Ladies on top romance manga online

• Nikola Tesla: The clone of the father of electricity, Nikola really tries hard to be like his clonefather, but his inventions always blow up in his own face. He doesn't seem to like Thomas Edison.
• Stephen Hawking: The clone of the famous disabled theoretical physics, Stephen is actually the most youngest student in school. Because he skipped a few grades due to his massive inteligence.
• Ramesses II: The clone of the third ruler of Egypt, Ramesses is a lady's man and tries to hook up with Cleo. He also became the foster clone brother of Moses.
• Albert Einstein: The clone of the famous scientist, instead of using his intelligence for something useful. He decides to used it to make funny pranks, filmed it and upload on MeTube.
• Jack the Ripper: The clone of the most infamous killer in history, Jack is the quiet kid in class and his classmate prefer not to messed up with him due to his clonefather's history
• Simon Bolivar: The clone of the Venezuelan president, he is a bit of a bookworm always on the library looking for a book to read
• Osamu Tezuka: The clone of the father of manga, he is one of the newer popular kids in school due to his clone father being famous for his work. He is also a big otaku and owns a body pillow called "Kimiko"
• Lady Godiva: The clone of the naked noble woman, she like her clonemother is naked and likes it that way. She rather died than to wear any clothes to class or anywhere in the world.
• Wes Craven: The clone of the horror movie director, he is a big movie fan (mostly on horror films) and wishes to be a great film director like his clonefather. The problem is that most of his projects are remakes of the original's films like "Nightmare of Elm Street" or "Scream"
• Bruce Lee: The clone of the famous martial artist, he as a great stretch but he is rather a pacifist that only uses his fist when provoked.

(Sorry it’s a long rant but I’m extremely frustrated and need input) Recently I’ve had a friend reach out to me several times a week with crochet patterns asking if we can make them or if I can figure out the pattern so “we” can make it. I usually look up how much the pattern is, give them a cost break down on what supplies it says you need, and how much yarn it takes. I only started doing that after being asked several times if I had the stuff to make it or could get it, and having to kind of change the subject because I didn’t want us to use my materials, and also because they wanted to use chunky yarn which I don’t enjoy crocheting with. As a little backstory, I learned to crochet when I was in elementary school from and old lady who taught me how to do a chain, sc, and a dc. Once I got to college I taught myself everything else I know (later impressing and surpassing the same old lady who now loves to see all that I make and shares patterns with me). I often bring crochet everywhere I go and crochet in front of this friend and I think they assume that it’ll be easy to make things since I’m so quick and it looks easy, but what they don’t realize is I have over 15 years of experience. Where I’m struggling the most is that I’m not a very big amigurumi person. Some amigurumi patterns I love, buy, and make, but very rarely do I freehand amigurumi like I do other crochet things. Every pattern they’ve sent me has been big fluffy yarn amigurumi with lots of color changes and working in the round. They’ve never crocheted before and want to start with these more intermediate and up patterns and want me to walk them through it. Am I wrong for being hesitant and jumpy when they send new patterns asking about making them? I set a boundary that I won’t lend them my supplies or tools, which I think made things awkward- as we’re both pretty broke and starting off fully just adds on top of the cost of the yarn (especially the plush yarn they want). We’ve only been friends for a couple months too so I’m not sure if this is a “let’s bond thing” when it feels more like a using me for my talents thing… any advice or input is appreciated as I’ve talked to other non-crocheting adults and have gotten mixed messages in response, and would rather have other crocheters insight:)

Sunday, May 21 - Saturday, May 27

Fresh Albums

score	comments	title & link	mirrors
227	19 comments	[FRESH ALBUM] Arlo Parks - My Soft Machine
208	50 comments	[👀] [FRESH ALBUM] AJJ - Disposable Everything	[AM] [BC] [Dzr] [SC]
132	25 comments	[👀] [FRESH ALBUM] Water From Your Eyes - Everyone's Crushed
100	12 comments	[FRESH ALBUM] Kevin Morby - More Photographs (A Continuum)
93	2 comments	[FRESH ALBUM] Radiator Hospital - Can't Make Any Promises	[Sp] [AM] [Dzr]

 

Fresh Videos

score	comments	title & link	mirrors
303	56 comments	[FRESH VIDEO] Jeff Rosenstock - LIKED U BETTER	[Sp] [BC] [Dzr] [SC]
293	37 comments	[FRESH VIDEO] Squid - The Blades	[Sp] [AM] [BC] [Dzr]
186	15 comments	[FRESH VIDEO] Clark - Medicine (feat. Thom Yorke)
56	10 comments	[FRESH VIDEO] Buck Meek - Haunted Mountain // Announces new album 'Haunted Mountain' out August 25th via 4AD

 

Fresh Performances

score	comments	title & link	mirrors
137	10 comments	[FRESH PERFORMANCE] King Gizzard - Gaia
51	1 comments	[FRESH PERFORMANCE] The Murder Capital - Full Performance (Live on KEXP)

 

Fresh

score	comments	title & link	mirrors
426	31 comments	[FRESH] The Voidz - Prophecy of the Dragon
116	3 comments	[FRESH] Sylvan Esso - Live at Electric Lady	[YT]
105	17 comments	[👀] [FRESH] Portugal. the Man - Summer of Luv (feat. Unknown Mortal Orchestra)
104	10 comments	[FRESH] George Clanton - Justify Your Life
94	14 comments	[FRESH] Tame Impala - Retina Show / Sidetrack Soundtrack (Unreleased 'Lonerism' Demos)
82	10 comments	[FRESH ALBUM] Sparks - The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte	[AM] [BC] [Dzr]
76	2 comments	[👀] [FRESH ALBUM] Miya Folick - ROACH
64	4 comments	[FRESH] Swans - Los Angeles: City of Death
52	12 comments	[FRESH CHART] New Alternative 40 - May 28, 2023 - THE JAPANESE HOUSE advances to #1 with "Sunshine Baby" ARLO PARKS has the highest debut. CLARK, JUNGLE, FOO FIGHTERS, LITTLE DRAGON, and ROYAL BLOOD also debut in the top 20. CLARK, JUNIP, BUCK MEEK, and LIZA ANNE chart for the first time.
49	2 comments	[FRESH EP] Dev Lemons - Delusional	[AM] [Dzr]

 

Top 5 Other Posts

score	comments	title & link	mirrors
883	28 comments	'Queen of rock 'n' roll' Tina Turner dies at 83
627	79 comments	Japanese Breakfast announces open casting call to play her in 'Crying In H Mart’ movie
571	60 comments	Tom Waits is “Writing Again,” Says His Music Agent
563	68 comments	Black Midi announce one-off gig playing set of The Beatles covers
501	197 comments	Oasis reunion being planned with 'four nights at iconic venue'

 

Sunday, May 21 - Saturday, May 27

Top 10 Posts

score	comments	title & link
151	66 comments	[double standards] The "male housework list" or "honey do list" (the second shift) | Sources from Dr. Warren Farrell
92	37 comments	[discussion] Panopticon of iffiness
66	35 comments	[sexuality] Something I want to ask and I could be an ass for asking this. What is with the left's disdain of agency in dating and relationships??
62	5 comments	[discussion] George Orwell on Male Disposability
60	3 comments	[education] POSTPONED: the publication of the new Title IX regulations that cut deep into accused students' due process protections have been pushed back from May to October 2023.
52	69 comments	[masculinity] Question for the peeps in this sub: Do you want the bonding nature of men to change for the better or should we respect the way most men socialize, but encourage more “bromance” culture?
49	33 comments	[resource] Why does the homeless situation continue to get worse despite the government spending millions of dollars on it.
44	31 comments	[discussion] How are men's rights viewed in scandinavian societies?
24	8 comments	[resource] The peacock’s tail as a metaphor for ‘patriarchy’.
1	1 comments	[discussion] LeftWingMaleAdvocates top posts and comments for the week of May 14 - May 20

 

Top 10 Comments

score	comment
121	SpicyMarshmellow said >a lot of them will say "just start out as friends and if it's meant to be, let it grow from there." And I guarantee these same people will tell men that complain about the friendzone that they shoul...
99	AskingToFeminists said Basically, what happened is feminism. It has spent decades portraying men as sex obsessed monsters, and any form of male attraction as degrading. It pretty much took up the spirit of Dworkins "all het...
81	Oncefa2 said One observation by Farrell is that many of these tasks happen outside the home, which makes the word housework itself kind of biased. That's actually one of the (many) flaws with Arlie Hoch...
80	ChrongrariusWimble said "Why is there disdain for taking active agency with love and dating? Why are a lot of people subscribing to wanting relationships to just happen out of thin air?" This is because online discourse is ...
78	parahacker said None of the above. Men's isolation is a symptom, not a cause - and the cause is systemic and cultural bias. Things like assuming men are dangerous predators, media tropes about men, etc. You're not ...
75	TisIChenoir said We should let men be men, and that means accepting the way men tend to naturally behave. It's funny though that we go to great length to change society to accomodate women (as we should), but...
75	Your_Agenda_Sucks said Because 3/4 of homeless people are men, but we keep opening women's shelters.
64	a-man-from-earth said If I want anything to change, it's how society at large values men.
63	Maffioze said Great post. This doesn't even include the kind of work men do in order to be a confident, stoic and stable presence for women during times of distress.
62	TisIChenoir said First instinct? It's coming from the general point of view of women in dating. Basically, meeting people, dating, sex, is something that ",happens" for alot of women. It's not something they have to ...

 

Hello, my name is Jack and I’m pretty much what the title says! I’m a 6’2 tattooed emo nerd with a bad bod without the kids. You can see what I look like on my page. I’m just looking to chat and see where things go! So here is a bit more about me ☺️

• I’m a massive film fan. I studied it at university and I’ve created a few short films in my time. Some of my favourite films are Paddington 2, the wind rises, perfect blue, Pans labyrinth and Oldboy just to name a few. I have a blu-ray collection of 160 films currently which has all different types of films there. Tell me about your favourite film and why?
  
• I’m a big music person. I will mainly listen to rock, alternative, emo, indie and anything else like that. Some bands/artist I enjoy are twenty one pilots, my chemical romance, Enter Shikari, fall out boy, paramore, linkin park, Joji, Japanese Breakfast and Eden. I love concerts a lot, currently I’m going to 9 in total this year!
  
• I’m a big weeb. I love anime and manga. Some anime I love is fullmetal alchemist brotherhood, mob psycho 100, devilman crybaby, jujutsu kaisen, cyberpunk edge runner and more. As for manga I’m currently reading Kaiju No. 8, chainsaw man, and black clover. I enjoyed all Fujimoto one shots, Tokyo ghoul, and Haikyu!
  
• I’m big into nature, hiking and walking. I’ve started hiking this year and connecting with nature. I have a few plants which I look after and love a lot haha. They help me a lot
  
• Lastly I enjoy body mods. I have 14 tattoos ranging from anime, music and films to mental health and sentimental stuff.
  

That’s pretty much me! If you’re reading this I’d love to hear from you but please make a lil bit of effort in. Have a good day ☺️

I had a friend who I met in the first day of college he seems to be nice and i got along with him so well because he has the same attitude as one of my friend who I met in first day of my kinder garden. I am person who don't trust a lot of people i see so i usually don't keep more contacts but he seems to be trustworthy to me. Our first semester was online and even the exams was online and he scored the highest rank in the class among the computer engineering and electrical engineering students and I scored second i was so happy for him and also happy about my grades as i was an average student in school and it was a lot for me. And from second semester the classes were offline and i scored 1st among the two departments and he scored second and the next time I met him he wasn't happy for me as i was happy for him he said my mom I mad on me because he got 2nd rank and then i said it's just 2% it isn't a huge decrease. Ranks apart we got to know each other more and i used to share everything with him. During my 3rd semester I was getting use to the new environment and i also was performing better i academically slowly my classmates started to know about my background I studied in the most prestigious school in the town and i was better in coding and working with computers because They used to teach most of the concepts in school. I got first among all the computer engineering students and I got 2nd place in a technical symposium conducted at a state level in which i participated with my friend. I was proud of myself. Later that evening one of the staffs wanted to meet me and my friend to congratulate for securing 2nd in the technical symposium. The staff didn't care much about my friend he was giving more attention to me than him i saw a sudden change of expression on his face when the staff started to appreciate me it lasted only a fraction of a second I knew he didn't like it so after we left the staff room I changed the topic to something else. Things went pretty normal for some days and one day he wanted to know a lot of things about me he asked about how much money my dad makes and how big my house is i also asked what his dad does. He replied my parents are divorced i don't know where my dad is and his mom is a government officer and she was the one raising him and his younger sister he had a elder brother who went with his father. I felt guilty asking that question and said sorry i didn't know he was ok with it. I felt bad for the rest of my day. After a long time i got into a fight with a person in my class. The issue got bigger and bigger and he wanted to beat me in a forest on the way to my house. One of the neighbour saw me and helped me out of the situation the next day my neighbour and my parents came to the college to talk to the staff in the college about this issue those guys got suspended from college. My friend started acting weird the next day he was mad at me and acting passive aggressive. This kind of behaviour was new to me from his side the people in my class started asking me about the issue and i explained the situation everyone understood the situation and said don't worry we are on your side the college administration was also supportive to me except my friend who I trusted. In the fourth comming days he was speaking to me on a ruder way he was listening to what I say and he was sharing information to the people who were involved in a fight with me one day the college administration called me and asked why did you ask your friends to call the person who got into a fight with me and fight with him the college administration said we did all the things to protect you and the guy's parents ( the one who got into the fight ) are saying that you threatened him during his detention period. I didn't know what was going on and i was totally unaware of this situation the administration said you asked your friend to call the guy and threaten him but i didn't ask him to do so he was acting weird to me for the past week. Also the administration warned me to stay away from my friend later that day i confronted my friend he didn't accept the he did it and then i said the college administration said what you did we got into an argument with him and asked why did you do that he didn't accept his mistake I didn't want to take the argument even further. After the detention period of the guys who fought me was over my friend joined those people i didn't know why he wasn't close to those people but now he is with them I was not able to process the things that was going on. A few days later i gifted my friend a pen he refused to accept the gift and then kept the gift in his table he threw it away i was so sad to see that and i gave it to another person he accepted it. He started distancing me and i needed to teach him a lesson i didn't speak to him the next day and then he joined the people who fought me i wanted him to know more about those people and he did. He started hanging out with them and I made new friends. He was constantly stamped on by the people and got beaten up by them but he had no way to get out his mother started to know about his new friends and his mother knew about those people his mother said don't ever enter the house if you are going to hang out with them he had no option other than hanging out with them because he had no other friends and everyone knew about his behaviour. A semester passed by my life was down a bit my mother was sick and i didn't go to college for a month due to my mothers illness. And when I started going to college my friend's asked to talk to him and i did game a second chance as i depressed i shared some things to him thinking that he has changed but he wasn't he wanted to know about my families financial situation because my mother hospital bill was a lot he wanted to know how we manage it i didn't share anything in detail. He was raised by a single mother and she was terrible at financial management his mother went into a lot of debt as we wear on our last semester we were planning for our higher education. I was trying to get into to top colleges he also has an ambition to get into top colleges like me but since his mother was in a lot of debt and she has to pay for 2 children's college fees so she said i won't be able to pay the fees in the top universities. My parents was also has less money after my mothers treatment but the situation got better and my parents are able to afford to fees in top universities. But day by day his mothers debt grew bigger and his mother is in a situation to sell their house to pay oftge debt. Since my family was doing well he was very suspicious about how my dad makes so much money. He started asking things to me like " your mothers was in the hospital for a long time and the bill should be a lot" i said yes it has been a rough time. Then he said does your dad even make enough money to feed your family. No one has ever asked me this he said to other friends that I am poor and his dad doesn't even make enough money for them to eat but he just hides everything. One of my other friends said he is talking bad about you behind your back. I didn't talk about my families financial situation until he started asking it to me every day. Only then he came to know my dad has a finance company and several other businesses. I saw a sudden change in his facial expression. Only then he started to truly know about my family. He was still not convinced he started to say that same things to others that I am poor just to put me in a lower position than him but others know who I am so they didn't care about what he speaks. His envy got bigger when he saw my cousin dropped me in college in a Porsche he started asking me things like his he really your cousin and I said yes he asked does your cousin know you and one of my friend said " he literally dropped him off didn't you see him how does someone drop him if he doesn't know him " and then he asked me is the people you are living with your real parents he said" no way that they are your real parents you should have been adopted go asked people who adopted you. I said just because I have things that you don't have dosint mean that I am adopted. He even went to an extent to fight me just because I a financially better than him. And i stopped talking to him. Now i just taught about it And was thinking how people change when I met him at the first day of college he was a completely different person who was scared to talk to others by the time we are about to leave the college he has changed into a completely different person from them i started to share less things to the people i meet. I maintain a safe distance between other people and me. Don't trust the people who are near to you they are your friends and they are also your enemy

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So I currently drive a 2015 Camaro that I got brand new for my 16th birthday, I have 45k miles on it and full bolt ons and tuned, it’s my baby and I want to make it my weekend/race car and build it. I took a position as a Medical device sales rep and I also have a small saltwater coral business that I sell online but also do some traveling to shows. I come from a family of nice cars and large car collections so kind of a car snob. I live in northern WV so we get snow and my territory is quite large including all of WV, eastern Ohio and all of western PA so something with AWD is a must. Ideally I’d like a small luxury sport suv. Here’s what I’ve been thinking Audi RS3 2021 Audi S5 sport back 2019 Audi RS5 sport back Mercedes AMG C43 Mercedes GLC AMG 43 would really like a 63 but probably a little out of budget Alfa Stelvio Quad My mom has a Porsche Macan that I really like but also probably a little out of budget and definitely on the top end of maintenance costs. I get 60 cents a mile as well for mileage. I like the practicality of the suv but gas mileage suffers a little while the Rs3 is still comfy, fast and gets close to 30mpg on the high way.

Give me some inspiration! I have a household of occult roommates. An alien, a mermaid, a spellcaster and a vampire. I’ve played with them a while but I am now looking to create some drama! Here are my sims:
Spellcaster - Jason Lowery
- Cheerful
- Outgoing
- Loyal
- (Formally Dance Machine)
- Quick Learner
- Likes Comedy and Violin
- Dislikes Fitness
- Level 10 in the comedy career +2 pay rises
Very nearly a Virtuoso Spellcaster
Spellcraft & Sorcery aspiration, level 4 just needs to Reach Spellcaster Rank 5 - Virtuoso to complete the whole aspiration
Adult, 136 days until age up
Best Friend - Lacy, flirty in the past but no more
Mermaid - Cole Marlow
- Child of the ocean
- Creative
- Loves the Outdoors
- Muser
- Fear of Unfulfilled Dreams
- Likes Fitness, Dancing, Video Gaming, Gardening and handiness
- Dislikes Electronica Music and Yellow
- Level 10 Actor, Medium pay gigs
- Very nearly a rising star, Vain quirk
Master Actor aspiration, level 4, just needs to place a Celebrity Tile in Starlight Boulevard to complete the aspiration
Young Adult, 72 days until age up
Grudge against Lacy due to argument for acting
Alien - Elliana Witt
- Vegetarian
- Dog Lover
- Cat Lover
- Animal Affection
- Fear of Unfulfilled Dreams
- Likes Cooking, Gardening, Alternative Music, Kids Radio Music, Easy Listening Music, Tween Pop Music
- Dislikes Yellow
Owns a Vet Clinic, level 7 veterinarian skill
Friend of the Animals aspiration, level 4, needs to complete all tasks
Young Adult, 75 days until ag up
Vampire - Lacy Sharpe
- Genius-
- Self-Absorbed
- Self-Assured
- Quick Learner
- Fear of Fire
- Likes Gardening, Guitar and Mischief
- Dislikes Retro Music and Yellow
- Level 8 Social Media career, 2, 783,082 followers
Only sleeps in coffin, can't eat human food, guilty if drink from humans, lives on plasma
Very nearly a grand master vampire
Master Vampire Aspiration, level 4, just needs Become a Grand Master Vampire to complete the whole aspiration
Number of Days Lived, 131
Fiancé - Prince Causey (Self absorbed, loves outdoors, foodie
Best Friend - Jason, flirty in the past but no more
Four pets:
Cat, adopted Fidget, Male adult, unneutered - Abyssinian, Playful, Curious, Fluffy
Cat, made in CAS Eris, Egyptian Mau, Female adult, Unspayed, Affectionate, Mischievous, Frisky
Dog, adopted Patches, Male adult, unneutered, Jack Russell Terrier, Loyal, Jumpy, Smart
Dog, adopted Waffle, Female puppy, unspayed, Saint Bernard, Troublemaker, Glutton, Vocal
I’m playing in Kriint's ‘Spacious Spellcaster Home’ from the gallery that I have refurbished and playing in Glimmerbrook.
Storylines! Cole has started an affair with Elliana, stemming from Cole flirting with Ellianna when researching the romantic trait for an acting gig. One thing led to another and they ended up in bed together after Cole won an acting award. They have exchanged winterfest and love day gifts but only have late night woohoo and the rest of the house are unaware of the relationship. I am imagining that Cole has made Ellianna keep the relationship secret because of his burgeoning acting career and Elianna is going along with it because she’s smitten.
Cole is desperately trying to be famous through his acting but when that wasn’t doing much for his fame he started making videos to boost his fame. He misses the ocean and has taken the household to Sulani for a vacation once so he could swim in the ocean again. He also massively got into fitness thinking that getting jacked up and muscley would help his career. He’s now not sure what he wants and constantly is getting angry from fear of unfulfilled dreams.
Ellianna and Lacy used to be at each other's throats but Lacy has grown out of the trait that makes everyone hate her and now they get on great. I don’t know how it happened but they both have a romance bar for each other, it’s empty but definitely there, so at some point there was some attraction between the two women. Ellianna also gets on great with Jason, but doesn't hang out much with him other than meals and holiday celebrations. Ellianna is an alien but was born on this planet, she doesn’t know her parents so doesn’t know much about being an alien therefore spends all of her time in her disguise but also feels like she will be rejected if she were to show her true form.
Ellianna absolutely adores animals and was working two jobs to fund her dream of owning a vet clinic but it was taking forever so the other three agreed to help Ellianna out with buying a vet clinic and some start-up funds because they were all earning more than Ellianna. Ellianna now has a little vet clinic in Gimmerbrook and has adopted four pets: two cats, two dogs. She bred the two cats together but gave the kitten away for adoption. This was painful for everyone so they will never be doing that again. Despite having her dream vet clinic she has started getting angry and sad because of a fear of unfulfilled dreams - I think spending time with Cole has rubbed off on her, though she is better at controlling her emotions than Cole.
Cole and Jason have bad sentiments towards each other and can’t be in the same room without getting tense and they get angry every time they try to talk. This happened after Cole was researching the angry trait for an acting gig. Jason seems to be unable to forgive Cole for the deception but Cole isn’t seeing Jason’s side of it either.
Cole also has a rocky relationship with Lacy, he flirted with her to research the romantic trait but it never went anywhere and they got into a fight when Cole was researching the angry trait for an acting gig. Their romantic bar is now half red, but they have managed to reconcile their friendship.
Jason and Lacy are best friends, they tried flirting once but it felt wrong, now they are the best of friends. Lacy has been a vampire for a very long time but only started trying to master being a vampire when she moved into the house with the others and she’s now very nearly a grand master vampire. However, living with non vampires she has been influenced to only eat plasma fruit and feels very guilty if she drinks from others without permission, but her roommates have given permission for her to drink from them when she’s been stuck for fruit. She took up the social media career so she could work at home away from the sun, though she’s working off a really old fashioned computer because that’s what she likes. She has amassed nearly 3 million followers but is somehow still not famous.
Lacy met her fiancé Prince on her very own doorstep. It’s been a whirlwind romance that has basically only been about woohooing in her coffin. She rang up Jason one day when she found a ring in Prince’s things, asking if she should say yes, Jason said she should decide and when he got home he found out Lacy and Prince were engaged! However Prince still doesn’t live with Lacy, though she has moved her coffin to the basement and bought a big bed for her room for Prince.
Both Prince and Lacy have the self absorbed trait. However I am thinking of taking away Lacy’s self absorbed trait because she has proven to be very caring towards the rest of the household - helping take care of the pets, cooking some meals even though she can’t eat human food and doing laundry at night etc.
Jason was the original owner of the house, is the oldest of the group (bar Lacy), but didn’t want to live alone so invited the other three to live with him (I haven’t worked out a backstory for how they all met). Jason in his youth was a dancing, joker boy. He wanted to get into magic to be more mischievous, which is why he gets on well with Lacy. He started a comedy career because being a spellcaster wasn’t paying the rent. He’s now at the top of his career. He also turned out to be a really good spellcaster and has learned nearly all the spells, is nearly at the top of the spellcaster levels, but only uses his cauldron for making mac ‘n’ cheese. Now nearing the top of both aspects of his life he’s also looking for a new direction.
As he headed into adulthood he stopped his dancing craze and became incredibly loyal to the people in his life. He had a crush on Grace Anansi but it never went anywhere, they are still friends but have barely seen each other recently. Jason has had no romantic relationship yet.
That’s it! Thoughts? Ideas? I like the idea of adding a baby to the household - but I don’t know who’s baby, and I would like a relationship to bust up but don’t know who. I have also thought about turning Lacy into a werewolf after I cure her vampirism but I’m not sure. I would love your ideas Reddit!
If you read this far on this verrry long post, thank you!!!

Hey guys! I was wondering, are there any consumer rights regarding cancellation fees for items that are bought online?
I ordered a couch in April that had an expected delivery time frame of around 8-12 weeks (dumb me thought it was 6-8 weeks). I reached out to the company for a status on my couch and they provided no details other than the request was put in with their supplier, and that I could expect the couch at the end of July if not August as best.
This is a super long time to wait for a couch, and a delivery in August would already be longer than the tail end of the expected time frame of 12 weeks (which is already pretty long). Reviews online also mention that this company tends to delivery even 4-6 weeks after the expected date, so I would likely be waiting almost half a year for a couch. I wanted to try to cancel the order, but they are trying to charge me almost €200 cancellation fee on top of the €65 deposit I’ve already put down on the couch. Is a cancellation fee this high even allowed? It’s over 30% of the item’s purchase price, and it is not like the couch is even near completion yet, so I’m not sure what this fee is even meant to cover and they refuse to provide any insight into it either.
Their website does say that they charge a fee, and I would be fine paying for one, but I am surprised how high it is and if this is even allowed. Definitely fault on my end for ordering online without reading reviews, but kind of a painful way to learn :’(
Thanks!

Desperate Car Wife: A Journey in the Making (part.6)
During those 10 years with the Mazda Protege, and since my hubby used it for work a lot after we had our son, he ended up buying a white '94 Nissan Maxima from the same friend that sold him the '72 Camaro back when we first met... It, of course, got the "JB Treatment"... but this time on a budget. This had a lot more horsepower than the Mazda! I actually enjoyed driving it too! Even though it didn't have the same rims or low profile tires or a 6 Disc-CD Changer... it did have some beats and I really liked the G-force when I stepped on it! I don't need a whole lot of hp to enjoy speed.. As I've said before, everything in moderation! I love love love watching others drive with crazy horsepower, but I don't think you'll ever see me drive anything over 300hp!
A couple years later, we would eventually sell the Maxima and got a '95 Dodge RAM 1500... We had this one for only a couple of years and then he eventually sold the RAM because he found a '93 Dodge Dakota Sport that needed to be brought back from the dead... This poor thing had been abandoned in a ditch and sat in a tow yard for 10 years! Needless to say, there were problems galore... literally almost lost a tire a half mile down the road from the tow yard we bought it from, just before I jumped on the freeway! Got the lug nuts tightened and back on the road... Headed straight to the nearest DMV for title and registration... Hour or so later, we walked out on 2 flat tires... Luckily we had a small jack in our other car, so he was able to pull the 2 flats off and drove to the nearest tire shop. 2 tires (balanced and mounted) later, we were back on the road again.. After a few days, we found some rusted out holes in the exhaust system and discovered that the catalytic converter had been removed.. So we got that fixed promptly. Replaced the spark plugs and wires, fixed the E-vap, practically replaced everything under the hood and then some... and still failed smog! Failed it 3 times to be exact! My hubby scratched his head and was mind boggled at the numbers from the failed tests.. Everything that had to do with the smog system was replaced with brand new parts, but it was still putting out high numbers for some reason!! So he googled his readings.... several forums like Cartalk /FBgroups/other auto forums outside of Reddit, and many many replies later, he was told that something had to be wrong with the exhaust system, either the wrong Cat or a hole in the welding... So #1 he found out that the catalytic converter model wasn't correct for the truck! We went back and got that fixed for free by the same place who installed it... #2 after they installed the Correct Cat, and failed to smog AGAIN, we found out there was a hole in the welding job from the NEW Cat!!! Dudes didn't believe my hubby at first, so he asked if he could show them with a mirror, and sure enough.. at the very top of the pipe connecting to the Cat, had a missed weld an inch long!!!
Not too long after that fiasco, maybe a couple of months... The driver's side door nearly fell off when I opened it, getting out! That was one heavy door too! Nearly pulled me out of my seat! PickNPull here we come!!!! Unfortunately, no luck there.. we checked out some from the smaller shops around town and got lucky that we found a red one (the truck was emerald green...). Now we just needed a DIY, cheapest, paint job was in store! He needed 6+ spray cans.... several trips to multiple stores and ordering online to get those dang cans of Emerald Green,, the door was done and looked fairly decent for a spray can job!
Then came the tires... Now I don't quite remember how he got this set, but what I do remember is they were way too big for this little truck! But he loved them and really wanted to make them work.. Still working on a budget, since we drained a lot into the entire exhaust system and everything SMOG related... he gets them on, they are so big and stick out like crazy and couldn't make normal turns without rubbing. I hated it!!! It was sooooooo embarrassing when they rubbed while pulling out of a tight parking lot! Everyone looked when it happened!!! Nothing to see here y'all!!!
He then went on and installed an Alpine stereo system with Pioneer sub (Slimbox) and speakers... He then got the idea to spray paint the hood flat black. It wasn't bad.. but it wasn't great by any means either... his words... not mine!
Needless to say, I found my first Dodge truck that I didn't like LOL. I had been spoiled with power windows and auto transmissions for quite some time by then and really hated the tires, the big shifting stick, how far 5th gear was for me, no power windows, no nothing! I complained about that truck till the day he finally sold it! He turned down multiple cash offers for several years, and then he finally broke when he needed to make room for another truck he wanted... Another truck that I would end up hating for only one reason LOL; it was a biggy in my book! But that's for another post!!
Part. 7 coming soon

As I get ready to start my day on this wonderful Sunday. I’m heading to work because someone called out to cover a shift. My wife is getting ready for work as well, which is usual because when you run your own small business it’s just as hard finding people to work and she had someone call out too. I’m not going to sit here and complain and bitch because of the state of the economy it’s just fcked up. Everyone wants to restructure and make things easier and employ people to do things on their own or be simplified by a machine. That’s just the way the world is, just wishing I knew where the damn work ethic went. News flash people are lazy and now before anyone goes on their empowered bitch session calling out whatever they can or making justifications. Here is the reality you have great workers, good workers, ok workers, bad workers and people that just don’t give a shit. I’m not coming on here to bitch and complain but to tell a story and a true one at that. I will ramble on, and people will bitch about that too! Anyways on to my story and for the record I’m aware this is too long and only like 1% will read it fully and to you good old VZ maybe one day but this is even beyond you, but you played a big part. I wish whole heartedly this business would change, and customers would change, and the world would change, cause for fcks sake people need to freaking hug each other. Also, for the record I’m generally just an honest hard-working dude that gives a shit about everyone around me and my heart bleeds through my sleeves. I have done my best to just show people there are just good people out there!
So anyways here’s my damn story and my frustrations which overflowed yesterday and to start this story let’s start with some changes and effects. The easiest way is to start this script for a shitty movie because I can’t shut my trap. Anyways I was talking to an employee a few weeks ago that has been in this industry for a lot longer than me for the record. I would say they are from the bag phone age. I started 18 years ago selling flip phones with no color and every phone had a different charging port. I have always been a fixer and if you have been in this industry and have grown with it and you have a general understanding people will come to you for help. Now I encourage people to ask me questions and for help there is no better feeling than taking care of a customer or employee that is a little lost and being selfless about it. Just for example a customer came in recently that lost her son 3 years ago. She had a voicemail saved and didn’t want to lose it. I assured her that I got her covered. A long time ago before this wonderful age of tech. The solution here was to hook up a mini tape recorder, play the voicemail, and record it on the tape. For all you young pups it’s those square things with brown film running through it. So, I showed her how to email the voicemail and then helped her save it to the cloud. I completed both and played the message, I comforted her knowing as we go through this process, she’s going to get emotional. I didn’t try to sell her anything, my goal was simply for her to know that no matter what happens to her phone or her service that she can hear her son’s voice and she won’t lose it. Now for all you uneducated sales people sometimes it’s not all about making money, but it will result in money. Here is the fact and I guess the moral of the story. While I didn’t make a cent today, I made a feeling for someone. I showed that I cared and took care of them. Now when they go into a store or call customer service for something, and they don’t get treated right or someone somewhere bitches about there cell phone service to this nice lady she is going to mention the nice gentleman and what store he’s at. So, say what you want but that’s a strong lead in my book. Anyways off this exit and back on the road. This employee knows I will help figure out the issues and since we lost our account managers our direct connection to the good Old VZ was cut, that the days of fixing the issues are limited. I had to tell them that are days of going above beyond are ending and there are going to be situations where we just can’t do anything. Mind you this isn’t because it is not possible or that it’s the wrong thing to do. It’s because the person on the other end of the phone these days is comparable to having a toddler come up with a business plan for a fortune 500 company and it work flawlessly. This isn’t the CS reps that have been around and know the system and care about people. This is Jake that has you repeat yourself ten times over while he’s talking to bobby and frank trying to figure out what the hell they are doing. For the record, outsourced names have been withheld because they get to choose it on their first day of work in outsourcing. When I informed this employee of CS outsourcing more, well it was the same look my mom gave me when I came home one night with my ear pierced and bleach blond hair.
Now I started with the big old red many moons ago. I was supposed to transfer states with what used to be a fantastic company that was the epicenter of customer service (oddly no longer around) decided that money had a shit ton more value than people and my column in excel got lost. I was supposed to go to that home office in the new state and have a store all set to start at. Yeah lol no one had a clue of who I was, and something got lost along the way. No biggie just 6 years of blood, sweat and tears. So started my 18 yearish journeys indirectly with VZ. Back then you could do well for yourself to start a company and open a VZ store. There were small companies, medium companies and large ones. It was a different world where customer service was king and VZ was the shiznit! Now I’m biased here but sold the beep beep, the Nokia snake game, the sidekick! I had experience with it all. Man was I nervous from what I came from starting from the bottom as an employee coming from being the go-to manager. I could write a top selling book about these 6 years that formed me. Maybe if I get upvoted enough that could be a career path as the masses are typing TL/DDGAS/CRC. Lmao typing that just let me know how my dad felt when we were laughing as he was moving the Nintendo controller trying to move the person on the screen. Oh, that’s just fcking great damn I’m old lol. Anyways I learned that leaders and mind you leaders and managers are too different things folks. I saw selfless caring people that ran a great business and to this day even with all the bullshit treat every customer like family. Seriously don’t people fcking miss that when you walked into a store and got a smile instead of someone looking at you like your wasting their time. Yes, I know I said I wouldn’t bitch anyways back on track. I learned how to make money feel good about yourself and other people recommended you and it just went full circle. So that is how I have tried to run my business. That was the start of my journey which brought me here to make a long ass post that no one will read because I want people to give out more fcking hugs! Lmao!!
The paragraphs are for the one commented I have potential this was the next chapter I appreciate you!! I hope you’re enjoying this one! Anyways off I went and started the same cycle moved to another state and there was a lot more than just Big 5 back then and I had the experience of managing a store and enjoyed what I did. So, I started with another small VZ company and shaped the last 12 years of my career. I have had a blast and I love the company I work for which is one of the Big 5 cause that’s all that exists these days. I was fortunate to be able to continue with the same values and teach and show a bunch of people along the way. The crazy thing is you wouldn’t imagine the things you come across in this industry. I have had people threaten to kill me multiple times, had people throw things, knock over chairs, there have been multiple bathroom accidents on the sales floor, lots and lots of crying, some picketing here and there. I mean just why people. I had someone threaten to try to destroy one of my stores by bashing it online and to everyone he knew. The reason was for a phone he had over the warranty of a year, and he wanted it replaced. Now I kindly told this man what to do and how to handle his situation I also said if you want to bash my store because I am doing everything I can to help you please go ahead. I am confident in my ability to provide service. You know because well I haven’t done anything else, and I truly love what I do, and I wouldn’t leave the industry. I will put up with any bullsh!t and I will do it for that nice lady that just needed someone to care and save her voicemail. Now on to the last paragraph and if you made it this far thank you! I also realize at this point I am just bitching lol.
Anyways here is the thing we are in a service-based industry. If you slowly take the ability of providing service to the service-based industry it makes it super freaking difficult. So here are the realities people need phones, they need stores, they need customer service. It’s not a want or a luxury, there is a shit ton of need. We can’t change any of it, nothing you read or that I wrote will make a difference. So, I guess I’m asking myself was there a point of all of this and thinking of Eminem lyrics of Stan lmao. Did I just do the same thing that I am bitching about a lot of bitching. I guess I do not know what the hell I’m reaching for and joyfully doing it on a public forum lol. So, I guess the point is if you read this long as fucking post there are good people that generally care. Slow the fck down and ne nice try to understand that everyone has sh!t going on. So, if you read this or just scrolled to the bottom cause its to fcking long be a little nicer today cause this post will be seamlessly lost among a bunch of other posts. To you shady reps out there that give the industry the name it is be a little less shady today maybe care a little. As I’m getting judged now lmao for those companies that push your people to be shady… well you probably won’t see this. To big VZ you control it all you squeezed the juice out the lemon. You’re going to and will continue to drink the lemonade. I will continue my journey and ultimately this is how I support my family. I’m going to continue what I do and I’m going to enjoy it. It just sucks that it gets harder and it’s not that it gets harder because it’s harder work. It gets harder because people make harder work to make more money. Have a wonderful day folks! All you great, good, ok workers and the ones that show up thank you. I guess even you shitty people too cause in the end you don’t control that either as long as you show up as well. Peace out said the rambling man!

As I get ready to start my day on this wonderful Sunday. I’m heading to work because someone called out to cover a shift. My wife is getting ready for work as well, which is usual because when you run your own small business it’s just as hard finding people to work and she had someone call out too. I’m not going to sit here and complain and bitch because of the state of the economy it’s just fcked up. Everyone wants to restructure and make things easier and employ people to do things on their own or be simplified by a machine. That’s just the way the world is, just wishing I knew where the damn work ethic went. News flash people are lazy and now before anyone goes on their empowered bitch session calling out whatever they can or making justifications. Here is the reality you have great workers, good workers, ok workers, bad workers and people that just don’t give a shit. I’m not coming on here to bitch and complain but to tell a story and a true one at that. I will ramble on, and people will bitch about that too! Anyways on to my story and for the record I’m aware this is too long and only like 1% will read it fully and to you good old VZ maybe one day but this is even beyond you, but you played a big part. I wish whole heartedly this business would change, and customers would change, and the world would change, cause for fcks sake people need to freaking hug each other. Also, for the record I’m generally just an honest hard-working dude that gives a shit about everyone around me and my heart bleeds through my sleeves. I have done my best to just show people there are just good people out there!
So anyways here’s my damn story and my frustrations which overflowed yesterday and to start this story let’s start with some changes and effects. The easiest way is to start this script for a shitty movie because I can’t shut my trap. Anyways I was talking to an employee a few weeks ago that has been in this industry for a lot longer than me for the record. I would say they are from the bag phone age. I started 18 years ago selling flip phones with no color and every phone had a different charging port. I have always been a fixer and if you have been in this industry and have grown with it and you have a general understanding people will come to you for help. Now I encourage people to ask me questions and for help there is no better feeling than taking care of a customer or employee that is a little lost and being selfless about it. Just for example a customer came in recently that lost her son 3 years ago. She had a voicemail saved and didn’t want to lose it. I assured her that I got her covered. A long time ago before this wonderful age of tech. The solution here was to hook up a mini tape recorder, play the voicemail, and record it on the tape. For all you young pups it’s those square things with brown film running through it. So, I showed her how to email the voicemail and then helped her save it to the cloud. I completed both and played the message, I comforted her knowing as we go through this process, she’s going to get emotional. I didn’t try to sell her anything, my goal was simply for her to know that no matter what happens to her phone or her service that she can hear her son’s voice and she won’t lose it. Now for all you uneducated sales people sometimes it’s not all about making money, but it will result in money. Here is the fact and I guess the moral of the story. While I didn’t make a cent today, I made a feeling for someone. I showed that I cared and took care of them. Now when they go into a store or call customer service for something, and they don’t get treated right or someone somewhere bitches about there cell phone service to this nice lady she is going to mention the nice gentleman and what store he’s at. So, say what you want but that’s a strong lead in my book. Anyways off this exit and back on the road. This employee knows I will help figure out the issues and since we lost our account managers our direct connection to the good Old VZ was cut, that the days of fixing the issues are limited. I had to tell them that are days of going above beyond are ending and there are going to be situations where we just can’t do anything. Mind you this isn’t because it is not possible or that it’s the wrong thing to do. It’s because the person on the other end of the phone these days is comparable to having a toddler come up with a business plan for a fortune 500 company and it work flawlessly. This isn’t the CS reps that have been around and know the system and care about people. This is Jake that has you repeat yourself ten times over while he’s talking to bobby and frank trying to figure out what the hell they are doing. For the record, their names have been withheld because they get to choose it on their first day of work in timbucktooooo across the ocean. When I informed this employee of CS outsourcing more, well it was the same look my mom gave me when I came home one night with my ear pierced and bleach blond hair.
Now I started with the big old red many moons ago. I was supposed to transfer states with what used to be a fantastic company that was the epicenter of customer service (oddly no longer around) decided that money had a shit ton more value than people and my column in excel got lost. I was supposed to go to that home office in the new state and have a store all set to start at. Yeah lol no one had a clue of who I was, and something got lost along the way. No biggie just 6 years of blood, sweat and tears. So started my 18 yearish journeys indirectly with VZ. Back then you could do well for yourself to start a company and open a VZ store. There were small companies, medium companies and large ones. It was a different world where customer service was king and VZ was the shiznit! Now I’m biased here but sold the beep beep, the Nokia snake game, the sidekick! I had experience with it all. Man was I nervous from what I came from starting from the bottom as an employee coming from being the go-to manager. I could write a top selling book about these 6 years that formed me. Maybe if I get upvoted enough that could be a career path as the masses are typing TL/DDGAS/CRC. Lmao typing that just let me know how my dad felt when we were laughing as he was moving the Nintendo controller trying to move the person on the screen. Oh, that’s just fcking great damn I’m old lol. Anyways I learned that leaders and mind you leaders and managers are too different things folks. I saw selfless caring people that ran a great business and to this day even with all the bullshit treat every customer like family. Seriously don’t people fcking miss that when you walked into a store and got a smile instead of someone looking at you like your wasting their time. Yes, I know I said I wouldn’t bitch anyways back on track. I learned how to make money feel good about yourself and other people recommended you and it just went full circle. So that is how I have tried to run my business. That was the start of my journey which brought me here to make a long ass post that no one will read because I want people to give out more fcking hugs! Lmao!!
The paragraphs are for the one commented I have potential this was the next chapter I appreciate you!! I hope you’re enjoying this one! Anyways off I went and started the same cycle moved to another state and there was a lot more than just Big 5 back then and I had the experience of managing a store and enjoyed what I did. So, I started with another small VZ company and shaped the last 12 years of my career. I have had a blast and I love the company I work for which is one of the Big 5 cause that’s all that exists these days. I was fortunate to be able to continue with the same values and teach and show a bunch of people along the way. The crazy thing is you wouldn’t imagine the things you come across in this industry. I have had people threaten to kill me multiple times, had people throw things, knock over chairs, there have been multiple bathroom accidents on the sales floor, lots and lots of crying, some picketing here and there. I mean just why people. I had someone threaten to try to destroy one of my stores by bashing it online and to everyone he knew. The reason was for a phone he had over the warranty of a year, and he wanted it replaced. Now I kindly told this man what to do and how to handle his situation I also said if you want to bash my store because I am doing everything I can to help you please go ahead. I am confident in my ability to provide service. You know because well I haven’t done anything else, and I truly love what I do, and I wouldn’t leave the industry. I will put up with any bullsh!t and I will do it for that nice lady that just needed someone to care and save her voicemail. Now on to the last paragraph and if you made it this far thank you! I also realize at this point I am just bitching lol.
Anyways here is the thing we are in a service-based industry. If you slowly take the ability of providing service to the service-based industry it makes it super freaking difficult. So here are the realities people need phones, they need stores, they need customer service. It’s not a want or a luxury, there is a shit ton of need. We can’t change any of it, nothing you read or that I wrote will make a difference. So, I guess I’m asking myself was there a point of all of this and thinking of Eminem lyrics of Stan lmao. Did I just do the same thing that I am bitching about a lot of bitching. I guess I do not know what the hell I’m reaching for and joyfully doing it on a public forum lol. So, I guess the point is if you read this long as fucking post there are good people that generally care. Slow the fck down and ne nice try to understand that everyone has sh!t going on. So, if you read this or just scrolled to the bottom cause its to fcking long be a little nicer today cause this post will be seamlessly lost among a bunch of other posts. To you shady reps out there that give the industry the name it is be a little less shady today maybe care a little. As I’m getting judged now lmao for those companies that push your people to be shady… well you probably won’t see this. To big VZ you control it all you squeezed the juice out the lemon. You’re going to and will continue to drink the lemonade. I will continue my journey and ultimately this is how I support my family. I’m going to continue what I do and I’m going to enjoy it. It just sucks that it gets harder and it’s not that it gets harder because it’s harder work. It gets harder because people make harder work to make more money. Have a wonderful day folks! All you great, good, ok workers and the ones that show up thank you. I guess even you shitty people too cause in the end you don’t control that either as long as you show up as well. Peace out said the rambling man!

This post isn't sparked by any recent events or anything, just to clarify. So no need to waste time trying to connect it to anything any specific person has said.
Bottom dysphoria is certainly a wildly discussed topic here, as opinions go strongly in both directions. Now I'm not one to generally care what gender other people think I am, and I'm pretty confident in what I perceive myself to be, so I'm not really questioning, but...
This is something I can't quite put out of my mind, no matter how easily all the other pieces of my gender fall neatly into place. So I'm bringing this up just to bounce ideas, and to give perspective, as well as plead a bit. This could fall into basically any category of post, but I think it urges debate and discussion the most.
To get the obvious things out of the way first: I'm an early onset, been dysphoric about my birth sex since I was a toddler, and with that had strong genital dysphoria as well as strong sex dysphoria in all other regards. I transitioned in my early 20's (which testosterone and top surgery, as well as name change, gender marker change, and all sorts of social transition changes) from female to male, which greatly alleviated my dysphoria. I'm now in my mid 30's and transitioning is still hands down the best decision I ever made in my life. Passing as male and having male only secondary sex characteristics is important to me. Internally I've always seen myself as male, no matter what weird shit I've done or said in the past in my failed attempts to communicate my dysphoria. Not to brag, but I'm also very male-brained in how I relate to my body, life and everything. Even my own transphobic mom has told me that I think and act like a dude. In other words: so far, very textbook ftm transsexual, physical and social.
But thing is, I have a lot of difficult feelings about my genitals, some of which could be dysphoria but frankly I'm not sure. Do I feel wrong about not having a dick? Yes absolutely. But do I feel wrong about having a vagina? I don't know. There's a lot of guilt, shame, trauma-feelings and sex addiction feelings meshed in with disgust, anger, and general wrongness. There's pride and connectedness mixed with disconnect and disassociation. Jealousy of cis men's bodies mixed with pride of having a unique body. So basically... utter chaos. And yes I know that "chaos" is only chaos for as long as it remains unknown.
Of course the obvious answer here is to just "get some therapy" or whatever to get to the bottom of those messy feelings. But thing is I don't really want to dig into that, nor do I think it's something I need to do in order to live my life as a generally happy person. I just act and don't analyze too much. I deal with the distress when it hits me, I rejoice in the good feelings when those hit instead. On some days I can't interact with my genitals, on other days I can. I act accordingly. So on good days I might engage in piv sex or fantasize about pregnancy but certainly not on bad days. But for the most part, my life doesn't revolve around my genitals, so they're out of sight out of mind most of the time. Thus, I'm not truly bothered by my chaotic feelings about my genitals, and kinda just go with the flow of whatever that is. It's not something I personally need to label. Because as transition and continuously taking T fixes most if not all of my dysphoria, life goes on quite dandy fine at this point. Overthinking and analyzing it is what makes me anxious and extremely distressed about my genital situation.
So if not thinking about it makes me feel good, then... why should I think about it?
It only really becomes a problem in discussions with other trans people online, as everyone wants to know if I have bottom dysphoria or not, and my lack of ability to answer that question isn't taken well. It seems to that whatever gender they see me as it dependent on whether my answer to if I have bottom dysphoria is yes or no. So if my answer is "I dunno and I don't care" this causes tension. And I feel pressured to analyze and explain, which really only leads to more confusion, as well as unnecessary distress on my part.
So what's your stance on this? Does an (otherwise textbook) trans person need to know if they have bottom dysphoria or not, if they're not looking to have bottom surgery regardless? Is this like... politically important to you? Or does it just not make sense that a person with bottom dysphoria could choose to basically regress back into denial about it? Is it then out of concern that people press me to figure out what I feel about my genitals because they're worried I'm doing self harm?
This is assuming that this is not about a person you have any sexual interest in, and that this person also doesn't go around being a creep with their genitals in public (whether irl or online) spaces.
What I can say is that, yes it's possible that I have bottom dysphoria that I regressed back into denial about, but if so, it was because I felt like there was no other viable option because bottom surgery is just not medically advanced enough for me, and thus opening that pandora's box again would cause me more harm than leaving it be. However, it's equally possible that I never truly had bottom dysphoria to begin with and that it was just a trauma cope all along, which dissipated when I recovered from my trauma a few years ago, but that I subconsciously refuse to admit that out of fear that doing so would strip me of my access to testosterone which I know is essential for my survival, so opening that kinda pandora's box would also potentially cause more harm than leaving it be. Which is probably the real reason I just don't wanna go there. Because either way... not knowing is the best outcome in this scenario, and I just wanna be happy. Or suffer as little as possible.
If that makes people indecisive about my gender... fine. But I still kinda hate this pressure to talk about and having to defend something so extremely vulnerable as how I relate to my genitals. And I really don't think I'm the only one here who hates having their genitals brought up to their faces like that. Dysphoria or not, I don't think there's a single trans person who doesn't have some kinda internal struggle with having genitals that don't match their gender, whether they show that struggle or not.
Because have you considered that as a trans person yourself, you do not have a right to this kinda information about another trans person, unless you are to date them or be their doctor? That this really does put immense pressure on people to give the "right" answer, or to flat out lie just to be left alone? People who need transition health care just as much as you do and for the exact same reason.
This is not a plead to stop peoole from thinking you need genital dysphoria to be trans. It's a plead to stop harrassing fellow trans people about their genitals online regardless of what you think makes someone trans. You are free to have different opinions from me. I genuinely do not care about that. Actually I'd generally even agree that you do need genital dysphoria to be trans. It's just that I cannot hang up my entire life on just my genitals, at some point I needed to just move on. And I wish other people could also just move on at some point.

Hello everyone.
I (f 22) am wrestling with the terrifying idea of changing careers. I was pushed into culinary school by my family after high school, and it led to a miserable life in the restaurant industry. I left during the pandemic and started working in the trades building playgrounds. Since then, I have climbed the ladder within my company and on top of working as a playground installer, I have been given the position of the Health and Safety Officer. For a female of 22 years old being in a man's industry, I'd say I'm pretty proud of myself.
This has given me some satisfaction for the past 2 and a half years, but my body is slowly depleting. Suffering from tendonitis, carpal tunnel, and tennis elbow in both arms and hands has taken a toll on my work and my mental health. The hours are long, I work out in all the elements, and I feel like life is passing me by, day by day. Something inside of me is missing, and I can't ignore it any longer. I can't keep continuing to hurt my body, and if I keep up with the intense physical labour, my hands will be useless in 10 years.
I have always dreamt of a job where I can work for myself or make my own hours, and to be able to afford a healthy and comfortable lifestyle. On top of this, I have always loved writing and creating things since I was a little kid, but I never thought it was something I could turn into a career. I love working on my computer and editing videos, writing, designing websites and exploring different things that I can do to make money.
I've been dabbling with the idea of going back to school. A big option for me would be to pursue a degree in business to further educate myself on the subject, as well as develop skills and the credibility needed to pursue a career. Following school, I want to pursue freelance and possibly become a freelance writer, and a few things on the side. The thing is, I don't have any idea which business major to specialize in, (or if I should even specialize or do a vague degree for something like this at all) considering I don't have a niche in mind. I enjoy writing as a whole, and I don't want to narrow my path too soon.
I'm looking for advice on a few things. I work long hours full time, and the work is physically and mentally exhausting. School isn't cheap, and I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place because I'm not sure if I would be able to quit my job and still be able to afford to go back to school full time. On the other hand, if I did an online course in the evenings I would be too tired to do anything, I wouldn't have time for school because of my job, and I feel this would impact both sides of the equation (my work AND my school) due to being so exhausted and trying to juggle both. I also don't think my employer would be too happy with me asking to leave early to attend these classes after work to pursue a career in something that has nothing to do with my job, and would end up in my eventual leave. This would impact my income and my reliability in the role I have created for myself. My long term partner has told me that we can make it work, and that he would support in my going back to school to further pursue a better career. I could get a part time job to balance bills and school, but the idea of this terrifies me.
It's hard trying to change careers and battle with the idea going back to school at 22. You feel as if you've already bridged that gap and closed the opportunity to be able to do it, because as the years go by, financial responsibilities pile up.
What is your advice on this? Should I do it? Is going back to school worth it? Which degree or major should I pursue?

So, my sub [F/21] and I [M/28] met through kink context, and just clicked romantically, and ended up dating shortly after. And, while I have some experience in romance, sex and kink, she is relatively new, being inexperienced and even at times ignorant. There has been multiple (2, but still that's technically multiple) instances where she has asked a guy, who has their hands on her bare tits, whether or not they were flirting with her. That innocence is absolutely adorable, but it does have some downsides.
Our dynamic is "poly-ish", where the understanding is we are each other's number 1 priority, and while experiencing and adventuring with others is acceptable, we have to make sure we keep the other party informed and consenting of what we're doing. Additionally, we look outwards specifically for experiences our partner can't offer. For example, she's a switch, and I'm not interested in pegging / CBT, so I'm actively wingmanning her to find a cute lil boy toy to try domming, and while I aim to practice my skills on her as frequently as her schedule and body allows, I have enthusiastic consent to practice on others to give her a break. I do have a trauma-based need for control due to some shit in my early life, but [rule 2]. But yes, I'm a bit of a control freak sadly, and while I'm sure my therapist and I are only a few years from fixing that, it is what it is for now.
So, I took a group of friends (my girlfriend, 2 other women, and myself) to experience their first sex club, playing watchover supervisor and helping keep everyone safe as well as wingmanning. Before going inside, my partner made a comment to me, "I'm feeling very anxious right now, please don't touch me inappropriately until I'm comfortable, okay?" - a 100% understandable request which I'm more than happy to oblige to.
We all head into the spa for a good hour and relax it up, meeting and chatting with a few people. Everyone is kind and welcoming, and it's a bit empowering having three ladies follow me around a sex club all night, even if I am pretty platonic with two of them. The looks were pretty fun.
Anyway, we're chatting in a group with some other guys making fun of some bad porn playing on the big screens (as you do), and I tried to gage my partner's comfort level for things happening, when really I just wanted to put my arms around her as I'm feeling a little insecure having guys flirt so directly with my partner, and her not recognising it and giving positive feedback to them. A hand gently around the hip is swatted away, a request for a kiss is denied, indirect and direct offers to find a private spot are declined, and I come to the conclusion that she's in a no-touch headspace, and can totally respect. So, I stop making offers.
One of the guys we were hanging out with was an off-hours staff member, young and relatively fit. He seems nice enough, and has a really attractive build, smooth skin, and great fashion sense. Before we head to the dress-down adult zone, she pulls me aside and asks "Hey, he has a really nice looking chest, and I just want to touch him. Is that weird? is that okay?" An experience I can't directly offer. I respond "Sure, ask him how he feels, just keep it above the waist, cool?" and she nods affirmatively.
Our entire troop is looking around and doing a tour, and the three of us end up alone in one of the rooms just looking around. She asks "uhh... help? can you ask please?" - she's clearly still having anxiety moments, but I can tell she's still excited, so I gotta wingman my girl. I turn to our tour guide and give him the situation, "Basically, you're pretty hot, and my girlfriend here wants to touch your chest and stuff because you're well built and have super smooth skin. How do you feel about that?" he gave some enthusiastic consent, and while I was hesitant to leave the two of them alone, I know my partner struggles in public situations, so the best thing I can do is give them a minute alone.
I go hang out with the others in our troop and we wander around in the dark, there's some dude being an inappropriate skeezeball so we have to deal with them at the same time, and as I walk past the locked room, I can clearly tell that things had now escalated beyond the original scope of what was initially propositioned. I don't interrupt them immediately however, as I clearly could hear that my partner was the one initiating further actions and physicality.
Eventually, dealing with the mounting stress of feeling out of control, as well as the need to report some predatory behavior to the event staff, I make the firm suggestion that she joins us at the bar, which after some time getting dressed again, happens, and we focus on reporting the aforementioned skeeze. I was hurt, but I was also proud of my partner for going outside of their comfort zone. Going to give them an intimate hug was met with discomfort though, which unfortunately got to me.
Our troop is heading to a McDonald's to decompress with a shake while we start sharing stories, and my partner is pressured into revealing what went down behind closed doors. Now, it was all relatively low-level stuff, she touched him, she asked to be touched back, she took off her clothes, she offered to kiss him, and my insecurities are ruining what should be a beautiful moment of my partner finding body confidence and exploring in a safe environment.
After a night of not having any of my affections, playful offers, serious offers or all non-strictly verbal acts of love shot down hours straight, a dude we just met not only got more than I did, but my blessings and consent were ignored and I felt entirely used, betrayed and disrespected from the culmination of everything.
Now, I don't necessarily blame my partner for this, and their assumption that my "anything above the belt" blessing was a lot more liberal than her touching him, just as my assumption that she knew what she wanted as she was asking for it may have also been potentially misplaced. And while I concede that she did not act with any intentions of mallice or disrespect, I still feel as if all of the effort I've laid out to try and be as clear as possible with how I can be comfortable with her enjoying experiences with others was essentially wasted by moments of negligence and absent-mindedness while focusing on the anxiety inducing flesh in front of her. Also, I straight up don't blame the guy at all, he was respectful and appropriate.
Our current plans involve working on our communication, and developing short-hands so we can communicate quickly and effectively exactly what we are comfortable with and what our intentions are, as well as chalking this up to a painful learning experience and having more fleshed-out hypothetical situations to use as references. Communication and reassurance is our main direction.
Any experts here want to throw in their two cents as to how we can avoid situations like this in the future, I'm welcome to hear good ideas. My friends haven't been great so far, with suggestions ranging from "just let her peg you bro and you're good", to "if you weren't such a pussy, some dude touching your girlfriend's tits wouldn't be a big deal", to the best worst take so far, "you're not poly, you just wanna cheat on her without letting her cheat on you." So... we have a pretty poor baseline for opinions and advice, hopefully y'all have some interesting insights. <3
Appreciations

Because someone asked me about a comment I made on another post, here's an edited version of a writeup I did back in 2011 of the 8 page outline from Heinlein's papers that became Spider Robinson's Variable Star.
When I first Read Variable Star a few years after it came out, I thought it was OK but disappointing. It's a Spider Robinson novel, and while I enjoyed the first few books of his I read, he has a limited range and by the time I read this one I had gotten bored with him.
But, a huge deal was made in the afterword and the cover blurbs about the source of the novel being a book outline by Heinlein that he had never expanded to a full novel - an 8 page outline that tragically had lost its last page by the time Robinson got hold of it. (I don't know how much of the story of the missing page is marketing BS, but there's no reason Robinson would have been unable to get a copy of the last page if he really wanted to see it) .
Anyway, I got curious and went looking for the outline. Like every other scrap of paper from his writing career that Heinlein didn't destroy, it's in the UC Santa Cruz library, and scans of everything in the Heinlein collection are available for sale online at the Heinlein Archive website. The 8 page outline (which is complete, no missing last page) is part of the "Story ideas, part 1" PDF, catalog number WRTG201a-01.
I paid $2 and got a 150 page PDF, including the 8 page outline and a bunch of other quite interesting material - very much worth the pittance.
TLDR: The outline is clearly for a Heinlein juvenile. While Heinlein never turned the outline into a novel himself, he did did not abandon it as the marketing for Variable Star would imply. Rather, he took one core idea (near-light speed travel as a form of time travel into the future) and used it as the basis for Time For the Stars. Then he took the other core idea (poor boy suddenly finds himself dealing with a family more wealthy and powerful than most governments) and incorporated it into Citizen of the Galaxy. Finally he took the last idea from the outline (boy and girl seemingly separated by one-way time travel into the future discover that their ages are not incompatible after all because they've both travelled forward), and used it in The Door Into Summer.
In 2011 when I wrote this up, I could not find anyone talking about the outline, so I wrote a detailed summary on my blog. Here's that summary:
The outline is eight single space typewritten pages, plus 12 handwritten notecards. The notecards are pages 115-128 and the typed outline pages 129-136 of the PDF. I'll be focusing on the typescript, which I can read without straining my eyes. The notecards are very brief, so we're not missing much this way.
The MS begins "Notes for a novel - 5 Nov 1955," which places it (going by publication dates) after Tunnel in the Sky and before Double Star or Time for the Stars. The second line gives a working title "The Stars are a Clock," and then there are several other titles handwritten at the top of the page:
Dr. Einstein's Clock, The Starship Nautilus, The Starship Naughty Girl, The Star Clock, The Einstein Clock
It's not clear whether the two "The Starship X" ones are meant to be subtitles for "Dr Einstein's Clock" or standalone titles in themselves. Page 2 is headed "Star Clock (The Star Clock, maybe)" and the rest of the outline has "The Star Clock-[page number]" as a running head.
The only named characters are Joel Johnston, age 18, the protagonist; Jinny Jones/aka Jennifer Conrad (Joel's steady high school girlfriend, age 17); and "Mr. Conrad," Jinny's grandfather and head of the Conrad financial empire. A few other characters are described in terms of the real-world people the character should be modelled after (in speaking of the starship, he says "I think maybe Ron Hubbard is her skipper").
This was clearly intended as a juvenile novel - Joel is 18, and when saying he "should have more girl trouble aboard ship," Heinlein adds "(keep it clean, of course!)" One reason Heinlein set the outline aside and started over may be that he decided he couldn't get a book whose plot was centred on a romance accepted for the (at the time) sexless juvenile market.
Joel and Jinny are in love, but Joel is an orphan with no money and he thinks he needs to get through college and start a career before he can get married. If Joel can't get the scholarship he's applied for, then it's going to take even longer, since he'll have to work his way though school.
Having gotten Joel to admit that he would like to marry Jinny if only there was a way, Jinny lets him know that her surname is not Jones but Conrad, and that she is not just a Conrad, but the "'crown princess' of the Conrad industrial empire... which is larger than the Hanseatic League, Rothschild family, and General Motors combined and just smaller than space itself."
Two paragraphs in a row start with a variation of Joel "finally gets it through his head" that Jinny is wealthy enough to pay his way though school, so Joel is yet another variation on the "smart but slow witted youth" that Heinlein used as protagonist again and again.
There's a couple of paragraphs mentioning the marriage and courtship customs of the time, which again probably would not have been acceptable in a novel for the juvenile market: "some discussion of 'student contract,' the trial marriage used" by most college students who wish to get married before they graduate, rejected by Jinny, ("marriage isn't a ticket to an amusement park") who wants an old fashioned life long marriage.
Jinny doesn't "park, diddle, go on no-chaperone weekends... she is old-fashioned and chinchy" because she has been taught since age three that she has a responsibility to the Conrad family to produce an heir with an acceptable father - and she has decided that Joel is that man.
Joel "finally gathers" that he has been tapped not just to marry into the Conrad family but to produce its heirs, and is dubious about being a kept man/prince consort. Jinny says "it isn't like that at all!" and makes him promise to go talk to her grandfather about it.
All this takes just over a page of the outline.
The next morning, Joel is summoned to an audience with Mr. Conrad. There is only one "Mr. Conrad" at any one time, all the other male Conrads go by "Mr. Joseph, Mr. Robert" and so on. Conrad takes Joel's consent for granted and proceeds to tell him how he will live his life from then on -- he will be educated, trained, and groomed to take a top executive position. Joel was thoroughly investigated before Jinny was given permission to propose to him. Mr. Conrad knows all about him - including confidential medical/psychological records.
Joel objects, respectfully, saying that having his life planned out for him like this is not for him. Conrad brushes his objections aside and leaves, still failing to realize that he's just been turned down.
Joel is unable to contact Jinny after this ("she has been gently kidnapped, of course - family stuff"), and once he fails to respond to further messages from Conrad, the screws start to turn: his scholarship (controlled by the Conrad foundation) is turned down.
Unable to continue school, sore at Jinny for not contacting him, and at his wits end, "he sees the ad for 'gentlemen adventurers'" applies, is accepted, and is shortly on his way to Beta Aurigae.
All this takes a page and a half of outline, most of it devoted to a detailed summary of Mr. Conrad's interview with Joel.
Now there's just under two pages of background material, detailing several things:
First, the economics of space travel in this future society - relativistic starships that go out on voyages of exploration often fail to come back, but those that do return invariably show an immense profit, more than enough to pay for the lost ships. Starship exploration is one area where the Conrad empire has competitors, and the ad Joel sees is not affiliated with the Conrad conglomerate.
Second, the nature of Joel's poverty - he has an "orphan's allowance" which ran out on his 18th birthday. Joel's father bought some stock for him but the market shifted and Joel had to sell it low to pay for his last (post 18th birthday) semester at prep school. Without the scholarship, Joel has no money at all. He could do many things at this point, from indentured service to a stint in the military, but he's so discombobulated by the whole Jinny/Conrad business that he is in a "what the hell frame of mind" and signs up for this star voyage.
Third, the starship in question is "a pile of junk," old and poorly equipped, carrying low value cargo (emigrants), with low likelihood of returning, but Joel doesn't know that. "She will be a quaint mixture of madhouse and hellship." Subjectively, the trip out and back (to a star 10 light years away) will take a year, but 40 years will pass on Earth.
Fourth, there's a half page of brainstorming, with Heinlein throwing out multiple ideas as to what may happen (is the skipper incompetent, or is he in on a stock market manipulation scheme to delay the ship's return? Perhaps Joel still has some stock his father bought in an old starship that is long overdue, which he instructs his solicitor to invest in Joel's starship if it ever pays off? Perhaps they pay off, but his solicitor put them in a "safe" investment instead, and Joel is penniless - again! - at the end of his trip?)
Joel applies to go on the starship, along with a large crowd of "down-at heels rabble" and he is among the few provisionally accepted. They'd like him to marry one of the single women who have also been provisionally accepted, but he'll have none of that. "He is accepted anyhow and we rush him aboard."
And then there's a bit more than a page of further brainstorming about what happens aboard ship - with an note that "we've got plenty to happen when he gets back; what we need now is adventure and humour" and twists on the ship and on the alien planet.
Heinlein makes several mid-course changes in the story: the back-at-home duration of the voyage gets increased to 60 years, with Joel ageing just three years; the ship goes through two names (Nautilus and Naughty Girl) and goes from making an out-and-back voyage to making a 4 or 5 leg journey. He tosses out the idea that an emigrant on the original trip out from Earth (then a 5 year old girl) grows up to be someone he might want to marry on his return to that colony world, and the idea that another girl from his high school is on the crew of the ship, and he falls for her, but she marries one of the officers instead.
One thing he is certain of is that while Joel's ship is still travelling, FTL ships are perfected and the relativistic starships become obsolete. He also mentions that Joel will find a "space bat" as a "cute and cuddlesome and smart e.-t." pet.
Eventually Joel has to go back to Earth (whether his stocks end up making him well-heeled or broke Heinlein waffles on), still single. A page is devoted to discussing the "Out-of-Phase Club, Anachron Lounge, etc" and Joel's meeting with the secretary of the club, who explains to him the club's purpose of helping relativistic starship crew by acting as trainers/translators and as a place where they can meet people from their own time period, since they are almost always going to find Earth's society, language, and customs to be bafflingly different from when they left.
Finally, the last page and a half of the outline is devoted to Joel's arranging to meet Jinny (who he imagines is now almost 80), the girl he ran away from and who has continued to haunt him, keeping him from marrying any of the "half a dozen other nice girls" he met on his travels. After getting to the Conrad house, he first sees Jinny's granddaughter and great-granddaughter, and (once again) is slow on the uptake when Jinny (still young) finally walks into the room.
Because, of course, she took a starship out too, after marrying, giving birth to the requisite heir, and then finding herself both widowed and orphaned in quick succession. So, sixty Earth years later, they are now the same age.
They fight, they make up, they "clinch." They decide, since they are both now anachronisms from the past, to buy their own starship (Joel's old ship) and travel around relativistically, coming back to earth every century or so to "see what's new."
Now a bit about Robinson's novel: it is extremely faithful to the first five pages of the outline (up to the point where Joel leaves on the starship). Robinson used just a few of the brainstorming ideas Heinlein put in page 6 (the trip), and ignored page 7 (Joel's return to Earth) completely (and it is claimed that he didn't have page 8). Robinson also borrowed some material from Time For the Stars, the Heinlein juvenile which did get written on the theme of relativistic star travel - there's mention of telepaths keeping the starship in touch with Earth, for instance.
Then (avoiding spoilers here) Variable Star utterly abandons the outline (well before the alleged missing page 8) and strikes off in an entirely new direction. By staying so faithful to the initial outline, then diverging so widely from it, Robinson ended up with a book that egregiously violates the Chekov's Gun rule - the ending of Variable Star comes from nowhere, with very little buildup or foreshadowing, while the beginning of the book puts a good many plot threads in motion that are discarded abruptly without resolution to make way for the ending.
Finally, a bit about the other material to be found in the "Story Ideas part 1" PDF: There are numerous newspaper and magazine clippings that Heinlein evidently found evocative; two articles by Jerry Pournelle (one typescript, one journal reprint); some handwritten pages that I did not try to decipher; 19 pages of worldbuilding notes for "A Martian named Smith" aka Stranger in a Strange Land, dated 1949; and finally two typed letters, one to "Sarge" (dec 1963), and one (missing the first page, probably from the same time period) to "Buz," both talking about race relations. Buz is probably F.M. Busby.

It all started with the new student.
Aoki Hana was pretty; one could almost say that she was enchanting. With long black hair, large doe eyes, and bubbly smile on her innocent-looking face, she instantly captured the attention from the whole class. Even Masao, my childhood friend, was charmed. He pretended to look outside the window, but I saw him blush after making eye contact with her. I could still remember that day very clearly; it was a warm spring day, with clear blue sky and faint smell of cherry blossom in the air.
The day that my nightmare began.
I paid Hana no mind. She immediately made friends with some other girls, and I thought there was no reason for me to interact with her. We were just classmates, after all. I continued scrolling on my phone, looking at makeup and latest celebrity gossip, you know, the usual girly stuff. That was when I got a text message.
It was weird. In this day and age of messaging apps, no one really texted through SMS anymore.
First!
Umm… What the heck? I was about to exit the app, when several more texts started coming through.
I’m so excited for this! The ML is so cute!
AHHHHH it’s finally here!!!
Get ready everyone! It’s going to be a wild ride!!
They were all from different unknown numbers and seemed to be expressing excitement at something. I was spooked by the amount and the speed at which these weird scam messages were flooding in. I was deleting them one by one when one of the messages caught my eyes.
Just the first chapter but I know that girl Akane is bad news!
That was my name, Akane. I glanced around the classroom, expecting to see one of my friends holding in laughter as they saw my reaction to their little prank. To my surprise, they were all minding their own business, except for one person.
I was not close with Fukuda-san. We barely interacted at all.
But there she was, staring at me from the opposite side of the room, smiling, unblinking.
I got goosebumps. I wanted to confront her right then, but the teacher told everyone to quiet down and started his lesson. During lunch break, I showed the texts to Masao and told him about my suspicion of Fukuda-san, but he just laughed.
“How could it be Fukuda-san? You guys don’t even know each other that well.”
“I don’t know. Why was she staring at me…”
My sentence was cut short as someone bumped into me with full force, somehow knocking the box of juice I was holding out of my hand. As I stabilised myself, I saw Hana fall to the floor with juice poured all over her head.
I was shocked. How did the juice end up on her head of all places? It shouldn’t have been physically possible. The box should have been knocked to the floor, with only a little bit of content spilling, but somehow it looked like the box had completely exploded. Hana looked terrified; her face was flushed red and she looked like she was about to cry.
I bent over to help her up. I was going to apologise.
But for some reason, I just… laughed?
I didn’t know why I did that. The giggles came out of my throat before I could catch them. I covered my mouth with my hands as soon as I realised this, but the damage was done. Masao looked like he had seen a ghost as he helped Hana up.
“Why did you do that, Akane?” He asked.
That was something I wanted to know too. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, Aoki-san.”
“It’s okay.” Hana sniffled. “I-I’ll just change into my gym uniform.”
Hana was the one who got juice spilled all over her, but somehow, I felt so humiliated. Everyone in the canteen was looking at the scene I caused in shock, but I noticed that one of the students was smiling, as if the whole thing was entertaining to her. I didn’t even know that person, but her smile sent a shiver down my spine.
All the while, the notification on my phone kept going off in my pocket.
Masao took Hana to the classroom to get her gym uniform. I hid in the bathroom and checked my phone. Surely, there were more mysterious messages coming in.
And so it starts… Pouring juice is so cliché…
If I were the MC, I would have slapped that little fox when she giggled! GAHH SO FRUSTRATING!
I tried to reply to the text, asking who they were, but it wouldn’t let me send. I also tried to search what MC meant, but nothing relevant came up. Who would prank me like this? It must have been someone in my class who was in the canteen, right?
I got out of the toilet stall and washed my hands. Feeling like being watched, I turned around to see a girl standing near the corner of the bathroom, staring at me.
She was smiling.
“What are you looking at?” I snapped. My heart skipped a beat.
“Sorry, Okamura-san.” The girl said.
I gulped. “How do you know my name?”
“Everyone knows who you are, Okamura-san.” The girl answered without blinking.
I couldn’t concentrate for the rest of the day. No matter what I did, there was always someone, somewhere, watching me. Be it a classmate, other student, or even a teacher, they were always there. By that point, I was really freaking out and was counting down the time until this horrible day ended. After school, I told Masao that I would skip club activities and went straight home.
Mom and dad were still at work. As always, it was just me in this unnecessarily big house. Finally feeling truly alone, I locked myself inside my bedroom and tried to make sense of what just happened. The notifications had subsided. I hesitated for a bit, and turned off my phone.
I was trying to do homework when there were knocks on the door.
“Come in!”
“Hey, Akane!” Masao was there in his casual clothes, it looked like he had gone home to change. “Are you busy? Inoue-san let me in…”
I looked past him to Inoue-san, she was the housemaid and also my nanny since I was little. I had known this woman all my life, I even just said hi to her when I came home twenty minutes ago. But as she stood there in silence, just smiling at me, I felt like I was standing in front of a complete stranger.
Masao was clueless as I pulled him inside and locked the door.
“Masao, Did you see that? Why was everyone so weird today?” I gestured to the door, but Masao just sat down on my bed and started to fumble with my stuffed toy.
“So after you left, Akane, I actually ran into Hana again…” He said excitedly.
“Hana? You’ve only known Aoki-san for one day.”
“I know right! But I feel like I have known her for a long, long time!” Masao squeezed my teddy bear. “She’s so kind and interesting. As it turns out, we also like the same manga!”
I had known Masao since we were children. His house was literally next to mine. I could confirm, with the utmost certainty, that Masao was never into any form of manga. I had been inside his bedroom countless times, but never once did I ever find a single manga there. There were only video games and sports equipment.
“What do you mean? You never read any manga.”
“No, I’ve always loved manga.” Masao insisted.
Weird, I thought to myself, but nevermind that, I had more important stuff to focus on.
“Okay. Good luck with that. Can we focus on what I said earlier, please? Don’t you feel like everyone was staring at us today? First, Fukuda-san, then there was the girl in the bathroom, and Tanaka-sensei too. They are all creeping me out!”
“It’s probably just your imagination.” Masao rolled his eyes.
“I didn’t imagine it! Even Inoue-san was staring at me just now!”
“I didn’t notice that.” Masao shrugged.
Masao was clearly not interested in my concern. Some kind of best friend he was. He just went on and on about his little crush. I was annoyed, but I let him stay because I was too scared to be in the same house as Inoue-san alone. When Masao said he really should go home for dinner, I just grabbed his arm without thinking.
“Can’t you stay? Have dinner at my place tonight.”
“I really can’t. Mom’s going to be mad.” He said.
Disappointed, I walked him home. When I was back at my own home again, Inoue-san was done preparing dinner. She was no longer smiling like a menace; she was back to being the kind middle-aged woman I had always known. The dinner was almost normal, but for some reason, Inoue-san refused to sit and eat with me unlike everyday. She just stood there timidly on the side like a servant waiting for the next order from her master.
When I asked why she was behaving weird, Inoue-san said that this was always how it had been. There was definitely something wrong about Masao and Inoue-san. They kept insisting that they had always been doing something I had never seen them done before.
I turned on the phone again before bed. There were some new messages.
Akane you snake! Did you just regret friendzoning him for all these years, just when he’s about to fall for Hana? Too late girl!
I’m glad Masao left her like that lol. From the way she treats her maid, it’s obvious she’s a spoiled little brat.
HANDS. OFF. MASAO.
That idiot Masao! My hands were trembling with anger as I thought to myself. He was the only one who knew about this interaction. Why would he prank me like this? This was way too cruel. Calling me a snake and accusing me of friendzoning him? He must have lost his mind. I was fuming all night and could barely get any sleep. All I could think about was how I would confront Masao the next day.
As expected, Masao and I had a huge fight.
He firmly denied having anything to do with the mysterious texts, so I called him a liar. He then accused me of being unsupportive as a friend and that I was “making up stories and ignoring him.” In the end, I pushed him away and as I was making my way back, I crossed paths with Hana. Judging from how I startled her, she must have heard the whole thing.
I never felt so alone before. Nobody in my classroom could be trusted. I didn’t know who else was in on the prank, but by now I had caught almost half of them staring and smiling at me on different occasions. Masao also gave me the cold shoulder. He only hung out with Hana now, which seemed to slow down the rate at which I was receiving those nasty texts.
Despite me trying to reason with them, or even yelling at them, none of the pranksters would admit to their cruel joke. They just apologised and continued to smile at me. Outside of school was a little better, but not by much. Sometimes, strangers would stare and smile at me as I walked to school. I went to the police, but they were no help. When one of them stopped talking and started to smile, I just bolted out of there.
There was only one explanation for this: if people seemed crazy everywhere you go, that meant it was you who was losing your mind.
I should have taken myself to the psychiatrist, or at least told mom and dad about what I was seeing. But I was too scared that they would start smiling, too. I avoided my parents like a plague and tried to focus on my studies as a way of distraction, promising myself that I would do something about this terrifying hallucination after mid-term.
Weeks passed, and so did the mid-term exams. I was anxious the whole time. I didn’t want the mid-term to be over as I would have to acknowledge my problem just as I promised myself. But I needed to do something about it, and I needed to talk it out with Masao.
I tried to catch him in the classroom, but I was distracted by some commotion by the announcement board. Apparently, the mid-term results were out, although we literally just had the last test yesterday. My school had never publicly announced the score rank of each class like this, as they feared it might bring embarrassment to those students who didn’t do so well. But somehow, they decided to go with it this time.
My name was in second place, which was weird. I never was a studious person and had never even made the top ten in my class. Above me was Hana, she got the highest score…
“Please calm down, Okamura-san!”
Someone touched my shoulder and I jolted. I turned around to see a student smiling at me, and the rest of my classmates were staring at me in horror as I felt a piece of paper crumpled in my hands. The score announcement had been ripped from the board, and I was the one who did that…?
When did I do that? It was like I blacked out for a bit there.
“W-what?” I dropped the crumpled up paper. “I didn’t do that!”
Hana looked concerned. “Akane-chan, please don’t be too upset by the test result. I’m sure you’re still much smarter than I am.”
Huh?
I swore that the moment Hana started talking, the smiling student turned to look at her instead of me. It was the first time I noticed that. I grabbed Hana’s shoulder.
“Aoki-san, no, Hana, I need to talk to you, please!”
The other students started murmuring nervously, but I could tell they were entertained by all this. Masao stepped up as if he was about to intervene, but Hana just gave him her signature sweet smile. “It’s okay, Masao-kun. Akane-chan and I won’t take long.”
Hana followed me to the courtyard while I tried to formulate in my head how I was going to break all of this to her. How come I never thought of this before? It all started on the day Hana was transferred here; surely this whole bizarre occurrence must have something to do with her. I decided to be blunt.
“Hana, have you noticed people staring at you while smiling lately? I mean, Ishida-san was doing that just now when we were at the announcement board.”
Hana tilted her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about Akane-chan.”
“Come on. You must have noticed it right? They… You think you could just walk in and steal Masao from me?” I screamed.
Wait, no. That was not what I was trying to say. Why-why couldn’t I control myself?
“Akane-chan! It’s not like that! I just wanted all of us to be friends.”
“How dare you! You don’t know Masao like I do! He and I were… Urgh… gahh… STOP TALKING!” I grabbed my own throat in a futile attempt to regain control of my own action. Panic swept over me as I struggled. Hana stared at me with horror; she was on the verge of tears.
That was when I felt a familiar sensation which I had learned to endure so well. Someone was watching us. I looked around the empty courtyard and there it was: a student was hiding behind a tree. She was not moving or blinking, she was just staring at me and Hana, as if she were an inanimate object of sorts.
“There’s one of them right there, Hana. Look!” I pulled Hana towards the tree.
“Please, Akane-chan, you’re scaring me. Stop it!” Hana’s voice was trembling. She tried to stop me with her strength, which was never powerful to begin with.
“I said look at her! Can’t you see it? Are you blind?”
I broke free and pushed Hana to the ground. It wasn’t a hard push, but somehow it sent Hana all the way down into the flowerbed. Hana shrieked and covered her cheek as if I just slapped her, when suddenly her demeanour changed completely.
She started to smile.
No. Not you too.
“Hana?”
“Just play your part. Accept your role.” She said, but it was not in her own voice. It was the voice of an older woman, emotionless, like a robot.
“Who are you? What do you want from me?” I grabbed her collar.
“The Spectators want a happy ending.”
“Stop it, Akane!” Masao yanked me away from Hana. I was in too much shock to be able to defend myself. Almost instantly, Hana stopped smiling and she went back to being who she had always been, a delicate fragile girl who never did anything wrong. She sobbed quietly as Masao helped her stand up.
“You’ve really crossed the line this time.” Masao glared at me. Other students heard the commotion and they started to come out of the building to see what was going on. “What did Hana ever do to you? This is not like you at all.”
“No, YOU were the one who was acting strange. Every single one of you!” I screamed, tears rolling down my face. “How could you pretend that everything was normal? Screw you!”
I got up and ran away as fast as I could. I caught a glimpse of students and strangers staring at me as I sprinted home. It has been four hours now but I refused to unlock my door for anyone, not even Inoue-san. Somehow I felt like I was still being watched, so I closed all the curtains and plucked out the eyes from all my stuffed toys.
The class chatroom was exploding with people talking nasty things about me, as they all witnessed me pushing Hana and grabbing her by the collar. They called me possessed which was truly ironic given what they had done to me.
Of course, the SMS messages flooded in.
You’re done f up girl. You showed the whole class your true colour!!
I’m annoyed with the MC, she should have stood up for herself and beat up Akane
Masao so pretty as always! \swoons**
Akane is the very definition of a narcissistic asshole. She always kept Masao by her side and friendzoned him, then acted like she was entitled to him when Hana came along. Very selfish. I hate a person like this the most.
All these stupid texts made me extremely upset. I couldn’t stop crying at first, but the distress turned into anger very quickly as I realised how absurd these accusations were. I had never had a crush on Masao. I had never been competitive during exams. And I sure as hell, never wanted anything to do with Hana.
As I furiously scrolled through a bunch of texts looking for clues to explain what the heck was going on, one text stood out.
This webcomic is sooooo cliché but I can’t stop reading it! Lol. Akane is a really fun character to hate.
Webcomic? Character? What was this person babbling about?
It took me a split second to realise it, then it hit me like a truck.
I was a character in a webcomic?
Even the idea of it was so absurd, it was almost laughable. But the more I thought about it, the more things started to fall into place. It was a perfect fit. All the pieces of the puzzle came together and formed into a ridiculous, unbelievable revelation.
Yes, all the weird texts I got were very similar to how the comment section of a webcomic might look like. The “story” so far also fitted with typical high school romance plotlines; a charming new girl, a boy having a crush, and a jealous childhood friend. Ever since Hana set her foot into my school, the irresistable power was held over me, forcing me to dance to the rhythm that had been composed by a merciless God.
And as it turned out, God was just some shitty wannabe writer.
The realisation that my entire life was laid in some amateur author’s hand made me so mad in a way I could not describe. I could feel my entire body tense up. Without thinking, I threw my phone at the wall and punched the vanity mirror until it broke. My hand was shaking as blood dripped down into the carpet. As I stared into the broken mirror, my reflection was of a truly unhinged person.
If one of those smiling creeps was here, I guess they would have been satisfied with what they were seeing. After all, I was playing into the character of a crazy villainess pretty well.
You guys wanted me to play my part, to accept my role?
Fine.
Let me show you what a villainess could do then.

I’m writing this partly for my own therapy and in case anyone has any insights I’ve not thought of before, and partly in case it helps anyone else to read it.
I’m a male in my late 30s and I’ve always struggled with sex. My first sexual encounter was when I was 18 at University. I’d met the girl a few nights before, and after a drink with her we went back to her dorm. She wasn’t very experienced or confident in what she was doing either. After some very (too) brief foreplay we attempted to have intercourse but I couldn’t penetrate her properly. I think this was down to us both lacking experience, and perhaps I wasn’t fully erect, I can’t remember it properly now. It was also my first time putting on a condom which probably didn’t help.
We were both disappointed about what happened and I remember she called it ‘a disaster’. I left shortly after and we never talked about it since. I don’t think we had much communication at all after it. So that was obviously a traumatic start to my sex life. After that I had a few one night stands after club nights while at Uni, when I was very drunk and tired late at night. Unsurprisingly, they didn’t go well either. I didn’t stay erect for very long and so the intercourse was very short lived. This was probably down to my alcohol intake and fatigue, on top of the lack of experience and past trauma.
I met another girl at Uni who I had a couple of dates with and a couple of sexual encounters. The sex went a bit better in that I was able to maintain an erection for longer (because I wasn’t as drunk or tired) but again I couldn’t penetrate properly (with a condom on) for some reason - I remember her saying ‘perhaps you’re too big for me’ but that doesn’t seem right to me.
My next attempt at intercourse was about 3 years after University with a girl I met online ( the night after our 3rd date). I did penetrate properly this time, but couldn’t maintain the erection for more than about a minute. She stayed the night and in the morning we did it again, and this time I could maintain the erection for a few minutes, but I didn’t orgasm (or feel close to it) We had sex 3 or 4 more times while we were together and I did become a bit better at maintaining my erection during this time. We did it once without me wearing a condom for a few minutes, but again even then I didn’t feel close to orgasm. We tried a few different positions over the time we were dating (8 weeks in total)
Over the next 8 years I didn’t have sex with anyone, or have another girlfriend. I tried online dating apps/websites sporadically with limited success (a few dates but that was it)
Then I met my girlfriend who I’m still with today over 5 years later. She also has issues of her own that make it hard for her to have sex (I think this is the law of attraction at work). We tried to have intercourse a few times at the start of our relationship with limited success. Since then we’ve not bothered trying much because of all the issues we both have. We talk about it openly and we don’t rule out working on it again but we both feel we have bigger priorities at the moment. I don’t want to discuss the details of her sexual issues on here because I know she’d be uncomfortable with that. We both love each other and are very happy together. I’ve never met anyone before or after meeting her who feels like a soulmate and right for me, and she definitely does.
So despite all the problems I’ve had with my sex life, I’m actually very happy overall and grateful for the many good things in other areas of my life.
I had some sexual psychotherapy a year or so ago, which helped me a bit to work out the causes of what has happened. I think another contributing factor has been that my penis is far more used to masturbation than intercourse. This is probably why I haven’t felt close to orgasm during intercourse. I was also picked on at school, which damaged my social confidence and therefore made it more difficult for me to meet women.
So that’s a summary of my very limited and troubled sex life. Before I met my current girlfriend I never talked to anyone about it, I think I was too embarrassed/afraid of being mocked or upset by people's responses. Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope it may help at least some of you to hear my story.

It all started with the new student.
Aoki Hana was pretty; one could almost say that she was enchanting. With long black hair, large doe eyes, and bubbly smile on her innocent-looking face, she instantly captured the attention from the whole class. Even Masao, my childhood friend, was charmed. He pretended to look outside the window, but I saw him blush after making eye contact with her. I could still remember that day very clearly; it was a warm spring day, with clear blue sky and faint smell of cherry blossom in the air.
The day that my nightmare began.
I paid Hana no mind. She immediately made friends with some other girls, and I thought there was no reason for me to interact with her. We were just classmates, after all. I continued scrolling on my phone, looking at makeup and latest celebrity gossip, you know, the usual girly stuff. That was when I got a text message.
It was weird. In this day and age of messaging apps, no one really texted through SMS anymore.
First!
Umm… What the heck? I was about to exit the app, when several more texts started coming through.
I’m so excited for this! The ML is so cute!
AHHHHH it’s finally here!!!
Get ready everyone! It’s going to be a wild ride!!
They were all from different unknown numbers and seemed to be expressing excitement at something. I was spooked by the amount and the speed at which these weird scam messages were flooding in. I was deleting them one by one when one of the messages caught my eyes.
Just the first chapter but I know that girl Akane is bad news!
That was my name, Akane. I glanced around the classroom, expecting to see one of my friends holding in laughter as they saw my reaction to their little prank. To my surprise, they were all minding their own business, except for one person.
I was not close with Fukuda-san. We barely interacted at all.
But there she was, staring at me from the opposite side of the room, smiling, unblinking.
I got goosebumps. I wanted to confront her right then, but the teacher told everyone to quiet down and started his lesson. During lunch break, I showed the texts to Masao and told him about my suspicion of Fukuda-san, but he just laughed.
“How could it be Fukuda-san? You guys don’t even know each other that well.”
“I don’t know. Why was she staring at me…”
My sentence was cut short as someone bumped into me with full force, somehow knocking the box of juice I was holding out of my hand. As I stabilised myself, I saw Hana fall to the floor with juice poured all over her head.
I was shocked. How did the juice end up on her head of all places? It shouldn’t have been physically possible. The box should have been knocked to the floor, with only a little bit of content spilling, but somehow it looked like the box had completely exploded. Hana looked terrified; her face was flushed red and she looked like she was about to cry.
I bent over to help her up. I was going to apologise.
But for some reason, I just… laughed?
I didn’t know why I did that. The giggles came out of my throat before I could catch them. I covered my mouth with my hands as soon as I realised this, but the damage was done. Masao looked like he had seen a ghost as he helped Hana up.
“Why did you do that, Akane?” He asked.
That was something I wanted to know too. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, Aoki-san.”
“It’s okay.” Hana sniffled. “I-I’ll just change into my gym uniform.”
Hana was the one who got juice spilled all over her, but somehow, I felt so humiliated. Everyone in the canteen was looking at the scene I caused in shock, but I noticed that one of the students was smiling, as if the whole thing was entertaining to her. I didn’t even know that person, but her smile sent a shiver down my spine.
All the while, the notification on my phone kept going off in my pocket.
Masao took Hana to the classroom to get her gym uniform. I hid in the bathroom and checked my phone. Surely, there were more mysterious messages coming in.
And so it starts… Pouring juice is so cliché…
If I were the MC, I would have slapped that little fox when she giggled! GAHH SO FRUSTRATING!
I tried to reply to the text, asking who they were, but it wouldn’t let me send. I also tried to search what MC meant, but nothing relevant came up. Who would prank me like this? It must have been someone in my class who was in the canteen, right?
I got out of the toilet stall and washed my hands. Feeling like being watched, I turned around to see a girl standing near the corner of the bathroom, staring at me.
She was smiling.
“What are you looking at?” I snapped. My heart skipped a beat.
“Sorry, Okamura-san.” The girl said.
I gulped. “How do you know my name?”
“Everyone knows who you are, Okamura-san.” The girl answered without blinking.
I couldn’t concentrate for the rest of the day. No matter what I did, there was always someone, somewhere, watching me. Be it a classmate, other student, or even a teacher, they were always there. By that point, I was really freaking out and was counting down the time until this horrible day ended. After school, I told Masao that I would skip club activities and went straight home.
Mom and dad were still at work. As always, it was just me in this unnecessarily big house. Finally feeling truly alone, I locked myself inside my bedroom and tried to make sense of what just happened. The notifications had subsided. I hesitated for a bit, and turned off my phone.
I was trying to do homework when there were knocks on the door.
“Come in!”
“Hey, Akane!” Masao was there in his casual clothes, it looked like he had gone home to change. “Are you busy? Inoue-san let me in…”
I looked past him to Inoue-san, she was the housemaid and also my nanny since I was little. I had known this woman all my life, I even just said hi to her when I came home twenty minutes ago. But as she stood there in silence, just smiling at me, I felt like I was standing in front of a complete stranger.
Masao was clueless as I pulled him inside and locked the door.
“Masao, Did you see that? Why was everyone so weird today?” I gestured to the door, but Masao just sat down on my bed and started to fumble with my stuffed toy.
“So after you left, Akane, I actually ran into Hana again…” He said excitedly.
“Hana? You’ve only known Aoki-san for one day.”
“I know right! But I feel like I have known her for a long, long time!” Masao squeezed my teddy bear. “She’s so kind and interesting. As it turns out, we also like the same manga!”
I had known Masao since we were children. His house was literally next to mine. I could confirm, with the utmost certainty, that Masao was never into any form of manga. I had been inside his bedroom countless times, but never once did I ever find a single manga there. There were only video games and sports equipment.
“What do you mean? You never read any manga.”
“No, I’ve always loved manga.” Masao insisted.
Weird, I thought to myself, but nevermind that, I had more important stuff to focus on.
“Okay. Good luck with that. Can we focus on what I said earlier, please? Don’t you feel like everyone was staring at us today? First, Fukuda-san, then there was the girl in the bathroom, and Tanaka-sensei too. They are all creeping me out!”
“It’s probably just your imagination.” Masao rolled his eyes.
“I didn’t imagine it! Even Inoue-san was staring at me just now!”
“I didn’t notice that.” Masao shrugged.
Masao was clearly not interested in my concern. Some kind of best friend he was. He just went on and on about his little crush. I was annoyed, but I let him stay because I was too scared to be in the same house as Inoue-san alone. When Masao said he really should go home for dinner, I just grabbed his arm without thinking.
“Can’t you stay? Have dinner at my place tonight.”
“I really can’t. Mom’s going to be mad.” He said.
Disappointed, I walked him home. When I was back at my own home again, Inoue-san was done preparing dinner. She was no longer smiling like a menace; she was back to being the kind middle-aged woman I had always known. The dinner was almost normal, but for some reason, Inoue-san refused to sit and eat with me unlike everyday. She just stood there timidly on the side like a servant waiting for the next order from her master.
When I asked why she was behaving weird, Inoue-san said that this was always how it had been. There was definitely something wrong about Masao and Inoue-san. They kept insisting that they had always been doing something I had never seen them done before.
I turned on the phone again before bed. There were some new messages.
Akane you snake! Did you just regret friendzoning him for all these years, just when he’s about to fall for Hana? Too late girl!
I’m glad Masao left her like that lol. From the way she treats her maid, it’s obvious she’s a spoiled little brat.
HANDS. OFF. MASAO.
That idiot Masao! My hands were trembling with anger as I thought to myself. He was the only one who knew about this interaction. Why would he prank me like this? This was way too cruel. Calling me a snake and accusing me of friendzoning him? He must have lost his mind. I was fuming all night and could barely get any sleep. All I could think about was how I would confront Masao the next day.
As expected, Masao and I had a huge fight.
He firmly denied having anything to do with the mysterious texts, so I called him a liar. He then accused me of being unsupportive as a friend and that I was “making up stories and ignoring him.” In the end, I pushed him away and as I was making my way back, I crossed paths with Hana. Judging from how I startled her, she must have heard the whole thing.
I never felt so alone before. Nobody in my classroom could be trusted. I didn’t know who else was in on the prank, but by now I had caught almost half of them staring and smiling at me on different occasions. Masao also gave me the cold shoulder. He only hung out with Hana now, which seemed to slow down the rate at which I was receiving those nasty texts.
Despite me trying to reason with them, or even yelling at them, none of the pranksters would admit to their cruel joke. They just apologised and continued to smile at me. Outside of school was a little better, but not by much. Sometimes, strangers would stare and smile at me as I walked to school. I went to the police, but they were no help. When one of them stopped talking and started to smile, I just bolted out of there.
There was only one explanation for this: if people seemed crazy everywhere you go, that meant it was you who was losing your mind.
I should have taken myself to the psychiatrist, or at least told mom and dad about what I was seeing. But I was too scared that they would start smiling, too. I avoided my parents like a plague and tried to focus on my studies as a way of distraction, promising myself that I would do something about this terrifying hallucination after mid-term.
Weeks passed, and so did the mid-term exams. I was anxious the whole time. I didn’t want the mid-term to be over as I would have to acknowledge my problem just as I promised myself. But I needed to do something about it, and I needed to talk it out with Masao.
I tried to catch him in the classroom, but I was distracted by some commotion by the announcement board. Apparently, the mid-term results were out, although we literally just had the last test yesterday. My school had never publicly announced the score rank of each class like this, as they feared it might bring embarrassment to those students who didn’t do so well. But somehow, they decided to go with it this time.
My name was in second place, which was weird. I never was a studious person and had never even made the top ten in my class. Above me was Hana, she got the highest score…
“Please calm down, Okamura-san!”
Someone touched my shoulder and I jolted. I turned around to see a student smiling at me, and the rest of my classmates were staring at me in horror as I felt a piece of paper crumpled in my hands. The score announcement had been ripped from the board, and I was the one who did that…?
When did I do that? It was like I blacked out for a bit there.
“W-what?” I dropped the crumpled up paper. “I didn’t do that!”
Hana looked concerned. “Akane-chan, please don’t be too upset by the test result. I’m sure you’re still much smarter than I am.”
Huh?
I swore that the moment Hana started talking, the smiling student turned to look at her instead of me. It was the first time I noticed that. I grabbed Hana’s shoulder.
“Aoki-san, no, Hana, I need to talk to you, please!”
The other students started murmuring nervously, but I could tell they were entertained by all this. Masao stepped up as if he was about to intervene, but Hana just gave him her signature sweet smile. “It’s okay, Masao-kun. Akane-chan and I won’t take long.”
Hana followed me to the courtyard while I tried to formulate in my head how I was going to break all of this to her. How come I never thought of this before? It all started on the day Hana was transferred here; surely this whole bizarre occurrence must have something to do with her. I decided to be blunt.
“Hana, have you noticed people staring at you while smiling lately? I mean, Ishida-san was doing that just now when we were at the announcement board.”
Hana tilted her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about Akane-chan.”
“Come on. You must have noticed it right? They… You think you could just walk in and steal Masao from me?” I screamed.
Wait, no. That was not what I was trying to say. Why-why couldn’t I control myself?
“Akane-chan! It’s not like that! I just wanted all of us to be friends.”
“How dare you! You don’t know Masao like I do! He and I were… Urgh… gahh… STOP TALKING!” I grabbed my own throat in a futile attempt to regain control of my own action. Panic swept over me as I struggled. Hana stared at me with horror; she was on the verge of tears.
That was when I felt a familiar sensation which I had learned to endure so well. Someone was watching us. I looked around the empty courtyard and there it was: a student was hiding behind a tree. She was not moving or blinking, she was just staring at me and Hana, as if she were an inanimate object of sorts.
“There’s one of them right there, Hana. Look!” I pulled Hana towards the tree.
“Please, Akane-chan, you’re scaring me. Stop it!” Hana’s voice was trembling. She tried to stop me with her strength, which was never powerful to begin with.
“I said look at her! Can’t you see it? Are you blind?”
I broke free and pushed Hana to the ground. It wasn’t a hard push, but somehow it sent Hana all the way down into the flowerbed. Hana shrieked and covered her cheek as if I just slapped her, when suddenly her demeanour changed completely.
She started to smile.
No. Not you too.
“Hana?”
“Just play your part. Accept your role.” She said, but it was not in her own voice. It was the voice of an older woman, emotionless, like a robot.
“Who are you? What do you want from me?” I grabbed her collar.
“The Spectators want a happy ending.”
“Stop it, Akane!” Masao yanked me away from Hana. I was in too much shock to be able to defend myself. Almost instantly, Hana stopped smiling and she went back to being who she had always been, a delicate fragile girl who never did anything wrong. She sobbed quietly as Masao helped her stand up.
“You’ve really crossed the line this time.” Masao glared at me. Other students heard the commotion and they started to come out of the building to see what was going on. “What did Hana ever do to you? This is not like you at all.”
“No, YOU were the one who was acting strange. Every single one of you!” I screamed, tears rolling down my face. “How could you pretend that everything was normal? Screw you!”
I got up and ran away as fast as I could. I caught a glimpse of students and strangers staring at me as I sprinted home. It has been four hours now but I refused to unlock my door for anyone, not even Inoue-san. Somehow I felt like I was still being watched, so I closed all the curtains and plucked out the eyes from all my stuffed toys.
The class chatroom was exploding with people talking nasty things about me, as they all witnessed me pushing Hana and grabbing her by the collar. They called me possessed which was truly ironic given what they had done to me.
Of course, the SMS messages flooded in.
You’re done f up girl. You showed the whole class your true colour!!
I’m annoyed with the MC, she should have stood up for herself and beat up Akane
Masao so pretty as always! *swoons*
Akane is the very definition of a narcissistic asshole. She always kept Masao by her side and friendzoned him, then acted like she was entitled to him when Hana came along. Very selfish. I hate a person like this the most.
All these stupid texts made me extremely upset. I couldn’t stop crying at first, but the distress turned into anger very quickly as I realised how absurd these accusations were. I had never had a crush on Masao. I had never been competitive during exams. And I sure as hell, never wanted anything to do with Hana.
As I furiously scrolled through a bunch of texts looking for clues to explain what the heck was going on, one text stood out.
This webcomic is sooooo cliché but I can’t stop reading it! Lol. Akane is a really fun character to hate.
Webcomic? Character? What was this person babbling about?
It took me a split second to realise it, then it hit me like a truck.
I was a character in a webcomic?
Even the idea of it was so absurd, it was almost laughable. But the more I thought about it, the more things started to fall into place. It was a perfect fit. All the pieces of the puzzle came together and formed into a ridiculous, unbelievable revelation.
Yes, all the weird texts I got were very similar to how the comment section of a webcomic might look like. The “story” so far also fitted with typical high school romance plotlines; a charming new girl, a boy having a crush, and a jealous childhood friend. Ever since Hana set her foot into my school, the irresistable power was held over me, forcing me to dance to the rhythm that had been composed by a merciless God.
And as it turned out, God was just some shitty wannabe writer.
The realisation that my entire life was laid in some amateur author’s hand made me so mad in a way I could not describe. I could feel my entire body tense up. Without thinking, I threw my phone at the wall and punched the vanity mirror until it broke. My hand was shaking as blood dripped down into the carpet. As I stared into the broken mirror, my reflection was of a truly unhinged person.
If one of those smiling creeps was here, I guess they would have been satisfied with what they were seeing. After all, I was playing into the character of a crazy villainess pretty well.
You guys wanted me to play my part, to accept my role?
Fine.
Let me show you what a villainess could do then.