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nejiraez · 5 years

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Hii!! Sorry if this is super weird but I was wondering if u could do headcanons of maybe Bakugo, Todo and Kiri whose s/o is also their childhood best friend? If I can only request one tho I'd like Todo!! Anyway thanks so much pls have a great day!! 💕💕💕 (u rock!)

SORRY FOR HOW LONG BAKUGOU’S HCS ARE. the favouritism jumped out

Bakugou Katsuki

Whenever Bakugou’s S/O approaches him with the classic “Remember that time when you - ”, he doesn’t even let his S/O finish their sentence.

He’d immediately shut them down with a swift “Shut the fuck up”. Because he knows that his S/O was there to witness a majority of the embarrassing moments he experienced when he was a child.

Take it a step further by bringing up how odd he acted in that stage in your friendship when he had a HUGE crush on you and he would shut down right then and there.

Let him LIVE! He dies a little at the fact of being reminded that he chased you around the school playground in grade 4 all because he liked you or how you two almost kissed at the age of 14 when returning from a class trip on the bus.

Katsuki’s snapchat memories are filled with embarrassing videos and pictures of you both (but mainly you).

Including class photos, school trips, birthday parties, sleepovers, everything.

His grumpy scowl would be cancelled out due to how bright and heartwarming your smile was.

Or how there was a picture of a content (Y/N) who’s arms were squeezed around Katsuki who looked “peeved” on their first day of high school.

Every photo was precious and held a story to it, which is why he never dared to delete them. Everything would either be physical, backed up on his computer, or on his phone.

Katsuki would send them to you with a text saying ‘Look at how fucking stupid you were, lol’.

Your families are well acquainted with each other and get along very well.

Your parents absolutely adore Bakugou (your mother especially) and always greet him with open arms whenever he visits your house.

And his parents also vibe with you, always making it known that you are welcome to come over whenever you want and how appreciative/amazed they are at the fact of how long you both stuck together for.

It’s almost as if you’re their second child~

The relationship is full of trust, sarcasm, and great communication. Katsuki’s S/O is someone he feels like he could put his guard down around and truly be himself without worrying about his pride.

He is forever grateful that he has met you when he did.

BONUS (because why not~)

Just because you two are dating doesn’t mean he gets romantic with his texts. He would still text you in the sassy/teasing, sarcastic way he always did when you guys were (and still are) best friends.

EXHIBIT A & B:

Todoroki Shouto

Sometimes whenever you’d bring Shouto home, he’d be wind up in a long conversation with your mother. Talking about school or how he’s finding the hero course.

Todoroki has gotten close to your parents to the point where he could call them by their government names. And yes, he does not feel embarrassed calling them by their first name whatsoever.

You two have known each other since you were both in the same private school at the age of 6.

Which was why it wasn’t as big as a deal as it might have been when his family discovered that he began to date you near the end of middle school.

Rei loves you with her whole being and is delighted whenever you come and visit her at the hospital with Todoroki.

Natsuo considers you an additional younger sibling since you were his brother’s former playmate and current S/O. Fuyumi always presents you with pastries whenever she’s home.

And Endeavour? ... Well I mean he’s Endeavour. You assume you he doesn’t mind your presence since he hasn’t said shit... you think.

Believe it or not, Todoroki is the one in the relationship to remember the smallest of details that have transpired of the years of you two being friends AND while dating.

Like what you’re allergic to or that one specific order you always get at the eatery you both visit after school. He also remembers the people you dislike/steer clear of and pet peeves.

It’s quite endearing, to be honest!

Todoroki gets annoyed for whatever reason when people call him without a purpose. However, when it comes to his S/O if they were to call him because they want him to watch them do homework he will legit pick up on the first ring.

“Yes, my love, you called? What’s wrong?” He jumped onto the notion of pet names the two weeks after you two became official.

Shouto is your biggest fan and when he’s not posting about himself, he would be posting about you (on the spam page you persuaded him to make, of course).

So much so that some people would consider it spam and wonder if he has any other interests or hobbies. Trust me, he does... you just have to scroll down his page a bit a lot to see them!

If people aren’t aware that the two of you are dating, they will know either by his profile picture (a selca of you both) or how talkative/engaged he is whenever he’s around you.

Everyone knows of the deep history rooted between you both and they swoon because it was as if it were a relationship pulled out of a movie.

Kirishima Eijirou

Having Kirishima as a childhood best friend and a boyfriend is the definition of chaotic in its purest form.

He and his S/O probably have been friends since the early stages of middle school. Meaning that they’ve met in the budding years of the preteen stage - not even.

Kirishima saves all of the old photos of you two together and would be the type of boyfriend to post them all on your birthday.

He sometimes likes to flex on others at how close and strong your bound is.

It definitely boosts his ego a whole bunch.

Ever since Kirishima had asked you, it gave him the overused excuse to be more affectionate. Claiming his reasons for smothering you to death was because “that’s what boyfriends do, babe!”

You two have too many inside jokes and history together, which may be a reason as to why the relationship is so healthy and fruitful.

He would be the type to have a calendar set for how long you two were friends and one for the amount of time you two have been dating.

Kirishima is the king of duality when it comes to managing his roles as a boyfriend and friend.

One minute he’d be texting you ‘I love you!’ and the next is a snap of the upper half of his face (showing only his eyes and beautiful forehead) all while he throws a peace sign with the caption as: ‘sitting on the toilet’. For which you have to scold him on sharing TMI

That’s the type of relationship you guys have. Romantic isn’t it~

BONUS!!

Kirishima is the type to send you shit like:

#bnha #mha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bnha imagine #bnha headcanons #bnha x reader #bakugou katsuki #bakugou katsuki x reader #bakugou x reader #todoroki shouto #todoroki shouto x reader #todoroki x reader #kirishima eijirou #kirishima eijirou x reader #kirishima x reader #BY THE WAY THE TEXTS ARE REAL #when your friend is impatient😍

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recoversoft · 4 years

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How to See Who Someone is Texting without Having Their Phone

These are a few questions popping up in the minds of a lot of people. Being doubtful can not only spoil your mental peace but also won’t do you any good either. So, what to do in such circumstances? How to see who someone is texting? Well, the answer is very easy, in the last few years several tracking apps are popping on the internet and they are known to be very effective. But before you use it, you need to know a few details regarding the app and the monitoring. So, let’s take look into the article below.

Table of Contents:

Before Start: What to Expect in a SMS Tracking App

Best SMS Tracker Apps to See Who Someone is Texting Remotely

Extra Tip: How to Track Down the Person Who Just Texted You

What to Expect in a SMS Tracking App

Well, tracking the text messages on a mobile device is possible and the process has become really convenient in recent days. Numerous powerful text message tracker apps are available online, and there are a few advantages that you can utilize in order to track texts remotely.

You can track sent, received and even deleted messages on the phone.

You can see see who is texting and have full access to details like time and date.

You can track their conversation without them knowing.

In addition to text messages, instant messaging apps can also be tracked.

Best SMS Tracker Apps to See Who Someone is Texting Remotely

The best way to see who they are texting would be a professional tracker app. After a lot of tests, we are glad to find the best tracker apps to achieve the job.

1. KidsGuard Pro

KidsGuard Pro is undoubtedly the best solution and qualifies in every mentioned category. The advanced features implemented via this app satisfy to track each text messages on both Android and iPhone. You can also check the name of the sender and view timestamps as it is able to upload data in real-time. More importantly, this app stays 100% hidden and leaves no icon on target phone, which saves you from the trouble of being caught by someone.

Monitor Now

View Demo

How to See Who Someone is Texting with KidsGuard Pro

The app is very easy to operate with the simplest installation. So, here’s how to see who someone is texting with KidsGuard Pro:

Step 1: visit KidsGuard Pro website and register your account. Then get hold of the target device and download KidsGuard Pro Assistant on the device.

Step 2: Now, tap on the downloaded file to run the setup. You can follow the on-screen instructions to finish the process. Also, it is suggested that you should delete the file after the installation is finished.

Step 3: As soon as the installation complete, you can leave the phone alone and visit its official website with your account. And then you will be asked to sync your mobile. Do it, the first sync takes longer but after it is finished, you will be able to track the messages, sent and received by the target device by selecting “Messages” in the left bar.

As you can see, the installation is also very simple. It also has the most intuitive interface.

What Else Can KidsGuard Pro Do to Monitor A Phone

As a one-stop monitoring app, KidsGuard Pro is packed with numerous features. Besides text message tracking this app is capable of 30+ features which includes call tracking and even Geofence. So, let’s have a look at KidsGuard Pro’s most useful list of features:

Location Tracking

Geofence

Call Recording

Contacts

Social media apps like Snapchat, Instagram and more

Browser History

Take Screenshot

Photos & Videos

Keylogger

Take Photo

For more details, you can access its free demo to check how KidsGuard Pro looks like by yourself.

Monitor Now

View Demo

Why KidsGuard Pro is Our First Pick?

Overall, these are 4 exceptional apps capable of tracking text messages on the target device. They are all packed with features that complement their capabilities. Based on user reviews and other factors, KidsGuard Pro SMS tracker stands out from the competition for its distinct advantages below.

1. Secret Tracking. The tracking mechanism of KidsGuard Pro on the target device is completely incognito. This is a feature that is not so efficient on the other apps.

2. Good Compatibility. You don’t need to jailbreak or root the device. It works well on all iPhone models running iOS 13 and up. For most Android devices, this app supports latest Android 10.

3. Budget-friendly pricing. The price of KidsGuard Pro can be as low as $0.27/day for a yearly plan. What’s more, you can get all premium features in one package unlike its competitors.

4. Timely Customer Support. KidsGuard Pro provides 24/7 live and email support to help with all your queries. You can also prefer video guides online and how-to tutorials to solve all your concerns.

Extra Tip: How to Track Down the Person Who Just Texted You

Did you receive a text message or a call from an unknown number? If you want to track down who texted without asking directly, then there are a few tricks to do:

1. Do a reverse directory search:

When it comes to search something on the internet, Google is our first thought. It may contain the names, addresses and even social media accounts related to this phone number. It is noted that don’t hope high of this, because it doesn’t work everytime. But it is the most easy way to start tracking who texted anyway.

2. Resort to phone tracking websites:

There are a lot of online websites for free to help you track the location of a phone number. For example, FreePhoneTracer.com is a famous one. All you need to do is type in the cell phone number of the text message you received. Then it can tell you the country or the city where the owner of the phone number is located in.

3. Go to your telecom operator:

If you wonder who is texting for free, some of the telecom operators offer inquiry services to check the text message. Basically, you have to go to the official website of your service provider, provide proper ID and password and you will find out some details of the text messages associated to that number.

Summary

Therefore, you have the idea of how to see who someone is texting, now. If you want to track the messages on your closed ones’ cell phone, it is very simple, just get a professional app that is capable of tracking the text messages. And we took the privilege and choose KidsGuard Pro for you. You will enjoy working with this app! If you want to track person who just texted you from an unknown number, we also offer some useful tricks to help you out.

#kidsguard #clevguard #phone monitoring app #parental control app #android #iphone #relation #spy

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labyrinth-runner · 4 years

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what’s you and your bf cute story?! (If you want to share you don’t have to)

AH! I will always gush.

Okay so. 2016 was a big year for me. I graduated high school and moved into college, (A small private college in my hometown that no one I went to school with went to, so it was nice), and the same day I moved into college, my parents moved multiple states away. Thanksgiving break, that wasn’t a huge issue, Christmas break made it more pronounced that I had no friends and knew no one, and by the time summer break rolled around, I was bored and had nowhere to go because I didn't have a car or keys to get back into the apartment building (limited key fobs were given to the residents. I didn’t have a car so whenever I wanted to leave I had to take the garage door opener from my dad’s car if he was home or hope someone would be home when I got back.)

I talked to my cat so often I understood her meows. So.... I downloaded tinder. Not to date, just to talk to people. Seriously. I cannot stress this enough. I just wanted to talk.

I end up getting a job as the first month goes on, I match with a bunch of people and have interesting conversations. Then one day, I match with a “Josh” and our first messages were these (Before I deleted tinder, I downloaded all our convos to my laptop so I could keep them):

Josh:

Choose your own Tinder Adventure!

A:Cheesy pickup line

B:Dirty pickup line

C:Genuine compliment

D:Polite conversation

E:Lemme smash

F:Random bird fact

G:Other

Me:

Can I pick two or just one?

Josh:

You're pretty cute, so I'll give you two.

Me:

Lol well thanks. I'm going to go with A and D

Josh:

Dang girl, if you were a fruit you'd be a fineapple,

Me:

lmao wow xD

Josh:

Thank you, thank you. So what do you want to chat about? Movies, music, hopes and dreams, the fact that bees are dying at an alarming rate?

Me:

Anything and everything. You pick. This doesn't just have to be my tinder adventure

SO. We start talking. And one day I forgot to hit send and we didn’t talk for a day or two and he actually reached out to make sure I was okay because he hadn’t heard from me. And I was like. omg. I was stupid and didn’t press send. We progressed to Snapchat and eventually to texting.

Over the course of these convos, the boy asked me out three times. The first time I was like “I didn’t have my schedule yet, I’ll get back to you when I do” and just never brought it up again because. Ew. Tinder. And then he asked me out again, but I actually did have plans. And the third time I actually asked him out and here’s why:

We had been talking after I got out of work and I had stopped to pick up pizza from a place near our apartment complex. He asked what place, I told him. He said that was near where he works. I asked where he worked and he described the area around where I worked (which was literally down the street from my house. Literally 5 min commute) and then I was like. “Lol you know this shopping complex? The apartments behind it?” and he said yes. And that was when I learned he worked across the street from my house. Like, I look out on the balcony and can see the building. So, I thought, shit. I told him where I live, have to go out with him now.

So, we set up a date. He takes me to the Melting Pot, which if you haven't been, its amazing, but also hella expensive. As someone who’s dating experience had been super lame dates to the Newport Creamery or walks around town, this was blowing it out of the park. We talk so long that we missed the first showing of Spiderman: Homecoming that we were going to, so we decide to catch a later showing and end up walking around a bit to kill time. We get to the movies, watch the movie, and we go to drive home. On the way home, this song that I had sent him weeks ago comes on his spotify and we both sing along. We get to my door, I end up giving him a hug, and I go back upstairs to get my ass yelled at for getting home at one am and not telling my parents I’d be home late after going out with a stranger.

Fast forward to the next week, date 2. We go to a sushi restaurant that I’d always wanted to try, and then we go to this Farmer’s Fair in his area and he makes a bet that if there’s a car with an American flag we hold hands. No flag, I won the bet, he still held my hand and bought me a lil fake flower (we go back to this fair every year and he gets me a new one. I have a collection growing) and he takes me to this tent full of blue ribbon bunnies because I have four bunnies at home. We have some fun, it gets super fucking hot outside because its July. Then, we go to the other part of our date, mini golfing. I somehow got multiple holes in one, to the point where he asked if I was hustling him. And then we were waiting on the bench for a hole to free up and I asked him how serious he was about this and he told me “Serious enough to ask when you go back to school and if I can visit while you’re there.” My heart does a skippy-skip and we finish the game and get some ice cream. While we’re sitting, we talk a bit more, we make it facebook official, and then when we get back to my apartment that night, we kissed. Only after all of this is over does the boy tell me I was his first date ever and his first kiss ever.

But, the rest, as they say, is history. We’ll be starting year four next month, and he’s been with me through my mood swings, moving to and from college, moving houses, my dad dying, and just... a lot. He’s honestly one of the best things to walk into my life, and you all know I’m not super religious (I joke about joining the religion of the Jedi), but I pray to God I never fuck this up.

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lushonacid · 4 years

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Twisted Files

Chapter 3 The 4th of July

Things still aren’t normalized... its only been 2 weeks since the whole murder began and the hunt for my little sister Stella’s body. One morning I decided to go into Stella’s room and just absorb her scent, the room still smelt like her my parents couldn’t clean it out as of right now due to the emotion state as of right now. I started browsing through her closet, clothes, jewelry, stuffed toys and the her books to her journals. Then i spotted out her laptop under the bed, opened it up nothing useful for clues that leads up to that night. I did manage to open up her messages through her (Brace Page) a website that is a combination of twitter and youtube... it’s kind of weird, I never had one personally but i know that was more on Stella’s ally. She loved being live in front of the camera, spoke whatever was on her mind, under ever post there would be likes and comments. most of her comments were her friends I recognized a few of them, and then i seen a profile that’s been commenting multiple times but the friends don’t even know him just Stella replying back to him. or maybe not sometimes. The whole profile seemed strange the name displayed was [Chase44] and this Myspace emo looking dude, not sure if its even him but he is friends with my sister online. Every post she made, he’d say things in the comments like: “Hey are you going to reply to me?”, “Why aren’t you answering?”, “LOOK BITCH we can discus this over dm”. And that was his last time ever interacting with her posts. Zachery never mention anything about this profile, judging by the attitude who really would? unless I dig in deeper to see if this Chase44 has anything to do with the murders. I go into her messages history and everything was cleared. COMPLETELY. At the crime scene the detectives mentioned her phone hasn’t been found, but the chip was found in her best friends throat the night in the motel. ALL her messages shes ever had on here are gone, someone cleared it?I can’t see her clearing them.. even her group chats she does on here... it’s just not adding up. I feel like there was something on here we could have found. it’s just weird how all of her conversations have been erased and Chase44 wanting her to reply back, it’s just strange. He forgot to delete the comments I guess. Something about Chase44 I didn’t understand. Was he a friend?, ex boyfriend?, school friend?, camp buddy?, or obsessed stalker that lives in our county. There are just 3 photos of this guy and lives in the area. I noticed he had snapchat and my stalker scense started coming out due to scary stories and movies, I created a fake profile for snap and used some chick that looked somewhat similar to my sister from tumblr, accept this girl has pink hair and my sister had blue. after that I realized it was 6 my family was running late to head over to Aria’s parents cottage for the 4th of July bbq dinner. And spend the night or 2 there depending on the weather this weekend. As soon as we reached to Aria’s house I added the profile and within 15 mins Chase44 accepted. I immediately searched for their location on the search and he was RIGHT where I was.

“WTF...” I said to myself softly. My dad comes by “Everything okay kido?”. “yeah don’t worry about it.” I said. My dad starts to pet the dog beside me. I look down at the phone and it was Chase44 sanpping at me, I didn’t want to open it in front of my dad, like there would be too much to explain. I opened the snap and it was a picture of me, my dad and the dog. all with our backs turned. I looked down through the woods immediately. And seen nothing. I was fucking scared, I thought I wasn’t right about this profile but this was starting to fit everything. I took a screenshot even thought i know it notifies the other person. I just wanted them to feel as scared as I was at the moment, but I knew he felt safe. Nobody knows who is Chase44.

To be |Continued| S t a y T u n e D ! ~>

Follow & Keep U P Below

{ https://lushonacid.tumblr.com/post/617591599635021824/twisted-files-chapter-1-the-late-night }

{ https://lushonacid.tumblr.com/post/617667380532887552/twisted-files-chapter-2-missing-girl-its }

#TwistedFiles Storytime Stories

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jwink-4life-blog · 4 years

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My girlfriend posted this. Turns out I'm the asshole. lol. LMK if i am.

I am still with my girlfriend so please don't be mean to her. I did this to see if it would help me with my anxiety associated with the whole situation. Maybe it will help me move on.

My girlfriend posted this. Turns out I'm the asshole. lol. LMK if i am.

"So my boyfriend recently decided that he was having issues trusting me for little things he would consider white lies. (i.e. things such as saying I could handle spicy food when it turned out i no longer could) so he wanted to go through my phone, which I obliged. He went in to my Snapchat account and asked who a particular person I was talking to was.

I told him the truth, that it was someone that I had met through tinder and had become friends with. This person was well aware I'm with my boyfriend and made no moves to try and flirt or insinuate he was hoping my bf and I broke up.

My bf went through the conversation and didn't see anything suspicious, his words, not mine. All there was were complaints of wanting to kms and stomach pain. However he still insisted that he couldn't trust me and has beliefs that I'm possibly cheating on him if he has no proof of such and I never did. I never met the person I was talking to IRL

Am I the Asshole?"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hey, her boyfriend here. I just thought I would fill in what is missing. At the time of her post, we had been dating since the summer of 2019 (8 months in total) but officially SO since late November (3 months). Still together!... maybe not after this. I address the extra information she added on the comments too.

Organized in chronological order:

1. She mentions a guy, let us call him Jeff. She said that Jeff and she went to a movie together after we had gotten together; that is true. Expect she left out that when we were dating she went on a date with this guy. That was perfectly fine. At the time she was not my girlfriend. She had vented to me that the guy ditched her halfway through the date and began to cry about it. She vented how upset she was because she was looking forward to it. During the time she was venting, I listened and gave her friendly advice. I finally realized months later that I really liked this girl and wanted to be with her so I asked her to be my girlfriend and to my luck, she said yes. We discussed on the day we got together that we would not talk to ex's, flirt with other people, and get off of our dating apps. Even talk about not putting ourselves in a position where cheating could occur because of someone else making a move. However, not a month into our relationship and she goes to the movies with Jeff. On are seconded date we went to the cinema where we kissed and hugged during the movie and had sexual relations for the first time after the movie which is perfectly fine. She was single and she could do with her body as she pleased. But once she got in a relationship that should have changed. What am I supposed to think? She had dated the guy before, cried about him and were at a place where I know that they could be affectionate. She told me that she was going to the movies with him and I expressed that I was not OK with it. She still went. That was the first red flag. The reason why it was a big deal was that we had just talked about our relationship and the guidelines that we expect to follow.

2. After the time she went to the movie with "jeff" (not his real name). I started to get on tinder to look at her profile to see anything suspicious (She had lost my trust). I was looking for new changes to her bio and photos. Probably a day or two later I noticed her tinder profiles had disappeared from my matched list. I thought that maybe she had blocked me so I could not see changes. Second red flag.

3. I talked to my support system such as a friend, and family they agreed that it is something worth bringing up.

4. I confront her about everything so far.

She explained that her father had prank called her using an automatic voice recording that called about a tinder date. She said she got scared because she didn't understand how they got her number and deleted the profile. So I asked her for her phone. She gave it to me but before she did she entered Kik and swipe the start page to the left and press some things. At the time I had no idea what was Kik so I just asked her what it was and she said it's an internet browsing app. She failed to mention that it was a messaging app too. I exited out of Kik and went in to tinder and we tried to sign in. There was no profile connected to her number so I left it as she was saying the truth.

When I brought up Jeff her excuse was that she had always gone out with guys by herself and it wasn't a problem ever. She said that I should trust her. She said it was her first relationship, so she didn't know it would have been an issue. I didn't like that excuse because we had already talked about guidelines in our relationships and she was breaking one. I explained that I don't trust Jeff (but I didn't trust her too). This is a guy that has dated another guy to watch free movies and get free food but he's not gay. He's is a shady person. She said nothing happened between them. She agreed on the conditions that would not happen again. We went on with our lives together.

5. Some time passes. We had other issues later on but like any other couple.

6. One day while I was driving she had mentioned that she was keeping in touch with people all over the world and that they were her friends. She mentioned that she use to be in love with a guy from out of the country and would have phone sex with another that lived out of state. I didn't say anything because at the time I didn't feel that she need to get rid of these friends since they were so far away. Later on, stuff happened that changed my mind.

7. Some time passes again.

8. One day when we were laying in bed together I noticed that she was deleting her Snapchat and Kik from her phone. I just made a mental note because I thought it was old. I didn't ask anything and she just told me that she needed space on her phone. It sounds valid to me. Still, though, I didn't ask. Later in the future, she told me that she had deleted them so I wouldn't think she was cheating.

9. Later on that night or the following night she was acting weird. She didn't want to have sex which is fine but she distanced herself from me. We would normally cuddle but she was on the other side of the bed. Her mannerisms were almost like covering her vagina where ever she moved (not on her period); it was behavior she never exhibited before. I joked with her to try and make her feel better and she said: "you are a bitch though!". She was defensive about my jokes. Not how she normally acts when I joke with her. That whole night was terrible, it just became a battle of who could annoy the other.

10. The next morning I could not stop getting this feeling that something was wrong. I knew I didn't have much of a reason to ask for her phone again. Still that night I talked to her. I began to doubt myself. I explain to her, how when I was a child my mother would have me call all the numbers off of my dad's phone from call history to see if my dad was cheating(He was) so I told her that I think this is the reason why I may feel she is cheating on me with no evidence. I asked if she would let me see her phone to prove my suspicions are wrong. She said yes. I smiled and didn't take her phone. I felt that was good enough for me... until after we were done eating she began to get ready to shower but before going she made eye contact with me and placed her phone in her backpack, never breaking eye contact with me; solid 20 seconds of eye contact. I just made a mental note that it was weird that she put it away so awkwardly.

11. Later on that night in bed I thought it was the best time to ask her for her phone to finally put my suspicions away. She gave me her phone. Initially, she didn't bother looking over to see where I was going on her phone. That made me feel that I had nothing to worry about. I went to her phone and didn't find a thing but then I remember she had deleted her Snapchat and Kik.

12. The next move was to go into the files of her phone where stuff is stored even when the app is deleted. I enter the Kik app file and she was sending a video of her kissing the screen and role-playing. She said it was before we were together. I check the date it's in late December after I met her family. This is when her relaxed attitude change to focusing on the screen at all times.

13. I download Kik and Snapchat. I made sure to remove the phone from her hands once she signs in to not have a suspicion of her deleting stuff.

14. I still didn't know much about Kik but later I found out that if you delete or sign out of the app all your messages will be deleted. No message was found because she had deleted the app. Just a guy's name that she said was a friend but messages in the conversation were empty.

15. Snap chat was where I found a red flag. I enter her snap chat and saw 4 guys' names. I asked her "before I go in any of these do you want to tell me anything?" she said no.

I enter the first guy chat, it was the out of state guy who she had phone sex before; he saved messages. The saved messages didn't look suspicious but it's Snapchat so there can be some that weren't saved. Weird that she talking to someone she uses to have frequent phone sex with but OK. Didn't say much about it.

The second guy, he saved messages too. He was sending her voice messages. Saved messages were not suspicious but it's Snapchat so there can be some that weren't saved. I asked her who he was since his name was not familiar. She said he found her from tinder and they been messaging since. That was a red flag for me because we discussed we would not communicate with the people we meet from tinder. She said that he never made a move on her... stuff like that; however, she then said how she was trying to meet up with the guy at Denny's once because she wanted pancakes and even though she wanted to he would not go unless she would take a friend with her because he knew she had a boyfriend. Sounds weird?? Yup! She said they never met. why would she try to meet up with him by herself? So I'm the asshole? why do all these dudes supposedly "save the whole conversation"?

The third and fourth were guy she has been friends with and I have no problem with her hanging with the two of them together. She had mentioned these friends a long time ago so it checked out.

16. On the drive home, after I went through her phone. She must have the worst timing ever because she brought up the fact that she used to cheat when playing cards with her dad. Her dad got mad at her and would not play with her again. She would ask to play with her dad but he wouldn't let her because she would cheat. Then she told me that if her dad would have given her another chance she would have proven that she wouldn't have cheated again. Why did she say this??? no idea. Bad timing, maybe?

17. But right after that story she then became mad and quiet. She said I had broken her personal space which all she has in her life. I told her that I gave her phone back and she could go through mine whenever she wanted. She still was mad. Saying that I took her privacy away. This got me heated because I didn't say she had to stop talking to anyone after I found the suspicious activities. I blew up! I told her we will talk about it at her house! Then she started crying saying how she is sorry and so on.

18. Once at her house, I told her that anyone from a dating site that she met; people she had any sexual activities including phone sex from the past she would have to stop talking to if she wanted to be with me. I dropped her off and left angry. We took the weekend apart from each other.

19. I talked to my support system again and they said it was time to cut it off. I agreed but...

20. My dumb ass stayed with her. lol, We talked it out. She blamed her inexperience with the relationship since it was her first. Saying she didn't know better.

21. We had other issues like any other couple.

22. I was going to finally break up with her but I had to wait until the weekend because I promise to take her sibling to school for a few weeks. I waited to break up with her to keep my promise to her.

23. She caught on to me being distant and faking being happy. She confronted me about it and we decide to work on our relationship.

24. Part of the conversation involved people who thought I was overrating about past relationship troubles. Turn out she was talking about Reddit!!! Hi, Reddit! Seems allot of info got left out. SMH. I thought it was weird how everyone I went to for advice thought I made perfect sense but with her, she thought I was overreacting, insecure, and bad shit crazy.

24. I fell in love with her. Hopefully, I don't get my heart to rip out. lmao.

25. Almost forgot, the "white lies"... well, do I have to go in detail about this? Shouldn't this post speak for itself? I understand why we use white lies; we are using then to not hurt someone's feelings. "Hey, do I look ugly?" "No, you are a snack". This was not the case. I have caught her many times lying about stuff that there's no need to lie about, hold information, and change a slight thing in her story to fit her narrative. For example, "My bf went through the conversation and didn't see anything suspicious, his words, not mine". Really? Did I say that? The only thing I told her was there was not enough proof to say she didn't cheat on me. There was defiantly so suspicious activities.

Am I the asshole?

Is she the asshole?

Or am I a 100% simp?

LMK

#reddit

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lgbtyrus · 6 years

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this storm knocked out our wifi but I can finally post this! thank you @swingsetboys for organizing this!

happy valentines day Kate @homosexualearthworm!!! I was super excited when I saw that I got you because you’re one of the coolest people on this website! Writing this for you was fun even if I couldn’t figure out a plot to save my life.

So have some large amounts of Tyrus, extremely bitter tarty exes, some angst, and sprinkles of bandi all set in an AU where they’re around 25ish, TJ is a librarian, and they live in a city.

Words: 4,526

Pressed Flames

Putting in his bookmark that was just really a polaroid of him and his ex-boyfriend, TJ closed the book he was reading and looked up to see who the front bell had made noise for. The library in their city was barely busy, but there was always the soft vibration of whispers and the smell of pages that made it feel like a money-making lucid dream.

The man entering smiled at him before walking off again into the history book section for the third time that month. If he did the same thing he did last time, TJ was going to have to look up their library’s policy for checking out books. The main librarian was out for the month, and he had no way to contact her over “a man who checks out 15 books a week.” If the weekly limit wasn’t 15, TJ was sure he’d take more of them.

TJ surveyed the library. Two twin girls that were in middle school were sitting on the red bean bags by the teen lit section, an old couple were looking through history archives, and a mom and her two little kids were looking around. TJ smiled at the little kids who were on their best behavior, looking over at TJ in fear every time they said a word too loud. TJ would wave them off with a smile, and they’d go back to trailing behind their mom like little duckling.

The people in the library that day made TJ miss his hometown where his twin sister and mom were. The man who had a thing for checking out a million books a week, had a cute smile that reminded him of ex-boyfriend while still managing to trap TJ in a bubble that said, “Look at me only.”

TJ went back to his book, waiting for anyone to go up to him. Managing a library alone with a coworker here and there was surprisingly easy, so his freaking out about the main librarian leaving him alone for a month was in vain.

“Hey,” the man placed a stack of thick history books on the counter, startling an unsuspecting TJ to the point that his polaroid fell down to his feet.

“Hey,” TJ looking down at the floor, his ex’s smile taking over the photo before looking up at the man who was giving him the same smile.

“I’ll be back with more,” the man took a deep breath, placing his library card on the counter before walking away again.

“O-okay,” TJ nodded, the man already not being able to hear him. TJ bent down to pick up the polaroid and stuck it back into his book. He picked up the library card and for the first time, looking at the name.

Cyrus Goodman

He’d remember that. He started checking out the books, placing them in a neat pile before Cyrus came back with the rest to complete the 15. Cyrus quietly waited there, not saying a word to TJ like always. TJ felt like asking him what he was doing with so many textbook-like novels. None of them were even from the same era, but by the time he was done checking out the books, he still didn’t know how to ask a question.

TJ handed back the library card and told him, “Here ya’ go. Have a nice day.”

“Thank you,” Cyrus smiled, his eyes moving to the name tag pinned on his shirt, “TJ.”

“No problem,” TJ said, watching Cyrus take the large tower of books outside the library door. He turned over to look at the twin girls who were giggling, sinister smiles that reminded him of his twins glowing from across the room. They had been watching whatever spectacle that was the whole time. He simply rolled his eyes and went back to reading, the smallest of smiles resting on his lips.

Cyrus closed the passenger car door, leaning back in the seat as Buffy turned on the car.

“Did you talk to him?” she asked him.

“I just got his name,” Cyrus frowned, clicking his seatbelt. “I even purposely made two trips and left my library card with him, so he’d have a chance to look at my name.”

“Did he?”

“I don’t think so,” Cyrus sighed, leaning his cheek on the car seat, looking out the window to the old brick building, shadowed by the new complexes in the city. “You’d think that he’d ask me by now why I need all these books.”

“You’d the think the library would’ve called the cops on you by now,” Buffy laughed, pulling out of the parking space she technically wasn’t supposed to be in. “You officially have 45 books.”

Cyrus turned to look at one of his best friends, “Hey, I’m only doing this for you and Andi. Usually, I wouldn’t care if the library thought I was a weirdo checking out all these books at the same time, but you happen to want to start Operation Propose to Andi at the same time there’s a cute new librarian.”

“Gertrude Millers isn’t there anymore?” Buffy asked him.

“I haven’t seen her, but her photo is still up,” Cyrus said. “She’s probably just taking time off.”

“I should go in and try to check books out, too,” Buffy joked. “I doubt your librarian lover has seen the list of people who are banned.”

“First off, his name is TJ,” Cyrus told her, his nose burning red, “second of all-,”

“TJ Maxx?”

“Buffy,” Cyrus whined, making her giggle, “second of all, you’re going to have to do that without me. I’m not trying to get arrested for sneaking in a felon into the library.”

“You accidentally burn a section of the library and suddenly you’re a criminal,” Buffy smirked. “That happened like, 10 years ago.”

“9 years ago,” Cyrus corrected her, “but Gertrude has impeccable memory.”

“She’s going to outlive me and personally spit on my grave before they burry me,” Buffy joked, “you can count on it.”

“How did Andi fall in love with you again?”

“I’m really funny,” Buffy smirked. “Also, pretty romantic. Who else would’ve come up with this idea of pressed flowers?”

“Me,” Cyrus said, “only I’m never going to get married, so you can claim the idea as 100% yours.”

“I guess you did contribute,” Buffy smiled. “Anyways, who knows, that TJ guy could be your soulmate.”

“You’re only so optimistic because you already found yours.”

“Damn right I did.”

It was Friday again, and TJ was waiting for Cyrus to walk through the doors again.

He was reading a different book now, same bookmark. His twin sister would be heavily disappointed if she knew he still had that photo. He had burned everything from his ex with her before he moved out into the city to start going to school again. The polaroid was in a book he had left half read, and he didn’t discover it until he started unpacking. Amber had done most of the work when burning the things the first (and second, third, and fourth) time, and he couldn’t bring himself to throw it away. If Amber hadn’t blocked Marty for him on all of his social media accounts, blocked his number, and deleted his phone number that she knew he’d never remember again, TJ was really sure of the fact that he would’ve sent him a photo of the polaroid saying, “Look what I found :-),” on Snapchat.

TJ fumbled with the polaroid between his thumb and index finger as he read, blurring out the people in the library. One of his coworkers was walking around, fixing things on shelves, so he exactly set on people watching that day. He was just watching out for one person.

Then Cyrus came in, and gave TJ a wave, making his heart race in his chest. He felt like his leather jacket was rising up and setting down with every pound of his heart. TJ gave him a smile and quickly moved his eyes back down to his book as Cyrus disappeared into the science section of the library. He had already cleared out the big books from the history section, and TJ knew that his coworker was going to watch this average height man somehow carry a large stack of books in one trip.

After 20 minutes or so, there was a pile on the desk, and Cyrus’ voice asking, “Who are you reading?”

“Michael Nava,” TJ answered stiffly, setting his book open on the counter. “Can I see your library card?”

“Yeah,” Cyrus said slowly, carefully eyeing the open book as he took out his wallet from his jean pocket. He handed it to him, and TJ quickly began scanning the books.

“You like his Henry Rios stories I’m assuming,” Cyrus asked him, trying to make conversation.

“Did you sneak in an extra book?” TJ asked him, a smirk on his face.

“What?” Cyring furrowed a brow. “Why makes you think that I’m a criminal?”

“I mean,” TJ laughed, “you come in here every week and check out 15 big books, and you never make conversation. Luckily for me, the computer tells me when you’ve hit 15, so I don’t have to count.”

“I’m honestly just trying to make conversation with you,” Cyrus defended himself, a cheeky smile on his face. “Checking out all of these books is a long process.”

“Tell me about it,” TJ smiled, typing away on the computer. “But if you wanted to get extra books, I could override the system for you and get you an extra 10.” He had read the library guidelines. They were ancient and there was no limit to how many books Cyrus could have in total. Just fifteen a week with exceptions to scholars. Gertrude didn’t have to know.

“Maybe next week,” Cyrus said, getting his library card back, once again eyeing the open book. “I don’t think I can fit them all in my friend’s car.”

“See you next week then?” TJ asked.

Cyrus nodded and picked up the tall pile of books, “Next week.”

“He’s gay,” Cyrus said as he shut the door to Buffy’s car for the fourth time that month.

“Did he tell you?” Buffy raised a brow as she started the car again.

“He was reading a Michael Nava novel.”

“King.”

“Not only that,” Cyrus sighed, leaning his head back, “he had a polaroid of his boyfriend as a bookmark. I can’t even get mad,” Cyrus groaned. “That’s super cute.”

“I want to see how he looks like,” Buffy said as she pulled out of the parking lot, Cyrus hurrying to put his seatbelt on.

“He’s cute,” Cyrus sighed, “like, really cute.”

“So I’ve heard,” Buffy laughed.

“He said he could get me an extra 10 books if I needed them.”

“So, he flirted with you?” Buffy raised her eyebrows.

“I hope not,” Cyrus said.

“Yeah you do.”

“Buffy, please,” Cyrus turned to look at her, a frown set, “that would be really unethical and inappropriate considering he has a boyfriend.”

“Give him your number.”

“Stop it!”

“Ask him if that’s his boyfriend.”

“Buffy!”

TJ tapped his fingers on the counter impatiently. All he does is look forward to Friday’s now simply because Cyrus would go in to check out a ridiculous amount of books. He didn’t even know how he was going to return them all one day. He still didn’t know what they were for and as he rolled on his twin-sized mattress in his studio late at night, he fought over the idea of asking him.

Even if Cyrus wasn’t gay either, it would be nice to make some friend. He had made a few acquaintances in his classes, but a lot of the people were four or more years younger than him which made him feel a standoffish. He cursed Marty for making him want to move so far away from everything he loved- for holding him back.

“Hey, TJ,” Cyrus walked in, a big Ross bag at his side. “I’m going to take up the offer for the extra 10 books,” he said and disappeared right into the science section again. TJ felt like every time he blinked, he missed him. He looked around the rest of the library at that moment. The same twin girls were watching him carefully and there was a couple of high school boys looking through movie archives in the back. They had all taken a liking to TJ and always liked to fill him in with cheesy high school drama that reminded TJ a lot of his hometown. City kids were strange, too, he guessed.

Cyrus came by with the first few books and set his library card on the desk, “No book today?”

“My eyes and head have been hurting, so I’m waiting on my glasses to come in,” TJ admitted, scratching the back of his head with one hand as he reached over for the card.

“I have never seen you with glasses,” Cyrus commented, a smile on his face.

“Exactly why eyes and head have been hurting,” TJ laughed it off, starting to check out the first book. Cyrus simply let out a small chuckle before going back to retrieve more books.

He came back and set the remaining amount on the desk, TJ typing away on the computer, “This is last time bothering you with all these check outs.”

TJ stopped typing for a split second before continuing, gulping as he asked, “Why is that?”

“I have enough books,” Cyrus told him. “Finally.”

“I’ve never asked you,” TJ tried to sound as casual as he could, “why have you been checking out all these books?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” Cyrus grinned, making TJ smile a little. “My best friend is proposing to our other best friend, and we all like pressing flowers here and there to sell phone cases and necklaces and stuff, so she’s going to fill this room full of pressed flowers and write ‘marry me’ out of them.”

“She?”

“They’re gay,” Cyrus shrugged.

“Ah,” TJ nodded and somehow let the words slip out of his mouth, “same.”

Cyrus gave him a grin and asked him, “The guy in the polaroid. Is that your boyfriend?”

TJ’s eyes went wide open and he shook his head as quickly as he could, “Nope. Never.”

“Oh,” Cyrus shifted a little where he was standing.

“Anyways,” TJ did a fake yawn, “when is she proposing?”

“Valentine’s Day.”

“That’s in two months,” TJ said as he eyed the calendar in the corner.

“We know. We have to be extra prepared.”

“Also, did you really need this many books?” TJ asked him.

“Well I mostly listen to audio books, and my friend Buffy can’t take her and her future fiancée’s library down without her noticing. Obviously, we turned here,” Cyrus said. “Also, we’re going to need a lot and a lot of flowers.”

“Well,” TJ handed him back his library card. “Good luck.”

“Thank you,” Cyrus smiled at him. “Also,” Cyrus said as he started putting the books carefully in the bag, “I’ve been meaning to ask if you’re from around here?”

“I am not,” TJ shook his head. “I’m from a small town called Shadyside.”

“How’d a farm town kid end up in Oak City?” Cyrus asked him.

“School,” TJ said. “I’ve been putting it off for a while, and I finally decided to come to Heartland U.”

“Go pirates,” Cyrus smiled. “What’s your major?”

“Child development.”

“Nice,” Cyrus smiled. “If you want, I can give you my number, and we can hang out if you ever get lonely.” TJ couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He stood still for half a second before jumping back into reality.

“Uh, yeah,” he nodded, looking around the desk for a sticky note and pen. “That’d be great.” He handed them to Cyrus who wrote down his number for him.

“Here you go,” Cyrus slid it back over to him. “See you later, TJ.”

“Bye, Cyrus,” he nodded softly at the other man. When Cyrus was out the door, TJ’s eyes immediately went to the source of background giggling. The twins were smiling, and he couldn’t help but smile back at them.

He took out his book from under the counter and without hesitation, threw Marty’s polaroid in the trash to replace is with Cyrus’ number.

They had been texting back and forth for a week, and TJ hadn’t felt so warm in such a long time. He finally got the motivation to build the frame for his bed and decorate his kitchen with random things from Marshall’s that Amber had bought him. It was a nice feeling to go home to study and sleep in a place that felt a little homier. Cyrus was planning on organizing a hangout soon so he could meet the rest of his friends.

Then a Tuesday night, at 2AM, TJ got a phone call. It was an unsaved number but seeing as he was still half asleep and his eyes couldn’t translate the numbers to his brain, he answered.

“Hello?” TJ yawned.

“TJ,” someone frantically said on the other line, “please don’t hang up! Please listen to me.”

“Marty?” TJ’s heart dropped, this time to his stomach, and it instead of butterflies, it created one of the most nauseating feelings he had felt in a very long time.

“Yeah, it’s me,” Marty choked, sounding as if he was about to cry. “TJ, I’m so sorry. God, I’m so sorry.” TJ felt like he was in a state of déjà vu. He had heard this before. He had heard this same sob story over four times.

“He’s going to keep using the same lines because they always work,” Amber told him as she burned the first love letters Marty gave him in a camp fire. “That’s why the next time you hear them, you have to stop listening, TJ. He doesn’t love you. He just needs you.”

“Marty,” TJ sat up in his bed, looking out at the window. It was pitch black and not even the moon could offer comfort as it hid away in the darkness of the city. “Save it.”

“T-,”

“Don’t you get tired, Marty?” TJ asked him, a deep frown on his face as the conversation aged him. “I did. We didn’t work out, Marty. It’s been taking me so long to get over you, and I think I finally am. Please just leave me alone.”

“8 years, TJ,” Marty reminded him, sobbing on the other line.

“We broke up 10 months ago, Marty,” TJ ran his hair through his fingers, pulling on the top of his scalp. “If you really love me, Marty,” TJ sighed, letting his hair go, “never call me again.”

TJ hung up the phone and laid back down, immediately rushing his hands to press on his eyes, trying to stop himself from crying over him again. He had a good four-month streak of not crying, but he guessed it’d be a good time to break it. He turned over on his stomach as his phone continued to ring, and he screamed into his pillow over and over, muffling out the sound as much as possible as he let the phone ring. He wished he could’ve recognized at least the area code number. He would’ve known. He knows he wouldn’t have answered.

The ringing stopped after who knows how long, and TJ didn’t even remember falling asleep. But when he finally felt a brief moment of peace, it got shattered as his phone started ringing again. Furiously, he sat up and answered the phone in a very brief and fuzzy moment.

“Can you stop fucking calling me before I block you for good?” TJ yelled at the other line. His chest was icy from how exhausted he felt, and he could feel the wetness brim the corner of his eyes.

“TJ?” Cyrus answered. TJ’s eyes landed on the rising sun outside the window, the pink skies decorating Oak City as he realized his mistake.

“Oh god, Cyrus, I’m so sorry,” TJ muttered, trying to remember how to form coherent sentences.

“No, I’m sorry,” Cyrus said, “it’s like, 5 in the morning and I woke you up.”

“Wait, what’s wrong?” TJ asked him, trying to shove all his memories of Marty to the back of his mind. Her wished Amber could’ve set those on fire, too.

“I was going to ask you for a huge favor, but I don’t think this is the time.”

“My ex called me at 2 in the morning, and it upset me,” TJ told him bluntly. “It’s nothing life changing. What can I do for you?”

“So, you’re TJ?” Buffy shook his hand as Cyrus finished setting down the last few books in his studio.

“The one and only,” TJ smiled, shaking her hand back.

“Look, I know we’re just strangers, but I really appreciate this a whole lot,” Buffy told him. “Andi has almost seen these books about twelve times, and our other option bailed on us.”

“Yeah, I don’t mind,” TJ told her, looking at the piles of books set neatly against the wall. “I like the old page smell.”

“You’re a real life saver,” Cyrus said to him, grinning widely. TJ felt his cheeks grow rosy and from the corner of his eyes, he knows Buffy smirked.

“I’m just hoping this gets me an invitation to the wedding, honestly,” TJ joked.

“Oh, you’re definitely coming,” Buffy smiled before checking her watch. “Cyrus I gotta get to work soon. We better leave now, so I can drop you off.”

“I’ll take a taxi,” Cyrus told her. “You’re already late, I know it.” Buffy smiled and said her goodbyes before rushing out the door and closing it behind her.

“I can take you,” TJ offered.

Cyrus turned to look at him and said, “No, it’s alright. You’ve already done so much. You should really go back to sleep.”

“I’m not going back to sleep after all that happened in this span of four hours,” TJ chuckled. “I’m wide awake for my 8AM. Let me take you,” he insisted.

“Fine,” Cyrus smiled.

“Coffee first?”

“Please.”

“So how long were you and your ex together?” Cyrus asked him as he sat across from him, stirring his coffee.

“8 years,” TJ said, staring down into his own drink. He looked up when he heard Cyrus gasp. “On and off, though. Like, a lot. Maybe there’s like two years’ worth of months that we were fighting somewhere in there. I’m over it. I’m way over it.”

“Is that why you came here to Oak City?” Cyrus asked him. “To get away?”

“Yeah,” TJ nodded. “I wasn’t doing anything back home besides small work here and there. Nothing important. Now here I am, helping secure a future gay wedding. My mom would be so proud of me.”

Cyrus laughed, “I bet. Buffy really appreciated that you’re keeping the books. Like, a lot. We tried both my place and another friend’s place but living in the same complex gets tricky.”

“I bet,” TJ smiled. “If her proposal is like this, I can’t wait to see the wedding.”

“Me, either.”

Cyrus knocked on TJ’s studio door on the night of February 14th, asking, “Hey, TJ? Are you home?” Cyrus didn’t bother calling before going over anymore. He knew TJ’s schedule by memory and showed up whenever he wanted, sometimes with Buffy and Andi (who didn’t question who a librarian had so many books), sometimes with more people, sometimes alone. They immediately adopted TJ into their friend group, and TJ felt like Oak City was his home now. Cyrus made everything better with his smile and intuitive knack for comedy. He definitely had a crush on him, and he didn’t know what to do with himself sometimes.

“Coming,” TJ rushed to open the door. He flashed a smile at the shorter man a smile and said, “Hey, Cy, come in.” Cyrus walked in and hastily handed TJ over a book and box of chocolates tied together with a ribbon.

“Happy Valentine’s day,” Cyrus said, TJ looking wide eyed at the blushing man.

“Cyrus,” TJ whispered setting down his present on the kitchen counter, “thank you.”

“I’m sorry if you think it’s weird,” Cyrus started apologizing, “I can totally take it back and pretend it never happened.” Without saying anything, TJ walked up to Cyrus and hugged him, wrapping both of his arms right around him. Cyrus stood still for a moment before hugging him back.

“Happy Valentine’s day,” TJ whispered. “You’ve done so much for me, honestly.”

Cyrus pulled away slightly and looked up at TJ, a smile on his face, “I’m really glad we chose to go to Little Red’s Library.”

“Why?” TJ gazed down at him, his eyes studying his features for the millionth time since they became friends. He’s never had him this close up, and he was sure Cyrus could heard his happy heart beat at that proximity.

“Because,” Cyrus smiled, making TJ’s breath hitch slightly, “I got to meet my favorite librarian.”

“I really want to kiss you right now,” TJ caught himself blurting out.

“Then do it,” Cyrus told him. TJ gave him a small grin before bending down to kiss Cyrus, moving one hand up to cup his face.

“Wow,” TJ whispered, placing another firm kiss on his lips, “I’m so glad I moved here.” Before Cyrus could kiss him again, his phone started ringing, and he frantically pulled away.

“Oh man, it’s Buffy,” Cyrus started jumping around excitedly. She had been in the process of proposing for the last few hours. TJ, Cyrus, and her worked on the proposal project for eight hours straight one weekend.

“Answer it!” TJ urged him. Cyrus answered the Facetime call and when they showed up, all they saw was Andi’s hand and a ring.

“I did it!” you could hear Buffy on the other line.

“Congratulations!” TJ told them, waving behind Cyrus.

“I feel like I’ve been waiting for this moment for almost two decades,” Cyrus smiled, putting his hand over his heart, “I’m so happy for you two.”

“Thank you, Cyrus,” Buffy smiled, turning the camera to them.

“I can’t believe you all managed to keep this from me,” Andi laughed.

“Team work makes the dream work,” Cyrus winked. “Let me know when you guys start planning!”

“Probably next month,” Buffy shrugged, “I don’t know. What are you guys up to.” Both Cyrus and TJ instinctively bit their lip and Buffy raised a brow, smirking at Cyrus as TJ walked away from the camera’s view. “I think I got it. Happy Valentine’s day you two.”

“Happy Valentine’s day,” Cyrus smiled before hanging up. He put his phone away and looked over at TJ who was looking at the new Michael Nava book he had bought him. “Do you like it?”

“Yeah,” TJ nodded before walking over to him, and carefully pulling him in, “but I think I like you a lot more.”

“I know I like you a lot more,” Cyrus smiled before standing up on his tippy toes to kiss him once more.

#stars writing #andi mack #friendom gift exchange #tyrus #bambi #sorry for any spelling errors or grammar

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blackrosesfanfic · 5 years

Text

Chapter 199

Amber

"What are you the most afraid of?" Chris asks.

We were just sitting on the balcony in Dubai chilling. Enjoying the beautiful view. The flight was ridiculous. Half way through and it had me wondering why the hell we wasted a whole day of fucking to come here. But when I arrived here everything was answered. Never have I ever just up and left to go on a date halfway across the world. It's beautiful.

"Like in the dark?"

"Huh?" Chris snaps.

I laugh. "Bae."

He hits my chin up. "You ignoring me? You didn't hear what the fuck I said?"

"You my bestie though."

"You full of shit. You know how many bitches down there want to listen to me talk about feelings and shit? Let me go ask them."

I nod. "Go bruh man."

He reaches over to me again. I laugh moving out of his way. Chris plays too much. He leans all the way over pulling me to him by arm thats furthest away from him. Little bitch. I couldn't stop laughing even though he hurt my arm. He mad. So serious.

"Stop!" I snap.

"You know how many girls I hear that from?"

"Oh. You sick."

He fake. He lets me go. "Shut up."

I grab his shirt. "Let's get naked."

"No." He knocks his shirt out of my hand.

"Christopher. You piece of shit. Look at this bruise."

Chris smacks it. "You too fucking dark for bruises."

I throw my whole body at him. "I'm too fucking dark to be your damn girlfriend."

"Oh we breaking up? Imma call you all kinda hoes on Instagram." he takes out his phone.

"Tell the world you love me."

"My bullshit ass fans deserve more than that. You think I love you? Bullshit."

I frown then smack his phone out his hand. "You said that too real. Take it back."

He frowns reaching for his phone. "Wait stop. Let me see."

"See what?"

"Let me get my phone."

I sit up and cross my arm. "Okay you way too serious. Too fucking fast."

He doesn't say nothing as he does something on his phone. I snatch it out of his hand while he was texting. It had to be something serious and he wasn't telling me about it. He was texting Trey in the middle of asking where he get something from. There was no picture.

"What was it?"

"Nothing."

I suck my teeth. "I will throw your fucking phone."

He reaches for me. "You better fucking not."

"Tell me what it was."

"You playing the jealous roll now? I thought you was better than that. You know how many bitches done threw my phone. Old. Be original. Everything in the clouds now a days. I won't lose shit." he shrugs. "Drop it in the ocean."

I throw it at him. "I can find out what it is."

"Then why ask Amber?"

"You bitch." I say dropping the phone and standing up.

I go inside of the room to find my phone. Bitch. I pour myself some liquor instead. He not about to mess up my trip to Dubai with his bullshit. I hop on top of the counter then turn the music up. Shit I will go ride some fucking camels by my damn self.

"Aye, Bae, Trey mad that we in Dubai."

"Mmh."

Chris laughs really loud. "Your fucking wife is a fucking slut. She done fuck the whole population of inbreds in South Carolina. Lane not your son."

"You fucking bald ass Aladdin wanna be. Nigga your girl dry ass fucking all Dubai desert land."

"You sound like a hating ass bitch if I ever heard one."

I sip on my drink. "I really have to hear your conversation?"

"Shut up, Amber." Trey says. "Online looking like a fucking baby."

"Did you call her a babydoll? You pervert. Don't talk to my girl."

"She talking to all the niggas on her damn Instagram fan list. Why the fuck can't I talk to her?"

Chris just laughs. "Cammie fucking all your friends."

"You saying you fucked my wife?" Trey says serious all of a sudden.

"Oh so we just friends now? Fuck it then. Thought you was my brother."

"What the... Huh? No."

Cammie was now heard in the background. "Who you talking about me too? I told you to stop fucking playing like that."

"But Chris the one..."

"Oh fucking Chris. Okay Tremaine."

I laugh. What the hell they got going on? I would yell out to her but I'm fucking over her right now.

"Bye." Chris says tossing his phone. "All shit aside. Trey sent me a picture of us at the airport in Dubai. I sent it to you before I deleted it."

"Whatever Chris."

He walks over to me taking my phone out of his pocket.

"Really Chris? Why do you have my phone?"

"Look." He says handing it to me. "Now you mad for what?"

I roll my eyes then smack my phone on the ground. He stomps on it then grabs me suddenly. I gasp dropping my cup on the ground. I'm glad it didn't shatter. Chris throws me on the couch. I don't feel like playing. He plays too much. Had me thinking something else. I know Trey and Chris like to hide shit. Sometimes I hate that I know so much.

"You mad cause you wrong." I don't say nothing to him. "Okay. You want me to tell the world I love you? I will."

I let him talk to himself. He jumps on the couch.

"Stop!" He yells then bites me. "Talk to me. Stop playing."

I push his head back still serious. I only have a few more seconds before I can't be serious. He starts nibbling on my shoulder. Fuck. He kisses my lips. I can fuck him and not talk to him. He gets off the couch really quick.

"Just looking for my phone." he says walking away on the phone.

"You so..." I sigh. He stupid.

"Snapchat! I love you, Amber." he drops the phone. "Oops. I guess it didn't send."

He takes his shirt off then he picks the phone up. I reckon he takes a picture of himself. I get off the couch to get my phone. Hold up. There was a picture online already of us in Dubai? There's no fucking way people saw us. I didn't see anyone as we were coming from the airport. I swear it be a surprise to me. When you least expect a picture.

"Bae." Chris says grabbing me. "Sorry, talk to me. You making me crazy."

"Okay, Chris."

He kisses my neck. "Love you."

Cammie

"He did his stupid show already. We about to get ready to go to the airport." I tell April.

"Did you have fun last night?"

I suck my teeth. "Nope. It was a horrible party. We ended up having more fun eating dinner with my cousin and that Cole guy. I miss my baby so much. Let me see him again."

"Cammie, I was wondering if you wanted to go shopping with me when you get here." April says holding the camera to sleeping Caden and Lane.

"We haven't done that in a while."

"Yeah I know."

I smile. "After I snuggle with my men. Look at them. Lane look little compared to his brother now. They about the same size."

"Caden wants Lane to know that he not a slow league."

"Hey, sexy lady." Trey says walking up behind me. "Tell Jayla to stop being mad at me."

April rolls her eyes. "You take her to that stupid party. My surprise was better than your whole night."

"It was though." I say moving away from Trey.

"Jayla, I'm sorry. It was a joke that fit at the time." Trey begs. "Please."

I ignore him. "I didn't want to leave the hotel this morning. I was stuck in my mixed emotions. I wanted my babies and that hotel room. Ma, I don't remember telling you about my history with that hotel."

"Lane, baby." April says. She moves around. "What's the matter, hm?"

"Where Mommy?" he looks around sad.

I cover my mouth. I'm about to start crying. My baby wake up out of his sleep to see me but I'm not there. I can't deal with his sweet butt.

"Mommy coming. Look she on the phone."

"Hey, Baby."

Lane stares at me mad. He doesn't say nothing he just crawls back on the bed and hugs Caden. Oh my baby. He closes his eyes back. I start crying. I couldn't help it. He mad at me cause I'm not there. I thought he wanted to be at his grandma house. Now he acting like I made him go there. I feel like shit.

"Ma, we will see you when we land. Damn." Trey says taking my phone.

"Okay, Tremaine." April says. "See you in a few Cammie."

I try to wipe my eyes. Trey always making me feel worst for missing my babies. He puts my phone in his pocket then he looks at me. I turn away from him. He sucks because he takes this too easy. He comes back in front of me. He holds out his arms. I start crying again and step up just a bit. He comes the rest of the way.

"We on the same now."

"You act like I..."

He stops me. "I don't act like nothing. Stop."

"You say that like I'm stupid for missing them."

"Don't tell me how I feel." he says rubbing my back. "Stop crying so we can go. We not going into public with you crying."

I try to move away from him. "Why does it matter?"

He holds me close. "Jayla, I hate seeing you cry. You know that. You were doing so good. We almost went the whole time without crying. Look at this."

"I just want to go."

"Look." Trey says again.

I stand back looking at him. He had something in his hand. I open his hand out. It was a small elephant. I smile at it. It's a clear keychain elephant with a hole on the side of it. I press it then gasp. It's a locket with Lane and Caden inside. Why would he give me this. He takes out another one. I take it from him. It had me in it. He takes it back putting it in his pocket like I would try to steal it.

"Why would you give me this?" I say about to cry.

"Cause." he says grabbing my hand. "Man up and come on. Damn, Baby, you got me in my feelings. Stop."

I grab his shirt. He stops letting me hug him from behind. He sighs. We hadn't walked out of the office building yet. Omar walks up talking to Trey. Someone frabs my hand. I look up. It's Omar. He oulls me forward which is very awkward cause Trey was in front of me so I wasn't going anywhere. He laughs letting my hand go. I let Trey go then stand next to him with my hand on my hips staring at Omar. He laughs more than he opens the door guiding us out. I fold my arms. I still want to know why he touched my arm. I follow Trey through the door and to the car. Someone moves quickly to the left of me catching my eye. Oh my gosh. People are annoying. It was a guy taking pictures. I quickly get in the car.

"Tremaine." I cry when we get in the car.

"Jayla." he snaps. "Stop acting like we aren't going to get the boys. Come on."

I pull away from him. "Tremaine."

He holds his arm out. "No?"

"Thank you for my elephant."

"Where is it?" he asks grabbing my hand. "Let me hold it until you put it on your keys or something."

I give it to him. I dont see why I need him to carry it when I can. He suddenly snatches me over to him by my arm. I scoot over to him then hug his side. It will just be an hour until I see my babies. Then I won't have to leave them. Oh April wants to go shopping.

"What do you have to do tomorrow?"

"Miami." he says.

I sigh. "Then what?"

"I don't know. Why?"

"What's in Miami?"

He kisses me then says, "Not you."

I chuckle. "You not taking me with you anymore?"

"No. I'm not taking you nowhere. You don't know how to act."

"But Tremaine..."

He looks at my face. "What you wanna go to Miami with me?"

I shrug. "I don't know. If I can save this milk."

"You can on the plane. Your heavy pump in that bag back there. There is a refrigerator on the jet."

"I don't know. It depends on how Lane acts."

He sucks his teeth. "We leaving this up to your spoiled ass son. I want you with me. What does that mean to you?"

"It was my idea."

"But I like the damn idea. You leading me on."

I giggle. "Are you going to whine and have a fit if I don't go?"

He pushes me away from him. "I sure as fuck will. You think about they gonna handle it. How am I gonna handle it?"

"Stop bitching." I say hugging him. "You grown enough to understand."

"He just gonna bring his ass to Miami. I'm the damn daddy. I get my way cause it's my fucking household." he nods.

"Okay, Daddy Temaine."

He chuckles. "Damn right."

I laugh. "Don't be that daddy. This is my house. You do what the fuck I say when you under my roof. I'm the daddy you the son."

"That's how you make sure they know the damn order of things."

"Tremaine?"

He touches my face. "Yes, Love."

I smile. "I forgot now."

"Damn, making you forget everything. You too easy."

"Is Lamar getting on the plane?"

"Who?"

I point to Omar. "That guy."

"No."

"Good." I say rubbing his lower stomach.

He looks down at his lap then smiles. "Why?"

"You'll see."

"Hmm." he says moving in his seat a bit.

1 note · View note

droidalerts · 2 years

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How to clear recent on Snapchat?

Snapchat is a picture messaging app that allows you to send pictures, videos, and text chat with your friends. Each message gets deleted when the seven seconds for viewing is up. How to clear recent on Snapchat? When you enter Snapchat, you will be on your Resents screen.

Recent keeps a running list of your most recently accessed snaps. To delete Snapchat from your recent screen, swipe left one time and delete each snap from within the conversations. Select the Snapchat thumbnail and press the trash can icon to delete.

This article explains the steps to remove a chat from your Snapchat Recent. You can use this feature on the latest version of Snapchat to move Chats from your Recent list to a Chat in your Friends list.

Snapchat recent

You know you can’t keep on messaging everybody you add to Snapchat. Your friends will get annoyed, and your significant other probably knows how to check your Recent.

Snapchat feels the need to keep a record of people you’ve recently chatted with, whether it be through chat or snaps. These conversations are placed into an area called Recent. They are easily accessible by clicking on your profile name in the top left portion of your screen.

When you add someone to your Snapchat recently, it appears there until they are removed. However, it means that “recent” could hold hundreds of pieces of information if you chat with many people. Sometimes you may need to get rid of the unnecessary records and clear recent on Snapchat.

If you love snapping back and forth with your friends, but sometimes that conversation may be a little too private to keep on the app, here’s how to clear your Recent in Snapchat.

With your Snapchat account open, head to the My Friends page in Settings.

Under the “Recent” tab, tap on either “Snaps” or “Chats.”

That will bring up a list of all of the people you’ve Snapchatted or chatted with.

Select a message, and you’ll get options to block them or delete your entire Recent activity.

Make sure that clearing recent snaps is something you want to do because it deletes all messages from those people on your list in both Snaps and Chats

Delete Snapchat Recent on Android

The Snapchat Recent is a list of all of the app activities, from conversations to snaps. The listing itself cannot be deleted, even though you can erase discussions & search history.

In today’s social media world, deleting the conversations and search history of your Snapchat app is inevitable. How to delete Snapchat Recent is a concern for most users. If you are using Snapchat on Android, open the app, swipe right to left, and check here to see anything you may have missed.

If you’re in many conversations with friends, it can get overwhelming on your end. Fortunately, you don’t have to delete the entire Snapchat app to start fresh; here’s a quick way to clear up space in your conversations.

Open Snapchat to remove conversations.

Click the gear icon on the Profile screen to access the Settings menu.

Scroll down to Clear Conversations & press it.

To erase a discussion, tap the X next to it or use the Clear All option

To clear your search history, follow these steps.

By tapping on the gear symbol, you can return to the Settings menu.

Select Clear Search History from the drop-down menu.

Confirm your decision.

READ:

How to Erase Snapchat’s Recent History?

#snapchat

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americbuzz · 2 years

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How To See Snapchat Conversation History? Here’s Methods

Want to recover and see your Snapchat conversation history but do not know how to do so? Don’t worry we have 2 fail-proof methods you can try to see and recover your Snapchat conversation history. In this article, We have set up a step-wise guide for you to know how to see your Snapchat conversation history? So let’s dig in!

If you are an active Snapchat user you know Snapchat has many fun features where you can click pictures with some of the best Snapchat filters you like and share them with your snap fam! Other than that Snapchat also allows you to save and unsafe a message you’ve received from friends and you can also delete your Snapchat messages saved by others. With all these user-friendly features on Snapchat, it is still difficult to navigate old chats. Snapchat tends to delete messages after viewing but you can also change the conversation settings to ’24 hours after viewing’ anytime Chats which are more than a year old are difficult to retrieve and recover so how can you see or recover Snapchat conversation history? There are a few simple ways and in-app features provided by Snapchat in order to see Snapchat conversation history, these are listed down below in the article so continue reading to know more continue reading

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onemonitarandroidapp · 3 years

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Spy phone software: Best way to protect kid’s online

These days, more than ever before, parents wish to remain aware of what their kid’s view and hear on the internet at all times. They wish to know about the people they meet with and what they share online themselves. Just like all the other concerns which trouble the parents about their kid’s safety offline, the safety of their kids on the internet world is an equal concern for them. Parents wish to take advantage of all the resources which are available on the internet that can help ensure their kid’s protection in the online space. Spy phone software phone monitoring application in regards to this is the most effective tool which is currently available in the market to keep a check on everything which the kids are doing on the web.

Is your child being targeted online by predators? Here are the warning signs to watch for:

Spending most of their time on the internet.

Phone calls from people you don’t know.

Unsolicited gifts on their emails.

Suddenly shutting down their digital device when you arrive.

Withdrawal from family time.

No outdoor activities etc.

If you’ve recently started observing any of such types of signs in your kid’s daily routine, it is your responsibility that you tackle the scenario immediately. Using Spy phone software phone monitoring application in regards to such scenarios is the most effective option that you can choose for your kid’s protection. The spy phone app can be installed on your kid’s mobile to track all the things which are happening in it. Once you have the data, you can immediately monitor everything which is taking place and ensure to tackle the trouble immediately.

Get involved in your kid’s online activities

All of us strongly encourage you to be involved in your kid’s online activities regularly. You must be involved in all the things which your child is doing on the internet as much as possible. This will help you know about the things which your child does online and you can also teach the way that kids should respond to the internet world.

For active participation in your kid’s online activities, here is some advice from us:

Become digital literate and learn about computers and mobile phones as soon as possible. Learn how to block objectionable material on the internet and how to protect the kid’s from it.

Keep your kid’s computer and other digital devices in a common area where everyone could see it, individual bedrooms shall be avoided as much as possible.

Monitor whenever your child uses their smartphone and tablet.

Share the email ID and password so that you receive all the things which your child is doing on the internet.

Bookmark your kid’s favorite websites so that they can access them immediately.

Spend time with your kids as they are online so that you can teach and model appropriate online behavior.

Take help of Spy phone software to monitor their kid’s online activities at all times. Once you have the information regarding all the things which are happening in your kid’s life, you can protect them immediately without wasting a single moment.

Apart from that, you need to monitor everything which is happening on the kid’s digital devices. This one thing can help you protect your kid’s without wasting much resources.

How to use spy phone software for kid’s protection?

All the parents should know that there are various tools which are available on the internet today which can help you track everything which is taking place on the kid’s digital devices. It is the best way to ensure your kid’s safety since this can offer absolute protection to your kid’s and ensure that everything which is taking place online is done in the right order. In case your child tries to access something objectionable, you can know about it right away. The data related to it will be shared with you as well.

Spy phone software phone monitoring application is an effective tool that can help you ensure that everything which is taking place on the kid’s digital devices shall be shared with you as well.

Time to set-up guidelines for kid’s online activities

Whether your child is active online on a smartphone or a computer, here are some guidelines which you need to share with your kid’s at all time:

Never post or trade personal photographs online/offline without your prior permission.

Never share your personal information such as phone number, address, banking details, card details, etc. with anyone on the internet.

Never agree to meet anyone from a chat room or social media in person.

Never respond to threatening emails or texts on the internet.

Tell your kids to share all scary communication and conversations with you.

These are a few guidelines which you can ask your kid’s to follow under any scenario.

Using spy phone software for kid’s protection

As we told you before as well, kid’s online protection is of utmost importance and shall be attained under any possible scenario. For ensuring the protection of the kid’s online, it is important that you should know about the activities which the kids are doing while they are online.

Spy phone software child monitoring application is a tool which can help you protect your kid’s. CHYLDMONITOR spy phone software is the tool which you can subscribe to in order to protect your kids.

There are three packages which are offered by this Android phone monitoring application, and the parents can download the application from- https://www.chyldmonitor.com

Here are all the features which are offered by CHYLDMONITOR Spy phone software-

Call Logs

Call Recordings

Applications

Contacts

SMS Messages

Photos

Surroundings

Locations

Internet History

WhatsApp Chats

WhatsApp Calls

Facebook Chats

Hike Chats

IMO Chats

Instagram Chats

Wifi Tracker

Snapchat Chats

Tinder Chats

Kik Chats

Line Chats

Skype Chats

Viber Chats

Google Emails

Yahoo Emails

Outlook Emails

Photo Capture

Screenshots

100% Hidden

Non-deletable

Device Change

Chat Support

Technical support

#spy phone app #phone spy app #spy phone software #spy phone #phonespy

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homestuckexamination · 7 years

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Homestuck: Timelines and Time Flow

@crowdcontrolhs asked:

can you try to explain how time and timelines work in homestuck? i could never really grasp all of the convoluted time stuff. hope this isn't too vague lmao.

It’s not vague at all! It is confusing, but not because the system itself is complicated. It’s actually straightforward enough, but the issue is that at any given time there’s like, five or so different flows of Time interacting with one another.

Obvious spoilers for the ENTIRETY of Homestuck under the cut.

Okay so to start with, Timelines in Homestuck work under the assumption that Parallel Timelines exist- Timelines where you took a different route, you chose something differently, and produced a deviation. However, Homestuck also says there exists an Alpha Timeline, a Timeline that’s considered as the True Path, what should be happening in the end, and considers any deviation from this path to be Doomed. A Doomed Timeline is, thus, a series of events deviating from the Alpha Timeline that Paradox Space considers redundant. No matter how far that Timeline goes, since it’s deviated from the Alpha, it will never be relevant, and as such, it needs to cease existing at some point. We see this actually happen with Davesprite’s Timeline. Rose falls asleep, the last Player Character left in the Timeline gives up, and everything around her just... Disappears, before erasing her very existence. It’s as if that Rose had never existed in the first place. (Except of course, Alpha Rose manages to assimilate this Rose’s memories, likely either a Seer or a Light or a Seer of Light thing)

So this is straightforward enough. But this is only the first layer. The next layer are Time Loops. And this is the thing Dave, and every other Time Player needs to deal with. Whenever they use Time Powers to travel back in time, they’re travelling back into the Alpha Timeline. But now imagine that the ‘you’ from the past sees the ‘you’ from the Future, and decides that they don’t want to go back in time. Given that the Alpha you never went back in time, the one ‘you’ that did travel in time became Doomed, they are redundant, and are fated to die. So if you don’t want your Session to fill with Dead Copies of yourself, you need to travel back in Time. As such, you may see your future Self warping back in time, and then you know if you don’t want that ‘you’ to die, you need to travel back at some point just like that, closing this ‘loop’ and avoiding the creation of a Paradox.

Still with me? Okay! Because that’s only Timelines within a Session. Now is when we get to the spicy part of Cross-Dimensional Timelines. Already within the same Universe, there’s several elements that interact from different points across the Timeline. Let’s take the moment the Player Enters SBURB and consider it the Present. Before the Present, the only thing that exists within SBURB is Prospit, Derse, the Veil and Skaia. The Battlefield is unprototyped and locked in an eternal Stalemate, and even then the existence of all of this is only confirmed by the Players’ Dreamselves being able to Wake Up prior to the Entry of the Lands, implying that at LEAST the Moons and Skaia do exist. When we reach the Present, a Land is created. This Land has history, inhabitants, that act as though they had always been there, however as we see from the Entries of the Kids, this is false. The Lands come into being the second the Players enter, in the Present, but they are pre-programmed with a history.

Now within the SBURB Session in the Present, there’s the Veil. The Veil is the Asteroid Ring surrounding the Session, and it contains Ectobiology Laboratories, as well as the Frog Temple (Only one per Planet, so arguably only the Kids’ Session would have this, but for argument’s sake, let’s say every Fan Session is a ‘Main Session’ and has the Frog Temple in it). When the Reckoning begins, the Veil’s Meteors are sent towards the Battlefield, and in an attempt to protect it, Skaia opens defense portals that send these Meteors to various points in the history of the Planet. Now, inside of the Frog Temple, there’s a Time Capsule. A Stasis Device that allows anything to remain inert for Millions of years. So when something is put in the Capsule, it travels with the Frog Temple to the FAR past of the planet, and spends Millions of years isolated inside of it until it blossoms and allows it out. This connects the ‘Present’ of the Session with any point in the past of the Planet, allowing for items, people, weapons, anything to be put in there in any point in the future that will be retrieved at any desired point within the Planet’s lifespan.

Conversely, the Meteors that Land in the Present causing the End of the World, eventually become Exile Stations. At some point within the Session, one, or both Kingdoms are going to end up ruined, and Carapaces are going to lose their homes, their way of living, and their lives. The survivors will abandon the Kingdoms and fly through the Meteor Portals to create a new civilization on the Planet. And when these Stations appear, they allow the contact of the surviving Carapaces with the Present of the Session. With Sendificators and Appearifiers that allow them to take and give items at will, Command Devices to communicate directly with the Players, and even more complicated Devices I’ll get to in a little bit.

This way, the Future is linked with the Present through the Exile Stations, and the Past is linked with the Present through the Time Capsule, allowing for all sorts of Cross-Timeline Shenanigans. Got that? Good. Because now we’re talking about the Scratch. In the SBURB Session, in the Land of the Time Player of the Session, there’s a Device. The Scratch Construct. They tend to be shaped as methods of storing music- At least the two we’ve seen were, a Music Box and a Record- And contain vast amounts of Time and Space Energy. Raw power. And if this Device is Scratched in such a way that it releases the vast amounts of energy carried within, Skaia will take this event as a Signal, and begin a Soft Reboot of the Universe. Skaia will take the Energy from the Scratch Construct, and retroactively alter the Time the Meteors were sent through the Portals. Given the Meteors carried the ectobiologically created Players of the Session, changing the Time at which they arrived effectively Alters the Timeline.

But the Scratch is no mere Time Loop or Alternate Timeline bullshit. No, the Scratch is more than that. It’s a reset button. The vast Spacetime Energy of the Scratch Construct isn’t used to switch the Portals. It’s used to delete the Timeline. It doesn’t create a new Timeline, it overwrites the one that was there already, and as such, everything within the Session simply ceases to exist when the Scratch happens. However, as I said, the Scratch is overwriting the Universe. Paradoxically, what happened before the Scratch STILL Happened, and by being outside of the Session, outside of the Universe, when the Scratch happens, people who once inhabited the Universe can survive and live on beyond this reboot.

And this new Reality that is created, this new Timeline with the destination of the Meteors changed, exists as if it had always been there, and in fact, it always has, because even though the new Planet will have a New Frog Temple, they still occupied the same Universe, and the Frog Temple has a sendificator that connects Pre and Post Scratch versions of the Universe, which as we see in Canon with Jade and Jake, has kept the two in contact from the very beginning! In addition to this, it would seem as though Pre and Post Scratch versions of the same Universe’s Sessions are connected through the Fourth Walls present in the Archagents’ office, connecting with an extra-dimensional Space where the author of the Webcomic himself inhabits, buuuut let’s not talk about this too much okay? So. We have the way a single Timeline works, we have the connection between the Session and the Planet, and we have the connection between Pre-Scratch and Post-Scratch Realities.

Now let’s talk about other Universes. The purpose of SBURB is to create a New Universe, this is the Genesis Frog, and the result of breeding the Genesis Tadpole, winning against the Black King to stop the Reckoning from Destroying the Battlefield, perforating the planet, feeding it the Grist Hoard to make it fertile, and casting the Tadpole from the Forge by burning the Queen’s Magic Ring in it in a process very reminiscent of a sperm cell getting to an egg. Once you create this Universe, a Gate is created that connects your Session with the new Universe, and allows you to travel to it and claim your place as the God of the new Reality. And as we see in the post-Credits Snapchats, the Door that connects the Session and the Universe is Permanent if not destroyed. Jack Noir and the Felt travel through it 5000 years after the Kids won the game from the perspective of the new Universe, or maybe not 5000 years but they use Felt Time Juju Shenanigans to get there exactly 5000 years afterwards? Hard to tell. The thing is, however, that Terezi comes back to the Session, and to the Crumbling Paradox Space a year afterwards, implying that yes, wherever the Door actually leads, there’s a permanent portal connecting the Session that made the Universe and the Universe itself. And in the same way, the Exile Stations that will appear in the Planet of said Universe have devices that can send things and people to the Session that created it, seen specifically sending a Prototyped Jack Noir to the exact instant the Trolls were about to claim their reward for winning the game.

Adding upon the devices SBURB itself uses to connect points in the Timeline, we also have Trollian. Trollian is a Highly Advanced Chat Service used by the Trolls that can connect you, not just to anyone from another Chat Service as long as you have their address, but it does this across any point of the Alpha Timeline, and across multiple Universes. With this, the Trolls can connect and speak with the Beta Kids of the Universe they created, through their entire lives up until the point of the Scratch, and it allows Calliope, who lives millions of years in the future of the Universe the Alpha Human Session creates, to chat and interact with both the Strilondes that live 413 Years in the Future of Post Scratch Earth, and with Jake and Jane who live in the Present of the same Planet. It seems that Trollian loses contact with any Timeline that is Doomed, as seen when they stop talking to the Kids after John dies in the Davesprite Timeline, but as we see in some of the Trolls’ Screens, it does allow to talk to multiple versions of the same person within the same Timeline, such as the various Daves doing time loops through the Session.

SO we have the Timeline within a Universe, the connection with it and SBURB, the connection between the two Pre and Post Scratch Realities, AND also the connection between different Universes! That’s it right!? There’s NO way it can’t get more complicated than this!

And that, my friends, is where the Furthest Ring comes in.

The Furthest Ring is the Space Between Universes in Homestuck. It’s the great Beyond, it’s where the Eldritch Lurk. The Confines of Space-Time. It’s Homestuck’s Version of that unknowable extra-dimensional Space where the Eldritch Inhabit that has been described before in all sorts of media. This is a realm inhabited by the Horrorterrors, Immortal, Eternal, Chaotic Beings opposed to the forces of Creation, presumably because each time a new Universe is made a Bubble pops in their turf and they don’t want neighbours. They’re actually pretty chill all things considered. The important thing about the Furthest Ring, however, is that there’s no Time or Space in the Furthest Ring.

It’s a Space outside of common dimensions, and its fabric is permeated with the 12 Aspects of the Homestuck Universe. Sometimes walking a distance will send you back in time, or staying still make you change locations, there’s few ways to map or predict a journey through this Space, both Where and When you will end up. Only through Frames of Reference created by the Cracks Lord English creates with his mouth lasers, destroying reality itself, through Foresight, such as Rose’s Seer of Light abilities telling her where to go, or through Willpower alone, with the Furthest Ring guiding you to where you need to be the most, can you actually navigate it. And so, once you leave the Universes or the Sessions and find yourself in this weird plane of existence, all Timelines converge because, no matter where you come from, everything is fair game out there.

Not only that, but after Feferi requests the Gods to blow Bubbles for her and their friends to Dream and remain as Souls, effectively becoming the Homestuck Analogue of the Afterlife, the Bubbles become a cauldron of Information from every single Timeline, Doomed or otherwise, and all three Universes the story spans. The Alpha Trolls, the Beta Trolls, the Beta and Alpha Humans, Lord English, Calliope, Alt Calliope, Bec Noir, PM, the Felt, everyone ends up in the Furthest Ring at some point, Dreaming or Dying or passing through Physically, and as such, all events in Homestuck mix together outside of their respective Timelines.

And yet there’s STILL one more thing. Beyond the In-Universe Mechanisms and the Extra-Universal Bullshit, past Alpha and Beta and back to Alpha, A, B or C, there’s still one thing that makes Time even more of a Mess in the realm of Homestuck. The Retcon.

It’s hard to say exactly what John’s powers are- If just an amplification of his own powers as the Heir of Breath, or a new Power Caliborn’s Juju grants him. Whichever the case, one thing is certain, John becomes effectively unstuck from the events that transpire Homestuck. The Alpha Timeline becomes meaningless to John, distance and time become irrelevant- Or it would if he could actually control his God Damn powers properly. But of course this isn’t the case.

See, John’s powers are very special in the sense that they grant him control over the more Meta aspects of the comic. Narrative coherency goes out the Window, because John has, effectively, left the Story. So when he goes Back in time, he’s not creating a new Timeline. He’s editing the Story. He’s inserting himself into another point of the Narrative Timeline. This makes him not actually need to follow any Loops, and not create Doomed Timelines. He’s Changing the plot. Most of these uses are gags, with him being unable to control When or Where he goes, he just appears at random during events that happen in the story, and leaves marks such as his arm poking out, the glow of his body, or a stain of ink. But there’s one thing he does manage to fully Retcon, and that is the Game Over Timeline. Following Terezi’s instructions, he alters the plot to bring Vriska back. He brings Roxy and his Land with him to the new Session he created by bringing Vriska back, and carries the Ring from another Timeline for Roxy to revive Calliope.

However even this Canon-Breaking power is something defined within the Narrative of Homestuck. It changes the plot, but given Homestuck knows and plays with the fact it’s a story, it also plays with the fact that this power has its limitations, and its consequences. For one, the Retcon Powers are necessary in the first place for Lord English to be born, which, as stupid as it sounds, makes the power to change the plot actually necessary to complete the plot. Second, even though John can change virtually anything in the story, every change comes with a price.

This is seen in the Timeline he creates by reviving Vriska. Since he’s carrying himself, Roxy, and a couple of Sprites to the new Timeline, the John, Roxy and Davesprite of that Timeline are Doomed to Die to make room for them. Curiously, this doesn’t seem to apply to everyone- In the End, there’s two Nannasprites going around, implying that either Sprites are seen as ‘irrelevant’ enough by the Timeline to allow duplicates, or that by the End of Homestuck we’re not even following the true Alpha Timeline, and instead just the ‘Changed’, idealized version John has created to escape the Alpha Timeline.

In this way, the Retcon Powers work similarly to the Scratch, where things technically are Changed, Reset, but there’s still ways to escape its influence. John stops Terezi from killing Vriska, but the Dead Vriska from the original Timeline still exists, because she’s in the Furthest Ring. And as there’s no proper Space or Time flow in the Furthest Ring, she exists outside of the normal parameters of the story.

And THAT is how Timelines work in Homestuck. Again, by itself, each part isn’t that complex, but given the story of Homestuck happens across 3 different Universes, several pocket Dimensions, the Furthest Ring, and has things such as the Scratch and the Retcon, it gets incredibly convoluted the further you get into it.

Hope this cleared something up! Or... Maybe it made you more confused.

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flanneryhb · 4 years

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The Entire History of You - Black Mirror

Wortham points out that many of the fears created by technological development are more accurately concerns surrounding imperialism and the abandonment of tradition. But the conversation being presented in The Entire History of You, seems heavily linked to the issues of codependence and possessiveness. As Wortham goes on to discuss, the act of teaching people the perils of technological gadgets is much more easily said than done. By creating a show like Black Mirror, audiences are presented with the possible effects of our obsession with technology. This is significantly more effective than just telling people that being tied to your phone is bad. It forces us to face what we are doing to ourselves. This conversation of effects, or rather side effects, is discussed more in depth by Brooker. The addiction that follows from these miraculous technological developments pave the way for us to enter a lifestyle so mechanical that it is dangerous and dehumanizing.

In The Entire History of You memories are the most defining part of societal living. But they are also the villains of the story. This is spelled out for us towards the beginning of the episode, during the dinner party scene, when Hallam tells them how she is happier after being gouged. Having such easy access to the past and to their perceptions of past occurrences, leads the characters to an obsessive state where they live in the past rather than pushing forward. People are not meant to have this ability to go back over and over again and evaluate things that have already happened. This is especially true given the fact that these are memories, not recordings. They can be foggy and subjective. And they can be edited or even deleted. Liam lets absolutely everything ride on how he remembers past events, which in turn ruins his personal relationships. It is a far stretch from the more recent episode, Striking Vipers, in which the ability to enter a virtual reality actually saves the real-life romantic relationship. The Entire History of You makes arguments about how reliant and trusting we are in regards to gadgets like our phones (or in this case, grains) and the harm that this causes. We are turned from human beings, who are just as much a part of nature as the trees and the grass, to vessels for technology living off of recordings.

Wortham also briefly discusses Facebook and Snapchat, which is an interesting point because, within this episode, the topic up for debate is memories in the technological form. Snapchat has an option to save your pictures and videos. Once saved in the app, they are called “memories.” When Wortham says “It’s as if film producers caught a prophetic glimpse of the rise of Facebook and Snapchat and iDevices and realized that lecturing audiences about the perils of wasting time online wouldn’t be huge box-office draws.” she means it. Snapchat memories are just a more controlled version of the memories in this episode; recordings of things we have seen and experienced which we can later go back and view again. And just as Booker words it, we relish these things. We indulge in them. Even after seeing rather horrifying accounts of what it could lead to, such as the societies in Black Mirror.

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hipcityreg · 6 years

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Playing Social

This won’t be nearly as organized / cohesive as I or you would like. But need to get these very raw thoughts down somewhere. It’s too long for my Newsletter and is too all over the place for a Twitter thread. I write about the nature and nuance of identity, all the time. This will be much lighter on that front than previous essays.

Short Precursor

Let me start by saying that gaming has always been social, and social has always been a sort of game. Something something, Eugene Wei, something something, status. But I want to focus more on the productized manifestations that we have seen, and how I am currently thinking about building moving forward.

Let me also say, before diving into this, that I’ve been reading Snow Crash and playing Ready Player One in the background while I work. And although the movie isn’t that good, it still allows certain product-philosophies to be presented in a clear way. I think it is always important to share inputs at any given time of producing something, because it allows a clearer look into the thoughts of the creator.

Podcasts: Founders Fund Anatomy of Next, little A16Z, and very little Village Global

Music: Solange, James Blake, Theophilus London, Bob Dylan, Khruangbin, Frank Ocean, The Internet, Lil Pump, Paul Simon, Jordan Rakei, King Krule

TV: Haven’t consumed much tv lately only new thing is Wild Wild Country, mostly rewatching Seinfeld & Mad Men

Art: Mark Rothko, James Turrell, Dan Flavin

Fortnite

Let’s take the clear example of Fortnite. I’m not going to talk about the obvious / pseudo-hot takes we see on Twitter. We have those in abundance.

I tweeted a while ago, probably deleted now, that Fortnite is the precursor to the Oasis. I thought the Marshmallow concert on Fortnite was interesting. But it was interesting in a very limited way.

If the goal is simply, time spent on Fortnite. Then they can keep plopping in more and more entertainment to form around. It builds an experiential content retention layer. The sense of space is very clear. Navigation is very clear. And expression through skins still works. There’s nothing too groundbreaking. We have had vr dj sets for a while. This is a similar sensation for the flat internet.

But what’s clearly missing, and again if this is simply a retention tool for time spent maybe it doesn’t matter, is how it touches the game itself. What is the most basic, yet compelling, way that Fortnite can create a social layer?

You leverage your strengths. Fortnite has created a detailed and rhythmic world. And this is what they need to expand upon. Although I make jokes about it all the time, this probably actually looks like Club Penguin. I want to go around DJ Island. Have mid-day retreat on Meditation Island. The list goes. Then a timer goes off, I’m thrown off a plane, and I’m fighting.

I workshopped this in a tweet. But this level of world building could continually expand the meta-space that is Fortnite.

Pokémon Go

When Pokémon Go first launched, it was the Summer between my junior and senior year at Penn. And in that time, I thought that a game had solved racism. Obviously, I say that jokingly. But the collective experience of going around Williamsburg, catching Pokémon, battling gyms, all while meeting and talking to complete strangers was truly magical. It also destroyed my phone’s battery.

The downside of mobile AR for this game, is that you are getting in the way of anyone not playing the game. So, the environment is not collectively heightened. This is part of the friction of trans-reality.

This was part of a discussion on Founders Fund Anatomy Of Next Podcast, where residents that lived near a park wanted to strip the location from the game. Which brings up an interesting question of how we think of digital layers, and what that means to physical communities. But for another time.

The social layers being built within Pokémon Go are truly interesting. And something I have started playing around with more. My friction here is that most of my peers don’t play anymore. So to build a social component for myself, I would be starting from scratch. We do this with Twitter, to some extent, after choosing the community we want to explore. But with mobile AR, there is no digital barrier. I’m not in a “Twitterverse”. Any new social connection from the game is made from interacting directly, without any previous context of who someone is.

Niantic is a company that doesn’t get enough credit, but in terms of consumer AR, I would argue Niantic and Snap are delivering the most powerful experiences right now. We’ll see what happens with Ubiquity6.

Eternal

As a believer that every day is day 1 of our future, I ask what worlds can we build.

Games on social platforms do not elevate the network in which they take place. At its most basic, we have playing games on Facebook. And at its most interesting right now, we have Snapchat / Houseparty / Messenger (and others) gaming through video chat / messaging. There seems to be two things top of mind moving forward from here.

1 - Social AR and editing a shared digital layer. (Niantic, Neon, Ubiquity6)

2 - Avatars and unlocking the next phase of digital identity.

The second is where I currently focus, and what the rest of this post will be about. As we push into avatars as our medium of expression, we unlock a new level of social freedom.

When I talk about digital avatars/identity, I am referring to high photorealism. Not Bitmoji/Genies/Zepeto. We want Frankie as our quality baseline. Photorealism gives us a stronger connection to the abstraction of our identity, and allows us to blur reality enough to make the experience feel valid.

/// For those that haven’t read previous posts about Eternal, we are building a social network allowing users to have multiple avatars for expression. This is grounded in core truths of liquid identity. First we are building a social game, so get excited about that! ///

The most direct thing, from a business perspective, is building a digital marketplace to customize / augment your avatar. This isn’t new. But it creates a bridge into the first thing games can unlock within social. Rare digital goods. I think the compounding nature of this opportunity starts with abstracting your identity to a digital avatar. Without that essential foundation, this doesn’t make sense. The best we can do on current platforms is getting “verified” but even that has lost some of its value.

With default open networks, we are able to host competitions for every user to submit to. I think this pulls at compelling themes that allow us to dive deeper to see what some of these experiences looks like.

By directing the energy of the crowds, we not only create a shared goal through collective intentions, but we create a shared history for the platform itself. Meme culture is hyper ephemeral. However, to memorialize a moment that we’ve all witnessed and participated in, rare digital goods creates a lasting token. Or as my very sharp friend and builder, Paari, dubs it can render digital reputation.

For the absolute worst example, if the platform wants to host “Supreme Street King”. Users would share a video where you tell us why your avatar should be crowned. If you win, your avatar is donned with a Platinum Supreme Headband, where we can all call back to what that means. This is most similar to artifact hunts in Ready Player One.

A question I’ve been meditating on, is what happens when you can win a singular customized identity? Maybe it is non-gendered. Maybe it doesn’t have racial identity attached to it. Maybe it has a different racial identity than you, or a different gender than you normally express yourself with. How deep can we push this? What does this do to our sense of identity?

I could go on, but I think the goal with the intersection of gaming and social comes down to a few questions that we can optimize around.

1 - Can everyone on the platform take part in the game? And is simply playing enjoyable, no matter the result

2 - When you are amongst the winners, how does the prize live beyond the game as users interact on platform? What does this do to interactions?

3 - Am I in another world?

In the end it comes back to a feeling, that this is unlike anything else. To create next gen-experiences, we cannot be anchored to social as we see it today.

I hope this doesn’t sound vague or reductive. I’m hyper aware that any time a founder paints a piece of their vision of what they want to build, how the world works, or how they view emergent behavior, there’s the more intense reality that it probably won’t happen. Which is the basis of fear when pursuing what you deeply believe.

Some of these thoughts are off / half baked. But I want to come back to this to go deeper on specific ideas, throw away parts, clarify how products manifest themselves... and more.

/// This is a side thought I figured I’d throw in here. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how I’ve been meditating on the nature of space. With consumer AR, the space is wherever you are. This has it’s obvious frictions, as I stated previously. More and more I’ve been obsessed with creating (1) a sense of space through direction (2) a sense of space through lack of direction. On the first point, there is an incredible lack of depth representation in mobile experiences. I should be pushing inward, to consume a history of you. Not gliding by it vertically. Weight of response and collaboration is held equal, when that isn’t skeuomorphic to how we ideally process interactions. On the second point, and I don’t remember who shared this idea with me, what if the future of social is a digital garden that we all help tend. I think lack of direction is beautiful and a potential direction of our future. Collectively caring for something. Conversing while we do it. Making new connections. Actively building a new world. ///

As always, love to hear your thoughts. Share, email me, follow me on Twitter. You know the deal.

#technology #avatars #digital identity #digital goods #ready player one #Snow Crash #NYC #products #mobile #AR #gaming #social #social media #consumer internet #internet

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socialmediaruinslives · 6 years

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How Much Is Too Much?

Society as whole is more connected than ever. We are able to reach people on opposite sides of the world in seconds. The technology advancements we are seeing today is incredible to witness and experience. However, something that media doesn’t discuss as often as it should, is the effect these developments can have on our lives. It feels as if every month there is a new social media platform that everyone gets excited to join exactly how Instagram, Twitter and Facebook came to be. People wanted to be more connected and they got it. I find it fascinating that I can speak to my family thousands of miles away in minutes and see how they live their lives online. When writing this paper, I don’t mean to sound cynical. Social media is not some horrible monster ruining everything, but it can be to certain people. Teenagers now, more than ever are getting addicted to platforms like Instagram and Snapchat, fearing disconnection from their peers even though they see them every day in school. I have a 15-year-old brother who suffers from anxiety and has to go to a therapist every other week. He says he has no friends and that he doesn’t fit in. This was shocking to hear since he is so active on social media with hundreds of friends commenting, liking his pictures all the time. He texts about 30 people a day, all day long. How come he feels so disconnected? He tells me that everyone online is fake and that the people he talks to don’t actually talk to him in real life. Having been away from high school for three years now, it is hard to process that this is the experience teenagers are dealing with at their age. Examining this issue will help us understand what these platforms can do to our mental health and overall quality of life.

Recently, I deleted my online profiles on platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat because I realized how unhappy and exhausted it made me to be online all the time. I felt like I was not in control which is a perfect example of hegemony. A process that dominates a society without force and without you realizing. Antonio Gramsci’s article “Hegemony, Intellectuals, and the State”, discusses hegemony and the power it has over our everyday lives. He states, “All men are intellectuals, one could therefore say: but not all men have in society the function of intellectuals” (Gramsci 77). This quote can be used to explain how we access information through media today. Simply put, although everyone has a brain, not everyone knows how to use it. People can be easy to control and manipulate online, especially vulnerable audiences like children. More children have access to social media platforms so they are constantly exposed to shorter bursts of content on Instagram and Snapchat, for instance. Fast, easy to understand information is what media has to keep up with to appeal to younger generations. Young adults don’t bother reading long articles about what is happening in the world when it can be summed up in two sentences. The idea of hegemony comes into play when discussing why we think the way that we do. We like to think that as individuals and as a society, we are in control of what we see online but that is far from the truth. We see ads curated on our websites that have to do with our lives in one way or another based on our search history, occupation, or recent conversation. There are higher powers in charge of us, so we are spoon-fed specific information that will appeal to us sometimes without even realizing. If I googled Nike shoes, within the next few days, I will be seeing ads on certain websites showing me deals on Nike shoes, enticing me to buy them. We see what they want us to see and nothing more unless we look closer. Gramsci also wrote, “Educative and formative role of the State. Its aim is always that of creating new and higher types of civilisation; of adapting the ‘civilisation’ and the morality of the broadest popular masses to the necessities of the continuous development of the economic apparatus of production; hence of evolving even physically new types of humanity (Gramsci 80). By dumbing down the masses by using social media and other media platforms, people in power stay in power, and ultimately, we are the ones getting exploited by marketing, and free advertising, all because of the power of social media.

In the reading “Alienation” and “The Consumer Society” by Arthur Berger, important concepts of separation, distance and capitalism is discussed. Berger writes, “One thing that advertising does is divert people’s attention from social and political concerns and steer that attention toward narcissistic and private concerns” (Berger 52). This statement couldn’t be truer today. When looking on a news site, you might see articles about the current political climate or a new development that can be revolutionary buried amongst articles about the lives of celebrities or how to lose weight with one simple trick. We know that people are living in horrible conditions all over the world, yet we focus on the lives of those with more fame and money who ultimately, don’t matter at all. As a society, we focus a lot more on everything else except ourselves. Not everyone is like this, of course. It is the majority, however, that don’t realize that there is a problem with the way we see media and if certain things do not change, this could completely ruin our mental health. After going off the grid, I can tell that my mood has changed for good. I am much happier and more productive with my time. Before, I always worried about what people would think about what I posted, tweeted, etc. We are blinded by what is presented to us and cannot break from the cycle unless really stepping back from it all. Media will follow us everywhere, but it is our job to be aware of what is good for us and what is not and to assess if it is really making us happy. On this topic of social media, fake media and society, it is important to focus on the concept of “the public sphere”. The article “The Public Sphere: An Encyclopedia Article” by Jürgen Habermas explains the idea of power and how power is used to manipulate an audience. Habermas discusses the power of the bourgeoisie in a public sphere, mentioning how the discussion amongst private individuals “threatens to disintegrate with the structural transformation of the public sphere itself” (Habermas 79). Meaning, the idea of a public sphere is where public opinion can be formed, and when private powers are included with more of a say, it defeats the whole purpose of what a public sphere should be, an equal representation of a society’s opinion. This example can explain the way our government works and as people, we do have a say, yet certain aspects of our lives like media is still out of our control. It is interesting to watch world media develop over time. Before, we got our news by newspaper and a handful of other sources, now we see more and more articles reporting the same news but from hundreds of different angles. So how do you know who to trust? How much is too much when it comes to our mental health and the way we receive information? I hope these questions don’t go unanswered as we advance in this age of rapid fire connection.

This image shows a car swerving right, choosing social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter) over mental health. This depicts what most people choose when it comes to their life online. That social media is more important than a healthy mental state.

Source: Pre-generated meme from https://imgflip.com/memegenerator

This meme is referencing how most people present the best version of themselves online. This depicts Ash from Pokemon being happy and cheery while Pikachu is more mellow and that is how people really are most of the time.

Source: Original meme made from Pokémon: The First Movie screenshot

This meme shows how much we crave attention online. Eleven from Stranger Things is shown with ego boxes that are “upvotes” and above it says “Give Me More”. Many people online constantly crave attention and validation by likes, comments, upvotes, etc.

Source: Original meme made from Stranger Things screenshot

Works Cited

Arthur Asa Berger, “Alienation” and “The Consumer Society” in Media Analysis Techniques.

Antonio Gramsci, “Hegemony, Intellectuals and the State,” in Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: A Reader, ed. John Storey, pp. 75-80. New York: Routledge, 1994[2013].

Jürgen Habermas, “The Public Sphere,” in Media and Cultural Studies: KeyWorks, 2nd ed., eds. Meenakashi Gigi Durham and Douglas M. Kellner, pp. 75-79. Malden, MA: Blackwell 2012.

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