#This will be the end of the dash spam for all of my classic followers sorry this took so long D:

[reformedmercymain]

HOTTEST OVERWATCH CHARACTER FINAL MATCH

[alivehouse]

(While sending this ask I've accidentally found out what cool wallpapers (literally) you have on your desktop blog theme.)

Well, good day, my dearest horror podcast Virgil,

I, surprisingly to myself, actually finished "I am in Eskew" and enjoyed it quite a bit (which, I guess, could have been deduced by how much I spammed in the tag) even more surprisingly, considering I'm absolutely not a horror person - I substitute horror movies with their wikipedia retellings. Unironically.

Anyway, firstly, thank you! I definitely would have never discovered it without your recommendations!

Secondly, maybe you have something else like that stashed up your sleeve? I definitely need some time to recuperate, but I would like to explore more cool podcasts. (The only two limitations: short-ish - not much longer than this one, the view of a hundred+ episodes scares me; not gorier than this one/no actual jump scares - again, I'm a scardicat.) I remember you talking about "Mabel Podcast" and at the first glance it seems neat, but I'd like to hear your comments on it first.

Thanks in advance. :)

(thank you! its a william morris thing i edited a little lol) glad you liked eskew! its been fun seeing your thoughts on it popping up in the tag, not spammy at all.

i do want to mention that the creator of eskew also has another podcast called The Silt Verses, personally i havent listened to it for weird brain reasons so not sure how well it fits your criteria but ive heard its also very good

mabel podcast is another favorite! the creators of mabel and the creator of i am in eskew were both inspired by shirley jackson's the haunting of hill house to an extent iirc, so even though the stories are very different some elements of them have a similar 'feel' to them imo. i will say that mabel is very different stylistically though (especially the earlier episodes) which in my experience people seem to either love or hate. whereas in eskew you get a pretty continuous narration from david or riyo, in mabel youre mostly listening in on a series of somewhat disjointed voicemail messages. id definitely recommend at least giving the first few episodes a go, dont get discouraged if you dont feel like you dont understand whats happening right away. all you really need to know about the story going in is that youre following Anna, whos a live-in carer for an old woman named Sally. Anna is trying to contact Sallys next of kin (the titular Mabel), but shes strangely out of reach.

ok i know you said youre not a huge horror person but if you ever are feeling a little more daring id suggest trying out The White Vault. theres a small amount of gore (descriptions of finding hearts and teeth) and some uh. wet ripping sounds in it but its really not that bad all things considered, just know that it is straight horror though. its a found footage podcast that follows a group of people whove been hired to check out a remote outpost in northern norway thats gone dead, but a storm leaves them stranded there, and as time goes on it becomes clear that they arent exactly alone. this ones a little longer i think, but tbh ive only listened to the first two seasons, it felt like a natural place for the story to end to me

and then on the complete opposite side of the spooky podcast spectrum, if you want something thats a ghost story but really not horror at all imo, i just finished listening to Midnight Radio a few weeks back. this ones *really* short, like 10 episodes that are ~20 minutes each short, so its definitely lower commitment. in this one youre listening in on a radio show hosted by Sibyl, who died decades earlier but can still be heard waxing poetic about her hometown in the dead of night.

ok LAST ONE havent finished it so wasnt sure if i should rec it but a lot of people on my dash hype up Archive 81 so i thought id mention it at least. guy is hired to listen through a bunch of creepy tapes in some archive out in the middle of no where. classic horror podcast stuff. similar to eskew in that it pivots from mostly being mostly anthology into an overarching plot as you go on

[rotblut]

it's been almost a month since yingtan got shadowbanned. are there any updates on the situation? i would really love to see those pretty cmovie edits on my dash again 😢

.

first omg thank you for being interested and caring about the blog we created 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖 we're sending you lots of love and are happy that you miss YT's presence

we feel helpless and i myself am angry and irritated because at first, we were patient with tu/mblr staff but now as you pointed out its nearly 1 month and we wrote multiple emails and reports about YT being shadowbanned but aside from the bot replies no real help from them. those are so useless and dumb nothing is actually getting done idk why they even insist on them when they are this far behind in actually solving problems. we're just confused why YT even got shadowbanned in the first place. there's nothing harmful about it and it's a tiny tiny little insignificant blog about movies. there's nothing harmful about it and it's neither spamming stuff so we wonder what the reason for this was? like without kaaj noticing it in the first place we wouldn't be as quick to react to it and quickly move all the edits from the queue back into the drafts. and i had side blogs in the past with lots of followers and exposure but nothing like this ever happened to them. even with netflix/dramas thankfully that problem never happened and i gif lots of violence/gore-filled stuff there. so i don't even know how long it will take and how long we have to wait. i downloaded a lot of classic old-school and contemporary movies that are as pretty and diverse in themes/topics as they can get so we would love to show them on here and let people be interested in those. but we refuse to post edits when we are facing this problem 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 and i could post those movie edits on here but i don't want to because i am stubborn and i want to post them on YT and not on my main blog because the whole reason for YT was to have a place that is just about that and not have it on a main blog that's multifandom 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 i just loooooooooooooooooove working with kaaj and sam on YT as a team and knowing this problem is setting us back this hard is so agonizing and annoying. i'm not complaining about anything on here i just want our blog to run normally again.

my hope is that by the end of march, we'll get YT back to normal and that it won't happen again like there are reposter blogs out there full-on stealing stuff meanwhile our blog is getting shadowbanned. makes no sense? porn blogs are infesting all the tags but sure YT is the one blog that needs to get shadowbanned here. not fair ://////////////

don't know what to do anymore. we just have to wait i guess......................sending hugs and love and thanks again for checking in on the situation.

once we really hear a good explanation and that they fixed the problem we'll gonna be excited to share new content with you all. thank you.

💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

[malcompliance]

(I don't have any roleplay characters, but want to make one.What would be a good idea for a beginner? Definitely want to make someone Half-Life related. Also, what are some red flags? What should I avoid and what would you personally never do that I should maybe know of?)

|| Nice to see you again! You certainly came with a big bunch of thought material, so let me try and sort it by questions here:

Ideas for beginners?

I'm not sure what exactly this means, but I would always recommend: 'Do what you enjoy'. If you're referring to what character to play and/or how to do it, go by your gut feeling! There is no right or wrong, and canon divergence is okay if it serves your purpose. Your blog, your rules. If someone doesn't like it, they don't have to follow. Which takes me to my next recommendation: Don't try to be a people pleaser. If someone asks for something you don't feel like doing [ships, plots, etc.] it's always okay to say 'no'. Remember, we're here to all have fun, that's what both, rules and plotting are for.

What to avoid:

Again, I think that completely depends on your comfort zones or lack thereof. Make sure to take a look at people's rules and see how they handle their blogs, and then decide whether or not you'd work well together. My personal recommendations of what to consider would be:

Be friendly to other people and treat them like you want to be treated yourself.

Don't spam and/or post enormous amounts of ooc, politics or memes. Most RPers don't feel comfortable with that and prefer to keep their dash clean.

Avoid never ending chain posts, meaning, if you reply to someone, copy their reply into the reply field, add yours and then remove the old replies on top. This keeps the post slim and easy to read.

Personal red flags:

Judging by our previous interactions, I doubt you'd cross any of those lines, but here they are nevertheless:

IM/DM-Roleplay. Just.... No! I don't do it. I feel utterly uncomfortable with the sheer thought of non-public roleplay and I will not do it. I am okay with Forum RPs, but I will NOT RP in DMs, via Skype, Discord or anything else that can not be 100% publicly viewed at any time.

Certain Fandoms [Namely MLP, Undertale, anything Furry-related, FNAF, Steven Universe and similar 'Drama'-niches.] I don't per say hate the shows/fandoms, usually I'm indifferent to most of them, but the drama, the toxicity and forced oversexualisation just creep me out on multiple levels.

Roleplay accounts of real people. Nope. I can't even tell why... It just weirds me out and I feel really uncomfortable with it.

And of course the classics: Forcing ships on me, metagaming, powerplaying; or basically someone else trying to control my character's actions, feelings etc. I am always fine with plotting, but forcing something on me I don't want to, will be an insta-block.

I hope this was at least a little helpful! I'd love to see what you'd come up with when making a Half-Life blog. This is a super small niche fandom here on tumblr, but everyone here so far has been super friendly and welcoming, and I am 100% certain you'd be welcomed and appreciated too!

[shadowyavuz]

HOMECOMING

(noun): a return home after being away for a long time.

[follows this]

TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2019

 When the number came up with a 224 area code, Alp hoped it was more than a spam call.  “Hello?”

 “Hey, Alp!  Bill Reid.  How’s it going?”

 The wariness disappeared and his heart leapt into his throat—was this about Afet?  Why else would they call him?  “Pretty good,” he said, like he hadn’t about had a heart attack.  Talking to gangsters was just another workday; even the slightest chance that he could get Dede’s car back about knocked him over.  “How’re you?”

 “Great.  Listen, we’re taking the Mustang to a cruise-in up here in Winnetka on Friday—you wanna come?  It’s really casual, just a bunch of guys who meet at a diner.  There’s great food.”

 “Yeah,” he said—honestly, they could have invited him on a five-minute trip to the gas station and he would have come.  Anything to be around Afet again.  “Where is it?”

 Bill gave him the address, and as Alp wrote it down, Bill asked, “What was your grandfather’s name?”

 “Mehmet.”  That wasn’t a question he’d expected.

 “Spell that?”

 Alp did, and then confirmed the last name as the same as his own.  “We’ve got a sign listing the make and owner and so forth,” Bill explained, “I want to make sure you get credit.”

 Well.  Alp didn’t care as much about having his own name attached, but to have Dede’s name listed, to have people recognize what he’d done—that was something.  And as Alp drove north along the lake the next evening, he could think of lots worse places for Afet to end up.  The scrapyard.  Across the country.  As a trailer queen.  Dede’d always been adamant that cars were to drive, no matter how valuable—they needed a purpose. “People wither away without purpose,” he’d said.  “Cars are the same.”

 The drive was supposed to take forty-five minutes in traffic, but Alp had allowed extra time, leaving work a bit early for the first time in…well, since he could remember. It wasn’t like him to skip for a personal reason.  But this was as personal as it got, and Alp wanted to make a good impression, in case there was any chance he could sway the Reids’ decision.  He knew he couldn’t expect them to give her up early—he told himself they were taking good care of her, and that was all he could ask.  It was just, when the time came, if they wanted to sell—he’d give anything.  

So he got there early, when there were just a handful of cars in the parking lot, but between a dark green Model A pickup and a blue Rambler, Afet stood out like a queen, muscular and bold and, true to her name, catastrophically beautiful.  Alp parked on the street with the rest of the modern cars and walked over, seeing Alicia next to Afet and looking just as regal in a yellow sheath dress that brought out the golden undertone of her deep brown skin.  For a moment, Alp wondered if he’d misunderstood, if in black jeans and a tee he was underdressed and the impression he made wouldn’t be as good as he’d hoped—but then Bill came out of the diner balancing three cups in his hands, and he was wearing a Hawaiian-print shirt with classic cars scattered among the hibiscus and palm trees.  “Alp!” the man called, changing direction to head toward him.  “Got you some water.  How are you?”  Once Alicia walked up and Bill distributed the drinks they shook hands all around, and Bill led them back to the cars.  “Steve, Ken,” he called to two men near the Rambler, “let me introduce you. Alp’s the one who restored my Mustang.”

 “It’s great work,” Steve said, shaking his hand, “how long’d it take?”

 “Almost two years,” Alp said, and Bill grinned.  “He was twelve.”

 “Twelve?!” Ken echoed, “you shittin’ me?!”

 Alp laughed—and how long had it been since he’d laughed with a stranger?  When things felt easy and natural and unguarded?  “My grandpa was a mechanic; I just helped him out.”

 And sure enough, the typed card on Afet’s dash had been updated: under the diner’s logo and “1968 Ford Mustang / Owned by Bill and Alicia Reid / Winnetka, IL,” there was a neat block print adding “Restored by Alp and Mehmet Yavuz.”

 “You guys did a damn good job,” Steve said.  “You got more in the works?”

 “I’ve got a GTO in the shop now,” Alp said.  “She’s gonna take a while.”

 “What year?”

 “’67.”  He showed them the in-progress pictures on his phone; Ken told them about a 1970 GTO his brother’d had in college; Steve showed off his truck and pictures of the Model T he was working on (“He don’t like anythin’ after the ‘40s,” Ken teased); people stopped to look at Afet and a few asked for Alp’s contact info even though he told them he couldn’t take any new projects until Layla was finished; the parking lot filled up with more cars and more people and things felt so normal.  Dede would have loved this, Alp thought.  He would’ve loved the cars, and the people, and seeing everyone admire his pride and joy. And after they’d crowded around a diner table for burgers and fries, Alp thought Dede would’ve loved the food.  At home he’d made Turkish food most of the time, but he’d never turned down a burger.

 Eventually, though, after looking at all the other cars and meeting lots of other enthusiasts, they made their way back to Afet, and Bill asked, “You want to drive?”

 “Yeah,” Alp said without thinking—and then caught himself.  “—Where?  You sure?”

 “There’s an ice cream stand up the road a few miles,” Alicia explained, “it’s our tradition after every show.”

 “Sounds like a good one.” Alicia grinned, and Alp grinned back, and when Bill handed him the keys, Dede’s black leather keychain was still attached.  “…Thanks,” he said, so softly it was almost drowned out by the roar of a Barracuda starting up nearby.  “For taking care of her.”

 Clasping his shoulder, Bill said, “It deserves to be taken care of.”

 And Alp missed the way Bill and Alicia glanced at each other as they all got in the car, Bill climbing into the backseat and Alicia in the front—but when he sat in the driver’s seat and turned the key, it was just like no time had passed.  The rumble of the engine, the texture of the steering wheel, the view over the hood, the exact feel of changing gears, as sure as if Dede’s hand had still been over his, teaching him to drive in a parking lot out in the suburbs.  And it was a while before he could speak—but it was a good kind of silence.

 They ate overlooking Lake Michigan, watching gulls flying home and teasing Bill for claiming he “wasn’t hungry” and yet somehow finding room to eat every last drop of a strawberry sundae, and a group of giggling teenage girls came and asked if they could take their pictures next to the car.  After they’d had their round of selfies and group shots, Bill said, “Now you have to take ours,” and pulled Alp and Alicia on either side of him.  Like they were old friends—and, Alp realized, they felt like old friends.  Like the car was some bond that made a brief acquaintance seem longer.  Bill promised to send him the picture (“Give me that,” Alicia said, taking his phone, “or you’ll forget how to do it”), and as they loaded up again, she urged, “Take the loop onto 94.”

 Alp obeyed without question, following the signs, and it was only as they sat in the turn lane to get onto the ramp that he asked, “Where are we going?”

 “Nowhere,” she said, “but driving’s no fun if you can’t go fast, right?”

 “She thinks I don’t go fast enough,” Bill grumbled from the backseat, although Alp could see him grinning in the mirror.  “I like a nice leisurely cruise.”

 “He should’ve bought a Model T,” Alicia teased.  “What’d Steve say the top speed was?  45?”

 “Just be glad Alp’s driving, then.”  To Alp, he explained, “She can’t drive a manual.”

 “Maybe I’ll learn.” Alicia grinned back at her husband, and the light changed so Alp turned onto the ramp, and the way the engine rumbled as he shifted up, revving smoothly between gears until they were blazing along (but balancing on the speed limit���still careful of the impression he gave them), was everything he could ask for.  The couple of miles they drove seemed to pass too fast, and despite the sinking sun, the evening felt like it’d gone too soon.

 By the time they got back to the diner, the lot was nearly empty.  Pulling into a parking space, Alp sat for a moment, taking in the feel of the driver’s seat and sound of the engine for one more moment before he shut it off.  The sudden quiet seemed too heavy to break, but finally he said, “Thanks.  That meant a lot.”

 He offered the keys, but instead of taking them Alicia opened the glovebox, taking out a plain envelope.  “This is for you.”

 When his quizzical look got no answer but a nod, he opened the flap, unfolding the paper inside.  An Illinois vehicle title: VIN number, 1968 Ford Mustang, Date Issued August 2011…  And then, at the bottom, “The vehicle described in this title has been transferred to the following printed name and address”—and there, in the same block print that’d put Dede’s name on the window sign, “ALP YAVUZ.”  And Bill and Alicia had both signed it.

 “I—”  Alp stared at them, sure he must have been missing something. “—What?”  But when he looked at the title again, his name was still there, and the Reids were both smiling.  

 “It’s yours, son,” Bill told him, leaning up from the backseat to grip his shoulder.  “You deserve it.”  And then, more softly: “I think your grandpa’d be very proud of you.”

 And that, even more than the car, hit him.

 Turning away, he pressed a fist to his mouth, tears blurring the view out the window and a ragged breath barely hiding what was almost a sob.  He hadn’t cried since Harika died.  And then, as he turned back to look at them again, still hardly believing it, and Bill wrapped his arm around him: he hadn’t been hugged since then, either. Hadn’t had anything close to a family. Nobody’d done anything this nice for him.

 So if a couple of tears dropped onto Bill’s festive shirt as Alp held him too long, too tight—hell, he didn’t care.  And when he pulled away Bill was misty-eyed too.

 Alicia hugged him too, and brushed a gentle thumb over his cheek like his mom would have done, and Alp scrubbed a hand over his eyes and took a deep, shaky breath.  “I’ll pay ya,” he said, “you can’t—it’s too much.”

 “No, it’s yours,” Bill insisted.  “—On two conditions.”

 Alp nodded.  “Sure.”

 “One—pay it forward. Two—you have to come back and take us for ice cream every once in a while.”

 That broke the tension; they all laughed, and Alp nodded.  “Yeah, okay.”

 “We decided on it the day you chased us down.” Bill said.  “We remember your mother…she hated to sell it.  But she said you needed to.”

 Alp nodded.  “…She had cancer.”

 “I know.”  Alicia reached over, squeezing his hand.  “She told us about it, how it was her dad’s dream and the two of you had worked so hard to fix it, and that you were in the military.  She was proud of you too.”

 Alp bit his lip, wondering whether to thank them or admit that he’d failed.  But then Alicia took something else from the envelope, a slightly blurred photo of Alp and Dede looking under the hood early on in the process, when Afet was still faded and rusty and sitting on cinder blocks.  It was back when Alp was shorter than Dede, and Dede was wearing the blue jacket somebody’d stolen from outside the shop a few years later, and Alp had forgotten that picture but now he remembered his mom taking it, one of the days she’d stopped by after an opening shift.

 “This car belongs in your family,” Bill said.  “To us, it’s a great car—but it’s just a car.  To you it’s more than that.”

 Alicia flashed a grin. “And it deserves someone who’ll drive faster than he does.”

 “I’m sure you drove fine.” Alp grinned back at them, finally opening his door when Alicia opened hers and stepped out.  The air had cooled, and crickets chirped from the freshly-mowed lawn behind the diner—so different from the pavement and weeds of Chicago.

 “We can follow you and leave your car at the train station,” Bill offered, “we figured you might want to drive the Mustang home.  Or we can keep it at our place if you’d rather come back for it.”

 “Nah, I’ll take it.” He couldn’t leave Afet now, not when it’d been so long, not when she meant so much.  “How’ll you get home?  I can drop you off.”  His transportation should be his problem, not theirs.  

 But Alicia pulled keys out of her purse, blinking the lights of a Cadillac sedan parked near Alp’s Charger. “We planned ahead.”

 Their chain of cars—Alicia in the Cadillac leading the way; Alp in the Charger; Bill driving Afet for the last time—made quite a procession as they traveled toward the station.  The mansions and gardens they passed were a far cry from the inner-city streets Alp had grown up on, and where Afet had been reborn…but, he guessed, that didn’t matter.  Dede’d always said cars brought people together.

 He hugged them both one more time at the station, and thanked them again, even though nothing he said could ever feel like enough.  “Just take care of it,” Bill said.  “I’m glad to see it back where it belongs.”

 And as Alp drove home past the darkened waters of Lake Michigan, freighters’ lights showing way off to his left while on his right antique lamps lit up extravagant homes, the familiar glow of Afet’s dashboard and headlights in front of him and the dim red of her taillights behind, Alp felt like he was back where he belonged, too. Maybe Dede was gone, and his mom—but finally, not everything was.  Afet was back, and a piece of his heart with her.  And Alicia and Bill were his friends now, and tomorrow he’d see Azra, another new friend, and maybe there was something ahead for him after all.

 “People wither away without purpose,” Dede had said.  And for a long time, Alp had thought helping Sebastian was the closest he’d get.  But now?  He had Afet to take care of, and Azra to chauffeur, and a pocket of contacts who wanted work done when he finished Layla—and he was suddenly pretty sure he’d found her a new home, with a generous couple who’d get a title signed over with no payment taken.

 But first, he’d teach Alicia to drive her.

[qonqr]

The Migration from Hell

TLDR:

A new update will be out today

This upgrade/migration was very difficult

Expect some small issues over the next few weeks

Some older phones won’t work anymore, after the migration is complete

Greetings QONQR players. It has been several months since my last blog update. I hope my absence hasn’t created too much concern.

In early winter I began undergoing a massive migration effort on our servers. This followed a 4-month effort to accomplish a similar upgrade of our iPhone and Android clients to move to the new platform recommended for cross platform mobile development.

The server migration was excruciating to say the least.  For the technical folks in the crowd, we moved to the modern Web Application hosting model in Microsoft Azure, from the Classic Cloud Services model. This included a migration from ASP MVC 4 to ASP.Net Core.

For the non-technical folks, image that you built a custom car five years ago following the instructions published by a big electric car company, using mostly that company’s parts. Now said car company says that if you want to keep getting replacement batteries, you need to make some changes to your car. BUT don’t worry, you can re-use almost all of the parts.  Then you find out, that bolts are no longer allowed to connect the parts, and some new fasteners are needed. Some parts need to be moved from the front to the back of the car. You need to change out the engine start button on the dash to a thumb print reader on the gear shift. Also, the car must be re-assembled from the top down, which requires scaffolding to hold the car up as you build it. Now imagine that some of the new instructions are missing a few critical steps and you need to email support, which takes several days, to get to a solution. Also imagine that other instructions are complete, but the example diagrams are only samples of how to put things together, but you would never do it that way if your goal was to ever drive the car over 30 mph (and it doesn’t note that important detail).

This effectively describes my last 6 months.  Almost none of the logic on the server changed, the code parts were for the most part the same, yet it took months to connect my software to Microsoft’s new services and restructure the code to fit the new runtime requirements. All the while, avoiding the many mistakes in Microsoft’s documentation or avoiding the bad architecture advice that hurts the security and scalability we had in the old model.

I’ve talked to a few game developers over the years who had built a profitable game, but let it “die” or removed it from the store while many people were still playing it. In almost every case, the developer(s) reason for ending the game was because they couldn’t afford to do the upgrade that would be needed to keep the game going. Like with version 2 (QONQR Blue), I was too damned stubborn to abandon the game, and forced my way through the upgrade.

It was awful, and I can see how others have been smart enough not to try it. Software developers want to be creating new stuff, being innovative, overcoming challenges and solving problems they created themselves. Working to upgrade a large system has almost no innovation, requires reworking old stuff, and deals almost entirely with solving problems someone else (Microsoft, Apple, Google) created.  In many companies, a sure way to lose your best software developers is to make them spend months doing exactly this.

I’ve been very honest with my friends the past few months, and I’ve always done my best to be candid with my QONQR players.  The past year of migrations and upgrades, dealing with Apple, Google, and Microsoft’s terrible documentation and awful mobile platforms have destroyed my love of writing software. The industry has been flooded with “best practices” that make the easy things easier, and the hard things much, much harder. Ironically many of these “best ways to do things” hurt security on the mobile devices and reduce performance on the servers. It has been very difficult to fit within the “new way” of doing things, but keep our app secure, fast, and scalable.

What’s next for the app?

The new server hosting should save us money in our hosting costs and should support more users.  Some new features I hope to add in the future, were not supported in the old architecture.

The new servers are running now and a new QONQR app is in the stores for Android and iOS, version 3.1. I have decided to benchmark this as a major update, despite most the changes being on the server.

The new and old servers will run in parallel for a few weeks or months. Old apps will continue to connect to the old servers for now.  The new app has an option in settings that will allow you to connect to the old server if we find a bug impacts some users on the new server.

Android 4.4 and below will not be supported with the new app.  The security issues with 4.4 are too significant and the operating system is now 5 versions and 6 years behind the current Android version.

iPhone 5 and up will be supported for now, but that may change to iPhone 5S and up before the end of the year.

We think most features in Windows Phone will continue to work with the new servers once the old servers are shut down.  We are not testing WP anymore. Two things we know will not work are chat and the SyncLock protection mini-game.  It is unclear how much longer we will allow Window Phone clients to connect to the servers. Microsoft is officially discontinuing support for Windows Phone in 6 months. If the new server migration breaks the ability to launch and harvest on Windows Phone, that will be the end of our support for WP.

Chat and the SyncLock mini-game will not work between the new and old clients.  The new services for “live” connections are very different and I have not found a way to support old connections with the new services.  This will be a pain point we simply need to deal with during the migration.

Many new Android phones are flagged as tablets in the version 2.X version of the app.  This restriction is be removed in the 3.1 version.

What is next for Silver?

I need to find a way to enjoy this again. What makes QONQR great is the people who contribute positively to the community.  Perhaps I need to spend more time in the chat rooms just hanging out and chatting.  Maybe I need to work on something completely tangential to QONQR, such as finally shutting down the old forums that are plagued with Russian spam and moving to a new system. Maybe I should work on making it easier to crowdsource updates to the several languages QONQR support. Perhaps I need to spend some time cleaning up duplicate zones. Maybe I need to go fishing once a week.  I am looking for ways I can enjoy writing code again.

I hope this new server migration goes smoothly.  The sooner I can stop working on old problems, the sooner we can all get on to new and more exciting features.  Please bear with me as we work through the final migration issues.

Thanks for supporting QONQR.

-Scott (aka Silver)

[ladala99]

Spyro Reignited Countdown - The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night (Console)

If you expected me to review the handheld versions from the title, sorry. I didn’t get those back when the games first came out. I’m considering getting them in the future and I’ll review them if that happens.

But onto The Eternal Night! The first Spyro game that caused me to consider quitting the series after playing! (Spoiler alert: I didn’t)

Gameplay

Basic controls are exactly the same as its direct predecessor, but with some new twists. Melee now lets you chain five air hits rather than three, and now we have the new ability: Dragon Time.

Dragon Time lets you slow down the environment around you. It’s used in some platforming, and it’s extremely useful in combat. It’s also just plain cool. Too bad I didn’t know how to use it properly when I first played!

If A New Beginning is too easy, The Eternal Night takes the opposite approach. Enemy AI has been improved, new types of enemies are sometimes very cheap, enemies respawn after you die and regain all of their health, cheap shots, and to top it all off, cheat codes for infinite health and mana don’t exist in this game when they were advertised to exist. So not only is it harder, but you’re forced to play it at that difficulty.

Okay, with one exception: the Dark Spyro cheat. It makes the game trivially easy, since Dark Spyro’s breath ability is really overpowered and hardly uses any mana. I honestly haven’t beaten the game without using this ability at least to defeat enemies I already beat. The game as designed just isn’t fun for me.

Additional Game Modes/Characters

There’s the Dragon Challenges that unlock after you beat the game. They’re some combat challenges with special rules. So it’s not really a new game mode, just more combat. I actually found them fun when I actually got around to them, though. (Which I think was the third time I played through the game - did them in a completed file alongside my playthrough on a different file)

Collectables

They actually return in this game! It’s not nearly as extensive as the Classic games, but it’s something.

The most common item is the Scriber’s Quill. These unlock concept art. Generally, these are relatively easy to find and get to, but some of them are hidden.

Then there’s Dragon Relics, which give bonuses to your maximum health and mana. These are hidden very well, to the point that I only found one my first playthrough. Some are extremely difficult to navigate to, as well, such as the Ancient Grove one, where you have to platform across small roots that are difficult to stay on.

They’re pretty fun to get, but they have a major problem: there’s no way to access levels you’ve already beaten without looping through a playthrough (beating the game and starting again on the same file). I always use a guide, simply because I haven’t played the game enough to memorize it. And you really shouldn’t have to do that.

But they exist, which is a step up from A New Beginning.

Breath Abilities

We get the same ones as last time, with some changes. Because plot, Spyro has to relearn his abilities again through the game, and they act a little differently this time. It’s mostly just that instead of a ranged attack, now we have a melee elemental attack.

Fire is fire. But no longer do we have fireballs, but instead the Comet Dash! It’s great for dealing a ton of damage or moving quickly. Honestly I don’t use it much, but it became pretty iconic later. So the fact that it originates here is noteworthy!

Ice is next this time around. The main attack is now a burst attack rather than a stream, and can be used to create platforms in water. Whoa, actual puzzles and platforming! There’s also the tail-based melee attack that slows down your enemies’ movement and, depending on the size of the enemy and your own upgrades, sends them flying. That attack alone made Ice my most-used element.

Earth is third. You get this big flail as your primary attack that you can whip around you quickly, attacking all enemies that surround you. The melee is a pulse attack as Spyro jumps and sends energy out in a sphere underneath him. I really didn’t use it much.

Finally, you get access to Lightning Breath. It was overpowered in the first game, so how does it hold up here? It’s usable, I guess. Primary attack is a large electric orb that you can knock away into distant enemies before blowing up. Pretty neat. Melee is a lightning whirlwind, that’s basically Comet Dash but much more controllable. Very powerful, but uses up mana pretty quickly.

Notice we don’t get any overpowered attacks this time around. Still, second attack wins. They’re all useful, though, as some enemies have hidden weaknesses, and they’re all different enough to be used in different situations.

Bosses

There’s a lot of them, but many are very similar to one another. Not even sure whether to call a lot of these boss fights or alternate game modes since they’re played a lot differently than the rest of the game.

The Assassin and all the Skurvywings fights are all pretty much the same. You’re on a 2D plane where you can move back and forth, and jump, while sending fire (and only fire) out to your opponent, who is flying around. The main difference between these fights is the distance between you and your opponent, and thus when you can hit them. The hardest part is dodging, but using Dragon Time makes it manageable. I find these fights pretty fun, since they have a different playstyle than usual.

Arborick uses the same controls as above, but with a twist: you need to attack all of the different parts of the body to proceed. I think in a specific order, too, but I don’t quite recall. There’s also a second round where you just attack as quickly as you can and dodge his attacks. Pretty creative and fun boss.

Fellmuth Arena is pretty much “lets take some bosses and minibosses from A New Beginning and have you fight them here in a small arena!”

We’ve got the Blunder Tails, which are some optional enemies in A New Beginning. This time, they’re both aggressive at the same time, and their AI’s a bit better. You have to use melee carefully to beat them. It’s a little tough with both of them after you, but they’re only mini-bosses, so it’s doable.

Hey, remember Steam? I bet you do! The Ravage Rider is identical to him! Except he only has two health bars instead of three, so he’s a little easier!

And finally, the Executioner. The guide I use says he’s identical to the Ice and Electric Kings from A New Beginning, but there is a fairly major difference here: you can’t spam ranged attacks if you don’t have any! Just that fact alone makes the fight a lot harder - you need to fight him like you were supposed to in the first place! *gasp*

Next up is Skabb, who is a boss that acts like a boss should. Dodge his attacks, wait until he rests, and beat on him when he does. You’ve seen this kind of boss as far back as A Hero’s Tail. (before that, you generally were using the environment or powerups to fight rather than your normal attacks)

The Elemental Spirits are more copies of the Ice and Electric King, but this time you’re limited to just one element when you fight them. Hope you upgraded more than just Ice! (I think you can also use Dark Spyro here if you’re cheap, though)

Remember Cynder’s fight from the first game? What if she was crazy aggressive and you could only use one element at a time on her? What if you simply can’t cheese her because Dark Spyro doesn’t work? Honestly, it’s a very fun fight. Although I think I mostly love it because the first time I completed the game, I spammed Dark Spyro everywhere I could, and here I was forced not to. And I had fun.

Finally, Gaul. you lose your breath abilities against him, meaning you’re forced to fight him with melee. It makes a very fun and intense fight. Second round you get access to Dark Spyro, but you aren’t completely out of the water as he still has some fight left in him. Dark Spyro’s still really overpowered, though. Still, you’ll need it. I had a blast the first time I actually got to him. Again, being forced not to use Dark Spyro (and then being in a fight where you have to use Dark Spyro) made it a lot of fun.

So in general, very varied, and there’s a ton of bosses here. Some are copy-pasted from A New Beginning, but with the increased difficulty, they feel new enough to work, and some limit what you can use against them.

Levels

Much more varied compared to the first game. Maybe not necessarily in style, but definitely in gameplay. There’s so much more platforming and cleverer puzzles scattered around. You need to make full use of Dragon Time and Spyro’s Elemental abilities not only to fight, but simply to get through each level.

The levels themselves are also well-themed and not nearly as cliche as in the first game. Okay, crystal-based caves are pretty cliche, as well as evil volcanoes. But Skabb’s Fleet, come on! Flying pirate ships manned by dogs!

I can say I definitely had a lot more fun maneuvering in this game than in tits predecessor.

Story

Honestly, a whole lotta nothing happens in this game. It’s basically the filler episode of the series. The storytelling is still incredibly well-done, but really, it all boils down to rescuing the princess dragoness.

So Cynder feels all guilty about the first game and tries to leave the Dragon Temple. Spyro tries to go after her, but unfortunately the Dragon Temple ends up under attack and Spyro has to go help.

After defending the Temple, Spyro gets a vision from this Chronicler guy and is instructed to find a special tree in a forest. Ignitus encourages him to follow his advice, and Spyro goes on to look for that tree.

Tree turns out to be Arborick. Who some pirates were in the middle of capturing for their arena tournament. They capture Spyro, too, for good measure, because he happened to pass out to learn a new breath ability at a bad time.

Spyro is forced to participate in the arena challenges. Turns out they captured Cynder, too, though. But Cynder is captured again by Gaul the Ape King’s forces. And Spyro has to break himself out of this situation to go after them. Oh, and Hunter of Avalar has a note delivered. He never really appears in this game.

He does, and promptly passes out in the middle of the ocean for another lesson. Luckily this turtle-guy you’ll never see again was there to rescue him. And take him to the Celestial Caves, where Spyro has to make it through the Chronicler’s security system before finally meeting the king of bad timing himself.

Spyro learns that Cynder has been captured by Gaul to be used to summon the Dark Master or something. Spyro wants to go after her. The Chronicler tells him to “ride out the storm. Live to fight another day,” basically telling him to stay there and stay safe.

Spyro say no way and escapes, traveling to the Mountain of Malefor and the Well of Souls to rescue Cynder. He faces Gaul, but not before the Celestial Moons do their thing and Spyro gets caught up in the corruption. He turns into Dark Spyro and brutally kills Gaul. It takes Cynder knocking him out of the beam to snap him out of it.

The cave crumbles around them, and there’s no escape. Spyro remembers the Chronicler’s words, and uses his time powers to freeze them in crystal. There they would be stuck, until Hunter finds them. Cue credits.

So yeah. But again, the storytelling is amazing despite what it is and I had a blast watching and experiencing it. The atmosphere’s great, and I really loved the sketchbook style some of the cutscenes had.

Once I saw the ending (because I think I looked it up on YouTube; I didn’t beat the game until many years later), I couldn’t wait for the next game. Mostly to watch it, because I had decided that if it was going to be this hard, I wouldn’t get it again. Sadly, this series never got a real conclusion in the same style.

Unique in the Series?

In many ways, yes. Dragon Time never shows up again, and thus a lot of the gameplay is completely unique because a lot of the game relies on it.

In other ways, it’s very similar to A New Beginning.

Conclusion

I gave up on this game because I didn’t like Action games at that age. Once I got older, and actually appreciated Action games a bit more, I learned to love this game.

Sure, it’s not perfect. Sure, I do need to cheat to fully enjoy it (because it’s not fun fighting cheap enemies you’ve already beaten. I just blast them until I get back to where I was before). But it’s a really solid game and a ton of fun.

On it’s own right, I think it’s just as good as the classic trilogy. It’s just a completely different genre. It’s a shame in hindsight that it didn’t do well enough for Krome to finish the series.

[gingerly-writing]

Questions Tag Games

explanation: I’m super late to these, I suspect not many people will want their dashes spammed with my random answers, and I’m not tagging people, so I’ve amalgamated all of these into one post. 

tagged by @concealeddarkness13! haven’t spoken to you in a while, hope you’re doing great

1. Would you rather write a more classical hero or an anti-hero as a protagonist? I’d rather write a hero for the protagonist, but an anti-hero as a general character

2. Who is your favorite character you have written and why? Ever? That’s cruel. Out of people that y’all would know, Urial does seem to generate the most emotional reactions

3. How many WIPs do you have? 3 proper ones, currently: Iron Flower, Space Royalty and Piracy Pays

4. Who is your least favorite character you have written and why? To write? Klarion from Young Jutsice fanfic. Motherfucker would not follow the assigned plot. Hate-wise? Possibly Coincidence or Accord, neother of whom you guys have met yet. Those two are a pair of nasty criminals/villains, and they are a little too good at punishing anyone who gets in their way

5. What is your favorite aspect of writing? Finishing!

6. If you had only one sentence (per WIP) to get someone to read your books, what would the sentences be? They wouldn’t because I suck at loglinesss...humourously though?

IF: an entire continent is saved from the ravages of war by the ancient art of sexting via treaty negotiations Space Royalty: ‘she stabbed me? god-fucking-dammit I am so in love with her’ Piracy Pay: you get to chug your drink every time I kill a character

7. If your protagonists fought to the death, which one would win? Protags? Depends if morals were removed, and whether it was on-on-one. Koronis, if not -he’s an emperor with black magic and an entire galaxy-wide army.  If it was on-on-one with minimised morals, Ace would stand a damn good chance. Boy is smarter than he gives himself credit for, and very adaptable. Galaxy is also pretty viable. Girl can swing a superpowered punch like she means it, and she hasn’t survived this long on luck alone.

8. Which protagonist(s) would survive the zombie apocalypse? Koronis would. Ace would die trying to save someone else. Solaris would...provided Monarch was dragging him around, and even then they might go down together in a dramatic last stand. Galaxy would be in charge of a small, benevolent queendom. Cleo would, those plant skills would make her handy to any new civilisation. Fact would go down staving off the hoardes so everyone else could run. Rosalie would think she was the weak link of her group, but they would probably keep her alive; L’aura would kick zombie ass.

9. Which is your favorite story you have written or are working on? Space Royalty is damn fun to write -the benefits of extravagant, overdramatic space operas I suppose. Piracy Pays has had a good reception, so I’m pretty proud of that. Hopefully I can keep the momentum going until the end! It is a huge pain o write though

10. Which of your characters is your favorite villain and why? Raph is my evil supervillin crimelord Big Bad and I adore him utterly

11. When do you find is the best time of day for writing? Evening! 8pm-1am

*******************************************************************************************

tagged by the lovely @a-sundeen​! this is so old I bet you don’t even remember tagging me, oopsie

1. When you’re describing a new character, what feature do you usually note first? Build, usually, as in their height/weight ratio, muscles/skinniness or lack of, how they carry themself etc. The reason for this is that I often start with the macro ‘impression’ of the character before zooming in on a few specifics. I try to use an interesting description or comparison here as well.

2. Do any of your characters play an instrument or really enjoy music in general? If so, what instrument (or what genre, if it’s the latter)? I am the least musical person on planet earth, so making my characters musical often doesn’t occur to me. Koronis can sing and play the space-piano (forced childhood lessons), and Jade can play the violin, but neither of them are passionate about it. Kolya/Cynosure (the popstar/supervillain) is very very musical, but I skip around a lot of the specifics because I’m a big cheater. He mostly makes anti-establishment and anti-hero music, but he’s one of those artists who strays all over different genres.

3. Which musical artist usually gets you the most pumped to write? Les Friction does good dramatic music and they’re not so well known, so I like to tell people about them when I can

4. Do you prefer writing fight scenes over other types? (This is a weirdly worded question I’m sorry, rip) It’s worded fine, sunshine! And no, I don’t like writing fight scenes because I don’t like the logistics of them. There are too many limbs to keep track of, and then I feel like I’m neglecting their surroundings and potentially useful items in favour of mentally tracking who’s where and what their arms and legs are doing. I cover up for my fight scene weaknesses with too much dialogue, and I’m fully aware of that fact.

5. Is there a city or country you’d really like to write in or about? Write in is probably just where I’d like to travel, so Russia, India and South America (I know that’s general but it’s the only continent except Antarctica that I haven’t been to) are my top choices. Write about…I’d like to sink myself deep into east coast USA to really nail the feeling of Galaxy’s city and her character, and then be able to confidently write about it. I do have a study year abroad coming up in 2020, so here’s hoping…

6. Do you prefer to be warm or cold while you write? Warm! I love blankets and my big fluffy dressing gown, and on top of that all my friends always complain about how hot my house is

7. Do any of your characters have hobbies you’d like to try out someday? Fiction wise, glo-ball from Space Royalty sounds like a very entertaining game, especially when I’m kept safe behind a pod. sodding netball injuries Jade paints and draws, and I’d love to get better at art. Likewise, Rosalie sews, making and decorating her own clothes, and I’d love to be able to do that. Idk, does being a supervillain count as a hobby? I’d love to rob a bank…not even necessarily for the money, just the #aesthetic

8. What is your favorite type of character to write? Villains! And morally grey people. And characters where the POV character has no idea what they’re really thinking, who they really are, what they actually want etc. And, on the flip side, balls of positive sunshine, because they make me feel better about the world

9. Halloween is here! Which character has a costume made for them by their mom? Ahahahahaha can you tell how late I am to this.

10. Halloween is here (again)! Which character thinks the holiday is childish but dresses up anyway? I AM SO LATE. Rosalie thinks the holiday is childish but dresses up in the most elaborate homemade princess outfit ever and entertains all the kids she can find. What, it is a children’s holiday, surely she should be making them happy on their special day…

******************************************************************************************* tagged by @blackfeatherantics who is now @mbovettwrites I think? I hope?

1.      How long have you been working on your WIP(s) for? Iron Flower is the oldest current one, and I started it on Christmas Day 2016

2.      What song would you assign as your protagonist’s theme tune? I’ll just pick one, and Koronis’ is Young and Menace by FOB. No real lyrical reason, it just reminds me of him

3.      Do you have any favourite spots (gardens, parks, cafes, etc.) where you like to write? The sofa in my living room next to my family

4.      Poetry or Prose? Prose!

5.      Where do you draw inspiration for your writing from? Everywhere! Other people’s writing and prompts and published novels and TV and movies and random stray thoughts and daydreaming and chatting to other writers and-

6.      Is there any popular book that you wish you had written and why? The Lies of Locke Lamora because I’d take out the first 100-ish page of solid worldbuilding and backstory that seemed almost completely irrelevant to the rest of the plot?And the domino-effect of all the plot elements knocking each other into action at the end was so clever, it annoyws me that the beginning means I don’t like reccing it to people

7.      What’s your planning process when you start working on a new WIP? I daydream about it for at least a few weeks to make sure the idea has staying power. Then I come up with character names, quirks, descriptions etc. finally, I lay out the plot chapter-by-chapter from the beginning to the end so I have a guiding rope throughout the whole process and I’m less likely to get stuck. Of course, that’s when I plan on letting a WIP bloom into being. Some, like Space Royalty and Piracy Pays, start off as short drabble ideas and then refuse to leave, which means I have no concrete plan for them...

8.      Do you work best in mornings, afternoons, or at night? Evening!

9.      Would you prefer to self-publish or work with an agent and publishing company and why? Agent and publishing company, because I value the help they can provide more than the ability to retain complete creative control over my book (since I’m crap at titles and designing book covers anyway)

10.  How do your emotions/moods affect your writing? Not a lot tbh. If I’m very very tired I can’t write anything good, but I’m not sure that counts as an emotion.

11.  What’s your favourite line of your WIP/one of your poems? I’ve written both of my current favourite lines for prompts, which were: ‘Time hollows all victories’ and ‘The hero doesn’t die in this one’. I’ve had other favourites in WIPs over time, but I can’t think of them right now

******************************************************************************************* tagged by the ever wonderful @time-to-write-and-suffer

1) How are you so awesome? Genetics.

2) What’s your favorite thing about your writing? The dialogue! Or the romances, which I mostly like because of the fun/cute dialogue.

3) Who’s your favorite character that you’ve written and why are they your fave? This is so mean. At the moment, Raph, because I can’t stop thinking about him and he’s so incredibly dangerous, yet on the low down (like the Mariana Trench level of low down) he has all these cute little quirks that only one or two people know about

4) One of your characters has been placed in the world/plot of a book you love. What happens? Rosalie becomes a Grisha in Leigh Bardugo’s world. She finds a sense of self-worth and gets to enjoy the little luxuries that come with the position.

5) One of your characters has been placed in the world/plot of a book you hate. What happens? X takes the place of Celeana Sardothien. He murders everyone in his path, tells the crown of Terrasen to get fucked because there’s no way he can run a whole government with any level of competance, probably murders Rowan with extreme prejudice, opens the Wyrd gates just to search the universe for Raph and bring him through so he can construct a decent government for Terrasen, would probably sleep with Dorian, would make it his new life goal to highfive Manon.

6) Your characters must fight each other to the death until only one stands victorious. Who wins? Raph. Koronis could conceivably stand a chance against him, but Raph would decimate pretty much anyone else. I think Raph would be able to stay above the fighting for longer, whereas Koronis would jump in just a touch earlier, which would be his downfall.

7) If you could steal a cover and a title from other books to use for your own WIP/s, which ones would you steal? Cover-wise I’d steal the minimalist Red Queen aesthetic, because that sleek shit is the bomb.  Title-wise? That’s harder. The Lies of Locke Lamora has some sick alliteration, but I think I’d rather steal the style of it rather than the exact title

8) If you switched places with one of your characters, what would happen to you and to them? I would die, pretty much everywhere. If Rosalie swapped with me, she would slowly come out of her shell and become a fashion designer -not an A-lister, she wouldn’t like how vicious and ruthlessly businesslike you have to be, but maybe making her own high-end clothes in a small shop in London

9) What makes your style unique compared to other writers? Thanks for the existential crisis, Eff.

10) Describe your antagonist’s song number if they were a Disney villain. No Good Deed from Wicked, for Darklight

******************************************************************************************* tagged by the lovely @itstheenglishkid

1. Have you ever realized how similar an oc is to you and felt the need to change them so they aren’t so similar? I mean, Jade from Iron Flower almost shares a name with me, and she’s ginger, which did concern me for a while, but hopefully she’s nothing like me personality wise (or else I’d have to do some serious self-reflection)

2. Do any of your ocs like candles? I bet Rosalie loves pretty candles, especially patterned or strongly scented ones! Anything luxurious that she can’t afford, really

3. Do you normally write settings that are (or are based on) places you know intimately (ie your home town)? Oh god no. I like sweeping Chinese-inspired castles or creaking pirate ships or far flung space universities and man-made planets. I’m really not a contemporary writer though, so I guess this isn’t much of a surprise?

4. What is a book that feels similar to your own wip? Ahahaha, which WIP? Piracy Pays has similar vibes to @boothewriter‘s pirates and probably also @noodlewrites’ pirates (I’m guessing? I haven’t read any excerpts from you I’m sorry). Space Royalty is just weird. Iron Flower is probably similar to a lot of generic fantasy YA, like Red Queen and whatnot.

5. Do you have a dream cast for your ocs? I don’t really faceclaim? Or know much about a wide array of actors, so no, not really.

6. Are you good at story titles? Do they come easily to you? I am abysmal at story titles, holy shit. I mean, you can see the evidence scattered around this post. Piracy Pays and Space Royalty are just placeholder names, but I’m not convinced I’ll come up with anything good to replace them. Iron Flower is alright in that its relevant to the story and fits into the series title (The Flowers of War) but…idk, its not setting the stars alight or anything.

7. Do you ever change oc names once you’ve started a wip? Not often, though I am considering changing Ace’s name because I don’t think ‘Seb’ suits him. Only question, what to??

8. Which people have you let read your work? I mean, all of y’all have the opportunity to read Piracy Pays. No one has read Iron Flower, and I’m stretching myself by letting @rrrawrf-writes @lux-deorum@haphazardlyparked read Space Royalty in its raw first draft stage.

9. What usually catches your attention about a book first? Style? Characters? Plot? I’m quite an easy reader to catch and hold tbh. What makes me love a book is a clever plot. For me, a very strong plot can carry weak-ish characters, but I can never read super deep characters with no plot.

10. Do you have a favourite author? Probs Rick Riordan, or Julia Golding.

******************************************************************************************* tagged by the wonderful @typeaadventures

1. How many works in progress do you have? Properly, three. Iron Flower, which is written (143k) but needs editing, Piracy Pays which y’all are reading, and Space Royalty which crossed 30k about a week ago

2. Do you/would you write fanfiction I used to! I stopped in Y12/13 because I didn’t have enough time to do fic and original writing, and I haven’t really had the time to pick it back up.

3. Do you prefer paper books or ebooks? Either, I’m not fussed. Though if it has a really pretty cover, I’ll be hankering after a paper copy

4. When did you start writing? 14-ish on Young justice fanfic

5. Do you have someone you trust that you share your work with? Not all of my work, but yeah, I have a lovely server and also some irl friends that get the junk landed on them

6. Where is your favourite place to write? At home chilling with my family while we all do stuff

7. Favourite book as a child? Dragonfly by Julia Golding

8. Writing for fun or publication? Hopefully publication, but I know I need to improve a lot first, honing my skills etc.

9. Have you taken writing classes? Not a lick

10. What inspired you to write? Gotta get those stories out of my head and onto the page, man. Gotta get that sweet sweet representation out there too.

thanks everyone!  xx

[sophygurl]

Woot! Tagged by my new we-finished-a-series-at-the-same-time-and-desperately-need-to-talk-about-it book buddy @blackandwhitemotley​! (I seem to collect these - hi @wingedsaboteur​)

1) Name/Nickname: Rosemary is my name. Soph or sophy tends to be a nickname to anyone who met me on the internets first for obvious reasons. I will accept the shortening of my name - Rose - only if I can tell by the way you said it that you know the full name is Rosemary (I can tell okay). I only accept Rosie if my inner child is out because that’s HER name though I accept Rosy , from one friend who asked permission a long time ago (hey @ladynorbert​). I let any and all kids call me me Aunt Rose, not just my nieces and nephew (who is too young yet to call me anything), and my oldest niece still loves to call me by her baby name for me - AuRoo. This was probably a longer thesis on names than the question is meant to be, but that’s me!

2) Gender: Cis genderqueer woman is the best descriptor for my gender and sex. 

3) Star sign: Leo - rawr.

4) Height: 5′3′‘ - just short enough to have short people problems but not quite short enough to be seen as short.

5) Hogwarts House: I’ve had long conversations about this with one of my closest friends @c-l-ford, and we really can’t come up with a true consensus. I think I’m a combo of all four, but I realize that’s a cop-out. 

6) Favourite animal: Felines of any sort, though I’m an all around animal lover (bugs don’t count).

7) Hours of sleep: 8-12, though closer to 8 these days since the Lyrica is helping me to sleep more normally.

8) Dogs or Cats: Cats obvi, but I do love dogs. 

9) Number of blankets: Like, I know this is asking the number of blankets you sleep with on your bed, but the phrasing makes me wanna go around and count all the blankets I own. But okay - I sleep with a light blanket during warmer months, and throw a big comforter over the top during the colder ones. 

10) Dream trip: I’d love to take a cruise through the Mediterranean, taking stops in Sicily, Italy, Greece, Egypt, Turkey, Israel, Morocco, etc. 

11) Dream job: At this point, I’d really just love to be working again in any capacity. I miss it so much. I miss feeling like I had a purpose, and knowing I was doing a good job, and working harder the next day, and thinking about getting promoted, and just generally - yea - being my workaholic self. Which makes being too disabled to work for over 15 years now kind of a bummer. 

12) Time: 1:12 pm

13) Birthday: July 29

14) Favourite Bands: I’m never up on new music, so I’m gonna go with some of my classic faves here - Areosmith, Cheap Trick, The Doors, The Indigo Girls, Journey, The Monkees, R.E.M., Queen

15) Favourite Solo Artists: Ani DiFranco, Blondie, Dar Williams, Janis Joplin, Joan Jett, k.d. lang, P!nk, Tori Amos (and yes I added an s to make this one plural too, no fair asking for multiple bands but only one solo artist)

16) Song Stuck In My Head: Lady, by Styx

17) Last Movie I watched: Hidden Figures, though my stupid body fell asleep at the last third or so of the movie, so I’m gonna have to re-watch. (When I woke up, I turned to my friend and said “I missed the ending, did they ever make it to the moon?”)

18) Last Show I Watched: Madam Secretary (I’m a few eps behind though)

19) When Did I Create My Blog: I wanna say about four years ago??

20) What Do I Post/Reblog: So many. I’m a huge TV nerd, so lots of reblogs of gifsets and meta (and sometimes my own meta or short opinion bit) about lots of shows both past and present. I also dig me a lot of books and some movies, so those show up. Intersectional feminism is a big deal to me, so I signal boost a lot of stuff along those lines. I love memes, puns, cute animal pics, gender queering, and pretty shiny things. I might occasionally post personal stuff. I’m chronically ill and that affects my life to a large degree, so I’m likely to reblog stuff about that if it shows up on my dash. Around May - June, I’m likely to be posting about WisCon, my local feminist SFF con that happens Memorial Weekend each year. And in a couple of days here it’ll be November 1st which is when I let my Christmas nerd out to play, so there’ll be a lot of that then too. 

21) Last Thing I Googled: haha, it was actually the song Lady by Styx because I couldn’t remember who sang it, and because once I realized it was in my head, I wanted to listen to it.

22) Other Blogs: No other tumblrs, though I do (very) occasionally post on my Dreamwidth account - same name as this tumblr. 

23) Do I Get Asks: Not very often, though I love it when I do! I adore interacting with folks, so come at me.

24) Why I Chose My URL: sophy from sophia, the feminine divine aspect of god, and also just wisdom/knowledge in general (I was studying philosophy and religious studies when I came up with the sophygurl handle the first time). Then I added -gurl at the end because it was less likely to conflict with other ppl who wanted to combine sophy and girl together to make a name. lol

25) Following: 267 (this is why I can never catch up even on a good day)

26) Followers: 582 - can that be right? Do I have those reversed? I guess a lot of those are spam accounts. 

27) Lucky Number: 5

28) Favourite instrument: Drums of all kinds.

29) What Am I Wearing: lol a silky nightgown paired with an old comfy sweatshirt over the top and comfy pj pants underneath, and warm socks.

30) Favourite Food: Dark chocolate, broccoli, potatoes, and my family’s recipe spaghetti sauce - which I’m gonna make in a few days for the first time in ages woo!

31) Nationality: USian. 

32) Favourite Song: Imagine, by John Lennon. 

33) Last Book Read: The Root by Na’amen Gobert Tilahun 

34) Top Three Fictional Universes I’d Like To Join: Oh geeze, most of my fave universes to read about/watch are not ones I’d want to personally be involved in, so let me think. Maybe the world in Practical Magic, Starhawk’s The Fifth Sacred Thing but only if I could be part of the Bay Area world and not the LA one, Realm of the Elderlings - preferably in the Rain Wilds over other areas.

Tagging: other than the one who tagged me - if you got tagged in the body of this post for other reasons, consider yourselves tagged to do this! Otherwise - tagging anyone who wants to. Make sure you tag me so I’ll see it when you do it tho! :)

[jentrevellan]

Tagged Galore!

Over the last few days I’ve been tagged in numerous posts, so thank you very much - I love getting tagged and getting to know you all better. Here they all are in one post...! ^-^ I’ve popped it all under the cut so I don’t spam your dash... <3 

1. Rules: a) Always post the rules, answer the questions, then write 11 questions of your own. b) Tag 11 people. I was tagged by @elevanetheirin and @windysuspirations - thank you both! <3 

@elevanetheirin’s questions...

1. What is 1 of your pet peeves? - Ah, lack of manners really get to me. So when people don’t say please or thank you. It’s thank you, mainly.  2. Do you get along with your family? - Hmm, yes and no. They think we all get on but there's a lot of unresolved conflict and questions I’ve needed therapy about.  3. What is your favorite food? - Margarita pizza. Always. 4. What are your hobbies? - Writing, gaming and doodling! If I could do those 3 things for the rest of my life, I will be very, very content. 5. What was your Cullen Lyrium stance? - Get that poor boy off the stuff! He deserves his happy ending gdi.  6. Mages or Templars in Thedas and why? - always mages, those poor, repressed things. But also sympathy for templars and the lies they are told. 7. Did you kill Anders in DA2? If you haven’t played do you think you would kill him? I did not. First playthrough had me as a mage who romanced him. 2nd playthough I kept him alive despite romancing Fenris. I can’t kill that chantry boy. 8. What is your favorite song? Oh wow, just one? I would have to say, at the moment, it’s ‘test flight’ from the How to Train Your Dragon soundtrack by John Powell.  9. Do you have any pets? How many? - 2 crazy tonkinese cats with their own Insta. 10. If you could live in Thedas would you? - Oh yes please. 11. What is the one thing you cannot live without? (excluding people) - Music.

OK, now for @windysuspirations ‘s questions! 

1. Cullen or Alistair? Why? - Cullen. Sorry, Alistair, but... sorry. ;_; Cullen’s whole story from Origins to Inquisition is just so good. 2. What month were you born? - February!  3. What’s your earliest memory? - Wow, this is tough... I think it’s my dad taking me to the cinema to see a re-release of 101 Dalmatians when I was a toddler.  4. Dogs or cats? Ah, don’t make me choose... but cats. 5. If you are going to be stranded on a desert island and you can only bring one thing with you, what do you bring? - a notebook (with a pen attached) so I could write and doodle. 6. Superman or Batman? Batman is cool but Superman was my childhood fave. 7. Are people inherently good or neutral? This is deep! I actually think neutral. I think. 8. What did your Inquisitor do about the Well or Sorrows? Lyla let Morrigan drink it, after much deliberation.  9. How do you feel about Solas? All I can hear in my head is Harry in Prisoner of Azkaban film shouting: “He was their friend, and he betrayed them. HE WAS THEIR FRIEND.” That’s how I feel. I love/hate him. No, I don’t hate him, actually. 10. What inspires you? Really, really good pieces of film/game/classical music. 11. Is Cullen a virgin at the beginning of DA:I? Why or why not? Hahahahaa no. He clearly knows what he’s doing during the desk scene hehe ohhohoho. Also, a guy that attractive, in his early 30���s a virgin? Pppffftt.

Right, next, I was tagged by @tennyo-elf , and I’ve picked to do this one... 

2. Rules: shuffle your music and write down the first ten songs. no skipping (or else)!* tag 10 people.

1. Too Late - 남녀공학 (Co-Ed School)  2. Roly-Poly - 티아라(T-ara)  3. STRENGTH - Abingdon Boys School 4. Defying Gravity - Idina Menzel & Kristen Chenoweth  5. Daddy Lessons - Beyonce  6. The Adventure Begins - Howard Shore 7. Hold It Against Me - Britney Spears 8. Haydn: Symphony #86 In D, H 1/86- 4. Finale: Allegro Con Spirito  9. Again - YUI  10. The Followers (feat. Elizaveta Stoubis & Nick Stoubis) - Raney Shockne 

Oh wow this is a real mix from kpop to anime to pop to soundtracks/classical. Yep, that sums me up, haha! 

Ok, final one for today! Thanks again for the tag dear @theblackdomino ! <3 

Rules tag 9 people you want to get to know better. Questions 

1. What’s your age? 25 for another month...

2. What’s your current job? I work in marketing for a procurement company. It’s as exciting as it sounds.

3. What is a big goal you are working towards or have already achieved? My big goal is to get my fantasy novel published ONE DAY. 4. What’s your aesthetic? Books and coffee. ^^

5. Do you collect anything? Video games and consoles! 

6. What’s a topic you always talk about? I think I bore everyone with Dragon Age or gaming in general. 

7. What’s a pet peeve of yours? Mentioned this earlier, but lack of manners! 

8. What are 3 songs you’d recommend?  1. Trespasser - Lost Elf Theme by Trevor Morris. (omg the tears and feels) 2. Test Drive by John Powell 3. Rey’s Theme by John Williams 

And we are DONE! Now I’m a but late for some of them, so I actually won’t be tagging anyone back at this stage, but PLEASE DO THESE if you want to and let me know! I love hearing about you. <33 

[occupyscifi]

The passion project

“You know, I still remember the moment the idea hit me” Will Wheatley stood on a podium, above a pool with the Silicon valley skyline behind him and all the people he respected and trusted in front of him. Will had e-vited everyone he knew, used the latest apps for spamming people who casually called themselves his friends and all the other people he had been boring the shit out of for the last six months as he had pursued his passion project “and you don’t need to laugh, because I’d been using the Ynspire app” there was a faux groan from a man in the audience and laughter around him. Everyone knew Bill Patton, CEO of Ynspire industries and creator of the app that made people want to make apps had been a big influence on Wheatley “and it just hit me, out of the blue” he grinned “because I know all of us have been in that bind. We wanna run our business. We need to get our passion project off the ground. But we need people. Only the people are asking too much. Funploy changes all that. Funploy finds you the cheapest people to do the quickest service. You want someone to iron your clothes? Usual guy cost too much? Funploy keeps you updated in real time so you get the most competetitive price possible” Will grinned as behind him stats of happy customers grinned back “this is the ultimate app for anyone who wants to make sure that their bottom line really is as close to the bottom as possible. For the little guy running a business trying to compete in a world of big beasts. For the mom and pop stores struggling to get by, to the young entrepreneurs out here in the valley today with barely enough cash to cover their rent – Funploy brings you the best workers for the best price – guaranteed!”

There was a polite smattering of applause and a few whoops from Will’s pals in the audience. Will looked around proudly. This evening was the culmination of two years of sleepless nights, of hard work, of burning through his savings and that of his parents with only this image lighting up his head. An app that would bring employer and employee together. Where when a worker woke up they could scroll through a list of employers as easy as a Tindr profile to find their day of work, no strings attached. Where employers left in the lurch could find anything from a PA to a bartender to a lawyer as easy as hailing an uber. Will knew it was an idea that would change the world. His only worry was that someone else would get there first, hence the sleepless nights spent coding, AB testing. Debugging. Dealing with the million and one problems that were part and parcel of every startup going back to the two Steves in a garage trying to change the world with a computer named after a fruit.

“now, ladies and gentlemen, before we get to the entertainment” Will gestured at the live band, a group who’d scored background music on a Pornhub-HBO miniseries and were on the verge of bigtime success. However before  that they’d been just a lo fi post hip hop nobodies who’d lived for free in Will’s spare room. This was the favour being repaid “does anyone have any questions?”

A sea of hands, some from known investors. Others from his friendship group, planted to ask friendly questions. However Will was feeling bold, and instead went for an actual journalist – the last of a dying breed and the human equivalent of using a polaroid camera or a VHS recorder.

“Shelly Ming, LA times” said the journalist, her e-glasses large and serious and channelling Margot Kidder era Lois Lane “this is a very slick startup you have here, and its already proved its success in California”

“sure has” said Will “next stop, the world”

“but how do you counter the criticism that you are creating nothing more than an app for undermining unions, destroying long term contracts and turning even white collar work into  zero hour no guarantee work for hire? You offer no employee protection, no rights, nothing” she paused “how do you counter the charge that you’re nothing more than a modern day robber baron?”

“Hey” said Will, his arms outspread “we’re a startup. My entire team is a couple of guys in a coffee shop. I’m no sweatshop owner or GM farmer” he looked incredulous “come on, this project is my passion. It isn’t about the money, it’s about changing the world”

That was the tagline that they’d be writing up the next day, the journalist realised looking up at Will’s earnest and plump face. That this was a project born of a passion to change the world for the better, a classic Silicon Valley dream made reality. Not to become rich, nor powerful. But just to see a human need and fill it. that was what Ynspire was all about, and that was what Funploy was about. It didn’t matter that Funploy gave its user (never employees, employees had legal rights. Users did not) lower wages by far than the national average, or offered no long term guarantee of work. It didn’t matter that it was driving employment agencies out of business. What mattered was that it made the world just that little bit more efficient, and therefore just a little bit better.

What was worse, as Shelly watched Will leave the stage, was that Will believed it all.

 “you know, I’m not like that” Will had cornered the journalist by the edge of the pool where she had been trying to get a shot on her ancient Nikon of the reflection of the water and the circulating investors and brogrammers that were partying. Shelly looked up to see Will’s earnest face, slightly sweaty in the warmth.

“like what?” she said, straightening up.

“like them” he said, twisting a beer bottle in his hands. It was a GM craft beer, made from an entirely unnatural substance but by a pair of Oregon based farmers. Shelly had tasted it earlier, it had been as if someone made liquid donuts with a dash of milkshake. Not really her thing, she drank Bud because that was what hardcore journos should drink. Will gestured at the investors, at Patton who was laughing away with one of the Uber brothers over some complicated glow in the dark cocktails.

“well, pretty soon you’ll be rich like them” said Shelly “you should enjoy it. you worked hard, after all” there was an edge of sarcasm in her voice that Will ignored.

“I didn’t do it for the money. I’m serious. I didn’t” Will look intently at the pool “I don’t know if you know what it’s like. Having a passion” he looked at her Nikon, at the complicated pockets on her jacket with extra lenses, extra film. All the unnecessary accoutrements when you could wear a pair of glasses that could get better pictures that could be immediately tweaked, edited, improved and uploaded by software “okay, maybe you do. So you should understand” he looked her in the eye, his wide face serious “you gotta remember, I didn’t have any guarantees when I began this. I didn’t have no big investors. No mom and pop trust fund. I worked during the day doing any work that would pay me a dollar – hell, half the stuff I put into Funploy was based on my experience working like a dog. Not knowing if I was gonna have a job in the morning”

“well now we all get to experience that uncertainty” said Shelly, raising her bottle of Bud in salute while she stowed her camera away in its padded bag “thanks man”

“come on, its not like that” Will looked over at the investors who’d helped make his dream a reality. He lighted on Patton “all I had was a dream, and you know nine out of tern startups fail. That’s why it was so important to have Ynspire, else I would have given up long ago” he looked back at Shelly “even so my odds of success were hella low. If I’d just wanted to get rich I’d have gone into something safe. I didn’t need to take a massive risk on a new app. I did it because I thought I could make things better. You know I used to hang around with brocialists? That was a big influence, I didn’t wanna be some libertarian asshole. I didn’t wanna be some Peter Thiel or Lucky Palmer type fucking people over for money…”

“and yet here you are” said Shelly, her eyebrow raised. She nodded at Patton “you know, you aren’t the first guy to use Ynspire to make an app that makes people’s lives worse”

“what do you mean?” asked Will “Ynspire doesn’t tell you what to do. It’s like Eno’s oblique strategies. It’s a method to help inspire creativity and to take you from idea to reality and beyond…”

“yeah, I’ve heard the tagline” said Shelly. She was starting to feel a bit light headed. She didn’t like these places, but if you were going to be a serious journo you had to follow power around. Like Hunter S Thompson and the presidential elections. Being in the belly of the beast made better journalism, and it also attracted better sponsorship – especially is she got kicked out for being drunk and rowdy “just, like I say. You aren’t the first. Lotta people using Ynspire end up coming up with the kind of apps that are one step away from illegal. Like that guy who created the militia app, or the one for spotting illegal migrants….”

“lots of different folks use Ynspire” said Will defensively, thinking of the other apps he knew people were making “besides there’s a friend of mine making an app so’s people on the poverty line can find the cheapest deals without having to trek to the nearest megamart. That can save people dollars who haven’t got two to rub together”

“and yet that app isn’t here, is it?” said Shelly, looking around “and do you think it would get this kind of investment if it was?” Will opened his mouth to argue back but realised she was right. He’d seen the app his friend had been working on, and both of them had worked just as hard. Only Will had got lucky when his friend had not. At the time he’d thought it was just the luck of the draw, and that in the end you never knew how the wheel would turn. Now he wasn’t so sure.

“look, just do me a favour?” said Shelly, itching to go off and shoot some of the techbro’s now they were a bit drunk and more likely to say something horribly misogynistic “when you get super rich, just use some of that money to help people, okay? Maybe your friend’s app, yeah?”

With that she was gone, and Will was left even more uncertain.

 “umm, hey Mr Patton?” Will asked the investor timidly “could we…could we have a word?”

“sure dude” said the investor of Ynspire grandly, his face flushed from cocktails and the adulation of the brogrammers present. Will lead them both over to a deserted end of the pool. The band were just finishing up and there would be some pitches by lesser developers, hoping to score drunken investment from one of the wealthy people present.

“so, what’s on your mind, bro?” said Patton. He was in his middle fifties but his trim shape and surfer like affability made him look two decades younger. That and the fact he could afford to blow a few hundred grand on cosmetic enhancement.

“its just….my app” said Will, he picked at the label of his beer which featured a picture of what the brewers imagined the taste would look like if you visualised it -  a hellish Wonka like confection with overtones of kids cereals from the days before the sugar ban “I just get the feeling. I dunno. That maybe its not what I want”

“how’d you work that out man?” said Patton, looking confused “you got a solid gold app. Its gonna be a smash. You worked damn hard to make it, you went the distance. You lived that app. How could it not be what you wanted?”

“its just….just when I used Ynspire, it just seemed a great idea. Now I’m not so sure. I mean, did I do the right thing?”

“look dude” said Patton, his eyes looking heavy and his voice slightly slurred “you wanna know the truth?”

“what truth?” asked Will, confused

“it’s a lie, okay?” Patton looked sly, watching for Will’s reaction “the passion project shit. Ynspire isn’t what you think it is. It’s not some life guide to help you fashion your dreams into reality. It works the other way around”

“umm, what?” asked will, unsure if this was a joke. Patton had a reputation in the valley for his odd sense of humour.

“well, it isn’t about turning your idea into a passion project. What it really is about is seeding a bunch of ideas we dreamed up but don’t have the time or resources to bother creating and getting you guys to slave away making them a reality”

“I don’t…” began Will, his lip trembling “I don’t know what you mean. I really believed in Funploy….”

“you didn’t. You don’t” said Patton “you were tricked into creating apps that fucked over other people. I mean come on, an app that allows employers to aggressively employ only the lowest paid workers? That makes ordinary folks fight to the death just to get paid a basic living wage? That isn’t anyone’s passion. Not unless you’re a sociopath”

“but…but its about getting the best results for employers” protested Will “and giving working people the freedom to…”

“no, no its not” said Patton “its about getting you to work like a fucking dog, thinking that you’ve had this great idea that’s going to change the world. Instead it’s an idea dreamed up by some executive on Wall Street that if they tried to pull would get them on the front page of the NY times and probably lynched on social media if they launched it themselves. But because you’re a  young guy running a startup everyone gives you a free pass. Because you have passion” Patton gave a twisted grin.

“but…but it was my idea” Will stood on the edge of tears, his beer bottle forgotten in his hand. For all his protests some part of him knew that Patton was right. It had been spooky how easily the idea had come into his mind, of course putting into practice had been all his own hard work. All those sleepless nights. The relationships it had ruined, the friendships it had cost to get the app first into alpha and then beta. The schmoozing it had taken to get it a favourable rating in the apple store “okay. Maybe not. But it was my hard work”

“sure” said Patton, patting Will on the arm “just keep telling yourself that, buddy. Your hard work, and you’ll get the reward. Well a decent cut of the reward anyway”

“what do you mean?” said Will, his confusion now turning to cold anger

“who do you think we bothered to invest in your app?” Patton said, knocking back another tequila and laughing “who took it from just some guy’s idea to a realistically funded prototype?” Patton tapped his chest “we did. Because it was our idea in the first place. You just worked on it, just like every other poor sap in this world. No one gets to own anything. Well, no one but us”

Will bunched his fists, imagining sinking one of them into Patton’s smug face. But then he struggled to control his temper, not least because it wouldn’t look good to punch a major investor at his own launch party. He was also curious.

“how’d you do it?” said Will, letting a fake smile move across his face. He’d hustled enough times to know how to fake it “cause I’m guessing a good chunk of the apps you’ve invested in have been your own ideas, right?”

“oh, its simple” said Patton, his face a picture of drunken malevolence “everyone who wants to be a bigshot developer downloads my app. Because they want access to quick cash and the buzz from other startups, right?”

“yeah, sure” said Will

“well, because no one ever reads the terms and conditions they don’t notice the small print. That the app doesn’t turn off, even if you delete it. we loaded it with subliminals and peripheral software so that whenever you look at your phone its sending input to your eyeballs. You can’t help but absorb the information. Advertisers use it all the time, only cause all of them do it doesn’t work right. If both Coke and Pepsi are equally hitting you with subliminals they cancel each other out. But for people already looking for that big idea that’ll make ‘em richer than a Zuckerburg? Its dynamite”

“wow, that is cool” said Will, already looking in his e glasses for the source code of Patton’s app. Naturally it wasn’t exactly legal to come by, but as a partner of Patton’s he had more leeway “imagine having that much power”

“it’s like having a permanent hardon bud” said Patton, staggering slightly as he tried to dance near the pool “and talking of hardons” he looked at one of the geek girls whose presence was meant to convince everyone that the famous Silicon Valley sexism was a thing of the past. Patton was about to prove this very wrong “I’m gonna sexually harass some of these chicks. Don’t get too cut up, not everyone can have great ideas, right?”

“yeah” said Will, who was already leafing through Patton’s code “I won’t get mad” will was trying to hide a smile. He’d had another idea, and this one he was pretty sure was his own. Because if Patton could subliminally lace his Ynspire app with ideas then Will could do the same. But Will had a more revolutionary intent, he hadn’t forgotten his time with the brocialists. Maybe this time he could change the world for the better.