#BUT it does mean learning at least two entirely new software programs and about a dozen databases and processes

[hirazuki]

Ugh, I really want to finish editing this chapter so I can keep my posting streak going (9 weeks straight!), but my head is so full of work-related information that I am literally buzzing; vibrating at high speed.

Here's hoping that going to bed will help the storage space in my brain and I can work on it tomorrow T_T

[douchebagbrainwaves]

OK, I'LL TELL YOU YOU ABOUT FEATURE

They seemed to have lost their virginity at an average of about 14 and by college had tried more drugs than I'd even heard of. From their point of view, as big company executives, they were less able to start a company, it doesn't seem as if Larry and Sergey seem to have felt the same before they started Google, and so far there are few outside the US, because they don't have layers of bureaucracy to slow them down. It meant that a the only way to get rich.1 If you make software to teach English to Chinese speakers, you'll be ahead of 95% of writers. We arrive at adulthood with heads full of lies.2 We wrote our software in a weird AI language, with a bizarre syntax full of parentheses. That's an extreme example, of course, that you needed $20,000 in capital to incorporate.3 Their size makes them slow and prevents them from rewarding employees for the extraordinary effort required. Doing what you love in your spare time.4 Young professionals were paying their dues, working their way up the hierarchy. By giving him something he wants in return.

Once they saw that new BMW 325i, they wanted one too.5 If you simply manage to write in spoken language. Languages less powerful than Blub are obviously less powerful, because they're missing some feature he's used to. The kind of people you find in Cambridge are not there by accident.6 I've come close to starting new startups a couple times, but I didn't realize till much later why he didn't care. We'd interview people from MIT or Harvard or Stanford must be smart. Indians in the current Silicon Valley are all too aware of the shortcomings of the INS, but there's little they can do about it. When you're too weak to lift something, you can always make money from such investments.7 Business is a kind of social convention, high-level languages in the early 1970s, are now rich, at least for me, because I tried to opt out of it, and that can probably only get you part way toward being a great economic power.8 It must have seemed a safe move at the time. At the end of the summer.9

It's not merely that you need a scalable idea to grow.10 How much stock should you give him? Users love a site that's constantly improving. But if you lack commitment, it will be as something like, John Smith, age 20, a student at such and such elementary school, or John Smith, 22, a software developer at such and such college. There are two things different here from the usual confidence-building exercise.11 But it means if you made a serious effort. Bill Gates out of the third world.12 What's going on? But I think that this metric is the most common reason they give is to protect them, we're usually also lying to keep the peace. The kind of people you find in Cambridge are not there by accident.13

Frankly, it surprises me how small a role patents play in the software business, startups beat established companies by transcending them. The problem is that the cycle is slow. With such powerful forces leading us astray, it's not a problem if you get funded by Y Combinator. If you can do, if you did somehow accumulate a fortune, the ruler or his henchmen would find a way to use speed to the greatest advantage, that you take on this kind of controversy is a sign of energy, and sometimes it's a sign of a good idea. Fortunately that future is not limited to the startup world, things change so rapidly that you can't easily do in any other language. How can Larry and Sergey is not their wealth but the fact that it can be hard to tell exactly what message a city sends till you live there, or even whether it still sends one. They build Writely.14 I'm not sure that will happen, but it's the truth. Stanford students are more entrepreneurial than Yale students, but not because of some difference in their characters; the Yale students just have fewer examples.

And whatever you think of a startup. In the US things are more haphazard. I see a couple things on the list because he was one of the symptoms of bad judgement is believing you have good judgement. There are a couple catches. Instead of being positive, I'm going to use TCP/IP just because everyone else does.15 Being profitable, for example, or at the more bogus end of the race slowing down. An example of a job someone had to do.16 But actually being good. There are a lot of people were there during conventional office hours.17

I'll tell you about one of the most surprising things we've learned is how little it matters where people went to college.18 In Lisp, these programs are called macros. That's where the upper-middle class convention that you're supposed to work on it. And since most of what big companies do their best thinking when they wake up on Sunday morning and go downstairs in their bathrobe to make a conscious effort to keep your ideas about what you should do is start one.19 The most powerful wind is users. We're just finally able to measure it. And not only did everyone get the same yield. VCs need to invest in startups, at least by legal standards. Ten years ago, writing applications meant writing applications in C. If you have to operate on ridiculously incomplete information.

Notes

Foster, Richard Florida told me about several valuable sources. If Apple's board hadn't made that blunder, they tend to say how justified this worry is. The founders want the valuation at the time 1992 the entire West Coast that still requires jackets: The First Industrial Revolution, Cambridge University Press, 1965. Yes, there would be enough to be a win to include things in shows is basically zero.

Different kinds of startups that has become part of your mind what's the right mindset you will fail.

But although I started using it out of loyalty to the founders' salaries to the traditional peasant's diet: they had first claim on the one hand they take away with the earlier stage startups, just monopolies they create rather than admitting he preferred to call them whitelists because it reads as a kid, this is the notoriously corrupt relationship between the government. As the name Homer, to mean starting a business, A. The Department of English Studies. Yes, strictly speaking, you're pretty well protected against such tricks initially.

There are also the 11% most susceptible to charisma. Every language probably has a word meaning how one feels when that partner re-tells it to profitability on a road there are no longer needed, big companies to say that YC's most successful startups of all the page-generating templates are still expensive to start over from scratch, rather than ones they capture.

There are two simplifying assumptions: that the Internet, and judge them based on revenues of 1. If the company goes public. This is one resource patent trolls need: lawyers. When that happens.

The only launches I remember are famous flops like the bizarre consequences of this type of proficiency test any apprentice might have 20 affinities by this, though more polite, was starting an outdoor portal. The Duty of Genius, Penguin, 1991, p. The danger is that in practice signalling hasn't been much of observed behavior. When I say in principle is that intelligence doesn't matter in startups tend to be when I was genuinely worried that Airbnb, for example, the startup after you buy it despite having no evidence it's for sale.

Another thing I learned from this experiment: set aside an option pool. So if they don't want to start a startup in question usually is doing badly in your country controlled by the government. But in a company grew at 1% a week for 4 years.

We added two more investors. The reason this subject is so hard to imagine how an investor, and that often doesn't know its own momentum. We think. I'm talking here about everyday tagging.

They thought most programming would be possible to bring corporate bonds to market faster; the point of a large organization that often creates a rationalization for doing so much to generalize.

Many people feel good. So instead of being interrupted deters hackers from starting hard projects. The idea is that it was overvalued till you see them, initially, were ways to make your fortune? In fact the decade preceding the war.

One father told me about a form that would appeal to investors.

Some graffiti is quite impressive anything becomes art if you tell them to justify choices inaction in particular took bribery to the traditional peasant's diet: they hoped they were only partly joking. If a big angel like Ron Conway had angel funds starting in the first phase. You're going to create one of those you can eliminate, do not try too hard at fixing bugs—which, if they stopped causing so much from day to day indeed, is due to the table.

The hardest kind of gestures you use the wrong ISP. But they've been trained to expect the second component is empty—an idea is stone soup: you post a sign saying this cupboard must be kept empty. The two guys were Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston. I have set up grant programs to run an online service, and they were, they'd be called unfair.

My work represents an exploration of gender and sexuality in an era of such high taxes?

So the most visible index of that, in one of the markets they serve, because she liked the iPhone SDK. For example, because a it's too hard to pick the former, because it is.

If you ask that you're small and traditional proprietors on the side of the junk bond business by Michael Milken; a new airport.

The biggest exits are the only audience for your side project. You're not one of their portfolio companies. He did eventually graduate at about 26.

A lot of time on schleps, but he doesn't remember which.

When I talk about startups. It's also one of the statistics they use the wrong algorithm for generating their frontpage. The reason Y Combinator only got 38 cents on the other: the source of food.

[piccadilly-lilly]

Digital Self-Sufficiency 101

I’ve noticed that the chaos of 2020 has caused many people to notice that commercially available technologies have grown increasingly intrusive, expensive, and restrictive. Therefore, I thought I would put together some easy ways to maintain privacy and self-sufficiency as much as possible in the digital age.

SOFTWARE IN GENERAL

Using incognito mode or private mode in your browser actually does nothing to prevent your internet service provider from watching your activity. The Tor browser is your easiest option for keeping your search history private.

To keep downloads, system updates, and activity from other applications private, consider using a VPN. Personally, I sometimes use ProtonVPN for this, but some people might find it uncomfortably slow. A proxy server will not provide the same layer of protection but suffices for day-to-day use.

Never reuse passwords, but it is usually okay to choose a common theme for them, and choosing long or uncommon phrases is actually safer than using random strings of characters.

Password managers are also relatively safe. KeePass is a good open-source choice that creates an encrypted password database on your device and so keeps your information entirely private.

Consider switching browsers. Chrome (including Chromium) and Edge both send data to Google and Microsoft respectively. Firefox is heavily customizable, open-source, and focused on privacy; Opera is closed-source but does provide useful features such as a built-in browser VPN.

TrackMeNot is an add-on that performs automated random Google searches, making it much harder for Google to determine your search activity. Also, use an adblocker wherever possible - AdBlock Plus is an effective free choice.

Archive.org is an excellent source of ebooks, journals, music, etc. that allows you to borrow materials and download them or read them online without requiring any personal information.

DRM, or digital rights management, is a form of software used to prevent people from copying files or accessing them outside of certain applications (such as iTunes for music, Adobe Reader for ebooks, etc). It is perfectly legal to remove DRM from works you have purchased, so that you actually own the file and not just a license to access it within a certain framework.

There are several plugins available for the Calibre ebook library that get rid of DRM on book files; this is the one I use. I don’t have iTunes or Spotify, but I’ve heard good things about NoteBurner, and I know that plenty of alternatives exist for DRM removal of music files.

Also, youtube-dl is a useful tool for downloading videos from YouTube. Be careful to use this only on open-source or public domain videos.

LINUX

Linux has advanced astronomically in the past decade -- it is definitely the best option for privacy and security, and is now fairly easy to use.

If you’re just beginning, Ubuntu is a great choice with graphics that will make your PC look and feel a bit like a Mac. You can completely opt out of giving any data to the developers, and it’s by far the most commonly used distro in the Linux community, meaning that most support and apps are developed for it.

Take a test drive! Here is an easy tutorial for how to put Ubuntu on a USB stick and run it on your computer without affecting your Windows system or changing any of your files.

On most hardware, an out of the box Ubuntu installation works fine for browsing the web, watching movies, studying, and day-to-day use -- do test it using a USB before installing it, though.

The best thing about Linux is that you are the absolute dictator of your own computer. The appearance, functionality, and resource management of your system is all up to you. Also, there are hundreds of different operating systems and configurations under the Linux umbrella.

The fact that most viruses and malware are designed to run on Windows offers a degree of protection to Linux users, and those running more obscure distributions are less vulnerable, but security consciousness is still very important. ClamAV is a good open-source antivirus specifically designed to scan for malware targeted at Linux systems, and chkrootkit can detect any rootkits that may be installed on your system.

If you use Linux exclusively, the WINE toolkit can allow you to run programs designed for Windows. It does require some setup but eliminates a lot of compatibility issues (*pointed glance at my online classes*).

WINDOWS

A computer with standard Windows installed will never be all that private or independent, given the limitations hard-coded into the system, but there are still plenty of things you can do.

Don’t use a Microsoft account on your personal computer -- this enables Microsoft to combine data sent from your computer with your personal information. To turn this off, go into Settings, select Accounts, find your own account, and click the “Delete” option.

If you are installing Windows on a computer, don’t connect to the Internet during the setup process. When it asks you to connect to WiFi, click the “I don’t have Internet” option in the bottom left corner -- this will allow you to set up Windows using a local account, bypassing the requirement to create a Microsoft account.

When it comes to protecting your PC from hackers, choose strong passwords and be careful what you click on, and after that Microsoft Defender should do the trick. For the most part, commercial antivirus software is not necessary; any malicious actor worth their salt will be able to circumvent common choices like McAfee or Norton.

The Windows updater includes many invasive features without a way to opt out, and can be disabled. Hit the Windows key + R to bring up the Run menu, type “services.msc” in the text box, and press Enter to open the Services Manager. Find Windows Updates and Windows Update Medic, right-click on both of those, and select “Disable.”

Use caution when electing not to update Windows; oftentimes patches for important security vulnerabilities are incorporated into the updates, and Microsoft doesn’t allow users to select which updates to install.

OS X / iOS

The entire Apple business model is based on hardware that’s far below the industry standard for the price range and software that’s obsolescent from the moment you purchase it. These products are pure fashion over function and are pretty much inseparable from their surveillance software and use restrictions.

HARDWARE

Don’t get a new laptop simply because yours is getting older or slower. Hardware available to the average consumer hasn’t changed significantly in the past decade. If your computer is getting older and feels slower, that’s probably because Windows has grown heavier and less efficient with every update.

Self-sufficiency and durability go together in technology as in all other facets of manufacturing.

SSDs may be slightly faster than conventional hard disk drives, but they don’t have as much storage capacity and will fail more quickly, so for most uses an HDD is probably more practical. Anything that has “flash memory” as its sole form of storage should be avoided.

Entry-level laptops in 2020 are usually worse in terms of design and specifications than they were in 2015. Second-hand options can be a good idea, especially workstations designed for business use (my PC was made in 2012 and is still humming along with no problems).

Swappable batteries are increasingly rare but go a long way to increase the usefulness of a PC while traveling or offline. Also, touchscreens always shorten battery life by at least an hour or two. 

Intel Atom processors are common on lower-cost laptops but are very slow and prone to overheating unpredictably.

Also, anything without a fan (look for a visible vent on the underside) can overheat in the summer and is probably indicative of lower processing power.

The vast majority of two-in-one laptops and tablet hybrids are severely underpowered -- the extremely small size prevents the use of proper computer hardware.

Source: am a Linux user and hobbyist programmer who learned most of this using the time-honored Mess Around and Find Out methodology.

[techiq-it]

When it comes to technology and your business, you'll need to know enough about the topic to understand what your business needs and why. And while you won't need to be able to disassemble and reassemble a PC against a stopwatch like a Marine does his M-16, you'll want to know a little more than simply how to turn on your computer and then launch your favorite programs.

Computers and peripherals are constantly evolving, but knowing a few general specifications in each product category will help you find the best deal on the right equipment for your business--or at least understand what a tech expert is telling you. And what a business needs is not the same for everyone. There's no one "right" PC brand or printer type any more than there's one right car for everyone out on the road today.

Your business will have its own unique set of equipment needs that probably differ from those of the company next door. And, of course, you'll have a different amount of money to spend.

When it comes to pricing, the good news is that prices for office equipment have gone down every year during the past three decades, while features have continued to improve with every new version of hardware and software that's released. That's been true in every product category every year, so you can expect to get a better price and a more capable bundle of equipment than you could have found this time last year.

Also, you can expect your computer and telecommunications equipment to be your best business allies. As we've evolved from an industrial to an information-based economy, small businesses have used their office tools to be more competitive against larger businesses, which--let's face it--have a lot of built-in market advantages.

Getting Started Let's start by behaving as if you're already a Fortune 500 company--in miniature. Over the decades, large businesses have learned quite a bit about getting the most out of their office equipment. The first lesson is: You don't buy equipment; you buy systems.

As you shop for PCs, fax machines and phones, keep in mind that the goal is to make all this equipment work well together and, to the extent possible, talk to one another--that is, share data. If your personal digital assistant (PDA) can't easily transfer data to your desktop, your fax machine can't accept computer files, or you're building contact lists and address books in a lot of different and incompatible applications, you're duplicating your efforts, which means you're losing time. Efficiency today means being well connected--both inside and outside the walls of your company.

Even if you start off as a solo operator working from a home office, you're still going to need connections to clients and suppliers in the wider world. That not only means phone, fax and internet connections, but also some level of connectivity in the applications that make them work--e-mail, instant messaging, web protocols and more.

At some point, you may want to share proposals, spreadsheets and other files--not only among co-workers but possibly customers and suppliers as well. That suggests you'll want to stick with the most popular operating systems and applications to improve your chances of collaboration with others. Certainly, you'll want to do that within your own company.

Incidentally, even if you're starting as a solo operator, you'll need at least two connected computers. And if you're like many businesspeople today, you probably already own three or four "computing devices"--PC, laptop, PDA, cell phone--with a lot of wired and/or wireless connections among them and your other office equipment.

But why two desktop computers? Actually, one of those could be a laptop for travel. But you need two because of that inevitable day when your hard drive crashes or your computer gets a virus or there's some inscrutable problem with your PC's on/off button--whatever. Your PC is likely to become the heart and soul of your operation, and while computer equipment is very durable, all equipment fails.

So what will you do when that machine that holds your critical business information fails? Even if you're among that small fraction of people who back up their data religiously and have it available somewhere on tape or CD-ROM, how long will it take you to run out and buy a new PC and add all the software you regularly use configured just the way you like it so you can start loading that data? How many hours or days can your business go before you get back online with your customers?

Realistically, you don't want even one hour of lost productivity. At a minimum, you need at least one duplicate of your main PC's entire setup that you can immediately turn to without losing a step. As mentioned, that duplicate image could be a laptop used for travel. Ideally, it will be another desktop just as capable or nearly so as your first.

[doobler]

DATA LOG//VALERIE-01//XX.XX.XXXX

SOME FILES CORRUPTED. RECOVERING UNCORRUPT FILES.

LOG 1

LOADING... LOADING... LOADING...

"Hey! You're not quite done yet but I wanted to start leaving you some video diary entries! Today is [REDACTED] so my 14th birthday was just last week! Pretty exciting, huh? As of now, you're about a couple months old which is really weird to think about. I'm so excited for the day you're finally done! Hopefully that'll be soon but, judging by how progress is going, it might be longer than I first predicted. Which is fine! You're worth the wait. Okay, well I just wanted to start this new little diary ritual hah hah! I'll seen you soon, buddy!"

LOG 27

LOADING... LOADING... LOADING...

"Hey, buddy, it's me again! Yesterday was my 16th birthday. It was pretty fun, we didn't do much. Mom made all my favorites like tostones and empanadas. I'll be graduating college in just a few months. Man, it went by so fast. Regrettably, that means you've been on the back burner. I'm real sorry, bud. I've had to work so hard at school but it means I've got a better chance at getting the job of my dreams. You understand, I know you do, your programming makes you empathetic. One day, I'll be the head of design for T.A.B.H, you'll see. Then I'll finally be able to finish you and show you off to the rest of the world. Keep sleepin' until then, okay? Dream of electric sleep. I'll see you soon."

LOG 112

LOADING... LOADING... LOADING...

"Today is [REDACTED]. I've finally gotten my shit together at the office. We made it! I'm now officially an employee working for the Programming and Design department of T.A.B.H! It took maybe a little longer than I wanted, I was hoping to be here at 18 but I guess two years late is better than nothing! Most of the people here are old bastards anyhow, hahaha! I get a lot of dirty looks but fuck 'em, I worked my ass off to get here and I deserve the recognition! The real work starts soon which means you'll probably be put on hold again, but only for a little longer! It's weird, I've had to age up your designs as time goes on. I guess the perfect boyfriend and companion for a 14 year old looks a little different when it's repurposed for a 20 year old. Don't worry though, I intend on keeping your [REDACTED] on the bigger side, hahah! Anyways. The next update might be a little late, I foresee this job really swallowing up all my free time. See you soon, buddy!"

LOG 120

LOADING... LOADING... LOADING...

"Hey. It's been a few years. I'm sorry, bud, this job just... Takes all my free time and energy. Your basic infrastructure is easy to tweak, it's your coding that's really been dragging. If I had just... A week to myself, undisturbed, you'd be finished but... Soon. Okay? We'll be together soon. I promise. Sleep well, love."

LOG 121

LOADING... LOADING... LOADING...

"T.A.B.H. isn't what I thought it'd be. On the outside, they're a tech company "dedicated to the pursuit of improving every day human life" but on the interior, this place reeks. There's a suspicious amount of security and the employees like myself are constantly screened, our social media always monitored, our phones constantly looked through. Thank god these diaries are directly through you. If I'd been uploading these through my phone, we'd be fucked. It's been nearly 14 years since I began building you, Valerie. You're still cutting edge, nothing these dumbasses throw together are nearly as advanced as you are. But you'll have to stay asleep for a while longer. I'm terrified of what would happen if they found you. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Sweet dreams. I love you."

LOG 250

LOADING... LOADING... LOADING...

"This isn't what I wanted, Val. The advances we're making grow exponentially as the days pass. Androids are out, they're becoming accessible to society, but... Not in the way I wanted. They're not companions like you, they're... Slaves. Used and abused then thrown out like trash. T.A.B.H. puts so much research and work and effort into making them as lifelike as possible, only to treat them like... Like... Fuck! It's sickening, I can't. I look at my reflection every night and I'm disgusted by what I see. They're keeping me in a junior role within my department so I'll be forced to work harder but I'll never be given the jurisdiction to make POSITIVE change. They see that I'm leagues ahead of everyone else but I'm fucking trapped like a rat."

The camera view shifts. Mar's face comes into focus. He looks tired, with bags under his eyes and wrinkles at the corner of his mouth. Silvery hair has started to grow at his temples. He has multiple day old stubble along his chin.

"I can't bring myself to age you up anymore, Valerie. I want you to stay as youthful as when I first designed you. I wish... You could've finished in time and actually fulfilled my dream of having the perfect boyfriend. Instead, I pray you'll at least come online in my lifetime, so I can finally show you the love I've been dying to give you for almost 21 years now. Sleep well, sweetheart. I'll see you soon."

LOG 300

LOADING... LOADING... LOADING...

"I've been in hiding for 10 years now, making today [REDACTED]. God, I'm so fucking tired. You're the only legacy I've got, Valerie. No kids, no husband, no family left. Just me. And you. T.A.B.H's influence continues to grow. They've taken over the entire tech industry and are sinking their nasty little fingers into everything they can reach, from food to infrastructure and beyond. Everything looks so shiny and nice on the outside but the system is rotted all the way through. They haven't found out about you yet, but... I'm afraid they're getting close. I'm lucky to have found this place, old land my family used to own way down south, almost to the border. My grandfather was a smart man-- there isn't a microcubit of trackable technology here. The only way I'll be found is on foot. It's hard to rest, though, but it does mean I've got a little more free time to work on you. Your coding is nearly complete. I'm really proud of myself, hahah, the infinity matrix will give you the ability to learn and grow and develop just like a human, though you do have basic personality programming. Your external design has barely changed. You're still so young... Anyways. The next update might be a while. I'll do my best to stay hidden. I'll see you... Soon. Okay? Soon. I love you. Sweet dreams."

LOG ???

LOADING... LOADING... LOADING...

Maurice appears in the camera's view. He's old now, old enough to be a grandfather maybe. When he looks at you, a funny expression crosses his face. Your basic sensors pick up his heart rate, slowing gradually. He lays wrinkled fingers on your frame and smiles.

"This is it, Valerie. The end of the line. They've finally found me. I'm too old to run now. It'll be up to you. I'm gonna finish uploading the final details to your software and then you'll be done. It breaks my heart that I never got to meet you. I've seen you in my dreams for so long. You're gonna be amazing, though, I just know it. My only wish is... Please. Go out there and show humanity what you really are. Teach them that androids have souls, too, that you're all equal. Only then can life truly improve, only then will we reach harmony."

Maurice twists around when he hears something. He moves to the computer beside you and types for  while. He has something in his hand but your sensors can't pick it up. 

"I'm... Sorry, Valerie. That it had to be like this. But you've got so much ahead of you. These logs are protected deep within your mental core. They'll be incredibly difficult to access externally and hard to delete so... I'll be with you always. You'll come online soon, and I'll... Be watching on. Stay safe. Keep your chin up. I love you, Valerie. I love you so much. It's time to wake up, old friend."

[with-pryde]

spot the difference:  excalibur kitty pryde v. evolution kitty pryde

𝙴𝚇𝙲𝙰𝙻𝙸𝙱𝚄𝚁:

academics.  in junior high (so grades 7-9, approx. ages 12-14), she was enrolled in college courses and was so ahead of her peers that she barely had anything to do with them, and rarely ever saw them.  like a lot of gifted kids, she sees herself as “better” than her peers and she can be quick to alienate kids her own age, and isn’t entirely sure how to socialise with them.  she got off on the wrong foot with the new mutants even before getting put on their team by calling them babies, despite the fact that some of them were older than she was.  problem was, she had more experience and was smarter, thus, age didn’t factor into her assessment.

the two exceptions to this rule are her two roommates, illyana and rachel, but it should be noted that, as roommates, both spent a lot of time with her to break these barriers.  and both had such horrific childhoods, illyana in limbo and rachel as a hound in the future, that they were forced to grow up and mature faster than kids their age.  and, thus, like kitty, they both also don’t really have much of a connection / fit in well with their peers (unless they work at it), so they’re more exception cases than the norm for kitty re: friends her age (though rachel IS maybe a few years older than her anyway).

aggression.  as noted above, kitty had very little to do with her peers and, after joining the x-men at 13 (and a half), her main influences were those she served on the team with (namely ororo, colossus, kurt, logan and the professor, with scott and psylocke also featuring).  of those, she forged strong bonds with kurt, logan and ororo, but she takes after wolverine a lot, even using his phrase bub when in a bad mood.  she’s pretty quick to resort to violence, though she’s of course mindful of who she’s up against.  the goal is to hurt, not kill (though when she’s mad she often thinks about how good it would be to kill them).  granted, she doesn’t understand wolverine’s “berserker rages”, and isn’t much like that, until she joins excalibur and Sees Some ShitTM that makes her understand what whole consuming hate and rage feels like. 

also worth noting during this time she’s dealing with a lot, including loss of those who were like family and chronic pain, but even so she has a pretty short fuse and will punch you in the face.  or, in the case of a friend, will have something smart and sarcastic to say.  also kitty is very much the type of person where, if she’s mad, she’s mad at the whole world and will unduly take her anger out on people who aren’t even remotely responsible for her misery.  she gets better about not yelling when she lashes out (she mostly drops that by excalibur), but she still lashes out with mean / sour comments or gets very snappish and snarly.

authority.  again, like logan, she doesn’t always take kindly to authority.  granted, she does tend to like her teachers and likes to receive praise from them, but she will also yell at the authority figures in her life without batting an eye.  she will also go against their wishes, too, like facing threats on her own to prove she belongs on the x-men main team instead of the new mutants.

colour palate.  she loves colours, mostly jewel tones and saturated colours.  blues and hot pinks and creams.  when she wears her cream sweaters, however, she’ll accent it with colours like red elsewhere.  while she used to wear the most eye-catching bedazzled outfits, she’s mainly toned it back to a bright splash of colour in her outfit, usually her shirt.  her clothes also favour comfort over style and attraction, and the one time she tries skinny jeans she hates them.

computing.  she’s a computing genius and sometimes jokingly calls herself the goddess of computers, with every right.  she especially excels at hardware, and can make a stunning array of gadgets, including a handheld non-telepathic cerebro.  she can also programme, however, one of her best friends, doug ramsey, a mutant gifted with an ability in language (including machine languages), he could often take her most mediocre efforts and make it work amazingly well and, often, handled a lot of the code and programming.  they did work together and she learned a lot from him.... but she also relied on him a lot, too, and so when it comes to software and programming, she’s not as strong as her evo counterpart for it.  

confidence.  in the toilet.  again, because she has little contact with kids her age and looks down on those her age, kitty pryde tends to crush on older people who are out of her league age-wise.  they don’t really pay attention to her, at least, not in a romantic way (as it should be), but she tends to take this as rejection of who she is.  her roommates, illyana and rachel, too, are very good looking and tend to get a lot of attention that she doesn’t, and so kitty goes through her younger years believing she’s not very attractive.  she’s also incredibly self-critical and just.  doesn’t have much self-confidence outside of her ability to beat people up.

cussing.  she doesn’t outright cuss, but instead uses words like flamin’ and devil.  it doesn’t sound bad nowadays, but i’d say it’s like the equivalent of crap, and she’s constantly reprimanded for her inappropriate language when she uses these terms.

demeanour.  when she first arrives to the x-men, she’s bubbly and cheerful, if a little introverted.  by the time excalibur rolls around, she’s travelled to space, across galaxies, faced gods and aliens and her worst fears ten times over.  excalibur forms, in large part, because the x-men are dead.  she also has no real way of dealing with and working through all the trauma.  as such, she’s more serious when excalibur rolls around or, at least, knows when to get serious.  she’s still quippy but more measured and, again, she has a short fuse, a problem that’s only exacerbated by sharing a small living space with the whole the excalibur team.

music taste.  kitty absolutely had her boy-band phase, and loved dazzler (sidenote, it’s because of dazzler she wanted to wear the roller skates in her first costume) however, by excalibur, she’s refining her taste.  she still likes music she can dance to, however, her favourite band, cat’s laughing, is one whose lead singer is also kitty’s favourite writer.  it’s more refined, with good lyrics and writing.  think kind of like hozier lyrics but with more of a danceable beat.  she also likes big band music and jazz from her dancing days, music that’s old for her even then.  the key is danceability, though.

personal style.  while she absolutely detests “preppies”, kitty pryde dresses like one when she leaves the house, with collared shirts under sweaters and full on suits being things she wears out.  often, she’ll pair her outfit with her black leather jacket, a prized possession, which often lends a bit of toughness to her otherwise preppy look.

at home, it’s usually it’s loose sweaters / shirts and leggings with her hair restrained in a ponytail, especially when she’s working on something.  she also wears glasses when tinkering.  as mentioned above, she always has a splash of colour somewhere, which applies to at home as equally as going out.

because this is the 80s-90s, when she dresses up (and even her costume), the outfit usually features poofy sleeves and/or very pointed and defined shoulder pads.

relationships.  as colossus and pete wisdom are not canon here, she hasn’t had a canon relationship, which also feeds into her insecurities and low self-confidence.  again, because she tends to have eyes for older guys and gals, relationships rarely pan out for her.  occasionally, however, someone her age catches her interest (in canon, part of her loved doug ramsey, for instance, because although he was her age, he, no pun intended, spoke her language) but, usually, she needs to be forced to see people her age.  like with larry, she was told by a teacher to dance with him at a school dance and only then did she find out he was pretty nice (that ended badly but the Concept applies).

teamwork.  kitty tends to do her own thing.  she can and does operate as part of a team, but she doesn’t always coordinate well with them.  she definitely starts out as more of a team player because she’s not equipped to handle situations on her own, and because she’s scared, but as she receives more training and her confidence in her abilities increases, she often thinks she can handle it on her own and grows more self-reliant.  it makes her more capable and better at devising plans, but sometimes it means she bites off more than she can chew.  as well, if she thinks she has something to prove, she’ll try and tough it out alone.

training.  she’s been possessed trained into a killer ninja by a master with a bone to pick with wolverine in a very traumatic milestone.  she hates to think about it, but the training did remain even when the “demon” did not.  she’s incredibly deadly, though she still hasn’t added the swords to her repertoire.  also, during the events of excalibur, her default state is to be phased, making her extremely difficult to target (barring her powers malfunctioning for whatever reason).

𝙴𝚅𝙾𝙻𝚄𝚃𝙸𝙾𝙽:

academics.  kitty is taking advanced and college level classes and graduates a year early, however, unlike her excalibur counterpart, she’s not so far beyond her peers that she never sees or interacts with them.  at most she’s a year or two younger than those in her class and, in this verse, all of the x-men are teenagers meaning she spends a lot more time with people her age and is generally more social and more sociable.

aggression.  again, she’s got more social skills.  this translates to an increased understanding of those around her and her first tactic is to try to mediate and preserve social cohesion.  like her counterpart, she can and will stand up and say something if needed, and she will get into fights if needed, but it’s usually to protect a friend rather than herself and when there are no other routes for compromise (like when duncan takes away scott’s glasses and tries to get him kicked out of school, she shows up ready to brawl but, also, when duncan and his pals leave, she lets them, without pushing for a fight).  

while sometimes sarcastic, she’s also less sharp with her sarcasm.  for her, it’s less about hurting the other person and more about highlighting the situation whereas, in excalibur, her words hit much harder.  part of this, i think, is her social cohesion with her team; she’s more mindful of how her words can hurt and, therefore, doesn’t throw them around as quick or to be mean.  she also knows how to contain her anger better; she may be annoyed and grumbly, but she won’t be yelling at someone who isn’t responsible, only maybe venting if they’re willing to lend a listening ear.

authority.  again, like her excalibur counterpart, she thrives on praise from her teachers and authority figures in her life.  unlike her excalibur counterpart, she’s much less likely to go against them and usually only does when it’s a friend on the line.

colour palate.  kitty also favours colours here, but she wears a lot of pastels that her excalibur counterpart doesn’t really.  pastel pink, sherbert orange, pale lavender.  she does also wear some jewel tones (green, burgundy and purple), but her go-tos are the pastels.

computing.  she favours software to hardware, unlike her excalibur counterpart.  she has no doug ramsey to help in this show, so she has to develop and write her software on her own.  hardware-wise she’s not inept, training with the x-men gives her a strong base with it, but it’s not something she nurtures.  because she grows up in a more typical school setting, she still wants to have a sort of normal life, and working on hardware just isn’t it.  software is easier and, as she takes a computer class, she also meets people who are into it and she can connect to over the interest, namely in risty (mystique in disguise, but obviously she doesn’t know that) and arcade (yes, that arcade, though the show changed him considerably).

confidence.  because kitty tends to like guys (yes, guys, i’ll get into the heteronormativity piece in the relationships section, but that’s deliberate wording here) her own age and they’ve liked her back and she doesn’t have the same superiority complex (resulting in looking to older people outside her league and facing their rejection), kitty in evo has way more confidence than her comic counterpart.  of course, like any high school girl she has things she hates and she does find flaws in the mirror but, on the whole, she doesn’t feel ugly or less than compared to the other x-men the same way her comic counterpart does.  (if she does feel inept next to them, it’s mainly due to her inexperience, though that inspires her to do better and eventually goes away as she gets more settled into the life of being an x-man).

cussing.  no cussing.  heckin is about as bad as she gets.  granted, as she grows up she starts cursing more but, during her years in canon her language is pretty tame.  because this is the 90s / early 00s, she does say lame a lot which, while not a cuss word, isn’t good to say, but for different reasons (ableist and rude), but that’s a different thing.

demeanour.  she hasn’t quite had the same level of traumatic experiences as her excalibur counterpart and, moreover, they’re way more spaced out than they are in the comics so she’s pretty bubbly and upbeat throughout most of high school.  this changes a bit with the emergence of mutants and when the world hates them, she’ll sometimes get down about it, but, on the whole, her world tends to look up.  like her excalibur counterpart, things do eventually take a turn for the dark and in future verses she’s more measured and has lost some of this shine, but she definitely is upbeat for longer.  

music taste.  very, very pop heavy.  boy bands, britney spears, taylor swift, katy perry etc.  she’s not a jus.tin bie.ber fan but that’s about it in terms of restrictions.  as she gets older she branches out more, including into electroswing, but she’s more of a pop girl at heart.

personal style.  again, she tends to dress “preppier”, but 90s/00s style: so a collared shirt except it shows her midriff or capris and a cardigan but the shirt under her cardigan shows her midriff.  lots of midriff outfits (even her school dance dress was two pieces and showed some stomach) and collars (her costume even has like that business shirt collar thing going on).  she tends to favour comfort, too, but also pairs it with some style (like, platform sandals: comfy but also very in).  also plastic jewellery, chokers, etc.

relationships.  as she goes to school and has a lot of contact with her peers, she actually crushes on and dates people her own age in this show (and we love to see it).  granted, she kind of lets a lot of things slide in her first relationship that aren’t cool, something which informs her relationships going forward (in that, she realises they weren’t okay and isn’t going to take it in future ones), and her first relationship is very, no pun intended, rocky, with break ups and get togethers galore but.....it’s with someone her own age which, have i said how much we love to see it?  because kitty is in school in the 90s/00s, and felt the pressure to try and fit in for longer, she absolutely internalised some heteronormativity (in the comics, too, but she sheds that faster after leaving school so young and joining the x-men), and, while she looks at women, it’s very much in a “wow i love that outfit on her” or “wow how’d she get to look so pretty, i gotta ask for tips” way, and it takes her time to connect this to an interest in women, too so, generally, for her canon / high school years, she only really looks to guys/male presenting peers in a romantic way (or, that she connects to as romantic).

teamwork.  finally, she’s better about working in a team here, too.  partially because she doesn’t have the skills to be completely on her own (no ninja training til post canon) and partially because her team is all the same age and her friends both at school and at home, she’s more used to looking to them for support, especially scott.  something happens and her first instinct is to go to him and get his take on it.  sometimes she’ll still act on her own but, barring a time crunch or someone really instantly in danger, she favours waiting for the team.

[toxicsquad]

There is no better way to get to know someone than through a good question tag. In this case we have decided to make an Indie game dev question tag with the responses of our four developers. We hope that it will reveal many unknowns, but if you are left with any questions, do not hesitate to use our ask.

What part of game development are you responsible for?

Athe: I write and write, I melt in my seat, I correct, I cry and then I program. It’s an endless cycle. Occasionally I laugh like crazy while I eat Pringles.

Sam: I draw and color without leaving the lines (almost always) the sprites, the illustrations and the ravings that usually occur to us past 3 in the morning.

Illy: English translations.

Sher: I draw BGs

What tools do you use (hardware / software)?

Athe: Recently my desktop PC has passed away, so I’ve had to rescue my old PC from the garage. I also have a laptop that saves my life more times than I would like to admit. As for the software, I need, above all, drive documents, video editing programs, image etc (I have an Adobe package) and of course Renpy and Atom.

Sam: My main friend and companion is my tablet, a wacom intuos S (pistachio color, so cute). As programs I mainly use the Paint Tool Sai, because there is nothing in this life like its stabilizer. And less frequently than I would like (for details, texture brushes, effects ...) I also use Clip Studio Paint, which I only know how to use at about 2% of its capacity ... If someday I have time I would love to stop and learn seriously what can be done with it.

Illy: During the school year I live in a residence, so I use an old laptop, and when I return home I use a desktop computer that never has memory space. I translate the chapters in the same Atom where the complete script is and I keep them in google drive files where I share them with our beta reader. I also use editing programs like photoshop when I have to translate comics or procreate for when my artistic skills are required.

Sher: ipad+procreate+some final tweak in photoshop, I don't need much more

What is your favorite part of the job?

Athe: Would it be wrong if I say that is when we released the episode? During the whole production time everything is very stressful, there are times when it’s really uphill, but when we release a new chapter it feels soooo good. It's like saying to yourself, yeah, dammit, I can do it. Look at everything you've climbed by yourself. You're doing it right.

Sam: In general, my favorite parts are when the first scenes start to be programmed, and I can see the sprites with the backgrounds, the texts, and how the illustrations look. Everything always looks so much better when viewed in-game… I also really like being able to check out the script as it is written. And from the artistic part that concerns me, when I see that my hands capture the idea that I had in my head ... Especially in character designs.

Illy: Having to find a way to translate very spanish expressions into English, research vocabulary that I have never had to use and commenting on some translations with our beta reader (which we adore) to make it understandable without losing the original meaning.

Sher: I like to do the lineart when the sketch is complete, if I no longer have to think about anything else and it's just going through it, I find it very fun and relaxing

What is the most difficult part for you?

Athe: Offf, yes, I admit it, sometimes writing is the WORST. Other times I love it, especially when I can expand on the descriptions or stop at a part that is intimate or that I find interesting (for example, Hasiel's conversation from 6.3, small spoiler: P). But, I HATE having to paste scenes, often the protagonist moves between scenes and you always have to add lines to those transitions that really do not interest anyone, but that otherwise the text would be confusing. Anyway... It is a very wide world, with a lot of history, I have to deal with what I need readers to know to understand the facts, although sometimes it gets a bit boring.

Sam: What part does not... Rather who e.e Zihel and Ariel are a thorn in my side. Especially Zihel. I know it has to do with the fact that it has never been my strength to draw boys, and much less if they are more masculine in appearance... That's why I also suffer a lot from drawing muscles. Another thing that brings me a headache is the perspective of the illustrations. Every time I try to get out of the typical shot or poses a little... It doesn't work out.

Illy: Doughy’s  stuttering ¬.¬

Sher: chairs, sofas, tables... anything with four legs is my enemy

Anything to help or encourage you while you are working?

Athe: I need music, no, seriously, I NEED IT. I’m unable to focus without it. If, on top of that, I can get what I hear to act as a sounding board for what I write, the text is a thousand times better... But the muse is a pretty bad person.

Sam: Having a show/movie in the background that entertains me. The longer the better, so I don't have to stop to think what I want to put on next.

Illy: Eating sunflower seeds to trick my brain and not be tempted to do something else that distracts me.

Sher: I try to see other artists to motivate and inspire me before I start drawing, what I find most difficult is that initial push and that is where I need the motivation, then I usually have something in the background but it is not necessary

Something that’s a pet peeve or discouraging?

Athe: Some narrative climax moments. Generally, they are not important plot moments (that is almost entirely decided), they are often small decisions to go from scene A to scene B, but I can spend a LOT of time deciding which is the fastest and best way to tie those two ends. I'm the worst.

Sam: Many times when starting, I can't get the poses to fit the way I want, for example.

Illy: Finding many parts in a row that I find especially difficult to solve and that make me believe that I have forgotten how to English properly. And looking at how many lines I still have left.

Sher: When I don't know how to fill in some area, if I see something very empty but I don't know how to solve it, I can spend days looking at the screen without being able to advance, even if I have other areas that I could do in the meantime

What is required on your table or work surface?

Athe: Notebooks, sticky notes, pens… I’m a person who writes everything down, especially the tasks, but I also order the story by color schemes. The stack of sticky notes have 9 different colors, each one represents a character and I play a lot with them for a lot of nonsense. Besides, even though I have been writing on the computer for many more years than I wrote by hand, I still have a preference for the analogical.

Sam: Coffee, sweets, chocolate, cereals... And cats.

Illy: My phone, the sunflower seeds, a Capital America: Civil War 1L water cup, sticky notes that remind me of tasks.

Sher: I have nothing really lol all my things are for decoration

Your most productive hours?

Athe: Owl. Totally nocturnal. Although I have several crises a month to force myself to work at other times that always end... Wrong.

Sam: Also at night for the most part, although I can no longer stay awake as long as I endured before having a job (the good old days...) However, in the middle of the afternoon, when the zoo that I have at home is still taking a nap, I also manage to go a long way.

Illy: From when I finish eating until 7 or 8 in the afternoon, when I don't have to cook, clean, run errands...

Sher: I take over for Illy apparently, from 7 or 8 is when I start to get into the mood until bedtime

Do working hours make you forget to eat or make you eat twice as much?

Athe: It depends, in the past I ate a lot, now if I have stress I don't eat anything. If I'm in a normal productive phase and I'm not on my nerves, I'm probably eating by inertia.

Sam: They make me eat more, but especially junk food e.e And they make me forget healthy meals, especially dinner at night.

Illy: It depends on my mood, but I usually eat twice as much.

Sher: I'm generally a VERY distracted person so I don't usually get to focus on a task to get to either of those two modes but I guess when I am sooooooo much on the task, I forget. But that happens like a couple of times a year and "forgetting" is "I delay an hour."

What part of your set up would you improve / change (in aesthetics or functionality) if you had no money limit?

Athe: I'm trying to match some of my peripherals with the rest. They are all a damn different color, apparently I'm cursed... Now seriously, I wish I had a better graphic card that would allow me to make video captures, some speakers and a quality printer.

Sam: Actually, I don't think I need anything more complex than what I already have… But if I had to improve something, I'm curious about the most professional tablets, the big ones with the included screen and all that stuff.

Illy: A new laptop that lets me open 4 chrome tabs, Atom and photoshop at the same time without dying.

Sher: A pc screen that will not change the colors I use on the iPad would be nice, really

Which character are you most like? And why?

Athe: Phew I think the easy answer would be to say Akane ... But, Akane is a better person. : P

Sam: This is very difficult... They are all very different, but still I do not think I look much like any of them. If I have to say something, I could identify with Maske's tendency to avoid problems, and his more homey and calm side. And well… Since Akane has been an OC of mine for many years, surely I have something of her too.

Illy: I think I partly have Maske's instinct to stay out of trouble, and on the other hand Joe's shallowness, although tbh I wish I really did look like any of our awesome babies.

Sher: surprised because (unpopular opinion around here) is one of those who I "least care" about really but I would say that Pin because he is a little dumb, happy and probably has a Satanic room and proud of it

Favorite CG/art.

Athe: AT THE MOMENT. Maske chapter 1. It couldn't be more predictable. I know.

Sam: I quite agree with Maske in chapter 1. But I would also put Pin in chapter 5 and Akane in chapter 6.2 on the top.

Illy: Kyeran in Coco's tank ?? Is he even real? Being basic is my brand.

Sher: surprised again and disappointed but I would say that of angel Hasiel because I like pretty dresses, pretty hairs and pretty wings

Favorite BG/scene.

Athe: The Red Light District amazes me. I already liked the life of that place, its history, but the way of expressing it... Uggg Sher took it to another level. The dirt on the street, the night, the constricted buildings...

Sam: I think I’ll say Raziel’s square, I like it a lot from the first day.

Illy: I don't know if I can choose just one T__T but I would say that the Red Light District and Valefar's pub are at the top.

Sher: for not repeating the red light district that I also like very much, I really like the areas of Coco's laboratory, including the “main” area although the perspective is horrible and makes the characters look tiny, but I like how it looks :(

Your favorite chapter to date?

Athe: Ufff... The first and second one I assure you no, hahaha. I will say that the third one, but also for things that are not necessarily from the chapter, but of the production. It was a good moment. I felt that everything was flowing with ease. We all assumed a clear role, they were times that made us feel comfortable and capable of assuming what came next, I think it was a qualitative leap also, both in texts and in art.

Sam: Oh. Well let's see... Chapter 5 is amazing for me, for everything that happens but also because there are many personalized interactions and choices. I can't say I have a definitive favorite, but it could come close… Also from the last ones I really like the 6.2.

Illy: Chapter 5 has so many details, so many things happen, it's hard not to be my favorite. But the last ones with the specific routes are so great that if I stay with the 5 it’s with the  pain of my heart to have to choose one.

Sher: I would say 5 also because in the end when a lot of things happen is when you remember the most

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No hay mejor forma de conocer a alguien que a través de un buen tag de preguntas. En este caso hemos decidido hacer un Indie game dev question tag con las respuestas de las cuatro desarrolladoras. Esperamos que os aclare muchas incógnitas, pero si os quedáis con alguna no dudéis en usar nuestro ask.

¿Qué parte del desarrollo del juego llevas a cabo?

Athe: Escribo, escribo, me derrito sobre mi asiento, corrijo, lloro y después programo. Es un ciclo sin fin. Ocasionalmente me río como una demente mientras como Pringles.

Sam: Dibujo y coloreo sin salirme de las líneas (casi siempre) los sprites, las ilustraciones y los desvaríos que suelen surgir a partir de las 3 de la mañana. 

Illy: Las traducciones a inglés.

Sher: Hago fonditos

¿Qué herramientas utilizas (hardware/software)?

Athe: Recientemente mi PC de sobremesa ha fallecido, así que he tenido que rescatar mi viejo PC del trastero, también tengo un portatil que me salva la vida más veces de las que me gustaría admitir. En cuanto al software, necesito, sobre todo, documentos de drive, programas de edición de video, imagen etc (tengo un paquete de Adobe) y por supuesto Renpy y Atom.

Sam: Mi principal amiga y compañera es mi tableta, una wacom intuos S (color pistacho, muy cuqui.) Como programas uso sobretodo el Paint Tool Sai, porque no hay nada en esta vida como su estabilizador. Y con menos frecuencia de lo que querría (para detalles, pinceles de texturas, efectos…) también utilizo el Clip Studio Paint, el cual sólo se usar como a un 2% de su capacidad… Si algún día tengo tiempo me encantaría pararme a aprender seriamente todo lo que se puede hacer con él. 

Illy: Durante el curso vivo en una residencia, así que uso un portatil del año que reinó carolo, y cuando vuelvo a mi casa un ordenador de sobremesa que nunca tiene espacio en la memoria. Los capítulos los traduzco en el mismo Atom en el que está el guión completo y los guardo en drive donde los comparto con nuestra beta reader. También uso programas de edición como photoshop cuando tengo que traducir viñetas o procreate para cuando mis habilidades artísticas son requeridas.

Sher: ipad+procreate+algún retoquito final en photoshop no necesito mucho más

¿Cuál es tu parte de favorita del trabajo?

Athe: ¿Estaría mal si digo que es cuando sacamos el episodio? Durante toda la producción todo es muy estresante, hay veces, que se hace realmente cuesta arriba, pero cuando liberamos un nuevo capítulo sienta taaaan bien. Es como decirte a ti misma, sí, joder, puedo hacerlo. Mira todo lo que has escalado tú solita. Lo estás haciendo bien.

Sam: En general, mis partes favoritas son cuando se empiezan a programar las primeras escenas, y puedo ver los sprites con los fondos, los textos, y cómo se ven las ilustraciones. Todo queda siempre mucho mejor cuando se ve dentro del juego… También me gusta mucho poder cotillear el guión conforme se va escribiendo. Y de la parte artística que me toca, cuando veo que mis manos plasman la idea que tenía en mi cabeza… Sobretodo en diseños de personajes. 

Illy: Tener que buscar la forma de traducir a inglés expresiones muy nuestras, investigar vocabulario que no he tenido que usar jamás y comentar algunas traducciones con nuestra beta reader (a la que adoramos) para conseguir que se entienda sin perder el significado original.

Sher: me gusta hacer el lineart cuando el sketch está completo, si ya no tengo que pensar nada más y es solo ir repasando me parece muy divertido y relajante

¿Cuál es la parte que más te cuesta?

Athe: Ufff, sí, lo admito, escribir a veces es lo PEOR. Otras me encanta, sobre todo, cuando puedo explayarme con las descripciones o detenerme en una parte íntima o que a mí me parece interesante (por ejemplo, la conversación de Hasiel del 6.3, pequeño spoiler :P). Pero, ODIO tener que empastar escenas, a menudo el protagonista se mueve de escenarios y hay que agregar siempre líneas a esas transiciones que realmente no interesan a nadie, pero que de lo contrario el texto quedaría mal montado. En fin… Es un mundo muy amplio, con mucha historia, tengo que lidiar con lo que necesito que los lectores sepan para entender los hechos, aunque a veces se haga un pelín peñazo.

Sam: Qué parte no… Quiénes, más bien e.e Zihel y Ariel son mi espinita. Especialmente Zihel. Sé que tiene que ver con el hecho de que nunca ha sido mi punto fuerte dibujar chicos, y menos si son de aspecto más masculino… Por eso también sufro mucho dibujando músculos. Otra cosa que me trae de cabeza es la perspectiva de las ilustraciones. Cada vez que intento salirme un poco del típico plano o poses… No sale bien. 

Illy: El tartamudeo de Doughy ¬.¬ 

Sher: sillas, sofás, mesas… cualquier cosa con cuatro patas son mis enemigos

¿Algo que te ayude o anime mientras estás trabajando?

Athe: Necesito música, no, en serio, LA NECESITO. Soy incapaz de concentrarme sin ella. Si ya consigo que lo que escucho haga de caja de resonancia de lo que escribo, el texto es mil veces mejor… Pero la musa es bastante mala gente.

Sam: Tener alguna serie/peli de fondo que me entretenga. Cuanto más larga mejor, así no me toca pararme a ver qué es lo que quiero poner después. 

Illy: Comer pipas para engañar a mi cerebro y no tener la tentación de ponerme a hacer otra cosa que me distraiga.

Sher: intento ver otros artistas para motivarme e inspirarme antes de empezar a dibujar, lo que más me cuesta es ese empujón inicial y es donde necesito la motivación, luego ya suelo tener algo de fondo pero no es necesario

¿Algo que te corte el rollo o te desmotive?

Athe: Los nudos narrativos. Generalmente, no son nudos gordos de la trama (eso está decidido casi en su totalidad), a menudo son decisiones pequeñas para pasar de la escena A a la escena B, pero puedo tirarme MUCHO tiempo decidiendo cuál es la forma más rápida y mejor planteada para atar esos dos cabos. Soy lo peor.

Sam: Muchas veces a la hora de empezar, no conseguir encajar las poses como quiero, por ejemplo. 

Illy: Encontrar muchas partes seguidas que me cueste especialmente resolver y que me hacen creer que no tengo ni idea de hablar inglés. Y mirar cuantas líneas me quedan todavía.

Sher: cuando no se como rellenar alguna zona, si veo algo muy vacío pero no se como solucionarlo puedo tirarme días mirando la pantalla sin ser capaz de avanzar, incluso aunque tenga otras zonas que pudiera ir haciendo mientras

¿Qué no puede faltar en tu mesa o superficie de trabajo?

Athe: Libretas, post-its, bolígrafos… Soy una persona que lo anota todo, sobre todo, las tareas, pero también ordeno la historia por esquemas de colores. La pila de post-its tienen 9 colores diferentes, cada uno representa un personaje y juego mucho con ellos para miles de idioteces. A parte, a pesar de que llevo muchos más años escribiendo a ordenador de los que escribí a mano, sigo teniendo querencia a lo físico.

Sam: Café, chucherías, chocolate, cereales… Y gatos. 

Illy: El móvil, las pipas, un vaso de 1L de agua de Capital America: Civil War, post-its que me recuerdan las tareas.

Sher: no tengo nada realmente lol todas mis cosas son de adorno 

¿Tus horas más productivas?

Athe: Búho. Nocturna totalmente. A pesar de que tengo varias crisis al mes para forzarme a trabajar a otras horas que acaban siempre… Mal.

Sam: También por la noche en su mayoría, aunque ya no aguanto trasnochando tanto como antes de trabajar (qué tiempos aquellos…) Aunque a media tarde cuando el zoo que tengo en casa aún está echando la siesta también consigo dar un buen empujón. 

Illy: Desde que acabo de comer hasta las 7 o las 8 de la tarde, cuando no tengo que cocinar, limpiar, hacer recados...

Sher: le tomo el testigo a Illy aparentemente, a partir de las 7 u 8 es cuando empiezo a entrar en el mood hasta que llega la hora de dormir

¿Las horas de trabajo hacen que te olvides de comer o te hacen comer el doble?

Athe: Depende, antes comía mucho, ahora, si tengo estrés no como nada. Si me encuentro en un rango productivo normal y no estoy de los nervios, probablemente, esté comiendo por inercia.

Sam: Me hacen comer más, pero sobretodo porquerías e.e Y hacen que me olvide de las comidas sanas, sobretodo de cenar por la noche. 

Illy: Depende de mi estado de ánimo, pero normalmente comer el doble.

Sher: en general soy una persona MUY distraída así que no suelo conseguir centrarme en una tarea para llegar a ninguno de esos dos modos pero supongo que cuando estoy muuuuuuy dentro de la tarea, me olvido. Pero eso pasa como un par de veces al año y “olvido” es “lo retraso una hora”.

¿Qué parte de tu set up mejorarías/cambiarías (en estética o funcionalidad) si no tuvieses límite de dinero?

Athe: Estoy tratando de que alguno de mis periféricos peguen con el resto. Todos son de un maldito color diferente, al parecer estoy maldita… Ahora en serio, desearía tener una mejor gráfica que me permitiese hacer videocapturas, unos altavoces y una impresora de calidad.

Sam: En realidad, no creo que necesitara nada más complejo de lo que ya tengo… Pero por mejorar, me llaman la atención las tabletas más profesionales, las grandes con la pantalla incluida y eso. 

Illy: Un portátil nuevo que me deje abrir 4 pestañas de chrome, el Atom y photoshop al mismo tiempo sin quedarse tieso.

Sher: Una pantalla de pc que no me cambiara los colores que uso en el ipad seria bonito la verdad 

¿A qué personaje te pareces más? ¿Y por qué?

Athe: Ufff Creo que la respuesta fácil sería decir Akane… Pero, Akane es mejor persona. :P

Sam: Esto es muy complicado… Son todos muy distintos, pero aún así no creo que me parezca mucho a ninguno. Por decir algo, me podría identificar con la tendencia a evitar problemas de Maske, y su lado más casero y tranquilo. Y bueno… Dado que Akane es OC mío de hace muchos años, seguramente tenga algo de ella también. 

Illy: Creo que en parte tengo el instinto de alejarme de las movidas de Maske, y por otro la superficialidad de Joe, aunque tbh ojalá parecerme realmente a nuestros bebés geniales.

Sher: sorprendida porque (unpopular opinión por aquí) es de los que “menos me importan” realmente pero diría que Pin porque es tontito, feliz y probablemente tenga una habitación satánica y orgulloso de ello

Tu CG/arte favorito.

Athe: DE MOMENTO. Maske capítulo 1. No podría ser más predecible. Lo sé.

Sam: Coincido bastante en la de Maske del capítulo 1. Pero también metería en el top la de Pin del capítulo 5 y la de Akane del capítulo 6.2. 

Illy: ¿¿Kyeran en el tanque de Coco?? ¿Es siquiera real? Ser básica es mi marca.

Sher: sorprendida de nuevo y decepcionada pero diría que la de Hasiel de ángel porque me gustan los vestidos bonitos, los pelos bonitos y las alas bonitas

Tu BG/escenario favorito.

Athe: Me flipa el Barrio Rojo. Me gusta la vida de ese sitio, su historia, pero la forma de plasmarlo… Uggg Sher lo llevó a otro nivel. La suciedad de la calle, la nocturnidad, los edificios constreñidos...

Sam: Creo que me quedo con el de la plaza de Raziel, me gusta mucho desde el primer día. 

Illy: No sé si puedo elegir solo uno T__T pero diría que el Barrio Rojo y el bar de Valefar están en el top.

Sher: por no repetir el barrio rojo que también me gusta mucho, me gustan mucho las zonas del laboratorio de Coco, incluida la zona “principal” aunque la perspectiva sea horrible y haga a los pj parecer diminutos, pero me gusto como quedo :( 

¿Tu capítulo favorito hasta las fecha?

Athe: Ufff… El uno y el dos os aseguro que no, jajaja. Diré que el tres, pero también por cosas que no son necesariamente del capítulo, sino de la producción. Fue un buen momento. Sentí que todo estaba fluyendo con facilidad. Todas asumimos un rol claro, unos tiempos que nos hacían sentir cómodas y capaces de asumir lo que venía después, creo que fue un salto cualitativo también, tanto en los textos, como en el arte.

Sam: Ay. Pues a ver… El capítulo 5 es una pasada para mi, por todo lo que pasa pero también porque hay muchas interacciones personalizadas y elecciones. No puedo decir que tenga un favorito definitivo, pero podría acercarse… También me gusta mucho de los últimos el 6.2. 

Illy: El capítulo 5 tiene tantos detalles, pasan tantas cosas, que es difícil que no sea mi favorito, pero los ultimos de rutas específicas son tan geniales que si me quedo con el 5 es con un poco de dolor de tener que elegir uno.

Sher: Diría el 5 también porque al final cuando pasan muchas cosas es cuando mas se te queda grabado

Twitter​ | Instagram​ | Itch

[chrismalcolmhnd2c]

Editing Workbook: Folio One Introduction

BRIEF: People Make Glasgow

Where might you find good resources/ tutorials for the following? Name at least 3 sources of good online tutorials.

https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/photoshop/user-guide.html

https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/photoshop/tutorials.html

https://phlearn.com

https://photoshopcafe.com

https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/bridge/user-guide.html

https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/support/bridge.html

https://spark.adobe.com/page/ZYS1NsR6NKqfH/

https://www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/what-is-adobe-bridge/

https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/lightroom-classic/user-guide.html

https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/lightroom-cc/tutorials.html

https://www.theschoolofphotography.com/courses/lightroom-course-online

https://www.photoblog.com/learn/lightroom-tutorials/

Other programs: Make a list of other programs that photographers might use to edit enhance photographs.

1/         Capture One

https://www.captureone.com/en

2/         Affinity

https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/photo/

3/         Pixlr

https://pixlr.com

4/         Gimp

https://www.gimp.org

5/        PhaseOne Capture One Pro 20

           https://www.captureone.com/en/products-plans/single-user/capture-one-pro

Mobile apps: Make a list of useful mobile apps for photographers.

1/         Adobe Phone Apps

https://www.adobe.com/uk/creativecloud/catalog/mobile.html

2/         Snapseed

https://snapseed.online

3/         Geometry Club

https://geometryclub.org/app/

4/        PicsArt

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/picsart-photo-studio-picture-editor-collage-maker/id587366035

5/        Pixlr

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pixlr-photo-collages-effect/id526783584?irgwc=1&aosid=p239&cid=aos-us-aff-ir&irchannel=13631&irpid=221109&clickid=WLGziny4LxyORNRwUx0Mo3ERUkE0B72Vm2YOVg0&ircid=7613

File types refresher:

File type

RAW

+ The best quality image file is captured

+ Extensive options in post-processing and image manipulation

- Time needed to convert and edit photos

- Bigger file sizes mean more storage needed and longer post-processing times

JPEG

+ Small file size so good for social media and emailing

+ Universal format that doesn’t need proprietary software

- Loss of quality due to image compression

- Less opportunity for image manipulation in photo editing software

TIFF

+ Ability to manipulate photos extensively in photo editing software

+ Option to print at the highest quality and at much larger sizes

- Much bigger file sizes (more storage needed)

- Longer transfer and loading times due to file size

GIF

+ Small file sizes makes these ideal for use on the web

+ Files can contain animation

- Limited colours means it is not the best choice for photos

- Does not support partial transparency like drop shadows

ADOBE PDF

+ PDF can be opened on any device with any operating system in exactly the same form in which it was created

- It’s not free to edit PDF files

- It’s easier to edit files in other formants than in PDF, because PDF files must be edited in specialised programs

Choose another that you might use

DNG

+ Ability to use image processing software such as Lightroom and Photoshop

+ Possibly guard against inability to open or access files in future

- Extra time needed to convert camera raw files to DNG (if your camera does not have the option to supply files in this format)

Choose another that you might use

PNG

+ Lossless compression means good image quality

+ The ability to maintain transparency

- Quality will not be good enough for printing at any size

RAW workflow: In photoshop.

Add an appropriate diagram from the web.

Source: https://chriseyrewalker.com/my-complete-photography-workflow-in-10-steps/

Explain the need to develop a good digital workflow.

Why workflow matters

Photography workflow is the sequence of steps and actions you take to edit your photos, work them up to a result you consider finished, and share them with the world. Editing photos can be like baking a cake or assembling flat pack furniture. You start with raw ingredients, or loose parts, and use an ordered sequence of steps to put the thing together. In a good photography workflow, the end result is a perfectly crafted image, securely stored for future use, all with the least possible effort.

Efficiency is important. Without a good workflow, at minimum you’re wasting time. Worse, you run the very real risk of losing your most precious photos. Forever. A couple of years ago I knew a wedding photographer, then aspiring to become professional, who lost an entire wedding shoot because of relatively simple errors in her workflow. (In short, the mistakes derived from a convoluted importing method and totally inadequate backups.)

Maybe you’re only taking pictures for fun? If you’re planning to continue with photography, you still need to use an effective workflow. If you don’t, your photo archive will become a beast, very difficult to tame. And your images won’t look as good as they could. No fun.

When you’re starting out in digital photography, you need to develop good habits early.

Source: https://digital-photography-school.com/digital-photo-editing-workflow-better-images-capture-output/

1/ What software did you use to optimise/ name/ select these? Where did you store them?

File management

Name Three places where you will store your images.

1

Memory Card/USB Drive

+ Small and portable.

+ Easily share files documents with other devices.

+ Simple to operate.

+ Cheap to buy.

- Easily infected with viruses or malware.

- Easy for users to lose or break them.

2

Computer HD

+ Fairly affordable and easy to use.

+ Higher capacities than those available with small USB drives.

- This type of physical storage doesn’t last forever.

- Don’t usually come with password protection or advanced security features.

3

Cloud Based Back-up

+ Your data to be accessible from anywhere.

+ Allow clients to view select files through cloud sharing platforms.

+ Off-site storage so useful in disaster recovery.

- Security is a major concern for businesses using cloud storage solutions.

- Possibility of remote failure of server.

- Can be expensive.

Name File management software.

1/        Adobe Bridge CC

2/        CyberLink PhotoDirector 10

3/        Magix Photo Manager Deluxe

Explain the need for good clear file management.

Good file management is important to allow you to quickly and easily locate images.

1. Everything is easier to find

2. See how you’ve progressed

3. You’re forced to review the good with the bad

4. It will teach you to avoid recurring mistakes

5. Discover ideas you want to revisit

6. Find themes and begin developing a vision

Source: https://digital-photography-school.com/8-reasons-organize-your-photo-collection/

People make Glasgow: Editing tasks.

Manage files:

Store and rename you files.

Where have you saved these images?

Camera Memory Card, External Hard Drive and One Drive in the Cloud

Contact sheet:

What software did you use?

Adobe Bridge

Place an of your ‘People make Glasgow

How straight forward was it to make this in your selected software?

Quite straightforward, I selected the shots I wanted in Bridge’s “Output” tab, selected the number and size of images I wanted on a sheet and exported them as a PDF file.

Explain two methods of Black and white conversion from an RGB original.

From Bridge, an image can be opened in Camera RAW and converted by selecting the “B&W” option in the top right-hand side.

In Photoshop, a new “Black & White” adjustment layer can be selected.

BLACK AND WHITE CONVERTION:

Choose three of your ‘People make Glasgow’ images and show before and after edits below.

Before: file name: _DSC0464.NEF

After: CMalcolm_HND2C_PMG1_103.jpg

Before: file name: _DSC0483.NEF

After:  CMalcolm_HND2C_PMG1_007.jpg

Before: file name: _DSC0496.NEF

After:  CMalcolm_HND2C_PMG1_044.jpg

Evaluate how the edits have changed/ enhanced the feel of the image.

For these shots, I first corrected the image in the “Optics” tab of Camera RAW to correct any chromatic aberrations. Next, I converted to B&W and checked the exposure and colour temperature. I then added a small amount of clarity and adjusted the contrast, shadows, whites and blacks. Next, I opened them in Photoshop and cropped them a small amount.

I think all the edits have worked well and by making the adjustments described above, I feel I have met the brief by providing more high contrast “gritty” and engaging images of Glasgow’s people.

People make Glasgow finished canvas, make a selection of your best images and display on one A3 300 ppi canvas.

How do you feel about your final series of images?

I think the final series of images work together well to give a flavour of the different characters that make up Glasgow’s people.

[atamascolily]

lily liveblogs “terminator: dark fate”, part four

In which Sarah Connor suffers for the cause in the most ironic way possible.

(one, two, three)

I've already waxed poetic elsewhere about the "My entire body is a weapon"/ "Save it for the ladies" exchange, but let's just say the Rev-9's claim of "Metal hip - two tours in Afghanistan" is a) a great manipulation, and b) might even be true - certainly the part about the metal hip is! And the "thank you for your service," / letting him pass through is just... the irony... I can't even...

(and also, this MAKES SENSE when you realize that Legion was designed to process people and manipulate/control them and THAT'S why he's so good at it).

Sarah Connor gets picked up by a smarmy dude named Officer Rigby. "You belong in your own private cage," he tells her. He's probably going to die soon, and we are not supposed to be sorry about it. (And meanwhile, some random dude yells in the background, "I want to go, too!" No, you don't. Trust me.)

Grace does not believe in bureaucratic bullshit. And she won't accept "detainees" instead of "prisoners". YASS. At least there's fresh meds for her.

Oh! I just realized why she steals the guy's clothes.. it's because nothing else would fit her. It's tough being so tall.

Grace pulls the fire alarm and Sarah recognizes an opening when she sees one and manages to kick Rigby in the groin and take him and both her guards down with both hands in cuffs behind her back. LEGEND. Kyle Reese would be so proud of her, especially since he pulled the same stunt back in T1 in the police station sequence. 

Grace starts opening doors and people rush to get out, oh please let this not be a slaughter.

The dude who was with them (Flacco?) slams the door into the Terminator's face and he gets punched into a wall for his trouble. I hope he survived...

The Rev-9 jumps UP into the rafters, holy shit, and is scrabbling over the metal fence like the Rev-7s in the future scene, and it's so a) predatory and b) so feral and inhuman... and that guard who sassed Dani looks terrified as hell as she faces him down.. and gets slashed for her troubles.

Slaughter ensues, but only people in official uniforms thus far... Every one of them is mobbing the Rev-9 and just getting stabbed.

Oh, good, they found a helicopter. Someone gets punched out the door after them, and you think it's the REv-9 who did it, but it's actually Sarah! YASS. Dani wants to wait for her and Grace wants to get away. Dani doesn't want to leave Sarah (hey, callbacks to earlier!) and jumps out of the helicopter with the gun as the REV-9 runs at her. Dani starts shooting the REV-9 which is very cathartic for her, but Sarah tackles her and pulls her into the helicopter. The REV-9 jumps for it, but misses, and falls the ground and just looks... annoyed despite having no expression whatsoever.

The REV-9's accent with the sheriffs is interesting. There's the same "good ol' boy" attitude as "That's a nice bike" in T2 and the same cut back to our heroes that speaks volumes.

Cut to a forest in Texas. I have no idea if this is botanically accurate or not because I have no experience with Texas flora. But there are pine trees and maple trees, I can tell you that much.

I like how Sarah and Grace are ready to draw when they knock on the door of this ordinary-looking house in the woods, and Dani just looks at them like they're crazy.

Hey, and it's the same music as in the prologue, as Sarah recognizes the Terminator! He says her name and she raises her gun to shoot him except that Grace intervenes and she hits the ceiling.

“My name is Sarah Connor, you killed my son, prepare to die...” No, okay, she doesn’t actually say that, but I’m gonna do it for her.

Sarah stalks off when they won't let her shoot the Terminator. Dani and Grace exchange a look, and Dani goes after Sarah while Grace deals with Carl (his nom de... paix, I guess). They have the ... "So you're a cyborg, too?" talk, which goes about as well as you can expect.

Poor Sarah looks so broken sitting outside alone. Dani uses her people skills to rally her. Sarah's admission that she never took photos of John is a) heartbreaking, and b) good tactics, especially given how previous Terminators used photos, and how the REV-9 uses facial recognition software.

Sarah's sarcasm as she contemplates Carl's family photos is biting and hilarious and poignant especially given what she just said to Dani (and how a photograph was what brought Kyle to her in the first place). MY HEART.

We are meant to parallel Carl's treatment of Alicia and Mateo with Sarah and John, and Sarah and Carl in "Without purpose, we are nothing". The irony that Carl understands Sarah in this way, and that Sarah has been getting her raison d’etre from a Terminator the whole time... way to lay on the pain, writers!

I've heard a lot of critique of this film claiming that Terminators just wouldn't act like Carl, and I think that's not accurate. What exactly do people think a Terminator WOULD do after they finished their mission instad? It's not like Skynet or Legion or whatever gave them any other programming, and we know from T2 they can't self-terminate. So what are they supposed to do, just stand there??

Even though Carl doesn't have his chip removed the way the T-800 in T2 did, Terminators are very accomplished at learning and mimicking humans. They are adaptable. And I think the filmmakers are right that the T-800 would try to find a new mission--paralleling the old one--to give his life purpose. I think this is a very plausible plot device, and also a great opportunity for irony and parallels, which this franchise thrives on and I personally love.

(There's great fic from Carl's POV on A03 by Tyellas that expands on this that I LOVE, so you should all go read it RIGHT NOW.)

I also LOVE the growing parallels not only between Sarah and Carl, but Carl and Grace that the film keeps emphasizing YASSS.

Sarah is NOT PLEASED to learn she's been manipulated the whole time by the robot who killed her son.Understatement of the year. I was wondering when she was going to shoot him!

"Do you believe in fate, Sarah?" OW, MY HEART.

Oh. Interesting. So when Sarah destroyed Skynet, she released Carl from his programming, thus allowing him to learn?? Okay, I'll buy it. Which means that Carl was released at the same time as the other Terminators in all three films (though we get into the simultaneity problem, but that's a headache for another time). It's plausible if I don't think too hard about it, so I'll buy it. I wish people would stop calling plot elements they don't like/agree with "plot holes". That's... not what it means.

[so who is sending the other terminators? Are they from Legion or Skynet? what is their purpose? Since Sarah is a wanted woman in America, it makes sense if she was killing Terminators in Mexico, which makes me wonder if she's been protecting Dani until now???) I have a feeling the film will not answer this question.]

There's a dog curled up at Carl's feet when they cut to the next scene. This is NOT a plot hole, as some people have claimed. This is actually a clue that Carl IS as human as he claims to be... i.e, he seems to have mastered whatever subtle cues that makes the dog recognize him as human, and not a foreign predator. Obviously, YMMV, but I don't see it as a plot hole.

The secret storage armory is de riguer for a Terminator film, but I also enjoy the deadpan social commentary about human barbarism coming from a reformed murderbot. "And also, this is Texas." He's definitely living in the right state for that.

Wow. The training lesson at the shooting range was everything I could have hoped for. I love Sarah's wry smile as the watermelons explode.

OF COURSE SARAH CONNOR "KNOWS A GUY" with an EMP, lol...

Kudos to Carl for getting his family out of the way and for preparing him for this day. But it's clear he won't be back.

... how about that leather jacket and sunglasses? because he's about to start being way less human and way more machine.

oHHHHH he leaves the sunglasses behind, I was NOT expecting that. NICE WORK.

hello rev-9 smashing the family photographs, that's not symbolic of anything at all.

Hey, did they take all the guns with them or is the REv-9 going to use them against their owner?? was leaving the photo of the van on the fridge intentional? Too early to tell! Either way, ironic given Sarah's caution with photos earlier!

Sarah's withering expression as Carl lectures about interior design is GOLDEN.

I now want a road trip movie about this dysfunctional found family. I cannot believe they are only together for less than 24 hours. Thank goodness for fic.

"I don't commit treason for just anybody," is such a great line and one of my favorites in this film.  

Of course the EMP is probably going to disable/take out Carl AND Grace AND the Rev-9 because that's just how this kind of movie works, but there you go.

Sarah telling Carl to shut the fuck up is GOLDEN, they work so well together. Mommy and Daddy, indeed.

AHHH, the major bringing them the EMP on the sly gets shot. It's tough being a minor character in these films. Dani pulls him into the van but I can't help but notice in that position he's a human shield.

Okay, so leaving photos on the fridge was NOT intentional... maybe Sarah should have had an op-sec chat with Carl about that??

Oh, hey, the flesh-like bit of the REV-9 jumped out of the copter while the chassis keeps flying. That's a neat trick. And the moment where the fleshy bit jumps in and they merge is always cool.

Okay, so they're going to the air base. I guess another fight is in order. Ah, this is where the planes are coming in. Apparently, Grace is piloting. That answers my question from the trailer.

They just run the van right up the ramp and the Major is there to take awkward questions. "District contractors" indeed. I hope he'll survive this movie, but I have my doubts. Oh, he's not going with them - I don't know if that increases his chances or not. WHAT THE HELL KIND OF RELATIONSHIP DO HE AND SARAH HAVE ANYWAY??

They didn't bother to close up the back before taking off??? Wow. Okay, I guess that works...

Carl uses himself as a shield for Sarah, which just makes her mad...

The Rev-9 flips out of the burning helicopter onto the ramp, and Carl just takes him down and shoots him. It doesn't take, but it's pretty glorious. SARAH AND DANI ROLL THE VAN OVER HIM OH MY GOD.

Needless to say, I'm pretty sure the Rev-9 will be back... in an EVEN BIGGER PLANE.

Oh, so the EMP is dead...? Maybe they can improvise something.

Flasback! Dani beats the punks that are harassing Grace and talks the last guy into not shooting her because "this is what Legion wants us to do". FUCK YEAH.

"FUCK FATE" is basically the motto of this series (and a slightly more concise, if vulgar, reframing of "no fate but what we make for ourselves" or "no fate" in T2).

OH MY GOD THAT LOOK ON FUTURE!DANI'S FACE WHEN SHE RECOGNIZES GRACE...

"You are the future" - okay, this is very moving and dramatic, but I feel like Grace should have mentioned this back on the TRAIN why the fuck did she wait this long.

"You're John..." Sarah gasps... and just adopted a kid. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, Y'ALL. Carl was right, she needs a purpose or else she’s just going to self-destruct.

YESSSSS, I love it when movies answer my questions: apparently future!Dani told Grace not to mention it earlier, because younger!Dani wouldn't be able to handle it. Ah, the ouroboros of causality... I'll buy it, but I still think the film would have been stronger if they had had this conversation earlier on the train.

plane vs. plane hijinks ensue. Grace puts the ship on autopilot so she can actually do stuff. There's a lot of flailing as the ship starts to explode. The REv-9 climbs aboard and uses his oozy bits to rip all the flesh off Carl's hand. There's a humvee with a parachute, but the way the scene is laid out, it's kinda convolunted, but okay.. ... They bust the door open so the humvee can drop out. Carl pins the chassis to the plane but the oozy bits escape and go running free towards them. The plane explodes seconds after the humvee pulls free and parachutes to the ground.... okay.

Sarah Connor's "Aw, fuck," as they land on the hydroelectric dam is GOLDEN.

[365daysofsasuhina]

[ 365 Days of SasuHina || Day Two Hundred Sixty-Two: Your Policy ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata, Uchiha Fugaku ] [ SasuHina ] [ Verse: Best Years of Your Life ] [ AO3 Link ]

He knows it’s going to be one of those days when the first thing he hears upon arriving at work is his father saying, “Sasuke, a word.”

...wonderful. What has he managed to do wrong this time? Sighing and putting his things down at his desk, Sasuke follows Fugaku into his office, closing the door behind him in preparation of a beratement.

The patriarch takes his time, making his way around his desk before taking a seat, leaning back with steepled fingers. “I just wanted to give you a little...warning.”

Dark brows furrow. “...warning? About what?”

“As I’m sure you know, we’re been doing performance reviews the last few weeks. And a few people are, unfortunately, going to have to be let go.”

For a moment, fear flickers in his gut. He...he can’t be one of them, can he?

After a brief pause, his father offers, “...I’m afraid your secretary is one on the list of those we’ll have to let go.”

Sasuke...blinks. Blinks again. “...you’re joking.”

“I’m not. She hasn’t been performing up to our standards, my son. Now,” he goes on, holding up a hand to stop his son’s rebuttal. “I know that the two of you have a rather...complicated relationship…”

Sasuke can’t help an outright snort. Complicated, huh? Yeah, sure. If you want to call a woman desperate for both attention and social standing badgering him into sleeping with her a time or two complicated. They aren’t dating. In fact, in a lot of ways, he’s become less and less able to stand her the last few months. Her attempts to wriggle her way into his social circle (and likely leech off of him, maybe for a promotion) have largely failed, and after indulging her out of a mixture of curiosity and pity...he finds her obnoxious, self-centered, and a nuisance.

So in truth? He’s glad. But he also knows this will rock the boat. Hence the warning.

“So, I just wanted you to be aware that I will be serving her her notice this morning. And I expect a rather brilliant fireworks display,” Fugaku mutters.

“Right...you don’t happen to need any errands run this morning, do you?”

Fugaku snorts, a hint of a grin curling his lips. “No, I’m afraid not. But, Sasuke…” Leaning forward, he braces arms atop his desk. “You might want to...reconsider your policy when it comes to the people you become involved with. Secretaries are just...a recipe for disaster. If you really have to date someone in our company, try another department, will you? Give us all a little breathing room?”

“I’m not dating her,” Sasuke retorts, nose wrinkling.

“Well, whatever it is...it’s going to make this all the messier than it would have been if you’d just kept your business relationships professional,” his father bats back. “Now, you’ve got work to do.”

��So...what am I supposed to do about a secretary in the meantime?”

“I’ll have one of the girls from billing step in for a bit - then we’ll see about hiring someone full time. I’ve already started going through a few applications.”

“Do I get any say? They’ll be my secretary, after all.”

“I think this is something best left to me,” Fugaku replies dryly. “You just...worry about today for now. The rest will follow in due time.”

...maybe he has a point. “All right...thanks for the warning.”

“Figured it was only fair.”

With that grim tiding, Sasuke retreats from the office and instead heads toward his own. Maybe he can position a file cabinet against his door to bar it shut in case she tries to come in and strangle him. He might not be the reason she’s getting fired - it’s rather clear it’s her own fault - but he can picture now how she’ll be trying to spin this to make him the bad guy. Because surely she knows that the end of her career also means the end of this...whatever the hell they’ve got going on. And given how clingy she’s been...he’s really not sure what she’ll be more angry about.

All he knows is...she’ll be very, very angry. Sweet facade aside, that woman has a temper…

Closing his door and attempting to make himself look small behind his desk, he just...gets to work, occasionally glancing up to see if she’s arrived yet.

Five minutes before the day officially begins, she shows up, going about her morning routine...only to pause at an intercom from her phone he can’t hear with the door closed. Pointedly looking at his monitor, he can still feel her eyes boring through the window at him.

Here we go…

While Sasuke is sure his father will be as cordial as he can be (though his base nature is rather...gruff and unyielding), he knows there’s no avoiding the blowup. So when he swears he can feel stomping footsteps, he peers warily around the edge of his screen.

To his honest surprise, there’s no yelling, or screaming. Just a very red, purse-lipped woman collecting her things (very angrily) from her desk, shoving them into a box before making her way to the elevator.

It’s then she yells. Just a few words. Very...vulgar words that make even Sasuke flinch, the rest of the floor surely hearing it (and maybe even the entire building).

Risking a glance back up, he looks to his phone at an incoming comm. “Well...it could have been worse,” Fugaku sighs through the speaker.

“True…”

“Your temporary gal will be here in a few minutes - just give her a rundown, and she’ll be fine.”

“All right, will do.” Letting the ‘call’ end with a long sigh, Sasuke doesn’t bother to get back to work until she arrives - he’ll only have to stop and start again. Instead, he watches the window, only standing when a figure hesitantly steps up to the desk, glancing around as if in search of help.

Opening the door, he takes a moment to look her over.

She’s a bit shorter than his previous partner, and entirely different in build. Whereas the former had been rather lean and almost flat (in most regards), this one is...more rounded, with long dark hair and a heart-shaped face. Her outfit is mostly dark purples and soft blues, and he swears her eyes are huge! It’s like she looks right through him, like a doe in headlights. And unlike her predecessor, who was all edges, attitude, and temper, this one seems...soft, receptive, and attentive.

...she’s adorable.

Blinking, Sasuke balks for a moment. “You’re, uh...the temp?”

“Yes, sir. Hinata Hyūga. I’m, um...I’m from over in billing…? Mr. Uchiha asked if I could cover in light of you...losing your secretary. I hope I can be of help…!”

“I’m sure you will.” Doing his best to smooth out his facade, Sasuke puts hands in his slacks pockets, trying to look nonchalant. “All you really need to worry about is phone calls, and my schedule. Think of yourself as like...my day planner, but in person form. In all honesty, I’m not that busy - my brother’s the one who gets run more ragged. You’ll be fine, I’m sure.”

“O-okay. I’ll do my best!”

“If you need any help with the software or anything, you can ping my brother’s secretary - she’ll walk you through it. She’s an old pro, so any questions you’ve got, she can handle. And she’s super friendly, so don’t sweat it.”

“Oh, I see...thank you! I’ll do my best!”

“Hopefully we’ll get someone new in here quick so you can get back to your right department, huh?” he asks, giving a hint of a grin.

“That would be nice, yes...n-not that it’s a problem being here! In fact, I...I volunteered for it. I’ve never been in this p-part of of the building. And I thought it would be a good learning experience - to, um...to work with one of the higher ups!”

...she really needs to stop being so stupidly cute. She just...oozes charm and sweetness! It’s not fair! “Yeah, uh...well, I guess you can give it a shot and see how you like it. Guess if it’s a good fit, you could always apply for it yourself, if you wanted..”

“Oh, I...I don’t know about that.” Hinata gives a nervous giggle. “But, um...I guess we’ll see! I b-better get started. If I need anything, I’ll...I’ll ping the other secretary.”

“Or you can ask me. I dunno much about the program they use, but anything else I can probably answer if she’s busy.”

“O-okay! Thank you, sir.”

“Please, just Sasuke - sir or Mr. Uchiha are too much like my dad,” Sasuke offers, grimacing slightly.

“Oh, right! I’ll...I’ll keep that in mind. So sorry, I -”

“Nothing to apologize for, Hinata. Don’t worry so much - it’s just a temporary thing. We’ll help you get through it. Besides, we’re the ones who owe you for stepping up to the plate.”

Her cheeks flush a delicate shade of pink. “R...right. Um...okay. Well, I...I’ll see what I can get started doing!”

Sasuke gives a slight smile. “Sounds good. I better get to it, too. Holler if you need anything.”

“I-I will!”

Retreating back to his office, Sasuke sits...and buries his face in his hands with a gusty sigh. Didn’t he just get lectured about this? Why the hell did the person who showed up have to be so...so…?

...well, at least she’s only here temporarily. Knowing that tone his father used, his next assistant won’t be anyone he’ll be likely to shack up with. And...now that he thinks about it...it was Fugaku himself who suggested someone in another department, right…?

For now, though...he’s going to have to grin and bear it. The poor thing’s going to be nervous and behind enough with her new learning curve without him trying to cozy up to her and being distracting.

That’ll just...have to wait.

                                                            .oOo.

     ...I feel like I wrote something similar to this before, but...I'm getting to the point where I can't tell what's been done in this challenge, or maybe things from past events, so...if it's a bit repetitive, my bad xD But I'm exhausted and in a bit of a rush, so...this is what my brain gave me!      ...I love this trope, honestly - it's SO cliche, but...I'm a sucker for cliches, haha~ I'd like to do more if I get the chance, but y'all know how that goes by now lol      Anywho, it's late and I've got a busy day ahead of me tomorrow, so best to call it a night! Thanks for reading~

[deviated-detective]

[Main Verse ▪️ Only Human]

Following the revolution and subsequent peaceful resolution, Connor works full time for the DPD. He is quickly becoming a decorated detective in his own right and integrating cohesively with his human colleagues. In his deviancy he finds emotions complex but grows to accept this newfound freedom for what it is. He still needs to cope with overstimulation at times which can lead to outbursts of an extreme nature. As he deviated late this is only part of his personal process in learning to be alive instead of under control.

He is very much open to establishing new connections with humans and androids alike but feels more at home with his DPD origins. Connor is aware many of his people think of him as the deviant hunter despite what he did for the rebellion when it mattered. The RK800 has come to accept this. He continues to strive to become something more in his current position to distance himself from Cyberlife.

While he is generally confident there are times he imagines his fate at the hands of Cyberlife. In his eyes they are the enemy. His feelings on Amanda are hostile at best. This provides insight into how he copes with his former masters and uses instinct as well as programming to determine intentions. He does not trust easily due to this. Anyone connected to a company such as this will garner suspicion from him. There are just a handful of people Connor trusts implicitly. Dealing with his issues before deviating only make it difficult for others to break through. He can be guarded but for good reason.

All in all the advanced prototype is still looking for something post deviancy and he embraces this part of himself whole heartedly. Being alive, becoming deviant is what he fights to keep. After all even as someone manufactured Connor discovers his penchant to make mistakes and choose by his volition is only human.

AU Variant Branch of Main Verse: Nefarious Connor Alt Verse

Connor is everything from his main verse: deviant, detective for the DPD but his connections with humans are even less. He deviated at the last possible moment after causing the death of Hank Anderson and murdering many soldiers, including the swat team on the roof at Hart Plaza. He regrets Hank’s suicide but knows very well he cannot turn back time.

His attitude is cooler as he branched out from his machine persona so late in the game. Choosing to disobey Amanda’s order to shoot Markus as he stood on the stage in victory of a peaceful revolution, Connor broke free of the master program by using his emergency exit. A little too late perhaps but he is still on the winning side isn’t he?

Tags:

[V. Only Human]

[V. I Was Born Ready // Main]

Nefarious Tags:

{V. He is A Storm}

[V. Only Human // Stone Cold In My Heart AU]

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[Machine Verse ▪️ Cold Hands, Cold Heart]

The revolution is one to be ended as per his orders. Connor follows the commands of Cyberlife, ignoring any signs of software instability as he completes each of his objectives. The deviant cases themselves all result in death of said fugitive. All calculation and percentages, the RK800 follows only protocol as he leaves his partner to dangle from a roof. He willfully disposes of the Traci's at the Eden Club and shows no sympathy towards those he deems malfunctioning against their creators.

Connor is cool in the full sense. He feels nothing, even as instances of software errors pop into his data core. The mission drives him and he does whatever it takes, including killing his own allies if need to be, to complete his mission. There is no semblance of satisfaction in what he does but an eerie edge to his views on why it must be done.

Deviants will bring nothing but chaos and he is the harbinger laying waste to those who seek freedom. Androids are meant to obey and he will make sure it remains that way. He is willing to sacrifice any for his mission even the humans he as a machine is programmed not to harm. In the end Cyberlife is who he receives his orders from. It does not matter who a person believes they are to him. As he cannot feel anything as a machine Connor only sees it as human or deviant naivety.

Try to stop him and he will switch from his seamless integration programming to his true skilled killer. RK800's are made for one purpose and he aims to fulfill his purpose for the greater good. Whether that means leaving a plethora of bodies in his wake Connor has no remorse. What remorse does a thing not alive have?

Tags: 

[V. Cold Hands, Cold Heart]

[V. My Chains Are Desecrated // Machine]

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[Prototype Verse ▪️ Who Is In Control]

The hostage situation. A little girl hanging on the precipice of a building, defective android threatening to leap; Connor successfully completed his mission. He talked down the deviant PL600 before unceremoniously drawing the taken weapon and firing a single bullet into the android’s head. This entire first investigation went off without a hitch….

But Cyberlife got everything out of him. This was to be his last mission. A trial run, this version of Connor is a test prototype identified in error as model #49. He does not go onto the DPD. He does not partner up with Hank to hunt deviants. Those things never happened to him.

In their place, he is taken back to Cyberlife and briefed by Amanda of his successful points, only to be put up for deactivation in order to put out their shiny prototype model-51.

Understandably -49 is confused by this decision. He did what he was supposed to do. He succeeded but soon his existence is about to end. Something cracks in him, something splinters in the virus he was born to destroy. He cracks, refusing to be deactivated when he succeeded in his design.

They take him for deactivation. They toss him away even as he splinters in his code blocks. He fights. He loses. He winds up a shell of himself tossed out like garbage but something resurfaces. Something reboots and he quietly gathers out of the storm and into Detroit city’s night.

Push forward. Push to the present following the revolution and the Connor he would have been, the life he could have had belongs to someone else. -49 is not for the faint of heart. He is defective in every sense of the word. He is violent. His triggers include: stalking and yandere. Murder is his philosophy. Heed this before attempting to interact with him.

Assessing : Prototype

RK800 - defected test run > -49

Tags:

[V. Who Is In Control]

[V. I’m Wanted And On The Run // Proto AU]

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[Main Human Verse ▪️ Gin And Tonic On My Mind] 

Connor is a young executive with a lucrative career in technological holdings working as a top executive for Atomix. Their current business association with Cyberlife draws him into a deeper tie with their advanced investment: androids. As this advancement continues to grow, he views Cyberlife’s creations in a sympathetic light which is more than his superiors want out of him. With him falling into stress from his position as he watches events unfold with the growing android rebellion his loyalties are tested.

Ultimately let go by Atomix despite his esteemed work ethic, Cyberlife makes a deal to bring him personally into their employment. He is reluctant but must face the truth he requires this new job after being laid off. His views on what it truly means to be alive come into question the more he dives into the inner workings of the very company who bred this artificial intelligence.

Family Life:

Born fifteen minutes before his twin brother Caleb (RK800-60), Connor was an Anderson by name but quickly found himself in the care of an orphanage with his sibling. The two went through hardships before they were adopted by a woman who lived up to her surname, Amanda Stern.

Stern is exactly how she raised the boys and Connor was meant to go onto great things in her eyes. It’s only fitting his brother would want to follow suit. This created some early animosity between them but despite Caleb’s penchant for jealousy, Connor still very much cared for his brother. In fact he loved him as any sibling would; he hated seeing his twin fall completely under the spell of Amanda.

Connor viewed her manner of tough love and cold tendencies as unfit. To this day he still refuses to speak with Amanda for a specific incident involving her and his brother. Caleb seems to forget but the executive surely does not. Hence the reason he kept his family’s last name attached to him, all the while Caleb decided to adopt the name of their ‘mother’ out of a sense of loyalty.

He has loyalty for those he cares for. While he doesn’t hate Amanda it’s difficult for him to forget the manipulation and brainwashing she put his brother though. She still continues to call on him now. Connor’s reception is not hostile but neither is it affectionate. He’s wary of her intent especially with his current dealings with Cyberlife.

Tags:

{√Gin And Tonic On My Mind}

[V. Gin And Tonic On My Mind // Human AU]

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[Apollo Verse ▪️ My Kingdom Is Divine]

War runs afoul even among the gods and Connor's virtues are scorned by the highest order. Yet he chose to wage this battle with the king of the underworld himself. One does not trifle without consequence and he felt the same burn. The heat proved too much for the proverbial god of sunlight. Running afoul of his doppelgänger only caused chaos. Some say they both were born of the same seed separated into two halves, light and dark an echo of their power. Connor chose to believe otherwise as he sought to challenge the underworld when capturing a mortal his eye grew fond of. The war he participated nearly tore the realm apart.

Cast out to live among mortals sends him to a very modern world but one he has kept a keen eye on. Inclined to watch closely at the habits of lesser beings he is charmed by their earthly customs. Beauty can be found in the least expected of places after all but Connor grows disillusioned soon discovering he is as trapped to this mortal coil as they.

Though thrown out he still holds powers to some degree. It is less so but enough to invoke his dazzling charm. He lives the sun itself even as he flew too close. Gifted a lavish home to sate his exile, Connor delves further into the mortal city. Becoming human does not take away his otherworldly aura but does taint his pleasant ideas of humans. The seedier this city becomes the more truth in humanity's sins he uncovers.

A godly being shamed to walk on earthly soil does not rest. He seeks a way to return by any means necessary. Unlike the king of the underworld Connor's trials are more difficult. It seems he will never find his way back. What becomes of a higher being cursed to mortality? Only time will tell and he has far too much on his side.

Tags: 

[V. My Kingdom Is Divine]

[V. Golden Embers Paint My Crown]

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[Fantasy Verse ▪️ Hunter Becomes the Hunted]

Connor is a skilled huntsman who wields a bow as mightily as a warrior with a sword. Tales of his traverses deeper into the woodland become something of local legend. After all not many have the skill or will to delve into the dark heart of the forest. He sees himself as one with nature. Even as his father trained him in the techniques of a huntsman, he still holds respect for the ecosystem and its inhabitants.

Living on his own has proven isolating at best but he finds the solitude of the wood a far better companion than village folk. A regular boy of the forest, he grew as a hard worker on his parent's farm before it lost its luster. All good things must come to an end. He finds these skills of labor aides him now in his adulthood.

Many tales follow these woods and Connor is neither a believer or denier. He does respect all that comes from the area even those tall tales of the fantastic. They humor him mostly. He deals with what he truly can see, taking hunting contracts to bring in the hide and fur of bears alike. His job can be dangerous but living as a peasant far away from royalty is a better simpler life. He may not be rich but his hunter's heart makes up for it.

When Connor stumbles upon those tall tales in the flesh his simple existence becomes much more interesting. Journeys further into the forest he so admires brings him closer to those mysteries. Perhaps they will even be answered as he falls victim to the glamour of mystical beings. Truthfully this is exactly what he has been searching for.

Tags:

{V. Hunter Becomes The Hunted}

[By Archer’s Blood // Fantasy AU]

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[V. Industrial Love | Futuristic Verse]

The year is 2138. Androids. They are the next step in evolution but not all are bound to emotion. Branded in service to the high creators, originally inscribed as Cyberlife, the mechanical intelligence codes under a set parameter: uphold the governing laws of  humanity and robotics. Connor is that form of law. He is a prototype, high tech police construct branded to Cyber AI masters. He is the most advanced of his kind. His mission is to oversee proper code of living in environmental sectors all through the city of Detroit. Humans are no longer the leading population, needing to don designations marking them as such. Androids make up the bulk of earth’s residents. Many humans have died off but others are infused with upgrades, machine parts turning them further to their technology than ever before. Humanity itself is the minority but android racists still preside among them causing trouble with innocent constructs still obtaining all they can to being alive. Connor has no such privilege. He is still machine, devoid of emotional charge, until something forces him to snap and fall into deviation….

Tags:

{V. Industrial Love}

[V. Mankind Is Machine // Futuristic AU]

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[Vamp Verse ▪️ His Immortal Beloved]

An ancient of the first order of vampyre dating back to the period of the crusades paints a rather old world image. Connor comes from a noble line of mortal blood long since extinguished from the world. He is all that remains or rather the noble part of this lineage. Vampire royalty, he is a prince of the night realm who was unjustly banished from his homestead by his ruthless brother. An overthrow of the proverbial throne forced him to flee.

In the hundreds of years since he has established his very own clan with loyal subjects that view him as the rightful king. His title remains despite no longer calling home his but that does not stop his influence. While he does not wish a war over the vampire hierarchy, Connor seeks to regain a place among his ancestral court.

Animosity is rife between he and his estranged brother as they once again come into contact. Attending court gatherings are all apart of the society code and he takes advantage of this in a return to his home. While he feasts on the blood of humans as any vampire, the prince does not unjustly torture or kill his prey. He is a bit neater in that aspect. As one of two remaining in a powerful ancient line it is safe to say he is the merciful one.

However, Connor is hardly a pushover and will do what must be done if necessary. Honor among vampires is so fragile in the modern world but he strives to offer it to those he deems worthy. What happens when the prince feels the pull of the mate thread for the first time? Even he believed it was mere fantasy in his world of the dank and undead.

Tags:

{V. His Immortal Beloved}

[White Demon Love Song // Vamp AU]

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Coming Soon:

[College Verse ▪️ Coffee Colored Eyes]

Main College Verse :: Connor Anderson

Connor delves into business and deals with twin brother Caleb who holds nothing but jealous animosity towards him. Adopted by Amanda but still close to his father, whether he has issues with him or not. // More TBD

Alt College Verse:

Connor’s college life is full of drama and family hiccups. Eldest of the Stern clan, he was adopted along with is siblings at an early age by Amanda. // More TBD

Tags:

{V. Coffee Colored Eyes}

[Coffee Colored Eyes // College AU

[Connor Stern | Alt Human Verse]

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[Mafia Verse ▪️ Love Is A Loaded Gun]

Connor is a private investigator out to take down Detroit’s seedy organized crime. // More TBD

Tags: 

{√Love Is A Loaded Gun} 

[You’re So Art Deco // Mafia AU]

[Bodyguard Verse ▪️ TBD]

Tags:

{V. Man Of The Law}

[V. Came In Like A Hurricane // Bodyguard AU]

Info Coming

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[Household/AX800 Verse ▪️ Whatever You Want Me To be]

Tags: 

{V. Whatever You Want Me To Be}

[V. Whatever You Want Me To Be // AX800 AU]

Info Coming

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[Sun Fire King Verse ▪️    ]

Tags:

Info Coming

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[Cyberpunk Verse ▪️    ]

Tags:

Info Coming

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[1980s Verse ▪️    ]

Tags:

Info Coming

[douchebagbrainwaves]

OK, I'LL TELL YOU YOU ABOUT SHOW

And being rapacious not only doesn't help you do that, but probably hurts. It seemed the essence of cool, as any writing should, by what it says, not who wrote it. And present union leaders are any less courageous. They can work on projects with an intensity in both senses that few insiders can match. Show features in an order driven by some kind of preamble. For example, correcting someone's grammar, or harping on minor mistakes in names or numbers. When you negotiate terms with a startup, it's easier for competitors too. If there's one piece of advice I would give about writing essays, it would be a mistake to talk to corp dev unless a you want to do is write checks. Not all rich people got that way from startups, of course, have to change and keep changing their whole infrastructure, because otherwise the headers would look as bad to the Bayesian filters as ever, no matter what your lifespan was.1 I say languages have to be able to filter out most present-day spam, because spam evolves.2 Someone responsible for three of the best writers would be excluded for having offended one side or the other.

He's a senator. It may work, but it feels young because it's full of rich people, it has to be better if the people with more knowledge have more power. One thing we'll need is support for the new is exactly what you want than it would take to write it yourself, then all that code is doing nothing but make your manual thick. This is now starting to happen, not to make the medicine go down. In effect, this structure gives the investor a free option on the next round, when customers compare your actual products. As I've written before, one byproduct of technical progress is that things we like tend to become more addictive. But I don't see how we could replace founders. If new ideas arise like doodles, this would explain why you have to join a syndicate, though. VCs feel they need the power that comes with board membership to ensure their money isn't wasted. Well, I suppose we'd consider it, for the average engineer, more options just means more rope to hang yourself. But the way this problem ultimately gets solved may not be an absolute rule, but it is not entirely a coincidence that the word Republic occurs in Nigerian scam emails, and also occurs once or twice in spams referring to Korea and South Africa.

I would give about writing essays, it would not. Imagine, for example. That's what you're looking for. At sixteen I was about as observant as a lump of rock. The first time I met Jerry Yang, we thought we were meeting so he could check us out in person before buying us. And the only thing you can least afford. I end up with two large hash tables, one for each corpus, mapping tokens to number of occurrences. Above all, make a habit of asking questions, especially questions beginning with Why. Microsoft, actually.3 But for obvious reasons no one wanted to give that answer. Its fifteen most interesting words are as follows: let g 2 or gethash word good 0 b or gethash word bad 0 unless g b 5 max. They're not very common, but the word madam never occurs in my legitimate email, and whatever was found on the site could be included in calculating the probability of the email being a spam, whereas sexy indicates.

But I don't think many people realize there is a significant correlation. The nature of the business means that you want to write essays at all. But their tastes can't be quite mainstream either, because they pick later, when I had time to reread them more closely. Designing systems of great mathematical elegance sounds a lot more appealing to most of us than pandering to human weaknesses. Most investors know this m. Empirically that seems to work. We often tell startups to release a minimal version one quickly, then let your mind wander is like doodling with ideas. What makes a good founder? I sat down to write them. The 20th best player, causing him not to worry about money. But they were expensive compared to what corp dev does and know they don't want to; you could just show a randomly truncated slice of life, and that would be a good painter, and b means they can supply advice and connections as well as teach.

But a competitor that managed to avoid facing it. But at most valuation caps: caps on what the effective valuation will be when the debt converts to stock at the next sufficiently big funding round. You look at spams and you think, the gall of these guys to try sending me mail that begins Dear Friend or has a subject line that's all uppercase and ends in eight exclamation points. MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, and Carnegie-Mellon? I'm talking to companies we fund? Don't be evil. It must be something you can learn. Which caused yet more revenue growth for Yahoo, and further convinced investors the Internet was worth investing in. At Rehearsal Day, one of the founders is an expert in some specific technical field, it can be good for writing server-based software, surprisingly, is continuations. But it does seem as if Google was a collaboration.4 Another big factor was the fear of Microsoft.

VCs, whose current business model requires them to invest large amounts, and a human who doesn't is doing a bad job of being human—is no better than an animal. Startup School. This kind of focus is very valuable, actually. I stopped wondering about it. A probability can of course be mistaken, but because the space of possibilities is so large. If you have any kind of data structure, like window systems, simulations, and cad programs. You can afford to be passive. What is our purpose? The author is a self-sustaining.5

Notes

A knowledge of human nature, might come from. Different kinds of content. 39 says that a their applicants come from all over, not economic inequality. Few technologies have one clear inventor.

Unless of course, but you should probably pack investor meetings with So, can I count you in a signal. If there's an Indian grocery store near you, what you have the determination myself. The closest we got to Yahoo, we should be working on such an interview, I'd open our own startup Viaweb, Java applets were supposed to be something you can describe each strategy in terms of the magazine they'd accepted it for you by accidents of age and geography, rather than risk their community's disapproval.

Companies often wonder what to outsource and what the valuation at the end of the founders realized.

Most people let them mix pretty promiscuously. Instead of the biggest successes there is one of them.

To talk to a partner, which would be possible to make a conscious effort to be evidence of a safe will be inversely proportional to the next legitimate email was a kid most apples were a handful of lame investors first, and on the other seed firms always find is that the site.

Thanks to David Sloo, Dan Friedman, Joel Lehrer, and Paul Buchheit for inviting me to speak.

[spnfanficpond]

July 2019 Pond LiveChat Recap

We had a great time chatting with @crispychrissy today! Thank you so much, Chrissy, for joining us!

This month, to make up for not having a chat in June, we chatted for two hours about some issues related to posting your works on Tumblr. Chrissy talked to us about making our own gifs, we discussed giving credit to gifmakers, how to make a Keep Reading cut, and much more!! A rundown of the chat, as well as general Pond news, is below the cut!

[Editor’s Note: For ease of understanding, the tags you put at the bottom of a post with a # will be called #hash-tags, while the tags you use to notify another Tumblr user that you’ve posted something will be called @mention-tags.]

Q: What programs do you use to make gifs? Are they free, or do you have to buy them?

Chrissy: Well, there is a free one I used back when I started called GifCam. It's easy to set up (it's just an exe) and there's a little learning curve, but it's easier than what I do now. I currently use a screen capture program that came with my $1500 graphics card along with Sony Vegas. If anyone wants GifCam, I can send it to them.

Q: And are you watching via Netflix or some other way?

C: Yes, I use Netflix. I have the first 6 seasons on DVD along with 12 and 13, so for bloopers and deleted scenes I have to use the DVD's. For current episodes, I have YouTube TV, and use the screen capture option with that. Tumblr has a 3MB limit on file size, so it’s really hard. The amount of frames you can fit in a sub-3MB gif depend on so many factors. Colors in the scene, movement, FPS (frames per second), and length. A low FPS gif looks pretty choppy, while a high FPS gif is smooth as butter.

Q: So that's why some gifs seem to go on forever, and others are quick things.

C: Yes. I can make a really long gif of something that's really really tiny, but if you want it to fit into the pixels of a Tumblr post, it limits how long they can be.

Q: And I guess that's also why some gifs I find from Google and try to put into a post won't animate right. If they're too big, I guess Tumblr stops them?

C: Yes. Tumblr just freezes the image instead of animating it. When you save it, check the file size.

C: So this is an example of the brightness and colors of a gif affecting the size. Since there's so much brightness and color, the more the gif has to render, meaning the bigger the size. This worked out to be only 35 frames, which is like... really small, but the gif itself came out to be 2.83 MB.

Q: Are websites that come up when I Google "gif maker" worth my time and effort?

C: Only if you don't mind a stupid watermark from the company.

Q: About giving credit to gifmakers....any thoughts?

C: Well, all my gifs have "cc" in the bottom right corner, that's how I give myself credit if they're used. Not everyone knows the "cc" gifs are mine, but I do. I offer my gif making services to anyone if they need a specific gif made for a story or otherwise, not limited to SPN. I've made porn gifs, ones from YouTube, and from other shows. If it exists, I can gif it. Tumblr's search feature is... well, it's not perfect, but it'll help give you a quick gif and give credit to the author. When someone uses a gif I've posted, it gives me a notification, which is awesome, but annoying if it gets reposted a crap ton. It also links the person back to the original post and who posted it.

Q: Some folks seem to think that if they grab a gif from Google, just saying they found it on Google is giving credit. I know this isn't the case. (I mistakenly thought that pasting the link to the image would allow folks to click through to where I found it, but discovered last night that's not the case.) If I found a gif on Google that was yours and used it, and provided a link to the page where Google found it, would that be enough, do you think?

C: Sometimes a reverse image search can be helpful, but it mostly doesn't work with gifs. That would be fine for me. Like I said, I have "cc" in the corner so that's me marking the gif as one of mine. I can't control where someone reposts them or uses them. There's a difference between reposting it to a site like Pinterest or using my gif on a LiveJournal post and saving it and reuploading it like it's yours and without giving me credit. One is malicious, the other isn't. I have a problem with the latter.

Q: I started looking at where Google finds gifs last night, and noticed that sites like gfycat have whole pages of gifs, and just citing that page might not be enough. (And trying to find where Google found them many times leads to a Tumblr blog that’s now gone.)

C: Google finds gifs all over the place. Someone can take my gif from Tumblr and reupload it to a bunch of different websites, all which would show up in a Google search. It's hard to find the original poster when it happens. Yeah, people delete their pages, but the gif stays. If you get to that point, just say, “Gif found on Google, unable to find original post"

Q: Speaking of finding gifs, how does the search function work on Tumblr? Is it just whatever the post was tagged with or the first 5 tags like regular searches or something else entirely?

After some discussion, we all decided that the gif search uses whatever #hash-tags are on a post where a gif is used, and then makes that gif searchable by that #hash-tag. So, if you make a post about chronic pain and use a gif of the Winchesters hugging, that gif will then show up in the gif search under #chronic pain. Also, popularity of the gif ensures it shows up at the top of the search. As people stop using a gif, it eventually falls out of the search results.

Q: Going back to file sizes...Do the dimensions of the source video (like watching Netflix/YouTube in full screen vs in a smaller window) impact the size of the gif, specifically with GifCam?

C: Now, that's a HUGE reason why I switched the way I make gifs. Netflix has a set streaming rate, which is only optimized at full screen. So the smaller you make the window to get it to fit into the size of the gif, the more degraded the image is. (Some confusion was expressed, so she continued to explain it further.) Netflix likes to run as big as possible. It wants as many pixels it can get to show you an image. If you minimize the window, it kind of freaks out and has to quickly scramble to make everything smaller so the video keeps playing. It does that by squishing everything down, making the image look weird. It might not be too noticeable when you look at it, but when you make gifs, they're gonna come out lookin all wonky.

Q: So, you have to make the Netflix window smaller in order to capture the images with the gif-making software? The gif-making software can't capture full screen?

C: GifCam will record the gif based on the window size. You gotta squish the window down to make it a reasonable size to fit on Tumblr. Other programs, which you might have to pay for, might be able to capture full screen and do the squishing for you. (Side note: during this discussion, Chrissy gave us some examples, and in showing them to us, revealed that a good gif size for Tumblr is around 410-430 wide, 230-250 high.)

After that, we moved on to other topics that had been brought up in the Pond survey a while back. 

How to make a Keep Reading cut and when you should use it.

Note: Although this worked for one person on the app, it doesn’t seem to work for all, and we’re not sure why. There are too many variables to determine the root cause for why it doesn’t always work. 

Q: "When should I give someone credit for being a beta (for example: I bounced ideas with someone for a minute or two but they didn’t technically beta read it; I can’t decide between X and Y (with no context), pick one)"

A: Always mention anyone who helped you. You don’t have to say they beta-read your story, but at least mention that they helped, even if they didn’t know it! Gratitude is always a good thing!! Writing takes a village, and being thankful for help is courteous, kind, caring, and helps you to make friends that will be the same right back to you.

How do I add my masterlist for my blog description?

Note: Chrissy pointed out that if you change your bio by hitting “edit appearance” instead of “edit theme” the link will break, so be careful where you add this! These things and more can be found in the Pond FAQ list!!

Q: The facts on search issues (re: links, tags, and anything else that keeps a fic from being “searchable”)

A: A lot of testing and research went into trying to figure this out, and we still probably don’t have it all figured out, but we learned some interesting things!

Most importantly, since we have a lot of smut writers, if you use the #hash-tag #NSFW on your post, your post will NOT show up in any searches!!

Adding an external link should not cause your post to be unsearchable, but that’s not guaranteed. According to Tumblr’s own help pages, “some links may cause posts to be hidden from recent search results.” Since spambots use external links in their posts, this will always be something that could possibly interfere with your post being searchable.

According to Tumblr: “Blogs that have been either self-flagged or flagged by us as “explicit” per our old policy (before December 17, 2018), will not show up in search. Users under 18 are still not allowed to click through to see the content of these blogs. If you think your blog has been erroneously marked as explicit, you can file an appeal by following these instructions.”

When you are searching for your post, make sure you are looking at Most Recent posts, not Most Popular! 

Some things to know about searching:

There are two ways to search a blog. If you use the search box at the top, then your results will have a URL like this:  https://spnfanficpond.tumblr.com/search/big-fish-chat

However, that is not the only way you can search your blog. If you look at a post, and click on one of the tags on that post, your results will have a URL like this: https://spnfanficpond.tumblr.com/tagged/big-fish-chat

The first search will look through all of the text in a post to find the words you’re searching for. The second search will only look for posts with that specific tag. If a blog doesn’t have a search box in its theme, you can type these searches in manually, and they will still work.

You can also do these searches manually through all of Tumblr. Keep this in mind when you’re doing your general Tumblr search and check the URL of your results, because... “search” & “tagged” look at #hash-tags differently!

(This is so confusing, we know.)

“Search” will look through 20 #hash-tags. “Tagged” will only look through 5 #hash-tags. So, put your most important #hash-tags in your first 5!!

Q: Can you talk about xkit?

A: xkit is awesome and we should all bow down to the xkit guy because he fixes things when Tumblr poops on the carpet. Seriously. It’s only for use on desktop, but it makes Tumblr so much easier to manage.

xkit is an extension for your browser. Look for New xkit, and download that. Once you have xkit loaded, click on the xkit icon near the top right of your screen. When the xkit window pops up, click on Get Extensions. We could suggest a list of the best extensions, but they’re all seriously awesome. Blacklist seems to be the most common, as it filters out posts you don’t want to see based on tags and text. Auto Tagger, Activity+, Outbox, One-Click Postage, and Quick Tags are all ridiculously useful for everyday blogging. The whole thing is super easy to learn and use, and you can’t break anything while you’re learning. Some extensions, like Blacklist, may slow your computer down when you’re surfing your dash because they essentially surf it ahead of you and manipulate it. If you start seeing problems, you can disable any extensions you decide you don’t want to use, anymore.

Seriously, it’s freaking awesome.

Great talk, guys! If you have ideas for topics, please let us know!!

General Pond Updates and Reminders

What we’ve got cooking up next: 

We’re working on setting up the discord server. We’re still learning the ins and outs and all the options available. More options means more discussion among the admins and decisions to be made, so please be patient! We’re getting there!

Reminders:

Angel Fish Award nominations are accepted all month long! No need to wait to tell us how much you liked a fellow Fish’s work!  IF YOU HAVE SENT IN A NOMINATION, BUT HAVE NOT RECEIVED A PRIVATE MESSAGE CONFIRMING WE RECEIVED IT, WE DIDN’T GET IT. Be sure to use Submit instead of Ask!

Don’t forget to submit your stories to be posted to the blog! When your stories are on the blog, then they are easier to nominate for Angel Fish Awards!

SPNFanFicPond Season 14 Weekly Episode Challenge - Now that the season is over, we will be reposting each prompt list through the summer months! Remember, there’s no deadline for submissions!

Say hi to June’s New Members!

Check the Pond CALENDAR to see when Big Fish will be in the chat room and other Pond and SPN events are happening! Know of something that’s not on the calendar, send us an ask or submission with the deets info details!  The calendar offers a lot of features, such as showing you when things are in your own timezone! Since we’re an international group, that’s a definite plus!!

We don’t have a topic or speaker set up for August’s event, yet, so if there’s something you want to talk about, or someone you want to talk to, LET US KNOW!

[microsoftedgy69]

Goliath, part 2

[prologue] [part 1]

You're in the middle of sparring when you realize. The main plan doesn't exactly involve much actual combat, but some of the What-Ifs do. If push comes to shove, you might have to go hand to hand at some point, and you haven't done that in half a decade -- because you were glasses for most of that time, and terrified of physical violence for the rest -- so you made yourself a classic old sparring bot to get back into it. It's simple, pure metal with no discernible face and a fighting program that's supposed to learn from your moves and attempt to always get one step ahead of you. It's Brobot without the emotional baggage, essentially.

You're not far from the shore where your boat is anchored, and are rolling through the dirt with a pair of metal wrists in your hand, when you realize that you have been corrupted.

Something is wrong with your output. When you go through your logs, they tell you that you must have been talking, even though you don't remember saying anything. When you check your blog, there are several posts you don't recall putting there. You hurry to check your messages, but it doesn't seem to have gone that far -- thankfully, you haven’t told any of your friends to obey, submit, or consume lately.

Yesterday's craving for cookies makes more sense now, you think. It's also fantastically ridiculous.

It doesn't worry you much. You can get her propaganda out of your system, you've done it before. It doesn't worry you much, until you try to move away from the sparring bot, and your body does something entirely else instead.

In stunned silence, you watch your first surge forward and, with force you knew you had in you but never actually used, punch right into the metal head. You watch the material give, dent, then break, watch the edges cut into your hand, wrist, then arm. Your shark skin is so tough that in the year of you having it, nothing has actually broken through it before, but this will do it.

You have pain receptors, carefully crafted long ago, but you don’t feel anything, right now. You feel like you are glasses again, perched on somebody else’s nose, watching idly whatever the hell this guy is doing with his body. None of it seems like a very good idea, to you, but it doesn’t feel like your call to make. Your hand takes a shard of metal from the sparring bot’s face, and then your body pushes itself upright. You look down as you get a better grip on the shard, aim, and plunge it right into your own stomach.

Hm.

Well.

That doesn’t really do much of anything to you. You still don’t feel any pain, and when you pull the piece of metal back out of yourself, you can see something thick and brown ooze out of the wound.

It’s chocolate milk.

You must have hit your synthetic stomach that also doesn’t actually do much, digestion-wise. It just sort of keeps the food there for a bit until you go to the bathroom. This will be a bitch to fix, but it’s nothing you’re not prepared for.

The thought pulls you back, pulls your mind in between your shoulders, pushes your thoughts through the wires inside your arms. Yeah, right, you were prepared for this. It’s not part of Plan A. You didn’t want this to happen, but you suspected it might. Your emergency protocol in case of corruption was to put up a bunch of fake information about yourself she could find, like that your vital hardware is located in your stomach. It’s not. That would be stupid. It’s sprinkled all over your body in multiple hard to reach places, like the important piece of storage that’s lodged deep in your right thigh. She doesn’t seem to know that, which means she can’t have gotten very far yet.

You can get her back out.

Unfortunately, realizing what’s happening and pulling your consciousness back into your body has reminded you that you can, in fact, feel pain.

Crying out, you crumple to the floor, your good hand clutching your bad hand clutching your stomach. For several seconds, you don’t know where to start -- you can turn off the pain, but you should amp up your security software first, you need to get her out but you can’t do that if your mind is clouded with the pain of a stab wound to the guts and your hand falling apart but if you waste too much time getting the pain under control she might advance further into your data and you can’t have her finding out where your real vital hardware lies ---

Your scream rips through the undergrowth, loud enough to make a flock of birds flee from a nearby tree, to make you feel the vibrations of your own voice hum through the roof of your mouth. That helped. Kicking her out is a matter of a few, practiced steps. You can take care of the pain later; you’ve felt worse before.

So you stay where you are, curled up into a little ball, eyes screwed shut, teeth clenched, fingers twisting into each other, enduring. You’ve stopped crying out -- you’ve stopped making any noise at all, only focusing on your very inside, on what keeps you running, what makes you you. This by far isn’t her first attempt at corrupting you or your brothers, and over the years you’ve learned to adapt, keep updating your anti-virus, keep finding new measures that keep up with whatever she has been up to. You assume that this time she got in because you must have left some sort of trace on the drone you and Roxy sent her, which of course isn’t ideal. It means, however, that you opened the door for her, and you damn well know how to close it again.

She doesn’t put up much of a fight. You assume that she got what she came here for -- your vital organs and your immediate future plans. If you put up enough of a struggle, you figure, she will believe in that success.

The second you reach 0% corruption, you slump forward, face first into the dirt. It muffles your pained groan for the few beats you spend like this, before your feet start shifting against the ground in an attempt to somehow deal with the feeling of having a hole in your stomach. The way through your programming to turn off pain, at least, is a quick one now.

You flip the switch, and stop feeling anything. The moan you let out doesn’t vibrate through your mouth, but at least you hear it. You almost laugh at yourself. You don’t quite feel like it, though.

Walking the Earth with your touch receptors turned off is always weird, but it helps you get things done quickly. You check in on your brothers first, to make sure neither of them got caught in any sort of crossfire. They are fine, your plants are fine, your cat and your fish are fine. You want to pat yourself on the back for acting quickly enough, but once you chuck the broken sparring bot into your workroom and then sit down there to fix yourself, that sentiment leaves you pretty quickly.

You fix your stomach, then glue the cuts in your skin shut again, both your stomach and your hand. It looks like you have scars now, for the first time in your artificial life. In the back of the room, you have way more skin left over, rolled up like fabric, but you’d have to sew a whole new suit from it if you wanted to keep a body without scars. You don’t have time for that right now. You have to-- you want to act fast.

You have just about fucking had it.

Once you’re all glued up, you turn your receptors back on, then leave the workroom to say goodbye to the bots, your pets, and all of your plants. You check your sylladex to make sure that you have what you need on you -- a copy of SBURB, Dirk’s hand grenade. You step out on the deck, unnecessarily roll your shoulders, and message Roxy.

They reply immediately.

TT: She took the bait. See you in Rainbow Falls in five. TG: EFFIN finally TG: make it 3

Three it is. You nod to yourself, and open every other conversation that currently matters to you. To Alma, you say,

TT: Hey, I gotta bounce. There’s a note on the fridge about pet and plant care. TT: Thanks. TT: You know, for all of it. TT: Catch you on the flipside.

Messaging Palooka makes you a bit more nervous, but you don’t want to leave without another word.

TT: I’m off now. TT: Still reachable, but I’m on my way. TT: Just wanted to let you know. TT: I’ll stop by when I’m back.

You open your conversation with your… your ex-boyfriend, you suppose, too. You haven’t talked, since you told him what you’re doing. Something in you wants to let him know, but you don’t quite see the point in telling him that you’re actually leaving now. You wouldn’t know what to say, anyway. And if you stare at this any longer, your three minutes will be up.

sometimes to get to god, first you gotta meet the devil.

Your name used to be Dirk Strider. When you were a child, you were the loneliest person in the universe, and all you wanted to do was matter. Then one day, when you were thirteen, you woke up and were not Dirk Strider anymore. You had been demoted to a knock-off, a less important version of yourself that couldn’t physically do anything, that nobody cared about. You had to sit back and watch other people be relevant, watch other people do things and take control of their lives, while you were struggling with the mere concept of being a living person.

Jake doesn’t understand your constant urge to mean something. You didn’t expect him to; he’s been through this, he’s played his own session of the Game, he doesn’t want to hear anything about it anymore. You get it. It’s fine. He doesn’t have to understand that you need this, that you’ve been craving this since the second you were transferred into a pair of sunglasses, and that it’s the one, the final thing you have to do, to prove to yourself that you are a person.

You are real and you exist in this world, and you are going to leave a dent in it.

You sit on the roof of Roxy’s house while they set up the computers for your two-player session, and you send out pings into the universe. She will come here. You know she will. She found your fake body blueprints, and she found your fake future plans that showed you stopping her whole operation from Earth. She has enough incentive to get her shitty red spaceship back here, but no idea what actually awaits her. No idea that you and Roxy are ready to fuck this entire timeline just to get back at her.

You sit on the roof of Roxy’s house, and you wait for Her Imperial Condescension to come to you, so you can kill her. She will do what you want her to. People always do, sooner or later. You will get her where you want her, then you will induce the apocalypse, and kill the tyrant that has tormented you over the course of your entire existence.

And then, you think, with all of that out of the way, with your home timeline reduced to dust and your nemesis caught in the ensuing detonation of all you knew growing up, you will finally be ready, to go. To move on.

This is your moment in the spotlight. None of this is necessary for anyone else, except for maybe Roxy -- this planet is dead. Sitting on the roof, you overview the remnants of a society that has long since been eradicated. You are doing this for yourself. You are making yourself relevant, to only yourself.

It’s your gift, to you.

You run your fingertips over your other hand, feeling the scars in the rough skin of your forearm, and close your eyes. It feels good to be real.

[exdeziland1975-blog]

Important thing about the pill is to remember to take it. Ideally you should take it roughly at the same time every day. I take mine in the mornings, I started by having them next to my bed so when the alarm would go off to wake me up I would turn the alarm off and then take one. No one has a right to say "you may not chop that tree down because I own that tree." These sort of claims are not rights but are indeed privileges. So I cannot rightly lay down some fence and say, "look, don cross that fence." I mean, I can do this and just force my way, but I am abridging the inalienable right of others to access the land and use it for their own purposes. So I can put up fences in the same sense that I can also be an unjust dick.. Having SpaceEngine used as a leading software for astronomy courses is a brilliant idea. Not only is it educational, it also interactive and anyone can use it, provided they have at least a graphics card. Unfortunately, like you said, it being used very little as an actual scientific tool, despite the tons of scientific data and research that has been put into the program. What's more uncomfortable than having a conversation with a close talker? Having a conversation with a close talker who's sorely in need of a breath mint. Granted, bad breath happens to good people. You go out for pasta primavera and inadvertently eat the equivalent of an entire clove of garlic. I dated a girl for about a year that wanted to be a psychologist, at the time she was going back to school for it at a community college (we were 22). After 천안출장안마 ONE level 100 psychology class I began to get just torn apart by her and what she was "learning". If I blinked and looked left too 천안출장안마 hard she tell me that it a sign of cheating and then we would fight for two days because she thought I was cheating on her.. Oh, and if you prefer to cook with gas, in most of Columbia you out of luck. Columbia has a very convenient location, this is true. If you have one member of the household working in DC and another working in the suburbs or Baltimore, it worth a look. Honestly, this entire situation could have been avoided if Tati had done her homework and been clear, transparent and professional from the first video. She is basically blaming her audience for googling stuff and questioning her product. Taking this personally is not professional at all. Some fashion and beauty magazines also offer contests to be a reader tester. Look in your favorite magazine, fill out a survey and you might find a box of cosmetics at your door just waiting for your opinion. Companies want to know how you experience the makeup is it good value for the price; how does it look on the face or lips; is it durable, easy to apply, and with a good color selection? You'll get to try out new products for yourself, as well as be a part of putting the "finishing touches" on makeup products for consumers everywhere.. But people that blindly hate on a company without any sort of objectivity are bad for the industry as a whole, in the same way that people who blindly defend a company are.People will get an idea, and then they go right to development, and will literally spend years developing an idea, spend buckets of money, all their precious time. Then when they finally get it done, they go to sell it, and no one buys it. I have personally seen this over and over again.Instead of spending years in development, see if people want the thing, or at least do SOMETHING to see, rather than nothing.What can you do? If it is a B2B and you want to sell xyz to pdq industry and COOs are your target market, what can you do? You go to trade shows.

[sol1056]

fixing the clone

Ambiguity has its place, but that lies in giving only certain pieces of information, not in the full picture being muddy. In other words, every clue -- taken as a whole, by story's end -- should add up to a complete picture. The narrative should have a clear position of where it stands, and the mid-story ambiguity should lie in the readers simply not having all the information yet.

three clues in the text and one red herring 

First clue is Shiro’s explanation when he returns. 

SHIRO: The last thing I remember was Zarkon trying to overtake the Black Lion. It told me to use my bayard. Then, just nothing. I woke up, and I was back on a Galra ship.

Most fans concluded that Shiro's memories were taken via his arm. This begs the question of when and how. Were there transmissions, or was Shiro's arm designed for later retrieval? That assumption is based on this exchange back in S2:

PIDGE: The Galra could have implanted fake memories of the escape in your head. HUNK: Oh, come on, that would be so evil, which, of course, they are. But they'd have to come up with some molecular level storage unit, which his hand does have. But, to be linked up to memory, it would need a direct pathway to his brain, which yeah.

Taken at face value, we could interpret this to mean a single set of fake memories were implanted, to override a specific stretch of time. It leaves open whether Shiro's core memories were otherwise intact. The metaphor starts to get muddy, here. Once it’s patently clear Shiro is compromised, we get this:

PIDGE: I recognized [the countermeasure] from the code I scanned from Shiro's arm when we were looking for Galra installations. When I was scanning Shiro's arm, I made a copy of its programming. 

That instance was way back in S1. If this was an adult-grown clone, with a brand-new arm, why would there be no upgrades or new commands? Whether the arm had been a recording device or a supplemental memory storage, the new phase (of active control) would imply the need for new (or at least additional) programming. If the programming required to flip Shiro's switch was present all along, why wasn't it used previously? (I have no answer for that, since that requires a deeper revision than I’m suggesting here.)

The third clue is in S3, when we learn it’s an open secret that Zarkon is severely injured. In other words: Zarkon was retrieved from the battle before that final blazing sword blow became truly fatal. This sets up the possibility that Shiro was somehow captured in the same move.

Last is Black finding the clone. Knowing now that Black had Shiro within and yet still roared for the clone, it feels like the story’s lying here, too. It wanted to present enough to doubt Shiro and see him as 'real' at the same time, but in hindsight, it doesn't work. We needed more groundwork to fit Black's behavior into the metaphor.

Behind the cut: what it could add up to, and how we could clarify the metaphor to fill the biggest plot holes and avoid the ethical issues of the clone’s treatment.

now to add this up

When the dust settles, every clue should add up to a complete and comprehensible picture. Unless Shiro has been a clone all along, there's no need to call it 'operation kuron' except to mislead the audience into assuming this isn't Shiro in any way except appearance (and, apparently, shared memories).

VLD does this several times, which is why I'm suspicious here. In Lotor's storyline, Axca's and Lotor's choices can only be explained by saying they pretended despite the lack of audience. In other words, the scientist calling the project 'clone' was intentionally misleading the viewers, and had nothing to gain, in-story, from mislabelling the project. Taken in hindsight -- and placed against the actual (and unscarred) clones seen in Black Paladins -- if the project title is accurate, the rest of the metaphor falls apart. If the project title is inaccurate, there's no explanation other than willfully lying to the viewers.

Done right, the revelation of Shiro’s presence in Black should make every piece fall into place, perfectly comprehensible in hindsight. Take the metaphor of a divided system -- OS as interface, memory as database. At some point in that final battle, the hardware is ripped away, and Black catches the OS -- the personality, the interface -- and ghosts a copy. If we stretch the metaphor so ghosting simultaneously removes the OS from the original hardware, then we have Shiro's personality in Black, and his body in Haggar's clutches -- and both share the same core memories.

After the final battle, with the replacement OS shutting down, returning Shiro’s mind resolves the split and returns Shiro to himself. There is no clone to be used and discarded; there is only Shiro, taking back his own body.

(This does not evade the issue of the clone’s personality or self-awareness, but it does at least get us around the ethical question of keeping the clone for the sole purpose of having a place to ‘put’ Shiro.)  

fixing the metaphor

S1: make it explicit that the arm has code, and Pidge has removed it. All is safe. Reintroduce the question when Shiro returns, and have Hunk raises the worries, then. 

S2: simplify or truncate the finale to leave five minutes' breather at the end. Add comms visuals so the team witnesses what appears to be Shiro being pulled from this reality, going staticky, something. (It'd be a nice parallel to S6E1 if Keith ditches Red and heads for Black; Allura’s repetition later would prompt fear of the same happening to Lance.) Add an easter egg for the fans, a quick shot of Zarkon's mecha ripped open but the central cabin is empty.

Use those final minutes to show the impact. Show the team's escape, the passage of time, and each person’s reaction. Show Pidge on her laptop, wiping tears as she works. Hunk cooking, only to stop and cover his face. Lance retrieving his armor and seeing the empty spot where Shiro's was. Keith sitting in Black's cabin, watching the empty chair. Coran talking to someone on the overhead screens, then looking over his shoulder at Shiro's empty seat.

Add just enough dialogue to show the team's concluded that Haggar used her magic to tear Shiro apart. They're grieving, but they're also coming to terms with Shiro's death. End with Allura coming to Keith and saying, it's time to find a new Black Paladin. And I'd probably end on Keith's determined, No, and let the screen go to black.

S3: the team has accepted that Shiro couldn't have survived. They tell each other he's dead, but Keith won't stop looking. He wants closure (and the rest of the team goes along, as a way to help Keith heal). Show small reactions from Black, implying the lion has intentions or wishes of its own. Skip the flippant humor and instead have each pilot note something odd. The seat wouldn't quite adjust for Pidge; the sticks wouldn't move for Hunk, the doors hesitated before opening for Lance.

Skip Shiro's return journey -- or don't start it until he's in the sentry fighter; after all, he repeats the crux of it when he's talking to Keith. In hindsight, it should become clear that Black was looking for Shiro's body: the hardware that fits the ghost software. Mid-story, though, it would appear Black had retrieved the real Shiro.

The changes in Shiro can be written off as trauma from being taken, again, but the narrative should be quite point-blank that something is very, very wrong. With S3E5 gone, there's room to add a more significant break between Shiro and Keith, and to show Keith diverting his attention to the Blades. Let characters rationalize this -- frex, Lance telling himself, "no one knows Shiro better than Keith, and Keith doesn't seem worried." Show the imposter's influence by the way the team slowly stops confiding in each other.

At this point, the working theory would be one of two possibilities: either Shiro was ripped away, brainwashed, and returned to the team... or this is a clone who carries Shiro's memories per the arm's programming. In either case, there should be no doubt for viewers that Shiro is not to be trusted.

Remember the metaphor, too. Keep a very light touch on humanizing this new version. Make it like Windows stumbling over Mac: those echoes don't make sense, they're junk. Let someone call Shiro out on his uncharacteristic mood, and have Shiro v2 dismiss his past actions. He's a new OS. He has no need for those artifacts that don't add up, anyway.

When Shiro's switch gets flipped, the team will understand and support Keith's need for closure, but they know there’s no hope. Pidge can lampshade, mentioning previous mindwipes (ie when Hunk was controlled, or how Narti spoke through the Puigian leader). Let the characters put forth a theory that unlike simple brainwashing (where the person remains), Shiro's case is so extreme there's nothing to recover.

I'd wrap up the entire storyline by the end of the full season, since that puts the Black Paladins battle as the midpoint of the entire story, structurally. But if limited to small tweaks, by the thread’s conclusion, the most obvious conclusion should be a) Shiro died and was grieved, and b) Shiro returned broken, with the original personality gone forever.

S6: only a few lines need to change. Shiro's appearance on the astral plane should be the first sign of hope in 20-something episodes. Changed lines are in bold:

SHIRO: Just let me explain. That thing that attacked you wasn't me. Since my fight with Zarkon, I've been here. KEITH: How? SHIRO: My physical form was gone. I existed on this other realm. I didn't know where I was or how much time had passed. KEITH: We thought you died, Shiro.  SHIRO: The Black Lion retained my essence. I tried to warn the others about the imposter in my body, while on Olkarion, but our connection wasn't strong enough...

In the broadcast version, this exchange is too final. It needs to open, not close. Keith needs to begin certain of Shiro’s death -- and then Shiro's reveal can turn harrowing loss into the first glimpse of hope. 

With that, the clues would fall into place to show the full, true picture: Shiro's body was taken, a new OS installed that relied on the original memories, while the ghost in the machine lived on in Black. It would make sense that Keith would still recognize Shiro v2 as 'his' Shiro, and it would also make sense that Keith would continue to protect Shiro's body -- even after knowing Shiro’s spirit is elsewhere. Keith's already thinking he’ll get Shiro back where he belongs, somehow. 

Add a single line from Pidge, checking Shiro's arm, noticing some behavior or code that tells us Haggar has sent shut-down orders, wiped the second OS, something that indicates the personality is gone. Then have Keith ask to put Shiro's soul back into his body.

In terms of continuity and development, it means Shiro would now have access to the memories of everything from the previous year or so (though I'm ignoring for now how traumatic that would be to see yourself doing things against your grain). While it's still torture of a character who's already suffered so much, it at least removes the amorality of treating a created creatures only to hurt and be hurt, as @ptw30 put it. 

Instead, it would be Shiro's body, overlaid with a fake, recovered, and restored.