#don't expect a smartphone here

[sirfrogsworth]

Smartphone cameras are NOT getting worse. (See below for phone photography tips)

I've now seen 3 pro photographers reviewing the iPhone 16 and complaining the cameras are "worse" and blaming Apple for not including revolutionary new camera technology.

And I suppose this is partly Apple's fault. Their marketing and hype machine always goes overboard. But also, that's just how marketing works. Samsung has a "200 megapixel" sensor and Sony has a "Zeiss" lens. And I think it is unrealistic to expect smartphone companies to say "This product has entered the iterative phase and each new model will only be marginally improved over the last one."

Smartphones (from any brand) have become an appliance. You don't buy a new model of microwave every year. And you don't expect every new model of microwave to have new revolutionary technology. And that is pretty much the expectation you should have with most computer hardware from here on out.

And in some ways, that is a good thing. That means the design of the phone has pretty much been perfected and it will last you a long time if you take care of it. You will not be left behind and your phone will be able to handle any new software for most of its lifespan.

So, is Apple getting lazy or is there a reason their hardware is stagnating?

It seems that neither money nor marketing can change the laws of physics.

They cannot make transistors much smaller. Phones and computers are about as fast as current hardware designs can make them (unless there is a shocking scientific breakthrough). From here on out, heavy compute tasks that are beyond your phone or computer will be done in the cloud on giant computer clusters. Thankfully computers and phones seem to be plenty fast for the majority of tasks we ask of them.

I remember Katrina telling me her new computer didn't seem any faster. And I explained the computing tasks she does regularly were not really affected by the increased power and speed of her new computer. If something took 0.1 seconds before and now it takes 0.05 seconds, that is twice as fast. An increase in speed that looks fantastic in advertisements. But it is hard for our brains to perceive. She just didn't do anything on her computer that took it long enough for her to notice. But having a faster and more powerful computer/phone will increase its lifespan and resale value, so it is still prudent to get the best things you can afford at time of purchase.

And I'm afraid smartphone cameras are hitting their own hardware limitations. They can't make the sensors much larger to get better depth of field and low light performance. And cramming in more megapixels doesn't actually add much more detail, if any.

It's physics.

Again.

You cannot get any more performance out of a small plastic lens. Why do you think pro photographers haul around 10 pound lenses still?

There is a formula for detail that never seems to be explained in any camera marketing.

Here is the simplified version...

Detail = Sensor x Lens

Let's say 1 is perfection. You have a sensor that performs at 0.5 and a lens that performs at 0.2.

The total detail will be 0.1.

But in the new model you increase the performance of the sensor to 0.8. WOW! That's so close to 1!

The total detail will be... 0.16.

Now let's imagine we've discovered a magic, physics-defying tiny plastic lens that performs at 0.8 as well.

The total detail jumps to 0.64!

But we all get sucked into a wormhole because we violated the laws of the universe.

Even if you were to design a near perfect (perfect is impossible) sensor that scores 0.99.

Without that magic plastic lens... 0.198

This is why I put Samsung's "200 megapixel" sensors in quotes. Because when paired with the same tiny plastic lens, there isn't much improvement. And that's why a 12 megapixel DSLR from 10 years ago with a giant honking lens can still capture more detail.

Most of the quality from smartphone cameras comes from the computational software processing. Phones actually take many photos at once and combine them to get you a decent image.

While that is still improving a little bit each generation, those improvements are stagnating as well. Until image processing can do a better job of inventing more detail realistically, smartphones are going to have to obey the laws of physics.

So... why are photographers saying the iPhone cameras are worse?

First, the ultra wide angle lens looks softer in low light.

And if you zoom between 1x and 5x, the images look less detailed.

But neither of those things make the cameras *worse*. In fact, the cameras are better for the most part. It's just that Apple decided to compromise on one aspect to improve another. Probably due to market research telling them most people prioritize certain things over others when taking photos.

They increased the resolution of the ultra wide angle sensor to match the detail of the main sensor, but that seems to have lowered the low light performance of the ultra wide. So in good light, you will see an improvement in sharpness. But they could not increase the sensor size to compensate and smaller pixels can have trouble with dim conditions. They probably discovered that people mostly use that lens in good light and they would appreciate the bump in detail more.

But pro photographers often photograph in more challenging lighting conditions because you can capture a more artistic shot. I don't think I could have gotten this shot on a smartphone.

But photo normies are just taking pics of their kids doing weird kid shit.

They aren't really trying to push the limits of their ultra wide angle lenses.

And they increased the zoom of the telephoto lens to 5x from 3x because most people never used the 3x. So images at 5x look great now, but unfortunately if you use anything between 1x and 5x, your image will be *digitally* zoomed. Which is never as good as optical zoom. They basically crop the photo, zoom in, and add sharpening.

So they prioritized people having longer reach and more zoom at the expense of that middle zoom range. Every camera system makes tradeoffs and compromises.

And I hate that I always feel like I am defending Apple, because they do have misleading and dishonest marketing regarding a lot of aspects of their tech. But hating on Apple gets more clicks so content creators also make misleading and dishonest claims.

And so we are just surrounded in a circle of hyperbole from all sides.

Now, if you know these limitations, you can change your approach to photographing stuff to keep them from being an issue. You can reap the benefits without dealing with the new compromises.

Here are some tips to help owners of the new iPhone, but also everyone else too.

Smartphone Photography Tips

Whenever possible, try to use the main 1x camera at only 1x zoom. This has the largest sensor with the most detail and works best in the lowest light. Only use the ultra wide or telephoto if you cannot get the photo otherwise. If you aren't sure you have enough light for ultra wide, take the photo, and then as a safety, take two photos with the main camera side by side and stitch them later with a pano app.

"Zoom with your feet" and don't use "in-between" zooms. Let's say your lenses do 0.5x, 1x, and 5x zoom. Even though you have the option to use other zooms, like 2x or 3x, that is going to compromise your picture quality. It is essentially going to crop your photo and enlarge it, which causes a loss of detail. If fact, if you use 4.5x instead of 5x, your picture will probably look like trash. You are always going to get better results if you can move closer or step back so that you are using the native focal length of your chosen lens. For example, let's say you are taking a photo and you judge the best framing to be at 4x. But you still have 10 feet of space behind you. If you back up and then zoom in to 5x, the phone will switch to that lens and you will get a much clearer picture.

Rule of thumb...

1 to 3x... try to move closer.

4 to 5x... try to move back.

If you hit a wall and end up at 4.5x, you might see if you have a panorama mode and try that instead. Switch to your 5x and do the pano. Or you can take two photos and then stitch them together with software later on. (Stitching panos with an app later will give better quality than pano mode, especially in low light.)

Low light needs stability. Get some sort of stabilizing device for low light photos. Either a phone case that lets you stand up the phone on its own or a mini tripod.

This thing folds to the size of a credit card.

Your phone will detect when it is stable and not being handheld. It will then automatically extend its shutter speed allowing it to drink in more light and give you a better picture.

Tripods are photography magic and will improve your low light photos quite a bit. Motion blur of moving subjects can still be an issue, but photos of a cityscape or landscape will look great.

For selfies, shoot a little bit wide and then crop in. This goes a little contrary to my earlier advice saying cropping lowers detail, but this is specifically for shooting a face. The 0.5x and 1x lenses on smartphone cameras are fairly wide angle. This can cause unflattering proportions with human faces. Wide angle lenses exaggerate distance. Near things look very near and far things look very far. To a wide angle lens, the tip of your nose looks like it is super close but your ears seem like they are a mile away. And that's why you may look a bit "alien" in your selfies.

People's natural instinct is to "fill the frame" with a face. The outer edges of a wide angle lens are more distorted than the very center. So try to keep faces away from the edges of the frame.

And one other trick you can do for selfies and pictures of faces is step back a few feet. Sometimes this is hard, especially with selfies, as your arm is only so long... but if you can take your face photos from just a little bit farther back, you will almost entirely eliminate unflattering distortion. In some cases, just stretching out your arm as far as it will go is enough.

Then you just crop the image with the framing you originally wanted, and your facial proportions will look great.

An example...

Here the distortion is bad because I am not in the center and the lens is too close to my face. The lens thinks my nose is really close and my ears are in Canada.

But when the lens is farther back the edge distortion is less prevalent and my nose and ears (relative to the lens) seem roughly the same distance away. So my proportions look great, but I don't quite have the framing I want.

But with a little cropping...

For social media there is still plenty of resolution to crop in. Cropping isn't bad, it's just always better to use it as a last resort or in a special circumstance like this. I get roughly the same framing as in my wide angle shot, but I don't look like I'm behind a door's peephole trying to sell you the Good News.

I wish they made a "mini" selfie stick that only extended a foot or so. With the main camera that is usually all people need to undo any wide angle issues. I have one of those mini tripods and that works well, but there is no activation button so I have to do a timer. Mirrors work great to help you get some selfie distance.

In any case, all cameras have limitations and compromises. Clickbait titles saying something is WORSE THAN THE OLD ONE are frustrating and wrong.

And people upgrading phones every year are silly. All current name brand smartphones have promised at least 5 years of software updates. I think Google and Samsung are offering 7 years on some models. And Apple has always just let you use your phone until it literally will not work with new software. Which has worked out to 8 years in some cases (with a battery swap).

Phones are now appliances. For now, hardware will improve 10 to 15% from generation to generation until physics breaks. So if you want a 50% improvement, wait 5 years and you'll think your new phone is awesome. If you upgrade every year, it is going to be difficult to see the change.

I hope to be starting a little course on smartphone photography in the near future. All modern phones are capable of taking amazing pictures. And as long as you understand their limitations you can mitigate or avoid them. And that is what I plan to teach.

[fictionstudent]

Novels are not movies.

Visual media has taken on the world by storm. It’s the next big thing in the evolution of humanity, maybe. It’s quite certainly changed the way we entertain ourselves. And with the recent spread of short-form content, visual media has also become cheap, disposable, and easily accessible to the masses—perfect recipe to make a product famous.

Alright, I’ve been a little too dramatic, lol. But for real, I’m one of those who’s severely addicted to Instagram Reels. Whenever I’m done scrolling, I feel like I’ve completely wasted my time—I could have read a novel, watched a movie, or caught up with my favorite mangas. But instead of all those ways to relax—and believe me (pwlease) that I only open Insta to relax, when I’m free—I just waste my time.

I love my novels and manga, mind ya, so when I catch myself wasting precious time that I could have instead used to consume them, I cuss myself. And then I go scroll some more Insta, because I’m an absolute idiot.

Anyway, back to the topic. Visual media has absolutely taken over our lives. I won’t go into the debate of whether this is a good thing or not, but we all can agree that it’s an undeniable fact. Video is everywhere.

Because—and lemme repeat myself—it’s cheap, disposable, and easily accessible today.

And because of such exposure to video storytelling, beginning authors forget that novels are not a visual medium. Yep, here goes my rant.

***

#01 - The Problem

The problem is simple—these kids have too much access to their smartphones. And these smartphones are filled with videos, like a dustbin with its lid hanging on because of all that garbage overfilling it. (Damn, I sound like a boomer.)

And therefore, when these new authors begin writing, they can’t help but imagine a sort of movie or a TV show as their story. And that’s where the problem is—novels are not supposed to be movies.

Movies are a visual media. That means they’re composed of pictures. Images. But guess what novels are composed of?

Text. Words.

It seems pretty basic. I mean, everybody knows this distinction. But what they don't know, however, are the implications of this distinction.

Personally, I began writing with film-novels too. And those novels are bad. Genuinely. I cringe at the fact that I could even mail editors and believe they’d accept them. Good thing they never did.

What’s a film-novel, though? Well, the idea is pretty clear—it’s a novel, but imagined in the form of a film. So, it’s like a film, but in text.

It’s like you’ve written the film as a novel, instead of writing it as a screenplay or something, maybe.

But you’d ask me—why? Why is it even a mistake? Everybody has a different writing style. And to that, I’d tell you one thing—the audience. The audience is different. The media is different. You can’t expect a cinephile to read your book. And since it’s not like a professional novel, a (Googles the correct term) bibliophile certainly won't.

So, who’s gonna read your story?

No one—because it’s neither a film, nor a novel. It’s a film-novel, an illogical mix of the two.

Everyone drinks water, and everyone likes ice-cream. But you can't… No, I’m not even completing that sentence. Ew.

Anyway, you get the idea, lol.

***

#02 - Identify

So, what does a film-novel even look like?

And for that, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you,

The lean figure was standing on the other side of the railing three floors up on the ground of the school building where children below were shouting and kicking football upon each other, wearing white football jerseys. The figures, as they ran all over the ground, seemed very small as I looked at them. The goalkeeper of the right side, who was just beneath my white shoe, kicked the ball so hard that it flew in air and went directly to the other foot of mine. The other players shouted “Whoaaa!” as they saw the ball flying. But suddenly, two of them looked upwards and saw me. One of them pointed towards me and then shouted, “Hey, who’s he?!” All the other players started walking towards that boy who was in the middle of the field with their heads tilted up above on me. Another one shouted, “Hey! What’cha doin’, eh?!” My narrow eyes, which had dark spots beneath them, looked at the boys from behind my spectacles. I then moved my head a little up and saw my shiny gakuran jacket fluttered by my shiny yellow colored buttons as the wind started blowing from my left side. I was able to feel the wind dancing upon my soft skin as I closed my eyes and turned my head upwards. I took a deep breath, and then exhaled it out with my mouth. I then again took a breath. This time, when I exhaled it out with my mouth, I was able to feel the saliva of my mouth upon my lips. I tilted my head and turned towards my arm, which was trembling a little. Both of my hands were still holding the railing of the school’s rooftop. I then turned left and then looked on my other arm. “Hey! Get down!” One of the persons from beneath shouted. I turned my narrowed eyes towards the ground, the teachers, a large gang of footballers and students, and some even workers had gathered in a circle. I turned my head towards the front. I looked at a couple of brown colored and blue-green colored houses in front of me, which stood high and mighty. Beneath them was the clear blue sky.

A wall of text!

Warning: you don’t really need to read all of it. But you probably did, lol.

Anyway, it’s the opening scene from one of my first novels. And, as much as I hate to say this—it’s pretty sh*t. It has a lot of problems—no paragraph divisions, for example, as well as a lot of grammatical mistakes too. But the biggest problem with the text is that it’s just images.

Reading this text, I dare you to highlight one single sentence that might tell you anything about the narrator.

The narrator is narrating the motions, not the emotions.

(Damn, that was a dope line to say, man.)

The narrator is only telling you about the images and actions and dialogues and thoughts. Even though it’s in first-person POV, you feel distant from the narrator. And, even in third-person POV, authors are supposed to make sure the distance between the narrator and the reader remains at a minimum.

That’s how you get a film-novel—that’s filled with scene-descriptions, actions, and dialogues. There’s no narrations in it. The readers don’t know the thoughts of these characters.

***

#03 - Is it really a problem, though?

Well, you might ask me—is it really such a big problem?

Heck yeah.

The reason is pretty simple, actually—no one wants to read a film-novel. These novels are filled with only descriptions and actions—that’s too much of mental effort. these novels make their readers keep on imagining stuff, and no reader wants to do that.

Because it’s easier to look at pictures than to imagine them based on text. And that’s why your film-novels won’t work.

See, you need to understand this—novels are different than film. Sure, novels are a form of storytelling too, and they do include visual effort, such as descriptions, action, and all that. But, all that is not the main selling point of a novel.

The main selling point of a novel is the emotions. Emotions captured in words, in situations—caught in context like a butterfly in a child’s hand. Films can display emotions, but novels put those emotions into words.

Narration is what forms the greatest part of a novel. Narration is where a novel actually shines. Narration is what the readers come to read.

And, as you could guess, films don’t narrate. Consider this,

And rain made him feel like crying. He gulped down, trying to keep the lump of his throat in check. He couldn’t cry in the middle of so many other kids. They’ll ask questions, and what will he say to them, huh?

He was sorry.

For what?

For everything he did. And for everything he didn’t.

The day had just begun. It’d be long before it ends, y’know. He just couldn't wait for it to end. There was no lifting up his mood. Not until tomorrow.

How do you display this in a film? The answer—you can't. However hard you try, you can't.

Such narrations are where the art of novels shine. Such narrations are what differentiates a novel from a visual media.

***

#04 - Is it really a problem, though? (pt.ii)

All this talk constantly reminds me of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. It’s a literary achievement and really experimental in a lot of stuff that it does. For example, the novel has no dashes or apostrophes—and it’s not like these punctuation marks were not needed, they’re just not used. So, you’d find a lot of grammatical mistakes throughout the text.

And also, one thing that McCarthy ignored—and that’s relevant to the discussion we’re having—is that there’s literally zero narration. Zero.

McCarthy adopts a style that’s similar to a third-person POV, and is kinda like how I used to write when I was little—just with paragraphs and better scene-descriptions and action-descriptions. A lot better, as you can observe if you read his work.

Anyway, he didn’t have any narrative elements in his text. So the readers don’t really know what these characters are thinking or planning to do. They just know that these characters are somehow surviving.

I don’t wanna give away most of the plot of the novel, but the basic premise of the novel is that there’s a father-son duo who’s been caught in this apocalypse-type situation, and are traveling down the road to the south part of the country to escape the harsh winters that the north experiences. The novel doesn’t reveal a lot—the readers don’t know the names of these characters, the thoughts of the characters are hidden most of the time, and you don’t know what actually happened that most of humanity is dead and society is completely gone.

Now, McCarthy did it for a reason. A scarcity of punctuation marks reflects a form of scarcity in the scenery around them. Because most of it is, well, gone. Humanity is gone, and stuff is decaying. You don’t find fresh food anymore. Scavenge all you want—one day, all the canned food will expire, and there will be nothing to eat. Except fruits and veggies, that need to be grown somewhere. And nobody likes the latter, honestly.

And the scene-descriptions are so tough to read. They’re an actual pain. I have had a really hard time deciphering most of it, because the vocab is too high, and probably the sentences do not flow into each other easily. I can’t say anything about the sentences if I don’t understand them, y’know.

But, man, maybe that’s how it’s supposed to be. Maybe that’s why McCarthy wrote the descriptions in this way—to symbolize the mental stress that the characters go through as they experience this world, this form of reality that they were not meant to be in.

And maybe the novel is so lacking in narrations because the characters’ minds have gone numb. They’re forgetting language. With almost zero human interaction most of the time, they are forgetting how to think and interact in words. You lose the skills you don’t really use anymore, y’know. And these guys are so obviously depressed, so they don’t think about the world. They are used to the sad reality they live in. No point in complaining how bad the food is if that’s all you’re gonna eat all your life.

So, a scarcity of narrations tell you a lot about the story and its characters. It reflects something, it symbolizes something. The Road is a masterfully crafted piece of prose, please don’t get inspired to write in this style just because. This style won’t work on most of the stories.

Yeah, just because he wrote like this means you can too. Let me tell you, dear reader, that all of what we call rules are meant to be broken. Nothing is absolute. But here’s the catch—you can’t break the rules just because you don’t know how to apply them.

Authors need to learn these rules, because that’s what constitutes most of the written prose. That’s what forms the basics of the craft. So, learn them, understand them, and know how to use them. And then make a conscious decision not to use them.

See, these rules are like tools or weapons in your arsenal. And you need to keep your arsenal ready for everything. And then, you can decide which weapon to use, when to use it, and how to use it. Because you don’t know what sort of idea hits your head next and you’d suddenly need some of them.

***

#04 - Solution

So, how to make sure your novel actually comes off as a novel and not a film-novel? Unfortunately, the answer to that question… is that I don't know.

I know this sounds so absurd, but it is what it is. As someone who’s so recently started studying prose, I know this problem exists, but I still don’t know how to fix it. You could say I know my novels are film-novels, and I’m trying to fix it. But I, personally, am having a lot of trouble with it.

However, one way I can recommend is to write from your character’s POV, not your POV. You probably imagined your story as a film, but that’s now how you’re supposed to write it. Get into your characters’ head, see what they’re seeing, and write that.

But it’s tough. For me, at least. I always find myself going back to my old ways, and I think I need to re-write almost all of my scene-descriptions and actions because of it.

Lol, how ironic.

***

Conclusion

Yeah, and that’s it. I hope you liked this blog. Sorry I hadn’t posted in along while, I was going through a writers’ block. Stuff is happening these days, y’know.

Anyway, I’ll see you again in a couple of days, with something new. Bye-byee!

[faeriemarie]

introducing my lifa app!!

so if you don't know what the lifa app is... here is my extremely confusing explanation. if you can't understand it, i don't blame you

the basics of my app:

The app is for pc, phone, ipad, and other electronic devices (or on paper in drs without smartphones)

It will automatically appear and it can not be deleted. I know everything there is to know about Lifa and I control the app with absolute ease.

If someone were to go on a device where the Lifa app is on, they wouldn’t be able to see it or tap on it at all. Only I can see it or use it and it is 100% real and 100% effective

The lifa app doesn’t take up ANY storage

Lifa knows exactly what I mean because it is connected to my subconscious mind. It knows what I mean exactly, and all intrusive thoughts are ignored

The lifa app doesn’t need wifi

I can do ANYTHING and I mean ANYTHING with Lifa, no restrictions, and nobody ever suspects that I’m using it

Nothing I search or watch on my lifa app is traceable by anyone but me (not even cell or wifi companies)

There are ZERO CONSEQUENCES to using Lifa and what decisions I make. Nothing goes wrong, everything happens how I expect it to, excluding the intrusive thoughts which are always ignored

No one is ever suspicious of the things I manifest and it’s like I’ve always had them (clothes, food, talents, etc. has always been there)

okay now for the features!!

lifa closet

Any item of clothing I choose from the catalog, script, or import a picture of will be sent to my closet, suitcase, or wherever I want

reality shifting

I can set a time and pick a reality to shift to. I will then shift during that exact time

reality check

I can check which reality I am in with the click of a button

scripter

I can script and write anything. Inserted images are HD, and PNG images remain transparent. I can insert infinite images and change the font’s color and style itself (same features as notes/notion/google docs but neater)

desired scenario

I can specifically script to describe my desired scenario. I can set the time and date to when the scenario happens. The scenario is exactly like how I want and even 1 trillion times better

manifestor

I can insert a picture or describe what I want to manifest. I can also manifest people by typing their name and Lifa will automatically recognize who they are. I can set the time and date to when you want that thing to manifest, and it will happen 100%.

skill increaser

Choose any skill I desire to have (I can also insert it by typing “cooking”). I can choose to master any skill and it will show up immediately. I can search any skill and increase on a scale of 1-100% mastery

motherlode (sims reference lol)

I can deliver/spawn money of any currency in my chosen form. (gift cards, bank acc, cash, etc.) I can choose from coins to bills. There is no limit amount of money or times to deliver it. I can deliver it how much and how many times I want. The money is 100% legal and valid, and passes all money detectors. The money has valid and legal coding, as if it had been made in factories. It still remains perfectly legal. I can choose to spawn the money in my purse, bottom of backpack, pockets, amazon, wallet, etc. The money spawns in 5 seconds. I can deliver/spawn as much money as I desire, there is no limit (even 50 million is 100% possible). There is 0% risk of money inflation

lifa credit card

The Lifa credit card has an infinite amount of money and can never go in debt. There is an infinite amount of money in all international currencies. The card is universal and 100% valid and legal. It can be used in any ATM and online store/game (could be recognized as any official credit card like eg. visa or ae). The money has no money or usage limit, and it can be used for anything, anytime. In ATM machines it appears that the card only has 1000€/$, but in the Lifa app it will be ∞ €/$. If the card gets lost, it will automatically disappear. The same happens if the card breaks, and Lifa will spawn a new card with the same exact info.  It will come inside a little gift box (that matches the app’s color scheme I desire) wherever I want. The card’s number and code (and other infos) are up to me or the universe but it's always 100% valid. The card lasts forever. There is 0% risk of money inflation

lifa bank account

The bank account feature is connected to the credit card feature. It’s almost like a normal bank acc. I can see all mytransactions. The amount of money never changes because it stays 100% infinite. I can change my money’s currency. I can also take money out of the card in my desired currency. I can customize the card’s design and I can spawn more cards. I can easily create more bank accounts too, they will all have infinite money. There is 0% risk of money inflation

lifa paypal/venmo/cashapp/etc.

It is 100% legal anywhere. It is exactly like the real paypal, but my Lifa bank account/card is registered. I can use it in all purchases that require paypal. I can login on the real paypal website with the Lifa paypal acc. When I first use the app I get to create a Lifa paypal account. The balance shows 1000€ / $ / £ but the money amount is infinite. There is 0% risk of money inflation

food delivery

If I insert a picture of a food item or search the catalog, Lifa will recognize. When I confirm, it will be sent to my ideal location. (i can pick the location). The food will be 100% fresh and new

boredom cure

Instantly provides me with inspiration to do something that is productive and beneficial to my overall well-being

create-a-person

I can design a person’s hair, body, face, etc., script their personality and choose their traits. It is set up like scripting and has different templates I can use. I can change skin tone, skin type, undertone, hair color, hair texture, eye color, etc. I can insert any pictures and they’ll be exactly how I want. When I insert a script of the person’s personality and behaviour, Lifa will recognize it. I can also script traits and the person’s backstory. I have to fill in each’s birth info (name, age, birthday, sign, blood type, etc) to my desire.  I can also choose the relationship between the people when I’m done creating them. Then I confirm and once I shift to my dr it will all be exactly like how I wanted and even 1 trillion times better. If I’m feeling lazy, I can select to let the universe fill in the gaps, and the universe will fill them like I wanted and even better

lifa messenger

I can text with anyone in the universe that I want. It feels completely real and all conversations are remembered. It’s like having online bestie because the people I text always get along with me, always respond, and actually care about me. We can also call and video chat. I am not actually communicating with someone from my reality and instead with the universe since everyone is part of the universe. It works exactly how I want it to

natal chart

I can select which life/reality’s natal chart I want to see. Lifa offers a personalized detailed description of my chart and personality. The chart is 100% accurate. I can also select to look at anyone’s natal chart. Lifa will show a list of everyone I know. It is divided in 5 categories (friends, family, acquaintances, classmates/coworkers, celebrities). The natal chart can also show compatibility

grade changer

Automatically makes me have good grades and changed all my past grades to A. My wrong test answers morph into correct test answers

ask-me-anything

I can ask anything and get the complete and 100% right answer. The questions can vary from asking where my lost tennis shoes are to what’s the answer to number 4 on my math homework. There is no limit to what can be asked and the answer given is always exactly what I need

feature adder

I can visualize and script more features and add them to Lifa with the feature adder. Lifa will add these features in 1 second and they will be 100% effective. Lifa also knows exactly what I mean, even if I script something wrong, so there are no surprises

lifaflix

A streaming site where I can watch shows that only exist in my dr (most of the time used for fame drs so i can see all the great acting projects i have been a part of). I can also watch my drs like tv shows.

lifatube

A video site set up like YouTube where I can watch anything from my dr. Things like fan edits, compilations of dr moments, my dr tiktoks, youtube videos made by my dr self and more. I can also watch memories/anything that happens from either a 3rd person point of view or 1st person

lifa socials

My lifa app has social media accounts from all my different realities that i can flip through, post from, dm with people from those realities, and go live (i can post anything i want on these social media sites and i’m immune to anything bad happening like leaking nudes, screenshots, hacking, or any other cybercrimes/bad things). My wr self even has their own account

[nrdmssgs]

Price comforting reader

Masterlist

Comforting series: Soap comforting reader König comforting reader

Hurt/comfort, fluff

Pairing: John Price x reader

Summary: You wake up from the nightmare, understanding, this is yet another night, when you won't be able to fall asleep again.

TW: reader has a PTSD, mentions of civilian surviving the aftermath of hostilities

AN: to my friend D. I miss you.

Third night in a row. This was becoming too much. You awoke with a heartbeat throbbing in your throat, echoing somewhere in between the temples. Only your hands clutching on a pillow are keeping your body from trembling of horror. 

White stars, sharp shards of white light descended on the city in a wide arc. You expected that the rumble of a volley was about to reach you. But there was silence all around. A deafening, painful silence. 

For others this could be a nice dream: watching the fireworks from your bedroom window. But not for you, because that window, that bedroom, that house and that part of the city were no more there.

Although it was so long ago, that you've got used to your new view out of the bedroom window, these nightmares of your previous life still haunted you. It didn't happen every single night - sometimes you even had full months without bad dreams. But they always came back sooner or later. 

This time it was particularly bad. You did everything, the doctors prescripted you to do: sport, walks before bedtime, chamomile tea with mint, medication. You even managed to start having that smartphone-free hour before bed.

Ok, to be absolutely honest: John managed to get you to put your phone down a couple of hours before bed. And all the week that he stayed with you, you repeated the same ritual. In the evening, he sat on the sofa next to you and held out his open palm.

“You know the drill, love: doomscrolling ends in a minute. One way or another. You can make it easy for yourself if you cooperate.” For the last three evenings, you didn't cooperate. But Price had his ways to make you forget, you even had a smartphone in your hand just 10 minutes earlier.

So you both did everything possible to get you relaxed and tired by the end of the day. Sadly, it didn't help.

You've slept at most 10 hours in total over the past 3 days. But what made you outrageous: John barely slept too, as he was up the very next second after you whimpered in your sleep. You still didn’t understand what happened, you didn’t wake up from a nightmare fully, and his hands were already wrapped around you.

“Sh-h-h, love, you're safe, you are safe, it's just a dream. Come on, breathe for me. Yes, just like that. Very good. Nice and deep inhale, now hold it for a few seconds and an exhale. I'm right here, you are safe with me. This won't happen ever again, I'll make sure of that.”

You tried to calm down and go back to sleep. Every time, you tried so hard, but it just didn't work. You ended up too hot, worn out with an aching head, incredibly tired and crushed by guilt as you notice dark circles under John's eyes.

So when you wake up on the third night and see John still sleeping, you sneak out of the bed and sneak into the only place that seems safe to you after such a dream. You stop in the doorway between the kitchen and the hallway and slide down the wall. Then you shrink, curl up and wrap your arms around your knees.

You don't even have enough strength to cry. Your head is killing you, and visions from the nightmare still haunt you. 

Why the hell was everything dead silent in your dream? Just like here now, at this late hour.

The bed creaked a little, and you heard John's footsteps. He found you instantly and already knew what to do. He turned on the table lamp in the next room to illuminate the surrounding space a little, but not to hit the light in your eyes. Hastily returned and sank to the floor next to you.

“Which one this time?” He asks. “The white one.”

He froze for a moment. He wished his military background would never come in handy in his domestic life. At least not in this way.

“I was standing before the window like a complete idiot. I should have run, sought for a place to hide, reach the shelter… And just stood there.” You mumble, dropping your head between your arms. 

John engulfs you, cradles your limp, exhausted body and plants a kiss on your forehead.

“I`m sorry, you must have seen it for a thousand times on your… work. It must be insignificant to you John, please go back and rest. I don't want you to hate me for depriving you of sleep because of such a trifle.”

“Under no circumstance will I ever feel anything like hate, when it comes to you.” His voice is a tad husky after waking up in the middle of the night. “Those animals doing this to you, tearing your home apart, are the ones, for whom I have hate. A lot of it.”

He pulls you closer to keep you warm. “And your health, your wellbeing, is the most important thing out there. Believe me, whatever filth I've seen on a battlefield - it pales in comparison to the mere thought that you are suffering.”

He doesn't rush you off the floor, he gives you time to recover by massaging your wrists and talking softly. John knows that his deep voice has a calming effect on you.

He periodically leans closer to whisper how much he loves you and how much he appreciates every minute spent next to you. Even such a minute when you are both exhausted and sitting on the hard, cold floor.

He rejects all your offers for him to go to sleep alone.

“Go sleep knowing, that you are here in such a state? Not going to happen.”

He takes you to the couch, brings you water, and watches the first lights of the dawn with you. You tuck your face in the crook of his neck and let your worries gradually dissolve.

Maybe this is not the last bout of insomnia in your life. But from now on, you are sure, you'll always John by your side.

[morlao]

Manipulation

Fem!reader x Isaac Garcia

Summary:

You're struggeling to find a date for the summer ball

♡ ♡ ♡

When the teachers first announced the summer ball, you didn’t think it would be such a big deal to you.

School dances are never really that cool after all.

Especially with the teachers around who always find a way to destroy the mood: Either by constantly keeping an eye on the drinks to make sure nobody manages to slip some alcohol in, or by trying to make (really awkward) conversations with their students.

At least, that were your experiences in your former high school.

Maybe here in Colorado things are different, because somehow all of your friends are super excited.

And it´s really contagious!

To your own surprise - a few days later you are pretty excited, too.

One of the major topics among the students (other than which dress would be the perfect fit) is, of course, who will go together.

There are quite a few cute boys in your school and some of them are also very popular among the girls.

Of course most of the girls are all over Cole Walter, the cool guy, the bad boy.

This is going to be really interesting, especially because of the tension between him and Jackie. You can almost bet that he'll ask her, not caring if this will break both Erin's and Alex' heart.

In the meantime, you are secretly hoping for being asked by Isaac.

In school the both of you don't really cross paths, but whenever you visit Jackie, you always end up playing at least one video game with him. He just always seems to be there, whether you and Jackie hang out in the living room or grab some snacks from the kitchen. He appears out of nowhere and always jokes around with you.

While Jackie reacts really annoyed most of the times, you enjoy his company.

"Why is he always there? Katherine promised that we can have the living room this afternoon!"

Most of the time you just shrug. "I don't mind him staying. Maybe our movie choice will scare him away anyways."

Well, most of the time it didn't. No matter what kind of film you chose, Isaac stayed. To your surprise he didn't even play games on his smartphone but actually paid attention.

"That's the kind of films you like?" He asked you once after you and Jackie watched a sappy love story.

"Among other things, yes."

He seemed surprised but didn't say anything about it.

 

♡ ♡ ♡

The weeks pass by pretty fast and most of the handsome boys are already taken.

As far as you heard, Isaac doesn't have a date yet but with his good looks it's only a matter of time until he is taken, too.

You start to get really nervous, as you don't know what to do. Should you wait until he makes the first move - if he even plans on asking you - or should you take action yourself?

Do you even have the courage to ask someone out?

God, why does it have to be so complicated?

You think about asking your friends for their opinion, but first of all this would mean admitting your crush on Isaac to Jackie - and since she basically lives with him this would be very weird.

Second, all your friends were busy preparing their own dates. All they talk about are dresses, high heels and how their perfect evening at the ball would look like.

To be honest, they had pretty high expectations, but for them it was at least realistic.

Unlike you, Jackie doesn't give up that easily when it comes to your date.

"Someone will ask you, you'll see!", she smiles at you as you and your friends enter the ball gown shop. “You´ll regret it when someone asks you and you don´t have a dress. Trust me, the best ones will be taken in a few days.”

Damn, she can be really convincing and she knows it!

♡ ♡ ♡

Three days until the ball and still nobody even seems to think about asking you out.

Slowly you start to get really nervous.

Why does no one ask you?

You have never been insecure about your looks but this situation really makes you doubt. Are you that unattractive? Or is it your personality? Do you annoy people?

Your excitement for buying a beautiful dress and having a wonderful night slowly fades and turns into anxiety.

Why did you even buy a dress… was is arrogant to buy one without having a date, because you thought of course someone would ask you?

Jackie really tries her best to cheer you up, but nothing she says makes you feel better.

You curl up in her bed, hugging her pillow tight to your chest. “I´m not going to the ball… it´s embarrassing to show up alone…”

“I´m sure somebody will ask you. Maybe he´s just nervous.”

"Don't be ridiculous! There are only three days left. All the guys who don't have a date yet, are not going."

"Don't lose hope! Somebody will ask you for sure!"

Jackie and your other friends have been telling you the exact same thing for almost two weeks now.

In the beginning you were very confident and believed them, but with every day and as everyone else in your friend group got a date, you slowly start to lose hope.

And now you are convinced that nobody is gonna ask you.

“Maybe I´m just ugly.”

Jackie lies down next to you and pulls you into a comforting hug. “Y/N L/N, don´t you dare to even think that!”

For a while you stay quiet, trying to find comfort in Jackys words… until your thoughts mess with your head again.

But what if it´s true? What if you´re really ugly?

“I know it´s stupid”, you start again, repeating what you already said several times, “It´s just a ball, maybe I shouldn´t make such a big deal out of it.”

Jackie hugs you a little tighter, her chin resting on your shoulder. “It´s not stupid… I totally understand how you feel.”

Does she really? From what you know, Alex and Cole almost started a fight about who´s going to be her date. You can´t help but feel jealous off her. She has boys fighting over her and no one even thinks about asking you. It is like you are invisible.

Damn, seems like all your favorite high school movies lied! Just because you moved here at the beginning of the school year, it doesn´t make you more interesting among the boys.

But on the other hand… for Jacky the new girl fantasy is true.

“Hey, we can go together if you want”, Jacky starts another attempt and grabs your hand, pulling you to your feet.

A broad smile spreads across her face as she intertwines your fingers and whirls you around, pretending to be on the dance floor already. “We would definitely make the prettiest couple!”

You can´t help but laugh as you pretend to bow and place a quick kiss on her hand. “Mylady!”

This is again one of those moments, in which you realize how much you love Jackie. She is an amazing friend and probably the only one who always knows how to cheer you up.

With a grin she rises an eyebrow. “So we have a date?”

The smile disappears from your face as you sit back down on her bed. “No, I don´t want to crash your date with Alex.”

“Don´t worry about him, I´m sure, he´ll understand. I can go out with him another time.”

“No, it´s… it´s fine. Maybe I don´t even have time to go to the ball…”

Lies and excuses. You don´t really think about your words as you babble on about what you plan to do instead. Maybe you could call your old friends from your hometown. Maybe you could watch a movie with your siblings. Maybe… you stop mid thought.

Are you trying to convince Jacky that you´ll be just fine or are you trying to convince yourself?

You feel the tears welling up in your eyes.

Quickly you jump to your feet again. The last thing you want is to cry in front of Jacky. It would make her feel even worse. Besides, you really hated crying in front of others.

Murmuring something about having to go to the bathroom, you rush out of her room and almost bump into Lee.

“Y/N!” He sounds surprised but happy to see you. The two of you aren´t close enough that you would call him your friend, but you always enjoy talking to him whenever you see him in school or at the Walters´ house.

“Hi, Lee”, you murmur, your voice sounding way too high and on the edge of breaking. Quickly you turn away from him, trying to hide your tears, but he still seems to notice.

His smile fades. “Hey, what´s wrong?”

“It´s nothing…” You try to walk past him, but he blocks your way.

“It´s not nothing! You can tell me, you know?”

“It´s stupid… it´s just…” You sigh heavily. “It´s about the ball… nobody has asked me yet and that really messes with my head. I just don´t understand it. Do boys really hate me that much?”

You do not really expect an answer, but then you see Lee´s face. His eyes widen, as if he just came to a realization. “Em… I don´t…”

“You know what´s up!” You stare at him in disbelief. “Tell me!”

“I´m not sure if I…”

“TELL ME!”

Lee sighs heavily. “Okay, maybe I know something…”

You cross your arms in front of your chest and give him a suspicious look. “What is it? Oh come one, spit it out!”

His hesitation annoys you deeply, as you were never the calm and patient type.

Lee avoids to look you in the eye and stares at his shoes instead. “Maybe it´s just a rumor but… I heard that Isaac tells boys to not ask you to the ball.”

Your jaw drops. “He what?”

Lee couldn´t look more uncomfortable. “Well… I heard Dylan telling his friends, that he wants to ask you to the ball and... when Isaac heard that, he told him that you definitely didn´t want to go with him. He said that you were really picky when it came to boys and… that you always made fun of the boys that you rejected… saying how pathetic they are and that you are totally out of their league.”

Your heart clenches inside your chest and the feeling of betrayal rises inside you. It hurts to hear how Isaac talks about you behind your back.

You´ve always thought he was cool and the two of you always got along well, damn it, you even have a crush on him.

“Thank you, Lee, and if you excuse me now, I have to talk to your brother!” Your voice trembles with anger.

Before Lee can stop you or talk you out of it – which he desperately tries – you stomp down the stairs. “ISAAC GARCIA!”

Damn, you didn´t know you could sound so scary.

Isaac hesitantly comes out of the living room and as he sees you he immediately runs a hand through his hair. He always does that when you´re around, but you never really paid much attention to it until today.

His face freezes as he sees you angrily making your way towards him. “Y/N, what´s up?”

This question finally breaks the camel´s back.

He knows exactly what´s up! Why is he acting so innocent?

Without even considering to greet him or to answer his question, you glare at him. “I hate you!”

He looks at you in shock, his coolness falling off him like a mask. You´ve never seen him this flabbergasted before. With a deep frown, he opens his mouth, about to say something, but you don´t plan to give him the opportunity for questions and excuses.

You turn around and storm out of the room.

“Y/N!” He rushes after you and before you can reach the stairs, he grabs your wrist and forces you to turn towards him. “What´s wrong? What did I do?”

“What you did?!” You break free from his grip and step back, away from him. “You told guys not to ask me to the ball! Can you even imagine how that made me feel? What the hell is wrong with you?”

You try not to shout but the pent-up-anger makes that impossible. If his cousins are home, they definitely heard that. You also wouldn't be surprised if Jackie came downstairs to check on you. Luckily, in that moment you couldn´t care less.

Isaac clearly looks caught. He rises his hands in a defensive gesture. “Okay, you can hate me but please let me explain.”

Does he really think there was a good explanation for this messed up stuff he did? You never thought he could be so manipulative.

“I already know the reason! You´re an idiot!”

“Yes…” He avoids looking at you and stares at the floor instead. “But there´s also another reason.” Again, he runs a hand through his hair and you are surprised to see his fingers trembling. “I told the boys not to ask you, because… I wanted to ask you.”

You feel like you´ve just been hit by a train. Before you realize it, an incredulous laugh escapes your lips.

What did he just say?

You wait for him to laugh too and say it was just a joke – a mean one, but after what Lee just told you, exactly the type of joke you´d expect from him – but instead he lowers his gaze to the ground, clearly hurt by your reaction.

You freeze in your spot, anger slowly turning into confusion. “Why didn´t you just ask me then?”

Your voice sounds much softer now, almost like a whisper, but Isaac still can´t look at you.

“I wanted to but… I got nervous and…” He sighs deeply as he runs out of words to say. “I heard Steve say that he wanted to ask you and I panicked so… I told him not to do it.”

“You´re such an idiot” You barely realize the words that escape your lips.

It just doesn´t make sense! Isaac is not someone who gets nervous or jealous – at least that´s what you always thought. He is way too cool for that – or is that just him pretending?

“Yeah, because I´m in love with you.”

It takes you a few seconds to realize what he just said.

Isaac Garcia confessing his feelings for you had been your dream for almost a year now. A few weeks ago you would have been floating on clouds, but now you don't know what to answer.

Isaac steps closer, looking at you desperately. "I know I messed up but I'm really really sorry. If you want, I can talk to the boys again and tell them the truth."

"You're in love with me?" You repeat his words, still not being able to believe it.

He looks taken aback, clearly not expecting this to be your focus. "Yes, I am."

Slowly you step closer and grab his hand. "Ever since the teachers announced the ball, I was hoping you'd ask me to go with you."

His eyes widen in surprise. "Really?"

Another laugh escapes your mouth. Was he really that oblivious? "Yes! To be honest, I was pretty sure you knew about my crush on you."

"You have a crush on me?" He can't help it, his face lights up like a Christmas tree.

"Wasn't that obvious?"

"No! Damn, if I knew, I would have asked you to be my date for the ball on the very first day."

"You can ask me now." You lift your chin and look at him with a playful smile.

He clears his throat, trying to be formal and keep a straight face. "Y/N L/N, do you want to be my date for the ball?"

"I'd love to."

A huge smile on his face, he steps closer, placing his hands on your hips as he pulls you in for a kiss.

You've been waiting for this moment for so long, you can't wait to feel his lips against yours. And when your lips finally meet, it feels like a fairy tale come true.

His kiss is soft but passionate, sending a pleasant tingling sensation through your body.

His grip gets more firm, almost as if he is afraid you'd change your mind and back away.

To reassure him, you wrap your arms around him, one of your hands softly stroking his hair.

Time stands still. You don't know for sure how long the kiss lasts, but finally you let go of him slowly and look at him, shaking your head with a smile. "I love you, Isaac Garcia, but you're still an idiot!"

"I'm your idiot"

[centrally-unplanned]

This was a good article on the cultural trope of the "menhera", mentally-ill girls with a focus on self-harm that is its own aesthetic and trope. It has relatively little "academic culture studies bullshit" you have to wade through to get to the actually good information, fresh air for me!

The history of the term it outlines is a datapoint for pattern confirmation of how so much internet culture evolved from the 2000's to the modern era. Early 2000's 2ch pioneered the term self-referentially, a tag for their own identity as depressed, largely-male otaku & neets. Discussions of self-harm came up in those threads, but menhera was never used in them; it was a more general term. Then, starting in the mid-2000's, 2chan had a growing population of highly social-political, vaguely-right-coded posters, in newly founded boards like nyusoku, who started using the word for outsiders; both other online-types but also young girls as part of gender discourse. Here is was primarily pejorative; attention seeking BDP-cursed losers.

But like so many things these communities were never isolated, nor were they monocultures; plenty of women and others with different views hung out on them, discoursed about it, and so on - and the terms captured real things in the culture, so the first mover lock-in was a go. And then in the 2010's, the internet massively changed with the rise of smartphones. In Japan "everyone" was already online a little bit earlier, but still the growing ease of uploading diverse content allowed ideas that were previously inaccessible in text-heavy forums broke out via comics, photos, videos, etc - with the people best positioned to take advantage of that being those who had been around the web for a while, and knew all this weird 2ch stuff. A raft of mainly female artists started drawing autobiographical-ish comics explicitly labelling themselves as menhera; all the same so-called negative behaviors, but made cute, funny, and self-aware.

That early media proceeds to be humorous and mocking, but still "authentic" to the artists, who are depressives themselves. But after that initial earnest era, the symbols get tropified - now you can just cosplay Needy Streamer Overload and it is just a look, a costume you take on and off as you see fit. As the article is obligated to do when it quotes Hiroki Azuma, it is now part of the "database" of internet culture.

You can sub a lot of culture objects in Japan & America both into that same timeline - a mixed of social & technological forces pushing niche internet ideas into the mainstream where they are sanitized. Though here Japan's depolitical culture made this transition easier - I don't think wearing "self-harm bracelets" to give you that ~slit-wrist aesthetic~ plays quite as well in the West because of expectations that sensitive topics be treated with more seriousness. But you can learn as much from the divergence as you can from the consensus, so that just adds to the parallel for me.

[nordschleifes]

chapter one — likes y cicatrices

➝ 2024 looks to be charlie's year, both on and off the track. hoping for an even better season than the previous one, she is certain that fernando's third title is within reach. however, it also brings thoughts about which future she wants with her boyfriend.

➝ word count: 3,4k

➝ warnings: none

➝ author's note: finally, the second part of charlie and fernando's story is now available for you all. updates will be released regularly, with the next one expected in november, as i’ll be at Interlagos at the end of this month. i hope you enjoy it, and by the way, happy birthday, charlie!

As she stood in the entranceway to the Aston Martin F1 factory, Charlie Whitlam couldn’t shake the strange feeling she had — it almost felt like her first day there. She flexed her fingers, hands jammed into the pockets of her black coat, trying to keep warm in the January breeze filtering into the building’s vestibule. She bit her lip nervously, trying to tell herself there was no reason to be so nervous — she’d been with the team for three years now, that was just another day in the office. 

But she was, mostly because of the man next to her, typing something quickly on his phone before putting it in the pocket of his green jacket

— They're coming — Jimmy said, as he picked up the camera hanging around his neck — You remember what you need to do, right? ?

— Greet Fernando and walk down the corridor next to him, right? — Charlie replied flatly, her eyes glued to the factory's entrance door.

— Well, yeah, but try to make it look natural. People will notice if it looks too staged, you know? 

— I'll greet him the way I always do.

— By kissing him on the mouth?  — Jimmy said, making her snort.

After the two weeks she had spent in Oviedo with Fernando, Charlie returned to the factory only to discover that her and Fernando’s relationship had become the topic of most of the workplace gossip. Articles in tabloids and on F1-related news blogs about her and Fernando,, as well as the picture that Fernando had posted of her on Instagram, graced the screens of almost every computer and smartphone at the Technology Center. 

When she returned to work following the Christmas holiday, she noticed that her colleagues treated her in a markedly different way, especially when talking to her one-on-one, almost as if they were trying to hold back asking her about her and Fernando’s relationship.  

It was irritating, to say the least.

— What, you really think I would kiss a driver on the mouth?

— You already do, don't you? — Jimmy retorted, cocking an eyebrow.

— I mean, sure, but not in a PR video. 

—  It’s not like it would be that weird. We all knew.

Charlie shot the team’s art director a glare.

— What do you mean, ‘we all knew’?

The man smiled. 

— Okay, at least the marketing department knew.

— How on Earth would you have known? 

— Because we saw all the photos I took of the two of you  last year. In fact, I saved some really great ones for TikTok…

— You’re not going to turn my relationship into material for a TikTok, or whatever. — Charlie said, bluntly — I'm here to win races, not to be the subject of some F1 romance story… I’m not some lovelorn idiot. 

— Sorry, I just see what the camera sees, Charlie — he said, causing Charlie to glare at him  — And there's no point in looking at me like that, it's true! You two look like two idiots in love…

Charlie clenched her jaw and turned her attention back to the door, feeling a bit uncomfortable. It wasn't like she wasn’t in love with Fernando — it was quite the opposite — but the way her coworkers’ view of her had shifted made her uncomfortable.  It was as if the person she was — the professional, the engineer — before her and Fernando’s relationship went public had been erased, leaving only Fernando Alonso’s Girlfriend in her place..

Simply being known as someone else’s girlfriend wasn’t in her plans.

— They’re here — Jimmy said, as a green Aston Martin DBX707 pulled into the drive at the entrance. He fiddled with one of the settings on his camera — Remember, make it look natural, okay?  

As she watched the passenger-side door of the SUV open, Charlie felt her stomach jump when she saw Fernando climb out. He said something to the driver as he got out, and had a bright smile on his face. It was the same smile he had before he kissed her that morning as they woke up in bed together at her flat.

As he passed into the entryway, Fernando walked towards her as if there was a gravitational pull between them. Charlie took her hands out of her pockets, preparing to greet him professionally, yet casually, as Jimmy instructed, but as he drew closer, Charlie felt like she was suddenly stuck, her mind blanking on what she was supposed to do. It was clear the driver felt the same way.

— Hi — Fernando said softly, after a few seconds.

— Hey.

There were a few more beats of silence, but it wasn’t uncomfortable, quite the opposite. It was familiar, almost as if they were alone, her eyes saying everything her mouth couldn't say.

"You look stunning today".

“I wish I could have stayed with you in bed longer this morning.”

"I love you".

— That’s it? — Jimmy asked.

They both glanced at him, clearly confused.

— What do you mean? — Fernando asked

— Is this the way you greet each other?

Charlie looked at Fernando hesitantly. It was obvious they didn't greet each other like that, especially when they were alone. When Fernando arrived in England two days earlier, after nearly three weeks away from her, she had given him a… Much warmer welcome.

— Well, no — Fernando admitted — Last time, she was wearing something much more… Interesting.

Charlie’s eyes widened, and she playfully punched him in the arm.

— Fer!

— What? I didn’t lie.

— Jimmy doesn't need to know that…

— Not even that we didn’t go to the bedroom…

— No — Charlie said abruptly — That’s something else he doesn't need to know.

Jimmy couldn’t hold in his giggling, which made her a little uncomfortable. Charlie hated being seen as a joke. She didn’t mind joking around with her coworkers, but she’d always been a bit sensitive to being the butt of the joke at work, given that she was almost always the only woman on her team.

However, she swallowed down her discomfort. There was no sense in making a fuss, not right now.

— Okay, if we can't greet each other the usual way, how do you prefer, Jimmy? — Fernando asked, as he took Charlie’s hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, as if he sensed that she could use some support. 

— Well, certainly not the way you just did — he said, looking at his camera . Then, he looked up at the two of them — Seriously, that was weird. I can’t use any of that. 

— Are you sure? — Charlie asked

— Absolutely. Now let's try this again and, please, try to be natural.

It took three more takes to get something that was convincing without being too wooden.  During the second take, Charlie stretched her hand towards Fernando, intending to shake his hand, but instead, he proceeded to envelop her in a hug. When Jimmy finally declared that he was satisfied with the footage he’d gotten, Fernando couldn’t resist the urge to give Charlie a kiss to her temple.

They walked side-by-side through the corridors of the factory toward Charlie’s office in Engineering. Mercifully, Fernando’s presence caused a bit of a buzz in the office, as her coworkers gathered around to talk to him, having not seen the driver in a few months.  

 Charlie, grateful for the distraction, sat in her cubicle, not paying attention to Fernando or the interested questions from her coworkers. She still had a job to do, after all.

She was still lost in her own thoughts as sat at her desk, her eyes eventually finding the photo of her with her grandfather, Jamie, both of them smiling with the disassembled engine on the kitchen table. Charlie had always loved that photo, because of how neatly it summed her up as a person. She loved cars and engines, a love given to her by one of her grandparents, who both treated her as someone worthy of love and affection, not a mistake or a burden.

— Oh, there’s nothing in here with me — Fernando said, jolting her thoughts back to the present.

— What?

— There’s no photos of us.. Not even on your computer.

Charlie felt her cheeks heat up as she realized that the picture of the car on her computer’s desktop wallpaper was the AMR-22, with the number 5 on its nose. She hadn't even thought about changing it, which was all the better, given that she would like to keep her relationship as private as possible.

— I didn't want to give the others a reason to talk — she murmured.

— Well, now that they're talking anyway, I think we can leave discretion aside, yes? — Fernando said, taking a pen and a green Post-It pad from her desk. He smiled as he scribbled a message on the top sheet, before peeling it up and sticking it next to the photo of her and Jamie.

The handwriting was clumsy, a little slanted, but the words were clear, the meaning filling Charlie's chest with something warm and overwhelming.

“Te quiero, tu Fer”.

— Better this way, right? — he asked, with a small smile.

— Much better — Charlie replied.

They chatted a little more before Fernando announced that he was going to the simulator.

— Good. Once you get to grips with the new car, we need all the feedback you can give us.

— Do you want a full essay, or just a summary? — he asked, sarcastically

— On a Power Point — Charlie replied. It made him laugh, which made her heart feel quivery.

— Do you think I'm George, to do that?

— Well, you two are close, I wouldn’t be surprised if he taught you how to make them — she said, grinning.

Fernando playfully squeezed her shoulder in response.

— Unfortunately, I haven't had my class with him yet.

— What a shame…

— But I'll make something, if that's what you want.

— Perfect — Charlie said, as Fernando gave her a delicate kiss on the forehead before he turned and headed towards the hallway that led to the simulator, Jimmy following diligently behind.

Not for the first time, she wondered how Fernando — or any of the drivers, really — managed to put up with the madness of having attention on them constantly. Even at their office there was a microphone or camera trained on him at all times.  Charlie had asked him about it once, mostly wondering how she would deal with the reflected limelight she would get, but he simply said that “he was already used to it” and that she “shouldn’t worry about it”.

“Why shouldn’t I worry, Fer?”, she thought, clenching her jaw. 

The first time that Charlie got an idea of what Fernando’s day to day life was like was  shortly after he posted the first photo of them on his Instagram. In the comments of the post,he saw hundreds of comments saying that she wasn't as pretty as the other women he had dated, that she was just an “amigaALO” or worse, that they should have a “mini Nano” soon. 

The idea sent a shiver through her body.

She was thankful for the foresight she had to make her profile private, and that would not be changing any time soon.

— So, it looks like you didn’t die? — someone asked, the tone of their voice joking and light. Turning her head, Charlie found Raúl looking at her, leaning against her desk.

— Not yet, if that was your expectation.

— Maybe not an expectation, but I thought there might be a chance — the performance engineer said, crossing his arms — See, with you out of the picture, I might be able to step into race engineering.

— I'm sorry to frustrate your plans — she said, giggling.

— Although, if there's anyone who can deal with Fernando, it's you — Raúl smiled.

— You think so?

— Definitely, especially now that you've become Mrs. Alonso...

Charlie rolled her eyes, shaking her head.

— Not Mrs. Alonso…

— Not yet, Charlie — Raúl said — But it's a matter of time...

— If you say so — she said, turning her attention to her computer screen to glance at her email inbox. Then, Charlie looked back at her colleague — Now, can we talk about work?

— Of course… Mrs. Alonso.

The rest of the day was dedicated to correlating all of the data from aerodynamics and from simulator sessions done by Felipe and Stoffel earlier on in the break. It wasn't a simple task, especially when Fernando was starting to adapt to the new car, with a long simulator session that afternoon. The data was all over the place, and everything was still very unpredictable. 

It was already dark outside in Silverstone by the time Charlie decided she couldn’t focus any more and it was time to go home for the evening. . She thought about asking Fernando if he wanted to go with her, but spotted him recording something on his phone next to Jimmy, so she decided to let him know via WhatsApp that she would be waiting for him back at home.

The drive to Northampton was uneventful, with traffic much calmer than at other times of the year. However, unlike the motorway, Charlie felt like there was a miles-long traffic jam in her mind, complete with cars honking and drivers shouting things at each other, all because of what Raúl said. The Instagram comments were one thing - she didn’t know those people, after all, but she worked with Raúl's every day.

Charlie expected it when she and Fernando decided to start dating, as suddenly as all of it came along — she had anticipated being the subject of scrutiny from people around the world, across news sites and social media, but knowing that she was under similar scrutiny from the people she saw every day was worse. 

She knew Raúl probably didn’t mean anything by it, but it didn’t make it any less terrifying — that there were so many people watching them, full of expectations, wondering if she would be the woman that would finally make Fernando Alonso settle down and put a ring back on his finger, if he would finally trade his steering wheel for pushing a stroller. It was even deeper than that, she’d seen the news articles about him and his former relationships — soon, she’d see questions about whether or not she would be the one to give Spain the next Alonso to stand on the top step of a Formula 1 podium. 

“Is this how Diana felt?”, wondered.

As she stepped into her flat, Charlie kicked off her shoes and dropped her bag haphazardly on the sideboard in the entryway, sinking into her sofa with a sigh.

The funny thing about thinking about all that was that Fernando had never talked about marriage or children, not even before they started dating. It probably wasn't even something he was considering at that moment or in the near future or even with her. 

Charlie had long decided that she was not fit to be a wife or mother, especially given her history with her own mother. She never had any desire to have children. She was sure it would eventually come up and she and Fernando would have to talk about it, but she didn’t know how he would react. He’d made comments to the media in the past about being a father, and he was married a long time ago, but… Perhaps keeping those ideas away from them would have taken the driver a while to realize that she wasn't the person his fans expected her to be.

Maybe keeping those ideas away would keep the end at bay.

Charlie smiled into the darkness of her sitting room as she felt a lone tear run down her face. She felt pathetic, crying over possibilities and scenarios that only existed inside of her head, even more so to get upset about what Fernando’s fans would think of her. After all, Fernando was not in a relationship with his fans, and it shouldn’t matter what they think. But, at that moment, she felt crushed by expectations that were both known and unknown to her.

Running a hand over her cheek, she took a deep breath, trying to push down the lump that was tightening in her throat. Inside her own head, Charlie could hear Hannah, her therapist, telling her that she needed to keep her focus on what was real in the here and now, not on some imaginary ring or a baby in her arms. What was real was that they loved each other.

“And that’s enough for me”, Charlie thought to herself.

She was putting the finishing touches on dinner when Fernando finally arrived at her flat.

— Nena? — he called from the doorway.

— Kitchen.

A few seconds later, he appeared at the kitchen doorway a wide smile on his face, kissing Charlie on the cheek as he approached. 

— Good evening to you too — she laughed, as she felt his arms wrap around her waist.

— How are you? — Fernando whispered in her ear. She felt the bristles of his beard brush the shell of her ear, sending electric chills down her spine.

— Good, and you?

— Better now with you here.

The sentence filled her belly with butterflies.

— How was it in the simulator? — Charlie asked, trying to ignore the way his beard scratched her skin as he placed delicate kisses on the crook of her neck.

— Very good. I think we have a car to compete for the championship.

She dropped the spoon she was holding in the sink, turning to Fernando. 

— Really? You think the car is competitive? I spent all day working with the data and it felt like it was all over the place… Do you really think we can compete?

— I do. And we will win, nena.

She grinned, feeling like she was much more at ease as she plated up the pasta she was making. She asked Fernando if he wanted dinner, and he accepted, following her out to the dining table. 

However, as she went to put the plate down, she frowned, spotting a large black bag with a red-and-white Bell logo on it. The size and shape indicated that there was a helmet inside. 

— Fernando, how many times do I need to tell you that you can't keep putting your things on the dinner table? — she asked, as she turned toward the kitchen, where he was rummaging through a shelf for parmesan cheese. 

However, upon seeing the source of her irritation, he simply responded with a grin.

— I put it there because I didn't want to forget to show you — Fernando replied, leaving the cabinet open and walking to the table.

— Show me what?

— This — he said as he unzipped the bag theatrically presenting its contents to her. 

The helmet was the same design that he had almost always had, with red, yellow, and blue stripes — the colors of Spain’s flag and the blue of the Asturian flag — the sponsors' names followed the lines, forming a cohesive design. 

— Your helmet?

— The new one, yes — Fernando smiled — I asked them to leave it at the factory for the photo shoots, but I wanted to show it to you first.

She glanced at it for a few seconds, puzzled.

— But it’s the same as last year.

Fernando looked surprised, but his expression gave way to an almost sheepish blush

— Well, yeah, much of the design remains the same, but I added an important detail.

— You did?

He took the helmet from her, turning it over in his hands so that the right side was facing Charlie. She noticed the new addition right away, next to the attachment point for his HANS device. The spot normally occupied by a small cross now had a familiar-looking red rose.

— A heraldic rose? — she stammered.

— The rose of Lancaster, more specifically. It's on the coat of arms of Northamptonshire, in the same way that the Cruz de la Victoria is on the coat of arms of Asturias.

— Why?

— Because I wanted to have something of yours with me in the car at all times. And you know that you are my rose, don’t you?

— Full of thorns?

— Beautiful, Charlie — he corrected her — And with some thorns, but it's not like I'm afraid of them.

The feeling growing inside her was confusing and overwhelming. It was stronger and scarier than anything she had ever experienced in her life, but at the same time, it felt good. So good that she hugged him tightly, ignoring the helmet that had been left between them.

— Thank you, my dear — she whispered.

— I have to thank you, baby.

— For what?

— For making me dream again when I thought I didn’t need to anymore  — Fernando replied.

— Does that mean you dream now?

— Yes. And my biggest dream now is to have you with me forever, Charlie.

Even though she smiled at him, the sentence left her with a bitter taste in her mouth.

“Forever is too long, Fer”, she thought.

[majestic-miko]

Drabble Challenge: Followers send a number to your ask and you write a drabble using that sentence/prompt in your piece. Try to keep up! Expect a TON of requests!

actually no one asked for this but if u feel like it, send me a number. ^^ barely edited btw

113: I prefer blondes

Modern AU. Rated G

Summary: your husband finds out you have a boy best friend.

Erwin x GN!reader

Words: 1180

your vibrating ringtone going off in the middle of the night was the sound that pulled you out of your peaceful night sleep, and - although Erwin started to stir next to you - you were the one who let out a grunt, half-awake as you felt around to find the device on your nightstand in the dark. you squinted, your eyes struggling to adjust to the overwhelming light, urging your sleepiness away so you could decipher on your smartphone who called you at such an unruly hour- of course without forgetting beforehand to hold the volume down button until that damn ringtone was muted.

as to not disturb your husband, you decided it best to answer in another room when you recognized the familiar name. You slid out of your shared-bedroom, tiptoeing as silently as possible to the adjacent home office.

“hi Moblit! what's up?” you asked, scrambling in hopes to cover up your groggy voice.

a relieved whisper of a sentence of gratitude to the Lord that you answered was audible on the other end of the line at your question. 

“i’m here now. Is everything alright?” 

“yeah, i mean- no. actually…”

you couldn’t help but notice how his tone was feeble but tinted with alarm. something was clearly the matter and you grew more concerned for him.

“calm down, bro. take a deep breath and tell me what’s wrong?”

“that’s the thing! i tried that earlier and it hurts like hell.” 

okay, that sounds bad.

“shit! where does it hurt? ”

“on my lower right abdomen like I’m a hundred percent sure this is appendicitis at this point.” 

“how long has this been going on?” 

“almost a week…”

“...”

“ but before you say anything, it has been mostly bearable-” he emphasized, sensing with your reaction (or lack of) that you were freaking out, “It was not until today that I had to rely on painkillers.”

“you should not have dismissed the obvious warning signs oh my god”, you scolded him as you rubbed your eyes. “have you already called an ambulance? you need to go to the hospital right now, bro.”

“since the pain won't allow me to sleep, I guess you’re right."

"no shit Sherlock sure i'm right"

"to answer your question" he pursued, ignoring your whining. "i haven’t yet. I’ve thought about it but since I have to pack my stuff for my stay before the emergency services come here, I don’t think I can pull this off. I can barely move off the living-room, and would rather avoid random strangers touching my belongings.”

“fair point.”

you took a deep breath, attempting to gather your thoughts and make sense of the situation.

"alright, stay on the line, then. if anything happens to you, at least I’ll know. Where do you live by the way?"

reaching for a post-it and a pen on the table, you scribbled the address he gave.

"noted! I’ll be there with my husband, okay? I don't think I’ll be able to carry you on my own if needed."

you were also a scary ass driver but that detail was irrelevant for now.

"sure, no problem! call me when you’re here."

"of course. hang in there, bro!"

********

you didn’t want to wake up your husband.

how could you find it in yourself to interrupt his beauty sleep in the first place? you knew of his gigantic workload everyday and the way he always came back home utterly exhausted. the way he would slump against the sofa as you massaged his upper back, fixing the muscle knots in between his shoulders. if anyone could deserve much more needed rest, it was certainly Erwin and you found yourself admiring the beautiful sight of him, how vulnerable and relaxed he looked, his mouth slightly ajar in all his sleepy state.

and yet, you  found yourself rubbing his chest ever so softly, whispering your words to him as gently as possible

“babe?”

“mh-” he rubbed his eyes, trying to ward off sleep. Damn he looked so cute and you were having such a hard time not kissing him right now no matter how many times you’d wake up to this sight. “what is it?”

“sorry for bothering you darling but this is an emergency. Can you help me drive a friend to the hospital?”

Erwin let out a yawn and sat up, his eyelids still quite heavy, showing how he was still not entirely awake.You granted him some time to process the information before he answered.

"um- yes, of course."

“you’re the best”

the ride was silent as the vehicle left the driveway since none of you had the energy to do the talking so late at night. Erwin had helped Moblit get in the car while you’d gone to gather his belongings in a bag according to a list he had jotted down on a piece of paper. the three of you eventually reached the hospital and your friend got admitted in the emergency room as fast as possible.

a few moments later, a medic approached you and Erwin in the waiting room, confirming your friend’s appendicitis diagnosis and announcing that he would have to undergo an appendicectomy in a few minutes. You thanked him for the info and soon enough, you found yourself laying your head on Erwin’s shoulder after the both of you agreed to stay until you were sure that the surgery went well.

“i hope everything turns out fine for him.”

“don't worry! nothing will go wrong.”

he caressed your hair softly in reassurance for a while before speaking again.

“you know i actually thought it was Petra who needed our help earlier… i never went to her house before, which is the reason why i assumed so and then instead I find myself face-to-face with an unfamiliar man.”

you chuckled as you took in the mistake. You were a loner by nature so it was common knowledge that the only potential best friend you could refer to was Petra, who you seemed to get along pretty well with during your uni years.

“yeah.. sorry about that. Moblit is a close childhood friend. we lived in the same hometown and have known each other since we were like four or five but life led us to different paths after high school so it’s no surprise that you never met him before. he recently found a job here and we kinda got back in touch I guess… ”

"not in inappropriate ways, i hope."

"..."

“and here i thought i was your only boy best friend”, he pouted.

“am i sensing jealousy in the air?” You  pinched his nose playfully.

“Please stop.”

“love, he’s just a friend…”

“whom you’ve known longer than we’ve been married. “

“he's also tall and handsome.”

“see that. you’re proving my point.”

“nahh, I prefer blondes. thick eyebrows and chiseled cheekbones are also a plus. no… actually you know what? i prefer them even more when they belong to my husband you know- a certain Erwin Smith.”

A satisfied grin appeared on his face as he wrapped and arm around you and pulled you even closer to him.

“well, that's my luck then. i seem to fit the criteria.”

[genericpuff]

on the closure of MochaJump, and why we're our own worst enemies in this industry.

"MochaJump? What was that?" is probably your first question, and I'm gonna simply respond with, "Exactly."

MochaJump was a small startup platform made by /u/nunojay2 and a second site engineer (whose name I am not informed of) on reddit. It wasn't anything extraordinary, just a startup site that aimed to offer a more viable alternative to Webtoons and Tapas, with a focus on offering equal visibility to creators, focused recommendation algorithms, loosened restrictions on NSFW content, and bigger cuts for creators on their generated revenue.

Of course, such promises are a tall order, but the creator did their best to host regular discussions with creators in art and webtoon communities to get feedback on what creators really wanted out of their platforms, and they researched what they would need to make in order to keep the site afloat (it came out pretty low at $2 per user per month). Hopes were high and the site launched with a small but eager userbase.

It stayed small. The site shut down in November 2022, just 6 months after launching in May 2022.

Now, I'm not gonna sit here on some soapbox and blame anyone for the site closing down. I unfortunately didn't get much chance to use the site myself so there's surely more I could have done on my own part to help it gain traction. But this is a regular occurrence for start-ups like this, especially in an industry that's as notoriously unprofitable as webcomics. We've seen titans such as SmackJeeves and Inkblazers fall, and MochaJump was merely an infant by comparison.

But it makes me think of how we view and treat these startups as a whole. How we as readers and creators alike have become so trained to exclusively use corporate platforms like Webtoons and Tapas on the promise of "bigger gains". Unlike these bigger companies, platforms like MochaJump depend on building a strong userbase as quickly as possible, and need to find ways to generate revenue to keep things running, otherwise it's only a matter of time before they close down. They don't have a massive conglomerate like Naver or Kakao to pad their pockets through their failures. They don't have the money or reach to inject themselves into society through bus terminal ads and convention sponsorships. They don't have the investors to sink money into their platform until it becomes profitable in return.

So we don't use them. Readers don't use them because we don't see the point in using a platform that has no content... and thus creators don't use them because we don't see the point in publishing our content on a platform with no userbase. Creators seek a place that's "tight knit" and "easy to get seen", but will only post to places that come pre-loaded with massive audiences; because it's not enough anymore to have a couple hundred followers, we're in 2023 now, in the year of consumer bloat, where we expect to now pull in thousands if not millions to be considered a "success". And readers seek a place that offers high-quality high-amount content at the tip of their fingertips, but don't want to pay for the access to these works, and in the case of apps like WT, have given up in trying to support these creators through the platforms themselves because they know that those artists they want to support will likely never see a dime.

The fact of this problem is simple, yet many people seem to ignore it - we cannot expect to have a platform that is tight knit, profitable, and sustainable. These places do not exist, not so long as we continue to raise the bar on what makes a "successful" subscriber count, not so long as we continue to patronize platforms that exploit their artists and writers, and not so long as we keep chasing the dragon of "what these websites used to be". These platforms never used to 'be' anything, they merely existed in one point of time that is now long gone, when owning a smartphone was a luxury and not a need, when online video content wasn't being tethered together by ads, and when the Internet wasn't owned and entirely managed by the same three corporations, the likes of which we haven't seen since cable TV.

Platforms like Tapas and Webtoons are - besides unsustainable - unable to exist and profit in the way they do without undercutting someone along the way. Whether it's underpaying their creators, undercutting their communities, or underexposing the works that have been buried, someone will get the shit hand in the deal and that someone is usually ALWAYS someone who will rarely ever stand to gain anything in the long run from using these platforms despite their issues. The 1% got theirs, and the 10% are barely getting by, while the remaining 89% are pushing onwards, because they have faith in the systemic online enshittification that demands conformity to a single formula for "success".

We are our own worst enemies in this industry. Webcomics are one of the few online mediums that still truly belong to the people - anyone can make them, anyone can find joy in them, but we're letting platforms like Webtoons and Tapas and all the other massive corporate apps rob us of that joy and accessibility in the pursuit of "success" and profiting. Webtoons was never the sole way to profit off this medium and yet I still see people every day who underestimate the existence of legitimate publishing houses and self-publishing, who think that publishing on Webtoons and landing an Originals deal is the only way to find success in this industry. This is meant to be the era of creators, of self-starting and self-actualization, and yet we're still handing all of that control over to corporations that only seek to exploit our art, bodies, and labor, while convincing ourselves that this will somehow all be worth it. We stick with Webtoons, despite the numerous controversies it's been involved in and the lack of support it's given even its own hired creators. We stick with Tapas, despite the undercutting of its most core components such as its community and the outlier genres it used to be known for hosting. We find new ways to justify using platforms that are steadily going downhill - Patreon, Twitter/X, Youtube, Instagram, Facebook - because we've been convinced that these are the routes to success, so if we acknowledge their failures, then "success" can no longer exist.

Because we need to pay rent. Because we need to eat. Because we need to survive. Because it's a lot more complicated than just "stepping away". Because the startups just don't have any of the surface level potential for us to immediately identify and get on board with, so we don't give them a chance.

I realize this post got very existential and depressing. I've been creating comics for well over a decade now, largely unnoticed, and I've fallen victim to these same limiting mindsets that we have to stick to one way, one "formula" for success - a formula that changes with the wind and only works for those who get in on the ground floor. It's been slowly killing me from the very beginning, robbing me of my joy to create, of my reason to even do this in the first place - to tell and share stories with others, to express myself creatively, to live my life surrounded by art and stories and creations made by and for others. It's made me tired and miserable, and I can tell it's done the same to those who have shared that boat with me.

But there's one silver lining I can always be sure of, and it's one I was reminded of after realizing I was still in the MochaJump Discord, with one announcement post that I hadn't yet read.

Webcomics are one of the few online mediums that still truly belong to the people. Corporations are trying their hardest to take that power away. Let's not continue to let them.

If you want to help sustain, patronize, and contribute to the growth of sites that are still being operated by small teams (or even one man armies), please, consider checking out the following websites, some of which serve as platforms or publishers, others which operate as link directories for independent sites run by creators.

ComicFury GlobalComix TopWebcomics The Webcomic List The Webcomic Library Hiveworks SpiderForest SmackJeeves Archive Inkblot.art And whoever wants to use the GitHub source code used for MochaJump (RIP)

Let's do our part to decentralize webcomics again. We may not be able to leave the platforms that weakly sustain us, but we can still support those that strengthen and support us.

[emilygreen2994]

Effortless Cooking Unleashed: Discover the Midea Dual Air Fryer

In the world of modern kitchen appliances, the Midea Dual Air Fryer stands out as a revolutionary product designed to make cooking easier and healthier. But what exactly sets this air fryer apart from the rest? Let's dive deep into its features, benefits, and why it might be the perfect addition to your kitchen.

What is the Midea Dual Air Fryer?

The Midea Dual Air Fryer is a state-of-the-art kitchen appliance that uses rapid air technology to cook food quickly and evenly. Unlike traditional frying methods, it requires little to no oil, making it a healthier option for those who love fried foods but are conscious about their health.

Key Features of the Midea Dual Air Fryer

Dual Baskets: The Midea Dual Air Fryer comes with two separate baskets, allowing you to cook two different dishes simultaneously without any flavor crossover.

Multiple Cooking Functions: This air fryer is not just for frying. It offers a variety of cooking functions, including baking, roasting, and grilling, making it a versatile addition to any kitchen.

Smart Connectivity: With built-in Wi-Fi, you can control the air fryer remotely using your smartphone. This feature is perfect for busy individuals who want to start cooking while on their way home.

Pre-set Recipes: The Midea Dual Air Fryer comes with pre-set recipes that make cooking a breeze. Simply select the recipe, and the air fryer will adjust the temperature and cooking time accordingly.

Benefits of Using the Midea Dual Air Fryer

Why should you consider adding the Midea Dual Air Fryer to your kitchen? Here are some compelling reasons:

Healthier Cooking: Since it requires little to no oil, the Midea Dual Air Fryer helps reduce the fat content in your meals, making them healthier.

Time-Saving: The dual basket feature allows you to cook two dishes at once, saving you time and effort.

Convenience: With smart connectivity and pre-set recipes, cooking has never been easier. You can start cooking with just a few taps on your smartphone.

Versatility: Whether you want to fry, bake, roast, or grill, the Midea Dual Air Fryer has you covered.

How to Use the Midea Dual Air Fryer

Using the Midea Dual Air Fryer is straightforward. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

Preheat the Air Fryer: Preheat the air fryer by selecting the preheat function. This ensures that your food cooks evenly.

Prepare Your Ingredients: While the air fryer is preheating, prepare your ingredients. You can marinate your meat, chop your vegetables, or season your fries.

Place Ingredients in the Baskets: Place your ingredients in the dual baskets. Make sure not to overcrowd them to ensure even cooking.

Select the Cooking Function: Choose the appropriate cooking function based on what you’re cooking. You can select from frying, baking, roasting, or grilling.

Monitor the Cooking Process: You can monitor the cooking process through the air fryer’s display or via the smartphone app.

Serve and Enjoy: Once the cooking is done, carefully remove the baskets, serve your delicious meal, and enjoy!

Customer Reviews

"The Midea Dual Air Fryer has completely transformed my cooking experience. I love the dual basket feature, which allows me to cook a main dish and a side dish at the same time. The smart connectivity is a game-changer, making it so convenient to start cooking even when I'm not in the kitchen." - Jane Doe

"I was skeptical about air fryers, but the Midea Dual Air Fryer exceeded my expectations. It's incredibly versatile and easy to use. Plus, my meals are much healthier now since I don't need to use as much oil." - John Smith

Comparison with Other Air Fryers

How does the Midea Dual Air Fryer compare to other air fryers on the market? Here are some key points:

Dual Baskets: Unlike many other air fryers that come with a single basket, the Midea Dual Air Fryer offers dual baskets for simultaneous cooking.

Smart Connectivity: While some air fryers offer basic digital controls, the Midea Dual Air Fryer takes it a step further with smart connectivity, allowing remote control via a smartphone app.

Versatility: The Midea Dual Air Fryer’s multiple cooking functions make it more versatile compared to other air fryers that may only offer basic frying capabilities.

Where to Buy the Midea Dual Air Fryer

Interested in purchasing the Midea Dual Air Fryer? You can find it on Amazon. With its impressive features and benefits, it’s a worthwhile investment for any kitchen.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Midea Dual Air Fryer is a versatile, convenient, and healthier cooking solution that stands out in the market. Whether you’re a busy professional or a home cook looking to simplify your cooking process, this air fryer is designed to meet your needs. With its dual baskets, multiple cooking functions, and smart connectivity, the Midea Dual Air Fryer is a game-changer in the kitchen.

For more information and to make a purchase, visit the product page on Amazon.

Additional Resources

If you're interested in other innovative kitchen appliances, you might want to check out the Toshiba Small Rice Cooker. It offers a range of cooking functions and features designed for convenience and versatility.

[sommerflue-22]

Little Things They Do... (Pt. 2)

Little things they do to show you they love you

Read the other parts: Part 1 // Part 3

Featuring: Hange Zoe, Erwin Smith, Levi Ackerman, Onyankopon, Yelena, Nicolo

Warning: Modern setting, gn!Hange

Word Count: 650

Author Note

Hi, this is another version of "Little Things They Do"! I've linked the first part above for you to read. Here is the song I listened to while writing this. These actions can be perceived platonically or romantically, whatever suits you. Let me know if you want me to write for other characters as well!

Hange

Not everyone can appreciate Hange the way they are, so enthusiastic in certain subjects to the point where they can explain stuff that can't be found in Wikipedia. Having you around them, someone who appreciates them and supports them in whatever they do, is something that Hange never takes for granted. Whenever you both are having a conversation, Hange likes to drop a few 'fun facts' or trivial knowledges they've attained in their free time. They make it sound amusing as well, like that one line from a Philomena Cunk episode "The Egyptians believed that the most important thing you could do in your life was die."

Erwin

Erwin most likely pays close attention to small details such as how your necktie is crooked, or a tiny splatter of ketchup in your cheek after you ate your food. He will fix it for you every time. Expect him to stop you from rushing somewhere when you're already late, just for him to fix your hair a little bit. Also the constant reminder for you to tie your shoes because somehow they're always undone. He's just afraid that you'll trip over your own feet. It's not like you're that clumsy and untidy, he just cares about you a lot.

Levi

Levi is the cleanest and tidiest person you've ever met in your entire life, but he just lets you do things that usually irks him out. Whenever you come over to his place, he'll let you leave your dirty plate or cup in the sink. He'll wash it for you. He let you touch his TV remote even though your fingers are greasy from your snack. He'll wipe it later. He let you work/do your assignments in his living room, your papers and miscellaneous stuff scattered around the place. He'll help you pick them up later. It's his way to repay your kindness because amongst his closest circle, you deal with his sad and gloomy side the most.

Onyankopon

Onyankopon will happily help you take aesthetic pictures for your social media, anytime, anywhere, even if it's really crowded. He'll go crouching down, tilting his body, all out to get the best pictures. He knows how to change the setting, the ISO and all, of both digital cameras and smartphones. He will tell you where to stand and which way to face, working with the light to complement your figure. He takes it seriously. It's rare to find someone who is willing to take pictures for you, let alone one who is really good at it.

Yelena

Most of the time Yelena is calm and composed, which is why she kind of insisted in speaking on your behalf. No matter if you both are in a restaurant, in a bar, or at the dentist, she will speak for you. She just noticed a long time ago how you often have a hard time explaining things, something that is really easy for her to do. At first she said it's because you take too long when ordering food, or your voice was shaking as you talk to strangers it bothers her. However, as the time goes by, you realize it's her way to take care of you. You don't have to worry when you're out with Yelena, she will handle everything.

Nicolo

You and Nicolo eat together, like, almost in every chance you both get. Be it a fancy dinner, or snacking together while watching a movie at home, you both love to share your food. For some reason, whenever you have to open a packaging, Nicolo will grab it and open it for you. Once he teared the packaging open, he'll give it back to you. Nicolo is also a big "do you wanna try my food" guy. He will cut half of his steak and move it to your plate. He will break a KitKat in two and share a half of it with you.

I've never written anything about Onyankopon, Yelena, and Nicolo but apparently it was fun. I think I have a crush on Yelena now idk. I hope you like it as well! Lemme know what you think :3

[autumngracy]

Accidentally posted an essay in a Youtube comment, so I figured I may as well post it here too.

On the question of why gaming feels different when you're an adult, and why it's so hard to find a game you actually LIKE anymore:

Here's the problem: everyone is totally burned out these days mentally, physically and emotionally. The economy is in shambles; we have little time to ourselves anymore; smartphones and the internet are all demanding our time in way they didn't used to; we feel obliged to know about and have an opinion about everything; we have trouble deriving satisfaction from things anymore; we doomscroll until our eyes hurt, seeking god knows what but never finding any satisfaction ...

We don't get enough sleep; it feels like there's some major crisis happening every other day; we've been stuck in a pandemic for 4+ years that people have just decided to pretend isn't happening anymore because it's inconvenient; we feel like we should be making "the most" of our free time and be "productive" (and earn money from our hobbies which we used to just do for fun; see how streamers and let's players stop enjoying their games once they've monetized playing them and it becomes their job, putting pressure on them and making them self-conscious and anxious) ...

No one can afford housing anymore (even really s****y apartments, and don't have the time or money or spoons to find new friends or romantic prospects, lets alone have kids, and therefore no one feels like an "adult" anymore, (or at least they feel like they're doing "adulting" wrong because of some personal failing) and so they feel averse to things that aren't "adult" hobbies or that don't earn them money because it makes them feel like they're slipping further behind everyone else and wasting their precious and limited free time ...

And so when we sit down to play a game these days (or watch a movie, or read a book) not only do we feel GUILTY for "wasting time" (ie not improving our situation somehow) but we are also so burned out we either feel too little or too much emotion, and things aren't exciting anymore, aren't fun anymore.

We're also afraid to hype ourselves up for something we've been looking forward too because the gaming world had been so full or shameless cash grabs and broken or unfinished games, or just disappointing games, these days, and we keep getting our hopes dashed and feeling robbed or used or betrayed, and we get embarrassed for ever having expected or hoped for something better in the first place.

We sit down to play a game and feel overwhelmed by the amount of choices (choice paralyzation), so we scroll and scroll and finally play that one old game we've been playing for a decade instead of all the other stuff on our wishlists or to-play lists because we know at least we liked that ONE game; that we weren't disappointed by it ... except by now we know every inch of it so well it's become boring, and we wonder why we even decided to play a game at all—wonder what we thought we were going to get out of it.

And even the new games start feeling like that, because there's only so many formulas to gameplay, story, and mechanics, and we've seen pretty much every possible permutation before. Even if it's good, it still feels like a bunch of things we've played before. And we still ask ourselves why we aren't doing something "better" with our time, and why we can't seem to reclaim the excitement, satisfaction, wonder, and joy we used to have when we played games when we were younger.

And again, on top of everything else, the industry has gone to **** and so much of it is just "clones" of other things, or has loot boxes, or punished you for not playing consistently, or have half its features and story locked behind paywalls, or ruins the competition aspect with pay to play bull**** ... or just simply isn't good. Doesn't have originality. Doesn't have soul. Wasn't made with passion.

And oh, yeah—the base game costs $60 and probably also relies on a paid live subscription if there's multiplayer, which means once they shut the servers down for it (which could be in ten years or 2 weeks in the current state of the industry) either half or all the game will be unplayable forevermore and lost to time.

Basically, we're burnt out and looking for an easy but guilt-free dopamine fix, demanding more of games than we ever have before, but also wanting them to demand less of us than ever before, because we're TIRED, and we're also BROKE, and we also have very little free time on our hands! But games that are cheap and easy are also unsatisfying.

The kid in us wants long narratively satisfying RPGs that take forever to complete, but the adult in us can't remember what we were supposed to be doing or where anything is or what buttons do what anymore because we last picked this game up 3 months ago and we hate having to try to relearn everything. So we turn to a shooter or a sports or a racing or a battle royale game but we play them and feel like we're wasting our time. And also probably our money.

We're using games not to have FUN, but to DE-STRESS, except they can't actually relieve most the stress we're under because it's from external factors that will still be there when we close the game. We want games to *fix* us—"I'll feel better after a few hours of [insert game here]—but we don't. And we don't know why because playing games USED to make us feel good. Why doesn't it work anymore? We're like lab rats that developed a drug tolerance and get frustrated and confused when the same dose of stimulants doesn't do it for us anymore.

And hey, when was the last time we hung out in person with our friends? We're starved for human interaction, but online multiplayer is a poor substitute and we know it.

And a lot of us live alone or with limited support so there's also the cooking, the cleaning, the laundry, the shopping, the bills, etc. to take care of and also your job and/or school, and possibly elder or child care, and/or home maintenance, (IF you're lucky) ... and oh look your phone's buzzing again and oh, you should really respond to that, and, and AND ...

Gaming just isn't the same anymore.

[jimintomystery]

DS9: "Past Tense, Part I"

The Defiant delivers Deep Space Nine's senior staff to Earth, for a symposium about the Gamma Quadrant. But when Commander Sisko, Lieutenant Dax, and Doctor Bashir beam down to Starfleet Headquarters, the transporter beam sends them back in time, where they face the hellish conditions of, uh, approximately four months from now.

I don't watch this one much, because the dystopian nature of the Sanctuary District is a real drag. The whole point of Star Trek is the escapist fantasy that humanity will someday work out all its major problems (and find weird new problems, in outer space). Of course, the tradeoff is that every now and then we need to examine what those problems are, and why it's not easy to get from our present day to Star Trek's 24th century.

I've always been fascinated that this episode takes us to August 2024, roughly thirty years after the script was written. The standard move in a Star Trek time travel story is to visit present-day Earth, so the Starfleet officers can find our lifestyle primitive and barbaric. Star Trek seemed wary to look ahead to the early 21st century, perhaps because the 1960s TV series established lore about the 1990s that become awkward when the franchise survived into the '90s. At the time, though, I was confident that the '90s showrunners would be more savvy about looking ahead to the near future. I probably didn't expect to be sitting here in 2024, re-evaluating how well they did.

The key thing this episode gets right is not overdoing all the futuristic gadgets. The computer terminals and ID cards look like props from a an old cyberpunk movie, but they don't get in the way of the story, so it's easy to ignore them. There are no smartphones, and nobody seems to be Extremely Online, but it's just as well--most of the characters are too destitute or too overworked to stand around posting memes about the Drake-Kendrick Lamar feud. The most jarring anachronism, really, is that Chris Brynner--a Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur--is not a totally delusional, narcissistic asshole.

When this originally aired, the Sanctuary District concept seemed over-the-top to me. Nowadays, though, I think about "Past Tense" every time I read about Chicago's migrant shelters, or drive past a tent city. In the story's 2024, Sisko and Bashir are detained for the "crime" of being asleep outside and having nowhere else to go. In the real 2024, the Supreme Court is currently considering whether this is cruel and unusual punishment, and I'm afraid they're going to decide it's not. In 1995, I thought it would take some sci-fi plot device for things to get this way within thirty years. Now I realize the writers were extrapolating from societal issues that were building up before I was born.

[barbiemoviestrivia]

I can't tell you how many times I'm like Barbie here.

I might teach university math but don't expect me to be able to do anything else. One of the most interesting things is that I'm not technologically inclined at all, like I don't even have a smartphone o_0.

[twilightmalachite]

Kanna Natsu Mini Talk - Audition VS GLADIATOR -Fourth piece-

Translator: Mika Enstars

"Although there are various methods of input, such as using a PC, smartphone, or voice input... Handwriting is absolutely necessary."

How to Fill Out a Form

[Read on my blog for the best viewing experience with Oi~ssu ♪]

Season: Spring

Location: ES Building Lounge

Kanna: Anzu-san, perfect timing.

I'm currently working on filling out the necessary information on a profile sheet for the audition.

Does this really have to be handwritten?

💬 I guess they'd like it to be handwritten

Kanna: Seems to be the case. Although there are various methods of input, such as using a PC, smartphone, or voice input... Handwriting is absolutely necessary.

...It's so viewers can get a sense of an idol's personality from their handwriting?

I see it now, it's what they call fan psychology. I've learned something.

💬 Would you prefer to use a PC?

Kanna: Yes, that is correct. It doesn't have to be a PC, a smartphone would suffice. ...Anything is fine as long as I can utilize inputs.

Writing by hand can result in mistakes, which would cause for everything to have to be rewritten on a spare form.

And those sorts of things are a hassle. So if possible, I'd like to utilize the tools of civilization.

Kanna: Now then, I've verified it must be handwritten, so I suppose I should fill out the content.

Receiving reminders to be sure not to submit things late is a hassle, so I think I will complete it early and get it out of the way.

...Speaking of, where will I be submitting this once I have completed it?

💬 If you're affiliated with an agency, then...

Kanna: So then the agency will compile the information and forward them to the audition management...

This is a problem. I am not affiliated with any agency, meaning I have nobody to compile this for me.

...You'll look into it for me, Anzu-san? Is that so, thank you very much.

💬 To the audition management, I guess

Kanna: Well, I'd figured that was my only option, as it was the management that asked me to fill it out...

Still, I didn't expect to have to send it over individually. I'd appreciate it if it could at least be compiled within ES.

But because I do not believe there are any other idols in my position... Could you look into this for me, Anzu-san?

Kanna: Phew. I've successfully finished filling out the form.

How I felt filling it out...? I don't know how to answer that. I answered each of the questions honestly, I don't particularly have any thoughts.

If anything, I would like to hear yours. Is the content here sufficient?

💬 Would you let me see?

Kanna: This is something that will be seen by many people. I didn't write anything that would cause me trouble if anyone saw it.

Although there was a section where I couldn't think of anything, so I wrote down "nothing in particular"...

Well, that also what you could consider my personality. Please do give it a look.

💬 Let's see...

Kanna: You like how the "my hashtag" section brings out my personality...?

Your positive evaluation puts me at ease. If you had said it was no good, I had felt that worst case scenario, I would have to rethink everything.

Now then, this is the content I'll be submitting. I am glad it went well.

[ ☆ ]

Here is The Arena

[Read on my blog for the best viewing experience with Oi~ssu ♪]

Season: Spring

Location: The Arena's Corridor

Kanna: Exploration of the facility is complete. A rough understanding of the judging system within The Arena has also been acquired.

In order to verify uncertain elements, it will be necessary to observe and survey the other participants, but...

I too am one of these "gladiators" summoned to this venue. I must ready myself for battle.

💬 Hello

Kanna: Yes, hello... Oh, it's Anzu-san?

I was wondering who would talk to me so casually despite being a participant, but it makes sense that it is you.

Are you patrolling as a judge of the audition? Thank you for all your hard work.

💬 Are preparations going well?

Kanna: I had not expected to meet you in a place like this, Anzu-san... No, you do have the role of a judge, don't you?

And so in accordance, you are in the midst of touring The Arena, aren't you?

Right, I will also answer the questions you had asked. In regard to preparations, I'm now in the process of procuring equipment.

Kanna: I do not know what it is like at the other venues, but this corridor in The Arena is a tad dim.

Well, I think equipping a venue where gladiators gather with fluorescent lighting would only ruin the atmosphere.

...Ah, there is a ledge there. Please watch your step.

💬 Thank you

Kanna: No, it wasn't meant to be a courtesy. I had calculated that if you had tripped there, you would have fallen towards me, Anzu-san.

And if you had, I would lack the physical strength to be able to catch you...

The best way to avoid danger is through precaution. Do be mindful of the props and such placed around

💬 You really have to watch where you walk, huh

Kanna: Indeed. There are ledges, chains sprawled across the floor, props placed all over...

And additionally, there is the dim lighting. It's in your best interest to remain somewhat attentive as you walk around.

I am care not to trip over anything as I explore around the venue. I cannot afford to trip and get hurt.

Kanna: ...Ah, excuse me. I was out of topics so I stopped talking.

Silence doesn't particularly bother me, but I'll be happy to answer any questions if you have them.

You may ask whatever questions you'd like, but I ask you to not expect interesting answers.

💬 I'd like to hear some enthusiasm

Kanna: I only am participating because I had been told my safety would be ensured, so I feel con-fuddled when asked what I am enthusiastic about.

But I do suspect there are mechanisms within The Arena I can utilize my brain for.

I hope I can unearth my own way of strategy and fighting. ...Is this the answer you were seeking?

💬 What did you do before going to bed last night?

Kanna: Hm. I anticipated a question about the audition, so this question was outside of my expectations.

I do not know how knowing what I did last night will benefit you, Anzu-san, but... I'll answer your question.

Last night, I went to bed early in preparation for the audition. As such, nothing in particular was done.

[ ☆ ]

[scentedpeachlandcreator]

so im going to a concert next year for the first time in awhile im kinda nervous ngl cause my seat is so high up it doesnt really feel safe but i love this group yet im bummed out im not going to get any extras due to the seat being basic and i wasnt going to overspend for no valid reason and imho but if i were to have got standing tickets id probably have struggled so my only option really was a cheapy seat so high up but my other thoughts is 1. at least im going and 2. if i was to have bojght standing all i would see is the members through the sea of smartphones which isnt that great of an experience

id still love to receive like a bonus or something to make the event feel more worthwhile

im just wondering what u think i should do or go about? i know manifesting works done it before in the past where i got a free bus ride twice and a few other things like that, my other question is they generally have been doing a send off and id loveeeee to go to that cause u get a chance to get merch signed by them or to see them more in person but idk if theyll fit it in here with their schedule. theyve not allowed much time so maybe even seeing them out and about was my other option yet ive realised theyll be spending it rehearsing again due to the fact they added a second date in the main coty which i was hoping they wouldnt cause i was planning on just chilling before the concert or maybe seeing them walking about the place.

its like the one time i will probably see them until the next tour so i have no idea what i particularly want or expect as its my first time seeing them perform i think it would be nice to have seen them but theres literally no chances now due to the stupid second date being added grrrr i was going to try to manifest seeing or meeting them somehow :c if u have any suggestions or advices itd be much helpful thank u. do u think i should try to get some cool freebies from the merch stall? :o sorry for rambling but tips would be nice cause i really couldnt get a different experience and its in two months time as well

Girl, don't overthink it, when you decide that you will then it is a fact.

You're the god of your own reality and what you Say goes.

Affirm your desired affirmation and know that it is done, it is gonna happen cause you said so.

You're gonna meet them cause you said so, and the moment you decided that it will then it is gonna happen cause it already happened in your imagination.

Now i need to hear your success story.

Xoxo, Eli