Hello, I (22F) have been with my boyfriend (24M) for 7 years, but I cant help but think that my boyfriend doesn't put any effort into me/ our relationship. Take me on dates, get me flowers (that isnt for valentines day), or even just hang out with me that doesnt involve him being on his phone the whole time etc. I've communicated that with him, but he would get upset when I bring it up and I would feel bad because I am grateful for him and every bare minimum thing he has done for me.. so I just stopped pushing it. In the beginning - I helped him get his first job when he was 21 because I did not like that he asked his parents for money (in front of me sometimes) to take me out on a date or to go watch a movie. So I applied to jobs for him. No biggie sometimes people need a little push when it comes to a first job. We've been together for 7 years and he is 24 now and still has not gotten his drivers license. When I was 16-17 I begged him to get a drivers license because my parents were upset that I picked him up and drove us everywhere.. so I helped him study, I took him to the dmv to do his permit test. He passed, but procrastinated on learning how to drive so his permit expired. I took him to the dmv again a year later and he passed, but this time I put my foot down and attempted to teach him how to drive myself because I knew that he was probably going to procrastinate again. He didn't like how I taught him so he said his dad was going to teach him.. its been 7 years and still no license so Ive been driving us to work (I got a part time job at the same place because it was easier on the gas), to do errands and picking him up from places. I got over the license so it doesn't bother me as much anymore kinda, but it does get tiring never getting to sit in the passenger side at least once especially when I do get anxious a lot to drive. Not biggie though? I dont mind I just wanted to put that out there because it always bats an eye when ever I tell people my boyfriend cant drive. We live together now - We started living together 3 years ago, and then moved to the opposite side of state together 2 years ago. It felt like a new opportunity for our relationship to grow because we moved to a city we've always talked about moving to that we know no one in and he always told me about focusing on each other and his plans about taking me on picnic dates on the beach or going hiking every week because its my favorite activity , but now that we are here hes taken me on maybe 2 dates (that I planned) and went hiking once (that I planned). We havent done that picnic date yet unfortunately, but I went on a picnic on my own once while he stayed home because he didn't want to come with me. Sometimes when I would communicate that I wish we would do things more going out or not at least something together even at home like cook a meal, do a puzzle, paint or things he likes like playing video games together, but it never happens. Ive learned that hes not much of a leaving the house person so Ive adapted to that lifestyle of just staying at home and watching tv together even though he's usually just on his phone most of the time when we do. Our life at home weekly usually ends up with us not going anywhere even after he and I made this whole week plan for us to go do something and I get so excited but It always never happens and he ends up just gaming the whole day (he has a schedule for gaming with his friends to give me times he's unavailable to do things with me but its always flexible when it come to that for him - he would cut our day going out short so he can get home on time to get on his game and it didnt bother me till it happens at least everyday all day) while I lay in bed or him on his phone while I try to make myself productive and do activities I like while he does his I guess. But I understand that he needs his space too so I don't ask all the time about doing things so I just now wait till hes in the mood to (rarely in the mood). Im just a little sad because I do feel like Im rotting on the couch sometimes waiting for him to be done gaming so he can watch a movie before bed like he promises to get off the game before 12am (usually on from 3-12am sometimes 6-12am), but sometimes hes too tired afterwards and just wants to go to bed. Sometimes sex, but rarely.. only when hes in the mood not when I am. Things we do when we have a day together- Usually he would need to run an errand that day so I would drive him to the places he want to go to like a store and Ill just follow him around (one time I drove him to a shop he wanted to go to, but asked him if he knew what he was looking for because its a pretty far drive and I pay for gas, but I dont mind taking him and he'll always end up not getting anything anyways when we've been in the shop for 2 hours just for him to see a shirt he saw online in person and end up just buying it online anyways) , and after he'd let me drive us to go where I want to go, but nothing that he wouldnt have interest in like going thrifting with me, the farmers market or to a art store because he gets bored because I take too long. We usually end up at target because it easy and he needs something from there too. Im really tired of going to target every other day, but he considers it going out or a date if he buys me a coffee or boba after. Sometime I would want to eat out after and will offer to pay, but we never do. So usually he rushes to get home before 6 ever time we go out so he can game with his friends and Ill wait or do my own thing till hes done. Other than that days we are off is errand day so the usual grocery shopping, laundry mat, target, then back home. I wish we did more things like other couples do like try new resturants, go to a park, etc. but theres always a clock over my head so it never happens so my day is just being at home. Why do I love/ still with him? - He is my high school sweet heart been together for a long time and we've expressed to each other all the time that we love each other even though he doesnt do the things I wish he did for us, he is loyal, patient, respectful, honest, kind, well mannered, hygienic and loveable by everyone he meets. He has a great family all very kind and took me in as their own. They also have said they cant wait for our future together. I believe that he shows his love in other ways like cleaning our home on his own, (now) offering to pay for most things, cooking sometimes when I dont, ordering me food, buying my favorite snacks, doing acts of service for me whenever I ask him to grab me something from another room and letting me just relax. Hes very clean, smart and just knows what needs to be done and wont require me to lift a finger. I do love him and everythings hes ever done for me cause he has help me with a lot. He knows me more than anyone I know even more than my own family. He talks about our future and where we will end up which I love. I dont look for a lot in a person as long as I know they also see a future for the both of us. What think we are lacking- Romance and memories. Even though we are deadset on one another, it hurts knowing all of these days, weeks, months are going by and we aren't actually experiencing things together. Every plan just falls though. I want us to explore and do fun stuff we've never done. Not just stay home and calling it a day. Forget the license, passport renewals, or even leaving the house ffs etc. Ill do it, as long as I we can do something that will create memories that we can look back at and talk about even if its just simply being at home watching something or doing a puzzle as long as its the both of us doing it together. I want us to have stories of our love while we are still young. We've always talked about wanting to travel and see places we always talked about when we first started dating. I wish I had something to tell people when they ask what we did this past week (not that what other people say matters to me) but getting asked that and realizing we dont do anything but us stay home while he plays video games and I just lay there or go run errands kind of takes a toll on my heart because this is not how I saw our life together. Its been years of this. Ive adjusted to what he wants but I dont think he realizes that Im just not happy anymore and feel like Im just another person that he has to please but I really dont ask for much or do I? Im getting sort of tired of waiting. Its really taken a toll on my mental health and dont have anyone but him.
I dont even know anymore. Any thoughts?

I signed a brand new lease with my friend in a new state to get out of an abusive relationship. My friend offered to help me gather my things out of my abuser’s home and help me to safely get away from him. I did end up asking if their boyfriend could drive the Uhaul truck I’d rent because I would be driving down there with my own car. The boyfriend agreed to help because he realized I’m in a physically abusive situation. My abuser lives a couple hours away and my friend told me that their boyfriend could drive the Uhaul.
Note: that no one mentioned about getting paid for doing a moving job (which is important later on).
Fast forward to moving day I had to wait for my friend to get off work at 1 PM and I would make the 6 hour drive down to my abuser’s house with my car. We arrived at the location but the shorter Uhaul I asked for was not available at the scene and instead we were given with a very long Uhaul truck to compensate for inconvenience. I was worried that their boyfriend would feel uncomfortable driving it but he reassured me he would make it work. I offered to pay for a motel room that they could sleep in because by the time we got the Uhaul truck it was already 10 PM and by the time we were finished moving my things it was 12 AM. I offered to pay for them to stay the night in a motel room so that my friend’s boyfriend would not be sleep deprived driving back for 6 hours straight. I also offered to my friend to do it in a different day where they had a day off because there would be more daylight when moving my things but they insisted to show up at my abusers place very late at night. I’m assuming they had plans with their bf on their day off which is a valid reason. Both of them rejected my offer to sleep at the motel which again will bring up later on.
The night I was gathering my things was an emotional night for me and I was not paying attention to my phone when they asked me for gas money. My mind wasn’t in a good place because well moving out of your abusive boyfriend’s house is not a very pleasant experience. The entire time I was there my abuser was trash talking and putting me down. I only saw their message after they had already made the commitment to drive and left with the Uhaul. I did help them loading the Uhaul truck. Normally in situations like this I would of course pay for the gas so I offered to pay them later which would amount to $150.
I was not able to drive back with both of them during that night because my car had recent issues pop up that made it extremely unsafe to drive. I ended up staying with a local friend in that area and the couple made the drive back without me. A day later I tell them I’m coming home with a rental car but I won’t be arriving later at night. During my 6 hour drive back they started moving my things inside the two story apartment without me there to help. I apologized a lot for the unexpected issues that came up with my car and if it hadn’t happened I would be helping move in my things. They reassured me it was fine and it’s not my fault that issue came up.
Well they successfully got all my things inside beside one expensive bed frame. While texting my friend they explained how the bed frame snapped in two and I would have to get rid of it. I was bummed out by this information but tried not to let it bother me too much because escaping my abuser is a much serious issue that I should be grateful for. My friend made it seem like it naturally snapped but upon further investigation it was purposefully destroyed. My other new roommate who helped to move this bed frame admitted they had to intentionally destroy it because dismantling it in an upstairs hallway would take too long and it didn’t fit. He explained that even bringing it back downstairs would take an hour so they made the decision to give up on moving it inside and destroy it on the spot without my permission. From their perspective I can understand they are tried from bringing stuff inside but having no consideration for my things leaves a sour taste on my mouth.
The bed frame costs around $350 and puts me in a awkward situation bringing up if they could reimburse me since they helped me with my belongings. My abuser is also the one who bought it for me so it’s technically a gift even though I didn’t pay for it. I struggle with standing up for myself but I know that as a basic rule when living with people if you damage someone’s belongings you need to either fix it or replace it. I don’t have family so I only had myself and one close friend who was willing to help me get out of that house.
I did let my local friend know about this situation and they told me I should ask my friend’s bf to reimburse the bed frame. My friend did mention that their boyfriend wants the payment for the Uhaul gas. I mention now and show to them how much my bed frame cost and asked if he could reimburse me half of the price. This becomes a heated situation and my friend starts saying:
“Well X never got paid for a moving job”
But this was never mentioned that he did want to get paid for it in the beginning or else I would have made a financial arrangement on how much he expected me to pay him for helping me. Now I feel that he is bringing it up to be petty and avoid replacing the bed frame which is unfair.
“Well me and X were awake for 24 hours”
Why make me feel bad for this when I did offer to pay for them to sleep in a motel room? I offered so that they wouldn’t be sleep deprived making this drive but they insisted on doing it one go at that night. I offered a solution but it got shut down. I also suggested to move it to a day where everyone is free and can arrive at the location with plenty of daylight but this offer was rejected.
“Why does it matter if your abuser paid for it? Its technically free and you didn’t pay for it”
I’d love to see what Reddit’s opinion on this one is. I believe it doesn’t matter if it wasn’t given to me for free by an abuser, you are still obligated to replace something you broke despite it being a gift. I think they are also dismissing the value of the item because they are using that argument that it was given to me by a shitty person?
I bring up I would pay for the gas but given that my bed frame unexpectedly destroyed, I believe I should be reimbursed for it. My friend continues to argue with me that X doesn’t work and that he lost $150 out of his account. He won’t have money for food anymore. I genuinely feel bad about this but the way my friend brings all this up to me is in an aggressive manner, I’m thinking to pressure me into paying their boyfriend. I’m coming on here to ask if I am the asshole or overreacting in this situation? Should I pay this person for the gas even though he broke my bed frame that cost more? I’m willing to come to a resolution with all this. I want some second opinions because I do feel pinned down by three people who believe I should send him money. Let me know your thoughts below.

A study mentioned that the third brother has an increased chance of 33% of being born homosexual. (Remember, one study is not enough and thus the information is not set in stone, but regardless they still tend to show patterns found in nature!)
Why? I personally think because the first two younger brothers are enough to continue to pass on the respective genetics, and the reasons why the third child has an increased chance of being born gay is to prevent that, which is basically, reproducing.
So LGBTQ people are not abnormal as in mentally disable, BUT they are also not meant to pass on their genes, as decided by how they were born.
Which may be an explanation why the rest of the people find them weird and out of place. Because everyone's gut feelings and instincts say it's something different. And as a society, we can't say gut feelings should be listened to most if not all the time and then when the straight people say the queerness is...quirky, they are cancelled lol, that's how hypocrisy works.
I personally accept the LGBTQ and don't mind them existing and having rights, to a certain degree of not feeling comfortable with them imposing their weirdness on me and my life, such as deadnaming and using different pronouns or even in combinations. That for me comes naturally as weird, and I cannot change that instinctual feeling no matter how many guilt trips I am sent through.
Going back to creating queer families, I don't think that's healthy for any child, as the children should grow in a natural environment with a masculine and feminine energy synthesis around them. Look at the animal kingdom, yes there are queer specimens, but there are no queer families between no lions or dolphins or anything else!!
And I also disagree with the pressure on children to discover "what they are"💀 They are born to be either female or male in their roles as girl/woman and boy/man!! The switch to queerness and the double/mixed genital organs are exceptions much like albino genes are an exception! Unfortunately that can't be normalised the way people want to be aide our "straight" gut feelings are telling us otherwise.
Biologically, one individual can carry offspring and the other has the semen to create one as well as the capacity to take care of the former individual. That is it, black and white! Queer community is made of shades of grey, but at the end of the day is still black and white behind their existence. Reproduction wise, just penis and vagina, and a "third" of a combination of them.
Regardless how controversial this is or whatever woke bullshit you think, my gut feeling says this so go bark at the other trees! I accept only polite replies.

Orginal Story by C.K. Walker
Written By Ayden M.N. and u/Memisworld_23
SPOILERS FOR BORRASCA V
(Constructive Criticism is welcome and encouraged)
...
One hundred thirty two. That is the amount of people that were rescued that day on the mountain. I would be lying if I said it didn’t take me by surprise to hear the news about the stables let alone the number of people that were there. It makes me think back to when I was a kid and all the strange and tragic things that happened to me then. It's funny how time changes, how everything wilts away. How life goes on without a wait or stop. Sometimes you'll forget what lurked underneath, and when you do remember, it's already too late. I couldn't say my childhood wasn't bad but it's basically not as cheery as most kids have it.
My father was definitely sucked into his job as a lawyer, while my mom was bustling her back at an old diner, drinking her sorrows away. None had any time to spare for me, as a child. It made me a pretty independent child, and when my mother decided to give birth to Lucy, I became that mother figure that I never had. Aside from Lucy, I had nobody else to talk to. School in Drisking was okay, but I would be lying if I said it was a good experience. I was pretty much alone from childhood to teens. Most kids already had their own friends, their designated trio. I would always refer to it that way. It was by sheer luck that I really did find a friend. Someone who I could share my emo playlist alongside with and in return she taught me a lot about DnD.
However like if the world knew I was meant to be alone, she was taken away from me. I never knew what happened to her, but I beat myself about. If only I didn't moved from Drisking, maybe I could had found her sooner.
The one thing that has remained consistent is my ritualistic daily breakfasts at the diner. From the start of my freshmen year, I never missed a day of going to the diner. It was my way of getting my head together and preparing for the day ahead. Even into my adulthood, I never stopped going. Imagine my surprise when I saw a face that I’d honestly thought I would never see again. It didn’t click at first. I just felt like I knew it.
She was about 5’8” with asymmetrical short dirty blond hair. Her clothes were mainly black and I can just see something protruding from her around her waist. She had a plain black shirt tucked into her pants with a well-kept belt. She wore a Nobel 6 zip up jacket -Clearly a Halo fan- and a small d20 pin on it. Where this seems normal to the untrained eye, I can’t help but feel deja vu from looking at this woman. She seemed like this distant dream that is so fuzzy that it’s just familiar enough to almost recognize.
She walked into the diner and was given a table next to mine. I racked my brain trying to figure out who this was. I examined every part of her, again, and again, and again, just trying to make sense of who was sitting right there in front of me. She was so close, yet she was so distant from me.
“May I help you?” She sighs, putting her coffee down on the table in a way that I can only describe as a contained irritation. “Or are you just going to stare at me like I’m an exhibit?”
I wasn’t even conscious I was staring. She turns to me and it all clicks together. The d20, the jacket, and, my new discovery, looking at her closer and can see her, the freckle on her upper lip.
“Kat? Is that really you?” Stunned, I blurted out. I was adamant that that familiar woman had to be her. No one had that exact same freckle like her.
“That depends on who is asking.” She rolls her eyes taking another sip of her coffee.
She doesn’t recognize me? It makes since she didn’t. It’s been so long. Looking down at my empty plate, as I really wanted her to recognize me. Should I introduce myself? I thought, maybe I'll make her remember me.
“So you don't know me? I can give a hint, I'm sure it might give you an idea on who I am.” I nervously laughed, as I dug into my black leather purse.
Quickly, I pulled it out, plopping down a custom made d20 dice on the table. I remember painting my own dice black, since I was super obsessed with the color black as a teen.
“Wait,” Kat puts down her coffee again, this time with more of a clang. “What is that? Where did you get this?”
Placing the dice right next to my plate, I felt my throat lumping already.
“Remember on my 16th birthday, when it was only you and me. I remember we almost burned the house down because we had the dumb idea to bake a cake.”
“Pauly…?” A slow recognition comes across Kat’s face. Replaced soon by unadulterated joy. “Well, I’ll be damned!”
Tears started to well up my eyes, I was so ecstatic to finally see her eyes flashed with recognition. I slowly got up to my chair, every step I took felt like I was stepping in a pile of needles. Getting a great look on Kat, she looked different from the nerdy shy girl I knew. But, I didn’t care how different Kat looked, I was happy to see my old friend alive.
“I just don't know what to say. I thought I've lost you.” I whispered, my voice already trembling as I spoke.
“Oh,” Kat's voice cracks a bit too, pulling me into a hug. “It’s okay. I’m here.”
Kat seemed to be holding back tears. Just being with her now, I couldn’t even wrap my head around it. It seems so surreal. Even when I hugged her, it felt like it was a fabricated dream. But it wasn't, this was all flesh and blood.
“Just…how are you…I'm so sorry that I never found you. Everyone, even the cops told me that you were long gone. I had hoped you'd come back. Just didn't know it would take this long.” Wiping my tears with my sleeve, I hugged even tighter. She was much taller than me, so I couldn't really comprehend it.
“Hey, hey.” Kat chuckles a bit. Still holding back tears, I could tell. “It’s okay. You…There was no way you could have known. I have a lot of explaining to do, I’m sure but let’s forget about that for now.”
“Yeah…I'm just so happy to see you again.” I sat across from Kat's seat, picking up a napkin to wipe the rest of my tears. It rubbed off some of my mascara, making me think it was a horrible idea to try out some make up today. “So, um…what have you been doing over these years? I see you got a gun holster over there?”
“Well, I…” Kat cut herself off. “I was a SWAT operative. It’s, uh, a long story. How about you?”
“SWAT? No wonder you look so tough and badass!” I then continued enthusiastically. “Well, I'm actually a nurse practitioner. I'm very specialized in prenatal care. I know it's funny because I really didn't like babies back then.”
“Oh? That’s…nice.” Kat’s voice shudders. “And I wouldn’t call myself a badass for being SWAT. It…makes you question a lot of things about yourself for sure. It’s all in the interest of others though.”
My smile slowly fell, as I was scared if I might've made her upset. “I see, I understand. We both are doing jobs that help people, and probably had to endure some bad cases once in a while.”
“Did…did you ever find Kincade?”
Kincade. I haven't heard of that name since after moving Drisking.
I took a deep breath, as I responded. “I did manage to find Kincade after your disappearance. They never told me what happened, and I lost contact ever since. Last time I checked, Kincade moved to California.”
“Oh, thank god.” Kat sighs out of relief, as she takes a seat back down. “Knowing that girl, she’s living it up in LA. Well, I was actually in New York all this time. I thought it would be a good place to settle down. For what it was worth, the NYPD was good to me.”
“Oh I can tell she is. I followed her Instagram, and she's always posting pictures of parties and such.” I tucked a strand of hair in the back of my ear, while I pulled out my phone to show Kat Kincade’s page. “Even if they don't want to talk to me, I'm just super glad they're okay.”
I sometimes wonder why Kincade hasn't had contact with me yet, but deep inside I felt like they were somewhat upset with me. The strange thing was that once Kincade showed up, my mother just randomly disappeared. My father had always told me that she's just had it with us, and left to do her own life. However I never believed that story. Sure my mom was a raging drunk chain-smoker, but she always loved Lucy and I. Her just leaving out of the blue isn't in character, and I just know that something wrong might have occurred.
Kat inspects the page. I can tell it struck something in her. I knew from this point she was holding back a bit with her emotions but for some reason, this broke her. Suddenly I saw my childhood best friend break into a waterfall of sadness. She started to sob. As if she had a dam behind her eyes and they just burst.
“Kat.. Oh shit, I didn’t mean to make you cry,” I rushed towards Kat’s side, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
It broke me to see Kat this way, yet I couldn’t help but wonder what made her let out her tears. My eyes suddenly landed at one of Kat’s wrist, a light brown scar was marred on her skin. It was half covered by her sleeve, its appearance was more like a stab wound than a slash. I could tell Kat noticed me staring at it, as she quickly covered it up. The sky was now in a vibrant orange and magenta hue, while the bright sun started to slowly settle down.
Kat finally regained her composure after a few minutes of apologizing profusely.
“I know.” Kat weakly pushes out from her lips through her tears. “I know you see them. I know I have a lot of explaining to do. I got that…from a mission that I’m not sure if you’re ready to hear.”
Leaning against her shoulder, I looked up at Kat with an understanding expression. “I think I’m ready to hear about this. Over these years, I wanted to know what happened in Drisking. I don’t want to stay ignorant anymore.”
“Let’s…” Kat wipes her eyes, only for more tears to take the others place. “Let’s go somewhere a little more private.”
∆∆∆
“As you enter into the Church of the Overthrown Gods.” Kat dramatically pauses. “You feel as if multiple eyes are watching you. As you look closer to the rotting wood altar, you see a tiny eye just peeking out…and then another…and then another…and then another… as they rise up from the altar you see they are on tendeles attached to a large spherical mass. You see 10 tenderals rise all with snake-like eyes darting around the room before meeting yours. As the large mass comes into view you see one large eye on it staring at you and an unnerving smile as it laughs intimidatingly at you. As you realize what is staring back at you is…a beholder…and that’s where we will leave off tonight’s session!”
Several protests fill the room. It wasn’t out of character for Kat to leave off on a cliffhanger, but this is what we have been waiting for since the end of 2008. And even a year later, Kat always leaves the carrot dangling over our heads.
“Hey,” Kat shrugs “I gotta keep you hooked or else our three month streak of all of you attending won’t keep going.”
“Oh, fuck you, Kat!” Kami rolls her eyes lightheartedly “We come back every week regardless.”
“Yeah, but it's more fun torturing you.” Kat giggled while combing through her long hair with her fingers.
Shaking my head, I took a sip on my already luke-warm Snapple, “Typical Kat. Why do you always gotta tease us like that? I was literally witnessing my character finally healing from a poison arrow and just to end at that. I totally can't wait till the next!”
“Thank you,” Kat nods before getting up and starting to pack up and the group follows suit. “I cannot wait for next session. It’s a big battle so I recommend you all start doing some research on Beholders to be ready, because this monster is really tough. Remember, we are starting the next session at level 12, and I’ll see you all soon!”
After about 10 minutes, the rest of the group left except for me. I like staying after sessions with Kat. I don’t understand why the other two people in the group don’t stay. It’s not even 9pm by the time we finished and they are already out the door.
It’s sophomore skip day tomorrow and I sure as hell know everyone will be participating so what’s the rush? Well, everyone except for Kat. From all the time I’ve known Kat up until this point, she never skipped a day or cut any corners when it came to her education. It was admirable but also frustrating. I cannot tell you how many plans I had to cancel because she wanted to study. I never understood why she was so serious about it. It’s like her life depended on her making good grades and being a shining student. I have to admit, I am jealous of her dedication to it.
I would typically leave her to her own devices when it came to school but just by looking at her, she looked like she deserved a break. With the exams and the constant verbal battles between her mother and her father, I can tell just by looking at her, the pressure is on her. I could say the same for my home situation, but I'm already used to it, that it is practically normal for me. Kat, on the other hand, really deserved a break, just this one time.
While I was playing with one of the d20 dice, gathering up courage, I asked, “Hey Kat? Whatcha going do tomorrow?”
“Oh, um.” Kat says not looking up from her notebook, making some notes for the next session. “Just going to school, I should be able to go to take our usual walks tomorrow after.”
A smile crept on my lips, as I definitely predicted Kat's answers. Sure, I did hear that the Sheriff in town was going to give tickets to those that didn't go to school, but I didn't really care about that. I just wanted to have a chill day with my friends. After all, I busted my ass to at least have passable grades.
“Hmm. Hey Kat, why don't we…you know,” I nudged her with my elbow. “Skip school tomorrow?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Kat sighs.
“I know, I know. But I just feel like these days have been for us but we just have fun tomorrow.” I could tell that I was losing Kat already, her mind dead set on going to school. I tucked a strand on my blue hair behind my ear, as I followed Kat. “Kat, please. Sometimes I worry about you because you're working yourself out. Just this once, and I'll promise I'll try to raise my Geometry class to a B!”
“I suppose…” Kat thinks for a second. “It wouldn’t hurt to skip one day.”
“Hell yeah!” I tackled Kat, as I tried to spin her around in happiness. “I promise that you'll have the best day. That jackass Sheriff won't ruin our day. I'll make sure of it!”
“Alright! Alright!” Kat giggles “Fine. Just calm down.”
I feel a sense of relief coming from Kat like I somehow unlocked one shackle that she bore on her ankles. There’s still plenty, and this one is certainly not the heaviest but the littlest weight off of her is enough for her to appreciate.
I let her go as I dashed towards my Jack Skeleton backpack, fetching out my half torn notepad. “ I scribbled some of the plans I have for tomorrow. I was thinking we could dine on Prescott Artisan Sandwiches, and then maybe hike the trail over west of Crystal Lake. What do you think?”
“Yeah!” Kat exclaims. “I heard there’s going to be a few people there tomorrow. Probably could use the social interaction, or attempt to at least.”
“We'll have the lake to ourselves,” I chuckled, placing my notepad back to my back. I really did need a new notepad, however I remember my family was very tight on money at the time. “Oh I almost forgot that Kincade might be joining us too.”
“Sounds good to me.” Kat smiles. “Honestly, that girl needs to be a bit more interactive if you ask me.” Kat chuckles. “As if I’m one to talk.”
“That's why I invited her too. I feel like you girls could get along.” I then jokingly added, “Maybe you can indoctrinate her into playing DnD with us, eh?”
“I’m sure I can.” Kat giggles. “Alright, so are you staying the night tonight? I think I can take the car tomorrow so you can stay if you like.”
“I'll stay, but I should pick up Lucy. My mom said she left her by the Landys,” I rubbed my neck in frustration as I continued. “I hate how my mom just randomly abandons Lucy to strangers. Does she know there's creeps?”
My mother always had done this multiple times, even when I was Lucy's age. A seven year old like Lucy shouldn't be in conditions like this, and I knew damn well that my father won't be available till 7AM. I thought about maybe walking up to the Landys house, maybe it was like 3 blocks or so.
“I think I'll walk to get Lucy. You wouldn't mind my little sis joining in our sleepover, right?”
“I mean, I don't have a big problem with it. Honestly, prefer it to just be you and me but I won’t be kicking and screaming if she is here.”
“That's true,” I nervously laughed, “Either way, Lucy is pretty much a sweet kid, and she will probably be distracted playing with her ballet Barbie dolls.”
Peeping through the windows, the sky was pitch black, almost like a void swallowing the whole town. I took a deep breath, before heading out of the door. Before stepping a foot outside of the wooden porch, I called out. “I'll be back, Kat. If I don't come back, the Skinned Men might’ve caught me!”
“Oh, don’t say that!” Kat calls at me as I walk away. She didn’t seem offended more lighthearted but there was a little seriousness there.
Kat always believed in the supernatural. While all of us grew up and just accepted it was just an urban legend that wasn’t real, Kat believed it. Kat even dedicated an entire essay on the history of the Skinned Man, and where the legend originated from. Needless to say, there wasn’t much to go off of and because Kat is very committed to things, she decided to embellish the details a bit and even I knew that a lot of that stuff was all pulled out of thin air and had no actual weight to it. They were just urban legends that little kids would scare others with. Along those tales were the Triple Tree.
Everyone would carve their names in the Triple Tree, serving like a talisman to these Skinned Men. If you didn’t, then I guess you were fucked. I never really carved my name, for some damn reason, my dad never let me. The moon shined brightly, casting light to these liminal streets. I was already used to walking at night, but for some odd reason, something was off. Crossing the right side of the neighborhood, I caught some headlights shining through the bushes. It looked like it belonged to an old police cruiser, and that alone made me start running. I was not a fan of the officers here, plus I was definitely violating a curfew.
“C’mon, Pauly,” I uttered under my breath, jumping through some fences.
I landed on the backside of the Landy’s house, my knees landing on top of the pavement. Hissing in pain, I slowly wobbled towards the front side of the house. It was stupid of me to think that I would magically land on my feet, but then again I had the shitiest luck. Quickly, I knocked on the door three times, after the fourth knock, the white adorned door swung open. In front of me was a cinnamon brown haired 14 year old boy, who had that bored expression that every teenager had. I recognized that boy as Parker Landy, the youngest of the Landy family.
“Uh, can I help you?” Parker wrinkled his nose, while he adjusted his glasses.
I furrowed my brows, “I’m here for my sister. For Lucy.”
“Oh, okay. Um, I guess you can come in.”
Parker reluctantly ushered me inside, as I wasted no time to search for Lucy. There, located in the dinning, Lucy was drawing while Mrs. Landy was brushing her dark little locks of hair. She was wearing a baby pink ballet uniform, the one that my dad bought her for her birthday. Ecstatic, Lucy jumped up from the chair and darted to my direction. We bid farewell to Mrs. Landy, heading out into the night. However, I caught a glimpse of her face morphing into a sorrowful look. ‘She must have been worried for us,’ I thought, mainly because it was just two girls heading out, embracing the unforgiving night.
“Pauly, where’s mommy?” Lucy’s wide eyes looked at me, grabbing my hand ever so tightly.
I sighed, thinking how to word out an appropriate response, “She’s just working a lot in the diner. So we can afford your ballet classes,” I had lied, flashing an assurring smile. I didn’t want Lucy to know the truth, she was an innocent kid after all.
Crossing up that same street again, I could sense that we were almost close to safety. Or so I thought. A slow rumbling sound of an engine followed behind. It was pitch dark outside, so I couldn’t really tell what color the vehicle was, but I did recognize it. What my eyes could grapple from what little information it had at the time, it was just that damn old police cruiser. Just as I was about to run with Lucy, the dark tinted windows rolled down, revealing an old familiar face.
“Ah little Miss Rhoades. What brings you here past curfew, hmm?” Ex Sheriff Clery asked, while flashing a very wide smile. I remember him being the Sheriff since the 1950s, not before being replaced by Robocop Walker.
Lucy bounced up and down, as she exclaimed “Me and Pauly are going home! Mommy and Daddy are still at work!”
Clery’s gaze looked back at me, his grin growing ever so slightly larger. “Oh really? It’s quite dark out here, you girls might need a lift.”
“No thank-” “Yes please!” Lucy quickly cut me off as she threw the car door open.
She quickly slithered herself in the backseat, while I was too stunned to comprehend. It left me no choice but to take this impromptu ride. Trembling, I sat next to Lucy, shutting the car door behind me. A loud click followed, as both doors were locked.
The whole ride I was scared shitless. I didn’t know why, but I guess I scared myself alot reading Missing Persons cases. I mean, I just entered a car with a person I barely knew. Yes, I know he’s a cop and his entire job is to keep us safe, but I couldn’t help but feel this sense of unease creeping into my conscious mind. It might be from the hundreds of “Stranger Danger” PSAs I’ve been fed all my young life. Lucy probably noticed how tense I looked, latching herself onto my arm.
“It's okay Pauly, the Skinned Men won't catch us anymore. We're safe here!” Lucy nuzzled on my arm, clearly obvious about the situation.
Sheriff Clery let out a chuckle, adding on “Little Lucy's right. No need to worry about those monsters when you're the old sheriff, eh?”
I nervously laughed along, just wishing that we’ll be at our destination already. That just put me even more on edge. I decided to dare a glance at the interior back mirror and I saw a pair of eyes seemingly staring at me and my sister with a look that just sent a chill down my spine. I tried to rationalize that maybe I’m just imagining things but the way he was staring at us was undeniably unsettling.
It was not after a minute later we arrived. The whole minute felt like hours, rightfully so I bolted out of the cruiser with Lucy in my arms. Before reaching the front door, the older man called out, “Be careful next time. You won’t know what’s lurking around these parts.”
After that the police cruiser drove off into the dark void of the unknown. That sentence alone carried an unsettling meaning, yet I could never pinpoint why. Objectively, it was quite normal. It was just a man showing a kind gesture but my gut was screaming not to trust this person. I tried to just brush it off as a misunderstanding but it was so strange I couldn’t.
∆∆∆
“So,” Kat began. “The place still has Prescott’s name written all over the place even after everything that happened?”
“I believe so,” I took a deep breath before continuing, “I really hope it’ll be over now. Sometimes, I wished I could live on with life. Like nothing happened, you know?”
The melody of the forest sung around us as we took in the fresh day’s air and the warm embrace of the midsummer’s sun. We’ve walked through this forest hundreds of times before but it’s like discovering uncharted territories every time we step foot in it. It feels different now. It seems bleaker than it was when we were children. Maybe it’s just an optical illusion or that every memory of my childhood feels like a dream.
“God,” Kat scoffs. “I’d scrub that name off the earth if I could.”
“I have to admit, everytime I see that name, something bad always happens. It's almost as if it was cursed.” My gaze shifted back to the abundance of trees, each of them being so eerily identical. “Thomas Prescott really did sell his soul, and everyone had to pay the price.”
“Don’t remind me.” Kat almost growls like a wolf to a degree that caught me off guard.
Shit, I definitely struck a nerve there. Why? Why did that set her off the way it did? I tried to change the subject into something else. I really didn’t want to upset Kat any further, I felt guilty just by saying that.
“It’s so silent here, I don’t know if I should be on edge or relaxed.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound like that. I don’t know what came over me.”
Kat’s eyes dart around before she runs her fingers through her hair with a sigh. It didn’t occur to me until just now that she had been watching everywhere and everything all at once. Every little movement her eyes locked onto. Could be just a natural reaction. I’m sure her line of work requires her to be hyper-vigilant so maybe it carries into her normal day-to-day life.
“You don’t need to apologize, Kat. I was the one who was pushing too much.” The wind blew softly, remnants of leaves danced in the air. It reminded alot about how life is, always pushing you in unpredictable directions. “I was thinking after this, maybe we should help each other out. My therapist gave me the advice that some wounds can’t heal by themself.”
“I can help you. I don’t really need help myself. When I was on the field, I was given state mandated therapy. It was important to do so to not go actually insane from all the messed up things we see. Trust me, there’s a reason why a lot of us quit after a few years of service.”
“ I see,” I gave Kat a crooked smile, “You're resilient, that's what I admired about you.”
Even after all those years, Kat still had those strong traits of being smart and strong. I could help but feel proud of her, and I wished her the best. I got closer to Kat, as I leaned on one of the oak trees nearby.
With a playful tone, I asked. “So when are you gonna show me how to use one of those?” I pointed at her gun.
“You?” Kat laughs. “I thought you hated loud noises?”
I shrugged, raising one of my brows. “Still do. It's just in case anything goes south. Or maybe I wanna impress somebody.”
“I’ll teach you soon. No doubt about that. I don’t have any ear protection on me and this beauty can get pretty loud.”
As we took in the forest’s lush surroundings, I noticed something that I haven’t seen before despite being out here for god knows how many times. There was a perfectly healthy tree in front of us but it seemed as if the bark had been ripped and torn definitely unnaturally; it had to have been done by someone, not an animal.
Kat and I exchange confused looks as we walk closer to the tree. Then, it all came together. I didn’t want to think that someone would have done this again. Not after the original was burnt to the ground a long time back. On the tree there were signatures. It sent an ungodly chill through my whole body. I looked over to Kat to see her reaction and she looked like she was frozen in time. With a look of shock and fear instilled upon her very body.
“It can't be. There's a new one here, but how?” My mouth was agape as I reached to touch the bark of the tree. My fingers grazed against each little individual signature. Each of them being unique, much like their owners’ names.
I look back at Kat. I realized I was mistaken, or perhaps it just shifted. Her look, it wasn't out of fear, no, it was out of resentment and hate and a boiling rage that I could tell is about to spill through. I know that even if I were to manage to say anything in this situation, I couldn’t prevent it from all coming out. What could I say? This isn’t anything I’ve seen from Kat. She always had a way to relieve her own anger but this was an anger that even the cool-minded Kat could not keep under control. Like a wildfire that had found a negligent camper’s gasoline can.
“Kat–”
“They think they can control me even in death but they can’t.” Kat whispers to herself quickly. I barely had time to process before the wildfire finally found the gas. “THEY FUCKING CAN’T!”
Kat lifts her shirt slightly, revealing her concealed gun. A Pit Viper. She draws it at a speed I barely had time to comprehend as she switches off the safety and takes a stance.
“Wait! Kat!”
That was all I could get out before I was overtaken by an ear splitting explosion. I barely had time to register the second one before the third went off. It was the same for the fourth and the fifth. My ears rang the loudest they have ever in my life as the pain in my ears set in and the agony of my head throbbing so hard that I thought my brain would burst from it alone. The sounds echoed through the forest. All the birds and the bugs and creatures stopped in unison as if Kat slain them herself.
And then.
Silence.

FYI, this is a story COLLECTION. Lots of standalones technically. So, you can basically start to read at any chapter, no pre-read of the other chapters needed technically (other than maybe getting better descriptions of characters than: Adam Vir=human, Krill=antlike alien, Sunny=tall alien, Conn=telepathic alien). The numbers are (mostly) only for organization of posts and continuity.
OC Written by Charlie Stastarrfallknightrise,
Typed up and then posted here by me.
Proofreading and language check for some chapters by u/Finbar9800 u/BakeGullible9975 u/Didnotseemecomein and u/medium_jock
Future Lore and fact check done by me.
Domestic assault? Whaaaat? Noooo! That’s just normal romantic Drev foreplay!
Previous First [Next](link)
Want to find a specific one, see the whole list or check fanart?
Here is the link to the master-post.
Sunny left the room in an uproar to look for Adam.
The translation unit was almost overloaded with the noise behind her, but she didn't need it to understand the human's words as they yelled at each other, both sides polarizing for and against her and Adam as she stepped from the room.
Truth be told it didn't bother Sunny much, having spent her entire life rejected by her own mother, having only recently gotten over that, she found that dealing with other people wasn't so hard, but she knew what this meant for Adam as close to his family as he was.
She found him outside on the deck pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back. She was surprised to see more anger in his expression than fear or doubt. His chin was held high, jaw clenched.
She knew that look.
"Are you ok?”
He swiveled to face her, his face flushed with red.
"I think I might have screwed up."
His voice was calm.
Sunny tilted her head,
“What's done is done."
He paused and nodded in agreement.
She offered up the plate she had brought him,
"Are you going to eat, or should I just throw this away?”
He paused looking at the plate and then looked up at the sky and sighed deeply.
"No I... I have something I need to do."
And then to her surprise he turned back on his heel and marched back into the house, leaving her standing confused in his wake. Still holding the plate, she hurried after him, finding she had to jog lightly to keep up with his strides despite him being a foot shorter than her as he marched through the living room and back into the dining room where the tumult had only gotten louder. Martha was standing alongside her husband across the table from her parents and an uncle. David was red in the face standing next to his mother as Jordan held onto his arm trying to calm him down. Uncle Ben and his family Sat wide eyed in silence as Maya herded the children out of the room and into the next. David and Jordan's son had burst into tears at the uproar and Kimber was valiantly trying to calm him down as she was led away.
Eris sat shrunken into the corner, holding her hoodie down over her ears rocking back and forth seeming like she was suffering some kind of breakdown.
Adam paused at the head of the table and tried to shout to be heard over the tumult, but despite his best efforts he was being drowned out.
Sunny pulled up next to him drawing in a breath to give them her best war cry.
They had tested it at one point a Drev at the height of shouting could reach 140 decibels which was as loud as a gunshot, but just as she was about ready to start, Eris took to her feet hands balled into fists.
"Everyone just, STOP!!!"
Her voice wasn't very loud, but the psychic wave that she produced hit the entire room like an explosion. The humans rocked on their feet, hands to their heads. A couple fell out of their seats clutching their ears. Sunny felt dizzy, and when she was finally able to look up the room was a picture of silent carnage, almost akin to a renaissance painting. Adam's family members were hunched or crouched next to their seats, their hands over their ears. Some lay on the floor looking shocked. Uncle Ben was holding a shattered glass.
Adam was the only one still standing, but instead of addressing the room he hurried across the floor to where Eris was still sitting on her seat, hands over her ears. He knelt in front of her and gently took her hands,
"I'm so sorry Eris, here..."
He paused and then turned towards where Thoms was sitting hand still to his head,
"Thomas can you go get the car started and maybe take Eris out for a little?”
The other man nodded dumbly, still holding his head as he got up,
Adam was still holding Eris hands,
"Hey, hey look at me. Thomas is going to go start the car, and I want you to go with him somewhere quieter, ok? While I get all of this sorted out. I'm so sorry kid, this is my fault."
She shook her head, but he wouldn't hear it, kissing the top of her head through her hoodie and then helping her to her feet where she hurried outside.
The entire room remained silent as Adam waited for the sound of the retreating car before he turned back to the room.
The look on his face was thunderous, and Sunny, realizing that she was not needed, plopped herself down in Thomas's vacated chair between a wide-eyed Grandpa Vir, and one of the aunts, and pulled the big salad bowl towards her. If she was going to be entertained, she might as well have a snack while doing it.
Adam, still standing at the head of the table looked a bit nonplussed as he stared at her, and she watched as the entire family's eyes turned to look at her. She crunched slowly on another piece of iceberg lettuce and motioned for them to continue.
”Give ‘em hell tiger! Don’t mind me.”
Adam took a deep breath and sighed before beginning,
"How DARE you!?"
The room was still silent.
He turned to make eye contact with everyone in the room, his single eye staring at them with such condemnation that many lowered their heads,
"Fighting, in front of the kids and guests like this!? It's reprehensible! Absolutely disgusting!”
He pounded his fist against the table,
"I thought you all were better than this!”
They looked down.
"When I was young MY family taught me to be accepting and inclusive of everyone. I was taught to be polite, caring and even love those who I disagreed with."
He paused for a moment gathering his thoughts,
"Since joining the UNSC I have met a lot of people and done a lot of things and during that time I have had the opportunity to better learn courage and compassion in a way that I don't think others will ever have the privilege of doing. So, shame on you, shame on you all for behaving like this after teaching me what you tried to teach."
He jabbed a finger at Martha's parents,
"You two especially, all dinner I have had to sit here and listen while the two of you made embarrassing and xenophobic comments at the behest of my friend..."
He paused then shook his head,
"No scratch that, the Love of my life, and my girlfriend, and I am sick and tired of hearing it! Plus, all of that bestiality bullshit!”
He slammed his hands against the table again,
"Bestiality!? Seriously!? That’s the most insulting thing I have ever heard in my entire life!!! She's NOT an ANIMAL, she is a sentient thinking person who is, and I have no DOUBT in my mind of this, waaay smarter than I will ever be. There is nothing wrong here, the only thing wrong is your fear and your prejudices. Finally, I find someone who I really care about and for some reason unknown to me that has to be some sort of problem?"
He glowered around the room.
Uncle Ben sat in his seat looking almost apologetic. Martha's mother looked as if she was about to cry while her husband looked silently defiant. Grandpa and Grandma Vir just looked on awkwardly.
"So does anyone have a problem with that?"
He went silent as the room waited.
It was then that Jim Vir, who had been, up until this point, sitting, still eating his dinner, picked up his glass and raised it,
"Here here!”
Jeremy, Maya, and David quickly grabbed their drinks too and raised them with their dad. Martha did the same, and eventually Grandma Vir raised her glass as well. A few members of the family seemed surprised, but followed suit. Of course, not everyone joined in. Uncle Ben's wife didn’t, and Martha's parents didn't, a few others were either too shocked or disgusted to do so. Once it was all over Martha's father stood, took his plate and walked into the study, shutting the door behind him leaving his wife sitting tearfully at the table.
Everyone waited…
Adam looked at his mother.
She motioned him to sit, and he did, and she took her seat as well.
Sunny watched as the family slowly groaned back into place as David forced a conversation between himself and uncle Ben. Eventually the table was speaking again, and the children slowly filtered back in. Jordan went out to comfort their son, who was brought back red eyed and puffy cheeked, but happy enough. Kimber, smart for her age, walked in and hugged Adam once, before running over to sit next to Sunny. Both Waffles and Jeffrey had come over to sit with Adam, Waffles resting on his feet and Jeffrey slithering out his human leg.
The table remained tense.
Sunny didn't mind. She was almost having fun occasionally shooting a glance over at Adam who remained stiff and straight backed.
Martha's mother eventually opened her mouth in a gargantuan effort to seem polite, looked at Sunny,
"So uh... Sunny why don't you tell us about your family?”
Adam stiffened the fork halfway to his lips, David spilled water on his lap and Martha choked on her food.
"Oh… My mother tried to throw me into a volcano when I was born and my father is dead. It was a glorious death though, Adam was pretty much directly responsible for it. As for my mother, she tried to kill me, so Adam beat her unconscious with a rock, then she later came back and tried to kill him, so I crippled her and now she’s as good as dead, rotting in the GA’s biggest, most secured prison.”
Someone's glass shattered, uncle Ben tipped his plate onto his lap and Maya's husband looked as if he wanted to sink through the floor.
The table went silent again.
Across the table there was a sudden snorting noise, and Sunny turned her head to see Jim holding a glass to his lips. His eyes were squinted shut. He slowly lowered the glass from his mouth other hand over his mouth, shoulders shaking.
The entire table stared at him.
It continued to shake for a little bit until a small squeak escaped him, and then he could no longer contain himself as full low laughter broke from him, shaking the table and causing the glassware to clatter.
Sunny was the second person to begin laughing until the entire table was uneasily going along with it.
"Oh heavens!"
Jim punted,
"What a clusterfuck!”
"Jim!"
Martha scolded him as he continued to giggle,
"This couldn't get worse, could it? Like objectively more awkward?"
Adam was smiling slightly as his father laughed, taking another sip of his drink. Sunny hummed low in her chest setting the empty salad bowl back on the table.
Jim waved a hand at Adam,
"Go on, get out of here before it gets worse."
He continued to laugh. Adam looked relieved and thanked his dad before standing. Sunny did the same, and in a seemingly random act of defiance Adam took her hand as he walked out. Sunny hummed softly as she was dragged towards the front door and outside.
He paused to take a deep breath once they were out on the front porch.
He turned to look at her and she tilted her head,
"So, does this mean we are a thing again?"
Adam paused, withered as if he was going to back out and then set his jaw straightening up with a deep breath,
"If you'd take me back, then yes."
She tilted her head as if thinking about it, but seeing the encroaching panic on the man's face she nodded,
"Yes obviously, I'm sorry, I won't tease you anymore."
The look of relief on his face was almost heartbreaking as he grabbed her hand again,
"Come on."
"Come on what?"
"We are going on a date."
"Oh really?"
"Yes, really now get in the damn car before I have a heart attack."
"Mmmmm you're kinda cute when you order me around."
He raised an eyebrow at her from over the car roof,
"Oh yeah? Well, there's more where that came from."
She hummed again as she took her seat, the car doors slamming on either side of them. She listened to the engine as it thrummed to life. She glanced over at him, only to see him whiteknuckling the steering wheel as they drove down the gravel drive.
Sunny wasn't entirely sure if that was because of what had just happened or because Adam hated driving. They passed Thomas and Eris heading back and both paused in the road windows rolled down.
He leaned his head out the window,
"Hey you guys ok?”
Thomas nodded,
"Yeah Eris suggested milkshakes, so we went out."
He reached over with a closed fist, and Eris gave him a fist bump,
"Never told me how fucking cool my niece was!”
Adam smiled,
"I thought it was obvious."
"You guys leaving?"
"Just for a little while."
"How did things go after we left?”
Adam shrugged,
"I chewed out Mom's parents and then we finished dinner, got so awkward, dad laughed so hard he almost pissed himself, you know the usual family reunion shit."
Thomas snorted,
"Well you two crazy kids have some fun. I return to the house of Evil."
Adam laughed and the two of them slowly began to pull away.
Sunny watched them go and then turned back to Adam,
"So, you've never really called it a date before. A human courting ritual I assume?”
He nodded.
"What should I expect?"
"Well, we are going to go out and have dinner then maybe see a movie and go for a walk."
"We just had dinner."
"Yeah and I'm already hungry."
The two of them laughed and he took a long slow breath as they pulled onto the main highway.
He was a man of his word, and she got a second dinner before going to see a movie. It was an action movie, as the only kind of movies Sunny could really pay attention to, though Adam said she tended to ruin them by judging the realistic nature of the fight choreography before she pointed out that he always judged the planes.
[…]
It was later that night walking out of the movie theater laughing, that they fell back into step with each other. Sunny lifted her head to the night air breathing in slowly. She loved the smell of Earth. She wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because she associated it with humans, and that was associated with Adam. He took her down a partially lit pathway into one of the parks illuminated by the faint yellow glow of the lanterns. Other people were walking here too, and all around them bioluminescent bugs winked in the darkness.
Adam reached down to pick up a discarded stick, which he spun between his hands absently.
Sunny was just enjoying the air when she noticed a sudden change in his posture. It was only that notice that saved her, and she ducked as he swung, narrowly missing her beak by a few inches.
She dodged backwards keeping low to the ground as he advanced grinning.
"That is hardly fair, attacking me when I'm unarmed."
"Is it my fault you weren't prepared?”
Sunny dodged back, grabbing a stick from the ground and bringing it up to meet his downward stroke. She threw his attack to the side and jabbed for his middle though he backed away at the last second.
Their fight only grew more elaborate as they danced up and down the walkways, leaping up onto benches and playground equipment as they ranged across the park. Startled couples walking in the darkness jolted to the side as they raced past. Sunny cut down, shearing Adam's stick straight in half.
He looked down in surprise, ducked under her swing and then pulled back coming at her again, but changing up his style so he was now using the two sticks as weapons. Sunny found it rather hard to keep him back with two weapons against her one, though her reach was far superior. She caught him once in the side, but gave it up for a kick in the chest. She staggered back and he came in overhead with both of the sticks which she caught on hers. They stayed locked there for a moment before he reached out a foot and tipped her onto the grass.
She fell and he fell with her weapons still locked.
She looked up at him, the UV blue of his stripes rendered more purple by the dim light.
Sunny felt something rather strange just then and let go, flipping him onto his back in the grass where he lay breathing hard.
"You pulled your punch."
She grunted sitting up.
"I well yeah... I like you, I don't want to hurt you."
"You know where I come from since you like me, you should hit me harder.”
"Where I come from that is called domestic violence."
They laughed again and then paused still breathing hard.
"I feel... strange."
He propped himself up on his elbow to look over at her,
"What do you mean?”
She explained and he raised an eyebrow,
"Well, that's good, that's kind of how you are supposed to feel after what we just did I guess."
"What do you even mean."
She stared at him confused and he inched over, pushing her back into the grass before holding his hands up,
"May I define: foreplay. Now I’m not going to define you what “being horny” is, you can ask Ramirez about that… on second thought don’t, better not tell him about that…"
"Jerk."
She kicked him back onto the ground where he lay in the dirt.
"Since when did you know how to flirt?”
"Apparently since about ten minutes ago."
He looked over at her,
"Since when did you even know what flirting is?”
She grumbled,
"We have flirting on my planet."
"Punching someone in the face does not count as flirting."
"Then clearly you don't understand true romance."
He continued to laugh some more, but just then they heard a sharp siren and then were lit up by bright blue and red light. Adam sat up quickly, as did Sunny, and the two of them sat there in surprise as two figures walked towards them from the darkness, one of them holding a flashlight. Adam held up his hand to cover his eyes as the two police officers walked forward.
"Everything alright here?"
They asked, looking at Sunny in something akin to shock or awe.
Adam blushed,
"Uh yeah... Is something wrong, officer?"
"Just got a call a few minutes ago about a... Drev and some guy beating the shit out of each other in the park, that wasn't you two was it?”
Adam was blushing, though the lighting was his saving grace.
"Uh yea, that was us, but we were just... ahem… play fighting."
They glanced between him and Sunny, not entirely sure what to do.
Sunny nodded at them,
"Yes, we are sorry, and will try to tone it down next time."
The two officers glanced between the two of them, and one of them called in a false alarm on the radio before heading back to his car. Sunny And Adam ended up laughing again as the two men left them to be.
"Maybe we should go somewhere more private…”
"Probably a good idea."
Previous First [Next](link)
Want to find a specific one, see the whole list or check fanart?
Here is the link to the master-post.
Intro post by me
OC-whole collection
Patreon of the author
Thanks for reading! As you saw in the title, this is a cross posted story written by starrfallknightrise and I'll just upload some of it here for you guys, if you are interested and want to read ahead, the original story-collection can be found on tumblr or wattpad to read for free. (link above this text under "OC:..." ) It is the Empyrean Iris story collection by starfallknightrise. Also, if you want to know more about the story collection i made an intro post about it, so feel free to check that out to see what other great characters to look forward to! (Link also above this text). I have no affiliations to the author; just thought I’d share some of the great stories you might enjoy a lot!
Obviously, I have Charlie’s permission to post this and for the people already knowing the stories, or starting to read them: If you follow the link and check out the story you will see some differences. I made some small (non-artistic) changes, mainly correcting writing mistakes, pronoun correction and some small additional info here and there of things which were not thought of/forgotten or even were added/changed in later stories (like the “USS->UNSC” prefix of Stabby, Chalar=/->Sunny etc). As well as some "biggemajor" changes in descriptions and info’s for the same stringency/continuity reason. That can be explained by the story collection being, well a story collection at the start with many standalone-stories just starring the same people, but later on it gets more to a stringent storyline with backstories and throwbacks. (For example Adam Vir has some HEAVY scars over his body, following his bones, which were not really talked about up till half the collection, where it says it covers his whole body and you find out via backflash that he had them the whole time and how he got them, they just weren't mentioned before. However, I would think a doctor would at least see these scars before that, especially since he gets analyzed, treated and goes shirtless/in T-shirts in some stories). So TLDR: Writing and some descriptions are slightly changed, with full OK from the author, since he himself did not bother to correct these things before.

I've loved fighting games ever since I was a kid, but ever since I was a kid, it always bugged me the way capcom treated Chung Li and Sakura.
In street fighter 2 and 3rd strike, everytime Chung Li kicks or falls down, the game goes out of their way to show her underwear. When Chung Li shoots a fire ball in Street Fighter 2, she sticks her butt out like a porn star - like why caocom.
Even worse - in the Street Fighter 2 animated movie - they go out of their way to force a pointless full frontal nudity scene on the first women of fighting games - just so they can show Chung Li's boobs to attract more audiences.
With Sakura in the Street Fighter Alpha games, it's like the her skirt has one mission and one mission only, to let everyone see her underwear as much as possible.
Chung Li and Sakura deserves better, that's not how you respect characters. This makes the makers of the games come across as 14 year old pervs.
True story: I was introducing my 11 year old cousin to video games, I thought her Smash and she got really good. However, I couldn't bring myself to show her Street Fighter, because I felt creepy showing her a game - where the female characters flash their underwear with every button, and the way Chung Li sticks her butt out during her fireballs. And then there's Skull Girls aka underwear flashing the video game..
I'm not trying to be a prude, and I love fighting games, KOF is my favorite series ever, Benimaru is my number 1. It's just always bugged me the way fighting games, especially street fighter capcom and skull girls treat their female characters.

Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening.
I am CPC_Alice.
It has been a very interesting passed few days. You are here for the weekly recap tho. Lets get to it.
Doki and Mint did some XTwitter discussion about Minecraft. People's nostalgia brains and collab brains went wild.
Idiots being Idiots just highlights why Vtuber corpos are going hard against harassment and slander.
Michi got Sponsored by OTK to watch their expo thing.
Nijisisters seething hard in 4chan and huffing that copium.
Sayu and Matara Size comparisons. Boobs got involved.
Giving some context to a certain Niji liver's words.
Michi talking about GunRun. It's a clip
Numbers. Superchat earnings edition by NijiEN. THE NUMBERS
Michi got the BG3 brainrot. Tweeted about it. Attracted a certain Ravencroft's attention. She learned there is books involved for D&D
A Reminder
Numbers. This time it is a NijiEN member not even achieving a Finana. THE NUMBERS
Doki Youtooz is real. I'm sure I mentioned about the rumor before. Something Something special perms to allow some countries to get shipped to by the company who does Youtooz? No link on that one cuz I'm lazy. I lied
A reminder about a certain 3D concert NijiEN did. Holy f-ck it still look as terrible as the first time I saw it.
RIP for Bunny Girl VODs cuz Youtube suddenly cares about yabai content. This might be from Holo but you can bet your butt that it'll affect all the corpo Vtubers.
Hex Haywire got suspended on Youtube for his ASMR streams. Remember that? Well, he got shown on some streams as an active participant. According to Youtube's very own ToS, that's a very big no no because he is basically circumventing his own suspension in Youtube. You can report that y'know?
Something Something need more cute Vtubers to be Coffee Sales people while streaming on the side.
Something about a Carwash.
Pot of Yagoo
Mint and Metal Gear. Something Something SNAKKKKEEEEE
Hex takes down some of his spicy ASMR videos.
Michi of VShojo and Ollie of Hololive did a Clubhouse 51 Collab. Nice
Himemori Luna of Hololive fame got a Nendoroid that became the number 1 on AmazonJP Best Sellers. Why is this relevant? Cuz Luna-tan is actually an EX-NIji member. True story.
Shihomii posted a write up of the results of the survey. You can check it out.
Something Something Twisty being discussed by 4chan.
Doki will be in AniRevo2024
Something about NijiMerch. Something about not being available on the website for EN?
Something Something Smug Aura mocks me. DokiBird appearing at more Cons. Like geez.
Hololive Cocnert "Breaking Dimensions". Relevance? Well, Niji is hosting their own concert too. THE NUMBERS MASON.
Worldwide tour for Hololive Stage. Relevance? Remember Virtual Rhapsody? Again, WHAT DOES THE NUMBERS MEAN MASON?!
Absolutely and utterly GRIM
Niji concert dance vs Holo concert dance. I just shake my head tbh. Niji got mogged.
Sayu's Silver play button. Nice
Numbers. Once again. Minecraft streams absolutely mogged a Niji 3D Concert stream.
An introspective look into the type of people who are going into the subreddit.
More Nijisanji hypocrisy being put up once again when Hex encourages his fans to spread his now deleted ASMR vids.
There is a certain subsection of the community where they use their RL expertise to analyze what is going on Niji. They are, most of the time, interesting reads.
HoloStars allowing for fans to post screenshots of their paid concert. Relevance? Don't you remember when AnyColor forbid people from sharing screenshots (and even issued DMCA claims on them) of their event?
"Why are you here?"
Michi in AnimeExpo
Something Something Nijisisters attacking React channels.
Reminder post. Might want to take a refresher.
More YahooJP Financial Boards translation.
And.. that's it.
Should I post a Thoughts post in regards to certain topics like how we screen users around here, about certain posts and comments (and why are they up), and what I feel is a misunderstanding in regards to reporting Hex about him breaking Youtube ToS?
let me know.
For now, I'll go to sleep.
Yours,
CPC_Alice
PS. I did not look back to check for errors. Sorry if there is any.

So basically, long story short, I (19M) met this girl (18F) over the internet over a game and we had grown to be very very close friends for a great while playing games with each other, long phone calls, telling each other about our days and whatever for about a whole year. I then learned that we had extremely similar interests and live about 3 hours from each other. At this point, I had grown to like her more than just a friend and wanted to see if she was interested in me the same way that I was interested in her. One day, I had asked her outright if she wanted to be together as a LDR until I could eventually go meet her. She told me that she wasn't ready for a relationship yet and was also not very interested in doing a LDR at the time. Even though I was a bit upset and sad that I was turned down, I accepted it and understood that she only would want to stay close friends with me. After that, im not gonna lie, stuff just got really weird and awkward between me and her. We started hanging out less, the time between my replies and her replies just kept getting longer and longer until it came to the point where it was like 2 to 4 messages per day on average for a bit. I'm just scared I'm already losing her, and she's really the only person I've had a genuine and real connection with for a very long time.
Another thing that I find odd is, she's told me specifically that she doesn't feel at all the same way that I do, so I tell her about my girl problems and I try to forget about liking her and focus on finding my partner somewhere else. I tell her about these things. I might tell her out of nowhere that "I find this one girl attractive" or "I might be going to hang out or go on a date with so and so" and it seems to irritate her somehow. I was just accustomed to telling her every little thing about me and what's going on in my life but she seems so closed off and hurt by something. She never opens up about anything and it seems concerning to me. I want to know so much more about her and I want to understand her better, but its almost like she doesn't want me to at all.
We went from hanging out like every other day or maybe every two days to hanging out maybe once every two weeks to even maybe once a month. I'm trying so hard to keep what we have going but at times it seems like she doesn't even want that. Other times it seems like she loves having me around and other times it's like I don't even exist for her. I just need to know if I'm over thinking this or taking the wrong approach. Am I being insensitive? Am I being way too pushy? Am I being too expecting of her? I'm just so confused.
I feel like more of a tedious pest then a friend to her and I don't know how to fix it. Should I just have never explained how I felt? Should I have kept my mouth shut? Ever since she knew how I felt about her, shes been extremely distant and has spent less and less time with me. It honestly makes me sad but I also want to know what's going on. I've asked her before and she really didn't give me a clear answer.
Im always the one to ask if she wants to talk or hang out. She never does which leads me to believe that she has completely lost interest and does not even want to anymore, but she has absolutely no issue getting on games with her other friends and leaving me to be ignored for the rest of the day. I want to explain to her how I feel but I don't know how much more clear I can get. Even as a best friend, I still very much want her around. I just don't think she wants me around at all.
I try to ask her if she wants to talk or spend time with each other, I then either get ignored for the rest of the day or she tells me "sure" and then I ask "okay, when?" and she never gets back to me. I just feel like I fucked up when I confessed to her. Could that really be the reason why this is happening?

At this point, I think my fourth lesson is not to fight this connection and the love we have for each other.
I'm trying not to resist, but you keep insisting we reunite even though we’re not ready. You say being together will help us heal, but I believe it will only bring chaos.
When you touched my hand as I was leaving, it brought me to tears. I didn't realize a single touch could do that, and maybe that’s where I need to focus—on the possibility of opening up to someone and being completely vulnerable in their presence.
It's not that I'm scared to do it, but I don't remember the last time I faced a similar situation. Growing up, whenever I showed vulnerability or tried to process my emotions while in tears, I was shut down and felt embarrassed. This led me to build a wall around my vulnerability.
I thought I was capable of being vulnerable, but the truth is, I never was. Whenever I'm in pain, I retreat behind that wall, using my energy to keep it intact so no one can see through me. By doing this, I’ve blocked out even the light.
I have no proof that I’m not just a delusional woman making up stories in her mind because someone she met twice decided to walk away. I don't see symbols, synchronicities, or angel numbers to confirm or deny this. I've never been open to that. All I have is my heart, which tells me it's true, and I believe it. Yet, the doubt still remains and surfaces at the worst times.
Yet, I find myself confronting my demons and cleaning out the shadows that have silently resided in my heart.
I am truly thankful. Even if all of this is just fragments of my imagination and my subconscious trying to heal me, I welcome it with open arms.
This is the fourth lesson I’ve learned since I surrendered: discovering the mess inside is excruciating, but I’m grateful for it.
No, I haven't given up on us. I'm just tired and weary, and you still don’t trust me. You keep trying to establish a relationship in the 5D while keeping all your guards up in the real world.

Hello,
I've been struggling with PE for a long, long time. I feel very ashamed anytime I am with a girl as I have difficulty controlling myself. However, I really believe that it's because my glans penis is hypersensitive. When I look, there are tiny bumps on it. I am uncut, I have had balanitis in the past however I have taken oral antifungals which have cleared it. I do not know what these bumps are, but I believe in my heart that these bumps are what are making me overly sensitive. When I see doctors, they will say "Hm I don't think that's what's causing it" and will tell me it's in my head, the big one lol.
Does anybody have any experience with this or can provide any pointers? /balanitis has like 1 billion posts with the same question. I searched the forum and had difficulty finding if anybody was struggling with the small bumps. It's not the same as having active balanitis, they just look like irritated dots, think of like eczema ror something
Can somebody provide pointers? I don't mind posting a picture but I didn't want to be inappropriate. Thank you

Ps: This is gonna be a long post.
So I created just a random account, I (19f) recently got dumped by my (19m) [ex] boyfriend because he was not 'ready' for a relationship. Let's call him D.
Context: D and I were classmates in 10th grade, never really talked much but after I got into a college of my dream course, it required me to move away from my home. I was scared to experience a typical hostel life and I knew D was already in hostel so I thought to ask him once, he used to stay in my hometown but his family shifted to another city (which is 6 hours from my college) a year after he got into his college, his college was 2000 km from his current home. That's how we started talking.
Later, he started to call me almost on a daily basis to ask about how life's been to just catch up, we got very close and shared about how we felt and all the things we went through in our life. It wasn't easy, we both were in a very bad state at one point of our lives but we overcame it, he said he still wants to better himself and he has given himself 2 years to work on it or else he would try kllng himself it again, which is a really stupid idea. Somewhere or the other I fell for him and I just wanted to help him through it, I confessed and he said he's not ready I accepted and agreed to just stay friends.
Then one random night he asked me to be his girlfriend and I agreed, I knew the consequences that this is a long distance relationship and it'll be hard but if we kept calling eachother, we communicated right, we videocalled every now and then, texted eachother it will not be a problem. Honestly, I don't ask much when I'm in love I just want love, respect, efforts and it's not like he could've offered me more than these basic things. I didn't expect him to do more than just call an hour a day that's it. How our day went and all, I understood the fact that he was scared to be close to someone and I didn't wanna pry him.
There were days he would just hang-up because he didn't feel like talking, he would yell at me because I was constantly begging just to talk to me once a day. We've fought over this topic multiple times and he said he's just a loner who doesn't talk much to people and he doesn't have time. Keep in mind I'm a medical student, I study 24/7 I don't sleep at night to study and make up for the time I lost just to talk to him because that's what you do you balance shit out to make it work.
He wasn't like this at all before he used call no matter how busy he was, doesn't matter if he was with his friends or eating he used to call atleast thrice a day without me asking, our relationship lasted a month and in the ending 2 days he just avoided me like plague, left me on delivered for more than 2 days and finding excuses (will touch this topic later on)
D scared me at the beginning, he said things like I was making his life better and shit and I was scared that he was too dependant on me. He made all these promises about how he was gonna treat me when he met me, how he was so much in love with me, how much he wanted to meet me and that he was gonna travel to the city where my college is and we would go on dates and stuff.
One fine day , I snapped. All I was asking was for time, He was keeping me on delivered for hours even after being online. Then he texted me I have my girl bestfriend over and we are watching a series together let's VC. I did and the way they were sitting together on one bed so close to eachother watching netflix in his room made me Hella insecure, look I trusted him enough to know he wouldn't cheat on me I mean yeah nothing could've happened between them since his mom was home too (and it's an apartment so it's not like he could do something) but still I don't know that girl. He says she's been there for him in his hard time and that she's like a sister and he mentioned "you and her are the only two people in my life I've actually said I love you to" this made me even more insecure.
After an hour of the VC and my mental breakdown my roommates witnessed, he texts me "so what do you think of her?" She wasn't bad honestly, she was nice and all but still when you're in a relationship especially a long distance one, you SHOULD have some boundaries. There are certain things you can't do once you're in a relationship to make your partner secure even if you aren't necessarily doing anything wrong. I don't have guy friends so close to begin with that he could've ever felt insecure. Coming back to the text I said "fine." Hours later. He eventually called me and said I'm gonna be at my relatives house so I would be away from my phone for a few hours, didn't even acknowledge the fact that I was insecure, didn't do anything to make me feel good. Worst part of all when I texted him please call me it's important, he came online ignored my text and then wakes up next morning at 10am texts me sorry I forgot and then again just vanished.
At this point I was just so anxious, because I genuinely loved him and didn't want to lose him, I wanted to be there for him. I couldn't eat or sleep I remember I was so anxious to the point where if I ate anything I felt nauseous. I was surviving on one sandwich for I think 48 hours (the time span he just did not reply or call or text). Finally I threatened him that if he did not call me today I would just be done with us. Hours later he replies "haha okay" I said "I am not joking I'm very serious about this" And he replies "I will call you when I'm free" He calls, very nonchalantly says "so What's up What did you wanna talk about" I said "wdym do you not know what's up" And I basically told him everything, I said how i felt he didn't give me enough time and how he wasn't treating me right. Keep in mind during the whole 1 hour that I said whatever I felt I never used any foul language or raised my voice, I just broke down and cried. I tried talking to him with the intentions of sorting it out, trying to communicate about how I felt I genuinely wanted it to work because I truly had feelings for him. Then he just yelled and said
"will you just shut the fuck up, I've been hearing your side of the story since the past one hour, you're not a priority to me, you will never be. Right now im my priority, you're crazy that you're mad at me for being with my family" To which I replied "I am not mad at the fact that you're busy I just want that you text me once every 3 hours, it couldn't be that you didn't get the time to text me once in these 2 days" He said "I could've but I just didn't " then he basically yelled more and said I was asking for too much of his time and that he used to call me thrice a day before because he felt I wasn't so demanding, he said more shit like how much needy I am and how he was contemplating breaking up with me because he wasn't happy with the relationship since a week. This wasn't the first time he yelled at me, alot of times before we had arguments about the same topic where he said his friendships have been quite low maintainance and that he even calls his bestfriend once every two months and I should expect the same infact I'm not even in his priority list. That broke me. He said calling and making time doesn't equals to efforts and that I was being frantic.
Imagine giving so much time and efforts, building my timetable around him because I understood his whatever shit hole logic of being a loner that I managed to study medicine, go through exams and still talk to him because I loved him and he just said no one asked me to do that and that I was being toxic and too dependent on him.
In the end he just said he needs to work on himself and said goodbye. The next day I woke up and I begged him to stay and he just said it couldn't work out, I was hurt beyond, how can it be that someone says they love you and want to have a future with you, that you heal them and they can never think of letting you go just two days before breakup when they've been contemplating this for a week. What about the promises he made to me? I understand if he just lost feelings, he could've just said so and he shouldn't have promised those things he didn't mean.
Even after all this I just texted him my final goodbye, again because I genuinely cared for him and I wrote I'd be proud of all the self growth he would do (Yes ik I'm a whole ass circus) and then I just blocked him everywhere. He said I didn't understand him or tried to understand him at all (I think it was the opposite) I asked him if he actually loved me or not and he just said "I loved you when I said I did, I didn't lie to you for a second" the audacity that he was expecting appreciation after that.
In the whole course of this entire relationship I've done nothing but tried to understand him, whenever he needed his space. He didn't wanna talk today because he was tired? Fine. He came online multiple times but left me delivered for 8+ hours? Fine he must be stuck with some work. Would watch television or fifa whenever we talked or put me on hold whenever he talked to talk to his friends? Fine he needs his space. Yelled at me? Fine his mental space just isn't right. Even after all this he said I didn't understand him, it broke me. Still the day after I begged him to stay because I loved him and wanted to be there for him.
I asked our mutual friend who knew about us dating for advice he straight up said "in relationships you don't need a boy you need a man, D is very immature and just not the guy to handle serious relationships" he was right. He infact added that he was surprised how I even agreed to be in relationship with D.
Now he's telling his friends about how needy and toxic I was, how much suffocating I was, how I wasn't the perfect girlfriend.
Yes I required a little bit of reassurance here and there, couple of I love yous in a day.
He lost me, trust me no girl would go through all that for a boy who brings nothing to the table, and he'll get his karma, he'd try to find me in every girl he dates only to see no one's ever gonna be this understanding. He'd understand the value of what he lost and it'll be too late.

Trying once again in here! I am looking for new people to rp with. Preferably 25+.
I value long detailed writing with insights into the characters mindset. You need to be able to drive the plot forwards and take initiatives, just as well as I will do the same. I like to balance rp so both parties act as a driving force in the story. I write third person, past tense.
I am open to a lot of themes, but I tend to enjoy dramatic stories with angst, passion and whatever else life can bring to a person. I prefer rp'ing modern settings. I guess you could call it "slice of life"? However I am open to other things as well. Second to modern day I also enjoy scifi a lot.
I don't want to plan much ahead. I want to discuss and agree on a setting, potential roles for the characters, but otherwise to be surprised about where the plot will go. Enemies? Romance? Strange stalker situations? Whatever happens, happen.
I prefer writing "strong personality" male characters (which can be many different types of people) but I can write pretty much any type of character. I would also like to keep open the option of adding multiple characters to the story.
I highly prefer using skype for RP, since discord's word limit is too short, and I have to break up my replies several times.
Questions? Just ask away! Interested? Shoot me a DM and tell me a bit about yourself, rp style and what else you find relevant.

Choosing the right school for children is very important. It decides their entire future. VSPK School is an excellent school in Rohini area of ​​Delhi. Here children get good education as well as help in their all-round development. Let's know about the benefits of enrolling your child in VSPK School!
Academic Excellence

Rigorous Curriculum

VSPK School gives great importance to good education. Along with the essential subjects like Maths, Science and English, children are also taught arts, social subjects and computers. Overall, this school focuses on the overall development of the children.

Qualified and Experienced Faculty

VSPK school has not just good teachers, but excellent teachers! These teachers are not only experts in studies but also know how to teach children very well. They want children to study diligently. Moreover, these teachers are always learning new things so that they can teach children in a modern way.

Innovative Teaching Methods

Many methods are adopted here to make studies fun. Sometimes the class is interactive, sometimes teaching is done with the help of computers and sometimes they are given the opportunity to learn by doing. This helps children understand even difficult things easily. In school, the focus is not just on rote learning but children are made to think on their own, solve problems and create new things. These things are very important for the future of children!
Holistic Development
Extracurricular Activities
VSPK School does not focus only on studies. Here the overall development of the children is taken care of. Apart from studies, many types of activities are conducted in the school. Children get a chance to play sports, sing songs, dance and do drama. This helps them know what they can do well in. These activities not only give children fun but also develop important qualities like teamwork, leadership and time management in them.

Personality Development Programs

VSPK School not only focuses on studies and activities but also on increasing the confidence of children. Here children are taught to speak well, debate and become leaders. This increases the confidence of children, they are able to talk well with others and are prepared to face the challenges in the future.

Community Service and Social Responsibility

Apart from this, the school also focuses on making them realize their responsibility towards society. Children are encouraged to help the poor, plant trees and participate in activities that improve society. So that children can take up social things and become responsible citizens. This creates empathy for others in children and they grow up to become responsible citizens!
State-of-the-Art Infrastructure

Modern Classrooms and Laboratories

VSPK School has great facilities for studies! The classrooms here are modern with smart boards and video display machines. This makes studying more fun for children. Also, the science lab and computer lab are very good where children can learn by doing.

Sports and Recreation Facilities

VSPK School also takes care of the physical development of the children. The school has a lot of space for playing. There is a big playground where children can play cricket, football, etc. There are also courts for tennis and basketball. There is even a swimming pool for swimming! Sports events are also organized in the school from time to time, which creates interest in sports among the children and keeps them healthy.

Library and Resource Center

Apart from studies, VSPK School also has a great library. This library is just piled up with books! All kinds of books are available here - story books, course books and even internet books. Teachers are also present in the library who help the children in case of any problem. The school wants the children to read and learn as much as possible.

Safe and Supportive Environment

Secure Campus

VSPK School gives great importance to the safety of children. The entire school is equipped with CCTV cameras to keep an eye on everything. There is only one gate through which children can enter and exit the school and security personnel are deployed there. The school is also prepared for emergencies so that children are always safe.

Pastoral Care and Counseling

Not only studies, but children's emotions are also taken care of in the school. If a child has any problem or is going through a difficult phase, the school counselors help him. These counselors help children solve any problem related to studies, their friends and family. So that children can study without any worries and stay happy!

Health and Wellness Programs

VSPK School also takes care of the health of the children. Here the children are checked regularly. The school also tells what the children should eat so that they remain healthy. Not only this, such programs are also organized in the school which help the children to reduce stress and stay healthy. P.E. classes and some calm activities also help in keeping the children healthy.
Strong Parent-Teacher Partnership

Open Communication

VSPK School believes that the support of parents and teachers is very important in the education of children. The school gives all the information to the parents, for this it holds regular meetings, gives progress reports of the children and there is also an app where all the information is available. This keeps the parents informed about how their child is doing in studies and how his behavior in school is. Working together in this way improves the education of children even more.

Parental Involvement

Not only this, the school also wants parents to participate in school programs, come to parent workshops and join the school's parents association. This strengthens the relationship between the school and parents and also improves the school environment.

Feedback and Improvement

VSPK School believes that parental feedback is very important to improve children's education. Therefore, the school takes feedback from parents from time to time. Through an app or form, the school tries to know what parents like about the school and what changes can be made. With the help of this feedback, the school keeps improving itself so that children get everything they need to move forward!
In Summary , VSPK School in Rohini is a great school for children's education! Here children not only get good education but their all-round development is also done. The teachers are good, the school has a great play area and children are helped in every way. If you are looking for a good school for your child then VSPK School is the perfect choice for you. Here your child will get everything that he needs to move forward in life!

Hello there y'all so I'm a student i mentioned yknow my story in one of the post but I'll just mention it here in short , so I'm a student i passed 12th in 2023 got fucked in neet ug so pursued bsc microbiology i gave exam for the first semester and didn't gave any exam for the second one. Now i wanna cancel my admission, take my tc move to a different college the problem is that I've got the form from my college to fill up but i can't cuz i don't have my marksheet, i don't know should i tick pass or fail , they asked me to attach last years marksheet which I'm confused whether it's about class 12 or fy , now wait here's a twist unfortunately my father says he wanna come with me to the college and then submit the form (idk why but..) also I haven't told my parents that i did not appear for the exams (why you ask?) well i didn't feel like , my father also said he'll get my admission done in better college , what I'm afraid of is waking up tomorrow morning, i don't wanna go and face the same thing again and again I've got enough abuse from both mom and dad I'm tired i don't wanna tell them anything infact this might be even my last post and my last day I'll be trying a way to choke myself to death when everyone else is sleeping. I don't know what to do please help , been through enough shit i don't really wanna die as i have a lot of dreams but I might commit suicide if I don't get my tc . what do i do?

My first experience with TTRPGs was when I joined the DND club in 8th grade. This was a while ago so I might have gaps in my memory, especially considering my mental health at the time. Middle school was a very bad time for me and I've always been very creative and imaginative, so I was looking forward to finding an escape in a fun fantasy world and becoming someone else. That did not happen. Instead I got a very stressful year long task to stop my party members from destroying themselves and everything around them, while trying to appease a very harsh DM that was there via nepotism.
TLDR: My first campaign was a mess because my party members were absolutely feral, our DM got away with everything because his mother was the teacher leading the club, and I spent the entire campaign miserably trying to keep everyone alive and together so I was unable to roleplay or develop my character. I missed one session and they blamed me for something they did while I was gone that was so horrible it killed all of our pets, including many of mine.
To start, I'll establish the characters. Obviously I will not be using any real names, and I will use the same names for both the player and their characters.
First, my friend Michael (who was a pleasant surprise, considering I didn't know he had also joined the club) made a rogue. He was either human or half-elf or something. He's chill, but a little neurotic. He obsesses over things and will focus on a task until it's completion.
A boy, Elliot, was a human paladin. His character was the tallest of the group by far, which was funny when considering his friend, Rory, was a gnome cleric and therefore the shortest. They were kind of a dynamic duo.
Then there was Kaya. Kaya was my "best friend" throughout all of middle school. I refused to believe it at the time, but she was terribly abusive to me. You'll see a glimpse into how that manifests later. She played an elven... rogue. I pointed out that having two rogues was probably going to unbalance the team a little, but Michael made his character first and Kaya was edge lord supreme so she refused to budge. She named her character after a Homestuck character, then declared her alignment to be chaotic evil. Elliot said that his paladin would never team up with a chaotic evil rogue, and the DM agreed that it wouldn't make much sense for them to be in a party together, so she begrudgingly agreed to change it to chaotic neutral. Her play-style did not reflect that change.
Then there was me. My character was a half elf who was either a wizard or a sorcerer, I can't recall. She was chaotic good, at first, but that quickly changed to neutral good. She was kind and empathetic and absolutely nothing else because I never got the opportunity to develop her, and you'll see why.
As for the DM, Aiden, he was... interesting. He was a high school student that came to DM for the middle school DND club because his mother was the teacher that ran it. More on him as we progress through the story.
I remember being a little disappointed because one of the DMs for the club was a teacher that I liked a lot, but he was already running a campaign.
Session zero was just character creation, really, there was no actual play that meeting, which was fine since we were all new to the game and needed help making character sheets. They made us roll for absolutely everything, including height, weight, and age. I found this amusing because I got fairly good rolls and my "best friend" Kaya got a middle aged short and stout character which she was deeply annoyed about. I teased her about it a little because she always made fun of my height (I'm 4'10", and was probably honestly an inch or two shorter back then). She did not take kindly to the teasing and got really upset and demanded to reroll, but we were short on time and those rolls weren't even that relevant so we just continued.
Aiden made me roll for what spells I got initially, but he let me choose one myself. I chose Charm Person because I thought it would be pretty helpful. Then I rolled and got Feather Fall (and I think I also got Shield? Though I might have gotten it later). I was disappointed because I didn't get any that would do damage. We all started at level 1. I didn't get any cantrips... I think I asked about them but he said to not worry about it so I listened to him.
The first real session, we were put in a charming little town with an undead problem. It was a good setup and a simple introduction for us as new players. All of the townsfolk in that village were named Hector, which I thought was delightful. So we'll call the starting village Hectorville. We decided to browse the shops while it was daylight and get equipped. Given freedom of choice for the first time in a game like this, Kaya and I instantly went and bought 30 live chickens between the two of us. I think 10 were mine and 20 were hers. We never really did anything with the chickens, we just thought it was funny to have 30 chickens trailing us at all times. That was the only chaotic thing I managed to do the entire game. I also bought a horse, which took a huge chunk of my funds but I loved her, I think I named her Eclipse. I might have also bought a dog, though I could've gotten him later I really don't remember. Either way I spent a LOT of my funds on animals. These animals are important later.
When we were in one of the shops, while we were having a lovely discussion with the shopkeeper, Artist Hector, Kaya was looking around for any particularly valuable items. There was an expensive enchanted necklace in a display case, and of course her first instinct was to steal it. I tried to tell her no, as we just started in this town and we should stay in good standing with the locals, but she waited a bit and went for it anyway. I think she failed and Artist Hector yelled at her.
After we did the initial quest of taking out a few of the undead, we were tasked by an elderly man to head to a windmill a little ways away from Hectorville to get rid of the wolves that had taken it over. I think the windmill also had something to do with the source of the undead. I managed to convince the old man to guide us to the windmill, though he waited a good distance away for us to avoid getting into any danger himself.
Long story short, we were absolutely no match for these wolves. We were torn to shreds and had a TPK. We were all really bummed out, and Aiden gave us mercy for the first and last time. We woke up in Hectorville, but at a cost. The old man had dragged us all back, and he had died from the strain of it all. I was super sad and I suggested that we go pay our respects at his grave. When we got there, I tried to do a little bit of roleplay and say a few words in honor of the old man, but Kaya immediately jumped in and asked if she could dig up his grave and rob his corpse. I was absolutely horrified and pleaded with her to reconsider and have some respect for him. She wouldn't listen and I told her that he probably wouldn't even have anything good on him anyways since he was just an old guy from a small town. The other players seemed kind of amused but stayed out of it, though they seemed to think it was slightly too disrespectful to do as well.
Obviously she didn't listen and she found a shovel and dug up his grave. All he had on his corpse was like a copper piece, a ring, and a picture of his wife or something. She was disappointed even though I'd warned her that would be the case. She wanted to dig up more graves but we voted to leave the graveyard to prevent her from getting us kicked out of the town.
The pattern begins.
Our journey continues, we travel, we go on little side quests, we get into combat, I'm basically useless in most combat scenarios since I have no damage spells and only have like, a dagger.
I started to notice that the DM is a little harsh. He'll make fights a little too difficult, enforce strange rules, etc. It's fine, it's nothing we can't work around (at first). We pretty much never did any actual roleplay, and when we did we were very awkward about it because we never got the chance to practice and get comfortable. Every time I went on for more than a sentence or two, Kaya would butt in and take control of the conversation or end the dialogue entirely with one of her antics. My character was not allowed to develop into a person, she was just the mediator trying desperately to hold onto four leashes.
I genuinely cannot remember if there was a main quest. I think he just kind of kept throwing various smaller quests at us, which was alright but I'm not sure if it ever felt like we were actually progressing. It was basically just us doing whatever we wanted, which actually meant everyone else in the party getting to do whatever they wanted and me trying to keep everyone from dying, or getting too separated and off track, or putting a comically high bounty on our heads, things like that.
At some point we meet an incredibly tall orange man. I'm talking comically tall, and not proportionally that wide, and he had like a little smiley face I think. His name was Orange. We loved him dearly. He essentially joined the party, and we could call him whenever we needed him.
At some point Elliot and Rory had an idea. Establish the Church of Orange. We all agreed, I was very on board since it was funny and harmless and could be a good side task to work on for the duration of the game. We built a little chapel and recruited some members and Orange was kind of just chilling, he didn't seem to mind.
Elliot and Rory decided that their characters should get married at the chapel. This was a spur of the moment decision and was one of the better roleplaying moments. Kaya surprisingly didn't butt in at all but honestly I think it was just because she was a fujoshi and weirdly obsessed with gay men. After they got married, they asked if they could adopt Orange as their strange son. They did so, and doted on him a lot. They were very proud of their boy.
After a little, though, they adopted me too for some reason. It was fine for a second before it quickly devolved into them berating me and praising Orange for no reason at all. They were incredibly harsh to my character and I asked if I could disown them but Aiden said no. Eventually they must've not found it that funny anymore so they stopped and essentially dropped that plotline.
Whenever someone missed a session, Aiden would make one of the remaining players take over and play both characters throughout the session. This included making important decisions on behalf of the player, with absolutely no restrictions. I thought this was a very bad idea and suggested we just have the character follow behind quietly or be off doing something else for the session, but Aiden doubled down and I quickly relented. I made it a point to never miss a session if I could help it.
One time, a few months in, Elliot missed a session and I was assigned his character. We got to a point where we had to all jump over a river of lava, and we had to roll to succeed. I rolled too little for Elliot's character. I begged Aiden to let me reroll or just let Elliot's character live because it wouldn't be fair to kill his character off when he wasn't there. He said absolutely not and Elliot's character fell in the lava and died.
I was very upset about this, and after the session I went to the club leader. I told her what happened and how he was frequently very harsh in his rulings, making it more stressful than fun. He was her son, so she defended him and brushed it off entirely. She also said he was autistic, so I should just let him do whatever. I am also autistic, but I didn't know it at the time. I did, however, know that my older sister had autism, and I'd known several other autistic people in my life. I empathized and understood that autism can make it very hard to understand tone and social cues and such, I struggle with that myself, but that didn't mean that she should baby him and never correct him on his mistakes. While my sister and others treat it as an explanation, he treated it as an excuse.
I mentioned his DMing style seeming odd or ruining the fun to her several times but she always took his side, so eventually I gave up.
Thankfully, when Elliot returned, he wasn't upset with me. I apologized profusely but he was very chill about it. He was a little bummed but he was content with making a new character. I don't remember what character he made after that, honestly.
At some point Michael's character also died, but Michael is the kind of guy who takes that in stride and moves on no problem. His character wasn't really developed anyways so I'm not sure he was even that attached to him. His new character was pretty similar. He was honestly the person who gave me the least amount of headaches and he is still my friend to this day. Shoutout to Michael!
We had a portal arc where we keep finding portals and going in without thinking it through, much to my protest.
Antics ensue, things happen, we go to a sandwich dimension where everything is made of sandwiches, there's a sandwich version of Michael's dead character, I find a breaded chicken (alive) and I adopt it, it's delightful. Kaya is still a constant headache and getting us into trouble, the other three are no help and honestly Elliot and Rory get into an equal amount of antics but they make it less of my problem.
We go on a quest in the ocean in a Bioshock-like underwater structure, Kaya is Kaya and upsets a large squid and we spend the rest of the session in squid-court for squid harassment.
There's a point where we're about to have a TPK, we're all on low HP and there's seemingly no hope. I feel useless, magic fire is closing in on us, and I suddenly have an idea. I ask if I can use my magic shield around us to protect us from the flames. He says yes. FINALLY! I'm useful! It's a really good day for me!
Then the absolute worst thing happens. I miss one session. Just one.
I come back mid siege. We're the ones sieging the town. I'm very confused and starting to panic and the first thing I ask is "which town and why?"
They answer with 'Hectorville. I dunno, we felt like it.'
I am absolutely appalled. I'm gone for one session and they're laying siege to our starting town filled with helpless Hectors? It's been going on for a while apparently and the Hectors had started getting desperate. A few fight back, but Kaya is way too happy to kill them (very violently). I'm still reeling and trying to catch up with whatever is going on. I'm asking a bunch of questions and not liking the answers one bit. They said my character agreed to it, which is so incredibly far out of character that I'm mad at the DM for even allowing it. They could probably have done it even without my vote so why'd they have to add insult to injury? Finally I ask, "Hey, where's Orange? And please tell me you left our chickens and pets in a safe place."
Aiden says the party left them inside one of the buildings. I asked, "in town?" and he said yes. The rest of the party was still smiling and were confused as to why I was asking about this until I slowly clarified, "you left our favorite NPC, and all our pets, in a town that you decided to siege. You left our 30 chickens in a town that you are purposefully starving?"
The entire mood of the table shifted from amused joy to shock and upset. Rory and Elliot were worried about Orange. Kaya was upset about her chickens, mildly concerned about Orange, and very upset about her dog. Michael was still mildly amused, actually. Probably enjoying their karma.
It was the end of the siege and so we rush in to the town full of Hector corpses and stepping over the few that are alive but too weak and hungry to move or attack us, and we head straight for where they left Orange and the pets.
Orange is alive and well, but all the pets are dead. I'm absolutely crushed. I beg Aiden to tell me that at least my horse is outside. He says no, Eclipse was in the building with the rest of them. All the pets had been eaten by the Hectors and by Orange, and he mentioned that Orange even ate a few of the Hectors when the pets ran out. Suddenly Elliot and Rory are appalled by Orange and they hate him. The complete 180 was baffling to me. It wasn't Orange's fault they left him in there and then sieged the place. It was entirely their fault.
Kaya is incredibly upset and she turns to me at the table and she starts yelling at me. "This is all your fault! You should've stopped us!"
I yelled back, "how? I was sick at home! You shouldn't have done this, you can't blame me for it! I wasn't even there!"
But for some reason she kept insisting that it was my fault that they decided to lay siege and she kept saying very insulting words towards me, calling me a b**** among other things, and I started crying.
Kaya and I didn't talk for a few days after that. This was relatively common, actually. She would get into an argument with me on purpose, then blame me for it, and then she would refuse to apologize and not talk to me for days. She sometimes started talking to me again out of the blue like nothing had happened, but usually she would actually start talking again if I had something she wanted, like food. She would only ever apologize when I refused to give her food until she said sorry. It was really childish, even for middle school.
I was so incredibly upset with all of them, especially Kaya, and I was absolutely baffled as to how Aiden let them do any of this to my character and her property without my consent. I reiterated how unfair it was to let huge character decisions be made when the player isn't present. He absolutely did not care and he seemed to find it funny.
In the final session, Aiden allowed us to do pretty much whatever we wanted, even manipulate reality. Like a sort of non-canon sandbox. That was nice, I suppose, but it couldn't make up for how absolutely exhausting the whole campaign was for me. In the end, I'm fairly certain we were all only level 2. Basically nothing was accomplished over the year-long campaign except giving me more things to talk about at therapy after I graduated middle school.
Thankfully, this first experience with DND didn't turn me off of the game forever. I've played in a few mini campaigns since, DMed for a campaign, and I'm working on preparing to DM again. I would love to be a player at some point again for a proper campaign, though. I feel like I need to replace that awful player experience with a much better one.
Also Kaya and I cut each other off the second we got to High School. At first I would honestly have mild panic attacks every time I saw her in the halls, but I got therapy and eventually I was able to ignore her. Haven't spoken to her in over 5 years at this point and I do not plan to ever again.
Thanks for reading this far, I know it was a long one!

This happend last week but I'm still shaken from the experience, it was definitely one of the most terrifying things that has ever happend to me.
For context, I'm in college, and I have three best friends one is girl, and one is boy. We're always hanging out together, and since the guy has a bigger apparemment, and it's his, not renting unlike us, our main hangout spot is his house, plus it's the closest to our school. It's in a good neighborhood, in a gated community and the concierge know who we are so we have never faced any problems.
Until last week, we had an exam approaching so the three of us decided to study at his, like usual. We had already spend the whole day studying, and me and the other girl we were planing on sleeping over because when we study, we stay up late at night and we can't get back home at like 2am. And it wasn't the first time we stayed over, just three days before the incident, I slept at his house and it was fine (he's gay so it's not like anything would happen).
So when it was about 10pm, we wanted to get some snacks so me and him decided to go to the supermarket, but my other bff stayed home because she was tired. When we got back, as we were entering la residence, I noticed a middle aged man staring at us, but I didn't think anything of it. So we got back, and continued studying in the living room that is facing the front door until we heard nocking, my friend went to see who it is, and just as he opened the door he was pushed against the wall (he's a pretty big guy so if it was me I would have been badly hurt) by the guy we saw earlier and another guy start filming us with he's phone and screaming at all of us, we were all shocked and my friend tried to get them out but they didn't let him, and they were saying they're gonna call the cops because the residency is not a brothel and that we're not aloud to be in the house. The table was full of our books and laptops so it was pretty clear that we were studying, but that didn't stop them. But then the concierge came running with my friend's dad on the phone, who told them that we were his cousins and that they're going to get sued for harassing us, and they ended up apologizing to him, and telling him that he saw me and him getting in the apparemment and thought we were an unmarried couple, which is crazy because what if we were, I know it is illegal, but I never thought that the neighbors will be a problem. And the thought that they could've called the cops is terrifying.
I was studying abroad a few years back but I decided to get back to my country because I love it here, but this incident made me want to get back, because in what world are we not allowed to study together in our own house without someone making it his problem. The reason that I'm writing this is because I'm still angry at the incident and I can't even tell my family because they will tell me it's my fault even though they knew where I was.

There were two instances and the second instance was my last straw. First instance- I caught her texting one of her teammates until 3 in the morning. So before I had some suspicion something was up. She has been drained from work but then became really interested in her phone. Okay now back to the teammate she was texting until 3 in the morning. We lived together for four years. I was sleeping next to her while she was texting this teammate until three in the morning. I kept hearing her phone go off. So where I went wrong and I take full responsibility I waited until she went to sleep and went through her phone. And found the messages with her & her teammate. The conversation to me seem flirtatious from her side of the conversation.And here’s the kicker she was basically talking crap about me to her teammate.I addressed her and she told me she was just trying to get to know her teammate and how those weren’t her intentions. So I gave her the benefit of the doubt and was willing to move past the situation but we came up with boundaries.
Second instance- fast forward to 7 months after the first instance. The month after our 7 year anniversary I shall add. She has been going through some things which I understood. And we were also dealing with my family drama in our relationship which I feel like is an important factor in what she did. So she had became really distant, and cold with me. I would try to be affectionate and she just wasn’t having it due to what she was dealing with is what she told me. But there was this one friend she told me she was constantly texting which made me raise an eyebrow because again she was always on her phone and up when I went to sleep. She also spent alot of time home alone because I work. Well something in my gut told me something was up. So I looked on her tumblr page from my tumblr mind you I was taking a break From tumblr which she knew of but she didn’t know I was looking at her tumblr. And I found her liking this one girl pictures and quoting things the girl reposted. The girl would also reblog my ex girlfriend pictures and then the girl made a comment on my ex girlfriend picture that made me raise an eyebrow. Well the girl posted a picture of herself and guess who commented on it my ex girlfriend. So then me being me I looked on her Pinterest and she created a Pinterest board for that girl.
And that’s when I addressed my ex-girlfriend. At first she tried to deny it and say the girl from tumblr was a friend. But then she confessed she was talking to the girl for three months. And she liked how the girl gave her attention & validated her. Yet she wasn’t allowing me to do these things because she was pushing me away. And here’s the kicker she called the girl when she really needed help mentally than calling me. She was texting this girl while I was right next to her and talking to her when I was at work. She was gaslighting me/ manipulating me because I asked her multiple times if something was up and she would tell me no how she barely talked to ppl and when she was on her phone it was because she was writing.
Sorry for this long post just had to give y’all the full information. Im looking for any advice. I’m really hurt by it, have a lot of anger and sadness. This was 7 years of my life I thought I found my future partner. Idk if I can forgive her for it. She’s open for couples therapy. But idk if I will ever get over it or look at her the same because I never expected her to do something like that to me.

Hey guys. So I’m a Latina 25F. I just recently ended up a five year old marriage. And a guy at work that I’ve never noticed before asked a friend about me and found my socials and has asked me out. Now it wasn’t a bad experience but I guess im not used to dating guys that are not as thoughtful as Latino men. Like I’ve been seeing this guy for around a month now and he has never gotten me flowers or he doesn’t open the car door for me. He told me he’s serious about me but it kinda seems like everything needs to be broken down to him everything I want and how to do or say things and it’s annoying me I want a guy who just does without me asking. And yes we have spoken about it I told him I’m a girl that enjoys sweet gestures and he’s like well I’ve done that before and it hasn’t worked out so I do when I feel like the girl deserves it ( bs excuse men use of course because when it comes to sex they ready to do that over and over with different women even if it doesn’t work out ) I mean he’s not like cheap he pays for everything and is always making plans to see me and has even brought me to his work get together also invited me out like four days in a. Row one of these to a friend get together and I couldn’t go and has mentioned being serious about me and me meeting his mom. But I just don’t find him to be considerate or sweet to me like I’ve had in the past when I’ve dated Latino men.like we literally had sex and he came twice and got hard again yet couldn’t even be bothered to ask if I came. I’m used to getting flowers or sweet messages he does neither. Because we work together he texts me every day and since the day we met we have seen each other every single day at work. Idk I think he does like me but because I slept with him already I feel like I lost all the power don’t know if he will ask me to be his girlfriend and he also sent me a song that goes tell me I’m your man. But he just not romantic enough and I don’t wanna have to ask. What to do ????

Does this sound like narc behaviour?
I caught my bf (we are both in our late twenties) messaging other women and talking badly about me with this girl from his hometown (he later told me he kissed her a few times in high school). The things he was saying to this girl were HORRIBLE. Framed me so badly. Saying I never give him a break from me, and that he had “actual shit going on in his life” and needed time alone to decompress from it and I’d get angry. Not true, I wouldn’t see him for 4 or 5 days and I told him that I needed him to be more present if I were to continue an exclusive relationship. That he can’t deal with my emotions and that I was so terrible and said I was going to move an hour away (I lost my housing and had to move back in with my parents and it was an entirely untenable situation for me, I didn’t think an hours distance would be that big a deal). Talking about how I have so many red flags and maybe he’s just meant to me there for me during the most difficult part of my life, and that he will be on to “ bigger and better “ things. The parts he chose to omit were the messaging other women, a pending court case I was supporting him through, and a trans porn addiction he was spending all his money on and hiding from me. The worst part is this chick was just jerkinghim off emotionally and basically telling him he is a saint for supporting his girlfriend.
When I found all this stuff on his phone I couldn’t believe that he had this in him. I felt like I didn’t even know him. When I confronted him he was originally apologetic and blocked all these women and I thought we could reconcile, But since he has told me I need to appreciate the situation he was in having to deal with my (diagnosed, clinical) anxiety when I just need to learn a new way of being. I still don’t understand how he has validated this shit based on that.
Does this seem just?

Hey,
Obviously the title of this post sounds like a major red flag, hear me out.
I had a date with that girl, (we're both late 20s) and it seemed like it matched, at the end of the date she tells me she had a great time and she wants to see me again, so the next day I sent her a message on Hinge asking if she wants to give me her number, no answer, I didn't send anything else as I didn't want to pressure her, then 4 days later she unmatches me.
Obviously this isn't the first time it happens to me, but 80% of the time it's mutual or at least the person just tells you "hey, sorry but no" which is 100% fine, but the fact that she literally just lied then ghosted has been affecting me more than expected and I've been thinking about it a lot the past few days, I just want closure I guess?
I know I'm entering weirdo territory here, but I litteraly just searched her name and her job title in the LinkedIn search bar and she was in the top 3, and so I was thinking about just sending her a message among the lines of
"I had a great time during our date, but I get it, it's fine and those things happen, I just wished you told me instead of ghosting/deleting me, but I still I wish you to be happy, goodbye"
Is this stalker behaviour, is this weird? Should I shove the emotions deep down and turn the page? Or is this potentially ok ? I'm painfully aware I'm still a bit sensitive after what happened, hence the need to ask other human beings if i'm crazy or not