So I’ve (19F) been trying to workout lately and this morning I was supposed to meet my friend at the gym at 9:45. I wake up, get ready, try to find my shoes and while doing so I ask my mom (54) if she knows where my shoes r. She says no and asks where I’m going. I tell her the gym. Mind u I have told both parents that starting this week I will be going to the gym with my friend. So I was surprised when she said “ur dad has ur car he just left” and ofc I was a little frustrated bc I’ve been telling them about me going to the gym. Side note my fam only has 3 cars rn and my dad and brother have been sharing their truck. She tells me to call my dad bc he’ll bring it back. I call him 5 times and then text him letting him know I need my car. Even after sending that and this incident he still has yet to answer. Well after texting/ calling him I ask my mom why he didn’t ask me if I needed my car (bc he’s asked before) or tell/text me that he had it. Since at this point my friend was already at the gym and I was majorly late. After saying “why didn’t he just text me to let me know” my mom blew up on me. She started calling me privileged and that she couldn’t believe I had an attitude. She also said “who do u think u r? U think ur the adult?” I was very confused by this bc I didn’t think I had an attitude. I thought it was a normal reaction to be irritated that my dad took my car and especially without saying anything to me. My mom said he didn’t say anything since I was asleep I told her I was awake and even if they thought I was asleep someone could’ve texted me letting me know he had the car or text me asking if I needed the car today. And then she continues to call me entitled and yell at me. At this point I’m very upset that she’s calling me names and I raise my voice saying “please stop!” and I continued to say “mom all I’m doing is asking why no one let me know asleep or not”. Well my mom didn’t take that too well and said “oh now ur trying to shut me up r u?” with (as u can expect) a VERY angry face. I told her I wasn’t at all I just wanted her to stop calling me names. Then she again said “ur not the adult and I can’t talk to her like this”. I calmly once more said I wasn’t trying to shut her up and I didn’t have an attitude. I also pointed out that I’ve been calm the entire time bc she also mentioned how intense I was acting. At this point I’m just trying to calm her down and speak slowly and calmly. Me and my mom r known for our short fuses but my dad has been telling me lately that one of us has to stay calm otherwise the argument will never stop. She then starts to tear up and lecture me about how she would never treat her father this way. (Now that was just confusing bc I hadn’t talked to my dad at all yet). This may be a little wrong but the gist of it was: “growing up we didn’t have enough cars for everyone and if my dad took my car I would’ve been grateful that he was doing his best for the family. I would’ve understood why he took it and I wouldn’t have treated my parents this way”. So not only was she calling me entitled, privileged and disrespectful she’s now accusing me of being ungrateful. I told her I am very grateful for everything dad does and I completely understand why he had to take it. At this point I’m starting to cry bc all of this name calling and accusations r really really hurting my feelings (and it’s also that wonderful time of the month) so my emotions were very heightened. My mom stormed off calling me entitled and then slammed the door to her room. I’d also asked my friend to come pick me up and she was there so I just left. In my friends car I cried and told her what happened. She thinks my mom is the ahole but she may be a bit biased She advised me to text her. So I texted my mom: “I’m sorry for what happened. I didn’t mean to act in any negative way. I am just frustrated that no one communicated with me about the car. And moving forward please stop calling me names in an argument. It is unbelievably hurtful and I wish u would understand how much it affects me. We can have an argument without resorting to calling each other names.” She has yet to respond. So am I the ahole?

Now, I’m not usually vocal about these things, but it’s really a shame how SD is exploiting Pride month for its own profits. Correct me if I’m wrong and I will delete this post, but to my knowledge SD is getting 100% of the profits from the Pride package.
To those who are saying it’s great they’re acknowledging Pride month, you are blind to the fact that SD is solely using it for their profits and not donating anything to the cause (even something small like 5-10% of the profits would be good enough).
Now if SD truly wanted to show their support for Pride month by raising awareness without donations, they could have gifted everyone free Pride variants and that would have been perfectly fine as well. But to charge people $5 to say you’re “supporting” Pride month and then keeping all the $, really shows you don’t give a crap about Pride month and are only looking for new ways to make money off us.
Everyone should boycott this package until they make a statement about donating some money from the sales. Otherwise it’s a blatant and honestly pathetic cash grab

Source: https://www.bungie.net/7/en/News/Article/06_01_2023_twab
Happy TWABsday, Guardians! How are you doing!? How many fish have you caught? Have you skedaddled through the dungeon yet? What’s your favorite thing so far about the Season? What about... [deep breaths] Ok, ok, it's time to calm down. It’s just something special to see all your social posts tackling Ghosts of the Deep, working with Sloane, and did I mention fishing already? It gets us pretty hyped.
Anyhoo, let’s get back on topic. Here is what we shared last week and what we are going to read about today.
Last week in TWAB:

• Marathon was announced!
• Our new PlayStation crossover.
• Guardian Games has concluded.
• Save the Dates for Season of the Deep!
• Cutscenes for days.
• Guardian Ranks reminder.
• Aquanaut is now available.

This week we’ve got:

• Ghosts of the Deep recap.
• Dungeon-themed items in the Bungie Store.
• [email protected] announcement.
• M:\START
• Prime Gaming update.
• The weekly update from the Player Support Team.
• Weekly Art of the Week and Movie of the week picks. ##The Dungeon

Image Link^imgur
Were you one of the Guardians who dove deep into a Titan Archology only to arrive face to face with the Lucent Hive? Did the Lightbearer Knights, Ogres, and Wizards show as a blip on your radar only to be taken down by your fireteam in a blaze of (insert your favorite subclass here) energy? And how was your battle with Šimmumah ur-Nokru? Did you rise from the waters in your shiny new armor with your fancy new weapons ready to fight on?
Your will has been tested yet again, and you have triumphed. Congratulations Guardians, you deserve this victory lap.

New Bungie Rewards

Speaking of the dungeon and its sweet, sweet rewards, we now have the Ghosts of the Deep dungeon hoodie, Ghoul title pin, and Ghosts of the Deep dungeon pins available for purchase! These Bungie Rewards will be available only to players who complete the Ghosts of the Deep dungeon by August 22, 2023, at 9:59 AM PDT.
Image Link^imgur
Don’t know what Bungie Rewards are? When you complete Triumphs, collections, and in-game challenges you unlock collectibles for purchase from the Bungie Store that celebrate your hard-earned achievements. Head on over to this page to learn more!

[email protected]

Image Link^imgur
Eyes up, Guardian. It’s June, and June is Pride month here in the States, so just as we have in the past, be sure to keep your eyes on the blog for future Pride updates coming soon.
But, if you’re feeling festive and want to do something rad for a good cause with a cool reward, head on over to [bung.ie/pride](bung.ie/pride) to earn The Infinite Prismatic emblem for a $10 donation. All funds raised during the month of June will do directly to the It Gets Better Project.

M:\START

You all may have seen this on Twitter already, but we wanted to make sure you saw we released a Marathon themed emblem in Destiny 2 for all players today. Go redeem it now!
Image Link^imgur

Prime Gaming Update

Welcome to the latest Prime Gaming update. It’s finally time for me to give up the skedaddle shenanigans and let you in on where that came from. This month we are vanishing into thin air, and then transmatting out with our Ghost and skedaddling on over to the next fishing hole.
Image Link^imgur

• Ninja Vanish emote
• Redline Ghost Shell
• Skedaddle Legendary Sparrow
• The Deep Ghost Projection

If you don’t know what Prime Gaming is, you can check out our article and learn more!

Player Support Report

Aquanauts, assemble!
Image Link^imgur
The Player Support team is back this week and ready to share with you the most recent update of known issues in the Deep and beyond.
Known Issues List Help Forum Bungie Help Twitter

LIGHTFALL DUNGEON KEY

Players experiencing issues accessing the Ghosts of the Deep dungeon should be aware of the following vital information:

• Players must acquire the Rise quest from Hawthorne in the Tower in order to launch into the dungeon for the first time.
• Ownership of the Lightfall Dungeon Key is required. This is included in the Lightfall + Annual Pass edition or can alternatively be purchased on its own through the Eververse store. It is not included with purchase of Season of the Deep.
• Players missing their Dungeon Key from purchase of the Lightfall + Annual Pass edition need to log into Destiny 2 on the platform where that purchase was made to unlock the Dungeon Key on their account. At this point it will be available on all platforms linked through Cross Save.
• Dungeon Keys are applied to individual Bungie accounts and cannot be game shared.

Anyone still experiencing issues that do not fall into one of the above categories can reach out to us via our Missing Eververse or Add-On Item contact form where we can investigate further.

KNOWN ISSUES

While we continue investigating various known issues, here is a list of the latest issues that were reported to us in our #Help Forum.

• Some players are unable to give out Commendations.
• Players can get stuck outside of the final boss arena after self-reviving in the Ghosts of the Deep dungeon.
• The Hive symbols in the side rooms of the Ghosts of the Deep dungeon’s final encounter do not respawn within an encounter cycle if a player dies before depositing their Vestige. They will re-appear as expected once players have completed a damage phase.
• The Sunbracers Exotic Warlock gloves are not extending the duration of Solar grenades.
• The cooldown timer for The Navigator Exotic Trace Rifle's catalyst is missing a description and will display as a blank timer when activated.
• Getting frozen while using the Arbor Warden Exotic Titan chest can sometimes cause players to lose the Barri-nade class ability. Respawning after player death or unequipping and re-equipping the Exotic will restore the intended class ability.
• Getting kills with Skyburner's Oath and Vesper of Radius is causing larger explosions than intended.
• Some Iron Banner weapons are missing their glare in the Crucible.
• The Athrys's Embrace Exotic Hunter arms does not display the "Strengthened Heavy Knife" popup when activated in the Crucible. Players should note the Exotic is still working as intended, it is only the visual indicator that is missing.
• Guarding with the Arc Staff super while using the Blight Ranger Exotic Hunter head is consuming extra Super energy.
• The Stronghold Exotic Titan arms are not always granting the Restoration buff when expected.
• The new Season of the Deep Exotics are not dropping from the Vex Strike Force activity.

For a full list of emergent issues in Destiny 2, players can review our Known Issues article . Players who observe other issues should report them to our #Help Forum.

Instructions Unclear

Bruno: So, you all really liked fishing. Please, just follow the tutorial and do it as we told you. Use baits that are safe. Don't try to push other Guardians in the pond with Swords nor Sparrows. We are not liable for any accident that may occur.
Movie of the Week: Instructions unclear
Video Link

Come on Guardian, Let’s Go Party

Hippy: Who knew that the trailer for the upcoming Barbie movie would be such epic meme fodder for the Destiny 2 community? There were a few incredible (and funny!) spins on this but since we’re deep into Season 21, and our favorite Motes master is back in the spotlight, let’s check in on ‘ol Drifter, shall we?
Art of the Week: Barbie meets Destiny 2

Very excited for The Final Shape #Destiny2Art #barbie pic.twitter.com/qh0s9yX0Zt
— (sana) drxgony COMMISSIONS : OPEN (@drxgony) May 28, 2023

Bonus Art of the Week: A Guardian in the wild

And with that - it's finished #Destiny2Art #Destiny2 pic.twitter.com/xTZoiJpiw0
— [email protected]@h (@LooksLikeVespa) May 28, 2023

And there we have it Guardians, this week’s TWAB. Being just two weeks into the Season, there is plenty to do, even more fashion choices to go through, and so many fish to catch. Also, who can tell me which Pulse Rifle or Scout Rifle is your favorite this Season? I’m an Outbreak player through and through, but this is the Season of “Sam changes it up,” so any and all suggestions are welcome.
Alright, it’s time for us to skedaddle, but we wanted to share one more thing. Before you click, just as a quick note, there are no plans to unleash these giga-Screebs on you in the live game... for now.

Stay Crafty,
Sam

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The pink stuff The Pink Stuff is a versatile cleaning product that can be used to clean a variety of surfaces. Here are some things that The Pink Stuff can clean: 1. Kitchen appliances: The Pink Stuff can be used to clean ovens, stovetops, and microwaves. 2. Bathroom surfaces: The Pink Stuff can be used to clean sinks, showers, and toilets. 3. Outdoor furniture: The Pink Stuff can be used to clean patio furniture, including plastic, metal, and glass surfaces. 4. Shoes: The Pink Stuff can be used to clean shoes, including leather, suede, and canvas. 5. Car interiors: The Pink Stuff can be used to clean car interiors, including seats, dashboard, and console. 6. Jewelry: The Pink Stuff can be used to clean jewelry, including gold, silver, and costume jewelry. By using The Pink Stuff, you can clean a variety of surfaces and items in your home. It's a versatile and effective cleaning product that can help you keep your home clean and tidy. https://honesthoneyreviews.blogspot.com/2023/05/ discover-magic-of-pink-stuff-ultimate.html

The pink stuff The Pink Stuff is a versatile cleaning product that can be used to clean a variety of surfaces. Here are some things that The Pink Stuff can clean: 1. Kitchen appliances: The Pink Stuff can be used to clean ovens, stovetops, and microwaves. 2. Bathroom surfaces: The Pink Stuff can be used to clean sinks, showers, and toilets. 3. Outdoor furniture: The Pink Stuff can be used to clean patio furniture, including plastic, metal, and glass surfaces. 4. Shoes: The Pink Stuff can be used to clean shoes, including leather, suede, and canvas. 5. Car interiors: The Pink Stuff can be used to clean car interiors, including seats, dashboard, and console. 6. Jewelry: The Pink Stuff can be used to clean jewelry, including gold, silver, and costume jewelry. By using The Pink Stuff, you can clean a variety of surfaces and items in your home. It's a versatile and effective cleaning product that can help you keep your home clean and tidy. https://honesthoneyreviews.blogspot.com/2023/05/ discover-magic-of-pink-stuff-ultimate.html

I’m freaking tired of conservatives and Communists distorting EVERYTHING, and usually just to hate on the minority of the day. As the latest example, here’s what’s going on with furries and Florida.
Yes, the rule change was specifically referenced in an organization announcement as being due to new Florida laws.
We aren’t simply upset because a few teens are disappointed they can no longer go. We’re disturbed that a vague “anti-drag” law has now extended to any convention, be it anime, comic, furry, or otherwise, that could possibly feature non-gender-conforming cosplay or clothing. It’s ridiculous that such a short-sighted and reactionary law is now spilling over into everyday life, like a monkey’s paw wish. Samus Aran cosplay? Well, that’s technically drag and therefore illegal.
Our biggest worry is that trans and NB folk will run afoul of similar laws simply by existing and wearing the appropriate clothing that makes them happy and alleviates dysphoria. So much for “freedom.” And given how many furries are either queer or allies, this is what makes us absolutely pissed and often afraid for our own safety.
Not to mention most well-run cons normally ban under-13s, anyway, and require minors go with a supervising adult. They also keep the NSFW sections duly segregated from areas where minors can be and the code of conduct PG or PG-13 in the common areas. With proper precautions, it’s not significantly more dangerous than any other fan con. Have you seen how hard it is to leave with merch you’d show your mom at an anime con, and you still let little Timmy watch Pokémon and Dragon Ball? And, no, it isn’t a fetish/sex con. If you meet someone for whom being a furry is their fetish, RUN.
And “protecting the children” my fluffy ass. The party that works lowers the age of consent and marriage, is constantly wracked by pedophilia scandals, tries to eliminate no-fault divorce, excuses domestic abuse, and turns the other way after the umpteenth shooting is orders of magnitude more dangerous than a software engineer in a mascot costume.
What’s disturbing to me is that I’ve noticed a very large portion of queer and other hatred on Reddit is coming from the growing and young Communist subs. And despite this, I’ve met trans Communists who hang out in subs that spend all their time bashing trans people; furry Communists who do the same. Being a minority, intellectual, or just weird person and a Communist is like being a Nazi Jew. It boggles my mind.
Save your breath; I’m turning off reply notifications due to how insane comments sections can be.

So, I've had a thought in my mind for a very long time. I grew up on a lot of either supernatural or science-fiction shows, films, and video games that influenced my interests heavily. Shows like Buffy, Sabrina the Teenage Witch (before she went full married-to-Satan), Bewitched, Ghost Whisperer, the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Sleepy Hollow (the Fox series), Medium, and The Twilight Zone (both the 50s series and the later 2000s one).
I also saw films like Bridge to Terabithia, Jumper, all the Star Wars films (actually saw the Prequels before the original films), and plenty of superhero material.
I even played games like Skyrim, Alan Wake, FF13 (1 and 2), Lost Odyssey, and Fallout 4, Dead Space (1-3), Halo, Gears, and a few Resident Evils.
Something I feel, however, is that between the science fiction and fantasy genres, it is fantasy that appears to have more opportunities for innovative creatures and design. Science is derivative by nature, but I also think that it has the opportunity to be just as expansive, but in a different direction. So, we arrive at my problem, though I feel it is a personal one: what is that different direction of expansiveness in science fiction that rivals fantasy?
Fantasy has vampires, werewolves, witches, dragons, sorcery, mermaids/mermen, demons, and such.
Science fictions has androids, robots, and mutants, but these are the only things that come to mind for me.
Where are the rest of the conventions that I'm missing with science fiction? I need some help expanding my own thoughts.
Thank you in advance to all who are willing to add their own input.

Hello Reddit Lawyers, Preface: Thank you for taking the time to read this post. My name is Alex, a tenant in East Pointe Apartments (EP) in Ithaca, New York. The apartment complex is owned by Park Grove Realty. I have attempted to contact local lawyers about the issues that I am facing, but all lawyers in tenant and civil law are facing delays with other cases. Background: I moved into EP back in June 2021. The original property managers were great people, Crystal and Marissa. I started to notice problems with my apartment in October 2021 when I discovered that there was a spider infestation near the patio door and the bathroom. I was getting rid of the webs nearly every day until December. In summer 2022, Marissa left and Crystal (or someone in management) decided to pave over the grass that separates adjacent driveways. In that process, black construction residue was imparted on the garage doors (think white cookies and cream), which is an eyesore. EP also has a small gym in the leasing office building. The gym was clean until February 2022. At that point, I noticed that they never fixed the blinds which wouldn't go up, they did not restock the disinfectant sprays for at least a month, the towels and paper towels used to wipe down equipment was periodically unavailable, and there was a huge buildup of dust and pet hair on the equipment. There were also dead ants and wasps near the dumbbells. Lastly, the leasing office had to send an announcement in December 2022 urging residents to not share the gym passcode. There were times when weird people I had never seen before would enter the gym and hog the equipment. Throughout 2022 and spring 2023, I thought I was going crazy because I would check to ensure that the garage door is closed and find the door open in the morning or early afternoon. I spoke to the new leasing office person about this problem yesterday, and she told me that this is a "common problem." The new leasing office people came last summer and fall. The assistant property manager (Megan) is a very rude, immature person who simply does not care. I continue to have problems with insects and spiders in the apartment, and my mental health has been terrible because of the constant stress induced by lack of safety in this apartment complex. I have told my therapist about these problems starting last October. On an unrelated note, I was pulling into my garage last week when a guy in white sedan pulled into my driveway before I could even get out of the car. He gave me a death stare, so I hesitated for a minute before closing the garage door. I peeked out of my garage window to see him smiling like an insane guy. I called the leasing office, and the maintenance guys showed up. He didn't leave until five minutes after the maintenance guys left. I asked Megan about what happened, and she told me it was my neighbor getting picked up by a friend, but I never saw anyone getting into his car. Also, why would a person pull into someone else's driveway? Megan was extremely rude and dismissive, rolling her eyes, and raising her voice... Is it possible to seek financial compensation for these experiences? I would assume that tenant safety, both physical and mental are required by law. Thanks in advance for any professional advice, BBG

Blessed Mother, I will anoint.
I will enter her gates and drink from her waters. Beneath her wings of sanctuary shall I grow strong. Upon her bosom my name will be known.
Through fire and ice, I will lay bare her beauty. With divine light, she will taste my essence. Lilith will behold my gifts.
Her head will be crushed beneath my boot. Her wings shall be torn.
The Mother shall receive my blessings. Her womb will be devoured by wolves.
Blessed Mother, I will anoint with dirt.
Lilith will no longer cast her rancid scent upon our land.

Hello Reddit Lawyers,
Preface: Thank you for taking the time to read this post.
My name is Alex, a tenant in East Pointe Apartments (EP) in Ithaca, New York. The apartment complex is owned by Park Grove Realty. I have attempted to contact local lawyers about the issues that I am facing, but all lawyers in tenant and civil law are facing delays with other cases.
Background: I moved into EP back in June 2021. The original property managers were great people, Crystal and Marissa. I started to notice problems with my apartment in October 2021 when I discovered that there was a spider infestation near the patio door and the bathroom. I was getting rid of the webs nearly every day until December.
In summer 2022, Marissa left and Crystal (or someone in management) decided to pave over the grass that separates adjacent driveways. In that process, black construction residue was imparted on the garage doors (think white cookies and cream), which is an eyesore.
EP also has a small gym in the leasing office building. The gym was clean until February 2022. At that point, I noticed that they never fixed the blinds which wouldn't go up, they did not restock the disinfectant sprays for at least a month, the towels and paper towels used to wipe down equipment was periodically unavailable, and there was a huge buildup of dust and pet hair on the equipment. There were also dead ants and wasps near the dumbbells. Lastly, the leasing office had to send an announcement in December 2022 urging residents to not share the gym passcode. There were times when weird people I had never seen before would enter the gym and hog the equipment.
Throughout 2022 and spring 2023, I thought I was going crazy because I would check to ensure that the garage door is closed and find the door open in the morning or early afternoon. I spoke to the new leasing office person about this problem yesterday, and she told me that this is a "common problem." The new leasing office people came last summer and fall. The assistant property manager (Megan) is a very rude, immature person who simply does not care.
I continue to have problems with insects and spiders in the apartment, and my mental health has been terrible because of the constant stress induced by lack of safety in this apartment complex. I have told my therapist about these problems starting last October.
On an unrelated note, I was pulling into my garage last week when a guy in white sedan pulled into my driveway before I could even get out of the car. He gave me a death stare, so I hesitated for a minute before closing the garage door. I peeked out of my garage window to see him smiling like an insane guy. I called the leasing office, and the maintenance guys showed up. He didn't leave until five minutes after the maintenance guys left. I asked Megan about what happened, and she told me it was my neighbor getting picked up by a friend, but I never saw anyone getting into his car. Also, why would a person pull into someone else's driveway? Megan was extremely rude and dismissive, rolling her eyes, and raising her voice...
Is it possible to seek financial compensation for these experiences? I would assume that tenant safety, both physical and mental are required by law.
Thanks in advance for any professional advice,
BBG

--- Table of Contents ---
Spring 4985, 20 Buromoth
The armor Smith Nangran gave them fit much better than the pieces lent to them for the trip. Shon still hated it, but he hated it a lot less. Practice, he told himself, trying to picture Master Veon-Zih's face as he did so, you can accomplish anything with practice... Except Master Veon-Zih didn't wear armor.
"I thought we were going to learn plate, or at least half-plate..." Rerves whispered to his fellows as they adjusted their new armor, working the straps so they weren't too tight or too loose.
His whisper wasn't quiet enough, however, because Master Daunas laughed from where he stood beside Nangran, and the smith huffed. "So you want to try plate, do you, boy?" The Weapon Master asked a little too innocently.
Rerves looked up hopefully, "Is that an option, ser?" Shon swallowed nervously.
"Sure! Let's give it a try..." Master Daunas grinned, the look definitely sinister in Shon's opinion. "Got some plate for the big one, Nan?" He asked Nangran, who rolled his eyes before moving deeper into the forge to retrieve a set of battered but sparkling platemail.
Rerves rushed to remove his new, specially fitted, leather armor, while Thom looked on in envy. Shon half expected Thom to request his own set of the fully encasing metal, but the shy boy stayed quiet and instead settled with helping his friend strip off the leather and strap on the clanking plate. Rerves beamed but could barely lift his arms to don the helm.
"There you go, boy! Halfway to a Paladin already." Master Daunas called out as he turned Rerves by the shoulders and marched him, waddling under the metal's weight, out of the smithy. Shon followed silently, taking note of the guards looking down from the wall and some Squires elbowing each other and snickering in the courtyard.
The four weeks of watch rotation had started, giving the new boys time to catch up before the oldest Squires 'graduated' on the spring equinox. It was four weeks in which they trained from before dawn to after dusk in the basics and foundations, while the others had mostly free time outside of their six-hour watch. Which meant the new boys had an audience of off-duty seniors.
"Now all you need is a sword!" Master Daunas was saying to Rerves as he left the over-encumbered Squire in one of the sparring rings. He strode to the weapons rack and grabbed a sword and shield before returning and presenting them to the boy. Rerves grabbed the sword, but as he took the shield, his arm collapsed, the metal of his vambrace clanging loudly against his chausses. He was still trying to heft the shield into position when Master Daunas drew his own sword, "Now let's test it out, shall we?"
Rerves dropped the shield, gaping at the Weapon Master, "But... but," he scrambled for an excuse and settled on the live steel in his hand, "You don't have any armor, ser, what if..."
Master Daunas never stopped smiling, but his voice was finally serious, "Boy, if you can land a hit on me in that, then you deserve to graduate with the others this year." and he swung.
Rerves didn't really dodge; he pulled back and fell on his backside, scrambling on his butt and trying to roll over to push himself back up but barely able to move. Master Daunas hit him with the flat of the blade in the side with a resounding gong-like ring hard enough to help push Rerves over so he could struggle to his hands and knees. "Get up boy, if you're on the ground in a fight this early, you've already lost."
Shon watched in horror as the Weapon Master continued to hammer down on Rerves with the flat of his blade. The Squire did manage to get to his feet and retrieve his sword and shield eventually but he still couldn't lift them, flailing them weakly at the Weaponmaster's legs. Master Daunas dodged easily, even yawning lazily before he flicked his sword and disarmed the poor Squire again.
"Call match!" one of the Squires shouted from the sidelines, the small crowd of them all shaking their heads at the display.
Master Daunas laughed, but Rerves took the advice and called "Match, match!" as loud as he could before dropping to his knees, heaving in heavy breaths from just a few minutes of trying to move in the full armor.
"Match it is then," Master Daunas conceded, saluting the Squire with his sword before gesturing for the others, "Help your brother out of that boys. He did his best."
Shon and Thom rushed forward to help Rerves, but they weren't alone. The other Squires came forward, one with a water skin he presented to Rerves after the helm was removed, "You did better than Zihler did last year," another of them said with a comforting pat on the shoulder after Shon removed the breastplate.
"Huh?" Rerves let out a tired questioning grunt, and another Squire pulled him to his feet so they could get the legs off.
"There's one every year," one of the eldest said sagely, picking up the discarded armor and slinging it easily over his shoulder.
"Yeah, it was Jawsh in our year," another explained.
Master Daunas strode forward and clapped Rerves on the shoulder, giving him a little shake, "You'll be ready for plate eventually, boy, but not until your third or even final year. Grow stronger in leather, then banded mail, then half-plate. Everyone starts at the bottom and works their way up."
Rerves smiled weakly but had regained some of his confidence apparently because he managed to say, "You could have just told me that, ser..." which made Master Daunas laugh out loud again.
He didn't even bother to answer the Squire, just turned around and went back into the smithy, shouting at Nangran, "I told you it would be the big one this year! You owe me ten copper Nan!"
***
For the entire first week, the new Squires were instructed in the basic drills of their assigned sword types. It meant they couldn't truly work together -each sword having different techniques- but it also gave them a chance to get to know some of the older Squires who helped them early on. The year ahead of them had five Squires, one of the largest years in recent history. Kefir and Baradin both used one-handed longswords and shields and worked with Rerves. Uther and Rehlien both used large two-handed greatswords and helped Thom. Zihler was the only one who specialized in the bastard sword and worked with Shon. He wasn't left-handed, but Shon did all the exercises with both hands anyway, letting Zihler help him with the right first, then switching to using his left after he was confident he had them down.
During their second week, they were given their first sword forms. Like the kata Shon had been studying under Master Veon-Zih, the sword forms were meant to represent actual maneuvers to be performed in combat, and he took to them with even greater gusto than he had the simple drills.
"He's like a dancer..." Kefir whispered to Zihler as they watched Shon work through the form, without complaining, for what must have been the twentieth time that day.
Zihler nodded but also huffed, "I bet he flinches the first time we spar, though."
"I don't know..." Kefir muttered, then louder explained, "He's the one who bloodied Selv on the raid. Rerves said he trained under some old man fighter before he came here."
"We'll see," Baradin interjected, joining his fellows, "Master Daunas is on his way. He wants us to get out the sparring swords."
Zihler gave his brother Squire a lazy salute. Baradin was the unofficial leader of their year. It had chafed at first, and Zihler was still the most prone to defy him on occasion -usually when it didn't matter much- but over the course of their first year even he had stepped in line to Baradin's passive ability to take command. The three waved down Uther and Rehlien, who jogged over.
As Baradin had said, Master Daunas arrived a moment later with the resident Cleric close behind. "Fall in, Squires!" he bellowed to the practicing three, and Shon, Thom, and Rerves all quickly obeyed, standing side by side at stiff attention. "It's officially week three and time to start sparring," he informed them, gesturing for the senior Squires to move forward and exchange the real swords for wooden ones. He looked each of the three over carefully, then nodded to himself and said, "Thom and Rerves, face off."
Zihler noticed Shon's shoulders slump ever so slightly as he stepped away from the other two, who turned towards each other. They were obviously nervous. "Those are wooden swords, but this is a real fight. They will still hurt like a bit-" the Cleric cleared his throat, interrupting the Weaponmasters' use of profanity. Master Daunas coughed but continued, "Despite that, I don't want you to hold back, you fight like you train, and if you go easy on each other, you will go easy on a real opponent. You are not civilians, and neither is your opponent. This isn't a game. The fight won't end until one of you takes a killing or disabling blow. Every adult here, minus myself and Smith Nangran, is capable of healing any wounds you might give or receive. So again, no holding back. If I call 'hold,' that means to freeze, stop moving, hold your position. Now lay on!"
Rerves and Thom both swallowed down their fear and moved slowly, unsure what their first strike should be. As expected, the two did hold back, both from nervousness at not knowing what to do and honestly not wanting to hurt each other. Daunas sighed, but Zihler understood. It had taken him months before he could really hit his friends. And he was one of the faster ones to manage it. And even then, only really when they were in armor.
The two newbies eventually sped up but were still pulling their hits. They both flinched with each strike, many of which were going to leave decent bruises, but Master Daunas wouldn't call an end until one of them landed a killing or disabling blow hard enough to count. On the other side of the sparring ring, Zihler saw Shon narrow his eyes as he tapped his boot with his sword.
"Match!" Master Daunas called after a loud smack pulled Zihler's attention back to the sparring pair.
Thom dropped his sword, cradling his hand. Rerves rushed forward, "I'm sorry, are you okay?" he had apparently caught Thom on the knuckles unintentionally.
"Both of you are aiming for your opponent's weapon instead of his body. You only hit their sword to parry or deflect. Hitting their weapon won't end a fight." Master Daunas instructed, "Practice boys, it's the only real way to learn, I can talk until my face turns blue, but you won't know until you make and take a few hits. Shon, you're up, Rerves, get ready."
Shon stepped into the ring, and something changed. Zihler couldn't describe it, but Rerves obviously felt something because he met his friend's blue eyes and swallowed. "Lay on!" Master Daunas shouted, and Rerves immediately raised his shield.
Just in time too, because Shon came in like a hurricane. He held his sword one-handed, but it still rang off Rerves' shield like a hammer. Rerves tried to counter as his form dictated, but Shon twisted his sword, taking it in both hands and sliding it along Rerves' blade before pivoting it up and swinging hard with a sickening 'thwak' against Rerves' shoulder. The larger boy immediately dropped his sword and reached for the wound with his shield arm while Master Daunas shouted, "Match!" and Shon stepped back.
He didn't apologize or rush forward as Rerves had done for Thom. The five senior Squires all stared at him, but Shon just bowed to Rerves while the Cleric came forward to check his arm.
"Well, I'll be damned," Master Daunas said with a wide smile, "It's about time someone listens to reason, but can you take as good as you give, boy?" Shon just arched a silent black eyebrow at the Weaponmaster, who laughed and took Thom's two-handed sword from him, handing it to Zihler, "Don't hold back, because this one certainly won't." he instructed the senior.
Zihler saluted the Weaponmaster and stepped into the sparring ring as Shon brought his sword to the ready position. As Zihler met Shon's eyes, his throat turned dry, forcing him to swallow as Rerves had done. His full year of more experience wasn't enough to prepare him for Shon's stare. The boy's icy eyes seemed to bore right through him. He wasn't at all nervous or scared. He didn't even seem determined or angry. Just cold. Like he could take Zihler's head and not lose a wink of sleep over it.
"Lay on!"
Zihler braced himself for an attack, but Shon didn't rush in as he had for Rerves. He maintained his guard and his stare until the senior Squire advanced. Inching forward, Zihler looked for the opening he knew had to be there. Shon didn't have enough experience yet to truly compete with the older Squire and when he swung, he swung hard. Master Daunas would accept nothing less.
Shon managed a parry, but both swords shook with the force of the hit. He didn't flinch and countered just as hard, telegraphing his attack and taking a breath too long, giving Zihler an opening. Shon was going to take the senior in the neck just as Zihler had imagined, and what was worse, he still hadn't blinked or changed his expression.
Zihler aimed for Shon's ribs, expecting the boy to redirect his sword and block the same way he had for Rerves. He didn't, and Zihlers wooden blade smacked him at full force in the side. If his ribs didn't crack, they were at least bruised, and Zihler felt himself flinch on Shon's behalf as the younger boy couldn't help but fold over the attack. Shon's swing lost some of its momentum, but he didn't stop, continuing to follow through, towards Zihlers neck, until "Match!"
Shon's sword stopped after barely tapping Zihler, showing that he hadn't lost control of the weapon and still had enough sense to pull the strike once the match was over. Would he really have hit the Squire full force if Master Daunas hadn't stopped them? Zihler felt himself sweating and had to swallow again. Shon finally blinked and stepped back, reaching for his ribs and flinching in pain as he gripped them.
The Cleric rushed forward, already speaking a prayer, and Zihler muttered a quiet, "Sorry..." as Shon flinched again at the healer's touch.
Shon furrowed his brow, then asked, "Why?" making Zihler blink in confusion, "We weren't supposed to hold back." Shon explained.
"Yeah, but..." Zihler started,
"You could've blocked that. It's the same technique you used in your first match," Master Daunas instructed Shon sternly.
Shon looked down at his sword, then back up at the Weapon Master. His eyes darted momentarily to Zihler before he muttered, "If I'd been faster, I could have ended it before he put too much force behind it..."
"You took the hit on purpose?!" Zihler shouted in disbelief.
Shon just shrugged, his ribs healed enough that it would only hurt a little to move, "I wasn't fast enough."
"Next time, block," Master Daunas chastised the younger boy, "Even if the blow had lost half its strength, you would've been injured." Shon hesitated, and Zihler noticed him clenching his fist at his side before he nodded in answer.
The bell for lunch sounded its twelve long rings, filling the courtyard as Master Daunas waved the boys towards the weapons rack, signaling an end to the practice. Zihler’s fellows joined him as he handed the practice weapon back to Thom. He didn't speak until the three newbies moved far enough away not to hear, "That was scary..."
"He really went all out, didn't he?" Kefir asked. Zihler could only nod.
"Cold-blooded," Rehlien commented.
"You have no idea," Zihler confirmed, "Even the seniors hold back more than he did."
The five turned toward the fortress and lunch, Baradin saying, "He could've though, did you see how easily he stopped his swing?"
"I felt it," Zihler mumbled, rubbing his neck. But he'd also seen clearly that Shon wouldn't have had the match not been called.
"I couldn't do that..." Uther mumbled, more to himself than the others, his shoulders slumping.
The other four immediately shifted their attention to their fellow. The poor boy had struggled through every stage of their combat training. Baradin patted him on the back, trying to sound soothing, "It’s only been a year. You have plenty of time."
Uther sighed heavily, "That was his first match, and he's already better than I am..." none of the others had an answer for that.
***
"I can't do this..."
Shon looked up from his book to furrow his brow at the older Squire. Uther looked as dejected as ever, staring unseeing at his own books spread out on the table in front of him. They showed drawings of fighting forms being performed step by step with explanations detailing each one's use.
"Uther..." Kefir whispered, reaching out to rub his friend's back, "You can..."
"I can't!" Uther slammed his book shut, and every Squire at the table jumped in surprise, "I don't want to. I hate this. I hate all of this." he crossed his arms over the table and dropped his head into them.
Shon tried to go back to his book. It was none of his business. He hardly knew the boy, and even if he did, what would he say? What could any of them say? And yet he listened as the others tried to comfort the frustrated Squire. "You're the best at our theology and law lessons, though, Uther. We can help you with the rest. We still have time."
"I don't want to fight..." Uther spoke into his arms, "I never did... I just thought... I thought that if I tried hard enough, I would learn..."
"You will."
"I don't want to." he was barely audible now, even in the absolute silence of the library.
At the end of the table, two boys a year older than Uther exchanged looks and silent nods before they stood and came to kneel beside him, "You don't have to." one of them said. Shon looked up again.
The other rubbed the Uther's back gently, "There was a boy a year older than us, his name was Karlin, he had a hard time too..."
Uther turned his head just enough to look through his arms at the Squire, "He gave up?"
"He went to train as a Cleric instead." the first said, "We got a letter from him last year, he's really happy, Uther. Maybe..." he hesitated, and his friend picked up for him,
"We would never encourage you to quit. If you want to stay, we'll help you. Everyone here will." he gestured to the table at large and then to the rest of the fortress beyond the library door. Uther lifted his head, and Shon nodded when he met the older boy's eyes. Though what he could do, he still didn't know.
The senior Squire continued, "But if you really don't want to, we will support you in that too."
Uther looked around at all of them, then whispered, "It's not too late?"
"It's never too late," the Paladin on duty chimed in without looking up. Perhaps not wanting to interject too much into the Squires' group effort to comfort their own.
"You've only been here a year, and Karlin already showed it's possible to transfer. If that's really what you want."
"I... I think I'll go pray..." Uther finally managed to choke out. The two boys stood and helped him to his feet but let him walk to the door on his own. Shon went back to his book.
He'd wanted this so badly it had hurt. He couldn't imagine being in Uther's position... But he also felt a strange sort of pride in his fellow Squires. They had stood up to help their fellow without hesitation, even now that he left, they weren't judging him for his voiced doubts. And even Uther himself. Shon had to imagine that it took a lot of strength to admit to the others that he might give up, that this path wasn't for him.
The next day Uther left Hamerfoss.
***
Along with the fundamentals of their swords, the new Squires were caught up in lessons on kingdom law. As Paladins, it would be their responsibility to enforce the law in each of the ten provinces, each with their own nuances. However, kingdom-wide laws always superseded province laws, so the new Squires were expected to know as much of that as possible before they started with the others.
Today they were learning about magic regulation...
"You should've all learned the basic theory of arcane magic before reaching maturity..." the Paladin giving their lecture began, waiting for their nods before continuing, "So you know that, theoretically, anyone can practice arcane magic. With enough study and funding. The kingdom has granted the Mages Guild a leading voice in the laws surrounding the use of arcane magic, and the power to enforce them with the assistance of the local Temple representatives."
The classroom was made to hold twenty five Squires and so felt particularly large and empty with only the three of them seated in the front row taking silent notes as the instructor spoke. He explained how the teleport system of gates worked within the Guild. That transport could be purchased to instantly travel between Guild towers, but that permission had to be granted from the destination if crossing province lines; otherwise, travelers would be trapped in the Guild and heavily fined, even imprisoned in some cases. He touched briefly on the cost cap of certain magical items, such as bags of holding and weather-resistant cloaks, to prevent price gouging. And handed out a list of outlawed magic items they would be required to memorize in their own time for a test at the end of this training period. It mostly consisted of anything that could cause outright harm, rare and valuable spell components for powerful spells, or items that aided in stealth that could be used for thievery. Though with the proper licensure, some experienced allies of the Temples were permitted to use many of them.
"Arcane magic has the potential to be very dangerous, and as such, all practicing Mages are required to be trained and registered as members of the Guild. Only Archmages, the highest Mage rank, are permitted to conduct research outside the Guild and take apprentices at their leisure. Which brings us to Sorcerers..."
Shon looked up from his notes. Their teacher was writing on the board again. At the top, he scrawled 'Sorcerers' then drew two lines down from the word to 'Clearance' and 'Sealing.' "When a Sorcerer awakens, they are required to..." he started, but Thom and Rerves both quickly raised their hands.
"What's a Sorcerer?" Rerves asked after the instructor nodded his way. Thom put down his hand, having had the same question.
The instructor looked at Shon and asked, "Do you know what a Sorcerer is?" when Shon shook his head, the man looked disapproving, "Then why didn't you ask?"
"They did..." Shon muttered down to his notebook. The teacher sighed and Shon glared at his notes. He would've asked if Thom and Rerves hadn't... assuming the answer wasn't made clear as the lesson continued.
Rather than further chastise him, the teacher moved on to answer the question, "A Sorcerer is someone who possesses natural arcane magic. They are born with power over one of the five elements. The power usually manifests around puberty, and when it does, the Sorcerer in question is taken to the Mages Guild. There they are either trained to control it -taking many years of study- or the power is sealed." He turned his back on the boys to continue writing on the board. Under 'Clearance', he wrote 'training' and 'testing', and under 'Sealing', he wrote 'tattoo' and 'item.'
"A Sorcerer with a clearance is the same in practice as a Mage who is registered with the Guild. Most Sorcerers, however, have their power sealed, preventing its use,"
"Why?" Thom asked, then quickly clapped his hand over his mouth, embarrassed for interrupting.
The instructor didn't seem to mind the interruption so much as the question itself. His eyes went wide in his disbelief as he looked down at the boys, "It is incredibly dangerous. Earth Sorcerers have been known to cause small earthquakes; Water and Air Sorcerers can drown or steal the air right from the lungs; Ice Sorcerers can freeze an entire room; and Fire Sorcerers... well, they are the most destructive. And all of that can be unintentional. Their magic is driven by their emotions, and if they can't control it, they are a danger to themselves and everyone around them. This is also why they are usually sealed with a tattoo..." he tapped the word on the board, "The sealing tattoo blocks their ability to use any kind of magic. It locks their energy, and thus their magic, in their body, preventing its manipulation. It is also given to any Mages, Druids, Clerics, and even Paladins that break the law and endanger the kingdom."
Rerves opened his mouth but then remembered to raise his hand, waiting for permission before he asked, "But don't Clerics and Paladins lose their God's blessing and their magic if they use it for evil?"
The teacher sighed again, though sadly this time, "Only Saint Giorgos reveres law itself as holy, and not every God holds the same standards for evil."
"Horsa..." Rerves growled under his breath, and the instructor nodded solemnly in agreement, his eyes flashing angrily at the mention of Hengist's brother and nemesis.
"Spells that are acceptable in Horsa-controlled provinces are not always permitted in Hengist's lands and vis versa. The Temples prefer to transfer those caught performing illegal acts with magic to a province where it is permitted, but occasionally, even a Cleric or Paladin can be tattooed to prevent further spell use. In some provinces, and you will learn more about this later, they even tattoo non-magic users who commit violent crimes. To prevent them from ever learning dangerous magic in the future."
Shon stared at the word scrawled in his notebook. Sealing tattoos worked by sealing the person's energy in their body, their ki... would it prevent Monk abilities too? The bell ending the lesson interrupted his thoughts, and Shon looked up to the teacher with the others, waiting for official dismissal before they would close their notebooks, "You should have that list of contraband memorized by the end of the week," the instructor reminded them as he began to erase the board, "Dismissed."
***
A rabbit made of fire hopped its way around the open cage. She sat on the floor, focusing on it, forcing it to keep the shape she willed while she stroked the cat's crimson-scaled head. The cat rested its entire front half in her lap, its lower legs splayed out on the ground, limp, too weak to move. She fought back tears as it tried to lift one great paw to bat at the bunny. She let the cat hit it, even made the flame rabbit fall down, pinned under the red claws. Not all of her treasures could touch her fire, but this one could, so she would do this for it at least. It purred in triumph at catching the flaming bunny but closed its eyes a moment later, letting out a ragged breath.
It was dying. They all died eventually, but it didn't stop the pain. She sniffed, trying to keep the tears from falling as she let the fire go. Snuffed out like her treasure.
"Come on, Red... it’s time to go..." Ran whispered into the cage.
She shook her head, stroking the large cat's side. Its breathing had slowed even further, "Not yet," she choked, then sniffed again.
Brom rested a hand on Ran's shoulder, "Give her a little longer."
"The Archmage..."
"He can wait," Brom whispered.
Her tears finally started to fall, streaming silently down her cheeks and over her scales, the same shade as this treasure, the first treasure she'd ever pet. It had lived longer than the others, somehow, and was one of the few she was capable of touching for more than a few moments. "Why?" she asked the journeymen, not really expecting an answer she could accept.
They squatted down outside the cage together, and Ran answered, "Their bodies can't handle the magic. They're animals with dragon power. We're trying Red, but we haven't figured out how to stop it yet..."
"Am I going to die too?" she asked. The cat's breathing slowed further, her tears dripping onto its head and sizzling as they landed.
"No, Goldy, no... You're different... you're..." Brom struggled to find an explanation.
"A Sorcerer Red," Ran provided, "And a really powerful one."
Her treasure breathed its last, letting the air out slowly until it was unmoving in her lap. She cried silently. Curling around the large cat that was too heavy for her to lift, she cried into its neck, holding it close.
Brom crawled into the cage, but he didn't touch her, "Come on, Goldy, maybe the next generation..." he braved grabbing her arm, flinching at the heat of her skin and pulling her out of the cage as silent tears continued to fall. She tried to control herself but couldn't and fell to her knees as soon as she was out. Brom pulled quickly away, shaking his burned fingers. "Oh, Goldy... please don't..."
She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to stop crying while also keeping her power pulled in, so she wouldn't catch any of the scattered straw or her caretakers' robes on fire. Her eyes flew open when a thick heavy blanket wrapped around her, and strong arms held it tight to her.
"I've got you, Red... It's okay to cry..." she could feel the antifire spell on the blanket press into her skin, but past that was Ran's arms, and a moment later, a second set, Brom's, wrapped her in a tight embrace. It was the only way they could hug her, and she was grateful enough that she let herself go, her shoulders bobbing as she sobbed and wailed for the loss of her treasure... and for herself.
--- Table of Contents ---
Thanks for making it this far, you are the real MVP

TLDR; special needs child and different sexuality and priorities is causing a huge rift in relationship but I(wife) and financially dependent on the husband and am unable to leave the relationship despite it not really working. needing opinions on what to do..
​
This goes into a lot of person details and refers to sex.
I just. I need some perspective and some other people's opinions.
I kinda do and don't know what I should do.
So. I'm 32f and my partner is 35m. We have been together for 6 years, married for 5. I'm ace(asexual). He is not. I prefaced the entire relationship, before we started dating, that I was ace and what that meant for me.
(Here is some back story on me. I came out as ace in high school year 2005 (i was 15ish). My friends, aka the gay kids, all told me I was only saying that because I couldn't get a boyfriend. So I did my best to live as a het women. Obviously struggled in relationships. I was full porn because sex did nothing for me and my only way of thinking how things worked was by seeing and copying porn. I was hyper sexual to make up for my lack.. In 2016(I was26ish) I came out as ace again. This time telling people I was ace and knowing it was true.)
Back to when I met my husband in 2016. I told him I was ace and what that meant for me. How I give zero fs about sex and such. He says no problem. Cue relationship start. Not long after we started dating I (not purposefully) proceeded to go back to my old habits of being hyper sexual to appease my partner. That lasted for around 10 months before I couldn't anymore. So then things slowed. Instead of every day it was every other. Then every few. The once a week. Once a month. We got married in 2018, when it was around once a week. I quickly became pregnant (We were planning to as I've always wanted to be a mother). He didn't like my pregnant body so sex stopped. Fine by me, and then postpartum no sex for the 6 weeks and then I was too busy and tired so no sex for over a year. Perfect for me, not for the hub.
SA TW
Eventually it ended up being a bad situation where he'd take what he wanted and I didn't stop him even though I absolutely did no want it. It led to me becoming ill whenever he touched me, even just his hand on my hand. I'd become nauseous and my anxiety spiked. My entire body was then physically repulsed by him. We ended up separated for a few months because of that and other reasons.
The other reasons are long but I'll summarize it to him being the stereotypical cishet male that is of the opinion that the only thing he needed to bring to the relationship was income and a dick. Also many instances of some emotional abuse generally involving him publicly shaming me and neglecting my needs. He was angry that once the child was born, he was no longer the main character in my life, the child was. I think even now (4 years after the birth) he still resents our child a bit. He believes the child should come after the couple and I believe children should always be first (In terms of importance).
I had been promised support from a family friend if I was to leave him. But that did not work out. (the person wanted me to take him to court to get as much money as I could out of him and I absolutely did not want to fuck him over.) I quickly realized that the support I thought I had was not there and I couldn't afford to not be with him. (Our child has special needs. The childcare I had lined up fell away as he got bigger and was harder to handle. I needed to quit my job to care for him. I did quit my job but it wasn't until we moved back in together.) Time away from the hub helped my body settle down and into longer was repulsed. So we moved back in together. He has not pressed for sex. He mentions sometimes how he would like it but doesn't force me anymore. I occasionally will initiate in pity. I don't want him to be unhappy but I also don't want to be unhappy.
Neither of us are happy in the current climate of sex. I love to cuddle and be close but if I do that he makes it about sex. We've talked and talked. I've said how I'd 10000000% fine woth an open relationship and he can get his sexual needs met with anyone that will have him. But he is very monogamous and doesn't want to do that. We tried scheduling it but that fell away as I didn't want to do it and I think he felt wrong/pressure from what happened before and didnt want to hurt me again.
I'd be happiest not having any sexual expectations put on me. I'd be happy not being married to him. For more than just the sex reasons. But I literally can't afford to not. Our child is a lot and most if not all day cares won't take him. Not that I can afford daycare even if there was some available and willing to take him on.
I just need to hear other opinions and perspectives.
I know what I think I want to do. But I dont really know if I should.
I come from a broken, poverty home and I dont want to raise my kid like that.
But I also don't want to raise him in a home that doesnt have loving parents.
To add to the issue, my child has moderate/severe disability (All cognitive no physical). My husband is unable to deal with the tantrums and outbursts and everything that comes along with the cognitive disabilities. He yells and restrains him when he cant take it anymore. And it makes me angry. Talking to him about it doesn't have any long term effects.
​
So yeah.. this is the gist of what is going on. If I can get perspective and opinion.. Like i said I know what I think I want to do but.. well Im scared. and I dont know if its the right call. Neither of us are happy but I don't think we'd be especially happy separate either. I want my kid to have a parent that wants him. I want to be happy and I want my husband to be happy.
Oh and before it is brought up we did start some couples therapy but my repulsion to him made us separate and that stopped and now with one income we cant afford it.
And if it makes any difference, we live in WA state.

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 69%. (I'm a bot)

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled in favor of a concrete company in Washington state seeking to revive a lawsuit against the International Brotherhood of Teamsters alleging that a strike damaged its product.
The 8-1 decision written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett means the company, Glacier Northwest Inc., can pursue a lawsuit against the union in state court over an August 2017 strike in which drivers walked off the job, leaving wet concrete in their trucks.
Organized labor advocates had raised concern that a ruling in favor of the company could stifle strike actions by putting unions on the hook for a broad range of potential losses employers can face as a result of such activities.
The Supreme Court's conservative majority has ruled against unions on several occasions in recent years, including a 2018 case in which the court said public sector workers who choose not to join a union cannot be compelled to pay a share of union dues for covering the cost of negotiating contracts.
The Washington Supreme Court ruled for the union in December 2021, saying that any loss of concrete was "Incidental to a strike arguably protected by federal law."
The company was backed by business and anti-union groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which said in a brief that the state court's finding that intentional destruction of property could be deemed a protected activity conflicted with U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

Summary Source FAQ Feedback Top keywords: Court^#1 union^#2 company^#3 ruled^#4 Labor^#5
Post found in /politics, /VaushV, /TrueAnon, /AutoNewspaper and /NBCauto.
NOTICE: This thread is for discussing the submission topic. Please do not discuss the concept of the autotldr bot here.

I worked as a park ranger in Northern Alaska for years, from when I was in my early twenties until my mid-thirties. At first, when I took the job, I was trying to escape, but over time, I learned to love it- the endless wilderness, the snow-capped mountains, the muffled way everything sounded during blizzards. With no light pollution, the stars up there look like tiny chips of diamond. And during the winter, the Northern Lights roll in, twisting and shimmering in strange, alien colors.
But a few years ago, things got much worse. People up here have started to go missing at an alarming rate. And I started having strange experiences around the park and the nature preserve.
One of the strangest parts of my story started on a freezing, dark night in 2018. I was on a snowmobile out in a terrible blizzard. The conditions were nearly to the point of being impassable. The snow was falling so thick and fast that it looked like a moving, shimmering wall of white on all sides of me.
Another ranger, a huge, lumbering man named ‘Ace’ Acosta, pulled up behind me on a second snowmobile. I looked at him, standing six foot six with majestic peaks stretching up into the night sky, and thought about what a great picture this would make. As I was looking around, I saw the faint tracks in the snow. Ace’s snowmobile lights were pointed in their direction, and I had been standing almost on top of them without realizing it- which is fairly easy to do when a few inches of snow are falling every hour.
At first, I thought it was the frozen tracks of an injured animal. I saw the drops of blood soaked into the superficial ice first. Following their direction with my eyes, I realized there were footprints pressed into the frozen crust leading away from me and towards the flat stretch of the tundra. I squinted, getting down on my knees and leaning inwards. I didn’t want to trample the tracks.
I quickly realized I was looking at human footprints- naked human footprints. But who would be out here in December in -40 degree winds without shoes? They would die rapidly out here. Just for me to drive across the tundra on a snowmobile required me to wear three jackets, long-johns, snow pants, thick jeans, a ski mask and multiple layers of socks and gloves with hand-warmers. I wore special water-proof boots with composite toes that wouldn’t freeze like steel toes. And despite all of this, I was still cold.
I moved forward, and saw handprints mixed in with the footprints, all of them bloody. The ice was thick enough to slice open human hands and feet, undoubtedly. The logical conclusion was unshakable- someone had crawled through here, maybe naked, on all fours, and their frozen body would be somewhere up ahead. I sighed, turning to Acosta. He still stood in the same position, his face covered in a red scarf with only his eyes showing. I saw one ice-covered eyebrow raise questioningly.
“I think we got us a body somewhere nearby,” I said, getting back on my snowmobile and starting it. He did the same.
“What kind of freaked-out tweaker would be walking around here without clothes on?” Ace asked in his deep baritone. “Man, I need a hit of whatever that guy’s on. I’ve got two sweaters and two winter jackets on, and I’m still cold. Eh, Kelton? Eh? What do you say?” He started elbowing me jokingly. I frowned, not responding.
Ace always had a smart aleck remark. He was next to me when I was interviewed for this job originally, down at the recruitment center in Washington state. The old lady doing the interviewing was a bloodless, angry-looking specimen of a woman with huge glasses that magnified her eyes twice over. She spat out each of the questions like a drill sergeant talking to fresh meat in the Army.
“Are you a member of any organized religion?” she had asked brusquely. Ace shook his head.
“No, ma’am, but I am a member of a disorganized religion,” he said. “We call ourselves ‘the Servants of the Old Ones’. We’re waiting for the ancient reptilian gods at the bottom of the ocean to awaken. So far, however, they haven’t responded to any of our texts.” I thought about this as I revved the engine twice, a sign that I was about to pull off and that he should stay close.
We took off, going slow and following the tracks as close as possible without destroying them. But the tracks just kept going, the bloodstains seeming to grow fainter as we moved forward- and strangely enough, the distance between the hand and footprints also started to get longer, as if someone were running on all fours and speeding up. We were nearing the beginning of the forest of evergreens when I saw a white flash just up ahead.
The thing that ran from us was humanoid, but I knew at once that it was no person. It ran on hands and feet, totally naked, its skin a pale, lifeless white color. It turned its head towards the lights of the snowmobiles briefly. I saw a hairless creature with skin that clung tightly to its simian body, its lips permanently pulled back from its mouth as if they were eaten away. Underneath it showed mottled black and red gums covered in thick, clotted blood. Its nose appeared as little more than two irregular holes, and its eyes- they reflected the light of the snowmobiles, like the eyes of a raccoon or opossum. They were huge and sunken in its starving, monstrous face.
And I saw what was leaving the bloody trails. The creature was, as far as I could tell, totally uninjured. In its permanently grinning mouth, between rows of crooked, sharp, blood-stained teeth, it held the body of an infant. The baby’s head lolled from side to side, the neck seemingly broken, and blood dripped constantly from its mouth and nose. It had deep puncture marks in its tiny parka, half-rings of teeth marks that must have broken its ribs. The bloodstains on the snow were becoming fainter, because the heart was no longer pumping in the body of the one leaving them.
I had a loaded rifle inside my snowmobile, and kept a 12-gauge shotgun slung around my back, mostly in case of bear or moose attack. I always kept the shotgun loaded with slugs, which were, in my experience, the most versatile ammunition for stopping any large animal. The .308 might take down a polar bear, at least with a good headshot, or it might just piss it off on a bad day. But a shotgun slug to the head or heart will stop any bear or moose in its tracks.
Of course, this was no polar bear ahead of me. For all I knew, it was something far worse. I looked down at the speedometer to see I was going twenty miles an hour, in the dark, in a blizzard. And yet this strange humanoid creature was still losing us, its seemingly never-ending store of energy still sending it forward at a superhuman speed. Its pale, bony legs and arms pumped back and forth so fast that they were just a blur. It kept its sharp teeth around the nape of the dead infant’s neck, like a mother cat carrying its young.
I kept one hand on the steering wheel while trying to free the strap of my shotgun over my head. I slowed down below twenty, and the creature responded by going even faster. It was making a break for the mountain forests that started only a few hundred feet away. I got the gun free and quickly stopped the snowmobile and raised it. I centered the sights, taking a deep breath to steady myself, and fired.
I missed, though I don’t know by how much. Shotguns had the drawback of being significantly less accurate at further distances than the rifle. But by the time I got the .308 out, I knew the creature would have long since disappeared in the thick brush and trees. By this point, Ace had also stopped and opened fire, but the creature had already gone.
“God damn!” Ace screamed. “That was one fast motherfucker. I can’t believe he got away after all that.” I heaved a deep sigh.
“I think we better go find out where he got that baby from,” I said. “We might have a lot more corpses on our hands than we realize.”
***
We found a radio in the snowmobile and messaged in what had happened, or at least the basic gist of it. I left out the part about naked, half-human abominations, and said that it was an unknown animal. There wasn’t much law enforcement up in these parts, because, hell, there were barely any people. The rangers as well as fish and wildlife agents regularly worked with the police officers in small towns, at least those that had police officers. Dozens of the local tribal villages had no police at all. These people would come to forest rangers and fish and wildlife agents most of all, and were always some of the county’s friendliest and most helpful residents.
By the time we got back to the original blood-stained footprints, the snow had covered up the tracks completely. However, based on the direction that the creature had been going and where the tracks had come from, I thought I knew where it might have started. Following the path in a nearly straight line led to the Lutna Peak Trailer Park. Ace and I drove off at max speed across the rolling hills and flat plains, the snow coming faster and heavier now. They say eskimos have dozens of words for snow, and after being a ranger up here, I can say I’ve seen every variation of it a thousand times. This was turning into the kind that was wet with huge flakes and tended to stick to everything. We would probably have to find refuge soon, especially if it got any heavier.
I heard the screaming before I saw the commotion. As we came around the sharp right turn where the dirt road turned into the trailer park, I saw dozens of people out, flitting like gnats around one of the trailers at the back corner of the park. All of the lights were on in that particular trailer, and I saw one woman comforting another who was bent over and crying.
Even though almost everyone knew us here, I pulled out my badge identifying me as a federal law enforcement officer. Up here, all the rangers were technically federal agents, allowed to carry guns and make arrests like typical police, except we were licensed under the Department of the Interior rather than under state law enforcement agencies.
I ran into the trailer, and after one long glance around the place, I knew there was no need to call for any ambulances. Ace followed close behind me, his heavy, thudding footsteps shaking the trailer slightly as he ascended the steps. We said nothing for a long moment. The entire family was dead.
There was blood everywhere, even spotting the ceilings. Most of it had frozen in the cold, and I wondered how long the door had been left open. Body parts were scattered across the floor, an arm in the corner of the room, a head standing up on the kitchen counter, even a random tooth embedded into the sheetrock. The savagery was brutal, and the amount of strength required to carry out such an attack must have been extraordinary.
“I think we’re going to need a lot more people on this than just me and you,” Ace said. I nodded, already bone-tired, and with so much more work to do tonight before I could go to sleep.
We phoned both state and federal authorities in the area. Since much of the land was tribally owned, we had to deal with multiple branches. Eventually we got CSI out there in the middle of a snowstorm, though they had to come from over three hours away. We just secured the scene while we waited, constantly being brought into neighboring trailers where townsfolk would tell us the latest gossip. They also brought us hot coffee and tried to milk us for any information we might have, as they usually did in such situations.
“No, Maggie, honest,” Ace was saying to one old lady wrapped up in an ancient fur coat, “I don’t know any more about it than you do. You can be sure that you’d know if I did.” By that point, police cars were slowly pulling in, one by one. Ace and I told them a simplified version of the night’s events, said goodnight and left the scene to them. I went home and took a scalding hot shower, trying to force the night’s coldness out of my bones. Then I slept deeply, though I had nightmares of that creature’s face turning to me, holding a dead baby in its mouth and marking me with its emotionless, reflective eyes. I didn’t know it then, but that would be the last time I would sleep in a bed for many days.
***
The state police assigned us an officer the next day, stating they wanted an official representative of their interests involved in the case. It was, by this point, a fairly high-priority case. We didn’t even have many assaults or robberies up here, less likely murders, and the murder of an entire family really stirred up the locals. The fact that the CSI techs couldn’t make heads or tails of it made it even worse. They hadn’t even agreed on whether it was done by humans or animals or a combination of the two, like men with fighting dogs who went berserk. With no leads, they wanted us to go back to where we had seen the creature the previous night and see what we could find.
The police officer who would be tagging us, a woman named Officer Melinda Jansen, had the look of someone who just started a new job, and doesn’t realize how terrible it is yet. She was all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and when she shook my hand, she nearly crushed the bones together under her iron grip. I saw Ace wince slightly when he shook her hand too. When she turned her back, he looked at me with one eyebrow raised, as if he were saying, “What can you do?”
It didn’t take us long to find the spot from the previous night. When we got close to the forest where the creature disappeared, I saw a branch that had been hit by a shotgun blast, and knew we were right on the money. In the daytime, I saw that there was a slight, curving trail through the trees here, maybe an old deer trail. It was just wide enough for us to take our snowmobiles through if we went slow. Occasionally, I would have to get off, being in the lead, and move large branches that lay across the path, but overall it was faster going than I had expected.
The trail followed across the top of a rolling hill, went down and then spiraled up around a mountain. We were high now, at least 7,000 feet above sea level, and the view went for hundreds of miles. It was breath-taking, seeing the frozen white landscape below us, mountains lining one horizon and the Arctic Ocean on another. A couple hundred feet ahead of us, however, the trail just stopped. I saw an opening in the mountain. Slowly bringing my snowmobile up, I looked into it and saw what looked like naturally-formed stone hallways.
The halls sloped down at a steep angle without stairs. An eerie silence radiated from the gradually thickening darkness. The other two snowmobiles cut out right behind mine, and Officer Jansen came walking up, flicking on her LED headlamp. Immediately, I saw a strip of light blue cloth. I walked forward, bending down to confirm what I had already suspected: that this was a piece of the missing infant’s clothing.
“That looks like more than enough cause to me. Let’s do this,” Jansen said. “I’d like to be back before sundown.” She kept walking without waiting for confirmation. Ace and I slung on our packs and turned on our headlamps. I tried using the radios and sat-phone to share our location, but neither was working. The bright, artificial lights showed that the natural stone walls of the hall just kept on descending into the mountain. A warm breeze blew past me, an acrid, sulfuric smell following in its wake.
“This is just a body recovery mission at this point,” I whispered to Ace, giving Officer Jansen a wide space so I could talk. “So why are we potentially risking our lives here? We should be waiting for back-up. We both know that the infant is dead, and has been for a while.”
“You know what I think…” Ace whispered conspiratorially, before a low shriek stopped us all in our tracks and ended conversation. I never did get to hear what he thought. By this point, it was much warmer than it had been outside, and I had the urge to start stripping off jackets. The shrieking had intensified, and was now being answered by dozens of others that surrounded further away in the stone halls.
Officer Jansen had pulled out her gun, which I saw with some astonishment was a .454 Ruger, a large caliber gun with good stopping power. I saw enough magazines strapped around her hips to decimate an entire herd of buffalo. I also pulled off my shotgun, making sure it was filled with lead slugs.
“Do you have any idea what we’re up against?” I asked her. Ace was right behind us, his shotgun already cocked and loaded, the muzzle pointed downwards. I was sweating heavily by this point. The air in the tunnel just kept getting warmer. It felt like I was walking into a sauna. Thin clouds of mist and droplets of hot condensation clung to the smooth granite ceilings. The hall continued to descend at the same steep rate, but now I could see something at the bottom: light.
“Not much more than you, really,” Officer Jansen said with a slight sneer. “My only advice is to shoot first and ask questions later. Kill anything that moves. This place has taken a lot of people already, people who were too fat and slow to watch their own backs…” I squinted as I examined the lights. They seemed to emanate from some sort of organism growing on the stone’s surface.
It wasn’t electrical lights, and it certainly wasn’t natural sunlight. It glowed like the lights of millions of fireflies, a purplish-blue color that painted the granite floors and walls in a totally different light. We were walking as quietly as possible by this point, but I still hadn’t seen anyone. We reached the bottom of the stone halls, where strange mushrooms glowed in the darkness, their mycelium giving off that black-light color everywhere as it stretched across the threshold of the opening. I turned off my LED, seeing my comrades do the same, then poked my head through, looking back and forth.
I saw more of those creatures from before, their lips missing, their skin pale, their eyes huge and rabid. They constantly twisted and snapped their heads to the left or right, as if hearing something only they could perceive. Two were dragging an elk that had been mutilated and torn down the middle. Another was dragging an old man’s dead body forward by the upraised legs. I saw the old man’s head was missing, his wrinkled hands trailing behind the body. I watched where all this activity was headed, then I gasped.
A huge, insectile monster sat lazily against the stone wall as these creatures brought it meat. The monster was so fat that I wasn’t even sure it could stand up. It had a blood-red, chitinous exterior with a hood like a rattlesnake’s that extended around its head. Its teeth trembled together constantly as it shoved more gory offerings into its mouth, sending blood gushing forwards in thick clotted rivulets that dripped down its chin. Its long, thin arms had sharp knife-like digits, and its six legs branched like those of a praying mantis, splayed out on each side of its body, shining a dark red color in the strange light of the chamber. Its belly stretched far in front of its body, and with horror, I saw it drop a cluster of eggs, each as big as a dog. Their surfaces writhed and trembled, looking tight and ready to burst at any moment.
The creatures that fed and cared for this monster rushed over, dragging the eggs to the corner of the warm chamber. I saw that there were dozens more of them over there, and that some had already hatched.
Whatever that monster was, it had already given birth, and now those things were walking around, totally free to kill anything, or anyone, they wanted.

I've been a bit away/out of the headphones novelties for a while... so feeling a bit lost here...
Looking for a DAC/Amp to use both on the go (with my android phone) and at home/office with a laptop.
After going through this sub and some online searching I almost got sold on the Hidizs S9 Pro, but I'm a bit concerned about the phone battery draining issue (how bad is it?), especially since my current phone's battery has seen better days... (I'll probably buy a new phone by the end of the year, but in the meantime...)
I don't really have much interest in BT, but I've seen good reviews on the Qudelix 5K and the FiiO BTR5 too, both of which I believe have internal battery, so should be better for my phone, right?
On the other hand I don't have any balanced headphones/IEM, nor any really high end headphones/IEM, so perhaps I should go for something simpler such as the Hidizs S3 Pro or FiiO KA3? Would those also have battery draining issues?
Headphones/IEM I have, that I will/may use with it:

• Sennheiser HD595 (120 ohm version)
• Sennheiser PX100
• Koss KSC75
• Radiopaq Jazz (IEM)

On the go, I'll probably use mostly the Radiopaq IEM, while at home I may use any of the above.
I'm in Europe and these are the prices I can get from Amazon:

• Hidizs S9 Pro - 129 €
• Qudelix 5K - 139 €
• FiiO BTR5 - 139 €
• Hidizs S3 Pro - 79 €
• FiiO KA3 - 102 €

Any other brand/model I should be considering? There are so many brands and models out there these days that I feel a bit lost...
What's currently considered to be the best bang for the buck option in the under-150 or under-100 price range?
TIA

Blessed Mother, I will anoint.
I will enter her gates and drink from her waters. Beneath her wings of sanctuary shall I grow strong. Upon her bosom my name will be known.
Through fire and ice, I will lay bare her beauty. With divine light, she will taste my essence. Lilith will behold my gifts.
Her head will be crushed beneath my boot. Her wings shall be torn.
The Mother shall receive my blessings. Her womb will be devoured by wolves.
Blessed Mother, I will anoint with dirt.
Lilith will no longer cast her rancid scent upon our land.