#probably forgetting a whole bunch of nifty ones but these come to mind at the moment

[canisalbus]

What other dogs breeds are you favourites?

I love standard poodles and labradors!

Apart from sighthounds (and I don't own any of these photos, just showing them for demonstration purposes)

I've always had a soft spot for Dobermans!

They often make me sort of sad though. To my understanding they have a lot of severe hereditary illnesses, and they're a type of breed that tends to attract bad owners. I also can't in good conscience support cropping and docking, even though I agree that they contribute to the iconic look of the breed.

Sled dogs are cool, Greenland dogs/Canadian inuit dogs/Qimmit/Qimmiq in particular.

I like hairless dogs a lot, they're very charming.

A lot of livestock guardian breeds have very pleasing shapes, even though they're not the type of dog I'd ever get myself. This one's a Central Asian Ovtcharka/Alabai/Tobet.

And this is a Kangal.

Yakutian laikas have the most intense markings.

Huskies are fun for the same reason, especially when they have particularly striking and unusual faces.

And I think lop eared scenthounds are endearing, but to be perfectly honest there's a lot of visually similar breeds and I can't tell them apart all that well. These are Poitevin hounds, they have long slender faces and this sort of smoky eye look going on.

But dogs are just neat in general, I'm not very particular about breeds.

[stevetonygames]

Spotlight Post: Canon Soulmate Bonds

Yooo, this is a blog takeover, Mizzy here, ready to champion one of my favourite fictional causes: canonical soulbonds in the Marvel universe.

We all love a good soulbond fic. Words on your body, names on your wrist, red string of fate...so many glorious versions, and all of them *completely awesome*. The problem sometimes with starting a soulbond fic, though, can be all the worldbuilding required to make it work. But what if I was to tell you that no worldbuilding was necessary? That you could technically write a soulbond fic without having to set it in an Alternate Universe? What if you could set your soulbond fic *directly in main canon?*

Marvel 616 delivers you a canonical soulbond mechanic… not once… but at least *twice*. There could be more. There’s a lot of comics to go through and I’m only smol. But here’s the two I know about and I’m here to introduce you to today. :)

The was a ripple of mild confusion around fandom when Kevin Feige announced that the Eternals were getting a title movie in the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Created by Jack Kirby in the 1970s, in a wild combination of mythological fascination and spite at DC comics for not letting him finish his New Gods saga, the Eternals were an offshoot of humanity, created by the Celestials for humanity’s protection; this reason for their existence would lead them into their ongoing conflict against the deadly Deviants. There have been a few Eternals runs (notably one run by Neil Gaiman, which did not serve to bring the Eternals the commercial success Marvel was searching for with the title, that nevertheless remains the most fun and accessible Eternals volume), but they’ve not yet really reached wide-reaching traction among even the most die-hard comic fans. The MCU might change that, and here’s hoping, because I love these nearly-immortal idiots, and I’m hoping not to be alone in that for much longer. :D

But even my Eternals-happy soul has to admit, Eternals canon for the most part is dense and can be convoluted, and the spellings—both of their character names and one of the main fun parts of their existence, the Mahd W’yry—are enough to give one a headache. The idea of the Eternals is that they’re long-lived and have interacted with human history over the years in various impactful ways. You might think at first glance that you’ve never heard of the Eternals Sersi, Ikaris, Makkari, but I think you wouldn’t find Circe, Icarus, or Mercury unfamiliar names.

The Mahd W’yry is a symptom of the Eternals being so long-living. In order to stop them going insane, the Eternals have to bond into something known as the Uni-Mind, which basically squishes all their consciousnesses together into one, where they can share memories and blend temporarily into one mind. Regularly bonding into the Uni-Mind allows them to stave off the Mahd W’yry. (Yep, that’s just a headache-inducing spelling of ‘mad worry’, we know.)

Anyway, did you need to know all this? Eh, maybe, a little bit of canned backstory is always handy for you to briefly glance over and promptly forget. Because along with some dense mythological adventures, some glorious angsting across beautiful landscapes, and that ability to turn into a big massive floating brain, the Eternals also gave us a beautiful gift:

The Gann Josin.

In Avengers #361, Ikaris comes down to Earth and decides that Sersi needs to be bonded to Dane Whitman, an Avenger who canonically didn’t have any powers, he was just a *really good guy*, destined for tragedy. Honestly. That’s his bio. Really good guy. Destined for tragedy. The character creation in the 90s was peak talent. Dane, sadly, was in love with another woman, but did this matter to Ikaris? No. Apparently the Eternals don’t know about the dangers of letting himbos like Ikaris have life-changing powers, like the ability to create the Uni-Mind. 

Because the power to control the Uni-Mind also gives an Eternal the power to form a Gann Josin bond. And that’s what Ikaris does in Avengers #361—he forces a Gann Josin bond on Eternal Sersi and tragic human Avenger Dane Whitman.

Gann Josin (sometimes Gan-Josin because what is spelling continuity in Marvel comics) is both the name of the bond, and the title given to an Eternal and their chosen life-mate. It has a bunch of cool side effects. Both Gann Josins get glowing full-red eyes. It’s a really intimate tiny form of the Uni-Mind (without the part where you become a big floating brain), and creates a small scale mental union. The Gann Josin bond makes the Eternal and their partner lifelong soulmates. As the bond progresses, it creates a telepathic/empathic bond that strengthens in time. According to the Eternal Sprite, humans are rarely chosen by Eternals for the Gann Josin.

Now, Dane Whitman does manage to break the Gann Josin several issues later. But… it’s not easy. It’s rare. When Dane manages it, it is called an “astounding act.” It’s pretty dang hard, in other words. There’s every chance your chosen Gann Josins won’t have the mental fortitude of Dane Whitman to break it. (Although, we’re talking about Steve and Tony, and are there any bigger stubborn idiots in the universe? Probably not.)

But Mizzy, I hear you saying. I don’t want to write about Ikaris, even if he is a party king and that sounds pretty nifty. I don’t know anything about the Eternals and I don’t want to go down that gnarly rabbit hole.

That’s totes fine, my friend. I am here to save you. Because in very recent canon, during Jason Aaron’s turn at the helm, the Eternals are all dead. Very dead. That whole Mahd W’yry thing got ‘em, it got ‘em good. But before Ikaris died, he granted his Uni-Mind power to someone we all know and love.

Yep. Tony Stark. Tony Stark currently has the power of the Uni-Mind.

Which means that Tony Stark can now Gann Josin people.

In Avengers #361, Ikaris performs the Gann Josin by basically just pointing his hands at Sersi and Dane and some light goes WHEEEEEEE!! in their direction, and bam, this rare and special bond is done. And Tony Stark can do that now. To anyone! Unfortunately Ikaris is dead and didn’t leave Tony with an instruction manual. But the point is, he *can*. You can make up all sorts of fun things with this canonical fact (or write your own version because lbr Canon Is Dead; Long Live Canon.)

There are so many possibilities. Does Tony deliberately learn how to use it so he can bond himself to Steve? Does Tony *need* to be able to hear Steve’s thoughts (to thwart some bad guys) and thus end up soulbonded forever to Steve in result? Is Tony’s power activating at random because he can’t control it, and he ends up soulbonding everyone around him? Does he just subconsciously bond himself to Steve without consciously meaning to? Do Tony or Steve want to try it for science?

Gosh, I love comics.

But WAIT. There’s MORE.

It’s not just 1990s comics going ham on the soulbond idea. No, we got some *this year*. Canonical soulbonding? TWICE? In one universe? Two different kinds??

And this time, it’s not in a D-list Marvel title. We’re up the ranks to the big leagues this time, folx, with a brief trek to the world of the Fantastic Four.

In Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #15, we’re introduced to a Spyre citizen called Sky, a winged team member of the Unparalleled (more cosmic-powered superheroes), who work under The Overseer. (The Overseer, in a burst of beautiful retcon in the way Marvel comics keeps doing to us, is apparently the entity who is responsible for giving the F4 their powers. Huh. The more you know.)

On the planet Spyre, all children are brought before something called The Great Eye. This measures them against the radiation signature of everyone on the planet, divining who their perfect match is. 

Sky looked into The Great Eye, only to find out her match was Johnny Storm, who was 44 light-years away at the time. Long-distance relationships can be tough. Anyway, plot happens, the F4 get stuck on Spyre, get told they can’t leave, and Sky tells Johnny Storm that she is his soulmate. Oh, and she attached a soul binding onto him while he slept. Neat, huh, all the bodily autonomy people get in this universe before being force soulbond to people? So neat, much consent, wow.

Johnny feels a connection to Sky, which is supposed to let us know this lack of choice is a good thing I guess. The Overseer wants Sky to renounce Johnny and crush the F4 which obv doesn’t happen, so of course she leaves The Unparalleled and skips off to Earth to be with Johnny. 

Who knows how this relationship is gonna last. I mean, you can look at the rest of Johnny’s relationship history and have a good guess. Who knows. Anyway, Reed and Sue are each other's soulmate, and also share a “Soul Binding”, so there’s some canonical proof right there that maybe this system has some validity going for it.

The soulbond for this form takes the form of a golden bracelet worn on the upper arm, that Sky explains her people call a “Soul Binding”; it represents them as being soul-mates. This bracelet can only be removed by your soulmate. This soulbond doesn’t seem to come with any extra powers, it’s just to show that The Great Eye has measured their radiation signature and declared them a match that is supposed to mean they’re perfectly compatible in every way: spiritually, mentally, and physically.

I don’t know about you, but I have a pretty good feeling that Steve and Tony might just have matching radiation signatures… Or what if Steve and Tony have perfect matching signatures….with other people? (Someone else on Spyre believes Sky is *their* perfect match, after all!) What if Steve has feelings for Iron Man, but he’s a perfect match with Tony Stark? I feel faint already just thinking about it.

So here you go. Two canonical types of soulbonds for your fannish consideration. Feel free to ask me questions! You can find me on tumblr (@mizzy2k) or on discord (addy#0908).

[texanredrose]

11, 13, and 14 for your recent Q&A fic post please! :3

Ps. I hope that you're doing well and had a good Thanksgiving! 💖

11. Is writing your passion or just a fun hobby? Heh, that’s a question alright. I’ve been writing for damn near 20 years now if not more. I love writing- mostly, I love storytelling, so I would say it’s my passion but I don’t take it too seriously. Truth is, I’m too scared to try applying for, like, a writing job anywhere because I fear that I’m not as good as I think I am but I’m happy writing fic. It’s a passionate hobby.

13. What’s the best writing advice you’ve ever come across? “Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.” -Cyril Connolly

Basically, if you’re enjoying what you’re writing then it’s better than writing something popular that you hate. It’s honestly a very liberating concept. At the end of the day, I write because I enjoy writing and I love the stories that I write. It’s great that other people like them, too! But if I spent my time chasing trends or only writing what’s popular, then it’s empty. It’s why I won’t take a commission for NOTPs or ships I don’t like/can’t see. I know that, as long as I love the story I’m writing, it’s going to be worth it. But, in that same turn, it’s also why I don’t take flak from people when I don’t do what they want me to do. I write for me; I share for y’all. It’s not the other way around. Though I do feel a little bad when I haven’t updated in a while, I remember that it’s better for me to share the stories I’m happy with than tossing out things to try and keep people happy. Maybe it means I’ll never be a big name fan or one of the fic writers everyone loves. That’s okay. I’m good with it.

14. What’s the worst writing advice you’ve ever come across? There’s a fucking thread for that but I’ll pick the worst of the bunch because I think it’s what gets people the most struck with writer’s block or riddled with plot holes. 

First off, this is downright a lie. For TV shows, showrunners have what’s called a Story Bible, and it’s filled with rules that help the cohesion of a show. Depending on the show, it can be anywhere between a few sheets of paper to a thin book. This goes for fic writing too, especially if it’s longer than 5 chapters. Having a story bible helps with cohesion and continuity of the narrative. You have to have some solid foundation before you start writing or you’re going to 1) write yourself into a corner, 2) contradict yourself, 3) forget what the hell you’d set up, or 4) all of the above.

Now, there are going to be times where you slip up or something, yeah. But, to give an example, one of the story rules I had for Black Cat Song is that, because all the characters are metaphysical concepts, none of them breathe. They don’t have lungs, they don’t need air, so of course they don’t breathe. The few times they do breathe, it’s either referenced in text that it’s unusual or it’s displaying something that’s unique to the character (like I could go a whole fucking fic without Weiss huffing indignantly, please). But, humans actually use their breathing a lot to express emotions, so it was something I had to consciously keep in mind. It’s also pointed out in text that they don’t have hearts- not the physical organ- and the word’s only used in reference to mortals or idioms... until the end, when Blake feels guilt over Weiss’ injury. Because even though these characters are nothing like us, they do feel as we do and are capable of love and changing and adapting, and that comes across very clearly at the end.

Is it something most people probably never noticed? Yeah. However, there’s plenty of things we don’t consciously notice that still impact our perception. Word choice is the most powerful tool a writer has to paint a picture. If I had written the story like any other, treated the characters as normal humans with nifty powers, it wouldn’t have the same tone. It wouldn’t have the same atmosphere to it. You can’t build a world on unstable ground; it’ll collapse in on itself with a bit of scrutiny.

Do you need to have every little thing planned out? No. But you need to know what story you’re writing. What it means to you, what you want it to say, what you want it to do. It might just be “I want a coffee shop AU because it makes me happy, and I want to include x, y, and z because I think they’re cute” hey go for it! That’s fine! But only deciding the minimum story elements and doing the rest by the seat of your pants? It’s going to turn frustrating really quickly. For the example above, you should at least know how x, y, and z are going to fit together within the coffee shop AU before you sit down to write. If you don’t, you’ll eventually get to a point where the characters have gone in an unexpected direction and you don’t know how to get them back on track or you’ve strayed so far down a tangent that diverting course back to a pre-planned story beat is going to come across as incredibly forced.

Like, I get it, we all have our own processes, but if you honestly think I haven’t constructed an entire movie in my mind before putting down one word, you’re dead wrong. I’ll change some things as I go and sometimes the characters do their own thing and I let ‘em, but I at least know what the map looks like before they go off roading. 

[fallout4holmes]

Nuka-World 6

We had a visitor the next morning. Mags Black left her two cronies at the base of the artificial mountain as she took the lift up herself. I don't know what she said to Gage to get him to stay put on the ground, but he wasn't happy about it.

Holmes had just finished his morning cigarette and a minimal breakfast. He stood as she stepped off the lift, "Ah. Ms. Black."

The raider boss raised an eyebrow, "Miz? It's like you're trying to stand out. You're the Overboss now, Mister Holmes, you get to be on a first name basis with everyone."

Holmes lit another cigarette and said with exaggerated politeness, "To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

Mags smirked, "You can blame it on giving the Disciples The Galactic Zone. I don't know what you're planning, but I want my people to come out on top at the end."

"At the moment, avoiding the animosity of an amusement park full of raiders is my primary concern."

"Bullshit," she said pleasantly. "You're the General of the Minutemen, the frozen vault-dweller that destroyed the Institute. I heard about your almost-war with the Brotherhood too, how you kicked them out of the Commonwealth after destroying their toys." She gestured to me, “Most of the raiders in Nuka-World are from west of here, where the Institute never had a presence. They think your friend is just a nifty robot bodyguard. Creepy, but nothing more. Those of us from the Commonwealth though?” She smiled, sinister, “We know exactly what he is. William and I know better than most. You never did find that janitor that went missing, did you Nick? What was her name, Amelia?”

“Annette,” I corrected, tried not to rise to the bait. “Not usually a fan of kicking folks out beyond the Wall, but in the case of you and your brother I’m glad Diamond City did.”

“Funnily enough, so are we. This suits us much better.” She said it smoothly, nothing but charm, but you don’t last long in my line of work if you can’t tell a bluff when you see one. She turned her attention back to Holmes, “Either your rumored nobility is all an act to get you into a place of power, or you’re going to throw a wrench into the fragile gears of this place. If it turns out to be the first one, you may want to consider showing my people a bit of favor before ugly rumors of synths and interfering Minutemen start circulating the park. If it’s the second one, well. Just know that every Operator in this park is watching.”

Holmes glowered, “I don’t respond well to threats.”

“As long as you respond,” Mags said, and took the lift back down.

As soon as she was down, Gage came up. "Mags pissed?"

"A touch upset," Holmes offered me a cigarette, which I took. "I was a little surprised she remembered you, Valentine."

"Guess it's hard to forget a face like this," I said dryly.

"What the hell are you two goin' on about?" Gage sighed.

"Nothing important," Holmes said, "just the Operators being unhappy with me. They can have the next park, it doesn't matter."

"Giving 'em the next park might look like you were intimidated," Gage said.

"What is the next park?" Holmes asked.

"Figured we'd hit Dry Rock Gulch."

"Hm, the American 'Old West' theme. A fake gold mining operation should suit the Operators, don't you think, Valentine?"

I chuckled, "I think the implication is gonna go over their heads, but we might as well check it out and get it over with."

Holmes agreed and we headed off. We made it to the park’s gate when I heard something moving through the earth, sort of like the sound a mole rat makes just before it leaps out and bites you. Only these weren’t mole rats.

A handful of big red worms with mouths that took up the whole head attacked, surprising the hell out of me and Holmes and earning an annoyed growl from Gage. They weren’t much of a fight, but, “Well that was unpleasant,” I said.

“You never seen bloodworms before?” Gage asked, skeptical.

I shook my head, “We don't get these things back east.”

“Better get used to ‘em, they’re a fucking menace around here.”

Hopefully we wouldn’t be staying long enough for me to get used to them, but I kept that to myself. I glanced around as we entered the park, the Old West frontier outpost aesthetic turned kitsch.

“How’s it go,” Gage sarcastically drawled, “This town ain’t big enough for you and me… ah, never mind.”

Holmes chuckled. “Let’s ask the local law enforcement for information,” he pointed to a protectron wearing a sheriff’s hat.

“Hope y'all are having a good day here at Nuka-World. Ready to saddle up and ride into the old wild west?” the protectron said.

“Great,” Gage grumbled, “More dumb robots.”

The protectron was unperturbed, “I'm the sheriff of these parts, and I need your help getting rid of those no good outlaws holed up in Mad Mulligan's Mine!”

“This is why I hate robots,” Gage huffed. “They don’t even know the world ended, this playtime shit is annoying.”

The protectron’s park personality programming stopped, “Processing: Hostile visitor. Ignore and continue explanation for the sake of the other guests.”

I laughed.

The sheriff continued his job, “The door to Mad Mulligan's Mine is locked up. I got a spare key in a safe by the theater, but wouldn't you know, I plum forgot what the combination to the safe was! You'll need to talk to my three amigos: Doc Phosphate, One-Eyed Ike, and the Giddyup Kid. Prove to them you're tough enough to take on the outlaws, and they'll give you their part of the combination. Good luck, little doggie! And don't forget your complimentary deputy uniform, courtesy of Nuka-Cola!”

The sheriff handed Holmes a costume, who promptly handed it to Gage, who scowled before realizing, “You got a weird ass sense of humor, boss,” and tossed it away. As we walked he asked, “We really gotta do all that, talk to three other robots just to get a key?”

“I suppose we could simply hang a banner and be done with the place,” Holmes said.

Gage shook his head, “Not with the bloodworms. Gotta torch the nest first, otherwise whoever moves in is gonna be pissed to hell you gave ‘em an infested base.”

Holmes made casual eye contact with me. He’d been hoping for a raider-bloodworm showdown.

“I mean,” Gage was still talking, “why do we need this fucking key in the first place? Can’t we just blast the door open?”

“I try not to do anything rash if I can avoid it,” Holmes said, “and surely you don’t think we’ll be bested by a few challenges designed for children?”

“I’m starting to second-guess making you Overboss,” Gage grumbled.

“Perhaps you should have considered that possibility before enthroning a stranger you know precious little about, against his will,” Holmes steely replied.

“I can deal with an ass of a boss,” Gage played it cool, “as long as he gets done what needs to get done.”

We did the tasks for the park protectrons, fighting bloodworms, overgrown crickets, and giant ants along the way. Once we had the key, we headed for Mad Mulligan's Mine… a roller-coaster.

Gage had kept pretty quiet til then, "People actually stood in line and waited for this crap?" He scoffed, "Bunch of suckers."

"Roller-coasters were a popular attraction,” I commented flatly, “though I can’t say I ever saw the appeal.”

Holmes gestured for quiet as we headed into the ride. The lobby held a souvenir shop and the entrance to the tunnels that would lead folks to the boarding area, decorated to look like you’re walking through a mine out of a Saturday morning western. Back then it probably lacked the dead bodies, of course. Holmes and I had heard rumors of traders who hid from Colter’s raiders in Dry Rock Gulch. We found ‘em. Bloodworms saw to it they didn’t have long to enjoy their freedom.

The boarding area was a massive pit littered with brahmin corpses, bulging with bloodworm larvae. In the middle of the pit was the massive queen herself.

“I believe we’ve found the nest,” Holmes said.

“No shit, boss,” Gage scoffed.

“Valentine and I will take care of the queen, you exterminate everything hiding in those brahmin.”

Gage nodded, “Sounds like a plan.”

I might be getting too old for fighting overgrown monsters in caves… but every time I think that, I know it’s not really true. Or it is, and I’m too stubborn to admit it. Anyway, we got the job done but the queen did a number on my leg. At least we know that Nuka-Town’s got a competent mechanic. I could walk, which is saying something, just going to have a limp until whatever got whacked out of place could get realigned. Gage was going to make a remark, but wisely shut up when Holmes glared at him.

We let the Sheriff know the job was done, got paid, which was a nice surprise, and Holmes climbed up to the top of the theater to hoist a flag with a black heart in a bullseye, bleeding gold.

“Gave in to the Operators after all, huh?” Gage said once Holmes was back on the ground. He didn’t sound accusatory, which was kind of weird, just like he was making conversation. Which was also kind of weird.

“If I have to secure Mags Black’s silence with a token gesture,” Holmes said, “then so be it.”

Gage shrugged, “Just let ‘em know you’re the Overboss, not some do-good General.”

“Gage, you conned me into this mess for the purpose of bringing the gangs together, yes? How does strutting around threatening violence serve that purpose?”

“Because we’re raiders?? That’s the language these idiots speak. You gotta treat ‘em right, but make sure they know you can end them at any time.”

Holmes made a considering sound and headed out of the park, “I often thought that if raiders could ever organize, they would be a force to be reckoned with. It seems I was right.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!” Gage exclaimed, relieved as if Holmes had finally come around. He didn’t know that every time the topic came up, it was followed with a list of possible ways the Minutemen would eliminate that threat.

Unfortunately, none of the hypothetical scenarios ever involved the General and his partner effectively being held hostage, with no way to call for help.

[vaffaznculocolmpadrter]

OC Interview: Sparrow the Druid

Rules 1. Pick one of your characters 2. Fill in the questions/statements as if you are being interviewed for an article and you were your muse. 3. Tag people to do this meme

Holy fuck this is a lot of words for a lot of questions. I hope you enjoy this out of context hullabaloo i had fun writing it at least.

       As a mysterious journey brought our heroes to the lakeside city of Thrushmoor, a man decided he wanted to know more. More about this strange band of adventurers, who were traipsing about this dour nation of Ustalav and righting some of its many wrongs. After an afternoon of asking about town, he easily discovered the name of their inn. (Appearances such as theirs are not easy to mistake, especially a young lady of drow descent and a woman with what only be described as a ‘mane’ of impossibly red hair). As luck would have it, it was those very same women he chanced upon.

       He introduced himself as a writer, and told them of his plea; they were understandably confused. (The purple-skinned elf coincidentally played the part of the shrinking violet, while her companion could not have been any more her foil if she tried). The wild, redheaded lass towered over them, and after a few more explanations, agreed to speak.

      That interview is recorded here, exactly as it occurred.

What is your name?

Sparrow.

What is your real name?

*Sparrow ruminates for quite a bit before answering.*

You know… when a serial killer ghost uses names for his dumb ghost magic, and you see the word ‘sparrow’ appear in blood on the wall… I guess there really isn’t any other answer that matters.

Do you know why you were called that?

Nah, not really, though I’ve been called that for like, EVER. As long as I can remember, even… Huh… I wonder if little me ever knew.

Are you single or taken?

What’s that mean?

*Her companion Cylerra walks over and leans down to whisper something in Sparrow’s ear. A look of realization blooms on her face as she listens.*

Oh. Uhhh… that is. Hmmm. That first one sounds about right, I guess.

Have any abilities or powers?

Oh dude easy question. First off I’m a druid do you know what a druid is yeah yeah you know what a druid is. So I’m one of those. Oh. You want a bit more than that? Uh. I’m pretty good with fire magic and… what else. Oh! Oh oh I know I don’t look it but I’m pretty good at making magical do-dad thingies.

*Sparrow waves Cylerra over again,  points to the small ornate clip nestled in her white hair, and grins.*

See that? I made it. It’s cute as fuck too, right?

Stop being a Mary Sue.

*Sparrow silently squints, her mouth slightly ajar. She closes and opens it a few times before responding*

I’m. Going to assume that’s a bad thing to be. So… sure. I guess.

What’s your eye color?

Well, if you asked me a month ago the answer’d be some kind of grey… but recently we all woke up with some sparkly ass silver eyes after a weird divine magic butterfly dream thing. I think it’s pretty neat, seeing as all of us match now and stuff.

How about your hair color?

Oh! Okay so imagine the reddest red you’ve ever seen. Ever. In your WHOLE entire life. Got it? Now…

*Sparrow hovers her thumb just a centimeter away from her index finger.*

That’s how close my hair is to your reddest red.

Have you any family members?

Huh. Hmmm… now that i think about it, I suppose I got three different families.

*Sparrow begins to count on her fingers as she lists them off. She hesitates on the first finger, motioning with it several times before speaking.*

…there was- …there is- …there- fuck! There.

*Sparrow grows flustered, sighs, and begins counting again.*

Ma and Pa. The wolf pack. And the old green dickbag who taught me magic… There, that’s- Wait… actually no, sorry. I was being dumb for a second. There’s four.

*Sparrow’s mood brightens as she turns to see Cylerra, who meekly waves back in response before returning to her book.*

I have four families.

Oh? What about pets?

I suppose you mean that wolf pack I just mentioned. Like I said before, I consider them family, which is probably going to confuse a few people. I guess I could explain a bit. They’re family because, well… they saved my life. It happened when I was little… and when I needed them most.

*Sparrow averts her gaze toward the floor, and absentmindedly begins tracing circles on the table.*

Afterwards, I was… really, really scared. I didn't want to be left, alone... So I. You know. Followed after them… I don’t remember for how long. Or how far. But then, one day… I was just. There. With the wolves. Sleeping. And eating. And Playing.

*Sparrow glances back up just as tears begin to well in her eyes. Her emotional display startled her, and she quickly wipes her face with a hand.*

Oh, wow. Jeez, what am I  doing? My friends don’t even know those details and I’m just spilling them all over your dumb stupid shitty fucking notebook… Sorry. I didn’t mean to call you and your notebook dumb. Oh, I didn’t call you dumb? Well. I was thinking it, so. Sorry about that too, I guess… So, uh. Pets, right? Um, I have a silly little plant buddy I made with magic, does he count?

Do you have any hobbies/activities you like doing?

Let’s see…

*Sparrow straightens up a tad and takes a deep breath.*

Relaxing. Hunting. Goofing off. Solving mysteries. Hanging out with Cylerra. Poking fun at Cylerra.  Exploring. Swimming. Watching my friends do the things they like. Drinking. Dancing. Eating- Oh yeah can’t forget about eating. Feeling mud between my toes. Listening to the forest. Meeting new people. Playing with fire. Star-gazing. Seeing Trey be bad at being serious. Sun-bathing. Making nifty magic crap. Sleeping. Fucking. Kicking ass. Fl- oh, okay sure I can stop if that’s enough.

That’s cool I guess, now tell me something you don’t like.

Undead come to mind for sure. I hate zombies I hate wights I hate ghosts I hate wraiths I hate werewolf ghosts I- Oh, yeah. And FUCK mummies. HOLY SHIT DUDE DO I HATE MUMMIES. Throw every single one of them into the garbage pit and set it on fucking fire please.

Ever hurt anyone before?

I think that’s like… part of being an adventurer, right? Like. If you are an adventurer and you go on adventures if you keep continuing to adventure, you are gonna hurt someone eventually. Punching or feeling wise, its bound to happen.

Ever….killed anyone before?

I have, yeah. Like, when I count it up, Ive definitely hunted plenty of animals and recently began killing a good chunk of undead, but they probably don’t fall under everyone’s ‘anyone’ category. I think it’s safe to say werewolves and cultists do though, so yeah. I have killed dudes before.

What kind of animal are you?

Well technically I can be basically whatever the heck i want, but I think you mean like, in a figurative way? Still though. Dude. I think it’s pretty obvious.

Name your worst habits.

I’m told I say things I shouldn’t a whole bunch. Like basically every day all the time. ‘Sparrow no you can’t say that, no Sparrow that’s inappropriate, Sparrow stop you’re offending them.’

*Sparrow sighes.*

What else… I get told I’m too loud. or wait, I don’t think that’s really a habit. Hmmm. Some people complain about how I eat? Manners or something dumb like that.

Do you look up to anyone at all?

Not that often. Apparently I’m pretty tall for a lady, so most of the time I’m looking down to people instead. I definitely had to look up to Gallows though, that dude’s hat scraped on door-frames sometimes.

Gay, straight, or bisexual?

Uh. Hmm.

*Sparrow counts on her fingers as she mouths a few words to herself. After several seconds, she quickly gives up .*

I don’t really know how this sort of thing works. Do amounts matter?

Do you go to school?

I’ve gone to a school once, when we visited Cylerra’s old one. But you mean like, going to school, like what she did. So no. I’ve never gone to school. And thinking about it… even if things had been different… I don’t think I ever would’ve had the chance anyways.

Do you ever want to marry and have kids one day?

*Sparrow freezes for several seconds, then laughs uncomfortably. She begins fiddling with her hair as an awkward silence fills the table.*

I’ve, uh. Never really… thought. About it. Before…

Do you have any fanboys/fangirls?

Oh! Do kids pretending to be me count? Because if that does then yeah yes I do have fans. Man, those little pups were really sweet once the town finally unstuck themselves from their own asses and realized we weren't trying to ruin their lives.

What are you most afraid of?

Most afraid of? Hmmm. I guess... being unable to- to- Damn I don't know how to say this. Okay. Say someone I knew and liked was in trouble. Like, some really, really bad shit was going to happen to them and I’m seeing it as it happens. I'm afraid of when a time like that comes... and I can't even try to do something about it.

*Sparrow pauses.*

Wow. That was so serious I bet you wanted things like heights or dark spaces.

What do you usually wear?

I don't really got a signature outfit or nothing but you can bet you'll see me wearing this!

*Sparrow enthusiastically gestures to the wolf pelt slung around her shoulders.*

Do you love someone?

Well, I love my families. I love my friends and my pack and my. Parents. And I love my shitty teacher too, I guess. That's ab- Huh? What do you mean that's not what you mean? Oh. Oooooh. You mean like. How my Ma loved my Pa, and my Pa loved my Ma...

*Sparrow rubs her the back of her neck as she falls deep into her thoughts.*

... No. I don't really love anyone the way they love each other. And I'm not really sure if I ever will...

What class are you? (high class, middle class, low class)

I never cared about stuff like that. I never had to. I was the little girl of a hunter and a potion maker who lived in a house outside of town at the edge of the woods and we were the most happiest people in my whole wide world...

*Sparrow’s wistful stare is distant, and accompanied by a small smile. It lasts but a moment before her face turns sour and she shakes her head.*

Then I lived in the forest with a whole shit ton of wolves and a crappy old orc for a while. So. Low, I guess.

How many friends do you have?

I like to consider anyone who isn’t a jerk to be a friend. Life is a whole lot funner that way. But if I gotta name names... Kendra, I think. Zokar the tavern owner - damn I love that guy I kinda miss him. Grimsbarrow... Shit basically the entire town of Ravengro. That cool Crooked Kin circus we ran into. Barrister Kaple - hope he keeps growing that backbone we gave him. The Beast of Lepidstadt- Ah! See, I knew you were gonna give me a face like that. Nothing but the truth my man. Hmmmm. Oh! That badass at the lodge... Graydon! Graydon.

*Sparrow leans forward, hides her mouth with a hand and whispers.*

Now, I said I have a lot of friends, but I think Cylerra is my best friend. Don‘t tell anyone though it might hurt their feelings.

What are your thoughts on pie?

I like them. Especially fruit ones. Though Zokar’s meat pie was pretty good with some ale.

Favorite drink?

Oh, fuck. I don’t actually know... There’s so much good stuff out there and I’ve only had like a sliver of it.

What’s your favourite place?

Wow damn dude you keep asking all these hard questions. How can someone decide when there are so many places to choose from? ...Eh, I suppose I could say the woods I spent my whole ada- adu- ader- Sorry hold on.

*Sparrow swivels around and shouts Cylerra’s name at the top of her lungs. Cylerra yelps in surprise and the book she had been so patiently reading clatters to the floor.*

WHAT’S THE THING THAT’S NOT A BABY OR A KID, BUT ALSO NOT AN ADULT OR AN OLD PERSON?

*Cylerra glares at Sparrow, and begins to move one of her hands in an intricate fashion. Suddenly, small fiery letters appear out of thin air in front of Sparrow. As the word forms one letter at a time, it clearly spells ‘ADOLESCENT!’ But the moment the exclamation point appears, the entire array explodes with a loud pop and a large puff of smoke! Cylerra storms out of the room, as Sparrow is left with a soot-covered face.*

THANK YOU. So yeah I spent all of that thing in the same huge ass forest. I know that place in and out and up and down and basically any other direction you can think of.

Are you interested in someone?

Yeah I- Wait. Is this another one of those questions? Where I don’t understand it at first and it ends up being about sex or something? Yeah, I thought so. Looking for someone to fuck is not really on my mind considering the fact that I mmmmm-not going to tell you that because it would be dumb and get me thinking about it again and then get me worrying about it aga- MMMMMNH!

*Sparrow’s nostrils flare, and her face contorts into an expression of exasperation as she wipes the soot from it.*

Next question please.

What’s your bra cup size?

*Sparrow casually reaches into her shirt and gropes herself. After a squeeze or two, she removes her hand and shows it off.*

About that big.

Would you rather swim in the lake or the ocean?

Oh oh oh I’ve never been to the ocean that’s the one with the salt in the water right? I really want to go! I want to see it for myself, hopefully I can drag my friends with me it sounds like a blast.

What’s your type?

*Sparrow’s face becomes stoic as her eyebrows raise.*

I think I know your game now, mister writer man. My type is people I like. Okay? Okay.

Any fetishes?

Huh? You mean those little charms you make that are suppose to ward off evil or whatever?

*Sparrow immediately drops her deadpan facade and taps a finger on her lips in thought.*

Nah, not anymore. The green geezer had me making them all the damn time when he first started teaching me. It didn’t even have anything to do with druidism he just wanted to waste my time. I wanted to run away so bad back then, but he kept finding me and dragging me home every time I tried. I guess I gave up after failing for like a year. I think that’s about when he starting teaching me for real.

Seme or uke? Top or bottom? Dominant or submissive?

I don’t even know what half of these things mean but I’m definitely not submissive, so dominant I guess.

Camping or indoors?

NATURE IS MY MIDDLE NAME OF COURSE I’LL ALWAYS PICK CAMPING also nature is not actually my middle name don’t write that down.

Are you wanting to quiz to end?

Yeah this took way longer than I thought you should really tell people that before you sit them down and vomit questions at them.

[npmjs]

My First npm Publish

My first npm publish was unusual. npm didn't exist at the time, so that presented a bit of a challenge.

This is the story of helping to inventing a universe so that I could make an apple pie from scratch.

SSJS

Back in 2009, I was working at Yahoo! as a Front-End Engineer. That meant that I wrote a lot of PHP and JavaScript. I had just finished a project where we had front-end components generated on the back-end and shipped to the client based on some data being parsed into a template, and then later on, on the front-end, do the same work in JavaScript with the same templates and data services.

These days, that'd be called "fast boot" or "isometric templates" or something clever, but back in those dark days, it required tediously maintaining two implementations of a view layer, one in PHP and the other in JavaScript. Maintaining the same thing in two languages was downright awful.

"Well", I figured, "JavaScript is a language, and we can control what's on the server, why not just run JavaScript on the server?"

The state of the art in server-side JavaScript (SSJS) was Rhino on the JVM. The problem was, unless you compiled your JavaScript into JVM bytecode using arcane special magicks, it was godawful slow. I started messing around with V8 and SpiderMonkey, thinking "I want something like PHP, but JavaScript".

The SSJS community at that time was a very different place than the Node.js of today. There were dozens of projects, any one of which could've seemed like it would be the breakout hit. SpiderApe and v8-juice were trying to make it easier to embed spidermonkey and v8, and add a standard library to each. v8cgi (renamed to TeaJS) provided a CGI binding to use v8 in Apache2. I started messing around with K7, which provided a bunch of macros for using V8 in various contexts, and Narwhal, which was the only one of these that seemed to be delivering a fully thought-out platform for making programs. There was also Helma and RingoJS, and probably a bunch of others I'm forgetting.

A few years ago, we used to joke that every Node.js dev had their own test framework and argument parser. Well, in 2009, every server-side JavaScript developer had their own SSJS platform.

The contributors to all of these platforms got together in a mailing list and tried to form some kind of standard for server-side JavaScript programming. Front-end JavaScript has the DOM, so we thought, and right now, writing server-side JavaScript suffers from a dearth of portability. What we need is a standards body, clearly! This was initially called "ServerJS", but then expanded its scope to CommonJS.

The first proper "module" I wrote in JavaScript was a port of a url parser I wrote for YUI. I landed it in Narwhal. There was no userland, really. Just lots of little cores.

Some time later, in August of 2009, I gave a tech talk about SSJS and demonstrated using Narwhal and Jack, a Rack-like thing built on top of Narwhal, using the JSGI protocol.

After the talk, one of the people in the audience asked if I'd ever tried out Node.js. As it turned out, I had, but like so many SSJS platforms:

It had a single developer working on it, and no other contributors or community.

The documentation was extremely sparse

It failed to build on my mac laptop.

Ergo: Not a thing.

"I dunno," he said. "Maybe try it again. It's pretty nifty."

He insisted that it was fast, and I was like, "Meh. JVM is fine."

Node.js

I checked the website again, and they'd added a "Community" section. Also, the docs still sucked, but it was version 0.0.6 now, which was like, 4 more than it was the first time I'd checked, so whoever this Ryan guy was, he was at least working hard on the thing.

It compiled successfully, and I was hooked! It started up so fast compared to Rhino! And it had tests that ran when I did make test, and they passed!

3 important lessons for OSS success:

Docs and tests matter.

At least have a link to a mailing list or something. (Remember: this was before GitHub connected us all with Issues.)

It has to build and be fast.

I gradually stopped paying much attention to CommonJS, and instead just threw my efforts at Node. I hung out on the mailing list and in IRC during all my free time.

The problem with Node back then was that even though a growing number of people were all writing really interesting programs, it was hard to share them. So, I wrote this thing, which was a port of a bash script I was using to play with people's code.

The Registry

Technically that wasn't "publishing" though. In order to actually publish to npm there had to be an npm registry. Today, that registry is a webservice at https://registry.npmjs.org/, run by npm, Inc.. The first registry was a git repo called "npm-data". I collected up the handful of modules that'd been shared from on the mailing list and in the Node.js wiki page, and made a JSON file with links to them.

One principle of package management that I felt was really important was that no one person should be the bottleneck in community growth. Especially if that person is me. Because I really hate that crap.

I don't mind working really hard on lots of challenging stuff, but if I have to do some simple task over and over again, especially if other people are depending on me to do it, it's like torture to me. The prospect of being in someone's critical path for deploying their module was just... ugh. Gross.

I needed a web service type thing that would let people publish packages and then could download those packages and install them.

I got to talking to Mikeal Rogers, who worked at Couch.IO. He built the first npm registry CouchApp, and got it functional.

Fun fact! For a little while, anyone could publish any package, and we relied on the honor system to keep anyone from clobbering anyone else's name. It was an ok system for a short while, since there were only about 4 or 5 people in the world who knew this thing existed, but we got an authentication and authorization system set up before anyone could take advantage of it.

By that time, I'd quit my job at Yahoo! and was taking a sabatical. If you can afford it, I highly recommend saving up a little nest egg and taking a few months off to see what comes out of you. Muses can be fickle, and tend to call when least expected.

I know what you're thinking...

You're thinking that the culmination of this story is that I published npm to npm and that was my first npm publish, and it'll be super meta and awesome like that. It'd be a beautiful punchline.

Real life is sloppy sometimes.

I knew that I wanted npm to be able to accept abbreviated versions of commands, so that npm inst would do the same thing as npm install. (To this day, the friendly CLI shorthands are some of npm's most beloved features.)

The first thing I published to npm was abbrev. I'd written it already, mostly as a sort of coding crossword puzzle some... Saturday? Wednesday? All the days were pretty identical during those two lazy/exhausting months of funemployment.

Since abbrev was only one module, no build command, it was really easy to publish and install repeatedly. Ever since then, it's always been one of my go-to testing modules to make sure things are working properly. Not only was it my first npm publish, it was the first npm publish, and it was published probably dozens or hundreds of times to http://localhost:5984/ while I was working on npm. So, of course, when I had a registry running on my little DreamHost instance, abbrev was the first thing I published to it.

The really wacky part: despite it being the first thing I'd published with npm, I didn't actually use abbrev in npm until 5 months later. That whole time I kept trying to figure out how to have proper dependencies in the thing that installed dependencies. Eventually, I gave up and threw it in a utils folder.

Looking back over abbrev now, it's amazing to me how little it's changed. Most of the code is still that initial implementation from May 2010.

The moral of the story is that you don't know how it's going to end.

[beingmad2017-blog]

Top four Small Agency Cellular Apps And Enterprise

New Post has been published on https://beingmad.org/top-four-small-agency-cellular-apps-and-industrial/

Top four Small Agency Cellular Apps And Enterprise

As we mentioned in a publish now not lengthy inside the past, greater than 50% of America for the time being are cellphone owners. This growing fashion of on-the-cross clients makes it particularly essential for small companies to preserve to achieve them. now not handiest is advertising and advertising toward those Mobile cellphone customers vital, however, so is ensuring you may feature your personal Commercial excessive point Corporation on the go.

As this trend keeps to grow, and Cellular phones play a larger role in our lives so you can will their integration with Enterprise. In case you do not have a cellular telephone, now truly might be the time. For my part, I waited quite sometime before getting one, and now I each do not know what I was thinking or how I’m capable of ever move once more.

If you are a small Commercial enterprise and Cellular  phone proprietor, there are probably apps you operate frequently to preserve matters happening the circulate. Mail, net browser, and so forth. Are all quite favored, but here are a few you might be lacking out on. I’ve used each substantially and without going overboard on how many to examine, I discovered the ones to be critical.

the ones 4 packages make organizing your mind, feed variety, and advertising and marketing much less tough to address far from the Computer or workplace.

1. Evernote (Free, iPhone / iPad / Android / Mac / Computer)

Evolved via Apple for integration with their working structures, it has because of the fact that come to Home windows laptop systems. Evernote is the vital observe taking and storing app. It permits you to keep each belief you have written down and saved well.

you could create one among a kind folders so your Industrial high point Organization and private notes are saved spa fantastic, in addition to tags for easy identification. Newly brought the app now capabilities reminders that can be added onto every word you take so you by no means forget about to do precisely what you wrote down.

In truth, I’m writing this newsletter with Evernote as we talk. It essentially saved my from getting the Microsoft place of business Suite, or really Phrase on its personal. I assume I, in reality, love it better as a writing tool as it simply feels so much greater informal, that is my technique to writing. The phrase jogs my memory of writing a paper for finals in university.

Formatting text is a breeze like you can in other text editors. Sharing to social networks is also immediately included. So If you put together something you need to proportion for your Twitter or Fb web page, you can do it without delay from the app.

The Laptop model of the app additionally permits for seamless, clean synching of all of your notes. This manner something you wrote for your cell phone might be up to date on your laptop, and vice versa. Now you’ll by no means bypass a beat or need to copy already written notes over.

Company

The bottom line is it makes topics less difficult. something any small Commercial excessive point Business enterprise proprietor ought to use. Many humans use submit-It notes to govern the steady circulate of mind they have got each day in relation to managing an Industrial Company. Evernote makes it available for you to maintaining those in an organized style for the lengthy haul.

2. Wunderlist ($Loose, iPhone / iPad / Android / Mac / computer / internet)

This app is prepared as reachable and no frills as a to-do list app should be. I may be the number one to say that an app which maintains the tune of things you want to do seems a piece frivolous. however, after going some time without it and seeking to apply exclusive apps like Evernote to do the trick, I find this a whole lot better.

All Wunderlist allows you to do is create a running to-do list of all of your responsibilities. And it virtually works quite perfectly for simply this. you could make sure duties a difficulty and keep them atop the list. Likewise, you could set reminders or due dates, so you might not overlook. The app will deliver you a push notification ensuring you without a doubt recall to do that aspect you wrote down last week so you might no longer forget about for the 1/three consecutive week directly.

I discover that pretty reachable with so much taking vicinity amongst life and excessive point Enterprise.

Manifestly, you can add longer descriptions to responsibilities and include info if need be. you could even proportion lists right now or over e-mail with others who would possibly need a few guidance. For example, growing a to-do listing for an intern or worker is probably useful in case you’re away or forgot your Pc.

It enables maintain me on track and organized, it is something I try and not take with no consideration. To mark responsibilities as performed, just test their corresponding field and rancid they move. It’s miles the kind of gratifying like crossing off something on paper you needed to do.

Over again, this app has the synching capacity from phone to a laptop, so that you’re commonly updated across the board. The thing I discover is that it is designed to help you on-the-circulate, and it does that completely.

three. Mint (Loose, iPhone / iPad / Android / net)

Industrial

price range in a dilemma? No thoughts wherein your spending is going? Can not apprehend you bank’s outdated internet dashboard? Then Mint is for you.

Mint is an easy and relaxed software that connects at once along with your financial institution account to display its interest. It produces the ones nifty, trustworthy charts and graphs on the cease or each month, or every time you want so that you can visualize your Industrial Agency’ spending.

It clearly makes matters crystal clear in relation to tracking revenue and costs. Nice your bank probably has a manner of giving you opinions and displaying what’s coming and going, but not anything like this I can assure you.

Mint is extensively trusted among humans and groups to tune their cash, so It is surprisingly comfy. you can even setup a pass lock earlier than having access to the app. truly sign on, link your account with it, and Mint will begin monitoring the numbers.

With a much clearer view of the way your coins os being spent, you could exceptional tune your price range and allocations to work higher on your Industrial excessive factor Business enterprise. fees may be grouped into classes and allocated a monthly restriction. Going over this will prompt an alert so that you can maintain a near eye one precisely what’s taking place alongside your cash.

The app’s sleek format blended with insightful metrics make it a win-win for small Enterprise owners.

4. Facebook

a piece greater than six months inside the beyond and this app should not be included in this listing. It took the developers at Facebook a protracted way too lengthy to get an app proper. now not most effective turned into It is designed clunky for years, however, it didn’t encourage customers to hold the use of Fb on their phones.

I doubt they, in reality, realized the significance of this reality until it became absolutely up to date and modified into the app we’ve got these days. right across the time of this remodel, they noticed a big enhance in Cellular cell phone clients. in recent times a huge component of their site visitors come from people using the app, and It is pretty clear why.

Cellular

Anyhow, you need to be the usage of the Cell cellphone app on your Business Enterprise’ very very own net page. just how easy it is to put up on your non-public account from your cell cellphone, they have got made it clear as ever to do to your very very own net page.

Genuinely, log in and upload a publish, image, or video, and percentage away. The cellular-friendly nature of the app now encourages Organization owners to keep their audience in the loop no matter in which they’ll be.

Sports, information, or spontaneous updates now don’t have any problem being shared proper away collectively along with your following from the app. not is it Surely less complicated to wait until you are at a Pc to tell the Word. Now there must be no hesitation or delay if you need to get something posted.

you may view your internet page either as an Admin or as most of the people so you apprehend exactly how your web page appears, and what you could do to update it. There’s a bunch of other beneficial capabilities delivered in that makes the enjoy a whole lot easier and seamless to apply now.

simple and easy, in case you supervisor or contribute to a Fb web page on your small Industrial Organisation, get the app.

five. Bonus – Gmail (iPhone / iPad / Android / net)

This one is delivered as a similarly for the reason that no longer everybody uses Google’s platform for his or her Commercial enterprise. For my part, I’ve three G electronic mail payments and maintain tabs on all of them on my smartphone so this app is essential.

Even if you simply use E-mail for non-public electronic mail, I might advise attempting this app out. They redesigned it surely no longer lengthy in the beyond and it in truth excels. The design and format are almost top notch now in my opinion. Plus multiple account integration is a breeze.

in case you did no longer understand, for best $five in step with month, you may use E-mail as your email issue with a particular domain cope with. Your can despite the fact that life, but in the region of the use of the everyday client, you could use E-mail. not really worth it to every person, but for fans of G electronic mail on Cell and the internet, It is without a doubt a choice well worth considering.

[envirotravel]

Two Flights for Two: A Review of the Square Cash App

As much as I love my solo travels, there’s nothing like a girlfriend getaway weekend, a big family trip, or a college buddy reunion to leave me looking like the heart-eyed emoji about travel again. The only aspect that tends to leave me frowning? Settling the bill! As the perpetual organizer of these kinds of outings, I’ve attempted various systems over the years for getting everyone to pay their share of flights, house rentals, dinners, and bottles of champagne for airport arrival mimosas (my trips are pretty epic, guys.)

From envelopes full of cash with notes scrawled on all sides to group Excel sheets to various apps and payment services, I really do feel like I’ve tried to all. And so I was super excited to check out what promised to be the simplest, fastest and most intuitive way yet to send money between travel buddies: Square Cash.

Square Cash is an app built by Square, which is best known for its point of sale systems for the iPad and iPhone. Ever shopped at a Farmer’s Market or a festival and checked out via a few swipes on the vendor’s iPhone? You were probably using Square! Now they’ve created Cash, an app that allows you to pay or request money from anyone, anywhere.

Features 

If you’ve ever used other money transfer apps like Paypal or Venmo, Square Cash will feel very familiar to you. But what I love about it is that it’s unbelievably intuitive and simple for those who aren’t super tech savvy and might not be familiar with these kinds of services — we all have that friend who wants to send a check for the flight you bought for them, right? (And by that friend I obviously mean my mom.)

Here are a few of my favorite features:

• iMessage integration: You can send cash to and request money from someone who doesn’t have an account. If you have iMessage on your iPhone or iPad, or even an Apple Watch,  you can literally text money from within iMessage! You can even adjust your settings so your phone will detect which of your friends are nearby (if you’re all sitting around splitting a dinner bill to celebrate the first night of vacation, for example) and suggest them as recipients when you go to settle up.

I also love that you can “gift wrap” the money — I often miss friend’s and family’s birthdays and big events when I’m on the road, and I love the idea of texting them some cash along with a whole bunch of emojis conveying that I want them to treat themselves to a round of drinks on me.

• Email integration: Again, without setting us an account, you can email the person that owes you money, enter how much is owed in the subject field, and then CC the email to request@square.com. Both parties will need to enter their banking information, and the transfer will go through without ever having to create yet another account. Perfect for splitting that family reunion beach house with your relatives who still don’t do smartphones. (You might want to call them and explain the email is coming, though.)

• Virtual debit card: Square Cash allows you to create a “virtual debit card” with your balance, which sounds very nifty but probably isn’t something most users will make use of. I did think of one scenario where this would be super useful though: if you were traveling and your cards were for some reason frozen and didn’t have a backup hidden elsewhere in your luggage like I told you to (get with the program, though!), you could have a friend send funds to your account, and you could then use the “virtual debit card” to book a flight, hotel, or whatever you need.

• Touch ID authentication: You can complete money transfers using the Touch ID feature in later versions of the iPhone (5S and up). Safe, super quick, and feels like you’re in a Bond move. All around win.

• Auto cash out: I LOVE THIS. With Paypal or Venmo, to get cash from the app into your bank account you have to open the app and complete a few steps. With Square Cash, you can enable instant transfers, so the second someone sends you cash it goes straight to your account without any action from you. You do pay, though — instant transfers are available immediately and cost 1% of the total deposit amount. The other option is to initiate the transfer manually like in the other apps, which is free and takes one business day (Paypal can take 3-5 days, for comparison).

Price and Fees

Square Cash is totally free to sign up for and download, and has no fees for the vast majority of transactions. There are two fees you may incur:

• The 1% fee noted above for instant transfers

• A business fee of 2.75% for business transactions — requesting payment for goods and services (perfect for my fellow digital nomads!) It’s a good deal compared to Paypal’s 2.9% plus $0.30USD.

Room for Improvement

The major area for improvement for travelers would be to make Square Cash available across multiple currencies. At the moment, it requires a US debit card or credit card, and a US bank account to deposit money, so not great for splitting a hotel room with your Turkish travel buddy. Obviously, you also need a connection to a data or Wi-Fi network to use the app.

I would love to see the option to turn on auto transfer for free, perhaps taking the standard one business day instead of being instant. I don’t mind waiting, I just want to skip the step.

While your friends don’t need to be Square Cash users in order to send or receive money, it will definitely help if they are comfortable with and familiar with the service. Prompt them by sending a $10 bonus after they send their first $50 — and here, you can get $10 from me after you send YOUR first $50!

It would be my dream to see Square Cash integrate with my other favorite financial tracking apps like Splitwise and TrailWallet, someday!

Conclusion 

With big giants like PayPal and Venmo on the scene, Square Cash really has to have some badass featured to stand out from the crowd. And I think they do. Again, it’s the most simple and intuitive app for those who aren’t familiar with electronic payments, it doesn’t require an account from both parties, and it’s integrated into messenger and email, two services most humans use every single day.

To briefly note it’s differences from it’s major competitors, I’d say that Square Cash feels much more private than Venmo — while you can toggle payments there so they don’t show up in the Facebook-like newsfeed, I’m always paranoid that I’ll forget and that my friends will know exactly how much I splurged on pizza for that late night Netflix binge in the hotel.

Also, I hate the fees and interface of Paypal, which can be very confusing and while technically you shouldn’t have to pay a fee to send money between friends, it’s easy to chose the wrong settings and suddenly realize there’s a charge on your receipt.

Looking to transfer money to family and friends quickly and easily and anonymously? Square Cash is a game changer — download and play with it for a few minutes and you might be so grateful you’ll want to buy me a margarita. Don’t worry. I know just how to split the bill.

What’s your favorite way to transfer funds?

Download Square Cash on your Android and iPhone here. I was compensated for my time in reviewing this app. The opinions and text are all mine.

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