#charging cable for the laptop (i bring it only if i plan to stay for a long while to study)

[kxowledge]

what's in my bag (for university)

[firemblem-fics]

Running With the Wolves [2]

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-> Pairing: Yuri x Fem!Reader

-> Gang!Au | Modern!Au | Enemies to Lovers

-> Word Count: 2.4k

-> Warnings: Blood, Violence, Cursing, Angst, Crack

-> Summary: You were just a normal college student, trying to find her way in a new place. You didn’t mean to get caught up in the wrong crowd. You just wanted coffee, but now you’re running with the wolves.

-> A/N: okok i know this is a lot shorter than the last chapter BUT y’all already heard my struggle with it so i’m actually kind of happy with this and liked where it ended. i’m sorry it’s boring, i think this was just a chapter where i do some introductions and go further into characters and a teeny bit more into the world of the gangs idk more info in later chapters because reader will NOT suddenly get a huge info dump of shit - also i hope you all like my two oc’s in here!

if you’d like to be put on the taglist, send me an ask or a message!

“Run.”

In that second, Yuri began firing shots at your pursuers again. Hapi gave her gun to Balthus, who began using both his and her pistols to keep them back as well. She turned and grabbed your arm- the same one that was bleeding before recoiling.

“Who hurt you?”

“Yuri dragging me around.”

Hapi scoffed and reached for the other arm, leading you out the back door and into a small white car. She cranked the engine and backed out before you could even get buckled, narrowly missing a larger black van parked beside it. You held onto the door frame, your fingers turning white as Hapi whipped the car down a smaller, empty street.

“Why are you driving like a fucking lunatic?”

“They could easily follow us! Look behind, do you see anything?”

You turned as well as you could as Hapi made another sharp turn. “No, there’s nothing behind us.”

She slowed the car just a little bit. “Keep checking. We don’t need someone knowing where we’re going.”

You stayed turned in your seat, heart jumping out of anxiety every time you saw a random car or person pass by. “My home is the other way.”

“Wh- Oh, honey, no. They think you’re a part of us, you can’t go home.”

“What? Why not? I could just explain to them what I was doing- they’ll understand-“

“No, they won’t.” The redhead leaned her head back against the seat and bit back a sigh before mumbling to herself. “We weren’t even involved in their little spats with the other places. Why the hell would Edelgard come after us?”

You checked back one more time. “Didn't she say something about how ‘she’s the boss now’? Whatever it’s about, it’s because she’s apparently in charge or whatever. I- I just want to go home.” Your nose burned as tears filled your eyes, but you willed them to not fall. Hapi would definitely be the kind to make fun of you.

You thought back to the others- Yuri, Balthus, and Constance. Ellie had said that they were just some random college kids, making money to get by. Obviously they were more than that.

“What about the others? We just left them there.”

“They’ll be fine. They’ve had their fair share of fights. We’ll meet them back at the house.”

You could only nod and try to soothe your shaking body. Your arm still burned from the wound, but you didn’t want to look at it. Knowing the severity of it would only make it hurt worse.

Eventually, Hapi pulled into a normal looking house. It seemed inconspicuous, with a fraternity sign hanging out front to complete the “normal college kids live here” look. You shuddered. Things are not as they seem with these people, and their house for sure isn’t a normal one as well. Hapi got out of the car and scouted around it, searching the entire car before once again muttering to herself.

“... Can’t believe I forgot to look for a tracker-“

“Look who’s finally home! Hapis and- who’s this?”

Suddenly a loud, annoying voice shouted from the front door of the house. You looked up to see a new man, slowly putting down his waving hand as he saw you. From the top of the brick stairs, he looked quite tall, but as you continued to ascend, the shorter and shorter he became until he was scarcely a few inches taller than you.

“Hiram, this is Y/N. She was, uh, put in an unfortunate circumstance and had to come with us.”

His white eyebrows furrowed and he looked at Hapi confusedly before nodding. “Uh, yeah, okay. Come on in, then. Rhys is out getting takeout. What’s the circumstance?”

“Edelgard attacked the café.”

Hiram was still confused, but it was cut short as the same black van you saw earlier pulled into the open garage. Hapi motioned for the two of you to come inside, saying that Yuri would explain everything.

The house was more normal than you expected. The living room walls were painted a light blue with a couch surrounding the fireplace and a TV on top of it. The colors of that room contrasted greatly against the honey yellow walls of the kitchen, where everyone had gathered and sat at the table. You squeezed yourself between Hapi and Constance, the only other girls there.

“We should wait for Rhys-“

“There's no time.” Yuri scoffed at Hiram and leaned back on his chair. “Somehow, Edelgard took power from her father and is now the leader of the Black Eagles. I’ve yet to figure out what her plans are- attacking us, out of everyone possible- but I’m sure they aren’t good.”

You sighed and leaned against your arm, but stopped. You really, really needed medical attention for your arm. You also really, really needed to go home. You stood up.

“Okay, well, have fun with that. I’m out.”

Yuri laughed. “No, you’re not. Sit down.”

You whipped around to face him, your cheeks burning in anger. “I am! I’m going to leave this house, go to a hospital, fix my arm, and go home. I have no business here.”

You moved to leave again, but a pair of pale arms wrapped around you. One arm gripped your waist tightly as the other flicked out a knife, holding it against your neck. You tried to struggle, but the person- a tall man- tightened his hold even further. Yuri rolled his eyes.

“Easy with her, Rhys. You started having business here the minute you decided to open your stupid little mouth. Hasn’t anyone ever taught you to shut up? To think rationally in the face of danger? Did you even realize the danger you were in, or are you really just that dense?” He sneered, walking towards you. “You, Princess, have gotten yourself into a Hell of a lot of trouble. You’re right, you shouldn’t be here, but now it’s time to reap what you sow.”

You grimaced at Yuri’s close proximity and spat at him, making him stumble back and wipe his face in disgust. This caused Rhys to lift your chin with the knife, pressing down enough to leave a small cut. A trail of blood dripped down to your collarbone.

“I suggest you learn to keep your mouth shut.” Hiram laughed almost maniacally from the table. “Rhysie’s silent but deadly. Don’t mess with us.”

Said man finally let you go, pushing you back to your seat, which you took with a huff. Constance handed you a tissue from the small pocketbook she carried and you thanked her, smiling wearily.

Hapi, who had stayed silent the entire time, coughed awkwardly. “So, what’s our next move?”

Yuri shrugged. “We’re no longer neutral, obviously. But we don’t know if the Golden Deer or the Blue Lions are on our side either. Edelgard had to have had a plan when she attacked us.”

The six others sat in thought for a minute while you, on the other hand, had never been more confused. “Wait, what’s even going on? Why do restaurants kill each other?”

Hiram giggled and plucked the bloody tissue out of your hand, beginning to mess with it and look at the new stains. “You’re tellin’ me that you really thought this was just some dumb restaurant rivalry? Hah! Sweetheart, we’re gangs. Y’know. Drugs. Illegal trades. Turf wars. The usual.”

You tried to put more pieces together. “So, Edelgard’s gang is the bad guys?”

“Exactly-“

“We’re not good. None of the gangs are. Our sins are irredeemable- we’re not the good guys. Edelgard’s people aren’t the bad guys. We don’t know what’s going on right now.” Hapi cut off Hiram.

Said man snorted and ran a hand through his ponytail. “Hey, Rhys, say fuck for me.”

Rhys’s freckled skin flushed a bright red and he avoided the eye contact of everyone around. “...I can’t.” He mumbled.

“See? Rhysie’s good.”

Hapi closed her eyes and suppressed a sigh again, and you wondered what was up with her and sighing. “The next move is to wait. Maybe do a little digging in their computers and communication, but that’s Hiram’s job.”

“We’ve got to figure out something for the rat to do.She can’t just sit here and be in the way.” Yuri mused. “Housekeeping, perhaps?”

“I am not a rat!” You hissed, “You are!”

The purple haired boy only smirked. “Whatever you say, Princess. Go upstairs to the first room on the left. There’s a big stack of manila folders with profiles on the desk. Bring them back down here.”

You rolled your eyes and stood up from your seat, practically stomping your way to the wooden stairs. Opening the first door on the left, you found the folders Yuri was talking about. You reached for them, but hesitated and looked out of the window beside the desk.

It would be so easy to leave, you thought, but jumping from this height would definitely lead to a broken bone.

You committed this room to memory and grabbed the folders, taking your time down the stairs to plan an escape route if needed. You were going home, whether they liked it or not, you decided. You were close to the bottom of the steps when a paper slid out from one of the folders. It was a profile with a rather familiar looking face on it.

Yuri Leclarc, It read, Age 24. Affiliation: Ashen Wolves. Family: Father (unknown), Mother (missing).

You heard footsteps walk through the living room and you quickly snatched up the paper, stuffing it in a folder before you finished reading it all. Hiram became visible, one hand carrying a large laptop and the other, a basket of cables and other equipment. He didn’t say anything to you. Instead, he barely spared you a glance as he walked back into the kitchen. You followed.

“Here.” You huffed and slammed down the folders. Hiram was busy plugging up different cords and routers to the computer, still completely ignoring your presence.

Yuri nodded and stood, sifting through the papers before landing on one labeled “Black Eagles”. He pushed the other folders to the side and opened that one. He laid out 8 profiles, all of people around your age. You could’ve sworn you’d seen some of them around campus, but you nearly vomited as your eyes caught one certain profile.

Ferdinand von Aegir.

“It’s up and running!” Hiram’s voice knocked you out of your stupor. “A piece of art, truly!”

Constance snorted. “A piece of shit, actually.”

Hiram ignored her comment and grinned, placing his hands on his hips proudly. “I call it the Computer of Chaos. COC for short.”

The silence in the kitchen was practically screaming.

Yuri looked up from the profiles. “The what?”

“The Cock, Yuri-bird. Didn't you hear him correctly?” Balthus nearly choked trying to hold in his laugh.

“Exactly! And it works for everyone here, you just have to say your name and it’ll unlock for you.” Hiram motioned for someone to give it a try.

Yuri still looked at the computer quizzically, but walked towards it nonetheless. He leaned down and said, “Yuri Leclarc.”

“Access Denied.”

“What?” Hapi questioned, pulling the computer toward herself. “Hapi.”

“Access Denied.”

“Ohhh, that’s right.” Hiram’s grin turned mischievous. “It only answers to the nicknames I gave you all.”

If looks could kill, Yuri would have committed a murder. He sighed heavily and violently moved the computer back to him. “Yuris.”

“Permission Granted.”

“Go die.” He growled at Hiram, who only laughed.

“What nicknames?” You had to ask, but regretted it once Hiram’s smile was directed at you.

“I add an -is to the end of everyone’s names! Yuris, Hapis, Constis, Balis, but I call Rhys ‘Rhysie’, he doesn’t tell me not to~”

Yuri rolled his eyes. “He doesn’t fucking talk, that’s why.”

“Can I have a nickname?” If you were going to be stuck here, you may as well make friends.

“Hmm,” Hiram pondered, “No.”

“Wh-“

So much for making friends.

Yuri interrupted the awkward moment by slamming his hand down on COC, making Hiram gasp in protest. “Fucking- Hiram, try to find something- anything- to find out Edelgard’s intentions. We had a neutrality pact, she shouldn’t have broken it.”

Your head was starting to hurt from the events today. Rubbing your temples, you stood up, making everyone look at you.

“Listen, I’m tired. I’m stressed. Is there like, anywhere I can sleep? I can’t do much more.”

Constance nodded. “I’ll take you up to the spare room!”

She led you up the stairs and past the room you had gone into earlier. Opening the door to one of the bedrooms, she gestured for you to enter.

“I’ll have to lock you in, but I’m sure you won’t mind. You’ll be sleeping, after all!” Constance smiled, “Goodnight!”

You waved back at her and waited for the click of the lock before turning on the lamp and peeling your sleeve away from your arm. You grimaced- blood had dried and caked around the wound, which was still slightly bleeding. You needed medical attention, but you didn’t blame the Wolves for not thinking about it.

They certainly were stressed- being previously neutral and suddenly attacked. They’ve got enemies now and you suspected that was something they haven’t had in quite a while. And then there was you, the epitome of ‘wrong place, wrong time’. Who would’ve thought that you’d end up accidentally in the middle of a gang war when you moved here? Certainly not you.

Guilt tugged at your stomach. These people were different from you. You didn’t belong here and you needed to get out of their hair. Yuri made it obvious that you stuck out like a sore thumb, unaware of what to do like they did.

You glanced at the window in the bedroom and stood up, making your way towards it. You could easily unlock it and risk an ankle injury. You’d already hurt your arm, it would be fine.

Your two choices were to try to survive a mob that wanted to kill you all, or get a foot injury while escaping and get back to your normal life.

Unlocking the latch on the window, and sitting on the edge, you had already made your decision. You jumped down and ignored a loud crack that resounded in your ankle, slipping into the depths of night.

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taglist: @fairyblue-alchemist @emperor-pizza @flavoredmilktea @sadies-stories-n-things @mifuyuyu @blviddyd @laurexlance @atomicchocolatecookie @mapesandoval @local-goth-lilz

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[techfacereview]

Surfshark vs NordVPN vs Private Internet Access: what is the best VPN for multiple devices

Reader supported This blog is supported by awesome readers like you. If you like a product or service that I review and you buy it through one of the links on this blog, then I might get a small commission. It means the world to me, and it means I can keep on producing free, detailed reviews like this one!

It’s with great pleasure that I can officially announce to the entire internet that the bad old days of having to pay per device for your VPN are long behind us. As the average number of devices that people owned proliferated, it became a massive disincentive to VPN services to try and force customers to pay for every single device they wanted to use on that VPN. And then IOT came along and the number of internet connected devices that are single person and increase by an order of magnitude.

Think about it: your phone, your tablet, your laptop, your smart watch… Most people are slowly becoming a walking cloud of Wi-Fi and 5G connectivity. And the number of connected devices that we all own is only gonna go up as we say hello to things like smart trainers and other wearables. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone else there wasn’t working on smart dentures that can tell you exactly how many times you chewed before you swallow…

In any case, with all this sensitive information flying around privacy is no longer an option in my opinion: it’s a necessity. And we’ve all seen that no government is above actively spying on its citizens, and even many tech giants aren’t beyond wholesale selling your data to the highest bidder – regardless of whether you’ve opted into that or not. So for me, and for you, the first line of defence in ensuring that your business online remains your business is a good VPN.

With all that said, let’s jump into the main comparison between the three best VPNs for multiple devices.

Surfshark VPN Is The Best All-Round VPN For Multiple Devices

With support for unlimited devices on a single account connection, military-grade encryption, low price and all the features you’d expect to find on a VPN that costs twice as much, Surfshark VPN gets my vote for the best VPN for multiple devices. It’s crazy that there’s no slow-down when you add more and more devices and I find it pretty impressive that the experience on different platforms is pretty much the same.

You are probably going to get a few more random disconnect/reconnects on this than on some of the other VPNs but the Surfshark reliability has gone through the roof in recent years so its not so much an issue as it used to be.

The pricing is pretty nuts too; you can get 81% off Surfshark VPN if you sign up to the 2 year deal. That works out at a hair under $2.50 a month.

Go to Surfshark.com and get 81% off

NordVPN Is The Best VPN For Multiple Devices If You Run A Business

If stability is the most important thing for you then NordVPN is the IBM of the VPN world. Yeah, you will pay a (tiny) bit more for it and you’re limited to 6 devices per-account, but their connection stability is legendary and you won’t even notice that you’re running through a VPN. In fact, because of NordVPN’s crazy infrastructure, you might find that some services run faster than your regular internet because of lower resource-contention once you’re connected to their network.

Plus, if you’re a business, you might enjoy their 24/7, worldwide support which is, by all reports, better than the Surfshark support.

Go to NordVPN and get 68% off

Private Internet Access Is The Best VPN For Multiple Devices If You Are On A Budget

Having been around since 2010 means that Private Internet Access has seen some steady growth over the years, and their focus on reinvesting in their platform has helped them bring prices down, and the fact that you can connect up to 10 devices also goes a little further on the per-device-per-month calculation.

Like-for-like the Private Internet Access 12 month plan is significantly cheaper than the NordVPN 12 month plan. Meanwhile Surfshark doesn’t even have a 12 month plan so if budget is important to you then PIA is the way to go.

Go to Private Internet Access and sign up

What Is A VPN?

VPN stand for ‘virtual private network’, And that risk of sounding dumb they do exactly what they say on the tin.

Virtual: The virtual partner VPN means that It exists in the software layer – Whenever a VPN is established there aren’t any new physical cables or wires that connect the devices on the network. But it’s done in such a way that when you’re connected to a VPN your computer literally cannot distinguish between the VPN that you’re connected to and a real physical network.

Private: Privacy is one of, if not the big selling point for VPNs. Information sent across AVPN is encrypted which means that even though it’s travelling across the open internet, All anyone would see you if they decided to try and read the information would be a bunch of garbled mess. This doesn’t mean that anyone who uses the same VPN as you can see what you’re sending across the internet in the clear: Every devices connected to a VPN sets up its own encryption keys and as that connection is uniquely encrypted that, information is only readable between that device and the VPN service provider.

Network: You know, network. Like a bunch of computers that can talk to each other.

VPNs are pretty old technology that gained popularity in the late 90s and early noughties where large multi-office businesses want it to be able to share information and resources across the internet without having to go to the trouble and expense of laying physical cable between their offices.

VPNs have gained huge popularity recently. This is due in part to the proliferation of online services that we now use as a part of our day to day lives. Services such as Netflix Amazon prime com cast on a whole host of other activities search is torrenting and online gaming Have created the demand and the incentive for people to want to use the internet privately but also to use it from different locations.

And if you throw in things like remote working and international business travel you can quite easily see situations where being able to browse the internet as though you’re in a different country might be advantageous. This is about more than just getting around the Netflix content geofencing.

Best VPNs For Multiple Devices: Why Is It Important

Let’s take a step back and think about the VPN business model: VPN service provides encrypted geo-agnostic connections to the internet for your device and you give them money in return. Well, work has to be done in order to encrypt a single device therefore it stands to reason that more work has to be done to encrypt multiple devices.

And that’s not taking into account the other costs going into supporting multiple users – The more devices are user has the more chance that something doesn’t quite work with that device more chance that will be on the phone to support where you’re paying support engineer of princely sum to try and figure out exactly what went wrong and where.

So if you’re a VPN business then charging per-device, (or at least limiting the number of devices you allow people to use per account) isn’t just a way of making extra money – it’s a legit way to keep your business afloat and stop you incurring losses.

What To Look Out For If You Want The Best VPN For Multiple Devices

There are a few things that you need to look out for when you’re looking for the best VPN for multiple devices. As you’re connecting to another network, albeit a virtual one, you’re going to be bound by the rules of networking in general. Think of traffic across a network like water in a pipe (stay with me here). When you connect to a VPN its like there’s a pipe inside that pipe and it’s only carrying your water. No matter what goes on in that inner pipe, you’re never going to be able to get more water down it than you could down the main pipe itself. So don’t go expecting a VPN to magically boost your internet speed.

Also, the more taps you run in your house is the slower the water is going to flow. That’s your bandwidth being used up there.

Now some VPN providers have clever ways of managing the demands and raising the pressure in the pipe if you start turning on taps and flushing toilets and stuff. That’s one thing that’s key to look out for – does your connection slow down more than usual the more devices you connect to the VPN? And remember that encryption that I was talking about earlier? Think of that like the thickness of the pipe. That plus all the ultra-secure things that modern-day VPN providers have to do to make sure your connection stays safe and secure have an effect on the speed and quality of your internet connection.

And another word on quality: a good VPN should have the same quality connection whether you’re using one device or multiple ones. If you start experiencing more frequent disconnects or other types of internet problems it might be a sign of your VPN service being unable to handle that many connections.

[jbbuckybarnes]

Universe Portal

Description: Second Part of the Universe series. After people asked for a resolution to Universe Bracelet, a one shot I wrote for @yslbuckyx `s challenge, I thought I’d make a three-parter out of it. This is part two. Find part one on my masterlist below. Pairing: Bucky x Reader

M A S T E R L I S T

*I have a draft for how the portal could work but I still need to fix the suction problem.* *Solved the suction problem, now I have a size problem. Should take me about a week.* *Solved it. Still working on the last bits to correct it.* *Be ready at 3pm on Sunday and don’t lose your mind when you see it.* Shuri’s projection flickered in front of you over your Kimoyo bracelet. “Should bring him his sweater back,” you whispered to yourself and put it out to be ready the next day.

The next day rolled around and you sat on your bed in Bucky’s sweater, waiting for something to happen. It was a few minutes late but silently a portal opened inside of your room and made you jump back. “Holy,” you mumbled at the hole in your room that reminded you of video games. You slowly reached out towards it and your hand went through it. It looked like a mirror and your hand wasn’t visible anymore. With a deep shaky inhale you closed your eyes and stepped through Shuri’s portal into her universe. After a few seconds, you slowly opened one eye to see Shuri with a big grin and clearly happy about the portal working and being stable. With a deep exhale you embraced her in a hug. “You are a genius, Shuri.” you smiled and she giggled. “Nah, just a bit of math and a few weeks of work,” she said smiling proudly. “Girl, if I could be only half as good at math and physics as you are.” your brows went up. “Hey Y/N.” a deep and familiar voice came from beside you and you turned around to see Bucky standing there with his hands in his hoodie pocket. “Buckyyy!” you ran over and hugged him as tight as possible. “Is that my sweater?” he smiled and looked up and down on you, making you blush a little. “Yeah. It’s the most comfortable thing I own, to be honest,” you answered scratching your arm nervously. The short silence was interrupted by Shuri, ”Show her Wakanda a bit while I get my brother.”

You were on the streets filled with energy in the city center shortly after. “Were you here a lot when you weren’t...frozen,” you asked a bit distanced from him. “Sometimes. Most of the time it was a bit too much for my mind.” he smiled down at you before asking a question back. “What did you do in the last weeks?” “I just...wrote a lot and tried to take better care of myself. I tend to forget that I’m also a human being, you know?” you chuckled lightly. “I spent time here, watching Shuri work. And I was in South Africa with Steve for a break from the team,” he answered the question too. “Isn’t he the person you’d want a break from?” you asked with a grin and got laughter back. “You’re right. I enjoy having someone out of time with me tho. He got more mellow.” Kids were running around you and one smiled at him and said something in Xhosa and the words “White Wolf” which earned the kid a smile from Bucky. “What did he say?” you looked up at him. “Nothing.” he had a big grin on his face and put his arm around your waist. Whatever you wanted to say before was gone now. This was an unexpected move. You continued walking down the busy street and past tons of vendors that decorated their products colorfully. “Who is the pretty girl with you, White Wolf?” a middle-aged woman asked from a hair store that was decked out in hair products and scrunchies. “Y/N,” you got out a little shy but with a small smile on your face. She must’ve known him from the time he was here and it kinda made sense for someone with hair like his to be here sometimes but you were still in another universe and didn’t want to interact with too many people to not ruin the timeline if there was one. After a while, you had walked so far that you had left the city limits of the city center. Now, most of what was surrounding you was ackers and meadows. It was breathtakingly beautiful with multiple different flowers in full bloom. After a while, the street ended and you were standing in front of a big tree that was giving you a bit of shadow. “I suppose it’s a bit weird to ask you this since you’re not even from the same universe,” his voice broke through the silence and he positioned himself in front of you, “But would you like to go on a date with me, maybe?” He let a guard down and was nervous, which was quite an adorable sight for a scary big man like him. “I’d love to, Bucky.” you automatically answered calmly before you could even actively decide what to say and a smile formed on both your faces. The perfect moment was interrupted by your Kimoyo beads and a message from Shuri to come back and meet her brother, the King of Wakanda.

There he was, right in front of you. T’Challa, the King of Wakanda, the Black Panther. “Hello, Y/N. I’ve heard great things about you.” he shook your hand with his typical smile. “I can only give that back.” you blushed a little, not only had they talked about you but he also was really charming. Your brain interrupted you with the first world problem question if you are allowed to call him T’Challa or just ‘your highness’ “You know a lot about this universe?” he asked with attentive eyes on you. “Well, about the heroes in it I guess. It’s depicted in movies in my universe and doesn’t go too deep, but yeah...I blew his mind when I started talking about Wakanda.” you pointed at Bucky with a big grin. “Hey, it’s not every day that a girl from another universe knows my full story and how Wakanda works.” he held his hands up and really reminded you of Sebastian Stan at that moment. Laughter went through the room at how weirded out he still was by your knowledge. “My universe doesn’t have vibranium, at least not as far as I know. And no heroes. But also nobody that just turned half the universe to dust, so I guess I’m okay with no heroes.” you went on and a serious nod came back “No, Wakanda, huh? Would love to check.” T’Challa chuckled. “I think all hell would break loose if it was real in my world. I mean, you’re fictional where I live.” “With my sisters' new technology we might at least be able to study your world.” he smiled and looked over to Shuri. “You’re gonna find a lot of dumbasses. Shitty politics and people burning down the rainforest cause money seems to be more important than life.” you shrugged and got concerned faces back. “What? You can’t tell me that there is no equivalent to that here?” you held up your hands. “It’s just incredibly sad that this is a problem in other universes.” T’Challa went on. “Yeah, it’s not really helping my anxiety either.” you joked. “Guess some things are just human errors,” Shuri concluded before explaining the portal to his brother, you and Bucky.

“So...technically I could visit her?” Bucky pointed at you. A knowing smile spread across all faces in the room and you turned to him with a, “Yes, that’s basically the bottom line of what she just explained. But you wouldn’t be allowed to stay. I’d kick your ass if you would. Sam needs someone to annoy him to death.” you giggled. “You would kick my ass?” his eyebrows went up. “Well, verbally. I don’t think there is any way I could overpower you unless I get Nat.” “I’d pay to see you two have a strategic fight.” Shuri giggled. “Yeah, there is no strategy with me. I know how to kick basic men away, not a supersoldier with a metal arm.” “So...could T’Challa and I visit you, like right now if you let us?” he finally finished his thought from earlier. “Technically. If you plan to not come across fans of your in my universe FICTIONAL characters and possibly ruin a bit of a timeline, sure.” you shrugged. The three of you looked towards Shuri and got a nod towards the portal. “I didn’t clean tho. And don’t open drawers.” you giggled before going through the portal again. “I love the future man.” came from behind you from an awestruck voice. Your room had a little bit of chaos from the previous evening scattered across it. Socks, an empty cookie package, charging cables, a little pile of laundry and your bed was only half made. “Cute.” “I wouldn’t call it cute...but that’s subjective.” you chuckled before taking your pile of laundry and bringing it to the bathroom. “Show us our fictional versions.” T’Challa grinned like a child which would irritate you if you wouldn’t know the movies. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea. I don’t wanna change what’s happening in your universe.” your weight shifted from one side to another. “Pretty please!” Bucky joined in. Your glance shifted between the two grown men in the middle of your apartment. You felt like a mother with two children begging for more chocolate. “Fine.” a little success high five was interchanged between the two men. ���So your universe is the MCU universe, there are comics that depict other universe versions and the MCU took inspirations out of those for the movies…” you started while walking to get your laptop. Knowledge hungry eyes stared at you for the rest of the day while you were explaining your and their world to them. Including the jealous look of Bucky when you started talking about the actor depicting him, looking exactly like him, just with a normal arm and different personality traits. “Don’t worry. He doesn’t know me. Probably never will.” you giggled before you went on about the actors. In the evening they left again and after T’Challa had left through the portal Bucky turned around one last time. “You’re really special, you know that?” one of his rare soft smiles was on his face. “You talking about yourself, Barnes?” you grinned taking both his hands, not without a tiny flinch from him. “Any requests for the date?” one of the hands went to brush a strand of hair out of your face. “I dislike restaurants. Maybe something more relaxed. As long as you’re there I don’t really care that much.” you said blushing and got a nod back. “Noted. See you soon, darling.” he left a kiss on your forehead before vanishing through the portal. You watched the portal vanish too and stared at the white wall behind it for another minute before getting ready for bed.

M A S T E R L I S T TAGS:

@elsatxx @yslbuckyx @marmariavel @yknott81

[writethelifeyouwant]

Repeat After Me: I Need A Vacation

Characters: Spencer, JJ and family, Emily, Luke, Tara, Rossi, Penelope, OFC

Word Count: 2014

Warnings: Fluff and friendship :)

Summary: I was on vacation and then I was thinking about what they would be like on vacation and then I pushed my loneliness and need for love onto Spencer and this is essentially gonna be super fluffy and probably corny and just roll with it. Am open to taking constructive criticism as well as scenario suggestions! Because I have some semblance of plot laid out but that pesky middle bit is non existent at the moment. So enjoy your fluffy team bonding on a beach with eventual Spencer love interest! This work is cross posted on AO3 and FFN.

“In light of the recent events, I’m putting your team on mandatory leave. Six weeks. Starting now.” AD Barnes’ voice was strict, and emphatically not to be argued with. However, it betrayed her lack of profiling experience, because convincing Prentiss that she and her team needed a vacation was not what one would call a challenge at this point in time. They had been kicked so hard recently, Emily knew she needed to get her team out of the heat for a while. Or, she thought, into the heat depending on where they decide to go get that vacation.

“Thank you ma’am.” Emily nodded and exited the de-briefing as swiftly as she could without being obvious that her goal was to get as far away from Barnes as quickly as possible. She called the elevator bring her back down to the bullpen and her team. Even though she had dismissed them, Emily was sure not a one had left, and they were anxiously waiting on Barnes’ assessment of their most recent arrest. It hadn’t gone smoothly, per se, and the team could feel the ragged nerves hanging in the air between them.

They were huddled around JJ’s and Spencer’s desks, speaking in hushed tones of worry, anticipating the worst their sentence might result in. Luke seemed to exude the most obvious jittery energy. He’d never been on the wrong side of the establishment before he joined the BAU, and he hadn’t accustomed himself to the trips to the principal’s office quite yet.

Knowing her news was actually a positive scenario, Emily stopped short of the group and savoured their pregnant silence before she granted them their reprieve. “Six weeks mandatory leave guys.” The concurrent exhales soared through the air at her announcement and the giddy high of relief surged through the assembled agents. Garcia and JJ actually made small fist pumping motions before tapping each others’ knuckles. Matt, Luke and Tara exchanged relieved smiles, and Rossi just settled back more firmly in his chair, flipping through his phone. Spencer was the only one who still looked vaguely irritated. He didn’t know how to stop working as effectively as his team mates. Emily smiled brightly, her eyes shining in an echo of her team’s consolation.

“Okay everyone, get out of here!” Emily made shooing motions, and she didn’t have to tell them twice. The gaggle began to gather their belongings and filter towards the elevators in pairs and trios.

“Does anyone want to get pizza?” Garcia threw out the option as they crowded an unwise number of team mates into the elevator cabin.

“Oh I could murder a pepperoni right now,” Emily’s voice leaked with what might be considered an inappropriate amount of desire based on the conversation topic.

“We can order to my place? Girls night?” Penelope reached out for JJ’s hand and swivelled around to catch Tara’s eyes.

“If you have wine to go with that pizza then I’m in,” Tara smiled. “JJ?”

“I think I can spare some time before I get back to my boys,” she weighed. “They’re about to be stuck with helicopter mom for six weeks after all.”

“All right, girls to Garcia’s!” Emily shouted as they filed out of the elevator in the parking garage. “Any boys want to petition for an exception?” Emily called walking backwards to her car.

“Not tonight,” Rossi called back. “You ladies have fun.”

“I’ve got my own ladies’ night waiting for me at home, but thanks!” Matt chuckled.

“Spence, Alvez?” JJ prodded.

“You know what, I think I’m gonna go see the new Avengers movie,” Luke answered checking his watch. “I didn’t think I’d be home for the release but it’s only nine, plenty of time to wait in line.” The girls all laughed as the characteristic excited puppy expression crept onto Luke’s face. “Reid, how ‘bout it?”

“You know what, why not.” Reid nodded and adjusted his bag on his shoulder. “Text me the theatre address?”

“Done and done. See ya there man,” Alvez moseyed to his car, tossing his keys between his hands as he went. Spencer waved back in acknowledgement, heading towards his own car.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Three varieties of pizza and several bottles of wine later, Emily and Penelope were draped across Garcia’s couch, while Tara took over the armchair, and JJ huddled into the bean bag next to the coffee table, cradling her glass of wine close to her chest.

“Emily,” Penelope drunk whispered (so the volume was really more suited to stagecraft than intimacy), “we should just stay like this forever. We should just spend our vacation on this couch, with pizza and Sergio and never leave.” Emily laughed, stoking Garcia’s hair like she was a cat herself.

“I should go to a beach,” JJ mused. “I haven’t been to a beach that didn’t involve corpses in years.”

“Ugh, I know!” Emily commiserated. “I thought for sure we could sneak in some time last time we were in California but no…” Emily drew out the vowel in a long mocking complaint. “‘Get your unit back right away chief. We want your report on the AD’s desk before tomorrow night chief.’ Blah blah blah.”

Garcia giggled at Emily’s robotic impersonation of the office bureaucrats. Then she nearly rolled off the couch in her excitement as her intoxicated brain attempted to communicate her newest scheme. JJ and Tara jumped to catch her, as Emily’s own laughter essentially pushed Garcia further towards the fuzzy carpet. “Guys, guys we should go! We” Penelope’s drink free hand flailed around to indicate she meant the friends surrounding her, “should go to the beach! Like, on a vacation!”

“You know,” Tara mused, “I could be up for that. Sun, sand, shirtless men…” she trailed off and swallowed any elaboration on her point with her next drag of wine.

“Exactly!” Garcia pointed her finger enthusiastically. “What she said!”

“Just a girls’ trip? I don’t know if I want to go away for too long without my boys, we get so little time off as it is.” JJ cut in.

“No, no, them too!” Penelope’s drunk excitement hadn’t been dulled but the planning oriented portion of her brain pushed past the alcohol wall to actually push her idea into the realm of a viable option. “All of us, girls, boys, JJ’s boys, like BAU goes to the beach. Like together!”

“If we can go somewhere close-ish I’m in, I just don’t feel like flying, we spend too much time on a jet,” Emily put in.

“Road trip! Even better!” Penelope clapped her hands incredibly enthusiastically as she ran to grab her laptop from the formica countertop of her kitchen, bringing another bottle of red with her in the same trip.

“Virginia has beaches, we can drive there, they literally have a place called Virginia. Beach. That’s totally a place we can go.” Garcia settled herself on the couch again with here laptop on the coffee table so everyone could see the screen while she googled options for beach rentals in Virginia Beach. JJ was already texting Will about asking for a week off.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

At the indecently early hour of 4:30 Spencer’s phone began vibrating against the base of the lamp it was resting against with entirely too much energy. The violent clattering sound jolted him awake and he grasped blindly for the offending noise, hoping to stop it before anyone else woke. This was not accomplished, however, as jerking his phone from the tabletop caused thee charging cord to topple the lamp onto the hardwood below, very effectively waking up the dog sleeping at the other end of the little room.

Roxy’s growling and Reid’s swearing and scrambling reached Luke in the next room, who stumbled incoherently towards the sleep disrupting noises.

“What the hell, man,” Luke grumbled, pulling a hand over his face to wipe the sleep from his eyes. His search for the noise lighted on Reid trying to untangle his phone from the lamp, while Roxy paced around him trying to grab at the wires as if they were chew toys. Luke batted Roxy away from Reid as the other agent finally managed to disengage his phone from its cable in order to answer it. The Caller ID on thee screen informed him who was making this irritatingly early call and he groaned.

“Garcia, if you tell me we have a case right now, I swear, I’m quitting.” Reid grunted as he settled himself on the floor with his back leaning into the couch that had been serving as his makeshift bed.

“Reid we’re on leave, we can’t have a case.”

“Well then there is no good reason for you to be calling me at-“ Reid pulled the phone away from his ear to check the time, “4:32 am.” Spencer was unconsciously mimicking Luke’s earlier gesture of rubbing his hand across his face to encourage his muscles to reawaken and help him process what the hell was going on. He caught Luke’s eye as he was petting Roxy on the other end of the couch.

“Garcia?” He mouthed, ruffling the fur behind Roxy’s ears. Spencer nodded and put the call onto speaker just as Penelope was protesting.

“No, this is a good reason. A totally good reason, I promise.”

“Garcia, how much have you had to drink?” Luke cut in, his louder than necessary voice causing Spencer to flinch.

“Wait why is Luke there, are you guys having a sleepover?!” Garcia squealed and ushered all the girls on her end closer to the phone.

“His couch was closer than my bed. Calm down.”

“No but you’re bonding, that’s great!”

“Garcia, was there a purpose for this call?” Spencer groaned, smooshing further into the cushions behind him.

“Yes, yes there is, vacation. We’re going on a family vacation!”

“What are you talking about?”

“Vacation. Us. BAU family. At a beach. BAU goes to a beach.”

“Genuinely, Garcia, how much have you had to drink?” Spencer laughed.

“That is immaterial to this discussion.”

Luke raised his eyebrows, impressed at Garcia’s ability to recall both that vocabulary and that serious tone this far into the wine bottle he assumed she had stationed next to her at this point.

“Pipe down newbie, I can hear your eyebrows from here.” Luke’s brows moved even further back into his rumpled hairline if that was at all possible. Spencer snorted his laughter into his fist. “But, you have distracted me from my totally awesome plan, which is vacation, which you’re coming to.”

“Where…” Spencer had long ago learned the prudence of being cautious but optimistic about most of Garcia’s plans for team morale and bond building.

“Virginia Beach.”

“Why…?” Spencer didn’t really understand what hat she was pulling this out of yet.

“Because we’re on leave and we all need a break and the beach is great and it’s not that far.” Penelope huffed, she didn’t like being doubted. Her plan was brilliant.

“You know, I’ve never actually been to the beach,” Spencer mused. A chorus of ‘what!s’ and exclamations shot through the tinny speaker on his phone, met with a completely perplexed expression from himself and Luke.

“What do you mean you’ve never been to the beach?” JJ slurred accusatorially.

“I mean, it’s not like Las Vegas is on the coast, guys.” Reid shrugged, he hadn’t thought of it as a big deal, clearly he was about to be corrected.

“Well that settles it” Garcia said, “the pasty professor is coming, he doesn’t get a choice anymore. You in newbie?” Spencer looked over at Luke, who was sitting fairly stunned, idly petting at the air where Roxy hadn’t been for a solid thirty seconds at least.

“Um… I guess?” His confirmation definitely sounded like more of a question but that didn’t stop Garcia.

“Great! I’ll text you the details and car pool set ups when I finish. Night night sleep tight!”

The line went dead and a discordant dial tone rang out for a moment before Spencer hung up on his end as well, shaking his head in amusement and exasperation but primarily exhaustion.

“What just happened?”

.....

[shahadaye]

5 TIPS TO PROTECT YOUR LAPTOP WHILE TRAVELIN

I've always been lucky myself and except for charging cables and boxer shorts I've never been stolen while traveling. However, many stories tell me that you should protect your technical equipment well. Joe explains in this guest post how to double and triple secure.

I am completely honest with you. My lack of bad experiences and my belief in the goodness of people (or call it naivety) ensures that I handle my technical equipment while traveling partially negligent.

It is quite easy to protect yourself and your laptop while traveling. What possibilities there are (from easy to extreme) shows you guest author Joe Görbert, I recently met in Berlin.

Curtain up for Joe!

For many of us, the laptop is at the heart of our work as digital nomads. One of the biggest horror stories is losing his laptop and possibly being restricted to working weeks for weeks, or even worse, losing irretrievable data.

Many of us may also have legal risks in case of a theft, because as a service provider you are responsible for the security of your customers' confidential data and passwords.

While some afford no-brainer and lose their laptop, on my travels I often see people suffering the loss of this important device (and sometimes other expensive items on occasion) due to less predictable circumstances.

In this article I want you as a long-standing tech Traveling  business plan copywriter who lost themselves for over € 5,000 of equipment during burglaries, robberies, pilfering (secret opening of luggage, such as during bus rides or layovers) and Trick / pickpocketing has my Give the best tricks to you, so you never have to do this terrible experience.

# 1: CHAIN IT- USE ALL THE POWER OF THE LAPTOP LOCK

A laptop lock is part of the basic equipment of every digital nomad. Only in the safest of all accommodations is the laptop left unlocked without supervision.

Above all, combination locks are suitable so that you do not lose the key. Incidentally, you should definitely write down the combination / take a photo somewhere. You do not want to know how often I sat in front of the castle after 4-6 weeks break with blackout.

If there are no objects or pipes in the room (bathroom checked?) To which the laptop can be plugged in when absent, it might be a good idea to connect the laptop to the suitcase.

This also makes the theft difficult, as thieves on the one hand prefer short "in-and-out" operations on the other, but they do not want to have to transport large, visible loot.

Also: If you still have one or the other valuable device lying around, it may be enough to satisfy the thief, and the laptop will stay with you. The less other stolen goods, the higher the likelihood that thieves attack the laptop or even destroy it out of frustration if they do not get rid of it.

# 2: TRY 'N' THREATEN!

If there is absolutely no way to secure the laptop in this way, you can make eye-catching writing notes for a potential thief in English or local language.

The note warns of a built-in GPS tracking and impregnation with artificial DNA, with which the device is traceable. This has already saved me in at least one case.

The affected HP in this episode was second-hand and had therefore incorporated an emblem of a magnet in the cover, which at the time went back to the monitoring system of the previous owner, a company. The thieves have left the device behind, but when they broke into my hotel room, they let other equipment worth over € 900 go along.

Of course, artificial DNA is, by the way, also a very interesting thing, especially if the theft occurs in a country with a functioning security system or there are indications of the perpetrator. Some of the DNA tracking products are very difficult to wash off and they are provided with an additive that is visible under UV light.

# 3: JUST PUT IT ON - BECAUSE MORE IS NEVER WRONG

In the meantime, cut-resistant bags such as the PacSafe , which are also secured with a wire lock , are also available for smaller electronic devices . Of course, all wire locks for a small hacksaw are only a matter of minutes of sawing, but most thieves are occasional thieves and poorly equipped.

A small bike lock and a good suitcase with a smart suitcase lock can also help protect the laptop in places with poor security.

When transporting: shoulder bags are easier to tear away than a backpack, but this can be opened in busy places unnoticed from behind. So think about when choosing your equipment.

A small cable lock is easy to weave on most backpacks through the zippers, but also signals the presence of valuables. It may therefore be useful in certain scenarios, to hang a few plastic bags or a towel on / over the backpack, so you do not come over as possible, someone who transports valuable.

Excursus: Preventive data protection in case of theft

Of course, the importance of protecting personal information and passwords is beyond question. The general access password should be as long and complicated as possible. Absolutely critical information is encrypted ( Truecrypt is unfortunately no longer reasonably continued in the course of the NSA affair, which is why VeraCrypt is  recommended today).

Also, you always need a USB stick or maybe even a written list of passwords that require a password change after a lost laptop (Paypal, email account, etc.).

I also still have somewhere inaccessible hidden a 500 GB hard drive, where again critical work files are on it. I'm trying to update this disk on a monthly basis.

Of course, in this context, it must also be mentioned that there are already lucky people who have moved completely into the cloud these days and manage the majority of their digital treasure (but of course under the permanent supervision of the secret services) in a completely mobile way and one or more potent computers from can control and serve anywhere in the world with good Internet.

They have other data leaks to worry about, but in any case, the loss of their hardware would, in most cases, make them less harsh - provided of course they have protected all access.

# 4: READ YOUR ENVIRONMENT

If someone decides to rob someone else, he needs an opportunity and he has to look for it. You have to search with your eyes. If you are able to spot a potential thief or robber before he or she recognizes you, you have very little chance of being robbed (especially if you've made some preparations that we'll cover in the later stages) to come speak).

In different environments, there are various ways to attack someone openly or to steal by hand or ambush. Always be aware of your surroundings and move accordingly. Do not be lectured or distracted in any other way.

A skilful laptop theft that happens at train stations in Buenos Aires is the push of a person carrying a bag between their legs, just after a key has been thrown from the other side. Most people do not wrap the loop around their legs (highly recommended in principle, especially for physically inferior people).

The victim looks in the direction of where the key was thrown, is pushed from the other side and the bag is torn away. After that, the perpetrators disappear in the labyrinth of the bus station. There are no cameras, there are not even mirrors (would probably bring nothing). The biggest frustration remains.

Only those who are in the mood for even more nerve destruction or equipment insurance should decide to file a complaint with the Argentine police. That's important for the statistics, so one of the policemen said to me on another occasion. The perpetrators are no longer apprehended in this life.

WHEN IT GETS DIRTY - EQUIPMENT FOR DEFENSE

Sometimes, the circumstances, budget, or stupid ideas in the life of a digital nomad dictate that he has to carry expensive equipment in situations that are totally inappropriate.

In order to make the high risk both neurologically-psychological and in the worst case of the pure superiority of firepower manageable, I advise each digital nomad two things.

Once you are familiar with the principles of armed combat (attention, this link has a fierce image of a knife injury), best Krav Maga .

Secondly, you should always have basic self-defense equipment  that will suit your fighting style and physical condition. For many women, this is irritant gas and for men mostly the combination of a strong laser pointer and a small folding knife.

It is not a matter of hurting the offender, but of being able to lead more bargaining power in a dispute , so that a critical damage can be averted.

However, the situation must be read correctly: With an open or suspected hidden supremacy of more than 1 in 3 and the use of firearms, resistance is without question lethal. In the vast majority of cases, however, one is equipped and willing to protect one's stuff, in principle a good opportunity to avert at least the worst by negotiating or responding quickly.

I once knew someone who has built a device in his laptop, which he not only GPS track (see also the following article on built-in GPS tracker ) but allegedly could detonate via Internet command and which in this case destroys the hard drive.

Maybe also an option, if you want to belong to the Extrakrassen. I do not know if the colleagues at the security check it up, but I found it worth mentioning. By the way: Remote Data Destruction Software is also available and should work pretty well.

Conclusion: Some of the hints mentioned here seem to be somewhat violent. But I believe that we are sliding into a future in which we can count less and less on the security forces of the state. At least when it comes to protecting us as ordinary citizens from those who are hungry, hungry and in a laptop of great value.

For us, however, the laptop still has the largest (and immaterial) value. Therefore, we should use all methods of protecting the vehicle of our freedom and prosperity with the utmost care and determination. If you are looking for more information about hp touch screen laptop. visit hp touch screen laptop right away.

[spncontips]

A HANDY DANDY CONVENTION CHECKLIST!

Prepping for a convention? Here’s a check list to help you get organised for your trip!

TICKETS Make sure you remember to print out all your tickets! That’s your PDFs/receipts for your convention ticket, photo ops and autographs, plus meet and greet invoice if you’re doing one. Hotels have printers of course, but it’s easier to have them ready to go, rather than trying to find somewhere to print them out while at the convention – because you’ll be busy!

EXTRA TIP FOR HARD TICKETS - CREATION SPECIFIC Some people put the hard tickets (bought at the con, or via PDF ticket exchange) in the back of their lanyard - they can fall out! Be aware of them at all times, or find a safter place for them! You can jot your name and seat number on the back, so if you do drop them and someone finds them, they can find you, or turn them into Creation who can find you. (Fingers crossed if you lose a ticket, someone honest finds them!)

ELECTRONICS Camera – with spare batteries and memory card and associated cords. Phone Laptop/iPad/iPod All your chargers! All your charger cables!

It’s also great to bring an extra battery pack for your phone, because there usually isn’t anywhere to quickly charge your phone without going back to your room, so if you have a pre-charged battery backup with you that can help keep in touch!

If you do forget something, you always have fan backup – someone will lend you that charging cable that mysteriously got left behind!

PENS A pen – for filling out reupping forms – and for writing down your email or twitter for new friends! Highlighter pens – for highlighting the schedule Coloured Sharpie – if you don’t want black or silver for your auto, bring your own coloured Sharpie pen!

PAPER Always bring some kind of notebook – just in case you want to jot down notes from a panel, or something someone told you, names, emails, twitter handles (as Jensen calls them) etc!

SOMETHING TO PUT YOUR PHOTO OPS IN You need something to put your photo ops in so they don’t bend and get ruined! You can buy great hard sleeves in the vendor’s room, but I find that sometimes the photos can get stuck in them! So be careful of that! A document display folder with plastic inserts, or a ring-binder with plastic inserts is great. Or just a hard plastic document envelope. The photos printed out at the con are 10x8, so anything that fits A4 or larger works.

WHATEVER YOU’RE GOING TO GET AUTOGRAPHED If you have something specific that you’re getting signed, don’t forget to pack it! The Vendors room has photos and books and some other items that can be used for autos if you don’t have something specific.

SNACKS AND WATER Soooooo important! Many of the convention hotels/convention centres don’t have much (or any) food available, or you have to go out to get food (and did I mention how busy you’ll be?), or it’s super expensive. So pack your own. If you’re travelling and can’t pack a sandwich or anything, even if it’s just some fruit or nibblies to take into the convention auditorium, that will help to keep your energy up.

The days are long, you might not get much sleep, you might be drinking more alcohol than usual, the hotels and convention centres are heavily air-conditioned, so it’s also super important to stay hydrated. If you can pickup a bulk pack of water at Target or a supermarket or something, that’s going to save you money and you’ll have water in your room and to take to panels! Seriously, snacks and water. Get on that!

*CREATION CON SPECIFIC - There is also a large water dispenser with cups inside the auditorium. You can use that water throughout the day, and you can also fill up your own water bottle from the supplied water dispensers to save more money. 

HANDOUTS - Twitter/Tumblr/email Print out your Twitter @  or/Tumblr/email addy on little pieces of paper that you can hand out to your new fandom friends who want to be able to follow or contact you. You can make them simple, or into cool little business cards!

EXTRA MONEY – BUT BUDGET! Um. Cons are expensive. Outside of the costs of hotel accommodation and all your tickets that you’ve already paid for, you’ll also have to buy food and drinks (unless you packed them as per the awesome tip above!) The Vendor’s room or vendor’s areas at a con has cool stuff, t-shirts, books, stickers, mugs, glasses, posters, standees, all sorts of jewellery, and various other goodies that you might want. There may even be a guest that you didn’t get an op with, but when you see their panel, you feel you absolutely must hug the living hell out of them, (oh believe me, it happens!), so you just have to get another op! So take a little extra money, just in case. But budget…because it’s real easy to get swept up into the con craziness and want all the things and all the ops (speaking from experience), so make sure you set yourself a budget!

Make sure you have ID on you too, in case that is needed for credit card purchases!

YOUR OUTFITS Okay, I know, d’uh, you’re going to pack clothes! But if you’ve decided on a specific outfit, whether something pretty or something cosplay, make sure you have all the necessary bits! I always plan what I’m wearing for each day ahead of time. That way I don’t have to pack loads of options and I don’t have to think about it at the con. Some days (especially Saturday and Sunday) can start quite early, and the last thing you’re going to want to do is be trying on outfits like crazy. 1. You won’t have time. 2. You don’t want to increase your stress! So pre-plan your outfits and pack all the elements you decide on to make them perfect.

And bring something warm to take into the panels - it can be chilly in the auditorium!

CREATION SPECIFIC - CASH FOR CHRIS – the Creation photographer If you are buying JPEGS of your photo-ops you will need $US to give to Chris the photographer. Each photo op you have, comes with 1 10x8 print – but only 1. You can purchase JPEGS of each photo for $10 per JPEG. There is a number on the photo – you give that number to Chris or his offsiders. Each photo’s JPEG you purchase costs $10 and you must have cash for that. So when you know what photo-ops you’re getting, figure out before hand which you may need (if there’s more than one of you in the photo) or want a JPEG of and ensure you have enough $US on you. If you are at a Canadian con – you can use Canadian dollars but as Chris is from the US, US dollars are better for him. The JPEGS are super high quality, large files, which can be printed to LARGE canvas size if you want (speaking from experience).

NOTE - Chris supplies the JPEGS via an email link to Google Drive. Expect to get them within about a week or two after the con depending upon Chris’ other con and family commitments. Be patient - he will get them to you!

If you don’t have the cash at hand to buy the JPEGS at the convention, you can still buy them after the con. Go to the Creation website and follow the link and you’ll be able to contact Chris via there. See info below!

TISSUES/VITAMINS/PAIN KILLERS ETC. There’s lots of aircon in the hotels/convention areas and you may get a running nose – you don’t want to be snuffly or snotty – pack tissues. Eyedrops – for the same reason, the aircon may dry your eyes out and make them sore and red. It’s also not a bad idea to pack some Vitamin B or C to keep your energy up and immune system working. Pack some Paracetamol or/and Ibuprfen in case of headache or backache or hangover! I always take hay fever medication with me – I never know if something is going to affect me in a place I’m not used to (Vancon for example, gives me hives…WHY I DO NOT KNOW!). I also bring cough/cold medication. I have got super sick at cons! It sounds like a lot, but seriously, I have got sooo sick and having stuff on hand has been a life saver. I also always travel with Bepanthen because I get tatts when I travel :D Also don’t forget extra contact lenses if you need them, and pack band aids (especially if you have new shoes.)

And remember, you are going to be somewhere where you can buy things, so don’t overpack. If you forget toiletries or need something, you will be able to buy at the con. Most cons are held in a hotel, all of which have some form of shop for emergencies - fangirls are also a great back up. 

BREATHMINTS/GUM You’re going to want to pop a mint before you go into a photo op! You’re about to get up close and personal with Jensen Ackles, and you don’t want to breathe coffee breath all over him! Pack mints.

PERFUME/MINI DEODERANT For the same reason as the mints. You’re about to hug the crap outta Misha Collins – you don’t want “been sitting for 6 hours in the same shirt” smell as you squish into him!

LITTLE PURSE MIRROR Perfect for checking your lippy, hair, making sure you don’t have kale in your teeth – as you wait in line for your photo op. Don’t worry, EVERYONE is doing it!

HAND SANITISER. OMG YESSSS! Con crud is a thing. Protect yourself at all costs! Santitise like your health depends on it! IT DOES!

BAGS I get asked about bags a lot - what bag can you take to a convention. For Creation, at this stage there is no restriction on the bag you bring into a panel, however the bag must easily fit under your chair or the chair in front of you. You can not keep bags in aisles or anywhere they may be an obstruction or a saftey issue. 

For Karaoke - it is requested that you do not bring a bag of any kind. So only bring a bag if it is vital - ie if you require a bag for medication, ensure you let the people manning the door know.

If you have a camera, and do not need that bag - bring it without. 

For the Saturday Night Special Concert - once again, avoid bringing a bag. If you do bring a bag for the concert, it must be small purse size, or a camera bag.

Note: there is security and all bags will be checked so DO NOT BRING A BAG to Karaoke or the concert.

ALCOHOL Creation do not allow alcohol at their events, there is no alcohol permitted at Karaoke or the Saturday night concert, or in panels. (There wasn’t even alcohol allowed at the Hawai’i con luau dinner! Seriously.)

That’s it for now! But I’ll keep adding more as more tips come up!

-sweetondean

[some-cookie-crumbz]

Aliens

Aliens Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender Pairing: Kidge Summary: Implications of torture! After getting booted from a summer camp, Katie has to tag around with her dad at the Garrison base. Things get slightly more interesting, however, when she starts following around a different Garrison emlpoyee. Standard Disclaimer: If you read and enjoy this, please give it a like/ reblog so I know if I should write more. AN: So, this prompt ended up getting ridiculously involved for me, and I’ve decided I’m gonna write this as a multi-chapter story. For now, consider this a preview and I’ll include more information about the full story in my next update post. :3

She watched everything around her with a sharp eye and keen interest.

Bringing your child into work wasn’t something that a lot of Garrison officers typically did – mostly because they weren’t supposed to – but this was a special case. “You see,” Her dad explained to his superior officer with a small, almost-nervous chuckle, “my wife is away visiting family. Her father is terribly ill and, well, we decided it would be better for Katie to stay here. It would be too hard for my dear Colleen to help her mother, whom is also terribly frail, take care of her father as well as keep a seven year old entertained. And it’ll only be for seven, eight weeks, at most!”

Commander Sampson eyed her wearily as her father spoke, still seeming unsure, before turning his attention back to her dad. “Are you sure that she will behave herself, Samuel?” He asked calmly.

“Oh, absolutely! I’ll keep her stuck to my hip like glue!” He promised, smiling wide and reassuringly at the other.

“Will your son also be following you along?”

“Oh, no, Matthew is away at a science summer camp until late August. Colleen should be home by then,” He said. Katie had originally gone to a science summer camp, too, but been kicked out after she stuffed another kid’s bunk with honey to play a real-life game of Ants-in-the-Pants. She was accused of being too rowdy and mean-spirited; she argued that she was standing up for herself against one of the kids bullying her, since none of the camp counselors had tried to help her at all. Samuel had stood beside his daughter, saying something about “bad press” and “negligence lawsuits”, which successfully got both Katie and the other child booted from the program.

Which had left her preening in delight. She may have gone down, but at least she took that jerk down with her.

With a slow exhale through his nose, Commander Sampson turned to Samuel again. “I’ll allow it, but make sure you keep her close at hand. The Garrison is not a daycare; it’s a military organization that trains space explorers,” He said strictly, sizing Katie up one last time, before heading back off to resume his duties.

“Thank you, Sir!” Samuel called after him before beaming down at her. He reached down and ruffled her hair before taking her hand. “Well, looks like you’re going to be getting the grand tour of the Garrison a few years early! You excited?”

“Yeah! Can I sit in for your lectures?” She asked eagerly.

He chuckled and gently steered her towards his office. “Absolutely! But do make sure to behave and stay quiet; can’t have you giving my students all the answers, now, can we?” He chuckled as they headed in. He gathered up his laptop, folders and a few other things before handing her the little messenger bag with some of her things in it. Once she had properly settled the strap on her shoulder, he took her hand and they headed along the halls towards the lecture halls.

And for the first two times she watched his lecture, she’d been enthralled. The third time, however, her interest started to wane. She tried her best to stay quiet – really, she did – but she was bored with this and flopped about in her father’s office chair. Sometimes, when he asked a question and there was a long pause between volunteers to answer, she’d let out a long, pitiful sigh. The students found this hilarious each time she did it, but she could tell her dad was reaching the ends of his patience by the time the lecture was over. “Katie, darling, you promised to behave,” He said, keeping his tone gentle as he knelt down and spun the chair around so she was facing him again.

“But I’m bored!” She whined loudly, feeling no need to tone it back now that there were so few students left in the room. The last couple chuckled a bit at her but she ignored them. She flipped around so that she was sitting in his chair upside down. “I like your lecture, but why can’t you do a different one for the next class?”

“That’s not how a teaching plan works, Katie,” He said patiently. He reached down, picked her up, and set her back down in the chair so she was seated properly. “I have to make sure all my students in all my classes are on the same page so they can work together or seek me out if they need additional help with something.”

“Showing the future head of our department a thing or two, Samuel?” A warm voice teased from the large doors leading into the classroom.

Sam chuckled and glanced over. “Hello, Hannah. And I’m just trying to convince my daughter, Katie, to behave despite being bored with my lecture for the day,” He explained, motioning the woman over. Katie thought she looked kind of familiar; an adult she’d probably seen at one of those boring work events her dad had to attend a lot. “Katie, this is Hannah Curtis. She’s one of the head researches in life on other planets.”

Katie perked up at that, eyes getting bright at that. “You mean you get to study aliens?” She asked.

Hannah giggled politely as she walked down one of the aisles to the table. “Well, so far we haven’t found any in the way you’re thinking; mostly just alien plant life. But it’s still pretty interesting stuff,” She said happily. She then turned her attention back to Sam. “I was wondering if you had a spare tablet charger. I’m working on a new project with a lot of complicated data and, well, I’ve never been good about remembering where I keep those chargers.”

Samuel chuckled and nodded, opening a drawer of his desk and rummaging through. “I swear, between you and the Douglas’, I’m gonna run out of spare charging cables,” He teased lightly, pulling out a small, bound black cable and offering it to her. “What projects are you working on right now, anyway? I heard they’d transferred you off of the Callisto research study to put you in charge of another program, but didn’t hear any specifics being mentioned.”

Hannah chuckled a bit as she fiddled with the cord. “Oh, just your run-of-the-mill research on a foreign organism located a few miles off. They think it has something to do with that meteor shower a few weeks back but I’m still not sure. You know, Samuel,” She said, her gaze shifting to Katie as she spoke before snapping back up at him, “I could take Katie with me back to my lab, if you’d like. I have some samples and tests to run that I could use a little bit of help with. She could take notes for me and maybe even get to see some of the results up close and personal.” She offered, fiddling with the cable in her hands.

Katie gasped and sat upright immediately, clutching at the arm of the chair and looking at Sam with large, pleading eyes. “Can I, Dad? Pretty, pretty please?”

He looked down at her and scowled. “Katie, darling, I told Commander Sampson that you would stay with me,” He said.

“Aw, Sam,” Hannah laughed lightly, “I’ll deal with Derek. I’m sure he won’t mind so long as she isn’t wandering the halls aimless and alone.”

He still seemed a bit unsure, turning his attention back to Katie. He reached down and gently pushed her unruly copper-tinted bangs from her face. “Do you promise to behave yourself for Hannah? Meaning you’ll mind your manners and do as your told and not act out?” He asked.

“I promise I will if you let me go with her!” She insisted, sticking her lower lip out just enough to make it quiver.

He chuckled and ruffled her hair affectionately. “Okay, you can cut it back on the theatrics. Just make sure you keep your promise to listen, because if you don’t, Hannah will bring you back to me in a heartbeat, understand?”

She beamed up and held her arms up, embracing him tightly once he leaned close enough to be reached. “I will! Thank you so much, Daddy!” She slipped out of the chair and took the hand Hannah offered to her, staring up at her excitedly. “Will I really get to look at samples if I behave?”

“Of course! Oh, and I’ll bring her back for lunch, too. I figure, depending on how interesting she finds everything, I could keep her with me after that, too, if it’s okay,” Hannah suggested.

“Let’s just see how she does between now and lunch,” Samuel said, picking her bag up off the floor and gently draping it over her shoulder, “and determine where to go from there, okay?”

“Thank you, Daddy! I’ll see you later!” She called as she walked along with the older woman, waving back at him as they headed out. She looked up at Hannah curiously as they stepped out into the hallway, weaving between the throngs of students darting here and there before the bell could chime again. “Have you ever seen a real alien before? Because my Dad says that aliens are real but that we just haven’t gotten enough proof yet.”

Hannah giggled a bit. “What if I told you that I have a real life alien in my lab, right now?” She asked, leaning down a bit and lower her voice to avoid being overheard.

“Really?” Katie nearly shrieked, eyes shining with excitement.

Hannah gently pressed a finger to her lips but giggled despite herself. “Settle down, dear. We can’t have the whole place finding out about it,” She said gently. Katie gasped quietly and clapped a hand against her mouth, nodding in understanding. “But yes, we did. It’s a small thing and we still don’t know a lot about it, but we’re doing the best we can to learn more about it and why it came to Earth.” She explained before fishing a key card from her jacket pocket and sliding it through the elevator. She let Katie enter first, then stepped in herself.

The ride in the elevator was mostly quiet, with only Katie’s excited humming to fill the void. When the doors opened, they were in a lower floor area that was filled with transparent cells with cots and toilets but nothing else. It reminded her of a scene she’d seen in a movie she and Matt had watched one night when their sitter fell asleep on the couch while their parents were out. The rooms had transparent, glass doors with multiple little holes in them for oxygen and, if she were to guess, communication. There were tons of other Garrison scientists running about, but they had swapped out their Garrison golds and olives for traditional scientist white coats. Hannah approached an area with desks to their left, already starting to shrug off her blazer. Katie followed after her, unsure of what else to do. “Let me just slip into my proper coat and I’ll take you to see it, okay, Katie?” Hannah said politely.

“Dr. Fritz, there you are! We’ve been looking all over-!” Another scientist, a younger looking fellow with hair that looked like it had just been rubbed against a balloon and wild green eyes darted over, a tablet clutched tightly in his grasp. He cut off, however, when he saw Katie and let out a terrified squawk. “Dr. Fritz!” He voice grew high and cracked with anxiety.

“Oh, settle down, Andy! This is Katie, Commander Holt’s daughter. I’m sure you remember her from the company picnic a few weeks ago, right?” Hannah said with a small wave, finally shrugging her blazer off completely and moving to grab the white coat tossed over the back of the chair. Katie waved politely at Andy before her attention shifted to a picture of Callisto on Dr. Fritz’ desk. She seemed to notice, by how she plucked it up and offered it to her. “Here, if you’d like a better look. Pretty neat, huh, Katie?” She giggled.

“Doctor Fritz, this is highly problematic! We can’t have a child wandering around here with that thing in here! What if word got out? If Commander Wickler found out what we were doing-!” He yelped again when Hannah grabbed him by the lapels of his coat and pulled him closer.

“Commander Wickler won’t find out anything if you keep your mouth shut and let me do my damn job. I know what I’m doing, unlike the rest of you,” She said, keeping her voice quiet to avoid attracting Katie’s attention. She then shoved him back and glared at him. “Now, Andy, why don’t you go make sure our guest is awake and ready for visitors? I promised Katie that she could see it for herself.” She said evenly, turning her attention and a bright smile back to the young girl beside her.

Andy still looked uncomfortable but nodded. “Of course, Dr. Fritz,” He said quietly, rapping his fingers along the tablet as he headed off.

“So you’re a doctor? Do you specialize in aliens?” Katie asked, offering the picture back to Hannah.

She smiled and nodded, calmly placing the picture back on her desk. “Indeed I am. Well, the degree technically says I’m a doctor of Biology, but I’ve always been more interested in the anatomy of foreign entities. This is the first time it’s been something more than a plant or a root. This one… This one could yield some real information about what space is like,” She said, her voice becoming awestruck the longer she spoke.

Katie smiled wider herself. She hoped that someday she could be as passionate as Hannah was about her work.

Hannah seemed to snap free of her moment and led Katie along. “Now, I want you to stay close to me. It can get a little aggressive if you get too close to the glass of its cell,” She explained as they walked. Most of the units were empty but the farthest one back was where Hannah finally stopped. “It usually tends to duck under the cot and stay in the corner, but if you look you should be able to see it’s eyes.” She advised, pointing at the area in question.

Katie looked down to see two narrowed, glowing gold eyes watching her from beneath the mattress of the small bed. She gasped and immediately scrambled down, sitting cross-legged and leaning a bit closer to the plate-glass of the cell. Hannah stepped back a bit further as she observed Katie’s behavior, going until she was nearly pressed against the glass of the empty cell across from the one the subject was being held in. “Hello,” She said with a soft gasp.

The eyes widened a bit before she could see the silhouette of whatever it was moving. She heard Hannah mumble something under her breath but she couldn’t make out exactly what she said. The figure shifted out, crawling out while staying low to the ground, and she blinked in surprise at the alien staring back at her. It’s eyes were a bright gold with slim pupils, but the eyes were set in a humanoid face of pale purple skin. There was also a mop of inky hair with two cat-like ears sticking out, the ears covered in a purple fur that match his skin. The ears also had two little tufts at the tip, the fur there a slightly darker purple than the rest. It was wearing Earth attire, which she found a little strange,  and the bright red shirt paired with tan khakis seemed like an odd fit. She also noticed a long, fluffy purple tail curling behind it and a strange collar of some sort around it’s neck.

She shifted a bit closer herself, starting to reach out to touch the glass, when Andy darted back over and gasped. “It came out!” He sputtered in alarm.

Immediately, the alien hissed violently, revealing long and sharp looking fangs, before scampering back under the bed. Hannah growled and whipped her head around to glare at him. “You simple-minded idiot!” She hissed, walking over to him.

Katie watched them for a moment then scooted a bit closer, leaning up a little so that she could speak near one of the vents. “Hello, my name is Katie,” She called lightly.

Hannah paused in her berating of Andy and watched, shifting her attention from Katie to the alien inside the cell whom had perked back up a little bit from the other speaking to him.

“I take it you haven’t spent a lot of time on Earth, but it’s good that you at least got some clothes. Hopefully it not too bad, since I’m not sure how comfy it is with your tail and all. I mean, unless a hole was cut in the back so that your tail could come out easier? I can’t really tell, since you seem to like hiding under the bed,” She said.

The alien shifted inside the cell, moving to lay down on its belly. It was the most at east that it had been since they’d found it half-dead on the side of the road nearly three weeks back.

“So, like, I take it your type of alien are kinda like cats? My Aunt Lucy has a cat that runs under the couch or the bed whenever visitors come over. She says that he’s a scaredy cat, but I think it’s just more that he doesn’t like Matt cause he pets him weird,” She said, tapping her feet together as she spoke. She leaned back a bit on her hands, getting more comfortable. “Matt’s my big brother. He’s okay when he isn’t being a total jerk. Sometimes he calls me Pidge, cause he says I’m small like a pigeon, and I hate it.” She continued to prattle on for as long as she was allowed, promising that she’d draw a picture of the new puppy they’d just gotten for him to see while she was eating her lunch.

Hannah dropped her back of with her Dad after about two hours, promising to come get her again a little later.

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

“Dr. Fritz, I don’t understand why you brought that little girl in here. She could tell Commander Holt about the alien and blow the whistle on our research studies!” Andy squeaked out anxiously, clutching the tablet so tightly that it looked like the screen might crack. He was standing beside her desk as she turned her tablet back on, humming quietly as it loaded. He glanced down at the tablet in his hands, at the near-empty document regarding the alien they’d found. He didn’t have much to say about it other than it’s appearance and the accelerated rate at which it’s injuries had healed.

“Andy, we have a lovely little opportunity placed before us,” She said evenly, plucking out the stylus and beginning to write down some information. Added to her own list of information – which also included the alien’s hostile and volatile temperament, as well as its apparent lack of Earth knowledge or speaking capabilities – she added a few notes to her file.

“What do you mean?” He asked, trying to peer over her shoulder at what she’d written. Instead, she turned her chair around with a quick snap and pointed her stylus at him, less than an inch from touching his nose. He took a step back and gulped.

“How about instead of questioning me,” She mused, her tone sugary sweet and fatal, “you follow my orders to assure the integrity of our research? Katie Holt can be an interesting little pawn that can help us figure out where this thing came from. That kind of information could be invaluable to the Garrison.” She glared before tilting back in her seat, adjusting to reread the report she had drafted up about her research for the day.

Subject is a potential juvenile specimen of species; more data needed to confirm. Subject seems to have a higher tolerance for pain than humans; electrocution caused clear pain, but had a higher tolerance than human before pain reached excessive levels. Heightened healing element continues to be prominent factor; wounds caused by electrocution assessment seemed to heal more effectively than would heal for a human specimen once current was shut down. Healing element only seems to take effect once injury has ceased but will need to conduct further research to confirm. New assessments are being completed to determine the intelligence and amount of knowledge the subject has about Earth culture and habits. As of now, seems to recognize inflection and volume as indicators of intent of words; ability to understand the language has yet to be determined. Assessment schedule shall be properly scheduled and finalized to determine.

She smirked and picked her tablet back up. “Andy, go get a testing room and tranquilizer gun ready, would you? I want to run a few more tests on the subject’s limitations in regards to pain tolerance and the healing aspect of it before I start figuring out a proper schedule for the rest of the tests,” She said while standing up.

The other nodded and headed off, glancing back over his shoulder as she headed down along the aisle to the cell it was resting inside. Shortly after Katie had left, it seemed to go back on the defensive, its anxiety hyped up. “You must be so lonely, aren’t you?” Hannah giggled, lightly wrapping her knuckles against the glass.

A hiss that was most likely meant to sound threatening was her answer.

“Don’t worry now, little one. I think I can schedule regular play dates for you and Katie. Would you like that? Having a little friend to talk to?” She mused, pushing away from the glass to close the tablet and tuck it into one of the large inner pockets of the coat. “So long as we keep things under wraps, Katie will continue playing into our hands quite nicely. We can assess of how much use you’ll be to use. And who knows! Perhaps we’ll even be able to locate whatever kind of ship you came here on! That would certainly be a discovery worth something to Commander Wickler, maybe even keep us from getting read the riot act for keeping you under wraps!” She said with a happy sigh, pressing one hand to her chest.

If she could just make that reality, everything she’d been through would be worth it.

Andy reappeared a moment later with the gun she’d asked for, passing it over uneasily. “Dr. Fritz, I wasn’t sure what you wanted to check so I just set out a whole bunch of different options. I hope that’s acceptable,” He stammered out uneasily.

Dr. Fritz turned and smiled, a cruel little thing, and gave his cheek a little pat. “Thank you, Andy. I’ll meet you in there in a moment,” She said before pulling a small key card from her pocket. This one was different from the one she used for the elevator, a bit smaller and was a pale blue hue, so that she distinguish them and avoid getting asked questions about the smaller one. She slid it through the card reader beside the cell and beamed as the door slowly slid up.

The subject, as she had learned once before, was surprisingly quick, but luckily she was a faster shot.

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

Katie had been thrilled to bits when Hannah offered to take her for half the day to make things easier on Samuel. “I can see why you wanted to bring her with you, Sam,” Hannah had said with a bright smile. She reached down and gently gave Katie’s shoulder a squeeze. “She’s such a good little helper!”

Sam stared at her surprise, blinked, then chuckled a bit. “My, you must have really been able to keep her interest then! If she doesn’t enjoy something, she tends to become a bit unruly!” He said.

“Alien plants can be rather interesting, I’ll have you know,” She teased lightly. “If it’s okay, I’d like to take her on for as long as she’s here as my helper. I could take here around the same time every day, bring her back up for lunch, take her back to my lab afterwards, and then bring her back in time for your last lecture of the day. Would that be okay?”

“So long as she wants to go and you don’t mind having her, I suppose there isn’t a problem with it,” He said, smiling at his daughter. There was comfort in knowing that she was gaining more knowledge despite not being in the camp still. At least this way he didn’t have to worry about her getting bullied by a bunch of immature little ingrates. He smiled and waved as the two of them headed back out of the lecture hall.

“Can I ask a question, Dr. Fritz?” Katie asked curiously as they walked along.

“Katie, you can call me Hannah. We’re friends, after all,” She said, her smile and voice warm to the younger beside her.

The younger beamed up at her. “Okay, Hannah. I wanted to ask about… Um… The alien,” She said, lowering her voice and mouthing out the last bit. Hannah hummed and nodded as they got into the elevator. “Well, where did you find him? Was he out attacking people? Or was he, like, eating power lines or something?” She asked curiously.

“Oh, I found it while doing some additional work. See, I had driven to a separate Garrison base to assist another researcher with examining some samples they acquired from a meteor,” She explained as she slid the card key through and began the descent. “I was driving home to my hotel late one night, and it ran out into the road from the treeline nearby. At first, I thought I had just hit a large dog or something, but when I stopped, I found that I had actually hit it. I figured this would be a wonderful chance to learn a bit more about the life forms we share the universe with.”

Katie’s brow knitted a bit at her words. “Do you think… Do you think it was lost? And that was why it ran out into the road?” She asked worriedly.

“Katie, darling, it is much better that it be here. After all, it clearly knows next to nothing about human culture or life on Earth. And the poor thing was terribly injured from being hit! If not for me bringing it here, it probably would have died. I, in a way, have saved its life,” She said calmly as they reached their floor. The doors slid open and she gently ushered Katie out and into the front room. “It’s a win-win situation for us all, really. It stays alive and well-fed; we gain more knowledge about what aliens in our universe are capable of.”

Katie nodded mutely but said nothing. Taking her silence as anticipation, Hannah hurried her along to the cell.

Andy was there, carefully shoving a tray of food into the cell through a slim slot on the floor. He looked over and plastered on a nervous smile. “A-Ah, Katie Holt! Welcome back to our neck of the woods!” He said, glancing from her to Dr. Fritz uneasily.

His response from his boss was a curt nod. “We’ll have to see if he’ll come out to eat. He hasn’t seemed too keen on having guests to talk with him while he eats,” Hannah advised Katie as she settled on the floor in front of the cell, much like she had the day before.

“Maybe none of the things you’ve wanted to talk to him before are things he wants to talk about,” Katie said as she opened her little bag and fished out her drawing pad and crayons. She flipped to a new page, opened her box, and pulled out the brown crayon first. “I mean, I know I’d be less likely to want to eat without someone to have a fun conversation with.”

A quick glance over the top of her page revealed two gleaming yellow eyes keyed in on her. Good, she had its attention. That was a start.

She turned her attention back towards her drawing as she started to drag the crayon along the pages. “So, it’s clear you aren’t from Earth. So you must be from some place really far away and really cool, huh? But I guess Earth is kinda cool to you, huh? Since you’ve never been here before?” She said. After a small pause, she switched the brown crayon for the gray one instead. “That’s one of the things me and Matt like about when we do big family trips, anyway. Getting to see all the different places we’ve never been before, I mean,” She said before lifting her head again.

The alien had crept out a bit further and settled to imitate her posture, sitting on the other side of the glass to watch her in exchange.

She smiled and giggled. “So, my name’s Katie. What’s yours?”

Silence for a beat, before the alien cocked it’s head, mouthing out its response of, “Keith.”

[peacefulheartfarm]

What I Love About Homesteading

Today I want to talk about what I love about homesteading. Quite a few of the previous podcasts have contained lots of information about animal predator issues we have been having. I know it has been a real downer. As for me, it has definitely been a downer and I want to do this podcast to bring a balanced perspective and more positive outlook on our life here on the homestead. We don’t always have such a bad time of it. In fact, what I love about homesteading is a much better representation of what it is like for us most of the time.

Let me take a brief minute and say welcome to all the new listeners and welcome back to the veteran homestead-loving regulars who stop by the FarmCast for every episode. I can’t thank you all enough. I appreciate you all so much. And I’m so excited to share with you what’s going on at the farm this week. We have big news.

Our Virginia Homestead Life Updates

The greatest thing is finally happening. If all goes well over the next few days, we will have a new dog on the homestead.

Sheep and Goats

We had yet another attack on our sheep. This time it was dogs. The tracks left behind were definitely from dogs. At least two. I’m not going to give the details this time, but we are down to four animals. The flock ram, a yearling and two breeding ewes. Thank God for the imminent arrival of a livestock guardian dog.

We can now rebuild our sheep flock and start a new goat herd. The most stressful thing about the whole situation is that we could not rebuild the flock or introduce the new goat breed we are adding to the homestead. I wanted to get back to normal flock size but we simply could not risk bringing new animals onto the homestead that would simply be killed by stray dogs. They are still out there. Yesterday we found dog tracks down in the very creek bed where the previous destruction occurred. It had rained hard the day before. These tracks were fresh yesterday. I’m so grateful that we have finally found a dog. Let me tell you a little bit about him.

Mack the Catalonian Sheep Dog

Mack was rehomed from a family that sold all of their sheep and therefore he no longer had a job. He was born and raised in the pasture with livestock, which is what we were looking for in a guardian dog. The lady from which we are getting him has had him for just a few months. She began having a bit of an issue with him going to visit the neighbors while she was not there during the daylight hours. At night he protected his animals.

Wandering is Not Good

As she does not live on that farmland where he was housed, he began seeking company elsewhere. She expected him to stay with the animals all the time. It seems that while she was only a few miles away, he still needed to know a human was around and sought out the neighbors to fill that role. We are hoping that because we are here all the time, he will be comfortable knowing we are always around and that he will be diligent about staying with the sheep. We shall see. It has been many, many years since either of us has had a dog. I, for one, am looking forward to this new adventure. I hope Mack will be happy with us and with his new flock of sheep.

Adding the goats later will be an interesting exercise in introducing new animals to Mack. I’m sure I’ll be regaling stories of the ups and downs of livestock guardian dog ownership. Stay tuned.

Cows

We are still waiting on Violet to come into heat. Does it seem like to you that we are always “waiting on Violet” for something? I know it seems like it to me. We are pretty confident that all of the other girls are gestating a new calf. Will Violet get with the program? Only time will tell. She needs to conceive in the next few weeks or we end up in the same situation again. We have just a few weeks to meet our schedule of having her pregnant and due for delivery no later than the last week of April.

Quail

New quail babies will hatch in a few days. I have 84 eggs in there. I’m not sure what is going to happen this time. A couple of days ago we had a power outage. A tree fell on a line during a particularly heavy thunderstorm. We were out of power for several hours. This is not a problem during any time when the incubator is not running. After about an hour, we started the generator and plugged in the incubator. The temp was quite low and the humidity was really high due to the moisture from the rain. It stabilized quickly but I have no idea how this will affect the hatch rate.

I was going back and forth trying to decide between getting a battery big enough to jump start the car or one that would simply be enough for the cell phone and credit card reader. I need those two things working when I’m at the farmer’s market. This power outage clarified that decision.

HALO Bolt

There is a product called Halo Bolt and there are several different models. It comes with a small set of jumper cables, a couple of USB connections and even a place to attach a small device with an AC plug. It costs just under $100 dollars.

On the other hand, I can get a small charging device without the AC outlet and jumper cable capability for about 20 bucks. I was leaning in that direction. I just got a new car battery and don’t expect to have to use the jumper cables for quite a few years. But the experience of being without power for the incubator has convinced me to invest in the more expensive unit.

Let’s Get One and Test It Out

We cranked up the generator. But that was overkill for one little incubator. The more practical solution would be to be able to plug it into that battery for a little while. At least I think that will work. It is designed for charging a tablet or laptop, but I believe you can plug in any AC cord and run the device. We shall see. I’ll give it a try and let you know how it turns out. These are the kinds of things for which everyone needs to be prepared. You simply never know when the power is going to be out. For you it might be that you need to be able to charge your cell phone. For us, it’s going to be keeping the incubator running for those quail eggs.

Garden

I have three 5-gallon buckets of green beans in the cooler. We picked them Sunday evening. Tomorrow I’ll be packaging them up for the farmer’s market. They look beautiful. I’m so glad we got this great harvest. In the next few weeks, the Mexican bean beetles will come out and take over the plants. We don’t use any pesticides on our garden, not even the organic ones. We pick them off or squish them. But using this method ensures that eventually the bugs will win. Planting extra and making sure the plants are healthy and not a magnet to bugs are my two strategies for pest control and reaping a decent harvest.

There are small tomatoes all over the place out there. That’s going to be another great crop to harvest in the very near future.

Orchard

In the orchard, the blackberries are all that is left to pick. Scott cleaned out the wild blackberries that have thorns so it is easy for me to pick the remaining blackberries. We still have quite a few that are red and not yet ripe. I have a couple of gallons in the freezer right now. My plan for those is to steam the juice out of them and make seedless blackberry jelly.

I don’t know what happened to the apples. We had several trees that had apples for the first time ever but those apples disappeared. I suspect the deer that briefly invaded the orchard area is the culprit there. There is always next year.

I was hoping to see the strawberries bloom again. They are supposed to be everbearing. The deer ate all of the green leaves a while back, but they have grown back and the plants look great. Still waiting on those blooms and more strawberries.

Creamery

Still nothing going on here. It may be another couple of weeks before anything gets going again in the creamery. Scott is so busy with the high summer tasks of keeping the fields and orchards cut. Repairing fences takes up him time and so on. He has three or four more fields to mow and then maybe he can get back on the creamery tasks. You never know though. Some other tasks may come up. We shall see. Let’s talk about what I love about homesteading.

What I Love About Homesteading

I’m just going to run through a list of things that came up when I thought about what I love about homesteading. They are not in any particular order.

Setting my own schedule

The first thing that I love is that I’m in charge of when I get up and go to work. I say this with some ambiguity. It’s not like I can sleep until noon on any given day. In fact, there are still chores that need to be done on a regular basis, usually at a particular time. But as I have chosen to make those chores part of my life, I’m still in charge. I’m free to change the routine at any time. It might involve changing what animals we house here, but I certainly have that option.

Daily Planning Meetings

Another thing that is an absolute delight is having daily meetings with Scott about what we are going to do on any given day. It is a continuation of the hours and hours that we spent dreaming about what we were going to do once we were living here all the time, no longer working for someone else. We still dream together on a daily basis.

Making cheese

Once a week I make cheese. I love making cheese. It is a peaceful occupation. Sometimes it requires a bit of heavy lifting and that makes me tired, but in the end, I get these wonderful masterpieces of cheese on which to gaze. The entire process is still so amazing to experience, even though I’ve done it hundreds of times. To see liquid milk turn into a solid wheel or two or three of cheese is still awesome to see.

Gardening

Gardening without having to work it in around other things, well for the most part. This is like saying I set my schedule. There are sometimes when I need to do things in the garden but I also need to make cheese or go to the bank or clean the bathroom and so on. So, I do end up working it in around other things. But what I don’t have to do is try to work it in after a day at the office or in a limited time frame on the weekend. I have the whole week to figure out where I am going to fit in the gardening.

Perhaps this sounds too simple. But we spent years and years driving back and forth from Virginia to South Carolina for work. I had all day Saturday and Sunday until 6 pm to get all of the gardening done as well as laundry and cleaning and on and on. The garden was always overrun with weeds. It was not really that fun. Now it is a joy. And of course it is hard work when it is 85 or 90 degrees out, but it is a good work out. And if I don’t get it all done in one day, I have other days in which to work out when to get out there and water, weed, and pick veggies.  

Experiencing the Seasons

Experiencing each of the seasons up close and personal is part of our everyday life. The gardens brought that to mind. In the past, we experienced spring, summer, fall and winter as changes in temperature. Perhaps whether it snowed or rained was the most important aspect of the season but daily activities remained pretty much the same. Get up, go to work, come home, watch a little TV, go to bed and then do it all over again.

Now, each season brings us a change in what we do on the homestead. There is a lot of activity associated with spring, summer and fall. But each activity is different. In general, spring time is for planting, summer for weeding and watering and the fall is all about the harvest and preserving the harvest. Some of that happens all along the way, but in general, this is how I think about my life. The primary focus in the spring is getting the planting done. The primary focus in the summer is weeding and water, though there is a lot of harvesting happening as well. It just moves around a lot from one plant to the next to the next. In the fall, it is all about getting everything in and preserved for later use.

And I never thought I would say this, but I love the winter now. It is a time to slow down, take stock of what worked and what needs to be changed in the next season. I used to hate winter. Seasonal Affective Disorder is something I have struggled with most of my life. As the winter season wore on, I would get more and more inactive and more and more depressed. Recently, in the last few years, I’ve changed my diet, eliminating most carbohydrates. My moods stabilized. Now I experience the winter with joy. I still slow down. That’s why winter is useful. It is a time to rest up and revitalize the roots so the organism is strong and bursting with energy in the spring. I’m having a great experience with that deep revitalization in the winter. And I’m ready to get up and go when spring arrives.

Losing Track of the Day and Hour

Not knowing what day of the week it is or what time of day it is can be a little disconcerting. But I really only have to think about it once or twice a day. In the morning I determine what day it is and what I need to accomplish for the coming days. Things like getting ready for the farmer’s market or doing a podcast or newsletter. These things are done on specific days so I need to be ready for that. Otherwise, I check my list of things to do and get going on the first item. In the evening there is a bit of reflection on what to prepare for the next day. One of the farmer’s markets requires me to get up at 5:15 am and the other 6:00 am. Other days of the week, the alarm goes off at 6 but we may or may not get up immediately. We have some leeway on those days. But market days, we pop up and get going as soon as the alarm sounds.  

New Life

The new births that happen in the spring. I never get tired of the new births. It is stressful for me, as I’ve said before. But I wouldn’t trade that joy of new birth for anything in the world.

Tours for Kids

Sharing our homestead with kids that come to visit. They love it so much. I watched a group of 8 kids just a few days ago which they explored the quail. They delighted in watching these quirky birds. They didn’t just look at them and say, “Oh they are cute.” No, they watched and watched and watched them. They looked into each section of the cages. They opened the cage doors and looked for eggs. It was so beautiful to see.

Clean Eating

Another thing I love about the homestead is cooking with ingredients that I raised myself. I know the exact contents of everything I eat. I either raised it myself, purchased or bartered for it from another farm or homestead, or I purchased a single ingredient item in the store. This was the first and most important reason that we started our dream of living the homestead life. I get so tired of reading the labels on foods in the grocery store and seeing all kinds of things that I cannot even pronounce. There are so many fillers and everything has sugar or wheat or gluten added. Even the meats now are injected with flavoring and fillers to bulk up the product. The label says something like, “contains 10% of something or other” to maintain freshness or enhance flavor or whatever. That’s 10% of the meat that is something that did not originate with the animal. I’m so glad those days are past.

Spending Time in the Kitchen

I get to spend lots of time in the kitchen storing food and being food self-reliant. When working for someone else, time in the kitchen was a dreadful activity. I wanted to eat out as much as possible. Who wants to cook after working all day? I’m ready to sit down and let someone else do the work. Of course, I was eating a lot of really bad stuff. Chinese take out was a favorite. There is a lot of sugar in that stuff. So that is all in the past. I spend time in the kitchen when I choose. Sometimes I make a meal that will last for days. In the intervening days, I might be making jam or canning pickled peppers. Canning is another task that I used to dread when I worked for other people. It was something I had to do and I had to do it right away in a limited time frame on Saturday or Sunday. It was stressful. Now there is still stress to get the harvest processed but the window of time has expanded. I have every day, seven days a week to plan for the next harvest and canning session.  

Long Term Dreaming/Planning Sessions

Long term planning of the next step in our journey or modifying the previous plan is just as wonderful now as it was when we were just dreaming. We spent years dreaming about what we were going to do once we lived full time on our homestead. We wanted to do everything. We soon found out that we had to pick and choose what to do. There are simply not enough hours in the day to do all of which we dreamed. But the dreaming and planning is so much fun. And it continues. There is always something new to be added, changed or deleted from our homestead.

Daily Communion with God

And the final thing I want to say about what I love about homesteading is just getting up and going outside and communing with God. Living the homestead lifestyle makes it effortless. While all the work is going on and on and on, seemingly endless, there is always time to just stop and listen to the birds, feel the sunshine and soft breeze, and to watch God’s creations grazing in the fields, the children playing and the amazing plants growing and changing each day as they blossom and produce their fruits. We are truly blessed.

Final Thoughts

That’s it for today’s podcast. I may have rambled a bit here and there but I hope you enjoyed the uplifting ideas I talked about. Let me know what your dreams are and how you are progressing toward them. It doesn’t have to be the homestead life. We are all unique in our hopes and desires. Please share your dreams with me. I’d love to hear your story. Send me an email. Let me know what’s beautiful in your life.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please hop over to Apple Podcasts or whatever podcasting service you use, SUBSCRIBE and give me a 5-star rating and review. If you like this content and want to help out the show, the absolute best way you can do that is to share it with any friends or family who might be interested in this type of content. Let them know about the Peaceful Heart Farmcast.

Thank you so much for stopping by the homestead and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace.

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Check out this episode!

[jaivendra]

Almost 5 years ago at Apple’s 2016 October event, Apple revealed their brand new redesigned MacBook Pro, which had an incredibly good-looking design that was thinner and lighter than the previous model, and to this day, it still looks incredible, even compared to some of the brand new Windows laptops out there. The only downside was that Apple replaced the large variety of ports that we used to have on the 2015 MacBook Pro with a very simple four Thunderbolt 3 ports which use the USC-C design. That basically caused an uproar from the community with people upset about having to buy expensive dongles that weren’t widely available on the market, since many computers at the time didn’t even have a single USB-C port. On top of that, Apple’s beloved MagSafe charging connector was completely scrapped on the new MacBook Pro, which also made a lot of people upset. The SD card slot, also scrapped, forcing users to buy adapters. And on top of that, they replaced the Magic keyboard keys that everyone loved with the butterfly keyboard that everyone hated. So what ended up happening was that a lot of people decided not to upgrade to the new 2016 MacBook Pro, and they were literally buying 2015 models instead, even a couple of years after the redesign came! Now thankfully, Apple has finally gotten rid of the butterfly keyboard with the latest MacBook Pros, showing that it was a huge mistake in the first place. So if Apple is capable of doing a full U-turn on mistakes like the butterfly keyboard, what if going with a full set of USB-C ports was also a huge mistake? And the reason I’m bringing that question up is that the latest leaks and rumors are showing that Apple is having a massive change of heart in terms of the ports, with them basically bringing all of the old ports back! According to leaks and rumors from very reliable sources, like Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the  M1X MacBook Pro is gonna be coming with a MagSafe charging connector, which was a huge surprise to a lot of people.  On top of that, both the HDMI port and the SD-card slot are coming back as well, with the SD card slot now rumored to be featuring much faster UHS-2 speeds. And these new ports, including the MagSafe connector, have basically already been confirmed by leaked schematics that were stolen from Apple in a ransomware attack! So what all of this shows is that Apple is for sure reviving the ports and MagSafe on the new M1X MacBook Pros that are gonna be coming this fall. And now that we know all of that, the important question we have 0to answer is WHY? And that’s what I’m gonna answer in the article because I personally believe that Apple has had a Master Plan in the works for many many years that has finally been accomplished, so let’s get into that. Now it might seem like Apple is finally ready to admit that switching to a full set of USB-c ports was a huge mistake, but I don’t think that’s the case at all. I did a little digging and I found an old article from 2015 that claims that Apple actually invented the USB Type C port, which sounds absolutely insane but check this out. 

According to John Gruber, the famous Apple blogger who owns the Daring Fireball, Apple invented USB-C and then gave it away to be an open-source standard. But Apple couldn’t really say it was theirs because they didn’t want people to see it as an Apple port, but as a standard port for every product out there. And if you want some proof to go along with that idea, Apple was in fact listed as a contributor for the new USB Type C specification, but they didn’t want to take all of the credit for it.  And why would they want to do this? Well, if it was called the Apple USB-C port, many of the stubborn companies out there wouldn't want to adapt it because it would make Apple look good.  And if Apple made it an open and free standard, people would point fingers at Apple for charging royalty fees for their Lightning port, but not the USB-C port, which would cause a PR  mess, so they just kept it a secret.  So here’s the next question we have to answer. If Apple did truly invent USB-C, why in the world would they do this, and how would they ultimately gain anything from it?  Well, we already know that Apple went all out and replaced the previous ports that everyone loved on the MacBook Pro with just four USB-C ports, causing a ton of controversy and many upset customers.  So why would they go through years of backlash just to bring those ports back in the M1X  MacBook Pro? Well, here’s where the Master Plan comes in.  The truth is that if Apple didn’t make the bold move of scrapping all of the old ports and literally forcing people to use USB-C on the new redesigned MacBook Pro, then USB-C  wouldn’t be where it is today, with the entire computer industry embracing USB-C.  Less than 5 years later, basically, every single computer on the market now comes with at least one USB-C port, and Amazon is now flooded with every type of USB-C adapter, cable, and a hub that you can imagine, and Apple was hands-down, the company that pushed the industry forward.  And if you really think about it, if none of this ever happened, and USB-C was still a niche connector, then Apple’s brand new 24” iMac wouldn’t be possible, because as you all know, it’s so incredibly thin that USB-A ports physically can’t fit into the chassis. They even had to design a special power cable with ethernet built into the power supply because even that can’t fit into the chassis.  So Apple literally HAD to make USB-C go mainstream to make the 24” iMac as thin as they wanted it to be, which is something that sets Apple products apart from everybody else, and that’s why Apple is so obsessed with thinness.  Going even further, the rumored M2 MacBook Air redesign is gonna be so thin that USB-C  is quite literally the only port that will fit on the side, basically hitting the limits of how thin a laptop can get.  So yeah, it now makes total sense why Apple would force users to use USB-C  So now let’s finally answer the main question: Why would they only now revive the ports & Magsafe on the M1X Macbook Pros?  Well, the first reason is that Apple has succeeded in their Master plan of making USB-C go mainstream,  so they no longer have to force users to use it, and their super-thin lower-end Macs are totally fine with only USB-C ports.  And the second main reason is that Apple wants the M1X MacBook Pros to be the ultimate laptop for everyone.  And to do that, Apple’s gonna try to make everyone happy, all at the same time, to disrupt the entire industry and take over a huge portion of the laptop market share.  So they’re gonna bring back all of the ports that everyone loved, like the SD card slot,  the HDMI port, and especially the MagSafe charging connector.  They’re gonna pack in the Apple Silicon M1X chip that will outperform basically every other laptop out there in terms of real-world CPU performance.  They’re also gonna make a huge push into the gaming market by giving it a 32-core GPU  option that will rival some of the best gaming laptops out there while being much thinner and not requiring it to be plugged in to get all of that power.  And even with all of that power, the battery life is gonna be much better than all of the other laptops out there.  They’re also gonna pack in a brand new mini-LED display and a 1080P webcam, both of which people have been complaining about for years.  And on top of all of that, it’s gonna have a new great-looking design with the premium build quality, it’s gonna have the best speakers out there, it’s gonna stay cool, it’s gonna stay quiet, and it’s gonna be incredibly reliable as well.  So if Apple can fix all of the issues that people complained about to create the ultimate laptop, then they can do a huge marketing push to grab as much market share as possible,  which will probably be enough to make AAA game developers take Apple seriously again,  which would in turn increase Apple’s laptop market share even more, and THAT right there is why Apple is reviving the ports & MagSafe on the M1X MacBook Pros.  Now if you totally disagree with me, go ahead and comment your thoughts down below

[phoenixsavant]

Vengeance

Part 3: Following Saeran’s First Christmas

Saeran, MC and Saeyoung are joined in the hideout by Vanderwood.  Together they go after The Agency, but The Agency still finds them! 

               Saeran woke to someone cursing loudly and a crash from the top of the stairs.  He vaulted from the bunk, leaving Toby behind.  Saeyoung was a few steps ahead of him and they moved toward the stairs silently.  

               “Seven!  God damn it! Call off your fucking cat!” Vanderwood shouted.

               “Intruder!” Elly called out, followed by some noise Saeran couldn’t make out.  

               “Seven!  I know you hear me!” Vanderwood shouted again.  

               Saeyoung looked like he wanted to laugh, but instead he called up the stairs, “Elly, stand down.”  

               “Standby mode engaging” Elly said.

               Vanderwood stomped down the stairs.  “Fire?  You seriously made it breathe fire?  You dumbass!”

               Saeyoung shrugged as Vanderwood reached the bottom of the stairs.  “It works to keep people out,” he said.  

               “I saw that,” Vanderwood replied, dropping a bag on the small table.  He looked around.  “You two look alright.  Where’s MC? Is she hurt?”  

               “I’m fine,” she said, coming to stand next to Saeyoung.

               “Good,” Vanderwood said, nodding.  To Saeyoung he asked, “The Agency?”  

               “I believe it was, yes.  They got into the security system and hacked the cameras, but set off the alarm.  It was closer than I like to admit,” Saeyoung frowned.  “I had to blow the bunker.  It’s gone.”

               “Better it than all of you,” Vanderwood said somberly. “I can’t believe they did that. We warned them to leave us alone.”

               Saeyoung nodded.  “I thought it was enough.”  His face was drawn and pale.

               “Well, I didn’t know what you wanted to do, so I brought everything,” Vanderwood said, gesturing to the bag he’d carried in. “There’s cash, ID’s, tickets, and all the rest.  I say we burn the bastards to the ground.  I’m sick of waiting for them.”  

               “IDs?” Saeran asked.  “You mean, so we could just disappear?”

               “We can,” Saeyoung confirmed.  “That was always the plan, before.  If they’re not afraid though, they’ll just hunt us down anywhere we go.  We can change names and hair color, but their facial recognition software is good enough to see through that.  I know, I built it.”  

               “So what, we just live down here in a hole forever?”

               “No,” Saeyoung said, his voice taking on an edge. “No, but we’re going to be here for a few days.”  He looked at Vanderwood and the darkness in his eyes made Saeran step back involuntarily. “Bring me my machines,” he said. “They’re never going to threaten my family again.”  

               Vanderwood smiled proudly at Saeyoung.  “That’s my boy.”  He turned and reached into the bag, pulling out a laptop and a series of other boxes and cables.  “I didn’t think you’d let them walk away.  Start setting this up.  I have the rest in the car.”  Motioning to Saeran he said, “Come on, I need an extra pair of hands.”  

               Saeran followed Vanderwood up the narrow stairs and out of the shed.  In the parking lot, Vanderwood had parked a beaten up van next to Saeyoung’s dilapidated car.  He opened the back and pulled a box over.

               “See if you can lift that,” Vanderwood directed.

               The box was heavy, but Saeran managed to get an arm under it.  Vanderwood pulled another box out and shouldered the doors of the van shut.  Together they returned to the hidden room under the storage shed.  Vanderwood went back up and locked the doors as Saeyoung directed MC and Saeran in unpacking and positioning equipment.  Apparently Saeyoung had set up a satellite link to this location that ran alongside the satellite for the TV in the motel.  They would have their own connection to the internet in no time.

               “Vanderwood?” MC asked, as he came back down the stairs. “Do you have your phone?”  

               “I do, why?”  

               “I was just thinking, and shouldn’t someone call Jumin or someone?  If anyone from the RFA goes to the bunker, they’d think we’re all dead,” she worried.

               “Already done,” Vanderwood said.  “And thinking you three were dead would be the least of their worries.  I wouldn’t be surprised if The Agency is watching the place still.”  

               Saeran felt the strength run out of his body. The RFA was warned, but what about Nina? She wouldn’t have known anything. She was supposed to call him, but if he didn’t answer his phone, she might go to the bunker.  

               “Saeyoung,” he said, his voice barely more than a whisper.

               “Hmm?” his brother responded, not looking up from the cables he was connecting to the computers.  

               “Who will warn Nina?” Saeran asked, his voice quavering.

               “Oh!” MC exclaimed, sharing Saeran’s realization.

               “Damn!” Saeyoung exclaimed.  “Vanderwood, could you call Jumin and …”

               “On  it,” Vanderwood said, scrambling back up the stairs.  

               Saeran followed him up, his heart pounding in fear. Nina couldn’t be a part of this. She couldn’t be left in danger. His mind was filled with images of her seeing the bunker, of Nina being kidnapped and tortured.

               “Jumin, it’s Vanderwood.”  A pause followed.  “Yes, everyone is safe, no injuries.  We’re going to be in hiding for a few days.  The news is about to get interesting, you’ll want to watch.  … We missed someone.  I need you to make a call.   …. That painter, Nina, can you get in touch with her at her shop?  She can’t go to the bunker.  … Bodyguards might draw attention, can you do it without anyone realizing they’re around?  …. Yeah, until we call again.  …. I will. Watch yourselves out there.”  

               Vanderwood ended the call and turned to Saeran. “Jumin will go to her shop right now. He’ll give her the message in person. Also, he’s going to set up a couple of guards to keep an eye on her at a safe distance, just to be sure.”  He rested his hand on Saeran’s shoulder. “She’s safe.  She’s going to stay safe.  She won’t know anything unless you tell her about it later.”  

               “Thank you,” Saeran said, his voice still shaking.

               Vanderwood shook his head, dismissing the thanks. “Why don’t you hang out here for a few minutes, dry your face a bit?  MC is already stressed and she hasn’t had the kind of life we’ve all had. No need to upset her more, right?”

               Saeran lifted a hand to his face.  He hadn’t even realized that he was crying.  Wiping the tears away, he nodded and stepped aside so Vanderwood could return.  After Vanderwood left, Saeran sat on the top step.  He folded his arms over his knees and rested his forehead against them.  How were his brother and Vanderwood going to make sure that everyone would be safe?  How were they going to be able to return to a regular life after this? What if they had to go into hiding? He’d never see her again.  The thought made his chest ache.

               Saeran hadn’t ever really taken an interest in anyone before.  He had just done as Rika told him to do.  MC was the first girl he’d ever liked, but she was with his brother.  Even Saeran knew that meant that they couldn’t be more than friends.  Nina was different.  That day, when he was shopping, Saeran had talked to a lot of different girls at the shops he visited.  The only one he had trouble talking to was Nina.

               At the party, she’d stayed close to him.  He’d caught her looking at him more than a few times.  Exchanging phone numbers had been her idea, probably because he’d been too afraid to ask. Nina was different because she had done everything to show that she was interested, too.  

               Saeran felt a strong desire to make sure that Nina stayed safe, and that he was able to see her again.  He didn’t know how to help, but maybe he could.  He was as good at hacking as his brother was, right? He’d hacked his brother’s security and the messenger!  He could help Saeyoung and Vanderwood.  

               He took a deep breath and made sure that the tears weren’t going to start up again.  Standing, he went back down the stairs.  Vanderwood and Saeyoung were firing up the computers and checking the security on them.  

               “I want to help,” Saeran said, standing at the foot of the stairs.  “I can hack, too.”  

               Vanderwood looked at Saeyoung with a raised eyebrow, leaving the choice to him.  

               “You don’t have to do this,” Saeyoung said. “You’re clear of that stuff now.”

               “I’m not clear, none of us are.  I want to be clear though.  I need to be clear if I’m going to see Nina again.”  There, it was out.  Now his brother could start teasing him about having a crush on someone.

               Saeyoung looked over at MC and smiled softly. “Yeah, that’ll make you do some things, won’t it?”  He turned back to Vanderwood.  “Do you have the stuff for another station?”  

               “Probably.  What do you need?”  

               Saeyoung shrugged.  “Monitor, keyboard, mouse, we can plug him in with those.”  

               “Yeah, I’ll go check,” Vanderwood said, going back up the stairs.  Halfway up, he turned back.  “This needs to be the last trip out today.  Does anyone need anything else?”  

               “PhD Pepper?” Saeyoung asked, looking hopeful.

               “This isn’t a grocery trip,” Vanderwood grumbled. “If you wanted your junk food, you should have stocked it.”  He turned and left the shed.  

               Saeyoung grinned.  “I miss playing with him.”  He walked over to the bunk beds and reached under, pulling out a long chest.  He dragged it back to the table and flipped the lid open.  Inside were bags of Honey Buddah chips and PhD. Pepper cans.  

               “Saeyoung, you are not serious!” MC admonished him. “You stocked your hideout with junk food?  What would you do if you had to be here for more than a day or two?”  

               “What?” he asked her innocently.  “There’s other food here.”  

               “You idiot,” Saeran muttered at him.

               Vanderwood returned and brought the things to set up a work station for Saeran.  Once everything was connected, Vanderwood sat at the far end.  Everyone looked at Saeyoung.

               “Alright, Vanderwood, you keep them off of us. You’re not bad, but Saeran and I are faster and better.  We’ll get into their systems and dump the data out to the press and the authorities. You make sure that they can’t find us while we do it.”  Saeyoung was in charge again, all business.  “Saeran, I want you to come over here and watch what I’m doing.  I’ll get us an opening and I want you to start pulling everything you can from their systems.  I’ll keep them from blocking you.  Let me know when it’s done.”  

               MC sat on the bunk beds, holding Toby and watching as the three men began chasing down The Agency.  She didn’t talk or even leave the bed.  Saeran’s focus became centered on the events at the table.  

               Once Saeyoung had gotten through The Agency’s security, Saeran switched to his station.  He started downloading data as quickly as possible.  He didn’t even know what parts of the data were going to be useful, he just started copying files over as fast as possible.  Time went by at a crawl, watching the files complete their downloads.  The room was silent except for the rattling of keyboards and an occasional, muttered curse word.  

               At some point, MC brought bowls of stew to everyone, insisting that they eat.  Saeran hadn’t realized he was hungry until he started shoveling food into his mouth. Bottles of water appeared on the table next to each of them as the bowls vanished.  When those emptied, new bottles took their places.  Around the edges of his focus, Saeran realized that MC was doing what she could to take care of all of them while they worked.

               “No!  Bring those back!” Saeyoung exclaimed.  

               “Not until later,” MC said, dragging the chest of soft drinks and chips away from Saeyoung.  “You’ve had eight cans of that stuff and two bags of chips.  You’ll make yourself sick,” she scolded him.  

               “But, Babe…” he whined at her.  

               “Saeyoung, no.  I’ll give you some after dinner.”  

               Vanderwood snickered.  “I like her,” he said.  

               Saeyoung sighed, defeated.  “Saeran, all I can say is you should really, really rethink this Nina thing.  Women are trouble.”  

               “You should be thankful there’s one that’s willing to put up with you,” Saeran quipped, starting another set of downloads.

               Saeyoung sighed heavily.  “There was a time when I was a god, you know.”  

               “Only in your own head,” Vanderwood clarified. “Work.  I still have the taser.”

               Saeyoung looked nervous, but fell silent again as Saeran snickered softly with Vanderwood.  

               Saeran watched the files loading across the system and realized how many were left to copy.  Even with the amped up satellite connection, this was taking far too long. The odds of being noticed and traced back grew exponentially the longer they were in the system.  

               “How many individual computers do we have here?” he asked.  

               “Five, why?” Saeyoung looked up at his brother.

               “This is taking too long.  Which machines are standalone?”  

               Saeyoung pointed at the three in the middle of the table, one of which Saeran was already connected to.  

               Checking the progress of the files he’d started pulling, Saeran unplugged the keyboard, monitor and mouse, and switched to another computer.  He started up another set of files to pull down, and then repeated the process on the third machine.

               “Are you sure you can keep up with which files you’re getting?” Saeyoung asked.  

               “Yeah, I can pull directories this way.  It’ll cut the time down.”  Saeran lined up the computers so that he had ready access to the ports to switch out the connections.  “Can you keep up with that many connections?”  

               Saeyoung looked at him dryly.  “Did you really just ask that?”

               “Hey, I’m not the one who thought to have one connection pulling files.”  

               “No fighting,” MC cautioned.  “There’s too much on the line.  You can play who’s better later.”  

               Saeran glanced at her.  She wasn’t even looking at them.  She was sitting in the floor, playing with Toby.  

               Still, time seemed to crawl by.  Vanderwood went up the stairs a few times for a smoke break. Saeran watched his machine while he went.  He bummed a cigarette once, just needing some way to get out of the cramped room and away from the computer.  He stood in the shed, not really smoking the cigarette, stretching to pull the tension from his back and shoulders.

               If the lighting outside was any indication, it was almost nightfall.  He figured that they needed about three more hours to finish pulling the information from The Agency.  Thank god his brother had installed terabytes of drive space in those computers.  There wouldn’t have been enough room any other way. Putting out the cigarette, he headed back down the shaky stairs.  

               “How’s it going over there?” he asked Saeyoung, settling back into his seat.  

               “If they’ve noticed anything, they haven’t reacted. Vanderwood?  Anything?”  

               “Nothing so far, no.  They’re not tracing at all, yet.”  

               “Good,” Saeran said.  “We’re almost through it.”  He switched machines again.  

The three men kept working.  MC brought food around again, stopping to hug Saeyoung as she did.  Saeran’s eyes were burning.  Finally, he started the last round of files.  

“This is it,” he said.  “What do you want me to do when I’ve got these?”  

“Kill the connections.  We’ll drop the satellite link.  We can organize it all offline.  It’ll buy us some time,” Saeyoung said.  His voice sounded tired.  

Saeran watched the files nervously.  He knew his brother was good, and he’d taught Saeyoung the trick he used to make his access unnoticeable.  Still, everything was going too smoothly.  He was afraid that the Agency was just waiting for a chance to strike.  It left a cold pit in his stomach.  He wondered if Saeyoung or Vanderwood felt the same sense of dread.

“Done!” he called out, as soon as the last file finished.  He killed the connections to the Agency servers as quickly as he could.  Saeyoung and Vanderwood did the same.  Vanderwood reached over and pulled the ethernet cables from every computer.

They all sat back, suddenly panting for air, looking at one another for confirmation that they’d been successful.  

“Ya-HOO!” Saeyoung shouted, startling Toby and Saeran both. “Alright, boys, we did it!  All we have to do now is organize this stuff and send it out!  After that, we’re just going to hijack a TV from the hotel and watch the news!”  

“You’re positive,” Saeran asked, “that they didn’t see us or trace the connections?”  

“There was zero activity,” Vanderwood confirmed.  “Even if they bugged the files, we’re offline.  They can’t find us if we’re not connected.”  

“That’s right,” Saeyoung said, his voice sounding cheerful again.  “When we send this out, we’ll leave here, just to be safe.  It won’t matter if they find this place.  It’s just a safehouse.  There’s others.”  

Saeran let out a breath he felt like he’d been holding since the alarm had gone off in the bunker.  “Well, let’s get organizing,” he said, turning back to his monitor.  “How do you want it done?”  

“First, we need to stop,” Saeyoung said.  “Not for long, but we’ve all been here long enough that our eyes are about to pop out.  Take a few minutes, go see your cat.  Your eyes will thank you and you’ll work better.”  

Vanderwood nodded in agreement.  “I’m going to go get a smoke.  I’ll be right back.”  He stood and went up the stairs.

Saeyoung pulled MC into his lap, resting his head against her shoulder and closing his eyes.  As he murmured to her affectionately, Saeran went to see Toby.  A half-eaten plate of stew showed him that MC had at least found a way to feed him.  That was so like her, to take care of things without disturbing anyone else.  

With a full belly, Toby wasn’t interested in playing, but he was happy to lay in Saeran’s lap as he bathed himself.  Saeran realized that despite being in the small room all day, without a litter box, there was no smell of Toby having relieved himself anywhere.  He poked the kitten’s belly, but it didn’t seem overly distended.

“MC?” he asked.

“Yes?”

“Um, I just realized that we don’t have a litter box.  Has Toby… you know?”  

“Oh!”  MC giggled. “I didn’t have anything else to do but watch him, so I’ve just been putting him up on the toilet when he started looking like he needed to go.”  

Saeran blinked in surprise.  He wouldn’t have thought of doing that.  “Oh, okay. Thank you for watching him.”  

“It’s no trouble.  We’ve kept each other company.”  She smiled at him warmly.  

Vanderwood came back down the stairs.  “I checked around outside.  There’s no sign of anyone poking around.  Also, it’s starting to snow.  No one goes out until we’re ready to leave.”  

“Snow is good,” Saeyoung said.  “Any tracks we left will get covered.  That’s a relief.”  

“Are we ready to finish this mess?” Vanderwood asked.

“More than ready,” Saeyoung said, nudging MC to stand up.  “Saeran?”  

“Yeah, be right there.”  He nuzzled Toby before handing the kitten off to MC.  

The hours moved by slowly as each began organizing the information pulled from the servers.  A history of hits on political figures, international dealings, businesses sabotaged, and even falsified criminal evidence to jail people; all the data sorted into neatly referenced lists.  Saeran had to admit that he was impressed by the reach of The Agency, and also a little unnerved by it.  These were the men that they’d escaped, twice now?  His brother and Vanderwood must be better than they let on, Saeran decided. It was the only explanation for how any of them were still alive.  

In the very early hours of the morning, everything was ready.  They prepared the packages to send out to the media and to the authorities.  They were reaching out across international boundaries as well.  Every nation where The Agency had dealings was about to get copies of the information blanketing their media, police, and government agencies.  

“Okay,” Saeyoung said, once it was all set.  “Saeran, take Toby and MC upstairs.  MC, get Elly. The only thing staying behind is the computers.  Vanderwood and I will clear the place.  This will be the least secure place in the world when the news starts getting ahold of this stuff.”  He tugged MC’s coat close around her.  “Stay bundled up.  It’s going to be a few minutes.  We have to make sure that no one can tie us to this place.”  

MC nodded and turned to the stairs, wearing her backpack and carrying Saeyoung’s. Saeran followed her, carrying two of the bags they’d brought and Toby.  It was cold in the shed and his coat wasn’t holding the heat in very well.  His teeth clattered as they waited.  MC held Elly and danced from foot to foot.  Finally, Saeyoung and Vanderwood came up the stairs, hauling the trash and Vanderwood’s large bag with them.  

Saeran snickered at the sight of them.  They were dressed like they were going into surgery.  They wore paper scrubs, gloves, masks, and funny little paper hats.  All he could see was their eyes, and both shot him a look that killed his amusement.

“Everybody out,” Vanderwood said.  

Luciel led the way out to his car.  He slung Vanderwood’s bag into the back seat and opened the front door for MC.  “Time to go, babe,” he said to her.  

“What about Vanderwood?” she asked.

“He’ll be meeting us.  Don’t worry.” He grinned at her.  “I only half joked about him being my maid.”  

As they pulled out onto the street, Saeyoung shed the cap and mask.  He pulled the scrubs down as well.  

“Why were you two wearing all that, anyway?” Saeran asked.  

“Because the locals will be looking for evidence.  That means DNA evidence, too.  They’ll be looking for hair and anything else they can find.  So, we cleaned up.  There’s nothing left down there to lead anyone to us, now,” Saeyoung explained.  

“And yet you can’t clean your room?” Saeran teased.

“Hey, that’s a whole different kind of cleaning!” Saeyoung protested.  

“I think I may have to agree with Saeran on this one,” MC chuckled.  “If you can clean so well that not even a hair is left behind, I think you might have to start hitting the hamper with your laundry.”  

“Save the world, bring down the evil spy network, put your laundry in the hamper…” Saeyoung whined.  “Are you ever satisfied?” he grinned at MC.  

She didn’t say a word, but Saeran caught her meaningful grin as they passed under a streetlight.  He felt his face grow red and focused on Toby.  

MC fell asleep, leaning against Saeyoung’s arm as he drove them out of town and down to a dock.  When he pulled in, he sat her up gently and whispered to Saeran, “Keep an eye out?  I’m just going to make sure it’s clear.”  

“You own a boat?” Saeran asked in surprise.  

“No, Jumin does.  We’re borrowing one for a few days,” Saeyoung grinned.  “It’ll be great!  You should see the stars when you’re out at sea!”  He opened the door and stepped out.  “Be right back,” he said, closing the car up again.  

Saeran looked out the windows of the car.  The docks below were well-lit.  There would be no sneaking onto a boat with that much lighting.  On the flip side, it also meant that if anyone tried to sneak up on them, they’d be less likely to be able to hide.  

Suddenly Saeran saw headlights coming down the road.  He reached over the seat and shook MC awake.  “Someone’s coming.  Quickly, follow me and stay down.”  They slid out of the car on the side away from the approaching lights, following Saeyoung’s footsteps to the trail in the trees.  Toby was once again trapped in Saeran’s coat, and MC carried Elly in her arms.  Saeran led her off the trail and they crouched behind a low wall with trash bins in front of it.  As a person passed by, heading down the trail, Saeran signaled for her to stay still, and snuck around to see who was on the trail.

He sighed in relief.  “Vanderwood,” he called, standing slowly.  

Vanderwood stopped and turned.  “There you are!  I thought you’d all gone down to the boat.  I was going to hand Seven his head for not checking it out first!”  

“No, he left a few minutes ago.  Should he be back already?”  

Vanderwood frowned.  “How few?”

“Maybe five before you got here?” Saeran said as MC joined them on the trail.

“No, that’s fine.  He should be getting back here any minute though.  Can you two handle waiting where you were?  I know it’s cold.  I’ll go see if everything…”

Vanderwood was cut off as a roar filled the air and an explosion shook the area. A fireball rose from where the cars had been parked.  

“Run!” Vanderwood shouted, shoving MC in front of him and almost dragging her by her arm as he raced down the trail.  

Saeran ran after him.  In his mind all he could think was “not again, not again,”  

Saeyoung sprinted up the trail toward them, grabbing MC and running with her back the way he’d come.  He and Vanderwood shouted about whether the boat was secure or not, and that Saeyoung had made sure that it was.  Saeyoung pulled MC onto the boat at the end of the dock and Vanderwood untied the moorings, throwing the heavy ropes to Saeran.  Saeyoung started the motor and was pulling away from the docks when several men appeared at the other end of the dock.  

“Everyone down!” Vanderwood barked.  “Seven, move this tub!”  

Saeran looked up just in time to see one of the men on the dock pull out what looked like a rocket launcher.  He ducked, but when nothing happened, he looked up to see Jumin’s body guards swarming the men who had appeared.  One waved in their direction.  Saeyoung blew the horn on the boat and steered them away from the docks and out to the open ocean.  

As the lights faded, Vanderwood rose to his feet.  “Is everyone alright?” he asked.  “Did anyone get hurt?”

“No, I’m fine,” MC said.  

“Saeran?” he asked.

“I’m good.  What the hell happened?  How did they find us?”  Saeran asked.

“Who knows,” Vanderwood said.  “Maybe they knew about Jumin’s boat and were watching the area.  Thank god he knew we’d be heading this way and had backup ready. If they’d gotten that rocket launched…” He shook his head.  

“Seven!  Did you even plot a course for this thing?” he bellowed, stepping up the ladder to the bridge.

Saeran turned to MC.  “Let’s get inside,” he said.  “It’s too cold out here.”  

MC nodded, rising to her feet.  She shuffled down the stairs and opened the narrow door.  Inside, they fumbled around until they found the light switch.  

Saeran had never been on a boat before.  He saw a small kitchen area, a table, and a door at the far end of the space. Another door was directly behind the one they’d just come through.  He looked at MC, wondering what to do about sleeping space.

MC looked back and set Elly on the floor.  Sighing, she mumbled, “I don’t even care.”  She laid down on a bench by the table, pulling her coat close.

Saeyoung came through the door behind Saeran just then.  “Babe, no, come on, there’s a bed here,” he said, squeezing by his brother.  He got MC back up on her feet and guided her to the door at the far end.  Opening the door, he revealed a bed on the other side and helped her scoot into it.  He crawled in after her but emerged again a few minutes later.

“Thank you,” he said to Saeran, after he closed the door.  “I owe you her life.”  

“I wouldn’t have moved if I hadn’t seen Vanderwood driving up,” Saeran said, shaking his head.  “You really lived this way?” he asked Saeyoung.

“Well, usually I was the one doing the chasing, but yeah, this is about how it went.  Why?”  

“I couldn’t do it,” Saeran admitted, leaning against the wall behind him.

“You could, if you had to,” Saeyoung shrugged.  “Here, though, you’re probably tired, too.  If you open that door, there’s a small bunk in there.  You should find a storage above the bed with some blankets in it.  Get some rest.”  

“What about you?” Saeran asked.  “You can’t stand up there all night in the cold.  Neither can Vanderwood.”  

Saeyoung chuckled.  “Not to worry.  Jumin has this baby all set up for winter travel.  We have heat, blankets, coffee and even PhD Pepper!”  He laughed.  “I’ll get some sleep in a while.  First we have to get away from shore and away from the shipping lanes.  Go to bed little brother.  You’ve earned it.”  

“Saeyoung?” Saeran asked, as his brother climbed the stairs again.

“Yeah?”

“We’re going to be able to go home again, right?  I mean, I know the bunker is gone, but, we’ll have a home, somewhere?” Saeran couldn’t bring himself to ask the question he wanted to ask the most.

“Yeah, hang in there for me.  It’ll be a few days, but we’re going back.  You’ll get to see Nina again.  I promise.”

Saeran smiled his thanks.  He knew that his brother had known what was going on inside his head.  He hadn’t expected it to be recognized so clearly, but it made him feel better.  He crawled into the odd little bed, closing the door behind himself.  Finding the storage Saeyoung mentioned, he pulled out a couple of heavy blankets and wrapped himself and Toby in a cocoon.  As soon as he was warm enough to relax, he fell asleep.

[stemcellee]

Ok so I know a lot of colleges have already started (unless you are on the quarter system lmao) but here’s another “let’s talk about” blab post. Also kind of in honor of me moving into the dorms again in exactly two weeks :C

Read the one about staying healthy here!

Or, just read this one. Let’s talk about your life in the dorms (or maybe you sleep in the campus library but that’s on campus housing too, isn’t it?) 

Things to Ask Your Roommates Did you go random? Did your school give you your roommate(s)’s contacts before moving in? If so, then try to contact them before moving in. It’s really exciting meeting the person(s) that you will be living with for the school year! And most of the time, they’re super excited about meeting you as well. If you are meeting them for the first time the day you move in, then these questions will still probably be great ice breakers for that first night. 

Where are you from?

What’s your major? (typical question for literally everyone)

What are your sleeping habits? (as in, lights on/off, noises, temperature of the room, TIME, if they snore or something)

How do you feel about guests? (only have visitors are certain times, visitors welcome anytime, no preference, no overnight guests or etc etc)

How do you feel about alcohol/smoking? (most universities have strict rules but you know. it’s good to share preferences and stuff)

What are your study habits? (sounds, times dedicated to studying)

What’s your class schedule look like? (my roomies and i always printed up our schedules and hung them in the dorms. It’s actually super useful)

What are you bringing to the dorm that we can share? (aka stuff like microwaves, fridges, water kettles, irons, yknow the basics)

What side of the room/What bunk bed do you want?

Should I wake you up for your class if your alarm doesn’t go off?

Things to Bring to the Dorms (not at all a comprehensive list lmao needs change and are different)

Obvious stuff: Clothes, undies, bedding

Your electronics (laptop, chargers, tablet, phone, etc)

Bath necessities (toothbrush and paste, towel, toilet paper and what not)

Shower shoes

FLOSS, NAIL CLIPPERS

Tape and push pins

FIRST AID KIT

Your immunization records, your identification

Money

Snacks that have a long shelf life in case of emergency or just hunger (like dried or canned food)

A flashlight

WATER and refillable waterbottle

Sunscreen

Extension cords

Napkins/tissues/ziplock bags

Mirrors as needed

an Extra Set of sheets 

General pain medication (like Advil), cold medicine, and your allergy/other personal medicines

Portable charger for your phone

Scissors!!

A refrigerator, microwave, hot water kettle, coffee maker, clothes iron, or something you realize will make your life easier

Laundry detergent

A seat cushion for your desk chair

Things that remind you of home/good times

Plates, bowls, utensils

Dealing With Problems Living on campus can suck sometimes for various reasons. However, see them as learning experiences that will prepare you for the real (Real) world when you leave college.

Getting sick: see this post

Roommate problems: sometimes, you and your roommate might not get along. It’s honestly nothing to be ashamed of because y’all are different people. But if they are doing something you really don’t like (like bringing people over when you are sleeping/studying, being loud, using your stuff, whatever), you have to be firm and tell them because sometimes, they won’t know what they’re doing wrong. Approaching them nicely and being clear is important. As roommates, you will have to accept that you all live in the same area and the space does not belong to just one of you. Make boundaries clear in the beginning, and be open to anything your roommate says to you. Peaceful roommate politics is the way to go.

Homesickness: living away from home can get to you. You might miss things that you never even thought you would miss. Dealing with homesickness is something the majority of college students living away from their home will experience, so it’s important to remember that you have others who feel the same way and you are not to struggle with the feeling alone. Calling home, writing emails/letters to home, or even planning what you want to do the next time you visit home are ways that help cope with homesickness.

Being safe: when you live away from parents or you live with a bunch of other people that you probably didn’t know before coming to campus, things can get overwhelming. Always be aware of your surroundings when you go out, or sometimes even in your residence hall. Keep your belongings safe by locking your door before leaving, or having a safe in your dorm. Wear your shower flip flops because the communal bathrooms can be gross. Always remember consent and remind others of consent. Know your limits with alcohol. This might be the first time that you live independent from guardians so you will be making every decision for yourself. Make sure your decisions keep you in a safe position!!

Report any issues with your dorm (malfunctions, theft, plumbing, electricity) to the front desk or to the housing authority immediately (this place is your home and hopefully you will love it like your home!)

Be courteous of others, like your neighbors/floormates. Respect each other and have fun!

Resources Here are just rando things that I learned to do while living on campus lol

Take a few extra napkins from dining halls and store them in your room. Napkins are useful and this can save you money (i mean in the end you are paying for dining hall services so might as well use the napkins)

Same thing with disposable utensils

Get to know your floormates because they might have the same classes as you and you can study with them!

Always have your roommate(s)’s number saved in your phone

Learn the best (or most private) times to use the bathrooms (lol)

Take advantage of the free stuff (we always got free stuff from our resident assistants/the school because of special events. I got free mason jars, free SUCCULENTS ((that died bc I can’t take care of them)), free FOOD, free shirts etc)

Have a REallly long phone charging cable and a little hanging bucket/hanging bag if you have a top bunk. It makes life easier.

If you’re the kind to plop into bed and be unproductive, consider top bunk. It sucks having to climb in and out so you’ll probably stay out of it (luls)

I’ve exhausted all that I can really think of for now, so I hope that helps! Living in the dorms is supppperr exciting and fun if you make the most out of it!

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Giving Batteries a Second Life: EZ Battery Reconditioning Course

Hybrid Battery Reconditioning

Hybrid battery reconditioning has produced factors less difficult in much more techniques than one. If you make a business out of it you ought to get more tools so you can recondition much more batteries at a single time. It is effortlessly paid for itself by bringing 3 batteries of mine back from the dead. Examining the sort of batteries prior to making their obtain is a important point of this system and this would allow every user to save some income and stay away from making unnecessary buy. http://rcrddeals.com/ez-battery-reconditioning-guide-review/

I only use the bus two-three times per year the rest of the time it is on shore energy with a really leading finish pc charging program. Once the software powers off the unit, which indicates the battery has been entirely discharged, plug the AC charging cable into it, thereby starting the battery charging cycle.

Get rid of the disconnect and get rid of the cable to the damaging terminal.four. Take away the device that holds the battery in spot employing an appropriate screwdriver. Sorts of Battery Correct for Battery Reconditioning. I not too long ago got the EZ Battery Reconditioning system and just reconditioned two auto batteries. http://ezbatteryreconditioning.rcrddeals.com/

This is not a short term improvement once your batteries have been recovered by leaving the unit attached it will continue to function, substantially extending the life of your batteries by keeping them in top situation. The chemical reactions that store and release electrical energy within the battery also dissolve the lead in the plates, and there's no way to rejuvenate that.

As related by Ohm's law , current is the ratio of voltage to resistance, so a sulfated battery will have decrease current flow. In addition to this, Tom is also delivering free of charge and helpful The Making Cash Restoring Battery Guide”. Repeat the process of charging till the voltage stops rising and then discharge the battery to .5V per cell.

Every vehicle and marine battery has a limited lifespan to run the power electrical systems in the vehicle or vessel at the highest level of efficiency. For that reason, you can avail the identical and benefit yourself from the easy reconditioning of the old batteries with a lot ease.

The measures have been presented in a concise type in this EZ Battery Reconditioning review. It is stated that 4 out of five batteries or also 98% of them, can be reconditioned back to life. More than 19k men and women invested in this battery reconditioning system due to the fact it is accessible at really affordable value and it is protected with 60-days cash assure.

Let's cease wasting our money on purchase the new one and commence spending our time on recondition our automobile battery. Almost each device now these days requirements batteries but soon after long use, batteries cannot in a position to keep their charge and acquiring dead.

Several battery companies now have rechargeable” batteries and the gear to recharge these batteries. They make sealed lead acid batteries that are perfect for any alarm of fire technique battery. EZ Battery Reconditioning program is undoubtedly worth obtaining a appear at. It is not without it really is downsides as we have seen but the pros far outweigh the disadvantages.

I had attempted cleaning it and just trickle charging it alone and the battery did not increase, it wasn't dead but was weaker than it had been when it was new which was 7 years ago. Within 20 seconds you can acquire instant access to the whole EZ Battery Reconditioning plan.

If so I guess I can rule that out, since I have scarcely employed this battery to extract power. Given that it can't be recharged, it is deemed a dead battery and basically discarded. The battery separators produced by the organization in question had been produced of organic rubber.

By following these straightforward steps that are talked about in the EZ Battery Reconditioning system by Tom Ericson, the individuals can be benefited in numerous techniques while reconditioning their battery. A automobile battery is recharged by the use of an alternator whilst the vehicle is in use or by indicates of an external battery charger connected to the electrical energy mains.

Reconditioning rundown batteries can make them work longer. They mentioned the greater voltage is necessary when additives are put in. Hello! Due to the fact the battery loads in hybrid automobiles are built to last, it isn't a concern. John - It would seem the earlier owner gave the extremely tired and virtually worn out batteries an overcharge to give the cart at least some power to persuade a person to purchase.

It is identified that this answer increases the battery life and will make your laptop get a lot more correct info about the battery levels. Even so, the goal is somewhat lost when hybrid batteries are thrown away as they, then, acquire entrance into the waste stream.

Hybrid owners typically have query about their batteries. By using the EZ Battery Reconditioning guide, folks will be able to reduce their battery fees down to nothing at all. Connect multimeter to your battery and check voltage, if the multimeter indicates about 12V but not under 11.8V than you can commence to reconditionate your battery.

Get lifetime support from Tom Ericson, Frank Thompson, and our other battery reconditioning authorities. As soon as the battery has been completely charged it has been reconditioned. Every battery has a determined lifespan in which it functions appropriately and after this period has passed, a battery will require reconditioning.

And with Frank's guide, you will know exactly how to do everything to generate your own lucrative battery enterprise! Of course they put on out and the walls of the cells will collapse, a new battery will also put on out. What most individuals don't know is that 75% of lead acid batteries fail simply because of sulphate create up on the cells, not since they are worn out.

If you are only interested in how to recondition a battery for your own use, you can start off with minimal gear. No want to be a mechanic or have sales experience to operate a Battery reconditioning enterprise. Based on the situation of the battery, repeating this method two or 3 instances can substantially increase the battery's functionality by removing added sulfur buildup

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Sage Assistance About Totally free Psn Present Card From the 5-yr-aged

EA Computer Game Membership

Sony made waves last month when chief designer Mike Cerny provided an initial take a look at the specifications for the next-gen successor to the PlayStation 4, making them the initial to throw their hat in the ring for the next round of console wars. The totally free games offered by either solution will certainly stay in your collection for as lengthy as you're registered for Xbox Live Gold or PlayStation And Also. Playing these video games with a 4K resolution TV will bring their lively https://psnfreecode.com pc gaming globes to life. Sony will additionally let developers separate the installment of their games-- state, by mounting just the multiplayer components or just the single-player campaign-- on the PS5.

To make sure greater safety for your PlayStation Network account, you need to set up two-step verification. Sony PlayStation Vue Sony's PS Vue is an outstanding, flexible choice for streaming live video web content and offers respectable DVR functions, but its base plan doesn't use quite as many networks as various other cable-replacement services.

Gamings look sensational on both systems, yet the supply PS4 uses much better resolution for numerous titles. However, when it involves the premium versions of both consoles, Xbox has an edge. The aforementioned SSD is a large detail as well, as it indicates video games will load faster as well as have the ability to deal with more items on-screen at once than current HDD-driven gaming consoles.

The PlayStation 6 will certainly likewise seriously upend Sony's previous supremacy in the software division, offering Microsoft accessibility to the massive variety of preferred PlayStation-exclusive titles such as Undiscovered as well as God Of Battle. Unlike PS4, Xbox One sustains Dolby Atmos, enabling individuals with compatible house movie theater items to take pleasure in immersive spatial sound, and also will certainly quickly sustain Dolby Vision for enhanced HDR high quality.

This 6 year old online poker game maintains improving and also much better with regular monthly updates as well as day-to-day live occasions. You can link the headset by means of USB to a wide range of devices consisting of laptop computers, tablets or other Sony gaming consoles. PS Vue additionally uses a selection of standalone channels you can include in your subscription, such as HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, and also Fox Football And Also.

Xbox One gamers, on the other hand, can stream their games to their Windows 10 tablets or laptops. Cable-replacement streaming solutions follow similar pricing patterns to routine cable: the extra you pay, the more networks you can watch.

For instance, when I added a Futurama episode to My DVR, PS Vue gathered all the on-demand episodes of Futurama that were readily available to see and also arranged a recording of all Futurama episodes moving forward. It comes with a time when more individuals are relocating far from standard video games gaming consoles to stream games online through a variety of gadgets, with phones verifying most preferred.

PlayStation participants are needed to submit charge card as well as personal details to download and play on the internet games software application, films as well as songs. PS Vue supplies four regular monthly subscription tiers: Gain access to, Core, Elite, as well as Ultra.

They use connection with PlayStation 3 controllers, and also integrate with the PlayStation network utilizing a proprietary application. PS5 discs will certainly have an ability of 100 GB, and the console will certainly likewise support 4K Blu-Rays. The Xbox One is additionally the only console that features Kodi, a highly prominent media server application that allows you access any type of motion pictures, TV images, tracks or shows you have kept on any of your devices around your home.

. Do korzystania z tego produktu niezbędne są gogle PlayStation ® VR oraz kamera PlayStation ® Electronic camera. Invite to the world of PS4 exclusive video games. One DualShock 4 controller is included with the console, and also you can purchase others separately for when you want to engage in multiplayer video gaming.

[clarencenicholsonata]

25 Best Promotional Giveaway Ideas People Will Love

So you're planning your next big giveaway, or you’re looking for prizes that do the dual job of rewarding your winners and bringing attention to your brand.

Promotional giveaways are one of the oldest marketing tricks in the book, and they’re still as effective as ever. Giveaways aren't just about the prize. If done right, they can:

Increase your website traffic

Boost brand awareness

Help to garner free customer reviews and referrals

Supply your brand with new social media followers

And more!

Once you have your giveaway goal and entry method, picking the right prize (especially on a budget) is the next task on your list.

If you’ve been struggling, look no further: I found some of the best promotional giveaway products you can brand with your personal logo that can fit your budget!

1.Teddy Bears

If you have a mascot for your brand, you can turn it into a full size or cute plush teddy bear to gift your loyal customers. For example, Hootsuite has a plush Owly for their brand, along with the life-size mascot!

2.Coffee Cup & Mugs

It’s a classic for a reason. Who doesn't want a new mug or coffee cup to fill up on a cup of joe? You can either use your logo or print funny, quirky quotes on your mug to give a touch of your brand personality. That's what Death Wish Coffee did for their random mug giveaway

It's Golden Ticket Day ?15 random orders placed today (7/25) will receive this rare mug in their package. Plus, every order today gets a FREE collectible Rosie the Riveter patch!

— Death Wish Coffee (@DeathWishCoffee) July 25, 2019

3.Gift Cards

Gift cards are a thrifty shopper’s dream come true. This type of promotion giveaway prize is excellent if you own an eCommerce store and you're looking for ways to boost sales. It's also a well known that when shoppers get a gift card or discount, they’re 42% more likely to add more items and pay more than the initial gift card value.

Wishpond can help you to easily host your next Gift Card Giveaway to help you build your email list, get social shares and grow your followers on social media.

Fashion Nova decided that they wanted to host a giveaway for one lucky winner to win a free $200 gift card.

?FOLLOW & RETWEET SWEEPSTAKES? Do you want to win a $200 gift card?! ??? Here's how: 1. Follow @FashionNova on Twitter 2. RT this post! ? 3. Stay tuned to see if you’ve won! GOOD LUCK! ✨ One Winner Every Friday @ 11 A.M. (PDT)!

— FashionNova (@FashionNova) August 19, 2019

4.Portable Charger or Power Bank

If you don't have any products for customers to buy with a gift card, then try offering a branded portable charger. Some power banks come with added features like fast charging, wireless charging, built-in cables, AC adapters, or LED flashlights.

Now, this gift is a bit on the pricey side, but everyone uses a charger, and portable chargers are lifesavers, so you know they'll become essential to your winner. And everytime they pop out their power bank, they’ll see your brand’s name charging up their trusty device.

Check out Tech Radar's guide on The best power banks of 2019: portable chargers to keep your gadgets going

5. Food or Chocolates

Sweets and treats can be a good substitute when it comes to prizes for your next promotional giveaway. Collaborate with a food brand in your area or an online brand that bakes or arranges fruit baskets, chocolate, pastries or even cakes. You can add a thoughtful card with your logo as well.

6.Stickers and Bumper Stickers

From dad jokes, memes and company logos plastered on laptops and car bumpers, stickers work well for promotional branding for your company. They're affordable to print and purchase in bulk, which means you can have over 100 winners for your giveaway. The more winners associated with a giveaway, the more likely people are to enter because they feel they have a higher chance of winning.

It is also a win-win, if you're a sticker company like Stick Top

Need help with your next giveaway or contest?

Book a free call to learn how our team of contest experts can help you create lead generating contest today.

7. Hoodies & T-Shirts

Give away branded hoodies or t-shirts to your biggest fans as a prize for your giveaway. I think that this type of prize works best if you have a strong following. If your brand is not well-known, people won't gravitate as much to this kind of giveaway. Take ProPepper; they decided to give away ten free hoodies after reaching 2 million subscribers on YouTube.

I think it's about time I actually execute this giveaway... So exactly a week from today, 8/24/19, TEN WINNERS will be selected for a FREE ProPepper 2 Million Subscriber Hoodie All you have to do is like, RT, and follow me So do it lol pic.twitter.com/AvMH9sVjJx

— ProPepper (@ProPepper) August 15, 2019

8. Reusable Water Bottles

Everyone has a water bottle, or two tucked away or heavily used at work or the gym, so a branded water bottle is always a hit. You can spice things up by giving water bottles with built-in diffusers and straws, or insulated or stainless steel bottles or accessories. For illustration, here's a branded water bottle giveaway from Wawabots.

9. Tickets to Your Seminar/Webinar

If you're planning to host a seminar or webinar, whether it's a co-promotion or fully sponsored by your brand, you can give away tickets to your event to one or two lucky winners.

10. Portable LED Lights

You can hand out branded LED lights as prizes to your winners. They can be as small as keychains, embedded on the or full-fledged flashlights.

11. Beauty Products

For beauty brands or eCommerce stores, why not give the winner sample or travel-size versions of your best products. This will allow you to save on products while giving your winner a chance to experience their favorite products for free.

12. Stress balls

Mental wellness is now considered as important as physical health. Taking care of it includes having a few stress balls around here and there. Why not give away a few, or include some as part of a wellness pack for your giveaway winner?

13. Umbrella

Use branded umbrellas to help your winner weather through rain or sunshine. It's also one of the most commonly used items around. When considering any promotional item that will be in consistent contact with water, be sure to spend a little extra on the ink you plan to use for branding, so it doesn't fade out after only a few weeks of use.

14. Custom Cell Phone Stand & Grip

We've all dropped our phones, or come dangerously close to it. So consider giving away phone grips and stands as prizes. If you run an eCommerce store or a brand that sells tech or cell phones, it will complement your products well.

15. Blankets & Pillows

Sounds a bit weird, but don't knock it before you try it. Give your giveaway winner the chance to win a blanket and pillow with your logo. If you want to sweeten the deal, you can add a sleep mask as well and make it a nap package!

16. Drinkware Set

This can include, but is not limited to, metal straws and brushes, water bottles, bottle cleaners, bottle holders, and more. This type of gift works best for wellness, travel, and fitness brands.

17.Fanny Packs

Fanny packs are making a comeback, and they offer a lot of promotional branding flexibility. They can be embroidered, screen printed or heat pressed with your logo. They are also fun and practical for winners of all ages.

18. Duffle Bag

A gym bag or duffle bag is an excellent prize for the winners who are into fitness or travel. It's hard to find a good duffle bag, so consider investing in a proper manufacturer or branding company to make your prize more appealing.

19. Yoga Products

Yoga products are in the top 5 categories of best selling products when it comes to health and wellness, which makes them a suitable prize option for your giveaway. Yoga products can range from clothing, blocks, straps, mats, shoes, and other accessories.

20. Tote or Shopping Bag

Since being eco-friendly has become widely popular, you can give away a set of branded totes or shopping bags for your promotional giveaways. Choose a material that works best for you; this can be plastic, hemp, canvas, and more.

21. Bracelets and wristbands

Maybe you'd like to pick a smaller prize. Bracelets and wristbands are affordable promotional prizes. However, the idea or brand behind it is what will make it appealing. If it's a bracelet representing something like a charity or worthy cause, people will be more inclined to enter to win your giveaway.

22. Stationery Set

Don't just brand a pen set and give it away. Offer your winners a full stationery set: pens, note pads, sticky notes, organizers. This makes your prize seem more significant and more appealing.

For more ideas on stationery you can add to your giveaway prize, you can check out Orange Promotions stationery sets.

23. Travel Collection

Travellers use a variety of accessories to make journeys easier. If your customers are niche travelers, you can offer them a travel collection to help make their next trip fun. This includes bag tags, travel notepads, passport holders, organizers and more.

24. Calendars & Planners

Even with digital calendars aplenty, planners haven’t gotten out of style. You can offer your customers a chance to win a full calendar set and planner so they can organize and plan to meet their goals for this and next year.

25. VIP Product Sampler

If your budget is too tight to buy products to brand, think outside the box and give one winner the chance to be a VIP product sampler. This person would be the first to test, use, and experience your products before they hit the shelves or website.

This can allow your winner to also be a brand ambassador for you, posting positive reviews and updates on social media to help drive sales.

Summary

There you have it, here are 25 items you can use for promotional prizes for your next giveaway:

Teddy Bears

Coffee Cup & Mugs

Gift Cards

Portable Charger or Power Bank

Stickers and Bum Stickers

Hoodies & T-Shirts

Water Bottles

Tickets to Your Seminar/Webinar

Portable LED Lights

Beauty Products

Stress balls

Umbrella

Custom Cell Phone Stand & Grip

Blankets & Pillows

Drinkware Set

Fanny Packs

Duffle Bag

Yoga Products

Tote or Shopping Bag

Bracelets & Wristbands

Stationery Set

Travel Collection

Calendars & Planners

Related Articles:

20 Shopify Giveaway Ideas You Can Use Today

20 Clever Social Media Giveaway Ideas You Can Use Today

How to Run Online Giveaways Step-by-Step with Examples

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[girlsbtrs]

GBTRS Advice: What to Bring on Tour

Congrats, you’re going on tour! Before you leave, make sure you have everything you need to be your best possible self, all tour long.

Clothes

You’ll want to pack enough clothing to last you around 7-10 days. Any more, and it’ll take up too much space. Any less, and you might get stuck wearing dirty clothes for awhile. Here’s what you need:

Socks and underwear. (Pack extra!)

1 or 2 good pairs of shoes. (If you’re getting new ones, make sure to break them in early enough)

Something comfy to sleep in,

Pants: Try to only bring a few pairs. Make sure they’re ones that you can wear multiple times between washes (like jeans), and also bring something comfy (like leggings).

Shirts: The weather will play a role in what type of shirts you’ll need. If you're going to be in hot places, T-shirts and tank tops should make up most of your wardrobe (but bring something warm just in case). If you’ll be somewhere cooler, consider bringing mostly long sleeves, or short sleeves and a jacket. For longer tours or those that pass through multiple climates, bring clothing that’s easily layered and can be mixed and matched.

Keep in mind: black is the best color for hiding stains!

Personal Care

These are some of the most important but often forgotten items you should bring! Don't put yourself in a predicament, running to the store at an odd hour for one of these things:

Earplugs: Trust me, you need these. They’re good both for falling sleep around other people, and for making sure you don’t lose your hearing at a young age.

Hairbrush, hair ties, and any other hair-care items you need.

Chapstick: Even if your lips “never get chapped,” you don't want your first time to be on tour.

Baby wipes. (It’s like a shower-in-a-can)

Washcloths: Also good for the above purpose and for a quick face-washing

Toothbrush and toothpaste: Bring an extra set just in case someone forgets or you leave yours behind somewhere!

Deodorant.

Bath towel: Good for the rare occasion you can shower if you’re in a van and not staying at a hotel.

Toiletries (shampoo, conditioner, soap).

Razors, if you need them.

Dry shampoo.

Tiny first aid/emergency kit: Bandaids, neosporin, melatonin, ibuprofen (or other pain medication), tweezers, something for upset stomachs, any other medication you might need.

Tampons/pads, if you or someone may need these.

Nail clippers: Good to have on longer tours, especially if you play an instrument where it helps to have short nails.

Vitamin C (and any other vitamins you need).

Medication.

Sunscreen: Even if you don’t usually burn, it’s still a good idea to protect yourself from the sun if you’ll be out and about somewhere where the sun is lurking. (Even if it’s cold, remember that the sun can reflect off sand and snow!)

Makeup (and makeup remover).

Contacts (and solution/storage). (Bring extra if you can.)

Anything else that’s part of your daily routine: Mentally walk through your daily morning and evening care routines, and see if there’s anything you absolutely need that isn’t already listed.

Convenience and Comfort

These aren’t necessarily needs, but you’ll definitely be better off with them than without!

Portable charger: Once you get one of these, you’ll never want to go anywhere without one.

A power inverter for the car: At the very least, you’ll want to be able to charge your phone while on the move. You can also get an inverter that turns your car port into a regular outlet, which can be super handy for charging laptops, camera batteries, or anything else that doesn’t charge from USB.

Extra chargers: Odds are that you or someone else will lose or break a charger along the way, so do everyone a favor and bring at least one extra to avoid a last-minute stop.

Pillow: Sleep is good, need I say more?

Eye mask: See above.

Reusable water bottle: Hydrate or die-drate. If you’re worried about tap water, find an option with a built-in filter.

Snacks: Always good to have food options on-hand. Do your best to bring healthy/nutrient-dense options, like trail mix (mixed nuts, raisins, maybe a lil chocolate), peanut butter, or even baby carrots if you have a cooler.

Trial-size laundry detergent: Worst-case scenario, you might have to wash your clothes in a sink. Use a bit of detergent, swish things around, and then squeeze it out and hang dry. Everything should be dry by morning except for jeans!

Shower shoes: Just in case - you don't know what's been in there.

Blankets: If it’s cold at night and you might be sleeping in your vehicle, make sure you have enough blankets to keep you all warm!

Hand sanitizer: Avoid getting sick from dirty doorknobs and handshakes.

Dryer sheets: Keep a few in your suitcase to keep your clothes smelling as fresh as possible.

Plastic bags: Both grocery bags and zipping bags can be useful for a variety of things - collecting waste, storing dirty clothes, compacting clothes for storage, etc.

Toilet paper: Just in case.

Sewing kit.

Extra headphones/earbuds.

Backpack/drawstring bag: Good for keeping all of the items you need on a daily basis organized and easily accessible. Also good for grab-and-go situations, like running to the shower.

Going abroad?

If you’re going to a different country, there’s quite a few more things you’ll be needing:

Passport: Obvious, but don’t leave home without it.

Universal adapter: If you’ll be going somewhere with different outlets, don’t get caught off guard. Check ahead of time to see if you’ll need an adapter, and, if so, which type. Consider investing in an adapter kit if you’re planning to take on the world.

International data: Maybe you’ll need a new SIM card, or maybe your cell plan covers travel! Either way, make sure you’ll be able to stay connected while abroad.

Foreign currency: Always good to keep some cash on hand in the local currency. Also, make sure you know ahead of time whether you’ll be hit with foreign transaction fees with your card, as those are definitely not a fun surprise.

Tourist pouch: A fanny pack is always a good option, but also consider an option that holds your valuables closer to your personhood (they might be a bit more fashionable/less noticeable too).

Anything you need for your job

This one is a bit open-ended, since each position on a tour is different, but here’s a few things to get you started:

Photographers:

Camera (duh

Extra SD card

Extra camera battery

Battery charger

Laptop (for editing)

Laptop charger (and possibly car charger-adapter)

Lenses for low light (there’s always one venue that’s super dark for no reason)

Merch:

Plastic bins

Credit card reader

Sharpies

Cash box (or other secure storage place for money)

Fanny pack (good to hold everything you may need)

Extra cash for change

Laminated stickies or masking tape for prices

Something to display merch with (not every venue will have a rack, if that’s how you like to display merch)

Clips/hangers (to help hang merch up for display)

Something to help you keep track of what you’ve sold/inventory

Artists: 

Stage clothes: If there’s something specific you like to wear on stage, make sure to bring it! If you’re trying to coordinate a look, make sure everyone in the group knows what’s up.

Gear: You probably know what you need, but make sure you have it. Always bring extra cables if you can, as well as extra strings/sticks/picks. Better to have extra than to be short.

Other suggestions for that possibly-mythical extra space:

Extra pillow case: not a need, but definitely nice to have, especially if you’re prone to greasy skin or will be away for more than a week or two

Portable steamer: If you want to keep your clothes looking fresh, you can get a small steamer to bring with you and help keep your wardrobe wrinkle-free.

Air mattress/sleeping bag/bedding items: If you’re going to be sleeping on floors, and you have some extra space in the van, bring something to make your sleep a little more comfortable. Air mattresses that aren’t too loud are a good option, as are sleeping bags, and (my personal favorite portable sleep option) foam mattress toppers.

Film camera: Always fun to get some good pics throughout your travels!

Your confidence

You got this! If you’re going on a tour, that means that the world knows you're ready. Hopefully you’ve got everything you need to take the road by storm, but if you happen to forget something, it’s not the end of the world. Stay calm, and have fun!

- article by Stevie Priller