#and it was just a bunch of admin really. smaller bits for smaller cases. and i was very tired

[spaghett-onaplate]

i'm perusing court listings and the very first case i looked into is multimillion dollar fraud 😭 they can't all be this interesting surely

[flightless-rising]

Made a new Flight Rising iceberg and also wrote an explanation.. man, this took way longer than it should have.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy :D

Iceberg explanation

( If there are any mistakes please let me know and I’ll edit this asap. Also, English isn't my first language so please forgive me for any grammatical errors)

EDIT 28/06: Added some new info! Thanks to everyone who tagged and responded with new stuff to add, I really appreciate it!

The Sky

Naomi

Back in the day, whenever you bought or sold something on the auction house a message would show up in your inbox confirming the transaction. These messages were sent by one of the dragon couriers: Pearl, Spitfire or Edgar.

On January 2016, a strange glitch occurred that replaced the images and names of couriers with the ones of a female fae named “Naomi”.

It goes deeper than that, though: if you looked up her name in the user search menu, a clan would pop up with over 15 million dragons.

It was quickly discovered that all exalted dragons had somehow become part of her clan. Naomi herself apparently didn’t exist, and clicking on her page redirected to an error page. This was later fixed and the original Naomi page can be now visited.

What exactly caused this glitch is still a mystery and today Naomi is still a well-known piece of Flight Rising history.

Missing Tidelord

In the official lore, the deity of the water flight disappeared in early 2018, as described in the short story “Hear Today, Gone Tomorrow”.

In the follow up story (Mixed Elements) posted in April of the next year it is confirmed that the Tidelord is still missing, but alive. This coincides with the fact that the Tidelord account hasn’t made any forum posts aside from festival announcements.

Emperors

Emperors are a type of unobtainable dragon that are formed when several Imperial corpses are left in close proximity to each other, which then fuse forming a multi-headed chimera.

Emperors are described in the lore as having an animal-like behavior and destroying everything in sight. They are extremely difficult to kill, which is the reason why in-universe Imperials have such strange burial rites.

An emperor named Luminax is first described in the Raising a Family short story, and their sprite can be seen walking around on the world map.

The Surface

Old color wheel

Originally, there were only 67 available colors for dragons. On June 8th 2016, 110 more colors were added, meaning that currently there are a total of 177 colors available.

When making a custom progenitor dragon, it is only possible to choose among the 67 original colors because it would be otherwise unfair for those who made their account before the new colors were added.

Imperial breed scrolls

Imperial breed change scrolls are one of, if not the most, rare type of item on the site. They were given only to those who pledged 30 dollars or more on the original Flight Rising kickstarter.

At the time, this was the only way of obtaining an Imperial dragon, which meant that the breed as a whole was pretty valuable. Now that Imperials are abundant this is no longer the case, but First generation Imperials are still extremely sought and probably the most expensive type of dragon on the site.

There were also other items that were only given to Kickstarted backers, namely Skycats, Bonefiend, Golden Idol and Cogfrog familiars, and those are also pretty much impossible to obtain.

Baldwin breed change

When Baldwin was introduced in 2015 he was originally a Pearlcatcher. On September 14th of 2016 however his site art started to gradually change, until his transformation was completed five days later.

In-universe, Baldwin started to change after a lightning strike hit his cauldron during an experiment, which made him slowly mutate into the breed we now know as Bogsneaks.

Trans Fiona

When Fiona was added as a trading post dragon people speculated that she was trans, because the female pose for Skydancers only displays two antennae, while the male one has four.

Since Fiona has four antennae in her site art, many wondered whether it was an oversight or actually intended. Aequorin later confirmed in a forum thread that Fiona is indeed trans.

Boolean

Speaking of rare items, the Boolean familiar was only given to a handful of Flight rising beta testers and as such is extremely rare and valuable.

Plaguebringer coli team

On the Plaguebringer’s page she is listed as being part of a coliseum team.

As of now we have no clue as to why this is, and even more strangely she is the only deity that does this.

Boston & Hope

This story is a bit complicated. I’ve scoured the forums in search of info but it seems like there are still some pieces missing. I’ll try my best to explain anyway.

So, for a long while the Lightweaver was the only deity that had other dragons aside from herself in her lair: these dragons were a Spiral named Boston and a Tundra named Hope. Strangely, they were both Earth dragons and apparently have been there since the beginning (?). When asked why (this happened back when deities would interact on the forums) the Lightweaver responded that they were having a dinner party together.

In August 2014 during a pretty heated dominance battle between Shadow and Light Boston and Hope disappeared from the Lightweaver’s lair.

The Shadowbinder now had them, and both their elements were alsochanged to Shadow. The two deities acknowledged this and changed their broadcast messages accordingly.

If I had to guess this was some kind of inside joke that the admins had, although some people got angry that the Shadowbinder now had both Hope and Boston. Some time later(?) Boston was returned to the Lightweaver and for some reason his element was changed to wind.

I don’t have any more info on the matter but if some of you do I would appreciate it if you tell me.

Shallow Waters

Eyepocalypse

On June 8th 2018 eye type variants were introduced. This update was pretty controversial for a bunch of reasons, and the topic is still discussed today. The majority of people(?) seemed to be upset by the fact the “best” eye types (primarily goat, primal and multi-gaze) could only be displayed on dragons that were born with them, and the fact that every dragon born prior to the update couldn’t have these eye types at all displeased a lot of users.

Another problem was the fact that most of the non-special eye types (i.e the only ones that could be applied to already existing dragons using a vial of Scattersight) were not clearly visible on the grand majority of adult dragons.

A smaller(?) complaint was that two of the primal eye types, Shadow and Plague, were seen as kind of disturbing by some people.

Three years later staff attempted to fix this issue by adding Eye type vials for every available eye type. This resulted in a market crash for special eye typed dragons, as now these eye types could be applied to any dragon. The value of Scattersights also tanked, and the people bought them and hadn’t used them yet lost money as now they were infinitely less useful.

EDIT 28/06: Goat isn’t actually obtainable via breeding, faceted is. Bad mistake on my part.

Also, Scattersights were given away freely by Galore on Flight Rising’s fifth anniversary in 2018 and could not be bought afterwards. I admit that I thought people could be able to buy Scattersights due to how upset people were that the value went down, but whatever.

Courier Breed

The courier dragons (Edgar, Spitfire, and Pearl) are part of an exclusive dragon breed that is currently unobtainable. Even though their eye color still reflects the flight they were born in, in-universe they are considered to be “neutral” and they are granted free access to all domains. This raises the question as to which deity created them, as every other dragon breed (Bogsneaks being the only exception) has been created by one of The Eleven.

Multiaccounting

According to the site’s terms of service, no one is allowed to have more than one account. This is pretty standard for pet sites, as having multiple accounts grants unfair advantages and can mess up the site economy. This doesn’t completely stop people for having more than one account, and the practice as a whole is called “Multiaccounting” or “having multis”.

Some people only do this to have multiple clans or reboot their account without deleting their old one. They mostly do no harm but it is reasonable that the site wouldn’t allow this because of how easy it is exploit.

The real harm of multis comes from a practice called “funneling” which is when someone creates multiple accounts only for the purpose of giving items to their main account. This practice violates the game’s rules and can result in a ban. Funneling is not limited to multiaccounting though, and having an account only to feed another is against the site’s rules whether or not the account in question belongs to another person or not.

Some people fear of being banned for multiaccounting even if they haven’t done so, especially if they share a computer with other people.

Purble

“he purble” is probably among the most famous Flight Rising memes.

In 2016(?) a rant was submitted to the original Dramarising blog by a very angry user that wanted to buy an XXX Purple Ridgeback back when triples were pretty expensive, but got beat by someone else.

I’m not going to copy paste it here because in my opinion it’s one of the funniest Flight Rising related posts ever and I don’t want to spoil the experience of reading it for the first time. You can find it pretty easily by searching it up.

Tert Picking

This is something that refaced recently, even though I’ve seen people talking about this for a while. Some people vividly remember being able to pick their custom progenitor’s tertiary color, even though the developers have made it clear that such thing would be impossible. This is without a doubt just one of those weird situations where a lot of people somehow remember the same thing wrong.

Still, it’s fascinating just how many people claim to remember doing picking their tert.

Swiftwings

Swiftwings were a dragon breed that was scrapped in development. The design was rejected because it didn’t fit the 2 arms 2 legs 2 wings format that every dragon design had to follow before the introduction of ancient breeds.

The reason for this rule is that otherwise it would mess up apparel placement. Although the concept was scrapped, echoes of the design were scattered throughout the site: for example, the empty dragon slots that were present prior to 2019 had the silhouette of a Swiftwings dragon. They are also mentioned in the April Fool’s update of 2018.

“Real” Lore dragons

Most people don’t know that some of the dragons featured on the lore stories are actually real, and you can visit their pages. This is the case for Tetra, Cracklinne, Velya, Liefa, Garote and Mirth, which are currently chilling in Aequorin’s lair.

All of the other dragons in the developers’ lairs are not canon and are used to test bugs and features on the site.

The Middle ground

True deity names

When the site first started the deities used to have actual names instead of titles. Some of these names were based off of the site founders’s usernames on other sites.

The names are the following:

Amogayvhi - Gladekeeper Xhaztol - Arcanist Rhenik - Tidelord Akiri - Flamecaller Thrage - Stormcatcher Undel - Shadowbinder Jhortanas - Plaguebringer Ghurab - Windsinger Artaios - Earthshaker Rhiow – Lightweaver

As you can tell, Xhaztol, Akiri, Thrage and Undel are the usernames of some of the admins of the site, and the flight they are a part of corresponds with the previous name of their deity.

No leg coatls

On January 16, 2015 an iconic thread was posted in the flight rising discussion forum, which displayed a photoshopped image of a coatl with its legs removed. Quickly the thread devolved into a general photoshop thread were people took official site art of dragons and modified it.

The thread was eventually locked due to spam and quote pyramids, but spiritual successors of the original “phoatlshop” thread still exist today.

Dress slot unlocking

A thing that a surprising amount of people don’t know is the fact that when buy an additional apparel slot, the slot opens for every dragon in your lair and not just the one you bought it on.

This is something I also discovered very recently and it’s kind of funny that so many people that have been on the site for very long don’t know this.

Clanbound scatterscrolls

I think the wiki explains it best, so I’ll just copy paste this here:

“Tri-Color Scatterscrolls suffered from an issue where they would only scatter a random range from colors 1-47 (white through sunshine) rather than 1-67 (white through rose). They have been fixed and are now functioning correctly with a random range within the 67 color set. The affected timeframe was from August 15th, 2013 until September 22nd, 2013. The admins allowed users who were unsatisfied with their bugged Tri-Color Scatterscrolls to receive the same amount of them back in the form of Clanbound Scatterscrolls to try scattering their own dragons again with the full color range.”

Beta Mirrors

Ever wondered why they’re called Mirrors?

According to Undel, the main artist of Flight Rising, mirrors originally were supposed to have every part of their body “mirrored”, meaning they had two sets of eyes, two pairs of wings, two tails, and so on.

This design ended up being too cluttered and looked weird shrunken down. The name was kept the same, even though the only mirrored part of the design are the eyes.

Dragons are evil

If you read the “Beastclans on the rise” lore bit, the dragons come across as… very evil, stealing territory from the beastclans when they have been living on Sornieth way longer than the dragons have and killing them for loot.

Furthermore, in the Bounty of the Elements lore bit the Beastclan rebellion guided by Talona is seen by the dragons as unreasonable and wrong even when in canon Beastclans are framed as the innocent party.

The Depths

Scroll of Divorce

In the alpha stage dragons were supposed to be monogamous and could only breed with the dragon they were “paired” with. To break their bond you had to use an item called “Scroll of Divorce” which even featured broken marriage rings in the art.

If I had to guess, this item and the concept as a whole were scrapped because the idea of dragons having “weddings” and needing to divorce before breeding with another dragon felt kind of weird, especially in a game targeted towards teens.

First Festival

The first Holiday festival in Flight rising history was the 2013 Brightshine Jubilee. The items that were available for this festival only are incredibly rare, particularily the Light Sprite which is one of the most valuable items on the site. Apart from that and the fact that the skincent contest only had 6 winners, not much is notable about it.

Offsite drama

Flight Rising has had its fair share of drama both on and off site, but due to the fact that it’s against the site’s rule to discuss user drama on the forums most of the notable drama happened off site (mainly tumblr).

Egg rot

Egg rot was a very early mechanic that was pretty quickly removed from the site. If you forgot to incubate your eggs, they would “rot” and no longer hatch.

It’s the reason why in the nesting grounds the text reads “Eggs healthy” and also the reason why on the stats section of the Account settings it says “Eggs discarded”. The mechanic was removed because it heavily punished casual players and the frequent downtimes of the site meant that even if someone logged in every day they could still have their eggs die.

Also, the images of egg rot look extremely cursed.

Pablo

From what I could gather, Pablo is a dragon which became somewhat popular after user “Desmondtiny” wrote a very long and detailed backstory of them being the Arcanist’s lost boyfriend.

I’m pretty sure it gues deeper than that but I couldn’t find any further information. As usual, if you know something more let me know.

Latest News

On November 12, 2014, a glitch(?) occurred that let anyone post in the Announcements thread. Anything that was posted went directly to the front page, which resulted in quite a bit of chaos.

This was fixed only half an hour later, but the screenshots people have from that time are extremely funny.

Lameforger

On the 2014 Flameforger’s festival announcement Undel accidentally misspelled “Flameforger” as “Lameforger”, which prompted the official account of the Flamecaller to respond aggressively. Lameforger is still jokingly used by users, even after the typo was fixed.

Festival of one (1)

On the first day of the 2014 Greenskeeper Gathering a glitch occurred which switched the site banner for the Starfall celebration banner instead of the Greenskeeper one.

It didn’t end there, in the coliseum Magical shards dropped instead of Bladed Flatleaves, even though skin chests dropped as normal(?).

The weirdest thing about it all was Joxar’s Space inventory, which didn’t display any items at all and had glitched dialogue.

The event was nicknamed by the fanbase “Festival of 1” and even the deity’s official accounts acknowledged the incident.

Vape Juice

As far as I know the original forum thread as been lost, but the vape juice fiasco will always remain cemented in Flight Rising History.

A company called Vape Daugz was making vape juice with Flight Rising dragons plastered on their packaging, completely violating the site’s policy.

The company’s site still exists, and browsing through their products I found that the products that previously had Flight Rising dragons on them still exist, but now feature completely different packaging.

I have no idea whether they changed the packaging spontaneously or staff did something about it.

I think there’s a potentially interesting story buried down there, but we’ll likely never the truth behind the Flight Rising vape juice.

The Abyss

Humans

There’s been some speculation over the years as to whether or not humans are canon in the Flight Rising universe. Some people believe that the “Mages” of the second age in the official lore are actually humans, but we can’t be sure because they are depicted with long robes that cover their whole bodies.

The idea of humans existing in canon has spawned a couple of memes, most infamously Thomas.

Plague healers

Again, I think the wiki explains this one better:

“According to Aequorin, Plague healers are an interesting bunch because rather than administer treatments that counter illness, they use a mixture of magic and contagion that stress the affected dragon further, allowing them to reach a stronger, healed, and resistant state faster than other elements. Plague healers will treat physical injuries with sutures, bandages, and braces, but they won't clean the wounds or apply ointments."

Akitla

As described in the original thread, Akitla was a dragon that user “qunii” saw on the front page, but noticed that she wasn’t accompanied by the username of the person owning them.

After clicking on her, an error page loaded. It was discovered that putting her color combination or ID in the search bar would result in an error page. This was later fixed, and both Akitla and her mate were now displayed as being exalted to the Arcanist. T

here are some theories as to what happened to the Akitla’s user, some think that she belonged to a deleted account, others that it was the result of an incomplete account creation.

As with a lot of things on this iceberg, it will likely remain a mystery forever.

Arcane sprite book

“what is the arcane sprite reading??” is probably one of the oldest still active threads on the forums.

On September 25, 2013 user “Kaadashi” started a joke thread were they wondered what exactly is the arcane sprite reading, and playfully suggested that it could be erotic fanfiction. People went crazy of course, and started to wonder what kind of juicy secrets were hidden within the pages of that book.

I don’t want to say too much because I really don’t want to spoil the experience of reading through this very cursed tread.

Sunshine

Sunshine is one of the most… interesting lairs on the site, and certainly one of the most well-known.

They(?) have a lair (almost) completely full of triple basic sunshine dragons, most of which are Tundras. So far they have collected about 320 triple hundred Sunshine dragons, almost all of which are also named “Sunshine”. They’re not all the same, some of them have apparel, some of them are gened and some have unique art and descriptions.

They’re dedicated and I respect that.

EDIT 28/06: Apparently some people seem to think that the sunshine-dedicated lair is based on a meme concerning the announcement of the color wheel expansion, which became so discussed that the itself site broke. The two things are unrelated however, as the Sunshine lair has been around for much longer.

The announcement of the color wheel expansion was cryptic, with only a few post showing off differently colored coatls and then 3 pages of reserved posts, with no explanation whatsoever.

Simple Farmer

Another very famous thread is the “I am but a simple farmer” thread started by user “someKindOfGenius”. It’s not really about anything specific, it’s just a rather silly thread were people photoshop flight rising dragons onto various crops.

Still, this thread is iconic so I had to include it.

Dragon Deaths

Way back in 2014 former flight rising programmer Thrage revealed on a forum thread that way back before the beta, dragons could actually starve to death if left unfed.

Yep.

Obviously they had to remove this mechanic because it would have been extremely harsh to casual players and make people frustrated with the game.

Zalvador

User “manojalpa” became fairly well-known for the extremely dark lore they(?) had written for their Clan, it was so dark in fact that every single one of their dragon’s bios had to moved to their tumblr where they couldn’t be easily seen by the site’s mainly underage usebase.

Their lore centered around their progen dragon, a tundra named Zalvador, which behaved and had the same powers as a flight rising user: buying dragons off of the action house, having “breeding projects”, exalting dragons, etc.

These things seem pretty normal when done by a player, but when taking them as actual real things that happen in universe… yeah, it was way too morbid for the site.

The Pit

Black linen neck wraps

For some weird reason, the apparel piece “Black linen neck wrap” when put on a male pose Coatl wraps around the dragon’s throat instead of it’s neck. It’s kind of subtle and hard to see, but if you compare it with the female pose the difference is clear. This is probably just an art error, although it’s weird that it hasn’t been fixed yet, since linen wraps are a very old piece of apparel.

Another weird thing about linen wraps in general is that the wing wraps just sort of… go through the membrane? This is not possible. These dragons are in pain.

Icewarden ears

Another very remarkably popular thread is the Icewarden ears thread.

In 2014 user “Llanai” simply makes note of the fact that the Icewarden has teeny tiny ears.

As we have come to expect from these threads, it quickly devolved into nonsense.

Forbidden Snapper lore

Snappers used to have a way different lore section that was changed because it deemed too similar to the lore of another petsite.

This is what the original section read:

"Snapper dragons do not sleep, but exist in a constant state of reverie. They receive and catalogue all experiences and stories told within their dreams. This persistent state of awakened dreaming awards them the longest memory of any dragon species. They are living encyclopedias, and any dragon who is seeking difficult-to-obtain information will have the most luck unearthing it from a Snapper clan - provided they have the patience for it. If you want two dozen quick answers, talk to a spiral. If you want a fully developed answer, camp out around a Snapper. These dreamers move at their own pace, which varies from dragon to dragon. For some, the awakened dream can prove to be more interesting than their surroundings. This leads to a focus upon the dream, and the waking world as filtered background noise. Interacting with these sleepwalkers can be a trying and repetitive task. Other Snappers may be fairly lucid, with a focus upon their surroundings and the constant hum of the dream pushed aside."

Bee movie script

I’ve seen this story around the forums a few times but I’ve never been able to learn the details.

From what I’ve heard someone copy pasted the entire bee movie script into their clan bio in a drop down text format, which completely broke the page for anyone who visited it. This was fixed, apparently, although I have no clue as to who this user is.

EDIT 28/06: Zeus

Zeus is an XXX gold g1 permababy imperial that used to belong to user "happywing".

Their account is now locked because Zeus was created with the use of a duplication glitch on an imperial breed change scroll, which is obviously not allowed (although I've heard some people say that the dragon was hacked in altogether). Before the account was locked, people speculated that Zeus was the most valuable dragon on the site, because an XXX g1 imperial is impossibly rare.

Wegg shaming

On July 2017 user “Dreamnorn” made a thread were they(?) claimed to have a dream where everything was the same except people used the term “wegged” when two dragons would lay only one egg in a nest.

Ex. Aw man! I’ve been wegged again! = Aw man! I bred two dragons and they only had one egg!

The dream ended up being prophetic, as the term catched on and people started to use it unironically.

The practice of “Wegg shaming” I think refers to the trend of people posting pictures of the dragons that “wegged” them in order to “shame” them.

Plague nest skull

The site art of the plague nest features an unique dragon skull that doesn’t match with any currently existing dragon breed or creature: It appears to have two sets of eyes, like a mirror, but also long and curled horns.

It’s probably just for decoration and it likely doesn’t have any significance whatsoever, but personally I believe it would be pretty cool if when they eventually release plague ancient it at least somewhat resembled this skull.

EDIT 28/06: On second thought, the skull doesn’t seem to have two pairs of eyes, It just has the generic shape of a carnivore.

Rock bottom

CAPTAINPLANET

…this is CAPTAINPLANET. Somehow, user “Decres”' managed to overlay a Fae skin on top of a Tundra, creating this horrifyingly fascinating abomination.

I have no idea how she did this, and she seems pretty adamant to tell.

EDIT 28/06: People have pointed out that this skin overlay glitch was actually somewhat common (although I still haven't found another dragon like CAPTAINPLANET). What you had to do was breed change a dragon while attaching a skin to them in another tab.

This glitch has been patched and such thing is no longer possible.

Lair 46264

A cursed lair.

Dreams

I’ve seen a lot of people, both on forums and on Tumblr, sharing dreams they had about Flight Rising.

A lot of people dream of just being on the site, while occasionally weird things happen.

I’ve read of people who dreamed the distribution of a new breed, buying an exclusive item, a new Fiona feat or Swipp trade, or just browsing the forums.

The most common type of Flight rising-associated dream I’ve seen however is being caught multiaccounting and having their account banned.

I’m no psychoanalyst, but I think it’s pretty clear that these nightmares stem from the paranoia of being banned from their beloved petsite instead of showing any actual intention of doing the “crime” in question.

Anyways, I think it’s fascinating how so many people dream about this site, and it reminds me of the dreams people claimed to have about Mario 64 where completely new levels were added or a scary monster appeared.

Dragon Slime

Dragon Slime was an infamous thread which was supposed to be start off point for an ARG.

It was deleted because it was considered too “spammy” and also because ARGs are banned from the forums. The thread has been lost, unfortunately.

EDIT 28/06: Thanks to @randompurple-fr for providing screenshots of the dragon slime tutorial! You can find them here

Cucumber

Cucumber is the only dragon ever to have been exalted with a skin, which is something that should not be possible. This raises some questions as to what exactly did the person that exalted them do to achieve this, but we have no way of knowing who Cucumber belonged to.

EDIT 28/06: Actually, we do know who used to Cucumber belonged to! Its owner was Osiem: an official flight rising artist. I couldn’t find the thread where they(?) acknowledged the glitch though, if someone has it please let me know!

[another-tmnt-writer]

Truth or Dare?

Raphael x Reader

Author: Admin Mo

Summary: When Mikey needs another actor for his film project, Raph gets roped into it. He didn’t, however, expect for his costar to be so cool.

Note: There are not NEARLY enough college au fics for the bayverse boys, so have this as my first contribution. <3

Warnings: Swears, mentions of drinking, plenty of fluff

Word Count: 3.9k

“Raph, PLEEEEEAAAASE!!!” Mikey folded his hands together, pleading. “We need actors for our project and our group members can’t be in it.”

Mikey, as part of his endeavor to explore every creative program at the university the turtles were currently attending, was taking a filmmaking class. And, as a part of that class, he and his fellow classmates were required to make short projects in order to learn the basics of filmmaking, from writing to directing to using the equipment to editing. As an added bonus because his professor was so especially cruel, none of the people in his group could appear in his project, and while they had managed to recruit some of their classmates to fill in the smaller roles, one of the main roles was still unclaimed.

Raph scoffed. “Mikey, you know I can’t act for shit.”

“You don’t have to actually be good at it!” He pleaded. “You should see some of the other projects. No one in the program is good at acting.”

Raph was quiet for a second, his large arms crossed in front of him, thinking. “How long is it gonna take?”

“Few hours.” Mikey shrugged. He raised an eyebrow. “And your costar is really, really hot.”

Raph sighed, disgruntled. “When?”

“YES! DUDE THANK YOU SO MUCH! YOU WON’T REGRET IT!” Mikey ran and returned with a script and a schedule, shoving it into his older brother’s hands. “We film tomorrow!”

Raph’s eyes widened. “TOMORROW?!”

***

Raph went with Mikey to where the rest of his group was meeting to film their project. He hadn’t really had time to look at the script and Mikey assured him that they’d be filming in small enough chunks that he wouldn’t need to have very much memorized at a time. He also didn’t really know what kind of movie it was and he didn’t care; he just couldn’t wait until it was over.

A few minutes after they arrived, so did his costar. And god, he couldn’t stop staring. Mikey was right. God, why was Mikey always right?

“I am so sorry I’m late. The bus almost hit a pedestrian and it was a whole thing.” You apologized.

“Don’t worry about it!” Mikey waved off your concern. “This is my brother, Raph.”

“Nice to meet you, Raph. I’m (Y/N).” You introduced, a warm smile on your face.

Raph didn’t miss the way your eyes lingered on him, but instead of the looks disdain he usually got, instead it seemed to be curiosity. Awe, even? Weird, he decided, but not unwelcome.

It was a long, awkward moment before he realized he’d better respond. “Oh, uh, nice to meet you too.”

“Um, you guys can get to know each other a little better. We’ve gotta get the equipment set up.” Mikey said, leaving the two of you on your own.

The filming location was a place you were very familiar with: the library. Particularly, in front of the cozy little coffee shop in the library.

“I didn’t really, uh, look at the script, but I’m guessing they needed a monster for a horror movie or something…” Raph flipped through the pages, skimming.

“It’s a rom com.” You corrected quietly. “I’m the main character. You’re the love interest.”

If Raph could physically blush, he was sure his cheeks would rival the color of his mask. “…Oh.”

“Is that alright?” You asked.

“Oh! Yeah, yeah it’s fine, I just…” He chuckled to himself. “I ain’t ever acted in anything before, let alone anything romantic.”

“It’s not too much, I don’t think.” You reassured him. “I’m pretty sure the most they’ll have us do is awkwardly brush hands. It’s a coffee shop meet-cute.”

“Gotcha.” And while he was relieved, he was also a little…disappointed? Huh. Weird. “So, uh, what’s yer major?”

“I’m a film major. I’m in Mikey’s class and they needed actors, so I’m paying it forward in case I need someone in my project. What’s yours?”

“I’m undecided. Just, uh, taking some time to figure things out, you know. I never really had any…school experience before this.”

“That’s a lot to adjust to.”

“Yeah, it is. I’m getting used to it, though.”

“That’s good! If you need any help with anything, let me know. I’ve picked up a bunch of good tips and tricks.”

He chuckled. “I will, thanks.”

“Do you have snapchat?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“One second.” You fished your phone out of your bag and unlocked it, opening the app to your snapcode, which he scanned and added you. “There you go.”

“Thanks.”

“Of course.”

Raph took some more time reading over the script to get the gist of the scene and you were right. Indeed, it was a rom com. Not his preferred genre, by any means, but maybe he’d warm up to it a bit over the course of the day.

“Hey (Y/N)?” Mikey called from over where they had the camera set up on the tripod. “Do you know how to white-balance this thing? Everything is orange for some reason. Which is a great color, but I’m sure Smith will dock us points for it.”

“Oh, I’ve got you.” You nodded. You looked up at Raph, your purse in hand. “Will you hold this for a second?”

“Uh, yeah. Sure.” He nodded, holding out a giant three-fingered hand to take the bag from you. He watched you walk over to where the rest of the group was standing, crowded around the camera. You worked your magic, shuffling through the menu and helping adjust the camera correctly. Raph couldn’t stop staring. You looked so focused. So passionate. He could tell you really liked film and everything it entailed and he wished he could just find something he cared about as much as you cared about your major.

“Awesome.” He heard Mikey say, his eyes fixed on the camera’s screen. “Thanks!”

“Of course!” You walked back over to where Raph was and he handed you your bag back. “Thank you.”

“Yeah, no problem.” He opened his mouth to say something else, but Mikey walked over to the two of you.

“You guys ready? I think we’re good to start now.”

“All set.” You confirmed, giving him a thumbs-up, and Raph nodded.

***

Raph might have to reconsider his stance on this acting thing. Did he think he was all that good at it? No. But so long as he had you as a costar, he’d act willingly in any project Mikey (or you) needed him for. And at the end of the shoot, he ended up having a really good time. So much so that when you guys were all done, he was…sad. Like, really sad about it.

You parted ways. You weren’t in any of his classes, so Raph wasn’t really sure if he’d see you around that much. And he didn’t see you around…until a few weeks later.

He was at the library studying with his brothers at their favorite table when suddenly, his phone buzzed, a message from snapchat coming in. He looked at the notification, doing a double-take when he read your name there. And when he reached to answer it, he moved too fast and knocked his shell-shaped cell phone off of the table.

Shit.

He bent down to pick it up and when he opened the snapchat, he was surprised to see…the back of his shell? It was captioned: “I spy with my little eye…Something red and green 😉”

Immediately, he whipped around, and sure enough, nestled in a table by the windows was you, looking at him over the top of your laptop screen. You giggled when he spotted you, waving.

Raph nudged Mikey, who was sitting across from him and Mikey traced Raph’s eyeline to where you were, his face immediately lighting up.

“Oh! Hey (Y/N)!” Mikey waved. “You wanna sit with us?”

“Is that alright?”

“Hell yeah!” Mikey motioned you over. “The more the merrier! We can pull up a chair over here on the end.”

So, you gathered your stuff while the guys rearranged some things, putting you on the end of the table, right between Mikey and Raph. When you got over there, you noticed they were sitting with the other two giant mutated turtles on campus, who you had heard of, but hadn’t met yet.

“(Y/N), these are our brothers. Leo’s over there in the blue, our fearless leader. And this is Donatello, the one we go to for homework help.”

“Not tonight you aren’t. This paper is due at midnight and it is…” Donnie glanced down at the clock on his laptop and as soon as he did, he started typing impossibly faster. “Eleven thirty-seven. Do not look at me or breathe in my direction.”

“Noted.” Mikey nodded, a trace of fear in his eyes.

“Nice to meet you, (Y/N). You’re in one of Mikey’s classes, right?”

“Yep! I’m in his film class.” You smiled, taking a sip of your iced coffee. “I got the pleasure of costarring with this one.” You nudged Raph lightly, causing him to smile the most genuine smile Mikey had ever seen on his older brother’s face.

Huh. Mikey took note, something devious stirring in the back of his mind. Interesting…

“What did you get on that, by the way?” You asked.

“We got an A! Well, Minus. But you know how Smith is.”

“Dude that’s awesome!” You bumped your fist against his. “Good job. I’m pretty sure my group got a B, but we’re not mad about it. C’s get degrees, as they say.”

“Cheers to that.” Leo chuckled.

“What are you working on today, Raph?” You asked, tilting your head in a way that sent his heart racing in a way he could not explain.

“I have a paper for my Writing 150 class.”

“Oof that sucks. Who do you have?”

“Trainor.”

“Ouch. She hated me.” You grimaced, shaking your head. “She found out I was bi and it was all over for me.”

“Did you report her? I’m pretty sure you can report her for that sort of thing.” Raph asked, trying not to get heated over it. He was pretty sure she didn’t like him very much either, but it was probably due to the fact that he was a giant green turtle. “That’s bullshit.”

“I’m in the process of that right now.” You nodded. “She’s a bitch. I don’t know if they’ll actually do anything about it though.”

“Keep me posted. I might file something too if she doesn’t stop glaring at me during class.” Raph grumbled. “It’s annoying.”

“That would be annoying. Her beady little eyes glaring at you for two agonizing hours of ‘This is how to correctly use a comma’.”

He chuckled. “Yeah. It is.”

You glanced at your phone, which buzzed with a text from one of your roommates. “Oh! Uh, do you guys have any plans this weekend?”

“Nope. Why?” Mikey asked, curiosity seeping into his voice.

“My roommate is throwing a party, if you guys wanna come. It’ll be pretty chill. Drinks, pizza, some music.”

“Oh hell yes.” Mikey nodded. He looked at Leo. “Leo, can we?”

“I don’t see why not.” Leo shrugged. “Sounds like a good time.”

“Is there a dress code?” Mikey asked. Now that he was finally allowed to socialize, he didn’t want to fuck it up.

“Nope. Just casual. Come as you are.”

“Do you need us to bring anything?”

“If you guys have a drink of choice, bring that, I guess, but otherwise, my roommate’s boyfriend works at a pizza place, so we get a pretty good discount and we have literally so much wine.”

“That’s amazing.” Mikey nodded, making a mental note to look into jobs at a pizza place later.

“We’ll bring a veggie tray.” Donnie said, his fingers flying across the keyboard of his laptop until finally, he stopped. “I finished, by the way.”

“Good job, dude!” Mikey gave him a thumbs up. “You wanna write mine next?”

“Ha.” Donnie stared at him. “Funny.”

“What’s your paper on, Raph? Maybe I can help.”

Raph turned his laptop towards you. “We have to write it about like growing up. You can, uh, read it if you want. I don’t mind. I’m kinda stuck right now anyway.”

“Okay.” You agreed, switching his laptop for yours. You winked. “Trade ya.”

“What are you writing about?” He asked, scrolling to the top of your document.

“Women in Film.” You shot finger guns at him. “I’m about to make some Film Bois REALLLL mad.”

“Roast ‘em, (Y/N).” Mikey laughed, knowing all too well exactly which film boys you were talking about. He was not a fan.

“That’s the plan.” You chuckled and then started reading over Raph’s paper. You had known before meeting them that they hadn’t exactly had the best childhood, but…wow was it eye-opening reading the experience from his eyes. “Holy shit.”

“That bad?” He joked, trying to read your expression.

“No, it’s…Raph, this is really good, but wow. You guys went through a lot, huh?”

“Yeah…” He shrugged. “It wasn’t all bad, but it sure wasn’t normal by any means.”

“Mmm…” You nodded, looking up at him. “I mean, normal is kinda overrated.”

He chuckled. “I’m glad ya think so. Not many people do.”

You shrugged, smiling softly. “Well, it’s a good thing I’m not like many people.”

***

“(Y/N), this place is as clean as it’s gonna get. It’s a party. It’ll be messed up in,” your roommate, Haley, glanced down at her watch, “like twenty minutes.”

“I know, I just…I’m nervous. These guys are basically superheroes. I want to make a good impression.”

“Fair point.”

You swept the kitchen floor and got out the cutest paper plates you had in the cupboard as well as some solo cups and plastic wine glasses. If you could avoid broken glass today, that was probably the move.

The doorbell buzzed and your heart raced, but it was just your other roommate’s boyfriend with the pizza.

“Is Darcy here?” He asked.

“She’s upstairs getting ready, you explained, helping him get the pizza and breadsticks and everything set up on the counter. He’d also brought a few two-liters of Pepsi, which was good. You put it next to the giant jug of fruit punch you’d bought at the grocery store. It was important to make sure your non-drinking friends had something to drink, too.

A few minutes after, guests started arriving. Darcy came downstairs and started up her iconic party playlist. Your neighbors popped in. It was easier to invite them and let them have a good time with you than have them call security on you guys for throwing a party, even if it was the weekend and it was only nine.

You turned off the lamps in the living room and instead set your strip lights to party mode, causing them to cycle through a bunch of colors in time with the music. It was then that the doorbell rang again and you rushed to the mirror to check yourself once more. You adjusted your hair, straightened out your top, and checked your teeth for food. Nope, you were good.

So, with the rest of the hosts distracted, you opened the door. On the other side of it were four tall, green gentlemen, one of them carrying a veggie tray.

“Hey guys, come on in!”

You moved out of the way so they could step inside.

Mikey’s eyes widened, looking into the living room full of dancing college kids. “Woahhhhh this is awesome!”

“Glad you think so.” You laughed. “There’s food and drinks in here, the bathroom is in the hallway, and everyone else seems to be either in the living room or the back yard.”

“Where do you want this veggie tray?” Donnie asked.

“Thank you so much for bringing this, by the way! You can set it over by the pizza boxes. I can get a spoon for the dip.” You said, walking towards the silverware drawer and producing a spoon while Donnie popped the lid off of the plastic serving tray and opened up the dip. You handed him the spoon.

The guys were each sporting their signature color, but they were wearing clothes you hadn’t seen them in before. Usually, Raph liked to wear a large gray hoodie, but today, he was sporting a black t-shirt and an impossibly large red flannel with some jeans. It looked good on him. Like, really good.

Apparently, he was thinking the same thing, because as soon as you were free, he walked up to you and nudged you gently. “You look really good.”

Your cheeks flushed with warmth and you wished you could blame it on wine, but you hadn’t even had a sip yet. “Thanks. You clean up pretty nice yourself.”

Had you worn a red top on purpose? Yes, absolutely. Would you admit to it, though? No, definitely not.

But Mikey noticed. Oh, Mikey noticed everything. And he couldn’t help but think that you and his older brother would make quite the couple. Maybe there was something he could do to just…give it a little push.

***

The time came later, when the party was finally starting to wind down. Some people had left. Your neighbors had gone home, and you’d switched the strip lights to a light, warm color. You’d also switched the upbeat party playlist for something chill to play in the background. The remaining partygoers were all settled in a circle in the living room, eating whatever pizza was left, sipping on box wine, and playing a game of truth or dare.

“Haley, truth or dare?” Darcy challenged.

“Truth.”

“Okay…Fuck, Marry, Kill: Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth and…..Chris Pine.”

“DAMN.” She cursed. “You can’t do that to me. Shit. Uh…Fuck Chris…Hemsworth. Marry Chris…Pine? And—”

“Don’t you do it!” You warned.

“Kill Chris Evans.”

“Noooooooooo!” You whined, taking a sip of your drink. The rest of the group laughed. “Poor Captain America.”

“Rest in pieces, Cap.” She agreed, shaking her head. “Okay…Mikey, truth or dare.”

“Dare.” Mikey answered quickly. He always picked dare, so in the fifth round of the game, it wasn’t much of a surprise.

“I dare you…to take a shot of straight lemon juice.”

“Easy peasy.” Mikey scoffed, pouring himself a shot and downing it.

You watched as his face contorted at the sour, sour taste. You couldn’t help but giggle a little at that.

“Good job, Mikey.” Donnie laughed, dipping a piece of broccoli in dip before popping it into his mouth.

“Taking it like a champ.” Leo added, nodding.

“Alright, my turn?” Mikey asked, looking around the circle for his victim, pretending he hadn’t been planning this since round one. “(Y/N). Truth or dare?”

You thought about it for a second. How easy it would be to just choose truth again, but for some reason, you were feeling a little brave, so instead, you picked, “Dare.”

“Oooooooh,” the circle said, all of them a little surprised by that choice.

“Okay. Alright.” Mikey rubbed his hands together mischievously. All according to plan. “I dare you to kiss the hottest person in the room.”

“OOOOOOOHHHH!” The circle all stared at you and you thought for a second, a smirk settling on your features.

“Oh that’s easy.” You got up and crossed the circle until you were standing in front of Raph. Even sitting down, he was almost your height. “Think I could get a kiss?”

Raph stared up at you, shocked, waiting for you to say Sike! HAHA! Did you actually think I thought you were hot?! Loser!

But you never did, instead looking down at him with sincerity, patience. Were you a little…nervous, even?

“Why me?” He whispered, his eyes fixed on you. There were plenty of good-looking human guys still there, and yet you were certain. Unwavering. Then, louder, he asked, his heart absolutely fighting to get out of his chest, “Are you sure?”

“Positive.” You nodded, starting to lean closer. Once you were most of the way in, you let him meet you in the middle, your soft human lips meeting his, which were, you had to admit, way softer than you thought they would be.

Raphael kissed you like you were made of glass, like if he moved too fast, you would shatter. It was his first kiss, after all, and he didn’t want to fuck it up.

When it finally ended, you walked back to your seat in the circle, your cheeks rosy, heart racing. Haley gave you a nudge and you giggled, your stomach filled with butterflies. The rest of the game went along with little fanfare, and once everyone was tired enough, the apartment cleared out even more, leaving just your roommates, Darcy’s boyfriend, and the turtles, who insisted on helping clean everything up. Well, it had been Leo’s idea, but the rest had agreed to stick around to help.

You volunteered to go out into the backyard to pick up all of the stray solo cups and White Claw cans. You hated litter. You worked out there alone for a bit. As you bent down to pick up the last can you heard the signature screech of the sliding door opening.

Raph squeezed through the narrow doorway, cursing his shell for making him so damn wide.

“Hey,” you said softly, tucking a piece of hair behind your ear. Your voice was almost swallowed up by the sounds of the choir of crickets outside.

“Hey.” He closed the sliding door. “Can we talk?”

“Yeah, of course.” You nodded, tying off the trash bag you were using to collect garbage. “How was your first college party?”

“It was great. Really, really great.” He said, taking slow steps through the grass towards you. “Um…I…did you mean what you said? Earlier.”

“What do you mean?”

“When you…was I really…” he laughed at the absurdity of it. “You think I’m hot?”

“I do.” You nodded. “Of course I do.”

“I’m sorry if I find that a little hard to believe.” He shook his head, stopping right in front of you. When he was standing in front of you like this, he was remined of just how big he was compared to you, just how much he towered over you. Just how different you were. “I’m just used to the opposite reaction.”

“Believe it.” You reached forward and took his hand in yours, gripping one of his giant green fingers.

“I’m trying to.” He chuckled and fiddled with your little hand, nervous. “You know, uh…that was my first kiss in there. I wasn’t too awful, was I?”

“I didn’t mean to steal your first one.” You laughed softly. “Sorry. But to answer your question, I thought it was perfect.”

“That’s a relief.” He was quiet for a moment, thinking. “Uh…If it’s alright with ya…I’d like to give you my second kiss, too.”

Instead of answering, you took another step closer, looking up, up, up into his piercing green eyes. “You’re gonna have to come down here; I can’t reach.”

He laughed. “Right.” Raph craned his neck down, one of his large hands tilting your face up towards his so he could meet you in the middle for another perfect kiss.

***

“What are you doing?” Leo asked Mikey, who was peering through the blinds into the back yard of the apartment.

Mikey only grinned proudly, nodding to himself. “Works every time…”

[sweetsyncraft]

SweetSyn’s Guide To Etsy

(I will add more as I learn more) 

When I officially started my Etsy in 2018, I had no idea what I was doing. I’ve constantly had people asking me what tips I had for getting started. Unfortunately, I told them you needed a following to make sales. Boy was I wrong. SEO is the key. Buckle up, I’m going to learn you a few things. (I’m Texan don’t judge me for that sentence.)

“Search Engine Optimization”, which is the reason when you search for something on Etsy, you see a bunch of bland titles. Being Creative with titles will only hurt you. You need to have targeted, keyword-based titles and tags, to make sure you end up at the top of the food chain. 

Listing Titles

This part is long due to the fact that I never knew how important this was.

The best way to do this is to start typing in what you’re selling into the Etsy search bar. Any related autocomplete phrases that are related to the pop-up list, is what should be in your title. (Keyword 1 - Keyword 2 - Keyword 3 - Keyword 4) and so forth. For example, I simply clicked on the search bar and it gave me a list of the current most popular searches. One of them was marble earrings, and the first listing had the best selling badge. Their title was “Handmade Polymer Clay Marble Triangle Earrings | Minimalist Geometric Earrings | Hypoallergenic Surgical Steel Stud | Multiple Size”. The second listing, from another shop, was “Marble Stud Earrings, Marble Jewelry, Round Stud Earrings, Wedding Stud Earrings, Marble Studs, Statement Studs, Minimalist Studs”. 

I know how tempting it is to come up with a clever name for your listing, but Etsy doesn’t like that. Putting a long title full of keywords makes it more likely for someone to see your listing without searching through 240 pages. Yes, there were exactly 240 pages of marble earrings. The last one, way at the end was simply titled “Rosé Marble Earrings”. I don’t know about you, but I have no idea how to put that little mark over the ‘e’ when typing on a computer. 

The second part of this is being more specific than just ‘marble earrings’. If someone is looking for something more specific than marble earrings they’re going to search more of what they want. This is how you separate yourself from everyone else on those 240 pages. The two listings I found were round studs and the other was geometric triangles. Maybe I hate circles, and I specifically want triangles, so I search “marble triangle earrings”. That’s in the title of the first listing, I’m going to find that listing. 

DO NOT PUT YOUR SKU’S IN YOUR TITLES! You will lose sales because of this. Your title is very important, no one is going to be searching “866798Q”

Additionally, Etsy will not show more than one or two items per seller on any given page of search results. That way smaller shops have a bit more of a chance. Make sure you’re targeting different keywords per listing, or you’ll be competing with yourself. 

After a few months, go into your listing analytics to see which keywords are getting that listing more views. You may find that your main keyword, or the first few words in your title, isn’t working as well as another one. If something is working better, make it the first part of the title, and you should even more views. 

Adding titles in other languages will not help your listing. Etsy automatically translates for other languages. 

I’ve seen a few people say that Etsy has changed and that they don’t like ‘title stuffing’. However, that’s not the case in what I’ve seen. The entire first two pages of marble earrings were nothing but long ‘stuffed’ titles. 

This is a comment from an admin of one of the Etsy Facebook groups I’m in, he is a social media marketer: 

“YES title stuffing is bad and you should not do it, because Etsy & Google do not count that as quality SEO.

However, we must first understand exactly what "Title Stuffing or Keyword Stuffing" really is.

Keyword stuffing is when someone fills a webpage (in this case an Etsy title) with the same keywords they want to rank for, over and over again in hopes that the more times they use the keywords the more relevant Etsy and Google will see their page or listing.”

...

“Now as far as your Etsy title goes you should absolutely use your keywords, but not repeated over and over again, while also keeping a non-robotic tone.

2 examples of title stuffing:

1. Title stuffing for one specific keyword, example (baby shirt): Cute Baby Shirt | Baby Shirt | Boy Baby Shirt | Soft Baby Shirt | Matching Baby Shirt | Baby Shirt Gift

Basically stuffing the same word over and over again.

2. Title stuffing for the maximum keywords: Comfy Baby Shirt, comfortable, for boys, for girls, gifts, cheap, organic, cotton, romper, jumpsuits, newborn, baby clothes

Both of these examples are using spammy tricks to rank high. But this will not work and both Etsy and Google will ignore you.

You want your title to sound fluent and not like a robot while using your keywords.

Also, you want to avoid changing up your titles too much, because your listings SEO needs to season a bit for maximum effectiveness.”

Tags 

A major thing that I have learned over this process is that your tags must be written in sentences and not individual words. For example instead of marble, earring, earrings, geometric, geometrical, your tags should be Marble Earrings, Studded Earrings, Geometric Jewelry. MOST IMPORTANTLY! Use ALL 13 tags! Think about what makes your product unique, you don’t need to repeat categories and attributes. You also don’t need to use the same keywords as your title, unless you want to highlight a certain keyword. Tags and titles that do not relate to your listing, can have a negative impact on your visibility. 

Fill out everything you can on the listing, such as categories and attributes, which also act like tags. The more you fill out the more likely someone will find your listings. 

Adding tags in other languages will not help your listing. Etsy automatically translates for other languages. 

Pricing

Be mindful of everyone else’s prices, customers are not only going to look for quality, but also the best deal. Though, you don’t want to end up making a negative profit. 

Cost of goods (per product) + Profit (I like to do the cost of supplies x2) + Shipping (if you’re doing free shipping)  = Price

The reason I double the dost of supplies for my profit is for in case something goes wrong, I still made a little money for my time. You made need to adjust this to compete with other sellers.  

Shipping

Etsy gives priority to listings with free shipping in the search results, it also sounds a bit better to the customer. Don’t worry you won’t lose out on money by offering it, all you have to do is include the shipping cost in the price. 

However, if you do plan on offering international shipping, I recommend charging for it. I live in Texas, and it costs $8 dollars to ship a sticker to Canada. Whereas shipping to Maine only costs 70 cents. 

Play around with shipping options, it took me a long time to learn that sending stickers as a letter, instead of a package or flat envelope, is MUCH cheaper. The downside, there is no tracking number. So I only recommend this for items that are very cheap to remake. 

Photos

Your product photo is the first thing that is going to be seen when someone is searching for an item. I made the major mistake of not caring what my photos looked like for the longest time. From lazily taking a screenshot of my Cricut design space for a decal listing, to setting my mugs on my tacky paint-covered table. Don’t do this, make your photos look professional. Now I’m not saying go hire a photographer to take your photos. Simply lining a bix with paper, or draping a sheet over a chair can create a perfect backdrop.  

Put your best photo first. 

A 2017 survey showed that 90% of Etsy shoppers said the photo quality was very important in their decision making. Think about it as, if you don’t take the time for quality photos, that most likely means you’re not taking the time to make quality products. 

When posting your photos on the web browser version of Etsy, your image needs to be at least 2000 pixels wide. A simple way to fix this, the way I do, is resizing the photo in Paint 3D or a photo editor. Another way is simply making the listing on the mobile app because it won’t have that requirement. 

Description

I don’t know if this is true, but I’ve heard it from a few people, repeat your title in the description. 

This is yet another thing I struggled with. I felt that the title said enough, what more was there to explain about a car decal, other than the size? Well, a lot. Now I’m not saying be one of those annoying recipe pages, that gives their life story before getting to the ingredients and the actual recipe. Just make sure it tells exactly what the customer expects to receive. 

Don’t copy someone else’s description, develop your own voice. Give all the details you can about your product, because just like policies, this can save you from something going wrong. The customer isn’t able to touch your product and get a full feel of what it is. A well-written description can be the make or break of a sale. 

Play 20 questions with yourself. 

Reviews

You’re bound to get a bad review at some point. Don’t let it be the thing that shuts you down, and ruins your shop. Message the customer and see what you can do to change their review. If you can’t change it, don’t worry. Learn and improve from it. When looking at reviews, I hardly ever take the negative ones seriously, unless there’s a lot of them. If you have 50 good reviews and 5 negatives, you’re going to be okay. 

Sometimes you have to take the hit and lose some profit. Say their package gets lost in the mail, and there’s nothing that can be done about it. You may have to refund them or send them another. Something I’ve always done to keep customers happy, if something goes wrong I send a small freebie with the replacement. Usually, it’s something extra that I have laying around. 

Marketing

Social Media is your best friend! Use everything you can, and HASHTAGS! HASHTAGS! HASHTAGS! Before I even started TikTok or Etsy, I wanted to have a huge Instagram following. I ended up with 1,000 followers, just by using a ton of hashtags. No matter what site you’re using, if it allows you, use every hashtag under the sun. This is where you can get extra with it, especially Instagram and Tumblr where you don’t have a limit. Just make sure you separate it from your caption. 

Using social media to grow a following can help so much! I would never have made it through 2020 without my following. Seeing a more personal side of you can help a lot, and you’ll even make some amazing friends along the way! The most rewarding thing is when you’re told you inspired someone to start making arts and crafts or living their dream. 

Other Information

Make sure your policies are clear. If you do not offer refunds or returns, and a customer reports you for not refunding them, this will save you!  

Experiment with things, see what works best for you! Having a following and ignoring all of this worked for me for two years. Eventually, my TikTok views dwindled, meaning sales went with it.

The more items you have listed, the more likely you are to be seen. Try to post something new once a month. Additionally, the more you have the more likely someone that found exactly what they wanted, will buy more from you. If they see something else they like while looking at one item, you’re making more money.

Categories are much easier to do on a web browser. All you have to do is type in what your listing and it will give you suggestions. Mobile Etsy is nearly impossible to figure out where to list decals and stickers. You’d never guess to look in electronics, would you?

Helpful Sites

https://keywordseverywhere.com/

https://www.thesaurus.com/

https://erank.com/ 

https://www.keysearch.co/

https://www.keywordtooldominator.com/

https://seller.tools/

Resources

https://printify.com/blog/2020-etsy-seo-secrets-all-you-need-to-know/

[pitiless-achilles-wept]

Shake It Off: Love and thanks to the cast of SAA 2019

Hello friends, I've just returned from a week in Washington DC where I spent a few days at the Folger Shakespeare Library followed by a few days at my all-time favorite conference, the annual meeting of the Shakespeare Association of America. I would say that it's like Comic Con for Shakespeareans but there's a lot less cosplay (no, we're not a Ren Faire) and a lot more intellectually crunchy panels featuring the newest scholarship by brilliant scholars in the field. Some people in my position would, I'm sure, not be so invested in attending an academic conference that they spent the night before their first chemo treatment completing the paper in time for the participation deadline (perhaps the most on-brand thing I have ever done). They're occasions that we often grouse about, after all: the timing is bad; the flights and hotels are expensive; the schedule is too packed; the program doesn't have what we want on it; we have to grade/prepare lessons/do admin work when we get home. Admittedly, this is a more fun conference than many and I see a lot less general grumpiness about it than some I could name (*cough* MLA *cough*). It does share a little bit of the carnival atmosphere of Comic Con, culminating in a dance on the last night that could feel hokey (and does to some people...the conference is divided pretty sharply between dance-attenders and dance non-attenders) but which gives me the kind of warm feelings of kinship that you get from dancing at a wedding. Like: ah, nerdy as they are, this is my family.

[Below the cut: thoughts and thanks to the members of my profession.]

Perhaps this trip was kind of a weird thing for someone with Stage 4 cancer to be doing. I have, potentially, precious little time in this world (even in the best case scenario it's far less time than I'd anticipated) so why spend so much of it on work? The simple answer is that, with less time, it has become all the more important to spend it doing the things that make me feel the most like myself. And that means a trip to a rare books library where I can spend 8 hours a day combing through 400-year-old plays in search of annotations. It means doing a survey cross-indexing my list of plays against the library catalog while listening to all the Girl Talk albums in succession. It means the giddy satisfaction of closing out the library and going to happy hour with my fellow researchers. It means 10-hour conference days where I work hard and play hard and take copious notes in appreciation of my friends' and colleagues' fantastic minds (and maybe sneak a nap in my hotel room during the late-afternoon slump). And it means closing out the weekend with a community that has stepped up in incredible support of me in the time since I've made my diagnosis public in a way I did not expect and am profoundly grateful for - a fact which is the point of this post. I found myself in the hotel bar somewhere in the neighborhood of 2am on Sunday morning, quite literally weak in the knees from so much dancing, guzzling water and keeping company with colleagues who I've come to call friends as we all, exhaustedly, said repeatedly "we should go to bed" and subsequently did not. There was a real last-day-of-camp vibe that infused the whole thing with preemptive nostalgia for the time--so soon!--when we would not be together in the same place. This is the thing about assembling in person only for a few days every year. There is never enough time to catch up one-on-one (or even many-on-many) among the events of the days. It's both the best and worst part of attending a conference where your colleagues are also friends. You're left wanting more time, more conversation, more connection. Many conversations and much of the friendship continues over various forms of social media, which I have a very deep attachment to and which has helped me make it through these years of instability and separation from people I care about. Some people regard social media or blogs (like this one) as a stand-in or poor substitute for the intimacy of real-world friendships. But for someone like me who became a teenager at the same time instant messaging apps came into existence (shoutout to AIM!) and who has had the repeated experience of developing a friendship or a friend group only to have to bid farewell to its members they are a godsend. They are a conduit for intimacy, fostering it but not replacing it. At this conference I had the unusual and somewhat surreal experience of having people--some of whom I knew well, some of whom only in passing or from Twitter, some not at all--reach out and thank me for writing and sharing so much of myself. Some of them had been through something similar, either on their own or with a loved one. Others hadn't but wanted me to know that my experience had affected them and that they were on my side, hoping along with me for things to get better. I was moved almost to tears several times because, in that way that happens when you write and then post into the void, I wasn't sure anyone was listening. But they were and responded with manifold kindness. It seemed somehow symbolic of my experience with the academic profession overall. It can seem cold and empty, as we are all separated by space and time (especially the lack of it). And when we speak into it not as a professional academic but as a person the likelihood of getting any response, let alone a positive one, seems so slim. That is, I think, why revealing so much of myself on here seemed somewhat risky to me and would to many people. We cultivate very carefully our professional selves, even in casual interactions, because the line between the personal and the professional is so blurry in academia. Often we use this fact to impute great skepticism to our readers (our colleagues); better not to show any vulnerability in case someone, some day, may want to hire you and who would want to hire a vulnerable human being? But in this case I've seen the other side of that grey area. I found a wealth of empathy where I did not expect it. And that as much as anything has made me want to keep working, to keep writing, to stay in this academic community. Your continued and continual support has really sustained me. I do recognize, however, that one reason I'm able to share all this is that I have a secure job. I think I would still be posting about my experience in any case simply because it isn't in my nature not to share thoughts on the most important thing in my life. But I also know that it's my privilege to be able to do so, to even have the choice. And it is a choice that I have made in smaller ways in the past too. I still recall several years ago during one of my turns on the academic job market when I received an unsolicited email from someone I did not know (although we had a friend in common) informing me that my Twitter account was unprofessional and that I was likely writing myself out of a job. Of course, I cracked my knuckles and wrote a pointed reply about how I had quite literally written a dissertation on the concept of the public sphere and thought very carefully about what I wanted to put in public or not and, what's more, that it was only for me to decide and not for him to arbitrate. (For the record, I do not consider my account "unprofessional" since it is a purely personal account from which I sometimes tweet about work-related things. Also for the record, this person wrote back with an apology.) But that fear, stoked by incidents like that, would keep many junior people (or even senior people) from publicly showing their wounds--literal and figurative--in a situation like this. I am glad to be able to speak. I am more than glad that someone is listening. As I return home from the conference, prepared to resume chemo again on Thursday, I feel sadness and trepidation, sure, but I do also feel energized and supported, raised up by a larger community of far-flung friends, colleagues, acquaintances; people I've never met face-to-face and people who are an integral part of my daily life. Friends, academics, Shakespeareans, you are a wonderful bunch. Thank you for making this trip and this conference an occasion to recharge and return to fight another day.

[dcwastelands]

Throwback Theurgist Event - Jan 1, 2018

Eevelion: It was roughly noon as the crowd finished gathering in the meeting hall a tall sharply dressed scientist stepped up to the podium, adjusting his tie and glasses before straightening a stack of papers in his hands, clearing his throat, and adjusting his glasses again before addressing the crowd “Alright, is this all the attendants? Mediocre turnout, but sufficable. Anyway, onto business, at eleven-hundred hours this morning a ghost was found to have escaped lab containment, on checking the surveillance cameras, the closest time we can point to it having escaped was around ten-hundred hours. Now on-” As they were about to continue another scientist, this one smaller and significantly more energetic than their stick-in-the-mud colleague, ran up to their side and started pushing him away from the podium “Shoo, you weren't supposed to be handling this briefing, the effects still haven't worn off.” The male scientist was somewhat resistant at first but relented shortly after, yelling back at the admin as he head off into a back room “I'll be telling HR about this!”As the admin took her place at the podium she pat some dust off her coat and gave a sigh before continuing “Okay, sorry about that, okay let's see, he gave the times, well, military time, It was found to have escaped at 11-o-clock and the cameras said it got out at 10-o-clock, just so we're clear.” She gave an inquisitive look at the papers the other scientist left on the podium before wadding them up and tossing them at a nearby trash basket “Anyway, so what you saw with that guy was kind of one of the effects of the ghost we're looking for, got him while it was on its way out, I'll explain that in more detail later. So, this ghost, Throwback Theurgist is what someone in the labs named it, firstly, it can disguise itself as any sort of appliance, phones, laundry machines, radios, only problem with that disguise is that it always looks like a really outdated version of that thing, like, it could be a landline, a washing board, or a walkman respectively, that's kind of how it escaped, someone didn't notice one of those 1980's brick phones at the checkpoint. Okay, second power, it's got this tongue, usually hidden under a grille or something on whatever it's disguised as, any appliance it licks with that tongue turns into an outdated version of itself, so pretty much the same thing as its disguise ability but applied to other things.” She stopped to take a breath before continuing the briefing“Finally, last power, it's what you saw with that guy and is kind of the hardest part to explain, when people get licked by the ghost, it turns them into sort of like, a flatter version of themselves, like, they're not uhhh, fully developed as people, using our example, as you saw, he was a very boring straightlace scientist, well, last week he was balancing a hoagie on his nose among other things. Anyway, using what we know of the ghost, it's likely still in the city, probably hiding in some appliance store, we want you all to make your best effort to recapture it, it's probably one of the least destructive ghosts we have down there, so we're not authorizing you to destroy it, but feel free to rough it up a bit if it'll make capture easier. Just remember if you notice any super obsolete equipment in a store or something, that's probably where it's hiding and to keep any grilles or the like pointed away from you, if its tongue touches you this mission will be harder on everyone. There is both digital and analog ghost capture gear available for you all in the lockers, use whatever you feel will work best for you.” With her briefing concluded she head the same direction her afflicted colleague went, mumbling to herself “Stupid papers didn't even have anything written on them.”

EverSoNitro: Mous crossed her arms as she listened to the briefing, quirking an eyebrow as the first scientist was shooed off the stage. From the sound of things, this didn't seem like an especially destructive ghost, so at least PR didn't have to worry about having a lot to cover up when this was all done with. So long as her colleagues weren't running around like a bunch of lunatics, at least. But hey, this promised to be a good excuse to get out from behind her desk. She'd have to keep her phone on her though, in case her favorite radio station got wind of things while they were trying to take care of it.

Dezzy: Pendant eyed around the room with hidden caution. She would try to get to the ghost first before anyone took advantage of freedom to rough up the ghost. Poor little thing is genuinely harmless… And if Pendant could capture it first they could have it lick and transform her appliances into vintage aesthetic. A colorless TV, VCR, tapes, phone and the such would sure do nicely to gothen up her cove. She simply gave a nod at the end of meeting, striding over to Mous since she seemed one of the more reliable attendees. “Might be a good idea to search in pairs, or something, to catch Throwback,whatever.” Her tone was tonless and nonchalant, ready to get down to buisness but also with an air of dismisal.

Gigi: Ascot leaned back in her chair, arms behind her head. She let out a tiny smirk, what kind of silly prank was this? It'd be a break from the normal shenanigans in her department at least so, whatever. Being roped into stuff pertaining to research was always weird, but....apparently they needed crowd control, or something.Why couldn't they get their own succubus for this, anyway? "Hey, question," she raised her voice a bit, otherwise unmoving. "What if we're dumber than a box of rocks and don't know exactly what model of ipod from 2069 we're looking for, anyway? People are all about going retro these days, maybe it's a new Nebula s420 or something I didn't hear anything about."

Proph: Peasant Top picked his teeth with a small knife, scoffing to himself as the ghost's list of "powers" was rattled off. "I thought we'd have literal walking cannons or somethin' by now." Regardless, he was trained as a frontliner, so odd jobs like this are par from the course. Listening to Ascot's question, he was glad  all he carried on him was the aforementioned wittling blade. What can that downgrade to, raw steel?

Eevelion: Admin stopped short of leaving the room to turn to Ascot “Well, Throwback seems to only be able to disguise as and turn things into versions pre-year 2000, so it definitely won't be disguised as a smartphone at all, please use your best judgment and try not to break someone's nose to get their Blackberry or whatever.” she'd also turn to Peasant Top “The walking cannons are in a different section of research, please don't underestimate the diversity of our projects.”

Proph: "'s'fair." was his reply. Let's be fair, we all know who would issue walking cannons, or at least watch them get made, and the last thing PT wants to do is cross that amazon in ANY way. Self preservation at its finest.

EverSoNitro: Mous glanced to Pendant and nodded. "Indeed. Having a few smaller groups would help us keep a low profile out in public, I imagine a large swarm of us roving around would raise suspicion." Of course, as Ascot spoke up, she couldn't help but give out a little scoff. "Well, fortunately for those less observant among us, the... let's say more experienced and worldly among us should have an eye for such minor details, like myself, for instance. If you're not sure about something, I'd be happy to help you identify a "genuine article" from a vintage reproduction."

Gigi: She gave Mous a look that seemed just as boredly acerbic as her voice. "I'm pretty sure I can tell a gramophone from a record player, grandma."

HappyPaca: She-la was just comming out of a repair shop after getting her bike a good old fashion tune up from one of the only repair shops in city tht would take her old clunker. But  it was her old clunker and she love it. doesn't matter how old her bike gets it's still running like a dream to her. She didn't have much planned for that day so for a moment she pulled over and parked to take a drink of water and take out her phone to see if there was anything going on today.

Dezzy: Pendant knew she had picked the perfect partner for today, vintage mood board post on tumblr here she come. She was going to get sooooo many followers after this. “The mall might be a good hotspot to check out. Plenty of tech like phones, tvs, kiddy video games a plenty for it mess with and junk.” Pendant could already imagine the tears on some 10 year olds face as their precious  game console turned into gameboy classic.

EverSoNitro: Mous huffed a bit at Ascot's reply, particularly the "grandma" comment. "Well, if you discover you can't, I'll be here to assist." She nodded to Pendant. "Good thinking. And, if it does happen to be there, it shouldn't be too hard to keep it contained until we capture it."

Proph: "You always bicker like this?" Peasant Top snipes as he stood into a groaning stretch. "I know you're a bit eccentric like any celebrity, but do you even HAVE a limit?" He starts to lumber off in search of anything pre-pre Fall looking. Hopefully he remembers that capture gear? No? Yes? Maybe?

Gigi: Ascot rolled her eyes at Peasant Top's departure, good luck setting out on your own, dude.  She propelled herself into an elbows-on-knees position, looking at the others. "You two have a point though with the malls. Does anyone think more than one location is likely? Do we know anything about behavior patterns that would suggest other locations?"

Dezzy: “Car and motor dealerships might be worth checking out as well. Electronic warehouse stores too.” Ew capture work how troublesome Falda thought to herself, rounding out the edges of her nails with a file. But it couldn't be helped she guessed having rejoined HQ a few months ago. Even it seemed like grunt work given her rank with them it was fitting. She gave a small huff, slipping the file away into a pocket.

EverSoNitro: Mous squinted a bit at Peasant Top, opening her mouth to defend her bit of cattynes, but decided to drop the subject, for the sake of keeping things running smoothly. Collecting up her own capture gear, she shrugged a bit. "That would be a question for Research personel. Though that does raise the question, will someone be on-hand to assist?"

Eevelion: Throwback was enjoying its current freedom, walking down the park disguised as a heating iron as its synthetic brain replayed the objects it had devolved so far, a block back it turned a really nice stove into its cast iron counterpart and a fridge into an old icebox, while crossing the street it turned a food truck into a hot dog cart, luckily the guy was out for a smoke break and didn't get crushed when the truck compacted, that would have been grotesque. As more memories of things it recently changed played through whatever would be analogous to its head it noticed a Harley motorcycle, and its presumed owner distracted, scurrying up next to the metal beast it extended its tongue out of one of the holes in the grille of the heating iron, making a faint “Rerorerorero” sound as it licked the Harley, quickly turning it into a Penny-farthing bicycle. Not wanting to be on the receiving end of its owners wrath, Throwback waddled off, there seemed to be a neat looking mall just a block down it was interested in.

HappyPaca: Pin fixed his shirt collar some what aloof to all that was going on, he was suppose to be over seeing preparations at his restaurant that day but had to put this meeting first. "sigh, i suppose i should go check on my business to make sure the kitchen hasn't been converted to the point my sues chefs have no idea how to use the equipment" he stood up. An looked to Falada "care to look with me mon cheri?" he offered hoping to make the day more barible with a search partner.

Eevelion: When Mous asked about on-hand assistance she suddenly received a call on her phone, when she would answer it a voice on the other side would ask “Waddup, pimp?” Robe chuckled from a chair behind where Mous' group was standing, one leg crossed over the other.

Gigi: "Oh great, a baby is babysitting instead of me. Perfect," Ascot went over to grab some gear herself. Frankly she didn't care who was supervising, as long as she didnt have to do it. Fuck if she knew what she was doing with research business. She knew how to do cop stuff, and that was about it.

HappyPaca: She-la felt her self being raised up as Cyclone was converted into something she has only seen once in a cartoon  she autibly gasped and yelled "WHAT THE FUCK?!" as the bike tipped over and she fell harshly onto the side walk not knowing how to keep her balance on the damn thing. if she wasn't wearing her Riding suit it would have been a much nastier fall. "What happen to my bike!?" after recovering quickly as she could from the fall, she stood up and looked at it up and down trying to fathom what happen to cyclone.

Dezzy: With impeccable timing Lessy pulled up to the repair shop and spotted She-la, giving her a honk with her car’s horn, “ Hey, Ghost Rider!” Once she noticed the… just what the hell was that? Lessy scoffed in uncontrollable laughter, covering their painful smile with a gloved hand. “ HAHA, What the fuck? I didnt think your ride couldnt get any shittier than before but DAMN did you prove me wrong!”

EverSoNitro: Mous quirked an eyebrow as her phone began to ring, though as she answered it and heard the voice, she sighed a bit, hanging up as she turned to Robe in person. "Alright, well, if that's everything then, I can drive us all to the mall." Mous's own Aston Martin was in the shop, and so her current vehicle of choice was a bit more cartoonish, and oddly appropriate given the circumstances. She'd taken her reproduction Mystery Machine out of storage.

Eevelion: Robe looked at her phone with an annoyed expression as she was hung up on “Wow, she hung up on me, that's crazy rude.” She'd announce loud enough the group could hear her before actually addressing the group “So yeah, I'm not going, but if you need to know something you can call me, I helped with Throwback once or twice. They're alright.” After that she'd wave them off.

Dezzy: Pin’s familiar face brightened Falda up if only just a little bit, “Oui, but i’m not sure if the restaurant is the best place to start for this mission, don’t you agree? What with the heavy preference for electronics for its meals,” she gave his shoulder a soft pat with rub. “Not that your menu isnt delicious enough, I assure you. Maybe the car dealership would be fruitful with electric cars and the such.” plus, she just really wanted to check out some sweet lambos. "Shotgun," Pendant announed after the phone call.

Gigi: Ascot let out an exasperated scoff, letting her head tilt lamely onto her spine. "Seriously? I hope you all aren't expecting me to actually know what the fuck I'm doing." She absently grabbed for a capture set, regrouping to the others. "I already don't have hope for whipped-cream-for-brains here."

Eevelion: Robe sent out a tweet about the rudeness of some people then checked the rest of her timeline before thinking to herself, she was bored, “I'm going to the mall.” She'd announce to no one in particular.

HappyPaca: Pin smiled glad to see he could brighten up her day abit with a simple gesture. "As usual your right, i supose my staff isn't entirely hopeless if a problem arose." and besides it thing should be alot easier to spot in an open are if they cn find it that is. Pine grabbed some equiptment being sure to be ready to go when ever. "would you like to ride with them or take my car and we follow?" he gestured to Mou's forming group.

Proph: While everyone else was smart and paired up, Peasant Top just walked the sidewalks of the city alone.  Destroying a kebab, his lone wolf tactics (accidentally?)bore some fruit, finding some poor joe bawling over a vintage hotdog cart. With over half the kebab left, he kept following the trail of nostalgia while looking for a ride.

Dezzy: With the inclusion of Ascot, Pendant’s team could split up an search various stores in the mall. “Right, so, with Ass here we can search the Phone, Game, and electronic stores at the malle no problem. I call dibs on checking out the cells.”

HappyPaca: She-la  was on the phone calling the repair guy she just went too "And your SURE this isn't some god damn joke your  pulling on me?  then how does a Harly davison turn into a damn 1900 bicycle?!" she was confussed and alittle embarissed rubbing her temple.

EverSoNitro: Mous huffed again, grimacing at Ascot. "I hope you're not just using ignorance as an excuse to not help." Mous replied, before motioning for her own squad to follow her to the psychedelic van. "We'll head for the mall first, perhaps pick up Peasant along the way if we see him." Rounding to the driver's side, she climbed in, waiting for the others to join her.

Gigi: She followed along, putting her hands up a bit. "Nah, I'm just letting you guys know I'm not research, I catch things but this is a little different than what I usually do." She opened up the back sliding door, and made herself comfortable with the extra room. "Place me where you see fit, I can't make any guarantees I won't beat up the first mlg softboy that throws shit my way, though."

Dezzy: Pendant slide into the passenger side next to Mous but not before giving the rather cartoonish car a double take, “Zoinks,” she mumbled before taking the passenger set net to Mous. "Take the game store then I guess," she waved to the back at Ascot. "Pry a Nitendo 64 outta some dude's hand if you gotta." From the looks of it Mous’s car would be a tight squeeze, so she shook her head, wrapping an arm around Pin’s and locking elbows, “I’ll ride with you, of course.”

HappyPaca: He was alittle bit ahead of Falada already pulling out his car keys to his convertable "To be honest i wouldn't mind if the ghost licked my car. It would be fun to see an old french convertable again" He laughed as he open the door for Falada bfore getting in himself. "my grandmother had one." he added.

Proph: "Oh hey, a carpool." said the meat-loving giant. He glanced around, glared at the van, shrugged, then worked on trying to wedge his large frame inside it. "Don't complain if your gas mileage takes a hit." he calls from the far back as the shocks moaned from his settling in.  RIP Ascot's ears, though; his burly tone in such a confined space had to be a bit loud.

Dezzy: Falda hummed approvingly at the thought as she got in,”Ooo, vintage isn’t so bad in some aspects.” She couldn't help but think back to straight out of a Scooby-doo van Mous and the others were riding in and gave a small giggle. “ Some, that is.”

EverSoNitro: Once their riding situation was figured out, and her passengers were loaded in, Mous nodded and backed out, quietly dying a little inside as she realized Falda would be seeing her driving a hippie bus. Trying to to let her embarrassment totally rot her soul, Mous pulled out, following the breadcrumb trail of out-of-place vintage vehicles. Pulling up as she spotted PT, the van was thankfully accomodating to his frame, if only just. Still, it'd get a bit more cramped for Ascot in the back, PT being a bit larger than a great dane. "We were headed for the mall," Mous explained. "That seemed like the best place to start looking, and from the look of things, that's where it was headed." Mous glanced to the Penny-farthing bicycle as they passed by, grimacing a bit. "Someone might want to be making a note of where incidents are, clean-up might be a bit of a hassle..."

Proph: He gave a thumbs up while stuffing the remainder of the kebab into his maw. Some of these things stood out like actual sore thumbs, kinda hard to miss

HappyPaca: Pin started the car and started driving toward the dealer ship closetest to trail of vintage memorablia following Mous's car for some time, he never visited the dealership often but he remebered something they coud use as an excuse to look. "if the dealer ship gives a hard time for looking so throughly, let's just tell them since your new in town i'm getting you a new car as a small welcome back gift." He gave a charmming smile and winked "and if you find something mon cheri don't hesitate to ask, it would make things more believeable." he suggested.

Eevelion: One by one, everyone (sans She-la) would hear a ping on their phone as Robe added them to a group text channel, with the first post reading [I just realized you all probably need a way of telling each other if you find Throwback without having to yell across a crowd.] with the second post reading [FYI, maybe try not to cause a bigger panic]And a third reading [BTW, nice van Mous]

Gigi: Ascot gave an affirmative grunt and not much else, being shoved into a corner.  She checked her phone, looking at the messages. [Thats gonna depend on how many sweaty guys are out today.]

EverSoNitro: As Mous pulled into the mall parking garage, she'd hear the ping on her phone, reading the message and pausing for a moment. "Panic... Oh, damn it all..." Mous seethed, quickly checking social media. Sure enough, there were those leeches sticking their noses into their business. "You all go on ahead, I've got to deal with this... everyone pick a store and fan out." Mous's nose was buried in her phone, hanging back for a moment and working on a cover story to quell suspicion.

Proph: Peasant looked at the phone hanging from a lanyard around his neck, looking fun-size in comparison in his meaty hoof of a hand. With the nail on his index finger, he carefully typed out a [ok boss] before letting the device drop under his namesake, dangling like the dongle it is as he poured out of the back of the van.

Eevelion: As Mous' group started to make their way through the mall they would come across a handful of people walking towards the exit with bulky CRT TV screens, NES cartridges, a couple brick phones, and one person even leaving with a ColecoVision, indicating a sort of trail left by Throwback, even more indicative, hastily taped signs to a few storefronts saying “Retro Sale!”

Dezzy: With a click of her pen Pendant was already on taking notes of the incidents as they drove by them, “ On it.”  Pendant shuddered in her seat as Peasant munched the remainder of his kebab. Food crunching wasn’t her preference in asmr. Once they pulled up Pendant hopped her short legs out with equipment  safely tucked into her bag. “Find me at phone shops when you catch up,” Pendant said Mous and trotted over to the cellular stores. At the sight of all the people leaving with archaic devices Pendant could tell Throwback had been there. “Perfect cover,” agreeing with a soft giggle she heard the noise go off from her phone. Falda then began to type and verbally read out loud her response for Pin[ Pin and I will let you all know if we see anything at the dealership. Good luck everyone]

Gigi: "Hah, try not to get chewed out by the vampire too much!" She got out, closing the door behind her and walking in. Unfortunately she was in enough time to see that yes, she'd have to smack a few gamers today, if the boxy consoles that looked nowhere near as sleek as the usual models she's used to dealing with on smuggling cases was any indicator. "Oh , for the love of......FUCK."

HappyPaca: " ah merci, I can't reply while driving" Pin pulled into the dealer ship actively looking around for ny retro car the may have seemed to pop up out of no where, it seemed that day though their was a wide varity. he parked and got out putting on some shades that were acutally perscription so he could look a bit more throughly. "Let's get started shall we?"

Proph: PT wasn't too far behind, watching a couple frat boys carry out a big screen box-set tv straight out of an 1980's sitcom. Not being the biggest tech guy, he thought it the Best Idea to check out every home entertainment section in the major chain stores, keep the search simple. He liked simple.

EverSoNitro: Mous huffed a bit as she put her phone away. "Damn it, I don't have time for this..." Mous intoned. She'd have to help with the official statement later, right now there were more pressing matters to attend to. Stowing the device in her pocket, Mous headed up to the mall proper, deciding that she should investigate the food court. Surely there'd be a number of unattended phones for Throwback to slobber all over.

Eevelion: As Mous checked the food court, sure enough there were a couple of retro-fied phones, but not enough to establish a sort of pattern. Back over by the electronics section there lay on a bench a TI83 Graphing Calculator, sitting there in all its monopolizing glory despite being an outdated piece of junk.

EverSoNitro: As Mous spotted the phones, she squinted, approaching cautiously, arming herself with the capture gear. She stepped closer to the first, an old Mickey Mouse rotary phone (and mentally recalling the one she had in her own collection) before carefully nudging it with an activated glove.

HappyPaca: She-la was just sitting on the curb by this point kinda stranded and still lil confused on what the hell to do with this bike. but then basically said 'fuck it zipped down her ridding suit tied it around her waist and tied her helmit to the back and after a few minutes of trail and error started riding the stupid looking bike back to her appartment.

Gigi: Ascot stormed in, stretching out, the chaos in the air tasted nice but there was just too much joy in it. Terrible. No time for asking people questions, she followed upstream of the surges of people running about, pushing aggressive customers out of her way with minimal effort.

Dezzy: Pendant browsed around the cell store she was at, so far there was no noticeable signs of Throwback had been there. A couple brick phones sure but it seemed like it had already done its damage by the time she arrived. [Nothing at the cell shop. Less you count last year’s Ipad as archaic.] With a nod and link of their elbows once more Falda agreed and began the search. Falda eyed the cars like it was she was a little girl in a candy shop. “Call me what you want, but I just think lamborgini’s to be so stylish.” she mused happily at the sight of gold lambo, walking around and fawning over it like it was an adorable puppy.

Proph: Muscling through one department store only to turn right back around and leave, Peasant took the time to peck out an update. [dept store on E end looked clear didnt come this far] Slipping the phone under his shirt PT went into another shop. Oh. An ACTUAL home entertainment store, good call.

HappyPaca: he smiled as she hung on his arm browsing the more suspious cars as they walked. looking particuarly at models that were more then 40+ years old. looking up and down the lambo as Falada fawned over it. "i Personally i'm more found of Charcoal grey cars but a lambo of any color is always nice. This seems like a newer italian model too." he chuckled and made sure to keep looking around but stood by as falada was fawning over the nice car. checking throughly of the cars around them for any suspious activity enjoying his time more with Falada there to lighten things up.

Eevelion: As Mous nudged the phone suddenly a voice came from one of the other food court tables “You really gonna try to touch it?” Robe asked from her seat, but that distraction was just enough that the phone, in truth Throwback, was able to climb past her glove and jump at her face, tapping her forehead with her tongue before skittering off towards the entertainment section of the mall. Robe laughed at Mous as she changed, typing out on her phone [Critic down :P]

EverSoNitro: Mous glanced up as she heard the voice, squinting a bit as she saw Robe lounging nearby. "You know, you really ought to be properly helping, considering this came from your-" Of course, while Mous was preoccupied with criticizing Robe's work ethic, she failed to notice the beloved cartoon icon grab for her upper arm, yelping and stumbling back as it scrambled up and slapping her forehead with her tongue. Falling on her rear, Mous's head began to spin, until she gave her head a shake, seemingly recovering. "Ugh... you detestable little insect..." Mous began, carefully getting to her feet. Once standing again, she seemed to look down her nose at the imp a bit more, than normal, taking a rather haughty and self-important stance. If one were to look closer, it also appeared that her makeup was a bit heavier, as if concealing injuries. "I would have had it, too, if you hadn't divided my attention..."

Proph: Of all the people to first reply, it was the 9 foot literal meatslab. [is ms ego ok? is ghost there?] Clearly not in the right neighborhood, Peasant left the store he was haunting, awaiting a reply. Or a return volley, depending on who answered.

Eevelion: "Maybe you would have had it if you used your capture gear instead of just trying to grab it." Robe snarkily replied, waving her off "Now go get back to work, it already hit you so you're immune to any further effects." meanwhile she tapped out on her phone [She's fine, just bratty, ghost head towards electronics section.]

Dezzy: “ I like my cars to stand out amongst the crowd,” the are was so clean that Falda could ee her reflection on it. She flashed a cute smile at herself till her phone went off, to which she huffed and unlocked her phone. “Ah, it seems the experiment is at the mall. Poor Mousquetaire.” she feigned sadness at that last part if only out of respect. “We should head to the mall now, I guess.” She gave the yellow lambo a pet on its hood. Someday, but not today. Pendant meanwhile left the store and headed to the food court with Robe and Mous. Helping Mous onto her feet and into the food court's chair she asked flatly, “ Where did it go?”

Proph: PT replied with a thumbs-up emoji because it was faster before stomping off to where he was pointed. He fingered the capture gear as he thundered down the thoroughfare; Hitting things is is forte, but since Mous was ALSO a member of the Hit Things club, he decided to be cautious this time.

Gigi: Ascot heard a buzz, and checked the message. She typed a hasty [ok, on it] before taking off her neckpeice and readying the kit. Guess everyone in the games department would be spared for now. Though...if they spotted the ghost, things weren't going well already....Thankfully not too many people were in her way this time, as people tend to avoid a large, blackened sword that's vaguely skeletal-looking. Someone screamed, and she whipped out a badge. "Sheesh, woman, don't you see the crowds! It's not black friday!"

EverSoNitro: Mous rolled her eyes. "I was using my capture equipment, imbecile." She flashed her activated buster gloves, which presently seemed just a bit bulkier than normal. "Besides, in the very probable case that you hadn't noticed, there's tons of potential candidates for that ghost's disguise in this mall." She jerked her arm away from Pendant as she was helped up, before looking incredulously at Robe. "You're telling me what to do?" She let out a rather haughty laugh, before planting herself in her seat. "I don't think so."

HappyPaca: Pin sighed "Poor dear, we should invite to take her out for dinner later." he said as he once again pulled out his car keys and took off his shades. "Let's hurry so we can possibly try to minimize the damage knowing the group thats currently there at the moment" now that he thought about he wounders how Mous is now while under the affcts of throw back.

Dezzy: Raising her hands up defeatedly Pendant shimmied around the angry Thrownback!Mous  and headed for the electronics store, retrieving a mask and metallic pointer that one would use for presentations from her bag and began proding around the area. “Agreed,” she kissed into her hand and placed it one the lambo before Pin and her were off again on the road to the mall.

Gigi: Something particularly old and boxy caught the periphery of Ascot's eye, and she tried to rush and swipe for it. It lunged at her, and she began backing up quickly, thrusting her arm out quickly to let her sword extend properly. No connection, but that did seem to scare the moving appliance for now....she kept following, more slowly this time. Her eyes were still peeled onto it, and she wove her way through the crowd a few hundred feet back.

Proph: Blade resting on his shoulder, Peasant storms in right as Ascot swatted the critter away. He followed Throwback through the food court as best as his bulk could go. Clearly, it won out in raw speed, so, Without a thought, he hefted the sword up and held it inverted, hefting the massive sword he flipped it around so he held it inverted, and matching his stride, chucked the heavy blade at the ghost like a javelin. PT managed to clip the ghost along the side, but this made it run /faster/.

Eevelion: As Throwback ran down the corridors it ran into MORE people that seemed to want at it, narrowly dodging a sword from one and taking a slight clip from the other, as it circled back it gave them a wide berth, not wanting to take another hit, back towards the food court it went.

HappyPaca: Looking at the way falada liked the lambo hmm... maybe pin could get her a welcome gift after all it's a strong maybe. As soon as the two found a parking space convently next to Mous's van, He grabbed the equiptment from his trunk while Falada was stepping out of his car and got them both ready as they headed for the Mall's entrance making sure both of them were prepared for whatever may come their way. As if he was prepering a excellent meal for an importent guest.

Dezzy: At the sound of Throwback making its way back to the food courts Pendant sharply rose up from inspecting, grabbing onto her namesake to allow it to transform into its true rapier form and  made long strides for the ghost. “C’mon goth momma needs a new…” she took a swipe “Aesthetic!”  her sword missed, stumbling on her feet a little before she could fall. She cursed under her breathe bitterly.

Eevelion: As Throwback barreled back towards the food court it passed by Pendant who seemed very intent on capturing it as well, as it ducked past her rapier and head towards the food court Robe popped the lid off her drink, controlling the liquid inside to try to make a cage of ice around the escaping ghost, unfortunately her placement was off, and instead of encapsulating it, the ghost launched off the side sending its trajectory... straight towards her, “Oh crap” she muttered, as it collided with her its tongue lolled out and tapped her on the scalp. As she held her head where it had bumped her she seemed to shrink into her clothes a little, but that was more overshadowed by those clothes getting bigger, and when she stood up she was almost completely covered in her robe, except for the top of her head, which she quickly put a huge wizard cap on, the gremlin was here. Meanwhile, Throwback continued its escape path, running into the same direction Pin and Falda were entering through.

HappyPaca: Pin thrusted forward the secound he saw the lil bastardheading towards him and flada causing a ruckus umong his associates. "It's time to falay the main ingdent!" cheesy phrases aside pin nly manages to graise throwback as he passes him, quickly turning back to Falada "Quickly grab it mon cheri!" hoping she could use the moment to her advantage being so close to him.

Gigi: Ascot was still chasing after it, though it was getting increasingly difficult to follow it within all the ruckus. She grabbed her phone in frustration, tapping out a [DO WE HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO ATTEMPT A QUARANTINE, BECAUSE I THINK WE REALLY OUGHTA]. The way it was going it looked like she was getting closer to the entrance, about back where she came from...no good, no good at all.

Eevelion: Gremlin Robe gave a quick peace sign with a playful “See ya, suckers!” before running off to the electronics section with surprising quickness for someone covered so wholly, as she passed by Pendant she leaped, snatching her hat off her head and placing it on top of her own hat, continuing down the electronics section she slowed down and held her primary hat over her face as she saw the absolutely gargantuan Peasant Top, taking a wide arc around him and never taking her off him till she was far away enough to start running again, straight out of the mall.

Proph: Still catching his breath, PT just watched the jittery imp circle around him with a look in her eyes like he was going to eat her. He shrugged it off, though, truth be told, he got looks like that a lot. Looking at the latest page, he gave an exasperated sigh before retrieving his blade from the floor it was impaled in and following the others.

Dezzy: “Hopefully the team inside has it managed,” she said, shoving her phone back into her jacket as she entered the mall, only to be greeted by the said ghost the group were aiming to capture.  “God damn it.” grabbing the hem of her long skirt and with one swift movement it turned into its pistol form around Falda’s hands and for Falda to stand in her pantsless glory. She pulled the trigger and missed by the skin of her teeth. [Quarantine sounds good. Box it off before it can escape. Through the parking lot.] Pendant went to go grab Robe but it seemed that the small imp had, somehow, gotten visibly smaller than thought possible. She ran a hand through herbangs and sighed but it was short lived as her big hat was taken from here. “What the-” Pendant shook her head. Nevermind that they had to contain this thing before it got out.

Eevelion: Throwback had almost made it to the door, sweet sweet freedom was at hand, then suddenly it found itself in front of a couple pulling out weapons, it managed to dodge their attacks, but couldn't risk trying to pass the two, so it turned and head back into the food court, jumping up onto a table to try to figure which way it could run to next.

Gigi: [on it, I'll notify the blarts.] She held ground, calling up a security line. "SUP, its Enforcer Pheles, I'm gonna need you guys to keep guard on entrances for any rogue objects that look like they're moving on their own..................Don't shut down the place but have people recommend they either don't go in or go into another shopping center...........Dude just do what I say okay and make sure nobody panics!" She hung up. Might as well stay in the food court to do what she does best, crowd control. Also, eating.

HappyPaca: Pin's cheeks turned pink seeing falada in her under garments and quickly un button his shirt having an undershirt on underneath  do to recent cold weather. so he did not mind lending his shirt to Falda to tie around her waist "Here, i'm so sorry this is all i have at the moment. but if you do not mind contenueing we should try and follow it"  he gestured towards the food court.

Dezzy: Pin was much taller and larger than Falda that the ends of his shirt went down to just above her knees. “Thank you mon cheri,” she gave him a small peck on his cheek with a wink and jogged to the food court. [Food court] Pendant typed in the group chat and approached the ghost once more. She gave another strike at Throwback but blade only seemed to collide with the floor tile and fell back into a chair. Taking a knee Falda tried to line up a good shot at the thing but also missed. This is why she just left the action to CGI.

HappyPaca: Mean while She-la fell off the penny bike again and just decided to sit on the side walk and contiplate life.

Gigi: Ascot was in a fair amount of concentration, trying to sap energy out of everyone. Panic wasn't quite her favorite flavor but it'd work--and crowds around her seemed to clear out. Good. Pendant and Falda's noises gave her a general idea where to watch where the ghost was going--and took a guess at the location it'd land in, and slap. SATIN extended outward, slamming into the floor and holding the ghost firm by one of its legs. "FUCK, DID I GET IT?"

Proph: With the wind back in his sails, Peasant reconvened with the others, blade held firm, tip resting on the ground. e watched Ascot work, waiting to strike when the proverbial iron was hot. Much as he would love  being a gloryhog for once, it didn't feel right to steal the kill. Then she acted. Well then. Nothing against getting an assist! With the critter pinned, he lunged forward with a throaty roar, swinging the chunky sword up then down in a solid arc,like an oar, slapping the ghost into the ground one last time.

Eevelion: As Throwback was well and truly pinned an energetic clapping could be heard from behind the group, the first scientist from the briefing stood there “Good work everyone! Very impressive work, anyway, the effects wore off on me about fifteen minutes ago, so I figured I should come by to bring Throwback's containment cage over so you don't have to bring it back to HQ at arm's length.” Mentioning Throwback's cage he'd pull out a small bird cage before leaning down to where the ghost was, picking it up gingerly from behind and placing it inside the cage “All done!” he exclaimed “Don't worry about getting it returned, I'll handle that, the rest of you just enjoy your day, and again, thank you for your work.” Bowing out he head back to HQ with a small enforcement team just to make sure the ghost didn't escape again.

HappyPaca: She-la resorted to walking the penny bike home wanting nothing more then a cup of hot coco when she got back.

Dezzy: Pendant gave a half hearted fist pump as the scientist from earlier took her vintage dreams away in its cage. She tilted her head back exasperatedly and let it hit the table behind her, running a hand through her hangs. Well… the effects hadn’t totally worn off the other effected appliances yet, there was still hope to be salvaged. She sharply rose up from her seat and pulled out her camera she had tucked away in her bag. “I’m going to just… take some photos record today’s events for research,” she announced before scuttling away. Falda gave a sigh of relief and wrapped her namesake back to hug at her hips,. “Problem solved, now to deal with clean up and those tontos at Panic.”  How did they even know her panties were edible?

Gigi: Ascot wiped her brow and dismantled her kit. "NOTHIN' TO SEE HERE FOLKS, EVERYTHING'S UNDER CONTROL." She shooed off shoppers that looked like they were lingering too much. Don't think about it too hard. She looked over to the rest of the team, with a slight grin. "Good job, guys, we...got the job done and I got lunch free of charge."

HappyPaca: Pin nodded to falada after thanking the scientists for their work and strentch alittle, "it sounds good to me. we can end the day with a good drink." He could here his wine cellar calling his name just thinking about panic and their shenanigans. He looked around abit and thought "maybe we should call chaleco to pick up robe as well where ever she went."

Proph: "That's all one can wish for, right?" Peasant once again donned his namesake, just in time his bare barrel chest was gettin' nipply. "Jus' thowin' it out there, but how about we DON'T go hunting next time we go out, okay? A run, some lunch, little weightlifting, make a day of it!"

Gigi: Whatever joy was on her face got replaced with narrowed eyes and a slanted, tight lipped look. "Don't push it, dude."

Proph: He raises his hands is mock surrender. "Jus' bein' nice, calm down. We're all friends, here." The ONE time he wasn't trying to put the moves on someone...

Dezzy: Falda hummed as she texted her brother to come pick up Robe, "The only exercise I want today is...." She stopped herself right there and smiled innocently, "I could go for a drink though."

HappyPaca: Pin gave a chaismatic smile and said "if anyone else cares for free drinks just tell inferno i sent you in. there all on me" he'd ask falada on the ride back if she wanted to have drinks at his place or inferno, options are always nice.

[roseykai-blog]

Every Lie: ??? AU

Part 1

Part 2 

Summary: SeokJin was a beautiful being, secretly you’d always wanted to meet him. That wish was ruined when it finally came true.

Group(s): BTS, GOT7

Warning:  Slight Angst. Possible Fluff. Mystery

Admin: Blue

Word count: 1.35k

Requests: Open

Mark continued to hold onto your shoulders and looked into your eyes. "Y/n, do you even understand what's going on here?" You shook your head vigorously. "Please just tell me what's going on Mark. You can't keep leaving me in the dark here!" He let go of your shoulders and headed to your closet grabbing a large bag. You sat dumbfounded as he started ripping clothes from your dresser drawers and hangers stuffing them in the bag. "Mark-" "We're leaving now, I'm getting you to Jackson and the others you'll be safe there. You're gonna miss classes I'm sorry about that..I'm sorry about all this. Fuck. It's my fault you're involved now shit!" He was frantically running around still. You stood up and ran toward him and gripped his face holding his cheeks in your hands. "Mark. What is going on?" You asked sternly. He bit down on his lip. "I can't tell you, not here. If he's found you twice he'll know you're here. Once we get you to Jackson you'll be safe I'll tell you then I promise. Do you need anything else?" You shake your head. You had no real choice but to trust him. He was your best friend after all and something was wrong both of you were in danger from whatever he had done. You saw it in his eyes he wanted to protect you and protect you he would. He zipped up the bag throwing the strap over his shoulder and gripping your wrist. You grabbed your keys and phone as he dragged you outside. You barely had time to lock the door behind the two of you before he was pulling again. The two of you rounded a corner sharply and mark cursed. "Oh, Hobi is pretty good at his job he found you two." A deep sultry voice called. You were confused surely this man wasn't the owner of the voice. Then he spoke again, "Mark, come on just come back with us and we won't involve your friend." "Fuck you Taehyung." He sneered. Taehyung. You'd heard that name somewhere before you just couldn't place where. Mark looked to you and whispered, "I'm gonna go toward him a few feet. After I do take off toward my house. I'll meet you there and take you to Jackson's safe-house ok?" "Wait-" he slid the bag off his shoulders handing it to you. He took a few steps toward Taehyung. "Oh good, I didn't expect that to work!" He smiled big, his teeth showed as he did and you couldn't help but think that box-smile was cute. After mark took a few more steps you found yourself taking off running like Mark told you. "FUCK!" Taehyung called as you ran, a pout crossed his face and he looked to Mark who smiled and quickly took off on the opposite direction. "Jin's gonna be so mad..." Taehyung grumbled and kicked a rock. You continued running for awhile until you made it to the fence around Mark's apartment. You placed your hands on your knees catching your breath. Fuck. Three men in the span of a day. All of whom seemed to want to hurt your best friend. He had better explain this asap. Footsteps approached and you went on guard immediately. Luckily Mark rounded the corner and ran toward you. "I can't believe that worked." He took your wrist again gently and smiled. "Mark please explain." "Not yet." You huffed and groaned as he pulled you toward again. You two walked for what seemed like miles. He sighed, "Finally, why Jackson decides to keep this place so far out is beyond me." He knocked on door of what looked like a rundown old building. "Mark isn't this?" The door opened and a dusty blonde haired man smiled widely at mark. "Hey! What are you doing back Mark!" Mark smiled and gestured toward you. "I need to protect my friend... Jin found them." The blonde's face drops and he opens the door further letting the two of you enter. He smiled again as you passed. You looked up and took in the surroundings. It was a large warehouse a few couches were spread out and you saw a few refrigerators, large quite nice beds, and five other boys lounging around a t.v. One of them with dark hair and a tad taller was being scolded by another dark haired man. "Yugyeom, if you don't stop calling me an idiot I'm gonna throw you out!" "You don't even have the authority Jinyoung..." the taller one mumbled. A reddish brown haired man rolled his eyes and stood up flicking Yugyeom. "Jackson might be the 'leader' but you're still the youngest kid. Respect your elders." A skinny white haired boy laughed and pointed toward the other three, "oooooh Jaebum told you!" Yugyeom glared at the skinny man, "BamBam you're no better!" The shortest of the bunch, just a wee bit smaller than Mark, stood and rolled his eyes. "All of you hush, we have a guest, plus... Mark is back!" Mark walked toward them. "Hey guys, hey Jackson." He smiled toward the shorter man. The blonde clasped his hand on your shoulder, smiling big. The smile reached his eyes and he took your bag. "I'm

Youngjae, those guys over there are Jackson, Yugyeom, Jinyoung, Jaebum, BamBam, and of course you know Mark." He gestured for you to follow him. He walked toward an empty bed free of bags. "We've been saving this one for Mark in case he were to come back. He'll probably want you to have it." He placed the bag down and walked toward the others. You sat on the edge of the bed running your hands over the nice sheets. Your eyes wandered toward the wall across from this wall of beds, written in bright red spray paint was one word 'playground'. You chuckled lightly. So much had just happened in the course of a few hours. You opened your bag and smiled as your eyes found your favorite stuffed animal, a small stuffed dog you fondly named CoCo. You clutched it tightly, now all you needed was for Mark to explain all of this once and for all

One of the boys slipped away from everyone else and smiled heading toward you.  "Hey, Im Yugyeom." You smiled and nodded, "I've heard, Youngjae told me all of your names." He nodded, "Yeah, I uh should have figured that. Can I sit?" You pat the seat next to you. You'd never been particularly shy so inviting him to sit next to you wasn't a big deal for you.  He sat and sighed watching as the others greeted Mark. "It's been awhile since we've seen him y'know?"  You nodded. "We were starting to get scared, someone random called Jackson earlier it kind of sent us all on edge."  You bit down on your lip gently. "That uh, that was me." You rubbed your arm.  Yugyeom looked to you confused, "It was you? Why?" You pointed at Mark, "He told me to call after I ran into Seokjin earlier." "OH!" Yugyeom exclaimed. I didn't realize that's what was happening. Shit. He found Mark then?" You nodded and sighed running your hand through your hair. "What's the deal with Mark and Seokjin anyway?" You tried to hide how hopeful you truly were that you would get some answers.  Yugyeom shook his head, "That not something for me to tell, that's something Mark should tell you. Most of us have different connections with those guys, so I'm not that familiar with Mark's." You cursed under your breath. "Yugyeom! Come say hi to Mark!" BamBam called. "Coming!" He called as he stood up shifting the weight of the bed.  He flashed a quick smile as he shuffled away.  You watched as Mark gave him a side hug smiling.  Marks smile was bright and could easily light up a room. You always loved watching his smile.  You hadn't realized how entranced by him talking to some friends you were until someone touched your shoulder.  It was Jackson, "So you're the one who called me earlier I heard?" you nodded. "I'm sorry I was just kind of freaked out and didn't know what to say."  Jackson waved his hands. "Don't worry about it.  I understand I would be too if I was thrown into the situation." He patted your shoulder as he walked back toward the rest of the guys.  Mark looked back toward you as you gripped CoCo again. You flashed a smile at him and he smiled back.  Lmbrace ended all too soon as he pulled away.  "Mark you still haven't even told me whats going on you promised me when we-" He pressed his fingers against your lips silencing you.  "Tomorrow. Ill tell you tomorrow."  Jackson side eyed Mark and sighed crossing his arms over hos chest. He didn't like how Mark was hiding this from you.  You were involved and deserved to know what was going on.  Mark took your hand lifting it to his lips and kissed it softly. This gesture was normal between the two of you.  People often mistook you for a couple and neither of you ever felt the need to correct them.  More often than not you both played along with it.  You smiled, "I promise y/n." With that Mark turned and headed out the door leaving you with six boys.  Jackson walked toward you and tapped his chin.  "You want to know what's going on and how Mark is connect with JIn don't you?" You looked to him confused as he sat on the bed.  You sat down next to him scanned his face. From just looking at him he seemed genuine.  "Okay... So are you gonna tell me or are you gonna do the same thing Mark is and leave me in the dark?"  You were getting really fucking tired off all of this underhanded and hiding bullshit. You wanted to know what was happening. Jackson laughed lightly, "No I'm not gonna let you stay in the dark about this. It's not fair of Mark. He involved you it may not have been on purpose but he has. You deserve to know the truth. " your face lit up. Finally you would find out what was happening. "The thing is..." Jackson started.  "Jin and Mark were dating at one point." Your brows knit together in confusion and Jackson nods. "Yeah I know, anyway, that's not all.. Jin is well he's a gang leader. There's no easier way to say that. He calls it Bangtan. Hobi and Tae are both in it too. There's four others besides them but unless you meet them anytime soon we can forget about them." Your mouth dropped in shock. Jackson smiled again. "Basically Mark was involved with Bangtan because he was with Jin. After a while stuff started getting..more violent and Mark wanted out. He broke things off with Jin and severed ties with the rest of them. In his best interest of course he didn't need to be involved in all of what Bangtan has become. Everyone staying here was at some point either involved or victim to Bangtan. So I created a safe place for everyone.  Which of course you're welcome too." You were shocked about all of this. You had known Mark for years and never knew about any of this. Anger rushed through you and Jackson noticed the red start to engulf your face.  "Uh oh, you ok?" You shake your head, you wanted nothing more than for Mark to walk right back in that door so you could deck him in the face for keeping this all from you. He dated SeokJin? He was in a fucking gang? You're best friend had kept such important secrets from you. He had better have a damn good explanation for this.

[413-request-entity-too-large]

Building an Admin Dashboard Layout With CSS and a Touch of JavaScript

What You'll Be Creating

In this new tutorial, we’ll create a responsive admin dashboard layout with CSS and a touch of JavaScript. To build it, we’ll borrow some ideas from the WordPress dashboard, such as its collapsible sidebar menu.

Throughout the tutorial we’ll face plenty of challenges, but ones which will give us good practice for enhancing our front-end skills.

Without further ado, let’s have a look at the final admin dashboard demo (hit the Collapse button at the foot of the sidebar to see the collapsible nav in action, and check out the full screen version to play with its responsiveness):

1. Begin With the Page Markup

To kick off the markup we’ll need we’ll start with an SVG, a header, and a section:

<svg style="display:none;">...</svg> <header class="page-header">...</header> <section class="page-content">...</section>

SVG Sprites

As you might imagine with any admin dashboard we’re going to need a bunch of icons. Thankfully, Envato Elements provides an ever-expanding collection of useful vector icons, so let’s take advantage of that library and download these Trade and Dashboard Icons.

Trade and Dashboard Icons on Envato Elements

Rather than including them directly in the page via an img or svg tag, let’s go one step further and create an SVG sprite. To do this, we’ll wrap all the icons in an SVG container. The container should be hidden, so we’ll apply display: none to it. If we don’t hide it, a big empty area will appear at the top of the page.

Each icon will be placed inside a symbol element with a unique ID and a viewBox attribute which will depend on the icon size. We can then render the target icon whenever we need it by calling the use element (I’ll show you how in a minute). 

For now, let’s just become familiar with the markup needed for the SVG sprite:

<svg style="display:none;"> <symbol id="down" viewBox="0 0 16 16"> <polygon points="3.81 4.38 8 8.57 12.19 4.38 13.71 5.91 8 11.62 2.29 5.91 3.81 4.38" /> </symbol> <symbol id="users" viewBox="0 0 16 16"> <path d="M8,0a8,8,0,1,0,8,8A8,8,0,0,0,8,0ZM8,15a7,7,0,0,1-5.19-2.32,2.71,2.71,0,0,1,1.7-1,13.11,13.11,0,0,0,1.29-.28,2.32,2.32,0,0,0,.94-.34,1.17,1.17,0,0,0-.27-.7h0A3.61,3.61,0,0,1,5.15,7.49,3.18,3.18,0,0,1,8,4.07a3.18,3.18,0,0,1,2.86,3.42,3.6,3.6,0,0,1-1.32,2.88h0a1.13,1.13,0,0,0-.27.69,2.68,2.68,0,0,0,.93.31,10.81,10.81,0,0,0,1.28.23,2.63,2.63,0,0,1,1.78,1A7,7,0,0,1,8,15Z" /> </symbol> <!-- more symbols here --> </svg>

And really, that’s all we need to create our inline SVG sprite.

Header

Moving on with our admin dashboard layout, let’s look at the page header. 

Within it, we’ll define a nav element which will serve as the wrapper for the following elements:

The logo

The Collapse button that will toggle the menu on mobile screens

The menu itself which will contain the menu links, two headings, and the collapse/expand button. It might be more semantically correct to have two individual menus and place the headings outside them, but you can approach things differently if you prefer.

Here’s how it’ll look like on wide screens (>767px):

The header structure:

<header class="page-header"> <nav> <a href="#0"> <img class="logo" src="logo.svg" alt="forecastr logo"> </a> <button class="toggle-mob-menu" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="open menu"> <svg width="20" height="20" aria-hidden="true"> <use xlink:href="#down"></use> </svg> </button> <ul class="admin-menu"> <li class="menu-heading"> <h3>Admin</h3> </li> <li> <a href="#0"> <svg> <use xlink:href="#pages"></use> </svg> <span>Pages</span> </a> </li> <!-- more list items here --> <li> <button class="collapse-btn" aria-expanded="true" aria-label="collapse menu"> <svg aria-hidden="true"> <use xlink:href="#collapse"></use> </svg> <span>Collapse</span> </button> </li> </ul> </nav> </header>

Notice two things in the code above:

How we use the use element to reference the target icons.

The ARIA attributes (aria-expanded, aria-label, aria-hidden) that we add to the toggle buttons. These attributes will help us make the component a bit more accessible. Later, we’ll discuss how their values will be updated based on the button’s state.

Section

The section will contain two nested sections.

Section #1

Inside the first section, we’ll place the search form and some info (name, avatar, and notifications) about the current logged in user.

Here’s its appearance on wide screens (>767px):

The section structure:

<section class="search-and-user"> <form> <input type="search" placeholder="Search Pages..."> <button type="submit" aria-label="submit form"> <svg aria-hidden="true"> <use xlink:href="#search"></use> </svg> </button> </form> <div class="admin-profile"> <span class="greeting">...</span> <div class="notifications"> <span class="badge">...</span> <svg> <use xlink:href="#users"></use> </svg> </div> </div> </section>

Again, notice that we add some ARIA attributes to the submit button.

Section #2

Inside the second section, just for enriching the demo with some dummy content, we’ll place a bunch of article placeholders. These might typically contain tabular data, charts, or feeds of some kind.

“Use a maximum of 5–7 different widgets to create a view. Otherwise, it will be hard for a user to focus and get a clear overview.” – Taras Bakusevych

Here’s its appearance on wide screens (>767px):

In accordance with UX best practices you may not need this many sections

The section structure:

<section class="page-content"> <section class="grid"> <article></article> <article></article> <article></article> <article></article> <article></article> <article></article> <article></article> <article></article> </section> </section>

2. Define Some Basic Styles

With the markup for our admin dashboard ready, we’ll forge on with the CSS. The first step, as always, is to specify some CSS variables and common reset styles:

:root { --page-header-bgColor: #242e42; --page-header-bgColor-hover: #1d2636; --page-header-txtColor: #dde9f8; --page-header-headingColor: #7889a4; --page-header-width: 220px; --page-content-bgColor: #f0f1f6; --page-content-txtColor: #171616; --page-content-blockColor: #fff; --white: #fff; --black: #333; --blue: #00b9eb; --red: #ec1848; --border-radius: 4px; --box-shadow: 0 0 10px -2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.075); } * { padding: 0; margin: 0; box-sizing: border-box; } ul { list-style: none; } a, button { color: inherit; } a { text-decoration: none; } button { background: none; cursor: pointer; } input { -webkit-appearance: none; } button, input { border: none; } svg { display: block; } body { font: 16px/1.5 "Lato", sans-serif; }

Note: for simplicity I won’t walk through all the CSS rules in the tutorial. There are almost 400 lines of CSS here. If you want to, you can check them all by clicking the CSS tab of the demo project.

3. Define the Main Dashboard Styles

At this point, we’re ready to concentrate on the page styles.

Style the Header

The header will be a fixed position element. Its width will be 220px and its height equal to the viewport height. In case its contents exceed the viewport height, a vertical scrollbar will appear.

The nav element will behave as a flex container with a minimum height of 100%. Remember that its direct children are three: 

the logo, 

the mobile menu toggle button, 

and the menu. 

The toggle button will be visible only on small screens (<768px).  Here are the styles we need:

/*CUSTOM VARIABLES HERE*/ .page-header { position: fixed; top: 0; left: 0; right: 0; bottom: 0; overflow: auto; padding-top: 20px; width: var(--page-header-width); color: var(--page-header-txtColor); background: var(--page-header-bgColor); } .page-header nav { display: flex; flex-direction: column; min-height: 100%; } .page-header .toggle-mob-menu { display: none; }

Tip: In case you prefer an absolutely positioned header that covers the full page height, add the following styles:

body { position: relative; } .page-header { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; height: 100%; /*Comment these styles*/ /*position: fixed; top: 0; left: 0; right: 0; bottom: 0; overflow: auto;*/ }

Menu Styles

The menu will serve as a flex container, and we’ll give it flex: 1, so it’ll expand and cover the full parent height.

The last menu item will be given a margin-top: auto because it should be positioned at the very bottom of the menu. This behavior will be clearer when the header scrollbar doesn’t appear. To test it, try to remove some menu items, or check the demo in a tall screen.

The links and the button inside the menu will also act as flex containers and their contents (text and icons) should be vertically aligned.

The menu headings will be a bit smaller compared to the other menu elements. In addition, we’ll increase the spacing between their characters.

Here’s a part of the menu styles:

/*CUSTOM VARIABLES HERE*/ .page-header .admin-menu { display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; margin-top: 35px; } .page-header .admin-menu li:last-child { margin-top: auto; margin-bottom: 20px; } .page-header .admin-menu li > * { width: 100%; padding: 12px 15px; } .page-header .admin-menu a, .page-header .admin-menu button { display: flex; align-items: center; font-size: 0.9rem; transition: background 0.2s, color 0.2s; } .page-header .admin-menu .menu-heading h3 { text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.15em; font-size: 12px; margin-top: 12px; color: var(--page-header-headingColor); }

Page Content Styles

Remember that the .page-content section contains two sub-sections.

This section will be placed 220px away from the left side of the viewport. Plus, we’ll give it width: calc(100% - 220px). Note that its left property value is equal to the header width.

Its styles:

/*CUSTOM VARIABLES HERE*/ .page-content { position: relative; left: var(--page-header-width); width: calc(100% - var(--page-header-width)); min-height: 100vh; padding: 30px; color: var(--page-content-txtColor); background: var(--page-content-bgColor); }

Search and User Styles

Also, remember that the .search-and-user section contains two elements: the search form and the .admin-profile.

To lay it out, we’ll use CSS Grid. The search form will cover the full available space and there will be a 50px gap between it and its sibling. Both siblings will be vertically aligned.

The submit button inside the form will be absolutely positioned. It will only contain a decorative icon, and we’ll therefore need an ARIA attribute to allow screenreaders to interpret it and thereby make it accessible.

The .admin-profile, which contains two elements, will behave as a flex container with vertically centered content. The badge (counter) element will be absolutely positioned inside its parent with horizontally and vertically centered content.

Here’s a part of the required styles for this section:

/*CUSTOM VARIABLES HERE*/ .search-and-user { display: grid; grid-template-columns: 1fr auto; grid-column-gap: 50px; align-items: center; background: var(--page-content-bgColor); margin-bottom: 30px; } .search-and-user form { position: relative; } .search-and-user form button { position: absolute; top: 50%; right: 15px; transform: translateY(-50%); } .search-and-user .admin-profile { display: flex; align-items: center; } .search-and-user .admin-profile .notifications { position: relative; } .search-and-user .admin-profile .badge { display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center; position: absolute; top: -10px; right: -3px; width: 18px; height: 18px; border-radius: 50%; font-size: 10px; color: var(--white); background: var(--red); }

Grid Styles

To lay out the articles on our admin dashboard, we’ll take advantage of CSS grid. We’ll give all articles a fixed height of 300px. Apart from the first and last articles which will cover the full parent width, all the others will be part of a two-column layout.

The associated styles:

/*CUSTOM VARIABLES HERE*/ .page-content .grid { display: grid; grid-template-columns: repeat(2, 1fr); grid-gap: 30px; } .page-content .grid > article { display: flex; height: 300px; background: var(--page-content-blockColor); border-radius: var(--border-radius); box-shadow: var(--box-shadow); } .page-content .grid > article:first-child, .page-content .grid > article:last-child { grid-column: 1 / -1; }

4. Toggle Header

Each time we click on the collapse/expand button, the header state will change. If it’s expanded, it will collapse (leaving just icon variants of the menu items), and vice versa. 

Keep in mind that this functionality will be available only on screens greater than 767px. For smaller screens, our header will have a different layout, which we’ll get to shortly.

During the collapsed state of the header, the body receives the collapsed class. At that point, the following things happen:

The header shrinks. Its width changes from 220px to 40px.

In response to this, the .page-content section grows. Specifically, its width changes from width: calc(100% - 220px) to width: calc(100% - 40px). In addition, its left property value becomes 40px instead of 220px.

The logo, the menu headings, the menu links text, and the menu button text disappear.

The aria-expanded and aria-label attribute values of the toggle button are updated. Plus, its icon is rotated 180 degrees, so it looks like an expand icon.

Here’s the JavaScript code that implements this functionality:

const body = document.body; const collapseBtn = document.querySelector(".admin-menu button"); const collapsedClass = "collapsed"; collapseBtn.addEventListener("click", function() { this.getAttribute("aria-expanded") == "true" ? this.setAttribute("aria-expanded", "false") : this.setAttribute("aria-expanded", "true"); this.getAttribute("aria-label") == "collapse menu" ? this.setAttribute("aria-label", "expand menu") : this.setAttribute("aria-label", "collapse menu"); body.classList.toggle(collapsedClass); });

And all the associated styles:

/*CUSTOM VARIABLES HERE*/ @media screen and (min-width: 768px) { .collapsed .page-header { width: 40px; } .collapsed .page-header .admin-menu li > * { padding: 10px; } .collapsed .page-header .logo, .collapsed .page-header .admin-menu span, .collapsed .page-header .admin-menu .menu-heading { display: none; } .collapsed .page-header .admin-menu svg { margin-right: 0; } .collapsed .page-header .collapse-btn svg { transform: rotate(180deg); } .collapsed .page-content { left: 40px; width: calc(100% - 40px); } }

5. Show Tooltip on Admin Menu Items

Now let’s go one step further and add another new feature to the collapsible header.

As we discussed in the previous section, when the header becomes collapsed, the text of the menu links will disappear. This means, at that point, only the SVG icons will be visible. So, let’s display a tooltip that will give users a better understanding of what each link does.

To do so, each time a menu link (icon) is being hovered over, we’ll add the title attribute to it, with the value being its plain text. But again, that should happen only when the header is collapsed and the window width is at least 768px.

Here’s the corresponding JavaScript: 

const body = document.body; const menuLinks = document.querySelectorAll(".admin-menu a"); const collapsedClass = "collapsed"; for (const link of menuLinks) { link.addEventListener("mouseenter", function() { body.classList.contains(collapsedClass) && window.matchMedia("(min-width: 768px)").matches ? this.setAttribute("title", this.textContent) : this.removeAttribute("title"); }); }

6. Going Responsive

On screens up to 767px wide, our page will look like this:

That’s a big difference from our sidebar arrangement, right? Let’s highlight the most important differences compared to the desktop version:

Both the header and .page-content have position: static and width: 100%.

The flex direction of the nav element changes from column to row.

The mobile menu toggle button becomes visible.

The menu is absolutely positioned right underneath the header and initially hidden. It will become visible each time we click on the toggle button. 

The collapse/expand button and the .greeting element are hidden.

The .search-and-user section is absolutely positioned and placed right next to the mobile menu toggle button. 

Below you can see a part of the responsive styles:

@media screen and (max-width: 767px) { .page-header, .page-content { position: static; width: 100%; } .page-header nav { flex-direction: row; } .page-header .toggle-mob-menu { display: block; } .page-header .admin-menu { position: absolute; left: 98px; top: 57px; margin-top: 0; z-index: 2; border-radius: var(--border-radius); background: var(--page-header-bgColor); visibility: hidden; opacity: 0; transform: scale(0.95); transition: all 0.2s; } .page-header .admin-menu li:last-child, .search-and-user .admin-profile .greeting { display: none; } .search-and-user { position: absolute; left: 131px; top: 10px; padding: 0; grid-column-gap: 5px; width: calc(100% - 141px); border-radius: var(--border-radius); background: transparent; } }

7. Toggle Mobile Menu

Each time we click on the toggle button, the menu state will change. If it’s expanded, it will collapse, and vice versa.

During the expanded state of the menu, the body receives the mob-menu-opened class. At that point, the following things happen:

The menu appears.

The aria-expanded and aria-label attribute values of the toggle button are updated. Plus, its icon is rotated 180 degrees, so it looks like an expand icon.

Here’s the required JavaScript code:

const body = document.body; const toggleMobileMenu = document.querySelector(".toggle-mob-menu"); toggleMobileMenu.addEventListener("click", function() { this.getAttribute("aria-expanded") == "true" ? this.setAttribute("aria-expanded", "false") : this.setAttribute("aria-expanded", "true"); this.getAttribute("aria-label") == "open menu" ? this.setAttribute("aria-label", "close menu") : this.setAttribute("aria-label", "open menu"); body.classList.toggle("mob-menu-opened"); });

And the associated CSS:

.page-header .toggle-mob-menu svg { transition: transform 0.2s; } .page-header .admin-menu { transition: all 0.2s; } .mob-menu-opened .toggle-mob-menu svg { transform: rotate(180deg); } .mob-menu-opened .page-header .admin-menu { transform: scale(1); visibility: visible; opacity: 1; }

Conclusion

That’s it folks! We successfully built a fully functional admin dashboard layout. You’ll be able to expand on this foundation to create all kinds of admin interfaces. Hopefully you enjoyed this journey as much as I did!

Just a last note. I’m certainly not an accessibility expert, yet I tried to make this component more accessible by adding some common ARIA attributes. During this process, I checked the WordPress and Codepen dashboards for reference. There might be additional ARIA attributes that could have been included in the code. For example, I excluded the aria-controls attribute which is responsible for identifying the related content, but that was because Aria-Controls is Poop.

If I missed anything, or you think that some things should have been done differently, let me know in the comments below.

As always, thanks for reading!

More Admin Dashboard UI Resources

Bootstrap

15 Feature-Packed Bootstrap Admin Templates

Ian Yates

FusionCharts

How to Build a SaaS Dashboard in React With Google Sheets and FusionCharts

Gagan Sikri

[goarticletec-blog]

How to upgrade to the version of Win10 Pro that YOU want

New Post has been published on https://www.articletec.com/how-to-upgrade-to-the-version-of-win10-pro-that-you-want-2/

How to upgrade to the version of Win10 Pro that YOU want

Those of you on Win10 Pro version 1703 — that’s my version of choice — just ran out of time, at least to a first approximation. Microsoft won’t be pushing any more security patches onto your machine. Yes, I know some of you figure that’s a feature, but never mind. You’re left with three options: Move to Win10 version 1709, version 1803, or (with fear and trepidation) version 1809.

If you’re running Win10 version 1709, you have the option of staying with 1709, moving on to 1803 (and thus giving yourself seven additional months of support), or leaping on 1809. Be careful what you wish.

Microsoft has modified its Win10 release strategy and terminology more times than I can recall, but we’ve finally hit a point where some of the settings can be relied upon. Recent tests have shown that it’s easy to choose your next version of Win10 Pro, as long as you follow some simple (if convoluted) logic.

Bear in mind that these calisthenics are strictly school-of-hard knocks. Windows Update wasn’t built to be used this way. But the method works.

Win10 Home customers are out of luck. Your only choice is to set your internet connection as metered, then use two runs of wushowhide to block upgrades as they come along. And for heaven’s sake, don’t click “Check for Updates.”

Which version of Win10 is best?

Great question. No simple answer.

With Win10 1709 as baseline, version 1803 (the “April 2018 Update,” released on the last day of May) adds:

Timeline — a visual record of where you’ve gone in Edge, Office and a few other apps, including some on iOS and Android devices running Cortana

Diagnostic Data Viewer — supposed to help you restrict Microsoft’s snooping

Minor improvements to Edge, Cortana, the People app and a handful of under-the-covers features

Moving from 1803 to 1809 (the “October 2018 Update,” re-released in mid-November), you get these barn burner new features:

A new Clipboard — features that should’ve been included a couple of decades ago. Notably less powerful than many free Win10 add-ins.

Snip & Sketch — screenshot program (now with 3- and 5-second delay options) that lets you mark up shots, but doesn’t let you save them as JPEG or GIF, or automatically increment the filenames.

More Storage Sense — works with OneDrive File On-Demand to clean out files you aren’t using. Many folks think this is the feature that malfunctioned in the first released version of 1809 and destroyed data.

More minor improvements to Edge, Search, a phone linking app that doesn’t do much, some new admin policies, and a bunch of new emojis.

Of course, 1809 is an unknown at this point, with a horrendous history and little real-world exposure.

All in all, I’d rather stick with 1703, but Windows’ relentless march is pushing on.

As best I can tell, Win10 version 1803 is roughly as stable as 1709. That’s certainly damning with faint praise, but the onslaught of tiny bug fixes has shored 1803 up reasonably well.

The one big advantage of 1803 over 1709: It doesn’t reach end of support until Nov. 12, 2019, which is more than seven months later than 1709 (April 9, 2019).

Given all of that, I’ve decided to upgrade my production machines to 1803. You may well wish to go to 1709, and pray that 1809 turns out stable enough so you can skip 1803 entirely, much as I’m skipping 1709. Heaven help us all.

The key date: SAC or CBB

To upgrade your Win10 Pro machine to your version of choice, the crucial determinant is the so-called Semi-Annual Channel (SAC) date, formerly the Current Branch for Business (CBB) date. That’s the date Microsoft determined that a new version of Windows is ready for businesses, having been vetted by us unpaid plebes.

The official SAC dates:

Version 1709: Jan. 18, 2018

Version 1803: July 10, 2018

Version 1809 isn’t yet ready for businesses. As if you needed me to tell you that. (If you really want to get version 1809 right now, make a full backup, go to the Download Windows 10 site, and click “Update now.” Then duck and cover.)

Set the deferral

The trick to upgrading to the version of Win10 Pro that you want lies in manipulating the feature update deferral day setting. The dialog box with the setting has changed, but if you’re using Win10 version 1703, it looks like the screenshot.

Woody Leonhard/IDG

Here’s how to get the version you want:

Step 1. Click Start > Settings > Update & Security.

Step 2. On the left, choose “Windows Update”; on the right, click “Advanced options.” You should see a dialog like the one in the screenshot.

Step 3. Figure out which version you want to upgrade to. Find its SAC date. Then subtract today’s date from the SAC date (using, e.g., the timeanddate calculator). For example, as of today, version 1709 hit SAC 301 days ago, and version 1803 hit SAC 128 days ago.

Step 4. In the dialog, in the dropdown box, choose Current Branch for Business or Semi-Annual Channel. Then, in the feature update deferral box, choose a number that’s a little bit smaller than the number you calculated in Step 3.

For example, in the screenshot, I chose 120 days because it’s a little bit smaller than 128 days, and I want to move to version 1803.

Step 5. “X” out of the dialog box and don’t do anything.

You don’t need to do anything else. In particular, don’t click Check for Updates (yeah, I know, Microsoft says it won’t use that ruse again). Windows should update itself overnight. If for some reason the update gods determine that your PC is unworthy, take it as a good omen, and try upgrading to a different version.

When you come back up for air, remember that you can manually roll back to the previous version if you do so in the next few days (Start > Settings > Update & Security > Recovery). Also remember to change your deferral settings back to the numbers you prefer.

The case against upgrading Win7 or 8.1

I don’t know any Windows 7 users who are itching to get going with Windows 10. No doubt there are a few. If you feel like jumping on the treadmill, follow Ed Bott’s instructions on ZDNet to get a free upgrade.

You’ll have to upgrade sooner or later (if you want security patches after January 2020, anyway), but there’s plenty of time to worry about that. I feel confident in saying that the mayhem surrounding Win10 hasn’t been worth the new features.

Windows 8.1 remains the most stable version of Windows.

Questions? Hit us on the AskWoody Lounge.

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[princesas-peluches]

Save Dolls Houses Past and Present Update

Recently I reblogged a post from Lee Higgins about the fundraising campaign to save the website of “Dolls Houses Past and Present”. The deadline for donations is 17 August so I felt that I wanted to write about it one more time. It seems to me that every time I go online I read about doll collectors who are downsizing their collections. My generation is getting older and many are moving to smaller homes where there won’t be room for dolls or have health issues that force them to let their dolls go. In many cases their children are not interested in having them. Many younger people today seem to actively dislike dolls or be frightened by them but that is the subject for another post. What also concerns me is that knowledge is being lost. I don’t see a lot of new doll collecting books being written these days and without websites that provide information new collectors have nowhere to go. As an older person I don’t think of the dolls from the last twenty years or so as being vintage, to me vintage or antique is fifty years plus, but the other day I was watching a YouTube video made by a young collector. She’d was showing a bunch of Barbies she’d found at a thrift shop and asking viewers to help her ID them. Many of these dolls were from the Fashion Fever era and I recognised several pieces from closets I own myself. These are dolls from only ten or twelve years ago, how hard will it be to ID things that are 50 or more years old without specialist websites? Sharing information about dolls is something that I feel very strongly about and I would really hate to see a valuable collection of photos be lost. When I first heard about the fundraising campaign I wrote to the admins of Dolls Houses Past and Present to ask if I could write a post about it, this was before I read Lee’s post. Today I received an email from Rebecca Green, one of the admins. Here is what she told me: The Dolls Houses Past and Present website was started in 2009 by a UK collector of vintage and antique dolls houses and miniatures. She had very much missed the print magazine International Dolls House News when it ended, and after hoping for a while that something would replace it, decided to start a website herself. Unfortunately she had to hand over the ownership of the website due to health issues. I became involved with the online magazine first, and then in late 2011 took over the website. When the website started, we were very lucky that our current web host provided a do-it-yourself website builder that had lots of features that enabled dolls house enthusiasts to become members, share photos of their dolls houses, comment on other members’ houses, ask questions, start discussions, and share the thrill of their finds. However, our web host introduced a new version of their site builder some years ago, which does not have all the features we rely on. We resisted changing to the new version, but they stopped maintaining the old version that we use some time ago, so more and more features have stopped working. A website like ours doesn’t really fit their target clientele any more.  Unfortunately, there are no other do-it-yourself website builders designed to accommodate websites like ours, either, so we will have to employ website developers to build one to our specifications. That’s not cheap! And so we are trying to raise £10,000, which is a rough estimate given by the companies we have asked for quotes. The actual quotes will be itemised, and give specific figures – hopefully a bit under £10,000, but we also have to budget for the annual maintenance costs, which will be about 6 times more than we pay our current web host – but for much better support, and a smoothly functioning website!  Every donation helps, large or small, and perhaps some of your readers will be kind enough to donate a small amount, in memory of their childhood dolls house, or someone they know or knew who loved dolls houses .… So if you feel that you would like to make a donation that would be wonderful. Normally I would never ask for money on this site but if everyone who visits in the next couple of weeks gave just a dollar it could make a huge difference. At the time of writing, 25 July, the campaign has raised 29% of the ten thousand pounds they need, there are three weeks left to raise the rest. Can you help? At present the old site is still operational although with many problems but you should be able to view the photos. I just tried. http://www.dollshousespastandpresent.com/ Here is the link to the campaign.  https://fundrazr.com/c1NSU4?ref=ab_2EnMELIZTsW2EnMELIZTsWClick to view slideshow. . De: Dolls, Dolls, Dolls - https://dollsdollsdolls.net/2018/07/25/save-dolls-houses-past-and-present-update/ Fecha: July 24, 2018 at 08:08PM . Haz clic en la foto de abajo para ver otro de mis Blogs. Encontraras mas publicaciones interesantes. Visita mis Blogs: El Mundo de las Princesas Muñecas y Peluches: http://mi-barbie.blogspot.com/?m=0, Entretenimientos y diversiones: http://entretenimientos-diversiones.blogspot.com/?m=0, Sucesos histórias y documentales: http://sucesos-historias-documentales.blogspot.com/?m=0, Humor Mascotas y Diversiones: http://humor-mascotas-diversiones.blogspot.com/?m=0, Curiosidades y Entretenimientos: http://curiosidades-entretenimientos.blogspot.com/?m=0, Competencias y deportes: http://competencias-deportes.blogspot.com/?m=0, Paisajes imagenes y lugares interesante: http://paisajes-imagenes-lugares.blogspot.com/?m=0 http://dlvr.it/Qcg5bT