#on top of everything my tablet is outdated

[s7-evermore]

IDEA: Idia with a Science-y, girly pop gf

Okay so I was rereading one of my favorite romcoms “Love on the Brain” by Ali Hazelwood (one of my faves) and there’s this one side character there named Kaylee, the assistant of the ML who’s such a pink, girly pop character and she eventually falls for the FL’s assistant, who’s an emo girl.

And a thought occurred to me… what if Idia had a pink, girly pop prefect who loved science? Specifically astrophysics and engineering?

On top of being kind, earnest, and generous, she’s also fun, interesting to talk to, good with people, literally has the cutest smile, wears cute fashionable clothes, does her nails and just owns a lot of pink pink pink! Literally the definition of an it-girl but she’s ALSO intelligent, outspoken, witty, good at games, an AWESOME older sister (Ortho just LOVES her), and is just great at keeping up with Idia!

Idia’s initial thought when he first sees her would probably be “holy shit. It’s one of those extroverted sunshine mf who is the complete opposite of me so that’s another person on my list to avoid”

But then one day when he asks Azul to help him add updates to Ortho, Azul brings along Grim and the prefect and it takes everything in him not to PANIC because the PINK SUNSHINE GIRL IS THERE AND HE HATES IT

WHY is that living incarnation of SUNSHINE in Ignihyde where she’s NOT supposed to be?!

But suddenly she starts fawning over Ortho’s systems and asks him questions and eventually figures out how Ortho’s program works and Idia is suddenly swept up in a long ass conversation about engineering, and then they move on to games, and then Idia says his typical self-deprecating but also condescending stuff about her being a normie and she just DOESN’T get offended and even quips back with witty remarks and Idia just gets SO amused by her—

—that he suddenly realizes holy shit…. She’s actually… pretty cool……like…..I would….tolerate this human being……and she’s also hot……so…….

THE THOUGHT OF IT IS JUST SO CUTE?!! LIKE BRODIES IMAGINE:

Sunshine girlie pop prefect with her nail-art covered nails, twin-braided hair with cute tiny flower clips, white sleeveless crop top with the frilly pink skirt, a fuckin watermelon-shaped purse, pink flower earrings, and a pink flower necklace with the first letter of her name in the middle of it, holding a pink drink while she’s strongly going on about how standardized tests are institutional gatekeepers that graduate programs over-rely on for student admission and how expensive and outdated they are and that schools should focus more on a holistic approach for graduate admissions and blah blah blah…

And Idia is just…

Staring. At her. And he’s breathing quickly, lips parted, his cheeks are flushed, his hair is PINK like the flowers on her braids, and he clutches his tablet like he’s holding on for dear LIFE.

Despite her looks, she’s also realistic. She’s not needlessly naive nor is does she innocently believe that everyone is a good person.

She’s just who she is.

And holy shit. Idia is falling. HARD.

[nuwanders]

I know you made the travel time maps for the Elder Scrolls a couple years ago, but they have been super helpful for writing for me and I was wondering what you used to make them? I wanted to make one similar to use for Hammerfell, but I am honestly so lost

hello!

so in terms of tools, i used Krita and a seriously outdated wacom tablet + bamboo stylus. when i had the image ready, i would add text and symbols using the microsoft paint 3D app 🙃

for my base maps, i would look out for a few things. the higher the resolution the better, but i also tried to prioritise finding maps that came from an official/canon source (or at least that were based on an official map) and, where available, maps that included in-game locations.

if you want to take a stab at hammerfell, you will need to do what i did for morrowind, which is to find as blank of a base map as you can, and then put a jigsaw of the ESO maps on top. i would recommend something like this for your base!

i actually did save copies of the ESO maps back when i was planning on doing a map for every province. tumblr might eat up the quality but here you go:

(in order, that's the alik'r desert, bangkorai, craglorn, and hew's bane. i saved these in 2022 and can't remember if ESO has added any new hammerfell zones since then).

you will need some kind of art software to cut these up along the hammerfell borders, trace the roads, and then piece them together on top of the base map. layers are your best friend!

for the blank spaces in between the ESO maps, i guesstimated the roads using the Arena map:

now, for actually calculating the distances, i would overlay a gridline (each square being 40 x 40 "real life" miles) so that i had a rough guide at all times.

getting this right might be a little finicky as i would always start with my skyrim map to keep my distances consistent across all maps. as in i would paste the skyrim map onto a map of tamriel, along with whatever other province i was going to be working on, and then copy an exact replica of the gridline over to the WIP province (adding extra gridlines where necessary). this would help me keep everything in proportion. you can kind of see what i mean here (it's not super clear but the grids on each map are roughly the same size):

i found this scale to be realistic, with each province being roughly equivalent to a medium-sized european country, as well as lore-friendly, as it lines up with the in-game claim that mournhold is about 250 miles from red mountain.

for calculating travel times, i started with the base assumption that the player character would be able to travel about 17 miles a day on foot. so first you use the gridlines to get a rough idea of the length of a journey in miles, then you divide that number by 17 and round it up or down to get the length of each journey in days :)

sorry that got quite complicated! the process was more involved than i think i realised. hopefully it all made sense and let me know if you have any questions! good luck! <3

[litgamez]

Why You Should Play Mahjong Game?

Are you looking to play Mahjong online in the USA? Want something more than just a way to pass the time? Mahjong could be exactly what you need. It’s fun, engaging, and great for your brain. The game blends strategy, memory, and relaxation, creating the perfect balance of challenge and calm. Unlike many other games, Mahjong keeps your mind active while still helping you unwind.

For the best online Mahjong experience, LitGamez is a top choice. There’s no need to download anything — just jump in and play. The platform is clean, simple, and user-friendly. Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, you’ll enjoy smooth gameplay and an easy-to-use interface. LitGamez brings you all the fun of Mahjong without the clutter, anytime you want to play.

What Is Mahjong, Really?

Mahjong began as a multiplayer game in China that is played with tiles, symbols, and an array of strategies. The online version simplifies the Multiplayer aspect into a solo puzzle: matching like tiles to clear the board. It seems simple enough but every move makes a difference. You have to think ahead, scan quickly and think smart in order to clear a board–and this gets more challenging the further you go.

Why LitGamez Offers the Best Mahjong in the USA

There is obviously a reason Mahjong has lasted more than just a few generations. It is not just any old tile game. It actually works out your brain. Every round requires concentration, visual memory, and swift thinking. It’s like a workout no feels like home.

Another main reason is that it is extremely therapeutic. The deliberate pace, simple rules, and visual rhythm of matching tiles allows you to easily lose yourself in the game. Whether you are relaxing after a long day at work, taking a moment from your busy day, or finding the perfect in-between time, Mahjong is the perfect blend of peaceful and stimulating.

Why LitGamez Offers the Best Mahjong in the USA

If you want to play Mahjong online in the USA, you have plenty of choices — but not all are created equal. Many are cluttered with ads, require subscriptions, or work from outdated, clunky platforms.

LitGamez’s Mahjong stands out for all the right reasons:

Super fast load times, even on older devices

100% free (no hidden costs or “premium” traps)

No account creation or installation required

Simple and easy user interface

Everything works fine on desktop, tablet or phone

The developers have clearly designed the game for U.S. players — people who want to get into a game quickly, play a quick game, and enjoy themselves without distractions.

Conclusion

The best part of LitGamez’s Mahjong? It’s challenging enough. You can breeze through a round of Mahjong in minutes and never feel like you are spending time doing something boring. Each game feels different, and you will try to beat your last board or see if you can perform a little bit faster.

If you are looking for a way to relax while keeping your mind engaged, Mahjong delivers every time. And if you need to play Mahjong online in the USA, LitGamez gets my vote over the alternatives — simple, sleek, and all free. Don’t think about it too hard, simply click, match, and enjoy.

Play now at: https://litgamez.com/en/g/mahjong

[udaipurwebdesigner01]

How to Redesign Your Website for Better Performance and User Engagement ?

Is your website outdated, slow, or failing to generate leads? If so, it might be time for a redesign. A website redesign isn’t just about refreshing how it looks—it’s about reimagining how it performs, engages users, and supports your business goals.

In this blog, we'll guide you through how to redesign your website for better results, covering everything from visual appeal to SEO, user experience, and WordPress optimization.

Why Consider a Website Redesign?

Your website should evolve with your business and changing user behavior. Here are signs it's time for a redesign:

The site looks outdated or cluttered

It's not mobile-friendly

Page load time is too slow

Users are leaving without taking action

It lacks SEO-optimized content

Managing content is difficult or outdated

A professional redesign by a skilled web design company in Udaipur can address all of these issues efficiently.

Step 1: Set Clear Redesign Goals

Before starting the redesign process, ask yourself:

What is the main purpose of my website?

Do I want to increase traffic or leads?

Should the site be more visual or functional?

Am I targeting a new audience or launching new products?

Setting clear objectives helps align your redesign with measurable business outcomes.

Step 2: Audit Your Existing Website

Start by analyzing your current website:

What pages are getting the most traffic?

Where are users dropping off?

Which keywords are performing well?

Are there outdated pages or broken links?

Use tools like Google Analytics, Search Console, and heatmaps to collect data. This insight will help you retain what’s working and improve what’s not.

Step 3: Plan a User-Centered Design

Your website should be designed for your users—not just your brand. Focus on:

Simple Navigation: Help users find information easily

Clear CTAs: Guide users toward taking action

Consistent Branding: Use uniform colors, fonts, and imagery

Mobile Responsiveness: Ensure optimal performance on phones and tablets

Accessibility: Make your website usable for everyone, including people with disabilities

When user experience (UX) is prioritized, bounce rates drop and engagement improves.

Step 4: Choose the Right Platform

If your current CMS is difficult to manage, now’s the perfect time to switch to something more intuitive. WordPress remains a top choice for business websites of all sizes.

Benefits of WordPress:

Easy content management

Thousands of plugins and themes

Great for SEO and mobile optimization

Secure and regularly updated

Scalable for growing businesses

Hiring a WordPress Development Company in Udaipur ensures your site is customized, secure, and tailored to your exact needs.

Step 5: Design With SEO in Mind

A beautiful website is useless if no one can find it. Your redesign should follow SEO best practices from the start:

Optimize page titles and meta descriptions

Use proper heading structures (H1, H2, H3)

Compress images for faster load times

Use clean, readable URLs

Implement schema markup

Add internal and external links strategically

Combining SEO with thoughtful design boosts visibility and user engagement.

Step 6: Focus on Performance and Speed

Website speed plays a big role in both SEO and user satisfaction. Visitors expect pages to load in 2 seconds or less. A slow website drives users away.

How to Improve Speed:

Use lightweight themes and plugins

Optimize images

Enable browser caching

Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)

Choose high-quality hosting

During the redesign, developers should test and optimize speed at every stage.

Step 7: Refresh Your Content Strategy

Redesigning your website is also a great time to revisit your content:

Update outdated information

Improve readability with shorter paragraphs and bullet points

Use high-quality images and videos

Add case studies, testimonials, and blog posts

Focus content around your target audience's problems and needs

Make sure your tone and messaging reflect your brand values and speak directly to your ideal customer.

Step 8: Integrate Essential Features

Modern websites are more than just informational—they're interactive. Consider adding:

Live chat or chatbots

Appointment booking tools

Contact forms and lead capture

Social media feeds

Newsletter sign-ups

E-commerce functionality

These features enhance user experience and help generate conversions.

Step 9: Test Everything Before Launch

Before going live, your new website should go through rigorous testing:

Browser and device compatibility

Mobile responsiveness

Broken links or missing pages

Site speed across different networks

Form functionality

SEO audits and tracking setup

Quality assurance ensures a smooth user experience from day one.

Step 10: Plan for Ongoing Maintenance

A successful website is never "done." It requires updates, improvements, and security checks.

Your redesign partner should offer:

Monthly performance reports

Plugin and theme updates

Regular backups

Technical support

Speed and security monitoring

This is why partnering with a professional agency matters—they don't just build your site, they help it grow with you.

Why Partner With a Local Web Design Expert?

Working with a trusted web design company in Udaipur gives you personalized service, face-to-face communication, and a better understanding of your market. They combine technical skills with creative vision, ensuring your redesigned website not only looks amazing but also performs exceptionally well.

Final Thoughts

A website redesign isn’t just about making things look better—it’s about making your website work better. Whether you want to attract more leads, convert more customers, or enhance your brand image, a thoughtful redesign can help you achieve those goals.

By focusing on user experience, mobile responsiveness, SEO, speed, and smart WordPress development, you can transform your underperforming website into a powerful digital asset.

If you're ready to give your online presence a fresh start, consider collaborating with a team that understands your vision and has the skills to bring it to life.

[artisans-digital]

Website Maintenance Tips for Businesses in Qatar

In today’s digital world, having a great website is a must for businesses in Qatar. But creating a website is only half the battle. Keeping it in top shape is just as important. If you’ve worked with a web design company in Qatar, you know how crucial it is to maintain your site to keep it secure, fast, and easy to use.

In this blog, we’ll share simple yet effective website maintenance tips for businesses in Qatar. Whether you’re a small startup or a large company, these tips will help you keep your website running smoothly and attract more customers.

Why Website Maintenance is Important

Your website is often the first impression customers have of your business. If it’s not well-maintained, you could face problems like:

- Slow loading times, which can frustrate visitors and make them leave. - Security issues, putting your business and customer data at risk. - Outdated information, which can make your business look unprofessional. - Broken links or features, leading to a poor user experience.

Regular website maintenance helps you avoid these issues and keeps your website working like a well-oiled machine.

Easy Website Maintenance Tips for Businesses in Qatar

1. Keep Your Content Fresh

Your website’s content should always be up-to-date and relevant. Regularly update your blog, news section, or product pages to reflect the latest trends. For businesses in Qatar, this could mean:

- Sharing updates about local events or promotions. - Adding new products or services that cater to the Qatari market. - Posting helpful tips or success stories that resonate with your audience.

Fresh content not only keeps visitors engaged but also helps your website rank higher on search engines.

2. Make Sure Your Website Works Well on Mobile

Most people in Qatar browse the internet on their phones, so your website must look great and work well on mobile devices. Test your site on different phones and tablets to ensure it’s easy to navigate and loads quickly. A web design company in Qatar can help you optimize your site for mobile users.

3. Speed Up Your Website

Nobody likes a slow website. If your site takes too long to load, visitors might leave before they even see what you offer. To speed things up: - Compress large images and videos. - Simplify your website’s code. - Choose a hosting provider with servers in the Middle East for faster loading times.

A fast website not only keeps visitors happy but also improves your search engine rankings.

4. Protect Your Website from Security Threats

Cybersecurity is a big concern for businesses everywhere, including Qatar. To keep your website safe: - Regularly update your website’s software, plugins, and themes. - Install an SSL certificate to protect customer data. - Use strong passwords and enable two-factor authentication. - Back up your website regularly to avoid losing important data.

Working with a web design company in Qatar can help you stay on top of security updates and protect your site from threats.

5. Fix Broken Links and Errors

Broken links and error pages can make your website look unprofessional. Use tools like Google Search Console to find and fix these issues. Regularly check all the links on your site to make sure they’re working properly.

6. Optimize for Local Searches

If you want to attract customers in Qatar, local SEO is key. Make sure your website is optimized for local searches by: - Using keywords like “web design company in Qatar.” - Setting up a Google My Business profile. - Adding your business address, phone number, and contact details to your website.

Local SEO helps your business show up in search results when people in Qatar are looking for your products or services.

7. Test Your Website’s Features

Regularly test your website to make sure everything works as it should. Check forms, buttons, menus, and other interactive elements. If you have an online store, test the checkout process to ensure it’s smooth and hassle-free for customers.

8. Track Your Website’s Performance

Use tools like Google Analytics to see how your website is performing. Keep an eye on: - Where your visitors are coming from. - How long they stay on your site. - Which pages are most popular.

This information can help you understand what’s working and what needs improvement.

9. Stay Up-to-Date with Design Trends

Web design trends change all the time, and keeping your website modern can give you an edge over competitors. Work with a **web design company in Qatar** to add fresh, stylish elements to your site, like: - Clean, simple layouts. - Dark mode options. - Eye-catching animations.

A modern, visually appealing website can leave a lasting impression on your visitors.

10. Work with a Professional Web Design Company in Qatar

While some maintenance tasks can be done in-house, it’s often best to leave it to the experts. A professional web design company in Qatar can handle: - Regular updates and backups. - Security checks and fixes. - Speed and performance improvements. - Custom design changes.

By outsourcing your website maintenance, you can focus on running your business while experts take care of your online presence.

Final Thoughts

Website maintenance isn’t a one-time job — it’s an ongoing process that keeps your site secure, fast, and user-friendly. For businesses in Qatar, maintaining a great website is essential to stand out in a competitive market. By following these tips and working with a trusted web design company in Qatar, you can ensure your website stays in top shape and helps your business grow.

Don’t let your website fall behind — start maintaining it today! If you need help, reach out to a reliable web design company in Qatar to get started.

With these simple steps, your business can maintain a strong online presence and stay ahead of the competition in Qatar’s fast-paced digital world.

[avrydraws]

So guys, my laptop just died on me. I had my fair share of problems with it but always had a backup hard drive with everything important and always a flash drive or two. I had roughly 7+ years of art, commissions, references, resources, ect. on that computer. It’s all gone. Both hard drives are toast and the flash drives are MIA. Either way I’m not even sure I remember the last time I manually backed up either one.

I only publicly post half, if not less, of my art. Which means 7+ years of unseen progress is gone. Poof. WIPs, OC references, sketches, don’t exist anymore.

I would be lying if I said I was posting anything regularly on this account, but I just need a place to vent because I am devastated.

Aside from the art, there were so many important files. Photos, Music, Videos, Games saves

I just

I dont know

I dont know what to do

[fuzzyblizzardkitty]

I have successfully managed to run macos 10.15 under VMware on windows 11. it was painful and hardly worth it in any practical sense, but it was also really fun. apple please stop fighting with Nvidia so I can just dualboot macos and not have it run at 20fps in VMware with visual glitches. I couldn't even get the edit feature in Photos to work, but from a quick glance at it, it looks really promising.

I always thought that macs were for artists but upon actually tinkering in macos for a few hours, they're actually just. for school. there's literally great (at first impression at least) tools for maths and graph plotting. basically a built in desmos. and then there's the dictionary which is a small thing but seems really nice to have. built in dictionary in all your languages. offline and quickly accessible. much more convenient then googling. and even then, in many apps you can just Google selected text by pressing the very top button in the context menu. neat

another really obvious positive is UI design. it's great. apple is still the best at UI design, and also consistency, which again, is pretty neat

what I found to be not as good is that apparently there is no way to set up my printer (no drivers that run on 10.15, which isn't even a new version at all. everything's outdated) and support for my Wacom tablet was worse than in windows. additionally, I couldn't get my mic to work, but I think it's purely because of me using a vm or otherwise not an actual Mac.

annoyingly the dynamic wallpapers are way off the actual lighting behind my window so that's disappointing lmao

and also there are problems with my apple id but I cannot say for sure whether they are caused by using a vm, or it's just apple being stupid.

also I couldn't connect my phone for some reason, I really don't see why that didn't work at all and I didn't look into it for the lack of need

I did manage to sign into app store and man. there's so much junk there ohmygod lmao. sadly darkroom, which is an app I really wanted to try for a while now, is macos 11+ only. which I find really confusing since I thought . we were. still on 10? idunno

the color calibration tool felt like a truck hitting me straight in the face. I consider myself really resistant to math jargon and stuff but that. was. brutal. I walked away not having a tiniest idea of what I just witnessed, which doesn't happen to me usually. mayhaps something to look into for fun. good thing about this is, people who know what that is all about, are probably happy with the sheer amount of detail they provide on color profiles. it is immense

I find it funny that they include a shitty lookin chess game with the installation lol

quicklook is priceless

why can't I create text files with right click.. that's dumb. I suppose I have Notes. which is a cool app. oh, apparently you can't create .txt files at all?? like I mean, it's not a saving format option in the text editor. why? why is .rtf the default one? why does it have .doc?????? really weird stuff

I like the tagging system in finder.app I wish they brought it to explorer.exe (extensions added for clarification of what os I'm talking about)

I think I will try updating the system next. I think I used a distro to install it (it looks vanilla but I will advise strongly against using anything that's not 100% official. I just could never figure it out)

windows task manager >>>>> (w11 update sucks tho. used to be the most stable and lightweight app, and now it has visual glitches even)

[coffeebeannate]

From This Prompt List

“If a person is destined to have a soulmate in this life, they will find that one of their eyes has changed colour, reflecting the colour of their anticipated soulmate.

For this to occur, the two must be in close proximity to one another (most studies say no less than several miles, but others claim that there have been some variations), and that, upon meeting, the eyes will revert to normal.

In some legendary, and notable cases, the eye colours will remain heterochromatic for the rest of their lives.

Of course, keep in mind that these stories are not always the same, and not every couple has a soulmate status. And that there is nothing less valid about non-soulmate couples.”

“Nicky?”

Nicky looked up, hastily closing the cover over his tablet, “Ah, sorry, can I help you?” 

“The computers broken, again.” His co-worker sounds the most interesting combination of annoyed and sheepish, “Do we have to call tech support?”

“No, no, let me take a look, it’s alright.” Standing up from the desk, “The one we use for catalogue searching?”

“What else?”

He sighs, muttering curses under his breath, “Thing is about as good as a piece of scrap metal, at this point.” Resigning himself to an afternoon tinkering with the world’s most stubborn library resource computer. “It’s alright, go back to work, I’ll let you know if it decides to behave.”

“Thanks, Nicky, call me if you need help.”

“Yeah, yeah no problem” Facing the not-ancient but absolutely useless desktop, “You going to behave, or do we have to fight?”

Predictably, the computer blinks at him, Nicky sighs again and settles before it.

---

It isn’t that Nicky hates his life. Because he doesn’t, and despite what people might think, he’s fairly content. Working full-time as the head librarian might seem like an outdated job, but Nicky’s only 32, and he likes to argue that libraries are a vital part of society. Upgraded as they are, and some facets available entirely online. Besides, he had a degree in the stuff, and plenty of practice.

Andy might’ve had a series of interesting names for his life. His small apartment, three cats, more books and tech than is strictly necessary for a single man to have, and a car that is really a ridiculous thing, but it runs and he loves it and maybe the radio doesn’t work and it has no AC and the heater is also dying, but it’s a good car and he happens to find it charming.

He’s fine.

He’s dated, some one night stands, but nothing sticks.

“Are you reading that book again?” Andy asks, when she catches the soulmates book opened up on his tablet for what is definitely not the 10th, 12th, let’s not talk about it time.

“I think it’s comforting,” Nicky retorts, catching her look of disbelief.

“You know that in most cases, that shit’s a load of crap, yeah? Quynh and I have been married for eight years, no issue. She’s my soulmate, magical eyeballs aside.”

“I know I know..I just think it’s sweet.”

Nicky does not tell her that, for the last six or seven months he’s been glued to the damned thing. Everything feels antsy. He’s not an anxious man at all. His life has never felt empty, nor hollow. And yet, a few months back everything started feeling weird. Like he just couldn’t settle. Bee’s beneath his skin. Ghosting sensations across his scalp. Tingles.

He’d casually mentioned it during his yearly physical, but the doctor determined nothing out of sorts physically, and Nicky had been delaying calling a psychiatrist.

“Maybe you just need a change of scenery.” Andy suggested, stirring too much sugar into her coffee. ‘Maybe your library is finally getting to you.”

Nicky had declined to respond, but filed it away in the back of his mind regardless.

--

The morning that it happens, Nicky is running late, and doesn’t bother to look in a mirror much beyond ‘brushing teeth and running a comb over hair” before heading into work. 

They’re finally upgrading the useless front computer, and he has to let the techs inside. Meaning he’s supposed to be at work an hour before he’d usually be, fiddling with his keys and muttering apologies as he opens the door fifteen minutes after he was supposed to let them in. Offering to buy them coffee for the troubles.

He’s that sort, after all.

He stands in the early morning crowd rush at the cafe yawning and buzzing, body thrumming with tension he can’t pinpoint, nor understand. It’s ridiculous and by the time he stumbles his way through the unfamiliar order, he feels much like he’s about to explode from it all.

The techs are thankful for their coffees, at least, Nicky tries to do some work in his office, and by the time he finally takes a break from his unsatisfactory work, it’s nearly noon.

There, in the libraries Men’s Room, is when he finally notices it.

His left eye isn’t grey, or green, or blue.

(Or whatever true colour his eyes seem to think they are)

It’s dark brown. So dark Nicky can barely see any other colour to it beyond pupil.

He blinks. Splashes water across his face, scrubs his cheeks.

It’s still there.

He takes a selfie with his camera, and stares.

Still there.

It’s still there after work, and the next day, and the Friday when he meets Andy for their usual after work time at the bar, Andy staring at him.

“So it’s not a contact?”

“No, I don’t wear contacts, or glasses! You know that.”

“You think your flowery soulmate shits legit then?”

“What else could it possibly be, Andy?”

Andy studies her beer, for once, she has no answer.

---

It is an extremely boring Wednesday morning when Nicky scrolls through his emails and finds something that bothers him for absolutely no reason at all.

It’s from one of the other departments, and it’s about the national art show being hosted at their oh so esteemed library. Nicky’s library is a popular venue because the building is historic and has a nice receiving room.

That’s not what bothers Nicky. He looks forward to this show. And it’s the first time he’d be in charge of much of it since becoming head librarian some eight months back, but no, it’s the shows headline artist that is prickling at him for yet again, reasons he can’t discern.

Nicky scrolls past the necessary details, but keeps going back to the beginning.

Headline Artist: Mixed Mediums. Classics with a Twist. Yusuf al-Kaysani

Nicky saves the email.

Again, no reason at all.

--

“Do you think it means anything?” He asks Andy and Quynh while four beers in and sitting on their couch.

“Some artist’s name you’ve never even met or heard of?” Quynh snorts, ‘Yep, definitely cracked some universal secret code there Nicky.”

He sighs, “Hand me another..”

Maybe they’re right.

Maybe he’s being ridiculous.

--

“Sorry, are you uh,,Nicky..Genova?”

Yes, okay, that does sound odd. But to his credit! He was named  Nicolò thank you very much. His mother had made some comment about classics, traditions, blah blah.

“Yeah! Sorry just let me-”

He’s at the top of a ladder, fiddling with a birds nest, of all things. The outside of the library (again historic building) attracted plenty of them.

“Take your time, I don’t usually yell at people on ladders, on principle and all.”

The voice is nice.

It’s the dumbest thought Nicky has had in his head in months.

“Good practice, that.” Finally gasping the nest, starting to climb down the ladder, “Okay!” When he’s returned to solid ground.

“So, what can I do for-”

Nicky, quite elegantly, forgets how to think. Or breathe. Or do anything appropriately life sustaining like that.

The man before him, nice voice man, his brain helpfully supplies. is..gorgeous. And see, Nicky has SEEN gorgeous men and is nicely partial to them. But this man is gorgeous, attractive and, most distractingly, has one blue-grey-green who actually knows eye, and one dark brown one.

And! Nicky notices, has completely lost his own ability to speak. The two of them seem to amend this moments later by pointing at each other’s face mostly rudely, stunned and confused.

Nicky seems to find intelligent language first, but only manages to say, “..Are you Yusuf al-Kaysani?”

The equally stunned gorgeous man confirms this, and Nicky is quite sure he either faints, or dies.

(He does neither of these things, thank you very much)

“..It’s nice to meet you, Nicky.” Yusuf says, finding actual intelligence far before Nicky does. Nicky just swallows.

--

Their eyes never reverse to their birth states.

Not at the first date.

Not at the proposal.

Nor the engagement party.

Or the wedding.

--

10 years later, Andy remarks that ‘the most romantic bastard she knows’ would indeed, find an even MORE romantic sap, and that they’d have the perfect book romance.

--

Joe’s cleaning out the closet one evening when he finds a well-worn paper back version of the novel that Nicky had read endlessly on his tablet all those years ago.

“Hey babe, you never told me you had a paper copy of this.”

“Hmm?” Nicky pokes his head out of the bathroom, “I do? Oh, yeah, it’s a bit worn out.”

Joe flips open the cover of it, peering down into the slightly musty paper, reading aloud and finding his way to join Nicky at the vanity.

~~

“Before reading this book, we must advise and remind that soulmates in this manner are rare, and that there is little scientific study to show a truth. Please do not fret if you never fall into this concept.”

Nicky hums, accepting the arm to his waist, the familiar kiss to his cheek, ghosting along the side of his lips.

“Go on,” Nicky says, casually.

“You know this story, my heart.” Joe chuckles, but continues.

“This rare phenomenon has been observed throughout history..”

[annoyinglyjovialbird]

Voltron: Next Generation

A Portentous Warning: II

Word Count: 3010

The weekly meeting with Curtis on Earth and the crew of the Coeus happened on the day the teens were covering the bridge. Kova and Allie rushed past the kitchen, where the adults were eating whatever Hunk and Cake managed to make. Down the hallway, past the sleeping quarters, past Shiro's room, and to the left, was the bridge through the only doorway to the right. Kova never broke her stride, reaching out to grab her podium. Allie hadn't bandaged Kova's hands, leaving them still bruised and bloodied. Caleb, who had walked in seconds earlier, turned his chair around as Allie walked past to sit in her chair. Kova looked up at Caleb's turning, seeing the lavender fabric in his hands. He tossed the bundle to her like a basketball, and Kova managed to catch it. She had managed to put it on and pull the sleeves down to cover her knuckles when Krolia turned around. 

"Kovalia," Krolia said, noticing the teen standing at her console. "I was wondering when you would come." 

"Sorry for keeping you waiting," Kova said. She leaned on her console, hiding her knuckles in the bend of her elbows as Krolia approached the podium. 

"Um, sorry," Liz said. She and Cake were gaping at the sight of the Galra. "When did we meet?" 

"Cap, you can't secrets from us," Cake whined, puppy dog eyes in full view.

"Your team?" Krolia asked, looking at Kova again. The teen had closed her eyes and furrowed her brows, hoping to ignore the other two members. 

"Yep." She opened her eyes. "We have something to ask you." 

"About cargo." Krolia placed a hand on her hip. "I recall. What is it and where is it going?" At that, the teen sucked in her lips and took a breath. 

"Vatos," Kova called. Krolia, confused, turned around at the toddler that had been coloring in the corner. His sheets of paper were in disarray, with crudely made crayons in his fists. When Kova said his name, the little boy looked up with a toothy smile. "Hi," Kova said, giving a little wave. Vatos waved his fist before returning to his scribbles. 

"No." Krolia was quick in her response. "Kovalia, I am not and will not become responsible for the child." 

"Please?" Kova pleaded. "We can't safely transport him without running into the Fire." Krolia sighed, looking at the little boy. Vatos had managed to draw a mess of yellow, red, green, blue, and black. He stood, walked over to Cake's console, and proudly held up the paper to show it to Cake. Cake fawned over the picture, telling Vatos what a great job he had done. Krolia closed her eyes in defeat. 

"Where is he going?" She asked, turning her head to face Kova. It didn't help that Kova was trying to hide a victorious smile. 

"Earth, if possible." 

"Not Altea?" 

"If the Emperor were to become aware of the war, he would order all available troops to prepare," Allie cut in. "All of our citizens would be rehomed, and travel to Earth for refuge. Altea won't be safe." 

"Like Daibazaal," Krolia said, her voice low. "Alright, I'll do it. But I expect something in return, Kovalia." 

"You have my word." Kova rolled her eyes, sending off a message to Kenny. Since Kenny had been in charge of the toddler, Kenny was also assigned to prep a bag in case the deal came through. "Kenny will bring the bag, and Vatos is all yours." 

"You're lucky I was already on my way here." Speak of the devil. The door opened up and quickly closed behind him, tossing the bag to Kova. Kova, in turn, tossed it to Krolia. "Hey, Grandma," Kenny said, waving. "Wait, Grandma?!" 

"Kenneth, correct?" Krolia asked Kova, swinging Vatos's bag over her shoulder. Kova nodded. Cake explained, as well as you could explain to a kid, that Krolia was going to take him somewhere safe. 

"Where Mommy is?" Vatos asked. Cake's smile faltered. Allie's shoulders sagged. Caleb didn't meet the little boy's eyes. Kova moved, descending the staircase to Cake's level, and sat down on the step. "Where's Mommy?" 

"Mommy will join you later," Kova said, smiling at the little boy. "But she wanted us to keep you safe. So that's what we're going to do. Is that okay?" After a tick, the little boy nodded. "Good. Krolia, the woman over there, is going to take you to Earth. One of my dads is going to take care of you when you get there. Okay?" 

"Okay." Another head nod from the little boy. "Will I be able to color on my way there?" Kova shrugged, picking up the little boy so he rested on her hip. 

"You're going to have to ask Krolia," Kova said. "But I think she will." Kova had leaned in to stage-whisper in his ear, causing the little boy to giggle. Kova approached Krolia, handing Vatos to her. The little boy wrapped his arms around Krolia's neck to look over her shoulder at Allie and Caleb. Allie gave a small little wave and touched her markings. Caleb smiled at the little boy, only staring at him. 

"Until next time, Kovalia," Krolia said on her way out, heading towards the emergency exit to the right of the doorway. 

"Until next time, Krolia," Kova said softly, crossing her arms. After a few minutes, the Coeus shook again, and an escape pod flew past their window. The teens watched the pod until it was unclear if they were looking at a ship or a star. 

"How long has Grandma been here?" Kenny exclaimed, finally unfreezing from his stance. 

"Not long." Kova turned around, hoping to end the conversation. "This isn't—"

"Is the first time she's been on the ship?" Kenny asked, staring at Kova with wide eyes. Kova pursed her lips. With a raised eyebrow, she waited until Kenny finished.

"No, this is not the first time she's been on the ship." Kova walked over and climbed the stairs one syllable at a time until she reached the floor. "No, she hasn't asked how the ship is running and who fixed it." Kova finally made it to her console, pushing Kenny aside. He stood with a gaping mouth and wide eyes. He was shocked. Anyone else would. 

"She probably thinks it was you," Kenny spoke at last. Kova did what she could to not roll her eyes. 

"I can't speak for other people's thoughts, Ken." 

"Everyone else would." With that, Kenny marched out. Kova looked after him. If it wasn't her shift. Kenny would have to wait. 

The day stretched into the next, where the teens switched off with the adults. Liz and Cake offered to teach Pidge and Hunk about the little upgrades they had managed to do with their spare time. They admitted it was mostly Kova, but they helped. 

Kova, on the other hand, stood in front of Kenny's door. Her long hair was tied in a ponytail. She wore her blue dress and leggings under her lavender sweater since her gray vest was given to Keith. She held only a tablet in her hands as she stared into the door. Liz, Cake, and Caleb were pulling out all the stops since Kenny decided to stay in his room today. With a deep breath, Kova knocked and opened the door. 

The room was dark, save only for a distant red light. Kenny had turned part of the closet into a  vertical garden. Kova wasn't sure if the plants were already here pre-launch, or if they were collected over their trip so far, but it was a mystery. Immediately to the right of the doorway, the door to the ensuite bathroom lay, also dark. Across from the door, a bundle of blankets lay on the bed. The door closed behind Kova as she approached. The only shifted when Kova sat on the corner closest to the pillow and the wall. Pulling an outermost blanket away, Kenny's head of brown hair appeared from the bundle. At least he was still here. 

"Ken," Kova said softly. "Kenny, look at me." 

"Go away." Kenny's voice was hoarse. "Go be perfect somewhere else." The mountain of sheets moved as Kenny tried to merge with the wall. 

"Kenny," Kova tried to say. 

"Kova this, Kova that." His voice was mocking. "'Why can't you be more like Kova?' 'If Kova weren't the Colonel's kid, I would've thought she was my grandkid.' 'Kova's everything everyone wants.' 'Kova is perfection." Kova hadn't said a word while Kenny mocked the comments. She almost jumped out of her skin when he turned his head to glare at her. "Why do you have to be so perfect for everyone?" He turned back around, almost slamming his head against the wall. Kova retracted her hand from the blanket, but she hadn't moved off the bed. As the blood that rushed in Kenny's ear calmed down, he noticed Kova had yet to make a sound. He turned around again, looking at her face. Those pretty amber eyes were downcast, filled with so much sadness and hurt, Kenny wished he could take his words back. 

"I wasn't perfect enough for them." Kova's voice held just as much sadness as her eyes. "I have to fight with that every day. It doesn't help that eyes are always on me." Kenny waited as Kova took a deep breath. "I'm the Colonel's kid. I'm a top student. I'm the jack of all trades. I don't' have time to wallow, to process my feelings. I wish I did." Kova's eyes moved from her lap to Kenny's. "I wish I could be invisible, to not be the center of attention, to not worry about failing."

"You wish you were me." Kenny finished her sentence. A rueful smile appeared on her face, nodding gently. 

"I wish I could do what you did." Kova continued before Kenny could say more. "You rebuilt, upgraded, and in some places, restored this massive outdated ship without anyone ever noticing." With a hesitant hand, Kova ruffled Kenny's messy hair. "Sam would be proud. So would Matt."

"What about Colleen?" Kova scoffed as she returned her hand to the tablet in her hand. 

"Colleen has always been proud of her grandkids, whether they became evil emperors, homebodies, or high-ranking soldiers." Kenny smiled, playfully glaring at Kova. He sat up in bed, pushing his glasses onto his nose. That was when he saw the tablet in Kova's hands. 

"What's that for?" He asked, pointing at the tablet. Kova looked down and smiled. 

"I was hoping you would watch some old videos with me." She looked up, holding the tablet in front of her chest. "From before." 

"Before?" Kenny asked, looking between the tablet and Kova. "Like, /before/ before? Before the Achlys?"

"Before everything." 

"Let's do it!" Kenny said, excited. He scooched over to leave some room for Kova, who leaned into his pillows uncomfortably. They were much too soft. The tablet turned on and Kova clicked on a video file hidden under a folder labeled 'KHK'. 

The first video opened with a dark screen, with muffled voices over it. At last, the camera opened to reveal a toddler. The little girl had short black hair with a little ponytail on top of her head, held in place by a red hair clip. The toddler had big light brown eyes, with her tongue intermittently darting in and out of her mouth. As the camera zoomed out, more of the toddler's outfit was revealed. She wore a long-sleeved red shirt with a bow in the middle and ladybugs where her pockets would be, and a pair of light gray pants covered in little ladybugs and red shoes tap shoes. Her playful smile at the camera quickly turned into giggles as someone behind the camera bounced their dark pants-covered leg up and down. The toddler turned her attention from the camera to whoever was there. 

"Klance!" She shouted happily, squealing. 

"How come you're 'Klance', but I'm 'Unatt'?" Matt said off-screen. The little toddler turned her head to presumably Matt with a smile. 

"Untt!" The camera zoomed out further until the backs of Lance and Matt's heads could be seen. Lance had thrown his head back in laughter. The toddler, now assumed to be Kova, giggled again. 

"At least you're 'Untt' now." Lance was holding little Kova, bouncing her on his leg. 

"Be careful, Uncle Lance." The camera turned, giving a full view of what was the Kogane family home. With a turn of his head and across a floor shift, Lance looked at the dining table, where Kenny met his eyes. "TJ is gonna get really mad if you drop her." 

"I know, Ken," Lance replied, grabbing little Kova's waist and holding her above his head. "She's just a little daredevil." 

"She wouldn't be if you left her alone." The camera turned, flying over the armrest to focus on Pidge. She wore a long-sleeved green shirt, hands planted on the kitchen counter. Her eyes, matching the toddlers, were hard. 

"Sorry, Pidge," Matt said, and the camera flew to the other side of the room. "But if she weren't a little daring, she wouldn't be walking, talking, or potty-trained." 

"Yeah, Pidge," Lance said, finally lowering the little girl. She sat down on his lap, facing where the TV would've been. Matt handed her a stuffed ladybug, which she gladly accepted. "Pretty soon, little Kyla will be riding a bike into town." 

Before Pidge could respond, a giant wolf appeared in front of the couch. Lance, who had been reclining, sat up to secure a hold on the toddler. Matt nearly jumped onto the couch. Kyla, with the black and blue wolf only inches from her face, screamed. The wolf's bright yellow eyes turned to face the screaming child, approaching her to sniff. As Kyla calmed down, about to reach out to pet the wolf, it disappeared. After the moment of shock passed, Kyla was lifted again to stand on Uncle Lance's lap. 

"That was Kosmo," Matt said, coming down from the couch. 

"Y'know what that means, Ky?" Uncle Lance smiled up at the little girl, who smiled back. "Daddy's home!" 

"Daddy!" 

Behind the couch, the front door opened. Keith, muttering something was wrong with the wolf, walked into his home. He wore his Blade of Marmora suit, recognizing him as a high-ranking member. 

"Daddy!" Kyla exclaimed, bouncing up and down. "Daddy! Daddy!" 

"Hey, Lance," Keith greeted, finally seeing the child. "I didn't know you had a kid." Both Lance and Matt looked at each other, then at Pidge, who was trying to blend in with the fridge. That was when TJ emerged from the hallway leading to the bedrooms. 

"Dad!" He all but shouted. TJ's hair was shorter, cropped at the nape. He wore a familiar red and white jacket over a forest green shirt and black pants. TJ, with arms outstretched, walked towards Keith, who did the same. As Keith let go of his oldest, he walked past his second and ruffled his hair on his way to the counter to finally see his wife. It was quick. It could've been missed. Little Kenny, still sitting at the dining table, passed a note to TJ as he took a seat. TJ's smile fell as he read the note. He looked up to meet Kenny's eyes and Kenny gave a quick nod. 

"Hey, Uncle Lance?" Kenny said, a little too loud for an inside voice. "Does Kyla need to go to the bathroom?" 

"I don't know, Ken." Lance caught on quick, meeting the little girl's eyes. "Kyla, do you need to go to the bathroom?" She shook her head. "Are you hungry?" She shook her head again. "Are you tired?" At that, she nodded her head. A yawn followed, and Kyla started rubbing her eyes. 

"I'll take her to bed," TJ said, standing up from his chair. "She's our little sister, anyway." Keith looked up at his son, watched him pick up the little girl dressed in red, and walk deeper into the house. Keith stared at Pidge, who had only closed her eyes. Kenny silently slid out of his chair, walked to the couch, and sat in between Lance and Matt. He was staring right at the camera. 

"So," Kenny said. "What's the camera's name?" Both Lance and Matt now stared directly at the camera. 

"Chad?"

"Why?" Lance asked, staring at Matt. "How about Buddy?" The camera did something, earning Lance's attention. For a brief second, the lens turned colors before returning to normal. Lance smiled. "Buddy it is, I guess." 

"Okay, Buddy," Kenny said, and the camera deactivated. 

Kova paused the video before it could continue. She looked up at Kenny, now fifteen years older than the video. He pushed his glasses up as he stared at the dark screen.

"I, uh, didn't know Buddy's deactivation phrase," Kenny said, laughing. "But it was boring afterward anyway. TJ came back out after putting you down and admired the camera. It wasn't until he realized that the camera could've captured an unflattering angle when he asked if it was on." 

"Uncle Matt talked you through it, right?"

"Yeah." He smiled at the memory. "I was the only one who knew the phrase, besides you."

"I remembered." She smiled, too. "I always turned it on whenever something was happening. And if I didn't turn it on, Pops or Dad did." 

"Who made the video?" Kenny reached his hand out to Kova, who handed over the tablet. "There's, like, an hour and a half left." 

"Probably Pops." Kova shrugged. "Maybe it was Buddy. I just know that the video has been under my file for years and has only grown." Kova stood, stretching her arms. 

"Thanks for that, Ky," Kenny said. Kova froze mid-stretch. "I really needed that."

"What? The memory?" 

"The before." 

Kova smiled, holding her hand out. Kenny handed her the tablet, watching as she turned and walked towards the door. No words were said between the two, but the nostalgia hit them all the same.

[robotsandzombiesarebi]

Hss class act fanfiction

Looking at the same sky - part 3

(Skye x MC)

[A/N -- If you would like to be tagged in these chapters in the future, let me know and I'll make sure you're on the list.]

Skye read the message and felt a strange mix of relief for being able to talk to Bailey after the conversation she had just had with her mother, and nerves because of the words her girlfriend had used

'Can I call? We need to talk about something 🖤'

Running though several scenarios in her head, Skye threw herself on to her bed and wiped at her dampening eyes. She sent a thumbs up emoji back and waited for the phone to ring. Within seconds, her phone lit up, playing 'Love will tear us apart'. Looking at the screen, Skye saw that it was a video call coming through and quickly hit 'Decline'. Sending a quick message, asking Bailey to wait a few minutes, she dashed to the mirror to check the make-up on her eyes was intact and pulling off the tatty pyjama top she was wearing, covering herself instead with her black bathrobe. Settling back on to her bed, after running her fingers through her long red hair, she opened a video call with Bailey.

Within seconds, Bailey appeared on the screen. Her eyes were heavy and her smile was plainly forced. Skye mirrored her expression, trying to hide the way her last conversation made her feel. Bailey worried about her enough. She didn't need outdated thinking and unveiled homophobia from her family adding to it.

"Hey Bailey." She said softly, clearing her throat after to help her voice. Bailey was clearly checking her own reflection on her camera, subtly wiping at the bottom of her eyes and trying harder to school her smile.

"Hey Skye. I miss you" Her attention was now clearly on Skye who smiled contentedly at her.

"Its hardly been an hour. But I miss you too, especially when you're sweet."

"So always, right?" Bailey let out a small laugh that caught in her throat as she spoke.

"Yeah. You're always cute I guess." Skye smirked. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Well..." Bailey began. As she thought of the best way to approach it, she saw the poorly hidden, scared look on Skye's face. "What's wrong?"

The question startled Skye. Realising she should never have accepted a video call, she gave up trying to keep herself together. A glance at her door showed no shadows in the light under it. It wasn't unusual for one of them to decide to listen in so they stay in control of everything. Skye explained what had happened since they parted. Brian snooping, her mother's critique, her dad's obliviousness to her. By the time she had finished, her cheeks were streaked with charcoal tears. Bailey looked calm, taking in everything Skye was saying, giving her time to finish before reacting, but her eyes betrayed her anger. She was furious. They talked through it. Bailey helping Skye to process what she was feeling while listening to everything her girlfriend needed to get off of her chest.

Skye exhaled slowly, composing herself and ready to move on.

"You never said what you wanted to talk about" She said dryly.

"Oh yeah..." Bailey paused. "I was going to ask..."

"Hmm?"

"Are you wearing anything under that big ol bathrobe?" She giggled.

"Seriously?!" Skye gasped with a deep blush creeping over her face. "No..."

"No?!" Bailey choked out, her blush surpassing Syke's.

"I meant, no, that's not what you wanted to talk about"

"Oh right... yeah, I definitely knew that. It's ok, we'll talk tomorrow. It's nothing to worry about right now anyway."

"You sure?" Concern shook Skye's voice.

"Yeah. Are you ok? The last thing I want is you worrying." Bailey asked, searchingly.

"I am. I think I'm just tired at this point."

"It takes a lot out of you, huh?"

"Sometimes. Talking to you helps. You always know what to say."

Bailey blushed harder than before at the praise. Suddenly feeling a little relieved, knowing she would still always be able to talk to her, she could always be there for her that way.

"I'm here to help." She said with a salute to her camera. "You should get some sleep though. If you wake up, just call me, ok? You're not disturbing me, I promise."

"Okay. I will, if I need to." Skye assured her.

They said a short good night and ended their call, not before Bailey blowing Skye a loud kiss, then waiting expectantly for Skye to catch it, which she did with an eye roll. Skye settled under her covers easily, one hand tucked under her pillow, the other cradling her phone. She scrolled social media for a while, until her phone chimed with a notification from Bailey. Skye opened the picture that was captioned "There's nothing on under this bathrobe either"

When the picture opened, it was of Bailey's dog, Biscuit wearing her purple fluffy gown against his plush white fur. It made her smile, more than she had all night. Bailey could do that. Only Bailey.

'I really love her.' Was the last thought in Skye's mind as her eyelids hung heavy and she drifted in to a peaceful sleep.

--------

The next day, Skye was getting dressed and checking the time constantly. She always met Bailey at 10:45am. It gave her a perfect amount of time to leave her house without issue. Her dad leaves early, so does Brian. Her mother, being a woman of leisure, didn't leave the house until she was good and ready. The bar at the brunch place she met her 'friends' at on the weekends opened at 10:30, so she would leave 15 minutes before, giving Skye 10 minutes to leave her room and get out of the front door before Brian came home from the gym, stinking and overdosed on testosterone. She got out without a problem and took a slow walk in to town. As she got to the arcade, she saw Bailey hitting the side of a crane machine which had a plush toy hanging precariously over the edge of the prize slot.

"Why not just put in another quarter?" Skye commented from behind her, making her jump and knock the machine, causing the plushie to fall within reach.

"Yes! I never lose!" Bailey chuckled turning to Skye and holding out the toy for her. "Here, he's all yours."

"Oh, that's ok. I don't want to take your prize." She mumbled. Looking at the toy, she could see it was clearly a knock-off version of the doppelganger monster from the movie she had shown Bailey on the first (and last) night she had visited her bedroom.

"But I wouldn't have won it if you didn't make me knock in to the machine. Besides...." Bailey held out the little stuffed monster to her again. "...You're my prize."

Skye was use to the corny jokes, the cheesy one liners, the awful attempts at flirting. Her girlfriend was awkward, it was a fact. She usually compensated for this by saying whatever first came to mind so she didn't overthink what she was saying. It made Skye feel more secure, knowing that Bailey meant everything she said without any hidden intent.

"Your prize for what?" She asked shyly, gently taking the toy and fighting her smile back.

"Hmmm... putting up with Ajay. I should definitely be compensated for that."

"Don't forget Danielle." Skye smirked.

"The girl who made me look like I would risk someone's life for a role in a play. I had totally forgotten about her, thank you." She laughed, shoving Skye's shoulder slightly.

The two of them shared a sweet kiss and walked in to the arcade, hand in hand. After playing their usual favourite games they moved over to the cafe area to get some lunch. Skye ordered their food, refusing to let Bailey pay while Bailey tried to get the busted tablet attached to the table to work. Skye sat beside her, sliding her a red basket of fries and a soft drink.

"Any luck?" She asked, nodding at the tablet.

"No, but..." Bailey gestured to the window. "...How about some classic entertainment?"

Outside, Skye saw Brian, flocked by some of his friends, all of them wearing similar gym clothes, surrounding a small group of girls. Brian was the only one speaking by the look of it, until the entire group of girls burst with laughter as walked off practically holding their sides. Brian, who's face now matched his hair perfectly, stormed off in the other direction with his friends trailing behind. Skye and Bailey shared a smile before falling into a fit of loud giggles.

As they are their lunch, Skye began to notice how quiet Bailey had become. She wasn't even eating much, just pushing her food around instead.

"Bailey!" Skye called out.

"What?!"

"You're not this quiet. What's wrong?" She asked as she stared in to Bailey's eyes, trying to find an answer.

"So. Remember I said we needed to talk about something?" She muttered.

"Yeah. Then I dropped all that stuff about my family on you..."

"No. I wanted to know how you were. You didn't drop anything on me, Skye. It's not a burden, ok?" Bailey interrupted.

"Ok. Thank you. Yeah, I remember."

"Well. It's kind of serious. I don't really know what to say." Bailey looked down, avoiding Skye's eyes. "I don't want today to be ruined. I don't want to ruin any day with this, but..." She took a deep breath. "The sooner I say it, the more ready the two of us will be for it."

"Am I supposed to be scared right now? Because I am."

"Skye, I have to move. Away from Cedar Cove. Away from Berry..." Bailey's eyes misted and her breath caught as she spoke. "I'm so sorry"

Suddenly, there was no sound. The arcades went quiet, the sounds of people talking dimmed until they were mute. Bailey was still apologising, but the sound struggled to reach Skye's ears. The whole world seemed as though it was losing its connection and Skye's senses suffered it alone. Midway through what Bailey was trying to get across, Skye grabbed her by the loose green shirt that hung loosely from her and pulled her in to a tight embrace. Bailey's hands rested on Skye's back, drawing small circles against her frame. It was too much. There wasn't anything to say to make this better. It was bad, and no amount of 'sorry' could make it better. It wasn't Bailey's fault, this clearly broke her heart too. After a few minutes of the two of them holding eachother as though they would be pulled apart this second if they dared to let go, Skye spoke up, softly.

"But... I need you. Please... don't." The words were strained in her throat and her arms tightened around the girl who was her only beacon in the dark that surrounded her life.

"Skye. I'm sorry, I didn't want..."

"PLEASE!" Skye screamed without a single thought of who would hear her. "Please...?" She cried.

-------------

TBC in the next chapter....

[a-trying-writer]

[[ The story needs it own post too. ]]

The price of eating a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich at the bodega may have eaten Jay's wallet more than she did, but it was always worth it. Especially today, since the streets are clogged, and the amount of packages she will have to deliver have grown compared to last week. At least the paycheck makes up for it.

Once she finished up her breakfast with a cup of orange juice, she gave Joshua – the store owner – a toothy grin. “Thanks, chef! I'll see you tomorrow!” she said, before securing her full face helmet on.

He gave her a firm nod before seeing her roller skate out of the store with a large bag strapped around her shoulder. That girl was going to get herself hurt again, but it never stops her from doing what she needs to do, no matter how many people beg her.

Skating from one road to another, between the honking cars with people screaming expletives out their window, Jay turned her bracelet on to see a map flash on her visor. Blinking red dots appeared on selected points of interest, along with lines on where the best shortcuts are from her personal experience. With a press of a button, the map revealed the address of her first stop: an apartment.

A few familiar faces greeted her as they watched her slip between narrow alleys, and as she passed by a man by jumping over a fence with the help of a ramp, he clicked on the stopwatch in his hand. He checked the time with a smirk, before pocketing the watch. “She finally slowed down for once,” he muttered to himself as he climbed into his truck.

Once she arrived at her destination, Jay lifted up her visor to see a middle aged woman sitting on the front porch. “Hey, Miyu,” she greeted her as she pulled out a tablet from her bag.

“Good to see you again, Jay,” she said as she picked up the stylus and signed her full name. “I see your bag is a little bit more stuffed than usual.”

Jay chuckled as she confirmed the delivery, and took out a box to give to Miyu. “It's no big deal,” she replied with a shrug. “Anyway, hope you and your kid are doing good.”

The woman gave her a warm smile. “We are, but Aya misses you a lot, child. You should come by for dinner sometime.”

“Ah, free food does sound tempting... and it's always fun to play with Aya. How about this Friday?”

“Very well, I'll give you a call before then, all right?”

Jay nodded her head with a smile in her eyes then closed her visor. “Okay. See you, Miyu.” She lifted her gaze to spot a young child peeking through a window and waved. The girl smiled as she returned the wave and watched her skate away.

It was not often that Jay stopped by the Okamura family, especially during deliveries, but they are one of the several people she feels comfortable talking to during her job. On her way to the next destination, she marked the day she will visit them before letting the image flicker out behind her visor.

The sun was almost over the horizon by the time Jay delivered her second to last package. She lifted up her helmet to take in the fresh air while gazing up at the orange tinted sky. It was difficult to see the sun at this time of day due to the large buildings around her, so she could only imagine how beautiful it must look.

Jay had lived in this city since her mother wanted to start a new life after the divorce with her father. It was difficult to adjust to the changes during her childhood, and she could never remember how the sun looked as it rose and fell. It wasn't until she turned thirteen that she had accepted it.

Things were difficult as the years went by. School became overwhelming for Jay, to the point that she dropped out at sixteen, and decided to study at home instead. While she had got her diploma, she didn't seek out a job until she was twenty-five, because her mother fell ill.

Her father wanted to get in touch with them, but her mother did not want anything to do with him. Why, Jay never knew. When she finally passed away, all contact outside the city was cut off, and Jay had to take care of herself with some of the inheritance that her mother passed down on to her.

Knowing that it was only going to be temporary, Jay searched for jobs to keep food on her table. It took several attempts, but she finally got one with the city's delivery service. Since then, her life has become stable.

Plus, she had a fun hobby to go along with it – roller skating.

Realizing she was smiling to herself, Jay slipped her helmet back on to deliver the last package for today. Her mother is probably proud of her, she thought.

The last stop made Jay question her GPS multiple times, but no matter what she did, it led her to a run down building sitting between apartments that are very much intact and livable. Well, there was no point in questioning it anymore. She carefully climbed up the stairs and pressed the single working button on the panel built into the side.

There was no response, but she did it again, this time yelling, “Pelican Packages delivery! Is there a Miss...” She paused to reread the name then tried to say it as slowly as possible, “Er-ee-na... Flo-reah?”

Silence.

“It's Doctor Irina Florea,” the person answered. “Please, leave the package at the door.”

A slight frowned formed on Jay's face. “You have to sign for it, Doctor,” she replied while mocking the person's title.

Another minute of silence.

“Fine,” they groaned. “I'll be there in a moment.”

Jay released the button with a huff. It's only natural to expect rude people in this line of work, but that doesn't mean she can't complain to her boss about it. Perhaps this person will be black listed, or assigned to some other delivery person, as much as she didn't want others to suffer the same way she is.

It took a moment for the person to approach the door and open it to reveal a haggard woman with red hair tied in a messy bun. She was dressed in a button up shirt and gray slacks and bunny slippers. Jay wasn't one to judge a person by their appearance, but this woman's attire just screams “workaholic”. She almost pitied her.

Like before, Jay gave the doctor a tablet to sign her signature with a brief hum.

“Is everything okay?” Jay asked.

“Hm?” She blinked at her a few times, before she rolled her head around with a yawn. “Your tablet is quite outdated... Is this really what your job assigned you with? A tacky tablet?”

Jay sucked in a deep breath as she tucked the tablet away. “I can't beg my boss to update our devices – that is up to the CEO of the company.”

There was a brief sparkle in the woman's eyes, until she blinked it away with a subtle disapproving look. “Can't be helped, I suppose.” She then stretched out her arms towards Jay. “Package, please.”

Jay took out a large, rectangular shaped box from her now empty bag to pass it towards her. There was a brief moment when Jay thought she felt something crawl on her skin, but when she pulled her arm back, whatever it was either fell off, or was just her imagination.

The doctor looked at her with a raised brow, but Jay quickly dismissed it with a shake of her head. “Enjoy your evening, Doctor,” she said, then turned away.

Irina only hummed in response before she shut the door behind her. That woman was quite short, the doctor thought as she made her way back to her room. Monitors and computers decorated it from the floor, to the walls, and even the ceiling. She maneuvered over the cables to reach one of her desktops and place the package on the table.

When she reached out for her scissors, only to realize that it was missing from her table, and let out a long, weary sigh. “Power on, Joy!” she yelled.

There was no response.

“Joy?” she repeated as she looked up at a sphere installed in the wall. “Hey, wake up!”

A bright blue light lit up from the sphere and turned towards Irina. “Pardon, Dr. Florea, I have just noticed an error in my system,” it replied.

“Show me the error!”

A screen flickered before Irina, showing Joy's entire body, from its shell to its cables within. Everything seemed to be in one piece, except for one part that was supposed to be installed just yesterday. The doctor huffed with a shake of her head. “I thought it was something far worse than that, Joy. I'll make you another one.”

“Very well, Doctor,” the drone spoke, before falling quiet.

On her way home, Jay stopped by the bodega again to pick up an order from Joshua for herself. A delicious toasted sandwich with turkey, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and vinegar. She took off her roller skates to climb the stairs in her bare feet, and opened the door with a soft tired sigh.

After placing her bag aside in the living room, Jay stripped off her clothing to shower and put on a set of pajamas. She turned on the television to stream a movie, and report her work for today to her boss.

When she saw Irina's name on the list, she wondered if she should share her experience. Perhaps the woman was working too hard, which is why she acted the way she did. It was okay for the workers to share information about the clients so they could be safe, but Jay wanted to give this woman the benefit of doubt, and maybe keep her name clean for the time being.

So she put a special report under Irina's name. “I will be glad to take any packages for her.”

Once she pressed send, her work was actually done. All she has to do now, is rest and eat her sandwich while watching a B list horror movie.

She didn't notice the small sphere climbing out of her bag, and made its way up to the top of her couch to watch it alongside her.

[bestearbuds]

Tips and best practices for optimizing your smart home

You’ve figured out the basics of setting up your smart home, now it’s time to raise your game. I’ve spent years installing, configuring, and tweaking dozens of smart home products in virtually every product category. Along the way I’ve figured out a lot of the secrets they don’t tell you in the manual or the FAQs, ranging from modest suggestions that can make your smart home configuration less complex, to essential decisions that can save you from having to start over from scratch a few years later.

Here’s my best advice on how to optimize your smart home tools, top tips and best practices.

1. Choose a master platform at the start These days, an Amazon or Google/Nest smart speaker or smart display can fill the role of a smart home hub (and some Amazon Echo devices are equipped with Zigbee radios).

There are three major smart home platforms on the market, and your smart home will probably have at least one of them installed: Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, or Apple Home Kit. The industry now revolves around these three systems, and virtually every significant smart home device that hits the market will support at least one of them, if not all three.

These platforms are different, of course. Alexa and Google Assistant are voice assistants/smart speakers first, but the addition of features that can control your smart devices has become a key selling point for each. Home Kit is a different animal, designed as more of a hub that streamlines setup and management. But since Home Kit interacts , it too offers voice assistant features provided you have your iPhone in hand or have an Apple Home Pod.

All three of these platforms will peacefully coexist, but you definitely don’t need both Alexa and Google Assistant in the same home, and managing both will become an ordeal as your smart home grows larger. It’s also completely fine to use Home Kit for setting up products and then using Alexa or Google Assistant for control. If you have a Home Kit hub device (either an AppleTV or a Home Pod), you’ll want to use it, as it really does simplify setup.

2. You don’t necessarily need a smart home hub In the early days of the smart home, two wireless standards, Zigbee and Z-Wave, were going to be the future. These low-power radios offer mesh networking features that are designed to make it easy to cover your whole home with smart devices without needing to worry about coverage gaps or congestion issues.

The main problem with Zigbee and Z-Wave devices is that they require a special hub that acts as a bridge to your Wi-Fi network, so you can interact with them using a smartphone, tablet, or your computer (while you’re home and when you’re away, via the internet). Samsung SmartThings is the only worthwhile DIY product in this category at present; its only credible competitor used to be Wink, a company that is now on its third owner and which has a questionable future at best. The Ring Alarm system has both Z-Wave radios onboard, but it’s much more focused on home security than home control.

As simple as Smart Things and Ring Alarm are, you’ll still face a learning curve to master them, and if your home-control aspirations are basic, you might find it easier to use devices (and the apps that control them) that connect directly to your Wi-Fi network and rely on one of the three platforms mentioned above for integration. It’s worth noting here than the 800-pound gorilla in the smart lighting world—Signify, with its Philips Hue product line now offers families of smart bulbs that rely on Bluetooth instead, so they don’t require the $50 Hue Bridge.

That said, however, you’re limited to controlling 10 Hue bulbs over Bluetooth. The Hue Bridge is required beyond that, and it’s also required if you set up Hue lighting fixtures, including its outdoor lighting line.

The bottom line on this point: Unless you want to build out a highly sophisticated smart home system, I recommend sticking with products that connect directly to your network via Wi-Fi, rendering a central hub unnecessary.

3. Range issues can create big problems

The downside of installing Wi-Fi only gear is that everything in the house will need to connect directly to your router. If your router isn’t centrally located and your house is spread out, this can create range issues, particularly in areas where interference is heavy: the kitchen, bathrooms, and anything outside.

Your best bet is to check your Wi-Fi coverage both inside and outside the house before you start installing gear. Make a map of dead zones and decide whether you can live with them. If not, you’ll want to consider relocating your router or moving up to a mesh Wi-Fi network with two or more nodes. You can read more about mesh Wi-Fi networks here.

Interference can also be a troubling problem that changes over time. If your next-door neighbor upgrades or moves his router, you may find that an area of the house with a once-solid signal has suddenly become erratic. You can tinker with the Wi-Fi channel settings in your router’s administration tool, but deploying a mesh network is a more sure-fire solution. Netgear even has an Orbi mesh node that can be installed outdoors to cover your backyard.

4. You don’t need smart gear everywhere

Many a smart home enthusiast has dreamed of wiring his entire home from top to bottom with smart products. A smart switch in every room and a smart outlet on every wall sounds like a high-tech dream; in reality, it can spiral into a nightmare.

The biggest problem is that while smart gear can be amazingly convenient, it also adds complexity to your environment because all of it must be carefully managed. Does installing 50 firmware updates sound like a great way to spend the weekend? Or troubleshooting that one switch that just won’t suddenly connect properly? Deploying smart speakers all over house, so you don’t need to yell for one to hear you, sounds like a great idea, too—that is, until the speakers have difficulty deciding exactly which one you’re talking to.

Devices such as Leviton’s Decora Smart Voice Dimmer with Amazon Alexa make it easy to put Amazon’s digital assistant in every room, which sounds like a great idea until they start fighting each other to answer your commands. In choosing where to install smart gear, think first about necessity. The hard-to-reach socket where you always plug in your Christmas tree is a perfect place for a smart outlet that can be set on a recurring schedule. The kitchen is a great option for voice control, so you don’t need to touch anything with dirty hands. My living room feature is lighted by three lamps which would normally have to be turned off and on individually; with smart bulbs and Alexa, it’s easy to power them on with a couple of spoken words. But does the overhead light in the master closet really need to have any of these features?

And finally, there’s the obvious issue: Smart gear isn’t cheap, and outfitting a large home with smart gear can quickly become exorbitantly expensive. Think about what happens when your gear becomes outdated (and out of warranty)?

The bottom line: While it’s a great idea to install everything you think you’re going to use at the start of your project, don’t overdo it. You can always add on to your system down the road. Install smart gear only where you legitimately know you will use it.

5. Consolidate vendors It might sound like common knowledge to suggest you try to stick with a single vendor when it comes to all your switches or light bulbs, but it’s easy to be wooed by a product that promises new features or better performance. Avoid taking the bait: Over time, bouncing from one vendor to the next will leave you managing multiple apps, and you’ll likely get confused about which one goes with which device.

Many smart outlets and switches don’t carry a visible brand logo, so it isn’t always as easy as just checking the hardware itself to see where you should go. (Making matters worse, many smart products use a management app with a name that that has no relation to the hardware’s name.) And while most HomeKit-capable apps can control other vendors’ Home Kit devices, you’ll still usually need the official app to get things set up initially and to perform regular maintenance.

The good news is that Tech Hive has plenty of buying guides in almost every smart home category to help take the guesswork out of figuring out which brands to build your home around, so you needn’t experiment to find the best products on the market.

6. Give your gear short, logical names By default, many smart products will give themselves a name during setup that consists of generic terms and random digits, none of which will be helpful to you in identifying them later. It’s best to give your gear a short but logical and easy-to-remember name when you first set it up.

Start by giving all the rooms in your house a name in the management app, even if they don’t have any gear in them. (You might install equipment there later.) “Bedroom” is not a good name unless you only have only one. You’ll want to use the most logical but unique names possible here: “Master bedroom,” “Zoe’s bedroom,” “Guest bedroom,” and so on.

Now, when you install a product, standardize names using both the room name and a description of the item—or what the item controls. For example: “Master bedroom overhead lights” for a wall switch or “Office desk lamp” for a smart plug connected to said lamp. In rooms where you have multiple products, you can use a longer descriptor, numerical ID (1, 2, 3…), or something similar. In my living room, the three lamp smart bulbs are named Living room lamp left, center, and right, so if one isn’t working in the app, it’s easy for me to figure out which is which.

Doing this work up front will save you time if and when you connect your gear to a voice assistant. Not only does having a standardized, logical naming system make it easy for you to remember what to say, changing the name of a product in its app generally means having to re-discover the product within your voice assistant app, which is a hassle.

7. Wiring never looks like it does in the pictures

Manuals and online guides always make in-wall wiring look like a standard, well-organized affair, but I can assure you that many an electrician has taken some significant liberties with the way that switches and outlets are wired in the average home. Don’t be surprised to find multiple black line/load wires when you expected to find just two, strange in-wall hardware that doesn’t look like the picture, and wiring that simply doesn’t make sense.

The neutral wire required by the vast majority of smart switches and outlets is typically white. So which of these two white wires is the neutral? Of course, you can always experiment as long as you’re patient. There’s little risk of damaging the product if you miswire it the first time. Just make sure you’re turning the power off at the circuit breaker before you touch anything.

As a last tip on wiring, note that neutral (typically white) wiring is essential for most of the smart switches on the market. If there is no neutral wire in the electrical box where you want to install a smart switch, you’ll need to seek out the handful smart switches and dimmers that don’t require a neutral wire, like these C by GE models or certain switches.

8. Expect problems to emerge without warning

You know how your computer suddenly starts crashing every day, or your printer abruptly vanishes from the network? The same kind of things happen to smart home gear, which, after all, are miniature computers of their own, all prone to the same types of issues. Expect the occasional product to abruptly disconnect from your network, vanish from the management app, or stop working altogether—even after months or years of otherwise trouble-free operation, without any discernable reason. In many cases, you’ll need to manually reset the product to get it to reconnect to the app. Sometimes the app will guide you through this process, otherwise a quick Google search can get you squared away.

9. Pay attention to battery life

Devices not attached directly to the grid rely on battery power to operate. Door/window and motion sensors, smart locks, smart doorbells, many cameras, smoke alarms, and more are all likely to require regular battery replacements or recharging, and while many devices claim to last for multiple months or even years, the reality is often shorter than that.

Take stock of the batteries each of these devices use—some are truly oddball cells that you won’t have in the junk drawer—and keep spares on hand for when they die. Devices that use a rechargeable battery like the Ring Doorbell are supposed to alert you via the app when the battery is running low, so you can recharge it before it goes totally dead, but my experience is that these alerts are rarely actually delivered (or end up being ignored).

If your Ring Video Doorbell’s battery is dead, you’ll never know if someone’s ringing the bell (which, in my case, usually means a “missed delivery” slip from FedEx). I check my Ring’s battery life in the app once a week (it’s under Device Health), and when it hits about 35 percent, I remove the cell and charge it back up (you can also buy spare Ring batteries and just swap a dying battery for a freshly charged one).

10. Dimmers can be particularly problematic

Electrical dimmers like the old-school wall-mounted dial type work by lowering the amount of electrical current being sent to the load device, which will, say, lower the brightness of an incandescent bulb or slow down a fan. Unfortunately, dimmers pose particular problems for many devices. Smart home devices are especially problematic when dimmers are attached, because they contain electronics and radios that simply won’t work if the power isn’t coming through at full strength. As such, it’s a bad idea to connect devices like smart light bulbs to circuits that are connected to a dimmer.

On a similar front, you’ll need to be especially observant if you replace an old toggle switch with a smart dimmer. As a shortcut, sometimes switches are wired with pass-through circuitry that is meant to pass along current to other devices (such as a nearby power outlet). If you swap out this switch with a dimmer, you might inadvertently connect the dimmer to those outlets, causing them to lose all or partial power, making for a complex troubleshooting session.

[sylleboi]

𝕿𝖗𝖔𝖕𝖎𝖈𝖆𝖑𝖎𝖆 | 07/11/19

This is the third out of the four weeks that this workshop is happening. Though I wasn’t there for the first weeks lesson, I have managed to catch up over half term and have fully prepared for this lesson.

When the lesson began, we all just dove straight into working and continuing where we left off from before half term (Mood board and thumbnail ideas). During the half term I had decided what I wanted to do by evaluating which of the thumbnails I found myself drawn to the most. So with that done, I drew a portrait for me to use as the main subject for the poster. Here are some screen grabs from the process of making it, all done using Krita and my drawing tablet:

Here is the finished portrait:

After doing some work individually, we were told to take a moment to focus up on the board, where we would then go through some terminology based on Type.

𝕿𝖞𝖕𝖔𝖌𝖗𝖆𝖕𝖍𝖞/𝕿𝖞𝖕𝖊𝖋𝖆𝖈𝖊 𝖛𝖘 𝕿𝖊𝖝𝖙/𝕱𝖔𝖓𝖙

Typography is simply put just the actual writing, say for example on a poster; it’s the body of text, or it can also be referred to as “copy” (though this usually only applies with media texts ((film, blogs, posters, news papers etc.))).

Font is different types of text, for example Times New Roman, Arial, Perpetua, Verdana, Calibri, Impact etc. Font focuses on the appearance of each symbol and/or letter.

Serif (font) in typography, is the small extra stroke located at the end of the main vertical and horizontal strokes of each letter. These can also be referred to as glyphs. A popular Serif font is Times New Roman:

Sans serif (font) is a category of typefaces that do not use serifs/glyphs (the small lines at the end of each line or stroke of the letters). A popular Sans serif font is Verdana:

The key for this workshop is to play around with the different fonts that come with Adobe Illustrator to find what works for you and your poster.

Hierarchy is a term that describes the focal point of the content, essentially breaking everything within it into a list of most to least important. Doing this makes you able to let the reader know where to look first by the use of scale and positioning of images, type, logos etc.

Kerning is a term used when specifically talking about typography. It refers to the spacing between letters, which can cause issues with certain words reading differently than if they were spaced accurately.

Tracking is a typographers term for letter spacing. Using this can make text seem less claustrophobic.

Tone of voice will guide users to the right emotion and allow them to relate to the content shown. It’s important to consider these aspects when designing the poster!

With all of this in mind for the rest of the lesson, I continued working. At this point I already had my main subjects completed, so now it was time for me to put together the poster itself using Illustrator and following what the brief specifies to include within it. The brief says that the final poster has to be of A2 size, meaning I had to create a custom sized canvas to work on. The dimensions for an A2 sized file is 420 mm x 594 mm.

I then imported the png of the portrait, making sure it’s the top layer so I then could experiment with some different colours, patterns, tone, shape etc. I already had a general ideas in mind with a bold round shape behind the figure, mostly done for compositional purposes just to direct the eye to the focal point even more. The week before, I did a selection of different thumbnail ideas for the poster in which i ended up wanting to mix together number 3, 4, 8 and 6. 3 and 4 for the framing by using the circle, 8 for the contemporary looking plants and face paint/stripes on cheeks and 6 for the 3/4 view.

The following screen grabs are just of me experimenting with some different options.

1.

2.

3.

I played around with some line tools for the circular shape as seen in the second screenshot, and by clicking around I found that if you increased the size of this particular line brush, it created a painterly gradient. I really liked this effect since it added some additional interest to it by giving it some subtle texture, something that can be a bit difficult to archive digitally.

I wasn't really feeling the green/turquoise tone because it didn’t really make any of the other colours pop or stand out, which is definitely a must for an eye-catching poster. So with that said, I changed it to a bright blue- contrasting and almost clashing with the warm oranges. The festival is supposed to be a summer festival so I though it would be good to incorporate the bright blue as to simulate a hot summer day with no clouds in sight, a big bright sun shining down on the stages, music blasting and people cheering.

After adding some plants with the use of the brush tool (a tool I actually haven't used before, but found to be really handy for creating something more painterly, such as these plants) by using different hues of blue. - Since then, I also added in some thicker strokes of the bright blue colour and some white (simulating big palm leaves) to emphasise on the festivals tropical and Brazilian aspect.

Once I was happy with the background, it was time to look into the title. Keeping in mind about the hierarchy of all the information that had to be included on the poster, I had the title be at the very top. I decided this because it tells you what the event is based upon and it also conveys the vibe and feel you can expect from this event; happy, bright; tropical.

I then came up with two different styles of the title; again, using the pen tool with a brushy textured brush. To decide which worked best, I decided to put it up for a vote, so I printed each version out next to each other on a piece of paper and took a round with my peers in the studio with a sharpie, asking them which they preferred;

The results were obvious; number one got everyones vote.

So then I took this version into Krita, the program I primarily use for all my art, both digital and for general editing. I did some minor adjustments, using layer modes (mostly soft light and overlay) to add in some extra colour. I also added a few sparkles around the portrait and circle + some additional detail such as steaks of hair, stubble and freckles, as well as a bit of a white outline around the guys facial features, just to separate him from the background to make it read a bit better.

I also added in the Southbank London logo in the top right and did the painterly streaks of white on his cheek.

This is a higher res version of that:

I then took this altered version back into Illustrator to start doing the text. I wanted to go with a clean style so it would be easy to ready and understand, so  I chose the font Bebas, a Sans Serif font. I wanted to give it a more modern feel, just so it wouldn't look as if it was an outdated event from 2010 or something alike that, so I took the text box and simply stretched to my liking.

Below is the process of me decided the hierarchy of all the posters information listen on the brief and putting it onto my poster in an organised way;

Here is the finished poster:

Update:

I corrected some spelling mistakes using Krita and the polygon tool:

[softupshur]

The Follow-Up (sequel one shot)

It’s the follow-up that nobody asked for!

This is a sequel to “Sullivan, you ARE the father!” so if you haven’t read that one, you should check it out so this one makes sense.

Ao3 link if you’re into that kind of thing

Daytime television hasn't been the same since Maury's untimely death. Though the media blames faulty wires on set for the incident, you know better. You're one of the few who saw the final episode through its one and only airtime. Everyone tells you it was just a nightmare, that the episode is nothing more than an urban legend, yet you still hear the twang of the banjo when you close your eyes.

Dr. Phil and Jerry Springer now reside in the empty time slots, but there comes a day when you turn on the TV to find Maury smiling through the designated audience applause. You rub your eyes once, twice, three times, but Maury's visage remains. At first, you dismiss it as a rerun, but as you reach for the remote, you catch a pair of familiar faces.

Sullivan and Otis sit on Maury's couch. In their rustic attire, they look largely the same from their initial appearance, though Otis is visibly shaken and sporting bandages over his left eye.

"It's good to see you two again," Maury says, though his brow furrows at Otis. "But looks like things have been a bit rough in Temple Gate. You okay there, Otis? Something happen?"

Otis opens his mouth to reply, but Sullivan speaks over him. "He fell down the stairs." He puts a hand on Otis's shoulder. "Isn't that right?"

When Maury looks to Otis for confirmation, he lets out a shaky laugh. "Yeah...the stairs...clumsy me."

His answer placates Sullivan so Maury can continue. "Now the last time you two were on this show, we were here to find Seth's father and give him a family."

The screen behind Maury switches to Seth backstage. His bowlcut is still horrendously off-center, but you smile as he waves to the camera anyways.

A blip of static cuts out the first few words of Maury's following statement. You really do need to get that outdated TV replaced. "--revealed that Sullivan was the father."

The show cuts to a clip compilation of the previous episode. It's just as you remembered. The curiously untitled book, the CD's roasting over the fire, the glint of the hunting knife. The final moments are conspicuously absent.

"And since then you two have been working through your differences to raise Seth together. Give us an update on how that's going."

Once again, Sullivan talks over Otis's attempted answer. "I hate to say it, Maury, but the boy hasn't been pulling his weight."

The scandalized gasps of the audience give Otis the courage to rise from his seat. "I'm not pulling my weight!?" He points an accusatory finger at Sullivan. "I'm the very backbone of our house and you know it!"

Sullivan snarls. "Sit, child! Lest I exorcise you again!"

That shuts Otis up as he rejoins Sullivan on the couch.

It's Maury who speaks on Otis's behalf. "Now, Sullivan. Let's take a moment to look at Otis's side of the story. If this relationship is going to work out, you're going to have to listen to what the other has to say." He turns to Otis. "Now what do you mean about being the 'backbone of the house'?"

"Well, Maury. Not only do I take care of Seth all day, I also do all the cooking, all the cleaning, and all Papa does is sit on his fat -bleep- all day watching trashy daytime television!"

"The boy is speaking in tongues!" Sullivan declares. "I can't be expected to care for a household, when I am granted charge over my flock. It's no sin for a man to seek rest in his own home. For even God rested on the seventh day."

"That's a load of bull," Otis grumbles.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"You see this insolence, Maury? The child has lost all sense of decency and goodwill and try as I might to correct him, I am forced to seek outside help."

"Hmm...let's see about that," Maury says, cuing a new video.

The camera focuses on a wooden house. It sits in the middle of barren desert and uneven terrain. As the crewman walks to the door, it opens to reveal Otis emptying out the dustpan. His unruly hair is tied back in a bandana and he's wearing an apron. He still has both eyes.

"Glad you made it." He leads the cameraman inside. "Now I can show you what I have to put up with."

The camera pans through a living room littered with children's toys and white tablets as the TV plays an obsolete soap-opera.

Otis rushes over with the broom to sweep up the tablets collected in a small pile by the couch. "I've told him at least a dozen times that if he's going to eat in the living room to use a placemat. Is that really so much to ask? I just want some order in this house." Rather than empty out the dustpan, Otis takes it to the kitchen and opens up a cabinet filled with dozens of prescription pill bottles. You recognize a handful like Xanax and Oxycontin, but many are unknown to you.

Otis removes a few of the bottles and undoes the child safety caps. He sets the dust pan on the counter beside the collection, and observes each pill before placing them in their proper containers. "You see what I'm dealing with? And is anyone around here to help? No! It's all me!"

"Who ya talkin' to?" Seth trots into the kitchen. He tugs on Otis's apron first then gasps at the camera. "Hi Mistah Cameraman!" He reaches for the screen with muddy hands. If not for Otis pulling him back, he'd have dirtied the lens. 

"I'm so sorry. Please excuse me for a moment." Otis drags a protesting Seth to the sink and the camera pans to the door. A low rumble sounds on the other side before it flies open. In the frame stands Sullivan.

"Where's dinner!?"

Back to Otis.

"Coming right up!" Otis releases Seth and rushes to the stove, frantically firing it up and fishing through the pantry. "Now as I was saying--"

"Who're you talking to in there!?" You could hear the chair's strain as Sullivan plops into it.

"No one, Papa!" Otis's tone is considerably hushed when he continues. "Anyways, the old man is eating us out of house and home." He slams the pot on the stove. "He had 12 eggs yesterday. 12! Do you know how hard it is to keep up with that kind of demand? I asked all over the place, but all anyone had was six. And that's not even taking me and Seth into account. I'm just short of having to do highway robbery to keep this house afloat!"

"Keep it down in there!"

A half-empty wine bottle whizzes past Otis and shatters against the wall.

A flurry of bleeps ends the video as the camera fades to the present-day.

"Well, Sullivan." Maury leans back. "What do you have to say about all that? It looks like Otis works very hard around the house. Don't you think it'd be nice to show a little appreciation?"

Sullivan throws his head back and laughs. You swear you could smell the stink on his breath as he wheezes. "Do not be swayed by the wayward child's filthy lies. For he knows not of what he speaks."

"And you think you could shed some light on this?" Maury asks.

"Naturally. When you see my side of the story, you'll realize that the Lord tests me by way of placing this insolent wretch in my path." He's seething now.

"Now we'll see about that."

The camera cuts back to the same desert home. Sunken in an armchair, Sullivan addresses the camera. He holds a bottle of wine in one hand and at least a dozen pills in the other. 

Seth is wrestling with the child safety cap of the Vicodin in the background.

"He doesn't get the damn pills right. I'll tell you that much." Sullivan shoves the pills into his mouth and washes it down with a swig of wine. You wince as it dribbles down his chins. "Now you see these two capsules." Sullivan holds up two identical pills. "One is Xanax and the other for my Oxycontin."

Seth throws the bottle against the wall as Sullivan explains the supposed differences between the pills.

"I even labeled the damn boxes so he doesn't strain his simple mind."

The camera zooms in on the bottles labeled in bold sharpie.

"So pray tell why I found these both with the Morphine." He finishes off the wine and drops the bottle to the floor. He doesn't bat an eye as the glass shatters. "Mark my word, the boy is trying to send me to an early grave."

Seth is now jumping up and down on the bottle to no avail.

"And don't get me started on the food."

The scene cuts to Sullivan seated before a feast fit for a king. Slabs of juicy meat are piled on top of each other, mashed potatoes overtake half the plate, rolls are precariously balanced in the mix, and freshly cut vegetables scatter the servings. Three large plates are required just to hold everything. Sullivan's eye narrows at Otis and his meager servings.

"Child, are you trying to starve me out?" Sullivan bites into a chicken leg.

Otis sighs. "No, Papa."

"Then how do you expect me to get by on such scant portions?"

"Uh…"

Before Otis can respond, Sullivan snatches a roll and chicken leg from his plate. "Wretched child…"

The show returns. Maury has his chin in his hand, as if in deep thought. 

Sullivan and Otis stare intently. Even the audience is silent as they await a response.

You only release your breath when Maury speaks.

"You both make compelling arguments, but if we're going to settle this, we're going to have to take a trip backstage. Let's see what Seth has to say about this." Maury motions for the camera to follow him backstage where Seth is jumping up and down on the couch. "Heya, sport."

"Hi Mary!" Seth bodyslams the couch when Maury sits beside him.

"Are you happy to be back on the show?" A glint of red appears in Maury's eye. It must be a reflection of the camera.

"Uh-huh! This couch is way bouncier than m'bed at home!" He gets up to resume his jumping, but Maury places a hand on his shoulder to settle him.

"Hold up, lil guy." Maury coughs into his sleeve. "We want to ask you a few questions about your family."

"Okie-dokie!"

"So what do you think of your home now that your dad is in the picture?" Maury's voice drops as he speaks.

"I love it lots!" Seth hops to his feet. "I have a mommy AND a daddy now! Thanks Mary!" He throws his arms around Maury and you jump at the inhuman scream that follows. The lights flicker before shattering. For a moment, the screen is completely black until the camera switches to night vision. In the haze of green and black, you watch Maury's eyes roll to the back of his head. His face contorts beyond the realm of human possibility and he hisses as he lashes at the camera with newly-grown claws.

The camera falls to its side and you see Seth's shoes as he picks it up. He lifts it just as Sullivan and Otis rush in.

"It's as the Lord prophesied! That child is of The Enemy!" Sullivan points to the camera. "Its unholy power has granted the demon dominion over its vessel!"

Maury lunges towards Sullivan, but recoils as he holds out his jewel-encrusted crucifix. "Spirit of our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Most Holy Trinity--" He pauses to shout over his shoulder. "Don't just stand there! Get me my gospel and my shotgun!"

For once, Otis doesn't protest as he rushes off-camera to fetch the untitled book and a shotgun. You no longer question where he got the shotgun.

Sullivan takes the firearm and aims at Maury. Though he fires straight through the heart, Maury continues to writhe and hiss. Blood gushes from his eyes as Sullivan keeps him at bay. "Get me the holy water!" he shouts at Otis. "The evil is strong with this one!"

"But we didn't bring any!"

"Any water will do! I need only bless it under my name!"

Your ears are ringing from Maury's screeching.

"Hurry!"

"Where am I supposed to find water!?"

"Oh! I know, I know!" The camera bounces with Seth. "It's in the lil fridge! I'll get it!"

As Seth runs to the backstage mini-fridge, you hear Otis and Sullivan offscreen.

Otis is sobbing. "We can't keep doing this."

"Silence! "Sullivan snaps. "Our being here is no accident! We were sent here by the Lord to combat this evil! Do you shirk the Lord's will!?"

"But Papa!"

As they bicker, you're confined to Seth's view of the mini-fridge. Though he grabs a small water bottle, he also takes a root beer float and personal ice cream. He toddles back to Sullivan and hands him the water before returning to his post. He sets the camera down as Sullivan blesses the water bottle.

Otis crumples to his knees and weeps.

Root beer sprays everywhere and cascades over the camera lens while Maury howls.

The TV cuts to commercial.

You bury your face in your hands.

[nerdgasrnz]

Hey lex! Im lookin into buying a drawin tablet for the first time and was wondering if you had any tips on what to look for & avoid while doing so? bc i have no idea what im doing and dont wanna spend my broke binch money on smth thatll shit out quickly

@sevenspires Sorry for taking so long to answer this again! I got really bummed out after I tried typing a response the first time and losing it T_T Now I’m back months later, LOL

If you can’t afford a Wacom brand tablet, make sure that you read up on specifications that are important. Screen size, resolution, pressure levels, color settings, all that.

Tablets above a certain size, or of a certain screen type are VERY bulky and built like a tv screen. (usually bigger than 15 inches or so.) Make sure you differentiate between those kinds and the more lightweight, portable ones, and choose accordingly. I have a small space and work on the go, so more portable tablets for me are a non-negotiable requirement. My current tablet is like a slate the same size as my laptop, but I can still put it in my backpack if I need to go elsewhere and work. It’s still technically too big for my work space though. Other artists have studio-sized spaces and plenty of room to have a 24-inch tablet to draw on. It depends on your line of work!

Wacom is always going to have top of the curve pressure levels, but you can get away with having 1024 at the minimum for any tablet you end up using. I honestly can’t tell the difference between 1024 and 2048 levels (even though I know there is a difference- 2048 is definitely smoother) If you’re looking at old/outdated stuff that’s in your price range, you can get away with 512 pressure levels.512 = the barest minimum | 1024 = decent | 2048 = I think this is the modern standard for tablets right now | 8192 and higher = luxurious

My current XP-Pen 13.3 tablet has a whopping 8192, and the pressure levels are SO nuanced, that it starts to make my lines actually look... kind of bad, LMAO. So for me, 8192 is too much nuance for pen pressure. But hey I got it free so I don’t care, LOL

Make sure you can afford more than one set of the accessories that go with the tablet. Pens, nibs, cables, ALL of that stuff. And if you don’t feel like buying them right away, make sure you plan ahead in the future. With cheaper tablets like XP-Pen, Huion, Monoprice, and etc. the money you save by not buying a Wacom is money you can put towards replacement parts.

READ THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF YOUR WARRANTY! You should always do this when you buy shiny new toys, but it’s VERY important for your art hardware. Make sure you keep your purchase records archived in your e-mail as proof for when you redeem your RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization)Usually an RMA or warranty says that If anything goes wrong with your tablet within the warranty period that you purchased it, as long as you didn’t tamper with the tablet yourself, they will replace it with a new one for no charge except how much it costs to ship it back. I’ve done it with my cheapest Monoprice tablet (RIP) and my current XP-Pen tablet. My first XP-Pen took a nasty fall to the floor one day and the screen stopped working :’( So yeah, read the terms of your warranty, it might save you one day!!!

If you already use keyboard shortcuts on your computer a lot, you usually don’t need side buttons on your tablet. I forget they exist. Every time. Otherwise, if you find the keys on the tablet to be very accessible, then go for it! AFAIK, only Wacom has done the BEST side buttons bc they always have sliders for zooming in and out on your canvas, which I actually used before. Other than that, I have never used the side buttons on a tablet since.

Read your installation and instruction manuals! Even if you think you know how to install a tablet after owning 5 different brands, read the manuals!!! In my experience with windows, getting your tablet’s drivers to work the first time is absolute hell because tablets are always fighting with Windows’ tablet pc stuff. So even if you’re tech savvy and have been fighting Windows’ tablet support for over a decade, READ THE MANUALS! Make sure you go to the correct website, download drivers for the correct tablet model, ALL of that. Restart your computer when the installation tells you to, EVERYTHING. Do what the instructions say! After that, you can take to tech support or forums for any problems you have later.

Make sure your art software is up to date as well once you’ve installed your tablet!

Uhhh that’s all I got! If you (or anyone else who sees this post) have any questions, feel free to ask in the replies/reblogs, I do check them!

(Also I am selling one of my old/dated tablets that still works, so if ur interested, hmu and we can talk pricing!)

[ifixersblog]

5 Tips to Stop Your iPad from Shutting Down Randomly

The Apple iPad may be one of the best tablets in the world, but that doesn’t mean its okay. Rather, one of the most common problems iPad users are struggling with is that the tablet shuts down automatically. This can be one of the most frustrating things, especially when doing really interesting or important things on the iPad.

However, if your iPad shutdown unexpectedly and you don’t know the cause of the problem, try these 5 professional tips to prevent your iPad from shutting down randomly.

Why does my iPad keep shutting down?

There are several possible reasons why your iPad may shut down randomly. For example, the problem may be due to a software bug, memory overflow, or battery drain. Therefore, we provide a viable solution to address each aspect and solve the problem accordingly.

1. Hard Restart iPad

A hard reset may be required if the iPad powers off randomly while charging or playing games. A hard reset is useful if your computer shuts down automatically, or if the battery is draining rapidly due to malicious processes or cellular radiation. Also, there is no adverse effect after a hard reboot. It’s so easy that you can do it yourself by following the guide below.

iPad with Home button: Please hold the Home button and Power button till the Apple logo shows itself.

Other iPad models: Please press and then release the Volume Up button and Volume Down button respectively and fast. Then press the Top button till the Apple logo shows itself.

2. Update Your iPad

Outdated iPadOS will cause many problems. It is not strange that it makes your iPad turn on and off. Therefore, updating the iPad to the latest version of iOS can resolve the “iPad turns off automatically” issue. And you can easily find out the solution if yours is caused by this reason.

Step 1. Head to the Settings app.

Step 2. Choose the General option.

Step 3. Choose the Software Update button.

Step 4. Tap the Download & Install option.

3. Recharge

The problem might also be due to the improper functioning of the battery and related software that could be preventing the iPad from running smoothly. The best way to rule out such a scenario is to drain the battery completely. After it has lost all its charge, here is what you need to do.

Plug the iPad to the mains. Remember to always use an original Apple charger.

See if the device is charging normally. Let it charge completely in one go.

However, if the iPad does not seem to be charging as it should be, there might be some issues with the charging cable or the mains.

Or if you are charging via a USB port on a PC, try a different slot.

Once it has acquired full charge, disconnect and check if it is still restarting automatically.

If the issue persists, you can try the solutions given below.

4. Declutter Your iPad

If your iPad still keeps turning off, declutter the storage. If you haven’t cleaned up the storage for a while, there is a good chance that it would be cluttered. The huge pileup of unnecessary files, app cache, redundant screenshots, and useless videos may have hogged up a ton of storage space. Not just that, even the useless apps may be creating problems and causing the iPad to shut down frequently.

To resolve the issue, navigate to the Settings app on your iPad > General > iPad Storage. Now, iPadOS will show you a breakdown of how the storage has been consumed by each category, like photos, apps, media, and messages. Once you get a clear picture of the storage consumption, remove all the unnecessary files to retrieve plenty of precious space. With uncluttered storage, the iPad might finally get the better of the unexpected rebooting issue.

5. Factory Restore

If everything else fails, it is time to restore your iPad. However, make sure you have taken a backup of your device before factory restoring it to minimize the chances of data loss.

Connect your iPad to the PC or Mac. As before, make sure you have the latest version of iTunes installed on the PC or Mac (macOS Mojave or earlier). On Mac with macOS Catalina or later, make sure that the latest version of the macOS is running.

Go to iTunes/Finder and select your device.

Click on the Restore iPad option.

Follow on-screen instructions that appear.

When the process is complete, your iPad will be almost as good as new and will ensure there are no software or data corruption issues.

Remember to check if the iPad is functioning properly or if it is still shutting down on its own.

Contact the Pros

If none of the above tricks help fix the random reboot issue on your iPad, it’s likely that the issue is hardware related. And in this scenario, you need to consult an iPad expert as soon as possible.

With several years of expertise under our belt and backed by an experienced team of supertechies, iFixers is a well-known Apple device repair centre. So, contact us to help you fix your iPad perfectly, professionally and affordably.

by ifixers - Apple service center in Bangalore