#<- switching over to a new way of tagging duplicates

[cirrus-grey]

Georgie sounds like she may be without a Melanie and I am devastated.

[damienns]

My GIF Making process: Screen capturing using MPV player, Organizing files, 3 Sharpening settings, Basic Coloring PSD + Actions set

This is a very long post so heads up.

I’ll try to be as thorough and true as much as possible to the way I make my gifs (I already use Photoshop Actions which I’ve long since set up but now for this tutorial I’m reviewing them to show you the exact steps I’ve learned to create my gifs 😃) and present them to you in a semi-coherent way. Also, please bear with me since English is my second language.

First things first. Below are the things and tools we need to do this:

Downloaded 4K or 1080p quality videos (let’s all assume we know where to get these—especially for high definition movies and tv series—so this post doesn’t get removed, okay? 😛)

Adobe Photoshop CC or the CS versions can work as well, but full disclosure I haven’t created gifs using the CS versions since 2020. I’m currently using Adobe Photoshop 2024.

mpv player. Use mpv player to get those frames/screenshots or any other video player that has a screen grabber feature. I’ve used adapter for the longest time but I’ve switched to mpv because the press to screenshot feature while the video is playing has been a game changer not to mention ultimate time saver for me. For adapter you need to play it in another video player (like VLC player), to get the start and end timestamps of the scene you want to gif which takes me ages before I can even open Photoshop.

Anyway! Please stop reading this post for a moment and head over to this amazing tutorial by kylos. She perfectly tells you how to install and use mpv player, both for Mac and Windows users.

One thing I have to share though, I had a tough time when I updated my MacOS to Sonoma since MPV is suddenly either duplicating frames or when I delete the duplicates the player seems to be skipping frames :/ I searched and found a solution here, though it didn’t work for me lol. My workaround for this in the meantime is decreasing the speed down to 0.70 then start screenshotting—it’s not the same pre Sonoma update but it works so I’ll have to accept it rather than have jumpy looking gifs.

Now, after this part of kylos’ tutorial:

you can continue reading the following sections of my gif tutorial below.

I want to share this little tip (sorry, this will only cater to Mac users) that I hope will be helpful for organizing the screenshots that MPV saved to the folder you have selected. Because believe me you don’t want to go through 1k+ of screenshots to select just 42-50 frames for your gif.

The Control + Command + N shortcut

This shortcut allows you to create a new folder from files you have pre-selected. As you can see below I have already created a couple of folders, and inside each folder I have selected screenshots that I want to include in one single gif. It's up to you how you want to divide yours, assuming you intend to create and post a Tumblr gifset rather than just one gif.

Another tip is making use of tags. Most of, if not all the time, I make supercorp gifs so I tag blue for Kara and red (or green) for Lena—just being ridiculously on brand and all that.

Before we finally open Photoshop, there's one more thing I want to say—I know, please bear with me for the third? fourth? time 😅

It's helpful to organize everything into their respective folders so you know the total number of items/frames you have. This way, you can add or delete excess or unnecessary shots before uploading them in Photoshop.

For example below there are 80 screenshots of Kara inside this folder and for a 1:1 (540 x 540 px) Tumblr gif, Photoshop can just work around with 42-50 max number of frames with color adjustments applied before it exceeds the 10 MB file size limit of Tumblr.

Sometimes I skip this step because it can be exhausting (haha) and include everything so I can decide visually which frames to keep later on. You'll understand what I mean later on. But it's important to keep the Tumblr 10 MB file size limit in mind. Fewer frames, or just the right amount of frames, is better.

So, with the screenshot organization out of the way, let's finally head over to Photoshop.

Giffing in Photoshop, yay!

Let’s begin by navigating to File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack…

The Load Layers window will appear. Click the Browse button next.

Find your chosen screenshots folder, press Command + A to select all files from that folder then click Open. Then click OK.

After importing and stacking your files, Photoshop should display the following view:

By the way, I'll be providing the clip I've used in this tutorial so if want to use them to follow along be my guest :)

If you haven't already opened your Timeline panel, navigate to Windows > Timeline.

Now, let's focus on the Timeline panel for the next couple of steps.

Click Create Video Timeline, then you’ll have this:

Now click the menu icon on the top right corner then go to Convert Frames > Make Frames from Clips

Still working on the Timeline panel, click the bottom left icon this time—the icon with the three tiny boxes—to Convert to Frame Animation

Select Make Frames From Layers from the top right corner menu button.

So now you have this:

Go and click the top right menu icon again to Select All Frames

Then click the small dropdown icon to set another value for Frame Delay. Select Other…

The best for me and for most is 0.05 but you can always play around and see what you think works for you.

Click the top right menu icon again to Reverse Frames.

I think Photoshop has long since fixed this issue but usually the first animation frame is empty so I just delete it but now going through all these steps there seems to be none of that but anyways, the delete icon is the last one among the line of feature buttons at the bottom part of the Timeline panel.

Yay, now we can have our first proper GIF preview of a thirsty Lena 😜

Press spacebar to watch your gif play for the very first time! After an hour and half of selecting and cutting off screenshots! 😛 Play it some more. No really, I’m serious. I do this so even as early (lol) as this part in the gif making process, I can see which frames I can/should delete to be within the 10 MB file size limit. You can also do it at the end of course 🙂

Now, let’s go to the next important steps of this tutorial post which I’ve numbered below.

Crop and resize to meet Tumblr's required dimensions. The width value should be either 540px, 268px, or 177px.

Convert the gif to a Smart Object for sharpening.

Apply lighting and basic color adjustments before the heavy coloring. I will be sharing the base adjustments layers I use for my gifs 😃.

1. Crop and Resize

Click on the Crop tool (shortcut: the C key)

I like my GIFs big so I always set this to 1:1 ratio if the scene allows it. Press the Enter key after selecting the area of the frame that you want to keep.

Side note: If you find that after cropping, you want to adjust the image to the left or another direction, simply unselect the Delete Cropped Pixels option. This way, you will still have the whole frame area available to crop again as needed and as you prefer.

Now we need to resize our gif and the shortcut for that is Command + Opt + I. Type in 540 as the width measurement, then the height will automatically change to follow the ratio you’ve set while cropping.

540 x 540 px for 1:1

540 x 405 px for 4:3

540 x 304 px for 16:9

For the Resample value I prefer Bilinear—but you can always select the other options to see what you like best.

Click OK. Then Command + 0 and Command + - to properly view the those 540 pixels.

Now we get to the exciting part :) the sharpen settings!

2. Sharpen

First we need to have all these layers “compressed” intro a single smart object from which we can apply filters to.

Select this little button on the the bottom left corner of the Timeline panel.

Select > All Layers

Then go to Filter > Convert for Smart Filters

Just click OK when a pop-up shows up.

Now you should have this view on the Layers panel:

Now I have 3 sharpen settings to share but I’ll have download links to the Action packs at the end of this long ass tutorial so if you want to skip ahead, feel free to do so.

Sharpen v1

Go to Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen…

Below are my settings. I don’t adjust anything under Shadows/Highlights.

Amount: 500

Radius: 0.4

Click OK then do another Smart Sharpen but this time with the below adjustments.

Amount: 12

Radius: 10.0

As you can see Lena’s beautiful eyes are “popping out” now with these filters applied. Click OK.

Now we need to Convert to Frame Animation. Follow the steps below.

Click on the menu icon at the top right corner of the Timeline panel, then click Convert Frames > Flatten Frames into Clips

Then Convert Frames > Convert to Frame Animation

One more click to Make Frames From Layers

Delete the first frame then Select All then Set Frame Delay to 0.05

and there you have it! Play your GIF and make sure it’s just around 42-50 frames. This is the time to select and delete.

To preview and save your GIF go to File > Export > Save for Web (Legacy)…

Below are my Export settings. Make sure to have the file size around 9.2 MB to 9.4 MB max and not exactly 10 MB.

This time I got away with 55 frames but this is because I haven’t applied lighting and color adjustments yet and not to mention the smart sharpen settings aren't to heavy so let’s take that into consideration.

Sharpen v1 preview:

Sharpen v2

Go back to this part of the tutorial and apply the v2 settings.

Smart Sharpen 1:

Amount: 500

Radius: 0.3

Smart Sharpen 2:

Amount: 20

Radius: 0.5

We’re adding a new type of Filter which is Reduce Noise (Filter > Noise > Reduce Noise...) with the below settings.

Then one last Smart Sharpen:

Amount: 500

Radius: 0.3

Your Layers panel should look like this:

Then do the Convert to Frames Animation section again and see below preview.

Sharpen v2 preview:

Sharpen v3:

Smart Sharpen 1:

Amount: 500

Radius: 0.4

Smart Sharpen 2:

Amount: 12

Radius: 10.0

Reduce Noise:

Strength: 5

Preserve Details: 50%

Reduce Color Noise: 0%

Sharpen Details: 50%

Sharpen v3 preview:

And here they are next to each other with coloring applied:

v1

v2

v3

Congratulations, you've made it to the end of the post 😂

As promised, here is the download link to all the files I used in this tutorial which include:

supercorp 2.05 Crossfire clip

3 PSD files with sharpen settings and basic coloring PSD

Actions set

As always, if you're feeling generous here's my Ko-fi link :) Thank you guys and I hope this tutorial will help you and make you love gif making.

P.S. In the next post I'll be sharing more references I found helpful especially with coloring. I just have to search and gather them all.

-Jill

[relaxxattack]

ok yeah lots of memes about how the shitty new UI is literally a direct carbon copy of twitter and we hate it because of that, yea yea

here’s some actual/extra reasons why the UI itself is shitty beyond the fact that it’s stolen from twitter (in just my personal opinion)

it’s claustrophobic as hell. the old UI felt breathable, felt like you could scroll and actually look at your posts, and now there’s enough shit going on on one page that it actually gives me a headache. (i’ve heard other people say this as well, so maybe it’s not just me that’s overstimulated by all the fucking noise on the dash?)

the ‘dash sorting’ (for you / your tags / what you missed) is way too high up the page now and appears crowded against the top where things like the bookmarks bar are on most browsers. not that anything in this new UI isn’t crowded.

i’ve seen it mentioned plenty already, but there’s quite a lot of unnecessary duplication-- as in, the same buttons that exist in the new left navigation panel show up on the right in blog view, which is just completely annoying and unneeded clutter.

the fact that post interaction options are all on the right side of the posts, but dashboard navigation is now all pushed to the far left of display, is extremely annoying. i’m right-handed, so it’s extra annoying for me to have to constantly go all the way over there. maybe that’s easier for left-handed people, but if the case was supporting diversity, why not just put an option in dashboard preferences to switch the side of ALL the controls? because the post interactions are still on the right.

while we’re on the subject-- tumblr’s original design was actually MUCH more intuitive and easy to navigate. the reason for this is that everything you needed to click was in one small area. you scroll up and down the dash, move slightly up to navigate (home/asks/notifications) and slightly down to the side to interact with a post (reblog/reply). extremely simple, easy to use, even ‘lazy + addicting’, which is what all social media studio exes are supposed to want right now. changing the ui to actually be more work and more frustrating to navigate seems completely opposed to what their obvious business strategy should be.

tumblr’s original design was also much more breathable, with the small icons in the corner looking organized and not taking up much space, and lots of room for the posts themselves to be the main attraction.

there’s the fact that copying someone else’s brand entirely actually just puts you in a bigger, wider pool with much more competition, and makes you much more likely to immediately fall short of that and go bankrupt.

tumblr's original purpose was to be geared toward blogs, and these updates, along with the writing on the wall about blog themes being completely phased out soon, is completely against the original purpose. although sometimes website purposes change for the better, so take that as you will.

and finally the obvious point that you can tell from all the memes: this change is almost universally hated by the core tumblr userbase-- aka the site’s loyal consumers for years and years. driving out their main demographic seems like a very obvious, very quick way to lose a lot of fucking money. they also did this “carbon copy of twitter” update literally just a week after sitewide protest about the idea of this site being anything like twitter, so it feels like a massive Fuck You to literally all of the users. tumblr is rapidly approaching their trust thermocline, and show no sign of slowing down.

these are just my opinions about the ui, and i’m only one person. so feel free to add on other design flaws you think people should be aware of or able to mention! i will probably also be submitting this post as feedback to staff, and will be taking their surveys when i can as well.

[diana-fortyseven]

Candy Hearts Bingo 2024

The Candy Hearts 2024 collection is finally revealed, and many of us love to read more than just our own gifts and treats. If gamification is your thing, why not enhance your Candy Hearts reading experience with a fun challenge?

Candy Hearts Bingo

With this bingo card generator, you can generate your own Candy Hearts Reading Bingo Card and try to finish it over a timespan of your choice. If you like, you can challenge yourself to not only reading the fics, but also commenting on them.

There are no fanfic/fandom/exchange-negative or bashing items in the lists. This bingo card is meant to be a positive experience and celebrate fanfiction and fanworks in general, and Valentine's Day and Candy Hearts in specific.

Screenshot of the mobile version and instructions and such under the cut! :D

How to Play

Generate a new bingo card until you're (mostly) happy with the results. If some fields are duplicates or contain items you don't want to have in your card, you can then re-roll every single bingo field separately by clicking/tapping on it. If you have JavaScript enabled, you can also switch between the bingo fields with [Tab] and re-roll them with [Enter]. Once you have a card that fits your reading habits (or that takes you out of your comfort zone, if you want to challenge yourself), take a screenshot of the card to keep it.

Closing the page and reloading it will reset the card.

Cross off the bingo fields on your screenshot as you read (or read and comment on) fics that you think count for a field.

Items like "Fandom with over 500 works" mean works in the fandom tag, not in the collection. There are specific versions for the number of works in the collection. Items like "Fandom with over 1,000 works" doesn't mean qualifying works. There are specific versions for the number of qualifying works. Items like "Highest number of hits in fandom" or similar however mean in this collection, not in the fandom tag.

If a work you read has a tag that's similar but not identical to a tag on your card, let it count. There were some almost-duplicates that I trimmed.

The Lists

Canon (options like canon released this year, book fandom, etc)

Category (the AO3 categories and their platonic versions: F/F, F & F, Gen, etc)

Creator (only if you checked the "After Reveals" box; options like favourite author, mutuals, etc)

Discovery (various ways you could've found a fic)

Fandom (options like tiny fandom, uncategorised fandom)

Length (wordcounts from drabble to 30k)

Meta (a fic's front-end and stats, also "citrus scale for rating" xD)

Reader (your relationship with the fic; is it your comfort fic, or your first fic in a fandom?)

Style (chatfic, iambic pentameter, custom workskin, stuff like that)

Tag Roughly 1,500 tags from the 2024 main collection)

Trope (roughly 100 tropes)

What do the Checkboxes Mean?

NSFW is basically what it says on the tin. If you tick this box, the NSFW tropes will be added to the mix. If you also ticked the Tags box, NSFW tags will be added.

Tags is also what it says on the tin. It's a list with currently roughly 1,500 tags from the Candy Hearts 2024 main collection. Around 200 of them are currently marked NSFW and can only be generated if you ticked both the NSFW box and the Tags box.

After Reveals includes items that only make sense after creator reveals, such as "work by last year's recipient" or "creator is your Tumblr mutual".

Leaving the NSFW checkbox unchecked should remove all NSFW tags and tropes, but you could still come across content you find objectionable. Leaving the Tags checkbox unchecked removes all tags, but you could still come across tropes you find objectionable.

This bingo generator can be used to generate totally safe-for-work or family-friendly bingo cards, but it was created by an adult with an adult audience in mind.

If you run into any issues or come across any bugs, please let me know. If you find something that should be in the NSFW category, but isn't, please also let me know. It's possible that I missed a few tags when I worked through the list of over 1,600 tags in the collection. Please don't ask me to remove content you find objectionable. If there's anything unclear, feel free to ask! I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible, but please understand if it takes a while; it's a busy time for all of us. :D

Just FYI, the platform I'm using, Perchance, recently added AI options for their generators. This is a regrettable decision that I don't condone, and I'd like to emphasise that this generator is 100% handcrafted chaos. It's possible that the site asks you to disable your adblocker to be able to load properly. There are exactly zero ads on any of my generators and it's safe for you to allowlist Perchance.org for using this bingo generator.

This generator is based on my Fanfiction Reading Bingo and my Yuletide Bingo; which I made as little practice pieces for funsies. It's responsive, which means it should work on desktop and mobile. The mobile layout isn't ideal yet; I'm trying my best to make it better (but I'd also still consider myself a newbie and I'm learning by doing).

The background image is an edited version of this photo by Laura Ockel on Unsplash.

I hope you'll find as much fun in using this generator as I found in making it! <3

[slayerdurge]

Find The Word - Manuscript Search Tag

Thanks for the tag, @merge-conflict! To be honest, I could do this tag game about a thousand times and never get tired of it. 😅

Word #1: Chrome

She was growing very fond of her new body. It had clearly been designed to resemble her old one, although the signs of its fully mechanical nature were not exactly subtle. Wires and chrome were exposed in several places, and she had the impression that the body was meant to be customizable. Maybe limbs could be swapped out, upgraded? 

But for the most part, she looked like herself, with the notable absence of the devilish billy goat tattoo branded with the Arasaka logo - the one she’d received courtesy of her former brain parasite. In its stead was the Arasaka logo itself, conspicuous in black against her pale artificial flesh. Whoever’d given her that had a sense of humor.

Word #2: Whisper

No matches. Apparently, I tend to use “spoke/said softly” more often for whatever reason? But, hey, same difference, right?

“It shouldn’t matter how I spoke to Fingers,” V said softly. “I said what I needed to get what I wanted."

Judy still wouldn’t look at her, keeping her gaze stubbornly locked towards the base of the staircase. But V could tell her anger was starting to cool off, and she weighed her actions carefully to avoid rekindling it. She’d stay silent until Judy was ready to talk to her. 

Finally, Judy spoke up. “Ends justify the means, huh?”

“Don’t they?" V asked. "If my refusal to antagonize the person who might be able to tell us where Evelyn is leads us to finding her in time to save her life, would you consider that worth it?"

Word #3: Burn

She switched over to the next mode, and the shock of it nearly overburnt her processor. She could sense not only every room on the floor, but every floor in Arasaka Tower - from Izanagi at the bottom to the Night City duplicate of Saburo Arasaka’s office at the top. For a while, she watched the Arasaka employees moving and working throughout the building. In this view, they reminded her of gears in a machine or neurons in a brain. She could recognize a synchronized pattern in their motions, see the order in the chaos. 

Word #4: Sky

I shared this blurb already, but it's the only match I have.

“To make the right decisions with imperfect knowledge,” Takemura said, “that is how you become the world’s most powerful man. One hundred candidates standing at attention, and Arasaka-sama looked into each of our souls and chose the one who would serve him best.”

V was gazing away from him, towards the city. The setting sun had transformed the sky into a golden backdrop for Arasaka Industrial Park. Her hands were gripped around the fence that separated her from the sight. A little too hard, maybe. She’d dented the metal in that thoughtless way that only one with arm cyberware can.

“So you did what you had to.” she said.

“I sense that you judge me.” His voice was quiet, with a barely perceptible edge of harshness. “And yet you have no right to. Unlike you and your friend Mr. Welles, I was not arrogant. I did not take the easy path.”

V’s eyes snapped back to Takemura in surprise. “Wasn’t judging you.”

“Untrue.” Takemura insisted. “You oppose the corporations, their order, their world, in a mindless way, yet you offer no worthy alternative.”

V sat in silence. How the fuck’d he gotten that idea? Must be mixing her up with Johnny. But then, she thought, haven’t exactly been acting like myself lately. Even before the Relic.

“You’ve got it all wrong,” she finally said. She shook her head. “I know you think I’m just some common thief, but my values now are the same as when I worked for Arasaka. I believe in doing my job well.”

“There are no clean hands.” Takemura said cryptically. “But it is important how they become dirty.”

V scoffed. “Wish everyone at Arasaka felt that way.”

“As do I.”

Tagging: @another-corpo-rat, @just-a-cybercroissant, @bnbc. No pressure of course!

Words: recognize, eyes, step, error

[aeyecrm]

From Chaos to Clarity: A Step-by-Step Guide to Migrating Legacy Systems to Cloud CRMs

Migrating from a legacy system to a cloud-based Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform is one of the most impactful moves a small business can make. With growing demands for speed, accuracy, and customer personalization, traditional on-premise solutions simply can’t keep up. Fortunately, Cloud CRM Solutions offer a smarter, more agile way to manage customer data and business processes. In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to make that transition efficiently and effectively.

Learn more about CRM transformation at AeyeCRM.

Why Move to a Cloud CRM?

The Limits of Legacy Systems

Legacy systems, though once cutting-edge, now present significant operational challenges:

Inflexibility: Hard to update and incompatible with modern apps

High Maintenance Costs: Expensive hardware and dedicated IT staff

Limited Accessibility: Cannot be accessed remotely or on mobile

Poor Data Visibility: Disconnected data silos across departments

By contrast, Cloud CRM Solutions provide scalable, cost-effective access to real-time customer data, integrate smoothly with other platforms, and improve team collaboration.

Market Trends and Insights

According to Gartner, by 2027, over 80% of CRM deployments will be cloud-based.

SMBs adopting cloud CRMs report a 35% boost in customer satisfaction and 25% faster sales cycle closure.

Step-by-Step: Migrating Legacy Systems to a Cloud CRM

Step 1: Assess Your Current System

Before making the switch, evaluate what your legacy system is currently handling:

Which processes are outdated or inefficient?

What data is critical to retain?

Are there integration needs with ERP or marketing platforms?

This analysis helps create a roadmap for your CRM implementation for SMBs that minimizes disruption.

Step 2: Select the Right Cloud CRM

Small businesses often choose platforms like Salesforce, Zoho, or HubSpot for their user-friendly interfaces and scalability. Working with Salesforce consulting partners such as AeyeCRM ensures the platform fits your exact business model and industry.

Step 3: Cleanse and Prepare Your Data

Legacy systems are notorious for messy, duplicated, or incomplete data. Before migration:

Eliminate outdated or duplicate records

Standardize formats (e.g., phone numbers, addresses)

Tag or classify key accounts for segmentation

Step 4: Migrate in Phases

Instead of switching everything at once, migrate in stages:

Start with one team (e.g., Sales or Customer Service)

Test and adjust workflows

Use feedback to refine other departments' rollouts

Step 5: Integrate with Cloud ERP (Optional)

For maximum operational efficiency, consider Cloud ERP integration. Syncing your CRM with platforms like Oracle NetSuite or Microsoft Dynamics can automate back-end processes such as invoicing, inventory updates, and procurement.

Step 6: Train and Support Your Team

Your CRM is only as good as your team’s ability to use it. Provide:

Role-specific training sessions

Quick-reference guides

Ongoing support from implementation partners like AeyeCRM

Step 7: Monitor Performance and Optimize

Once live, track KPIs such as:

Lead conversion rates

Sales cycle length

Customer satisfaction (CSAT scores)

Use built-in reporting tools to continuously optimize processes.

Case Study: How a Startup Made the Leap

A healthcare startup in New York transitioned from a paper-based legacy CRM to Salesforce with the help of AeyeCRM. The migration was completed in six weeks. Results included:

50% faster lead-to-sale conversion

40% improvement in customer response time

Integration with their ERP system for real-time billing updates

Key Benefits of Migrating to Cloud CRM

Cost Savings: Eliminate hardware costs and reduce IT overhead

Scalability: Easily add users and features as your business grows

Mobility: Access customer data from anywhere

Automation: Trigger follow-ups, reminders, and tasks automatically

Security: Benefit from enterprise-grade security and compliance

Common Migration Challenges (and How to Avoid Them)

Underestimating data complexity: Do a full audit before moving anything

Insufficient team buy-in: Communicate benefits clearly and involve stakeholders early

Skipping testing: Pilot the system with a small group before full deployment

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is a legacy CRM system?

A legacy CRM system is an older platform, often hosted on-premise, that lacks modern features like mobile access, cloud integration, and automation.

How long does migration usually take?

Depending on your data volume and business complexity, migration can take 4 to 12 weeks.

Is cloud CRM secure?

Yes. Reputable platforms like Salesforce and Zoho provide enterprise-grade security features, including encryption and access controls.

What are the costs involved?

Costs vary based on licensing, customization, and consulting. However, most businesses recover their investment within 6 to 12 months.

Does AeyeCRM help with both CRM and ERP integration?

Yes. AeyeCRM specializes in CRM implementation for SMBs and also provides expert support for Cloud ERP integration to ensure end-to-end system efficiency.

Conclusion

Migrating to a cloud-based CRM doesn’t have to be overwhelming. With careful planning, the right tools, and expert guidance, you can turn disorganized legacy systems into streamlined customer-focused engines.

Contact us today to explore tailored CRM and cloud integration solutions.

[migrationexpert]

Boosting Business Growth with Expert Shopify Migration Services

The e-commerce world is a bustling marketplace, constantly changing, always evolving. They change lanes when they see a faster one, and Shopify seems to be that express lane everyone's raving about.

It promises a supercharged online store experience. But is moving to Shopify migration services genuinely worth the hype, and is it wise to rope a Shopify pro or team for the transition? Let's dive deeper.

Unraveling the Magic of Shopify

Shopify migration agency has carved a niche for itself in the e-commerce domain. It’s not just because of its easy-peasy interface, flexible features, or top-notch security measures. The best part is you don't have to be a tech wizard to kick off your online store on Shopify.

Its vast collection of apps and themes ensures it caters to budding entrepreneurs and the big e-commerce sharks. Shifting to Shopify seems like the next best move for many. But as with any change, there can be bumps along the way. That's where the expertise of Shopify migration services becomes invaluable.

Why Make the Shopify Leap?

Ever felt trapped on a platform that feels like it's from the stone age? Or does your current online setup not vibe with your brand's ambitions? These mismatches might be silently eating into your profits.

Slow website speeds, outdated designs, or clunky integrations can all hold back your brand's potential. That’s when considering a switch to Shopify might just be the turning point. It promises an environment where users love to shop, and businesses can easily streamline their processes.

What a Shopify Migration Pro Brings to the Table

While platform hopping might seem easy, there's a ton of backstage work ensuring everything transitions perfectly. Let's see how a Shopify migration expert can be your best ally:

Data Defense & Transfer

Deep-Dive Data Moves: Switching to Shopify isn't just about relocating product snaps and text. Pros ensure that detailed info like product variations, customer feedback, meta tags, user profiles, and past sales records are correctly transitioned.

Tidy-Up Before the Hop: The pros will give your data a once-over, removing duplicates or mistakes. This sprucing up ensures Shopify runs like a dream from the get-go.

Guarding Your SEO

Keeping URLs in Check: Remember, search engines know your site. A URL change could dent your SEO standing. Our migration maestros ensure your old web addresses smoothly transition to their new Shopify homes, keeping your SEO game strong.

Holding onto MetaMagic: Those meta titles, details, and labels from your previous platform? They're essential for search engine clarity and must be retained.

Site Structural Fine-Tuning: The migration ace ensures that post-move, your site's layout, breadcrumb trails, and internal links are all search-engine friendly.

Bespoke Features and Functions

Made-to-Order Migration: Every online store is a unique snowflake, shaped by its products, audience, and operational model. Shopify Migration experts ensure your unique themes or functionalities find a comfortable home on Shopify.

App Guidance: Shopify's app store is vast, but not every app fits every need. Trust a pro to handpick the perfect apps for your business.

Quality Control and Trials

Function Trials: Before the curtains rise, the functionality of every aspect, from product hunts and filters to checkout, needs a run-through. Your expert will make sure your Shopify store is all systems go.

Data Double-Checks: Once you've moved, the pros will ensure every piece of data is where it should be. They’ll tally numbers, ensure pictures pop up correctly, and verify customer-purchase records.

Stress Tests: A site's response during peak times is vital. Your migration partner will mimic these rush hours to ensure Shopify stays strong.

Guidance and After-Sales Care

Hands-On Tutorials: While the Shopify migration agency itself is user-friendly, some tools might be unfamiliar territory for your crew.

Post-Move Assistance: Migration done doesn’t mean goodbye. Experts usually stick around to help with any post-move tweaks or challenges.

Conclusion

Committing to a shift to Shopify could reshape the fortunes of many enterprises. But migrating is a maze of intricate steps. When you choose a dedicated Shopify migration expert or team, you should ensure a smooth move and pave the way for future growth. In the e-commerce realm, the right platform can be a game-changer. With top-tier Shopify migration aid, you’re setting your business to soaring heights.

[theorphicangel]

𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫.| 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐢 𝐀𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐱 (𝐟𝐞𝐦!) 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 |

synopsis: In the span of 3 years, it's crazy how much you can learn about one single person. So much yet so little.

You find yourself realising that with every year there will always be more to learn. Every year offers a new opportunity to grow together.

You soon learn that he has things that are discreetly hidden from you.

And you him.

tags: roommates au, fem!reader, eventual smut, mutual pining, friends to lovers

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟎𝟏: 𝐉𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲

word count : 4.9k

warnings: drinking, alcohol, drunk! Levi🤨

“Don’t even think about it.”

The warning slipped from your tongue in a haste.

Not even a full minute had passed since emerging from his room and your words were already aimed straight at his throat; piercing his skin like the tip of a knife.

Your intonation held a low and deep vibration throughout the room which almost startled him.

Almost.

You weren’t even looking at him directly.

His steel eyes snap over to your figure on the couch where you sat with your legs curled up like a cat under a fluffy blanket. Two hands held open your new novel, the one that had been on your reading list for god knows how long.

He'd gotten it as a gift for you at Christmas. You guessed it as soon as it caught your eye underneath the tree, one of the very first gifts placed there. It took everything in you to hold back at the temptation to rip at the carefully wrapped present and not jump straight in between the pages.

You held back. For him at least.

Barely two days into the new year and you’ve regretfully almost come to the end of your story. He curses quietly under his breath at noticing this, himself regretful that he hadn’t gotten you the whole book collection instead.

He thought about saving it as a birthday gift instead. Most definitely.

You continued to read on, pulling an oblivious expression with your eyes still glued to the page as you hear him huff in impatience. You knew all too well that if you just looked up to your left, he’d be standing there with his hands placed on his hips and his infamous scowl imprinted on his face in pure frustration.

A smile played along your lips at how easily you could rile him up. Too easily.

“You even touch that Christmas tree and I’ll take away your present.” you forewarned, fingers turning the feather-light page, eyes already jumping to the next sentence.

The Christmas lights that were wrapped around the tree blinked furiously in the corner of the living room, the large golden star at the peak of the tree heavily loomed over to one side, threatening to topple over due to its weight.

He’ll never forget how you had coerced him into helping you set it up. And you’ll never forget the comical-like way in which his eyes widened at the sight of you returning back to the apartment with a large cardboard box in your hands.

“It was a sale, I couldn’t resist.” were your words of defense, consciously aware that it was still early November at that time.

Despite your protests, he brutally ignored your excuses, instead babbling mutters of discontent as you made him walk in circles around the tree to wrap the tinsel.

“Stupid.” he remembers mumbling, feeling himself become increasingly irritated at the lone strands of tinsel that fell onto your carpet, which he would now have to go to the effort of hoovering once the two of you were done.

Switching on the bright lights—that you had definitely spent way too much money on—they powerfully illuminated the room, the festive colors of red and green bouncing off your white walls. The electricity bill for that month was indefinitely set to soar.

Regardless of Levi’s annual duplication of the Grinch, he couldn’t help but feel a weird sense of satisfaction at your glowing smile in reaction to the tree and after what felt like hours decorating, you finally won against your need for perfection. You stretched out your hands in front of him proudly, a beaming smile stretching across your lips with an exclamation of, “Happy birthday!”

He scoffed at you, his mind no where near the idea of his birthday. You knew how much he dreaded it each year, coming to the sudden realization that he was getting one year older.

Or one year closer to death as he would say which would earn a light slap on the arm from you for ruining the so-called “Christmas spirit.”

You introduced him to all the traditions of the holiday; something abnormal to him, having never experienced this during his childhood. A few years before and he would’ve never even given a second thought about the holiday.

The only thing that he does remember from his childhood is the long anticipation of receiving a present from his mother, one that she had saved up for all year to be able to give him.

He appreciated them all, no matter how small or bare, he was always grateful. Unlike the other kids who’d grown up spoiled, flaunting their gifts as soon as it was the return back to school after the holidays.

Was he envious of what other kids had growing up? Yes, of course, what kid wouldn’t be?

But, now having grown up he’d come to realize that he was deeply satisfied to have the more important things in life, like the close memories of his mother. He was more thankful to have spent time with her rather than receiving a bunch of toys he would soon grow out of.

Especially since people can suddenly be taken away from you in a blink of an eye.

But celebrating also helped you too, he’d learnt that moving away from your family to a new city by yourself wasn’t easy and with the guilt of the first christmas that he had spent with you, from then on he’d make sure that he'll put in all his effort.

Even if the whole day shortened his lifespan in the process.

Now standing in front of the glowing tree, Levi didn’t have to turn around to witness the grin on your face. He’d already heard it through your threat.

If there was one thing he learned about you throughout all these years, it was that you always kept to your word.

“It’s fucking January,” he remarked, “Christmas is over.”

You shook your head, “Nuh-huh Mister Scrooge, it’s still the holiday if I remember clearly.”

He snorted out loud, “Barely.”

“You’re just mad that you’re going back to work earlier than me.” you noted and again your mind can picture a crease between his brows at your blunt reminder.

“Whatever.” he muttered, sulking his way over to you without any further debate.

You felt the couch shifted a little under his weight, taking a seat on the opposite end of the couch.

Finally, you glanced up from your book to observe the figure sat adjacent from you.

You caught him mid-yawn, his hair uncharacteristically disheveled, raven locks astray, but one thing that predominantly stood out towards you was how well-rested he looked, his face slightly puffy from sleep and eyes full of energy, no evidence of dark circles under them. You felt content at this sight and it was more than obvious by the way you studied him.

“What?” he said bashfully, suspicious of your observation of him.

“Are you still hungover?” you ask, distracting him. You were annoyed that he caught on regardless of your obvious stare.

He rolled his eyes as your question. Pulling out his phone from the pocket of his sweatpants, he deliberately ignored your question.

“I’ll take that as a yes then.” you murmur, eyes returning back to your place in your book.

A wave of silence filled the room, no further conversation made between the two of you. It was a comfortable silence, one that the two of you have gotten well adjusted to for the past three years, more than comfortable in each other’s presence.

Then, after a minute or two of silence, his lips parted to defend himself after some deep thought.

“I’m not hungover.”

You hum quietly, the sound of paper flicking as your fingers turn the page, not seeming bothered by his answer.

You recall back to New Year’s day, returning home with Levi from Erwin’s annual New Year party. Erwin was polite enough to offer that two of you should stay the night but you remember clearly how he kept whining about wanting to go home. With you.

In your three years of living with Levi, you’ve barely–no, rarely, seen him drunk. You didn’t know what was really up with him at Erwin’s, just the fact that as soon as you stepped into his apartment, he couldn’t stop throwing back the drinks. It was very incongruous to the usual Levi that you knew.

Unless he had something on his mind. You figured it was just the post-birthday emotions hitting him. He never went into detail but you were smart enough to assume that this time of the year was always tough for him.

As a result, you had to carry him home. His heavy, dead-like arm wrapped around your neck with the majority of his body weight pushed up against you for support, making your thirty minute walk home looking to take around an hour.

“Fucking hell, Levi.” you swore, your footsteps echoing against the stone pavements, the sound ricocheting off the concrete walls of the giant buildings that loomed above you.

His own steps lingered–irregular and clumsy–as he relied on you for total support. It was nearly four in the morning and groups of people were still out in the city, alive as ever, still drunk off a new year high. You could tell by the fireworks being set off irregularly that the celebrations had yet to finish, also not missing how Levi’s body flinched at the sudden sound of fireworks nearby, rising up into the sky, illuminating for a few seconds before disappearing into colorful clouds of smoke.

Of course, you couldn’t avoid interactions with large groups of drunk strangers wishing you a slurred happy new year from across the street. You gave a friendly smile back and wished them the same back, the same couldn’t be said for Levi, drunkenly sending death glares as his own response.

But it wasn’t until you walked past a certain group of strangers, that consisted mainly of guys, that he really grew hostile.

“Did you-did you see tha’?” he blurted out, stumbling in absolute defeat.

“See what?” you asked, focusing your eyes on his face and not missing the glow that the streetlights created upon his face.

“The way that guy looked at-” he paused, taking a breath, probably to hold down the bile rising in his throat. “You.”

He finished in a dangerous tone. It sounded unnatural even for him.

“No, I didn’t see that Levi, they’re drunk.”

“Drunk bastards.” he cursed, losing his balance momentarily until you held him upright again.

You hold back a chuckle, “And you’re one of them.”

“M’not drunk.” he debated, his lips turning into a pout.

“Okay,” you said, an idea popping in your head, “Stand by yourself then.” You pause in your steps and remove his arm from around your neck. In this separation, the warmth of your body is quickly replaced by the chill of the winter wind.

You’ve paused purposely by a lamppost to hopefully make it easier for him to navigate. You stand away from him, only a few meters, next to the hovering streetlight.

“You good?” you ask, raising a brow at his state.

His eyes are drooping a little, full of fatigue and obviously intoxicated. His body sways a little, side to side and his dark locks flutter a little in the almost icy winter wind. You don’t miss how pink and tinted his cheeks are, especially under the glow of the streetlight.

Little puffs of vapor escape from his mouth now visible in the cold winter air but disappear quicker than you can blink.

Vapor escapes from your own mouth as you observe him, “You’re swaying Lee’, that’s cheating.”

His eyes are now fully closed and a part of you is slightly concerned that he’ll topple over at any moment; just one light tap on his shoulder and he’ll end up face planting the stone pavement.

“M’completely–” he pauses again taking in a shaky inhale,“Fine.”

He scrunches his eyes before he attempts to walk and at an incredibly slow pace, his shoes scuffing the pavement. He barely moves an inch before opening his eyes again.

He looks around wearily, a dazed expression on his face.

“Did I get far?” he mumbles, his lips puffy and pouting.

Adorable.

You can’t attempt to hide your grin any longer, “C’mon you idiot, let’s go home.”

“You’re the idiot, idiot.” he grumbled back, immediately falling to your side, his arm wrapping perfectly over your neck.

You nodded,”Yeah yeah, thank you.”

And if it wasn’t enough to drag his ass home, you also had to get him up to your shared apartment.

“One step lee’, almost there.” your voice strained under the weight of holding Levi upright as he reached the second floor. One down, thirteen more to go.

And to think that out of all fucking days, tonight had to be the night that the elevator was out of order. The universe couldn’t even wait a day into the new year before testing your patience.

Your arm was wrapped securely around his waist, fingers digging into his shirt as you pulled him up the stairs. Sweat dripped down your back, your warm winter coat doing its job too well as an insulator.

“Are-are—we almost there?” He slurred, almost falling as he did so and your free hand suddenly clasped onto the railing to steady yourself. If he falls, you’re certain you’ll go down with him.

Now you sort of understand why he gets so annoyed when he has to pick you up from a night out, especially if he had to do this every time with you. The only difference is you're more of a mess. By far.

And with that taking longer than it should’ve, you finally come to a standstill at your apartment door. Your hand delves into your coat pocket, fingers searching through crumples of old receipts and tissue for your keys, it doesn’t take long for that sweet metallic jingle to reach your ears.

Levi stood next to you in silence. He was rather quiet during the final climb up the last floor. You brought it down to his exhaustion and post drunk clarity finally hitting him, a feeling you know all too well and despise deeply.

The jingle of your keys echoes down the empty hallway as you turn the lock, opening the door to a sea of darkness. You follow through first finding the light switch and Levi trails in after, shutting the door. Your back hits the wall of the hallway with relief and fatigue, you couldn’t wait to get to your bed.

But first… you had Mr grumpy to deal with.

Slipping off your coat and your shoes, you address him with an exhale noticing how he’s remained still the entire time, staring into the abyss.

“C’mon Lee’ let’s get you to bed.”

He makes no response, already trailing into his room without debate. Before you follow, you grab a glass of water for him during the night.

You find Levi sat on his neatly made bed, only completed with the task of removing his shoes. His dark locks look even more disheveled.

“C’mon,” you coo, placing down the cup on his neat bedside table. There’s only a radio that sits on the counter, its red digits reading, 4:23 am. Your hand pulls back the covers as Levi stands and he makes his way to lay down immediately but the touch of your hand meets his bicep.

“Change first.”

A light whine came out his throat, before he could even stop himself. If he were sober enough to care he’d cringe but he steps back following your instruction.

“You’ll thank me in the morning,” you state, “you don’t wanna sleep in those clothes, trust me.” You speak merely from experience, you know first hand that it’s not the best way to start the morning after a night out.

You go to leave the room to give him privacy before a soft utterance stops you from doing so.

“Stay.”

A hum leaves your throat in confusion. He watches you apprehensively, whole body rigid with his fists curled up by his side.

His mouth is snapped shut almost as if he regrets the previous words that come out of his mouth, you’re about to put it down to the state of him being intoxicated before he pleads again.

“You don’t have to leave.”

You remain unmoving with your mind still not sure of what to say apart from a simple, “Okay.”

You do turn around though, in an attempt to give him space whilst you try to find some clothes for him to sleep with.

“First drawer.” he says, nodding his head to the direction of his bedroom cabinet.

He slips off his slacks, stepping out of the material in slow movements. The clink of his belt carries a heavy tone and ends up with a loud clang on the floor.

You find gray sweatpants and a plain black t-shirt and as you turn, you find Levi half way in pulling off his own shirt before dropping it carelessly to the ground, too exhausted to pick up it and fold the material.

You try not to let your eyes linger too much on his body, particularly on the muscular tone of his stomach, a dark trail leading down to his lower abdomen as he stands solely in his boxers.

You awkwardly avert your eyes to the floor as you hand him his clothes, your cheeks burning up.

He dresses in silence, brushing a hand over his locks which in the process lifts up his shirt, revealing another little peak of his lower abdomen. In an attempt to distract your mind, you pick up his clothes without hesitation, hands already going to fold them methodically.

“I can do that tomorrow-” he starts, mouth open in protest at your help. You’ve already helped him enough. Too much.

“It’s alright, I’ll put them in the basket,” you say, folding up his stained t-shirt and pants, removing the belt before you fold up the latter.

His exhausted eyes linger over your face as he sits in silence on the edge of the bed, watching you complete the task.

You can feel his eyes bore into you. Purposely, you avoid his gaze, instead focused on the task at hand. “Thanks.” he utters, quietly, once you’ve finished.

You half shrug, “S’’nothing.” You know that he would do the same for you, Levi’s the type of guy to without you even asking so it’s only fair that you do the same.

“I’d give you painkillers, but you shouldn’t take them after drinking.” you say, nodding over to the glass of water that sits on the bedside table.

He nods wordlessly, “Thanks.”

You’re about to turn to leave, grabbing the pile of his folded clothes on the edge of his bed to place in the laundry basket. Your figure is about halfway into leaving the room before his voice stops you again.

“Do you mind staying–just for a little bit?” he speaks up, timidly. Levi still sits at the edge of his bed, and there’s a nervous manner in his body language that you don’t usually see. Tufts of raven hair are stuck to his forehead, his eyes wordlessly pleading you with his gaze.

It’s a tempting offer.

His eyes linger over your face, watching as you hesitate for a moment and for a second he regrets asking you at all, he’s just about to say never mind before you interrupt.

“Sure.”

Walking over, he shuffles over to the other side, silently observing you get underneath his covers. The scent of your laundry detergent—one that Levi religiously insists on buying—fills your nostrils as well as the faint smell of alcohol from him.

Your mind is too aware of the close proximity, the air from his lungs meets your bare neck and for once, out of three years of living together, the silence of it all scares you.

You clear your throat awkwardly, your heart loudly thumping in your ears.

“Did you enjoy tonight then?” you ask, your voice almost breaking as you did. Never would you have expected to be in this predicament. Laying in your roommate’s bed.

You hear a light scoff come from him. “As much as a new year’s party can be.”

You want to ponder on what made him want to drink so much in the first place, knowing his particular distaste for alcohol. But your lips remain shut making the assumption that he—like everyone else—wanted to mark off the end of the year and either way, you’re glad you remained sober tonight even if you weren’t planning to. At least one of you had to be responsible for getting home.

“You should get some sleep Lee.” you suggest, propping your elbow up and resting your head in the palm of your hand.

He lets out a deep hum in response.

To be honest, Levi was still thinking about his behavior tonight, his steel eyes observing your shadow through the darkness. A pit of anxiety stabbed at his lower abdomen, flashbacks popped up in his mind here and there of his behavior. His hand rubbed his forehead, a headache already forming in his skull.

If he could take it all back, he fucking would.

“Sorry.” he mumbles, silently dreading what tomorrow’s hangover would bring.

“For what?” you ponder, curiosity in your tone.

“Making you drag me back here.” he lets out a sigh, “We should’ve just stayed with Erwin.”

“It’s fine.” you reassured, “You’ve done this way too many times for me.”

“Not out of free will.” he joked. A low, natural hum played in the background, the natural vibration of the apartment alongside the outside noise of distant fireworks continuing the arrival of the new year.

“You got a new year’s resolution?” you ask, fingers skimming over the soft, fresh duvet covers.

Levi held back another scoff. Personally, he found that shit so stupid.

He would always remember how Hange would create thirty new resolutions each coming year and yet when December 31st they’d only have completed four by the end of it.

“No.” he states, “What about you?” he’s still slurring slightly, but you can tell the alcohol is starting to wear off especially as his body grows with more weariness and his question is finished off with a yawn.

You hesitate slightly out of embarrassment, “Maybe.”

“Maybe?” he repeats, his tone holding a subtle teasing tone which releases some of the awkward tension in the room.

“I don’t know,”’ you admit shyly, fiddling with your fingers underneath the covers, becoming too comfortable under the covers. You’re going to find it hard to leave soon.

“Well, what is it that you want to do?”

You shug, despite Levi not being able to see you. “It was just a thought, I don’t think it’ll make a good resolution.”

“What is it?” he asks again, gently pushing for an answer.

You let out a sigh, “I just want to get more work done, y’know develop my career and try to push into more opportunities?” you reveal, slightly shy.

“You’re already doing that.”

“Really?” You hummed in disbelief, “I feel like I haven’t worked as hard in the last year like I usually do.”

Levi’s words are now mumbled, falling captive to the power of sleep, “You’re one of–” he yawns again, “the–most hardworking people I know, if anything, your resolution should be to relax more.”

You let out a snort, “Coming from the man who eats, sleeps and breathes in front of a white screen sending emails.”

He scoffs in response,”Well, when you have a shitload of new interns to supervise on a daily basis who constantly ask you stupid questions ninety nine percent of the time, you barely know the meaning of rest.”

“You’re hard working too, Lee.’” you say, “You don’t realize it, but I honestly–I aspire to be like you. You’re always so calm and even when things ‘Go to shit.’” You curl up your fingers to air quote his own words,”You always handle it well.”

Your throat grows thick and you pause to swallow before speaking again, “If anything you should be taking your own advice this year.”

You can’t see due to the darkness of the room and for once Levi is grateful as fuck. With the mix of alcohol and the compliment from you, his heart pounds at a million miles per hour right now.

‘I aspire to be like you.’ You might as well have tattooed those words right above his fucking heart in the sense that your comment will stay permanent in his mind forever.

He’s definitely sure that his cheeks are a burning red from your comment, his mind running on pure elation.

He clears his throat nervously trying not to seem obvious that your words had deeply impacted him.

“I’ll die before that ever happens.” he grumbles and you poke him in the side in annoyance.

“Now that I’ve told you mine,” you say, “What’s yours?”

His face scrunches up, thrown off guard by your sudden question. It takes him a while to think before coming up with a definite answer for you.

He lets out an exhale, his heart almost heavy as he admits it to you.

“Not to take anyone for granted. Anymore.”

You remain silent, hearing it clear in his voice the remorse behind it. Your own heart aches, your limbs almost tempted to reach out to comfort him in a way, to try and understand the sorrow that he holds. Over the past three years, there’s always been allusions to it but you’ve never asked explicitly. It’s not your place to.

After a period of silence he clears his throat, “So–” he begins, “Let’s make a deal.”

Your eyebrows quirk up in curiosity as Levi continues.

“You will promise not to overwork yourself this year and I–” he hesitates, “I’ll not take anyone for granted.”

“And don't overwork yourself too.” you add on to the end.

He clenches his jaw, that wasn’t something he thought about agreeing to but…fuck it.

“Fine.” he says exasperatedly, “I won’t overwork myself…I mean–I’ll try.”

“That’s good enough.” you declare, “It’s a deal then.”

“Deal.”

You don’t remember much of the conversation past that point apart from listening to him complain about the new interns and the annual Christmas office party.

He makes a suggestion for you to come with him next time to which you respond with a “maybe.” It’s not much but it’s enough to set his hopes up, an unfamiliar, warm feeling in his limbs. He tells himself it’s the after effects of the alcohol, unknown that you too, are silently experiencing the same effects.

Somewhere along that point, you fall asleep, your body only jolting awake a few hours later. Already, the sunlight peaks through, illuminating the room that was pitch dark just a few hours ago.

Your eyes were blurry, your body aching and overstimulated with heat as your clothes stuck your skin. You rubbed your eyes in an attempt to adjust to the new lighting of the room.

Coming to your senses, you notice the feeling of a heavy limb wrapped over your torso, keeping you tightly secured in place. Only then you realize that you’re not in your own bed.

A head of jet black hair beside you makes you fall back into reality. Shit.

Levi’s arm is wrapped around your waist, tightly, and his head positioned near your shoulder. Light snores escape from his mouth, they’re so quiet you can barely hear them. You can feel his chest expand and deflate against your back, it feels so snug and so…right.

Too right.

Without warning your mind panics, desperate to find a way to get out. His presence was too intoxicating for you to even comprehend your own thoughts.

You shuffle slowly, attempting to get out of his grip in a way as not to disturb him. Your plan to be discreet fails in pure vain as a light groan is heard near your ear.

“Levi.” you whisper, sensing that his body is beginning to come alive, ever so slowly.

It takes a while for him to become aware of his position and remove his hand away. Almost immediately, you notice the growing distance between the two of you as he pulls away.

And all of a sudden you hate it. The iciness that your body feels as he pulls away, your brain almost lulling you to return to him, pull him back and close the distance between the two of you.

Ignoring your painful isolation, you sit up and stretch your aching legs before unwrapping yourself from the covers.

“Sorry,” you mumble,”I must’ve fallen asleep.”

There’s no response as he’s turned away from you, the back of his raven hair the only thing you see.

You don’t even know if he’s awake. You make the assumption that he’s not based on the fact that he doesn’t really say anything to you as you exit his room, the unspoken tension thick and awakened between the two of you.

Since then, not much has been impacted between the two of you although you both actively avoid discussing what happened that morning.

It’s not awkward but more so that the tension between the two of you has shifted ever so slightly.

“You better not touch the decorations either way.” you state after a long period of silence, flipping the next page of your novel.

Levi clicks his tongue in faux annoyance.

To you, you think that you’ve successfully won him over. But in reality…

he doesn’t really care if they stay up for the rest of the year or if you’re planning to take them all down tomorrow.

For long as you’re here; you can make up the rules

if you’d like to be tagged let me know !

[soul-controller]

Patreon Summary (October ‘22)

Hey there everyone, here’s a quick little summary of the stuff I’ve released over on my Patreon over the past month!

In case you missed it, my Patreon has now shifted to a new subscription method. Now instead of being charged at the first of the month regardless of when you signed up, you will now be charged 30 days from your sign-up date! Hopefully this can encourage more people to sign up to read my content now that the worry of being double-charged has been eliminated.

So yes, if any of the following stories intrigue you, please feel free to click on the title so you can sign up for the appropriate tier to read it! I’d love to have you join my Patreon and my Discord community, where you can view exclusive photo captions and also request future story ideas!

The Great Change: College-Educated to Farm-Raised

Just as 65-year-old African American college professor Cyrus Williams announces his retirement, the Great Change occurs and fully turns his world upside down. Instead of waking up in his normal New York apartment, the man finds himself in Texas inside the body of an 18-year-old farmer's son. Realizing that he's now part of a redneck family, Cyrus is adamant about getting back to his original body. Unfortunately though, Cyrus' new father isn't willing to allow that to happen and would rather gaslight Cyrus into accepting his new identity...

Tags: The Great Change, Body Swap, Racial Change

Bolting For Love - Part II

After suddenly finding himself inside Joey Bosa's body, Martin is forced to head out to the field of the stadium to play despite having no knowledge about football. Luckily, a brief interaction with another Chargers player is the catalyst to not only help Martin gain some football skills but also assist him in finding love in the most unlikely of places... 

This is the final chapter of this series.

Tags: Body Swap, Athlete, Mental Changes

Before Mac Jones’ Control

In this prequel to the previously-released Mac Jones series, we follow Henry Cavanaugh as he finds himself surprised one morning after waking up in the body of his biggest football crush Nick Bosa. Henry's desire to check himself out in private though is quickly interrupted as he finds himself having to deal with not only Nick's older brother Joey arriving on his doorstep but also Nick's seductive and extremely horny girlfriend!

Tags: Body Swap, Athlete

A Bostick Family Halloween

After ending up alone on Halloween while his hunky cop son enjoys the night partying, middle-aged and overweight Marty decides to drown his sorrows with some of his hometown buddies. When a game of Truth or Dare ultimately unfolds, Marty ends up having to confront his jealousy by wearing his son's cop uniform for a dare. Upon putting it on though, he finds himself pleasantly surprised with a way to switch up the father-son dynamic forever...

Tags: Shapeshift, Clothing-Based Transformation, Halloween

The Man of Steal - Part II

After heading to a local museum to stop a break-in, Superman and the criminal have a chance encounter with a piece of red Kryptonite that swaps their bodies. Upon suddenly finding himself in the weak and tattooed body of the criminal, Clark begs for the man to swap them back. Unfortunately though, the criminal is unwilling to go back to jail and thus more than eager to keep this superhero body for himself and return home to have a little bit of fun with his new wife...

Tags: Superhero, Body Swap, Revenge, Mental Changes

Backing The Browns - Part II

After accidentally turning himself into a duplicate of NFL player Johnny Stanton, Henry Cavanaugh found himself wandering throughout the convention floor in hopes of figuring out what happened to the real Johnny.

Tags: Athlete, Shapeshift, Mental Changes

[duckprintspress]

How to Edit an Over-Length Story Down to a Specific Word Count

One of the most wonderful things about writing as a hobby is that you never have to worry about the length of your story. You can be as self-indulgent as you want, make your prose the royalist of purples, include every single side story and extra thought that strikes your fancy. It’s your story, with no limits, and you can proceed with it as you wish.

When transitioning from casual writing to a more professional writing milieu, this changes. If you want to publish, odds are, you’ll need to write to a word count. If a flash fiction serial says, “1,000 words or less,” your story can’t be 1,025 and still qualify. If a website says, “we accept novellas ranging from 20,000 to 40,000 words,” your story will need to fall into that window. Even when you consider novel-length works, stories are expected to be a certain word count to fit neatly into specific genres - romance is usually around 80,000 words, young adult usually 50,000 to 80,000, debut novels usually have to be 100,000 words or less regardless of genre, etc. If you self-publish or work with a small press, you may be able to get away with breaking these “rules,” but it’s still worthwhile to learn to read your own writing critically with length in mind and learn to recognize what you do and do not need to make your story work - and then, if length isn’t an issue in your publishing setting, you can always decide after figuring out what’s non-essential to just keep everything anyway.

If you’re writing for fun? You literally never have to worry about your word count (well, except for sometimes in specific challenges that have minimum and/or maximum word counts), and as such, this post is probably not for you.

But, if you’re used to writing in the “throw in everything and the kitchen sink” way that’s common in fandom fanfiction circles, and you’re trying to transition only to be suddenly confronted with the reality that you’ve written 6,000 words for a short story project with a maximum word count of 5,000...well, we at Duck Prints Press have been there, we are in fact there right now, as we finish our stories for our upcoming anthology Add Magic to Taste and many of us wrote first drafts that were well over the maximum word count.

So, based on our experiences, here are our suggestions on approaches to help your story shorter...without losing the story you wanted to tell!

Cut weasel words (we wrote a whole post to help you learn how to do that!) such as unnecessary adverbs and adjectives, the “was ~ing” sentence structure, redundant time words such as “a moment later,” and many others.

When reviewing dialog, keep an eye out for “uh,” “er,” “I mean,” “well,” and other casual extra words. A small amount of that kind of language usage can make dialog more realistic, but a little goes a long way, and often a fair number of words can be removed by cutting these words, without negatively impacting your story at all.

Active voice almost always uses fewer words than passive voice, so try to use active voice more (but don’t forget that passive voice is important for varying up your sentence structures and keeping your story interesting, so don’t only write in active voice!).

Look for places where you can replace phrases with single words that mean the same thing. You can often save a lot of words by switching out phrases like “come back” for “return” and seeking out other places where one word can do the work of many.

Cut sentences that add atmosphere but don't forward the plot or grow your characters. (Obviously, use your judgement. Don't cut ALL the flavor, but start by going - I’ve got two sentences that are mostly flavor text - which adds more? And then delete the other, or combine them into one shorter sentence.)

Remove superfluous dialog tags. If it’s clear who’s talking, especially if it’s a conversation between only two people, you can cut all the he saids, she saids.

Look for places where you've written repetitively - at the most basic level, “ ‘hahaha,’ he laughed,” is an example, but repetition is often more subtle, like instances where you give information in once sentence, and then rephrase part or all of that sentence in the next one - it’s better to poke at the two sentences until you think of an effective, and more concise, way to make them into only one sentence. This also goes for scenes - if you’ve got two scenes that tend towards accomplishing the same plot-related goal, consider combining them into one scene.

Have a reason for every sentence, and even every sentence clause (as in, every comma insertion, every part of the sentence, every em dashed inclusion, that kind of thing). Ask yourself - what function does this serve? Have I met that function somewhere else? If it serves no function, or if it’s duplicative, consider cutting it. Or, the answer may be “none,” and you may choose to save it anyway - because it adds flavor, or is very in character for your PoV person, or any of a number of reasons. But if you’re saving it, make sure you’ve done so intentionally. It's important to be aware of what you're trying to do with your words, or else how can you recognize what to cut, and what not to cut?

Likewise, have a reason for every scene. They should all move the story along - whatever the story is, it doesn’t have to be “the end of the world,” your story can be simple and straightforward and sequential...but if you’re working to a word count, your scenes should still forward the story toward that end point. If the scene doesn’t contribute...you may not need them, or you may be able to fold it in with another scene, as suggested in item 6.

Review the worldbuilding you’ve included, and consider what you’re trying to accomplish with your story. A bit of worldbuilding outside of the bare essentials makes a story feel fleshed out, but again, a little can go a long way. If you’ve got lots of “fun” worldbuilding bits that don’t actually forward your plot and aren’t relevant to your characters, cut them. You can always put them as extras in your blog later, but they’ll just make your story clunky if you have a lot of them.

Beware of info-dumps. Often finding a more natural way to integrate that information - showing instead of telling in bits throughout the story - can help reduce word count.

Alternatively - if you over-show, and never tell, this will vastly increase your word count, so consider if there are any places in your story where you can gloss over the details in favor of a shorter more “tell-y” description. You don’t need to go into a minute description of every smile and laugh - sometimes it’s fine to just say, “she was happy” or “she frowned” without going into a long description of their reaction that makes the reader infer that they were happy. (Anyone who unconditionally says “show, don’t tell,” is giving you bad writing advice. It’s much more important to learn to recognize when showing is more appropriate, and when telling is more appropriate, because no story will function as a cohesive whole if it’s all one or all the other.)

If you’ve got long paragraphs, they’re often prime places to look for entire sentences to cut. Read them critically and consider what’s actually helping your story instead of just adding word count chonk.

Try reading some or all of the dialog out loud; if it gets boring, repetitive, or unnecessary, end your scene wherever you start to lose interest, and cut the dialog that came after. If necessary, add a sentence or two of description at the end to make sure the transition is abrupt, but honestly, you often won’t even need to do so - scenes that end at the final punchy point in a discussion often work very well.

Create a specific goal for a scene or chapter. Maybe it’s revealing a specific piece of information, or having a character discover a specific thing, or having a specific unexpected event occur, but, whatever it is, make sure you can say, “this scene/chapter is supposed to accomplish this.” Once you know what you’re trying to do, check if the scene met that goal, make any necessary changes to ensure it does, and cut things that don’t help the scene meet that goal.

Building on the previous one, you can do the same thing, but for your entire story. Starting from the beginning, re-outline the story scene-by-scene and/or chapter-by-chapter, picking out what the main “beats” and most important themes are, and then re-read your draft and make sure you’re hitting those clearly. Consider cutting out the pieces of your story that don’t contribute to those, and definitely cut the pieces that distract from those key moments (unless, of course, the distraction is the point.)

Re-read a section you think could be cut and see if any sentences snag your attention. Poke at that bit until you figure out why - often, it’s because the sentence is unnecessary, poorly worded, unclear, or otherwise superfluous. You can often rewrite the sentence to be clearer, or cut the sentence completely without negatively impacting your work.

Be prepared to cut your darlings; even if you love a sentence or dialog exchange or paragraph, if you are working to a strict word count and it doesn't add anything, it may have to go, and that's okay...even though yes, it will hurt, always, no matter how experienced a writer you are. (Tip? Save your original draft, and/or make a new word doc where you safely tuck your darlings in for the future. Second tip? If you really, really love it...find a way to save it, but understand that to do so, you’ll have to cut something else. It’s often wise to pick one or two favorites and sacrifice the rest to save the best ones. We are not saying “always cut your darlings.” That is terrible writing advice. Don’t always cut your darlings. Writing, and reading your own writing, should bring you joy, even when you’re doing it professionally.)

If you’re having trouble recognizing what in your own work CAN be cut, try implementing the above strategies in different places - cut things, and then re-read, and see how it works, and if it works at all. Sometimes, you’ll realize...you didn’t need any of what you cut. Other times, you’ll realize...it no longer feels like the story you were trying to tell. Fiddle with it until you figure out what you need for it to still feel like your story, and practice that kind of cutting until you get better at recognizing what can and can’t go without having to do as much tweaking.

Lastly...along the lines of the previous...understand that sometimes, cutting your story down to a certain word count will just be impossible. Some stories simply can’t be made very short, and others simply can’t be told at length. If you’re really struggling, it’s important to consider that your story just...isn’t going to work at that word count. And that’s okay. Go back to the drawing board, and try again - you’ll also get better at learning what stories you can tell, in your style, using your own writing voice, at different word counts. It’s not something you’ll just know how to do - that kind of estimating is a skill, just like all other writing abilities.

As with all our writing advice - there’s no one way to tackle cutting stories for length, and also, which of these strategies is most appropriate will depend on what kind of story you’re writing, how much over-length it is, what your target market is, your characters, and your personal writing style. Try different ones, and see which work for you - the most important aspect is to learn to read your own writing critically enough that you are able to recognize what you can cut, and then from that standpoint, use your expertise to decide what you should cut, which is definitely not always the same thing. Lots of details can be cut - but a story with all of the flavor and individuality removed should never be your goal.

Contributions to this post were made by @unforth, @jhoomwrites, @alecjmarsh, @shealynn88, @foxymoley, @willablythe, and @owlishintergalactic, and their input has been used with their knowledge and explicit permission. Thanks, everyone, for helping us consider different ways to shorten stories!

[cacoetheswriting]

unrequited love - spencer reid

Warnings: mild cursing, mentions of sexual assault, mentions of murder, usual criminal minds stuff tbh Word Count: 2.6k Requested By: anonymous : “can you write a spencer reid fic? something ansgsty maybe..”. 

--

No one understands why you do certain things even when you know you're never going to get anything back. - Shahul Hussain

QUANTICO, VIRGINA

The smell of freshly brewed coffee was probably your favourite, especially at ungodly hours of the morning. Closing your eyes for a brief moment you could feel a sort of calm and warmth surround you. The aroma slowly awoke your senses. Your lips touched the brim of the white mug in your hand and you took a slow sip.

“Good morning Y/L/N.” Derek Morgan appeared beside you. You looked up at him from your mug. “I brought you a coffee but I can see you couldn't wait.” He joked holding up a paper cup. “You know me Derek, I’ll take all the caffeine I can get.” You replied grabbing the cup from him. “Especially at four in the morning.” Derek smirked. “Yeah, they have to stop doing that to us.” 

With two coffees in hand, you made your way to the conference room. The rest of the team was already there. You sat at your usual seat, placing the coffees on the table in front of you, and turned your attention to the screen.

“Morning my lovelies.” Penelope began. “I would say good but there is nothing good about it given the case we have been asked to wor-” “Garcia.” Hotch interrupted briefly encouraging her to get to the point. “Right. Yes. No time to waste.” Penelope cleared her throat and fixed her glasses.

“Last night, twenty-five year old Millie Moore didn't return home after her shift at a bar in Riverside, California. Her body was discovered this morning in a dumpster behind her workplace.”

“The killer wanted her to be found.” JJ stated. There was a brief pause before Penelope continued. 

“The kidnapping and murder was linked to four other cases in the state of California spanning over the last month.” The images filled the screen causing you to clench your fists in disgust. 

The small rather insignificant action was observed by the brunette man sitting across from you. Unnoticed by everyone else at the table, Spencer’s eyes focused on your hands before travelling up to your face. He examined the look spread across your features, trying to figure out what was on your mind. 

“He definitely has a type.” Rossi noticed. “Any signs of sexual assault?” Derek questioned. “Yes, actually all of the victims displayed signs of uhm.” Garcia couldn’t bare to finish her sentence. 

“Given the small cooling off period between each victim, we need to assume the unsub has his next target already picked out.” Hotch stated. “Garcia can finish briefing us on the plane. Wheels up in twenty.”

The group nodded at each other and all got up from their seats - all but you. For some reason you couldn't avert your eyes from the gruesome images that filled the screen. 

“Y/N...” Spencer’s soft whisper brought you back to reality. He stood just a few steps away. You titled your head to look at him noticing a concerned look spread on his face. “They look like me Spence. The victims, they all look like me.” 

Spencer cleared his throat. “Humans in fact, aren’t that genetically diverse. So eventually, the numbers would dictate that certain features resembling yours and another persons will randomly combine.” He paused. 

“But that doesn’t mean they are an exact duplicate of you.” He smiled hoping you would smile back. “You’re right, sorry. It’s just a little weird.” “We’ve had weirder.” Spencer said as you got to your feet. The young doctor grabbed one of the coffees for you as you grabbed the other and followed you out to the pit. 

“You know caffeine increases alertness by blocking a brain chemical called adenosine that makes you feel tired, while at the same time triggering the release of adrenalin that’s known to increase energy.” Spencer stated placing the coffee cup he was holding on your desk. 

“If the amount of caffeine is high enough, these effects are stronger, resulting in caffeine-induced anxiety.” You finished the fact for him, slightly rolling your eyes. “Yes Spence, I know. You tell me this every time I have more than one mug in the morning.” The smart doctor shrugged smiling at you. He grabbed his go-bag from underneath his desk and waited for you. 

The friendship you shared with Spencer was an odd one. The two of you were quite close when you were still at the academy. He helped you study for all your tests and was always one to share tips on how to complete certain tasks. 

A couple of years go by without contact. At that point you were a field agent in New York, which is where you reconnected on a case. The spark was instant although neither of you wanted to admit it. This time Spencer stayed in touch. It was clear then that whatever undiscovered feelings he had for you back when you first met resurfaced - but you weren’t ready to explore whether you felt the same.

Next thing you know you were getting a call from Aaron Hotchner with an offer to join the BAU. Something, you later found out, Spencer had fought to get organised. 

It felt like you played with his heart. To an outsider it probably even looked like that - he fell in love with a girl and landed her a dream job in hopes that she would love him back. 

RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA

“What if we’re dealing with a disgruntled boyfriend or husband?” JJ posed the question. “He lost someone in his life that resembled the victims.” “Then why kill them?” Derek questioned. 

The team was gathered around a conference table brainstorming. Spencer was the only one not sitting down, not unusual for Dr. Reid. He was pacing around the bullpen talking on the phone, probably with Penelope. 

Your eyes lingered on the back of his head for a moment through the glass window. Something Derek noticed immediately. “Where’s your head at Y/L/N?” You turned your attention to the rest of the team. “What if JJ is right in a way? But rather than a significant other, what if the unsub was rejected by these women or someone who looks like them?” 

Derek nodded his head in understanding. Your eyes scanned the team waiting for anyone sitting at the table to suggest something else. It was Rossi who opened his mouth next however whatever was on his mind was interrupted by Spencer storming into the room.

“Where’s your mind at pretty boy?” Derek questioned leaning back in his chair. “I spoke with Garcia. All of the victims had social media accounts and tagged-” He approached the map pinned to one of the boards. “- three different spots in this location before they were murdered.” With a red pen, Spencer circled one area on the map. 

“The hunting ground.” Rossi stated and everyone else nodded.

“Let’s split up.” Hotch began. “Reid, go with Y/L/N. Derek and Rossi, and JJ you’re with me. I’ll get Garcia to send us the exact addresses, hopefully one of these places will bring us a step closer to catching the unsub.” 

The team got to their feet and one by one left the conference room, leaving you alone with Spencer. “Ready partner?” He asked smiling at you. “Always.” 

It didn't take long to get there, traffic was unusually quiet for California. Plus whenever you’re with Spencer the conversation flow makes the moments pass by quickly - you never run out of things to talk about.

“Looks closed.” You said getting out of the car, shutting the door behind you. “Strange, it’s the middle of the day.” Spencer noted as he walked around the hood. The two of you glanced at each other before moving forward towards the entrance of the coffee shop.

The door wasn't locked so you made your way inside. A small ‘ding’ from the bell above your heads signalised you have entered the premises. An eerie feeling came over you. 

The lights were switched off. The chairs were placed neatly on the tables. Menus were carefully stacked beside the register, sugar bowls placed in a row along the countertop. A wet floor sign was placed in the middle of the room. You walked around it carefully, that’s when you noticed the strong smell. 

“Is that?” You asked looking at Spencer. “It smells like bleach.” The young doctor stated back, his hand travelled to his gun. Slowly, with one hand on your weapon holster, you made your way around the countertop. That’s when you felt someone grab you from behind. A shriek escaped your mouth getting Spencer’s attention. 

The unknown male held your arms behind your back as he led you back towards the middle of the coffee shop - using you as a human shield. He kicked over the yellow sign and stopped. You could feel his hot breath against your skin, it made you sick. “Let her go.” Spencer stated sternly, pointing his gun.

“I’m going to walk out of here.” The male said. “And you’re going to let me.” You watched Spencer shake his head. “I can’t let you do that.” His response wasn't what the man wanted to hear. Frustrated, he drew your weapon from the holster and placed it to your temple causing the air to catch in your throat.

“How about now?” The man sounded angrier. He could sense your fear, just like you could sense Spencer’s. The young doctor met your gaze briefly before looking back at the man holding you. 

“What’s your name?” Spencer asked. The man scoffed. “I’m not telling you shit!” “Tell me your name and maybe we can sort something out.” Spencer said calmly, his gun still pointing in your direction.

There was a brief moment of heavy silence before the man snarled: “You first.”

“My name is Dr. Spencer Reid and the woman you are now holding at gunpoint, that’s Agent Y/N Y/L/N.” You could feel the man shift, as if he was trying to get a better look at you before he turned his attention to Spencer again. “Theo.” He said simply. 

“Nice to meet you Theo. How old are you Theo?” “What’s that got to do with anything?!” 

Your whole body was shaking at this point. 

“O-okay Theo. Tell me this instead, why did you kill all of those women?” “I didn’t hurt anyone!” Theo snapped. “Only a guilty man would hold a federal agent at gunpoint.” Spencer pointed out. “Shut up!” Theo lowered the gun from your temple and pointed it at Spencer. A lone tear escaped the corner of your eye. 

“Why did you kill them Theo?” Spencer asked again.��

“They deserved it.” Theo answered after a brief moment of silence. “They hurt me!” “How did they hurt you Theo?” The man’s grip around you tightened. “They just hurt me!” He screamed. “Now let me go or I swear, she’s next!” The gun was back at your temple. 

Spencer met your scared gaze. The look in his eye was almost as if to say everything was going to be okay, that he was going to get you out of this. You tried to smile. You even mouthed “It’s okay.” at which Spencer’s jaw locked - he wasn’t going to lose you, not like this. 

“Those women hurt you Theo? I know exactly what that feels like.” Spencer said calmly. “Being hurt by someone you love.” You could feel Theo nod against your head. His grip loosened slightly.  

“Do you know what unrequited love is Theo?” Spencer asked and without waiting for a response continued. “It’s love not reciprocated or returned. It’s when you love someone and they don't love you back, they don't acknowledge your love.” Spencer stated. At this point you were crying. Lone droplets escaped your eyes and traced down your cheeks. 

“That’s how those women made you feel, right? As if you weren’t worthy to love them.” Spencer said. You could feel the hurt in his voice.

“They didn't see me.” Theo said, his voice shaky. “They didn't care!” He exclaimed taking a step forward. In doing so, his grip around you loosened completely and you were able to turn around while grabbing his arm that was holding the gun.

Theo kneed you in the stomach causing you to fall back a little. When you looked up he had the gun pointed at you. 

“If you shoot her, I shoot you.” Spencer said sternly, his weapon once again drawn and pointed at the unsub. Theo scoffed. “She's the one that hurt you, isn't she?” Spencer didn't respond. “I figure I’d be doing you a favour then.” 

The sound of the gun being cocked caused your heart to stop. Yet Spencer was quicker. He fired one shot, hitting Theo in the shoulder. This enabled you to overpower the unsub and disarm him.

“Call for backup.” The young doctor said kneeling down beside you. “Spence-” “Call for backup.” He repeated without looking at you. Without saying another word, that’s exactly what you did. 

BAU Jet

The sound of silence filled the plane. Everyone was exhausted to say the least, and catching up on necessary sleep. Yet every time you closed your eyes you felt uncomfortable. Spencer’s words from the coffeeshop kept ringing in your ears, the broken look on his face overwhelmed your brain. 

Slowly, you got to your feet and walked down the jet. The young doctor was sitting alone at the back of the aircraft, head buried in a book. 

“Hey.” You whispered loud enough to get his attention. His head popped up, his eyes met yours. “Hi.” 

“Mind if I sit down?” You asked politely pointing to the empty seat. “Not at all. Make yourself comfortable.” He placed the book down as you made yourself comfortable. 

“Can’t sleep?” “I could ask you the same thing.” Spencer replied. “Well, having a gun pointed to your head isn’t exactly dreaming material.” You breathed with a soft smile. Spencer nodded his head.

There was a brief moment of silence.

“I wanted to thank you.” You said. “For saving my life.” “I was just doing my job.” Spencer replied. “Right.” You sighed and leaned your head back on the chair, breaking eye contact.

“Y/N-” “I’m sorry Spencer.” You interrupted. Confused, the young doctor asked: “Why are you apologising?” “For hurting you.” Slowly, you tilted your head to once again look at the brown haired man. His head was down, his fingers playing with the hem of his shirt.

“I’m sorry for making you feel as if you weren't worthy.” “I just said that to get the unsub’s attention. I said that so he would let you go.” “We both know that's not true Spencer.” 

The young doctor sighed. “I don't know what you want me to say Y/N.” He whispered while turning his head in your direction. “You don't need to say anything.” 

Spencer lifted his hand and slowly using one finger placed a loose strand of your hair behind your ear, his thumb brushing against your cheek as he did. A shiver ran down your spine at the touch. 

“I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember.” Spencer said, his hand now holding your face. “However, you made it obvious you don’t feel that way about me so I’ve done my best to just be your friend.” He sighed. “Y/N it’s getting really hard to just be your friend.”

He let his hand fall before shifting his body weight away from you. He leaned his head against the aircraft and looked out the window. 

Tears formed in your eyes. “Spence.” You whispered but he didn't respond. Instead, the young doctor closed his eyes.

You knew better than to keep pushing. With your fingers, you wiped the tears from your face and made yourself comfortable before also closing your eyes. 

Hoping you’d drift asleep quickly your mind wondered. Tomorrow, you would talk to him again tomorrow and everything would be just fine. Right?

Never pretend to a love which you do not actually feel, for love is not ours to command. - Alan Watts

--

masterlist

[krinsbez]

Super-Sizing the Superfamily: A DC Comics Storybuilding Project

So, on a forum I post on, we’ve been working on a storybuilding project. To wit, we plan to envision a selection of Superman and related comic books, if the Superman family was allowed to be even bigger than the Batman family, with multiple Superboys and Supergirls, as well as various other characters. To this end, we are be using multiple different versions of some characters, as well as occasionally decompositing existing characters.

At the bare minimum, I'd like to come up with a set of Superman Family titles (not everyone gets their own book, of course), and plot out a year of storylines, culminating in a Superman Family Crossover. Ideally we'd go beyond that as well, but given how ambitious that goal is, I'm not holding my breath.

The project has hit a bit of a wall ATM, so I figured now was as good a time as any to post what we’ve got so far on Tumblr. With his permission, I am tagging @davidmann95, the Internet’s Premier Supermanologist, to get his opinion, but anyone is free to comment or make suggestions.

We begin with... The "Core" Super-fam. Note that this is not an exhaustive list of characters appearing in this thing: -Clark (Superman) -Lois -Jon (Superboy Blue?) -Chris (Superboy Red?) -Kon (Kid Cadmus) (decomposite, based on original, Jacket version) -Conner (?) (decomposite, based on later, Geoff Johns/YJ version) -Kara Zor-El I AKA Zara (Supernova) (decomposite Modern Supergirl , based on TV Show version) -Kara Nim-El AKA Nara (Supergirl) (Variation on Silver Age Supergirl)* -Kara In-Ze AKA Iara (Blue Bombshell) (DCAU Supergirl)** -Kara Zor-El II AKA Tara (Miss Metropolis) (decomposite Modern Supergirl, based on "Cheerleader" version)*** -"Cir-El" (Tomorrow Girl) -Mae (Matrix) (I'm gonna say that for our purposes, she managed to come back after being separated from Linda) -Linda (Mighty Maid) (as per the post-Earth-Angel part of PAD's comic, with the Earth-Angel thing being backstory which we will leave vague) -Kristen (Superwoman) -Karen (Power Girl)**** -Mon-El (?) -"Uncle Carl" (decomposite Bizarro. Imperfect clone, somewhat "cured") -Bizarro #1 (decomposite, Imperfect duplicate, lives on Htrae, etc.) -Jimmy -Perry -Lucy -Kenan (New Super-Man) -John Henry (Steel) -Natasha (Steel? Starlight?) -Lana -Krypto -Streaky -Ma and Pa (I've seen good arguments for one or both of them being deceased by the modern-era...but I'm including them anyways) Possible members: -Lori Lemaris -Luma Lynai -Marvel Maid and Marvel Man -Vartox -Strange Visitor -Sally Selwyn -Lyla Ler-Rol -Thara Ak-Var -Alpha Centurion -More I'm not thinking of. 

*In the Silver Age, Jor-El had two brothers, his younger brother Zor, Kara's dad, and his twin Nim-El. We are making this Kara daughter of the former rather than the latter, born on Argo City, which survived the destruction of Krypton, named for her presumed dead cousin, sent to Earth when the systems keeping the city alive began to fail. **Keeping mostly the S:TAS backstory, with the caveats that the people of Argos were Kryptonian colonists, not a separate species, and that she's a relative of Zor-El's wife Alura In-Ze, with "Kara" and "In-Ze" being common family names. ***Something her ship encountered on her journey to Earth created a duplicate that took even longer to arrive, and was the subject of the previous Superfam crossover. ****The original "Super Girl", magically created by Jimmy wishing into existence a perfect mate for Superman.

Next, The Superfam books and casts thereof (not distinguishing between main, supporting, and recurring characters) (no villains as of yet. Mostly)

-Action Comics: Anthology title, each issue spotlighting different members of the Super-Fam.

No specific cast.

-Superman: Duh.

Somehow, I don't think we've specifically cast this one.

-Lois Lane: Again, duh. Serious journalism, with occasional Wacky Hijinks.

Lois

Clark

 Perry

 Jimmy

Lucy

Gen. Lane

Lex's administrative staff (Mercy, Ms. Tesmacher, the Loisbot, etc.), whom she is “casually bitchy” with

 As-Yet-Unselected-Police-Contact

 Bibbo

-Jimmy Olsen: Third verse, same as the first.

Jimmy

The Planet staff

 Iara (who he's dating; superspeed makes long =-distance relationships easy)

The New Newsboys (Famous Bobbie included)

Scorn

Ashbury

Misa

-Power Girl: Ditto.

Karen

Atlee

Hiro

Mae

-Cadmus: Again. We're basing this mostly on the bit of Kon's '90s book when he was hanging out on Cadmus, with the caveat that the Hairies moved the Wild Area (and thus the whole damn Project) to a pocket dimension with entrance termini in a number of different locations, including, but not limited to, Metropolis, Honolulu, the Un-Men reservation in Louisiana, and wherever the Justice League of China is headquartered.

Kon

Golden Guardian

The OG now-adult Newsboy Legion

The New Newsboys (Famous Bobbie included)

Dubbilex

Tana

 Roxy

 Serling

 Tekka

 Kenan and the JLC

 Mickey Cannon

 Sam Makoa?

Prince Tuftan and friends

-Adventure Comics: Stories about Conner, Iara, and Tara hanging around Smallville; inspired largely by Kon's late '00s title. Back-up feature is stories about Clark's Superboy years.

Conner

Iara

Tara

Lori Luthor

Lena Luthor I

Ma

Pa

Simon Valentine

Psionic Lad

Lana

 Loretta "Golden Genie" York (the character formerly known as the Yellow Peri)

-Sons of Superman: Starring Jon and Chris.

Chris

Jon

Lois

Clark

Beacon

Jor-El AI

Kelex

Ma & Pa

Lucy

Kon

Conner

Kristin

-Planet Comics: About the adventures of the Daily Planet crew in general. Workplace comedy, Clark keeps the glasses on, mostly.

Perry

Lois

Clark

Jimmy

Cat

Steve Lombard

Ron Troupe

Dirk Armstrong

Angela Chen

(I'd like to feature more of the various folks who've been shown working for the Planet over the years)

-Streets of Metropolis: Comparatively gritty stories about battling street-level crime, starring Gangbuster, Black Lighting and fam, and the MPD.

Jeff

Anissa

Jennifer

Lynn

Gangbuster (let's face it, most of y'all wouldn't recognize his real name)

Maggie

Turpin

Henderson

Leocadio

-National Comics (alt. title: Supernova and the DEO): Zara's adventures trying to make it on her own in National City, whilst helping Alex and the DEO.

Zara

Tara (commuting from Smallville)

Linda

Mon-El

Alex

Director Bones (standing in for the show’s version of J’onn, though the relationship is *probably* less familial)

Cameron Chase?

Winn

Simone D'Neige (standing in for the show’s version of Cat Grant)

Lena Luthor II (standing in for the show’s version of her aunt; we’re assuming that she stayed aged up after being de-Brainiaced)

Dreamer

-Steel and the Girls of Steel (need a better title): Starring John Henry, Natasha, Cir-El, and Traci 13.

John

Henry

Natasha

“Boris”

Cir-El

Mia (i’m counting Cir-El and her alter ego as separate characters)

Traci 13

The Supermen of America (a team, including Super-Chief and “Iron” Munro, inspired by Superman’s example, that John Henry is training)

-Nightwing and Flamebird. Adventures in the Bottle City of Kandor, which is majority Kryptonian but has a sizable population of other species. Despite the title, the eponymous duo are not the protagonists, but rather an ordinary citizen who’s taken it upon themselves to unravel the mystery of their secret identity (the truth is that an assortment of people take turns at wearing those costumes)

?

-Superman Family. Anthology title, with each issues featuring a team-up between Clark and another member of the Superfam.

No specific cast

There are a few other odds and sods here and there, but that’s most of it, asides from the fact we’ve decided to costume the Supergirls thusly:

-Karen, of course, wears the Power Girl costume. -Cir-El has a distinct costume already. -Linda is rocking the DCSHG look.* -Iara has her S:TAS look.* -I wanna say Nara's wearing one of the Bronze Age-era outfits, but they might be too '70s to really work? -Mae is wearing a somewhat sexier version of the classic look (I'm imagining she's the second-most vavavoom-y of the Supergirls after Karen). -Zara I is wearing the second TV show suit with the pants. -Zara II (Tara?) is wearing the Jim Lee cheerleader outfit. Note: despite both being a miniskirt and bellyshirt, her outfit is notably skimpier than Iara's, with a shorter, lower slung skirt, and a tighter top with...what's the right way of saying there's less of it? This is her deliberately distinguishing herself from her older duplicate's more modest look. *May switch these, IDK.

[pocketramblr]

Not sure when you're done, but for when you'rein your asks: talk about your stockpile-adaptation tradeoff theory

Ok So, this turned out very long and very rambly but i finished my homework after midnight and i won’t be stopped from posting this. Let’s call it a mix of “Stockpiled- adaptation tradeoff theory”, “Pocket’s thoughts on how the quirk singularity isn’t a thing”, “overhaul doesn’t understand evolution”, and a bit of “rubbing into AfO’s face about him not being as grand as he thinks he is”

First, let’s talk about Copy vs AfO

So, the thing about Copy is that it lets Neito reproduce the plus alpha factor in it’s entirety- all the mutations needed to activate it, and at least some what a way to instinctively turn it on and off. He copies Eri’s quirk, he gets her horn. He copies Eri’s quirk, and he’s able to know for sure that he’s activated it, but nothing still happens. That’s because for all he is now perfectly adapted to using her quirk, he doesn’t have her stockpile, or even a copy of her stockpile.

Now, AfO. He takes a quirk, but unlike Neito, his comes with whatever was stockpiled. We know this, because he was able to retain the tags that Ragdoll had on students inside of Search while he stole it, and when it was passed to Tomura. He also appears to be able to use mutation quirks, but we haven’t actually seen him take one for himself- he switches a mutation for a quirkless man, and it’s very possible that every ‘body altering quirk’ he uses at Kamino is in fact a transformation quirk, not a mutation. Let’s call this Subset A of the theory, that AfO might be able to give others mutations, but not use them himself. Whether or not that’s true, or if he just activated then deactivated the mutation, there’s the fact that after using air blast against All Might at Kamino, he shook out his hand to jog back feeling and get over the pain of the quirk’s recoil. A pain that, with one’s natural resistance to their own quirk, he shouldn’t have to really worry about- not to mention all the other ones he has to deal with.

But, for some reason, while AfO can yank everything in a stockpile quirk, he can’t yank the adaptability with it. If someone has a body suited to a fire quirk, and a fire quirk, then AfO can take the quirk, but will not have the resistance for it. This means he’ll have to seek out another quirk- he’ll have to seek out fire resistance specifically tied to a person’s plus alpha factor, rather than anything in any other part of the body.

There’s a couple of reason why, but first, lets acknowledge the slightly horrifying fact that following the rules we see with Search and from Monoma’s example, this means that if AfO stole Fatgum’s quirk, he would also be stealing every fat cell in his body linked to it- which might be all of them. which would be very very bad for one’s health. Anyway, nightmare aside, it also means stockpiled things are stored in the quirk factor. This is likely why Eraserhead is able to erase a stockpiled quirk like any other kind, but probably couldn’t temporarily stop someone from having heat resistance as a byproduct.

So, the why. Let’s talk about evolution. and lets ignore everything Chisaki said about apes because he’s a stupid man who knows nothing.

As a species, you might be inclined to say that humans are more evolved than apes. or more evolved than moss. You would be not really correct. Humans are evolved differently, but we’ve all been growing from the first living cells the same amount of time, just to suit different roles and niches. a moss is just as good at being moss as a human is at being a human. But, you could make the argument that your generation of human is more evolved than your ancestors’ generations of humans- you have, after all, been going longer. But really, in a few generations? That’s not a lot of time, really.

Even with the quirk singularity theory, there’s a lot of holes in the Doctor’s argument. Sure, Eri and a lot of the other kids are ridiculously powerful. But Kouta really isn’t. And AfO has an insane power despite being likely a first generation quirk holder. So really, its probably a lot less ‘people are being born with stronger powers’ and more ‘people with stronger powers are being allowed to live longer.’ Are the kids stronger? Or are they just in a society where they can get better training at a younger age? Survivorship bias, i tell ya, it makes for strange things. Remember, Inko’s weak telekinetic quirk is fourth gen, supposedly only one generation off from where it would be too strong to handle. That... doesn’t seem to add up. even if she had a child who had telekinetic twice as powerful as her, in omnidirection, there’s nothing really in that that sounds like it would be injurious to the holder. Thirteen can create black holes that probably killed people when first manifesting, and is old enough to be a generation above Eri. Speaking of human stations being mistaken for inherit genetics, quirk marriages where people are worse off because they meddled in a science they knew nothing about to try and do new eugenics- the todoroki children are basically unnatural and poor examples of ‘quirk singularity’

Quirks generally get more evolved in each generation, yes, unless you get no quirk or an identical set to a parent. But ‘more evolved’ doesn’t mean stronger, it can mean more complex. Case in point, back to AfO and Copy.

Why doesn’t AfO’s quirk allow him to steal resistance? Likely because the resistance for a quirk is stored in a different gene than in the plus alpha factor itself- hence Touya can get an ice resistance gene, and a fire producing quirk gene- and his quirk isn’t built to interact with that. Past that, it’s because AfO doesn’t need to interact with that- he can just go steal another quirk that covers the problem. Storing all that extra non-quirk gene would probably wreak havoc on his body- warp it like a nomu, so his quirk is evolved efficiently.

Copy, on the other hand, is certainly more complicated than “Move Quirk Factor Around”. It means mimicking a quirk, growing all necessary parts to it, and instinctively activate and deactivate. He doesn’t have immediate skill, but he does have immediate use. It also comes with whatever mutations and resistances a person has- a horn, an engine, a protection for headache relief or electrical resistance.

So, what? Why is it important

Well, let’s compare

Situation A: Monoma copies Dabi’s quirk. Monoma gains both Dabi’s flames and his ice resistance for a temporary amount of time.

Sitation B: AfO steals Dabi’s quirk. He gains the blue fire, but his natural, normal reation to both ice and heat are unchanged. Dabi is quirkless, but still has the same amount of cold resistance as before

Situation C: Monoma copies Suneater’s quirk. Monoma is able to manifest anything in his stomach, but nothing from Suneaters.

Situation D: AfO steals Suneater’s quirk. He also gets everything in Suneater’s stockpile, so whatever was in his stomach that the quirk had ‘active’- which might be everything inside, or only what he was currently using. Suneater is now quirkless, again, but also hungrier and stop being mean to my son.

So, again, why? Basically, humanity hasn’t had enough time for quirks to really streamline yet, and every quirk has its limits for a reason. AfO likely cant touch other resistances or vestigial mutations, and might not be able to even wield fully mutation quirks. Monoma, from a more evolved but not necessarily stronger generation can, because he has no other way to get the copied quirks active, and his evolutionary line solved that sometime before him.

Also, the idea of a quirk singularity is not widely accepted in universe for a good reason. There are other factors, and frankly a lot of what the doctor was talking about was how AfO finds it harder or riskier to use quirks after the fourth generation. This isn’t necessarily because they’re stronger or deadlier, it’s just because they are more complicated and rely more on other parts of one’s dna that he can’t steal.

Because he’s got the ability to take stockpile, but not adaptability, and for some reason that seems rather fitting for him- not able to adapt quite enough to ever really kill All Might, even when duplicating quirks to boost the number in his stockpile, is he?

[stephenpostsgaragedoor]

Top latest Five Garage Door Openers Tips Urban news

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Garage Door Openers can be from another location programmed to do various things relying on the kind and also design of the Genie opener. A few of these features consist of immediately turning around the doors, suggesting they are open, shutting and also opening up all the way, indicating a battery power source is available as well as a time limit before the door goes back to its original closed placement. Some models enable you to set greater than one transmitter switch. There are additionally lots of other innovative attributes readily available such as programmable closing delay, leave delay time, threshold delay times, as well as limit angle changes. You can buy Genie opener remotes that have the ability to sense whether the garage door remains in activity or otherwise."

[gumnut-logic]

The Fate of Thundersub Two

Title: The Fate of Thundersub Two

Author: Gumnut

5 Jan 2020

Fandom: Thunderbirds Are Go 2015/ Thunderbirds TOS

Rating: Teen

Summary: You can push it only so far. Episode tag to 3.19.

Word count: 1920

Spoilers & warnings: Spoilers for 3.19 and future episodes of season 3.

Timeline: Immediately after 3.19

Author’s note: This was quickly written with no brain and reflects the quality of my lack of cerebral functioning at the time. I literally killed off sleep to write this because I’m supposed to be writing my other fic. But we have an episode tag :D And hopefully I can sleep in a little tomorrow since it is nearly 2.30am at the moment. I hope you enjoy this anyway :D

Many thanks to my wonderful supporters, you know who you are. ::extra big hugs::

Disclaimer: Mine? You’ve got to be kidding. Money? Don’t have any, don’t bother.

-o-o-o-

Hiram Hackerbacker was a patient man. Science requires patience so it was to his advantage to have as much of it as possible.

However, having co-existed with the Tracy family for many years, that patience had often been tested, and today was another one of those days.

He had been in the midst of fuel calculations for the Zero-X. They had hit a snag in the weight and energy expenditure ratio and he was reduced to having to create a lighter, more energy efficient fuel. This required molecular calculation and design, something which involved a great deal of concentration.

To have John interrupt him to say that Virgil had taken Thunderbird Two for a swim yet again was enough to throw all the calculations out of his head. “W-what?!”

“I’m sorry, Brains, but Virgil needs your help. Two is on approach and her systems are experiencing intermittent failures.”

“Th-that’s because she is n-not a submersible.”

John shook his head. “Rescue called for it and you know Virgil. Whatever is necessary.”

Brains sighed. “V-very well.”

John smiled at him before switching the feed to Thunderbird Two.

“V-Virgil?”

“Hi, Brains.” There was considerable guilt in his fellow engineer’s expression. “I have VTOL failure in two out of four engines and I suspect her port rear thruster isn’t going to last much longer. I may need to crash land.”

Brains bit back on a curse. “Have you t-tried the auxiliary p-power relays?”

“Yeah, no go.”

Switching the feed to his phone, Brains strode out of his lab and ignored the door that slammed behind him. “Where are Gordon and Thunderbird Four?”

“FAB2.”

“Why?”

“Didn’t want to risk him. And, well, he had other concerns.”

Brains frowned as he stormed into the comms room. Scott was glaring at him and the duplicate hologram of Virgil hanging in the middle of the room. Brains ignored him and pulled up Thunderbird Two’s status.

He groaned.

“Virgil, you know as m-much as I that you c-can’t land her. Her secondary c-computer core is flooded, her p-primary core is well on the way to joining it. It is a m-miracle you are still air-borne. In fact, you should d-ditch her into the ocean as s-soon as p-possible before the decision is t-taken from you.”

The hologram of the second eldest Tracy sagged. “Where?”

“T-two hundred m-metres from the island m-minimum. We will r-recover her.” Virgil’s expression was tragic. “I promise.”

Beside Brains, Scott straightened. “Virgil, that’s an order. We can’t risk you. I’ll launch Thunderbird One and assist.”

Virgil glanced down before obviously steeling himself. “FAB.”

Scott’s lips tightened and he nodded at his brother before loping up the steps and disappearing into his chute.

Moments later, One erupted out of the pool deck and disappeared to the south in search of her crippled sister.

Brains shivered.

And waited.

-o-o-o-

Virgil Tracy knew how to swear and at this moment he was exercising every piece of profanity he could bring to mind.

Brains was right. Two was going to fall from the sky, it was only a matter of time. His dash was screaming at him, a new red light and alarm added every few minutes. This would make it the third time he would have to fish his ‘bird out of the ocean.

She dropped suddenly as her port thruster sputtered, her flight path skewing as her forward thrust struck out of balance. Shit. Goddamnit.

“C’mon, Two only a hundred or so kilometres and we’re home.”

She sputtered again.

And her port thruster died completely.

“Shit!” His girl swung around in an unbalanced turn, weight and thrust completely out of sync.

It was a terminal spiral dive. There was not a damn thing he could do.

Didn’t stop him from trying.

She ignored him.

The ocean and sky began to spin.

A solid thunk on her hull, a screaming roar, and her spiral slowed, her altitude and direction corrected...and the blue of auto took over her controls. “Thunderbird One to Thunderbird Two, I have your control...what little you have. Compensating for your thruster failure. Virgil, bail out.”

“Scott-“

“Now, Thunderbird Two!” His brother’s voice stood for no argument.

Defeated. “FAB.”

He threw his chair back and yanked out his emergency jet pack from the overhead locker. He secured it to his baldric and harness, and with one last look at his beloved cockpit, stepped onto the platform and sent it up through the overhead hatch.

The roar of One assailed him through his helmet, the wind a buffeting aggravation.

“Virgil, move your ass, she’s about to hit!”

And the ocean was far too close for comfort.

He triggered the jetpack and shot up into the sky.

Just as his ‘bird hit the water.

It was spectacular.

And heart-breaking.

One disengaged before impact, accelerating out of harm’s way. Scott had killed Two’s remaining thruster, but her speed was too fast and as her nose caught the water, the momentum differential between forward and back, flipped her head over tail.

Virgil gasped as her belly was exposed to the sun and she hit the water like a breaching whale.

His heart attempted to beat itself to death against his ribcage.

With little more than a bubbling sigh, his girl began to sink below the waves.

No.

“Deploying inflater bags.” Scott’s voice was protocol. Over comms specifically for Virgil, it was reassurance.

Yellow appeared in the water below and the bags rose, somewhat awkwardly as they were deployed from the now underside of the upside down Thunderbird.

But his girl was floating and not disappearing into the depths.

He let his breath go.

-o-o-o-

“Thunderb-bird T-Two is not a s-submersible!”

Gordon jumped as Brains’ angry voice hit him. He had hurried back the moment John had told him that Virgil had crashed his ‘bird. Of course, the Indian Ocean was a fair way away by sub, so it had taken him quite some time to make it back to the Island without the assistance of his cargo carrying brother.

After docking Four, Gordon had the unpleasant experience of discovering Two in her hanger. The puddle around her and behind her where she had been dragged in by the heavy duty pods punctuated her condition loudly.

Thunderbird Two wasn’t going anywhere for quite some time.

“Lives were at stake.” Virgil’s voice was strained.

“Yes, including yours.” Oh great, Scott was in on this. Though, to be honest, where else would Scott be in this situation? “You could have killed yourself, Virgil. Either in the water with the freighter or when you crashed your own ship.”

“You ordered me to ditch her!”

“She was going down anyway! You would have been killed!”

Great. There it was. Scott had had the shit scared out of him again. How many times had his eldest brother been faced with Virgil crashing his ‘bird?

Too many times.

Gordon sighed and took that last step into the comms room.

Someone had to save his brother from his big brother and the resident genius engineer.

“Hey, guys.” All three turned to stare at him. “Virg, you okay?”

A single nod. Well, as okay as a Tracy brother could be when their ‘bird is in pieces.

Brains’ turned back to Virgil. “R-repairs are going to t-take some time. Time we do not have l-leading up to the Zero-X p-project.”

“I will work on repairs.”

“V-Virgil, you d-do not understand. Th-thunderbird Two’s frame was w-warped in the collision. She is s-tructurally unsound. She n-needs a new hull. The plane in the hangar is only g-good for sp-spare parts.”

Gordon’s heart sank as Virgil stared at Brains.

“I-I’m s-sorry, V-Virgil. Thunderbird T-Two needs to b-be rebuilt entirely.”

Virgil was still staring.

Gordon was doing a little staring of his own. “How can International Rescue operate without Thunderbird Two?”

“I’m a-afraid, it will h-have to m-make do.”

Virgil was still staring at Brains, his expression caught in shock.

Scott looked a little stunned himself, but his eyes kept darting between the two engineers.

Until Virgil sat down hard on the couch behind his heels.

“Virgil?”

But Virgil had buried his face in his hands.

It was a matter of strides before Gordon was sitting beside his brother. “Hey, Virg. We will rebuild her.” His hand landed on a tense shoulder.

Virgil didn’t respond.

-o-o-o-

The next few days were quiet for Brains. Mostly because he was tackling the fuel design problem and not having much luck, so consequently had locked himself in his lab in order to focus on the problem.

It was the fourth day after the demise of their cargo carrier before he saw Virgil again. The pilot had disappeared into the villa and the few times Brains had surfaced for food or been physically dragged out of his lab by Sally Tracy, Virgil hadn’t be anywhere to be seen.

He did know that John arrived down from Five on the second day and late one night as he was stumbling to his rooms, Scott and John could be heard having a very loud ‘discussion’ in the comms room. Brains knew better than to interrupt that. When the Tracy’s argued, there was usually enough passion in the room to set the furniture alight, not to mention random engineers who might accidentally get in the way. So he went to bed and ignored it.

But on the fourth day, Virgil appeared in Brains’ lab, eyes a little bloodshot and demeanour tired. Brains didn’t realise he was there at first. It wasn’t until Virgil reached around him and asked him about the fourth variable in his equation, that he realised he was being watched.

“Oh, V-Virgil. H-how are you?”

“Fine. Just on the hunt for some J-12 threads for Four.” A frown. “What are you doing? Is that praeline oxide? Are you trying to bind it with neutrozine?”

“Yes. W-we need an increase in fuel energy with a r-reduction in mass.”

“Why?”

“The Zero-X fuselage is too large to b-be launched at current r-ratios.” He threw up the design hologram for his fellow engineer.

Those bloodshot eyes frowned. “You’ve based the design on the original Zero-X.”

“M-most certainly. It was the m-most efficient d-design.”

“But it is not working.”

“No. We have d-different mass require-ments to the original d-design and, so far, I have been unable to compensate.”

Virgil spun the hologram around on its axis. A slight frown and he pulled out his phone, stabbing it with his finger.

“Cahelium would lighten the load, perhaps enough to stick with the current fuel.”

“We do not have enough p-processed cahelium in store and n-not enough t-time to refine more.”

Virgil pursed his lips and stabbed his fingers at his phone again.

An undefined expression flickered across his face. Voice quiet. “Yes, you do.” A swallow and he held up his phone. “Cannibalise Two.”

Brains stared at the hurried calculations and his eyes widened. “Yes. That is perfect!” He scribbled down the numbers into his tablet. Within moments he had cross referenced the resources and added up exactly what he needed. Two would tip the scales. He could also possibly use her structure as it was. It would speed up production. Of course, with her damage, he would need to check her integrity thoroughly.

If only he could use Three as well, he could incorporate her strength here. That would require extra thrust there, but then Three had that strength already.

The calculations piled up in his head. By the time he had come up with a feasible design, Virgil was long gone.

-o-o-o-

FIN.

[hydrus]

Version 422

windows

zip

exe

macOS

app

linux

tar.gz

🎉🎉 It was hydrus's birthday this week! 🎉🎉

I had a great week. I mostly fixed bugs and improved quality of life.

tags

It looks like when I optimised tag autocomplete around v419, I accidentally broke the advanced 'character:*'-style lookups (which you can enable under tags->manage tag display and search. I regret this is not the first time these clever queries have been broken by accident. I have fixed them this week and added several sets of unit tests to ensure I do not repeat this mistake.

These expansive searches should also work faster, cancel faster, and there are a few new neat cache optimisations to check when an expensive search's results for 'char' or 'character:' can quickly provide results for a later 'character:samus'. Overall, these queries should be a bit better all around. Let me know if you have any more trouble.

The single-tag right-click menu now always shows sibling and parent data, and for all services. Each service stacks siblings/parents into tall submenus, but the tall menu feels better to me than nested, so we'll see how that works out IRL. You can click any sibling or parent to copy to clipboard, so I have retired the 'copy' menu's older and simpler 'siblings' submenu.

misc

Some websites have a 'redirect' optimisation where if a gallery page has only one file, it moves you straight to the post page for that file. This has been a problem for hydrus for some time, and particularly affected users who were doing md5: queries on certain sites, but I believe the downloader engine can now handle it correctly, forwarding the redirect URL to the file queue. This is working on some slightly shakey tech that I want to improve more in future, but let me know how you get on with it.

The UPnPc executables (miniupnp, here https://miniupnp.tuxfamily.org/) are no longer bundled in the 'bin' directory. These files were a common cause of anti-virus false positives every few months, and are only used by a few advanced users to set up servers and hit network->data->manage upnp, so I have decided that new users will have to install it themselves going forward. Trying to perform a UPnP operation when the exe cannot be found now gives a popup message talking about the situation and pointing to the new readme in the bin directory.

After working with a user, it seems that some clients may not have certain indices that speed up sibling and parent lookups. I am not totally sure if this was due to hard drive damage or broken update logic, but the database now looks for and heals this problem on every boot.

parsing (advanced)

String converters can now encode or decode by 'unicode escape characters' ('\u0394'-to-'Δ') and 'html entities' ('&'-to-'&'). Also, when you tell a json formula to fetch 'json' rather than 'string', it no longer escapes unicode.

The hydrus downloader system no longer needs the borked 'bytes' decode for a 'file hash' content parser! These content parsers now have a 'hex'/'base64' dropdown in their UI, and you just deliver that string. This ugly situation was a legacy artifact of python2, now finally cleared up. Existing string converters now treat 'hex' or 'base64' decode steps as a no-op, and existing 'file hash' content parsers should update correctly to 'hex' or 'base64' based on what their string converters were doing previously. The help is updated to reflect this. hex/base64 encodes are still in as they are used for file lookup script hash initialisation, but they will likely get similar treatment in future.

birthday

🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

On December 14th, 2011, the first non-experimental beta of hydrus was released. This week marks nine years. It has been a lot of work and a lot of fun.

Looking back on 2020, we converted a regularly buggy and crashy new Qt build to something much faster and nicer than we ever had with wx. Along with that came mpv and smooth video and finally audio playing out of the client. The PTR grew to a billion mappings(!), and with that came many rounds of database optimisation, speeding up many complicated tag and file searches. You can now save and load those searches, and most recently, search predicates are now editable in-place. Siblings and parents were updated to completely undoable virtual systems, resulting in much faster boot time and thumbnail load and greatly improved tag relationship logic. Subscriptions were broken into smaller objects, meaning they load and edit much faster, and several CPU-heavy routines no longer interrupt or judder browsing. And the Client API expanded to allow browsing applications and easier login solutions for difficult sites.

There are still a couple thousand things I would like to do, so I hope to keep going into 2021. I deeply appreciate the feedback, help, and support over the years. Thank you!

If you would like to further support my work and are in a position to do so, my simple no-reward Patreon is here: https://www.patreon.com/hydrus_dev

full list

advanced tags:

fixed the search code for various 'total' autocomplete searches like '*' and 'namespace:*', which were broken around v419's optimised regular tag lookups. these search types also have a round of their own search optimisations and improved cancel latency. I am sorry for the trouble here

expanded the database autocomplete fetch unit tests to handle these total lookups so I do not accidentally kill them due to typo/ignorance again

updated the autocomplete result cache object to consult a search's advanced search options (as under _tags->manage tag display and search_) to test whether a search cache for 'char' or 'character:' is able to serve results for a later 'character:samus' input

optimised file and tag search code for cases where someone might somehow sneak an unoptimised raw '*:subtag' or 'namespace:*' search text in

updated and expanded the autocomplete result cache unit tests to handle the new tested options and the various 'total' tests, so they aren't disabled by accident again

cancelling a autocomplete query with a gigantic number of results should now cancel much quicker when you have a lot of siblings

the single-tag right-click menu now shows siblings and parents info for every service, and will work on taglists in the 'all known tags' domain. clicking on any item will copy it to clipboard. this might result in megatall submenus, but we'll see. tall seems easier to use than nested per-service for now

the more primitive 'siblings' submenu on the taglist 'copy' right-click menu is now removed

right-click should no longer raise an error on esoteric taglists (such as tag filters and namespace colours). you might get some funky copy strings, which is sort of fun too

the copy string for the special namespace predicate ('namespace:*anything*') is now 'namespace:*', making it easier to copy/paste this across pages

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misc:

the thumbnail right-click 'copy/open known urls by url class' commands now exclude those urls that match a more specific url class (e.g. /post/123456 vs /post/123456/image.jpg)

miniupnpc is no longer bundled in the official builds. this executable is only used by a few advanced users and was a regular cause of anti-virus false positives, so I have decided new users will have to install it manually going forward.

the client now looks for miniupnpc in more places, including the system path. when missing, its error popups have better explanation, pointing users to a new readme in the bin directory

UPnP errors now have more explanation for 'No IGD UPnP Device' errortext

the database's boot-repair function now ensures indices are created for: non-sha256 hashes, sibling and parent lookups, storage tag cache, and display tag cache. some users may be missing indices here for unknown update logic or hard drive damage reasons, and this should speed them right back up. the boot-repair function now broadcasts 'checking database for faults' to the splash, which you will see if it needs some time to work

the duplicates page once again correctly updates the potential pairs count in the 'filter' tab when potential search finishes or filtering finishes

added the --boot_debug launch switch, which for now prints additional splash screen texts to the log

the global pixmaps object is no longer initialised in client model boot, but now on first request

fixed type of --db_synchronous_override launch parameter, which was throwing type errors

updated the client file readwrite lock logic and brushed up its unit tests

improved the error when the client database is asked for the id of an invalid tag that collapses to zero characters

the qss stylesheet directory is now mapped to the static dir in a way that will follow static directory redirects

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downloaders and parsing (advanced):

started on better network redirection tech. if a post or gallery URL is 3XX redirected, hydrus now recognises this, and if the redirected url is the same type and parseable, the new url and parser are swapped in. if a gallery url is redirected to a non-gallery url, it will create a new file import object for that URL and say so in its gallery log note. this tentatively solves the 'booru redirects one-file gallery pages to post url' problem, but the whole thing is held together by prayer. I now have a plan to rejigger my pipelines to deal with this situation better, ultimately I will likely expose and log all redirects so we can always see better what is going on behind the scenes

added 'unicode escape characters' and 'html entities' string converter encode/decode types. the former does '\u0394'-to-'Δ', and the latter does '&'-to-'&'

improved my string converter unit tests and added the above to them

in the parsing system, decoding from 'hex' or 'base64' is no longer needed for a 'file hash' content type. these string conversions are now no-ops and can be deleted. they converted to a non-string type, an artifact of the old way python 2 used to handle unicode, and were a sore thumb for a long time in the python 3 parsing system. 'file hash' content types now have a 'hex'/'base64' dropdown, and do decoding to raw bytes at a layer above string parsing. on update, existing file hash content parsers will default to hex and attempt to figure out if they were a base64 (however if the hex fails, base64 will be attempted as well anyway, so it is not critically important here if this update detection is imperfect). the 'hex' and 'base64' _encode_ types remain as they are still used in file lookup script hash initialisation, but they will likely be replaced similarly in future. hex or base64 conversion will return in a purely string-based form as technically needed in future

updated the make-a-downloader help and some screenshots regarding the new hash decoding

when the json parsing formula is told to get the 'json' of a parsed node, this no longer encodes unicode with escape characters (\u0394 etc...)

duplicating or importing nested gallery url generators now refreshes all internal reference ids, which should reduce the liklihood of accidentally linking with related but differently named existing GUGs

importing GUGs or NGUGs through Lain easy import does the same, ensuring the new objects 'seem' fresh to a client and should not incorrectly link up with renamed versions of related NGUGs or GUGs

added unit tests for hex and base64 string converter encoding

next week

Last week of the year. I could not find time to do the network updates I wanted to this week, so that would be nice. Otherwise I will try and clean and fix little things before my week off over Christmas. The 'big thing to work on next' poll will go up next week with the 423 release posts.