Hair salons open sunday near me

I'm a 26 year old who just discovered Pink Floyd for the first time a few days ago. I say "discovered", even though I was already familiar with them, because I had only briefly and, more importantly, unconsciously heard their music. It was not until a few days ago that I truly discovered their music, listened to it, and resonated with it. Since then, I have been going down the Pink Floyd rabbit hole through which I especially became enamored with David Gilmour's playing. "Dogs" is one of the most rich, complex, and beautiful songs I've ever heard (which is a fit description for what feels like all their tracks); you become entranced the second the first chord of the song is strummed. It was also through this rabbit hole where it felt like I got a brain massage at 5-star hotel spa by Mark Knopfler's guitar playing in "Sultans of Swing", and I was enraptured by how Hendrix emulated sounds of war and distress with his guitar like an onomatopoeia thunderbolt in his "Star Spangled Banner" performance. Mind you, my music taste had barely touched anything near rock music/psychedelic rock for the past 25.9 years, so this is all very new to me.
​
As a consequence of my recent listening experiences, I have been struck by the regret of not having learned guitar thus far, but the second best time is now. So, my redemption arc is to learn it. With that being said, which Stratocaster model should I get that could best radiate, and allow me to capture the essence of the music that I've been listening to the past few days? My budget is probably around $1900-$2000. I've heard a lot of good things about the American Pro II, open to any recommendations.

We (40m, 38f,ADHD) have been married for over 10 years and together for twice as long. We are in a relationship drought at the moment. We've both been incredibly busy with work & study, and we have two young children who have special needs. We have no time for ourselves or each other We are exhausted and our relationship is suffering. I sleep on the couch most nights as he snores and I have a lot of trouble getting to sleep (I'm constantly thinking about mine/kids/his to-do list, it takes a long time for my brain to turn off).
We do enjoy each other's company and we are best friends, it just feels like we are share housing at the moment. Sex is very infrequent. I'm usually up late pulling all-nighters due to work deadlines, he's so tired because of the kids. I've tried initiating things but he keeps falling asleep or seems uninterested. We are both struggling with some weight gain due to stress and lack of time to be active as we both have high-pressure jobs. I am finding myself unconfident being naked around him (My thoughts are "Why would he want to look at this disgusting body") But I feel terrible that I'm less attracted to him physically as well. He coughs up things, loudly farts, burps, Which is all normal and nothing new in our long relationship, but it seems excessive, more like how he would act having a weekend with the boys (even though his friends are not like that), and it's repulsing me. I am not perfect either and so I just try and change my mindset and move on to other things. I have suggested things like teeth whitening together, or doing a skincare routine together but he feels insulted, so I just leave it alone. He's on his phone a lot, even when we do grocery shopping he'll be on his phone doing god knows what, while I'm chasing the kids around. I always joke and tell him to stop talking to his girlfriends. He's always been faithful and introverted so I've never taken the joke seriously until recently. The other day he was on his phone again and I made the joke again. He then said "Well that's something we haven't really tried, the open relationship thing," I thought he was just doing a joke thing back at me, but the more it's playing in my head the more and more I wonder if that's what he wants, or maybe he has someone else in mind he'd rather be with. After such a long time in a monogamous relationship switching the type of relationship wouldn't really work for me and it would have to be quits. also he knows all my passwords and access to my phone usually we are both pretty open and have no secrets, but lately he seems really possessive over his personal phone. Like stresses out a lot if it's not on him 24/7.
I know deep down this is my fault. I've become old, fa,t and busy, not something he signed up for in this marriage. I'm trying my best to lose weight trying to cut back at work, looking after my skin hair and dressing better but it's very hard and adding to my stress levels of more things I have to do, the little changes I have made haven't seemed to make much of a difference to him anyway,
Do you think I'm reading too much into his comment? I tend to overthink and play scenarios out in my head. I'm too scared to discuss it with him as I'm scared to find out he has been/wants to be with someone else.

Hi! So I’ll try to be as clear as possible about what I’m looking for. I’ve taken a minute off of dating completely and I have a really good idea of what I’m looking for in a relationship.
First, if you’re just looking for a text buddy or something “online”, I’m not for you. I’m open to meeting someone from anywhere, as I realize what I’m looking for might not be right down the street. But I’m not looking for months of endless texting. I’m looking for something real. Distance isn’t an issue, I literally solve problems for a job, but if you’re not open to living in the gorgeous Pacific Northwest I’m probably not for you. I moved here a few years ago and I’m absolutely in love with it.
Anyway, about me. I guess in a nutshell I’m the most athletic nerd you’ll ever meet. I’m 5’8”, brown hair and green eyes. I play and coach soccer. I’m out on my mountain bike as often as possible. I love books, video games, crosswords, medical journals, and my dog and cat. I have a happy, chill little life that I love. After taking a minute away from dating I’ve decided I should probably make room for the right person. I’m not looking for a girl. I’m looking for “the” girl. Also no one thinks I’m 42. Most people guess early 30s and are shocked to find out my actual age.
About you: Small to medium sized. Cute. Sweetheart. AFFECTIONATE. Not constantly depressed. Loves animals. Wants something serious/long term. Funny is a bonus. Clingy is fine, as I keep my close friends circle pretty small.
Sexually: I’m pretty (very) Dom. So please at least lean submissive if not full blown. I don’t want to punch you in the face or anything, but choking, light slapping, and a good girl that gets hot being told what to do and loves getting praise for it is insanely attractive. I love affection. Kissing, touching, contact. Please LOVE having a guy go down on you. Please love holding hands in public. There is nothing hotter than a girl who acts like she knows who she belongs to.
Annnnnyway, if I sound like your type send me a message. I have some NSFW stuff on my profile if you’re curious. 🙂. Talk to you soon!
https://www.redgifs.com/watch/agitatedstableislandwhistler

Hey all,
​
I've created a throwaway for this, but recently I have had some issues in my relationship and I am hoping that this community may be able to offer some advice. I'm not extremely familiar with the subreddit, so please feel free to pull this if any rules have been violated or to direct me to a better place to post. However, in the little time that I have lurked, I have found this subreddit to be populated by generous people who all seem to give reasonable advice. Due to the particulars of my situation, I think this may be the appropriate place to post and I would greatly appreciate any advice from more experienced members of this community. It's a bit of a long story, so thank you in advance for your time and consideration.
​
My fiance and I have been together for over five years. Altogether, we have a wonderful relationship. She is an absolute darling and I cannot imagine another person better suited for me. I believe she feels the same. We are recently engaged and I am overjoyed to be spending the rest of my life with her.
​
Throughout the course of our relationship we have had a policy of nonmonogamy. We both love each other greatly, but also understand that novelty and new experiences are attractive. Neither of us wants to feel betrayed by a natural urge to seek out someone else for a night or two. While we talk about this frequently, neither of us had found much cause to seek outside relationships. I have asked her to always tell me if she does find someone else she is interested in or chooses to sleep with, I feel as though openness is one of the only things that can sustain an open relationship, and I don't want to allow suspicion or resentment to corrupt our love.
​
In the past, when we first started dating, she had a few flings with some other men. The first she didn't tell me about until I confronted her with clear evidence. Following that discussion, she reaffirmed her intention to tell me if anything were to happen, so that suspcion does not take root.
​
I travel a lot and my last job had me out on a boat for three months. The conditions for both of us were not ideal, we both have a history of depression and both of us were experiencing a degree of it while we were separated. I was not able to give her the support she needed and I believe she may feel that she was somehow lacking in her support of me. Given the circumstances of the job and the grinding and unpleasant nature of those three months, I do not believe that she is at fault at all in this.
​
However, near the end of the contract, she told me that she had slept with a guy. My initial reaction was poor. I had hoped that there was an understanding that, even if we espoused nonmonogamy, we would see fit to remain monogamous while the other was away. I had turned down advances in the past over concern that she might feel jealous or insecure. Now, on reflection, I realize that that was an unfair assumption to make. If anything good has come out of this situation so far, it is the realization that we can continue this relationship, and practice nonmonogamy, without the need for jealousy. While my initial reaction was one of anger and insecurity, all born from jealousy and longing, I no longer feel that way. We were able to discuss the situation and I am very comfortable with the possibility of her sleeping with other people and with the fact that she has slept with this individual while I was out of town. In fact, I feel a degree of security in it, knowing that this will not destroy the relationship, that jealousy fades and does not need to come up again, and knowing that I am free to make advances and take up other advances without fear of harming my fiance.
​
I had asked her to, for the duration of the rest of my contract, refrain from sleeping with anyone else. I was feeling very insecure and wanted to be able to simply cap this episode until we had time to see each other and work through it. She agreed and, while I had suspicions, I believed her. Since I have been home she has told me that she had slept with a few others before this individual, people she had neglected to tell me about at the time, and that she had also continued to see this individual for a period of about a month after our initial discussion, all while assuring me that she was not. She had, one night soon after our first conversation, gone out drinking and later met up with this guy. When I had tried to call her that evening, we talked every evening, she had ignored the phone calls and turned off her phone. I was at a loss, stuck on a boat, and frantic. I thought she was dead on the side of the road, arrested for DUI, or seeing another person and cutting me out. Eventually, the next morning, I did speak to her. She lied, said that she had simply forgot to charge her phone.
​
That night sticks with me, it may seem hard to believe, but it is almost certainly the worst I have felt within our entire relationship. Eventually, when I was back home and believed we were being open and honest with each other, I asked her directly if she had been with another man that evening. She lied to me a few times, and then eventully told me the truth. Later that night she told me about the other people she had slept with while I was gone. I appreciate that she is being honest now, it's not something she had to come forward with, but I am extremely hurt by her lies of omission and commission.
​
I had been open and honest with my fiance throughout this period. I had poured my heart out and had been lied to about things we had promised to tell each other. I feel as though she has cheated on me, I feel betrayed and suspicious. I am not accustomed to feeling anger or insecurity with her, but I have been intermittently dominated by these emotions since this has begun to come out. She has promised to be honest in the future, and promised to be honest about anything that may have happened in the past, but I find it extremely hard to accept that. I often feel compelled to ask her if there is anything she is not telling me, or to ask her to talk with me about these previous episodes. My intention is not to bring up things that may hurt her, but I feel that the only way I will be able to accept and move through this period, to trust her again, is to be able to approach this from a position of complete and open honesty.
​
She has expressed many times that she is being honest. She has also expressed that she wishes we could just move on. This is the reason she has given for withholding information once I was back in town, and for not wanting to speak about this at any depth. There is nothing I want more than to move past this, but there are times when I cannot lay next to her without betrayal and anger boiling in me, when I cannot help but bring this up again and try to lay the details bare. I am afraid that I will push her away, or reinforce her sense that by being honest she is making me unhappy and harming our relationship. I do not want her to feel as though I am asking her not to sleep with anyone else, or to have to hide any relationships she does have. In order to bring closure I need to believe she is being honest and forthcoming, but I'm afraid my insistence upon this will drive her to dishonesty and widen the rift between us.
​
This woman is my world. I do not want to harm our relationship, and so I'm writing this post to seek help and advice from this community. I don't have friends who I would be able to discuss something like this with, I don't believe the conventional wisdom that someone cheating ought to end a relationship. However, I also feel torn and hurt and don't know how to digest and move past this. I want to spend the rest of my life with her. I cannot imagine allowing this to open a rift between us, but I also cannot bring myself to live in suspicion or insecurity.
​
I greatly appreciate all those who will take the time to read this, and I look forward to hearing from people who may have worked through a similar situation before or have any advice that they can offer. Thank you for your time and help.

TLDR at end.
Throughout my childhood, my sister (28/f) and I (36/f) were very close with my father (68/m). He was a very involved parent, coaching our youth sports teams and leading school parental advisory committees. He played board games with us and shuttled us around to our friends’ houses. In short, wonderfully involved father.
Our parents divorced 20 years ago. Approximately 6 years ago, my father met Deb (60/f). The two of them dated for a few years prior to Dad moving in with Deb. Without getting into details for the sake of brevity, Deb never really meshed with many (any?) of Dad’s family or friends. She’s very outspoken, abrupt, and judgmental, and shows very clear signs of narcissistic personal disorder (NPD). She also shows behaviours that have me wondering if she takes advantage of my father financially. My sister and I have really tried to foster a positive (or at least passable) relationship, but it hasn’t been working.
Two years ago, my Dad and Deb moved to an island near Deb’s hometown, away from the rest of my Dad’s family and friends. Apart from being geographically isolated, Dad has started to interact less and less with his friends and family. Soon after moving to the island, Deb announced that my sister and I were no longer allowed to visit my Dad and Deb’s house on the island; if my Dad wanted to see us, he’d have to travel to another state to visit us at our homes only.
My Dad has tried reasoning with Deb but she is steadfast in forbidding us to visit their house. Deb has stated that if he allows us to visit, she will end their relationship. She is unwilling to partake in group or individual counselling to discuss the matter and seek a resolution, despite Dad and I working with a counsellor to try and get through this (counsellor concluded Deb had to be at the table to find a resolution). Dad has said he doesn’t want to be alone at his age, and enjoys travelling and activities with her, so he’s not open to giving her an ultimatum in our defense.
This is causing my sister and I (and our young families/Dad’s grandchildren) a lot of pain. While I do love my father, I feel hurt and frustrated that he is simply ‘accepting’ these ultimatums and not sticking up for his family to Deb’s emotional abuse. I feel that a healthy relationship is reciprocal, and as such, have told my Dad that if we’re no longer allowed to visit his house, it’s likely we won’t see him as often and our relationship (including with grandchildren) will deteriorate. I just can’t retain my childhood image of him as the ideal father knowing that he’s not willing to stick up for us to Deb.
Am I making the right choice by telling my father that if he doesn’t stick up for his family to his emotionally abusive NPD partner, I’m unwilling to accommodate a non-reciprocal relationship, and will likely have a lesser opinion of him as a fathegrandfather, and see him much less frequently?

First of all. We were there in 21, and I think we were the only ones who had a good time. It was our first festival so maybe we don't know what a well run fest is.

1. Zach killed it. I was looking for the post down about 180 days ago crying he was a headliner saying he didn't deserve it. I wonder if OP went this year. The energy on Saturday was all him, and he didn't disappoint. He also showed up on stage with two other artist on both days. I wonder if he thinks the same now? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--7tVUDMj3o
2. Lines, water, food, bathrooms, and shade were all better. Even local medias biggest issue is ride shares/traffic/hotels. (Legit gripe, but also LEX isn't set up for that. RB literally added 1/5 of the total population to the city.) Would love to see better logistics if they continue at Red Mile.
3. The Lineup was 100% my jam.
4. Performance highlights.
   1. Marcus Mumford - Kansas City
   2. Nathaniel Ratliff - I'm on your side.
   3. Head and the Heart - Rivers and Roads (Bonus ZB duo too.)
   4. Weezer - My name is Jonas.
   5. Sierra Ferrel - Don't let me Down (Beatles cover)
   6. Nickle Creek - Light house tale
   7. Lol. Sheryl Crow dropping "This song is older then your mom"
   8. Zach - Oklahoma Smoke Show.

Overall was a incredible time.
Complaints.
Saturday the vibe was awesome. Sunday UK kids wanted to fight everyone to the front so they could GenZ and talk instead of watching the music. Why did you fight your way down to Limestone to face the other way to fight about football while music was on. Douche bags you're not that cool. Go home.
Acoustics near Limestone were off. Clearly had a lot of technical issues. Weird static, Guitars dropping out, sounded better at the entrance. Weird.
Overall. 9/10. Great success see y'all next year!!!

Thought I'd share why I had been out for a while and while I cannot share too much, wanted to shed some light into what I have been up to. Decided to slowly get back into the game with a mix of dating apps, some daygame, and nightgame over the weekends. Shut off almost all of reddit and decided to go all in on game yet again. Pulled off 3 lays in one week.
Lay 1: Half-Asian and Half-White mix from New York.
I was at an outdoor bar the Saturday before this one and had done a handful of approaches. Night starts out rough as I try to chat with a couple of blondes but get brutally rejected. I keep probing and then hit it off really well with this tall brunette with a tan. Things were going well but her friends find her and practically drag her away. I cannot do a thing about it. Lately, I have been gaming solo since I find wingmen to be highly unreliable.
So I keep at it and then out of nowhere as I am heading to one of the nearby bars to order my first drink, I run into this one girl wearing a tanktop and yoga pants. We chat a bit and banter. She went to school at Marist and played Volleyball there, was in her 20s too. She was tall but I had a couple of inches on her given that I am 6 ft (or slightly below lol).
I decide to move her from one end of the bar to the next and get no resistance from her. Then I try to figure out her logistics but she says she is with a few friends. I look over and notice a couple of her friends seem gay and the others are these white girls who look chill. So I decide to get her IG and then keep talking to her. As the friends come over, I talk to them as well. They were all cool but I know not to talk to them too much.
To my surprise, they let me talk to the girl but then I work my familiarity of the city's nightlife scene to my advantage. Propose to all friends that I know of a great rooftop with nice views and we can go there, they decide to go with me. I know a few of the staff at the rooftop and they get us a decent spot to sit in. Friends get a little drunk and the girl is only somewhat drunk. I pull her off to a more secluded part of the rooftop and propose we go to my place. She pushes back but I hang around.
After that, we make out a bit and I tell her we should check on her friends. Two of them are heading back and I propose to the girl we check out my place, she is now down for it. Pull her back and as soon as we get to my place, we start making out. I take off her top and suck on her tits. As soon as she gets in just her panties, I could not help but smack her ass and bite and kiss those cheeks, she loved it. I smash with protection on that night and then we chill nude on my couch watching Netflix. I get hard again and she blows me while we are watching a horror movie.
We then fuck again a couple of hours later, protection on obviously, and go to sleep. Wake up in the morning and this time I hit it raw but we ended up spending the morning and the afternoon together nude fucking. She proceeds to tell me that she loves Indian guys and has a thing for them but just not many "bold" ones up in New York. Wow, my theory was right. I keep in touch but she has to fly back the next morning, a fun lay after a long time.
Lay 2: Armenian girl from LA.
I went out daygaming that Sunday and was hitting a lot of brick walls, ended up not getting much of anything at first. Then I saw this Kendall Jenner lookalike and decided to shoot my shot. The girl was shockingly receptive and after a long while of talking, probably 10 minutes, I got her IG. She could not go on a date because she had to meet friends for dinner and it was getting kind of late too (like 7). The next day, we go on a date but I make it near where I live. She loved the drinks and the bartenders + staff at the place know me well.
We talk and I banter with her on and on and on, teasing her a good deal. Finally, I decide to show her my spot which has a nice rooftop view. She tells me I better not try anything and I look at her puzzled. Take her to my spot, show her a nice view, and then try to get intimate. No one else is around and it is just us so I go for the kiss which I get no resistance from.
Then I tell her I have one better view to show her, she says "uuhhh you are not going to pull me into your bedroom are you?". I tell her "not exactly". She goes along and I pull her to my apartment, she loves it and she loves the view I get. Then I get intimate with her again and end up smashing. We once again do it a few times but then she says she has to see her friends at the club. We shower nude together before I have to kiss her goodbye. She was actually really fun too but so sad that she has to leave.
Lay 3: Korean and White mix from LA.
This one was just the past Friday night for me. I was at a huge bar and striking out to start the night. After that, I chat up these two girls, one was a tall redhead and another was this brunette with exotic looks. I grab a guy who seemed to be by himself that night and introduce him to the redhead as I talk to the brunette. The brunette laughed and said "smooth", I sort of ignored it. She tells me she is from LA and I jokingly say "yeah and ur Armenian", she says she is Korean and white.
We seemed to hit it off well from the start, she let me touch her and all. The redhead is making out with the guy I introduced her to and I make out with my girl, not much resistance. We spend a lot of the night together with her grinding on me and me kissing her behind the ears, gently. She was down for it and I tell her that I got some nice rooftop views for her, she agrees.
Take her to my spot, show her a nice rooftop view, make out some more, bring her back to my apartment, and smash. Just like with the first Asian and white mix, I ate her out and we fucked multiple times that night. Woke up next to each other and fucked probably 3 times that morning, twice without protection.
She later tells me that she is into Indian guys....
This is not the first time I have heard of Hapa girls being into Indian dudes.....
But yeah, sadly she has to leave as she was a tourist :(

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

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

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

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

Married professional looking for ongoing mouth relief after a stressful day. Unable to host but open to working from your place while you're under my desk pleasuring me during a work call.
6'3 and about 210 lbs here. Pretty attractive, curly hair, beard. Women only.

My ex best friends have done many things like putting a dead fish in my new (to me) car and opening the doors of my said car while I was driving on the highway going like 70+ mph anyways thats not all... while I first started dying my hair... they put nair in my hair coloring... I thought I was having an allergic reaction to it or something because it smelled like actual 💩 for weeks and clumps were falling out... I didn't find out they did it until they put ketchup on said car and the acid took the paint off where the ketchup was (so in strips) and a mutual friend said that they were bragging about it... their reasoning... "we just wanted to see how you would react" I cried everyday for two years because I had 2, TWO, bald spots and had to think about them everyday... my best friend... for a long time... I would even hang out in her house as a best friend and listen to her and was there for her,.. and she had the audacity...
Well she liked a guy and he was already married but they liked each other and she wanted to see him and babysit his kids... I was like sure whatever idc what you do (this was a few months before shit went down) and she was going to leave for a few months to fuck a married guy... she got pregnant by his BROTHER, I was growing my hair out for over 5 years... she even threatened that she could get my husband kicked out of my country... (I have proof of some of this and especially text messages froooom 2018 about her threat to my husband... he was and is here legally).
They have done even more... and now after over five years... her and the other girl (the master mind behind all of this bs... literally...) sent my husband and I ($1 to my husband today by my ex bf and then 25 cents and then 50 cents after I sent it back with a thumbs down 👎🏻 emoji...) is maybe harassing us idk 🤷🏼‍♀️ using a money app.... Should I empty the skeletons out of the closet? I would do it probably on tik tok as videos would be easier I think... I would have kept it all in the past, but since they brought up this psychological warfare... after over five years of no contact... they shouldn't get away with it anymore. Should I out them or no?

-...
*tap tap tap*
Steps were heard. It was the only thing that made sound.
-...
*tap tap tap*
This place probably had sounds, and music, and chatter, and shouts
-...
*tap tap tap*
And yet this.... city, it would seem, didnt have any.
An unusual thing for a city. Sound is a very common thing in any place inhabited by people.
-...
*tap tap tap*
But, that is assuming the city had humans that would make sound.
There were humans though
-...
*tap tap tap*
They were dead humans
Corpses
A city populated by the dead. Whenever they died recently or years ago, it wouldt matter
Because even then, his steps were the only thing that could be heard
-...
*tap tap tap*
There was one living thing though. One thing that can definitly be called alive.
it looked like a young human, with blonde hair, a black coat, a white shirt, black pants and gloves. He seemed to be probably 22, maybe 23. It looked like a regular human
But can it be called human?
Biologically, probably not. It had organs similar to humans. It had bones. It had blood. But humans normally need to drink, eat, sleep and defecate. And the thing didnt do any of those thing for at least a week.
Mentally, probably not. Its thought process was definitly similar, but it had an instinct. An instinct that he couldnt ignore no matter what.
-...
*tap tap tap*
A desire to kill
Not to just kill, but to kill a certain someone. Certain someones
-...
*tap tap tap*
It was here to kill the only other living thing this city inhabited
It could sense it. It was drawing him to go. To find. To Kill.
It was closer
*tap tap tap*
and closer
*tap tap tap*
and closer
*tap tap tap
and clo...
The thing's thoughts were interrupted. The wall of the building on his right suddendly exploded. Surprised, it tried to defend itself, but whatever has destroyed the wall was faster and, seemingly, grabbed his whole body. It could not see it well because of the dust, but once it grabbed him, it saw it more clearly
it was... an arm. A giant, skeletal, blue, shining arm. Big enough that the hand was capable of completely enveloping its body. Its blue light wasnt shining enough to blind him, but it was still annoying. It looked like made of bones, but it was stronger.
The arm began to close harder, nearly squishing it. It was enough force that a normal human would be turned into a salsa of blood and bones. It hurts, but it was still calm. In order to escape the hand, the blonde thing also made an anormal thing.
Cold suddendly began to surround the thing and hand, freezing. Ice began to form, inmobilizing the hand. And then, suddendly, it exploded into a cold blast. The hand was desintegrated, but the thing was completely fine.
The moment it was liberated, he inmediatly run torwards the hole of the wall. It needed to find the person. it needed to kill. However, it didnt need to run, because the enemy went out. A gigantic skull, just as blue and shining as the arm, came out, destroying the rest of the wall and the building the wall was connected to. The blond one inmediatly did a long jump backwards, trying to avoid the impact. from the head, the rest of the body fully come out, and now the enemy was fully visible
It was like a skeleton, but with a few key differences. The size was great, probably close to 30, 40 meters tall. It was glowing, blue. It had a total of 6 arms, with four of them connecting with the spine. the spine also had spikes coming out. Its ribcage seems to open and move.
And from the ribcage, someone was there. A person was there. It had blonde hair, a light blue coat and black pants. But that wasnt the most important part. the most important part was the fact that it looked exactly like him. the same hair. the same face. the same body shape. the same clothing style (but with different colors). the same size. They looked like twins or clones.
-...heh. didnt expect another one here- his manner of speech seemed like dull surprise. He didnt expect it but it wasnt completely out of expectations- may you tell me your number?
-...16...-it responded
-ok then, Caski16- the skeleton raised its arm. it was ready to slam. the thing, now named Caski16, readied his muscles and made frost appeared in his hand-... die
and so, a battle began

It's good to see you again, I'm sure you've been pretty busy lately. Don't bother ordering anything to eat, this shouldn't take that long. A drink might be in order though. Something strong. Nothing for me, thanks, I've work to do soon.
Now, while a social call would be pleasant I'm afraid I've reached out to you for some important business. I have seen the risen body of the king.
Sit down! Quiet. No need to make a scene, now. I can answer your questions once I've said my piece. We can leave the why for later, it's a bit complicated. Was a bit complicated. Simpler now, but... hard to explain. The how is an easier place to start.
You might think there's no way to slip by unnoticed somewhere as restricted as the exclusion zone - that they'd have sensor drones and satellites flag you the moment you stepped in and you'd be removed within minutes. In most places you'd be right, but the valley of the tomb is not most places. I'm sure you remember the beginning of the raid, before any of us knew what we were getting into. The whole place was covered in a haze so thick we had to tie ropes to eachother just to stay together, and what little sunlight made it through came down wrong. A thin, fetid color that should have been a beautiful gold but felt more like the yellow of rancid grease. The only other light that didn't die five feet from its source was from the constant flashes of actinic lightning that just so happened to drown out any radio signals.
I suppose they could set up the borders farther away, but honestly? I don't think they want to. Nobody sane would ever think of getting in, and they know they're not stopping anything that comes out. Better to let themselves think nothing comes in or out, that the exclusion zone is a formality to keep out the occasional crazy from wandering in. I think they're scared that if they keep too close an eye on things they'll see something that breaks that assumption. Something they don't want to think about.
I'm rambling a bit. The important part is that the only thing keeping me out was the patrols. They weren't much trouble though. Even outside the fog that place wears on you. Keeps you from sleeping right. Makes you feel like someone's watching. A few months of that, and I made sure to go in right before they got rotated out, and it's not hard to write off that figure in the distance as a trick of the mind.
Once I made it inside I knew things had gotten worse. The first few dozen yards were the same but past that I soon reached a point where no sunlight reached the ground at all. I found my way first by the the constant flashes of lightning, and, when even they had been eaten by the choking fog, and my flashlight served only to illuminate a yard or two ahead of my feet, by the pull of that damned place. I suppose I could feel it to begin with, that it was why I went back to begin with, but it was always in the background... Still calling me but ignorable, at least for a time... You can feel it too, right? Just over that hill to the North......
On second thought maybe I will have a drink. One moment.
Much better. Now, back to the story. It took me about an hour to reach our old base camp. I thought for sure it would have been destroyed but... Hmm? Well, yes, I did come from the opposite direction, but you're thinking too literally. A place like that is very abstract, much more about the journey you see, and the journey I set out on started with darkness, then the base camp, then the tomb, and then... I'll leave the end for the end, but the point is that I couldn't have passed them in any other order. It's like a story - the order is fixed once the book is printed.
From that explanation you might think the camp twisted into some metaphorical mockery of itself, or perhaps ruined to symbolize mankind's weakness, or some other similar thing, but what I came across impacted me far more deeply. It was intact. No, not intact, preserved. I've seen the old base camps from when we were cleaning out bandits, old tents abandoned for just a couple years to the sand when it was deemed not worth recovering them until we came along for some late cleanup, and it's amazing how fast the elements set to work on something not meant to stay in one place for more than a few days. It had been there for nearly a decade, with all the equipment we'd brought left in place, and yet not a speck of dust had found it.
I'm sure you recall how we were found afterwards, lying in the arid scrublands just outside the storm with nothing but our jumpsuits. I found our arms and armor there as well, neatly folded and placed in footlockers. Whatever made us flee, we didn't run in a panic - we calmly put everything in its place and simply walked away. We all said that we ran, though, that we had been chased. Isn't that curious to you? Probing my memory before the incident I still recalled panic, being paralyzed before an overwhelming presence, and yet I had nothing afterwards. Not a single clear image from after we breached the tomb. I said we ran because all I could remember was the fear, and that was the explanation that made the most sense of things.
At first I thought there wasn't much for me there besides the realization. The fuel cells had all gone dead, of course, and our records were all stored on the camp's computers. When I attempted to retrieve the memory cards, however, I found them gone - not just the cards themselves but the caddies that would normally extend to receive them. Propping open the spring-loaded slot and turning my flashlight to it, I could see that the entire computer was not without power, it had been entirely hollowed out. I will admit to having fallen into a bit of a panic at that, blindly tearing apart anything else electronic - no doubt the old base camp will prove far less preserved for whoever managed to stumble upon it next - but in all of them I found the same result. Even the displays had been stripped of their circuitry, leaving only black panels with not even a scrap of wire dangling from them to indicate they had ever been used as part of a larger device. Thankfully we'd taken purely mechanical weapons on that first expedition, and I took the opportunity to arm myself before proceeding, with great trepidation, to the tomb itself.
It was not similarly untouched. Most of the outer walls were intact, at least from what little I'd seen - those walls of some unknowable black material, broken up by countless gold adornments and engraved with what looked like stories of some great god-king. Carvings that would have found themselves perfectly at home in the stone burial halls of ancient Merkat or Hattesh, although I concede to not having looked too closely. I was far more focused on that great door where we had made our original entrance.
It had taken us hours to make that hole after the door had refused to open, even with the explosives at our disposal, and while the gap itself was thankfully still there, the edges had started to heal. That word, heal, is very important - nobody was rebuilding it. I saw no evidence of tools nor worldly methods of repair. Instead the edges had grown over with a bulging, fibrous mass that I took to be scar tissue. I attempted to take a sample, to see if any of the scientists could tell me its makeup, but it was just as cold and unyielding as the false-stone which surrounded it. I hurried inside after that, secure at least in the knowledge that if it was still growing the stiffness of it would make the process so slow as to not impede my escape.
Once inside the pull was much stronger, to the point I could barely resist it. Whatever those black walls had been made of was proving itself effective as insulation. I soon found myself abandoning any further investigation, only barely restraining myself from sprinting as I made my way into the central burial chamber...

Reminder that English is not my native language, I translated this using my own knowledge of English and the use of translation tools, if you find any errors please let me know.
​
Morikawa and Matsui went out of that Karaoke room, but they both stayed in front of the door, refusing to look at each other and understanding little by little the madness they had just done and witnessed.
Matsui began to feel horribly ashamed; the excitement had disappeared and then he understood that he kissed without permission Morikawa, touched her breasts, and licked them. Embarrassment began to invade him, he felt stupid and scared what would Morikawa think of him now? The desire to run away was getting stronger and stronger.
He looked towards the end of the corridor seeing the exit of the Karaoke, it's not far, he can just run away, escape from this hopeless situation.
But hadn't he done the same with Yoshizuka after their dance? That had brought no good.
He charged up his courage and looked at Morikawa with more effort than he should have started to speak "I-I... I beg your pardon" he said his voice broken and sounding almost like a whisper, expecting at any moment Morikawa's outburst towards his person.
Morikawa also had to find some courage to look at the boy, things aren't any better for her after all, she had done something rather obscene with him.
She didn't know how to feel about that, Matsui has always been somewhat complicated for her, does she like him? It's kind of confusing, she always feels good with him, talking or just hanging out and she felt jealous and hurt when she saw him dancing with Yoshizuka and the other girl.
And worse was now, despite everything they witnessed what made her hotter than anything else was Matsui's touch on her, her body, her breasts more precisely her mouth, all of that felt much more stimulating than any touch she would have given herself alone.
And when she heard him apologize, she could only ask "Pardon for what?" she questioned not understanding why those words.
"I-I kissed you without permission" Pronounced the boy "I touched you" he said mortified by that act.
Morikawa thought if she should feel bad about that, the answer came fast as a no, she liked what he did to her, it was embarrassing because everyone was watching them, and she definitely would have preferred their first time like that to be in a more private place where they both had the time to go further.
"Y-you don't have to apologize, if you really had done it without my permission, I would have pushed you... That... I liked that, what we did" Hearing it Matsui couldn't believe her.
She liked what he did to her, it certainly stroked his pride in a good way.
"r-really?" He questioned still not quite believing it.
She nodded with some embarrassment.
That made them both stand in silence looking at each other, it took several minutes before what comes from talking to each other settled in their minds.
"So, should we go back home?" asked Matsui.
"Sure... My parents will get restless if I don't come back early" Morikawa replied.
That said, they both walked out of the karaoke, holding hands.
A few hours passed since then and both had returned to their respective home, the shower Matsui took was good to free his mind from the great confusion that had taken over him from the day's events.
It was calmer that it then dawned on him what should have been the most important thing... He had been invited to an orgy.
Clearly, he didn't surprise them, they were doing it and expected him to arrive, he had been invited to an orgy of guys he barely knows.
His phone rang with the sound of a message, he picked it up and looked at Uchida's number.
"Did you like what you saw?" Says the message sent by the bold girl who the week before had been talking to him almost non-stop.
Matsui didn't know what to answer her, he had seen her give Kido a fellatio, of course he heard her moan, so she was probably naked having sex, but at that moment he was completely focused on Morikawa.
"What was that all about?" he answered her by throwing himself on his bed.
"That was our little group activity, the four of us had unlimited fun... Although seeing how you and the president acted, I should better say the six of us had unlimited fun" Matsui looked at the message, not knowing at all what to reply.
He feels that any message he can send may end up condemning him, he tries to think things through calmly, gather his thoughts and breathe calmly, but that is proving to be somewhat useless.
What should he answer? Uchida is getting him and Morikawa into a bunch of orgies.
"Are you all right?" uttered a female voice that snapped him out of his thoughts and his growing panic.
His mother looks at him from the entrance of his room.
"I heard you, start breathing hard and so I opened up to see what's going on" Pronounced the woman approaching her son who seemed to have just come from going through a rather stressful experience.
"I-I... I think I almost had a panic attack" Matsui realized where these doubts had almost taken him.
"Horrible thing that, I had a few at your age" His mother pronounced stroking his hair gently after sitting on the bed.
"You?" the boy asked confused "I don't see you having a panic attack."
"Maybe not now, but when I was young... When I was young, I used to panic about not living up to the expectations placed on me, that's why I'm always nice to you, I don't want you to feel that burden."
His mother was the one who taught him dance and it is true that Matsui has no memory of her ever being very severe with him how he had seen other dance instructors, she was always understanding and patient congratulating his successes and letting him know of his failures, but never aggressively, maybe that's why is mother has a strong character and he a weak one.
"That... That made me weak."
"Weak?" Questioned his mother as if he came from saying the most absurd thing "Honey you danced in front of a group of professionals at the age of 7 without the slightest hint of embarrassment, at 13 you danced sensual tango with a woman twice your age to the point that I had to keep her away from you for a while because she was starting to look at you funny after that" That last Matsui didn't know.
"But... That's when I dance, outside of that I'm shy and... God I can't even manage to speak clearly to the girl I like after all we've done" His mother sighed listening to him.
"You know your father is the expert at this. I admit to not being the most empathetic and the one who can least relate to how you feel, but I know you honey. When you dance or when you don't, you are a strong and brave little man, you are not a comic book character, you don't transform into someone else when you dance, you are the same precious son of mine" She pressed a kiss to his forehead, an act of gentleness rarely present in his mother "Whatever it is that has you like this I know you can cope."
She gave him one last smile before walking out of the room, leaving him alone.
Matsui watched his mother leave going over the conversation he comes from having with his mother in his head.
"I'm the same person... Dancing or not dancing... It's me... Just me" he let out a sigh, picked up the phone and answered the message.
He put the phone aside and lay down on the bed.
The message Matsui put to Uchida was "I'm sorry, I don't want to participate in something like that" It was something simple, but also something that cost him a lot, since after all, by refusing, he knows that he is forever turning away from Uchida, Yoshizuka and if Morikawa agrees to join them... Then also from her.
With all his heart he hopes Morikawa won't accept, but if she does... he will accept the pain and move on, as his father said, because after all he is brave, as his mother said.

Draven’s eyes squinted, and he sank deep within himself. Pulling on [Mind Supremacy], Draven blocked out the pain and focused on his inner flame. He pulled on his essence, charging up as much fire as he could. Flames licked the surface of his armor as he built up more flames with [Draconic Pyromancy].
New Mind Supremacy Technique! Pain suppressant
Draven opened his eyes, flames burning deep within them. He cried out as he unleashed the tightly packed fire he contained within himself. Flames exploded out of him, pushing the El’Dresi away from him.
The El’Dresi crossed his arms, blocking his face from the brunt of the flames. The explosion pushed him back, causing his exosuit to leave rough groves along the metal flooring.
“The little disciple has some bite to his bark,” the El’Dresi smiled. He disappeared in a flash of lightning again, using the Flash Step Technique of air dragonborn. The El’Dresi appeared before Draven again, blade zipping towards Draven's heart.
Draven’s heart skipped a beat as he channeled Essence to his Supremacy Talents and entered Ascendancy mode. The Sygaldry along his armor glowed a furry red, empowered by Draven’s Essence. He parried the El’Dresi’s blade and punched the air dragonborn with a fist of concussive fire.
The El’Dresi went sailing into the air, crashing into the ground with a bang.
“Draven, Sync up with me,” Sygvar said. He too had entered Ascendancy mode.
Draven pushed his mind into the Weave. He found the Sympathetic Thread connecting him and his Master. It was thick, a sign of their strong connection. He bound himself to it, allowing himself to become one with his master’s mind, body, and soul.
New Mind, Body, Soul Supremacy Technique! Sync
Draven quickly entered the settings of his status and disabled notifications. He thought to leave them on before because he believed they could be helpful. But they were distracting him from the battle.
A wurl wind of air manifested around the El’Dresi as he floated to his feet in Acendecy Mode. The Sygaldry, runes of power, decorating his armor, were a blaze, a green glow emanating from the words of power.
“Now the real fun begins,” the El’Dresi crackled. He Flashed Stepped, disappearing again.
Draven sensed the El’Dresi through the Weave. He lashed out behind him, kicking the El’Dresi in the chest and pushing him towards Sygvar.
Sygvar kicked the legs from under the El’Dresi, causing him to fall.
Draven created a flame missile and fired it point-blank at the El’Dresi.
The El’Dresi conjured a blast of Air, causing the missile to bend off course and detonate into the ground.
He hopped to his feet, sending a chain of lightning at Sygvar.
Sygvar blocked it with his sword. He then heated his blade and cut into the armor of the El’Dresi.
The El’Dresi pulled back in pain.
Draven came from behind, delivering a cut to the El’Dresi’s leg. Causing the air dragon born to fall to his knee.
“You guys are good, too good. I guess I need a little help,” the El’Dresi said as he pressed a button.
“You talk too much,” Draven said, smacking the El’Dresi.
Gates squeaked open, and the ground began to rumble. Hollows came pouring into the room. Marrows ran on all four, with Spikes trailing just behind them. Bone Devils mixed in with the horde, pushing aside the weaker hollows to get to Draven and Sygvar.
The El’Dresi jumped to his feet and sprinted toward the incoming horde of hollows. Draven and his master raced after him before he could get to safety.
Draven unleashes a cone of fire. Superheating the air as it impacted the El’Dresi.
The El’Dresi conjured a shield of air, deflecting the blast of flames. And letting the momentum push him up and over the horde of hollows. He disappeared in the wave of bodies, crackling like a madman.
“Damn it,” Sygvar hissed. “Draven, stay close to me.”
Draven drew near his master. Only a few feet away from him.
“We’re going to clear a path towards the computer terminal. I want you to have Ari download the files off of it.” Sygvar yelled over the horde of hollows. His sword was ablaze with fire as he sliced throw a Marrow.
“The base will self-destruct in five minutes,” a voice boomed from speakers in the room.
“That bastard! Draven, don’t hold back! When need to get to that console!” Sygvar’s voice warped and deepened as his body transformed. His exosuit became more organic, melding to his body like a second skin. Wings and a tail sprouted from his back. His fingers and toes sharped into claws, and flames manifested on his arms and as a crown of fire above his head. Sygvar flew into the mob of feral mutants, becoming a living storm of fire and death.
Draven underwent a less impressive transformation. The red glow from the Sygaldry and flames manifested as jets along his arms and legs. The Hollows before him slowed as he sped up his perception time.
Plums of fire rocketed Draven into the horde of Hollows, following his master. His sword glowed as he sliced throw the feral mutants. The Marrows and Spikes were cut down like butter, but the Bone Devils were still challenging. But they were cut down in a few strikes while Draven was in his enhanced state.
The duo gradually cut their way toward the terminal. That’s when Draven got a spike of danger from the Weave. He was too slow and was slapped across the face by a giant claw. Draven backflipped, distancing himself from the new foe.
This creature was different than the others. This was a Wargoth, a mutant with the power of bone and muscle. Four muscular tentacles protruded from the creature's back. Segmented bone covered the spasming muscles as its tentacles wiped around. It roared, spitting saliva all over the ground. Then charged Draven, its four claws shaving the metal flooring.
Draven kicked the creature in the face, sending out a current of fire.
The Wargoth went sailing towards Sygvar. It lashed out its tentacles at the Master Al’Manti.
Sygvar’s blade ignited in flames, and it blurred, severing the Wargoth’s tentacles.
Draven came up from behind, stepping on telekinetic steps. He then rocketed downwards onto the Wargoth with a jet of flames. He concentrated, his flames burning hotter and hotter. Eventually ultimately shifting from their reddish yellow hue to a bright blue. His blade cracked the bone exoskeleton around the Wargoth’s skull, bathing the creature’s brain in blue flames.
The creature thrashed about in pain, then went still.
“Draven, go get the data!”
“On it,” Draven said as he sprinted to the console. He took out a cable from the back of the neck of his exosuit and plugged it into the console. “Ari download all the data from the storage.”
File after file zipped past Draven’s hud for his exosuit. The download only took a second to finish.
“I’m done, but the data must be decrypted,” Ari said.
“That’s fine,” Draven then unplug the cable leading from his suit to the console. He then ran over to his master, “All done.”
“Good,” Sygvar picked Draven up and then took to the sky with his wings. Above the increasing number of Hollows, Sygvar sped towards the exit. The hollows raged as they chased after the air-born duo. Quickly they exited the base, landing on Tywen’s back.
“Take to the sky, quickly!” Sygvar yelled as he set Draven down.
Tywen beat his wings, and they rapidly ascended. Soon after they left the ground, hollows poured out of the El’Dresi base. They swarmed the area they had just been. Then an explosion destroyed the hill the base was built into and the flora around it.
Draven opened his status and instantly dumped nine path points into his path.
You have completed the Way Al’Manti of the Al’Manti Path!
+9 Attribute Points
New Feat: The Way of the Al’Manti New Class: Al’Manti Disciple
Draven click on his new feat and class. They both popped up as screens in his mind.
The Way of the Al’Manti (Tier 1) Grants: +1 INT** +1 FIN +1 WIS
+1 STR +1 DEX +1 CON
+1 SPR +1 AFF +1 FOR
Al’Manti Disciple **You have graduated from your training as a adept and are now ready to become a disciple. As a disciple you have mastered the basics of controlling you mind, body, and soul. You have learned a martial art of the Al’Manti and your skill at it has been deemed satisfactory. But there is still more work to be done. Grants: +1 Mind Attribute per level +1 Body Attribute per level +1 Soul Attribute per level +1 Attribute point every 3rd level
Core Talents: Mind Supremacy Body Supremacy Soul Supremacy Al’Manti 5th Blade Kata
Draven then opened his new status.
Name: Draven Althorne Age: 18
Ancestory: Fire Dragon Born (Tier 1 - LV 3)
Class: Al’Manti Disciple (Tier 1 - LV 0)
Sub Class 1: Locked Sub Class 2: Locked Sub Class 3: Locked
Feats: None
- Mind Attributes - INT: 17 / 18 FIN: 14 / 15 WIS: 11 / 12
- Body Attributes - STR: 19 / 20 DEX: 17 / 18 CON: 16 / 17
- Soul Attributes - SPR: 12 / 13 AFF: 14 / 15 FOR: 19 / 20
Attribute Points: 9
- Essences - Stamina: 129 / 129 Vitality: 150 / 150 Mana: 135 / 135
- Talents: 5 / 9 - Draconic Pyromancy LV 6 Mind Supremacy LV 7 Body Supremacy LV 8 Soul Supremacy LV 6 Al’Manti 5th Blade Kata LV 7
Path: None Path Points: 26 Paths Available: 8
Release Schedule: M-W-F at 5 am PDT/PST.
[First] [Prev] [Next]
Thanks for reading.

Draven’s eyes squinted, and he sank deep within himself. Pulling on [Mind Supremacy], Draven blocked out the pain and focused on his inner flame. He pulled on his essence, charging up as much fire as he could. Flames licked the surface of his armor as he built up more flames with [Draconic Pyromancy].
New Mind Supremacy Technique! Pain suppressant
Draven opened his eyes, flames burning deep within them. He cried out as he unleashed the tightly packed fire he contained within himself. Flames exploded out of him, pushing the El’Dresi away from him.
The El’Dresi crossed his arms, blocking his face from the brunt of the flames. The explosion pushed him back, causing his exosuit to leave rough groves along the metal flooring.
“The little disciple has some bite to his bark,” the El’Dresi smiled. He disappeared in a flash of lightning again, using the Flash Step Technique of air dragonborn. The El’Dresi appeared before Draven again, blade zipping towards Draven's heart.
Draven’s heart skipped a beat as he channeled Essence to his Supremacy Talents and entered Ascendancy mode. The Sygaldry along his armor glowed a furry red, empowered by Draven’s Essence. He parried the El’Dresi’s blade and punched the air dragonborn with a fist of concussive fire.
The El’Dresi went sailing into the air, crashing into the ground with a bang.
“Draven, Sync up with me,” Sygvar said. He too had entered Ascendancy mode.
Draven pushed his mind into the Weave. He found the Sympathetic Thread connecting him and his Master. It was thick, a sign of their strong connection. He bound himself to it, allowing himself to become one with his master’s mind, body, and soul.
New Mind, Body, Soul Supremacy Technique! Sync
Draven quickly entered the settings of his status and disabled notifications. He thought to leave them on before because he believed they could be helpful. But they were distracting him from the battle.
A wurl wind of air manifested around the El’Dresi as he floated to his feet in Acendecy Mode. The Sygaldry, runes of power, decorating his armor, were a blaze, a green glow emanating from the words of power.
“Now the real fun begins,” the El’Dresi crackled. He Flashed Stepped, disappearing again.
Draven sensed the El’Dresi through the Weave. He lashed out behind him, kicking the El’Dresi in the chest and pushing him towards Sygvar.
Sygvar kicked the legs from under the El’Dresi, causing him to fall.
Draven created a flame missile and fired it point-blank at the El’Dresi.
The El’Dresi conjured a blast of Air, causing the missile to bend off course and detonate into the ground.
He hopped to his feet, sending a chain of lightning at Sygvar.
Sygvar blocked it with his sword. He then heated his blade and cut into the armor of the El’Dresi.
The El’Dresi pulled back in pain.
Draven came from behind, delivering a cut to the El’Dresi’s leg. Causing the air dragon born to fall to his knee.
“You guys are good, too good. I guess I need a little help,” the El’Dresi said as he pressed a button.
“You talk too much,” Draven said, smacking the El’Dresi.
Gates squeaked open, and the ground began to rumble. Hollows came pouring into the room. Marrows ran on all four, with Spikes trailing just behind them. Bone Devils mixed in with the horde, pushing aside the weaker hollows to get to Draven and Sygvar.
The El’Dresi jumped to his feet and sprinted toward the incoming horde of hollows. Draven and his master raced after him before he could get to safety.
Draven unleashes a cone of fire. Superheating the air as it impacted the El’Dresi.
The El’Dresi conjured a shield of air, deflecting the blast of flames. And letting the momentum push him up and over the horde of hollows. He disappeared in the wave of bodies, crackling like a madman.
“Damn it,” Sygvar hissed. “Draven, stay close to me.”
Draven drew near his master. Only a few feet away from him.
“We’re going to clear a path towards the computer terminal. I want you to have Ari download the files off of it.” Sygvar yelled over the horde of hollows. His sword was ablaze with fire as he sliced throw a Marrow.
“The base will self-destruct in five minutes,” a voice boomed from speakers in the room.
“That bastard! Draven, don’t hold back! When need to get to that console!” Sygvar’s voice warped and deepened as his body transformed. His exosuit became more organic, melding to his body like a second skin. Wings and a tail sprouted from his back. His fingers and toes sharped into claws, and flames manifested on his arms and as a crown of fire above his head. Sygvar flew into the mob of feral mutants, becoming a living storm of fire and death.
Draven underwent a less impressive transformation. The red glow from the Sygaldry and flames manifested as jets along his arms and legs. The Hollows before him slowed as he sped up his perception time.
Plums of fire rocketed Draven into the horde of Hollows, following his master. His sword glowed as he sliced throw the feral mutants. The Marrows and Spikes were cut down like butter, but the Bone Devils were still challenging. But they were cut down in a few strikes while Draven was in his enhanced state.
The duo gradually cut their way toward the terminal. That’s when Draven got a spike of danger from the Weave. He was too slow and was slapped across the face by a giant claw. Draven backflipped, distancing himself from the new foe.
This creature was different than the others. This was a Wargoth, a mutant with the power of bone and muscle. Four muscular tentacles protruded from the creature's back. Segmented bone covered the spasming muscles as its tentacles wiped around. It roared, spitting saliva all over the ground. Then charged Draven, its four claws shaving the metal flooring.
Draven kicked the creature in the face, sending out a current of fire.
The Wargoth went sailing towards Sygvar. It lashed out its tentacles at the Master Al’Manti.
Sygvar’s blade ignited in flames, and it blurred, severing the Wargoth’s tentacles.
Draven came up from behind, stepping on telekinetic steps. He then rocketed downwards onto the Wargoth with a jet of flames. He concentrated, his flames burning hotter and hotter. Eventually ultimately shifting from their reddish yellow hue to a bright blue. His blade cracked the bone exoskeleton around the Wargoth’s skull, bathing the creature’s brain in blue flames.
The creature thrashed about in pain, then went still.
“Draven, go get the data!”
“On it,” Draven said as he sprinted to the console. He took out a cable from the back of the neck of his exosuit and plugged it into the console. “Ari download all the data from the storage.”
File after file zipped past Draven’s hud for his exosuit. The download only took a second to finish.
“I’m done, but the data must be decrypted,” Ari said.
“That’s fine,” Draven then unplug the cable leading from his suit to the console. He then ran over to his master, “All done.”
“Good,” Sygvar picked Draven up and then took to the sky with his wings. Above the increasing number of Hollows, Sygvar sped towards the exit. The hollows raged as they chased after the air-born duo. Quickly they exited the base, landing on Tywen’s back.
“Take to the sky, quickly!” Sygvar yelled as he set Draven down.
Tywen beat his wings, and they rapidly ascended. Soon after they left the ground, hollows poured out of the El’Dresi base. They swarmed the area they had just been. Then an explosion destroyed the hill the base was built into and the flora around it.
Draven opened his status and instantly dumped nine path points into his path.
You have completed the Way Al’Manti of the Al’Manti Path!
+9 Attribute Points
New Feat: The Way of the Al’Manti New Class: Al’Manti Disciple
Draven click on his new feat and class. They both popped up as screens in his mind.
The Way of the Al’Manti (Tier 1) Grants: +1 INT** +1 FIN +1 WIS
+1 STR +1 DEX +1 CON
+1 SPR +1 AFF +1 FOR
Al’Manti Disciple **You have graduated from your training as a adept and are now ready to become a disciple. As a disciple you have mastered the basics of controlling you mind, body, and soul. You have learned a martial art of the Al’Manti and your skill at it has been deemed satisfactory. But there is still more work to be done. Grants: +1 Mind Attribute per level +1 Body Attribute per level +1 Soul Attribute per level +1 Attribute point every 3rd level
Core Talents: Mind Supremacy Body Supremacy Soul Supremacy Al’Manti 5th Blade Kata
Draven then opened his new status.
Name: Draven Althorne Age: 18
Ancestory: Fire Dragon Born (Tier 1 - LV 3)
Class: Al’Manti Disciple (Tier 1 - LV 0)
Sub Class 1: Locked Sub Class 2: Locked Sub Class 3: Locked
Feats: None
- Mind Attributes - INT: 17 / 18 FIN: 14 / 15 WIS: 11 / 12
- Body Attributes - STR: 19 / 20 DEX: 17 / 18 CON: 16 / 17
- Soul Attributes - SPR: 12 / 13 AFF: 14 / 15 FOR: 19 / 20
Attribute Points: 9
- Essences - Stamina: 129 / 129 Vitality: 150 / 150 Mana: 135 / 135
- Talents: 5 / 9 - Draconic Pyromancy LV 6 Mind Supremacy LV 7 Body Supremacy LV 8 Soul Supremacy LV 6 Al’Manti 5th Blade Kata LV 7
Path: None Path Points: 26 Paths Available: 8
Release Schedule: M-W-F at 5 am PDT/PST.
[First] [Prev] [Next]
Thanks for reading.

Hello everyone! I got over my skepticism and decided to post because you never know.
I’m brazilian living in US. I do speak Portuguese and was raised there until 17y.o.
I enjoy talking, flirting, banter, and I’d say I’m witty. But I also enjoy and actively engage in deep conversations. Keeping the conversation flowing has never been difficult to me.
I love music and nearly every genre, EDM is my favorite but trust me I love to listen to so much I couldn’t even list them all.
My main interest atm are chess, videogames, anime, boxing, and the gym. I am often fascinated when shown new things so please do tell me about your passions and hobbies. Other smaller hobbies include: roller skating, long boarding, swimming, reading, singing, piano. I like a lot of things.
My looks: I have hazel eyes, brown medium curly hair with shaved sides, kept beard & thick eyebrows, 6ft, big build, 3 tattoos, and I can’t not sound conceited when I say this but everyone I know agrees I’m fairly attractive.
Requirements: no strongly religious individuals. I respect your religion but we won’t get along very well. It’s fine if you enjoy practicing though as long as you’re not expecting that as something we’ll have in common.
Friends: I’d like to clarify that for friends I don’t care about your gender, age, or what you look like.
Something more: around my age, slightly younger, or quite older is fine. I just need a certain level of mindset and maturity. As far as looks go, I am only interested in your character and don’t have a preference on how you look - skinny, average, chubby, tall, short, hairstyle, ethnicity, etc, it does not matter. If you have a good head on your shoulders and can entertain a conversation you’re good to go.
Can you tell I like talking? Haha

I'm open to offers. Shipping is $5. Will combine shipping if you buy multiple. I have several more to add but I'm tired of typing for now.
Bilmuri - Goblin Hours/Letters pinwheel variant (variant 5) - $65
Andrew Jackson Jihad - Only God Can Judge Me 7th press baby blue (limited to 200) - $45
Run The Jewels - Bust No Moves 12' single clear - $20
Underoath - Erase Me deluxe white (unopened) - $30
Underoath - Voyeurist indie gold w/ black (unopened) - $20
Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends red Furnace Fest 1000 (unopened) - $40
Thrice - To Be Everywhere blue w/ rainbow RSD (unopened) - $30
Weezer - Pinkerton VMP blue transparent - $60
ST - Deadpool red/black burst signed by JXL (unopened) - $50
ST - Transformers (original animated movie) LP1 autobot red, LP2 decepticon purple - $50
ST - Luke Cage Mondo black (unopened) - $35

Our local feral has a kitten that is walking and able to climb steps. The woman from the rescue said it looked to be about 6 weeks old. I captured that kitten days ago but let it go back to mama cause it was the weekend and I didn't know if any place would take it.
Days later a kitten was stuck in my neighbors pipe and they rescued it. They hinted that if I didn't take it and keep it inside they'd dump it somewhere (everyone knows I feed mama cat). So this one I couldn't let go. The same woman said this kitten looks to be about 4 weeks old. I weighted it before she took it and it weighed 1 pound 1 ounce. It was able to walk but it stumbled around a bunch and definitely couldn't run like the other kitten could.
I assumed it must be a different cats kitten even though we don't know of any other female strays around here - the other 3 local strays are males.
Well I was curious and I did something very stupid. I took the kitten out of its cage to see if mama cat of the other would recognize it just to be sure.
She went crazy trying to jump me to get to the kitten. Then I put it back in the cage and she looked back at me and hissed while trying to figure out how to open the cage. Once I put the cage back in the house mama cat started calling for it and it started mewing back. It's gone now with the rescue and the mother cat is still at my door calling for it.
Would a mother cat react that way to a kitten that isn't hers? I know the first one is hers for sure we've seen her with it multiple times now and seen her nursing it plus it looks a lot like her. But the 2 kittens are obviously different ages.
Also before knowing of the kittens we had mother cat in captivity for nearly 48 hours, and she seemed to be very pregnant her belly was huge.
We released her and for a few days she still seemed pregnant. I'd touch her belly and it felt huge and looked big too. Then one day she didn't come for her evening feeding that she never misses and the next day her stomach didn't feel big again.
Is it possible this cat has a 2 week old kitten, a 4 week old kitten, and a 6 week old kitten?

I think I'm finally ready to come out to my mom. As ready as I think I'll ever be anyway. I'm worried about the letter though, every time I start thinking of what to write, it reads so harsh or hurtful, idk how much I really need to put out there, like I want her to know how serious this is, life and death, but there's some things a child shouldn't tell their parents...
I don't know how to strike a balance of understanding but firm boundaries, the severity of how important this is and how unforgivable certain things would be without hurting her or being very harsh because I attack when I feel vulnerable.
So far ik I want to explain the difference between drag, crossdressing, and trans identity. I'm going to tell her idc about pronouns or even dressing up rn because I'm not ready for social transition. I don't want to tell her about diy, but I will tell her tampering with my meds or sabatoging my transition will be unforgivable to me and the many reasons why.
I don't want to tell her how close I was to ending it all last year, or that I've been a walking corpse with an expiration date tied to her own since 16 and her own words 4 months ago galvanized me to chose life for the first time in over a decade, to choose to try HRT. But that feels pretty important to say if I want her to understand.
Or maybe it's better to be cold and clinical.
I'm gonna freestyle something real quick, please help soften when needed or any advice at all. Tw: all of em.
Hey mom you've had lots of questions this past year. I've deflected and deflected, refusing to answer, but not trying to hide it too much either, I know you've seen signs that we haven't talked about too, well it's time I answer them.
I'm trans. It took a decade to ever even attempt to experiment, so scared of it being something more, a year of questioning and research after the lowest point in my life last March, every step towards femininity assuring me i was right. I've been on estrogen for 2 months now and I'm only more sure now than ever. I don't expect your understanding or full acceptance, it's taken me a while to accept it myself. I only expect your compassion and love, the woman that's always been in my corner to remain in my corner as I enter the hardest fight in my life thus far.
This is not a sex thing, ik why you think it is, but Ethan is just a friend. I'm still a virgin and I'm not gay, I am bi, preferance is women, but still thats a recent thing i accepted too, but ik you don't really see the difference there either if I like some guys I must be gay, that's OK idc how you see it.
This isn't porn warping my mind, and if it was the drop in libido would nip that in the bud quickly, a boon I was not expecting, but honestly one of my favorite parts about transitioning so far and has helped my mental state a lot in addition to my brain now being on the right fuel. I've never been happier in my life than I have these past 2 months.
Crossdressers do this and it hurts no one. They do it for a lot of reasons but I am not a cross dresser, in fact I've only ever worn panties and one time a bra. I'm also not a drag queen, I have no interest in performing on stage.
Things had to line up in a very specific way for you to be reading this note right now and not another kind of note at some point in the future after the repression hit me when I was 40 with kids and a wife or something. Dad had to practically disown me for me to want to be selfish enough to say fuck it and choose to have some kind of fun before I died fully. As I've been truthfully half dead since as a teenager, who almost had his mom die in the hospital, i had decided that wouldn't even try and live through that pain. That led me to experiment which led to many many questions and a lot of tears and more than a few realizations and memories surpressed.
Through all the questions and steps along the way, my mask cracking and pieces of me peeking through, your words broke me outta that spell of half death and I chose life. You thought I was waiting on you to be gone for me to live like you were the problem. I had already accepted I was trans before then but I couldn't do anything because of the shame it would bring you. The drama, you're likely to lose friends over this if you choose your child and you risk losing me if your friends words turn your confusion or anguish over a future imagined version of me is dying into hate or spite.
I worry that you'll call me all the vile things what strangers and coworkers already whisper. That you'll run me out of our home over something somehow both as trivial as makeup clothes and the shape of my own body, and as important as life or death. Because your words the other day will never come to pass, when I said "I hate old men" grumbling about work, and you said "stop that, God willing you'll be one one day." I'll die first. Pandoras box is open and I can't go back to mere existence when life feels so nice.
Trying to force this lid shut will only at best sever ties between a mother and child and at worst simply snuff out my light for good. Oh and bonus it'd probably put me in menopause by now to stop.
I'm moving at my own pace I'm nowhere near ready to call myself a woman, let alone dress like one I do not expect you to call me one. HRT is slow, but at some point between the weight loss this all has inspired, yeah thats why I've stuck with it this time, between that and HRT growing boobs and the small things I'm working on like exercising and eventually laser facial hair removal, it's going to be hard to hide likely this year, well if im lucky like I have been so far.
Really don't know how to end this. I'm sorry this made you cry, I'm sorry if this brings you shame or embarrassment down the line, I give you full permission to talk about this with your friends, the only opinion I ever cared about is yours and Lana's, I'd rather not be out right now publicly or to all your friends, but I'll not hold it against you to seek consul from them either. Hopefully we can move past this and grow and you'll come to understand me better than the pieces I've let peek through all my life feeling like I had something to hide even from family, especially from family even.
If not, just know that I'll always love you mom, but stopping or going back to being your little boy is asking me to die. I'll always be your baby, I just hope you'll see a living daughter is better than a dead son, even if they're weird and you don't get it.
I love you mom ❤️.
Edit. Rereading this its definitely a rough draft, but not my usual word vomit. Is it too harsh, should I add more info about the actual process and what procedures I'm considering etc? Or idk I feel like with the right words said the right way and anyone could understand but people aren't rational, maybe I'm overthinking it or catastrophizing again. All I know is I'm coming out this month, it feels like a different kind of fear, before when I was asking for advice I was afraid and self destructive, now I feel vulnerable and afraid but self assured and more level headed than the panic ridden frantic energy I had last time I wanted to come out