#Custom movie booking app

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The US Copyright Office frees the McFlurry

I'll be in TUCSON, AZ from November 8-10: I'm the GUEST OF HONOR at the TUSCON SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION.

I have spent a quarter century obsessed with the weirdest corner of the weirdest section of the worst internet law on the US statute books: Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the 1998 law that makes it a felony to help someone change how their own computer works so it serves them, rather than a distant corporation.

Under DMCA 1201, giving someone a tool to "bypass an access control for a copyrighted work" is a felony punishable by a 5-year prison sentence and a $500k fine – for a first offense. This law can refer to access controls for traditional copyrighted works, like movies. Under DMCA 1201, if you help someone with photosensitive epilepsy add a plug-in to the Netflix player in their browser that blocks strobing pictures that can trigger seizures, you're a felon:

https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html-media/2017Jul/0005.html

But software is a copyrighted work, and everything from printer cartridges to car-engine parts have software in them. If the manufacturer puts an "access control" on that software, they can send their customers (and competitors) to prison for passing around tools to help them fix their cars or use third-party ink.

Now, even though the DMCA is a copyright law (that's what the "C" in DMCA stands for, after all); and even though blocking video strobes, using third party ink, and fixing your car are not copyright violations, the DMCA can still send you to prison, for a long-ass time for doing these things, provided the manufacturer designs their product so that using it the way that suits you best involves getting around an "access control."

As you might expect, this is quite a tempting proposition for any manufacturer hoping to enshittify their products, because they know you can't legally disenshittify them. These access controls have metastasized into every kind of device imaginable.

Garage-door openers:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/09/lead-me-not-into-temptation/#chamberlain

Refrigerators:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/06/12/digital-feudalism/#filtergate

Dishwashers:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/03/cassette-rewinder/#disher-bob

Treadmills:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/22/vapescreen/#jane-get-me-off-this-crazy-thing

Tractors:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/23/reputation-laundry/#deere-john

Cars:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/28/edison-not-tesla/#demon-haunted-world

Printers:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/07/inky-wretches/#epson-salty

And even printer paper:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/16/unauthorized-paper/#dymo-550

DMCA 1201 is the brainchild of Bruce Lehmann, Bill Clinton's Copyright Czar, who was repeatedly warned that cancerous proliferation this was the foreseeable, inevitable outcome of his pet policy. As a sop to his critics, Lehman added a largely ornamental safety valve to his law, ordering the US Copyright Office to invite submissions every three years petitioning for "use exemptions" to the blanket ban on circumventing access-controls.

I call this "ornamental" because if the Copyright Office thinks that, say, it should be legal for you to bypass an access control to use third-party ink in your printer, or a third-party app store in your phone, all they can do under DMCA 1201 is grant you the right to use a circumvention tool. But they can't give you the right to acquire that tool.

I know that sounds confusing, but that's only because it's very, very stupid. How stupid? Well, in 2001, the US Trade Representative arm-twisted the EU into adopting its own version of this law (Article 6 of the EUCD), and in 2003, Norway added the law to its lawbooks. On the eve of that addition, I traveled to Oslo to debate the minister involved:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/10/28/clintons-ghost/#felony-contempt-of-business-model

The minister praised his law, explaining that it gave blind people the right to bypass access controls on ebooks so that they could feed them to screen readers, Braille printers, and other assistive tools. OK, I said, but how do they get the software that jailbreaks their ebooks so they can make use of this exemption? Am I allowed to give them that tool?

No, the minister said, you're not allowed to do that, that would be a crime.

Is the Norwegian government allowed to give them that tool? No. How about a blind rights advocacy group? No, not them either. A university computer science department? Nope. A commercial vendor? Certainly not.

No, the minister explained, under his law, a blind person would be expected to personally reverse engineer a program like Adobe E-Reader, in hopes of discovering a defect that they could exploit by writing a program to extract the ebook text.

Oh, I said. But if a blind person did manage to do this, could they supply that tool to other blind people?

Well, no, the minister said. Each and every blind person must personally – without any help from anyone else – figure out how to reverse-engineer the ebook program, and then individually author their own alternative reader program that worked with the text of their ebooks.

That is what is meant by a use exemption without a tools exemption. It's useless. A sick joke, even.

The US Copyright Office has been valiantly holding exemptions proceedings every three years since the start of this century, and they've granted many sensible exemptions, including ones to benefit people with disabilities, or to let you jailbreak your phone, or let media professors extract video clips from DVDs, and so on. Tens of thousands of person-hours have been flushed into this pointless exercise, generating a long list of things you are now technically allowed to do, but only if you are a reverse-engineering specialist type of computer programmer who can manage the process from beginning to end in total isolation and secrecy.

But there is one kind of use exception the Copyright Office can grant that is potentially game-changing: an exemption for decoding diagnostic codes.

You see, DMCA 1201 has been a critical weapon for the corporate anti-repair movement. By scrambling error codes in cars, tractors, appliances, insulin pumps, phones and other devices, manufacturers can wage war on independent repair, depriving third-party technicians of the diagnostic information they need to figure out how to fix your stuff and keep it going.

This is bad enough in normal times, but during the acute phase of the covid pandemic, hospitals found themselves unable to maintain their ventilators because of access controls. Nearly all ventilators come from a single med-tech monopolist, Medtronic, which charges hospitals hundreds of dollars to dispatch their own repair technicians to fix its products. But when covid ended nearly all travel, Medtronic could no longer provide on-site calls. Thankfully, an anonymous hacker started building homemade (illegal) circumvention devices to let hospital technicians fix the ventilators themselves, improvising housings for them from old clock radios, guitar pedals and whatever else was to hand, then mailing them anonymously to hospitals:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/10/flintstone-delano-roosevelt/#medtronic-again

Once a manufacturer monopolizes repair in this way, they can force you to use their official service depots, charging you as much as they'd like; requiring you to use their official, expensive replacement parts; and dictating when your gadget is "too broken to fix," forcing you to buy a new one. That's bad enough when we're talking about refusing to fix a phone so you buy a new one – but imagine having a spinal injury and relying on a $100,000 exoskeleton to get from place to place and prevent muscle wasting, clots, and other immobility-related conditions, only to have the manufacturer decide that the gadget is too old to fix and refusing to give you the technical assistance to replace a watch battery so that you can get around again:

https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/26/24255074/former-jockey-michael-straight-exoskeleton-repair-battery

When the US Copyright Office grants a use exemption for extracting diagnostic codes from a busted device, they empower repair advocates to put that gadget up on a workbench and torture it into giving up those codes. The codes can then be integrated into an unofficial diagnostic tool, one that can make sense of the scrambled, obfuscated error codes that a device sends when it breaks – without having to unscramble them. In other words, only the company that makes the diagnostic tool has to bypass an access control, but the people who use that tool later do not violate DMCA 1201.

This is all relevant this month because the US Copyright Office just released the latest batch of 1201 exemptions, and among them is the right to circumvent access controls "allowing for repair of retail-level food preparation equipment":

https://publicknowledge.org/public-knowledge-ifixit-free-the-mcflurry-win-copyright-office-dmca-exemption-for-ice-cream-machines/

While this covers all kinds of food prep gear, the exemption request – filed by Public Knowledge and Ifixit – was inspired by the bizarre war over the tragically fragile McFlurry machine. These machines – which extrude soft-serve frozen desserts – are notoriously failure-prone, with 5-16% of them broken at any given time. Taylor, the giant kitchen tech company that makes the machines, charges franchisees a fortune to repair them, producing a steady stream of profits for the company.

This sleazy business prompted some ice-cream hackers to found a startup called Kytch, a high-powered automation and diagnostic tool that was hugely popular with McDonald's franchisees (the gadget was partially designed by the legendary hardware hacker Andrew "bunnie" Huang!).

In response, Taylor played dirty, making a less-capable clone of the Kytch, trying to buy Kytch out, and teaming up with McDonald's corporate to bombard franchisees with legal scare-stories about the dangers of using a Kytch to keep their soft-serve flowing, thanks to DMCA 1201:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/20/euthanize-rentier-enablers/#cold-war

Kytch isn't the only beneficiary of the new exemption: all kinds of industrial kitchen equipment is covered. In upholding the Right to Repair, the Copyright Office overruled objections of some of its closest historical allies, the Entertainment Software Association, Motion Picture Association, and Recording Industry Association of America, who all sided with Taylor and McDonald's and opposed the exemption:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/10/us-copyright-office-frees-the-mcflurry-allowing-repair-of-ice-cream-machines/

This is literally the only useful kind of DMCA 1201 exemption the Copyright Office can grant, and the fact that they granted it (along with a similar exemption for medical devices) is a welcome bright spot. But make no mistake, the fact that we finally found a narrow way in which DMCA 1201 can be made slightly less stupid does not redeem this outrageous law. It should still be repealed and condemned to the scrapheap of history.

Tor Books as just published two new, free LITTLE BROTHER stories: VIGILANT, about creepy surveillance in distance education; and SPILL, about oil pipelines and indigenous landback.

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/2024/10/28/mcbroken/#my-milkshake-brings-all-the-lawyers-to-the-yard

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[ador3him]

Wholesome relationship hcs? i feel like they would be super sweet in relationships but some of their only problems is that they kiss & tell alot and make jokes LOL

pairing: dream team x reader

requested? yass

authors note: sometimes we just need some good old fluff

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

DREAM

- has a seat in his office for you, like fully a custom made desk chair with your name and fav colour.

- loves to play with your hair, he's terrible at it but he wants to learn incase you have a daughter.

- have you in his phone as 'lovebug' idk why it just seems like him.

- loves when you paint his nails and does his skincare.

- has a Polaroid wall of the two of you.

SAPNAP

- has a draw just for you in his bedroom. And a designated corner of his closet.

- let's you style his outfits or even gives you his credit card to pick out his clothes.

- keeps a picture of you in his wallet and shows everyone he meets.

- his alt twitter is basically a yn fan account.

'come join me as I play fnaf with yn!!'

- kept a box of all the different things from your relationship. First movie date? Kept the ticket. First flowers he gave you? He kept one and flattened it.

GEORGE

- encourages you to make a twitch to stream with you.

- when he finds out a hobby you like he makes sure to find out everything about it. For example, reading- he finds your favourite book and hunts down the author to sign it for you.

- loves to hold your hand whenever you're together.

- cheek kisses>>>

- let's you do his makeup with a lot of persuasion.

- has a folder in his notes app with your favourite things, clothing sizing and food orders at different places.

[deirdra-hearts-nadia]

I've been thinking about the fandom for The Arcana, and I have come to the conclusion that it's weird as hell. In my 20+ years participating in online fandom spaces, I've never seen a fandom quite like this one. I've seen drama, sure, but the core of most fandoms is a large community of people who love the same media and come together to celebrate it.

The Arcana fandom is not like that. From the very beginning we're more fractured, more factional, more fragile than most. You just have to look around at all the posts lamenting the death of the fandom every 2 weeks to see that something is really wrong here.

And I think a lot of it has to do with the nature of the canon. I am not saying this to criticize The Arcana, the devs, Dorian, or my fellow fans. I have just noticed that, as a piece of media, this game occupies a very unique space that is reflected in the way its fans interact with canon and with each other.

Welcome to the TED talk ain't none of y'all asked for.

Part of what makes this fandom unique is the evolution of fandom as a whole in the face of new types of media. As gaming becomes more mainstream and games themselves become more complex, the way we engage has necessarily changed in response.

Books/ movies/ shows are slightly more static in terms of canon than video games; canon is what it is and how you interact with what is there is largely to do with who you are. Everyone has the same base material to engage with, and that results in a certain amount of constancy. You can't interact with The Princess Bride in a way that changes the movie, only in ways that change your own perception. There isn't a whole lot of room for OCs without rewriting canon, so fans tend to consume OC-based fiction and art with the assumption that it's likely to be self-insert wish fulfillment fantasy time. That isn't always true, but there is a reason the term Mary Sue was coined.

Otome games and other choice-based video games make a very different fan environment, because the way you interact with canon is completely different. You have to build a character in order to interact with the story, and your choices directly impact your experience of canon.

But most western choice-based games are in the context of a larger RPG universe, e.g. Fallout or Dragon Age. There is a lot more to the story than the romance plot and so there's a lot more world to experience, contextualize, and build upon. There's certainly plenty of unhinged ShepxGarrus erotica, but there's also an abundance of fanworks that engage with the plot, the worldbuilding, and the canon characters with relatively little of the player's character needing to be on the page at all.

By contrast, most otome games that make it to English-speaking fandom spaces are Japanese. The romance is the point, but we also start from a place of wariness of our fellow fans. Because there's a huge difference between "harmless weeb" and "orientalist fetishizing creepo," and you know going in that both ends of the spectrum are possible, there is an amount of caution. We curate our space, looking for the creators who align with our expectations and values before we ever begin to interact.

The Arcana falls in a very unique and odd space because it is an otome, but made by Americans, with an attempt at a diverse fantasy cast. It's intended to be for American/ English-speaking audiences and is marketed as such. But making a romance game in America is challenging. Our way of approaching online media, especially smartphone-accessible media, is super fucked up, right? We are constantly trapped between the dichotomies of moral duty (Must Protect The Children) versus appealing to the customer base (Boom Anime Babes with Tig Ol Bitties). Because this is a mobile game, the developers can't make money if the game is removed from the app store, so they want it to be rated teen at the most. But the enticing bit, the thing that captures a potential fan's attention, is the flirtation and sexy implications. So from the jump they're in a weird space purely because they chose to make a mobile game instead of an indie video game released on Steam or similar.

So now you have an inherently split audience: mature adults who know they're getting into a potentially explicit romance game, and young adults/teens who have grown up in a more insulated internet culture where normal words are replaced with Orwellian doublespeak, like "unalive" and "spicy time".

THEN you add in the fact that the developers tried to build a diverse fantasy world, which is a fantastic idea both from an inclusionary standpoint and a broader audience standpoint. But because they didn't employ any actual sensitivity readers (did they think they didn't need them because fantasy can't have racism? Did they justify it as not being in the budget? Would love to know what's going on there) they fell right into a lot of the classic traps. We've been over these time and again, so I won't get into them here. Suffice to say, there has been Discourse. The presence of those issues means that more experienced fans will see those things and call them out, and that criticism causes even more of a split: the zealous apologists versus the critics. And critics can fall into two further categories: those who love the canon and want to see it do better, and the bitches who just love having something to bitch about.

Unfortunately, this combination means that there are inherently factions to this fandom, with staunchly opposed approaches to the media. So even before you enter a fandom space, it's already wildly fractured simply because of the nature of base canon.

THEN add to that the fact that this game is a dating sim. And to engage with a dating sim, you have to build a character and make choices based on that character. Some people will approach this work as storytelling, and some will approach it as an escapist expression of self. Neither of these ways of engaging with canon is wrong. Enjoying a dating sim as Me But Better is fun and completely valid! Engaging with a dating sim as a storyteller collaborating with the developers is fun and completely valid! But the two approaches are opposed in purpose, and that can make it difficult for the two types of fans to engage with one another's work.

Storytellers will well and truly invest in building a character. They may even build out communities, countries, cultures, and languages to make their world all the richer. They are investing hours of blood, sweat, and tears into Their Craft, pouring themselves into an opus of quality fanwork. Unfortunately, this can sometimes lead to big feelings. Fan artists and writers may feel underappreciated if all they get out of their hard work is 2 likes and a gif of a wolf making AWOOGA eyes. They may feel that critique of their work is unwarranted, or that there's no point creating if no one will engage.

The romantics will engage with canon and fanwork from the perspective that "this is my fantasy romance time". Their OC isn't so much Original Character as Optimized Characteristics--that is, their perfect self. They are here for wish fulfillment fun times in the relative privacy and anonymity of the internet, and good for them! But that may mean that criticism of canon or their fan work feels excessively personal--it is very hard to detach the ego from the OC when that OC is a projection of your best self. They may view any critique as a personal attack as opposed to a good-faith attempt at engagement or conversation. This can lead to defensiveness, or to leaving the fandom outright if it feels too hostile.

Unfortunately all of these factions cause rifts in the community. This sometimes turns into fandom vigilantism, where people begin to see any fan who doesn't wholeheartedly agree with them as an enemy. I've seen friends experience bullying and cruelty over their OCs and their art. I've seen predators use the isolated nature of the fandom to further isolate and prey upon already vulnerable individuals. I've seen some really shitty stuff.

But I have also seen beautiful community flourish. I've made friends who feel more like family than my actual relatives. I've seen people work through struggles and overcome deliberate attempts to tear us apart, finding forgiveness and friendship along the way. I've seen myself and others grow because of the community and inspiration we found here. And I saw all of that because I found my people. And I hope, Arcana fandom, that the rest of you can find your people too.

[czteryd]

My guide to Internet warfare and taking back control

By which I mean minimizing screen time and wasting your life on making Zuckerber rich. Scrolling Instagram doesn't seem to be dangerous, but there is probably nothing less hurtful than wasting time of milliards of people on things they don't care about. Using willpower to work on this is a lie — you will need real weapons, technologies and strategy.

^this is the lost future you are fighting for. Technology can be good.

Remember, that wars are rarely won in a week, I am in trenches since last summer when i ditched my phone, when i say "It takes time" i mean 5–10 months. It is still hard, but the improvement is amazing.

This is a list of things I have been doing for more than a year that improved my life. Ranked with ease (EAS) + effectiveness (EFF) from 1 to 10.

It is still not perfect, but this is a warzone and you will adapt and not be allowed to surrender, soldier!

Remove the smartphone – 5 eas + 15 eff

Sorry. This is a military grade weapon that milliards of dollars are put into to make you waste your time as easily as you can. You can move forward with your phone, but nothing is as effective in taking control back during your commutes, breaks, walks and free time etc. and it is a very important part of learning to deal with stress without mindless scrolling and games. There is no real phone hacks to help you. We and the enemy know that timers don't work. If you can enable all enemy weapons with one switch it is not enough.

You will need a dumbphone or a custom rom to use this technique and stay in society.

It is not as hard as it sounds, actually you don't need it that much. Check out #dumbphone or r/dumbphones for inspiration and support. Me and many of my friends who done it as well don't look back.

Buuut i can't – 9 eas + 5 eff

Yes you can. But if you insist, still, buy a dumbphone or find one in the drawers and put your sim card there; carry them both. Now you can use the Internet only when you have wifi, but you can use offline maps, listen to downloaded music and watch downloaded movies, read pdfs etc. Check your email, bank, messages, memes at work or at home. You will regain control over walks, commutes and socialising. But if you still have any social apps, at home or during breaks, you are still cooked. It is still a very good first step to moving away from phone dependence.

Smartphone substitutes

Email, socials, work, school – all will now be done on a pc or a laptop. This is good. It allows you to distance yourself from stress, tiring family members, school, work and problems of others and engage with them only when you want to. It allows you to take a break. It is not your duty, to engage all the time and the ability to do so at your own pace is the biggest advantage you can get on the battlefield. If something important is going on — someone will call you, don't worry. Just inform others that WhatsApp is not a place to discuss emergencies.

Fun, music, reading – you will need to get a dumbphone that supports some music, pdf viewing, photos and maybe light web browsing, they do exist. Or just buy an mp3 player, some books and a notepad. An e-reader and a camera for the high tech soldiers. Y2K is back in fashion anyway, and you will be much cooler and people will start conversations. Having everything in one place was convenient, but, if it means having time–wasting hazards in your pocket, it is not worth it.

Libraries are here to support you on your journey.

Block the feed — 10 eas + 4 eff

Hopefully you got rid of your phone, the biggest danger now is your web browser.

Use LeechBlock to block or regulate access to the biggest dangers – youtube, instagram, fb, reddit. On the weak side it is no better than the timer in your phone, supportive, but not really effective and fills you with guilt. Guilt is bad.

On the strong side you will block all access, allow very rare and short usage, put as many defenses as you can, put blockades on your blockades. Your brain is very effective at overcoming barriers, but they need to be put in place.

It is the first step, but it is not enough to win the war. Real psychological effects will show only after months of usage and well adjusted settings that acknowledge how your brain works and as you adapt your barriers will need to adapt as well. On the flip-side it requires no real conscious work or wasting your willpower if your filters are good.

You will sometimes need to bend the rules, to fix something or watch a lecture or a tutorial or just for some well deserved Forgotten Vines Compilation. Remember to put them back in place later and spot the times where you never did — and do it then.

Warning: nerd shit! (3-6) eas + (7-10) eff

If your friends sent you a funny video — don't unlock the site to watch it. Use external software like MPV or VLC to watch this video using only the link, without getting rid of your defense line. This is easiest on a linux machine.

You also have the nuke – block websites on your router and gate settings. You will need the support of the rest of the war room members in your house to use it and it will cut access to actually useful things. But this is a war for your life and every sacrifice is worth it.

Block the biggest hazards — 6 eas + 9 eff

Sorry, but you will need to use some nerd tactics.

Shorts, reels, tik toks, explore, for you pages. They need to be blocked immediately and for good. No access, no overrides, no fiddling in options. LeechBlock browser addon will allow you to block specific pages with harder barriers. Do it and never change them.

They are the biggest danger and you know it. Your brain will not be mad if it won't get dopamine this way, it knows you would never find the perfect 1 minute video that would make you happy. The urge to scroll some shorts will go away real fast.

This will allow you to fight only the easier fights — against the normal infinite feeds.

UblockOrigin

Is a double edged sword. Removing ads makes your life on the internet easy and fun. It is only a good thing to a certain extent – our fight is to make some parts of the internet as hard and painful to use – but it will help you keep your sanity.

Use it to block the feed! Click on Ublock icon and use the little pipette to add a rule that blocks the infinite feed on webpages of your choice.

Select the area and click the blue button to create a rule on the main page. Now you will not be distracted with algorithmic content, but you are free to not block groups important for you or your work or still see notifications, messages and other functions.

Cons: sometimes your rules will break with time, you will need to make many of them. Removing ads from youtube is dangerous as the reward is easier to obtain, thus making the boobytrap more effective.

Don't use apps and don't use the browser. 10 eas + 6 eff

Minimize a chance of getting distracted while doing something else.

For messages, school and work remove the browser from the equation. Use desktop clients for messaging, microsoft office, Teams, email etc. They have exactly what you need and are often more convenient to use. No chance of opening Instagram in excel.

For social media and online entertainment use the browser, don't use the apps! You are going into the warzone, you will need the armor – Leechblock and other addons are here to help you. Time wasting apps are engineered to remove your personal defense – never use them.

No Screentime before coffee – 1 eas + 10 eff

This one is behavioral and requires actual brain work, but give yourself some time and it will give you great effects.

Do not check memes, messages, mail etc. before waking up. Easier said than done.

Going to school or work will be easier, waking up will be easier, you will start to eat and have more energy during the day.

It will require you to plan your day in advance, check the calendar and your plan for the day the night before. I never learned it as a child and it is very hard to work on it, but the effects on my psyche are immense.

If you got rid of your phone, you are halfway there. If you can remove your laptop from proximity of your bed — do it. If you have an ability to put your pc in a seperate room — it would be perfect, but not many are able to, including me.

Separate your working, from sleeping, from entertainment spaces, we worked on it during COVID soldier, don't forget your training.

Remove the noise — 1 eas + 4 eff

somewhat. You probably don't actually need podcasts and music to work, walk or sleep and regaining your ability to focus there is also important. Maybe substitute them with white/pink/brown noise at least sometimes, especially for brain heavy tasks this is very helpful to get work done in a reasonable amount of time. Blanket app is a good desktop noise generator that won't require the browser.

But I will not blame you if you won't, this is the least problematic part and humans have always met to do menial tasks while hearing others talk and many conditions are easier to live with some background noise.

Pick your allies

Internet is a meadow and a minefield. Place for art and support and knowledge filled with weapons designed to use you as an revenue generator. Watch content only from curated, quality places and people you follow. Never look at the algorithmic feed. Tumblr is a prime example of a site that can be your ally, but don't trust it – block the For You page.

don't lose your steam

Do not engage emotionally with things beyond your control. This was the twitter's weapon of choice. If you do not have the money or time to support a cause, you know about it and you know all your mutuals already support it – don't let the algorithm put it down your throat against your will.

Do not follow war hashtags, do not look at pages when you can see hate and violence against your will. Educate yourself, do as much as you can, follow people who inspire you and do real work, but allow yourself to move on if it is beyond your abilities or strength. Your local anarchist group will do more good in a month, than you reading political posts for years. If you honestly care – join them and focus on real work. If you can't contribute, just learn about it and move on. There will be more opportunities in the future and then we will need all your strength. This is the sad part of winning the war. Some sacrifices have to be made.

^you soon

Wish you luck soldiers. This is a fight worth fighting.

share your weapons of choice if you can and tell me about your experiences.

[deedala]

✨ weekly tag wednesday ✨

thanks for tagging me @heymacy @energievie and @mybrainismelted !! 💖

(disclaimer: there is presently a glitch with tumblr that only allows you to tag 5 people per line in your text posts. to remedy that, you can separate your tags into different lines as i have at the bottom of this post to ensure that everyone that's tagged knows they've been tagged!)

**

name: deanna

age: noel

your time zone: EST (or apparently EDT currently as its during daylight savings? when it goes from UTC-5 to UTC-4. Time is a construct.)

what do you do for work? i help color other peoples comics

do you have any pets? narp

what first drew you to this fandom? i had tried several times to watch shameless since it started but kept getting turned off by how gross frank was lmao. i really like cameron monaghan though and back in 2022 i was just in a good place (apparently) to finally push through (and skip!!) the gross frank shit and watch the show. i think i watched some of it. and then i went and just watched gallavich scenes on youtube? and then i went BACK and rewatched all of the actual show? over and over again lol. my love of cameron monaghan and shameless's vibe just finally clicked into place amen.

are you a morning person or a night owl? i guess moreso a night person since i suffer desperately from revenge bedtime procrastination. but also at the same time i dont like sleeping in very late either or itll feel like the whole day fucked. but also i wanna sleep for 9 hours.

what are your hobbies? tv and film enjoyer, drawing, reading, video games, being silly

how tall are you? 5'2" or 157cm (please help me reach the things on the top shelf)

if you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live? iceland? ireland? new zealand? ...really into lands ig

favorite color? mint green

favorite book? the masked empire by patrick weekes still holds this spot

favorite movie? the fall, the eagle, love and monsters, princess bride, the mummy, vampire academy

favorite fic? intro to quantum dating, cooperative gameplay, fine art of falling for you, love is a ballfield, none the wiser, two of your earth minutes, the menagerie, apotheosis, ma--*the microphone is forcibly removed from my hands*

favorite musical artist: chappell roan, cake, petey, dove cameron

what is your average screen time so far this week? thats none of my business

what's the first app you open in the morning? discord~

how long have you been on tumblr? 12.5 years

finally (and i know this one is hard) tell me a fun fact about yourself: i dunno if its a *fun* fact but i used to be a licensed cosmetologist. i know how to do all the things i just realized i hate interacting with customers and could not bear to carry on with that a career after about a year of it lol

and now i shall tag some precious nuggets who can play or simply accept this offering of a🫸 face squish 🫷😚 @darlingian @too-schoolforcool @michellemisfit @thepupperino @metalheadmickey @softmick @callivich @vintagelacerosette @squirrel-fund @creepkinginc @whatwouldmickeydo @gallawitchxx @mickeysgaymom @suzy-queued @crossmydna @gardenerian @mmmichyyy @tanktopgallavich @rereadanon @heymrspatel @the-rat-wins @iansw0rld @loftec @palepinkgoat @themarchg1rl @jrooc @thisdivorce @blue-disco-lights @sam-loves-seb @sickness-health-all-that-shit @samantitheos @lee-ow @sleepyfacetoughguy @transmickey @lingy910y @tsuga-of-mars @ardent-fox @purplemagpie @captainjowl @wehangout @mikhailoisbaby 💖💖💖

[neuroprincess]

Abbott Elementary - Melissa dating a foreigner (Headcanon)

Melissa Schemmenti/Reader

Classification: Fluff

Warnings: Alcohol consumption

Word count: +1000

- When she hears your accent for the first time, Melissa is delighted and immediately starts trying to guess where it's from, if she can't figure out the origin on her own she'll ask you personally. You are the new temporary teacher and are at the table talking with Janine when the woman, whom you have never talked to before, sits down next to you, scrapes her throat and with a hoarse voice asks "What's up? What part of the world did this angel fly from?"

- Curious, she will ask everything about your country, from history and culture to your favorite things, this is how you slowly get closer, learning about each other during lunch breaks while enjoying company and food. She is extremely excited to try the cuisine, even more so when you describe it;

- And the food is what brings you even closer together, she rarely invites people from work over to her home, but she has simply become obsessed with a couple of typical dishes you have brought, practically begging you to come over and teach her some. It's a nice evening, drinking wine and sharing recipes;

- It becomes routine to have these evenings, on Fridays you meet in her kitchen, alternating between Schemmenti family recipes, Italian ones and your own. After enjoying the meal you have cooked together there is nothing better than watching romantic comedy movies, playing board games, doing jigsaw puzzles, or simply having a good conversation while finishing a bottle of wine;

- On one of these evenings, while you are showing pictures of your respective families and having a good time telling stories, she leans over to pour you a third wine glass, laughing at a joke with funny words in your language, and loses balance falling on top of you, eye to eye, breathing unevenly, body and breath hot. In a millisecond Melissa's soft lips are on yours, in a gentle and tender kiss that soon becomes passionate, lustful;

- After that, you can be sure, she will officially ask you to date her. Two weeks after the first kiss/night, you are at another Friday dinner, this time is different, there are candles on the table, a rose in the center, Melissa has prepared your favorite dish and is wearing a red dress that highlights each curve of her. With a cheat sheet under the table, she is asking you to date her in your first language, some of the words come out funny but it's very cute and makes your heart melt watching her roll the tongue in pronunciation. Very nervous;

- If you have trouble with english she will make sure to help whatever you need, so dedicated that she spends hours redoing exercises and reading books together, teaching you tips and tricks. She also creates ludic games for practice, personalized cards with words that you have difficulty with or want to learn;

- And she will want to learn your language, it's cute when you find her using an app, repeating the pronunciation and writing down each new thing she learns, the redhead secretly uses a children's activity book to learn the basics, it's simple, didactic and with fun illustrations;

- You will have to learn Italian anyway, at least the basics to be able to communicate with her family. She is going to teach you the essentials, like good morning, greetings, basic questions, and, especially, swearing. All Schemmenti are dirty-mouthed and also like to swear in Italian, knowing how to swear defines survival within the family;

- She loves to find out little things about you and always wonders if some habits are cultural or just something unique to Y/N, curious about every aspect of you. When you speak expressions, in less than a week she starts using them, along with usual phrases and sayings. Melissa loves to learn about your culture's typical dishes, favorite songs, hobbies and dressing customs, and may or may not acquire some of your personality by osmosis without noticing;

- If you travel to your home country she will love to know everything, taking with her travel guides and an, by the way, inseparable dictionary, the teacher refuses to ask for help with the language because she wants to show you how dedicated and good she can be speaking the idiom... but at some point Mel will, after you let her screw around while locals talk fast or expressions she doesn't recognize. It's fun and cute;

- It's a culture shock if there doesn't have a local Football team , she will question ten times if you are sure until she finally accepts. But will support whatever other sports your country has, that's what she does as a big supporter of sports in general;

- She will try everything from tourist attractions to cuisine, you might imagine that restaurants would be her weakness, but no, she will be completely obsessed with little shops and fill a bag with souvenirs for herself, family and friends. Key chains, small decorations, T-shirts, in short, everything that can remind her of your trip will be bought;

- If you bring her to a farm or something similar, well, your girlfriend becomes a total cowgirl, she likes the idea of country life, taking care of animals, enjoying the view, the nature, and, if there are crops, feeling the freshness and the taste of natural food while cooking. Maybe in the future, at some point and with someone who wants the same thing as her, Melissa will consider living somewhere like this or at least having a country house to get a taste of this tranquility;

- Pictures, lots of pictures! She will register every moment and will for sure make a special album when returning to the US, frame some of them to put on the walls, maybe even put one in her wallet along with a copy of the first picture you took together;

- And on this return trip Mel plans to ask her to move in with her, there is a special copy of the key with a keychain placed in a velvet box and when you see it your heart skips a beat imagining being asked to marry her, but you both laugh at the misunderstanding. To be clear, she is probably using a dictionary for this too... and a lot of courage.

[vintagelacerosette]

Weekly tag game & procrastinate tag game

Thanks yall for the tag 🥰 Sorry I'm late😅

Macy @heymacy Evie @energievie Kaka @stocious

Deanna @deedala Alice @spookygingerr Lyds @ardent-fox

Lyle @kiinard Julia @blue-disco-lights Vey @look-i-love-u Jade @jademickian

Name: Myn

Age: 27

Your time zone: AEST

What do you do for work? Gov customer service with ppls licences, registrations & stuff

Do you have any pets? Doggy named Roxy

What first drew you to this fandom? I wanted a YouTube compilation

Are you a morning person or a night owl? Bit of both when I get my sleep schedule right lol. I can be a morning person lol but usually a night owl 😆

What are your hobbies? Drawing, painting, singing karaoke, reading fanfic

How tall are you? 151cm or 4'11

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live? Iceland or Finland give me a meadow side by the beach

Favourite colour? Pink 🌸🎀🩷

Favourite book? Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Favourite movie? Ahhh so hard to choose but I'll go with The Old Guard

Favourite fic?

Oh my goodness too many to choose from!! The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Ian Gallagher: An iconic fic favourite of all time tbh

Let the bodies do the talking: EMT Ian & emotionally repressed, but Soft Mickey. Slow burn & smut glore!

The cauldron born series: A magical Ian & Mickey falling in love

Favourite musical artist: Currently Sabrina Carpenter

What is your average screen time so far this week? Omg 12hours & 28 minutes??? 😅

What's the first app you open in the morning? Tumblr for y'all 🥰

How long have you been on tumblr? On a technicality, it's 13 bc I made my account in 2012, but spirituality it's 10 bc I wasn't active until 2014 lol

Finally (and i know this one is hard) tell me a fun fact about yourself: I was apart of a Filipino music concert as a kid Called Twinkle Twinkle Music Star. We sanf many songs like We will Rock You, Part of your world in DIY costumes. I had a duet Solo with a guy singing Somewhere Out There & I have the DVD of it haha.

rules: first celebrity, outfit, quote, and aesthetic pic on pinterest is your vibe

Omg it took so long to find a damn quote jeez

Not tagging anyone bc I'm late 😜

[suzy-queued]

Weekly Tag Wednesday

Thank you for the tags, @mmmichyyy @spookygingerr @deedala @stocious @energievie I really need this distraction today, so it's nice to take a few minutes to play along!

name: Deena

age: Two Noshos minus one

your time zone: EST

what do you do for work? I own a website design company. We cater to authors and publishers.

do you have any pets? Three cats and a snake

what first drew you to this fandom? I cruised by Tumblr from time to time looking at content for Hannibal, Voltron, Bill Hader, The 100, various stuff. And everywhere I looked, there were gifsets and photos of Ian and Mickey. It was like the internet was whispering to me that I should explore their story. So I started watching the show. And then I started reading the fanfic. And, let me tell you, the fic reeled me in like none I'd ever read before. I got so obsessed with reading all the amazing stories, and eventually decided to try writing myself.

are you a morning person or a night owl? Night owl by nature. Morning person out of necessity.

what are your hobbies? Fandom, first and foremost. Also hiking, playing card games, solving puzzles, cross stitching, stained glass, going to concerts, local history, geocaching, creating board games, collecting shiny things, papercrafts.

how tall are you? 5'5"

if you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live? In the same town where I currently live. It's my true home.

favorite color? Orange!

favorite book? "The Bottoms" by Joe Lansdale

favorite movie? I can't pick just one. The Sound of Music. Fight Club. Titanic. Pan's Labyrinth.

favorite fic? Oh, wow. All of them. But my comfort fics are: The Wedding Planner Ransom Silent as Sunlight The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Ian Gallagher OnlyFans

favorite musical artist: yungblud, grandson, Bring Me The Horizon, Alkaline Trio, Amigo the Devil

what is your average screen time so far this week? 2 hours 10 minutes

what’s the first app you open in the morning? Messaging, then Tumblr

how long have you been on tumblr? I got an account in 2012 to build custom landing pages for authors. But I started using it for myself in 2021.

finally (and i know this one is hard) tell me a fun fact about yourself: I'm going to meet Cameron Monaghan this weekend in Philly!

Tagging ... @francesrose3 @michellemisfit @creepkinginc @mikhailoisbaby @mybrainismelted @crossmydna @gallawitchxx @sam-loves-seb @grumble-fish

[mmmichyyy]

weekly tag wednesday ☁️

tagged by @heymacy @stocious @deedala @lingy910y !

name: michelle

age: 31

your time zone: pst

what do you do for work? i work at a small office doing mostly paperwork and customer service

do you have any pets? no

what first drew you to this fandom? never thought i'd be part of a fandom community but everyone here is so nice and welcoming so here i am!

are you a morning person or a night owl? night owl for sure

what are your hobbies? watching movies and tv shows lol

how tall are you? 5'3ish

if you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live? there are places i want to visit but i can't picture myself living anywhere else than where i am now

favorite color? purple

favorite book? anything written by haruki murakami

favorite movie? this is the hardest question anyone can ask me because there are so many categories of movies i like, but my top 4 on letterboxd right now is happy together, the farewell, marcel the shell with shoes on, ocean's eleven. (if anyone has letterboxd add me)

favorite fic? for gallavich - ian gallagher and all of his mistakes, intro to quantum dating, until it bleeds, geometric progressions (series), etc etc

favorite musical artist: phoebe bridgers, gracie abrams, mayday parade

what is your average screen time so far this week? there are some things that are best left unknown

what’s the first app you open in the morning? depends which notifications i see first

how long have you been on tumblr? i started using tumblr in 2011, stopped for a few years, then created this one in 2021

finally (and i know this one is hard) tell me a fun fact about yourself: this isn't fun but i'm lactose intolerant

tagging @gallawitchxx @thisdivorce @gardenerian @heymrspatel @spoonfulstar @sam-loves-seb @blue-disco-lights @crossmydna @whatthebodygraspsnot @metalheadmickey @callivich @sickness-health-all-that-shit @sgtmickeyslaughter @loftec @darlingian @jrooc @suzy-queued @mybrainismelted @creepkinginc @palepinkgoat @crestfallercanyon

[flutteragency]

Want to Build a Movie Ticket Booking App Like Fandango?

Historically, enjoying a film was not the effortless experience it is now. Viewers had to visit a cinema. At the venue, they frequently stood in lengthy queues to purchase tickets, particularly for blockbuster hits.

The old method offered no guarantees. It often left moviegoers empty-handed after hours of waiting. Now, a few taps on a screen can book prime spots for the latest blockbuster. It has turned a once-uncertain ritual into a swift, seamless experience.

Movie ticket booking has evolved. Fandango and BookMyShow lead this transformation, streamlining the cinema experience for all.

In 2021, the online movie ticket market was valued at $17.8 billion. It’s projected to hit $26 billion by 2027. This reflects a yearly growth of 6.52%.

Now’s your chance to launch a movie ticket app. The market is ready for the next Fandango. So, act quickly while cinephiles are eager to return to theaters.

What You’ll Learn Today:

Overview 

Key Features + Advanced Features

Steps to Develop

Best Practices of Privacy and Security 

Cost Breakdown for Developing a Movie Ticket Booking App

Challenges 

Monetization Strategies 

Key Features of a Movie Ticket Booking App like Fandango

User Registration & Profile Management: Fast sign-ups and sign-ins draw users through email, social media, and mobile. Expert Flutter developers ensure easy sign-ups, converting newcomers to regulars. A beautiful app design first attracts users and then keeps them coming back.

Real-Time Movie Listings & Showtimes: Display up-to-the-minute showtimes with integrated movie databases. Users can filter by location, genre, or language, finding exactly what they want. 

Interactive Seat Selection: Let users select their preferred seats effortlessly with real-time availability displayed on an interactive map. A simple yet essential feature for an enhanced booking experience.

Payment Gateway Integration: offers secure payment options for easy checkout. Use credit cards, e-wallets, and UPI. Skilled Flutter developers can integrate these payment gateways for safe, simple transactions.

Push Notifications: Send timely alerts about bookings, upcoming movies, and promos to keep users engaged. Expert Flutter developers can ensure your push notifications are both relevant and engaging, keeping users connected.

Social Media Integration: Enable users to share their bookings and reviews across social platforms, driving organic promotion for your app. With the right Flutter expertise, you can build seamless social media integration to enhance user engagement.

In-App Movie Trailers & Details: Show movie trailers, descriptions, cast details, and user reviews to help users make informed decisions. A great user interface, made with top mobile app development services, can improve the movie selection experience.

Multi-Language & Multi-Currency Support: Hire Flutter app developers. They can easily add support for multiple languages and currencies. This will expand your user base.

Loyalty Programs & Discounts: Reward Offer discounts to boost engagement. A thoughtfully designed loyalty program can help retain customers and encourage repeat usage.

Customer Support & Feedback: Add chatbots or 24/7 live support for user queries and feedback. Seamless customer support boosts app value, keeping users satisfied and engaged.

Must-Have Advanced Features

Geolocation & Theater Finder: Use the current location to find nearby theaters. It will help users catch the next show.

Food and Beverage Pre-Order: Allow users to pre-order snacks and drinks when booking tickets. This lets them skip the concession line and enjoy the movie.

Seat Reservation Reminder: Send timely notifications to remind users of their reserved seats, ensuring they don’t miss out on their movie experience.

Event and Show Integration: Expand beyond movies. Offer bookings for concerts, live shows, and sports events. This will give users more entertainment options.

A 7-Step Guide to Develop a Movie Ticket Booking App like Fandango

Step 1: Market Research & Competitor Analysis

Research Existing Apps: Analyze Fandango, BookMyShow, and Atom Tickets. Understand their features and user engagement strategies.

Identify Gaps: Find areas where these platforms fall short. Focus on user experience and unique features your app can offer.

Consult with Experts: Work with top mobile app developers. They can share trends and strategies.

Step 2: Define App Requirements & Features

Feature List: Create a list of essential features. Include real-time booking, interactive seat selection, and various payment options.

MVP vs. Full App: Decide whether to launch a Minimal Viable Product (MVP) with core features or a full app.

User Stories: Create user personas and scenarios. They will guide feature prioritization and align with user needs.

Step 3: Choose the Right Technology Stack (Recommended by us, not limited to)

Step 4: App Development

Backend Development: Build the backend to manage user accounts, movie listings, bookings, and payments efficiently.

Frontend Development: Design user-friendly features like movie search, seat selection, and booking confirmations for a smooth experience.

Step 5: Integrating APIs

Movie Database API: Connect APIs like TMDb for real-time movie info and showtimes.

Payment Gateway: You can simplify payment acceptance by connecting secure gateways like Stripe or PayPal. This makes the process smooth and safe for everyone involved.

Geolocation: This feature so users can find nearby theaters.

Step 6: Testing & Quality Assurance

Functional Testing: Make sure key features like bookings and payments function perfectly.

Performance Testing: Check if the app can handle high traffic smoothly.

Security Testing: Guarantee data protection and compliance with security standards.

Step 7: App Launch & Deployment

Prepare for Launch: Before submitting the app to the stores, create a marketing strategy. Use social media, email campaigns, and press releases.

Monitor Feedback: After launch, track user feedback and analytics. Use them to improve the user experience.

Best Privacy and Security Practices for Movie Ticket Apps

A movie ticket app must secure user data, especially payment info. Prioritizing privacy and security builds trust. It also ensures compliance with GDPR and CCPA.

Data Encryption: Data travels through SSL/TLS encryption in a secure manner. Once stored, AES safeguards it at rest. This dual approach shields sensitive information throughout its lifecycle, from transmission to storage.

Secure Authentication: Secure sign-ins leverage OAuth 2.0 and Firebase Authentication. These systems use multi-factor authentication and password hashing. They protect user access with advanced security protocols.

Compliance with Privacy Regulations: We comply with GDPR and CCPA. We let users access, modify, or delete their data. We also use opt-in consent for data collection.

Secure Coding: Our dev team follows secure coding standards to prevent SQL injection and XSS. We conduct regular code reviews and penetration tests.

Regular Security Audits: We run frequent security audits and monitor the app. This addresses risks and keeps it safe.

Data Minimization: Essential data collection minimizes breach risks. Role-based access control restricts user authorization and safeguarding information. Our streamlined approach balances security and efficiency.

These practices protect user data. They create a trusted, safe environment for booking movie tickets.

Also Read: How to Build a Cost-Effective OTT App Like Hulu?

Cost of Developing a Movie Ticket Booking App

An elevated cost doesn’t necessarily indicate superior quality. You might pay more for a team with a strong portfolio. Yet, if they lack the right skills for your project, you won’t get the needed quality. So, check your team’s skills and experience first. Ask if they’ve built apps like yours before. Do they have expertise in security, user experience, or cloud integration? By assessing your team’s abilities, you can ensure good quality, no matter the cost.

Ticket booking apps vary in price. A single-platform version costs $10,000 to $30,000. Multi-platform options can reach $45,000. For precise Fandango-like app estimates, consult leading mobile developers such as Flutter Agency. Costs vary based on features, design complexity, and platform choices.

Challenges of Developing a Movie Ticket Booking App

Real-time Data Synchronization: Handling real-time updates for seat availability, showtimes, and bookings can be complex and requires reliable backend support.

Secure Payment Processing: Ensuring secure and fast transactions for diverse payment methods is crucial for user trust and satisfaction.

Scalability for High Traffic: We must manage server loads during peak times, like blockbuster releases. This is vital to app performance and user experience.

Compliance with Industry Regulations: It is vital to follow regional guidelines. This is true when operating in global markets with varying legal requirements. Monetization Strategies for Movie Ticket Booking Apps like Fandango

Service Fees on Ticket Sales: A service fee for booking through the platform can create a steady revenue stream.

Promotional Partnerships: Collaborating with theaters, movie distributors, and event organizers can enhance offerings and provide additional income opportunities.

In-App Advertising: Showcasing ads for upcoming movies, events, and brands allows for additional monetization without impacting user experience significantly.

Premium Features: Offering early access to tickets, special discounts, or VIP seat bookings can entice users to pay extra for enhanced experiences.

Revenue from the Food and Beverage Orders: Commission from F&B pre-orders through the app can supplement ticket sales and enhance user convenience.

Start Building a Movie Ticket App Today!

Join us to explore the steps for launching your movie ticket booking app successfully!

Let's Discuss

Bring Your Movie Ticket Booking App to Life

The success of a movie ticket booking app primarily depends on one core factor: its ability to deliver a premium user experience. And working with an experienced development team like ours at mobile app development agencies ensures that that happens.

We’re a premium app development company that builds 100% customizable tech solutions meeting the highest quality standards so that your movie ticket booking app users get nothing but the best experience.

[astra-galaxie]

Hello again! Do you have any modern day Flying Squad (MOTP) headcannons? No pressure!

It seems that my Mysteries of The Past skills are being tested! Modern-day headcanons for the Flying Squad… Hmm…🤔 Good question! Here’s what I have for if the Flying Squad existed in the present timeline!

Argo

He still uses his crutches but is also an ambulatory wheelchair user. Like his crutches, Jason customized his boyfriend’s wheelchair to fit his style. He also made Argo interchangeable wheel covers to match his outfits, holidays, and other occasions

He loves doing underwater photography. He takes some of the most beautiful pictures of life under the sea

Would dress very androgynously. To Argo, clothing does not have a gender. If he likes how they look on him and they make him comfortable, he’ll wear them

Would have a secret YouTube account where he does covers of songs. He never shows his face on camera, but those close to him know about the account and are subscribed to it

Maddie

She was a party girl in high school to rebel against her mother. She toned down after joining the police academy, but she still loves a good party from time to time

Her mother STILL tries to set her up with men. She even once went as far as making Maddie accounts on multiple dating apps until Maddie learned of her meddling and made her delete them

Since travelling is more accessible, unlike in her original timeline, Maddie can visit her extended family in Ireland and, therefore, also has a basic understanding of Gaelic

She is still a major car person and knows a lot about mechanics. She’s also competed in racing events and is a fan of Lily Karam

Isaac

He is a chess champion and competed in The World Chess Championship. He didn’t win, but he placed high on the scoreboard

He returns to New Orleans every year to celebrate Mardi Gras with his family and visit his brother’s grave

He collects and carves pipes. Even though he quit smoking in this timeline, he’s always admired the elegance of a smoking pipe and enjoys carving it. He sells them at craft fairs after he’s accumulated enough

He tried Equine Therapy to get over his phobia of horses. It wasn’t completely successful, but he can at least be near relaxed horses without having a panic attack

Arthur

He used to be a professional classical violinist before becoming a police officer. Is a member of the local orchestra alongside Dick

He is friends with other Police Chiefs like Samual King, Andrea Marquez and Diane Parker

He is still considered “a sophisticated gentleman” by his friends and coworkers. (Some call him a boring old-fashioned snob.) But despite his gentlemanly persona, Arthur isn’t narrow-minded. He is an avid supporter of human rights and people being themselves, even if he might not understand some identities

He is a tea expert. He has an extensive collection and can find the perfect blend for even the biggest anti-tea drinkers

Dick

With the advances in science compared to the late 19th century, his self-experimenting would be even crazier. If he and Lars Douglas were to meet, chaos (and explosions) would be sure to follow!

He still goes by the nickname “Dick” because he feels it represents him better than others like Rick. Also, it annoys Arthur, and that’s always a positive

He volunteers at the local children’s hospital. When it comes to entertaining children to help them temporarily forget their pain, Dick knows the best jokes, pranks and magic tricks!

He’s written several papers on his experiments and a few books. He also writes a popular murder mystery series that is praised for its accuracy thanks to his work as a coroner and consulting Viola and Rose

Viola

She would still be an actress in plays but had minor roles in movies and TV shows when she was younger. Also dabbled in voice acting

She owns some luxury items like jewelry and purses but also loves thrift hunting for hidden gems. She customizes some of her finds to fit her style better, but most she keeps in their original condition and simply mixes and matches/accessories to make new outfits

Instead of finding out by accident, Viola’s parents told her the truth about her biological father when they thought she was old enough to understand why they lied to her. Viola was hurt and confused by the confession, but she learned to forgive them for the secrecy and didn’t seek out her biological father, unlike in the original timeline

She is working on developing her own line of makeup and perfumes. Her teammates give her feedback on the products, and some model the makeup for her to see how they look on different skin tones

Rose

Her prosthetic arm would be more advanced and have secret features. But it would maintain its robotic look since Rose thinks it looks cooler than a more realistic one

She still has a rat named Ratsputin. She’s always been a fan of “weird” pets and is more drawn to them compared to “traditional” pets since most people shun them

She’s a gambler and loves visiting Paradise City to gamble at the casinos. She’s met and gambled against Frank and Karen Knight on countless occasions, and the three became gambling buddies

She’s met other weapons experts like Jonah Karam, Rita Estevez, and Jacob Arrow due to her underground work (therefore, she knows the supernatural exists but keeps it a secret)

Evie

In high school and college, she worked a summer job at the library

She and Nicolas loved dressing up in twin-themed costumes for Halloween

Diego gave Evie her first Lesbian pride flag and took her to her first pride parade. She was too scared and shy to go before, but Diego managed to convince her to give it a try. Evie had a blast and couldn't wait for the next one!

Like Dick, Evie writes books of various genres (romance, mystery, fantasy, etc.), but unlike him, she does so under a pseudonym. She also writes fanfiction online

Charlie

Would be an engineer but invent new/strange things on the side

He’s always up to date on the latest technology. He might not be classified as a tech expert, but he still knows his way around a computer!

While he loves modern technology, he also collects vintage and retro tech. His favourites are video game consoles and music players

Not sure what his connection to Armand and Alessia would be… Maybe a cousin? Or possibly Alessia’s brother?

Diego

Runs an anonymous art blog on Tumblr and also has accounts on other sites like Instagram and Patreon

Would still be a thief but wouldn't steal art for his own collection since he wants art history to be preserved

Attends annual pride parades and festivals. He drags the Squad along to them and makes sure everyone dresses the part

Similar to Argo, clothing does not have a gender to Diego. He’ll wear what makes him comfortable, confident, and good-looking, even if it's not considered “masculine”

I think that’s all I have for now for modern-day headcanons for the Flying Squad! This was fun to do since I got to bring the Squad into the same timeline as the other teams! I always wonder what it would have been like if we met the Flying Squad at some point during Travel in Time and got to interact with them instead of just “reading” about their adventures in Mysteries of The Past…

Thank you for the ask!

[hlficlibrary]

hello, can you recommend stories were they are texting with each other but don’t know that it’s the other one. (Something like “after hours” by velvetoscar) Thank you

Hi, anon! I can think of a few for you now! If you'd like a full rec of them, please check out the "Suggestion Box" on the pinned post!

blend into my favourite colour by rainbowninja167 / @rainbowtitania

Harry often wonders if they’ll ever meet in real life. And if Harry will recognize Tommo the instant they see each other, like somehow their souls will just know. Or maybe Harry’s soul is shouting “Louis!” too loudly for any other signals to go through.

Harry is a barista with a secret Werewolf High fan blog, a desperate crush on a customer named Louis, and a best friend on Tumblr who always makes him laugh. Louis can't figure out why the barista at his favorite coffee shop keeps creepily staring at him, and to make matters worse, he may be slightly in love with a friend he met online.

A love square involving two boys, one TV fandom, and one food fight.

Your secret's safe with me by lightswoodmagic / @lightwoodsmagic

He knew almost everything about Haz, considered him his best friend. He knew his favourite movies and books, how he liked his coffee, knew how many pets he had and what he was most afraid of. Louis knew how to calm him down when he was panicking, and that he’d lost his virginity to his ex-boyfriend when he was 17. He knew that Haz had curly hair, green eyes, that he was tall and considered himself slightly awkward. He knew his Instagram account that only had aesthetic pictures or ridiculous jokes, but in the all the time that Louis had known him, he’d never learnt, or been allowed to know, Haz’s full name, what he sounded like, or what he looked like.

Louis didn't care.

Or, when Louis' favourite singer comes back and announces he's performing again, him and the rest of his group chat decide to go. When Haz, the man Louis' fallen in love with without meeting him, says that he can't, Louis tries his best to convince him with a drunken phone call, hearing his voice for the first time. It's not until he's at Royal Variety that he swears he can hear it again.

You Were Mine by brightlyharry / @brightlyharry

Harry and Louis hardly speak to each other unless they're fighting. Harry has ran out of ways to try to repair their broken marriage and Louis can't be bothered to even try. When the loneliness becomes too much, he joins a new social media app. It doesn't take him long to make a new friend on there that helps pull him out of his solitary hell. The more they talk, the more Harry finds comfort in his anonymous friend. He is smiling and laughing again for the first time in months.

He soon discovers that Louis is smiling again too, and it's not because of him.

[slothquisitor]

Invisible String: Chapter Four

A Baldur’s Gate III Modern AU.

Chapter Summary: In which both Liv and Astarion learn something new about each other. And I make my case that Gale would love Kafka.

Read from the beginning.

Read on AO3.

__________________________________________________________

It’s a beautiful day in Baldur’s Gate, and Astarion hates it. The autumn sunshine is out in full force, and the leaves are just beginning to turn. Summer wears on him, the long sun-filled days a constant reminder of everything he’s lost and can’t have. Winter is easier. Not only does he prefer the fashion of a good winter coat, the days are much shorter and darker, it’s almost easier to pretend he’s not a vampire spawn. 

But they’re not there yet, so he spends the daylight hours pacing the empty apartment and wishing Liv was here to provide some measure of entertainment. He’s not sure when he went from avoiding her to looking forward to her being home, but it happened sometime between morning chats and movie night. 

Books>People has been largely quiet today, and he finds he misses that too. He can’t quite be productive because he keeps checking his phone, willing a message to come through. He’s ‘working’ when one finally does, though today that seems to involve more mindless scrolling of Chirper than actual work. 

Books>People: Is there a point where one ever gets used to seeing a man passed out over a trash bag full of spaghetti on the evening commute? 

FangtasticLover: Is there a point where you want to be the type of person used to seeing a man passed out over a trash bag full of spaghetti on the evening commute?

Books>People: Is that the Baldur’s Gate sanity test? 

FangtasticLover: Yes, that and knowing that you never go to Wyrm’s Crossing on a summer Saturday. 

Books>People: Good to know. I learn things about this new city of mine every day. 

FangtasticLover: Wait, you’re new to the city? 

There’s a pause then at his question. There is some sort of unspoken agreement between them, they don’t ask identifying questions. They are happy to banter and tease each other, but they don’t delve deeper than that. He likes it that way. He likes that she wants to know his opinion on movies and books and that she wants to know if he’s having a good day or not. It’s all surface level, all comfortable. There’s a reason he cuts these connections off before it can turn into anything more. 

Books>People: I thought my surprise at subway spaghetti man revealed that.

FangtasticLover: It didn’t. How do you like it?

Books>People: I still feel like I’m learning it, but I love the way it feels almost alive all the time. The bells ringing in Old Town are my favorite. Do you like living here? 

FangtasticLover: I’ve never really lived anywhere else. 

Books>People: A true local! You’ll have to teach me your Baldurian ways. 

FangtasticLover: Ugh. First, you want my gold-digging techniques and now you want me to show you the local customs?

Books>People: And I better still be getting all your mind flayer erotica recommendations too. 

He smiles at the joke from their first conversation. She does that a lot, these little things she refers back to that already feel like theirs. It makes him want to pay attention to follow these invisible strings weaving between them. Perhaps that’s why he is so lost when he cuts someone off on the app, the severing of those fragile threads must be like a wound. But he’s good at surviving those. 

FangtasticLover: Where’s your favorite place in the city so far?

Books>People: There are  a few good places, but that one pedestrian bridge just south of the Wide is pretty spectacular. I was there today with a friend. 

FangtasticLover: I know the place. Great views. But you have friends beyond me? I’m hurt.

Books>People: Oh is that what we are? Friends? I thought of you more as my gold-digging-dating-app-pocket-comrade.

FangtasticLover: That’s a lot of words for friend, but sure, if that’s how you want to talk about me to other people.

Books>People: Awfully presumptuous to assume that I talk about you to other people.

FangtasticLover: *Did* you tell your friend about me?

Books>People: Maybe. Would you prefer I didn’t?

Astarion smiles. She definitely told her friend about him. There’s something about knowing she might have that lights up something within his chest. She doesn’t even know his name, and he doesn’t know hers either but the idea that she might be telling someone about their conversations makes it all more real somehow. He’s not sure how he feels about that, how he should feel about that. 

FangtasticLover: I don’t mind at all. Just nice to know I’m being thought of even when we’re not messaging.

Books>People: At least every now and again, pocket comrade.

Later that night, when his nighttime wanderings take him across the city he knows so well, he finds himself on that bridge. The lights of Baldur’s Gate twinkle in the night, brighter than any stars. He snaps a picture on his phone of the skyline, and sends it to Books>People without a second thought. No comment, just the picture. 

Books>People: Wow, it’s even better at night. Were you just passing through or did you go all the way there to think of me?

FangtasticLover: Why not both?

This is why he likes the Weave. The way it collapses the distance between him and other people, but always within his control. He likes that he stands here on this bridge in the same place she was earlier today. He wonders what other spaces they’ve shared, knowing even now, he wouldn’t be able to pick her out of a crowd. 

Sometimes, he worries that he only likes people in the abstract. More in love with the distance than any connection he could make. He feels made up of only jagged edges that will never quite fit without wounding. He’s sure he wasn’t always like this, but years upon years of abuse and violence drown out the other memories. There is the before and the after, but the before feels slick, like trying to grasp at water. Now he’s just a jumble of memories and an after that he can’t quite navigate.

Books>People: Where’s your favorite place in the city? 

He doesn’t respond, not yet. Instead, he leaves the bridge and jumps on the train, riding it to the oldest part of Baldur’s Gate where the university crouches, its spires lit up against the dark navy of the sky. As he walks the empty cobblestone paths, he is filled with a certain wistfulness. This is the only place in the city that feels untouched by the passage of time. It’s the only place he thinks he might be able to forget the years spent beneath Cazador’s thumb. He snaps a picture of his favorite building, the large domed library beside the tall tower of the nearby tabernacle. The photo makes the stone buildings look more buttery orange than they are, but the sky is darker too, and it’s like the buildings are aglow. He sends it off. Her response is immediate. 

Books>People: That is coincidentally my other favorite place in the city. 

FangtasticLover: Oh? 

Books>People: Well, it is a library. 

***

It begins with him. With his pictures that night, and it’s like he’s crossed an invisible threshold of their relationship, and now they send little pieces of themselves back and forth across their days. Small things: a coffee order or the cover of a book. But to Liv, it feels like a window. He feels more real now like showing the city back to her has sharpened his outline. She looks for him everywhere now as if she might find him in a crowd. 

But she doesn’t bring up meeting. There’s a comfortability to this, to the way they spend their days messaging. She is grateful for this connection, for having someone she feels like she can talk to, even if it is mostly meaningless. She worries about breaking the spell, at pushing whatever this is along too quickly toward their inevitable demise. And it will be a demise, that much she is sure of. 

And yet, with every message from him that comes through, she hopes a little bit harder. For what exactly, she’s still not sure. 

When she gets home from work on Wednesday afternoon, she’s surprised to find Astarion working in the living room. She catches a glance at his laptop screen while she deposits her bag in her room only to find the man has a truly ungodly number of tabs open on his computer. 

“Everything alright?” she asks, stepping back out into the kitchen. 

He sighs. “I’m trying to capitalize on a particularly viral meme while one of the stupidest patriars in the city held a press conference dressed in a suit that looks like it came from his grandmother’s attic. And not in the nice antique way…literally it looks like it was made for a woman thirty…fifty years ago…?”

Liv sinks down on the other end of the couch. “Is it like a marketing thing to capitalize on a meme?”

Astarion looks up at her from the glow of his laptop with confused disdain. “Marketing?”

“That’s what Gale said you did?” Liv says, suddenly mistrusting her memory of that initial conversation about Astaron. She feels like a bit of an asshole now because he’s mentioned working but hasn’t talked about it much if at all, but she’s talked about her job plenty. She’s lived with him for almost two weeks now, and is it really possible she doesn’t know anything about his fucking job?

Astarion’s answering laugh is high-pitched and delighted. “Karlach would tell people I’m ‘in marketing’. I owe her a drink.”

Liv has seen enough of Astarion not to be overly concerned that whatever he does will be a deal-breaker, but she is wondering if it’s strictly legal at this point. “Okay, so what do you do then?”

“Oh, I’m the GlamReaper, darling,” he says with a slight giggle bubbling out of him. 

It takes her a moment to remember why that would be familiar to her. Then it dawns on her. “The guy who roasts badly dressed men on Chirper?” 

He grins. “You’ve heard of me.”

“Yeah, you’re pretty popular on the internet…this isn’t information you typically lead with? It seems like a tidbit you’d be sharing with most people you meet,” Liv replies. Astarion loves attention, that much she’s figured out in the past two weeks. 

He clicks his tongue. “Judgy.”

It’s her turn to sigh. “I didn’t mean to make it sound like such a bad thing…you’d just think that you’d want people to know that about you.”

Astarion shrugs. “Anonymity is part of the job; it’s why it works.” 

“Don’t you have like a million followers?” 

“1.2, but who’s counting? And nearly half of them have tagged me in a video of this ridiculous patriar so my notifications are a mess.”

Liv considers what it might be like to have over a million people choosing to listen to what you might say at any given moment. “How do you manage to post anything knowing that many people will see it?”

“Easily,” Astarion says, pushing publish on his post to prove it. “There’s money involved, after all.”

“That’s…wild to me. Do you like it?”

He considers that, seemingly surprised at her question. “I’m quite good at it, so…yes. But I do like other aspects of my job a bit more. The virtual closet consulting is a bit more fun these days, actually.”

“Well, I live with the GlamReaper, who’d have thought?”

He pushes the laptop away and twists in his seat so that they’re facing each other properly. “It is something I’d prefer you not broadcast though.”

She rests her elbow on the back of the couch, propping her head on her hand. “Your secret is safe with me.” She means it. 

He looks like he believes her. “I…appreciate that.”

She scrubs a hand down her face. “I feel like an asshole for not knowing your job when I’ve told you at length about mine.”

“Are you looking to make it up to me?” He leans in toward her, flashing a grin that tells her he’s not truly bothered but willing to take advantage of it anyway. 

This close she can see the ruby red of his eyes and the fine lines in the corners. She’s not entirely sure of his age, but he feels older than her and probably has an enviable skin care routine. “That entirely depends on what you want.”

He taps his chin exaggeratedly in mock seriousness. “How about we just settle on a future favor?”

“That feels ominous,” she replies. But she knows she’s going to agree because he’s her roommate, and of course she’d do him a favor any time. Assholery or not. “But sure. A future favor it is.”

“Excellent. How were the books today?” 

Liv smiles. “As always, better than people.” He looks a bit confused at her statement, so she presses on. “The library is looking for a new exhibit for the spring, and I’m thinking of writing a proposal for it.”

“About?”

“I want to do something to show off the archives and all of the cool and rare things we have there, but also something that would be interesting to library patrons. I was thinking of an exhibit on the editing process. We have some really rare manuscripts and unpublished works marked up by the authors.”

He considers that for a moment. “That does sound marginally interesting.”

She sighs. “It will need to be more than marginally interesting to win out. I’m pretty sure Gale has a true winner with his idea for a Kafka exhibit. He wants to bring in actual bugs.”

“Kafka? Really?”

Liv shrugs. “Gale loves him.”

“I have only ever heard about Gale from Karlach, but he would.”

Liv laughs. “Kafka did want his work burned after his death rather than actually shared with the world, but after he died, his literary executor still published it. There’s an interesting moral quandary to explore there.”

“If you say so,” Astarion replies. “Your idea sounds more interesting than that.” The way he says it, voice dropped lower, filled with a certainty she doesn’t quite feel in herself makes her cheeks warm. 

Suddenly, it’s hard to look at him, and she looks down instead at the stretch of couch between them. “Thanks.”

***

Astarion is enjoying a rare evening home, alone. According to the shared calendar he still hasn’t bothered adding anything to, Liv is at dinner with her library coworkers in what sounds like the most boring dinner party imaginable. He’d been looking forward to having the apartment to himself for the evening. He and Liv have been spending most evenings together watching Crown of Shadows , and while enjoyable, sometimes it’s nice to be able to just be alone at night drinking blood without worrying about an audience.

Books>People hasn’t messaged him back in over an hour, so he half watches, half scrolls his phone while a movie he pressed play on and then promptly forgot the name of drones in the background. 

He’s surprised at how empty the apartment feels without Liv in it. She’s only been here about two weeks, but already her presence has become a sort of fixture of the place. He likes having her around. She’s easy to be around, and seems happy, if a bit bemused, to give him her undivided attention whenever he asks for it. Beyond her work though, he knows so very little about her. But she’s not home, and her room is open, and well, he could just poke around a little bit. Couldn’t he?

She’d never know. 

He doesn’t bother stopping the movie as he pockets his phone and approaches the darkened threshold of her room. From the light of the kitchen, he can see her neatly made bed with no less than three blankets draped over the duvet. She��s a rather tidy person, he’s gathered, and her room doesn’t look anything like his often cluttered, strewn about one. 

It’s bad form to go into her room and through her things, and he knows he’d be furious if she did the same to him, but the thought doesn’t stop him. He steps forward full of confidence and curiosity, and headlong into….well something quite solid. 

He can’t enter her room. 

He presses his hands up against the invisible barrier blocking him, full of confusion. “But I own the entire apartment!” He exclaims this to the empty air, not sure who exactly he’s talking to. 

He petulantly kicks the barrier, which does nothing beyond earning him a sore foot before returning to the couch and his movie. Well, it seems that he won’t be unrepentantly going through Liv’s things until she invites him into her room. That ought to be easy enough to orchestrate. He’s ignoring his movie while thinking through how to make that happen when his phone finally pings. 

Books>People: What movie did you settle on? Sorry for the delay, was out to dinner with some coworkers. 

He stares at her message for several moments. That’s odd…Liv is out to dinner with coworkers tonight too. Oh fucking hells. No, no, no, no, no. This can’t possibly be happening. It must be a coincidence. He fires off a text immediately. 

FangtasticLover: I’m unsure if I should offer encouragement or condolences. I guess that depends entirely on what you and your coworkers do.

She told him she worked for the university once…and…and now he remembers what Liv had said earlier…about liking books more than people. No. This isn’t happening. But no response arrives…for several whole minutes. 

Books>People: I think most people would assume that a dinner with a group of archivists would be boring, but we made do.

He reads the message through at least three times before tossing his phone on the couch and jumping up and away from it as if it’s a snake poised to strike. He begins pacing the room, mind filtering through possibilities. Perhaps it’s not Liv…maybe it’s just someone she works with. Oh hells, it’s not Lae’zel is it? She had been in the apartment once, so the app might have clocked their proximity. For all he knows Liv doesn’t even use the app. But Books>People had said she was new to the city. 

Oh gods. Oh gods. This is bad . 

Or is it? He’ll just sever the connection, go about his life and never tell her a damn thing. It’s fine. It’s absolutely fine. Nothing needs to change here and he gets to keep his roommate and not make things weird. It’s a win-win. 

It hasn’t even been two weeks since he matched with her, but the thought of cutting that connection off, of losing the ability to talk to Books>People. He doesn’t like that. Ugh. It’s a coincidence. Probably. 

He’s not going to panic. Not right now. When she gets home he’ll simply send a message to Books>People and if Liv’s phone goes off, he’ll know. That’s all. It’s fine.

The door to the apartment opens, and he stares at it, unmoving from his place standing in the middle of the living room. Liv walks in dressed in a dark green wool coat, frowning at her phone before looking up. 

“Oh, hey.”

He strides over to the couch, as if he had simply been on his way back instead of uselessly pacing the room. “Hi.”

He picks up his phone. And types out a message. 

FangtasticLover: Archivists? Well, that does sound dreadfully dull.

He presses send and doesn’t look away from Liv as she hangs her coat in the hall. The passing seconds feel like an eternity, and for a moment, he believes that it might have been long enough that he’s safe. It is a coincidence. But then her phone vibrates on the table. 

 No, no, no, no no. NO. But he knows, and no amount of denial will make it go away. Books>People is his fucking roommate. 

He can’t do this, not right now. So the moment she’s in the kitchen proper he strides right out of the apartment without another word.

[navyismycolor]

What do people mean these days when they say "i dont need anyone, I can live my life all by myself"?

I dont quite get it, you know.

Because today, we live in a socio-economic setup where you order your groceries on an app. You pay your bills through automated banking. You book your holidays through a customized website. Your next movie is lined up on Netflix, and your next curated playlist is ready on Spotify. You can call your family for free anytime on Whatsapp. And you can swipe right and hookup with someone you will abrely remember the name of on Tinder.

Is this what people are calling "living life all by themselves"?

Because from where I am seeing, it seems like never before in the history of humanity has so much convience been brought to the tips of your fingers through the hard work of countless invisible humans, and yet given you the hubris of claiming that you dont anyone to go through your days.

How many of these so called radically independent people would survive if you just took away their internet connection?

All these facilities that today people take for granted used to require human interaction back when there were no screens to hide the human need for mutual dependance. Needing each other to survive and improve our lives was what we did as humans, it was not "codependence", it was the foundation of constructive society.

Today, perhaps for the first time in human history, we have the opportunity to connect with someone purely for who they are, and what kindness, empathy and enrichment they bring to our lives instead of serving a survival purpose. And yet, we choose to waste that luxury by tucking ourselves safely behind the walls we have built around ourselves.

Are you sure you are not masquerading your trauma and trust issues behind the bravado of independence?

[thephoebeyates]

≈ novelty book store. with @somcthingliminal

“You know, I don’t necessarily mind movie-book covers, but a few of them are a bit…well, much.” It was the nicest way for Phoebe to describe what most literary folks would describe abominations to the art-form, scrolling through her Kindle phone app to show Nydia what she had in mind. Who knew a by-chance crossing of paths in the same block they lived in would be the cultivation needed for what Phoebe could consider a tight friendship? It was nice to have friends with similar interests; sure there was Dante and Linc when it came to music — even if it was overshadowed by the drama of their own relationship — and despite the age difference, Saul was her go-to when it came to certain trash reality TV. But truly there was no better connection to books than that of someone who literally owned a store dedicated to the craft.

“Oh, never mind. It was some rom-com one anyway.” She let out a huff of defeat, sliding the phone in the back-pocket of her jeans, before leaning against the counter in her usual position, able to yap a t the shop-owner without disrupting the other customers. “Actually, there’s worse ones out there that aren’t movie ones…have you seen the Wordsworth Classics? They look AI Generated.” Though she stopped from pulling out her phone a second time, though at that moment it did buzz in her pocket, but paid it no mind for now. 

Letting the silence consume her for a second, Phoebe looked around, letting the comfort of the store wash over her. For as long as she could remember, there was always solace in visiting bookshops. A few of her mom’s nicer boyfriends would often treat her to the big stores like Barnes & Noble, or even the funky little second-hand bookstores in the back streets of bigger towns. Sometimes Word on the Street was on rotation at the market too, and they encouraged her to go wild with it. Phoebe being Phoebe, of course, always chose the cheapest thing available when she wasn’t allowed to say no to being treated. Then of course, it would lead to her mom’s weird insecurities about attention…

She shook the thought away, scanning the far shelves, wondering what her younger self would have picked if she had all the options now. “How’s business, anyway?” She asked, turning her attention back to Nydia. “I bet a bunch of kids with their long summer reading lists will come trudging in soon. Or is the summer better for the yoga studio?” Another funny coincidence the women shared, laughing about Phoebe’s many failed attempts to become a yogee over the years. Fuck it, she had finally decided after a full January class where everyone was making a start with their resolutions, Foster found her flexible enough, she really didn’t need the aching limbs. Or humiliation.