#last page is ones i just added who don't have code yet

[fr-thrice]

boosting my Elderbrook tab again, an old dragon fodder rescue! they're sorted by ID and have a simple bio code by me. there's over 100 dragons who are all so different, below is just some.

most are listed on the AH, but I am happy to send dragons over for 10g or some food or whatever if you'll be nice to them. Just send me a message or CR and I'll take em off the AH :] 👍

[whiteboardartstudios]

Goodbye, Gendaen

fan art for @mtqcomic

Thoughts and LONG ramble under the cut! (includes spoilers!!!)

A while ago (like last week maybe?) I realized that I've been following this comic for almost a year, and I still haven't drawn Mysta yet! I figured that with the recent end of Chapter 3 and that *huge* lore drop (I was NOT expecting that oh my goodness the theory wheels are turning in the void that is my brain) now would be a pretty good time to draw her! So that's where this came from! :D

I thought that it would be fun to draw Mysta looking sort of like a knight? Partially because it makes for cool posing and composition but also because I think that if she was in D&D she would be a paladin due to the whole "Hero sent by Destiny" thing (I considered sorcerer or warlock as well, but her moveset is mostly melee at the moment so I thought that paladin fits better. Plus this opens up the possibility of Gendaen being an Oathbreaker paladin, depending on how that whole situation with the Crimson went. (also now I kind of want to put the main cast of mtq in D&D even though I don't actually know a lot about D&D ToT. I think Eth would be a ranger maybe multiclassed into something magic-related, because rangers have a favored enemy mechanic that gives them advantages on fighting a certain type of enemy, which could be Crimson enemies for D&D Eth. Yele is (kind of obviously) a druid because of the whole dryad thing, and Zaïl is definitely giving rogue energy to me.)) Anyways, D&D-related sidetrack aside – hello??? End-of-chapter-3 lore drop? (/positive) I have SO many questions. First of all, what happened to convince Gendaen to switch sides? For someone who allegedly spent his entire life trying to cleanse the Crimson, it would've taken one heck of a worldview-upending revelation to get him to join it. With the information we currently have, it seems pretty clear that Gendaen isn't mind-controlled or corrupted or anything – not just because of the reasons Eth gave in page #169, but also because from all the interactions we've had with Nelun Soma'o/Gendaen, he seemed to be pretty chill? I pointed out in my first fan art post that it doesn't seem as if Nelun Soma'o is being built up to be a villain character and is instead more of an antagonist with a slight mentor role, and I think that still kind of holds up now. Gendaen definitely wants Mysta to help him and/or the Crimson with something, and as Yele said in that recent comic, things aren't really adding up. I'm still slightly suspicious of the Order of Learning as well (insert person pointing at conspiracy theory board meme here lol), since you would think that if Gendaen and Eth are really close then Gendaen might have told Eth about the whole Crimson situation, right? On Page #250 (which is marked as 150??? probably a typo but idk) Gendaen says that he didn't want Eth to be roped into this whole situation, which could be a reason for keeping him in the dark – though if he knew Eth really well then he might have suspected that Eth wouldn't just let him disappear and would go searching for him. Another possible reason (in my theory) if the Order is evil or something and Gendaen learned something that he shouldn't have learned, maybe he knew that Eth wouldn't believe him because of his loyalty to the Order? I may just be connecting random dots and calling it a picture here but *something* is going on and until we get more clues on what that may be, I'm sticking with this theory lol :P EDIT, I was rereading Gendaen's character sheet and it says there that he has a strong code of honor and fights for the underdogs (not the exact phrasing but it's close). 👀 does that mean the Crimson is in some sort of underdog position? 👀

Anyways back to the drawing a little, I gave both Gendaen and Mysta a sort of braid-like element in their designs to sort of tie them together a bit visually (Mysta's is on the sides of her head, which is kind of hard to see so I added a little ribbon to show that parts of her hair is tied back, and Gendaen's is in his golden hair accessory thingy). I think that there's definitely some sort of correlation between Gendaen's disappearance/switching to the Crimson and Mysta being sent to Sol Ybberia, and I also think that both of them are going to play an important role in whatever happens in the future, hence the braids (to show that their destinies are kind of intertwined, as the two Heroes of Sol Ybberia). I also thought that it would be fun to put Gendaen in a stained glass window instead of actually physically being present, because up until the Nelun Soma'o reveal, all the things we know about Gendaen are basically all from Eth's recollections of him, which for me definitely paints a bit of a "Character haunting the narrative" kind of vibe. I also think that with the Nelun Soma'o reveal, the somewhat glorified (for a lack of a better word – I think Eth might be a little biased when it comes to Gendaen, considering that Gendaen has been missing for about 5 years, if my math is correct? 5 years feels like a long time to me and I think that if a person important to me has been missing for that long then my impression of them would definitely start warping to how I want to remember them/who I wanted them to be and I might start unintentionally ignoring the things that doesn't quite match that image in my head. Speaking of/case in point, Eth's reaction to the Nelun Soma'o reveal!) image of Gendaen that we had got thrown in a metaphorical blender with our idea of the Crimson at the time, and it just makes things a whole lot more complicated in a very interesting way. (If you look at the bottom right of the image you can see Nelun Soma'o's cloak coming out of stained-glass Gendaen's cloak, which I thought would be a fun little detail to include). Hence, the stained glass is kind of the "perfect Hero who disappeared to advance the plot" Gendaen and we can see Mysta kind of splitting the glass with her Rotted Fork from a composition point of view, referencing that huge lore bomb she dropped a couple of pages ago and how that changes our (or at least my) perception of Gendaen as a character entirely. I really do like the plot twist, as I think it makes Gendaen a more 3-dimensional character with more complicated motivations and narrative significance, as before I mainly knew him as "predecessor to Mysta" and "one of Eth's sources of motivation", but now he my understanding of Gendaen also extends to things about Gendaen himself and not just about his role in relation to other characters (for example, "Gendaen is helping the Crimson for reasons currently unknown" or "Gendaen is planning something that involves Mysta??? and he's in the Void??? And apparently Mysta is supposed to jailbreak him out at some point in the future?" He definitely has something planned behind the scenes, I don't know what it is and I want to find out).

MORE THINGS about Gendaen (can you tell that he's my favorite character at the moment ToT), what's up with those last words? If I'm correct (and I think I am, I scrolled all the way back to the page where the gods were introduced just to check this ToT), Nomù is Compassion? How is compassion related to Gendaen's alliance with the Crimson? I mean, when you think of the Crimson, compassion definitely is NOT the first value that comes to mind. Right now it seems that to me, Gendaen's plan with Mysta and the Crimson and the Void is connected to Nomù somehow? (the "I won't disappoint you" is definitely interesting). I don't have a lot of thoughts or theories on where this might be going, I just thought that it was something interesting to metaphorically chew on for the next while. It definitely seems like it has some sort of narrative significance, at least.

There might be more things that I wanted to talk about, but I can't really think of them off the top of my head right now (it might be due to the fact that it's currently quite late in my time zone ToT I am sleepy) so that's all from me for now :D (Also dropping the version of the drawing with just the lineart here because I think it looks really cool)

I hope you have a really nice day and/or night! :D

*a starry rift in space opens up in front of me and I faceplant into it like it is a mattress* (gotta make that dramatic exit!) [Image ID: The first image is a colored and rendered image of Mysta from the Mysta's Terrarian Quest webcomic standing in front of a stained glass window of Gendaen. She is holding the Rotted Fork spear from Terraria, and she has a determined expression on her face. The stained glass shows Gendaen with his back turned to the audience, and one closed eye is visible. His cloak is flowing to the right of the image, where it emerges out of the stained glass as it fades from green to dark grey. Crimson vines, green trees, and white clouds surrounds Gendaen in the stained glass. Outside of the glass portrait, real crimson vines are creeping along the stone walls that the portrait is on, framing the portrait and Mysta in the middle. A red light source is shining down from the upper right corner of the drawing. End ID.] [Image ID: The second image is a work-in-progress version of the first image without any color and only some minimal shading, with all shades being in monochrome. Mysta's lineart is noticeably darker compared to the line art of the background. End ID.]

EDIT: Forgot to add image ids, they're here now TwT

[daz4i]

Top 5 Nikolai moments (I miss seeing you gush about him)

i miss gushing about him too ;-; so thank you for the opportunity >:3 it's unironically very good for my health. and sorry for the late reply hehehe 🥺

under a read more if it works bc it's. long (added pics and they take a lot of space :P) also tw for ig some slight gore and blood?? bc it's nikolai lol

1. one of my most favorite lines in the entire manga tbh:

he is the only one who gets me . also what happens next is extremely hot (he gets cut in half) (dw it's coming up later in this post)

2. bird speech:

he is the only one who gets me pt 2. also love seeing him be genuine. in the anime his voice acting is SOOOOOO good it's unreal. also he is so beautiful without his eye cover. look at him

3. the thing that came right before it:

1 god he is so hot when he stabs and goes insane (sorry for the horny on main it will happen again) 2 i just love the duality in this entire scene. this is my take but i think he does feel guilty for killing as he says afterwards, but part of his guilt is because he does enjoy killing and inflicting pain, so his words here^ are genuine, but are in fact his guilt speaking, he just exaggerates his enjoyment, and later expresses his guilt in a more direct way

(also this scene is so much better in the manga, i love his cartoonishness here, the blood splatters, the lines covering his face etc. the anime was very underwhelming in that regard)

4. arm moment (not in the manga yet ;0)

again. stellar voice acting. a very emotional moment, most emotional than we've ever seen him, and he seems so conflicted too! with the new context the most recent manga chapter added to what comes before this moment, it makes it clearer where some of his conflicted feelings come from, as well. i already wrote a whole analysis of this scene on the day the ep came out lol i won't get into it again

5. a two frame combo >:3 (easier to take from the anime. also i think they were well adapted!)

me when i'm normal and well adjusted. and gay

this is kind of a sequel. it was my original #5 bc i straight up forgot abt that^ somehow but it's the same scene so it counts. and i love this frame so so much you have no idea

along with fyodor's jesus imagery and nikolai essentially betraying him. what if i went insane and started biting people. this frame means so much to me you have no idea.......

also bonus frames that just don't have as much emotional impact but i wanna share them bc i love him and this is a post for me to gush about nikolai after all:

this entire page <3 he is such a good actor (unless you subscribe to that one theory that he actually died here and was written back into life with the page or smth. idk) (+ small cameo from my other main bsd f/o teeheehee :3)

unironically one of my fav frames in all of bsd just bc he's so pretty. and i love the ?. you're so right king keep on speaking your truth with no fear.

m. my cover photo. also one of my most favorite frames in the entire manga. also one of the most me coded frames that isn't dazai lol

my boy in his cryptid era

another moment i prefer in the manga sm and i had a very vivid image of how it'll look and sound in the anime and i was kinda disappointed it didn't end up happening (tbf. other nikolai scenes DID end up looking exactly the way i imagined they would lol)

me when i'm having an identity crisis and letting it out on my cat:

ok the last one ik you may be sensitive to bc it is the most gory thing here so i'm giving you a warning to stop scrolling here

(unless you wanna see anyway in which case this is just a warning to prepare you <3)

and another line to actually take up space

this is my equivalent of sfw sasuke

okay there we go:

i need to eat him so fucking bad

and that's all i have to share i think <3 might've ended up using like 80% of his screentime here ngl. worth it. i love him sm

[drawpaintwritemakethings]

Good morning. 

The other day I listened to an interview with Robert Skidelsky, member of the House of Lords and classic example of Refined Old British Guy. At one point in the (cheery) conversation he listed his Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse as ...

1) nuclear war 2) environmental collapse 3) pandemics 4) our dependence on networks

... and it was that last one that caught my attention. He talked about modern networks as these strange creations our lives have become enmeshed within, that we both rely upon and are vulnerable to. We don’t understand them. And when they fail, we are undermined, damaged or ruined. 

And then I couldn't stop thinking about networks, and how they are everywhere. And how so many of them are maddening, crumbling or unsound these days.

Take simple networks, like the people in your life. Not like it used to be. Think about how you grew up – inside a certain, easily-defined physical world of family, neighbourhood or town, school, friends and perhaps teams or clubs (I had a paper route, so my network was a bit larger, but kids don't do that anymore). With grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins as the occasional, second-tier outliers. These days the extended family unit is now more likely a single family unit. Or single parent family unit. And while we might have greater access to 'friends' online, this is like trading a horse for a picture of one. Or a windswept sea for a wading pool. No danger, no depth, no wind in one’s hair. With the added injury of social media not even pretending to be about anything social any longer, just another delivery system for bursts of entertainment and advertising. An algorithm serving flotsam. On Threads, for example, I see artists complaining about this every day, how Instagram no longer shares their work, even among their followers and peers. How something that was once useful as a tool is no longer worth the effort. Or, put another way, is shit. And I'm only seeing these comments on Threads because it's new, and Meta hasn't figured out what to do with it yet (read: how to turn it into shit).

And what kind of connection do you feel to the network of your workplace, where everything is run by a corporate-woke HR dealing in the meaningless currency of awareness days and mandatory culture training, and half the labour is remote, and your position sits somewhere between tenuous and disposable? Do you feel future-proofed? And how many of you feel like the institutions you work for no longer know what they're about, or are managed horrendously, or not at all, and are stable only in a lethargic sense, as if sleeping, or slowly drip-by-drip failing?

And then think about the matrix of electronic networks in your everyday life, draped over you like extra skeletons or skins. Computers and tablets and phones and entire star systems of passwords and cards and codes and keys. Endless, endless screens. And sometimes these systems work and sometimes they don't, and things break and things are badly designed, or designed with malevolence in mind. Navigating the kind of electronic maze you'd expect to find in a Kubrick fever dream, just to locate the page where you can check a box and press save. 

Your email full of phishing and scams. Every second photo you see doctored or faked or generated by A.I. News items that you have to look at like Columbo. Your kid who corrects you on language but can't find their way out of the neighbourhood without an iPhone and Google maps. Not that they go anywhere anyway. Economic networks that seem designed to blow up every so many years. Supply-chain networks that can break anytime. Government networks that operate like the Forbidden City, cadres of mandarins sending emails to each other, having meetings about meetings, but wholly unable to actually do things. Build things, make things. The best they can do is mail out $200 cheques to everyone. 

It seems to me that I used to live in a system where you had to find the right person to get or do the thing, which was a certain kind of skill (relationships, knowledge, etc), whereas now it's about finding the right system to game for the big payday (influencing, shamelessness, etc). 

Minds are meaning-making machines, but when that meaning is defeated by bad networks, people feel helpless. Or unhappy. Or angry. And then they behave badly. 

Which is great for elections, isn't it? All over the world the incumbents are either losing or taking a beating. While our Canadian federal election probably won't happen until the new year, the outcome is already baked in (the guy that no one likes anymore will lose to a guy who no one likes much either). 

Meanwhile my American friends go to the polls tomorrow. What has that election looked like? What have been the big ideas? Oh wait, there were no ideas. It was Faux Democracy versus Fake Fascism. The Stage Managed Candidate versus The Orange Villain. It's awful, seeing Bernie Sanders out there stumping for Harris. But he has to, because Trump is such a stupid, Big Gulp swindler, who will run a government that looks like Wrestlemania. 

Oh, he doesn’t mean what he says, he says a lot of crazy stuff. All I care about is that when he was president the economy was better. He’s not capable enough to do all that dictator stuff. The people around him will keep him in check. I don’t like him as a person but maybe we need a gangsta. And so on. I’ve heard enough of this kind of thing to think that he will probably win on Tuesday.  

But, just like with the Martian on Bugs Bunny, there will be no ka-boom. There will just be loads of vulgar incompetence, obvious criminality and mock-Christian culture war pornography. Some rich people will get a tax break, certainly, and in the background all the unstable, pernicious networks will continue. 

Until the day they don’t.

Good luck to everyone tomorrow, djb

Information networks straddle the world. Nothing remains concealed. But the sheer volume of information dissolves the information. We are unable to take it all in. — Gunter Grass

This Tinyletter (yes, I’m still calling it that) has been brought to you by the vanity license plates …

GHOUL KHANSOLO NEUROSCI NMBRDDAR HERRZZ BREJAK SLYTAURS JAVA GRL ILVMINI MISSMP LTL BRIT KNTR 44 YOU LIE GAAAARY SYLV D POPPATOY A90SUPRA YRALIH C BISCIT THE PKG LDACOSTA MUSCTCHR RN KATIE TINMAN01 ANA JINA HICKSTER BETTYVES

… with a big thank-you to Meg F!

E / T / C / E / T / E / R / A my Etsy store / my Big Cartel store / my Instagram / Kiss Me Deadly, original ending / We are undone, prepare to die. / kid dances to impress / you need to wellness / donkey loves chicken

[irarelypostanything]

"Mandatory Fun" vs. Play

I'll try to do a little more tl;dr this time. My last post was long-winded, even by my standards.

Some people say I'm soft-spoken. Maybe that's why I write. When I write, I get to feel like everyone is equally loud.

Here's the definition of play:

engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose.

"the children were playing outside"

20 pages into "Play: How it Shapes The Brain...", by someone who studied it academically for decades, and the definition is similar. It has to be voluntary. It has to be intrinsically motivated. It's kind of like play = flow + intrinsic motivation.

Why do I care? Well like I write last time, maybe this is it. Maybe "play" is the key to happiness and success. The problem I have right now, at least in the tiny bit of attention I have given the book thus far, is that I think the premise can be misattributed.

Let me try to think of an example. The book cites the example of how JPL tried to hire the most talented engineers with the best grades. They weren't great at problem-solving, it turned out...their knowledge was too academic and theoretical. They realized that the best metric was people who actually problem-solved for fun. So they started instead looking for people who did things like reverse-engineer in their free time.

The problem? That's basically the same thing software engineer managers have tried. It's not wrong - in fact, it may be a better metric than what we currently do - but it breeds an environment in which people get the notion that to succeed as software engineers, they need to spend every waking moment coding. Some companies look for this, but some individuals push back.

In the case of JPL, maybe some of those engineers didn't do things like reverse-engineer for fun because they had other hobbies. That isn't to say that it was wrong to hire based on that criteria - just that it starts to say something a little more obvious. People who enjoy things are going to be better at them. If you're hiring an animator, and you find someone so passionate about their craft that they continue to draw outside of work, then they're probably really good.

To reign it in, I heard two people in a software engineer podcast lament that they are putting a bias on young people. This is because young people typically don't have families yet. Their job can be their sole responsibility.

The next thing to address with "play" is that the definition can get murky. The author of this book, during an interview, said its best thought of as a state of mind...so if an Olympian truly enjoys running then that can be play. But a key criteria is intrinsic motivation. Is anything truly purely intrinsically motivated? I think the author himself would probably say no, and that's why the definition is meant to consist more of simple guidelines. Running can make you fit. Scrabble can improve your vocabulary. That doesn't mean running and Scrabble are never a form of play, ever. The author seems to be going more for a negative definition. Writing, for example, can be a form of play even if someone also does it for a living. But if they hate it and are absolutely just doing it for money, then even League of Legends isn't play if the person doesn't find it fun.

...for example, I don't. I plan to revisit it one day just to remember what it's like to be yelled at by four people.

Voluntary play seems to be very effective and even makes employees productive (ie the optional ping pong table). "Forced fun" does not get the author's stamp of approval.

I can't help but end with Facebook, which I recently added to get Facebook integration on the Fair Oaks Kiwanis site. I just don't get it. Everything seems like "mandatory fun." The stories that you can auto-create. The reels that you can't hide no matter how hard you try. Obviously it IS optional, and therefore obvious play. But I don't see why they made these changes.

[aph-mable]

Part 4 coming your way now. I'm having a lot of fun adding to this! Also I can't figure out how to @ people so some help will be nice to keep them updated.

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.

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Jack for his part did speak to his kids on who 'uncle Vinnie' was, leaving out the more gory parts though, only giving the bare bones of what they' needed to know. Such as how uncle Vinnie was why Pa wasn't around, how he would do anything to gain power and keep it, doesn't matter if your family or an allie, if you get in his way your at risk of being dead or worse.

He really didn't want to scare his family but it was nessary to know how much trouble they were in. The only good news was that they had two days to prepare for a possible shit show and he planned to make sure no matter what happens his family will come first.

Making sure everyone was on the same page he set out a plan for how the meeting will go. They made two code words, first for the kids to get the hell out of doge; 'get going'. The second was to ready to pull out what weapons they had in case Uncle Vinnie wanted to slaughter them; 'blaze it'.

For this meeting they needed to act and look proper, Suits and dresses level.

Jazz and Maddie wore dresses that could help hide a weapon or two, both aqua blue. Ellie wore a white dress with black flowers on it, making her look cute but deadly too.

Jack, Vlad, and Danny wore black tie suits, Danny needing some extra help since he still wasn't that good at putting together a tie.

As they were getting the last finishing touches to their plan ready Danny's mind was working out something that was confusing him a bit.

"Okay so.. uncle Vinnie is dad's uncle, dose that make him our great uncle?"

Ellie chrips in with a small giggle, "he's our grunkle Vinnie!" This dose make Danny smirk while the others just shook their head.

"Yeah you could say that but Dan-o, Ellie pie, don't say that to him at all okay?" Jack smiled softly while gently holding their shoulders.

"Okay dad" "Yeah will behave in front of him dad" both Danny and Ellie chimed together.

Once all the escape routes were mapped and weapons loaded the Fenton Family filed into the GAV and headed to Jack's old 'house'.

______________________________________

When they arrived and entered the 'house' which was a mini mansion they were greeted by multiple mobsters and goons, all armed and eyeing the family members with suspion, Uncle Vinnie definitely had grown his 'family'.

A older man with a grey hair and handlebar mustache lead the way to boss Vinnie's office, looking similar to a butler if it wasn’t for the firearm by his side.

When they were allowed in Jack froze as he saw his Uncle Vinnie for the first time in years. He sat alone at a large desk, no one else was in the room besides him and that scared Jack since he knew this man, no monster was showing he didn't need an army to handle them alone.

Vinnie sat at his desk with hands folded with his chin resting on them, life had definitely didn't treat him well, scars covered his hands and face, his eyes gleared like blue fire coals, his hair was pepper black and grey while it was tied back. The man was hunched over until the door behind the family closed, only then did he stand up, showing his height was just as tall as Jack's.

Jazz made sure Danny and Ellie was behind her while they were trying to crain their necks to see Gruncle Vinnie better as he stepped around his desk and glared at Jack.

Vlad and Maddie were by his side, ready to fight when given the word.

It was only when Jack flinched was when Vinnie stone face smirked. Taking out a cigarette and lighting up as he finally talked.

"Well Jackie, I'm surprised to see you back here, after all you made it clear you didn't like how things were going. What made you come running back here?" Vinnie's voice sounded like gravel scrapping a chalkboard, making a few more family members flinch themselves.

Yet Jack stood tall and made sure his family stayed behind him ae he spoke back. "Your right, I wouldn't be back unless there was no other choice, but that doesn't mean you get to threaten them or send people barging to my house, we had a deal."

"Hm yes, the deal. Well I say that deal had ended the moment you showed your face back here, but maybe we can make a new one hm? A more productive deal once I know what kind of shit your running from because I know for a fact you wouldn't come here unless it was worth lives Jackie." The older man's voice somehow turned darker as he growled his nephews name.

With a defended sigh Jack cleched his fists as he looked his fathers murder in the eyes, "fine you want to know what we're running from? Let's just say the government has a new department that's after my family, and these guys make the lunatics in Arkam look like saints."

This made Vinnie looked surprised before his face darkened, glancing at the two children hiding behind the second firey haired woman he let out another growl.

"I want to be told everything Jackie, no secrets. In the mean while, your little spawn can leave the room for us to have a proper grown up talk."

"Alright, and you promise they'll be safe?" Jack voice softened.

"Long as they stay within the building no harm will come to them." The mafia boss promised.

"Dad I'm staying, I'm an adult too here" Jazz cuts in. Maddie was about to protest but Vinnie put up a hand. "The young miss can stay then, any other protests?", no one spoke so it was mostly settled.

Jack moved towards Ellie and Danny, pulling them into a hug as he whispered, "keep your ears open for us calling out, other then that Stay in the building but don't make it easy on them". With that Jack pats both their back as the door opens and they were taken out of the office.

Turning back Jack stood up as his uncle had a shit eating grin.

"Now, let's talk business."

_______________________________________

Danny and Ellie looked at each other as they were shoved out of the room, given a fairly easy mission; stay in the building but cause chaos to distract everyone.

Grinning they went off to find the nearest person, finding two mafia guards leaning against the wall looking tired. Taking the lead Ellie tugged at the one with short blonde hair, useing her puppy dog eyes as she spoke sweeter then sugar.

"Can you play with us? We're bored." Ellie fluttered her eyes as Danny came in from the side. "Yeah mister were bored, our dad is busy with Gruncle Vinnie."

Hearing their bosses name made them freeze up and look at each other, questioning everything in their life as these two kids were begging them to play. Trying hard to weigh their options of if they will get killed if they did or didn't do as their told made them sweat pretty hard.

Finally after a minute of begging the blonde gangster finally agreed to one game, only one. After all what can a sickly teen and his little sister do that can cause any harm?

Danny grinned while Ellie jumped a bit. "We want to play hide and go seek" they said at the same time.

"Alright but I'm only counting to 20" the blonde sighed.

Once he closed his eyes and started counting slowly the siblings bolted to find a hiding spot, making sure multiple people were watching as they ran.

Once done counting other members just lazily pointed to where they saw the two ran off too, it was cheating but the kids were also making it pretty easy.

By the time he entered the room they had snuck in he saw lady Lily reading her book, she barely looked up at the blonde man as she pointed to the wardrobe across from her.

"Their in there Charlie" she said in an unimpressed tone, like come on be creative.

Yet when he opened the wardrobe doors neither kid was there, both adults looked confused until they heard giggles and feet running down the hall. Quickly the man Charlie went after them.

This went on an hour, every time he got close to their hiding spot they two would suddenly dissappear and be heard going somewhere else.

The other mobsters seeing their co-worker struggle trying to find two kids were funny at first until they realized that if they lost the two brats it would be their heads rolling, so very quickly they got about 15 people looking for them.

The moment one mafia lady heard giggling in the walls it made them freak out more. Very quickly it turned into a goose chase just trying to figure out how the hell they were getting into impossible places.

Only once Danny and Ellie were sure the whole mafia crew would be looking in the wrong places did they decide to walk the halls normally and explore the place.

When they reached the living room there was a tuxedo cat crossing their path, Ellie happily picked him up and saw his name was Alfred. Looking more closely they could see a mini camera on the cats collar, but Danny made the quiet motion to hint to keep it a secert.

Now happy that had messed with everyone the two sat on the couch and started to give the cat they found the best pets of its life.

When they heard people coming towards them did Danny and Ellie climb into the ceiling, taking Alfred the cat with them as they shimmy back to Gruncle Vinnie's office.

______________________________________

"So, let me get this stright." Vinnie rubbed his eyes as he leaned on his desk before glancing back at Jack. "This GIW are after the majority of your family members due to them having a ecto gene that's a weaker version of the meta gene, but since they don't fall under the meta protection act they are planning to unethically do experiments on them that makes the joker look sane? Fucking Jesus Jackie no wonder you came running, at least I have the standard of only torturing when nessary not as a standard practice."

"Yeah I know, which was why I was willing to risk being found by you or even the owls if it meant we had a chance to live. That doesn't mean I'm not going down without a fight."

Vinnie nodded while taking one last drag, trying to figure out how to spin this into his favor, after all Jack, Maddie, and Vlad were brilliant minds and knew had to make weapons that could put more than a dozen people out of business.

Just as he was figuring out what to say a meek knock came to the door, growling Vinnie stared daggers at the door. "Enter."

Charlie comes into the room shaking as he rubbed the back of his head. "Um hi boss, hm we have a small problem."

"Well spit it out, I don't have all night" he said with venom.

"We lost the brats.."

"What!" He shouts as he storms over.

Charlie stuttered out his next words, "they had begged to play hide and go seek, b-but every time we got to their hiding spot it was like they vanished into thin air boss! Luka swore she heard them in the fucking walls!"

Vinnie had to blink a few times while glancing at Jack, they were definitely his kids.

"Shit." While he was trying to think of a strategy to find thoes two brats he noticed Vlad coving his face and coughed a bit, looking concerned until he stared up at the ceiling.

"You two, get out of there now!" The white haired man called, and like a magic trick a part of the ceiling tile was opened and out popped two black haired kids, the girl clinging to a cat no one had seen before. The younger one dropped into Vlads arms while Jack caught his boy.

Vinnie stared in disbelief for only a moment, this two, a sickly boy and a rumpus girl out matched his whole mafia by playing hide and go seek. They were playing with them!

Regaining his composer he made note of how easy someone else could use the ceiling as a hiding spot, then went back to looking at the odd family in front of him, trying to gain control over the situation once more.

Then an idea came into his head, an idea that made him smile ear to ear.

"You know what Jackie, your kids seem pretty talented and with the whole ecto gene I have a feeling that's part of it. So I'll make a deal, your family stays under our watch for their protection and in exchange we will mostly live you alone long as you make us some weapons on occasion."

Jack's face darkens as he holds his son close, he was about to protest but Vinnie cuts in. "I mean it would be shame if batman hears about them right? He already doesn't like metas, finding out there are sub species hiding in Gotham that's wanted by the government? It would be ashame if he found out some how. Or heven forbid the Owls finding out, your youngest daughter would be at the right age wouldn't she, or with how your boy is it would be easy for them to grab them both in the middle of the night. So how about it? We protect your family, and you help us be more weapon independent, hm?"

Gritting his teeth and squeezing his child closer he let out a growling sigh. "Fine, but you got to keep to your end of the deal."

With that Vinnie clapped his hands and nods, "Sweet, now let's go have some dinner."

_______________________________________

End of part 4, side note I would listen to the poka Cancan during the kids scene to make it more funny.

Jack Fenton is From Gotham, a Headcannon

CstSo, Jack Fenton, Big, caring, Dad Shaped Individual who cares about Family and his Profession and would more than likely choose family if things went Funky. The Guy who has ran through multiple walls and is capable of fighting Ecto beings BARE FISTED and winning. This guy, who just looks at the mayhem around him and goes “Ah, a peaceful day.” while Maddie is losing her entire god damned mind. You can only really get that sort of attitude about chaos in a few places, and I think Jack was born and raised in Gotham, and furthermore, I think his parents generation of Fentons lived in Crime Alley. 

The IDEAS this gives me, like in a reveal gone sideways with the GIW finding out Jack takes Danny and hides out in his childhood romping grounds and the people just go “Oh Hey, Jack’s back.” and they just melt into the underbelly of Gotham, no one really the wiser and the GIW constantly losing vehicles and Agents to the meatgrinder that is Crime Alley.

Give Me Jack Fenton who has SEEN SOME SHIT, Give me Jack Fenton who has DONE SOME SHIT. This man knows how to do a lot of things and the legality therein can get very Sketchy. Then give us the glory and horror of Gothamites slowly emigrating too/immigrating from Amity Park and it’s just like, That Explains A LOT.

I ran away with this, I shall now tag folks who I think would like this.

@stealingyourbones

@captain-krow-drozdov

[tripthelightfandomtastic]

HOLY SHIT Y'ALL LOVE VAMP!JAKE

The responses I've received from my Jake fic, Edge of Darkness has been so incredible! I haven't written any smut/fic/fluff for fandom since my one direction days so I'm glad to see y'all are jiving with it. I have a Josh story I did previous, Snow Angel, its my only other gvf smut fic I've written so if you haven't read that one yet, maybe go give it a read!

So a bit of FAQ:

1: I have another story I have I want to write for y'all next, another period piece BUT very different time and place, not related to this last story.

2: I really do not like to be tied to making part 2's to any of the things I like to write. I like getting all of my ideas out at once in one grand take, these take ages to write anyway and my last two stories are about 15 to 17 pages long. BUT I do have an idea for a part 2 for Vamp!Jake but I do not have any plans for any series or adding second parts to any of my stories unless I have an idea I'm really attached to.

3: If you want to be added to my tag list for any of my new stories please let me know! I thought I'd just write one story when I made Snow Angel- JMK, but y'alls feed back for both of these stories makes me so happy and writing lately has been really cathartic and fun, especially since I haven't written in ages.

4: I HAVE NEVER BEEN GOOD AT TUMBLR! I haven't messed with Tumblr since high school so like 2010-2014? I just learned today how to add "keep reading" to my last two stories, I apologize I thought that was something Tumblr did to long stories, not something I had to kinda know how to "code"? So please be patient with me and please let me know if anything is funky or anything I can do to fix my stuff.

5: I am a 25 year old woman with a 9-5 big girl job so I do all my writing in my spare time so these stories take a while so I don't want to try and figure out a schedule for stuff to come out but hey it'll be a fun surprise for all of us, but I will try to give y'all like a 24 hr window heads up to get you excited! I like to be cryptic bc otherwise I'll spill it all!

6: Lastly, I adore hearing from y'all! I will be open to any requests y'all have, but that does not mean I'll be writing all what is suggested but I'll be picking some nuggets of gold for inspiration. Let me know what you wanna read and what gvf boy you wanna read about! I'm in Josh's lane but Jake is my cheat lane so that's usually who I have ideas for but I do plan on writing more than just the twins. I'll credit your idea and give it all I've got for ya!

You guys are amazing ily so much!

[verbosebabbler]

Remaining Module Notes: ZampanioSim North

Debugger > farragofiction > ZampanioSimNorth > static > js > Modules > Building.ts There’s several notes here written as if there was a playable game part in ZampanioSim North, with movements, and enemies chasing you, and getting artifacts. Not sure. Here’s a comment.

//JUST for game mode, don't risk leaning on this too much ///example "You see several math equations floating in the air as you get acclimated to the CLASSROOM. // There is a model anatomy skeleton in the corner. There's a huge map of Zampanio on a wall." //"there is" or "you see",or "there's" is going to be added by the system. don't worry.

Debugger > farragofiction > ZampanioSimNorth > static > js > Modules > Player Confirms the existence of a game portion in the North section, hard to find. I don't know how yet.

Also, there's a character that is known as ‘Bringer of Order’ named ‘Jeffery’. This brings at least thematic connection between the “Jeffery’s Tapes” and “Dionysus and the Pirates” stories from the North’s Rabbit Hole. Dionysus mentioned themself as Madness, and they will be there when man dresses in the garb of Order. With Jeffery now associated with Order, it juxtaposes these two characters and explains the presence of these two otherwise disparate stories in the same Rabbit Hole.

//this is ONLY useful for the actual game which is purposefully stupid hard to find. :)

“Shambling Horror With Your Face” "It is a monster. It is you. You're a monster."

"JR NOTE: its an order player” "Jeffery" "Bringer of Order" "They are a character in a video game. They were only just born. They have no memories."

//very deliberately any kind of apocalypse besides order is chaos. order has definitions, chaos does not.

//is it unspeakably cruel that all the npcs are players just like you who are killed seconds after they spawn //and replaced with hollowed out dead eyed doppelangers? //yes. //its also extremely //EXTREMELY easier than doing it right.

Debugger > farragofiction > ZampanioSimNorth > static > js > Modules > Skill

This will be under the readmore, but there is a list of nine special items that aren’t procedurally generated like the other items of the game, each of these with special properties. Notably, there is an item described as a razor, but its effect doesn’t seem the same to the one used by the Eye Killer. 

Debugger > farragofiction > ZampanioSimNorth > static > js > Modules > ThemeStorage

Not actually listing them here, but here in the code is a big master list of all word associations made in the code. I’ve listed several for the intro dropdown menus, but there’s a lot here. Like associations on associated words and it’s all just a lot of words.

“NOVUM MIRROR" 

"An ornate but tarnished silver mirror, with a 9 carved onto the back. It reflects everyting but faces.  If you shatter the mirror you can never be photographed again nor can anyone who photographs you. No image of you or those you affect can be created past a certain skillpoint, as well. The shattering does not last long.":"An ornate but tarnished silver mirror, with a 9 carved onto the back. If you take a picture of it it will permanently crack and all effects from it will be dispelled. Mundane means will no longer prevent anyone previously effected by it from being photographed and in fact cameras will go out of their way to document them."

"OCTOME" 

"A crumbling leather book with seemingly latin script, with messily torn pages.  There is an 8 embossed onto the back. If you tear one its pages everyone nearby permanently can not be written about and any writing about them is erased. Additionally, everyone but the tearer dies instantly.":"A crumbling leather book with seemingly latin script, with messily torn pages.  There is an 8 embossed onto the back.  If you repair any of its pages, or add new pages to it all knowledge erased by it is permanently restored and can not be erased again by mundane means. People will find themselves drawn unnaturally to this restored information and it will be very easy to find.")

"SEPTEM COIN"

"An old bronze coin. There is a theater mask on one side, and a 7 on the other. Anyone who possesses it physicaly will go unremarked. They will be perfectly expected and normal wherever they are.":"An old bronze coin. There is a theater mask on one side, and a 7 on the other.  If you render this unrecognizable as a coin (such as melting it down) all previous owners of the coin will be able to retroactively be remarked on. In the present and future, they will stand out horribly in crowds."

"SEXTANT"

"A highly polished brass sextant. There is a 6 carved onto the main knob.  When activated via twisting the main knob, anyone possessing the sextant is temporarily unable to be located by any means, even observation. Anyone within range besides the activator is instantly killed.":"A highly polished brass sextant. There is a 6 carved onto the main knob. If you unscrew the knob, anything previously undectable (by *any* means) is now somehow more real than anything else. More visible, louder, with a stronger scent/taste, etc."

"CINQUE CLOAK"

"A simple matte black cloak with a 5 embroidered on the back in shiny black thread. Anyone who wears it finds themeselves permanently considered to be a stranger to their friends/family/enemies who forget they ever existed. Any connections they make can not move past ACQUAINTANCE without being reset. ":"A simple matte black cloak with a 5 embroidered on the back in shiny black thread. If you dab the blood of someone who once knew you well onto it all bonds obscured by it are restored and improved. Mere casual friends now know and think about their target as much as someone they grew up with (for good or bad)."

"QUATTOR BLADE"

"A dull straight razor stained with blood, a number 4 is etched onto the side of the blade. Stabbing it into flesh causes a wound that no one can acknowledge but the wielder. Even the smallest cuts can result in bleeding out/death by infection as a result. ":"A dull straight razor stained with blood, a number 4 is etched onto the side of the blade. If you clean and sharpen it all wounds on any prior victims of it are now incredibly visible and it is immediately obvious to all who see them how to best treat them."

"TRES BOTTLE"

"A simple glass milk bottle with a 3 emblazoned  on it. If you put a scrap of paper with something written on it, everyone will forget that concept or fact.":"A simple glass milk bottle with a 3 emblazened on it. If you fill the bottle with liquid to disolve the paper/ink inside, all information inside will instantly fill the minds of everyone in the world."

"DUO MASK"

"A faceless theater mask with a 2 on the inside of the forehead. If you wear the mask you can make a copy of any person you see that is a SHAMBLING HORROR WITH THEIR FACE. The HORROR will stalk them eternally until they can catch them, kill them, and replace them.":"A faceless theater mask with a 2 on the inside of the forehead. You cannot stop the SHAMBLING HORROR WITH NO FACE that stalks you. Even if you may be able to disrupt the DUO MASK in the real Zampanio, you can not here. It is your own fault."

"UNUS AUTOGRAPH BOOK"

"A tattered cardboard book filled with signatures with an ornate serif '1' embossed onto it. Your signature is already in it. You do not remember your name. No one does. You are only PLAYER.":"A tattered cardboard book filled with signatures with an ornate serif '1' embossed onto it. Even destroying the book will not restore your name to you, PLAYER. You are not real. None of this is. But you're the one insisting we all pretend its a game. This is your fault."

[manonamora-if]

Jam Progress Day 5

Statistics

Total Word Count: 8.486 (+ 1534)

Twine Count: 1.850

Coding Status: UI (90/95%?) - Story (1-5%? - I don't know how long the story is yet)

What has been done today:

Finished the scene before last for MC day 1. This one had a lot of options, and I think I covered everything. Still need one more scene before MC goes back to bed. So almost done.

Got bored of that and started the proofreading/coding of the first passages after that. Really wanted to see how it read in real-time. Coded 3 story passages + the title page. Spoiler: it looks awesome I am so happy.

Some coding required adding more macros/mess with the JavaScript a tad.

Finally settled on naming one more character (and nothing else yet)

What needs to be done:

Reveal the cast? (I need to figure out who they are first + how they look like too.)

Finish the UI (see x, though not a priority anymore)

Write the whole thing (+ proofread)

Code the whole thing

Test the whole thing

Other/Notes:

Gameplay: Linear story with basic Choice/Consequence mechanic; no Romance (maybe some Friendship/Trust status?) and limited cast.

UI: futuristic/spaceship-vibe, focus on Web version. Potential post-jam update for mobile optimization

Character creator (new): I don't know yet how far the characterization of the MC will get. Currently have Name and Pronouns (He/She/They). I am trying to figure out if other characteristics are actually relevant to the game or not. If not, I might keep it with these just basic ones. Players can always imagine their MC to look however they like.

GAME POST | TAGS (x, x, x) | DEMO RELEASE : End of Jan.

[yoonia]

Dia, love, i'm your no-tumblr-reader lol so i constantly check your page/schedule manually. When you missed your sched last august and when you haven't posted sept's sched, i already wondered if anything happened, but haven't got the time to actually ask. When i checked today, your anno's already up so i just want to say please don't feel bad or obligated to do anything. You're doing this for free and we're the one who's thankful for all your stories. Take your time, i hope you get well soon! <3

Hello, my sweet no-tumblr-reader :D 

I really appreciate you for constantly checking on my schedule and for catching up through it. I knew there would be readers like you who might do the same and wondering why there’s no updates posted yet when it’s already September T^T, which was the reason why I made the announcement cause I really didn’t want to seem like I disappeared on purpose or anything lol 

I’ve already updated the schedule post. I hope you don’t mind reading through the long post cause I couldn’t find the time to make a new one so I just added everything on August’s schedule T^T The updated post will be reblogged soon so everyone can catch up on what I have planned. 

I just checked on my faq page and it seems like something is broken (probably the codes since Tumblr messed up a few things on their last update). I’ll be fixing it as soon as I can. thank you so much for letting me know about the mess :) 

[toocool2btrue]

They were Roommates 2/2

Unedited. Please ignore the small mistakes and i hope you enjoy it.

"Nadia?"

"Helloo Lance. Longtime no see! How are you this fine afternoon?" she cheerfully greeted.

Lance's brows furrowed in confusion, Sure Nadia was one of Pidge's closest friends but she hardly came over here.

"Katie's in the kitchen." he pointed towards the almost closed door. "What brings you here?" he politely questioned and Nadia winked in reply. "I am here on a very important mission" she declared. "The greatest mission ever inthe history of mankind. I am here to do God's work!"

Lance shook his head in amusement, Pidge had no right to call him overdramatic when her own bestfriend was like a walking theatre. "You!" she pointed at him. "You might be actually very useful for this mission"

Lance immediately perked up, "What is the mission about? Is it something for Katie?" Nadia nodded approvingly, "Katie was right. You are smart"

His eyes widened, "Katie thinks I am smart?" that was news for him.

Nadia nodded, "She says you have a way with humans and this trait of yours will surely come useful because you see my dear friend Katie is a very intelligent woman when it comes to science."

Nadia then sighed exhaustedly, "But she can be so oblivious when it comes to human emotions. She wouldn't able to spot true love if he danced in front of her wearing 'I ♥ K' shirt"

Lance chuckled at the imagery, "Actually I can agree with you on that"

"I am so glad you do because now we have a chance to make things right!" Nadia stated as Lance gave her quizzical look.

"Are you trying to set her on a date?" he questioned, his tone had taken a more sober turn. Nadia could feel that although his expression hadn't really changed, the lightheartedness had disappeared.

She fixed her glasses as she continued, "Well yes. You see I have noticed that James really likes her"

"The guy inside?" he questioned again, pointing towards the kitchen. Yet again his tone was nueteral but there was a certain edge to it.

"Isn't he cute?" she questioned, suspiciously.

Lance muttered something inaudible to himself, she noticed that his eyes were constantly flitting back to the kitchen. Nadia's curiosity levels were rising as her mind played the multiple possibilities.

Katie's roommate had a thing for her? That was a stupid question to ask it seemed pretty obvious that he had. Nadia mentally facepalmed, she wouldn't put past her friend to not notice that. To be fair, he was quite a looker too. They would make a cute couple as well, she grinned evilly.

But first she needed to find out if Katie liked him as well or not. Nadia really wanted to further interrogate Lance but just at the wrong time her phone started ringing.

Usually she would just told the person to call later but considering the said person was her mom, she just sadly excused herself.

Lance only distractedly nodded in acknowledgement as Nadia headed towards Katie's room. The conversation with her mother ended up being longer than she had originally ended. By the time she finished, Katie had already returned to her room.

"Hey!" Nadia grinned widely but Katie was not going to buy the act.

"What are you doing here. Didn't you have a test today?" she questioned suspiciously.

Nadia pouted, Katie should be happy that Nadia was here to fix her weird love life. Ungrateful friends but being the good friend she was, Nadia decided not to take her friend's hostility to the heart. Instead she decided to test her theory.

"Class got cancelled. So I came here to check on Mr Cutie" she informed, Nadia leaned closer as anticipated her friend's reaction.

Katie merely smiled in amusement, "He just left a few minutes ago besides you are going to see him tomorrow in class anyway so what's the rush?"

Theory one- Currently rejected. It was time to test the second theory

"Speaking of cuties, your roommate is pretty cute too. Do you know who he is dating recently?" Nadia smirked.

To Nadia's utter amusement. Katie frowned, a look of irritation sparked in her eyes. "Geez Nads, Last time I checked I wasn't the manager of his love life"

"Still you seem to be extensively aware of it" Nadia grinned, seeing Katie's cheeks puffed up.

"Hard not to notice when he was parading them all around our apartment" Katie replied dryly causing Nadia to almost choke at her own laughter.

"Although.." Katie thoughtfully added, "He hasn't brought anyone for a longtime now"

"Do you think he might be currently interested in someone?" Nadia questioned, evilly.

Katie shook her head in a horrified manner, "God help whichever poor girl he is after now"

____________

"I don't believe this" Allura whispered. "Well it's the truth. I did an experiment and everything" Nadia assured.

"Didn't you go there to check on Katie and James?" Romelle reminded.

"I did" Nadia nodded gravely. "So did you?" Allura questioned raising a suspicious brow.

Nadia laughed nervously, "I got a bit distracted with my new observation."

"Nadia.." The two girls chided.

"Guys you have to believe me-" Nadia defense was cut off by Keith's entrance.

"Hey, what are you guys upto?" he greeted taking his usual seat next to Allura.

Nadia immediately perked up at the sight of new audience, "Keith, you have no idea what I discovered!" she declared proudly. Keith questionably looked at Allura who simply shrugged before turning back to Nadia.

"Lance likes Katie!" she announced, awaiting for another shocked reaction.

"I know that" he casually informed. "So it's actually true?" Allura questioned excitedly, earning a glare from Nadia.

Allura nervously laughed, "Now Nadia honey. You do have a tendency to overstate at times."

Keith smirked, "He rejected Miranda Green for her. Of course it's true"

"What!!" The three girls echoed.

"Please tell me you are not joking" Nadia asked in disbelief. Keith shrugged, "I don't joke"

"Dude I don't think even I could reject Miranda Green. Lance must be really serious" Nadia concluded.

Keith rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms, "He talks about her all the time in class. He better be serious"

"If Katie likes Lance as well. How come they fight so much?" Romelle questioned, confused.

Nadia smirked devilishly, "It must definitely be the tension between them"

"Although.." Allura tapped her chin thoughtfully, "If you think about it. It's been sometime since Katie has mentioned a fight between her and Lance"

Keith smirked, "You guys are finally catching on. This thing has been going on for sometime now" he stated.

"How come you never mentioned it to me before?" Allura asked.

"Well it isn't really my place to tell besides I knew you guys would eventually figure it out. They radiate vibes of an old married couple"

____________________

Lance glared at the half written page, his brain felt numb and with every passing second he was losing his will to live.

"Stupid sea! Stupid fishes! Stupid life!" he muttered angrily, trying his best to keep his brain alive.

"Still here?" a mischievous voice called, he looked up to see Pidge standing at the doorway of the kitchen with her trusty laptop.

Lance groaned, rubbing his eyes "Kill me. I know you always wanted to do that"

Pidge nodded sympathetically, "I would but since I worked really hard this semester. I can't afford to go to jail"

She walked over to him and inspected the screen. A ray of hope lit inside his heart, Pidge was a genius, she could definitely help him.

"Deep sea ecology.." she mumbled to herself. Pidge sighed, giving Lance yet another sympathetic look but this one seemed more genuine.

"I am sorry but I am terrible in biology. I can't help you" she apologized and Lance's eyes widened with shock. Even Pidge couldn't help him it was definitely the end of the world.

"But your mom is a botanist! You own half a dozen plants! How can you be bad at biology?!" he questioned desperately.

"Well unfortunately my brother and I got the physics part more from our dad. As for the plants, I would consider myself more of a gardener rather than a botanist besides you wouldn't consider every dog owner a zoologist now would you" she explained.

Unfortunately that explanation brought little comfort to the sleep deprived boy. "I am going to flunk this class" he cried out in distress.

Pidge cautiously eyed her roommate, had he finally cracked?

"You aren't going to fail this assignment" she tried to reassure, comfortingly rubbing his shoulders.

"You still have time" she reminded, glancing at the clock. It was 1 in the morning. Unfortunately Lance was wasn't much a night owl, at his best he could probably stay awake till 3 am.

"Not alot of time but you can still do it" she whispered mostly to herself.

Lance lowered his head in defeat, "It's no use I don't have the energy anymore. My brain is numb"

"I can help you with that" she offered heading towards the kitchen cabinets.

"I know you are more of tea person but coffee is your savior today." she informed. Lance nodded gratefully, "So what are you working on in this fine hour?"

"Matt and I are working on a program and I needed to get the coding done for it by yesterday but then I got occupied with that project with James... so here I am!"

"We are very sad people" Lance bitterly concluded as Pidge handed him his coffee. "Drink this and I am sure you will stay awake for atleast another hour" she assured.

"Thanks" he mumbled taking a sip of the hot energizing beverage.

"Wait where are you going?" he questioned, as Pidge headed towards the door with her laptop and her own coffee mug. "Well you are working here so I will work in my room" she explained.

Lance shook his head " I think the kitchen table is big enough for both of us to work at the same time"

A bitter taste entered his mouth but it wasn't the coffee. It was jealousy as he was reminded about yesterday's events, Lance knew he was acting petty but he couldn't help it.

"You were working here with James just fine" He added.

Surprise overtook Pidge as her eyes widened at the sudden mention, it caused another wave of irrational jealousy in his stomach.

"We were working on the same thing so of course we had to sit together" she replied, feeling a spike of irritation.

Lance shrugged, "We can still work here together. There is enough space and I know this is your favorite place to work"

"Come on" he urged, "I don't bite"

Pidge wearily eyed him, "Factually speaking I do know some girls who might say otherwise" Nontheless she took a seat beside him, opening the laptop with a exhausted sigh.

She took a big gulp of coffee, glaring at the screen as Lance had a few minutes ago before started her work. Pidge furiously typed letting out all her exhaustion and frustration on the keyboard.

Lance simply watched, momentarily forgetting about his own assignment. Although she was one of the most straightforward people Lance has had the pleasure of knowing but Pidge was still great in hiding her emotions towards people.

Heck she gave Lance a hard time figuring if she liked him or not.

"P-Katie?" Lance warily called. "Hmmm?" she hummed in response, if she ever felt any surprise of him using her real she certainly didn't show it.

"Do you hate me?" he asked abruptly.

The exhausted look Pidge gave him reminded him of his dear mother, "Yes, I hate you and that's why I made you coffee and comforted you a few minutes ago" she sarcastically stated.

Lance weakly chuckled at the response, feeling a sense of relief.

"But I don't think you really like me that much either" he mumbled. "I can't blame you though I did alot of things that pissed you off"

"I used to do a lot of those things too but none of us has done either of those things for a longtime now" Pidge reminded him, still glaring at her computer screen.

"Still I threw that big party that almost got both us into deep trouble even though you warned me not to do so"

Pidge shrugged, "But we did figure out a solution and didn't get into trouble. It happened months ago and now it doesn't matter"

Lance smiled to himself, "It mattered to me. It was the first time we actually worked together"

"Oh" she whispered looking at him, realising he was right. It was the start of their era of peace after months of bickering and fighting with one another.

"And I really like it. You know us getting along..." he confessed shyly.

The night was a quiet cold one. It felt like the whole city was fast asleep except for the moon and the two souls. The late night provided an atmosphere of drunkness, the sleepy drunkness when our thoughts don't remain guarded by the walls of hesitation.

That gives us the bravery to face what we try to avoid. Lance had realized that he was long lost in those amber eyes. Not many had the courage to explore those golden orbs but here he was lost inthe desert, wandering as a thirsty man in search of water afraid that he wouldn't survive long.

Katie on the other hand was only inthe brink of realization, she had unknowingly ventured deep in the ocean, She was curiously searching for something but still unaware of the deph of the sea. The lack of awareness didn't make her fear the idea of drowning yet.

His words rang in her head, I like it when we get along. She could have retorted with her usual teasing but this was a moment of honesty so she smiled, "I do too"

The grin he gave her in response made his eyes crinkle at the ends, this was the moment she realized that despite of crazy antics at timesshe didn't dislike him. Dislike was far from what she felt, the moments of tolerance had unknowingly turned into fondness but was it the same fondness that she felt for the rest of her friends? Something felt different with Lance.

"So would you like to renew our housing contract for the next semester?" he questioned hopefully.

A few months back the idea of it gave her nightmares but now with the twist time brings Pidge found herself grinning "Sure" she agreed.

Lance's face curled into his signature impish smile, "I can't believe I finally managed to charm you" he teased but there he was again disguising something.

Pidge rolled her eyes at him, "Stop talking and get back to your work or I might start reconsidering my decision"

"Aye Aye ma'am"

__________________________

"Morning!" Lance called out to Pidge as she slowly padded out of her room.

"Morning" Pidge yawned, making a weak effort to fix her bed hair. "Did you get any sleep?" she questioned, inspecting the boy who was fully dressed and ready to go out.

Lance nodded tying his shoes, "Three hours but atleast I got the assignment done. I feel like a free man. Thanks again"

"Anytime" she mumbled still half asleep. "Hey do you want me to drive you to campus?" he asked.

Pidge shook her head, "You are already running late and I don't have class for another hour so I'll just take the bus later"

"I'll see you later" He reached out to ruffle her hair.

"Don't you always" she joked, swatting his hand away. Lance gave her a small smile, "Yeah it's just..." his eyes wandered from her to the clock on the wall. "Shoot! I am late!" he panicked, waving a quick bye before heading out of the door.

"Goofball" she whispered affectionaly closing the door.

_______________________

11:30 am marked the end of her of class. Most of the students had disappeared just as the Professor had left the room but Katie remained seated in her usual spot. She was busy reading the group messages that described the pain of her dear absent friend.

"My cramps are killing me!!"~ Nadia

"Have you tried ginger tea. It helps me"~Allura.

"I have tried everything!!"~Nadia

"There are certain exercise positions that help"~Allura

"Allura,I swear you are going to die as soon as I get the strength to get up!"~Nadia

"I am at the store. I got the painkillers and the chocolates. Coming home soon"~Romelle

"Romelle marry me!!"~Nadia

Katie giggled, Good old Romelle saving the day. Before she could further read the messages to know whether the wedding happened or not, Somebody gently tapped her shoulder.

Katie was surprised to see, pleasantly surprised to see James. "Hey" he greeted and Katie nodded in acknowledgement "Hi"

There was a nervous look in his eyes, "Uh.. Katie can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure?" she answered with uncertainty wondering what could the possible favor be. James cleared his throat, " I was wondering if you could go through with me with the last week lecture."

He nervously scratched the back of his neck, "This is kinda embarrassing but... that lecture totally went over my head and you really explain things so well. When we did the project together it was the first time I had so much fun doing something for Professor Hugo's class"

Katie cursed her pale cheeks as they turned into a bright shade of red but at the same time she felt a jab of sympathy for him. She had her older brother to help with such ordeals or else she might be in such deep waters too.

"Sure, I am free today if you want to come over?" Katie offered to which James nodded gratefully "Thank you!"

__________________

"Hmm..that's weird" she mumbled to herself opening the door to an empty and silent apartment. Lance was usually home at this time, she felt rise of disappointment in her stomach.

"Your roommate isn't home?" James questioned, looking around. Katie shrugged in response, she didn't know whether to find it unusual or normal. She headed to the kitchen where there was a note taped to the fridge.

"Gone to buy groceries" she read, shaking her head. To think he could have used his phone to an advantage and just messaged her that but then again Lance was a man of his own quirks which couldn't be questioned.

"Let's began" she declared opening her notes. James took the seat beside hers and opened his own notebook as well, "Can we please start with the numericals. They kill me a bit everytime I see them"

"Sure" Katie chuckled and they set to work. Tutoring James was hardly a difficult task, he was a fast learner and there were the occasional side conversations and remarks which made the whole thing more interesting. James certainly had a captivating personality but still Katie found herself eyeing the front door waiting for a certain someone to return from his shopping.

"When I got into this university. My mom was so happy she called all our relatives and couldn't stop praising me in front of our neighbors. It was so....embarrassing" he mumbled, the color red dusting on his tanned cheeks.

Katie couldn't help but think how cute he looked. She wasn't aware how many kinds of categories for cute guys existed but James had the mature charm to him unlike Lance who was boyishly cute. The charm of his was the only thing that made him a bit bearable before they learned to get along.

Katie groaned in agreement, "My parents were worse. You would think after my brother they would have calmed down a bit but nooo...When I got accepted they threw a party and all their colleagues and our family kept ask if I was going to follow my parents legacy but I got a decent amount of gifts. So all was forgiven"

James chuckled, leaning closer. "I don't know. I think their reaction was justified. Who wouldn't be proud to have such a genius daughter"

Katie's face turned bright crimson, only now she had noticed how close he had gotten to her. It caused a storm of butterflies in her stomach. She slightly shifted back but in a process to do, she elbowed her textbook which had been dangerously lying at the edge of the table, knocking it down. The book fell between them.

"I'll get it!!" they both called, ducking down to retrieve the book. They both looked at each other slightly startled on now close their faces were. Katie was transfixed by his gaze, not finding the strength to move. Nervousness danced in his blue eyes but they were grayish blue rather than Lance's bright blue ones.

James onthe other hand was done dancing around this topic. He gently cupped her cheek in his hands and closed the distance between them. Despite her surprise, Katie responded, her eyes closing . Her brain had gone haywire, nothing made sense anymore.

Her ears pricked at the sound of the front door closing and that was enough for her to break from her trance. Unfortunately it was proven to be too late because as she opened her eyes and pulled away.

Lance stood at the entrance of the kitchen deathly still, his bright blue eyes which usually sparkled with merriment had a maddeningly dangerous to them. He mouth which was initially opened due to shock twitched into a scowl. He shot a deathly glare towards James but when he turned towards Katie there was hurt evident in his eyes which mercilessly twisted her heart

He slammed the two paperbags containing the groceries onthe table muttering a quick "Excuse me" and then left the kitchen. The 'thud' made by the bags woke Katie from her second shock of the day.

"I am sorry.. but you should go" Katie whispered to the confused James before running after the other boy. "Lance!" she called out to him but he already slammed the door. She impatiently rapped on his door calling his name but no reply. After a minute or so, Katie gave up.

Her legs felt like they were made of jelly. With shaky steps she made her way to the couch, her heart was beating rapidly against her chest but unknown for what occasion. "What the hell is happening?" she whispered clawing her hair in frustration.

The regret was soon followed by anger, she didn't know specifically who the anger was directed to. Firstly it was on herself for letting this situation happen then it was on James for initiating the situation but inthe she found the true culprit.

Lance! How dare he react like that. Her business was none of his concern. She was most definitely not answerable to him and she didn't need to feel guilty for anything! She hadn't done anything wrong. He was no saint himself afterall, if her action was a crime that boy would be serving life in prison without parole.

She bitterly glanced at his closed door, he could live in there for the rest of his life for all she cared. To think they were making progress and she started considering him a close friend and then it all got ruined.

Katie had enough of the day, she slowly walked towards her room and then stubbornly slammed the door shut as well, It brought a little satisfaction to her at such times. Unfortunately the last traces of anger soon disappeared from her body and previous guilt returned. Despite her consolations that it didn't matter what Lance thought, deep in heart she knew it did and the fact he was hurt because of her, made her stomach twist uncomfortably.

Katie tried to view her unconscious actions with a more conscious perspective. Why did she run after him? Was she more concerned with hurting Lance rather than James? The answer was in front of her and as much as she wanted to. She couldn't deny it anymore.

"No no no. This can't be happening" she groaned in her pillow, not him. She couldn't possibly be in love with Lance, is this the price she had to pay for the amazing apartment?

But wait ! Did it mean Lance liked her too?. Katie shook her head in disbelief, it couldn't possibly be true. She was well aware of Lance's type and truthfully speaking she was far from it but his weird behavior would make a lot more sense to her now.

"Uff!" she groaned in frustration, she lay on her bed with her hands crossed against her chest. She needed to talk to Lance and make things clear with him or else her mind wouldn't stop pestering her about it.

Reluctantly she gave up the comfort and security of her bed and padded towards Lance's room. She firmly knocked at his door, her ears straining to hear the sound of approaching footsteps from the otherside.

But there were none, Katie rolled her eyes. She didn't want to play his silly games, "Lance!" she called turning the handle on his door. To her surprise, it opened to a empty room. She stood there puzzled for a second before heading to the kitchen.

There was a new note on the fridge, "Gone out" it simply read. The action she had found endearing a few hours ago now felt heart breaking. Pain clawed at her heart as Katie realized that the situation was more grave than she had anticipated.

Slowly she walked to room, she softly sighed picking up her phone and preparing herself for the long the conversation ahead. "Hey Nadia." she greeted, "Get the girls I need to tell you guys something"

______________________

Lance tried to blink back his exhaustion, it had been two days in a row since he hadn't had a proper night's rest. Ironically the reason behind his lack of sleep for each night had a stark difference between them.

He took another sip of his coffee which didn't taste half as good as the one Pidge had made that night. Lance slightly winced at the memory he was desperately trying to forget still he managed to recall it a hundred times by now each time felt like fresh stab at his heart.

The campus cafe was filled with students, most of them quietly sipping their coffee and working on their respective assignments or preparing for test but there was also small minority of people who were talking to their friends and enjoying the early morning but Lance's attention was caught by a certain couple who had just entered.

Allura and Keith looked at each other in surprise as Lance McClain came stumbling towards them . He had a troubled look on his face, Lance nervously ruffled his hair. "I..need your help" he whispered, hesitantly.

Keith looked at Lance as he had grown another head while Allura being aware of the situation decided to take matters in her own hand. "Let's take a seat and talk" she suggested, directing the two men to a empty table.

Lance explained the previous day's events "What do I do now? " he questioned, helplessness evident in his voice. Allura symphatetically patted his shoulder but Keith onthe other hand was not feeling that emphatic.

"You should do what you should've done a longtime ago. Tell her how you feel! How long had you intended to play the game house with her?" he questioned coldly.

Allura angrily eyed Keith to which he sighed and took a more gentler tone. "Look, Katie isn't forever going to wait for you to ask her out. It was this guy today but tomorrow there will be another one and eventually someone might catch her eye. So just be honest with her and tell her how you feeling!"

Allura nodded encouragingly, "Keith is right. You need to communicate with her rather than assuming everything on your own."

__________________

"There he is" Nadia pointed out the familiar burnette. Katie nodded, trying her best to keep a calm composure. She took a deep breath mentally rehearsing the speech Allura and Romelle had made for her.

"You can do this. Good luck " Nadia softly assured, the usual eccentricness was missing from her tone. Katie started walking towards the man in question with steady footsteps but the man was walking much further ahead from her.

She mustered up all her energy, "James!" she called out. The young man stopped almost immediately, he turned around to see her walking towards him with great speed. Surprise was weak word to describe what was written on his face, the man positively looked frozen in shock.

"Uh..Hi" she meekly greeted, as the whole speech flew off from her head. "Hey" he nodded in acknowledgement, there seemed to be a unspoken compeitation between them on who could die of embarrassment the fastest.

Katie sighed, rubbing her arms in comfort, "Look James, I am really sorry for giving you the wrong idea. I really like your company but I don't think of you anything more than a friend"

James gave her a small smile, There was hurt evident in his eyes and Katie felt the lump in her throat rise. She hadn't really ever envisioned herself such a heartbreaker.

"It's alright I kinda figured that. Also I am sorry too.." he shrugged trying to act casual, "For assuming things. I hope I didn't cause any big problem between you and Lance." Katie smiled bitterly looking at the ground, "You don't need to worry. We'll figure things out"

"So I'll see you in class then" she reminded awkwardlyand James nodded, "See you". Katie walked away, feeling partly relieved but now only the easy part had been over. She sighed, the hard part was yet to come.

An hour later Katie found herself seated at the back of the bus. Her mind deep in thought as she stared out of the window, how had everything turned upside down in just a day? Just two days back James was just a friend, Lance was just a friend and now here she was trying to mend her relationship with each of them.

Katie shifted in her seat as the familiar rows of buildings appeared. She wasn't even sure if Lance was going to even talk to her, she had no idea how to deal with him when he was angry which was ironic considering that they spend early months only fighting one another.

Katie yawned, trying her best to keep her eyes open. She had spent the entire night tossing and turning, reconsidering her affections a thousand times for she knew her next decision was very going to be an important one. Unfortunately the mental as well as the physical exhaustion was drowning her strength, she couldn't find the power to convince or reason with Lance at the moment.

The bus finally stopped at her usual stop, Katie along with a few others grabbed her bag and stood up to leave but at the last moment decided against it. She slumped back in her seat, observing the dark clouded sky which was a great representation of the storm that was going inside her. She watched the last passenger get off and then as the bus started again, Katie with her last bit of courage messaged Lance that she was going be home by 10 pm.

Surely this gave them enough time to cool down and let them have a rational conversation. Trying to ignore the knots in her stomach, Katie switched of her phone and instead tried to focus on planning her study schedule. Next stop Olkarain Library.

______________

"Concentrate!" she demanded, feeling annoyed by herself but at the moment it seemed like an impossible feat. Her mind couldn't stop thinking about Lance, she hadn't seen him since last night and although she knew he wasn't that reckless to get himself into trouble her idiotic heart couldn't help but worry. That boy better be home by the time she comes.

Katie sighed casually flipping through her textbook, she really needed to get this done but her mind was already drifting of and the library was so peaceful and quiet. Maybe if she closed her eyes for 5 minutes she would feel more refreshed and probably get something done.

Just 5 minutes, She convinced herself resting her head on the desk and closing her eyes. Just 5 minutes and she will most definitely get back to work......

A few hours later

"Katie" a voiced called out to her lightly shaking her shoulder. Katie finally lifted her head, her eyes still partly closed.

"Lance?" she groggily called out. The owner of the hand chuckled, "Unfortunately no. It's me, Ryner."

This was enough to wake her up completely, "Ryner!" she squeaked, her face flushing with embarrassment.

Ryner nodded with a small knowing smile on her face, "I have to close the library. You should pack up and go home now" she whispered softly. Katie looked around to see the library now dark and empty with the exception of Ryner and her.

She nodded and started slowly packing her things. Ryner nodded with satisfaction "It's very late, Lance must be worried about you." she remarked slyly, making Katie almost drop her precious laptop. Her mentor then thankfully walked away sparing Katie from anymore embarrassment.

Katie hoisted her backpack and finally opened her phone which she guessed had been powered off for a few hours by now. The sky was pitch black, the dark clouds had completed hidden the pale moonlight.

"What!" she exclaimed, checking the time. It was 12 am and she had messaged Lance that she would be home by 10. Hesitantly she opened her call log to see 22 missed calls and 56 messages from Lance. "This can't be happening" she muttered, if Lance was mad at her before she surely didn't want to imagine his reaction now.

But still mustering up her courage, she pressed the call option. "Hi.." She whispered helplessly.

"Katerina Paige Holt, where the hell are you!" Lance replied his voice brimming with anger and worry. She was mildly impressed that he remembered her full name considering he always prefered to call her with that awful nickname but that was something to celebrate another time.

"I'm sorry" she mumbled, there was a pause on the other line. Lance sighed and continued in a more softer tone, "Katie where are you? Do you have any idea how worried I am. It's midnight and you aren't home yet and you aren't picking up your phone. I even called your friends and they said you weren't with them. Is everything alright?"

Katie tried to swallow back the lump which had reappeared in her throat. "I am fine. I am at the Olkarain library that is near your favourite ice-cream shop". There was silence on the other line and Katie held her breath. "Stay there. I am coming to get you" he commanded, ending the call.

As Katie ended her call, a drop of water landed on the top of her head. "Quiznak!" she cursed, as she realized it had started to rain. It was the only thing left to complete this awful day. She moved nearer to the library's entrance whose design provided enough shelter from the rain.

She leaned against the door, going further down her call log praying she hadn't missed any of her mother's calls. "Hunk?" she whispered in surprise, he had called three times in a row around 9 pm. That was weird considering she and Hunk usually talked during the weekends but it must be something important. Doing a quick calculation of time difference in her head, she called her bestfriend.

"Hi Katie, where were you?" Hunk questioned. "I fell asleep while studying" she explained and Hunk chuckled in amusement.

The two friends a minute to catch up on everything before Hunk stated his reason of call, "Mom and Dad were wondering if you two would like to renew your contract. They are really hoping you do. They say they can finally sleep in peace knowing the apartment is safe and not being trashed."

Katie felt rush of gratitude for Hunk's parents trusting them so much even though they had been once very close to breaking that trust. "I would really like to renew it but I am not sure Lance wants to live with me again" she replied, her heart felt it was being squeezed mercilessly.

"Ok someone tell me what is going on between the two of you!" Hunk declared frustrated.

"I talked to Lance a few hours ago and he said the samething as you. I don't get you two, One minute you despise each other and inthe other you are best buds. Just yesterday afternoon Lance was asking me the recipe for the Peanut butter cookies to make for you and now you guys can't live with eachother?!"

Katie's eyes widened and suddenly her started beating rapidly, "Lance was asking what?"

Hunk sighed onthe other end, "He said something about you helping him with some project and that's why he wanted to surprise you with peanut butter cookies"

"He did?" she asked, her voice cracking, as unconscious tears started trailing down her face. "Katie are you alright?" Hunk's questioned startled. Before she could reply, another voice called out to her.

"Pidge! Stay there I am coming!" Lance shouted, getting out his car which he fondly named Blue although it was bright red. He pulled out ridiculously bright yellow umbrella as well and starting walking towards her not caring of the puddles that made his favorite shoes dirty.

Katie watched with a horrified realization, her heart threatened to come out of her chest and all she could think at that time was. This was no ordinary crush, it was something scarily deep. She was in love with Lance McClain.

But the idea didn't seem as terrifying as she once thought. After all the guy was Lance, the funniest person she knew but will never admit, A guy with a heart of gold and oh those blue eyes, she could stare into them forever.

As he finally reached her, Katie couldn't hold on any longer. She was done acting strong, one look of Lance standing there with that stupid bright yellow umbrella was all it took for her to engulf him in a desperate embrace.Despite his initial surprise Lance gladly returned the gesture securely wrapping his free hand around her waist.

"Hey there Pigeon, you really scared me" he softly whispered in her ear sending shivers down her spine.

"Ok I'll just hang up myself. You two continue" Hunk shouted, from the phone scaring the life out of Lance and causing him to drop the umbrella. Despite the moment Katie couldn't help but giggle pulling away from Lance. "Sorry Hunk. I'll talk to you later" she apologized sheepishly.

"You two better give me a decent explanation later or else I am gonna come back and bring Shay's cousins to kick your asses!" he threatened.

"Will do" they chorused ending the call. Lance watched love stricken as Katie clutched her stomach trying to control her laughter. "Hey there" he whispered, clasping her pale hands in his tanned ones and pulled her closer to him.

"I want to apologize for acting up like that" he mumbled and Katie nodded forgivingly.

"Also there is something important you need to know" he murmured, gently touching her cheek. Instinctively she moved closer to him as well.

"Katie, I am in love with you" he whispered feeling terrified by own his words. This was the first time he made such a strong and although she didn't immediately reply, there was something in her eyes that told him that she felt the same.

"I love you so much" he continued kissing her forehead. "You won't believe me if I told you" he softly chuckled, kissing both of her cheeks.

Katie giggled as Lance kissed the top of her nose. Lance nervously glanced at her lips and Katie smiled to herself knowing this was her move to make.

She smiled teasingly at him before finally confessing, "I love you too" she uttered shyly and then standing at the tip of her toes she finally closed the distance between them.

A Few Weeks Later

"Katie, I love your dutch braids" Allura praised. "How are they so perfect. I always end up messing mine" Allura asked.

Katie proudly held up one of them, "Lance braided them. He spent half an hour on YouTube figuring out how to do them perfectly. I tried to stop him but he was stubbornly convinced that they would suit me"

Nadia elbowed Romelle mischeviously, "Look at her. She is so smitten by him to think once they were just roommates."

The End

Hi Guys! I know this was very long post but if you made it till the end. I just wanna say I love you guys! Thanks for reading this story.

I want to specially thank @suemaryrakocy, @as2015 @nessajjewell @kathybuglove @elby-the-megnet @jewelcuzimpreciousdamit @jood-89 for their amazing and supporting comments which gave me the motivation to complete the story. Thank you so much guys. Also thank you to @rueitae For her amazing tags. They make my day. I am terribly sorry if I missed anyone, it's 2 am here and i am barely awake.

I hope you enjoy the story. Please Reblog if you liked it and please do tell me what was your favorite moment.

[allakinwande]

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/Pat A. Robinson

CHASING DEMOCRACY:

The attack on the American voter.

BY: JB Hanna

_______________________________________________

"Now many of our Christians have what I call the 'goo-goo syndrome.' Good government. They want everybody to vote. I don't want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people. They never have been from the beginning of our country, and they are not now. As a matter of fact our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down."

-Paul Weyrich 1968

TARRANT COUNTY TX.

In 1827, Edward E. Tarrant had established himself as a wealthy man, probably the wealthiest in all of Red River County. A veteran of the war of 1812, now a sheriff, he left his mark in Tarrant County Texas, the namesake of the former officer of the “fourth brigade.”

On September 29, 1843, Tarrant along with Texas state attorney general George Whitfield would draft The “Bird’s Fort Treaty.” Which surreptitiously states in Article XXIV, that; “The government of Texas has the right of working all mines that have been discovered or will be discovered on the territory of the Indians.”

Just as surreptitiously as the terms of Crystal Mason’s signed affidavit that stated she was not eligible to vote as a convicted felon, some hundred and seventy five years later in that same Tarrant County. Mason was on community service on November 8, 2016 for a her 2012 conviction on tax fraud. Only voting after the urging of her mother, Ms. Mason was sentenced to five years in prison on voter fraud charges, for a provisional ballet vote that was never counted.

Crystal Mason’s unfortunate miscarriage of justice is the oddity, not the model. The model being the strategy adopted by many incumbents on the right, while the left has historically supported voter registration initiatives, conservatives (since the voting rights act of 2013) have practiced down presser tactics with almost surgical precision. From good ol fashioned jerrymandring to voter caging and voter roll purges.

Stories like that of Crystal Mason, no matter how rare, are aggressively publicized and spun in efforts to paint a fanciful portrait of voter fraud gone wild. These trumped up horrors however, have never been substantiated.

Max Faulkner/Fort Worth Star-Telegram via Getty Images.

During the presidential campaign of 2016,

Vice President nominee, Mike Pence came under scrutiny from voter rights advocates when Indiana State police raided the voter registration office of Patriot Majority USA, in October of 2016. Indiana progressives called conspiracy on the would be VIce president.

The nonprofit Patriot Majority, had registered over 45,000 voters, mostly African American. Just one week from the voter registration deadline and 5,000 voters short of their 50,000 target at the time of the raid. Founded in 2005, PM was accused of registering voters twice, in addition to applications that had missing or unverified zip codes and addresses. This is often a problem with grassroots voter registration initiatives staffed by everyday citizens, the lack of experience, training, and in many cases, after work hours by constituents looking to supplement their income, have always bore such inconsistencies. Though well meaning, these efforts give way to questionable voter registration applications, that ones opponent will rightfully pounce.

When you open Patriot Majority’s web sight, the home page is striking. Waves of red and white stripes, the famous Washington crossing the Delaware painting emblazoned on the header. With the current political climate, rife with its suede patriotism and the far lefts deepening dive into a socialist creed, one might expect Patriot Majorities home page to spawn links to diatribes of pro gun advocacy and states rights. But PM claims to be a bipartisan movement. While it seems that the issue is the shotty work of some canvassers, Common Cause Indiana and the NAACP have filed a federal lawsuit against Marion County of Indian after the raid on charges of voter suppression by closing early voting in a sector with over 700,000 registered voters. Former Indiana governor mike Pence, now ironically, head of the Elections Integrity Commission, boasts “What is historic here is that our president-elect won 30 to 50 states. He won more counties than any candidate on our side.

The Georgia State showdown

Georgia’s Democratic candidate for governor Stacey Abrams finds herself in a historical yet tight race in Georgia’s gubernatorial midterms. The Gulfport native faces off against opponent Brian kemp, the self proclaimed “politically incorrect conservative.” The cautionary view in mid August was that Kemp could have a strong surge in the last two months leading to the peach state showdown, much like Nathan Deal in 2014. But as of reporting, the race is still in a dead heat. Kemp has been mocked for his ads that some on the left liken to a Dave Chapelle or SNL skit. But while democrats laugh, Brian Kemp is practicing more “politics as usual” than his campaign readaric may assert. Kemp’s influence on voter registration as Secretary of State should be no laughing matter to democrats.

The heat was on as the summer closed out in Randolph County Georgia, a sort of patient zero for the National attention to suspected voter suppression. The Georgia county quickly beat back a move to close seven of nine polling places in the historically black canton. But the victory, while sweet, is little to stop the suppression of voters in the rest of the state. Like Tarrant in Texas, Randolph county is named after another slave owning statesman, Ol’ John Randolph of Roanoke. A career politician who also served as prosecutor of the associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Samuel Chase on charges of impeachment. Chase would later be acquitted by the senate. Roanoke famously stated,

“The most delicious of all privileges, spending other people’s money.” Might be proud of his states insidious politico operandi.

Several groups, including the Georgia Democratic Party, Common Cause and the NAACP, have called on Kemp to step down from his position as secretary of state while he runs for Governor.

Greg Palast, the New York based investigative journalist and author of the compelling

The best democracy money can buy, has been hunting down Kemp and also, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach for the past several months. Armed with a Federal subpoena accusing Kobach of purging hundreds of thousands of Kansans from the voting rolls. Like his counterpart in Georgia, as Secretary of State, Kobach has oversight of the states voter rolls and similar to Brian Kemp of Georgia, Kobach has also successfully closed polling stations in low income counties as well.

As Carol Anderson of the New York Times put it, “Brian Kemp is a master of voter suppression.” For example, Kemp made a statement in 2014 regarding another lawsuit his office faced regarding over 40 thousand names of voters disappearing from the Georgia voting rolls. The Secretary of State emphasized that “The lawsuit filed by 3rd sector development, is frivolous and totally without merit. The claim that there are over forty thousand unprocessed voter registration applications, are false.” Kemp went on to contravene with the 6,525 voter applications his office found had issues of no longer being with us, had no valid date of birth, where convicted felons or provided no county or address. ( some states report day of birth instead of DOB, which substantially increases the chance of two records being reported for the same person.)

Kemp also provided a Potboiler about an application filled out by, Johnny B Cool, who’s city was listed as, Yo’ Town. While this smacks of incompetence of the registrating body or the voting applicant themselves, it seems a stretch to think that a political scenic, who would name themselves Johnny B Cool who Haile’s from Yo town would be a tactical move that any well minded voter fraud conspirator would employ. But the great voter fraud conspiracy rolls on. Kemp, by the way,

Was found to be guilty of voter suppression in 2014.

GETTY IMAGES

LOCKED AND LOADED

Prior to Shelby v Holder, (2013) Texas, along with the several other Jim Crow states had coordinated a preemptive lockout of minority, elderly and millennial prospective votes in anticipation of provisions 4 & 5 of the voting rights act being overturned. The first domino to fall was that unsuspecting, overlooked little Diddy called Northwest Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1 v. Holder, or the MUD case. The stories of out of town voters using the address of a local motel to vote illegally, harassment of MUD’s minority community and a strange cloud of mystery preceding the Shelby v. Holder decision, stains the “Municipal Utility District,” just north of Austin.

That was 2009, and four years later, Shelby county found it unconstitutional for the federal government to suppress their ability to molest the Hispanics, black, elderly and young voting populous. The Supreme Court would concede that, “voting discrimination still exists; no one doubts that.” But the 5-4 decision of the highest court in the land would contradict their own logic by wiping away the voting rights act protection of historically disenfranchised constituents, specifically articles 4 and 5.

But back in Tarrant Texas, and many other counties in the Lone star state, there’s been a battle raging to oppress voter turnout since voting became public freewill. Ted Cruz and Beto O’Rourke are in the mezzo of a 12 round barn burner as the country tumbles towards it’s midterms like a radioactive meteor with no direction. Could it be, the land of steers could finally be done with Ted Cruz? Or is Beto’s hype just that? Progressive turnout or conservative suffragist subterfuge may answer these questions.

And yet, one of the few cases of actual voter fraud, ironically in that same state of Texas, is more doleful than relevant. Crystal Mason began her five year sentence for voter fraud in September. After being walked through the provisional ballet process by a state appointed election official, she still stands condemned by adjudication. Alison Grinter, of Mason’s legal team explained, “the federal government has stepped over the state and found Crystal guilty of violating the law.”

In august an 11 year old child hacked a Florida electronic ballet in this years DEFCON 26,

The annual hacking convention held this year in sandy Las Vegas. Emmett Brewer and 30 other kids ranging in age from 8 - 16 years old where all able to hack Florida’s faulty system. The national association of Secretaries of State responded to DEFCON with one of many proclamations in their

(Long comment regarding a proposed Exemption under 17 U.S. code 1201)

The senate stated to ES&S, the countries largest supplier of voting machines;

“Currently there are significant barriers that prevent states from working with independent, qualified, good faith researchers to conduct cyber security on election systems.”

Now it seams, after the midterms, ES&S May have to deal with not just the Senate but the people.

But the talk is done. Bluster deflated. Red and Blue candidates enter November 6th like combatants on the world stage. Like heavyweight champions with the future of democracy on the line. I’ll be watching the fight on November 6th just like Crystal Mason.

Hoping the country does right by its future.

[topicprinter]

Mad because your users keep clicking on that submit button three times a second? Or because they're calling in bugs while they're not using your product correctly?You are responsible for your product and how it's used, not the users. One of the best things about being a developer is that you can create. In order to bring your ideas to life, you ramble on some keys and watch how they turn into screens, functionality, business rules, and hopefully; pure value.In my 16+ years as a developer, I've listened to a lot of developers, makers, and entrepreneurs that complained that their app was being misused, how the user doesn't get it, or how users are causing all kinds of bugs. But to be honest, we as makers need to take responsibility for what we make.This article will show you 5 ways to take control of the product creation process so you don't have to blame the users for doing things wrong. It's time to stop pointing fingers, and take responsibility.TL;DRWith creation comes responsibility. Take responsibility and don't blame your users for crashing your solution or showing you its bugs.A Magical AnalogyImagine there is this magical place, a magical forest if you will. It is packed with beautiful things like rainbows, unicorns, and stuff. But as with any place, unpleasant things lurk there as well. Poison plants that can make you sick for days, and little flesh-eating beings that smell fear and can throw themselves at you.You are called The Wise One by people near the forest since they know you created the magical forest many centuries ago, and know everything about the magical forest and the creatures and plants that reside there.People come to you for when they need something to help their sick kid to get well and know that you can get the medicine from the magical forest. When someone went to the forest and got attacked by a vile creature you are the first one that will be notified by the small unichipmunks that live in the trees about such an event.Now replace "magical forest" with your application and magical things with useful features.Can you guess what the evil things are?Yup, it's those bugs that crawled in your product. And inconsistencies in your interface. And those assumptions about users, their needs and behavior that you neglected while building your product...You are Responsible; Act AccordinglyYes Ma'am / Sir, YOU, the creator, are fully responsible. When you create something and people have accepted your creation in their lives, you become responsible for what you've created.This counts even more so for applications that you are charging hard-earned money for.When people purchase something from you, its because they expect value from it (or they just wanna donate to you, mostly value is the reason). They also expect that you, the creator, provide value to them by giving support.One of the most frequent sounds that you'll hear from people who built a product is that support becomes a huge part of their time spending after they launched a product that starts getting traction.Some of the most common reasons why people need support (based on personal experience on implemented solutions):Users don't understand the functionality and/or interfaceThe app contains bugs that prevent users from using it properlyThe app doesn't take into account actual user behavior (IX) and throws off users that are using your appWhen you've put a lot of work into a product, you hopefully are proud of what you've created. And it sucks when people are negative about it.Even worse, if you know that your product works but your user refuses to operate it as designed and wants to do things differently, that can be a frustrating moment. But it DOES mean that your product is off somehow.So don't take grudge out on your users. They are the valuable input source that resonates with whatever product you've built. And their input and feedback is the pure gold in product development countryHow To Take Control?Let's find out about five ways that will help you to get in control of how your app is anticipated and used by your (future) users.1. Talk With People 🗣The uttermost efficiënt way to get in control of your users and minimize the delta between assumptions, expectations, and reality is...Talk. With. Your. Potential. Users.Not to. But with them. Converse. Engage and discuss. It's that simple. It isn't easy, but it IS simple. You need to get out and gain insights from talking to users.First off, talk about people's struggles and daily issues. Check if their pain points are related to the solution that you have in mind. And find out how they are coping with those issues now and here, where your solution isn't around (yet). The sooner you get feedback without biassing your users, the cheaper it will be to change things and finetune your solution's angle2. Verify Your Idea 🐒After you've been interviewing and researching the problem, you probably have a heads-over idea of how the solution is going to operate.After you've been interviewing and researching the problem, you probably have a heads-over idea of how the solution is going to operate. In order to take responsibility, you need to find out if your solution is the right solution for your users.At this time, where you've probably put together your idea - whether it be as wireframes, sketches on paper or an interactive Mockup - you can take your solution for a test drive. No code involved yet, so testing this and noting what people think is missing, weird or not clear is useful as heck for your solution. This will help you to understand if your solution fits the need of your (potential) users.If you can somehow record, register or at least note what was tested and how it was done, you are letting users perform monkey testing for you. By writing down how things are reproducible, you can fix these issues by creating a new version with updates or added (or removed) functionality.Key to make this a success is to instruct people that are going to test your product that they need to keep in mind what they did and give them a construct on how to register their findings.Not surprisingly, automated (AI) monkeys are emerging as online services as well. See Monkeytest.it if you'd like to run a free monkey test.3. Cover Common Usability Issues ✅Once you've established a nice functional prototype (you're not done, but using the 80/20 rule, you've got a stable version) you are probably going to start creating your MVP or a prototype of your application.When you do so, the last thing to take into account is the most common user interactions that lead to issues and problems. This comes down to implementing best practice stuff like: - input checks - self-explanatory screen setups - guidance user-interface elements - consistency between labels, buttons, etc.I won't be listing the best practices here as the internet is bloated with useful content regarding them. Just Google for "common usability issues" and you'll get a nice list.Just stop getting mad at users because they're clicking that button two (or ten) times in a few nanoseconds. It's human nature to do things like that. Stop freaking out about it!4. Test Your Solution 🕵🏻‍♂️Test Driven Development (TDD in short) and Business Driven Development (BDD) are techniques that have increasingly become popular in the last decade.By defining tests that orchestrate how your app should work (TDD), or by even writing down business rules and defining the tests beneath them that enable those rules (BDD), you can make sure that your app's code functions properly.When you're working on fixing bugs, building in some of the user's feature requests that you decided to be of value for your product, you can be in control by writing tests that will focus on those things.ie: Someone reports an issue and the origin seems to lie in the fact that the user is able to get past a validation that is necessary for your app to function correctly.You fix this by: - writing the appropriate test(s) - changing the code to make all tests go green and fix the issue - you deploy to productionTest Strategy In its simplest form, defining a valuable test strategy isn't really that hard. But you need to do it the right way, else it is just a farce that implies you're improving quality while it doesn't cut it.I've been a systems test coordinator for a Dutch bank besides being a developer in their IT department. There, I learned the ropes on setting up test strategies, and there are two things that define 90% of it:the highest risk areas need the most/best testing effortthe aspects of the subject under test that matter most help defining how testing is setupRisk AnalysesThis is all based on the following formula:Risk = Likelihood x Impactie: Twitter-based sign-in functionality on your login page might not be used all that often. So the estimation for the likelihood could be low or medium. But if it doesn't work chances are that people are leaving your app and start ranting on Twitter about it. Thus this would make the impact have a value high.Take a look at a common risk matrix:According to our estimation, the Twitter sign-in functionality would be placed in the top center area of the matrix, making it a high priority.If you do this for all the aspects like functional parts, business rules, etc. you get a nice overview of where your priorities should be at.Quality AttributesThere are lists of quality attributes available online (like this one on Wikipedia) that can help you decide what aspects are most important for your product.ie: Your online blogging platform might be valuing security, maintainability, localizability, and durability as the most important aspects. If so, you can work on setting up tests that make sure that those aspects are working correctly. Think of security testing sets, unit tests for everything that's medium priority or above on the risk matrix to support maintainability. Or tests like load tests to test if your solution is durable when 10000 users will use it in a single hour.Discussing testing on its own goes beyond the scope of this article, but you can find out more about these things by Googling. With the two concepts of risk analyses and quality attributes you at least know about some basic concepts that can help you take control of both your app's functioning and quality.5. Make Giving Feedback Easy 🤗In order to prevent people from raving around the internet about how awful your app is, you need to be open for feedback.You need to open up both in a personal and a technical sense.Personally Accepting FeedbackAccept that people will always have remarks, misunderstandings, issues, and bugs. And thank them for wanting to ventilate those to you.Ignore the input that is vile and disturbing or downright a-social and focus on real user feedback and constructive responses.If you have a mindset that appreciates feedback people can truly open up you will be amazed at what you can learn from it.Technically Making Feedback easyWhere it used to be all email-based feedback, the internet nowadays provides some awesome technical ways for lowering the barrier between product makers and product users.Chat functionality The quickest technical way to open up for users is to integrate chat functionality like Tawk.to, PureChat, etc. They provide widgets that you can add to your site and that lets users leave a message or interact with you when you are online. Realtime chatting can be a true win-win situation if you can afford to take some time for short interaction cycles with the users of your product.If you want a more formal way of interacting you could use service desk enabling solutions that let people send in issues on their own.Service desk tools Bigger businesses might use service desk tooling and issue tracking software to register issues and bugs. Think Jira, Zoho Desk, just to name a few. Or get an open-source variant for free like Bugzilla.Feature request & voting By letting your users register feature requests and lobbying for them amongst your users, you can have a community-orchestrated feedback mechanism that can show you what features are considered most important. By enabling services like Microsoft's Uservoice or a free (custom hostable) open-source variant Fider, you can let your users add feature requests on which other people can vote and respond. I've seen some amazing feedback from​ users to parties like Microsoft. It also prevents that you have to answer the same requests over and over again, thus lowering the effort needed from your side.There you have it. Three technical ways of opening up to your users and embracing their feedback.Please note that simpler solutions like chatting might be interesting from the get-go, whereas more formal interaction like bug reporting and feature requests are probably more suitable when your user base is going past the tens of users range.Embrace your user's feedback. It will make you smarter, more humble, and help you to aim for the right problem at the right angleTo ConcludeIn this article, I've shown you several ways and moments of the product development cycle where you can take control of any abuse, misusage, misunderstanding or plain pestering that you might experience from what appears a user taking down your beautiful product.The five ways to take responsibility for your product as mentioned in this article are:By talking with (potential) users early on, you can check if your idea will form a proper solution to a problem / a need to a wantBy monkey testing your sketches, wireframes or mockup you can find out about the biggest roadblocks and learn from the people that are checking out your solution early onA lot of common problems have been thoroughly documented online. Check out about the most common user interaction issues and make sure you have your answer to those implemented in your solution. This is a quick win that will save you a lot of worries when you consider them while building your prototype or MVP versionWhen you have a usable version available, enabling interaction and providing guided means for users to send feedback to you is golden. This will often prevent them from ranting online and will give you a heads-up about issues. By using feature request solutions you can even let your users give you insights on their wants and needsUsing a testing strategy, you will be able to see where you need to put in your efforts regarding quality assurance and testing user scenarios. Basing it on risk analyses and the most important quality aspects of your solutionThere you have it.There's no point in pointing your finger 👉🏻 towards your users when something breaks just because they aren't using it as you intended it to be operated.As a maker, *YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE * for the success of your product and the value that it provides. Users will always manage to break stuff or use it in ways you could never have imagined​ before.So take control, and take advantage of the tips and pointers so you can embrace the user and what they got to offer.Building value for the user is best done when coöperating with your users.Take care and keep building #valuefirst solutions.This article was originally posted on Shipharder.comDisclaimer: I am not affiliated with the products mentioned in this article in any way.Edwin Klesman is a 16+ year developer who loves building web/mobile apps and helping others in doing so. Check out [EEKAY ONLINE](www.eekayonline.com) to see what I'm about