Grey and mint green living room

You can call me Ty, I’m a 20 year old male who loves to roleplay. I have a couple plots as well as rules and all that boring stuff.
Rules~
1~don’t come into my dms with a hey, wanna rp, hi, or anything that’s like one sentence. Tell me a bit about your self and what kinda roleplayer you are, if you have any plots. It’s not needed but a sample of your writing is great.
2~ please no minors.
3~ semi lit to advanced lit. I’m looking for someone who can ATLEAST write a well detailed paragraph but I prefer more but that’s up to you.
4~ please use real face claims and not anime, drawings are ok as long as they are semi realistic.
5~ 3rd person only.
6~ discord only.
Ok those are all my rules. I’ll share a few plots here however I have more in my notes so if none of these intrest you let me know and we can find something or come together and make a plot that fits us both. The more ! Marks the more I wanna do them. If they have a ❌ I don’t have any partners for them yet.
Plots~

1. A weird situation. !!! ❌

Your my brothers ex wife however your vacation was already planned before the you caught him cheating. We’ve been friends since children and I was the one who introduced you to him. Both our ocs are from West Virginia and the vacation is in New York or somewhere else.
You decided to go and so did I however were from different classes as I’m often getting in trouble with the law and my big brother is a successful businessman who’s rich. I am youngest child and the second oldest brother is who bought my hotel room but as I get to the hotel a couple minutes before you I find out my hotel room was canceled and I have to sleep on the couch of the penthouse room you got. (Long term, slow burn, SoL, drama, present time, romance.)
2~ Polar opposites. ! ❌
Two people with cybernetic powers both “lab rats from the same lab.” My character has advanced past the center and sent out to be allowed to roam and live life, being called for “jobs” any escaped test subject he would hunt down and kill or bring back alive. Your the prodigy of a doctor named Markus Shizuoka. A woman made from an embryo.
One day she escapes from the facility breaking out and seeking her freedom. My character gets the job to seek a hit out on her. He tracks her down and captures her but after seeing just how strong she is he has a plan he’s always hated the facility. (More in depth on his bio once we start.) he helps her get back at them by blowing up the facility. We decide what happens after. (Long term, action, romance, sci fi, semi futuristic, slow burn, rough topics)
3~ The broken love. !! ❌
Your a new hire to a rich ceo of a rich man who’s married. Your his secretary. Recently him and his wife have been falling out of love. They tried having a kid but that only made it worse after the miscarriage.
The relationship you have with him is completely platonic atleast for now. He has a huge business trip coming up in Japan and what a better way to fight for his marriage by then take his wife with him. Plot twist she makes up a reason to not come. He already bought two tickets and decided to ask you to come with him. You agree and we decide what happens in the mean time.
The trip ends up coming up short from him not booking the hotel long enough so they head back. He comes home to his wife cheating on him and now needs a place to stay. Where will he stay a hotel, the house of his intern, or the office. (Long term, slow burn, drama, sol, modern times, romance.)
4~ The toxic man. ! ❌
You meet a man at a bar. Extremely good looking, well spoken, has money. You get into him talking to him getting to know him exchanging numbers. For some reason you can’t get your mind off him and you can’t figure out why.
He ends up being extremely toxic, cheating, lying, keeping secrets about how he has money. (It would great for you to also be toxic and maybe a bit crazy for him.) (Long term, sensitive topics, slow burn, drama, romance, modern times.)
Hi thanks for reading my post, I can’t wait to hear from you all and hope to hear from you soon. Have a great day and if you have ANY questions what so ever don’t be scared to dm me. Have a great day or night!

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I redid this post as the last one got too complicated regarding genealogy and the function of certain parts, it should've been two separate posts. But Maxwell's Demon has immensely simplified presentation of this theory, so as always, lets cover the necessary background knowledge before we get to the tinfoil.

Seven things has Lady Lackless
Keeps them underneath her black dress
She's been dreaming and not sleeping
On a road, that's not for traveling
Lackless likes her riddle raveling

Simple part first. Raveling has multiple definitions, and a lot of synonyms. Unravel, unwind, untwine. For fun I'm going to list some antonyms for the nerds like me. Bind, knot, wind, twine, lash. Those words seem maddeningly familiar, don't they?
When it comes to roads specifically, raveling means

Raveling is the disintegration of an asphalt road surface. It is due to the dislodgment of the aggregate materials (gravel, sand, and crushed stone). It reduces skid resistance, roughens the road surface, and exposes the layers underneath to further deterioration.

and did you know that Raveling is also an obsolete form of the word Ravelin ?

A ravelin is a triangular fortification or detached outwork, located in front of the innerworks of a fortress (the curtain walls and bastions). Originally called a demi-lune

Demi-lune because the fortification is a half-moon shape.
Now we get to the mind blowing parts. A riddle also has multiple definitions, the most common is

a mystifying, misleading, or puzzling question posed as a problem to be solved or guessed : CONUNDRUM, ENIGMA

But there's an alternate noun as well. An object.

Riddle - a coarse sieve
Sieve - a device with meshes or perforations through which finer particles of a mixture (as of ashes, flour, or sand) of various sizes may be passed to separate them from coarser ones, through which the liquid may be drained from liquid-containing material, or through which soft materials may be forced for reduction to fine particles

Now do you remember what bone-tar is?

a volatile transporting agent: Regim Ignaul Neratum.
Kilvin donned a thick leather glove and decanted about an ounce of dark liquid from the metal canister into a glass vial. “It is important to chill the vial prior to decanting, as the agent boils at room temperature.”
“The pressure cap is also essential, as the liquid is extremely volatile. As a gas it exhibits surface tension and viscosity, like mercury. It is heavier than air and does not dissipate. It coheres to itself.”
The room was filled with a sharp crackling and hissing as the dark liquid warmed itself against the stone of the firewell and began to boil. From my high vantage, I could see a thick, oily smoke slowly filling the bottom of the well. It didn’t behave like fog or smoke at all. Its edges didn’t diffuse. It pooled, and hung together like a tiny, dark cloud.

Now we compare that to Haliax

“They come,” Haliax said quietly. He stood, and shadow seemed to boil outward from him like a dark fog. “Quickly. To me.”
Haliax spread his arms and the shadow surrounding him bloomed like a flower unfolding. Then, each of the others turned with a studied ease and took a step toward Haliax, into the shadow surrounding him. But as their feet came down they slowed, and gently, as if they were made of sand with wind blowing across them, they faded away.

Okay well Haliax definitely sounds like it's made out of the same transporting agent we just read about. So he'll be our coarse sieve, our Maxwell's Demon. This is ALL you need to know about Maxwell's Demon

Maxwell's demon is a thought experiment that would hypothetically violate the second law of thermodynamics. It was proposed by the physicist James Clerk Maxwell in 1867. In his first letter Maxwell called the demon a "finite being", while the Daemon name was first used by Lord Kelvin.
In the thought experiment, a demon controls a small massless door between two chambers of gas. As individual gas molecules (or atoms) approach the door, the demon quickly opens and closes the door to allow only fast-moving molecules to pass through in one direction, and only slow-moving molecules to pass through in the other. Because the kinetic temperature of a gas depends on the velocities of its constituent molecules, the demon's actions cause one chamber to warm up and the other to cool down. This would decrease the total entropy of the system, without applying any work, thereby violating the second law of thermodynamics.

Now look again at some of the word choice regarding the Chandrian when they use Haliax to transport

But as their feet came down they slowed, and gently, as if they were made of sand with wind blowing across them, they faded away.

They slowed. Haliax, our demon/coarse sieve, opened its massless door, and only allowed slow moving particles like sand to pass through in one direction.
So this is the Chandrian's mission. They want to ravel the riddle, to destroy the road not for travelling, the barrier between worlds. They're bound to the road, part of it, and as long as the road exists they cannot die. But they're also the thing holding everything together. Here's a terrible visual aid that sort of shows the role of our gatekeepers. Haliax is the bolt kept in place by six locks, keeping the gate is secure. If they die, no more gate, no more barrier, and scrael pour into the world.

“I hoped, perhaps, that you would join me in what I aim to do.” Lanre spoke with a desperate longing in his voice. “This world is like a friend with a mortal wound. A bitter draught given quickly only eases pain.”
“Destroy the world?” Selitos said softly to himself.

It's all about your perspective. The Chaen Dian aren't destroying the world, they want to destroy one world. One of the two.

Her eyes brightened. “but oh,” she sighed, “the things they made!”
She laughed at my tone. “no. the faen realm.” she waved widely. "wrought according to their will.
Felurian smiled at me. “then there were two worlds. two skies. two sets of stars.”

If they destroy the road between worlds, then there won't be two worlds. There will only be one world, one sky, and one moon all round and cozy.
Here's how this ties into the plot. Last time I raced ahead to conclusions, instead this time I'm going to break things down and let you guess yourself because I don't know for sure. First thing we need to establish is the origin of Denna's new scar.

“Do you know the secret of stones?” she asked as she reached into the water. The hem of her dress dipped into the stream, but she seemed unconcerned.
I could see the dull green of old bruises on her upper arms, the remnant of a raised welt on her back. There was a scar on her leg above her knee, new enough that the red of it showed through the white of her shift.

Denna has this scar because of Marten's arrow.

He was dressed differently than the others, wearing a hauberk of bright chainmail that came nearly to his knees with a coif covering his head.
His bow hummed and the man sprouted an arrow from his upper thigh, piercing the chain mail, the leg itself, and the armor behind it.

BUT that doesn't mean that she is Haliax, or Cinder. Haliax is a shaed, it was the hooded hauberk on Cinder, the chain mail. Glammourie.
All this means is that there's a link between Denna and one or both of them. We can't know for sure because as you read, the arrow pierced both Cinder's leg and the chain mail / armor. What it does mean is that Denna is definitely a blood relative of one or both of them. The laws of sympathy

Second is the Principle of Consanguinity, which says, ‘a piece of a thing can represent the whole of a thing.’
“In sympathy, most of what you are doing is redirecting energy. Sympathetic links are how the energy travels.” I pulled out the wicking and began kneading the wax into a roughly human-shaped doll. “The first law I mentioned, ‘Similarity enhances sympathy,’ simply means that the more things resemble each other, the stronger the sympathetic link between them will be.”
“This brings me to the second law, Consanguinity. An easy way of thinking of it is, ‘once together, always together.’ Due to Master Hemme’s generosity I have one of his hairs.” I held it up, and ceremoniously stuck it to the head of the doll. “And as easy as this, we have a sympathetic link that will work at thirty to thirty-five percent.”

That will be Kvothe's folly. If Kvothe kills either Haliax or Cinder, then due to the sympathetic binding, Denna will die with them. The riddle will ravel, two worlds become one world.

The members are staying over for a night at your house. How would you organize where to sleep for each of them?
I think I would lay out some sort of mattress/futons in my living room and let them all sleep there lololl
What about you?
[Day 239]

Hey all,
I wanted to ask if anyone knew what may be going on with my truck. It's a 2006 F-150 Lariat with suicide doors with handles on both sides.
Yesterday I was installing a new radio to replace the old aftermarket that was in there when I first got the truck. After disconnecting the battery, I took the trim off(airbag light and climate control buttons included carefully) and removed the 4 hex screws holding the radio in. After sliding it out, I disconnected the previous plugs and antenna, and RCA cables designated for the speakers and took it out. What I noticed was that there was a harness coming from the steering wheel side and another harness on the right side.
For the most part, both sides had similar cables(purple with black stripe, purple, grey/grey with black stripe, green/green with black stripe, etc) and then the red power wire was only on the left and the ground was on the left and so previously, the cables were triple wired from the radio ports connecting to both of the harnesses at the same time(like a triangle where there would be 3 grey with black stripe wires going into each other).
So proceeding ahead, I went forward and installed the new harness by stripping the wire on the new radio harness and wiring cables by their color one by one till the majority of the wires would be grouped up in 3s(left harness(steering wheel?), right harness, and radio harness).
Upon completion of wiring and checking everything, I proceeded to put the battery back and turned the electronics on in the ignition and the radio worked great. I was able to test it and it works without flaw.
I'm having an issue with a pretty irritating electronic gremlin where on low RPM's especially when I'm turning the wheel all the way to one direction when parking, the truck completely stalls out and the engine light turns on and the steering lock kicks in. When I hooked up an ODBII to see if there were any codes, there weren't. I looked online and there was mention of doing a battery relearn or something, would this fix the stalling? Or would I have to go back through and redo the wiring?

My mum travelled across countries to see my sister and me (28f). My sister lives in a different state and has a one-bedroom apartment, while I share a flat with two other people. My mum insists on sharing my room with me.
This is frustrating because it is really just one room, and it makes me feel overwhelmed with her monitoring every move and criticising every decision I make. Also, I haven't shared a room with anyone in over six years, and I have gotten entirely comfortable with my space, making me super uncomfortable. Our family lives nearby in a big house with a spare guest room, but she refuses to go live there, insisting on sharing my room. I don't even get to use the bed cause I don't like to share beds, and now my whole body aches from using the couch.
She has two more weeks, and I can't stand it anymore; she knows I'm irritated, but I don't think she cares. She said she came here to see her kids, so why would she go live elsewhere? This would've made more sense if I had more money and a proper flat or house, but I'm broke and want to lie in my bed like I'm used to.
My sister's flat had a pullout couch where she stayed when she was there for two weeks; now she's back at my place for another two weeks (after an initial two weeks) AITA?

Sorry about the essay but I felt like it was important to offer you a sufficient amount of background information in order to help you give advice.
So, it all started when me and my fiance wanted to plan a quick and easy ceremony last year as I was pregnant at the time; we didn't want to deal with the faff that comes with weddings, weren't particularly phased about the whole 'big day' thing and wanted to enjoy the moment just the two of us and we were going to celebrate with everyone afterwards with a get together. We both aren't ones to be center of attention and we had already agreed on this even when we were dating and discussing weddings and marriages.
My fiances MIL lives in a different country and sent fiance to a private school paid by his father in a different country from her from the age of 12. He's 38 now and he still lives over here, so their relationship isn't particularly close, she doesn't really know him very well and he her as to be expected.
So I hadn't met her at the time of planning the elopement, but over text, she was quite unhappy and thought I would regret it and she thought it was essential that she had to be present and every other member of his family too. Not once did she ask me what I wanted, why I wanted it this way, why my fiance wanted it this way, etc etc, it was all about her and that it was a special day and should be 'treated as such'.
So I was already hurt by this point because somehow it had become all about her, even though it wasn't her day, but also my fiance has this strange sort of skewed relationship with her in which he isn't able to stand up to her. He sees everything she says as 'her opinion of which she's entitled to'. Which is somewhat correct. However, my problem is it's extremely suffocating and micromanaging. So we didn't end up getting married because as she said 'there's no rush', despite me being pregnant... and didn't stop to think that maybe I wanted the security. But no, we postponed because it was creating sour vibes and I didn't need the stress nor conflict. So I tried to push back this little blip and I tried not to let it affect my first impressions of her.
We eventually met and we stayed together for two weeks for a holiday, of which were the most stressful two weeks of my life. I was still pregnant and was feeling pretty rough, and all she wanted to do was go out walking. Whereas I wanted the chance to be able to get to know her, spend some time as a family because my fiance hadn't seen her for many years at this point. I joined them on a few outings, but rejected the rest because I got more tired and more tired as the days went on, and simply couldn't do it, and I said this. I believe she took this personally, yet didn't say anything or even ask me, so there was no way for me to know at the time.
She barely spoke to me, it seemed as though she didn't want to be in the same room as me and I felt like she was being extremely rude to me majority of the time. She asked me very little when I was there, the first being why I had decided to quit my job because 'it's important to have something lined up' despite being heavily pregnant and awaiting raising our baby, and therefore had no intentions of getting a job. To which we told her.
I felt like she couldn't look me in the eye, she would only look at my fiance during conversations, she didn't want to talk to me or be around me, she only wanted to be out and about, or meeting up with other old friends. Now, when our baby was a few months old, she came down 'to help' and again, it was a very rough time for me, and I was very upset about this because I really wanted her help as my family weren't in a position to at the time. I was extremely sleep deprived and my baby had an undiagnosed cows milk protein allergy at the time. Anyway, she was staying across the road in a hotel, and I really had hoped that this time might have been different and that hopefully I was totally wrong about her. But it was awful. There were times where she was forcing her opinions onto me, she was forcing my baby to feed when I was making it quite clear she didn't want to and that she was going to cause her to develop a bottle aversion, which had happened before. Other things like when I would mention it's time for my baby to sleep, she was say no and take her off of me, saying she's totally fine. Again and again. When I raised this to her that she wasn't listening to anything I was saying, she simply replied with my fiance present that 'oh I didn't hear you.' And when I said that you literally responded to me. She turned to my fiance and said 'oh tell her I can't hear very well.' Infuriating.
Anyway, there was a lot of awful things going on, she was sending my partner articles in which was saying statistically why new mums should be going out and about with their babies for health purposes. All because I didn't want to force my baby to sit in an hours car ride to go visit her friends with her so she could show off our baby, who was still suffering and crying from morning to night. Absolutely no consideration, she said all she wanted was to come over so she could help us out in any way, yet all she did was make me feel belittled and isolated. My partner urged me to sit down with her and tell her exactly how i felt, and so I did. I told her that I thought she was being really cold towards me, I brought up how cold she was the previous holiday that we met, that she hardly wanted to talk to me, she was ignorant towards me and that overall I just felt like she was very negative and I didn't enjoy being around her. She would just stand in the corner of the room and stare, she wouldn't sit down, she would make me very uncomfortable. She got incredibly defensive, and said that it was all me, and what did i expect 'for her to welcome me with hugs' to which she continued 'i'm not that type of person.' Yet I watched her hug every single one of her family members, but that is petty and not the point, but still. She said contradicted herself towards the end of the conversation that she just believed that her way was the right way when it came down to my baby, and so when i was saying not to do something, she thought it might work and help. So she did hear me. To which I said so you lied when you said you didn't hear me then... My partner thinks that this isn't necessarily lying...
She went on to say that adults must learn to tolerate one another, went on to patronise me with a story about a work colleague and that they tolerate one another because that's for the best. I don't really know how I am supposed to take that, other than she clearly doesn't like me, because if she truly did, I imagined her to be really saddened by the way I have interpreted her behaviour and actions and if she didn't intend for it to be that way, then to have said that. But there was none of it. And my partner all the while just keeps defending her, despite how many times she had made me cry, despite me giving many many many examples of her nasty behaviours and manipulation tactics on both me and my partner. It's infuriating. The last holiday, when we had come home from an outing, I was extremely tired and my partner felt like he could do with a lie down too, we said we were going to take a nap and that we would be down to help with food prep for the visiting family later on. She took this personal somehow and said that my fiance had better come back down, otherwise if he didn't help her make dinner then she was going to 'go back home'. Like a child. I was dumbfounded. It just feels really very toxic and I can't help but feel this way whenever I'm around her, and it's such a shame because I wanted so badly for us to develop a good relationship because I really wanted that for my baby too.
So what stirred all of this up was:
I saw her text to him the other day of which said (as we're planning another wedding, still with just two guests, something quick and easy and then again we'll celebrate with friends and family afterwards.) My mother is understanding of this as she knows that this isn't malicious, this is just what we want. And she was telling him that she wants the rest of their family to be there, that he needs to work harder in nurturing the relationship with them as they live a few hours from us now as they've only just moved from the same country his mother is from, about over a year ago now. And that he needs to work harder on maintaining his friendship with a particular childhood friend who happened to be his mums best friends son, who lives a few hours away too. I just think this is crazy micromanagement going on and it's cringeworthy. He is totally oblivious but I just cannot tolerate being micromanaged in the process, not to mention it's a little unattractive to see that my partner is unable to do something about this, or not even be phased of how she is affecting me.
I could go on for hours and hours with examples and things but either way my partner knows how she's been making me feel but all he can respond is it's a free country, and she's entitled to behave how she likes and he doesn't particularly see a problem with it, so it's very hard to come to a resolution about this. I'm not an argumentative person, I'm fairly logical and can discuss accordingly but it's very hard when the issue is only viewed as one sided. I just don't know how to approach this, I'm really stumped and it's making me feel conflicted and I've tried so hard to give her chance after chance but she just keeps letting me down. My fiance thinks I'm just having too high expectations and I think he is right about this but I also don't feel like I should lower standards either. Am I being too harsh or over the top about this? Should I stick to my guns about having the wedding the way we want? I can offer more information if you need it, but I'd be really grateful for any advice on how to navigate this or my feelings because I seem to be getting nowhere with either of them, so interested to see it from Reddits perspective.
Thanks very much for reading and taking the time to reply if you do!

My parents inherited my grandad’s dog after he died in December; Charlie, a rescued Jack Russell terrier, who we can assume is roughly 13 years old now. Prior to my grandad’s passing, Charlie was often quite yappy, but ultimately affable and playful.
From December – January, Charlie understandably went through a period of great change. My parents took him into their home and he was pretty much fine, though he would occasionally go to bite you if he was in the mood and you got too close/made a big fuss of him. My parents attributed this to him getting used to new surroundings. Ultimately, they thought he’d come around eventually.
My folks took a trip away in February for 4 days, where he stayed with my cousin and her boyfriend. Since my parents returned, Charlie's been completely different. Whereas before he’d join them in whatever room they were in, Charlie now distances himself and mainly lies in his bed on his chair in the living room. Before, he used to routinely sit with them on the couch, whereas now he never jumps up onto the couch. He’s also a lot more growly and bitey than before; he’s taken a big step back. I live in the city maybe 3 hours from my folks and I visit infrequently. I’ve also noticed this change since I saw Charlie last. He seems a little more pleasant with me (he’ll sometimes sit on the chair with me, but still growls when being stroked, unlike before).
My dad will walk him every morning as soon as he gets up. When my dad walks down the stairs, Charlie is excitable and will jump all around, let you rub his belly, etc. No danger of getting bitten. As soon as he comes in from a walk, he’ll revert back to his ways, isolating himself on his chair.
My mum also looks after another dog — Smudge, a Bedlington Patterdale cross — 2 days a week, which she’s been doing for ~5 years. Smudge is very affectionate and playful. Charlie doesn’t like him and routinely growls at him if he gets too close. I don’t imagine he was socialised with other dogs when he was younger.
My folks hired a behaviourist who said Charlie could be in pain, so they’ve got an appointment at the vet to investigate. The behaviourist also said to train good behaviour with small pieces of cheese, which my folks are doing.
Is there anything else they should be looking into? They’re not exactly enjoying having a dog at the moment, which is a shame.

Hey everyone. I'm looking to buy a new TV, and would really like your help in picking the best one for my use case, based on the following (in order of how important these are to me):

• Must be 43' 4K, no more no less
• I'll use it as a PC monitor by day (I'm a software dev, so mostly text), as a TV by night, and as a gaming monitor on the weekends
• Will be in a room with a ton of sunlight, so it needs to be bright
• 60Hz would be really good to have
• Brand: Samsung, LG or Sony.
• Price: 350-500€ would be my ideal goal, although I can go a bit higher if needed
• HDR would be nice to have, but I can live without it
• Things that I don't care much about: sound quality, high (OLED-like) contrast ratios, wide viewing angles, smart assistant integrations, AI stuff, any smart features beyond being able to run netflix/disney/hbo apps, thickness

I know I'm asking for a unicorn, and that no TV will do all of these perfectly. I am looking for one that does all of them reasonably well, a "jack of all trades, master of none". My biggest concern of it all is the brightness bit, and how all the different TV technologies handle it. It feels like, every year, TV manufacturers write a new random combinations of 4 letters, and call that the best thing since the wheel and fire.
Thank you all for your help

×-Hello long and can be dangerous to read or talk about it there also a trigger warning(sicide and rape talk) but if i can im asking admins to accept it because there are a lot of people working with deities also my memories were being manipulated by deities so the thing im gona wrote down there could not be in the right order. ×-I have problem that i want to tell you about. It kind of is a vent ant the content might be triggering for some people better dont coment on this post and don't give any reaction to not let others people know yours name and people who work with deities should not talk about it with other people for safety of theirs and thiers families. ×-Not long ago i got attacked in my dreams by diety she called herself Mind( she had midle dark curly hairs was quite tin and not really tall) i met two more in the same dream ( twins) before this one. i didn' t know who she was and when i got waked up i was scared and tried ground myself( i was thinking just a weird witch attacked me because this person asked me for my name and it didn't ocured to me that it could be a deity) and ask for protection of my guides. And then i forget about it. ×- The thing is i talked with her and i gived a weird comment about her eyes ( i told her that not having them isn't somthing bad and then laughted a little bit and she got angry, shouted at me that i shouldnt tell it and jumped on me with her nails and scratched my face i tried to push her of me and we both drop down on the floor. Then i got waked up by my guides i guess. ×-Few weeks later i started to lose my mind. I started to hear voices in my head and some one were talking lewd things in my mind( i called this person a whore because of it) i was feeling like someone is in my room is trying to pull me to his side and because of the voice it was even worse because someone were talking like the person who is pulling me is Satan he were telling me he can give me everything and was acting very childish like he was begging me so i started to tell him to make arrangement with me so i told this person i dont belive he is a Satan because he was acting like a small kido the female voice in my head were talking lewd things to this invisible person and i started make fun out of them because of this. I was so confused and scared that i decided to ask my guides and deities( Loki and Lucifer) for support i didn't know back there it gonna be worse. ×- Next days i had a really big troubles there was some beings talking in my head (now i know this was supposed to be a "gods" gift with hearing gods voices) who started to bully me calling me names, laught at me telling me to kill myself and were talking about some kind of "game" also i started to feel touch of these beings on my skin I couldnt feel my feelings in a right way i almost had no emotions and couldnt really cry ( not only because i were hearing voices who were laughting at me and calling my tears fake( also i didnt really like to cry when someone is looking so i were hiding my face a few times when i started to cry)). ×- My mind was in really bad shape and i was scared that im mentaly ill but mental sicknes didnt just appear and you do not feel touch. Quite fast i started to lose my will to live with the voices telling my whole days i should die or kill someone from my pets to my family members. They were aggressive and i were tortured by them the gived me feeling of phisical pain. ×-There was few males ( propably dieties and demons) and a lot of females (deities). I asked for help from my deities with possession because i was almos sure it was it logical for me that if im possessed then someone like Lucifer would be good to ask help from to take the demon away. It didnt help but the voices started making fun of me for asking deities for help ant were telling me they aren't real, laughed at my beliefs and telling me that i should give up on witchcraft i get angry because i dont like when someone were telling me to do somting so i keept beliving in deities. i told the voices im not gonna give up on it because theyre not my bosses and i have my own life. ×-So the days continued on like this with me being abused and fighting for my beliefs i were also fighting for voices not to call deities crude words they were especially bad with my deities and i were screaming crude wording in my mind on them from anger to call them this way. Also a few times i were trying to scare the voices and make fun of them. In the situation i heard that i offended someone and i started to remember weird dreams about the witch i meet in my dreams. It was told to me it was lady Hekate and theyre punishing me for what i did to her and i should say sorry to her so i did but more like to her sisters or some of deities who were pretending to be her sisters because they told me Hekate isn't in there right now and they gonna tell her my sorries i also burned a little sorry candle for her. ×-She appeard soon after this and were pretending to help me and telling me that wasn't someone from her and i got attacked by bad witches and there is a curse on me what is going to dissapear soon. It was the start of deities telling me bullshit to belive in to force me to belive it was just a psychosis. The situation didn't end because i didnt make a oath to lie about it( i didnt really tell someone about this i just told my brother that i might be possesed and if i would start to act weirdly like im not myself anymore he should hit me because i were acting like zombie and i didnt leaved my bed for much time i were mostly tried to sleep because i couldnt focus and do the thingh i were doing my whole time like listening to musick or daydreaming ) these days were torturous i were lisening to cacophony of voices and i were hearing them no matter what i did in the meantime i asked about help from my deities few more times without much of success. Instead i got rped I still didnt gived up on my beliefs even thou i gived up on my life i still were wanting to belive in dieties even if i've been told the ones who did ot was my deities i didnt wanted to belive in this and still fighted for not beliving in it. ×- I were broken i kind of belived in theirs falut but not really i mostly belived in them just dont wanting to help me and i told them it is okay if they dont want still i were beliving to be bullied by some bad entities who were pretending to be them and were protesting them still but less because one of voices told me they can protect themself. ×-My situation get worse the voices started to call me a devil whre after the rpe and i still had disgusting feelings after slept night like i' ve been used in my dreams. I were tired and i atleast wanted to ask last thing from my deites if they couldnt help me with my problem i asked if they could end my suffering because i didin't wanted to attempt sicide because of my family i didnt wanted them to go throught it again( our mum in our childhood) so i wanted to look like i died in my sleept i was in bad shape because i stoped to eat ( i were thinking they are in my room when i asked im pretty sure someone did try to grant my wish because i feel warmth that were kind of suffocating me i were accepting death but the warmth dissapeard leaving me with this situation). ×-The situation keept continuing on like that i forgot but before rpe i also started to see things mostly in night and someone were telling me to walk around with closed eyes i didnt understood why but mostly i were trying to comply because back there i didnt know about what is going to happen to me I saw lady hekate and other beings i did not know back there who i saw but she was there beside my bed and smiling at me i didnt recognize her back there i ony saw her bacause someone let me see throught demon eyes i also saw two beings were supposed to be succubus or incubus ( they looked like shadows with shining eyes and long hairs the) there also was person hidden in darkness it could be Paimon because he later attacked me in my dreams and his name was used in this situation a lot of times and a angel (it could be Asmodeus because he also was in my dreams). ×-So i spend so much time in this situation i guess i only get a litte better because i asked archangel for help most of the voices dissapeard out of my head but i can tell one thing about it im pretty sure there actually were ghosts in this situation they got put in my body by deities they were put there to make a lot of sounds in my head and also mess with my head so i would be slower with understanding what is happening to me. Im pretty sure archangel forced some of the deities or ghosts to tell truth about the sitution but the deities started to trow falut at each mostly at Loki because they told that all throwing falut at him and it doesen't matter if i also do so because no one like him any way( i was told that they use his name in a lot of bad situation because he have a bad reputation anyway also i was told that deities and demons(fallen angels too)use angels names to torture people and other beings names to hide theirs bad doings and still were trying to force me to do oath or pact with demon to not talk about it with people. I were msking fun at them( demons and deities for being disgusting and attacking people who could not fight back becsuse im pretty sure they didnt really need princess of the hell to attack one person like this only because someone is to egoistical( she didnt really take my sorries she wanted me to beg for mercy on my knees and i didnt do it so she continued) ×-They were trying to force me on a tree of death and were telling me that i had no choice on it they were messing with minds of my family members ( they talked with my brother in his sleep the same night i told him that i can be bullied by deities and if he meet some one with black eyes in his dreams he shouldnt talk with them but the same night he waked up and were sleeptalking( he kind of sleep walk without walking he only talks) i were thinking he is just talking like always and i wanted to tell him to go to sleep as i always do but instead asked queston about his dream he told be he was dreaming about a phone who it teling him future and the phone is telling him bullshit because is talking about him dying and all the people under him( i guess my family) in the morning he didnt remember anything of the dream as always and i dint talk to him about it i dont want him to know about it next night he had a similar dream he didnt remembered about he waked up and started talking when i asked about what he was dreaming he told me that we angered some one that we should not and our all family is going to die. I was worried about my brother but i still didnt talk about his dreams or situation im in im already pretty sure my family and me not gonna live long or happy lives so im not scared about talking about it. ×-So the situation is i still didnt gived up about talking with them that im not gonna lie with the situation they put me in they still talk to me that im not gonna live so i have noting to lose those disgusting demons sended by deities are still touching me and trying to force me to attempt sicide they put something in my body and are trying to take control of my body( thos something were called by them a "god toy")out of me about are still talking about me going to hell and be used like sex toy. ×-The deities are calling themselfs powerful but are using demons instead of settle theirs problems on their own. Theyre attacking people in the groups and pretending it is their power. Theyre using slaved gosts to molestate people the demon lords call themselfs gods but are atacking people who didnt have any powers in material words and in dreams and then call themselfs bigger than some human trash. ×-Also i have some thoughts about dreams im pretty sure someone is controling people in them because i got taked control in it out of me by deities and demon and they were using me like somekind of fcking sim in them. I wonder if people are controled by demons or theirs guides( if you read it better tell yours not to do any stupid things in dreams because you could pay for it with yours life maybe not if later you gonna fall down on you knees and beg for forgiveness also tell them not to play any weird games make promises or bets im almost sure my guides aren't there anymore because of it). ×-Also it looks like a lot of demon lord are a fcking perverts i also in this situation asked Samael to end my suffering before i known that im actually being abussed by deites and demons and the pervert instead got intro my dreams and used me he also were there another time but thanks angels instead were playing some fucked up roleplay with his wife or not his im not sure anymore about who there is wit who i did hear a lot of fucked up relationship from down there and from deities that i wish before i die my memories of it gona me gone from my head it is so disgusting i even tried to ask angel if there is a possibility to forget about it. ×-So if i can tell more about it it would be like this Hekate got angry about something and asked demons( Lilith it looks like it is hers best friend, Paimon, Asmodeus i wonder if the guy isnt a salve because it looks like he is listening to the orders of someone and there is little asshole he is nannying around someone called "heir" but he is more of a disgusting pervert than heir, there also was a Mephistopheles, Leviatan, Belzeebub, Stolas demons are calling him dumbass because he know how to read, Lucifer, Samael)and deities( males and females) for help( im not sure if she lied to them about the situation because she was protecting herself in it by talking like i hit her in face and not push her and also that i attacked her first) they git there to make fun of me by telling me im disgusting and they were taking out my memories from my head of all of my life to force me to belive im worse being that am i. ×-They lied to ghosts and that im the reason why my mother died and they decided to help them with punishing me for that. They were having a lot of fun with it until they realised im actually kind of dying, some of them were getting out of my body almost on their own but im pretty sure someone were taking them out and i were hearing someone telling them not to tell it to someone or they're gonna be killed again. So as the time continued i started to be bullied almost only by demons and the deites were trying to convince me to not talk about it with no one or theyre going to kill my familly so i werent talking about it until now becaus it looks like me and my family gonna die anyway i have noting to lose. ×-They also were trying a lot of ways to manipulate me like make promises because theyre important to me or were teling me i should lisen to thoe or they're going to kill the deities i asked for help they were telling me that because of me Loki is in the hell because there were demon lord in my room when i asked for help and Loki hit him in face and is now tortured and am i actually feeling his pain and if i want to save him i should shut up and do all the things they want me to do. They did the same things with angels that i asked for help. I wanted to comply but instead i keept calling them names they deserve they were making fun at a trans people( that im and were misgendering me all the time and telling me i must now be satan whre also they were still trying to force me on the tree of death because they think they have the right to decide for someone what they gonna be.)they were trying to force me to have feelings for deity to put lewd thoughts aboit it in my mind( happily im propably aroace so theyre were kind of unsuccessful also they called me a weirdo a lot of times because theyrs love spell didnt work as it should and i had almost no reaction to other sexual things they were trying to put on me) also i was told a lot of times i should cut my heart ot and hive it as a offering for Lucifer( i dunno how dumb is this one but im almost sure he at least shold know if you going to cut your heart of your gonna die before you put it on the offering plate demons were talking about him being unteachable and im almost sure theyre right actually it looks like most of them think only about sprm so im not shocked they cant learn him anything else also it looks like Lilith should leave her title of feminist and good person because she is messing with people minds after they got rped to force the to belive theyre pregnant especialy to a people who never wanted kids also i would be emberassed to call her queen of the night because now i know what does this title means ) ×-Hekate should propably not have any title because she not really deserving it especially because she thinks she is the only deity who should use witchcraft she got herself in troubles in this situation and instead take the falut at her were throwing it at other deities. Also im pretty sure Apollo is stealing ideas from other people and giving them to others.Hera didnt know how to watch hers perverted husband( the old asshole is moaning to other people minds and is sleeping around with others and she later is pretending she didt know about it and is angry). ×-There are also possibility for more of the living humans to be in this situaton propably those with the voices of the "gods" in theirs mind there is a possibility that they were hearing from me and they were in bad situation because deities were lying to them and pretending that they need humans help. They were mostly telling them to walk around in theirs homes or do something to themselfs i did hear some one who werent from my country and i think there are a lot of people being punished similar way like me especially if they didnt agree to lie about the situation. Most of them propably gonna be abussed as long as they dont agree on theirs conditions or killed because i was hearing that "truth telling ones" didnt live long. ×-So i dunno what more i could say( i almost forgot that there is somting like cult working for them im pretty sure they are a ghost and someone told me that saint mikołaj is the worst) im still abussed and my family is propably going to die ( me with it) deities were trying to stop me and didnt belived im gonna wrote those and publish if you in the same situation i have no idea what you should do with the perverted dreams but at least if you feel touch from unphisical beings you should move and do weird poses ( it gonna help a little bit) you propably gonna be told it is just a spiritual awakening but youre propably brutal punished by someone for some small things you did in your sleep when you had no control over your body(maybe you just smiled and someone got offendet by it) or in the walking world. I i could tell you something about it you should not belive deities because theyre bunch of lairs but if you gonna be in this situation it would be better to agree to not tell anybody of this situation and wish they gonna leave your alone( they were pretending a few times theyre leaving but they were lying all the time and were trying to force me to say sorries to them after they hurt me and rped me and also were talking about getting my underaged siblings in the same situation like how much of disgusting fuck they must be they were talking that for them it doesnt matter how old are they because back in days people were marring kids and it is okay. ×-Im pretty sure a lot of them are mentally unstable and should not be worshiped be people because they think humans are lower beings and should roll at their feets and kiss theirs asses). If you want to ask some questions you can dm me but only if youre not scared about possibility of dying( even if you dont have yours real name in there im almost sure deities can still find you using other ways because i didnt tell no one beside my brother about dream with witch and i didnt gived her my name in dreams and she still found me)

Nora entered the spacious pub on a corner of Katonah Avenue at midday on Monday, an hour before the bar opened. A guy about her age, mid-twenties, with a button down shirt and neatly combed hair was waiting for her at a booth next to the bar. Seeing Nora, he climbed out of the seat and shook her hand.
“Nora?”
“That’s me. It’s nice to meet you. Joe, right?”
“Yep.” Joe gestured to the booth and Nora sat in it. She was holding a folder with her resume and some references from other bars she worked at.
Joe examined the resume and references. “So, you have a lot of pub experience it looks like. I see you worked at the Crown & Jockey, Harry Smith’s, Begun’s.”
“I did,” Nora replied brightly. “I’ve worked at bars and pubs ever since my first year of college.”
Nora had heard that it was notoriously difficult to get hired at this pub, which was the liveliest in a neighborhood full of lively pubs in a tiny quarter of the Bronx, nestled next to the cemetery that gives the neighborhood its name, Woodlawn. And she wanted the extra money, which was, as rumor had it, excellent.
“Pretty typical setup here,” Joe began. “So all that should be easy. What we really need is the right personality. We have a lot of loyal patrons, a lot of events, a lot of private parties. We need someone fun. Someone who can remember the regulars’ names. Sound like you can do that?”
Nora tucked her hair behind her ear. “Definitely. I always get to know the regulars and the local VIPs.”
“That’s perfect,” Joe replied. “We can also get pretty busy. In your experience, what does a typical night look like for you?”
Nora pointed to a few of the bars on her resume. “These are the ones where I worked four hours of Friday and Saturday night alone at the bar. I can handle a big crowd. When I was waitressing, I was often doing three four-tops, a six and a large party.”
Joe’s eyebrows raised. “That’s a lot. How did you pull that off?”
“Magic.” Nora smiled.
Joe laughed. “Okay. Let me go talk to the owner, see if she has time to meet with you.”
“Great!”
Nora stole a look at her phone and tucked it back in her purse. She looked around the bar; polished mahogany and green-backed booths. There was a stone hearth in a back corner and, over her shoulder, the entrance to a larger dining room.
“Nora?” Joe peeped his head out of the dining room. “The owner will see you.”
“Nora followed him through the dining room, back into a party room, back further into a tucked-away cocktail bar, down a short staircase, and into a small stone cellar.
“This pub is huge. Is this a wine cellar?” Joe looked around. “Yeah, might have started that way. We use it for storage now.”
He led her out of the stone room and into a well-appointed office. An arresting woman sat behind a desk. Her hair was an enormous halo of red curls, streaked with white. She was wearing a hunter green dress and her large, round eyes were two different colors; one blue, one honey brown.
She stood and offered a thin, white hand. “Siobhán Brennan. They tell me I run this place.” She had an Irish accent.
Nora shook her hand. “Nora Meredith, thanks for seeing me.”
Siobhán looked at the door. “I’ll send her up in a minute, Joe.”
He slipped out.
“Joe’s one of the managers,” Siobhán said. “Also my son.”
Nora smiled. “A family enterprise. That’s great.”
Siobhán settled back into her chair and looked at Nora over the tips of her fingers. Nora thought she saw tiny strings of dancing light moving among the strands of Siobhán’s hair.
“Another thing we need here at the pub, Nora, is discretion. Do you understand?”
“Yes, of course.” In Nora’s experience, most bars were doing a thing or two that wasn’t entirely above board.
Siobhán retrieved a crystal goblet from the sideboard behind her and filled it with wine from a decanter. She swirled the wine around the glass three times and ran her hand over the top of the glass. The liquid inside churned into a thick, glowing green, and then, before Nora could even register what had happened, returned to red wine. Siobhán lifted the wine to her mouth, smiled and said, “It’s good to have you on board Nora.”
Nora spent a few, sleepless nights trying to rationalize what she saw in Siobhán’s office, which was miles away from what she thought Siobhán meant when asking for ‘discretion.' But, eventually, the pace of work at the pub pushed it out of her head. In addition to her day job, she worked Friday and Saturday nights at the pub, adding party shifts on Sundays and, not infrequently, weeknight shifts. She was too exhausted to think about much of anything. And besides, she loved the pub. The money was incredible. The staff worked together seamlessly. Pints and bottles slid down the bar top. A second cocktail appeared almost instantly with the flip of the mixologist’s arm. She laughed and gossiped with the patrons, and laughed and gossiped with her coworkers. The entire place seemed bathed in twinkling lights, like every night was a blend of the best parts of Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve and St. Patrick’s Day.
In fact, it was two days before St. Patrick’s Day that Nora called out of her day job to help set the pub up for the weekend’s festivities, when a man came in, his face obscured by a thick, wiry beard and a flat cap. Frigid air followed him into the bar.
“Siobhán. Now.”
“Excuse me, sir?” Nora asked, setting down the string of plastic shamrock lights she was unboxing behind the bar. She had trouble understanding his heavy Irish accent.
“I. need. Sio-bhán. Right now.”
“She’s not here right now, can I take a message?”
The man slammed one fist so hard on the bar the glasses in the overhead rack rattled, and with his other pulled Nora toward him. Nora yelped, but before she could say anything, Siobhán emerged from the kitchens.
“Hands off, Dáithí.”
Dáithí stomped toward Siobhán menacingly, but she held up a hand. “Now, Dáithí. You’ll be wanting to stop right there.”
Dáithí halted instantly, but continued to grimace.
“You tricked me, Siobhán. Make it right.”
“Nora here doesn’t need to know all the world’s business, Dáithí. Come to my office.”
Nora, whose heart was pounding furiously, watched as the pair disappeared behind the dining room. She knew it wasn’t wise, surely there must be cameras all over, still she followed behind them through the dining room, then the party room, then the cocktail garden, and down the short staircase into the room of stone arches.
Loudly from Siobhán’s closed office, Nora heard, “Damn you, Siobhán. This was a trick, it was. And a rotten one.” Siobhán’s icy voice responded, “Greedy, greedy, Dáithí. You thought you could cheat the system; thought you could cheat me. Don’t you think I noticed the deliveries were padded? And I was going to let it go, I was; find a new butcher and move on. But then you came in asking for my special help so you can go cheating even more. You got what you got. Don’t be crying about it.”
“You’re a demonic woman, Siobhán, and I’ll tell everyone what you are!”
Nora heard feet thundering down the steps and she retreated beneath a shadowy arch. It was Joe. He stormed into the office.
“Everything ok in here, Mom?”
“Show your man Dáithí the door, Joe. He’s finished.”
Dáithí sized Joe up. “I know my way out.” Nora pressed her back to the wall, tripping on something sticking out of the floor. She caught herself before she made a noise.
“He going to be a problem?” Joe asked.
“Not for long. Check on Nora, though. He scared her pretty good.”
“I didn’t see her up there.”
Siobhán nodded. “She probably went to go clear her head. Have a talk with her when she’s back, yeah?”
Joe and Siobhán ascended the stairs out of the basement. Nora, panting from adrenaline, slinked to the ground. She felt around her feet, trying to determine what she tripped on. It was a wooden trap door, slightly open. She crouched down to examine it, and through the opening could see an illuminated space beneath. Nora paused a moment to listen for anyone who might be coming back downstairs. Satisfied that she’d be left alone, she prised the door open, revealing a ladder down to a tunnel whose walls were lit with hanging light bulbs.
This is a mistake, Nora thought, but she climbed down the ladder anyway. “Good god,” Nora whispered when she saw that the light bulbs were actually free-floating flames, dangling at even intervals along the walls of the tunnel. She continued on, terrified that she’d be caught, that she’d get trapped, and yet unable to turn around. At one point, she heard the roar of cars, trucks and buses above her and worked out that, given the position of the pub and how long she’d been walking, she was under 233rd street. This must lead to the cemetery. Nora continued along the tunnel as the stone path turned to dirt and the walls narrowed. She was ready to turn back when she reached another ladder. She climbed part of the way up toward a cold light at the top. Nora heard a chant of echoing voices. She paused on the rung trying to make out what the voices were saying, but she couldn’t understand. Curiosity pulled her a up a few rungs more, until she could see the bottom halves of three people gathered around a table. Based on all the marble, Nora realized this must be the interior of one of the cemetery’s grand mausoleums. Something on the table was hissing and bubbling. The voices grew louder, crescendoing until a small bang emitted from the cauldron. The commotion was followed by a sweet mewling. Two of the women sat on the ground playing with a tiny, russet kitten. Nora could just make out that one was Lisa, Siobhán’s daughter. She also worked at the bar. The other woman Nora recognized as Reina, who owned a bodega on Webster Avenue.
“See, Dáithí,” Lisa said to the kitten. “Things are easier when you’re a nice boy.”
Nora gasped. The women in the mausoleum froze. Reina came over to the opening to inspect, her long braids falling just over Nora’s face. Nora tried to climb back down the ladder as fast as she could, but her foot landed on Siobhán, who was on her way up.
“Back up you go, Nora.”
Nora, sweating and shivering, forced herself up the ladder and into the mausoleum. The three woman stood in front of the table, arms crossed. Nora did not recognize the third woman, who was white-haired and of indeterminate age. The kitten nestled itself on to Reina’s shoulder and closed its eyes. Siobhán gracefully emerged from the opening in the floor and guided Nora by the elbow over to a chair. Nora sat, looking up at the women.
Siobhán picked up the cat from Reina’s shoulder. “Curiosity killed the cat, didn’t it Nora?”
Eyes wide, Nora squeaked, “Please don’t kill him.”
Siobhán laughed. “Dáithí? Oh, he’ll turn up right as rain in a few days having learned a good lesson. Won’t you, Dáithí?” The kitten rubbed its face hungrily along Siobhán’s hand. Tears brimmed in Nora’s eyes. “What are you?”
The women laughed. Siobhán said, “Of course you know, Nora. You’ve known all along. I’m not just a publican. Reina isn’t just a purveyor of delicious Jamaican food. Mary isn’t just a lady in the Altar Rosary Society. We all have other gifts, so to speak. Sometimes, people seek those gifts. We help them when we can. But, they’re not always happy with the help they get. Like with our friend, Dáithí: he was cheating me, and other customers. Then had the gall to ask for a spell to grow his ‘business.’ Well, I gave him one; earned him a trip to the hospital. Furious, weren’t you Dáithí?” Siobhán stopped to a moment to allow the kitten to amble up her chest. “You’re a good girl, Nora. You won’t tell, will you?”
“No one would believe me,” Nora whispered.
“That’s true,” laughed Reina.
Mary limped over to the door of the mausoleum and opened it. “Go on. Time to go.”
Afraid to break eye contact with them, Nora walked backwards toward the door and stumbled down the marble steps. She broke into a run; pumping her legs as fast as they could take her until she had to stop, gasping for breath and covered in sweat. She leaned over a headstone to nurse a stitch in her side. She glanced down at the name on the headstone and jumped back, yelling when she saw it read ‘DOLAN, Dáithí.’ She read the dates etched into the stone four times just to be sure it wasn’t the same Dáithí from the pub. Her first impression of the man was bad, but she didn’t want him dead.
Nora told herself not to go back to the pub; go home, take a shower, and find a job somewhere normal. And she did go home and take a shower, but then she dried her hair and got ready for work and headed back to the pub, ineluctably drawn there, unable to stay away. “Nora!” Joe greeted her at the door, concern on his face. “Everything ok? My mom told me Dáithí got aggressive.” Siobhán and Lisa stood in the corner of the pub, watching her. Nora made eye contact with them and looked backed to Joe.
“Yep, just clearing my head. Thanks for checking.”
The rest of the weekend whirred past. The bar was near-capacity all day on Friday and Saturday, and was mostly full on Sunday. Nora worked thirteen hour shifts each day, but never felt tired. It was like she was moving to a inborn choreography: step this way to avoid a waiter with a tray of food; keep this tab open and this one closed, even though the patrons never specified; bring this table a plate of nachos after their third round. When she had time to recognize it, she understood that so much of how the place operated must be part of Siobhán’s ‘gift,’. Everything always worked. Drinks just materialized. Taps never ran out or tasted off. Even on their busiest and most packed nights, no one ever fought, no one ever got too drunk. They hired a bouncer who slept in a booth next to the entrance; he had nothing to do. She’d worked in a dozen or so bars and restaurants and never experienced anything like it.
The following Tuesday, Nora went to the pub to get her tips cashed out from the weekend. Joe told her to head down to Siobhán’s office to retrieve them, so she followed the familiar path down and knocked twice on the heavy wooden door.
“Come in!”
Siobhán was seated behind her desk, Lisa, Reina and Mary behind her. Nora stopped in the doorway, unsure if she should continue.
“You’re ok, girl. Get in.” Mary commanded.
Nora came in, less nervous than the last time she was in their company. Siobhán handed over an envelope with the tips. “It’s $2,500. A very good haul.” Lisa said. Nora opened her mouth, but was too shocked to speak. One St. Patrick’s day she made $700 working the bar. Nothing close to this.
“Please sit.” Siobhán gestured to the chair across from her desk. Nora obeyed. “What if I told you, Nora, that these extra gifts we have, we can share them with other people?”
“You mean like doing spells or something?”
Reina grinned. “We mean showing you how to do them.” She extended her arm, her brown fist closed. “Go on. Look inside.”
Nora looked at all of them, and then gently peeled back Reina’s fingers. In her palm was a tiny, golden morsel. She understood that these women could just as easily be killing her with this, or turning her into a cat, but still she took the morsel and ate it. Something electric coursed through her veins. Once she was used to the feeling, she stood up. Things around her seemed more possible than they had before, like the world around her was something she could control.
“I feel…” Nora searched for the word. “I don’t know how to describe it.”
Siobhán held an empty glass bowl in front of Nora. Remembering her first encounter with Siobhán, Nora put her hand over it and it filled with water. She inhaled sharply.
“Did you see that?” Nora looked to the other women.
Lisa smirked. “We did.”
“What you feel,” Siobhán said, gently guiding Nora out of the office and toward the secret passageway to the mausoleum, “is power.”
In time, Nora found that there were many more people in Woodlawn with the gift. They met in the cemetery, at the full moon, to discuss the goings-on of the neighborhood, to set limits on the use of power, and to decided how to handle threats. Nora soon learned to recognize when someone else had the gift, wondering how she ever missed the signs of it before. Joe left the pub for law school, and Siobhán promoted Nora to manager. She quit her day job. One morning at dawn, she headed to the pub to accept an early shipment and she walked passed Dáithí, who was opening the grates on ‘Dave’s Irish Butcher and Supply.’ They locked eyes and, after hesitating, Dáithí tipped his hat. Nora smiled. That’s a good kitty.
(This was submitted for Reedsy contest #190: Set your story in New York, where someone’s been waiting for your character.)

This handsome bird friend decided to crash land at our house. We live in Louisville, KY. Even without the green band on it's leg, it is easy to tell this bird is someone's pet. It is very docile and trusting. We were able to easily usher it into a pet carrier. He's living in our guest bathroom for now. It was nearing dark yesterday when we captured him.
I am basically asking for any help on next steps. He has a little blood on his white wing feathers (both sides of his body.) I'm guessing a bird of prey may have caught him briefly. He can fly, but not far.
The green tag on his leg seems to be blank. There aren't any identifying letters or numbers that we can find.
I posted this info on Nextdoor, a sort of local neighborhood app, but there has been no traction there.

My husband’s dog ate something he should not have AGAIN and he is sick from it AGAIN and my entire house smells like straight up diarrhea.
Yesterday I told my husband he needs to give his stinky dog a bath and….he did… but the entire house….reeked like wet dog & my husband didn’t do ANYTHING to clean it up. Like the dirty, stinky water all over the bathroom….and he just left it!!! Stinky wet towels…the stinky wet dog rolling on the brand new couch……I ended up cleaning it up, because I don’t want to live in filth. He literally has to wipe the dogs a$$ when it comes inside. Because it has long fur, and is literally 💩💩 water right now.
Husband just went to work and now I’m stuck with the dog all day. I’d just leave him in his cage until my husband gets home (something I don’t do because I am not cruel, even if I don’t like the dog for many reasons aside from this one) but he will just continue to crap all over and roll in it and lay in it then he reeks AGAIN and I have to spend hours cleaning the bathroom AGAIN. Because he will need a bath AGAIN. My entire house smells….I literally want to leave. Like take my kids, my cats and LEAVE!!!!
Last night I told my husband he forces me to live with these disgusting animals and he doesn’t do anything to train them, care for them, clean up after them, etc. Forcing ME to do it. If I want to live in a clean house that doesn’t smell horrid.
I said you are forcing me to live here with these animals and you won’t even do anything to help me with it. He didn’t care. He basically only cared about the fact that I said I don’t want to sleep next to him. Which I didn’t. I can’t even look at him I’m so pissed. He didn’t clean the bathroom btw. Or help clean anything at all…..And wouldn’t respect my boundaries about not wanting to sleep together. I would have let him have the bed, and slept on the couch, but the dog is locked in the laundry room at night until his 💩💩 is better. He’s used to sleeping on the floor next to our bed though, so he barks all night. In the laundry room. I wasn’t about to go sleep right next to it…..
I want them to run away and never come back. These dogs are making me resent my husband. and my husband who is obsessed with the dog(s) but is too lazy to properly care fotrain them is making me hate the dogs. It’s actually making me dislike ALL dogs!!
I literally feel so unhappy and like a bitter person because I am so PISSED at my husband for being so lazy and irresponsible. I feel like a total Karen and that I should just crawl into a hole and dye. Because who doesn’t like dogs!!!????
People who are forced to live in their filth with zero help to clean it up. People who are forced to live with untrained animals that stink up your house. Your BEAUTIFUL home that you just BUILT!!!! And moved into less than a year ago!!!!!!!! That’s who, I guess.

​
Tom had been a little anxious about going back to the workshop, fearing that dealing with Edita would sour the thus far rather good day. But after all he had gone through, she too seemed a bit different. She was still absolutely bubbling with questions. and her doe-eyed admiration of him was a little unsettling. As was the fact that she treated the drawings he had changed with near reverence. But Jacky hadn’t swung in to pry them apart or made any threatening noises and Edita had adopted a more respectful attitude. Like she was talking to a superior, he kinda liked that if he was being totally honest at least just a little bit.
Tom guessed it had all been a bit much on the first day. And thinking back he had done a rather shit job of saying no to her. He thanked his lucky stars that she was better behaved now, but deep down he knew Saph and Essy were probably the actual reason. Hell, he might not even have lucky stars here.
He could hear Jacky and Saph chatting in the corner, catching each other up on recent events while everyone else got down to work. while the rest of them got to work. Shiva had eventually come in from the forge to hear what all the commotion was about, and after a short rundown, she had left with Jacky. Tom guessed she wanted a little bit of one on one with her daughter after all that had happened. Quite understandable in his mind, and frankly he would have expected her to do it much sooner. Jacky had handed Sapphire the halberd along with instructions to ‘stand guard for me,’ which did seem to surprise Saph just a little. But, to her credit, she still did it.
He couldn’t help but feel much safer and happier down here. Even he and Shiva were definitely on the same team, and he couldn’t imagine a scenario where he would have to worry about Edita short of him making some very egregious error in her eyes. And thus far she had seemed rather loose when it came to rules. Thinking back, that was probably his answer as to why Joelina had chosen her for this job despite the rather extreme difference in personality.
They had gone over the designs for the water jacket and made some more changes, including a new tighter recoil spring to compensate for the lighter inner barrel. The second Tom approved them Edita had wanted to get started. He had managed to talk her into telling him a bit about what she knew of arcane machinery first though. It had been a rather enlightening tale, if a little depressing too. She knew how to make enchantments, and with Apuma or Linkosta providing the actual magic they should be able to replicate many enchantments that Edita was quite certain not even Linkosta knew about. Even if the two mages might need some more training on some of the finer points.
But her tales of magic shields and such apparently lay beyond them. It turned out what was needed for enchantments like that was beyond simple hand-carved commands. She had fished out a book detailing among other things how the central core at the capital worked. Before starting though, she gave the most half-hearted ‘don’t say this to anyone’ speech Tom had yet heard. He just nodded as did the rest of them as she opened the locked tome with a key produced from under her flowing metallic robes.
“See all these pages?” she went as she rapidly paged through page after page of solid text.
“Yeah?... I can’t read any of it. I’m sorry.”
“Looks like magical runes to me,” Tink interjected, clearly trying to be helpful. Edita nodded to the inventor.
“Precisely. Hundreds of lines of enchantments. This is all that we have found in just one finger responsible for suspending the energy inside the core. There are 24 fingers in total. 24!” she reiterated, looking around at them with wide eyes.
“Must be in a tiny script then,” Tink concluded, clearing his throat and huffing a bit. “What did they do, shrink down the one who scribed them in?”
“No no, you don’t understand. It is tiny. Some of what we have found is so small that you could write thousands of words just on a finger claw.”
“Miniaturized technology,” Tom replied with an appreciative nod. “Like our computer tech.”
“Precisely,” Edita went, pointing at him before returning to paging. “But if we try to scribe runes even several times that size, we can hardly get anything to flow through them. The enchantments are powerless.”
“The resistance Linkosta talked about a while back. The reason she wanted dragon’s blood for Jacky’s armor.”
“Dragon’s blood is alright… did you use some of the unicorn horn you have?” Edita asked cautiously, looking up from her book.
“Sure did.”
“Very good. That will make it much better. But yes, the resistance becomes far too high in such inscriptions if they are made normally. But with machines and precision, it can be done better and smaller. But the key is inscribing using pure essence. The stuff you found in the cylinders down below.”
“The gravity oil?” Tom asked. “Problem solved then, we have plenty of that.”
“That is the base ingredient. We tend to just call it essence in the form you have. More work is required though. And then the enchantments must be bound with what the ancients call an eldritch forge. Normal containment spells cannot contain the inscribing. They will rip apart and break immediately.”
“The stuff Linkota did after she painted the runes.”
“Yes. The enchantments are first etched, then inscribed, then bound. Often you seal them too to try and protect them from damage. You know, to prevent scratches and such.”
“Makes sense I guess. And a person can’t do that well enough, so you need a magic machine to make magic machines.”
“More or less, yes.”
“And you have some.”
“We do… just not out here. They are rather big, and the power draw is immense, we would need a core. And I know of only two left.” Edita apologized, looking truly sorry. “Even if we did, doing that amount of etching and inscribing would be near impossible to do by hand.”
“I bet,” Tom sighed. “Well then, I guess we can’t rely on that anyway then. We’ll have to go with what’s actually available. So those enchantments of yours… How could they affect, say, barrel life?”
“They could nearly eliminate wear if that is what you mean. But they must be powered.”
“Right… power.”
“Everything comes with a cost,” Edita apologized once more, like it was somehow her fault how the world worked.
“Not your fault, don’t feel bad about it. Oh right, that core of yours. It contains energy… Like a battery of sorts. What about that, can we make that? I guess not if there are only two left.”
“Indeed, I’m sorry. The enchantments that contain the energy are immensely complex. The ones used to capture it even more so. Those can be replicated rather primitively though if they don’t need to reach far and wide without becoming hopelessly inefficient.”
“So snatch it from the enemy then? Why not just do that?”
“Because they can cut off the flow of magic? That is part of the immense complexity of the cores. We do not understand how it was achieved but they can bypass such restrictions… Have you not tried using magic items before?”
“I mean… a pair of earrings once,” Tom admitted with a shrug. “They are quite expensive, okay? we only had like 4 magic items here before you showed up.”
Edita just stared at him then looked around at the others with a look of betrayal on her face. “You didn’t teach him what to do if someone tries to drain him? What if you had fought a witch or something?”
“I’m pretty sure he did at some point actually,” Tink added, rubbing his chin thoughtfully before Saph poked him rather hard in the side with the haft end of the halberd. Something which Edita did in fact seem to notice, turning her attention to the huntress.
“Why didn’t you teach him?”
“Because no one would ever try that? Everyone can just go ‘No, fuck you’ and turn off the flow. Why waste a complicated spell on it?”
“A lot of animals don’t know how to. What if they didn’t know what he was?” Edita countered, clearly appalled by this apparent lack of training.
“Dude is talking and running around with a magic fire stick. Pretty sure they wouldn’t mistake him for an animal, in fact he would seem more like a mage himself,” Saph replied, seeming less than pleased at the accusations as Tom just blinked a couple times trying to work out how he should feel about this. He was pretty sure he had been told by someone at some point that he could just turn off the flow of magic if he wanted. But if he was being totally honest here he couldn’t quite work out how. When he had the earrings on he had just started feeling sick.
“Uhm question?” he interrupted as Saph and Edita were having a little discussion about whether anyone born in the last thousand years would ever bother trying to magically drain an opponent in combat.
“Yes?” Saph questioned, turning to look at him, Edita’s head quickly snapping to look at him as well.
“How exactly would I do this? Sounds important.”
“Simple. You feel the flow of magic and shut it off just like when you are using your own magi…” Saph started before trailing off.
“I see a flaw in this plan.”
“He must learn this. If anyone finds out he cannot fight such an attack he could be doomed,” Edita interjected, seeming deathly serious.
“Never even heard of anyone getting killed like that,” Tink added in, scratching the back of his neck, seeming a little stumped as well. “Well, aside from people who managed to off themselves by accident when mucking about with magic that is.”
“I guess we put a magic gizmo on him and work out if he can cut the flow then?” Saph questioned, still sounding a little annoyed as she looked at Edita.
“Yes, right this instant. Wait here,” the artificer replied with a new and certainly surprising determination entering her voice. Like she was dealing with a serious matter. “Imagine what would happen if one of our enchantments failed and he couldn’t stop it from killing him! Oh by the gods!” she complained as she started going through boxes.
Tom did as he was told and waited. Insane as it sounded, he trusted the slightly nutty artificer not to want to kill him. He didn’t have to wait long before Edita returned with a small lacquered wooden box with a very extravagant set of decorations on it. She unceremoniously popped the lid off of it, setting it down gently and lifted out a small octagonal metal rod with inscriptions running down each side, little metal sliders also sitting in various positions along said sides. To Tom the inscriptions looked tiny enough to be a real fucking bitch to do by hand, but he guessed they were nothing compared to what she had been talking about earlier.
“This is a load. It can be used to, well… put a load on an enchantment,” Edita explained with a nervous chuckle, looking at him.
“But a person can use it too?” Saph questioned, tilting her head.
“Yes. You need that sometimes. One moment,” Edita went as she started fiddling with the sliders. “Right, minimum setting. Run it for long enough and it should start getting warm. Should take a while, it is designed to be very inefficient. And you can turn it off there or just drop it. Just please… on the table, not the floor,” she explained, almost pleadingly on the last bit, clutching her hands after putting it down on the table for him.
“Well then… I guess only one thing for it. This should be interesting,” Tom shrugged as he scanned the room to confirm Jacky had still not returned.
“I swear by all the gods if this puts you back in bed,” Saph let out, shaking her head as Tom picked up the small device.
“Oh relax, I’ve done this before. Worst that’s gonna happen is I can’t stop it and I have to put it down,” Tom replied sarcastically as he held the rod with just a bit of apprehension. ‘You better be right this time, knucklehead.’
he hesitated for a second holding his hand over the little slider, before manning up and moving it upwards one notch. The tiny runes started to glow a dim blue, almost like there was LED backlighting at play.
It certainly felt funny. It was hard to describe. It was almost not noticeable. Like the life getting drained out of you by discussing politics with family at Christmas or something.
“Okay, now try and feel the magic flow and cut it off,” Saph added in hopefully.
“I’ll be honest, I don’t feel much really.”
“How is that possible?” Saph questioned, looking to Edita.
“How should I know? He is not a dragonette. Not born with magic.”
“But he can still use it,” Saph protested.
“Evidently,” Edita responded, sounding a little disheartened as she looked at the rod. “We could try pulling more to help you feel it.”
“Or we could not,” Saph squeaked out, not sounding overly pleased with that particular idea.
“Worst that happens is I faint, right?” Tom questioned looking at the strange device.
“In theory,” Edita relented, though not sounding overly convinced. “Unless you hold onto it after fainting, at which point it will drain you until you die… it’s not a bad way to go really,” Edita replied very reluctantly. “We would pry it away from you before that happens. Obviously.”
“Yes, obviously,” Saph echoed as Tom turned to look at Tink and Junior. Tink was just giving him the thumbs up with a big smile on his face, Junior looking rather more worried.
“Well what are the chances of me being the victim of two different life threatening magic phenomena that can’t be explained in the same week, ey? Don’t tell Jacky,” Tom chuckled though not quite as calmly as he would have hoped. Still he felt fine… just a little funny. So he moved the slider with the numbers on it up a little, giving Edita time to stop him if it was the wrong one he had grabbed.
She didn’t and he felt the sensation grow stronger. Now there was no doubt as he felt his breathing quicken and fingers start to ache a little. He then proceeded to close his eyes in the hope some Jedi zen shit would help him close his chakras or whatever it was he needed to do here.
He honestly didn’t expect much success from that idea, but what he got as he settled down a little and tried to feel what was happening was best described as continuous shiver running down his spine. It was faint. Not much of note, only really enough to be annoying once he noticed it. So he did what he always did with shivers. He focused on it to make it go away, releasing that nice sensation all throughout his back that wasn’t ever really enough.
He got the exact same result here and opened his eyes to find the rod inert in his hands.
“Well that worked, I guess.”
“Baah, I wasn’t worried,” Tink loudly proclaimed, giving Tom a good slap on the back as the two women stood there staring at him then to each other, both pulling cautious smiles.
“Better safe than sorry, I guess?”
__________________________________________________________________________________
“Are they putting her to work right away?” Saph asked, looking out from the greeting platform over the green rolling hills and two small shimmering lakes surrounding the keep. Change was in the air, the small patches of trees starting to yellow and the grass was starting to fade a little too. The wind was starting to bite a bit more to the point Saph was wondering when winter clothes might be needed.
When the cold started to hit properly they would need to stay moving when outside, which was good for working spirits but still sucked. In the distance the glinting black form of Yldril slowly grew larger as she crested a hill heading towards them slowly and steadily.
Behind them, inside the shelter of the greeting hall, Archeon was being loaded for his trip to the capital. Dakota was overseeing as Vulzan and his crew labored. Saph and Ray had lent a hand earlier, but they were mostly done by now so they had excused themselves to go watch Yldril’s arrival.
“Fengi will go easy on her I am sure,” Ray replied a little forlornly. “Is she as mean as the other said?”
“Downright evil,” Saph sighed, shaking her head a bit. “And Fengi is dead set on trying to fix that.”
“Do you think she can?”
“I have no idea. What I do know is she will try her damndest. I hope that damn dragon doesn’t make her anymore depressed… It’s gonna suck next time Tiguan swings by too.”
“He’s not gonna like her is he?”
“No, I don’t think so… she’s a real piece of work,” Saph sighed, trying not to sound too depressed at the notion.
“Where is she staying? Just down in the grass next to Galaxer?” Ray asked cautiously.
“Yup. Just in the grass and outside every night. Fengi wants her to have nothing so she can make her earn it slowly. Make a lesson out of it. I think she’s trying to do what Tom did with Jarix. Biggest difference being that Jarix isn’t an evil murderous arsehole, she is.”
“What about winter?”
“She’ll be fine, dragons hibernate all winter anyway. Might just get her some cover if she comes around enough to earn it.”
“Are the winters bad here? It normally feels warm, but it’s starting to get quite chilly,” Ray asked carefully, rubbing her shoulders a bit.
“We’re pretty southern. Usually isn’t that bad, but we do get snow most years.”
“I hate the snow,” Ray responded, sounding quite unhappy. Saph could guess why easily enough. If the cold was rough on folk with a roof over their head, she didn’t want to think about what it did to people living on the streets.
“Well here you’ll have a warm bed, even if it gets a bit chilly outside. Woodstocks are more than plenty too, our dear Rachuck makes sure of that.”
“He’s very nice isn’t he? He cares so much.”
“I guess so, I think Dakota put it best. ‘Don’t tell him a horror story or he’ll try to prepare for it and then you’ll be working all night,’ ” Saph chuckled, letting a cautious smile creep onto her face.
Ray chuckled lowly as well, still looking out over the changing landscape. It was still quite beautiful, and the sun was shining. That was likely to become a rarer and rarer sight moving forward though. She would miss bathing in the sun to relax. This year had been so damn busy they hadn’t really gotten away with much relaxation.
They weren’t exactly lazy normally, but one needed breaks every now and again. She let her mind drift back to the time at the lake, the movie nights, the little festival and the various feasts they had held. It had been a good year in its own insane way. Maybe winter would be cozy if a little boring just like the old days.
‘Who am I kidding. It will be crazy all winter long.’
“Who did she say that to?” Ray questioned, Saph taking a second to remember what she had said.
“Oh… me. She told me that back when I came here. Gotta say, she was certainly right. She still grumbles about giving Herron the same advice. Little did she know he would take that one a bit too much to heart.”
“Oh come on, he’s not that bad… He’s just a bit sleepy.”
“At all hours of the day” Saph replied, finding it her turn to chuckle a bit. “You wanna go say hi to our first unwilling member?”
“Not really, no…”
“Me neither,” Saph echoed reluctantly. “But Fengi needs friends right now. Gotta go give her a hand.”
“Don’t get hurt, she sounded real mean. Oh, maybe have her bring some water. Rachuck wants the emergency barrels changed before winter.”
“I think that can wait till it starts getting a bit colder, we want it fresh for winter don’t we,” Saph replied with a reassuring smile before letting her wings fold out, starting to feel out the cold air. “See you in a bit, and don’t let old Rachuck work you to the bone.”
“Oh no, don’t worry, I’ll be busy with the floors and the dishes.”
Saph stood there watching Ray, letting her wings feel out the wind for a second longer as she sighed, still smiling. “Well, no taking everyone’s chores either, gods know least of all Herron’s.”
And with that Saph let herself drop off the platform, wings catching as she silently glided down towards where Tom was busy planning out their next bunker while Kulinger had a second group of people planning out where their new warehouse would go. All in all the whole place was bustling with activity both inside and out. Even the techies were out lending a hand with construction planning.
Saph had a hard time believing they would get it all done in time for winter, but with the workers assigned to Hylsdal and Grevi helping out, they might just manage it, depending of course on how soon said construction crew could move their asses over here.
‘There’s gonna be a lot of hard work this autumn isn’t there… fucking hell we better get paid good.”
__________________________________________________________________________________
It had been a while since Tom had last seen the black dragon, and that encounter had left her with freshly broken bones, the tip of her tail snapped off, and blood leaking from reopened wounds everywhere.
‘... I want healing like that,’ Tom concluded to himself as the dragon limping her way past them. It was several kilometers to her little camp. It was only a short hop on the wing, but it was still quite the walk. And she was evidently still in far from good shape. She wasn’t dripping blood or anything, but she was definitely limping quite badly. Enough to make Tom wonder if some bones hadn’t quite set right. Or perhaps she was just sore after walking for several miles while not quite healed.
As she came by she didn’t seem to pay him or anyone else any mind whatsoever. Work came to a halt as people stopped to stare, most of them hatefully. Yet she simply carried on as if they didn’t exist. No prancing, no cowering or looking worriedly around trying to guess who was gonna throw something at her first. She just carried on like a wounded robot.
‘I guess Fengi has been working her magic then,’ Tom just noted for himself solemnly. It made sense. Yldril wouldn’t really be up for walking several kilometers while wounded to a place she hated for its mere existence and which hated her just as much in return.
Everyone wanted a good look at the dragon. Some hadn’t seen her since the battle, and the mood had grown very grim to say the least. Tom didn’t know how to feel about it all. There could be no doubt she was guilty of some truly heinous crimes, yet here she was, a slave for eternity. Fengi walked out front, doing her best to stare down most of the keep. She wasn’t stupid, she knew half the keep didn’t want Yldril anywhere near here and the other half would quite happily see her worked to death in short order, at least before the whole Kalestine mess which made it all rather complicated.
Tom couldn’t decide what he wanted. What he knew though was that Fengi wasn’t letting either happen. ‘Damn girl is even more naive than me,’ he caught himself chuckling quietly as everyone else remained somber. There was the odd spitting in the dragon's direction, but mostly just staring and hateful glances before people started to get back to their jobs, turning their back on the dragon.
Tom had a feeling that if anyone had some rotten tomatoes, Yldril would have gotten a face full, but as it was he just stood there and stared.
“Well, at least she’ll be useful,” Raulf the gruff old farmer let out from next to him, leaning on his shovel like a pro and looking after the dragon as she carried on toward the base of the keep. “Are they letting her sleep that close to us? Really?”
“I don’t know, maybe they just want to unload the camp supplies. I see they made her carry most of it.”
“Well it was her camp, wasn’t it?” Raulf replied with a chuckle, standing up straight and hefting his spade. “Think she’s in shape to dig yet?”
“At least give her a bit to rest after that walk. Maybe we just set out the markers today and get to work on the wood we have. Plenty of work to do before we start digging anyway.”
“Fair enough,” Raulf concurred. “Think we can convince the white one to help haul some logs until the tax collector there is ready to pull her weight?”
“I guess we can try. I think we might want to try and have a meeting with dear Kalestine first though. I have a feeling she’s not in a great mood.”
“You’re making it rather hard to get to work, you know that right?” Raulf jested as Tom sighed deeply. “I guess so… I was just gonna send Kulinger and cross my fingers.”
“Brilliant plan, I’ll fetch him right away. Should have thought of that.”
“Wait, no.”
__________________________________________________________________________________
“Soo how is she doing?” Saph asked once she managed to spot a rather distraught-looking Fengi wandering away from everyone else. She probably wanted some peace and quiet, but Saph wasn’t sure that was smart right now.
Fengi was a little startled before turning to look at Saph with a forced upon looking smile. “Oh you know. Everyone hates her and she hates them, both convinced they are in the right.”
“She thinks she’s in the right?” Saph questioned, trying not to sound disrespectful and failing at least a little bit.
“Yes, she somehow does,” Fengi admitted. “In her own stupid, selfish way.”
Saph walked up and placed a reassuring hand on Fengi’s shoulder giving her a little shake. “Hey, you got this. If anyone might rub off on her it’s you. Heavens know you can be infectiously happy sometimes.”
“Not right now I’m not… And if I mess up, she will hurt someone. Probably out of spite more than anything else. I can’t let her do anything. She’s gonna hate me for it. Well more than she already does.”
“Normally I would say some trust is in order to prove you mean well, but…”
“She’s not trustworthy at all. Doesn’t even try to hide it,” Fengi carried on, sounding defeated, ears hanging limp by the side of her head as she looked down, kicking the ground a little. “She’s a fucking arsehole.”
“She’ll crack eventually. Sounds like she might have been at least decent at some point… even if it was a few centuries ago. If nothing else, she might behave just to get a tarp over her head.”
“That was the plan, wasn’t it?” Fengi sighed nervously as she looked up at the keep, the blue sky silhouetting nicely behind the tall stone structure sitting perched atop the outcropping. “I just hope people at least leave her alone in the night.”
“Might wanna tell Rachuck and the guards to keep an eye on her… How’s Unkai doing by the way?”
“Oh he’s over there,” Fengi replied, gesturing over her shoulder at the diminutive dude who was currently talking with Rachuck about something next to the wood-drying hut.
“I mean how are the two of you doing?” Saph reiterated gingerly, hoping there was at least some good news on that front for the young huntress.
Fengi turned to look at Saph, clearly trying very hard to not look sad, which only made her look more tragic. “He told me why he was so scared of me… What do you even say to that?” Fengi pleaded, eyes starting to turn wet.
“Oh come here,” Saph went, hoping a hug would at least help as she embraced Fengi, stroking the back of her head. “It’s gonna be fine I’m sure. He just needs to get used to it, you know? Like when we went swimming. Remember that?”
“Mhmhhm,” Fengi nodded, burying her face against Saph’s chest.
“It was scary, we had all been taught to fear the water, right? What can be in it, the cold, drowning, all that? Right from when we were little.”
“Yeah?” Fengi sniffled, not letting go.
“Well, he has to go swimming now. He is scared, he’s been told to be scared all the way since he was little. Maybe he’s like Dakota, but the little bugger loves you. I mean come on, he would be over the hills hiding if he didn’t.”
“But he’s scared of me. I can’t even whisper in his ear without him going stiff as a plank. Talking around the fire at night, he just sits there with fear in his eyes.”
“Well even with that medal he got, he’s never been the bravest, now has he? Keep trying. He’ll grow used to it. He’ll learn to trust you just like Yldril will. I have to say I don’t envy you right now. Even with a dragon at your beck and call.”
“Please don’t say it like that. Makes me sound like some evil witch from the stories when we were little.”
“Well, remember what one evil witch could do in those stories. Now imagine what you can manage. You could turn out a damn hero one day, you know that, right?”
“I guess so,” Fengi had to concede, even if it didn’t seem to cheer her up overly much. She didn’t even move a muscle from where Saph was holding her tight, still stroking the back of her head. “She might have got her ass beat by Glira, but she is incredibly strong. If I can somehow bring her around, she could make everything so much quicker without making every day a living hell.”
“And hey, it would only be the what… fourth, fifth, sixth? miracle to happen here this year?” Saph tried jokingly, giving Fengi a bit more of a squeeze and holding her close. “Odds are on your side there’s a couple left before winter.”
Fengi did let out a chuckle at that before sighing and looking up, though still not letting go. “Thanks, Saph.”
“Don’t mention it. Now I think I better go have some stern words about not giving our not-so-nice black dragon further reason to hate our guts. Think you’ll be okay in the meantime?”
Fengi just nodded, sighing a bit as she let go. “I’ll be fine.”
“You know what you could do? Go find Ray, it’s been a bit, she might have some ideas too. She won’t admit it, but she’s actually sorta smart.”
“You know what… I might just do that,” Fengi replied with a cautious smile as Saph gave her a last rub on the back, wearing a big smile.
“Catch you later then. I won’t be long, I promise.”
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There we go, progress is being made in more ways than one and no one got hurt for once. that's always nice. Well unless you count poor Pho. Or not so poor depending on how you look at it lol.
I hope you enjoyed it, do go check out the art show/wiki we have got some new pieces yet again. I like them a lot, hopefully, you will too.
Until next time. Take care and catch you around.
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Cover three by HarmaaGriffin
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First Previous

Growing up, my (23f) aunt (now 45f) was childfree in the sense that she actively didn't like children and would avoid coming to events that had children. She would tell my brother and I that children are dirty and scream and annoy everybody until they learn to act like adults, which I guess isn't wrong but still hurtful for us to hear as elementary schoolers.
What I found the worst about my aunt was how she used to talk about my mom, her older sister. My mom has been single since my dad abandoned us for his affair partner. I've overheard my aunt commenting that my mom's selfish for having children and promiscuous and our dad probably isn't even our real dad which is why he left my mom. When I was 10 I finally told my mom about these comments. She refused to keep us in the same room as our aunt and we've really had no relationship with her.
When I was 11, my aunt moved from the same neighborhood as my mom and grandparents to a house in the country about two hours away and I had no real contact with her for the next 7 years. When I was 18, my aunt started trying to reestablish a relationship with me, but I kept my contact with her low.
I've been working for a few years and have saved enough to rent my own apartment. This year, my aunt was hit by a car and has had a whole slew of health problems. Because of that, she's been needing to visit the hospital frequently and will need to start physical therapy. Her house is really far from most health facilities and, because she lives alone, she hasn't got anybody to take her back and forth every day. She doesn't have the money to buy a new house in a more convenient location and she doesn't want to sell her current house because it has lots of land for her dogs and she wants to continue living there when she gets better.
The rest of my family lives in the city and can access all sorts of health facilities much easier. My brother lives at college. My grandparents have moved in with my mom who's still angry at my aunt and refuses to talk to her. That leaves me. Because I was hesitant and not outright rejecting contact with my aunt, she thinks she still has a chance to live with me.
There's two major issues with this: 1) my aunt has two dogs that she adores and I don't want to take care of them while she's still recovering, and 2) I don't really like my aunt and don't want her living with me. I'm afraid that a relationship would cause a divide in the family. I'm also worried she'll find out things about me and gossip about it like she did with my mom.
Fundamentally, if I had had a closer relationship with my aunt in my childhood I might have considered it, but because of her justifying being cruel by her "childfree"-ness I don't think I'm going to make this accommodation for her. I told her as much and she called me an asshole for abandoning her when she's vulnerable. My mom and brother support me but my grandparents told me to just go along with it so that we can all stop fighting. Am I the asshole?

I have a 4 year old who really likes to win. Be it a race across the living room or a game of tic tac toe. We are usually honest about when he doesn’t actually win and he takes the news pretty well. He doesn’t have siblings though, so he generally wins most of the time against me. However he recently completed a kids race and has been excitedly telling everyone about how he won the race despite not finishing in the top half. He’s so ecstatic about it I don’t have the heart to tell him he didn’t win.
It’s making me wonder if I’m being a “Everyone gets a trophy” parent or if I’m not exposing him to defeat enough. I don’t want him to have unrealistic expectations of winning every sport he tries. At the same time I was never good at sports and never won anything, so I’m not sure if it hurts for him to enjoy his ignorance while he can lol.
TL:DR At what age did you start being fully transparent about winning and how did you approach it? If you could go back, would you do anything differently?

Hi all. I am a grad student. For this school and last year’s school year I rented from an older lady who rents her rooms in her house, with her still living in it. Last year, she told me she prefers to do month to month, which I was completely fine with because during my second semester, school went online, so I was able to move out without having to pay for the entire school year. To clarify, I had never signed ANYTHING ever. This year, I assumed the same thing (month to month) because she never said otherwise. She asked me to put down a deposit for my last months rent, so that she could hold my room in the meantime. We had quickly discussed when I would be finishing school for the year and I said I really do not know as it is my first year of grad school and I don’t know my schedule. Anyways, now I am finished school in march. I paid my march rent after forgetting that I paid for my last months rent. After moving out, I asked her if I will be getting my deposit back as I paid my last months rent in my deposit, and I paid for march. She is telling me no, because “she depends on this rent as her income from September to April inclusively”. She said last year was an exception as it was covid (she had never told me it was an exception), and she also mentioned that if I was renting from an apartment complex I would be out of much more money than this lol. I am wondering if there is anything I can do. I was never aware that I was paying for April rent in my deposit. I am not in a position to eat the cost of rent for a month I won’t even be there. I apologize for the long post, I wanted to make sure I wrote all the details.

I’m in Zone 7b and I live in the suburbs—no cellar or garage, I store my food in our kitchen or utility room. I grew garlic and shallots over the winter for the first time and they’re doing great! Growing nice and big. When the time comes to harvest them, I’ve got a good spot for drying and curing (screened in porch, warm and shady). However, I’m not sure where I can store them to last…all the recommendations I see are for temps in the 40’s, and without an old-fashioned root cellar or something I don’t see how I can keep them that cool. If you grow garlic and onions, how do you store them? I’d love to be able to save some to plant again this fall, and of course I want to make my harvest last as long as possible.

Sorry in advance as this is going to be long.
I dated a girl for six months in the late 2020 and we talked about marriage but I wasn’t ready to propose while we were still getting a feel for each other. I broke up with her and never intended to get back together with her in November 2020 after finding out she was having me take her to a house for a month she claimed she was babysitting for but was just sleeping with the older son. We didn’t talk with each other for the next month.
In December 2020 I offered a spare room in my house to a girl who told me she had no place to stay, to help her get back on her feet. I had never met her in person and only communicated in text for a month. She conspired with another girl to rob me and convinced their friends I was throwing them a combined birthday party so they could have a distraction at my house. The guys they invited somehow knocked me out and kicked and stepped on my head until they thought I was dead. I remember nothing from that day. I ended up with a traumatic brain injury and in a coma for nearly a month.
The girl I was dating before apparently left notes and letters on my front door when she found out I was hurt but I never knew (My sister kept them away from me). We finally get in touch with each other in March 2021 after I’ve left the hospital and moved in with family. Again, no intention to ever get back with her but my condition made me feel like I would never have another chance with anyone and I had no idea anyone even cared about me. We dated again for several months and we decided to get married in July. We never lived together as she stayed at her parents and my family assisted me with my recovery. In December of that year I was forced to sell my house, that I never went back to after my assault, because I couldn’t afford it as I haven’t been cleared by my doctor to work in over 2 years now. I think that is when she started to see things she thought she would get and decided to look elsewhere without telling me she was unhappy.
She then kept telling me she was taking her “best friend” home, 30 minutes away and would stay there some nights saying she had to bring her back to work the next day. In reality she was just there sleeping with her best friends father. She would rarely come see me on the other side of town always using the excuse she had no gas to get here, yet she would still travel 30 minutes away and claimed her friend was paying for gas to get her there.
She gets together with me in late May after not seeing me for nearly a month. Turns out her mother finds a positive pregnancy test from a clinic on May 19 in her trash that she tells me about several months ago. She gets together with me on May 24 with the intention of having me think her baby is mine (still not telling me she knows she is pregnant yet). She claims she finds out she is pregnant in the ER when they drew her blood on May 31. She says she’s scared and I go along with her trying to convince me that her child is mine even though I know he wasn’t because I knew there was nothing I could do at that point in my condition, it was already done and we had to care for the child.
In August, she stops communication with me and moves into her best friends house and posts she is in a relationship with her friends father (she’s still married to me at this point and pregnant). She was due January 20, 2023 but had intentional complications so that she was forced to give birth the last day of 2022 so she could claim the child on taxes for last year. In January, she has police called to the home she was living in and they tell her she just needs to leave for the night. She has her family show up and they pack all her things and she and the baby move back in with her parents. She calls me on the 30 minute ride home (I hadn’t spoken with her in a couple months). We talked more during January but she kept telling me I didn’t need to do things for her. I told her she’s my wife, of course I need to. The end of January I message her and tell her I’m done, I can’t keep doing things for her if she’s not going to even appreciate them and can’t get back together with me so we can raise the child in a caring family after I’ve forgiven her for her “mistakes”. I’m sure there will be many more from both of us. She says fine, just go file for divorce. This was already what she wanted me to do late last year so she could “officially” be with the man she convinced her child was his, even though dna testing has proven that not to be correct either.
Yes, I should just go file for divorce from her but I’m enjoying more that it’s holding her from “officially” being with anyone else. I realize this is petty of me but in my eyes, she kind of deserves it for taking advantage of my temporary disability.
I’m a caring person with all the patience and forgiveness in the world so this just boggles my mind. I understand my condition and I accept that. There’s nothing I can do now except wait to get better. I’m just fortunate enough to be alive at this point. I told her even before we got married that if at any time she felt she wasn’t getting what she needed, to tell me and I’d happily let her walk away. It upsets me that she strung me along for more than half a year without telling me she was unhappy.