Was cutting down some branches and had to drag them past some parked cars.
Owner of car says I scratched it and Im saying I didn’t as I was very aware of the cars parked and how big the branches were leaving space to walk past.
Cctv will be limited as it will show me walking past but not in enough detail to show the scratch.
I had already left work when the complaint had been made and my manager phoned me asking if he thought I scratched it. I said no and he says he will sort it.
What happens now could I be in trouble?

That’s right baby. Doomers, boomers, and rebuild-too-Sooners it’s time to tak about guys the flyers should target to be on their team in 2023-24. This thought experiment I’m on was inspired by an athletic article I read this morning about potential buyout candidates for nhl teams. Considering the flyers are gonna look to take on some bad contracts for assets, I decided to weigh in on who I think would be prime candidates to be in orange and black next year.
A few caveats before we get started. The flyers are projected roughly 7mil in cap space according to capfriendly. I’ll add another 3 mil for a potential post Kevin Hayes deal to assume the flyers will be working with around 10 mil. That’s clearly not accurate and will obviously fluctuate as guys sign or get moved away, but it’s more about trying to fit these contracts on then having exact numbers atm. Brieres job is to cap wrangle. The point is, all these potentially can work. Also, none of these guys are stars. Obviously. You’re taking on crap contracts. So if you’re gonna hit me with “you idiot. So and so sucks/is old/doesn’t fit the rebuild then let me say now. I know. That’s the point.
So without further ado, let’s start with the guy I think the flyers should target the most:
KAILER YAMAMOTO EDM - RW - 1 year left before RFA, 3.1 mil
If the flyers really want to maximize a player, they should absolutely target Yamamoto. He had an awful year last year, but scored 20 goals just the year prior. He’s 24, same age as Tippett, and unlike several guys I’m typing up here, he actually could potentially be a piece of a rebuild. The oilers are desperate for cap relief, and acquiring him wouldn’t cost much of anything (according to the athletic). The flyers at worst get a guy on the books for one year who walks the next, at better gets a guy who improves under torts and becomes a deadline piece, or at best excels here and becomes what Edmonton hopes he would when taken at pick 22. He’s a zero net loss guy and if I’m Briere I’m calling about him asap. I’d imagine a later round pick could make it work.
MATT MURRAY TOR - G - 1 year left at 6.25 mil
The man everyone thought would be a disaster in Toronto was in fact, a disaster in Toronto. Make no mistake, Murray is garbage, and should be buried in the minors, but the leafs are desperately trying to salvage the core four primes. Getting Murray off the books would allow them to finally get some D help and they’d be motivated to do so. They have prospects available that can make it happen, and haven’t been shy about trading picks. We could get a great haul for taking him.
MIKAEL GRANLUND PIT - RW - 2 years left at 5mil
I know, trading with Pit is gross, but if they’re going for one last cup with Crosby and gang, they need cap relief big time. Grandlund is an albatross over them and would cost a pretty steep sum to love for them, especially because unlike us with Hayes, they can’t afford to retain. And if they crash and burn next year, any picks we get from them can become all the more valuable.
MARCO SCANDELLA. STL - D - 1 year left at 3.275 mil
A lot of teams are smashed up against the cap and desperate to find breathing room. Enter St Louis. This trade depends on how confident the blues brass are that the window is still open. But if they are, they HAVE to move scandella. He’s an aging, overpaid, and regressing d man on a team full of them, but he’s the only one without a nmc. The blues have decent youth in the pipeline and a fair amount of picks so it’s not unreasonable.
Now the big one.
BROCK BOESSECONOR GARLAND - VAN - WINGS - 2 yrs left at 6.65mil / 3 yrs left at 4.95 mil.
Vancouver is SCREWED. They have no free money and are tied up in several bad contracts. They have the worst cap situation in the league. Both these guys have been on the block for a long time because of these contracts. If the flyers could get one, or hell both somehow? The pick and prospect haul could be huge. Neither of these guys are bad players and could be flipped with retention later for assets. Vancouver is also known to be trigger happy with trades if they think it’ll solve a problem. If Briere could get these guys and flip them, it has the potential to become his magnum opus. It wouldn’t be easy though, hence why they’re at the end.
So what do you guys think. Got anyone to add?

Football

2024 Football Commits (#16 by 247, #13 by Rivals)

Player	Position	Location	Composite Rating	Rating at Commit
Kavion Henderson	DL	Leeds, AL	****(.9267)	****(.9245)
Dion Stutts	DT	Memphis, TN	***(.8753)	***(.8759)
Noreel White	CB	Ocean Springs, MS	****(.9006)	****(.9002)
Julius Pope	LB	Batesville, MS	****(.8993)	****(.8993)
KJ Jackson	QB	Montgomery, AL	****(.8917)	****(.8917)
Jade Allen	CB	Aledo, TX	****(.8960)	****(.8985)
Courtney Crutchfield	WR	Pine Bluff, AR	****(.9145)	****(.8933)
Charleston Collins	DL	LItte Rock, AR	****(.9304)	****(.9202)
Tevis Metcalf	CB	Pinson, AL	***(.8550)	***(.8550)
Jadan Baugh	RB	Decatur, GA	***(.8867)	***(.8867)

247 Crystal Ball Prediction Link
Top Football Targets

Player	Location	Rating	Crystal Ball/Committed
OFFENSE
QB
RB
Braylen Russell	Benton, AR	****(.9069)	Arkansas (1) 100%
Nate Palmer	Decatur, TX	****(.8908)	NONE
Traevon Dunbar	Aiken, SC	***(.8769)	NONE
Kewan Lacy	Lancaster, TX	****(.8828)	Ole Miss (2) 100%
Taylor Tatum	Longview, TX	****(.9817)	Michigan (1) 100%
WR
CJ Brown	Bentonville, AR	***(.8750)	NONE
Josiah Martin	Denton, TX	***(.8786)	NONE
Dozie Ezukanma	Forth Worth, TX	***(.8759)	NONE
Bryant Wesco	Midlothian, TX	****(.9788)	Clemson (3) 85.7% - Oklahoma (1) 12.5%
Ryan Wingo	St Louis, MO	*****(.9884)	Georgia(1) 100%
Parker Livingstone	Lovejoy, TX	****(.9086)	Arkansas (1) 75% - Texas (1) 25%
Dae'von Hall	Bellevue, NE	****(.8955)	Nebraska (1) 100%
Jeremiah McClellan	St Louis, MO	****(.9310)	Ohio State (2) 100 State
Delon Miller	Silsbee, TX	****(.9647)	NONE
TE
Kylan Fox	Loganville, GA	****(.9204)	Florida State (1) 100%
Decker DeGraaf	Glendora, CA	***(.8750)	NONE
OL
Kobe Branham	Forth Smith, AR	***(.8650)	Arkansas (3) 100%
JacQawn McRoy	Pinson, AL	****(.9313)	NONE
Max Anderson	Frisco, TX	****(.9276)	Tennessee (2) 100%
Jonah Logan	Saint Louis, MO	NR	NONE
Daniel Akinkunmi	NFL Academy (London)	NR	NONE
Fletcher Westphal	Leesburg, VA	****(.9123)	NONE
Kai Greer	Waxhaw, NC	***(.8867)	NONE
Makai Saina	Arlington, TX	****(.8917)	NONE
Daniel Calhoun	Roswell, GA	****(.9561)	NONE
Barry Walker	Cordele, GA	***(.8828)	NONE
Web Davidson	Macon, GA	NR	NONE
Jason Zandamela	Clearwater, FL	****(.9412)	Florida State (2) 100%
Waltclaire Flynn Jr.	Loganville, GA	****(.9131)	NONE
DEFENSE
DE
TJ Lindsey	Bryant, AR	***(.8900)	Texas A&M (1) 100%
Solomon Williams	Tampa, FL	***(.8826)	NONE
Danny Okoye	Tulsa, OK	****(.9355)	NONE
Zina Umeozulu	Allen, TX	****(.9381)	NONE
Williams Nwaneri	Lees Summit, MO	*****(.9971)	Oklahoma (1) 100%
Collin Simmons	Duncanville, TX	*****(.9965)	LSU (1) 100%
DT
Marcus Downs	Greer, SC	***(.8826)	NONE
Nigel Smith II	Melissa, TX	****(.9591)	Oklahoma (1) 100%
Jayden Jackson	Bradenton, FL	***(.8750)	NONE
Alex January	Duncanville, TX	***(.8865)	NONE
Malik Blocton	Pike Road, AL	****(.8908)	NONE
Terrell Spruill	Rockledge, FL	***(.8478)	NONE
Landon Marshall	Andalusia, AL	***(.8550)	NONE
LB
Brian Huff	Jonesboro, AR	****(.9096)	Arkansas (2) 100%
Jordan Burns	Atlanta, GA	****(.8933)	NONE
D'Angelo Barber	Pinson, AL	***(.8867)	Auburn (1) 100%
Xavier Atkins	Humble, TX	****(.9163)	Committed to LSU
Justin Logan	Marietta, GA	***(.8900)	NONE
CB
Braylon Conley	Humble, TX	***(.8883)	NONE
Chris Johnson Jr	Aledo, TX	****(.8927)	NONE
Elijah Hall	Tuskegee, AL	***(.8550)	NONE
Josh Philostin	West Palm Beach, FL	****(.8924)	NONE
Selman Bridges	Temple, TX	****(.9709)	NONE
S
Ka'Davion Dotson	Duncanville, TX	****(.9159)	LSU (2) 100%
Tyler Singleton	Many, LA	****(.9422)	NONE
KJ Bolden	Buford, GA	*****(.9957)	Georgia (1) 100%
Tomauri Johnson	Miami, FL	***(.8685)	NONE
Marqavious Saboor	Marietta, GA	***(.8800)	NONE
Ashton Hampton	Tallahassee, FL	***(.8689)	NONE
Kenyan Kelly	Denison, TX	***(.8886)	NONE
Tyler Woodard (JUCO)	Memphis, TN	NR	NONE

Basketball

2023 Basketball Signees (#9 by 247, #18 by Rivals)

Player	Pos.	Location	Composite
Layden Blocker	PG	Maumell, AR	****(.9869)
Baye Fall	C	Denver, CO	****(.9890)

Transfer Portal contacts via NWAHutch

Introduction

​
I am having a lot of fun playing VH with my brother on our private server (through bisect, of course #sponsorplug) and there is not much I would change about the game if given the choice, however, I think we can all agree that the puzzle room, the way it is now, is not very good. Iskall has mentioned on stream a bunch of times it still needs a lot of work (today as well), so I don't think they are actively working on a solution yet. I've had some ideas about this room which I'd like to share with everyone and who knows, maybe some of them will inspire the team to change it into a cool omega room.
​
For the room to be better then it is now, a few things need to change, which I will adress my ideas for seperately in this post.
​

The puzzle pieces.

The idea behind the puzzle pieces is pretty cool, but the different rarities is what makes it a very annoying thing to have to deal with.
Imagine running a super difficult scav. You need only 1 more Goblet to complete, but can't find any gilded chests for 3 rooms straight. You see the vibrant colours of the puzzle room through the hallway and instantly feel this jolt of adrenaline, because you made sure to have your puzzle blocks with you in your pouch this vault. You dash up to the centre, after falling down below (because why does this room still not have bridges?) only to see you need 4 omega pieces to complete and you just sit there, defeated, and never play vault hunters again after that. This is not a nice mechanic, especially seeing how rare of a room this is.
Instead, let's use a concept that Iskall mentioned on stream a while back. Not linking the colours to rarities, but to chest types.
By making the blocks a rare drop from the different chest types (green for living, pink for ornate, yellow for gilded and blue for wooden) they become much more interactive to find and use. Then, in the room itself, you could exchange these blocks into chests of that type, but more on that later. This way you distribute them to the players just by looting and allow them to use these blocks when they eventually find the puzzle room. This change moves the RNG check from opening just the maximum 50 question mark blocks per puzzle room and hopinf for the right puzzle pieces (although you probably won't mine more then 29 of these), to every single chest you loot, meaning if you get very unlucky, you should still get some at least.
​

The room itself

Now for the changes to the mechanics of the room.
The aesthetic of the puzzle room is really cool (and nostalgic), so I want to keep the room looking pretty much the same, but now that the puzzle blocks are distributed from other sources, the question mark blocks can be removed.
Instead, I'd like to swap it for a keyhole block. You as the player could then run up to any of the coloured squares, right click the keyhole with a "puzzle block" (or now called something like "key block") and a little room will open with a few chests of that colour type. This would also be affected by cascading chest modifiers, so if you run a 10x ornate run and open a pink room, this room will be almost completely full of ornate chests, where normally there would only be like 2-4 chests per room.
Now each key block can be used in each puzzle room if you want to, because every puzzle room has the same layout of coloured squares, instead of a randomized puzzle.
​

The centrepiece

With the loot being moved to the outside of the room, there is no need for the puzzle element in the middle. Instead, I'd like to replace it with something else.
For starters, let's build some connecting bridges from the hallways to the centre, so you can actually run through the room, either if you choose not to loot it, or if you have to rush back to the portal/objective.
In the centre you would find some sort of structure (I'm imagining some sort of a tower, but this can be anyting) with a button on it. Pressing this button will spew out like 5 random key blocks, so every time you find the room you can get some loot if you so want to, but the type of loot is different every time.
Seeing how there isn't a puzzle anymore like this, the room name should probably change from "puzzle room" to something like "colour room"
​

Final notes

In the end, I can see this being implemented in 2 different ways.
The first way, which has my preference, is like it is now, but with the new changes. Key blocks would be very rare, but you can carry them with you into the vault. If you want to go for a focussed loot run with a bunch of cascading modifiers you can save up specifically that colour blocks to use all at once during the big run, if you are lucky enough to find a colour room that run, but you can also just grab the extra chests whenever you find this room. The key blocks should be rare enough, that, on average, if you use them as you get them, you wouldn't have them piling up, but not so rare that every time you find the colour room you can only open like 3 of these pockets appart from the 5 you get at the centre piece.
​
The second way this could be implemented is an idea Iskall threw into chat a while back, to make it like a mini-scav. For this, the key blocks would need to be a lot more common, but they would become rotten after you exit the vault. This could be a fun little mini-quest, where if you find the colour room early in the vault you could try to navigate the vault to come back to it for an extra loot boost at the end. This would make them a lot more skill based to loot and sounds like it would be generally really exciting to find the room, however, seeing how not every vault will have a colour room, getting the key blocks would feel a bit strange. You would be able to smelt them down into soul shards of course, so I guess it wouldn't be to bad of a negative to deal with the key blocks if you can't use them.
​
I hope Iskall and the team see this post and maybe get inspired to either use some of these ideas, or find some solution for themselves to turn the puzzle room into a more fun mechanic of this amazing game.

Recommended.
Hitman: Contracts can be summed as "The Dark Hitman". The ambience of this game is oppressive, with dark environments and terrifying music. This is presented with improved mechanics and a better game flow. Contracts is not as epic as the last one but it has an identity of its own, shuffling from slow, dark moments, to action pieces.
This game was rushed and it shows, with an underdeveloped training section and weapons cache, weird graphics and glitched animations (especially the fiber wire ones). The game was also too short so Codename 47 missions were remade (not necessarily surpassing the originals). Contracts is noticiably easier than Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, as gameplay is more consistent, but the fun in this game is to try the many different approaches to missions.
The game starts with 47 dragging himself from a hit gone wrong, wounded by a gunshot. He falls on the floor and keeps fading in and out of conscience throughout the game, with actions taking him back to some of his previous missions; starting with the Asylum in Romania. You start from Dr. Ortmeyer's office and go through a place turned upside down, with patients running around, falling from ledges or dead on the ground - riddled with bullets - and SWAT teams running around looking for you. This game was heavily inspired by the classic "Léon: The Professional" and, because of this, SWAT teams are very present with 47 having many opportunities to slip past dressed as a SWAT commando. In one occasion you even take part in a SWAT assault in Rotterdam - which is very cool.
The sneak mode was fixed, with a more appropriate moving speed enabling the player to approach the enemy from behind. Enemy AI was improved, thus reducing random violence towards the player to the point of it being just an occasional nuisance rather than a constant source of frustration as in the previous game. Agent 47 can now run once in a while without being attacked and even 47's walking pace has been sped up, thus making gameplay more dynamic. The suspicion meter stopped being a slot-machine and is now actually useful.
The sniper rifle case was re-introduced (Thanks God!) stopping those awful missions were you had to slip by with a gigantic sniper rifle amid civilians in random paths. The Walther WA2000 Sniper has now a silencer and can be used with much more convenience.
The game introduces the options of poisoning (both lethal and non-lethal) that became a trending pattern in the series. Another refinament is the circular inventory system, that is really helpful. The system for replaying the missions is pretty bad, however.
Balcony jumps make a return and are used all the time. Changes in remade missions are made because "47 remembers them differently", like the balcony next to Frantz Fuchs room being on the opposite side, but like with nanomachines, this is also used as an excuse for lazyness and oversights.
Graphics took a dive and character models look more square and are noticeably uglier than in previous installments. The Rotterdam strippers are the worst examples, coupled with an awful voice that is far inferior to the original - Sandy deserved better. The guns are really weird, painted in silver and looking like toys.
Lei Ling, remembered as Mei Ling (a nod to the Metal Gear series), is now reimagined as a younger woman, with a teenage voice - not my cup of tea - but is more responsive in-game, keeping up with you instead of presenting those boring escorting tasks. The bartender doesn't want to speak with you because 47 is feeling stomach pain due to his bullet wound, but this surely impoverishes the game's dialog as devs were cutting corners. They even forgot to translate Lee Hong and Tzun/Zhun in the restaurant - and 47 never says he needs to use the bathroom!
The cinematics blend in the chaotic police build-up around 47 with transitions to the different mission settings. The soundtrack is dark with great immersion. In one mission you go deep into a dominatrix party in Romania, with people dressed in leather partying amid a butchery. Maps are also big and you can get lost. One of the most iconic missions in this game is The Beldingford Manor, where you have two separated buildings, the stable and the manor (which has lots of secret passages). Not only that, being tasked to rescue the son of a millionaire following the plot of Richard Connell's The Most Dangerous Game, you have to do it with a dark, gloomy soundtrack, presenting some phantasmagoric laughter in the back.
Every Hitman has "THAT" mission, which is the Bjarkhov Bomb (aka "The obligatory Russian mission") in Contracts; that while impressive, with snow falling and multiple NPCs walking around in different outfits (including hazmat suits), is too big for its own good and has some annoying tweaks like the first target having to be poisoned in order to be garroted in the bathroom; but if you mistime it, he sits there for an outrageous long time, forcing you to restart - why not simply use regular poison? Another problem is the distance from the submarine to the plane, which can cause an alarm (which can cause two alarms in one because of course it did...). Bjarkhov also suffers from incredibly lazy writing, with the first target being one of the Fuchs brothers for no reason at all. The flag of Chechnya appears in evidence in the mission, so why not make the arms dealer a Chechen or any other sympathizer for that matter?
The game is short, with half its missions being remakes. The Colombian missions weren't remade, since players hated them so much. This was a wasted opportunity, since all missions are remembered at night and under constant raining. A jungle infiltration under the cover of darkness and rain would really fit in here.
There are some interesting easter eggs and nods to the player, like the opium pipe in the Meat King's party having Lee Hong's Red Dragon triad symbol. The haunted part of the Budapest hotel, or the hidden stuff in Hong Kong; but the best one is Dr. Ortmeyer's card in Lee Hong's office.
Aside from technical problems, the veteran player will mostly just ace every mission and beat the game in one day (like I did), but it is fun to keep testing the new ways Contracts presents. The final mission, Hunter and Hunted, does not deliver the promised showdown the cinematic was hinting at but the ending sure pumped me up for the development of the story. I really wanted to run to the tv and watch The Professional again!

I've previously lived in Chatt for a few years and am moving back this summer after finishing grad school. I'm a 26M and looking to make new friends in town. With covid and having moved away for a few years, I don't know too many people in the area anymore. I know the area very well and could be a great tour guide. I'm interested in cooking, hiking, exploring east TN, and creative writing. I'm also big into music (primarily indie rock, but I enjoy all genres). I'm a very open-minded person and love meeting like-minded people. Let's get coffee or explore McKays and the record stores.

Hey guys, I’m only on my second grow of an auto flower. Ran into a looot of trouble (like Guinea pigs eating half the plant hehe)
Anyway, most of the pistils are orange on my plant, above 70% I’d say. I’ve harvested a branch, and began the cure, (btw, is there not supposed to be any smell before the cure? I can’t smell anything from the branch) Now that all my pistils are orange, is my plant done even though the buds are still very very small? Have I ruined the potency by keeping it going these last few weeks? It’s definitely well past it’s recommended harvest date, but like I said, I ran into a lot of issues, and wanted to see if the buds would fatten up anymore (they did a little towards the end of harvest but not much)

It was an old 2d platformer, I'm pretty sure the game was about you getting to someone stuck in a factory and saving them, I remember getting an iron suit to survive fire and maybe a hard hat for falling rocks, some levels had poison water (maybe electrically charged instead). I remember getting to the end and the guy you're supposed to save turns into a monster and maybe eats you? I don't remember, I'm pretty sure the guy you play had orange on him. When you died I think you became an angel and floated up before respawning at the start of the level. Almost positive it was a friv game.

So here’s the situation. My brother, 37M, has been married to my SIL, 36F, for well over a decade and they have young children together. They got married relatively young, but we’ve known her family and relatives our whole lives, and there have been a few marriages between us as well, including her sister to my cousin.
My SIL and I were part of a good group of friends, prior to her even dating my brother. She’s also one of four girls and her family is super tight knit. Things didn’t begin to sour until her and her sister got pregnant with their first kids. I won’t get into all the details, and I’m not saying my family was perfect, but it quickly became apparent that interactions with their MILs were perceived as threats to their own mother and her role as ‘grandma’.
Things got steadily worse as the years passed for both sisters, their respective mother-in-laws, and husband’s families. My SIL’s sister was hacking her MILs email and her SILs messages. My SIL learned the word ‘boundaries’ and threw it around at any perceived slight, would secretly read her husbands messages, and insinuated my mom is a pedo. Both sisters were weaponizing Facebook to unfriend those they were mad at, all the while heavily vague-booking about the situation to paint themselves as the victims. Again, things progressed. My parents respected their DIL’s wishes and their grandkids grew to not really know them. Slowly, my brother was isolated from his relatives, his parents, his friends, his siblings. He made hard choices for the sake of his marriage, but also now admits he fell under her spell some too, and adapted some her toxic thinking.
My SIL has been in control this whole time. Those boundaries she wants to set, any reprimands she wants to hand out, any manipulation… she’s the mouthpiece and is very clear that she’s the one making the decisions to protect her family. She sent a big message to my parents recently and shortly thereafter, decided they were going to take a ‘break’ from my family (my parents, me and my husband, my siblings and their spouses). And the next thing I knew, my brother was in town, and he was a wreck. She had said she was divorcing him, out of the blue. She said she’d been cheating, that God said they weren’t married anymore, and so on. He accidentally overheard her say that she wanted him to take the kids for the weekend so she could do whatever she wanted with her new beau; and he walked in on her having phone sex with him.
On top of all of this, a while back, my brother and SIL decided to try alcohol and weed for the first time. While he didn’t fall down the rabbit hole, she did. Again won’t go into all the details of the trouble she got into, but it is relevant to add that she is a threat to herself and has had to be rescued off the bathroom floor a few times by family members. She also threatens to deliberately hurt herself when it suits her as well, which my brother has to take very seriously. She’s also a nurse.
Now to the point. My SIL has very carefully, intentionally, and successfully made herself to be the villain in our family. She holds all the cards, she makes up the rules. (And, note, there has never been any of this type of drama in my family or that of my relatives, until her and her sister married in. All other in laws and relationships are healthy and well-functioning). She has recently been reaching out to us, to my parents, pleading for them to do something. To reign in their son. She’s claiming he’s obsessed with her, he’s stalking her, that she doesn’t feel safe and ‘if they care for their grandchildren at all, they should do something’. She’s blaming him for bringing alcohol into their home and that ‘his abuse’ has driven her to drink. She’s reached out to me, to my cousins, to the former friends she’s pushed away. She’s sent similar messages to us all (sometimes randomly at 4am) that are honestly bizarrely phrased and not at all like her, promising that we’ll all get together for a party once this is behind her. Her sister is vague booking on her behalf, helping to shift the narrative and paint my brother as the villain.
I’m not diagnosing her, but my SIL is showing a lot of narcissistic tendencies and methods, so I’ve been learning more about that if only to have some sort of guidance and clarity on how to/not to engage and better understand motives and support my brother. Because this is wild. My brother has (legally) recorded their conversations and has proof from those and from text messages from his wife of her abuse, of her unfaithfulness. But she is waging war against him now, and we’re not sure what the catalyst was since again, this all came out of the blue. Once she flipped that switch, my brother was done and more willing to divorce than she was. However, she’s backtracked saying she never cheated. She’s attempting to blackmail him with intimate videos that she told my parents HE was using against HER. She’s reaching out to anyone and everyone to smear his name and make wild accusations. She’s claiming he’s the narcissist, he’s the one who has been in control their whole marriage. She told him she got a divorce lawyer AND a criminal one. From the recordings and screenshots he’s shared, he’s being very calm in their interactions, doesn’t take the bait, and now, when she reaches out and says she misses him, he gently reminds her that they are only to communicate through their lawyers. (For the sake of the kids, they’re still living in the same house but she has banished him to the basement).
Advice? How can we continue to help supporting my brother through the worst time in his life? (No, this is not my marriage. Maybe I’m too close, but ‘their friends’ are now ‘her friends’; over the past decade, I’ve rarely gotten involved but he always knew he could confide in me and that I would hold his secrets and respect their choices in the marriage even if I didn’t agree with them).
Fresh insight? How can he move forward through this smear campaign, protect the kids from getting involved/weaponized?

Didn't know if this would fall under questions or critique/help, so I can change the flair if needed.
I'm an illustrator looking to make my own webcomic (don't worry, this isn't a self promo post!) , and while I have a lot of technical knowledge about drawing itself, I understand that comics is its own beast, and most of the resources at my disposal are concerning traditional print media, which isn't condusive to a phone reading experience. So, when traditional education doesn't work, it's time to study the masters!
I'm often in a position where I know what I don't like in layout, but I have a harder time pinpointing what's good or universally readable. So, I consult the community! What webtoons do you think would be best to study the paneling and flow of, it can be big, small, short or long, doesn't even need to have an English translation, as long as the art is good and is an example of "here's how to make your webtoon visually appealing and fun to read" .
Thank you in advanced and have a lovely day!
(Also , if this doesn't fit this community, feel free to delete this post and point me elsewhere.)

"This was supposed to be our time," I groused as the concierge coordinator left our cabin. Inanna shook her head slowly and patted her lap. I sat on the bed next to her and leaned over, resting my head on her thighs. I always loved this, especially because she would inevitably- Oh god.... Oh yeah, that's it...
The fingers running through my hair, gently rubbing my scalp were hypnotic. The tension immediately drained out of me and my whole body went limp. It sounds kind of weird, doesn't it? I mean, I'm married to the former goddess of sex, a woman whose sexual appetite could not be described without the use of the words 'insatiable' and 'bizarre'. I mean, it would be a struggle to not use the term 'sexual body horror-esque' as well. When I say she's imaginative, I mean imaginative. And yet for all the times she's turned off gravity, induced orgasms in organs that have no business having orgasms (liver orgasms are a trip, but heart orgasms are mind-blowing), growing new organs in random places on her body or doing any or all of those things to me, this was the thing she did that melted me.
Every time. Man, I could fall asleep right now, regardless of the stress the coordinator had re-introduced to my life. I've fallen asleep like this many times before, in fact.
"It's not so bad," she purred. "All you have to do is give a talk. You've done that many times before."
I sighed. I wasn't able to work up any indignation like this, but as long as she kept her fingers from the spots behind my ears, I could still think.
"And sign a bunch of autographs and pose for pictures," I said. "And the talk will be to a bunch of fans, not academics and students. It's a totally different crowd."
"It's really not that different," she said as she found the spots behind my ears and melted my brain.
"The whole thing will take two hours," she said while I was completely helpless. It was totally unfair. I couldn't even protest that it would raise my profile and result in the whole cruise being peppered with people asking for more autographs and wanting to take pictures and buy us drinks.
I sighed again. God, this felt so good...
At some point, one hand wandered off my head and dug into my pants. The hand that continued to rub my head and the sheer familiarity of her fondling me kept me locked in my fugue state as she got me unbuttoned. By the time her scalp-massaging hand slipped away, I was ready to do anything she wanted.
So that's what we did.
----
I'd already agreed to do it, mind. I had just been griping about it when Inanna suckered me with her wily hands, and then her wily hoohah. Yes, I said 'wily hoohah', and if you knew Inanna as well as I did, you'd know that not only does it have a mind of its own, it's a devious and cunning creature that we should all pray remains on the side of good.
I can't really blame the coordinator, either. The cruise Inanna and I had booked just so happened to have a Legend of Jimmy fan convention of sorts happening, which we had somehow overlooked. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if her hoohah was aware, and simply kept quiet about it, knowing that I'd require a lot of 'comforting' after exposing myself to that much attention.
When the coordinator discovered that the couple on whose lives the show was based was on the cruise, we'd had our middle-grade accommodations bumped up to the top tier, and been given the gold-star concierge service, as well as a free pass to eat at any of the restaurants aboard ship and free admission to countless activities taking place. And then, once that was done, the coordinator oh-so-politely asked if I'd be willing to give a little talk, do a little autograph signing and otherwise schmooze the crowd.
Much to my chagrin, I agreed.
So here I was, sweating under a bunch of stage lights, behind a podium, having recited my hastily-prepared speech about the importance of understanding cultural context when dealing with supernatural entities and specific magics, answering questions that mostly pertained to the show, and often got incredibly personal.
"Is anal your wife's favorite?" a young man asked. I rolled my eyes. "Next question."
A respectable looking young lady in a sweater raised her hand and the usher with the mic held it up to her.
"If she's not into anal... I am," she said with a sly smile. I sighed deeply and prayed for the strength to continue.
"I have plenty of anal sex," I said. "Thank you for the offer, but my sex life is really something I'd rather keep a personal matter." I glanced over at Inanna, occupying one of the chairs on the stage. She was whispering to the host and pointing at the young lady. A naive person might assume she was asking to have her expelled after disrupting the Q&A by making what was obviously a joking offer.
But I knew she was making sure she got the young lady's number. Because Inanna.
The usher found a muscular young man with a serious burn scar on his neck. Probably a veteran, I thought, noting the way he moved as he stood.
"Did the CIA teach you how to fight, or are you a vet, or did you learn it elsewhere?"
I pointed at him. This was a much better question.
"Umm, the Agency doesn't really expect its field agents to do a lot of fighting. I did have a week-long training course on pistol shooting and light tactical stuff, but the biggest takeaway from that was that I should save any gun I was carrying for emergencies and always do what my protection agents' tell me to.
"One of my protective agents was, at the time, Inspector Johnson, currently one of our investigators at the DCM Group. That was how we met. He taught me a lot, actually.
"Most of what I know was acquired through magical means. My wife constructed a type of avatar known as a homoculus. It's an avatar that is a sort of messenger being. In this case, the message was all of the magically-collected knowledge in the world about combat. Martial arts, strategy, tactics, etc. Not a whole lot of specific military knowledge, mind, just the direct fighting stuff.
"Now, with all that being said, the single most important thing I know about combat, I learned from Inspector Johnson. And that was two things. The first is specific to combat, and that is that you can't win a fight if you're not an... An asshole."
The crowd laughed. I waited for it to die down.
"That sounds pretty wrong, I know, but it's true. Aggression is the single most important factor in a fight. All things being equal, the more aggressive fighter will always win. And aggression can make up for a lot of other failings, in a pinch. Size, strength, training... Aggression is the real key. And as we all know, the most aggressive people are inevitably assholes. So if you want to be able to defeat a dangerous enemy, you've got to be a bit of an asshole yourself.
"The second thing was probably the single most valuable lesson I ever learned in my entire life. And that is that courage is not the absence of fear, but the ability to act in the face of fear. In fact, if you're not afraid, you can't be brave. Every act of bravery, throughout history, was performed by someone who was scared to death.
"I'm not going to lie to you; the first time I found myself in a fight, I peed my pants." The crowd tittered. "No joke, I literally peed my pants. More than once. I cried, too. I panicked. Inspector Johnson was there with me, and I was sooo jealous of how cool he was at the time. It was his actions that got us free of our bonds, and gave us the ability to summon help. After, I remember asking him how he kept from being scared, and I remember his exact words. 'I didn't,' he said.
"He told me that he was scared out of his mind, the same as me. The only difference was that he's been scared like that before. He got used to it. He knew that there were things he could do to mitigate the threat, so he did those things, even though he was still terrified. And as I found myself in more and more dangerous situations, I quickly realized what that meant. It's okay to be afraid. You just gotta be afraid and working."
The crowd erupted into applause as I finished. I blushed, because I hadn't planned on that becoming a rousing anecdote, but I'd take it. The host rose and walked to the podium, waiting for the cheering to stop before speaking.
"That's all the time we have for the Q&A, but Mister and Missus Williams will be available to sign autographs and take photos in the lounge in five minutes. Thank you all for coming out, and let's have a big round of applause for our guests!"
The crowd erupted again, this time even louder. Inanna and I waved to them as we walked off the stage, heading for the crew passageway between the backstage and the lounge. We were about halfway there when the ship lurched suddenly to one side and the sounds of screaming and crashing filled the air.
"What the hell was that?" I gasped as I bounced off the wall -excuse me, bulkhead- and grabbed Inanna's arm to held steady her.
She squeezed her eyes shut. Ever since she'd been murdered literally hundreds of times by Sarisa in order to produce the energies she needed for her plan to save the Sixteenth World, Inanna had been having a lot of difficulty pulling magical energy. She had been steadily training herself ever since, slowly increasing the amount of power she had access to. But the process was a long one.
During that long process, she'd been forced to work with tiny amounts of magic to get stuff done, much like a human wizard would. The end result was that her sensitivity to magic had grown by leaps and bounds. She might not be able to hurl around earth-shattering energies willy nilly any more, but there was nobody I knew, human, god or otherwise, who was as magically perceptive as she was.
"Something big and ancient is here," she said. "A creature."
"Great, another monster crossed over," I grumbled.
"This one didn't cross over, Jerry," she said. "This one is native to this world," she was staring off into space, feeling the creature rather than seeing it.
"It's definitely a fully material being. I feel like it's been to the spirit world, but it's from the material world. I don't think it's from this specific material world, though."
"Crap," I muttered. This was arguably worse than a spirit creature. Those, at least, generally had some kind of weakness. Be it a certain emotion, some variety of magic or some substance or material, spirit creatures almost inevitably had some kind of kryptonite. And I only say 'almost' because I can't be a hundred percent sure. Every single variety that I knew about had such a weakness. But a material being from another of the material worlds would be a flesh and blood creature that had evolved to fill its niche. And evolution is a heartless trainer, accepting no weakness.
The ship jolted again and a fresh round of screaming ensued. There was a definite direction to the screaming, coming from the direction we were heading in, so we began to run.
We came out into the lounge to find people packing themselves in. I grabbed a random person by the shoulder. "What did you see?" I demanded.
"I don't know, man! The ship started jerking, and I saw this shadow and I just grabbed my wife and we ran inside!"
"Stay here," I told him. I moved on, pushing through the crowds to the door. It was hard going, with everyone trying to get inside. Eventually, I got completely stopped by the press of bodies, and I looked up, to see if I could fly above them. The ceiling was too low, of course. If I did that, I'd be flinging people around with the force of my magic, which would get someone hurt. Crap.
"MAKE A FUCKING HOLE!!" Inanna roared.
People jerked in surprise at the volume of the shout, carrying even above the crying and screaming all around us. They quickly moved further into the room, clearing a path for us to the doors.
"Thank you," I said as she took advantage of the extra room to walk beside me instead of behind me. She smiled sweetly and goosed my butt as we moved through the doors, out onto the deck.
Tentacles rose into the air around the ship. People were still about, mostly running for the doors to get inside. I realized, looking at the grandiose size of those tentacles, that it wouldn't do any good. This ship was huge, one of the largest cruise ships on the ocean. It was over a thousand feet long and a quarter of a million tons in volume. There were over four thousand guests on board, and until now, I'd never seen a dense crowd. Wait times for everything were reasonable.
Yet, judging by the size of those tentacles, I worried about the ship sinking.
Inanna pulled up short as she saw it.
"Motherfucker...." she said, then turned to me.
"Jerry, I hope your magical muscles are nice and swole, because we need to start teleporting people to safety right fucking now."
"What is it?" I asked.
"It's a kraken," she said.
"I figured as much, but there's no way we can evacuate this ship in time. I could maybe teleport them a hundred at a time, but even assuming it only takes three minutes to get a hundred people to link hands, that's two hours to get just the passengers. It'll be another forty five minutes for the crew. Whatever this thing is gonna do to the ship, it'll be over by then."
She shook her head. "You don't understand, Jerry. Krakens are mostly legendary in this world. They're not native here, and have only come over through the occasional rift that pops up way down at pressure depth. Most of what you know is complete BS. This is how they hunt. Wales and dolphins are their primary food, but they evolved on a world where humans had large ships full of people sailing the seas twenty thousand years ago, and they've adapted."
The ship jerked again as I watched a massive tentacle wrap completely around it and began to tighten down.
"It's going to break the ship, and then its going to come after the lifeboats. That's its strategy here."
"Crap," I muttered. "You have any ideas?"
"I've never even heard of a ship that survived a kraken attack, Jerry. Ninety percent of the people on board won't, either, and that's the best case. Worst case, everybody dies."
My mind raced. The first thing that occurred to me was the trick I'd used to kill the primordials. But honestly, the primordials were probably smaller than the kraken, and its body was underwater. If I hit the surface of the ocean at those speeds, it would be like a bomb going off. I'd likely just break the ship even quicker.
"I think it's too dangerous for you to do the human bullet thing," she said, her thoughts echoing mine.
"Right," I said. "So, we've got to figure out a way to drive it off. Make it think that it's not worth going after this ship, right?"
"I mean, if you can think of something that might do that, and not destroy the ship, yeah."
I wracked my brain for ideas. Fire was an obvious choice, but the beast's size ruled that out. If I made enough fire to hurt it, I'd damage the ship and probably kill a bunch of people. I watched another tentacle curl around and tighten onto the ship. With the two that had been in place when we got out, that made four. We were running out of time.
"Shit," I swore, using up one of my limited supply for the month. "Baby, I don't know what to do."
"Start teleporting," she said. "We'll save as many as we can."
I winced. Leaving people to die was something I wasn't willing to accept until the last second. Of course, the longer I waited to take that route, the more people I'd have to leave to die. This was the worst sort of calculus I'd ever done, and I always hated math.
I immediately pictured the panic that would happen when I started teleporting people and the rest realized I wouldn't be able to get everyone. It would be chaos.
A younger couple made their way from one of the edges of the ship, heading for the lounge. As they passed us, they stopped.
"You're Jerry and Ishtar Williams, right?" the woman asked.
"Inanna," I said. "Ishtar is the character," I said.
"Right, sorry. Do you know what this thing is?"
Inanna answered for me. "It's a kraken. A real one."
"Why is it attacking the ship?" the man asked.
"It's hunting," I said. Inanna nodded. "It's going to break the ship, then go after the people in the lifeboats," she added.
"Holy shit," the woman gasped. "Can you stop it?"
"Trying to figure out how, right now."
"Can we help?" the man asked. I turned to them. "I don't think so, no."
I kept trying to think as Inanna approached them, realizing I wouldn't get any planning done while answering their questions.
I needed something that would drive the best off, or kill it quickly. Honestly, even if I could blink my eyes and stop its heart, which I didn't think I could, but would try as a backup plan, I think the bulk of the creature might drag the ship under. We needed to get it to let go of the ship. Which went back to what I'd just been thinking, about driving it off.
We needed to hurt it. But I didn't know how to do that without killing people on the ship.
"Shit," I said again. "I don't know how to drive it off without killing people on the ship."
"What do you mean?" the woman asked.
"Everything I can do that would cause it significant enough pain to rethink attacking us would also damage the ship. And I don't dare kill it with its tentacles wrapped around the ship like this, it'll pull us under."
Inanna rounded on me, and I could see she'd had an idea. "What?!" I asked.
"Oh Jerry," she said with a malicious gleam in her eyes. "You're gonna hate this."

Context, he lives in America (M, 30; is a citizen) and I live in Canada (F, 26; am a citizen). I am finishing up my Ph.D. in public health this fall and have a really well paying senior level job within one of the branches of government here. I don't intend on going into academia or doing a postdoc. Our goal is to co-locate with each other where I'd move to his country.
My partner is finishing his Ph.D. in computer science in the fall. He's had a lot of issues with his supervisor and luckily met with this faculty who has helped change the trajectory of his career in the way he wanted. He will be doing a postdoc with him after he defends and initially he said that the postdoc will take 2 years to do. He wants to apply to faculty positions afterwards. I was okay with the 2 year timeframe because it works out well and we wouldn't lose much financially (re: losing out investing in a 401k or not being able to save as much). I know that when I move to him, I will struggle to find a job due to my legal status and the general state of public health jobs.
He now is telling me that a postdoc may take him 5 years if he wants to get a faculty job. I was shocked and felt a bit .. duped. I told him that I will move to America when he gets a stable position because I do not want to be struggling financially for half a decade. I want children and I want to buy a house sometime soon. I grew up poor as a child (e.g., skipping meals, made my own clothing, slept in people's basements) and I do not want to be at risk of living like that again. He doesn't understand how difficult it will be for me to move to another country as well. Generally with money and other materials, he is very wasteful. I do not trust him with money or savings. He's grown up a pretty privileged life given that his dad is a big name professor in his field. He is now mad at me and says he does not want to do a LDR any longer and that I am jeopardizing his career if I prevent him for taking as long as he needs to for his postdoc. He is threatening to break up with me.
I'm not sure what to do. I don't want to prevent him from following his career and dreams.

Silver would never identify as president, invite a vote from all the other elements, and declare votes from those that do vote for silver grant silver authority over the remaining elements that did not vote for it or vote for any element at all, for that matter.
Only a human president and human voters would attempt and respectively fall for the scam of false authority to justify threatening compliance or otherwise harming both those who voted against or for nobody at all.
See, by simply inviting all to vote, the result of the vote is murderously enforceable even against those who neither wish to participate or acknowledge the remarkable premise that by mere artifice of invitation to vote that authority has been spontaneously, magically, created before the first ballot is cast, and how dare you now know the world's oldest perpetuated fraud.
No matter how many sign John's contract to allow John to annually harvest 35% of the product of your efforts, if you did not sign the contract, John has acquired no legitimate authority from others to take your property. John can identify as president, his employees as soldiers, and his contract as law, but without your consent, John is just a scam artist with a posse.
And thus, the Ignoble Invitation, like at the instant of the Big Bang, begins to create a universe of false authority, false laws, false governments, false soldiers, false currencies, and false slaves, ever expanding, until it goes out with a whimper, or collapses into a black hole, and awaits for an honest being to arise.
Silver can't do any of this because silver is honest by simply being no less than silver, while humans continue to think less than they can, and thus honestly are not fully human, but savage.

I’ve had a bit too much wine. I’m writing you because you’ve been on my mind - and there are a few things that I should have told you already. Running into you last weekend was a sign that I needed to send this letter. I don’t anticipate a reply, but - I wanted to reach out to you to express exactly how I feel about you.
As completely insane as it feels to be writing you, I believe in not only taking big risks but also being a little bit old school sometimes. So, why not write a letter?
When I first came to PLACE last year, I was running from my past as much as I was looking for a new adventure. Past relationships, past friendships, and past versions of myself.
It takes guts to make selfish decisions for yourself, and it takes guts to move somewhere totally new. I’ve done that; you’ve done that.
Something important that’s happened in my life since we stopped seeing each other is my unwavering belief in God. Do you remember when I asked you if you believed? I remember the way you described God as something that no matter what happens in your life that He will be there to help, love, and guide you through the good times and the bad times. I’m not quite sure of your exact wording but that’s how I remember it. Do you remember my answer? I wasn’t so sure at the time, but over this past year, I have come to believe. My view of God right now is essentially everything that we do not know or understand. God IS the Unknown, yet He is an all-knowing, all-powerful force that rules our lives.
Quitting jobs, finding new opportunities, moving, breaking things off - all are part of the unknown in life. To take the best course of action for one’s self in the pursuit of a greater version of themselves is an act of Faith. Because it is unknown, it is a Leap of Faith.” Everything I do in my life is a Leap of Faith. I was promoted, I moved down here, I met you, I was promoted again, I found God, I’ve traveled, I’ve lived my life.
Now here I am, writing a letter to you after having a bit too much wine. But will I send it?
Let’s talk about taking risks. This letter is a risk. I’m risking looking like a complete fool, but I think that it’s worth it. Why? I don’t know; it’s just a feeling inside of me. Maybe it's delusion, but I'm taking a chance that it's not.
Flashback to our second date. I’ll remember that night forever because I have to say - I’ve never had 12 hours fly by so fast. 7 PM, 2 AM, Sunrise. Not sure about you, but I’ve never spent that amount of time with someone so new and had so much fun, learned so much, and discovered so many new songs. As we sat in the car in the PLACE and talked about everything under the sun, the hours passed by so quickly. Do I dare say how comfortable it all felt? It happened so fast, much like how things happened and left off between us. However, there are certain people you just "click" with and feel comfortable around - and you are one of those people for me.
Do you remember sending each other old videos and pictures of us taking shots, driving in the car, jamming marshmallows into mouths, and other funny videos? I’ve never done that in my life, period, let alone with someone who I’d just met. It was the entire energy of it all. Do I dare say it felt as if I’d known you all my life? Is that even possible to have that familiarity with someone new?
If I’m the only one who felt like this, then I sound batshit crazy right about now. But if you felt that too, then - that has to mean something right? It seems to me that there was a familiarity far beyond the time we spent, and I wanted to share my recognition of that.
Now, I am focused on building my future, and I know you are too. I know that we're both driven and ambitious. I’m on a constant path of improvement and growth by ruthlessly pointing out ways in which I can better myself and pushing each day to do so. From our time spent together, and from what I know you’ve accomplished in your life so far - you’re much the same. Sitting in your car at 3 am eating Whataburger, where there was a brief consensus of the aspiration to own lots of land with a big house. For me, this comes with at minimum a home gym & sauna, a sun deck for BBQing, and a pool - and lots of cows and guns and quite literally a wall around the entire span of the property. A place of full self-sufficiency. I have many more plans for my life including lots of travel and doing things I truly love - involving sports and music.
Next - (and I want to acknowledge that you even gave me an opening to say something when we spoke last fall) - but birth control and communication around sex. I technically did ask you during the act but I never addressed it afterward as to whether you were on birth control or not, and I should have said something. I recall you mentioning that week you had passed out while getting your blood drawn, and I remember expressing concern and asking if you were okay. But I never asked why you had the test done in the first place. I hope you don't mind me asking now, and I want you to know that I'm not making any assumptions or judgments.
Lastly, we have the matter of distance. As I mentioned when I saw you - I originally moved to PLACE, I was only on a 6-month lease, and I wonder if things would have gone differently if you’d known that. Maybe we’d have spent more time together before your move to TOWN. But distance isn't a dealbreaker for me.
90 miles isn’t too far for someone who can work from anywhere and loves to drive.
I don’t expect a reply - but I wanted to let you know exactly where I stand and I figured this was the best (and craziest) way to do so.
Take Care

TW/Animal Abuse
​
After seven years, I was still disgusted. I waited for my dad to call me to do the dreaded chore. I sighed, as I lay in bed and halfheartedly played with my phone. He was preparing a concoction that had such vile ingredients it was done in the basement. On the floor of my bedroom, Bella and Barney, our Australian Sheep Dogs stretched out, panting softly.
A text message interrupted my scrolling.
It’s ready, meet me in the kitchen.
I pocketed my phone and swung my legs over the side of the bed. Bella and Barney got up and followed me downstairs. I entered the kitchen where my father waited for me, his mask pulled down below his chin, big orange safety gloves on his hands, holding a large bottle used to feed young livestock. He reached out and handed it to me. I took it, my face closed and resigned. He snorted at my expression.
“It’s almost time,” he said. “Don’t look so glum.”
“Yeah,” I replied. “But only until the next cycle starts.”
I walked to the door, and a sudden thought made me stop. I turned to look at my dad, who was removing his mask and gloves and putting them in the sink.
“Couldn’t we find a way to end it?” I asked.
“Audrey,” he replied. “I think if there was a way to make it stop for good, they would have done it. This is the only way.”
I nodded, the end of my mouth quirking in a half smile. I should have expected that answer, but it was hard to accept it. This will always be my life. Someday it will be my sole responsibility. I walked out into the cool September night, Bella and Barney padding softly behind me. We approached the barn, and I opened the door. There was the sound of a soft and sickly bleat. I stepped inside, but my faithful dogs waited outside. Even they were disturbed.
I flicked on a light and went to the stall where the unnerving sound came from. I opened the door, and approached the animal, my stomach queasy. The lamb looked bloated, its curly coat giving off a greenish sheen. Its eyes were nearly colorless, and it struggled to stay on its feet. I approached the animal, and put one arm around its head, steadying it. Then I took the bottle of formula and shoved it into the animal’s mouth. It was too weak to struggle as I made sure it drank every drop.
When I was finished and closed the door to the barn, the dogs fell into step with me. We were halfway back to the house, when they both stopped, looking past the fields of our farm towards the forest edge. They started growling, a low vibration that made me halt in my tracks. I looked out, towards the forbidding darkness of the forest. I could not see anything in its inky depths. But my stomach was gripped with fear.
“Bella, Barney,” I said. “Let’s go.”
Hackles raised, they started snarling and then barking furiously they ran off towards the forest. I stood there, mouth agape for a few minutes and watched them disappear. I felt a thrill of fear go through me. They had never acted like this before; they were gentle herders of our flock of sheep. I tried in vain to call them back, then gave up and went back to the house, my footsteps an echo of trepidation.
“Dad!” I cried as the door slammed behind me. “Bella and Barney – they ran after something in the forest!”
My father got up from where he sat reading in the living room and came over to me, mouth set in a firm line.
“The forest?” He said, “It’s not time….we are on schedule. Maybe it was a rabbit or something.”
“No, you don’t understand,” I said in exasperation, my hand to my head. “They were growling, it’s like they were afraid of something – but then they just ran off barking. I could not get them to come back!”
My father went outside and scanned the area. He tried calling them, moving further away from the house. I waited and watched, wringing my hands, and biting my lower lip. Our dogs never ventured into the forest; I believe they could feel the malevolence of the place in there that was our family’s responsibility to keep at bay for over a hundred years. What if….my stomach clenched as my mind spun with horrible thoughts. After twenty minutes my father returned.
“What will we do?” I spoke. “What if…the thing got them.”
“Maybe they saw a coyote,” my dad replied. “Don’t worry, they will come back.”
He walked up to me, and gently tilted my face up to look at him. Eyes wide he gave me a smile of encouragement. I am sure I did not look convinced. He took me in a hug, and the side of my face pressed into his shoulder. His flannel shirt smelled faintly of pine and mint, and his body warmth was soothing. Then he let me go.
“Go get some sleep,” he said. “We can go out in the morning and look for them if they don’t come back. I’ll stay up a few more hours.”
I nodded, heading for the stairs, and glanced out the door briefly as I passed it. Bella and Barney always slept on the floor near my bed, for nine years out of my seventeen. I have no siblings, and my mother died when I was eight. I climbed into bed, feeling the emptiness in my room without them with me. I slept fitfully, pulling the blankets tighter around me as fearful dreams of my dogs being torn apart by the malevolence in the forest plagued me.
I woke in the morning with the sheets all twisted around me. I was groggily untangling myself when I heard scratching on the screen door downstairs. I stumbled quickly out of bed and pounded down the stairs. Opening the door, Bella and Barney came in, tails wagging. They licked my hands, as I felt all my muscles release from pent up tension, my insides trembling from relief. They went to the kitchen and drank from their water bowls then padded into the living room and flopped down on the rug in front of the fireplace. They put their heads down, and closed their eyes, breathing big, exhausted sighs.
My father walked into the kitchen and smiled when he saw our dogs snoring softly.
“See?” My father said. “I told you they would be back. The sheep will be fine in the paddock today. You can let them out with Bella and Barney when you get back from school.”
While I was getting ready, my father made breakfast. After we ate, he drove me to the school bus stop, which was five miles away from our remote farm. I waived goodbye to him as he headed to the city for his construction job.
“Hey Audrey,” said a lanky boy, with a mop of curly brown hair as he walked up to wait with me.
“Hey Martin,” I replied.
He looked at me intently for a moment. I felt my face heat up.
“Do I look that awful?”
Martin shrugged. “You look like something the cat dragged in.”
I bopped him on the shoulder. “I had a bad night sleep.”
The bus pulled up with a squeak and a huff, and we got in.
During fourth period English, I was busy writing an essay when the vice principal walked in and whispered to my teacher. I noticed it vaguely, trying to finish my work. Then he was standing at my desk. This felt weird…
“Audrey, can you come with me back to the office?” the vice principal said.
I looked up, glanced over at my teacher whose face looked pale and concerned. She nodded and waived her hand for me to go.
“Sure,” I said.
We walked into his office, and he gestured for me to take a seat in front of his desk.
“Your father’s jobsite called us,” he said gravely. “There’s been an accident…”
A shock went through me, and I grabbed the chair’s armrests as I felt my body tremble and bile rise in my throat.
“Is he okay?” I gasped.
“He’s been transported to the hospital,” the vice principal said, his face grave. “I talked to your teachers. Get your things we called an Uber to take you to him.”
I nodded, my head feeling light, and nausea rising. I tried to stand up, but lost my balance. The vice principal reached across the desk and steadied me. I looked up at him gratefully and left the room to go to my locker. The bell rang, and kids started to nosily fill the hallways. In a daze, I bumped into someone.
“Watch out there, Audrey!” said Martin as my shoulder met his chest.
I stumbled backwards, and he gently grabbed my arms so I would not fall. “Hey, you look like you’ve seen a ghost,” he said. “What’s wrong?”
“M-my father…” I stammered. “He’s been in an accident at work. I have to go to the hospital.”
Martin’s eyes widened, his mouth slightly opening. Then his eyebrows lowered in concern.
“Oh god, I am so sorry,” he said. “Is there anything I can do for you?”
“Yes,” I said, as I remembered my dogs. “Can you ride your bike over to my house after school? I will give you the house key. Please let Bella and Barney out, they have been in all day.”
He nodded, then followed me to my locker. I got my backpack and fished out the key. He took it from me and gave me a quick hug. I felt the contact settle my fluttering heart a bit. Then I made my way to the front steps of the school. A few minutes later I was in the backseat of an Uber, on my way to the hospital. The ride felt surreal, and the beating of my heart filled my ears. I could not feel the passage of time, it felt interminable as my head filled with fearful thoughts.
Finally, the Uber stopped, in front of the large grey and white, sprawling complex of Memorial Hospital. I got out and went inside to the front desk.
“I’m here to see Leonard Klein,” I told the woman who looked up to me from her computer.
“And you are?” she said.
“Audrey Klein, his daughter.”
She gave me a sign-in sheet and started typing on her computer. “He’s in ICU, 3rd floor.”
I gulped, a tremor going through me. Then I nodded and headed to the elevator.
On the 3rd floor, a nurse brought me over to a curtained off area. “He’s stable for now,” she said. “But he needs to rest.”
The curtain swished open, and I gasped, tears clouding my vision at what I saw. My dad lay in the hospital bed, his right leg and arm in a cast. His head was swaddled in heavy bandages, and his face was puffy and purple.
“Dad, I’m here,” I said, the words coming out with a squeak.
His eyes cracked open and darted over to where I stood. I walked over to him and rested my hand on the arm without the cast.
“Audrey,” he whispered. “I need to tell you something important.”
“Can it wait?” I said. “Maybe you should not be talking, the nurse said you need to rest.”
“No, it can’t,” he said softly. “Get my keys from my jacket pocket, I think they left my clothes here somewhere.”
My eyes darted quickly around the curtained off space, and found his clothes on a chair, his beige jacket folded on top. I grabbed his ring of keys in a side pocket and brought them over to him.
“You see the silver key stamped with an S?” he said.
I fumbled with the keys in my hands, until I found the one matching his description. I showed it to him.
“Yes, that’s the one,” he said. “Take it with you. There is a safe in the back of my bedroom closet, if anything happens to me it is important that you open it. Everything important is in there.”
“Okay,” I replied. “But I won’t have to open it – you will be alright!” I could not in a million years bring myself to accept otherwise. But he did not answer, his eyes closed, and his breathing deepened.
“Dad!” I cried.
The nurse poked her head in. “He’s on a lot of painkillers,” she said. “They knock people out. Time to let him rest.”
I nodded, my lower lip trembling, and wiped the tear that fell from my left eye with the back of my hand. I made my way down to the front desk, where I made sure they had my cell number and they said they would call me with updates on his condition. Then I ordered an Uber to take me home.
On the ride back, I wrapped my arms tightly around my stomach, squeezing hard. An occasional shiver would go through me, as my mind raced on my father’s words. I could not get the memory of him in that hospital bed out of my mind, and I kept fighting off the dread by whispering to myself that he would be okay over and over again.
As we got nearer to my family farm, I called Martin.
“Audrey,” Martin said. “How’s your dad?”
“He’s in ICU, doped up on painkillers,” I replied. “Broken bones, and a head injury.”
“Damn,” Martin said. “You going to be okay alone?”
“Yes,” I said, although my feelings of trepidation did not bely my words. “Were you able to let Bella and Barney out?”
“Yeah,” he replied. “They were okay, but probably needed to piss really bad. You need me to meet you there with the key?”
“I have my dad’s key,” I said. “Thanks.”
“Well, just call me if you need anything.”
As we got off the phone, I could see the farm in the distance, as the setting sun sent its last rays over the tops of the surrounding woods. The car dropped me off and turned around as I made my way down the dirt driveway that leads up to my house.
“Bella, Barney!” I called. “Hey guys, I’m home!”
I kept calling as I got closer and scanned the area. They usually did not stray that far, and if they were shepherding our flock of sheep, they would be bringing them in, and I could see them coming down the gentle slope of the fields. My voice caught in my throat as I remembered their mysterious disappearance the previous night. I broke into a run, my calls turning into shrieks.
I raced around the house then over towards the barn and sheep pen. A foul smell made me almost choke. Rounding the barn, I cried out, my hands shooting up to my mouth. There was no movement in the sheep pen. It was a sea of bloody bodies, they were all on the ground, their throats slit. I fell to my knees and screamed. I felt like my scream filled the world. But not even that sound brought Bella and Barney back. They were gone….

I have a loose plan for this and want to see where it goes.
Chapter 1 - Stranger
When Daglan woke up that morning he didn't see anything unusual. He had awoken from a drop of water falling from the ceiling as he did many mornings. His best friend Rozere was in the kitchen with her father cooking what smelled of eggs. The sun was shining through the cracks in the curtains and holes in the walls as it always did. What felt different? Then he heard voices outside, voices that grew louder and louder. At this point Rozere and her father Koshu had heard the commotion as well and stepped outside to see what it was. Daglan hastily followed suit, after finding his tunic and boots.
Lying on the ground outside was a young man, no older than 25. He lay face up in the dirt wearing only baggy purple pants and a black conical hat covering his face. His long black hair seemed to be tied at the base of his head in a long spiky ponytail, his slender muscular body was covered in dozens of battle scars, and at his waist was a black katana with its sword tied firmly inside its sheath. Almost the entire town had crowded around him, murmuring and shifting anxiously. It wasn't often people arrived in town, mostly just traders on their way to and from Inoris, and that too was a rarity.
"Back now people, give this man some room! And for the love of Reza, quiet!" Barked Doc Silvis as she pushed through the crowd. She immediately knelt down and felt his neck with her fingers. She paused for a moment and gave a very annoyed sigh, slapping away his hat. "He's alive alright. This dumbass is sleeping in the street." She gave the stranger a hard slap across the face, one that would have probably knocked him out, had he been awake. The crowd watched in awe as he yawned and scratched his nose, barely affected by Silvis.
"What should we do?" Someone asked.
"Do you know who he is?" Asked another.
As the murmurs heighted Daglan could tell Silvis was getting fired up, over the years Daglan had gotten to know Silvis quite well, with all his escapades outside the town walls. Daglan knew better than anyone that Silvis hated when a patient ignored her, and more so when she had to repeat herself.
"I said quiet! Don't you lazy bums have more important things to do?! Livani! Koreso! Aren't you two on watch?! Scram the lot of you!" A wave of fear crashed down upon the crowd and everyone began to disperse. All but Daglan, as Rozere pulled on his sleeve.
"Come on Daglan," she hissed, keeping an eye on Silvis like she was some wild animal, "You don't want to make her angrier."
"I'll be fine," he whispered, without looking back, his eyes stuck on the sleeping man. What was this feeling? It was like the feeling he got when Silvis healed his wounds, but not as warm. Almost closer to the feeling he got when abominations were near, when he ventures past the walls, but not as malicious. Before he knew it he was kneeling next to Silvis, watching her run her hand across his body, her hands glowing faintly, his curiosity bubbling.
"He isn't cursed or hypnotized, I can't feel a single thing wrong with him. I do believe this man is really just asleep, and slept through a slap in the face." Silvis sighed. After a few moments she looked at Daglan with a tired smile, then frowned. "Thanks for being quite Daglan, now since you're gonna bum around, get to work hauling this bastard back to my infirmary and don't let him out of your sight. I want to know as soon as he wakes up."
Daglan looked around to ask Rozere for help but she was already gone, how long had he been watching this stranger and Silvas? He looked down at the smiling, snoring face of the stranger, scooped under his arms, and with much difficulty began dragging the older, bigger boy to the infirmary.
The infirmary was quiet today, there hadn't been a major abomination attack in quite a few weeks which didn't happen often. It wasn't long before Rozere came in with a grimace on her face and her fingers on her nose.
"Honestly," she said in that strange nasally voice when you hold your nose, "I hate how much time you make me spend here. Between you getting hurt and my dad making me help Silvas, I can't get away!" She plopped down next to him and sighed. "So what's with this guy? Why are you still here with him?"
"Silvas asked me to watch him and tell her when he wakes up. Apparently I can't let him leave till she talks to him." He shrugged, trying more to convince himself. She eyed him suspiciously, but immediately dropped the subject.
"Did you notice his sword was tied closed? I wonder what that's about?" She reached out and placed a hand on his sword, and just then the weird energy the stranger gave off changed from similar to those of the abominations , to even scarier than anything he'd ever felt from them. Rozere fell to her knees and screamed as the stranger stood over her. When had he stood up?! Daglan shot to his feet, a smile ripping across his face as excitement crackled through his body. He prepared to defend his friend, when just as quickly as the evil energy had manifested, it disappeared. In fact the feeling Daglan had been getting from the stranger had all but subsided completely.
He stared at Daglan and Rozere with a confused look. When Rozere had eventually stopped screaming, Daglan held out his hand to help her up. Daglan’s mind raced with questions but could he do nothing but stare at the stranger as he stared back.
“Uh, hello-” he began and just then Silvas and Koshu burst through the door with Livani and Koreso close behind. Koshu sprang in between Rozere and the stranger, towering over him.
"What did you do to my daughter!" He said through gritted teeth. The stranger scratched the back of his head and opened his mouth when Rozere spoke up,
"It was nothing dad, he just woke up and scared me! Look at me I'm fine, now would you stop!" But Koshu didn't flinch, not until Silvas spoke up.
"Back off Koshu, Rozere is right, she's fine, and this boy is obviously no danger at the moment." He mumbled something under his breath but did as he was told . "Yeah, listen to Silvas and not me." Rozere grumbled, crossing her arms.
"Now listen here young lady, you will show your aunt some resp–" Koshu began but Silvas smacked him in the back of the head.
"Now isn't the time, Koshu, take her and go," she glared at the stranger, who was still smiling awkwardly and scratching the back of his head.
“Everyone out, now.”
"Uh, where am I? He eventually stammered.
"Daglan, out." Silvas said forcefully, without taking her eyes off the stranger. As well as Daglan knew Silvas, he'd never seen her this worked up, not even about the abominations . She was so strong-willed, so much more than anyone else in town. He had heard stories about Silvas, but only bits and pieces around town, probably all made up. Still there was one he heard more than others, he had heard before she lived in Graybarrow she had fought in some kind of war.
Daglan sat outside the infirmary trying to hear as much as he could. Wondering what could have gotten Silvas so worried, and if that man was even human. He could barely hear anything, mostly Silvas's mumbled questioning and the nervous laughter of the stranger. As he sat and pondered, an extremely tall, wide shouldered man sat down next to him and lit a cigarette. He had a long thick mustache that covered his upper lip but came down on the sides past his chin, and scruffy brown hair that stuck up at weird angles.
"Oh, hi Mr.Lucio." Daglan said as he pretended to have not been eavesdropping.
"I haven't seen you in class," he said as he blew out a cloud of smoke, "and I don't often see you hanging around here by choice." He continued to puff his cigarette as they sat in silence.
"Mr.Lucio… I can feel him like the abominations and Silvas's healing. What is he?"
"I'm not sure, from what I've heard he sounds human enough. What do you think?"
"I don't know… I think he's human? But why can I feel him?"
"There must be something similar between him, Silvas's healing, and the abominations from the mountains and forest, hmm?"
"I guess so…" They continued to sit in silence until Lucio had finished his cigarette.
"You can always talk to me if you need help, Daglan. You may like getting experience more, but a little book learning can go a long way." He stood up, pressing his cigarette out between his fingers and putting the butt in his pocket. "It's always good to see you, don't be a stranger." He said as he waved his hand walking away. Daglan thought about what Lucio had proposed, something similar. It didn't seem like Silvas or the stranger would be coming out soon so Daglan decided to go home and see what Rozere thought about all this.
When he did get home both Rozere and Koshu were in foul moods, having most likely fought since earlier. Deciding that he'd rather not be part of that, he grabbed his bag and scurried out the front door before Kusho had time to notice.
It's a short walk to the gate, the guards had patched up his last hole in the wall, but he had since come up with another, more thrilling way. Climbing up to the top of the traders hall, he'd be high enough to jump to the wall once the guards had passed. Then it was a quick jump down and a sprint out of their eyesight before he was able to relax. He walked along a path he knew quite well until he came up on a small ladder, it was built into a tree that led up to a small treehouse.
His exploration headquarters as he liked to call it. The inside was small and filled with trash, and his souvenirs from his adventures sat on a roughly made table. A small Salegitti skull, a broken dagger missing its tip, and a small crystal like rock that shown with faint yellow light. Next to them were three well worn books. He picked up the book titled journal and sat on the ground, scribbling furiously with a small piece of charcoal. He then began to study the other two, older, bigger books. One titled, Abominations of Hel’s Peaks, and the other, Creatures of South Shodun. Mr Lucio was right about book learning, but he liked his own books.
Back in town Rozere was wandering around with her hands behind her head, whistling to herself. “I wonder where Daglan is?” She pondered allowed, before realizing she had stopped in front of Silvas’s office. She stared at the large building with its off-white stone, and massive steel doors. There were various cracks and dents all along the wells and doors, as well as wooden planks over the windows, Silvas called them the clinic’s battlescars, there was nowhere safer to hide in the whole town.
She stared for a long time before realizing there was a man sitting in the grass, a large bottle of alcohol in one hand, and multiple empty bottles sitting neatly by his legs. His long spiky hair was a little cleaner, and the copious amounts of drool were now wiped away. His face was a bright red, and he had a cigarette hanging from his lips. He stared at her with a slight wobble,
“Hey… You're that girl that touched my sword right?” He took another large gulp from his bottle.
“Yeah? What of it?” She asked with defiance, her hands on her hips. He smiled a sickening smile and shot to his feet faster than Rozere could see.
“Why don't you try it again? Or will you simply scream for help? Little girls shouldn’t play with monsters.” He said as he towered over her. “Go ahead.” He lifted his arm in the air so his katana was unblocked. Rozere’s knees began to shake and a lump formed in her throat but she did not look away. She was an ant, and this man was a giant. She wasn't going to back down, but he could stand faster than she could see. Surely dropping his arm even faster would be no problem right? He was right, she wanted to scream, but she stood firm.
“Maybe I will!” She returned his malicious smile and reached out for his sword as fast as she could, bracing for the impact and the horrible crunch of bones as he grabbed her arm and snapped it in half. She flinched as her nerves went off, electric sensations coursing through her fingertips. It's happened! But what she felt wasn't pain, but the hard yet somehow soft grip of a katana hilt. She opened her eyes to see her hand firmly gripping his katana and a much more playful smile somehow even wider across this strange man’s face. He began to laugh loudly as she stumbled backwards and fell. He held out his hand, still giggling a little. She eyed him hard then after a moment smacked his hand away. She stood up, and began to brush herself off, glaring at him all the while. He apologized in between giggles.
“My name is Noboru, you've got quite the spirit to face me down. What's your name kid?” He asked as he sat back onto the grass and took another long swig from his bottle. Rozere straightened up and looked at him with a fiery gaze.
“Rozere of Grayborrow.” She said, crossing her arms. “And you dont scare me!”
“What are you yelling about Rozere?” Silvas asked as she appeared behind her. “You!” she exclaimed as she saw Noboru “Where did you get all of that from!? Rozere give me a hand and throw away these bottles would you?”
“She's already gone.” Noboru giggled. Silvas spun around to see that Rozere had indeed disappeared, as Noboru began to laugh louder. Rozere could hear the slap from across town as she sat against the traders hall. As she pondered just how big a lump must be on the side of Noboru's face, a ball smacked her’s.
“Hey who did that!?” She demanded as she hoped to her feat, tears forming in her eyes, which she quickly wiped away.
“Oh, sorry Rozere! I didn't mean to! Honest!” Said the boy as he ran up and grabbed his ball off the ground before the evil Rozere could kick it away, her foot swishing in the air. The boy was a few years younger than Rozere, had shaggy blonde hair, a tunic that was two sizes too big for him and a pair of round glasses broken in several spots.
“You better be sorry, pipsqueak!” she said, wiping her eyes and now running nose. “I'll have to beat you up if not!”
“Come on give Vilcus a break he said sorry. What are you doing over here by yourself anyways? Daglan run away again?” Said another girl with little blonde pigtails and red cheeks, as she came up behind Vilcus.
“Hi Meska and no he didn't run away again.” Rozere said, sticking her tongue out. “I just think he went for a walk is all… he'll be back… soon!” She crossed her arms and held her chin up. “Well why don't you come play with us until he gets back?” Meska asked, turning around and walking away, “We are playing dodgeball, maybe you can hit Vilcus in the face.”
“Hey nuh-uh! She won't hit me!” Vilcus persisted as he followed after her. Rozere sniffled, rubbed her nose with her sleeve, and smiled.
“Okay fine, but wait up!” She yelled.

As Daglan walked through the trees, he could feel the malicious energies from abominations all around him, it was making his blood boil. He remembered the stranger looking down at him and Rozere, overflowing with the most malicious intent he had ever felt. A smile began to creep across his face once more, as he could feel something close behind him. He spun around to see a creature he had only seen in books, the sight of which excited and terrified him. 

A giant humanoid creature with a long smooth snake-like torso, and grotesquely elongated arms and legs stood before him. It had a small pair of arms on its hips that bounced as if boneless, and a strange human face. Smooth indents of skin sat where the eyes should be, and it had a beak lined with razor teeth that jutted out at multiple angles. It clicked its tongue and sniffed the air then began to lick its beak with what could only be called a smile.
“What should I call you big fella?” Daglan asked nervously as excitement shot through his body. This wasn't like anything he'd ever encountered in the forest, or during attacks. This creature was much more dangerous. He gritted his teeth and forced an equally disgusting smile, even though he was sure the abomination couldn't see him. He pulled out the dagger he had smithed in secret at Koshu’s forge and dropped his stance lower, lower, lower. The creator was clicking and sniffing in anticipation, no doubt it could feel Daglan’s bloodlust.
Daglan took a slow step forward, then another. The creature's head tilted and it sniffed harder, then in a flash that Daglan couldn’t even see, it lashed out, slashing his shoulder apart. Adrenaline had already made its way to Daglan’s brain and he didn't even feel the warm blood soaking into his tunic or notice his limp arm flailing behind him as he attacked. He rolled under the creature’s arm and slashed at its ribs ripping its open sending its guts pouring out. It screamed in pain and whirled around, but its tall body and long arms whizzed over Daglan’s head. He rolled again, this time in between its legs, slashing at its knee, cutting down to the bone. It screamed again and fell to its knees with a gross squishy thud from one. It twitched and spazzed as it began twisting its body around in a disgusting manner.
Daglan approached cautiously, but the adrenaline had worn off and he looked down at his arm. It was almost completely blue, and the little skin and bone that held his arm to his body squirted copious amounts of blood. There was a blur then he was flying through the brush stopping when he thudden into a tree. His eyes began to blur with red, then black. The last thing he heard was a familiar voice...
“You are by far the most interesting of the bunch. Hey, can you hear me?”
When Deglan awoke he was looking at a ceiling he knew all too well. In a bed he had awoken in many times. But this time he couldn't move. “Silvas! What's happening?! Silvas! Rozere!” Daglan began to thrash when he heard that same voice.
“Hey hey hey! You're going to hurt yourself more than you already have!” When standing over him, blocking the light with his conical hat, was the stranger. “That was a nasty creature you were tangling with out there. I heard you like to fight but I'm guessing you've never seen a lasari before? Ugly things, and not easy to kill with small weapons if you don't know how.”
“I do know how.” Daglan said matter of factly, “They have two brains located behind the eye sockets.”
“Oh-ho-ho,” the stranger smiled maliciously, “ but how do you stop them from reproducing after that?” Daglan went silent for a moment. “What do you mean?"
“Lasari have a fun ability to reproduce from their corpse. Specifically, their heart has two eggs inside that will hatch if it ever stops beating. So to properly kill one you must burn the heart.” He laughed and presumably sat back down, out of Daglan’s eyesight. There was a slight pause and Daglan was about to speak when he heard a gasp and the stranger continued.
“Anyway, you almost lost your arm. Luckily, your doctor and blacksmith were able to fix you up, those two are something else. It'll take some time for your bo-” Daglan cut him off.
“What do you mean I almost lost my arm?! What did they do to me?!” He exclaimed, thrashing, memories of his broken and bleeding arm flashing through his mind.
“If you don't calm down, I will calm you down.” He said forcefully. “I hate babies. I thought you were supposed to be a tough kid? Now anyways it's just me and you here, everyone else is asleep, so please. I know you've heard of the metal prosthetics of this country, Metics, I think they're called? I’ve seen people in town with them. Well your blacksmith had to help your doctor make you a new shoulder.”
“So why are you being so helpful? I don't know you, and you feel the same as an abomination.” “See it's things like that!” He shot back up his face noticeably red.
“You're so interesting! I don't remember how I got here…” He scratched his head for a second, “but boy have I had fun since I've shown up!” Your girlfriend Rozere-”
“She's not my girlfriend, and you leave her alone!” He shouted.
“Well she's fearsome! And you’re so interesting too! Definitely the best five year o-”
“I’m twelve. Rozere is thirteen.”
“Well twelve then. Point is, I like you and your little girly friend, so I thought I'd help out and not let you die.” Then it dawned on Daglan, there was no way a search party found him like when he normally gets in a scap and passes. He had thoroughly lost and was deep in the woods. By all accounts he should be dead. Daglan was so angry he hadn't even thought about what happened afterwards.
“It was you. So what do you want from me? Are you some abomination loo-” This time the stranger cut him off.
“My name is Noboru, the handyman.”
“I've never heard of that species.”
“Well I'm not an abomination, I'm a jack-of-all-trades, so to speak. I travel from place to place making money doing odd jobs. Anyways, you remind me an awful lot of someone I used to know. So don't go throwing your life away against such low level trash as the abominations around here.” Daglan began to feel the intimidating malice from Noboru, almost that of when Rozere had touched his sword. “I know you can feel my energy. Unlike the people of this town, save a few, I think you're gifted.” Then it was gone just as quickly as before. “What do you want, Daglan.” Daglan’s blood was fire and his eyes daggers, piercing the ceiling with determination.
“I want to be remembered.”
“So get out of this town and maybe one day you can fight me, and I’m not even the strongest out there. Come… show this world what you're… made of because I for one… can't wait.” Just then Daglan heard a thud followed by an endless cascade of snores from Noboru.
“Would someone get me out of here!”

I'm working on a post that was basically 'Isn't QL so cool?' and then someone pointed out - you forgot about the rape. So here I am...
I know Kinnporsche and Big Dragon. I'd argue Tharntype and Don't Say No don't fall into this category since it's not the leads who did it.
You are welcome to write what you think about it or why you think it's used as a trope. I would love to hear more perspectives.

Company Name	Title	City
Five Guys	Crew Member - starting at 16.50	Brookfield
Five Guys	Crew Member - starting at 16.50	New Milford
Capital One	Senior Platform Engineer (Workday Specialist)	Hartford
Capital One	Senior Platform Engineer (Workday Specialist)	New Haven
Five Guys	Shift Manager	Newtown
Cincinnati Insurance Company, Inc.	Sr. Auditor	Wallingford
Cincinnati Insurance Company, Inc.	Auditor - Accounting	Wallingford
Talkspace	Therapist - LCSW, LMFT, LPCC, or PhD (Virtual / Remote)	Bridgeport
US Customs & Border Protection	Border Patrol Agent, Entry Level	Bridgeport
Capital One	Senior Data Engineer	Hartford
BayMark Health Services	Addictionologist	Hartford
Talkspace	Mental Health Therapist	Middletown
BayMark Health Services	Addiction Medicine Physician	New Britain
Colony Hardware Corp.	Marketing Specialist	Orange
Colony Hardware Corp.	Receiving Associate	Orange
Talkspace	Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) - Remote	Stamford
IAT Insurance Group	Strategic Initiative Manager- Enterprise Programs	Cheshire
Nassau Financial Group	Sr Executive Assistant	Darien
State of CT Judicial Branch	IT Analyst	East Hartford
State of CT Judicial Branch	Network Engineer	East Hartford
State of CT Judicial Branch	Business Technology Analyst	East Hartford
State of CT Judicial Branch	General Labor	Enfield
State of CT Judicial Branch	Immediate Openings Apprentice Printer Enfield	Enfield
State of CT Judicial Branch	General Laborer	Enfield
Ryder System, Inc	SalesForce Application Development Lead - Remote	Hartford

Hey guys, here are some recent job openings in ct. Feel free to comment here or send me a private message if you have any questions, I'm at the community's disposal! If you encounter any problems with any of these job openings please let me know that I will modify the table accordingly. Thanks!

My 27F brother 30M who I’ve been low to no contact with since I was 16 came into town to help with a massive cleaning project think hoarders level bad. I’ve been asking for help with it for years as it is everyones stuff and have not received any until I said I will be scheduling a company to come remove everything.
My brother arrived in town a few days ago. Yesterday was Monday we were supposed start working bright and early but my dad and brother decided to go out for breakfast. I decided to start removing some broken furniture that was near the door. I was admittedly frustrated as after my brother leaves finishing the room will fall on me so lots of work needed to be done within the day and a half we had to work. There was a table and yard chairs in the yard that I asked my dad to move to which he said “I will get to it” (he wouldn’t have) I didn’t move the table because it’s to big for me to pick up by myself and my dad doesn’t like when it gets dragged across the grass. My dads hand typically has to be forced into helping. So I started just tossing the smaller and lighter pieces of the broken furniture that wouldn’t damage anything. My dad and brother heard it and promptly came to move the furniture.
This turned into an argument during which my brother called me crazy, irrational and an AH. At one point he had me cornered on the outside balcony and refused to move to let me back in i did at that point start to become crazy and irrational. The negative remarks continued the entire day into last night but they weren’t over the top and I was willing to ignore them because we were all stressed. After dinner we decided to go get ice cream as a little reward. I asked if he could move his car to the street so my dad doesn’t lose his parking spot and he asked why I don’t move mine I explained that it’s because both my car keys were upstairs and my cats that had been locked in my room all day were already stressed so I didn’t to keep going in and out of the upstairs because it stresses them out more. He said that wasn’t the real reason I just didn’t feel like going up the stairs to get one of my keys. It was just kind of the tipping point so told my brother he was being an AH I went inside to go to bed.
As a teenager I had a short fuse and could be irrational we lived in an unstable environment and I had untreated mental health issues so that is who my brother remembers me as. I’ve worked hard over the past decade to identify when I need to walk away from situations and when I’m being overly irrational. I know I wasn’t perfect in this situation and there were times I was rude. My brother leaves today and I just don’t want to see him my dad thinks I’m overreacting but I don’t think I am. I just mentally can not deal with more rude comments from my brother. We got everything done that needed to be done. So WIBTA if I just kind of hid out until my brother goes home this afternoon?
Edit: typo

HI,
*** long - but somewhat mundane - story incoming, sorry for that ***
I (M44) have been in a relationship with my girlfriend for 14 years. We have two kids of 3 & 6 yo.
We used to have a regular sex life before kids, but I have always been more demanding than my partner. She, I believe, never had much libido and doesn't need sex more than 1 time a week on average. OTOH, I have high libido and need an active sex life, at least 2 times a week would be a minimum.
So although the sex was great, there had always been a bit of frustration from my side. My girlfriend is a super organized & conventional person, and more up to the intellectual challenges than the sexual ones. But until we had kids all of this stayed manageable, though we did talk about it at some times. It was no big deal.
After we had our first kid, we inevitably began to have more fights around this (and other) subjects, and months after months my frustration went bigger and bigger. There was even a moment, before our second kid, that we didn't had sex for 4.5 months. I tried as hard as I could to NOT initiate anything and see what happened. Result? Nothing.
Not only it gave me a lot of false hopes, frustration and anger, but I was quite in shock when I realized that it was no big deal on her side. Things may have continued for weeks if not months without sex. It's not that she doesn't want it with me, it's just that she has no libido nor any feel for it.
I decided not to rant about it in the first place, although this created deep resentment and deception.
Fast forward after having our second kid. There was the COVID lockdown which was horrible, and it somewhat deeply affected my mental and physical state.
Things haven't gone for the best since then, as we now have sex only every two weeks at best. Our kids aren't babies anymore, so fatigue is not a major issue anymore I would say. We could perfectly have a somewhat normal sexual life.
As frustration has grown bigger and bigger on my side, I tend to disengage from daily tasks and the family. I'm less motivated to wake up early in the morning and have breakfast with the kids (which she insists on doing and is a common source of fights). I'm less inclined to engage in discussions and invest in the relationship, because I feel disrespected and being set back.
I don't know if it's directly related, but her behavior has also drastically changed with the arrival of our second child: she is now super centered on the family, while I'm relegated to a role of a semi-loser, a perpetually immature teenager who can't handle anything right. She has ZERO trust in me, I can feel it, and it saddens me because I'm not a loser, I can manage things if not better than her. I'd Just do them in a different way than her.
I have to endure her constant remarks day after day. Sometimes there are insults, and harsh words. Sometimes she even punched me in the shoulders.
I've told her countless times that I'm not her dog and that I deserve some respect, and that the lack of a sexual life weighs *heavily* on me and is a direct cause of my behavior. The problem is that she doesn't want to hear anything: no matter how much I try to talk to her, she either becomes defensive or gets angry. She says it's my fault, that I'm some kind of autistic nerd (which I'm not) spending all of it's time on the telephone. I've stopped trying to argue with her, and I'm isolating myself more and more, because I feel like shit and her constants remarks suck up all my energy.
It's super frustrating because I want things to change, I have tried to focus on the good and take part of the daily tasks and work for my family. But no matter what, there are no efforts on her side. It seems like she's unwilling to acknowledge the issues or work on them together.
I know I'm not perfect, and I have my own faults, but I believe that a healthy relationship requires effort from both partners. Communication is crucial, and I've tried to express my feelings and concerns, but it's as if my words fall on deaf ears.
I don't want to give up on us, and the kids, but I also can't continue feeling ignored and unfulfilled and spend the rest of my life miserable like this.
On her side, there is growing resentment towards me and who I am, and I'm finding it increasingly difficult to handle it and make her change her mind. She thinks the same of me that I think of her.
Yesterday, she told me once again that I'm not present enough and that I don't contribute to household chores, and that she is not ready to continue like this. It's been almost 4 weeks since we haven't had *any* intimacy. When I brought up the subject, she yelled at me, saying that she forgot to take her birth control pill, so I should just shut the fuck up.
I have thought long and hard about this situation, and I feel like I have been manipulated. In my opinion, she has managed to deflect the initial issue (the lack of a normal sexual life) and turn it against me, using my frustrations, to shift the blame onto me, and claim that I'm not invested enough.
Thinking about this explanation yesterday, strangely enough, it made me feel much better. I have the impression that the fault lies more on her side than mine, even though I have sacrificed a lot of things and projects for her. I know I'm not perfect, but nevertheless, I feel like I'm doing my part of the job and that I don't deserve to be treated this way.
Just need to vent, thanks. Any advice welcome anyway.
cheers