#Technology Update

[fifteenleads]

Can I get a connection?

Twelve Kingdoms (Juuni Kokki) | Taiki, Youko, Enki Oneshot, gen, 2.1k words, complete.

Based on this very wholesome selfie art.

-

They had found it among the Tai Taiho’s personal effects from Hourai: slim and lightweight with a dark, mirror-like surface on one side and a thick ring on the other. The sages had almost dropped it when the mirror lit up with small Kaikyaku text that blinked several times before darkening once more. Out of extreme caution (or maybe out of terrified deference to the Taiho after all he’d gone through), they decided to seal it away for the time being until he returned to retrieve it someday.

Youka brought it up in passing to the En Taiho on one of his visits to Mt. Hou, briefly wondering if there was a way to make sense of this strange thing that had been in their care for months now. "The shrill sound it makes on occasion scares us to this day, and we haven’t figured out how to make them stop," she added defeatedly, having been its most recent surprise victim last week.

Enki was mildly amused as he fiddled with the device with relative ease. "People in Hourai use these for communication nowadays," he grinned, holding up the lit-up surface to Youka. The mirror contained different words and shapes now, rather than the simple picture that accompanied the sound that disappears after a short while. While it did answer a lingering question in the minds of most of the sages, they would sooner return it to its original owner, if only for their collective peace of mind than anything.

"Fine, I’ll see what I can do," Enki reassured Youka, pocketing the item as he got up to leave. “Maybe The Royal Kei will be able to help. I think she used to have one of these things herself.”

-

"I didn't think these phones would get any lighter, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised." Youko considered the weight and feel of Taiki's phone in her hand, while holding her old one in the other. The model she had was not really much older in comparison, but it was much less durable and sadly hadn't survived the trip. Youko squashed the growing twinge of jealousy she felt, avoiding Keiki's wary gaze the entire time.

"For now, the people at Houro Palace just want it silenced," Enki passed on the concern, peering over her shoulder as she unlocked the phone; luckily it did not have a passcode. "They didn't mind holding onto it if needed, of course, but..."

"I understand where the sages are coming from. Even my grandmother did not like the whole idea of cell phones everywhere." Youko became a little wistful at the memory, which she also promptly removed from her mind as she curiously swiped through the phone's contents.

It was actually pretty empty, with only the basic apps like Clock and Calculator on the home screen. Only Taiki's family members (or so they presumed) were on the Contacts list. No messages in the Inbox. As for the Photo Gallery:

"Whoa! The pipsqueak drew these?!" Enki exclaimed as he leaned in to take a closer look. Youko slid the phone over to Enki as he browsed the rest of the folder's contents. The paintings all had dark, supernatural motifs—is what she would probably have said, had she not encountered every single one of them herself in the years she had been in this world so far. Instead, the drawings carried a feeling of terrible suffering and isolation, as well as a longing for a homeland he couldn't remember no matter how hard he tried.

Youko shook her head. That was all in the past; all that mattered was that Taiki was safe, and that everything was all right now.

Her gaze briefly flitted over to Keiki's. The Kei Taiho’s expression was unchanged, but the flash of reassurance in his eyes was unmistakable.

"I guess that's everything in it." Enki withdrew from the table and crossed his arms. If Youko had to guess, they were probably thinking of the same thing right now. "Do you think he'll want it back?"

Despite being Taika contemporaries, Youko could not completely say she understood Taiki. While she still held some degree of fondness for Hourai, it was only because she had a typical, uneventful childhood, as empty and uninspiring as it had been. Her phone contained the usual photos of things she liked, as well as of various milestones and memories, and she was a little saddened when it was ultimately broken.

Taiki must have left his behind for a reason.

Then again, they never really knew that for sure.

Youko chose to be truthful. "... I can't really say. It wasn't really something that had come up the few times we had talked about Hourai." Not that they both even wanted to think about their old world, either, when there were so many other things to do. Tai was still barely recovering from the long civil war it had suffered, and Kei was not really doing much better, either. The road to recovery for both their nations was still long and far, far ahead.

"I guess so." Enki accepted both Youko's answer and the phone she handed back to him. "I'll be holding onto this, then. They'll be coming to next month's summit, right?"

"They've confirmed their attendance, yes." Both of them stood up to leave, Youko motioning for Keiki to join them. "See you next month, then?"

"Got it." Enki went out ahead of them, striking up a conversation with the guardsman stationed at the corner. Youko stopped at the doorway, still deep in thought. Keiki dutifully stood behind her, ever watchful over his liege. At that moment, it felt as if she were only Nakajima Youko once more instead of the Royal Kei, uncertain of many things and her own capacity to make sense of what mattered. "What do you think, Keiki?"

"I think you already know the answer to that, Your Majesty."

His smiles were as rare as they came, and that assured Youko she was on the right track.

-

The old phone contained literally nothing, and was therefore of no value to Taiki.

He still remembered to detail all the paintings he'd taken pictures of. Those were supposedly for his portfolio for when he applied to art college in his senior year, on his club adviser's insistence—not that he needed it anymore, though. In hindsight, it was probably for the best that he didn't bring all that baggage with him to Tai, especially now that his country needed him and his king more than ever.

To say he was pleasantly surprised, of all things, when the En Taiho and the Royal Kei brought out his phone some hours after the summit had ended, was an understatement. "I... I thought it had been lost in the Void Sea."

"Apparently this is the only thing that washed up with you that day." Enki gently pushed the phone into his hands. It lit up at once, and he unlocked it on instinct. Everything was the way he remembered it, but the battery was about to give out—permanently, now that he had nowhere to charge it.

It should still last a while longer, though, since there was nothing that would sorely drain it. 

Just a little while longer.

Taiki held the phone close to his chest. "I see. Thank you for bringing it back."

"You're welcome," the Royal Kei answered. "Shall we rejoin the others?"

The small banquet was still in full swing when they had returned; the Royal Han and the Royal En were still arguing about their usual things, with the Royal Ren playing mediator. Hanrin and Sourin were in a similarly eager discussion, with Renrin nodding along. Keiki sat across Gyousou, both of them silent as they nursed their respective drinks.

It was a sight that reminded Taiki of one time in his childhood, when eight of the twelve Taiho had gathered on Mount Hou at the behest of the Lady Genkun, to cultivate their bonds with each other as fellow kirin. A couple of arguments had almost broken out then, but it was afterward that they were reminded of their siblinghood, connected through their shared divine nature and mission in this world and to their respective nations and kings. One of the few memories that had brought him much joy, he recalled with a smile as he took a candid photo of the scene before him now.

The loud click of the shutter stunned everyone into silence, Hanrin turning visibly pale as she held onto Renrin. Enki tried not to burst into laughter, while Gyousou looked bemused as he studied the phone, and then him.

Taiki audibly gulped, feeling his face flush in earnest. His king's piercing gaze still unnerved him sometimes. "I-It's... I did it on reflex..."

The whole table laughed, the tension dissipating at once.

Everyone soon gathered around him, asking to see his phone. Of course, they were most intrigued by the camera; there was nothing else in it. Soon, his gallery was filled with different shakily-taken pictures of everyone at the banquet, with Enki gleefully enabling the group and the Royal Kei helpfully explaining where she could. 

At one point, someone had accidentally toggled the front camera, and dozens of selfies joined the previous pictures that had been taken. Some time later, Taiki himself was immediately dragged into a selfie with a grinning Enki and a confused Keiki. That was probably the first time he had done a peace sign for a picture, with Keiki awkwardly copying him.

It was the clearest of the selfies in the gallery folder so far, Taiki smiled to himself in relief. It wasn't like he would see any of these photos again when the phone died for real, but he would always remember each and every one for the rest of his life.

-

When the banquet finally ended a few hours later, Taiki walked behind his king on the way back to their guest chambers. They had chosen to take the long way back, admiring the gardens at night as they strolled.

Taiki took a picture of the garden, followed by closeups of a couple of flower arrangements. Gyousou was watching him the whole time, smiling contentedly. After everything they had gone through, apart, they had survived and managed to find each other.

Connection really was a surreal thing.

"Master Gyousou," Taiki began, and he shyly held up his phone. His king understood at once.

The battery was about to die, but it should hold out for one last photo. Taiki managed to snap it and show Gyousou for a split second before the phone screen blacked out forever.

Later in their pavilion, Taiki did not take his tea, instead turning his phone over in his hands absentmindedly. It was now nothing more than a common paperweight, like the Royal Kei had referred to hers. Still, it was something he still called his own, empty as it had been. 

Perhaps he was mourning, just a little. 

"I apologize for today, Master Gyousou." Taiki looked into his king's eyes, basking in the wordless consolation he was already offering. "I was never really this sentimental, but..."

Gyousou gently put down his teacup. "There is nothing to apologize for, Kouri. Everyone desires to have a connection, a bond. It is in our very nature, you could say.

"That... device you hold in your hands. You may not be able to see what is inside anymore, but that does not mean they aren't there anymore. It is the same with life, I suppose. With memories and forged bonds. I am certain the others think the same, as well."

His king looked far into the distance as he said this; perhaps he, too, was thinking of people he had known before. Of one, in particular, whom he killed with his own hand.

Their friendship had been real—even if it had ended the way it did. But they did what they had to do. For Tai.

Taiki released the breath he didn't know he'd been holding all this time. He could still not make full sense of how exactly he felt. Bitter experiences he barely survived. Conflicting thoughts of Hourai. Things he thought no longer mattered. Things he'd been wrong about. Everything that connected to him, and connected him to everyone. 

He probably wouldn't have realized and pondered on all these things had today not happened. 

It made him grateful for the closure, in a way.

Taiki put the phone down on his lap, its light weight a reassuring anchor as he breathed in the air of this world once more and let himself move on. “Thank you.”

[bogkeep]

there's something so deeply dystopian to me how tech companies don't understand that a forced convenience is not a convenience at all. i'm sure autocorrect is helpful for many, but a function that forcibly changes my actual written words and punctuation is taking away my language. photo filters can be nice but i need to choose using them myself or else i have lost the ability to take the picture i want. i don't want a machine to draw or write for me. taking away the option for me to do things manually feels like violence!!!! all this talk of endless opportunity, why are you RESTRICTING me

[sayruq]

[fantastic-nonsense]

however bad of a day you're having, know that it's not nearly as bad as whatever the Crowdstrike security team is going through since waking up this morning

[cubbihue]

So.... why'd Peri get assigned Dev as his first godchild?

Jorgen’s usually not the one in charge of assigning godchildren. There’s an entire department that weighs and classifies potentail Godkids to the right Fairy. Although it’s on strike at the moment.

So Jorgen has to do it by hand, until the union negotiations are resolved. Turns out trying to use paperclips is very hard. Itty bitty paperclips. Big muscular biceps. Not a good combo.

Bitties Series: [Start] > [Previous] > [Next]

Peri's Assignment: [Previous] > [Next]

[kagedbird]

So: further bad news, gang

Laptop I bought shit a brick and would no longer boot (had several blue screens even during before and after attempting to factory reset it and multiple windows recovery errors) so no more writing for a bit.

Instead of buying a new laptop, I'm going to take my original borked desktop to Best Buy to see if Geeksquad can't fix her because god almighty if I trust another local shop and they forget her again, I will actually commit murder.

So if you would like to assist me in paying for repairs as I attempt to save every last penny I have for rent, food, and travel, you can do so here:

I don't know how much it will be but I fully anticipate having to get another new motherboard or a brand new psu since it won't boot up at all since the local shop incident— so any amount helps.

Thank you for your time and hhhhhhhhh I am so tired man

[in4newz]

Luigi mangione

[zooophagous]

I shouldn't dig at business majors the way I did in that post. I know a lot of highly intelligent people who studied business and do it very well without the help of a shiny new toy that can't even correctly do math

[web-of-arachne]

“On the immortality of technology”

@/turing-tested and @/indoorvoices // unknown // torley on flickr // unknown // unknown // unknown // torley on flickr // unknown // @/archillect // edon guraziu // assorted userboxes // system shock (1994 video game) // 8bitfiction

[miiiwu]

rip vyvyan basterd you would’ve loved making insanely violent and bloody newgrounds flash animations in the 2000’s

[torchstelechos]

Say what you will about the DC timeline but we all know the truth, Jason Todd uses AO3 and has an account despite not understanding these new fangle technological advancements (hes fucking with Tim he understands what cookies are, it pisses off Tim more than anything else Jason has done)

[sayruq]

[khawla-gfm2]

📰Khawla's Family Campaign Update: 138📰

$51,439/$80,000 as of January 2nd [10pm CDT]

Currently $561 away from $52,000 as a short term goal!

If 1,428 people donated $20 the fundraiser would reach it's set goal!

Please consider donating even just $5, $10, or $20 to help the fundraiser further along. And remember that reblogging/sharing to reach more people can help a lot!

[for more information on the campaign: check my pinned post, the campaign page itself, or message me directly if you have any questions]

[tag list under the cut]:

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[grandline-fics]

A little good news bad news update:

Good News:

😊My bad slump in April has lifted and I’m feeling super motivated to write more again and not feeling as self-critical or negative about the writing that’s sitting half finished in my word documents.

Bad News:

😭Now my laptop is finally showing signs of being on its way out. The battery plummets, it’s overheating, when I’m typing everything suddenly lags and freezes and when it catches up some parts are missing, misspelled, or even in the wrong place entirely. Some documents even take forever to open which is an added annoyance. This is a big reason why I haven’t been posting as much as I normally would.

I’m trying to make the most of it but I think when payday comes I’m going to have to just bite the bullet and buy a new laptop while there’s still enough life in this one to save and transfer all my work without losing it. Writing is what I love to do and 99% of the time brings me so much happiness that I can’t imagine ever stopping.

I’ll hopefully have something posted tomorrow if it behaves long enough to let me finish something.

As always I want to thank you all for your patience, support and love with my writing. It truly means so much to me 💖

[focsle]

I hate websites I hate managing websites so much. I'm always clenching my fists waiting for the day GTW completely breaks. I just wanna draw comics man.