#of being composed entirely of elements that have me baffled

[plusultraetc]

this is a continuing problem for the there’s no good tricks but old ones sequel so I thought I would just put the question out there into the world!!

[a-bit-too-much-of-a-zelda-fan]

The Face Shrine Theme: An Analysis of Link's Awakening

Link’s Awakening is a pretty damn good game. I’ve finished the Switch remake twice now. When I play a video game, especially when it’s Zelda, I like to absorb as much media and conversation surrounding it as possible. When I do that, sometimes I piece together one person’s ideas with another’s, and now we have some new analysis. I've got some things to say about the Face Shrine's theme.

Part 1: The Music

To start, I’m going to paraphrase parts of JalopesTL’s YouTube video “The Strangest Song in Link’s Awakening.” This is by no means a complete summary of the video and you should definitely check it out. The Gameboy’s sound chip only had four channels: three that could carry a tune, and one that created “noise” for percussion or sound effects.

The composers for Link’s Awakening used three techniques to create a dreamlike sonic landscape that took advantage of the limited technology: 1) using one or two channels to add a delay/reverb/echo to the primary melody, 2) Using sparse arrangements that freed up those extra channels, and 3) manipulating the volume of certain elements of the music. The track that Jalopes uses to demonstrate all three techniques being used effectively is none other than the theme of Level 6: The Face Shrine.

The Face Shrine theme is one melody carried on one channel and delayed on the other two. What’s more, the volume of the song is constantly changing. It might gradually get louder, and louder, then drop down to the quietest possible in the very next measure. When the song is at its loudest, the delay is barely perceptible. When the song is at its quietest, the delay is very apparent.

The effect of these three techniques makes the song feel unnerving and contemplative. You’re constantly on edge. It refuses to let you find a comfortable pattern to settle into. And I am so glad that I found this video because it really explains why this track is, as Jalopes describes it, “one of the most powerful chiptunes I’ve ever heard.” The composers of the Switch remake understood this, which we can see by the fact that the new Face Shrine theme includes the original chiptune.

Part 2: The Response

This one track is only made more impactful by its placement in the story of Link's Awakening. I can only say so much that hasn’t already been said, so I’m going to let some YouTube commenters speak for me. I found all of these on videos of the Face Shrine theme, original and remake. I have made a few minor edits for clarity, but they are mostly intact. When you read these insightful and emotional comments, keep in the back of your mind the things that the composers did to make this song elicit those emotions.

Love the complete tone shift this game takes. You get a feeling something is off once you beat the Catfish Maw boss then you go to the southern shrine and learn the truth and the haunting feeling lingers over you throughout the next dungeon and the rest of the game. The last dungeons and part of this adventure are very unique. Only almost matched by the feeling of Majora's mask that feeling of inevitability. Nothing matters. This song perfectly encapsulates it.

-

“I like how the volume of the song alternates between being quiet and distant, and loud and inescapable. Really completes the disorientating, sad atmosphere of the whole shrine.”

-

I love how it goes louder and deafening when breaking the solemn notes as if putting you it that “please shut up!/go away!” The mindset Link is probably in due to the intrusive thoughts of the reality he’s facing.

-

This theme really puts the feeling behind the realization that by waking the Wind Fish, you are sentencing the world of Koholint Island to vanish without a trace. And the world knows, and is trying its hardest to stop you.

-

You feel gloomy. Scared. Lost. You’ve just learned that you are in a fake world. A dream. Is it really? Was the stone lying? You feel the same baffled, gloomy feeling, as you enter the next dungeon, not even realizing how long it took to get here. The game even throws you with an almost useless item to keep the excitement and happiness away. And you get hit with this masterpiece of a song. The same sad feeling you felt before, and wonder if all of your journeys, friends, kids, and creatures you have met along the way were all for nothing.

-

Reading most people's interpretations in this song, I heard it a bit differently... I heard it as Link finally learning that it's all a dream, but this world, the people who live in it and keep their schedules, the shop keeper, the crane game owner, the rapids attendant, the family of 6, the animals, Madam MeowMeow, the fisherman, the mermaid, the shy grandfather, the sweeping grandmother, Tarin, Dampe, Marin, everyone... Link has to destroy it all. Despite everyone liking Link, he has to be their destroyer. And for the hero who defeated Ganon and brought back all who were trapped in the Dark World... This is something tragic he has to come to terms with. The hero must betray those he wanted to protect, those that care about him, and their entire world.

-

Forget what you know about the game after beating it. Think of what Link must have felt at this moment. Enemies have started telling you that your efforts will ruin everything. Your guiding owl is growing less emotionally supportive and more direct about leading you on to complete your quest. You just got done having a heart-to-heart with a pure maiden who wants nothing more than to go around the world singing her songs for anyone and everyone. She just barely got done braving the island's newfound, monstrous dangers just to help you out. You've freshly learned that, if you complete this quest, you will remove her and her whole island from existence. And now you're taking your first step into the next dungeon on the way to make it happen. Yeah, this theme is fitting.

-

Incredibly powerful. Especially knowing that this dungeon in particular has the moment of desperation in conversation with the boss. It just feels so sad and haunting and beautiful. Was holding back tears the entire time I played it.

I’ll leave you with one more comment. This one was on a video for the remade song. I saved this for last because every comment before was a reflection by someone who is clearly emotionally mature enough to understand the story of Link's Awakening. They had the ability to connect the music and the feelings they got from it with the story in a way that deepened their understanding of the text. Here's something a bit different.

So I'm going through this with my son. He’s five. Normally he’s engaged. "Dad, go left. Dad, get that treasure. Dad, let me see the map." But after a couple minutes, he’s quiet. Not a peep. I think maybe he’s tired or just not paying attention. After about ten minutes I ask, "You okay bud?" His response: "Yeah, I just want to hear the pretty song."

[jesstielle]

okay i have Feelings about NEO: TWEWY and nobody to shout them at because literally nobody else I know plays it which is truly a crime; the original twewy remains one of my favourite games to this day.  but anyway.  massive NEO TWEWY spoilers inbound:

First of all it truly is a miracle that this game even exists.  I never once actually believed we’d get a sequel.  Let alone one this good!! It is really, really good!!!

Things I Enjoyed:

- The gameplay.  Whoo boy.  Up to about 4 team members, anyway.  It’s fast paced, button mashing satisfaction, that manages to keep elements from the original game while still being fresh and fun, if not entirely chaotic, which is why after 4 characters, it was a bit like, ‘okay, chill, let us switch out or something’ lmao

- The new characters.  Although I feel like we leave the game not knowing as much about them as I would like, the new team are really great, and Nagi in particular really shone in terms of character grown.  Rindo.. I feel like I know as little about him now as I did at the start :|a Maybe I just missed something.

I honestly found the teams and their leaders kinda forgettable >>;; Although the heel-face turn on Motoi was pretty great.  I needed more from Kanon to feel anything when she, yknow.

The new reapers were... a mixed bunch. Shoka was fantastic, Susukichi was... a bit much in English, great in Japanese, Tsugumi was great but didn’t get enough screen time (unless she gets more post game, I dunno yet) Shiba annoyed the fuck outta me, Kaie was alright.. the others... meh.  They don’t hold up to Kariya and Uzuki. And obviously Kubo sucks ass pfft

- The reappearing characters.  of course i loved them.  i got a hit of serotonin every time one appeared on my screen. neku my son. josh  the reapers.  i was never a huge minamimoto stan lmao but he was fun. even curry don. but some were DIRELY underutilised which i WILL COME BACK TO

- THE MUSIC.  twewy cannot fail on its music, it’s amazing, it’s glorious, it’s multi faceted, it goes hard. and adding in Beat’s psyche, a rhythm mini game acting as the fast walk button???? yes. yes yes yes yes.  yessssssss. 

- The graphics.  Mostly.  Everything looked beautiful, and HD, and the character designs were great - not toooooooooo Nomura but Nomura enough, yknow? And the occasional chibi faces were great lol.  The chaotic battles sometimes caused lag which... I mean, they coulda given us the option to turn off some of the animations or damage graphics lmao but hey.  the forced perspective on shibuya was a bit off occasionally but it was how the original game did it and it’s all for the ~aesthetic~ so hey.  And it was great seeing some of the original locations looking so much more fleshed out

- The Localisation.  Personally, I think the translators struck a perfect balance that made the kids seem like they’d fit right into today’s culture.  It wasn’t forced, it wasn’t ‘look at us we are Teenagers’, it was right on the mark.  And it was really, really interesting hearing just how different the Japanese VA lines were compared to the English translations.  They really went all out and it paid off, imo.

Dislikes: (i haven’t read the secret reports yet tho)

- UNDERUTILISATION OF THE ORIGINAL CHARACTERS - now, look, okay, I’m biased.  I admit it.  I’m a Josh and Neku stan lmao, so I was looking forward to seeing them the whole game.  And as it went on and on and I realised I wouldn’t be until much later, it bummed me out.  The bait n’ switch with Beat was funny at first, and I enjoyed it a lot, until I realised that yeah, that’s what they’re going with.  Beat’s probably my least favourite partner from the original (sorry) but even disregarding that, it annoys me that they gave him like 10,000x more screen time than even Neku. 

Not to mention Shiki and Joshua!  Josh in particular I could write a whole essay on how pissed I am.  The lost potential.  Nobody mentioning him, ever, once.  Until he just sorta shows up and says a few things.  It makes NO SENSE, he’s the fucking composer, Neku and Beat worked with him, why aren’t they questioning his whereabouts when Shibuya’s turning to shit??????’  I just?????? I had low hopes for Josh content tbf but I am still disappointed :( And naught but one singular Hanekoma mention, as well.  Sigh.

Shiki, it’s a shame she doesn’t appear more, she certainly could have - I can think of like 5 ways off the top of my head - having her as a partner would have also been extremely good.

Neku at least we got..... half a week with. and as a PC.  And like, I know it’s not supposed to be about them, but throw us a bit more than cheap fanservice, yknow. And Kariya and Uzuki were great too.

- why, oh why, was every single team lackey male????  they couldn’t be arsed to make female designs????? it baffled me.

- SO. MUCH. SHIBUYA. TRAVERSING.  I don’t remember if it was that bad in the original?! But oh my god lol.  I think a lot of it was padding.  Sure felt like it.  Paired with the slightly hand hold-y mission progression cutscenes, they coulda cut a bunch of those out.

Other Stuff:

- The voice acting - fantastic in Japanese, okay in English, except for the returning characters?? didn’t sound great??? in english??? I was hyped to turn English back on for Beat but.... nah. Nahhh.  Nagi’s English VA was absolutely the best imo.

- They nailed the feel of the old game without totally copying it - the food, clothes, general aesthetic, music.  That said, it still felt a little too tied to the original.  Ironic considering the rant above I know lmao but... yeah.  The player psyches were a nice touch but I feel like it needed something to set it apart a lil more from its predecessor. 

- I didn’t realise A New Day existed until literally today and I wish I had seen it before I played Neo.  Now I know who Coco is lmao.  And Shinjuku’s erasure was part of that too! arghhhh. Nomura stop burying plot points in other things.  I’m a DS OG dont do this to me

- Rindo’s time travel power was cool but jumping back to the same point like 3 or 4 times in some cases got old

- You could really feel the KH3 energy of ‘play 30 hours until something or someone pivotal finally appears’ lol.  Nomuraaaaa. 

... anyway.

TL;DR good game, needed more Josh, also needs more fans please

[sa-gt-tarrius]

Liars Ahead: Proceed with Caution

Warnings:

Foul language, needles, lots of injuries, character death. Tread carefully!

@cakercanart @secret-shifters

This fic is a bit gritty, moreso than what I usually write. If it’s too much for you to handle, or if it’s just not up your alley and you don’t really like the harsher elements, please feel free to let me know! I’d be happy to edit it down to make it less angsty.

***

No one knew exactly how many secrets MIRA Incorporated kept under wraps.

Their kind of work demanded secrecy, of course. When a company is involved in such groundbreaking fields, they are bound to draw prying eyes. MIRA specialized in relativistic aeronautics, atmospheric engineering, and long-term spacefaring. These terms were new-age babble that roughly translated to “living in outer space.” MIRA studied things that science fiction nerds could only dream of seeing. 

However, MIRA understood that profits would tank if any old Joe Schmoe could walk into their headquarters and leak their data. It was no surprise, then, that the employees of MIRA knew so little about their own company. Most workers had to stay on their assigned floor for their entire careers. Three whole levels of clearance were required to use the fancy upstairs bathrooms!

But there was one thing that was no secret to anyone: MIRA was planning something big. Something amazing. And whatever it was, it was going to happen soon. Excited whispers swept through every office and laboratory—the company had something in store that would rock the world. 

But to Henry Newground, this was all a bit underwhelming.

Henry had been tirelessly working at MIRA HQ for five years. He was an accountant for MIRA’s payroll, which meant he spent most of the day staring at lists of numbers and rummaging through file cabinets. When he was first hired, Henry naively believed that he could climb the corporate ladder and become an astronaut if he just worked hard enough. But alas, it was not to be—even after long years of no sick days and lots of overtime, Henry was still a simple accountant. He fought tooth and nail for a goddamn raise, so it was no wonder that his dream job was a mere fantasy. 

At least, that’s what he thought. But then a letter appeared on his desk one morning. 

Mr. Henry Newground,

We at MIRA have accepted your application to join our spacefaring and research apprenticeship program. Enclosed in this letter is a Level 10 Clearance Card. You will need it to access the upper office on the 50th floor, where more details will be provided. Please come to the office as soon as your shift ends. 

Kind regards, 

Elliot Rose 

Chief Executive Officer of M.I.R.A. Incorporated 

At first, Henry thought this was just a joke. His boss Kerri didn’t mention the letter all day, so she must’ve not known about it. (Either that or she had been in on it the whole time. She was a well-known jokester, after all.) And none of Henry’s coworkers spared him a second glance as he quietly left at five o’clock to head upstairs. 

The security guard at the elevator tried to turn Henry away, which seemed to confirm his just-a-prank theory. But as Henry fumbled over a frantic apology, trying to explain that he must have been set up by his coworkers, the security guard spotted a shiny blue rectangle dangling from Henry’s neck: a Level 10 Clearance Card. The guard opened the elevator door without a word, ushering the confused man inside and pressing the button for the fiftieth floor. 

“Ms. Rose doesn’t usually let people into her office,” the guard murmured as the elevator ascended ominously. “You must be helping with that big project they’re talking about. All the nerds upstairs won’t shut up about it.”

“Sh–she said she’d give me details when I got to her office.” Henry spun to face the guard, his face scrunched up anxiously. “Do I look okay? I didn’t have time to put on a suit…”

“You look fine. Stand up straight, we’re almost there.”

Given the air of mystery surrounding the upper floors of the building, Henry had no idea what to expect. But what he didn’t anticipate was to be met with a gust of wind. Henry shielded his eyes as a glare of sunlight began to burn his retinas. He was outdoors—on the roof of the building. It looked like a helicopter pad, only much, much larger. 

The security officer cleared his throat, gently ushering Henry out of the elevator. He jutted his finger towards the other side of the launch pad, towards a hallway that led back inside the building. “Just follow the path for a bit, and then take the left path at the fork. If you make it to the greenhouse, you went too far.” 

“Er, thanks…”

“And make sure you knock. Ms. Rose hates when people barge in.”

Henry nodded tentatively. He took a deep breath and marched towards the entryway, determined to get to the office before chickening out. 

The upper floors weren’t that unusual, Henry thought as he trotted along. He passed by a smelly locker room, a tiny medical bay, and a grimy computer room. Nothing about this place seemed particularly flashy or elite. Henry was starting to think he was on the wrong floor. 

Henry made the left turn, as the guard told him, and arrived in a small alcove with three rooms. One of the rooms was a lab of some sort, although it was barren and empty for the time being. The room ahead was filled with bushes and shrubs, with a large glass tube in the centre. And the last one was closed—a sign reading “please knock” hung nearly on the doorknob. 

Henry knocked three times and yanked his hand away like the wood was searing hot. 

Then the door creaked open. 

No one knew much about Ms. Elliot Rose. Even the managers and supervisors scarcely spoke of her at all. Henry honestly had no idea what to anticipate from her, aside from the cutthroat ruthlessness most company owners tended to have. But instead of a snide, fierce woman who could tear him apart with a glance, the woman standing in the open doorway was hardly remarkable. She was just barely taller than Henry, no older than thirty, and her red hair bristled out in all directions like she hadn’t brushed it in days. Her eyes were bagged and sunken, almost sickly, and her gaze was panicked and wild for a moment before locking onto Henry. 

She frowned. “Can I help you?”

“Ms. Rose?” Henry tried, unsure if he was truly talking to the CEO of the largest corporation on the planet. “My name is H–Henry Newground. I was told to come here at five, I–I have a clearance card if you need to see it—”

“Oh, right. Henry.” The woman suddenly straightened up, swinging the door open fully and gesturing for Henry to enter. “Thank you for coming. I’m sorry to inconvenience you like this.”

“It’s fine. I’m sorry for the delay.” Henry stepped inside, clearing his throat in a sorry attempt to appear composed. The room was nothing special—just a small office with four computer desks and a box-shaped radio. The woman took a seat at the messiest desk, leaning back into the chair. Henry claimed an empty chair from a desk nearby, bouncing his leg anxiously. “So, um… about this spacefaring program…”

Elliot Rose smiled, sinking into the chair cushion and leaning back. “I’ve looked over your application and was very happy with what I saw. I think you have potential, Henry.”

“Thank you,” Henry sputtered, baffled and giddy that the CEO was singing such high praises of him. “I’ve always loved learning about space, you know. That’s why I applied for this job. Even as a kid, I—”

“That’s great, Henry,” Elliot hummed, slipping out a gaping yawn before continuing. “Anyway, I just wanted to run a couple of things by you before we send you off. You got your master's degree in microbiology from Harvard, correct? I’ve also heard you’ve taken courses in astrophysics.”

Henry nodded eagerly. “That’s right. I’ve also taken extracurricular classes on geology, I was the leader of the chess club… a–and I sold drinks at the campus football games,” he finished lamely.

“You see, Henry,” Elliot drawled, twirling a pen with her fingers, “I have thirty-four other applicants with higher education than you do. Half of them have three or more doctorates. I don’t care much about your education.” She leaned forward, crossing her arms firmly over the desk. Something glinted behind her eyes—it was impossible to read. “But you have special skills, ones that could greatly benefit my crew.” Elliot leaned forward, crossing her arms firmly over the desk. “Our coordinators are getting ready to send supplies to Polus on a small dropship. The trip will last about two days. I want you on that ship before it takes off.”

“Y–you want—” Henry choked on his breath. “You want me to go to space?”

Elliot smirked. “Is that a problem?”

“I–I just— Y–you don’t— W–well—“

“Use your words, Henry.”

“I’m just…” Henry sputtered, struggling to find words to say. “Don’t I need training?”

“You don’t sound very excited… I thought you would be happy about this. Didn’t you apply to join our spacefaring program last year?”

“I mean, yeah.” Henry shuffled in his seat awkwardly. “But my application was turned down. I didn’t have enough education for it. Why do you want me now?”

“Things change,” Elliot laughed. “I’d like to personally ask you to join the Polus crew and help document alien life.”

The two fell silent. 

Elliot smirked coyly. “Is that a yes?”

“I–I mean, absolutely,” Henry sputtered. “I’m just… a little confused. Are you sure you’ve got the right person?”

“I most certainly do,” Elliot replied. 

“Okay,” Henry muttered, unsure of how he managed to get into this strange situation with no warning. “So… what now?”

“Go home, get some sleep, and come back here tomorrow. Same time, of course. I’ll get you all the details by then.” 

“Okay.”

“Have a good night, Henry.”

“Th–thanks.”

Henry’s head was still spinning as he made his way out of Elliot’s office. 

“You alright, buddy?” the security guard piped as Henry entered the elevator, his eyebrow raised curiously. “You look like you’re gonna pass out.”

“I’m fine.” Henry gripped his forehead, fighting off another dizzy spell. Butterflies were forming in the pit of his stomach as the elevator descended. “I just need to go home.”

And that’s exactly what Henry did. As soon as he fetched his lunch kit from the office fridge, the young man hopped into his SUV and drove straight home. Not even bothering to change out of his work uniform, Henry collapsed on the bed. His head continued spinning. 

Surely this was a big joke. 

Elliot herself said that many people were far more qualified than he was. So why was she so adamant about having Henry on her crew? It made no sense. 

Henry knew he wouldn’t have gotten any answers that night, not by muttering and mumbling into his pillow like a lunatic. He’d have to get the details tomorrow like Elliot told him to. So instead of uselessly mulling it over, Henry plucked his phone off the side table and quickly dialled a number. The phone barely had time to ring before someone on the other end picked up. “Hey, sweetie. How was work today?”

“Hi Henry, it was good! What about you?”

“Well, I–I was called into a meeting by the CEO. She said she wanted me in her spacefaring program.”

“Oh, that’s… hang on. Are you serious? They accepted you?!”

“Yeah. She asked me to help with some research. She said she was impressed by my application and—”

“You’re going to space!” A young woman’s voice bubbled ecstatically over the phone. She laughed and giggled, even belting out an excited shriek for good measure. “I’m so proud of you! I knew you’d get in, I just knew it!”

“You did, yeah.”

“God, I wish I could be there right now,” the woman chuckled. “I want to give you a big hug.”

Henry smiled faintly. “Thanks, sweetie.”

“I’m going to go buy a bunch of chocolates for you today. I don’t know if it’ll get delivered before you leave, but it can at least be a welcome-back present.”

“Oh, you don’t have to, Sigrid,” Henry replied. “How would you even send it? The post office won’t accept packages that big. I don’t even know if a box of chocolates would fit in the mail truck.”

The woman, presumably named Sigrid, huffed indignantly. “Well, fine. I’ll just think of something else.”

Henry had never actively sought out a relationship. He was too focused on work to consider dating, and his social circle wasn’t large enough for him to start dating around. And yet, for three years now, Henry had been in a lovely relationship with a woman named Sigrid Brandson. She lived in northwestern Canada (according to her), far away from any large cities, and Henry wasn’t yet lucky enough to meet her face-to-face. 

The reason? Sigrid was a giant. 

There few places giants and humans could casually be together—and much fewer ways to travel to each other—so they usually spent their time on the phone or video calls. Henry didn’t mind much, although it was disheartening to have never kissed Sigrid even after years of being committed. 

It was thanks to Sigrid that Henry learned to speak and write Riesian, the language of the giants. When the two first met on an online fan forum, Sigrid spoke very little English, and Henry didn’t even know the Riesian language existed. But with time and effort, the two were able to cross the language barrier, eventually teaching each other their native tongues. 

“Do you know where you’re going?”

“Yeah, she said I’m going to a planet called Polus. They have a research base set up there.”

“Polus?” Sigrid repeated. “Oh… that’s… that’s nice.”

It was then that Henry realized Sigrid’s voice had become a tad crestfallen. He frowned. “Everything good?”

“Just… be careful out there,” Sigrid murmured. “I know it’s probably fine and I’m worrying about nothing, but make sure you stay safe, okay? And call me if you can. I’m so proud of you, Henry.” She suddenly stopped speaking English and switched to Riesian. 

“Bai tcho eim, honey.” 

Be safe.

***

On the days leading up to takeoff, Elliot had been vigorously training Henry. He learned how to fix wiring issues, how to power up engines, how to use the weather nodes, and how to examine and sort specimens that were brought into the base. Henry was very quickly becoming a rather competent spacefarer. 

But still, Henry was on edge. Despite the training and the reassurances from Elliot, something didn’t sit quite right. But none of that mattered—before he knew it, Henry was stuffed into a white spacesuit, complete with the MIRA logo and the American flag emblazoned on the shoulders. Dozens of people swarmed around him, talking to each other and furiously taking notes. A brisk wind punctuated the murmur of the crowd. 

Elliot knelt before him, her hands running along the fabric to make sure the suit would fit Henry. 

“You’ll be accompanying Aesir Vidstrom while you’re on Polus,” she said as she worked. “He’s the new chief of medical staff. He’ll meet you at the landing site and help you get settled in.” Elliot fiddled with the straps on Henry’s waist, tightening the suit until it fit. Henry was quite a few inches shorter than prior astronauts, so his spacesuit needed to be altered before he could use it. “You’re to stay with Aesir at all times unless he says otherwise. Is that clear?”

Henry nodded and glanced away, choosing to stare at the looming spaceship atop the crowded launchpad—a dropship, Elliot had called it. The ship was fairly large, about eight meters in height and width, and the nose stretched outwards almost twelve meters. The jet black paint glistened in the early morning sun, and Henry’s nose crinkled at the smell of something burning. 

“And remember, my crew is always on standby. We’ll be ready to help you whenever you need it.”

“Th–thank you, ma’am.”

“Don’t mention it.” Elliot finally stepped away from Henry, admiring the finished spacesuit. “I think you’re ready. Let’s get you out of here.” She turned around, facing the crowd, and raised her voice. “Five minutes to takeoff!”

“Five minutes!” someone screamed over the din. “Fire up the reactors!”

“Starting reactors! Diverting power to the left and right engines! Standby…”

“All clear, ma’am! Someone get Newground on board!”

“Let’s go, Henry.” Elliot shoved Henry towards the dropship. The large metal plating began to slide up, similar to a garage door. A pair of men in uniform guided Henry up the steps and into the cabin of the ship. Ten plush seats lined the walls—Henry took a tentative seat in the closest one, the farthest to the left, and began to buckle himself in. The men in uniform quickly left as the engine roar increased in volume. The other staff members gathered along the edges of the launch pad in anticipation. 

“Good luck, Henry!” Elliot hollered, waving her arm up over the crowd. “You'll do great, I know it!”

Before Henry could reply, the door began to slide shut. The ship shivered and groaned, and within seconds, the whole thing began to rise and sway. Henry barely had time to squeeze his eyes shut before the ship suddenly lurched forward at unimaginable speeds. 

The poor man clenched his seatbelt like a lifeline. He knew takeoff would only last a minute or two, and yet the ordeal seemed to last a lifetime. Henry felt his body being squished against the chair, constructing his lungs and preventing him from breathing. As much as he tried to, he couldn’t even scream. 

And then, as quickly as it began, everything started to slow down again. The roar of the engine faded somewhat, and the whole cabin gradually stopped shaking. Henry wasn’t quite confident enough to get out of the seat, so he remained strapped in, gasping heavily as he tried to soothe his racing heart. 

Finally, when everything was calm, Henry shakily unbuckled himself and rose to stand. As he shuffled through the cabin, he took the time to properly examine the interior of the dropship he would be riding in. There were various steel crates scattered about, each containing canned rations and various tools. A small laptop was placed on the smallest crate, detailing the dropship’s velocity, fuel levels, turbulence, and current distance from Polus. He made a mental note to check on it later to make sure everything was normal. 

And then, on the starboard side of the ship, a solitary window glimmered.

Henry dared himself to peer outside. 

He paused, then gasped.

Even after seeing outer space countless times in photographs and videotapes, Henry was still gobsmacked by the vast starry void before him. To his right, the planet Earth was rapidly shrinking as he blasted further away, and the sun was a mere speck of light in the distance. This wasn’t a fantasy anymore—Henry was hurtling through the solar system in a spaceship, making his way towards an alien planet. 

A childish grin crept onto his face. 

This was it. After years of daydreaming, Henry was a real-life astronaut—his younger self would be so proud. Henry was so ecstatic that his earlier anxieties and frustrations were completely forgotten, left behind on his home planet. 

In less than two days, Henry would arrive on Polus to begin his spacefaring apprenticeship. He kept thinking about Sigrid, imagining all the stories he’d get to tell her when he got back to Earth. 

This was going to be amazing.

He just hoped nothing would go wrong. 

***

The trip to Polus was progressing faster than Henry ever expected. He wondered how MIRA’s ships could move so quickly and yet use so little fuel—it was a blessing of science, to be sure. 

But by the twentieth hour of the trip came and went, Henry felt anything but blessed. 

There wasn’t much for entertainment in the dropship. Henry could only fumble around on the laptop, gaze out of the window, or pace the cabin a few times. The boredom was excruciating, but the anticipation was even worse. Luckily, Elliot had reached out to him a few times via video calls, answering questions and keeping him company during the arduous journey to Polus. 

“Any turbulence today?” she asked. 

“None,” Henry replied. “No asteroids, either. Everything is fine so far.”

Elliot smiled. “Good. The dropship has a bit of a reputation for rough rides, so I was worried about engine damage. Seems like I was worried about nothing.”

The two made idle conversation every four hours or so, which was a welcome distraction. As much as Henry adored being in space for the first time, he couldn’t deny how lonely and boring it was. And having someone like Elliot to guide him was another welcome addition, even if her presence unnerved Henry somewhat. 

Two more days passed. Henry was munching on his lunch ration. He’d opened the package to find sliced canned meat—bland and oily and smelly. But with the addition of some crackers and canned oranges, the meal made for a decent lunch. However, before he was even halfway finished eating, a rumbling began to overtake the cabin. His lunch contained tumbled onto its side, spilling cracker crumbs all over the floor. Henry instinctively latched onto a nearby crate, trying his best not to fall over as the entire ship swayed. 

A synthetic voice rose over the fray. “Entering the Polus mesosphere,” it announced in a polite, monotonous tone. “Current velocity: 326 miles per hour. Engine temperature: nominal. Distance from indicated landing site: estimate of 833 miles. Please fasten your seatbelt and prepare for landing.”

Henry was knocked to the ground as the shaking intensified. The ship was approaching Polus, and fast. He crawled to the nearest seat, restraining himself a bit too tightly in his haste. The voice continued droning on as the ship entered the planet’s atmosphere. 

“786 miles… 721 miles… 678 miles…”

And then a deafening screech sounded from above. Henry winced and tightened his grip on the seatbelt as the ship suddenly did a nosedive. 

“504 miles… 452 miles…”

A siren overhead wailed loudly. Bright red lights flashed in the corners of his eyes. 

“310 miles… 259 miles…”

Something was very, very wrong. 

“199 miles… 97 miles…”

He braced himself. 

“12 miles… 2 miles…”

Everything went white. 

***

“Come on, don’t die on me.”

Black dots continued to bounce in Henry’s vision as his mind stirred. The young man let out a miserable groan, clutching his forehead painfully. 

“That’s it… Wake up, little guy…”

Henry paused. It took him a moment to realize that the voice overhead wasn’t speaking English. It took two more seconds to realize that the voice was extremely loud, almost like it was coming from a speaker. 

Both these mysteries were solved as soon as he opened his eyes. 

A monstrously large figure loomed above, blocking out the light of the bulb dangling overhead. Ginormous eyes, hazel and bright, were locked onto Henry’s trembling body. And it—he—was smiling gently. 

“Hey, it’s okay,” the giant man murmured in Riesian. “I’m not gonna hurt you, little guy.”

Henry swallowed hard. He took a moment to gather himself so he wouldn’t have a panic attack, then turned his attention back to the giant face hanging above him. The huge, strange man cocked his head curiously. “Ah geez, I hope you’re not broken or anything… That would suck.” The voice boomed and shook Henry’s core, even though the giant was trying to speak softly. Henry couldn’t even keep eye contact without his heart dropping, so he kept his gaze locked onto the giant’s chest. He only barely noticed the white MIRA spacesuit the giant wore, identical to Henry’s suit in every way aside from its massive size. “Oh yeah, you can’t understand me, huh? Maybe we have a translator lying around here…”

“I–I am fine,” Henry fumbled in awkward Riesian, forcing his voice not to waver. He wasn’t even sure if he was even speaking correctly—but he was too nervous to care about his grammar. Fluency was the least of his problems. “I am okay.”

“Sweet.” The giant nodded, froze, then gasped. “...Wait, you can understand me?”

“I d–d–do.”

“But you’re human.” The giant’s face descended further—huge strands of curly brown hair brushed along Henry’s stomach. “Humans don’t speak Riesian.”

“Y–you’re right,” Henry murmured, flinching away from the enormous eyes drilling into him. “It’s a long story.”

The giant suddenly scoffed, his sheepish half-smile giving way to a full grin. “Cheeky bugger, huh? The name’s Aesir. What’s yours?”

“You are Aesir?” Henry perked up. “Aesir Vidstrom?”

Aesir’s eyebrows shot up. “Uh, yeah. You’ve heard of me?”

Henry licked his lips, trying to remember some difficult Riesian words. “You are a… scientist. A space e–explorer. B–b–but Ms. Rose… never said you are a… giant.”

“How about that,” Aesir laughed, stroking his chin. “Never thought I’d meet a human like you.”

Thinking for a moment, Aesir snapped his fingers in a sudden realization. 

“Oh, wait—then that would make you what’s-his-name, right? HQ said some random new guy was on his way. But they never said you’d be a human. That’s MIRA for you, I guess… If they were stupid enough to wreck your ship, then they’d forget to mention that.”

“Wreck my ship?” Henry repeated slowly. Memories began flooding back into his mind. The alarms, the flashing lights, the sudden nosedive…

The dropship crashed. 

“Wait, then I—” 

“Whoa, whoa, slow down, buddy.” The giant winced when Henry scrambled to sit up. “Take it easy, yeah?” Aesir paused for a moment, tapping his foot a few times. “Actually… Wait here for a sec, alright? I need to grab something.”

With that, Aesir moved away to shuffle out of sight.

With the enormous face out of his vision, Henry was able to sit up and finally assess the surrounding area, hissing a bit as he aggravated his injury. He was sitting on a mattress that stretched several meters in every direction. The blue sheets and white pillow were reminiscent of a gurney, like ones you might find in a hospital. And sure enough, upon closer inspection, the room appeared to be a small medical bay, white walls and smell of disinfectant included. There were three other identical beds lined between curtain barriers, just like the bed he was sitting on. Henry peered to the right. He could see the silhouette of Aesir leaned over a countertop through the wall of curtains. 

What was he doing over there?

Henry forced himself to speak. “This is Polus?”

“Sure is,” Aesir replied from beyond the curtain wall. “You were lucky you made it this far on that hunk of junk—if your ship malfunctioned any sooner, you might’ve crashed into an asteroid or something.” Aesir came back into view, sidestepping the curtain to approach Henry. “Now stay still.”

“I… uh…” Henry held up his hands, carefully scooting back a few inches. Aesir hadn’t come back to Henry empty-handed; in his left palm, the giant cradled a glass syringe filled with a bluish liquid. The needle was almost six feet tall, taller than Henry was. “I–I do not need that.”

“Yes, you do. Come over here.” 

“It is t–too big,” Henry wavered, curling in on himself as Aesir continued to approach. “Nothing hurts. I am… un–uninjured. Do not need that. Do not need it.”

Listening to Henry’s trembling voice and weak attempts to dissuade him, Aesir’s face fell. “Look,” he whispered, getting onto his knees to kneel by the bed, “don’t make this harder than it needs to be. When we’re in medbay, I’m the boss.” The giant slowly reached out his free hand, grasping Henry’s shoulder with his enormous finger and thumb. His other hand, the one bearing the syringe, began to drift closer to Henry. “Now stay still, or this will hurt more than it needs to.”

In a fright, Henry leapt away from Aesir’s hand in a frantic escape attempt. He scrambled across the sheet, making a beeline for the white pillow at the head of the bed. 

“Shit—” Aesir cursed under his breath, tossing the needle to the side. He made a lunge forward, both hands outstretched, reaching for Henry’s tiny form. Before Henry could reach the pillows, the terrified human being suddenly found himself encased in musty, cramped darkness. His stomach sank when he realized what just happened—Aesir had trapped him in his hands. 

A feeling of intense vertigo overcame him as Aesir stood up straight; he felt himself being slammed against the giant palm beside him. Despite being very obviously trapped, Henry continued to squirm, searching in vain for an opening to crawl through. He pawed at the skin surrounding him, growing ever more desperate. 

And then a light shone through the fingers above him. “Stop being a brat,” Aesir muttered. Henry opened his mouth to retort, but his breath hitched in his throat when a sharp pain pierced his lower back. He let out a strangled sob, trying not to thrash around and hurt himself more. 

Aesir hummed contentedly. “There we go… nice and easy.” The needle retracted as quickly as it was injected. Henry took the moment of reprieve to dry his eyes and ease his pounding heart. “Told you it wasn’t that bad,” he chuckled. “Just be thankful it wasn’t worse.” 

Henry refused to reply—he focused on keeping his eyes locked downward. Aesir’s lack of empathy was beginning to unsettle him; although the giant paid lip service to Henry’s discomfort, he ultimately seemed to care very little about the pain and terror he was causing. 

Aesir, oblivious to Henry’s plight, lifted his hands to his face, staring down the sniffling, petrified human with unbridled excitement. “Well, now that you’re all drugged up, I figure we’re good to get your suit back on. Don’t want you freezing out here, you know.”

“Suit?” Ah, yes. They were in space, after all. It made sense that he should have to wear a spacesuit, even if they were indoors. “O–okay.”

Aesir pulled his left hand away from Henry, reaching for the nearby countertop. His hand returned quickly, dangling the white spacesuit with his index and thumb. “Legs up, bud. Let’s get you dressed.”

“I can do it,” Henry said quickly, knowing exactly where this conversation was going. 

“Yeah, nah,” Aesir chuckled. “Doctor’s orders. Now hold still this time, you brat.”

Henry huffed pointedly, knowing that he wouldn’t be getting out of this. With heavy reluctance, Henry slowly raised his legs into the air, allowing Aesir to slip the pant legs on, followed by the sleeves and the helmet. Unfortunately, the visor was cracked along the upper edge, but Aesir urged him not to worry. “The glass is three layers thick,” he explained. “You’ll be fine until we can get a replacement.” Surprisingly, Henry didn’t quite believe him. 

Henry had only just gotten the suit fitted (or rather, Aesir did the fitting for him) when someone suddenly spoke up. “Aesir.”

At the sound of the firm, strange voice, Henry flinched. His eyes landed on a figure standing in the corner of the room, dressed in a bulky green spacesuit. Henry couldn’t see her face—the light of the room reflected off the visor, obscuring whatever was behind the glass. Henry briefly imagined that she looked like a war veteran, stoic and hardened, probably with lots of scars decorating their skin.

“Oh, Svikari!” Aesir whirled around at the voice, clearing his throat and donning a lopsided grin. “What brings you here?”

“I came to see the human.” The woman, presumably named Svikari, barely budged as she spoke. It was like she was a statue with a voice of its own. “But I see you’ve taken care of things. I’ll be on my way, then.”

Aesir choked on something. “W–wait! Hang on a tic, alright? Why the hurry?”

Svikari cocked her head, acting as though Aesir’s question was incredibly stupid. “I have work to do. I came to see how the human was doing, and now I have to go.”

“Well, hang on,” Aesir stammered, fumbling over his words. “How about you come with me to storage today? I have to do some refuelling there.”

“I don’t have any tasks in storage today,” Svikari replied curtly.

“Come on, boss,” Aesir urged, lowering his voice. “It’s safer in groups. You know that.” He perked up a bit, raising his cupped hands. Not expecting to be jerked upward, Henry was almost launched off his palms. “A–and I know you wanna meet the human! He’s kind of bratty, but I think you’ll like him.”

Svikari paused. “Hello, human,” she said softly. “I trust you’ve been treated well?”

Henry hesitated. What was he supposed to say? He was tempted to start ratting off all the bruises he was getting thanks to Aesir, but he bit his tongue. Would he get in trouble if he told the truth? This Svikari character seemed far less sympathetic than Aesir, so perhaps there would be no point in complaining. They might even hurt him even more for speaking up. So he swallowed his pride and nodded slowly. “Y–yes, I am fine.” 

Svikari paused, glancing between Henry, who shuddered under her scrutinizing gaze, and Aesir, who smiled hopefully. 

“If you’re that afraid to go alone, I suppose I can come,” Svikari sighed. 

“I’m not scared!” Aesir retorted, tightening his painful grip on Henry. “I just don’t wanna get jumped in there.” Shrugging, Aesir once again prodded Henry in the stomach, chuckling as he did so. “I guess if an imposter shows up, I can use Henry as bait. You wouldn’t mind, right bud?”

Svikari laughed in reply, although something about her tone seemed… off. Henry wasn’t able to tell if the laughter was genuine or sarcastic. Henry said nothing at first, focusing on clutching his stomach to keep himself from throwing up. 

“I–imposters?” Henry finally coughed. “What are imposters?”

“Oops.” Aesir winced painfully. “Uh, well… we weren’t supposed to tell you.”

“I see no harm in explaining,” Svikari interjected. “If he’s going to stay here, he should know.”

“But Ms. Rose said—”

“I’ll handle Rose. Just keep your mouth shut.”

Aesir groaned, scrunching up his face in discomfort. “I mean… you’re the boss, dude. But don’t say I didn’t warn you. She’s scary when she gets mad.”

“Thank you, Aesir.” Svikari nodded, finally turning her attention back to Henry. “I assume Elliot never told you about the strange happenings on this base?”

“N–no.”

“I thought not. It’s in her best interest to keep this all a secret, after all.” Svikari folded her arms, exuding that terrifying, ominous energy that only giants were capable of. “Elliot probably told you that we found life on this planet. The life forms we discovered are what we’ve been calling imposters—carnivorous, man-eating shapeshifters that we’ve been trying to get rid of for the last few months.”

Henry felt his stomach drop. Carnivores? Man-eating? Shapeshifters? Someone had to be pulling his leg at this point. “Ms. Rose said you found plant life,” he countered quickly, not willing to believe Svikari’s wild claims. “She said nothing about aliens.”

“That’s because she was lying.”

“B–but why would she lie?”

“Telling people would be bad for business, I guess. Who knows what goes on in her head.” Svikari shrugged weakly. “Imposters have been wreaking lots of havoc lately. They kill the lights, mess with the reactors, cut off the oxygen supply… and I’m willing to bet they caused your ship to crash.”

“You’re right,” Aesir gasped. “I didn’t even think about that. They probably messed with the radio signals or something.” 

“We’re pretty sure we got rid of them for now, at least.”

“Don’t speak too soon,” Aesir corrected. “Remember what happened to Tor?”

“Of course I do,” Svikari huffed. “It took Bastion weeks to get the blood out of the carpet.”

Oh, dear god. 

There was no room for doubt, then. Henry began to tremble, tears causing his eyes to glimmer. What sort of cruel joke was the universe playing on him? After so long, he manages to achieve his dream of becoming an astronaut, only to find himself stranded on a faraway planet with malicious giants and man-eating aliens. Some malicious deity had to be laughing their ass off right about now. 

“Aww, don’t worry, little guy!” Aesir cooed behind his visor, bouncing the human seated in his hand. “Big bad imposter people can’t hurt you out here.”

While Aesir continued to coo condescending reassurances, bouncing his hand in what was supposed to be a comforting gesture, Svikari stared thoughtfully at the minuscule human. Henry had no idea what was going on in that strange head of hers. Henry simply gripped the coarse fabric of Aesir’s glove, trying his best not to descend into a full-blown breakdown. 

“We should be going,” Svikari said suddenly. “Let’s take care of refuelling so I can finish my tasks.” 

Aesir hummed in agreement. “Okay. Let’s go.” 

***

If Henry was being frank, which he usually wasn’t, he’d say that Polus was a bit… underwhelming. If he wasn’t looking at the dank, snowy, barren landscape, or the abnormally large scale of everything around him, Henry would truly believe he was still on earth. Still, Aesir seemed determined to remind Henry just how small he was at any given opportunity. He’d croon, poke, and tease him incessantly, despite Henry’s continual whimpers of disapproval. 

Thankfully, it didn’t take long for Aesir to fill up the fuel tank in the storage room, which was a cramped little building in the centre of the base. Svikari decided to just follow Aesir around until all his tasks were done, with the promise that Aesir would return the favour afterward. 

Svikari offered to carry Henry while Aesir worked. The giant was visibly hesitant about this proposition, refusing the offer the first few times Svikari asked. But eventually, Aesir relented, and Henry had been relegated to riding in Svikari’s hands. Henry sat in silence, rubbing his newfound bruises absently. He briefly wondered if someone would give him painkillers if he asked, but he pushed the thought away. There’s no chance they’d even consider the idea. 

“Almost done,” Aesir announced after a while, leading the group down a long hallway. Small patches of snow crunched beneath their boots as they trudged along. “I just gotta check the oxygen supply. Svikari, what tasks do you have left?”

A beat of silence passed before an answer came out. “O–oh, I need to fill the air canisters,” Svikari said quickly, stumbling over her words a bit. “And then I have to upload some data to HQ.”

“Cool.” Aesir glanced behind him, eyeing Henry with a cheeky grin. “You good back there, pipsqueak? Need anything?”

“No,” Henry mumbled. 

Aesir laughed, unfazed by Henry’s sneering tone. “Alright, don’t get your panties in a knot.”

After his initial wave of terror had passed, Henry found himself becoming increasingly agitated. He was upset with Aesir for terrorizing him in the lab. He was angry at Elliot for sending him to Polus. And he was mad at Svikari, too. He didn’t have a reason to be, but darn it, he was mad anyway. 

Henry was broken out of his thoughts when something brushed against his shoulder—a thumb. “Hey.” Svikari tapped him gently, her head tilted to the side. “You look upset. Is everything ok?”

With her intimidating presence, Henry could barely keep his eyes on Svikari. His eyes drifted to the ground, locked into his feet as he replied quietly. “Yes.”

“It doesn’t look like it,” the giant prodded. “Did he... Did Aesir hurt you? You don’t look too good.”

Henry bit his lip nervously. “N–no, he didn’t.”

Svikari sighed. “You’re lying. I can tell.” She adjusted her hands, swiveling Henry around so he had to face her completely. “Tell me what happened.”

“I–I...” Henry backpedalled, scooting as far away from Svikari’s looming face. He found his back pressing against Svikari’s curled fingers, and through the shimmering glass, he could almost see two pleading eyes locked into him. “H–he didn’t mean to. I just... wh–when he tried to give me those medications, I tried to run away—”

“What?” Svikari frowned. “Hang on, back up. What medications? What are you talking about?”

“U–um, he didn’t say what it was. Maybe it was a painkiller.”

“...Did he use a needle? Was it a blue liquid?”

“H–how did you know that?”

Svikari fell silent. She glanced towards Aesir, who was walking a ways ahead, and her muscles tensed. “That wasn’t a painkiller,” she said lowly. “It’s an experimental drug that our old medical chief was working on. We aren’t allowed to use it until we test it, since it killed our test subjects a few days ago. Aesir seriously could have killed you.”

Henry’s heart dropped into his stomach.

“I knew something was fishy,” Svikari growled, her grip on Henry tightening slightly. “Aesir was just an intern until our old medical chief got killed by impostors. No one thinks he’s cut out for the position, but we don’t have anyone else who’s even remotely qualified.”

Silence overcame them for a few minutes.

“Aesir,” Svikari finally called, a hard edge lining her voice. “Can we talk?”

Aesir stopped in his tracks. He turned to Svikari questioningly. “Hey, boss. What’s up?”

“About that drug you were working on... Have you tested it lately?”

Aesir paused, tapping his foot as he descended into thought. “Hmm... No, I don’t think so. Not since the rats died on me.”

“I see.” Svikari huffed indignantly. If she weren’t holding Henry, she most certainly would be crossing her arms. “So you haven’t used it at all since then?”

“Nope.”

“That’s funny,” she laughed. “Because I’m pretty sure you used it on the human this morning.”

Aesir’s arms and shoulders locked up.

“Am I right?”

“...Did he tell you that?”

“No, I figured it out.”

“Oh.” Aesir looked down at Henry, a faint scowl crossing his face before he turned his attention back to Svikari. “Don’t tell anyone,” he breathed. “Please. I could get fired.”

“That’s what you’re worried about?” Svikari snapped. “You weren’t worried about killing him? God, it’s just like you to pull a stunt like that. You only care about yourself.”

“I–it’s not like that, boss. I promise.”

Svikari groaned, rubbing her face with her free hand. “I won’t tell anyone. But you have to get your act together or I’m bringing this issue to the captain.” Her fingers curled inward, shielding Henry from Aesir’s view. “And until then, I’m revoking your jurisdiction over the human. He’ll be accompanying me from now on.”

“But I—”

“Is that a problem?”

“N–no, ma’am,” Aesir replied shakily. “You’re the boss.”

“Good.” Svikari nodded firmly. “Now, then... let’s finish our tasks before I change my mind.”

Aesir nodded, ducked his head, and continued walking in silence. His footsteps clomped much faster than before, but Svikari continued at her usual slower pace.

“I’ll take care of this, Henry,” she whispered. “Don’t worry.”

Way to make an impossible request. Henry wasn’t just worried—he was terrified. Not only did Aesir try to make him a test subject for his weird new drug, but now he had to face the wrath of the very giant that could have killed him. The only thing standing between himself and Aesir was Svikari, who Henry wasn’t even sure he could trust.

Svikari probably meant well. At least, Henry wanted to believe that. But something was off about her that Henry couldn’t quite pinpoint. The way she carried herself, her odd way of speaking, her constant bouts of silence… She was weird. No one would deny that.

But there was something else. Svikari wasn’t just strange—she was downright creepy. She obviously knew much more than she was letting on, and Henry couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d met her somewhere before. 

And then a thought struck him. 

Henry craned his neck up to look at Svikari’s visor, and through the glass, he could almost spot the outline of two large eyes. “How do you know my name?” he asked. 

“You told me earlier, remember?”

“No, I didn’t. I never told you my name. Neither did Aesir.”

“Oh.” Svikari slowed to a stop. She glanced at Aesir, who was too far ahead to hear them conversing. The giant huffed and lowered her voice, a frantic tinge lining her words. “I’ll… I’ll tell you later.”

“No. Tell me now.” Henry wasn’t sure why he felt so brave all of a sudden; maybe he was fed up with being constantly treated like a child, or maybe he was just experiencing an adrenaline rush. But he felt he had nothing else to lose at this point—Henry wouldn’t be giving up until he got an answer. “What’s your deal?”

“Deal?” Svikari laughed nervously. “I… I don’t have a deal. I’m just Svikari.”

Henry found it a bit strange that Svikari was caving so easily to his interrogation. She had no problem shutting down Aesir, so why was she losing face in front of a human? It made no sense. But Henry was beginning to put puzzle pieces together. Svikari knew Henry’s name. She was invested in keeping him safe. She was able to tell when he was lying. And here she was, her tail tucked between her legs, being verbally grilled by a human being. 

This Svikari person… seemed awfully familiar.

“Are you?” Henry glared daggers at Svikari’s visor. “Because I don’t think you’re telling the truth. Is that even your real name?”

“It’s—!”

 “Tell me the truth!” Henry hollered, throwing his arms to the air in frustration. “I’m tired of being babied! I’m tired of you two hiding things from me! Tell me the truth right now!”

“Okay, okay!” Svikari hissed. “Keep your voice down, alright? I don’t want Aesir listening.”

At that, Henry sobered a bit, tossing a cautious glance at Aesir walking ahead. Luckily, he didn’t seem to have heard anything. “So out with it,” Henry snapped, facing Svikari with a scowl. “What’s going on?”

“...You were onto something when you mentioned my name,” Svikari said slowly, every word hushed and deliberate. “Just so we’re clear—my real name is Svikari. But you wouldn’t know me by that name.”

“You used another name,” Henry finished, the dots finally connecting in his mind. “When you talked to me.”

The giant’s empty hand falling limp at her side. “I… I was hoping we’d get to see each other on peaceful terms, and… I wanted it to be on Earth, to be honest.”

Henry swallowed hard. “You… You’re Sigrid.”

Svikari smiled, trying her best not to look intimidating. “It’s nice to meet you, Henry.”

“This is impossible. I–it can’t be you. You’re a—”

“You fellas good back there?” Aesir called, swivelling his head around to peek at the pair. “Sounds like a real bout you’re having.”

Svikari cleared her throat. Her hands lowered, taking Henry out of her field of vision. “We’re fine. Just keep going.”

Aesir simply shrugged. “Alright.”

The group hooked right when the hallway abruptly ended. They found themselves standing before a small room secluded in the corner of the building. Something akin to grass lined the ground, and a large, towering tree stood proudly in the centre of the room. Embedded in the trunk of the tree was a small monitor, complete with wires looping in and out of the bark. While he couldn’t be certain, Henry wagered that this was the oxygen supply Aesir mentioned, although he didn’t expect the oxygen supply to be a plant of all things. 

“This won’t take long, ma’am,” Aesir stammered as he stepped into the threshold of the room, bending over to peer at the monitor. His face contorted into an expression of disgust. “Yeesh. Who messed with the RAD settings?”

“Beats me,” Svikari hummed.

“Whatever... Hang on, I just gotta fix this mess real quick.” With that, Aesir fell silent, sliding his fingers rapidly along the screen. Svikari simply stood nearby and waited, while Henry fidgeted anxiously. He couldn’t get their earlier conversation out of his head. Svikari’s words—or rather, Sigrid’s words—echoed in his brain, rattling his thoughts around. 

Svikari, meanwhile, was extremely quiet. Henry gazed at her, opening his mouth to ask a question, only to have a giant finger press against his mouth. Shh. 

Henry blinked, a little unnerved by how Svikari was acting, but nodded slowly. Svikari lifted her head and peered at Aesir, who was still focused on the monitor screen. Then, moving as slowly as possible, Svikari knelt down and tilted her hands, sending Henry sliding onto the grass below. 

It took Henry a moment to orient himself. He diligently wiped off the grass that clung to his suit and looked skyward just in time to see Svikari approaching Aesir from behind. The human watched intently as Svikari snuck up on Aesir, a kitchen knife clutched tightly behind her back, wondering what she was up to.

… 

...A kitchen knife?

Before Henry could even think to look again, he was subjected to the sound of a hideous squelch. There was a flash of red, a pained grunt, and suddenly Aesir collapsed to the ground, motionless. 

Svikari loomed ominously over the limp body, her hand still latched onto the knife that she’d plunged into Aesir’s back. Murky blood was beginning to pool at her feet, staining the grass a horrid shade of crimson. And then Svikari’s head pivoted like an owl, boring her gaze into Henry. 

“Don’t scream,” she heaved.

“Y–you—” Henry’s hands flew to his mouth. “You killed him.”

Svikari faced Henry fully. She extended her hands slowly and carefully, taking cautious steps forward as she spoke. “I know. Just… please stay quiet,” she whispered as she drew closer. 

“G–get away from me,” Henry choked, stumbling backwards and throwing his hands up to protect himself. “Please, don’t— d–don’t kill me.”

“Henry!” Svikari suddenly exclaimed, speeding up and making a beeline for Henry. “Be careful, you’re going to—”

Seeing Svikari quickly approaching, Henry made the split-second decision to spin around and bolt. But by the time he noticed the gaping crater in the floor below, it was too late. His foot whizzed through thin air, and with no further fanfare, he tumbled down into the pitch-black abyss. Time froze—a shout echoed from above. 

Then he hit the ground. Hard. 

Something snapped. Henry yowled in agony. He found himself unable to budge without pain coursing through his battered limbs. Tears began welling in his eyes, but he fought the urge to sob—crying would make it hurt even more. Thankfully, his visor was still intact, although the same could not be said for his bones. He simply laid motionless on his stomach, his arms and legs spread out, praying he would just pass out already.

“Oh no.” Svikari’s voice echoed off the crater walls, but Henry couldn’t see where she was standing. Even if the human was able to move his head and look around, the darkness cloaked everything in the vicinity. There was no telling where the giant was, but she was close. “Henry… It’s alright. I’m going to help you.”

“N–no,” Henry hissed, weakly hacking out the taste of copper from his mouth. “Not like this. Please.”

“Stop that. You’re hurting yourself. Please… let me help.”

“But you killed—” Henry couldn’t restrain himself anymore. He began to cry softly, despite how much it hurt him to do so. Every sniffle was excruciating, wracking his body from the inside-out. “You’re an i–imposter, aren’t you? And you’re going to kill me next.”

“No no no, honey… I would never hurt you.” Svikari’s voice was right next to his ear at this point. A huff of hot breath washed over Henry, rustling his hair. Wasn’t Svikari wearing a helmet, though? How could he feel her breath? “Listen… you’ve gotta trust me. I’m going to get you out of here.”

Henry cast a bitter glance to the side, unsure if Svikari was even standing in that direction. “You’re a liar.”

Svikari didn’t grace Henry with a reply. Instead, two long fingers slowly and deliberately dug beneath his stomach and hoisted him into the air. Henry squeezed his eyes shut as he was pressed against Svikari’s chest. Maybe this would be quick and painless. He could only pray at this point.

“Let me think…” Svikari inched her way forward, snaking through the dark underground pathway so as to not jostle Henry too much. In his daze, Henry failed to realize that there was no way Svikari could fit into the crater, let alone move around freely. But the only thing he was focused on was making peace with his life, knowing that he was about to die at the hands of the one he loved more than anyone else. 

Suddenly, Henry was blinded by sunlight. Svikari had begun crawling out of another crater located outside of the building. The holes in the ground seemed to be interconnected. But how did Svikari know that? And where was she planning on taking him? 

Before Henry could voice any of these questions, a deafening alarm sounded from above. He looked up just in time to see a flashing red light next to a speakerphone attached to the roof nearby. “BODY REPORTED,” a voice blared. “ALL PERSONNEL TO THE OFFICE. REPEAT, ALL PERSONNEL TO THE OFFICE.” 

Svikari swore under her breath. She lifted Henry out of the crook of her elbow, quickly swooping him towards a pocket located on her chest. “I’m gonna need you to stay quiet for now, alright?”

Henry’s breath hitched, eyeing the pocket warily as his legs were swallowed by it. “Why do I—”

“Shh.” Svikari cut him off. “Just trust me. I’ll explain everything once I take care of this.” With those ominous words echoing in his head, Henry was once again plunged into darkness, trapped in the front pocket of her spacesuit. 

There was no way this would end well.

***

[calliecat93]

ST: TNG S5 Watchthrough Episodes 18-21

Cause and Effect: Who’s ready for the ST equivalent of Groundhog Day? Yep, we have a time loop episode. This is actually my mom’s favorite episode so I’ve been waiting for this one XD.So the episode opens with the Enterprise blown up… and after the titles we have a poker game as though nothing happened. But Crusher begins to have deja vu and as the loops continue, so do the others. So... If you’ve seen time loop stories you more or less know how this goes. Though unlike most of the oens I’ve seen where just one person becomes aware of it, while Crusheris the first the others also begin to take notice. The don’t remember everything, but they start picking up on it and figuring out that something’s up. Again, I appreciate the cast being written as competent and not stupid cause it’s very easy to do with this kind of plot. Not sure I at all understand Data’s explanation on how he figured out how to end the loop... but hey, it ended. So it was good. Nothing mind-blowing but very much enjoyable. Any time that Crusher gets prominent screentime I’m happy, but again I just appreciate the cast being intelligent. Also the Kelsey Grammer cameo at the end, Hell yes~! 3.5/5.

The First Duty: Okay Wesley, second guest star appearance. Let’s see how it goes. Which, haha... it’s not a happy episode for him. There’s been an accident at the Academy and while thankfully Wesley is alright aside from an injured arm, one of his classmates has died. Well… that’s sad. That n and of itself could fuel a story all its own. But as a hearing is held, it becomes clear that something more is going on. As it turns out, Wesley’s teammate died because the entire squadron not only performed an illegal flight procedure… but lied about it. First that it was an accident, then that the accident and his own demise was his own fault. Why? To save their own skins. Now to be fair it’s clear that they’re scared, but it doesn’t change the fact that they’re essentially lying/disgracing a dead person to save themselves. Even the kid’s own father gets convinced of this, which only adds to Wesley’s guilt. I actually felt really bad for Wesley and I kinda feel like Picard, upon confronting him, was… pretty harsh. Wesley’s actions were wrong, but again he was clearly scared and felt guilty for it. Thankfully he does ultimately do the right thing, accepting the consequences. Hopefully, Wesley can push through it and grow from it if he shows up again. My mom doesn’t like this episode I guess because of how it portrayed Wesley, but honestly? I like it for that exact reason. Welsey isn’t portrayed necessarily as bad, he’s reacting like… well… a scared nineteen-year-old. He made a major mistake, and he paid the price for it, though it certainly wasn’t the worst punishment that he could have received. While Picard was rather harsh when confronting him, it was the push that Wesley needed to do the right thing. I think that this was the kind of episode that Wesley needed, where he commits a huge screw-up and unlike when he was a regular, pays the consequences for it… it’s just a shame that they did it after he stopped being a regular. I can see why some may dislike this one because of Wesley’s portrayal, but I think it was good and was long overdue for the character without villainizing him. He’s intelligent and capable of greatness, but he’s got a lot to learn, especially after this. Let’s hope that he does. 3.5/5.

Cost of Living: It’s another Lwaxana episode folks… yay. Okay despite my complaints about her episodes, the last one’s issues I had was more due to the subject matter than the character. If anything, she was the best part of it. So maybe this time things will be better. So this time, Worf is having parenting problems with Troi trying to help him and Alexander make it work. Lwaxana is on the Enterprise as she’s getting married, to Troi’s exasperation and Picard’s utter relief, and ends up butting in. Oh and the ship malfunctions because it’s Star Trek. So… it was okay I guess? The Holodeck scene was just utterly bizzare and I’m still trying to wrap my brain around WTF just happened. To be honest, Troi is the best part of this episode. She’s trying to reasonable help Worf with his parenting issues, Alexander with his lack of discepline/responsibility, her mother marrying a guy she never met and bending agains the Betazoid traditions that she usually follows, and she’s clearly just fed up with everyone especially her mother. It makes her such a joy to watch, haha! Lwaxana was… alrigh. On the one hand, it ws not at all her place to butt into the whole Alexander situation especially since Troi was handling it. On the other hand, the episode does go more into how lonely Lwaxana is and make her manhunting/desire tog et married more sympathetic. Te previous episodes always played it mainly as a joke/a condition of her species at her age, but it never allowed her to actually delve into why she’s so desperate. How she’s fears rowing older and being all alone without someone to love her… and gosh I’ve absoluteley seen this before and it’s just sad. Consideirng that this came out the same year that Gene Roddenberry, majel Barret’s husband and of course as we know the franchise creator, has passed… I can only imagine how rough this had to be for the poor woman. But if she wad channeling that into her performance, she did a fantastic job. Also Lwaxana’s fiance? He was played by freakin’ Tony Jay. The man is a freakin’ legend the voice acting world (probably best known as Frollo in Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame, by far his darkest performance yet probably his best) and it’s the first time I’ve seen him in a live aciton role. He plays a snobish asshole and obviousy the marriage falls through in the end, but he made the episode worth it! So yeah, I’m still not a big Lwaxana fan but they are trying to add more to her and overall it was fine. It’s not great, for example the Enterprise’s plot felt tacked on to fill in the runtime, the pacing was rouh, and the storylines were not at all balanced out well. But it was overall fine, though i think Half a Life did her better. Troi, some legit Lwaxana development, and getting an appearance by Tony Jay made it worth it XD 2/5.

The Perfect Mate: While preparing for a peace treaty, the Enterprise picks up two Ferengi, one of which messes with the cargo, and releases a young woman named Kamala, a mutant amongst her kind whose abilities let her become the perfect mate for any man, from suspended animation. She was meant to stay that way until the ceremony... and was meant to be a ‘gift’ to one of the sides. Yeah... that’s not at all messed up. Due to the Prime Directive, the crew can’t interfere... and we find out that there was a more complicated reason as to why Kamala was as she was. This is pretty much the TNG version of Elaan of Troyius from TOS. Kamala is completely different from Elaan, more composed and well-mannered while Elaan was more aggressive and upfront. Looking back I do feel I was too harsh in calling Elaan a brat considering the conditions she was under, but the episode certainly didn’t give he much sympathy from anyone (aside from Kirk) while they do better calling out the arrangement here. Then again it’s been months since I watched the episode so I may be remembering wrong. But it does ultimately end with Kamala entering an unhappy marriage, but she bonds with Picard and ends up acting as his perfect mate, so... hope that goes well. The whole empath/metamorph thing felt necessary as well, you didn’t need a reason to make men attracted to her for this episode to work. Which yes it only works on men, remember this is the 90’s folks. I’m kind of baffled as to why Troi wasn’t in this one considering we have another empath, that could have added a more interesting layer and justified that part. But I shall repeat what I said in Elaan when they put Kirk under that tear-induced love spell: you don’t need those elements to keep a plot spicy. The Ferengi we're also utterly pointless. While I feel that the subject is better done than in TOS and it felt more evenly paced... I’m still not a fan of it. It has more of the nuanced debate on the arranged marriage plot that I was annoyed that Elaan didn’t have... but I’m still pretty meh about it overall. it’s alright, but just that: alright. 2.5/5.

Okay folks, we’re five episodes away from finishing S5. So far... it’s only been alright. There’s been a couple of strong episodes, but overall it’s remained firmly in the average range. Maybe S4 hyped me up too much, IDK. I’m still having fun, but maybe I’m just starting to get fatigued from TNG. But we don’t have much more to go, and there’s still plenty of time for S6 to change my mind, so we’ll see how things go from here.

[val-kay-rie]

how the cards fall [quentin beck x reader]

summary: two different people on opposing sides with the same objective; make the other fall in love with them. 

word count: 2281

warnings: far from home spoilers!! and slight cursing bc of nick fury smh

a/n: ah, here we are again. it is confirmed that quentin beck owns my ass now, and honestly i’m not even surprised. i would also apologize in advance because i suck at updating, but for now.. enjoy! 

GIF not mine!

“Sir, we’ve been thinking..” William started on behalf of the team.

“What?” Quentin quickly asked in return.

The short-statured man glanced at his teammates and, with a nod from Guterman, continued, “We were thinking on how to humanize you more.”

“Humanize me?” was the response William received, “Our poor hero has already lost his family, what else are you suggesting? We’re days away from our first Elemental attack.”

“We were thinking you could expand on that,” Guterman stated, “You lost your spouse, but what if you re-met them on this Earth?”

This sparked the interest of the man in the motion-capture suit, and he urged them to go on, “I’m listening.”

“It’d be an easy addition - to feign affections for someone,” William elaborated, “And if it were to be someone in SHIELD--”

“I’d have someone on the inside if things go south,” Quentin completed, William nodding in agreement. A wicked grin grew upon Quentin’s face as he said, “Well this is brilliant, boys.”

William and Guterman let out a sigh of relief and smiled at one another in excitement as Quentin began to brainstorm, “We have to be careful with this, it can’t just be the next agent I meet. We’ll have to research someone, study them.”

“Who’s Fury likely to call to Europe?” Guterman thought aloud.

William suggested, “Maria Hill?”

“Too risky, she’d never let her walls down,” Quentin shot down, “We need someone that’ll open up emotionally.”

“Agent Johnson?”

“Fury wouldn’t call her out overseas.”

“Agent L/N?”

“L/N, Stark’s friend right?” Quentin inquired. 

“Yes sir, even attended the funeral,” William confirmed.

“That creates the perfect emotional vulnerability we need,” Quentin told the others, “And if they’re calling the kid in to give him EDITH, L/N would be a good incentive for him to stick around. They’ve known each other a while, Stark’s death only brought them closer.”

William and Guterman exchanged a look before William carefully asked, “We found the one, didn’t we?”

“We found the one,” Quentin confirmed with a smirk, “Find out everything there is to know about Y/N L/N.”

---

“I’ve seen better,” you told Fury after you stepped out of the car, Dimitri getting out of the driver’s seat behind you. You hadn’t seen the man in front of you since attending Tony and Natasha’s funerals, yet your first reaction was to lighten the air.

Fury gazed around at the makeshift base that they had created and with a small, quiet laugh said, “We’re making do.”

You let out a laugh and said, “It’s good to see you, Nick.”

“It’s good to see you too, agent,” Fury genuinely replied.  

Fury led you through the tunnels and to the pop-up SHIELD base that they established in Venice for the time being. You walked and talked, “What are we dealing with this time?”

“More creatures from another world, can you believe it?” 

You scoffed and remarked, “Just another day at the office.”

Fury gave you a knowing look as you arrived at the center of the base. You spotted Maria Hill and nodded at each other as a greeting as Fury led you over to someone new. Their back was currently turned to you, so all you saw was the long, draping cape as Fury said, “There’s someone I’d like to introduce you to. Meet Quentin Beck, Beck this is--”

“Y/N?” Quentin whispered, almost inaudibly. His eyes, that were full of shock, looked you over up and down, taking in each and every inch of you. His wide blue eyes met yours and, while his were filled with disbelief, yours were filled with nothing but confusion. He took a breath and composed himself, “My apologies. Agent L/N, it’s a pleasure.”

Quentin held out a hand for you to shake and you cautiously took it, still completely baffled as to why he reacted the way that he did upon seeing you. You couldn’t understand the longing look in his eyes, and were relieved when Fury cleared his throat and carried, “Beck is here to help deal with Earth’s new friends.”

“New friends?” you asked both Fury and the man in front of you for clarification.

“We called them Elementals,” Quentin informed you, and it was in that moment that he realized he still had a grip on your hand. He glanced at your hands for a brief moment, then reluctantly let go and told you, “Sorry again.”

Quentin then began to explain everything to you, and you half paid attention as your mind began to slowly drift. Why did this man act so peculiar towards you? 

Your complete attention was regained when Quentin spoke of the catastrophe the Elementals had brought to his world. The stakes were incredibly high and you couldn’t deny the fact that it made you nervous.

“The Elementals cost me everything. It’s because of them I’ve lost my whole world, my friends,” Quentin’s eyes found yours again as he softly said, “my family.”

You quickly broke the eye contact and gazed at the holographic display in front of you. When you dared to steal a glance at Quentin, you could see him mindlessly fiddling with a ring on his finger. A ring that you could only assume was a wedding band.

This, combined with the odd introduction, was a bit unsettling to you. Your mind couldn’t help but leap to all kinds of different assumptions, you were nearly convinced that you and Quentin had known each other on his world. And knew each other well, at that. 

“The next attack is happening here in Venice in two days,” Hill informed you.

“So what’s the game plan?” you asked, looking towards her and Fury as you deliberately tried to avoid any more eye contact with Quentin.

“I’ve dealt with these things before,” Quentin said, “so I should be able to deal with them again.”

Fury added, “Still, we’re trying to get Beck whatever backup we can, yet somehow everyone we know is other-wise occupied. Everyone, but Parker.”

“Peter?” you asked for verification. When receiving a nod, you went on, “Come on Fury, he’s just a kid.”

“A kid with remarkable powers that the world needs right now,” Fury responded. You gazed at the other two people currently in the little meeting, hoping that someone would see things from your point of view, but to no avail. 

Hill had seemed to have her mind made on the matter, and naturally she saw eye to eye with Fury and took his stance. You couldn’t really say you were all that surprised, but you were still hoping she’d understand.

Quentin looked at you with nothing but sympathy, and you were really hoping that the new and spectacular hero would realize this wasn’t the most ethical of ideas. He remained silent, and you couldn’t say you were surprised here either considering he didn’t even know Peter.

Fury could sense your uneasiness about the situation, nodded his head towards the direction of more tunnels in this dark underground base, and said, “Walk with me, L/N.”

You let out a sigh and did as you were told, starting off towards the direction Fury had pointed out. Quentin’s eyes never left yours as you exited the area, something that both you and Fury couldn’t help but notice. 

As soon as you were out of earshot to Hill and Quentin you said, “I get that Peter’s powers as Spider-Man are amazing, but at the end of the day he’s just 16-year-old high schooler in need of a break.”

“And I understand that,” Fury said as you realized he was walking you the out the way you came in, “I also understand that this is a global threat and we’re gonna need all the help we can get.”

An audible exhale left your lips before you admitted, “I just don’t want to see anything happen to him.” 

“Which is exactly why I called you out here. Help Parker, watch his back, make him feel more comfortable,” Fury instructed. 

“I just don’t understand why you’re trying to get Peter here when Beck seems to have everything under control,” you told him.

“Because I don’t completely trust Beck,” Fury confessed.

You two made it back outside and underneath the night sky as you asked, “Why not?”

“Everything about this situation and about him almost seems too perfect, too good to be true.”

You joked, “Why? Because he listens to you?”

“Because nothing seems to falter him,” Fury said, “or, at least nothing did.”

“What do you mean?” you asked for clarification, though you were a bit nervous to hear his response.

“The man had no weakness, could take down these damn creatures in a matter of minutes,” Fury replied, “Then you show up and literally take his breath away.”

“What are you saying here, Fury?”

“It’s evident that you and Beck knew each other on his world, and we can use that to our advantage,” he explained. 

You were a bit confused as you recited, “Our advantage?”

Fury said, “If the man doesn’t have a weakness, we’ll give him one.”

You hesitated before you stated, “I’m not sure I’m entirely following you, sir.”

“You need to let Beck in. Make him trust you, confide in you, make him believe you’ll always be there in the end,” you were told.

“You want me to make him love me, the way he loved me on his world,” you realized, softly saying this statement aloud as your mind wrapped around what the man in front of you was asking. 

“If that’s what it takes, so be it. We need a contingency plan, and that contingency is you.”

Several thoughts raced inside your mind, all pertaining to the same general ideas: There is no way you could pull this off. There has to be someone better qualified. There has to be a more effective contingency that doesn’t involve messing with his emotions.

“With all due respect sir, are we sure this is the best route? I can’t make someone fall in love with me,” you expressed your worries, “I’m no Natasha.”

“Which is a considerable advantage in your case,” Fury reminded you. “We’re out of options here, agent.”

You looked away from Fury and gazed up at the stars for a brief moment, letting out a deep sigh of realization. The truth was, you didn’t have a choice in the matter and had to follow orders. 

When you glanced back at Fury, the smug look on his face made it evident his thoughts mirrored yours. You caved, “Alright, where am I staying?”

---

Dimitri dropped you off at a rather nice hotel, much to your delight. You went to the room that Fury instructed and pulled out the key card he had handed you out of your pocket, before holding it up the doorknob and being met with a satisfying beep that was accompanied by a small green light. 

You stepped into your temporary living space, shutting the door behind you as you dropped your bag on the ground. Careful feet walked across the room as it was late, but the view outside of the window was calling your name. After gently pushing the sheer curtains out of the way, the beautiful city of Venice came into your sight. 

A small smile of content reached your face because, though you didn’t exactly like the circumstances that got you here, you were more than happy to see Italy. An idea popped into your head as you realized this may very well be the only moment of peace you’ll get in the country, so you decided you’d take advantage of that. 

Stepping away from the window, you made sure you had your phone and your keycard before heading towards the door, eager to get outside and explore the city while you had the chance. When you opened your door, you were met with an unexpected guest in the hall. 

Quentin had gotten out of his whole superhero costume and stood there in a maroon sweater and dark jeans with a keycard in his hand. His back was initially facing you before he heard your door open and turned around, making it evident to you he was staying in the room across the hall from you. Of course.

“Oh, um, hi,” you so poetically spoke. 

“Hey,” he said back with a smile, “Where are you headed?”

You put your hands in your pocket as you replied, “I was just gonna go walk around the city. Take it all in before things get crazy, ya know?”

“Oh yeah, I understand,” Quentin said, fidgeting with his keycard as he debating his next words, “You’re heading out there alone?”

“Yeah, well, this line of work starts to normalize solitude,” you spoke, suddenly growing nervous inside. 

“Let me come with you,” the man before you suggested. Before you were even able to protest, he continued, “Come on, it’s late at a night and you’re in a foreign city. I’m sure you can handle yourself but at the very least, it’d put my heart at ease if I accompanied you.”

Your eyes met his as you thought of ways to get out of your current situation, but then Fury’s words and your new objective came forward in your mind. You internally panicked because you knew a late-night stroll with the newly deemed hero would undoubtedly progress you in your mission, whether you actually wanted his company or not.

You held back a reluctant sigh and opted for a slight smile instead before telling Quentin, “That sounds great.”

“Wonderful,” he grinned back at you, before slipping his keycard back in his pocket. He gestured out to towards the elevator at the end of the hall and said, “After you.”

---

thanks for reading | masterlist | part two coming... eventually 

[fitnessbaie]

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All together for a website to be fruitful and accomplish its objectives, it must have a set up peruser base. In the least difficult of terms, it must have some traffic. The items and services you have won't sell or the thoughts you composed won't be perused if your website doesn't get generous traffic. The following are 3 different ways that you can use to generate web traffic towards your site.

1. Search engine optimization - You need to ensure that your site is improved for the search engines. Make it as simple for them to creep and file your site. Make a sitemap for it. Make it uncluttered and traversable. Also, research very well your most significant watchwords or expressions and make sure that such catchphrases are utilized in the entirety of your site's pages. In the event that you don't know search engine optimization, at that point you either begin learning it or get somebody who knows to get you out. SEO isn't as convoluted as it sounds. Only a couple of long stretches of perusing SEO assets can without much of a stretch show you its fundamentals.

2. Web based life showcasing - Millions of individuals sign in to person to person communication sites like Facebook and Twitter each day. This reality alone ought to be sufficient explanation behind you to begin web based life showcasing. You should simply make profiles for you and your website at that point begin interfacing with individuals. Manufacture trust and association first before you begin pitching them your stuff.

[pain-somnia]

1K Followers Fic Requests Title: Cup of Joe Prompt: Break Up and Make Up Rating: T Disclaimer Day’s Notes: requested by @kimono here’s a modern au; used some elements of a florist/tattoo artist au headcanon thread I wrote for some friends; this was interesting to write because it’s a couple I can’t imagine having a big falling out that would require making up; I know I was supposed to be working on Covenant and a different prompt but I needed a break and this one was rolling around in the back of my mind; under 1k words but I hope you enjoy it!

Sighing to herself, Sakura dragged the potted yucca plant to the store front and arranged them to block out the window. Satisfied that she couldn’t see out into the street she dusted her hands on her apron and was about to turn back around when her best friend and coworker hissed at her from the back room.

“Put. The. Plants. Back. Where. They. Belong.”

“But Ino━”

“No one can look into the shop idiot!” Ino crossed her arms in front of her chest, careful not to drop the spool of ribbon she had been fetching for an arrangement. “And yucca need minimal light, you’re blasting them with it by putting them in the window!”

“It’s cloudy out━”

“Put. It. Back.”

Sakura arranged everything back to the way they were and the slumped onto the barstool behind the cash register. No one could see her unless they walked into the shop and moved around the potted plants carefully set up to make the shop look like a rainforest.

She drummed her fingers on the countertop and then rest her arms on it and lay her head on the glass. She wanted to go out and get her hot chocolate and pastry from the corner bakery but that would mean possibly running into someone she was avoiding.

And today wasn’t the day she would be brave enough to face him.

. .

The temperature outside was dropping as it was slipping into late autumn, early winter. Sakura’s exhales came out like thin clouds and disappeared into the white sky.

Like cigarette smoke when it hits.

As soon as the thought entered her mind Sakura regretted it. Her chest throbbed with a dull ache

Great.

Sakura stuffed her face into her pea coat and kicked at a random pebble on the sidewalk. She didn’t have time to mope around. There was an exam to get to.

. .

The corner bakery offered discounts on beverages to all the shops on the street, even the ones on the other side across 4 lanes of traffic.

It was always weird to see a tattoo parlor in the north east part of the city. All the shops were high end in the more expensive neighborhood.

Sakura and Ino had walked in for a a consultation and were shocked by how classy the parlor looked. It really blended in with all of the other stores and restaurants in the area despite the service that was provided. It was one of those instances where they shouldn’t have judged before visiting.

It still didn’t make it any less hilarious to see the artists and piercers lined up at the bakery in their cut up clothing and wild hair and arms marked up with beautiful masterpieces standing next to businessmen in their suits and Stepford Wives women with their expensive hair styles from the over priced salon next door.

Sakura eyed the tattoo parlor across the street and kept watch for anyone coming out of the shop. When it looked like the coast was clear she called out to Ino and Mrs. Yamanaka that she was making a coffee run.

Ah. I fucked up.

The spiky hair of the person she was avoiding was easy to make out as she approached the corner the bakery stood at. He dropped the cigarette from his hand and squashed it under his foot before picking it up and tossing it into the closest trash bin.

He stuffed a hand into his hoodie pocket and yanked open the bakery door. Sakura was close enough to hear the tinkling of the bell attached to the door.

He was going to come out with a coffee in hand, the only thing he would ever buy for himself. That and the scones he would drop off at the florist.

Used to drop off at the florist.

After coming out of the bakery he would smell like fresh bread and coffee with a kick of mint and cigarette smoke.

The same smell of the sweater Sakura kept bundled up in a corner of her room. Although the scent on the fabric was fading and taking on the smell of her home.

. .

“Just go talk to him.”

“It’s not that simple Ino.”

“You’re being stupid.” Ino popped her gum bubble and snipped another stalk of sunflowers to adjust the height for her current order. “I bet he would take you back if you just bought him a coffee.”

Sakura scoffed and slammed the fridge door closed, harder than she meant to. She cringed and examined the glass for any damage. Everything was fine and there were no cracks to ruin the display of arrangements inside.

She didn’t need Ino to point out how ridiculous she had been acting. The longer she avoided Sasuke the worse she felt and the dumber she felt she was.

. .

No matter how much she avoided him, eventually she was going to run into him at the bakery. It was the center of their shifts and the place they had first met.

“I shouldn’t have said the things I said,” Sakura rushed out the words in lieu of a greeting. “Before I mean. It’s not your fault I have classes and tests and that we both work and━”

“How were exams?”

“What?” Sakura gaped up at him. Sasuke stood there, as composed as usual.

As composed as he always was except for when she yelled at him the week before her exam period.

“How were your exams? Aced everything?”

“Y-yeah. I did.”

“Knew you would.” Sasuke nodded his head in the direction of the bakery. “It’s cold. Buy me a coffee?”

“That’s it?” Sakura asked, baffled. “You’re making this too easy.”

Sasuke raised an eyebrow and shrugged his shoulders.

“So?” He asked, opening the door for her.

Sakura ran a hand down her face and shuffled inside.

No way was she telling Ino that she was right the entire time.

[youarenotthewalrus]

this article is dumb, i shouldn’t be hate-reading and you shouldn’t either but here we are so let’s do this:

We begin with a description of a platformer doing something clever and metatextual at the end. Followed by;

What this means is that the game stands in stark contrast to an industry whose products, historically speaking, rely on hijacking the reptile brains of hormone-crazed teenaged boys. In short, the history of videogames is the history of the glorification of violence.

Ah yes, who can forget such bloodthirsty products of the military-industrial complex as Pong, Tetris, Pacman or Zork?

We can debate what constitutes the first videogame, and whether it’s fair to attribute the invention of videogames to the military,

Given the contentiousness of that assertion, I should certainly hope so!

but what’s undeniable is that military engineers—ever ready to coopt, conspire with, or commission innovation from the private sector (e.g., the splitting of the atom, the invention of I.Q.)—more or less immediately recognized that videogames could be employed as a cheap substitute for teaching soldiers how to do everything from fly a plane to take out a sniper.

Kinda reductive to reduce the history of video games to FPSes in general and America’s Army in particular, doncha think?

Anyway, then we get some more waffle about how first-person shooters video games are training us to kill, before we get to the real question: given that this platformer he just finished playing did something a little artsy, can video games be art even despite the fact that were originally works of military propaganda intended to inure potential military recruits to violence? And more importantly, given that this guy seems to think the history of video games began with first person shooters, is he really qualified to answer this question?

Then we get some pointless side chatter over the claim that games are good for your brain, followed by the charge that games are addictive--despite the explicit comparison made to gambling (at “your local Native American casino,” no less), there is no discussion of lootboxes or microtransactions whatsoever, suggesting the author is not aware of specific steps which are taken to make games addictive and is just invoking vague notions of all games being addictive. None of this ever comes up again, and we promptly move back to talking about the actual game.

More specifically, Inside is what’s known as a “2D side-scroller”—meaning that you observe your figure mostly in profile in the center of your screen while a background landscape scrolling right-to-left gives the illusion of left-to-right forward motion.

Somehow, the use of the term “2D side-scroller” in quotes does not make me feel that this fellow is sufficiently familiar with video games to assess whether or not they can be art, as does the fact that he reckons that the platformer he is playing hearkens back to a 1981 shoot-em-up he remembers from his teens, which makes his apparent conviction that video games originated as first person shooters all the more baffling.

And while the world of videogames has already become a “spectator sport,” I’m unaware of any instance of the record of a videogame player’s performance becoming intellectual property, as it has in the world of chess, and in a whole array of sports. True, gamers go “professional” by attracting followers on the internet and earning ad revenue, but their play itself is not copyrighted. Games might wind up in museums (worldwide, there are at least seventeen museums dedicated to videogames), but bracketed moments of the play of particular games have not yet become value-able as art.

I invite the author to start selling unauthorized DVDs of clips from popular Twitch streamers and gaming YouTubers and see how long their lawyers allow him to entertain the notion that Let’s Plays do not constitute intellectual property.

the 2D side-scroller and its pitbull of a cousin, the first-person shooter,

???

The rest of the section is pretty unremarkable, so we move onto him complaining about lousy movie critique, then lousy video game critique, then explaining the concept of Easter eggs, then video game puzzles:

The puzzles of Limbo and Inside are more ambitious than the puzzles of most games in that their solutions often require the player to wait, or to exhibit what in psychology and education circles is known as divergent thought—for example, a corpse is a corpse, but it is also potentially a deadweight that can be used to spring a boobytrap.

Making the player wait or use an unusual object as a weight doesn’t strike me as particularly devilishly clever.

Then we get this jewel of a paragraph:

Nevertheless, puzzles themselves stand as an obstacle blocking the path of videogames’ journey from game to art. For while I might willingly suspend my disbelief long enough to accept that a boy has been tasked with jogging exhaustedly through a factory that churns out invincible blob creatures, I will find that willingness strained when I am also confronted with confounding puzzles placed in my path for no good reason. Videogames, in other words, ignore the basic tenets of internal consistency—in order to keep playing, you must suspend your disbelief, and then suspend it again, and again, and again, which means that in order to play and enjoy videogames you must also suspend the kind of critical judgment that is normally associated with art.

You heard it here, folks, accepting weird gameplay conceits means you can’t critically analyze a game.

Similarly, Easter eggs appeal only on the level of geek fetish—which is more or less the opposite of critical appreciation—and it is for this reason that I won’t address the puzzles and Easter eggs in Inside, even though they eventually lead to what some have concluded is the game’s “hidden meaning.” And this is the problem of videogames in a nutshell, because meaning in work of art is no more hidden from its beholder than the summit of a mountain is hidden from the mountain climber.

Sounds to me more like the problem is that he’s ignoring what the game itself is telling him about its plot and themes because it’s doing it in a way he finds aesthetically displeasing. I don’t know much about critical analysis but I feel like that’s not really how you should be doing it.

We then get a description of the plots of Limbo and Inside, including a decent bit of analysis marred by a bit of “murder simulator”-ism.

This is worth noting because prior to this moment the violence the boy has inflicted, either in Limbo or Inside, has been indirect—really an act of self-defense—but now the game is threatening to creep back into the usual videogame mode of affectless murder. You are given a choice: slip backward toward the wantonly horrific likes of Grand Theft Auto (1997) and Postal 2 (2003) [3] , or pause a moment and then continue on in a macabre but not morally bankrupt pursuit narrative. In this way, the player is implicated in a wryly disjointed bit of commentary on the history of gaming itself.

I mean this entirely sincerely: someone should get this guy a copy of Undertale. I think he’d enjoy it, if he could get past the idea of having to accept JRPG conventions.

Sadly, video game still aren’t art because he can list a bunch of movies that had vaguely similar elements:

From there, it’s not hard to find antecedents for Inside in both literature and film—it’s a little bit Soylent Green, a little bit Logan’s Run, a little bit The Island of Dr. Moreau, and more than a little bit Frankenstein. The imagery starts to seem familiar, too, with milieus lifted from E.T., Alien, and The Poseidon Adventure. But all this allusive flotsam becomes a bit of a disappointment, as eventually you become hard pressed to find anything in Inside that you haven’t seen inside something else.

Ezra Pound demanded that artists “make it new,” and Marcel Proust insisted that a writer is someone who invents a voice as unique as his or her fingerprint, but Inside isn’t even really trying to tell a story that hasn’t been told before. That’s a problem. Art cannot be made up wholly of references to other art. Star Wars, for example, does not come close to art because at its core it is nothing more than a pre-fab mash-up of archetypes mail-ordered from the IKEA superstore of Joseph Campbell.

I mean... why can’t art be composed solely of references to other art? Why can the whole not be more than the sum of its parts? If I take a picture of the Mona Lisa and photoshop a photo of a can of soup over her head, the resulting work is distinct from either of the originals, even though I provided no original content except the idea of sticking the two together.

Put another way, Inside could only have been designed by someone who hasn’t read Roland Barthes’s “The Death of the Author,” and hasn’t read Walter Benjamin’s “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” and hasn’t read T.S. Eliot’s “Tradition and the Individual Talent”—someone who hasn’t, in other words, engaged theoretically with what art is. And that, in turn, leads to the simple conclusion that on the level of its plot Inside is not trying to do what art does.

Good god this guy is snobbish.

Second, there’s still the meta-twist to consider: perhaps Inside is a game with both a text and a subtext. And perhaps a subtext can help the videogame industry evolve beyond the hyperviolence that is its womb and its crutch.

“Hyperviolent” is not exactly how I would describe Breakout or Super Mario Bros. Anyway, he then ponders the potential meaning of the evil scientists at the end of the game being stand-ins for the developers, and comes to the conclusion that...

The problem of games today is that their creators have not imagined any purpose for them greater than fun. There are exceptions to this, of course, but for the most part games equate escape with distraction—to be distracted is to be entertained, and it is good to be entertained.

Unlike the rest of popular media, of course.

The obligation of art, as Henry James described it, is to be interesting, and if you’re paying attention, that is to say, if you’re trying for more than distraction, then Inside begins to be interesting with its name, which stands in stark contrast to games like Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

I too enjoy criticizing games for being superficial based on their titles.

Then we get some final analysis, a quote from a Raymond Carver short story I read in high school and remember mostly as something my friends in English class found homoerotic subtext in, and the claim that the goal of art is a feeling of transcendental bliss:

The much remarked-upon narrator of Raymond Carver’s classic short story, “Cathedral,” experiences such a moment as the story climaxes with a blind man helping him draw a church. “My eyes were still closed,” the narrator says. “I was in my house. I knew that. But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything.”

At its most ambitious, Inside aspires to a similar feeling. Escape in art that is not transcendence is cheap, and if you can climb beyond the foolish puzzles and the Easter eggs and the hidden meanings, you can feel, for a moment, that you are not alone on your sofa with your phone, playing a game; rather, you are somewhere else—somewhere grassy, bathed in warmth by a ray of sunlight falling from above.

And that’s nice and all but it feels like he didn’t really lead up to it.

Anyway, I spent way too much time picking through this but here we go. Final rating: 2/10, the next time you want to know if video games are art yet ask someone who actually plays them.

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

Title: The Lies of Locke Lamora (Trilogy #2)

Author: Brian McClellan

Rating: 1/5 stars

A flawed book about a flawed book, which happens to be one of my favorite works of fiction, in part because of its fundamental imperfections, in part because of its sheer charm. The book is praised, criticized, canonized, jeered at -- I'll get to that in a moment -- and contains more ambiguity than clarity. It is frustrating to me, and like many people I'm baffled by, that it still resonates more than 30 years after its release.

A plot summary follows.

2200 years before the events of the main book, humans have colonized several worlds. These worlds were chosen to be experimental environments -- early on, humans were told the potential benefits of introducing other species to a post-scarcity economy. The chosen worlds were uninhabited and almost entirely composed of forests. Because of the vast amounts of wood that were needed, the earliest humans had a hard time producing metal out of the elements that were mined and smelted, so they developed a way to convert carbon dioxide and water to metal. They called this process "bio-milling."

Around this time, numerous other species were also introduced into the universe. In some cases, these species were excellent farmers. The bunnies, for example, grew so much food on a planet-sized patch of land they were able to rival humans for global resources. But as life on the new worlds quickly adapted to the lack of biospheric competition, the species eventually created hostile environments for the new life forms. As a result, almost all of the life on those worlds died out.

On planet Altair, there were 2200 human inhabitants who had adapted to the biospheric environment. The experience of these people, and of the other species introduced with the promise of an enhanced global economy, had a lasting impact on the human species. Because the introduction of a second species put the human race in direct conflict with a great number of other species, these other species began to attack and eliminate the original inhabitants of the new worlds. Some of the human inhabitants were killed. Most of the remaining people fled. In their flight, most of the human beings were killed. Most of the species that were killed didn't even produce a big death toll. And for this reason, the new biospheric environment on those worlds became an excellent place for numerous plants and animals to live. It was a world, after all, that was perfect for life.

The humans continued to live in isolation on Altair, 2200 years after its initial discovery. Only a few of the humans still left on the planet made contact with other species. About halfway through the 24th century, these humans met a race of aliens who called themselves "Vedek." The humans and the Vedd started a war. In response, the aliens set up a barrier around Altair and sealed off the planet, preventing any humans from leaving. The war lasted about a hundred years.

The humans and the Vedd started to evolve in numerous ways. The Vedd had the advantage of resourcefulness and were able to adapt quickly to the limited resources of the biosphere. Humans were also able to adapt, but in a slower, more complicated way. For instance, humans were able to make genetic modifications to themselves, and thus to other humans. These genetic modifications greatly increased the potential of humans, and also enhanced the physical capabilities of some of the Vedd, but they were only minor improvements over the standard of human capabilities. In addition, humans were also able to expand the volume of their nervous systems so that they could feel vibrations that were impossible for the Vedd to feel.

In 2200 AD, there were approximately 8 million human beings left on Altair. At this time, it is estimated that all the Vedd were still asleep, and the barrier around Altair was still in place. The Vedd were sitting on one side of the barrier, which was 5 miles long and could be penetrated only through a gap in the barrier. A thousand Vedd lived on the surface of Altair, and each one of these Vedd was immune to the vibrations of the barrier. A hundred times more Vedd were buried in the earth, and none of them could be reached by vibrations from the barrier. In fact, the problem was so severe that the giant Tectal Sphere, the only object capable of moving on the surface of Altair, had been built to get under the ground, to lower the barrier and allow all the Vedd to pass through. The Sphere, which was 9 miles high and weighed 5 million tons, could not cross through the barrier.

The Sphere had been under construction for the last forty years. The construction work had been difficult and lengthy. Its completion had, however, been needed. Because of the extremely difficult vibrations, there were no Vedd living nearby who were still immune. They had been frozen in place. In 2200 AD, if the humans had not been able to cross the barrier, no one would have been able to stop them from going on to the surface of the other worlds they had discovered, most of which were uninhabited.

It is difficult to describe in words the fact that there was a human race living on another world. The human species had lived on the earth for 6,000,000 years. It was a mythic race with supernatural abilities, depicted as a warlike, nomadic race. It was a mythic race of liberators. It had striven for hundreds of years for human rights and freedom. It had ignored the attacks of human supremacists and chauvinists who had tried to convince the human race of their inferiority. And it had ignored the attacks of human supremacists and chauvinists on the other side, who claimed that the very existence of a human race was a sign that the world was going downhill. The mythic human race had lived happily on earth for centuries. Then, suddenly, there were no more human beings on the earth. They had never existed. They had been dead for thousands of years. And then suddenly, without warning, they were back.

The humans were stuck. There was no way out. They had rejected the view of themselves as a warlike, nomadic race, rejected the values that had been their most important foundation. The mythic human race had been sitting on the top of a world that was perfect for it. But the mythic human race had been foolish.

The mythic human race had tried to use its power to help other species that had been much smaller than itself. The mythic human race had tried to make other species part of itself, and it had failed. The mythic human race had used its extraordinary powers and its mythic life to help other humans, to build bridges between them and to tell other humans that they were special. But the mythic human race had made too many mistakes, too many compromises. It had been too arrogant, too selfish. It had pushed too hard. It had lost touch with reality. It had become more arrogant, more selfish. It had had too many myths.

The mythic human race had learned many painful lessons from the mistakes it had made. And although the human race was different from the mythic human race in many ways, its view of itself was fundamentally the same as the human race's view of itself. The human race has always been a peaceable, peaceable race. It is a small planet, and it is a peaceable race. It has always known what it wanted, and what it wanted has been to be part of a peaceable, peaceful world.

The human race has not always been a peaceable race. There have been human supremacists, human chauvinists, who have pushed the human race away from the world it had lived in for hundreds of thousands of years. These human supremacists had attacked the mythic human race, not only on the surface of the earth, but on other worlds, by preventing the mythic human race from passing vibrations between them and the surface of the earth. These human supremacists had attempted to push the human race away from the surface of the earth. The human supremacists on other worlds, the ones on Tectal Spheres, had tried to do the same. For years the mythic human race had fought back. And for years it had gained nothing.

But eventually the human supremacists on the surface of the earth, the ones who lived in cities, had learned that they, too, could become mythic. They could go underground and become mythic. They had done this, with no one ever seeing them go underground. And the human supremacists on the other worlds had learned about the human supremacists on the surface of the earth and had learned that they could become mythic. And so it had happened. The human supremacists on the surface of the earth had become mythic. And the human supremacists on the other worlds had gone underground and had become mythic, too. And the human supremacists on the other worlds knew, or thought they knew, that they were also mythic, and they had learned of one another, and they had learned that they were also mythic, and they had become part of a peaceable, peaceful race. They were part of the peaceable, peaceful race of the human race. And they knew that they were also the mythic, and they were not alone. They knew that they had always been the mythic, and they had lived the mythic life. They knew that they had been the mythic, and they did not fear the human supremacists on the other worlds. They knew that they were part of the peaceable, peaceful race of the human race. And they knew that they were also the mythic, and they were not alone. They knew that they had always been the mythic, and they did not fear the human supremacists on the other worlds. And the human supremacists on the other worlds had learned that they, too, could become mythic. They went to the surface of the earth, and they became mythic. And the human supremacists on the other worlds learned that they, too, could become mythic. And the human supremacists on the other worlds became part of the peaceable, peaceful race of the human race. And the human supremacists on the other worlds were not alone. And the human supremacists on the other worlds were not alone. And the human supremacists on the other worlds did not fear the human supremacists on the other worlds. And the human supremacists on the other worlds did not fear the human supremacists on the other worlds. The human supremacists on the other worlds were not alone.

I am not sure whether to continue.

[keeganqtlu999-blog]

10 Things Steve Jobs Can Teach Us About SEO Omaha

Now before you state that my response is not a definitive action to the concern - let me discuss my response to you.

Search engine optimization by its very nature is not a black and white principle. There is a lot of gray location in the field of seo SEO.

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Some individuals discover finest utilizing visual aids while others discover more through audio help while still others find out much better from reading books.

In the end, the best method to learn almost anything is to utilize a mix of these techniques.

Nevertheless, in our society today people have very little patience, so the visual approach tends to be what many individuals prefer because honestly it is much easier to apply and use; but in my experience, the "visual" method in the long run is the least efficient approach for individuals to use for retaining and using brand-new information.

With this being stated, the very best approach for discovering in my opinion reads a well-written book associated to the topic.

The book should include appearances in the material to improve the learning experience and access to an instructor for reinforcement of the material that is read or it must be written in a manner that provides the product as if the author is in fact sitting with the reader and describing the information.

My answer "it depends" relating to the concern of what is the best method to discover SEO can be summarized this method.

" The best way to discover SEO is by checking out an SEO book that is well written and covers the entire realm of SEO at the level of the real reader so that a clear understanding can be conveyed. Thus, for beginners to the intermediate level, the product ought to be composed for readers at that level in a manner that is finest for them to find out SEO, which would be various than a book composed for an advance SEO reader."

The primary issue with checking out SEO associated books is that most of the books and ebooks regretfully are not well written and the info is typically written in a way that is not developed for the reader to find out however only for the reader to apply what read. You or nobody else can discover by doing this. It is easy to compose a book; however is extremely tough to compose a well-written book that assists a specific discover new product.

If you want to discover SEO, you need to check out an excellent SEO book and/or eBook that actually provides the seo product in a thorough manner and likewise supplies the material in an easy to read, simple to understand, efficient and simple to use way for real world situations.

A two-day SEO workshop, SEO videos and/or SEO online classes will not assist you find out SEO. You can learn to use particular information utilizing these techniques; but you will not learn SEO.

Search engine optimization is far more than a couple of techniques or suggestions. SEO is a field of expertise, which requires a strong understanding of all elements connected to SEO before you can truly learn SEO. Therefore, it will take some time. Remember, Rome was not built in a day.

If you wish to find out SEO, you will require to do it the old style method by reading and applying the material from an excellent SEO book and/or ebook.

Remember when you were in grade school, intermediate school, high school and/or college were you ever just provided a CD, video, two-day workshop or other similar techniques to learn a subject? No, I will think that you discovered primarily from books or material stemmed from a book provided by an instructor.

On this note, a well-written SEO book, by an author, that presents the material as if he or she is speaking with you can be the substitute for a trainer; but you will still Check out this site require to check out the book and apply what you learn. This has actually been a time-tested approach of finding out for hundreds of years around the globe. The method will not fail you; nevertheless, you can stop working the method.

Find out SEO by reading an excellent SEO book today.

You can figure out the SEO book to buy and check out by thoroughly evaluating the promotional material for the SEO book, reading objective book evaluates regarding the SEO book, comparing the rates of the different SEO books, making certain that you acquire a book that is composed to in fact teach SEO and finally buy an SEO book that provides a money back guarantee in case the book does not fulfill your expectations.

Remember that you ought to never take benefit of a cash back warranty. The author strove to write the book. If you really gained from reading the book or ebook, do not request for a refund just because you do not wish to spend for the book. Constantly remember that what comes around walks around. Deal with individuals fair and be truthful in your dealings with others.

Read a well-written and thorough SEO book or ebook.

The significance of Seo

The main job is to attract as much first-rate traffic as possible to the websites. Top-notch traffic does not refer to those visitors who will not return to your site, because that is basically inefficient, however to those that are actually looking for the material or items you offer.

It would be much better to specify this goal as: to increase the number of visitors who utilize the material or purchase the items on that website.

Fundamental components

Text - One of the most essential aspects and the primary provider of the material. The most vital parts of the text are the keywords within the text itself. Attention should be paid to the position of the keywords in text and their frequency. Frequency represents a variety of keyword looks on a websites in comparison to the total number of words on that page. The number per page should not be more than five, while frequency ought to be 5-7%, which is challenging to attain. The very best method is to compare your results with better-ranked competitors and draw conclusions based on the contrast.

Tags - Keywords, description, title, h1 and a href. Links - They need to be active and linked to the material.

Appeal - The more your website is amongst the search results, the more popular it becomes and it ranks higher. Appeal can be accomplished by advertising on numerous free ad sites, newsletters, e-mails or paid advertisements ...

Domain name

Most users opt for a business name or a set of words that have a certain meaning for them. They need to also consider the truth that the domain name will impact optimization due to the fact that the primary keyword is the domain name itself.

Navigation

There are 2 sort of navigation: internal and external. Internal navigation allows the user to check out the pages, while external navigation permits the user to check out other websites. It is typically placed in the top left corner and it can be either textual or graphic. Robotics "choose" textual navigation placed on the left. It enables them to move from one page to another quickly.

Map

There are 2 kinds: the basic one provides the total navigational structure. It is most often a textual structure of all the links. The other kind is based on XML. It presents a file that lists all URLs. It shows up just to the robotics that index websites, however not to the visitors.

Title

When a robotic examines a website, the very first element it focuses on is the page title. How to choose a great title? The best method is to compile the title of words or phrases that clearly suggest what the page has to do with. The title needs to not be longer than 50 characters, including blanks spaces.

Content

Original top quality material is one of the fundamental aspects, which needs to be approached diligently and diligently. Increasingly more online search engine, including Google, Yahoo and Bing, rely on real-time search, giving top priority to brand-new and fresh material. Additional guidelines: It has to be relevant. The text needs to be original, interesting and grammatically proper. Short sentences need to be utilized. Visitors have little persistence with long sentences. Short paragraphs should be utilized, with a lot of blank space in between. The text must be divided by intriguing headings.

Graphics and images

In the optimization of graphics, ALT tag within IMG tag needs to contain keywords and must be short and descriptive. ALT tag is very important since robots can not index an image so it must be added to permit search engines to index it.

[laurlovescookies]

Glee Kadam Fic: It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah

Kadam Week Prompt II

Kurt sings while he repairs a car, unaware that Adam is watching him. The song referenced in this fic is “Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley.

“You’re an angel, saint, and a bag of chips, Kurt.”

Smiling broadly, Kurt waved him off as he set his toolbox down on the curb.

“Not a problem, Silo. It’s not like the Apples don’t make you drive everyone’s props and costumes over time and creation.”

“Damn straight.”

“Damn not-straight.” The two young men chuckled. Kurt looked under the popped hood and hummed thoughtfully.

“I still think this will be an easy enough fix. But I’m glad you waited to visit a mechanic here in the city— they’d charge you three times the amount my dad would. And what’s worse is that more likely than not they wouldn’t even do a great job—enough to get you going, but poorly enough to have you crawling back.”

“That’s evil,” Silo said wonderingly, giving the engine a baffled look.  

“That’s business,” Kurt said briskly, rolling up his sleeves. “If you give me…maybe a little over or under an hour, I can have it fixed.”

“How much do I owe you?”

“Nothing.”

“What? No,” Silo protested immediately, looking panicked. “Kurt, it’s a car repair. I have to pay you a little.”

“You’re a broke-ass art student,” Kurt chided, though his eyes were glinting with gentle amusement. “Whom we more or less force to carry all of our crap around at all these events like a packhorse. I won’t charge you.”

When Silo hesitated again, Kurt asked, “Buuuut if you want to pay me back, would you mind covering for Adam and lead the next AA meeting?”

“Hello everyone. I’m Silo,” said Silo in a deadpan tone.

“Hi Silo.”

They both burst out laughing and Adam couldn’t help but smile ruefully himself from where he watched several feet away. The initials for Adam’s Apples were admittedly a little unfortunate.

Kurt wiped his eyes. “He’s got finals soon and judging by how hard he’s been working, seems to be attempting suicide by-proxy. If you could lead a meeting or two, I can’t tell you how much I’d appreciate it.”

Silo grinned and gave him a thumbs-up, looking profoundly relieved. “Of course. I was going to offer anyway since I just finished for the semester.” His smile broadened and he briefly looked away, cheeks pinking just a bit. “Tori told me how you brought back her baby Michelle back from the dead. I don’t know if you can save Perry—“

“I promise you Perry is in good hands. By the way, is Perry a boy or girl car?”

“Oh, definitely a boy. I only ever ride men.” Silo started chuckling when Kurt looked away, visibly blushing. Shaking his head, Silo said wonderingly, “Geez, Adam is lucky to have you. He found himself a man whom can service a car and belt a high e. Any chance you have a brother?”

Adam winced a bit at that, nearly dropping two coffees. Kurt did not turn, so he could not guess the younger’s man’s expression.

“Thanks Si. Did you need to be going?”

Silo immediately checked his watch and started.

“Crap, my shift starts in ten. If there’s any problem—“

“There won’t be—“

“—just call and let me know. And bring over Adam tonight before closing; I’m happy to give you guys cheap food and booze under the bar.”

Adam thought he could hear Kurt smile faintly. “Sounds good to me. Have a good shift.”

Silo waved as he raced off around the corner. Kurt watched him go, and then got to work over the beloved rustbucket the apples teasingly referred to as the apple automobile. Adam watched him for a few long moments, knowing he was being stupid and yet thoroughly enjoying watching Kurt in an element that seemed every bit as natural to him as Apple rehearsal. He remained quiet, not wanting to make his boyfriend self-conscious.

It wasn’t long before Kurt started singing (it never was) as he worked, voice and his hands exceedingly gentle. Adam continued watching him, brow furrowing as he recognized the tune, which was un-Kurtlike to a near extreme:

“Well I heard there was a secret chord That David played and it pleased the Lord But you don't really care for music, do you? Well it goes like this: the fourth, the fifth The minor fall and the major lift The baffled king composing Hallelujah….”

Kurt scrubbed at his eyes with his upper forearm. Were the car fumes stinging him? His voice dropped softly as he sang the refrain.

“Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.”

Several long moments passed as Kurt continued singing. And to Adam’s surprise Kurt’s voice was reaching a painfully soft, piercing register he’d only ever heard his boyfriend reach a few times before—such as his debut at the NYADA winter showcase. Adam’s throat tightened, mouth drying as it had that night, when Kurt threw his heart at the audience’s feet.

“Baby I've been here before I've seen this room and I've walked this floor I used to live alone before I knew you And I've seen your flag on the marble arch And love is not a victory march It's a cold and it's a broken Hallel—“

Kurt’s normally strong voice abruptly cut off. His back stiffened, and he stooped over the engine, immobile for a long moment.

“Hallelujah.” Now his voice was thick with tears, and the beautiful word sounded as torn as if it were cutting the beautiful boy’s throat on its way out: “Hallelujah. Hallelujah.”

Adam hastily set the coffees on the curb and hurried to Kurt’s side, arms closing around his waist just as Kurt let out the last, near-inaudible “Hallelujah.” He jolted violently at Adam’s touch and hastily stepped away, entire body radiating tension. Adam’s heart ached when he remembered Kurt telling him about people whom flung him into lockers or attempted to toss him down a flight of steps—had he thought…?

“Dahling?” Kurt’s eyes were red, and he abashedly wiped them on his shoulder. “Are you alright?”

He immediately stooped and pressed a hot coffee into Kurt’s grease-stained hands. A peace offering. Kurt looked at him with a watery smile, and then sighed.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for you to see…”

“You sounded lovely,” Adam insisted, catching a stray tear with a fingertip. “But you look so sad. I don’t—“

Kurt turned to look at the car again, expression inscrutable.

“The first time people came into my dad’s shop, and I would tell them I’d be fixing their car, they always looked a little freaked out.” He snorted inaudibly and pressed a hand against the car’s side. “That this…fairy boy in bedazzled overalls was going to be working on their baby.”

Adam kissed Kurt’s cheek. “Joke’s on them, dahling. They didn’t even know how to take care of their own cars. And no one could see you resurrect a car and call you a fairy.”

A fae, maybe. You could call Kurt a fae.

“They didn’t,” Kurt complained, smiling fondly when Adam kissed him again, embraced him. He set the coffee down. “Hey, I don’t want to cover you in car oil.”

“I don’t care. If Kurt Hummel is wearing car oil, it’ll be de rigeur by Fall.”

Kurt hesitated and then hugged him back, lips tracing over Adam’s neck pulse.

“When Finn came to work in my father’s shop, he didn’t seem surprised that I knew my way around an engine, though all the guys in Glee did.” Adam tensed and hugged him tighter. “I mean…you know we had problems, but he compensated by playing up the older brother role to a t.” He snorted again, tears dripping on Adam’s shoulder. “Never mind he was maybe two months older than me. He was really eager to learn everything in the shop…he was pretty good at it.”

Kurt only hugged him for a long moment, a near-wailing sadness emanating off him in waves. Adam desperately wished he knew what to say, but everything that came to mind sounded like a cheap platitude in the face of so awful a tragedy, so much life and promise cut short so early.

“The last time we were together, when we found out Dad’s cancer was gone…and Blaine tried asking me to marry him…Finn read him the riot act. He was so furious that Blaine asked all these people to help propose to me in public even when we weren’t together.” A shuddery laugh and Kurt shook his head. “I thought Blaine was going to wet himself, I really did. And the way he got after the other Glee members was actually pretty nice…it felt good to have someone supporting me for a change.”

“Whatever it’s worth,” Adam said seriously, pulling away from Kurt to look at him. “I am always in your corner.”

Kurt’s eyes narrowed at the ends as he smiled, and Adam’s mouth went dry again.

“Thank goodness for that. I know he was uncertain about you the first time you met judging the way he kept giving you the side-eye, but you passed. When we left, he told me he was happy for me.” Kurt exhaled, squinting into the pale light of a chilly spring sky. “And that you were a good guy.”

“He threatened to break my face if I broke your heart.”

“Oh God.” Kurt buried his face in his hands and Adam laughed. “That does sound like him…

“The night before you and I returned to New York, he and I worked on a car together.” Kurt lowered his hands and closed his eyes, somehow managing to look very old and painfully young all at once. “It’d been a long time, and it was nice. We even started singing together—Hallelujah.”

Adam reached for him again, and again remained silent. He was floundering helplessly inside, deciding at last that the only nearly-appropriate thing to do was to stay silent, bear witness, and to hold onto Kurt for dear life.

Kurt squeezed him back hard. “I like the challenge of finding what’s broken and fixing it. I even like the smell of car oil. I think Finn liked those things too…I’m never going to be able to work on a car without thinking about him.”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

“It’s…it’s not okay, exactly, but I’ll take this hurt for having known him.” Still Kurt did not pull back and he did not let go. “But every now and again, when I think I’m closer to fine, something dumb like this—or when I go grocery shopping for Ben & Jerry’s and I gag at that Late Night Snack flavor he liked so much…” Kurt’s hands tangled in his own.

“The other day I realized that his birthday was coming soon and I started looking stuff up online. And then I remembered. My mother is dead. My brother is dead.”

Looking pained, Adam pulled back to kiss Kurt’s tearing eyes, his fingers cupping the younger boy’s pale face. They looked at each for several long moments, Kurt managing a half-hearted smile.

“You’re staring. Do I have grease on my cheek?”

“Yes.” Said Adam, before leaning in for a kiss.

It was long, and hard, and their faces were slippery from tears, some of which were Adam’s. He had liked Finn Hudson very much, looked forward to a long friendship with him.

Thought they would possibly be brothers-in-law one day.

But that would never be, and Kurt was again holding his heart’s pieces in his hands, and not for the first nor last time he felt a rush of gratitude that Burt Hummel at least still lived, because how many fractures could even Kurt’s impossibly-strong heart have left in him?

Kurt let out a soft noise of surprise when Adam pulled back to press his swollen lips against Kurt’s hands.

If he died right now he might be happy, save for the fact that he’d hurt Kurt on the way out….how much Adam would like Kurt’s to have proficiency to fix things, to be able to open Kurt himself up and fix the staccato jerks of a broken heart. But of course that was impossible too, and as he tucked Kurt’s head beneath his chin he felt a wild surge of gratitude that Kurt was still here, that the grief that would topple older and wiser men had not poisoned Kurt’s insides. Awed, he ran a hand up and down Kurt’s back.

Despite what had become of them, Elizabeth and Finn could not have died unhappy, not in having the love of someone so precious and remarkable a person. Adam’s heart gently broke a little more, and he tenderly placed his lips to Kurt’s ear, singing what he thought Finn might’ve sang on his death throes:

“Hallelujah. Hallelujah.  Hallelujah.  Hallelujah….”  

[destiny-smasher]

So I did the “get to know me” meme on Twitter but because of how Twitter functions now it’s a hard to follow mess of a thread. Decided to post it all here -- and hey, if any of ya’ll are curious, feel free to read.

1) When I was 10 my abusive stepdad threw a spray at me. I ducked -- it scraped my head. Sent to school bleeding b/c he was too stoned to realize it'd get noticed and I'd get pulled out of that environment immediately. This moment changed my life, left a scar on head.

If I hadn't ducked, would've hit my stomach. No cut. Whole childhood would've been different. My first Butterfly Effect Moment.

2) I started writing fiction about Pokémon. First-person, from the Mons perspective. Rotating point of view each scene.

3) I moved on to crazy crossover fanfic where I constructed an entire war, personal and political motivations, so many ideas I still like?

4) Part of this involved detailed drawings of Mario-themed Keyblades I wish I still had.

5) Paper Mario 1&2 are some of my most influential inspirations. expanded such a simple world so much so fluidly. (Harder than it looks)

6) When I was a kid my sister would wake me st like 6am to watch dubbed Sailor Moon. Bothered me they all sounded like same person.

7) I can recognize voices very well and even specific sounds and songs. Couple years back my roommate ran a test - playlist of 100 NES tracks, he'd play the first NOTE, singular, and I could recognize exactly where it was from if I'd played the game.

8) My first computer was a PC I bought w/$ saved up during an entire summer of custodial work in HS. Had no Internet.

So I'd use the public library's very slow connection to download things to floppy disk and copy them over.

Eventually, I was able to graduate to a USB. Obtaining music was hellish so I treasured each song I could download -- most from OC Remix.

9) We had this tiny rabbit ears TV that could get WB and Fox sometimes if it was set up in a specific corner of my sister's room

And so I would desperately use it to try and stay up to date on Pokémon and Digimon, it was so bad

10) Teen Titans was arguably the most influential piece of media for my teenage mind. It formed the base of so much I care about re:stories

Fleshed out, varied protags who grew together and each had their times to step up and step down. Action w/character dev context.

Fantastic themes important for growing humans; awesome moments "between the panels" instead of all comic book melodrama and action.

Then everything changed when TT GO attacked and pissed on everything smart and thoughtful because MONEYYYYY

11) Cowboy Bebop was the first "good" anime I ever saw and blew my mind open about what animated stories could do -- i.e. Not just kid stuff

I don't like "anime" in general because most of its common tropes but the shit out of me even worse than most western toon tropes

And yet like 50-75% of my most favorite shows ARE anime because thoughtful animated storytelling has so much potential.

11) I predicted months before Last of Us came out that you'd play as Ellie but when it happened I had to stop, cry happy tears.

I predicted the second I saw the Left Behind trailer what was going on w/those two and again, still had to stop and cry happy tears.

(I seem to have pretty good gaydar now but I also don't like, ship everyone together all the time)

It just hits me so hard when actual canon queerness happens in mass media and is done well, but we're still so bad at following through.

12) Favorite m/m ship: Troy and Abed in the Morning. Favorite w/w ship: Max and Chloe BFF Pirates 2008.

ATLA ships: Tokka the most, also Katang, also Smellershot. ATLA makes me more open to shipping than any other series?

Like, Zutara makes me feel kinda gross and some of the crack ships like Sokka/Azula scare me but otherwise I'm pretty chill w/ATLA ships?

13) When I was a kid, and we'd role play, I always wanted to play the girl characters. I was surrounded by boys so they always were weirded.

It was weird to me, too, honestly.

Now it makes perfect goddamn sense.

14) Apparently I was kidnapped as a baby by some mobster or something but it's hard to tell with my mom what's real or not.

15) Smash Bros. Melee was the first game I ever got genuinely hype over before launch. I still remember being startled to discover it --

-- existed via E3 trailer on GameTrailers back on my goddamn dialup connection in 2001. I had to wait all fuckin' day for that thing to load

And when it did, it was GLORIOUS (and had FZero music, which at the time I did not recognize) and I was FLOORED.

The screenshots made the game look too good to be real, and I was instantly sold on the GameCube, the first time I NEEDED new hardware Day 1

I got SSBM as an Xmas gift before my grandpa's GCN present arrived, so for a week or two all I could do was stare at the box/manual/disc

That game kind of changed my life -- SSB64 was the first time I'd gotten so invested in a multiplayer game, and SSBM crushed it.

A fire was born in me -- competition, something I'd never been much interested in w/games before, not against actual humans.

Those months between E3 2001 and finally getting to play SSBM felt like forever. And thus did I post online fiction for the first time.

That's actually how I met @SDiDuro , my first 'Internet friend' and what I'd consider to be my first proper 'reader.'

16) After college, I ended up working at a call center because it was  the only job I could find and I needed to support my disabled wife.

DURING college, I gave up on writing fiction and had focused on gaming editorial through a site where I'd engaged with an online community

But that empty space between phone calls eventually got filled in by writing fiction on a notepad, with a pen, inspired by Street Fighter 4.

Eventually, this evolved and radically changed into what is now (still in dev) DownRight Fierce.

Back then, I had no idea I'd be motivated to DO this, though -- write original fiction -- but the fire had been re-lit.

I wanted to write.

I was sickened by my "naive" adolescence crossover fics and wiped them from my http://FF.net  profile and started anew.

Having just come off of ATLA 1st time, I knew I wanted to explore that world/characters more, so I wrote a story about Toph & puberty.

That serving as "practice," I then went on to write SRU, and...well, that...changed EVERYTHING.

17) My biological dad (who I have never met) has OCD, to the point where he apparently washed his skin raw trying to avoid germs?

So as soon as I showed enthusiasm in gaming, my parents FREAKED and worried I was exhibiting OCD and they brought the hammer down.

They made me feel BAD for writing about video games when I wasn't playing them, but they never READ anything I fucking wrote.

Even now, my mom tries to comment on what a good writer I supposedly am, yet when I ask for her thoughts, I ask what she's read?

Silence.

I wasn't writing fiction based on games because I was THAT addicted to games.

I did it because a storyteller was awakening within me --

-- and I told stories through the worlds and characters I was familiar with.

(And my first genuinely "serious" fic was Teen Titans, anyway)

But even now, it really hurts that my parents will sometimes try to guilt me over not calling or whatever the fuck, when they never READ

never supported, and actively DISCOURAGED my writing, my storytelling, refused to understanding why I loved games.

18) I never watched Avatar until after college (years after it had finished), and I watched it because of the live action movie.

I watched halfway through the season 1 of the cartoon to get "read up" on it. Then the movie. Which was horrible. Then the rest of season 1.

At that point, the movie utterly baffled me. My wife and I proceeded to marathon the rest of the series. And it became my fav story ever.

But I ironically owe it to that terrible live action movie. ^_^;;

19) My taste in music is really weird. I couldn't tell you what my favorite genres are, and even fav musicians is hard.

Like, every year my top three fav musicians "change" because I just add more to the pile and spend the year focused on their music.

But music inspires my storytelling more than any other medium, I'd say -- in terms of me actually planning and growing ideas.

I didn't just give Nishiko and Seiko last names of my two fav game composers as tongue-in-cheek. In fact, that's not why I did it at all.

I gave them those names because I wanted some element of their very design to express how Japanese composers inspired me in my teen years.

[buildfacebookbusiness]

How to Use Facebook For Business

The one thing Facebook has not made sense of yet is the means by which to use their spectacular item to profit, reliably and on a continuous premise - i.e. finding the correct plan of action. An extremely captivating theme to compose my first blog about, in light of the fact that, as I would see it, finding the correct plan of action for Facebook can't be practiced utilizing traditional reasoning, as, exclusively taking a gander at Google and their web crawler promotion income, for instance. Facebook is one of a kind, so you have to discover one of a kind arrangements. All things considered, there isn't one single best plan of action for this site, rather a large number of potential income streams from altogether different sources. It isn't just "how would we produce income", however similarly essential "when do we begin with which one". This may sound bizarre now, yet it will get clear when perusing this. Abridged, it is fundamentally taking your benefits and what made you fruitful in any case and finding better approaches to utilize them viable.

Facebook has a commercial center really, yet it's sheltered to state, that it never took off in the manner in which different parts of the site did. So I propose a relaunch. Focal points are that no extra login is required and the entirely helpful record gets to, likewise through Facebook's really well done versatile applications. Presently the business arrange profile of (in any event) the dealers ought to be incorporated with the commercial center with the clients tolerating that Facebook business can utilize their information for security reasons (e.g. to kill clients with phony profiles from the begin) while having them likewise add more information to have the capacity to go about as a merchant (increasingly key information inside Facebook). This abundance of information empowers Facebook to have an adequately lower misrepresentation rate and far superior fitting custom contributions for each and every client than e.g. eBay, colossal upper hands. Exceptional advancements for merchandise on Facebook will likewise make it simpler for some clients to acknowledge letting Facebook utilize their current information entirely for security reasons.

Facebook groups have the degree that anyone knows been obsolete by Facebook pages, yet due to Facebook restores inside the most recent two years Facebook pages have been kept to an under 15% appearance in the news wellsprings of individuals who to a great degree like the page. This has understood the arrival of Facebook packages as a strategy for passing on your message to the larger part on Facebook multi amass appropriation. Adding individuals to Facebook bunches is such a ton of less asking for than rousing individuals to a great degree like your page. Get-togethers are a framework and frameworks are incorporated individuals who share a normal intrigue. When you find how to get a bounty of individuals who share an ordinary vitality into a social event that they are amped up for then you are well while in the movement to making an amazing Facebook gathering.

When you are certain that your facebook multi-pages see is of an authentic rousing power to its kin you are set for headway and the central focuses in a going with a couple of regions will really work for you.

Multi pages see has ended up being something past playing stimulation's, seeing your allies, and doing silly tests for the range of the day. Today, a more noteworthy number of people than later in late memory are using the intensity of Facebook to find the things and affiliations that they require. In like way, Facebook addresses a goliath open entryway for self-decision affiliations. Absolutely when done precisely, your Facebook impelling system can change into an exceedingly convenient gadget. You can get the message out about your things and affiliations, make amusement arrangements, and interface with your customers in a customer lovely way.

In the wake of setting up your Facebook groups you can fundamentally ahead and invite people to join your get-together, by then you can put pictures and annuals, you can start related subjects, you can send enthralling contemplation's, you can develop a couple of offers. Use your name or your connection name as the title for the get-together and welcome a couple of assistants along to take an intrigue. This is a momentous approach to intertwine more substance and information about your very own remarkable business and won't be seen as spam because of the manner in which that the information you give is basic and genuine. The striking thing about this system is that if you develop your get-together people in excess of 5,000 people, you can not send messages to all people from your gathering any longer. So think of it as unequivocally. When you send messages to your family, uncover to them really about the qualities and challenges of your business and after that approach them for a dedication about future appearing, people will tune in and respond.

A considerable number of individuals stun when they at first understand that facebook auto post contraptions and totally markdown that auto blogging programming works. Notwithstanding, truly they work, and furthermore, they work to an incredible degree well. I have distinctive online journals that I was attempting purposeless to remain mindful of another and new substance. Plainly, when I began the online journals the objective was to post a fundamental article every day, by then it was two or on numerous occasions each week, by then it was at one time seven days… you get the float, and no uncertainty is facing a similar thing with your blog.

Business No-Brainers: Why You Should Use A Facebook Business Page Not Your Facebook Profile! I was constrained to compose this three-section article in the wake of meeting such a significant number of entrepreneurs who have not yet understood the advantages of a Business Page for their image, items or benefits and are, as I would like to think, extremely missing a trap. And after that, there are the individuals who either misconstrue the different element idea of a Facebook Business Page or erroneously feel that it gives individuals an entrance to their private lives on the web. I have even met entrepreneurs who to my alarm have set up numerous Facebook accounts with discrete log-ins - so much pointless work for them.

A Facebook Profile and Business Page are (almost) fundamentally unrelated and lead exceptionally separate lives giving you recall forget to post refreshes as your Page. While there is a limit to what is 'open' on your Facebook Profile except if someone is companions with you, in the event that you are as yet worried about the refinement, it doesn't do any damage to secure the settings significantly further in the event that you wish to - Facebook gives you the adaptability and control to do this.

On the other side, placing yourself in the shoes of your family and companions, they likely would prefer not to see a report on your business each time they sign in to Facebook same as you wouldn't have any desire to find out about a companion's activity each time you did. Obviously, on the off chance that they have preferred your Business Page, it's an alternate story yet keeping the two separate in any case gives everyone the choice and maintains a person's inclinations.

There is nothing more baffling than tapping on a Facebook symbol on a site for it to then take you to someone's Facebook Profile. This looks crude and as though you don't have an idea about how to utilize Facebook for business. I have lost tally of the occasions this has happened to me and when it does, as opposed to setting aside the opportunity to see whether there is in certainty a different Page, I just kill and close the site page.

I am not by and by in the propensity for sending companion solicitations to individuals I don't have the foggiest idea, yet say in this case I did? Along these lines, I've arrived on a Facebook Profile by tapping on the Facebook pursue catch on a site and sent a companion to ask. This has now been acknowledged. Be that as it may, despite everything I don't get business refreshes, yet rather the photographs remarks, companion refreshes, and so forth of the individual being referred to as well as their companions also who I similarly don't recognize in the slightest. Have I made my point?

A Page Newsfeed or Timeline is what could be compared to your Email Marketing on Facebook and supports your accomplishment in coming to and drawing in with individuals. Consider it an individual's inbox to which you convey your whole Business Page related news, i.e. a Newsletter to which Fans have bought in to. With the special reward of a far lower withdraw rate, no dependence on endorsers sending it to their companions (but with a motivation for doing as such inherent), it is far less tedious to stay up with the latest and a sentence or two is everything necessary for you to conceivably get new Fans and expanded introduction.

But at the same time we should not overlook the invert, on the grounds that what you read from others in your own Page Newsfeed won't just give an abundance of motivation and material for your own substance thoughts yet additionally give further chances to you to remark on the posts of others and be seen by their Fan/Friends.

Similarly as with the substance the board arrangement of a site, an Administrator of a Business Page can designate organization rights to other Facebook account holders with a level of various consent levels, which and in addition enabling you to work more brilliant and free up your very own opportunity to concentrate on different regions of your business, gives an extra dimension of security since you don't need to give them the username/secret phrase for your own Facebook account.

You can likewise make anyone who is as of now an Administrator of your Business Page a Featured Administrator/Business Page Owner. This will essentially connect them with the Business Page by showing their Facebook Profile Picture in the About area of your Business Page and furthermore express that they are a Business Page Owner on their Facebook Profile. For my own business, the advantage of this is to enable individuals to see who the general population in the business are, similarly as the About Business Page of a site does.

[coldstarlightharmony-blog]

Blues Highway Blues: You can't separate murder from music In his presentation thriller, Eyre Price needed to incorporate a soundtrack at all costs.

There is a scene in Eyre Price's thriller Blues Highway Blues where two contracted executioners have stuck a young fellow to the floor in the wake of breaking into his home. They hold up the phone up so that Daniel Erickson, a previous music specialist with some terrible obligations, can hear the viciousness unfurl on the flip side. These contracted hitmen have been sent after Daniel by a crowd supervisor, and they won't dither to damage and slaughter anybody in Daniel's life. So in this scene, the enlisted hitmen do the unbelievable (no spoilers). It's the sort of scene that makes you pull back from it and after that turn the page to discover what occurs next.

Blues Highway Blues dashes dangerously fast and it ought to please aficionados of thrillers. Daniel's seekers are set for discover him, however all the while, Daniel embarks to unravel a baffle left for him by some inconspicuous nearness. He takes after pieces of information driving him to the absolute most acclaimed chronicled locales of American music, and in the process he discovers topics of affection, passing, sex, and misfortune. The book even tosses in some unpretentious components of the powerful that help raise the anticipation.

The above scene may infer bloody minutes reminiscent of a Tarantino film, and Price's novel conveys a lot of rushes in that vein. In any case, the likenesses don't end there. Much the same as Tarantino's motion pictures, Blues Highway Blues is nothing without its soundtrack. This rhapsody is scored in a way that is almost as unmistakable as the story itself. It's the uncommon event where a book accompanies a soundtrack that feels like need, not an expansion.

So Ars made up for lost time with Price to hear more about the Blues Highway Blues extend. The writer discussed how he set out to create music as a friend piece to his arrangement of books and the difficulties he confronted when attempting to disperse a book and relating soundtrack.

Books with soundtracks—the future methodologies

Blues Highway Blues "was imagined as a feature of an arrangement in which I proposed to blend writing with other artistic expressions," Price said. "So I wanted to do a thriller about a movie producer in which I would have a free, remain solitary film existing together with it. I arranged another in which an appearing of artworks would contain pieces of information to a thriller about a painter. Blues Highway Blues was the music portion of that arrangement thus from its unique commencement I expected to make free music in conjunction with the novel."

These were enormous arrangements, however Price needed to approach things slowly and carefully. He needed to concentrate on the music similarly. So as he composed the novel, he at the same time composed and formed the tunes.

"I didn't know a thing about distributing or recording," Price said. "Truly, it was the main way I could have done it. On the off chance that I had ever comprehended the barriers in the method for such a venture I never would have attempted it."Price needed to offer Blues Highway Blues for sale to the public together with a collection of music that traversed the historical backdrop of American blues and shake. Unmistakably, it was an aspiring task. It didn't work out precisely like he arranged, however the book was at last discharged with a buddy acoustic soundtrack, Six Feet of Peace, performed by artist Tim Miller. The sound variant of Blues Highway Blues additionally incorporates one of those melodies.

So at last, there was music. However, Price didn't wind up completely envisioning his optimal soundtrack, the one that would visit all the significant periods from the blues the distance to grunge. The creator kept running into a few issues.

"I was miserably innocent about the endeavor," Price stated, "So when my distributer benevolently clarified that they couldn't be included in recording any of the tunes I'd composed, I was not adequately demoralized. There's my diligence once more—it soon ended up plainly clear to me that there was no real way to record the majority of the tunes as I'd kept in touch with them (and heard them in my mind) as delegates of different styles of American music. So I financed the recordings myself and I enrolled skilled artist lyricist Tim Miller to take my tunes and decipher them as pieces with simply his vocals and an acoustic guitar."

Cost proceeded with: "I think my distributer was astoundingly kind and strong. They made it clear that while they "got" my venture and cherished the idea, there were specialized and business leaps that just couldn't be cleared on their end. What's more, I feel that is precisely right. They likewise liberally offered to market such a soundtrack alongside the book if I could get something together."

This isn't the first run through books have been bundled with other media keeping in mind the end goal to round out a total ordeal. Booktrack bundles soundtracks for books as of now, and writers have been packaging soundtracks with their works for a considerable length of time. By and large, however, it's troublesome for distributers to bundle a print book or digital book with music in one smaller element. You can give a download code to MP3s or package them as an advanced bundle of book in addition to music, yet it appears we are still some time far from seeing incorporated combos through stores like Amazon, Apple's iBooks store, Barnes and Noble, and others.

In any case, Price sees today as simply the start. In his eyes, advanced conveyance holds a considerable measure of guarantee for a more entire sight and sound understanding for perusers. A book with a soundtrack that swells at the correct minutes to include more feeling would really be fundamentally the same as what silver screen did with sound. In the event that perusers request this sort of experience, the dispersion techniques and supporting outlets will take after. Yet, just those shopper propensities will decide future accessibility, and for some perusers, books are an ordeal they lean toward in confinement.

Cost isn't disheartened, however. "I for one predict a period when each electronic book will come with an assigned soundtrack, as well as with an assortment of surrounding mood melodies also," Price said. "I think you'll see certain abstract sorts like riddles coordinated with computer games so there are riddles that require control by the peruser consolidated into the content or thrillers that have other gaming openings fused into them. Also, I think we will all without further ado see item arrangement and advertisements fused into the story of books so that when you perused about a character getting a charge out of this item or that, the peruser will have the capacity to instantly buy the item for themselves through their tablets. The greater part of that is only a characteristic continuation of the development we're currently seeing."

Value sees the present playing field for essayists and craftsmen as greatly aggressive. Not exclusively is there seething rivalry for individuals' consideration, however there are additionally worries about theft. Discharging select music alongside a book may just build the weight in such manner. In any case, Price has considered these suggestions as of now.

"I think for any craftsman attempting to become famous in this greatly aggressive digital world, the greatest impediment is essentially achieving general society and getting saw," Price said. "While I positively regard (and will dependably secure) the money related premium that my distributer has made in me, being pilfered would just open me to more perusers. That is nothing that I especially fear. The monetary the truth is essentially that pilfering is practically by operation constrained to those couple of specialists in music, film, distributing who are at the extremely top of the nourishment pyramid. So it isn't so much that pilfering is taking cash from those of us who are attempting to get our vocations off of the ground and profit while doing it. Theft hits the individuals who are now profiting and need to verify that they get everything that is coming to them. I can't point the finger at them for that, yet I can't get worked up about it either."

For Price, this novel is quite recently the start in the melodic and artistic voyages he's outlining, regardless of the possibility that his fantasies of a genuine mixed media experience are as yet a couple of years away. The soundtrack for Blues Highway Blues isn't intended to be played as you read; there are no in-content notes about tracks blurring in or out. Rather, the soundtrack compares to occasions that unfurl all through a whole part, making listening a parallel ordeal, not a synchronous one.

[geekplus24-blog]

More elements iOS ought to take from Android? Ars perusers say something How applications are taken care of, consoles, content choice, and gadgets made the list.

Earlier this week, we sketched out five Android includes that we think would benefit some on the iOS side of the portable range (we additionally have a friend post that inspects the question backward). Google Now-style administrations, speedy settings in the Notification Center, changes to autocorrect and spelling proposals, and the capacity to set default applications and set home screen catches to joins inside applications all made our rundown.

In any case, as usual, Ars perusers were anxious to reveal to us what they think Apple could obtain from Android keeping in mind the end goal to make iOS an all the more convincing background. In the 200+ remarks on that piece, perusers offered thoughts and discussed over which elements were genuinely justified regardless of the Apple blessing. In spite of the fact that not everybody was in understanding (since when has that at any point occurred in the iOS and Android world?), we distinguished three primary subjects that surfaced again and again in the remarks: how applications are dealt with on iOS gadgets, how consoles are taken care of, and—drum roll, please—gadgets.

Applications could utilize some tweaking

It ought to shock no one that one of the primary things Ars perusers need iOS to receive from Android is the capacity to sideload applications without going through the App Store or escape. Kethinov was the first to bring up out in our remarks and numerous others concurred—however we don't think Apple will change its position on this at any point in the near future. It's enjoyable to dream, however, correct?

All the more sensibly, tommertron brought up two noteworthy application related elements that iOS could truly profit by: the auto-refreshing of applications and the capacity for applications to download information out of sight.

"It's such a moronic procedure on iOS to see that little App Store number keep increasing up then need to audit and refresh the applications. On the off chance that you have applications that you needed to utilize, you need to sit tight for every one of the updates to wrap up. I cherish that Android just updates them while you're not utilizing the gadget and gives you a little warning to see it's been finished. Furthermore, you can kill auto refreshing on a for each application level on the off chance that you truly need to," tommertron composed. "The other one is incredible for applications like Pocket. I can't check how frequently I've gotten on the metro, started up Pocket in my telephone, then acknowledged I didn't refresh before I cleared out. It's been wonderful having Pocket on my Nexus refresh when I spare an article while never taking it out of my pack."

dantesan likewise needs to have the capacity to share information between applications: "I simply need iOS to have the capacity to impart information to different applications standard as opposed to being particularly intended to do as such. For example, numerous applications let me send information to maps, yet I can't send delineate FROM maps to different applications. Some of the time I wind up having to email myself data to be gone into another application in light of the fact that the application I'm utilizing doesn't give me a chance to duplicate all content fields."

At last, Clint called attention to that Android clients can push entire applications to their gadgets from Google Play. "I can push an application from play.google to my Android gadget over the system. I don't trust iTunes has comparative usefulness," he composed.

Consoles, content determination, and more consoles

A few perusers had basic solicitations with regards to the iOS console, as Larkster. "In Android, the keys are shown with either upper or lower case letters relying upon what will show up when the key is squeezed," he composed. "I was utilizing an iPad as of late and was extremely off-put by the way that the console never-endingly indicates capitalized letters. I can comprehend that the planners may have needed to better recreate a physical console, however why restrain yourself to a senseless physical imperative when making a virtual console? Hell, I wish my physical console could have this component."

In any case, more than upper-and lower-case letters, Ars perusers needed the capacity to utilize outsider consoles set up of the standard iOS console that goes ahead their iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches. "They should take the capacity to have any sort of console you need like Android has. Apple iOS has the most exceedingly bad console on any tablet or telephone. The best console for Android, as I would like to think, is SwiftKey. Does it have bolt keys, as well as it can do Swype keyboarding also," Chadarius composed.

A peruser passing by cnerd2025 concurred: "I know other individuals have said it, yet the capacity to utilize an outsider console format and additionally message section framework. I am somewhat desirous of my Android-utilizing companions who have Swype sort treats. On the off chance that I am constantly going to have the capacity to utilize my iPad (or even iPhone) for anything expert, will require a proficient approach to enter content while utilizing the ctrl, alt, super/summon, and escape keys."

Furthermore, obviously, there's dependably gotta be no less than one individual to ask for the D-word. "Dvorak console format," composed woodelf. "I may like a Swype-style console, as well, once I got accustomed to it, however I've never utilized one."

Ars perusers had a few recommendations for content determination also in light of past involvement with both stages.

"I am at present utilizing both Android and iOS, I can state that the thing that baffles the damnation out of me the most is the iOS console, in blend with attempting to choose a particular point inside content," composed mcn31l. "When I go to make an amendment to something I have written, iOS appear to generally choose the finish of the word rather than where I need the "cursor". With Android it for the most part gets the perfect place and if not, there are the bolt keys to make life less demanding; iOS obliges me to hold down and locate the right spot."

giantbee was in all out understanding. "The greatest one for me, greater even than gadgets is a legitimate draggable content caret. Altering content on the iPad with the on-screen console is a horrendously uncertain task, yet in the event that I am far from home, I don't generally have a [Bluetooth] console with cursor keys convenient," he composed.

"For the present, I have introduced an application from Cydia called "SwipeShiftCaret" (or comparative) which enables me to at any rate move things in reverse and advances with swipe motions. It's somewhat cumbersome, however requests of size quicker and more exact than base iOS. Clearly, you require a jailbroken gadget to run it, however then that kind of free and valuable change not being accessible by means of the official courses is something else that I detest about iOS—you're screwed over thanks to an exceptionally vanilla ordeal."

Gadgets in abundance

"iOS doesn't have gadgets yet, does it?" asked Postulator. "These ought to likely be close to the highest point of the list of things to get."

Without a doubt, iOS does not have Android-style gadgets, and some would contend that iOS is cleaner and simpler to-use accordingly. (In case you're a Mac client who's not acquainted with what Android gadgets are, think OS X Dashboard gadgets, yet on your telephone.) But in light of the fact that there are clients who might never need a wonder such as this doesn't mean there aren't modest bunches of clients who might acknowledge gadgets on their iOS gadgets keeping in mind the end goal to get simple access to certain data on one screen.

"I'd additionally say gadgets," said another peruser passing by maximum_carnage. "Having the capacity to get from my logbook to my news peruser to my Facebook to my alternate ways, climate, and music with single swipes is so helpful."

Ars peruser pitmonster even presented a thought for how the gadgets could be outwardly laid out on an iOS gadget: "Perhaps gadgets produced using twofold width symbols, in a Windows Phone 7/8 style."

Let's be realistic here: Apple isn't probably going to jump on the gadget prepare at any point in the near future (and on the off chance that it does, the Ars staff will make sense of an approach to eat a cap). Still, it's truly evident that a few Ars perusers would love to see them show up. "I think gadgets would go far to giving iOS a refreshed feel, and I discover them very helpful," MonkeyPaw composed before tossing an issue that remains to be worked out interchange console sweethearts. "I likewise adore the Swype console."