Download Now📺Master Gardener Online Free

Our gardens are under assault. Whether it’s aphids, slugs, or brown patches, it can feel like our precious plants are constantly under threat. Luckily, we have the internet to help us out. “Master Gardener” is a new streaming series that promises to help us take back our gardens. Each episode of “Master Gardener” features expert advice on a different gardening topic. In the first episode, viewers will learn how to identify common garden pests. In subsequent episodes, viewers will learn how to combat these pests using both chemical and organic methods. “Master Gardener” is available for streaming on the series’ website. New episodes are released every Wednesday.
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The Plot Summary of “Master Gardener”
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When Steve McQueen’s “Master Gardener” first aired on PBS in 2006, the entire series was available to watch for free online streaming. The series followed McQueen as he attempted to become a certified master gardener. Throughout the show, McQueen gave advice on how to start and maintain a garden, as well as tips on choosing the right plants for your climate. While the show was popular with gardeners, it was also praised for its humor and McQueen’s narration. In one episode, McQueen tries to grow watermelons in his backyard and fails miserably. However, he does not give up and tries again the following year. This time, he is successful and his watermelons are featured on the show. Critics praised “Master Gardener” for its educational value, as well as its entertainment value. The show was a hit with viewers of all ages and became one of PBS’s most popular programs. If you missed the show when it aired, you can still watch it for free online streaming.
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More Details on Curmudgeon Films’ “Master Gardener”
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Curmudgeon Films’ Master Gardener is a delightful film about an elderly woman named Gladys (played by Beryl Reid) who unexpectedly learns she has a talent for gardening. Though she is initially resistant to the idea, she eventually comes to enjoy spending her days in the garden and even begins to share her knowledge with others. The film follows Gladys as she enters into a friendly rivalry with her neighbour, Mrs. Saunders (played by Sheila Hancock), and scrambling to keep up with the demand for her plants from the local community. Master Gardener is a heartwarming story that will leave you feeling inspired. Beryl Reid is superb in the role of Gladys, and the film is worth watching for her performance alone. However, the supporting cast is also excellent, and the film features some stunning scenery. Curmudgeon Films has done an amazing job with this film, and it is definitely worth watching. If you are looking for a feel-good film to watch, then look no further than Curmudgeon Films’ Master Gardener. You can stream it for free online, so there is no excuse not to give it a try.
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Although “Master Gardener” may seem like a standalone film, there are actually quite a few connections to the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe. For one, the film’s protagonist, Scott Lang, is the same character played by Paul Rudd in the “Ant-Man” films. In those movies, Scott is a former criminal who turns to a life of crime-fighting after being given a suit that allows him to shrink in size. In “Master Gardener”, Scott is dealing with the aftermath of the events of “Avengers: Endgame”. In that film, the villain Thanos snapped his fingers and half of the population of the universe was erased from existence. This included Scott’s daughter, Cassie. Scott is still grieving her loss when we see him in “Master Gardener”. Another connection to the larger MCU is the character of Hank Pym, played by Michael Douglas. Hank is a scientist who invented the technology that allows people to shrink in size. He is also Scott’s mentor and the father of Scott’s love interest, Hope van Dyne (played by Evangeline Lilly). In the “Ant-Man” films, Hank and Hope are both fighting against Darren Cross, a villain who also has access to Hank’s shrinking technology. In “Master Gardener”, Hank is dealing with the loss of his wife, Janet van Dyne (played by Michelle Pfeiffer). Janet is the original Wasp, a superhero who shrinks in size and can fly with wings made of energy. She was also a founding member of the Avengers, and was thought to have been killed in action many years ago. Hank is still grieving her loss when we see him in “Master Gardener”. These are just a few of the connections that “Master Gardener” has to the larger MCU. Although the film is primarily focused on Scott’s personal journey, the events of the wider world are always looming in the background.
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Is”Master Gardener” the end of the line for the team?
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The question of whether or not Master Gardener is the end of the line for the team has been a hot topic of debate among fans of the show. Some believe that the showrunners would never kill off the entire team, while others feel that the show has been heading in that direction for some time. There is no clear answer, but there are some key factors to consider. One factor to consider is the show’s ratings. Master Gardener has been on a steady decline in the ratings department for some time now. This could be a sign that the show is heading for cancellation, as networks are typically more interested in shows that are doing well in the ratings. Another factor to consider is the show’s budget. Master Gardener is a pretty expensive show to produce, and it’s possible that the network is no longer willing to invest in it. This could also lead to the show being cancelled. Ultimately, whether or not Master Gardener is the end of the line for the team is up in the air. It’s possible that the show could be renewed for another season, but it’s also possible that it could be cancelled. Only time will tell.
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When is “Master Gardener” coming out?
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If you’re a fan of gardening shows, you’re in luck – the new series “Master Gardener” is coming soon! Here’s everything you need to know about the show, including when it’s coming out and how you can watch it. “Master Gardener” is a new gardening show that will be premiering on the PBS channel soon. The show will follow the journey of four professional gardeners as they create beautiful gardens for their clients. Each episode will focus on a different garden, and the challenges that come with creating it. So when is “Master Gardener” coming out? The show is set to premiere on PBS on March 21st, 2019. That means you can expect to see the first episode airing sometime in the evening on that day. If you want to watch “Master Gardener” when it airs, you have a few options. First, you can check your local listings to see when the show will be airing in your area. Alternatively, you can head to the PBS website and stream the show online. PBS offers a range of streaming options, so you should be able to find a way to watch the show that works for you. Finally, if you miss the initial airing of “Master Gardener” on PBS, don’t worry – you can always catch up on the episodes you missed by streaming them on the PBS website. Simply head to the website and look for the “full episodes” section. From there, you can choose to watch the episodes you missed, or you can watch the entire series from start to finish. So there you have it – everything you need to know about the upcoming series “Master Gardener.” Be sure to tune in on March 21st to catch the first episode, and don’t forget to check out the PBS website for more ways to watch the show.
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Where to Watch Curmudgeon Films’”Master Gardener” Online for FREE?
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There are many ways to watch Curmudgeon Films’ “Master Gardener” online for free. One way is to go to the website and click on the link for “Master Gardener.” This will take you to a page where you can watch the film for free. Another way to watch “Master Gardener” online is to go to the website of the film’s distributor, Gravitas Ventures. On their website, you can watch the film for free by clicking on the “Watch Now” button. Finally, you can also find “Master Gardener” on various streaming services such as Amazon Prime Video, iTunes, and Google Play.
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Conclusion
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So, how can you watch “Master Gardener” for free online streaming at home? By following the steps outlined in this article, you’ll be able to do just that. First, you’ll need to find a trusted website that offers the show. Once you’ve found one, go ahead and create an account. You may be asked to provide some basic information, such as your name and email address. Next, log in to your account and navigate to the “Master Gardener” page. Here, you’ll be able to select the episode or episodes you want to watch. Once you’ve made your selection, click on the “Watch Now” button. You’ll be taken to a new page, where you’ll be able to stream the “Master Gardener” episode or episodes you selected. Make sure to have a good internet connection so that the video can play smoothly. And that’s it! By following these simple steps, you’ll be able to watch “Master Gardener” for free online streaming at home.
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If you’re looking for a fun and educational way to spend an afternoon, why not try watching “Master Gardener” online? This streaming service offers a great selection of gardening-themed shows and movies that you can watch for free. Whether you’re a budding green thumb or just looking for some inspiration for your own garden, “Master Gardener” is sure to have something for you. So grab a cup of tea and settle in for some enjoyable plant-filled entertainment.

First of all, I know I need to leave this man. But I am stuck so I just keep playing the part. Also, I do love him so it’s hard.
Anyways, here’s my rant. My husband has drastically dropped the ball on his best man duties for his best friends wedding. I care deeply about this friend and his soon to be wife. They both have a very dear spot in my heart. The wedding is coming up this July and my husband didn’t have a single thing planned for the bachelor party. So I took it upon myself to help plan something. I purchased 12 tickets to a Cardinals game and planned a fun weekend in St. Louis for all the guys. Once my MIL got wind of the plans I made— she instantly looked up info about the tickets I purchased and texted me saying I should swap them for other tickets. I literally spoke with a really nice rep for the Cardinals who told me that he puts a lot of bachelor parties up in the area I purchased the tickets for. She has since been picking apart EVERY SINGLE plan I have made for the guys to do that weekend. I am just frustrated and feel like nothing I do is good enough. Maybe instead of being up my ass she could build a time machine and travel back in time and re-raise her son to not be such a codependent blob. Oh wait, that’s not possible. I’m posting a screenshot of the text she sent me on my own sub if anyone feels like reading it and sharing your thoughts. I’m open to the idea of being in the wrong. So please give me your honest opinions.

First off my main problem is that programs will not run on schedule. All programs will run manually if i start them, and they will run if i set the program on specific days. However, if i set it to an interval they will simply not run.
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IE i set my zone to run every other day and the calander will show it is to start but wont run.
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I think i have found the issue. In the App the day is correct, (today 5/30/2023 TUES). On the controller itself it says 5/30/2023 WED. I have factory reset the controller, and deleted it from app, deleted app, basically set up as a new controller.
I tried manually setting the date on controller, and the day was correct. (Tuesday). As soon as i connected the controller to the APP, it changed the day to Wed (still shows 5/30/2023, but wrong day)
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So i think what is happening is it thinks it is supposed to water on a tuesday, but the controller is thinking it is wednsday so nothing waters.
Any ideas? Everything is up to date, and factory reset so honestly I am at a loss and frankly annoyed (worked fine last year)

Hi everyone, first post on Reddit, not happy about the circumstances. This is long, but has some pretty weird twists I need perspective on… So diving in, I live with my husband (45M) in an apartment that is the entire 2nd floor of a 2 story building, the 1st floor being a sweets shop/bakery. It was one of the many reasons we were drawn to this apartment in particular.
We’ve lived here for about a year and I’ve frequented the shop many times and gotten to know the staff and started becoming friendly with one of the employees there. This employee would always go out of her way to talk to me and kind of use me as a chance to practice her English. I am an American living in a country where there aren’t a ton of foreigners, especially in the area where I currently live. I’ve lived in this country for about 12 years and speak the language well, but people often want to speak with me in English because of the rare opportunity. I usually just go with it to be nice and not give a bad impression of foreigners here.
So this employee takes a liking to me and I share some stuff about what’s going on with me, ask her about herself, etc., just friendly conversation. She asked me if we could exchange contact info and I was like, sure, why not? (Now I regret this…) Communication was a bit awkward, because her messages kind of lack emotion, emojis, exclamation points, etc, so I didn’t feel like we had a good back and forth.
Winter rolls around and I tell her that I’m going back home to the US for the holidays with my husband. The employee says she has a present for me and to tell her when I can go to the shop to get it from her. I’m surprised, but like, oh, that’s really sweet! So I give her a time and date and go get the present. She also gives me ANOTHER present to give to my family when I’m in the US. I was like, omg that’s so thoughtful!! She explained that my present contained handicrafts made by local people with mental illness, and I thought that was so wonderful. I wanted to give her something in return and I happen to do paintings, so I gave her some nice tea and one of my smaller paintings. She thanked me, but gave almost no reaction to the gift. I was kind of confused, because usually people are like, “I didn’t know you paint! Thank you!”, but she was pretty silent. I was like, damn, I guess she doesn’t like it or she doesn't have this social skill?
She never mentioned the painting again, but texted me asking about where I got the tea lol.
Here’s where things get questionable. I went to the US and gave my older brother and his fiancee the gift intended for my family and it contained similar handicrafts and a handwritten letter in English. The letter was in perfect English and was basically saying how much joy I bring to her when I visit the shop and how I’m this amazing person. Sounds nice, right? I was pretty surprised, because these were some pretty intense words for a regular at a shop. But I was just like, well, I’m glad I made a good impression??
So things escalate a bit. She asks if I’d like to attend a pretty major community event in our city together. I was interested in going, because it had been canceled since the beginning of Covid, (around the time I moved to this area) and I’d never been before. So we agreed on a time and date and met up at the metro and went together to the park the event was being held at. The event was great, but our conversation was terrible and awkward. I tried to get some back and forth going by asking what got her interested in learning English and she told me that she wants to talk to foreigners and marry a foreigner. I felt uncomfortable, because I’m a foreigner married to a man native to this country and don’t like to feel fetishized. STILL I was like, have you tried dating foreign guys? It’s easy to meet people on dating apps these days, it’s actually how I met my husband! And she says, “They never like me.”. I was like, ummm, “Maybe you just haven’t met the right person yet! I dated plenty of different people until I found the right one! We just got lucky that we found each other when we did. Now we’re married and thinking about kids! It’s crazy!” She responds with, “I want a half baby.”
Internally I’m like nonononooooo I found myself someone who’s just obsessed with foreigners and has no interest in me as a person. She asks me if I want to get dinner and I suggest somewhere light and quick, like a cafe, but she would rather go to a restaurant. So we end up getting dinner and it’s silent until she suddenly asks, “Is it ok if I use my phone to text for a moment? My mom just had surgery today and she might be messaging me.” I’m like, “Of course!! Are you sure you don’t want to be with your mom right now rather than spending time with me??”. She says, “My mom didn’t want me to know the name of her hospital, so I don’t know where she is.” Alarm bells ringing in my head, why wouldn’t her own mother want her to know where she is?? Is she afraid she might do something??
After she finishes texting, she starts to talk about how when she was a little girl, her grandmother gave her lots of expensive porcelain dolls. (This isn’t an uncommon thing here around a certain time of year). Her mom put the dolls on display for her, but she said she had a nightmare about the doll strangling her with its elongated neck, like it had become a monster. In the nightmare, she grabbed a kitchen knife and slit the doll’s throat...Then when she woke up, in real life she went to the doll in question and snapped its neck, breaking the head off of the doll.
I heard this story and immediately was like, where the f did this come from?! We weren’t even remotely talking about anything close to this topic and she just…yeah…
We part ways and I tell my husband about what she said. He was like, that’s creepy, but maybe it was her way of trying to make conversation? I’m like, maybe. She definitely has some kind of mental illness, because the shop on the 1st floor mainly employs capable people who happen to have mental illnesses. I try to be empathetic towards her and forget about it.
I go to the shop a bit less often than usual, but I see her there again eventually. She says she wants to hang out during the national holidays coming up. I say that I’m having 3 guests, including a toddler, coming to stay with me from 2 different countries. I’m gonna be pretty busy. The truth was, my husband and I were finally having the wedding of our dreams and some of my friends would be staying with us for a bit. I didn’t want to tell her about the wedding, because it might make things awkward, as she's not invited.
She was like, “OH! Let me take you and your friends around for sightseeing! Where are they from??” I tell her and she’s clearly excited at the thought of spending time with foreigners, even though 2 of my guests were native to this country, just living abroad. I was like, “Oh that would be so helpful, but I’m really not sure about our schedule yet, because we’ll be pretty busy!”. She was like, “I’ll tell you my schedule over text and you can tell me your schedule!”. I was like, oh no, I really don’t want this to happen, but I’ve dug myself into this hole. She texted me and I didn’t reply, because I didn’t know what to say and I was really busy with the upcoming wedding.
One day I thought I could pop into the shop when she wasn’t around and buy something quick to eat, but when I spoke to the cashier, she ran out from the kitchen and accosted me. She grabbed the shop’s table calendar and was like, “When are you free?? Can you tell me now?”. And I said, “I’m sorry, I really don’t know, it’s actually my wedding in just a few days, so I’m really really busy right now, it’s been pretty stressful.” And she says nothing regarding the wedding, no congratulations, no reaction. She just says, “Text me back when you know when you’re free.” She later texts me AGAIN. I’m friggin overwhelmed. I ignore her text.
My guests from abroad come to my place and things get even busier! Preparing for our big day while taking care of our guests was exhausting. BUT we have the wedding, it was INCREDIBLE and a dream come true btw!, then we go about preparing for taking everyone sightseeing the next morning after the wedding.
My husband goes and parks the car in front of the building, my friends go outside and I say to start piling into the car, I’ll get my stuff and lock up, so everyone go ahead. I eventually go outside and am bombarded by the employee. My friends are all awkwardly standing around the car like, what’s going on? Apparently she had been asking them where I was. So she starts rambling to me about these plans and ideas she has for taking my friends out, and I’m like, heyyy we’re actually on our way out now…and she just bulldozes over what I said and goes on about how we should take the train, not a car, to her desired destination. She keeps saying how we should go, just the 3 of us, to this place. Now, by saying the 3 of us, this means just her, me, and the other AMERICAN. Not my husband, not my non-American friends, just the 3 of us. It was freaking me out.
My husband jumps in and says, “We have to go!”, takes my hand and saves me from the exchange.
After talking with my husband, I was like, how do I get out of this? And he suggested that I say that something came up and I can’t meet up with her during the national holidays. So I text her and apologize that I can’t meet up because of a family gathering. She says that she has a present for my American friend and that she’ll hang it on my doorknob. To me this is a huge privacy violation, but I didn’t know what to do and was afraid of possible repercussions, so I said “Thank you.”.
The present contained another handwritten letter and some little treats, but after hearing everything, my friend was feeling pretty uncomfortable. They’d never even had a conversation and she was getting a heartfelt letter and gifts.
I decide to create some boundaries by speaking in a more formal manner to her, which creates a sense of distance in this language. She hasn’t gotten the hint, and almost the exact same scenario of her running out from the kitchen to talk with me happened when I recently visited the shop, because I caught a cold and needed something quick and easy to eat. She pulled out the calendar and was demanding to know when I was free. I had a fever and sore throat and told her that I wasn’t feeling well and wanted to go rest, but she wouldn’t let up. (I was wearing a mask btw).
I am feeling responsible for getting myself into this situation, but am at a loss as how the hell to get out. Reddit, how do I get out of this “friendship”?!
*BTW since we're in the same building, we share a landlord and our landlord is invested in the business downstairs.
TL;DR Became friends with a shop staff member with a mental illness, got uncomfortable/feeling unsafe being around her, and don’t know how to get out of the friendship in a sensitive manner.

Hi all. I signed up for freedom debt relief today since my monthly payments will be $215 vs $609 I’m currently paying for my credit cards and loans ($7,500ish total) while I make $1600 monthly.
I’ve since begun to rethink even, as I don’t like the idea that I would have to stop making payments on all my accounts and essentially trash my credit for the next 10 years.
I’ve seen other posts about green path, but any help is appreciated. I plan to call and cancel freedom debt in the morning since I’ve made myself so anxious since signing up.
I honestly really need the extra money in my bank account.

So in 1992 I was the proud owner of a forest green GT Timberline. Was a cheap bike but I loved it and was the most comfortable bike I have ever had.
In 1999 I sold it to a friend who left it in his shed until last year, unmodified, and he said come get it...and before I could get it some lowlife broke in a stole it. Time capsule was prob ghost rode into the river..
Anyway, trying to find same bike isn't proving easy, but have found Taleras, outposts, backwoods, question is what frame would be the same as a Timberline? I would think GT used a few same frames for a couple lines with just paint/decal differences?
Also I am 6ft1, average length legs and torso.."balanced" and cant remember if frame was a L or XL, 19? 20 inch??
I do remember knowing if i slipped off the pedals it was going to be an ambulance ride as there wasn't a lot of room between me and top bar. Any ideas? GT sizing was supposed to be weird?
See lots of decal packs for Avalanche and zazkar..anyone make it for Timberline or too cheap a bike? Googled, didn't notice any?
Thanks for any help.

Discord Username: shellshock3d#3620
Character Name and House: Alyssa Tully
Age: 26
Appearance: Click
Gift: Diplomat
Skills: Architect (E), Courtly, Cautious (E)
Talent(s): Painting, Harpist, Debate
Starting Title(s): Lady Paramount of the Trident
Starting Location: King's Landing
Family Tree: Click
Alternate Characters: No
Character Name and House: Axel Tully (AC)
Age: 27
Appearance: Click
Gift: Champion
Skills: Swords, Knightly Fighting Style, Footwork
Talent(s): Gambling, Dancing, Riding
Starting Title(s): Knight of Riverrun
Starting Location: King's Landing

Alyssa Tully

Alyssa's parents had already tried and failed to produce an heir before she was born. She never knew her brother Lucamore but he was his parents firstborn for the first two years of his life. The only two years of his life. A whooping cough took him before long. Her parents were certain they would get another son. But first Alyssa was born, then her sister Sabitha. The miscarriage after that meant they wouldn't ever get their son. Especially because of the war.
Edmure Tully had grown up as a ward in King's Landing after his own father funded the Dornish for their third Dance against the greens. A hostage. A promise that such things would not happen again. In his time there he became sympathetic to the King and friendly with the princess. So he joined the Targaryens as one of their generals and was cut down, his blood forever staining the sandstone of Dorne. And at just five years old Alyssa was made the new Lady of Riverrun.
Of course a five year old could not rule on her own. It was decided amongst her mother and uncles that Ser Roger Tully should act as her regent. Though if Danelle and Tristan both agreed that he was doing a poor enough job they would replace him. That never needed to happen of course. All the way up to her sixteenth nameday her favorite uncle ruled in her stead and things were calm for a time in the Riverlands.
Things were not, however, calm in Alyssa Tully's journey into womanhood. Her first problem was when she began to realize she did not look at the stable boys and the blacksmith's boys and the young squires like her sister or her friends did. In fact there was one particular of her friends for whom her heart sang. She confessed her feelings to Lianna Mallister when the two of them were just girls and was surprised that Lianna felt the same way. Their relationship lasted a long time. They even promised each other not to marry. Then Lianna broke that promise and Alyssa's heart.
On top of that, she was sick. The first inclination that anything was wrong with her was when her flower refused to bloom. Some women were late bloomers but her moon blood never came at all. Only when she was a woman grown did she finally seek a maester's opinion. He had her examined in a way Alyssa could only describe as uncomfortable and violating. But his conclusion was that she had no womb, nothing with which to produce an heir and bare fruit for future generations.
It was no matter to her. She didn't want to marry anyway. Alyssa began grooming her younger sister Sabitha to be her heir. Of course her plans would end up falling apart as they always did. She never thought much of the bandits that lived in Oldstones. To her they felt like a legend her uncles told her to keep her wits sharp. She sent her sister, her uncle Roger, and a smattering of other nobility up the road from Riverrun to Winterfell, intending to arrange a marriage between her sister and a Stark. It was on that same road outside of Oldstones that the party was ambushed and nearly all of them were slain by bandits. It was from then on that Alyssa vowed to rid herself of them.
Only it was not that easy. Nothing in the Riverlands was. Soon after the attack on her sister, there was to be a wedding between Whent and Lannister. Before said wedding could happen, it was discovered that a Lannister had deflowered a Whent, and everything went to hell. Steel was drawn, blood was drawn, and armies were called. Only the small council's intervention prevented a war. Then similarly the next year at Maidenpool. Brackens and Blackwoods at each other's throats. Banners called. Neither would listen to Alyssa and once more the small council had to send someone to keep the peace.
Now Alyssa feels like she's torn in two. She wants to deal with the bandits and wants to ask for help from the King or from another region to get it done but she wants to prove she can rule her people without constantly asking for help.
Axel Tully

• 181 AC Axel is born the first and only child to Addam Tully and Agnes Blackwood.
  
• 192 AC Axel becomes the squire to his father Addam.
  
• 194 AC After a disagreement between Addam and his cousin Tullys, Axel and his family move to Raventree Hall.
  
• 199 AC Axel's father passes away and Axel returns to Riverrun and is knighted by his kin.
  
• 202 AC He is betrothed to Lady Myranda Banefort.
  
• 203 AC Axel is named a hero by his family and the people of Riverrun after he is the only survivor of the bandits who killed Sabitha Tully and Roger Tully. He took down nearly a dozen bandits on his own, barely surviving his wounds.
  
• 204 AC The betrothal to Lady Myranda Banefort is broken after the calamity at Harrenhal, Myranda is sent home.
  
• 206 AC Axel secretly converts to the old gods faith but keeps his knighthood.
  
• 207 AC Axel joins his family in traveling to King's Landing to celebrate the Crown Prince.
  

Supporting Characters

Florian Tully
(Scholar)

• Alyssa's blind but loyal cousin, who by all rights of law would be her heir.

Danelle Whent
(Subterfuge)

• Alyssa's mother, a stern but compassionate women in her early 50s.

My cousin’s daughter is playing in a flag football event at Don Hutson Center in June. Looking for things to recommend for them to do while they’re in town. I’ve only been to Green Bay twice, both times for games. We tailgated, did the stadium tour and Hall of Fame, and ate at 1919 and Kroll’s. Haven’t been since Titletown opened so figured I can recommend that. Any other things they should check out while there in the off-season? Sounds like a stadium tour is already planned, but wanted to give them other ideas.

My (F28) partner (M27) is going to be a groomsman in his college roommate’s wedding in a couple weeks. I am going with him, but I have not met the bride, and I literally met the groom for the first time this weekend. Our meeting was very brief (everyone stopped by our house to carpool for his bachelor weekend). He seemed like a nice guy.
I know nothing about this couple. They only live an hour away from us, but my partner has never tried to make plans for us with them (and vice versa). He mentioned a couple months ago that the bride wanted to get together with all of the roommates (there are 4 total) and their girlfriends, but I never heard about it again. Cut to tonight, he asks if we could go to dinner with everyone Thursday night (it’s Tuesday evening). This wasn’t his idea, but one of the other roommates.
If it were close to home, I would have no problem doing this… but they want to meet somewhere in the “middle” of everyone which will end up being an hour+ drive with traffic, the night before we are supposed to leave early Friday morning to drive to an unrelated wedding. ((Side note: we have three weddings total (including theirs) to attend in June.))
WIBTA if I said I didn’t want to go? I do want to meet the bride and get to know the groom better, but there were months where this could have been planned and it just wasn’t. I also have some social anxiety and either don’t know or barely know the people that will be at this dinner (other than my partner obv). A wedding with people you don’t know well is one thing, but an intimate dinner is totally different (when it comes to my personal flavor of social anxiety, anyway…).
ALSO just want to add I do not think this should have been the bride or grooms thing to plan while they were already busy planning the wedding. It 100% should have been on any three of the other roommates, including my partner.

GameSale Thread
Consoles Photos
*Open to offers
Pokewalker was brand new I only activated it to test functionality $80 Shipped
Teal GBC
Teal Nintendo DS
Rayquaza Gameboy SP 001 Reshell
Galaxy 3ds with stylus 3rd party charger & switch case
Gameboy pocket lite (backlit)
Gamecolor GB with blank 8gb sd
Pokemon Sun new sealed
Pokemon Emerald no sticker dry battery W box w repro ds/gba case
Old scrap silver nintendo ds with 2 bad screens shipped

Looking for

Pokemon Diamond (Green Nintendo Seal)
Pokemon Leafgreen
Pokemon Ruby
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon except red and sky
Pokemon Rangers all
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon DX (Switch)
Pokemon SNAP (Switch)
Everdrive X5 GBC/GBA Edition
PowerA Enhanced Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch - Mario Pop
Scrapnaut (Switch)
Stardew Valley (Switch)
Kirby GBA/GBC Games (Japanese welcome)
Yoshi Games Except Japanese cookie & egg
Make custom switch buttons for me from mold of these
I WILL NOT DROPOFF PACKAGES IN OVERNIGHT BINS ANYMORE. (A postal worker didn't track /stole a high value package.)
Consoles Photos

A few months ago as me(M26) and my now ex-fiance(F24) “Alissa” were moving into our new home she found a box of a few of my mementos: Some pictures, figures, etc. and lastly an old green hoodie with some faded designs. Most items were self-explanatory, but the hoodie she was a bit confused by yet ignored it for the most part. A few weeks go by and over dinner we were casually discussing ideas for names of our future kids. I suggested a name if we had a daughter and she really liked it. One night after a stressful day of work I went out drinking with friends. I messed up and came back later than I said I would be home and I came back drunk. She was understandably very upset and berated me for coming late and not answering my phone since it died. She also asked if I was out with any women and what I was so drunk for. Finally she demanded the reason for the name I suggested a few days ago since it wasn't the name of my mother or any of my relatives. I broke down and told Alissa that the name was the name of my first love. I then told Alissa the story of us growing up together and that when I was going through a rough time she gave me the hoodie, and about what happened to her when we were teenagers. Although it had been awhile I only recently started coming to terms with my past and met Alissa while in college. She started tearing up and ran into the bedroom and locked the door. I just ended up curling up and passing out on the floor.
The next morning she calmly woke me up and we started talking again. She said that we weren't using that name and that she was going to get me a new hoodie so I could forget about her. I just responded with an "OK" and an apology. We had breakfast and we just ignored the night before. A few days go by and she demands that I throw out the hoodie. When I refused she started crying and told me to get rid of it and asked if she (Alissa) was important, did I love her? etc. I said yes and tried to assure her, but she continued to berate me. I let her be and left for work. When I came home she was still upset and again brought up how she was suspicious that I was seeing other women. I was getting a bit irritated, but I just ignored it and went to sleep.
I had been planning for a few weeks to go back to my hometown and visit my grandmother in the hospital and see my friends and family. I told Alissa I would be gone and would be back late. While in the hospital she called me asking where I was and I told her I was in the hospital and I would call her back later. She then proceeded to spam me with angry texts and calls that I ignored.
When I arrived home we sat down and I told her our relationship was not going to work. I cited how even before the night incident she had been accusing me of cheating and was jealous of female coworkers and friends. Instead of supporting me on my past trauma she got upset and jealous and made me feel more stressed and depressed. The final straw was when I went to go see and spend time with my family and she demanded attention and bothered me. I deemed it unhealthy for us to continue to be together, let alone have children and it would be best to separate rather than have a lengthy and expensive divorce in the future. She cried some more and told me I was heartless and that I don't care about our relationship. I am unsure if I made the right call and what to do now.
TLDR My(M26) now ex fiance(F24) has been dismissive of my past trauma and feelings and I decided to end things.

What are these little green slightly translucent balls in a Chinese/Uyghur dish called dapanji or "big plate chicken".

1. The picture is them cooked
2. each green "ball" is about the size of a peppercorn
3. They taste citrusy, almost like lemon but not spicy or numbing at all
4. if you zoom in the husk/shell is kind of spotted

Here's the picture
https://imgur.com/HmabPrg
Extra details
I bought this dish from a Uyghur restaurant while visiting New York. This dish blew my mind and felt like discovering a new genre of food. I have to try to reverse engineer it as best I can! It was listed as chicken Laghman but given the other ingredients they used a dapanji/ big plate chicken recipe for the base.
I have looked at a few big plate chicken recipes and couldn't find an obvious match for this ingredient.
In some recipes the base broth cooks for 1hr+ and I wonder if some of the spices change appearance or flavor after that time. Brainstorming here, would either fennel seed, or Sichuan peppercorns taste and appear this way after 1hr+?
Any thoughts on what this could are welcome!!!
​
Example recipe
The recipe that I have seen to include most of the ingredients I could discern is copied and pasted below. Credit to u/mthmchris for the recipe and detailed guide.
https://www.reddit.com/Cooking/comments/7bcvarecipe\_xinjiangstyle\_dapanji\_braised\_chicken\_aka/
"So we wanted to show you how to make Uighur-style of Dapanji, a.k.a. the aptly translated ‘big plate of chicken’.
The Uighurs are a Turkish ethnic group from the Xinjiang province in the far North West of China, and have a fascinatingly awesome cuisine. They've got a solid mix of Central Asian and Northwest Chinese flavors - lamb features heavily, the grill and the tandoor's used, and they have their own version of pilaf (called 'polo' or 'shouzhuafan'). But at the same time, they'll use certain Chinese ingredients and also make use of the wok. This dish is one of the most beloved in the region, and a great place to start with Xinjiang food.
Video is here. We decided to also include in a recipe for those wide kudaimian pulled noodles that’re often served with this… but if you’re not feeling ambitious you could always opt for any sort of thick dried Asian noodles instead.
Ingredients:
One whole chicken cut into pieces -or- chicken wings, ~1.5kg. So really, the ideal sort of chicken for this dish would be an Asian variety of chicken cut into pieces across the bone... and if that's convenient for you, I'd implore you to go that route. If that sort of thing would be difficult for you to get, my sub would be chicken wings. You could cleave them in half, or honestly you could probably leave them in whole as well. I've seen some Western recipe writers call for boneless breast or thigh here, but I really think that's a dramatic reinterpretation of the dish, and you'd also run the risk of dry chicken. Wings aren't too intimidating, and the essence's the same.
Potato, 800g. Cut into large chunks. You don’t want your potatoes to be too small else they’ll end up dissolving into the braise.
Xinjiang xianjiao (线椒), ~3 minced and reconstituted -or- Hungarian Sweet Paprika, 2 tbsp -or- Sichuan Pixian Doubanjiang, 2 tbsp. So Xinjiang xianjiao is what gives the Dapanji its characteristic red color… this mild chili is super red, and dyes basically anything it touches. Now, this chili’s sort of difficult to source even in China, so substitutions might obviously be necessary. To me, this chili is very similar to a paprika chili… so if you can get your hands on some dried paprika chilis (in China, hongjiao), I think that would be the most ideal sub. Similarly, if you got some quality Hungarian sweet paprika that should also be fine. In China outside of Xinjiang the most common sub is some Sichuan Pixian doubanjiang – you can go that route too, but in my opinion I think paprika would be closer to the original. We also got a real interesting lead on what these chilis might be called in English... see the note below.
White sugar, ¼ cup This will be mixed in with a half cup of oil to make a ‘tangse’, or caramel, for the initial step of frying the chicken.
Ginger (姜), ~2 inches Cut into slices, to be fried together with the chicken.
Sichuan peppercorns (花椒), ~1 tbsp. Added when frying the chicken.
Star anise (八角), ~4. Added when frying the chicken.
Cinnamon/Cassia (桂皮), 1 stick. Added when frying the chicken. Note that this, just like what you’d get a supermarket in the West, is actually Cassia bark and not the so-called “true cinnamon” from Ceylon.
Black Cardamom (草果), 2 pod. Added when frying the chicken. Slightly crushed to open.
Dried Chaotianjiao Heaven Facing Chilis (干朝天椒), ~15. A dapanji isn’t set-your-mouth-on-fire spicy, but it should have some kick. Adding in about fifteen whole dried chilis in with your braising liquid does the job nicely (no need to deseed them). If you’re outside China, dried Thai birds eye chilis should work just as well, or you could play around with Mexican chilis (anything unsmoked from the Capsicum Annum cultivar, e.g. Arbols, would likely be fine).
Dried bay leaf (香叶), 1. To be added when braising.
Leek (大葱), ½. Cut up a half a leek into strips, these’ll be added about halfway through the braise.
Garlic, 1 head. Peel a head of garlic, these’ll be added when there’s about 15 minutes left of the braise. Note that I add the garlic a bit earlier than many recipes might (most common is to see it added five minutes until it’s finished), mostly because I fucking love munching on garlic that’s been softened in a braise.
Mild chilis, 1 small red chili (红辣椒) and one small green chili (青辣椒). Cut into wedges. Neither of these chilis are very spicy, so you could also opt for one small green or red bell pepper.
Salt, 1 tbsp. To season. If you’re using doubanjiang in the place of xianjiao chilis, cut this out.
Chicken boullion powder (鸡粉), 1 tbsp. To season.
Process, Dapanji.
If using Xinjiang xianjiao chili, finely mince and reconstitute the chili. You’re aiming to get this into a super-fine mince – if you got a food processor (we don’t), I imagine that’d be a help. Once it’s fine enough for you, add in some water – we added roughly two tablespoons. Leave that aside for about thirty minutes - the chili will end up absorbing the water and forming a sort of paste.
Prep your ingredients. I’d use that time to peel and slice your ginger, peel the potato and cut into large chunks, crush the black cardamom pods, cut the leek and mild chilis into strips/biased wedges, peel the garlic… measuring everything out so that it’s good to go once you’re ready to fry.
Blanch the chicken pieces. Blanch the chicken in boiling water for three minutes or so. Because the braise isn’t going to feature much liquid, we’re not going to be able to skim the scum, blood, and impurities from the braise. The quick blanch’ll clean our chicken right up so it’s good to braise.
Make the tangse (caramel). This is a relatively common step in many Chinese braises. To make the tangse, add in a half cup of oil and a quarter cup of sugar to a wok over medium heat. The sugar will begin to melt into the oil, and after a couple minutes it’ll deepen in color to something resembling a caramel. For this stage, it’s important that you stir constantly, and know that tangse can go from zero to midnight real quick. All in all, it’s better to have an overly blonde tangse than a burnt one.
Fry the chicken pieces in with the tangse, then add in the ginger and the salt/chicken boullion. Fry the chicken with the tangse for 30 seconds or so, then add in the ginger and fry for another 30 seconds. Sprinkle with salt and chicken boullion to season – I know it seems a bit strange to season so early in a braise, but things end up getting a bit unwieldy near the end when the potatoes are nearly dissolved.
Add in the xianjiao chili, then the Sichuan peppercorns, black cardamom, star anise, and cinnamon. Add in the xianjiao chili (or some Hungarian sweet paprika, or some Pixian doubanjiang) and coat the chicken with it. Then, add in those spices and let them fry for about 45 seconds or so until it’s all just starting to smell awesome.
Add in 400 mL of water, and nestle in your potatoes, chaotianjiao heaven facing chilis, and bay leaf. Cover and let simmer on low. 400 mL of water might feel like a bit of a small amount (it won’t cover all of your ingredients), but the idea is that the ingredients are going to steam in addition to braise. Because of that, after you cover it you really don’t want to peek. This’ll end up cooking about an hour in total – we still got three ingredients to add (the leek, the garlic, and the mild fresh chilis), so we’ll mix it when we open it up to add those ingredients.
After 30 minutes, add in the leek. At this point, the braising liquid should still look ‘water-y’ and the potatoes should be mostly intact. Toss the leek into the braising liquid, give everything a mix, and cover.
15 minutes later (45 into the braise), add in the garlic. Now the braise should start to look like it’s coming together. The very edges of the potato should be starting to dissolve – if you eat a potato it’ll be roughly cooked through but not very soft. Now, I should note that I add in the garlic a bit early – when I was researching this dish, the Han Xinjiang guy at my market was insistent that the garlic be added at the very end, five minutes before finishing. I like my garlic soft and cooked through so I can munch on it though, so I add in in here.
15 minutes later (60 minutes into the braise), add in the mild fresh chilis. These will only need five minutes or so to cook.
Serve. Serve this with the kudaimian noodles below. Generally, it's best to serve them after you've already munched on the dapanji a bit so that you can get them all in that braising liquid.
Ingredients, Kudaimian Pulled Noodles:
Bread Flour -or- Dumpling Flour (高筋面粉), 250g. Basically looking for a high gluten content, we used bread flour.
Water, 125g.
Salt, ½ tsp.
Oil. To roll the noodles in before resting.
Process, Kudaimian Pulled Noodles:
Ok, now before we get into this, a quick word of warning: hand pulled noodle making is more of a skill than a recipe. If you’re new to noodle pulling, it might take a few tries to get your noodles right – by far the most common issue is noodles that’re a bit too thick, which I’ll talk about how to save in the notes below.
Disclaimer number two… we’re not the most experienced noodle pullers. Steph’s from Guangzhou (where there’s not exactly much of a tradition of this northern-style hand pulled noodle making), so it isn’t exactly something she grew up with. To give you an idea, about a third of our noodles we had to ‘save’ using the technique in the notes.
In any event, this variety of hand pulled noodles is vastly easier than lamian, so it’s a good place to start. Also, 'Biang biang' noodles are basically the same method, but are divided into smaller pieces and cut in half lengthwise with a chopstick.
Mix together the flour and salt, then slowly incorporate the water into the dough. Rest for 10 minutes. We’ve found doing this by hand is actually a bit easier than using the stand mixer. Add the water bit by bit, kneading and incorporating it into the dough. Once the dough is doesn’t stick to the bowl anymore and has been kneaded into a ball shape, it’s done. Cover with a warm, damp towel and set it aside to let the dough relax.
Cut the dough into eight even pieces, roll them into a sort of fat ‘log’ shape, coat generously with oil, and set aside for 60 minutes. Each one of these pieces is going to make one big noodle – this is like the noodle from KenM’s nightmares. Make sure the logs are coated real well with oil, cover them with plastic wrap, and set it aside for one hour. This second rest is gunna be really critical, if it doesn’t rest for an hour, you’re not really gunna be able to pull them.
Pull the noodles. As always, when I’m trying to explain what to do with dough via the written word, I sound like a convoluted doofus, so take a look at 4:49 in the video for a visual. First thing you’ll do is flatten your log by pressing it down with your palm – the flatter it gets here, the easier it’ll be to pull. Then, grab a hold of the two edges of the log and stretch it out four times. Now this is going to start to begin to look like a noodle. Then, continue to pull and smack the noodle against the table – this smacking motion’ll help the noodle thin out in the center as well. Once the noodle’s roughly as wide as your arm span, you’re finished. Just tear off and toss the little knobs of dough where your hands were pulling from.
Boil the noodle. Boil the noodles until they float. These northwestern style noodles are a bit thicker, so it might take a minute or so.
Note on how to rescue kudaimian that’re too thick:
One of the difficulties with learning hand pulled noodles is that if you screw up, you can’t just roll it back into a ball and start over – it won’t really form because of the oil.
If your noodle’s a bit too thick, use your fingers to lightly spread it horizontally, then pass it through your middle and index fingers with both hands while lightly pressing and pulling to straighten it back out – this motion is at 5:33 in the video. Again, this isn’t really impressive or correct or anything, but it’ll thin out the noodle and everyone’ll be none the wiser (unless you’re, uh… filming yourself).
Note on other Dapanji ingredients:
So a couple things that we didn’t add that you might see in a few dapanji recipes… (1) tomato paste (2) some other spices and (3) beer.
So right, Uighurs actually do use tomato paste in some dishes – the brand of tomato paste I buy here in Shenzhen is actually from Xinjiang. You could use half Xinjiang chili and half tomato paste to get that sort of red color if you like – it might be a bit more visually appealing, as our dapanji had a number of red flakes scattered about. We opted for pure chili as we were basing the recipe off of the dapanji of our favorite Xinjiang restaurant in Shenzhen, which didn’t use tomato paste.
Also, if you poke around, you’ll see that each restaurant’ll sort of has their own spice mix. We went with a basic one that was sort of a copycat of a Uighur-run Xinjiang restaurant we love in Shenzhen (plus Bay Leaf). The most commonly added ingredient that we didn’t use would probably be fennel seed… but sometimes you’ll see some places toss some more exotic stuff in too.
Lastly, many of the recipes around Xiachufang (the Chinese AllRecipes) feature a light beer as the braising liquid. Uighurs are Muslim though, so we just opted for water. Beer wouldn’t hurt though, so if you feel like it you could toss that in as well.
Note on Xianjiao Chili:
Again, please don't hesitate to sub this. I figured it'd be almost impossible for people to find abroad, except...
I was chatting with someone on YouTube and I'm now like 70% sure that this is Kashmiri Chili. They look really, really similar, have the same purpose (red color), similar heat level (~1k scoville), and if you look at a map that pathway seems like it makes a ton of sense. You should be able to find them on Amazon - at the very least, even if they aren't the same, I think it'd be a nice sub."

It's been very interesting lately, and I've been doing the best I can, but I'm regularly thinking being a twin flame sucks. It's been hard in so many ways. But at the same time, I know, I KNOW, that I wouldn't have become who I am, or healed all the things I've healed, or learned all the things I learned, or cleaned up my life so it's more aligned with who I am, without all of it. I know what it's doing but sometimes it's just so motherfucking hard.
I hadn't talked to my twin in while. We saw each other last on New Year's Eve and I knew he was going through a lot, changing a lot of things in his life, making decisions, figuring out where life goes, and I knew he wouldn't be as available, but he really ghosted me again this time, and honestly I was like whatever, I'm going through a lot, I hope you're figuring your end out and I'll see you when you're feeling better. I just had no idea how long it'd take or how hard these past few months would be. He has had a really hard time, and I felt it all along the way. That was hard too because I was dealing with my own crap.
Last week I was still recovering from being very sick, which always happens to me at the end of a cycle, and it used to cause me a lot of anxiety, because I'd be bedridden, too weak, too anxious, feeling energy too intensely, having headaches and digestive issues, head pressure, feeling floaty, feeling out of it, not being able to think straight, having no energy, everything hurting and aching. But since I've been doing this for years I realized that it's just the universe's way of knocking me on my ass so I'll be still and focus on myself and on taking care of myself, putting myself first.
Anyway, I decided to go get in my hammock at this place I like to go to, there's trails and a reservoir and it's nice and it always makes me feel better to go out there. I was in my hammock and I was journaling and listening to music and I'm not sure if it started with a song making me feel something, but I just started feeling my masculine's love. It was so sweet and tender and loving and unconditional and it felt so good, I hadn't felt it like that in a long time. Then I started to feel it for myself, it was just this unconditional love bliss burst that came over me and I started crying it was so awesome. I've had it many times before, I mean we're shown that to remind us where we will get if we heal and do the work on ourselves. So, I'm sitting there, just luxuriating in that feeling and I started to journal about it, and I look up and i think I see a guy that looks like my guy walking toward me. i have terrible eyesight, so I wasn't sure until he got close, but I smiled and waved and I wasn't expecting him to stop and talk, but he did.
He asked what I was doing, was smiling at me, he finds me endlessly amusing I know, and I said I'm hammocking, and he was like yeah, I know that, and then we started talking about things. He apparently had cut his achilles tendon almost all the way through in a freak accident at the dump when he backed into a broken pot. Well, so that made sense, I know how he is when he gets hurt, or has an injury or gets sick. He uses that as an excuse because he thinks he can't handle me if he's not at his best. So, we just chit chatted until he was ready to go, and he was antsy to go. I could tell he was triggered, he was getting awkward and I was just thinking, alright dude, get going, don't explain where you've been or what's up with things or whatever, just go. You'll be back, I'll see you when you understand it all better.
After he left I sat there watching him walk away and while I was thinking kind of bitchy things, like go on boy, get the hell out of here, go off and think about me obsessively and sit there overthinking it all, whatever. But I realized I wasn't triggered, I felt solid and good and at peace and calm inside. It was the first time in a long time I'd felt that way around him. It is because I've come back around to the place where I remember the truth, that we love each other unconditionally and that's not going anywhere and it's all going to happen the way it's meant to. So, us running into each other was so perfect honestly. It made me see that I am in a good place with him, and that he was not in a good place with us. I felt his guilt, his feeling bad about it, I felt absolute agony for the 2 days afterwards coming from him, I was fine, it wasn't easy because I still felt it, but it wasn't me.
Last week I started to have a lot of telepathy, a lot of love feelings, songs, number syncs, signs, and all kinds of things just started happening, the magic started percolating and getting going, and that helped, because I could feel his love and everything he was feeling and it was getting better, and we were both started to feel more balanced overall. I realized after our encounter that it was divinely orchestrated because we needed to be triggered by each other, but I wasn't which was awesome, but I know he was, I felt it. We needed to see each other to see where we are. And I'm in a place where I really am okay with however life unfolds. Things are happening in my life, I'm busy, things are changing for me, and I'm getting on the other side of the healing and work I've been doing for over 4 years hard core.
I feel balanced and at peace and solid in my truth of who I am and what I know and what it's all about now, and this balancing of my spiritual and physical side, my action and flowy side, my masculine and my feminine, my fears and my love and light. I feel lately that there's been a bit of like balancing in the middle like a see-saw and I'll kind of dip into the fears and deal with them, and I'll dip into the bliss and love and then I'll balance out and feel more "normal".
I feel like after everything I've been through in my life, my 54 years, that I'm finally on the other side of healing all the crap I've been through so I can be free of it. So I'm just happy being me living my life and looking forward to what's manifesting for me. Things are falling into place for me with work and money and all of that, now I'm not saying I've got it all, no, I have what I need and I can do what I want to do with limitations, and my new job won't be easy, but it'll lead to other things I want, like living alone in my own place, like paying bills on time, like getting to take care of the basics so I can rebuild my life the way I want it to be. My job is also with people I like who like me and appreciate me and I feel really good around them. Good vibes. And I'll get to be creative and use all my experience and abilities there which is lovely and makes me feel inspired and excited about it all.
I think I'm most excited about living on my own again. I left my ex abusive narcissist about 6 years ago, a month before I met my twin, and I lived with my dad, then my son, then my mom, then back with my son, because I haven't been able to work consistently for very long without getting really sick and just falling apart, but I was healing through all of that, and we all know how that just takes over in a way that makes it hard to function like a "normal" person. It's been a long road to here, but I know what I'm doing now.
One of the things that really has helped me was learning that when I start getting sick, or too anxious, or feeling like it's all too much, whatever it is, I have to listen to myself and accept where I am, bhonest and real about it, and not not NOT give myself a hard time about having a hard time. It's my reality.
If my body is exhausted I rest, if I can't be around people I stay home, if I can't do something or am not up to something I tell everyone and I stick to my boundaries and nurture and care for myself through it. I used to get so anxious, what will everyone think? I suck, I'm in trouble, I'm this and that, and why is this so hard and all of that. The resistance to the truth is what causes our suffering. Wishing things were different than they are causes suffering, and I don't particularly like suffering. When I offer myself the compassion and care and understanding and empathy and love and nurturing I'd give others in the same position, I start feeling better. I feel at least free to take care of myself, to give myself permission to let me be however I am. it almost instantly makes me feel better, when I stop giving any fucks about anything outside of myself. It's not selfish, it's self love.
I am getting that June is going to be a big month for twins, feeling things falling into place. I feel my twin getting closer, wanting to see me, getting all fired up, getting romantic, then getting confused, and going back and forth but as each day passes since I've seen him, it's gotten lighter and brighter and more loving, and our telepathy especially at night is ridiculous. We're having all our arguments now, in telepathy, like we're getting it out, and I know he feels it, because I've seen him change along the way, in ways that only could've happened with him somehow starting to understand what I'm learning too.
I once had this vision, and it was because the 3 of pentacles kept coming up last year in every reading, It was that we are walking side by side on two paths near each other, we are making progress, we are doing the work, for us, so we're collaborating energetically, and once in a while our paths would cross and we'd collide and then we'd go back to wandering our paths until it's time. I don't know when it'll be time, but things are definitely happening behind the scenes and I feel that too.
He and I both know we can't keep going the way that we were. It felt like a situationship and after reading so much on attachment styles I could see why he did so many of the things he did. We were and are both scared of it, I get it, it's intense and crazy and we've never felt this way before about anyone, and it's turned my entire life upside down and on it's ear, but I've never felt more authentic and empowered and like I'm on the right track in my entire life. There's a solid knowing of who I am now, and I trust myself, I listen to myself, and I can handle whatever comes now.
To me that's been the whole point of the journey. We think at first it's about them, about getting them, about us figuring it out. But it's really about us becoming who we were meant to be before life screwed us all up and wounded us with all it's bullshit, and having to rid our minds of all that negative self talk that was rooted in inner child wounds. It's been a lot, but wherever it's going is better than where I've been, and I'm grateful for all of it now, even when it's hard, because I know what all of it does, how it helps us release all the crap so we can be who we were always meant to be.
I'm really feeling with the full moon Friday and the 6/6 portal, we will really feel the shift and feel much more stable, positive, encouraging energies and we'll feel more stable as we head into the summer and settle into the new version of ourselves we've become after the last year or so. It's good stuff, but it's not always easy I know.
I keep having all these heated discussions in my head with my masculine, and last night I had this vision where he was being emotionally withdrawn when I was trying to be affectionate, and he was very uncomfortable, and I said, this isn't a boundary, you have walls up, and if you don't let them down you're going to lose me, is that what you want? And then I got mad and banged on the bed, and said, like you can ever lose me, dammit!
It's true, I'm not sure I'll ever be lost to him, and I don't think he'll ever be able to stay away, and hopefully he's started to realize why and sort out his stuff. I know it's hard for him too, I scare the shit out of him, I see it, I feel it, and instead of believing that he's just this emotionally unavailable avoidantly attached dude who will keep disappearing, I know that he's transforming with me, I've seen it all along.
We just wish it would hurry up and happen. Well, my healing couldn't happen overnight, I had to go through multiple cycles and all kinds of crap to get where I am, so I choose to be empathetic and understand. When I see him I will be a safe place, no judgment, no blame, just seeking to understand what he's afraid of, and hopefully that helps. I guess we'll see how it goes, because all I feel is energy and his feelings, I have no idea what he'll end up doing, but I'm pretty sure I'll see him soon whether the universe throws us together or he's finally tired of fighting how he feels and decides it's time to face it. I don't think he has any idea how easy it could be to find some clarity and understand each other, but I hope it's soon, because i am tired of things, even if I ultimately know, that it's going to happen the way it's meant to, and that I have zero control over that. It's been a long journey and I'm grateful for where I am, but I'd like for he and I to finally find our way through this so we can make it easier on each other and get this party started. I guess we'll see. Learning to have faith in the process wasn't easy but it really makes all the difference in being able to let go and just focus on myself and my life that I'm currently living right now in this moment. He'll join me when he's ready, and only the universe knows when that happens. I'm only in control of myself.
With unconditional love and light,
Cinamon

Hello everyone! It's been a while since I've last posted here. For anyone not familiar with my story, my JNMom, aptly dubbed "Cruella", has been quiet for a while. I thought we were making headway, and boy was I wrong. Buckle up, cause this is going to be looooong.
I got engaged to FDH in August of last year, and Cruella was thrilled. I'm her only child, and for the longest time, we had a very enmeshed relationship. She quickly got me a budget to work with, and I've been planning since then. FDH's family also provided us a budget from their side as well. Cruella also created a separate budget just for my dress.
Cruella came to visit me in February to go dress shopping with me and my FMIL who is absolutely JY most the time. This trip was an absolute nightmare. First, Cruella gets a hotel 45 minutes away from where we live and expects us to see her daily. Turns out, she and JMDad were here a few days early to go house shopping since they are thinking of moving back to our state. As a reminder, they moved to another state a couple of years ago as a knee jerk reaction to us getting a cold snap, and now ironically enough, Cruella works at the House of Mouse. Turns out that they moved because they expected me to follow, and when I didn't, they realized they may not get to see any future grandbabies whenever they wanted, so they started looking to move back. On the last night that JMDad was in town (he was flying out to let us ladies do some dress shopping), we had dinner with them at a very nice restaurant, which is a disaster I may need to post about on a later date. FDH and I were informed of the house hunting, which we promptly shut down. I let Cruella know that we are following FDH's job. He's only sticking with his current job for the PTO for our wedding, but then we are both job searching and house hunting. Cruella was not pleased with this, but eventually agreed it wouldn't be a good idea to move here just for us to move right as she gets here.
Wedding dress shopping will also need to be another post. Cruella was for the most part supportive, but she kept finding ways to try to start drama with FDH's family who I defended tooth and nail. On the second day, FMIL couldn't join us, so it was just Cruella and me, and we had a spat on the way to the first bridal boutique. I only got her to snap out when I told her she was ruining the say yes to the dress moment, and since it's a show Cruella obsesses over she stopped. During lunch though, we had a heart to heart, and I laid out all of my issues with her, especially that she never took any ownership of the shit she put me through as a kid. She seemed receptive and told me about some marital issues she is having with my dad. I told her I've played therapist since I was in middle school, which was never fair to me. I told her she and JMDad needed to go to couples counseling and get their shit sorted out because I would not let them ruin my wedding with their drama. Once again, she seemed to understand, acknowledge, and actually gave me what seemed to be a genuine apology.
That all went out the window when we came back after dress shopping, and my mom proceeded to get druuuuunk at my place on all my wine and started picking fights with me. One of the arguments was she wanted me to share a bed with her since she had checked out of her hotel (FDH and I offered to let her stay with us without expecting her to accept. Not a mistake we will repeat). FDH was sleeping on the couch, and I was staying on an air mattress. She said it would be more comfortable sleeping in the same bed. When I declined, she threatened to sit on me and tickle me until I peed. I used to have a bladder issue when I was a kid, not due to trauma or anything, just an issue I grew out of, and she has threatened me with that ever since. FDH told me after this happened that had she tried it, he would have pulled her off of me and kicked her out. She was one wrong move from getting kicked out, and I think she knew it cause she backed down.
So here I am in the present thinking that everything is going great when I get a text from Cruella telling me that she is feeling confused about something. She starts sounding more agitated with each text, so I just call her and ask her what she is getting so mad about. Turns out, she really doesn't like FFIL because he jokingly said he didn't want to get an appetizer she wanted BACK IN FEBRUARY. She's been holding onto this grudge for MONTHS! I told her that I didn't want to hear her complaints about the 2 times she's met him because he is a wonderful man who has helped me out tremendously and treated me like his daughter. Then she got into the REAL reasons she was annoyed.
FDH and I have a destination wedding planned. We aren't rich by any means, but we are careful with our money. We were setting up a shuttle to get us from the airport to the venue/hotel which is 1.5 hours away. Cruella said she was fine with taking a train. I told her she could do what she wanted, but there are train strikes going on, and I wanted to do something nice by paying for the transportation to make sure everyone got there ok. This past weekend, FFIL stated he was going to get a rental car and take FDH's brother and his SO to the venue so that we only had to worry about setting up a ride for my parents, me, and FDH. I told my mom about it and said that FFIL was taking one for the team to help us save money on that. Cruella didn't like this and said she had offered to do the same thing in the beginning, and now it feels like she's a burden. She thinks that when we told her in February not to move, we were treating her like a senile grandma who can't make her own decisions anymore. I don't talk to her about wedding planning at all and just expect her to pay for everything.
She's taking the train to get to the venue, and I told her that's on her, but if she is late or misses any of the associated events, I would be furious with her. We weren't trying to manage her or treat her like she was senile, just dropping some facts on her to make sure she made an informed decision when moving. And I tell her about wedding planning with every call I make to her. The real reason she wasn't happy about the wedding planning? I wasn't asking for her opinion! And there it is. She wants control over wedding planning. I don't need her opinion. I told her I'm happy to keep her in the loop, and I'm giving her the same info as FMIL. She had the audacity to say "I'm your mother! I should get more than FMIL!" What? She then told me we needed to talk more about the budget. I informed her that I was still well within the budget and that I was needing to get assistance with a few things soon.
FDH's ring? No, that's my responsibility since he paid out of pocket for my ring. Fair enough. My dress alterations? I no longer get a separate dress budget, and it's now part of the main wedding budget because I need to wear something to the WEDDING. Travel costs? That should come out of our honeymoon budget because it's for travel. How are we getting to the wedding again? Because of these changes, we are now having to significantly cut back on our honeymoon. 2 week trip? Nope! It's now 1 week. Fun sight seeing tours? Nope! Those are gone now. I specifically made sure that everything was under budget to take care of unforeseen things. We don't want to touch the money FDH's family gave us because that is for a down payment on a house.
FDH and I are fuming. We are only a couple of months from the wedding, and we are reeling to try to make this work. I was so shocked by Cruella that I didn't have a rebuttal for her for any of her budget changes at the time. This is pure retaliation. FDH said after the wedding, he's done and going NC with Cruella, and honestly, I'm going to join him. I will never forgive her for this. She's put me through so much shit growing up, and I thought the wedding that she always promised me growing up would be what she would be most agreeable on. I KNEW better. I've read similar stories on this subreddit. We wanted to elope, but I said no because I wanted the wedding and knew Cruella would turn into a fucking disaster if there was no wedding. I feel so stupid for walking right into this trap, and I can't even back out because we are locked into everything. Now we are trying to figure out how we are going to do this without dipping into our future house fund.
We are definitely going NC with Cruella, if not for the same amount of time that she lead me on with our "budget", then most likely forever. She will never get to be alone with our kids, and at this rate, she will never meet them. Guess it doesn't matter where she moves to now.

Originally posted by u/electronic_gas_5769 in AmItheAsshole on Nov 11, '20, updated Dec 6, '20 and Oct 30, '22. I edited the first post to use the names OP uses in the next 2 posts instead of initials.
 
Trigger Warning: Cheating, loss of a loved one
Mood Spoiler: Both sad and happy parts
 
Original
Nov 11, '20
 
AITA for uninviting my daughter to our Christmas gathering?
Bear with me, I am on mobile.
I am a mother of 4 children. Two older sons and two younger daughters. All of them are adults and have moved out a long time ago.
I have always been close with my daughter Sally, while Penny has always liked to have her own space. Which I don't mind, theyre both beautiful talented young women that I thought I couldn't be more proud of.
We're having early Christmas this year. First week of December I was inviting everyone around for Christmas Dinner, gift giving and the lot.
When I Phoned Penny yesterday to clarify a few things she mentioned that she and her husband would not be coming.
When I asked she said that they had seperated for now as he had cheated. I said that it was surely better to spend time with family if this was the case and maybe she should come home for some time.
She ummed and ahhd but then eventually she told me he had an affair with Sally and they had been seeing each other for the past 2 years.
I felt sick. For the past 6 months in our talks, Sally has alluded that she had been seeing someone and was typically girl-in-love.
I uninvited Sally to the Christmas gathering and blocked her. I don't know if I'm able to deal with her before Christmas but this is family time and family can't hurt each other like that. I'm at a loss in all honesty. Penny is now coming which is good because at this time she needs stability of people who love her imo.
The problem is that Sally naturally thinks I'm in the wrong. It's none of my business and as her mother I can't block her and remove her from the family.
My sister thinks I shouldn't get involved in their personal lives which I think is bs. My daughter needs us right now. But then she tells me "I have two daughters to think about". Which I think isn't true. Sally has forfeited that right atm.
Thankfully my husband is liaising with Sally atm but he is also in solidarity with me.
So are we in the wrong for uninviting a daughter for Christmas??
Edit: my husband showed me that this had gotten a lot responses. Too many for us to answer them all but we will be reading through before bed.
A small update: Penny's MIL found out. While me and her have only spoken a few times, she did dote on Penny and I know Penny got along well with her. I haven't spoken to her personally, but I know she phoned my daughter and was really supportive and crying.
My sister said that if Sally isn't invited then she isn't going either. Which is fine by me - she wasn't invited in the first place due to the pandemic. Otherwise I've been working and doing some crochet so it's been quiet :)
 
Judgment: Not The Asshole
 
1st Update
Dec 6, '20 - About 1 month later
 
Hello all! My Christmas gathering was yesterday and my son & husband wondered if I would post an update for you all.
It's been rather uneventful, but I've been equally surrounded by warmth and love while also feeling heartbroken and lonely.
So first of all, since my post, my husband has been teaching me to use reddit! I've really enjoyed being in some craft communities 😊
My daughter Penny has been staying with us. She works from home. My husband and eldest went to get some more of her stuff from her old house. Pennys mother-in-law (Jane) was there and was very helpful and sweet. She also bought some mint hot chocolate for our penny and Christmas candles. I know they're her favourite.
From what penny has told me, Jane is having similar feelings to me. A lot of guilt over our children's decision to hurt people we love. I think at this point we have to accept that we did our best raising them, but they're adults now so we can't beat ourselves up.
Penny and Jane are going to stay in touch. I think Jane truly does think of penny as a daughtefriend 😊😊
Onto some more negative things. I wrote my letter to Sally during this time. I expressed that I was extremely disappointed and also disgusted. While I will continue to have a relationship with her, she won't be welcome to any family gatherings with penny present unless penny has met a point in her life where she feels comfortable. I told her what some of you had said, that not taking a side would be a side and that she had for all intents and purposes, already uninvited herself when she was so cruel to her sister.
Sally had apparently come up on Friday and knocked on the door. I was out shopping at the time. My husband spoke to her. Apparently, Sally and Michael (my son-in-law) are going to continue their relationship. I will not support it in any way or form. She may be my daughter but that man is not welcome. I am supporting penny through the divorce, and if Sally ever expects money for the wedding or a house then she's a very naïve girl. My husband sent her away, after which Sally said we'd have to get over it someday.
Otherwise, the Christmas gathering was lovely. It was strange not getting drunk and playing boardgames due to covid, but still a pleasant time. My hip hurts from the cooking 😭 but husband and penny did the cleaning up so who's the real winner?
I hope you all have a wonderful day. Thank you very much for your kind words when I last spoke to you ♥
EDIT: I know some are concerned about Covid, but please know that we live in a country with very few cases and we met within government guidelines.
 
2nd Update
Oct 30, '22 - Almost 2 years later
 
Update
Hello all!
I hope this message finds you well. A lot has changed since I last spoke with you all, so I would like to update you because I am finding things a bit difficult right now.
First of all, Penny is doing well! She met someone new about a year ago; they're incredibly supportive and sweet, and they made such an effort in getting to know me and my husband. Penny was still living with me when she started seeing them, so I got to watch their relationship develop - and although Penny is a grown woman I couldn't help but be reminded of when she was a child and having crushes. It was very endearing and I'm glad I got to witness firsthand the smile her new partner gives her. Penny also got a new job and has moved to Ireland with her partner.
Sally and Michael have continued their relationship. I don't have a lot of love to give Michael. I am civil enough but frankly, it is difficult for me to become invested in their relationship at all. Michael recently asked my permission to marry Sally, which was disrespectful, to say the least. Penny still lived with me last Christmas, so again they were not invited. I am not hosting this Christmas and am instead going to go visit my eldest son, he and his wife had a little boy at the beginning of this year. They've asked me to stay with them for a little while so I can help with the cooking and cleaning, as they have been struggling a little bit.
Finally, my husband passed away 9 months ago. He fell while on a walk and hit his head, and was there for some hours before someone found him. It's been a difficult transition, to put it mildly. Being a little bit on the older side, I've lost a fair few people in my life and while I did grieve, I always had the strength to continue. Losing my husband made me realise how much I relied on him. Not just to take the bins out, or pick me up from choir practice, but all the times I was angry, sad, and overwhelmed and he was there for me.
When other people passed away at least you get moments of respite in the grief, where you just sort of "forget" they've passed. With my husband, there are only reminders. Every time I wake up alone, when I now have to take the bins out, when I have to cook a meal just for one person. There's not really a moment of peace in this grief and I have found it very difficult to deal with. It's his birthday at the end of November, and there was another moment of grief as I had to get rid of my notes for birthday gift ideas in my notebook. Everything has just been so painful to deal with and I just cannot stop crying even after all this time. I just can't even stand to think of the good moments I shared with him because it just hurts too much. I know there's not a correct way to grieve or time-limit, but I just feel like I've got to get up and start looking after myself for everyone around me.
I really want to thank any of you that read this. It's been incredibly helpful just to be able to share my feelings a little bit. I hope you all have been doing well.
Kind regards.
 
Reminder, DO NOT comment on the original posts or contact the original poster. I am not the original poster. This is a repost.

Read Chapter 1 Here
Previous Chapter Here
My other SSB story, Writing on the Wall, Here
Buckle in, this is a long one!
*****
"I still can't believe your dad," Ayen huffed as he glared at Elera from his seat next to her. He crossed his arms across his chest and gave his head a little shake, perfectly coiffed hair bouncing in the soft evening light cutting through a nearby window.
"It was pretty hilarious," Marin chimed in. They were staying with her parents at the moment, using it as a sort of neutral ground. Ayen's father, Allis, was in full wedding planner mode and staying there was getting pretty intense. Elera's parents, on the other hand…
"He thought I was some kind of… of…" Ayen's voice dropped to a near whisper, hissing through clenched teeth. "...escort."
"It's not your fault," Elera tried her best to placate the young man. She leaned against him from her spot to his left and wrapped one muscular arm across his shoulders. Despite Ayen's grumpiness he still leaned into her, his head resting against her chest. "I think he just never expected me to actually marry a boy."
"That part was even better." Marin, tall and lanky, stood near the window in their little room, watching the quiet dribbles of rain slip down the glass. It had been a good day, really a good month. Elera's proposal was well received, Ayen was happy, and with Stace on his mission Marin could feel like she actually had some of her husband's attention. It wasn't a particularly attractive or kind thought, but she hadn't quite managed to pull free of the jealousy the Human elicited in her.
"Don't you start," Elera warned with a glare.
"I thought it was kind of sweet!" Marin grinned, watching Elera and Ayen both darken with matching blushes.
The fact that Elera was getting married had come as a surprise to her family. Marin had the impression that Elera was pretty bad at actually communicating with her parents, and it had been nearly a year since Elera’s time in the frozen north. The Heleum clan was large and Elera was seen as being a self-sufficient adult who didn't need much looking after. She also had a bit of a reputation as a partier, so when Elera showed up with Ayen and Marin in tow to announce her engagement, Elera's father had made some assumptions.
Specifically, he had assumed that Elera was marrying Marin and that Ayen was an "entertainer" the pair hired to celebrate.
It made a sort of sense, considering how open Elera was about the time she spent with other girls. At some point, her father just assumed that she had no interest in guys at all. Convincing him that Elera was, in fact, marrying Ayen and that Marin was first wife took some doing. And now, three weeks later, Ayen was still grumbling about it.
Still, it all worked out.
"Think of it this way," Marin added as way of conciliation. "After that whole fiasco, you pretty much have Elera's family wrapped around your finger. They didn't even complain when you suggested a Human-style wedding."
"...as long as we have it here on Shil." Ayen sighed. "Which makes sense, I guess. We can't afford to fly everyone out even if Sam said we can use the Observatory for free."
"I bet if we asked Jel'si she would let us use that cliffside villa the Sams are staying at." Elera turned to look at Ayen as she spoke and Marin tried to hold in a sigh. Her husband's boyfriend's girlfriend was a nice enough person, and having the resources of a Noble House in the family was great, but thinking of Jel'si just made Marin think of Stace again.
There had to be some way for her to get past this funk. The strange Human was part of the family at least as much as the Sams were, and Marin wasn't about to give them up. Spending more time socializing had helped, but now that he was off on his mission and it was clear how much Ayen and Elera missed him, all of Marin's anxiety was flooding back.
Still, she had to be responsible. Their strange and ever-growing family needed to iron out any wrinkles and-
"Marin, dear?" The voice came from the side door and Marin turned to see Mevis, her father, quietly rapping at the door frame to get her attention. The room went silent as Ayen and Elera paused their conversation and glanced towards the doorway. The large, somewhat heavy set woman standing behind him was recognizable but entirely unexpected.
"You have a visitor.”
It took Marin a moment to recall the last time she had seen Colonel Et’tai. It was just after the first attack on the observatory; Marin had been a mess of nerves, having just repelled an invasion of Humans intending to kill her husband and new lovers. That she had to clarify to herself that it was the “first'' attack only made the memory sting more.
That said, it was hard to focus on the Colonel. Just like everyone else, her attention was drawn to the briefcase chained to the large woman’s wrist. The Colonel had the perfect posture of career military, but even then the case, a glossy blue rectangle of painted metal, unadorned aside from the seal of the Empress wrought in gold, seemed to have its own gravity.
“I need to speak with Lieutenants Elera and Marin,” she said brusquely. The Colonel’s voice was rough, her face lined with age and a grimace of displeasure. She turned towards where Ayen stood, his eyes fixed on that same case, and her expression softened. “Alone, please. I promise to give them back to you in one piece.”
Ayen started, then nodded. He stepped away as fast as he could without breaking into a run, tucking an arm around Marin’s father and pulling him from the doorway as he slipped past. Marin really couldn’t blame him.
After all, who wanted to share a room with a bomb?
Maximum security cases like the one Colonel Et’tai had strapped to her wrist played prominently in movies, tv shows, video games, really any media where you needed some sort of object to push the story along. What did Sam always call them? A macmuffin? Something like that. The cases were made to only be opened by one particular citizen of the Empire, and if the biometric lock detected the wrong person trying to open it the entire case would detonate, destroying the contents and, depending on the media it was being portrayed in, the entire room, building, or starship around it. Marin had never actually seen one in person.
“May I ask what this is about, ma’am?” Elera’s words helped pull Marin out of her distraction, and she watched as the Colonel stepped to a sideboard cabinet under a window..
“You can ask, but I can’t answer,” Colonel Et’tai replied with a grunt. “Four days ago, I was on Earth doing my job. Then I get a summons back to Shil, a boombox gets strapped to my wrist, and I’m told to meet the two of you.” The Colonel tapped at the case with a fingertip, smirking slightly as Marin and Elera both flinched. “I’m supposed to open it with the two of you present, then follow the directions.”
Colonel Et’tai carefully pushed the various curios and knickknacks decorating the sideboard out of the way, then placed the box onto the cleared surface. Marin found herself frozen in place, unable to do anything but watch as the old soldier pressed a finger to the golden seal in the center of the lid. The crest hinged open with a little click, revealing the dark glass of a camera and a hole just large enough to insert a finger.
“I hate this part,” the Colonel mumbled to herself. Marin tried to keep her distance, but to her chagrin she wasn’t going to be able to. Elera’s rough, strong hand reached out and took hers, dragging Marin closer just as Et’tai inserted her finger into the hole.
“Colonel Liretta Et’tai, nine-seven-twenty-three-six-fourteen-twelve-vector.” As the last word left her mouth, the case made a small ‘snick’ and Et’tai flinched. After a moment that felt like an eternity, a moment when Marin was sure she was about to die, the case made a much louder click and the lid popped open with a hiss of released pressure.
Relief flooded Marin’s body as the threat of imminent death faded. She squeezed Elera’s hand, then released it so she could rub the sweat from her brow. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths.
“Oh, fuck me,” Elera whispered, and Marin’s eyes flew back open. The Colonel had begun unpacking the case, and now where there had been only one bomb sitting on the sideboard there were now three. The two new ones were barely large enough to hold more than a few sheets of paper, but they had the same crest and very likely the same security system. The Colonel seemed to be ignoring the boxes, instead reading a piece of paper. Her face was a mix of concern and growing amusement. Finally, she stopped and placed the paper back in the case, removing instead two small boxes made of dark wood.
“Attention!” The word wasn’t loud, but it was direct and Marin felt her back slam straight out of sheer instinct. Next to her, Elera did the same. Neither was in uniform, but that only added to the surreal oddness of the situation. Marin wondered idly if she was dreaming.
“I don’t know what sort of shit you two have gotten yourselves involved in, but it’s not my job to question the wisdom of the Empress, only to serve Her to the best of my ability.” She reached out and handed Marin one of the wooden boxes, Elera the other.
“By order of Empress Tasoo of the Shil’vati Empire, it is my distinct pleasure to promote Elera Heleum and Marin Elbruk to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, effective immediately.” The Colonel gestured and Marin, feeling as if she was sleep walking, popped the lid from the wood box. Laying in a little nest of velvet was her new insignia. Marin didn’t know what to say. She just stood there, staring down at the evidence of a promotion she hadn’t earned. She almost missed the Colonel’s next words.
“Enjoy your retirement.”
Now Marin was sure she was dreaming. She glanced over at Elera, who looked mildly concussed. The moment dragged on, Colonel Et’tai standing in front of the pair, seeming to delight in how awkward the whole situation was for the two other Marines. After another moment of watching the pair, Et’tai turned back to the counter and returned with the pair of smaller cases. She glanced at each one, then held them out.
Marin took the case in a trembling hand, awkwardly tucking the simple wooden box with its Lieutenant Colonel insignia into her pocket. Her name was embossed onto the security case, just below the Imperial Seal. She glanced at Elera, who tried to grin. The smile didn’t reach her eyes, where panic lurked.
“As fun as this is to watch, we don’t have all day, girls. I have an orbital to catch if I want to get back to Earth sometime in the next month.”
After a quick swallow and a deep breath, Marin pressed down on the crest. It popped open with a little click, revealing a camera lens and a finger-sized hole. Biometric test one passed. The inside of the hole felt cool as she slipped a finger in.
“Lieu… Lieutenant Colonel Marin Elbruk, Nineteen-thirty-seven-two-sixteen-one-one-eleven-tangent,” she whispered out. Her ID code was punctuated by a snapping sound and a burst of pain as the little box sank a needle into her finger, far deeper than she expected. Marin let out a little whimper as the needle withdrew, releasing her.
“Fuck that hurt,” grumped Elera. She had finished her own biometric test and was shaking out her hand, apparently not noticing that she was flicking blood onto the floor. Marin was about to reach out and stop her soon to be co-wife but her attention was drawn back to the box by the hiss of released pressure. She unfolded the lid and looked inside.
After all the pomp and ceremony, a few pieces of paper might have been underwhelming. Then again, any Shil’vati could recognize an Imperial Writ.
By order of the Empress,
Lieutenant Colonel Marin Elbruk is called upon to fulfill her obligation as a loyal subject of the Shil’vati Imperium and member of the Armed Forces. She is tasked by the Empress Herself to attend to the following duties:
Protect the persons known as Sammi Painter-Forsythe and Samuel Forsythe-Painter from all enemies of the Imperium, foreign and domestic, even at the cost of her own life.
Ensure the safety and security of the Painter Research Institute and its research even at the cost of her own life. If safety and security is untenable, she is tasked to destroy the Painter Research Institute, its data, and its employees as necessary to prevent their acquisition by enemies of the Imperium.
Prevent any knowledge of the planet Nix, its system, or its people from spreading outside of the Painter Research Institute and the Lone Caribou Survival Company.
This writ supersedes and countermands any orders that run contrary to the abovementioned duties. Its duration is indefinite, and failure to adhere to this Writ is to be met with summary execution.
Marin’s eyes continued to drift down, past the text, past the heavy gilt of the Imperial Seal. Her mind was reeling at the implications, but before she could focus on what she had read she noticed a small, handwritten note. In contrast to the plain text of the document’s body, this was an elegant scrawl.
Don’t fuck this up.
With fingers that felt wooden, Marin pulled the writ forward to flip through the papers behind it. They were far more plain, detailing Marin’s promotion to Lieutenant Colonel, effective three days ago, and her retirement at full pay and benefits, effective today.
She flipped back to the Writ, read it again, then looked at the other paperwork. She felt too stunned, too panicked to actually make the connections. When Colonel Et’tai started speaking again, it came as a relief.
—-
“Before either of you start yammering,” the aged soldier remarked, “I need to make it clear that I am NOT privy to whatever your assignments say. I get the feeling I would be better off not knowing.” She took a moment to lock eyes with each of the women in front of her. Neither one of them looked like they would be up to conversing much.
Liretta Et’tai had spent her entire trip to Shil worried that she had somehow monumentally fucked something up. Was she going to be the sacrifice to the Goddess of Blame for everything that had happened on the “North American” continent? Fear had turned into confusion and guilt when the boombox had been strapped to her wrist and she was sent to find the two Lieutenants in charge of the Painter Research Institute’s security.
Vivid, increasingly unlikely predictions rattled around in her head during the auto-cab ride to the house. The security case would detonate, killing the three of them as soon as Et’tai opened it. She would open it, and it would contain a pistol and orders to kill the two Lieutenants. Or the Lieutenants and their families.
What she had found had been enough of a relief that she was able to roll with the strangeness. Now that all three of the soldiers were on the same page (or at least the same chapter), Et’tai could fill them in on her side of things.
“My orders are simple: If you two get into a crisis and need immediate support with…” She gestured at the two thin boxes in the girls’ hands. “...that, I am to provide it. Maximum force, up to and including an orbital strike. You’ve both been retired at full LC benefits so you can focus on your Writ and not have to worry about providing for your families. Nobody else can order you around, and if you show off your papers it will at least sow enough confusion to buy you some time while I start dropping help from orbit.” At that, Et’tai found herself smirking. Who would believe these two young women who were little better than rank-and-file a year ago were now Lieutenant Colonels?
“Oh, congratulations on the engagement, by the way.” Et’tai paused to collect a slightly slack and confused fist bump from Elera, then another from Marin. When neither of the women had anything else to say, Liretta shrugged, packed up her case, and left.
—
Unpacked, it wasn’t at all what Paitl expected. A glossy black panel as smooth as still water, half a meter wide and a third tall, perched on a post of silver metal. The base was H shaped, designed to prevent the device from tipping if someone accidentally bumped into it or caught it with a tail.
Paitl sat on his little stool in front of the device. Unpacking the case had been a simple thing, and the glossy black panels that formed the inside of the box now lay flat in the sun. A thick, strangely intestinal-feeling hose connected the outdoor component to the panel. Paitl-Tesh had carefully cut a notch in the cave door for the ‘power cable’ to fit through, stuffing the gaps with bits of cloth while Paitl-Cet assembled the rest of it under Paitl’s instruction.
The other Fathers of the colony grumbled about Paitl being the one in charge, but there wasn’t much to be done about it. It was Paitl’s find, after all. He suspected that much of the complaining had less to do with Paitl being the one in the lead and more to do with him snatching up Paitl-Cet. Apparently he wasn’t the only one looking at her.
On Paitl’s lap sat a book. The paper was white, so clean and bright that it almost hurt to look at and so smooth that it clung to the grip pads on Paitl’s fingers in an unnatural and disconcerting way. It contained over a hundred pages of large print and diagrams, written in simple language. Instructions that he had taken the time to memorize while the rest of Paitl worked.
It was time.
Thirteen of the People surrounded Paitl and the device. Paitl-Tesh and Paitl-Cet flanked him, with three other Fathers and their nests crowding the space behind. As he raised a hand and reached out for the device, silence descended into the hall.
Paitl’s finger found the oddly raised, green colored ridge on the right side of the device and pushed. The ridge snapped down with a dull clunk, tilting so a new section raised in its place. The entire green section began to glow.
That single unnatural green light would have been disconcerting enough, but it was only a precursor. The entire front of the device, the water-smooth panel, lit up. The reflective glass was suddenly gone, perspective shifting.
Paitl wasn’t looking at glass, he was looking through a hole in the world, like looking into a box tipped on its side. The audience gasped as a white dot appeared, swelling larger and larger until the dot became a ball, then a globe. It hovered inside the device, the size of an almost-hatched father-egg. A ball of white and brown, wearing an uneven belt of blue.
His world, as seen from farther away than any of the People had ever been.
Paitl reached out, hand splayed to touch the orb, but his fingertips dully thunked against the glass. On the screen, the image of Nix began to spin slowly.
Only an illusion.
Paitl opened the book on his lap to the section explaining the gestures he could use to control the device. Or, as the book called them, “movements of the hands and fingers that cause actions.” The whole manual was written like that, never using one technical word when a bunch of simpler ones could work. With the fat pad of his finger, Paitl tapped a symbol in the corner of the display. It was a simple green cross with a smaller circle inside it.
As soon as his finger hit the symbol, the ball spun. Nix grew huge, speeding towards Paitl at a frightening pace. He was suddenly falling from a great height towards the frozen earth. He flinched backwards, pulling his finger away while yelping out in pain. The grip pad of his digit felt aflame and he began to shake his hand even as the flare of panic set off a fit of racking coughs.
With his hands and feet freshly cleaned, Paitl could easily climb up any of the walls in the cave his colony called home, wet or dry. The grip pads and their incredibly fine layers of setae let the People cling to nearly any surface with little more than a thought. The surface of this alien machine, however, was far smoother than any cave wall. In his surprised motion, Paitl had nearly managed to rip his grip pad off.
He would have to be more careful, using the less grippy tips of his fingers and peeling them free from the screen instead of just yanking like that. At least he hadn’t tipped over the device.
“Look,” Paitl-Cet remarked, pointing at the screen. “It’s us.”
The strange display was showing an image now, their home as seen from high above. He could recognize the curves of the coast line, the ruins that were once sea-side buildings long since destroyed by storm.
“It’s a thing of the past,” one of the other Fathers commented. A thin, nearly skeletal hand reached past Paitl to point. “We already cut those trees for burning.”
Paitl swung an eye sideways to look at the unnervingly thin Father, Asep, while the other watched the screen. Taking care to only use the very tips of his fingers, Paitl made the “motion to cause larger size” and the image loomed closer. The “motion to cause an area to be most visible” centered the spot in the center of the display.
There was a pile of four logs there, dragged from the dead forest. Those same four logs were now inside the caves, chopped into smaller pieces to keep them warm.
“When did Asep finish that task? We may be able to determine when this was made.” As Paitl watched, attention divided, Asep asked his nest. While he would have no direct knowledge, Paitl figured his nestmates must know. It only took a few moments to get a response.
“Asep-Nak says the last log was chopped four days ago. Asep-Tel believes they were down to four logs six days ago, perhaps seven.” Asep’s eyes, a kaledoscopic mix of blues and greens, swept to both sides to indicate the room. “It is the best they can tell us.”
Paitl smiled. “Your nest should be commended for remembering something so small. Asep’s reputation for studiousness is well-earned.” It was perhaps a bit of a platitude, and Asep knew it, but the males both knew how important it was to keep their nest mates happy. The girls of Asep visibly preened at the compliment. It took some of the sting out of not being the ones to find the treasure.
Carefully, Paitl played with the gestures in the book, manipulating the spinning globe that seemed to float in the air. He quickly found a dot that looked to be exactly where Paitl (or perhaps the device) was standing. It was marked in blue text as:
Receiver 7 - (0.2S,132.4E)
While Paitl-Tesh ran to the colony's library to find an atlas, Paitl found the section in the book that explained the numbers. They indicated latitude and longitude using a system that was slightly different than what the people of Nix had always used. Apparently the designers of this device only used one hundred and eighty major deviations. Converting it in his head was easy enough.
Spinning the ball around with increasing confidence, Paitl found at least a dozen other receivers marked on the sphere of Nix. They formed a belt around the equator, and referencing the ancient atlas Paitl-Tesh brought showed that many, like his own settlement, were near where small coastal towns once stood.
“What’s that?”
Paitl swung an eye up from the atlas and towards the display, his other looking for the speaker. A rather young woman stood there, her head crest still flat but twitching nervously. Paitl did not know her name, but the notches along the underside of her left ear marked her as recently brought into Tineh. Tineh himself was resting in his nest, his health increasingly poor as of late.
What the woman had noticed was a new blip, its latitude up in the 40s. Receiver 4’s text was blinking a dull red. Paitl reached for it, meaning to zoom in, but his first control finger tapped the words and a large, dark box suddenly appeared to block out the white orb of the planet.
CONNECTING…
After a moment, the text was gone and Paitl found himself looking somewhere else.
The five women peering through the screen were haggard, their skin rough and broken with weeping sores. They seemed just as surprised as Paitl was, stretching to full height and flaring their head crests in panic.
Paitl gasped as he was pulled backwards, stool and all. Paitl-Tesh and Paitl-Cet interposed themselves between him and the women, hissing and raising their own crests in challenge. He wanted to say something, to calm everyone down, but the sudden surprise had induced another coughing fit. He could do nothing.
“There shall be no violence here.” Asep’s voice cut through the panic, and tensions immediately began to ease. A quick eye flick toward Paitl conveyed concern and comfort; he would aid while Paitl tried to get his breathing under control.
More words were exchanged, but Paitl couldn’t make them out. His world was swimming, motes of light filling his vision even as blood seeped from between his teeth. Paitl-Cet brought him water to drink and a fresh handkerchief to wipe his face while Paitl-Tesh continued to interpose herself between him and any potential danger.
By the time his breathing was under control, Paitl did not have much strength left to continue his work. He received a quick summary from Aesp; the women were the only survivors of a nest living in volcanic caves far to the north. Their last Father had died months ago, and until their box had fallen from the sky they had assumed none of the People lived but them. Seeing multiple new Fathers appear in their midst had been a shock.
The other Fathers had a suggestion for Paitl, one he agreed to wholeheartedly. Even if the device was rightfully Paitl’s, it was too important to be left to just one nest. Instead, they would create a roster and ensure that at least one Father (or, at the least, an older juvenile male) would be near the “Receiver” at all times. The instruction manual would be shared and read by all.
As Paitl-Tesh carried Paitl back to their nest, he noticed the odd change in the air. Everyone was louder, more boisterous. He even saw a few glimpses of frill peeking out on the necks of the younger Fathers.
For the first time that Paitl could remember, there was hope.
*****
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This is a fanfic that takes place in the “Between Worlds” universe (aka Sexy Space Babes), created and owned by u/BlueFishcake. No ownership of the settings or core concepts is expressed or implied by myself.
This is for fun. Can’t you just have fun?

I played with my friend who only played BO2 back in the day. So he kinda knew what zombies is about but with zero experience on COTD and he hasn't played the mode in ages. Before round 10 he went down 3times (understandable cuz BO1 is hard). And then I saw the VR-11 in the box. So I got an idea and papped it. I used it to save his life so many times and it was so much fun for the both of us. We played split screen so whenever I saw he's in a pickle I'd shoot him giving him God mode and install kill. We made it to round 23 and killed George. So a successful run and if not for the VR-11 if my friend kept dying over and over then it wouldn't be any fun and we'd end the game way earlier.

GameSwap Thread
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*Open to offers
Pokewalker was brand new I only activated it to test functionality $80 Shipped
Teal GBC $80 shipped
Teal Nintendo DS $60 shipped
Rayquaza Gameboy SP Reshell $90 shipped
Galaxy 3ds with stylus 3rd party charger & switch case $280 shipped
Gameboy pocket lite (backlit) $175 Shipped ? OBO
Gamecolor GB with blank 8gb sd $30
Pokemon Sun new sealed $40 shipped
Pokemon Emerald no sticker dry battery $150 W box $200 w repro ds/gba case $160
Old scrap silver nintendo ds with 2 bad screens $12 shipped

Looking for

Pokemon Diamond (Green Nintendo Seal)
Pokemon Leafgreen $75
Pokemon Ruby $45
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon except red and sky
Pokemon Rangers all
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon DX (Switch)
Pokemon SNAP (Switch)
Everdrive X5 GBC/GBA Edition
PowerA Enhanced Wireless Controller for Nintendo Switch - Mario Pop
Scrapnaut (Switch)
Stardew Valley (Switch)
Kirby GBA/GBC Games (Japanese welcome)
Yoshi Games Except Japanese cookie & egg
Make custom switch buttons for me from mold of these$30 + shipping costs
I WILL NOT DROPOFF PACKAGES OVER $50 IN OVERNIGHT BINS. (A postal worker didn't track /stole a high value package.)
Accepted payment types are PayPal F&F, Zelle & Cashapp here's the photos again.
Consoles Photos