Maybelline fit me stick foundation swatches
JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #6: Semifinal 1 - Electra Heart vs 10538-2095
2023.05.31 02:00 Logic_Sandwich JoJo's Bizarre OC Tournament #6: Semifinal 1 - Electra Heart vs 10538-2095
(Shoutouts to u/TheSlyKoopa for the match concept!)
Scenario: Isla de Piedra, Somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea — 11:44AM
Dédalo Viatger, adventurer, archaeologist and explorer extraordinaire, had filled his travelog with countless exploits on his never-ending quest to uncover the secrets of the ancient world. Following the trail of the lost civilization of Pieduro was proving to be his lengthiest entry yet. Armed with powerful Pieduron artifacts known as the Temples, Dédalo and the Pieduron entity ｢Perdida｣ had forged a path across the Mediterranean, getting ever closer to solving the mystery of their disappearance.
With assistance from Cullinan Dwarf Star, Patron of the House of Muses, Dédalo and Perdida were on the verge of discovering the final piece of the puzzle. Their journey had come full circle, and Dédalo and Perdida’s adventure would end where it began; on the island of Isla de Piedra.
Situated between the coasts of Southern Spain and North Africa, Isla de Piedra had been uninhabited for all of recorded history, though not for lack of trying. The dense forests and greenery that covered every square meter of the island made it a ripe target for logging companies and greedy colonists to strip it for all it was worth. None had succeeded—their abandoned camps had long since been reclaimed by the forest.
The only other sign of human life on the island was the ancient Pieduron outpost where Dédalo’s journey first began, and where it would now hopefully end. The trek to get there was as difficult as the first time—but he didn’t have to do it alone now. At his side were his ever faithful companion Perdida, the inquisitive swordswoman Ninian, the extraordinary android 2095, and the illustrious ice skater Electra (although he didn’t call them that out loud).
Dédalo led the party up a long, winding stone staircase, pointing out the many partially-disabled traps along the way. He and Ninian had long been in contact, and the latter could personally vouch for her +1s—2095 one of the few Bastards she could trust and Electra having earned her trust in for her actions against Enyalius & Enyo Pharmaceuticals in San Battista.
“...and here’s a wall of spikes that shoot out when you pass over that threshold,” he pointed out with a tour guide’s enthusiasm. “I managed to jam up the mechanism with some cloth, but we should probably tread carefully around here.”
Electra rolled her eyes, even though Dédalo couldn’t see the gesture. “Should have just blown it up,” she muttered, annoyed. While her experiences in San Battista had somewhat melted her frosty demeanor, it had still been a long, hot, exhausting trip to get here, and old habits died hard.
“Watch your tone, miss,” Perdida said from behind her ear, making her jump. “My people’s architecture is not something to “blow up”.”
“And it might not have worked,” 2095 chimed in. “If this outpost could survive all those centuries of wear, I doubt a mundane explosion would do much damage to it.”
“The Piedurons built everything to last, from their treasures to their traps.” Dédalo gingerly ducked under the blade of a massive pendulum axe that jutted out from the ceiling. “Fortunate in some ways, unfortunate in others.”
At last, they reached the center chamber. Carved from stone and coated with moss, it appeared just as untouched as the rest of the outpost—save for the podium in the middle of the chamber and the conspicuously empty space on top of it, where the moss grew a little bit thinner.
“Ah, this brings back memories,” Dédalo chuckled. “This is where Perdida and I first met. The El Cor Terra necklace lay in this very spot at the heart of the chamber. When I unfastened it, poof! There she appeared in all of her resplendent glory. We hit it off right away.”
“He tried to cut my head off with a machete.”
“In self-defense!”
“Ok, move it along, lovebirds,” Electra huffed. “Where’s the thing we were looking for? It’s somewhere in here, right?”
Brushing past the “lovebirds” comment, Dédalo retrieved a piece of parchment from his explorer’s pack marked with the symbol of the House of Muses. “According to Cullinan, the hidden door should be right over on that wall.” He pointed over 2095’s shoulder at the northern wall of the chamber. “The question is…how do we open it?”
2095 gave the room a once-over. Aside from the layer of moss and vegetation covering the chamber, it was pretty bare. Its only noticeable feature seemed to be the podium.
“Perhaps the podium could offer some answers.” The party gathered around the stone podium—a stone cylinder, atop which stood a carving which vaguely resembled the neck and collarbone area of a human, with a thin groove running where a necklace would hang. Perdida instantly recognized the Cleria stone inlays around the circumference of the podium.
She traced a finger along the length of the groove, and the Cleria stone beneath it glowed—and, at a volume only audible to 2095’s mechanical hearing, it began to hum.
“Keep going, Perdida,” she whispered. Perdida closed her eyes, feeling herself attune to the place where she lay dormant for thousands of years. The Cleria stone grew brighter and brighter, the hum getting louder and louder.
Suddenly, the room shook. Electra leaped back, expecting another trap. Instead, she watched as the north wall slid open like the doors of an elevator, revealing two hallways; one leading up, the other leading down, both with Cleria stone markings along the walls that pulsed with a gentle light.
“Thank goodness,” Dédalo sighed. “I was worried the real treasure was going to be the friends we made along the way.”
Dédalo and Perdida continued to trek up the hallway, climbing what was likely the control tower of the outpost. Ninian dutifully followed behind them, ready to draw her blade at whatever might strike from the newly unknown section of the outpost. The sound of exhaled breath made her jump...but it was only a sigh from Dédalo. “A shame you came aboard so late, Ninian; our journey’s almost up.”
Ninian’s confusion spiked to alarm as the explorer motioned to lean against the wall. “Watch out-”
Dédalo made contact and nothing happened. He tilted his head to the end of the corridor, a doorway just a few meters away. “We’re far enough in that we’ve most likely avoided the worst of the traps. Besides, I don’t think the Piedurons would have placed many traps so close to a place of importance.” He wistfully rubbed his arm, massaging the strain of adventures and injuries in equal measure. “Feels almost bittersweet. So many months of travel and turmoil, and the end of our journey is in sight.”
“Hey, don’t say that yet. We still need to find a way to get my human body back.” Pedida gently punched him in his shoulder. Still, her pout eventually softened as she looked back towards the final chamber. “I guess you are correct, though. The answer to the Pieduron collapse lies beyond those doors. What comes after…nobody knows”
“Quite right,” Dédalo nodded, and the group moved onwards. “I hope that Electra and 2095 are doing okay down there, in any case.”
“I hope that the rest of the outpost is okay,” Perdida frowned. “They didn’t seem to appreciate how precious this place is—I don’t want to lose another one.”
“I don’t think we have to worry too much about losing them,” A grin of cat-like mischief unfurled on Ninian’s face as hoarse laughter echoed on a draft. There were adventures to come and to be seen, but one to reach its conclusion here and now, and the anticipation made Ninian’s hair stand on end.
The group carefully entered the room, and Perdida flickered out of existence. Before any of them could respond, the control room flickered to life. The stone walls that extended higher and higher suddenly turned “on” as if they were screens, but these were more akin to slabs whose light-emitting runes and rocks flickered and changed in the appearance of Perdida—Perdidas, in fact. All of them, on the many screens, acted in unison as Dédalo rushed forward. “Dédalo, what’s going on?”
“We’re figuring it out,” he shouted as he and Ninian raced to the panels below, trying to decipher the text streaming by. Soon, however, one message displayed on a readout screen:
Meanwhile, having taken the outpost’s lower path, 2095 and Electra entered into a large atrium. Like the rest of the outpost, the walls and floor were composed of the usual, teal stone that seemed impossibly durable. The fact that they could use it to form buildings, carve intricate murals, and keep it all hidden was impressive, but they craned their heads upwards towards the skylight that would let rain and sun in. Through the overgrown foliage, they could see a massive flat ring of Cleria floating above the ground in stubborn defiance of the laws of physics. Gravity-defying gyroscopes of stone spun and swirled in the air above, rotating with the same slow grace as the ancient gears that whirred to life around them. The glow of the Cleria blended together with the light of the noonday sun; the hum of power permeated the entire chamber.
“...shit,” Electra murmured, not sure what else to say.
2095 scanned the rest of the atrium, but ultimately found nothing beyond a discolored, glowing pad on the floor by the opposite wall, outcroppings on the walls that resembled benches, and the remnants of what appeared to be ancient drinking fountains. Rest now before it’s too late, the room seemed to scream.
“I believe we should wait for the others before we go deeper,” 2095 announced. “We could retrace our steps and explore the previous areas, in case we missed another hidden passageway or an undiscovered treasure. It would be a shame to proceed not knowing whether we’ve left every stone unturned-”
“Not a chance,” Electra huffed. “I’m not letting us get killed because of your FOMO. Come on.”
She grabbed 2095 by the wrist and began to drag her over to the pads. 2095 let her—partly because she weighed significantly more than Electra did and she didn’t want her to hurt herself trying to pull her by force, but partly because she was right. She could feel the air buzzing with energy, intensifying by the second. Something big was about to happen.
The two stepped onto the floor pad and immediately felt themselves being shunted into a different space as the teleporter activated. When their vision cleared, they found themselves standing on top of the Cleria ring itself. Electra could smell the ozone in the air and taste the prickling on her tongue. This ring was the key to the whole mechanism—either it was powering the outpost…or the outpost was powering it.
2095 gazed in awe at the machinery surrounding them. It reminded her of the technology from her time; except instead of steel and chrome, it was made of rock and crystal. What secrets died with the Piedurons when they disappeared?
She turned to Electra to express her wonder and nearly screamed when she saw the vantablack vines burst out of her shadowed face, ready to smash the ring to pieces.
“What are you doing?!” 2095 yelled, ｢Yours Truly｣ appearing at her side, tentacles raised.
“I’m destroying this thing, duh,” spat Electra. “I know a superweapon when I see one, and I’m not about to let some dipshit corporation get their hands on it after we leave.”
The chamber shook, bits of rocks and dust falling from the ceiling. “B-but we don’t even know whether this is a superweapon! Aren’t you acting a bit rash?”
“Rash? Seriously? You have no idea what some people in Dead Drop Bay would do for an artifact like this.” Electra remembered what she saw in San Battista—the monster that she had to put down, fuelled by a desire to abuse the remnants of the past for her own gain. “Farewell to Kings, Dead Man’s Hand; hell, even my own company. They’d sink this island to the bottom of the ocean for the chance to have this thing for themselves. This way, I’m solving the problem before it has a chance to start.”
“And risk destroying the legacy of an entire civilization?!” 2095 felt anger boiling in her metallic chest. A part of her resonated with the Piedurons in this moment—she knew what it was like to be a relic of an era far from the present, the last remaining piece of a time nobody would ever know. “What gives you the right to decide what to do with an artifact of this magnitude? To bury what could be the last hope of Pieduro to be remembered as anything but a footnote in history?”
The chamber shook again—this time, both 2095 and Electra felt the ground shift under their feet. Without warning, walls of stone burst out of the ground around them, tearing through centuries-old roots and vines to surround the ring on all sides. Slabs of Cleria stone with deep divots carved into the top of them emerged from the ring itself and floated just above its surface like a magnet levitating atop another.
In the control tower below them, Dédalo and Ninian scrambled from panel to panel, desperately trying to decipher what was going on. Dédalo could see the two other members of the party facing off inside the ring—but before he could call out to them, he heard Perdida’s voice resonate from every screen.
“The Temples…I can see them.”
Ninian watched the panel in front of her light up, displaying a holographic map of the Mediterranean, hundreds of glowing blue dots scattered across the projection.
Dédalo rushed to the nearest screen and grabbed it. “Perdida! Are you alright?!”
“Y-yes, I’m fine.” Perdida blinked hard, putting a hand to the side of her head. “I can feel every Temple in the Mediterranean. I…I think I can gain access to them from here.”
“Access? Like…you can turn them on?” Ninian asked.
“Yes. All of them.” Before Perdida could say any more, the chamber shook once more. In the room below, the ring glowed even more brightly, the two would-be explorers now utterly trapped within it by the sloped walls surrounding it.
“See what I mean?!” Electra clenched her fists, snapping flytrap jaws emerging from the shadow underneath her. “We need to put this entire place in the ground. For good. And like hell am I going to let you stop me!”
Suddenly, all across the surface of the ring, crackling orbs of energy sparked to life, both 2095 and Electra just managing to avoid them. The orbs spun in a circle around the ring, accelerating rapidly until they were nothing but a blur. 2095 recognized the movements of the orbs immediately; it looked like a particle accelerator.
“I hoped we could resolve this peacefully, Electra.” 2095 flicked the silver locks out of her face. “But now I have to convince you in the only language you seem to understand—the language of violence. Don’t hold back.”
The age-old machinery around them hummed to a crescendo. If either of the two combatants wanted to see their convictions through, they would need to survive the full power of Pieduro first.
OPEN THE GAME!
Location: On Isla de Piedra, (Shoutouts to u/TheSlyKoopa for the match art) inside the Floating Ring. The arena shown here has Electra on the north side and 2095 on the south side represented by their character tokens. The players are in the area inside the ring and have no way to exit with sloping walls on all sides.
The ring has a diameter of 60 meters and the internal width is 15 meters; the entire structure is A Durability.
The brown rectangles inside the ring are Pieduron Temples that resemble short, knee-tall minecarts made out of stone slabs.
Goal: RETIRE your opponent!
Additional Information: Over the course of 10 minutes, the ring will spawn 6-inch diameter orbs of light that will accelerate and move in an orbit around the ring at A Speed. Each orb takes 4 seconds to spawn-in, glowing in place and translucent, before it becomes a solid orb.
Trajectory of the orbs move completely along the curvature of the ring, counterclockwise (denoted by the arrows on the map) and can be spawned anywhere inside the ring. When they hit something solid, they will detonate at C Power—powerful enough to destroy vines and ink left by ｢Venus Fly Trap｣ and tentacles from ｢Yours Truly｣—and cause another orb to spawn where the original one started. The orbs have a blast radius of half a meter and other orbs exploding around them will not trigger them to detonate.
Orbs will complete one revolution around the ring anywhere from 3 seconds (inside track) to 6 seconds (along the rim).
Assuming you are standing still, the rough number of orbs that pass by will be 5 orbs per second at the first minute mark, 10 orbs per second at the second minute mark, and so on until the maximum of 50 orbs per second at the ten minute mark.
Starting near each player and around the map are Pieduron temples that resemble minecarts. Each kart can comfortably fit one person, have a handle on either side, and a single rudder-like steering peripheral. The wheels of the kart will always stick to the ring, but they can drive just fine along the walls or even the ceiling of the ring. Karts move at up to B Speed and players intuitively have a 4 in driving them. At max speed, karts can complete one revolution in 4 to 8 seconds (4 seconds on the inside track and 8 seconds on the rim).
All karts have three other special features that can be activated when a driver is steering it, the Turtle, the Spider, and the Crab:
Link to Official Player Spreadsheet
Link to Match Schedule
As always, if you would like to interact with the tournament community and be among the first to get updates for the tournament, please feel free to PM a member of our Judge staff for an invite to our Official Discord Server!
submitted by Logic_Sandwich to StardustCrusaders [link] [comments]
Dédalo Viatger, adventurer, archaeologist and explorer extraordinaire, had filled his travelog with countless exploits on his never-ending quest to uncover the secrets of the ancient world. Following the trail of the lost civilization of Pieduro was proving to be his lengthiest entry yet. Armed with powerful Pieduron artifacts known as the Temples, Dédalo and the Pieduron entity ｢Perdida｣ had forged a path across the Mediterranean, getting ever closer to solving the mystery of their disappearance.
With assistance from Cullinan Dwarf Star, Patron of the House of Muses, Dédalo and Perdida were on the verge of discovering the final piece of the puzzle. Their journey had come full circle, and Dédalo and Perdida’s adventure would end where it began; on the island of Isla de Piedra.
Situated between the coasts of Southern Spain and North Africa, Isla de Piedra had been uninhabited for all of recorded history, though not for lack of trying. The dense forests and greenery that covered every square meter of the island made it a ripe target for logging companies and greedy colonists to strip it for all it was worth. None had succeeded—their abandoned camps had long since been reclaimed by the forest.
The only other sign of human life on the island was the ancient Pieduron outpost where Dédalo’s journey first began, and where it would now hopefully end. The trek to get there was as difficult as the first time—but he didn’t have to do it alone now. At his side were his ever faithful companion Perdida, the inquisitive swordswoman Ninian, the extraordinary android 2095, and the illustrious ice skater Electra (although he didn’t call them that out loud).
Dédalo led the party up a long, winding stone staircase, pointing out the many partially-disabled traps along the way. He and Ninian had long been in contact, and the latter could personally vouch for her +1s—2095 one of the few Bastards she could trust and Electra having earned her trust in for her actions against Enyalius & Enyo Pharmaceuticals in San Battista.
“...and here’s a wall of spikes that shoot out when you pass over that threshold,” he pointed out with a tour guide’s enthusiasm. “I managed to jam up the mechanism with some cloth, but we should probably tread carefully around here.”
Electra rolled her eyes, even though Dédalo couldn’t see the gesture. “Should have just blown it up,” she muttered, annoyed. While her experiences in San Battista had somewhat melted her frosty demeanor, it had still been a long, hot, exhausting trip to get here, and old habits died hard.
“Watch your tone, miss,” Perdida said from behind her ear, making her jump. “My people’s architecture is not something to “blow up”.”
“And it might not have worked,” 2095 chimed in. “If this outpost could survive all those centuries of wear, I doubt a mundane explosion would do much damage to it.”
“The Piedurons built everything to last, from their treasures to their traps.” Dédalo gingerly ducked under the blade of a massive pendulum axe that jutted out from the ceiling. “Fortunate in some ways, unfortunate in others.”
At last, they reached the center chamber. Carved from stone and coated with moss, it appeared just as untouched as the rest of the outpost—save for the podium in the middle of the chamber and the conspicuously empty space on top of it, where the moss grew a little bit thinner.
“Ah, this brings back memories,” Dédalo chuckled. “This is where Perdida and I first met. The El Cor Terra necklace lay in this very spot at the heart of the chamber. When I unfastened it, poof! There she appeared in all of her resplendent glory. We hit it off right away.”
“He tried to cut my head off with a machete.”
“In self-defense!”
“Ok, move it along, lovebirds,” Electra huffed. “Where’s the thing we were looking for? It’s somewhere in here, right?”
Brushing past the “lovebirds” comment, Dédalo retrieved a piece of parchment from his explorer’s pack marked with the symbol of the House of Muses. “According to Cullinan, the hidden door should be right over on that wall.” He pointed over 2095’s shoulder at the northern wall of the chamber. “The question is…how do we open it?”
2095 gave the room a once-over. Aside from the layer of moss and vegetation covering the chamber, it was pretty bare. Its only noticeable feature seemed to be the podium.
“Perhaps the podium could offer some answers.” The party gathered around the stone podium—a stone cylinder, atop which stood a carving which vaguely resembled the neck and collarbone area of a human, with a thin groove running where a necklace would hang. Perdida instantly recognized the Cleria stone inlays around the circumference of the podium.
She traced a finger along the length of the groove, and the Cleria stone beneath it glowed—and, at a volume only audible to 2095’s mechanical hearing, it began to hum.
“Keep going, Perdida,” she whispered. Perdida closed her eyes, feeling herself attune to the place where she lay dormant for thousands of years. The Cleria stone grew brighter and brighter, the hum getting louder and louder.
Suddenly, the room shook. Electra leaped back, expecting another trap. Instead, she watched as the north wall slid open like the doors of an elevator, revealing two hallways; one leading up, the other leading down, both with Cleria stone markings along the walls that pulsed with a gentle light.
“Thank goodness,” Dédalo sighed. “I was worried the real treasure was going to be the friends we made along the way.”
Ninian’s confusion spiked to alarm as the explorer motioned to lean against the wall. “Watch out-”
Dédalo made contact and nothing happened. He tilted his head to the end of the corridor, a doorway just a few meters away. “We’re far enough in that we’ve most likely avoided the worst of the traps. Besides, I don’t think the Piedurons would have placed many traps so close to a place of importance.” He wistfully rubbed his arm, massaging the strain of adventures and injuries in equal measure. “Feels almost bittersweet. So many months of travel and turmoil, and the end of our journey is in sight.”
“Hey, don’t say that yet. We still need to find a way to get my human body back.” Pedida gently punched him in his shoulder. Still, her pout eventually softened as she looked back towards the final chamber. “I guess you are correct, though. The answer to the Pieduron collapse lies beyond those doors. What comes after…nobody knows”
“Quite right,” Dédalo nodded, and the group moved onwards. “I hope that Electra and 2095 are doing okay down there, in any case.”
“I hope that the rest of the outpost is okay,” Perdida frowned. “They didn’t seem to appreciate how precious this place is—I don’t want to lose another one.”
“I don’t think we have to worry too much about losing them,” A grin of cat-like mischief unfurled on Ninian’s face as hoarse laughter echoed on a draft. There were adventures to come and to be seen, but one to reach its conclusion here and now, and the anticipation made Ninian’s hair stand on end.
The group carefully entered the room, and Perdida flickered out of existence. Before any of them could respond, the control room flickered to life. The stone walls that extended higher and higher suddenly turned “on” as if they were screens, but these were more akin to slabs whose light-emitting runes and rocks flickered and changed in the appearance of Perdida—Perdidas, in fact. All of them, on the many screens, acted in unison as Dédalo rushed forward. “Dédalo, what’s going on?”
“We’re figuring it out,” he shouted as he and Ninian raced to the panels below, trying to decipher the text streaming by. Soon, however, one message displayed on a readout screen:
MYSTICALLY AUTOMATED KNOWLEDGE SYSTEM 0 DETECTED
RESUMING RING FUNCTIONALITY
“...shit,” Electra murmured, not sure what else to say.
2095 scanned the rest of the atrium, but ultimately found nothing beyond a discolored, glowing pad on the floor by the opposite wall, outcroppings on the walls that resembled benches, and the remnants of what appeared to be ancient drinking fountains. Rest now before it’s too late, the room seemed to scream.
“I believe we should wait for the others before we go deeper,” 2095 announced. “We could retrace our steps and explore the previous areas, in case we missed another hidden passageway or an undiscovered treasure. It would be a shame to proceed not knowing whether we’ve left every stone unturned-”
“Not a chance,” Electra huffed. “I’m not letting us get killed because of your FOMO. Come on.”
She grabbed 2095 by the wrist and began to drag her over to the pads. 2095 let her—partly because she weighed significantly more than Electra did and she didn’t want her to hurt herself trying to pull her by force, but partly because she was right. She could feel the air buzzing with energy, intensifying by the second. Something big was about to happen.
The two stepped onto the floor pad and immediately felt themselves being shunted into a different space as the teleporter activated. When their vision cleared, they found themselves standing on top of the Cleria ring itself. Electra could smell the ozone in the air and taste the prickling on her tongue. This ring was the key to the whole mechanism—either it was powering the outpost…or the outpost was powering it.
2095 gazed in awe at the machinery surrounding them. It reminded her of the technology from her time; except instead of steel and chrome, it was made of rock and crystal. What secrets died with the Piedurons when they disappeared?
She turned to Electra to express her wonder and nearly screamed when she saw the vantablack vines burst out of her shadowed face, ready to smash the ring to pieces.
“What are you doing?!” 2095 yelled, ｢Yours Truly｣ appearing at her side, tentacles raised.
“I’m destroying this thing, duh,” spat Electra. “I know a superweapon when I see one, and I’m not about to let some dipshit corporation get their hands on it after we leave.”
The chamber shook, bits of rocks and dust falling from the ceiling. “B-but we don’t even know whether this is a superweapon! Aren’t you acting a bit rash?”
“Rash? Seriously? You have no idea what some people in Dead Drop Bay would do for an artifact like this.” Electra remembered what she saw in San Battista—the monster that she had to put down, fuelled by a desire to abuse the remnants of the past for her own gain. “Farewell to Kings, Dead Man’s Hand; hell, even my own company. They’d sink this island to the bottom of the ocean for the chance to have this thing for themselves. This way, I’m solving the problem before it has a chance to start.”
“And risk destroying the legacy of an entire civilization?!” 2095 felt anger boiling in her metallic chest. A part of her resonated with the Piedurons in this moment—she knew what it was like to be a relic of an era far from the present, the last remaining piece of a time nobody would ever know. “What gives you the right to decide what to do with an artifact of this magnitude? To bury what could be the last hope of Pieduro to be remembered as anything but a footnote in history?”
The chamber shook again—this time, both 2095 and Electra felt the ground shift under their feet. Without warning, walls of stone burst out of the ground around them, tearing through centuries-old roots and vines to surround the ring on all sides. Slabs of Cleria stone with deep divots carved into the top of them emerged from the ring itself and floated just above its surface like a magnet levitating atop another.
In the control tower below them, Dédalo and Ninian scrambled from panel to panel, desperately trying to decipher what was going on. Dédalo could see the two other members of the party facing off inside the ring—but before he could call out to them, he heard Perdida’s voice resonate from every screen.
“The Temples…I can see them.”
Ninian watched the panel in front of her light up, displaying a holographic map of the Mediterranean, hundreds of glowing blue dots scattered across the projection.
Dédalo rushed to the nearest screen and grabbed it. “Perdida! Are you alright?!”
“Y-yes, I’m fine.” Perdida blinked hard, putting a hand to the side of her head. “I can feel every Temple in the Mediterranean. I…I think I can gain access to them from here.”
“Access? Like…you can turn them on?” Ninian asked.
“Yes. All of them.” Before Perdida could say any more, the chamber shook once more. In the room below, the ring glowed even more brightly, the two would-be explorers now utterly trapped within it by the sloped walls surrounding it.
“See what I mean?!” Electra clenched her fists, snapping flytrap jaws emerging from the shadow underneath her. “We need to put this entire place in the ground. For good. And like hell am I going to let you stop me!”
Suddenly, all across the surface of the ring, crackling orbs of energy sparked to life, both 2095 and Electra just managing to avoid them. The orbs spun in a circle around the ring, accelerating rapidly until they were nothing but a blur. 2095 recognized the movements of the orbs immediately; it looked like a particle accelerator.
“I hoped we could resolve this peacefully, Electra.” 2095 flicked the silver locks out of her face. “But now I have to convince you in the only language you seem to understand—the language of violence. Don’t hold back.”
The age-old machinery around them hummed to a crescendo. If either of the two combatants wanted to see their convictions through, they would need to survive the full power of Pieduro first.
OPEN THE GAME!
The ring has a diameter of 60 meters and the internal width is 15 meters; the entire structure is A Durability.
The brown rectangles inside the ring are Pieduron Temples that resemble short, knee-tall minecarts made out of stone slabs.
Goal: RETIRE your opponent!
Additional Information: Over the course of 10 minutes, the ring will spawn 6-inch diameter orbs of light that will accelerate and move in an orbit around the ring at A Speed. Each orb takes 4 seconds to spawn-in, glowing in place and translucent, before it becomes a solid orb.
Trajectory of the orbs move completely along the curvature of the ring, counterclockwise (denoted by the arrows on the map) and can be spawned anywhere inside the ring. When they hit something solid, they will detonate at C Power—powerful enough to destroy vines and ink left by ｢Venus Fly Trap｣ and tentacles from ｢Yours Truly｣—and cause another orb to spawn where the original one started. The orbs have a blast radius of half a meter and other orbs exploding around them will not trigger them to detonate.
Orbs will complete one revolution around the ring anywhere from 3 seconds (inside track) to 6 seconds (along the rim).
Assuming you are standing still, the rough number of orbs that pass by will be 5 orbs per second at the first minute mark, 10 orbs per second at the second minute mark, and so on until the maximum of 50 orbs per second at the ten minute mark.
Starting near each player and around the map are Pieduron temples that resemble minecarts. Each kart can comfortably fit one person, have a handle on either side, and a single rudder-like steering peripheral. The wheels of the kart will always stick to the ring, but they can drive just fine along the walls or even the ceiling of the ring. Karts move at up to B Speed and players intuitively have a 4 in driving them. At max speed, karts can complete one revolution in 4 to 8 seconds (4 seconds on the inside track and 8 seconds on the rim).
All karts have three other special features that can be activated when a driver is steering it, the Turtle, the Spider, and the Crab:
- The Turtle is a forcefield-like shield that can cover the kart and anybody riding inside it. This forcefield only protects against the fast moving orbs and their explosions and is intangible to everything else. It lasts up to 2 seconds and has a 6 second cooldown before it can be activated again. It can also be set to automatically activate if the minecart is about to hit or be affected by an orb, otherwise it can be manually activated by the driver.
- The Spider is a net-like shield that functions somewhat similarly to the forcefield the Turtle. The main difference is that instead of blocking orbs, it catches them and converts them into an inert palm-sized orb that is stowed inside the minecart. This shield does also block explosions produced by orbs, but will not produce an inert orb in those cases. The Spider lasts up to 1 second and shares a cooldown with the Turtle. Inert orbs are orbs that can be converted back into fast moving orbs by being thrown with force and intent. They can be made to move exactly in a straight line or along the curvature of the ring when thrown. Inert orbs have no other special properties, other than being A Durability.
- The Crab is a fast sideways dash up to 8 meters, with a minimum distance of 1 meter. Once the dash is finished, the kart will resume moving in the direction and speed it had before initiating the dash, making it useful for dodging without turning or changing the direction the kart is going in. This feature has a stamina bar where the longer your dash distance is, the more stamina will be used up. It takes 4 seconds for the stamina bar to fill up from empty.
| Team | Combatant | JoJolity |
|---|---|---|
| Anvil Procession | Electra Heart | "I need to master this Spin..." Have a good plan for how to avoid and deal with the orbs spinning around you! |
| Bastards of Barcas | 10538-2095 | "The secret to the Steel Ball is the search for infinity..." Have a good plan for how to avoid and deal with the orbs spinning around you! |
Link to Match Schedule
2023.05.31 01:09 velcrodynamite Turns out I might just be gay
I'm pretty sure I've figured out why it just doesn't ever seem to work with the men I date: I might be a lesbian.
I had this epiphany in a very awkward way, while kissing the guy I was out with last week. He was sweet, objectively good-looking, and ticked all my boxes on paper. There is not one single thing wrong with him, I just felt repulsed by the whole thing. Which was wild - again, he's great.
But it hit me that I feel that way all the time when I'm out with men, and I don't feel that way with women. Idk, I think it was partly my religious upbringing that was sticking with me this whole time; it was fine for me to say I was bisexual, but some deep part of my psyche thought that I needed to date men for some reason. Like, I couldn't actually act on any interest I had in women, even though it was like pulling teeth for me to date men and just wasn't fulfilling at all.
So I started exclusively talking to women, and it feels kinda life-changing. I actually want to meet up, I feel interested, I feel excited. Everything I was "supposed" to feel when going out with men before, I feel. The excitement and hope that there's actually some substance there and it might go somewhere, I feel that! Lmao, it seems so silly that I am only recognizing this now, at almost 28. I feel like most people realize they're gay so much sooner. But It's one of those "duh!" moments and it feels like suddenly everything makes sense. I'm still single, but I don't feel like I'm trying to fit myself into a mold that doesn't accommodate me anymore.
submitted by velcrodynamite to dating [link] [comments]
I had this epiphany in a very awkward way, while kissing the guy I was out with last week. He was sweet, objectively good-looking, and ticked all my boxes on paper. There is not one single thing wrong with him, I just felt repulsed by the whole thing. Which was wild - again, he's great.
But it hit me that I feel that way all the time when I'm out with men, and I don't feel that way with women. Idk, I think it was partly my religious upbringing that was sticking with me this whole time; it was fine for me to say I was bisexual, but some deep part of my psyche thought that I needed to date men for some reason. Like, I couldn't actually act on any interest I had in women, even though it was like pulling teeth for me to date men and just wasn't fulfilling at all.
So I started exclusively talking to women, and it feels kinda life-changing. I actually want to meet up, I feel interested, I feel excited. Everything I was "supposed" to feel when going out with men before, I feel. The excitement and hope that there's actually some substance there and it might go somewhere, I feel that! Lmao, it seems so silly that I am only recognizing this now, at almost 28. I feel like most people realize they're gay so much sooner. But It's one of those "duh!" moments and it feels like suddenly everything makes sense. I'm still single, but I don't feel like I'm trying to fit myself into a mold that doesn't accommodate me anymore.
2023.05.31 01:06 blepmlepflepblep I don't recognize my body anymore. Need advice.
Long-time lurker. First time poster. Wanted to share my journey so far and also get some advice from everyone.
I was active and fit and kicking ass at the gym for years then I had a MMC with D&C at 9 weeks followed by a recent chemical. Pregnancy makes me tired and unfocused, meaning I skipped a lot of work outs, I succumbed to cravings, and I slept a lot. It took me a long time to physically and emotionally recover from the first miscarriage. When I finally did, I was shocked by how physically weak I'd gotten so I rallied myself and started to pack on muscle, lose some fat, then BAM next miscarriage.
Combined with all the hormonal bloating and water weight gain, I looked in the mirror today and I don't recognize my body. I don't move the way I used to anymore and that makes me sad. It makes me sad because my body has changed a lot the last six months for the worse and I don't even have a baby to show for it. I am so freaken sad about not having a baby. (And I'm sad I can't do a handstand anymore.)
I'm spiraling because I am currently in this limbo where I feel like I'm pregnant again but not far enough along to get a positive pee stick. I'm feeling that heavy hormonal fatigue again and thinking that if I am lucky enough to be pregnant, there's a good chance I'll just lose this one too. Meanwhile, I'm 15 lbs heavier and went from a size M to XXL, all in six months.
I guess I'm posting to see if anyone else is feeling like they're in the same boat and to see if anyone has advice for me...either on how to minimize the damage this yo-yo TTC state is doing to my body or maybe how to learn to accept that this is just the way things will be for awhile.
submitted by blepmlepflepblep to PregnancyAfterLoss [link] [comments]
I was active and fit and kicking ass at the gym for years then I had a MMC with D&C at 9 weeks followed by a recent chemical. Pregnancy makes me tired and unfocused, meaning I skipped a lot of work outs, I succumbed to cravings, and I slept a lot. It took me a long time to physically and emotionally recover from the first miscarriage. When I finally did, I was shocked by how physically weak I'd gotten so I rallied myself and started to pack on muscle, lose some fat, then BAM next miscarriage.
Combined with all the hormonal bloating and water weight gain, I looked in the mirror today and I don't recognize my body. I don't move the way I used to anymore and that makes me sad. It makes me sad because my body has changed a lot the last six months for the worse and I don't even have a baby to show for it. I am so freaken sad about not having a baby. (And I'm sad I can't do a handstand anymore.)
I'm spiraling because I am currently in this limbo where I feel like I'm pregnant again but not far enough along to get a positive pee stick. I'm feeling that heavy hormonal fatigue again and thinking that if I am lucky enough to be pregnant, there's a good chance I'll just lose this one too. Meanwhile, I'm 15 lbs heavier and went from a size M to XXL, all in six months.
I guess I'm posting to see if anyone else is feeling like they're in the same boat and to see if anyone has advice for me...either on how to minimize the damage this yo-yo TTC state is doing to my body or maybe how to learn to accept that this is just the way things will be for awhile.
2023.05.31 00:51 CornerCornea Stranger in the House
"Come inside, the kids are upstairs." Molly was in a rush, I knew this much from the phone call we had earlier. She had never used me before but heard about me through word of mouth. Which meant that my little side hustle was starting to gain traction.
I am a babysitter for a good neighborhood. There's cars parked outside, lawns are manicured, and the occasional termite company is out doing rounds. I don't know why but I always feel as if there's a termite guy nearby, it's a pretty decent area. Which is a far cry from where I live, on the other side of the tracks, literally. There are train tracks that run through our town and it acts as a divide. But they didn't need to know that. They only needed to see the straightened hair, well spoken, fake braces wearing girl in glasses sporting a skirt that wasn't too short where the neighbors would talk.
Usually I sat down with new clients, have them introduce me to their kids (trust me it helps) in order to make a clear cut line with them that I am in their parent's employ and I am not there to be their bestfriend and will definitely tell on them if they act up or break something. That's not to say I won't play silly games with them, feed them, laugh, tell bed time stories, and age appropriate jokes. But I am nobody's rug.
That's what I usually do, but there wasn't such luxury this time. Molly called me on the phone and she sounded desperate for me to come out. I had concert tickets and told her that they were non-refundable and she suggested that if I could make it in 30 minutes then she'd pay me twice the amount for the tickets and 1.5x my usual rate. I got there in 29 minutes. It would have been sooner but I needed to air myself out if you know what I mean.
Anyways, Molly barely had time to look at my face, let alone get any of my credentials as she was rushing out. Working mom it looked like. Business, by the looks of the pencil skirt and the bag that doubled as a folder. It always amazes me how much trust some people put in others to watch their kids. What if I was a serial killer? Or a deranged lunatic? What if I killed the babysitter on my way here and now I'm in a house, alone, with all her children.
I'm not. But I mean, what if, right?
She didn't seem to think about any of these things, leaving me to mumble goodbyes as she pulled out of the driveway, barely audible as the turbos wound up and she shouted something out the window to the likes of, "It's all on the iPad".
Yeah, no more yellow lined paper stuck with the realtor's magnet on the fridge anymore. It's all digital now.
I closed the door and figured that I better check up on the kids before I did a rundown. God this house was beautiful. I climbed the stairs two at a time and rounded the hall. To be fair, calling it a hall was so basic of me. It was more like a wing. West wing madam. The wing could have fit my living room. I click my heels when I heard a snort come from behind me. I came to face a shaggy dog that was well groomed. The collar was black with an underline of blue. Tiffany's undoubtedly. "Hey," I reached a hand and scratched the mop of top. "Let's go find the kids," I tell the dog as if it could understand me.
There were a series of rooms, most of them closed, but it didn't take me a second guess which one was occupied. The second door on the left, I could hear a kid shouting obscenities about someone being trash. I knocked on that door first.
"Come in," he shouted still loud but slightly less angry.
I opened the door and saw a stereotypical gamer's room. Posters, action figures, a rocking gaming chair on the floor in front of a huge flat screen, and a boy about 9 or 10. He had on his headphones and was sipping a Dr. Pepper.
"Don't they know trash day is on Thursdays?"
He cocked his head and laughed, "If you're looking for my mom I think she's downstairs."
"I'm actually looking for you." And let me tell you something. The audacity of this younger generation. The way he looked at me. Almost made me feel as bad as how I felt when he shrugged his shoulders after he had a good look. "Excuse me," I walk in front of him and blocked the screen. "I'm your new babysitter."
He shrugged. "Cool."
"What's your name?"
"You can read all about it somewhere else."
"What?"
"It's all on the iPad," he told me.
"What's your name," I repeated.
He rolls his eyes and looks at me as if I had asked him a stupid question.
I don't budge.
He whined, "Bobbie. Now come on, the next rounds about to start." he pulled his headphones over his ears. I grabbed the remote to get his attention. "What. Hey come on."
"It's nice to meet you Bobbie. Your mom's going to be away for a few hours and I'll be here until she gets back. Dinner is at 6:00 and I will make snacks at 4:30."
"No cap," he motioned at the tv, "Now can I get back to my game.
"Sure I tell him." Pocketing the remote.
"Hey!"
"Bye," I tell him as I close the door behind me.
So I'm back out in the hallway. And I open a few more doors. Some were locked. Before I get into one that's rather plain. There's a picture hanging up behind the bed, a tv, some lamps and shade. On the bed sits an identical, about 9 or 10, twins it seems. Probably why Bobbie was tired of being asked which one he was.
This one was staring at the blank screen. No video games. And quiet. Now I've babysat my share of kids before, and have seen all sorts. Quiet kids are my favorite. They don't mind board games, or listening. Most often times they only need to be left alone. I don't do too much talking in case they get tired of hearing my voice. And I give them a lot of space. "Hey, sorry about that. I didn't think anyone was in here."
He turned to me slowly, "Hi. Are you the new sitter?"
I nodded, "Yup. And I'm guessing that you're Max. I'll be watching you guys while your mom is away."
"She's probably going to work."
"Yeah, looked like it." I see the iPad in his hands. "Hey. I was looking for that."
"She's always at work." He hands it over. "It's dead. And mom took the charger."
I tried not to sigh. This was not how I wanted things to go. "Well, ok. If you need anything. Let me know. Or else I can come get you at 4:30 for snacks and dinner at 6."
He nodded, "Thanks," and goes back to staring at the screen.
I smile but he doesn't see, so I leave, closing the door softly behind me.
I make my way downstairs, wandering into the kitchen and start taking stock of what's there. Which was practically everything. This kitchen was so chic that I half expected Gordon Ramsay to pop out and tell me that the banana bread I made didn't have a clue if he staked the curved yellow fruit down the middle (it's a bad question mark joke. Listen. I never said I was funny).
Once I made sure that there was food, or ingredients to make food. There wasn't much else to do. The house was spotless. The kids were fine. And even the dog seemed well behaved. So I plopped on the couch, took out my fake braces, and watched tv until about 4:10 before I started slicing apples and celery to go with some peanut butter.
I fed the dog some peanut butter and licked my fingers (not with the hand I fed the dog with), before heading upstairs. Bobbie took the plate no problem but I couldn't find Max for the life of me. I wandered the rooms as the dog followed, still trying to lick my hand. "Max, I've got snacks." I knocked on what seemed like the umpteenth door before I get to a rather solid oak one that seemed custom.
Inside was the biggest home library I had ever seen. And I once dog sat for a pretentious professor from the college nearby. I mean, there was a portrait of said academic holding his dog in 18th century art style hanging over the mantle place of the deep wood cabinets filled with books. And yet this library made the other one look like a neighborhood book exchange birdbox.
"Holy..."
"Cow."
I whirled around to find Max standing in the doorway.
"You shouldn't wander into Father's study."
"I was just looking for you," holding up the plate. He made a face. "What? You don't like PB&C?" I took a stick and crunched on the celery.
"I'm not hungry."
I shrug. "Take it anyway. In case you get hungry."
He grabs the plate from me without much struggle so I decide to leave him be. I went back downstairs and crashed in front of the tv.
When I woke up. It was dark. My mouth was dry and all of the lights were off. The screen saver flashed the logo in blinks, lighting up the room only momentarily. For a second I forgot where I was and felt my heart thumping in my chest. My alarm didn't go off but I don't know why I woke up. Then I heard it again. The sound that must have jerked me awake. A crash. It came from upstairs. I grab my phone and glance down at the numbers. It was 8:10. I had slept through dinner. Shit. Shit. Shit. Here I was trying to make a good first impression and I missed out on dinner.
I wipe what drool was on my face and took to the stairs. Bobbie was probably so immersed in his game that he probably didn't even know he was hungry. Max on the other hand. "Max?" I call out down the hall. All of the doors are shut. I can hear something panting behind me. I turn to see the dog again. Its head is down and there's barely any light touching its face. "Hey come here," I called but it retreated in the opposite direction.
Then I shit me not. I heard a creaking come from behind me. It was the only noise in the house. I couldn't even hear Bobbie yelling in his room. I turn slowly and see one of the doors down the hall is now slightly ajar. It's dark in here. It was dark everywhere. I pressed my hands against the wall searching for a light switch. "Bobbie," I call out. There's no answer. "Hey, sorry about the delay in dinner. I'm going to get to it now."
Why was this place so big? And why could I see the door?
"Bobbie. Max?" I hear the dog tapping its paws behind me. Someone on the other side of the house by now. "Hey, where are you guys?" I peer at the single door that's open and realized why it was so prominent. The hall was dark, but what was inside was even darker. Instead of going toward it, I try the first knob my blind fingers came across. Process of elimination I told myself. It was locked. I tried the next one. Also locked. I finally get to Bobbie's door and I knock. "Bobbie." There's no answer. I press my head against the door and listen. But I don't hear a single sound.
"Where are all the light switches in this place!"
The door that was open before slightly opens again. Creaking, *tic tic tic tic*, with each ungreased turn of the hinge. "Shit. Hey, stop playing around."
There's laughing coming from behind me. It sounded like a little kids. Too young to be either of the boys. Followed by smaller footsteps. It sounded like they were barefoot. "Hey, this isn't funny. I'm going to tell your mother when she gets home." I take out my phone and turn on the flashlight. "When is she coming home?" It was almost 8:30, when I realized that we never set a time.
I hear footsteps again, they were odd. Almost like falling. Like a toddler learning how to run for the first time but the hollow ground sounded as if the person was much heavier. I shine my flashlight over the hall. "Shit." The dog was sitting on all fours in the corner. It was facing the wall. I couldn't even see his face. Every hair on its body completely still.
"Hey," I called out. "Come here." I clicked my tongue. "Come here." The dog didn't move. I couldn't even see it breathing.
Bang! It sounded like thunder behind me. As if someone dropped something on the floor. As if something fell off a shelf or was pushed. I jumped around and shone my light down the west wing. I didn't know if I should have been more or less afraid now that the door was closed. "Bobbie? Max?"
God. I did not want to try the door. And I stood there for a minute before realizing how stupid I must have looked. These were some rich kids playing a joke on you Camilia. I know it. The thought of their smug little faces made me stomp out of my frozen state. I took a couple of strides over and grabbed the handle.
"Fuck!" The thing was hot. "What the hell! You guys could have hurt me," I yelled. I banged on the door. "Open up. You two are in so much trouble." I banged on the door again. "Open the door. Right now!" I could hear something on the other side. It sounded like shuffling. Heavy furniture perhaps. "You guys better not be messing things up in there. I'm not going to clean it. I mean it."
I banged on the door. "I can hear you in there! Now come on!" I put my hands on my hips and tapped my foot. "I'm waiting. Your little jokes over now." I banged on the door again.
That's when the door knocked back.
It wouldn't have scared me. I don't think. Except for the fact that I was surprised. And alone in the hall. Without any of the lights on. In a strange house. And before I could say anything else. Another door behind me knocked from the inside. "Shit. Both of you are in on this?" I grabbed the handle to the other door. It was also locked. I banged on it. "Come out right now. Max?"
But then a third door started knocked from down the hall. I felt my throat clump as I tried to swallow. "You guys weren't supposed to have anyone over." The knocking didn't stop. It kept echoing down the hall. "I'm not getting paid for three kids you know?"
Tat-tat-tat-tat. Tat-tat-tat.
I took a single step. And then all of the doors in the hallway suddenly started banging.
I almost tripped as I ran toward the stairs. The doors were thundering on so hard I thought they would crack their hinges. I skipped the stairs, the sounds chasing me as I tried to not fall and break my neck. When I got to the front landing I hear someone say my name.
"Camilia. Are you okay?"
I'm trying not to choke on a lung here as I shot my eyes toward the kitchen. The kids are sitting on the barstools lining the counter. There are two plates in front of them. As if they didn't hear the drumline upstairs.
"Is it dinner time yet," one of them asks quietly.
"Max?"
He smiles.
"Kids. I think there's someone in the house." I rush over to grab each of their hands. Bobbie's wrists are limp but it was Max's hands that shocked me. They were ice cold. I tried to let go but my fingers wouldn't uncurl.
He turns my hand over and says, "There's no one else in this house except us. I promise."
"No," I wasn't about to listen to the kid even if it was his house. "Something is wrong. We have to go. Now." I pick up Bobbie and he doesn't seem to want to move. "Come on Bobbie. Let's go." He looks over at Max who shrugs and get out of his seat.
Bobbie follows as I drag them toward the front door.
"Camilia," Max says.
"What?" He looked scared. Which made me turn toward what he was staring out. At the front door was a tall figure. I couldn't see its face through the glass. It was a stark figure of a man.
"Do you think it's your dad?"
Max shakes his head. I feel him pulling against my arm.
I call out to the man, "Hey! Who is it?" The man doesn't budge. "I'm calling the police." I turn to Bobbie, "Get the phone." He doesn't move. "Hey!" I'm trying to sound as angry as possible. "Get the fuck out of here!" I grabbed a roll of painter's tape from the side table and hurl it across the hall, hitting the glass squarely in the face where the man's head stood blocking the exit. He doesn't even twitch as the glass shakes.
"Come on," I grab their hands and rush to the back. I don't get 10 steps before I feel a scream crawl up my throat making me cough. The man was standing at the sliding door. "Fuck!" I drag the two of them with me towards the kitchen. It's a big place so there had to be a way out to the garage. We push through one of the doors and end up in the laundry room. The next door gets us out into a 3 car garage. My hands find the glowing green opener against the wall and I hear the opener fold seamlessly towards the ceiling.
It started with his feet. Then his ankles. His shins. Then his legs. Light poured in from behind him from the streetlamp. I watched as the door went to his waist before I hit the button for the garage to close, before rushing back inside. We make it into the kitchen to where I still see the tall man standing at the sliding door. A part of me wants to hide in the laundry room but I didn't want to be sandwiched in the middle of the house. So I pull the boys back up the stairs, back to where the doors banged themselves. Taking out my phone as we ascended, and called 911.
"This is the police operator speaking."
"HELLO", I hope they could hear me, "There are several men trying to get inside!"
"Men? Are you in any danger?"
"No! But they have us surrounded!"
"Why don't you go outside?"
My tongue suddenly felt numb in my mouth. Like I didn't know what to do with it. "W-what?"
"It's stranger in the house."
The line went dead as we hit the hallway.
I only took my eyes off of them for a second before Bobbie. Or Max. Runs down the hall. The one or the other already slipping through a door ahead. I look back down the stairs and see that the man is still standing in front of the doorway. I look back up and see the other boy also going through the same door. I take a single step and the doors start pounding on either side. I shut my eyes and turn around. Afraid to go. Almost deciding that these weren't my kids. That I should run away. I take a step backwards mouthing that I was sorry. But I was too scared to go! "Max! Bobbie!" My back foot sticks to the floor. I don't want to look down but the next step sticks too. I point my phone to the ground and see a trail of blood. And just behind me. It's the dog. Split right down the middle, its spine shiny and white, still facing the wall. I could see its organs still pulsing.
I couldn't go back downstairs. I couldn't go the other way. I couldn't leave them here. I couldn't be alone.
I ran after them. The thundering of the doors following me as frames fell to the floor. A vase rolled off a table in the hall. It came crashing at my feet. I run my shoulder through the door, except it wasn't locked. Which caused me to go crashing, sprawling to the floor. Running into the desk in the middle of the room.
The study.
Many of the books were off the shelves. The carpet was torn. There were curtains on fire. It was the first time a saw a window as they burned.
"Camilia!"
I hear one of their voices shouting at me.
"Camilia!" It came again. "Help!"
I get to my feet and start working my hands along the desk. I didn't have to search far. The bookcase directly behind the chair had been swung open. "Camilia!" I wipe the blood from my eyebrow where it had split and step into the tunnel behind the secret passage.
The tunnel started off tall and wide, but as I kept walking in. It got smaller and smaller. I started having to hunch. Several times I decided to turn back. But their voices would echo through, calling for me. Asking for help. "I'm coming!"
"I can't hold on! Camilia! Please!"
The twins cry for help bounced off the walls. I was finally on my hands and knees when I finally see two holes on either side. I'm afraid to look but then one of their voices came through clear as day. "Camilia." It was right in my ear now. I turned to see the boy naked and huddling, hugging his knees at the back of his hole.
"Camilia! Help! I don't want to play this game anymore!"
"Bobbie?"
"Help me!"
I look into the hole, the walls are pressing on my back and there's dust going into my lungs. I can barely turn my shoulder. "Crawl out!"
"I can't!"
"Crawl out! I'm right here." I take out my hand, "Come on!"
"Camilia!" Came a voice from the other side.
I turn my head and see Max in the other hole.
"No!" Bobbie shouts at me. "No!"
"Hold on," I tell him. "I'm going to get both of you out of here."
"No," Bobbie cries. "It's all his fault. He's the one that did it. He's the one that wants to get out!"
"Bobbie, what are you talking about."
"He's the one that put something in your drink so you'd fall asleep!"
"He's lying!" Max's voice rang through. "It's him! I saw him. Always in father's study! Reading those books! Trying out those things he reads. Those curses. Those spells. It's why the shadow men are after him! Camilia! You have to believe me."
I can hear Bobbie crying, "Why are you lying! I don't want to play anymore," he screeches. "I don't want to play!" He sobs. "You said you'd go away if I told you that I didn't want to play anymore."
I don't know what made me do it. It sure wasn't the nauseating squealing tantrum of the boy which made me reach for him first. Maybe it was because I wanted him to shut up. I don't know but I plunged my arm up to my shoulder in to grab his collar.
Instantly I screamed and saw tiny spiders, short thing legs with round white backs crawl over my arms. I shook my arm in the hole, trying to smother them against the walls. That only caused these long brown flat slugs to fall. I saw one land on my hand. It had three distinct tendon-like lines running across its back and was about a half inch long. I pulled my arm out of the hole as I felt it pierce its flat head into the back of my hand. I dropped my phone and heard it crack as the light splintered in the small, suffocating tunnel. But I didn't care as I looked at my hand and saw it burrowing its tiny spearhead below my skin. I grabbed at the wiggling tail still exposed and tried pulling it out.
It was like trying to pull our barbed wire. The spines on its body were facing me. So with each pull they dug deeper inside. I could see blood pooling under my skin, it was starting to turn purple as I tugged on its tail even harder. Until it gave. Popped right off and lay twitching in my hand. The head missing.
I couldn't take it anymore. Really. I had tried my best. I shake my head. "Bobbie. Bobbie. I'm sorry." But it didn't matter. When I looked over at Bobbie. He was covered in it. All of it. Even the spiders.
My jeans started shifting as I tried to wiggle myself out of there. But I hear Max's cry again. "Camilia! Please!"
"No," I whimpered. Shaking. I couldn't reach my hand in there again. But his voice was so scared. More scared than the pain I felt.
I shot my arm inside. Bracing. Waiting for the pain. But there was none. Instead my hands grasped around his collar and I felt his cold clammy skin, and yanked him from the hole. He came without much struggle. His face covered in the soot of it all. "Camilia," he cried. "You picked me. You did it."
I didn't have the heart to tell him that I almost didn't.
"Come on," I cried. "We. Have. To go."
The two of us wiggled our way out of there, crawling on our hands and knees, and running when we could. We finally make it back into the study. And the fire is roaring now. One of the books fall from the shelves and when it hit the fire I swear it started screaming. There was so much smoke that I couldn't see. And the door was covered by the flames.
I pointed to the window, the curtains on the floor in ashes. I kick the window. It didn't budge. I coughed. I kicked it again. The glass shook. I kicked it again and my foot went through. Pieces of the glass still hung in the frame, I use the tips of my fingers and pull them back. They fall to the floor cracking until there was a hole big enough for me to get through.
I plunge my head out and take my first breath of fresh air. The moon was full and the sky was clear. I could hear sirens coming off in the distance. When both of my feet were on the roof. I reach my hand back and grab Max from the burning house. Together we run across the clay tiles and climb down the arched tree. The red fire truck comes screeching to a stop as several firemen help us down.
One of them pushes a breathing mask on me, and wraps me up. The neighbors are outside, and the police arrive. I see a familiar car come roaring down the street, screaming to a halt as Molly runs out. Her face is flustered and she's shouting. Pushing through the cops until she reaches me next to the ambulance.
"What happened," she literally screamed at me.
"I'm so sorry," I tell her. "There were these men." I take another breath. "I couldn't do anything! B-but I saved Max! I saved him!"
She looked at the house. It was blazing now in the cool night. "Oh my god. Is Bobbie still in there?" Molly starts to cry. "My baby!"
"Max. But Max." I cough. "Max is okay!"
And she turns to me. I wasn't expecting her to be grateful. But there's anger on her face. "You didn't save my son. But you saved our dog?"
I shake my head. "No. Max. Your other son." I looked around but he was nowhere to be found.
s
submitted by CornerCornea to nosleep [link] [comments]
I am a babysitter for a good neighborhood. There's cars parked outside, lawns are manicured, and the occasional termite company is out doing rounds. I don't know why but I always feel as if there's a termite guy nearby, it's a pretty decent area. Which is a far cry from where I live, on the other side of the tracks, literally. There are train tracks that run through our town and it acts as a divide. But they didn't need to know that. They only needed to see the straightened hair, well spoken, fake braces wearing girl in glasses sporting a skirt that wasn't too short where the neighbors would talk.
Usually I sat down with new clients, have them introduce me to their kids (trust me it helps) in order to make a clear cut line with them that I am in their parent's employ and I am not there to be their bestfriend and will definitely tell on them if they act up or break something. That's not to say I won't play silly games with them, feed them, laugh, tell bed time stories, and age appropriate jokes. But I am nobody's rug.
That's what I usually do, but there wasn't such luxury this time. Molly called me on the phone and she sounded desperate for me to come out. I had concert tickets and told her that they were non-refundable and she suggested that if I could make it in 30 minutes then she'd pay me twice the amount for the tickets and 1.5x my usual rate. I got there in 29 minutes. It would have been sooner but I needed to air myself out if you know what I mean.
Anyways, Molly barely had time to look at my face, let alone get any of my credentials as she was rushing out. Working mom it looked like. Business, by the looks of the pencil skirt and the bag that doubled as a folder. It always amazes me how much trust some people put in others to watch their kids. What if I was a serial killer? Or a deranged lunatic? What if I killed the babysitter on my way here and now I'm in a house, alone, with all her children.
I'm not. But I mean, what if, right?
She didn't seem to think about any of these things, leaving me to mumble goodbyes as she pulled out of the driveway, barely audible as the turbos wound up and she shouted something out the window to the likes of, "It's all on the iPad".
Yeah, no more yellow lined paper stuck with the realtor's magnet on the fridge anymore. It's all digital now.
I closed the door and figured that I better check up on the kids before I did a rundown. God this house was beautiful. I climbed the stairs two at a time and rounded the hall. To be fair, calling it a hall was so basic of me. It was more like a wing. West wing madam. The wing could have fit my living room. I click my heels when I heard a snort come from behind me. I came to face a shaggy dog that was well groomed. The collar was black with an underline of blue. Tiffany's undoubtedly. "Hey," I reached a hand and scratched the mop of top. "Let's go find the kids," I tell the dog as if it could understand me.
There were a series of rooms, most of them closed, but it didn't take me a second guess which one was occupied. The second door on the left, I could hear a kid shouting obscenities about someone being trash. I knocked on that door first.
"Come in," he shouted still loud but slightly less angry.
I opened the door and saw a stereotypical gamer's room. Posters, action figures, a rocking gaming chair on the floor in front of a huge flat screen, and a boy about 9 or 10. He had on his headphones and was sipping a Dr. Pepper.
"Don't they know trash day is on Thursdays?"
He cocked his head and laughed, "If you're looking for my mom I think she's downstairs."
"I'm actually looking for you." And let me tell you something. The audacity of this younger generation. The way he looked at me. Almost made me feel as bad as how I felt when he shrugged his shoulders after he had a good look. "Excuse me," I walk in front of him and blocked the screen. "I'm your new babysitter."
He shrugged. "Cool."
"What's your name?"
"You can read all about it somewhere else."
"What?"
"It's all on the iPad," he told me.
"What's your name," I repeated.
He rolls his eyes and looks at me as if I had asked him a stupid question.
I don't budge.
He whined, "Bobbie. Now come on, the next rounds about to start." he pulled his headphones over his ears. I grabbed the remote to get his attention. "What. Hey come on."
"It's nice to meet you Bobbie. Your mom's going to be away for a few hours and I'll be here until she gets back. Dinner is at 6:00 and I will make snacks at 4:30."
"No cap," he motioned at the tv, "Now can I get back to my game.
"Sure I tell him." Pocketing the remote.
"Hey!"
"Bye," I tell him as I close the door behind me.
So I'm back out in the hallway. And I open a few more doors. Some were locked. Before I get into one that's rather plain. There's a picture hanging up behind the bed, a tv, some lamps and shade. On the bed sits an identical, about 9 or 10, twins it seems. Probably why Bobbie was tired of being asked which one he was.
This one was staring at the blank screen. No video games. And quiet. Now I've babysat my share of kids before, and have seen all sorts. Quiet kids are my favorite. They don't mind board games, or listening. Most often times they only need to be left alone. I don't do too much talking in case they get tired of hearing my voice. And I give them a lot of space. "Hey, sorry about that. I didn't think anyone was in here."
He turned to me slowly, "Hi. Are you the new sitter?"
I nodded, "Yup. And I'm guessing that you're Max. I'll be watching you guys while your mom is away."
"She's probably going to work."
"Yeah, looked like it." I see the iPad in his hands. "Hey. I was looking for that."
"She's always at work." He hands it over. "It's dead. And mom took the charger."
I tried not to sigh. This was not how I wanted things to go. "Well, ok. If you need anything. Let me know. Or else I can come get you at 4:30 for snacks and dinner at 6."
He nodded, "Thanks," and goes back to staring at the screen.
I smile but he doesn't see, so I leave, closing the door softly behind me.
I make my way downstairs, wandering into the kitchen and start taking stock of what's there. Which was practically everything. This kitchen was so chic that I half expected Gordon Ramsay to pop out and tell me that the banana bread I made didn't have a clue if he staked the curved yellow fruit down the middle (it's a bad question mark joke. Listen. I never said I was funny).
Once I made sure that there was food, or ingredients to make food. There wasn't much else to do. The house was spotless. The kids were fine. And even the dog seemed well behaved. So I plopped on the couch, took out my fake braces, and watched tv until about 4:10 before I started slicing apples and celery to go with some peanut butter.
I fed the dog some peanut butter and licked my fingers (not with the hand I fed the dog with), before heading upstairs. Bobbie took the plate no problem but I couldn't find Max for the life of me. I wandered the rooms as the dog followed, still trying to lick my hand. "Max, I've got snacks." I knocked on what seemed like the umpteenth door before I get to a rather solid oak one that seemed custom.
Inside was the biggest home library I had ever seen. And I once dog sat for a pretentious professor from the college nearby. I mean, there was a portrait of said academic holding his dog in 18th century art style hanging over the mantle place of the deep wood cabinets filled with books. And yet this library made the other one look like a neighborhood book exchange birdbox.
"Holy..."
"Cow."
I whirled around to find Max standing in the doorway.
"You shouldn't wander into Father's study."
"I was just looking for you," holding up the plate. He made a face. "What? You don't like PB&C?" I took a stick and crunched on the celery.
"I'm not hungry."
I shrug. "Take it anyway. In case you get hungry."
He grabs the plate from me without much struggle so I decide to leave him be. I went back downstairs and crashed in front of the tv.
When I woke up. It was dark. My mouth was dry and all of the lights were off. The screen saver flashed the logo in blinks, lighting up the room only momentarily. For a second I forgot where I was and felt my heart thumping in my chest. My alarm didn't go off but I don't know why I woke up. Then I heard it again. The sound that must have jerked me awake. A crash. It came from upstairs. I grab my phone and glance down at the numbers. It was 8:10. I had slept through dinner. Shit. Shit. Shit. Here I was trying to make a good first impression and I missed out on dinner.
I wipe what drool was on my face and took to the stairs. Bobbie was probably so immersed in his game that he probably didn't even know he was hungry. Max on the other hand. "Max?" I call out down the hall. All of the doors are shut. I can hear something panting behind me. I turn to see the dog again. Its head is down and there's barely any light touching its face. "Hey come here," I called but it retreated in the opposite direction.
Then I shit me not. I heard a creaking come from behind me. It was the only noise in the house. I couldn't even hear Bobbie yelling in his room. I turn slowly and see one of the doors down the hall is now slightly ajar. It's dark in here. It was dark everywhere. I pressed my hands against the wall searching for a light switch. "Bobbie," I call out. There's no answer. "Hey, sorry about the delay in dinner. I'm going to get to it now."
Why was this place so big? And why could I see the door?
"Bobbie. Max?" I hear the dog tapping its paws behind me. Someone on the other side of the house by now. "Hey, where are you guys?" I peer at the single door that's open and realized why it was so prominent. The hall was dark, but what was inside was even darker. Instead of going toward it, I try the first knob my blind fingers came across. Process of elimination I told myself. It was locked. I tried the next one. Also locked. I finally get to Bobbie's door and I knock. "Bobbie." There's no answer. I press my head against the door and listen. But I don't hear a single sound.
"Where are all the light switches in this place!"
The door that was open before slightly opens again. Creaking, *tic tic tic tic*, with each ungreased turn of the hinge. "Shit. Hey, stop playing around."
There's laughing coming from behind me. It sounded like a little kids. Too young to be either of the boys. Followed by smaller footsteps. It sounded like they were barefoot. "Hey, this isn't funny. I'm going to tell your mother when she gets home." I take out my phone and turn on the flashlight. "When is she coming home?" It was almost 8:30, when I realized that we never set a time.
I hear footsteps again, they were odd. Almost like falling. Like a toddler learning how to run for the first time but the hollow ground sounded as if the person was much heavier. I shine my flashlight over the hall. "Shit." The dog was sitting on all fours in the corner. It was facing the wall. I couldn't even see his face. Every hair on its body completely still.
"Hey," I called out. "Come here." I clicked my tongue. "Come here." The dog didn't move. I couldn't even see it breathing.
Bang! It sounded like thunder behind me. As if someone dropped something on the floor. As if something fell off a shelf or was pushed. I jumped around and shone my light down the west wing. I didn't know if I should have been more or less afraid now that the door was closed. "Bobbie? Max?"
God. I did not want to try the door. And I stood there for a minute before realizing how stupid I must have looked. These were some rich kids playing a joke on you Camilia. I know it. The thought of their smug little faces made me stomp out of my frozen state. I took a couple of strides over and grabbed the handle.
"Fuck!" The thing was hot. "What the hell! You guys could have hurt me," I yelled. I banged on the door. "Open up. You two are in so much trouble." I banged on the door again. "Open the door. Right now!" I could hear something on the other side. It sounded like shuffling. Heavy furniture perhaps. "You guys better not be messing things up in there. I'm not going to clean it. I mean it."
I banged on the door. "I can hear you in there! Now come on!" I put my hands on my hips and tapped my foot. "I'm waiting. Your little jokes over now." I banged on the door again.
That's when the door knocked back.
It wouldn't have scared me. I don't think. Except for the fact that I was surprised. And alone in the hall. Without any of the lights on. In a strange house. And before I could say anything else. Another door behind me knocked from the inside. "Shit. Both of you are in on this?" I grabbed the handle to the other door. It was also locked. I banged on it. "Come out right now. Max?"
But then a third door started knocked from down the hall. I felt my throat clump as I tried to swallow. "You guys weren't supposed to have anyone over." The knocking didn't stop. It kept echoing down the hall. "I'm not getting paid for three kids you know?"
Tat-tat-tat-tat. Tat-tat-tat.
I took a single step. And then all of the doors in the hallway suddenly started banging.
I almost tripped as I ran toward the stairs. The doors were thundering on so hard I thought they would crack their hinges. I skipped the stairs, the sounds chasing me as I tried to not fall and break my neck. When I got to the front landing I hear someone say my name.
"Camilia. Are you okay?"
I'm trying not to choke on a lung here as I shot my eyes toward the kitchen. The kids are sitting on the barstools lining the counter. There are two plates in front of them. As if they didn't hear the drumline upstairs.
"Is it dinner time yet," one of them asks quietly.
"Max?"
He smiles.
"Kids. I think there's someone in the house." I rush over to grab each of their hands. Bobbie's wrists are limp but it was Max's hands that shocked me. They were ice cold. I tried to let go but my fingers wouldn't uncurl.
He turns my hand over and says, "There's no one else in this house except us. I promise."
"No," I wasn't about to listen to the kid even if it was his house. "Something is wrong. We have to go. Now." I pick up Bobbie and he doesn't seem to want to move. "Come on Bobbie. Let's go." He looks over at Max who shrugs and get out of his seat.
Bobbie follows as I drag them toward the front door.
"Camilia," Max says.
"What?" He looked scared. Which made me turn toward what he was staring out. At the front door was a tall figure. I couldn't see its face through the glass. It was a stark figure of a man.
"Do you think it's your dad?"
Max shakes his head. I feel him pulling against my arm.
I call out to the man, "Hey! Who is it?" The man doesn't budge. "I'm calling the police." I turn to Bobbie, "Get the phone." He doesn't move. "Hey!" I'm trying to sound as angry as possible. "Get the fuck out of here!" I grabbed a roll of painter's tape from the side table and hurl it across the hall, hitting the glass squarely in the face where the man's head stood blocking the exit. He doesn't even twitch as the glass shakes.
"Come on," I grab their hands and rush to the back. I don't get 10 steps before I feel a scream crawl up my throat making me cough. The man was standing at the sliding door. "Fuck!" I drag the two of them with me towards the kitchen. It's a big place so there had to be a way out to the garage. We push through one of the doors and end up in the laundry room. The next door gets us out into a 3 car garage. My hands find the glowing green opener against the wall and I hear the opener fold seamlessly towards the ceiling.
It started with his feet. Then his ankles. His shins. Then his legs. Light poured in from behind him from the streetlamp. I watched as the door went to his waist before I hit the button for the garage to close, before rushing back inside. We make it into the kitchen to where I still see the tall man standing at the sliding door. A part of me wants to hide in the laundry room but I didn't want to be sandwiched in the middle of the house. So I pull the boys back up the stairs, back to where the doors banged themselves. Taking out my phone as we ascended, and called 911.
"This is the police operator speaking."
"HELLO", I hope they could hear me, "There are several men trying to get inside!"
"Men? Are you in any danger?"
"No! But they have us surrounded!"
"Why don't you go outside?"
My tongue suddenly felt numb in my mouth. Like I didn't know what to do with it. "W-what?"
"It's stranger in the house."
The line went dead as we hit the hallway.
I only took my eyes off of them for a second before Bobbie. Or Max. Runs down the hall. The one or the other already slipping through a door ahead. I look back down the stairs and see that the man is still standing in front of the doorway. I look back up and see the other boy also going through the same door. I take a single step and the doors start pounding on either side. I shut my eyes and turn around. Afraid to go. Almost deciding that these weren't my kids. That I should run away. I take a step backwards mouthing that I was sorry. But I was too scared to go! "Max! Bobbie!" My back foot sticks to the floor. I don't want to look down but the next step sticks too. I point my phone to the ground and see a trail of blood. And just behind me. It's the dog. Split right down the middle, its spine shiny and white, still facing the wall. I could see its organs still pulsing.
I couldn't go back downstairs. I couldn't go the other way. I couldn't leave them here. I couldn't be alone.
I ran after them. The thundering of the doors following me as frames fell to the floor. A vase rolled off a table in the hall. It came crashing at my feet. I run my shoulder through the door, except it wasn't locked. Which caused me to go crashing, sprawling to the floor. Running into the desk in the middle of the room.
The study.
Many of the books were off the shelves. The carpet was torn. There were curtains on fire. It was the first time a saw a window as they burned.
"Camilia!"
I hear one of their voices shouting at me.
"Camilia!" It came again. "Help!"
I get to my feet and start working my hands along the desk. I didn't have to search far. The bookcase directly behind the chair had been swung open. "Camilia!" I wipe the blood from my eyebrow where it had split and step into the tunnel behind the secret passage.
The tunnel started off tall and wide, but as I kept walking in. It got smaller and smaller. I started having to hunch. Several times I decided to turn back. But their voices would echo through, calling for me. Asking for help. "I'm coming!"
"I can't hold on! Camilia! Please!"
The twins cry for help bounced off the walls. I was finally on my hands and knees when I finally see two holes on either side. I'm afraid to look but then one of their voices came through clear as day. "Camilia." It was right in my ear now. I turned to see the boy naked and huddling, hugging his knees at the back of his hole.
"Camilia! Help! I don't want to play this game anymore!"
"Bobbie?"
"Help me!"
I look into the hole, the walls are pressing on my back and there's dust going into my lungs. I can barely turn my shoulder. "Crawl out!"
"I can't!"
"Crawl out! I'm right here." I take out my hand, "Come on!"
"Camilia!" Came a voice from the other side.
I turn my head and see Max in the other hole.
"No!" Bobbie shouts at me. "No!"
"Hold on," I tell him. "I'm going to get both of you out of here."
"No," Bobbie cries. "It's all his fault. He's the one that did it. He's the one that wants to get out!"
"Bobbie, what are you talking about."
"He's the one that put something in your drink so you'd fall asleep!"
"He's lying!" Max's voice rang through. "It's him! I saw him. Always in father's study! Reading those books! Trying out those things he reads. Those curses. Those spells. It's why the shadow men are after him! Camilia! You have to believe me."
I can hear Bobbie crying, "Why are you lying! I don't want to play anymore," he screeches. "I don't want to play!" He sobs. "You said you'd go away if I told you that I didn't want to play anymore."
I don't know what made me do it. It sure wasn't the nauseating squealing tantrum of the boy which made me reach for him first. Maybe it was because I wanted him to shut up. I don't know but I plunged my arm up to my shoulder in to grab his collar.
Instantly I screamed and saw tiny spiders, short thing legs with round white backs crawl over my arms. I shook my arm in the hole, trying to smother them against the walls. That only caused these long brown flat slugs to fall. I saw one land on my hand. It had three distinct tendon-like lines running across its back and was about a half inch long. I pulled my arm out of the hole as I felt it pierce its flat head into the back of my hand. I dropped my phone and heard it crack as the light splintered in the small, suffocating tunnel. But I didn't care as I looked at my hand and saw it burrowing its tiny spearhead below my skin. I grabbed at the wiggling tail still exposed and tried pulling it out.
It was like trying to pull our barbed wire. The spines on its body were facing me. So with each pull they dug deeper inside. I could see blood pooling under my skin, it was starting to turn purple as I tugged on its tail even harder. Until it gave. Popped right off and lay twitching in my hand. The head missing.
I couldn't take it anymore. Really. I had tried my best. I shake my head. "Bobbie. Bobbie. I'm sorry." But it didn't matter. When I looked over at Bobbie. He was covered in it. All of it. Even the spiders.
My jeans started shifting as I tried to wiggle myself out of there. But I hear Max's cry again. "Camilia! Please!"
"No," I whimpered. Shaking. I couldn't reach my hand in there again. But his voice was so scared. More scared than the pain I felt.
I shot my arm inside. Bracing. Waiting for the pain. But there was none. Instead my hands grasped around his collar and I felt his cold clammy skin, and yanked him from the hole. He came without much struggle. His face covered in the soot of it all. "Camilia," he cried. "You picked me. You did it."
I didn't have the heart to tell him that I almost didn't.
"Come on," I cried. "We. Have. To go."
The two of us wiggled our way out of there, crawling on our hands and knees, and running when we could. We finally make it back into the study. And the fire is roaring now. One of the books fall from the shelves and when it hit the fire I swear it started screaming. There was so much smoke that I couldn't see. And the door was covered by the flames.
I pointed to the window, the curtains on the floor in ashes. I kick the window. It didn't budge. I coughed. I kicked it again. The glass shook. I kicked it again and my foot went through. Pieces of the glass still hung in the frame, I use the tips of my fingers and pull them back. They fall to the floor cracking until there was a hole big enough for me to get through.
I plunge my head out and take my first breath of fresh air. The moon was full and the sky was clear. I could hear sirens coming off in the distance. When both of my feet were on the roof. I reach my hand back and grab Max from the burning house. Together we run across the clay tiles and climb down the arched tree. The red fire truck comes screeching to a stop as several firemen help us down.
One of them pushes a breathing mask on me, and wraps me up. The neighbors are outside, and the police arrive. I see a familiar car come roaring down the street, screaming to a halt as Molly runs out. Her face is flustered and she's shouting. Pushing through the cops until she reaches me next to the ambulance.
"What happened," she literally screamed at me.
"I'm so sorry," I tell her. "There were these men." I take another breath. "I couldn't do anything! B-but I saved Max! I saved him!"
She looked at the house. It was blazing now in the cool night. "Oh my god. Is Bobbie still in there?" Molly starts to cry. "My baby!"
"Max. But Max." I cough. "Max is okay!"
And she turns to me. I wasn't expecting her to be grateful. But there's anger on her face. "You didn't save my son. But you saved our dog?"
I shake my head. "No. Max. Your other son." I looked around but he was nowhere to be found.
s
2023.05.31 00:49 CornerCornea Stranger in the House
"Come inside, the kids are upstairs." Molly was in a rush, I knew this much from the phone call we had earlier. She had never used me before but heard about me through word of mouth. Which meant that my little side hustle was starting to gain traction.
I am a babysitter for a good neighborhood. There's cars parked outside, lawns are manicured, and the occasional termite company is out doing rounds. I don't know why but I always feel as if there's a termite guy nearby, it's a pretty decent area. Which is a far cry from where I live, on the other side of the tracks, literally. There are train tracks that run through our town and it acts as a divide. But they didn't need to know that. They only needed to see the straightened hair, well spoken, fake braces wearing girl in glasses sporting a skirt that wasn't too short where the neighbors would talk.
Usually I sat down with new clients, have them introduce me to their kids (trust me it helps) in order to make a clear cut line with them that I am in their parent's employ and I am not there to be their bestfriend and will definitely tell on them if they act up or break something. That's not to say I won't play silly games with them, feed them, laugh, tell bed time stories, and age appropriate jokes. But I am nobody's rug.
That's what I usually do, but there wasn't such luxury this time. Molly called me on the phone and she sounded desperate for me to come out. I had concert tickets and told her that they were non-refundable and she suggested that if I could make it in 30 minutes then she'd pay me twice the amount for the tickets and 1.5x my usual rate. I got there in 29 minutes. It would have been sooner but I needed to air myself out if you know what I mean.
Anyways, Molly barely had time to look at my face, let alone get any of my credentials as she was rushing out. Working mom it looked like. Business, by the looks of the pencil skirt and the bag that doubled as a folder. It always amazes me how much trust some people put in others to watch their kids. What if I was a serial killer? Or a deranged lunatic? What if I killed the babysitter on my way here and now I'm in a house, alone, with all her children.
I'm not. But I mean, what if, right?
She didn't seem to think about any of these things, leaving me to mumble goodbyes as she pulled out of the driveway, barely audible as the turbos wound up and she shouted something out the window to the likes of, "It's all on the iPad".
Yeah, no more yellow lined paper stuck with the realtor's magnet on the fridge anymore. It's all digital now.
I closed the door and figured that I better check up on the kids before I did a rundown. God this house was beautiful. I climbed the stairs two at a time and rounded the hall. To be fair, calling it a hall was so basic of me. It was more like a wing. West wing madam. The wing could have fit my living room. I click my heels when I heard a snort come from behind me. I came to face a shaggy dog that was well groomed. The collar was black with an underline of blue. Tiffany's undoubtedly. "Hey," I reached a hand and scratched the mop of top. "Let's go find the kids," I tell the dog as if it could understand me.
There were a series of rooms, most of them closed, but it didn't take me a second guess which one was occupied. The second door on the left, I could hear a kid shouting obscenities about someone being trash. I knocked on that door first.
"Come in," he shouted still loud but slightly less angry.
I opened the door and saw a stereotypical gamer's room. Posters, action figures, a rocking gaming chair on the floor in front of a huge flat screen, and a boy about 9 or 10. He had on his headphones and was sipping a Dr. Pepper.
"Don't they know trash day is on Thursdays?"
He cocked his head and laughed, "If you're looking for my mom I think she's downstairs."
"I'm actually looking for you." And let me tell you something. The audacity of this younger generation. The way he looked at me. Almost made me feel as bad as how I felt when he shrugged his shoulders after he had a good look. "Excuse me," I walk in front of him and blocked the screen. "I'm your new babysitter."
He shrugged. "Cool."
"What's your name?"
"You can read all about it somewhere else."
"What?"
"It's all on the iPad," he told me.
"What's your name," I repeated.
He rolls his eyes and looks at me as if I had asked him a stupid question.
I don't budge.
He whined, "Bobbie. Now come on, the next rounds about to start." he pulled his headphones over his ears. I grabbed the remote to get his attention. "What. Hey come on."
"It's nice to meet you Bobbie. Your mom's going to be away for a few hours and I'll be here until she gets back. Dinner is at 6:00 and I will make snacks at 4:30."
"No cap," he motioned at the tv, "Now can I get back to my game.
"Sure I tell him." Pocketing the remote.
"Hey!"
"Bye," I tell him as I close the door behind me.
So I'm back out in the hallway. And I open a few more doors. Some were locked. Before I get into one that's rather plain. There's a picture hanging up behind the bed, a tv, some lamps and shade. On the bed sits an identical, about 9 or 10, twins it seems. Probably why Bobbie was tired of being asked which one he was.
This one was staring at the blank screen. No video games. And quiet. Now I've babysat my share of kids before, and have seen all sorts. Quiet kids are my favorite. They don't mind board games, or listening. Most often times they only need to be left alone. I don't do too much talking in case they get tired of hearing my voice. And I give them a lot of space. "Hey, sorry about that. I didn't think anyone was in here."
He turned to me slowly, "Hi. Are you the new sitter?"
I nodded, "Yup. And I'm guessing that you're Max. I'll be watching you guys while your mom is away."
"She's probably going to work."
"Yeah, looked like it." I see the iPad in his hands. "Hey. I was looking for that."
"She's always at work." He hands it over. "It's dead. And mom took the charger."
I tried not to sigh. This was not how I wanted things to go. "Well, ok. If you need anything. Let me know. Or else I can come get you at 4:30 for snacks and dinner at 6."
He nodded, "Thanks," and goes back to staring at the screen.
I smile but he doesn't see, so I leave, closing the door softly behind me.
I make my way downstairs, wandering into the kitchen and start taking stock of what's there. Which was practically everything. This kitchen was so chic that I half expected Gordon Ramsay to pop out and tell me that the banana bread I made didn't have a clue if he staked the curved yellow fruit down the middle (it's a bad question mark joke. Listen. I never said I was funny).
Once I made sure that there was food, or ingredients to make food. There wasn't much else to do. The house was spotless. The kids were fine. And even the dog seemed well behaved. So I plopped on the couch, took out my fake braces, and watched tv until about 4:10 before I started slicing apples and celery to go with some peanut butter.
I fed the dog some peanut butter and licked my fingers (not with the hand I fed the dog with), before heading upstairs. Bobbie took the plate no problem but I couldn't find Max for the life of me. I wandered the rooms as the dog followed, still trying to lick my hand. "Max, I've got snacks." I knocked on what seemed like the umpteenth door before I get to a rather solid oak one that seemed custom.
Inside was the biggest home library I had ever seen. And I once dog sat for a pretentious professor from the college nearby. I mean, there was a portrait of said academic holding his dog in 18th century art style hanging over the mantle place of the deep wood cabinets filled with books. And yet this library made the other one look like a neighborhood book exchange birdbox.
"Holy..."
"Cow."
I whirled around to find Max standing in the doorway.
"You shouldn't wander into Father's study."
"I was just looking for you," holding up the plate. He made a face. "What? You don't like PB&C?" I took a stick and crunched on the celery.
"I'm not hungry."
I shrug. "Take it anyway. In case you get hungry."
He grabs the plate from me without much struggle so I decide to leave him be. I went back downstairs and crashed in front of the tv.
When I woke up. It was dark. My mouth was dry and all of the lights were off. The screen saver flashed the logo in blinks, lighting up the room only momentarily. For a second I forgot where I was and felt my heart thumping in my chest. My alarm didn't go off but I don't know why I woke up. Then I heard it again. The sound that must have jerked me awake. A crash. It came from upstairs. I grab my phone and glance down at the numbers. It was 8:10. I had slept through dinner. Shit. Shit. Shit. Here I was trying to make a good first impression and I missed out on dinner.
I wipe what drool was on my face and took to the stairs. Bobbie was probably so immersed in his game that he probably didn't even know he was hungry. Max on the other hand. "Max?" I call out down the hall. All of the doors are shut. I can hear something panting behind me. I turn to see the dog again. Its head is down and there's barely any light touching its face. "Hey come here," I called but it retreated in the opposite direction.
Then I shit me not. I heard a creaking come from behind me. It was the only noise in the house. I couldn't even hear Bobbie yelling in his room. I turn slowly and see one of the doors down the hall is now slightly ajar. It's dark in here. It was dark everywhere. I pressed my hands against the wall searching for a light switch. "Bobbie," I call out. There's no answer. "Hey, sorry about the delay in dinner. I'm going to get to it now."
Why was this place so big? And why could I see the door?
"Bobbie. Max?" I hear the dog tapping its paws behind me. Someone on the other side of the house by now. "Hey, where are you guys?" I peer at the single door that's open and realized why it was so prominent. The hall was dark, but what was inside was even darker. Instead of going toward it, I try the first knob my blind fingers came across. Process of elimination I told myself. It was locked. I tried the next one. Also locked. I finally get to Bobbie's door and I knock. "Bobbie." There's no answer. I press my head against the door and listen. But I don't hear a single sound.
"Where are all the light switches in this place!"
The door that was open before slightly opens again. Creaking, *tic tic tic tic*, with each ungreased turn of the hinge. "Shit. Hey, stop playing around."
There's laughing coming from behind me. It sounded like a little kids. Too young to be either of the boys. Followed by smaller footsteps. It sounded like they were barefoot. "Hey, this isn't funny. I'm going to tell your mother when she gets home." I take out my phone and turn on the flashlight. "When is she coming home?" It was almost 8:30, when I realized that we never set a time.
I hear footsteps again, they were odd. Almost like falling. Like a toddler learning how to run for the first time but the hollow ground sounded as if the person was much heavier. I shine my flashlight over the hall. "Shit." The dog was sitting on all fours in the corner. It was facing the wall. I couldn't even see his face. Every hair on its body completely still.
"Hey," I called out. "Come here." I clicked my tongue. "Come here." The dog didn't move. I couldn't even see it breathing.
Bang! It sounded like thunder behind me. As if someone dropped something on the floor. As if something fell off a shelf or was pushed. I jumped around and shone my light down the west wing. I didn't know if I should have been more or less afraid now that the door was closed. "Bobbie? Max?"
God. I did not want to try the door. And I stood there for a minute before realizing how stupid I must have looked. These were some rich kids playing a joke on you Camilia. I know it. The thought of their smug little faces made me stomp out of my frozen state. I took a couple of strides over and grabbed the handle.
"Fuck!" The thing was hot. "What the hell! You guys could have hurt me," I yelled. I banged on the door. "Open up. You two are in so much trouble." I banged on the door again. "Open the door. Right now!" I could hear something on the other side. It sounded like shuffling. Heavy furniture perhaps. "You guys better not be messing things up in there. I'm not going to clean it. I mean it."
I banged on the door. "I can hear you in there! Now come on!" I put my hands on my hips and tapped my foot. "I'm waiting. Your little jokes over now." I banged on the door again.
That's when the door knocked back.
It wouldn't have scared me. I don't think. Except for the fact that I was surprised. And alone in the hall. Without any of the lights on. In a strange house. And before I could say anything else. Another door behind me knocked from the inside. "Shit. Both of you are in on this?" I grabbed the handle to the other door. It was also locked. I banged on it. "Come out right now. Max?"
But then a third door started knocked from down the hall. I felt my throat clump as I tried to swallow. "You guys weren't supposed to have anyone over." The knocking didn't stop. It kept echoing down the hall. "I'm not getting paid for three kids you know?"
Tat-tat-tat-tat. Tat-tat-tat.
I took a single step. And then all of the doors in the hallway suddenly started banging.
I almost tripped as I ran toward the stairs. The doors were thundering on so hard I thought they would crack their hinges. I skipped the stairs, the sounds chasing me as I tried to not fall and break my neck. When I got to the front landing I hear someone say my name.
"Camilia. Are you okay?"
I'm trying not to choke on a lung here as I shot my eyes toward the kitchen. The kids are sitting on the barstools lining the counter. There are two plates in front of them. As if they didn't hear the drumline upstairs.
"Is it dinner time yet," one of them asks quietly.
"Max?"
He smiles.
"Kids. I think there's someone in the house." I rush over to grab each of their hands. Bobbie's wrists are limp but it was Max's hands that shocked me. They were ice cold. I tried to let go but my fingers wouldn't uncurl.
He turns my hand over and says, "There's no one else in this house except us. I promise."
"No," I wasn't about to listen to the kid even if it was his house. "Something is wrong. We have to go. Now." I pick up Bobbie and he doesn't seem to want to move. "Come on Bobbie. Let's go." He looks over at Max who shrugs and get out of his seat.
Bobbie follows as I drag them toward the front door.
"Camilia," Max says.
"What?" He looked scared. Which made me turn toward what he was staring out. At the front door was a tall figure. I couldn't see its face through the glass. It was a stark figure of a man.
"Do you think it's your dad?"
Max shakes his head. I feel him pulling against my arm.
I call out to the man, "Hey! Who is it?" The man doesn't budge. "I'm calling the police." I turn to Bobbie, "Get the phone." He doesn't move. "Hey!" I'm trying to sound as angry as possible. "Get the fuck out of here!" I grabbed a roll of painter's tape from the side table and hurl it across the hall, hitting the glass squarely in the face where the man's head stood blocking the exit. He doesn't even twitch as the glass shakes.
"Come on," I grab their hands and rush to the back. I don't get 10 steps before I feel a scream crawl up my throat making me cough. The man was standing at the sliding door. "Fuck!" I drag the two of them with me towards the kitchen. It's a big place so there had to be a way out to the garage. We push through one of the doors and end up in the laundry room. The next door gets us out into a 3 car garage. My hands find the glowing green opener against the wall and I hear the opener fold seamlessly towards the ceiling.
It started with his feet. Then his ankles. His shins. Then his legs. Light poured in from behind him from the streetlamp. I watched as the door went to his waist before I hit the button for the garage to close, before rushing back inside. We make it into the kitchen to where I still see the tall man standing at the sliding door. A part of me wants to hide in the laundry room but I didn't want to be sandwiched in the middle of the house. So I pull the boys back up the stairs, back to where the doors banged themselves. Taking out my phone as we ascended, and called 911.
"This is the police operator speaking."
"HELLO", I hope they could hear me, "There are several men trying to get inside!"
"Men? Are you in any danger?"
"No! But they have us surrounded!"
"Why don't you go outside?"
My tongue suddenly felt numb in my mouth. Like I didn't know what to do with it. "W-what?"
"It's stranger in the house."
The line went dead as we hit the hallway.
I only took my eyes off of them for a second before Bobbie. Or Max. Runs down the hall. The one or the other already slipping through a door ahead. I look back down the stairs and see that the man is still standing in front of the doorway. I look back up and see the other boy also going through the same door. I take a single step and the doors start pounding on either side. I shut my eyes and turn around. Afraid to go. Almost deciding that these weren't my kids. That I should run away. I take a step backwards mouthing that I was sorry. But I was too scared to go! "Max! Bobbie!" My back foot sticks to the floor. I don't want to look down but the next step sticks too. I point my phone to the ground and see a trail of blood. And just behind me. It's the dog. Split right down the middle, its spine shiny and white, still facing the wall. I could see its organs still pulsing.
I couldn't go back downstairs. I couldn't go the other way. I couldn't leave them here. I couldn't be alone.
I ran after them. The thundering of the doors following me as frames fell to the floor. A vase rolled off a table in the hall. It came crashing at my feet. I run my shoulder through the door, except it wasn't locked. Which caused me to go crashing, sprawling to the floor. Running into the desk in the middle of the room.
The study.
Many of the books were off the shelves. The carpet was torn. There were curtains on fire. It was the first time a saw a window as they burned.
"Camilia!"
I hear one of their voices shouting at me.
"Camilia!" It came again. "Help!"
I get to my feet and start working my hands along the desk. I didn't have to search far. The bookcase directly behind the chair had been swung open. "Camilia!" I wipe the blood from my eyebrow where it had split and step into the tunnel behind the secret passage.
The tunnel started off tall and wide, but as I kept walking in. It got smaller and smaller. I started having to hunch. Several times I decided to turn back. But their voices would echo through, calling for me. Asking for help. "I'm coming!"
"I can't hold on! Camilia! Please!"
The twins cry for help bounced off the walls. I was finally on my hands and knees when I finally see two holes on either side. I'm afraid to look but then one of their voices came through clear as day. "Camilia." It was right in my ear now. I turned to see the boy naked and huddling, hugging his knees at the back of his hole.
"Camilia! Help! I don't want to play this game anymore!"
"Bobbie?"
"Help me!"
I look into the hole, the walls are pressing on my back and there's dust going into my lungs. I can barely turn my shoulder. "Crawl out!"
"I can't!"
"Crawl out! I'm right here." I take out my hand, "Come on!"
"Camilia!" Came a voice from the other side.
I turn my head and see Max in the other hole.
"No!" Bobbie shouts at me. "No!"
"Hold on," I tell him. "I'm going to get both of you out of here."
"No," Bobbie cries. "It's all his fault. He's the one that did it. He's the one that wants to get out!"
"Bobbie, what are you talking about."
"He's the one that put something in your drink so you'd fall asleep!"
"He's lying!" Max's voice rang through. "It's him! I saw him. Always in father's study! Reading those books! Trying out those things he reads. Those curses. Those spells. It's why the shadow men are after him! Camilia! You have to believe me."
I can hear Bobbie crying, "Why are you lying! I don't want to play anymore," he screeches. "I don't want to play!" He sobs. "You said you'd go away if I told you that I didn't want to play anymore."
I don't know what made me do it. It sure wasn't the nauseating squealing tantrum of the boy which made me reach for him first. Maybe it was because I wanted him to shut up. I don't know but I plunged my arm up to my shoulder in to grab his collar.
Instantly I screamed and saw tiny spiders, short thing legs with round white backs crawl over my arms. I shook my arm in the hole, trying to smother them against the walls. That only caused these long brown flat slugs to fall. I saw one land on my hand. It had three distinct tendon-like lines running across its back and was about a half inch long. I pulled my arm out of the hole as I felt it pierce its flat head into the back of my hand. I dropped my phone and heard it crack as the light splintered in the small, suffocating tunnel. But I didn't care as I looked at my hand and saw it burrowing its tiny spearhead below my skin. I grabbed at the wiggling tail still exposed and tried pulling it out.
It was like trying to pull our barbed wire. The spines on its body were facing me. So with each pull they dug deeper inside. I could see blood pooling under my skin, it was starting to turn purple as I tugged on its tail even harder. Until it gave. Popped right off and lay twitching in my hand. The head missing.
I couldn't take it anymore. Really. I had tried my best. I shake my head. "Bobbie. Bobbie. I'm sorry." But it didn't matter. When I looked over at Bobbie. He was covered in it. All of it. Even the spiders.
My jeans started shifting as I tried to wiggle myself out of there. But I hear Max's cry again. "Camilia! Please!"
"No," I whimpered. Shaking. I couldn't reach my hand in there again. But his voice was so scared. More scared than the pain I felt.
I shot my arm inside. Bracing. Waiting for the pain. But there was none. Instead my hands grasped around his collar and I felt his cold clammy skin, and yanked him from the hole. He came without much struggle. His face covered in the soot of it all. "Camilia," he cried. "You picked me. You did it."
I didn't have the heart to tell him that I almost didn't.
"Come on," I cried. "We. Have. To go."
The two of us wiggled our way out of there, crawling on our hands and knees, and running when we could. We finally make it back into the study. And the fire is roaring now. One of the books fall from the shelves and when it hit the fire I swear it started screaming. There was so much smoke that I couldn't see. And the door was covered by the flames.
I pointed to the window, the curtains on the floor in ashes. I kick the window. It didn't budge. I coughed. I kicked it again. The glass shook. I kicked it again and my foot went through. Pieces of the glass still hung in the frame, I use the tips of my fingers and pull them back. They fall to the floor cracking until there was a hole big enough for me to get through.
I plunge my head out and take my first breath of fresh air. The moon was full and the sky was clear. I could hear sirens coming off in the distance. When both of my feet were on the roof. I reach my hand back and grab Max from the burning house. Together we run across the clay tiles and climb down the arched tree. The red fire truck comes screeching to a stop as several firemen help us down.
One of them pushes a breathing mask on me, and wraps me up. The neighbors are outside, and the police arrive. I see a familiar car come roaring down the street, screaming to a halt as Molly runs out. Her face is flustered and she's shouting. Pushing through the cops until she reaches me next to the ambulance.
"What happened," she literally screamed at me.
"I'm so sorry," I tell her. "There were these men." I take another breath. "I couldn't do anything! B-but I saved Max! I saved him!"
She looked at the house. It was blazing now in the cool night. "Oh my god. Is Bobbie still in there?" Molly starts to cry. "My baby!"
"Max. But Max." I cough. "Max is okay!"
And she turns to me. I wasn't expecting her to be grateful. But there's anger on her face. "You didn't save my son. But you saved our dog?"
I shake my head. "No. Max. Your other son." I looked around but he was nowhere to be found.
s
submitted by CornerCornea to CornerCornea [link] [comments]
I am a babysitter for a good neighborhood. There's cars parked outside, lawns are manicured, and the occasional termite company is out doing rounds. I don't know why but I always feel as if there's a termite guy nearby, it's a pretty decent area. Which is a far cry from where I live, on the other side of the tracks, literally. There are train tracks that run through our town and it acts as a divide. But they didn't need to know that. They only needed to see the straightened hair, well spoken, fake braces wearing girl in glasses sporting a skirt that wasn't too short where the neighbors would talk.
Usually I sat down with new clients, have them introduce me to their kids (trust me it helps) in order to make a clear cut line with them that I am in their parent's employ and I am not there to be their bestfriend and will definitely tell on them if they act up or break something. That's not to say I won't play silly games with them, feed them, laugh, tell bed time stories, and age appropriate jokes. But I am nobody's rug.
That's what I usually do, but there wasn't such luxury this time. Molly called me on the phone and she sounded desperate for me to come out. I had concert tickets and told her that they were non-refundable and she suggested that if I could make it in 30 minutes then she'd pay me twice the amount for the tickets and 1.5x my usual rate. I got there in 29 minutes. It would have been sooner but I needed to air myself out if you know what I mean.
Anyways, Molly barely had time to look at my face, let alone get any of my credentials as she was rushing out. Working mom it looked like. Business, by the looks of the pencil skirt and the bag that doubled as a folder. It always amazes me how much trust some people put in others to watch their kids. What if I was a serial killer? Or a deranged lunatic? What if I killed the babysitter on my way here and now I'm in a house, alone, with all her children.
I'm not. But I mean, what if, right?
She didn't seem to think about any of these things, leaving me to mumble goodbyes as she pulled out of the driveway, barely audible as the turbos wound up and she shouted something out the window to the likes of, "It's all on the iPad".
Yeah, no more yellow lined paper stuck with the realtor's magnet on the fridge anymore. It's all digital now.
I closed the door and figured that I better check up on the kids before I did a rundown. God this house was beautiful. I climbed the stairs two at a time and rounded the hall. To be fair, calling it a hall was so basic of me. It was more like a wing. West wing madam. The wing could have fit my living room. I click my heels when I heard a snort come from behind me. I came to face a shaggy dog that was well groomed. The collar was black with an underline of blue. Tiffany's undoubtedly. "Hey," I reached a hand and scratched the mop of top. "Let's go find the kids," I tell the dog as if it could understand me.
There were a series of rooms, most of them closed, but it didn't take me a second guess which one was occupied. The second door on the left, I could hear a kid shouting obscenities about someone being trash. I knocked on that door first.
"Come in," he shouted still loud but slightly less angry.
I opened the door and saw a stereotypical gamer's room. Posters, action figures, a rocking gaming chair on the floor in front of a huge flat screen, and a boy about 9 or 10. He had on his headphones and was sipping a Dr. Pepper.
"Don't they know trash day is on Thursdays?"
He cocked his head and laughed, "If you're looking for my mom I think she's downstairs."
"I'm actually looking for you." And let me tell you something. The audacity of this younger generation. The way he looked at me. Almost made me feel as bad as how I felt when he shrugged his shoulders after he had a good look. "Excuse me," I walk in front of him and blocked the screen. "I'm your new babysitter."
He shrugged. "Cool."
"What's your name?"
"You can read all about it somewhere else."
"What?"
"It's all on the iPad," he told me.
"What's your name," I repeated.
He rolls his eyes and looks at me as if I had asked him a stupid question.
I don't budge.
He whined, "Bobbie. Now come on, the next rounds about to start." he pulled his headphones over his ears. I grabbed the remote to get his attention. "What. Hey come on."
"It's nice to meet you Bobbie. Your mom's going to be away for a few hours and I'll be here until she gets back. Dinner is at 6:00 and I will make snacks at 4:30."
"No cap," he motioned at the tv, "Now can I get back to my game.
"Sure I tell him." Pocketing the remote.
"Hey!"
"Bye," I tell him as I close the door behind me.
So I'm back out in the hallway. And I open a few more doors. Some were locked. Before I get into one that's rather plain. There's a picture hanging up behind the bed, a tv, some lamps and shade. On the bed sits an identical, about 9 or 10, twins it seems. Probably why Bobbie was tired of being asked which one he was.
This one was staring at the blank screen. No video games. And quiet. Now I've babysat my share of kids before, and have seen all sorts. Quiet kids are my favorite. They don't mind board games, or listening. Most often times they only need to be left alone. I don't do too much talking in case they get tired of hearing my voice. And I give them a lot of space. "Hey, sorry about that. I didn't think anyone was in here."
He turned to me slowly, "Hi. Are you the new sitter?"
I nodded, "Yup. And I'm guessing that you're Max. I'll be watching you guys while your mom is away."
"She's probably going to work."
"Yeah, looked like it." I see the iPad in his hands. "Hey. I was looking for that."
"She's always at work." He hands it over. "It's dead. And mom took the charger."
I tried not to sigh. This was not how I wanted things to go. "Well, ok. If you need anything. Let me know. Or else I can come get you at 4:30 for snacks and dinner at 6."
He nodded, "Thanks," and goes back to staring at the screen.
I smile but he doesn't see, so I leave, closing the door softly behind me.
I make my way downstairs, wandering into the kitchen and start taking stock of what's there. Which was practically everything. This kitchen was so chic that I half expected Gordon Ramsay to pop out and tell me that the banana bread I made didn't have a clue if he staked the curved yellow fruit down the middle (it's a bad question mark joke. Listen. I never said I was funny).
Once I made sure that there was food, or ingredients to make food. There wasn't much else to do. The house was spotless. The kids were fine. And even the dog seemed well behaved. So I plopped on the couch, took out my fake braces, and watched tv until about 4:10 before I started slicing apples and celery to go with some peanut butter.
I fed the dog some peanut butter and licked my fingers (not with the hand I fed the dog with), before heading upstairs. Bobbie took the plate no problem but I couldn't find Max for the life of me. I wandered the rooms as the dog followed, still trying to lick my hand. "Max, I've got snacks." I knocked on what seemed like the umpteenth door before I get to a rather solid oak one that seemed custom.
Inside was the biggest home library I had ever seen. And I once dog sat for a pretentious professor from the college nearby. I mean, there was a portrait of said academic holding his dog in 18th century art style hanging over the mantle place of the deep wood cabinets filled with books. And yet this library made the other one look like a neighborhood book exchange birdbox.
"Holy..."
"Cow."
I whirled around to find Max standing in the doorway.
"You shouldn't wander into Father's study."
"I was just looking for you," holding up the plate. He made a face. "What? You don't like PB&C?" I took a stick and crunched on the celery.
"I'm not hungry."
I shrug. "Take it anyway. In case you get hungry."
He grabs the plate from me without much struggle so I decide to leave him be. I went back downstairs and crashed in front of the tv.
When I woke up. It was dark. My mouth was dry and all of the lights were off. The screen saver flashed the logo in blinks, lighting up the room only momentarily. For a second I forgot where I was and felt my heart thumping in my chest. My alarm didn't go off but I don't know why I woke up. Then I heard it again. The sound that must have jerked me awake. A crash. It came from upstairs. I grab my phone and glance down at the numbers. It was 8:10. I had slept through dinner. Shit. Shit. Shit. Here I was trying to make a good first impression and I missed out on dinner.
I wipe what drool was on my face and took to the stairs. Bobbie was probably so immersed in his game that he probably didn't even know he was hungry. Max on the other hand. "Max?" I call out down the hall. All of the doors are shut. I can hear something panting behind me. I turn to see the dog again. Its head is down and there's barely any light touching its face. "Hey come here," I called but it retreated in the opposite direction.
Then I shit me not. I heard a creaking come from behind me. It was the only noise in the house. I couldn't even hear Bobbie yelling in his room. I turn slowly and see one of the doors down the hall is now slightly ajar. It's dark in here. It was dark everywhere. I pressed my hands against the wall searching for a light switch. "Bobbie," I call out. There's no answer. "Hey, sorry about the delay in dinner. I'm going to get to it now."
Why was this place so big? And why could I see the door?
"Bobbie. Max?" I hear the dog tapping its paws behind me. Someone on the other side of the house by now. "Hey, where are you guys?" I peer at the single door that's open and realized why it was so prominent. The hall was dark, but what was inside was even darker. Instead of going toward it, I try the first knob my blind fingers came across. Process of elimination I told myself. It was locked. I tried the next one. Also locked. I finally get to Bobbie's door and I knock. "Bobbie." There's no answer. I press my head against the door and listen. But I don't hear a single sound.
"Where are all the light switches in this place!"
The door that was open before slightly opens again. Creaking, *tic tic tic tic*, with each ungreased turn of the hinge. "Shit. Hey, stop playing around."
There's laughing coming from behind me. It sounded like a little kids. Too young to be either of the boys. Followed by smaller footsteps. It sounded like they were barefoot. "Hey, this isn't funny. I'm going to tell your mother when she gets home." I take out my phone and turn on the flashlight. "When is she coming home?" It was almost 8:30, when I realized that we never set a time.
I hear footsteps again, they were odd. Almost like falling. Like a toddler learning how to run for the first time but the hollow ground sounded as if the person was much heavier. I shine my flashlight over the hall. "Shit." The dog was sitting on all fours in the corner. It was facing the wall. I couldn't even see his face. Every hair on its body completely still.
"Hey," I called out. "Come here." I clicked my tongue. "Come here." The dog didn't move. I couldn't even see it breathing.
Bang! It sounded like thunder behind me. As if someone dropped something on the floor. As if something fell off a shelf or was pushed. I jumped around and shone my light down the west wing. I didn't know if I should have been more or less afraid now that the door was closed. "Bobbie? Max?"
God. I did not want to try the door. And I stood there for a minute before realizing how stupid I must have looked. These were some rich kids playing a joke on you Camilia. I know it. The thought of their smug little faces made me stomp out of my frozen state. I took a couple of strides over and grabbed the handle.
"Fuck!" The thing was hot. "What the hell! You guys could have hurt me," I yelled. I banged on the door. "Open up. You two are in so much trouble." I banged on the door again. "Open the door. Right now!" I could hear something on the other side. It sounded like shuffling. Heavy furniture perhaps. "You guys better not be messing things up in there. I'm not going to clean it. I mean it."
I banged on the door. "I can hear you in there! Now come on!" I put my hands on my hips and tapped my foot. "I'm waiting. Your little jokes over now." I banged on the door again.
That's when the door knocked back.
It wouldn't have scared me. I don't think. Except for the fact that I was surprised. And alone in the hall. Without any of the lights on. In a strange house. And before I could say anything else. Another door behind me knocked from the inside. "Shit. Both of you are in on this?" I grabbed the handle to the other door. It was also locked. I banged on it. "Come out right now. Max?"
But then a third door started knocked from down the hall. I felt my throat clump as I tried to swallow. "You guys weren't supposed to have anyone over." The knocking didn't stop. It kept echoing down the hall. "I'm not getting paid for three kids you know?"
Tat-tat-tat-tat. Tat-tat-tat.
I took a single step. And then all of the doors in the hallway suddenly started banging.
I almost tripped as I ran toward the stairs. The doors were thundering on so hard I thought they would crack their hinges. I skipped the stairs, the sounds chasing me as I tried to not fall and break my neck. When I got to the front landing I hear someone say my name.
"Camilia. Are you okay?"
I'm trying not to choke on a lung here as I shot my eyes toward the kitchen. The kids are sitting on the barstools lining the counter. There are two plates in front of them. As if they didn't hear the drumline upstairs.
"Is it dinner time yet," one of them asks quietly.
"Max?"
He smiles.
"Kids. I think there's someone in the house." I rush over to grab each of their hands. Bobbie's wrists are limp but it was Max's hands that shocked me. They were ice cold. I tried to let go but my fingers wouldn't uncurl.
He turns my hand over and says, "There's no one else in this house except us. I promise."
"No," I wasn't about to listen to the kid even if it was his house. "Something is wrong. We have to go. Now." I pick up Bobbie and he doesn't seem to want to move. "Come on Bobbie. Let's go." He looks over at Max who shrugs and get out of his seat.
Bobbie follows as I drag them toward the front door.
"Camilia," Max says.
"What?" He looked scared. Which made me turn toward what he was staring out. At the front door was a tall figure. I couldn't see its face through the glass. It was a stark figure of a man.
"Do you think it's your dad?"
Max shakes his head. I feel him pulling against my arm.
I call out to the man, "Hey! Who is it?" The man doesn't budge. "I'm calling the police." I turn to Bobbie, "Get the phone." He doesn't move. "Hey!" I'm trying to sound as angry as possible. "Get the fuck out of here!" I grabbed a roll of painter's tape from the side table and hurl it across the hall, hitting the glass squarely in the face where the man's head stood blocking the exit. He doesn't even twitch as the glass shakes.
"Come on," I grab their hands and rush to the back. I don't get 10 steps before I feel a scream crawl up my throat making me cough. The man was standing at the sliding door. "Fuck!" I drag the two of them with me towards the kitchen. It's a big place so there had to be a way out to the garage. We push through one of the doors and end up in the laundry room. The next door gets us out into a 3 car garage. My hands find the glowing green opener against the wall and I hear the opener fold seamlessly towards the ceiling.
It started with his feet. Then his ankles. His shins. Then his legs. Light poured in from behind him from the streetlamp. I watched as the door went to his waist before I hit the button for the garage to close, before rushing back inside. We make it into the kitchen to where I still see the tall man standing at the sliding door. A part of me wants to hide in the laundry room but I didn't want to be sandwiched in the middle of the house. So I pull the boys back up the stairs, back to where the doors banged themselves. Taking out my phone as we ascended, and called 911.
"This is the police operator speaking."
"HELLO", I hope they could hear me, "There are several men trying to get inside!"
"Men? Are you in any danger?"
"No! But they have us surrounded!"
"Why don't you go outside?"
My tongue suddenly felt numb in my mouth. Like I didn't know what to do with it. "W-what?"
"It's stranger in the house."
The line went dead as we hit the hallway.
I only took my eyes off of them for a second before Bobbie. Or Max. Runs down the hall. The one or the other already slipping through a door ahead. I look back down the stairs and see that the man is still standing in front of the doorway. I look back up and see the other boy also going through the same door. I take a single step and the doors start pounding on either side. I shut my eyes and turn around. Afraid to go. Almost deciding that these weren't my kids. That I should run away. I take a step backwards mouthing that I was sorry. But I was too scared to go! "Max! Bobbie!" My back foot sticks to the floor. I don't want to look down but the next step sticks too. I point my phone to the ground and see a trail of blood. And just behind me. It's the dog. Split right down the middle, its spine shiny and white, still facing the wall. I could see its organs still pulsing.
I couldn't go back downstairs. I couldn't go the other way. I couldn't leave them here. I couldn't be alone.
I ran after them. The thundering of the doors following me as frames fell to the floor. A vase rolled off a table in the hall. It came crashing at my feet. I run my shoulder through the door, except it wasn't locked. Which caused me to go crashing, sprawling to the floor. Running into the desk in the middle of the room.
The study.
Many of the books were off the shelves. The carpet was torn. There were curtains on fire. It was the first time a saw a window as they burned.
"Camilia!"
I hear one of their voices shouting at me.
"Camilia!" It came again. "Help!"
I get to my feet and start working my hands along the desk. I didn't have to search far. The bookcase directly behind the chair had been swung open. "Camilia!" I wipe the blood from my eyebrow where it had split and step into the tunnel behind the secret passage.
The tunnel started off tall and wide, but as I kept walking in. It got smaller and smaller. I started having to hunch. Several times I decided to turn back. But their voices would echo through, calling for me. Asking for help. "I'm coming!"
"I can't hold on! Camilia! Please!"
The twins cry for help bounced off the walls. I was finally on my hands and knees when I finally see two holes on either side. I'm afraid to look but then one of their voices came through clear as day. "Camilia." It was right in my ear now. I turned to see the boy naked and huddling, hugging his knees at the back of his hole.
"Camilia! Help! I don't want to play this game anymore!"
"Bobbie?"
"Help me!"
I look into the hole, the walls are pressing on my back and there's dust going into my lungs. I can barely turn my shoulder. "Crawl out!"
"I can't!"
"Crawl out! I'm right here." I take out my hand, "Come on!"
"Camilia!" Came a voice from the other side.
I turn my head and see Max in the other hole.
"No!" Bobbie shouts at me. "No!"
"Hold on," I tell him. "I'm going to get both of you out of here."
"No," Bobbie cries. "It's all his fault. He's the one that did it. He's the one that wants to get out!"
"Bobbie, what are you talking about."
"He's the one that put something in your drink so you'd fall asleep!"
"He's lying!" Max's voice rang through. "It's him! I saw him. Always in father's study! Reading those books! Trying out those things he reads. Those curses. Those spells. It's why the shadow men are after him! Camilia! You have to believe me."
I can hear Bobbie crying, "Why are you lying! I don't want to play anymore," he screeches. "I don't want to play!" He sobs. "You said you'd go away if I told you that I didn't want to play anymore."
I don't know what made me do it. It sure wasn't the nauseating squealing tantrum of the boy which made me reach for him first. Maybe it was because I wanted him to shut up. I don't know but I plunged my arm up to my shoulder in to grab his collar.
Instantly I screamed and saw tiny spiders, short thing legs with round white backs crawl over my arms. I shook my arm in the hole, trying to smother them against the walls. That only caused these long brown flat slugs to fall. I saw one land on my hand. It had three distinct tendon-like lines running across its back and was about a half inch long. I pulled my arm out of the hole as I felt it pierce its flat head into the back of my hand. I dropped my phone and heard it crack as the light splintered in the small, suffocating tunnel. But I didn't care as I looked at my hand and saw it burrowing its tiny spearhead below my skin. I grabbed at the wiggling tail still exposed and tried pulling it out.
It was like trying to pull our barbed wire. The spines on its body were facing me. So with each pull they dug deeper inside. I could see blood pooling under my skin, it was starting to turn purple as I tugged on its tail even harder. Until it gave. Popped right off and lay twitching in my hand. The head missing.
I couldn't take it anymore. Really. I had tried my best. I shake my head. "Bobbie. Bobbie. I'm sorry." But it didn't matter. When I looked over at Bobbie. He was covered in it. All of it. Even the spiders.
My jeans started shifting as I tried to wiggle myself out of there. But I hear Max's cry again. "Camilia! Please!"
"No," I whimpered. Shaking. I couldn't reach my hand in there again. But his voice was so scared. More scared than the pain I felt.
I shot my arm inside. Bracing. Waiting for the pain. But there was none. Instead my hands grasped around his collar and I felt his cold clammy skin, and yanked him from the hole. He came without much struggle. His face covered in the soot of it all. "Camilia," he cried. "You picked me. You did it."
I didn't have the heart to tell him that I almost didn't.
"Come on," I cried. "We. Have. To go."
The two of us wiggled our way out of there, crawling on our hands and knees, and running when we could. We finally make it back into the study. And the fire is roaring now. One of the books fall from the shelves and when it hit the fire I swear it started screaming. There was so much smoke that I couldn't see. And the door was covered by the flames.
I pointed to the window, the curtains on the floor in ashes. I kick the window. It didn't budge. I coughed. I kicked it again. The glass shook. I kicked it again and my foot went through. Pieces of the glass still hung in the frame, I use the tips of my fingers and pull them back. They fall to the floor cracking until there was a hole big enough for me to get through.
I plunge my head out and take my first breath of fresh air. The moon was full and the sky was clear. I could hear sirens coming off in the distance. When both of my feet were on the roof. I reach my hand back and grab Max from the burning house. Together we run across the clay tiles and climb down the arched tree. The red fire truck comes screeching to a stop as several firemen help us down.
One of them pushes a breathing mask on me, and wraps me up. The neighbors are outside, and the police arrive. I see a familiar car come roaring down the street, screaming to a halt as Molly runs out. Her face is flustered and she's shouting. Pushing through the cops until she reaches me next to the ambulance.
"What happened," she literally screamed at me.
"I'm so sorry," I tell her. "There were these men." I take another breath. "I couldn't do anything! B-but I saved Max! I saved him!"
She looked at the house. It was blazing now in the cool night. "Oh my god. Is Bobbie still in there?" Molly starts to cry. "My baby!"
"Max. But Max." I cough. "Max is okay!"
And she turns to me. I wasn't expecting her to be grateful. But there's anger on her face. "You didn't save my son. But you saved our dog?"
I shake my head. "No. Max. Your other son." I looked around but he was nowhere to be found.
s
2023.05.31 00:32 Imaginary-Fruit-4078 [fit check] went to nordstrom to try on a first round of bras, need help with where to go from here
so i am just starting out with my bra journey and i just went to nordstrom to try on bras in the sizes the calculator gave me. my measurements are:
Loose Underbust: 31 Snug Underbust: 30 Tight Underbust: 29.5 Standing Bust: 36 Leaning Bust: 38 lying Bust: 37
putting my uk sizes at either 30f/ff or 32e/f. i tried on pretty much any unlined bras i could find in those sizes or the corresponding us ones but i wasn't really happy with any of them and would love help figuring out which ones fit well, my general shape, and other bras to try now. the store i went to didn't have any of my sizes with a 30 band so i only tried on 32s but i was highly skeptical of being comfortable in any 30s anyways
chantelle norah comfort underwire 32ddd
chantelle sizing is kinda confusing but this one was marked as a us 32ddd and a uk 32f. this one seems to fit ok, the wires felt like they were digging in to my sternum and underneath my breasts though. the wires also seem like they go really far into my armpit which doesnt seem right? i also didnt really love the shape this gave me and i feel like there was a bit of gapping at the top of the cup.
chantelle everyday graphique 32ddd
this one was marked as a us 32ddd and a uk32e so not sure what was going on there. this fit was definitely off. lots of gapping at the top of the cup i don't think the more triangle/plunge shape works well for me.
wacoal soft sense convertible us32g
ok this is definitely too big right? lots of gapping in the top of this cup. the wire was also reallly uncomfortable. the wire is also going really far into my armpit and kinda seems to be pushing some armpit chub into the cup
fantasie reflect uk32f
this one seems to big as well, or is just the wrong shape? lots of gapping at the top of the cup. i also really dont like the shape its giving me, its very shelf like and pointy. it was pretty comfortable though.
fantasie fusion side support uk32e
this was the best out of everything i tried on. i fill out the cups pretty well, but theres still a bit of armpit chub sticking out the sides. i also dont love the shape this gives me, i dont love how it seems to make my shape a bit pointy and i feel like theres no blending between my chest and breast its like flat and then all of the sudden a boob comes out of nowhere.
so those are the bras i tried on, do any of them even seem like they're close to fitting me? should the wires be going so far into my armpit? if no, should i try some 30s? im worried that theyll be too tight or dig into my ribcage and show through shirts. the wires on everything i tried on were very stiff and felt like they were digging in, is that normal or indicative of bad fit? i would also love some suggestions for bras to try that will give me a more rounded (?) shape, i dont like the shape unlined bras tend to give me. ideally that won't show through a tight or light colored shirt and cover my nipple piercings. i think im bottom heavy, but i would also love advice on figuring out the rest of my shape. hope i covered everything, and thanks in advance for any help!
submitted by Imaginary-Fruit-4078 to ABraThatFits [link] [comments]
Loose Underbust: 31 Snug Underbust: 30 Tight Underbust: 29.5 Standing Bust: 36 Leaning Bust: 38 lying Bust: 37
putting my uk sizes at either 30f/ff or 32e/f. i tried on pretty much any unlined bras i could find in those sizes or the corresponding us ones but i wasn't really happy with any of them and would love help figuring out which ones fit well, my general shape, and other bras to try now. the store i went to didn't have any of my sizes with a 30 band so i only tried on 32s but i was highly skeptical of being comfortable in any 30s anyways
chantelle norah comfort underwire 32ddd
chantelle sizing is kinda confusing but this one was marked as a us 32ddd and a uk 32f. this one seems to fit ok, the wires felt like they were digging in to my sternum and underneath my breasts though. the wires also seem like they go really far into my armpit which doesnt seem right? i also didnt really love the shape this gave me and i feel like there was a bit of gapping at the top of the cup.
chantelle everyday graphique 32ddd
this one was marked as a us 32ddd and a uk32e so not sure what was going on there. this fit was definitely off. lots of gapping at the top of the cup i don't think the more triangle/plunge shape works well for me.
wacoal soft sense convertible us32g
ok this is definitely too big right? lots of gapping in the top of this cup. the wire was also reallly uncomfortable. the wire is also going really far into my armpit and kinda seems to be pushing some armpit chub into the cup
fantasie reflect uk32f
this one seems to big as well, or is just the wrong shape? lots of gapping at the top of the cup. i also really dont like the shape its giving me, its very shelf like and pointy. it was pretty comfortable though.
fantasie fusion side support uk32e
this was the best out of everything i tried on. i fill out the cups pretty well, but theres still a bit of armpit chub sticking out the sides. i also dont love the shape this gives me, i dont love how it seems to make my shape a bit pointy and i feel like theres no blending between my chest and breast its like flat and then all of the sudden a boob comes out of nowhere.
so those are the bras i tried on, do any of them even seem like they're close to fitting me? should the wires be going so far into my armpit? if no, should i try some 30s? im worried that theyll be too tight or dig into my ribcage and show through shirts. the wires on everything i tried on were very stiff and felt like they were digging in, is that normal or indicative of bad fit? i would also love some suggestions for bras to try that will give me a more rounded (?) shape, i dont like the shape unlined bras tend to give me. ideally that won't show through a tight or light colored shirt and cover my nipple piercings. i think im bottom heavy, but i would also love advice on figuring out the rest of my shape. hope i covered everything, and thanks in advance for any help!
2023.05.31 00:32 Old_Gymnast Hypothermia and hypoglycemia?
I’m a non diabetic (Dx’d w miry pre diabetes 15 years ago though) on a CGM and have a backup finger stick glucose monitor that I have not used as much as I’d like. I’m about 10 days into my first sensor, and wore it on a recent 24-hr sailboat race. I caught a mild to moderate case of hypothermia and around 2:30 am I had to go below decks to try to get warm and pass out, because falling off a short-handed boat into saltwater in the middle of the night during a windstorm would have been an easy way to die.
I don’t think I really felt comfortably warm until 10am the next day.
When I went to check my cgm data, I saw that it had recorded a solid 4 hours of glucose readings in the 50’s and 60’s just before I went below deck to try to warm up, at which point I fitfully tried to sleep and bounced around the 70’s for another couple hours. I don’t know when the low readings started, as I had failed to scan the sensor and get data often enough and missed the 6:20pm - 10:20pm data.
I’m wondering if it’s a known phenomenon for sensors to fail or give false low readings due to low weather temps (50’s Fahrenheit, but would have felt chillier due to wind and exhaustion)??
I’m especially curious about this because I have a serious problem staying out of hypothermia even when I should be able to - I’m a very outdoorsy active person and I love pushing the boundaries of what I can do, but for the life of me, I keep getting hypothermic and becoming a liability to my teammates. I also have suspected I have reactive hypoglycemia since… forever? But that it has recently gotten much worse, such that sometimes eating a small to medium amount of simple sugar will cause me to experience symptoms like cold sweats, mental confusion, and blurry vision about 30 minutes later. This is also something we’ve caught on cgm now, where eating a simple carbs snack will not trigger a spike, but instead a straight decline.
Dr has floated the idea of pancreas adenoma or something but we’re still in the monitoring and figuring out phase (and an ultrasound was all clear). My standard thyroid tests have always been normal, fwiw.
Anyway - just curious if anyone has experienced this or has insight?
submitted by Old_Gymnast to Hypoglycemia [link] [comments]
I don’t think I really felt comfortably warm until 10am the next day.
When I went to check my cgm data, I saw that it had recorded a solid 4 hours of glucose readings in the 50’s and 60’s just before I went below deck to try to warm up, at which point I fitfully tried to sleep and bounced around the 70’s for another couple hours. I don’t know when the low readings started, as I had failed to scan the sensor and get data often enough and missed the 6:20pm - 10:20pm data.
I’m wondering if it’s a known phenomenon for sensors to fail or give false low readings due to low weather temps (50’s Fahrenheit, but would have felt chillier due to wind and exhaustion)??
I’m especially curious about this because I have a serious problem staying out of hypothermia even when I should be able to - I’m a very outdoorsy active person and I love pushing the boundaries of what I can do, but for the life of me, I keep getting hypothermic and becoming a liability to my teammates. I also have suspected I have reactive hypoglycemia since… forever? But that it has recently gotten much worse, such that sometimes eating a small to medium amount of simple sugar will cause me to experience symptoms like cold sweats, mental confusion, and blurry vision about 30 minutes later. This is also something we’ve caught on cgm now, where eating a simple carbs snack will not trigger a spike, but instead a straight decline.
Dr has floated the idea of pancreas adenoma or something but we’re still in the monitoring and figuring out phase (and an ultrasound was all clear). My standard thyroid tests have always been normal, fwiw.
Anyway - just curious if anyone has experienced this or has insight?
2023.05.30 23:51 bhi36 How much protein do I need to eat? Looking for tips on getting more of it.
I am finding a lot of differing recommendations here. Sorry in advance if this question is clearly answered somewhere, and I missed it. I did look through the FAQ/Guidelines and the body recomp link was broken: http://bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/adding-muscle-while-losing-fat-qa.html
Some background: Age: 33 Male Height: 5'8 Current Average Weight 186 Goal Weight: 160
I have tried lot of different failed attempts at going to the gym over the last decade. I'll start something and after a month or so just fizzle out. However, this time it feels completely different. I have a level of motivation a that I can't recall myself ever having before. I have started a strict regiment 3 weeks ago, and am having surprising ease sticking to it.
I am currently averaging an intake of 1900 calories over the last 3 weeks since I began. I am very strict with measuring portions and logging everything on MyFitnessPal. I am underestimating my burned calories and overestimating my caloric intake. I only missed two days where I was camping, but even then I didn't indulge or anything, ate very consciously and very confident that I didn't go over 2000 calories, although I walked over 10 miles each day due to hiking and other activities during camping.
Additionally, I am now working out 6 days a week. I am following this workout plan for supersets and I am loving it! I am also using fitbod app to track all of my reps/sets with additional warm up and cool-down stretches. Along with this I always end up walking 12000+ steps as I take my dog out on long walks. The above workouts I do 4 days a week, 1 day a week I go to 9round kickboxing for 30 minutes and play recreational soccer one day for about hour or so. So I am very active 6 days of the week. I am very confident I can keep this up as I am actually exited to come back to the gym when I leave. Hell some days when I am walking out of the gym I feel like I could go back in and do a second work out!
Couple of reasons why I am confident that this time it's different is that I have just transitioned to a different role at my company that gives me a lot less stress and more freedom to work flexible hours, so I am able to really focus on my health for first time in years! Also have a really motivating GF that has been really good at keeping me focus on goals, without over pushing. I still eat out, eat what I want just am very consciences of how much I eat. Even on the days I have indulged I haven't gone over 2200 calories.
I just recorded my lowest weight that I have seen since I loosely started tracking my weight 7 months ago! (184.8) I was 194 October of last year, and at 188 3 weeks ago.
Anyways, the biggest question I have is how much protein should I be taking in? I am consistently hitting 100grams of protein, but some of the things I have read suggest that I should be taking in at least 160 grams of protein. Getting that much protein is difficult. I don't consume red meat due to environmental reasons. I do eat chicken, and fish. I also drink one smoothie a day which is about 21g of protein per serving.
TL;DR. Doing about a 400 calorie deficit, am strength training 4 days a week, with additional high intensity workout 2 days a week. How much protein should I be getting so I don't lose muscle growth.
submitted by bhi36 to loseit [link] [comments]
Some background: Age: 33 Male Height: 5'8 Current Average Weight 186 Goal Weight: 160
I have tried lot of different failed attempts at going to the gym over the last decade. I'll start something and after a month or so just fizzle out. However, this time it feels completely different. I have a level of motivation a that I can't recall myself ever having before. I have started a strict regiment 3 weeks ago, and am having surprising ease sticking to it.
I am currently averaging an intake of 1900 calories over the last 3 weeks since I began. I am very strict with measuring portions and logging everything on MyFitnessPal. I am underestimating my burned calories and overestimating my caloric intake. I only missed two days where I was camping, but even then I didn't indulge or anything, ate very consciously and very confident that I didn't go over 2000 calories, although I walked over 10 miles each day due to hiking and other activities during camping.
Additionally, I am now working out 6 days a week. I am following this workout plan for supersets and I am loving it! I am also using fitbod app to track all of my reps/sets with additional warm up and cool-down stretches. Along with this I always end up walking 12000+ steps as I take my dog out on long walks. The above workouts I do 4 days a week, 1 day a week I go to 9round kickboxing for 30 minutes and play recreational soccer one day for about hour or so. So I am very active 6 days of the week. I am very confident I can keep this up as I am actually exited to come back to the gym when I leave. Hell some days when I am walking out of the gym I feel like I could go back in and do a second work out!
Couple of reasons why I am confident that this time it's different is that I have just transitioned to a different role at my company that gives me a lot less stress and more freedom to work flexible hours, so I am able to really focus on my health for first time in years! Also have a really motivating GF that has been really good at keeping me focus on goals, without over pushing. I still eat out, eat what I want just am very consciences of how much I eat. Even on the days I have indulged I haven't gone over 2200 calories.
I just recorded my lowest weight that I have seen since I loosely started tracking my weight 7 months ago! (184.8) I was 194 October of last year, and at 188 3 weeks ago.
Anyways, the biggest question I have is how much protein should I be taking in? I am consistently hitting 100grams of protein, but some of the things I have read suggest that I should be taking in at least 160 grams of protein. Getting that much protein is difficult. I don't consume red meat due to environmental reasons. I do eat chicken, and fish. I also drink one smoothie a day which is about 21g of protein per serving.
TL;DR. Doing about a 400 calorie deficit, am strength training 4 days a week, with additional high intensity workout 2 days a week. How much protein should I be getting so I don't lose muscle growth.
2023.05.30 23:34 jhk84 First time playing. Going in blind. Just beat the 4th Palace here is wave 4 of my way off predictions.
Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!
I actually wrote up a post right after the 4th palace. Then I played a bit and they dropped so much more info that I had to toss it. Tomorrow is the trip to Hawaii so I thought this was a good point to stop and make another round of predictions.
The 4th palace is my favorite so far. There was so much symbolism to look into and I really liked the whole cursed gem bit. The end boss was a little annoying.
Things are really picking up pace. I had so many questions that were answered like 20 min later. They're really starting reveal some important details.
This is what I have as of now. In addition to my way off predictions there are also a few bits of info I'm that I'm not sure how they fit yet and some general impressions. I tried to keep it short (I failed).
Please no spoilers for any of the Persona games. This is my first and I plan on picking up 3/4.
After Palace 1 predictions : https://www.reddit.com/Persona5/comments/13odesi/first_time_playing_going_in_blind_my_horribly/
After Palace 2 prediction : https://www.reddit.com/Persona5/comments/13q3q9j/first_time_playing_going_in_blind_just_beat_the/
After Palace 3 predictions: https://www.reddit.com/Persona5/comments/13sl0vp/first_time_playing_going_in_blind_just_beat_the/
Futaba/Alibaba and somehow Morgana
Limo Girl.
Best Girl current rankings - Nothing is set yet no decisions have been made just the current rankings.
submitted by jhk84 to Persona5 [link] [comments]
I actually wrote up a post right after the 4th palace. Then I played a bit and they dropped so much more info that I had to toss it. Tomorrow is the trip to Hawaii so I thought this was a good point to stop and make another round of predictions.
The 4th palace is my favorite so far. There was so much symbolism to look into and I really liked the whole cursed gem bit. The end boss was a little annoying.
Things are really picking up pace. I had so many questions that were answered like 20 min later. They're really starting reveal some important details.
This is what I have as of now. In addition to my way off predictions there are also a few bits of info I'm that I'm not sure how they fit yet and some general impressions. I tried to keep it short (I failed).
Please no spoilers for any of the Persona games. This is my first and I plan on picking up 3/4.
After Palace 1 predictions : https://www.reddit.com/Persona5/comments/13odesi/first_time_playing_going_in_blind_my_horribly/
After Palace 2 prediction : https://www.reddit.com/Persona5/comments/13q3q9j/first_time_playing_going_in_blind_just_beat_the/
After Palace 3 predictions: https://www.reddit.com/Persona5/comments/13sl0vp/first_time_playing_going_in_blind_just_beat_the/
Futaba/Alibaba and somehow Morgana
- The squid girl from the movie finally gets a name.
- Futaba's mom is the curry lady (Wakaba)!
- the phone call Sojiro had about a printer not being the right one makes soooo much sense now. I knew he was taking care of someone but I thought it was an old lady. Honestly thought there were going for a cheap laugh were she kept on printing out pictures of snowball or something.
- translated some of the binary on the walls of her palace into ASCII looking for a secret message but they were just the same odd symbols that were on the doors and such.
- Futaba picked Alibaba as her hacker alias. before we get to see the whole Egypt / pyramid theme of her palace it seemed like a really odd choice.
- It could be just a cool name that the writers picked but "Chekhov's gun" states that every element introduced in a story should be necessary to the plot. If the gun isn't going to be fired then the audience doesn't need to see it being loaded - or something like that.
- It got me thinking and for sure I remembered the name Alibaba but had forgotten the details of the story. I did a quick search and was able to find the story pretty easily.
- Short version : Alibaba was a dude who stole a bunch of riches from some thieves. Alibaba is living the good life when the thieves track him down and make plans to kill him. The plans are stopped by Alibaba's slave who kills the thieves.
- Alibaba's slave was named .... wait for it .... Morgiana! Mind effing blown! That's way too similar to Morgana not to be important.
- Morgiana was female. Early in the game Ann ask Morgana if it's a boy or a girl. It says of course it's a boy, but it also says that it is human.Morgana might be the Male version of Morgiana but this throws it's gender into question too. It's not like anyone had checked between it's legs as far as I can tell. (also where does it do it's business I haven't seen a litter box).
- Add to this the "birth" flashback that Morgana had
- Morgana is an unwilling servant (aka a slave) to the big bad which is trapped in the deepest part of mementos
- The big bad was able to squeeze through the crack in his prison just enough to deposit a small amount of it's power in the metaverse this power took the form of Morgana.
- The Morgana in the dream had yellow eyes. still going with yellow eyes = metaverse native.
- He was programmed to want to find the deepest part of Mementos at all cost so he could free the big bad.
- His attraction to human desires was not intentional. He got sidetracked from his mission and got caught by Kamoshida.
- Meeting joker was a stroke of luck.
- He keeps telling us that he's using us for his own goals and that he just needs pawns.
- We're made to think that this is just a defensive move to avoid talking about his real feelings but I see a perfect opportunity for a "I told you I was just using you all" scene after the big bad flips some switch later on.
- Most of Morgana's battle functions are getting replaced by other members. Makoto and Futba are both doing the combat calls now. Morgana will leave the party soon.
- Something will happen to Morgana that will flip his switch while the PT are in Hawaii
- Morgiana killed the thieves.... The big bad will take control of Morgana at one point and we will have to fight shadow Morgana or something to get the cat back.
- Was almost thinking Morgana could be the one who betrays us but no one can understand him and even Akechi would have trouble selling the whole "my informant is a cat" thing to Sae.
- A big problem with Kasumi is we know shes going to be a badass by the time the casino heist comes around but right now she's the complete opposite of the person who saves Joker. This isn't like Makoto who is a bad ass and was just holding back. Kasumi is 100% a wet noodle right now.
- Add to that the my weak self relied on you so much line and there is little doubt she has a split personality disorder of some sort.
- They also dropped a major clue for Kasumi after the 3rd palace. She had a sister who died.
- My fist thought was she never had a sister and just had two distinct personalities that were separate but equal to each other. Each would take control at different points and her mind created a fake sister to explain any inconsistencies with her memories. At some point one of her personalities (the sister) was repressed.
- The problem with this is her interactions with joker she doesn't seem like a totally different person just more sure of herself. like her week self is the Kasumi we know now and her complete self is the one we fight with.
- She could have really had a sister and the trauma of the loss sent her into a downward spiral of depression. So *someone* did something to her to repress the negative emotions.
- Her gymnastic slump is important. what ever was done to her was the cause of her slump. Shes missing something of herself which is why she says that her body doesn't move the way she wants it to.
- Current theory is some part of her is locked away. It's not separate, but a piece of the whole person that we fight along side with at the casino. At some point between now and then her two halves will join.
- This brings up the question of what's up with her dad? Unless your some sort bad person wouldn't you notice such a drastic change in your kid?
- Either dad works for the government and was ok experimenting on Kasumi or he somehow thinks whatever was done to her was for the best . Like her current state is better than what was before so this is the cure.
- explains why she transferred schools. He dad claims to work at a TV station (could be a cover). It's not like he would have to move for a new job. If she had a major personality change then her old classmates and teachers would notice. this would cause Kasumi to question her reality which could cause it to fail. moving to a new school removes this issue.
- This would have to go above standard therapy. Either hypnosis or cognitive psience.
- something is going to happen to her dad. we got the glasses shopping scene to show us how close they are. This will be her motivation for going into the metaverse.
- when her persona awakens the mental barrier will be taken down.
- She only has a 5 star confidant rank. It's not like Maruki who still has his card symbol but won't advance till the story does.
- The other 5 starts will be with her "other" personality. After whatever was done to her is undone she's going to be a mess and will turn to Joker.
- something will happen to her while we are in Hawaii. Only reason for her to let us know she was leaving the country of a bit. she might not actually be leaving the country and just be having more mental work done on her.
- He want's to legit help people.
- Thinks that traditional therapy is not effective enough. Want to develop a medicine or medical procedure to actually fix people's negative emotions.
- with the introduction of cognative psience we now know the method that he's going to use to attempt this. (could be he already did a test run or two).
- Although his intentions are good things are going to wrong very very wrong.
- After the 2nd exams he talks to joker about not meeting peoples expectations. This comes right after some girls were gossiping about Kasumi in the halls.
- Total misdirection. Since the phantom thieves are making all sorts of waves, the Agency is putting pressure on him to complete his research. This will lead to mistakes being made.
- Eventually his logic will change to "It's better to feel nothing than to feel pain" - this will be his I still think I'm a good guy logic.
- Unless he is also a persona user then were going to visit his palace.
- The first time Joker goes to see Maruki he runs into Kasumi and she tells Joker that she has been seeing Maruki for some time.
- Add to that the line Sae's Boss says on 6/23 "This incident happened at the school you're supposed to be presiding over..." and we have a clear connection from Sae's Boss to the principle at Joker's school.
- He also seemed to be bothered that the Kamoshisa change of heart happened at Shujin like he was aware that something special was going on there.
- This set off all the alarms. The new girl who happens to be a badass persona user transfers to the school and a month later her doctor gets assigned to the very same school. He was hired by the principal who just happens to work for Sae's boss. Sae's boss knows of the metaverse and so does Maruki.
- Maruki was assigned to Kasumi's school to keep tabs on her and make sure whatever he did to her stuck. The Kamoshida incident was just the excuse they needed to bring him in.
- He either developed cognitive psience on his own or was giving Wakaba's research by the Agency.
- he has to be the one who betrays the group.
- Keeps putting idea's in Sae's head
- At some point Sae will catch on that Akechi is messing with her.
- working with Shido but not for him. Has his own goals or works for the big bad.
- says he has to catch the PT "for the sake of my justice" combine that with the arcade scene where he ask joker what kind of justice he believes in and Akechi is def bad. He's not after "justice" but "my justice" which sounds a lot like revenge. Has something to do with his father. If the PT crew keep operating they're going to ruin his chance for revenge.
- He will frame the PT by sending a fake calling card and then killing that persons shadow.
- The number of new confidants that unlock after the 3rd palace was a bit overwhelming but It did give me plenty of chances to watch the new confidant unlock scenes. It got me thinking about what it actually says. Just picked the fortune confidant for this but any would have worked.
- I am thou, thou art I - we are one and the same
- thou hast acquired a new vow. - you just unlocked a new confidant. to quote Jose "Good Job!"
- It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity. - butterflies have wings also still talking about Joker "thy chains of captivity". We are like a caterpillar and when we obtain out true power we will become a butterfly (not literally). the chains could be a the cocoon that the butterfly breaks out of.
- With the birth of the Fortune Persona I have obtained the winds of blessing that - creatures with wings (like a butterfly) ride the wind. Is now referring to herself in this line "I have obtained..."
- shall lead to freedom and new power..." - It's over 9000!
- The butterfly lady is our persona or at the very least out power levels are connected.
- Part of the butterfly lady's power is sealed in joker. Was not intentional but will be the key to rejoining the twins.
- When there is a fusion alarm the twins do this adorable back stretch where one kicks her legs. They then do this weird like side stretch that looks like the fusion dance from Dragon Ball Z.
- Not working for the thing that made Morgana.
- Morgana had no knowledge of the skill cards and his mind exploded when joker captured the pixie.
- Even though he's not bad he's still not good.
- Has some cosmic role to fill. His job is to prepare for the final battle. He doesn't care who wins just as long as the fight occurs.
- Gave Akechi the metaverse nav but Akechi betrayed him and went rogue which is why he went looking for a new recruit. He took on the twins after so the same mistakes wouldn't be make with joker.
- Says joker will fight someone with powers very similar to his (jokers) own. Akechi has the wildcard too?
- For the record Joker defended him and never once thought he was abusing Futaba.
- Met Wakaba when he worked for the government.
- Feels guilty that he didn't do anything when she said she was going to die. Was he in a position to do so? What did he do for the government?
- After Wakaba was killed he suspected his own government were behind it and left in disgust.
- Sojiro is just awesome. He would take a bullet for any of Joker's friends and die happy knowing he saved someones life.
- He will be the getaway driver after the PT crew breaks joker out. He's the only person we know with a car.
- They refer to it as the metaverse and not the cognitive world. could be the writers just didn't want to add a new term without context or they gained their knowledge of the metaverse from an "other worldly" being.
Limo Girl.
- Is in the opening movie both the heist scene and the smash the city part. Will be joining up.
- Ran in to her in the hall at the star of the game she was labeled as a senior
- Riding in a limo. daddy is loaded.
- At the park cleanup she asked Mishima for the bottle cap so they can be used for medicine. She is seen watering flowers at the school also. What we should take away from this is she's a really good person. We need to know see that she's super duper good because her dad is bad like really bad.
- daddy's money is dirty money and she knows it or at least suspects.
- We will change daddy's heart and make him admit his evil ways.
- Her dad is the Shido.
- We don't know when she's going to join up or if the casino heist is her first. Stealing her dad's heart will prob be her first mission so the fact that shes on the comm at the start of the game isn't too much of a problem with her dad being Shido.
- on 7/29 Morgana says "But it's true that an observant criminal could have a true to reality city in their Palace."
- The opening casino heist wasn't in the real world but was Shido's palace. His palace just included a 1:1 of the city in it. He also says in the scene at the start of the game where joker has a flashback that he owns the cops. Would make sense that the shadows in his cognition would take the form of the police and security guards. The 2nd palace had two types of shadows (male and female) and the 3rd/4th had people/dogs. Multiple types of shadows is not unheard of
- Also looks like we did manage to steal his treasure but not sure if they were able to get it out.
- We don't actually see joker get taken in by the cops. It's possible that the traitor grabbed us after the shadow cops took us down and turned us in to the real world cops. Doesn't mean the world's can't be merging but my reasoning for it is off.
- One thing that bothers me is when they ask if everyone remembers where they have to meet up. Why was joker separate from the rest of the PT? The PT all leave the metaverse together so far. Could just mean where they're going to meet up near the exit (if there is an exit with the palace being the whole city). Hoping for more clues to clarify this.
- not going to betray us. he almost fell to the dark side and I haven't seen the conclusion of his story but seems like he's not going to an issue.
Best Girl current rankings - Nothing is set yet no decisions have been made just the current rankings.
- Makoto - the scene where the lights go out and she grabs jokers leg just made her more endearing. Her driving skills saved the crew after Palace 4. Could beat Kamoshisa in 1v1 volley ball.
- Futba - who doesn't like a quirky redhead. Her being Boss's adopted daughter could be a good thing as he seems to like Joker at this point in the story so he wouldn't have to give him the whole "let me show you my gun collection" talk. Although I'm thinking shes more like the quirky best friend type then best girl material (so sorry Fatuba Fans plesedonthateme)
- Dr.Death - shes a doctor who really cares about her work. Cares more about helping the little girl then getting the credit for it. She basicly broke down when she thought the girl was dead. Also SP Adhesives are amazing.
- Kasami - 100% little sister vibe while Futaba has potential to move up in rank Kasami is stuck in the sister zone. Who knows maybe her "sister" is more interesting.
- Fortune teller- Still a nice person despite the way she was treated. A but gullible though. I could see her sending all of Joker's savings to a Nigerian prince.
- Chess Girl (I know it's not chess) - mid tier maybe she well get more interesting.
- Ann - Not even in the running really because She's going to end up with Ryuji. If Ryuji wasn't around I would say shes not the bightest bulb in the pack. shes not dumb and seems to at least have passed her exams but we have honor student Makoto and super genius Futaba to compare her to. She is empathetic and has a high emotional intelligence. No way shes going to make it as an Actress with her (lack of) skills I cringe every time she tries. She would make a great councilor though with how she relates to people and to seems to be able to get along with everyone. She could also make it in professional sports with how high she was able to throw Mona after the 4th palace.
- Kawakami - Yes she's ranked lower than someone who is not even in the running. First off she lied about her sister WTF! She just seems like a mess. Her clothes don't fit and her hair is never brushed. She is stuck in "the help" tier. Keep her around for laundry and coffee.
- Ryuji - dude is our bro 100% He's the bad influence with a heart of gold and will stick with Joker to the end. He's the Ron Weasley to Joker's Harry Potter. He would be the most fun to go drinking with.
- Yusuke - you will only ever be his 2nd best friend. His true loyalty lies with art. If Joker was hanging off the side of a cliff and Yusuke had to make the decision to save Joker or paint the perfect sunset it would be a real nail biter to see what he decides.
- Mishima- Once he gets over himself he's going to be fine. He's like a more wimpy less fun Ryuji.
- Akechi - he's too full of himself. He always like "ugh I'm just sooooo popular I can't do the little people things like you do" Hanging out with him you would only ever be "Akechi's friend". His sweater vest is dumb.
- Snowball - he didn't deserve to go out like that.
- Morgana - is a spy and slave of the big bad. Also needs stop hitting on Ryuji's girl.
2023.05.30 23:19 letstalkaboutbras [SELL][US] Destashing intensifies! More new items from drugstore to high end makeup, skincare, & brushes 👀
Hello again!
Payment via PayPal G&S. Shipping starts at $4.50 for a small item depending on zip and increases with weight (USPS). Shipping from the East Coast. $10 min before shipping preferred. All item conditions are noted and pictured best as I can. Most are brand new.
Please don't ghost. It's okay if you change your mind. NIL based on timestamps. Note that I have some of these items listed on other platforms as well and will adjust the availability accordingly.
I'm very careful to keep my makeup clean and protected, keeping original packaging where I can. Smoke- and pet-free home. Always masking. See this wonderful feedback from previous buyer 1, 2 and 3 as references 😊
Please comment below before sending a Reddit chat since I can't see those on mobile.
Swaplist:
New only: Dior beige mitzah, Rose Montaigne or Pink Corolle mono eyeshadows. Trestique Summer Glow & Go set from Boxy. Try me on Sephora Lipstories balms (I already have shades 07 and 08 and a couple others), must be sealed.
Eyes
Mascara -$10 $9 for all
Face
Lips - New
Lips - Swatched or Gentle Use
Brushes
Skincare
Fragrance & Body
submitted by letstalkaboutbras to makeupexchange [link] [comments]
Payment via PayPal G&S. Shipping starts at $4.50 for a small item depending on zip and increases with weight (USPS). Shipping from the East Coast. $10 min before shipping preferred. All item conditions are noted and pictured best as I can. Most are brand new.
Please don't ghost. It's okay if you change your mind. NIL based on timestamps. Note that I have some of these items listed on other platforms as well and will adjust the availability accordingly.
I'm very careful to keep my makeup clean and protected, keeping original packaging where I can. Smoke- and pet-free home. Always masking. See this wonderful feedback from previous buyer 1, 2 and 3 as references 😊
Please comment below before sending a Reddit chat since I can't see those on mobile.
Swaplist:
New only: Dior beige mitzah, Rose Montaigne or Pink Corolle mono eyeshadows. Trestique Summer Glow & Go set from Boxy. Try me on Sephora Lipstories balms (I already have shades 07 and 08 and a couple others), must be sealed.
Eyes
Mascara -
- Dior Diorshow Volume Mascara, 1.5ml travel size, BNIB - $5
- MAC Stack Superstack Micro Brush mascara mini, BN - $4
- Tarte Lights Camera Lashes mascara deluxe size, BN, 1 available - $3
- Tarte Chrome Paint Shadow Pot in Martini (bronzed olive), BNIB - $13
- NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Iced Mocha, swatched - $2
- Colourpop Colour Stix eyeshadow stick in Devotion, swatched & sharpened - $3
- Colourpop Colour Stix eyeshadow stick in Hyde, swatched - $3
- Nudestix Magnetic Eye Color in Smoke, FS, BN/sealed - $13
- Revlon So Fierce! Prismatic Shadow Palette, Slight Flex, swatched/light use - $4
- Sephora Collection colorful metal effect eyeshadow in 07 Volcano Land (metallic brown), arrived broken, pushed back into the pan - $1 or free with purchase $10+
- Sephora Collection colorful shimmer eyeshadow in 254 Diving In (blue), very delicately swatched - $3
- Elf Bite Size Mini eyeshadow palette in Rose Water, light usage - $1
- Elf Bite Size Mini eyeshadow palette in Mint to Be, light usage - $1
- Elf No Budge Eyeshadow Stick in Champagne Crystal, used & sharpened 1x - $1
- ArtDeco eyeshadow refill, 218 - soft brown mauve, swatched - FWP
- Phase Zero shimmer eyeshadow in Nude Newbie, usage shown - FWP
Face
- bareMinerals Original loose powder foundation SPF 15 in Golden Fair 04, full size, ~80% remaining - $13
- Colourpop Flexitarian Super Shock Cheek highlighter, gentle use shown - $5
- Charlotte Tilbury Beautiful Skin Radiant Concealer sampler card - FWP
Lips - New
- Bobbi Brown Crushed Lip Color in Ruby, travel size, BNIB - $8
- Bobbi Brown Luxe Lip Color in Parisian red, travel size, BN - $8
- Hourglass Confession Lipstick in "At Dusk" from the Limited Edition Sculpture Collection. Comes with the Limited Edition refillable holder and At Dusk refill (both never used). Holder fits any Confession lipstick refill (see below for more shades I have for sale). BN - $28
- Clinique Pop Plush Creamy Lip Gloss in 01 Black Honey, BNIB - $16
- Pat McGrath Labs Lust Lip Gloss in Flesh 6, travel size, BN - $5
- Revlon Super Lustrous Glass Shine Lipstick, Cherries in the Snow 004, BN/sealed (discontinued shade) - $10
- Catrice Plumping Lip Liner in 080 Press the Hot Button, BN - $1
- L'Oreal Infallible 8hr Pro Gloss, full size, shade Suede (peachy-pink gold duochrome), full size, BN - $4
- L'Oreal Infallible 8hr Pro Gloss, full size, shade Blush (pink shimmer), full size, BN - $4
Lips - Swatched or Gentle Use
- Hourglass Confession lipstick in "I Can't Wait" (refill only, will ship with no cap), swatched - $16
- Hourglass Confession lipstick in "If I Could" (refill only, will ship with no cap), used 1x - $12
- Hourglass Confession lipstick in "When I'm With You" (refill only, will ship with no cap), used 1x - $12
- Or take all 3 Hourglass refills for $35
- Bobbi Brown Crushed Lip Color in Ruby, travel size, gentle use - $4
- NYX Limited Edition Avatar Luminescent Lip Gloss, shade 01 Shimmering Waters, swatched - $5
- Too Faced Sex on the Peach mini lipstick, light usage shown - $1
- BareMinerals BarePro longwear lipstick deluxe mini, Petal, usage shown - FWP
- Tarte travel size busy gal gloss in Run This Town (watermelon with gold shimmer), swatched - $2
- Lipstick Queen Sinner lipstick in Peachy Nude Sinner, FS, very light usage shown - $10
- Urban Decay Vice Lipstick, Limited Edition Born to Run, Shade 66 (Rich Mauve-Nude), Comfort Matte finish, usage shown - $4
- Becca Ultimate Lipstick Love in Maroon, FS, very light usage shown - $5
- Catrice Loves PETA Limited Edition Demi Matt lipstick (similar to MAC powder kiss formula) in C01 Spread Empathy, gentle usage shown- $2
- Catrice Demi Matt Lipstick in 040 Exotic Nude, very light usage shown - $2
Brushes
- Real Techniques Brush Crush Vol 2 Limited Edition 301 Foundation Brush in Galaxy; new, washed in unscented cleanser - $15 + free Sigma brush cleanser sample
- Luxie 231 Small Tapered Blender eyeshadow brush, washed once in unscented cleanser - $4
- Ebelin "Sommerblütentraum" Limited Edition dried flower clear handle eye blending brush, BN - $4
- Wet n Wild Pro Line Tapered Highlighting Brush P75, BN - $2
- Wet n Wild Pro Line Fluffly Blending Brush P20, BN - $2
- Wet n Wild Pro Line Dome Pencil Eye Brush, used once, washed in unscented cleanser - $1
Skincare
- Peach & Lily Power Calm Hydrating Gel Cleanser travel size 1oz, BN/sealed - $6
- COSRX Acne Hero: Intensive 4-step kit for extra oily skin, BN, exp 2025-01/26. Ships without box to save on postage. Includes: AC Collection Calming Foam Cleanse, 20ml; Calming Liquid Intensive, 30ml; Lightweight Soothing Moisturizer, 20ml; Ultimate Spot Cream, 5g - $16 - willing to split for $4/each
- Farmacy Honey Potion Plus Ceramide Hydration Mask mini, 9g, BN - $5
- Farmacy Green Clean Makeup Removing Cleansing Balm mini, 20 mL, BN - $5
- Sunday Riley Good Genes Lactic Acid Treatment, 5mL, BN - $4
- MAC Hyper Real Serumizer, 4mL, BN - $4
- Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Serum Synchronized Multi-Recovery Complex II, 7ml, BNIB - $10 (one remaining)
- Proactiv Deep Cleansing Face Wash, 2 oz, swatched - $3
- Awake Balance Shot antioxidant concentrate mini, BN - $1
- Tarte Sugar Rush Don't Hate Hydrate oil-free moisturizer, 5mL - $1
- Essence Coffee To Glow undereye treatment with caffeine, new - $2
- Garnier SkinActive micellar water (Waterproof makeup version) 1oz, BN - FWP
Fragrance & Body
- Gucci Flora Gorgeous Gardenia EdP sample - FWP $15+
- Sanex Dermo Invisible Deodorant, 50mL, BN (EU item) - $4.25 each (3 listed, 6 total available)
2023.05.30 23:14 ImDyingInsideAAA Help with following my LoseIt plan, new to weight loss!
Hi! I'm NB, 24, 164cm, trying to lose 15kg by the end of this year (going from 75kg to 60kg). I'm kinda confused about my activity level and also if my goal is good (achievable?). I'm new to weight loss. I have been struggling with depression + gender dysphoria because of my weight for a long time, so this year I decided to take care of myself :)
I'm a fulltime home-office worker (9-6, 5d/w) and only do ~30 min walks every day (walking my dog). I have mild scoliosis so I'm always in pain, which is why usually I refrain from exercise. I don't have a car and hate buses so I walk everywhere, but I don't leave my house a lot. I do 2 km a day (3k steps) with my dog consistently, tracking with Google Fit. I have been trying to do ~30 min of Just Dance with my Switch but the feeling of being sweaty disgusts me a lot. I prefer to keep walking instead.
I'm using the app Lose It! and have my exercise level at "Somewhat active" (Equivalent to walking around 3km per day) and have a budget of 1664 calories/day but I'm starting to wonder if this is the right choice. I don't actually eat 1600 calories a day, I do >1400 calories (I don't have breakfast bc I feel sick eating in the morning, my snacks are around 150 calories / day, I'm trying to be mindful of what I eat but I'm someone who typically doesn't like fried/junk food). The "Not active" plan states "equivalent to walking less than 1.5km a day" so I'm a middle between those two.
Should I be choosing "Not Active" and have the safe minimum (1350 calories/day) option on?
I started my journey on May 18th and have lost 1.8kg. The app states that if I eat 1600 I would reach my goal by the end of the year but if my exercise is wrong and should be Not active, I'm actually eating 100cals more than I should to reach it.
I hope my post is not all over the place, my mind is a bit of a scramble right now. I really want to lose the weight and I have been sticking to my plan very good without doing things negatively (I don't say "you're bad if you eat that piece of chocolate, you're over your daily!") but this is probably because I only see good goals because of how the app is set right now. I also don't know if it still would be better for my mental health to keep it as 1600 but try and eat 1400 instead, just so I don't see red numbers with the 1350?
Thanks everyone for reading :)
submitted by ImDyingInsideAAA to loseit [link] [comments]
I'm a fulltime home-office worker (9-6, 5d/w) and only do ~30 min walks every day (walking my dog). I have mild scoliosis so I'm always in pain, which is why usually I refrain from exercise. I don't have a car and hate buses so I walk everywhere, but I don't leave my house a lot. I do 2 km a day (3k steps) with my dog consistently, tracking with Google Fit. I have been trying to do ~30 min of Just Dance with my Switch but the feeling of being sweaty disgusts me a lot. I prefer to keep walking instead.
I'm using the app Lose It! and have my exercise level at "Somewhat active" (Equivalent to walking around 3km per day) and have a budget of 1664 calories/day but I'm starting to wonder if this is the right choice. I don't actually eat 1600 calories a day, I do >1400 calories (I don't have breakfast bc I feel sick eating in the morning, my snacks are around 150 calories / day, I'm trying to be mindful of what I eat but I'm someone who typically doesn't like fried/junk food). The "Not active" plan states "equivalent to walking less than 1.5km a day" so I'm a middle between those two.
Should I be choosing "Not Active" and have the safe minimum (1350 calories/day) option on?
I started my journey on May 18th and have lost 1.8kg. The app states that if I eat 1600 I would reach my goal by the end of the year but if my exercise is wrong and should be Not active, I'm actually eating 100cals more than I should to reach it.
I hope my post is not all over the place, my mind is a bit of a scramble right now. I really want to lose the weight and I have been sticking to my plan very good without doing things negatively (I don't say "you're bad if you eat that piece of chocolate, you're over your daily!") but this is probably because I only see good goals because of how the app is set right now. I also don't know if it still would be better for my mental health to keep it as 1600 but try and eat 1400 instead, just so I don't see red numbers with the 1350?
Thanks everyone for reading :)
2023.05.30 23:13 Brick_Block_297 "Don't Look Up" (2021), and the idea of political satire being "too heavy handed". I'd like to look into how the reception to this film can show us how general audiences perceive socio-political commentary, and what kind of commentary they're comfortable with.
Guess I'm a bit late to the party on this one...but honestly, maybe that's for the better. Internet discourse of film, and other narrative based media feels like its at its worst, and I think "Don't Look Up" is a great film to use for opening this discussion.
(...Also, this is secretly a hate-post for "The Batman"...)
For some context, "Don't Look Up" (2021) is an Adam McKay movie centered around an asteroid hitting the earth. The asteroid is an obvious commentary for climate change, and our protagonists are two scientists (played by Leonardo Dicaprio, and Kate Dibiasky) who desperately try to convince the US government to take action. The government has the ability to stop the asteroid, but refuses to because a tech CEO obviously based on Mark Zuckerberg makes a deal with the Republican president (played by Meryl Streep). Leonardo Dicaprio's character sells out to the tech CEO and Republicans, only to regret everything when its too late. The asteroid hits earth, and the top 1% escape on a spaceship.
This film is extremely, and I mean extremely in your face about its sociopolitical critique. The movie constantly makes fun of how working-class Republicans will parrot whatever the president says. The title itself, "Don't Look Up", is a slogan meant to be joke stand-in for Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again". The way the government refuses to take action against the asteroid is an obvious commentary on how our governments barely do against climate change. The film also makes fun of performative progressivism, as with the sellout scientist and concert scene.
Anyway, I've used the word "obviously" so many times now, its clear "Don't Look Up" is a very heavy handed film. I don't know if Adam McKay is the hardcore progressive leftist his film makes him out to be, but regardless, I absolutely love "Don't Look Up". Its heavy handed commentary is what makes this film for me.
However, upon release the film was met with a mixed reception. It currently stands at a 56% on Rotten Tomatoes, and much of the discussion was about how the film was pretentious, due to its heavy-handed message. Especially on Reddit, which seemed to hate this film. And I was really surprised honestly. The internet embodiment of "☝🤓 ermmm, ack-shually!" was calling for more subtly in this film's political commentary? The same website that doesn't shut up about Idioacracy and Blazing Saddles?
But, I think I know why "Don't Look Up" was hit with this reception. It isn't just that don't look up is a heavy handed, in your face kind of movie...its that the themes, messages, and setting, are all directly linked to our current world. It isn't a hypothetical dystopia like Idiocracy, or a century old wild west like Blazing Saddles. "Don't Look Up" takes place in our current political climate.
When "Don't Look Up" criticizes Republicans, it isn't talking about a cartoonish stand-in for the Republicans. Its talking about the current, real world Republicans. When it criticizes media propaganda, it directly references the tactics used by the very real Donald Trump. When it criticizes billionaire CEOs, it uses a character that is identical to our real world billionaire CEOs in all but name.
"Don't Look Up" did what most political commentary is too afraid to to...it directly tackled the issues it was commenting on. Even the fictional asteroid is still really on-the-nose about what its meant to be. It reminds me of when Gareth Marenghi said this...
"I know writers who use subtext...and they're all cowards!:
Maybe he was exaggerating for the bit...but I love this qoute. Because honestly, in our current political climate, what use does subtly have? In America right now, the political climate is constantly getting worse. The removal of women's rights, the attack on LGBTQ+ people, the slow death of the working class, and as "Don't Look Up" shows, the constant enderdagement to our environment. If you're gonna' talk about these very real, very harmful issues...why tiptoe around it? To make the people causing the harm more comfortable?
I think its important to note that on social media, I saw dozens of posts by people in the climate field praise "Don't Look Up", specifically because the on-the-nose nature of this movie represented how they felt. And honestly, that's pretty good proof that being subtle would've been to the detriment of this film. This film did what good political satire is meant to do. It appeased to the people being drowned out by those in power, and relentlessly critiqued those in power.
The funny thing is this...I'm always seeing people post about how they want more "mature" content that tackles real world issues. Especially on Reddit, in which people never shut up about the idea of the "mature reboot". And the thing is...this website actually loves media with heavy-handed messaging. But as I mentioned earlier, people don't want the messaging to actually be directly relevant to a real world topic. They just want media that alludes the the idea of socio-political commentary.
Its why Reddit loves media such as The Witcher III, Idiocracy, Blazing Saddles, early Game Of Thrones, Cyberpunk 2077, Blade Runner 2049. Yes, these pieces of media are very heavy handed in their themes, but because they use fictional stand-ins for their messages, it makes them safer to all audiences, and makes their critisizm less direct in some ways.
But I think the best example of how the internet interprets socio-political commentary, and what kind of commentary this audience is comfortable with, is Matt Reeve's "The Batman" 2022. This movie is currently one of the internet's darlings, and people are obsessed with just how "mature" and "deep" this movie is.
Thing is though, as far as socio-political commentary goes...The Batman is a big nothing burger. The movie starts by introducing a bunch of very real socio-political ideas, such as the corrupt police, the politicians being controlled by a few rich people, the underground sex-trafficking in Gotham, or how domestic terrorists use the internet as a means of recruitment. And yet by the end of the film, none of these ideas amount to anything. They're all just window dressing for a fanservice Batman flick whose only moral theme is "Batman doesn't kill", as a corporate apology for Batman Vs. Superman.
The big moral moments of this film are Batman stopping Selina, one of the victims of Gotham's underground from killing the man who controls all of the corruption in Gotham, and Batman feeling sad because he punched a domestic terrorist too hard. Its almost hilarious honestly, because its clear that the Riddler's terrorist gang was based off of Q-anon, and if anything, the only thing that stopped them on January 6th was when a shot was fired into the inserrectunist crowd. So the whole "Batman needs to be more merciful to the villains" arc is actually the opposite of a real-world critique.
But that's the thing. The Batman isn't actually mature. It has nothing to say about our current world or political state. It just takes real world issues, and uses them as an aesthetic for a moral theme that doesn't actually fit in with said issues. And the thing is, The Batman is an incredibly heavy-handed movie. Just as much as Don't Look Up honestly. But the difference is, The Batman's heavy handed narrative is used only for Batman's "no kill rule", not any of the real world issues the film is introduced with.
And that's kinda' my whole point. There's a reason most people online love movies like The Batman. These movies treat socio-political commentary as window dressing, using some real world issues in the most surface level manner possible, then never making an actual conclusion in them. Because of that, movies like The Batman are incredibly safe movies, and are basically "enlightened centrist" fantasies with no bite.
Whereas something like Don't Look Up will actively target real world issues, and directly build its entire film around them. The film pulls no punches, and its clear what the targets of its commentary are. And because of that, this film's meaning can't be twisted in any way. There's no "both sides are just as bad" narrative here to make all audiences feel comfortable. This film knows what its about, and sticks to it.
And here's the thing...I'm not saying all movies that tackle real socio-political issues need to be super direct, and call out real names like Don't Look Up. The examples I listed before The Batman are good media, and they have a place in the world of film, TV, and gaming.
But what I am saying is that it feels like most audiences are just flat out afraid of any meaningful socio-political commentary. Even when it comes to a political satire, its as if audiences will only feel comfortable as long as the film is vague enough that it never directly makes a statement on a real world issue. And even if it does directly comment on something, as long as its disconnected enough from our reality, they'll be safe with it. Because it means it doesn't have to make them uncomfortable with the current state of our world. And because of that, when they're met with a socio-political commentary that actually has some bite to it, they're immediately bothered by the heavy-handedness of it. Because that means they have to confront real world issues in media, and for a lot of these people, media should be escapism, and nothing more.
To end this off, I'd like to mention the original piece of political satire...Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal". Written to offend the ruling class by comparing their treatment of the poor to cannabilism during a period of mass poverty in Ireland. I can guarantee you that some people thought Swift had went too far with this paper. Thing is, who do you think those people were? And who do you think his supporters were?
submitted by Brick_Block_297 to TrueFilm [link] [comments]
(...Also, this is secretly a hate-post for "The Batman"...)
For some context, "Don't Look Up" (2021) is an Adam McKay movie centered around an asteroid hitting the earth. The asteroid is an obvious commentary for climate change, and our protagonists are two scientists (played by Leonardo Dicaprio, and Kate Dibiasky) who desperately try to convince the US government to take action. The government has the ability to stop the asteroid, but refuses to because a tech CEO obviously based on Mark Zuckerberg makes a deal with the Republican president (played by Meryl Streep). Leonardo Dicaprio's character sells out to the tech CEO and Republicans, only to regret everything when its too late. The asteroid hits earth, and the top 1% escape on a spaceship.
This film is extremely, and I mean extremely in your face about its sociopolitical critique. The movie constantly makes fun of how working-class Republicans will parrot whatever the president says. The title itself, "Don't Look Up", is a slogan meant to be joke stand-in for Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again". The way the government refuses to take action against the asteroid is an obvious commentary on how our governments barely do against climate change. The film also makes fun of performative progressivism, as with the sellout scientist and concert scene.
Anyway, I've used the word "obviously" so many times now, its clear "Don't Look Up" is a very heavy handed film. I don't know if Adam McKay is the hardcore progressive leftist his film makes him out to be, but regardless, I absolutely love "Don't Look Up". Its heavy handed commentary is what makes this film for me.
However, upon release the film was met with a mixed reception. It currently stands at a 56% on Rotten Tomatoes, and much of the discussion was about how the film was pretentious, due to its heavy-handed message. Especially on Reddit, which seemed to hate this film. And I was really surprised honestly. The internet embodiment of "☝🤓 ermmm, ack-shually!" was calling for more subtly in this film's political commentary? The same website that doesn't shut up about Idioacracy and Blazing Saddles?
But, I think I know why "Don't Look Up" was hit with this reception. It isn't just that don't look up is a heavy handed, in your face kind of movie...its that the themes, messages, and setting, are all directly linked to our current world. It isn't a hypothetical dystopia like Idiocracy, or a century old wild west like Blazing Saddles. "Don't Look Up" takes place in our current political climate.
When "Don't Look Up" criticizes Republicans, it isn't talking about a cartoonish stand-in for the Republicans. Its talking about the current, real world Republicans. When it criticizes media propaganda, it directly references the tactics used by the very real Donald Trump. When it criticizes billionaire CEOs, it uses a character that is identical to our real world billionaire CEOs in all but name.
"Don't Look Up" did what most political commentary is too afraid to to...it directly tackled the issues it was commenting on. Even the fictional asteroid is still really on-the-nose about what its meant to be. It reminds me of when Gareth Marenghi said this...
"I know writers who use subtext...and they're all cowards!:
Maybe he was exaggerating for the bit...but I love this qoute. Because honestly, in our current political climate, what use does subtly have? In America right now, the political climate is constantly getting worse. The removal of women's rights, the attack on LGBTQ+ people, the slow death of the working class, and as "Don't Look Up" shows, the constant enderdagement to our environment. If you're gonna' talk about these very real, very harmful issues...why tiptoe around it? To make the people causing the harm more comfortable?
I think its important to note that on social media, I saw dozens of posts by people in the climate field praise "Don't Look Up", specifically because the on-the-nose nature of this movie represented how they felt. And honestly, that's pretty good proof that being subtle would've been to the detriment of this film. This film did what good political satire is meant to do. It appeased to the people being drowned out by those in power, and relentlessly critiqued those in power.
The funny thing is this...I'm always seeing people post about how they want more "mature" content that tackles real world issues. Especially on Reddit, in which people never shut up about the idea of the "mature reboot". And the thing is...this website actually loves media with heavy-handed messaging. But as I mentioned earlier, people don't want the messaging to actually be directly relevant to a real world topic. They just want media that alludes the the idea of socio-political commentary.
Its why Reddit loves media such as The Witcher III, Idiocracy, Blazing Saddles, early Game Of Thrones, Cyberpunk 2077, Blade Runner 2049. Yes, these pieces of media are very heavy handed in their themes, but because they use fictional stand-ins for their messages, it makes them safer to all audiences, and makes their critisizm less direct in some ways.
But I think the best example of how the internet interprets socio-political commentary, and what kind of commentary this audience is comfortable with, is Matt Reeve's "The Batman" 2022. This movie is currently one of the internet's darlings, and people are obsessed with just how "mature" and "deep" this movie is.
Thing is though, as far as socio-political commentary goes...The Batman is a big nothing burger. The movie starts by introducing a bunch of very real socio-political ideas, such as the corrupt police, the politicians being controlled by a few rich people, the underground sex-trafficking in Gotham, or how domestic terrorists use the internet as a means of recruitment. And yet by the end of the film, none of these ideas amount to anything. They're all just window dressing for a fanservice Batman flick whose only moral theme is "Batman doesn't kill", as a corporate apology for Batman Vs. Superman.
The big moral moments of this film are Batman stopping Selina, one of the victims of Gotham's underground from killing the man who controls all of the corruption in Gotham, and Batman feeling sad because he punched a domestic terrorist too hard. Its almost hilarious honestly, because its clear that the Riddler's terrorist gang was based off of Q-anon, and if anything, the only thing that stopped them on January 6th was when a shot was fired into the inserrectunist crowd. So the whole "Batman needs to be more merciful to the villains" arc is actually the opposite of a real-world critique.
But that's the thing. The Batman isn't actually mature. It has nothing to say about our current world or political state. It just takes real world issues, and uses them as an aesthetic for a moral theme that doesn't actually fit in with said issues. And the thing is, The Batman is an incredibly heavy-handed movie. Just as much as Don't Look Up honestly. But the difference is, The Batman's heavy handed narrative is used only for Batman's "no kill rule", not any of the real world issues the film is introduced with.
And that's kinda' my whole point. There's a reason most people online love movies like The Batman. These movies treat socio-political commentary as window dressing, using some real world issues in the most surface level manner possible, then never making an actual conclusion in them. Because of that, movies like The Batman are incredibly safe movies, and are basically "enlightened centrist" fantasies with no bite.
Whereas something like Don't Look Up will actively target real world issues, and directly build its entire film around them. The film pulls no punches, and its clear what the targets of its commentary are. And because of that, this film's meaning can't be twisted in any way. There's no "both sides are just as bad" narrative here to make all audiences feel comfortable. This film knows what its about, and sticks to it.
And here's the thing...I'm not saying all movies that tackle real socio-political issues need to be super direct, and call out real names like Don't Look Up. The examples I listed before The Batman are good media, and they have a place in the world of film, TV, and gaming.
But what I am saying is that it feels like most audiences are just flat out afraid of any meaningful socio-political commentary. Even when it comes to a political satire, its as if audiences will only feel comfortable as long as the film is vague enough that it never directly makes a statement on a real world issue. And even if it does directly comment on something, as long as its disconnected enough from our reality, they'll be safe with it. Because it means it doesn't have to make them uncomfortable with the current state of our world. And because of that, when they're met with a socio-political commentary that actually has some bite to it, they're immediately bothered by the heavy-handedness of it. Because that means they have to confront real world issues in media, and for a lot of these people, media should be escapism, and nothing more.
To end this off, I'd like to mention the original piece of political satire...Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal". Written to offend the ruling class by comparing their treatment of the poor to cannabilism during a period of mass poverty in Ireland. I can guarantee you that some people thought Swift had went too far with this paper. Thing is, who do you think those people were? And who do you think his supporters were?
2023.05.30 23:05 imhere2913 Threatened with a 3 months notice over a stupid argument. This 3 month notice could greatly impact my life.
I posted this on Advice and they suggested I share it here too. Sorry for it being quite emotional, I am genuinely panicking right now and feel really hurt.
" My partner is threatening me by sending a 3 months notice on the flat we rent together. This is due to me saying I am too busy to take photos for him, to which he responded in a very entitled way that annoyed me. This very childish back and forth fight led to him very suddenly saying that because of what "I've done" he's sending a 3 months notice. Last year he found our current flat on Rightmove, he strongly persuaded me to move in with him as it is affordable and meant we could live very close to where we work. The flat is part of an intermediate housing scheme helping people live close to where they work. I am a 15 minute walk away from my work, outside of the practicalities I really love where I live. He has mentioned wanting to move to another country for some time. He is currently in discussion with his work about working remotely. He has been very vague on how I fit in this, one thing he mentioned is that he’ll continue to contribute to the rent so it doesn't mean I have to lose the flat. But in moments when he has been unhappy about something I have or haven't done, he's often blamed me for being the reason he's still in the UK. He claims that I am a liability to him, that I have been preventing him from moving abroad, and I am the reason he is stuck, depressed and angry. After what I thought was a silly argument he’s claiming I'm to blame for us agreeing to sign a contract to this flat. The agreement was entirely mutual, and he strongly pushed for us to secure a 5 year contract on this flat. Prior to this, I had suggested many times that we should move to separate places knowing how much he wants to move to another country, but he strongly expressed how much he wanted me to live with him and rent this flat together. I'm very worried about the impact this can have on my life, especially financially. I am not on a high wage, I am trying to live in London during a cost of living crisis. Renting the flat I am in now saves a fortune on travel costs as I'm walking distance from work, I won't be able to afford this place alone and I don't know how I'd find somewhere else in 3 months. I have an art project coming up over the next 3 months that can be life-changing, but I also can't drop this project because I'm in agreement with them. Trying to relocate to a new flat and the financial impact of this could mean I'd lose this project, it would be an opportunity I could never get again, and it could be up to £8000 I owe the company for not being able to stick to my promise on completing this art project. I really hope I can get help! Instead of me responding to the company of this art project I am writing a draft letter to citizens advice and on here for help. He has already got in the way of one of the most important things to happen in my life, if not the most important thing. This could ruin my life, and it's over a very pathetic argument."
submitted by imhere2913 to LegalAdviceUK [link] [comments]
" My partner is threatening me by sending a 3 months notice on the flat we rent together. This is due to me saying I am too busy to take photos for him, to which he responded in a very entitled way that annoyed me. This very childish back and forth fight led to him very suddenly saying that because of what "I've done" he's sending a 3 months notice. Last year he found our current flat on Rightmove, he strongly persuaded me to move in with him as it is affordable and meant we could live very close to where we work. The flat is part of an intermediate housing scheme helping people live close to where they work. I am a 15 minute walk away from my work, outside of the practicalities I really love where I live. He has mentioned wanting to move to another country for some time. He is currently in discussion with his work about working remotely. He has been very vague on how I fit in this, one thing he mentioned is that he’ll continue to contribute to the rent so it doesn't mean I have to lose the flat. But in moments when he has been unhappy about something I have or haven't done, he's often blamed me for being the reason he's still in the UK. He claims that I am a liability to him, that I have been preventing him from moving abroad, and I am the reason he is stuck, depressed and angry. After what I thought was a silly argument he’s claiming I'm to blame for us agreeing to sign a contract to this flat. The agreement was entirely mutual, and he strongly pushed for us to secure a 5 year contract on this flat. Prior to this, I had suggested many times that we should move to separate places knowing how much he wants to move to another country, but he strongly expressed how much he wanted me to live with him and rent this flat together. I'm very worried about the impact this can have on my life, especially financially. I am not on a high wage, I am trying to live in London during a cost of living crisis. Renting the flat I am in now saves a fortune on travel costs as I'm walking distance from work, I won't be able to afford this place alone and I don't know how I'd find somewhere else in 3 months. I have an art project coming up over the next 3 months that can be life-changing, but I also can't drop this project because I'm in agreement with them. Trying to relocate to a new flat and the financial impact of this could mean I'd lose this project, it would be an opportunity I could never get again, and it could be up to £8000 I owe the company for not being able to stick to my promise on completing this art project. I really hope I can get help! Instead of me responding to the company of this art project I am writing a draft letter to citizens advice and on here for help. He has already got in the way of one of the most important things to happen in my life, if not the most important thing. This could ruin my life, and it's over a very pathetic argument."
2023.05.30 23:00 Heavy-Is-The-Crown TCL Flip 2 or Sunbeam F1?
I am torn between the TCL FLip 2 and the Sunbeam F1.... I've done a lot of thinking in regards to what I actually need versus want in a dumbphone and I've come down to these:
NEEDS:
- Calls (reliable in both getting them and making them as well as audio clarity)
- Texting (group texts needed and texts being in order is important)
- Maps
- voice to text
- flashlight
- voice recorder or camera
-alarm clock/timer
- Bluetooth (I drive around 3k miles per month so being able to hook up to my 2014 mini would be superb!)
BONUSES/NICETIES:
- music is a bonus not necessarily needed
- Radio is a nice to have not a need
- headphone jack
- prefer non-touch screens but touch screens are not a deal breaker
- Hotspot would be great (I know the sunbeam doesn't have it)
- Email bonus not necessarily needed (simply to make sure I get time sensitive emails from my sons school)
- Smaller sized phone that can fit in a pocket easily (I have an iphone 13 mini so ideally not to much bigger than the mini)
I've been reading up on the Sunbeam F1 and the TCL Flip 2
- Can anyone speak to their experiences with these phones?
- Which is better in terms of quality, reliability, battery, etc.
I know the TCL Flip 2 is on TracFone and I've never used them, I'm in the northeast USA (near New York). Is TracFone a good service providereliable? I'm looking to keep my monthly phone bill to be no more than $20-$30/month. I make a lot of phone calls to a friend/coworker (as in we can be on the phone for 2-4 hours per day sometimes doing remote work). I'm open to all providers (at&t, verizon, tmobile and any mnvos) and would like recommendations if TracFone isn't good long-term as I know you need to be with them 60 days before the TCL Flip 2 is able to be unlocked.
I've heard great things about the Sunbeam F1. I know it doesn't have hotspot and that's been the one thing that has held me back as I figured keeping my smartphone turned off as backup would be nice in case I needed better maps or QR or 2FA for an emergency. I reached out to Sunbeams customer support and they are working on a Sunbream F1 Pro line up and they told me they believe hotspot will hopefully be a feature of one of the Pros and that the Pro is expected to come out in a couple months. So there aren't any guarantee's on hotspot or even a date on when the Pro is expected to be out.
Would love thoughts as I am not able to stick to my Nokia 225 4G given that there are no group texts, texts come in out of order, and other glitchy aspects that make it hard for me to commit to this phone over my iphone and I don't want to use my iphone outside of for work (I own my own business and need slack for clients).
Thanks in advance!
submitted by Heavy-Is-The-Crown to dumbphones [link] [comments]
NEEDS:
- Calls (reliable in both getting them and making them as well as audio clarity)
- Texting (group texts needed and texts being in order is important)
- Maps
- voice to text
- flashlight
- voice recorder or camera
-alarm clock/timer
- Bluetooth (I drive around 3k miles per month so being able to hook up to my 2014 mini would be superb!)
BONUSES/NICETIES:
- music is a bonus not necessarily needed
- Radio is a nice to have not a need
- headphone jack
- prefer non-touch screens but touch screens are not a deal breaker
- Hotspot would be great (I know the sunbeam doesn't have it)
- Email bonus not necessarily needed (simply to make sure I get time sensitive emails from my sons school)
- Smaller sized phone that can fit in a pocket easily (I have an iphone 13 mini so ideally not to much bigger than the mini)
I've been reading up on the Sunbeam F1 and the TCL Flip 2
- Can anyone speak to their experiences with these phones?
- Which is better in terms of quality, reliability, battery, etc.
I know the TCL Flip 2 is on TracFone and I've never used them, I'm in the northeast USA (near New York). Is TracFone a good service providereliable? I'm looking to keep my monthly phone bill to be no more than $20-$30/month. I make a lot of phone calls to a friend/coworker (as in we can be on the phone for 2-4 hours per day sometimes doing remote work). I'm open to all providers (at&t, verizon, tmobile and any mnvos) and would like recommendations if TracFone isn't good long-term as I know you need to be with them 60 days before the TCL Flip 2 is able to be unlocked.
I've heard great things about the Sunbeam F1. I know it doesn't have hotspot and that's been the one thing that has held me back as I figured keeping my smartphone turned off as backup would be nice in case I needed better maps or QR or 2FA for an emergency. I reached out to Sunbeams customer support and they are working on a Sunbream F1 Pro line up and they told me they believe hotspot will hopefully be a feature of one of the Pros and that the Pro is expected to come out in a couple months. So there aren't any guarantee's on hotspot or even a date on when the Pro is expected to be out.
Would love thoughts as I am not able to stick to my Nokia 225 4G given that there are no group texts, texts come in out of order, and other glitchy aspects that make it hard for me to commit to this phone over my iphone and I don't want to use my iphone outside of for work (I own my own business and need slack for clients).
Thanks in advance!
2023.05.30 22:59 Successful_Thanks550 RP Ad
Hello! My name is Laurel, 24f. I’m looking for new RP partners. I have been RPing mostly with one partner since I was thirteen. I stick to PG content, but I’d like my partners to be 18+. I write anywhere from two lines to four paragraphs but could adjust a little. I don’t care how much you write as long as it’s well-written, in semi-literate style.
I often do doubles so we both get what we want, but if it’s not necessary that’s okay too. I like to play a female character who dates male characters on my end, so if you hate straight ships, I’m not the partner for you! I will, however, play whoever you want for your half regardless of gender.
I usually do fandom-related stuff with either canon or OCs or a combination of the two. I’m dying to do a Percy Jackson RP because I’ve been in love with him since I was twelve and can’t find anyone to write that with. However, the list of fandoms I’m into includes: -Percy Jackson, as previously stated -Harry Potter -Marauders -Reign CW -The Good Place -The School for Good and Evil -Twilight -The Vampire Diaries -Divergent -The Hunger Games -loads more because I watch too much tv and read a lot
Things I won’t write- age gaps, characters older than 30 ish, NSFW, I’m not really into sci-fi.
Feel free to shoot me a message if you think we’d be a good fit! I love to talk to my RP partners as well and make friends.
submitted by Successful_Thanks550 to roleplaying [link] [comments]
I often do doubles so we both get what we want, but if it’s not necessary that’s okay too. I like to play a female character who dates male characters on my end, so if you hate straight ships, I’m not the partner for you! I will, however, play whoever you want for your half regardless of gender.
I usually do fandom-related stuff with either canon or OCs or a combination of the two. I’m dying to do a Percy Jackson RP because I’ve been in love with him since I was twelve and can’t find anyone to write that with. However, the list of fandoms I’m into includes: -Percy Jackson, as previously stated -Harry Potter -Marauders -Reign CW -The Good Place -The School for Good and Evil -Twilight -The Vampire Diaries -Divergent -The Hunger Games -loads more because I watch too much tv and read a lot
Things I won’t write- age gaps, characters older than 30 ish, NSFW, I’m not really into sci-fi.
Feel free to shoot me a message if you think we’d be a good fit! I love to talk to my RP partners as well and make friends.
2023.05.30 22:52 Successful_Thanks550 RP Ad
Hello! My name is Laurel, 24f. I’m looking for new RP partners. I have been RPing mostly with one partner since I was thirteen. I stick to PG content, but I’d like my partners to be 18+. I write anywhere from two lines to four paragraphs but could adjust a little. I don’t care how much you write as long as it’s well-written, in semi-literate style.
I often do doubles so we both get what we want, but if it’s not necessary that’s okay too. I like to play a female character who dates male characters on my end, so if you hate straight ships, I’m not the partner for you! I will, however, play whoever you want for your half regardless of gender.
I usually do fandom-related stuff with either canon or OCs or a combination of the two. I’m dying to do a Percy Jackson RP because I’ve been in love with him since I was twelve and can’t find anyone to write that with. However, the list of fandoms I’m into includes: -Percy Jackson, as previously stated -Harry Potter -Marauders -Reign CW -The Good Place -The School for Good and Evil -Twilight -The Vampire Diaries -Divergent -The Hunger Games -loads more because I watch too much tv and read a lot
Things I won’t write- age gaps, characters older than 30 ish, NSFW, I’m not really into sci-fi.
Feel free to shoot me a message if you think we’d be a good fit! I love to talk to my RP partners as well and make friends.
submitted by Successful_Thanks550 to RoleplayPartnerSearch [link] [comments]
I often do doubles so we both get what we want, but if it’s not necessary that’s okay too. I like to play a female character who dates male characters on my end, so if you hate straight ships, I’m not the partner for you! I will, however, play whoever you want for your half regardless of gender.
I usually do fandom-related stuff with either canon or OCs or a combination of the two. I’m dying to do a Percy Jackson RP because I’ve been in love with him since I was twelve and can’t find anyone to write that with. However, the list of fandoms I’m into includes: -Percy Jackson, as previously stated -Harry Potter -Marauders -Reign CW -The Good Place -The School for Good and Evil -Twilight -The Vampire Diaries -Divergent -The Hunger Games -loads more because I watch too much tv and read a lot
Things I won’t write- age gaps, characters older than 30 ish, NSFW, I’m not really into sci-fi.
Feel free to shoot me a message if you think we’d be a good fit! I love to talk to my RP partners as well and make friends.
2023.05.30 22:35 4228w I despite wearing binders!
Don't get me wrong, I would rather wear a binder out in the public and to have my chest as flat as possible, but binders are not really for me.
I dislike the feeling of binders on my skin and it bothers me A LOT even if it fits me pretty well. One thing I hate the most about binders is that I ALWAYS get acne or my body starts to itch every single time after I wear them.
I want to get top surgery as soon as possible but I can't at the moment due to personal reasons, so I usually stick to KT tape or trans tape but I have to make my skin breathe from time-to-time.
If you guys know a brand or a shop that sells binders that are good for skin or "sensory issues" (not sure what term to use) sensitive please let me know!
submitted by 4228w to ftm [link] [comments]
I dislike the feeling of binders on my skin and it bothers me A LOT even if it fits me pretty well. One thing I hate the most about binders is that I ALWAYS get acne or my body starts to itch every single time after I wear them.
I want to get top surgery as soon as possible but I can't at the moment due to personal reasons, so I usually stick to KT tape or trans tape but I have to make my skin breathe from time-to-time.
If you guys know a brand or a shop that sells binders that are good for skin or "sensory issues" (not sure what term to use) sensitive please let me know!
2023.05.30 22:35 imhere2913 Threatened with a 3 months notice over a stupid argument. This 3 month notice could greatly impact my life.
My partner is threatening me by sending a 3 months notice on the flat we rent together. This is due to me saying I am too busy to take photos for him, to which he responded in a very entitled way that annoyed me. This very childish back and forth fight led to him very suddenly saying that because of what "I've done" he's sending a 3 months notice.
Last year he found our current flat on Rightmove, he strongly persuaded me to move in with him as it is affordable and meant we could live very close to where we work. The flat is part of an intermediate housing scheme helping people live close to where they work. I am a 15 minute walk away from my work, outside of the practicalities I really love where I live.
He has mentioned wanting to move to another country for some time. He is currently in discussion with his work about working remotely. He has been very vague on how I fit in this, one thing he mentioned is that he’ll continue to contribute to the rent so it doesn't mean I have to lose the flat.
But in moments when he has been unhappy about something I have or haven't done, he's often blamed me for being the reason he's still in the UK. He claims that I am a liability to him, that I have been preventing him from moving abroad, and I am the reason he is stuck, depressed and angry.
After what I thought was a silly argument he’s claiming I'm to blame for us agreeing to sign a contract to this flat.
The agreement was entirely mutual, and he strongly pushed for us to secure a 5 year contract on this flat. Prior to this, I had suggested many times that we should move to separate places knowing how much he wants to move to another country, but he strongly expressed how much he wanted me to live with him and rent this flat together.
I'm very worried about the impact this can have on my life, especially financially. I am not on a high wage, I am trying to live in London during a cost of living crisis. Renting the flat I am in now saves a fortune on travel costs as I'm walking distance from work, I won't be able to afford this place alone and I don't know how I'd find somewhere else in 3 months. I have an art project coming up over the next 3 months that can be life-changing, but I also can't drop this project because I'm in agreement with them. Trying to relocate to a new flat and the financial impact of this could mean I'd lose this project, it would be an opportunity I could never get again, and it could be up to £8000 I owe the company for not being able to stick to my promise on completing this art project.
I really hope I can get help! Instead of me responding to the company of this art project I am writing a draft letter to citizens advice and on here for help. He has already got in the way of one of the most important things to happen in my life, if not the most important thing.
This could ruin my life, and it's over a very pathetic argument.
submitted by imhere2913 to Advice [link] [comments]
Last year he found our current flat on Rightmove, he strongly persuaded me to move in with him as it is affordable and meant we could live very close to where we work. The flat is part of an intermediate housing scheme helping people live close to where they work. I am a 15 minute walk away from my work, outside of the practicalities I really love where I live.
He has mentioned wanting to move to another country for some time. He is currently in discussion with his work about working remotely. He has been very vague on how I fit in this, one thing he mentioned is that he’ll continue to contribute to the rent so it doesn't mean I have to lose the flat.
But in moments when he has been unhappy about something I have or haven't done, he's often blamed me for being the reason he's still in the UK. He claims that I am a liability to him, that I have been preventing him from moving abroad, and I am the reason he is stuck, depressed and angry.
After what I thought was a silly argument he’s claiming I'm to blame for us agreeing to sign a contract to this flat.
The agreement was entirely mutual, and he strongly pushed for us to secure a 5 year contract on this flat. Prior to this, I had suggested many times that we should move to separate places knowing how much he wants to move to another country, but he strongly expressed how much he wanted me to live with him and rent this flat together.
I'm very worried about the impact this can have on my life, especially financially. I am not on a high wage, I am trying to live in London during a cost of living crisis. Renting the flat I am in now saves a fortune on travel costs as I'm walking distance from work, I won't be able to afford this place alone and I don't know how I'd find somewhere else in 3 months. I have an art project coming up over the next 3 months that can be life-changing, but I also can't drop this project because I'm in agreement with them. Trying to relocate to a new flat and the financial impact of this could mean I'd lose this project, it would be an opportunity I could never get again, and it could be up to £8000 I owe the company for not being able to stick to my promise on completing this art project.
I really hope I can get help! Instead of me responding to the company of this art project I am writing a draft letter to citizens advice and on here for help. He has already got in the way of one of the most important things to happen in my life, if not the most important thing.
This could ruin my life, and it's over a very pathetic argument.
2023.05.30 22:25 HopefullyABiologist Any tips to make my makeup not settle like this? I feel like it’s in my pores for some reason?
 | Primer - Elf Poreless Foundation - Fit Me Matte Concealer - Maybelline Eraser Powder - Fit Me submitted by HopefullyABiologist to MakeupLounge [link] [comments] |
2023.05.30 22:20 PiezoelectricityOne Help me redefine my setup
Hi, dawless fans! I got hit by GAS with the Behringer 2600 and the new edge, but I have too much gear and too little money and storage, so before buying anything else I must sell something from my stash. I'm trying to wrap my head around what to keep and what to flip, I want my setup to be more modular, and focused on timbrical exploration and experimentation, mostly for playing in my living room but I still want to be able to make tracks/live performances. I don't have a favorite genre, other than I like abstract/psychedelic stuff from gritty techno to chill ambient and anything in between.
This is what I have: Tradeable: Behringer Neutron, Crave, Wasp. Korg Electribe 2, kp3+. Arturia minibrute, drumbrute. Novation Circuit Mono Station.
Not for trade: 8 channel mixer, 4in 4out router mixer, zoom r-8 recorder, bulky old midi kb (I barely use it), sporadic diy midi and CV devices I build and program myself (CV to CC converters, exotic controllers, sequencers, analog Mod sources).
The way it goes now, most sounds are routed to neutron and wasp "front of the house", which act as VCF/vca modelling stage, kaoss pad on Fx send/return. Electribe acting like a midi brain but letting the other sequencers do their stuff. Mono Station holds melodic tracks or acts as a lead controller, while crave and minibrute will play ostinatos/rythm stuff and drumbrute keeps a foundation beat/spice up the fills and buildups,
If I got either a 2600, an edge or both, it'll help me expand modular concepts and sounds that I want. Which of my current instruments you think will play better with them? Which won't fit? What's your opinion?
submitted by PiezoelectricityOne to dawless [link] [comments]
This is what I have: Tradeable: Behringer Neutron, Crave, Wasp. Korg Electribe 2, kp3+. Arturia minibrute, drumbrute. Novation Circuit Mono Station.
Not for trade: 8 channel mixer, 4in 4out router mixer, zoom r-8 recorder, bulky old midi kb (I barely use it), sporadic diy midi and CV devices I build and program myself (CV to CC converters, exotic controllers, sequencers, analog Mod sources).
The way it goes now, most sounds are routed to neutron and wasp "front of the house", which act as VCF/vca modelling stage, kaoss pad on Fx send/return. Electribe acting like a midi brain but letting the other sequencers do their stuff. Mono Station holds melodic tracks or acts as a lead controller, while crave and minibrute will play ostinatos/rythm stuff and drumbrute keeps a foundation beat/spice up the fills and buildups,
If I got either a 2600, an edge or both, it'll help me expand modular concepts and sounds that I want. Which of my current instruments you think will play better with them? Which won't fit? What's your opinion?
2023.05.30 22:15 Rekix_YT Why do i feel like this at age 14
Hi, I'm 14 years old and my perception of the world I would say doesn't fit my Age. My life at the fucking age of 14 is boring, unfunny, full of suffering and stereotypes. Every day is the same, I have no experiences, I walk around in the same clothes for months and listening to my brother's experiences doesn't really help.I have ADHD which wouldn't be so bad but when you add depression, anxiety and I don't know what other disorders I have it's unmanageable. It's starting to affect me everywhere.I used to be able to hide it now I'm fed up. At school I'm all the time with no energy and no smile.Luckily I'm invisible to others so at least that's it.What pisses me off the most is that my anger and pain gets bottled up inside me and sometimes I can't hold it in and I unleash it on my dad who I love the most in the world and then I suffer even more. It's a never ending process and cycle of suffering.
I know you say "at this age?" "It gets worse."
That's what scares me. Life is easy at my age compared to adulthood and if I'm suffering like this at 14 I'm going to put a bullet in my head by 21
My father is the only one who knows that I'm probably mentally ill.Sometimes he hides his fears behind sarcastic remarks like "you're afraid of people(meaning my social anxiety)" or sometimes he tells me I'm suffering from depression so sarcastically. Sometimes when my dad gets drunk he tells me things but the only one that sticks in my head is "You're only going to suffer when you grow up" which just confirms what I've been thinking for so long
I'm tired of it and i think i don't have enough energy to live to next year
submitted by Rekix_YT to teenagers [link] [comments]
I know you say "at this age?" "It gets worse."
That's what scares me. Life is easy at my age compared to adulthood and if I'm suffering like this at 14 I'm going to put a bullet in my head by 21
My father is the only one who knows that I'm probably mentally ill.Sometimes he hides his fears behind sarcastic remarks like "you're afraid of people(meaning my social anxiety)" or sometimes he tells me I'm suffering from depression so sarcastically. Sometimes when my dad gets drunk he tells me things but the only one that sticks in my head is "You're only going to suffer when you grow up" which just confirms what I've been thinking for so long
I'm tired of it and i think i don't have enough energy to live to next year
2023.05.30 22:09 bookwormsfodder This lovely brushed jersey cactus fabric became a top!
 | You've seen the skirt (and likely read about my insane project) already so on to the top! submitted by bookwormsfodder to sewing [link] [comments] This is a forget me not pattern that I keep meaning to do extra FBA to, but can never be bothered wearing a sports bra in the pic so forgive the weird shape. I saw this lovely cactus fabric and had to have it and thought it would look great in this top pattern with the long cuff that I'd never actually made before, only the short cuff or full bishop sleeve. I once again cba to add to the FBA (the pattern comes with an FBA option, which this is, but it's not enough) and figured I could deal with the slight off fit because it's a loose fitting top and likely not many people would notice. One day I'll slash and stick and slash and stick but it was not that day. Fabric was a dream to work with, ran up very quickly, had fun with the full length cuffs which were a pain to turn out evenly. Decided to sew them to sleeves with normal machine first before overlocking which was definitely the right choice. I even topstitched the neckband. I was feeling fancy. Thrilled with how well the print works for this style and just sad I don't have more fabric to make a skater dress out of! |