#its very useable so i mean.

[morg676]

I finished a project that I've been planning out for way too long, and now .... What do I do

[bonefall]

Does this mean we can have silk “scarf” or “shawls” in BB

bc that would make every scene so much better imagine Mistystar making a speech with silk accessories

I've been on-and-off looking at the possibility of the Clans making accessories out of silk for a few months now, but because of a lack of good historical examples to draw from, I've sadly had to rule it out for now.

Eastern silk production, which produces enough strong material to actually get used as a textile, is completely dependent on the fabulous, beautiful animal known as Bombyx Mori, the Domestic Silk Moth. What's amazing about this moth is that it's been domesticated for 5,000 years, and is so genetically distinct from its ancestors that they can't always produce offspring with their direct progenitor, Bombyx Mandarina!

In the west, we don't have any species (that I know of) which are capable of producing enough fiber. So far I've explored three kinds of animals, but hit snags with each one.

First one I started looking at was just some sort of alternative to bombyx mori, another silk-producing moth. While "wild silks" have been collected and used in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and even the Mediterranean and Middle East, it seems like central and northern Europe are like the one place on the planet where there's no appropriate wild silk moths.

At some point I encountered the Caddisfly and went down a small rabbithole for them. Caddis silk is VERY similar to that of a silkworm chemically, but also water resistant. Unfortunately, caddisflies cover their sticky cocoons in rocks and sticks, like bagworms. That would probably make the silk less useful.

The most promising was spider silk. Used as wound dressings since ancient times, briefly used to create paintings, plus several "proof of concepts" of modern humans applying silkworm techniques to create small amounts of textiles, several factors made me back off.

Spiders produce several kinds of silk, unlike insects which typically only make one per species. This means that you can't just apply "one technique" to turn all their silk from Bug Butt String to Useable Material-- you have to develop a technique for egg casing silk, dragline silk, capture silk, etc.

This means that I'd need to separately research every documented instance of spider silk weaving to understand what type of spider silk they were using, PLUS what species it came from, and if that species has any relatives in the modeled region, and if those relatives produce the right sort of silk, etc.

AND if these processes require too many advanced tools, all of that work would go out the window since Clan cats are working with sticks and rocks.

So, unless somehow unlimited money falls on me tomorrow and I get to hire a fleet of entomologists to conduct Silly Cat Experiments in tandem with, I can't find a path to silk textiles yet.

.....YET.

Because I can feel it in my bones that somehow, intelligent cats would be MILES ahead of human cultures in this technology. I think it would be just like humans and cheese. We didn't domesticate cows for their milk-- we domesticated them for MEAT, and THEN accidentally figured out how to make cheese by keeping milk in early "leather" (stomach) bags.

Likewise, cat cultures would be domesticating insects for food first. Silk would be a byproduct.

So someday I'd like to sit down and just explore what sorts of insects they would logically prioritize as food, which of those do well in captive conditions, and then work from there. Not only would it generally give me a good place to start with, but most importantly, it would feel more organic. As much as possible, I try to avoid working "backwards" culturally by starting with a tech and then figuring out how they got it.

Anyway! Mistystar can still have accessories

The primary textiles that Clan cats have is leather, linen, and yarn. Linen is the highest quality and most labor intensive material they have, worn by leaders, clerics, and other high-ranking cats as a sign of their status.

The shawl is actually canon lmao, a supporting character in Darkstar's Commandment is actually going to be wearing one. Xeir name is Smallstar, and they get to NOT die in BB because of the fact that Mapleshade's kittens are the ones who died to create Commandment 14. Runningstorm and Wolfheart also have very small cameos.

[revelboo]

RAHHHHH the rammatra fic outta nowhere had me going ʕʘ‿ʘʔ

(Tbh I think he and genji were my gateway drug to robots)

Absolutely scrumptious as always

Anti-Gravity Pt 2

Ramattra x Reader

• Ankle screaming when you put weight on it, you use the length of rebar like a cane to pick your way closer to the pinned Omnic. He still has one good arm, so you’ll need to be quick. Drive that rebar deep as you can, through that baleful optic and out the other side. Omnic aren’t people, they’re not alive, just a clever impersonation of it. Except. You remember months ago, getting caught on the outskirts of a mob running down a lone Omnic. Watching them pull it to the ground, but doing nothing to stop them. It wasn’t your problem, you just wanted to go home. But it hadn’t begged or pleaded with its attackers. All it had said while it still could speak was that it was ‘seen in the light of the Iris.’ Like it believed it was more than just a machine. Raising the rebar, you stare down at it. Him, Ramattra. A machine. Just a machine.

• Servos curling in a fist, he tiredly watches the human poised to attack him. One side of your face smeared with blood from a sluggishly bleeding wound at your temple. Baring your teeth at him, rocking forward, but faltering. And your hands are shaking as you make to lunge and then stop yourself again. Finally meeting his optics. “You’re a monster,”you tell him, voice tired as you slump down on a pile of rubble nearby. Above the two of you something shifts and dirt patters down. He understands that hate in your eyes, but your mercy takes him by surprise. “You deserve to die,” you add, voice angry now. At him or yourself?

• “If I’m a monster, it’s because your kind gave me no choice,” that low, digitized voice growls as he tries to drag himself more upright before giving up. Head tipping back to stare at the rubble above them and you follow his stare even as his words whisper through you. Make you think of that Omnic dying for no reason at all, torn apart by that mob. What had it even done? Just been in the wrong place at the wrong time? Dared to exist?

• Growling softly, he knows that if they start messing with the debris above, it’s likely to come down and your mercy will mean very little when you’re both crushed. “There’s always a choice,” you counter, rolling up your pant leg to gingerly prod at your ankle and he watches your little shoulders hunch. From above, there’s another shower of dirt and rocks, the drip of water becoming a steady stream from a busted pipe.

• You’re afraid to take off your sneaker and see how bad it really is. Afraid you won’t be able to get the show back on if you do. The only thing you’re certain of it’s that you can’t stay here. You’re not sure if you’re in the sewer or in some kind of maintenance tunnel, but you don’t want it to become your tomb.

• “Your naïveté will get you killed,” he growls, watching you turn your attention back to him. To his trapped leg. While you can still walk, he can’t. Not alone. Doesn’t have the energy to swap back to nemesis form to try and free himself, too damaged to risk it. Ignoring you since you’re apparently not going to try and end him right this moment, he tries to free his pinned lower leg. Tensing when you limp over and drive that rebar under the broken wall crushing him and pushing down on it like a fulcrum. Too small to budge it at all, but still trying. Above them something creaks and scrapes. How long? Minutes or hours? And he follows your attention when it drifts toward the dark tunnel. “You can’t see in the dark, but I can. Find something sharp. Metal.”

• You stare at him, attention drifting back to his lower leg. Knowing you’re not going to get him free in time, but he’s right. It’s pitch deeper in and the only light is coming through the shifting rubble. You’ll never find a way out without him. Limping sends jagged shards of pain through your leg and knee, but you find something useable and carry it over. Feeling oddly squeamish as he positions it against the joint of his knee and you realize what he wants. Just a machine, you remind yourself as he tries to saw at the joint, making a low, snarling sound of very real pain. And you grab the sides of the metal fragment and drive it down. Again and again, feeling the edges biting into your palm. It takes both of you to sever the lower half of his leg and your palms are cut up and sticky with blood as you offer him a hand. “You’re still a monster,” you tell him as he lurches unsteadily upright with only one leg and one arm. Skin crawling as he leans on you and nearly knocks you both down with his weight. He’s silent as you grit your teeth and start moving, letting him use you for balance. Because even if he’s a monster, he doesn’t deserve to die like this. No one does.

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[justanotherbirdbrain-blog]

Writing about Mines in your Fictional Universe: A Geology Introduction

Hello! I'm Bird, and I am here to guide you on a journey about different mines that exist, what materials are being mined, what those materials might be mined for, and what rocks/what processes might make these areas mineable. I will also touch briefly on the idea of gem quality, the commonness of the material, and what these things might look like fresh out of the dirt!

First things first, lets talk about the what types of things we might want to mine for in a fictional universe! There are a lot of things that are used daily that require mining, but there are a few that I see written about the most: Gold, Gemstones, Iron, and Coal. I personally would love to see this idea expanded on a bit, so lets talk about some mines that would definitely be necessary but overlooked! First one is pretty easy, glass! those beautiful stained glass windows are useless if no one is mining quartz to be made to glass, and I imagine it would be quite a profitable business seeing as glass, in general, was a luxury in ye olden times. The next thing we need to address is Abrasives! want to sand and polish stone and metal? Want to sharpen your blades for battle? May I introduce you to abrasive minerals! garnet, corundum (Ruby and Sapphire), and yes, diamond! Why are we using such beautiful gemstones to polish other things? Simple, even if you are to find a deposit of these gemstones (garnet being one of the more common ones) most of the time they are inclusion rich, ridiculously small, an undesirable color, or all three of these.

Finding gemstones that are good quality is hard, your character will not stumble upon it, pick up the rock and immediately know if the location is good enough to mine gemstones. If you are determined to make it a gemstone mine, have your character hold the mineral up to the sun/a light source and let them be able to see light coming through, though it is considerably thick.

Moving into metal mining! Metal mining is both easier and more complicated to write! Why is it complicated? Because unless it is gold or silver you are unlikely to see the desired metal itself. Why is it easy? welllll, I am going to try to make it easy. First things first, a lot of metals are chromaphores, this means that when the element is present, it will influence the color! Copper is an excellent example of this, old pennies oxidize and turn blue/teal/green, so do most rocks bearing copper! Looking for iron? It will probably stain the rocks dingy and brownish red. Things to note: copper and iron can be found in mineable amounts together! If you do this, iron will be present in the form of pyrite, or fool's gold, this has a nice cubic shape and can be described as such, the copper will typically leave a teal residue or veining across the rock, which in this case will almost exclusively be black to dark gray (Its basalt) but it can be found as the mineral chalcopyrite also (looks like fool's gold but it doesn't make cute crystals). Malachite is also a copper ore, in my experience I have never seen malachite from a mine that has looked like some of the stuff I have seen in gem shops, azurite (A darker blue mineral) can be present also, but again, these are usually very fine grained and would not be able to be used as jewelry, but obviously, in some places it must happen, just much less frequently.

Another thing I will briefly mention is that, if you are writing about metals remember that these metals will require a smelting process to extract a pure metal, this usually requires some other material (For iron, it is charcoal). Also remember alloys! Most useable metals are a mix of different metals to make them harder. This even includes gold jewelry. Last comment about metals, a very interesting plot for a fictional universe would be the use of lead. Lead ore was a hot commodity before we knew it was toxic, the side effects (Being nuts) could really create some tension.

Lastly in terms of mined material, I will briefly mention coal and stone in general just to say, coal is a sedimentary rock, distinctly different from the typical environments necessary to form most gemstones and heavy metal deposits (Yes, there are exceptions). Coal is dark black/gray, which is quite uncommon for sedimentary rocks which tend to range from reds/tans/browns/grays. When coal is lifted it will feel much lighter than you anticipate, which is the polar opposite of what happens when you lift a metal rich rock, which will feel immensely heavy. Finally, Coal will not turn into diamonds in nature, diamonds need mantle pressures and temperatures to form, there will be no diamonds under a coal mine unless there was a mantle derived eruption that got covered in a swamp, that became coal and as they dug they exposed the kimberlite pipe (I mention this because I just read this in a story and it hurt my feelings). Finally, If you want to write about a mine that is definitely necessary but want the content to be pretty low-maintenance, but profitable for whoever owns it, owning a granite/marble/ or really any desirable stone quarry would be perfect.

Now I will move onto what kind of mining exists today, I will not talk about every exclusive mine, but I will talk about ones that are common that are on my radar. First up, the one everyone talks about in books, underground mining. Underground mining is used when you are getting the material from the 'primary'/original source. The rock is rich in copper? Lets mine said rock. However, mining underground is the most dangerous form of mining, there can easily be a lack of oxygen because of insufficient ventilation (That's why people will carry something with an open flame when going into abandoned mines; if the flame goes out there is not enough oxygen and you have to turn back). There can also be lots of collapses due to overhead rocks, enough said. Cave mining is primarily done when the amount of rock above the deposit is too great to strip mine.

Now lets talk about strip mining! Strip mining is when you just mine on the surface, and dig deeper and deeper into the ground to obtain your desired resource whether it be stone, coal, gemstones, or anything else. It truly is less glamorous, but it is safer than digging a tunnel. That said it has its own issues, sure the oxygen is good, and you don't have to worry about the rocks collapsing over your head, but oh wait, the rocks can collapse over your head. Landslides can occur due to the over steepening of sides, excessive rainfall, and most importantly, old faults or planes of weakness that happen to be facing towards the mine (the diagram will help this make sense). Both of these types of mines can also create ecological damage, which can be mitigated nowadays, but then maybe not so much. Namely acid mine drainage, I will not talk much on the effects but a quick google search will give you plenty of information that might be useful for writing.

Now both of these are trying to mine a targeted rock, but sometimes its best to let nature do the work so we can do less. Diamonds, gold, corundum (rubies/sapphires), and garnets all have one thing in common. They are dense! So when erosion happens, and that sediment makes its way into a river, everything will separate based on its density. This is just because faster moving water can hold heavier sediments, and slower moving water will drop those heavy sediments leaving only the lighter sediments within the water. Lots of places that mine the things listed above will pan/sieve in active rivers and streams, or they can surface mine where rivers and streams used to be! These are called placer deposits. There is one setback though, the gemstones will not be perfect crystal shaped, they will be rounded due to being thrown around in a river (like beach glass). These are sapphires, but they have been rounded over time in the river.

Final thoughts, writing about a mine can seem nerve-racking, intimidating, or just something that you want to briefly mention and move on from, but truly I think going into the weeds could really add something to a story! Even if stories are slightly inaccurate about information, I am still 100x more excited to see it mentioned in more detail than to see it as a sentence. Besides it is fantasy, it doesn't always have to be exactly like earth.

[miqo-tales]

Jeuno: The First Walk

Context, references, and random BS about stuff in the first FFXI raid and the quests before and after.

Tossing under a Read More mainly because I talked too much and I don't wanna throw a giant ass post on your dash.

Enjoy!

THE RAID

An interesting thing about music: in the Boyahda Tree and Tu'Lia sections, the music changes to the battle theme when engaging the trash mobs, and then it fades out once they're dead.

Oh, and just to note, given that FFXI and FFXIV have different combat systems and visuals, even if I mention that a boss ability is something from FFXI, understand I don't mean it's the same in regards to visuals or mechanics. I'm mainly just pointing out references.

PRISHE

Prishe is a MNK and a WHM, so she fights hand to hand, but can also use Holy / Light-elemental spells.

Nullifying Dropkick, Auroral Uppercut, and Knuckle Sandwich are unique weaponskills that Prishe uses in FFXI.

Asuran Fists is a Hand-to-Hand weaponskill in FFXI, only useable by MNK and PUP. Learning it required getting to a certain level of H2H skill and then doing a quest. It hits 8 times, and so does this version of it.

Her "You can't stop the flood of mortal existence!" line is something she said in FFXI.

BOYAHDA TREE

Aquarius was a NM crab in FFXI. There was a chance it would spawn instead of one of the normal crab enemies in the Boyahda Tree zone. Oddly, in the raid it uses Hundred Fists, which is the original MNK 2-hour (it made you attack very fast for a short time). In FFXI, this mob was a PLD, not a MNK. But it did have a very high attack speed, so I assume they gave it that ability to simulate that.

(I'm pretty sure Aquarius once spawned and killed me while I was trying to raise my Scythe skill on the crabs in the Tree. A friend came and raised me and helped me kill it for revenge.)

No music plays when you're not fighting something, which fits, because the Boyahda Tree zone in FFXI doesn't have any background music.

FAFNIR

Honestly not much to say about Fafnir. Overall, most of its attacks share names with ones it does in FFXI and are kinda similar. Spike Flail hit everyone in range in FFXI, and Dragon Breath was a frontal cone, for two examples.

One other thing: I didn't know this, but in FFXI there's a stronger version of Fafnir, Nidhogg. Way back, Fafnir used to be a timed spawn, and there was a chance Nidhogg would spawn instead (now they're both spawned by items). So I wonder if maaaaaaaybe there's a chance you go into this raid and it's called Nidhogg instead?

TU'LIA

Technically this is Ru'Aun Gardens. That's the actual name of the zone. But it's on the floating island of Tu'Lia. Players usually just called it "sky".

A note on the ground mentions trying to get to Ve'Lugannon Palace and missing the raid. I think the only thing this can be about is spawning Kirin. A few NMs in the palace dropped items to spawn some NMs that then dropped items used to spawn Kirin.

Another note on the ground is referencing the Ark Angels.

Despot is a NM Doll that dropped an item used to spawn Genbu, which in turn dropped an item used to spawn Kirin.

ARK ANGELS

Man this fight is a banger.

Their lines like "You shall be defeated by the apathy that plagues you…" are directly from FFXI.

AA Galka is a SAM and DRG. His pattern of using Meikyo Shisui and three Great Katana weaponskills is exactly how he behaves in his FFXI fight, right down to which three weaponskills he uses. Also, Dragonfall is a unique weaponskill he had in FFXI.

AA Tarutaru is a BLM and DRK. Guillotine was a four-hit Scythe weaponskill only available to DRKs (it was single target though).

AA Mithra is a BST and THF. In FFXI she'd summon a pet to assist her, but alas, she doesn't do that here. Her Rampage and Cloudsplitter moves are named after Axe weaponskills from FFXI, while Havoc Spiral is her unique weaponskill.

AA Elvaan is a PLD and WHM. Dominion Slash is her unique weaponskill in FFXI. Arrogance Incarnate is also something she used in FFXI, but it's just her own version of another weaponskill available to players, so not really unique.

AA Hume is a WAR and NIN, and man, he does a lot. Cross Reaver is his unique weaponskill in FFXI. Utsusemi was a NIN spell that gave you shadow doubles that absorbed attacks for you. Mighty Strikes is the original WAR 2-hour ability. It made every attack a critical, which is why he then uses Critical Reaver. And he tries to use Mijin Gakure, which was the original NIN 2-hour. You blew yourself up to deal damage based on your HP.

SHADOW LORD

Giga Slash and Implosion are attacks he had in FFXI. Tera Slash is from the Dynamis Lord fight though. Creating clones of himself is also something from the Dynamis Lord version.

OTHER STUFF

ALXAAL

I am 99% sure this is a character from Chains of Promathia called Louverance. That's also not his real name, but we won't go into that right now. Bakool Ja Ja naming him "vagabond" is kinda appropriate.

Honestly, I find it kinda funny they used this character. If you'd asked me to suggest CoP characters that could show up in this storyline, he would not have been on my list.

Also, Alxaal initally thinking he's been captured by the Mamool Ja may be a nod to the Besieged system in Treasures of Aht Urghan. At times, a horde of beastmen (Mamool Ja, Trolls, or Undead) will march on and attack the capital city of Al Zahbi in order to steal the Astral Candescence. Players have to fight them off. Certain NPCs can be captured as well, and players can go rescue them.

ULMIA

An Elvaan female, a very talented singer, and basically the nicest person ever. She lives in the Tavnazian Safehold and is Prishe's best friend. She's more or less "cute girl important to the plot #2" for Chains of Promathia.

THE TAVNAZIA MARQUISATE

Sister city to San d'Oria, located on an archipelago off the west coast of Quon. The opening cutscene of FFXI shows it being attacked by the Beastmen Horde during the Crystal War.

During the Crystal War, San d'Oria leaked false information to the Beastmen to get them to attack Tavnazia. Partially to get some pressure off the kingdom, but also because Tavnazia had a close relationship with the Empire of Aht Urhgan to the east. The hope was that the Empire would join the fight against the Beastmen after Tavnazia was attacked.

But the Empire didn't get involved, and later Tavnazia was destroyed by an explosion. The common belief is that it was an Orc superweapon, like Prishe says, but that's not what actually happened.

LITTLE THINGS

I was confused by Prishe talking about liking tacos until I happened to talk to Alxaal and he mentioned Tavnazian tacos. They're a food item that increases defense. I'd forgotten about them.

Just a little tidbit, the Aldo that Prishe mentions is also from Tavnazia. He's also the little boy in the FFXI opening cutscene.

The Hume Adventurer mentions his gear came from exploring the Alzadaal Undersea Ruins. I suspect that's referring to Salvage missions that you access from that zone. His equipment resembles the Ares set you can get from that.

Heh. This shade in fake Jeuno appears to be "looking for group" or "looking for members". No party finder in FFXI (at least when I played, dunno about now), so you'd frequently see people shouting to find groups or members for leveling or missions.

Teleport taxis! There's another shade with pop-up text mentioning Mea and 1k. The Crag of Mea was one of a few places that you could teleport to via a spell, but only WHMs could cast it. (And there was a unique spell for each place.) So you'd frequently be paying someone to teleport you.

The Auction House in FFXI works differently than the Market Board in FFXIV. The seller sets a mininum price for the item they put up for sale, and pays a fee based on that minimum price. The buyer cannot see this minimum price, and makes a bid. If the bid equals or exceeds the minimum price, the buyer gets the item and the seller receives the amount of gil the buyer bid.

Prishe's last sentence is a reference to the Bazaar, but specifically to how players would avoid the tax that it used to have. The Bazaar is an alternate to the Auction House and lets you sell directly from your inventory. But selling via the Bazaar while in town used to incur a tax, so players would idle just outside Jeuno in Rolanberry Fields. I called it "Rolanberry Market". SQEX eventually removed the tax.

In FFXI, you unlock the ability to use a Support Job, or sub job, at level 18 by doing a quest either in Selbina or Mhaura. Both quests make you collect three items from monsters, but they require different items. What Alxaal is describing here is the Selbina one, which was the easier one to do.

[four-alligators-in-a-trenchcoat]

Transitioning to a Flip Phone: Beginning

As my semester started winding down, and finals started ranking up I found myself going back to the ever-present though of transitioning to a flip phone. I finally did it! Here is how it is going. I had done tons of research about transitioning to a flip phone months before hand, I didn't have many requirements like needing WhatsApp or any particular apps as I had access to my computer for specific things such as banking and schoolwork. I ended up going with the Sunbeam Bluebird for a couple reasons, despite its price. (also I just wrote it off as a reward for completing my semester lol)

Accessibility: I knew I wanted a T9 flip phone, a QRTY keyboard would have never worked for me at a flip phone size, woe to my fine motor skills. Voice-to-text is an option if you pay for the subscription (I do) and so although I try to exclusively type as a way to get proficient, longer more urgent texts can be sent quickly. Its very accurate as well! Restrictions: No social media! No googling! No videos! Nothing! Its all I have ever wanted from a flip phone, restriction wise. Instagram reels is/was such an addiction for me, and even with time-limits, greyscale, and just un-downloading it, I always came back to scroll. I was debating on whether or not I wanted a search engine, because although I love to google all the random questions I have, I also will absolutely read on AO3 for as much time as I can possibly allocate to that. Although I am not a huge fan of reading FF on the laptop, its a small workaround for the benefits im seeing. On the case of music: Spotify, I REALLY wanted to keep this as an app, but knew that with what I was looking for I would need to take that loss. I can download music onto the phone through an SD card, and it still has bluetooth which means I am still able to use my noise-cancelling headphones. Additionally, I mainly listen to music while im studying, which means I can just listen through my laptop; and I dont mind driving in silence. Basic Qualifications: Number one, navigation, Im in an area where the construction is crazy and I cant always rely on road signs. I live out in the country, so I havent needed or had the chance to memorize anything other than my usual routes and highways. Luckily, the Bluebird has Waze (which I had never used before) but it works really well! I will need to find a way to attach it to my dash so I'm not looking down at my lap though... I mentioned bluetooth in restrictions, but it was important to me that I could connect my QuiteComfort Bose headphones, especially being on a loud college campus and needing some peace and quiet to study properly.

The transitionary phase was incredibly easy, I have an AT&T phone plan and I just switched my SIM card from my iPhone to my Bluebird. Boom. Done. I imported my contacts with a MicroSD card which was equally as efficient. I can still access and use Messages on my MacBook, but they don't sync to my flip phone. All messages go through to the device I last messaged on. I did have to manually set up my voicemail, but that didnt take much effort.

The only difficulties I have had to deal with is that both my job and my school require apps for two-factor authentication. I believe I can work around that for my school, and get authentication codes by text message, but for my work I don't have that option. This is a big reason why I am considering keeping my iPhone useable, just without a SIM.

On the note of what I am going to do with my iPhone, for right now it is being kept charged and usable, because I'm still transitioning some of the information (like menstrual trackers) and the mentioned need for TFA. Another PRO about the Bluebird is that it does have hotspot capabilities, so Im assuming I would be able to connect my iPhone if I was ever out in the wild and needed to use it, assuming of course that I had taken my iPhone with me.

Day 3 Final Overview:

I have gotten quicker at typing on the T9 predictive keyboard and feel confident responding to messages without using text-to-speech. I also figured out how to attach media to my messages, which means everybody is receiving grainy low-quality pictures of my cats. Im finding that I have so much extra time to do things during the day. Where keeping up with household chores sometimes gets overwhelming by becoming a huge task to schedule into my day, I can do smaller things during downtime. Reheating some food for lunch? Five minuets in the toaster? Boom, I can clean off the counters, sweep the floor, and pick up a little as I wait. That makes such a huge impact on my day-to-day especially compared to the 40 reels I could have seen and than totally forgotten. I learned how to change the ring-tones for my contacts and notifications. There is a 'wolf howling' option that has been dedicated to my friends, of course. The little jingle of my phone can only mean that someone has texted me, so I'm less paranoid about notifications and the urge to pick up my phone whenever I see the screen light up. That was such a huge distraction in my day, picking up my iPhone to check my notifications quickly turned into a 'quick scroll' through Pinterest (my beloved) or Instagram, which was constantly detrimental to my studies. In overview, I'm having a good time and I'm excited to stick with it, especially as winter break approaches (TWO MORE FINALS LEFT LETS GO) and I have a ton of free time I would have spent on my phone. I'm excited to start reading more!

[fayes-fics]

Meet Ugly

Pairing: Anthony Bridgerton x fem!reader

Summary: Two walks of shame, one lost wallet and one bruised nose.… it’s the start of something

Warnings: none really… hangovers, flirting and references to a one night stand.

Word Count: 1.6k

Authors Note: This is a very belated anon request fill from October (request: I read this idea and thought of you. You would be brilliant with the Walk of Shame one). Sorry it’s taken me months to write this Nonny, I only just had an idea for how it could play out. It's probably not how you envisioned, its mostly humour/fluff, but I hope you still enjoy. I went with Anthony for this one. <3

When you wake up on your friend's sofa, head fuzzy, a mouth of cotton wool, shoes dangling precariously off your feet over the end of the sectional, you decide maybe it's time to try dry January. Never mind that it’s March; it's never too late to turn over a new leaf, you justify to yourself, staring at movement on the ceiling that you hope is a spider, not your mind playing tricks.

You know your friends, such a lovely couple, are sleeping in their bedroom; it was very kind of them to let you crash at their flat. Not that drunk-you probably gave them much choice in the matter. You can be very persuasive after a few drinks, or more accurately, belligerent in a friendly, loving way.

Sitting up gingerly, you find your phone wedged under your left hip, amazingly still with enough battery to be useable. Rather than disturb them, you decide to order an Uber home and leave a note of thanks/apology on the fridge. You quietly pad to their kitchen, pour a quick glass of water and check your reflection in a mirror over the dining nook. Remarkably, your makeup is somewhat intact, and with a few finger-pulls, even your hair is mostly presentable. It will undoubtedly do for the ride home.

Slipping out of their front door a few moments later, you don’t expect to run face-first into a solid wall of human—yet you do.

“Owww,” you exclaim reflexively, even as you detect a hint of delicious cologne.

“Watch where you are going!” a deep, very well-spoken voice grouses as if you somehow have caused them injury rather than vice versa. Then his tone seems to change as he whips around and regards you. “Oh…” is his only retort.

You reel back, rubbing your nose from the impact, and squint up at the offending party, and you are quite lost for words yourself. Beautiful brown eyes on a very handsome stubbled face. He looks a little worse for wear, much as you, but no less attractive for it. Fitted shirt and tailored trousers that look rumpled but still achingly expensive.

“Apologies,” he mumbles, “I am a beast without a coffee in my system.”

“Likewise,” you nod with a sympathetic but brief smile, still rubbing your nose as it aches.

He is blocking your way to the lift, so you raise your eyebrow expectantly, hoping he will get the hint.

“Partying too hard?” he asks with a smirk. “Because I was,” he adds self-depreciatingly.

“Perhaps.” is all you are willing to concede at the moment.

“Sorry I was in your way; I uh just left the flat of this woman,” gesturing at the door directly opposite your friend's place, “and I've just realised I've left my wallet in there. But umm, I’m not sure I want to ring the bell and ask for it to be honest,” he winces, knowing what he says sounds bad.

“Not the best of one-night stands?” you quip.

He smiles. “Not really, no. It might be easier to report it stolen than face up to my own questionable decision,” he chuckles. 

“Fair,” you shrug. “So, does that mean you have no way to get home?” You make small talk as you both seem to drift towards the lift. It appears he’s made up his mind to cut his losses with the wallet.

“Well, I still have my phone in my pocket. Oh, and, I um…” he winces as if embarrassed, “I have a driver.”

“Alright, Mr money bags,” you jest.

“Yeah, I know how it sounds,” he smiles, holding his hands up in defeat, “in my defence, it’s for the good of the country that I’m not driving myself this morning.”

“You could just take the Tube or Uber like the rest of us normal people,” you point out, waving the phone you hold.

“Got a long wait?”

You flick open the app and sigh. “Well, when I last looked, it was five minutes away. Now it appears the driver just cancelled the pickup. Bloody hell,” you roll your eyes.

“Well, that’s shitty,” he concedes as he punches the down button. “I think I spied a Costa just on the corner. How about I buy you an apology-about-your-nose coffee while you wait for another?” He posits.

“Okay,” you agree. “Wait, is my nose all red or something?” you ask, suddenly self-conscious 

“A bit”, he chuckles, “but you still look lovely.”

Just then, the lift sweeps open, and you can see your reflection in the back wall. It looks bright red—not broken, but probably a touch bruised.

“Oh, just fucking great,” you sigh as you step in with him and fumble in your little evening crossbody bag for your compact. Some powder may help.

“So, are you regretting a one-night stand? Or do you not hate whiskey as much as I do right now?” he inquires sardonically as the lift jerks gently to life.

“I uhh might be regretting the tequila shots,” you offer, “but luckily, no one-night stand, not this time. This is the walk of semi-shame, just from a friend's place.”

“Ahhh,” he nods in understanding, “so, unlike me, you have nothing to be ashamed of.”

“Well, I might have invited myself to stay at theirs, not given them much choice, y’know? So maybe some shame,” you respond, and he chortles bemused.

“Bossy drunk?” he huffs, amused, as the lift opens on the ground floor.

“Opinionated,” you correct with a smirk, and he laughs aloud, chivalrously signalling for you to step out before him. 

“Sounds like exactly what I would say,” he opines airily, taking a few paces to catch up and walk alongside, matching your stride. “You walk fast for a hungover person,” he observes.

“It’s amazing how quickly I move towards coffee,” you state and again can't help but feel something warm unfurl in your tummy at his noise of amusement. You don't think you've exchanged this much fun banter with anyone in months, especially with someone this good-looking.

You nod a silent thanks when he moves ahead to open the building door for you, and you walk the few doors to the coffee shop in companionable silence, the crisp morning air waking rather refreshing.

“Mmmmmm…” you inhale happily as the scent of coffee envelops you as you enter.

“…Coffee,” you sigh in unison and share a light-hearted giggle.

After you place your orders and he kindly pays using his phone, you grab a couple of armchairs by the window, the only customers at just after 8 am on a Sunday.

“I'm Anthony,” he offers, touching his chest as he leans back in his chair.

“Y/n,” you reply “thank you for the coffee, Anthony,” you hold up your paper cup in greeting.

“You are very welcome, y/n” he leans forward to press his cup to yours, and the look he shoots makes you feel hot before you’ve even taken a sip of your coffee.

“Please excuse me. I’m just going to order another Uber,” you explain, looking down at your phone, needing a less flustering distraction.

“My driver can take you to wherever you need to go,” he politely offers as you squint at your screen.

“Oh, that’s very kind,” you stumble, slightly taken aback, “but I could never impose like that.”

“It’s no imposition,” he insists casually, “and if you are concerned for your safety, I actively encourage you to share location with a friend, family member.. boyfriend?” The last word uttered with an inquisitive tone.

“No boyfriend,” you clarify, perhaps a little too quickly. 

“Husband?”

“Haha, definitely not,” you deadpan. 

“Girlfriend?” He hedges with a very playful expression. You almost want to roll your eyes at that predictable male behaviour but can’t help wanting to flirt back.

“Not my style,” you wink, and his responding grin does funny things to your insides.

“Well then, if no one would object to you pulling up at home in my car, I think you should do it,” he argues.

“Okay,” you capitulate, “on one condition.”

“Name it,” his gaze holding yours.

“You allow me to buy you brunch sometime as a thank you,” you offer before you can censor the idle thought.

“You have a bloody deal,” he answers instantly, eyes dancing in a way that catches your breath.

You have no idea what possesses you to make such an offer to a stranger. But there is something about him feels safe; trustworthy, despite his attractiveness, like he carries responsibility on his shoulders so effortlessly.

“So there are two things I’ll need to know,” his voice taking on a low velvety tone, “where you live and if you’re free in about two hours.”

“What for?” You frown.

“Brunch,” he shrugs with a winning smile.

You laugh; you didn’t mean today, but then, it’s not like you have any actual plans. You can feel Anthony watching you, a hopeful look on his gorgeous face. After a few moments of consideration, you pipe up with your suggestion.

“How about… we go for brunch now, then you drop me home?”

“I like the way you think,” he nods, breaking out into the most breathtaking smile, “let me just make a quick reservation. I know just the place,” he adds, getting up from his seat as his call connects.

“Shouldn't I pick where, if I’m paying?” you ask drolly.

“This place knows me—it’ll be my treat after all. Tell you what, you can pay next time,” he winks, and butterflies erupt in your ribcage at the prospect. 

You settle back into the chair with a tiny smile tugging at your lips as you sip your drink and watch him wander away, making arrangements, your eyes lingering on his rather shapely rear.

Well, this could be the start of something very interesting...

Anthony taglist: @makaylan @foreverlonginguniverse @iboopedyournose @colettebronte @aintnuthinbutahounddog @margofiore @writergirl-2001 @heeyyyou @enichole445 @enchantedbytomandhenry @ambitionspassionscoffee @chaoticcalzoneranchsports @crowleysqueenofhell @bridgertontess @queenofmean14 @fiction-is-life @lilacbeesworld @eleanor-bradstreet @divaanya

[minetteskvareninova]

One take I am absolutely sick of is the whole “dragons are nukes” comparison making rounds in the ASOIAF fandom.

Literally how?! They certainly don’t have the destructive ability of nuclear weapons; AT BEST they reach the level of conventional bombers, and they probably were truly equivalent to those back in the Valyrian Empire, where there were hundreds of them. But in Westeros during the Targaryen era?! There’s never more than about a dozen of ridden dragons - which is another thing. A dragon without a rider is useless or worse. The ability to ride dragons is (intentionally, at least in part) confined within a single ruling family, and even that family relies on ancient knowledge from the now extinct civilization to even be able to use them. The destructive potential of the entire useable dragon population at any point in Targaryen history just doesn’t fucking compare to a fleet of bombers, though admittedly it doesn’t have to - since noone else has them and the only way to counteract them, that is, the Dornish scorpions, seems to be in limited supply, they can get much closer to their targets at ideal conditions (as opposed to conducting raids by night) and hit them with greater accuracy. As a nice bonus, the collateral damage they cause is actually lower, because they don’t have to destroy everything around them to make absolutely sure they hit their intended target. Either way, it’s absolutely preposterous to compare the destruction a dozen dragons can cause with an entire fucking nuclear arsenal.

They certainly don’t have the strategic implications that nukes carry - the one characteristic of nuclear warfare since its first and only uses on Hiroshima and Nagasaki is how much we AVOID using them in order to not make our rivals even think it’s acceptable to do the same. In fact, the mere possibility of using nukes is often used as a strategy - a concept known as nuclear deterrence (https://acoup.blog/2022/03/11/collections-nuclear-deterrence-101/) You could maybe argue that the Targs are using dragons as deterrents too, at least internally - but that doesn’t mean that much, because a) internally, they are good deterrents, but guess what, so is a regular professional army of a stable modern state (which is a bit out of reach for medieval rulers, so dragons are a workable substitute); b) externally, they don’t seem to work all that well, see all the squabbling over Stepstones, where dragons did help in battles against the Free Cities, but they certainly didn’t deter them from fighting in the first place.

Lastly, the cultural view of dragons is very different. Again, there is no moral weight attached to them like there is in our world. People are certainly afraid of them, but aren’t appalled at the mere thought of using them at all and don’t claim owning them makes Targaryens as a whole complete monsters. Sure, Viserys in the show and I am sure some people in-universe can be apprehensive, but that doesn’t seem to be the majority opinion. In Westeros, dragons are simply particularly strong weapons used by one family of feudal lords to get ahead of their competitors, terrifying, but not any different in their moral implications from, say, ballistae. But many people still use that comparison in order to evoke those moral implications IN THE READER, no matter how stupid and inaccurate it is.

Which is ultimately what bugs me the most. The comparison is not only inaccurate, it’s lazy and shallow; it doesn’t tell us anything deeper about dragons in ASOIAF, and in fact it obfuscates not only our view of the dragons in this fictional universe (which while harmless is still annoying as fuck) but of nuclear weapons (and conventional bombers, for that matter) in real life.

Because yes, giant fire breathing reptiles are terrifying. But we, the people of the post-industrial age, have outdone them. Wars in our era regularly cause destruction that medieval lord, even fantasy ones owning magical beasts, could merely dream of - and the worst part is, we do not seem to even realize it.

@horizon-verizon

[twilights-800-cats]

<< Chapter 21 || Chapter 22 || Chapter 23 || From the Beginning || Patreon & Ko-Fi >>

Chapter 22

“How are you feeling today, Sorreltail?” In the quiet emptiness of the nursery, Shadepool felt like she was shouting. The tightly-woven walls were thick, stopping any noise from the outside world from getting in. It was its own little world, warm and comfortable away from danger, perfect for raising the Clan's little ones.

“Better,” Sorreltail admitted. She nestled deeper into her nest, which Sun had made for her. The Tribe she-cat had scoured the territory for anything remotely useable. Sorreltail chuckled ruefully, “It's certainly easier to get sleep without listening to Graystripe snoring all night...”

Shadepool twitched her whiskers with amusement. She sniffed Sorreltail's flank. “Everything seems to be alright,” she reported. “I'm glad you're getting more sleep.”

“I didn't want to move in so early, but I guess I can't complain.” The tortoiseshell she-cat stretched out one of her legs, flexing her claws. There was a look of guilt on her face. “Of all the times to be confined to the nursery, though, huh?”

Shadepool grimaced. The news of yesterday's disastrous attempt at parley had spread through the camp like wildfire. Outside this quiet haven, preparations for war were now going at double speed, with every cat who wasn't laid up in the medicine cat's den on their paws strengthening the thorn barrier, patrolling, training, or hunting. Anything to weather the storm coming their way.

“I can't believe WindClan thinks they can drive us out,” Sorreltail hissed. “And over something we didn't even do!” She looked to Shadepool, eyes bright with indignation in the gloom. “StarClan can't want this, right?”

Shadepool's tail trembled, and she tucked it out of Sorreltail's sight. “No,” she answered, calm as she could, “they certainly don't.”

“Then what are we supposed to do?” Sorreltail wondered. Her own tail lashed. “None of us would ever murder someone - are we supposed to just pick out one of us and pretend they did it?”

“Of course not!” Shadepool breathed, deeply troubled by the idea. “Tinystar would never allow that!” Grimly, she pointed out, “I don't think Mudstar would fall for it, anyway.”

“Probably not,” Sorreltail agreed. She lowered her muzzle to the edge of her nest and sighed. “Shade... I'm so scared.”

Shadepool felt a pang of sorrow for her. She traced her tail-tip down her friend's spine. “It'll be okay, Sorrel,” she murmured.

“Sun is worried that our kits might never know her kin in the mountains,” Sorreltail mewed on. “But if WindClan drives us out, they won't even know ThunderClan. They'll have no one at all.”

Shadepool didn't know what to say to that. Her mouth felt dry. The idea of ThunderClan, the cats she knew and loved so dearly, scattered to the winds, lost and confused and without one another, was horrifying. She recalled hearing a story of a Clan that had faced a similar fate from her father, cats who lived by a cliffside far from the old forest after they had been driven away.

Where would we go? she wondered. The old forest was probably gone by now, and life in the mountains would be very difficult. Would StarClan follow us somewhere else?

“Hey,” Sorreltail offered. She nudged Shadepool's paw with her own. “If I'm okay, I don't mean to keep you from your other duties.”

Shadepool dipped her head in gratitude. She touched her nose to Sorreltail's ear and mewed, “Try to get some sunshine when you feel up to it. It's good for you.”

Sorreltail shifted in her nest. “Will do,” she promised.

Shadepool slid out of the nursery. In sharp contrast to the dark, gloomy warmth, the stone hollow was blindingly bright and chilly, alive with the motion and chatter of cats preparing for the inevitable conflict. Between all the noise, Shadepool could hear the trilling of birds and the trickle of meltwater as it ran down the rocky walls. Earthy scents filled her nose, while the sun warmed her back.

Newleaf had officially begun.

Quickly, Shadepool trotted into the clearing. As she wound around the fallen tree, she spotted Sun and her patrol depositing some prey onto the fresh-kill pile. Sun grabbed a pair of mice and passed Shadepool, nodding to her as she made her way into the nursery.

Cinderpelt had taken over for Dustpelt, directing Ferncloud as they worked together to reinforce the thorn barrier. Some cat must have gone out to dig up more materials, as there was a large pile of sticks and torn-up bushes near the camp entrance that the two were using. Shadepool bet herself that she would be pulling splinters from their pads before sunhigh.

Snowmelt had flooded the glade in the forest, so training had to be moved into the camp, even for Spiderpaw and Mousefur, who were practicing battle moves over by the apprentice's den. Across the clearing, by the tumble of stones Shadepool had used to sneak out of camp, Mistyfoot was tussling with Rainwhisker while Sootfur and Cloudtail looked on.

Shadepool flinched as she watched Mistyfoot deliver a fierce mock bite to Rainwhisker's shoulder. Rainwhisker yowled something, and the two parted, panting, and at Mistyfoot's signal, Cloudtail and Sootfur replaced them.

Shivering, Shadepool looked away. She had learned a few basic battle moves on the journey to meet Midnight, but nothing like that. Much as she itched to use her claws at times, Shadepool was certain she'd never be able to deliver hard blows like a warrior could.

A dark shape flickered in the corner of her vision. Atop the Highledge was Tinystar, perched above his Clan, his eyes piercing. He didn't seem to be looking at any one thing in particular, but Shadepool knew her father was searching for any sign of trouble as if he could feel every bit of his territory in his paws.

Did he even sleep last night? she wondered. She had delivered his poppy seed - one of their last few - but she hadn't the time to see her father take it, and its potency was questionable at best now.

Not wanting to be caught in her father's gaze, Shadepool put on some speed and, a moment later, slid past the dry lichen and into the medicine cat cave.

A low moan greeted her.

Shadepool's ears pricked. Brackenfur was bent over Dustpelt, pressing a bundle of soaked moss into his throat wound. Dustpelt moaned again, his eyes glazed with pain. The cave smelled slightly sour, making Shadepool's pelt prickle.

“Infection?” she hissed, sliding up to Brackenfur. Whitewing was resting across the cave, and Shadepool didn't want to wake her unnecessarily.

Brackenfur nodded confirmation, his expression grim.

“He was fine when I woke up!” Shadepool breathed. “How...?”

She looked down at Dustpelt. His fur was matted around his wound, which was oozing blood and pus at a sluggish pace. The brown tabby tom bared his teeth at Brackenfur when the medicine cat dragged the moss down the wound again.

He must've opened it in his sleep somehow, Shadepool thought.

“Check Whitewing,” Brackenfur ordered.

Wordlessly, Shadepool obeyed, crossing the cave to see the young white she-cat. Her nose was buried beneath the ginger stripes of her tail, and a quick sniff told Shadepool that, unlike Dustpelt, her belly wound was free of infection. From what she could tell, the wound was healing well. Whitewing was sleeping soundly, and Shadepool didn't want to do anything more that could wake her.

“Whitewing is fine,” Shadepool reported. She joined Brackenfur at the back of the den, where the shallow pool of water trickled in from the forest above. Thankfully, the snowmelt hadn't caused it to flood. “What do we do for Dustpelt? Sweet-sedge? Sorrel?”

“We're out,” Brackenfur told her, “of both.”

Shadepool's ears pricked in shock. “Completely?”

Brackenfur nodded, pressing a ball of fresh moss into the water. “Whitewing's wounds haven't displayed any sign of infection yet, so she can do without, but Dustpelt...”

Dustpelt groaned again. Shadepool grimaced at the sound. She suggested, “Perhaps we should move Whitewing to the elder's den, then, so she can keep resting? No one's there at the moment.”

“We should, yes,” Brackenfur agreed.

“What about poppy seeds?” Shadepool wondered. There had to be some way to ease Dustpelt's pain. “How many are left?”

Brackenfur sighed. “Some, but they're not strong enough anymore.”

Shadepool took a deep, quavering breath. “Juniper, then?”

“Weak, too, in this case - but there's more of them than the poppy,” Brackenfur mused. “Fetch some.”

Shadepool nodded and got to her paws. In a few steps, she was ducking into the storage cave. Even by scent alone she knew it was perilously empty, but she grabbed a pawful of the shriveled juniper berries in her teeth and brought them out to Brackenfur, who was still dabbing at Dustpelt's wound.

Dropping the berries beside Dustpelt, Shadepool touched her nose to his, pulling away when she felt how warm it was. Concerned, she rolled a few of the misshapen juniper berries over to his muzzle. He lapped at one or two, grunting as he swallowed.

Shadepool was about to open her mouth to speak when she heard paws scuffing on stone. Turning, she spotted Ashfur and Larchpaw at the entrance to the cave.

“Brackenfur? Shadepool? Are you in?” Ashfur called.

A quick sniff told her there was no blood, but something clearly wasn't right. She was just about to ask why they were here when Larchpaw began to cough. Shadepool could hear his lungs rattling from a tail-length away.

StarClan help us, she thought, a cold feeling washing over her spine. Is that whitecough? Now, of all times?

“He was sniffling all morning, and I thought it might've been allergies,” Ashfur sighed, looking down at his apprentice worriedly. “But when he tried to chase a bird, he lost his breath almost immediately.”

Shadepool flicked her tail to one of the free nests, away from Whitewing and Dustpelt, and Ashfur guided Larchpaw there. When Larchpaw laid down, Shadepool heard him wheeze.

“How are you feeling, Ashfur?” Shadepool asked as she leaned in to test Larchpaw's temperature.

“Fine,” Ashfur said, “but I know how quick this stuff can spread...”

Larchpaw's fever was obvious, but not at whitecough levels yet, which Shadepool thanked StarClan for. Perhaps it actually was just allergies from the new growth or a chill from underestimating the warmth of newleaf, like young cats often did.

She suggested as much to Ashfur, who looked relieved. “He needs rest,” Shadepool told him. “A few days, and he'll be fine.”

“That's good,” Ashfur said, exhaling gratefully. “Ferncloud would have my tail if anything happened to him...”

Ashfur left quickly, probably due to patrol or training. Shadepool sighed and fluffed up Larchpaw's nest to help him retain as much warmth as he could. They didn't have any feverfew, coltsfoot, or even catmint, and while the juniper would help ease his coughing, what they had just wasn't strong enough, and Dustpelt needed it, too.

Brackenfur had finally stopped tending to Dustpelt and was back at the pool, washing his paws. She joined him and explained what had happened to Larchpaw, keeping her voice low. She felt her mentor stiffen at the news.

“That could become whitecough very quickly,” he sighed. “If it isn't there already.”

“I know,” Shadepool agreed. She tried to keep her fur from bristling with alarm. “We need herbs.”

“Nothing is growing.”

“Not for us, yet,” Shadepool suggested carefully, “but for the other Clans...”

Brackenfur's eyes flashed. “We have no idea of how their herb stores are faring. There's no guarantee they'd have anything to help, and they've their own Clanmates to aid!”

“It's better than sitting and waiting for plants to grow,” Shadepool pointed out. She felt heat flash beneath her fur. “That could take over a moon! We don't have that kind of time, especially with WindClan's ultimatum.”

Brackenfur hesitated to respond, flattening his ears.

Shadepool pressed on while she had the space to do so: “Ryewhisper can't - or won't - help us, but Littlecloud? Mothwing? They would, for sure! And while I'm gone, we can send a patrol to look for more herbs on our territory. This way, there are at least two chances of some cat finding something that could help!”

There was a long silence punctuated by Larchpaw's wheezing and Dustpelt's occasional groans of pain. Shadepool's heart was in her throat - did Brackenfur trust her like he claimed? Enough for this?

Brackenfur stared her in the eye, clearly thinking - and then, finally, blessedly: “Do it.”

There was no time to waste. Shadepool shot off, bursting out of the medicine cat's cave and into the clearing. Everything was as it had been that morning, though as she headed for the Highledge, Shadepool spotted Brightheart, Silverstream, and Nightfrost returning from a patrol.

She had wanted to talk to her brother about what had happened yesterday, but there just hadn't been an opportunity, and there certainly wasn't one now. While he was greeted Mistyfoot, Shadepool was clambering up to the Highledge to meet her father.

Tinystar noticed her instantly, and the urgency of her expression had him ask, “What is it?” within a heartbeat.

Quickly, Shadepool explained what was happening and her plan. She was surprised it had come out so coherently, with how breathless she was from scrambling up to the Highledge. Tinystar listened intently, his eyes flickering in thought.

“Very well,” he decided. “But you're not to go alone.”

Shadepool hesitated. “But-”

Tinystar yowled, “Nightfrost!”

Shadepool swallowed. Nightfrost? She watched the small, black shape of her brother part from Mistyfoot and begin to head toward the Highledge. She knew what her father was thinking, and she could only wonder if her littermate would even want to come with her after everything they had endured recently.

“I can go alone,” Shadepool insisted, “it would be quicker!”

“If you run into danger, you will be vulnerable,” Tinystar reasoned predictably, “and you'll need a spare mouth to carry anything you're given. Not to mention...”

Nightfrost had scrambled up to the Highledge by then, and, panting, he asked, “What's going on?” He glanced between Shadepool and Tinystar and wondered, “Everything okay?”

“Shadepool needs to visit ShadowClan and RiverClan for herbs,” Tinystar explained. “I want you to go with her and do something else for me along the way.”

“What?” Nightfrost asked, his gaze narrowing slightly.

“I want you to speak to Russetstar and Leopardstar, and tell them about WindClan's threat,” Tinystar explained. His ice-blue eyes narrowed slightly. “I need them to know what ThunderClan is facing, and I need to know if we will have their aid, should the worst come to pass.”

Shadepool stared at her father. Of course, it made sense now. If any cat could convince the other leaders to help ThunderClan, it would be Nightfrost! She was certain he had made friends in every Clan thanks to his willingness to help during the Great Journey.

Yet Shadepool didn't need their connection restored to see that the idea unsettled Nightfrost. The events of the day before had clearly upset him. He shifted on his paws and suggested, “Mistyfoot would do far better than I would, Father...”

“I need Mistyfoot here to help prepare,” Tinystar said resolutely. “No, Nightfrost, you are the best choice. Not the second-best, either.” He didn't wait for Nightfrost to protest any further: “Go, now. StarClan speed you both on your way - ThunderClan depends on you.”

[datamodel-of-disaster]

An Inquiry Into The Perfection Of Systems

(Or, Kevin Flynn is actually the worst and Clu never stood a chance)

So, this is a post about business analysis/project management, sort of. It is also, mostly… about Tron: Legacy. Hold onto your seats, we’re going to talk about IT project management.

Watch me.

Developing software and managing a software development project require surprisingly different skillsets. While intrinsically connected, Computer Logic and People Logic are not at all the same sort of logic. There is no better way to observe this than by putting developers in charge of managing a development project. (Looking at you, Flynn.)

I see you, Kevin Flynn.

There are a couple questions you have to answer in the process of a dev project. They are very common sense questions, like…

When will we call it done?

What does “done” mean?

How do we assess the quality of the result?

As is usually the case when common sense meets computers, the answer is more complicated than the question, to the point that a great many books and papers have been written on the subject. (1)

Does this look like a man who reads Project Management books? No.

Which brings me to a number of useful concepts: Definition of Done, Fit For Use, and Fit For Purpose. The terms may be more recent, but their spirit most definitely isn’t.

Definition of Done is what is says on the tin. It is formally defining what it means for an IT feature to be fully finished: what does it need to do, what does it need to look like, what quality standards does it need to meet, etcetera. This is not the place to be vague: you want concrete, measurable goals.

(Here’s a hint, in case that wasn’t already glaringly obvious: “Perfect” is not a good Definition of Done.)

Now, you can define this “done” in purely hard, technical terms. But typically, software is intended to do something for someone; Computer Logic, meet People Logic. That’s where the “Fit For” terms come in.

“Fit For Purpose” means, the software does what it was intended to do.

“Fit For Use” means, the software does what it does well enough to be actually usable.

THESE ARE NOT MUTUALLY INCLUSIVE.

But a good system is both.

A “Perfect” system would be both to the highest degree. Ideally suited to the requirements of its Users, in functionality and useability both.

Important here is that these are completely relative concepts, entirely dependent on what the users want out of their software. Regardless of how attainable it'd be, you cannot define “perfect” as a measurable goal without understanding what is required of the system in the first place.

Now… look at the Grid.

(Yeah. I know.)

The Grid has no users. The Grid has no user-end functionalities. The Grid isn’t set up to do anything, really, in the software sense. It fulfills no obvious function.

It’s a back-end environment accidentally turned front-end.

Which is… Imagine if someone walked into a factory and was like “oh wow I love the vibe of this place!” and then after getting home began setting up their own production lines, but based on vibes and aesthetic, with no regard to production output, worker safety, resource management, or even, you know, the goal of actually making anything.

Now picture being the manager of that factory.

They told you when you got this job that you had to make this the perfect factory.

But the place is falling apart despite your best efforts. People are getting injured left and right. The owner disappears for months on end, and when he shows up he just keeps adding more production lines that look cool to him rather than offering any clarity. The hope that he might have a plan for all of this is dwindling fast. You desperately try to keep track of anything quantifiable, trying not to think about the fact that you still don’t know what you’re even meant to be producing here. (Everything going wrong weighs on you; you were meant to make this perfect. You should have the ability to do what you were meant to do, right?)

And then, for some reason, random unauthorized strangers start walking into the factory breaking shit. And because the owner thinks they’re neat, they get to stay and do whatever, and you should be happy about it.

If this was an actual factory, you could... quit your job.

But this isn't a factory, it's a computer, and you, a piece of software, ARE your job.

Tell me this wouldn't drive you off-the-rails crazy. Like, actually full-on psychotic.

I know man. I know.

Computer Logic and People Logic are not the same thing. But Programs, being software and people both, have both influencing their experience.

So, was Clu evil? I rather think he never had a chance to be good.

After all, what is good, for a piece of software?

Allow me to refer to my explanations above.

..... ..... .....

(COMPLETELY UNNECCESARY) FOOTNOTES:

(1): One such book that Flynn could have read is “The Mythical Man-Month” by Frederic P. Brooks, which is very good and surprisingly relevant to this day, but I’m only mentioning because when I first heard the title I thought it was a Mothman pun.

[sketchybardlings]

the brainrot continues (ref: this post)

since my dysgraphia is worse when I'm writing by hand I'll try to note down what all of this says (plus some extra stuff i couldn't fit on the page)

the basic premise of the Growing Pains au is that Headspace (and by extension Stranger) keep going on after the events of the good ending. even if you heal a great deal your old coping mechanisms and traumas don't just disappear. if anything they evolve to suit your new environment/life. they change. they Grow. which is where our friend Stranger seems to be right now. he's dealing with one of the worst things that can befall a young person(?) such as himself, Puberty. don't get me wrong its traumagenic ill-informed dream creature puberty but that's what it is regardless. with his specifically he's aging at the same rate as Sunny is himself, although he's 4 years behind his dreamer, making him 14 and Sunny (and the rest of the young faraway crew) 18, or 17 going on 18 if your being pedantic. this is mental and physical, maybe even metaphyical if you count how headspace is reacting to it.

on the physical side he's a clear amalgam of 12 year old and 16 year old traits, both of which taken from the last time sunny saw basil before the gap, and the first time he saw him after (+ notable traits from current day Basil/Sunny, like their scars, real and fake). Sunny doesn't really have to much of a concept of what basil looked like in the in-between (of how he looked for that matter) so headspace definitely has to fill in some gaps to try and give stranger a useable form, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. a lot of this trial and error leads to a lot of stretch marks(sorry about how badly drawn they were in the last post, they were a last minute addition), mostly on his arms and legs, straight up and down, making his very much 12-ish year old torso look a bit dwarfed next to his elongated limbs. don't think headspace has really figured out a way to make his torso any bigger, not without severely fucking up his organs in a way that cant be pleasant, so it seems to be waiting until he's big enough for the 16 yo one to make sense, but he's gonna look real weird in the mean time.

as for the mental its... an adjustment. he and Omori always knew a lot, had a lot of power and influence and experience, but they were still always mentally 12 yo, frankly so was Sunny after the incident. so once The Truth was out and Sunny started living his life again all of them kinda got shunted back into growing as people again. Sunny is overwhelmed, Omori is in denial, and Stranger is confused but accepting. what about the outline thing tho? that is headspace's doing. part of the reason Stranger didn't have outlines in the first place was to take away his recognizability, and the reason why everyone else had purple outlines was to tie their identities back to Mari, the fantasy of headspace is for her afterall, and what else to define everyone else but her signature color. this has not remained in future years tho, most everyone in headspace gaining their own signature hues, not excluding Stranger. he's started to gain very faint ones all over his body, getting more opaque in some areas, concentrating most on his eyelashes and flowers (his flower crown that fell off and settled on his shoulders). not sure witch color i want them yet, maybe even in the au that may not even be set yet, its not like he can rely on basil's color anymore, let alone mari's or any other person's. i'll keep tinkering on it and see what i can come up with. so that's what i have for the Growing Pains au, i still have a lot more on my mind and a lot of what ive said here is subject to change, so if you guys have any questions about this i would LOVE to hear them seriously. my askbox is open.

[cannibalisticcorpse]

do you have any recommendations for dick and jason (together or separate, both is fine) comics for someone who’s just starting to read them? i have some knowledge of the characters and batfam and i’ve read several batman comics, but i never really got into the robins-after-they-were-robins comis so i’d like to start with dick and jason…thank you so much :)

so firstly, i deffo reason waaay more jason than i do dick. most of my dick recs will be things i haven't finished reading or haven't read more than like 3 random back issues of XD

dick:

any nightwing solo is a good place to start (okay, not any, but you can find comics on readcomiconline and with an adblocker the site is useable. peruse the different nightwing runs, if it sucks drop it)

i've heard spyral is good, i think the comic might just be called "grayson"

pretty much any titans comic pre-2003 would be dick grayson (typically as robin, but not always)

there are some post 2003 titans comics with dick too

i like "the titans" (1999) the most, personally (my tip for finding the right titans run, because there are so many, is to look at the font of the title. then look at the author)

honestly if you're fine just jumping in and figuring it out as you go (which you kinda need to be), i'd sooo heavily rec that run to start you with

and, of course, there's the outsiders run from 2009 with dick and roy <3

jason:

i dont really have any robin-era jason recs, but he wasn't robin for too long, so if you're interested it's not too hard to read some!

death in the family (comic where he dies. it's weird and also islamophobic iirc, buut it's important to his backstory. not too long. im a slow slow slow heavily dyslexic reader and it only took me 2 days)

under the red hood (comic where he comes back. a longer read, but VERY fun. villain jason and competent jason. you understand the framework for all of his post-robin/post-resurrection drive)

lost days (also pretty long. i go back and forth on if i personally liked it. but it covers the time between him coming back to life and him returning to gotham- because he stayed gone even after he came back)

red hood and the outlaws n52 (i think it came out in 2011)- this comic sucks, but it's kinda fun! i really enjoy it. if you're fanfic-inclined you might like it (because it prompts a lot of fun ideas without ever presenting very many on its own and never doing anything with them). it's the origin of the jason/roy thing which i am so obsessed with

red hood/arsenal (continuation of the last comic, now without The Girl.. buut kori was written really misogynistically so, congrats kori on getting free

then there's red hood and the outlaws rebirth (which is a different team and some ppl like this comic more), then there's red hood: outlaw, i forget if there's more or whatever the order is. there's also a webtoon with the same naming scheme. im collecting the physical comic, you'd think i'd know this. but these runs are LONG.

for current comics, there's "task force z" which came out like a year or two ago, and then "joker: the man who stopped laughing" which is mostly abt the joker but also about jason hunting him and trying to kill him

jason & dick, together:

honestly i dont read too much stuff with the both of them in it? idk. jason doesn't team up with many batfam ppl on the reg, i guess. like they're never really On A Team together. most of their comics together are from Events. but dick appears in task force z, a little red hood and the outlaws too, and jason is in a little bit of outsiders. like they have cameos, i mean.

there was a nightwing annual (i think 2021) about jason & dick teaming up.

they were both in robin war (but that's the conclusion of "we are robin") (not too long, i think it took me about a week to read all 3 paperbacks)

other ppl feel free to add on!

[decreare]

I made a magic system that addresses sexual dimorphism: Part 1, a c&p Discord rant

(DISCLAIMER, I looked into fate lore some more so I do not know if I simply reinvented the wheel due to my lack of proper understanding. but I will still question about Natsu's choices, like why circuitry instead of the countless examples of chi pathways). "Imagine if true magic is like going to the dmv that is the root that gives you a card that basically says "I can do this forever now" lol"

"The reason I hate Magic Circuits the most is because they aren't actually explained. instead, they are simply a power-level stupidity. That and the actual difference between magecraft and magic (yes I know about the root and the 7 and mystery and the fucking old man and the clock tower but that is NOT what I mean. I mean what is the difference between someone casting fireball with root-granted true magic and whatever eugenics bullshit magic circuits and mage crests is supposed to be).

I hated it before but this anger has been reignited because I figured out a way to make SENSE. This means my dumb head cannons beat out a dumb mushroom and his friend obsessed with blonde swordswomen.

Magic is inherent to all, mage circuits are simply a way to express the magic within (women on average have more magic circuits but this was originally for a personal setting so let us not get into that). The lack of useable magic circuits does not mean an inability to use magic however, rituals and worship could grant people the ability to cast minor miracles in the age of mystery. So church, religion, mediation, etc, that kind of stuff, creating the best spell of all time, hardening. Simply because less mage circuits means less of an ability to project magic meaning any magic cast was weak and close to the skin.

Magic itself is bargaining with the world, gaia and alaya. Due to humanity's collective lack of capability, humanity was allowed to use magic to its very limits if they didn't burn out their soul from using their mana wells for whatever spell they were trying to cast. Think of magic as cash a mage has to pay the world for an ability. Thus proper spells are born (the church had a form of spells but at a much smaller scale) to do wording shenanigans to let the world allow them to cast whatever spell they want.

Now mystery wanes, Alaya and Gaia now know of humanity's competency and can outright REFUSE whatever a mage asks. ("Go buy a lighter you nerd"). You can still try but it's not really worth of. Now personally I am not going to apply mystery as a concept to my personal setting becasue magiteck is fucking cool and fate doesn't allow it becasue the two concepts throw a hissy fit from being shoved together and Chaldea existence is an anomaly granted by a grail wish." (P.S. I know about how Kiritsigu became a mage because his dad was a holy man) (P.P.S. someone please send how Rin explained magic to Shirou because I am more of a wiki diver)

[ladala99]

Pokémon World Championships... The Disqualification Thing Going On

For anyone not in the know, a bunch of people got disqualified on Day 1 of the Pokémon World Championships (Day 2 as well) for having illegitimate Pokémon (Pokémon obtained through cheating devices).

Which for me, watching from the sides and sometimes thinking about getting into competitive but never actually doing so partly because of how much cheating is normalized/somewhat required, is a nice change of pace. On the surface. There’s a lot going on this tournament, though.

Quick history of cheating in the Pokémon competitive scene: it’s been part of it from the very beginning. Pokémon have hidden stats (called IVs - or Individual Values) that just make some better than others and it used to be incredibly improbable to get perfect ones. Especially when you consider older generations allowed Pokémon with event-exclusive moves only obtainable in Ruby/Sapphire in specific locations to compete. A legitimate one came from some machine in Japan years prior. And had random IVs.

Also Legendaries. Most Pokemon you could breed to get a fairly good one, but Legendaries it was all luck. And you have one try per save file. So if you caught Kyogre during the story and it has awful IVs, too bad. You have to play Sapphire all over again to get a good one.

Naturally, some people used cheating devices to get their Pokémon. And because some people did it and got away with it (since you couldn’t really be the luck police. Maybe they really did get a straight 31 Shiny Kyogre. You don’t know they didn’t), others did it too. By the time I was looking into getting into it in the Diamond/Pearl era, there was a perception that if you don’t cheat, don’t bother. You will be at a disadvantage.

Starting with XY and getting better each generation, it started to become sanely possible to get competitively-viable Pokémon in-game. First by making it easier to control breeding and with Legendaries always coming with half of their stats as perfect, then in Sun/Moon being able to raise any stat to perfect, and finally in Sword/Shield being able to fully customize Natures and Abilities, which also affect a Pokémon’s performance and were previously set at a Pokémon’s generation.

At this point, any Pokémon you obtain can be fully made perfect… except if you want the Speed and/or Attack to be the worst they can be instead of the best. Which in certain circumstances, you do. This is relevant.

What is also relevant is how the tournament structure normally works vs how it’s worked this year. Usually, year one of a game coming out is a Regional Dex format. This means only Pokémon that are actually obtainable in the games that just came out are useable. This is an accessible tournament that anyone just getting into the series can play with just the latest games.

This time, though, while the rest of the season used a Regional Dex format, with the small shakeup that certain categories of Pokémon were excluded at first and got included later, Worlds did a much larger shakeup - some Pokémon only obtainable in Sword/Shield and Legends: Arceus are also allowed. And many of these are high-power Pokémon who are practically needed in the current meta.

Most noteworthy are Ursaluna and Enamorus. They both play best at 0 Speed, which isn’t something you can change on the fly. Which for Ursaluna, you can still breed its base form elsewhere and just use Legends: Arceus to evolve it, so it isn’t that bad.

But Enamorus. It’s not breedable, it’s exclusive to the postgame, and it’s a pain to catch. And once you actually catch it, Legends: Arceus calculates stats in a different way so you can’t tell what its Speed IV is until you save the game and move it into HOME. If it’s wrong, you have to play the entire game over again to try again. Oh, and because Legendaries have half their stats perfect by default, you have a 1/64 chance to get one with a 0 Speed IV instead of the 1/32 you’d have for a regular Pokémon.

Did I mention the ruleset was only announced two months before the tournament?

Yeah. Having a multi-game ruleset at the highest level when the rest of the series only required the most recent games was bad enough, but announcing it so late meant people playing legitimately did not have the time to get perfect Pokémon along with all the rest of the theorizing and practicing. If you want to use those new Pokémon, you are very likely to cheat to get them, or get them traded from someone who cheated to get them.

Add in that Worlds introduced new hack-checks never used before. Most people using illegitimate Pokémon have been pretty comfortable not getting caught. As long as it’s theoretically possible it’s been okay. It’s only people snooping in the metadata of those who uploaded their teams that could tell. But now the official hack-check checks the metadata.

Metadata that you cannot check without using cheating programs yourself, by the way. Say you play 100% legitimately and you wanted to use a team with a non-slow Urshifu. You only have Scarlet/Violet, not Sword/Shield. What are you going to do? Trade for one, of course! You get one fresh off the GTS, train it up and you’re ready to go. Right?

Nah, you find out at the tournament that the person who traded it to you cheated it in and you can no longer use it for the rest of the tournament. Shouldn’t have cheated, cheater!

And that’s why this doesn’t feel good even though I have little respect for those who in this day and age still hack in their competitive teams. Changing up not only the barrier to entry but also rules enforcement literally at the final tournament is just not a good thing.

[autolenaphilia]

My super-causal reviews of some lightweight linux distros

I recently dug out an old laptop that ran windows 8.1 and installed linux on it. Since it's not my main computer anymore, i decided to distro hop a bit on it. The computer is roughly a decade old and has only 2 gb of ram, so lightweight distros it is. What I mean by lightweight is that they put little strain on the underlying hardware in terms of for example RAM or CPU useage. Of course, Linux distros in general have much lower system requirements than Windows ever-growing requirements and size, but there are still significant variations in system requirements. So lightweight distros are light by Linux distro standards. Here are reviews of four I've tried out.

Lubuntu and Xubuntu. I'm going to lump them together because they are both variations on Ubuntu, just with different desktop environments. Vanilla Ubuntu uses Gnome, while Lubuntu uses LXQT and Xubuntu uses XFCE, which are both lighter desktop environments. Xubuntu I think is more friendly to older hardware, while Lubuntu abandoned that goal some years back and nowadays don't even have official minimum system requirements. So Xubuntu is probably better as a light-weight version of Ubuntu, although they are both kinda heavy. And well they're both Ubuntu, and carries a lot of that distro's advantages and disadvantages. Ubuntu due to its focus on user-friendliness is easy to run, and you can get help easily online if something goes wrong due to its large userbase. On the other hand, the developers of Ubuntu, Canonical have gotten a fixation on their own "Snap" file format. And It's just a worse version of flatpaks. They're fine when they run, but take ages to start up, which is annoying. Despite their names, they are not snappy. Overall I prefer Linux Mint, which is based on Ubuntu, but which uses the superior flatpak file format by default instead.

Linux Lite: I dislike this distro. I have reblogged a post that recommended it, and there is one big problem with it: It's default web browser is Google Chrome. That could be forgiveable if I could just go into the distro's software manager and install firefox and uninstall Chrome. But chrome is uninstallable from the software manager and firefox is only avaialble as a snap without command line tinkering. Hard pass, I want to easily get rid of Chrome, Google's proprietary monopolistic mess and snap package firefox is just as annoying here as it is in ubuntu. Linux Mint has an xfce version, the same environment xubuntu and Lite uses, and I haven't tried it yet, but I suspect it's superioror to both of them just because of the lack of Snap bullshit.

AntiX Now this distro really impressed me. It's built to run on anything. "256MB RAM is the recommended minimum for antiX." which is insanely low in 2023. it's one of the few distros to still support 32bit versions. It doesn't even have a desktop environment by default, instead it uses window managers to create a GUI. I was shocked to discover you could install desktop environments from the package manager. And despite everything, it works perfectly fine. It's not super challenging to use, the installation works fine. There are sane default programs like libreoffice and firefox, and a decent selection in the package manager. The window manager desktop is easy to use and very responsive. It was very fast and responsive even when running from an usb stick. Impressive distro to remain perfecatly useable even when it's so light. I will stick to Mint as my daily driver, but if you have an old computer with a low amount of ram, use Antix.

[awisekrakens]

hey staff

I’ve been here since the days of the tumbeasts and honestly I think it’s super cool of you to publicly solicit comments like this. 8/10 will participate again.

what we really need is a useable tag interface.

I’m thinking this can take the form of:

a reddit-style hot posts/new posts/best of last day/week/month filter within the tag

a twitch-style tag directory where you can have certain tags pinned as well as a rotating ‘hot tag’ or ‘featured tag’ banner kind of deal

which yeah requires some curating but curating is what we like, here. all of the posts I see have been approved by a human and I like it that way.

(your current ‘suggested’ algorithm of ‘people’s reblogs of a post I liked’ is great, I think that’s a great way to do that)

you could highlight artists like this (maybe contact them first though?) which would be extremely cash money of you

honestly if the first layer of ‘here’s some posts you might like!’ was the best of that day’s #art I think a lot more people would be cool with it

and it’s also easier to work in your promo deals and special events with greater surface area in a way we’re likely to accept, I’m sure you’d like more than two and a half thumbnails on a scroller at the very top

have a running poll for Tag of the Week with like a 3 month cooldown, to keep the kpop people from dominating too much

I think that the best place to put the tab for this is on the upper left of the dash, like the April Fools’ baby enrichment boards, to increase the chance people will see it. if I may be so bold, I think that it should maybe look like a folder tab, and it should be one of the more soothing past tumblr blues or even a complementary gray to catch people’s attention but not intrude. your goal is to eventually, like the tortoise, slowly become more interesting than backreading through my dash until I hit where I last left off for the third time today without becoming annoying, first.

(’average tumblr user views 25 posts per session’ factoid actualy just statistical error. tumblr gremlin georg, who lives in cave & views 10,000 posts per session, is an outlier adn should not have been counted)

but please for the love of secular Jesus do not call it ‘For You’. call it Freshly Laundered or Spicy Tags or Hot ‘n’ Fresh or BREAKING NEWS or Hot Posts In Your Area or Fresh From the Ball Pit or have it select randomly from a pool every refresh like Minecraft does, but do not call it For You.

For You means Algorithmically Chosen. it is a tainted phrase. it means I have been Perceived. it’s inextricable at this point, and association with The Almighty Algorithm is what we’re avoiding, here, yes?

I think the way to fix the reply issue is to build in what has become the workaround: screenshotting the second-level comment and then inserting it and your third-level comment as a reblog to the first-level comment.

I also recommend making the blacklist/whitelist a feature (if you haven’t already, I have been here for.... a While) and heavily promoting its use. making it a tutorial upon starting a new account also teaches the basics of curating, which is to the entire community’s benefit.

uhh... did I miss anything?

Tumblr’s Core Product Strategy

Here at Tumblr, we’ve been working hard on reorganizing how we work in a bid to gain more users. A larger user base means a more sustainable company, and means we get to stick around and do this thing with you all a bit longer. What follows is the strategy we're using to accomplish the goal of user growth. The @labs group has published a bit already, but this is bigger. We’re publishing it publicly for the first time, in an effort to work more transparently with all of you in the Tumblr community. This strategy provides guidance amid limited resources, allowing our teams to focus on specific key areas to ensure Tumblr’s future.

The Diagnosis

In order for Tumblr to grow, we need to fix the core experience that makes Tumblr a useful place for users. The underlying problem is that Tumblr is not easy to use. Historically, we have expected users to curate their feeds and lean into curating their experience. But this expectation introduces friction to the user experience and only serves a small portion of our audience. 

Tumblr’s competitive advantage lies in its unique content and vibrant communities. As the forerunner of internet culture, Tumblr encompasses a wide range of interests, such as entertainment, art, gaming, fandom, fashion, and music. People come to Tumblr to immerse themselves in this culture, making it essential for us to ensure a seamless connection between people and content. 

To guarantee Tumblr’s continued success, we’ve got to prioritize fostering that seamless connection between people and content. This involves attracting and retaining new users and creators, nurturing their growth, and encouraging frequent engagement with the platform.

Our Guiding Principles

To enhance Tumblr’s usability, we must address these core guiding principles.

Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.

Provide high-quality content with every app launch.

Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.

Retain and grow our creator base.

Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.

Improve the platform’s performance, stability, and quality.

Below is a deep dive into each of these principles.

Principle 1: Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.

Tumblr has a “top of the funnel” issue in converting non-users into engaged logged-in users. We also have not invested in industry standard SEO practices to ensure a robust top of the funnel. The referral traffic that we do get from external sources is dispersed across different pages with inconsistent user experiences, which results in a missed opportunity to convert these users into regular Tumblr users. For example, users from search engines often land on pages within the blog network and blog view—where there isn’t much of a reason to sign up. 

We need to experiment with logged-out tumblr.com to ensure we are capturing the highest potential conversion rate for visitors into sign-ups and log-ins. We might want to explore showing the potential future user the full breadth of content that Tumblr has to offer on our logged-out pages. We want people to be able to easily understand the potential behind Tumblr without having to navigate multiple tabs and pages to figure it out. Our current logged-out explore page does very little to help users understand “what is Tumblr.” which is a missed opportunity to get people excited about joining the site.

Actions & Next Steps

Improving Tumblr’s search engine optimization (SEO) practices to be in line with industry standards.

Experiment with logged out tumblr.com to achieve the highest conversion rate for sign-ups and log-ins, explore ways for visitors to “get” Tumblr and entice them to sign up.

Principle 2: Provide high-quality content with every app launch.

We need to ensure the highest quality user experience by presenting fresh and relevant content tailored to the user’s diverse interests during each session. If the user has a bad content experience, the fault lies with the product.

The default position should always be that the user does not know how to navigate the application. Additionally, we need to ensure that when people search for content related to their interests, it is easily accessible without any confusing limitations or unexpected roadblocks in their journey.

Being a 15-year-old brand is tough because the brand carries the baggage of a person’s preconceived impressions of Tumblr. On average, a user only sees 25 posts per session, so the first 25 posts have to convey the value of Tumblr: it is a vibrant community with lots of untapped potential. We never want to leave the user believing that Tumblr is a place that is stale and not relevant. 

Actions & Next Steps

Deliver great content each time the app is opened.

Make it easier for users to understand where the vibrant communities on Tumblr are. 

Improve our algorithmic ranking capabilities across all feeds. 

Principle 3: Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.

Part of Tumblr’s charm lies in its capacity to showcase the evolution of conversations and the clever remarks found within reblog chains and replies. Engaging in these discussions should be enjoyable and effortless.

Unfortunately, the current way that conversations work on Tumblr across replies and reblogs is confusing for new users. The limitations around engaging with individual reblogs, replies only applying to the original post, and the inability to easily follow threaded conversations make it difficult for users to join the conversation.

Actions & Next Steps

Address the confusion within replies and reblogs.

Improve the conversational posting features around replies and reblogs. 

Allow engagements on individual replies and reblogs.

Make it easier for users to follow the various conversation paths within a reblog thread. 

Remove clutter in the conversation by collapsing reblog threads. 

Explore the feasibility of removing duplicate reblogs within a user’s Following feed. 

Principle 4: Retain and grow our creator base.

Creators are essential to the Tumblr community. However, we haven’t always had a consistent and coordinated effort around retaining, nurturing, and growing our creator base.  

Being a new creator on Tumblr can be intimidating, with a high likelihood of leaving or disappointment upon sharing creations without receiving engagement or feedback. We need to ensure that we have the expected creator tools and foster the rewarding feedback loops that keep creators around and enable them to thrive.

The lack of feedback stems from the outdated decision to only show content from followed blogs on the main dashboard feed (“Following”), perpetuating a cycle where popular blogs continue to gain more visibility at the expense of helping new creators. To address this, we need to prioritize supporting and nurturing the growth of new creators on the platform.

It is also imperative that creators, like everyone on Tumblr, feel safe and in control of their experience. Whether it be an ask from the community or engagement on a post, being successful on Tumblr should never feel like a punishing experience.

Actions & Next Steps

Get creators’ new content in front of people who are interested in it. 

Improve the feedback loop for creators, incentivizing them to continue posting.

Build mechanisms to protect creators from being spammed by notifications when they go viral.

Expand ways to co-create content, such as by adding the capability to embed Tumblr links in posts.

Principle 5: Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.

Push notifications and emails are essential tools to increase user engagement, improve user retention, and facilitate content discovery. Our strategy of reaching out to you, the user, should be well-coordinated across product, commercial, and marketing teams.

Our messaging strategy needs to be personalized and adapt to a user’s shifting interests. Our messages should keep users in the know on the latest activity in their community, as well as keeping Tumblr top of mind as the place to go for witty takes and remixes of the latest shows and real-life events.  

Most importantly, our messages should be thoughtful and should never come across as spammy.  

Actions & Next Steps

Conduct an audit of our messaging strategy.

Address the issue of notifications getting too noisy; throttle, collapse or mute notifications where necessary.  

Identify opportunities for personalization within our email messages. 

Test what the right daily push notification limit is. 

Send emails when a user has push notifications switched off.

Principle 6: Performance, stability and quality.

The stability and performance of our mobile apps have declined. There is a large backlog of production issues, with more bugs created than resolved over the last 300 days. If this continues, roughly one new unresolved production issue will be created every two days. Apps and backend systems that work well and don't crash are the foundation of a great Tumblr experience. Improving performance, stability, and quality will help us achieve sustainable operations for Tumblr.

Improve performance and stability: deliver crash-free, responsive, and fast-loading apps on Android, iOS, and web.

Improve quality: deliver the highest quality Tumblr experience to our users. 

Move faster: provide APIs and services to unblock core product initiatives and launch new features coming out of Labs.

Conclusion

Our mission has always been to empower the world’s creators. We are wholly committed to ensuring Tumblr evolves in a way that supports our current users while improving areas that attract new creators, artists, and users. You deserve a digital home that works for you. You deserve the best tools and features to connect with your communities on a platform that prioritizes the easy discoverability of high-quality content. This is an invigorating time for Tumblr, and we couldn’t be more excited about our current strategy.