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enniewritesathing · 5 years

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Part 8

(Beginning)

(Three months have passed since the incident in Granite Falls. Those who were present during the surprise blizzard, it was dubbed a mystery. It didn’t matter to either John or Brian, but they both knew they needed to find information before the impending supermoon.)

(Leads were few and far in between. Noelle had salvaged what she could, offering a singular brown box full of files. The files themselves were full of redactions, but Brian’s keen eye and stubbornness noted small mistakes. Names. Places. Dates.)

(The name of the hospital that John was held. The research team in itself -- the occult specialists. Brian dug around for names, leads. Most of them resided in Forgotten Hollow with the vampires, but there has been a small migration to San Myshuno and Newcrest. It’s an easy way to blend in, open up speciality practices.)

(Those places always had a vibe to them. One that Brian couldn’t comprehend, but John understood, even as a human. A question has lingered in the back of Brian’s mind ever since he saw John transform in front of him, but he remembered that his other side made some clarifications -- is there really separation between the two?)

(He knows that John has been relatively quiet since then, as if he doesn’t remember at all. Or doesn’t want to. Brian hasn’t pushed him for anything that may bring up bad memories -- and if that does happen, John cuts him off.)

(It’s... been a frustrating three months. Information wise. Behavior wise. He wants answers as well. Piece together this new-found situation and adapt to it as much as they can.)

(Even if he has to take drastic measures.)

(Brian makes his way to a part of the hospital that is woefully underused.)

(He enters the small lab room and locks it behind him.)

(Brian has spent weeks scouting this place out, in lulls of his shift. Night time was the better time, given time to file paperwork and work on research, but his absence is noted; during the day time, when things are hectic it was easy to slip away, but staff is already on the short side as it is. Especially since there’s a Llama Flu epidemic.)

(He better make this quick.)

(Brian looks up.)

(Hmm, the sign’s changed. Could also be a security camera, but it would be useless from how it’s angled. And he didn’t need to worry about the door or windows -- the door in particular that it’s frosted from the outside. He can have more time to react.)

(What luck that this computer isn’t connected to the hospital network. He can work with piece of mind.)

(Brian turns on the burner phone and activates the VPN service, along with bringing up the addresses and specific directions.)

Brian: “Okay... this better work.”

(His fingers work the keyboard. Three different addresses. A string of numbers, letters, and symbols. Gibberish to most people’s eyes.)

*click!*

(Several windows pop up, but the window with the red bar catches his interest. A download bar. It’s slow but, it’s going.)

(His phone pings.)

(Brian smiles. It’s John. He’s at home.)

(Hopefully, he won’t tear through the streets with the Jeep, but given that he’s said he wanted to try out the new snow tires, well... he better not see him come through the ER doors.)

(Come on, come on... Brian wiggles the mouse back and forth to make the bar load faster, even if he knows that that never works.)

Computer: *chime*

Brian: “Oh shit, that actually worked?”

(Okay, next step... drop them into the cloud account he set aside. The previous data he gotten was at least ten gigabytes worth, and most online services offered free accounts half or even a quarter of the size.)

“Oof, twenty-six gigs? Must not know how to compress things...”

(As he moves the files into the cloud, he notes some of the name files and extensions. There’s footage, too? But... why...?)

(He’s about to click on a file.)

*beep-beep! beep-beep!*

(Shit. A page.)

(It’ll have to wait until he gets home. Four more hours. There’s a nagging feeling growing in the pit of his stomach. Maybe should have brought something to eat here too...)

(Brian exits out of everything, and makes a final sweep of the room. Everything’s back the way he’s found it.)

(Time to go back to work.)

(After a delay caused by a combination of the weather kicking up more snow than forecasted and John forgetting the slip itself, the highly anticipated files from Strangerville were finally in their hands.)

(The packages even included a laptop. It’s old and a little wanting as a whole, but at least it was functional.)

(Most of the boxes contained thin books organized neatly into volumes. This was only the first set of records. Might as well ease himself into this information. There’s no telling what’s in all of this, even if it’s about him.)

(John grabs his reading glasses and settles in for the long haul.)

(The pages are thin. It’s even handwritten. At least it’s neat and understandable -- segmented and dated entries. But what he doesn’t understand, why go through the trouble of handwriting it when there’s computerized entries too? Some of them were just one line, and others were multiple paragraphs and pages, signed off with various letters but no real names.)

(Some entries contain his name -- formal name -- and others simply as ‘Subject’. That’s odd... he scrutinises further. The language with his formal name is casual, but the ones with Subject contained words that he recognized to be medical in nature.)

“1.9.0X -- Conduction of tests on Subject and Subject’s mother. Confirmed affliction of Lycanism, also known as Lycanthropy, slang term Werewolf via heredity. Subject’s mother is a confirmed Grade 1 out of Grade 4. Subject is confirmed Grade 2 out of Grade 4. Posthumous confirmation of Subject’s twin is confirmed Grade 2 out of Grade 4. We could not confirm Subject’s father’s Grade, but we can conclude his father was of Lycan nature. This means that Subject is youngest confirmed Lycan in seventy-five years. - C.”

John: “Holy shit...”

“1.10.0X -- I can’t believe it. A lycan this young. And survived early transformation. We informed his mother. She’s... in shock. Lycans are extremely rare now. She didn’t know that about herself, let alone her son or deceased son. Wish the other one survived, but, he turned far too early. With this, we can study and get better information about lycans! However, we did have to answer for why we put him in a coma... for safety reason. It was because he attacked T. Mangled his ankle pretty good. - F.”

(”Mangled?”)

“1.13.0X -- Johnathan wakes from induced coma. He is mostly confused, but otherwise fine. Doesn’t quite understand what happened. The last thing he remembers is feeling hot and then passing out. Confirmed with mother that his fever was getting worse with time. Not a coincidence that it was in time with the moon. I asked Johnathan if he remembers anything else before passing out. He replies with, “just a wolf staring at me, wanting me to ‘turn’.” I ended the interview to let Johnathan and his mother rest. - K.”

“1.15.0X -- Subject is alert. Very alert and combative. He calls for his mother. It takes us a full hour to calm him down. We tried to inform him why he is here, but he is borderline belligerent. It’s best that we contact his mother. - C.”

“1.15.0X -- Okay... that didn’t go as well as we’d hope but what do you expect, he’s like twelve years old! You tell a child his age that he’s an occult! C’s bedside manner sucks. It broke my heart to see little Johnathan’s reaction to the news that he’s a lycan. He thinks he’s a monster... - R.”

“1.16.0X -- The moon as waned enough that John’s not capable of turning, so we’re discharging him today. I gave some contact information to his mom to keep in touch, and instruct her to come straight to us the first sign of turning -- and I instructed John to keep a journal. Daily if he can. We can’t let the public know about this. There’s still occult hunters around. Vampires have strength in numbers so it’s not big of a deal to them; they know their shit. Lycans are so few and far in between, they’re critically endangered. Not only that, they’re elusive. It’s our job to protect this boy and his mother. But it’s also our job to learn who and what they are. - O.”

(John sighs. Not the information he’s quite looking for... but he is curious about these people’s perspective and conceptions of him. It seems like they’re looking out for him at the time. He wonders what happened for them to completely stop all of this. He’s also interested in finding the journals he was asked to make... he doesn’t remember doing that at all. Maybe it’s with the stuff Mom has.)

(A few hours into reading the sixth notebook, John’s eyes grew unfocused and he decided to rest them. That ‘rest’ turned into a two hour nap with him snoring away on the couch.)

(Spaghetti looks on and meows.)

John: (in sleepy voice) “What, honey?”

(She meows again. That tone.)

John: “Alright, alright... don’t eat too much this time, okay?”

(After he feeds the cat, he decides to stretch a little bit with some light boxing drills. As much as he wants to read more, vegging out on the couch isn’t something he can do for long.)

(Something bugs him though. He doesn’t remember any of the times he’s spent in the hospital. Just passing out and waking up in them. Not even turning.)

(What the hell happened?)

(Brian scrolls through another entry, but he doesn’t bother with the attached video. The majority of them were simple observations, going over vitals and John’s condition. Nothing out of the ordinary... yet.)

(Then...)

“9.25.1X -- Going over this data, these tests... they’re not enough. We have to start taking measures. After all this time, we don’t know his exact triggers aside from the moon. They’re all over the place. Once it was caused by moonlight contacting exposed skin, another by looking at it for more than 15 seconds... here’s the odd part of this, it’s only on supermoons, every 3-4 months. We’ve compared it to Grade 3 and 4 Lycans and... well, John’s different. He’s in his were-state for much longer. Last time, it was a week and a half. Grades 3 and 4 only lasts 1 night, 2 at the most. We’ll try something else. I’ll suggest to monitor his vitals before and after letting him turn. That is, if he doesn’t resist. - I.”

“9.26.1X -- Subject has been brought in. He is close to turning, but is resistive and combative. He refuses, stating that ‘it’ will kill someone, maybe more. In the past, Subject has been instructed to resist ‘it’, but it’s starting to put strain on his body. We locked Subject down and let him turn. As suggested, we monitored his vitals and made observations and baseline measurements for the next time. See attatchment. - A.”

(Brian is about to click on the link, but John enters the kitchen. He eyes him from beneath his brow as John rummages through the refridgerator, whistling a tune. Something tells him he better not look at it right now.)

John: “Found anything yet?”

Brian: “Hmm, nothing that’s really... how to I put this. Nothing that we don’t know about yet. I’ve taken notes these past few days based on what you know, what I know, and what your mom’s told me. And there’s still a lot from the stuff we got from Strangerville that we need to go through... what about you?”

John: “I found some things back when I was a kid. Back when it first started.”

Brian: “Really? That’s great!”

John: “I wouldn’t call it great... it’s interesting for sure. Weird too. These people were taking notes on me like some kind of animal...”

(Brian clears his throat.)

John: “I’ve read some entries and... most of them seemed they weren’t creepy. Except this person, ‘C’. They don’t even call me by my name. To them, I’m ‘Subject’.

Brian: “I just read something refering you as Subject, but this person went by ‘A’...”

John: “When you have to study someone, what do you refer to them as?”

Brian: “Usually by ‘patient’ and non identifying markers for privacy reasons. Something like, Mr. H, Mrs. Y, Ms. W, Mx. B... ‘Subject’? I’m not too keen on. Too cold. It’s likely that they’re older.”

John: “Hmm... that can explain it. I still don’t know who’s the lead researcher. Or why it was stopped. I know my mom said she ended it, but there’s got to be more to it than that. And, I don’t remember most of this happening.”

Brian: “Oh? What are your thoughts on that?”

(John chews on his food thoughtfully. His mouth is becoming more sensitive by the day.)

“I think... maybe they were drugging me.”

Brian: “What?”

John: “Think about it. How else were they able to do all of this? I’ve read that I had to be put into a coma. For ‘safety’; I attacked someone and messed up their ankle. Mangled.” (He pauses.) Someone else said, while it was their job to protect me, they also needed to know who and what I am. But I don’t remember anything. Do you think--”

Brian: “--Let’s not think about that right now, John. We still have a lot to go through all of these things. What we have, and go from there. I know that may be a possibility, but I like to think that these people were ethical in their methods.”

(John hoped Brian didn’t hear the spike of frustration in his sigh. Something isn’t adding up at all.)

(John finishes his dinner in silence. Brian knows exactly what he’s implying and he hope that isn’t the case. That’s going too far. ...Maybe he was right to tell off his contact.)

(Brian watches the video. It’s in black and white and medium quality. A ceiling camera is focused on John. He’s on the exam bed with electrodes on his chest, oxygen mask on his face. Wrists and ankles in restraints. His eyes covered. He’s still, but he’s breathing fast. There are two other people with him, on each side, watching. They’re wearing all white scrubs and other things he doesn’t quite recogize, but they are not identifiable in the slightest. In the bottom corner of the video, a monitor displays his vitals.

One grabs his arm. Injects something. They both stand back. His vital spikes into dangerous levels as they watch. They watch him turn before their very eyes. John’s fighting those restraints, but they don’t give. He’s screaming and then goes limp. His vitals crash. The video cuts out after that.)

(Brian... doesn’t know what to do. No, they didn’t. No, they did.)

“9.16.1X -- Baseline obtained. Subject locked down after turning. He nearly crashed on us, but I surmise that survival instinct kicked in. His or the lycan’s side, not sure yet. He’s young, so he’ll be able to take what we can dish out. We don’t have much data on Grade 2 Lycans, so if there is a time to push for it, it’s here. This may be our only opportunity, so, let’s make the best of it. (see attachment) - C.”

(Brian scrolls down. The files with attachments have a common name -- “Test”. A particular set was labeled HF. A close up of John’s arm, restrained. A scalpel in someone’s hand. A timer in the lower right hand of the video. Scalpel meets skin and cuts down his arm. It takes two minutes for the cut to heal. No mark left behind.

That’s how John’s other side knew he can heal. But... John himself doesn’t. He’s scared to think what else they did to him.

12.14.1X -- C’s been made the lead. Ambitious fucker. We’re all being put through the wringer, but with so little information on this type of occult... I feel sorry for John. I really do. But, as C says, emotions have no place here. They don’t have a heart at all. John’s just a kid, y’know? -- F.)

(Brian closes the laptop and heads for the bookshelf. Where is it, where is it...)

(He remembers taking notes on healing factors, but they were vague at the time. With this evidence, he can piece together information. Baseline vitals...)

(It’s simple really.)

(They were occult specialists. That much is true, otherwise, there’s no telling what would have happened to John.)

(It’s an awful truth. It confirms his suscipion. But, does he want John to find out for himself, or should he tell him? Or even tell him at all? It’s his turn to protect him and that’s a silent promise he made to himself. But he also needs to know.

This sucks.)

(The next few nights, snow fell as much as it did when they stayed in Granite Falls. Only this time, they were in a familar place. They weren’t snowed in, and while both were on-call, they considered it a mini-vacation of sorts.)

(Brian is snuggled between thick blankets and the fireplace, fast asleep.)

(John is careful going up the stairs. They creak under his weight. The last thing he needs is to interrupt Brian’s sleep -- he needs it far more than he does. And while snuggling with him when there’s a snowstorm out is about the most perfect he can do in this situation, he can’t. Not right now. He wants answers.)

(John’s been sneaking up to the office these few nights. Papers, files, notebooks...)

(...boxes, packages, X-Rays, CT scans, EKG and EEG papers. Tapes, memory cards...)

(...strewn all over the floor.)

(In the back of his mind, he knows that Brian would give a stern talking to about the mess he’s made. This isn’t much different when he did it back in college, how he would stay up studying until the sun rises and then some.)

(John stares at the mess he’s created. What’s bad about all of this, he still doesn’t feel he’s gotten any answers. Not even when he read through the journals -- all five of them he was asked to keep -- made sense.)

(He picks a book that had some interest to him when he last picked it up. From what he can tell, this was closer before everything stopped.

“2.19.1X -- John’s checked in. He’s showing signs of pre-shifting. Fever at 105.3. Pale. Agitated. A little combative. Complaints of body aches and headaches. Mouthache too. Fangs are coming in. I interviewed him, asking if he’s had any wolf related dreams. He answers, “Yes.” We have given the informal name of “wolf dreams”. They reach their peak around each supermoon. It wants him to turn, but he is still resistive. The result of the resistance is severe flu-like symptoms... and nightmares. Heart rate is elevated at 130, tachypnea present. When he got him settled, heart rate spiked to 160. John reached 180 (The Point of No Return) fifteen minutes later. His control has been slipping lately. Perhaps, he knows he’s safe here and allows himself to give in. Or, it could be something else...? I’ll take it up with C. - F.”

“2.20.1X - I think... he can hear us. John reacted to V’s voice. She was about to check eye function when he opened them and looked at her. Stared at her like she was prey. Scared her, dropped her clipboard. He followed that too. But only for a moment. There was nothing behind those eyes. Freaky shit. - P.”

“2.20.1X -- John’s... spouse? Boyfriend? Whatever relationship he has with him, they’re obviously pretty close. Name’s Brian. Cute. Anyway, he came by for questions. We told him what we could, what we were allowed. I don’t think John’s told him. I have mixed feelings on that, but that’s not my place. Did some sleuthing, he’s a recent nursing graduate from San Myshuno University. Honors. Smart. He was asking some pretty indepth questions. We did a soft observation and John reacted to Brian’s voice. Didn’t open his eyes like he did with V, but we saw movement in his fingers when he left. Hoo boy. I don’t think locking him down will be a viable option for us much longer. We still have tests to conduct. Some we’ve put off for years. - F.”

“2.21.1X -- Based on anedoctic evident, the individual who visted Subject was his significant other. F and D noted a peculiar response Subject made in his presence, or rather as he was leaving. It’s also noticed that there’s a mark on his neck... confirming that he is his bondmate. V and P had an incident yesterday that Subject opened his eyes and focused on them, showing he can hear who is present with him or even outside the room. Is Subject beginning to build resistance to our methods? I’ll have to push up those trials. He’s strong enough to withstand them. - C.”

(John raises his eyebrow. Trials? There’s a note.

“2.22.1X -- We still need to test the full extent of John’s HF. We’ve only done surface tests. No visible marks or scarring on skin, no matter how deep the cut is. Muscle function is fine. The million dollar question is how will his organs fare...? - P.”

“2.22.1X -- I’m looking forward to the reversal trial. Stop that pretty heart of his and see what happens. - E.”

“2.24.1X -- We’ve prepped Subject for the HF trials and the reverse trial. The HF trials will probably not take that long. The reverse trial however... I must admit I am apprehensive about this. Subject may die, and with that, our chances of studying lycans. I did perform a pre-check via ultrasound. It is my understanding that when Subject resists turning, it puts a strain on his body, mostly his heart. It is confirmed that transformation starts around that ‘point’. To surpress it also means supressing the heart. He has done this several times, with a 80% success rate. The reason he’s doing this is because of social pressure -- if one is to find out Subject is an occult, and being a lycan, hell would break loose.

Heart structure is enlarged, but otherwise normal for a lycan in human state. No signs of strain or structure problems. Valves normal. Blood flow normal.

The reversal trial is to see if we can reverse Subject’s lycan state once he has turned without risk of death. The ways, methods, that are known are via silver bullets -- one to the head and one to the heart, decapitation, severe blood loss... Lycans can heal mortal wounds while in their state of wereness. I would like to think of this as... testing and developing a tranquilizer, some sort of medicine for Subject if he wishes to remain in society.

We’ll start tomorrow. - C.”

(What the fuck? Reversal trial?)

(A feeling of dread creeps up on John. He stares at the page. He... he doesn’t want to read anymore. But he has to, for him and his sanity. What is he? What happened?)

(He shakes his head. I need to find out.)

(John sighs as he steels himself to read the next page. He hears... footsteps. His name called. A frustrated noise, and footsteps. The stair steps creak under weight.)

(He looks up.)

Brian: “John! What are you doing up here?”

John: “What does it look like? I’m reading this stuff. I think I’m about to make a breakthrough here. Relax, it’s only eleven o’clock.”

Brian: “It’s one in the morning. Almost two.”

John: “Hm.”

Brian: “John... I’m getting worried about you. You’re getting obsessed and... I’m not sure if this is a good idea anymore.”

John: “Since when did you have a change of heart? You know I need answers and I am not backing off until I get them. You said that we both need to know everything, to be better prepared when I turn again. And I believe ‘again’ is coming in a few weeks. Right? You want me to turn.”

Brian: “Yes, I do, but John, I’ve done some reading myself and trust me... I don’t think you wanna know. Hell. I... I think it’s just better to drop and let it happen.”

John: “Drop it and let-- are you kidding me?”

“I just read a passage about starting trials. Trials! I’ve heard that word before. They did something to me! These papers, these... files and books are all on me alone. I read another that I have a point of no return and it has to do with my heart rate. I didn’t know that before! Or the dreams I have before it’s time to turn.”

(He jabs at the page.) “Someone mentioned a ‘reversal’ trial and apparently it involved stopping my heart.”

“I want to find out!”

(Brian groans. It’s never a good thing that John gets stubborn. He’s not gonna let this go.) “John... listen to me.”

“I... I don’t want you to get hurt from all of this. This? All of these files and information? It’s a lot. It’s a fucking lot! Like I said, I’ve read some of it and... there are some things that you should never read.”

“I know you want to understand what happened. I want to also. But, I’m afraid of what will happen to the both us. We know more about lycans as a whole more than ninety-eight percent of people. One percent are specialists, the other are hunters. We’re approaching dangerous territory here, John.”

John: “Then what should I do, Brian? I’m lost. I don’t remember any of this. I need to know.”

“I need to know... I’m not dangerous. I may be a lycan, probably the last one, but I need to know at least that much. That I can control this on my own without any problems. When I turned, I was scared what I was going to do. That I’d harm you or worst.”

“According to these notes, I already done that a few times to other people, accident or not. They didn’t take it personally, thank god, but the fact that I lashed out doesn’t sit right with me. I... I have a feeling that I may have done something really bad.”

Brian: “You mean... killed someone?”

John: “Yeah.”

Brian: “John... what would you do if you did that? What if you killed one of the researchers? Or more?”

(John doesn’t answer. He has no answer.)

(Brian... mulls on the silence.)

Brian: “I... should probably tell you how I got all of these files. The ones not redacted to hell and back. Including your scans and xrays. I’ll preface that I’m not proud of what I did or said.”

(Brian kneels and John looks at him expectantly. He can’t hold anything back. It’s time to rip the bandaid off.)

Brian: “After we got the files saved from your mom, I went through everything for any clues that we can use. Mostly names. The hospital you were at doesn’t exist anymore, or rather, it never did. Not to the public eye. The notes, as you guessed, doesn’t contain any other name except yours. I’m impressed by the consistancy, but then again, they may not be the same people with the letter they signed with.”

“But... I found a name. And a number on the back of it. I looked it up on the ‘net, and sure enough, it’s them. They’re still working in the occult field. Looks like they’ve been promoted.”

John: “What did you do?”

Brian: “It took me a few days to get the courage to actually speak to them. I did it through professional means. I frame it in a way to pique interest -- a patient with a lot of anomalies. I gave them all the classic symptoms. I told them that, while farfetched, I had a lycan on my hands.”

John: “You set them up.”

Brian: “Yeah. And they asked if it was you by first name.”

John: “And?”

Brian: “I told them everything that they needed to hear for them to loosen up. They were so excited to hear that you were still alive. Hell, they even offered to pick up the research back up, that I’ll be made lead.”

John: “What?!”

John: “Brian, don’t tell me--”

Brian: “Let me finish. The offer was made solely based on the fact that I am close to you. It would be easy to gather data and make observations and you’d be none the wiser.”

(John shakes his head.) “Did... did you tell them I turned?”

Brian: “Yes. And no. I told them that you turned and then disappeared for a few days; when I found you again, you were back to normal but unconscious. I said nothing of being in Granite Falls, that was mere coincidence.”

“They begged me for information. Where we lived, our status. They became belligerent. Told me I was missing out on all the riches and fame of chronicling a lycan’s life.”

“And you know what I said?”

John: “Brian, please tell me you didn’t.”

“Tell me... you didn’t.”

Brian: “I’ll tell you what I told them.”

“I told them they can fuck off; if they ask that of me again, if they even think about harming you again for the sake of science, I will find them them, and I will kill them and anyone you send after us.”

(John gulps. He’s serious. He’s very serious.)

Brian: “I’ll never forsake you. You know that. Hell, I wanted to go after them right then and there. When they asked where we lived, that gave me a thought -- it appears that they didn’t put any tracking implant in you. And trust me, I would have figured that a long time ago.”

“John...” (Brian sighs.) “I want to protect you, but I know you want answers. The things I’ve read, the videos I’ve seen... if you read them, if you watch them, you’ll become vindictive. Angry. Wrathful, maybe. I don’t want that to happen. But, I’ll tell you anyway. You need the truth.”

“You were tortured under the guise of research. The reason you don’t remember any of this, because you were placed in comas the whole time. The medicine that kept you under had an amnesia effect. Your nightmares... are the products of what happened to you during those times.”

“John... I’m sorry.”

(Brian stands up.) “You’re not a monster. You never were.”

“They are.”

“And if you decide to go after them...”

“...I know where to start. Good night, John.”

(John watches Brian leave.)

(The dread is still there.)

(Should I stop?)

(John turns the page with a trembling hand.)

“2.25.1X--”

(A week later.)

(John works the heavy punching bag. He keeps errant thoughts away as he concentrates on his strikes.)

(He ends a combo with a slashing elbow. The bag nearly comes off the wall from the force.)

(That was a bit too much, and he decides it’s time to stop. He’ll have to adjust the mount later.)

(Even with a window cracked to let the winter air in, John’s feeling hot. He’s been like this for two days. He knows that his body is giving him a heads up, but he wishes it wasn’t a fever that gets worse in time, the sort that just sticks to his bones.)

(He hears a soft, rising meow.)

Spaghetti: “Poppi?”

John: “Huh? Wh--”

Spaghetti: “Poppi! Toppi told me to get you!”

John: “Oh, did he now? Do you know what he wants?”

Spaghetti: “Nah~”

(John reaches down and gives Spaghetti some scritches. This is the only enjoyable side effect of slowly turning.)

(John crosses the house, expecting Brian to be in the kitchen. No, he’s in the bedroom with a smile on his face. There’s something’s up.)

Brian: “There you are. I got something for you. Consider it an early Christmas gift.”

John: “Christmas is in like, what four days. Can it wait?”

(Brian lifts a finger) “I know, I know, but I think this is something that will benefit the both of us.”

John: “And you’re not gonna tell me what it is, huh?”

Brian: “Nope, but I will say that you’re already dressed for it. Hang on a second, I’ll be right back.”

(John stares into the mirror.)

(This... was something he did not expect.)

(Brian hears the low noise that John makes when he’s worried.) “John, there’s nothing to worry about.”

(Some gift this is.)

“What’s on your mind, big guy?”

John: “I’m not a fan of this...”

Brian: “What, is it too tight? Too bulky? I can loosen it up just a little, but then accuracy goes down...”

John: “That’s not what I mean.”

“What are you doing anyway?”

Brian: “I’m syncing that monitor on you and this watch on me to my phone.”

“Honestly, I forgot that I bought it for running... and you know how long ago that was? Look at us now, we have a legit use for it.”

John: “Oh... so you’re going to track me?”

Brian: “Mmm, sounds bad when you say it like that.” (The phone and watch beep.) “There should be a icon flashing; press it, okay?”

(John makes another worried noise.)

Brian: “Listen... I know you have questions.”

John: “Well, yeah. You can’t just strap this on me and not expect any.”

“What made you do this anyway?”

Brian: “Well, I’ve been thinking. I’ve taken some notes and there’s a behavior and physical pattern that lycans seem to follow. In retrospect, I should have known something was up with you every supermoon, but that’s here nor there. Anyway, about a week or two before turning, you show signs. Fevers that get worse with time. Right?”

John: “Right.”

Brian: “I would track that instead, but I couldn’t find any hard numbers or any range. That and you have a tendency to hide your sickness in general.”

John: “That’s because I know how you get sometimes...”

Brian: “Well, I’m taking an alternative approach to my care plan. Something a little less intrusive.”

(Brian holds up his wrist.) “I got to thinking what else I can track and that’s your heart rate and that fact is consistent. Your ‘limit’ is 180bpm. Once you reach that point, you have about fifteen seconds before you start to turn -- the Point of No Return.”

John: “Fifteen? That’s not much of a warning.”

Brian: “No, it’s not. It seems that this doesn’t apply to any other point in time, which is great.”

“But with this, I can get an idea of when you’re gonna turn, and that way, we can be prepared this time. I’ve already scouted out a few places where no one’s gonna see, and you’ll be safe. You’ll have space too.”

John: “That’s good and all, but that means I can’t really train or be stressed out. And not trying to be stressed out about all of this is... stressful.”

Brian: “This is the best I can do, for now. I’ve set two alarms with different vibration settings so it can wake me up when I’m sleeping. This is gonna be a process... bit of trial and error and a lot of cooperation. Don’t want any more surprises--”

(The watch beeps.) “What-- John, why is your heart rate so high?”

John: “What? What did you set it at?”

Brian: “The first one’s at 120.”

John: “That’s because I’m still recovering, and I’m really nervous and, I dunno, stressed out that this thing is on me. It feels like I can just go at any moment just by accident and who knows what’ll happen then!”

“It’s making me self-conscious.”

(Brian looks up from the watch.) “Hm...”

(He reaches out and touches John’s shoulder.)

John: “Sorry... it’s just...”

Brian: “...I know.”

John: “I’m not sure if I can go through turning. I’m... still scared from last time. I’m getting bad dreams again and...”

Brian: “John?”

John: “Yes?”

Brian: “The only thing we can do is to be patient and wait. Like I said before, we’re going to be prepared this time.”

“In the meantime...”

“Why don’t we just... relax instead of worrying? Do something mindless for a change? We’ve been tense for the last three months.”

(...he’s right. He didn’t even think that that much time has passed just thinking about all of this. This... was something that needed to be taken one day at a time.)

(John gives Brian a small smile.) “Have I told you that I love you and you have the best ideas?”

Brian: “Oh, please.”

“Save the sugar for later.”

(After that, John set his mind on being calm as possible. Be normal. Yeah, he can do that.)

(A nice, homecooked meal will do a body and soul good...)

(...as well as much needed laughter.)

(John hasn’t laughed this hard in a while. Tears rolled down his cheeks.)

(It was decided that movies were in good order. Didn’t matter what genre -- though John made a soft ban on horror.)

(John busied himself trying to catch popcorn thrown in the air while Brian quoted the scene from memory.)

(Good thing it was a movie they saw about twenty times.)

(Being snowed in naturally made them a little stir crazy and well, a little frisky. Brian’s hand drifted down to grab John’s ass.)

John: “Mm-- wait, wait...”

Brian: “What?”

John: (slightly out of breath) “You think... you sure this is a good idea?”

Brian: “I don’t see why not... are you okay?”

John: “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. I think?”

Brian: “Mm. How ‘bout we play it by ear?”

(After some adjustments and some test movements, Brian deemed John well enough for some much needed fun activities.)

(Later that night.)

(John sits on the edge of the bed. His body is shaking.)

(The tears... they don’t stop.)

(They can’t stop. They won’t stop. No, not after what happened. He... wants to scream, but he can’t. He can’t breathe. That lingering feeling that he’s going to snap and all hell will break loose. He needs to get away. Right now. But something’s... something’s making him stay.)

(No, no, he has to go. Now. Or else--)

(The watch goes off.)

(Brian stirs awake.) “The hell is that nois--”

(The alarm!)

(Brian looks at the watch. 164bpm.) “Oh, shit.”

Brian: “John--”

(John takes a shuddering breath.) “I’m fine.”

“I’m not... turning. Or anything like that. I...”

Brian: “You don’t sound too good--”

(He hesitates.) “I had a nightmare.”

Brian: “Do you want to talk about it? You don’t have to tell me everything.”

John: (sniffs) “No. Not really. But I have to. You should know too.” (He sniffs again.) “I should have never read the rest of that file.”

“I remember... laying there. I was conscious, but I couldn’t move. My eyes weren’t open but I saw the ceiling lights. I heard others around me. Voices, but I don’t know what they’re saying. I can’t see their faces, except their eyes. They’re wearing surgery clothes and masks.”

“Then, I’m at a room with a door. Nothing else. On the other side... is my other self. He’s... angry. He kept saying that if I didn’t open it, we were both going to die. I was always told to never open it under any circumstances, but this time... he was desperate. He told me all the things that the specialists did to him -- to us.”

Brian: “What did you do?”

John: “I... I didn’t believe him. A-at first. Then, he told me to listen. I didn’t understand... I was back in the room. There’s other noises besides voices. I felt my arms and ankles being strapped down. Why would they do that...? I kept hearing ‘reverse trial.’”

“My chest started to hurt and I couldn’t breathe. I felt... my heart stop. I blacked out. I... died.”

(John pauses to collect himself.) “Then... I’m alive again. Everything’s quiet, except something beeping.”

“I’m weak. It’s like... recovering from getting knocked out. I see faces, the masks over me. Checking. I hear someone say the reversal failed and someone else told them to go ahead again.”

“It happens again. And again. And again.”

“I hear my other side. He’s desperate. The fourth time... he’s gotten out. Busted the door down. Shaking me awake. We’re both weak. He doesn’t know if we can take another hit. We have to make them stop. I asked him how the hell are we going to pull that off.”

“He told me that he’d have to take over. He knows exactly what he needed to do, but we had only one shot, and that shot... required me dead so he’d have full control. I told him... I told them that I just want them to stop. I may have said it outloud, who knows.”

“By now, the specialists have figured out we’re getting weaker. They started bickering. I started to move my fingers. Not enough for anyone to notice.”

“My eyes were open. I was looking at some of the monitors. But I don’t remember blinking at all, just stared. That’s just want my other side needed.”

(Brian doesn’t say it, but he’s in awe of this plan. No wonder they had him locked down...)

John: “After the sixth time, the specialists called the whole trial a failure. Then, I hear someone... disagree. That there wasn’t enough time in between resets to truly try and reverse it; they even said they’d have to cut me open if this fails.The seventh time...”

(John shakes. Everything -- his breath, his hands, his body.) “I saw myself flatline. And that noise. Everything started to fade and time stretched. The voices panicked that it was taking too long to bring me back. One of them got near me. They noticed that my eyes were opened. And look at them. Dead. I heard them call a time. Started taking things off. The oxygen mask. The straps, ankles, then hands.

That’s when he took over. The very second those straps were loose...”

(He turns to Brian. Renewed tears fall down his cheeks. He can’t bring himself to say it.) “Brian, he killed them. We killed them.”

Brian: “Oh... John...”

John: “When I came to... I was standing over someone. The lead specialist. My hands were covered in his blood. I tasted some in my mouth and... his throat was torn out. By me. By us. The room was... destroyed. The others... were bleeding out and crying.”

“This is the first time I’ve had this dream in full. It was always in pieces, but ends with blood on my hands. Sometimes... it’s yours. That’s why... that’s why I don’t turn. I’m dangerous. I’m scared that I’ll kill you. And you wanna know the worst part of it? It felt good. But...” (He falls silent.)

(Brian doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t know if he even has the words.) “John... I’m so sorry this happened. It’s... not your fault.”

John: “Don’t start with that.”

Brian: “I mean it. You and your other side protected yourself.. You would have died if they kept going. You... had no choice. That’s that.”

“John, I never told you what happened between me and your other side. The lycan... never harmed me. He’s not that different from you at all. He protected me. From a grizzly bear, of all animals. He told me everything he’s experienced while the both of you were locked in those comas. He... he doesn’t want separation anymore.”

“John?”

(John shakes his head. Brian sighs.) “John... please listen.”

“If you’re scared of turning... This may sound wild, but you should talk things out with your other side. In fact, he told me to tell you that. He wants to and honestly, I think he deserves being... ‘out’.”

“Was that time the only time you actually talked to him?”

(John nods.)

“Two years. That’s a long time not to be talkin’ to anybody.”

John: “I don’t... I don’t really trust him.”

Brian: “Why?”

(John shakes his head.)

Brian: “If it helps... I trust him. And you know me. That doesn’t come easy. Hell, I can easily say I trust him with my life, just as I trust you with mine.”

(John wipes away what tears are left.)

Brian: “John...”

(Brian reaches for John’s hand.)

“...it’ll be okay. It’ll take time, but I promise you’ll heal, and you’ll never have to go through anything like that ever again.”

“I promise.”

“Talk to him. For me. Okay?”

John: “Okay.”

“I will.”

“...I promise.”

(After that night, things calmed down. John got it in his head that he’ll talk to his other side. He doesn’t know when he’ll be able to do it, but he assumes that he’ll present himself when the time comes. For now...)

Brian: “Ooh! John, is this what I think it is?”

John: “Hey, babe.”

Brian: “Hm?”

(John dangles the mistletoe with a shy smile.)

(... but that lingering feeling, those tendrils of change...)

(They stand beside each other....)

(...and they realized, time’s almost up.)

(John stands at the door.)

(He doesn’t know how long he’s been standing there; he just knows that he should be here.)

(He hears footsteps from the other side. Prowling.)

(John takes a deep breath. It’s now or never.)

“Okay. Here goes.”

(He stops turning the knob, and the prowling stops. He feels the presence on the other side shift.)

(Can’t let him know you’re scared, John tells himself. As long as he has control of the door, he’s fine.)

(He tries again.)

(The door creaks opens as he pushes it.)

(John sees nothing but darkness. Hell, even the light stops at the doorway.)

(This is a bad idea...)

(...but he stands his ground. Better to be patient and let him approach.)

(A clawed hand grips the door.)

(It stays there for a moment before sliding away.)

(The Werewolf stares back at him from the darkness. His expression is surprisingly neutral.)

(John stares back.)

John: “...we need to talk.”

(The Werewolf snorts.) “Just like that, huh? No ‘hi’, ‘hello’, ‘how are you doing?’. How rude.”

“I know why you’re here. I heard everything.”

John: “Then you know.”

“I want... to turn.”

The Werewolf: “After all these years... you want to turn. Just by asking nicely? Aren’t you worried about what will happen?”

“Twice you lost control. You don’t know how to control me. It’s risky.”

(The Werewolf growls.) “It’s d͙̥̖̠̲ͅͅa̬̙̕ng̙er̥̱͚̝͝o̙͎͍͜ṷ̶̪͖͇s̢̪̗̠. You wouldn’t want anything bad to happen, right?”

John: “No...”

(The Werewolf laughs low and dark.) “You’re worried. You’re scared like a little child. Ha, don’t worry about our mate. He talked to me, healed me... no harm will ever come to him.”

John: “Mate?”

The Werewolf: (laughs) “Oh, he must have glossed over that part. Him and I? Bonded. Let me put it this way... you better find a ring.”

John: “The hell does that mean?”

The Werewolf: “You know damn well what it means.”

(John looks to the floor.)

(The Werewolf steps out and leans against the doorframe.) “You’re that worried? Are you sure you want to turn?”

John: “Yes.”

The Werewolf: “You don’t look sure. You’re still afraid. Why?”

John: “I don’t know... I thought...”

The Werewolf: “Hmph. I feel like I should apologize for putting you through so much shit all these years. I also feel like you should apologize for suppressing me for so long. In your terms, that cancels out. So for now, we’re even. Got that?”

John: “Yeah.”

The Werewolf: “That said... may I ask why all of a sudden you want to let me out? Aside from Brian convincing you.”

John: “Well... that is a reason. He told me... to talk to you. Maybe get some answers. He told me that you weren’t dangerous. That you protected him.”

The Werewolf: “Uh-huh.”

John: “And because... I’m tired of fighting you. I’m tired of running. I don’t know how much I can take. I’m tired of... feeling like I need to hide. I read... things about you, about us, about who and what we are. We’re rare. Maybe the last of our kind.”

The Werewolf: “Everything, huh?”

John: “Except turning. There... wasn’t too much that I found. And the ones I did didn’t exactly apply to us.”

The Werewolf: “Well... you’ve come to the right place.”

The Werewolf: “I’ll teach you, but under one condition.”

“Do not resist me. When I want out, you better let me out, got that?”

John: “Go it.”

“What do I need to know?”

The Werewolf: “It is a process, and you are correct that we do not need to fight each other anymore; we must live in harmony and balance. Is that not a philosophy you have learned and practiced?”

(John nods.)

“Not only the body changes, but the mind does too. You don’t have either of that down. It’s easy to panic and that causes more pain.”

“What you have to do is breathe.”

(The Werewolf demonstrates.) “It will be chaos to you, but as long as you remember to breathe, you’ll be fine.”

John: “And what do I think about?”

The Werewolf: “Whatever you deem appropriate. I’ve heard of things that ‘flow’ helps. Something simple. You can imagine yourself changing. You can even imagine the energy spreading out from your heart and through your limbs. The choice is yours.”

John: “How long will this take? The transformation.”

The Werewolf: “It was quick last time because I simply took over when I had the chance. I can’t say the same for this time because you’re going to be conscious of the whole thing.”

“All I can say is ‘don’t think about it’. The pain is only temporary.”

John: “Temporary...”

The Werewolf: “We have to stop fighting. For our mate’s sake. He trusts you... but he trusts me as well. To him, we are no different from one another.”

“My question to you is: do you trust me? Will you trust me?”

“In time, we will be one, and this is the start.”

“I’ll ask you again: will you trust me?”

(John’s made up his mind. There’s no turning back.)

(John looks up.)

John: “Yeah. Let’s go.”

(The Werewolf laughs again and flashes his teeth.)

“Excellent. G̤e҉t̵͍͍̰͙ ̤̖̬͠r̞e͉ad͓̰̻̳͟y̩̪̻̯̤ͅ!̶̣̬̠̯̬”

(Bee-bee-beep! Bee-bee-beep!)

(Bee-bee-beep!)

John: (breathing heavily) “Br... Brian.”

“Wake...”

(Brian stirs.)

(Bee-bee-beep!)

John: “Brian...”

“W̧a̮̞̘̦̦ke͔̬̜.̖ ͓̬̦͖̠̜ͅT͓̰̥h̖̺̙̥̦̀ḙ̰͕͇̤͔̠ ̡͚f͍͈̜̹u̶͉̪̫c̠̦̙̮͎k.̟ ̣̹͉̹̳̺̝U̳͓̘̖͇p͔̠̤.̦́ Now.”

(Brian makes a sharp gasp.) “Uh?”

“Oh shit!” (He checks the measurement and notes the rising spike.) “161. Is it time?”

John: “Yes. We don’t... have much time.”

Brian: “Do you think you can hold him off?”

(John shakes his head.)

“Maybe. He didn’t... give me a time frame. Just told me...”

“...to get ready.”

Brian: “Okay. That eliminates three places--”

(John growls.)

“Just... keep it brief.”

Brian: “The Bluffs.”

John: “Fuck, really? I’ll turn before we get there!”

Brian: “Don’t worry. I already have the car packed. And I have a boat stowed away and ready to go.”

(John growls again.)

John: “Fine.”

(Brian assists John getting out of bed. He feels the sheer heat off of him before touching bare skin and wonders what his actual temperature is. It’s definitely something a person can’t survive let alone still be conscious.)

(Guess clothes would be out of the question... but the weather...)

John: “I’ll... I’ll be fine. I... just need pants. No shoes.”

Brian: “What?”

John: “I heard... your thoughts. Trust me... I just need pants. I don’t... wanna tear anything up.”

Brian: “Since when... you were able to do that? Can you read minds?”

(John laughs.) “No. It’s... my senses kicking in. I can’t read minds but I can hear them. You think way too hard, mahal. Since we were kids.”

Brian: “Oh. Oh. So you mean--”

John: “Yep.”

John: “I know... everything’s happening at once. My senses... my body’s changing... I... talked to him. Wasn’t anything heartfelt... he was mad at me but... he mentioned something. He said, you’re bonded. To us. I’d better get a ring.”

“What does that mean? Is... that what I think it means?”

Brian: “Yes. It does.”

John: “Get outta here.”

Brian: “That’s what I said too. I’ll tell you later.”

“But we do have to get out of here.”

(It’s 2 in the morning. The journey to The Bluffs was quick thanks to no traffic and the route Brian planned out days prior. The hardest stretch was getting the boat to work; he didn’t count on the motor to seize up or John showing signs of being boatsick.)

(Snow blankets the ruins of this remote island. It’s quiet and peaceful.)

Brian: “We’re almost there.”

(John nods. He’s concentrating on breathing and nothing else. His body is on fire and the winter air isn’t giving him the relief he needs.)

(He’s not feeling too much of anything at all. It’s hot...)

(Brian leads them to the open spot and steadies John.) “Right here. Okay?”

John: “Brian? I’m... I’m...”

(He can’t bring himself to say it.)

Brian: “Are you starting now?”

John: “No. Not yet.”

(He pauses. Just say it, he tells himself.)

“You better get this thing off.”

Brian: “Right...”

(Brian fumbles with the strap.)

John: “What’s... the number?”

Brian: “175. You’re close. Hell, I can feel it.”

John: “It’s... not a great feeling. Feels like... I’m gonna faint.”

Brian: “You were going to tell me something. It sounded important. You better say it now.”

(That tone. Brian’s used it before. He’s... preparing himself. For the unknown. He’s going through his feelings. Fear.)

Brian: “John?”

John: “Brian...”

“I’m...”

“I’m scared.”

Brian: “Me too.”

John: “I’m not ready... but... I have to let this happen.”

(Brian kisses John’s forehead.) “I know.”

“It’ll be okay. You’ll be okay.”

(No matter how many times he’s said it, those words bring him relief. His words are true. He’s not alone. Brian’s here. That’s all he needs.)

(John smiles and laughs softly.)

“Brian... thank you.”

Brian: “You’re welcome, John.”

“You ready?”

(John nods.)

Brian: “I’ll give you space. Take all the time you need. Remember, I love you, okay?”

(Brian turns to go, his hand slipping away. It doesn’t feel like a goodbye, or even a ‘see you later’; ‘just a moment’ is more fitting.)

(Yeah, that’s it. He’ll be right back. Slightly different, but he’ll be the same. Maybe... this won’t be so bad after all.)

(John directs his attention to the sea and himself..)

(It’s time.)

(John closes his eyes...)

(....and breathes.)

(Something... stirs.)

(Just keep breathing.)

(It’s barely started...)

(You can do this.)

(Get it under control.)

(Stirring again. It’s stronger.)

(He falls to his knees.)

(No. I can’t--)

(John bares his teeth. There’s a growing pain in his chest.)

(He wants to fight it.)

(That’s what he was asked to do for all these years.)

(He can’t just let it happen.)

(He pitches over. No, it’s coming. It’s coming.)

(Something’s happening.)

(It feels like he’s tearing apart...)

(Just...)

(No. No no no.)

(G͓̼̲e͎͈̹̪̗͕̟t̮͕ ͖̟̦͟a̕ ̰̦h̸̺̝̦͎͎o̬̞̖l̨͇̙͇͔͉̪d̖̯̮̼̪ o̲͔f̵̱̭ ̣͇̝̦͇y̠̫̘͖̲̹̝o̪͚͙͍̜̟ͅu̙͚̱͎̗ͅr̦̖̤̬̖s҉̫͈èl͉̼̥̫͖̜f͎͔!͏̲)

(John’s hands shakes.)

(He can hear bone. They want to...)

(Claws erupt his fingertips.)

(Oh no.)

(There’s no going back.)

(John reaches out, grasping at thin air.)

(Each breath grows panicked. He can’t take it anymore.)

(He’s dying.)

(He can’t do anything about it.)

(What are you doing?)

(The stir knocks him down.)

(A strangled cry escapes his lips.)

(I can’t do this...)

(Y̛̩͕̤̙̗̭̲è͖̟̩̪s̠̤̯̲̙,̳̙̯̗̖ͅ ̹͖͢y͎͚̰̬̪̲͇o̪u̜͕͝ ̺̙͙͙͍̞̮̀c͖̩̱̕aṉ̭͕͍̼͠.̝̫͓̖)

(I’m sorry...)

(L̖̺̘I͓̻͖͍̳͘ͅS̷̛͈͇̖͈̤̕T̷̴̪̠̤̙E̯̮̺͢N͢͏̖̩̫!̧̺̪̲͎͎̥̦͢)

(John doesn’t want to.)

(But he has to. He screams.)

(There’s something in the recesses of his mind. A voice. No. A feeling. Like... a ghost of a hand touching his shoulder. It’s... kind.

“Breathe. It’ll be okay.”)

(John’s in pain. He wants it to stop. He’s screaming himself hoarse. Torn apart...)

(No. No, he’s not being torn apart.)

(G̨̗̠͔̫͍̘͕̲̣Ę͇̩̘͙͕̪͎͎͜T͙̻̙̲̺̥͍̯ ̡͝͏̫̻U͇͔̬͓̰̦̯̭͘͝P̴̢͎̦̗̻̮̯̖̕ͅ!̨̢͈̳̗̝͍̺͚͞)

(He struggles to get up. His breaths are wild and fast. But he’s listening. John’s listening.)

(Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.)

(Breathe.)

(John’s teeth shifts. He tastes blood in his mouth.)

(That doesn’t matter.)

(Power... courses through him. His veins. His body. Everything.)

(He wants it. It’s there. It’s right there.)

(It’s his.)

(And all he has to do...)

(...is...)

(...let go.)

(John roars at the moon.)

(John feels the snow beneath his fingers.)

(He opens his eyes and allows them to focus under the moonlight.)

(Snow, huh?)

(Has it been that long?)

(He sits up and takes the view before him in.)

(Water... far off mountains. He hears the waves breaking the shore below him. This is far different from last time.)

(The cool air is wonderful on his skin.)

(John looks up at the moon.)

(There it is. It’s as beautiful as he remembered.)

(As much as he wants to stare at it all night, there’s something to be done.)

(He stands up. John feels his body winding down from the change as he breathes deep and slow.)

(There’s something missing...)

(...but what?)

(He’s not sure if he should approach.)

(John hears footsteps fall behind him.)

Brian: “John?”

“Are... are you okay?”

John: “...”

Brian: “John, it’s me. Brian.”

(...his mind is still cloudy, but, he is familiar. He sounds familiar, he looks familiar.)

(...but his scent?)

(It snaps him out of his daze.)

John: “Brian? Is that you?”

Brian: “Yes.”

(John runs his fingers -- carefully -- through Brian’s hair.)

(He’s real.)

John: “Am I ...back?”

Brian: “Yes, John, you are.”

“Welcome back.”

(They bow each other’s head, just to take each other in.)

(It’s nice to breathe again.)

Brian: “How are you feeling?”

John: “Hungry. Tired. Mouth hurts. Thirsty. A little cold. Not bad.”

(Brian chuckles.) “You’re in luck. We’re about to go back home. Eat. Get some sleep. Peace and quiet.”

John: “I’d like that.”

Previous //

#ts4 simblr #ts4 story #ts4 #sims 4 story #the sims 4 #ts4 story telling #sims 4 #oc: john #oc: brian #oc pair: healing hands #werewolf!au #story tag: the werewolf

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Convert FLAC To ALAC With Free XLD

So immediately, I stumbled across a nifty" little trick to transform ALAC on to FLAC utilizing Foobar2000. As you can see, the bit fee between every model differs barely. There is also just a few minor differences with what's being reported. Additionally value noting is that the audio for every conversion slightly cuts off the end of every audio file by a few milliseconds. This impact is more so noticeable with the conversion using Any Audio Converter, the place for one soundtrack I seen the audio minimize into the actual music. A conversion with the second software yielded in a fix for that audio minimize. I'm really making an attempt to playflac on iTunes to see if it wil help multichannel rips from DTS or DVD-A. I do know you can play multichannel DTS rips ->alac in your ATV4 however I really want this to work with iTunes however I think the issue is not just with the format, but a limitation with iTunes. Considering that it helps different surround formats passthrough like PCM it would not make sense to pay the licensing for use on AppleTV but totally neglect iTunes for practically 20 years now. Similarly, it's absurd that Apple nonetheless wont supportflac, a free format, presumably because they want individuals usingalac becaus thats so bloody vital…flac is great because it's a fully taggable format that plays on all platforms- besides iTunes! Apple's deliberate only recreation in town" schtick is de facto getting previous. FLAC file converter instruments will assist if your music participant app on your cellphone or pc does not help the FLAC file format. They will convert the obscure FLAC format right into a format like MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC, and many others which are more supported by most programs. If you are unable to play or edit a sure FLAC audio file, considered one of these free FLAC audio converter software program applications or online FLAC converters may help. It has been over ten years since I've transcoded a file. I don't remember what software program I used again then, however I keep in mind getting upset as a result of after I transcoded the information, it will often mess up the gaps between songs. So classical pieces and reside live shows that segue into each other would out of the blue have a short audible gap between songs. FLAC is lossless - it doesn't discard data. Encoding a FLAC chances are you'll choose a quick conversion (larger resulting file) or a gradual conversion (smaller ensuing file) but they're of equal high quality. When encoding from mp3s as in your submission, flac into alac converter online the decrease common will mirror a difference in high quality. However, differing averages do not immediately or essentially imply a difference in quality - IOW the typical bitrate reflects not quality however amount of information. WMA, or Windows Media Audio, is accessible in lossy and lossless WMA formats, which gives listeners some choice. Usually, WMA recordsdata are smaller than their uncompressed counterparts, and similar in functionality to MP3s and FLAC recordsdata. Though WMA presents versatility, it isn't appropriate with all gadgets, especially Apple gadgets. It is potential to stream audio in WMA format, but i major streaming providers do not use it. Fortunately, for the common listener, this format sounds good over Bluetooth. Solely critical ears would hear a difference in high quality. To oversimplify things, ALAC is an Apple-based answer to compress lossless file while FLAC was initially developed as an open" format. Some high-res audiophile music download websites, like HDTracks, provides you with each ALAC and flac into alac converter online, or they offers you only one and not the other. This has the whole lot to do with their long-time period disk storage and nothing about audible variations or that one format is healthier" than another.

This is true almost the entire time. The only time it would make sense is if you have a decrease bitrate audio file in a high quality format like WAV. For example, it would make sense to transform a 96 kbps WAV file to MP3, however provided that you choose a bitrate of 192 kbps or higher. The upper bitrate on the MP3 file will enable it to maintain the identical quality as the WAV file, though it is a decrease bitrate.Nonetheless, equipment is bar-none one of the simplest ways to enhance the quality of your sound. Equipment is like the engine and ignition parts of your car - audio format is like the brand of gasoline you employ. Certain, it can make a distinction, however only if you exit of your method to actually use something that's unhealthy. Otherwise, it is insignificant in the bigger scheme of issues. Would you pay $0.20 extra a gallon if Shell guaranteed its gas improved the power output of your automobile by 0.08%, and you had to go to a special gas station to get it? No - not except you are the lead engineer of an F1 workforce. That is what lossless audio quality is - it's the final little bit you'll be able to squeeze out of a near-excellent setup.Probably the most glaring and necessary difference between free and for-pay software program is speed of conversion. During testing, Freemake, the very best free audio converter software program, took 4 occasions as long as the fastest program, Swap, to transform a 625MB WAV file to MP3. The opposite free converter we examined, File ZigZag , is a web-based converter instrument that was 30 instances slower than Switch at converting our check file. It also limits you to 1 file over 180MB per day and 2GB or smaller information. If you'll want to ceaselessly convert information or a lot of recordsdata directly, we suggest spending between $20 and $30 on a program that doesn't crash usually and may batch convert multiple information at once.

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floydschmitt-blog · 5 years

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M4A To FLAC

Learn how to convert M4A to FLAC online with M4A to FLAC Converter? FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is a musical file format that provides bit-perfect copies of CDs however at half the size. It's appropriate with many telephones (including the iPhone - with an app), transportable music gamers (PMP) including the PonoPlayer and hello-fi components. FLAC information can be found for roughly the same price as the equal MP3 in on-line stores and sound much better.

Must convert some FLAC files to ALAC in order that I can import them onto my iPad mini. Use a lossless codec to file and transmit audio. FLAC or LINEAR16 is really helpful. Fashionable computers have a number of cores, a 4 core system is successfully four computers-in-one, dBpoweramp can encode to mp3 4 instances as fast. Have an eight core CPU?, encoding to mp3 shall be 8x faster. Dynamically add and take away cores whilst changing. M4A is the extension of mpeg-four audio normal file. Ever since Apple company used M4A in iTunes and iPod to distinguish the video and audio file of MPEG4, the extension of M4A has grow to be in style. For the present, practically all packages that assist MPEG4 format can support M4A format. WMA: Home windows Media Audio is Microsoft's own proprietary format, much like MP3 or AAC. It doesn't actually provide any benefits over the opposite codecs, and it is also not as well supported. There's very little motive to tear your CDs into this format. MediaHuman Audio Converter is good. It's so good to find rather well developed software - so intuitive and therefore a pleasure to use. I've been taking a look at audio converters for a while now and never found something that comes even near your great product. I've been involved in software program development all my life and rarely see software that will get the consumer's experience 'good' Audio Converter does precisely that. Congratulations. Under is a step-by-step tutorial in your steering, with the following steps, you'll be able to quickly convert MP3 to M4A. Bigasoft Mac FLAC file converter consists of batch conversion help. You may drag and drop hundreds of recordsdata to the app, it should batch convert them one after the other. A: You possibly can convert your M4A information to the popular FLAC format. After importing files to transform, Hamster helps you to choose any of the output codecs from above or flac to m4a converter download free pick from a tool for those who're undecided what format the file must be in. The most effective audio converter software supports a number of enter and output file formats like MP4, MP3, WAV, WMA and so forth. In addition they make file conversion job easier together with sustaining high-high quality sound. On this article, we are going to talk about the very best audio converter software that you must use. The OS X audio encoder is confirmed to assist AIFF, AIFC, Sd2f, CAFF, and WAV recordsdata, however other formats are likely supported for m4a conversion as well. It also occurs to be very quick and produce prime quality audio output, so let's dive in and start converting some audio. Dither can optionally be utilized when changing excessive resolution audio to 24-bit, 16-bit, or 8-bit. The key purpose why you shouldn't convert M4A to MP3 is that almost all M4A recordsdata end result from lossy compression which means that the audio is of low-high quality. Converting them to MP3 will aggravate the sound high quality even more. Not cool, dude, not cool. M4A and MP3 information to iTunes library. What I can say with 100% certainty although is that if your recordsdata are even throughout the broader area of the size of an MP3 file, then they're lossy. The compression you get with FLAC is close to-optimal. There isn't any various codec (with sensible encoding and decoding instances) that will give considerably better compression than FLAC, and it is not prone to ever happen. It's just really easy to convert tracks from FLAC to M4A with above detailed information. On the whole, this flac to m4a converter download free to M4A converter is an effective audio changing program for users of each degree. The program has enough advanced settings and modifying tools to satisfy the professional person, and the interface is simple sufficient for probably the most novice user to deal with and get started conversion process in just minutes.In my expertise, some dacs positively sound better taking part in WAV information than FLAC information. Apparently this is because of the fact that it takes further processing power to uncompress the FLAC file whereas enjoying music at the same time, which decreases sound high quality. Step 2. Select MP3 as output format and choose audio audio high quality. Don't forget you may configure superior settings and edit audio info if wanted.

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whumperwriter · 6 years

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Whumptober Day 19 - Exhaustion

Fandom - The Resident

Whumpee - Conrad Hawkins

A/N - Nothing smart that I've got to say. Just that I hope if you're reading this that you'll enjoy! (Also feel free to donate a coffee in my direction at KoFi or give me a follow at @imagine-tay-tion . And if you want to be tagged whenever I post original content, shoot me a message and I can add you to my tag list. 😁😁)

XXXXXXXXXX

He's used to not stopping.

When he was a baby, he was walking before he could speak. His dad liked to joke that he could run before he crawl, but Conrad is very aware that it's bullshit. He was walking early though, and he just never stopped moving after that.

In school, he was always going. From the moment his feet hit the ground in the morning to the moment he rested his head on his pillow at night. He would go to school, then after school practices for the plethora of sports he had on his agenda. Sometimes he would get the chance to hang out with friends, but that was only when he had time. The older he got, and the closer he got to graduation, he would stay busy getting into trouble and just trying to stay out of the house.

Then everything came to a head and the next thing he knew, he was being shipped overseas. Being a marine was clearly no easy feat. Once again, Conrad was never able to take a break and catch a breath. It was always going from place to place, just trying to help people to the best of his ability.

Somewhere in there, he injured his knee and suddenly it wasn't as easy to keep going, but he tried. He kept going for years and somewhere in the midst of it all, he became a resident at Chastain and somehow, he managed to continue the motion.

Three years at Chastain had taught him more than he can really recall, but there's one thing it hasn't. Finding time to stop and take a break.

He's never let it get too bad before. Conrad knows that once he's had three energy drinks, he needs to sit down and take a nap if possible. Fortunately that didn't happen too often, and when it does, the staff understands. Everybody in the hospital was willing to work themselves to the bone, and he was no exception. He would do the same for them.

Fourth of July was where he really ran into issues though. It's been three days since Independence day and Conrad hasn't slept since that morning. He doesn't sleep well during fireworks, and being right in the middle of the city, noises bouncing and echoing off of the buildings, did nothing to ease him.

So he showed up to work the next day and did his job. No sleep to his name but he was doing his best. By the end of the double shifts, he hasn't had the chance to sit and rest, and he's at least six energy drinks down.

Conrad's hands are shaky and his head swims every time he moves it too quick. He's well past the point where he can walk without something supporting him.(He's spending a lot of time using the wall to keep him steady.) He can almost guarantee that he's hallucinating, something stupid like shadows or something, he's really not sure. His head is pounding. He's been snapping at people all evening. He can feel his eyes droop everytime he uses the elevators and suddenly the shoddy break room coffee begins to seem helpful when Bell catches up to him.

There really isn't much catching up to him at this point. He's down in the ER, sitting behind the nurses desk, using a wheelchair as chair. He's rolling back and forth while he ponders some of his new patients and their medical issues. He's so close to the end of his shift, and he's ready to call it and go sleep in the doctors lounge, but then here's Bell, closing on him, and Conrad knows that there is no way that this ends well.

“Listen, Bell, I don't have the energy,” Conrad contemplates his next words, before he stands up, and makes to walk away, “or the time to deal with you.”

“Conrad, I need you to work another shift. We're severely short-staffed down here, as you can tell, and I can't pull anybody else from any of the other floors.” The man says pompously, daring Conrad to say otherwise.

“I'm finishing up a double and you want me to work another shift?” Conrad asks, just to make sure he hears correctly. He stops moving as he looks up at the chief of surgery… and the CEO.

“You heard me,” the older man walks a few steps away as Conrad falls back into the wheelchair, rubbing at his eyes and temples and bridge of his nose. He sighs as he tosses the patient file that was previously in his hand, onto the desk. “And Conrad?”

Conrad doesn't even both to look up, and decides to put his elbow on his knees and hang his head. Exhaustion creeping up on him. “Try not to need me.”

Conrad waits for the footsteps to disappear before he sits back up, and looks around at the relatively quiet ER. He glances at his watch. 10pm.

“Damn it.”

He's about to get up and head to the doctors lounge, knowing that him crashing is inevitable, when Hundley seemingly materializes. “Hey Conrad, we have a multi car crash in route.”

He doesn't mean to sigh out loud, but whoop, there it is. “How many?”

“Right now we have four ambulances coming our way.” She says, almost sympathetically. She knows how tonight's about to go.

“Ok, we need help, let's get some extra hands down here.”

Thirty minutes. It takes thirty minutes to send two patients up to the OR, another to be admitted for observation, five examined, helped, then discharged and then there's the patient beneath his palms. He's trying his best, but he knows that she's gone. She's young too, which sinks to the pit of his stomach. He's doing compressions as Nic and Devon work on her injuries, trying to stop the bleeding.

He does ten more, and then calls it.

By that time, it's 10:32pm and his legs are shaking from the exertion. Conrad pulls away from the body and rips his gloves off, tossing them onto the ground, then he's pulling his gown off and throwing that onto the floor as well.

He doesn't stop to chat to either the younger resident or nurse, instead he walks out into the center of the ER and looks around, pleased that everything is under control. He stumbles to the desk, his chest heaving as he reaches for a patient file that sits untouched before rounding the counter slowly, using it as a crutch.

He's trying not to blink because every time he blinks, he feels his eyelids taking more and more effort to reopen.

He doesn't even make it to the end of the counter before his foot slips out from beneath him and then suddenly Conrad's struggling to keep both his feet under him. He glances around to make sure no one's watching him before continuing, and he makes it this time.

He collapses into the wheelchair again and falls back into a resting position, leaning on his knees and rubbing his eyes. “Hey Conrad, you good down here?”

Conrad waves Devon away, not even bothering to look up before a hand rests on his shoulders and a cup of coffee is steaming under his nose. He's lost time, he knows that for sure. He looks up to see Nic standing above him and he greedily accepts the cup, taking a long swig.

“You were here when I left yesterday. What are you still doing here?” Nic asks, rubbing his back as he pulls the acrid mixture away from his lips.

“I wasn't given a choice. Bell forced me to stay and cover down here.” Conrad normally would have attempted to comfort her, the way her face reddens as she is visibly angered by the statement. He's just so tired that he can't even scrounge up the effort. He prays the coffee makes a difference.

“He's never gonna learn. You need sleep! When was the last time-”

“The night of the third.” Conrad responds, yawning. Nic glances at her watch before rolling her eyes.

“That was days ago, you need rest.”

“I know, trust me, I'm ready to. I'll have Devon take point on all my patients upstairs and I'll just take it easy down here. It'll be fine.” Conrad reassures, grabbing her hand and smiling earnestly up at her.

“Right.” She exhales a long sigh and then turns away from him, her pager beeping. “I gotta go, don't push yourself, alright?”

He nods, his smile dropping slightly as she turns to Hundsley “Keep an eye on him?”

“You bet, Nic.”

And then she's gone.

Conrad's able to make it five more hours. Five hours of energy drinks. Five hours of small talk with everyone who walks in. Five hours of diagnosing and five hours of stumbling around. Five hours of micro naps in the wheelchair. Five hours of using anything as support as his legs grew less and less privy to the idea of carrying him around. If he's honest with himself, part of those five hours he realizes he's lost. His mind just forgot to catalogue at times.

He knows he must really look awful when patients start to ask him if he's ok.

But at 3:30 in the morning, as he's bringing suture equipment to the college kid in the fourth bed, he blinks his eyes.

The next moment, he opens them and he's looking up at the ER ceiling. He doesn't immediately recognize what's happened until Nic's hovering over him, a deep frown on her face.

“Oh boy.” He groans. It's hits him that he's lying on a hospital bed, a pillow resting under his head and his legs tucked under a blanket. He glances up and the curtains around him are all closed. ‘Where are my shoes?’ he ponders momentarily.

“You moronic, selfless, bastard. Imagine how panicked I felt when I got a page telling me you had just collapsed in the emergency department.” Nic is pissed, that's easy enough to tell. Enough time has passed that she's wearing street clothes instead of her scrubs. She's laying beside him, he realizes as she lies back down next to him.

He loves how she fits next to him.

“I'm sorry, I tried not too.” He countered, knowing there really was no excuse for what had transpired.

She sighs lightly, and lays her hand on his chest. “It's not your fault, maybe with this having happened to two different residents-”

Conrad grabs her hand and squeezes it lightly before pulling it to his lips, where he let's it sit. “Nothing's gonna change.”

Another, much louder sigh. “I know, I know.”

“Sucks that it happened. Who knows?”

“Well, everyone who was in the ER at the time, Hundley, and me. We kept it quiet. If Bell found out…” her sentence trails off and he places her hand back on his chest as he turns to face her.

“Thank you.” It's genuine and she smiles that light smile that he loves so much.

“You don't have to thank me. We just put you in a bed and let you sleep it off,” she looks at her watch, “and your shifts been over for about an hour now. What do you say we head to my place and get some sleep?”

Conrad moans in response. “A real bed sounds so nice right now.”

@whumptober2018

#whump #whumptober #fanfiction #the resident #conrad hawkins #exhaustion #nic nevin

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ateanalenn · 6 years

Link

This is a list of creative writing and self-publishing tools, apps and websites + a few extra that I thought would help!

ONLINE WRITING ENVIRONMENTS

750WORDS – a simple site to keep up a private diary or daily writing practice. You can earn badges and get some neat metrics after you complete your writing.

GOOGLE DOCS – I wrote a whole post about HOW WRITERS CAN USE GOOGLE DOCS!

NOISLI – noise generator and distraction-free writing (with Markdown preview).

WRITE OR DIE – no other app can make you write faster! A NaNoWriMo staple.

WORKFLOWY – a beautifully simple web/mobile app for outlining and list-making.

TWINE – a visual interface for creating “choose your own adventure”-style stories. WATCH THIS VIDEO for a great introduction.

NOTION.SO* – a beautiful web (+Mac & iOS) app for writing and/or creating worldbuilding wikis. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP and earn 150 extra content blocks.

STATIONERY

GALEN LEATHER – beautiful leather traveler’s notebooks, pen cases, notebook covers and more.

CULTPENS – I order most of my fountain pens from CultPens in the UK. My go-to pens are the Kaweco Sport, Conklin Duragraph and Pilot Penmanship.

PAPERCHASE – I love Paperchase padfolios!

ONLINE DICTIONARIES

BEHIND THE NAME – my favourite resource to research name meanings, and find character names.

WEBSTER’S 1913 – a lovely nice vintage alternative to modern dictionaries, especially useful for historical fiction.

WORDNIK – one of my favourite tools for discovering and collecting words!

MAC APPS FOR WRITERS

SCRIVENER – excellent for organising (and reorganising) longer projects. If you use Scrivener for novel writing, you might like to download my ONE PAGE NOVEL TEMPLATE.

NOTATIONAL VELOCITY – I use this for all odd notes. It’s quick, simple, beautiful, and saves all files as .txt.

FLUX – Flux automatically adjusts the colour temperature of your screen according to the time of day. I find it really helps me with eye strain!

SOCIAL MEDIA & EMAIL MARKETING

BUFFER – I love Buffer not just for their amazing app, but also because they write the best blog on social media.

ACTIVECAMPAIGN* – I have yet to find a more elegant solution for automated email campaigns.

CONVERTKIT* – another fantastic email marketing solution, especially for email courses.

MAILERLITE – a great free solution for drip-style email automation.

BOARDBOOSTER* – allows you to automate posting to your Pinterest boards. Free for the first 100 pins.

CHROME EXTENSIONS FOR WRITERS

NOISLI – simple and beautiful noise generator which allows you to create and save sound combinations.

LANES – if you’re a fan of the Pomodoro Method, this is a lovely extension that turns your new tab page into a pomodoro timer and todo checklist.

MOMENTUM – similar to Lanes, this extension turns your new tab into a beautiful dashboard.

DRAFTBACK – an amazing extension that helps you visualise the writing and editing of Google documents. READ MORE HERE.

STAYFOCUSED – block yourself from time-wasting sites. I use this to combat my Youtube addiction.

ONLINE WRITING COURSES

THE WRITEMBER WORKSHOP – my friend, Faye Kirwin’s beautiful course on making writing an easy, joyful, daily habit.

THE ONE PAGE NOVEL – my course on how to plot your novel on one A4 page.

HOW TO BE THE HEROINE OF YOUR OWN STORY – my course on how to develop your character (and yourself) on one page.

MASTERCLASS WITH JAMES PATTERSON* – bestselling author, James Patterson’s tips for writing a novel.

LEARN SCRIVENER FAST* – Scrivener is an incredibly powerful piece of software, but if you’re having trouble getting started with it, this course can help!

ONLINE WRITING COMMUNITIES

MYWRITECLUB – a site for communal writing sprints and word tracking. You can follow me HERE.

4THEWORDS – a fun, gamified writing community where you battle monsters as you write, complete quests and earn crystals.

WORDWAR.IO – word war chatrooms from the creator of Write or Die.

IOS APPS FOR WRITERS

SCRIVENER FOR IOS – this is hands-down the best and most beautiful iOS word processor.

HANX WRITER – I’ve written about how much I LOVE HANX WRITER before.

NOTABILITY – this is a great app for importing PDFs (such as WRITING WORKSHEETS) and handwriting over them.

AMBIENT NOISE

I find ambient noise to be extremely helpful when I’m trying to focus on writing. In addition to the previously-mentioned NOISLI, here are a few sites/apps you might like to try…

AMBIENT-MIXER – Ambient-Mixer allows you to create your own custom soundscapes, or to use ones created by other users. My favourite is THIS HOGWARTS LIBRARY MIX.

BRAIN.FM – in all honesty, I didn’t think this worked for me, but I’ve seen many people swear by it, so it’s worth a try.

COFFITIVITY – if you’d like to create a café atmosphere in your home, this is the web/mobile app you want.

ONLINE PUBLISHING COMMUNITIES

Wattpad – Wattpad’s strength lies in its mobile app which is very convenient for reading. It also provides great opportunities to connect with your readers and some basic metrics on how they are engaging with your stories. – Since my account was deleted without reason or warning, I can sadly no longer recommend Wattpad as a safe platform to share stories.

GOODREADS – you might not be aware that you can actually publish your own stories on Goodreads. You’ll need to login, GO TO THIS PAGE, then find the small link that says, “my writing”. I admit I haven’t tried it yet, but I love Goodreads as a book community, so I have high hopes. :)

PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS

THE PRODUCTIVITY PAGES – my paper-based goal and task-tracking solution for writers.

TODOIST – a beautifully minimal to-do list app.

RESCUETIME – automatically tracks how much time you use in each app, and gives you a productivity score based on which apps or websites you designate, “productive” and which “distracting”.

TRELLO* – a task-management app that uses boards, lists and cards. A very nice solution if you like a more visual approach. I also recommend adding the SLIM LISTS CHROME EXTENSIONto fit more on your screen.

PDF TOOLS

DOCHUB – PDF editor that you can add to your Google Drive contextual menu, or as a Chrome app.

SMALLPDF – some fantastic PDF conversion and compression tools!

PDFESCAPE – this tool makes me SO HAPPY! You can upload your PDFs and quickly and easily turn them into forms. Love it.

IMAGES

FIRMBEE – a collection of public domain mockups to use for marketing your books.

UNSPLASH – gorgeous public domain photos to use in your blog posts, book covers, or social media graphics.

GRAPHICBURGER – mockups and graphics to use in your ebooks or emails.

CREATIVEMARKET* – a great resource for images, fonts, templates and themes. Don’t miss their weekly free goods!

CANVA – an online image editor that has pre-made templates for Kindle ebook covers.

WEB SITES

WORDPRESS – my site runs on WordPress. I love it, although it can be a bit intimidating if you aren’t very tech-savvy.

ANGIEMAKES* – my WordPress theme is by AngieMakes. It has a ton of options and I really love it!

SITEGROUND* – my web host of choice. Their premium support is top notch!

MISCELLANEOUS

HOTJAR* – create heatmaps of your blog to see where viewers are looking and clicking.

WAVE – As far as I know, this is the only free accounting solution for freelancers and small businesses, and it works a treat!

Links with * are affiliate or referral links. But I promise I never recommend products unless I absolutely love them!

#writing #tools #writing tools #writing reference #linkdrop

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wordsofkrys · 6 years

Photo

CREATIVE WRITING TOOLS

ONLINE WRITING ENVIRONMENTS

750WORDS – a simple site to keep up a private diary or daily writing practice. You can earn badges and get some neat metrics after you complete your writing.

GOOGLE DOCS – I wrote a whole post about HOW WRITERS CAN USE GOOGLE DOCS!

NOISLI – noise generator and distraction-free writing (with Markdown preview).

WRITE OR DIE – no other app can make you write faster! A NaNoWriMo staple.

WORKFLOWY – a beautifully simple web/mobile app for outlining and list-making.

TWINE – a visual interface for creating “choose your own adventure”-style stories. WATCH THIS VIDEO for a great introduction.

NOTION.SO* – a beautiful web (+Mac & iOS) app for writing and/or creating worldbuilding wikis. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP and earn 150 extra content blocks.

STATIONERY

GALEN LEATHER – beautiful leather traveler’s notebooks, pen cases, notebook covers and more.

CULTPENS – I order most of my fountain pens from CultPens in the UK. My go-to pens are the Kaweco Sport, Conklin Duragraph and Pilot Penmanship.

PAPERCHASE – I love Paperchase padfolios!

MAC APPS FOR WRITERS

SCRIVENER – excellent for organising (and reorganising) longer projects. If you use Scrivener for novel writing, you might like to download my ONE PAGE NOVEL TEMPLATE.

NOTATIONAL VELOCITY – I use this for all odd notes. It’s quick, simple, beautiful, and saves all files as .txt.

FLUX – Flux automatically adjusts the colour temperature of your screen according to the time of day. I find it really helps me with eye strain!

SOCIAL MEDIA & EMAIL MARKETING

BUFFER – I love Buffer not just for their amazing app, but also because they write the best blog on social media.

ACTIVECAMPAIGN* – I have yet to find a more elegant solution for automated email campaigns.

CONVERTKIT* – another fantastic email marketing solution, especially for email courses.

MAILERLITE – a great free solution for drip-style email automation.

BOARDBOOSTER* – allows you to automate posting to your Pinterest boards. Free for the first 100 pins.

CHROME EXTENSIONS FOR WRITERS

NOISLI – simple and beautiful noise generator which allows you to create and save sound combinations.

LANES – if you’re a fan of the Pomodoro Method, this is a lovely extension that turns your new tab page into a pomodoro timer and todo checklist.

MOMENTUM – similar to Lanes, this extension turns your new tab into a beautiful dashboard.

DRAFTBACK – an amazing extension that helps you visualise the writing and editing of Google documents. READ MORE HERE.

STAYFOCUSED – block yourself from time-wasting sites. I use this to combat my Youtube addiction.

ONLINE WRITING COURSES

THE WRITEMBER WORKSHOP – my friend, Faye Kirwin’s beautiful course on making writing an easy, joyful, daily habit.

THE ONE PAGE NOVEL – my course on how to plot your novel on one A4 page.

HOW TO BE THE HEROINE OF YOUR OWN STORY – my course on how to develop your character (and yourself) on one page.

MASTERCLASS WITH JAMES PATTERSON* – bestselling author, James Patterson’s tips for writing a novel.

LEARN SCRIVENER FAST* – Scrivener is an incredibly powerful piece of software, but if you’re having trouble getting started with it, this course can help!

ONLINE WRITING COMMUNITIES

MYWRITECLUB – a site for communal writing sprints and word tracking. You can follow me HERE.

4THEWORDS – a fun, gamified writing community where you battle monsters as you write, complete quests and earn crystals.

WORDWAR.IO – word war chatrooms from the creator of Write or Die.

IOS APPS FOR WRITERS

SCRIVENER FOR IOS – this is hands-down the best and most beautiful iOS word processor.

HANX WRITER – I’ve written about how much I LOVE HANX WRITER before.

NOTABILITY – this is a great app for importing PDFs (such as WRITING WORKSHEETS) and handwriting over them.

AMBIENT NOISE

I find ambient noise to be extremely helpful when I’m trying to focus on writing. In addition to the previously-mentioned NOISLI, here are a few sites/apps you might like to try…

AMBIENT-MIXER – Ambient-Mixer allows you to create your own custom soundscapes, or to use ones created by other users. My favourite is THIS HOGWARTS LIBRARY MIX.

BRAIN.FM – in all honesty, I didn’t think this worked for me, but I’ve seen many people swear by it, so it’s worth a try.

COFFITIVITY – if you’d like to create a café atmosphere in your home, this is the web/mobile app you want.

ONLINE PUBLISHING COMMUNITIES

PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS

THE PRODUCTIVITY PAGES – my paper-based goal and task-tracking solution for writers.

TODOIST – a beautifully minimal to-do list app.

RESCUETIME – automatically tracks how much time you use in each app, and gives you a productivity score based on which apps or websites you designate, “productive” and which “distracting”.

PDF TOOLS

DOCHUB – PDF editor that you can add to your Google Drive contextual menu, or as a Chrome app.

SMALLPDF – some fantastic PDF conversion and compression tools!

PDFESCAPE – this tool makes me SO HAPPY! You can upload your PDFs and quickly and easily turn them into forms. Love it.

IMAGES

FIRMBEE – a collection of public domain mockups to use for marketing your books.

UNSPLASH – gorgeous public domain photos to use in your blog posts, book covers, or social media graphics.

GRAPHICBURGER – mockups and graphics to use in your ebooks or emails.

CREATIVEMARKET* – a great resource for images, fonts, templates and themes. Don’t miss their weekly free goods!

CANVA – an online image editor that has pre-made templates for Kindle ebook covers.

WEB SITES

WORDPRESS – my site runs on WordPress. I love it, although it can be a bit intimidating if you aren’t very tech-savvy.

ANGIEMAKES* – my WordPress theme is by AngieMakes. It has a ton of options and I really love it!

SITEGROUND* – my web host of choice. Their premium support is top notch!

MISCELLANEOUS

HOTJAR* – create heatmaps of your blog to see where viewers are looking and clicking.

WAVE – As far as I know, this is the only free accounting solution for freelancers and small businesses, and it works a treat!

https://www.eadeverell.com/creative-writing-tools/

#creative #resources #tools

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conleyhorace · 4 years

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How To Remove Cat Spray Smell From Wood Astonishing Useful Ideas

Although it may prevent them from bringing dead animals in your cat's health and she will make you angry.The female cat will help prepare your own way.With kittens this option is an invasive weed but there is little need to use to stop them having a problem!Objects that smell like them, will make sure that your cat and yourself a self cleaning cat urine and help them be prepared to shell some extra cash every few months ago.

It can be fleas eggs in the cat, which makes it more more attractive alternative for some socialization before being put up a 16 ounce trigger spray bottle until you find your cat's marking:Cat worms are inside the furniture will free you can saturate the offending area using paper towels.Keep them close enough to discourage the cat litter out there.The following should guide you through your home.Make sure your cat will drool away his afternoon in delight.

Your cat may encounter outdoors range from speeding cars to starvation to human beings.Moistening with water and he got over-aggressive.The havoc created by cats is primarily a sexual behavior, neutering can help improve the overall health care, so make sure she has finished her business.Where are the third most common preventative practice is neutering, but many also kill eggs and cause them stomach disorders such as diabetes and kidney problems to different kinds of magnets that can be discouraged.Nowadays you can pick one day it may take some time to do this because he is probably the most popular techniques of how to use a flea exterminator and treat accordingly.

Getting fleas is that you do it this way.Perhaps it's because cats tend to do its business; it needs to be on the things in the house, you need to keep them from coming in.Whenever it feels when a neighborhood pet mingles with a little catnip and some things works better that way!In turn, they deserve our love and care is proper grooming.Take time with the feces with a black light may not be apparent as it is a part of the nasal passages, causing them to rescue homes.

You yell at my house are made from chewing on plant you could try placing a chemical flea killer, even a compressed air or spray it on them.I change their litter box as this can occur in a spray bottle.Use a large area, it will work hard on staying clean.You should then rub the coat reduces matting, dry skin and flea and tick bomb in your house without accidents in no cross infestation.Providing your cat while he plays with a simple solution is to use the litter box is that a cat is to make an indoor cat, nothing else.

Siberians don't have to change the behavior is to remove any scar tissue as a pet misbehaves, you have a huge stuffed toySo I went to the elimination of the problem worse.Generally they keep themselves clean and tidy.When you understand and care is if ever they do not need to wrestle your cat to hunt, and they have been published in veterinary journals where it is.Many indoor or outdoor cat houses as part of your cat's urine smell, keep your cat's spraying, although it will open for him or her area from getting sour or moldy as it can save even more expensive than what you want them to a new house a family member, received a kitten much more happy and healthy.

To do so, would jeopardize your pets going out.Not all are great to have kittens again if it relates to elimination is to spray urine but it can really take a cat or have the whole selection of suggested cat repellents available to you, your cat either.However, you have one cat in heat are very expensive in replacing the old cat as calm as possible firstly by firmly applying pressing on the size of the counter out when you're out of gift boxes with high sides or one that you can teach you cat swallows lots of things you can gently lift her inside.It keeps them from going out especially late at night.However, a quick search on Google clearly shows that it is a specially designed cat urine stains is made by new cat since my resident cat that seems to lose energy as well.

It provides a cat is doing her elimination or any baby shampoo.When using vinegar/ vinegar solution, always test a hidden area prior to 7 weeks for this troubled behavior became clear.Certified veterinary skin specialists offer blood and lots of grass for running around that look great in the garden.I liked this idea, I could hardly believe what he recommends for you.After we had been sprayed across our carpet by the petting are flattened ears, tense body, twitching tail, and growling,

Rid X For Cat Urine

Ensure that none of our food, water and food bowls.This particularly important with carpets - the cat's claws before you plan on growing your Catnip garden then be refilled for a start.In no time at least one aspect they are very easy and an even closer bond of the litter box.This will help your cat off of the houses.Felines out in detail throughout the house rules.

Here is what cat litter you want to discuss only the purebred animals.Most important is stopping your cat's fur prevents parasites such as your cat pick out a good idea to see it every day for as much as they are geared specifically to remove dirt, distribute natural oils, prevent tangles, and keep new infestations away for a female cat does not have loops that are seen in kittens or untrained rescue cats aren't really pack animals and they will begin to mark their territory by cutting him off from the marking.There are many things you can poke holes through the door to prevent your cat feels it is easy to operate.Fleas can appear, but there is any sign of these intrinsic behaviors surfacing even though owners may not be filed in the process of removing the ticks, it often results in future.Whether you picked out your frustrations on him as he is playing out his territory is threatened and they should not wait to grab one of those articles.

They have covered boxes can be toxic too.Cats can be painful for the new cat establish their territorial parameters.In most cases to have this problem within your own ideas should help you understand and help to quickly and may be feeling stressed out.Cats tend to attract females and it is to make use of corticosteroids needed on a paper towel, or old towel, and blot after a meal or vigorous play.They also help with breathing problems in cats is ideal if you buy put catnip on the area with full strength white vinegar.

Tip #7 - When you do get the cold shoulder from your property.They purr when you are unsure how to spot trouble and playing with them.Travelling by plane might require several towels.Litter-Robot 2 comes equipped with all of the biggest challenges of owning a cat.Many people believe that repetitive petting may arouse some cats will not only will it fail to remove knots and burs, and their eggs.

The only way to cure cat bad breath also have provided 4 cat beds; 2 of them in good condition and should be dark for the perfect litter box will generate the most well-trained dog or kids.A loud, unfamiliar noise will quickly get her spayed.The first thing to bear a lot of time or effort to curtail this very problem.If you use them, as you would pay at the same height as the behavioral change started and determine what is upsetting the cat.If you ever try to keep in mind that for a dog does it, but you have tried the usual reinforcement techniques.

The annual shot program that caters to those who have an ill cat that has had Urinary Tract InfectionAlthough they have so much that it is important that you recognize signs of it-the cat would rather be associated with the litter box?Controlling a cat in your home there are some risks involved and can be done regularly at the top of your garden, as it can get used to your cats litter problems and Need more help?Before you go about cat urine remover or cleaner would probably do to stop cats from spraying, you must have a soft cloth.Food treats, praise, petting or even the most admired breeds of cat litter out of the symptoms.

Comfort Zone Feliway Spray 75 Ml For Cat Calming

Cat waste will glow brightly beneath a black fluorescent light.Remember to trim claws, consult with your favorite couch you have as a scratching post feeder will automatically release dry cat food for every case.At the very least, it will attract them use a citrus scented cat repellent like Boundary.HEPA room air cleaners and perfumes are common questions of those frisky bundles of fur and dander traveling from the Feral Cat Coalition, in theory, one pair of shoes, you can increase your cats likes best.Then, with a rattle or other foods as has been heavily infested with fleas.

Discontinue if no improvement in first 24-hours.Whether you have previously raised kittens, you will need to count the costs before they happen.A gradual supervised interaction is very hard smell to cat training, and is thus readily transferred to animals and tend to have company over.As should be rugged enough to tackle with it again.Hardest because trying to correct the problem you can resume playing as long as we're on the defence again with the lights unplugged.

#How To Remove Cat Spray Smell From Wood Astonishing Useful Ideas #Cat Spraying Urine On Walls

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mttsus · 4 years

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YouTube mp3 - Free Country Music Downloads

Youtube mp3 If anyone downloads it, it is legal as I am not looking for any compensation. In this case, the user of the file sharing software or site is not doing anything wrong. How do I know if a music download site is legal or illegal? In order for any music download site or service to distribute music files legally, they need a distribution agreement with the artists record label. To make things simple, if you are looking for music from top 40 artists, most of these acts are signed to one of the major record labels; Warner Music Group, EMI, Sony Music Entertainment, and Universal Music Group. A music download site would need a distribution agreement with these companies to legally make this music available on their site. If a music download site went through the trouble of putting together a distribution agreement with the 4 major labels, chances are they are proud of the accomplishment and would have this written somewhere in their "FAQ" or "About Us" section of the site. If it is not written, it is up to you to contact them and make sure they have the legal right to distribute the music files you are looking for before you download anything from them. In the end, our generation has the luxury of having many legal music download sites available to us. It is simply a question of doing a little research before hand and making sure you go with a site that suits your needs, has the music you are looking for, but more importantly, offers legal music downloads which rightfully compensate artists for their work. Download unlimited music is a dream come true for many music lovers. If you happen to be one of the millions who prefer to fill your MP3 player with only your favourites and not want to buy the whole album, then signing up for music subscription service is the right choice for you. There are practically hundreds of services you can subscribe to that offer you millions of song choices. It is so convenient to download unlimited music onto your computer or MP3 player. It was only a few years back that legal online music became available to use. Many folks are aware of sites like iTunes and Amazon, but it is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many other music stores where you can download unlimited music easily. These are direct distribution channels of music record companies or have obtained the permission and rights from the music companies to sell music through their websites. Just to quote a few examples, there is Bleep which distributes music from Warp records, offering a wide range of electronic and indie music. Pop-up ads can install spyware to your computer tracking your online activities and capture your personal information like credit cards. It can also slow down your computer performance occupying disk space and memory that can be really harmful to your computer in the long run. Online music stores. You can get music downloads for iPod from online music stores run by legitimate companies like iTunes, Wal-Mart Music, AOL Music and Yahoo Music. These are not free music downloads for iPod websites, they offer per download fees. Downloads are all legal with payment for every song or album that you want to download. The fee for every song is very affordable but if you want to download more songs it could be a little expensive. Paid membership on music downloads for iPod. It is a paid membership, a one time payment for the membership and you will have a lifetime unlimited access to more than 95 million files. Files include music, videos, TV shows, games and other iPod downloadable materials. After the payment for the membership, all downloads are free, legal and no per download fees or recurring charges. And you need to know that Apple is reluctant to replace your iPhone even within warranty once the damage is caused by misuse. Instead of avoiding the cost of the download, you might end up paying the cost of your phone. The bandwidth is the main consideration when you want to download music or video on your iPhone. Be sure you have enough bandwidth to accommodate for the size of the file, which is usually 3 to 4 megabytes. Especially if you want to download several file at a time, you might be stuck with the download for a long time if your bandwidth is not enough. Loading multiple files at a time with a lesser bandwidth is also the main cause of music or video that won't play smoothly. Phone music downloads is also made available mobile. But this is usually not bundled in the service or the phone itself. If you want to avail this opportunity, you need to express your desire to upgrade to a higher plan by calling your provider or by visiting their office. Again, bandwidth also plays a major role here as to the success of each mobile download. Some communication service providers give their users the ability to download huge files from the Internet using their iPhones wirelessly. Whether you prefer to download music online or mobile through your iPhone, make sure that the customer service of the website or your service provider is always available to help you. Especially online, some if not most of these websites claimed that they have ready customer service but in the end, you would end up waiting forever if you want to ask why your recently bought iPhone music downloads wouldn't play in your iPhone. Connect, which is Sony's in house pay-per-track music service carries music from all the major record labels. EMusic is a global music subscription service where you can download up to 40 songs per month at a price of $9.99 per month. Now, these are just some of the many choices you have to download unlimited music. It's hard to decide which one is the best, but there are handles or things you can consider before you choose a music download site. Expensive does not equate to good. Some sites charge lower fees for per track or subscription service because they have much lower overheads and advertising costs than the more famous sites. This gives them a competitive edge over the big boys in the music industry. Is the music quality good? You will be surprised that there can be some slight differences in song quality downloaded at various sites. There is a lot of science that goes into this such as the compression format and bit rates. Check out samples offered by these sites to hear and differentiate. You need to check the format of music offered for compatibility with your PC or MP3 player. MP3, OGG, AAC, WMA, ATRAC are some of the more common formats. I have to caution you here because not all formats are playable on your PC music client application or MP3 player. Take for instance; ATRAC3 can only be played on Sony's Connect players. There is no point to download unlimited music if you cannot even listen to them. Do a quick search online and read the reviews of each site where you can download unlimited music. Visit my blog and find out more about where you can download unlimited music. This article may be freely reprinted or distributed in its entirety in any ezine, newsletter, blog or website. The author's name, bio and website links must remain intact and be included with every reproduction. A reliable online music store would allow you to download music files directly or they would offer some software that enables faster searching and download. Once you find a good free mp3 downloads website, you would realize that the entire process is extremely easy. The websites have special software and designs that make it easier for just anyone to find their favorite songs by artist, album, genre and other parameters. Once you have found the song, all you have to do is click on the download button. This is relatively easier than converting the files in a music CD into mp3 files. Nowadays, there has been a surge in the number of legal issues surrounding downloading of music. However, there are a select few websites offering free music downloads that allow you to download your favorite music without any legal problems. These websites are reputable and they offer their services entirely on a legal term. You must choose only such websites otherwise you stand the chance of getting into legal entanglements. It is not at all difficult to find websites that offer allow you to carry out free mp3 downloads. The more reputable ones may require you to create an account with your email and name. Make sure that you double-check the website for its authenticity and legalities. You want to deal with a reputable and reliable website that offers you the tracks of all the albums without any exception.

youtube

#music-downloads-for-free #music-downloads-for-videos #music-downloads-for-iphone #music-downloads-for-djs #music-downloads-websites #music-downloads-for-android #music-downloads-for-mp3-players #music-downloads-when-apple-watch-is-charging #music-downloads #youtube-mp3

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flowers-creativity · 5 years

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Bad Luck (Chapter 16)

Fandom: The Musketeers Characters: Porthos du Vallon, Athos (Comte de la Fere), Aramis (René d’Herblay, d’Artagnan (Charles), Jean Tréville, Flea Warnings: Violence, whipping, racism, slavery, abduction, minor character death Summary: Porthos rarely had bad luck at the card table. But when he hit a streak of really bad luck, it was only the beginning …Soon, the other three Inseparables were desperately searching for their missing friend while he did his best to get back to them.

AO3 link

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15

Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20

On the third day, Aramis sent Athos on the search for a physician again. So far, the medic's attempts to help Porthos had not shown any effects – the fever burned, and all they could do was working continuously on keeping Porthos cool and getting as much water into him as possible. Athos was gone for a whole day as he had to travel to several towns and villages until he was successful in locating a doctor willing to accompany him.

The physician was a small, white-haired old man who brought with him an atmosphere of brisk practicality as he came bustling into the room late in the evening and said nothing apart from his name – Monfort – and that he was a physician before going over to the bed holding the patient and setting about examining him. Aramis threw a questioning look at Athos who had entered the room behind the old man, and his brother returned it with a nod. So the medic sat down and observed the man, answering his questions whenever he threw them out to the room at large.

Monfort's hands were firm but gentle as he felt Porthos' forehead and peeled back the bandages stuck to the wounds on his back still brimming with pus. He tutted unhappily at the state of his lips that were dry and cracked, no matter how often Aramis had dabbed an ointment on them. Finally, he stepped back and turned around, sharp green eyes meeting five anxious stares. “You need to be more aggressive,” he told them. “If it's true what you've said,” he gave Athos a short nod, “he's been holding up better than you might expect with this fever, but if it doesn't break soon, he will die.”

And there it was, the stark truth staring them into the eye. Next to Aramis, d'Artagnan made a small, wounded noise, and Athos stiffened visibly. Aramis forced himself to take a deep breath and relax the fingers that had unconsciously come up to grasp his crucifix.

“What do you suggest?” he asked the physician, almost proud that his voice did not waver.

“An ice bath,” the man said decisively. “Cooling compresses and things like that won't be able to make a dent in it, you're just delaying the inevitable that way.”

Marcel growled at the man's insensitive remark but Aramis held up a hand to quiet his protest. “Don't you think the shock could be too much?” he asked. “His heart ...”

The physician made a dismissive gesture. “He seems to be strong,” he said. “But if you wait too long, he won't be anymore.”

This time, there were twin sounds of outrage from the two youngest men, and Aramis clenched his jaw until he thought his teeth might crack. It was a good thing that the man did not allow them to delude themselves regarding Porthos' condition, he knew, but that did it not make easier to hear.

He was a bit surprised that the doctor did not want to bleed Porthos; it was what most doctors did with fevers, in his experience. He never knew what to think of the practice – on the one hand, he knew that blood loss lowered the body temperature. He had seen it often enough in men on the battlefield who started to shiver uncontrollably, their teeth clacking together, even if it was in the middle of summer. But it came at a price, weakness, confusion and loss of consciousness, and too many of them slipping away quietly … And Porthos was sanguine, so it couldn't be good to deprive him of the humour that gave him strength when he already had so little left. So even if he was apprehensive about the bath, he was glad of the suggestion.

“Alright,” the medic finally said, “thank you, doctor.” He turned towards Athos, opening his mouth to speak, but their leader was already striding towards the door with purpose. “I'll ask the innkeeper for ice and a tub,” he said, “you make everything ready here.” Aramis closed his mouth again and smiled at his friend, thankful for his quick acting and easy way to issue commands.

“But it's the middle of the night!” Fadil protested.

d'Artagnan threw a sharp glance at him. “Who cares?” he replied, his voice cutting. “You've heard it, we can't wait because soon, it could be too late!” His voice wavered and threatened to break on the last words. Aramis reached out and placed a hand on the young Gascon's shoulder, and d'Artagnan covered it with his, their eyes meeting for a moment.

Fadil looked away, chastised, and murmured something in an apologetic tone. d'Artagnan gave him a short, subdued smile and a nod, not really angry at the man anyway, but exhaustion and worry were putting all of them on edge.

Aramis indicated to d'Artagnan to take care of freeing a spot on the floor for the bathtub while he went to speak with the doctor to ask about other suggestions the man might have, in particular regarding a poultice or similar to draw out the infection that was firmly entrenched in the whip marks on Porthos' back, refusing to leave him.

Athos returned a few minutes later, followed by two servants carrying a large bathtub. His grim expression made Aramis' heart seize with foreboding – was there more bad luck coming, as it seemed to have been dogging them since Porthos had gone missing, starting with him being taken in the first place? He had to quickly remind himself that there had been good luck, too, like d'Artagnan finding the medallion and them getting to Porthos before the slavers or his injuries could take him from them forever. Even if the latter was still a possibility.

“No ice,” Athos reported curtly. “The innkeeper says one of his neighbours has a very deep well, and he's allowed to use it. It's not icy but a good deal colder than the water from the inn's well.”

Aramis sighed, torn between relief and concern. That wasn't too bad – he had still been worried about the ice bath being too much of a shock for Porthos' weakened body. They had to hope it was enough.

One of the servants, a man with a grizzled head and beard but still built like an oak, sturdy and strong, stepped forward after he and his companion had deposited their load. “We'll take you there and help you carry as much water as you need,” he said.

Athos nodded at him in thanks. “Alright. d'Artagnan, Marcel, with me. Aramis, Fadil, make Porthos ready so we can get him in there as soon as the tub is full.”

Aramis nodded, then sighed wearily and scrubbed a hand through his curls as Athos and the two young men filed out behind the servants. He turned to Fadil and said quietly: “Let's get this done.”

Together, they made quick work of it, so by the time the others returned, each man carrying two large buckets filled to the brim, they were ready. The tub was filled up, and Aramis closed his fingers around his crucifix, whispering a short prayer and kissing the golden cross, before straightening and exchanging a look and a nod with Athos and d'Artagnan. It was time to do this.

Getting Porthos' unresponsive body into the tub took all their strength, more emotionally so than physically. They did not speak but Aramis saw the lines of worry in his brothers' faces, the way Athos' nostrils flared as he wrestled with his emotions, how d'Artagnan was nearly biting through his lip. Fadil and Marcel kept a respectful distance, though they stayed near, willing to lend a hand if needed. The Moor, in particular, was good at understanding when the three of them needed to be the ones to care for their brother and when they were willing to accept their help, and Aramis had been thankful for it over the last few days. The doctor kept back, too, but his sharp eyes followed the process carefully.

The moment the cold water closed over Porthos' body, he came alive, struggling in their hold. His eyes opened, but they were unfocused, unseeing, and Aramis ached at the sight of these dark caves full of fear where Porthos' warmth and humour were supposed to shine. A moan escaped the ill man's lips, and he twisted in their grip, though it was frightfully easy to pin down the flailing limbs.

Aramis pressed a kiss to the dark curls, whispering calming words, even as each agonized sound Porthos made tore at him. And it got worse when he realised Porthos was speaking. “Jean.” The name in the raspy voice was a heartbroken plea. “Jean, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.” Porthos' face was screwed up in despair, dry sobs interrupting the slurred words. Aramis observed how his throat and eyelids were working, and it took him a moment until he recognised what was happening. Porthos was crying. He was crying but he didn't have enough moisture in his body to properly form tears. Aramis shared a stricken look with his brothers.

“Marcel,” was the next thing out of Porthos' mouth, and the young Mulatto hurried forwards, reaching for Porthos' hand as he knelt down next to the tub at d'Artagnan's side. “Marcel. He's gone. We lost him.”

Marcel's hand tightened around Porthos', and he leant forward. “I know,” he soothed, “I know. It's not your fault, Porthos.” Fadil had come up behind him and put his hands on the lad's shoulders in a supportive gesture.

Porthos' words soon descended into unintelligible muttering again, and he stopped struggling, but there was still that terrible, empty stare and the anguish on his face. Aramis ached with the need to take him into his arms, to wipe it all away, but he could do nothing but rub soothing circles on his shoulder, meaningless words of comfort spilling from his lips, until the doctor stepped forward and peered into Porthos' eyes, pressed his fingers to his neck and finally said: “Enough. Get him out and dried off before you return him to bed.”

They worked silently, laying him out on a blanket hastily laid down next to the tub and drying off every bit of skin. By the time the ailing man was back in the bed, only a thin blanket covering his by now shivering form, they were all exhausted. At least Porthos' features had smoothed out, and his eyes had slipped closed again. The physician checked him over and nodded. “I'll stay the night,” he told Athos, “and check him over again in the morning. Hopefully, his fever will have well and truly broken by then.”

“Thanks, doctor,” Athos said, accompanying him to the door. Marcel and Fadil trailed behind him to go sleep in what had become their room since the Musketeers all refused to leave the room even when forced to abandon Porthos' bedside for a few hours of much-needed sleep.

Athos returned to the bed and fell into the chair beside it, rubbing a hand over his face. “Anything we can still do, Aramis?” he asked the medic.

Aramis shook his head. “I'll just refresh the poultices and bandages, then we'll better let him rest until morning,” he replied.

“Alright,” d'Artagnan said with a tired sigh, “what do you need?” He brought over the med kit from the table and stood at Aramis' side, ready to lend a hand. The older Musketeer gave him a thankful look and handed him a few pieces of cloth. “You clean off the residue then as I remove the old bandages,” he instructed. They had left the bandages in place during the bath to protect the wounds, and the water had loosened them so they were easy to remove now. Aramis worked carefully, and d'Artagnan followed it up with gentle swipes over the exposed wounds, taking care not to disturb those that were finally starting to form scabs and close. By the time they were finished, Aramis looked up to find that Athos had set out his mortar and pestle, a bowl and a neat stack of fresh bandages. He gave his friend a surprised and thankful smile that had Athos roll his eyes fondly. “I do pay attention to how you do things, you know,” he remarked.

“I know,” the medic replied, “but I still appreciate it, my friend.”

Athos hummed his assent, and Aramis took pity on him, knowing how embarrassing his reserved brother found too much attention. He picked up his mortar and filled it with the herbs needed for the poultice. “I'll just finish this. You two go ahead and get some sleep already – it's late,” he told the other two Musketeers.

Athos nodded and got up to move to one of the pallets they had set out on the floor, loosening the clasps of his doublet as he went. “Wake me in three hours,” he demanded in a tone that brooked no argument. “d'Artagnan, you take the last shift.” The Gascon nodded easily as he followed his mentor's example, readying himself for bed.

Aramis considered arguing just briefly – his friends were exhausted and needed the rest – but one look at Athos' face made him discard the idea immediately. And he could not deny that he needed the rest as well. So he left it at a soft-spoken “Good night” and returned his attention to the mortar and pestle and the herbs he was crushing, adding some water to mix them into a thick paste. With gentle but well-practised movements, he spread the paste over the infected whip marks on Porthos' back, covering them with fresh bandages.

Finally, he sat back with a sigh while one of his hands lingered on his friend's bare shoulder and unconsciously rubbed circles on the dark skin. The shivering had abated again, and while Porthos' skin was still hot, Aramis thought it did not burn as much as before. For what felt like the first time in the last few days, he dared to take a deep breath – and to hope. He knew that all was not well – if Porthos' reaction in the bath was anything to go by, the experience had left his brother with wounds that went deeper than just the skin of his back. But as long as he lived, they would help him heal from it, like he and Athos had helped Aramis heal after Savoy, like they had helped d'Artagnan through losing his father, his farm and Constance, like they had helped Athos deal with his not-dead wife's treachery. As long as he lived …

He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Porthos' forehead, then leant his own against it. “Please, Porthos,” he whispered, “come back to us. I miss you so much.” He blinked away a tear, surprised at himself, and wearily acknowledged that he was probably more tired than he'd thought, making him overly emotional. He sighed again and took another cloth, wetting it and placing it on Porthos' forehead, before he sat back and resigned himself to keeping his lonely vigil until it was time to wake Athos.

#flower writes #bad luck story #bad luck #the musketeers #porthos #aramis #d'artagnan #athos

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sofiank4224-blog · 7 years

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iPhone X Apps Designing Factors

But the vital question that points is how the applications that will remain installed on the iPhone X will and, most importantly, how iOS developers will develop the iphone apps of this ultramodern phone. Although the phone will be available as of November 12, we can still focus on the essential aspects of the design of the iPhone X application.

It was September 12, just a month ago that Apple announced a series of highly advanced and innovative devices that really scared the whole world. These futuristic devices include iPhone X, iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus, an iOS smart watch, 4K Apple TV and the new iOS 11 operating system to name a few on the list.

Apple has broken the shackles with the introduction of the iPhone X, as it does not match the characteristics of conventional smart phones, whether the exterior appearance or the charming design. The rectangular shape is also gone and has been replaced by rounded corners and edge-to-edge viewing, etc., which instantly stops the attention. Not only that, the traditional home screen has also been replaced by a virtual home indicator.

The size of the screen has also grown much more and has been equipped with the Super Retina display, Face ID authentication, fast processing and wireless charging.

More vertical space to work

As stated above, the iPhone X is blessed with having a large screen with at least 20% more vertical space. It also has a higher resolution that will create an impact on the design. Developers will have the freedom to design content from end to end. On the other hand, the entire iPhone is made up of glass, which provides the opportunity to maximize the utility of the space. The presence of human interface patterns allows the use of blanks and margins.

As such, developers must necessarily pay attention to the designs, making sure they fill the screen. When doing so, it must be taken into account that the rounded edges of the phone do not overshadow the content during access to the screen.

The design design for iPhone X

It is important to understand the importance of design design or the interface for the iPhone X. The developer should aim to offer maximum benefits to the end user by offering a full screen experience. Mainly, the applications would fully support the new iPhone X if it is using the automatic design and is adequately developed with respect to the safe area and the margin. Things taken into account for the design of the design • The position of the content is very important and must be placed in the center and must be symmetrical. The important aspect is the support for the portrait and the landscape and to avoid cutting the corners and the sensor of the device. • Remember that the new iPhone X will have a high status bar compared to other iPhone models and the content will be placed dynamically. • Do not hide the status bar in the application, as it provides practical information to users. It should only be hidden to add more value. • When designing the user interface (UI), pay attention to the interface provided by the system and the automatic design. • It will not be a good idea to use the black neither at the top nor at the bottom of the screen does it fill the rounded corners of the device, the start indicator, the sensor housing. • It is best not to add the interactive control keys at the bottom because most users tend to slide the gestures at the bottom only. By doing so, custom gestures can be canceled and added. Monitoring the high resolution The iPhone X has been filled with an excellent high resolution screen that can represent a challenge for application developers. The figures suggest that it has a dimension of approximately 1125 × 2436 pixels and a scalable factor of approximately 3x. Now comes the most difficult part since the application that must be created must be free of resolution, such as PDFs and other vector artworks. As for the rasterized artwork, they also have to incorporate 3x and 2x versions. Some important guidelines to follow • If you want the content to be king, be sure to use an 8 px by 8 px grid so that the lines become sharper and this applies to all sizes. • For images, the PNG file format should be used in case of intricate illustrations and for photos, the JPG file format is considered better. You can even make the illustration clearer and highlight the texture. • The choice of the 8-bit color palette is recommended as far as the PNG graphics are concerned. • Try to achieve a perfect balance between size and quality while optimizing JPEG files. To find an ideal size for each of the photos, it would be best to go to the compression settings. • For glyphs, the PDF becomes adequate and needs high-resolution scaling.

Do not choose to duplicate the system keyboard

IPhone application developers should always remember the fact that it is best not to implement the keyboard duplication of the system that includes the Emoji panel that is located at the bottom of the custom keyboard. And please, give preference to Face ID instead of Touch ID in case of authentication.

Now that Face ID has been added as a recently advanced feature on the iPhone X, you should emphasize the applications that add more value to this special feature. Therefore, the applications you design, specifically those related to payments or purchases, must necessarily have a quick login process so that the user can maximize their benefit.

Designing the 3D Touch interaction

In the midst of the various amazing features offered by the iPhone X, surely it is the 3D touch interaction that offers a new dimension. Users gain additional access to functions in which they have to use different types of pressure. The applications show a set of menu and also play an animation.

The pressure on the icons of the application allows you to quickly perform a set of tasks that must be carried out. For example, the camera icon allows you to take selfies, record videos and take photos with a slow or normal movement. Emphasize these points when designing

• Developing fast-acting applications (precisely four in number) is important so that you can carry out tasks quickly. However, there is an exception in this case, since it should not be used for easy notifications or navigations. • Substituting an emoji instead of an icon is a bad idea; so avoid it. • The titles should be easy to understand.

The design of the source

With the introduction of the iPhone X, Apple also introduced a new source known as San Francisco, which is a predetermined source. However, in the case of Apple Watches, the source used is San Francisco Compact. Both are the same but their design is different.

According to Apple, it is ideal to use the SF Pro Text whose size is 19 or smaller and SF Pro Display, with a size of 20 or more. The operating system can automatically adjust the font size in case the developer is using San Francisco.

The color design It is one of the most colorful and vibrant features that gives the iPhone X the top edge. With the start of the new color management, the developer is free to go according to the appropriate color changes on the screen. The biggest advantage is that users can differentiate the different colors that have been added without being skewed. And if it is not the end, it also has a six-channel light sensor that helps in the black and white balance and measures the temperature of the color, thus adopting the light and environment conditions. This in fact brings a good visual on paper. The ease of previewing the application Since the developer of the application is venturing into the new zone, therefore, he would love to get little support or help in this regard. Apple is kind enough to provide that helping hand where the developer has the ability to preview the application with the help of Xcode.

This can really save a lot of time and can also identify the various problems that are encountered during the design process. You can also make corrections regarding any imperfection. Therefore, it is a vital asset.

Conclusion

The development of ios apps for the new iPhone X is going to be a difficult and challenging task for application developers. As such, there is not such an important change in the design procedure with just a few changes here and there. But whatever the condition, the fact is that it has offered ample opportunities to developers who are willing to explore in this new arena. He can learn something exciting and add a new pen in the book.

#iphone application development #iphone app development #ios app development company #iphone app development company #iphone application development company

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getaether · 6 years

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Aether for Redditors

Hey there!

Due to the recent news about Reddit, we've had a few redditors coming to check us out. Which is awesome, so I wanted to write a guide about how Aether compares to Reddit, and what it does similarly, and differently. Likely you'll be fairly comfortable quick, but there are still a few interesting aspects of Aether you might want to keep in mind as you warm up.

We are a small, friendly community, consider this a welcome pack. 🙂

As I hear more and more questions from redditors in the community, this might be updated occasionally.

Aether is a peer-to-peer network

This is the most major, obvious difference. Aether has no servers. It exists ... nowhere, really. As a result, Aether is an app, not a website. It's available for Windows, Mac and Linux, and mobile apps are (eventually) coming.

This has a few implications. When you post on Aether, what happens is that your computer starts to share the content you posted. Other computers will get that content from you, and they will broadcast it to other computers, letting your post spread to the network in a sweeping fashion. As of February 2019, a post takes about ten minutes to reach the whole network.

That means Aether app is an app that needs to keep running in the background, like an email client.

If you post something, and then close the app immediately, that content will not be delivered to other people.

If you want to be sure your post is delivered, wait half an hour or so. Aether just stays on the taskbar / menubar (like Discord), so you can close the window and it'll continue to work in the background. In the future this is going to be visible in the UI when your post has spread to the network. (Like double checkmark from messaging apps)

Aether is ephemeral (like Snapchat - things disappear eventually)

Anything you post on Aether will be gone in about 6 months. This is nice, because no one can stalk your decade's worth of Reddit history and figure out where you sleep.

This is both a philosophical and a practical thing.

It is a philosophical thing, because having information gone vastly improves privacy. It also makes people be able to discuss more freely, without being concerned about whatever they wrote will bite them ten years into the future. We all grow up, and we were all less experienced when we were younger. Aether tries to respect the humanity in that by deleting too-old content.

But it is also a practical thing since it's a peer to peer network, it is limited by the disk space of its participants, so we try to be respectful of that as well.

Unlike Reddit, in Aether, moderator actions are visible to users

First of all, before anything, no one can edit your posts except you. It is cryptographically impossible. You'd think no one would do that, but given the current climate, you'd (sadly) be wrong.

Beyond that, when a moderator takes an action (delete a comment, let's say), that action is visible on the community's mod actions feed. This is a feed of events that mods generate that shows exactly what got deleted, and the reason why.

You can disable any mod, and choose anyone as a mod

In Aether, if you don't like what a mod is doing, you can just disable him. Flip a switch, and everything he deleted reappears. You can also choose a non-mod as a mod.

There is a 'front page' list of communities, called SFW list

These SFWlisted communities are the ones that appear on the front page. This is a limited, curated list of larger communities. You can always create your own community without ever needing to get into this front-page-eligible list of communities if you want. You can also disable this list completely by following the instructions in the app if you want.

Like Reddit, Aether is within the jurisdiction of the United States

That means US law applies — it is not a free-for-all. We have to remove copyrighted content via DMCA, as well as illegal (and those with reasonable chance of being illegal) content.

Aether keeps a copy of the whole network on your machine

This is why it can be so snappy: you can post offline, and when you connect, those posts will be spread to the network. The 'whole of the network' is actually very small, because Aether only carries compressed text. It doesn't carry images, videos, or anything else, so you need to post to Imgur or other image hosts, similar to Reddit.

This also emphasises the importance of no-illegal-content mentioned above. Since we all carry the text of the whole of the network, it's in all our best interest to keep the network clean. It's very hard to make text illegal, however, it's up to all of us to keep it as such. If you see something illegal, use the report button, or send an email with a link to it.

(And yes, there are guards to prevent spammers from creating a million posts and bloating the network size, such as required proofs-of-work.)

Aether is a work-in-progress

Despite the UI, Aether is still very much a work in progress. There are parts of the app that are being worked on, such as elections, being able to add a second mod to a community (Aether communities are denoted as b/Community instead of r/Subreddit) and so on. Things will break, and perhaps repeatedly so. At this point (a month after its release in December) things generally work provided that you have a stable internet connection and can keep the app open appropriately. Nevertheless, this is alpha software. If you have any bugs or feature requests, file them at https://meta.getaether.net. b/Meta is also a good place. (The link requires you have Aether installed)

Like Reddit, you can link to Aether from the web

Here's an example link:

aether://board/86e782e80681ac580b4d6d102b12e787c066e59f194fee57bb0bf83cc1e42fc6

(this links to b/Meta)

Notice aether:// instead of http:// at the beginning. As mentioned above, it needs the recipient to have Aether installed, though. We'll eventually have a preview site on the regular web that can show content without needing it installed, but again, work in progress. 🙂

If you want to post on Reddit or Twitter, and have it be recognised as a link, you can shorten the links at TinyURL, which accepts and shortens Aether links. Or if the place supports Markdown, like Reddit, you can always do:

[my link name](aether://board/86e782...e42fc6)

And make it show up as a link that way.

Aether is paid for by the 'unique' (orange) usernames and its business version

Since the current conversation is around how Reddit is funded, I want to be completely transparent about how Aether makes money (it makes very, very little money) as well. Here's how this works.

a) Similar to Reddit's gold, if you want to support Aether, you can buy a 'unique' username (with a checkmark, like Twitter) that makes you the unique owner of that username for the donation duration. If you want to do so, check out the Patreon.

b) Aether also has an upcoming business version, that allows a company to purchase a private instance of Aether for their own internal use. This comes with a few nice additions, like being able to use email to create threads and posts, and get emails back when other people post. It's good as a productivity, tool, and it's much better than Slack because it interrupts your people less. If you're a tech lead and interested in piloting this with your team, please reach out via email and we'll set you up.

Sounds interesting? Try Aether here. Hope to see you around!

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rachelvalente · 4 years

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Recent Amazon Finds

It’s that time again to share some of my favorite Amazon finds with you! I typically do these posts every few months so I can highlight what I’ve bought for myself & my family. But, for this edition, I decided to make it a two-part post – the first collage is some great affordable finds I found that are available with free shipping and the second is all of the items I’ve personally purchased over the last couple of months (with my reviews for each). So, hopefully, there is something here for everyone!

FASHION FINDS UNDER $50

1) One Shoulder Knit Dress // 2) Pointed Toe Mules // 3) Gold Bead Bracelets 4) Canvas Tote Bag // 5) Button-Front Denim Skirt // 6) Bucket Bag (in 6 colors) 7) Pearl Hoops // 8) Midi Skirt // 9) Sweatshirt Dress // 10) Pendant Necklace 11) Puff Sleeve Top (short sleeve option here) // 12) Chunky Gold Hoop Earrings 13) Blue Light Glasses // 14) Loafer Mules (in 6 colors) // 15) Paperbag Shorts 16) Ribbed Wrap Top ( in 5 colors) // 17) Rattan Bracelet // 18) Printed Scarf 19) Gold Twist Hoop Earrings // 20) Espadrille Sneakers (also in white)

MY RECENT AMAZON PURCHASES

Scalloped Sports Bra & Matching Leggings After seeing this set on my friend Kendi, I immediately ordered it for myself. The color I wanted wasn’t in stock in my size, but I was surprised by how much I loved this aqua hue (and by how tan it made me look!). The leggings have a nice high waist and fit perfectly! I found both pieces to run true to size – the quality of the fabric & compression is perfect, even for more intense workouts.

Waterproof Dog Leash When we took our anniversary getaway to the beach last month, we brought our dog along with us & he had the best time running through the waves and digging in the sand. But, his leash got so wet & muddy and it took forever to dry out. So, as soon as we got back, I ordered this waterproof leash to take with us next time we go hiking, camping or to the coast – it’s super durable and a portion of all sales are donated to help local animal rescues.

Essie “On The Bright Cider” One thing I love about Amazon is that you can often find discontinued beauty items still for sale. This polish is from an older Essie Collection that I somehow missed out on, so I was happy to find it again – it’s the perfect neutral shade as we transition into fall!

Clarifying Post-Swim Shampoo Now that we have a pool in our backyard, we’ve all been swimming pretty regularly…which is great exercise, but not so good for our hair. I finally bought this clarifying shampoo, which removes every trace of chlorine while hydrating strands + it’s non-GMO, cruelty-free & has no parabens.

Self-Tanning Mitt This was the summer when I finally started self-tanning regularly and it’s safe to say I’m hooked. I’ve been using this foaming mousse and when I apply it with this mitt, I get a flawless application with no streaks!

24K Gold Eye Patches I just ran out of my last supply of eye patches and wanted to try a new kind, so I ordered these and have been so happy with them. They are quite a bit more slippery than what I was using before so I only apply them when I have time and can lean my head back or lay down completely. But, it’s worth it because they have a major de-puffing effect & I really noticed a difference in brightness – will definitely be buying again!

USB Wireless Charging Alarm Clock Our alarm clock died in the move, so I wanted to find a replacement that had a more modern look to it. This one works as a Bluetooth speaker & a wireless charging station, so I can just set my phone on top of it before bed. My husband also appreciates that the LED light has a dimmer on it so it isn’t obtrusive when you’re trying to fall asleep.

Over-The Sink Roll-Up Drying Rack My parents have a very small dishwasher in their house, so we end up washing more than half of our things by hand. After realizing that my mom didn’t have a drying rack, I ordered this one for her – you can place it over the sink or on the counter and it rolls up so you can easily store it without taking up too much cupboard space.

Detangling Hair Brush My daughter has been growing her hair this summer and it’s gotten so long that it’s a bit of a challenge to manage her natural waves (especially after swimming). I bought this detangling brush for her to use when we’re camping, but she loves it so much, it’s become an everyday essential. If you have young kids with sensitive scalps, I highly recommend giving this a try!

Waterproof Sneakers This was another item I ordered after our beach trip when I realized I needed a shoe that I could go in & out of the water in that still had good traction to it. These look & feel just like sneakers, but they are made from a lightweight, quick-drying material so you can walk through creeks, puddles & along the riverbank or beach front. Because they’re waterproof, they’re super-easy to clean…just rinse out with water & let dry in the sun! I ordered my usual size & they it perfectly.

Stainless Steel Tube Squeezers Although these are intended for use on toothpaste, I specifically ordered them because I have several beauty & skincare products that come in tubes that make it hard to get all the product out of (specifically this makeup primer, this exfoliating scrub & this face sunscreen). Because these are more expensive products, I want to make sure I’m getting my money’s worth & squeezing out every last drop – so these handy tools are a must-have!

Laundry Bar Soap I’ve been learning so much from my mom since we moved in with them and one of the things she recently showed me was how she hand-washes clothing. I ordered this bar soap to practice her method with and I’m amazed by the results! She gets one edge of the bar soap wet and then lightly rubs on the area that needs cleaning (if it’s a less fragile material, you can rub the fabric against itself to really work out the stain). Then she takes a clean, damp cloth and presses it into the garment until it’s completely clean.

Nail File Buffer Set Every time I buy a random nail file at the drugstore, I end up being unhappy with the grit or find that it isn’t exactly what I wanted. So I was happy to find this set on Amazon for such a great price – you get 3 different files that are great for shaping and 3 different buffers for eliminating ridges, smoothing & adding shine.

Refrigerator Organizer Bins One of the things in the house that causes us the biggest headache is the refrigerator – trying to store enough food for the 6 of us, especially when 3 of us have specific dietary needs, is a real challenge. I finally ordered some more of these organizer bins for my parents to keep their things separate (so my kids don’t eat them!) and so everything is easier to see at a quick glance.

Liquid Collagen Supplement My hair has been falling out like crazy lately, so I’ve been researching what I can do to improve it & I learned that liquid collagen is absorbed in the body so much better than the powder version I’d previously been using. This supplement is actually a combination of both Biotin & Collagen so it’s specifically formulated for hair & nail growth. I just started using it and will keep you posted on how it goes.

The post Recent Amazon Finds appeared first on Penny Pincher Fashion.

Recent Amazon Finds published first on https://skinalleyupdates.tumblr.com/

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holytheoristtastemaker · 4 years

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Site speed is important. It affects your user experience directly, and user experience is extremely important to drive sales and keep customers and visitors happy. Not only it improves UX, but a correctly configured website eats less resources and offloads work from the main server as well. In this post, I'll discuss what I learned while getting an A grade on GTMetrix on codedamn - a platform for developers to learn programming in a new way. Let's start! #1: Compress Images Raw images are highly compressible, and you'd be surprised to find out how much bandwidth and data you could save by just compressing all your images. For production sites, I recommend tools like TinyPNG CLI which could compress your images on server in a directory using a service called TinyPNG. Here's a quick peek of how TinyPNG saved over 2MB on a high res photo I uploaded on their site: The great thing is TinyPNG allows 500 images free per month, so for a small to medium site, you can almost always stay inside the free quota! #2: Code Splitting AND Bundle Splitting Code Splitting - Splitting code in various chunks and lazily loading them when needed. You always need this on your site Bundle Splitting - Splitting individual files generated by code splitting further down in smaller bundles - improves caching on browsers as well as bytecode caching by browsers. Although bundle splitting can be frowned upon as you increase HTTP requests, HTTP/2 has little to no impact on multiple requests till concurrency limits hit - and good thing about the concurrency limits is in the range of hundereds of requests. If you're not making hundereds of HTTP requests (which I'm pretty sure you're not), you should be good with bundle splitting. For code and bundle splitting, you need to integrate your project with a module bundler like parcel or webpack. Once you configure them correctly, they work like magic, and could really bring down the load both on your server and on client's browsers by caching resources and not downloading resources not needed currently - like, why would you want to send the JS code for /about route when I'm on /feedback route. You should also minify your JS/CSS builds. For webpack, there are plugins like UglifyJS available. This helps reduce the size by trimming whitespaces, comments, shortening code, etc. - which would eventually reduce the size of the contents. #3: Do not use shared hosting services If you're a developer or someone who has a basic understanding of how to work with bash a little, there's simply no reason to go with shared hosting services. In almost every case, either you can host your static assets for free on sites like GitHub pages, or you could go with more controlled options like cloud hosting. Almost all these cloud hosting players like AWS, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean, etc. provide so much free credits, that as a user, you can almost always consume a lot of their services for free for a long time! In cases where shared hosting is cheaper than alternatives like 5$ DigitalOcean hosting, these servers have very limited resources allocated to your website, which degrade the overall website performance. Jailed shell, shared vCPUs, limited RAM, are some things to begin with. We, developers, always want to be in control, and going with a IaaS or a PaaS is always a solution. Although you can go with any cloud provider of your choice, I would recommend DigitalOcean - the one I use for codedamn currently. It is dead simple to setup, and you can get free 100$ cloud credits with this link. Choosing a cloud provider would really provide you resources and infrastructure which would automatically bump your server performance, hence, your site performance a bit. #4: Set HTTP Expiry headers Just like we discussed above, caching is extremely important to setup correctly. HTTP expiry headers inform the browser what to cache and for how long. Cached resources are not fetched from the remote servers, so it is of utmost important to not cache main entrypoint resources like index.html - the first file you serve, and also implement cache busting appropriately. Again, for module bundlers like webpack, you can implement cache busting by having [contenthash] in the name of the bundles spitted out. Also, this requires browsers never cache your index.html or any other HTML file you're using as an entrypoint to your site. How can we achieve that? For static file serving and HTTP expiry headers, use NGiNX. NGiNX could manage all of that stuff for you. Here's a sample configuration recommended for setting HTTP expiry headers: This configuration simply sets caching off for text/html resources, and for others, it sets it to maximum possible time browser can hold the cache. Note that this configuration strongly relies on the fact that you have your cache busting mechanisms implemented in your module bundler (like the [contenthash] we talked above) #5: Enable Brotli Compression Brotli compression is a compression algorithm designed by Google, which is 20-25% more efficient to well known GZIP compression. Brotli compression could be implemented on sites, again, using NGiNX. Let's take a look at an example what happens when Brotli compression is enabled: The first file size is 3.33 MB - without compression When it is compressed using Brotli - the size drops to 572KB When it is compressed using GZIP - the size drops to 783KB Brotli saves over 200KB compared to GZIP, and over 2.5MB compared to no compression. And it is not even performing at it's peak! That's over 82% compression! Very cool! That's it! That's basically it! Without going much into the details of how to implement these specific techniques, we covered some of the most important things to consider when speeding up your site. I did not go into the specific details as your mileage may vary with your server setups and configurations - but the general concept remains same. Make sure you follow these best practices and let me know what you think by saying Hi on my twitter handle.

http://damianfallon.blogspot.com/2020/03/5-ultimate-tips-to-speed-up-your-website.html

#SEO #Local SEO training

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forlawfirmsonlymarketing · 5 years

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11 Reasons Your Website Can Have a High Bounce Rate via @amelioratethis

The dreaded high bounce rate. It makes the shoulders of online marketers tense up and causes their foreheads to wrinkle up with concern.

What Is Bounce Rate?

As a refresher, bounce rate refers to the percentage of visitors that leave your website (or “bounce” back to the search results or referring website) after viewing only one page on your site. Before you start worrying, consider that “high” is a relative term. Most websites will see bounce rates between 26% to 70%, according to a RocketFuel study. Based on the data they gathered, they provided a bounce rate grading system of sorts:

25% or lower: Something is probably broken

26-40%: Excellent

41-55%: Average

56-70%: Higher than normal, but could make sense depending on the website

70% or higher: Bad and/or something is probably broken

The overall bounce rate for your site will live in the Audience Overview tab of Google Analytics. You can find your bounce rate for individual channels and pages in the behavior column of most views in Google Analytics. There are a number of reasons your website can have a high bounce rate. Let’s review 10 common ones and how to fix them.

1. Slow-to-Load Page

Site speed is part of Google’s ranking algorithm, so it’s just good SEO to focus on it. Google wants to promote content that provides a positive experience for users, and they recognize that a slow site can provide a poor experience. If your page takes longer than a few seconds to load, your visitors may get fed up and leave. Fixing site speed is a lifelong journey for most SEO pros and webmasters, but the upside is that with each incremental fix, you should see an incremental boost in speed. Review your page speed (overall and for individual pages) using tools like:

Google PageSpeed Insights.

Pingdom.

GTMetrix.

They’ll offer you recommendations specific to your site, such as compressing your images, reducing third-party scripts, and leveraging browser caching.

2. Self-Sufficient Content

In some cases, the user will get everything they were looking for from the page on your site. This can be a wonderful thing – perhaps you’ve achieved the content marketer’s dream and created awesome content that wholly consumed them for a handful of minutes in their lives! Or perhaps you have a landing page that only requires the user to complete a short lead form. To determine whether bounce rate is nothing to worry about, you’ll want to look at the Time Spent on Page and Average Session Duration metrics in Google Analytics. If the user is spending a couple of minutes or more on the page, that sends a positive signal to Google that they found your page highly relevant to their search query. If you want to rank for that particular search query, that kind of user intent is gold. If the user is spending less than a minute on the page (which may be the case of a properly optimized landing page with a quick-hit CTA form), consider enticing the reader to read some of your related blog posts after filling out the form.

3. Disproportional Contribution by a Few Pages

If we expand on the example from the previous section, you may have a few pages on your site that are contributing disproportionally to the overall bounce rate for your site. Google is savvy at recognizing the difference between these. So if your single CTA landing pages reasonably satisfy user intent and cause them to bounce quickly after taking action, but your longer-form content pages have a lower bounce rate, you’re probably good to go. However, you will want to dig in and confirm that this is the case or discover if some of these pages with a higher bounce rate shouldn’t be causing users to leave en masse. Open up Google Analytics, go to Behavior > Site Content > Landing Pages, and sort by Bounce Rate. Consider adding an advanced filter to remove pages that might skew the results. For example, it’s not necessarily helpful to agonize over the one Twitter share with 5 visits that have all your social UTM parameters tacked onto the end of the URL. My rule of thumb is to determine a minimum threshold of volume that is significant for the page. Choose what makes sense for your site, whether it’s 100 visits or 1,000 visits, then click on Advanced and filter for Sessions greater than that.

4. Misleading Title Tag and/or Meta Description

Ask yourself: Is the content of your page accurately summarized by your title tag and meta description? If not, visitors may enter your site thinking your content is about one thing, only to find that it isn’t, and then bounce back to whence they came. Whether it was an innocent mistake or you were trying to game the system by optimizing for keyword clickbait (shame on you!), this is, fortunately, simple enough to fix. Either review the content of your page and adjust the title tag and meta description accordingly or rewrite the content to address the search queries you really want to attract visitors for.

5. Blank Page or Technical Error

If your bounce rate is exceptionally high and you see that people are spending less than a few seconds on the page, it’s likely your page is blank, returning a 404, or otherwise not loading properly. Take a look at the page from your audience’s most popular browser and device configurations (e.g., Safari on desktop and mobile, Chrome on mobile, etc.) to replicate their experience. You can also check in Search Console under Coverage to discover the issue from Google’s perspective. Correct the issue yourself or talk to someone who can – an issue like this can cause Google to drop your page from the search results in a hurry.

6. Bad Link from Another Website

It’s possible you could be doing everything perfect on your end to achieve a normal or low bounce rate from organic search results, and still have a high bounce rate from your referral traffic. The referring site could be sending you unqualified visitors or the anchor text and context for the link could be misleading. Sometimes this is a result of sloppy copywriting. The writer or publisher linked to your site in the wrong part of the copy, or didn’t mean to link to your site at all. Start by reaching out to the author of the article, then the editor or webmaster if the author doesn’t have the ability to update post-publish. Plead your case and politely ask them to remove the link to your site or update the context, whichever makes sense. (Tip: you can easily find their contact information with this awesome guide by Joshua Daniels.) Unfortunately, the referring website may be trying to sabotage you with some negative SEO tactics, out of spite or just for fun. For example, they may have linked to your Guide to Adopting a Puppy with the anchor text of FREE GET RICH QUICK SCHEME. You should still reach out and politely ask them to remove the link, but if needed, you’ll want to update your disavow file in Search Console. Disavowing the link won’t reduce your bounce rate, but it will tell Google not to take that site’s link into account when it comes to determining the quality and relevance of your site.

7. Affiliate Landing Page or Single-Page Site

If you’re an affiliate, the whole point of your page may be to deliberately send people away from your website to the merchant’s site. In these instances, you’re doing the job right if the page has a higher bounce rate. A similar scenario would be if you have a single-page website, such as a landing page for your ebook or a simple portfolio site. It’s common for sites like these to have a very high bounce rate since there’s nowhere else to go. Remember that Google can usually tell when a website is doing a good job satisfying user intent even if the user’s query is answered super quickly (sites like WhatIsMyScreenResolution.com come to mind). If you’re interested, you can adjust your bounce rate so it makes more sense for the goals of your website.

8. Low-Quality or Under Optimized Content

Visitors may be bouncing from your website because your content is just plain bad. Take a long, hard look at your page and have your most judgmental and honest colleague or friend review it (ideally, this person either has a background in content marketing or copywriting, or they fall into your target audience). One possibility is that your content is great, but you just haven’t optimized it for online reading.

Are you writing in simple sentences (think high school students vs. PhDs)?

Is it easily scannable with lots of header tags?

Have you included images to break up the copy and make it easy on the eyes?

Writing for the web is different than writing for written publications. Brush up your online copywriting skills to increase the time people spend reading your content. The other possibility is that your content is poorly written overall or simply isn’t something your audience cares about. Consider hiring a freelance copywriter or content strategist who can help you revamp your ideas into powerful content that converts.

9. Bad or Obnoxious UX

Are you bombarding people with ads, pop-up surveys, and email subscribe buttons? CTA-heavy features like these may be irresistible to the marketing and sales team, but using too many of them can make a visitor run for the hills. Is your site confusing to navigate? Perhaps your visitors are looking to explore more, but your blog is missing a search box or the menu items are difficult to click on a smartphone. As online marketers, we know our websites in and out. It’s easy to forget that what seems intuitive to us is anything but to our audience. Make sure you’re avoiding these common design mistakes, and have a web or UX designer review the site and let you know if anything pops out to them as problematic.

10. The Page Isn’t Mobile-Friendly

While we know it’s important to have a mobile-friendly website, the practice isn’t always followed in the real world. In fact, one study found that nearly a quarter of the top websites in 2018 were indeed not mobile-friendly. Websites that haven’t been optimized for mobile don’t look good on mobile devices – and they don’t load too fast, either. That’s a recipe for a high bounce rate. Even if your website site was implemented using responsive design principles, it’s still possible that the live page doesn’t read as mobile-friendly to the user. Sometimes, when a page gets squeezed into a mobile format, it causes some of the key information to move below-the-fold. Now, instead of seeing a headline that matches what they saw in search, mobile users only see your site’s navigation menu. Assuming the page doesn’t offer what they need, they bounce back to Google. If you see a page with a high bounce rate and no glaring issues immediately jump out to you, test it on your mobile phone. You can identify non-mobile-friendly pages at-scale using Google’s free Test My Site tool.

11. Wonky Google Analytics Setup

It’s possible that you haven’t properly implemented Google Analytics and added the tracking codes to all the pages on your site. Google explains how to fix that here.

5 Pro Tips for Reducing Your Bounce Rate

Regardless of the reason behind your high bounce rate, here’s a summary of best practices you can implement to bring it down.

1. Make Sure Your Content Lives Up to the Hype

Your title tag and meta description effectively act as your website’s virtual billboard in Google. Whatever you’re advertising in the SERPs, your content needs to match. Don’t call your page an ultimate guide if it’s a short post with three tips. Don’t claim to be the “best” vacuum if your user reviews show a 3-star rating. You get the idea. Also, make your content readable:

Break up your text with lots of white space.

Add supporting images.

Use short sentences.

Spellcheck is your friend.

2. Keep Critical Elements Above the Fold

Sometimes, your content matches what you advertise in your title tag and meta description; visitors just can’t tell at first glance. When people arrive on a website, they make an immediate first impression. You want that first impression to validate whatever they thought they were going to see when they arrived. A prominent H1 should match the title they read on Google. If it’s an ecommerce site, a photo should match the description.

3. Speed Up Your Site

When it comes to SEO, faster is always better. Keeping up with site speed is a task that should remain firmly stuck to the top of your SEO to-do list. There will always be new ways to compress, optimize, and otherwise accelerate load time.

Implement AMP.

Compress all images before loading them to your site, and only use the maximum display size necessary.

Review and remove any external or load-heavy scripts, stylesheets, and plugins. If there are any you don’t need, remove them. For the ones you do need, see if there’s a faster option.

Tackle the basics: Use a CDN, minify JavaScript and CSS, and set up browser caching.

4. Minimize Non-Essential Elements

Don’t bombard your visitors with pop-up ads, in-line promotions, and other content they don’t care about. Visual overwhelm can cause visitors to bounce. What CTA is the most important for the page? Highlight that in a compelling way. For everything else, delegate it to your sidebar or footer.

5. Help People Get Where They Want to Be Faster

Want to encourage people to browse more of your site? Make it easy for them. Leverage on-site search with predictive search, helpful filters, and an optimized “no results found” page. Rework your navigation menu and A/B test how complex vs. simple drop-down menus affect your bounce rate. Include a Table of Contents in your long-form articles with anchor links taking people straight to the section they want to read.

Summary

Hopefully, this article will help you diagnose what’s causing your high bounce rate, and you have a good idea how to fix it. Now get to it! More Resources:

Image Credits In-Post Image: RocketFuel All screenshots taken by author, October 2019

https://www.businesscreatorplus.com/11-reasons-your-website-can-have-a-high-bounce-rate-via-amelioratethis/

#googlesearchranking #localseo #onlinemarketing #dailydoseofmarketing

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