim. I tried many times to live at the place I pay rent for and make things right with my landlord after that big incident but the damage was done and I'm legit scared of her. He eventually let it go and this is where I have to say that if he really really wanted me to pay rent that bad I wish he would have put his foot down and said you either pay rent or you can't spend all of your time here, I would have been upset but I would have respected that that's what he needs, I thought he had understood my plite and dropped it but in reality he was stewing over it the whole time apparently. Back to where we are now, he's basically telling my bf that he seems to want me to retroactively pay rent for the 5 months I have been basically living there. To me, it just feels like a cash grab and so selfish of him to NOW say that's what he wants. But, that is why I am making this post and trying to gain a broader insight into the situation. In hindsight I probably should have just tried to not spend SO MUCH time there, and I understand that is where I probably messed up, more communication was needed on both our parts.
Last point. So you may be wondering wait.... so this house, (which is in a beautiful rich area btw) is his, his ex wife may have been paying the mortgage for the past 10 years but he is the one who bought it, surely he will get money from this if he just sells the house and downsizes a bit right? About that.... see B has this goal that he wants to have my bf and his sister inherit the house which I must admit is admirable. However, there is some important context, the sister has an amazing job and is on track to be a doctor herself and I haven't mentioned this yet but my bf based on his age and how long he has been in his field makes a decent amount of money as well. The fact is that this would more than anything be a vacation home for them, as I have no doubt they will be able to purchase/ rent a house in the future, they are smart people. But anyways therefore he refuses to sell the house, even though people come knocking on his door asking to buy it constantly. Additional context is that this is a humble 50s style rambler sandwiched between 3 McMansions in a disgustingly rich area, I don't think it's realistic that he can maintain it for another 20 years, it's already in disrepair because the roof is done for, he needs to cut his losses and move on, but he refuses. I find it so ironic that he is battling with my bf over something that is supposedly all for him and his sister? But this is where I have to butt-in and say something that might sound really bad. I don't actually think he is doing this all for my bf and his sister, I think he is doing this for him plain and simple. I don't think he wants to downsize at all, I think he is too used to his cushy life of having everyone pay for everything he does. This last point might sound strange and petty but, I swear to you the other aspect of this is his... garden. I swear this dude B probably loves his garden more than he ever loved his ex wife, no lie. And I must say it is very impressive, it's all he works on all day. I completely understand how heartbreaking it would be to leave his garden, the thing he worked so hard on, and see it destroyed or not taken care of. But in my opinion he needs to deal with the consequences of at the very least neglecting his wife, the person who he relied on for food and shelter, and not make this our problem. P.S. this guy also spends money like he actually has it, he buys expensive things and goes on trips with my bfs money and doesn't save it or anything.
TLDR; I have been paying rent somewhere else while in reality spending all my time and basically actually living with my bf and his dad. He asked me to pay rent at some point, but I pleaded with him that my landlord is abusive and that is why I am there all the time. I said I will help buy groceries and pay utilities but I cannot afford to pay rent at 2 different places. Instead of being straight with me he acted like it was ok while all the while he was planning in his head that I was going to retroactively pay him rent (I don't think I'm using the word right but you get what I mean). Instead of selling the house and downsizing given his current situation of losing all of his income in a divorce, he wants me and my bf to monetarily assist him until god knows when, he feels taken advantage of. I know divorces are tough but I have a strong suspicion he was abusive to his ex wife, a person who he solely relied on for food and shelter, and acted shocked when she left him in the middle of the night. My bf could move out anytime he wanted but made the tough decision to financially assist his father, who in my opinion is in denial about the gravity of his poor financial decisions.

Hello,
I bought home about 9 months ago. Our city has app for monitoring water usage and it is telling me that I have an ongoing leak at my home resulting in loss of water about 5 Gallons/hour.
Builder sent out plumber to check issue. He ran pressure test and said that there is no leak he could find.
I have checked all the toilets, faucets etc. to make sure there are no signs of leak either.
Only thing is while mowing lawn about 2 months ago, I accidentally cut into one of the sprinkler pipes in backyard. Leak notification started about 3 weeks ago. I haven’t turned sprinklers on for at least a month as it has been raining on and off. What are my options?

Hi! Long story short, but my mom had a stroke in January and is now probably well enough to look for assisted living facilities, unfortunately she just doesn't have the money for it. I am going to have to move her into a nursing home and spend down her money so that she can qualify for Medicaid. It is a horrible situation and I am really struggling with guilt because I know that I'm basically throwing her in a nursing home for the rest of her life even though she is almost definitely going to be able to live mostly independently one day.
I am trying really hard to find a decent place for her so that I can at least feel a little better about it. I'm not able to take her to tour any of the facilities because she is currently in Savannah. I know that most nursing homes are pretty crappy, but I wanted to post here and see if anyone had any personal experience (either negative or positive) with any. I am feeling really lost and super overwhelmed, I'm going to be the only person coming to visit her ever and so I feel a lot of pressure to try to find somewhere that's at least half decent. I live in Commerce and would vastly prefer somewhere within 30 minutes of me if possible, as I have two jobs and don't know that I'm going to have the time to drive much farther than that every week.
Any help at all would be appreciated, I have been researching assisted living because I was hoping to be able to make something work, but it's at the point now where I think I probably need to look for nursing homes and this is my first step.

25f, 220lbs, overweight but otherwise healthy. Never had stomach issues prior. Blood pressure and heart rate is perfect, no fever. I took a round of Doxy for a BV infection I had 2 weeks prior to my episode in April.
It started the beginning of April where I had the worst episode of puking, high fever, tremors, and incontinence that lasted around 5 hours. It was the sickest I’ve ever felt in my life. Days prior to that I just had normal diarrhea which I thought was because of the antibiotics but after the other symptoms I feel like it was food poisoning/stomach virus.
Fast forward to now and I’m still not going to the bathroom normally. It’s always loose and there’s a yellow tinge to the toilet water. It doesn’t look like fats/oily, but like bile. I was initially worried about cdiff since I was taking antibiotics but I’m not running to the bathroom multiple times a day and it’s not watery. I’m worried about bile malabsorption mostly and how this is affecting my poor intestines. Within the past day I just started getting a pain to the right of my belly button. Just a dull pain that comes and goes, I’m still just monitoring it.
My doctor knows this has been happening for 2 months now but wants to wait a month and a half longer to refer me to a gastro. My current plan is to try high fiber, bland diet, and probiotics.
Would my gut still be out of balance 2 months after the “stomach virus” thing I went through or should it have resolved on its own by now? Im wary on waiting what will probably be 2-3+ months to get into a gastro and don’t know if I should advocate for a referral now or get a second opinion.
Edit: I will add that my anxiety has been crazy ever since I was sick in April, and that’s why I started the Lexapro. I’m sure the stress is not helping the digestive issues but I don’t think it’s the main cause.