I, (19M), don’t enjoy facetiming my current girlfriend (19F) in the slightest.
Some context: I moved to a new country a couple months ago and herself and her siblings were the first people I met. I haven’t made any friends here but still keep in contact with all my friends from back home on a daily basis.
She admitted around three weeks ago that she has liked me since she first met me and that her siblings knew about it but were collectively keeping it discrete. Whilst we were spending time together one day, I decided to kiss her because I got all the right signals. I have to admit that I have thought about the idea of dating her ever since I moved here but see myself as a really career oriented person so never let it get to me.
Fast forward to us dating for 3 weeks, I can safely say I’ve had the most fun I’ve ever had around one individual person ever. Everything is just perfect, the chemistry, the conversations, I have the best time around her even if we’re doing nothing and she’s expressed the same emotions… until it comes to facetime. It is just so dry, I feel like there is nothing to talk about, the phone calls have been so stale and under stimulating in every means possible. It feels like something we “have to do” since were in a relationship. Although none of us feel obligated to facetime each other we still do it since we’re excited to be in each others company except it is not the same.
I would like to blame it on the fact that everything is better face to face and in person however in my previous relationship, which ended a while ago and because we couldn’t end up together due to different religions and families. I remember so many pleasant memories on the phone and in person. It was like we had the same connection in person and through a device. I really do enjoy facetime calls and did used to enjoy them with my ex girlfriend however it’s just not the case here. I don’t know what the problem is.
I’m afraid this has a deeper meaning and have been overthinking it for the last couple of days. I’m sure a number of you reddit users think this is some naive and childish relationship since I’m only 19 but I pride myself on thinking otherwise. I seriously like this person but feel like i’m very on edge about whether i’m making a mistake based on this factor and wondering whether it would be a problem in the future since this isn’t how my facetime calls usually used to go.
I am looking for some genuine advice here and I figured what better place to go looking than reddit. right?

Tl;dr - my store has been lying about the price of 2 years protection under Totaltech, and management is effectively encouraging it by not saying it.
I started working for Best Buy 2 months ago. Since then, I’ve enjoyed it overall, met some great people, and now a shift lead in my department (have previous supervisory experience.) I have good numbers - my Totaltech numbers are best in the district.
But won’t be going forward.
I have recently figured out Totaltech is synonymous with plausible deniability; that is, you must convince yourself its perks outweigh the large $199 a year price tag.
Let’s disregard the elderly customers who genuinely need Geek Squad if they don’t have a family member nearby. Most of the non-elderly generally don’t need one off service from Geek Squad - though there certainly is a staple of customers who do and Geek Squad are pros at handling those problems as they arise.
That brings us to the by far most important perk of TT: protection of expensive items. Should be fairly straightforward, right?
Management and coworkers alike told me that even if you choose not to renew TT, you still are entitled to 24 months (1 remaining year) of protection/Apple Care; you just lose access to Geek Squad. At first I found this strange, but figured $199 is still profitable for Best Buy.
Figured out today that isn’t the case, and you must have an active membership to maintain the protection. Likely obvious to a large majority of y’all, but simply was told something else.
So excluding the folks who happen to also need important services like free elliptical delivery, 20% off iPhone battery replacements, exclusive deals like $30 off a $3000 MacBook Pro, and access to “VIP” customer service reps, the every day electronic purchaser typically cares about the current, expensive item they are purchasing. I don’t have data to back that up other than my experience of selling 4+ laptops a day the last 2 months.
My department has been promising customers 2 years of protection on items and most others) for $200. Not the actual amount of $400.
Management has heard me pitch TT multiple times and not said anything.
Pretty pathetic.
Store management has somehow convinced themselves we aren’t absolutely fucking over a massive amount of customers, while corporate has found a way to explain what the “24 months of protection” deal means in the most vague and ambiguous way as possible on the signs, pamphlets, and website.
I can’t rationalize selling a TT membership if it’s going to fuck over customers that badly - getting 1 year or protection for $200. And as someone with pseudo leadership in my area, I can’t just justify not saying something. Simply isn’t worth it.
Again, probably in the minority of people who don’t know this (especially on this subreddit) but it’s yet another stain on leadership and Best Buy as a whole.

I understand you're a busy person, so I'll keep this short.
I am Cruz, a Conservative activist in America. Currently, I am following the very crucial Wisconsin Supreme Court Race.
If Liberals are to win this election, we can expect gerrymandered maps, 2024 to be stolen, mass transgenderism of Wisconsin children regardless of parental consent and mass eugenical genocide.
​
This race is very important, so I am demanding every Conservative activist living in America, that are at or over the age of 18 to get on the ground by doing the following.
Scott Presler, a Christian Conservative Activist recommends the following:

1. Download the Early Vote Action app from the App Store
2. Once the app is installed, press the top left corner to input your phone number for access to the contact infrastructure.
3. Begin making calls to remind voters to vote for Conservative option, Daniel Kelly with their friends and family on election day (April 4) or before through early voting. (Early Voting is important, as unfavorable circumstances such as poor weather, grandpa's spine problems and the like could undermine a winning majority brought by the election day vote.)

So I’m trying to use their best price guarantee, but the website is broken. Every time I try it won’t let me type in my phone number. When I try to submit it says that I must type in my phone number. I’ve tried calling customer service and they say they have no clue and to wait until it works again. Is this just a me problem?

Basically, I need to know if I have to buy a new pair of RAM or just 1 piece of RAM. I currently have 16GB, want to make it 32GB.
My PC, an Intel NUC NUC8i7HVK, is currently installed with 1 x 16GB SO-DIMM RAM from Crucial Technology, DDR4-2666 (1333 MHz). Its Part number is CT16G4SFD8266.C16FD1.
I see Crucial selling 16GB SO-DIMM RAM, DDR4-2666, but its part number is CT16G4SFRA266.
So should I get from Crucial 2 new RAM or can I save some cash and just get 1 piece of CT16G4SFRA266? Are CT16G4SFD8266 and CT16G4SFRA266 compatible? Sorry English is not my native language.

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.. I really need an advice and maybe an answer to this.. I know Allah knows best and there's no way we can know for sure who will be punished for what. And I know it's not allowed to post link to fundraiser here so I wont do it here but it's a long story and if you would like you can head over to my previous posts on my profile.
Long story short, the only family I have left are my sister's twins. I've been raising them since their parents' passing. It wasn't easy but I could try to make do by taking extra works. This changed when we had COVID last November and I got laid off. I took loans for the boy's hospital stay, believing I'd be able to get long payment plan but got cheated on. It was a scam and I'm knee deep in debt. Reporting to the police and related institutions didn't change anything and I'm forced to pay if I don't want to keep being harassed and humiliated.
I'm struggling to make ends meet as it is. New job I applied to didn't work out (I'd have to take off my hijab to be accepted to work, I couldn't). I'm back to washing dishes and doing whatever halal work just to get by. There's no way I can pay off the debt without help and at this point it seems impossible.
Today I had a talk with someone and was suggested to leave the city, get new phone number to avoid constant harassment from debt collectors and start over. I don't have money for that. While it will give me a peace of mind (no debt collectors harassing me), starting over isn't easy when you have 3 year olds. I have a degree in teaching but there's no opening. The best option IF I was to do it is by applying a job as a maid since it pays more than just being a substitute teacher. And I won't have to pay rent and food bcos I'll live in their house.
But I'm sure they won't accept me taking the twins to live there. I can't afford rent let alone day care. It breaks me to think about this, and I don't know if I'll end up doing it bcos I want to keep being with them and raising them. But fleeing the city with me will make them more miserable. I can sleep at a gas station or whatever but they need roof over their head, they need stability. I'm not sure if they can get that with me, and I'm not sure if they can get enough love care and attention in orphanage. But at least they will have roof over their heads..
I feel awful and very sad about this so please don't be too hard on me with your advice.. if my plan is to leave them in orphanage, and work out of town as a maid with the intention to come get them again one day after I have more money to afford rent and day care..will I anger Allah since they're my responsibility? I have zero intention to abandon them and I'm worried this will affect their emotional growth too but at this time, I have no other choice.. I have a fundraiser but it doesn't run as fast as those loan sharks' due date approaching. Doesn't mean I'm not grateful for the support though. I am, but it seems like my fight comes to an end.

I feel I need to explain everything leading up to this to properly convey why I feel the way I feel so please bare with me.
Context: My fiancé and I have been together over 3 years now. She’s the love of my life and I would do practically anything for her. I’m in the military so the majority of our relationship has been long distance but I still visit a minimum of once a month or every two weeks if I can. Lately she’s been having a lot of problems with herself and our relationship. She takes issue with physical intimacy and sex, usually either denying me or seeming reluctant to make love, when that was never the case for our first 2 years together and we practically pounced on each other at every given opportunity.
She also explained problems being emotive or expressive on the phone and text, again this never being a problem in the past. So over the last year or so she’s slowly started avoiding physical intimacy, and seeming numb and callous both on the phone and in person. (I should note I’m currently deployed over seas and have been for a few months now). Finally, some weeks ago we called and had a long talk about these new behaviors she developed, ending with her explaining that she doesn’t think we’re compatible and that I don’t have the “non- negotiable traits” she would look for in a man (I.e. politics, views on social and family issues, etc) and considered breaking up. It crushed me.
I’m far from a perfect bf but I’ve always tried my hardest to be the best man I could for her. I’ve never been physically or emotionally abusive. I spend hundreds of dollars a month to go see her, taking her out for dinner, buying her whatever she wants. I always take time out of my day to listen and talk to her. Whenever she takes issue with something about me, like my tendency to make insensitive jokes, I always try to change myself to be better for her. I try to be patient and understand everything that’s going on with her. Not a day goes by where I don’t think of her and tell her I love her. Then she came out of the blue saying all these things about how we’re not compatible and how she thinks she wants to break up. It left me devastated.
I all but begged her stay, and fortunately she did. But there’s been tension ever since that day and anxiety has been crippling my ability to function normally. Ever since I’ve felt as if I make a mistake that a break up is waiting to crash down on me. I’ve never felt this insecure or unloved or anxious in my life.
Now for the main issue, sorry about all that lead up.—- My fiancé has had male friends for the better part of a year now. They started out on discord as online friends just playing games together and such. I didn’t pay it much mind at the time. The group of friends has more men than girls in it. It’s essentially a few guys and one female friend my fiancé has known for a long time.
I’ve known for some time that some of the men in the group frequently try to invite my fiancé out (coffee or movies and such), as several of them happen to be local. Again, I tried not to let it bother me much and she expressed to me I have nothing to worry about several times and that I should trust her. Before I deployed I asked her very politely if she could refrain from meeting up in person with these other men while I was gone and she freaked the fuck out. She cried, she begged, she accused me of not trusting her, you get the idea. I gave in.
I tried to set down some ground rules like no drinking, no getting picked up from home by these other men, not spending time at their homes, not smoking weed or partying with these other men. I felt I was being reasonable. Again, she freaked out. She accused me of being untrusting, unhealthy in my thinking, asked why I can’t just trust her, cried and wouldn’t budge on anything. So again, I gave in.
Fast forward to very recently. She’s spending time with these other men and leaving me in the dark for 2-3 hours at a time while she does. We normally text each other all day. In this last occasion she was in another man’s home attending what was basically a small party with the friend group, late into the night. The entire period of 2+ hours when she wouldn’t text me back I was wallowing in anxiety and insecurity, something I know she knew. When she was done for the night I respectfully asked if she could text or update me more frequently while she was spending time with her friends. She got very defensive and refused.
She explained that she just lost track of time and I shouldn’t worry, that I was micro managing her, that she didn’t want to look at her phone while she was with friends. To clarify, I originally asked if she could send an update text every 30 minutes or so. That was all. She fought me on it aggressively. I tried my best to explain that it was just for my own comfort and feeling of security. She wouldn’t give in even a little, so I did.
Now we’re here, with me feeling like shit and insecure as hell, losing all the pride I had in my relationship. I’m fully aware much of this is being lead on by own feelings of insecurity and jealousy, but how could I not feel these things after what she said to me only a few weeks ago? Especially when I’m deployed overseas and I’ve never had the chance to meet these men before?
I don’t think she’s cheating. Or at least I hope not. I literally just want her to provide any kind of security or comfort while she spends time with other men. But she won’t. And I have no clue what to do about it. Help me.
​
TLDR: My fiancé recently said some things to me that made me feel not good enough for her and insecure in our relationship. Lately she's been spending time with other men (and one girl) as part of a friend group like at another man's house. She will go ghost on me for 2-3 hours at a time when she does so and when I asked her to text me more often while she's out with these other men she got very defensive and said I'm micro managing and thinking in a mentally unhealthy way. I don't know where to go from here.

Reposting because accidentally posted this under the wrong account. Apologies.
This happened about a month and a half ago, but I'm still completely perplexed and, honestly, now a little bitter.
I want to preface this by saying I've worked in customer service the majority of my life, including fast food, retail, phone, and chat service. I know how it feels to be demeaned or treated poorly, and I absolutely despise it. Because of this, I am almost always overly polite with anyone I encounter in these positions, despite being someone who suffers from chronic pain and is often hurting 24x7. Being overly polite is how I've always been, even as a child, but years of verbal abuse from customers really cemented for me to always be overly nice because I never want my intentions to be misconstrued. People at places remember me for it. (And I mean so much so that my older daughter once told me "You're way too polite. You're probably going to say 'please' and 'thank you' to the man who murders you." :/)
I feel the need to share this information because I know this story is going to sound absurd, that I must be leaving things out and was actually a total Karen. I can still barely believe it happened myself.
Anyways, I visited the drive thru of a chain fast-food restaurant that is known for being more expensive than most. It has nationwide locations, but not all locations have the same name, weirdly. The nearby one we used to frequent closed down, but I was in dire need of comfort food that day, and this is one of the few chains that offer plant-based burgers. So, my adult daughter and I drove the 25 minutes (each way) to go there.
I am a long-time vegan (nearly 30 years), and although I enjoy veggies on my burgers, I'm not sure what they do to them at this chain. Because every time I've ordered it with the veggies, I've felt kind of sick afterwards, so I seriously overpay every time for a very plain and simple burger.
I ordered mine same as I always do. "Hi there. Could I please get a [plant-based] burger with no cheese and ketchup only? So, just the patty, ketchup, and the bun." And after confirming, it's always. "Great, thank you so much!" I state my order extremely clearly and double check politely because, for whatever reason, the employees of this chain frequently get it wrong. I have no idea why. It's just this chain. (I'll usually self-defer so I don't sound like a jerk. "I did say no cheese on that, right?")
The (female) cashier rung it up correctly, per the receipt, but she said they had to wait on the patty to cook. I've ordered this exact burger numerous times (ND, so lots of same-food eating), and this was not unexpected in the slightest. They asked me to pull around the corner and wait. I said no problem and parked in front of the store.
Several minutes passed, and another employee brought out our food. Me: "Thanks so much and have a great day!"
However, like about 50% of the time, mine had cheese on it. Not a huge surprise, so I went back through. "Hi there. I just came through and ordered [x] burger with just the ketchup and the patty, but it looks like they accidentally put cheese on mine, which I can't have."
The employee said, "We got you. Come on up to the window."
We wait in line again, which was weirdly slow (I mean like roughly 10-12 minutes for just three cars.) Got to the window, gave them back the incorrect burger, and they said they'd remake it. Cool, no problem. Happens all the time.
But then they came back like a minute later and was like "Here you go." This immediately made my Spidey senses tingle because I know how long it takes to cook a new patty, so I pulled over and checked, and, of course, they had just scraped the cheese off. But there were still chunks of it on the patty, as I'm sure you can imagine is inevitable with melted cheese.
This is a problem for several reasons. Consuming dairy after all this time would make me sick. And even if the quantity was not sufficient to do so (I don't know, and I'm not willing to test that, nor should I have to), this "just scrape it off" type of mentality is extremely dangerous for people with food allergies. I've been admitted to the hospital with anaphylactic shock before (different food), and it was one of the worst experiences of my entire life - and I've had brain surgery. It was traumatizing, and I think it's really important to make sure restaurants limit cross contamination whenever possible. Plus, in all honesty, this was not my error, and why should I pay for something I can't eat?
I decided not to go thru the drive thru again because we'd already gone through it twice, and I didn't want to wait again, as it was already about a 30-minute ordeal (almost an hour, if you include travel time), and I didn't want to risk them getting it wrong again.
At this point, I could feel myself getting sightly perturbed, but I knew it wasn't the fault of the guy behind the register, so I sucked it up and smiled at him and said, "Hey, I'm sorry. But I can see they just scraped off the cheese. And if that was okay, I would have just done it myself. But I can't have cheese, so I need them to actually remake it for me." (Rereading my words, I can see they look a little bit rude, and maybe they were, but I tried my best to use a pleasant tone. It's very possible I did not come across as nicely as I intended here, though.)
He said, "Oh, they did?" and took the burger back to the grill.
Everything up to this point had been relatively normal.
However, when he brought the burger back, the person behind the grill got extremely angry. (I'm not 100% positive, but I think the person in question was a male, so I will use "he" for simplicity's sake. I never saw their face.)
He started yelling loudly. "There is no f-ing cheese on that burger. F- that. I'm not remaking a whole f-ing burger over cheese." I could not hear what the other employee said to him, but he continued yelling. "There is no motherf-ing cheese on that burger." The nice employee walked away and seemed to avoid making eye contact with me (my impression was that he was embarrassed).
When I say the man at the grill was loud, I mean not only could I clearly hear him from the counter, but other patrons in the seating area were also all turning to look and see what was going on. He continued to yell and loudly swear for a solid minute or two.
While the patty was presumably cooking, the female cashier went back to talk to him. However, she wasn't asking why he was yelling or asking him to keep his voice down, etc. They were talking about something else. I think it was weekend plans or something, but it wasn't about me, so I wasn't trying to listen. The impression I got from this was that this was normal behavior from this person. They were both laughing about something (not me).
A few minutes later, he tossed the burger on the metal slide thing and said "Here's the f-ing sandwich. I should have thrown that sh- on the floor." This honestly made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, and I knew I would not feel comfortable eating this burger because I could not trust that this person had not done something to it.
The nice employee said, "Dude, she's right there."
He responded, "I don't give a f-. F- that b-." (To reiterate, I had zero interaction with this person at all.)
The female cashier came around, semi laughing, and casually asked if I wanted a bag or just the burger, like it was the same old, same old.
I said, "A bag is fine, but do you have a manager I can speak with?"
She said, "He's not here on the weekends, but I can help you."
I said, "I know you heard everything he said, and I know you know it's really inappropriate."
She said, "Yeah, I know, but" and just shrugged.
I said, "Well, it's incredibly inappropriate."
I forget what she said here, but it wasn't an apology or an offer to follow up or have someone call me back. I think she asked if I needed something else.
I said, "No, it's fine" and left.
I was honestly shaking before I even got to the car and continued shaking for about half an hour after. My daughter could tell something was wrong, and I explained briefly. She even offered to drive home because she saw how upset I was.
I have no idea what is going on in this person's life or why he thinks it's okay to talk to/about anyone like that. I was not rude at any point (I don't think), and I did not do anything wrong other than having certain dietary restrictions. And he was the one that messed up the order in the first place. It's not like I'd ordered incorrectly.
The whole thing was really upsetting because it just felt so undeserved. I cried the entire car ride home.
When I got back (will over 1.5 hours after we left), I wrote to the chain and gave them the order number and visit info, etc. I explained what happened and specifically asked them to contact me. Everyone in my family thought the person should be fired, but I just asked the chain for an apology and reassurance that he would receive additional training on food allergies and cross contamination.
The company's response?
Crickets
I waited about a week, then called in to talk to the manager. I explicitly told him that I'm not trying to get anyone fired, but what he said was really unkind. I also said I understand if they need to blow off steam or whatever, but they should be aware that their voices carry. And I let him know how it made me feel.
His response?
"I've told them that their voices echo. I will definitely talk to (the female cashier, who was the shift lead) and tell her to get her people in line because they need to not be so loud." Again, it sounded like an everyday occurrence that was no surprise whatsoever, and that he had no problem with them talking about customers like that. He didn't apologize either but said he'd give me 'a free combo, on him' and just to drop his name next time I came in.
Never got my money back. Never heard from the company (even DM'd them on Twitter). Definitely not trying to eat there again because I honestly think the griller is the kind of person who will spit in your food.
Really shocked by how little the company and manager cared. :'(

It was three in the morning. I stumbled into my apartment, wasted, starving, carrying a bag of greasy takeout boxes filled with ginger beef, BBQ pork fried rice. I wolfed it down and then passed out. Typical Saturday night.
Wake up the next morning with little memory of the night before and the kitchen’s a mess, dirty plates in the sink, grains of rice scattered across the counter. Feel nauseous and head to the washroom and puke out everything in my stomach. Typical Sunday morning. Start cleaning up and notice a half-eaten fortune cookie sitting on the table with that thin strip of paper right beside it.
I walk over, eat the other half of the cookie, and prepare to throw the paper out. But before I do that, I decide to give it a read. For shits and giggles, you know?
“The people in the basement remember you.”
I almost laughed at first, because it seemed like something that I would do. Some cheeky young hire at the fortune cookie company slipping in a few creepy messages as a joke. I could appreciate it. It was funny enough.
Then I turned it around, and in place of the usual row of lucky numbers was what appeared to be an address. Now this was strange. The first thing I thought was that maybe it was the address for the factory the cookie was produced in.
That made sense. But did it really? If it was supposed to be an extension of the first joke, then it didn't quite track. But it also could’ve been an oversight, a mistake in the print.
Whatever, I thought. I tossed the paper into the trash and got ready for the gym, my way of feeling like less of a piece of shit after a night of heavy drinking.
Predictably it wasn’t the best workout, but that wasn’t entirely due to the hangover. I couldn’t seem to stop thinking about the address. It hadn’t quite registered the first time I’d read it, but as I thought about it on the treadmill, I was pretty sure that I knew it from somewhere. It was familiar.
Finish with free weights, take a shower and then sit in a coffee shop with a sandwich and an espresso. And I’m still thinking about where I’d seen it before.
After getting home, I tried to resist the urge to fish the fortune out of the trash. I asked myself what the point was. Even if I did recognize it from somewhere, how was the effort worth it?
In retrospect, that was more of a cope. The source of my apprehension had been deeper than that, though it was something I couldn’t quite understand at the time. I felt nervous and I couldn’t justify why, which only served to make me even more nervous.
Eventually I caved and began digging through the trash. I held the paper up, looking at the address for a long time before a vague recognition slowly began to sink in.
Then I sat down at the computer and searched it up on google maps and as soon as the images loaded up, the memories began to flood in. The street I grew up on. The woods behind the cul-de-sac. The house that sat right across from ours.
I stared at the screen until it started not to feel real. Then I rechecked the address four or five times but there was no mistaking it. That was it. One of the houses I grew up next to.
Immediately I tried to rationalize it. What if somebody who's associated with the company lives there? Maybe something got mixed up and his data ended up in a fortune cookie.
No, I thought. That couldn’t be right.
Because that house had burned down years ago.
I tried to think back to that time but found that my memories of it were strangely distant, hard to recall. I must have sat there for hours, thinking, failing to recall anything of note. All I knew for sure was that for the vast majority of my childhood up to the beginning of high school, I lived right across from that house. And then something happened that caused it burned down and I moved away.
I couldn’t for the life of me remember what that event was, if anybody had died. Hell, I couldn’t even remember who had lived there. We must have met at least a few times, I thought. But I came up with nothing. It wasn’t even the case that I’d been too young, since I had memories from before we’d moved there. This just didn’t sit right.
For it to be a coincidence would be crazy. There was literally no chance.
So then what was this? It was a paralyzing thing to have on your mind, and it turns into all you can think about, all you can focus on.
Answers. I needed answers. Now there were a few options, the first being to go back to the takeout place in order to ask questions. Problem was, I’d pretty much blacked out that night and had only the haziest recollection of even ordering.
The other option was obvious enough. I had the address, after all.
It wasn’t too far away, maybe a forty-five-minute drive out of the city. As far as safety, I couldn’t imagine there being an issue. It was a suburban community, and it wasn’t like I was planning on breaking into the place or anything.
So I settled on it and made the drive over the next morning, and the house was exactly like I had thought. Completely burnt down, a blackened shell of a place. I thought seeing it in person might cause the memories to flood back in but that didn’t happen.
I sat there in my car for ten, maybe fifteen minutes and at no point did I ever see anybody else outside. So I decided to go in. I know that I said I wasn't planning to, but there was no way I was just going to leave it like that. There was no police tape, no signs telling me to stay out, and if there was anybody squatting, I’d just leave the way I came.
So I walk into the house and immediately my senses are assailed by dust and the smell of old, burnt wood. It’s darker than I had expected, and I use the flashlight on my phone to navigate. Look around the living room and then I remember the fortune, the supposed people in the basement. The hairs on the back of my neck stick up. I stop, listen carefully. Nothing but a light breeze outside and this gives me enough confidence to approach the basement door.
It’s closed, and the area around it seems to have taken less damage than the rest of the place. It almost looked untouched.
Reach out and grab the knob and push open the door. A wall of gloom. Shine the light down and it becomes smothered after the first few steps.
Stand there for a while, listening to nothing but my own breaths.
And then I hear something else, something faint. Maybe a footstep but I can’t be sure of it. Then I hear it again. And then again as it gets closer. Definitely a footstep. Probably a squatter, I think. It has to be. I want to call out and say something but can’t bring myself to do so. The air seems heavy and there’s an electric feel to it. It’s unnatural. I don’t like it at all.
I hear some more footsteps. And then it’s joined by another pair. And then suddenly it sounds like a dozen feet are stomping in unison, all of them getting closer to the base of the stairs. I slam the door shut and run out of there.
Afterwards I was sitting in my car, breathing heavy, trying to reconcile what the hell had just happened. I looked over at the house, almost expecting something to burst out the front door, a horde of emaciated ghouls or something. But nothing came and so I calmed myself down and drove away.
If I went looking for answers, I obviously didn’t find any. After arriving back in the city, I pulled over by the side of the road and took out my phone and looked through my search history, finding the bar that I’d gone out to that night. I drove over there and searched around the area and sure enough there was a small takeout place tucked into the far corner of a dingy strip mall.
I stared at it, trying to see if I could rouse up some memories of what had happened that night. It didn’t work, but I was still sure that this was the right place.
I got out of my car and walked in, practically storming up to the counter while the woman behind it stared at me with confusion on her face that was palpable even behind the forced smile.
“What can I get for you sir?” she asked.
Suddenly I felt the biggest idiot alive. What the hell was I supposed to say? What was I doing here?
Then I remembered that I had the fortune in my pocket and so I took it out and held it up.
“I was just wondering… about… this fortune I got… you see, there’s an address on it and I… it…”
Stammering through the sentence, I watched as the woman’s smile began to fade, slowly at first, until it morphed into a scowl, something malicious. But just as soon as it does, it’s back to the smile, causing me to question whether or not I had really just seen that.
“Just wait there for a minute sir,” she says to me, before disappearing into the kitchen. I look around. Nobody else in the restaurant but me. The place was blanketed by a creeping silence, the kind where you’re just waiting for it to be broken.
My eyes begin to wander, and I look up at a big, framed analog clock. Its hands aren’t moving. Then I look down and pick up one of the paper menus sitting in a stack on the counter. Open it up and every single item is just the same line of gibberish copied over and over and over.
I tense up, feeling like I’ve just walked into some obscure trap. I put the menu down and prepare to leave, taking one last glance back to make sure that nobody’s following me and right before I’m about to turn around, I see it.
A face staring at me through the kitchen window. It was pale and had a dead stare, and there was something off about it, something not quite human. But I didn’t look at it for long enough to figure it out.
I backed out through the doors and once in the parking lot, I turned and sprinted to my car. From there I sped back to my apartment, my heartbeat elevated dangerously high the entire drive.
I started to get a bit paranoid. Maybe something had followed me. Maybe something was hiding inside my bathroom. Thoughts like that.
After a while, I was able to calm down and I started to do some research on the restaurant.
Nothing came up.
No website, no telephone listing, nothing. A google map view of the street shows only the store that had presumably existed before it.
None of this shit is tracking and so I resort to looking for answers from a source I wouldn’t have gone to otherwise.
My father.
Now you need to understand that I have something of a strained relationship with the man. In other words, I haven’t made contact with him in over a decade. I don’t know where he lives, or what he’s done with his life, or if he’s even alive. I guess a relative would have told me if he had died, but I can’t even be sure of that.
The strangest thing is, as I sit here thinking about it now, I can’t even pin down why this would be the case, where my apparent resentment towards the man would be coming from. The memories I have of him are decent enough. I can’t recall him ever beating or screaming at me, nothing like that.
The more that I think about it, the more I get the feeling that it all has something to do with that house.
But I still had his number and so I decided to give him a call, just to ask some questions. I was almost certain that he would’ve changed it by now, but he ended up answering.
Of course, the call started out awkward. I was stumbling over my words, trying to find the right things to say, which was something that seemed next to impossible. Despite this, he sounded strangely calm about the whole thing, almost as if he’d been expecting the call.
I went ahead and told him everything that happened. The fortune cookie, the house, the footsteps in the basement, all of it. I wasn’t sure what kind of response I was expecting. That he’d call me insane, maybe? Ask me what in the hell I was even talking about? Why, after all these years of zero communication I’d be coming to him with some shit like this?
But surprisingly, he seemed to be understanding about it. He seemed to be taking me seriously. He told me to calm down, that he had something he needed to tell me, something he should’ve divulged years ago.
But he needed to do it in person. He told me that he was living in a town a few hours away, that he’d driver over and meet me at 3 PM tomorrow. I asked him where. His response?
The house. The fucking house. I asked him why it had to be there, if we could meet anywhere else. For obvious reasons, I had reservations about going back to the place. All he said was that I shouldn’t worry, that he’d explain everything once we were there.
The conversation certainly left a lot to be desired, but I've decided to go anyway. I'll sleep on it first, though. Maybe I'll change my mind in the morning.
But I don't think I'll be satisfied until I get some answers.

I’ve completed this build yesterday and installed windows 11. The screen turns on, I’ve updated drivers, installed a few apps. How do I test if my build is successful?
PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i5-13600K 3.5 GHz 14-Core Processor	$299.84 @ Newegg
CPU Cooler	Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE ARGB 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler	-
Motherboard	Gigabyte B760 GAMING X AX DDR4 ATX LGA1700 Motherboard	$159.99 @ Newegg
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory	$88.98 @ Amazon
Storage	*Crucial P5 Plus 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive	$122.99 @ Best Buy
Video Card	Asus TUF GAMING OC GeForce RTX 4070 Ti 12 GB Video Card	$849.99 @ B&H
Case	Corsair iCUE 4000X RGB ATX Mid Tower Case	$109.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Super Flower Leadex III Gold 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$149.99 @ Newegg Sellers
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1801.77
	Mail-in rebates	-$20.00
	Total	$1781.77
	*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-03-31 00:44 EDT-0400

I've downloaded and run userbenchmark and here is the results: https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/60422175
I am not very satisfied with the benchmark results (34th percentile). Did I do something wrong with the build? How do I make sure if there is anything I can do to improve this build?

Back again dear reader?
How lovely!
As I sit here in the well illuminated Magus’ office, I can hear the soft pattering sound of falling raindrops outside plus there is the scent of Petrichor in the air, gently drifting in through the open windows.
It is…gorgeous.
Such simple things that are part of the miracle of life on this planet that drifts along, circling a massive ball of nuclear fire through the inky black void of space.
Being with my Magus has made me ever so philosophical these days but I do still so much enjoy butchering people like bleating, terrified sheep. That can be so entertaining! The blood, the screams, the pleading and crying… all as wonderful as the sound of raindrops descending from the sky, landing on the roof with a pleasing resonance.
Oh I do wax lyrical at times… teeheehee…
Now then, back to my amazing story:
I had just sampled my Rum & Raisin Gelato for the first time, taking in the icy, milky sweetness and pungent flavour of the rum blended into the creamy concoction when… WHACK!
A ball flew out of nowhere, smacking me rudely in the side of the head, knocking my Gelato out of my heads, causing me a moment of stunned incredulity.
I felt no pain if that was your concern dear reader.
As my Magus said, it takes more than a surprise sneak attack with a leather clad football to harm me. Normally I would have plucked the offensive object out of the air yet I was so intent upon savouring my Gelato that my guard was down for an instant.
I spun around to see a group of six buff, fit, muscular looking young men, probably in their early twenties in age, all considering me and my Magus with derisive smirks.
One in particular, the one who had hit me with his ball, a tall, well-muscled, shirtless young man called out to us, with an arrogant snide tone in his voice,
“Hey, give us our ball back!” he demanded as I now had the offending item in my hands.
“Apologise to the lady and buy her a new Gelato,” said the Magus in a cold flat tone as he stood up, glaring daggers at the overly muscled moron.
“What? It was an accident man, don’t get upset, ok boomer?” the young offender laughed out aloud mockingly at us.
I was burning with fury at this point as was my Magus. I could feel his power itching to smite this fool.
The strutting, ignorant, puffed up idiot pushed out his muscular chest and strode the twenty or so feet towards us, trying to look threatening, thinking he could intimidate us and make us cower before him.
“What you going to do about it you, eh? Come on you fat fuck, you wanna have a go, do ya?” he called out as he stopped right in front of the Magus, daring him to act.
My Magus didn’t flinch an inch as the cretin had no idea he was seconds away from something extremely unpleasant. My Magus never took his eyes of the cretin but spoke to me,
“No but she will. Meridiana, remember what I said, no killing but everything else is fine. Teach this muscle brained mouth breathing imbecile a lesson he will never forget lest I butcher him...”
The arrogant young fool suddenly appeared apprehensive as I stood up, his ball now in my left hand. I extended my talons from the fingers in my hands, just enough to puncture and rip the ball apart into pathetic shreds which I tossed aside once done.
His eyes widened in total shock as he stumbled a step backwards.
“Tremens!”
I unleashed my power of Id Insinuation, a Psionic discipline of the mind which we Succubi possess that reduces our victims to apoplectic quivering wrecks, losing all control of their bodily functions from experiencing all-consuming pain, psychic misery and abject terror. I am a master at this Psionic Discipline if you are curious.
The arrogant, blustering fool had no mental discipline or defence against such an assault, collapsing down upon the ground with a low groan of wretched pain, his bowels and bladder immediately releasing as he began fitting uncontrollably, foam appearing from his mouth.
My Magus, went over to the now prone young man, rolled him onto his left side, removing a small leather-bound wallet (I learned the name later) from the back of his flimsy short pants and took out a colourful, small rectangle from it. Then he dropped the wallet back onto the spasming idiot on the ground.
“HEY! YOU”RE STEALING FROM WAYNO!”
“No. I am taking compensation from your inconsiderate dickhead who shall now be called Wanko as he owes the lady a Gelato. Pray that is all we take from your idiot friend,” my Magus said in a harsh growl.
‘Wayno’s compatriots were taken aback by the harshness of the glare from my Magus, not knowing what to do.
They had seen their leader felled with nothing but a word from me. I gave them a very wide, open smile, briefly showing them a glimpse of my fangs for just a second then made them normal human teeth once more.
Their eyes widened hugely in astonished fear.
I looked at my Magus with a beaming smile. This was how to use Power.
Reduce your enemies into snivelling, gibbering terrorised wrecks.
People started stopping and began staring at the scene that was unfolding around us. In a way I was a little sad as my perfect experience was ruined by an utterly inconsiderate, thoughtlessness of a bunch of overly charged testosterone filled idiots playing a stupid game with a ball when it was clearly obvious that there were many people about and one missed catch would result in… well a lost Gelato for a start!
The Magus focused his will, them waved his right hand with a small gesture saying,
“Sapiens Obscura!”
Everyone in the nearby vicinity all immediately stopped with a blank look on their faces, staring hollow eyed at the Magus.
“There is nothing to see here, you will remember nothing of this. Walk on, go about your business and have a lovely day.”
The crowd who had stopped to watch, were starting to get out their phones to film the incident, all suddenly did as the Magus commanded, just walking away with a faint puzzled smile on their faces as though nothing had happened.
Even the idiots’ friends walked off in a daze, leaving him still trembling and fitting in his own filth upon the ground.
I glanced back in almost adulation at my Maus.
What Power!
He saw me looking at him, shrugged and sighed.
“Here, you can have my Gelato, Meridiana. I shouldn’t eat it anyway, bad for my blood sugars. We should go as the glamour will not last and we do not to attract more attention to ourselves.”
“That was wonderous Magus, to be able to influence so many minds like that…” I almost gushed at him.
He stared balefully at the still writhing, convulsing moron who had thoroughly soiled himself at this point, then shrugged.
“A simple use of The Will and The Way, combined with a hypnotical charm, makes it easy to do however I only had one prepared so we should not linger here. Let’s just walk away further down the path to a less crowded area and appreciate the sunset.”
I nodded in agreement, taking a small, tentative taste of the Magus’s Vanilla Gelato. Delightful!
Vanilla was far a more subtle flavour, not as bold as my now destroyed Rum & Raisin waffle cone. Perhaps a better flavour in the end as subtlety is a hallmark of refined taste. I enjoyed it immensely.
With my Gelato in my left hand, I took the Magus’ arm in my right, we gently strolled away from the scene of the destruction of my Gelato and the mind of a callous, bullying, cretinous idiot. He might recover… I hoped not. One less muscle bound oaf of thug was what the world could do without. He would have made for a tasty snack though…
“I thought you said we should be careful, not use our power like that?” I asked after a couple of minutes of sedate walking.
I noted, glancing briefly to our rear, that there was no commotion behind us although after a few minutes some new passers-by had stopped to try to help the fallen fool.
“If he genuinely apologised to you for his oafish stupidity rather than try to bully us, I would not have done anything. Oxygen Thieves like that deserve a short, sharp shock. It is better than Percussive Cranial Adjustments.”
“What?”
“Punches to the head. If your hands are not conditioned and strengthened, you risk breaking bones within them by punching people in the head. There is a strong risk that you may render your foe unconscious, causing them to collapse, smacking their head on the floor resulting in them getting more damage to their already asinine cerebellums. Then the screaming and wailing starts, police are called, arrests are made, lives are ruined blah blah blah.. not worth the trouble no matter how tempting it is. However, in certain cases, a swift kick, punch or hard knee to the balls of the miscreant can solve a lot of problems extremely quickly and not result in a brain injury,” he added with a dark smile.
I erupted in evil laughter!
My demonic cackling drew some apprehensive eyes from passers-by but at this point I didn’t care. Even my Magus winked at me with a dry, faintly amused smirk.
“Oh Magus! That is most amusing. I shall use that tactic from now on as you are correct but you missed one minor detail,” I said with an infernal glint in my eyes.
“I did? Do tell,” he replied with a glimmer of mild curiosity.
“By ‘kneeing them in the balls’ as you so delightfully put it, you do damage to their second brain as almost all men think with their balls!”
The Magus stopped, then briefly chuckled at my cutting wit, shaking his head lightly.
“Very true Meridiana, very true. Come, here’s a free and clean enough bench for us to sit and watch the ocean and sunset,” he said as we came upon another empty park bench that looked out over the beach and sea.
I nodded and took my seat, focusing again upon my delightful, sweet snack while enjoying the ambiance of just being at the beach, watching humanity blithefully and ignorantly walking by, their minds closed to almost everything around them. Many had their faces glued to their phones, or had devices covering their ears, walking along at a brisk pace, ignoring the beauty that surrounded them. If I wasn’t a demon, I would had felt sorry for these people… but I didn’t. It made me despise them all for being such thoughtless idiots, so completely self-absorbed, locked inside in their pathetic little heads.
My Magus interrupted my musings,
“So what was that you did to that reprobate then Meridiana? I need to fully understand what powers and abilities you possess so we can properly plan for the missions ahead.”
“I see,” I replied primly as I crossed my legs, with them facing towards my Magus. I took another small bite from my Gelato then said, “How about you tell me what you think you know then I will… be honest with you Magus. Hmm… my that was difficult to say… no matter, I will fill in the gaps of your knowledge after you speak. I am so extremely curious as to what you think you know.” I sat back and observed him intently.
He shifted in his seat, turning more towards me, pausing in thought before speaking once more,
“Well… I know you can do the following: you can Shape Shift, altering your appearance to appear like different being, but does extend to animal forms?”
“No Magus but that is a good question! I can appear as other humans but there is a limit as I can only do so within a certain size range limit to the power. I cannot appear as a small child nor a giant man. I can appear as another type of demon, just not the massive ones like say a Pit Fiend or other large demons and I dare not appear as a Demon Lord or Prince as if they ever found out that a demon or someone was impersonating them… the torment they would inflict would be… beyond extreme for such an affront. Go on.” I took another little bite of my Gelato. So Good!
“Interesting… ok…your kiss will drain the life energy from your victim, reducing them to a crumbling lifeless husk?"
I nodded with a wide smile as I extended my long, deep red tongue, lapping and twirling around my Gelato seductively. He ignored it. Sigh.
“How long does it take for you to fully drain your victim?”
My eyebrows were raised at that question. My Magus was wise to ask this and it made me consider it too.
“I am impressed Magus, no one has ever bothered to ask that. I estimate maybe twenty to thirty or so resting heartbeats, perhaps a little longer? To be honest I never really paid attention as to how long the kiss took to drain my victim as I am normally in the moment, relishing the sensation of drinking a human’s lifeforce and energy but now I will. Thank you Magus. This makes me more aware of my abilities for my own purposes.”
“Hmm… I suppose we can time it in the future, but not here in this city. A withered husk appearing will attract to many questions for now. Next then, I understand that you can become Ethereal? Stepping into the that plane of existence briefly and becoming untouchable here.”
I nodded.
“How long can you maintain that ability, and how often can you use it?”
“Another excellent question Magus. I can use it at will as often as I like. As to maintaining it… you know I have never truly thought about that as I only use it to step away from threats that might actually harm me. Perhaps this is something else we can experiment on together Magus?” I said with a hopeful, demure smile.
This time I received the glimmer of approval from him which made me grin inwardly. His desire for knowledge! That’s his weakness! Oh happy day. And it included Gelato as well!
“That we must do as it may be vital for your own safety and survival. Knowing how long you can safely stay in the Ethereal Plane will be paramount. Next… I know you can Charm, use the power of Suggestion and Domination, that you have the power of Extrasensory Perception, which you used on me earlier on and you have the power of Clairaudience which allows you to listen in on your targets from a distance. Quite useful in combat and stealth situations I would say?”
“Yes it is Magus. I have used that many times to spy upon my victims and enemies, gaining much useful information without them ever being aware.”
I smirked once more as that power enabled me to ferret out so many secrets that were thought to have been spoken without anyone else listening. I now nibbled on the sweet wafer biscuit cone of my Gelato, oh how glorious that was.
“I know that you have Psionic Abilities, powers of the mind, but this is now where my knowledge falls short. I also believe that you are an adept in The Arts, capable of wielding magic and spells.”
I smiled broadly back at my Magus. He was indeed well informed.
“Yes, that is all true. Now I will tell you what I am fully capable of. Firstly I can walk… travel between the dimensions if I so choose. I do not need to create a Gate to travel between realms, I simply picture where I wish to go and I appear there. I can only do this for myself though. In addition, I must take care in not pushing to go beyond my limits, try to cross too many dimensions in one trip, as I could strain my mind and lose myself between dimensions. Next, I can go Invisible at will,” and did just that right in front of him, for a couple of seconds before reappearing once more. He nodded briefly and I was somewhat disappointed that I did not receive a bigger reaction. Oh well. There was still some waffle cone left.
With another little sigh I carried on,
“I can also detect the presence of magic within a thirty foot radius for over an hour or so but I have to maintain my concentration for this to continue otherwise the detection ceases after a minute. I have the power of Telekinesis…”
Now my Magus’s eye lit up with real interest. I stopped speaking as I knew he wanted to ask questions.
“Now that is an impressive ability. How much weight can you lift at your maximum exertion? What is your range? Are you able to use the power in a delicate, fine tuned way for minor manipulation?”
His enthusiasm was immensely gratifying. It was the most animated that I had seen him be thus far.
“Oh my Magus… so many questions! I had no idea that such an ability would intrigue you so much… perhaps I should have demonstrated that power when we first met?” I said with a teasing smirk.
He harrumphed but waited for me to continue.
“I know I am able to lift a war horse in full cataphract armour as I did so a few times during the campaign of General Flavius Belisarius against the Persians at the Battle of Dara, much to their shock and horror. It turned the tide of the battle I have to say with a little modesty. Empress Theodora was the one who summoned me and used me for a decade to help her favoured General. I liked her. She was utterly ruthless and exceptionally intelligent." I took a moment to have another bite of my Gelato before continuing,
"At the end of my service to her, I gifted her with Cancer which took her life painfully. And that leads us to another of my abilities, Cell Adjustment. I can, if I so choose, alter the very cells within mine or your body Magus, healing you and reshaping your metabolism. I also can do harm with it too, although that takes a lot more power and isn’t an instant way to kill people but it still can be fairly quick way to murder someone, often painfully so. I may cause a blood clot to form which travels to the brain or thicken the arteries of a victims heart making it have a seizure or perhaps flooding their body with so much adrenaline that they fit uncontrollably… so many options….” I mused openly as I tried to remember the ways I had killed with this power before.
I am a Master of Human anatomy by the way, having spent tens of thousands of years eviscerating my victims, inspecting their corpses afterwards as well as later studying under learned Greek physicians back in the early days of the Roman Empire.
My Magus gave me a cool assessing, calculating stare. I could see he had taken the hint, that I could completely alter his physiology, potentially removing the excess weight from his body, repairing the damage that such a condition had done to him. My hook was baited.
“I… see… go on Meridiana.”
There was a very cautious tone in his voice now. My inner smile only grew.
“Moving on, I can shield my mind exactly like you did with an Intellect Fortress and Thought Shield. The power I used upon the thoughtless buffoon, the Id Insinuation, I can also employ over a twenty by twenty foot area. All within will feel my wrath and despair as he did. Unless they are incredibly strong willed or have mental defences like we do. I can also let loose a Psionic Blast if I so choose but that is a wasteful use of the power in my humble opinion. And of course I have my spells,” I said as I used my power to open the tiny pocket dimension to where I had hidden my tome of magic and other priceless treasures.
A small tear in the fabric of reality briefly appeared in front of us and the Magus looked in, seeing my not insignificant horde of treasures, which included my priceless tome of spells.
“This is another of my abilities, Pocket Plane. It can access a tiny alternate reality, where I keep all my precious things. Only I can access it, no one else can,” I said with a pointed glance at the Magus. He understood instantly and was deeply fascinated by the pocket plane.
Everything was stashed carefully away from all who would covert its contents, including my Demon Lord who despite all the torture he and his minions inflicted upon me for nigh on a thousand years, was never able to break me, denying him from stealing my treasures from me!
I would rather cease existing than let that happen which he eventually learned thus giving up on the attempt as he preferred to keep tormenting me for eternity anyway, rather than end my existence. I quickly closed the portal lest it attract unwanted attention.
"Now as you mentioned earlier, I am an Adept in The Art, ranked at a power-level of fifteen I am proud to say. I suspect that you are a few levels higher than myself but do not have many spells I have, do you?”
I took one last bite of my waffle cone, casually dangling the prospect of more power to the Magus. Such a wonderful combination, frozen sweet cream and sugary crunchy biscuit. The Roman Byzantines would have gone mad for it. Ahh well.
“You are correct Meridiana. Spells and magic are extremely rare these days. I have some theories as to why that is however we can discuss them later. Sufficed to say, I will need more spells and that is also why I summoned you, to teach me as much as I am teaching you and I know full well you are going to try and ensnare me with that,” he said with another dry, cold laugh. “Instead of you trying to enslave me, how about we do deals instead?”
Now that was a language I could speak and my smile grew ever so wide.
“But of course my dear Magus, just give me control of what is left of your soul…” I laughed.
He had the temerity to laugh at me.
“Oh no Meridiana… you fail to grasp your situation. This is not you holding power over me, it is me holding power over you… oh you see it now don’t you? I have turned your face to alabaster, because you discovered that what you thought was your servant was all along, is your master. You are wrapped around my finger,” he said pointed to a shining band of gold around his third finger on his left hand. I stared in horror at it.
“Yes, not only are you bound to me body and soul, but your essence is bound within my wedding ring. My wife bought that for me with pure love in her heart. You know certain objects have power. This is one of them… one ring to rule you… “ he laughed chillingly again at my dismay. Oh how deliciously evil he can be.
I was stunned.
He had trapped my essence in a Phylactery. How I did not know?
The wedding ring, an object that bound two hearts together, the circle a symbol for eternity, now held my essence within its golden circle of eternal love.
“Oh don’t look so pissed. You’d have done it to me, well not via a wedding ring that's for sure but still, you would have enslaved me. Again, I do not seek to control you but I am not stupid, I know the parable of the Frog and the Scorpion. You will always try to enslave and dominate me, it's who you are, it's your nature. Look Meridiana and think before you lose control again. I am not your usual chump of a wanna-be Magus. Times have changed. I am prepared to unleash you upon the world to spread chaos and mayhem. If anything, you OWE me from getting you out of hell. And I am housing you, feeding you, clothing you, giving you knowledge and will protect you from other demons that WILL come looking for you. Oh yes, don’t think that your former lord hasn’t noticed by now that you’ve flown the coup! He will be furious. And that binds us together even more so because part of my plan is that we kill him and seize his throne for ourselves," said the Magus casually.
Dear reader… in all my existence, nothing has ever floored me with it’s sheer breathtaking audacity. My face was already drained of colour when he revealed his total control over me but more so, the scope of his plan… beyond incredible.
I bowed my head to him in total subjugation…for now.
“I am yours Magus. I will do as you say. Your plan to gain our…freedom… is audacious in the extreme. If we can achieve this…” I said breathlessly, my eyes alight with burning lust for him now. Again, to my immense disappointment, he ignored my sultry steamy gaze.
“Always aim as high as you can Meridiana. The Will and The Way will get us far, further than you can imagine but I need more knowledge and power as do you. Now do you see why I want you as a partner? We have a target painted on us and the clock is already ticking. Soon your former lord will start to try to send his minions through the void to retrieve you and drag me there as well. We don’t have time for games Meridiana, that is if you wish to stay here?”
“I do want to stay… I will do as you ask Magus but I must ask…why? Why take such a risk?”
“It’s better to rule in hell then serve in heaven don’t you think?” he said with a evil grin as he stood and offered his hand to me. “And your old boss needs his head blown off with a sawn-off double barrelled enchanted shotgun, filled with 12 gauge 000 buckshot made from the metal from the nails of The True Cross… right to his fucking face!” my Magus snarled savagely.
Oh how beautiful that sounded.
“Absolutely! I am all in. I have no real choice anyway do I?”
I took his hand in mine and ever so gently squeezed it.
“You do. I admit that I have forced this upon you but look at the alternative, spending eternity, eventually going insane from boredom, within your cell because Pope Sylvester II confessed on his death-bed. That wasn’t your fault. Mind you, you did underestimate the willy priest now eh?”
I nodded with a sigh and chagrin upon my face.
“Yes, that is true.”
“Your lord throws an epic tantrum, what I’d call “chucking a wobbly”, even though you were one of the top demons in soul possession and ruination. What a stupid cunt. Only a complete fuckwit throws away his best employee in a fit of pique like that.”
I burst out laughing at that dear reader. No one would EVER dare to call my former lord those things but my Magus did. I felt the ebullient elation once more. This man had an epic vision.
“Now then, I assume you are still hungry? And for food for now Meridiana.”
“Yes Magus,” I said with a small smile.
“Good. We’ll go grab dinner at the best buffet in town as that will be the best way you can satisfy your appetite. It’s only Tuesday so it won’t be overcrowded. Then we can go to the casino next door where you can use your skills to steal a fortune from those rapacious bastards!”
My smile could not be wider dear reader. The promise of all I can eat (sadly not human souls or hearts) and the chance to steal from those who steal with their rigged games!
This was turning out to be the most amazing day in all my life.
We made our way back to the car when I noticed that all the cars had little metal plates on both the front and the back, inscribed with Arabic numerals and roman letters.
As we got to the car, I noticed what the Magus had on his metal plates:
HWY2H3LL
Oh rapture!

Hey everyone,
I wanted to thank this sub very much for the help! I have learned so much in the past few months I've been active on here. The wife and I closed on our first home about two weeks ago. Here are the details of our journey:

• For the past two-ish years, we have been casually browsing Zillow and checking out different areas. However, we felt priced out of the market and barely had any savings left after moving across the country. My wife is in school full-time currently, so we are a single-income household at the moment. No kids but two pets we spoil. I make about $77k/yr base but with overtime, I made close to $100k last year. 780 credit score. $27K in student loans currently in covid forbearance. No other debt. We are in Central Texas.
  
• Early January 2023 - we decided to get serious about home buying and see if it was actually a possibility. Our lease is up at the end of May and we figured 5 months would be a decent time to start looking. We found a realtor through a referral from a friend/coworker. I crunched numbers and began researching different mortgage options, including downpayment assistance programs. We ultimately decided against them because the interest rates they were charging in exchange for the DPA were way too high in our opinion (like 7%+). We had approximately $32K of our own money saved up plus an $8k gift from a family member.
  
• Mid-January 2023 - Got pre-approved from a lender up to $325K at 6.5%. However, we wanted to set a max budget of $250K at 6.5%. Our criteria was a 3 bed, 2 bath, 2 garage SFH. The only homes available in our price range were new constructions in a small up-and-coming rural town. We were okay with this. Our realtor found a move-in ready new construction that met all of our criteria and we loved it. It is a single-story 1515 sqft 3 bed + 1 study room, 2 bath, 2 car garage with a fenced yard and all new appliances. It's only on 0.10 acres but we were okay with that for our first home. We toured a few more move-in-ready new constructions but we were not impressed by any of the others we saw. Our realtor, my wife, and I sat down with the sales agent from the builder. The house we liked was the last one available by this builder in the neighborhood and they said they were trying to move it so they can begin building in other neighborhoods. The home was originally listed for $380K back in May of 2022 but the price had dropped all the way to $277K by the time we were looking at it. The sales agent offered to drop the price to $265K plus 3% seller credits and a 4.25% interest rate (4.57% APR) if we used the builder's lender. We accepted this offer and signed a purchase agreement. We paid $5K in earnest money.
  
• The following week, we applied with the builder's lender and locked in the 4.25% interest rate. It was going to cost 3.375 points. However, most of that was covered with the 3% seller credits. We decided to go forward with this since it provided the most affordable monthly payment for us. The par rate was 6.125%, so doing the math, the breakeven point is only 22 months. We put 5% down on a 30-year fixed conventional loan.
  
• February 1st - Conditional approval received from the lender. House appraised at $293K ($28K above the sale price). Scheduled to close February 27th.
  
• February 4th - We got an inspection done on the house. We used our realtor's recommended inspector. I know this sub recommends against that but I did research on him before booking him and he had excellent reviews. A friend of mine also has used him in the past and had good things to say. I also trusted my realtor as they were mutual friends with several of my coworkers, were highly recommended, and I figured if they want to keep getting referrals, it would be in their best interest not to screw over their clients. Anyways, we decided to pay for a sewer line scope and this saved our butts! We found a hole in the sewer line and a belly under the house. Most other issues were found to be minor. The builder agreed to repair the sewer line.
  
• February 6th - Blue tape walkthrough. Please take this day seriously. While we had our realtor with us, I also wish I would have brought someone more skeptical as my wife and I were looking at the house with rose-colored glasses. While we pointed out obvious cosmetic things, we didn't notice many other imperfections we are now finding after living in the house for 2+ weeks. Like a complete lack of 90-degree angles in the house and shitty paint jobs. It's hard to unsee them now. However, it doesn't affect the functionality of the house. We are still happy to be homeowners.
  
• Mid-February - Ran into an issue in underwriting. I work 24 hours on, and 48 hours off, which is an average of 56 hours per week and I am not FLSA-exempt. Therefore, the first 40 hours of my income are paid at straight time, and the hours after that are paid at my OT rate. This is built into my schedule and not elective. Anyways, the underwriters only wanted to count 40 hours of my pay and not the additional overtime that is built into my schedule. I had to send in multiple pay stubs, W2s, verification of employment letters from my employer detailing my guaranteed pay, and written letters of explanation from myself. There was a lot of back and forth and hurry up and wait. These were stressful times.
  
• Last week of February - Received the final approval from the lender and did a final walkthrough with the builder. The builder assured me everything had been fixed.
  
• The literal day before closing - I wired funds to the title company. Then get a call from the builder that surprise, the sewer line issues had not been fixed at all and that closing would now be delayed by at least two weeks since they had to drill through the foundation of our house to fix the belly in the sewer line. We were extremely disappointed and upset the builder lied to us at the final inspection saying everything was already fixed.
  
• My realtor went to bat for us and made sure the builder made repairing our house their priority #1. We got our funds wired back to us and she was also able to negotiate a small cash incentive for us as compensation for their fuck up. More anxious waiting ensued. The bright side is that we are saving money on what could have become a costly repair down the road.
  
• March 16th - Closing day. We did a final final walkthrough of the place and the builder laid out exactly where and what repairs were done, including the documentation to prove it. We had zero issues at the closing office. I signed about 60 pieces of paper and then my wife and I were handed the keys! To clarify, I am the only one on the mortgage but we are both on the deed.
  

Our monthly payment breakdown: P/I $1238, PMI $57, Insurance $46, Taxes $613 (Texas is a high property tax state. Our property tax rate is roughly 2.8%). Total PITI = $1954/mo. Once our homestead exemption is applied, I expect the taxes to decrease by roughly $50/mo. EDIT: Forgot to mention, there is a $25/mo HOA fee.
Two weeks later, we still love the house and are happy to be homeowners. It has everything we need and we are happy. The cosmetic issues are annoying and we will taking advantage of our warranty as much as possible over the next year. We will have two months of rent overlap. We did not expect to find a home this quickly but in the end, we are okay with it and have funds to cover it. We consider it an additional closing cost.
If y'all have any questions, feel free to ask.

Hi guys! Would love to hear what you think about local numbers when buying an eSIM, is it a nice-to-have or a must-have when you travel?
(Full disclosure: I'm running a small eSIM company (esimgohub.com) and trying to further understand users' requirements to build better products. We have good local eSIM options with local phone number for a few Asian countries: Korea, Japan, Thai, Vietnam, and they seem to be our best-selling so really curious to know if it's a key deciding factor)
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