#coder's choice

[nickycodes]

Lime - wallpost/class overview

I finally finished my first ever class overview code that did not break right in front of my eyes HAHAHA

It took ridiculously long to get it right, so I hope it'll work for you too

Matching Article & Lesson code: here

Please read the TERMS OF USE before using my code <3

Link: v.1 (wallpost) || v.2 (class overview)

[viiridiangreen]

dear software engineers*:

NO, graphic designers do not in fact possess the ability to break the laws of physics and fit 10 pages' worth of text into two pages :)

[mazekingdom]

tv really is like "oh this person's a CODER????? her color palette's gonna be GREEN AS SHIT"

[mayfly-maycry]

It’s a simple process, really; you walk up to the console, enter a number, and either the microchip implanted in your body at birth immediately kills you or a little slot underneath the screen pops out a wad of cash and you move on with your life.

The lines were long, so you had plenty of time to people watch. Most people walked away with nothing; anything short of 90% chance of sudden death wouldn’t get you any money, and less than $1000 was just not worth it, even for teenagers who thought they were invincible. Only a few people actually took the risk. You could tell which ones they were by how they tensed right before hitting the confirmation button at the bottom of the screen. And then went entirely limp as they crumpled to the ground, losing their gamble. Not one of them got their money.

As the person in front of you stepped up to the console, you idly wondered if the cash slots still worked, or if they had rusted closed from disuse. Or maybe there never even was any money in there.

And suddenly, it was your turn. You stepped up to the console, palms slightly sweaty. Of course, you had no intention of taking any chances, but it was still a little nerve-wracking to be only one typo away from death. There was a fingerprint scanner and a small number pad underneath the screen, which was black with three large words printed across it in white: "ENTER YOUR NUMBER."

You swallowed, scanned your thumb on the scanner, and used the number pad to do just that: 0. Just to be safe, you entered a few more 0's, a period, and some more 0's. Wouldn't want something weird to happen with unfilled digits. You hit the "enter" key on the number pad and held your breath.

The console's message changed: "CALCULATING REWARD..." It would come out to 0, then announce that you were free to--

The screen suddenly went blue, and from the sounds of protest from the people around you, yours wasn't the only one. As the technicians -- who were really just there to tote out the corpses of the foolish -- worked their way through the crowd, white text appeared on the screen:

Error on line 15:

Illegal operation: divide by 0

When a technician finally reached your side, he took one look at the console and cursed. "God dammit, who's the asshole who put in 0?!"

"Um... that may have been me," you admit sheepishly. You had no idea what was going on; of the hundreds of teenagers at the consoles before you who had also refused to risk death, not one of them had broken the machine, but somehow you had?

The technician shot you a disparaging look as he pulled a foldable keyboard out of his pocket and plugged it into a port hidden on the side of the console. "Seriously? Couldn't you have just jumped off of a building like a normal person? You didn't have to come in here and break our machine..."

The technician started tapping away at his keyboard, still grumbling, while your brain worked furiously to figure out what he was talking about. Why would he think you were suicidal for entering 0? You entered 0 because you wanted 0% chance of death--

Your heart skipped a beat as you realized. The number the machine wanted wasn't chance of death -- you were supposed to tell it your chance of life. Every person ahead of you who had made the same choice had entered 100%; you, on the other hand, had asked the machine for certain death.

In a daze, you watched the console screen as the technician worked. Instead of its usual simple, almost menacing black interface, it now displayed the rolling hills of a version of Windows older than you were with a terminal window pulled up in the corner. You didn't know much about coding, but you suspected that the mere 20 lines of code pulled up in the terminal were the entirety of what ran the machine.

The technician groaned. "Are you kidding me?! Why does it decide the money before it even decides if the person is going to live to see it?! And there's not any kind of error handling! How has it taken this long for the machine to break? I'd heard that it was shitty, but I didn't think it was this bad!"

You barely understood a word of what he said, but you did get the important part: you had asked the machine for certain death and been spared by a technical error. With a few more key presses on the technician's keyboard, the console returned to its original screen. The technician folded his keyboard away and turned to go.

"Wait...!" you called after him. "What should I do?"

The technician sighed and turned around. "Well, you can't use the console again -- the machine already marked your fingerprints as used," he told you. "At least there's an actual database hooked up to this thing so we didn't lose everything when it crashed," he added under his breath. The technician returned to his normal volume. "You're not getting any money, if that's what you're asking. Just be grateful you still have your life and get out of here."

His expression softened. "And, maybe take it as a new lease on life?" He put a hand on your shoulder. "I promise you, kid, life can be tough, but it's almost always worth living. Don't forget that, okay?" He awkwardly pat your shoulder before walking back to his post at the edge of the room.

You took his advice and left the room, truly grateful to be breathing in a way that, suicidal or not, you never had been before.

At 18 everyone must go to “the machine” and choose a percent that represents the odds the machine will not euthanize you. Those who live are granted 1000/(x^5) dollars. You confuse the meaning of the numbers and become the first person to ever put 0, but when the machine activates, you survive.

[shanastoryteller]

Happy pride! 💛🤍💜🖤 SIAT Founders - or dealer's choice?

a continuation of 1

Out of the contraption, in leggings and an oversized sweatshirt that has to be Ianto’s, she looks human. She and Ianto are sitting on one side of the conference room, the rest of them on the other, and Jack is probably focusing too much on how their clasped hands are resting on Ianto’s knee. He’s probably focusing too much on the ring on Lisa’s finger, one Ianto had slid on the moment she’d been on her own two feet.

“She’s been down there this whole time?” Owen demands, pacing angrily behind him. He’s fighting against his urge as a doctor to check her over and his desire to shoot first and it’s putting him in a mood. Jack doesn’t think it’s worth the effort to try and keep him still.

“Not the whole time,” Ianto says blandly, “just since two weeks after I was hired.”

“Your file lists you as a researcher,” Tosh says.

Lisa smiles. Ianto raises an eyebrow. “It does.”

She nudges him in the side and he sighs. She rolls her eyes. “He was a retrieval specialist at One.”

“A retrieval specialist?” Gwen asks.

“A spy,” Jacks says, voice hard. The Ianto he knows would have flinched, but this one just stares at him blandly. “Sent in to different agencies, different institutions, to steal whatever alien artifact they’d gotten their hands on that Torchwood wanted. Researcher gets out into a lot of places.”

“It does. It got me in here, in fact,” he says, like it was his title that got Jack to hire him.

Does Lisa know they slept together? Jack wants to blurt it out, to throw it down in the space between them like a gauntlet, but he stops himself. Barely.

“You’re being awfully forthcoming,” Gwen says.

Ianto presses his lips together. “It’s only fair. I owe you – well, not you, Gwen, sorry. But I couldn’t have saved Lisa without the others.”

Tosh gasps, hand coming up to her mouth. “Wait, all those theoretical – and you said you were tinkering, and your nephew in robotics-”

“David really is on the robotics team,” Lisa says, as if that’s the most pressing issue.

Owen has gone very still. “You said – those old reports from before us that you said had information missing, that you made me go through them all and write up what I thought happened, or how to fix it.”

“Manufactured,” Ianto says. “Although invaluable. I’m an intelligent man, but at the end of the day I’m no match for Cyberman technology. What I needed was an engineer and coder who could do what no one else could, and I also needed a very, very good doctor.”

“Thank you both,” Lisa says earnestly, like this is something they chose rather than something they were manipulated into. “You saved me. We’re very grateful.”

More manipulation.

It’s even working, because Tosh and Owen are hesitating, some of that anger and betrayal draining away in the face of Lisa’s smile.  

“And me?” Jack asks.

Ianto meets his gaze. “I am of course most grateful to you, Jack. If you ran Three properly, I never would have managed to help her.”

He flinches.

[mamayan]

15, 72, 77, 95 with Tengen and fem reader

❤️🫦❤️

Bang! … You’ve been shot!

Tengen Uzui

tw: NSFW • AI/Otome Troupe • Dubcon • Somnophilia • Oral (F!) • Fem! Reader • Overstimulation • Mild Edging • Slight Manipulation

wc: 2061

Your game is glitching.

Your eyes travel across the screen again, then back over to your phone where you check to see that the dialogue is clearly different.

Did you happen to get an Easter Egg version? There was no news of such a release though, and you’d done your research in depth before you’d even received this game.

You sat back on the couch, worrying your bottom lip as you contemplated your next action. You could sell it for a lot. These sort of quirks amongst the gaming community had high value, and this would surely fetch a good deal on auction. You should play it too though, enjoy the characters and the game thoroughly before you make your money back and then some.

The game gives you eight characters to play through, and in classic dating simulation style, they all have unique traits and characteristics. Your first character of choice was going to be a dark haired blue eyed male, his pretty image tempting, but the comedic dialogue of another prompted you to pick a different route.

Tengen Uzui, the muscular male who seemed to point directly through the screen at you with a grin saying “You’d make a flashy sight next to me!”

His route was deeper than you thought, and the game allowed for something entirely unexpected.

You could type out a response.

You were sure the algorithm was based on certain key words, it had to be.

So why did it send chills down your spine when Tengen offered you very specific comfort when you’d jokingly put “Not very good, my boss was very mean to me at work today,” when he’d asked how you were? His response was enough to make you pause and save, needing time to think over exactly what was going on.

“Your company works you too hard, if you were mine, I’d never allow for that non-flashy behavior to happen to you.”

It got stranger and more real as the days passed and you got deeper into the game. Eventually you’d tried to quit his route, but whenever you attempted to play another character, the game would glitch and send you back to the starting screen.

“This is weird…” you felt conflicted, some deeper instinct urging you to sell the game already and just buy a version which didn’t act so… alive.

“I’ll sell it,” you settled, about to remove the game cartridge when it turns on.

Tengen’s character is pointing at the screen, smile the same as the artists designed, but the text is menacing.

“Trying to run from me?”

You unplugged the entire system with the determination to stop whatever deranged prank the game coders were trying to pull with this, but once you cut power to the console, you realize in a daze the game is still on.

“What the…” his character is closer to the screen, more zoomed in on his charming smile and wink, fushia eyes staring straight through you.

Then text appears at the bottom, different than a text box as the banner pops up with a dooming music track.

“How in the hell—,” you don’t get to finish before the world around you goes dark.

—BAD END—

When you wake next, it’s to a strange pressure in your core.

Your head is spinning, bleary eyes staring up at a wooden ceiling as you try to recall when you’d stayed at someone else’s home.

Something noisy was distracting you as a numbness flowed through your body, tingles shooting up your spine. You were warm, almost too much as you awkwardly shifted and found something holding you down from below. It was like a bar around your thighs, as you lifted your foggy head to figure out the mystery.

The scream lodged in your throat, too unnerved and stunned to properly force anything besides a choked sob out.

A very large man was between your thighs, silvery hair loose and falling into sharp fuschia eyes looking directly at you—and a long trail of saliva connecting his tongue to your bare and spread pussy.

His lazy smirk is all too familiar but it was horrifying because it was flesh and blood, real.

Tengen Uzui was living and breathing.

“Awake, little gem?” His rhetorical question leaves you stammering for words, fumbling for an explanation you apparently wouldn’t be getting as he dives back into your messy cunt.

“Hah—!” Now awake to consciously process the pleasure, you realize he was the cause of the earlier numbness and sloppy noises.

Tengen chuckles into your heat, happy to leave you delirious and confused as he swirls his tongue around your puffy clit before sucking harshly, loving the sharp arch of your spine as you jerk in his hold. “Something wrong, gem? You still seem eager to get away, it’s kind of a pain…” He ignores your pathetic attempt to push his head away, easily overpowering you and forcing his tongue straight inside of you, wiggling the thick muscle around your gummy walls. He drinks down your slick while hearing you whine above, thighs shaking in threat of another release. He’d already made you cum once while you’d still been asleep, though he thinks you were much cuter when you were struggling less.

“Pl-please—!” Your whines were morphing into moans and whimpers, hands which were pushing him away were curling into his hair and tugging. His grin is saturated in your arousal as he eats you, tongue massaging and tearing you apart as your muscles lock and you cum.

You felt suffocated, overwhelmed as your body betrayed your mind, everything going blank as your body came apart for him and his aggressive touch.

He drinks you down, cleaning your slick up and nipping softly at your inner thighs as they shake around his head.

You looked adorable, trembling and gasping for air as he allowed you to gently float down from your high. The wide expanse of his palm splays over your lower belly, lightly resting the weight against you as he shifts and lays his upper body over you. You’re blanketed by his body, eyes looking up in a daze as you wonder if this is a dream. It has to be, this isn’t possible is it?

“Tengen…” his name sounds like heaven coming from your lips, his smile growing as he presses his lips against your mouth, slipping into your mouth and giving you a taste of your own release.

When he pulls away, you find how beautiful this man is in person, even without his jewelry and decorations he looks radiant in the dim light.

“Like what you see?” His eyes are sparkling, teasing as he brings his hand up your nude torso, dragging his calloused digits over your soft chest and up to your neck and jaw. “You’re so soft, quite the irony for how hard you tried to get rid of me.” His tone shifts, darkening as his hand increases the pressure on your cheeks and jaw, forcing your mouth open. Your widened and frightened gaze irritates him, his lips turning down as he leans closer, nipping your lower lip as he holds you down.

“You can’t run from me here.” He chuckles humorlessly, trailing his lips down as he releases your face, circling your neck instead as he slips a hand under your ass to lift and slot his hips between your thighs now. You realize now his yukata is open, and he’s nude beneath, his hardened cock resting heavy on your slit.

“Y-you aren’t real—,” it’s like you’re trying to convince yourself it truly is a terrible hallucination, “you’re a character not a p-person, this isn’t real,” his lips smash against yours, rough kiss distracting as he lines himself up with your slick entrance, soft tip threatening as his hips press forward.

You break the kiss in a gasp, eyes opened wide as your nails dig into his shoulders, pressing against him while he laughs for real now.

“Not real? Tell me if this feels real, gem, I’ve got all night to convince you in the flashiest way possible.” His eyes are blazing with passion, wicked gaze searing as he splits you open on his cock.

He didn’t stretch you beforehand, not at all as you grit your teeth and feel each inch fill you slowly. Tengen relishes the way your eyes water, pretty features twisting as he takes you for the first, but not the last, time.

“That’s it, gem. Does my cock feel real?” His hand drifts back down to your belly, pressing down as he bottoms out inside of you. You’re left breathless, gasping as the pressure increases when he applies outside force, your whimper swallowed as his lips cover your own again. The room begins to heat with you, perspiration dotting your brow as he rocks even deeper, pressing his tip up against your womb.

“Did you know? In most cultures, just the act of sex counts as a marital ritual, I can call you my wife like this.” His cocky smirk would be irritating if he wasn’t filling you up until you couldn’t think, head going fuzzy as he slowly adjusts you to his massive length.

His hand shifts even lower, confusion waring with the echoes of pleasure as he lightly brushes the little bead above your slit, your breath catching as your hands fly to his wrist. Tengen is faster, making a tut noise before using his free hand to gather up both your own and pin them above your head, his thrust becoming more forceful as he increases the pace.

“Tell me, gem, tell me how deep I am. You said you wanted to be my little wife didn’t you? I remember quite clearly.” The wet squelching of your cunt as he drives himself into you is nothing short of lewd, your moans hiccup as you struggle against the restraint of his grip.

“I-I didn’t—,” you try to deny it, but a vague recall reminds you did once say so… to the game. It’s ludicrous, all of this, but it’s difficult to formulate a coherent argument with him fucking you like he truly does want to be your husband.

Like he’s going to make you cum again. Tengen’s smile becomes more genuine as you writhe and moan beneath him, hips shaking more as he thrums your clit and times it with each thrust into you, wiring you higher and higher until you’re just on the cusp.

He leans over you, mouth just against your ear, “Say it, gem, who are you?” You don’t understand, mouth open with drool trailing down your pretty cheek as you tremble. “Come on, you know who you are, what are you?” He’s teasing you, slowing down as the seconds tick and panic washes because you’re so close, just right there—

“Please, Tengen,” he hushes you, grin growing wickedly out of your line of sight. “That’s not what I want to hear…” it’s so deep and guttural in your ear, his voice ringing until you're smothered in euphoria.

“Come on, I’ll ask one more time, who are you?” He’s hardly rocking anymore, your body shaking as you babble and beg, trying to decipher his riddle, tears pooling at your lash line as desperation grips you.

You blink the tears away, a few sliding down your face as you give in, lips pursed and pouty.

“Your—I’m your wife…” he groans, his weight becoming heavier on top of you as he picks up his speed again, beginning to pound into you senselessly as pleasure rushes back almost too quickly. All too soon you’re coming, crying his name as you clamp down around his cock and he follows, teeth sinking into the flesh of your shoulder as you shudder.

“Fuck, that’s it gem, soak my cock, my sweet wife.” You gasp, trying to twist away as he continues to rock into you, cock still hard as your sensitive walls protest more stimulation.

“T-Tengen…” you glance down, before looking up as he shifts to hover over you, face less cocky and more soft than before. He looks almost sweet as he smiles down at you.

“We aren’t done, you still have a few more for me, don’t you?” He ignores how you shake your head, denial spilling past your lips before he’s silencing you with another kiss.

“Be good, my gem, I’m not letting you run away.”

Post dividers/@cafekitsune

[centrally-unplanned]

Japanese website Forest Page is shutting down ~today, a tragic loss of "Heisei otaku memories", as so many are calling it. Launched in 2003, Forest Page was a "Geocities for mobile", a site that hosted user-created websites and gave them tools to allow non-coders to make them. In practice, it became one of the premiere places for fanfiction in Japan, with the stories hosted on author-created sites.

It wasn't quite the Fanfic.net of Japan, as for one the Japanese fandom just never centralized quite the way the 2000's western one did, instead being spread out over a half dozen or so sites. But additionally, it wasn't initially popular for fanfic so much as cell phone fanfiction, because in 2000's Japan the "cell phone novel" was a specific thing. These websites were being made for flip phones, not smartphones, and not only would people read them on those phones, they would often write them. None of that was very conducive to the creation and consumption of a "traditional" novel; so starting in the 2000's Japanese writers started making stories fit for the medium, namely:

Very short

A huge focus on dialogue and inner thoughts, with no/minimal description or scene detail

Using a limited POV of a specific character

Often employing the medium-as-message, like using emojis, structuring the story as IM's or emails, etc.

Also they all had huge gaps between lines, I'm not really sure what that is about:

Probably for readability on the phone given the small screen size? But it was absolutely part of the genre. A few of these novels actually made it big, got movie adaptations, people wrote articles about the "cultural phenomenon", it was the 2000's so Hiroki Azuma had a take on it of course, and so on. It slotted neatly into the vibe of the time of technology changing culture, paralleling discourse around otaku in the same era.

In fanfic those trends met up, and anyone familiar with fanfiction probably read that list of traits of the cellphone novel and thought "oh, this is perfect for fanfiction". Skipping out on description? I don't need it, I know what they look like already. Focus on conversation and POV? Perfect for shipping fics. Short lengths? Yeah, we are shortcutting to the good stuff, that is the point. Mirroring trends in the west, Forest Page's userbase was ~95% female, and the most common content on the site was romantic or edgy-dramatic stories in the franchises you'd expect. The closure page linked above actually summarizes the site's history by year, and lists the biggest fandoms:

Which is exactly what I would expect from a female otaku fanfiction website. Congrats to Pirates of the Caribbean for making it though, freeaboo's represent.

I do think the fact that the site was a website hoster as opposed to a fic hoster did align with the way the Japanese fandom was more "creator focused" and embraced the media mix more. There were "fic circles" a la doujin circles who made their own pages, people would make fanart, fan video games, and so own to host alongside it, and all of it was centralized to the creator; it made following them-as-a-person just a little bit easier. Most websites were simple text, but others did have the full Geocities experience:

Something that was somewhat common were basic visual novel concepts where the reader could make choices, or even insert their own name so they would be the "MC" of the story:

(Dream novels are in fact their own thing in Japan) My understanding is the site was quite popular through the 2000's and into the 2010's, though over time the "cellphone novel" as a concept fizzled out. People got smartphones, more people got PCs, and the constraints didn't make sense anymore - you can read ebooks and normal websites on your phone now after all. You can probably draw a line between these kind of stories and the webfiction/light novel boom of the late 2000's/2010's, something that was equally born on the internet, that streamlines the novel to "shortcut to the good stuff" but without the need to fit on a flip phone's screen. Though I will admit my own understanding of their histories shows them more as two sides of the same "youth demand for new literature" coin.

In 2017 Forest Page launched Forest Page Plus, a new service fully optimized for the smartphone era; but it did not transfer over all the old content, starting the clock ticking on the original Forest Page. My understanding is that in June they announced Forest Page was officially closing down; and from what I have gathered from reminiscing writers on twitter, they did not provide any easy, one-touch way to save any of the content, so people are archiving Wayback Machine links or sharing tips on how screenshot-save stories (I think the rub is they gave people a way to transfer content to FP+, but most don't want to do that, as places like Twitter & Pixiv are the content kings of this era).

As of tomorrow I would bet the large majority of the content will be gone; quite sad given both the quantity of stories there and how many got sometimes millions of readers. I am sure most of the biggest stories are archived at least, but particularly the early stuff was a very ephemeral genre, one that doesn't make sense to revisit once you aren't a 16 year old teen writing and reading fics on a flip phone in between classes. Which means another legion of the ghosts of the Wired is being born today. May we pour one out for a fellow online community that lived and died!

[allieebobo]

Monsoon Games: Roadmap

I'll continue to tweak this rough roadmap according to the responses I get from the google form, but here's the plan (ideal-case) for the next 1-2 years!

If you haven't filled out the form yet, please do, as answers would be super valuable in helping me better gauge, prioritize, and budget my next steps as well as tweak the pricing for the tiers!

Phase 1: Now till end-2025

Full-time urban planner

Part-time game dev.

Likely to be mostly solo-work and choice-script based

Phase 2: Beginning 2026 till end 2026

Part/Full-time game dev

Likely to involve / bring in an artist/coder, depending on eventual decision on game format (ren'py, Godot or choicescript)

Phase 3: Beginning 2027

Launch phase 2 game

Re-evaluate what to do next, likely back to my full-time job, but to KIV this based on what happens in Phase 2

Details below the cut!

Again, if you have comments, suggestions, preferences, do leave a message or email (allieebobo@gmail.com). If you're interested to collaborate, or to find out about what games I'm thinking of, click here.

Phase 1a

Timeframe: now till end 2025

Scope: Keep rolling out choicescript updates for CT:OS and Merry Crisis. This will form the base of content for ko-fi/patreon (with subscribers continuing to get early-releases until these games are complete).

Phase 1b 

Timeframe: start sometime 2nd half of 2025, run concurrently till end 2025)

Scope: Write a choicescript 'concept demo' for 2 new games I've been haunted by over the past couple of years. (I'll release more info on this if I think they're viable). Whether or not they become more complex games, I'll at least have the choicescript demo. 

Phase 1c 

Timeframe: optional, but to start as soon as funding is obtained

Scope: Depending on interest, I want to consider doing a port to ren'py for Merry Crisis (or CT:OS, but likely MC) for a more visual-style game. This would involve either hiring a coder to help with the port, or doing it myself. More importantly, will need to commission art for this.

_____

Monthly-subscriptions for both Phase 1a and 1b would include the following tiers: 

$3/month (existing): Just to support me :) 

$6/month (existing): Early-access links to CT:OS and Merry Crisis

$9/month (new tier): Same as above + Early-content (e.g. lore, character snippets & art, non-interactive stories, dev logs) for new game(s)

$12/month (might not go for this tier, but including just as a concept): Same as above + Expanded early-content (e.g. interactive choice-script based demo access)

Phase 2a

Timeframe: Beginning 2026, probably 6-9 months or more depending on scope

Scope: With CT:OS and Merry Crisis completed, I hope to then turn my sights to converting the choicescript demo created in phase 1b into actual complete games. This could either take the form of: 

A full choicescript game

A full ren'py (visual) game

A full Godot (2D) game

About 2-3 months into Phase 2a, I will also have enough content to launch a kickstarter, which would hopefully bring new backers on board and funds to speed-up production of the game(s). For folks who prefer supporting once-off instead, they'll also come in at this stage :) 

Phase 2b: 

Timeframe: Probably 6-9 months into 2026

Scope: Once there's a playable beta version of the game, I'll then do testing with subscribers and other beta-testers, and do de-bugging.

_____

Monthly-subscriptions for both Phase 2a and 2b would include the following tiers: 

$4/month: Just to support me :) 

$8/month: Subscriber-only content for all new games in development (e.g. character snippets & art, dev logs)

$12/month: Same as above + Little interactive patches/expansion packs for CT:OS and Merry Crisis 

$16/month: Same as above + Expanded early-content for all new games (e.g. non-interactive stories, scene peaks/teasers, interactive twine or choicescript based playable content, access to beta version of the game when ready in phase 2b)

Kickstarter tiers: 

$12 once-off for a specific project (a selection of content from the pool of characer snippets & art, dev-logs that $8/month subscribers get) 

$25 once-off for a specific project (same as above + a selection of content from the pool of expanded early-content) 

$35 once-off for a specific project (same as above + special perks e.g. ability to design a character or item or request chapter) 

Phase 3

Timeframe: Start of 2027 onwards 

Scope: When at least 1 game is launched, hopefully by start of 2027, I'll re-evaluate and see what to set my sights on next! This probably also means going back to full-time urban planning :)

[codingquill]

What happens when you start your computer ? ( Booting a computer )

We studied this in the lecture today, and it was quite interesting. What makes something a hundred times simpler than it is? Creating a story about it. That's why I made this super fun dialog that will help you understand it all.

I've set up a drive to compile everything I create related to the Linux operating system. Feel free to explore it for more details on the topics discussed in the conversation below. Check it out here.

Have a fun read, my dear coders!

In the digital expanse of the computer, Pixel, the inquisitive parasite, is on a microventure with Binary, a wise digital guide. Together, they delve into the electronic wonders, uncovering the secrets hidden in the machine's core.

Pixel: (zooming around) Hey there! Pixel here, on a mission to demystify the tech wonders . There's a creature named Binary who knows all the ins and outs. Let's find them!

Binary: (appearing with a flicker of pixels) Pixel, greetings! Ready to explore what happens inside here?

Pixel: Absolutely! I want the full scoop. How does this thing come alive when the human outside clicks on "start"?

Binary: (with a digital chuckle) Ah, the magic of user interaction. Follow me, and I'll reveal the secrets.

(They traverse through the circuits, arriving at a glowing portal.)

Pixel: (inquiring) What's the deal with this glowing door?

Binary: (hovering) Pixel, behold the BIOS - our machine's awakening. When the human clicks "start," the BIOS kicks in, checking if our components are ready for action.

(They proceed to observe a tiny program in action.)

Pixel: (curious) Look at that little messenger running around. What's it up to?

Binary: (explaining) That, Pixel, is the bootloader. It plays courier between the BIOS and the operating system, bringing it to life.

Pixel: (excitedly buzzing) Okay! How does the computer know where to find the operating system?

Binary: Ah, Pixel, that's a tale that takes us deep into the heart of the hard disk. Follow me.

(They weave through the digital pathways, arriving at the hard disk.)

Pixel: (curious) Huh? Tell me everything!

Binary: Within this hard disk lies the treasure chest of the operating system. Let's start with the Master Boot Record (MBR).

(They approach the MBR, Binary pointing to its intricate code.)

Binary: The MBR is like the keeper of the keys. It holds crucial information about our partitions and how to find the operating system.

Pixel: (wide-eyed) What's inside?

Binary: (pointing) Take a look. This is the primary boot loader, the first spark that ignites the OS journey.

(They travel into the MBR, where lines of code reveal the primary boot loader.)

Pixel: (in awe) This tiny thing sets the whole show in motion?

Binary: (explaining) Indeed. It knows how to find the kernel of the operating system, which is the core of its existence.

(They proceed to the first partition, where the Linux kernel resides.)

Pixel: (peering into the files) This is where the OS lives, right?

Binary: (nodding) Correct, Pixel. Here lies the Linux kernel. Notice those configuration files? They're like the OS's guidebook, all written in text.

(They venture to another partition, finding it empty.)

Pixel: (confused) What's the story with this empty space?

Binary: (smirking) Sometimes, Pixel, there are barren lands on the hard disk, waiting for a purpose. It's a canvas yet to be painted.

Pixel: (reflecting) Wow! It's like a whole universe in here. I had no idea the operating system had its roots in the hard disk.

(They continue their microventure, navigating the binary landscapes of the computer's inner world.Pixel gazes at the screen where choices appear.)

Pixel: What's happening here?

Binary: (revealing) This is where the user picks the operating system. The computer patiently waits for a decision. If none comes, it follows the default path.

(They delve deeper into the digital code, where applications start blooming.)

Pixel: (amazed) It's like a digital garden of applications! What's the enchantment behind this?

Binary: (sharing) Here, Pixel, is where the applications sprout to life. The operating system nurtures them, and they blossom into the programs you see on the screen.

Pixel: (excited) But how does the machine know when the human clicks "start"?

Binary: It's the BIOS that senses this initiation. When the human triggers "start," the BIOS awakens, and we embark on this mesmerizing journey.

[fujowebdev]

This April 1st, @bobaboard proudly presents our first ever Kickstarter:

✨The Fujoshi Guide to Web Development✨

Join us for a fun and educational adventure sure to hold the interest of even the most "no studying, only studs" fans.

The secret? Hot fictional men, of course!

If you're new to @bobaboard's April 1st traditions, you might wonder: Is this just an elaborate joke?

As long-term fans know, it’s elaborate, it’s a joke, BUT it’s also a 100% real, high-quality product you can buy. Check out the full pitch and back us at the #FujoGuide Kickstarter page! Keep reading for more!

Since the very beginning, we have championed the weirdness of fans as the best antidote to the blandness of the corporate-driven web. But pointing out this weirdness is not enough: we must nurture and empower it.

But how do we hold fans' attention in a world full of distractions? Well—

But jokes aside, there's no joke: with your help we will make #FujoGuide an amazing teaching tool that will (cough) "fill the gaping holes" in current educational materials for web development.

To fix the web, what we have now is not even close to "good enough." Here's why.

While teaching fannish "baby coders," we noticed existing materials fall into two categories:

jargon-heavy, complex guides designed for professional developers

oversimplified, nostalgia-driven tutorials filled with outdated approaches

…and not ONE hot man in sight!

Instead, #FujoGuide aims to put modern web development techniques into the hands of a fannish public, speaking directly to their needs WITHOUT talking down to them.

We love web development, we love fandom, and we believe that, with the right tools, they'll also love each other.

But words can only do so much. To support #FujoGuide and learn more about Version Control, our first—bold!—choice of topic, head down to Kickstarter and (cue YouTuber voice) smash that "back this project" button!

This whole project was created by a small team of fannish people over the course of just two months (yes, really)! The amazing quality of what you see is testament to their infinite talent, passion, and patience. Applause pls (on the credits doc).

And with this… our 30 days countdown begins! As the month progresses, we'll teach you more and more about our new beloved self-shipped blorbos. We know you'll come to love us as much as we do.

Also if you aren’t already, follow our mothership and main project @bobaboard.

[nickycodes]

Photographs and Memories - PT

coding this one calmed my mind a little

6 pages to write on

14+ pictures

add as many pics as you want in 'gallery'

hover to move the photos (version 1) or write notes on them (version 2)

decorations~

bullet journal kinda vibe

1 OOG & Credit page

Included  as part of this purchase:

Version 1: hover to move photos

Version 2: with notes on photos as shown in the image above

A simple edit help for 'gallery'

Matching Backstory: here

*Remember, click save directly after pasting the code, don’t click the sources bottom again, it’ll break the code!

Please read the TERMS OF USE before using my code <3

Price: $3.50

Link: ko-fi shop

Buy the whole pack (PT+Backstory) here for $6.30: ko-fi shop

Pictures used in demo: Jack Wolfe, Jessie Mei Li, Kit Young

[msabs]

(artist: @nautls11)

Hello, everyone! As promised, it is the 1st of September, meaning it's time to deliver the first update post for the upcoming JRWI video game, MSABS! Today, we'd like to share with you some art and little tidbits of writing, along with a summary of how our progress is going overall. Let's begin!

The art team has been working very hard on backgrounds and gui. So far for the backgrounds, 22/38 storyboards have been drawn, and 6 pixel drafts have been made! On the gui side, all textboxes have been complete, along with sliders and slider cursors. You've already glimpsed one of the unique textboxes as the header of this update post! Here's a couple backgrounds to pair with it.

(artist: @astro2astro)

Let's move on to the writing team! We've been discussing branches of the game, and even rewrote the game's introduction. The timestamp of Riptide #114: Still Not Ferin Well that we've reached is around 7:40. Now, this might not seem like a lot, but the introduction of the game is set during the end of the previous episode, which we also cover the tail end of. The script is currently around 6.5k words long. Here's a few choice lines!

(writer: @ralexsol)

That's about it for now! We won't be saying or sharing anything that might spoil parts of the game, so until we have more art and writing developed, update posts will be smaller.

It is now September, and with the autumn weather comes a return to school. Many of the MSABS team members are balancing life, school, and this project, so our progress as slowed compared to when we first started. Nevertheless, we are still working on it when we have the time.

If you wish to help speed up our progress, please join the Discord! We're always looking for more artists, writers, and coders. It's a volunteer project with a contribute-what-you-want environment, so there's no pressure to stay for longer than you care to.

Have a good September, everyone! We'll see you on October 1st.

[spade-riddles]

Every time Taylor played I Can See You, she also played Maroon the same night. I heard she's no longer playing either anymore because she has officially played Maroon 8 times, and I Can See You 3 times. 👀

The 3 times that she paired both songs together were all dates in relation to the birthdays of Kaylor. 2 times were Karlie's birthday anniversaries, and the other 1 was the 13th of Pride Month.

8/3 - I Can See You and Maroon

6/13 - I Can See You/Mine and Maroon/Cornelia Street

8/2 (365 days later due to leap year) - I Can See You/I Can Fix Him and Maroon/Red

Yesterday when we got the Going Anon for seemingly Maroon, it was the 138th show. 138 is the official Kaylor number as it represents the combination of both their birthdays 13 and 8/3 meeting in the middle by the 3.

When did 138 truly become noticed by the masses? No other than the I Can See You MV of course.

When the music video premiered, the time was set at 1:38am July 9th. Naturally, many fans outside the know were confused by this choice since "1:58" from Last Kiss made more sense given the date July 9th.

Taylor later changed the time from 1:38 to 1:58, but we know she does not make any mistakes. It was not lost on us that a main feature of the MV was a blonde coder that ultimately breaks her free, played by Presley Cash. The birthday of Presley Cash you ask? The 13th of Pride Month.

Given this string of connecting evidence, I believe we did not get the Going Anon message wrong.

(Spade, still going, going, going? 👩🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏼🍷)

While this may be Maroon, it was not a surprise song. In actuality, this message called attention to the date of a super collision. Where all 3 times that I Can See You being played with Maroon had some form of an 8/3 or 13 time gap between the dates they were played and Nov 1st.

8/3 - I Can See You and Maroon (313 Business Days, 130 Weekend Days, or 13 Holidays after Nov 1st)

6/13 - I Can See You/Mine and Maroon/Cornelia Street (38 shows after Nov 1st)

8/2 - I Can See You/I Can Fix Him and Maroon/Red (13 shows prior to Nov 1st)

Not only did she interconnect all of the above, but additionally when we got the going anon for Maroon yesterday on the 138th show... with doing some calculations it proves that every time she played Maroon links back to Nov 1st through either an 8/3 [8/2] or 13 time gap.

Here are the other 5 occurences besides the 3 listed above:

5/26 - Maroon and Getaway Car (113 shows before Nov 1st)

8/27 - Maroon and Afterglow (82 shows before Nov 1st)

2/26 - Maroon/Forever and Always (8 months and 3 days before Nov 1st)

6/21 - Maroon/The Black Dog/Come Back...Be Here (38 Weekend Days or 133 Days before Nov 1st)

5/11 - Maroon and Hey Stephen (13 Weeks and 83 days before Nov 1st)

In other words from Nov 1st when we got the Going anon Maroon submission, there were 8 connected dates to locate that included 8 Maroons and 3 I Can See Yous that were meant to be uncovered by using 8/3 and 13 coded time gaps that all occured simultaneously with Nov 1st as the overarching starting point.

Oh and does it help that Maroon's track duration in general is 3:38?

I think it is more than safe to say we got this one right. ✔✔✔

🤯

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Who is Mew Anyway?

I realized we are over halfway through Only Friends now, and that I have only talked about Mew once in my write ups. Which…makes sense for me, all things considered, until now he’s kind of been a blah character in my eyes. And I am leaning in to and really appreciating how intentional that is beginning to feel on behalf of Jojo and co. 

When you think about it, until literally halfway through the show we have known almost nothing about Mew besides the fact that he is the table keeper for his friends, he is a hotel management student, and he’s a virgin. If you asked me to list any other facts about Mew’s life or his role in life, I would not have been able to answer much of anything. 

And that’s because Mew isn’t really anything. Personally, I feel like Mew thinks he has a strong sense of self and the second that something comes along to question that, all those illusions he has of himself start crumbling. When I look at Mew’s character, and I mean start getting in to the nitty gritty of Mew’s character, I don’t think Mew has any idea who he is. Which, for a show about college students is fucking brilliant. I thought I knew who I was in college, and then I graduated and promptly became queer and trans. I thought I knew what career I wanted, and then I ended up going to grad school for something outside of my initial plans. I know @waitmyturtles mentioned something similar about trying on different personalities in college in her Episode 7 Review. 

Think about Mew’s apartment, it was his mother’s old place. He took it over after she moved out. He didn’t choose this place, we can’t be certain this is the type of apartment or the location that Mew would actively decide to be in. When he brings Top home the first night they meet, Top comments on the place:

“Your room is nice, it suits you” 

To which Mew replies ‘It’s my Mom’s old room. I decorated it using ideas from the internet” 

Which says to me that Mew’s own personality, his own interests weren’t even involved in the creation of his own personal space. He decorated it based on inspiration from what other people had done to their own places. And Mew’s apartment fascinates me further, as a color-coder in BL kinda person. Because Mew’s apartment is all over the place in its decoration. 

On one wall we have striped wallpaper, in orange hues.

On another we have light blue walls with white and golden patterning. A yellow couch, a blue bookshelf. 

In his room he has a wall that is painted a solid green

And I can’t quite get a good image of it, but the opposite wall in his room is painted a dark turquoise with white patterning, which is different from Ray’s house, but still evokes a similar visual point of comparison.

Even Mew himself, when we first meet him is alllllll over the place with his colors. He has lines all over his shirt, with squares of different colors. His second look of the show is a solid light blue shirt over top of a striped shirt with orange, green, yellow.

His bed sheets are similarly stripes with dark gray, green, yellow, and orange.

Which is to say, at the beginning of our time with Mew, it is hard to pin down who he is as a person. He doesn’t have a color, he doesn’t have a pattern, to associate with his character. He fluctuates between rich, saturated colors and light, washed out pastels. 

When I think of Mew, I think of all the outfits he’s worn that have a strong green tint to them, but honestly, looking back through his wardrobe, Mew has a broad range of colors he chooses from. 

(Now, I recognize that all of this could be because the costuming department does not actually care about color coding, and that the eclectic styling of Mew’s apartment was just how it already was. And that’s fine, but I’m here so I’m gonna overanalyze it.)

All this to say that, Mew’s colors, Mews home, Mew’s pattern choices are all very disparate. All this to say that as a result I am now assuming that Mew does not know who he is, and neither do we. He could go any number of ways. Mew could go orange, yellow, green, blue. He could be complicated (with complex patterns) or straight forward (with solid colors). But none of us know at the beginning of this show quite where he will go. 

Truthfully, the only aspect of Mew that I have seen be steadfast throughout the show, is Mew’s moral superiority complex. Everything else is mutable. Mew has throughout most of the show, regarded himself as a good person. He doesn’t drink much, he doesn’t dance much, he doesn’t sleep around at all, and that somehow in his mind, grants Mew the opportunity to talk down to his friends. 

He’s not an alcoholic like Ray who he has no problem lecturing in the bathroom about how he is  going to be dead by 30, despite knowing that Ray is/was suicidal. He’s not a slut like Boston, who is far too obsessed with Mew’s virginity, etc. etc. etc. Mew fucks with Top, deciding that he is going to wait to have sex with him for awhile. And that is his right, but Mew doesn’t say he’s waiting because he isn’t comfortable with sex. He tells Boston and Cheum that he is waiting to have sex with Top to make sure that Top is serious about their relationship. Because if Top is serious about dating Mew without sex being involved, that means that Mew is worthy of the top tier because he is top tier, and not because he is an easy lay that Top can use for bragging rights (bagging a virgin). 

And I would have previously entertained a conversation around whether or not that is true, but unfortunately for any dissenters to my read of Mew, now that Mew has decided to #embracethenasty, there is no convincing me out of my observation that Mew does not know who he is. 

Why? Because the second that Mew starts retaliating against Top, the second he decides to ruin Top’s life, to stoop low, to be the lesser person…Mew starts dressing like Ray. I am certainly not the first person to notice this, it has been circulating in multiple different forms across my tumblr page, but.

Gif from @firstmix

Mew doesn’t know who he is, Mew doesn’t know how he fits in to the world now that he has decided to make Top’s life a living hell. I am not convinced Mew is capable of seeing himself as a bad person, because he isn’t a slut or an addict or a cheater. [As an aside here, this is Mew’s thinking, not my own personal beliefs on what makes someone a good or bad person]. So, of course, if he wanted to become a bad person. If he wanted to play at being as toxic and terrible as the people around him, it makes sense Mew would don the wardrobe of his “best friend”, Ray. Ray, who Mew looks down on for being an alcoholic, for not valuing his life. Who Mew has told time and time again to love himself, and to quit drinking and doing drugs, as if that is going to cure Ray’s addiction. And who in under five minutes just took a blowtorch to everyone’s relationships. 

Why? Because Mew is so self-righteous that he looks down on others around him. Mew isn’t ready or willing to look at and acknowledge the nasty, flawed parts of himself, so he adorns the nasty, flawed parts of others, to abstract himself from his own behavior. He uses Ray’s clothing, Nick’s methodology, and Boston’s personality to retaliate at the people he feels wronged by. 

Mew uses Boston against himself, wielding Boston’s sexual prowess, his willingness to fuck, his Hunter charm to get himself in to Gap’s apartment. He uses Nick’s methodology to steal the video of Boston and lords the knowledge over Boston’s head (like Nick did to Top), and again, he is wearing Ray’s clothing. But while Mew is trying to be a chameleon in his behavior, his appearance, his strategy to get back at Top, Mew’s own flavor of flaw starts becoming ever more clear. 

Mew has a superiority complex.

It is absolutely, unbelievable shitty and vile to threaten to out Boston to his father. To treat Boston’s privacy and safety with such disdain. Boston records others and he keeps those images as evidence, so Mew steals Boston’s MO. Mew takes the recording of Boston, looks Boston in the eye, and makes Boston think that he is going to hold on to that for evidence.

Now, right before this, Mew does actually draw a comparison point between himself and Boston. 

“You and I have something in common.” he says

“We’re both gullible” 

Mew makes Boston beg. And after he has made Boston sweat sufficiently, he throws the flashdrive on the ground. He says: “I’m kidding. No matter how much I hate you, I won’t do it. Because I don’t betray my friend like you did. 

“Then I’d be just as filthy as you are.”

While Mew is able to identify a potential flaw of his own, being gullible isn’t a fundamental aspect of Mew’s personality or character, being gullible isn’t who Mew is. It’s a flaw that he is pointing out only because he is still reeling from allowing himself to be fooled by Top and Boston. It’s a flaw that he is point out so that he can weaponize his superiority complex. 

In other words: “You and I have something in common, but I am better than you because I don’t betray my friends”  As if he didn’t just threaten to publicize Boston’s sex life to his father, the implications of which could have a national impact.

And while it is ultimately unsurprising that Mew channels Ray in doing all of this, it is interesting. Interesting because Mew is using Ray. Mew not only knows that Ray is capable of fucking up his own life, and the lives of the people around him, he also knows that Ray is the least liked by both Boston and Top. Boston’s distaste for Ray is subtle, as his obsession with Top and Mew has been more at the forefront of his interactions with his friends. But we have seen from the very beginning of this show that Boston does nothing to care for Ray. Boston is assigned to take care of Ray and make sure he is safe when he’s been drinking too much. Boston literally never once helps Ray when he’s drunk. Boston sees Ray and Sand crossed, cuddling, and generally having a good time, and Boston goes and airs Ray’s dirty laundry. Ray is the first person to confront Boston about cuckolding Mew. 

So wearing clothing that is reminiscent of Ray when Mew goes to Boston’s house to threaten him is a flavorful undertone for how Mew is hoping Boston will see him. 

At the points in which Top and Mew interact during the episode, Mew is not dressed like Ray, but he sure as shit does lord Ray over Top just to fuck with him. When Top comes to apologize to Mew, Mew asks Ray to find a new designer, literally asking Ray to replace Top. When Ray helps treat Mew’s injury after the group fight, Mew decides to use Ray as a rebound. To use Ray’s feelings for him as a way to experiment, once again, with the type of person he wants to be and the type of person he wants to be with. We end the episode with Ray and Mew dancing together at the bar, Mew dressed in a very Ray style

Because Mew is trying Ray on for size, trying his fashion, his company, his lifestyle (as we see from the promo for next week) and that is prone to make RayMew crash and burn, because Ray is self-destructive enough as is, and I don’t think Mew is going to do well with treating himself with Ray’s level of self-care.

Mew doesn’t know who he is, Mew doesn’t know what he wants, the only thing Mew knows is that he’s better than everyone around him, and he can only stoop as low as them is by pretending he is them, rather than facing the fact that he's just as terribly human as the rest of the group.

[visvivathms]

VISVIVA PRESENTS: GRANITE a simplistic, elegant free theme

hello everybody! I'm so excited to finally get this out to the tags after working on it for so long! This is my first theme and I'm a self taught coder, so I'm very proud and thrilled to share it with you all! I know how much we all love elegance in the writing community and wanted to bring in a theme that you can customize to your own elegant preferences without ANY coding knowledge. I would like to thank @seyche for their base code and @glenthemes for their music player! and for being all around amazing coders of whom I both am inspired by and admire! All of that being said, I present to you my very first theme of many:

COLOR ME IN GRANITE

PREVIEW | DOWNLOAD: GITHUB / PASTEBIN / CODEPEN

FEATURES

no coding knowledge needed! fully customize from the comfort of the theme options

high resolution, automatically resizing sidebar image. I have made it so that any image you upload for the sidebar will automatically be made high resolution and resize to fit the sidebar. this will, of course, work best on already high res images :)

FULLY CUSTOMIZABLE PINNED POST TITLE. Change your pinned post title, font AND give it a very dapper highlight

a choice of 16 FONTS for you to change the look of your blog's written content, including your sidebar title!

optional indented paragraphs! ( follow this easy tutorial )

posts with inner scroll! all text posts will automatically gain a scrollbar if they get extremely long. no more clogging up your front page with a single thread!

title'd tag pages. any time you click on a tag, a simple but aesthetic title will appear above the posts section.

music player by glenthemes - just type in your artist, song name, and mp3 link and you're all set! for help on how to get an mp3 link of your favorite song, click here to see the lovely HT's super easy tutorial!

responsive design that changes dimensions as your screen gets smaller

npf images + unblue polls by glenthemes + more!

if you download this theme, please give this post a like or reblog!

because tumblr is giving me the run around with js permissions, I have created a temporary preview of this theme on a standalone blog. please do not send asks to that blog, or I likely won't see them! if you run into any problems at all, please do not hesitate to message me!

PRICE & DONATIONS

This theme is a FREE theme! I love to code mostly just for the art and therapeutic nature of it, so for now all of my themes will be free. However, if you would like to support me and my work, please consider leaving a tip or buying me a coffee via cashapp ( $visviva ) :)

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

If You Can't Dance 2

Warnings: dubcon, noncon, other possible triggers. Proceed with caution.

Note: this is what you get when you encourage me. Please leave any and all feedback! 🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷

Part of The Club AU

The man lets you go as the bouncer approaches again. He hands over a green bottle of Perrier. The stranger uncaps it and offers it to you as the carbonation hisses from the open neck.

“Have a drink,” he says gently.

You take the bottle and gulp, the bubbles nearly choking you. He looms there with you, watching you drink. You pop your mouth off the bottle and stare at his lapel.

“I'm sorry,” you gasp, “I think I'll be okay now.”

“No need to apologise,” he assures you. “I'll stay with you until you're better.”

“You don't…” he leans in again and your breath catches, “you don't have to do that.”

“Oh, I couldn't leave you. Go on, have some more water,” he says, “Jonathan, by the way, I'm afraid our introduction was lacking.”

You're confused. You don't know this man. Why is he so interested? You glance over at the pretty girls in their mini skirts and strappy dresses.

“And you?” He prompts.

You give your name to the brim of the bottle before you swig again. You rub you cheek then let your hand drop to your stomach. You cringe at the gurgle in your stomach. 

“Have a bit much to drink?” He asks.

“I don't… I don't drink,” you answer, “but… they gave me it.”

“They? A friend?”

“Coworker.”

“Ah, a work outing. Rather odd choice for that but who am I to say? I was lured here upon the premise of business myself.”

You hand the bottle back to him and hug yourself. He twists the cap on as you peer down the street. They probably won't even notice you're gone.

“I should go,” you stand up, “thanks, uh, sir, for your help.”

“Go? Are you driving?”

“Yeah, my car is over…” you trail off as you brave a glance up at him. His blonde hair is tidy and his eyes are a perfect shade of sky blue. “...there.”

“You can't drive, you said you've been drinking,” he tilts his head.

“Oh, uh, I guess,” you peel around, keeping your arms crossed, “a taxi…”

“We could share? I have an early morning meeting so I'll be off about now.”

“Oh, no, that's fine–”

“I don't mind. In fact, I'd be more bothered to send you of not knowing if you got home safe,” he intones.

“But… you don't know me.”

“Well, you can't get to know people if you don't start there,” he chuckles lightly, “how are you feeling now, then? Calmer?”

You nod. He holds out the bottle. 

“Keep it. Finish it if you can. It will help sober you up,” he lets you take the bottle before he turns and raises his arm, hailing down the street for the approaching headlights. You'd be on the curb for a while before anyone saw you jumping and waving. That would be embarrassing. 

“Dear,” he looks back at you as a yellow cab approaches.

“I said…” you don't bother repeating yourself. People don't hear you. It's why you prefer email or IM.

The driver is there. That's a safeguard, right? The man, Jonathan, opens the door for you and you get in. He goes around the other side and gives his address, “but first…” he gestures to you.

You say your own address as you place the water bottle in the cup holder and buckle in. You stare out the window and watch the street roll by as the car pulls out. You keep yourself nestled into the door, making yourself as small as you can.

“So… coworkers… what do you do for work?”

“Code.”

“Ah, interesting, valuable skill set. I have many coders on my team. Always reliable, always honest.”

You nod. What do you say? Your work isn't exciting and the few times you worked with other coders were less than pleasant.

Silence. A strangling dearth of sound. You fidget, wiping your sweaty palms on your skirt. You just want to get home. The prospect of having to pick your car up the next day adds to your anxiety.

“I am rather too talkative for my own good,” he chuckles.

The driver seems to take a hint and flips on the radio. You exhale, relieved for the white noise, and refocus out the window.

It's an odd end to the night. You knew going out would probably be unsettling but this is all so strange. You suppose you've been in your own space for too long. You've never been good with other people.

As you recognise the street you're one, you sit up. Jonathan inhales and hooks one leg over the other. The driver steers around the corner sharply and nearly has you falling across the seat. You slap a hand on the leather and resist the physics. 

You peek up and meet Jonathan's eye. An accident that has you boiling and looking away. You see your house and lean forward.

As the driver stops, you pull at the purse slung around your body. You look at the meter and search for your wallet in the slouchy body of the bag. Jonathan tuts and flutters his fingers at you.

“My treat. Please, save your money.”

“But–” you gulp back a response. You should pay but you also shouldn’t argue with kindness. That’s what your mother always said.

You click the seat belt and let it recoil. Your hand is already on the door as you’re ready to run and hide. The man says your name. You pause and look back, not wanting to be rude.

“Well, have a good night,” he drawls.

“Oh, uh, thank you, you too,” you pull the handle.

“Very nice meeting you,” he calls softly, right before you close the door.