#switch back to IOS

[riverroan]

[persephoneprice]

ask game treech +12, io + 7, lamina + 15?

thank you!!

treech

lamina

io

[incendiorum]

I think one of the best ways to explain why io starts fumbling when it comes to romantic attraction is that they're lonely. and not a mild kind of loneliness, it's the kind that twists up inside of them with its desperation to be relieved. like ribs out of place. like a back ache that won't go away no matter how you sit or lay or stretch. and it's not an easy pain for someone like io to relieve. not just anyone is going to cut it, and not just anyone has the wherewithal to put up with io. io doesn't want to lose a friend or connection by introducing romance when its not wanted, no matter how attracted they may be. because if they do? they're back at square one. fighting their own heavy, dark loneliness once again. so instead they sit on their hands and they yearn and they wonder and they debate signs of reciprocation in the oh yes they definitely feel the same or no, no I'm imagining things kind of way. sexual attraction is an entirely different ballgame for io. that's easy. it's simple. romance introduces such a slew of potential problems. and beyond that io just doesn't feel romantic attraction all that often to begin with. romance confuses and flusters them more than anything else ever will. it frightens them, too. they don't want to mess up and lose the person they've bonded with.

[mothmeadow]

tumblr every time i open my notifications

[sl33py-g4m3r]

I’ve griped and complained about this before; well I’m doing it again, because I’m annoyed by it.

As good as iOS is for accessibility; it has a quirk with the tumblr app specifically that annoys me to no end. I had to switch back to iOS because the magnifier and screen magnification was better and easier than on android. But that’s unrelated to the complaint, just the reason I switched from android to iOS a while ago.

Why does tumblr only allow 10 tags to be selected from a post that I want to reblog; that clearly has more than that?? The post has 20-30 tags? Let me just put in all the tags then~~!!

My memory is too bad to warrant putting in all the tags that won’t be put there cause the reblog feature for mobile only allows 10…..

So I can guarantee that, unless I’m making my own tags on my own posts, that some of them aren’t tagged properly at all

Why the 10 tag limit automatically for reblogging on mobile tumblr??

I can’t put all of the tags if there are more than 10 because I can’t remember them all…

[rackartyg]

despite the fact i don’t actually like it as a word processor, i do most of my writing in google docs because i tend to change devices a lot and it’s simply got them all beat in terms of portability. but lately i’ve been making an effort to switch to scrivener and libreoffice and even though i have to constantly shuffle around a usb stick, this is so much better.

[fred-the-dinosaur]

Ok I didn't go on Tumblr for three days and I come back and all my notifications are blue and unreadable.

I swear this is the least awful update in the string of awful ones but I think this will actually do for me. If I disappear know this was the last blow.

If anyone knows how to turn it off PLEASE tell me. I can't get back to the post explaining it so I can't find how to turn it off.

[girllblogging777]

𝑊𝑂𝑅𝐷𝑆 𝑈𝑁𝑆𝑃𝑂𝐾𝐸𝑁

↳ theodore nott x fem!reader (fluff)

↳ 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 : 0.8k

𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑦 : in a moment of loneliness and feeling misunderstood, theo finds out you also speak italian

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

theodore nott didn’t enjoy crowds. he didn’t particularly enjoy loud gatherings, or the constant buzz of chatter that came with being around people all day. he preferred the quiet, a good book, an empty common room, a silent walk by the black lake. but somehow, he always ended up where people were, dragged along by his friends or because avoiding them would be too much effort.

tonight was no different. though the common room wasn’t packed, there were enough people to make it feel a little too alive. a few were studying and some others were caught up in conversation, it was too noisy for theo. his patience wore thin as he sat near the back, a book open in front of him, though he hadn’t read a single word.

across from him, you were sitting quietly with your own book. you weren’t much of a distraction, unlike the others, and that was part of why theo didn’t mind you being there. you didn’t force conversation, didn’t push for attention. you were just… there. it was calming, in a way.

but tonight the room felt too small and theo’s mood was slipping. the weight of things he didn’t say, things he didn’t know how to say, felt heavy. he let out a quiet sigh, running a hand through his hair as he closed his book, his mind spinning.

"what’s bothering you?"

your voice was soft, not pushing, just curious. theo looked up, his gaze meeting yours. he hadn’t even realized you were watching him.

"nothing," he muttered, trying to keep the facade up, though the irritation in his voice gave him away. "just tired of… all this."

you raised an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced. "all this?"

he gestured vaguely at the room, at the people, the noise. "everything. it’s all pointless. no one really cares about anything important. they just talk to hear themselves."

there was a pause, and theo half-expected you to drop it, to go back to your book and leave him alone. but you didn’t.

"maybe they do," you said quietly, "but it’s hard to hear it sometimes."

he looked at you, a bit surprised. your words weren’t confrontational, but there was something in your tone that made him stop. "they don’t," he muttered, leaning back in his chair, feeling the frustration build again. "it’s all surface-level. no one actually understands."

there was a moment of silence, and then you said something that made him freeze. "io ti capisco." (i understand you.)

theo blinked, staring at you in disbelief. italian. you had spoken italian. he hadn’t expected that, not from you. not here.

"what—" he began, his voice quiet. "you speak italian?"

you gave a small nod, a soft proud smile playing on your lips. "yeah. my family’s italian. we spoke it at home growing up."

theo was silent for a moment, trying to process this new information. it felt strange, hearing those words from you—words that felt like they belonged in another world, a world far removed from the one he lived in at hogwarts.

"why didn’t you ever say anything?" he asked, his voice quieter now, less guarded.

you shrugged lightly, as if it were no big deal. "you never asked."

he couldn’t help but huff a small laugh at that, running a hand through his hair again. "yeah, i guess not."

there was something in the air now, something different between the two of you. it wasn’t just the fact that you spoke italian, it was the way you had said it, the way you looked at him now. like you really understood. and for the first time in a long time, theo felt like he didn’t have to explain himself.

"parli bene," (you speak well) he said after a moment, his voice soft as he switched to italian, testing the waters.

you answered with a small smile, in a light but sincere tone “anche tu” (so do you)

and that was it. the connection had been made, something unspoken but understood between you both. it was strange, how a few words in a shared language could shift everything. the tension in theo’s chest eased, the frustration slipping away as he realized that maybe, for once, someone actually got it. got him.

"i didn’t think anyone else here would understand," theo admitted, his voice almost a whisper. “i only ever spoke it with my mother,” he added hesitantly, staring down. “so, it’s been a long time.”

you looked at him, your expression soft, understanding. "you’re not as alone as you think, theo."

he swallowed, the weight of your words hitting him harder than he expected. he hadn’t realized how much he needed to hear that—needed to know that someone, anyone, saw him. really saw him.

"thanks," he added quietly, and for the first time in what felt like forever, it wasn’t laced with sarcasm or bitterness.

you smiled at him, that same gentle smile that made the world feel a little less heavy. "anytime."

and just like that, the noise of the common room faded into the background. the two of you went back to your own books and the weight of everything else, the pressure, the expectations, the loneliness all seemed a little more bearable for theo. because he wasn’t alone.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

a/n : thanks to @pintrestgrl for the request ! this is my first time writing for theo so i don’t really know what to think of it

reblogs, comments and likes are appreciated !!! don’t hesitate to leave requests too xx

[telephoniii]

what app do you use for your smaus cause i canNOT find a good one

okay… this was supposed to be a quick and easy answer.

i use social maker. i’ve had it since 2020. it’s my personal favorite smau app and a highly recommend it. it’s pretty easy to use and you’ve got a lot of options on what you can do with it.

but, i was trying to get screenshots of it in the app store to show what app it was and…low and behold it got banned??

only people who have had the app downloaded before can use it unfortunately 😭

i feel bad leaving you hanging like that, so! i went on a trip to find an easy to use, nice-looking smau app!

and i decided to make it into a kind of smau post at the same time!

so you can enjoy some TWST silliness with the first years while I rank these apps :>

SILLY TEXTS WITH THE FIRST YEARS (while I rank SMAU apps)

First Years NRC boys x GN!Reader SMAU

Warnings: mention of political figures in Faker 2, Reader is Prefect, suggestive humor, possible OOC

A/N: this shows how much I love to yap. I did this to procrastinate but it was pretty fun! How did I turn my response to this anon from a single paragraph to a whole multi-section post? I have no clue. My brain works in weird ways. I hope you enjoy :>

SOCIAL MAKER (what I use)

I use this app for a reason! It’s so easy to use and it gives you 20 max messages. Personally, I really enjoy the look of the app and messages too. Unfortunately though, if you didn’t have this app downloaded before it got taken down, you can’t use it. At least on IOS. I don’t really know the situation for Android 💀

5/5 stars!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

SOCIAL DUMMY

This is another app that you had to have downloaded before it got taken down to use it. I think it’s a really good SMAU app! Especially if you wanna do stuff outside of messages!! (twitter, instagram, youtube, etc.) The messaging system runs pretty smoothly, the only thing is that the max amount of messages is very short.

4/5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

CHAT STORY MAKER

This app is a bit outdated in my opinion. It’s kinda hard to use since you can’t exit out of the keyboard and get a clean picture of your messages. Also, when you close the app it doesn’t save ANY of your things. (That caused me a lot of trouble making this actually 😭). You can also only make two characters. However, it has good customization!! It has a very cute look and you can change the background + text colors. It’s also really easy to switch between characters which is always nice.

3/5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️

TYPE STORY

This is the app that Social Maker actually made after their OG app was taken down! It’s, unfortunately, not super great in my opinion. I got really confused when I tried using it, even with a tutorial. Once you get the hang of it, it’s alright. The app just feels overly complicated. However, if you want to make SMAUs mainly with big group chats then this app might be pretty good for you!

3/5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️

FAKER 2

By far the worse app among them all. It just reeks of money-greedy creators. An add plays after almost every action you do. (From customizing characters to sending messages, an add always plays) It was also quite confusing to use and you’re limited to three characters. There isn’t much you can customize either and it has a 5 message max. Also, it made me a bit uncomfortable because the three default profiles you have to edit to change into the characters you want included Trump and Elon… Yeah 💀. Not to mention that a lot of the adds were filled with AI videos that were just uncanny valley. Back on topic! The app locks a lot of features behind a paywall that doesn’t even seem worth it. I wouldn’t recommend it.

1/5 stars. ⭐️

TEXTING STORY

In terms of making SMAUs on tumblr, I wouldn’t recommend it. But, if you were interested in making texting story videos and/or publishing them on YouTube, this would be a good option! There’s a lot of opportunities for videos as it can automatically give you a video of you typing both sides. The typing sound is also pretty satisfying to me! Unfortunately, it’s not the best for tumblr SMAUs. There isn’t really any customization— you can’t even add a profile picture.

3/5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️

TEXT STORY MAKER

Okay, I did legitimately save the best for last. This app is pretty great. It’s easy to catch onto and gives you A LOT of customizable options: background, text color, group chat cover, etc. Also, there’s an option for it to automatically take screenshots of the text which is just so convenient?? But there is a pretty big downside. You can only make two characters. That really sucks.

I think that if you want to make 1 on 1 SMAUs similar to mine, this would be a good app to use. It’s gonna be annoying having to remake the profiles and what not, but I think the pros out weight the cons.

4/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[changes]

Tuesday, October 15th, 2024

🌟 New

The character limit has been raised from 500 characters to 1,975 characters for all replies in our apps. The limit was previously raised on the web last month.

We have added new “since” and “before” search operators. Using both together will allow you to limit your search to a specific date range.

The number of online community members is now displayed in community recommendations and search results.

Posts reblogged into communities will no longer show notes from outside the community’s reblog.

Tumblr is home to some of the most incredible creatives on the web, from brilliant artists to creative fandoms. However, any such large community will also inevitably have bad actors who try to take advantage of the kindness and generosity of the community members, so please take a look at our new guide on how to avoid scammers.

🛠 Fixed

We weren’t displaying the right error message when admins were trying to update their community handle with invalid characters. This is fixed now!

When you receive a lot of grouped Activity items on Web, we now fetch more Activity items, so you can scroll through more Activity items before you need to click “See Everything”.

Ads are no longer interrupting background audio in the iOS app as of version 36.7. Please update your apps!

🚧 Ongoing

In the iOS app, adding tags to a queued/drafted reblog will remove its queue/draft state, meaning the action button switches to “Reblog” which publishes the reblog if tapped. The fix will be in version 36.8 of the iOS app. For now, either add tags to those on the Web, or be extra careful about checking the action button before tapping it.

🌱 Upcoming

No upcoming launches to announce today.

Experiencing an issue? Check for Known Issues and file a Support Request if you have something new. We’ll get back to you as soon as we can!

Want to share your feedback about something? Check out our Work in Progress blog and start a discussion with other users.

Wanna support Tumblr directly with some money? Check out Premium and the Supporter badge in TumblrMart!

[another-random-fanfic-blog]

My 8 Hybrids Ch. 2

Chapter 2

Previous Chapter

Next Chapter

Masterlist

Warnings: Blood, violence, abuse, Not edited, will be later

As you sped down the road, you began calculating the how long it would take for you to get to your house versus your clinic. The clinic is the obvious choice to go to, but your house is closer and you wouldn’t have to deal with traffic. Making the decision you used the voice dial on your car to call your friend Will.

“Did you get caught in the rain?” Will asks, forgoing a greeting.

“I need you to get to my house immediately, I’m 15 minutes away,” you respond, ignoring what he said, “This is an emergency.”

“I’ll be there in 10.”

With that you hung up the phone and continued down the road, glancing over at the unconscious rabbit sitting next to you, rage filling you every time as you imagine what you’d like to do with the person who put them there. You call the next person on your list, before you lose yourself in your work and forget to do what you need.

“What trouble did you cause this time?” Kiara asks.

“Trouble? Me? Unlikely,” you retort, giving a small smile.

“Y/N, I’m serious, if you punched another person for hurting a hybrid, despite them deserving it, I will start charging you extra,” Kiara sighs.

“No, not this time, I found two hybrids chained to trees, beaten, bloody, unconscious, a rabbit and some type of big cat I’m assuming. The rabbit may live, but I don’t have hope for the cat,” you explain calmly, “I took video and pictures before getting them down. I will send them to you but I want you to start the process for a lawsuit, just in case something happens.”

“And the hybrids?”

“They will need round the clock care for a while.”

“That’s not what I’m asking and you know it,” Kiara grumbles, “You helped get the laws changed greatly, but unless they have a home lined up, because they are abuse cases, you have to hand them over to hybrid services, where they will probably die from inadequate care.”

“We don’t have to tell them,” you state.

“It’s the law.”

“I don’t care,” you reply shrugging to no one in particular.

“Y/n…”

“Put me down as their owner for now, I will adopt them until we can all decide on something else,” you sigh, not wanting to let the hybrids be taken away.

“I will start the paperwork,” Kiara chirps cheerfully, you know that she wanted you to adopt a hybrid at some point to give you some company. “You wouldn’t happen to know their names would you?”

“According to the rabbit, the cat is named San, I don’t know the rabbits name yet,” you respond, pulling into your driveway and seeing Will sitting in his car, “I’ve got to go, talk later.”

You hang up and come skidding to a halt, throwing your car in park and pushing the door open as you turn off the engine.

“One in the front, one in the back, get the gurney from downstairs, two of them,” you yell out to Will as he nods and runs down the basement stairs.

You open the passenger door and feel the rabbits pulse before moving back to do the same with San. Will comes up in an elevator with two gurneys at his side. Carefully, you help him move San onto one gurney and take him down, while you get the rabbit.

Once the two of you were downstairs, you try to find a spot to hook the rabbit up for an IV, but with such severe dehydration, you have no choice but to do an IO on him. Quickly grabbing a drill, you bore into his bone a little below the knee. Once the fluids were started, you move over to San.

“Mind telling me what happened?” Will asks as he wheels San back from x-rays and begins Sans IO.

“I was hiking, and found these two chained to trees, this one, San apparently, had his leg stuck in a bear claw type trap. I did what I could before bringing them here.” You respond, slowly peeling the makeshift bandage off of San’s leg.

“And here I thought you were paranoid building this place under your house. You wash up while I clean the wound, then we’ll switch.” Will said, not looking up from San’s leg.

“Ok, start him on broad spectrum antibiotics, there’s no telling what bacteria is in those wounds,” you call out from the sink as you change into scrubs and begin cleaning your hands and arms while Will preps San for surgery.

Once you finish and put on gloves, Will switches off, while you continue to debridement of the wound. Once the bleeding is under control and you look at the x-rays, seeing Sans leg is fractured, not broken, which is really the only luck this guy has. Methodically and carefully you and Will work on all of San’s wounds, back and front, in complete silence.

When you first built your home, you had experience finding sick and injured animals in the past, sometimes not being able to take them to get care overnight due to closed clinics. So you demanded a small hospital be built in part of your basement, a hermetically sealed room, filled with everything you’d find in an urgent care. Will said you were crazy for spending this amount on a place you’d never use, and you always thought better safe than sorry.

When work on San was complete, you let Will go look at the blood tests for both, while you worked on the rabbit. He had contusions, cuts, a fractured wrist, dehydration, and severe sunburn. Some of his cuts were infected so you started him on antibiotics as well.

Once you finished, Will came back to you with two bowls, towels, and sponges.

“The boys need cleaned, here’s everything for a sponge bath,” he says smiling and walking away, “I also gave you stuff to wash their hair. I’ll cook some food.”

With a sigh, you carefully start cleaning them, memorizing their features once they were clean and you were done, though you had trouble washing their hair. Both were thin, too thin, tall, from what you could tell by carrying them and them laying down. San had black hair, a sharp jaw, and cat like eyes. Meanwhile, the rabbit had white hair, round boba eyes, and high cheek bones. You moved their beds closer to each other so when they woke, they could see each other easily. You turned on the monitors so they could alert you anywhere in the house, if they woke up, had an issue, or needed an IV refill. Dimming the lights, you walked upstairs to find Will eating ramen and chicken.

“So,” he says getting you a plate as you flop down in your dining room chair, “tell me how you got in this mess with your two new hybrids.” You raise an eyebrow at that, as he places a bowl in front of you. “Kiara told me you adopted them.”

You pulled out your phone and handed it to him so he could go through the pictures and videos, not liking what he saw, while you uploaded your gopro footage to the computer, sending everything in an email to Kiara before you get sidetracked again.

“I’m not a therapist,” you say, “Can you schedule something with Jessica? They will need help, and get her caught up on…this mess.” You remark waving your hand around.

“Sure,” he replies putting his bowl in the sink. “You good, or do you need me to stick around?”

“You can go home before the storm gets worse.”

“Have a good night.” He says as he walks out the door, leaving you to eat in peace.

You finish your food, do the dishes, shower, then grab a cot and set it up in the room with the hybrids, getting ready to sleep after swapping out their IVs.

You slept a solid 10 hours for the first time in…ever before being awoken by muttering. Sitting up, you looked over and saw the rabbit hybrid sitting up and muttering while gripping San’s arm. Slowly standing you make your presence known as the rabbit stares at you frozen and not moving.

“Hi,” you say, approaching as slow as you can, “do you remember me? I found you, and helped you out of the woods.”

The rabbit just stares at you, nose slightly twitching as he plays with San’s fingers.

“San?” He finally asks.

“He has a fractured leg, infection, various wounds, and dehydration…but, barring any unforeseen complications, he should recover, quickly given your advanced healing abilities.” You tell him, as you get close, right next to his bed. “My name is Y/n, this is my home, the basement of my home, can you tell me your name?”

“…Seonghwa,” he says quietly.

“Seonghwa, it’s nice to meet you,” you state, “are you hungry?” He perks up at that and nods. “After I change your IV, I will go get you something to eat. It will be light for now, probably just broth and crackers, but once you keep something down for at least a day, I’d like 2, we will move to something else, ok?”

He nods again and you begin switching out his IV and then San’s, before heading upstairs to get the food. As you heat the broth you take a deep breath, not knowing what to say to Seonghwa as you’ve never been a good conversationalist. Carrying the food down, you stop seeing that San has moved, he was lower in the bed earlier, but now he’s almost sitting, Seonghwa’s pillow helping prop him up. You’re thankful that you decided to bring down two bowls of broth and not just one.

“Here’s your broth,” you say, setting it on a cart with a tray that can move over the bed, “I’ll get you another pillow.” You grab two and bring them back, helping Seonghwa sit up as you move the bed to a more comfortable position. “Hello San,” you say as you make your way over to him. “You have a fractured leg, we weren’t able to cast it because of the open wound, so don’t move it too much, ok?”

San looks at you with wide eyes, watching your every move as you pull up a chair.

“I think we should talk about some things.” You say looking at both of them as you move a sleeve of crackers and a bowl of broth in front of San. “My name is Y/n, I own a clinic that helps hybrids, and this is a mini clinic in my basement that you are recovering in. The law states that when cases of abuse, such as yours are reported, you have to either be immediately adopted or go to hybrid services.” You watch as both hybrids tense and grasp each other’s hands, tears forming in their eyes, knowing hybrid services is not a good option and tears bonded hybrids apart. “I have decided to adopt you until the case is closed and you decide what you’d like to do next.”

“What we’d like to do next?” Seonghwa asks between sips of broth.

“If you want to earn your independence, I will help with that, or I can help you find a different owne-“

“You don’t want us?” San questions, sniffling as he stares at his food. You swear you see a tear fall and immediately think something happened with these two, mostly likely involving being rejected.

“I would be happy if you stayed, but if you didn’t like it here, I don’t want to force you to stay with me.” You respond, patting his hand that was on the side of the bed. “Now, eat, there are small bags next to the bowls in case you need to throw up. Once you are done and the food settles, I will help you shower, then, if you want, we can head upstairs. However, the IV will have to stay in.”

With that, you head upstairs to find some clothes that will fit both the hybrids. Luckily, you have a habit of buying clothes for men and women, including underwear, just in case you have an unexpected guest or something happens to a guests clothes. While you dig through your closet you call the psychologist that works at your clinic and discuss getting the two therapy appointments as soon as you can get them in condition to start walking. She asks you a few questions and you reply, immediately mentioning the comment San made about you not wanting them. She explains that they are raised to believe being owned if the best thing for them and the fact that you suggested removing them would have brought up potential years of previous rejection, plus whatever trauma they may have from whoever left them in the woods. On top of that, one or both of them could have a co-dependency issue. You grab some clothes, soaps, lotions, deodorant, toothbrushes, and toothpaste and head down stairs, asking one final question.

“I go to a conference next week that I can’t get out of because I am a presenter. Can I leave them here alone or should I take them with me?”

“That is up to you and how you feel they will do alone.” Cassie responds before hanging up, leaving you unsatisfied with her answer.

When you walk in the recovery room, you see both hybrids talking to each other, their hands still holding each other. You walk everything into the bathroom downstairs then join the two.

“So, I have some clothes for you two,” you say, gesturing to the bathroom where you put everything, “how about we get you cleaned up? San, I will have to help you because of your leg, I swear I won’t look at anything and will be 100% professional, but I can’t have you moving it wrong.”

“Can you help me too?” Seonghwa asks quietly.

“Sure, do you want to go first?”

“Can…Can we go to-together? I…I-I…”

“Yes, if you both want to be within sight of each other, that is fine.”

You get a wheelchair to take San to the bathroom and help him undress and wrap a towel around his waist, while Seonghwa gets himself ready. Seonghwa sits himself in the tub and relishes the hot water pouring on him while he vigorously scrubs all the dirt off his skin, flinching at the force he was using. Despite you giving them a sponge bath, it still wasn’t enough to remove everything. You tell San to wait, and turn on the hot shower head to pour over him and watch how almost instantly his body begins to relax. He takes the scrubby and soap and more carefully than Seonghwa, begins to wash his upper body.

“You’re going to hurt yourself,” you say to Seonghwa as you sit behind him, taking the scrubby and begin to help, using just enough pressure to clean everything off. “So, what breeds are you?”

“I’m a Lionhead rabbit,” Seonghwa declares proudly and you have to stop yourself from groaning, knowing how playful and mischievous those breeds can be.

“In other words,” You begin, carefully washing Seonghwa’s hair as he fully leans into you, moaning at how good it feels to get his scalp scrubbed, “I’m going to have my hands full with you.”

You smile at Seonghwa when he opens his eyes and looks at you, first with concern, then with warmth.

“I’ll be good, I promise.” He says closing his eyes again, his foot thumping when you scrub his ears, working the matts out of them and his hair.

“I’m sure you will be.” You finish his hair, both shampoo and conditioner, before rinsing him off and letting him soak under the spray, then head to San, who watched you scrub Seonghwa’s hair with a look of longing. “And what breed of hybrid are you, San?” You ask as he gets a look of excitement on his face while you pour shampoo in your hand.

“I’m a maine coon cat, and I’m a good boy,” he says purring the second your hands make contact with his head. “I’m not mean or intimidating.”

You could hear the pleading in his voice when he said that, and it told you that, though he was skinny, he had muscles, and his face had a look that could go two ways, one sweet and kind, or two intimidating and mean. But just looking in his eyes, like truly looking in his eyes, you could tell he was the sweet and kind person, no matter how people may have tried to portray him.

“I could tell that by your eyes,” you tell him, smiling, causing San to blush and look down.

He closes his eyes as you scrub his hair, giving him a scalp massage before rinsing him off and moving to his tail, carefully trying to work the matts out and when you couldn’t, cutting them out. Once he was cleaned, you let him sit under the spray as well, carefully examining his leg only to see the wound has sealed shut and the stitches dissolved.

You’ll say one thing, hybrid healing is both a gift and a curse. When properly hydrated and medicated and treated, the skin can take only 12 – 24 hours to heal when assisted by stitches. Unfortunately, people think that means a hybrid is healed, this leads to them being pushed beyond their limits and can sometimes be fatal. If the skin closes too fast, it can trap infections inside, and hide other injuries, luckily, San was already treated.

“Your leg looks good, San.” You say, looking up at him, causing him to look down at you and also catching Seonghwa’s attention. “The wound is closed, but the bone won’t have healed yet, so you have to remember to be careful. Both of you,” you look at Seonghwa to make sure he understands as well, and he nods. “Now, you can either stay down here, or we can try moving you to a bedroom upstairs, once you’re done getting dressed?”

“Can…we go upstairs?” Seonghwa asks hesitantly.

“Of course, this is your house too, you can move about it freely, though very carefully until San’s leg is healed.” You say, helping both hybrids dry their hair, ears, and tails. “Can you get dressed yourselves?”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll be outside.”

You walk outside of the bathroom and change into dry clothes, then grab a set of crutches for San to walk around on. You want to do one more x-ray on his leg before you take him upstairs, to see how fast the healing has progressed and whether you should cast it or boot it. Once they come out, you help San to the x-ray machine and take the images, Seonghwa glued to your side. Luckily, his leg looks much better, a week and a half and he should be completely healed. Carefully, you put a walking boot on his leg, all the way up to his knee and hand him the crutches, for him to use for the next two days.

Helping both of them upstairs, you show them the rooms, gym, library, living room, kitchen, and garage, before taking to the the top floor with the bedrooms.

“Ok, you both get to choose your own room,” you say smiling at them once they look at the first room. Both hybrids look at each other in slight panic before you continue. “You can visit and sleep in each other’s rooms, but I firmly believe in having your own space. So choose a room and we can look at decorations and clothes for you.”

It took a while, but both hybrids finally chose a room to call their own. You handed each a tablet to look at furniture and room design ideas, as well as shop for clothes, and you went to your own room. It was only 8pm but as soon as your head hit the pillow you were out cold.

___________________________________________________________

Your eyes begin to open as you hear rapid thumping coming from somewhere. Sleepily standing up, you walk out of your room only to hear it stop. Waiting a few minutes, you head back to your room and collapse on the bed again, snuggling under the covers. As you begin to drift off, you hear a loud crash of thunder, followed by very heavy, rapid thumps again. Listening closely you realize it is coming from under your bed.

Rolling off your bed, you grab your phone and turn on the light, seeing a cat and rabbit under there, the rabbit thumping his foot on the ground after another crash of thunder. Both hybrids trembling in fear.

“Hey guys, it’s ok, nothing to be afraid of,” you coo to them, reaching a hand out, causing both to approach you. “You are welcome to come cuddle on my bed with me if you want, in human form or animal, either is fine.”

With that you stand and lay on your bed, waiting to see what they would do. It doesn’t take long for you to feel the weight of them jumping on your bed, before they make their way up to where the blanket starts, scratching at it. You lift the covers and both dive inside, just as another thunder clap occurs. You turn on your side and snuggle back into your bed, slowly falling asleep, letting your two hybrids get comfortable.

A few hours later, you wake up, feeling a weight against your stomach. Lifting the blanket, you see two hybrids curled up against you, sound asleep. Carefully, so not to disturb them, you sneak out of bed and head to the showers, realizing the storm had past and it was a bright sunny day out. Once you showered, you checked back on the hybrids and then went downstairs to purchase some things the two of them would like in their animal forms.

“Good morning,” Seonghwa mumbled, walking into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes, a sleepy San following behind him and collapsing into the dining room chair.

“Good morning, Seonghwa, and San,” you reply smiling back at them, “are you hungry?”

“A little,” San whispered, still half asleep.

“I can make eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns, or oatmeal. I don’t really have any other options yet.” You respond standing up and walking to the kitchen.

“Can I help?” Seonghwa asks, following you and you nod, allowing him to get everything out of the fridge and freezer.

He wanted to do everything himself, so you stood by, directing him on how to cook. While San moved around on his crutches.

“What’s this?” San asks, looking at your laptop, open to your recent shopping receipts.

“Ah, I bought some things for the two of you in your animal forms. Cat trees, tall and short, shelves with railings so Seonghwa won’t fall off, and tunnels that can be mounted high and low, as well as some hiding nooks.” You reply ignoring the look of shock on both hybrids faces as you explain what you bought for them. “They will be here in 2 days and you can help set them up and where you want them. I’m sure I bought enough that they can connect almost every room in the house.” After you finished speaking, San’s face lit up and Seonghwa’s foot started thumping on the ground excitedly, both of them trying to hid their excitement, but failing to do so.

It continued like this for the next week, you slowly grew closer to the two hybrids learning that they are the type to trust easily, which breaks your heart. You had both help you set up the cat shelves, tunnels cat trees, and let them set up their hiding nooks by themselves. They were so excited to be involved in the process. You also had them buy their own bedroom decorations and furniture and took them shopping for clothes. San had a sporty look, while Seonghwa enjoyed something similar, but also really liked more delicate style clothing. You were ok with whatever they wanted, as long as they actually wore it. They were also excited to start going to the gym. Though San couldn’t use his leg below his knee, you helped him with arm and ab workouts and exercises made for people in a chair, slow leg lifts that wouldn’t bother his healing but still something he could do. Seonghwa jumped right into everything and you had to slow him down, explaining that going too fast could cause more damage than good. By Friday at the end of the week, you sat them down, to discuss you leaving for the next week.

“You’re leaving us?” San asks, sounding panicked, almost ready to have a panic attack.

“It will only be for a few days and I will call you every morning and every night, we can even do a video chat if you want.”

“We’ll be alone?” Seonghwa asks, playing with the air of the table, only glancing at you.

“I can have someone stop in, in fact he helped me care for you the first night.”

“No,” San interrupts, clearing his throat before beginning again, “We…would rather be alone.”

“Can’t we go with you?” Seonghwa questions.

“I’m afraid there are no hybrid friendly hotels in the area, at least not one that would be kind to either of you.” You shudder at the thought of what could happen to your two hybrids in the hotels while you were gone, before continuing. “I will be 8 hours away, if something happens I can rush home, but it will only be for three days. The fridge is filled with food and I have emergency numbers written on it.” You reach out and take both of their hands, “I promise, I will be back. I will not abandon you.”

With that, they stare into your eyes before nodding. The next few days those two were the cuddliest creatures you ever met, and when you left, San started crying while Seonghwa’s eyes filled with tears, but they did not fall while you could see him. You started to miss them before they disappeared from view as you made your way to the airport, deciding to fly so it was a faster trip there and back.

__________________________________________________________

“Inside now,” the man sneers at his hybrid, causing the hybrids breath to catch in his throat.

“B-but master, the cage is too small, the only way I’ll fit is if you break something,” the hybrid begins, being cut off by his master.

“So we’ll break something. Get in now, or I swear I WILL cut your legs off this time!” The man growls, gripping the hybrids neck.

The hybrid’s eyes go wide and he nods the best he could, quickly crawling into the cage that is far too small for his body. He had to contort himself into an uncomfortable position to fit so the door would close, however, his foot blocked the way of the door. His master didn’t care and slammed the door shut, jamming the hybrids knee into his nose, causing it to bleed, and causing a loud crack from his, foot filling the hybrids body with intense pain. However, that wasn’t all, with the angle of his body in such a small space, his legs put pressure on his chest that made it hard for the hybrid to breathe.

“Don’t make a sound.” The man sneers walking away, leaving the hybrid to suffer.

You felt like you had been walking for hours by the time you made it to the lounge, flopping yourself in the comfortable chair by the windows. This week stressed you out and all you want to do is go home and relax with your hybrids. You place your phone on the chair arm, but it fell onto the floor. When you reach down to grab it, you saw something under the table next to you that made you curious. Moving down to the floor, you see it is a large hybrid, crammed in a small cage, his body contorted in a grotesque position so he could fit, his nose bleeding, and his breathing shallow and labored, eyes closed tightly in an effort to calm himself.

“Nice hybrid isn’t he,” a man says from behind you.

You’re staring at the hybrids face, he opens his eyes and you see the silent plea for help before he closes them again, tears falling down his face.

“He is,” you reply, standing up, “you wouldn’t be interested in selling him would you?”

“You wanna buy him?”

“Yes, I quit like collecting hybrids when they catch my eyes,” you reply, sitting on the chair, staring at the man with a coy smile, trying to feign a calm detachment to the situation. “Right now, your hybrid caught my eye.”

“I’ve tried selling him before, but no one wants a hybrid his size.”

“Oh, what do you mean?”

“He’s 6”1 or 6”3, I don’t really know, and no one wants something so tall.”

“I do. How much?”

“10,000.”

You internally wince at the price, you have the money, but no matter what, $10,000 is a lot to spend. “9 he seems to have a broken nose, it ruins his pretty face.”

“95 and I throw in the cage.”

“9 and I don’t walk away from this. Like you said, no one else wants him.”

“Fine, $9,000. Would you like me to ship him to you o-”

“I will transfer the money to you now and we run across the street and get him legally transferred to me.”

“Deal. Sir,” the man turns to the concierge, “watch the hybrid, and don’t let anyone take him.”

After a half hour, you have a key to the cage and the owner is shipping it to the hotel you just ordered a room at. By the time you arrive, after ordering an uber, you enter your room, throwing your things on the floor as you approach your new hybrid.

“Hi,” you say, as you unlock the cage door, the hybrid watching you with scared eyes, “my name is Y/N, I guess I’m your new owner.”

You open the door and stand back, letting the hybrid untangle himself to get out, but then you notice he’s having trouble. Carefully, you reach in the cage and reposition his legs, slightly pulling them straighter, so he can unbend himself. Meanwhile, you go to the bathroom to get a warm wet cloth to clean his face.

“What’s your name?” You ask, walking back to the room and seeing him sitting on the floor. Slowly you lower yourself in front of him and begin cleaning the blood from his nose.

“Yunho,” he replies, sitting quietly as you examine his face.

“Good news is your nose isn’t actually broken, just a little swollen,” you look down and see his ankle sitting at an odd angle. “What happened to your foot?”

“I don’t know,” Yunho whispers looking away, clenching his fists as he stares at his leg.

“Ok, we’re taking you to a hybrid urgent care,” you state as you order another uber to the nearest hybrid treatment location. Getting a few things together, and calling to see if the front desk has a spare wheelchair to wheel Yunho to a car, you watch him carefully during that time. He doesn’t make a move at all. Soon your phone dings letting you know your uber is here, followed by a knock on the door. With the help of the bellman, you lift Yunho into the wheelchair, then head to the car. It’s not a long drive, and once Yunho is settled in at the doctor and wheeled away for x-rays, you call San and Seonghwa.

Previous Chapter

Next Chapter

Taglist: @sunnysidesins, @the-secret-thief

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Apple's encryption capitulation

I'm on a 20+ city book tour for my new novel PICKS AND SHOVELS. Catch me in NYC on TOMORROW (26 Feb) with JOHN HODGMAN and at PENN STATE THURSDAY (Feb 27). More tour dates here. Mail-order signed copies from LA's Diesel Books.

The UK government has just ordered Apple to secretly compromise its security for every iOS user in the world. Instead, Apple announced it will disable a vital security feature for every UK user. This is a terrible outcome, but it just might be the best one, given the circumstances:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgj54eq4vejo

So let's talk about those circumstances. In 2016, Theresa May's Conservative government passed a law called the "Investigative Powers Act," better known as the "Snooper's Charter":

https://www.snooperscharter.co.uk/

This was a hugely controversial law for many reasons, but most prominent was that it allowed British spy agencies to order tech companies to secretly modify their software to facilitate surveillance. This is alarming in several ways. First, it's hard enough to implement an encryption system without making subtle errors that adversaries can exploit.

Tiny mistakes in encryption systems are leveraged by criminals, foreign spies, griefers, and other bad actors to steal money, lock up our businesses and governments with ransomware, take our data, our intimate images, our health records and worse. The world is already awash in cyberweapons that terrible governments and corporations use to target their adversaries, such as the NSO Group malware that the Saudis used to hack Whatsapp, which let them lure Jamal Khashoggi to his death. The stakes couldn't be higher:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/02/04/citizen-lab/#nso-group

Encryption protects everything from the software updates for pacemakers and anti-lock braking to population-scale financial transactions and patient records. Deliberately introducing bugs into these systems to allow spies and cops to "break" encryption when they need to is impossible, which doesn't stop governments from demanding it. Notoriously, when former Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull was told that the laws of mathematics decreed that there is no way to make encryption that only stops bad guys but lets in good guys, he replied "The laws of mathematics are very commendable but the only law that applies in Australia is the law of Australia":

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/07/australian-pm-calls-end-end-encryption-ban-says-laws-mathematics-dont-apply-down

The risks don't stop with bad actors leveraging new bugs introduced when the "lawful interception" back-doors are inserted. The keys that open these back-doors inevitably circulate widely within spy and police agencies, and eventually – inevitably – they leak. This is called the "keys under doormats" problem: if the police order tech companies to hide the keys to access billions of peoples' data under their doormats, eventually, bad guys will find them there:

https://academic.oup.com/cybersecurity/article/1/1/69/2367066

Again, this isn't a theoretical risk. In 1994, Bill Clinton signed a US law called CALEA that required FBI back-doors for data switches. Most network switches in use today have CALEA back-doors and they have been widely exploited by various bad guys. Most recently, the Chinese military used CALEA backdoors to hack Verizon, AT&T and Lumen:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/07/foreseeable-outcomes/#calea

This is the backdrop against which the Snooper's Charter was passed. Parliament stuck its fingers in its ears, covered its eyes, and voted for the damned thing, swearing that it would never result in any of the eminently foreseeable harms they'd been warned of.

Which brings us to today. Two weeks ago, the Washington Post's Joseph Menn broke the story that Apple had received a secret order from the British government, demanding that they install a back-door in the encryption system that protects cloud backups of iOS devices:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/02/07/apple-encryption-backdoor-uk/

Virtually every iOS device in the world regularly backs itself up to Apple's cloud backup service. This is very useful: if your phone or tablet is lost, stolen or damaged, you can recover your backup to a new device in a matter of minutes and get on with your day. It's also very lucrative for Apple, which charges every iOS user a few dollars every month for backup services. The dollar amount here is small, but that sum is multiplied by the very large number of Apple devices, and it rolls in every single month.

Since 2022, Apple has offered its users a feature called "Advanced Data Protection" that employs "end-to-end" encryption (E2EE) for these backups. End-to-end encryption keeps data encrypted between the sender and the receiver, so that the service provider can't see what they're saying to each other. In the case of iCloud backups, this means that while an Apple customer can decrypt their backup data when they access it in the cloud, Apple itself cannot. All Apple can see is that there is an impenetrable blob of user data on one of its servers.

2022 was very late for Apple to have added E2EE to its cloud backups. After all, in 2014, Apple customers suffered a massive iCloud breach when hackers broke into the iCloud backups of hundreds of celebrities, leaking nude photos and other private data, in a breach colloquially called "Celebgate" or "The Fappening":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_celebrity_nude_photo_leak

Apple almost rolled out E2EE for iCloud in 2018, but scrapped the plans after Donald Trump's FBI leaned on them:

https://www.reuters.com/article/world/exclusive-apple-dropped-plan-for-encrypting-backups-after-fbi-complained-sour-idUSKBN1ZK1CO/

Better late than never. For three years, Apple customers' backups have been encrypted, at rest, on Apple's servers, their contents fully opaque to everyone except the devices' owners. Enter His Majesty's Government, clutching the Snooper's Charter. As the eminent cryptographer Matthew Green writes, a secret order to compromise the cloud backups of British users is necessarily a secret order to compromise all users' encrypted backups:

https://blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2025/02/23/three-questions-about-apple-encryption-and-the-u-k/

There's no way to roll out a compromised system in the UK that differs from non-British backups without the legion of reverse-engineers and security analysts noticing that something new is happening in Britain and correctly inferring that Apple has been served with a secret "Technical Capability Notice" under the Snooper's Charter:

Even if you imagine that Apple is only being asked only to target users in the U.K., the company would either need to build this capability globally, or it would need to deploy a new version or “zone”1 for U.K. users that would work differently from the version for, say, U.S. users. From a technical perspective, this would be tantamount to admitting that the U.K.’s version is somehow operationally distinct from the U.S. version. That would invite reverse-engineers to ask very pointed questions and the secret would almost certainly be out.

For Apple, the only winning move was not to play. Rather than breaking the security for its iCloud backups worldwide, it simply promised to turn off all security for backups in the UK. If they go through with it, every British iOS user – doctors, lawyers, small and large business, and individuals – will be exposed to incalculable risk from spies and criminals, both organized and petty.

For Green, this is Apple making the best of an impossible conundrum. Apple does have a long and proud history of standing up to governmental demands to compromise its users. Most notably, the FBI ordered Apple to push an encryption-removing update to its phones in 2016, to help it gain access to a device recovered from the bodies of the San Bernardino shooters:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/02/eff-support-apple-encryption-battle

But it's worth zooming out here for a moment and considering all the things that led up to Apple facing this demand. By design, Apple's iOS platform blocks users from installing software unless Apple approves it and lists it in the App Store. Apple uses legal protections (such as Section 1201 of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act and Article 6 of the EUCD, which the UK adopted in 2003 through the Copyright and Related Rights Regulations) to make it a jailable offense to reverse-engineer and bypass these blocks. They also devote substantial technical effort to preventing third parties from reverse-engineering its software and hardware locks. Installing software forbidden by Apple on your own iPhone is thus both illegal and very, very hard.

This means that if Apple removes an app from its App Store, its customers can no longer get that app. When Apple launched this system, they were warned – by the same cohort of experts who warned the UK government about the risks of the Snooper's Charter – that it would turn into an attractive nuisance. If a corporation has the power to compromise billions of users' devices, governments will inevitably order that corporation to do so.

Which is exactly what happened. Apple has already removed all working privacy tools for its Chinese users, purging the Chinese App Store of secure VPN apps, compromising its Chinese cloud backups, and downgrading its Airdrop file-transfer software to help the Chinese state crack down on protesters:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/11/foreseeable-consequences/#airdropped

These are the absolutely foreseeable – and foreseen – outcomes of Apple arrogating total remote control over its customers' devices to itself. If we're going to fault Theresa May's Conservatives for refusing to heed the warnings of the risks introduced by the Snooper's Charter, we should be every bit as critical of Apple for chasing profits at the expense of billions of its customers in the face of warnings that its "curated computing" model would inevitably give rise to the Snooper's Charter and laws like it.

As Pavel Chekov famously wrote: "a phaser on the bridge in act one will always go off by act three." Apple set itself up with the power to override its customers' decisions about the devices it sells them, and then that power was abused in a hundred ways, large and small:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/22/vin-locking/#thought-differently

Of course, there are plenty of third-party apps in the App Store that allow you to make an end-to-end encrypted backup to non-Apple cloud servers, and Apple's onerous App Store payment policies mean that they get to cream off 30% of every dollar you spend with its rivals:

https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1iv072y/endtoend_encrypted_alternative_to_icloud_drive/

It's entirely possible to find an end-to-end encrypted backup provider that has no presence in the UK and can tell the UK government to fuck off with its ridiculous back-door demands. For example, Signal has repeatedly promised to pull its personnel and assets out of the UK before it would compromise its encryption:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/05/theyre-still-trying-to-ban-cryptography/

But even if the company that provides your backup is impervious to pressure from HMG, Apple isn't. Apple has the absolute, unchallenged power to decide which apps are in its App Store. Apple has a long history of nuking privacy-preserving and privacy-enhancing apps from its App Store in response to complaints, even petty ones from rival companies like Meta:

https://www.theverge.com/2022/9/29/23378541/the-og-app-instagram-clone-pulled-from-app-store

If they're going to cave into Zuck's demand to facilitate spying on Instagram users, do we really think they'll resist Kier Starmer's demands to remove Signal – and any other app that stands up to the Snooper's Charter – from the App Store?

It goes without saying that the "bad guys" the UK government claims it wants to target will be able to communicate in secret no matter what Apple does here. They can just use an Android phone and sideload a secure messaging app, or register an iPhone in Ireland or any other country and bring it to the UK. The only people who will be harmed by the combination of the British government's reckless disregard for security, and Apple's designs that trade the security of its users for the security of its shareholders are millions of law-abiding Britons, whose most sensitive data will be up for grabs by anyone who hacks their accounts.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/02/25/sneak-and-peek/#pavel-chekov

Image: Mitch Barrie (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Daytona_Skeleton_AR-15_completed_rifle_%2817551907724%29.jpg

CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

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Kambanji https://www.flickr.com/photos/kambanji/4135216486/

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

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Rawpixel https://www.rawpixel.com/image/12438797/png-white-background

[satoshi-mochida]

BUSTAFELLOWS Season 2 launches July 17 in the west - Gematsu

Otome mystery visual novel sequel BUSTAFELLOWS Season 2 will launch for Switch and PC via Steam on July 17 in the west, publisher PQube. The Switch version will be available both physically and digitally.

BUSTAFELLOWS Season 2 first launched for Switch, iOS via App Store, and Android via Google Play on May 25, 2023 in Japan.

In the west, the first run of physical edition will feature an exclusive character booklet with concept art and special insights into the character creation process.

Here is an overview of the game, via PQube:

About

The hit series BUSTAFELLOWS continues with an all-new season! Featuring the crime-solving gang you know and love, that trouble can’t help but follow. Uncover their story in this movie-like experience, as you meet new characters, make important choices and help solve the dark, unspeakable crimes that plague New Sieg.

Story

Everyone wants answers. Who is to blame, and what went wrong? And what is to be punished? In order to keep the shape of this world, things are divided into black and white. Those who look between the black and white will only continue to suffer. Everyone should know it in their hearts. Things are two in one. White and black. Front and back. Light and shadow. Good news, bad news. And, if it will change or if it will end.

Key Features

A Puzzle to Piece Together – Five different playable “movies”, different routes corresponding to each male lead, each portraying a different story which you play an integral part in.

New Flowchart System – Review your progress through the story with a helpful flowchart that allows you to select and replay different parts of the story, leaving no stone unturned.

The Romance Builds – Continue your relationship from the last game, growing together through struggles, and learning new sides to Teuta, Limbo, Shu, Helvetica, Mozu and Scarecrow.

The Power of Visuals – Skillfully crafted characters brought to life with beautiful artistry. Experience the characters in new outfits, hairstyles and scenarios!

An Unforgettable Voice Cast – Featuring a cast of famed voices such as Yui Kondo, KENN, Yoshimasa Hosoya, and many more!

Extra Episodes – Collect memorabilia and extra episodes through certain conditions, and even unlock a special episode when playing with an existing save data from the first game!

Watch a new trailer below.

Release Date Trailer

[rivalsforlife]

my Personal Take is that I don't think a trilogy port is completely out of the question here. the only thing holding it back is that it doesn't really have any platforms to update it on. but consider:

it has been five years since the last trilogy port. capcom loves trilogy ports. consider: gba release of t&t in 2004. nintendo ds t&t in 2007. wii t&t in 2010. ios trilogy in 2012. 3ds trilogy in 2014. switch/ps4/xbox/steam ports in 2019. People have spoken before about how this is the longest gap between ace attorney games in history. It is also the biggest gap between trilogy ports in aa's history, as well. It's time.

In comparison to all of the other ports, the trilogy port is MUCH lower quality. No bonus content, no autoplay, not even the basic option to skip to certain parts of the case so, no matter if you've been playing justice for all since 2002, you HAVE to play through the ENTIRETY of turnabout big top before you can get to farewell, my turnabout. I do think this is unfair.

it would be so funny

[five-thousand-loaves-of-bread]

want talk about how important have AAC in your language.

language of birth country, of family, big language, so many native speaker, even more second third learned language speaker. but, even that, is language not often seen in robust AAC apps develop by western countries—because not one of big western countries.

there only one robust symbol based (or TTS tbh) AAC app have that language: TD snap.

which mean. must make it work.

how important it is have AAC that fit your needs: right grid size, right motor plan, right access support (switch, eye gaze, etc), right editing, right symbols, right color & color coding & contrast, right everything. n so much of this, actual need, and not preference.

which why there so many english symbol based AAC apps, each with different logic to where words are, how word organized, what symbol use, what editing feature have, all backed by their research & tech development… you get choose. if one app not right for you, have others. sometimes is prefer one over other, but other times is, some apps unusable for you, conflict needs for you, cannot understand it (e.g touch chat for me).

TD snap organization not work for me. core word not enough, fringe word organized not fit way my brain work, n overall not enough words that match own daily life.

but have to make it work. because it between this, or not communicate in words with family & with world in country where everyone speak this language.

so, am deleting everything, all words, all boards, & remake, reorganize. trying make it work. begging make it work. pay no mind how it take tens even hundreds of hours (years in making, still not finished). …it my only option.

n, this lucky case scenario—

people who cannot, or not allowed to, edit their AAC in such big way. people who cannot use that sad one app that contain your language.

or, especially: there languages & speaker of those language who need AAC but have no AAC because there no AAC that support their language.

their voice robbed.

but that not all. for longest time still not able use AAC in birth country language. because have no voice go along.

want talk about how important have useable voices in AAC in your language.

in gender that reflect you, tone & personality that reflect you, pronunciation & accent & everything that reflect you.

using voice that not used to, already feel like speaking through someone else mouth. very odd feeling—it you speaking, it you communicating, but it coming out of someone else mouth, in their voice, not yours. where yours?

even with voice that like, still take me while fully connect with voice. with voice mere tolerate, always feel discomfort, not fully mine. with voice that opposite who you are?

averse. rather not talk at all.

not willing choice. but physical reaction, recoil, hate, uncomfortable deep under skin, disgust.

between acapella voice group & IOS voices, there maybe 5-6 voices for birth country language, all very gendered, middle age “karen” sounding, robotic unnatural, unclear, hard hear what trying say, tele-announcer tone. 5-6, but somehow all sound same.

and, make no mistake, 5-6 badly made ones. is lots. other languages, have 1, or 2. or none. this, lucky.

so, not communicate with words at all. completely nonverbal all the time, so gestures, noises, grunts, is what left. need parents with 24/7, because other don’t know why not talk, don’t even know can not talk, don’t understand what mean with all these body language noises/-n, by the way, parents is part reason have cPTSD, but have be around them, because nonverbal high support needs, what can you do, what other option you have?. and, still, frequent meltdowns n tantrum—because often no one understand.

have words that cannot use. in language that itself is trauma trigger.

today, found that apple/ios now expanded voices for birth country language. so many now! so many also have enhanced & premium options, that come with ios, no extra cost. so many different personalities, tones, inflections. and, sound so natural.

cried. because. finally may able communicate with words in birth country language again.

don’t know how explain to people who, never had go through forced silence, how important and huge and even life changing this is.

won’t take away communication disability, won’t take away other AAC difficulties, won’t take away trauma, won’t make birth country language any less of trauma trigger, but—

it there when ready.

—to all my AAC users who speak language that not commonly supported by robust AAC apps on market. especially those BIPOC, those diaspora and those from the country. those who speak language with few speakers. especially those nonverbal nonspeaking who have no other option. those who cannot type, who can only use symbol base AAC, so effectively stranded without one that support their language. love you all, see you all, even if AAC companies don’t.

[thefusioncelestial]

Mix 5: The Rich Bear

Here is Tyler:

Nature boy disguised as park ranger. Very out doorsey, loves camping, and an astrologist. Apparently, the lack of light pollution, many night shifts in the woods will introduce you to the stars. And he wrestles bears, races with the deer, swims with the fishes, and lord knows what he does with birds. Sings with them? Basically the Avatar of the Park. And in all his time as a park ranger, poaching has gone down to zilch in his nature reserve.

And then there is John:

The city boy. You would think he was a typical rich play boy. But its an act. When you are put together & don't have to work a day in your life, a lot of people want to use you to get to that status. He spends his waking hours funding charitable causes through art auctions. Yes, the fake play boy has an artist side. Very good for fashion tips too.

They both know each other. They hated each other in high school. Something about being rivals io the same basketball team back in the day. The clashing energy pushing their team to win state every year until graduation. They started out at different colleges. But depending on who you ask, they followed or stalked each other because they ended up at the same uni for the actual undergrad work.

Tyler studied Zoology. John, Fashion Design. And despite not sharing a single class, they ended up at the same club: Scuba diving. The experience inspired them in different ways, and before graduation, they buried the hatchet. They made a promise. If they were not married in five years, they would meet up at a certain park at its main pavilion. This wasn't a marriage proposal, they just were curious on how two different life trajectories could lead to the same resort of being single.

John could have married anyone. He was well liked, well known, and never struggled for a thing. His relationships just ended when he found out their motives or at least his perception of such. His money. One scheme was marriage, divorce, and then a rich alimony. Another, she didn't need to marry him, just get her pregnant. He hoped Tyler was having a better time...

But Tyler never tried. He put his full focus into animal related work, and found he could do the most good as a park ranger. He liked the outdoors too. He could be a bit much, at least once or twice or week, he would go out working shirtless. Something about a better connection to life. Thank god he didn't turn into one of those online life gurus. He figured John would have baby mommas all over the city by now. The ladies were al over him in Uni. A new girlfriend every week. Tyler shuddered at the child support payments. Especially once the court knew he was loaded.

And that was the life, avoiding baby traps, and snapping bear traps, but eventually that date came closer.

At first neither of them were going to show up. What are the chances they both messed up? But they went anyway. A change of environment helps anyone no matter the settings.

Knotfield Park. A giant hilly grass land with pavilions on selected hilltops. The one this pair aimed for was the biggest one in the middle. John came in a Mercedes-Ben, & Tyler a park ranger truck.

They both arrived at the pavilion at the same time. They were both surprised.

"Uncommitted Playboi," Tyler blerted.

"Senator Moosefarts," John responded.

A few moments of awkward silence passed before they both broke into a smile and hugged each other.

John started. "Who knew we striked out unlucky. A rich boy with nothing to do, and a nature boy living it up with bears."

"How did you know? Were you spying on me?" Tyler asked.

"Word got around that the God of the Wild emigrated to the US and I investigated. Come to find out, it was you being you. No matter how much you hide from the world, it finds you. Maybe we should switch lives..", John said, ending in a sad tone.

"All I got is money. Doesn't lead to healthy foundations in the relationship department," he exclaimed.

"Bears scare off the ladies you know." Tyler quipped.

"So what now?" he asked.

"You know I work in auction houses right? So, I get a peek at a lot of stuff with a lot of history. Snagged one for this occasion. It's ~~~Magic~~~." John said enthusiastically.

Tyler remembered that John was into supernatural stuff when he was in high school.

"How is a magic item going to fix our problems? Is a genie's lamp? First wish: never ending apple pie.." Tyler licked his lips.

"Haha, no. A magic mirror. One from ancient Mesopotamia." John Said.

"Historical trash. We going to admire ourselves into a new future?" Tyler said sarcastically.

"Moosefarts, the mirror works as a fortune telling device. You put a piece of your own hair on the polished surface and point it to the stars, and it illuminates the way."

It was now night time. The stars clear in view.

"Let's try it." Tyler said.

"Oh?" John said in confusion.

Tyler already cut off a piece of his hair to put on this mirror. John quickly did the same.

"Why at the same time, Playboi?" Tyler asked.

"Why not." John responded.

He pointed the mirror at the sky. Nothing a happened.

"Maybe you are doing it wrong, Maybe the stars don't give enough light. Point at the moon," insistently said by Tyler.

"Someone is a bit excited by my expensive trash." John Smiled.

He tried the moon, and then the etchings around the mirror glowed. Both Tyler & John could read it for some reason, and they both said

"Two paths, under the moon, converge as one. The source of life, a river."

The mirror's polished surface glowed brighter and brighter until they were both glowing. A light path formed from their feet forming two light roads. Leading to the nearby forest.

"You see what I am seeing?" John asked.

"Yes." Tyler responded.

Tyler trusted his instincts and started following his path.

John hesitated, and then following Tyler's example to not be outdone, followed his.

After 30 minutes, they were in the middle of the woods. Skinny trees, it was fall time to, so not much foliage blocking the way. A lot of brown leaves on the forest floor tho.

Their paths eventually converged, a figure cloaked in light was at the convergence point. They couldn't make out any features except it being humanoid shaped.

"Do yo trust me, John?" Tyler asked.

"This time sure, I got you into this." John joked.

They both walked closer. But as they did. They became enamored by this being. They never stopped walking, and soon they were up real close to it. And yet they didn't stop. They were inside the glowing figure. John half way on one side, Tyler the other. Was it a hologram?

Just then, the light exploded and the two best friends were jerked forward. They smashed against each other & then turned into light particles. They floated for a bit and then swirled around the glowing figure.

The swirling lights that was once John & Tyler converged inside this light being in waves, smashing into it. Each time, the light being gained distinguishing features and became more solid, the light glowing dimmer.

The first wave: The humanoid being was now a skeletal frame surrounded by light.

The second wave: the nervous and vascular system started growing like vines and grew around in and the skeletal frame. A brain was forming.

The third wave: organs and & muscles were formed. It looked like one of those life sized cadaver models of the body without skin.

The fourth wave: Blood starts pumping and skin is formed.

Mentally, John & Tyler were confused. They were inside this light being & at the same time swirling around it.

The fifth wave: They understood. The light being was them. Both of them. In a sense they met their future self and he used the past to bring himself to the present. They were broken down into light and used to make him. Their destiny was to become one and chart a new future. Strangely, they excepted this. Life always brought them together. Maybe that was the hint that they were one being in two bodes. And now they shall be whole.

They gave in. Their minds were broken apart and put back together as one mind.

The sixth wave: John & Tyler's dna was mixed together and added to being. With this set of new instructions, the generic body began to morph.

Tyler's physique was used as the template. The skin tightened & etched Tyler's features the neck down. Loud stretching noises were produced. The biceps bulged out and the shoulders & pecs grew with a popping noise, but John's physique was added as well, and the H body shape was more fleshed out, like being pulled from both sides from the waist. The skin was fighting against this and so he became more cut, and his veins became more visible.

John's face was used as the template. The features morphed to copy John's but soon Tyler's characteristics had their say in this. The eyes became more sunken, the lip color more towards the skin tone. The ears moved to be more like Tyler's. When it came to hair, it was short cut like John's but darker like Tyler's. John's hairline won out, but Tyler's eyes would be used. Tyler's jawline and chin would win out, but John 's potential for facial hair gave him a lowkey grizzled look. The chin was a combination of both, long & thick.

Tyler's ass would form on it, and in the front, John won out. He was well endowed and needed no upgrading. Like his chin, his jewels would get hairy. But Tyler had better leg days from being out in nature, but it would use John's feet. Though for this new being its leg muscles got bigger and stronger than Tyler's, thanks to John.

Throughout this process, he would not make a sound. No moaning, no grunting. The only noise being made was from his body forming. He would find that he had a high pain tolerance.

The Seventh wave: It was shirtless like Tyler likes to be, but it had John's denim jeans.

The final wave: Their life force was added. The light built up again and let out a quick, but bright flash. He was alive. He slumped to the ground and began breathing air. His lungs sucked in the oxygen like a pair of black holes.

Who was he? This was the true final step. The name he chose would solidify the merger of the best friends, there would be one mind going forward. Just say who you are.

He stood up and opened his eyes:

I am James. His jeans became unbuttoned. He fixed that. He would need to get some new clothing.

What does he do in life? Run's charities to fund wildlife refuges. He spends his life between city & nature. James felt a sudden rush of confidence. It was his Tyler half pushing away what kept John from forming relationships: a fear of commitment. He knew someone, Analise. And with John helped push away Tyler's social anxiety. He kept his love of nature but would not selfishly keep that to himself. And with John's money, he could hire a team of new park rangers to protect Tyler's old park. He would still wrestles bears, race with deer, swim with the fish, and lord knows what he does with birds. He would just not do it alone anymore.