#WEB Catch™

[mtandtgroup-blog]

Explore engineered netting solutions like WEB Catch™ for dropped object prevention. Ensure safety with debris protection for bridges, construction, and offshore installations.

[thegreatyin]

exactly!!!! as it goes!!!!!!!!!!

current fallen london fandom experience feels like im standing at the corner of a party holding a sippy cup going. i thought firmament has been pretty fun and intriguing so far

[angel-of-the-moons]

Pavitr x reader where his wife or gf does end up pregnant? Idk maybe one where they find out they are and how they'd react to it, or one where reader has been pregnant a while and they do some...activities.

Canon Events

Pavitr x Wife!Reader

TW/CW: Anxiety, Miguel's Canon Event™ PTSD, Pregnancy, Pregnancy anxiety, baby talk!

Pavitr is obviously aged up in this fic

A/N: I'm going to work through my asks a bit to help take my mind off the grief and stress, so I simply had to make this fluffy. I might make a second part to it where it gets spicy, once I feel better.

🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷

"Wuh-oh." Lyla said, swiping through the pop-up monitors surrounding her tiny yellow frame.

"What is it, Lyla?" Miguel asked, sipping his coffee. His deep chocolate eyes focused on the AI's persona as she squinted at the data.

"New canon event detected, Migs." She said, typing faster than any human could ever fathom.

"Where." He said, immediately setting his coffee down to furrow his brows at her.

Already he could feel his body tense at the news, after what happened with Miles and his canon event, not to mention Miguel's own...

He couldn't handle another mutiny, not when everything had finally been settled back into place, the web repaired and strengthened.

"Whose universe is it? Which one?"

"It's... Pavitr's." Lyla said, her eyebrows rising considerably behind her heart-shaped glasses.

He sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose. Great. What horrible situation did fate have in plan for that particular Spider-Man, now? His Aunty Maya dying? One of his friends? You?

He knew Pavitr understood the importance of canon events, but...

"How bad?"

"Actually it's..." Lyla let out a startled chuckle, tipping her head to grin at Miguel with her crooked teeth. "It's... well, okay, depending on your point of view it could be good or bad, but I think Pavitr might consider this a good one--"

"Lyla..." He sighed, tapping his foot.

"Alright, alright big guy, don't get your panties in a twist." She snorted, "Pulling it up now."

Miguel turned his thick frame to peer at the hologram as an image of you materialized behind him.

It looked like you were in some kind of doctor's office. Judging by the pictures on the wall, some sort of women's health center.

He squinted at the posters, every inch of the room, until his eyes finally focused on you, holding papers in your hand, shaking, the gold band on your ring finger catching the lights above and glinting a little too brightly for his eyes.

Miguel slowly began to circle your image as you read the papers. Your face looked cold and clammy, a bead of sweat trickled down your brow.

Cancer? No, no, Lyla said this was good news, for once.

So, what...

His brows shot up, the creases in his tanned skin deepening as he leaned in to peer over your shoulder at the paperwork.

He rapidly scanned each word. Your flu tests came back negative, no allergens to report, no life-threatening diseases...

But the blood results are what intrigued him.

Estrogen levels were elevated...

As were prolactin and progesterone levels.

Miguel had to step back and let his jaw go slack as he looked at you, holding the papers that, printed at the bottom...

Reported a strong, tiny little heartbeat.

You were pregnant. And judging by the levels of hormones in your system, you were halfway through your first trimester.

He watched as your eyes welled up, fat tears burning hot as they broke over the dam of your lashes, dripping down your cheeks. Your doctor handed you some tissues and rubbed your back, smiling sweetly as she calmed you down.

"I know, I know, honey. It's overwhelming... Just breathe." She coos.

You wipe at your eyes and take a few shaky breaths. "I just... I'm sorry, it's hard to control it all. Ugh, I've been wondering why I've been so moody lately, but my period was late!"

"Mhmm... hormones will do that to a mama." She says patiently. "What will you tell your husband?"

"I think--"

Miguel raised his hand to Lyla to stop the hologram. This was something deeply personal, and it didn't sit right in his gut about this, that he found out before Pavitr...

He pulled up his gizmo and pulled up Pavitr's frequency, his fingers moving a little too fast so he had to backtrack a couple of times.

Finally, the voice to the chipper, younger hero came through.

"Hi, boss! Uh... What's up?" He said awkwardly.

"Go home, Pavitr, I'm assigning someone else to your workload." He said, his tone a bit softer than usual.

"I--whuh--huh?" He could hear the bewilderment in the man's voice as he stammered for a reply.

"Just go home, Pavitr. That's an order."

"I... Eh. Uh. O-okay?"

Miguel sighed as he terminated the connection.

He hoped Pavitr was ready for this.

🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷🪷

"Heee-llo my beautiful wife!" Pavitr called out, dropping his duffel by the door, a bit of a pep in his step as he walked through your apartment to look for you.

Pavitr called your name once or twice, and his brows creased with worry when you didn't respond. Were you out? No... No. Your shoes were by the front door.

He spotted you, sitting at the island in your kitchen, a cup of hot chai in your delicate hands.

You giggled softly as he kissed your shoulder and cheek on excessive pecks and loud "mwah's" before dropping his chin onto your shoulder.

He looked at your social media feed (actually it was some kind of forum that you quickly closed) and chirped, "Whatcha looking at?"

"Oh, just... stuff." You say evasively, squirming in your seat.

"Oh? What kinda stuff?"

"Oh, I..." You say, splaying your hands over an envelope. The logo on the sticker was from your usual doctor's office, and his brows pinched in concern.

"Sweetheart, what's up? You said you had a doctor's appointment today. Is everything okay?"

"W-Well, I... I mean..." You swallow thickly. "It's... I-I mean..."

"Are you okay???" He spun your stool around to hold your shoulders, his big dark eyes wide with concern for you as he scanned your face for any signs of... anything.

"I..." You cast a glance back at the envelope. The words felt like cotton in a dry mouth, choking and unable to utter.

Why were you so nervous about this? You talked about this together, brainstormed the "what-ifs" a million times during late nights, limbs tangled as sweat cooled on your bodies beneath the sheets.

You knew Pavitr would never be... angry about this. With you.

So why was there a nasty pit in the deepest part of your stomach right now?

Pavitr looked at the envelope, and slowly reached out for it, waiting for you to tell him to stop or if you were uncomfortable.

You wrung your fingers together and chewed the inside of your cheek anxiously as you watched him read your papers, mumbling about how everything looked okay.

But...

Then his eyes got to the last page. Your pregnancy test results.

He lifted the paper--almost comically--close to his face.

For agonizing milliseconds that felt like ages, the papers hid his face from view. All you could see was how he trembled, his fists clenching around the paper.

Finally, he lowered them, and those big, beautiful, dark eyes were glistening with tears and his lip was wobbling.

"I'm l--I'm--I'm gonna be a dad?" He blubbered near-incoherently.

"Y.... yes." You peep.

The papers were immediately forgotten as he buried his face into your chest and full-on started to ugly cry, babbling about how much he loved you and how happy he was.

Why on Earth were you ever afraid of how he'd react to the news?

You sniffled and hiccuped, his high emotional rollercoaster hitting you, too.

Immediately, he lifted his snot-covered, tear-stained face to look up at you, and his hands went to your cheeks, wiping your tears away.

"Hey, hey, hey! I love you! I love you so so so so so so so--"

"Pav..." You sniffed.

"Right, right." He muttered lifting his head to look down the hall. The room you two had turned into a room for your sewing projects was across the hall from your room. A little small, compared to yours, but...

"So if we can move stuff around, your machine can come out here, then we can put the crib in there..."

You blink dumbly at him.

"W... wait so you... You're serious? About.... about this?"

Pavitr turns to you with a grin, grabbing a paper napkin from the counter and completely cleaning his face, taking a fresh one and dabbing your tears away.

He kissed the tip of your nose, then your forehead, your cheeks, and finally, your lips.

Pavitr's hands moved low, pressing over your belly ever so gently. His eyes flicked up to yours once again.

"You and this... our little baby, are the most important things in my life." He swears. "I'm never going to back out on either of you."

He kisses you on the lips one more time, pulling away enough to touch your cheek, a grin on his charming, handsome face.

"So! Wanna look at baby stuff online? We can order takeout and chill!"

You didn't know why you were ever worried in the first place.

[threepandas]

I'm a bit too anxious to say it out of Anon (because brain scream sometimes) but I want to say that I love all of the yandere wips/ficlets you've shared that I've read so far. ... which is funny because I normally dislike toxic routes in many otome.

I ADORE these short stories. Most of the Readers I've seen you've make so far? Are not frilly silly characters who are the Dumb Naive types that the narration tends to offer for immersion. And the Yanderes? TERRIFYINGLY COMPETENT. Whether they're terrifying on main or instead are very very good at hiding in plain sight.

The readers are smart and/or clever. Strong of will and the ones who fight go down swinging. It's not made easy for any of those yanderes even when they are stronger, although the ones I've seen that "hunt" the Readers are very much playing with their 'food'. Some Readers realize the threat too late but they try to escape too. And then some others don't catch on yet to the danger but its not because they're dumb but because there's no feasible way for them to realize anything's amiss yet, whether they're Isekais MCs or native OCs.

(I especially love the Chosen set. omg the chosen set. And the Aizawa and Yamada ones too, like oh my god yes.)

Probably the most Terrifying yanderes you've written (that I've so far read) are the platonic/paternal ones. Whether they lull the Reader into their web or outright steal them away for Bad Ending Hell. Just... god. The Grandmaster Demon Mage, the Mad Scientist 'Daddy'... and now the Villainess Isekai's King and Queen.

pray for those readers. At least "Grandlearner" is safe in the knowledge that no Route they're stuck in will last. The Golden Ending would require the other Routes after all. If Villainess Isekai realizes the danger... oof. And "Eve"? Hopefully she'll gain enough muscle autonomy to escape "daddy" because imagine being resigned to hoping for a quick death given the Dark SciFi Otome Backstory Hell she's trapped in.

I'm gonna send this before I talk myself down from it but thank you for writing these.

I... I'm totally cool and definitely not crying. I want this printed on my wall?? Oh GOD I AM HAVING EMOTIONS 😭😭😭😭😭 this is amazing and thank you and I TOO have thoughts!

Cause like? Yandere? In my mind? Shouldn't be Real™. Like "more at 11" depressing, restraining order REAL. They should be the horror monster that LOVES you. The "I cracked along the fault lines and something UNHINGED bubbled up" that? Technically we all COULD be... if that part of our brains that stops us from metaphorically biting through our own fingers? Either turned OFF or never developed.

Enough unhinged 20 somethings! That's not a proper yandere! That's probably a mood swing! No... let them COOK. Let the crazy FESTER into a smile that doesn't reach the eyes and movements that are FAR too deliberate.

The fun of a yandere is that they are... INEVITABLE.

It's kinda like godzilla in a way. Or a forest fire. The odds aren't HIGH? But if you DO happen to be unlucky enough? All you can do is try to survive. As this Force Of Destruction rages around you.

But WORSE! Cause THIS one? Looooooves you!

May have POWER. A willingness to plan. To wait. To commit violence. And the power of the fanatic to drive them. Because, after all, they fight for True Love. For your FUTURE together. For the God of their delusions.

Aaaaah! There are so many types? I got really tired of them all going for the same template of a person? There are many ways to set off a bomb, after all! I am probably rambling and contradicting myself. I just have SO MANY THOOOOOUGHTS. Seriously, this is the nicest comment I've ever gotten? Just?

[homestuck-for-the-first-time]

lvl 247

so hmph

i'm up to page 247, and wow this is very, specific kinds of weird. im impressed. lets take a look at everything so far.

the LORE

this little fella is cute. it's his birthday and look at him go! if i understood the plot correctly this sort of takes place in a weird alternate video-game esque 2000's. i'm guessing he's like 13? must protect at all costs.

the humour is also,,, interesting. i genuinely cannot pinpoint exactly what this all means. i cannot predict it. it's like im a dream -like state.

for instance. when the camera zooms out and reveals a vast empty city with nobody around i thought this became existential horror.

and some pages later, they all just fucking die?

what the fuck???

if someone asked me, after reading 247 pages of the comic, what was it about, i'd tell them oh god help me where am i. matpat would not survive this.

the creatures

there are two dorks so far. i love them. there's

he's so cute i wanna squish him to death

JOHN EGBERT and his hiperfixation on ODDLY-SPECIFIC FILMS is charming but i feel like i'm missing so much context. should i watch them to catch up with homestuck lore?

oh and her

she is concerning

she's so quirky. her love for OBSCURE LITERATURE and ELEVATED LEXICON, plus eveything else? is she on tumblr dot com?

i wonder what else is she up to, along the other pesterchums on the web.

coding sillies

ah yes. i love code™. no but really, i'm on my last year of compsci. i am old. but these cute little gags remind me of starting out to self learn data structures and general syntax.

pfft, do you even hashmap bro? wdym u don't have logarithmic time complexity?

that's what you get for not using b+ trees.

this whole comic was definitively made by a dorky nerd, and that's sick. i wonder what they're up to now...

closing thoughts

rose's mom is definitively queen from deltarune. also, i need some rest. this comic is definitively something. tune in for more

[darkx-the-dragon-kn1ght]

Chapter 34- Part 5

And there it is!! That's where the next encounter is (yeah, remember that this was all so I could catch another event Pokémon?)! Some of you might recognize where this is going, but for anyone who may not…well, observe.

I've got four of them now, I think Xera can spare one of them for the mysterious tower.

That's right, it's heckin' Spiritomb! Incredible!

This shouldn't be too challenging- use Glare™ to paralyze, Crunch for damage, and then…

There, that should be enough! Great Ball time!

I read that one of Spiritomb's possible inspirations is a spirit from Norwegian folktales that is forced to carry around a stone as a punishment. And, y’know- punishments, kinda relate to the idea of karma, and- yeah!

Now, that's all for encounters, so now it's time for theorizing and planning. The upside is that I do have some prior experience battling a Poison monotype team worthy of a Gym Leader via the Corey fight, and there is actually some overlap between Wasteland and Corrosive Field. So, while Wasteland is a very different Field, it's not super entirely different from that previous battle. Of course, the downside is that I still don't know anything about Aya’s team, so I can't completely rely on my previous knowledge from fighting Corey. Just stuff like Poison’s weaknesses and how having a Poison-type or two of my own, as well as a Steel-type, could be beneficial.

But Ame brought up some interesting points- namely the emphasis on Aya fighting using “the Wasteland itself”, which surely refers to the entry hazards. Toxic Spikes is the obvious choice, but Spikes and Stealth Rocks are also viable; Sticky Web can't really be learned by a lot of Poison-types (just Ariados), so I doubt that one will come up. There's also the matter of the handful of Abilities that get affected by being on Wasteland, many of which could be very useful for Aya’s side in some form or another.

So! What have I chosen to do with this information? Why, taking into consideration those Abilities and those who can learn at least one of those entry hazard moves to create an entire list of Pokémon who overlap those categories, of course! Those Pokémon came out to be:

Nidoqueen

Nidoking

Tentacruel

Muk

Weezing

Qwilfish

Swalot

Roserade

Skuntank

Scolipede

Garbodor

Skrelp

Toxapex

However, I also thought about other potential Pokémon Aya could use for one reason or another, and those Pokémon ended up being:

Vileplume: Has Effect Spore, could make good support in a Double Battle.

Drapion: Like Skuntank, it's one of the very few Pokémon up to Gen VII with this specific Poison/Dark-type combination, making it a strong counter to Psychic-types and giving it only one weakness in the form of Ground.

Amoongus: Same as Vileplume, and in fact Amoongus could be more likely because it is a very common, very good support Pokémon in recent official competitive play.

Salazzle: Honestly this one's partially for theming, seems like an appropriate Pokémon for Aya specifically to have, but it also has Corrosion which is good for Wasteland.

So taking all this information into account, both of these lists, I have determined the twelve most likeliest Pokémon that Aya could have on her team. And those Pokémon are:

Nidoqueen: Not only can it learn Stealth Rock and have Poison Point, but it would be really appropriate for Aya's theming. She's Cain's sister, Cain's ace is a Nidoking, so it would be fitting if Aya in turn used its counterpart. 

Vileplume: Already explained my logic above 

Tentacruel: Similar reasoning as Qwilfish

Muk: Theming is a big part of this one- it'd make sense for someone from the Wasteland to use a Pokémon made of sludge, as a reference to the purplish, jelly-like ground of Byxbysion.

Qwilfish: Can counter Ground-types, Poison Point, can do a lot with entry hazards, just seems good for support and spread damage/poisoning.

Skuntank: Same reasoning as Drapion 

Drapion: Already explained my logic above

Scolipede: Can counter Psychic-types, can have Poison Point, and again it just seems strangely fitting for Aya to have- maybe it's the coloring that makes me of Aya and the Wasteland, hard to describe.

Garbodor: Similar to Muk, but in this case it would be a reference to the debris scattered all over the Wasteland that never seems to go away no matter how hard people try to clean up the place.

Amoongus: Already explained my logic above

Toxapex: Similar reasoning as Qwilfish, but as an extra thing it also has Merciless, which benefits from Wasteland.

Salazzle: Already explained my logic above

Of course, this list is just speculation on my part, it could be right or it could be wrong. Heck, it's already gonna be partially disproven by default since Aya is only gonna have six Pokémon, and those could be any Poison-types, not just the ones on this list!

But no matter what team Aya has, one thing that seems pretty consistent is that I need at least a Psychic-type and a Ground-type, and we can go from there. Shimmer seems like the obvious choice for the former- her special damage output is a bit better than Kirin’s with the Twisted Spoon, her special bulk is better, and she has Telepathy. Crater works as my Ground-type and she also provides more type coverage as a Fire-type. But…I could kill two birds with one stone in the form of having another Ground-type who also doubles as a Poison-type: Selene! I have Moon Stones, I can evolve her into Nidoqueen easily! And she can learn Earth Power just like Crater- and Earth Power isn't weakened like Bulldoze or Earthquake, nor is it given a secondary Poison type like Mud Bomb.

Of course, having the utility and coverage provided by a Steel-type would also be beneficial. I'm gonna go with Wulfrum for this one; granted, I know I have Aspis the Shieldon now too, but I'm choosing Wulfrum still because a.) he's already at Lv. 39 and will be faster to train, and b.) his offensive capabilities are better than Aspis’ at this time. But, depending on how this attempt goes, I'd be willing to swap the two of need be. As for my last two slots, well- Glare would make very good support, and Riptide is a given as always.

So ultimately, here's what things are looking like:

A bit of training to get these two up to the level cap, and…

Perfect! So now the team's looking like this:

Firstly, I gave Selene an Aspear Berry. See, she can't get poisoned, and being paralyzed or burned by one of those specific Poison-type attacks wouldn't be that much of an issue for her. Her being frozen, though- that would be an issue, so the Aspear Berry should help there. As for Wulfrum, I gave him the Zoom Lens, since Rock Slide and Iron Tail aren't super accurate. 

As a bonus, I used a Carbos on Glare to make her just that much faster, which should just be good in general but also specifically help her as a support. After all, she now outspeeds everyone else on the team, so she can use Acid Spray to prepare for a special attack, or Screech to prepare for a physical attack, not to mention being able to paralyze opponents more easily.

Oh! But before going back to the Wasteland, I remembered Xera now has access to another floor of the Obsidia Department Store, so let's check that out real fast.

Vitamins- so this is where we can get more of those, no need to rely on finding them in garbage cans anymore.

Not that Xera has been that far outside the city so far- Pyrous Mountain is probably the furthest she's been, actually.

Wow, that does seem like a lot- I'm guessing the vitamins in the canon games don't increase EVs by the same margin.

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[twitwatwice]

How to find deleted Fanfiction

Hey everyone, sadly enough sometimes fanfiction gets deleted but dont worry a lot of the times you can find it back.

There is this website called Web archive (wayback machine) and if you have the original link of the fanfiction it might be saved there. This is also the case for Stormageddon101 fanfictions like Gold dust.

Here are a few examples like Gold Dust, Fool´s gold and Cough Syrup by Stormageddon101.

I think yall get the gist as to how it works.

Btw deleted smut is very hard to find back because often only the first page is saved and thats where u have to confirm ur 18 but the next page with the actual fanfic is often not saved sadly.

Sometimes there are chapters ´missing´ but you have to go to the most recent screengrab to find them.

Also I believe that people can request for their archive to be deleted so I advice yall to back it up on ur own device.

[canmom]

Animation Night 145: Brid Bard

...Bard Brid? Sorry, the line’s not very clear here. Say again...

Oh, Brad Bird?

OK, so. Imagine there’s a really dad-like guy who directs movies. Someone for a lot of nostalgia for his childhood during which, Cold War not withstanding, he was impassioned by witnessing The Jungle Book (not unlike a certain Richard Williams) and encouraged by supportive parents to pursue animation. And it went well. Really well. Our boy Brad got an ‘unprecedented’ internship at Disney with Milt Kahl(!) off the back of his film The Tortoise and the Hare, had a chill time at high school, then went to CalArts on scholarship where he studied alongside John Lasseter (keep an eye on him. not just because he might sexually assault somebody but also because he’ll be in this story later), Tim Burton and Henry Selick.

In short, about the most direct and uncomplicated route into animation you can imagine.

Brad Bird joined Disney (their investment paying off) in 1978, working on films like The Fox and the Hound and The Black Cauldron, but soon clashed with the studio heads who he judged not to be upholding principles he believed Disney represented. (He would be vindicated in a way by Don Bluth throwing down the gauntlet a few years later and kicking off the ‘Disney Renaissance’.) One of his last contributions must have been to The Brave Little Toaster, where he worked alongside the future founders of Pixar.

There followed a few years in which he moved to the SF Bay Area (perhaps not so gentrified back then(?) but Bird definitely had money), pitching projects left and right. One of his big passions was to adapt the comic book The Spirit. Mostly he tried experiments that didn’t pan out, like making a CG film at Lucasfilm with Ed Catmull, later founder of Pixar. He worked on The Plague Dogs (AN 86) until he got fired again.

Nevertheless, his reel of hypothetical films did catch the eye of Steven Spielberg, who absorbed Bird into his company Amblin Entertainment in order to expand his short film The Family Dog, co-created with Tim Burton, into an episode of the anthology series Amazing Stories. (Family Dog would later spawn a disastrous spin-off series in 1993, but by this point Bird had moved on). I think it’s worth noting this one because it gives a sense of what sort of original ideas Bird is working with: a dysfunctional suburban family as seen through the eyes of their dog. ‘Dysfunctional suburban family’ would be the centre of... almost every single one of Bird’s works since.

Bird continued to work under Spielberg’s wing, still clashing with execs; he got straight-married in this time to film editor Elizabeth Canney. Things seemed to be going well enough, despite his frustrations - until his sister Susan was killed in a murder-suicide by her estranged husband. This understandably fucked with him pretty hard. After a few years of depression he recovered, enough to take an invitation to work on The Simpsons in 1989 after Matt Groening was impressed by the cinematography in Family Dog. (Seriously he’s connected to just about everyone in the animation industry!) He continued on the Simpsons throughout the early 90s, working part-time to ‘oversee the script-to-animation pipeline’ and introduce this same filmic sensibility, as well as contributing to other animated sitcoms like The Critic and King of the Hill.

Let’s fast forward to the end of the 90s. As we’ve discussed... many times on this webbed site, this is when the steam of the ‘Disney Renaissance’ was about to run out, and the new CG era was about to begin. Our boy Brad, meanwhile, is struggling trying to juggle being a Dad(TM) with spending all his time making animated films. Which leads to Brad writing... a story about a suburban family strained by one of them being a superhero, yeah.

But Brad wouldn’t get to make this film just yet. Instead, his successful pitch was something called Ray Gunn, a scifi story about a detect in an Art-Deco retrofuturistic world. This movie also did not get made... but it’s because Warner bought up the studio Turner that was making it, and shut down Ray Gunn. Instead, they offered Bird a different animated film with a nostalgic bent, adapting childrens’ book The Iron Man by Ted Hughes, which was in its turn written to help his children cope with the death of his wife Sylvia Plath (yeah that Sylvia Plath!). Bird liked the pacifist themes of the novel, but while the children’s book has the feeling of a parable, he gave it a concrete setting in the 50s, and centered the story on the paranoia of the Cold War, seen from the point of view of an innocent boy.

So with this first movie we see start to see the major preoccupations of Brad Bird come into play (though he did not write the screenplay in this case). The Iron Giant comes in the middle of a brief handful of traditionally animated films made by Warner to ride on the coattails of Disney; the others include Space Jam and Osmosis Jones. They were by and large not very successful; The Iron Giant was the one critical success but failed for blah blah marketing y’know reasons. Like most of Bird’s films, the core relationship is a father [figure]-son one, in this case beatnik artist Dean who lives in a junkyard and ends up becoming surrogate father to nine-year-old protagonist Hogarth.

The themes of the film are pretty on the nose: in an idyllic American small town (Bird explicitly referred to Norman Rockwell and sitcom character Ward Cleaver) masking severe paranoia falls a harmless alien robot. It’s viewed as a threat by everyone but the social outcast and the child. The military get called in, gung-ho to throw around their toys; by the time the townspeople figure out that they’ve been huge cunts, a missile is in the air. What saves everyone is the fact that our nine-year-old protagonist has gone to the effort of teaching the Giant good old American values, so it goes and intercepts the missile in a heroic sacrifice... undercut with a final hint that it can regenerate. In fact Bird originally planned an ending where full scale war breaks out between the US and USSR, but ultimately this was softened.

What sells it is charming character animation. The production seems to be the opposite of most animated film stories: meticulously planned, prevised and storyboarded, while making effective use of cel-shaded CG for vehicles and mecha scenes, putting it among the first works to experiment in that direction. In another anime-like touch, the animation of the film was divided up by scene rather than by character.

And, within the American full animation tradition, it’s probably one of the only films to address the Cold War at all. Of course there are others from other countries! When The Wind Blows is probably the most direct; anime is rarely directly about the Cold War (the Future War 198X controversy excepted) but it’s implicit in most works that deal with sci-fi and military themes such as Akira. And in modern times, now that it’s History and serious animated dramas are more accepted, you get films like Funan about the Cambodian genocide. In the USSR... it’s complicated.

But in America... while animation studios were recruited en masse to produce WWII propaganda, for the most part animated films from the 50s through to the 80s don’t really touch on the war. They adopt mythological past settings, or tell stories closer to home. Perhaps by the time of The Iron Giant, with the war over, and the specific setting now 50 years in the past, it was considered safe enough.

The characters of Bird’s film are very much archetypal. It’s kind of a fable about the Cold War, and in the final edit of the script, a reassuring one. The ‘illusion of life’ animation techniques are used to imbue each character with enough charm and specificity but they are largely defined by their roles. I’m not saying this to criticise; this is precisely the model of film that American animation specialises in and it uses it to very good effect. Ultimately though because it’s a fable, you can only take so much from it.

Despite the commercial failure of The Iron Giant, it did finally give Brad some clout as a director. A certain John Lasseter to a new studio that was making serious waves in animation... yeah, you know them, it’s Pixar. I wrote about early Pixar back on Animation Night 75, so go check that out if you like.

At Pixar, Bird ended up directing the studio’s sixth film, finally getting a chance to follow up on his pitch for The Incredibles which features... that’s right... a suburban family with a beleaguered father in a setting designed to nostalgically reference a mid-20th-century American aesthetic. Mmm.

By this time, Pixar movies had started to establish a formula. The characters would be some kind of high concept centering on characters like toys, bugs, monsters or fish that wouldn’t face the limits of rendering humans. Usually they would center on a duo of male characters who would start off at odds and but gradually build a bond over the course of the film. They’d be suitable for kids but have enough comedy to amuse adults. There would be a villain to overcome, and a wider sphere of quirky buddies to support the main duo. Women would be almost nonexistent. At this time, it seemed that Pixar could do absolutely no wrong; their films were basically always hits.

But even so, I remember when The Incredibles came out. It hit the nerd sphere like a bomb. I remember all the memes about Edna Mode (voiced Brad Bird) shouting ‘no capes!’; I also remember the articles that argued that the film was in fact Objectivist propaganda.

Looking back, it’s hard to entirely disagree with them! The thrust of The Incredibles is that an ungrateful public rejects the special superheroes, leading to an end to their romantic days of vanquishing evil and staging dramatic fights on top of trains; now they’re all caught up in the banality of the capitalism. Bob, aka ‘Mr Incredible’, works in a miserable cubicle as an insurance salesman; Helen aka ‘Elastigirl’ is an exhausted suburban housewife trying to rein in somewhat estranged superpowered teenagers. The pencil-necked bureaucrats of Society, you see, have denied them the chance to exercise their special abilities as they did in the romantic past.

But lo! There is a new supervillain after all; it is Syndrome, once a starry-eyed young superhero, who after a rejection by Mr Incredible, came up with a plan to create a high-tech scheme to sell gadgets that would make just about anyone be able to use superpowers - even if, the arc words declare, ‘if everyone is special, no-one is’, a sentiment that basically goes unexamined further. However, his plan to stage a superhero battle to sell these gadgets backfires resulting in an out of control robot. Luckily, the Incredible family have been united over the course of their adventures and can defeat the robot, society reevaluates the superhero issue, and the captains of industry heroes can assume their proper roles of being naturally better than everyone.

It is, looking back with adult eyes, a very strange narrative to be pushing; it’s possible to see the feelings that Bird must have put into it but damn lmao dude’s got some shit to examine. But as a film it’s technically pretty much impeccable, with memorable sequences that got memed about as much as any animated film from the 2000s. It opened ‘families amirite fellas’ as an avenue for Pixar to tell stories about, which they’d dig into much further later with films like Inside Out.

But I won’t spare too any more words on The Incredibles, since I’m not actually planning to show it tonight. No, the other film of Bird’s I’m planning on showing is...

Ratatouille! A film whose influence lasted so long that you’ll get an extended parody even in 2022′s Everything Everywhere All At Once. As far as Pixar high concepts go it’s pretty up there, centering on a food-loving rat Remy who befriends a chef and hatches a scheme where he will give instructions by tugging on his hair while hiding under a chef’s hat. This concept was not due to Bird but to Jan Pinkava, director of Geri’s Game, who had developed the film for years; Bird was pulled in to attempt to salvage what Pixar saw as a hopelessly mired production. Bird, with some reticence, took the established design work, but rewrote the script into something that better fit his tastes in filmmaking. Pinkava for his part refused to comment, but left Pixar not much later.

So the Brad Bird angle enters in the secondary plot, with Remy’s relationship with his dad who doesn’t understand his artistic passion for food. The story is probably what you’d expect given these elements! ‘Probably’ because... I actually haven’t seen this movie, it’s like the one major gap in my knowledge of ‘classic’ Pixar films.

Since Ratatouillie, Bird departed animation and started directing live-action films, including an episode of Mission Impossible that breaks the formula (unless it’s got some kind of dad arc I don’t know about), and Tomorrowland which gets back on the 50s nostalgia train. I haven’t seen any of them so I can’t really comment too much except to say that it sounds like Tomorrowland doubles down harder on the vague Objectivism angle lmao.

But rather than an explicit philosophical conviction, which Brad Bird the self-described ‘centrist’ doesn’t particularly seem to have, it seems more that it’s just a channeling of not entirely examined frustrations about his difficult time getting established as a filmmaker. Bird, it seems, grew up basically being told he was a one of a kind animation genius, and entered the animation industry with a lot of romantic expectations which were frustrated by its reality. It’s easy to read his films as mostly being about how people didn’t understand clever Brad Bird.

Bird is a bit of an odd case in another way. Like basically all animators he rails against the ‘animation is for children’ stereotype of the medium that just doesn’t seem to break, yet his films are very much about archetypal characters with very clearly defined, abstracted arcs. Perhaps that’s just what he’s able to make. But he doesn’t seem to be interested in pushing the envelope anywhere particularly weird or discomforting. Beyond his ambition to bring live action cinematography in to animation, his ‘superpower’, once he got to exercise it, seems to be that he’s very good at planning. His scripts are tightly focused, his productions are on schedule, and he’s the guy you call in when old Jan isn’t finishing his movie on time.

Still, all these criticisms aside, he’s one of the major influences on the subsequent decades of CG films, and his films are consistently very solid. So if you’d like to join me - with apologies for the late start - we’ll be watching The Iron Giant and Ratatouille over at twitch.tv/canmom. Hope to see ya there, films start in about 15 minutes!

[crest-of-gautier]

briefly picked up pq again after not having played it in a month, i got through the cutscenes that happen when you start the second labryinth, but didn't progress past that! thoughts™ below

i basically spent my time in Many Cutscenes (all strolls available to me, the abilities 1/2/3, what do we call each other, navigational differences, and why a group date cafe) + also did the fuse xiezhai request as well as help with the trading showdown.

i think the only downside from this play session is seeing how... how badly they exacerbate teddie's "comedic" relief traits. this isn't a problem exclusive to pq (i've watched arena all the way through and am maybe halfway through ultimax, and teddie also suffers there). but MAN. it's so hard to remember that teddie has a good arc in golden sometimes 😭

bitching about teddie aside, i do appreciate him being there because teddie's origin story of being from the TV world and then leaving it to be with the investigation team acts as such a nice metric of comparison for whatever zen and rei is supposed to be. i've been over this a billion times but the way the game explicitly has made note of this in cutscenes is just so!! juicy to me!!! it does feel like a low hanging fruit for me to latch onto in terms of "clues regarding zen and rei's identity," but it's definitely the easiest to understand.

naoto prompting an attempt to investigate of the clock tower and the lore surrounding it's real-world counterpart was very interesting! i have faith in the writers for this cutscene to make sense later down the line with more context, but it does feel like a clue. i just. need some more time with the game (and possibly more details) to put things together.

i can't help but feel that rei expressing the want/hope to "go back" (in lieu of what teddie did with going to inaba) isn't going to end well... i mean, maybe it will! but to be able to "go back" (whatever that contains) is hardly guaranteed in the first place and i feel like hoping for something like this is bound for heartbreak (i would be interested in that given that rei's entire personality is based around food and zen LOL)

the velvet room scene too!! super juicy, i really enjoy all of the angles that theo, liz, and margaret all presented in regards to the distortion of the p3 + p4 casts from different times being gathered into this one place. given how the wild card power has been neutralized and changed it really makes me wonder about the power of the end-game entity... perhaps so powerful that zen and rei could be considered "shards" of that entity who forgot about that? very interesting for margaret to refer to the world as "finite," me thinks.

the game did give a brief glimpse to a silhouette sitting on a crystal(?) and was obscured by broken glass/spider web of sorts... i wonder whatever it could need from bringing TWO wildcards, i mean, yeah that's powerful but. i wanna know the motive!!! not that. divine entities and the like always have motivations in this series but. y'know. LOL.

anyway that's all for now! short progress today bc wahoo cutscenes and i got things to do but. really intriguing, i'm super interested in seeing how this gets followed up on. also i love yosuke whenever i see yosuke's animations in this game it makes me so happy!! he's so expressive and fun i love him a lot. and it'd be very interesting to play this game again on the p4 side to see minato speak but also see what has changed between versions, as well as catching any details i've missed.

[glitterdustcyclops]

What part of UX is a concept old enough for there to be qualified professionals?

i'm going to assume you're asking this in good faith, so here's a fun fact! the concept of UX, or user experience design, is basically as old as the internet itself is. the NNg, or the nielsen norman group, who essentially invented the concept, were founded in 1998. obviously it took a while to catch on (😉) but the principles that jakob nielsen & don norman discussed 25 years ago are still as relevant to web design today as they were back then, and that's 25 years of people training and learning those principles, evolving them as the technology of The Internet™ evolves

personally i got my certification in UX two years ago (!!!) so i'm still learning a lot, but i do in fact do this Professionally, As A Literal Job, so i'm going to claim at least some amount of expertise when it comes to the UX of tumblr and how it can be way the fuck better

[mtandtgroup-blog]

WEB Systems™ by Mtandt - Case Study

We at WEB System™ International have engineered an innovative and simple way to access under-deck, that is extremely safe and really cost-effective. We have been specializing in providing Suspended Access Systems, Safety Net & Deck Solutions and Complete Containment Systems. Solutions by WEB DECK™ | WEB NET™ | WEB CATCH™ Contact our Head Office: Mark McConway - (+44) 7766 163129 mark@web-international.com www.web-international.com Contact our Indian Distributor: Mtandt Group 1800 200 8088 websystem@mtandt.com www.mtandt.com

[gizopedia]

A Personal Connection to Microsoft's Surface Laptop 7 Remember the thrill of powering up a device that promised to redefine your productivity and creativity? That's the magic behind Microsoft's Surface Laptop 7—a blend of elegance and cutting-edge technology designed to elevate every facet of your digital life. Let's dive into what makes it a standout choice. Design and Build Sleek Aesthetics Unboxing the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 is like unveiling a masterpiece. The ultra-slim profile and premium anodized aluminum casing immediately catch your eye. Whether you choose the 13.8” or 15” model, you’ll appreciate the attention to detail that makes this laptop both stylish and functional. Ergonomic Design Typing on the Surface Laptop 7 is a delight. The backlit keyboard provides a comfortable typing experience, perfect for long hours of work or study. And despite its robust build, the laptop is lightweight, making it incredibly portable for on-the-go productivity. Display Quality Stunning Visuals The Surface Laptop 7 offers two display options: Surface Laptop 13.8”: Features a 13.8” PixelSense Flow™ Display with a resolution of 2304 x 1536, delivering crisp, vibrant visuals. Surface Laptop 15”: Comes with a 15” PixelSense Flow™ Display with a resolution of 2496 x 1664, providing an expansive viewing experience. Both displays boast high contrast ratios (1400:1 for the 13.8” and 1300:1 for the 15”) and support a dynamic refresh rate of up to 120Hz. The individually color-calibrated screens with Dolby Vision® IQ support ensure true-to-life colors, whether you’re editing photos, watching videos, or just browsing the web. Performance and Hardware Processor Options Under the hood, the Surface Laptop 7 is powered by the latest Qualcomm® processors: Surface Laptop 13.8”: Choose between Snapdragon® X Plus (10 Core) and Snapdragon® X Elite (12 Core) processors. Surface Laptop 15”: Equipped with the Snapdragon® X Elite (12 Core) processor. These processors, combined with the Qualcomm® Adreno™ GPU, deliver exceptional performance, handling everything from everyday tasks to intensive applications with ease. Memory and Storage The Surface Laptop 7 offers versatile memory and storage options: Memory: Available in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB LPDDR5x RAM. Storage: Comes with removable SSD options ranging from 256GB to 1TB, ensuring you have ample space for all your files and applications. Software Experience Operating System Out of the box, the Surface Laptop 7 runs on Windows 11 Home, providing a seamless and intuitive user experience. With regular updates and robust support from Microsoft, you’ll always have the latest features and security enhancements. Integrated Software Pre-installed with Microsoft 365 Apps, the Surface Laptop 7 ensures you have all the productivity tools you need right from the start. You’ll also get a 30-day trial of Microsoft 365 Family and access to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for a month, enhancing both your work and play. Battery Life and Charging Longevity One of the standout features of the Surface Laptop 7 is its impressive battery life: Surface Laptop 13.8”: Up to 20 hours of local video playback and 13 hours of active web usage. Surface Laptop 15”: Up to 22 hours of local video playback and 15 hours of active web usage. These extended battery lives ensure you can work or play all day without worrying about finding a power outlet. Charging Capabilities When it’s time to recharge, the Surface Laptop 7 supports fast charging through USB-C® or Surface Connect. With a minimum 65W power supply, you can quickly get back to full power and continue your day without interruption. Connectivity and Accessories Connectivity Options The Surface Laptop 7 is equipped with the latest connectivity options to keep you connected: Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth® 5.4 for fast and reliable wireless connections. A variety of ports, including USB-C® / USB4®, USB-A 3.

1, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The 15” model also includes a MicroSDXC card reader. Accessory Compatibility Enhance your Surface Laptop 7 experience with a range of compatible accessories: Surface Thunderbolt™ 4 Dock for expanded connectivity and charging options. Surface Pen and Arc Mouse for added functionality and precision. User Experience Ease of Use Security and convenience are at the forefront with features like Windows Hello face authentication, providing fast and secure sign-ins. The precision haptic touchpad with adjustable click sensitivity makes navigation smooth and intuitive. Customizability Express your personal style with the Surface Laptop 7, available in multiple colors: Sapphire, Dune, Black, and Platinum. You can further personalize your device with the Surface Adaptive Kit and Microsoft Adaptive Accessories. Specs CategoryDetailsProcessorSnapdragon® X Plus (10 Core) / Snapdragon® X Elite (12 Core)NPUQualcomm® Hexagon™ with 45 trillion operations per secondGraphicsQualcomm® Adreno™ GPUMemory16GB, 32GB, 64GB LPDDR5x RAMStorageRemovable SSD (256GB, 512GB, 1TB)Display13.8” (2304 x 1536, 1400:1) or 15” (2496 x 1664, 1300:1)Battery Life13.8”: Up to 20 hours video, 13 hours web / 15”: Up to 22 hours video, 15 hours webDimensions13.8”: 11.85 x 8.67 x 0.69 inch / 15”: 12.96 x 9.41 x 0.72 inchWeight13.8”: 2.96 lbs / 15”: 3.67 lbsSecurityEnhanced security with Microsoft Pluton TPM 2.0, Windows HelloCamerasFull HD Surface Studio Camera, 1080p Full HD camera Conclusion Summing Up the Surface Laptop 7 Experience In conclusion, Microsoft's Surface Laptop 7 combines sleek design, powerful performance, and versatile features, making it a perfect choice for both personal and professional use. Whether you're a creative professional, a student, or a business user, this laptop is designed to meet your needs with style and efficiency. FAQ Section What is the battery life of Microsoft's Surface Laptop 7? The Surface Laptop 13.8” offers up to 20 hours of local video playback and 13 hours of active web usage, while the Surface Laptop 15” offers up to 22 hours of local video playback and 15 hours of active web usage. Does Microsoft's Surface Laptop 7 support USB-C charging? Yes, it supports fast charging via USB-C® or Surface Connect. Is Microsoft's Surface Laptop 7 good for gaming? While it is not a dedicated gaming laptop, the Qualcomm® Adreno™ GPU can handle light to moderate gaming.

[mtandtgroup]

WEB Net™ & WEB Catch™ - Access Solutions:

WEB Net provides a work positioning suitable for a wide variety of work tasks including surface preparation and coating application, masonry & concrete repairs, pipe-work installation and inspection. This multifunctional system can be altered to provide heavyweight debris containment, site protection, over-side containment and work separation. Operatives who work from the net are attached to a primary twin rope or wire rope safety system. This ensures they comply with Work At Height 2005 and BS7985 2002 regulations. These operatives only require to be trained for work at height in order to work from the WEB Net.

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Our innovative technology was installed on a bridge construction project, allowing uninterrupted traffic flow on the busy road below while ensuring construction debris stays safely contained.

To know more, visit: https://web-international.com/multi-access-system.php

[jcmarchi]

5+ Best WordPress Plugins to Try Out [2024 edition] - Web Design Ledger

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/5-best-wordpress-plugins-to-try-out-2024-edition-web-design-ledger/

5+ Best WordPress Plugins to Try Out [2024 edition] - Web Design Ledger

The WordPress directory has 50k+ free plugins that were developed so you can extend a WordPress website with functions and features far beyond your imagination.

Additional thousands of WordPress plugins are available from various marketplaces.

No matter how much you might have a need for a specialized plugin or two, would you really want to spend a full workday on reseraching? Probably not.

So, what, if anything, can you do? We have an answer to that.

We tested tens of WordPress plugins and selected the 8 best WordPress free and premium plugins for a range of both popular and lesser used functions.

These plugins focus on important functionalities that you won’t typically find in a WordPress theme. They address web designer/developer needs for:

problem-free building of landing pages that catch the eye.

management and displaying of financial, commercial, scientific, statistical, and other data, as well as of substantial amounts of data.

visual storytelling that enhance UX.

automating and streamlining appointments bookings.

These 8 best WordPress plugins for 2024 are available in trial, free, or premium.

What key qualities do these top WordPress plugins have?

Support – We reviewed product development teams’ responses to problems and questions and recommended only those products whose teams have a history of answering support issues within 24 hours.

Reviews by users. We extensively read product reviews and testimonials that specified both ‘Have’ and ‘Have nots’ of these plugins.

Features – We scrutinized each plugin to ensure its advertised features would meet the goal the plugin was designed and built to satisfy.

Free version – All 8 have free versions with a large number of features.

Compatibility – We made certain each plugin was fully compatible with the latest WordPress and PHP versions, and has been updated within the past two months.

8 Best WordPress Plugins for 2024

These 8 WordPress plugins are excellent in their areas. And we have made your job easier by doing time-consuming work for you.

Below, you will read about each plugin’s key features, how their customer evaluated them, and we will give you links to test them out or find out more info for yourself.

1. Amelia™ WordPress Plugin — Appointment Booking WP Plugin

Amelia is the best WordPress plugin for a service-oriented business looking for an automated booking system.

More than 70% of Amelia’s users agree that Amelia’s standout feature is its powerful multilingual Notifications system that enables users to seamlessly manage their appointment and event bookings via SMS, email, and/or WhatsApp messages.

Product qualities users realize once they begin using Amelia:

effortless navigation and ultramodern backend and frontend interface attributes.

the ability to tailor Amelia to meet their specific needs.

a user-friendly design that is free from unwelcome surprises together with the value inherent in transparent functionality and pricing.

A service-oriented business like the one shown in the barbershop template can take advantage of Amelia’s new and improved booking form, organize an appointment flow that best suits their business model, and receive appointment requests online  24/7.

Product rating: 4.8/5 on Captera.

Customer Insight:  Pros: “Amelia is one of my favorite plugins because: 1. Easy to install and use. 2. Reliable and professional quality. 3. Full of great features – better than any others I have used. 4. Great layout, versatile and works seamlessly with clients 5. It is always updated and improved. 6. Support help and communication is fast, friendly, and excellent. 7. Not just a flash in the pan. It has been around for a long time.”

Cons: “Nothing I can think of or have had to be concerned with.”

Instant Support: Documentation, Videos on YouTube and a Discord Group.

Find out more here

2. wpDataTables: The Best WordPress Table & Chart Plugin

wpDataTables is the best WordPress plugin for organizations or individuals tasked with creating tables and charts from complex and/or massive amounts of data.

wpDataTables’ key feature is its Multiple Database Connections capability. This groundbreaking feature is a data management breakthrough that allows a table to set up independent connections to MySQL, MS SQL, or PostgreSQL databases and become a versatile data hub in the process.

Product qualities users quickly become aware of:

a user interface that does not require technical ability to effortlessly create tables or charts.

wpDataTable’s blend of powerful features that handle complex data structures with finesse.

effortlessly show informative tables by seamlessly incorporating data and information sourced from diverse origins.

wpDataTables is excellent for statistics data tables that are responsive. Other uses include:

fixed headers and columns that ensure that key columns and headers remain visible while scrolling and make data analysis more straightforward.

Shortcode for single cells: helpful for useful adding multimedia, links, or other dynamic elements to a table.

The ability to populate tables with data from various APIs.

Product rating: 4.83/5

Customer Insight: “Really great for tables using csv or Excel. Solved a very difficult content issue for me. Thanks so much!”

Instant support options: Excellent documentation and on point YouTube videos.

Use WpDataTables for free.

3. Brizy: Best Website Builder

Brizy is the ideal WordPress website builder for those looking for a White Label solution to market their own brand.

Brizy’s standout feature is its White Label option. You can brand the Brizy builder as your own and encourage clients to create websites using “your” builder.

Product qualities users discover as they use Brizy Builder:

You will never have a problem editing in place whether you are clicking on a text, an image, or any other kind of content.

Content is never created in a disjointed sidebar, as is the case in some competing builders.

Tailored features for agencies and resellers in addition to the White Label option, include Billing, Reseller Client Management, Multi-language capabilities, and Marketing integrations.

Brizy Builder is ideal for building creative websites and landing pages in the Brizy Cloud or when used with the Brizy WordPress theme. “Petits” Brizy’s pet website template is ideal for a pet shop in addition to having a wide range of  other uses.

Product rating: 4.6/5 on Trust Pilot

Customer Insight: “In many way a very satisfying pagebuilder, with a generous and fantastic free version. Especially the way of working with pictures is really nice. However, sometimes experience that Brizy is a little unstable, some things that in between do not flow as they should. But can warmly recommend it, not least for beginners.”

Support capabilities include the Brizy support manual and YouTube videos.

Click here to check out  the Brizy Builder plugin.

4. Slider Revolution

Slider Revolution is the best WordPress plugin for those looking to incorporate a WOW factor into their sliders without any need for coding.

Some say it’s the knockout effects for WordPress that turn them on. With others, Slider Revolution’s top feature is the one that enables them to create sliders visually. Both are right.

Revolution Slider has a host of design options for every category of user:

Web shop builders will tell you that the WooCommerce sliders are especially useful.

Businesses and small agencies find the one-page portfolio templates particularly helpful.

The images and cool scrolling effects in Slider Revolution’s mesmerizing Brewery Website slider template will tempt you to take time out for a cool one. It’s great for a wide variety of uses.

Users quickly take note of the features that allow them to easily upgrade a WordPress website visual in mere minutes.

Product rating: 4.6/5

Customer Insight: “This is a stunning tool. There are great templates that are easily modified to suit you. There’s a learning curve which should come as no surprise once you recognize its potential (and therefore yours.) I don’t know one line of code.”

Support: Slider Revolution’s support manual and YouTube videos provide instant support.

Click for a preview of the Slider Revolution plugin.

5. LayerSlider: #1 WordPress Slider Plugin

LayerSlider is the best WordPress plugin for web designers looking for an uncompromising approach to making amazing web content with gorgeous visual effects.

LayerSlider is not only for building responsive sliders and popups but is also excellent for creating more complex websites. LayerSlider’s top feature is, in fact, a scroll effect in which a hero image magically animates as visitors scroll through the page, as is the case in the Fairy Magical Company example with its scroll scene, scroll transition, and pinned layers.

With respect to templates, the Wood Sculptor website template shows a great example of LayerSlider’s capabilities.

Qualities that only its users will notice include:

A Project Editor that matches professional desktop applications in terms of performance and usability.

A complete suite of visual content creation online services without leaving the UI.

Built-in transitions and effects that can be applied instantly.

Although LayerSlider’s popup and banner-creating capabilities and popular animation features are excellent for marketing purposes, LayerSlider is “tailored” for use on any website niche.

Customer Insight: “Powerful features and a flexible slider for many effects. Makes a very professional looking slider.”

Support: A support manual comes with the package, plus built-in help for almost everything inside the LayerSlider Project Editor.

Click for a preview of the LayerSlider plugin.

6. Essential Grid

Essential Grid is the #1 WordPress gallery plugin for creating galleries guaranteed to capture visitors’ attention.

The grid skin options and 50+ unique grid skins are clearly Essential Grid’s top feature.

Users can easily plug and play these customizable templates to complete projects in no time at all, plus Essential Grid’s visual skin editor enables users to create as many skin variations as they want.

Essential grid created galleries load with a rocket-fast speed and are responsive to display the content on all devices in the most perfect way.

It’s also possible to do search engine optimization of an Essential Grid gallery using deep linking and pagination to achieve a higher ranking on Google.

Team, blog, portfolio, and You/Tube Vimeo channel stream grids are popular among target client categories. The Portfolio Grid example features a image-based portfolio grid layout with pinned text layer and hover effects.

The developers of the wildly popular Slider Revolution plugin, which also appears on this list of best plugins, created Essential Grid as well.

Product rating: 4.7/5 on Trust Pilot

Customer Insight: “It’s rare in today’s world to find support that is competent and responsive, but Theme Punch’s Essential Grid support is AMAZING!!! My issue was resolved on the first contact, and within an hour of submitting a ticket.”

Support: Look to the support manual and YouTube videos for instant support.

Preview Essential Grid.

7. Web Stories – WordPress plugin

Web Stories helps users create powerful narratives and fast-loading full-screen experiences.

The top feature of this WordPress storytelling editor is how smoothly it blends a selection of story creation capabilities into a WYSIWYG creation tool. WebStories also provides an impressive selection of templates. Bike Shop is simple, straightforward, and also one of the most popular eCommerce themed templates.

Other popular features include even more beautiful page templates to help get story creation activities underway together with:

a visually rich and intuitive dashboard that makes it easy to navigate through the entire story creation process.

drag-and-drop capabilities designed to make composing beautiful stories as easy as possible.

access to the WordPress media library through the plugin’s dashboard.

Product qualities that Web Stories’ users discover when they begin using the plugin include:

fast loading times that keep visitors engaged and entertained.

sharing and linking stories on the open web.

tracking and measuring stories for monetization.

Product rating: 4.1/5

Customer Insight: “On our website, we personally love the web story platform! It’s SO beautiful and customizable, we can create different posts that fit our media outlet, and our public likes it a lot. It isn’t that easy to make in the beginning, but once you get it, you can produce a lot!

Instant support option: Solid documentation.

View the Web Stories plugin.

8. Tablesome

Tablesome is the best WordPress form automation plugin for those who need to efficiently transfer information from submitted forms into tables.

Tablesome’s top feature is easily its WordPress Automation feature which enables users to automate certain data management processes when people have submitted forms such as:

storing the form entries in a table.

saving the form entries to Google Sheet.

sending the form entries in an email.

Tablesome’s users appreciate what Workflow Automation does to make their work easier. As they become familiar with Tablesome they gain a better understanding of the tasks it can do, and also become aware of the significant reduction in the number plugins needed to carry out those tasks.

Tablesome can also be used to support building of or improving data-centric websites thanks to its integrations with MailChimp, Google Sheets, Slack, HubSpot CRM, OpenAI/ChatGPT, and WordPress.

Product rating: 4.7/5

Customer Insight: “I was searching for a simple responsive table plugin that allowed Excel file imports in the free version, and after testing all the so-called popular table plugins, I realized that none of them offered excel imports in the free version or if they did, they were not responsive. Then I found Tablesome, and it worked perfectly! Within minutes I had the table setup from the existing excel sheet. Thank you to the authors of Tablesome, and I highly recommend it to everyone!”

Support: YouTube videos and Tablesome’s user manual are best for instant support.

Preview Tablesome.

***** 

Which plugins or plugins you might use in 2024?

It’s understandable you would not need every one of them, but having one or two could add significant value to your projects. With so many free and premium WordPress plugins to select from in the 4 areas that we covere, we saved you a great amount of time.

Each of these best WordPress plugins is:

super-fast, solid, and has excellent UX.

free of restrictions or limitations within its area.

a huge time saver thanks to its prebuilt demos that make creating web projects efficient and enjoyable.

designed for looking excellent on both desktop and mobile.

And customer support for each of these plugins is on point, responsive and pro.

Check out these free and premium wordpress plugins, take them for a spin and go premium if you need the extra features.

[frostycatblr-fandom-files]

I had no reason to believe you wouldn't get around to 'Poets and Painters' all in due time, Carol. 🩷 (Goodness knows I understand how life keeps you busy sometimes; whether that's due to dreaded Adult Responsibilities™, health, or slightly more special/surprising circumstances!) You've always been so good to all of the fanfic authors out there in this "little" corner of the web that holds TCW/TBB so dear to their hearts.

Gosh, I mean... Seeing that I had 8+ new notifications last night from the last time I'd glanced at my Tumblr notifications, and 5 or 6 of those stemmed from your reblog of the Midday chapter? Felt like being graced with a "seal of approval" of sorts! 🥰🥰🥰 I also knew I'd be in for a real treat of a response, too!

I left the reason for why Wolffe rarely left the nicknamed reader's side [which I understand not everyone is fond of this practice; so any viewing "Arcadia" as an OC of sorts is *entirely* valid!!] very open-ended/non-specific exactly for reactions like this!! 🩷🩷

Doing it because of curiosity? Valid! Doing it because he wants to keep the reader/Arcadia safe? Valid! A case of "¿Porque no los dos?" - you guessed it!

And was he perhaps doing it to find excuses to get to know Arcadia better, too? Oh, absolutely. But it going to be done slowly. Wolffe isn't going to open up at the drop of a hat helmet. Wolffe won't start digging into what makes someone tick right from the jump, either.

(Can't pull everything out of that bag of tricks so early into the fic/series! 😉)

Maker, the whole codpiece bit: couldn't help but be a little juvenile and giggle to myself the entire time I was writing it up! Nor could I resist having Wolffe be the one to lighten the mood again by "catching" our amateur artist so focused on working below the belt just when they've let their guard down!

It was too perfect an opportunity not to. A good opportunity that could naturally lead into more small, but meaningful interactions between the reader/Arcadia and Wolffe. (Right before I was giggling again and talked myself into keeping the "jerkin' it" passage as it was, too. 😅) Jokes, smiles; the barrier is coming down, inch by little inch.

Even when that mood between them became somber, it was still inch by little inch. By the end, every little inch adds up.

I love that you said "vandyke" brown! That makes me think of Bob Ross! He always used vandyke brown. :)

Long, long before I ever acquired vandyke brown for my watercolors, I was introduced to VB through Bob Ross. Like many, I've always been so fascinated by his working process, and comforted by his demeanor. (I used to play episodes of Joy of Painting on my phone in order to sleep, years ago!) I wanted to have a few obvious artistic elements to point out along with the poetic/flowery writing style this series took on. So common fanfic behaviors of describing a character's eyes was written with a special "nod to" that someone out there was likely going to recognize. ;)

It was such a lovely surprise to see more of your thought-out responses to another (part of) my fics last night, Carol; thank you as always for that. I've been pretty busy lately and haven't had much time for Tumblr, so that truly made my night. 🩷🩷🩷🩷 I look forward to hearing more of your thoughts as the story progresses when the time is right!!

Poets and Painters (Midday) - Wolffe x Reader [Mature Fic]

Warnings and Information: In desperate need of just one day to take his and his men's mind off the war, Plo Koon orders that everyone make a stop on a relatively uninhabited planet in a peaceful sector of the galaxy to… have a picnic? Just what does he have in mind? A certain flint-gray Commander is finding it hard to believe that they're just on the planet for a day of R&R in the middle of a war, so he isn't letting his guard down. Perhaps someone will help Commander Wolffe find some way to help him relax before the day is over… 2nd person POV. Reader is undescribed save for minor details like personal touches to a uniform, and has a gender-neutral alias. Allusions to canon-typical violence, mention of injury and loss, and Plo just being a dad to the 104th Battalion in the background. Swearing. Discussion of more adult themes and some lewd jokes the more the fic progresses (this is not an Explicit fic but it is Mature; Minors please DNI). Takes place on a fictional planet.

Word count: 4,665

The trick to keeping Commander Wolffe from prowling the edge of the clearing like a caged animal had been surprising. To everyone. 

Allowing him to watch you work keeps him seated on the hill beside you, where he does not worry his brothers or Master Plo Koon by continuing to make lap after lap. He had left your side once, to take a look at something the Clone pilot Warthog had to show him, and then did a little shiny-wrangling (namely Soapsuds) because they were too close to the forest for his comfort, but he was quick to return. 

He's not much of a conversational partner, whether that's out of respect for you to let you concentrate, or simply a product of his personality. When he has something to say, Wolffe keeps it brief. 

"I'm not that pale." 

"But your scar is." you reply with a gentle smile and a soft laugh, carefully adding traces of a lighter flesh-tone to the vertical stripe of scar tissue in your sketching of the Commander. You keep your pressure light on the page, and make your best efforts to keep the strokes in roughly the same orientation. The smile gives way to a frown the longer you fill in the length of his scar on the page. Your heart hurts for what happened to him at the hands of a dark Force-wielder. What her blade did to him. "I imagine it was quite painful, to lose your eye…" 

"Yes." Wolffe replies in a clipped voice, suggesting to you that while he does not want to dismiss your sympathies, he clearly must not want to talk about this with someone he does not know, either. You feel a tug on the lapel of your uniform, and the gloved pad of his thumb brushes over something. Oh. You'd forgotten about that. "You added a wolf's head into your uniform, Arcadia?" He's changing the subject. And that's okay. 

That's more than okay. 

Glancing down best you can, you see the sloppy replication the flint-gray Commander refers to. The thread used for the head is a steely gray, the stitches are almost invisible and camouflaged in the color of the uniform, save for the eyes in your favorite color. It was meant to be practice for repairing holes in your clothing, you explain. "For emergency situations. I wanted to see if my stitches would hold up after being washed. I completely forgot it was there." You don't explain why you went with the image of a wolf. You won't need to, in his presence.

It's easy enough to guess why this would be the animal, of all possible choices available to you in this galaxy, you would stitch into your lapel. The name surrounds you. Wolfpack. General Plo's callsign is Wolf Leader when they engage in battle by starfighter. 

It is the name of the man next to you - granted it bears an additional forn and an esk. 

Wesk-osk-leth-forn-forn-esk. 

Wolffe. 

"It held up well." he compliments you, releasing the fold of the lapel and assuming his silence once more. Degree by degree, you are seeing he is not eternally gruff or cold with you, or anyone: merely a man made stoic and far more vigilant than before by war. In his vigilance, he continues to visually sweep the field for signs of trouble or mischief. 

Maybe, while he's distracted…

You stealthily swap out the current coloring pencil in your hand - a deeper skin tone - and pluck out the Lamp Black pencil in the mix, drifting your hand lower down the page until the end of the pencil was now lined up with the loosely defined crotch and codpiece of his armor. 

Maker alive let's just get this over with. 

The body glove is going to be innocent enough to fill in, but defining the shadows around the pubic bulge in his kit will be faster. Just keep it quick and be discreet. Work fast. Hope no one sees. Hope no one asks. 

Your pulse screams in your veins when he clears his throat - loudly - next to you, and you are so certain he is now trained on you, and acutely aware of where your pencil is. "Hm-mm…" Oh kriff me sideways. "Excuse me," he apologizes, clearing his throat again softer this time, "didn't mean to startle you, but I was trying to catch Suds' attention." Thank the Maker he didn't look when he apologized. Just a few more marks to finish shading in the codpiece, and then you can start on the body suit. "O-oh. Is he wandering off again?" 

"Looked like he was about to." 

Still breathing down their necks even from here? "Y'know-"

"As their Commander I am going to look out for my brothers, Arcadia." He sounds neither happy or unhappy with what he assumed you would say. And it's fair of him to assume that, in a sense. You only wish he didn't have to feel so defensive. 

"I understand that," you promise him, and for the moment, you set down the pencil in your hand so you are not dividing your attention between the artwork and Wolffe. "and I wasn't telling you to stop, either. I only wanted to warn you that, I think, General Plo Koon seems worried about you, that something is keeping you from enjoying yourself." 

To his credit, he gives your words a moment of quiet contemplation. Whether that's to consider the truth behind the words you said, or to come up with an explanation of sorts, Wolffe remains silent and still like the forest that surrounds you on all sides. What secrets does that forest hold? What lives within? 

What will you find other than sap and blood on your palms when you pull back the thorny branches? 

"I don't believe we're here just to relax for a day." Commander Wolffe admits with a heavy look of guilt and uncertainty. "I think the General has other reasons for bringing us to Little Archossi, and he won't tell us." 

"Reasons? Like what?" You pick the pencil back up, and return to the slow, gradual task of adding color to the page. You're going to give him time to think. Time to answer, if he even wants to. He may not. Warning him that he's possibly made his General concerned about him seems to shake him down, somewhat. "I'm sorry." 

It's reflexive, apologizing for upsetting him. That seems to pull him out of his silence, for the moment. "Don't be, Arcadia. I'm not going to fault you for having good intentions. Or a good eye." 

The kri-? 

In dawning horror, you see and fully realize where your pencil lead is. And looking over at him, you see that he does too. "I-I'm so sorry, sir…" You admit that you hoped he wouldn't notice, and that adding the necessary shading and color around areas that carry their shares of suggestive and sexual imagery and connotations would have been completed with as little attention drawn to it as possible. While you're not exactly ashamed to have drawn those parts of him, you feel a bit awkward to have him take notice of your work when you add the color. 

Half of his mouth quirks in a smile, an expression of his respect, understanding that took guts to admit. "That's nothing to apologize for. It's just part of the art, Arcadia. A little "awkward" would only be understandable. Would you feel better if I purposely didn't watch?" 

Well, seeing as how you're almost done with the inner thigh, you don't see much of a point to the gesture in this part of the progress. But, he did offer. And this seems to be what's keeping him seated in the grass. And what's keeping Plo Koon freer to spend less time being concerned about his diligent commander, and more time in showing his troops more aspects of Kel Dor culture and history, it seems. (Orchid keeps asking questions that Tack could easily answer about Dorin, and it serves as a neat little lesson for some of their newer shinnies. Plo is certainly grateful for the curiosity that allows him to be a teacher, rather than a fighter, today.) 

You shrug lazily, laughing softly under your breath. "I'll leave that up to you, sir. At this point…" 

Wolffe chooses to keep an eye on his brothers, so you make the process of shading the inner thighs quick, while being careful not to get sloppy. You're not trying to recreate a master painter's work here in the first page of your sketchbook, but you don't want to look at this one day and become filled with the urge to tear it out because all you can see are glaring imperfections, either. That's nothing but a fanciful daydream of making so much progress in your artistic prowess that you would ever be struck with such a thought, of course. 

You are preoccupied with a war against the Separatists: when would you ever have the chance to make regular progress and impressive strides without backsliding and the natural degradation of your skills when you do not use them? You're a small part of the busy crew that keeps the Triumphant running smoothly. 

People constantly need you. And that's all well and good, but sometimes you find yourself running into the same problem over and over again that crews of this size inevitably face: when you, who provides the help, needs someone, who is there for you? Do you turn to another crewmate who is already up to their neck in all the problems they juggle? Turning to one of the Clone troopers is ill-advised, no matter how much they swear they don't mind lending a hand or an arm (or two) to assist. 

You've been doing fine aboard the Triumphant; better than fine, in fact. But that worry claws at you, sometimes. I'm here to help everyone. But if I needed help, who would I go to?

Who does the Commander go to when he needs help, come to think of it… General Plo? Or maybe Sergeants Sinker and Boost, if the matter was a little closer to the heart, something he believed was best kept between brothers? 

Who does Wolffe turn to in his hours of need, you wonder. 

You need to rest your wrist, and soon. You have just a little more of this tree's canopy to color in though, and then you're calling it good. You've been working on this "sketch" for more than three hours with the Commander at your side. You want to have this done soon. You want to go check out some of these things other crewmates have been laughing themselves silly over for the last hour that leave them gasping and wheezing for breath, clutching their sides and drying their faces. You're burning to know what's so funny, why they keep calling your name to come see. 

Curiously guessing over and over what General Plo's reaction will be when you show him this amateurish endeavor in outdoor art drives you to continue, however. Just a few more tiny, feather-shaped leaves… Wolffe notices the sharp twinge in your face, and the uncomfortable spasm in your fingers as you adjust your grip around the Sunflower coloring pencil. 

"Getting painful?" 

"Just a little." you admit, knowing if you pause now, you will delay when you pick the pencil back. "I'll manage." 

"Making art shouldn't bring you pain, Arcadia." 

You scoff, just slightly. "Physical pain? Agreed. But emotional pain, that's another matter. Don't worry, I'll be done soon, Wolffe." 

He asked you to call him Wolffe a short time ago. It wasn't exactly necessary to call him Commander or Sir all the time if you had him sketched out on your page quite like… that. His legs parted and bent at the knee - flat in the grass out in front of him. Wrist of the left hand resting just on the surface of his thigh, with his hand hanging limp just inches from his groin. You were generous enough to draw his fingers in a more neutral position than how they had looked in reality… Otherwise, if his soldiers and brothers got a hold of the sketchbook, there's no telling how many jokes you'd have to hear about making it look like their Commander was jerkin' it in front of you. 

Calling him "Wolffe" would do just fine when it was just the two of you alone on this hill. Perhaps he felt it was only fair if he was calling you by your name. You had no title or rank, like him. You are just a humble part of the crew, but he assured you no less important than one of the soldiers. 

It takes all of us, he said. That's how we win this war. 

You've come to the home stretch, feeling the ache in your fingers deepen with every tiny skritch and shwoop! as you methodically color in your work leaf by leaf. "Just one last, little leaf," you promise, "and then I'm done." 

"Not going to sign your magnum opus, Arcadia?" Wolffe prods a little teasingly. He's smiling at you now, even. Hours ago, he was somber and battle-ready, no smiles, no nonsense. Now, he's beginning to make small jokes. "Should add a signature so future museums know who to accredit this to." 

"A leaf and then a signature." you chuckle warmly. "Future museum… Honestly." He only offers a shrug in response to that, and you take it to mean well, you never know. "What, you're trying to tell me you think this would honestly end up in a museum gallery one day?" 

He shrugs again, gazing off into the distance, into the forest. "Overheard one of the boys in the mess say something about the notion once. Something they read. Some kind of commemorative effort made by one planet to make sure they never forgot their bloody history by way of art and song and poetry inspired by that time. Evidence of a time best not repeated, but not forgotten either." 

Such an insightful and wise thing to be said so casually, poetically, and yet, there's a weighty truth to every syllable and enunciation. 

We doom ourselves to repeat the past when we do not remember it and do not teach it anymore. When we allow ourselves to forget, the shades of rouge we sop the bristles of our brushes in will not be in the rich scarlets of Dathomir, or the forever-burning rubies of Mustafar, it will instead be with blood. 

When we have enough evidence, it silences the naysayers and the fools. It validates the choking and trembling voices that say I have tasted the bitter blade of war. I have stood before the yawning maw of nothingness it leaves in its wake. I will never be the same. You do not have the right to tell me that I am some kind of paid actor. 

If they were conspiracies, do you not think I would be among the loudest of your prophets who tout these twisted claims in the hopes of converting another?

"Fascinating. Thinking something like that will come of the Clone Wars, Wolffe?" You've finished the drawing, now. Taking an ink pen, you jot down your signature in the tidiest handwriting you can manage in the lower right corner, making note of the date for good measure. You'll think up a creative title for this later. 

There's a third rising and falling of the shoulders from the man sitting beside you. "It's too soon to tell." 

"That's fair." you reply, gathering up your supplies to put them back into the bag for safekeeping. "But you just know, if it does happen, the Separatists aren't gonna like the art." You have faith that the Republic will prevail. How could it not when the soldiers who fight for the Republic are some of the most courageous, persevering people you know? (What will come of them after?) 

You're likely right about that, he agrees with a throaty chuckle. The Separatists will not like losing this war, and they'll like the art even less. "I can only hope… that it will not just be the Jedi who are…" Wolffe grows silent next to you. He's not certain what word he wants to use to best explain his thoughts, he admits plainly. There are too many. Too many answers that are right, but he struggles to find the one thing that is most correct out of all of them. 

Given what Tack has told you, the answer is obvious. "You're hoping that the galaxy will remember the Clones were a part of this conflict too. That the galaxy won't forget the sacrifices made by your brothers, and they won't forget how many lost their lives. You probably hope that when the free peoples of the galaxy remember the Jedi, they remember you, too. Both must be appreciated together."

"You're probably right," Wolffe concedes firstly, "And you're too wise beyond your years, Arcadia." Strangely philosophical, he tells you, for how old he guesses you to be. Maybe he's the right one this time, thinking to yourself on his words. 

Maybe he's not the only one hoping that when this war ends, no matter the outcome, those who served as a part of the Grand Army of the Republic will not be a forgotten topic ten, twenty… even forty or fifty years down the line. 

Tack has made a breakthrough in his mysterious flower just before Master Plo is free to come take a look at the sketch and color work you've completed, and concern for his men takes precedence. You would not blame him in the slightest if he forgot he expressed interest in seeing what you accomplished with art materials given to you as gifts. Because of your station with the crew of the Triumphant with a secondary speciality for risk assessment, you're involved in this discussion with the researcher and his commander and general. 

Right now determining the risks posed to the men of the 104th matters more. Art and philosophical pondering will have to come later.

Tack explains to both Commander Wolffe and Master Plo that he thinks the smatterings of blue flowers that dot this clearing here on Little Archossi are known as Dinocaeruleus anthos. By their common-name, you know that these flowers are a warning. A silent, unassuming danger for all their beauty and silky blue petals. 

Terrible blue flower. 

"You can make toxic honey with these flowers?" Wolffe asks more to himself than Tack, as he reads ahead in the compiled information. Plo is taking his time to read the information on the screen of the datapad in his hands. To make sense of this, the Jedi is being thorough. 

"Poisonous, Sir, more accurately." Tack makes the correction habitually, and Wolffe does not take it personally. He knows that Tack knows what he meant, and given his aptitude for analytics and other such sciences, his researcher is not correcting him to be a smartass. "But, yes, you can make bad honey with these flowers depending on what pollinators you harvest from. They are not wholly dangerous on their own. Eat it, it might make you feel nauseated due to natural bitterants. Touch it to more sensitive dermal surfaces and it will prove a powerful irritant." 

From a short distance away, you hear the voices of Orchid and Soapsuds, Tack's batchmates (you assume), commenting on what the four of you are discussing in the shade of the tree you spent the morning sketching. "So what Tack's saying is don't stick your d-" The speaker finds himself with the other's hand anxiously plastered against his mouth to shut him up in a hurry. "Maker alive, shut up!" Soapsuds warns him, "Orchid, why are you so vulgar?!" 

There is a pointed sigh from Commander Wolffe that is aimed at the two of them. Don't make me come over there. Behave yourselves in front of the General. 

Plo makes no indication that he's noticed the situation occurring just out of reach. You have to imagine he hears Suds and Orchid wrestling with each other in the grass, now, though, and is ignoring it. "Arcadia and Tack, in your opinion, will these be enough cause for concern to consider returning back to the ship?" Plo wonders aloud. The Kel Dor returns the device to the researcher, and folds his hands together in an act of deliberate contemplation, resting them against his stomach. 

Tack looks at you, and you at him, then the Commander. There is a look in his eyes, both the stark silver and the warm vandyke brown, that reads to you as a surrender of control. 

I will carry out your judgment. 

Tack scoffs and shrugs, his arms thrown wide. "Honestly, General? I don't know enough. I'd need more time to determine through more analysis and comparison. This is only one search result for one flower it could possibly be. But it was enough of a match to make me get the Commander while he was talking with Arcadia." Enough of a match to send him into a tizzy over it. Tack had tripped coming up the hill in his haste, trying to ask if - from where he was sitting - the Commander noticed anyone messing with the blue flowers. 

We have a potential problem! had Wolffe on his feet faster than engaging a hyperdrive. And then there was a flurry of questions. Was it contact from the planet's inhabitants? Has someone gotten hurt? Are they needed to assist another battalion? Where's the General? 

He has the look again, now. Worry. The inner anxiety is eating him alive. Tack doesn't know. So what about you? 

"I see…" Master Plo hums. "And what are your feelings, Arcadia? What do you think about the situation?" 

You think. What do you think about this situation? Is it worth double checking the matches for the flower, to make sure that it really is Dinocaeruleus anthos? Are the men really going to be so flippant as to disregard any kind of warning put out about these flowers if they are the Dinocaeruleus, or worse yet, a far more harmful flower? (Not necessarily, but you have to consider that warning the troops that this flower can have detrimental potential invites the opportunity to inflict it.) 

There is one thing that is already clear to you, at least. "Tack should first make sure these flowers are what he thinks they are before we make any kind of advisory, General. That is my opinion." 

Another thoughtful hum. "Interesting. And why is this your opinion, little one?" 

"We should avoid unnecessary panic. Until we know for sure what these flowers are, I say we don't say anything. We invite unnecessary risks by making the men paranoid." you suggest, glancing first at the Jedi, and then the flint-gray Commander to his left. They had every right to accept or disregard your counseling as the commanding forces of this battalion at the day's end; you hope they will consider it at the very least. 

"I'm in agreement."

"Then we will do as Arcadia advised, and we will let young Tack take more time to confirm his findings. Until then…" Plo trails off, nodding decidedly. Thank the Maker. Tack dismisses himself in a hushed, hurried tone. If he's going to spend more time pouring over information on the Dinocaeruleus anthos, he shouldn't dawdle. The Jedi kindly wills the benefits of the Force to guide the researcher before he turns to address you once again. "Have you made use of the gifts given to you since we last spoke?" 

Blinking with a mild start, you realize that Plo has changed the topic. "Oh, yes, I have. Let me go get my sketchbook from my bag, sir." You scoop the entire bag from the grass, re-tucking your datapad among your things as you extract the book and turn it to the necessary page for his convenience. "Here." 

Taking it carefully in his hands, the book is cradled like a priceless relic as his eyes must trace over the page. Once more your property is treated with such care and respect by the Force-wielder. "My… Arcadia, you have quite a gift." 

The action is perhaps more childish than professional, but you cannot help but duck your head at such praise, fearing to meet his gaze should he see how flushed your face is. It is not the heat of the sun above you, denoting that it is now high noon, that makes your face burn. You're never quite sure how to accept a compliment. 

You opt for humility. "Oh, it's hardly that great, General Plo… I wouldn't say I have a gift… just… a-an attention for detail." And that much is true; dedication to detail is why you spent hours on a simple "sketch" to begin with; why you took so much care and effort to get everything done the best you could. The form of Commander Wolffe's armor. The curve of his jaw and the roundness of the ala of his nose. The correct texture of his hair within the typical haircut many of the Clones have. 

But though gentle insistence, the General repeats his sentiment. "Attention for detail is no less of a gift, Arcadia. In war it is a mark of wisdom, in art, it is a skill." A skill that has made for a very fine portrait of the Commander. "Have you seen Arcadia's work yet, Commander Wolffe?" He offers the sketchpad with an invitation to have a closer look, though it isn't necessary. 

"I watched Arcadia add the colors, yes." Wolffe confirms. "Quite the process."

Not to mention a strain on your wrist, but one well worth it for the praise given to you from the Jedi, and now many of the men who have congregated to come and suss out what's going on. "I can only imagine… Even gone through the trouble of adding proper shadows to such… rich color." 

Sinker and Boost smile softly, not quite sadly (but certainly somber), when they take note of the color of paint their commanding officer wears when you allow the book to be passed around so everyone is welcome to have a closer look. They hold it longest out of everyone, looking at this artistic replication a little more closely than most.

"The ol' maroon, eh? Think it's meant to depict another time, before Abregado?" 

"But he's drawn with the scar, Boost."

"Ah, yeah, good eye. Missed that bit." 

You timidly clear your throat to draw their attention, and explain that of all the colors, you didn't have gray. "I didn't want to leave his armor naked, either." Not when you went through the trouble of adding the face of the wolf and the other design to each of his shoulder pads, or the unique shape of his visor when you drew the helmet next to his hip. 

You would not deal him further, small cruelties by stealing the colors out of his coat completely. These markings he has chosen for himself mean something to Wolffe. The color he wears now is a mark of mourning. The color in the pages of your book will serve as an homage. 

You have not forgotten your brothers. You will always carry them with you.

Hmmf. Are you a poet now too, Arcadia?

No sir. Not really. 

You're uncertain where the words came from. Borrowed from something you read once? Did you perhaps hear the General say these words once upon a time? You can't recall what inspired you to say such a thing. 

But you'll remember the change in his gruff exterior, the way in which he was quieter than quiet for just a moment, and he pivoted in the grass to better face you and make you his equal. 

It's only the two of us here on the hill, Arcadia. Call me Wolffe, please. 

Don't have a fic taglist for the time being, but I'll likely start one soon if I can figure out how to make those forms some people have since I write a variety of stuff. For now, though, if you'd like to join a taglist for specific types of fics (example: just TBB-centric or just TCW-centric (or both)) don't hesitate to ask. 🩷

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