#but like y'all can SEE that I have checkmarks

[sprinklecipher]

A Case Study in Using Tumblr Blaze to Collect Survey Data

A little while ago, I ran a very niche survey about the vernacular names used for a specific type of North American bug, and I used Tumblr Blaze to try to get more survey responses. I figure that others who’d consider using Blaze to promote surveys might want to know how it went, so here's a graph of the number of survey submissions, with the “Blazed” periods highlighted in dotted orange:

Additional details below the cut.

Response Numbers: Between 4/17 (when I first posted the survey) and 4/30 (when I analyzed data for it), I received a total of 291 responses.

There were 14 responses in the first 24 hours after I posted the survey (before Blazing the post related to it).  For all subsequent days that the post was not Blazed, I received between 0 and 2 additional responses. By contrast, I received 145 responses during the first Blaze period and 110 responses during the second Blaze period. It isn't possible to definitively know exactly how many responses can be attributed to Blazing the post, but from this data, I'm comfortable assuming that it's a large majority of the responses.

The Blazed post: I exclusively advertised the relevant survey on Tumblr, and with one, specific post. The post itself was nothing fancy—just a quick description of the survey and some emojis, basically. It looked like this:

I’ve left the survey running (although I don’t promise I’ll analyze new data for it), so if you would like to complete it, you may do so here (NOTE: the survey contains a photo of a bug). Current results for the survey are also available here (NOTE: the results post also contains a photo of a bug).            

Blaze information: Both times that I Blazed the post, I purchased the second tier level (which provides 7,000 estimated impressions, although in both cases, the actual impressions ended up being ~10k, per the post-Blaze summary reports). I also opted to specifically target a US audience.

Data quality: One worry I had about Blazing my survey was that I’d get a bunch of joke responses or (worse) harassment, but that fortunately did not happen. I can't know for sure just how honest any individual respondent was, but the overall pattern of results was plausible and suggested there wasn't any widespread bad-faith responding. One respondent gave a clear joke answer, but that was it.

Conclusions: It’s hard to express this honestly without sounding like an ad, but I had a generally positive experience Blazing my survey. As someone with a very small blog, Tumblr Blaze helped me get enough survey responses to crunch some numbers on my (perhaps aggressively niche) project idea, which I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to do. I didn’t receive a staggering amount of data or anything, and the response rate I got might not be worth the cost for all projects, but it served its purpose for me. All in all, I'd say it's at least worth considering for anyone interested in running an informal survey without having a pre-existing audience to lean on.

[whatevertheweather]

Thank you all for the tags @run-for-chamo-miles @monbons @forabeatofadrum @rimeswithpurple @ileadacharmedlife @artsyunderstudy @noblecorgi @you-remind-me-of-the-babe! You're all making me very emotional about fandom, and my TBR has gotten out of control.

So. It's 2024 for a little bit more. I'm not sure what's going to happen as I write this post, but I know it's not going to be succinct, so we're just going to start below the cut and see what happens.

I'm waffling over where to start, but I've decided on what we're here for, which is the fic recap. I did actually make fic goals in 2024, and I did actually meet some of them, which I'm trying to focus on instead of the parts I didn't meet. Here's a nice lil screenshot to sum that up.

I did give Bait and Switch a checkmark after some hesitation, because it says ongoing, and I did keep it going. I just didn't finish. (The new goal is before CORB 2025 I guess.)

So I completed 2 fics. Continued 1. Posted 60,917 words, AO3 says, even though that's including the chapters of the WIPs I started last year, and by my clumsy calculations with that in mind, it's actually 32,990. Did not meet my goals, struggled to write most of the time, but when I was looking for these stats, I found AO3 doesn't even give me a 2023 tab (rip first chaps of Bait and Switch and Musical Chairs, I guess), so it's an improvement over last year.

It just doesn't feel like it, because so much of what I did is unposted. So those are the stats I'm gonna give.

Words that didn't get posted: 23.5k

Fics this close to done that I just couldn't get any farther on: 4

Fics started: 3

Fics lovingly revisited after being abandoned for a long while: 2

Number of projects I got really excited about writing: 3

Number of times I wrote AHAHAHA in brainstorming documents because I figured out what I need to do to fix the problems I was having: 5

How long it will take me to turn those ahas into action: I cannot possibly say

Number of times I should have reached out for brainstorming help: 50, probably

Number of times I actually reached out: 3, I think

It's these last two points I actually care about. Well, no, I care about all of it, but it's these last two I've been thinking about. I had writing goals for 2024, I'm going to have writing goals for 2025, but I also had a more nebulous goal to participate in fandom more, and that's the one I'm actually bothered about not meeting.

I have a bad habit of thinking the only way I can participate is by getting fic done. Sharing it. Posting snippets if it's not done. Like I can only rejoice in other people's WIPsday posts if I have my own, instead of just being inspired by other people's writing and art. Or I can only share excitement or progress if I'm sure it's going to go somewhere, instead of just posting what I have and letting the community of it all be its own excitement. Or I can only comment if I have the headspace to put together a stunning review that perfectly encapsulates what I liked about a fic/art/anything, instead of just saying what I can or messaging someone to tell them I loved the thing they made, as if I don't know how wonderful it feels when that happens.

I'm getting sappy and maudlin on main, but I appreciate this fandom so much, even when I revert to lurking, and I want so much to get back to participating and talking to people and sharing in all the amazing wonderful things this fandom does. Y'all are some of the most talented and creative and kind people and I adore you all. So that's my main (fandom-related) goal for 2025, and any fic completed will just be bonus points.

But! Since we're here for fic at the end of the year, I will round out this rambling post by saying there are at least 3 ideas I'm hopeful I'll be able to maintain my current level of enthusiasm for, and beyond that there are about 5 that are a few sentences away from done, so there's hope for seeing at least some fic from me in the new year. Related, here's a peek at the first three documents on my drive.

Two of these fall in the "a few sentences away from done good lord why can't you just finish this" category. The other one falls in the category of things I'm actually very excited about, and hope to at least have a WIPsday post for it before too long. Because I'm thinking keeping things secret for fear of never finishing them is actually kind of silly, and I don't need to keep trying to create things in a vacuum.

Finally, a mess of tags that is me waving hello with both hands: @fatalfangirl @moodandmist @martsonmars @facewithoutheart @whogaveyoupermission

@mostlymaudlin @sillyunicorn @aristocratic-otter @bookish-bogwitch @alexalexinii

@ivelovedhimthroughworse @iamamythologicalcreature @ionlydrinkhotwater @thewholelemon @bluedahlia912

@youarenevertooold @cutestkilla @raenestee @confused-bi-queer @basiltonbutliketheherb

[flightlessinsect]

The way some tom stans - or haters pretending to be stans - love to catastrophize the opinions of losers on social media needs to be studied. Because why did I see an anon on one blog say they "contacted tom's publicist" to tell them to do something about the "R&J pr disaster"?

Have y'all never followed any celebrity before? What disaster? The "disaster" of having multiple days of supportive crowds cheering at the end of each show? The "disaster" of multiple glowing reviews about the show from people who watched it - you know, people whose opinions ACTUALLY matter because they paid money to see the show? The "disaster" of the smiles on the cast's faces when they see the crowds waiting for them outside? No? Oh so you mean the "disaster" of random racists with 12 followers and a purchased blue checkmark and random tom haters who are jumping on the bandwagon to continue hating on him? The ones you guys CONTINUE to elevate by talking about them, engaging with their nonsense, or sending their tweets to active blogs... to do what, exactly? To coddle you and give you virtual hugs and comfort? To say "yeah I agree, tom is totes racist actually" because you are actually a hater but too much of a coward to hate directly?

Focus on the real people with real faces that the cast see cheering for them night after night. If you are being genuine, and the cast's mental health is your "concern", trust that they most likely know not to read that shit anymore. They probably have people filtering the actual reviews to them. If their physical safety is your "concern", trust that they have enough security to take care of them. If you are being honest-to-god "concerned" about tom's reputation, trust that you are blowing things way out of proportion. Tom gets tweets like those everyday and has been for years and he is just fine and dandy. Still getting work, still well-loved by people who actually know him, and still richer than any of us will ever be. Believe me when I say many many many many celebrities have had worse "scandals" and are still completely fine. Even the ones that are being called out right now on that block list will barely feel a dent in their reputations. As much as we like to pretend we're getting better, we still live in a celebrity-obsessed society.

Also, do take the time to consider that the silence of the production, of other cast members, and of Fran herself may be something that is happening on purpose. They see each other every day, work very (very) closely together, and surely have had discussions on how this whole thing will be handled.

Lastly, take the time to also consider that maybe you don't care about what Fran is going through at all and you just want tom to "do something about it" because you think it will give you moral superiority as his stan. OR you don't care about what Fran is going through at all and you just want to use this to fuel your hate boner for tom. Because trust me, the fans who DO care about everyone in the cast.. they are highlighting, retweeting, reblogging the glowing reviews and supportive posts and stories. They are posting pictures of Fran smiling on stage or at the stage door. They are talking about her talents, her stage presence, her beauty, her chemistry with tom. What they are NOT doing is posting hate tweets on their blogs so more people can see them.

[notimeliketoday]

Northern Crater Illusion (Tifa version)

I know people's been saying something about this part in like forever especially in the OG but I finally get the courage and spite to write my own take. That's what I get staying on twitter I guess.

(You best believe I will post this there but on concentrated amount - character limit is only the blue checkmark's friend on that island.)

Most specifically I want to have a closer look on how Sephiroth pulled his attack using this *truth* that he and Tifa share and how this translates to Tifa's own personal conflict with Sephiroth himself.

Yeah, got so tired in that Sephiroth hates Tifa because of her interference to his plans for Cloud and the only one who can fix him takes.

No, fam. That's what the Rebirth seem to imply to y'all but Sephiroth already hates Tifa in OG separate from Cloud. (Or does he?). Heck, him leaving his Masamune beside her father's corpse is a literal taunt daring her to go after him and use his weapon to inflict damage to his person. This is before Cloud made himself known by stabbing him due to his own grief by the way.

Even with all this, we see he doesn't really seem to care to remember the name of who killed him until Cloud had to point it out in Junon.

CLOUD had to point it out. His KILLER has to tell him his name just to make him remember.

Tifa though?

Getting talked to so intimately with faux kindness - the very same treatment he now shows Cloud in Rebirth, imagine that.

Now let's also remember that this is the OG and therefore any trappings of Rebirth's new plot doesn't exist here because this is the beginning of it all.

Anyway, I revisited this scene because of an itch urging me (it's the spite) and a thought suddenly occurred to me.

If we remove Cloud's side and trappings in that part of the illusion (basically all things Cloud) and look at this from Tifa's perspective as a standalone thing for her own character, it paints a very clear picture of Sephiroth attacking her.

People always miss this because Cloud once again overshadowed Tifa's own trauma and unresolved conflict with Sephiroth as the one more openly attacked in this scene.

Let's look at Sephiroth's lines:

The lie has been set. Obviously Tifa won't let this unanswered if she could help it. So this is her response:

With Sephiroth's response to this being the first images I posted above.

It's been made clear how extremely pressured Tifa was at this scene especially when Cloud reveals he hinges all his faith in her while suffering her own trauma again AND attacked by their enemy.

It wasn't just Cloud Sephiroth gaslighted in this scene.

That's what this part is trying to show us and regardless of who gets attacked here the outcome is the same: Cloud is just an illusion created by Jenova using memories of people, most especially Tifa.

Sephiroth doesn't hide his attacks to her at all and it astounds me how everyone who played this game back then believed only Cloud was dealt a great mental blow. (Most of y'all are kiddies I guess that also tracks.)

Tifa actually had it much worse!

She was so overwhelmed from it all she accidentally made the wrong move of answering Cloud in the negative:

When I said she's under tremendous pressure it isn't just because of reliving her trauma and carrying the burden of Cloud's mental state alongside her own increasingly damaged psych.

It is the fact that Cloud wasn't the only one relying on her affirmation - or lack thereof - to validate which one was speaking the "truth". Sephiroth was also using her to confirm his claims and he knew very well he's got the upper hand to the "truth" she has known, all the while gaslighting her that it IS the only truth. There's even a picture to prove it!

This is not the picture but this is also that picture.

Of course, Sephiroth made sure to include her into the story. She's not part of it simply because she was there but because according to his statement..... her memories are part of Jenova's knowledge used to make *Cloud* - the failed clone.

The Cloud who by Seph's own words is just a construct of Hojo after Nibelheim's burning. A clean slate born from collective memories thanks to Jenova.

The sheer implications behind these statements are our clue to the underlying conflict that exist between Tifa and Sephiroth outside of Cloud. That the hatred is not a one-sided thing, and just because it isn't readily understood why it exist doesn't mean it isn't present.

Sephiroth drives the knife further to twist the mental wounds even more. Tifa being the one to carry the most burden of all:

Now here's a pretty interesting thought: a girl who is just plain ordinary is important enough to have Jenova's effort in molding a clone after her own desires - her childhood friend. Sephiroth is basically admitting he's got one special clone just for her. (He even gave her one in Remake but that's a slightly different story).

Ignoring the fact that Cloud is not a construct it still makes you wonder: why use her for that lie? Why her in particular?

(We are using Tifa as our center focus for this so I'm going to exclude the "she's Cloud's childhood friend reasoning. This is not about him.)

Then it can be answered if you look at it as his own way of tormenting Tifa - using a clone imbued with her memories.

A mutual on twit said that maybe because she's the one who the group trusts the most, however more than half the party wasn't there yet when *Cloud* (who Sephiroth consistently claims is just his clone) appears in front of her on that bench.

AVALANCHE as it was at that point doesn't have anyone else with a connection to Cloud.

So it goes to show she is the target of said clone's manifestation.

That is, if we believe the lie Sephiroth weaved and take it as he said it at face value, which definitely is what his claim would be to Tifa who can't refute it, especially because apparently *Cloud* really did show signs of "clone behavior" when they first met but the tech limit back then doesn't show us how it should be like to its fullest extent.

(As someone points out here: https://www.google.com/amp/s/hartofhearts.tumblr.com/post/665525778591694848/the-implications-of-tifas-familiarity-with-marco/amp) My phone isn't cooperating 😭

How could she when his "truth" matches exactly everything she knew five years ago? How could she say he's wrong when Cloud's behavior was suspect when they met for the first time in years after Nibelheim (and for her part after he left for SOLDIER)?

She tried refuting but it's clear she has her own doubts about him as well, as she couldn't continuously defend Cloud from Sephiroth's persistent claim about his current identity.

By gaslighting Cloud he doesn't exist, he also gaslights Tifa into thinking her real childhood friend is gone and it's all just in her head now.

Sephiroth KNEW so well she wanted to see Cloud five years ago but didn't see him and use that to his own advantage. It's why this is so effective a gaslight to both.

As far as Tifa knew, the last time she saw Cloud was when he left to join Soldier. This Cloud's fate is unknown to her, maybe he died or maybe he forgot about her and all such insecurities Sephiroth could use with that solidify his claims that he was all " Aw, poor Tifa. Waiting for someone who never came. Here, Jenova's made you a clone with your memories of that boy to play with you."

That's what it looks like if we only see this scene through Tifa's eyes.

Again, taunting her in the same vein as when he first did leaving Masamune besides her father's body.

Why would he do so if Tifa didn't caught his attention in the first place?

Sephiroth is clearly playing around with her and toys with her emotions just as clearly as he attacked Cloud.

He just couldn't break her like he could him no matter how hard he tried because Tifa's mental fortitude is so strong.

[mxrp-official-steve]

Gather round one, gather round all! our prized performer, the one, the only, miraculous steve and his wonderful assistant hex are going to be performing the miracle of a lifetime! see it here folks, in a mere five days we'll watch this dynamic duo... bring a website sawed in half back together!

Your August 2nd PARPdate: The Greatest Showman but its an RP site and I'm a terrible singer edition.

Ok so we DO actually have some stuff to announce this time! Nothing that Most Of You will ever encounter, but stuff!

Over in THE DISCORD, the lovely Hex entered a CODING FUGE STATE in response to bandodgers on Dreambubble and, in about a weeks' time, crafted into being a few new COOL MOD FEATURES AND STUFF that will be transferred over to Newparp when that bad bitch is done cooking.

To start: the live searches menu!

(The IP and the code have both been edited and are fake as hell, don't worry)

Mods will now be able to view all currently-happening searches plus all searches that happened over the last hour, with live updates keeping us abreast. We can also hit that funny lil yellow button to TAKE YOUR SOUL, changing your search parameters to only connect to a mod, who will then yell at you.

This has also allowed us objective knowledge that yeah, all those searches yall get that throw you into a chat with a character you don't have checkmarked? That's just DB being a rickety old lady that's full of glitches and suffering the madness of age.

These new features have allowed us to UNBAN VPNs AND REIGONAL PROVIDERS as we can now functionally shadowban you and you can't dodge it for secret code reasons I don't understand. We had someone breaking the no ageplay rule openly relent and say they were gonna leave after three hours staring at the spirograph, this is a huge W.

Just like the fact that Dreambubble now has a typing indicator on the chatbar. Everyone say thank you hex!

To proceed: Modchecking

Dreambubble, and by extension newparp, will be able to detect whether you're using a modded character and allow you to filter based off whether someone is modded or not, seen below:

I think this is neat! More userside curation. You can't even turn off modifier detection, its automatic. So if you think someone is dodging, DB is probably just being old.

In the background, Hex has been spending their time tinkering away with the DB/Parp databases. The point of this is to make the data within (all your delicious delicious chats and characters) easier for other database frameworks to work with by standardizing the schemas. As it stands both of these are overwhelmingly reliant on redis, so having more wiggle room on this can literally only be a good thing.

In other news: Dev will likely slow down a bit at some point in the next two months due to some life stuff with Hex that isn't my place to disclose. Just keeping y'all in the loop on that.

See you next month, parploids!

[definitelysapphic]

I gotta say all you guys sharing vote for Biden posts really are not helping yourselves by going "hey idiot babies, here are a handful of differences between trump and biden that i will not elaborate on in the slightest. if you don't see the difference you're a stupid privileged child!" bc the two types of people who want go vote third party are either a) genuinely uneducated and you refusing to talk policy beyond putting little green check marks beside things he claims he wants to do without explaining how he plans to do them (or, whether you like to admit it or not, his complete lack of plans on some of your little checkmarks) doesn't help meaningfully educate people at all. then there's group b) informed people with lived experience of being sidelined by this administration who aren't going to be talked into overall harm reduction by you making strawmen arguments about how privileged and stupid they are when that's not the case. have you considered you might be the stupid privileged one when you're telling someone whose family was deported under the biden admin that they need to "suck it up" and vote? that's so cruel. maybe bother listening to the nuanced things people have to say to win them over instead of dismissing them out of hand. also if you'd like another way to not sound like a dickhead moron, stop making blanket statements about how all third party votes are a vote for trump. people who live in areas that always go blue can protest vote without harming anyone. before y'all jump down my throat yes ofc trump is worse but all you're doing is driving people away by being condescending pricks who repeatedly show you don't know nearly as much as you claim to. stop dismissing legitimate grievances and put in the hard work to meet people where they're at instead of behaving like the stupid privileged children you claim everyone else is. and if the way this post is worded pisses you off, my point has been made

[crackinglamb]

AO3 Year End Roundup, 2023

Normally, I'd do this in a couple days, but we're close enough for government work (and I'm on a deliberate break anyhow, so nothing new is being posted). Normally this would also be a tag game, but I haven't seen it floating around yet, so...

Hey, you wanna do your own roundup? Go for it. Yes, I mean you (looking at you, DAFF crew). Consider this an open invite. Tag me back so I can see what y'all have been up to.

Words posted: 241,283 . This total has had subtracted from it the amount that already existed for the fic that carried over from last year (which was WG, of course). So this is actually what I posted this year.

Additional Words Written: ~166K. I have several WIP's going on in the background. One of which is finished and will begin posting after New Year's. Another of which is about halfway done. The rest are...procrastination projects/getting the wiggles out. They may never see the light of day. But they count as writing, so they are included.

Grand total of words: 407, 283 (goodness gracious)

Fandoms: 2

Works: 12, 11 of which were new.

Highest Kudos: Into the Current, at 271 (just like last year, I'm not counting WG since it wasn't new). The Iron Bull/OFC, rated E, 79K words, complete.

Highest Hit Oneshot: The Mighty Fall, at 706. Sookie Stackhouse/Eric Northman. Rated T, 2900 words.

New Things I Tried: I wrote a trio of fics for True Blood/Southern Vampire Mysteries this year. The WIP that's finished and waiting for the new year is a continuation of this series.

I also posted a ficlet I'd originally posted here on tumblr for archiving purposes. Some Years Into the Future...

Fic I Spent the Most Time On: Driftwood, my Bullmance series. Writing ItC itself wasn't particularly long, about two months, but T3, the next fic, is still being written. At first it was all going to be one long fic, but then I decided I've had enough of epics (meaning any work significantly over 100K words), and split it into parts.

Fic I Spent the Least Time On: The Mighty Fall. I have finally gotten to use the tag 'I wrote this instead of sleeping'. 🤣

Favorite Thing I Wrote: Usually, I have trouble with this category. I'm poly, you know. But this year, I actually DO have a fave. Okay...I have two.

How Deep the Bullet Lies - a gift for @rosella-writes, for the Solas Lovers Exchange. Solas/Cassandra Pentaghast with a whumpy open ending. Rated M, 4200 words.

More Than Mere Stone - a gift for my beloved @ir0n-angel in the same exchange. Solas/F!Trevelyan, pure fluff. Rated G, 1500 words.

Favorite Thing I Read: In Twain, by CatC. It's everything I wanted in a 'background character gets caught up in events' fic. With a sizzlingly hot Bullmance and So Much Cole. I think I've read it three or four times already. At least. If you need something comforting and wonderful, I cannot recommend it enough. It's simply delightful, and so is the author. Rated E, 172K words, WIP.

Something I Finished: I did it, at long last. I finished What a Wicked Game to Play. It was the focus of NaNo (and took literally three days once I put my mind to it, hence much of the other writing I did that hasn't been published). It feels really good to have my beloved Behemoth marked with a green checkmark. The story itself isn't finished, and I'll eventually write more for Imogen and Co., but for now, it is Done.

Writing Goals for 2024 – Keep on keeping on. I want to finish T3, so I can start posting it. I want to finish a couple other things from the WIP list. There will of course be a new Fluffuary prompt list. Biggest goal, however, is simply not to burn myself out. I've started waiting to publish until a fic is finished, which has done wonders for my stress levels. No more posting gaps on an in-progress fic.

Allow me to Gush about some things I wrote this year.

(Otherwise known as: honorable mentions)

Out of the Dark - Lark Cadash was once going to have an epic fic to her name. But I'm Tired, and frankly, I'm bored with rewriting the events of DA:I over and over again. So I've turned her into a series, where I can just put up oneshots and short chaptered things in no particular order that add up to one big story. This is one of them. Post-canon, Lark goes into the Deep Roads to find the answer to a riddle that's bugged her for her entire life. She gets more than she asked for, with a side serving of sad Solas. I've had many of the headcannons included in it for a long time, with no home. Now, they're out there in the world. Rated G, 4800 words.

What Lies Beneath - my actual giftfic for the Solas Lovers Exchange. I had such fun writing this, and had ideas for it as soon as I received the assignment. I got to set something in the Hissing Waste, which is one of my favorite places in the game, as well as write a polyship for my two favorite romances. F!Cadash/Solas/Iron Bull, rated T, 3400 words.

Maker Damned Fools - back in 2020, I wrote a Varric/Hawke short little thing for the first Fluffuary. I always wanted to go back and expand it into a fuller story. Add it to the pile of Things I Finished This Year. From their meeting to post-canon. Rated E, 32K words.

What a Wicked Game to Play - *deep satisfied sigh* It took two years and ten months to complete, with near constant weekly updates. It's 412K words by itself (not counting the rest of the series). It contains about 350 embedded images of either screenshots or fanart. It is both the highest hit (over 90K) and highest kudo'd (1535) work on my archive. Affectionately known as 'the Behemoth', extensively written with my signature yeeting of canon. Imogen McLean, MGIT, Inquisitor, beloved of Fen'Harel. I am stupendously proud of this work, but I am also incredibly happy it's done. I set out to write an epic, and I damn well succeeded. Rated E.

See y'all on the flipside! 💕

[noblenupenoel]

GA VOTERS - SHARE OUT

As early voting gets underway this Tuesday October 15th it is important to know about 3 resolutions that will be on the ballot.

House resolutions 1022, 598 and 808. Needless to say as usual all three were brief, but written in legal ease meant to befuddle & confuse voters.

They sound great on the surface, but after further investigation and explanation that is not the case.

It is recommended to vote NO on all three resolutions.

1. House Bill 1022 - this effectively makes a statewide exemption that puts home values across all counties equal, taking the power away from the local municipality to determine home values and the mileage rate. This means that areas like Alpharetta, (Which is where the author of this new Bill lives) will see their taxes go down while ours will go up!! VOTE NO ON HOUSE RESOLUTION 1022

2. House Resolution 598- If passed, this Bill will fold the Georgia Tax Court under the jurisdiction of the Superior Court. Here’s the kicker… this new court would no longer be elected by the people but instead, the governor would appoint the Chief Justice over the court who would then have the power to appoint the remaining members, taking away any power that we have with our votes. Again, here’s the kicker… unlike currently under the separate Georgia Tax Court where if you want to appeal your taxes you can represent yourself in court without any fees, under this new Bill you can no longer represent yourself. You will be required to obtain an attorney and be responsible for all legal fees and court costs. VOTE NO ON RESOLUTION 598

3. House Resolution 808- At first glance it seems great to raise the exemption from $7,500 to $20,000 but the deeper implications were explained in the meeting. It doesn’t just refer to property taxes it says all tangible “PERSONAL” property. Once again this will benefit those in wealthier counties by allowing tax right-offs that most folks in our community will not be able to take advantage of at all. Here’s the kicker on this bill … the tax revenue lost could reach $250 million a year which will negatively affect funding for our area schools. It could also mean local counties might need to initiate a local option sales tax to make up the lost revenue. VOTE NO ON RESOLUTION 808

From the county commissioner down the street from my house. * I just received this so I wanted to pass it on. A very reliable good friend of mine just finished poll worker training and she texted me this message:

"Just finished Poll Manager training. I passed all of the classes! I want you all to know something. If you are checking in at the polls and they happen to write or mark ANYTHING on your ballot BEFORE they give it to you to put in the voting machine (such as a letter, a checkmark, a star, an R or a D - any writing of any kind), please request a new ballot. Your ballot could be DISQUALIFIED if it is written on. Please be on the lookout for this type of behavior. Pass this on!"

The devil is busy, y'all. They are looking to do all they can to taint this election process, especially here in Georgia. If you're like me and are taking Seniors to the polls, make sure you help them with everything they need to do. We cannot let the enemy win!

[hick4hire]

@peppy-jester —

💀

[ cw g/ore ; b/lood ; d/eath ; v/iolence under read more ]

The world keeps going. Despite his failures, despite his losing streak, despite being set on fucking fire— he was back on his feet and back on the job. Locate. Execute. Locate. Execute. If he didn't relish in every kill, he might have been bored by now.

But as it were, the sight of blood, even at a distance, stimulated something in his brain juuust right. The same way some people found popping bubble wrap— everything about the instant the life was choked out of their miserable, pathetic bodies was endlessly fascinating to the hybrid. Stress relieving, even. A pleasant buzz that held him tightly and soaked him to the bones in sadistic bliss. He could breathe easier. As if he'd absorbed his victim's very life force in gruesome, vampiric fashion.

Everything about this job was a routine by now. A list, a formula, a smooth clean checkmark in a box. This target had been no different. A melee kill, bring back the target's watch, and a picture of the corpse. Simple enough. Nothing remarkable whatsoever.

So, when he's sliding the knife into the target's torso, roughly twisting it as the serrated blade parts skin and pierces meat... The last demon he expects to see when he lifted his head was that damned clown that Crimson had tried to sell back to the Prince of Lust.

A few things happen at once: he freezes, a cold jolt of fear ripping down his spine like an electric shock. His gaze darts to the area behind the doorway, past Fizz, eyes wide open, observing every flicker of movement.

His biology makes this a much easier process than it might be for a regular imp or regular loan shark: a special secondary eyelid dropped, made of a membrane sensitive to heat that allowed him to see a sort of overlay for heat signatures. In short, built in infrared.

From what he understood of regular hell beast snakes, this feature was some sort of convenient adaptation of a special organ that most vipers possessed: something called the pit organ that was usually beside a hellsnake's nostril on the snout. As a child, he'd asked his parents about it, but they knew as much about his particular mutation as he did.

He doesn't see any signs of Asmodeus' presence. Fizz was alone, from what he could tell. The fear completely fades from his face, a sneer replacing his brief stunned expression. "Well, howdy. Don't mind me, clown. I'm just finishing up in here."

The imp in Striker's claws has been pinned down to the floor, Striker's knife still embedded into them. They're squirming and struggling, but Striker doesn't pay it any attention. The desperate clawing at his arms was laughable. He twists the knife further in with a satisfying crunch, staring unblinkingly at Fizz.

"Well, What're you doin' this side 'a town? Didn't think your biddy'd let ya go free range just yet." Striker's grin is wide, something crazed and gleeful entering his eyes. He pulls the knife up out of the imp's chest and with a casual, graceful motion, cleanly slits their throat. He grabs their arm, ripping the watch off them. One checkmark. Two checkmarks. Two boxes ticked. Only one left. Better not take too long with the clown.

"...You ain't gonna do nothin' stupid, are ya, Fizz? You don't got that fight in ya." Striker doesn't even say it aggressively: he says it like he's making small talk about the weather. "I saw ya back in that warehouse, yack. Y'r a performer, not a fighter. Wanna do some shadow puppets for this poor fucker?"

A cruel snicker before he backhands the target, who's miserably choking on their own blood and flopping like a fish. "Better yet, you can feature in his final photo. Bet that'd sell to your freakish fanbase, huh?"

Striker stands up as the body beneath him finally goes limp. "Tch. You seein' this shit? This fucker didn't even properly scratch me. Can you believe that? Our kind was made by Wrath. Satan, for fuck's sake. But ohhh no. Y'all grandparent's left t' the other rings n' got right cushy, didn't ya? Livin' in those big cities, slavin' away for Overlords and royals. Pathetic." He spins the knife in his hand with such force the black blood is flicked off it. "You, though, you're the worst case I've ever seen." Striker takes several slow steps forward, eyes glowing brightly.

"Run." Striker leans forward slightly. His body language shifts to show just how prepared he is to burst into a sprint. Fizz wasn't get out of this without a little game of cat and mouse.

[monarch-boo]

Didn't finish my predictions list before the trailer dropped because I thought they were gonna wait until after the Splatfest like usual.

But I made some afterward with the knowledge that the trailer gave and also got to check a few of my pre-trailer ones already!

A couple extra, moreso hopes than predictions but I'll throw them on my notes app real quick anyway after I post this: Please don't put Sprinkler on Stamper. Please make Reefslider better. Please have more gear in the shops.

And note about BigBalloon. My understanding is that we *thought* BigBalloon was Horrorboros, but Horrorboros apparently goes by a different internal name? So that'd mean BigBalloon is still unaccounted for as of right now.

I don't have the BigBalloon thing checked off just yet because I won't feel 100% certain that Megalodontia (Joe) is BigBalloon until the season comes out and dataminers confirm so. I'm confident that "Chimney" is Splattercolor Screen because it seems to match parameters and behaviors dataminers found a while back.

The internal names for stuff seem really tangential so Joe *could* be BigBalloon. The King that literally fills + throws giant Steelhead balloons is not BigBalloon??? But Joe could be, literally just because big + round.

Although I'm actually somewhat hoping Joe is *not* BigBalloon, because if BigBalloon is *still* unaccounted for in 6.0.0 then that might confirm at least one more King before EoL. He might not be, because I remember dataminers talking about BigBalloon using rails and I don't know how that'd work with Joe.

Unless of course Horrorboros *is* actually BigBalloon and whoever said he went by a different internal name lied and I'm stupid (I think it was literally a dataminer that said it though?). I'd be mad if so, because I've believed this ever since the Inkblot Big Run...

Anyway there's about 2 hours before SplatoonJP may post some other news but I'm going to bed now, just gonna throw my list in the readmore, just copypasted from my notes app with checkmark emojis added so y'all can see the currently checked off stuff easier.

[ ] New SR stage. [ ] ^ Ruins of Ark Polaris? [ ] ^ Lost Outpost? [  ] ^ New stage entirely? [  ] More SR suits. [  ] King Salmonid int name "BigBalloon" added. ✅ Special int name "Chimney" added. [  ] Special int name "Pogo" added. [  ] SR Underground mode added. [  ] Boss Salmonids int names "Balloon" "Ghost" "Wheel" added. [  ] ^ Underground exclusive bosses? [  ] ^ New Night Wave bosses? [  ] ^ Both? [  ] New kits for: Explosher ✅ ^ Splatana Stamper ✅ ^ REEF-LUX [  ] ^ Glooga Dualies [  ] ^ Hydra Splatling ✅ ^ Snipewriter [  ] ^ Bamboozler

(Trailer and snipewriter kit reveal already out before these next ones ⬇️) [  ] More surprise kits than just Snipewriter? [  ] At least 1 map rework [  ] Something gets Crab Tank finally [  ] ^ S Blast? [  ] ^ Stamper? [  ] ^ Painbrush? [  ] Something gets Booyah Bomb for 1st time in a year (literally the last ones were gold Aero and Forge Pro iirc) [  ] ^ Painbrush? [  ] ^ Splat Dualies? Weapons besides Undercover that get Splattercolor Screen: [  ] ^ REEF-LUX? [  ] ^ Painbrush? [  ] ^ Squeezer?

[katenepveu]

using Tumblr and XKit Rewritten on Android

I'm seeing a lot of complaints about the Tumblr app, and I wanted to let y'all know that you can get the benefits of desktop Tumblr--including the XKit Rewritten add-on--on Android by using Firefox Beta (or Nightly). (I don't know if you can enable add-ons on iOS, sorry.)

I generally prefer desktop Tumblr over the app because:

I can turn off infinite scroll in my dashboard preferences; and

I can see new features as soon as they're introduced (like the checkmarks or the bells).

Bonus: blocking and reporting spambots takes only one step, not two.

(I pay for ad-free browsing because I can, but if you can't or won't, Firefox also does ad blocking.)

Why I use XKit Rewritten:

I can block individual posts, including reblogs thereof (I use this all the time);

Collapsed queue, which reduces my scrolling through my 200+ queued posts; and

Quick tags, which not only lets me add tags to my own drafts, queued posts, and posts without editing the post, but also lets me define tag bundles (e.g., I have a bundle for "whale weekly, moby-dick, moby dick," because I gotta tag the title both ways).

(There are a lot of other tweaks in XKit Rewritten; those are just my can't-live-without.)

I'm afraid that enabling add-ons in Firefox Beta or Nightly does take a little extra work--here's how--but even without that, running Tumblr in your mobile browser of choice works just fine, and may be a good choice over the app for you!

[telomeke]

ID text–

First image is of some lines of computer code, presumably an extract of the Twitter feed algorithm. This is followed by a text post:

Elon Musk released the Twitter feed algorithm on Git yesterday as open-source. I know how to read code and know Git, so I had a brief looksy. First of all, holy hell, I can't believe he let this algorithm see the light of day. It reveals some INSANE biases which are the REAL "Twitter Files", if anyone besides engineers gets interested. My only thought as to why he publicized the code is that Twitter is a wreck and he fired most of his engineering team, the remainder of whom now can't keep up, so he's hoping that by open-sourcing the code, engineers like me will fix it for free. And indeed, you can make pull requests on his repository if you have a Git account (and I do.) I'm not about to help. (For laymen, a pull request is when you pull the code to your local machine, alter it, and then make a request that your changes get integrated into the repository, which the owner of the repository must approve.) I use Git for version control. Meaning every change is documented and approved. Undoubtedly, Musk will task a remaining engineer with reviewing these Git pushes, and potentially approving them. Remember when people started complaining that all they saw were tweets from Elon Musk, even though they didn't follow him? Or all they see are right-wing lunatics, even though they didn't choose to see that? There's a literal carve-out in the code to artificially boost Musk and right-wing lunatics. Narcissist much? The code also arbitrarily dumps you into "categories" like Democrat, Republican, Power User, etc. He's also artificially restricting tweets about The Ukraine and bolstering Russia. I wonder who's paying him! Not a mystery. Every interaction with your tweets gets ranked. Every like is worth a lot. Replies and retweets are worth less. This is opposite of normal (I used to write algorithms for search engines), where a like is passive interaction, retweets and comments are active interaction, which should be weighted more heavily. Negative interactions are also weighted. If you've been blocked or reported, you're punished for that. Your tweets get seen less. The most insane part of the algorithm (in my opinion) is that if you follow a lot more people than follow you, you get artificially suppressed as "unimportant." That means someone like you or me doesn't get seen. I follow around three times as many people as follow me, which means I effectively do not exist on Twitter. This means that bad actors and bots (who follow nobody, because they aren't human) get artificially amplified. Including a video or an image in your tweet artificially boosts you. Including a link to an external website (like a news site) hurts you. Misinformation gets downgraded for normal people. Blue checks boost you insanely. This effectively results in blue-checked people being able to spread misinformation with impunity. As you know, now anybody can pay Elon $8 for that sweet sweet blue checkmark, including bots and foreign actors. Y'all. Twitter is a DISASTER. If you've used it since Musk took over, you at least suspected it. Musk is a foreign actor and at best, a narcissist. At worst, he's deliberately bolstering the right-wing looniverse (as evidenced by my personal observations, and now confirmed by inspection of his algorithm.) All of this is not to say, drop Twitter, or to espouse an opinion of what you should do. I'm going to hang out and see what happens. I'm just telling you, as a person who writes these kinds of algorithms professionaly, what the code Elon Musk provided publicly, indicates.

[cyle]

hey, hope this is ok to ask, but relatively how much control do tumblr devs like yourself have over the overall site direction? my initial reaction to stuff like e.g. tumblr live is always wary but reading through some of your posts makes me more hopeful that new features aren't an attempt to just tiktokify or twitterify this site and that devs actually have an interest in cultivating something unique and meaningful here. but i also saw a tweet from the CEO of automattic where they were interested in former twitter devs bringing in twitter-style timeline, ranking, and ad stuff which... ew. that feels totally antithetical to what I as a user enjoy about the site. so to what extent is it under your control to say something like "no, we're not doing xyz algorithm stuff everyone else is doing, it's not right for the platform" and to what extent are y'all just at the whim of those kinds of top-level directives?

everyone working at tumblr has a say in what we build, and has some level of influence over what gets shipped and what we decide to not work on outright. we're talking internally every day about what makes sense and what doesn't, and a lot of that ongoing conversation is a reflection of what we see on the platform and what people say about tumblr. there have been plenty of times when we've all agreed that we should definitely NOT build something, because it betrays what we believe is essential about tumblr.

i wish we could make a lot of those conversations more public, because i think most long-time tumblr users would be surprised how much of what "makes sense" to them is literally the same as what we care about and talk about internally all the time. there's a very specific "tumblr weird" that i'm attuned to and we usually try to guide our projects to exemplify that somehow. "how do we make this more tumblr-y" is a common thread of discussion. it doesn't always work out, but sometimes it's pretty perfect. (the important blue checkmarks are a great recent example of this.)

but, one thing that has changed over the past ~2 years is that we're embracing the idea of experimentation a lot more, in terms of what we're willing to work on that may not have "made sense" for tumblr before. unfortunately, as Matt (the CEO) has said publicly, tumblr is not making enough money to pay for itself right now, so we need to be willing to try things to figure out how we can unlock growth and/or money. sometimes, that "tumblr weird" we love so much can get in the way and hurt us. trying to find the right balance is a big part of the job, and it's extremely difficult.

[bookofmirth]

As an elriel shipper I find it really sad that the two sides can't just get along and make this "ship-war" more fun. Like why can't we make this fun and just laugh about how we all see these characters going in different directions and joke around I don't get it. Why can't we just be like "5 bucks on elriel!" "I'll raise you ten!". Why you gotta be so serious all the time it's literally a book about fake creatures fucking.

Honestly. Sorry but I'm using this as an opportunity to rant about this fandom because it's so embarrassing, I am so tired of it.

I used to have so many elriel mutuals. I didn't care that they posted about it for years because I had the tag blocked so I got to see their other content still and interact with them. Funny how a bunch of them unfollowed me after acosf though, when I started posting content they didn't like and they couldn't extend me the same courtesy of blocking the tags so we could still interact regardless. I think I still have some but they just might not be as active, idk.

People are way too invested in being right. And they are way too invested in the idea that canon = the only thing you can like.

That's the whole reason fandom exists! To play with canon! To change it in ways that we prefer! Yes fandom exists to get more content about our faves, but that content is inherently not canon. Literally, anything that any of us say about these books, unless it's a direct quote from something that sjm has published, is not canon. People need to get the fuck over it and start to have fun, maybe. Even fanfic that agrees with canon can be tagged on AO3 as "canon compliant". That should tell you something. It's not fucking canon, no matter how close to the books it is.

(Screw canon. Y'all all need to take a giant step back from canon because it's getting mangled in your desperate grasp at this point.)

This whole thing with the character/ship weeks is just another example of how this fandom cannot have nice things. We can't even appreciate the same characters without people making it into a dick measuring contest, what the fuck! And I get anons who get mad at me for pointing out when people say shady shit about Elain, like babes, mes amis, besties, we both like Elain and I am defending her by saying don't reduce her entire personality to bread and roses, why are you mad at me?!

I haven't participated in any events since acosf (except for one elucien hc post that I did last minute) because the events have been tainted. It wasn't just this last week, it was way before this. The events have felt like a contest rather than a genuine enthusiastic "yay, this thing!". And now not only that, but certain people are trying to make events into a contest for territory or "I'm better at liking this character than you are". Gross. And sorry but the timing of the event pages is fucking sus! The fact that people have saved a whole bunch of Elain week event blog titles that they will never use just so that Sue (and others) can't access them, is fucking ridiculous and childish. And the fact that people were being snide about Sue in the comments of the one announcement? And those comments were just treated like those people weren't making pointed, dickhead comments? So much for your neutral, drama-free event. LMAO

And people treat fan art/artists that way as well, like if someone draws elucien it's a checkmark in the elucien column? We can't just enjoy that art? Or if it's an artist who has drawn elriel/elucien/gwynriel, then people get pissed off that the artist they thought was on "their" side has betrayed them? It's so immature.

But I also wonder if the ship war ending will make it any better. Right now I'm seeing a lot of pro/anti Nesta content and I am sighing and pinching the bridge of my nose. If you don't like what someone says about Nesta, just block that person or the tags. It's not enough to have a ship war? We need to be pro/anti individual characters, too?

That frustrates me because how can we have conversations with one another? What's the point of being in the fandom if it's just "I think x" and then all we hear in return is a chorus of "so true bestie".

Fandom is supposed to be fun. People are sucking all the joy out of it.

[thatssomeana]

STORY TIPS TIME! Happy #TinyPanther #Purrsday! Follow #PurrfessorMeana for more Tips! Check my Bio Link to Subscribe to my MewTube too! 😻 First Goal: 100 🙀 💗💗💗🌺💗💗💗 You can change the Background color of Stories! - Go to a Post you want to Share - Hit Send Icon and Share to Story - Hit Free Draw at Top Right - Select Color (Bottom) - Hold your fingy on Background - Hit Save (Checkmark) That's it! NOTE: Chisel-Tip brush makes the Color TRANSLUCENT. 💗 #girlsgetitdone Eyedropper to pick a color on screen. Swipe left for more pre-set colors. Hold down on any color to access the full Color Palette. How to make the GRADIENT I used for the Text in this Post: - Highlight your Text - Hold down color + Unhighlight Text as you move across Color Palette 2nd Step has to be done w/ both hands simultaneously. Use Neon Font to make emojis GLOW! 😻 LOCATION - Add a Location and you could show up in the Location page for city, state, etc. HASHTAG - Use up to 10 and get a chance to show up in Top Stories of that Hashtag page. A notification showed on one of my Stories that I got on #pnwlife. 🙀 Hide your extra Hashtags behind a Sticker or Post if you don't want them to show. Don't make them TOO small or Instagram won't count them! TAGGING - Tag your Furriends to make sure they see your Story and others can click to their Profile from your Tag. MUSIC - Adding Music can make your Story more interesting and Shareable ***You can SAVE your Stories to Highlights to display them permanently! - Use this for your Discount Codes- DM me to learn about being added to my @MeanasFurriends Follow List, Using any of my Discount Codes gets you added. 😻😻😻 What other Rewards would you like to see? Check my Bio Link to use my Discount Codes and Links. Code PAW_MEANA20 gets you 20% off at Purrfect Paw You! Code MINA25 gets you 25% off at Aki-Oka Pets (Canada based)! Do you have any Tips, y'all? DM me and I'll credit you. Let's share the knowledge! #WiseCat (at Seattle, Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/CHhFDd-JrWv/?igshid=1u0qnfmakr218

[written-rebellion]

Perfect Distractions

A/N: @ all the people who were worried Jamie would be all aimless and depressed on campus, y'all know what’s up LOL

Jamie is feeling the weight of it all, Claire hasn’t called in weeks, and as always, all the facts of this fanfic are contrived specifically to make fluffy university/modern-day au scenarios. Please let me know what you think!

Part One: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] | Part Two: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] | Part Three: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] | Part Four: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] | Part Five: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] | Part Six: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] | Part Seven: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] | Part Eight: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] | Part Nine: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] | Part Ten: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] | Part Eleven: [Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] |

Part Twelve: Message Received | Chapter 1

Slim fingers were skimming down his bare arm as tuneless humming pulled him slowly out of sleep.

“Sassenach?”

He was answered by tiny butterfly kisses brushing against his nape and between his shoulder blades. He shivered pleasantly, turning to meet his favourite shade of whisky.

“Hi,” she said softly, nudging his nose with hers.

“Mo chridhe,” he whispered, cupping her cheek before pulling her lips to his.

He couldn’t place the feeling – not that he ever could with any great certainty – but something desperate inside had him pressing his fingers into her skin, lips recklessly insisting against hers.

“What's the matter, love?” She was giggling. “Have any big plans today?”

“Hmm?” He pulled away to look at her, finally taking in the space around them.

“This isn’t yer room…”

She narrowed her eyes at him.

“No, of course not.”

“This is—”

And just as the familiar scent of Lallybroch wafted past him, he woke up.

In his dorm room.

Alone.

“Go to class,” John ordered from somewhere nearby.

Well, nearly alone.

“Aye, ye dinna need to keep remindin’ me,” Jamie groaned, pushing his face into the pillow.

“Yes I do,” John called as he shut the door behind him.

Jamie stayed pressed into his bed a moment longer, trying to draw Dream-Claire back to him. But like John, she was gone for the day.

He reached for his phone on the nightstand, arm heavy and reluctant from sleep. 

 >          Morning,

 >          Or, good night in yer case.

He waited for the small notification telling him the messages were delivered, but – like the last 20 or so he'd sent in the past few weeks – it never came.

She was in the thick of it now, he knew. She and Joe had spent a few days in Manila to acclimate themselves before driving to rural areas in a province called Cavite. Wherever they were, cell service was sparse or she was busy, but likely both. She’d spend most of the 6 weeks there and Jamie was feeling the weight of it all.

He hadn’t heard her voice or seen her face, save in pictures, for weeks.

But that didn’t stop him from texting her, a far cry from his attempt at not seeming too eager early in their courtship. Those blank little circles mocked him, telling him no – no matter how much he wished – she  hadn’t seen any of his messages.

He knew her well enough to expect more exasperation than apology when all 28 messages finally reached her. She’d roll her eyes at him, tease him about the sheer neediness of it all, and he was certain some sort of dog metaphor would be used.

But it didn’t matter what she said.

He just needed to see her.

By evening time, 28 had turned to 31. But only because the diner they had their first date in finally updated their beer selection and Jamie was sure she would want to know that.

“James Fraser, ye truly are a mess.” He sighed, running a tired hand down his face as he walked back to the dorms.

His ringtone barely made it through two notes before it was squashed against his ear.

“Claire?!”

“Ah, so she hasn’t called then,” Jenny’s pointed voice said through the phone.

“Nay,” Jamie said, matching her tone.

“And neither have you, brother.”

“What?”

“Ye haven’t called in weeks either.”

“Well, ye can imagine I’d rather keep this line open, ye ken?”

“Ye’re actin’ like a child, Jamie.” Never a spoonful of sugar type of person, his sister. “What would Claire say if she saw ye moping about like ye are.”

“Ye dinna ken I’m moping about!”

“Oh aye, I do. Ye like to think ye can hide whatever ye’re feeling but I’m no’ Claire. I can hear yer heart in yer voice alone.”

He made a grunting noise and Jenny sighed.

“This is her job aye? This is what she’s wanted to do since before she met ye.”

“I know! I just mi—"

“Miss her, I ken. But ye love her, no?”

Jamie blinked.

“O-of course.”

“And ye plan on spending yer life wi’ her?”

His face burned. Always trust a Fraser not to pull punches.

“...aye.”

“Then what’s a few weeks ye wee fool?! The world kens she’s just as mad about ye as ye are for her. She’ll come back to ye so just suck it up and wait.”

He was silent long enough for any other person to think he’d hung up, but not Jenny.

Then he chuckled.

“Ye’re quite enjoying my plight, aren’t ye?”

“I dinna ken what ye mean, dear brother.” Her voice was laced with a smile.

“Verra well, Jenny,” he said. “But if I can wait on Claire to call, surely ye can wait on mine, no?”

“No,” she said before hanging up.

Jamie shook his head and – though he thought against it – opened up his and Claire’s message history.

 >          I expect ye’ll be overwhelmed by the messages when ye get them. Apologies, lass. But, if ye read any at all, I hope it's this one. I love ye, and I’m proud of ye. I miss ye, aye, but I’ll be waiting right here for ye when ye return.

He nodded, resolved, and was about to slide his phone into his pocket when—

One by one, the checkmarks in the corner of his messages lit up and turned blue.

“Claire...?”

She was reading them.

Then, below what had essentially been his diary for the past few weeks, three tiny dots bubbled up.

He held his breath, waiting – as he had been for weeks – on her reply.

Read Chapter 2