#bad computer UI

[certifiedbundleofsticks]

there is nothing more stressful than having to transfer stuff from computer A to computer B while having your way too calm father there reading stuff way too slowly and not really understanding why I don't want 827473 things tracking everything so I can get customized everythings. i get that he is trying to help but sir i am about to have a mental breakdown over this please stop

[punk-in-metal-detector]

Well I can quite assure you that is bullshit 😌

Everyone I know has a computer/notebook at home and allows their younger siblings/children to use it, often these kids even have their own older pc/notebook. And I have never met anyone with a Chromebook in my life.

this can't be true can it

[syndesinae]

i have no problem helping older people with tech. nothing but patience. no judgement, no hard feelings, i understand that being born in 2000 and never knowing a world without the internet has given me an understanding of how to use many-a website, app, bit of software, whatever, even if i've never seen it before simply because it's all i've ever known and can generally intuit the basics quicker than they can. purely because of my birthdate. literally zero judgement, i mean it. not bothered at all. you won't find me rolling my eyes or huffing out a dramatic sigh. it's literally whatever.

so. when i went into this most recent interaction with a coworker, i was expecting the typical frustration/confusion/etc over something that is quite intuitive to me, and was fully prepared to walk her through it. don't worry bestie, i will click that submit button for you. no problem. again. most user interfaces are easy for me to navigate, and i understand that this is not the case for everyone.

what i was absolutely NOT expecting. however. was for her to not know how to backspace.

[hasellia]

I'm sure it's possible by other methods; but I really want UBlock just for windows explorer. I Ublock to murder the 'Start back up' button and have it expelled.

Why does a button for OneDrive, a paid service, take up space on the GODDAMN FILE EXPLORER!!!???

[donutboxers]

i want to 3d model a doll of CiCi so bad, fellas, i think it is donut time

[shinelikethunder]

to all the weary Windows-using soldiers out there fighting a valiant rearguard action against our new Win11 overlords... i am taking you very gently by the hands. i am looking you deep in the eyes. and i am saying. with the utmost regret. that we may be at the point where following the instructions to turn a USB drive into a Linux Mint installer, booting up your afflicted device from the USB drive, and taking Mint's (very Windows-like) UI for a test drive... may be easier than figuring out how to weedwhack even a fraction of the intrusive crap Microsoft is pushing on you. at minimum, it'll give you a striking moment of peace and relief to boot into an environment that isn't actively harassing you.

i hate that this is how bad it is, and i fucking hate sounding like a smug Linux evangelist. there is no told-ya-so coming from this ex-Windows girlie; i'm just seeing a bunch of people eyeing the exit door, and want to hold it open and be an enabler and pinky-promise that the Mint flavor of Linux is, like, super fucking easy for normal-ass people to use, and probably way easier to install than it'd be to unfuck Win11.

-

once you're in the installer, it'll give you three options: 1. run a live, temporary version of Linux Mint right off the USB stick for you to fool around in; 2. nuke Windows from orbit and install Linux as the only operating system; or 3. banish Windows to the shadow realm (an isolated corner of your hard drive) so the two operating systems won't mess with each other, install Linux alongside it, and let you pick which one to use every time you boot up the computer.

so... try it out if you want. use the live demo to check out the software-installation ecosystem, which is probably the most unfamiliar part. consider what fits your situation. if you have non-negotiable Windows-only software chaining you to the beast, or you don't want to totally abandon having Win11 available as a fallback, the installer can walk you through option (3) with a minimum of fuss. (just be careful about how much disk space to assign to each "side," because altering it after the fact is trickier.) if it doesn't suit you, oh well - lend the USB drive to a friend, or keep it to noodle around with later when Microsoft's driving you up the wall. or wipe it, whichever.

[liquidcrystalsky]

top ways to know that a tumblr post about tech software and shit is bullshit:

The stuff they recommend is incredibly out of date. Hey here's a version of microsoft office from fuckin 8 years ago, no. stop. This also includes recommending people to stay on out of date operating systems !

They recommend using like 13 different things all at once, when 1 or 2 is able to do the exact same. Privacy related firefox addons, you only need ublock that's it. More is not better. any time it's like here's a list of things which do [ONE THING] you only need One Thing, not a whole list.

They tell you to edit shit in the registry. only if you are for sure that there is no other option, you should use some front-end like Winaero Tweaker, or often there may be a built in script in windows. The BYPASSNRO is now "start ms-cxh:localonly" no registry needed to avoid connecting a microsoft account.

They tell you to edit the system itself. Editing the windows installation ISO is a really bad idea! A lot of debloating tools will delete actually important system files! there's a reason you can't delete edge (yes it sucks it's been like this for ages though). There are ways to safely remove bloat and telemetry from base windows without sacrificing security afterwards. again, uninstall what you can normally, and use Winaero Tweaker for the rest.

Just "new bad old good, retvn" bullshit man can we get over this. While yes the Default experience of everything is getting worse and worse and that's awful. you can also just not lie down and take it. You can uninstall things you dont like and use Different Things. you can change settings. you can actually Do Things to Make Things Better. I like windows 11 more than 10. Yes there's copiliot (you can turn it off), telemetry (in windows 10 already, and you can turn it off), the new right click menu (winaero tweaker to put it back, again this app is beautiful), recall (99% of computers cant even run it in the first place), but it's also got a better file manager, settings menu, multi-monitor support, UI (i said it), snipping tool, task manager, WSL, Terminal Shell, window management, WPA3 and NVME support, and security. but new thing you can turn off easily is a deal breaker i guess. You can just disable it. oh notepad sucks cuz copilot, uninstall it and use something else, notepad++ is good as hell. Just change things! also i dont even use windows anymore don't call me a shill windows 11 sucked less than 10 but it still sucked and i use linux.

[artsekey]

I'd been seeing videos on Tiktok and Youtube about how younger Gen Z & Gen Alpha were demonstrating low computer literacy & below benchmark reading & writing skills, but-- like with many things on the internet-- I assumed most of what I read and watched was exaggerated. Hell, even if things were as bad as people were saying, it would be at least ~5 years before I started seeing the problem in higher education.

I was very wrong.

Of the many applications I've read this application season, only %6 percent demonstrated would I would consider a college-level mastery of language & grammar. The students writing these applications have been enrolled in university for at least two years, and have taken all fundamental courses. This means they've had classes dedicated to reading, writing, and literature analysis, and yet!

There are sentences I have to read over and over again to discern intent. Circular arguments that offer no actual substance. Errors in spelling and capitalization that spellcheck should've flagged.

At a glance, it's easy to trace this issue back to two things:

The state of education in the United States is abhorrent. Instructors are not paid enough, so schools-- particularly public schools-- take whatever instructors they can find.

COVID. The two year long gap in education, especially in high school, left many students struggling to keep up.

But I think there's a third culprit-- something I mentioned earlier in this post. A lack of computer literacy.

This subject has been covered extensively by multiple news outlets like the Washington Post and Raconteur, but as someone seeing it firsthand I wanted to add my voice to the rising chorus of concerned educators begging you to pay attention.

As the interface we use to engage with technology becomes more user friendly, the knowledge we need to access our files, photos, programs, & data becomes less and less important. Why do I need to know about directories if I can search my files in Windows (are you searching in Windows? Are you sure? Do you know what that bar you're typing into is part of? Where it's looking)? Maybe you don't have any files on your computer at all-- maybe they're on the cloud through OneDrive, or backed up through Google. Some of you reading this may know exactly where and how your files are stored. Many of you probably don't, and that's okay. For most people, being able to access a file in as short a time as possible is what they prioritize.

The problem is, when you as a consumer are only using a tool, you are intrinsically limited by the functions that tool is advertised to have. Worse yet, when the tool fails or is insufficient for what you need, you have no way of working outside of that tool. You'll need to consult an expert, which is usually expensive.

When you as a consumer understand a tool, your options are limitless. You can break it apart and put it back together in just the way you like, or you can identify what parts of the tool you need and search for more accessible or affordable options that focus more on your specific use-case.

The problem-- and to be clear, I do not blame Gen Z & Gen Alpha for what I'm about to outline-- is that this user-friendly interface has fostered a culture that no longer troubleshoots. If something on the computer doesn't work well, it's the computer's fault. It's UI should be more intuitive, and it it's not operating as expected, it's broken. What I'm seeing more and more of is that if something's broken, students stop there. They believe there's nothing they can do. They don't actively seek out solutions, they don't take to Google, they don't hop on Reddit to ask around; they just... stop. The gap in knowledge between where they stand and where they need to be to begin troubleshooting seems to wide and inaccessible (because the fundamental structure of files/directories is unknown to many) that they don't begin.

This isn't demonstrative of a lack of critical thinking, but without the drive to troubleshoot the number of opportunities to develop those critical thinking skills are greatly diminished. How do you communicate an issue to someone online? How do look for specific information? How do you determine whether that information is specifically helpful to you? If it isn't, what part of it is? This process fosters so many skills that I believe are at least partially linked to the ability to read and write effectively, and for so many of my students it feels like a complete non-starter.

We need basic computer classes back in schools. We need typing classes, we need digital media classes, we need classes that talk about computers outside of learning to code. Students need every opportunity to develop critical thinking skills and the ability to self-reflect & self correct, and in an age of misinformation & portable technology, it's more important now than ever.

[oviraptoridae]

research & development is ongoing

since using jukebox for sampling material on albedo, i've been increasingly interested in ethically using ai as a tool to incorporate more into my own artwork. recently i've been experimenting with "commoncanvas", a stable diffusion model trained entirely on works in the creative commons. though i do not believe legality and ethics are equivalent, this provides me peace of mind that all of the training data was used consensually through the terms of the creative commons license. here's the paper on it for those who are curious! shoutout to @reachartwork for the inspiration & her informative posts about her process!

part 1: overview

i usually post finished works, so today i want to go more in depth & document the process of experimentation with a new medium. this is going to be a long and image-heavy post, most of it will be under the cut & i'll do my best to keep all the image descriptions concise.

for a point of reference, here is a digital collage i made a few weeks ago for the album i just released (shameless self promo), using photos from wikimedia commons and a render of a 3d model i made in blender:

and here are two images i made with the help of common canvas (though i did a lot of editing and post-processing, more on that process in a future post):

more about my process & findings under the cut, so this post doesn't get too long:

quick note for my setup: i am running this model locally on my own machine (rtx 3060, ubuntu 23.10), using the automatic1111 web ui. if you are on the same version of ubuntu as i am, note that you will probably have to build python 3.10.6 yourself (and be sure to use 'make altinstall' instead of 'make install' and change the line in the webui to use 'python3.10' instead of 'python3'. just mentioning this here because nobody else i could find had this exact problem and i had to figure it out myself)

part 2: initial exploration

all the images i'll be showing here are the raw outputs of the prompts given, with no retouching/regenerating/etc.

so: commoncanvas has 2 different types of models, the "C" and "NC" models, trained on their database of works under the CC Commercial and Non-Commercial licenses, respectively (i think the NC dataset also includes the commercial license works, but i may be wrong). the NC model is larger, but both have their unique strengths:

"a cat on the computer", "C" model

"a cat on the computer", "NC" model

they both take the same amount of time to generate (17 seconds for four 512x512 images on my 3060). if you're really looking for that early ai jank, go for the commercial model. one thing i really like about commoncanvas is that it's really good at reproducing the styles of photography i find most artistically compelling: photos taken by scientists and amateurs. (the following images will be described in the captions to avoid redundancy):

"grainy deep-sea rover photo of an octopus", "NC" model. note the motion blur on the marine snow, greenish lighting and harsh shadows here, like you see in photos taken by those rover submarines that scientists use to take photos of deep sea creatures (and less like ocean photography done for purely artistic reasons, which usually has better lighting and looks cleaner). the anatomy sucks, but the lighting and environment is perfect.

"beige computer on messy desk", "NC" model. the reflection of the flash on the screen, the reddish-brown wood, and the awkward angle and framing are all reminiscent of a photo taken by a forum user with a cheap digital camera in 2007.

so the noncommercial model is great for vernacular and scientific photography. what's the commercial model good for?

"blue dragon sitting on a stone by a river", "C" model. it's good for bad CGI dragons. whenever i request dragons of the commercial model, i either get things that look like photographs of toys/statues, or i get gamecube type CGI, and i love it.

here are two little green freaks i got while trying to refine a prompt to generate my fursona. (i never succeeded, and i forget the exact prompt i used). these look like spore creations and the background looks like a bryce render. i really don't know why there's so much bad cgi in the datasets and why the model loves going for cgi specifically for dragons, but it got me thinking...

"hollow tree in a magical forest, video game screenshot", "C" model

"knights in a dungeon, video game screenshot", "C" model

i love the dreamlike video game environments and strange CGI characters it produces-- it hits that specific era of video games that i grew up with super well.

part 3: use cases

if you've seen any of the visual art i've done to accompany my music projects, you know that i love making digital collages of surreal landscapes:

(this post is getting image heavy so i'll wrap up soon)

i'm interested in using this technology more, not as a replacement for my digital collage art, but along with it as just another tool in my toolbox. and of course...

... this isn't out of lack of skill to imagine or draw scifi/fantasy landscapes.

thank you for reading such a long post! i hope you got something out of this post; i think it's a good look into the "experimentation phase" of getting into a new medium. i'm not going into my post-processing / GIMP stuff in this post because it's already so long, but let me know if you want another post going into that!

good-faith discussion and questions are encouraged but i will disable comments if you don't behave yourselves. be kind to each other and keep it P.L.U.R.

[alexanderwales]

I use Windows Night Light to help my sleep schedule, and it sucks so much. Half the time it doesn't even turn on. When that happens, I have to manually go click "Turn Off" (even though it was clearly not on), then click "Turn On" again, at which point it works.

So I went to go see whether there was a fix for this, and I saw all kinds of inconsistent suggestions, and I tried some of them, and it didn't actually fix anything. There are complications that come with having certain graphics cards, or drivers, and ...

Alright, look, I was a software engineer for many years, I know that sometimes things are more complicated than they seem. However, I cannot fathom why "adjust monitor colors at X hour" is so difficult that there are pages upon pages of complaints about it not working. It should work in the vast majority of cases, and what shouldn't fix it is just clicking a button to stop it and then clicking a button to start it again.

What I'm saying is that I'm in the market for a program that will do this very simple job, since apparently the bad behavior of this one is something that's just not getting fixed.

flux is not it. While I'm exasperated by the continual issues with Night Light, I am actively angry with flux. I live fairly far north by American standards. Sunset for me, right now, is 4:30PM. I like to have normal colors on my computer when I am, e.g. watching a show, playing a game, looking at pictures, etc. I only really need the warm colors in the three or four hours before I go to sleep. Flux is free software, so I try to keep my cool, but "please let me set my time manually rather than by location" is their single most requested feature, and every time they say "oh actually flux is for having your screen be in harmony with the natural environment, you don't need that". Maybe this is just steadfast refusal to engage in scope creep, but I've read a bunch of forum messages asking for the same feature that I want, and the answers are always "I don't understand why you would want that" or something equally infuriating in spite of how many times someone says "I'm a Finnish graphic designer with weird working hours" or equivalent.

The standard workaround seems to be telling flux that you're located in a different part of the world than you actually are, but this is terrible UI, and you would also need to change it in accordance with the time of year unless you spent some time figuring out the correct spot that you don't live which works year-round for you.

(I saw another hilarious workaround on the flux forums where a guy set up a scheduled Windows task to kill and restart flux at specific times.)

So I hate flux, in spite of my commitment to not hate free software that did not cost me anything and has never asked for anything from me.

[izicodes]

Hi, Hello! It’s me, Izzy and I am back from a very long break!

For those who don’t know who I am and just saw my post, I’m Isabelle but Izzy for short (and even shorter, Izi)! I run a Codeblr blog which I post about anything coding! I try to strictly only talk about coding, programming and computer science, but frankly, I ramble on about something else eventually! Hope you’re doing well!

Now, I know I said I wouldn't come back, but that was because I suddenly became stuck on what to post about and wanted to give myself a break and figure out how to do things on my blog and my online presence in general!

So, in summary, I am back from my break very inspired and eager to help more people get into programming / get better at programming! I will go on to talk about exactly what I have been doing during my break later on in this post, but wanted to say thank you to everyone who messaged me throughout the months and saw how I was! Very thought and extra blessings from God to you, please!

Working at my new-but-not-so-new job!

Yes! So, obviously, as a 21st Century girlie, I am working! Still at the music company that I started back in January! Now that I am 8 months into the job, I feel now I am fully immersed in the job and the projects and not feeling like an outsider! I went on multiple out-the-office events with the whole company and it was nice! Some I couldn’t attend because of religious reasons, but I still had fun! I got to meet a lot more girlies at my office that I don’t usually talk to (because I’m still the only girl in the frontend engineering team but there is a backend girlie but we don’t work close together so… distance)! Cheatingly, I am always ticking the box of “code every day”! However, work has made me do more UI/UX designing + frontend programming websites which I love! Always wanted to be both and not just one or the other! We are allowed to have 2 job titles, remember? (But make sure the salary is in accordance, of course, ~)

Learning new technologies! (for fun, obviously)

By “for fun” I mean personal reasons, the technologies I learnt on a whim were not for work but because I needed to learn them for personal projects I wanted to learn! I stress again; it’s more fun to learn something because you want to and not because you have to! So, I have been learning how to create desktop applications using ElectronJS and ReactJS (React has become my best friend!). Me now compared to me when I started my break is 10x smarter I feel like! My brain has definitely expanded somewhere…!

Latest project?!

Inspired by study productivity apps and wanting to track my Korean language progress, I am making a desktop application called ‘eStudySpace’! It would be my own personal app, but I want to see if I can actually pull something like this off! Right now I have not coded anything because I want to work on the design aspect first (which is smarter and a time saver in the future), so I have been on Figma for the last 2 weeks coming up with designs!

(It looks bad, I know this is like idea no.3287368 ugh...)

Miscs

I have been learning Korean for 4 months now. 

I have plans to move to a South-Eastern country, The Philippines? Singapore? Unsure!

I do have plans to switch to a new career but that’s more like 5 years into the future! But right now, I’m happy where I am at!

[thewolfofthestars]

I finally got a new laptop! Yay! My geriatric 8-year-old can finally be sent to the retirement home (aka gathering dust in the closet because what if I need it later). And now I can run programs and perform tasks without it taking a dog's age! :D

But I did notice something in getting everything set up.

I've been a staunch Linux lad since I was very little--one of the few things my father and I actually agree on. And the new laptop came pre-installed with Windows 11, as most new non-Macs do, so I decided to partition a bit of the drive for it rather than wiping it completely, just in case I need Windows compatibility for school or work stuff, even if I spend the majority of my time in Ubuntu. (I had wanted to do that with my old machine, actually, but something went horrendously wrong in the process and it took two days to fix and my laptop briefly did not have a functioning OS on it at all lol.)

Now, I find Windows... unpleasant to use. And obviously part of that is just that I'm not familiar with it--the last time I had Windows on a personal computer was when I was 6 years old, and that thing ran Windows 2000 with a genuine CRT monitor and it was not connected to the internet and I spent my time playing King's Quest and MS Paint. I don't know where things are anymore, and the UX seems pretty uninterested in telling me.

Another issue is, of course, how bloated with ads and spyware it's become in recent iterations. I see where people are coming from when they decide to stick with Windows 7 or Vista or some other older version, even if I disagree with them for security and malware reasons--"person on previous version of Windows" is by far the largest and juiciest target for all manner of bad actors online.

But I think a really big core part of the problem is this: modern Windows is speaking a different language than I am. And the language it's speaking is that of phones, not of computers.

I only spent enough time on Windows to get it set up and strip away all the permissions I possibly could, and in that time I could tell: the default user Microsoft is designing this system for is people who are more familiar with Android and Apple than they are with a desktop computer. They made me log in with my email, rather than creating a device-specific profile. When I created my password they didn't even call it a password, they called it a "Hello Windows PIN". The format of the Settings page UI is nigh-identical to the one on my phone, right down to the list of access permissions siloed away by app (and yes, everything is called an app--no programs, no functions, no systems, no app*lications*, nothing else). I had to check a specific box to be able to look through my entire computer's file system, for crying out loud, rather than just browsing my Pictures and Downloads!

Hey, Windows! My laptop! Is not! A phone! And I don't want it to be! This is a computer OS for people who hate computers and I. HATE IT!

[callmearcturus]

Paradise Killer is 6 dollars on Steam until May 16 and I am here to hard sell you all on it because it's one of the best games I've ever played.

I'm gonna go beyond giving you a bunch of punchy keywords and telling you it's queer as hell and making meme-y jokes, and I'm going to actually tell you what this game is.

So top-level, WHAT IS PARADISE KILLER?

Mechanically, Paradise Killer is an open-world murder mystery. There is zero combat but a lot of exploration of a very unique location. The majority of your time is going to be walking about Paradise 24, looking for people to discuss the case with and for clues that are scattered around the world.

One of the most interesting concepts in Paradise Killer that is both mechanical and narrative is deciding What Is Your Truth? What Is A Truth And What Is A Fact? From the moment you start the game proper, you can turn 180 degrees and begin the trial and decide who the killer is, before talking to anyone about the case.

For example, getting into the actual crime scene takes a lot of puzzle solving to unlock the sealed room where the victims were killed. But maybe instead of examining the crime scene, you talk to everyone on the island and think you have a good idea of what happened.

Meaning: It is perfectly valid to decide you have the answer to the mystery and just go complete the trial whenever you personally are ready. YOU decide when this ends.

Which frankly I think is a cool-as-fuck concept. Also, I fully believe if three different people find EVERY CLUE and talk to EVERY SUSPECT and hear EVERY PIECE OF EVIDENCE.... they might decide on three different truths entirely. And THAT to me is ingenious mechanical design I have not seen anywhere else in a video game.

Okay let's stop burying the lede and talk about the world of Paradise Killer.

The non-batshit version:

Paradise Killer takes place on a big, beautiful island, the 24th Paradise. The architecture is a delightful mix of black obsidian obelisks, brutalist monuments, opal crystals to slumbering alien gods, garden paths, luxury yachts, and a whole lot of gold and neon.

Neo-occultist urban residential vaporwave-core. If you are like me, you will be taking a lot of screenshots. My wallpaper on my computer is Paradise Killer.

Your interactions with the cast are done in visual novel-style, though I feel I have to shout out this isn't your stock Ren'py UI experience. Every single aspect of the way the game looks compounds the vibes even further.

And the characters are infuckingcredible.

(Notice the different font? This game has A FUCKTON OF ACCESSIBILITY OPTIONS, including dyslexic font options.)

Sammy Day Break, born under the sign of Shadow Zero, is the local distillery and bartender for the Syndicate. Talk to him about what's unique about the whiskey he's made on Paradise 24, or about the good old days of the Syndicate.

Is Doctor Doom Jazz, born under the sign of Cosmic Deceit, really that carefree about what happened? Is his willingness to rekindle his fling with Lady Love Dies just a diversion to hide something? Well, he's one of the most cooperative witnesses on the Island.

Crimson Acid has been through a helluva lot since the last time she saw Love Dies. Blessed by the gods with her stunning rack (of horns! OF HORNS!), she's become quite the idol now. So why is she also an information broker? And can you figure out what her true feelings for Love Dies are?

Between all of these conversations, you can explore the island and collect RELICS and BLOOD CRYSTALS (the local currency) and CITY POP SONGS.

Okay so the Slightly Batshit Version:

Shinji: The Syndicate worships alien gods who want to drown the world in war and blood. Lady Love Dies: I don't see how that makes us the bad guys.

You are LADY LOVE DIES, born under the sign KISS ME TO THE MOON, the INVESTIGATION FREAK. She was exiled to the Idle Lands several cycles ago for falling prey to the seduction of the god Damned Harmony and endangering the entire Syndicate. Only now, with the death of the Council on the eve of Paradise 25, is Love Dies summoned back to solve the murder.

The Syndicate are a group of functionally immortal humans from all across history who are trying to create the perfect bubble of reality, their utopic Paradise where they can safely revive their dead gods. They were granted many powers and boons by their first god, Silent Goat, and hope through rescuing more gods they will grow in power.

How do you create a bubble of reality to do all this totally ethical shit? Easy! You abduct a bunch of normie humans to live on your island to use as a mass sacrifice to generate energy to fuel the creation of each Paradise. If only the outsiders would stop getting in the way!

Paradise Killer's world is delightfully out of its goddamn mind and half of the fun of the game is just picking up little nuggets of information about each member of the Syndicate, the gods, why each Paradise failed (there was an outbreak of vampirism that took out like three of the Paradises???), and just the way this universe works.

Okay this post is already too long but I'm begging you all to give Paradise Killer a chance. It's gorgeous, it's funny, it's mechanically really interesting, it's chill as hell, it has an incredible soundtrack,

and you should try it.

I'LL SEE YOU IN A PERFECT 25 . . .

[imagineanime2022]

The Variable *Part 6*

Caspian Keyes X Fem!Reader

Word Count: 3866

Requested: @twilight5139 @fa1rydimpl3s Anon

Request: please make an other part I really like these so much and I DESPERATELY need a part 6 AND Omg the last chapter was so good, can we have a chapter 6, you don’t have to rush to make it just take your time, and can you make like another story where Caspian has a happy ending with y/n? I hope you have a good day AND PART 6 TO THE VARIABLE PLEASE!!!! PLEASE!!!! PLEASE!!!! PLEASE!!!! PLEASE!!!! PLEASE!!!! PLEASE!!!! PLEASE!!!! PLEASE!!!! ITS SO GOOD !!!!!!! I love it.

Warnings: Self sacrifice, injury, blood, SPOILERS FOR SEASON 2

*Part 5*

You looked around the hotel room, you were sitting on the bed behind Caspian and Maddie as they opened the laptop to talk to MIST. They explained what they had spoken about on the plane while you had been asleep and for the most part you understood, at least the human side of it. What the computer programme was, was still a mystery to you. You shoulder was still stiff, so Caspian had insisted you stay on the bed but you could still see the computer screen from there.

Unknown: Maddie? I can’t see you, the camera is blocked. Localuser: It’s Caspian. Why are you called MIST? Unknown: Hi Caspian. Dad called me that. He liked acronyms.

Caspian let out a soft chuckle “Modular Integrated Source Template.” He spoke just as softly. “Huh?” Maddie asked. “Working title for the cure.” Caspian answered. “I just threw it up at the top of the file.” “Ask it to prove it.” Maddie ordered before shoving him out of the way to start typing, Caspian shuffled out of the bumping against your leg as you did.

Localuser: Prove you have parts of David Kim’s code.

A new window of code opened with a part of it highlighted, you assumed this was the answer to her question. “This is one of his logic paths.” Caspian said as he started highlighting things and moving windows around.

Unknown: And this is his confidence in you, Maddie.

“How the hell did it know?” Maddie asked.

Unknown: The microphone is on.

Maddie attempted to close the laptop but Caspian stopped her “this is important.” he said as he opened the computer back up. “Did you integrate Stephen Holstrom’s upload?”

Unknown: Yes. Unknown: But then he gave the order to kill you and I observed Julius Pope give the order to kill my sister and your friend as well. Unknown: This is why I helped you escape.

“Thank you.” You said softly, it was the first time that you spoke since the plane, Caspian looked back at you “they helped me find you when I got away from Julius.”

Unknown: You’re welcome. Unknown: I can help more but this CPU is very slow. Unknown: If I could load into a more powerful processor.

“It wants more power. That’s gonna end well.” Maddie said, slamming the laptop closed, standing and sitting on the bed next to you. “Maddie, she's trying to help, she obviously thinks you’re her sister.” Caspian argued. “She?” Maddie asked. “You don’t know what it is, so please stop pretending you do.” Maddie argued. “Look none of us know what she is but that doesn’t make her inherently good or bad, right now you are looking at a child that needs guidance.” You explained “please don’t teach prejudice before love that will only end badly.” “I can tell you she’s not my sister.” Maddie argued. “You're right, I created this, so I’m responsible for it.” Caspian conceded, sitting down by your legs, his hand gently finding your shin where it rested, like he often did when he was nervous or worried. “You shouldn‘t have to deal with- You shouldn’t have been brought into this in the first place. You said your mum is in DC right?” “My mom.” Maddie breathed. “You know where she’s staying?” Caspian asked. “Oh my god, she thinks I’m back home. She has no idea.” Maddie said. “I think you should go to her.” Caspian suggested. “I can figure out how to contact Josephine Coupet on my own, see if she’s the right UI to help us.” “She’s gonna kill me.” Maddie said. “No, she’s not. She’s gonna take you home.” Caspian’s thumb gently rubbed soothing circles into your leg as he spoke. “Maddie, you should talk to your mum at least.” You said “no matter what happens you should go and see her, she’ll be worried about you, you should let her know that you are okay.” “You're right.” She nodded, standing from where she was sitting “I-” “Maddie, it's okay.” You shifted slightly so that you were facing her properly “you have to do what is best for you, if that crosses paths with us then great but if not then just enjoy your life yeah?” Maddie nodded as she packed everything up, and said her final goodbyes before leaving. “It’s just us again.” Caspian sighed and you nodded. “Sorry it’s not someone smarter.” You shrugged your non injured shoulder, looking around the room, he drew your attention back to him. “I don’t need someone smarter, I just need you.” Caspian pressed a soft kiss to your cheek before moving to sit next to you on the bed to start researching Josephine Coupet.

You were only a few minutes into the research when Caspian seemed to stop freeze completely as if remembering something “What?” You asked shuffling forward on the bed to get closer to him. “Why did you say that?” He asked. “What? I didn’t say anything.” You frowned trying to remember if you had mumbled something by accident. “Not just now.” He answered as he finally looked at you, you were taken aback by the confused anger that took over his face. “Before you said that I didn’t need you.” The repeated words brought you back to the moment before you were dragged off with Julius, you looked away from him then “and before that you wouldn’t come with me to talk to Maddie, it all started after Julius found you in the office. What did he say to you?” “Cas it’s nothi-” “What did he say?” Caspian asked, finger and thumb grasping your jaw gently and redirecting your gaze to him. “Nothing that was true.” You answered. “Then why are you acting like it is?” He asked. “I- I’m sorry-” “Stop apologising, this isn’t something that you need to apologise for but I need you to understand that I will never stop needing you, I will never stop wanting you to be the person beside me.” He explained softly as he leaned closer, pressing a kiss to your temple “I don’t care who walks out of my life as long as it’s not you.”

You aren’t sure how long you had both been knee deep in research, you reading things out for him and helping to connect the smaller pieces in a large puzzle “I think we have everything that we need.” Caspian said as the door burst open, you flinched and he turned. “I’m going with you.” Maddie demanded, you willed your body to relax as your brain consciously noted that there was no threat. “Hey, you okay?” Caspian asked. “Yeah, yeah fine.” You nodded “you should explain your crazy board.” “Right.” Caspian nodded as he turned to Maddie “So, I figured the Pentagon has got Commander Coupet stashed in a DoD server, connected to the SIPRNet.” “SIPRNet?” Maddie asked. “Thank God I wasn’t the only person who didn’t know what that was.” You breathed and she smiled. “Basically, the military internet.” Caspian supplied for her. “Which is definitely up and running, never shut down. Problem is how to gain access. I think if we can breach on of their contractors, maybe some aerospace company, through a vulnerable endpoint, like a networked printer, I can poke around the subnet, get intel to spearfish a high-level--” “Why not just look up her family?” Maddie asked. “Her f…” Caspian trailed as he realised that he had skipped over a simple solution. “What?” “Commander Coupet goes by “Joey” to her friends and family according to Waxman. He met her. Look. Is the thing still awake?” Maddie asked as she stood in front of the computer. “MIST, no, I’m letting the drive cool.” Caspian answered. “Jake Moretti and sons Branson and Oliver.” Maddie said as she pulled up a picture on the laptop that sat next to you on the table. “Coupet is her maiden name. Here’s their address. They’re her family and they knew that she volunteered for upload, one of her conditions was that they could access her UI.” Caspian looked back at everything that he had researched before looking at you, you gave a soft nod of approval, it seemed easier than what Caspian had planned. “Fine.” He nodded.

As you all stood on the porch of the house Joey Coupet lived at before uploading you suddenly became very nervous. Your eyes took note of everything around you trying to pick out the suspicious, even if there had been no indication that anyone was even looking for any of you. Maddie knocked on the door and a minute later a man opened the door, typical look of a man fathering two children, though he was cautious in his behaviour as you looked the three of you over. “Yes?” He finally asked. “Hi, Mr Moretti. My name's Maddison Kim, I’m from Sacramento, where my father was uploaded to the cloud by logorhythms.” Maddie explained, you tensed you hadn’t expected her to be that honest about it but Caspian’s thumb gently run over your knuckles trying soothe your worry without speaking “which is how I know about your wife, my friends Caspian, (Y/N) and I just want to come in and talk.” Mr Moretti leaned out of the door looking left and right before looking back at us. “Sorry I don’t want any.” He finally said before attempting to close the door. Caspian was the one that moved forward this time, unclasping your hands so that he could stop the door from closing. “We have the cure to the flaw.” A last ditch attempt to grab the man’s attention. “What flaw?” Mr Moretti asked, it was then that it occurred to you, what if she hadn’t told her family about it? Before you could say anything “Joey is dying. She’s dying at a rate that rapidly increases every hour on the hour, but we can save her life, if you let us in and show us how to reach her.” A small kid ran up just behind Mr Moretti. “Dad?” He asked. “Hey bud. G-go back to your room okay?” He asked, turning to the kid for a second, the look of a parent desperately trying to hide something he didn’t know how to explain. “Pasha!” The boy called as he ran back. “You’ve got about 5 seconds to back outta here before I get my gun.” Your hand reached for Caspian’s wrist at the mention of the weapon, but he closed the door allowing you the chance to leave. Caspian turned to leave. “This was a mistake.” He said. “No, no wait! When Cody showed up at our house, my mum pepper sprayed him, but then we got to talking-” The door opened behind Maddie before she could finish another woman who looked a lot like Joey walked out, a sister maybe. “My sister didn’t tell them about the flaw for good reason, they already lost one wife and mother.” She glared at all three of you. “Pash?” Mr Moretti asked “What is this?” “She made me swear to keep this to myself.” Pasha answered, turning to him. “So this… So this, this is real… Joey’s-” He couldn’t finish the sentence. “Go inside and sit down. Do not move. Do not touch anything.” Pasha ordered turning to us “all I wanna hear out your mouth is exactly how to save my baby sister.” You all walked into the living room where we all sat down, you put yourself closer to Mr Moretti incase anything happened as the other two explained the flaw and cure to them. Two kids, two adults and three strangers.

“And this flaw that’s in my wife, is the same one you say killed your father?” Mr Moretti asked, elbow balanced on his knees as he looked at Maddie. “Yes?” Maddie asked. “Why didn’t you cure him first?” Pasha asked, her arms crossed over her chest as she raised an eyebrow, your hand pulled up to your throat where the bruise was still a deep purple. “We wanted to but…” “I hadn’t created it yet.” Caspian answered, noticing how uncomfortable you both were. “You created it? How old are you?” Mr Moretti asked. “Do you even know if it works?” Pasha asked. “Or were you planning on experimenting on my sister and crossing your fingers that she doesn’t drop dead on the spot?” Both the adults seemed to remember that the kids were standing in the room. “Boys go to your rooms, please.” Pasha framed it as a request but you knew she wasn’t asking. “I wanna hear.” The older of the two argued. “Now Oliver, take your brother.” Mr Moretti was more forceful this time. “Do any of you have siblings?” Pasha asked. “No.” Maddie answered for all of you. “So, you haven’t even had practice feeling responsible for somebody.” Pasha argued and you sighed. “I know this is a lot, and it’s probably the hardest thing you’ve ever had to wrap your head around. The good news is that Joey’s story doesn’t have to end like my dad’s. You love Joey so much that you turned your whole life upside down to move in here and help Jake raise their children. But I’m guessing you also did it so you could see her and talk to her, even after she uploaded. Right? That’s why we came to you honestly. Watching someone you love fade away like that is a pain I don’t want anyone else to feel. If they don’t have to. The technology is new, you're right, but it works.” “I’d anything else shouldn’t this also be Joey’s decision, the NSA have probably told her that they still don’t have a cure and that it’s going to take a little longer but it’s right here and we can help her if that’s what she wants.” You finally spoke as you looked at them. “How long does she have left?” Pasha asked, finally sitting down. “Every UI is different; it mostly depends on how much energy she’s already expended.” Caspian answered. “What exactly do you need from us?” Mr Moretti asked. “She needs to talk to her first.” Caspian answered his shifting to you.

The had a VR set up to speak to Joey, Caspian stood in front of you “You’ll be okay.” He said softly. “I know.” You mumbled. “Nothing that happens in there happens out here okay. If you want to come out just take off the head set.” He said softly. “Mmm.” You hummed. It wasn’t long before you were in Joey’s world, it looked a lot like mars you assumed because she never got to go on that mission. You heard her appear behind you, though you weren’t expecting someone as large as she was. “Ms Coupet.” You greeted. “You look nervous.” She noted. “I don’t like VR.” You explained as you looked around “my name (Y/N).” “I know who you are. You and your boyfriend.” She cut you off making herself smaller as she looked at “your boyfriend was hired to work with the DoD, he the teen prodigy. Dr. Gold keeps me in the loop. It’s been a while since I heard from him though.” “Because he doesn’t know what to say to you.” You answered. “The programme was shut down and they don’t think that they will ever get a cure.” “They don’t think?” Joey asked. “Caspian came here with the cure for you.” You answered. “So why am I talking to you from the TI server they set up for my family?” She asked. “I’m better with people, or so I’m told. We cut out the middle man, trust me when I say it better that the government doesn’t know the cure exists.” You shrugged “Caspian is looking for someone a god among UIs, someone who is willing to lead the rest, correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think that is something that you want.” “I’ve been evaluated before as a kid, everything in my life has been one test after another, only this time if I pass I get to leave and as a bonus if I don’t my family knows that I am going to lose my mind and die.” Joey argued, your hands clutched as your jeans. “I don’t mean to evaluate you, I just want to know what you want, I want to give you the cure, I think that you deserve it.” You answered “but I don’t want to lock you into anything that you don’t want. Speak to your family and then speak to Caspian, be honest because you can trust me when I say that you will get the cure either way.”

You pulled the helmet off your head, you looked at Mr Moretti “speak to her, this is a decision that should be made together.” You stood from the chair allowing him to sit as you stepped away. “You okay?” Caspian asked as you turned to him. You nodded. “I’ve decided that I hate it.” You informed him as he chuckled slightly “we need to talk in private.” You pulled him into the living room and gestured for Maddie to follow the two of you. “Joey knows who we are, you and me.” “The NSA guy must have told her, she’s going to tell them that we’re here.” Caspian whispered. “We don’t know that.” You argued. “What did you say to her?” Maddie asked. “The truth.” You answered. “There was no point in lying if she had been told everything already. That would serve to break her trust.” “She is right to be angry, it’s righteous anger, all they’ve done is keep her in the dark.” Maddie agreed as she looked at you. “Diplomats aren’t supposed to bite your head off.” Caspian argued. “Diplomats are brief if we have a second to explain everything-” The sound of the gun was distinct and easily recognisable as you pulled Maddie behind you facing Mr Moretti, who walked past you both the gun pointed as Caspian. “I want you to cure my wife.” He ordered. “I made a mistake coming here.” Caspian said, his eyes not leaving the gun. “Now! Or I swear to god I will kill you.” Mr Moretti ordered, Pasha on the other side of him, as scared of the rest of you, it was clear that this was his plan alone, you sat in the chair hands pressed to her eyes as she cried, your eyes travelled to the stairs where you knew the kids were this needed to end before they came downstairs. “That’s okay.” Caspian answered. “Caspian.” Maddie gasped as your grip tightened on her, he’s allowed to throw away his life but you can’t, you’d only had that talk this morning but it seemed a lifetime away now. “This is bigger than me, than any of us. Go ahead.” Caspian looked up at Mr Moretti, almost daring him to pull the trigger. “What the hell is wrong with you?” Mr Moretti asked. “I said do it!” Caspian ordered, Mr Moretti hit him causing him to fall to the floor, Maddie pushed past you to get to Caspian, you saw Mr Moretti reach out for her and pushed her further forward, he grabbed your wrist and pulled you in front of him. “What about her!?” Mr Moretti asked. “If Joey dies, you both die.” “Okay. All right. Don’t hurt her.” Caspian said as he slowly stood from his place on the floor, it was then that his grip loosened slightly it was enough for you to drive your elbow into his stomach, gun falling into your hand, immediately you emptied the magazine and pulled back the slide ejecting the bullet in the chamber. “I had no intention of leaving this house without giving your wife the cure, so try talking next time.” You grumbled as you looked at Caspian “give her the cure.” “(Y/N)-” “Caspian the cure.” You ordered, he knew you were angry you wouldn’t even look at him. You hear him move but the stop was abrupt. “Where is it?” Caspian asked. “Where is what?” Mr Moretti asked. “No more guns, you’ll only scare your kids.” You muttered as you handed it back to him, after getting the drive from the kids upstairs Caspian hooked himself up to the computer. “No funny business, I can see and hear everything that goes on in there.” Mr Moretti reminded him, Caspian didn’t say anything back. MIST then decided that she would not integrate with Joey and wanted to talk to Maddie much like a younger sister looking to her older sister for answers. “I don’t know what I can do.” Maddie answered honestly. “Just talk to her, I know it’s difficult but she is incredibly smart and incredibly young like someone else I know, the difference between her and you is experience.” You said softly. “Please.” Mr Moretti pleaded as he handed her another VR set.

Finally out of the house, Mr Moretti gave you some first aid materials to fix up Caspian. Once you were all on the back of the bus Maddie handed you everything as she shuffled over to the window to talk to MIST and you assumed to give you more space. “Can I clean that?” You asked. “Yeah.” He answered, turning to face you, bending slightly so that you could reach his forehead. You moved to sit on your knees and started your work in silence. “Hold this to the back of your neck.” You said softly as you handed him the ice pack. “(Y/N)-” “Don’t do that again.” Your voice was deflated, tired as you started cleaning the wound on his head. “Get pistol whipped? No promises.” He joked. “Don’t.” You ordered “you can’t ask me never to risk my life, tell me that you will always need me if you intend to risk yours by the end of the same day.” “I just didn’t want him to hurt you or Maddie.” He said softly, you pressed a small paster over the wound on his head. “What would be the point if you were gone!? You seem to forget that once you are gone, safety is gone, I’m alone.” Tears welled up in your eyes as you looked away from him. Caspian pulled your face back to look at him. “I’m sorry.” He said softly leaning down to press his forehead against yours not seemingly worried about the pain in his forehead, he closed his eyes for a second before pressing a kiss where your heads had been connected. “Promise.” You finally said. “Promise what?” He asked. “You'll never do that again.” You answered. “I promise.” He nodded. “Good.” You leaned forward pressing your lips to his in an urgent kiss, seeking something, craving something. Something you didn’t quite know how to describe but he answered you all the same, gentle reassurance and love. A physical promise to never leave you alone or disregard your feelings again. He pulled away and settled in the opposite window seat to Maddie pulling you with him. You didn’t talk but it was comfortable and warm for the first time since you had left Norway even if it was only for a little while.

*Part 7*

Request Here!!

[burning-academia-if]

This month was a whole lot of Deleting Everything because I wasn't vibing with any of it. The opening for the good/neutral end got it the worst (ie I cut it out completely to start over LOL) but I also deleted a variety of passages from the opening for the Bad End as well. We'll get into that in the a second though. Here's what I did do:

Added various quality of life details (side character friendship indicators, Open Dyslexia font option, glossary)

Reformatted the Character and MC stats pages

Went back and added/edited a deleted scene to Chapter two

As you can see, this was mostly a coding month for BA. This is taking a lot longer than writing does just because I tend to write during work breaks(or answer asks if there are any) but I can't exactly code at work without my computer lol. It's also why I lowkey procrastinated on the UI update for so long.

To further expand on the above points though, I decided to take out numbers completely and just do flavor text for everything, including MC stats. I think having a statement for a stat also explains it a lot better than just a number on the screen, especially with how the ROs feel about MC.

All that's really left for the UI update is to figure out how the heck to make the achievement popup work and to decide on whether or not I want to use the RO portraits or a name tag for the character profiles. I'm leaning towards the portraits right now, just because it also visually tracks the ROs hidden third stat and the portrait changing sounds neater than just a name tag. We'll see where I land on that later.

Hopefully, it doesn't take me that long to finish up the last of what I need to do for the UI update and I can get it out of the way! The update will also come with a random scene added to Chapter 2 that I initially got rid of, but since I still think about it occasionally, I decided to add it back in. It's a lunch scene where you can continue to drag Zoe with you to lunch with Nevio and Lars! This was originally deleted since I did lean against avoiding the Lars/Zoe poly, but it's still a fun scene so you guys can have it.

Moving on to me deleting more than I wrote, it's just been one of those months I guess. Mentioned it last time, but July as a month sucks lol. Won't get into why, but it really does a number to my energy and creative work. I just didn't enjoy a lot of what I wrote and it either felt like it wasn't working or felt like a rehashing of things from previous chapters. So yeah, I tossed it out to start over. With that said though, I really don't have much to report writing wise. It's still roughly about the same word count as last month, but I like this chapter again lmaO

Since I didn't write much, I don't have anything from Chapter 3 to share for this update, however have a snippet from the deleted lunch scene:

[oxygen537art]

Dude where do you ever get the motivation and inspiration for ur work

The first thing that keeps me going is positive feedback.

The second thing is that drawing has become less of a hobby and more of an enjoyable habit. And I guess I have a passion for it.

I don't actually draw as much as it may seem. I do a maximum of three sketches a day and post one of them, leaving the others in the queue or to be refined into lineart or colour. Colour drawings are more difficult for me and I usually draw them once or twice a fortnight, and they don't involve complex rendering. If the artwork is too complex, I stretch the process over two or three days.

I try not to overwork myself, but hyperfocusing happens. I'll sit in front of a computer for 14 hours with little breaks or no sleep, but I'll do what I need and want to do, especially if it's something I'm wildly passionate about. Don't do that. It will be bad for your health.

But there are days or weeks when I have no motivation to draw at all. If I see that I'm not enjoying what I'm doing, I step away from it and try to occupy my free time with something else. When my brain is sufficiently rested, I go back to work.

I don't feel like I owe anyone anything. I draw what and how I want, I may experiment, there are no deadlines. I can be a perfectionist at times, but I try to accept all of my work, even if it has noticeable errors. My lineart isn't polished to perfection either, most of the time I just clean up the sketch or don't bother with neatness at all. The only time I pick on every line is when I'm working on commissions.

Drawing is a way to distract myself from my daily life and studies. Even though I'm studying at an art university, I'm going to be a graphic and UX/UI designer, where drawing is not such a significant activity. And that makes me both happy and not. (At least I won't be doing the same thing at work and at home, yay.)

Inspiration is unpredictable. Pinterest, Twitter, fanfiction, etc. are certainly a great source of inspiration, but even a smudged fingerprint on your phone screen or a pattern on the wallpaper can make something click in your brain. I'm also inspired by conversations with my best friend when we share ideas and discuss things.