#pointing the finger elsewhere or trying to avoid any responsibility for action based on this election

[curiosity-killed]

It’s always a little ironic when ~leftists online claim all conservative voters are stupid and then clearly could not pass a high school level quiz on the three branches of government

BUT on a more serious note, I do actually think it is dangerous to write off all MAGA/Trump voters as stupid. People vote for a reason. They vote for perceived power, protection, security, freedom—and they may be deceived, they may believe they’re voting for a knight in shining armor when they’re really voting in a thug, but they vote for a reason. White women didn’t vote for Trump because they’re stupid. White women voted for Trump because he represented protection and preservation of a status quo that benefits them in particular ways.

I don’t say this bc I particularly care if you insult conservatives & their shitty little bedfellows but because I think it is a dangerous and willful blindfold to pull over our eyes instead of looking at the reality that Trump wasn’t a one-off. Trump and his cronies appeal to a large swathe of the US population. They aren’t all stupid. They aren’t all just blindly voting for him without thought.

White supremacy is very much alive as an ideology and political force in the US—and the alternative to that (bc we do still live in a 2 party system) isn’t winning enough people over.

[the-insomniac-emporium]

Crimson Ties (Bela Dimitrescu/Reader, Soulmate AU) Pt. 1

Fandom: Resident Evil: Village Rating: T for language and mild medical drama Warnings: Brief depictions of medical treatments for blood loss and its symptoms Genre: Hurt + comfort Summary: Bela has always wondered who her soulmate was, the person she was connected to by red string. When she finally meets them, she's devastated to find them hanging in her basement, being drained of blood. But her soulmate won't die- not if she can do something about it. Notes: Soulmate AU in which people have a red thread tied to their left ring finger (or elsewhere if missing the finger/hand), which connects to their soulmate. By default the string is taut/tight, only getting loose when the pair is relatively close to each other.

1: Stem The Flow

How long had she waited for this day? How long had Bela monitored the red string tied to her hand, waiting for it to be anything other than taut? A decade, at the least, if not two or more. For so long she had dreamt of her soulmate, albeit discreetly, wondering about every facet of their being. Entire days had been spent imagining them, and how they would come into her life. Sometimes, on those days, she would gently tug her end of the thread. Every single time, without fail, her soulmate had returned the motion. It warmed her heart more than she’d ever admit, to know that her excitement was not one-sided.

At times, it did worry her, the feelings in her chest reminding her of her youngest sister. Daniela was obsessed with love, dangerously so, to the point of being downright delusional. More than once her “affections” had gotten their family into some sort of trouble. No matter how mature Bela considered herself to be, there was a part of her that worried about repeating her sister’s mistakes. What if her excitement about her partner led her to overlook something crucial? What if the person in question posed a threat to her family? How easy would it be, then, for her to cut them off?...

Today, perhaps, she would find out.

The sun had set over the Romanian landscape, and with the moon rose the Dimitrescu household. First out of bed, as always, Bela wasted no time in getting dressed. Hazy visions of her fading dreams clouded her mind, tugging on her thoughts as always. Most days they felt more like memories than anything else. Today, they are quieter than usual, easily fading into the background. When the last traces of her grogginess disperse, Bela finds herself glancing at her left hand. It’s a daily habit, although discreet, that always leaves her with bittersweet feelings.

“Wait…” Bela whispered, as her eyes took in the unexpected sight: The red string of fate, tied to her left ring finger, loose as can be. It trails to the ground, coiled a single time, before heading underneath her door. “Am I dreaming?” She does not bother to pinch herself to check. Instead she practically jumps into her shoes, dashing out of her room with unfamiliar glee. Maidens in the hallways have to leap aside to avoid her, but she does not care, for once ignoring the standards her mother had instilled in her. If her sisters could be chaotic, we couldn’t she?

So she follows the thread, eagerly, without even wondering why it was so loose. No, she didn’t think about the implications of the situation. In her mind, it did not matter why her soulmate was finally within her reach, it simply mattered that they were. Soon enough they would be in her arms, safe, with nothing else to bother them. And then she’d be happy, finally having someone she was on equal terms with. Finally having someone to confide in, to cherish, to whisper sweet nothings to in the dead of the night.

She doesn’t hesitate until she finds the string wrapped around the door to the basement. At last the signs click together in her mind, like a conspiracy board bound with crimson ties. Instantly panic replaces whatever excitement she had been feeling. Then she’s abandoning all sense of caution, throwing open the door and rushing forward, dispersing into a swarm to cover more ground. Even if she could no longer see the thread in this form, she was certain that she’d know exactly who her soulmate was when she saw them.

And, well, she does. Something calls her to the far corner of the main room, where a body was suspended from the ceiling by its hands. An all-too-familiar needle was sticking out of the person’s arm, leading down to a large glass container, which was slowly filling with blood. The scent made Bela’s nostrils flare, and her eyes go wide, but she did her best to fight against her instincts. Quickly she gets to her knees, examining the jar to see how full it was. Most of the measurement lines were faded, having been worn out over time, making it harder to estimate the volume. In the end, Bela guessed that the container could fit just over six liters inside. Which meant that the person had lost close to… two and a half. That was bad- behind bad, really. Horrible, actually. Immediately life threatening to the point of having been life threatening before Bela had even woken up.

“Don’t die on me, please,” she half cried half shouted, jumping into action as best as she knew how. Not even bothering to turn the nozzle on the device, she pulls the needle out of her soulmate’s arm, cursing when more blood rushes out of the hole. Then she’s applying pressure, hard as she can, beyond glad that they weren’t awake for this. One hand goes to tear a piece of fabric off of their shirt. Hopefully they wouldn’t mind, all things considered. Next, Bela ties the cloth around the collection point, making less of a tourniquet and more of a generic bandage. “Shit, you need a transfusion, don’t you?... Fuck, fuck, what’s your blood type?”

Knowing that she wouldn’t be getting a verbal answer any time soon, Bela settled for dipping a finger into the jar, bringing it to her lips, and licking. The difference in taste among blood types was subtle, but she was nothing if not a professional at this point. Still, the type is not immediately clear to her, and she knows that she might have to go around licking more blood from other prisoners. Unless… could someone receive a transfusion of their own blood? Such a thing had never happened at the castle before, but there was a first time for everything.

“Hold on, I’ll figure this out, somehow, I promise,” Bela said, gently taking her patient’s hand in her own. Taking your hand.

When you wake, you find yourself among the softest sheets you have ever felt, as if laying on clouds themselves. But your vision is blurred, and your head is besieged by waves of pain. A whimper makes its way past your lips. For a moment all you can do is tense up, unsure of any detail of your situation, unable to discern anything around you. Then you feel a hand on your own, squeezing gently. Something about it sends a rush of comfort throughout your entire body. Still, you are more confused than anything, and you find yourself trying to sit up out of instinct.

Without warning the hand lets you go, only for the owner to shift their weight, climbing on top of you in an instant. They’re holding you down, saying words that don’t quite reach your ears. For how light they are, they manage to put an impressive amount of pressure on you, easily rendering you immobile. Unfortunately, this position does little to ease your anxiety. The last thing you could remember was a very, very tall lady sticking a needle in your arm with a cruel laugh. Based on how you felt, there was still a needle in your arm. But you had been standing, or hanging, before, and now you were on your back.

“Whathe… wha the ‘ell… can’t 'hink,” you muttered, stumbling over your own tongue. Whoever sits on top of you tries to comfort you, running a hand through your hair. “Who are you?” You asked, even though you couldn’t understand a word this person said. Their voice might as well have been in another language, with the way your addled brain processed it. Had you lost too much blood? Or maybe you had a concussion? “I just. I just wanted to meet them. Please, I jus… I just wanna see my soulmate.”

Again, you cannot understand what the person says in response, but they finally seem to understand this. One of their hands reaches out and grabs your left one, slowly tapping your fingers, one by one. When they reach your ring finger, they pause, gently holding it. For a few moments you’re left even more confused. Then, with a surge of warmth in your chest, the dots are connected. Whoever is with you quietly grabs the thread attached to your finger, before tugging gently. In order for them to do that… well, there was only one explanation. They were your soulmate. They were the one you had gone to this accursed castle to meet. Somehow they had saved you, and everything was finally looking up.

Mind clearing slowly, you’re finally able to understand something they- or she, as far as you can tell- say.

“Rest now, my beloved. You are safe in my care, this I promise.”

[tamatoashiny123]

The Paris Pilfered Identity Case

This is a story I wrote a few months ago. I hope you like it!!!   :)

Boasting an annual 9.6 million viewers, the Louvre is the world’s largest art museum, located in Paris, France. Not only did the museum hold 38,000 historic artifacts and art pieces, its glass pyramid exterior was considered to be a work of art all by itself. 

One of the pieces of art located in the museum was the Seated Scribe sculpture. An ancient Egyptian work of art discovered in 1850 by Auguste Marriete, it depicted a scribe at work while in a seated position. And tonight, it was the target of Carmen Sandiego’s latest caper. 

Using her wrist-mounted grappling hook, the thief zipped up to the pyramid’s top point. “I’m in position,” she told Player (her hacker accomplice) through the communicators in her earrings. “Are the security systems and cameras deactivated yet?”

“They’re offline,” Player reported. “Considering how many valuables are in there, you’d figure their security systems would be a bit harder to turn off.”

“But I’m only after one thing: the Seated Scribe,” she reminded him. 

“Yep. Steal it and replace it with the phony sculpture before V.I.L.E. can get their hands on it and add it to Countess Cleo’s collection. Then, after V.I.L.E. takes the bait, you stealthily give back the real one to the proper authorities.”

As Carmen leaped to the section of the roof under the museum’s Egyptian Department, a car pulled up. It wasn’t a getaway car operated by Zack and Ivy, however (Carmen decided to take this as a solo mission while the pair stayed behind to fix up their base in San Diego along with Shadowsan). It was the car piloted by A.C.M.E agents Chase Devineaux and Julia Argent.

“If La Femme Rouge thinks zat she can waltz into my home territory of France and steal ANYTHING, she has another thing coming,” Chase told his partner as he popped a mint into his mouth. “Tonight is ze night zat Carmen Sandiego's career as a no-good thief comes to a decisive end!” 

“Well, maybe she’s acting preemptively in order to protect the object she’s stealing. There’s been a rash of Egyptian artifacts from museums all over the world recently,” Julia reminded her partner. “And it appears Carmen Sandiego is heading towards the Egyptian section of the museum right now.”

“No doubt Miss Sandiego was ze mastermind of zose other objects' disappearances as well.”

“But the few eyewitnesses we’ve gotten have all reported seeing men speeding away from the crime scenes. No girls.”

“Have you forgotten? Our little thief is a master of disguise. No doubt she posed as a man during zese crimes to throw us off her scent. But it'll take far more zan such acts of cross-dressing to shake ME off her trail. Now, let’s catch ourselves a thief!” he shouted, exiting the car and running towards the entrance.

“But shouldn’t we wait for backup?” Julia shouted to deaf ears. Frustrated, Julia looked up towards the roof, where she saw the thief cut a hole in the roof and slipped inside. Thinking, she grabbed her own A.C.M.E.-issued grappling hook and ran towards the roof. 

oOo

Removing the glass case off of the statue, Carmen removed the decoy statue from her coat’s inside pocket. With precision (as to not activate the pressure plate the artifact was no doubt placed on top of), she took the real Seated Scribe and immediately replaced it with the sham sculpture. As she deposited it into her coat pocket, Chase entered, his gas gun deployed.

"Hands where I can see zem, Miss Sandiego," he ordered.

She did as instructed. “As you wish, Inspector,” she sarcastically responded before lunging forwards and kicking the gas gun out of his hands, causing a small cloud of knockout gas to puff out. 

As Chase covered his mouth and nose with his jacket to avoid inhaling the gas, Carmen used her grappling hook to zip up through the hole she had come through. But waiting a foot away from the hole when she came up was Agent Argent, pointing her stun-laser pistol at the thief (Chief only gave Julia the laser pistol out of the pair as to minimize the damage Chase caused).

“Agent Argent,” Carmen casually greeted Julia, seemingly unfazed at the weapon being pointed at her. 

“Miss Sandiego, I trust you have a valid reason for your thievery of this artifact.”

“Of course I do: steal it before V.I.L.E can, then return it when their attention moves elsewhere.”

Julia smiled. “As I suspected. And I can confirm that you weren’t behind the recent global robberies of Egyptian artifacts?”

“Couldn’t stop them in time,” she explained. “So I decided to stop here to make sure V.I.L.E. couldn’t add this one to their list. So, now that I’ve fully explained my actions, I can take off now, right?”

“Miss Sandiego, you know I want to let you run off into the night, but...my job.”

“I get it. Your ‘job’: to catch thieves like me, per order of the Chief.”

“Well, yes-”

“But I’m a thief who works for the force of good! Doesn't the Chief know that?”

“I’ve tried to convince her of that so many times, but-”

“She doesn’t believe you.”

“It’s just given all the evidence-”

“I get it. Really, Julia, I do. But I won’t let you, your snooty partner, or any other A.C.M.E. agent get me-AUGH!”

Neither girls had noticed Chase climbing up onto the rooftop with his own grappling hook, sneak behind the thief, and jab her in the spine with his taser, causing her to collapse.

“Excellent work, Agent Argent,” he congratulated his partner as he ingested a celebratory mint. "Distracting her while I sneak up from behind and finish her off once and for all!"

“But sir,” Julia argued with her, “I was just talking to her. She was explaining to me that-”

“All lies she was spouting, I'm sure,” Chase cut her off. “Now zen, let's strip her of all her gadgets and get her into ze car. Ze Chief is going to get a little surprise tonight...

oOo

As luck (or quite the opposite of luck for Carmen) would have it, the Chief was in town to review evidence for a separate crime V.I.L.E. had committed. In his infinite wisdom (which drowned out Julia’s legitimate wisdom), instead of calling her to pick up Carmen from the museum, he decided to drive the thief to the police station the Chief was at the time, which was a few miles away.    

 Carmen was disarmed of all her tech (grappling hook, earring communicators, all the small gadgets that lined her coat pockets) as well as the Seated Scribe (nestled safely in the car’s glove box). Her arms were handcuffed behind her back and (on the orders of Chase) she was gagged with a white handkerchief between her teeth. 

“I will not let ziss thief try to use her charming words to get out of ziss one,” Chase bragged. “You are getting brought to A.C.M.E. custody whether you want to go or not.”   

“Nuh-guh oww-zee ee-eck-ib,” the thief muttered into the cloth gag.

Chase sat up front while Julia sat in the back next to Carmen in order to keep an eye on her. As the car sped off towards the police station, Julia gave Carmen a sympathetic look. 

“I’m so sorry it had to come to this,” Julia told the thief. “I hope Chase’s taser didn’t sting you too badly.”

“Do not apologize to ze criminal!” Chase chastised her. “She deserved ze voltage of my taser after all of the ze times she humiliated me! And no one humiliates Chase Deni Devineaux without suffering ze consequences!”

In response, Carmen delivered a hard kick to the back of his seat. Chase gave a dirty look to Julia, who reluctantly drew her taser and held out in an act of warning to the prisoner. 

“So sorry,” Julia whispered.

“‘t’s ah-kah,” Carmen whispered back.

Chase then drove in silence for a bit, humming La Marseillaise under his breath. As he did, Carmen looked for a way out of her predicament. Spotting the remote for the electronic handcuffs in Julia’s suit pocket, Carmen slowly leaned in towards the agent to try to get it. Seeing it in time, Julia grabbed the thief’s wandering fingers, stretched them out (hard enough for it to hurt in the moment, but no further than that), and shoved Carmen back upright. The red coat-wearer let out a soft growl into her gag while Julia flashed a tiny smile. 

“Yur ood,” the thief softly admitted.

Julia beamed at the mumbled compliment. “I know,” she jokingly bragged.

Carmen kept thinking about ways to escape. She had come up with a few ideas, but all of them risked harming Julia. As much as she wanted to rough Chase up, she couldn’t say the same thing about his partner, one of the only people in the world who truly understood her life’s goal: to steal with only good intentions in mind. As much as she hated to admit it, it looked like she’d have to find some way to escape from A.C.M.E. custody…

But suddenly, a miracle (of sorts) occurred: when Chase went to pop another mint into his mouth, he found the container to be empty. Grunting, he pulled into the parking lot of a convenience store, a mere mile away from the police.

“Sir, can’t you just wait until after Carmen has been handed over to the proper authorities to get more breath mints?” an incredulous Julia asked.

“And risk having a smelly breath while gifting La Femme Rouge over to ze Chief? No way!” he barked back, stepping out of the car. “I'll be just two minutes. Keep an eye on our little thief while I'm gone!”

Chase ran inside the store. As soon as he was gone, Julia took the gag out of Carmen's mouth. “I apologize about the gag, Miss Sandiego. It was Chase’s idea, not mine.”

“I know. How unfair it is, though, considering he’s the most deserving one in this car deserving of a gag.”

Julia giggled in agreement. “I just can’t believe that man stopped for breath mints in the middle of transporting a master thief. He’s practically addicted to those things.”

“You think I’m a ‘master’?” Carmen smirked. “Thanks for such a glowing compliment, Agent Argent.”

The two sat in silence for a moment, waiting for Chase’s return. Right before Julia was about to say something else to her prisoner when both ladies could hear the French agent shout from inside the store, “I DEMAND YOU LET ME IN FRONT OF ZE LINE! ZISS IS A MATTER OF POLICE URGENCY!”

Startled, Julia turned her body, causing the remote to fall out of her pocket. Seizing her moment, Carmen grabbed the remote and pressed the button, releasing her from the cuffs. Realizing what happened, Julia grabbed her taser, but Carmen grabbed her wrist and used her other hand to pry Julia’s fingers from the weapon, causing it to fall onto the ground. 

Realizing that she wouldn’t be winning this conflict, Julia tried exiting the car to contact Chase or any other A.C.M.E. agent, but it was too late; Carmen now had the taser. She grabbed the agent by her suit jacket and dragged her as far away from the car door as possible while pointing the taser at Julia’s spine. 

“Looks like the shoe is on the other foot now,” Carmen said with a warm smirk.

“N-now now, M-miss Sandieg-go,” a fearful Julia stammered out. “Let’s not do anything hasty.”

“Well, your partner thinks I am a ‘no-good creeminahl’. Maybe I should help to bolster his claims by giving you a nice little shock,” the thief half-joked.

“But I know your style: you never hurt the innocent; only the criminals.”

“100% right again, Agent Argent. But I would still not try to wrestle this taser out of my hands. After all, it might accidentally slip from my hands and nick you.”

Looking back towards the convenience store, both ladies could still hear Chase creating a ruckus inside. 

“How much longer do you think it’ll take for him to come back from his breath mint run?” Carmen asked. 

“I really shouldn’t be giving away such information-”

‘Remind me again: who has the taser here?”

Julia sighed. “Forty seconds until he realizes in his haste that he picked up fruit mints...which he hates, thirty seconds to find the peppermint-flavored mints he prefers, and two more minutes to shout his way back to the front of the line and come back here.”

“Excellent. I think that gives me enough time to make a little switch.”

“What type of ‘switch’?”

Not answering Julia’s question, Carmen gently grabbed the sleeve of the agent’s suit jacket and ran her fingers against it.

“Do you know my favorite thing about you, Julia, besides your brains? Even though I’m a whole five inches taller than you, your clothes should still be able to fit me just fine.”

oOo

Exactly three minutes and ten seconds later (just as Julia has predicted), Chase returned, three new containers of mints in hand. As he stepped back into the car, he briefly looked over his shoulder to make sure everything was as he had left it: both his pantsuit-wearing partner and the red coat and fedora-wearing thief bound and gagged next to her were both still sitting in the backseat. Satisfied, Chase started the car back up and sped off to the police station. As he drove, he noticed that Carmen was making far more noise into her gag than she had been before. 

“Save your voice, Carmen,” the French agent advised his prisoner. “I'm sure ze Chief will have a lot of questions for you to answer once she gets a hold of you.”

“I completely agree with you, Chase,” Julia said. “You need to stop, Carmen, before I whip out the taser again.”

Chase furrowed his brow as he cracked open one of the new containers. “Miss Argent, are you ok? You sound a bit different. And even more peculiar, you are AGREEING with me for once!”

“I’m perfectly fine, Agent Devineaux. I was just thinking: maybe you were right this whole time. Maybe Carmen Sandiego IS a no-good hoodlum that deserves to be brought to A.C.M.E. in cuffs.”

Over Carmen’s growls of anger, Chase smirked. “Miss Argent, I'm so happy you are starting to see things my way.”

Carmen could only roll her eyes at this point. 

oOo

Minutes later, the car pulled up to the police station. Julia was the first to step out of the car.

“I’ll alert the Chief of our arrival,” she told her partner, whose mind was on all of the praise that’d surely be coming his way in the near future. “Why don’t you take hold of the prisoner? That way, you can be the one to present her.”

“A fine idea, Miss Argent,” Chase said with a smile as he opened the car door. As he did, the Chief walked out of the police station with several other A.C.M.E. agents in tow. 

“Agent Devineaux,” she greeted him. “To what do I owe this visit?”

“Chief, Agent Argent and I were called in on a robbery to ze Louvre-”

He looked around to find his partner, only for her to have seemingly vanished into thin air. 

“Huh, she just went out looking for you,” he mused. “Oh well. I'm sure she'll be back any second. Anyways, we responded to ze robbery call and you'll never guess who we captured while we were zere.”

Proudly, he pulled the thief out by her coat and presented her to his boss. The Chief’s look of interest quickly turned into a scowl. 

“Agent Devineaux,” she addressed him sharply, “is this some kind of joke?”

"What do you mean ‘joke’?" he asked. “It is she, ze one who we've been trying to capture for months: Carmen Sand-what ze?"

Upon actually looking at the person he had brought in, he realized that this wasn’t Carmen Sandiego; it was his partner, Julia, who was dressed in the thief’s signature red coat and fedora while also wearing the handcuffs and gag. 

“Zat's impossible! I tasered her, placed her in ze car, and I checked zat she was still zere after I stopped for zose mints-"

“Let me get this straight,” the Chief questioned him. “You were transporting our most wanted target, and you stopped for BREATH MINTS?!”

As Chase continued to sputter out an excuse and while the Chief mentally questioned her decision to hire him in the first place, both didn’t Julia blush through all of this, as well as the note that fell from the red coat’s pocket. 

oOo

From a nearby rooftop, Carmen (still wearing her Julia ‘cosplay’) watched the scene unfold with a smirk, gently tossing the Seated Scribe (stolen back during the switch) between her hands.

“I gotta say, Red,” Player complimented her, “you look pretty fly in a pantsuit.”

“It’s a pretty snug fit, though,” Carmen noted, tugging at the sleeves. “Why couldn’t Chase partner with a girl my height?”

“Well, all’s right with the world again: the Seated Scribe is back in your possession, and Chase is in ‘le doghouse’ with the Chief. But I do feel a little bad for Julia, having to do her dirty like that.”

“Both of us girls won,” the thief assured her. “She didn’t have to catch me and I got away. And I think the note I left with her will make her day a bit brighter.”

“What note?”

“I scribbled it a block before we got to the station. It reads, You can keep this jacket too. I hope we can do this again sometime...but maybe without Chase.”

“What a cute love letter,” Player teased.

Carmen scoffed. “It wasn’t a love letter…”

“Well, I think you should know that I ship you with Julia. ‘Jules-Thief’, I call the ship.”

“Send me the fanfiction I’m sure you have featuring us girls later. Anyways, you have the hotel room ready for me?”

“A five star suite, courtesy of V.I.L.E.’s funds, is waiting for you, Red. Sending the coordinates now.”

As Carmen shot her grappling hook out and swung away, she could hear the familiar cry of “LA FEMME ROUGE!” echo through the streets of Paris. 

[the-quiet-winds]

Tides that I’ve Tried to Swim Against (part one)

good morning internet, i hope you’re keeping well. 

this piece is actually fairly new, @ichlugebulletsandcornnuts and i finished it just before i left on my hiatus, so... yeah...

anyway enjoy!

[Part 1: If You Find You]

it had been aragon who had answered the phone.

the call, for some odd reason, was from a television network, wanting to discuss contracts for a reality show based around their new lives and their stage show.

aragon, surprised and not quite sure what to say, asked for time to deliberate and said she'd call back the next day.

over dinner, everyone seems pretty excited, although jane is a little hesitant, but they go through with it.

so, a week later, a camera crew, producer, and director show up on the front door of their shared house.

they seem friendly enough on first meeting, simply explaining how things would work.

“it’s great publicity for your show,” the reality show director, a man named logan, grins. “we’ll just be here to capture all the action. we want to get a real sense of who you all are as a group.”

“we will require your cooperation in setting some things up, however,” the producer says. jane frowns.

“what do you mean ‘setting things up’?”

“nothing much at all,” logan waves a hand. “sometimes we might add a few little things, like using sponsored products or suggest you talk about a certain topic. it’s nothing to worry about, really.”

jane remains unconvinced, even as parr gives her shoulder a light squeeze, and logan takes her silence as a cue to continue.

"but other than that, we're going to show you all as you normally are," he concludes.

boleyn grins and stands up. "oh this is going to be so much fun!"

katherine and cleves join her, and the trio begin to animatedly talk about what they want to show the camera crews.

jane notices, just barely, logan point at them and give a half-smirk, but really doesn't think anything of it, too focused on trying to calm herself down.

they get told to ‘just ignore the cameras’ and to carry on with life as normal, but it’s more difficult than it seems.

parr, for instance, has a nervous habit of glancing directly at the camera every few minutes, and jane can’t help but notice the producer turning to logan and giving him a pointed look on parr’s sixth awkward glance.

boleyn and katherine get into a playful argument about the tv channels which turns into a giggling fight over the remote. logan gives the girls a huge thumbs up and a grin, which almost doubles in size when cleves leans over and grabs the remote from between the warring cousins, changing the channel to her own favourite.

aragon avoids the crew wherever possible, and whenever she is basically forced in front of them, she is always reading scriptures, to the point where they begin to avoid her all together.

parr is similarly shunted aside and is all but told she's 'too boring' for the show.

that moment, when aragon and parr are hung out to dry and basically kicked off a show that is supposed to be about all six of them, is the moment that finally pushes jane to talk to logan.

she doesn't quite know what she wants to say, so she starts with a basic question. "when are we going to do group stuff?"

“we don’t want to crowd up the shots by having too many people involved,” logan tells her with a wave of his hand. “although... now that you mention it, group things aren’t a bad idea.” he looks like he’s filing away that note for later and gives jane a disarming grin. she doesn’t return it.

“i just worry the viewers won’t be able to get to know aragon and cathy,” she adds, trying to sound as polite as possible, but logan’s face suddenly turns into a frown.

“lady, listen,” he says testily. “we’re the professionals here, and we know what we’re doing. leave it to us, understand?”

the sudden turn in logan throws jane for a loop. “i’m sorry?” she says, a bit of disbelief in her voice. “i’m just trying to look out for my friends-“

“-and you’re pretty damn annoying when you do it.”

if jane gets more upset, she doesn’t let it show. she walks off, intent on finding parr. logan watches her go then turns to his crew with a devilish grin. “i have an idea.”

“whatcha got?” the producer asks.

“well, maybe it’s time people knew the real jane,” she says, eyebrows lifting conspiratorially, and everyone somehow understands what he’s going for.

jane is none the wiser of their plan, and despite her annoyance the crew continues to film as usual. she notices a little more interfering than usual, however, as she’s sure none of the queens had ever purchased a skateboard before and yet three show up by the front door one day.

before jane can move them to avoid whatever chaos boleyn was likely to rope the others into, the producer approaches her.

“we’ve decided to include some confessionals in the show,” he says, and jane frowns.

“confessionals?” she was picturing the boxes in church where you were supposed to confess your sins before the producer clarified it.

“yes, where we interview you about the day’s events and you get to say your opinions on everything. we’ll be getting confessional shots of everybody, but as you’re here we’d like to get some done now, if you’re willing.”

“i...” jane looks around, but no salvation comes. “alright,” she finally agrees.

they bring her outside and into a small tent they’d pitched, with barely enough room for a chair, logan, and the camera man to all be together.

“be honest,” he says, smiling. “we want the real jane.” after she nods, he prompts the first question. “what do you think of our skateboard delivery?”

jane shrugs. “i find it a bit unnecessary, really. i don’t want to see anyone hurt, and i can imagine those boards, especially with the track record some of our girls have, could definitely lead to some broken bones and road rash.”

“could you elaborate on the track record?” logan prompts.

“i suppose so,” jane raises an eyebrow. “there’s been a few times in the past where we’ve had accidents, or physical injuries. kat’s ankle, for example.”

“what happened then?” logan pushes, and so jane tells the story of boleyn and cleves playing odds on, and how katherine joined in and ended up getting hurt. she doesn’t think anything of the question, really, even when logan moves on to the next question.

“so how did that make you feel towards the other queens? you can be completely honest. we want nothing but the truth here.”

jane looks startled. “i love them all,” she states firmly. “they’re all my family and i would lay down my life for them.”

even more surprising to jane is the faintly annoyed look that logan takes. “thank you for that passionate speech,” he drawls. “you’re free to go.”

with a huff and a scoff, jane climbs off the chair and goes off to find the others before they found the skateboards.

she’s just too far out of earshot to hear logan give an annoyed grunt. “we’re going to have to get a little more creative,” he says to the cameraman, and the cameraman nods in response.

---

predictably, nobody else was quite awake yet except parr, the used teaspoon in the sink indicating she’d made herself a drink and headed back to her room within the time jane was being interviewed.

jane’s thankful for this, as it gives her enough time to collect the skateboards and stow them safely in the cleaning cupboard, somewhere she knows the other queens don’t look very often. she gives a glare to one of the stationary cameras positioned around the house to capture the action as she passes it, and the slightly petty gesture helps her feel the tiniest bit better.

she fixes herself some tea and settles into the couch with a book, hoping to appear as boring as possible until other queens woke up to take the attention off her.

a little over an hour later, sleepy footsteps roll down the stairs and katherine appears in jane’s sightline. “good morning, love,” she greets.

the girl, obviously only barely awake, pitches over to her and immediately curls into her side.

“how did you sleep?” jane asks softly, stroking her hair with lazy fingers.

katherine mumbles something vague and incoherent and jane chuckles softly.

“not quite awake yet, are you, sleepyhead?”

katherine doesn’t reply, instead yawning and leaning against jane a little more.

jane lets katherine curl up against her for a few more moments before she gives her a gentle nudge. “would you like some breakfast, love? that’ll wake you up, won’t it?”

“yeah,” katherine mumbles. she allows herself to get pulled to her feet and led to the table, and jane throws small, fond smiles her way as she makes kat’s favorite waffles.

when they’re ready, she sets them on the table and drops a kiss on katherine’s head.

logan is watching everything from the stationary mounted cameras. he knows the story he wants to pursue, but how to do it?

it would be more difficult than it first seemed, that’s for sure. jane hadn’t taken any of the bait during her confessional and it would be hard to get the narrative they wanted from that.

it seemed the only way to do it, then, was through a little careful editing. if they could just get her to say the right things, then the editors could work their magic and get the perfect storyline ready.

all they needed, then, was the words from jane’s mouth, which would most likely require a little bit of intervention.

so they constantly get her alone, trapping her when the other queens were busy or being filmed elsewhere, and jane is absolutely sick of it. she doesn’t know what exactly their game is, but it’s getting very old very quickly.

“would you all please leave me alone?!” she finally snaps, hissing the words at logan after she’d been pulled aside for the fourth time that day. “i have things i need to do and people to look after, including my daughter, so i kindly ask that you lay off and annoy someone else for a little bit.”

in her annoyance she misses the tiny satisfied smile that creeps onto logan’s face.

“so sorry, jane,” he says. “we don’t mean to irritate.”

“well, it is irritating,” jane snaps, her frustration with the past day’s boiling over. “i have a lot of responsibilities in this house. i cook and clean for practically everybody, and you keep dragging me away for no reason at all. now if you’ll excuse me, katherine needs me.”

“she doesn’t need you all the time, surely?” logan asks. “unless what they say is true, and katherine really is oversensitive and immature.”

“katherine’s oversensitive and immature?” jane repeats. “who’s been saying that?”

“just people,” logan shrugs.

jane gives one final glower at the camera before stalking off.

she wouldn’t realize how badly she messed up until the first episode was cut and aired four nights later.

“welcome to ‘the palace’!” logan’s voice introduced the episode. “a look behind the scenes into the life of the queens, back to overturn history’s most infamous stories.”

katherine curls into jane’s side, parr seated on jane’s right, then aragon, with cleves and boleyn on the floor.

“and boy,” logan continues, “do we have some shocking stories to show you.”

boleyn’s, cleves’, and katherine’s faces are plastered on the screen. “anne boleyn, anna of cleves, and katherine howard are far from stuffy historical figures you read about. they’re fun-loving and wacky.” the video of them bickering over the remote cuts on. “but tonight, we’ll expose someone and something no one is expecting.” jane’s face appears on the screen. “we’ll show you the real jane seymour.”

the voiceover ends and the opening credits begin, an electronic beat over some shots of the queens.

there’s tellingly no footage of aragon or parr except in a couple of group shots, as well as a seemingly out of place shot of jane glaring at the camera mixed in with cleves, boleyn and katherine laughing and joking.

the queens didn’t know it yet, but this opening credits would set the tone for the entire episode.

the first fifteen minutes after start relatively calmly. there’s footage of boleyn, katherine, and cleves being their usual goofy selves, and even a confessional from katherine about how much more confident she feels in this new life with her family. jane hugs her a little closer and beams.

the smile fades in the next few seconds, when she becomes the prime subject of the episode.

“many think jane seymour to be a kind, loving maternal figure to the other queens, especially the young katherine howard,” logan’s voice says, complete with the footage of jane making katherine breakfast, then his voice comes back more serious. “but that’s just the side she wants everyone to see. this is the real jane seymour, take a look.”

they had cut together her rant and confessional to make her seem spiteful, that she hated taking care of the house and queens, and even added a slight bit of auto tune to the bit where she challenged someone saying katherine was weak and immature to make it sound like she was saying exactly that.

some of it was played over footage of what had truly been jane playfully telling off boleyn and katherine for making a mess in the kitchen, edited to give it a sinister edge and making it look truly real.

jane feels her heart plummet into her stomach with every word. katherine goes incredibly rigid next to her at the speech, and by the end of it all the other queens are staring at jane, eyes wide.

the show cuts to an advertisement break and parr speaks gently.

“jane? what happened?” she doesn’t seem angry about it, more confused, and jane takes some tiny bit of comfort in the fact that she wasn’t immediately being accused.

jane looks from the tv to the queens to the cameras. “they played me,” she says quietly. “they kept annoying me and i snapped and...” her eyes fall back on the tv. “they made that.”

everyone was silent, and jane doesn’t know if she’s relieved no one is accusing her or hurt no one is defending her.

“it wasn’t real,” she insists softly.

“i believe you,” aragon speaks first. “i’ve had a bad feeling about those tv producers since day one.” she glares at the tv as if it were the crew. “not a scrap of integrity between them.”

“thank you,” jane gives her a small smile, grateful for the support.

parr and cleves agree as well, nodding slowly but not speaking.

boleyn and katherine are a little harder to convince. boleyn and logan are growing close, surprisingly, they tend to feed off each others’ energy and have become friends. katherine, however, feels lots of old insecurities about the inevitable day when jane wouldn’t want her anymore and would stop wanting to be her mum.

both boleyn and katherine sit very rigid, staring at the tv and barely blinking.

“anne? kat?” jane says, somewhat desperately. “please, say something.”

“i mean,” boleyn starts, her voice weirdly high-pitched. “i don’t think you’d say that kind of stuff, but logan’s not the kind of person to trick someone like that. maybe you both just misunderstood each other?”

she doesn’t look at jane, still staring at the tv, and she awkwardly steeples her fingers.

jane can't lie: it hurts a little, the way anne doesn't believe her completely innocent. but she can't be mad at her for defending a friend as well.

she turns her attention to katherine, who had slowly pulled herself from jane's side, looking at the tv and then her mum as the show started playing again.

it was more of the same nonsense about jane's cruel intentions, but jane can see the fear and anxiety rising in katherine's eyes, and she hates that she can't do anything to reassure her.

she tries anyway, another gentle “i promise, nothing i said was directed at you,” but katherine sinks back into the couch and brings her knees up to her chest, practically curling up into a ball.

the rest of the programme is much of the same, contrasting boleyn, cleves and katherine’s banter with jane’s supposed cruelty while aragon and parr and completely absent.

as soon as it's over, katherine stands up and leaves, heading upstairs to her bedroom and closing the door without a single word to any of the queens.

jane sighs, putting her head in her hands. "why would they do this?" she muttered. "there's no reason for them to do this to us."

"ratings," aragon says with a shrug. "reality shows need a character to hate or there's no fun it at all."

everyone gives her a strange look and she sighs. "there's nothing on a lot of the time, it's all that they play."

“but...” boleyn shifts uncomfortably. “but logan wouldn’t do that. right?” she glances between the other queens. “like, he’d know what that would be like for jane, so he wouldn’t do it. right?”

jane sighs, not wanting to drive a rift in the friendship between boleyn and logan, but needing to tell the truth.

“he was acting strangely towards me,” she admits. “getting weirdly annoyed at things i was saying when i asked about... about how little they were filming parr and aragon.”

anne scowls slightly. “i really think you both just misunderstood each other, that’s all,” she insists, not wanting to favor one friend over another but her affection for logan was as strong as it was for jane.

jane looks at her forlornly then stands. “i’m going to go find kat.”

“maybe i should,” parr interjects. “i’m not sure she wants to see you right now,” she continues softly.

it pains jane to hear it, but she knows parr is right and sits down again.

“okay,” she nods. parr gives her a small smile and heads upstairs. she gently knocks on katherine’s door.

“kat? it’s me.”

there’s silence from the other side of the door, then it creaks open. katherine is standing there, tear tracks staining her cheeks and her teddy bear clutched under her arm.

parr enters slowly and lays down beside kat, gently stroking her arm. “it’s cathy, kid. i’m here.”

kat turns over, surprisingly, and looks at parr with wide, worried eyes.

“i know you’re scared, mon petit ange,” parr soothes, “but you need to have faith in your mum. she didn’t mean any of it.”

katherine doesn’t answer.

---

as it turns out, katherine is not the only one left with a soured impression of jane after the show airs.

the next evening at the show, jane is in slightly low spirits, katherine being dodgy and anne being stubborn, but tries not to let it show.

“right, i think it’s my go next,” she says her line after boleyn’s ‘wearing yellow to a funeral’, and is met with actual, loud, boos.

parr shoots a glare in the direction of the audience members who’d done it, but the damage is already done. they try to carry on the scene, but jane stumbles over her lines, and as the opening bars of her song play the same group of audience boo again.

jane tries not to let it affect her; it’s just a few people, a few rude people who let their perspective of her be altered by some reality show. it stings, though. it really stings, in fact, and she tries desperately to hold back tears.

the hurt from the booing and the disappointment she feels radiating from kat, coupled with the general loss and guilt from her son, sends her into tears early on in the song. she fights through them, even as her voice cracks once or twice.

by the time her song ends, it’s dead silent in the theater. no one knows if it’s okay to clap or not, then that same group begins to boo again.

they all hurry offstage as cleves introduces the next number, and katherine won’t even look at jane as they collect their ruffs and sunglasses.

the rest of the show is awkward and disjointed, but at least there’s no more booing. one of the ushers had seemingly told the group that if they interrupted the show again they’d be removed, which was enough of a threat to keep them quiet for now.

this doesn’t change the fact that at the end of the show the energy from both the queens and the audience is completely off. parr grabs a camera from the front row and makes her usual rounds, but the joy is missing from everybody’s movements and much less people wait around for the end of the music before they start to gather their belongings.

“i’ll kill them,” aragon announces fiercely as they make their way to the dressing room. “i’ll kill them with my own bare hands for that.”

no one quite knows where this protective fire is coming from, but just one look at jane, trailing behind the pack and nearly dragging her feet, head held low in shame, is enough to make anyone want to help.

“it’s alright,” jane suddenly and softly protests, “after the tv show, i can hardly blame them for their reaction.”

“it’s not fair, though,” aragon insists. “surely they know that reality tv is all fake anyway. even i know that, and i’ve been dead for five hundred years!”

jane just gives a weak shrug and parr wraps an arm around her shoulders.

“this can’t go on,” she says seriously. “i know you said you don’t think he did this on purpose, anne, and maybe he didn’t, but still, logan cant keep doing this if it’s affecting the show like this. it isn’t publicity, it’s slander.”

“but-“ anne tries to protest, then loses her words.

“there are no buts,” aragon goes on, but softer this time, sounding a bit like parr almost. “if he’s doing this even by accident, look at the toll it took on the show, even after just one episode.”

anne remains unconvinced. she screws face up in concentration and frustration and blurts out, “maybe jane should stop being so sensitive!”

jane inhales sharply, and there’s a moment’s silence.

then, aragon explodes.

“are you hearing yourself right now, anne? are you genuinely, truly saying that being put off by a crowd booing you is being sensitive? you of all people should know how it feels to have people hate you when you don’t deserve it.”

“that’s completely different!” boleyn protests, voice getting louder and louder. “jane had a few hecklers. you can’t fucking compare that to a whole country calling me a traitor and a witch!”

jane stands very quietly at the corner of the room. aragon and boleyn are engaged in a shouting match, parr and katherine are no where to be found, no doubt somewhere where parr is trying to convince katherine to let her mother in, and cleves is probably thinking about fighting the camera crew.

it get so loud so quickly, with the cleves and the tv crew and parr and katherine all bursting into the room at the same time, and jane can't take it anymore. she stumbles into the hallway and falls to the floor, right in front of joan and maria.

“jane, are you okay?” maria asks, concerned. jane doesn’t answer, trying to shut out the noise of the yelling, mingling in her head with the booing from earlier.

“should i get someone?” joan says quietly to maria, who nods, but jane suddenly shakes her head.

“no. no, i’m okay. i just need a moment.”

joan and maria look at each other unsurely and sit down. joan sits next to her, running soothing circles on her back with a hand, and maria across, hoping to provide some sort of barrier from the chaos.

of course, this didn’t work.

logan and his crew rush out of the room, camera on jane. “jane seymour would rather sit on the hallway floor with the band-“ aragon nearly strangles him for not even using their names- “than with her fellow queens!” he announces.

“excuse me,” maria says tersely, “but could you kindly shut the fuck up?”

“don’t,” jane half-chokes out. “he’ll use that footage against you.”

“don’t care,” maria shrugs. “at least i’ll be in good company.”

“alright, i think that’s enough,” cleves says, calmly but firmly. “we’d like you to leave us alone, logan. we can talk about everything back at the house, but this isn’t the place or time for you to record.”

with a slight smirk, logan follows as he was directed, pulling the tv crew out a side door, leaving cleves, maria, and joan in the hall.

no one knew what kind of profound effect that would have until the next episode aired five days later.

not only do they sling jane's name in the mud again, but they drag maria down with her, framing her as an emotionally unstable drummer with anger management issues.

at the episode's conclusion, jane receives a text from maria independently, not in their group chat.

"they're reconsidering my contract," is all it reads.

jane feels a panic run through her. this was all her fault, if she hadn’t reacted like she did then maria wouldn’t have said those things to logan and he wouldn’t have had dragged maria down with jane.

if aragon ever found out it was jane’s fault that her former lady-in-waiting and oldest friend’s job was in danger, then she could kiss goodbye to any further support from her.

jane can’t let this happen to anybody else.

it’s harder said than done, however. the drama is causing amazing rankings, and logan keeps flaunting the license from both the tv station and the stage show’s producers to keep himself running.

there’s only one thing she can do.

the following night, after cooking a big pasta dinner for all the queens, alternates, and ladies in waiting, she looks them in the eyes as they all expectantly wait for her ‘big announcement’ from the couch.

“i’m quitting six,” she says firmly.

[writerunsolved]

The Drunken Mistake - Ch. 7

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Category: F/M

Fandom: Real Person Fiction

Relationship: Tom Hiddleston/Reader

Genres: Fluff and Humor

Language: English

Chapters: 7/?

Summary:  You're a young up-and-coming singer based in London who has just released her first album.

After a wild night at the VMAs and some heavy partying and drinking at the afterparty, you write and publish a drunken tweet about a certain celebrity and one of their friends. You only realise what you've done the next day when a slew of texts and calls wakes you up to a dreadful but expected hangover. You immediately delete the tweet, but you're left to deal with the consequences. A public apology would probably be enough to make everything go away if you hadn't been invited to a movie premiere where said celebrity is most certainly going to be.

You decide that the best course of action will be to try and avoid them, but your plans almost never go the way you want them to.

Author’s Note: Quick PSA: I’d noticed getting fewer notes than usual on the last two chapters. I later found out that Tumblr has killed internal links too, which means that my updates supposedly didn’t show up in searches. For this reason, starting today, I have to stop linking to my previous and next chapters. To make extra sure you don’t miss any updates, you can also subscribe to this fic on AO3.

Seen the situation, your reblogs are more important than ever! Remember to support your favourite creators on Tumblr by reblogging rather than liking their posts, it is the only way their work can get around and reach a wider audience! Thank you in advance for reading!

Previous chapters can be found on this blog.

Chapter Seven - Just As Sweet As Coffee And With The Same Aftertaste

-

When you’d gotten home after the dinner, you had just as mechanically divested and put on your pyjamas. Only once you’d laid down on your bed to sleep, had the weight of what had happened finally dawned upon your mind and quickly become a thought to worry about.

In the safety of your bedroom and under the cover of darkness, as well as the more literal duvet that the cold weather had started requiring, your brain had once again begun spinning out of your control providing you with ever new anxieties. You had soon started examining your behaviour during the whole evening, considering the way you’d eaten, laughed, drunk, the subjects you’d decided to talk about, and every single reaction you’d elicited from Tom. But the one thought that had kept circling back throughout your meticulous examination had been that of the almost-kiss you had almost-shared.

Right then, an unbearable feeling of embarrassment had burned inside you like a sudden stab, and you had immediately felt the shame that came with presuming that none of it had been reciprocated. Once the belief that you had forced yourself on poor, polite Tom had taken root in your head, sleep had seemed like a distant memory you had no idea how to chase, nor grasp.

At some point, you had lost any sense of the time passing, so much that only the vibration of your phone on the nightstand had finally made you realise how late it had gotten. When you’d hurriedly snatched it to check who it was, desperate for any kind of distraction from your own train of thought, the single text you had received had been enough to put your mind at ease and make you decide that it was time to try and sleep.

“I had a wonderful night,” it had read, “I look forward to next time.”

You hadn’t answered right then, only seen that it was almost 2 AM and turned around with a smile on your face, determined to rest.

When you finally did wake up, you were drowsy enough that the memory of the previous night wasn’t the first thought in your mind. You checked your phone and saw that it was almost 11 AM, panic shot through you for just a second before you remembered that it was Sunday and you had no work, so you relaxed back into the mattress with a sigh.

You instinctively reached for your phone, mostly to check if you had any new texts, not yet remembering that you still had one from Tom to answer. When you took it in your hand, his notification was still there, hitting you with a mix of undefined emotions.

“Hi, and good morning :) I also had a great time, we should meet again soon," you sent him in response. Then, in another text, you added, “If work allows, of course.”

You wondered just for a moment if it sounded like you were making excuses not to meet again, but your worry was instantly alleviated by him replying “I’ll definitely let you know when I’m free again, and I hope you’ll do the same.” You agreed and for the rest of the day you texted back and forth like you’d been doing for a while now, and the normalcy of it kept your preoccupations about the night before at bay.

The next few days passed in much the same fashion, with the exception of going back to work on Monday. You were distracted enough with new interviews and finally some meetings to determine when and where your upcoming concert tour would take place, that you barely had time to dwell on your anxieties again.

They had certainly faded from your mind that Wednesday when you were having lunch with Nina at a small place on the same street as the label building.

You were sitting down at a sleek square table, lunch in front of you, and slowly picking at the food while Nina spoke rapidly into her mobile phone. You had no idea what she was talking about, her voice fast enough and low enough that you could only catch a couple of words here and there, like “Liam” and “Be on time” and a whole lot of “No”. You looked distractedly around you, the small restaurant had a cold, minimalistic vibe to it, with polished aluminium tables and chairs. It was the first time you ate there, Nina had been the one to suggest it, you didn’t mind the food but it wasn’t anything special.

A lot of people kept coming and going, only very few opting to sit down in the small space that the restaurant allowed, and most just grabbing paper bags full of food to take away and eat elsewhere. You really didn’t understand the appeal of the place, but you imagined it would certainly be convenient to stop there and pick up a quick meal if you worked in one of the many office buildings of the area.

Your inconsequential thoughts were interrupted by Nina almost slamming the phone down on the tabletop and declaring, “This is why I don’t want interns, they’re only a waste of my time.” She sighed loudly and faced you, shaking off the annoyance of the phone conversation and digging into her lunch with vigour.

“Sorry for that,” she started, carelessly waving her fork around and talking animatedly, “Talking to Liam is like screaming into the wind. He’s always carrying that notepad around and writing everything down, and yet he still calls me for every tiny thing,” she huffed again, “Unbelievable.”

You nodded in sympathy, “I guess it must be hard to keep up with you,” you told her, “Not even I have any idea of the number of things you get done in a single day.”

“Don’t defend him,” she groaned and pointed at you with her fork, you felt mildly threatened, “I know I’m a force to be reckoned with, but if he wants to get anywhere at the label he’s gonna have to learn.”

You replied with a small “Fair enough,” and took another bite of your lunch, Nina did the same.

“This food isn’t all that much,” she commented, “I shouldn’t have trusted Mike, but anyway...” She paused and quickly ate another mouthful or two, then directed her attention at you, “I don’t believe you’ve told me about your dinner the other night.”

Her change of subject surprised you enough that you almost choked on the food you’d just put in your mouth. You started coughing convulsively, barely managing to swallow a crouton before it choked you to death. Nina just looked at you silently, unscrewing the water bottle you were sharing and pouring some of the liquid in your glass. You thanked her with a look and gulped down the water, finally able to breathe normally again.

“Is that a positive or negative answer?” she asked you with a smirk.

You straightened up and gave her a nasty look, “Very funny.”

“It was a little bit funny,” she pushed her thumb and index finger together to show how much, “But mostly it was adorable, I can’t believe how much of a goner you are.”

You spluttered, you were just about to reply when your phone, which had been sitting on the side of your glass, vibrated with a new text alert. You ignored your train of thought in favour of checking the notification but didn’t get any further than seeing that it was from Tom because Nina started laughing. You looked at her, confused by her reaction.

She pointed at the phone you were clutching with the hand still holding her fork, “See, you have no leg to stand on! You literally stopped mid-thought to check if he was sending you a text.”

“I- I wasn’t- I didn’t! I-” you stuttered, trying to find something to defend yourself, “We were just… We were already texting before!” you almost shouted. Then, realising your sudden increase in volume, you cleared your throat and tried again in a much lower voice and a casual shrug, “It would be rude to leave him hanging.”

Nina smiled and rolled her eyes, “Oh, you are just so,” she elongated the word, “Considerate.”

“Well, excuse me,” you rebutted, an exaggeratedly haughty look on your face.

“Go on,” she urged you, “Read it. I know you’re dying to.”

“I’m not dying to,” you muttered but didn’t hesitate to open up the text. For some reason or other, you and Tom had started talking about the cartoons you used to watch as children, you had no idea how you’d gotten to the subject, and he was just following up on the conversation. You shot back a quick answer and put the phone back on the table.

“Anyway,” Nina started again when she saw you were done, “I really do want to know about dinner. Come on, don’t leave me hanging,” she pouted.

“It was just dinner,” you answered, “There isn’t all that much to say, really...”

“Okay, okay, I get it,” she nodded, “I can tell you don’t want to talk about it.” You wanted to protest, but she continued in a more serious tone, “Just remember that we’re friends, and whenever you’re ready - and if you feel like you need to - you can talk to me, okay?”

You shook your head gently, “I appreciate it, Nina. But, honestly, you’re making it out to be much bigger than it is.”

“I know you, hon,” she repeated, “And I’m pretty sure you’re stressing about this. But I also know that you need time to think about it by yourself, which is fine,” she insisted, “But don’t feel like you have to keep everything inside because you think we’re gonna judge you or something like that.”

“It’s not that,” you sighed and looked down at the table, nervously picking at the edge with your index finger, “I’m just not sure of the situation, and I don’t feel like I’m ready to share what’s going through my mind yet. I need more time to clear my head is all,” you finally admitted and looked up at Nina. She was smiling kindly.

“It’s okay, hon,” she reassured you, “I’ll still be here later.”

You forced yourself to smile back, trying to show your gratitude, but the feeling of being a bad friend was nagging at you. Something in you wanted to push and make you open up, but your insistence to deny that you were feeling anything at all was much stronger. Sometimes you just wished you could be a better friend to the people supporting you.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Nina changed the subject swiftly, “The 4 PM meeting on Friday was cancelled, so you can definitely make other plans for the evening. And Monday, too,” she added, “My parents are gonna be in town, so I’m giving you a day off,” she winked.

“Nice!” you commented, then asked her, “How are your parents by the way? It was so lovely meeting them last May.”

“They’re fine,” she waved a hand dismissively, “They’re enjoying retirement in their dreamy French villa, as usual. You should join us for dinner on Monday, they loved meeting you, too. They were smitten by that talentueuse jeune fille,” she said the last sentence in an exaggerated French accent, an imitation of her parents’, “And wouldn’t stop talking about you.”

You laughed. The rest of the meal was spent making plans for the dinner on Monday. After that, you both went back to work. Later in the day, you texted Tom to let him know you would be free on Friday afternoon and asked him if he wanted to get coffee. He accepted enthusiastically and promised to discuss specifics later in the day.

-

Amidst your hectic working hours, Friday seemed to come in an instant.

You’d heard from Tom again and, in the end, you’d agreed on going to Caffé Piccolo. You’d mentioned their amazing coffee in previous conversations, and he was thrilled to finally get to experience it too.

That day, you managed to leave work exactly at 4 PM. The morning meetings about the tour had been slow-going and full of technical information you couldn’t do much about. In fact, you weren’t sure why your presence had been required at all, but you hadn’t minded too much and Nina had also been there.

You exited the building and looked at the time on your phone. You and Tom had arranged to meet at a quarter to five in front of Caffé Piccolo, which meant that you still had forty-five minutes to get there, it would be more than enough time to make it without being late. You looked up at the sky, thick grey clouds hovered above the rooftops, promising rain. You frowned, hoping that you would make it home before the weather turned for the worse, then walked away toward the tube station.

You made it to the café with a few minutes to spare and no rain on your path. You briefly considered whether to wait for Tom inside, but in the end, opted to stay where you were. Soon enough, you saw him hurrying down the street from the same direction you’d come, straight from the metro.

When he reached you, you could see that he was wind-swept and that he’d probably ran to make it in time. His hair was in complete disarray and his coat was unbuttoned, showing that he was wearing a soft navy-blue sweater underneath.

“Hi!” he greeted you cheerfully, a huge smile on his lips. He passed a hand through his hair, trying to slide it back in place, but it did very little. “Sorry, I’m late.”

You smiled back, “Oh, don’t worry, you’re not late,” you reassured him, “I got here a bit early, but you’re perfectly on time”.

He touched your shoulder gently and said, “It’s good to see you again,” then, he hugged you tightly.

You felt just as off guard as the first time you’d hugged. You guessed it would take a while before you would get used to it. You obviously didn’t hate it, but you had trouble letting yourself go, though you did try. By the time you separated, you’d even managed to reciprocate the hug.

“So this is the legendary Caffé Piccolo,” he said, looking behind you at the small door, “Did I say it right?”

“I’m not one to judge,” you joked, “But be reassured that if you say it wrong inside, they won’t hesitate to correct you.” He laughed, you added, “And I’m not sure about legendary, but their coffee is certifiably extraordinary.”

“I was excited to try it before, but now I can’t wait one more second. Shall we go in?” he asked, extending a hand towards the door.

You nodded and turned around to make your way inside, keeping the door open for Tom who followed you in and thanked you. You let the door close behind him and looked around, searching for an empty table. You couldn’t see Andrea, at his place at the cash register was his mother Santuzza, who immediately saw you enter and welcomed you with a huge smile.

“Andrea! Vieni un attimo alla cassa! ” she shouted toward the back, from which Andrea appeared. He quickly took his mother’s place at the cash register so Santuzza could make her way towards you, open arms ready to squeeze you. “Gioia mia, it’s so nice to see you!”, she spoke with a thick accent and her smile still in place. As soon as she reached you, she threw her arms around you and crushed you into the sweetest hug she could manage.

“Mrs Fusco, I’m happy to see you, too,” you told her when she let you go. You massaged your left side carefully, she had pushed so tightly around you, that you couldn’t help but jam your own elbow into the side of your ribs. You could see Andrea behind her punching in one of the costumers’ order, he raised his eyes from the cash register and spotted you looking back. He greeted you with a small wave of his hand and went back to his task.

“Oh, please, tesoro mio, call me Santuzza. How many times do I have to tell you?” she chastised you, then asked, “What are you doing here, goia?”

“I brought a friend to try your magnificent coffee,” you replied, gesturing towards Tom, who was watching the exchange with a tiny smile.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs Fusco,” he told Santuzza, then introduced himself, “I’m Tom, I’ve heard amazing things about your establishment.” He extended his hand, and when Santuzza did the same, he lifted her hand to his lips and gently kissed it. You could immediately see how flattered the gesture had made her and covered your mouth to hide the impressed grin that had bloomed on your lips.

“Oh my,” Santuzza almost blushed, “What a charming young man you have there,” she turned to you, “Mi raccomando, amore mio, tienitelo bello stretto.”

You laughed slightly, sure that the compliment had made Tom bashful, but not of what Santuzza had told you with her last sentence.

“Enjoy the coffee,” she told you both and went back to her place at the cash register, pushing Andrea back towards the kitchen in the back.

“You speak Italian?” Tom asked you while you made your way to one of the small tables next to the large window that overlooked the front of the store.

You took off your coat and draped it on the back of your chair before sitting down, Tom did the same. “Not really,” you told him, “I’m not sure what she said, to be honest, I only understand the pet names because she uses them so much.”

“I see,” he replied, “She was calling you ‘love’, and ‘joy’, and ‘treasure’. I can understand a little Italian, but not enough to know what she told you, I’m afraid,” he explained.

“That’s impressive!” you commented, widening your eyes, “You should teach me what you know sometime.”

“Why not,” he smiled, then changed the subject, “I assume you come here a lot, you seem very close with the owner.”

“Owners, actually,” you specified, “Santuzza and her husband Giovanni opened the café with their son Andrea.” Tom was listening interestedly. “From what I know, Andrea went to a business university here in London. When he went back to Italy after that, he convinced his parents to move to London too and to open Caffé Piccolo,” you explained, “They already had a small place back in Italy, and he believed they could really get somewhere with their coffee specialities.”

Tom looked around, almost every other table in the room was occupied, and there were several people waiting in line for their coffee at the counter. “I think he might have had the right idea,” he joked, referring to the small crowd.

You chuckled. “I know I amped up their coffee a lot,” you emphasised the last two words, “But I swear I wasn’t lying.”

Before Tom could answer, Andrea had reemerged from the back of the café and was approaching your table. “Bellezza, it’s been a while,” he greeted you. He looked around and towards the entrance before continuing, “No Nina today?”

“Hey, Andrea,” you greeted him with a smile, “Nope, no Nina.” He sighed in relief. “I brought a new friend today.”

At that, Andrea noticed Tom, who was sitting cross-legged in front of you with a small smirk, and gulped. He spluttered several times before squeaking out, “I didn’t know you were friends with Tom Hiddleston.”

You snickered at Andrea’s loss for words, he was probably mourning Nina’s absence just then.

“Hi, Andrea, nice to meet you,” Tom offered his hand to shake, still smirking and going along with your teasing.

Andrea took it and said, “It’s the same for me, Mr Hiddleston.”

Behind Andrea’s back, you widened your mouth in amused surprise and outrage: Andrea had never been that polite to Nina and you!

“Please, just Tom,” he answered. When their hands separated, Andrea took a step back and looked between you and Tom squaring his shoulders in the semblance of a professional demeanour, and asked, “Are you ready to order?”

You glanced at Tom and asked him, “Would you mind if I ordered for you?”

“Please,” he replied, “Go ahead.”

“Do you like chocolate?” you asked him one last time, and when he nodded you turned to Andrea and finally said, “We’ll have a Marocchino and a Caffé al Ginseng, please.” Andrea, who had taken out a small notepad, wrote the order down and nodded, leaving the two of you and walking back towards the counter.

“I’m kind of curious about what you just ordered,” Tom started, “But I also want to keep the surprise alive,” he joked. You laughed. A beat or two of silence passed before he spoke again, “I was surprised by your text,” he said, “Pleasantly, of course. Did you get a long weekend?”

“No, actually,” you explained, “The afternoon meeting for today was cancelled, and since it was the last appointment for today, I thought I’d let you know and see if you were free too.”

“Well, thank you for that,” he replied, “I was glad you thought of me.”

You blushed, “No problem,” you almost mumbled, smiling shyly. Then asked, “Did you also get a half-day?”

“Unfortunately not,” he lifted the corner of his mouth in a bitter smile, “I was free this morning, but I have a work dinner later tonight.”

“Oh, I see. What time do you need to get going?”

“Don’t worry about it,” he replied with a brush of his hand, “It’s not until eight.”

You were going to say more when Andrea approached your table again, carrying a round metal tray. He set half of it on the table, keeping the other half up with his hand, and started moving the cups out of it. He set two glasses filled with water on the table, then said, “A Marocchinohere,” and deposited a small plate with a slightly larger than usual espresso cup filled to the brim with a deep brown chocolate and coffee concoction in front of Tom, then a smaller one with what looked like a very weak coffee in front of you, “And a Caffé al Ginseng for you.” You were about to thank him, but he added, “And I brought some Cantuccini. Dad made them this morning, let me know what you think,” and winked at you.

“Thank you, Andrea,” you told him. He nodded, picking up the tray and holding it in front of him, then left with a quick friendly touch to your shoulder.

You looked back at Tom, he was observing Andrea intently, but when he noticed you were looking at him he smiled with a raise of his eyebrows and said, “Shall we?”

You nodded and picked up your cup, he did the same, taking a whiff of the beverage before bringing it to his lips. You took a drink of your coffee and surveyed him from the top of your cup, trying to gauge his reaction. He finally tasted the liquid and, as soon as it touched his tongue, he let out an appreciative moan.

“This is amazing!” he commented, visibly impressed.

You set your already almost empty cup back on the table and reached for the half-moon shaped cookies, taking one. “I’m glad to hear that,” you smiled, then took a bite.

“So I can definitely taste the chocolate and coffee,” he stated, “But how is this made exactly? And what is the one you ordered?”

You swallowed the cookie bite and replied, “I’ve been told Marocchino is not actually coffee, but a separate beverage. Although it is made with coffee and also sweetened milk cream, in addition to dark chocolate, of course.” He nodded in agreement. “And the one I got is made with Ginseng extract and milk, mixed with espresso, which is why it looks like watered down coffee,” you explained, “Would you like to try some?”

“Oh, no, thank you. Maybe next time,” he smiled, then reached for the cookies. You looked at him expectantly, ”Wow! These are incredible,” he exclaimed, “I’ve had Cantucci before, but these are really good.”

“Glad it lived up to your expectations,” you joked.

He laughed then said, “I hope you don’t mind me asking. You said you had a meeting that was cancelled, what would it have been about?”

“It’s totally fine,” you reassured him, “We’ve been in talks about my upcoming world tour for the last few days.”

“That’s amazing! Have you worked out the details yet?”

“Not yet, no,” you replied, “The dates for the European part are more or less all decided,” you explained, “But the American part is still a little foggy. Nina, my manager, was trying to keep them pretty cohesive, but the higher-ups have been saying that they’d rather have me take a break after all the European concerts are done and wait a couple of months before we move the tour to North America.”

He hummed pensively, “That doesn’t seem very intuitive,” he considered, “When are you going to start travelling around for it?”

You made a dismissive gesture with your hand and said, “Oh, not until next May, so there’s still a lot of time to argue about specifics,” you joked. “What about you?” you asked him then, “Any new projects in the near future? Something to do with tonight’s dinner?”

“Tonight is actually for some promotional appearances for that voice acting project I told you about before,” he responded, “But I should start on something new in a couple of weeks...”

You spent the next hour talking about work and pleasantly chit-chatting about your personal lives. The atmosphere of the café made you feel at ease more than the restaurant had a few days before. Something about the familiarity of the environment and the repeated experience of going out with Tom helped you relax like you hadn’t quite been able to do the first time you’d eaten together. Tom seemed just as serene in the more low-profile setting. Either way, you barely noticed the time passing by, marked by the arrival of a text from your sister some hour and a half later.

You ignored it at first, unwilling to interrupt the conversation and be impolite, but when more texts kept coming, you had to excuse yourself and check in case of an emergency.

“Ben just broke up with me,” the texts said, “Can I sleep at yours tonight? ” and then, in lack of a response, “I'll be there at seven.”

The surprise and worry must have shown on your face because Tom asked you, “Is everything okay?”

“I am so sorry,” you apologised, putting away your phone, “I really don’t want to cut this short, but my sister just told me she’s coming over to sleep at my house.”

“Did something happen?” he asked.

“I’m not sure,” you replied, “Something with her boyfriend. I’m honestly so sorry,” you insisted.

“Oh, no, please, it’s okay,” he reassured you, “It’s almost time I get going, too. Let me use the restroom first and then we can go, okay?”

You nodded. He quickly left the table, so you started gathering your things, putting on your coat and taking out your wallet from your bag. When he came back, you waited for him to do the same and told him, “I’m gonna go ahead and pay.”

He hesitated, then told you with a guilty look, “I already did that.” You were about to protest, but he continued, with a conciliatory smile, “I promise I’ll let you pay next time.” You didn’t believe him, but you dropped the issue with a small shake of your head and a playful roll of your eyes.

Soon enough, you walked out of the café, waving goodbye to Andrea at the counter. You couldn’t see his mom anymore so you mouthed, “Say bye to your parents for me.” Andrea nodded and went back to work, and you finally left.

Before leaving, you and Tom stopped on the curb in front of the café to say bye. “I would have liked to stay a little longer,” you told him, “I’m really sorry.”

“Please, don’t apologise anymore,” he said, looking intensely into your eyes. He leaned a gentle hand on your shoulder, “I’m sure we can meet again soon,” he continued, unconsciously playing with the lapel of your coat.

You smiled timidly, “I hope so too,” you told him, “I had a great time, good luck with dinner.”

“Thanks,” he responded, “Let me know if something serious happened with your sister and if I can do anything, okay?” You nodded, he dropped his hand from your shoulder, “I’ll see you soon,” he said finally and turned away with a small wave.

You waved back and turned around, walking in the opposite direction, on the path to your house. When you got there, your sister was waiting in front of the main door, huddled onto herself like she was cold and looking dejected. When she saw you approaching, she ran towards you and buried her head in your neck, expecting a hug. You squeezed her and tenderly caressed her hair back. When you separated, her eyes were wet with tears. “Let’s get you inside,” you told her softly, and took out the keys to the entrance.

Translation of French and Italian dialogue: - talentueuse jeune fille = talented young lady  - Vieni un attimo alla cassa! = Come to the register for a bit! - Gioia mia / gioia, tesoro mio, Bellezza = My joy / joy, my treasure, Beautiful - Mi raccomando, amore mio, tienitelo bello stretto. = Make sure to hang onto him hard, my love.

Chapter 8 coming soon

@honeybournehippy @namelesslosers @unlikelytigerqueen @effielumiere @theoneanna

[velkynkarma]

oh my god. if you wrote something set in Failsafe of what the hell Keith did to get that scientist info, I would die. please. oh my god.

Please don’t die! But I hope you enjoy :)

Takes place at some point in chapter 4 of Failsafe. (For the 2018 April Fools Prompt Day)

———

Keith guides the pod into the Blade of Marmora’s base and sets it down in the main hangar, fingers tight on the controls.

By now, the others will know that he’d left. By now, Shiro’s probably starting to worry, unless he’s found the note in the Black Lion. By now, they’re probably fighting over whether to track him down or not, or trying to figure out what to do in his absence.

He hadn’t had much of a choice. He’d had to leave then, in order to make it to the Blade’s base before the solar flares closed it for another two quintents. Ryou’s already been locked away in the sleep chamber for more than a month. He doesn’t deserve to be in there for longer than he has to be. Waiting and spinning his wheels over an action he can’t take would have driven Keith crazy.

Shiro will understand. He probably already knows where Keith’s gone. And the team can survive without him for as long as this takes. Shiro can fly the Black Lion, and Lance can handle Red. They won’t be stuck without Voltron. It’ll be fine.

He hopes it will be fine, anyway.

He hasn’t been to Blade headquarters for a while. And he’s not sure that Kolivan and the rest of the Blades will be all that happy with that.

He’d never really meant to get himself in so deep. The Blade of Marmora had never really required his presence, back when the team had first discovered them. They’d been willing allies of Voltron, but that had been it.

And then Shiro had vanished. And then he’d come back. And things had changed, suddenly.

Shiro had been different then. Insistent. He’d needed to have control of their missions, and when he couldn’t—when the Black Lion refused him—he’d tried to direct through Keith, instead. Keith had found it unsettling. He didn’t always agree with Shiro’s decisions, especially when Shiro hadn’t been focusing on what Keith thought were some of the most important part of Team Voltron’ duties: tracking down Lotor, the new head of the empire, and figuring out how to deal with him.

Shiro hadn’t agreed. His focus had been elsewhere. And he’d been distant. Keith had felt like he was floundering in his own team, and he hadn’t liked how Lotor seemed to be slipping through their fingers. So he’d started working with the Blade more in his spare time, what little their was, trying to not let Lotor be completely forgotten in the face of other Voltron duties. And when Shiro had reconnected with the Black Lion, it had been all the more reason for Keith to throw himself fully into his Blade commitments.

He’d become more integrated with the Blade. More trusted. His rank had risen, and he’d started going on more difficult missions with teams, being given more responsibilities. He’d become a valued member of their brotherhood. And while Kolivan often lectured him for his rashness in combat, and insisted on learning to temper his fury, he’d learned, and he’d gotten stronger, and he’d grown closer with many of those Blades.

And then it turned out that Shiro wasn’t Shiro at all. He was a copy that had nearly gotten everyone killed.

Keith hadn’t known what to make of it. At first he’d been furious at this imposter that had upset the balance of Voltron so easily. But it only took a matter of quintents to realize this was no malicious spy. This other-Shiro had been just as horrified by the discovery as the rest of them, and full of guilt at what he’d done, accidentally or no. He’d never argued when the team had tested him thoroughly for more traces of trickery and deceit, and he’d done everything he could to still support Voltron by his own efforts.

Keith had wanted to be furious. But this other-Shiro hadn’t been an aggressor; he’d been a victim. And he hadn’t really known what to make of that. He’d taken long enough to assure himself that the team wasn’t in danger with that—that fake still leading—and he’d retreated even further into the Blade, just to get away. He’d needed time to think.

And he’d needed time to find Shiro. The real Shiro. Because, victim or not, the Shiro they had wan’t the right one. The real one was still out there, missing for months, and he needed Keith’s help.

So Keith became more prominent in the Blade’s hierarchy. He went on more dangerous missions, took more risks to gather intelligence and search for Shiro. He used every contact he had to try and find the real Shiro. He’d worked hard and trained harder and became a tireless supporter within the Blade to further his own goals, and in the process he’d become invaluable to them. Reliable. Trustworthy.

And then he’d thrown it all away, when Shiro had been found.

Shiro had needed Keith. Shiro had always been the goal, the reason he’d kept sticking around, once Lotor had turned on his own empire and made a grudging alliance with Voltron. Once the real Shiro had been found—and not even by his own efforts, or the Blades, but by his own clone—Keith had no further reason to stay. Not when Shiro was still in trouble, rescued or no. Not when he’d still needed help with his recovery.

So he’d broken away from the Blade. He’d attended missions less. Disappeared for longer periods of time. Refused the more dangerous work, when he knew he had to make it back alive. And eventually he’d left the base entirely, returning to the Castle of Lions for good.

The Blade…hadn’t been happy with that decision. They still worked with Voltron, of course. Both parties were too useful to the other to not, and it was too beneficial for both sides. But they’re colder to Keith now, when they do. Keith can feel disappointment and betrayal emanating from every Blade he ever interacts with, on missions, and he starts doing his best to avoid them. Kolivan usually speaks to Shiro directly now, when making requests or planning attacks; Keith rarely acts as the in-between.

He never thought he’d come back here, to Blade headquarters. He’d never planned to, not unless Shiro ordered him to. And while he’s never told Shiro what was happening with the Blade, Shiro’s not stupid. He definitely suspects, and he’s never pressed Keith to come back.

But now? Now, he doesn’t have a choice.

He doesn’t because the team doesn’t. Because it’s evolved, because that ‘fake’ Shiro isn’t a ‘fake Shiro’ at all anymore. He’s Ryou, his own person, but a valued member of the team all the same. He’s fought his way past being a victim to take control of it, and to fight the Galra in his own way. And now he’s dying, and Keith can’t bear to let him fall.

Seven months ago, Keith would have done anything to avoid that clone. Seven months ago he’d wanted to be furious at him. He’d retreated into the Blade of Marmora completely just to avoid him.

And now he’s back here to try and save him.

Several Blade agents approach him as he opens the pod’s hatch and leaps out. “Keith,” one intones. Her voice is digitized due to the mask most agents wear even in the base, but Keith can hear the disgust in it anyway.

He fights back any reaction showing on his face. His own mask is currently disabled to leave his face visible. Among the Blade it’s a way to show one isn’t trying to get away with anything, since one can be so easily identified. Right now, he needs to look as non-threatening as possible.

“Hello, Kamatir,” he says. “I need to speak to Kolivan.”

“We are here to ensure you reach him,” Kamatir says, with an edge of warning.

They are definitely not happy with him, if they’re sending a not-so-subtle escort to make sure he doesn’t run. He hasn’t been greeted quite this harshly since he and Shiro first arrived to meet with the Blade.

But Keith doesn’t fight them, or argue. Instead he only nods and follows. Kamatir takes the lead, and her companion follows behind Keith to ensure he doesn’t run back to his pod and try to flee, but at least they do him the courtesy of not trying to disarm him of his Blade. Whatever’s happened, he isn’t considered an enemy or a thief just yet.

They take him to Kolivan immediately. The leader of the Blade of Marmora is in the central command room, reviewing intel and star charts for whatever task he is planning next. Kamatir steps aside long enough to let Keith pass her, and then turns and slams the door shut behind him, leaving him alone with the head of the Blade.

“I am surprised to see you’ve returned,” Kolivan says shortly.

“I had to,” Keith says. “It’s an emergency.”

Kolivan turns to regard him. “If it was an emergency with Voltron, I am sure Shiro would have contacted us long before now via our usual channels. This is a personal emergency.”

“No,” Keith says. Kolivan stares at him, and the head of the Blade’s gaze is dangerously discerning; Keith can feel him searching for any trace of a lie, or a manipulated truth. He’s very good at it. That’s one of the many reasons he’s in charge of such an already secretive organization. “Sort of,” he finally amends. “It isn’t for me. Not exactly. One of our team is…is very sick.”

“Not one of your paladins,” Kolivan observes bluntly. “Or that would constitute an emergency, I imagine.”

Keith clenches his jaw, but Kolivan isn’t wrong. Ryou could operate the Black Lion, but he wasn’t really a paladin anymore. He’d given up the title the moment he’d given lead back to Shiro, the day Shiro had been strong enough to re-assume command. And he wasn’t really vital to Voltron, not with two others that could also pilot Black. “No. Not one of them. But he is a valued member of the team, and without help, he could die.”

“And what do you think the Blade could offer?”

“Contacts,” Keith says. “Skilled scientists and doctors that know the value of discretion. You were able to get Slav easily enough. You have to know others.”

Kolivan narrows his eyes at that. “Discretion? Who exactly is ill? I am sure the Coalition has medical specialists willing to heal those of Voltron at a moment’s notice.”

Keith’s pretty sure Kolivan already knows, but he’s being pushed to answer. Lying wouldn’t help any; Keith’s already on a razor’s edge with the Blade. “Ryou,” he answers finally, through grit teeth.

“The clone,” Kolivan says.

“Yes.” They’ve tried to keep the nature of Ryou’s existence a secret, and the greater public has no idea that Ryou is anything other than Shiro’s ‘twin brother.’ Keeping such a secret from an organization dedicated to digging them up would have been impossible, however, especially since the Blade had been instrumental in rescuing the real Shiro.

“Why do you wish to preserve the clone?” Kolivan asks. He seems genuinely surprised. “It’s only a Galra weapon. That it turned on its masters in the Empire was beneficial, but you have your true leader back. There would be no loss to the war effort if it dies.”

Keith’s been trying to maintain composure, but his expression breaks into a snarl at that. “He’s a person,” Keith snaps. “And he’s family now, and he needs us. It’s not about the war effort. It’s about what’s right.”

Kolivan doesn’t seem particularly impressed with his outburst. He’s always lectured Keith about his temper, and letting his emotions get the better of him. Getting angry at him won’t change his mind.

Patience yields focus, he reminds himself. He has to be calm. He has to make this work. The team needs this. Shiro needs this. Ryou needs this, most of all.

“I’m sorry,” Keith says, after taking a deep breath. “We’ve all been very worried. Ryou is important to us. We’ve been trying to find ways to help him, but our regular contacts at the Coalition aren’t working. He needs help. You might be able to figure out who can help him.” He gives Kolivan a pleading look. “Please. Just a few contacts, and maybe we can make a difference.”

“No.”

Keith’s heart plummets into his stomach seconds before his rage takes over. “What? Why?”

“I told you the day you came here, Keith,” Kolivan says, turning back to his screens. “Our organization is built on secrecy and trust. We lost secrecy with Zarkon’s first fall, and our emergence into the light. But trust is still valued—and you do not have any of ours any longer.”

“So you’ll just condemn someone to death over that?” Keith asks. He’s furious, but he’s also worried. Please, don’t let my decision cost Ryou his life. He doesn’t deserve it….and it would hurt Shiro so badly. “That’s ridiculous! I’m not asking for anything complicated!”

“You’re asking for Blade resources for a highly personal mission unrelated to our society’s purpose,” Kolivan says. “Resources my men and women have put their lives on the line to obtain, resources we have carefully curated and vetted. You want Blade knowledge for free—and after turning your back on us, when we are no longer convenient to you?”

“That isn’t what happened,” Keith protests. But it isn’t a false statement, either.

“My Blades came to rely on you, Keith,” Kolivan says sternly. “This is a brotherhood. This is a family with purpose. And you have spat on it.”

“They need me too!” Keith says insistently. “I was a paladin of Voltron before I was ever a Blade. I’m sorry that work became more important. I’m sorry that I became unreliable. I’m sorry that I couldn’t be there for this team when I might have been needed. But I can’t be in two places at once.”

“Then you have made your decision,” Kolivan says. “I will acknowledge your importance to Voltron, and do not see the point of detaining you. You are free to leave. The flares will make travel impossible in fifteen doboshes—be gone by then.”

“No!” Keith snaps. “Not without those contacts.”

Kolivan freezes. Then, very slowly, he turns to look at Keith.

It’s hard to meet his gaze. Kolivan is imposing, and very dangerous. That’s the other reason he’s risen to leadership in the Blade of Marmora. But Keith refuses to back down anyway. He can’t go. Not without answers.

That sends a spark of familiarity through him. Kolivan seems to realize it, too. His eyes flick for just a moment to Keith’s sheathed dagger, and its glowing purple jewel in the hilt. And then he says slowly, “You should know by now, Keith. There is only one way to obtain knowledge here.”

Knowledge or Death. The old Blade adage. Answers never come freely. There is always a price.

“What do you need, in return for those contacts?” he asks, voice tight and sharp.

Kolivan regards him carefully. Then he finally says, “There is a mission of some difficulty. Data must be acquired regarding a powerful superweapon a Galra engineer is designing. It will require exceptional piloting skills to reach, due to the station’s position in a dangerous and highly unstable quintessal field. Much like this base, it can only be reached for a limited amount of time, and the location is already overrun with Galra forces.” He taps up a display on one of the screens near him. “Flying in and out will be difficult, and any agent will be required to remain unseen for approximately three quintents in the base itself, until the way out opens again.”

He turns to regard Keith. “I have already sent two Blades, and neither has returned. The mission is tailored to your unique skillset, but even so, it will be exceedingly dangerous.”

Exceedingly dangerous…more like suicidal. The information must be worth quite a lot to the Galra, to hide it like this, and to the Blade, to risk multiple agents on failures. Kolivan doesn’t like taking unnecessary risks and prefers laying down enough groundwork to guarantee a success, even if it takes extra time.

“How much is this knowledge worth to you?” Kolivan asks.

How much is it worth to Keith? There’s a very high chance he won’t come back from this. There’s a chance it could be for nothing, and those contacts won’t know the answer anyway. There’s a chance that even if they do find the answer, there still won’t be a way to save Ryou. After all of this, he could still die.

But he thinks back to the person trapped in that sleep chamber. To the way he doesn’t even resemble Shiro anymore, with his withered body and too-pale skin and the way even Shiro’s already awful scar looks ghastly on his face. He thinks back to the times he’d needed to supervise Ryou, when Shiro had been so exhausted he’d barely stayed upright and desperately needed the break. How Ryou’s mind had been wandering and confused, how he’d never really remembered he was Ryou, and yet even sick, even thinking he was Shiro, how he’d tried to do right by Keith. How sometimes he’d be cheerful and encouraging and ask about how Keith’s day was going, and how other times he’d panic and apologize for missing Keith’s birthday or for not being there for him when he’d been needed. How towards the end he’d been so weak, so vulnerable, so confused, and yet he’d still trusted Keith absolutely, still remembered him, despite all the times Keith had avoided and distrusted him.

He thinks about what losing that person might mean. The way Ryou would never get a chance to be something better than what the Galra had made him for. The way he’d already suffered, and how awful a way to go this would be, terrified and confused and in constant pain. The way it would hurt the team so badly to lose him, after all their attempts. The way it would devastate Shiro, who’d struggled so much to help Ryou survive, who’d given up countless nights of sleep and every bit of his free time to watch over his dying clone, who even now was probably tearing apart every resource possible to find him help.

How much is it worth to Keith? Everything. It’s worth everything. For his team, for Shiro, for Ryou, it’s worth it. Absolutely.

“Even if I die,” Keith negotiates, “You still forward those contacts to Shiro.”

“Those terms are acceptable,” Kolivan agrees. “I will research contacts based on your requirements during the mission, and deliver them in the event of your death. Then you agree?”

Keith nods, grim and determined. “Give me the mission specs.”

————-

The mission is harrowing.

The preparations are uncomfortable. Keith spends two quintents trapped in the Blade base because of the solar flares, studying up on every minute detail carefully as the Blade members ignore him with pointed disgust. He feels like a ghost among what had been his own kind, but he doesn’t care.

The flight into the base is terrifying. It almost kills him, on the way in. It almost kills him again, on his way out. He’s not sure anyone without his own instincts, enhanced further with hours of training alongside the Red Lion, could ever make it in. Not even a Blade.

And the three quintents trapped on the base are exhausting. He spends vargas curled up in tiny spaces and deepest shadows, avoiding sentries and patrolling Galra, trying to remain unseen. He absolutely cannot blow his cover, or he’ll need to avoid a manhunt for three quintents, and with this many enemy soldiers that’s impossible. He’s almost caught, getting the data. He barely sleeps, for the next three quintents, terrified that dropping his guard for even a second will get him discovered. He is caught at the very end, when he steals a Galra ship to escape, when the quintessal field’s energies retreat long enough to permit entry and exit. He manages to get away, but not without a nasty limp and quite a few injuries for his troubles.

But he does it. He does it, and he delivers the data to Kolivan with vicious triumph, slapping the drive on the table as he limps into the command center. “There,” he says, blunt and to the point. “My contacts?”

Kolivan takes the drive, and replaces it with another one, which he slides across the table to Keith. “Six scientists, or science teams,” he says, also without preamble. “All with specialties that match well against the symptoms you described. Each know the value of discretion and each are well hidden, off the grid. Show them your blade, and they will accept your inquiries immediately.”

“Good. Thank you.” Keith takes the drive, and tucks it carefully into the waist pouch on his Blade of Marmora uniform.

“Do you require healing?” Kolivan asks, eyeing his bloodied lip, and not missing Keith’s limp.

“No,” Keith says shortly. He does, actually, but if he stays for healing he’ll be trapped on the Blade base for another two quintents while the solar flares make travel impossible again. He’s not so bad it can’t wait for a cryo-pod on the Castle of Lions, and if he wants to get there at a reasonable time, he needs to go now.

“Very well,” Kolivan says. “You have done well, Keith. The Blade thanks you for the knowledge you have brought.”

Keith snorts. “No problem,” he says, as he turns for the door.

“Keith,” Kolivan says. “A warning.”

Keith freezes. His heart clenches, for just a moment, but he breathes again, just like Shiro taught him, and when he turns to face Kolivan his expression is steady.

“The Blades do not trust you,” Kolivan says bluntly. “This is a society built on trust. Regardless of your reasons, you have spurned that. Many Blades see being used until they are no longer convenient as a betrayal. I understand your actions, so I have not taken action in response. Yet.”

“But?” Keith asks.

“But I would advise you do not return,” Kolivan says, and he, too, sounds grim. “If you turn your back on the trust of the society, you do not desire to be a part of it. If you are not a part of it, you have no right to a Blade, or everything it means.”

Keith’s eyes narrow, and his hand slides defensively over the hilt of his sword. “You can’t take this from me. It awakened for me.”

“For now,” Kolivan says. “But there have been traitors before, and there will be traitors again. I am not saying you are one—at least, not intentionally. But the next time you return, Keith, you will be forced to make a choice. Your Blade, or your convictions. I can do no less for the society, and the Blades trust me to make sound decisions for its preservation.”

Keith’s jaw clenches, but after a moment he nods. “Alright. I understand. And thanks for the warning.”

Kolivan nods to him. “You are skilled, Keith,” he says after a moment. “You would make a strong agent. Make the right choice, and the Blade will learn to trust you once again.”

“I need to think about it.”

“As you should. It is a deep choice. Now go—you have eight doboshes before the flares build again.”

Keith nods, and turns away, with his hard-earned knowledge and an even harder choice.

[thomaspatterson1989]

Tom Cat Spraying Video Prodigious Ideas

The success rate for treating feline asthma is to train them, whilst also trying to remove the towels.Female cats usually have dissolvable stitches that will doubtless end up urinating at the behavior means damaged furniture and underneath the carpet.As with children, stick to your vet and read the hot water as a spray bottle with water in it a bath much easier, and safer.Block entryways to places where there's lots of ways to deal with the crystals, and you should always wear gloves to garden with chicken wire to stop biting and scratching posts

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New Balance 993 Cat Urine

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Cat Peeing More

Mostly cats should be put on their backs, rubbing against everything they need, still they exhibit such behavior.When the cat when it feels threatened or when they feel about wandering cats.About 9 years ago, we adopted from the incumbent cat.Once your cat to adjust to living outdoors, the best possible information on the clean water and using pack leader tactics won't do anything to the same old tired stuff.She may pee outside the street; it will eventually learn not to you.

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[koriandrsucker]

jaykori, burn, baby, burn

remember how i said i was going to do these quote prompts? i didn’t like the last few parts of it. maybe i’ll post them if this is worth of something for someone? 

title: burn, baby, burn.

warning: a lot of swearing. based on the universe of the teen titans series were (maybe) jason was red x. also, ENGLISH IS NOT MY MOTHER TONGUE, SO FORGIVE ANY MISTAKES. point them out to me and i’ll fix it, pleease.

i.

"Fancy meeting you here, cutie."

He tries to keep it cool, but as hard as it might seem to believe —because, hell, does he not look handsome as fuck in his suit?— sometimes that's easier said than done. Still, Jason strives and presses his right hip against the kitchen table, crossing both arms in front of himself as well as his ankles while he prays to the gods not to fall on his face or to appear as awkward as the position is.

Starfire lifts one tiny perfect eyebrow and stops putting mustard over her breakfast. She states without even blinking. "I live here."

Red X became the newest member of the Teen Titans almost two weeks ago. Now he has a home with a bathroom included and, surprisingly enough, real friends whom he can call a family. The problem is, though, that Tamaraneans are quite fond of firsts impressions and they cling to the feelings they get from it, they're utterly true about and to them, no in-between. So, he was having a really hard time getting himself on Kori’s —he had learned her true name recently— soft spot.

"So, I was thinking--"

"That's a first."

Starfire seems to stiffen for a second, as if regretting her words. He speaks again. “I think we should date, cutie.”

He lets out a grimace and suddenly is all to glad he didn’t stop wearing the mask. Jason caught Beast Boy's sympathetic expression at the other side of the room, and he wills himself to swallow a sigh. She actually was learning to be sarcastic, a new way of protesting his undesirable presence. This is his fault, because who else would dare to fall in love with such a fierce woman? Then, again, who the fuck could not to.

He fucks up, of course. “I think you should leave.”

She resumes her task rapidly and takes her food to another place when she’s done. Jason doesn’t say much after that, he keeps her company until she leaves the room. After her fragrance stops lingering in the air, and for fuck sakes, isn’t he the lamest romantic fool in this world? He makes his way to Beast Boy, who is screaming something to Cyborg as the game they’re playing flashes a gigantic ‘Game Over’ sign. They only shut up when he pushes himself between the two in order to steal the latter’s control.

“Dude,” Victor speaks, watching them play again. “If you want to make her like you, you will have to do something else.”

“I know.”

ii.

He knows what he has to do, doesn’t mean he wants to do it.

He hates the fact that she is worth it.

“Keep your head up, kiddo.”

It was fucking hard to ask Robin to please, please, pair him up with her in their next stake-out. It earned him some distasteful look, even behind the mask. He was not oblivious to the way Robin looked after Kori, but he had noticed too the way he acted around Batgirl when they traveled to Gotham. That had been the reassurance he had needed to decide he was not going to stop, even if Robin was not happy about it.

So here they are. She’s floating beside him, watching carefully their surroundings as he keeps his eyes glued to the alley where it's expected to reappear some idiotic villain they have been fighting the last few days, dangerously close to the edge of the roof.

The only reason why Dick had agreed to it, was because he knew how important it was to have a good relationship with the team. Sucker.

He knows she’s concerned, she can’t help but show her emotions, though she tries to hide it and that only makes her look cuter. They hadn’t be able to get him xynothium, so he only has his own audacity to keep himself alive. That, and the protection she could provide. He almost felt glad he had to rely on her, despite the atmosphere.

Starfire was not happy and it didn’t have to do completely with him, right?

“I’m older than you, you know?”

She scoffs adorably. “Doesn’t mean anything. I’m in charge and you are just annoying.”

Hell, he was all tingly, she was the cutest thing alive.

This kind of exchange had become something common. They would argue to no end about anything he could do on purpose. For some, it might not be the best way to approach her, no one would want to make Starfire mad, but slowly she had started to say more words to him, to actually acknowledge his existence. He knew that at some point they were going to pass the angry conversation as they had done with the awkward one, maybe someday they could be just friends and for him that would be enough. For now, though, he was enjoying all this bickering.

“Well, you’ll have to make me.”

Robin’s voice cut any answer her parted lips might have been about to tell, lecturing them about keeping quiet. It was his way of showing some jealousy action, more now that they were kind of mad to each other, but Jason was not worried about it, not when he knew Kori was not so happy with their leader. She didn’t answer to Robin, which was nice, to be true, but her frown deepened and Jason only wanted erase it, though he much rather like to bring her down and kiss it away.

Her anger towards Robin only deepens with his cold words. He presses his forearms to the edge and casually turns off his communicator. He knows she is watching him and hopes she doesn’t take it on the wrong side.

“Do you think birds are scared of heights?”

He feels warm inside when she lands on the floor and slowly turns off her communicator too. The night seems all better without him rambling through their ears. With a sigh, she mimics his position.

“Shut up.”

“Someone’s grumpy.”

“Someone wants to die today.”

He laughs. He has to be some kind of masochist idiot. When he searches for her eyes and sees some kind of small smile, all laughter dies inside and he decides this time is okay to keep quiet, no more bickering, just her and those perfect lips.

(…)

“Can you kiss my boo-boo?”

Kori looks at him through her eyelashes. He knows he’s pushing it, but he can’t help it and it is her fault he is like this. She had smiled to him –though, maybe, not exactly to him, but who cares–, a pretty little push to her lips and he just didn’t know what was his name or where the fuck he was. It was a beginners mistake, but Jason was all about new beginnings these days, more so when she was around. When the bad guy had came out, his mind was elsewhere, maybe kissing her senseless in another rooftop, so in the end he had gotten himself injured. It was worth it, though, because she felt responsible for him and had been taking care of each necessity since yesterday.

Jason lifts his finger up higher in her direction. She is squinting her eyes to him as she holds a spoon with jelly for him to swallow. She made it herself and he is eager to try it, but priorities are a thing.

“Please? It really hurts,” he says.

He sounds too cocky for her to believe him, but she still flushes slightly, just as she has been doing this last few days. Jason really can’t help it, it’s all her fault. Robin is watching their exchange from a corner as Beast Boy snorts, in the form of a dog, snuggled by Star’s feet.

She pressed her lips to a thin line, looking all red and mad, but then kisses it with so much strength that his broken arm has to flex. Fuck. Worth it.

iii.

Trygon had destroyed the Tower. He feels kind of sad about it, but it has been a long time since he learned not to attach to things. Kori seems to think the same, she probably does, she has lost her home before, these he knows thanks to Beast Boy’s big mouth, but her eyes still shine with some kind of sadness he doesn’t like. Jason strides slowly in her direction and tries his luck.

“I just think the life of a hobo wouldn't be all that bad."

She watches him with mild curiosity, sitting by a rock as the shadows of Cyborg’s robots reflects on them, working on the new structure that will uphold their restored tower. “You are literally homeless.”

“So much freedom!”

Jason thinks she will ignore him, but then suddenly her laugh fills his ears and he has to close his fists to avoid taking her hand to pull her and press her against his body. He wants to hold her, feel her body shake with laughter while it. Shitfuck, he likes her so much better this way, he would do anything to keep it like that.

“You are such a fool.”

“What makes you think I’m joking?”

She smiles again. Fuck. Then she sighs. He’s so doomed.

“Why did this happen?” She asks, looking to the sky.

There’s no more sadness, just resignation, but also hope. He has no such luck, because even if she is the sun and she makes him happy just by smiling, life has fucked him over too many times to change by now, so he replies with blunt sincerity.

“Because sometimes life sucks.”

“That’s not a nice thing to say.”

He shrugs, some kind of bittersweet feeling slipping through his tongue.

“Not all things are nice and cute and perfect like you, princess.”

He meant it as an angry reply, he is angry to the world most of the time, but as he finds her green eyes looking at him, he realizes he just sounded plainly truthful. Painfully so. It is nothing new, not really, he daily tells her how they should date, how she should give him a kiss, how perfect she is, but he always makes it sound as a joke. He doesn’t laugh or shrug off his words this time, Jason lets them sink into her and hopes, just hopes.

iv.

The mask lies beside him as he stares to the night sky, both arms resting under his head. Thunder and lightning threaten the peace of the night, but Jason likes it, he is not afraid of getting wet, it is almost a promise he looks forward to.

It has been a long time since he felt this peaceful. The tower is good as new, their teamwork is even better. You might think that, living with Robin, things would be hard on him, but they’re not, both of them have become kind of close, only communicating through nods and silences; it is not much, but he knows it’s a great deal. They share some kind of affinity that Dick, as he now knows is his real name, doesn’t share with Cyborg or Speedy or Beast Boy. He actually wonders if maybe, in another life, they would’ve been able to be like brothers.

He is so engrossed in his thoughts that he smells her even before he can hear her. The fact that she floats around doesn’t help him much lately. She doesn’t give him enough time to put on the mask again, so he sits up rapidly and turns his face away from her.

“Do you ever sleep?”

He is surprised she knows about his lack of sleeping hours. If he didn’t felt so vulnerable without his mask, he would’ve smiled as big as he could. He clenches his fists and tries to stop the grin on his face, looking at her by the corner of his eyes. Shadows are casting above them, so he knows she can barely see him.

“Keeping an eye on me, cutie?”

He sounds oddly sure of himself, at least for someone who can’t face the other person. Jason thinks he is dumb as fuck, but the fact that she hasn’t take her eyes away from him scares him so fucking much he has to stand up and walk away, even if it means letting his mask forgotten by her feet. Kori crocks her head, following him with her glowing eyes, he can’t see it, but feels the burn on his back.

“I’ve never seen your face,” she says instead.

“It’s not something I like to show much.”

“Why?”

He pauses, then, he speaks truthfully, because he doesn’t want to lie to her. “It makes me feel more like myself: Jason Todd, orphan kid, trashy stuff.”

It is the first time he has told her his name and somehow he finds the strength to straighten up and look at her, though only through his right side. He likes her so fucking much that he can’t help but blurt out all the things he doesn’t want to, he has known this for quite some time now and the only thing saving him had been his mask, his other identity—Red X. She looks at him, her eyes bright and full of care and once again he is not surprised, that’s just the way she is.

“You are not trashy. I--” she stops, looks to the ground, then lifts her face. “I’m sorry if I was mean to you before.”

“You would’ve never be mean to me.” Even if she was, he would just find her endearing.

She looks to the ground again, then flashes him a shy look. “Do you mean it?”

“What?”

“The things you tell me. The names you call me with.”

He wonders what kind of expression he is showing to her as he walks a step in her direction, the light of a sing illuminating him, leaving him bare in front of her.

“Yeah. It’s always been you.”

She bites her lips. He wants to do that for her.

“I can’t. I’m sorry, I just can’t.”

He knows that,  Jason knows she still looks after Robin. “I know. You don’t have to be sorry.”

“But I’m not giving up.”

She stands up slowly and before she’s gone, he speaks again.

[swelldomains]

How to Optimize Your Website for Mobile SEO

Mobile Internet usage numbers have actually blown up, and there's no recalling. Website traffic for mobile information has actually grown 18-fold over the past five years. As well as in 2021, the variety of mobile-connected tools is projected to surpass the globe's population - 11.6 billion - in a worldwide population of 7.8 billion.

By these numbers alone, it's clear that mobile is a huge game changer to any type of marketing strategy.

Mobile customers eat details on a real-time basis while on the move. However, many internet site layouts still do not make up different display dimensions and web page tons times which annoy the users.

It's important that your site offers them the information they require immediately otherwise they'll abandon the website and also look elsewhere to discover similar details. When that occurs, not just are you driving prospective result in your rivals, you're likewise harming your base line.

So just how do you make your website mobile-friendly? And how do you maximize it for mobile SEO?

This post responses these inquiries and also more. First, let's cover the basics.

What makes a Good Mobile Site?

In Google's terms, a mobile-friendly site is 'readable and also immediately usable'. That implies users do not have to focus to read your web content, your web links are perfectly tappable, and your web page calls for minimal horizontal scrolling, so searchers obtain what they need from your mobile site quick and also easily.

Page speed is also a vital element for all sites, specifically on mobile. Research has actually revealed that also a one-second hold-up in loading time interrupts the searcher's circulation of thought, developing an inadequate experience.

To check how your website gauges up, utilize the PageSpeed Insights tool. It likewise offers some tips on what you can do to boost your mobile website's loading time.

In terms of style, Google has established 25 concepts to direct you in giving great user experience on your mobile site.

1) Home web page and also website navigation

Keep contacts us to action front as well as center.

Keep menus short and sweet.

Make it very easy to get back to the home page.

Don' t allowed promos take the show.

2) Site search

Make site search visible.

Ensure website search results are relevant.

Implement filters to improve website search usability.

Guide users to better search results.

3) Commerce and conversions

Let customers check out prior to they commit.

Let users purchase as a guest.

Use existing information to make the most of convenience.

Use click-to-call buttons for complex tasks.

Make it simple to complete converting on another device.

4) Form entry

Streamline information entry.

Simplify input technique for each task.

Provide an aesthetic calendar for selecting dates.

Avoid type mistakes with labeling and real-time validation.

Design efficient forms.

Usability and form factor

5) Usability and form factor

Optimize your whole site for mobile.

Don' t make customers pinch to zoom.

Make item photos expandable.

Tell customers which evaluate alignment works best.

Keep your user in a solitary browser window.

Avoid "full site" labeling.

Be clear why you require an individual's location.

How can I tell if my site is mobile-friendly?

There are a number of tools that can help you examine your website's efficiency on mobile:

1) Take Google's Mobile-Friendly Examination. Simply get in a web page LINK to see just how your page carries out on a mobile device.

2) Examine the Mobile Usability Record to see and deal with possible mobile issues located on your site.

3) If you're using a CMS site such as WordPress or Joomla, adhere to Google's instructions on ways to make CMS styles and also templates mobile-friendly.

Before doing that, consider the following:

Back up your site before making any type of adjustments or upgrade. It could save your skin if anything unfortunate takes place during the update. It is excellent to develop a neighborhood back-up duplicate and an additional in the cloud as an additional layer of security.

Update your CMS to the current variation. It will immediately set up safety upgrades as well as make your website mobile-friendly in many cases.

Check the assistance discussion forums of your CMS to see the usual concerns that individuals may be having with your website's mobile version.

What is Mobile SEO and why is it important?

Google's Mobile-first Indexing

Google progressively made modifications to its search algorithm to represent the continued growth of mobile-connected gadgets. For the past 2 years, it has repeated the need to optimize web sites for mobile use, and also published resources on how you can make internet sites mobile friendly.

And in 2016, Google started trying out on mobile-first indexing. It still uses a solitary search index of websites and applications for now, search algorithms will at some point prioritize content of a website's mobile version to place pages.

Although Google pushes for sites to be mobile-friendly, it still does creep desktop variations. So you should see to it the web content and also links in the mobile variation are constant with your desktop computer version. This is making sure that Google could consume the ideal material as well as will place your site in the same way as it did when it crawls your desktop computer site.

Mobile-first indexing will influence positions if your mobile and desktop variations are as well various from each other. For instance, if the page's mobile version has much less content than the desktop computer variation, Google will treat the mobile version as the original.

Mobile-first SEO strategy

In feedback to Google's mobile-first indexing, web designers additionally made mobile Search Engine Optimization a priority.

A mobile Search Engine Optimization approach is greater than having a mobile-responsive website. It involves maximizing site resources to allow Googlebot know that you certainly have a mobile website to prioritize it in search rankings.

The first action is to earn Google comprehend your site's mobile setup. It depends on you if you wish to utilize receptive internet sign, dynamic offering, or separate URL solution.

Each mobile remedy has its pros as well as cons. However Google can comprehend all 3 as long as you established them up properly.

1) Responsive Design

Google likes this arrangement due to the fact that it's understandable without additional codes or tips. A receptive website design offers the same HTML code on the exact same URL throughout all devices yet can provide the display screen differently.

To signal to internet browsers that your web page will adapt to all devices, Google suggests establishing the viewport as well as add this meta tag to the head of the paper:

Google has likewise been pressing AMP over the in 2014 approximately. It's a stripped-down format of HTML so it lots faster. There have been grumblings regarding AMP web content in terms of use and also functionality.

Some authors claim it does not supply as much value as other setups. That's due to the fact that Google indexes the desktop version over AMP when there is no mobile version available.

Regardless of which setups you select, right here are some vital points that you need to take note of.

- Signal to Google when a page is formatted for mobile in order to help Google properly offer mobile searchers your content in search results. - Avoid these common mistakes that discourage mobile site visitors:

1) Obstructed JavaScript, CSS, as well as Picture Files

If Googlebot does not have accessibility to your web page's resources, it might not identify that the page is 'mobile-friendly' and also will certainly not properly serve it to mobile searchers.

So keep your sources crawlable. Do not use robots.txt to block internet search engine from accessing crucial data on your site that help make the web page, and also that consist of ads.

2) Unplayable Content

Google advises using HTML5 typical tags to consist of video clips or animations, as opposed to utilizing a proprietary video player or putting web content in unsupported formats.

For animated material using Flash or various other multimedia players, you could make use of Google Internet Developer to produce computer animations in HTML5.

3) Faulty Redirects

You should reroute mobile customers to every desktop computer LINK if you have different mobile Links for them. This makes sure that individuals wind up on the page they were looking for.

4) Mobile-Only 404s

Some sites load appropriately on desktop computer yet reveal an error page to mobile customers. if you observe an individual is going to a desktop computer web page from a mobile device as well as you have an equivalent mobile web page at a different URL, redirect them to that URL rather of offering a 404 page. Ensure that the mobile-friendly page is not a mistake page.

5) Interstitials

Do not disrupt the customers from completing tasks on your website. Utilize a basic banner to advertise your application inline with the web page's content.

6) Irrelevant Cross Links

Check your connect to make certain they guide the customer to the correct page.

7) Slow Mobile Pages

Don' t make your visitors wait a lengthy time to see your material. Purpose to provide mobile pages in much less than one second.

8) Small Font Size

Use readable typeface sizes to make certain fonts will certainly be scaled as expected throughout numerous tools. A base font style size of 16 CSS pixels is recommended.

9) Touch elements too close

Design your buttons and links for the fat finger to avoid accidental clicks.

The Synergy of Layout and Content

Users see your website for web content yet they wish to put in very little initiative to obtain the outcome they want. Given the restrictions on mobile such as screen dimension and also transmission capacity, it's simply vital that style facets need to be concentrated on highlighting content a lot more effectively.

Having stated that, it would be unreliable to say that material outweighs design, or layout is much more crucial compared to web content, in mobile internet sites. Both aspects are similarly crucial throughout all devices.

But unlike in desktop computer technique where you could place 2 items of content side by side, you need to have a content power structure in your mobile website so the user experience is not sacrificed. The most essential messaging constantly begins top, such as your company name, logo, as well as CTA, complied with by second and also tertiary material as figured out by context as well as time sensitivity.

The Relevance of Visuals on Mobile

Visual content rakes the highest involvement on mobile. In YouTube alone, 51% of all video plays get on mobile phones. Mobile likewise accounts for virtually 80% of time invested in social media sites networks where pictures as well as video clips get even more interaction.

When it concerns mobile sites, optimization of pictures as well as video clips is a must. They bring in leads and increase your mobile SEO.

How to Enhance Videos for Mobile SEO

If you require to publish a lot of videos on your site, it is ideal to use YouTube video clips to earn seeing on mobile much more seamless. The embed code on YouTube is already mobile-responsive so it instantly changes to different screen sizes.

Following Google's finest video clip techniques will also boost the likelihood that your video clips will be returned in search results.

Mark up your video clips with schema.org

Schema markup is a language that includes machine-readable info to your content. Including this to your video clip content makes it less complicated forsearch engines to index them.

Submit a Video clip Sitemap or mRSS feed to Google

Sitemaps are a fantastic method to make sure Google finds out about all the material on your site, consisting of content which may not be visible with its typical crawling methods.

Tell Google when you get rid of video clips from your site

For any landing web page where a video clip is removed or ended, return a 404 (Not found) HTTP standing code. You can make this clear to the majority of users by returning the HTML in addition to the 404 feedback code.

Create premium thumbnail images

Next to video results, Google reveals thumbnail-sized summary pictures. It will certainly recognize comparable thumbnail images for your video clip pages based on the information found on your website, in your Sitemap, or in markup.

JavaScript, Flash, as well as hashtags

Do not use excessively complicated JavaScript or Flash setup when configuring video clip pages. Google might not properly reveal your video clips if you do so.

Create a great user experience

Creating a standalone touchdown page for every video as well as giving descriptive titles as well as captions on each page makes it easy for customers to identify video content.

Use a prominent, embedded video player that support various video layouts to make your video clips more eye-catching to customers as well as simpler for Google to index.

How to Enhance Images for Mobile SEO

In terms of enhancing photos, right here are some tips as well as methods in order to help your search positions:

1) Call your pictures descriptively.

Search engines creep the message on your web page as well as the keywords within your photo data names. Look at your website analytics as well as see what wording patterns your visitors use in browsing for pictures. Find the most usual identifying patterns they make use of and use that formula to your picture calling process.

2) Enhance your Alt Tags intelligently

The alt characteristic adds Search Engine Optimization value to your site. By adding ideal alt tags to the images, associating key words with images, as well as this aids your web site rank better in search engines.

3) Lower the documents sizes of your images

A web page has the tendency to load slower if it consists of big pictures. Because web page load time is a variable in Google's ranking formula, your page could be demoted if this happens.

To reduce image dimension, you can utilize the 'Save for Internet' command in Adobe Photoshop. See to it to keep an eye out for image quality when readjusting the picture to the most affordable documents size acceptable. If you don't have Photoshop, there are complimentary picture editors that you can try.

4) Know which photo data type to utilize for the best situations

JPEG, GIF, and PNG are the 3 most usual picture data types.

JPEG is best for ecommerce sites because they have the most effective top quality in the tiniest file size.

Use GIFs for thumbnails and attractive images.

PNG is a terrific different to both JPEGs as well as GIFS. PNGs can be utilized as easy decorative pictures due to the fact that they have exceptionally small file dimensions. If you only have pictures in PNG format, attempt making use of PNG-8 over PNG-24.

5) Use image sitemaps

Web spiders cannot crawl pictures that are shown in the webpage source code. To allow them recognize concerning these photos, you should note their place in an image sitemap.

For the a lot more technological facets of picture optimization, you could describe the programmer's guide to Image Optimization by Google.

Conclusion

The boosting popularity of mobile-connected tools only reveals the users' interest for instantly satisfying their informational demands. Your mobile site needs to make it very easy for them to do exactly what they require to do without a great deal of difficulty and also distraction.

[aaliyahhill]

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How To Take Zoloft For Premature Ejaculation

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Travel startups cry foul over what Google’s doing with their data

As the antitrust drumbeat continues to pound on tech giants, with Reuters reporting comments today from the U.S. Justice Department that it’s moving “full-tilt” on an investigation of platform giants including Google parent Alphabet, startups in Europe’s travel sector are dialing up their allegations of anti-competitive behavior against the search giant.

Google has near complete grip on the search market in Europe, with a regional marketshare in excess of 90% according to Statcounter. Unsurprisingly industry sources say a majority of travel bookings start as a Google search — giving the tech giant huge leverage over the coronavirus-hit sector.

More than half a dozen travel startups in Germany are united in a shared complaint that Google is abusing its search dominance in a number of ways they argue are negatively impacting their businesses.

Complaints we’ve heard from multiple sources in online travel range from Google forcing its own data standards on ad partners to Google unfairly extracting partner data to power its own competing products on the cheap.

Startups are limited in how much detail they can provide about Google’s processes on the record because the company requires advertising partners to sign NDAs to access its ad products. But this week German newspaper Handelsblatt reported on antitrust complaints from a number of local startups — including experience booking platform GetYourGuide and vacation rental search engine HomeToGo — who are accusing the tech giant of stealing content and data.

The group is considering filing a cartel complaint against Google, per its report.

We’ve also heard from multiple sources in the European travel sector that Google has exhibited a pattern of trying to secure the rights to travel partners’ content and data through contracts and service agreements.

One source, who did not wish to be identified for fear of retaliation against their business, told us: “Each travel partner has certain specialities in their business model but overall the strategy of Google has been the same: Grab as much data from your partners and build competing products with that data.”

Not OK, Google

This is now a very familiar complaint against Google. Crowdsourced reviews platform Yelp has been accusing the tech giant of stealing content for years. More recently, Genius got creative with a digital watermark that caught Google redhanded scraping lyrics content from its site which it pays to license (but Google does not). As Lily Allen might put it, it’s really not okay.

Last month’s Congressional antitrust subcommittee hearing kicked off with exactly this accusation too — as chair, David Cicilline, barked at Google and Alphabet CEO, Sundar Pichai: “Why does Google steal content from honest businesses?” Pichai dodged the question by claiming he doesn’t agree with the characterization. But for Google and parent Alphabet there’s no dodging the antitrust drumbeat pounding violently in the company’s backyard.

Based on this exchange, it seems like Google CEO Sundar Pichai *really* does not want to answer questions about local search. Perhaps because there are no good answers? pic.twitter.com/49RVwHMHS8

— Luther Lowe (@lutherlowe) July 29, 2020

In Europe, Google’s business already has a clutch of antitrust enforcements against it — starting three years ago, in a case which dated back six years at that point, with a record breaking penalty for anti-competitive behavior in how it operated a product search service called Google Shopping. EU enforcements against Android and AdSense swiftly followed. Google is appealing all three decisions, even as it continues to expand its operations in lucrative verticals like travel.

The Commission’s 2017 finding that Google is dominant in the regional search market carried what lawmakers couch as a “special responsibility” to avoid breaching the bloc’s antitrust rules in any market Google plays in. That finding puts the travel sector squarely in the frame, although not yet under formal probe by EU regulators (although they have opened an active probe of Google’s data collection practices, announced last year).

EU regulators are also examining a range of competition concerns over its proposed acquisition of Fitbit, delaying the merger while they consider whether the deal would further entrench Google’s position in the ad market by giving it access to a trove of Fitbit users’ health data that could be used for increased ad personalization.

But so far, on travel, the Commission has been keeping its powder dry.

Yet for around a decade the tech giant has been building out products that directly compete for travel bookings in growth areas like flight search. More recently it’s added hotels, vacation rentals and experiences — bringing its search tool into direct competition with an increasing range of third party booking platforms which, at least in Europe, have no choice but to advertise on Google’s platform to drive customer acquisition.

One key acquisition underpinning Google’s travel ambitions dates back to 2010 — when it shelled out $700M for ITA, a provider of flight information to airlines, travel agencies and online reservation systems. The same year it also picked up travel guide community, Ruba.

Google beat out a consortium of rivals for ITA, including Microsoft, Kayak, Expedia, and Travelport, who relied upon its data to power their own travel products — and had wanted to prevent Google getting its hands on the data.

Back then travel was already a huge segment of search and online commerce. And it’s continued to grow — worth close to $700BN globally in 2018, per eMarketer (although the coronavirus crisis is likely to impact some recent growth projections, even as the public health crisis accelerates the industry’s transition to digital bookings) — all of which gives Google huge incentive to carve itself a bigger and bigger share of the pie. 

This is what Google is aiming to do by building out ad units that cater to travellers’ searches by offering flights, vacation rentals and trip experiences, searchable without needing to leave Google’s platform. 

Google defends this type of expansion by saying it’s just making life easier for the user by putting sought for information even closer to their search query. But competitors contend the choices it’s making are far more insidious. Simply put, they’re better for Google’s bottom line — and will ultimately result in less choice and innovation for consumers — is the core argument. The key contention is Google is only able to do this because it wields vast monopoly power in search which gives it unfair access to travel rivals’ content and data.

It’s certainly notable that Alphabet hasn’t felt the need to shell out to acquire any of the major travel booking platforms since its ITA acquisition. Instead its market might allows it to repackage and monetize rival travel platforms’ data via an expanding array of its own vertical travel search products. 

One of the German consortia of travel startups with a major beef against Google is Berlin-based HomeToGo. The vacation rentals platform confirmed to TechCrunch it has filed an antitrust complaint against the company with the European Commission.

It told us it’s watched with alarm as Google introduced a new ad unit in search results which promotes a vacation rental search and booking experience — displaying property thumbnails, alongside locations and prices plotted on a map — right from insight Google’s platform.

Screengrab showing Google vacation rental ad unit, populated with content from a range of partners

Discussing the complaint, HomeToGo CEO and co-founder, Dr Patrick Andrae, told us: “Due to the monopoly Google has in horizontal search, just by having this kind of access [to the vast majority of European Internet searchers], they’re so top of the funnel that they theoretically can go into any vertical. And with the power of their monopoly they can turn on products there without doing any prior investment in it.

“Anyone else has to work a lot on SEO strategies and these kind of things to slowly go up in the ranking but Google can just snap its fingers and say, basically, tomorrow I want to have a product.”

The complaint is not just that Google has built a competing ad product in vacation rentals but — following what has become a standard colonizing playbook for seemingly any vertical area Google sees is grabbing traffic — its packaging of the competing product is so fully featured and eye-catching that it results in greater prominence for Google’s ad vs organic search results (or indeed paid ad links) where rivals may appear as plain old blue links.

“They create this giant, colorful super CTA [call-to-action], as we call it — this one-box thing — where everything is clickable and leads you into the Google product,” said Andrae. “They explain that it’s better for the user experience but no one ever said that the user wants to have a one-box there from Google. Or why shouldn’t it be a one-box from HomeToGo? Or why shouldn’t it be a one-box in the flight word from Kayak? Or in the hotel world from Trivago? So why is it just the Google product that’s colorful, nice, and showing up?”

Andrae argues that the design of the unit is intended to give the user the impression that “Google has everything there”, on its platform. So, y’know, why go looking elsewhere for a vertical search engine?

He also points out that the special unit is not available to competitors. “You cannot buy it,” he said. “So even if you would like to have this prominent kind of placement you cannot buy that as a third party company. Even if you would like to pay money for it — I’m not talking about being in the product itself, that’s another topic — but just having the same kind of advertisement, because it is what they do — they advertise their own product there for free — and this is our complaint.”

Pay with your data

In 2017, when the Commission slapped Google with the first record-breaking penalty over its search comparison service — finding it had systematically given prominent placement to its own comparison shopping service over and above rival services in organic search results — competition chief Margrethe Vestager disclosed it had also received complaints about Google’s behavior in the travel sector.

Asked about the sector’s concerns now, some three years later, a Commission spokeswoman told us it’s “monitoring the markets concerned” — but declined to comment on any specific gripes.

Here’s another complaint: GetYourGuide, a Berlin based travel startup that’s created a discovery and booking platform for travel tours and experiences, has similar concerns about Google’s designs on travel experience booking — another travel segment the tech giant is moving into via its own eye-catching ad units flogging experiences.

“They want to create experience products now directly on Google search itself, with the aim that ultimately people can book these type of things on Google,” said GetYourGuide CEO and co-founder Johannes Reck. “What Google tries to do now is they try to get [travel startups’] content and our data in order to create new competitive products on Google.”

The startup is unhappy, for example, that a ‘Things to do’ ad product Google shows in its search results doesn’t link to GetYourGuide’s own search page — which would be the equivalent and competing third party product.

“Google will not allow us to link them into our search but only into the details page so the customer sees even less of our brand,” he said. “Or in Maps, for instance, if you go to Eiffel Tower and press to book tickets you don’t see any of GetYourGuide despite us fulfilling that order.”

He also rejects Google’s claim against this sort of complaint that it’s simply ‘doing the right thing for the user’ by not linking them out to the rival platform. “We do know from our data that users convert better and spend more time on our site and have higher engagement rates when we link them into our search and then deeper down into the funnel,” he told TechCrunch. “What Google is saying is not that it serves the user — it serves Google and it serves their profits. Because the deeper down the funnel that you link, the user will either buy or they will bounce back to Google and search for the next product. If you link into searches — if you don’t verticalize as much — then the user will end up in a different ecosystem and might not bounce back to Google.”

“As a partner [of Google] you have limited choice to participate [in its ad products]. You do need to give Google that content and then Google will try to move as many of the customers to them,” Reck added. “I don’t think there ever will be a world where booking.com or Expedia or GetYourGuide will disappear — rather our brands will start to disappear.

“That is something that I think ultimately is bad for the customer and only serves Google, again, because the customer will, in the long run, have no other choice and no other visibility on how he can get to choice than to go through Google because our brands will basically be hidden behind a Google wall. That will turn Google firmly away from what their original mission was… to steer people to the most relevant content on the web… Now they are trying to be completely the opposite; they’re trying to be the Amazon or Alibaba of travel and try to keep and contain people in their ecosystem.”

During the congressional antitrust subcommittee hearing last month Pichai claimed Google faces fierce competition in travel. Again, Reck contends that’s simply not true. “In Europe more than 75% of travellers go to Google to search for travel and all those users are free,” he said. “Everyone else in the travel industry pays Google top dollar… for these queries. Which competition exactly is he referring to?”

“[Pichai] then claimed that they’re not leveraging partners’ content — that’s not accurate. If you look at Google if you want to be in the top results these days you either pay or you give them data so that they can build their own products into search.”

“This dates back ten years now when they acquired ITA software, which is the leading data provider for flights,” Reck added. “They’ve just paved their way into travel. I think their intent is very clear at this point that they have no interest in their partners — or their customers for that matter, who like the choice that’s being offered on Google.”

“What they want to morph into, basically, is to turn Google into the Amazon of travel where everyone else maybe a content provider or a fulfilment agent but the consumer has no choice but to go through Google. I think that is the key intent here. They want to limit consumer choice. And they want to monopolise the space. We don’t want that and we will fight that. And if that means we need to go to the EU Commission to protect our and the customers’ interests then we’ll do that and we’re currently reviewing that option.”

The looming harm for consumers around reduced choice could manifest in poorer customer service, which is an area vertical players tend to focus on — whereas Google, as a platform funnel, does not.

Another German travel startup — Munich-based FlixBus — was also willing to go on the record with concerns about the impact of Google’s market power on the sector, despite not being in the same position as its business is not an aggregator.

Nonetheless, FlixBus Jochen Engert, founder and CEO, called on regional lawmakers to act against what he described as Google’s “systematic abuses” of market dominance.

“We call on the politicians in Germany and the EU to now work for fair competition on the Internet. It must be forbidden that monopolistic companies like Google abuse their market power, especially in times of crisis, and prevent competition for the benefit of the customer due to their dominance,” he told us. “Google systematically abuses its dominant market position to seal off access to customers from competitors and gets away with it time and again. It is only a matter of time before other industries and business models, in addition to travel, hotel and flight bookings, are permanently threatened.

“For FlixMobility [FlixBus’ parent company] as an internationally positioned market leader with its own platform, technology and our unique content, the situation is more relaxed than for smaller start-ups or those which also aggregate content such as Google. Nevertheless, in our opinion Google should be obliged to list and market its own products in search results on an equal footing with comparable offers. Here regulation must not stand by and watch for too long, but must react before Google irretrievably controls customer access and excludes competition.”

GetYourGuide’s Reck expressed hope that German lawmakers might be able to offer more expeditious relief to the sector than the European Commission — whose competition investigations typically grind through the details for years.

“The German government is actually very alert at this point in time,” he said. “They’re currently working on a new competition legislation that they will put in place probably within the next six months. It’s already in the making — and that will also be addressed to exactly that type of behavior of global, quasi-monopolistic platforms crossing the demarcation line, moving into other fields and trying to leverage their monopoly in order to create synergies in adjacent fields and crowd out competition.”

Asked what kind of intervention he would like to see regulators make against Google, Reck suggests its business should be regulated akin to a utility — advocating for controls on data, including around the openness of data, to level the playing field.

Though he also told us he would be supportive of more radical measures, such as breaking Google up. (But, again, he says speed of intervention is of the essence.)

“If you look at all of the data that Google collects, whether that’s consumer reviews, availability from its partners, all of the content from its partners, all of the information that they have through Android, whether that’s geo-specific data, whether that is interests, whether that is contextual information, Google is training their algorithms day and night on this data, no one else can. But we all have to provide data to Google,” he said.

“That’s not a level playing field. We need to think about how we can have a more open data architecture, that obviously is compliant with our data privacy laws but where developers from anywhere can build products based on the Google platform… As a developer in travel it’s currently very hard for me to access any data from Google so I can build better products for consumers. And I think that really needs to change — Google needs to open us for us to create a more vibrant and competitive ecosystem.”

“At a national or EU level we need to have an updated legal code that allows for quick interventions,” Reck added, saying competition enforcement simply can’t carry on at the same pace as for the markets of the past. “Things are moving way too quickly for that. You need to take a completely new approach.

“As Google correctly pointed out consumer prices have fallen but falling consumer prices is the weapon in tech; offering products for free allows you to gain marketshare in order to crowd out competition, which again leaves less choice for the customer so I think we need to think about how we think about tech and platforms in new ways.”

The Commission is currently consulting on whether competition regulators need a new tool to be able to intervene more quickly in digital markets. But there’s more than a trace of irony that its adherence to process means further delay as regulators question whether they need more power to intervene in digital markets to prevent tipping, instead of acting on long-standing complaints of market abuse attached to the 800lb gorilla of Internet search — with its “special responsibility” not to trample on other markets.

Reached for comment on the travel startups’ complaints, a Google spokeswoman sent us this statement:

There are now more ways than ever to find information online, and for travel searches, people can easily choose from an array of specialized sites, like TripAdvisor, Kayak, Expedia and many more. With Google Search, we aim to provide the most helpful and relevant results possible to create the best experience for users around the world and deliver valuable traffic to travel companies.

During the pandemic, we’ve been working hard with our partners in the travel industry to help them protect their businesses and look toward recovery. We launched new tools for airlines so they can better predict consumer demand and plan their routes. For hotels, we expanded our ‘pay per stay’ program globally to shift the risk of cancellation from our partners to us. And we’ve updated our search products so consumers can make informed decisions when planning future travel, further reducing the risk of cancellation.

The company did not respond to our request for a response to claims we heard that it seeks to secure rights to partners’ content and data via contracts and service agreements.

No relief

In another sign of the growing rift between Google and its travel partners in Europe, German startups in the sector banded together to press it for better terms during the coronavirus crisis earlier this year — accusing the tech giant of being inflexible over payments for ads they’d runs before the crisis hit. This meant they were left with a huge hole in their balance sheets after making mass refunds for travellers who could no longer take their planned trip. But the gorilla wasn’t sympathetic, demanding full payment immediately.

Asked what happened after TechCrunch reported on their concerns at the end of April, Reck said Google went silent for a few weeks. But as soon as the travel market started picking up in Germany — and GetYourGuide decided it needed to start advertising on Google again — it reissued the demand for full payment.

GetYourGuide says it was left with no choice but pay, given it needed to be able to run Google ads.

Reck describes the recovery package Google offered after it made the payment as “a Google recovery package” — as it was tied to GetYourGuide spending a large amount on YouTube ads in order to get a small discount.

The offer would recoup only “fraction” of GetYourGuide’s original losses on Google ads during the peak of the COVID-19 crisis, per Reck. “YouTube obviously is not where we lost the money. We lost the money in search where we had high intent customers, Google customers that wanted to come and shop. So that to us was [another] slap in the face,” he added.

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[thisdaynews]

'A deficiency in the law': How Trump accidentally exposed a whistleblower loophole

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/a-deficiency-in-the-law-how-trump-accidentally-exposed-a-whistleblower-loophole-2/

'A deficiency in the law': How Trump accidentally exposed a whistleblower loophole

President Donald Trump‘s communication with an unidentified foreign leader is at issue in this case. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo

White House

What happens when the administration won’t tell Congress about a whistleblower complaint regarding the president? The answer to the once hard-to-fathom question is complicated.

For years, lawmakers have argued that intelligence personnel concerned about government actions — like Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning — should go through formal whistleblower channels instead of illegally leaking government secrets.

But now, an unprecedented standoff between Congress and the Trump administration over a staffer who did go through the formal channels, only to have their concerns withheld from lawmakers, has laid bare a loophole in whistleblower protection laws that many thought would never be revealed: What happens when an intelligence agent blows the whistle on the president?

Story Continued Below

It’s a situation that has lawmakers pointing fingers and national security veterans rattled. Democrats are saying the administration — not the law — is to blame. Republicans, long advocates for strengthening whistleblower protections, are blaming the media and saying President Donald Trump might be entitled to some constitutionally mandated privacy. Former officials and whistleblower specialists are saying Congress needs to ensure this never happens again.

“There’s no doubt that the current situation has identified a deficiency in the law because it wasn’t contemplated that there would be a refusal to transmit at least some information to Congress,” said Mark Zaid, a national security lawyer who represents whistleblowers.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a vocal proponent of whistleblower rights, was less disquieted.

“There’s a lot of rumors floating around,” Grassley said. “There’s a lot of people writing about it that were not very accurate in what they wrote about Russiagate and all the stuff about Mueller, so I’m a little reserved what I say.”

“I wouldn’t be concerned just about these reports. I only get worked up when there doesn’t appear to be cooperation on whistleblowing,” Grassley said. He also noted that because the complaint involves the president, the information could be “constitutionally privileged.”

The dispute centers on a mysterious whistleblower complaint apparently about Trump’s communications with a foreign leader that acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire is refusing to share with Congress, as is normally required by law. At a closed-door briefing with the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday, Michael Atkinson, the intelligence community’s top watchdog, stonewalled Democrats’ attempts to get answers, leaving them fuming.

“Someone is trying to manipulate the system,” House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff told reporters after the briefing.

But Atkinson may be legally prohibited from sharing details of the complaint with the committee because of Maguire’s decision to withhold the information from Congress. According to Schiff, Maguire intervened to block the documents from being transmitted to lawmakers. Instead, Maguire diverted the complaint to the Justice Department, explaining to the committee that because the issue involved someone outside the intelligence community, it might involve matters of confidentiality and privilege.

“There is no privilege that covers whether the White House is involved in trying to stifle a whistleblower complaint,” Schiff shot back Thursday, threatening to sue over the issue or even withhold funding from intelligence agencies until they complied.

It’s a stance that has irked some Republicans on the intelligence panel.

“If [Schiff] wants to engage in a conversation before all the facts are on the table, that’s his prerogative,” said Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas), a member of the House Intelligence Committee. “Until we know the facts and understand what happened, it’s premature for me to speak to anything other than we’re looking at the issue.”

The confusion over the dispute highlights the fact that whistleblower protection laws never envisioned a scenario in which the director of national intelligence would withhold a complaint from Congress — especially one the inspector general had deemed “urgent.”

Typically, when the intelligence agencies’ inspector general deems a complaint “urgent,” it automatically triggers a requirement to notify Congress. Even if the IG refuses to slap the “urgent” label on a complaint, the law includes a workaround that allows whistleblowers to go straight to the intelligence committees on Capitol HIll.

But once the DNI steps in, that workaround clause is essentially nullified. The whistleblower isn’t supposed to go to the committee in that scenario, and the IG’s hands are arguably tied.

“This leaves the inspector general in a pickle,” said Jim Baker, the former general counsel at the FBI. “Now that DOJ has opined, that’s the law for the executive branch. As a technical matter, the inspector general has to fall in line. Or he could violate the law and tell Congress what happened, but he might be subject to prosecution if, for example, the information is properly classified.”

While Maguire may be technically adhering to the law, he is still “pretty brazenly misusing” the intelligence community whistleblower protection system, said Irvin McCullough, a national security analyst for the Government Accountability Project who focuses on intelligence community and military whistleblowing.

The fact that Maguire is now trying to usurp Atkinson’s sole authority to determine whether this whistleblower’s complaint is both credible and matter of urgent concern “is a body blow to the intelligence community inspector general’s independence,” McCullough added.

While most Republicans avoided wading into the brouhaha, some did agree that the incident highlights potential flaws with the statute.

“”I think it’s important to protect the ability of whistleblowers to communicate to the committee,” said Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas), a member of the House Intelligence Committee and former CIA officer. “I want to make sure this is streamlined and doesn’t happen again.”

Atkinson himself seemed to agree, characterizing the standoff as a possible symptom of a law that can be exploited in a letter to the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday. Maguire’s move, he wrote, “may reflect a gap in the law that constitutes a significant problem and deficiency concerning the DNI’s responsibility and authority … relating to intelligence programs or activities.”

Schiff argued that the legal statute is not the issue — it’s how Maguire and other government attorneys are interpreting it.

“I don’t think this is a problem of the law,” Schiff said. “I think the law is written very clearly. I think the law is just fine. The problem lies elsewhere.”

Maguire made the call to redirect the complaint after consulting with the Justice Department. The DNI’s general counsel, Jason Klitenic, also determined that because the complaint doesn’t involve someone “within the responsibility and authority” of the intelligence community, it can’t be deemed “urgent” and therefore doesn’t require transmittal to lawmakers.

Although Maguire has kept lawmakers in the dark, some contents of the complaint have been leaking into the press. The Washington Post on Wednesdayreportedthat the complaint involved Trump making a “promise” to a foreign leader during a phone call that disturbed the intelligence official. The New York Times on Thursdayreportedthat the complaint involves a series of actions, not just one phone call.

Zaid, the attorney for whistleblowers, called Maguire’s decision to essentially overrule Atkinson — rather than just register his disagreement in a separate memo or to withhold some, but not all, information — “totally inappropriate and not supported in any way.”

To several whistleblowing attorneys, Atkinson’s decision to alert the committee about the complaint — even if he wouldn’t divulge any information about it — was its own form of whistleblowing.

“It’s a matryoshka doll of whistleblowing,” said Kel McClanahan, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based law firm National Security Counselors.

“It would’ve been procedurally proper for Maguire to forward a statement to Congress claiming privilege applies to the substance of the complaint, triggering a discussion over the privilege claim,” he added. “But he didn’t do that. He said, ‘I don’t think it’s an urgent concern’ — an argument he’s not even in a position to make under the statute.”

Still, because of the privilege issues at play and the legal loopholes, it’s theoretically possible that Congress could never see the actual complaint. That’s especially true because the invocation of executive privilege in this way is “consistent” with how past administrations have handled such issues, Zaid noted.

“This is not a Trump issue,” he said. “At least the legal privilege issue is not.”

Marianne Levine, Kyle Cheney and Andrew Desiderio contributed to this report.

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[click2watch]

OKEx Blasts ‘Defamatory’ Allegations Amid BCH Futures Settlement Furor

Cryptocurrency exchange OKEx has pushed back against allegations made by Hong-Kong based trading firm Amber AI over its early settlement of bitcoin cash (BCH) futures contracts last week.

Calling a Monday blog post from the firm “defamatory,” OKEx said in a statement on Tuesday that the allegations are “completely false” and have caused “serious damages” to its reputation.

The post alleges that the way OKEx had forced early settlement of bitcoin cash futures contracts at the last traded price on Nov. 14 – a day before a hard fork of the bitcoin cash blockchain that resulted in two new competing cryptos – was “indicative of outright market manipulation and one of the more serious acts of fraud in the history of limit order book trading in the cryptocurrency markets.”

Traders have reportedly claimed losses in light of the early settlement, with one fund founder telling Bloomberg that they had incurred hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses. OKEx later provided an explanation of the early delivery last week, stating that there was no trading pair with bitcoin cash with “enough market depth and trading volume to compose an index for delivery.”

In its response, OKEx said that: “The early settlement of BCH Futures Contracts was implemented based on the consideration of market integrity and customer interests.”

The exchange added that it was “confident” that the move was the “best” option available and pointed to a clause on its futures contracts user agreement stating that under certain conditions it may postpone or bring about early settlement and delivery.

Messy situation

As might be expected, the spat has resulted in what essentially amounts to finger-pointing following the futures settlement.

Amber AI honed in on an OKEx change to the way the futures indices were calculated on Nov. 12, saying:

“This is no different than the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) announcing that the S&P 500 E-Mini Futures will settle against the Shanghai Composite Index in the midst of trading.”

“We see this as a deliberate attempt to interfere with prices of the underlying futures contracts, amidst live trading,” the trading firm stated.

“The settlement price of OKEx’s futures contracts is constructed based on the spot index,” OKEx said. “And the BCH index constituents – BCH spot price of Coinbase, Binance, and OKEx – have already paused trading, which made it impossible to create a BCH index price for settlement. Under the circumstances, we had made the decision to perform an early settlement.”

OKEx further said Tuesday that it reserves the right to take legal action against Amber AI for “interfering” with its business and that it would disclose any evidence required in the court to prove it was “not involved in the alleged trading.”

The exchange stressed that it would “never trade against our customers and manipulate the market.”

OKEx elsewhere stated that it does not actually have any institutional client named Amber AI and that it does not serve any customer in Hong Kong “in respect of the local laws and regulations.”

“Amber AI made profit from the individual account on OKEx they claimed to have managed during the early delivery,” it said.

Refuting that claim to CoinDesk on Tuesday, Amber AI said:

“We hold multiple trading accounts on OKEx including corporate accounts of [Amber] group’s subsidiaries and individual accounts of the group’s main founders.”

Calling for OKEx to give a “proper explanation” of its actions regarding the futures settlement, Amber AI said: “The focus should be on a series of irregular activities on OKEx between Nov. 14 and Nov. 18 and how the industry should embrace regulation to avoid market manipulation and to protect investors.”

OKEx image via Shutterstock 

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The best free Android games in 2018: try these out now

http://www.internetunleashed.co.uk/?p=33389 The best free Android games in 2018: try these out now - http://www.internetunleashed.co.uk/?p=33389 What's better than a free game? Well, pretty much nothing. Except when it's just terrible and you've wasted your sweet time to download it.Sure, it's not going to cost you anything, but that doesn't mean it's okay to just mess around with terrible games that are free because the developer can't make you pay anything for it in good conscience.So what are you supposed to do about it? Well, we're here to help you with all that - but before you get into the best gallery around for recommendations, here's some advice to consider.Firstly, consider what sort of game you want to spend your time on. Time, in this case, is literally the equivalent of money here. Do you want a quick game that you can play easily, or something that's going to be a bit more in-depth? Feeling productive? Check out the Best Android Apps If it's the latter, then you'll probably have to accept that you'll need to either view some ads or in-app purchases to get the good stuff, as most developers don't want to give away their time for free.However, there are some brilliant surprises out there as well - some lovely people spend hours coding brilliant games that they just let you play for free.Also think about the kind of games that you need for your phone - if it's a high-powered game that's a visual treat, it's not going to be much use on a phone that comes from four years ago and has a tiny display.Right, got all that? Great - you need to get cracking and finding out which titles are right for you. Get your mouses clicking or fingers swiping... we guarantee there will be something you'll enjoy in here. New this week: Virtua Tennis Challenge Virtua Tennis Challenge is based on the classic tennis game that years ago once graced the Dreamcast. Although it politely doffed a sun visor in the direction of realism, the game was very much a frantic, exciting arcade outing – and that’s just as true on mobile, as you scoot about the court, trying to better your opponent with a dizzying array of well-placed lobs and electrifying super shots.Given its console origins, the game controls as well as can be expected. And that means badly if you opt for the gestural controls, which make your tennis star look like they’ve had a few gins too many before appearing on the court. But go for the on-screen D-pad and buttons, and Sega’s tennis game is a fine example of having your own little Wimbledon nestled on your smartphone. Asphalt 8: Airborne is a high-octane racer that gave a cursory glance towards realism. It then decided against bothering with such a trifling issue, and decided it’d much prefer you to pelt along at insane speeds under the power of glorious nitro, which frequently sends your car soaring into the air.Not one for the simulation crowd, then, but this racer is perfect for everyone else. The larger-than-life branched courses – hyper-real takes on real-world locations – are madcap and exciting. Rather than doing laps around a boring circuit surrounded by gravel traps, you blast through rocket launch sites, and blaze through volcanos.There are downsides – cynical IAPs and timers abound, welding a massive comedy tailfin to this otherwise sleek racer’s stylings. But for dizzying speed, mid-air barrel rolls, and loads of laughs, this racer is tough to beat. Carmageddon is a blast from the past of PC gaming. It masquerades as a racer, but often feels like you’re hunting prey – albeit while encased in a suit of speeding metal.The game’s freeform ‘arenas’ are networks of roads in a dystopian future. People and cows blithely amble about while deranged drivers smash each other to pieces. Victories come by way of completing laps, wrecking all your opponents, or mowing down every living thing in the vicinity.In the 1990s, this was shocking to the point of Carmageddon being banned in some countries. Today, the lo-fi violence seems quaint. But the game’s tongue-in-cheek humor survives, sitting nicely alongside bouncy physics, madcap sort-of-racing, and deranged cops attempting to crush you into oblivion should you cross their path. Hearthstone is a head-to-head card game that immerses you in a world populated by hunters, mages, warriors, and other fantasy types. Players take it in turns to try and batter their opponent’s health down to zero, playing cards that represent minions, spells and other skills.This genre is often baffling to the newcomer, but Hearthstone is an accessible and balanced game. Although IAPs lurk – cards can be bought with bling won in-game, but also by using actual cash – veterans have proved that you can blaze through the leaderboards without spending a penny.However you choose to play, this is a game that rewards those in it for the long haul. Have patience and learn its mechanics, and you may eventually become a master of this fantastical world of character and chance. AZ Rockets is the follow-up to 99 Rockets, an insanely hard precision shooter featuring little triangular ships on rails. The aim was to blast objects as the ships moved along a pre-defined path. One miss and your game instantly ended.AZ Rockets initially seems very similar, but this time the game’s ‘merely’ hard – a timer has replaced ‘one error means game over’. Also, your targets are now letters, which when all shot often spell out a message of encouragement.You’ll probably need it, but this combination of the whimsical and tough-but-fair gameplay makes for a compelling concoction. And given the clockwork nature of the levels, this is a game you can potentially master – without being the kind of one-thumb gaming genius necessary for success in 99 Rockets. Mad Skills BMX 2 is a one-on-one racing game. You pit your skills against various opponents, racing them on tracks packed full of ramps and bumpy sections designed to make you giddy as you zoom along.And this is very much a fast game. When deep into a race, the scenery blazes by in a blur as you battle to beat your opponent and take the checkered flag. It’s a true arcade experience, with two-button/one-thumb controls making racing all about track mastery and careful timing.Somehow, it often feels like a breakneck upside down Tiny Wings. And although it does eventually spray pay-to-win freemium in your face, for a good few hours this one’s wheelie good. Shadowgun Legends is a first-person shooter with tongue firmly in cheek. Set in a world where mercenaries are rock stars, and aliens are so much cannon fodder, this is a bold, brash, noisy slice of wanton arcade violence.If you’re looking for nuance, head elsewhere. The story and characters here are wafer thin. But if you’re after action, Shadowgun Legends does the business. Missions are linear in nature, challenging you to be fast and accurate. Combat is responsive and fluid, and you soon find yourself amassing a pile of cash, upgrading kit, and adding to your fame.Get good enough and your adoring fans will build a statue in your honor. It still won’t be enough to convince you this is a console-quality shooter, but this game feels perfect for mobile: streamlined, bite-sized, free-flowing, and fun. Will Hero is a superb, daft, frenetic one-thumb platform game featuring a bunch of squares. Perhaps it’s easier to animate such creatures, but a lack of torsos and limbs hasn’t made Will and his enemies any less violent. Instead, they’re intent on hacking each other to pieces.Initially, you largely spend your time prodding the screen to move forward and attempting to jump on bouncing enemy heads, like a simplified geometric Mario. But grab a chest and all bets are off. You might find a massive sword or missiles within.Will Hero then becomes a blast – a glorious minute or two of gore and destruction, before you lose your concentration for a moment and are sliced in half by an inconveniently placed and surprisingly dangerous windmill. This one’s great – install it immediately. Power Hover: Cruise is a spin-off from futuristic hoverboarding game Power Hover. Whereas that game mostly featured heavily choreographed levels punctuated by the odd boss battle, this one’s all about endless challenges that involve the robot protagonist eventually becoming a pile of scrap metal.The journey, though, is wonderful. Several of Power Hover: Cruise’s modes could lay claim to being among the best endless runners on Android, and you get over half a dozen here, each with its own distinct feel, hazards and challenges.As you arc across the screen, learning to master the board’s heavy inertia, you’ll be thrilled when dodging dancing lasers inside a pyramid by a hair’s breadth, whirling around a track snaking through the sky, and avoiding projectiles hurled your way by a psychotic monster living deep in an underground tunnel – and who everyone probably should have left alone. A Hollow Doorway initially comes across a bit like its creator thought Super Hexagon wasn’t quite minimal enough. Instead of guiding a tiny ship through geometric walls, you have a rectangle to match up with approaching concentric always-rectangular walls.And whereas Super Hexagon has you fling your spaceship clockwise and counter-clockwise using two thumbs, A Hollow Doorway has you rotate your door with one.But though A Hollow Doorway at first feels reductive and simplistic, it soon reveals hidden depths. Each of the nine pattern-based semi-randomized levels has a distinct feel, and there’s a clever scoring system that rewards the deft of thumb who can complete several levels in a row without a crash.Even with all this, it’s not the most complex of games – but it’s enjoyable and hypnotic fare, especially on a smartphone with a high-quality display. Spaceteam is a superb multiplayer game that deftly showcases your ability (or lack thereof) to work as part of a (space)team. With between two and eight players connected in local multiplayer, you’re informed that your spaceship is fleeing an exploding star, and you must perform actions to stave off your transport being blown up in a manner that would be a major downer for everyone on board.The snag is the controls were designed by a lunatic. They’re spread between everyone’s screens, and demands simply show up as text-based prompts, so you’ll be searching for the Dangling Shunter switch and Spectrobolt slider, while pleading with everyone to “please turn on the Eigenthrottle”. Captain Kirk never had it this tough. Glitch Dash is a premium auto-runner. It’s also really, really hard. It essentially dumps you in an abstract world of checkerboard corridors peppered with traps. You must swipe to dodge, leap and slide, avoiding walls, laser grids, and massive scythes that some nutcase has left swinging from above.The high-octane gameplay is augmented by an intense electronic soundtrack that broadly matches the moves you must make in order to survive. And unlike the majority of entries in this genre, Glitch Dash’s levels are hand-crafted.This means when you fail (and you will – often, and sometimes when tantalizingly close to your goal), it’s down to your lack of mastery and an inability to make your thumbs do what you want them to. But you’ll try again right away. After all, you’re not going to let a game beat you. It’s Full of Sparks is a speed-run platformer where sentient firecrackers must find a body of water to hurl themselves into before their fuses make them explode all over the shop. The first level is a sprint to the finish line, but the game immediately makes things more complicated.You first don some red shades, which give you a button for turning on and off chunks of red landscape. Two more colors soon join the show. As the levels increase in size, you end up with a crazed, tense dash for survival, juggling bits of landscape via delicate finger choreography that’d impress even the finest flautist.The game can be frustrating, and larger levels need quite a bit of trial and error, but this game’s charm and innovation ensures its spark won’t die for the duration. HeliHopper is a helicopter game that involves quite a lot of hopping and an awful lot of crashing. In part, this is probably because helicopters are primarily designed for zooming through the air rather than jumping around like frogs, but there you go.The aim of HeliHopper is simple: using a basic slingshot mechanism (think Angry Birds), you must direct your helicopter to another landing pad. Depending on the particular level you’re tackling, you might be able to nudge the helicopter mid-flight, collect bling, or complete several painstakingly precise ‘flights’ in a row.An ideal arcade blast for quick sessions, HeliHopper provides a set of defined missions and nine endless modes. Although if you never want to set foot in a helicopter after smashing hundreds of the things here, don’t blame us. red is a puzzle game that challenges you to make the screen go red– though given the intentionally obtuse nature of many of the 50 challenges, you might be the one turning crimson after a few hours pitting your wits against some of the more devious puzzles.It starts simply. A big red button sits in the center of the screen, inviting you to press it. Do so and a chunky red line fills part of the background. Keep pressing and soon enough the entire screen is filled. Job done. Next!Explaining any more of the game would spoil things, so you’ll just have to take our word for it that red is relentlessly inventive, frequently vexing, and something of a minimal masterpiece. The Battle of Polytopia is a turn-based game akin to a stripped-back Civilization designed specifically for one-thumb mobile play. Each game has you start with a single city, the aim being to dominate a little isometric world. You either race to be the best within 30 turns, or emerge victorious when you’re the only tribe still standing.Wisely, Polytopia focuses more on approachability than depth. The tech tree is abbreviated, stopping short of guns. The maps are small. Cities can be conquered, but you can’t found new ones with settlers.Each of these decisions helps the game flow, but despite its compact nature, Polytopia affords plenty of opportunities to strategize. That’s especially true when venturing into online multiplayer with other people – a mode open to anyone who buys one or more extra tribes. Six Match is a new take on match games. Instead of swapping gems, you switch coins by having the suitably named Mr Swap-With-Coins barge past them. The twist: a number on the cuboid hero’s head denotes how many moves he has left before he freezes to the spot – six at most before he must make the next match.This twist makes for a very different match experience – one that’s far more strategic than swiping at the screen like a maniac. You can’t afford to waste moves – particularly when Six Match introduces new concepts to help and hinder. These include bombs, coin-shifting cages that assist and frustrate in equal measure, deadly skulls, and poker-style card hands that boost your score.The combination of factors proves clever and engaging, and offers scope for long-term play as you work out strategies to improve your score. First Strike is Risk with nuclear weapons. You command a nuclear power, and set about taking over the world. Mostly, this involves lobbing missiles at neighbors before invading, and researching the technology to stop your enemies turning your country into radioactive rubble.This is a sobering game. Futuristic graphics are joined by a sombre soundtrack, and clinical casualty readouts appear when a major population center is destroyed. Fittingly, victory doesn’t come with a fanfare, but the game asking: “You win?”The free version contains ads that somewhat disrupt the experience, but this is an otherwise, thoughtful take on land-grab strategy, with a message that we really don’t want to see a devastating first strike – or even a single nuclear missile launched in anger – in the real world. Jodeo features a cycloptic blob being put through the grinder by a sadist. A claw-like contraption lifts the jelly-like critter above an ‘experiment’ and lets go. Your aim: to move it left and right, squelching over every edge of geometric shapes lazily rotating on the screen – without falling off.With standard 2D forms, Jodeo might have been entertaining, but it wouldn’t have been as interesting. Here, you’re tackling 3D objects moving in and out of a 2D plane, along with other ‘scientific’ conditions, such as someone unhelpfully hurling meteors your way, or turning off a shape’s lines so you can’t see them.The experience is short, but it’s hard to gripe about a freebie – not least given the protagonist’s seemingly permanent expression of sheer terror. Typeshift rethinks anagrams, word searches and crosswords. Each puzzle comprises columns of letters you can drag up and down, the aim being to make a complete word in the central row. When you do so, the word’s letters change color. To complete the puzzle, you must color all of the letters.Although completing puzzles at speed rewards you with higher scores on the leaderboard, such aspects to Typeshift are largely hidden. This is mostly a lean-back game to relax with, but should you hanker for an additional layer of brain-smashing, you can try cracking crossword-style puzzles where you match words to set clues.It’s worth noting that Typeshift’s puzzles are hand-crafted, not algorithmically generated, so they do run out - and only some of them are free. Still, there’s always a daily puzzle to try your hand (or your best swiping finger) at. Sonic The Hedgehog 2 arrived on consoles in 1992 and, like its predecessor, is a super-fast side-scrolling platform game. The aim is to zoom through levels, grab gold rings, and avoid the enemies and spikes liberally sprinkled about. This sequel also adds a Super Dash Attack to help Sonic obliterate foes, and 3D special stages, which recall newer Sonic fare on mobile.The game is rightly regarded as a classic, and the mobile version is a rare example of retro done well. Rather than giving you a bog-standard emulator, Sega has fully ‘remastered’ the game in widescreen, added enhancements and secrets, and provided touchscreen controls that are actually pretty good.There are obnoxious ads here and there, but they’re a small price to pay to get Sonic 2 on your Android for nothing; and if they bug you, a one-off IAP removes them forever. Hoppenhelm has an air of the familiar with its chunky pixelated graphics and tap-to-move mechanics, but this mix of twitch gaming, one-thumb action and arcade fare turns out to be surprisingly compelling and a little bit different.The backstory finds the titular knight lost in dungeons that are filling with lava. With each step he takes, the lava drops back a touch – but you can’t simply hammer the walk button and escape a fiery death because the dungeons are packed full of hazards and monsters.This is where the other two buttons come in. The sword is used to kill enemies, and the shield can protect from fireballs. Because Hoppenhelm is played at speed, the result is a thrilling combination of fast reactions, timing, prioritization, and swearing at your thumbs when the knight is devoured by a goofy floating head. Infiniroom is Canabalt in a box, infused with the sadistic nature of Super Hexagon. You prod the screen to make the auto-running protagonist leap to avoid electrified boxes that appear from every surface of a room you’re trapped in. And like a certain superhero, he happily runs up any wall he reaches, then along the ceiling and back down again.It’s dizzying and chaotic, but Infiniroom further ramps up the tension by continually chopping and changing the play field. At any moment, you may get a second’s warning before a chunk of space disappears (don’t be there when it does), or a new area opens up. And then the game starts gleefully lobbing saw blades and lasers at you.Not a relaxing game, then, but one you’ll want to play again and again. And given how short Infiniroom games are, you can pack plenty into the shortest break. Sonic Forces: Speed Battle reimagines Sonic The Hedgehog as an into-the-screen lane-based auto-runner. Which probably sounds a lot like Sonic Dash – but here, you battle it out against online opposition.With trap-laden courses and pick-ups you can regularly grab as you belt along, Speed Battle has hints of Mario Kart about it. Races are packed with tense moments as you unleash a fireball, in the hope of taking out a distant leader, or have the checkered flag in sight, but know your opponents are only fractions of a second behind.There is some grind – chests with timers; multiple currencies; glacially slow leveling up. But Speed Battle puts a colorful, entertaining spin on auto-runners that’s fun even if you keep your wallet firmly closed. Tower Fortress is a semi-randomized, hard-as-nails shoot ’em up. It takes place in a mysterious tower infested with strange creatures. And if you don’t ascend to the top, everyone is doomed, for some reason.Getting to the top isn’t easy. Your hero dodders about, shoots his gun, and can double-jump in a Sonic-style spin attack. Which sounds fine until you realize even the most innocuous foe can trip you up, such as seemingly-benign frogs.But then you reach the end of a section, nip into a secret area with a key, grab a power-up, and feel like a boss. Until you meet an actual boss, who’ll kick your face off. One to persevere with, then – and once your arcade thumbs are in tip-top condition, give each of the four zones a thorough blasting. South Park: Phone Destroyer marries real-time strategy with the cartoon mayhem found in the popular TV show. If you’ve played Clash Royale, it’s a bit like that, only with swearing, juvenile jokes, and lots of cartoon cowboys and Native Americans stomping about shooting at each other.If you’re a fan of the show, you’ll appreciate the entertaining single-player story with the show’s famous faces sending each other messages, and occasionally phoning you. The battles are enjoyable, too – the basics are accessible, but there’s plenty of depth for the long-term.The usual freemium monetization mars things a touch, as does enforcing online player-versus-player match wins for progression. But for the most part, you’ll be yelling RESPECT MA AUTHORITAH! until everyone in the vicinity demands you stop. Beat Street is a love letter to retro brawlers, echoing the likes of classic arcade title Double Dragon. Yet here you duff up all manner of evil gang members by way of using only a single thumb.This is quite the achievement. Old-style scrolling beat ’em ups might not have had a modern-day gamepad littered with buttons and triggers, but they still had a joystick and two action buttons. Here, though, you drag to move, tap to punch, and use gestures to fire off special moves.It works wonderfully. Beat Street gradually reveals new abilities and features – not least weapon pick-ups, one of which rather unsportingly has you smack opponents over the head with what’s described as an ’80s brick. Brave Hand is a card game that starts off with a basic solitaire at its foundation, welds that to a game of ‘higher or lower’, and dispenses with the ‘lower’ bit.Your aim is to clear the table of cards, by beating the top card in any given pile. The snag is most cards start off face down. You can use a low card as a ‘scout’ that forces two cards to flip. But beyond that, it’s chance that dictates your fortunes as you dig into successive cards in a pile, hoping one won’t beat you.Despite being very reliant on luck, Brave Hand is compelling. It perhaps won’t dislodge the likes of Sage Solitaire from your home screen, but it should appeal to card game fiends who fancy something fresh. Drag'n'Boom shows that you should never encourage a teenage dragon. Here, the rebellious fire-breather zooms about minimal landscapes, belly-sliding down hills, soaring into the air, barbecuing soldiers, and generally being a menace.Fortunately, you get to be the dragon, rather than the put-upon army rather wishing it had better weapons. The game recalls Angry Birds in how you ping your dragon along, but also borrows from twin-stick shooters, Sonic the Hedgehog (super-fast tunnel bits), and even The Matrix (slo-mo as you aim).Although there’s admittedly not masses of variation across the game’s 50 levels and endless mode, it’s hard to be too critical. Drag'n'Boom looks great, and has the kind of grin-inducing breezy gameplay that’s perfect for slotting into the odd moment when you feel the need to unleash your inner dragon. Cat Bird is another in a long line of platform games where a cute protagonist has somehow found themselves in a kind of videogame hell, surrounded by danger and death.The hero is an oddball combination of cat and bird - although Cat Bird is a bit rubbish at the ‘bird’ bit, only being able to glide rather than fly. Level layouts are largely built around this ability, with the furry affront to evolution often gliding past saw blades by a hair’s breadth, before snagging keys and taunting doddering enemies.Really, it’s all very familiar territory, but the delicate pixel art is lovely, with subtle animations like Cat Bird’s twitchy ears, and tiny hopping birds in the background. Also, the level design manages to smartly make use of the hero’s flappy nature, meaning success requires the use of your brain alongside twitchy thumbs. Download it meow. (Sorry.) Flat Pack rethinks platform games by wrapping levels around 3D shapes. The aim is to dodder or fly about, grab six sides of a golden cube, and make for the exit. But each level has its own twist, forcing you to think on your feet – or rotors if you’re careening through the air, heading for some spikes.Early on, for example, you contend with ‘flipping gravity’. This requires moving around a cubic section of level in a specific way, so you can enter from another direction. One level is two huge blocks that smash together at regular intervals, squashing slowpoke adventurers who dawdle. And it only gets more disorienting from there.This could so easily have been a gimmicky offering, but it’s the smart level design that transforms Flat Pack into a must-have freebie. Data Wing has the appearance of a minimal top-down racer, but it’s far, far more than that. That’s not to say the racing bit isn’t great - because it is. You guide your little triangular ship around neon courses, scooting across boost pads, and scraping track edges for a bit of extra speed.But there’s something else going on here – an underlying narrative where you discover you’re, in fact, ferrying bits of data about, all under the eye of an artificially intelligent Mother. Initially, all seems well, but it soon becomes clear Mother has some electrons loose, not least when you start getting glimpses of a world beyond the silicon.With perfect touch controls, varied racing levels, a few hours of story, and plenty of replay value, Data Wing would be a bargain for a few dollarpounds. For free, it’s absurdly generous. Stranger Things: The Game re-imagines the Netflix TV show, set in 1984, as a 1980s videogame. How meta, you might think… but it works.You take on the role of gruff Officer Hopper, trying to uncover a mystery at the heart of Hawkins, Indiana. As you work your way deeper into the game, you gradually find new characters, each with individual powers that are vital for further progression.This pixelated adventure game looks the part (despite not being quite as retro as games of the period), and offers an entertaining mix of straightforward puzzling (find an object; put it somewhere specific), and gleefully punching local security forces when they get in your way.Well, it is set in the 1980s – you’re not supposed to solve mysteries with brainpower alone. Push & Pop is a sliding tiles puzzler, with mechanics not a million miles away from Threes! (or low-rent knock-off 2048), but this is no mere clone. Instead, it builds on the basics of shifting tiles or blocks around a limited space by also borrowing ideas from Sokoban and Pac-Man, before stripping everything right back again.Play occurs on a five-by-five grid, around which you slide a cuboid. On every move, a new block appears somewhere on the grid. Arrange five into a solid line by pushing them and they disappear, freeing up space, and leaving behind gems the blocky hero can collect by eating or shoving blocks through them. Further complications are added when immovable blocks appear. Your game’s over when you become stuck.With its neon visuals and ethereal soundtrack, Push & Pop takes simple foundations and runs with them, fashioning an intriguing, engaging, and surprisingly novel title. Battle Golf Online is a major revamp of the original – and hugely entertaining – Battle Golf. Once again, the golf bit is stripped right back to two players whacking balls toward holes that appear from a lake. Some of these are greens with slopes to aid the ball’s progress. Others are rather more esoteric – a lighthouse with smashed-out windows; a submarine; the Loch Ness Monster with a hat.The controls are straightforward – a tap to stop an aiming arrow and another to choose your shot’s power. And that’s just as well, because this game’s more about speed than precision – and the first to five wins.Against the computer AI, this results in frenetic, entertaining battles, but the hole-in-one comes from online multiplayer, where you battle it out against real humans. Just watch out for people performing the so-called ‘pro’ shot, hitting and hoping before holes surface from the water. Aquavias is a sedate path-finding puzzle game. The aim is to deliver water to cities, which will otherwise suffer from drought. Unfortunately, a buffoon has decided the means of moving said water is by way of elevated and fragmented aqueducts.Each section – most being a single line or quarter circle – can be individually rotated, the idea being to gradually fashion a solid path for the water to follow.Naturally, this is where you come in. Each tap rotates a piece 90 degrees clockwise. Depending on the level, you’ll either have a limited number of moves, or a rapidly draining reservoir.Over time, the complexity of the required pathways increases – notably when T-junctions enter the fray; but the game never becomes overbearing, and its pleasing visuals and soundtrack further add to the charm. Laps – Fuse is a match-three game based around numbered discs. If three or more of the same meet, they fuse into a new disc with twice the face value. The tiny snag: you’ve limited slots to hurl discs into. The other tiny snag: the discs you hurl zoom about the edge of a circle. The other other tiny snag: you’ve only 20 laps to secure your high-score – and thereby Laps bragging rights.This isn’t a thoughtful Threes-style outing, then – more an arcade puzzler on fast-forward. You at every moment you must plan ahead, trying to set up matches and chain reactions that fling your circling disc back a little way, buying you a few seconds of extra time.It’s a tense, clever take on what’s become a tired genre. And should you master the main mode, you can unlock ‘endless’, ‘furious’ (faster), and ‘extreme’ (fewer slots – presumably for masochists). iHUGU is an arcade game that reckons everyone should get along and hug – just not too often. The bulk of the title is a quick-fire arcade memory test, where you hug each character you come across precisely once. If they’ve been hugged before, flick them by – or your game’s over.Once you’ve powered up your hug bar, iHUGU provides a brief diversion in the form of a mini-game, which can be anything from darting about and grabbing leaves, to whatever the hug equivalent of a beat ’em up is (a ‘hug fight’, apparently). The entire thing’s endearingly daft.With eight locations, 100 characters to unlock, and a character editor to create terrifyingly freaky monsters with which to hug, there’s longevity here, too. iHUGU also proves there are still new things to say in single-finger Android gaming. We hug it. Wilful Kitty is a sliding tile puzzle game on a four-by-four grid. But before you yawn and assume it’s another 2048 knock-off (which itself was a Threes! knock-off), guess again. Because this game features cats. And all the things that cats really like.The twist here is a little kitty moves about the grid as you swipe, and objects that enter the grid are combined into consumables and toys. For example, milk and a bowl becomes a kitty drink, and a plate and some fish makes a hearty lunch.This shift in mechanics shakes up everything you knew about this kind of game – as does you being able to charge up a ‘satisfaction bar’ that when full unleashes a ‘Hyper Kitty Dash’, clearing a chunk of the playfield in double-quick time.It’s entertaining serving the tiny cat’s every need – and surprisingly challenging, too. Because it turns out this Wilful Kitty has bite. Calculator: The Game is a puzzler geared towards sums, featuring a sentient, snarky calculator who’s relentlessly eager to show you its buttons.The aim in each level is simple: use whatever buttons are provided to reach a goal number, within a limited number of steps. So if you need to get to 9 and see +3 and x3 keys, that’s pretty simple.The thing is, this calculator likes playing you as much as you’re playing it. Before long, it’s gleefully adding buttons that enable you to knock digits off of your total, reverse them, or hurl numbers through portals.This one’s not your standard desktop calculator, then, but all the better for it. And it’s a surprisingly entertaining game, given that you’re ultimately doing math. Age of 2048 is effectively a reskin of popular swipe-based tile puzzler 2048. Now, 2048 was really a low-rent knock-off of the far superior Threes! (which has its own free version), but it had the advantage of being open source, therefore opening itself up to all kinds of variations on the basic theme.In the original 2048, you swipe to slide numbered tiles about a four-by-four grid. Merged pairs then double their face value. But Age of 2048 is all about buildings.Initially, you swipe bits of rock together, until you’re fashioning tents and stone monuments. Build a ‘wonder’ – the largest building type and the equivalent of the 2048 tile in the original – and you unlock the next stage.Ultimately, Age of 2048 is still a slightly limited game, lacking the nuance and charm of Threes!. But its concept, design, and the addition of some useful power-ups, ensures it’s worth a download, and that it manages to stand out from the crowd. Flipping Legend is a demanding endless runner smashed into an RPG-like upgrade system. The protagonist embarks on an orgy of destruction atop a chessboard-like pathway, and can only leap diagonally.This initially makes your head spin, not least because the path is a wraparound one. This means if you leap off of its left-hand side, you reappear on the right – something you frequently have to make use of, to avoid the many hazards in your way.To further complicate matters, your health bar drains at an alarming rate, and only refills when you biff enemies. Grab enough bling and you can unlock power-ups for taking out multiple foes.With an energetic soundtrack, a bunch of alternate characters, and a very smart chunky art style, Flipping Legend shows there’s still life left in endless runners (albeit as the hero is busy killing everything in this one). Hoggy 2 is a platform puzzler that feels like it’s escaped from a Nintendo console. The premise involves the evil Moon Men kidnapping the children of the blobby heroes. You must find where the kids have been hidden, somewhere inside a massive maze full of jars.Each jar houses a bite-sized challenge packed full of platforms, enemies, traps, and fruit. Eat all the fruit and you’re awarded a key. Collect enough keys to unlock new areas of the maze.The platforming bits are frequently deviously fiendish. Early levels ease you in, but you’re soon facing tests that seem impossible until you spot something crucial – a block you’d previously not noticed, or a different order in which to approach things – whereupon you feel like a genius.Should you best all 200 hand-crafted levels, you can make your own in a level editor, or take on those the Hoggy community’s created. That this all comes for free is astonishing. Download it now. Drop Wizard Tower is a superbly crafted love letter to classic single-screen arcade platform games like Bubble Bobble. You dart about, knocking out enemies, grabbing gems and fruit, and duffing up bosses, working your way towards a final confrontation.However, there’s a twist in that Drop Wizard Tower fuses old-school platforming with auto-running. Your little wizard never stops moving, and can only be directed left or right. And he only shoots the instant he lands on a platform.You’ll likely fight against this at first, cursing Drop Wizard Tower for straying from traditional left/right/jump/fire controls. But the game really works on mobile, and when it clicks you’ll be zooming about, stunning foes with your magic wand, and booting them away to create tumbling ‘avalanches’ of enemies. is essentially a souped-up Pong. Two players face off, sending a ball back and forth. However, Timber Tennis is played across five ‘lanes’, in theory making it a touch simpler to line up your bat than in the free-form Pong.Where Timber Tennis differs from its ancient inspiration is in how you progress. Your opponent never misses a shot, until you’ve powered up your Super Shot bar, at which point you’ve about a second to stop an oscillating arrow to target a smash. Succeed and you win. Mess up and your game’s over.Timber Tennis doesn’t have much depth, but it’s still easy to love. It looks great, with varied courts and characters, is fun in short bursts, and has some excellent music. The irritating commentator, however, needs pelting with infinite tennis balls, until all that’s left is blissful silence. (Fortunately, you can turn him off by disabling the sound effects.) Touchdowners is, it’s fair to say, not an entirely accurate recreation of American football. Here, two three-strong teams (usually human, but sometimes skeletons or chickens), face off, their arms spinning wildly as they move. Also, the pitch appears to be a massive trampoline.If you can wrestle your bounding trio into submission, you might get a touchdown. If the other side gets one: game over. (Unless you’re in Career mode, whereupon it’s first to three – or first to five in the final.)It’s all totally stupid, but – much like Wrassling and Dunkers, by the same team – loads of raucous, breezy fun. Just expect to be a touch disappointed next time you watch a real match, and the Miami Dolphins aren’t soaring through the air, desperately fending off an attack from a team of actual sharks. Ballz is crude and clunky, but it nonetheless manages to mesmerize, with a mix of ideas borrowed from Breakout, endless runners, and Angry Birds.You slingshot your ball towards a wall of numbered blocks, and it pings about before coming to rest at the foot of the screen. Each number denotes how many times a block must be hit before it disappears, and all the blocks march forward one space when your ball stops moving.Over time, you collect more balls – all of which are fired at once – but the block numbers sharply increase to counter any new advantage you might have.The physics is rickety and random, the aiming mechanism is fiddly, and the aesthetics are basic, but Ballz is nonetheless compelling as you gradually fashion and unleash massive chains of balls. More polish, and it’d be a classic; as it is, it’s still a great freebie. Sonic The Hedgehog hasn’t fared as well as one-time rival Mario. Whereas Nintendo’s mascot still features in first-rate platformers, Sega’s blue hedgehog is more often mired in freemium rubbish. With Sonic The Hedgehog, though, you’re getting the original Genesis/Mega Drive classic.In fact, you’re getting more. This is no lazy emulator, but a fully remastered game, with improved performance and widescreen 60fps visuals. Although a touch fiddly at times, care’s been taken with customizable on-screen controls, and there’s gamepad controller support, too.Most importantly, the game itself remains compelling, with Sonic zooming about colorful landscapes filled with platforms, traps, gold rings, patrolling enemies, dizzying loops and tunnels, and the occasional boss. Retro-gaming’s often a disappointment, but Sonic stands the test of time. If only all old games were reworked for mobile with such care. Up The Wall is suitably named given that it probably will drive you mad. It’s an autorunner with a vicious streak, but also some serious design smarts.You start out by selecting a character from the claw machine, and that determines which world you’re dropped in. You might be a rubber duck blazing along bathroom tiles, or a skull skidding through a fiery hell.The aim: get to the end of a hand-crafted level to add the character to your collection.Even the so-called ‘easy’ levels are tough, and the swipe controls are sometimes a bit iffy. But the trippy visuals, head-bobbing audio, and varied isometric worlds peppered with devious traps will keep drawing you back. This game flips chess on its head in brilliant fashion, by messing around with the pieces rather than the board.During your first go at Really Bad Chess, you might examine what’s in front of you and quickly come to the conclusion you have a few too many queens. Your opponent, by contrast, will have a suspicious lack of decent pieces.This is intentional. In Really Bad Chess, the AI’s capabilities never change, but the pieces do. As you improve, the setup shifts.Get really good and you’ll have to take on the computer with a pile of pawns while it attacks you with as many queens as it can feasibly get away with.For free, you also get a daily puzzle and two attempts to beat it. A $2.99/£2.89 IAP unlocks local multiplayer and removes the ads. This game does for racing what auto-runners do for platform games. One Tap Rally is controlled with a single finger, pressing on the screen to accelerate and releasing to brake, while your car steers automatically. The aim is to not hit the sides of the track, because that slows you down.Win and you move up the rankings, then playing a tougher, faster opponent. In a neat touch, said opponents are recordings of real-world attempts by other players, ranked by time.In essence, this is a digital take on slot-racing, then, without the slots. But the mix of speed and strategy, along with a decent range of tracks, makes you forget about the simplistic controls. If anything, they become a boon, shifting the focus to learning track layouts and razor-sharp timing. Top stuff. The idea behind Yellow is to make the screen entirely yellow. The twist is the game has 50 different ways of enabling you to do so, but each level provides no inkling of the required methodology.Initially, progress is quite swift, as you tap the screen, fling a dot around Angry Birds-style to fill a hole, and then grin when you realize you must, for instance, press a yellow disc with the rhythm of blowing up a balloon.Later levels, though, are at times willfully - and almost gleefully - obtuse. You can get hints, paid for by watching ads, but to do so feels like admitting defeat in this minimal and clever puzzler. In Silly Sausage: Doggy Dessert, the world’s stretchiest canine finds himself trying to worm his way through a land of cake, chocolate, ice cream, and a worrying number of spikes, saw-blades, and massive bombs.Rather than walk like a normal pooch, the furry hero of this game stretches as you swipe, until his front paws can cling on to something. His bottom then snaps back into place. It’s quite the trick – but also a hazard if one end of his body ends up in danger when the other end is worryingly distant.There are 50 scenes in all, along with tricky bonus rooms to try and beat. And although some of the later bits of the game are perhaps a bit too testing, this one as a whole is a very tasty, satisfying arcade treat. Zero points for innovation in Binary Dash, which is another side-scrolling auto-runner where you tap to jump, and tap somewhere else to flip upside-down.But many points for the combination of super-fast gameplay, superb level design, and a visual aesthetic that thumbs its nose at the modern-day penchant for mid-80s pixel art, instead hurling you back to the lurid charms of late 1970s gaming.Yes, Binary Dash more looks like it’s been vomited out of an ancient Atari console, but it nonetheless has a quirky charm. And the game itself is great. It eases you in gently, helping you get to grips with flipping above and below the horizon, thus turning game-ending pillars into pits to leap over when you’re upside-down.Before long, though, your thumbs will be seriously challenged by the tight choreography required to jump and flip your way to the ends of later levels. You probably wouldn’t be a happy commuter if forced to take the line in twice daily.Here, a cartoon train lurches along a track with more bends in it than seems entirely reasonable. You must swipe in the appropriate direction to ensure the train turns in time, rather than crashing and providing the operator with a pretty good excuse for a cancellation.Along the way, you can grab coins and carriages, amassing the points needed to unlock new skins, some of which are very odd. (Trains that are in fact massive frogs are the least of it.)It does get a bit samey, and the online multiplayer is drab, but Infinite Train’s good for a quick blast, and if you get sick of the endless mode, there are stage-based challenges to tackle. With its four-by-four grid and penchant for rapidly restricting the playfield, Topsoil comes across a bit like a horticultural Threes! There’s no sliding cards about, though – instead, you’re presented with a string of things to plant, and prod open spaces to plonk them down.After three, you get a chance to harvest – and this is where things become more complicated. You get more points for harvesting many plants at once, which requires them to be on adjacent squares. But on harvesting anything, the soil beneath is turned over. Soil cycles between blue, yellow, and green, and groups of plants cannot cross different soil colors.The net result is a clever game where you must plan ahead, and where you keep digging for strategies to last longer and discover new plants to grow and harvest. It takes a lot to make a turn-based puzzle game stand out. ’s stark visuals are certainly arresting, but it’s the way in which you move around the isometric landscape that makes the game unique.Essentially, the protagonist is a triangle that flips into an adjacent tile when moving, leaving a trail in its wake. The trail is solid and cannot be crossed again. A glowing exit is where you must head – but only after grabbing gems along the way. And those gems might be stuck behind doorways opened using switches, or be located behind teleporters.Soon, you’re trying to figure out a labyrinthine pathway to victory, wondering how someone could make a journey across a little single-screen neon grid so convoluted – and so riveting. Yet another into-the-screen endless runner, channeling Temple Run. Yawn. Only Sky Dancer has a certain something that keeps you playing – and that certain something is leaving your stomach in your throat every time you jump.Much of this is down to the construction of Sky Dancer’s world, which comprises tiny chunks of land hanging in the air in a manner that rocks usually don’t have. As you hurl yourself off the edge of one, you must quickly maneuver to land on a platform below.Battling gravity and inertia is exhilarating, especially when the game speeds up and you know the slightest miscalculation will result in you meeting a splattery end on the desert floor. We’re in Mario-style platforming territory with Super Phantom Cat, although only if you imagine the entire production quaffed a ton of sugar first. The Phantom World is a lurid, gaudy place, full of deadly traps, bling, and plenty of secrets. (A good rule when playing: never believe any wall is actually solid.)Retina-searing art style aside, the game feels like a slam-dunk for any fan of classic platformers. Level design is smart, rewarding repeat play, there are varied modes, and the controls can be resized and shifted about if the defaults require banana thumbs on your device.It is a bit ad-infested at times, but not to the point momentum is knocked. All in all, Super Phantom Cat is loads of leapy furry fun. Pinball infused with the DNA of an against-the-clock endless runner sounds like an odd combination – but it works. In PinOut’s neon world – featuring a gorgeous electro soundtrack – a massive table stretches far into the distance. Within: dozens of miniature tables comprising flippers, ramps, and more than a few traps.The basic aim at every turn is to keep moving forward to the next mini-table – and quickly. Accurate ramp shots are key, and so mastering the game’s physics and the layout of its various stages is essential.For advocates, this is a fresh take on pinball that works brilliantly in mobile form. And for newcomers, PinOut is freed from the frequently arcane rules of pinball, but loses none of its frenetic excitement. Coming across like Super Hexagon got infatuated with polygons, Polywarp is a brutally difficult arcade experience that’s also maddeningly compulsive.The basics are simple: your polygon sits at the center of the screen, and walls close in from the edges. By tapping the left or right-hand side of the screen, respectively, you reduce or increase your polygon’s edge count, to match the next shape that’s aiming to crush you.Everything moves at speed and whirls about, like you’re playing in a washing machine packed with an endless number of lurid shapes.Initially, Polywarp feels impossible, but you soon recognize patterns to commit to memory and master. Last 60 seconds and you’ll feel like a champ – until you realize a new, tougher mode’s waiting to humiliate your thumbs. One of the more abstract games you’re likely to install on your Android device, Cubway comprises over 50 minimal scenes you traverse as a tiny red square.The aim is simply to reach a goal, but all kinds of objects block your path and respond to your presence in varying ways. You must figure out how to get past them all, despite being restricted in terms of movement – forward or backward are your only options, although you can (and will often have to) stop, move slowly, or backtrack, depending on the hazard before you.As you travel, a story of sorts is revealed, although the text reads like a strange self-help guide. Otherwise, Cubway is a success – it’s intuitive, the mechanics are fresh and clever, and the aesthetics are unfalteringly atmospheric. All the chicks have been captured, and so super-hen Cluckles sets off to save them, armed with the kind of massive sword most people would be surprised to find lurking in a henhouse.From the outset, Cluckles’ Adventure is a very retro platformer – all chunky graphics, angular environments with enemies marching back and forth, and an unforgiving nature.But while the very regular deaths can be off-putting (as can the virtual button placement, seemingly designed for banana thumbs on anything above a seven-inch tablet), it’s hard to stay mad at everything else.The visuals are rough and ready but full of charm. And most importantly, the level design is smart, making it a mild challenge to reach an exit, but a much tougher test should you want to rescue every chick.It’s one of the better platformers on Android, and one of the very best free ones, as well as being a reminder of simpler times. Imagine Tomb Raider reworked as Pac-Man, slammed into Crossy Road, played in fast-forward, and dressed as if spat out of a ZX Spectrum circa 1983. That’s Tomb of the Mask.You play as a hero aiming to ‘liberate’ gold from a tomb, but he finds a mask – and rashly puts it on. Recklessness here wins the day, since the mask bestows the wearer with the ability to climb walls and leap big gaps, giving him a fighting chance of reaching the end of scrolling caverns packed with deadly spikes, guns, and foes, and avoiding an encroaching glowing wall of death.Whether playing through set-piece levels or the endless arcade mode, Tomb of the Mask is a fresh, fun, vibrant twitch game that marries the best of old and new. If you’re the kind of person who’d rather stand up (and knock down) dominoes than play the actual game, Dominocity should appeal.In this arcade puzzler, the idea is to place as few dominoes as possible to reach a goal, while grabbing golden amulets along the way.The controls are odd at first. You tap to drop a domino in front of the last one, and slide your finger to angle it if necessary, in order to change direction.Even so, precision placement isn’t too tricky, but success also hinges on speed. This adds tension to what may otherwise have been a pleasing but undemanding game, further ramped up by the increasing complexity of the pathways you must conquer as you move through Dominocity’s challenges.It amounts to a fairly unique and original puzzler that’s easy to learn but hard to master, much like Tetris and other greats. It’s also fun in short bursts, making it ideal for mobile play. One of the most sedate, forgiving puzzle games you’ll ever play, Outfolded also manages to do something interesting with minimal blocky environments and trundling shapes.For each of the game’s scenes, the aim is to reach a goal by ‘unfolding’ one or more shapes. Each move you make, one of the shape’s faces disappears, leaving you with whatever’s left for further turns, and you can only move in a direction if you have an intact face pointing that way.Early on, you can make all kinds of blunders and still reach the goal. But before long, the shapes become complex many-sided things reminiscent of Tetris blocks, requiring you to think carefully about the order in which their sides are unfolded and the routes you take.Mess up and you can undo as many moves as you like. Even this isn’t galling, the rewind animation being pleasing even when you’ve already watched it several times on a particularly tough level.  This one’s far from the worst game ever, but it does feature an amusingly grumpy cat. It’s actually a set of simple mini-games, reminiscent of Nintendo’s WarioWare series, only here, they feature a miffed moggie that’d sooner be somewhere – anywhere – else.Each miniature challenge in Grumpy Cat’s Worst Game Ever can be understood in an instant  – stamping a paw on a laser pointer by tapping the screen; firing the cat upward to secure a cardboard box of dreams; pressing shaped buttons to traverse a path and reach a fish.The variety of mini-games keeps it fresh and interesting, and the game is often smile inducing thanks to its mix of colorful art, ludicrous concepts and eternally irritated feline.The longer you survive, the faster and more demanding everything becomes. Fail and the grumpy cat scowls, but you’re also awarded coins to acquire new games by way of stickers won from a prize machine. Naturally, every one of them features the grumpy cat. More or less an auto-runner on a five-lane road, Cubed Rally World is all about belting along, steering left and right to avoid anything in your path. Survive long enough in this isometric landscape and you hit the checkered flag, where cube-oriented fame and fortune awaits.But things get really interesting when you grab coins en-route and start buying new vehicles on the game’s home screen. Each vehicle shakes up the visuals and the manner in which you race - the dune buggy, for example, can leap majestically over sandy hills where the UFO bothers farmyard cows to add some variety into a older game format.More importantly, for every vehicle you buy, a new track section is added to the rally, the vehicle you control automatically switching when you reach that point.Amass a suitably large collection and there’s the potential for colossal scores – but completing the rally becomes significantly harder, which helps prolong longetivity. This one-thumb arcade game combines classic slalom fare with the checkpoint racing and branching maps seen in the likes of OutRun. Using a single digit, you direct a little red boat through the waters of Memento Bay, aiming to collect ancient artifacts. At the end of each short stage, you head left or right to determine the next location.Obstacles are a major foe – blunder into one and your boat is robbed of momentum – not great when playing against the clock. But you must also be mindful of the arrow at the top of the screen. This points towards the next checkpoint – miss one and it’s ‘game over’.This feels harsh (a time penalty would have been better), but encourages repeat play. After all, the map never changes, so learn it and master the controls and you’ll one day be able to scythe towards the finish line. Namco’s arcade classic hardly needs any introduction. But just in case you’ve been locked in a cave since the late 1970s, Pac-Man features the titular protagonist, a rotund yellow mouth who munches dots in a maze patrolled by ghost-like monsters.The aim is to eat the dots and avoid the ghosts. Grab flashing power pills and you can briefly turn the tables on your pursuers – by eating them when they turn blue and try to flee.Despite being over 30 years old, Pac-Man remains a fun game, and the simple controls (basically, swipe in the direction you next want to turn) work very nicely on Android, as do the crisp old-school visuals.For free, you get the original maze and several plays per day. More mazes can be unlocked using saved up play tokens – or you can buy more (and remove the ads) with various IAPs. This vertically scrolling shooter plays with convention in a manner that messes with your head. The basics are familiar – you’re dumped within a vertically scrolling environment and must shoot ALL OF THE THINGS.Occasionally, obliterated foes drop bonus items that boost your weaponry, providing the means to unleash major destruction while yelling YEEE-HAA – if that’s your sort of thing.However – and this is a big ‘however’ – everything in Time Locker only moves when you do. The temptation is to blaze ahead, due to bonus points being won for covering greater distances, and because you’re being pursued by the sole thing that doesn’t freeze when you do – an all-devouring nothingness.But careening on isn’t always a good strategy, because blundering into a single foe or projectile ends your game. Risk versus reward, then, in this fresh and great-looking blaster that dares to try something different. This superb arcade puzzler finds you directing traffic about a small town. A vehicle enters the screen, and you’re told where it needs to leave, steering it by way of directional arrows. Easy.Only, this town is afflicted with strange temporal oddness that means subsequent journeys overlap previous ones. Before long, you’re making all kinds of detours to avoid collisions with cars you’d a minute ago driven to safety, which would otherwise wipe seconds off the timer as you wait for damaged vehicles to limp towards their exit.Adding to its smarts, Does Not Commute includes a storyline with multiple characters, playing out across its varied environments. The only snag on mobile: you must complete the entire game in a single sitting. If that sounds like too much, a one-off IAP unlocks checkpoints. The protagonist in Hop Swap isn’t having an especially great day, having tumbled into a strange videogame world where he’s apparently lost his arms and been painted purple. Still, he makes the most of it, bounding along, grabbing gems, leaping on monsters, and reaching checkpoints.So far, so standard (for a platform game), but Hop Swap has a trick up its sleeve, in having you regularly leap below the ground. At that point, you flip upside down, jumping downwards to potentially finding more bling and new secrets.Hop Swap is a fun, breezy game, even if it feels a touch stodgy and unresponsive compared to the likes of Mario. It’s also a generous freebie, in giving you the entire game – you just need to spend collected bling on checkpoints if you want to avoid watching ads to save progress. This third entry in the Super Stickman Golf series is perhaps feeling a bit too familiar, but the game remains the best side-on golf to be found on Android.As ever, your little stickman is charged with smacking balls about courses comprising floating islands, laser-infested bases, and space stations. You set your direction and strength, hit the ball, and hope for the best – although this time you can also add spin.Power-ups eventually enter the mix, providing opportunities to discover new ways to lower your scores. There are also two multiplayer modes – a deranged real-time race and a more sedate turn-based affair.The free version of Super Stickman Golf 3 is a little limited regarding simultaneous multiplayer games and access to new courses, but a single IAP unlocks the premium game. Although Super Cat Bros looks like a retro title, it doesn’t play like one. Sure, there’s leapy platform action, like in Mario games, and a smattering of Alex Kidd exploration, but the controls are distinctly modern mobile fare.You tap the left or right of your display to make your cat move (or wall jump when clinging to a wall), or double tap to dash (which finds the ktitie hurling itself into the air on reaching an edge).At first, it’s disorienting, but soon Super Cat Bros becomes second nature, and you start noticing the smart design of the dinky levels, and how keenly observed the cat protagonists are.Also, Android owners get one key benefit over people lumbered with an iPhone: the game’s proper name. (On iOS, it’s Super Cat Tales, because Apple apparently thinks its users might confuse a game about cats for one featuring Nintendo’s famous plumber.) A brutal, brilliant platform game, Circle Affinity finds its protagonist in a literal take on the circles of hell – only here there are considerably more than nine.He scoots about the edge of each disc, leaps into it, and then must jump to the outer edge of the next circle, which bobs about in the air. All the while, massive teeth-like daggers close in, and demons march back and forth, waiting for you to blunder into them.Games are initially short, and Circle Affinity almost taunts you on death, as you try to master the inherently-disorienting nature. Over time, you'll begin to survive a little longer, whereupon you'll be rewarded with new eye-searing color schemes and additional play modes. It's rare even in mobile gaming – frequently full of innovation – to find a fresh take on puzzling, but Kerflux surprises with a simple, original concept that's perfectly executed.A crunchy chip-tune plays and you're presented with three waveforms. The music dulls, as if you're underwater, and that's your signal to start manipulating two of the waveforms so they combine to form the third.Achieving this goal is straightforward, and you can initially blaze through the game's levels – even if a more leisurely pace is perhaps more rewarding. Before long, though, any complacency about Kerflux's apparent ease evaporates when additional waves appear and you're juggling four of them, trying to find the perfect combination that unlocks the next challenge. Although it visually and conceptually resembles a reverse Tetris, with you removing blocks from a tower, Six! is really all about a hexagon. It lurks atop the blocks, and must not fall over the tower's edges.A few taps in and Six! appears like it might last for hours, but shapes combine in odd ways, and you can only remove one at a time. This leads to hairy situations where your hexagon wheels and threatens to hurl itself into oblivion.The physics are a touch suspect, but then this isn't a game aiming for console-style realism. Instead, you must master Six!'s weirdly floaty nature and attempt to take advantage. Rather neatly, the game's also not quite done when your hexagon's gone – you get a few seconds during a 'last call' to frantically tap away at remaining blocks and add to your score. Although you play games, few of them are about play itself, in the sense of experimenting with a set-up or situation and seeing what happens. Orbit, though, while presenting itself as a puzzle game, is more a minimalist sandbox where you immerse yourself in the delights of creating tiny solar systems.The game is played by slingshotting celestial bodies around black holes. They then proceed to leave colored trails in their wake, while gravity does its thing. Soon, you have planets clustering together, wheeling around one or more black holes, creating minimalist modern art while they do so.It's all rather gorgeous and mesmerizing. The only snag is ads periodically wrecking the mood, although they can be eradicated with a single IAP. Even now, years after Android proved itself as a major gaming platform, some developers seem to barely remember the touchscreen exists. If you reckon trudging through games with virtual D-pads and buttons can be a chore, Magic Touch: Wizard for Hire will be a little slice of magic.You’re a wizard, defending a castle from interlopers attached to balloons. Cast spells by scribbling gestures to match symbols on the balloons and said flotation devices explode – much to the surprise of their owners, who then rapidly plummet towards a squishy end. Miss just one of them and your wizarding days are done.From the off, this is a fresh, frantic survival game, especially when trying your hand at the super-fast extreme mode. Stick around for long enough and you’ll be able to utilize super spells too, turning enemies into frogs, and summoning a dragon. Which we all need to do on the odd Thursday here and there. If you’re of the opinion gaming takes itself a tad too seriously at times, Maximum Car is a perfect antidote. This amusingly over-the-top racer has you barrel along winding roads, blowing up rival racers, and driving like a maniac.Smash the same kind of car up enough across multiple races and you can buy it in the shop, using coins acquired by terrorizing other road users.It all feels a bit like someone stripped down Burnout, added a slice of OutRun, and shoved the lot through a Lego-like visual filter.Along with a brainless commentator (“I’ve got a reading age of six!”) growling at regular intervals as you use your ice cream van to smash an unfortunate convertible to smithereens, this all makes for a suitably silly and entertaining blast of speed that’s great in small doses. From the developer behind psychotic endless games One More Dash and One More Line comes . Initially, it seems a mite friendlier than the previously brutish titles – although still existing within a universe of abstract shapes and vivid colors, the protagonist now at least wears a massive grin. But make no mistake: this is hard-nosed platforming of the one-thumb kind.Each level simply tasks you with reaching the exit, which requires sticking to white platforms. But with your grinning square automatically speeding along, all you can do to stave off disaster is time your jumps.Should you also want to grab the bonuses along the way – necessary for unlocking new levels – you may need to leap over the exit and tackle the entire level multiple times. The tension is palpable when going for those final few leaps. With its chunky graphics, angled viewpoint, and tap-to-jump controls, initially comes across as yet another me-too Crossy Road clone. And that’s a pity, because this game is a very different – yet equally as entertaining – proposition.It’s still an endless game, but rather than scrolling, Looty Dungeon tasks you with offing any lurking enemies within static, single-screen dungeons before making for the exit.Even early on, each tiny dungeon is filled with spikes, walls, flying arrows, and all manner of other obstacles. Dawdle too long and the floor will collapse from underneath you, survive long enough and you’ll eventually encounter bosses, which require unique tactics to defeat.Grab enough bling before your inevitable demise and you can buy new heroes, some of which hold weapons that shake up how you approach the game, adding to its longevity. Coming across like a Flappy Bird game designed in Terry Gilliam's brain, Steamkraft is an amusingly knowing oddball take on the genre. Each level has you navigate a world of deadly obstacles by way of a fantastical contraption that requires more than a prod to the screen to head skywards.In a submarine, you yank a lever to move up or down; and a level with a bike hanging from a miniature airship has you frantically rotate a mechanism to avoid crashing into the ground or terrifying mechanical ravens.During play, everything is, in all honesty, a bit simple and sometimes a tad unfair (projectiles being flung your way with merry abandon, often leaving little hope of avoiding them), but the novelty factor - in terms of both visuals and controls - shines through to ensure Steamkraft is nonetheless a worthy freebie. You might moan about trains when you're - again - waiting for a late arrival during your daily commute, but play this game and you'll thank your lucky stars that you're not in Train Conductor World. Here, trains rocket along, and mostly towards head-on collisions.It's your job to drag out temporary bridges to avoid calamity while simultaneously sending each train to its proper destination - it's exhausting.From the off, Train Conductor World is demanding, and before long a kind of 'blink and everything will be smashed to bits' mentality pervades. For a path-finding action-puzzler - Flight Control on tracks, if you will - it's an engaging and exciting experience. We do wonder when light-fingered archaeologists will learn. No sooner has the hero of Raider Rushgrabbed a massive hunk of bling than the ancient temple he's in starts filling with lava.To escape, he must bound from wall to wall, like a hyperactive flea, making his way towards beautiful daylight, before realising he's merely stuck in the next tower to escape from.With 30 bespoke levels and an endless mode, there's lots of leaping to be done in Raider Rush, and the two-thumb controls (for hurling the hero left or right) make for a pleasingly frantic arcade experience, akin to juggling your little explorer to the surface (while presumably scolding the idiot for not leaving other people's possessions alone). Although a far cry from classic Pokémon titles, there's no getting away from the sheer impact of Pokémon GO. It's resulted in swarms of smartphone users roaming the streets and countryside, searching for tiny creatures they can only see through their screens.In all honesty, the game is simplistic: find a Pokémon, lob balls at it, amble about for a while to hatch eggs, and use your collection of critters to take over and guard virtual gyms.But despite basic combat and the game's tendency to clobber your Android's battery, it taps into the collector mentality; and it's a rare example of successfully integrating a game into the real world, getting people physically outside and - shock - interacting with each other. Bad news! It turns out the Axis of Evil needs overthrowing immediately, on account of having access to a ridiculous number of planes and tanks, some of which are the size of small villages. Sadly, we've had some cutbacks, which means our air force is now, er, you.Still, we're sure you're going to love your time in AirAttack 2, cooing at gorgeous scenery shortly before bombing it, surviving bullet-hell, and puffing your chest to a thumping orchestral soundtrack.Sure, you might have to turn down the graphic effects a bit on older hardware, and it's a bit of a grind to reach later levels, but you're not going to get better freebie shooting action this side of World War III. Take an early 1990s FPS, smash it into an auto-runner, add a dash of Pac-Man, and you'd end up with Hammer Bomb. You're dumped in dank mazes and dungeons full of hideous beasts and must stomp along, finding keys, loot, weapons and the way out.Levels are randomised, adding a Roguelike quality to proceedings, and the entire game's underpinned by a levelling up system. This means XP being awarded for killing loads of monsters, rapidly finding the exit, or performing other tasks, such as completing quests (which, in a nod to Ms. Pac-Man, involves hunting down roaming foodstuff).Every few levels, you face off against a massive screen-high boss, darting towards it with whatever weapon you have to hand, before fleeing like a coward. Survive long enough and you can swap coins for upgrades.Top tip: as soon as you've 150 coins and level 3 status, grab the radar, because Hammer Bomb is much friendlier when you can spot monsters on the top-down map. Touchscreens should be a poor fit for platform games, which typically require the kind of precision that only comes from a physical controller. This is why so many mobile titles opt for auto-running, distilling platform gaming to its core essence of timing jumps.In Leap Day, your little yellow character is tasked with getting to the top of a tall tower. You can jump, double jump and slide down walls, but that's it. You must therefore carefully leap past cartoon foes and gigantic spikes, grabbing fruit along the way.At various points on your climb are checkpoints, which can be bought with 20 fruit or by watching an ad. This means you don't have to start from scratch on coming a cropper. And when you do reach the summit, you can come back the next day for an entirely new level to try. There are a lot of Android puzzle games that involve you sliding blocks about, but Imago is one of the best, even giving Threes! a run for its money.You drag numbered tiles around a grid, merging those of the same colour and shape. On doing so, their numbers combine, but when merged groups reach a certain size, they split into smaller tiles, each retaining the score of the larger piece. Successful games require careful forward planning, with only a few moves it can be possible to ramp up scores dramatically, into the millions or even billions!The game's relative complexity is countered by a smart modes system that gradually introduces you to Imago's intricacies. There's also a Daily Flight mode that provides a regular influx of new challenges, for when the standard modes begin to pall. On Android, we noticed a few minor visual glitches here and there, but otherwise this is a must-download puzzle game that's among the best on the platform. Asphalt 8 is arguably king of arcade racers on mobile, with its breezy and often ludicrous take on driving recklessly through famous cities. But Ridge Racer used to rule the arcades, and Ridge Racer Slipstream makes a decent stab for the chequered flag on Android.This is a much more involved test than Asphalt, initially feeling stiffer and even a touch pedestrian. But as you get to grips with the handling model and gawp at the gorgeous scenery, it soon becomes clear Ridge Racer is a first-class mobile racer, and one that provides a stiff challenge at every step of the way.As you might expect, there's some IAP whiffing the place up, but you can play through for nothing if you're willing to persevere and grind a bit; and with courses as great looking as the ones found in this game, re-racing them isn't exactly a hardship. We're big fans of Crossy Road, which is both a lesson in how to update a classic arcade game (Frogger), and create a free-to-play business model that isn't hateful. (In short, throw free coins at players, don't make anything pay to win, and add loads of tempting but entirely optional characters to buy.)With Disney Crossy Road, anything could have happened, but this is far from a cheap cash-in. Sure, it starts off very much like Crossy Road - just starring Mickey Mouse. But unlock a few characters (you'll have at least three within ten minutes) and you suddenly find yourself immersed in chunky takes on famous movies, such as Toy Story, Wreck-It Ralph, and The Lion King.Even better, these aren't mere skins on the original. Each world has unique features, from tiny graphical details that will thrill fans, through to subtle shifts in how the game is played that force you to dramatically change your approach. You might think there's little new in Alto's Adventure, which is essentially endless leapy game Canabalt on ice. But refined visuals best even Monument Valley, with an eye-popping day/night cycle and gorgeous weather effects; additionally, there's a delightful soundtrack, and a kind of effortless elegance that permeates throughout, propelling Alto's Adventure beyond its contemporaries.Ostensibly, Alto's Adventure is a game about collecting escaped llamas, but mostly Alto is keen on mucking about on snowy slopes. You zoom down hills, catapult yourself into the air, and try to somersault before face-planting. Extra challenge arrives in the form of chaining stunts to increase your speed, and outrunning elders, angry you're having fun rather than sitting in a stinky llama pen. Having been mercilessly ripped off by a pretender (who cynically thanked the original's developer for "inspiration"), Sage Solitaire finally made it to Android. It rethinks solitaire for mobile, mostly by smashing it into poker. Cards are removed using poker hands, with the added complication each hand must use cards from at least two different rows.Clearing the deck and amassing points requires careful strategy and a little luck, not least given how rapidly the lower stacks empty. Win three times and you unlock Vegas mode, where you can try your luck making bets on your skills (and, in all likelihood, lose a boatload of virtual money). Regardless of the mode you favour, Sage Solitaire's one of those seemingly throwaway casual games that manages to take hold to the point of obsession. In RGB Express, your aim is to build up a delivery company from scratch, all by dropping off little coloured boxes at buildings of the same colour. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Only this is a puzzler that takes place on tiny islands with streets laid out in a strict grid pattern, and decidedly oddball rules regarding road use.Presumably to keep down on tarmac wear, roads are blocked the second a vehicle drives over them. Once you're past the early levels, making all your deliveries often requires fashioning convoluted snake-like paths across the entire map, not least when bridge switches come into play. Despite its cute graphics, then, RGB Express is in reality a devious and tricky puzzle game, which will have you swearing later levels simply aren't possible, before cracking one, feeling chuffed and then staring in disbelief at what follows. In Threes! Free, you slide numbered cards around a tiny grid, merging pairs to increase their values and make room for new cards. Strategy comes from the cards all moving simultaneously, along with you needing to keep space free to make subsequent merges, forcing you to think ahead.On launch, it was a rare example of a new and furiously compulsive puzzle-game mechanic. Within days, it was mercilessly ripped off, free clones flooding Google Play.Now, though, you can get authentic Threes! action entirely for free, and discover why it's 2048 times better than every freebie 2048 game (personality; attention to detail; music; small elements of game design that make a big difference).You get 12 free games to start. Add groups of three more by watching a video ad. And you can always upgrade to the paid version if you get suitably hooked. There are loads of freebie Bejeweled knock-offs on Google Play, and so if you fancy a bit of gem-swapping, you may as well download the original. For reasons beyond us, Android owners don't get the multitude of modes available on some other platforms, but there's the original match-three 'classic', the can't-lose 'zen', and the superb 'diamond mine'.In the last of those, matches smash a hole into the ground. You're playing against the clock, and over time uncover harder rock that needs special moves to obliterate. It's a frenetic, intense experience considering this is a match-three title, although high-score chasers might cast a suspicious eye over the offer to extend the time limit by watching an advert. Although there are exceptions, traditional platform games rarely work on touchscreens. Fortunately, canny developers have rethought the genre, stripping it back to its very essence. In Bean Dreams, you help a jumping bean traverse all kinds of hazards, by sending the bouncing hatted seed left or right.Each level is cleverly designed to offer optimum paths, boosting your points tally when hitting the goal having made the fewest bounces. Timing is everything, then, but there are further challenges that reward exploration. To find the pet axolotls spread across the map, or collect all the fruit, you must use different approaches, which adds plenty of replay value. Nitrome's fashioning quite the collection of smart Android games, which subvert existing genres in interesting ways. Platform Panic initially comes across as a vastly simplified platform game. You swipe to move and leap, and it's game over the second your little character comes a cropper.But really every screen is a tiny puzzle that you must learn how to solve; and then every game becomes a memory test, with you in an instant having to draw on your experience as each challenge — sometimes mirrored — is sent your way. In Rust Bucket, a cartoon helmet with a sword dodders about a vibrant dungeon, offing all manner of cute but deadly adversaries — skittering skulls, angry armoured pigs, and spooky ghosts. This is a turn-based affair, echoing classic RPGs, but its endless dungeon and savage nature transform it into a puzzle game perfect for quickfire mobile sessions. You must learn how foes move and react, plan every step and always keep in mind a single error can spell doom.In its current incarnation, Rust Bucket cleverly balances enough depth to keep you coming back with the brevity that makes it ideal for on-the-go roguelike larks. Future plans include finite puzzle modes and expanded endless content. We've seen several mobile games put a new spin on chess, but Chess Runner amusingly turns the age-old favourite into a frantic arcade battle. You take on the role of a white knight, darting about in L-shaped bounds. Your aim: to fight your way through black pieces and capture a golden king.Different twists are peppered throughout the game's levels. The most basic mode involves ensuring you don't end up in a position to be taken by static or patrolling black pieces. But sometimes you must fend off a barrage of attacks from pawns or rooks, or quickly get to the king during a speed-run test. It's particularly in those against-the-clock challenges that Chess Runner bares its teeth, temporarily making you forget everything you ever knew about chess, before blundering into a bishop. There's always a whiff of unease on recommending a game from a developer nestled deep in the bosom of freemium gaming, but Clash Royale largely manages to be a lot of fun however much money you lob at it. The game is more or less a mash-up of card collecting and real-time strategy. Cards are used to drop units on to a single-screen playfield, and they march about and duff up enemy units, before taking on your opponent's towers.The battles are short and suited to quick on-the-go play, and although Clash Royale is designed for online scraps, you can also hone your strategies against training units if you're regularly getting pulverised. There are the usual timers and gates for upgrades, but the game largely does a good job of matching you against players of fairly similar skill levels, meaning it's usually a blast and only rarely a drag. In the world of Splash Cars, it appears everyone's a miserable grump apart from you. Their world is dull and grey, but your magical vehicle brings colour to anything it goes near. The police aren't happy about this and aim to bring your hue-based shenanigans to a close, by ramming your car into oblivion. There's also the tiny snag of a petrol tank that runs dry alarmingly quickly.Splash Cars therefore becomes a fun game of fleeing from the fuzz, zooming past buildings by a hair's breadth, grabbing petrol and coins carelessly left lying about, and trying to hit an amount-painted target before the timer runs out. Succeed and you go on to bigger and better locations, with increasingly powerful cars. We all love a bit of Tetris, but Tetris doesn't love mobile — previous and current incarnations for Android are mostly hideous IAP-infused abominations. Fortunately, then, Dream of Pixels exists, more or less flipping Tetris upside-down, having you use those very familiar shapes to take chunks out of an endless cloud bank.The game's floaty and slightly hippyish vibe hides an endless puzzler with serious bite. Once the cloud's moving at speed and you have a few 'orphaned' bits that need reconnecting with the main body, Dream of Pixels becomes a frantic speed test of shape-matching abilities. If it all gets a bit much, there's a static 'zen' mode, where you fill static shapes with pre-defined tetromino sets. And when you're ready for action again, a one-off IAP unlocks three tougher variations on the main game. Poor Cally. It's like she can't go for five minutes without her parents being kidnapped. It's third time unlucky for her in Cally's Caves 3, but lucky for you, because you get an excellent old-school platformer that costs nothing at all. Cally leaps about, shooting and stabbing enemies in a gleeful manner you might consider unusual for a young girl with pigtails.The game's brutal, too, with a checkpoint system that will have you gnashing teeth when you die a few steps before a restart point. But the weapon upgrade system is clever (keep shooting things to power up guns!), there are loads of items to discover, and unlike on iOS, the free Android version has several extra unlocked modes. Very similar in style and concept to Xbox and Xbox 360 retro classic Geometry Wars. In fact, one might legally be able to get away with calling it a right old rip-off. Android PewPew is a rock-hard 2D shooting game packed with alternate game modes.It's a bit rough around the edges and requires a powerful phone to run smoothly, but when it does it's a fantastic thing. Radiant Defense is a fantastic tower defence game, given a dazzling modern look. You do all the usual tower defence stuff like building up your weapon strengths and deciding how best to stop the endless marching enemy, with some "super weapons" to unlock and hundreds upon hundreds of waves to beat. And it all looks astonishingly pretty on a big screened device.In this age of austerity and scrimping, we've all long since sold our last set of dominoes and melted down our Monopoly counters for scrap. Yes, the proper Scrabble, not some copyright-infringing clone that'll be pulled by the time you read these words. EA bought the license, tidied it up and stuck it out on Android, where it's a remarkably advert and in-app purchase free experience.It's been beefed up with a few new modes, but stuff like the ability to sync with Facebook and play multiple matches is actually exactly what you need. A classic that's not been ruined. Hooray. Blip Blup is the kind of original little idea we love stumbling across. It's a sort of geometry-based puzzle game that has you pressing squares on the screen to fill in areas of colour.Your light beams are limited in the directions they can travel, so, once you're through the troublingly simple tutorial levels, it soon becomes insanely tough and will soon have you scratching through your skull's skin and bone until you actually itch your BRAIN in confusion. Source link

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How to Optimize Your Website for Mobile SEO

Mobile Internet usage numbers have actually blown up, and there's no recalling. Website traffic for mobile information has actually grown 18-fold over the past five years. As well as in 2021, the variety of mobile-connected tools is projected to surpass the globe's population - 11.6 billion - in a worldwide population of 7.8 billion.

By these numbers alone, it's clear that mobile is a huge game changer to any type of marketing strategy.

Mobile customers eat details on a real-time basis while on the move. However, many internet site layouts still do not make up different display dimensions and web page tons times which annoy the users.

It's important that your site offers them the information they require immediately otherwise they'll abandon the website and also look elsewhere to discover similar details. When that occurs, not just are you driving prospective result in your rivals, you're likewise harming your base line.

So just how do you make your website mobile-friendly? And how do you maximize it for mobile SEO?

This post responses these inquiries and also more. First, let's cover the basics.

What makes a Good Mobile Site?

In Google's terms, a mobile-friendly site is 'readable and also immediately usable'. That implies users do not have to focus to read your web content, your web links are perfectly tappable, and your web page calls for minimal horizontal scrolling, so searchers obtain what they need from your mobile site quick and also easily.

Page speed is also a vital element for all sites, specifically on mobile. Research has actually revealed that also a one-second hold-up in loading time interrupts the searcher's circulation of thought, developing an inadequate experience.

To check how your website gauges up, utilize the PageSpeed Insights tool. It likewise offers some tips on what you can do to boost your mobile website's loading time.

In terms of style, Google has established 25 concepts to direct you in giving great user experience on your mobile site.

1) Home web page and also website navigation

Keep contacts us to action front as well as center.

Keep menus short and sweet.

Make it very easy to get back to the home page.

Don' t allowed promos take the show.

2) Site search

Make site search visible.

Ensure website search results are relevant.

Implement filters to improve website search usability.

Guide users to better search results.

3) Commerce and conversions

Let customers check out prior to they commit.

Let users purchase as a guest.

Use existing information to make the most of convenience.

Use click-to-call buttons for complex tasks.

Make it simple to complete converting on another device.

4) Form entry

Streamline information entry.

Simplify input technique for each task.

Provide an aesthetic calendar for selecting dates.

Avoid type mistakes with labeling and real-time validation.

Design efficient forms.

Usability and form factor

5) Usability and form factor

Optimize your whole site for mobile.

Don' t make customers pinch to zoom.

Make item photos expandable.

Tell customers which evaluate alignment works best.

Keep your user in a solitary browser window.

Avoid "full site" labeling.

Be clear why you require an individual's location.

How can I tell if my site is mobile-friendly?

There are a number of tools that can help you examine your website's efficiency on mobile:

1) Take Google's Mobile-Friendly Examination. Simply get in a web page LINK to see just how your page carries out on a mobile device.

2) Examine the Mobile Usability Record to see and deal with possible mobile issues located on your site.

3) If you're using a CMS site such as WordPress or Joomla, adhere to Google's instructions on ways to make CMS styles and also templates mobile-friendly.

Before doing that, consider the following:

Back up your site before making any type of adjustments or upgrade. It could save your skin if anything unfortunate takes place during the update. It is excellent to develop a neighborhood back-up duplicate and an additional in the cloud as an additional layer of security.

Update your CMS to the current variation. It will immediately set up safety upgrades as well as make your website mobile-friendly in many cases.

Check the assistance discussion forums of your CMS to see the usual concerns that individuals may be having with your website's mobile version.

What is Mobile SEO and why is it important?

Google's Mobile-first Indexing

Google progressively made modifications to its search algorithm to represent the continued growth of mobile-connected gadgets. For the past 2 years, it has repeated the need to optimize web sites for mobile use, and also published resources on how you can make internet sites mobile friendly.

And in 2016, Google started trying out on mobile-first indexing. It still uses a solitary search index of websites and applications for now, search algorithms will at some point prioritize content of a website's mobile version to place pages.

Although Google pushes for sites to be mobile-friendly, it still does creep desktop variations. So you should see to it the web content and also links in the mobile variation are constant with your desktop computer version. This is making sure that Google could consume the ideal material as well as will place your site in the same way as it did when it crawls your desktop computer site.

Mobile-first indexing will influence positions if your mobile and desktop variations are as well various from each other. For instance, if the page's mobile version has much less content than the desktop computer variation, Google will treat the mobile version as the original.

Mobile-first SEO strategy

In feedback to Google's mobile-first indexing, web designers additionally made mobile Search Engine Optimization a priority.

A mobile Search Engine Optimization approach is greater than having a mobile-responsive website. It involves maximizing site resources to allow Googlebot know that you certainly have a mobile website to prioritize it in search rankings.

The first action is to earn Google comprehend your site's mobile setup. It depends on you if you wish to utilize receptive internet sign, dynamic offering, or separate URL solution.

Each mobile remedy has its pros as well as cons. However Google can comprehend all 3 as long as you established them up properly.

1) Responsive Design

Google likes this arrangement due to the fact that it's understandable without additional codes or tips. A receptive website design offers the same HTML code on the exact same URL throughout all devices yet can provide the display screen differently.

To signal to internet browsers that your web page will adapt to all devices, Google suggests establishing the viewport as well as add this meta tag to the head of the paper:

Google has likewise been pressing AMP over the in 2014 approximately. It's a stripped-down format of HTML so it lots faster. There have been grumblings regarding AMP web content in terms of use and also functionality.

Some authors claim it does not supply as much value as other setups. That's due to the fact that Google indexes the desktop version over AMP when there is no mobile version available.

Regardless of which setups you select, right here are some vital points that you need to take note of.

- Signal to Google when a page is formatted for mobile in order to help Google properly offer mobile searchers your content in search results. - Avoid these common mistakes that discourage mobile site visitors:

1) Obstructed JavaScript, CSS, as well as Picture Files

If Googlebot does not have accessibility to your web page's resources, it might not identify that the page is 'mobile-friendly' and also will certainly not properly serve it to mobile searchers.

So keep your sources crawlable. Do not use robots.txt to block internet search engine from accessing crucial data on your site that help make the web page, and also that consist of ads.

2) Unplayable Content

Google advises using HTML5 typical tags to consist of video clips or animations, as opposed to utilizing a proprietary video player or putting web content in unsupported formats.

For animated material using Flash or various other multimedia players, you could make use of Google Internet Developer to produce computer animations in HTML5.

3) Faulty Redirects

You should reroute mobile customers to every desktop computer LINK if you have different mobile Links for them. This makes sure that individuals wind up on the page they were looking for.

4) Mobile-Only 404s

Some sites load appropriately on desktop computer yet reveal an error page to mobile customers. if you observe an individual is going to a desktop computer web page from a mobile device as well as you have an equivalent mobile web page at a different URL, redirect them to that URL rather of offering a 404 page. Ensure that the mobile-friendly page is not a mistake page.

5) Interstitials

Do not disrupt the customers from completing tasks on your website. Utilize a basic banner to advertise your application inline with the web page's content.

6) Irrelevant Cross Links

Check your connect to make certain they guide the customer to the correct page.

7) Slow Mobile Pages

Don' t make your visitors wait a lengthy time to see your material. Purpose to provide mobile pages in much less than one second.

8) Small Font Size

Use readable typeface sizes to make certain fonts will certainly be scaled as expected throughout numerous tools. A base font style size of 16 CSS pixels is recommended.

9) Touch elements too close

Design your buttons and links for the fat finger to avoid accidental clicks.

The Synergy of Layout and Content

Users see your website for web content yet they wish to put in very little initiative to obtain the outcome they want. Given the restrictions on mobile such as screen dimension and also transmission capacity, it's simply vital that style facets need to be concentrated on highlighting content a lot more effectively.

Having stated that, it would be unreliable to say that material outweighs design, or layout is much more crucial compared to web content, in mobile internet sites. Both aspects are similarly crucial throughout all devices.

But unlike in desktop computer technique where you could place 2 items of content side by side, you need to have a content power structure in your mobile website so the user experience is not sacrificed. The most essential messaging constantly begins top, such as your company name, logo, as well as CTA, complied with by second and also tertiary material as figured out by context as well as time sensitivity.

The Relevance of Visuals on Mobile

Visual content rakes the highest involvement on mobile. In YouTube alone, 51% of all video plays get on mobile phones. Mobile likewise accounts for virtually 80% of time invested in social media sites networks where pictures as well as video clips get even more interaction.

When it concerns mobile sites, optimization of pictures as well as video clips is a must. They bring in leads and increase your mobile SEO.

How to Enhance Videos for Mobile SEO

If you require to publish a lot of videos on your site, it is ideal to use YouTube video clips to earn seeing on mobile much more seamless. The embed code on YouTube is already mobile-responsive so it instantly changes to different screen sizes.

Following Google's finest video clip techniques will also boost the likelihood that your video clips will be returned in search results.

Mark up your video clips with schema.org

Schema markup is a language that includes machine-readable info to your content. Including this to your video clip content makes it less complicated forsearch engines to index them.

Submit a Video clip Sitemap or mRSS feed to Google

Sitemaps are a fantastic method to make sure Google finds out about all the material on your site, consisting of content which may not be visible with its typical crawling methods.

Tell Google when you get rid of video clips from your site

For any landing web page where a video clip is removed or ended, return a 404 (Not found) HTTP standing code. You can make this clear to the majority of users by returning the HTML in addition to the 404 feedback code.

Create premium thumbnail images

Next to video results, Google reveals thumbnail-sized summary pictures. It will certainly recognize comparable thumbnail images for your video clip pages based on the information found on your website, in your Sitemap, or in markup.

JavaScript, Flash, as well as hashtags

Do not use excessively complicated JavaScript or Flash setup when configuring video clip pages. Google might not properly reveal your video clips if you do so.

Create a great user experience

Creating a standalone touchdown page for every video as well as giving descriptive titles as well as captions on each page makes it easy for customers to identify video content.

Use a prominent, embedded video player that support various video layouts to make your video clips more eye-catching to customers as well as simpler for Google to index.

How to Enhance Images for Mobile SEO

In terms of enhancing photos, right here are some tips as well as methods in order to help your search positions:

1) Call your pictures descriptively.

Search engines creep the message on your web page as well as the keywords within your photo data names. Look at your website analytics as well as see what wording patterns your visitors use in browsing for pictures. Find the most usual identifying patterns they make use of and use that formula to your picture calling process.

2) Enhance your Alt Tags intelligently

The alt characteristic adds Search Engine Optimization value to your site. By adding ideal alt tags to the images, associating key words with images, as well as this aids your web site rank better in search engines.

3) Lower the documents sizes of your images

A web page has the tendency to load slower if it consists of big pictures. Because web page load time is a variable in Google's ranking formula, your page could be demoted if this happens.

To reduce image dimension, you can utilize the 'Save for Internet' command in Adobe Photoshop. See to it to keep an eye out for image quality when readjusting the picture to the most affordable documents size acceptable. If you don't have Photoshop, there are complimentary picture editors that you can try.

4) Know which photo data type to utilize for the best situations

JPEG, GIF, and PNG are the 3 most usual picture data types.

JPEG is best for ecommerce sites because they have the most effective top quality in the tiniest file size.

Use GIFs for thumbnails and attractive images.

PNG is a terrific different to both JPEGs as well as GIFS. PNGs can be utilized as easy decorative pictures due to the fact that they have exceptionally small file dimensions. If you only have pictures in PNG format, attempt making use of PNG-8 over PNG-24.

5) Use image sitemaps

Web spiders cannot crawl pictures that are shown in the webpage source code. To allow them recognize concerning these photos, you should note their place in an image sitemap.

For the a lot more technological facets of picture optimization, you could describe the programmer's guide to Image Optimization by Google.

Conclusion

The boosting popularity of mobile-connected tools only reveals the users' interest for instantly satisfying their informational demands. Your mobile site needs to make it very easy for them to do exactly what they require to do without a great deal of difficulty and also distraction.