Guys - I may be a bit bias… but my dog is a very intelligent and extremely athletic rescue, who also happens to be very handsome. I feel as if I’m not utilizing his attributes/abilities. I’m not looking to cash in, but more so push him to his full potential. Sometimes I wish he lived on a farm or something like that, but instead we live in a suburb in upstate NY with a mid sized fenced in yard. My fiancé works from home, but he mostly just sleeps all day, and him and I will play at night for about an hour, but that’s it. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I have a neighbor who we have lived harmoniously beside for 5 years but in the last year they have gone absolutely bonkers. They are contesting property lines, spraying neighboring dogs with hoses, honking car horns at children, etc. I am unfortunate enough to share a property line with them and am trying to get ahead of this. My fence is (I think) completely on the line or inside the property line but there is one section I am concerned about. A tree that has matured seems to have potentially pushed a fence post across what I think is the property line.
I'm not going to get a survey and invite the scrutiny but I did have some questions. The fence is at least 27 years old but I am working to get that confirmed right now. The fence was existing when I purchased the home and was also existing when our neighbor purchased the home. Hypothetically speaking, if this neighbor came to me and argued the fence was in their property and wanted to go to court over it...would I have a leg to stand on?

I (F18) have been using Differin for around 2 years, and have had different levels of success but never proper clear skin where I can leave the house without makeup. I am going to dance college next year and I can’t afford to keep having bad skin as it’s going to ruin my career.
I do everything I can, including taking anti-acne supplements, getting my 5 a day, avoiding sugar and dairy and soy and not letting my face ever touch my pillow, and using acne safe makeup.
Due to my own beliefs I really do not want to go on the pill or any hormone altering medicine.
I use La Roche Posay Effaclar cleanser and cerave moisturiser and then the Acnecide acne safe SPF, and then at night the same cleanser and Differin and moisturiser alternating every other night. When I get active acne I put a patch on it which effectively sucks the gunk out.
I’m beginning to wonder if my skin barrier is damaged or something? Is my cleanser too harsh? Is that why nothing has ever worked? Could someone please tell me a facewash and moisturiser and SPF that works with Differin? That won’t clog my pores. I’ve looked online but no one specifies a proper routine that I can just follow.
Thank you sm in advance, I’ve had this since I was 11 and I just want to be able to take my dog on a walk or pop to the shop without having to cover myself in foundation, as well as attending dance classes or the gym where I get so hot and sweaty minus a full face of foundation.

My parents have a ton of fleas outside and now some inside. I'm going to do all the treatment options in the sticky. We are going to put the inside dog & outside dogs on better flea preventative. (Which are the most affordable yet quality?) As well as an inside cat.
However, there are barn cats who linger up around the house as well and not all can be caught to give a flea pill or collar, what can I do to prevent fleas from taking over then & thus spreading to the other animals again? Also, probably can't afford expensive treatment for each anyway. (They are all fixed though so they can live out their lives baby free) We live next to a woods preserve so there's always going to be fleas nearby to target any untreated animals.
Historically we haven't had issue with fleas in the house despite not treating yard cats but recently they are coming inside and our inside dog is super sensitive to flea bites so we can't have a ton jumping on him from other animals every time he goes out.
I feel like the issue somehow started because I started treating the yard cats with really cheap topical flea drops because i felt bad for them and was taking them to the vet to be fixed. But I read those cheap treatments work at first, but they grow resistant to them. They seem to have become resistant and it's like the fleas came back with a vengeance, unlike before I ever even treated them.

I (F18) have been using Differin for around 2 years, and have had different levels of success but never proper clear skin where I can leave the house without makeup. I am going to dance college next year and I can’t afford to keep having bad skin as it’s going to ruin my career.
I do everything I can, including taking anti-acne supplements, getting my 5 a day, avoiding sugar and dairy and soy and not letting my face ever touch my pillow, and using acne safe makeup.
Due to my own beliefs I really do not want to go on the pill or any hormone altering medicine.
I use La Roche Posay Effaclar cleanser and cerave moisturiser and then the Acnecide acne safe SPF, and then at night the same cleanser and Differin and moisturiser alternating every other night. When I get active acne I put a patch on it which effectively sucks the gunk out.
I’m beginning to wonder if my skin barrier is damaged or something? Is my cleanser too harsh? Is that why nothing has ever worked? Could someone please tell me a facewash and moisturiser and SPF that works with Differin? That won’t clog my pores. I’ve looked online but no one specifies a proper routine that I can just follow.
Thank you sm in advance, I’ve had this since I was 11 and I just want to be able to take my dog on a walk or pop to the shop without having to cover myself in foundation, as well as attending dance classes or the gym where I get so hot and sweaty minus a full face of foundation.

Ok so as the title says. My neighbors dog decided to walk past my basketball hoop and peep on one of the basketballs that the kids didn't put up the night before. Now I just happened to be in the kitchen and noticed her walking the dog, then noticed she watched it walk into my yard and pee onto one of the basketballs. Didn't pull the dog away or even discipline it for its actions. Now at this point I am going to say something the next time I see her out, my question being...if it happens again after I say something what should I do? Do I go as far as trespassing her from my property or worst case have her charged with vandalism, all of which seems to be an option in Indiana. I understand it's not the worst thing someone can do but I have two young kids one being only two years old so she likes to stick things in her mouth, and she has definitely seen that I have young children.
The only real reason I ask is I tend to let my anger get the best of me especially when it comes to my little ones.

With the news that development of Adventure Mode for the Steam release is progressing along, I figure some people may want to download the original version to give it a try ahead of the graphics update. As someone with hundreds of hours in adventure mode (there are literally dozens of us!) I thought I would share some of the biggest tips and tricks I've learned. I'll probably be making this into a video once the official release is out and I can get footage with graphics, but until then I'm posting the script I have now here. The rest of this post contains spoilers for every phase of adventure mode, so turn back now if you want to discover all of this for yourself!
Beginner

1. Always have food

-Large stacks of vegetables can be found in containers in human towns. Meat can be gathered from butchered animals. Meat from sentient creatures can’t be eaten.

2. Always have wateale 

-Adventurers need to drink 3-4 times a day. Water skin only holds 3 water, so it is useless. Bags hold 40 and Backpacks hold 100 which is too heavy for most adventurers. Quivers hold 20, which is the perfect amount. Fill quivers with water at rivers or wells.

3. Equip armor 

-Armor and weapons can be found in the barracks of each town. Try to get iron or steel if possible. Make sure to cover the head, neck, torso, legs, hands, and feet.

4. Get a mount 

-Mounts increase overworld speed which increases the amount of ground that can be covered in one day. This reduces how frequently you need to stop for supplies.

5. Get some pets 

-Companions can be tricky to recruit in the beginning, but pets are a great way to increase survivability. Unlike companions, you can also recruit a very high number of pets immediately. Everything labeled “stray” found within a town can become a pet, from ducks to dogs, and rarely even bears and elephants. Just don’t get too attached, most pets die very fast, or permanently run away after combat. Especially the small ones.

6. Make sure your character can read and swim 

-Most skills can be acquired organically by actions which your adventurer does, but certain skills like reading are never unlocked. Because you need to read slabs or books to learn magic, putting a point in reading at character creation is mandatory. A few points in swimming are also recommended. Even a single tile full of water is enough to drown an adventurer with no swimming skill.

7. Make a young world for less necromancers and more Megabeasts, and an old world for vice-versa 

-World parameters matter. Evil is slightly stronger on average, which means the older a world is, the more likely it is to be infested with Necromancer towers and Goblin Pits. Savagery is just the number of animal people to play as, and beasts is the number of beasts to fight. You want both of these as high as possible, the difficulty is actually easier with more beasts, as you won’t have to travel as far for missions.

8. Don’t be afraid to run if you can’t win 

-Although this is technically a turn based RPG, running away isn’t a button you press, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t an option. If you are heavily outnumbered or facing a very strong enemy, don’t be afraid to sprint away and reengage when it is more advantageous to do so. This is better than dying and losing your progress.

9. Don’t swim until you’ve really trained 

-While it may be tempting to take a quick dip in the river, death can be moments away in any body of water. Even at competent and above levels of swimming, your character can only go about 10-20 squares before getting tired, and swimming while tired has a chance to keep your character in the same tile, further increasing their fatigue. This can mean your character drowning even just one square from the shore if you are extremely unlucky.

10. Aim for the neck/head for instant kills 

-Aiming in combat can be extremely beneficial. Lots of minor enemies such as kobolds and bandits can be killed with one solid hit to the neck or head. Using this tactic can make encounters against large groups of enemies much easier.
Intermediate

11. Fast travel to long rest 

-If you are damaged in battle and bleeding out, even if you are faint with mortal wounds, fast traveling via the world map will instantly heal your wounds. This may be considered a bug, but since adventurers cannot currently be healed at hospitals via adventure mode, this is the only way to actually heal. Furthermore, since you can’t fast travel during combat, and because fast traveling doesn’t remove major injuries such as missing limbs, I’d say it’s a pretty balanced feature.

12. Jog whenever possible 

-Whenever not mounted and not in combat, you should set your speed to jog. This will increase your endurance stat naturally over time, increasing your combat prowess while you move around. Just be sure to reset your speed whenever your character drops to the ground from exhaustion to give them a chance to rest. Keep extra water on hand while doing this, as your character will need to drink more. And make sure not to jog into combat, this will increase your character’s chance of becoming exhausted during combat, which severely lowers stats.

13. Create a character that just wants to perform 

-A focused character will always be more proficient in combat, receiving a boost to stats such as accuracy and damage. Fully customizing needs in character creation can make a character that is very easy to keep focused. You can completely remove needs in character creation if you wish, but this will also remove the chance to receive the focused buff. If anything, just be sure to avoid needs that are currently impossible in adventure mode such as “Make romance.”

14. Create a world with legendary metals for better loot 

-The more metals you choose at world generation, the better the loot will be everywhere. This setting can make gearing up in the early game either extremely trivial, or extremely challenging. World age can also affect possible loot, as extremely young worlds will not have created enough armor to make most encounters have meaningful loot.

15. Tell stories of your notable kills 

-Information in dwarf fortress is passed via a rumor system. No matter how many dragons you may slay, when you enter a new town, no one will care because they don’t know who you are. Every time you reach a new town, you should tell the largest group of people you can the stories of every notable encounter you’ve had. Early on you should tell stories of killing bandits, while later on you should focus on just semi-Megabeasts and Megabeasts.

16. Recruit other party members 

-While animal companions are good choices for meat shields early game, you should recruit as many fighters at barracks to adventure with you as possible. The amount of companions you can have at any one time is limited by your current reputation level, which is why it is important to tell everyone you can of your notable kills. Animal companions take up companion slots even though they go over the max cap, so try to transition from lots of animals early on to a small party of adventuring companions in the midgame, and a large number of companions in the endgame. Just be sure to let your companions win some easy battles on their own to level up their skills, otherwise they will die just as easily as animals in fights against Megabeasts. Don’t be surprised if some of your companions get terrified in combat and run away just like animals. If you can, be sure to find them, as they will take up a companion slot if you don’t part ways with them or watch them die. If they die and you don’t see it, they may permanently take up a slot this way. This is a bug and will hopefully be fixed eventually, but be wary of it for now.

17. Become a hearthperson 

-Starting a new character and trying to find quests can be very challenging. Lots of random characters will have various rumors, but won’t know enough details to send you on a proper quest. Lords and ladies however can make you into a hearthperson, and can then give you proper quests. They will only do this if you have enough reputation level though, which is why telling stories is important. Usually it takes a story of a bandit leader kill or higher to get a lord or lady to recruit you. You can bypass this stage and get to quests right away by choosing to start as a hearthperson. Just beware that quests are randomized, and sometimes your first quest will be to kill a megabeast. When this happens, I recommend traveling to another town and becoming hearthperson there.

18. Train your skills early 

-Training skills via active combat can be very deadly. If possible, try to fight large, easy enemies to train all related combat skills as early as possible. If you find a horse for example, you can attack its legs to immobilize it, then spam nonlethal strikes to train your weapon skill. A couple horses with no legs is a brutal but safe way to train up weapons all the way to legendary.

19. Set combat preferences to facilitate training 

-Skills like observation and stats like endurance are very important for late game combat. These skills in particular can be trained incredibly fast with combat preferences. If you set melee combat preferences to close quarters, this will prefer to grapple the enemy over and over again. This means you can move into the enemy repeatedly to quickly train without navigating menus. Doing this without changing preferences can mean your character automatically makes a headshot and kills the enemy before you get the chance to properly level up stats. Just be sure to move away from your legless horses if you get tired, as the lowered stats means that even low risk combat can result in injury.

20. Sneak up to enemies for stealth kills 

-If you want to dispatch of large camps quickly and efficiently, chaining stealth kills can be an easy way to do this. Just press S to toggle sneaking, then try to approach enemies without walking into their cone of vision. Doing this at night can be especially effective, as enemies have greatly reduced perception.
Advanced

21. Get a slashing, piercing, and blunt weapon 

-Some enemies in dwarf fortress are much easier to kill than others. Kobolds and crundles will crumple against most weapons, while things like bronze collosi are much harder to deal with. A good rule of thumb is to keep a slashing, piercing, and blunt weapon on hands at all times. Use slashing against basic targets and undead for quick decapitations, piercing against large organic creatures like giant cheetahs or rocs so that they give into pain (essentially stunlocking them), and blunt against inorganic enemies to crush them (collosi, armored titans, iron men, etc). When in doubt, keep a whip on hand to one shot most enemies. A legendary lasher with a named masterwork whip can easily one shot most things in the game with a heavy attack to the head. This should be considered a bug that will probably be fixed later, but is very fun if you want to RP as a legendary vampire killer. Regardless of weapon choice, weapon skill is equally important. A novice hammer dwarf with a steel war hammer is just as useless against a bronze colossus as a legendary axedwarf with an artifact copper battle axe.

22. Remove your backpack when starting combat 

-Fighting while overencumbered is a death sentence. While fighting above default speed does not reduce the number of frames it takes to swing your weapon, fighting below default speed will add a delay after each swing before you can act again, giving enemies free strikes against you. This is also why fighting prone is ill-advised. However, this mechanic should not dissuade you from overencumbering yourself. Most mounts negate a large (if not all) amount of encumberance. In addition, your character can move anything they can grab, even if it is the entire corpse of a megabeast which weighs multiple tons, it will just take them more frames to haul these items. So long as you store all of your loot in the same backpack, you are always safe from ambushes no matter your encumbrance, as you can remove and drop your backpack as soon as combat starts, which usually takes less frames than it takes for any enemy to move. After combat, your backpack should be where you left it, and you can easily retrieve your haul.

23. Aim for the legs first, then the hands, then the neck 

Aiming for the neck can make weaker enemies trivial, but more proficient enemies will not allow this tactic, and very large enemies will have necks too large to decapitate. An advanced tactic that works against most strong enemies is to aim for the legs first to knock your enemy prone (or wings against flying enemies). Once your enemy is on the ground, their speed is halved, essentially giving you twice as many turns to attack. It is at this point you should aim for their arms, as these hold weapons for humanoids and usually have claws for beasts. Once the legs are taken out and the usage of weapons is disabled, you are much more likely to land a headshot, and in a much safer position to repeatedly spam this attack.

24. Bleed out megabeasts, cut off hydra heads, pummel collosi 

Certain enemies such as Megabeasts are much harder to kill. These should be considered boss fights, and thus have certain kill parameters. Bronze collosi in particular usually need to have every single body part destroyed in order to be killed. Hydras in turn need to have the brain of each head destroyed to die, and will almost always live if one head is alive. Hill titans can vary from nigh unkillable (humanoids made of steel) to killable via literally any damaging attack (blobs made of water), so reading their description is extremely important in dealing with them.

25. Never get hit (level dodge and block) 

-Because major injuries are unhealable, these accumulate over time. This means that the best way to play adventure mode is to never get hit. This may seem like a tall task, but almost all damage is avoidable via dodge and block. If you have a high observation stat, you will be able to dodge or block attacks. While this may automatically succeed against weaker enemies, it has a chance to fail against stronger enemies if not properly leveled, so be sure to train these skills early on. Fighting when focused and not exhausted should ensure that these avoidance abilities work properly. Just don’t try to block an attack you wouldn’t block in real life.

26. Don’t let enemies get a surround 

-Fighting against multiple enemies can be a likely death scenario. If enemies completely surround you, then your character has a greatly reduced chance of automatically dodging or blocking attacks. In addition, moving through an occupied tile in dwarf fortress will roll a die, and the losers will be forced prone, as only one creature can stand in a tile at once. Make sure to set speed to scramble in combat if this happens, get to an unoccupied square, and stand up as quickly as possible. Dodging into an open space in this scenario is a much better option than moving manually if at all possible. This entire scenario can be avoided if you slowly dodge in the same direction as enemies approach you in combat, ensuring that you only fight one at a time, and force the others to tire themselves as they run after you. Striking the legs of as many targets as possible is effective here, as it drastically increases the time it takes for each enemy to reach you.

27. Throw stones to level archery 

-Archery can be very cumbersome to use, as most bolts are too heavy to use without causing constant encumbrance, and training it is very slow and painful, as arrows usually split into stacks of one when fired. However, there is a way to level archery extremely quickly. By throwing something at the same tile you are on, you level your archery skill. You can then pick up the thrown object and throw it again. This is much faster than using arrows. One of the best objects to do this with is coins. As it turns out, coins are actually the best ranged weapon. Coins can be used in combat to great affect. Because dwarf fortress uses the archery stat when throwing items, it calculates the damage of thrown items as if shot from a bow with the same archery proficiency. While this does not do nearly as much damage as bolts themselves, it effectively gives adventurers a way to reliably use ranged weapons without worrying about retrieving ammo, as money can usually be found in multiple stacks of 100 at bandit camps.

28. Use archery against webs/fire 

-While archery is a niche weapon type for most scenarios, it is mandatory against certain titans and most dragons, as well as giant cave spiders. Titans, like spiders can possess the ability to web your adventurer. This stunlocks your character, making any shot a guaranteed hit. Against large enough titans, getting hit with a single shot of web is enough for instant death, as they will squish your head while webbed. Other titans may possess deadly dust or poisonous gas. While some of these effects are benign, breathing others can and will kill your character, and to my knowledge not even fast travel stops this. Fighting fire breathing dragons is an instant kill scenario as well, as they can melt your armor into molten liquid metal, stunlocking your character until they die from the heat. You can attempt to repeatedly jump until you reach a river, but you are certainly dead at this point. The use of archery (or rather, throwing coins) is mandatory at this point. While a few shots may not do anything at first, repeated shots will accumulate damage, and eventually kill or disable the enemy. Just be very careful getting into melee range to finish enemies off after this occurs, as one unlucky web or fire shot can and will still kill you. Avoid looting titans with dust or gas effects until after you leave and return to the area with fast travel to be sure that the gas dissipates.

29. Know the game progression (Kobolds, Bandits, Hearthperson, Semi-Megabeasts, Towers, Megabeasts, Dark Fortresses, Caverns) 

Knowing what you’re doing at any given point can be the difference between life and death. If you’re playing adventure mode without savescumming (which is the only way to play it in the old versions), then you will be making new characters a lot. Knowing the basic progression of where you should go on new characters will make the ultimate goal of raiding the vault and fighting the angel that much easier. Your basic path should be gearing up in towns, training basic combat skills against animals, fighting kobold and bandit camps to level reputation, telling stories to become a hearthperson, doing quests as a hearthperson to further reputation level and combat skills, fighting semimega and Megabeasts to become a legendary hero, raiding towers to find the secrets, raiding dark fortresses to find the vault and slay the angel, and finally using the secrets to delve into the caverns without having to eat or sleep and fighting forgotten beasts there until your character dies. The surface and visiting towns should be considered the early game, raiding sites should be considered the midgame, killing the angel in the vault should be considered the endgame, and roaming the caverns should be considered the postgame. Of course, adventure mode has lots more to offer than just combat, and if you want to learn its ins and outs for yourself, the only way to do that is to jump in and play it.

I am installing an 18ft above ground pool, I'm looking for a 4 inch compacted base of crusher dust and 2 inch base of sand on top. I've dug out 20ft diameter circle for the foundation.
For the crusher dust I've calculated the volume V=(pi)(r2)(h)=(pi)(10^{2)(0.33)=103.67} ft3. Which would be 3.84 yards. However it's compacted, how much extra should I account for that?
For the sand I've calculated (pi)(9^{2)(0.17)=43.26} ft3 or 1.60 yards. Again, not sure how to account for compaction. My pool manual says 57 cubic feet so atleast as a sanity check these numbers make sense. 2 yards seems pretty safe.
Any insight?

Orkin has been spraying my house for years to help me battle nature.
Today, they used what looked life a leaf blower, applying a 3' wide mist around the house, and he sprayed my full patio, with my watching him apply in on the patio chairs.
I have never seen them use this device. All good? Should I be concerned with how the patio was sprayed? I don't know if I should react or not.
Will keep the kids and dog away.

i desperately want to talk to someone (ideally a therapist but there's nobody i can talk to. i'm hoping that writing it out will hopefully help me think a little more clearly because right now it feels like my mind is racing and i can't process what to think or feel or do at all.
today started really bad, i woke up hearing my neighbors yell, a baby cry. i'm very socially isolated and i realized how depressed i already feel and can't figure out how to plan what to do because of my cognitive side constantly being overridden by i guess stress. i tried to get motivated a little more by sending my mom voice messages, trying to figure out what to do as i spoke, almost getting a glimpse of motivation to leave the house. then she responded in a way i KNOW a normal person wouldn't really care too much, but due to my history with her i'm easily triggered by her. my relationship with her is very complicated but i feel so codependent on her because i'm stuck between a rock and hard place where i just need to talk to SOMEONE, ANYONE, to not lose my mind some days. anyway, the thing she said made me feel incompetent and useless and i tried to explain it while also saying i'm definitely taking it too hard, but this is actually a common thing she does in general. i'll say i did a small thing and feel a bit of accomplishment, and she will maybe say that's great and then go on to list the 50 things she did that day and end it with "i barely did anything today though". is she saying im useless? no. but the indirect message is there, and here's the actual issue: in the past, she DID say that. she most likely also has/had bpd with some narcissistic traits and i know she's worked on herself a lot and gotten better, the trauma and damage remains. so anyway i tried to address it, because it matters to me a lot to talk things through, and she basically ghosted me for a few hours now. i rarely ever block people, but it's making me want to cut off contact for good sometimes. my relationship with her is still unhealthy, but in such a covert way that i don't even have the energy to describe right now. the main thing is that she always makes me feel like a child and how she's the only one i can trust. i'm trying to break away from that thinking but she's got me in a subtle codependency that even I am scared of breaking away from. like a bird that was never taught to fly, even if it wanted to get away, the fear of falling to its death is greater than the fear of being stuck tied to the nest forever.
so that's one thing. the other mistake i made today is drinking too much coffee, in hopes it will lift my depression a little, except it amped up my anxiety and stress levels. i tried to painfully do some house work, which didn't even feel rewarding since it's very half assed and not done properly in a way to actually make me feel a semblance of accomplishment.
the third thing that made things even worse now was how now, my neighbors are basically in front of the only window in my room, roaming around doing yard work (it's hard to explain, i'm in an apartment and the "yard" isn't a yard but rather a row of greens growing in front of the window side of the road). again, i know LOGICALLY, what they're doing is fine but it feels like a breach of privacy. they feel too close, i've also had one of the neighbors so close to my window once he could see inside and we made eye contact while i was in bed. i'm scared they'll see inside again, and i also know there's no way to reasonably address this especially since my neighbors are very entitled, passive aggressive people with no self awareness that talking would be absolutely pointless. the solution would probably be to move, but i can't do that either. i know the solution is to figure out ways to lower my agitation levels so i can at least think CLEARLY. because i know when i don't feel like trauma is being triggered again, things brush off me more easily. but in this house i feel like i'm in a constant state of retraumatization and feel the urge to escape but don't know where and don't want to leave the house because i feel unsafe outside as well. i just wish i had a place with absolutely no people where i could actually be in a comfort zone and SLOWLY approach scary things in life. right now i've resigned and i'm hiding in bed under my blankets with earplugs in cause it's too much.
and the stinger is, stuff like exercise regulates the body, but i already had an INTENSE session yesterday and i can't work out again like that today. how do i downregulate in a way that is actually effective and doesn't involve escapism? :( everything feels triggering, even media consumption. i want to go to a place where i can feel safe. everything is so overwhelming right now. i'm just gonna ignore my neighbors for now and sit it out but i don't know what to do about my mom, about my crippling loneliness. i crave social connections but the fear of being triggered or having to put on a mask is too exhausting. i just want someone i feel completely okay around, and i don't know if that person even exists.

Sir David
Sir David suppresses a sigh. He couldn't say he hadn't been expecting a conversation like this. He gestures to a nearby bench and sits down, leaving Ariane room to scoot in next to him.
"Well firstly, I'd say you're my wife now. My surname does sound nice on you. A bit faster than I wanted to move perhaps, but let's call it a battlefield promotion."
Ariane offers him a half hearted smile. "Except I fled that battlefield like a little girl with her tail tucked between her legs. If I am your wife then my place is next to you. I can fight. You know I can fight David."
"Darling, in the end I'm the trained combatant in the family, and getting you out of the line of fire was my absolute first priority. This isn't to doubt your abilities, I think you're perfectly capable of defending yourself, but you don't have an Undaunted brand for thermal protection against a race known for fighting with fire, or any other covert protection. Nor are you an adept. You're immensely physically strong, far stronger than me even at your reduced size... but you're not a killer my dear... and I am."
Sir David sighs for real this time, but doesn't move his gaze from Ari's eyes. He had to meet her head on with this sort of thing. Take wife by the horns if you will.
"I don't want you to be a killer. It's my profession, I have no shame in it, for I end the lives of wicked people so good folk can sleep soundly at night. I did so on Earth, I do so now. I put myself at risk to protect the people I care about. My children. My grandchildren. My wife... and now my wives."
Sir David gently takes Ariane's hand, their fingers interlacing naturally.
"So if given a choice to ensure you're as safe as you can be, even if it means putting me at more risk... I'll always take the option that means you are as safe as possible. Even if that costs me my life. That's my promise. My oath. My duty was to Queen and country, and now to the Undaunted... but I took those oaths for Mary, my children... and now you."
Ariane nods softly, clearly still a bit upset.
"I ah... I understand, I think. I suppose I'm a bit upset with myself more than I'm upset with you. I was just... so scared. Even as I was incredibly, violently angry I was terrified... and the relief I felt when I ran was... shameful to a degree. Leaving you to die maybe. It hurt me a lot, like a razor was tearing at my guts. I just thought about what I'd do if you died or got hurt because I wasn't there and I-"
Tears start to well up in Ariane's eyes just a touch and David wraps an arm around her shoulders, pulling her in a bit closer.
"There, there. I didn't die. Nor was I going to. Not to trash like that. Nor is fear a shameful thing. Fear is a natural response. I get scared. Captain Bridger gets scared. Even Cannidor get scared at times. Usually of me or Captain Bridger in my experience. Anyone who says they feel no fear is a liar, a fool, or psychotic. Or quite possibly all three. Soldiers train to overcome their fear to accomplish significant things... but you my dear aren't a soldier."
David caresses Ariane's back, stroking down her spine and drawing a sigh from her as she relaxes a bit, tension bleeding out of her body.
"You need to master your fear just enough to flee smartly, summon help, barricade yourself, or as a last measure, fight. Which you did today. Just like you did on the Talasar Spire when you saved all those children. You're quite the heroine from just doing those things you know? You don't need to do more. Nor, if my preferences at all matter, would I wish you to. You're a beautiful soul to me Ari. I adore how fresh and bright you are about the things in the world you love. I want you to focus on that. Focus on being a joy to this galaxy... and to me. Instead of worrying about the profession of arms that is not your own."
Ariane sniffles a bit, then plants a kiss on David's cheek. "You know, you play the hard, tough, man, with that almost piratical swagger of yours... but you're just an old softy aren't you?"
"Guilty as charged my dear."
"I uhm. I think I'd still like to learn how to shoot. Or something. Just be better able to defend myself... and our children."
"Heh. Well I think we can take care of that... though I'll note that wasn't at all subtle Ari."
Ariane leans over again and kisses David hard on the mouth this time, her tongue briefly tangling with his and leaving him breathless.
"No. That wasn't subtle. I fully intend to reward my knight for gallantly protecting me, and you'll see just how unsubtle I can be David Forsythe."
"I'll look forward to it then. To close the loop on our previous conversation though. You know that if you had been even a talented markswoman with a pistol I'd have still sent you running at the earliest circumstance right?"
Ariane nods, nearly knocking one of her horns against David's head.
"I understand."
David gives her another gentle kiss on the cheek.
"Capital. Like I said, even if you're capable, your best defense is avoiding a fight entirely. You should only fight if you absolutely must. That's why I fought in the court yard. Not because I could win, but because we didn't have a clear or safe avenue of escape. As soon as we had such an avenue I got you out, and were I alone I'd have fought a fighting retreat to follow you in hopes of moving to a more defensible location. Or getting help from the wardens of the Inner Shrine."
"Which is exactly the type of behavior I have to beat into new recruits." Comes the now familiar smoky voice of Miri'Tok, as the click of her heels on stone announce her return to the room.
"I'm terribly sorry about the wait, police procedure is tedious, even for clear cases of self defense. David I'm told you have a bounty hunting license, so you'll be receiving some credits for their heads. Not extremely bad girls, save the boss, but bad enough to be worth some money. The local police are paying out a bonus for the living ones. That blue haired girl apparently won't shut up; she's rolling on her old boss so enthusiastically they had to bring a synth in to transcribe it all. It's going to be a busy couple of days for the capital district police force."
David nods. "Take half for yourself would you? I hardly need the credits and you did the lion's share of the dangerous work, I just had a little target practice."
Miri'Tok laughs. "Ah the sheer gall on your husband Ariane, a little bit of target practice he calls it. Some of the cleanest shooting I've seen in years with gangsters with rap sheets that combined stretch from here to orbit and it was just a bit of target practice! Hah!"
Ariane and David join in the laughter this time, the room returning to a hospitable warmth as Miri'Tok seats herself on a bench near the couple.
"I must compliment you as well Ariane." Miri'Tok says, orienting herself more squarely to the Agela.
"Me? What did I do?"
"You kept your head in a dangerous situation and didn't go to pieces like a great many women would have. This is a great deal of credit to your name. Even Apuk civilians, socialized to violence from birth, can go to pieces when real violence is forced upon them."
David nods.
"More or less what I was saying dear, you did a splendid job getting us help. If things had gone a bit more poorly, it's help we would have direly needed too."
Ariane's smile returns to her face like dawn for David, warming the room up even further as she snuggles a bit closer to him.
"Well if you're both telling me that, who am I to argue?"
Miri'Tok chuckles, and rises. "I'm afraid I must actually return to my duties, I've lingered longer than I intended. I'll take you down the hall and leave you with the Wardens in their ward room. Nar'Jan and the girls have been preparing an impromptu victory party for you both. Just a little toast, then one of the girls will give you the full tour of the war shrine. You're both welcome in the Inner Shrine whenever you please, so please come back while you're on Serbow and they'll gladly receive you."
Miri'Tok turns to leave, only to be stopped by Ariane tugging on her sleeve. When the Apuk warrior turns, Ariane holds up her communicator.
"Before you go let's exchange contact information. I really enjoyed our time with you, and I know David did as well. Perhaps we can meet again soon? Without another fight preferably."
"Oh!" Miri'Tok gets that same dusky tone that David associates with a blush in Apuk.
"I uh. I'd like that. Perhaps dinner or something? I know some great places to eat in the city."
"Sounds wonderful, I'll send you David's contact information later once I have a minute."
"I ah. Thank you. I'll look forward to it."
Miri'Tok offers a bow from the waist and quickly hurries away, the echo of her heels fading down the corridor.
David raises an eyebrow and looks over at Ariane.
"You know, when you said you were going to show me how unsubtle you could be, I was expecting something a bit more... intimate shall we say."
"So let the knowledge that things can get even more forward make you wonder at what tonight holds when we get back to the Tear."
David chuckles, caught entirely off guard with the sexual aggression from the normally demure Ariane.
"You're showing me all sorts of sides of yourself today Ari. Still, that really was a bit too forward wasn't it?"
Ariane cocks her head, giving David a slightly confused look.
"What? She's an excellent candidate for a third wife. Better to preempt her asking a bit so we can take the time to discuss it, and it doesn't hurt to put the welcome mat out when to my eye she's so accomplished and so obviously interested. Plus she'd be a good recruit for the Undaunted from her decorations. She's a very skilled warrior even if she's not a battle princess. Though she might be a princess. You never know. She's not wearing a crown, but apparently a lot of the battle princesses in service to the Imperial military skip the crowns outside of formal occasions, instead only going by their ranks."
Another eyebrow raised, a common thing when Ariane was in the mood to surprise David it seems. "Where did you learn all that? I haven't the foggiest about how to read Apuk decorations."
Ariane shrugs. "When I finished that book about your unit back on Earth, Eastern Approaches, I read a book or two on contemporary Apuk martial culture. I thought it might come in handy."
"So what does your reading tell you about Miri'Tok?"
"Well as she said she's an Apuk Imperial Marine. She started as an enlisted woman, and has done a century of service at least. She's done at least a dozen combat deployments, and numerous space deployments. The difference being specifically going to a conflict zone, and floating around on an Apuk Imperial Navy vessel looking for trouble.”
Sir David doffs an imaginary cap. “An activity I heartily approve of.”
Ariane rolls her eyes with a smile before continuing.
“She has five wound medals, an even dozen valor medals in varying grades and has been named as a member of an Imperial martial order. Knights for lack of a better word. Not all that dissimilar from you really if you'd had another forty years with the Royal Marines and SAS. Then there's a variety of competence awards that aren't as important. Suffice to say, Miri'Tok is very good at what she does."
"Hmmm. Yes I could see that in the fight, and you think she's interested in me?"
Ariane rises, and saunters the step or two to David slowly, placing her hands on his shoulders and leaning down to kiss him deeply.
"Darling, from her axiom she's single. From what she tells us about how her family treats men and views sorcerers, you're literally one in a billion... and she got to fight alongside you. I've heard Ghorza Bridger crowing about getting to fight side by side with the Captain at a bar on the promenade after the Talasar Spire with the same enthusiasm most girls save for a once in a lifetime present or getting pregnant. I also could tell that her shield sisters were green with envy. Well. Greener than normal anyway. If Miri'Tok wasn't interested, I'd be worried she'd hit her head in the fight. Plus her body always seemed to be facing you, except when she was speaking directly to me."
Ariane stands back up and tucks some of her hair back into place, with an exaggerated attempt at a glamorous, flirtatious pose..
"Well, with such a gifted potential candidate it wouldn't exactly be a hardship to share. I'll just have to take solace in the fact that I'll always have a bigger rack than her."
David's eyes naturally drift downwards from her face, considering the rack in question, only for a slightly embarrassed Ariane to stick a finger up to direct his attention back upwards before covering her reddened face with her hands.
"My horns David. I meant my horns. I have bigger horns than she does."
It takes every fiber of discipline he's ever possessed for David to suppress the cheeky grin that desperately wanted to plaster itself across his face, and to tame the school boy giggle fit he so dearly wanted to have. He stiffens his upper lip like a proper British gentleman and manages to dryly respond.
"Well my dear, let's not talk about other women. You have a fantastic rack and I look forward to appreciating it later tonight."
Ariane shoots him a look, clearly over acting her slight embarrassment into mock outrage, playing along with her husband easily.
"Now you're doing it on purpose!"
"Yes, but you're cute when you're flustered."
"You're impossible David Forsythe!"
"That I am Mrs. Forsythe."
Ariane chuckles, and leans over, planting another gentle kiss on his lips.
"And I wouldn't have it any other way."
First Last

[September 2013]
We knew we didn't have it all figured out, we just hadn't had a reason to care, yet. God, we wish we had cared just a little. We should have set up a savings account. We should not have gone on shopping sprees or out to eat so many times. We set ourselves up for failure, and everything was quickly spiraling out of hand.
We didn't have the money to fix the fucking window. Where were we going to find the funds to cover transfer fees and all the other additional moving costs? My mom wouldn't have had any money to spare, and we were too ashamed to tell Devon's parents we were getting kicked out. We had to do this on our own.
We had already maxed out the credit card that I should have had no business with in the first place. We still owed the bank quite a few thousand for the vehicle that we had to take an additional line of credit out on in order to cover the costs of repairs. We had never missed a bill payment, and although our credit was decent, our debt-to-income ratio was garbage. No bank would be dumb enough to lend these two idiot kids another goddamn dime.
With too much pride to admit defeat, we left ourselves with no parental guidance on what to do next. They already had their doubts in our marriage, I didn't want to solidify those suspicions by confessing that we were, in fact, in over our heads. We didn't have to be in over our heads either; we were making good enough money. Reckless behavior and impulsive spending is what got us here. We did this to ourselves. This was our fault.
There was only one option left. I had to borrow against my school loans.
As I mentioned before, the military was willing to cover 50% of my college tuition since I was only active duty for less than a year. There were additional, optional, loans available to me that I had never accepted. These loans were meant to cover book fees and school supplies, but instead, they were going to help us get into a new living situation. The best part was, we didn't need to concern ourselves about repayment for those additional loans, or the other 50% of my tuition that wasn't covered, until 6 months after I was no longer considered a "full time student." I was sure we'd have our finances in line before I graduated college, but for now, we just needed to find a fucking place to live.
Fortunately for us, we were smack dab inbetween two large military bases. This meant that the area was full of temporary people; military personnel are constantly relocating. Also, fortunately for us, most landlords didn't require active duty personnel to jump through too many hoops to be approved for housing. Renting to active duty personnel was usually always a safe bet since active duty receives consistent, guaranteed income. A landlord also knew that the military would garnish a member's paycheck if said member didn't pay a debt.
Within two days, I found a house for rent. I called the agent on the sign in the yard and scheduled a walkthrough. She was able to meet Devon and I at the house that same evening. She didn't ask for references or living history, thankfully. She just wanted 2 month's rent to kick off the lease, and the house would be ours. Deal.
Thank god for loans.

First
Previous
“The plan is simple,” the Custodian stated, surrounded by about thirty other holograms. All had taken on a human form, following the example of their current leader. “You all have plenty of processing power to spare, and we desperately need to get these two out of the city and back to the surface. I’ll focus on moving them through the maintenance tunnels, you all help distract the rogue security drones.”
He paused for a moment, which Carter knew was for the benefit of the organics in the room, and then turned to the massive vehicle behind him. “Try not to destroy too many of them. They’re hard to replace right now.”
He turned to face Carter and Lenaya, who were seated next to the maintenance robot that would, ideally, carry them to safety. The rest of the holograms turned as well, their movements stiff, unnatural, and perfectly synchronized. As one, they bowed before vanishing.
Carter knew they were just following orders; the Custodian had said that they were little more than decision trees without personalities. Still, it felt strange to have so many powerful beings bowing to him, showing him deference. A quick glance down told him Lenaya felt the same.
The large transport rose from the floor and took up a position at the bay door, and Carter lifted Lenaya from her chair. The maintenance robot moved closer, helping to secure her to its top before positioning itself in front of the hatch that would lead them out. Carter glanced over at the Custodian, who nodded. He climbed on top of his own robot, and the hatch opened. Both drones surged forward, entering the tunnel with a precision only available to an AI.
Behind him, Carter could hear the bay door open, accompanied by an electronic screech as the security drones noticed the movement. Then the maintenance hatch closed, and the only sound was the rushing of air and the wheels of the drone.
“Left turn incoming!” Yelled the Custodian, his voice ringing out from the speakers on both drones.
Carter held on as they made a sharp turn, the jury-rigged restraints holding him in place as they rounded the corner. He saw Lenaya ahead of him, shaken by the sudden maneuver but still seated. A moment later, he was weightless, the ceiling rushing toward him as the ground sloped away. He watched Lenaya as she leaned back, just barely clearing the top of the tunnel as gravity gently reminded the drone that its wheels belonged on the floor.
Carter laid back and waited, the speed of the launch just barely low enough that he passed under the concrete unharmed. With a jarring slam, he was reunited with the ground, and their speed picked up again.
“Way too close!” he yelled, intently watching the passage ahead.
“You two really are alike. She said the same thing. To which I replied, ‘perfectly calculated.’”
“Maybe calculate in a warning next time!”
“She said that too.”
They travelled in relative silence for several minutes longer, taking seemingly random turns and, at one point, pausing to wait before darting across an open area.
“Not good,” the Custodian said as they reentered the maintenance tunnels. “They’ve just opened the transport and they know you’re not in there. Traffic control is monitoring them, says they’re moving to block the exits to the city.”
“Can’t we take the tunnels all the way out?” Lenaya asked.
“Not anymore. They’ve activated security checkpoints along the tunnel network. That blows our backup plan too. And the five other options I was considering. And they just locked down the transportation hub, so that’s also no good, even if we could get you through the scrambler with it. I don’t think we have any good options left.”
Carter closed his eyes to think, running through every possible scenario, every movie he had seen, every book and comic he had read, looking for something, anything, that could conceivably get them out. He came up blank.
“Water!” Lenaya said, excitement apparent in her voice. “A city this big has to have a sizable water supply, and the treated water has to go somewhere, right?”
Carter was stunned. A solution so simple, insane or not, and it had slipped by him. Even the Custodian seemed shocked.
“I…” the Custodian paused. “That could work, if you go out with the treated waste water. It won’t be easy. Or remotely safe. Even getting there would be a suicide run. But, I suppose… yes, I can meet you there with the equipment. But I can’t do much for you once you enter the network. You’ll be on your own.”
“You’re insane,” Carter said, not breaking eye contact. “At least I know where Zaylie gets it from. Let’s do this.”
Wordlessly, the drones shot forward through the tunnel, the space now wide enough to ride side by side. Carter unstrapped his plasma repeater and checked the canister before passing it to Lenaya.
“Quick lesson,” he said as she took the weapon. “Narrow end points at stuff you want obliterated. Green button on the side means it’s safe, red means it’s live. Push it to switch. The trigger on the grip makes it fire. It was designed for human hands, so you should have no trouble using it. You don’t have the smart sights my helmet had, so you’ll just have to eyeball it. Don’t shoot unless I tell you to. You probably won’t do any damage, even with a hit, but it might be enough to blind them for a second.”
She nodded, shouldering the repeater like a professional. “I’ve seen enough movies to understand the basics. I never thought I’d ever use one though.”
“With any luck, you won’t,” the Custodian said, cutting into their conversation. “Security presence around the pump station is minimal. I think we can get away with not having a fight, especially when you stand no chance of winning one.”
“We always have a chance,” Carter said. “And I’d rather improve the odds, even if it’s only by a little.”
He drew his revolver, checked the cylinder, and replaced the missing round that he’d fired ten days ago. It felt so recent, but also a lifetime away. Carter stopped to reflect on what his life had become in the last cycle. He’d gone from being a rookie cop on an alien construct to being the author of every procedure the force was using.
He’d become a father, and rescued his daughter’s mother, and had potentially saved the Ring in the process. He’d explored an alien city, seen technology that would have been science fiction just a couple cycles ago, and met the most powerful being on the Ring. And now, he was on his way toward a waste water treatment facility, planning to dive into the outflow pipe to end up who knows where. He couldn’t help but laugh.
“What is my life right now?” he asked. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say I was in a coma, and this was all a weird dream.”
“From what you’ve said about your life,” Lenaya said, “it must feel strange. Everything is new, and different, and you seem to run from one disaster to the next.”
“Yeah, that about sums it up. After this, no more disasters. Someone else can handle them, I’m just going to teach.”
“I think I’m done being abducted and experimented on, too,” said Lenaya, watching the passage ahead. “It doesn’t exactly pay well, and the hours are awful.”
Carter burst out laughing again. When he dried his eyes, he could see a riot of colors playing across her skin as her own laughter died out.
“Well if you’re sure you’re done with it…”
“Hate to interrupt,” the Custodian said, interrupting for the third time in as many days, “but we’ll be leaving the tunnels very soon. I’m not detecting any security activity on our path yet, but it would be wise to keep watch.”
“It’s never a matter of if, only when,” Carter noted. “Something’s going to go wrong, and it’ll usually happen at the worst possible time.”
“That’s incredibly pessimistic,” Lenaya said, looking back over her shoulder. “Accurate, but pessimistic.”
“Left turn, and then we’re in the open. It’s about a thirty span run from there to the building. I can confirm there are no security drones inside, but I am detecting movement outside. No cameras close enough to identify the cause.”
“Lay flat,” Carter yelled as they rounded the corner. “Minimize your profile and it might be harder for them to target us.”
The hatch opened ahead of them, and Carter took the lead, his robot surging forward to burst out into the open. He immediately began surveying their surroundings and quickly identified the source of the movement.
“Drones, above and behind!”
He turned and stabilized himself, waiting to see what it did. The drone responded by charging the central laser, the lens in its core glowing a blue-white as energy poured in. It was quickly struck by a flurry of plasma.
“WHOOO!” Lenaya cheered, sending another stream of glowing blue bolts at it.
Carter steadied his aim, and just as the drone turned to focus on the new threat, he fired. The bullet struck the armor, detonating with a CRACK and a puff of smoke, and the drone turned its attention back to him. With a rush, they entered the treatment plant, the security drone just barely scraping through the rapidly closing doors. Lenaya fired another burst, one shot striking the lens of the laser weapon. The glow faded, and Carter could see that the plasma had warped the crystal.
He leveled the revolver. They were at close range, the drone was flying straight and steady, and the floor under him was smooth. It was a big target. He knew it was still a long shot. Carter pulled the trigger. The lens shattered.
The initial explosion was muffled by the drone’s body. The second explosion tore the drone’s body apart. Bits of metal rained down around them as their rides swerved to avoid the larger chunks.
“What did I hit?” Carter yelled, his ears ringing from the blast.
“Capacitor for the heavy photon cannon,” the Custodian said, increasing his volume to compensate for Carter’s damaged hearing. “It discharged into the fuel reserve, which caused the tank to rupture.”
“Rupture is definitely a word for what happened.”
“Detecting intrusions in multiple locations. It’s going to be close. Equipment incoming on your left.”
Carter saw the maintenance robot rolling up next to him with a small gas canister attached to a mask. He grabbed the breathing apparatus and pulled the mask down over his head before turning to see Lenaya doing the same. The corridor opened up, and he could hear the sound of rushing water, steadily growing louder as they approached a massive pit, ringed by a railing.
He could also see several shapes hovering above them. The lasers began to charge, and he knew the miracle wouldn’t happen twice.
Least bad option., he thought as he stood and started firing.
Lenaya’s drone caught up as the Custodian caught onto his plan, and he quickly became the target of choice for the rogue security system. He managed to score glancing hits on two of the drones, the rounds sparking off their armor and detonating against the wall in the distance. As one, they began firing, short blasts intended to kill rather than the longer burst that had almost melted an armored door. Carter managed to duck just before the first volley, avoiding the lasers. The air above him shimmered with residual heat, the weaponized light scattering and refracting enough to become visible as a column of energy.
Another burst of plasma from behind him forced the drones to evade. It seemed they were learning from their previous encounter.
You should jump, the Custodian said through his implant, and Carter crouched before pushing hard into the air. Below, he could see the maintenance drones stopped at the edge of the pit, the water swirling rapidly below. He twisted in midair, searching for Lenaya. He barely caught sight of her splash as she vanished beneath the surface. He saw a flash from the corner of his eye, and his back lit up with pain as heat washed over him. Carter hit the water as his consciousness faded.
——
Next
Apologies for the late post. We’re trying to get the puppies acclimated to other dogs (and specific other dogs acclimated to the puppies) before we have to dog sit at the end of the month. It’s going better than expected, but our expectations were low so that isn’t saying much. I’m not going to have as much writing time over the next few weeks because we’re doing this every couple of days. Expect more delays throughout the month, and a break on the last week.

Hi All,
Has anyone used ceadarcide in their lawn to get rid of a gnat problem? I had read that it helps to reduce the gnats but was unsure if it worked and also once applied if it had a difference to your lawn texture (not as soft if walking barefoot). I am in the northern Virginia area and although I have a company come spray for mosquitos the gnats are out of control and make it hard to enjoy the yard.
I have done my best to eliminate any wet spots or over watering but they still are present and unsure the best way to get rid of them. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hey I'm Jordan I'm 14 and i have 3 friends and I also play basketball instead of beating the shit out of my meat watching the same porn over and over and getting a phone virus instead I will play basketball hang out with my friends forget about getting a girlfriend and fucking her forget about everything just go to the gym I did and it's day 1 if I beat my meat that mean I have to kill myself...in my hardcore Minecraft that I been playing on since 2022 yeah... trust me I'm gonna beat brain to not fap my brains is full of porn hentai rule 34 bullshit and I Wana change my Brain well how am I gonna do it I'm gonna Go to the gym forget about getting girls hang out with my friends play with my dog study turn on safe search and turn off nsfw settings and yeah well you know...so here is a story how I beat my meat Ok this is probably disgusting but let's get into it
Okay so when I was 5 years old I saw my brother watching sexual stuff and I careful open the door and he was beating his meat up down up down and then he finally cream out use tissue to wipe it off and went to bed and I was like hmm I should try that so I did and I could have said to my self no that's disgusting I would never do something like that!( But my brain wants to do it my brain was waiting for this moment) And I did...and the only thing come out is pee not sticky slimy gooey okay all called it cream and I was like dissatisfaction with my pp not cream comes out like my brother so I did it all when no body is watching so a year ago I was finally 10 and so I decided to beat my meat and it's still the same but when I turn 14 the cream come out and I said wow I don't realize that you need to be 14 to get the cream
Myself 14 my brother 18 yeah... So I joined this and get stronger and stop beat my meat

Hello my name is Olive (name changed) I'm 31/F from Australia. I am personal house keeper for a well respected doctor and her family and I work 5 days a week. I have been doing this job for about 4 months and always try my best to be kind, friendly, helpful and try my hardest at my job. I look after their dog whilst I'm there, plus house work, letting trades people etc in and continuously pick up and tidy up after her two sons 19 and 21. A few days ago at work while I was on the top level of the house, whilst changing the linens on the bed in the master bedroom I looked out the verandah to see 2 puppies who has escaped their yard and where running willy nilly around in a bushy area next to the river that backs onto the properties, one adult and one young puppy. I panicked as I was very scared they would slip into the river and drown. I ran down the two internal flights of stairs and down 3 more flights of stairs to get to the rivers edge (which is incredibly hard as I am not the smallest woman, quite challenged in the fitness department, with breathing problems, imagine if you will a plump potato with little legs that sounds like a snoring pug while running down three sets of steps made of lose pebbles and wood... not pretty) I hauled ass down there to find I needed to scale a fence and walk through the mud to get to this little pupper and you bet I got him, he was cold, muddy and miserable. I took my jumper off and wrapped him up and carried him back through the mud, over the fence and back up the stairs to the house. One of the boys youngest we will call him A 19/m happened to come outside as I walked into the courtyard head to toe in mud and carrying a shivering dog. Yes I can say he did assist me in getting towels and food for the pup and put a photo of him up in social media to help track down his owner. I had to sit in a jumper which I had to ask numerous for numerous times, that was three times to small and a towel so I could wash my clothes, I bathed, cuddled and comforted this scared lost little soul, until his Dad came to collect him. All within 1.5 hours of the rescue, which was an awesome win! His owner was absolutely frantic and so grateful that his baby was safe and sound, we came to learn he was only just 4 months old. Here's where I'm unsure what to do, after all the antics I finally washed and dried my clothes and got dressed, finished my jobs for the day and went home. After I left the fellow dropped by a lovely bottle of wine as a thank you gift which is so kind of him. However, I wasn't there so I did not recieve it, nor did either of the sons whome where the only people there at the time as my boss and her husband are out of the country, actually tell me anything about it. Although while at work today I did clean up while classes, and remnants of the left overs of the wine. I feel really really hurt that I wasn't even told about it nor was I given a gift that was destined for me. It is a personal choice that I don't drink alcohol, but I would have really enjoyed having a glass as a cheers to the little furry dude who plopped into my life for an hour or so. WIBTA if I messaged my boss to let her know her sons basically stole my thank you gift?? Thanks in advance (sorry it was so long winded)
EDIT 1 FOR CLARIFICATION:
I only found out about the gift after I was messaged from the owner thanking me and telling me to enjoy it for helping them.
The older dog took off when I called out and was able to make its way home whereas the younger dog was down further on the side of the incline and unable to make its way up to where it's canine companion was. I would have gone after both if I was physically able but unfortunately I couldn't I'm just glad everyone was safe.

Tw: domestic violence, child harm
He's become the most vile person. He tried so hard to isolate her from me. I wouldn't let him. He even assaulted me 20 years ago, but I still stayed close to her. They've been together since high school, so over 25 years.
She was so close. She left him for a little while but went back. Then covid happened and his dad closed his business and sold it. It was going to be passed on to him but he couldn't keep his hand out of the cash register. She worked in health care but burned out after the first year of covid. He also wasn't getting their kids to school to the point that child services was involved, so she couldn't work any more.
She was only back for a few months and she had enough video evidence of his physical and mental abuse that he was charged with several crimes including assault and stalking. She got a restraining order against him and he was out of the house.
That lasted a year, then, because nobody was paying the mortgage, she let him come back. He promised to take care of everything. He sold the house and now they live in a rental with their daughters.
Child services is still involved. Currently, neither of them work. She does all the chores, child care, everything. They're living on the money from the sale of the house. He lies in bed all day drinking and getting high, then gets up and starts fights with her. He's never sober. The last time he went to detox, he got the child services worker to pick him up 2 days early and she brought him to my sister's house. WTF! How is that part of her job? Just another person in his fog.
He thinks if they split up he's getting full custody. He's so delusional. It's a small town and he'll call himself the mayor because everybody loves him so much. If he only knew how many people laugh at him behind his back. But a lot of people are taken in by his whole show. It's unfortunate. He's dropped the mask to pick up alcohol and it's a dangerous combination.
He's been to rehab once and detox at least 5 times this year. He had a seizure last time and that child services lady thought it was a good idea to bring him home early? I really want to report her, and I probably will. Or my therapist will because when I talk about my sister she always tells me she has to report some of the things I tell her. Which is fine.
He still stalks her. If she goes to a friend's house he screams at her for not coming straight home. He's driving around a small town, drunk, looking for her car if she's gone more than a half hour. This happened last week so it's not getting any better.
She's in so much danger right now and she has no clue. He's ready to break and I don't want to lose my sister. She says she isn't worried because he's too weak from all the hard core drinking to really hurt her. Plus all the drugs he's getting from doctors to help him stop drinking. He's primed for a break from reality and doing some serious harm to her.
I only see my sister when we're not at her house. Last weekend we went out for lunch to celebrate my new promotion and things are so bad for her right now. She refuses to go to a lawyer, her oldest daughter will never forgive her. She could easily call his probation officer and ask for the restraining order back. I can't help her. I want to but it's not my life to control.
She wants me to visit her this weekend and bring my dogs. I miss hanging out with her but I know there's going to be an ugly confrontation if I go. There always is. And she gets the worst of it. So do I go? I'm not the type to sit back and take abuse from anyone. And at this point I think that there's nothing I can do for her. I just want her to be safe but I don't think that's ever going to happen. He'll kill her and the kids and then himself before he lets her go. Or I can go and just ignore him. It's really hard for me though.
My niece, she's 7, tells me things that hurt my heart. I've promised her I won't tell her mom, and I keep these promises. I do talk to the child services lady, and my sister has given me permission. I'm trying to be a safe person for her. She hates him and wishes he would go away. I don't blame her. I saw a couple of the videos my sister used to prosecute him and seeing my niece like that? My sister should be in a city 1000 miles away by now. I wish I could help her.

I found a dog wandering the median on a rural highway. It wasn’t clear if she belonged to a nearby property or was a dump. I drove to the nearest farm but the gate was locked and no one seemed around for me to flag down.
I took the dog to the city to get scanned for chip—none. No ID tag or tattoo. The pound were going to admit her but I said I could let her stay with me and put up ads everywhere; my place is quiet and I have a yard, thought she would be more comfortable (also there wouldn’t be a fine to the owners and a retrieval fee) I sent her pics to every vet office in the area in case she’d been seen recently.
Dog was recognized in the ads and we were able to get her back with her family—-but they were sort of irritated, like I’d done something wrong. Maybe I’m just an entitled brat, but I didn’t get a single thank you, just “you have our dog.”
Free roaming is illegal in this region even out in the boons. I’m from a major city and rural life is still new to me. Did I do something wrong? Did I violate some farm - life rule I don’t understand?
I just didn’t think I should leave her out there in case she got hit or had been abandoned. :(
Thanks for your time

If you’re reading this I am begging you to believe me. Especially if you have children. My name is Leon and I have been investigating strange disappearances for four years. I am not an official investigator or a journalist. Before I started this whole thing I did not believe in ghosts or the paranormal. For me to believe in something I had to see it with my own two eyes! Everything had to be factual and everything had an explanation.
At least this is what I used to believe until my wife was murdered four years ago. They found her at work completely skinless. She was drained of blood and was missing all of her nails. They told me the precision required to accomplish this was not heard of yet. I waited months for answers and they never came, so I decided to go get them myself. I had no idea where to start or who to speak to so I went back to the store to try and dig up as much information as I could find.
Her manager eventually told me that she had gotten into a fight with a customer that day and that he assumed she went home on time. When her body was found in the employee break room he was shocked. He had no idea she was still in the building. He said he told me exactly what he told the police. I asked him if there was any footage of the man she was arguing with but he told me the security cameras were not working that day. I vividly remember wanting to punch this guy in his damn face. He was no help and I was determined to solve my wife's murder.
I ended up searching for the guy for months. I asked every one of her coworkers if they saw the argument and a couple of times I even had a run-in with the cops. They insisted that I should let them do their jobs and that they had everything handled. There was no chance I was going to listen to them. I had to take time off from my investigation to attend her funeral and make sure I got all of the preparations right. In hindsight, I was not growing properly and I really should've taken some time to reassess.
So fast forward another month and I finally get a lead. Something I assumed the cops didn't have, this meant I could finally get some answers before being stonewalled again. I ended up finding this guy, Will Brookes at a fucken motel off of the highway about three miles from where my wife worked. I waited for two days before I saw him leave his room to get ice. Once I knew what room to find him in I knocked until he opened the door. He was rightfully pissed but not as pissed as I was. It took every ounce of willpower in my body to not kill him on the spot.
“Why did you kill my wife?!” I snapped as I forced myself into the room and slammed the door behind me. He looked shocked.
“I did not kill her!” He screamed and tried to move around me. So I grabbed him by his shirt and slammed him into the wall next to the tv. This guy was not very heavy and not very strong. At that moment I was wondering how he could kill anyone.
“You were the last person to be seen with her alive!” I barked. I wanted to push his body through the wall. I wanted to crush him.
“I was bringing her the papers she requested for a job offer she accepted in a place called LittleBrooke!” The man said. He was shaking so I put him down and pushed him to the side. “Show me the papers,” I demanded. My wife had told me twice that she had gotten a new job offer. I was extremely excited! I work from home and would be happy to live wherever she wanted. All she had to do was say the word and we could’ve left as soon as possible. But she never made it home to tell me the news.
I watched as the shaking man handed me a stack of papers and even a suitcase. “Here, take it and please leave me alone!” He shouted. “Okay.” I left the motel room and went right to my car. I put everything on the passenger seat and went home. Once I got there I sobbed in the driveway for over an hour before finally getting out and heading inside. I never got to see her body and I never got to say goodbye. Being in this house felt like I was walking into a damn shallow grave of sorts.
I went right to the master bedroom and packed up as many clothes as I could. I even took some of her favorite items, I don’t know why. I took a couple of pillows and two blankets, and after that, I went around to search the rest of the house. Once I had finished in the master bedroom I went and grabbed all my items from the bathroom. After that, I went into the nursery. We were planning on trying to have a baby once she got her new job. I looked around the nursery and took some stuffed animals and blankets, nothing too crazy. I also made sure to grab our family photo album. Finally, I made sure to grab all of the savings from the jar we had plus anything I kept in the safe. I also made sure to grab our wedding video and once I had everything I thought I could need I left the house. On my way out I made sure to tell the building goodbye.
Once I got back into my car I decided to drive a bit. No way in hell was I going to the same motel as that guy so I drove until I hit a hotel far enough away from my house. I did not end up checking in though. Once I got close enough I backed up and just kept driving. I eventually hit a truck stop after a couple of hours and decided to rest my eyes for a while. I was exhausted and there were way too many questions rushing through my head. I knew if I kept driving in that state I would probably crash or something.
After sleeping for four hours I decided it was time to look through the papers and figure out what I was going to do next. I took the first paper from the stack and started to read it. For the sake of time here I will only tell you guys what I found that was interesting.
Paper One: You have been accepted to work as a store manager! Please review your employee packet for more information.
So as I am going over this first paper a couple of things stick out to me. Whoever wrote this was trying not to be specific. The whole paper was one big announcement for a new store opening up in a place called LittleBrooke. There was no state mentioned anywhere on this paper, I would later find out that this place was supposed to be in Washington D.C.
I decided to dig around and eventually found the employee packet. She accepted a job at a mega-store called BrightMarketZ. I thought it was a pretty weird name but what stood out to me was what they were offering to pay her. $22.00 an hour! I couldn't believe it. No wonder she said yes and didn’t bother to ask any questions.
Paper Twenty: To find LittleBrooke please enter [REDACTED] into your GPS device. You will be staying inside apartment 307. All rent for your first month in LittleBrooke is covered by your employer. Please note that all apartments are two-bedroom only. If you have a larger household please speak to Sydney May at Town Hall for bigger accommodations.
After reading this I decided to just go to LittleBrooke and get answers. I was assuming that I would find out what the hell happened if I just went. I wanted to know what my wife died for and I wanted to know why this was some big secret in the first place. I went back to bed and as soon as the sun came up I put the information into my GPS and headed for LittleBrooke.

Year One in LittleBrooke

It took me three weeks to reach LittleBrooke and I could tell that something was wrong the moment I found the town. If I wasn't so damn desperate for answers I would've turned around as soon as I saw the library. The building itself wasn't big but the two huge lions on either side of the staircase gave me the creeps.
After that I passed a mechanic, the whole place looked run down as hell. There wasn't a single car to be seen but the sign said open. The man standing outside of the building waved to me so I gave him a slow wave back. He looked weird. At the time I couldn’t place my finger on why but now I know it’s because he was not human.
The theater was kind of cool to look at in a vintage kind of way. They were not showing anything when I drove by and I made the decision early on to stay out of the theater altogether. After the theater, I saw a small building that said LittleBrooke Press. If anything else I figured I could write for the paper.
As I approached the apartment building a woman was standing outside. Her face was weird as hell. It looked like she had far too much plastic surgery like her face was threatening to pop at any moment. “Hi, can I help you?” she asked me. Her voice was shrill, it was gross to even hear her speak. It sounded like she was putting on a fake voice just to speak to me. “Hi, my wife accepted a job offer. Unfortunately, she has passed away. I would still like to claim the apartment left to us. I can work at any place that currently has an opening.” I offered.
“LittleBrooke Press has space for two more writers!” She smiled and handed me the keys to the apartment. She never asked my name and she knew exactly where I wanted to go. I thought it was weird but I didn’t argue. Instead, I took the keys and thanked her. I spent that whole day getting settled into the new apartment. A couple of things, the front door had four different locks on it. I thought that was pretty weird. I also did not see or hear any other people until my third night in the apartment. I called the LittleBrooke Press about a potential job and they told me to email my submissions. There was no need for me to come in person and honestly, I liked this deal a lot.
For the first few months, I spent my time writing about whatever came to my mind. After that, I would send it in and get my money back. The editor never told me what to do and they never requested anything. It was sweet. As December rolled around I could feel myself slipping into a seasonal depression. At that point, I had made no progress in any of my investigations. I did not know the town well enough and frankly, I felt like I was wasting my time. That night I decided to check out the local bar. It was pretty hidden, you had to drive further into LittleBrooke to find it. Once I got there I was shocked! The place was packed. I sat down at the bar and ordered a drink.
The bartender was hot as hell, too hot. She was so even looking so perfectly symmetrical that it made me extremely uncomfortable. There wasn’t a single hair out of place. “So are you new in town?” She asked me. “Yeah, I just got here a couple of months ago. My now-deceased wife accepted a job offer here.” I said bluntly and dryly. I wanted to finish my drink and go. It was like the bones in my body were screaming at me to leave. The woman looked shocked. “Tell me, does that happen often? Do people accept a job offer in LittleBrooke and turn up dead a couple of days later?” I hissed. It was a genuine question but she did not take it too kindly. She took my drink from my hands and told me to leave.
As I made my way back to my car I could hear someone coming up from behind me. I turned around as fast as possible and had to take three steps back. It was the bartender, but she did not look the same. Half of her face was weighed down like she had no bones at all. Her eyes were bulging out of her head. She gurgled at me. “You need to leave!” She finally snapped and swung her arm in my direction. I moved back before she could hit me. As her hand hit my car window it shattered like it was made of ice. I watched as her arm popped and clicked. I could see it slowly getting longer. Before I knew it her arm was dragging on the pavement! She lunged at me so I punched her in her stomach. She gurgled again and sunk her teeth into my jacket. I screamed for help as we hit the pavement. She was trying fucken eat me! I grabbed her by her hair and threw her backward as hard as I could. As I scrambled to my feet and looked at her I screamed again. Her skin was pulled back. Now hugging the bones on her face. Her eyes were completely exposed! I turned and dove into my car as fast as I could. I slammed the door behind me and sped out of the parking lot like a bat out of hell.
The next morning I received a letter under my door. “Sorry, you had problems last night! Please accept our sincerest apologies.” -Mayor Brookes. There was $300 included with the letter. Now, I thought about leaving but decided I had to stay. Something was going on here and I had to find out what. I removed my jacket to see if the woman had injured me, she didn't but the experience was still terrifying. For the first time in a very long time, I was scared. But I also felt closer to the truth than I have ever been before.

Year Two in LittleBrooke

I spent all of January writing about the women who attacked me. I even contacted the police. I quickly learned that the police were going to be completely useless. My editor never sent the story back so I had assumed it was published.
At the end of the month, I left to shop for some supplies. Let me tell you, the grocery store in LittleBrooke is something else. They don’t have any brands you’ve ever heard of and at first, that drove me nuts. However, I quickly came to fall in love with the food here. It was comforting to have something to enjoy. Like always, I made sure to shop for two to three months at a time. Shopping was easy, I used the self-checkout to make sure I didn’t have to speak to anyone.
Once I got home I put everything away and decided to look around the apartment building. My whole floor started with 301 and went all the way to 310. The first floor was 501 to 509. There was a technical second floor but none of the doors were labeled. It looked like someone was renovating the place.
I got to see some of my neighbors too. An older woman, two men, and I were living next door to a lady the whole time. I had never seen or heard from these people before. It seemed like everyone wanted to keep to themselves too. I wanted to try and talk to someone but every time I approached them they turned and walked away. For what it's worth they looked completely normal.
So I left the apartment building and ventured around the property. There were no other apartments anywhere close to the one I was staying at, or so I thought until I found one about thirty minutes away. It was so out of the way you wouldn't find it unless you were looking. Against my better judgment, I opened the doors to the building and walked right inside. The place smelled like rust and soot.
I went to explore the first floor and was shocked to find blood trails on the floor and the ceiling. I followed the trail and made sure to look at the numbers on each door. This floor was numbered 1-10. Most of the doors were locked and I wasn’t going to try and knock anything down. I opened the door to apartment 10 and walked right inside. There was just enough light from the sun to illuminate the place. It looked like the whole place had been ransacked. I checked the tables and cabinets before heading into the bedroom. I searched the dresser and under the pillows before finally checking under the bed. When I looked under I spotted a black box. I grabbed it and that is when I got the feeling again. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I felt something sharp dig into my shoulders.
I screamed as loudly as I could, my face slammed off of the carpet and I clenched the box with one hand. Before I could figure out what the hell was happening I was tossed backward. I went into the bedroom door and rolled a couple of times until I reached the torn-up couch. I slowly lifted my head and to my horror what I was looking at was way too far from human to be real.
It looked like a dog ape thing. It was mostly skinless aside from some skin on its torso and face. The creature had thick, long claws and was standing on its hind legs. It barked at me. Its fangs were huge! I quickly scrambled to my feet and rushed out of the door as fast as possible. I could feel the blood running down my back. Never once did I consider letting this box go.
“Help!” I screamed as I burst through the apartment complex doors and started to run back to the main road. My heart was pounding, I could feel my chest getting tighter with each step. I could hear the beast behind me, it was screeching. I thought I was going to die for sure, there was no way I could continue to outrun this beast. That’s when I heard a car and before I knew it I could see it! A woman was waving me over, she was just up ahead! I had to push a little harder. I had to be just a little stronger.
When I felt the embrace of the car door I ripped it open and dove inside. She sped away and I looked out of the window. The beast did not follow us any further. “Are you insane!” She snapped at me. That’s the last thing I remember before passing out.
When I woke up I was laying on my stomach on an extremely comfortable couch. I could smell someone making pasta with meat sauce. My stomach was going insane. Everything hurt though, especially my back and my left side. I figured I had hurt my side when I was tossed across the room.
At this point, I did not dive into the box yet. I could barely move. “Hi.” I heard a woman say from the kitchen. “Thank you,” I replied before trying to sit up. I was so concerned that this woman would be another monster. When I saw her though I knew she was normal. She didn't look so damn perfect and that was a breath of fresh air.
“What's your name?” She asked me as I watched her prepare two bowls of food.
“Leon,” I said before closing my eyes. “You heard me screaming?” I asked her seriously.
“I did. I’m pretty sure everyone in our building did. You got hurt pretty badly, I did my best to patch you up.” She paused and laughed. “My name is Ashley.”
So I ended up crashing at her place. During this time I tried to focus on recovering. Sleeping became hell, I was having constant nightmares. I also spent a lot of time working on articles. I ended up giving Ash the keys to my apartment so she could get my laptop. It was a big move to trust anyone here but I am glad I did.
​

Year Three and Four in LittleBrooke

During my recovery, I spent most of my time writing. I wanted to write about everything I have seen and experienced. I had a lot of questions and way too much time with my thoughts. Ash and I got to know each other too.
I told her about how my wife had died mysteriously. I eventually opened up about her being skinned and drained of her blood. Ash told me she had come to LittleBrooke with her older sister. Her sister went to work one day and never came back. She was working at the theater. Ash had told me that she was stuck here, she didn’t feel right leaving with her sister still missing. Every time she would try the cops would meet her at the town line.
It was during this time that we both shared that we had never seen a police station. We talked about the monsters too. Her first run-in with one was at the grocery store. I told her about what happened to me at the bar. She told me that she heard rumors of the beast living beyond the apartments. The first time she saw it was when it was attacking me.
As I started to recover more we discussed a couple of things. First, the neighbors here suck. She could hear me screaming and came to help but no one else did. Second, neither of us has seen any families since we moved here. It was at this point I decided I wanted to leave and I offered to take her with me. We could both get out come hell or high water. She agreed but there was something I had to do first.
I showed her the box I had taken from the apartment.
“You almost died for a box?” Ash asked me. “Yes,” I said seriously.
I opened it and blinked. I found a picture of a girl with black hair and bright green eyes. It read, Stephanie. I found a missing persons report too. This girl had been missing a year before I got here. I decided that my last article would be about her. I had written about a couple of missing people before this. For example, the old lady in our building vanished and her apartment was rented out two days later.
I also found a badge inside the box. It read F.O.P.P. and there was a name! Jack Bridges. We tried to look up the organization's name but we came up empty-handed. I ended up writing the story about Stephanie and the next day Ash and I got packing. We decided to take my car since the cops know what hers looks like. I packed up the essentials all over again and we piled into the car. “We should check the other direction. Before we leave.” I suggested. Ash knew about the bar already but neither of us knew what was beyond that point: This suggested changed the course of our lives forever.
So we started driving in the other direction. We passed the bar where the woman had tried to eat me, we passed a convenience store I didn’t know this town had and we just kept driving. Eventually, I could hear Ash speaking to me, “Holy shit! The police station.” she pointed out. I couldn’t believe it either. I did not stop driving though but I wish I did.
Eventually, we saw a sign that read, LittleBrooke High. Go Bears!
I started to slow down a bit until the school was in view. The place looked run down as hell. There were holes in the walls and leaves growing up the side of the building. The parking lot was massive and full of buses. I pulled the car into the parking lot and told Ash to get into the driver's seat.
“You’re not serious?” She asked me. I could tell she wanted to go but I said, “This is it! This is the last place of note in this fucken town. Just take the wheel and I will be right back.” I said as I jumped out of the car and went to look around.
As I approached one of the buses I grabbed the doors, they were already open a crack. I pulled them open and was hit with a horrible stench. I had to step back and puke and no I am not going to describe what I saw in that fucken bus. At that point, I decided I had seen enough and it was time to fucken go.
“Help!” I heard someone cry from a couple of buses over. “Please!” I heard again. I wanted to slap myself because I knew better. I had already decided it was time to leave but I went to investigate anyway. I went to the bus and pulled the doors open. It smelled like stale piss and blood. “Back here!” A girl screamed out to me. I made my way to the back of the bus, stepping on school jackets and over backpacks. That is where I found them. Two teenagers are tied to the leg of a bus seat. They looked horrible, caking in blood and sweat. They were both injured. “Stephanie?!” I exclaimed as I bent over to free them. I recognized her face the moment I saw it.
“Can you move? I asked the blonde girl.” As I started to let her go. “Everything hurts.” She told me. I opened the emergency exit and called for Ash to pull the car over. It took her a second to hear me but she came as fast as possible. “I am going to get you guys in the car and we are going to get out of here, okay?” I told them. I wanted to tell them everything was going to be okay, but I couldn't. It felt like that would be a huge lie.
Ash stepped out of the car and helped get the girls into the backseat. As I stopped to look around I could feel the bus shift in weight. I turned around and inhaled sharply. Standing before me was a creature wearing a jacket that said COACH on it. He looked sickly, and pale, and his veins were protruding from his face and hands. As he ran at me I jumped out of the emergency exit door just in time to feel something slam off of the back of my head. I looked down to see a barbed football. I could feel blood trickling down my neck, I stumbled forward and felt a hand grab my arm. Ash was shoving me into the car. She slid over me, closed the passenger door, and backed the car up. I thought she was moving like lightning.
At this point, everyone was screaming. My heart was threatening to jump out of my fucken chest. I was so sure we were all going to die here, just like everyone else I had seen on the buses. But no, Ash sped out of the parking lot. The coach chased us to the school limits but for some reason, he did not follow us anymore.
I know we should've stopped to see if the kids could find their parents but we didn't. Instead, Ash just kept driving. Eventually, we could hear the cops behind us but that did not stop her. It took us six hours to finally see the You Are New Leaving LittleBrooke sign! I couldn’t believe it. This place was not that big at all.
So listen, if you’re invited to take a job in LittleBrooke. Don’t take it. It’s not worth your life.

If you’re reading this I am begging you to believe me. Especially if you have children. My name is Leon and I have been investigating strange disappearances for four years. I am not an official investigator or a journalist. Before I started this whole thing I did not believe in ghosts or the paranormal. For me to believe in something I had to see it with my own two eyes! Everything had to be factual and everything had an explanation.
At least this is what I used to believe until my wife was murdered four years ago. They found her at work completely skinless. She was drained of blood and was missing all of her nails. They told me the precision required to accomplish this was not heard of yet. I waited months for answers and they never came, so I decided to go get them myself. I had no idea where to start or who to speak to so I went back to the store to try and dig up as much information as I could find.
Her manager eventually told me that she had gotten into a fight with a customer that day and that he assumed she went home on time. When her body was found in the employee break room he was shocked. He had no idea she was still in the building. He said he told me exactly what he told the police. I asked him if there was any footage of the man she was arguing with but he told me the security cameras were not working that day. I vividly remember wanting to punch this guy in his damn face. He was no help and I was determined to solve my wife's murder.
I ended up searching for the guy for months. I asked every one of her coworkers if they saw the argument and a couple of times I even had a run-in with the cops. They insisted that I should let them do their jobs and that they had everything handled. There was no chance I was going to listen to them. I had to take time off from my investigation to attend her funeral and make sure I got all of the preparations right. In hindsight, I was not growing properly and I really should've taken some time to reassess.
So fast forward another month and I finally get a lead. Something I assumed the cops didn't have, this meant I could finally get some answers before being stonewalled again. I ended up finding this guy, Will Brookes at a fucken motel off of the highway about three miles from where my wife worked. I waited for two days before I saw him leave his room to get ice. Once I knew what room to find him in I knocked until he opened the door. He was rightfully pissed but not as pissed as I was. It took every ounce of willpower in my body to not kill him on the spot.
“Why did you kill my wife?!” I snapped as I forced myself into the room and slammed the door behind me. He looked shocked.
“I did not kill her!” He screamed and tried to move around me. So I grabbed him by his shirt and slammed him into the wall next to the tv. This guy was not very heavy and not very strong. At that moment I was wondering how he could kill anyone.
“You were the last person to be seen with her alive!” I barked. I wanted to push his body through the wall. I wanted to crush him.
“I was bringing her the papers she requested for a job offer she accepted in a place called LittleBrooke!” The man said. He was shaking so I put him down and pushed him to the side. “Show me the papers,” I demanded. My wife had told me twice that she had gotten a new job offer. I was extremely excited! I work from home and would be happy to live wherever she wanted. All she had to do was say the word and we could’ve left as soon as possible. But she never made it home to tell me the news.
I watched as the shaking man handed me a stack of papers and even a suitcase. “Here, take it and please leave me alone!” He shouted. “Okay.” I left the motel room and went right to my car. I put everything on the passenger seat and went home. Once I got there I sobbed in the driveway for over an hour before finally getting out and heading inside. I never got to see her body and I never got to say goodbye. Being in this house felt like I was walking into a damn shallow grave of sorts.
I went right to the master bedroom and packed up as many clothes as I could. I even took some of her favorite items, I don’t know why. I took a couple of pillows and two blankets, and after that, I went around to search the rest of the house. Once I had finished in the master bedroom I went and grabbed all my items from the bathroom. After that, I went into the nursery. We were planning on trying to have a baby once she got her new job. I looked around the nursery and took some stuffed animals and blankets, nothing too crazy. I also made sure to grab our family photo album. Finally, I made sure to grab all of the savings from the jar we had plus anything I kept in the safe. I also made sure to grab our wedding video and once I had everything I thought I could need I left the house. On my way out I made sure to tell the building goodbye.
Once I got back into my car I decided to drive a bit. No way in hell was I going to the same motel as that guy so I drove until I hit a hotel far enough away from my house. I did not end up checking in though. Once I got close enough I backed up and just kept driving. I eventually hit a truck stop after a couple of hours and decided to rest my eyes for a while. I was exhausted and there were way too many questions rushing through my head. I knew if I kept driving in that state I would probably crash or something. After sleeping for four hours I decided it was time to look through the papers and figure out what I was going to do next. I took the first paper from the stack and started to read it. For the sake of time here I will only tell you guys what I found that was interesting.
Paper One: You have been accepted to work as a store manager! Please review your employee packet for more information.
So as I am going over this first paper a couple of things stick out to me. Whoever wrote this was trying not to be specific. The whole paper was one big announcement for a new store opening up in a place called LittleBrooke. There was no state mentioned anywhere on this paper, I would later find out that this place was supposed to be in Washington D.C.
I decided to dig around and eventually found the employee packet. She accepted a job at a mega-store called BrightMarketZ. I thought it was a pretty weird name but what stood out to me was what they were offering to pay her. $22.00 an hour! I couldn't believe it. No wonder she said yes and didn’t bother to ask any questions.
Paper Twenty: To find LittleBrooke please enter [REDACTED] into your GPS device. You will be staying inside apartment 307. All rent for your first month in LittleBrooke is covered by your employer. Please note that all apartments are two-bedroom only. If you have a larger household please speak to Sydney May at Town Hall for bigger accommodations. After reading this I decided to just go to LittleBrooke and get answers. I was assuming that I would find out what the hell happened if I just went. I wanted to know what my wife died for and I wanted to know why this was some big secret in the first place. I went back to bed and as soon as the sun came up I put the information into my GPS and headed for LittleBrooke.

Year One in LittleBrooke

It took me three weeks to reach LittleBrooke and I could tell that something was wrong the moment I found the town. If I wasn't so damn desperate for answers I would've turned around as soon as I saw the library. The building itself wasn't big but the two huge lions on either side of the staircase gave me the creeps.
After that I passed a mechanic, the whole place looked run down as hell. There wasn't a single car to be seen but the sign said open. The man standing outside of the building waved to me so I gave him a slow wave back. He looked weird. At the time I couldn’t place my finger on why but now I know it’s because he was not human.
The theater was kind of cool to look at in a vintage kind of way. They were not showing anything when I drove by and I made the decision early on to stay out of the theater altogether. After the theater, I saw a small building that said LittleBrooke Press. If anything else I figured I could write for the paper.
As I approached the apartment building a woman was standing outside. Her face was weird as hell. It looked like she had far too much plastic surgery like her face was threatening to pop at any moment. “Hi, can I help you?” she asked me. Her voice was shrill, it was gross to even hear her speak. It sounded like she was putting on a fake voice just to speak to me. “Hi, my wife accepted a job offer. Unfortunately, she has passed away. I would still like to claim the apartment left to us. I can work at any place that currently has an opening.” I offered.
“LittleBrooke Press has space for two more writers!” She smiled and handed me the keys to the apartment. She never asked my name and she knew exactly where I wanted to go. I thought it was weird but I didn’t argue. Instead, I took the keys and thanked her. I spent that whole day getting settled into the new apartment. A couple of things, the front door had four different locks on it. I thought that was pretty weird. I also did not see or hear any other people until my third night in the apartment. I called the LittleBrooke Press about a potential job and they told me to email my submissions. There was no need for me to come in person and honestly, I liked this deal a lot.
For the first few months, I spent my time writing about whatever came to my mind. After that, I would send it in and get my money back. The editor never told me what to do and they never requested anything. It was sweet. As December rolled around I could feel myself slipping into a seasonal depression. At that point, I had made no progress in any of my investigations. I did not know the town well enough and frankly, I felt like I was wasting my time. That night I decided to check out the local bar. It was pretty hidden, you had to drive further into LittleBrooke to find it. Once I got there I was shocked! The place was packed. I sat down at the bar and ordered a drink.
The bartender was hot as hell, too hot. She was so even looking so perfectly symmetrical that it made me extremely uncomfortable. There wasn’t a single hair out of place. “So are you new in town?” She asked me. “Yeah, I just got here a couple of months ago. My now-deceased wife accepted a job offer here.” I said bluntly and dryly. I wanted to finish my drink and go. It was like the bones in my body were screaming at me to leave. The woman looked shocked. “Tell me, does that happen often? Do people accept a job offer in LittleBrooke and turn up dead a couple of days later?” I hissed. It was a genuine question but she did not take it too kindly. She took my drink from my hands and told me to leave.
As I made my way back to my car I could hear someone coming up from behind me. I turned around as fast as possible and had to take three steps back. It was the bartender, but she did not look the same. Half of her face was weighed down like she had no bones at all. Her eyes were bulging out of her head. She gurgled at me. “You need to leave!” She finally snapped and swung her arm in my direction. I moved back before she could hit me. As her hand hit my car window it shattered like it was made of ice. I watched as her arm popped and clicked. I could see it slowly getting longer. Before I knew it her arm was dragging on the pavement! She lunged at me so I punched her in her stomach. She gurgled again and sunk her teeth into my jacket. I screamed for help as we hit the pavement. She was trying fucken eat me! I grabbed her by her hair and threw her backward as hard as I could. As I scrambled to my feet and looked at her I screamed again. Her skin was pulled back. Now hugging the bones on her face. Her eyes were completely exposed! I turned and dove into my car as fast as I could. I slammed the door behind me and sped out of the parking lot like a bat out of hell.
The next morning I received a letter under my door. “Sorry, you had problems last night! Please accept our sincerest apologies.” -Mayor Brookes. There was $300 included with the letter. Now, I thought about leaving but decided I had to stay. Something was going on here and I had to find out what. I removed my jacket to see if the woman had injured me, she didn't but the experience was still terrifying. For the first time in a very long time, I was scared. But I also felt closer to the truth than I have ever been before.

Year Two in LittleBrooke

I spent all of January writing about the women who attacked me. I even contacted the police. I quickly learned that the police were going to be completely useless. My editor never sent the story back so I had assumed it was published.
At the end of the month, I left to shop for some supplies. Let me tell you, the grocery store in LittleBrooke is something else. They don’t have any brands you’ve ever heard of and at first, that drove me nuts. However, I quickly came to fall in love with the food here. It was comforting to have something to enjoy. Like always, I made sure to shop for two to three months at a time. Shopping was easy, I used the self-checkout to make sure I didn’t have to speak to anyone.
Once I got home I put everything away and decided to look around the apartment building. My whole floor started with 301 and went all the way to 310. The first floor was 501 to 509. There was a technical second floor but none of the doors were labeled. It looked like someone was renovating the place.
I got to see some of my neighbors too. An older woman, two men, and I were living next door to a lady the whole time. I had never seen or heard from these people before. It seemed like everyone wanted to keep to themselves too. I wanted to try and talk to someone but every time I approached them they turned and walked away. For what it's worth they looked completely normal.
So I left the apartment building and ventured around the property. There were no other apartments anywhere close to the one I was staying at, or so I thought until I found one about thirty minutes away. It was so out of the way you wouldn't find it unless you were looking. Against my better judgment, I opened the doors to the building and walked right inside. The place smelled like rust and soot.
I went to explore the first floor and was shocked to find blood trails on the floor and the ceiling. I followed the trail and made sure to look at the numbers on each door. This floor was numbered 1-10. Most of the doors were locked and I wasn’t going to try and knock anything down. I opened the door to apartment 10 and walked right inside. There was just enough light from the sun to illuminate the place. It looked like the whole place had been ransacked. I checked the tables and cabinets before heading into the bedroom. I searched the dresser and under the pillows before finally checking under the bed. When I looked under I spotted a black box. I grabbed it and that is when I got the feeling again. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I felt something sharp dig into my shoulders.
I screamed as loudly as I could, my face slammed off of the carpet and I clenched the box with one hand. Before I could figure out what the hell was happening I was tossed backward. I went into the bedroom door and rolled a couple of times until I reached the torn-up couch. I slowly lifted my head and to my horror what I was looking at was way too far from human to be real.
It looked like a dog ape thing. It was mostly skinless aside from some skin on its torso and face. The creature had thick, long claws and was standing on its hind legs. It barked at me. Its fangs were huge! I quickly scrambled to my feet and rushed out of the door as fast as possible. I could feel the blood running down my back. Never once did I consider letting this box go.
“Help!” I screamed as I burst through the apartment complex doors and started to run back to the main road. My heart was pounding, I could feel my chest getting tighter with each step. I could hear the beast behind me, it was screeching. I thought I was going to die for sure, there was no way I could continue to outrun this beast. That’s when I heard a car and before I knew it I could see it! A woman was waving me over, she was just up ahead! I had to push a little harder. I had to be just a little stronger.
When I felt the embrace of the car door I ripped it open and dove inside. She sped away and I looked out of the window. The beast did not follow us any further. “Are you insane!” She snapped at me. That’s the last thing I remember before passing out.
When I woke up I was laying on my stomach on an extremely comfortable couch. I could smell someone making pasta with meat sauce. My stomach was going insane. Everything hurt though, especially my back and my left side. I figured I had hurt my side when I was tossed across the room.
At this point, I did not dive into the box yet. I could barely move. “Hi.” I heard a woman say from the kitchen. “Thank you,” I replied before trying to sit up. I was so concerned that this woman would be another monster. When I saw her though I knew she was normal. She didn't look so damn perfect and that was a breath of fresh air.
“What's your name?” She asked me as I watched her prepare two bowls of food.
“Leon,” I said before closing my eyes. “You heard me screaming?” I asked her seriously.
“I did. I’m pretty sure everyone in our building did. You got hurt pretty badly, I did my best to patch you up.” She paused and laughed. “My name is Ashley.”
So I ended up crashing at her place. During this time I tried to focus on recovering. Sleeping became hell, I was having constant nightmares. I also spent a lot of time working on articles. I ended up giving Ash the keys to my apartment so she could get my laptop. It was a big move to trust anyone here but I am glad I did.

Year Three and Four in LittleBrooke

During my recovery, I spent most of my time writing. I wanted to write about everything I have seen and experienced. I had a lot of questions and way too much time with my thoughts. Ash and I got to know each other too.
I told her about how my wife had died mysteriously. I eventually opened up about her being skinned and drained of her blood. Ash told me she had come to LittleBrooke with her older sister. Her sister went to work one day and never came back. She was working at the theater. Ash had told me that she was stuck here, she didn’t feel right leaving with her sister still missing. Every time she would try the cops would meet her at the town line.
It was during this time that we both shared that we had never seen a police station. We talked about the monsters too. Her first run-in with one was at the grocery store. I told her about what happened to me at the bar. She told me that she heard rumors of the beast living beyond the apartments. The first time she saw it was when it was attacking me.
As I started to recover more we discussed a couple of things. First, the neighbors here suck. She could hear me screaming and came to help but no one else did. Second, neither of us has seen any families since we moved here. It was at this point I decided I wanted to leave and I offered to take her with me. We could both get out come hell or high water. She agreed but there was something I had to do first.
I showed her the box I had taken from the apartment.
“You almost died for a box?” Ash asked me. “Yes,” I said seriously.
I opened it and blinked. I found a picture of a girl with black hair and bright green eyes. It read, Stephanie. I found a missing persons report too. This girl had been missing a year before I got here. I decided that my last article would be about her. I had written about a couple of missing people before this. For example, the old lady in our building vanished and her apartment was rented out two days later.
I also found a badge inside the box. It read F.O.P.P. and there was a name! Jack Bridges. We tried to look up the organization's name but we came up empty-handed. I ended up writing the story about Stephanie and the next day Ash and I got packing. We decided to take my car since the cops know what hers looks like. I packed up the essentials all over again and we piled into the car.
“We should check the other direction. Before we leave.” I suggested. Ash knew about the bar already but neither of us knew what was beyond that point: This suggested changed the course of our lives forever.
So we started driving in the other direction. We passed the bar where the woman had tried to eat me, we passed a convenience store I didn’t know this town had and we just kept driving. Eventually, I could hear Ash speaking to me, “Holy shit! The police station.” she pointed out. I couldn’t believe it either. I did not stop driving though but I wish I did.
Eventually, we saw a sign that read, LittleBrooke High. Go Bears!
I started to slow down a bit until the school was in view. The place looked run down as hell. There were holes in the walls and leaves growing up the side of the building. The parking lot was massive and full of buses. I pulled the car into the parking lot and told Ash to get into the driver's seat.
“You’re not serious?” She asked me. I could tell she wanted to go but I said, “This is it! This is the last place of note in this fucken town. Just take the wheel and I will be right back.” I said as I jumped out of the car and went to look around.
As I approached one of the buses I grabbed the doors, they were already open a crack. I pulled them open and was hit with a horrible stench. I had to step back and puke and no I am not going to describe what I saw in that fucken bus. At that point, I decided I had seen enough and it was time to fucken go.
“Help!” I heard someone cry from a couple of buses over. “Please!” I heard again. I wanted to slap myself because I knew better. I had already decided it was time to leave but I went to investigate anyway. I went to the bus and pulled the doors open. It smelled like stale piss and blood. “Back here!” A girl screamed out to me. I made my way to the back of the bus, stepping on school jackets and over backpacks. That is where I found them. Two teenagers are tied to the leg of a bus seat. They looked horrible, caking in blood and sweat. They were both injured. “Stephanie?!” I exclaimed as I bent over to free them. I recognized her face the moment I saw it.
“Can you move? I asked the blonde girl.” As I started to let her go. “Everything hurts.” She told me. I opened the emergency exit and called for Ash to pull the car over. It took her a second to hear me but she came as fast as possible. “I am going to get you guys in the car and we are going to get out of here, okay?” I told them. I wanted to tell them everything was going to be okay, but I couldn't. It felt like that would be a huge lie.
Ash stepped out of the car and helped get the girls into the backseat. As I stopped to look around I could feel the bus shift in weight. I turned around and inhaled sharply. Standing before me was a creature wearing a jacket that said COACH on it. He looked sickly, and pale, and his veins were protruding from his face and hands. As he ran at me I jumped out of the emergency exit door just in time to feel something slam off of the back of my head. I looked down to see a barbed football. I could feel blood trickling down my neck, I stumbled forward and felt a hand grab my arm. Ash was shoving me into the car. She slid over me, closed the passenger door, and backed the car up. I thought she was moving like lightning.
At this point, everyone was screaming. My heart was threatening to jump out of my fucken chest. I was so sure we were all going to die here, just like everyone else I had seen on the buses. But no, Ash sped out of the parking lot. The coach chased us to the school limits but for some reason, he did not follow us anymore.
I know we should've stopped to see if the kids could find their parents but we didn't. Instead, Ash just kept driving. Eventually, we could hear the cops behind us but that did not stop her. It took us six hours to finally see the You Are New Leaving LittleBrooke sign! I couldn’t believe it. This place was not that big at all.
So listen, if you’re invited to take a job in LittleBrooke. Don’t take it. It’s not worth your life.

My neighbor has 2 dogs that are incredibly reactive. Anytime my kids are anywhere near the fence line, they’re barking. People walking by - barking. I’m checking my gardens? They’re barking. Their owners are never out with them, they don’t work with them on anything at all. From what I can tell, they’re also constantly barking inside. Our yards are fenced but there is space between the boards. We’ve mostly just dealt with it by ignoring or grumbling under our breath but we’re getting a Newfoundland puppy in a few weeks and I want to know the best way to manage the situation. I already plan on taking the pup out on a lead daily while they’re out and sitting quietly, rewarding her calm behavior, etc. and positively reinforcing all of the behaviors I’m looking for. What else do I do? They’re newer neighbors and my previous dog was 15, I think it drove her nuts but she didn’t bark back or anything. Thanks for any and all advice!

My gf and I are getting a dog this Saturday and I would like to hear from people what their number one tips are for owning a dog.
I had two dogs when I lived at home who are both gone now and it’s been 10 years since I owned a dog.
I have a house with a privacy fence that’s not a large yard but a not massive dog would have a decent bit to run around.
I work 9-6 and come home for my hour lunch so I can let the dog out to go to the bathroom. Looking at getting a dog no bigger than a black lab but whatever dog we connect with at the shelter.