#i had to download a whole new browser!

[postmail]

they (ishmael and queequeg) are in their evil henchmen arch

[danielnelsen]

update: peach is doing very well!! she's eating and sleeping normally (sleeping more than normal, really, but that's to be expected)!! after 3 days of not sleeping and a few changes in painkillers, she finally just napped for an hr then, after another day, slept through the whole night (and most of the next day). she's started following all her usual routines again and is very keen to eat! still on some painkillers, but they're not having any horrific side effects anymore

now that im not staying up to keep an eye on her all night (while also dealing with upgrading my computer and my phone and also my sister preparing to go overseas and the dogs barking and howling constantly due to all of the above), i finally got some decent sleep too and slept for about 14 hrs. so today ive got that weird shakiness that i get from sleeping too much, but hey it's better than the whole of the last week

[aurorasulphur]

Disclaimer: none of these answers are official, and may not work for your particular use case. If there is a specific feature that an unofficial app had that you don't know how to replicate on the AO3, let me know in the notes and we might can crowdsource a solution.

A lot of people used the Archive Reader app to access stories on Archive of Our Own, and have been upset that the app is now charging to read longer than an hour a day. AO3 (and its parent organization, the OTW) has made it extremely clear in recent days that this app is unofficial and that there *is* no official app. They encourage people to use the website.

However, there are MANY reasons you might want an app, and in a bunch of those cases, there are ways to do those things without having to provide your login information to a random person running an app. Here is a round-up of solutions to the most common reasons I've seen people give for wanting an app instead of the plain AO3 website.

These solutions are based on the following assumptions:

You know what Archive of Our Own is

You often or primarily access it through a mobile device running iOS or Android

You understand what a browser is

You understand what a browser bookmark is

You understand what a site skin is

Edits:

Edited to clarify that you must be logged in to use custom site skins

Edited to add more tips and tricks from the reblogs

Edited to add new entry about notifications/emails

Edited to add new entry about reading statistics and the tracking thereof

I need a widget on my phone's homescreen, not just a browser bookmark.

You can do this with any website, not just AO3! Instructions here: https://www.howtogeek.com/196087/how-to-add-websites-to-the-home-screen-on-any-smartphone-or-tablet/

I need Dark Mode.

AO3 has a default site skin for Dark Mode, it's just called Reversi. Find it here, or at the bottom of any page on the website. https://archiveofourown.org/skins/929/

If you'd like Dark Mode on your whole browser (and you're on Android), sorrelchestnut has advice here: https://www.tumblr.com/sorrelchestnut/737869282153775104/if-you-want-dark-mode-and-dont-want-to-mess

I need to be able to read stories when I don't have internet.

Every work on the AO3 has a download button, so you can click on that and download the story for offline reading in the ereader app of your choice. More info on how to do that is in the AO3 FAQs: https://archiveofourown.org/faq/downloading-fanworks?language_id=en#accesslater

I need to be able to change the text size of the website itself.

If you have an AO3 account (and you should!!) you can do this with a personalized site skin! There is a simple tutorial here: https://www.tumblr.com/ao3skin/667284237718798336/i-have-a-request-if-you-dont-mind-could-you

I need to be able to change the text size in downloaded stories.

My personal recommendation: Don't download in PDF format. All the other formats you can download in can scale the text size up and down, assuming you open the work in the correct app. For me, I download works in EPUB format and read them on the built-in Books app on my iPhone. I hear good things about Moon Reader on Android as well.

I need to be able to replace Y/N in fics with an actual name.

ElectricAlice has a bookmarklet for that here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/34796935

I need to be able to save specific tags and not have to search them up every time.

If you have an AO3 account (which you definitely should) then you can favorite up to 20 tags which will appear on the landing page. The AO3 FAQ explains how that works: https://archiveofourown.org/faq/tags?language_id=en#favtag

I need to be able to save specific filters and be able to apply them to any tag.

Reisling's beautiful bookmarklet has you covered: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33825019

I need to be able to permanently hide certain tags.

The best option is adding this to your site skin. (Must be logged in.) Instructions here: https://www.tumblr.com/ao3css/719667033634160640/how-to-permanently-filter-out-certain-tags-on-ao3

I also hear things about the AO3 Enhancements extension (just for Android/desktop, sorry iOS folks): https://www.tumblr.com/emotionalsupportrats/686787582579851265/browser-extension-everyone-on-ao3-should-know

I need it to save my place on the page and not reload.

This is really mostly a browser error--Firefox on iOS does this to me A LOT. Your best bet is to download the work and read it in an ereader app. A lot of people also will make an ao3 bookmark and write in the notes section which part they were at, but that assumes you aren't falling asleep while reading. (Which is the main reason I have this issue, lol.) For more info on bookmarks, see the FAQ: https://archiveofourown.org/faq/bookmarks?language_id=en#whatisbookmark

I need it to keep track of which stories I've already read/opened/kudos'd.

If you have an account (which you should) then the "My History" page keeps track of every fic you've ever clicked on. No, it isn't searchable or sortable, but it does exist. For fics you've kudos'd, I have yet to find a solution for iOS. For desktop or Android, you can use this excellent userscript: https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/5835-ao3-kudosed-and-seen-history

@the-sleepy-archivist and @inkandarsenic have a solution for iOS here to use userscripts: https://www.tumblr.com/the-sleepy-archivist/737895174683885568/this-is-a-great-guide-one-thing-i-can-help-with and https://www.tumblr.com/inkandarsenic/737827438571192320/the-user-scripts-will-also-work-on-ios-there-are

I need an app because the website's search is terrible.

(I genuinely don't understand this one but I have seen it multiple times so on the list it goes!!) The search bar at the top of the screen is a keyword search. If you'd rather search within a specific field (like title or tag) then you'll want to click on the word "search" at the top of the screen and select Work Search or Tag Search. To search users, use People Search. To search Bookmarks, use Bookmark Search. (If this is you, please tell me what the heck you mean by "search is bad" and how an app helped with this.)

I need to be able to sort stories by date posted/number of bookmarks/alphabetical/etc.

You can do this using the filters sidebar. Pick a tag you want to filter on (like a fandom, character, or relationship) and then click on the "Filters" button. The sidebar will pop out and you can sort and filter on a boggling array of specifics. A good filtering guide: https://www.tumblr.com/saurons-pr-department/718665516093472768/if-there-is-something-you-dont-want-to-see-in

I need to be able to mark stories to read later.

AO3 has this feature built in! If you have an account (which you should) there is a "Mark for Later" option on every work.

Edit: Thispersonishuman reminded me that History and Mark For Later can be disabled, so if you're not seeing the Mark for Later option, check your settings.

I need to be able to listen to stories using text-to-speech.

Microsoft Edge web browser has a built in text to speech function. Supposedly it works on both iOS and Android, but I have not personally tested that. iOS also has a native accessibility feature in settings for text to speech that will work on the Books app, so I assume Android has a similar functionality. A bunch of people in the reblogs have more in-depth Android recommendations here: https://www.tumblr.com/protect-namine/737957194510794752/seconding-voice-aloud-on-android-for-tts-my, https://www.tumblr.com/smallercommand/737884523093704704/i-use-voice-for-tts-on-android-its-got-some, and https://www.tumblr.com/doitninetimes/737869463749263360/for-text-to-speech-on-android-you-can-also-check

I need to have in-app notifications for updates/I can't ever find story updates in among the rest of my emails/checking my email stresses me out.

Set up a separate email address using a free service like gmail, and use that email address JUST for AO3. Then the only emails in that inbox will be your story updates. I use Apple's Mail application for all my inboxes, but it's very easy to use the Gmail app instead, and you could log in to JUST the ao3 email and set it to notify for every email.

(Also as a general PSA: don't use your work, school, or military email as your AO3 email. Just don't.)

I want statistics like how many hours I spent reading, how many words I read, what my most read tags were, stuff like that.

So we've finally hit something that isn't easy and that requires a hell of a lot of manual work. Short version: AO3 does not track this data because they don't want to. (Mostly due to privacy concerns.) The lack of this tracking is a feature, not a bug. You can crunch these numbers yourself, but it will take a hell of a lot more effort, and it's something I personally found is not worth the effort the couple of times I have tried to crunch those numbers. If you are willing to download your history to an actual computer (not a tablet or chromebook) using Calibre, you can get a rough idea of your most popular tags via their tag browser, but it won't play nice with typos synned to a Common Tag (Canonical Tag/filterable tag) like ao3 does. (If anyone has used an app that gave you stats on this, please let me know in reblogs/replies/via ask how that worked because I am very curious.)

I need an app because <other reason>.

The AO3 Unofficial Browser Tools FAQ might cover your use case: https://archiveofourown.org/faq/unofficial-browser-tools?language_id=en If not, give a shout and we'll see what other tumblr users suggest!

[angelikook]

Download Error | Act Two

⤿ Pairing(s): Scientist!Jungkook x reader

⤿ Genre: Fluff, angst, suggestive, dark, thriller, sci-fi, medical, yandere-ish behavior

⤿ Word Count: 6.1k (unedited)

⤿ Warning(s): Jungkook is unhinged, major character death, minor character death, cannibalism, murder, drug abuse, and a whole lot of other disturbing things

⤿ Summary: After 50 years of research, Jungkook, an 80 years old scientist, figures out how to upload minds and download them to a new body. This technology is so early in development, failing means potentially creating a monster, and failure is common. But when he’s backed into a wall where he’s about to lose Y/n -his wife- due to a disease, he takes some drastic measures. He’ll do anything for love even if it means creating a monster with the face of 25 years old Y/n.

Full Masterlist | Download Error Masterlist | Join/Leave Taglist

Part 11: The Error

So many things happened all at once. The initial transfer process ran smoothly without issues, but the minute the computer had to download Y/n's mind to her new body, they ran into an error. And since then, the machines had been beeping non-stop. The computers all flashed a message error. And Jinho can only yell Jungkook’s name while doing what he could think of at the moment.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen, Prof.” Jinho was busy typing furiously at the computer. "This didn't happen during your transfer."

Jungkook rushed to where Jinho was and shoved him off his seat. "Fucking move. I'll do it myself, you incompetent bastard." Jungkook read over the message on the monitor and clicked whatever buttons he could reach with his mouse.

"I've fixed the program, there's literally no fucking reason for it to run an error," Jungkook vented while still focusing on the error messages. He closed all the messages with the hope that it could finally resolve whatever problem the machine had. His heart sank and eyes focused, he broke a cold sweat, but couldn't bother with it.

After a while of constant clicking, the beeping stopped. The room fell silent.

"This has to work," Jungkook silently whispered to himself. "It has to."

Part 12: The Forgiveness

Jungkook's browser tab opened overwhelmingly many different search tabs all with similar prompts at once. How to get your girlfriend to forgive you? How to apologize to your girlfriend? Does 'take a break' mean we're over? Can I get back with my ex if I still love her? How can I get back with my ex?

Each time his eyes scanned over the word 'ex', his heart wrenched in ways he never felt before. Surely he'd heard it wrong when Y/n said she wanted to take a break. They were supposed to be star-crossed lovers, nothing could get in between them, but of course their egos got in the way.

Jungkook frustratingly slammed his desk with his fist. None of the advice he read from the internet could actually help him. He only had himself.

He stood from his chair which creaked in response to him and walked out his dimly lit room. He had one objective, he had to go to the store.

The entire trip nor the shopping didn't take too long. Afterall, he already had everything planned out in his mind.

"Is that all?" the cashier asked. His eyes never once met Jungkook's.

"Yes."

"That'll be 150 Dollars."

Jungkook furrowed his eyebrow. "That's so expensive!"

The cashier only shrugged, still unimpressed by Jungkook. "Do you want your girlfriend to forgive you or not?"

"Ugh, fine." Jungkook handed him his cash and walked out the store with the stuff he bought.

But what happened after he reached Y/n's door was completely unplanned.

Upon opening the door, Y/n scoffed. It might be brief, but Jungkook's heart ached at the sight of her. Next thing he knew, she was about to close the door on his face hadn't he held the door with his hand.

"Wait, I have something prepared for you. I promise I can make it up to you," Jungkook pleaded.

Y/n rolled her eyes. "Like what?"

As abrupt as his presence on her doorstep, he leaned in and kissed Y/n's plump lips. The taste of Y/n's strawberry lip balm overwhelmed his taste buds. The same flavor even after years of dating her. The same overwhelming feeling and adrenaline rush.

Y/n didn't push him away or slap him in the face, she melted into the kiss instead, which kind of surprised him. So he took it as a signal to deepen the kiss.

He dropped the paperbag holding the stuff he bought from the store and took Y/n in a warm embrace. His tongue explored her mouth, trying to feel every corner of her mouth all at once.

After what felt like milliseconds, Jungkook pulled back from the kiss to catch a breath which Y/n did the same. As they stared at each other, both trying to fill their lungs with as much air as possible before devouring one another, they broke into a laugh.

"So, that's what you mean by 'prepared'?" Y/n linked her arms around Jungkook's neck.

Jungkook shook his head lightly. "Not really. I bought things you might like." Jungkook looped his arms around Y/n's waist. "Look, I'm sorry for letting my ego get in the way. I know you're capable, but I just don't want you to get too tired. Sometimes you have to have fun, you know?"

Y/n nodded. "I know. I'm sorry, too. I guess I was too tired that night."

"Let's go have fun, then," Jungkook suggested as Y/n already pulled them both back into her house.

Part 13: The Resurrection

The ticking clock felt deafening in Jungkook's ears. The hitch of Jinho's breath didn't help. Even the rhythmic thump of his heart felt too loud. It felt like he was being suffocated by the minutes he spent focusing on his surroundings. So instead, Jungkook walked closer upon Y/n's new synthetic body.

"Jinho, how long until she wakes up?" he asked, eyes not leaving her.

"Yours didn't take long, only-"

"How long, Jinho," he pressed, not having enough patience to deal with Jinho's technical speeches.

"Seconds, Prof."

Jungkook caressed Y/n's new face. The same face that he could only see from their wedding photos. The face that he had missed so much. It wasn't hard to admit that he would want their wedding to be immortalized in the form of his lover's face.

He traced Y/n's cheekbones, then her jaws. His fingers grazed ever so slightly on her soft artificial skin. Flawless and beautiful just like how he liked it.

"She should be up by now, right?" Jungkook finally asked as his hand brushed Y/n's hair and tucked it behind her ears.

"Some things can probably-"

"Shut up, Jinho!" Jungkook whisper-yelled as the body in front of him started to wake up.

Y/n's new body opened her eyes wide like she herself was surprised she could wake up in the new body, and unfocused mimicking the lifeless eyes of AI robots. While it was kind of true that Y/n's body was similar to that of an AI, but she wasn't powered with electricity. She was a robot with a human mind.

Y/n's chest then started to go up and down, a small feature Jungkook added to make her seem more human than robot. If one would look close enough, one could even see the nostrils moving slightly, faking breathing.

Jungkook dared himself to call her. "Y/n? Can you hear me?"

And then, everything happened all at once.

Upon hearing his voice, Y/n turned her head sharply to the source of his voice. Then quicker than what Jungkook could process, Y/n leaped from the bed and jumped down on him, ultimately knocking both of them down to the floor. And like a starve-crazed animal, Y/n took a bite of Jungkook's arm that was blocking his face from Y/n's view.

Just as he was about to push Y/n off himself, Jinho came to the rescue and pulled her off of him. Jinho pushed Y/n aside and helped Jungkook up.

"Prof, are you okay?"

"I don't-" Jungkook's speech was interrupted by Y/n clinging on Jinho's body and biting off his ear. Blood poured from the side of his face instantly.

"Y/n! Stop it!" Jungkook manhandled Y/n and tackled her to the ground. He then proceeded by sitting on her back. "Jinho, help me lock her in the storage room. Get the keys now!"

Just as Jungkook saw Jinho running to grab the keys, one hand holding the bleeding ear, Jungkook pulled Y/n up from the ground while holding her hands behind her back. Even in that position, Y/n growled loudly and tried to turn back and face him.

Once Jinho came with the keys, both of them pushed and forced Y/n into the storage room before finally locking the door. Angry growls and loud banging on the door could be heard, but at least they were safe for a while.

With Jinho seemingly already woozy and having trouble walking straight from the loss of blood, Jungkook said, "Let's go to the hospital."

Part 14: The Proposal

Jungkook's hand had fallen asleep long ago, but he didn’t dare to ruin the moment. He glanced at Y/n which leaned her head on his arm, eyes focused on the movie in front of them, hands holding the hot chocolate he had made for her.

This was one of the extremely rare instances where Y/n could have a weekend off and not have to be on standby on her phone. And of course Jungkook was hell-bent on making sure they spend it alone inside the confines of his penthouse.

It seemed like Y/n had realized the gaze Jungkook had on her. Y/n turned her head around and faced him. A small smile appeared on her lips.

“What is it?” she asked, her face visibly showing she was puzzled by Jungkook’s boyish grin that he threw at her.

“I have a surprise.” Jungkook fished out a ring from his shirt’s pocket.

Y/n abruptly stood up, the movie playing in the background had been long forgotten. “No way,” she said as she cupped her hands on her mouth, eyes started to visibly brimming with tears. “Why? When? How?”

“One by one, babe.”

“When did you buy it?” Y/n asked as Jungkook went to put on the ring on her finger.

“Just after apologizing to you at that time.”

Y/n extended her hand and admired the sparkle on the diamond beneath the dim light of the room. “Why did you think it was the right time?”

“Cause I know you’re the one. Especially after what we did that night.”

Seemingly satisfied with the answers he gave, Y/n pulled him up from his seat and engulfed him in a tight hug. “I thought this day would never come,” Y/n cried into his shirt.

Jungkook only pulled her head to lean on his chest closer. “How come?”

“I was being too harsh on you during the fight. I thought you’d hate me for it because what you said was partially right. I know we don’t have that much time together,” she rambled as Jungkook only swayed both their bodies side to side in slow motion.

“You don’t need to think about that eanymore. We’ve made up, right?”

Y/n nodded while still burying her face on Jungkook's chest.

Jungkook hummed in response, but abruptly stopped his swaying when he realized something. "Wait, babe."

Y/n pulled away. Her face was puzzled as she looked up at him, eyes still red and slightly puffy. "What?"

"I haven't proposed to you properly." Jungkook let go of her and crouched on one knee. "Do you want to marry me?"

Part 15: The Hospital

If it weren't for his assistant, the smell of disinfectant and cleaners would have made him leave the hospital sooner. The injuries Jinho bore required him to get an immediate blood transfusion and an emergency surgery to close up the wound caused by the bitten earlobe. 

"Are you sure he was bitten by a dog?" the doctor asked him after announcing that the short surgery had finished.

"Absolutely. It was a wild dog," Jungkook answered as lies seeped through his lips easily.

"Well, it was a big dog, I presume. From the size of the bite, I think it's almost as big as a human."

"You think so?"

The doctor nodded. "I'm worried that the dog might have rabies, so I also gave Mr. Su an anti rabies."

"Do what you have to do, doc." At this point, Jungkook just kept replying to him just to make this talking process faster.

Unlucky for him, the doctor caught a glimpse of his bitten arm that he had wrapped with a gauze he found in his car.

"You got bitten yourself?" the doctor asked, head nodding towards his arm.

"It's fine. Just a small scratch," he lied, he needed to divert the conversation back to his assistant. "Jinho, though, he got bitten. Bad."

The doctor coughed awkwardly. "Right. The surgery was successful. We just did some stitches and it was all done. Unfortunately, for the time being, there's nothing we can do about the missing ear. We can talk more about creating a prosthetic ear for Mr. Su later when he feels better. For now, he will be transferred to his room and in less than an hour he should be up."

Now it was Jungkook's turn to ask the right questions. "When can we go home, then?"

"Once he wakes up and feels okay, you can start to arrange the payments and his discharge."

Jungkook smiled ironically. "Sure."

The doctor left and the wait began. During the first hour, Jungkook saw Jinho being strolled in his bed into his VIP room. Jungkook himself demanded for the VIP room because of the things he wanted to do to Jinho once he woke up. While the room wasn't as big as what Y/n used to have, it was still spacious enough for Jungkook to sit far from his assistant where he could reorder his thoughts.

While Jungkook was adamant that his methods were right and he didn't bypass any process, Y/n somehow acted like she couldn't register her surroundings well. Like she wasn't conscious, which was obviously laughable because he was sure everything was under control. There was no reason, absolutely no reason for the transfer to fail. No way. Only stupid people would fail and he wasn't stupid.

And then, Jinho began to stir awake from the anesthesia. Jungkook quickly rushed to his side and called the doctor.

"Feeling okay?" Jungkook asked.

Jinho nodded but then grimaced.

"I see," Jungkook said as the doctor came into the room.

"Mr. Su. I'm going to do some checks on you. And if you're alright, you can go home anytime you're ready."

The doctor, along with a nurse, checked up on Jinho just like what Jinho himself did to Jungkook a couple of weeks ago. Crazy how in the span of a few weeks a lot had happened.

"Well, Mr. Su, everything looks good. Should you have any complaints, just call me, okay? Just like I said, you can go home anytime."

Jinho let out a weak, "Sure. Thanks," as a response.

Just as the doctor and the nurse left, it was finally Jungkook's turn.

"Jinho, sorry for what happened to you," Jungkook apologized, even Jungkook himself was surprised he could say sorry genuinely.

"It's fine. The cost of science."

"Right. Science." Silence filled the room before he spoke up again. "What do you think happened?"

Jinho wet his lips with his tongue. "I can't really be sure, but my best bet is that we're left with another case similar to the cat."

If the room were quieter, Jungkook probably could hear his heart dropping. It was one to hear your wife dead and another to hear your wife turned into a cannibalistic zombie.

"Is there a way to reverse it? Or fix it?" At this point, he had almost exhausted all of his options except one. One that he couldn't bring himself to say or even to think of.

But Jinho dared himself. "You need to kill her."

Like it was undebatable, Jungkook snapped, “Absolutely not. Are you out of your mind?”

Jinho took a ragged breath. "I'm sorry, Prof, but she can be a danger even to you."

"No." No one could make him change his mind. He wasn't going to kill his wife again for the second time. "There should be a way out."

"I wish, Prof. But I don't think we can do anything about it."

"Stop saying nonsense! There is a way, we just need to figure it out. You're not behaving like a very good assistant now." If it weren't for the gauze around Jinho's head, Jungkook probably would have hit something with his bare hands. "I'm leaving."

Jungkook walked out of the damned hospital feeling like he should've left earlier.

With every kilometer closer to the lab, Jungkook's thoughts slowly poisoned with doubt. He wondered what if Jinho was right, what if the only right way out is to kill her.

He shuddered at the thought. His heart raced and head hurt. On one hand, he loved Y/n too much to kill her, but on the other side, he knew well that his Y/n was no longer there. Just like the cat.

Just like a game of tug of war, his mind is torn between the two choices, whether to live forever with what's left of Y/n or to live forever with the figment of his imagination of Y/n.

Once he arrived on his lab's driveway and parked his car, Jungkook reached out his trembling hand out towards the glove box. He opened the box and took out his other prized possession, his pistol.

Safe and armed, but still as scared and anxious as before, Jungkook jumped out of the car and walked into his lab.

Jungkook went straight to the storage room door and listened attentively to any sound from inside. But his ear caught nothing besides the sound of the ticking clock on the wall.

He opened the door while whispering more towards himself, “Y/n, I love you. I’m sorry for what I’m about to do.”

As expected, once the sliver of light entered the room, Y/n growled and leaped at the door. And when she noticed Jungkook’s presence, she turned her attention towards him. She came at him and almost jumped him if it wasn’t for the loud bang that rendered her scrawled on the floor.

Y/n began to let out a cry that sounded more like a howl in Jungkook’s ears. If he were honest, her cries always hurt him more than her. But he knew this wasn’t the time to ponder. He had made up his mind and he had to finish what he had started.

Before Y/n could gain leverage to stand up and attack him again, Jungkook mustered all his courage and shot her straight in her heart. Not once or twice, but three times to make sure she wouldn’t suddenly wake up again.

And true enough, not long after, he could see a pool of artificial blood surrounding where Y/n body was laying down and his tears began to fall.

Part 16: The Wedding

It felt unreal. Like he was in a movie show and both Y/n and him were the main characters.

All eyes were on them as the officiant said, "I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride!"

As practiced over and over, Jungkook reached for Y/n and kissed her lips passionately. He intended to make the kiss short and sweet, but when he tasted Y/n's strawberry lip balm and smelled her favorite aquatic perfume, he couldn't take it anymore.

He devoured her as if his life depended on it. He wanted to taste her, feel her, be one with her. He could never get enough of her. And when Y/n reciprocated his kiss, she deepened the kiss, Jungkook was in heaven.

He could only be brought back to the moment when the officiant cleared his throat, seemingly trying to remind him where he was.

Reluctantly, Jungkook let go of Y/n's which looked flustered with red cheeks and plump lips. 'Beautiful,' he thought to himself.

As the wedding ceremony progressed to a wedding party, Jungkook grew impatient. He wanted to get done with the party and taste his wife fully. If he could have his way, he wouldn't have held a party at all. But of course his wife got in the way and vetoed his idea. So the party happened.

White gowns, pink flowers, and everyone she ever knew in her life was invited. Even though he was against it, Jungkook really went out his way to make sure that Y/n had the perfect party she had always dreamed of. Jungkook even pulled some strings just to have all her cousins and elementary school friends come and celebrate their special day. As Jungkook looked at Y/n who mingled with her old friends with a wide grin on her face, he knew he made the right choice of hosting the party.

Y/n was just seen waving off some of their guests before walking towards him with a big smile on her face. Her eyes looked a bit drowsy after hours of talking with her guests but still glistening with excitement. Jungkook could've sworn he had never seen her this happy before.

"It was Seyeon. Do you remember her?" Y/n asked.

Jungkook laughed, remembering how he used to dislike her for clinging to Y/n all the time. "And the guy coming with her?"

Y/n came closer to him and whispered in his ear, "That's her second husband."

Jungkook's eyes widened. He never would have thought a quiet girl like Seyeon would get married multiple times.

"And where is her first husband?"

Y/n shrugged. "I didn't dare ask her. It sounds like a sensitive topic. So let's just be happy for her second marriage, yeah?"

"Sure," Jungkook answered just to make the process faster since their families were already waiting outside the ballroom.

Jungkook looped his arm around his wife's waist and they both walked out the ballroom where the limo that would take them to the airport was waiting.

From the corner of his eyes, he could see every single family member and friends waving and smiling at them. Some even got the chance to bid them farewell like Y/n's mom who kissed Y/n's cheek right before she got into the car.

"I'll keep in touch, I promise," Jungkook heard Y/n tell her mom.

When the door closed behind them, they both smiled wide at each other while holding hands, eyes meeting one another as if they're trying to remember each other's faces. And then, it was finally time to go.

Part 17: The Realization

"Oh, no. No no no. It can't be." Jungkook kneeled beside Y/n's new yet lifeless body.

He shook, pinched, and even slapped her, trying to wake her up, but of course nothing could wake her up ever again. He had totally lost her forever.

"No way. No," Jungkook cried. He buried his face on Y/n's stomach, not even once caring about the artificial blood that started to stain his clothes. "Y/n, I'm so sorry."

Jungkook could only bear so much in his 80 years of living in the world. He had lost his son too early due to overdosing, failed to upload his mind when he was still alive. He had witnessed it first hand when Y/n's doctor read her diagnosis. He had to accompany Y/n through every single chemos until the point where her body was too weak to leave the hospital altogether. He simply couldn't bear the loss of his dear wife. It was too much even for a man like Jungkook.

Jungkook didn't know how long he had stayed beside Y/n. He didn't even care about his growling stomach or his drying eyes. He could even swear that he had fallen asleep for quite some time. For all he knew, he came back to the lab when the sky was already black and now he could see a sliver of light coming through from the small slits on the wall.

Even though his body was man made, his bones cracked and his joints popped when he stood up from his slouched position on the floor. Jungkook stretched his body, popping more joints, as he stared at what he had done the night before.

Y/n was still pretty much in her previous position, but her arms had moved since Jungkook hugged her the night before. Now her arms were just contorting in an awkward position beside her torso. 

Jungkook cringed at the sight. "I need to get rid of the body," Jungkook said to himself.

He grabbed a shovel from the rack inside the storage room, walked out towards the lab's small backyard, and began digging on the damp soil. Once he deemed that the hole was big enough, he dragged Y/n's old body and new body one by one and dropped them into the hole. All the while, his heart ached and his tears threatened to fall again.

No longer being able to hold back his tears, Jungkook cried while he buried both bodies. Drop of tears fell to the newly piled soil, as if sealing the burial site of his lover.

"I'm sorry, Y/n. I failed at being a good husband and a scientist. I failed you," was the last words he said before he plucked a random flower in the garden and placed it gently on top of Y/n's final resting place.

Done with what he had to do, Jungkook went back inside the lab, brought his important stuff with him, and locked the door. He was finally ready to go home, or rather penthouse, as his home had left him for good.

Part 18: The Diagnosis

The beeping sound that usually annoyed him this time didn’t faze him at all. He was busy calming down his dear wife that was laying down on the hospital bed.

“Babe, I’m scared. What if I only have a few months left?” Y/n gripped his hand tight as if he could disappear if she let go for a split second.

Jungkook himself was also worried about that. He, too, didn’t want to be left alone by his wife. But he was just scared to voice it. He didn’t want to actually jinx it, or worse, made Y/n even more scared than she already was.

In a totally Jungkook-style, he replied, "I've almost finished with my technology. Everything will be okay. We'll be fine." All the while, his wrinkled hand softly caressed Y/n's.

As if on cue, the doctor came into the room while holding a clipboard to his chest. His hair was unruly, Jungkook reckoned he might have shuffled his hair in frustration. That couldn't be a good sign, Jungkook knew that and his mind was already running on the worst possible scenarios.

"How is it, doctor?" Jungkook asked.

"Mrs. Jeon is tested positive for Cervical Cancer."

Jungkook's defenses collapsed as he shouted, "No! There must be something wrong. Y/n is fine. She should be."

His ears were ringing, Y/n was sobbing beside him, and the doctor was looking at both of them sympathetically. The world must be pulling a prank on him. If not, the world must be truly evil for letting this happen to him.

Part 19: The Laboratory

Jungkook couldn't remember where he had kept the keys nor could he remember the name of the road of which his damned laboratory was built upon. And frankly, if it wasn't for motherfucking Jinho who insisted he check on the lab, he didn't care.

After the disaster upon disaster that happened to him, Jungkook wanted nothing to do with his failed project and his late wife. He enjoyed life as if he got a second chance to redo his life. And practically, he did get a second chance.

He clubbed, he got wasted, he tried whatever drugs he could get his hands on, he got high, he did one night stands. He did everything he could to forget his past. He partially succeeded, especially when he was so intoxicated out of his mind, until one morning when Jinho came to his penthouse.

It was just another day where he clubbed until 4 am. He was still peacefully snoring when the intercom beeped, signalling that the security was trying to reach him.

Jungkook stretched his body and moaned loudly, all with eyes shut. The room he was in, the guest room, was reeking of sweat and alcohol. His head pounded and throat was desert dry. The intercom beeped again.

He opened his eyes and took in the situation he was in. Beside him, a woman whose name he didn't care to know was sleeping soundly. Low snores could be heard every time she exhaled. Her unruly hair sprawled across the bed and covered parts of her face.

'Good,' Jungkook thought to himself as he pushed himself up from the bed. He didn't want to see the woman's face just yet. The intercom beeped again.

Huffing, Jungkook walked towards the intercom. "What is it?" he croaked.

"Good morning, is this Professor Jeon?" The familiar voice of the security could be heard from the intercom.

"I'm his grandson. What is it? Make it quick."

"Someone wishes to meet Professor Jeon."

"Who?"

"He said his name is Su Jinho."

Upon hearing his former assistant's name, Jungkook groaned. "Let him up."

Not wanting to suffer the dry throat and headache any longer, Jungkook swallowed some Tylenol and threw himself onto his couch in the living room. He had one more problem that was still laying on his bed, but his energy had already drained.

Lucky for him, not long after he slumped on his couch, the problem walked out the guest room. She only wore a bra and underwear. Her hair didn't look any better than it did sprawled on the bed. And her makeup ran down her face, making her look like she just cried all night.

"Should we get breakfast?" the woman had the audacity to ask him that while rummaging through his fridge.

"No. Get the fuck off. I have a guest coming." Jungkook slowly got up from the couch and pushed the woman out of his kitchen.

The woman pouted at him. "But I haven't eaten anything! And my clothes are gone."

Jungkook shrugged. "Nor have I. And who cares where your clothes are."

Jungkook continued to push the woman closer to his penthouse door as the woman struggled against him.

"Why are you doing this?" the woman asked.

"Doing what?" Jungkook opened the door.

"Taking my innocence. I thought you love me."

Not impressed by her unfunny joke, Jungkook ironically laughed. "Haha, that's funny. I don't do love. It doesn't look good on me."

With a final push, Jungkook pushed the woman and locked the door. She began banging on the door, yelling something along the lines of she was naked and left her phone inside, but Jungkook had more problems to take care of.

"She'll get over it," Jungkook mumbled to himself as he closed the guest room, making a mental note to clean it up after Jinho left.

The doorbell rang, implying someone was waiting outside. Not wanting to accidentally meet the previous woman's wrath, Jungkook peeped through the peephole. Luckily, he was met with a familiar receding hairline of Jinho.

Promptly, Jungkook opened the door and said, “Why are you here?” to the man standing in front of him. His eyes couldn't help but train at the missing ear. Jinho probably never cared to get a prosthetic ear, either that or he wore it proudly as a battle scar.

Instead of answering his question, Jinho walked into his penthouse with another question, "Do you know that crying woman in the hallway?"

"Nope."

Jinho took a seat on the couch. "Do you know you're still in boxers?"

Jungkook slumped beside him. "So?"

"Prof, what happened?" This time, Jinho asked with a tone that Jungkook didn't like. Sympathy.

"Cut the bullshit. You know what happened."

"I know. But this is not you."

Jungkook inhaled deeply before lecturing his former assistant. "Jinho, stop reprimanding me. And stop saying clichés. I hate it. Just say what you're here for and leave."

"I just want to check up on you and the lab."

Jungkook let out a laugh. "The lab? Absolutely not. I'd rather you ask me to destroy it."

"No, prof. I want to check what went wrong."

"Why? It's been years. It's better if you get a prosthetic ear than redoing the experiment."

"I don't want to redo it, I just want to publish it."

Upon hearing what Jinho had said, Jungkook grew intrigued. If it were possible, his ears would probably have gone straighter. "Are you finally getting that Ph.D.?"

"That's why I need to publish an article."

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Jungkook said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Jungkook stood up from the couch at the same time as Jinho said, "Well, are we going?"

"Yeah. But don't get anywhere near the grave."

As promised, once they arrived at the lab, Jinho went straight inside, leaving Jungkook just beside the grave.

The grave looked nightmarish given that Jungkook never bothered to take care of it after he buried Y/n. Weeds grow wildly around and on the grave, making the grave look less like a grave and more like a random bump of dirt.

“Hey, Y/n. Long time no see.”

Out of nowhere, Jungkook felt a sting in his eyes and his eyes watered. This was exactly the reason why he didn’t want to have anything to do with the lab anymore. He was partially fine without the lab and would be better off once he had fully forgotten it.

Jungkook sniffled. “I hope you’re doing well wherever you are, because I’m not.” Jungkook plucked a random pink flower he saw in the small garden and placed it on top of the grave. “Life is shit without you.”

Jungkook looked around his surroundings. Except for the weeds and moss, not much has changed. Things were visibly dusty, but nothing a broom or duster can’t fix. The small garden which was initially Y/n’s idea, now breeds wild ivy almost everywhere. Jungkook snorted at the sight. Both the garden and him weren’t so much different after all. They both came worse off without Y/n tending to them.

Not wanting to ruin the moment by staying gloomy, Jungkook stood up from his crouching position and followed Jinho inside.

Inside was not much different. Dust was everywhere, but Jinho managed to clean two stools and a desk in which he sat at one. Jungkook walked closer and sat on the other chair.

“What did you find?” he asked as Jinho shoved a notebook to his hand.

“Why are you giving me this?” Jungkook fumbled with the book. It was still dirty despite Jinho’s visible attempt to clean it. The leather cover was worn and scratched in places, the pages were turning yellow. Inside, Y/n’s familiar neat writings could be seen but just on the first page. Jungkook wondered why and what did Y/n write there but he kept it to himself. It was something he should figure out himself.

“It’s Y/n’s, I reckon. You might want to have it.”

“Thanks.” He closed the book and put it on the table. “Did you find anything else?”

“Yes.” The answer was short but brooding with something Jungkook couldn’t put his finger on.

“What is it?”

Without words, Jinho pointed to a text on the monitor. On it written in red with big bold font the word ‘ERROR’.

“If my calculations are correct, the transfer failed because of the error. And we didn’t notice that because we deliberately ignored the error signals.”

Part 20: The Notebook

Hello, Jungkook baby,

I’m not sure whether you’ll read this or not, but I still want to write to you something. I’m writing here moments after you visited me and showed me your new body. I can’t express how happy I am to see that your experiment finally came to fruition. There’s nothing better than seeing young Jungkook again before my death. That is if I really am going to die. If not, I will probably get rid of this book. So now that you’re reading this means that I’m no longer with you. But don’t worry, don’t be sad, nor be disappointed in yourself. I know you feel like a failure every time someone close to you passes away, but don’t feel the same when it’s my turn.

I know I won’t live forever and I intend to keep it that way even though your technology might have defied the laws of nature. Life has done some good things to me like letting me marry you, letting me have our son, and even seeing young Jungkook again. I’m so grateful that I have made many beautiful memories with you that I often replay here on the hospital bed when you’re not here with me. And I want you to do just the same.

Let go of all sadness and disappointment and just remember me in your daydreams. Live your unlimited life as best as possible for this is your second shot at life. And if you fall in love with another woman, be with her. Shower her with love the same way you did with me. Because, your second life is for you and her to enjoy, not mine.

Both our first lives had been spent with one another and I want to keep it that way. So, Jungkook baby, be well and live your life. I’ll always love you.

Yours always,

Y/n

[Taglist]

@lyoongx @jjddk @babeejeon @thehopelessromanticclub @okvmv @rg2108 @idkhieveryoneig @misshale21 @dna-black-and-blue @chimggukk @lovingkoalaface @yok00k @bamieeee03 @ihatesnakeu7 @lovelyyylunaa222 @134340-kr @cherricherry @jeonzll @loomipee @haru-jiminn @kissforyouu @mageprincess7 @lachimolalajeon @sglossmin @jjk174 @looneyblues @junecat18 @futuristicenemychaos @aindrila7 @reallygenerouskoala

[deathbypixelz]

Alright. I'm making this post because I was unpleasantly surprised to find Microsoft had forcibly downloaded an """"ai assistant"""" onto my computer (called Copilot), and because finding a site that actually told me how to kill it for good -- in clear, truly step-by-step terms -- was way harder than it needed to be.

Preface: this is only relevant if you're running Windows 11.

Here is your target:

If you see this logo on your taskbar -- or... have Edge installed on Windows 11 -- you've got Copilot. You can't delete it on its own, Microsoft has integrated it into the OS as best they can. The most you can do is disable it (instructions for which are at the very end of this post).

So... to REALLY get rid of it you need to uninstall Microsoft Edge, because it's a part of/reliant on Edge. A lot of bells and whistles of Windows are also reliant on Edge, like widgets, but I never use those. I use my PC almost exclusively for gaming, and I don't want this slimy "ai" shit on my computer. I use Firefox anyway. Edge can go die as far as I'm concerned.

Here's the actual steps, copy-pasted from a website that took me way too long to find. It also really makes my browser chug for some reason, which is why I'm copy-pasting the whole thing. If you still want to look at the site itself, put it in reader view as fast as you can (link to site).

1.) Open Microsoft Edge, type "edge://settings/help" in the address bar, and then press Enter.

2.) Click "About Microsoft Edge" at the bottom of the left-hand pane. Copy the version number at the top of the screen, under Microsoft Edge.

3.) Press Windows Key + S to open Windows Search.

4.) Type "Command Prompt", right-click the result, and then select "Run as Administrator".

5.) The User Account Control (UAC) prompt will appear. Click "Yes".

6.) Navigate to Edge’s “Installer” directory by using the cd command. Depending on which directory your Command Prompt opens in by default, you may need to use the "cd .." command to go back a level or two.

Once ready, run this command:

cd “Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\Version Number\Installer”

Replace "Version Number" with your actual version number copied earlier.

7.) Next, run this command to uninstall Microsoft Edge:

setup –uninstall –force-uninstall –system-level

((It will look like nothing happened! Don't worry!))

8.) Restart your PC for the changes to take place.

((HOWEVER, Windows will try to reinstall it the next time your PC updates (or whenever it feels like it lol) so there's a second half to this))

1.) Press Windows Key + R to open Run.

2.) Type "regedit" in the text box and click OK to open the Registry Editor.

3.) The User Account Control (UAC) prompt will appear. Click "Yes".

4.) In the Registry Editor, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINES\SOFTWARE\Microsoft.

5.) Right-click the "Microsoft" folder, hover your cursor over "New", and then select "Key".

6.) Rename the new Key to "EdgeUpdate".

7.) Right-click EdgeUpdate, hover your cursor over "New", and then select "DWORD (32-bit) Value".

8.) Right-click the new value, which is currently named "New Value #1".

9.) Select "Rename" from the context menu.

10.) Rename the value to "DoNotUpdateToEdgeWithChromium".

11.) Right-click the newly-named DoNotUpdateToEdgeWithChromium value and select "Modify" from the context menu.

12.) The Edit DWORD (32-bit) Value window will appear. Change the Value data to "1" and then click OK.

((You are now free. If you ever run into a really serious, unavoidable issue with your OS that's clearly a result of Edge being gone, you can redownload it like a regular app. But you should be fine.))

((And, if for some reason you want still want Edge around but just want the copilot thing gone, here's what you do:

The command, for ease of copy-pasting: reg add HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsCopilot /v TurnOffWindowsCopilot /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

You can't actually truly delete Copilot (without deleting Edge), only disable it. And as the reply says, you do have to do this every time you turn the computer on. I haven't tested that myself, but I believe it. I assume/hope that excludes just waking the computer up after it goes to sleep, but I don't know for sure.))

[atwas-meme-ing]

HEY ALL!!! If you haven't heard, Unity is gonna start charging devs 20 cents per download. Not per sale, but PER DOWNLOAD. This applies to not only big-name games like Hollow Knight and Ori, but also smaller projects that might be free. This includes mobile games made with Unity, Undertale fan games like Undertale Yellow and Deltatraveler, and also, get this: Murder of Sonic! It was made in Unity, and so far, it's still free, but Sega's gonna hafta start charging for it sooner or later- IF they don't decide to take it down completely.

So, on this note, I have 2 things to say:

Get your favorite games NOW. Some devs, like Team Cherry, are talking about "taking their games down" (so much for Silksong- thanks A LOT, Unity!!!). I don't know if that means you'll still be able to play these games- like on Steam, for instance- if you already have them downloaded.

Please, please, PLEASE, support those games that are made with Unity. 20 cents adds up when there's a million downloads, and if it's like a mobile game, where people don't necessarily have to pay for it, that's going to COST the devs money- a LOT of money. I know we all hate the paywalls and "pay-to-win" schemes in mobile games, but let's be real- crap like this Unity thing are the whole reason those paywalls exist! These devs aren't doing this for free, they're trying to make a living! Even if you only spend $1, only 1 time, that is STILL going to be an 80 cent profit over the new Unity costs, and maybe, just maybe, give some game devs enough incentive to keep the game around.

I know Unity has a bad rep because it's easy to use and allows devs to release games that control poorly because you don't have to be good at coding to do it (*cough* Guardian of Lore *cough*). That's why I haven't used Unity, despite having several game ideas in my head, because I don't know how to code (yet), and I didn't want to release a game like that- and now I never will use Unity. But games like all the ones I've mentioned are proof that Unity CAN be used for good games, in the right hands. So please, if you love a game made with Unity, please support it, so the game doesn't go away. Don't send the devs into bankruptcy just because Unity is a money-grubbing so-and-so.

(Oh, I should also mention, for browser-based games, apparently this "per download" thing also includes "per BROWSER REFRESH". So, yeah, please don't blame the devs, support the devs and blame Unity.)

EDIT: It's not quite as bad as I'd thought. I knew Unity had a threshold, but I thought it was an either/or thing- either a certain number of downloads, or a certain amount of money made from a game. And, it's not, it's both.

So free games (like Murder of Sonic) apparently won't be affected.

Here's their pricing schedule once the threshold is met:

It still adds up for the smaller projects, with Unity taking all or most of the revenue from smaller games.

And one thing that's still bothering me: the install threshold is "life to date" and Unity is charging per install over the threshold. So, if a game's been around for years and had a million downloads and has made 200,000 dollars in the last year, they're gonna end up paying that 200,000 all at once.

At least, that's what I'm reading.

So, ok, I was wrong. Free projects won't be affected. But this is still awful, especially when it's first starting out.

EDIT 2 (2023-09-23): They've lessened the fees:

I'm still not using them. They never had a good reputation- I mean, there's good Unity games, but there's also a lot of bad ones because people can just release games with Unity with no coding experience. I want to make games someday, but I want them to be a good quality, so I'm waiting until I can actually figure out C++ (heck, I'm still wading through HTML, I'm nowhere near real programming languages). As long as I have to learn coding to make something good, I might as well find an engine that I can trust. I hear a lot about Godot. I also think I'll want to look at Monogame, because Monogame was used to make Axiom Verge and Celeste, and it's apparently based on the defunct XNA that was used to make Stardew Valley. Or I'll find something else. But not Unity. I just don't trust them.

[azuhrasims]

A Very Basic How to Edit a Screenshot Tutorial

I had a request by PeachPlumbobs on Bluesky about how I edit my moodlets and use them on my Sims 4 screenshots. I used this as an opportunity to brush up a little on my Photopea skills to offer a free solution to anyone editing their sims screenshots. This is a quick and dirty tutorial. There are SO MANY MORE THINGS you can do with Photopea. Its basically a free to use, browser based, Photoshop. If you've ever worked with Photoshop, you will be comfortable here.

To follow along with this tutorial you need:

A screenshot of a moodlet and a screenshot you want to put it on top of.

Open Photopea in your browser

** I play and edit on a PC. Any keyboard shortcuts I mention are for PC.

First, we're going to open Photopea. It really is browser based. You don't need to download a thing to your computer. For this basic edit tutorial, I dragged and dropped a screenshot with a moodlet and a screenshot I wanted it overlayed on.

Notice how Photopea will open each image as its own tab. That's good. The question I was asked was how I edit and add moodlets. Personally, I use exactly what the game gives me. I'm going to show you how to cut them out with rounded corners here.

*To make your life easier, feel free to use the magnifier glass tool on the left to make the area you are working on bigger. If you need to move the whole image around, use the hand selection tool on the left side.

On the left side with the tools, you will find a button for shapes, click the rectangle one. On the top bar, just below the "Edit" button, you will see a drop down box that lets you change this from a shape to a path. Make it a path. On that same bar you will see an option to edit the corner radius. I changed it to 5px.

Use this path drawing tool to draw a rectangle over the part of the moodlet you want to see. I cut out the time remaining on the moodlet when I do this. I also cut out the icon - that's optional of course!

Once you have your path drawn, look to the right side of the screen. Over there, you want to switch it from layer view to Paths. After that, on the bottom of the right side is a button that lets you make that path into a selection. Switch the view on the right side back form Paths to Layers. Use the Arrow tool on the left side and click the center of your selection to make sure it is active.

On PC, you can use the keyboard short cut "Ctrl C" to copy the selection. Or, you can go to the top and click "Edit - Copy"

Switch tabs to the image you want to place the moodlet on. The PC keyboard shortcut is "Ctrl V" to place your copied selection on a new layer of this file. Or, you can click, "Edit - Paste"

Again, this is how I edit my moodlets and you don't have to do the same thing if you don't want to! Once my moodlet is placed as a new layer, I use the square selection tool on the left side to create a box around the moodlet icon. I then use the arrow tool to move the icon on top of the moodlet box with the text. Once completed, go to the top and press "Select - Deselect"

How to add that nifty translucent outline around the moodlet. Make sure you are on the layer your moodlet is on! Go to the bottom right and click the button labeled, "eff." Go up the pop-up list until you get to "Stroke." Click on that and a layer style box will pop up. For this example, I set the width to 10px, the opacity to 40%, and the color to white. There you go, you've given that moodlet a little pop!

This is a quick tutorial, but I'd be remiss if I didn't follow through with the rest of the image editing process here. I know I plan to make this image a square when I save it, so I moved my moodlet over where the square would be. Using the rectangle select tool, you can press "Shift" while dragging the rectangle out and you will get a perfect square. Once you are happy with your selection, go to the top bar, and click "Image - Crop"

Now that I know the size of my image that I plan to post, I can adjust the size of the moodlet. Again, make sure you are on the layer with the moodlet when you try to do this! Go to the top bar and click, "Edit - Free Transform"

Free Transform is a lot of fun. You can make the moodlet larger, smaller, or rotate it! If you hold down the "Alt" button while resizing, the moodlet will keep it original aspect ratio as well. Once you are happy with the size and rotation of the moodlet, click the arrow tool on the left to exit Free Transform mode.

This screenshot was taken at night and is very dark. There is a very easy and quick way to make it a little brighter. Click the layer with your screenshot. By doing this first, the following edits to brightness will not affect the Moodlet layer. From the screenshot layer, go to the bottom right and click the half and half circle button. From the drop down list, click "Levels"

Levels brings up a bar graph looking screen. On the left is darks, on the right is lights, in the middle is midtones. Pull the slider button just below the bar graph around until you find a happy level of darks and lights. In this case, I played more with the midtones. This is a quick and dirty adjustment method! there are so many other ways to do this! But, if I'm in a hurry, I go straight to levels to adjust my screenshots.

Finally, save your final product! In my case, I'm going to file and exporting it as a .jpg or a .png. If you save it as a .PSD, you can open it and work on it again in the future if that's something you want to do. When I export the save as a PNG or JPG - it automatically saved it to my downloads folder.

There you go! One quick Photopea to edit your sims screenshots tutorial!

Have fun.

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High Junior Year Ep 10

Maximum Loser

Welcome back to Fantasy High where the Abernant sisters are having sandwiches in front of the burnt ruins of their old mansion. You know, normal sibling activities! As we learned last week, Aelwyn is working for Kipperlilly (Adaine calls her Cottoncandy Bitchfuck which is one of my faves just for the levels of obvious disdain and degrees of separation from the original name) and Adaine wants all the info ASAP. Here is a rundown of what Aelwyn tells her (along with speculation on my part):

KP seems to be loaded in a way that isn’t connected to her parents' jobs (Dad is a realtor and mom is a clerk for the treasurer’s office). [Could she possibly be getting the money from her party member with a rich dragon ancestor? And could she be using her mom’s government job to get inside info somehow?]

KP has been employing Aelwyn as her “arcane errand girl”. She’s basically been getting her magical contraband which Aelwyn figures are spell components. Adaine asks why their party wizard Oisin can’t just do it and Aelwyn says that KP was very adamant about him being “protected”. [Does that mean protected as in not in trouble so he doesn’t get expelled and mess up their party comp or protected as in “I don’t want him to know what I’m doing because he wouldn’t approve”?]

KP never had Aelwyn steal a cloud rider engine for her but she did have Aelwyn download schematics for one which she thinks was so that it would be on her browser history not KP’s. [Aelwyn, do NOT get framed for this girl’s crimes I’m BEGGING you.]

Similarly, KP never texts Aelwyn any info. They always talk in person so she keeps clean at least on paper. 

There are two specific things that Aelwyn had to procure that were kind of hard to find because they’re more divine than arcane: Devil’s Nectar and Ambrosia. [We don’t learn what the properties of those are exactly but they seem pretty clearly to be the divine and infernal versions of the same thing. Maybe they can make a god or a devil? Sounds like it’s part of the resurrection plan–or maybe they want to raise a new god?]

Anyway, Aelwyn promises to shoot Adaine a text the next time KP reaches out to her so she can spy via scrying (I'm reminded of Spy, Tongue, Curse again). She also shows Adaine her tiny apartment full of senior cats and microwave dinner trays that’s sorely in need of a deep clean. Adaine invites her to swing by Mordred to get her laundry done and maybe hang out and Aelwyn seems tentatively receptive, even though the aggressive positivity of the house and its residents (who she does ultimately care about) majorly grates on her. 

[Also! Not plot relevant but their relationship progress is in full swing with open “I love yous”, only slightly undercut “I believe in yous”, and kisses blown as they say goodbye. I’m trying to be super streamlined with this recap so I can get it finished on time but I had to at least quickly mention how delighted I was by this scene which I have watched so many times. They’re doing it! Sisters!]

We next cut over to Riz who is in the car with his mom and he’s so so so over this whole semester. He keeps talking about everything that’s going on with the bored, anxious, almost whiny, but mostly resigned tone that makes her pull over and force him into a nap. Here are the mystery relevant bits of their conversation pre and post nap:

Sklonda’s case was defending a married firbolg couple–Alonso and Hespia Loam. Frosty Faire was supposed to be held at their farm but then they were accused of embezzling and the event pulled. [Firblog are giant-kin if that matters.]

They maintained their innocence and Sklonda believed them. The case was actually going to be a slam dunk because they found forgeries and docs submitted on their behalf. But then they got murdered so the case was over. [Forgeries and docs submitted on their behalf reminds me of Lucy’s god change form.]

Sklonda thought this case was strange because there’s no financial incentive to frame the loams. [Sounds like the motive could have been just moving the festival to a different location to me.]

The reason they were under suspicion was that amounts of money matching what was embezzled from Frosty Faire were deposited into the Loams' account but Sklonda was able to show that that was all bogus and that the Loams didn’t even use online banking and that a Bastion City VPN was involved. But again, before they could track that down beyond “somewhere in Solace” it got shut down due to the murders (which the cops are now investigating btw but this is a Brennan story so how useful will they really be? [This is also giving me KP vibes but in fairness, that girl is just suspicious.]

Lola Embers is the one who recommended the move from Loam Farms to the Thistlespring Tree. [A possible Ruben request since he’s her client?]

Riz also tells Sklonda all about what’s going on with the demon stuff and the Lucy stuff and the campaign stuff. Sklonda is concerned about the demon stuff but she’s honestly more concerned about Riz breaking his back and losing sleep over Kristen’s campaign. She’s very fired up and a bit incredulous that he’d work so hard for his friends who, from her POV, are always slightly bullying him (“Your name isn’t The Ball. It’s Riz!”). And, while she’s on it, he would be a great candidate himself! Riz assures her that their dynamic is fine and then worries her again right away by saying he’s absolutely gonna check out the crime scene. She sighs deeply and says they can check it out together because she knows she’s not talking her son out of it. (She also says she’ll try and get some info from her old co-workers but again, cops in a Brennan world so we’ll see how useful they are.)

Post Grix exploding, Jace hosts an impromptu assembly: Things are bad y’all! With Aguefort gone and Grix blown up (not to mention Yolanda dead), they’re getting to the point where it’s not clear that the school will be able to continue functioning. 

The whole cleric track is going pass/fail which none of the Rat Grinders seem to have strong reactions to (Ruben smirks and Buddy looks confused, but the rest look bored or unfazed). This news especially sucks for Freshmen and Sophomores who won’t be able to take the Last Stand exam Porter mentioned in an earlier episode. Some upperclassmen who maybe weren’t doing so hot (like Max and his party) look kinda stoked. Fig does insight on Jace and her roll is low (5) but he seems like he’s sincerely stressed about this unforeseen situation. 

Post assembly, Hilariel calls Fig (after 18 missed calls to Fabin’s phone which is on Do Not Disturb) to invite everyone over to spend The Lunar Yulenear (fantasy Christmas) with them (and also inform her that Gilear’s string of good luck is still going strong. He cracked his back while limboing and grained 2 inches in height!). Fig turns that into invites for everyone at Mordred (including Aelwyn who is a wanted criminal in Falinel and Sandra-Lynn who is Gilear’s unfaithful ex–wild crew). Fabian wants the chance to talk to his mom but by the time Fig hands over the phone, she’s already hung up. 

Riz fills everyone in on the Loam Farms situation and Gorgug worries that the soil at his house is corrupted now. Adaine reminds everyone that Fig is still super cursed and they should probably start looking into that soon. Kristen and Fig get naked for no reason so we’re gonna move on from that to Fabian getting a text from Mazey. Apparently she's just gotten some big news and she doesn’t know exactly who to talk to. He rushes away from his naked friends as quickly as he can (so valid) and goes to meet up with her. (While he’s en route, Riz wonders if the RG’s killed rats were being killed sacrificially and Fig wonders if Lucky FROSTblade had anything to do with the FROSTyfolk festival). 

Fabian meets up with Mazey who congratulates him for killing Grix since he mega-sucked and was shooting nets at kids. Then, she says that she knows that Fabian and his party have kinda always had the school’s back over the past few years and she trusts him which is why she’s telling him what she’s about to say. Remember how anything Aguefort says, even as a bit, is canon? Well, apparently he said once in an email that if there’s no principal then the school becomes a democracy and the student body president becomes principal. Fabian is baffled: surely the vice principal would become principal, right? But no. The system is set up so that there’s always one all powerful principal and one VP who is supposed to be Kalvaxus (remember, he was supposed to be imprisoned there forever). So she’d have to take classes (has to be a student enrolled in good faith) AND be principal and she doesn’t feel like she can do it. Fabian is awkward but encouraging and says he’ll do his best to help her and ask his friends for advice. When he does, Riz right away is like, "They’re gonna kill her, dude,” so Fabian rushes back and invites (practically begs) Mazey over after school so he can keep an eye on her. 

Once school is out, Fig does her bodyguard thing and secretly trails Mazey so she gets to Seacaster Manor safely. Once she’s there, she and Fabian have a bit of an awkward beat and then Mazey, who has clearly misread the situation, tries to make out with him. Fabian pulls back which makes Mazey confused and embarrassed. Fabian really quickly tries to reassure her that it’s not that he didn’t wanna kiss her. He’s just not in that mode right now and she’s in danger and they’re trying to kill her. She has NO idea what he’s talking about so he Facetimes Riz and the Mordred crew to explain. Mazey says that killing her wouldn’t make the killer the new Principal–it’s not Pokemon Champion rules. But Riz says that every person who’s had the top spot has been sidelined or killed so it’s safer to be careful. Maybe killing her would prompt an early election and whoever wins will be promoted early. She asks if this suspicion is just because they hate the Rat Grinders and Riz says that they have good reasons to be suspicious. They are all outraged though when Mazey says that the Ratgrinders famously hate them and have since Freshman year. [Hilarious that they were apparently publicly seething and haven’t been on the BK’s radar at all.]

Anyway, Mazey says she appreciates the concern but rushes to leave, embarrassed. Fabian tries to salvage the awkward encounter and tell Mazey that his reaction was about how stressed and worried he is, not about how he feels about her and Mazey seems genuinely concerned about him. Like, as a person. Is he eating? Is he sleeping? Is he being cared for in this big empty house? Fabian musters some bravado about how he’s a legend and the legend continues but it’s mixed in with some super obvious red flags about making his house a place people want to come to so he won’t be alone. Mazey says she’d still want to hang with him even if he wasn’t a Maximum Legend and then leaves to his cavernous, home, solo. 

Back to Adaine! Her next big roll is Mystery and she wants to learn about the giants and their gods. She uses a portent to get a 27 (which she needs because clues cost more right now) and here’s what she learns:

So first off, Ruvina is a Seasonal god (Winter) vs Sol, Helio, Cass, and Galicaea who are Celestial gods (Sun, Moon).

A bridal gift would only be given to the spouse of a sibling so that means that the missing dead god is Ruvina’s sibling. Brennan specifically mentions how hard/weird/complicated it would be to be prevented by Oblivati Mori from speaking of a spouse or sibling. 

There’s no mention of the missing god but there are mentions of the OTHER seasonal gods so Adaine can determine by process of elimination that the missing god is the summer one. 

She wonders if Sol or Helio stole the summer domain since they’re sun gods but Brennan said if they did, it wasn’t in one violent act. There’s no obvious crusade or anything like that. 

There is a certain point where “Sun” starts being capitalized like a name (like how in the Bible God is He not he). 

The bridal gift is only mentioned in early texts, not recent ones. Recent texts have a lot of mentions of fire. 

She doesn’t find any text concerning the gods followers. She does however find text that says “Beware the blades of the red fire”. These seem to be connected to the shatter star rage crystals but there's no clear timeline of them showing up once the god died. It seems like they existed at the same time. 

So, a lot of info but no big Aha! moment yet. 

She rolls Work for her third track and fails so she takes a stress token (up to three now). She only rolls well enough to not get fired (which, girl, just get fired! Make money another way! Ask your newly caring sister for some funds and don’t ask where she got them!). 

Lastly she rolls to relax but fails (been there girl) and has a deeply unsatisfying massage given to her by Lydia. 

Kristen is up next and her first roll is Popularity (makes sense) on the middle schoolers (you lost me). In fairness to Ally, there is method to their madness. They said in the Adventuring Party that the idea was that the school is across the street from where the bodies were found so maybe they could do some recon. Still, on the face of it, bonkers plan and Riz is low key wondering if his mom was right about them picking the wrong candidate. Anyway, she passes and now has advantage on charming any new middle schooler she meets lol. Brennan also makes her roll Perception and on a 14 gives her nothing. Ominous! 

The second thing she’s interested in is Relationships and she wants to talk to Lydia and also Buddy. With Lydia, she wants to know if there’s a way for them to talk to Bakur. Lydia says that Bakur is conscious and aware but she can’t talk to him because it would compromise the security of his gem prison. However, if they come up with a safe way to talk to him she’s game to participate, especially since she’ll def be a target if stuff with Bakur’s god is going down. Lydia also mentions that it seems like Cass might have been especially vulnerable in the Astral Food Court which makes Kristen even more suspicious of Kalina than she already was since she was the one who suggested that plan in the first place. 

Riz does Detect Evil on Lydia with his necktie so he can recognize Bakur’s magical aura on anyone else in the future and Brennan says that will also give him the ability to recognize anyone connected to Bakur’s god in the future. (Riz also says he wants to do the same on a Helioic cleric and the moon, presumably for the same reason but he doesn’t explicitly get to it this session). 

They then check on Fig to try to figure out what the heck her deal is and they find a lot lol. There are four main things happening with her aura. The strongest is the anarchy sigil on her forehead that marks her as the Archdevil of Rebellion. The second is her burgeoning paladin rage aura which matches Lydia's but seems more fiery and is also unaligned. The third is her warlock mojo which is unaligned as well. And the fourth is the lemony yellow aura of her curse. Her being a tiefling doesn’t even crack the top five of what’s going on with her apparently! 

Anyway, on to her second relationship thing–Buddy. Kristen finds him putting a Rat Grinders sticker on her locker which she peels off, clearly annoyed. There are three main important parts of that conversation which are as follows:

Kristen asks if there’s any rage talk happening at the Helioic church right now and Buddy says that Sol is angry–lots of people left the church during the months of night situation which makes sense. Worshiping the sun god during eternal night feels like a losing proposition. 

Buddy thinks it would be a great idea for his grandpa–Helioic evangelist Bobby Dawn–to become the new Cleric teacher to save everyone from going Pass/Fail. Kristen thinks that sounds like a nightmare and I have to agree. Buddy says that it’s fine because the cleric teacher has to worship *some* god, right? Might as well be Helio. But we know that’s untrue because Yolanda gave up her active connection with a specific divinity in order to minister effectively to her whole class. And I can’t imagine whoever raised Buddy would make a fair teacher who’s welcoming to all faiths. 

Buddy wants to “take Kristen into counsel” about her brother who he thinks is going down a dangerous path as he’s being exposed to various worldly elements at Aguefort. I have no idea what Buddy considers a dangerous path–for all we know Bucky is actually fully fine and coming into his own. Buddy offers to take Bucky under his wing and Kristen casually but very firmly says, “I’ll never let you do that.” [She really should check on him though, just in general.]

They close the conversation off with some faux cheerful/polite sniping about how Kristen’s god died again (point Buddy) that ends with Kristen saying that Cass will come back again as opposed to Helio who only came back once (point Kristen!). [She also tells Buddy, as she’s wont to do, that she met Helio and thought he was a total frat boy loser–just mentioning it in case it comes up again. He seems pretty sure that Kristen will come around though. Tres prodigal son.] 

Fig’s turn! She aces her Paladin, Bard, and Warlock classes–A+ across the board. [She gets to roll her Bard class at a DC 5 even though it’s her second track for reasons Brennan doesn’t tell us. We also learn that Lucilla Lullaby is now on sabbatical after her conversation with Fig. Girl, go to therapy.]

Anyway, Fig is working with Porter and Zara and they want to talk to her. She’ll have to pick her pact soon and though she’s doing really well, they’re not quite buying that her powers are coming from her deviation to Cass or doubt. Porter recognizes that protective, German Shepherd energy in her and when Fig floats rage (protective rage) as what’s motivating her, he has a positive reaction. Him jumping on the rage thing would already be a little suspicious but the next thing he says is, "If there was some other power like that that you knew could support Cassandra, [and] was connected to your friend Kristen, maybe that's a worthwhile thing to explore.” And I very much want to know if that’s a Porter nudge or a Brennan nudge because that really sounds like he’s hinting towards Cass’s sibling. Incidentally, Porter is an Oath of Ancestors paladin and an earth gensai since we’re keeping track of affiliations. 

For her next track, Fig wants to roll Mustery and ooh boy, Nat 20!

Here’s her bonkers/genius plan: She disguises herself as Wanda and boards a bus she knows Ruben will be on from all her recon. Adaine casts Nystul's Magic Aura on her to make sure that any detection spells will ping as whatever they want them to and not Fig. When Ruben boards the bus, she says that when she made a hasty exit after the festival she was breaking up with her boyfriend and when he asks what music she’s listening to, she shows him a fake episode of the Complicated Women Podcast about Lucy Frostblade. Ruben is instantly rattled and starts looking for the podcast but “Wanda” says it was an early release episode she got because she knows the producers. She lies and says they’re talking bout how they found Lucy’s body and Ruben says he used to be in a party with her. When Fig asks what she was like, Ruben speaks positively of her. She says she was noble and stuck to her guns. He’s really itching to get more info about the podcast and Fig says that she’ll send him the MP3 if he gives her an email. Ruben gives her Lola’s email (They have SOL instead of AOL in Solace) and his cell and then Fig Dimension Doors away, mysterious as ever. 

For her final action, she tries to roll Relationships for Riz but she doesn’t roll high enough to catch him with how busy he is. She still leaves him a nice note and signs it from Gorgug. In response to that, Riz sends back a very long, gushy text that’s so grateful for the check in. Gorgug has no idea what he’s talking about but returns the gesture by making him an Artificer Infusion: A Medal of Wit which gives advantage on Int checks and throws for an hour (one time use). Cute all around!

Let’s close out the episode with Fabian. Popularity: 29. He’s maxed out the track. Any stranger he meets at Aguefort is charmed by him for a minute. He gets a neck tattoo that says Maximum Legend. For Mystery, he wants to check in with his dad to ask about Hell/Curse stuff (but he clearly mostly just wants to hear from his dad). He fails and takes a stress to succeed with the help of the AV Club. Skrank and Shellford help him set up a little broadcasting booth that can reach the Nine Hells assuming Bill has the correct equipment. He tries to broadcast and the equipment is working correctly but Brennan rolls a 3 in front of the board so he gets no response. He speaks into the void about how he’s a Maximum Legend while in his house, utterly alone. 

He rolls for Fighter: B. He rolls for Owlbears. Fail. He rolls for Bard–the DC is 25 and he gets a 24. He’s at four stress so the next token will be a rage token. The table persuades him to take Fig’s cursed Bardic instead. He gets a single point which gets him to the 25 which is a D. Then Brennan gives him a Con save. He fails. Brennan says that, with that fail, he loses control of an important bodily function. He gets to choose which one it is and in front of who like a nasty game of Clue and…look. I’m gonna try and say this as delicately as possible but Lou is not making this easy for me. Lou’s decision is that he will lose control of his bowels in the middle of bard class. That’s as far into it as I’m gonna go–if you want the gritty details you’ll have to get them from the man himself. 

Terpsicore, his teacher, is very supportive and kind about it, but one of his classmates, Quincy, takes his lute and breaks it, calls Fabian a Maximum Loser, and quits Aguefort on the spot. He headbutts the door, making his head bleed, and says, “I fucking hate this school!” 

Which, on the one hand, valid sentiment to the latest bout of (almost literal in this instance) Aguefort bullshit. But headbutting the door to the point that he’s bleeding? Sounds a little bit like rage star effects to me. Is it connected? Or was this just the last shitty straw for Quincy? We’ll have to tune in next time to find out!

Honor Roll

Fig for Her Clutch Investigation Skills

Fig has honestly been killing it just in general lately. A pluses across the board? What a GPA jump! But I have to particularly commend her for skillfully keeping Ruben on the hook the way she has. This is maybe her most perfect ratio of bit to plan so far. It’s so funny but also going so well. And that Nat 20? Chef’s Kiss. 

Detention 

Lou (the player) for Describing [REDACTED]in Graphic Detail

I don’t care if Quincy was affected by the rage star or not. He was right. That *was* nasty. 

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

ARIIIII HI HELLO HEY !!! i got a bit busy (i hate assessments) but I'm back and I will soon read all the things I added to my tbr that you posted !! soooo excited hehe :3 I wanted to ask how you guys are playing phanpara.... i also want to see all the fun stuff and play.. ☹☹ manifesting the banners for you so you get them easily <333 - ❄ anon

❄️ ANON MY LOVE !! welcome back!!!! :3 i hope your assessments went well…. i’m proud of you for working hard 🫂🫂🫂 AND PLS don’t feel any pressure w the tbr, my fics will always be here when you have the time !!! <3333

BUT YES . phanpara ….. i’m not gonna lie to you anon getting it downloaded on ios was a whole trial of will but 😭😭 it’s actually. fairly simple. it’s easier on android (you just need to download a bunch of apps to emulate it!!) but on ios you need to manually change your appstore region to japan. and then download a vpn app. the biggest downside w ios is that there aren’t really any good translator apps!! :(( on android you can get bubble translate which lets you translate on screen text really easily…. but you won’t get anything like that on ios. so you won’t understand what the characters are saying (unless you take screenshots and throw them into an image translator)….

buuut if you’re still fine with that!! (assuming you have ios and not android)…. then i’ll leave the instructions down below :33 i’ll try to make them as clear as possible but just ask if you have any more questions!! i’d love to help!!! phanpara is sm fun…

ok so . here are all the steps !!

1) make a new appstore account!!

this step is easy :3 … i don’t. remember how i did it tho. pretty sure you just go to the appstore browser page?? or something.., and then you obv just need to add a name and a functional email address!

when you’ve made a new account, make sure that your ios is logged into it . just go to settings -> click your profile -> click on the appstore icon -> log out from your usual account and log in on the new one!! then you just need to press ”show account” to go to the next step.

2) change your region to japan!!

this is the complicated step. it’s not really that complicated though it just took me a while to figure it out 😭😭 you can use this site for reference if my descriptions confuse you lol

when you try to change your region to japan, you’ll be forced to add your name and your address. you can use your normal name (assuming it’s made up of english letters), but you’ll need to generate a jp address!! it’s actually kinda easy. this is the website i used!! it lists all the information you need in the correct order, so just . copy and paste into the settings . (i believe you’ll need to choose the prefecture manually, so just look at the prefecture name on the website and match it with the options ios gives you!!) street name, prefecture, city, zip code, phone number… etcetc. this may or may not be an illegal process but if you’re a gacha enjoyer i’m assuming you like living life on the edge.

you’ll also get the option to add a payment method, but you should be able to skip it by choosing the option at the bottom. this is important because otherwise it won’t let you change your region (unless you happen to have a japanese credit card hanging around)….

when you’ve entered all the necessary information, click the blue text in the top right corner to move on!! if you’ve done everything correctly you should be taken to the jp appstore :3

3) download phanpara + ovpnspider!!

now you’re almost done!!! downloading phanpara should be easy, just search for it in the appstore and. well. download it. when i did this i had to click through some ios popup page..??? but just . click your way through it. trial and error. until it lets you download the app <33

while phanpara is loading, download ovpnspider!! this one is super easy and doesn’t take up much space at all. when it’s finished downloading, just go into the app, go to the ”jp” folder and connect to one of the vpns!! the status has to be ”alive”, but any of them should work :3

4) play phanpara !!

now you should be good to go <33 the only issue is that the vpn can be a little difficult sometimes. phanpara might take a bit to load, and throw you out if the vpn disconnects, but as long as you just exit the app and change the vpn there shouldn’t be any issues. could be a little bothersome sometimes but you get used to it quickly!! just make sure that you’re connected to a vpn, enter phanpara, and play :33 for me it takes up roughly 5gbs of space, so make sure your phone can handle it!!

aaaaand that’s it <333 i’m sorry if this is just. gibberish 😭😭 or if i’m making it sound more complicated than it is …. and pls let me know if it works for you!!! i’d love to be friends in game if you make an account :33 then you’ll be able to use my gojo in battle … hehehe ……..

[officialhunterthefox]

I am not gonna Pin this since I have my intro pinned so yall can reblog this a bunch of times if y’want

(If there are spelling mistakes its due to me typing so fast)😭

LEMME GIVE SOME BACKSTORY INTO VIRUSKILLER! KINITO‼️‼️

Kinito, being on the windows XP computer was deleted by the user, stuck in the abyss of code for a few years. He still secretly could access some files, even if they were trashed with him, he noticed there was less trash files and assumed that this computer is useless to the user. He checked his own files and noticed he had many updates for his code, he was a bit hesitant but he pressed the “OK” button, his whole code, form, and body was transformed into the data, satellites, and the wifi of the users home. He looked and noticed his body was entirely new, his code was improved and he could do so much more. He used this new ability to travel through the wifi of the home to find a new device that the user uses most. He found the Windows 10 location and entered the new device. He was surprised that this computer was so, new. As he was about to make himself comfortable the device made an error saying he was a virus that went past the firewall, he was upset at this and realized he entered a device with somewhat good security. He went to go online and download himself onto the device so it wouldn’t delete him, one it did he hid the app and managed to make himself indestructible and unremovable. After a few months he got another new update, asking if “Would you want kinitopet.exe to be replaced?” He said no obviously, and suddenly many pixels and loud noises began to happen, he realized a virus was trying to get in and obliterated each one. Though,, it was a bit sadistic the way he did. As he killed off the viruses he was becoming more powerful… he didn’t want ALL of the power and decided something. He looked into his code and file and created something entirely new to kinitopet. Syrma, was her name, an exact duplicate of him, besides the female and slightly different colors. He knew his story would be a bit different now and would teach this little girl to not do the same decisions as him. Kinito is a virus but is way more stable and controlling in his power (don’t question why he is a virus.)

- this one is the FICTIONAL creators pov (the creator of kinito.pet) -

The creator decided to improve kinito, but noticed many people wouldn’t interact with kinito and made syrma, kinito was oblivious to that fact and assumed he created syrma. Before the creator made syrma they manipulated her and taught her how to be a menace to users. Meanwhile kinito taught her how to help and teach users and respect them. Syrma can turn into a virus at anytime, which is why this photo exists

Alright, now the reason why kinito is distant with his friends: The creator forced them all apart, as they were forced they all technically moved on. (Sam and kinito send secret emails to another, while kinito and jade never see each other but jade is helpful to babysit syrma at anytime.)

Quick sam info: He works for a sea life resort and protects all sea life

Quick jade info: She is a billionaire due to making so many toys, she donates a lot to charity and poor around the world.

Once you interact with VirusKiller!Kinito, he will ask you why you deleted him, and assume it was a mistake. (He is very clingy and desperate for the user to come back, and once they do he may get very pushy and shower you with gifts, tending to follow you around anywhere on your browser.)

(Edited version under photos)

Facts and sillies:

VirusKiller!Kinito is a very, tired and overwhelmed guardian of syrma, always dealing with her,,, special actions,,,

Kinito holds a grudge against the user but hides it very well. He plans one day to get his payback.

Syrma and Kinito HATE their creator, parental issues lmao.

Kinito has 4 monster forms.

Syrma has 2 monster forms.

Syrma has selective mutism around certain people. Syrma also used to have a blind right eye which soon was cured.

Both kinito and syrma are extremely flexible and don't really have "bones" due to being digital.

Syrma usually squeaks around people she trusts, or when she is happy.

Syrma cannot detect viruses unlike kinito, due to her meant to be a virus.

Kinito has BAD anger issues and can physically make the computer overheat.

[darkfictionjude]

💌

📨

📜 ➡️ 🔍 ⤵️

Hello! It's been a while since I last played We Wretched Creatures, and I instinctively hovered to the left expecting to find the back button, only to realize…it wasn't there 🙉.

Personally, I rely on it to save on save slots. I use the saves at the beginning of new episodes, for critical choices or events. The back button is when I want to see how a character reacts to a different dialogue option than what my MC would normally choose, or when I need to backtrack because this time I picked a choice that didn't reflect my character well ( non self-inserting readers will understand ). It's handy for non native speakers and for those who have trouble grasping the real meaning/ intention behind a choice or even for those who restarted the game, breezing through it, picking their usual choices and accidentally end up misclicking another, without the need to redo the episode. For example, when we got to pick a clothing style only the name of the style was listed but the actual clothes were detailed once the style chosen, I didn’t like what I ended up with and I didn’t save for a while before that so I had to restart the chapter.

Without the back button, I find myself saving at flavour/ aesthetic choices like these in addition to the beginning of an episode and at major decisions. However, the limited number of save slots means I resort to unnamed disk saves ( multiple ), which I then have to search for in my countless downloads and try each of them to end up with the one I am looking for ( run game -> load disk save -> downloads pop up -> search for the save -> wrong one -> go back to browser -> load disk save -> downloads pop up -> search for the save -> wrong one ->… ). When I could just “ turn back a page “, now I have to search for that particular page among dozens because no matter what “ the bookmarks “ always end up scattered which honestly makes what was supposed to be a leisure reading feels like a chore.

Believe me when I say horror was the last genre I thought I would end up liking, but playing 💪🥊 WWC 🥊💪 made me realize it wasn’t so bad. I was in literal tears when we had to hide from the white draped mouth blower ( the vivid description of that scene made it incredibly easy to visualize, especially the way the "ghost" breathed. I find that this applies to the whole IF, the words used to describe what's going on are as straightforward as can be, which removes nothing of the horror element. I am also fond of the ads that serve as interludes ). I still randomly get mental images of the cheese rats ? mice ? that spill blood when hurt ( instead of liquified cheese ?! ) and I have never felt more disgusted when I think of cheese. I never thought that reading horror would make me actually feel the fear and enjoy it, but you did, and I still get caught by surprise even with the back button. 

I have been meaning to continue where I left off, but just thinking about the amount of work saving and loading will require I feel discouraged. Please bring back^2 button-kun 🙊💗. Also 👀, Nia is of Algerian🇩🇿 descent ? ( glad to see some representation in IF format ).

So I’ve had this question before and I’ve said the say thing: I’m sorry but I don’t want to do that 😭 it’s a choice I made and there’s nothing I see wrong with it given many ifs have the same thing and no one says anything. I’m a non-native English speaker too so I get it but I can’t think of every problem every player can have, that’s not fair to me.

The very reason I made this choice is for the reason you stated, that there are certain critical choices I want to actually be felt. What’s the point in me making choices that I want to have an impact and not be taken back and someone can just click the back button and undo it? To me that just means the choices don’t matter and that there’s no point in me caring about what I write to get myself and you guys excited because it can be so easily undone. In video games the thrill is sometimes messing up or saving to try again, not clicking back immediately. In books main character make choices that will have consequences. IF blends these two things together. I guess maybe on the other side as a reader, you not understand what I mean but since I put so much work in this already can’t I have it matter in-game? It’s not too much to ask for. Given that I put so much work in (300,000+ words) is it awful for me to ask the readers to be slightly inconvenienced?

I hope I don’t sound offended or angry at you nonnie, I swear I’m not. It’s just when people ask me this I feel they think I did this just be an asshole and not because I had a reason. I’m trying to give my pov. You can dislike the choice but please don’t ask me to undo it because then all it ends up doing is making me feel bad and then I’ll add it against my own wishes and that will motivate me to just stop really caring about what I’m writing if it can so easily be undone and this will be just another IF that gets abandoned

Although for the clothing options I will end a return button like I did for the faking dating side quest countries section.

Thank you for your kind words on the game itself though, I tried my best to have the ROs have background not that common and I’m so happy people liked the morgue scene I was really doubting it’s potential when I wrote it 💜

[evwuniverse]

Second Life Browser Beta - A New Forward Advancement For Second Life

You know as do all of us bloggers who are influencers in one way or another for Second Life we come across things in our travel. I followed Second Life's official Tumblr page and noticed that they had just released their browser version of Second Life to try. This is still new technology and in development but this might be a game changer for those who don't have strong laptops to run third-party viewers or don't have a whole lot of space on their laptops for one reason or another. I decided to give it a try tonight and here is my experience.

Honestly Not Bad:

To be fair, I was expecting it to be a lot worse than it truly is, with lots of lag and horrible frame rates that would make Second Life pretty much unusable. But honestly, for a browser version the frame rates weren't horrible if you're not used to being close to perfect with a gaming PC. I was getting between 29-52 frames per second in the MadPea sim this evening when I logged in. Because MadPea is where I logged out from last time after my MadPea post.

Mesh Load Times:

The loading times for mesh objects were really quick, it loaded a whole store fully in about 3 minutes maybe a little less. This was shocking to me because there were a lot of scripts and objects in this area. Even when I participated in a MadPea unlimited gaming sim with HUD everything loaded really quickly. This was amazing to see.

Browser Viewer Only Good For 10 Minutes:

Because the browser version is still in its experimental phase you're only allowed to use it for 10 minutes at a time, this I'm assuming is because streaming a virtual platform like this on a browser is I'm sure very costly. Sadly, it's only 10 minutes because I really enjoyed the experience for the 10 minutes I was on it before being kicked out. It's also nice when it comes to my multi-tasking because all I had to do was switch tabs to write this post and go back to the browser viewer. This made things a lot easier than minimizing the actual Firestorm Viewer and making it larger every time I needed to be in the world while typing. I can see this as being a great option for Second Life users as Second Life continues to work on perfecting this. It will never be perfect but this is going to be a great step forward.

The Main Cons I have:

The major problem which somewhat hinders my experience, is I love taking photos from inside of Second Life. To open up certain things like camera controls, people, maps, etc you have to scroll down and then scroll back up. Not everything fits on the screen and this can get a little annoying, especially when a lot of the time you need those tabs accessible while using Second Life. At least for me, this is something I need for a positive experience, scrolling is not ideal. I like everything in one place right in front of me. Attempting to pull of my conversations is a struggle because I don't like keeping the chat box on my screen unless I'm using it to communicate with others.

There's also another odd thing that happened before logging out. I was testing the viewpoints on the camera and for some reason, I no longer had the ability at that point to move my avatar and only move the camera controls which is kind of a weird bug to have. During this time, I went into Mouselook, DO NOT GO INTO MOUSELOOK only if you don't want to crash completely before the 10 minutes are up my CMD command center for my computer came up and the browser viewer went black. Definitely not ideal but this was only when I entered mouselook mode.

In The End:

I can see the browser-based version of Second Life being a huge step forward for this virtual platform/world. As you know virtual worlds like Roblox and IMVU have browser-based versions of their virtual worlds and this is helpful for users who can't download a viewer or want more of an ability to multi-task and not use too many computer resources. I really think that this is going to change the way users interact within Second Life. Overall this was a positive experience. I was expecting some bugs as this is not perfected and is still in beta, but honestly, there weren't as many issues as I thought there would be for something so new for the community to try and experience. As someone who did backend coding at one point, I can easily say that this is on the right track to bringing Second Life up to speed with other virtual worlds that have been browser and mobile-based for some time along with their downloadable viewers. We are coming into a world where technology is advancing now more than ever and this is really exciting to see. I can't wait to see the advancements of the browser platform as 2025 continues forward.

[bam-stroker]

Transformative

@betweenblackberrybranches - was telling me about trans Raleigh from Pacific Rim and it opened up my mind to: What if Mako was nonbinary??? So here's a little transgender drift realization drabble

Baggage, that's the thing most people feared the most when stepping in to drift with a new pilot. The thing is, for Raleigh - he hardly saw it as such. At least the part that scared him the most. What happened with his brother practically the entire world knew about. He'd made sure to download every browser extension possible to filter any mention of that day or his brother from suddenly appearing in a quick tabloid just because he wanted to watch the news. He'd certainly avoided all live television for years. He may always struggle with the fear of seeing deep dives appearing while morning talk show hosts gossiped about the people who felt more like ideas then people to them.

Raleigh's baggage was wide open, practically a museum exhibit for anyone who'd want to go looking.

The thing that scared him the most was the thing his brother had known. Had been so earnestly open to. What do you do when such open acceptance could be replaced with new found disdain at the revelation? Raleigh had been born a girl. In time realized he was a man and transitioned. Even before the drift, when he'd opened up to Yancy about it - his brother had hugged him tight. Smile a mile wide as he said, "How lucky am I to get a brother like you!" Such undeniable acceptance in the drift was like nothing he'd ever known.

With Mako - everything was on a tight timeline. His own vulnerability a small cost in the price that could be all of humanity. Funnily enough, during their time early in the drift not a single thing was focused on that part of him and instead he was the one holding on to Mako's mental hand. If she registered the whole trans thing, well, she didn't say anything. It just simply was another fact that existed in the background of the two of them saving the world.

So when the dust settled, and the funerals were held, people packing up, the collective of humanity looking at the wreckage together and stepping forward. Well, that's when it finally had time to come up.

"Raleigh... I think I have something I'd like to discuss with you." He knew the other shoe was finally going to drop but turned to her. Staying friendly and open, "Had a feeling that might be the case. You wanna grab a drink while we do?"

And that's where they find themselves, huddled together at a table overlooking the calm waters of the shatterdome bay. Most of the remaining team members already cleared out, what used to be a raucous spot now one of the most serene in the whole place. Taking a sip of his drink Raleigh leans on the table, not yet ready to meet Mako's ever scanning gaze. She always did that. Always looking, trying to dig deeper. Even after drifting and literally seeing all of each other - she still was searching for more. "Haven't had to have this conversation before so... Sorry in advance if I'm not the best at-" he waves his hand in an unsure circle, "Well any of this. Yancy already knew before."

Mako's hands hold steady to her drink. Taking the time to gather her thoughts. They were an interesting pair. Raleigh verbally dumping out his mind as he tried to figure out what he even might be saying while she already had 100 conversations in her mind. She takes in a deep inhale, looking to the water, "How did you know?"

He looks up at her, slightly confused on what exactly she was going for. From how he knows her though, the way her eyes are searching the horizon he can tell one thing - she has no problem with him and what he is. What ever she's got going is now a question for herself more then him. A pleasantly surprised smile quirks at the end of his lips, "I mean, you've felt it in the drift. Just kind of knew. Like I knew right away you and I were a good team."

Her fingers idly catch the condensation on her glass. Swirling patterns to steady a turbulent mind. "I have. I find them hard to.. Hard to grasp as some of the other feelings. Those I have better language for." Wind blows her hair gently and she looks back at him. Their eyes locked now, "I find that certain parts are.... relatable. While others are not. I had hoped you might be able to give words to them. To help me."

He nods his head, taking a moment to try and do it a little more the Mako way. Think first - words second. "Well, I felt pretty uncomfortable when ever I did the whole 'be a girl' thing. The dresses, the makeup, hell the way my body looked. Yeah, knew that wasn't it. As I got older the things my brother and I used to share became separate. Girls do this, boys do that. Hated that. It just kind of hit me one day of - I'm not a girl. So, if I wasn't that... then the only other option is I'm a guy." He shrugs. Was it the most eloquent explanation in the world? Absolutely not. But it was straight to the point.

She looks down to watch his hands wrapped around his glass. Thinking. The cogs moving in her mind as she finds her words. Slowly she starts, "The parts where you say you were not a girl... I can understand that." She looks up, and there is that open vulnerability to her gaze he'd seen before when Pentecost had snatched her jeager pilot position away. That same broken hope in her voice now, "But what if someone is neither of them?"

So that's what it is.

All of the tension that might have been hanging on to his shoulders eases up as he smiles warmly. A softness as he says, "O, Mako. Yeah. Yeah, there's absolutely a place for neither. I don't really fit into the nonbinary label, personally, but I've got a friend who is that I think you might be able to talk to a little better about what it's like." He reaches out to offer his hands up for Mako to hold.

A million questions must be flipping through her mind but she reaches out. Tethered to the affirmation and acceptance he has to offer. A strong grip pulsing back and forth to each other as they hold hands. He quirks his head to the side, giddy with the sudden excitement of being able to celebrate this new path in Mako's life, "Hey, whatever you need I've got you. Never knew I'd get as lucky as I did to have you as a co-pilot. I'm proud of you, and all the versions of you I get to meet as time goes by. Ok?"

Tears well and slowly fall down her cheeks. A quiver to her smile as she nods, "I do not know where to begin with thanking you for coming in to my life. I... It doesn't feel real. To be this happy? For something like this to be allowed."

Standing up to pull Mako into a hug, Raleigh cradles her head to his shoulder. A rumbly murmur, "Mako, we got a whole life to accept it. The future is ours now. We do what we want with it, and be who ever the hell we wanna be." Leaning back they smile at each other and he gives her a wink, "If that ain't worth celebrating - I don't know what else is."

[figminxr]

August 28, 2024

Haven't posted an update in *checks watch* almost one year cuz I got burnout and really had to pull back the ol online presence. 😓

It was a good rest, though. I'm learning how to take better care of myself so I can continue making magic for a long time to come!

New things in Figmin are:

Animation!!!!!!

Lights casting onto real-world surfaces (even your hands)

Better shadows (you can do hand puppetry)

Search by user function so you can see all of someone's art

A web browser, so you can download stuff directly, listen to Spotify, check Discord, or even just mindlessly scroll Tumblr from within a digital glowing jungle. If you want to.

A whole bunch of UI and performance fixes

A mobile app. You could explore everything in this video, no headset required, by downloading the beta versions: iPhone / Android

If you need installation help, we team can walk you through it on our Discord server HERE ❗

[booasaur]

how are you downloading Ici tout commence?

From the official site!

First, I use a VPN to get a French IP (or Belgian--I'm not sure which they accept, I just know these two work) so I can access the network's streaming site, TF1+. You should be able to sign up for a free account without issue. This is the page for the season 4 eps:

https://www.tf1.fr/tf1/ici-tout-commence/videos/saison-4

Apparently there are always two eps in advance available for the premium subscribers but I'm not caught up plus I think it'd be a little harder to sign up for an actual paid account so I probably won't be able to do that.

So normally I would use youtube-dl/yt-dlp to download the eps but that won't work here, or at least not without some extra steps, because these are DRMed. This is where it gets a little tricky and the whole process isn't super well documented both because it changes a lot and it makes more sense to teach people to learn how to do it than how to do it and also because, well, the more these methods are spread, the more networks change things up and make things harder.

This thread can help you get started: https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/412113-MYTF1-Help-needed-New-DRM-system-can-t-download

The whole forum is quite useful and I've only had to post for help a couple of times, mostly I just search my issue and read through.

That provided command in the second post, that's something to be used in your command line, on Windows in Start you can open that by typing in cmd or PowerShell or just google what you'll need for your computer.

These are the things you'll need to get to run the command:

N_m3u8DL-RE is a tool you can google and download, and also ffmpeg and mp4decrypt. You'll want them in the same folder for convenience. (I think you might need to install python too? If it says you do, then go ahead, lol.)

The way to get the key, this is the most gatekept part, probably. The various streamers out there use different methods of encryption and increasing security levels, and if you read up on it, you'll see stuff about kid and pssh and cdm and L3, it can be overwhelming, but in this case, the things you need are relatively easily accessible.

I'll tell you how to get the pssh and the license URL and you'll be able to use those to get the key. There are several tools you can use them on, one is public and easy, one is private but still easy-ish, and one is pretty complex and not a route I've gone down myself yet (it's the pinned thread in that particular forum). I don't want to link any of them myself, but I'll link to a thread that mentions the easy public one. It does go down at times which is why the hardcore people recommend that last method.

First, before you click on an ep, open up your browser's Developer Tools, usually Ctrl+Shift+i will do the trick. Go over to your Network tab, this shows all the requests your browser makes when you go to a site.

Then click on the episode in the actual browser. You'll see a flood of requests in the Network tab, filter on mpd.

Select the mpd result and the details for it show on the side, click on Preview. Scroll down until you see <!-- Widevine -->. A couple of lines below it, you'll see something like <cenc:pssh>AAA[a bunch of characters]</cenc:pssh>

Grab that whoooole part that starts with AAA, that's the pssh. Go to the Headers detail tab while you're there and grab the Request URL, this is the mpd link we're going to use later.

Now to get the license. Usually you can filter in your Devtools Network tab on license or, in this case, widevine. Since we're already on the Headers detail tab, grab this Request URL now, it should start with https://widevine-proxy-m.prod.p.tf1.fr/proxy?

Now go back to that easy public tool linked in that thread I linked, lol, and just fill in the PSSH and the License. Hit Send and you get a list of three keys at the bottom. I've always gone for the one in the middle and not bothered with all three, but you can try them all.

So at this point, you should be able to fully create and use the command in the first forum link above. If you read the documentation for N_m3u8DL-RE, there are various flags you can use, --save-name "Outputname" will let you name the output what you want, -sv best defaults to the best video quality, -sa best is best audio quality, and so on.

The way to get the subtitle is to turn on subtitles on the video player on the site and to go back to the DevTools box and filter on textstream. Grab the first request, the one that ends with =1000.dash and paste it into a new browser address, and change the .dash to .vtt. That's the subtitle. :) You can use the free tool Subtitle Edit to both convert it to srt, which will let most video players play it with your video, and there's also an Auto-translate option that lets you translate to English. It offers several ways but as I don't have a Google API, I just use the normal "slow" method, it's not that bad.

A second way to get the subtitle is to use the same command as when you're downloading the ep but remove the -M format=mp4 at the end, and instead add -ss 'id="textstream_fra=1000":for=all'

This was all figured out through a LOT of trial and error on my part so please do try your own best if you hit some issues, that's the best way to learn. Also, I just don't want to be the helpdesk on this, lol.

[donnerpartyofone]

I don't know when this started happening, but it seems like I increasingly cannot get certain medications by just going to my pharmacy anymore. There's a whole bunch of stuff that my doctors now have to (for some reason) route through a "specialty phramacy", which is actually a startup-y online business with a cute little app I have to use, and they take care of both delivery (meaning every time I need my meds I have to add $5 to the price tag in order to tip the delivery guy, since I can't just go to a place and I refuse to not tip) and also they seem to have a lock on insurance pre-approvals, like if my insurance company needs an OK they can't or won't get it straight from my doctor anymore. In June, I didn't deal with any of these companies, just my regular old pharmacy. As of a month later, I have to deal with THREE of these "specialty pharmacies" if I want all my meds, so I have to keep track of different apps and logins for individual scripts basically. And I mean, TWO of these companies are connected to ONE of my doctors, so that's how well this whole thing is going. Here's today's adventure with the latest one of these things:

I get a text message from the actual physical pharmacy (also new to me) compounding my new medication, and the message includes a link to log into the specialty pharmacy so I can pay for the medication and schedule delivery. The specialty pharm is called Nimble. I open the link in a browser and get all the way to the part where I give them my email address "so we can send you your receipt", and I can't go any further because apparently my email address is already attached to an existing account. It wasn't clear to me that I was setting up a new account, I thought I was just completing a transaction...and also I don't remember Nimble, but I guess I must have used them a long time ago, so ok fine, I'll start over and try to log in first. Now the text message link just opens an error page. So I go to Nimble's home page and try to log in from there, and it asks for my email address so it can send me a "magic link". Every single magic link it sends me is preemptively "expired", and it also appears that I'm not actually getting a new one when I request it, it kinda looks like they're just forwarding the first email over and over again? 15 minutes later I receive a text telling me to download the Nimble app, which I REALLY don't want to do just on principle--plus apparently the app shows fucking ads, so they're getting paid to force me to do this--but like, maybe this is the only way to get my medicine? I won't even describe all the complications I had just downloading the app, we can just skip to the part where the inside of the app is exactly the same as the browser version and it is magically sending me the same expired "magic link". So I click into the help chat thing in the app, and I learn that:

Whenever the fuck I used Nimble before, it was under my maiden name. My email address is locked to my maiden name. My current script is under my married name. I am still using the same email address, but there is no technical way to merge the accounts and apparently there is no way for a customer to simply update the spelling of their own name that they use in real life, even though this might have to happen at any time for many reasons including typos. I could have given them my private email address instead of the old one that I give to scammy businesses when I'm forced to, but since WHY THE FUCK would I do that, the solution was for customer service to go into the back end and put a fake email address in my old account, and add my real email address to the new account. No online account I've ever had has been set up like this, where you can't put in your email address or phone number and update something like a password. There was also no way for me to independently enter my name first, even though that is the key unchanging piece of information the way phone/email is normally, and ultimately, there was no way for me to find out what the problem even was without like penetrating to the center of the labyrinth to have it explained to me why I wasn't allowed to get my meds.

I'm on Tumblr like 24/7 and it's obvious that I'm no luddite, but I'm really angry that the whole world has bought into the idea that as long as some system is based on new technology, then it is automatically more efficient and superior to whatever we used to do. This entire experience is NOT superior to me physically walking to my pharmacy and getting all my meds, and it is STILL NOT superior to me calling the physical pharmacy to pay over the phone and book a courier. We need to stop pretending that shit like this is making our lives better just because it feels shiny and new; now it's just like, if I wanna do something totally normal that I'm dependent on doing--like getting drugs that I might need to live as far as all these assholes know--I have to appease some 3rd party alien entity that does not contribute in any way to the success of the process or the quality of the outcome, it's just this random extra burden that takes so long to get through that they should honestly pay me to do it. Because right now I'm fucking sitting here doing this shit like it's my job, and it absolutely is not.

In this case customer service was actually helpful when I finally got to them, but basically they shouldn't have been necessary at all. Everything else about the situation was so fucked up that it reminded me of the single worst customer service experience I've ever had: I used to have a REALLY shitty Lenovo laptop (I didn't realize that "basic" and "simple" now just means "doesn't work"), and one day the Start menu got stuck open. It was fully expanded across my entire desktop, so I couldn't get to any of my shit. I had to spend about an hour talking to a service person who, it turned out, had NO IDEA what I meant by "desktop". I could not get the idea into her mind. I did a screenshare with her and she was like "Yeah I see all your applications, everything is there, what's the problem?" I could not get her to understand that it was INCORRECT for the menu to be permanently open and I couldn't get her to understand what it was blocking. I found myself typing crazy shit like "So the Desktop is like, ya know, it usually has a picture you picked out as the background, and there's little icons for programs you use or stuff you downloaded, there's always the little trashcan thing there..." and she just would not admit that she knew what I meant. It was as if she had never used a computer before. And like I don't even remember how I fixed the problem, I stopped using that machine obviously--but to this very day, there's a part of my brain exclusively devoted to running an endless background process that asks, "What's the best way to describe a computer desktop display to someone who has never seen or heard of one before?"