#the top looks weird because I have an iPhone and the camera covers the top middle of the screen so I had to move that Chil down

[nitro502]

I can never let anyone see my locked phone ever again but this makes me too happy to care

[meikostan]

just solved a mystery that wasn't really mystery and didn't really need solving 👍 anyway i was going insane re:oshi no ko timeline because i forgot how old the twins are and what year this takes place in and needed to put all of my info in one place. in this essay i over-analyze the models of iphone as they differ from each other in the manga vs the anime. warning: very disorganized as i was sourcing all my evidence all this WHILE writing the post.

clickbait tldr: OSHI NO KO ANIME AND MANGA ARE IN SEPARATE TIMELINES⁉️ (NOT A PRANK‼️)

regular tldr: they're like 15/16 and the manga takes place in 2020 (but like including their childhood as well as their teenage years).

edit: the image formatting is broken :( idk how to fix it, sorry. they're still there, they're just huge and not next to each other for some reason

compare and contrast ruby in the manga vs the anime. now i will admit i am not an expert of identifying iphones but in the anime she appears to be holding an iphone 4; we can tell because there's only one camera lens, the power button is on the top, as is the headphone jack. it's also a bit rounded on the edges, which seem to have a little bit more meat on them compared to the manga. speaking of, compare with the manga: here, the phone has 3 camera lenses. the angle prevents us from getting a good view of the top of the phone, but there doesn't seem to be either a headphone jack OR a power button. it's a bit harder for me to tell but i think this is supposed to be an iphone 12 pro max.

compare. left: iphone 4, right: iphone 12 pro max

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL because aqua has an iphone too so of course we're looking at that

left: aqua seems to be using the same iphone 4 that ruby was using previously

right: looks more like an iphone x judging by the camera? compare:

ok so moving on. not from phones in general we'll still be talking about those but we also need to consider some other hints shown by the use of technology here. the anime seems to be pushing harder for us to view vol 1 as being set some time around 2010; if you saw my other post re:my thoughts on episode 1 you'll know that i talked about this already, but i'll restate some stuff here for completion's sake (+ add pictures)

compilation of flip phones being used throughout ai's death montage; while i did find some articles published in 2009 on flip phones dipping in popularity because of smart phones, they were definitely still being commonly used around that time. i know this because i was alive in 2009

also a wii, which was released in late 2006. it would have been incredibly common in many households, especially for non-gamers, which it was marketed towards. obviously a lone wii does not automatically mean oshi no ko vol 1 is set in the early 2010s/late 00's, but this in combination with the older models of phones does seem to point in that direction. also i have no proof of this but i feel like if it was set in modern day (2020s) that wii would be a nintendo switch instead.

bonus kana with an iphone 4 btw

you'll notice that these are all anime screenshots, and this is because pretty much none of this is in the manga. apart from the funeral we don't see any crowd shots, or anything of the public; it's all very focused in on aqua and ruby. what we DO see in terms of technology are ruby's iphone 12 pro max and aqua's iphone x, meaning in the manga either vol 1 takes place around late 2020/early 2021, the cast of oshi no ko is stuck in an eternal present, or this was an art oversight brought upon by early installment weirdness.

also, to cover the use of twitter: twitter was launched in late 2006. the website saw a pretty huge boost in popularity in 2008, and the mobile app launched in 2010. it would be very possible for the twins to go twitter viral and become the oshi no ko version of charlie bit my finger.

OK on to guessing how old they are in the present, which for now only exists in the manga!

DO NOT READ BEYOND THIS POINT IF YOU ARE AN ANIME ONLY AND INTEND TO KEEP IT THAT WAY, OR ARE OTHERWISE NOT CAUGHT UP WITH THE MANGA.

so, we know that ai had the twins when she was 16, and died a week before she turned 20. for simplicity's sake we'll just say she died when she was 20. that means the twins would be about 4 years old at this point.

what we're interested in is figuring out their age at present day. chapter 11 opens up with ruby filling out her idol applications; she list her age as being 14.

however, we know that she's been filling out multiple applications for a good while now, and aqua has continually been sabotaging her. this might not even be an application from present day. speaking of aqua, he mentions right after this panel high school entrance exams:

in japan, students enter high school (upper secondary school) around the time they're 15-16 years old. of course, aqua says they're "coming up", not that they're soon or currently happening. they could be on the lower end of 15 around here, or the higher end of 14.

additionally, in the next chapter, aqua is seen wearing what looks to be a gakuran (basically, middle school boy's uniform; middle school takes place ages 12/13 to 14/15).

from this we can guess that around 10 to 11 years have passed since ai died; they're about 14 to 15 here.

if we pretend that their childhood in the manga also took place in 2010, that means present day oshi no ko takes place around 2020.

mystery solved! but i like digging deeper this is fun. so let's continue.

skipping to the next volume!

lovenow time! here they outright state aqua's grade; high school 1st year, aka 10th grader, aka like 15/16.

can't grab screenshots of where 15 years of lies was established because mangaplus hates me and has locked the relevant chapters behind an app >:(

have to stop it here bc i don't remember as much as i thought i did and i also don't have access to chapters 95 thru 114 (thanks mangaplus👍) so uh yeah thank you for sticking with my rambles. again this was just me logicking through stuff because i forgot how old they are & is for personal reference. next time i do a reread i'll add more ^_^

[fmdjace]

◤you'll never know if left is right

❝ i'm more than just a debris

solo related to fmdbaseonline1.4 date: sometime early may song choice: astroboy word count: 1,108 notes: jihoon explains what his top 10 things he can’t live without

it was a weird thing to be asked, but jihoon didn’t say no to it. he didn’t have the option to. that was why he was currently sat in one of dimensions’s nicer rooms and ready to film. he brought a few things with him. afterall, the video was about what he couldn’t live without.

within a few more minutes, the camera’s were rolling and jihoon was tapping his fingers on the table top. “hello, you;re currently with jace from quantum and i will be telling you my 10 things i can’t live without.” he explains, already reaching over to one of the staff members that were passing his phone.

“i think it’s pretty obvious, my phone.“ he waves it back and forth a few times. “it’s a white, iphone 11 pro. with a very, very broken screen.“ he tries not to laugh when he turns it around, screen probably far beyond use, but he makes it work “i’ll probably soon be getting a new ones, but this one really just gets the job done, and its a bit sentimental.“ he explains, not that many people probably cared. “i also can’t live without headphone, earplugs? i really like the apple ones, i have way too many of them because they constantly go missing, my bank account isn’t the happiest about it.“ jihoon laughs, reaching to run his hand through his hair a tad nervously.

“i really, really like coffee, its the only drink i tend to have other than water, so i use a french press most of the time.“ the staff had one laying around, soon given to him. it wasn’t his own, his one was way bigger than this one, but it got the point across “i always wanted to buy a coffee machine, but its more fun this way. comes out just the way i like it.“ it wasn’t as fun as he thought it would be. jihoon was never the type to talk about himself, or be this open about what he liked or enjoyed, it was definitely out of his comfort zone.

“next on the list is a notebook and followed by a pen, i like to just... doodle really, keep track of tasks and stuff, so having one in literally every possible backpack is a must for me. its easier to see it, writing it down gives it a better feeling than if i had it on my phone. i like to journal quite a bit as well.“ he waves around a baby blue notebook with a black pen attacked to its cover as he speaks, there really wasn’t much to it when you thought about it. that was halfway down the lift, the singer had to eye over at the table with his belongings to figure out what was next.

“oh, this one is easy and very big.“ he says, patting some space on the table for a imac to be put on it. “so like, this plays two very big parts for me.“ jace explains, placing his hand on the computer, looking it up and down quickly “i use it to mainly play both video games. its really nice that companies started making video games for mac, because back in the day, it wasn’t so easy. so im really glad to see that things have been improving and this bad boy has been serving me well.“ as soon as he finishes, the tech is taken away, only to be replaced by his switch, another laugh leaving jihoon as he shakes his head.

“if you guys don’t have one, i recommend it so so much. worth every pence.“ he pats it a few times. “its great for single players, for parties, in the car- anywhere, its been my to go console since it came out.“ this one was a quick one, but he had already lost count of how many things he had said. yet, the materials didn’t stop coming.

his wallet is passed next “please make sure to blur out my cards, that won’t be a funny thing to post on the internet.” jihoon laughs, opening the leather wallet and going through it “it has the usual stuff, credit cards, driving license, id-” he pauses for a second, pulling out a golden card, smile pulling on his lips out of pure surprise “i have greggs card in here, from when i was back home a few years ago.” by a few years, jihoon means since he came to seoul, 2014. he shows the golden card, a bit chipped and what not “gets you free pastries at greggs. definitely worth it.”

“oh yes, yorkshire tea. did you take this out of my cupboard?“ this was probably the most exciting thing he was given so far. the birtish in him just had butterflies “this is the best black tea you will ever have. top notch. add the bag, pour the boiling hot water in, let it sit for a while, pull it up and sqeeuze it on the side, add you splash of milk, two spoons of sugar and you’re done. best drink ever, seriously. you’re missing out-“ he heard a few giggles from the staff, probably having to do with how excited he got from some tea. it wasn’t everyday someone went out of their way to do this, and even if they didn’t, jihoon was stealing this box with him. “i’m taking this with me when i leave, i can right?“ he smiles widely, eyes moving around the room, bouncing from staff to staff.

it took him a few seconds to go over the things he had gotten to talk about, figuring out this was the last one, and the idol really hoped he was right. he leaned back into his chair waiting for the final product to come in. when a small tube of hand cream was set in front of him, a wide grin pulled on his lips “you got me my favorite lime one?” jihoon asks, brows raised as he watches his manager from across the room, reaching over to take the cream and pop the lid off, putting some on his hand and smelling it. “best hand cream ever, really, smalls absolutely amazing and its not sticky. very hydrating, don’t need much of it.” he explains as he was already spreading the cream over his hands, taking a deep breath of the fresh lime that scented the air.

“this was a good list i made, i might do it again next year, see if my priorities have changed.” jihoon jokes, smile wide on his lips as he hears a few more chuckles from behind the camera.

[stellar-alley]

Everfalls

•Chapter 9•

This is based off of the artwork by oceanteeeth on Instagram! Also shout out to my Beta super.rose.cosplays!

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

(Summary: Richie and Stan go buck wild while Eddie figures out his inner feelings. )

~

That day, after school, Richie waited for Eddie at his locker. The wolf only needed one sniff to realize that Eddie had already come and left. With a sigh, Richie left and made his way back to Roscoe. Where he was surprised to see none other than Stan the Man leaning up against the passenger side door.

“Staniel! To what do I owe the pleasure?” Richie exclaimed once he saw his best friend.

“Richie it’s Tuesday, it’s our day to go, as you say ‘buck wild’ and go to the convenience store” Stan begins to explain.

“Yes yes yes I remembered” Richie did not.

For the longest time Stan and Richie had a tradition of going to the corner store Tuesday after school to essentially go ‘buck wild’ and eat a bunch of junk food.

Richie clicked the unlock button on his car keys and Roscoe’s doors unlocked. Stan opened the side door, Richie walked around to the driver’s side. “It’s fine if you forgot, really. You like Eddie and he’s the main thing on your mind-”.

Richie cut in, “What? Eddie’s a good friend, but I do not like him like that” he huffed as the engine roared to life.

“Don’t lie to me Rich, I see the way you look at him. You care for him-”

“And that’s it, okay? I care for him. I care about you too but that doesn't mean we’re gonna start frenching in the back” Richie retorted, his voice filled with annoyance, his gaze never leaving the road.

“It’s not like that…” The dark haired teen’s voice trailed off, a hint of defeat filled his voice.

The friends sat in tense silence for a couple minutes as Richie’s mind went wild with thoughts. Feelings he always tried so hard to repress finally floating to the surface.

When he finally spoke, he was quiet, almost a whisper, “He’s the first Ancestor I’ve ever met. It just- It felt so good to finally have someone who shares my secret”.

“I know”

“No, Stanny, you don’t. I’ve lived my whole fucking life with this secret, eating away at me from the fucking inside out. Now I finally have someone who I can be myself around, my true self. And he’s so cute” He dragged out the O in So, it made the corner of Stan’s lip curly ever so slightly.

“You’re not wrong. I think he is pretty cute” Stan nodded in agreement.

Richie’s grip tensed under the steering wheel, “You what?!” he glared at Stan.

Stanley returned the stare before breaking out in a laugh, “You’re so whipped!” He slapped his thigh.

Richie didn’t need to ask what he meant. He felt it. His eyes had turned their signature yellow and his blood was burning from within his veins, just at the thought of someone else having feelings for Eddie.

“Sorry.” Richie whispered as if his feelings had somehow betrayed him.

“Aww does Wichie have a whittle cwush?” Stan teased.

Richie huffed and rolled his eyes, not a fan of this. “Yeah, shut it Staniel before I rip your throat out with my teeth” He threatened, but his voice had no anger, only amusement.

“Fine. But seriously. You know this is okay right? This crush?”

“It’s not a crush, okay? Just fucking drop it”

Stan rolled his eyes, “Whatever you say Wolfie”, this got a smirk out of Richie.

“At least I haven't been pinning over my best friend since the fucking third grade...” Richie mumbles under his breath.

“Hey! That's totally different from your situation” Stan turned on the defensive.

“Oh yeah, like your feelings for Bill are any different than my feelings for Eddie.” Richie rolled his eyes.

“So you admit you have feelings for Eddie?” Stan asks eagerly.

“Well yeah that's a given, he's adorable! But now we're talking about your love life.” Richie smirks deviously over at Stan.

“No we aren't” Stan shoots daggers at Richie. In response the werewolf just smiled a shit eating grin.

~

Eddie ran home after school. It’s not that he didn’t want to see Richie, he just wanted to figure out what he was feeling before he did see him again. His heart practically beat out of his chest when Richie touched him, his stomach would twist and his nerves would sky rocket. Deep down he knew what it was, but he didn’t want to face it, how could he? His entire life, his mother told him how wrong it was to be gay. Plus Richie probably doesn't even feel the same way, why would he? Eddie literally betrayed his own people after all.

I need to blow off some steam.

Eddie looked outside and noticed the sun was just setting, so he had some time before dark. Just enough time for a run. He changed into his new running gear and started on his way through the forest. The thick scent of evergreen and grass cleared his head by the time he reached the city. Once he reached the city he got down and shifted. He was not really in the mood to explain to anyone why he was out so late at night.

He started aimlessly exploring Derry, hopping around and doing some people watching. Eddie went around town, familiarizing himself with the area. He found the Subway Alley was talking about that one day, he even stumbled upon a comic book shop that he made a mental note to go to once he was human. The rabbit began making his way down the residential streets, admiring the architecture and seeing what the residents of Derry were doing this time of night.

He stopped when he reached a familiar house. Somehow he’d subconsciously made his way into a backyard he knew now as the Tozier’s. Nostalgia flooded his head as he recalled the day he first saw Richie, even then he thought the boy was cute…

A thought dawned on him, I won’t be able to outrun these feelings. Eddie recalled the various times his heart has skipped a beat or when it sped up, when butterflies are let loose in his stomach, when he blushes, all because of Richie.

Might as well deal with this shit before it fucking eats away at me from the inside. Plus, what’s the worst that could happen? I admit my feelings, he dosen’t feel the same, I loose the only person who’s ever made me feel safe and at home- Okay this could end pretty badly- fuck my life.

Eddie didn’t even notice that as he was monologuing in his head, he had edged his way up towards the Tozier residence. Though Richie’s bedroom was on the second floor, Eddie could just make out the vague outline of Richie, was he at the window? Or maybe standing at his desk? The rabbit wasn't sure. But what he was sure of was that the voice he heard was indeed Richie’s.

It was easy to hear the singing coming through his open window. Richie practically belting out the lyrics at the top of his lungs. “OHHHH EDDIE BABY WON’T YOU COME TO MY ARRRRRMS, TONNNIIGHT!” He sang out as he danced around his room.

Eddie couldn’t deny the feeling that spread through his body as his heart skipped a beat when he heard the lyrics.

What other Eddie does he know?

No matter what explanation he tried to come up with that would explain these current events could not cover up the feeling that Eddie had. Deep down inside he knew that song was for him. He listened until the song ended, that’s when Richie’s phone started ringing.

The bunny could just make out his voice as he talked with whoever was on the other end of the line, “Yeah, you’re here? Like outfront? Jesus Billiard I could’ve just texted you the pages of the textbook” There was a pause, “Okay give me a sec”. Eddie took that as his cue to leave.

He made his way towards the front of the house where he saw Bill who was standing beside his bike, Silver. Bill was one of the first of the Losers to get their license yet most times (unless he was driving the others) he opted to ride his bike.

Eddie watched as Richie ran out to meet him with a textbook in hand. He didn’t stay much longer, it was getting dark and he didn’t want to be out in the pitch black.

Eddie stayed in his rabbit form until he found a little tree covered area away from any possible wandering eyes. He shifted and walked the rest of the way home.

Being an Ancestor grants him some heightened senses, sight, scent, and hearing. That being said, as Eddie shifted, it was surprising that he didn’t hear the soft clicking of an iphone 8’s camera, nor did he hear the low, sudden gasp of Bill Denbrough.

Word Count: 1473

BILL? WHAT DID HE SEE? WHAT'S HE TAKING PICS OF? DID HE SEE EDDIE?

I know that this chapter is shorter but the next chapter is gonna be a long one as we get to see someone else's perspective... ANyways I hope you guys enjoyed!

Until next time

So Long and Goodnight.

~

[Taglist]

@richietoaster @s-onora @that-weird-girl-blog @beproudtozier @ghostnebula @bellarosewrites @s-s-georgie @lermanslogan @iamcupcakefrosting @madidraw @gazebobullshit @thoughtfullyyoungduck @aangzukos @ambitiousskychild @reddieonwheels @breadheadscorpius

Let me know if you wanna be added to the tag list!

[wordsandshawn]

Before Now - chapter 14

previous chapters

14. 

At first, I’m afraid that things will grow awkward between us, but the next time I see Shawn, he doesn’t mention anything. In fact, he barely even acknowledges me, and I simply hide behind my camera. I don’t experience the same level of anxiety after that day, and I’m not really sure why, but I am grateful that things seem to be getting better.  

As time passes, I come to terms with the fact that this really is some sort of business arrangement. I see Shawn every day. I take pictures and make videos of him and send them to him and he posts them and sometimes gives me credit for them. I’ve seen more of the US while on tour with Shawn than I have in my entire life. Even though I’ve been along for the ride for over three weeks now, I’m still mind blown over the fact that Shawn does this for a living.

I get along with everyone on tour, which isn’t too hard or surprising since I tend to get along with most people. Plus, it helps that they all seem to be genuine and kind and welcoming, but they also all have a history together, and sometimes that makes it hard for me to fit in or feel like I fit in. Most of them have been on tour with Shawn since he first started out, which means years of memories and inside jokes that I wasn’t a part of. On top of that, I’m also more inclined to keep to myself lately. I’m not exactly interested in becoming close to anyone here. I’m just trying to do my job. So even though they’re all so nice and my interactions are nothing but cordial with everyone, including Shawn, I still kind of feel alone.

Since that one night a week ago, we’ve spent most nights on the bus traveling from one city to the next, but since Shawn is playing two shows in LA, we’re staying at a hotel again tonight. Although a part of me is looking forward to a night in a real bed, I can’t help but remember the last night in the hotel and how that night just so happened to precede one of the most difficult days I’ve had on tour so far.

I lay awake for most of the night, my thoughts too loud for me to get much sleep. I pace the room, do some editing, try listening to podcasts, but nothing seems to work. I must finally doze off at around five in the morning and I’m awoken not long later by the sound of someone pounding on my hotel door. It's unmistakable that the knocking is on my door. At first, I think it must be housekeeping or something, and that they’ll leave once they try to get in and realize that the extra lock is on and someone is obviously in the room.

When the knocking doesn’t stop, I finally force myself out of the bed and stumble through the nearly dark room to the door. I peek through the peephole to see Shawn standing there. I’m both surprised and not surprised to see him there on the other side of the door, but mostly, I’m intrigued, so I swing open the door without thinking twice. The light from the hallway momentarily blinds me, and I have to squint against the harshness of it as my eyes adjust.

“Good morning.”

“What are you doing here?” I mumble in response, not even bothering to return his greeting.

“Let’s go get breakfast.”

I’m wearing a t-shirt two sizes too big for me, along with a pair of soft shorts that don’t cover much more than the bare minimum, and I barely register what he says before responding, “It’s too early.”

“It’s nine am.” He sounds confused by the fact that I’d even think nine am is too early.

“Yeah, too early,” I say, stepping back and almost closing the door, just wanting to go back to bed.

Shawn chuckles sticking his hand out to prevent me from closing the door. I still don’t fully understand why he’s even standing here in front of me right now. “Skylar, c’mon. Please come with me. It’s breakfast, you love breakfast.”

I used to love breakfast. It used to be my favorite meal of every day and I would never skip it, but that was a long time ago. Nowadays I’m lucky if I have a granola bar before noon. I don’t tell Shawn that, though.

“Go without me,” I say, starting to close the door again, but Shawn won’t take no for an answer. Come to think of it, I don’t think Shawn has ever taken no for an answer.

He prevents me from closing the door and leaving him alone in the hallway. “Please Ky.” He pleads, using my nickname I haven’t heard from him in a while.

“Get someone else to go with you,” I respond. It’s too early to even think about trying to spare his feelings.

“Everyone else is sleeping.” I give him a skeptical look, so he continues. “They all went out last night.”

“And you didn’t?” I question, but even so, I know he can tell that my resolve is cracking, little by little.

He shakes his head no, and then says, “I have a place in mind. It’s a café, super tiny and really cute. It’s just a couple of blocks down. I promise you’ll like it. I go there every time I’m here.” When he sees the look I’m giving him, it’s almost like he can read my mind. “No one even gives me a second look. I normally just find a table in the corner.”

“Just me and you?” I question, still so puzzled over why he’s even standing here in front of me right now. He nods. I’m still half asleep and my brain is not fully functioning yet meaning I’ve got no filter, so I say, “Like a date?”

He shrugs, “If you want it to be?” His eyebrows knit together slightly, now he’s puzzled too, and I promptly shake my head at the outrageous and completely inappropriate suggestion despite the fact that I’m the one that made it.

“No, I don’t.” I’m still sleepy and still shaking my head. The lack of sleep is clearly affecting me. Being alone in hotel rooms is quickly becoming one of my least favorite things, and I know I’ll have to adjust to it soon knowing this won’t be the last hotel stay on the tour.

“Okay, then it isn’t.” He doesn’t miss a beat. “But can we please go. I’m hungry.” He’s shifting his weight from one leg to the other, giving me a pleading look. I can’t say no to him, so I leave the door open and retreat back into the dark room. I don’t bother opening the curtains as I head straight for the bathroom. I haven’t checked behind me, but I’m pretty confident Shawn has followed me inside the hotel room, closing the door behind him. After using the bathroom, putting on contacts, and brushing my teeth, I exit the bathroom to find the room flooded with light since Shawn has opened all of the curtains, letting in the morning sunshine, and he’s seated on the little love seat near the window, staring down at his phone.

It takes me a couple of minutes to find clothes to wear. I change, throw my hair in a bun, and grab my phone, wallet, and room key before following Shawn outside and into the hallway. “Where are we going?” I ask once we’re walking side by side.

“You’ll see.” He says as I follow him into the elevator. We walk a few blocks from the hotel in comfortable silence. I’m grateful that I’m actually outside of the hotel and seeing the place where we are for once. But I am also still half asleep and not exactly interested in having a conversation right now, and I’m glad Shawn seems to understand.

The little breakfast café Shawn takes me to is mostly empty, which I’m grateful for, and the waitress tells us to sit wherever we’d like. Shawn leads me to a table in the corner, and we both sit, looking at the menu silently. Shawn orders his coffee black. I order a hot chocolate because I’ve been trying to stay away from caffeine since I know it makes me anxious.

We’re both looking over the menu for what we want to eat when I look up and notice an overexcited girl with her iPhone clearly pointed at us, well more likely at Shawn. I try not to look at her again, but I glance at Shawn to see if he’s noticed. His eyes remain glued to his menu and he actually looks calm and peaceful, so I decide not to interrupt it by pointing out this girl.

After we order, Shawn asks me how tour has been for me so far and if I’ve liked working and traveling and everything. I tell him the truth, that I’ve enjoyed it and I’m grateful for the opportunity. The conversation isn’t exactly awkward, but it isn’t the most comfortable thing I’ve experienced in my life.

The food comes relatively quickly and we both lapse into silence as we eat. About halfway through the meal, I finally cave and ask him something I’ve been wondering about since we first left the hotel. “Why did you ask me to have breakfast with you?”

“Do I need a reason?” He questions, feigning innocence.

“Yes,” I answer immediately.

He puts his fork down, shrugging before lifting his coffee mug to his lips and taking a sip. I’m still staring at him when he’s done drinking, so he stares back at me. “I just haven’t seen you much lately. We’ve both been busy.”

“Do you take all your workers out to breakfast when you haven’t seen them lately?”

He sighs. I know I’m being weird and difficult, but I don’t know what this is or what he’s trying to do. We had a moment on the bus where he basically called me out for my anxiety, but we didn’t actually talk about it. And then after that, he practically ignores me for a week only to show up this morning at my hotel room, catching me off guard and half-asleep and forcing me out to breakfast with him. He may not owe me an explanation, but this feels weird to me. The only reason why I agreed was because it didn’t seem like he would take no for an answer and since he woke me up, I was probably not going to fall back asleep. Plus, the idea of being alone in my hotel room wasn’t very appealing.

“Not really.” He admits.

“Then why me?” I question. I need answers.

“God, Skylar,” He says with a sigh, sounding at least a little bit frustrated. “You’re not everyone else.”

Special treatment. I had told myself from the very beginning that I wouldn’t accept any special treatment from Shawn or anyone else. I was here to do a job, and that is exactly what I intended to do. I know that Shawn may have given me this job as a favor to his mom and my mom, but I promised myself that once I got here, my work would speak for itself and make it worth it for Shawn to keep me here.

Even though I’ve been working incredibly hard these past few weeks, Shawn is still not treating me like everyone else. He wasn’t treating me like everyone else when he told me to take the night off, which I refused, resulting in it turning out horribly for me. The point is, he was giving me special treatment. A part of me didn’t want to admit that I’ve been getting special treatment from the very beginning, when he spoke out about my contract for me. It was only extra expenses on his part for me to have my own hotel room when I know that a lot of people share rooms or just stay on the bus on nights when Shawn stays in hotel rooms. And I know it’s an extra expense for me to fly with him whenever he flies somewhere instead of traveling with the buses, equipment and most of the crew.

“I don’t want to be treated differently.” I have to force myself to keep my voice low. I can’t be sure who might be listening in on our conversation or watching us, something I’m trying not to think about.

“What do you want?” He questions, and when you don’t answer right away, he adds. “You basically ignore everyone, and isolate yourself unless you’re working, and then when I try to talk to you or check on you, you just shut me out.”

The truth is I don’t know what I want, not really. This is all so complicated and weird. With the history Shawn and I have, it’s more difficult than I thought it would be to keep everything professional. He’s right. I’m not everyone else just like he’s not any other boss I’ve had. Because I haven’t kissed any of my other bosses. I haven’t known them since I was born either. I haven’t slept over at their house or facetimed them until I fell asleep. I thought that since all of that happened between Shawn and I so long ago, what feels like a lifetime ago sometimes, that this could be normal, that we could act professional, but it’s all proving to be very hard when he asks me out to breakfast and I stupidly agree.

I don’t respond to Shawn right away, instead, I focus intensely on my food and eat as a distraction from having to make eye contact with him. “Skylar, why do you push everyone away? Why do you keep pushing me away? You won’t even have a full conversation with me unless it’s about work.”

I finally look up at him now. He’s stopped eating and is just staring at me, waiting for me to say something, so I do. “I’m just here to work. I’m not pushing you away, it’s not personal.”

“Bullshit.” He responds, not hesitating to call me out, and I realize that we’ll continue to go back and forth on this unless I stop it. Either way, this is a really public place to be having a conversation like this, and a part of me feels upset with Shawn for bringing me here, but the other part of me knows it’s just as much my fault.

“I don’t want to talk about this now.” I respond, trying desperately to keep my voice calm and even. “I’m just here to work, Shawn. I shouldn’t have even agreed to this breakfast. I was tired, and it was a lapse in judgment. I’m sorry.” As I finish talking, I pull out my wallet and grab some money, what I’m sure is enough to cover at least my half of the bill. Shawn tries to object, but I’m not having it. I drop the money on the table and stand to leave. He tries to stop me, reaching out his hand as I walk by, but I push past him, barely looking back.

He doesn’t follow and I’m not sure if I’m relieved or disappointed as I make my way back to the hotel. When I finally get back to my room, closing the door securely behind me, I’m alone again, and I realize I’m feeling a little bit of both.

.

Chapter 15

[lovemesomesurveys]

Do you have a pair of Beat headphones? Yeah, I have the wireless black ones.

How was your week? Ugh, I’ve had a bad pain flareup this week. 

Are any of your electronics not working properly at the moment? My phone has been acting up for the past month. It starts to get warm pretty fast when I’m on YouTube, which crashes a lot for me lately despite my phone and app being up to date on the updates. The battery has been dying a lot faster. It’s also been laggy. I have the iPhone XR, which is considered old now. It was working perfectly fine up until the past month, though.

Are you excited to pick out your wedding dress one day? I don’t plan on getting married.

When was the last time you felt relieved? Hm. It’s been a long time since I’ve felt that.

Does it bother you when an artist remakes a song that one has previously done? No, I wouldn’t say that. Some covers and remixes are good.

What brand of chapstick do you use? EOS or Vaseline. 

Do you really think someone could be perfect? Nope.

When was the last time you cried? Yesterday.

What’s a food that you like every once in awhile but not often? I’m not as into Mexican food as I once was, but I still like to have it now and then. 

What letter is the song you’re listening to under? I’m not listening to music right now. If I’m doing a survey, just assume I’m listening to an ASMR video.

Would you rather visit the 60s or 70s? I guess the 70s.

Are you the type of person that enjoys getting hugs? From certain people. 

Do your socks say anything on them? They say, “Adidas.”

Name a TV channel that only has three letters in it. MTV.

Have you found out who your true friends are? I don’t have any friends.

Gray or Grey? Gray is the American spelling, but I honestly prefer “grey.”

Will you be buying concert tickets any time soon? No. Who knows when I’ll attend a concert again. It’s been over 10 years since my last concert, so I can’t even blame covid. I hope to attend one again, though. I miss ‘em.

Have you seen the movie The Perks of Being a Wallflower? Did you like it? Yeah, I liked it.

Is there something you’d fall apart if you didn’t have? My loved ones.

How many weddings have you been to? Three.

When you smile, are you confident? No. 

Have you ever not done something because you were afraid of getting in trouble? Yesss, all the time. I’ve always been all about following the rules and I’ve never seen the appeal in breaking them. That makes me sound boring but at least I’ve never gotten in serious trouble lol. <<<

Was the weather beautiful today? I’m really upset that we’re having 90 F still when it’s OCTOBER. Summer just won’t go away. D:

Do you have to have a fan on when you sleep? Yep. During the summer months and even still cause California summers are miserably long, I have 3 fans going at all times. When it finally cools down I can go down to one. We’ve had some especially cold winters (for us) some years and during those I didn’t need any fans.  Would you rather have an orange, red or gray bedroom? I guess out of those I’d choose gray. I’d really not have any of those, though.

Would you ever dye part of your hair blue? Nah.

Have you ever gone to a private school? Yes. Is Finding Nemo a favorite movie of yours? No, but I do like it.

Does/Did your school have a uniform? My preschool did.

Turn on the TV. What channel are you on? It’s on TV Land currently. The Golden Girls is on.

Does your house have security cameras? Yes.

Does a popsicle sound good right now? No. I don’t care much for popsicles. I’m not even a big ice cream person in general, but if I wanted something like that I’d go for ice cream over a popsicle.

What’s your favorite exercise workout? I don’t workout.

What’s your favorite thing to do? I like to do my Bible studies, spend time with family, check my social medias (TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat), watch YouTube videos, watch TV, scroll through Tumblr, do surveys, read, play Animal Crossing: New Horizons, drink coffee, sleep... there’s other things, but those are things I do on a normal, everyday basis.

What did you do for your 17th birthday? Wow, I really don’t recall. Probably just something small with the fam.

Does your local Walmart have benches in them to rest? Yeah.

Was your favorite stuffed animal really a teddy bear growing up? No. I had a lot of stuffed animals as a kid, but I didn’t really have a particular favorite. Now, as a full grown adult, I have a shitload of giraffe stuffed animals and a few others and I love ‘em all.

If your house was haunted, what would you do? If it was like legit crazy weird stuff happening like the movies then we’d be moving asap lol. It wouldn’t be like every movie where somebody is like, “oh it’s fine, we’re not going anywhere” but things were definitely not fine.

Are you good at swimming? No, I can’t swim. If I actually go swimming, which is not something I care to do and it’s been almost 10 years now since the last time, I have to use a inner tube and I stay close to the edges, not venturing very far away at all. When I was a kid I had those little plastic or inflatable pools that didn’t fill up very high so I was okay in those and actually enjoyed it.

What’s worse: Slow internet or slow walkers? Slow internet drives me insane. People walking slowly in front of me is quite annoying, though, especially as someone in a wheelchair. Especially people who abruptly stop in front of me. 

What is the rudest thing a guy has ever done to you? Play and use me. 

Do you sleep with the sheets tucked in or out? Well, my bed always stays made. I sleep and sit on top and just use a throw blanket that I keep to the side.

What do you do to fall asleep faster? ASMR videos can help me get sleepy, but I can’t really do anything to fall asleep faster. It happens when it happens.

Do you carry a bottle of water wherever you go? No. I always have a bottle(s) nearby on my bedside table, though.

Are you afraid that one day you might get cancer? It is a fear of mine.

Are you a fast or slow walker? I don’t feel I wheel fast normally, but I guess compared to the average walking speed it might be considered fast. 

Do you usually have to wear a belt with your pants? I never wear a belt.

Does it bother you when people’s underwear hangs out? It’s awkward for me cause I’m often at the level of most people’s behinds in my wheelchair.

Are you usually the person to try new things with your hair? No. 

When’s your birthday? July 28th.

What age do you look forward to reaching? I’m 31 now, there aren’t anymore exciting milestones. Not to me, anyway.

Name a state that begins with the letter M. Massachusetts. 

What’s the first thing you do after a car accident? I’ve never been in one, thankfully.

What do you use to get rid of bad breath? Brush my teeth.

What exercise do you hate the most? I don’t exercise.

What do you do at a party? I haven’t been to a party in years, and didn’t go to many anyway, but I was always one who clung to the people I knew and was closest to and just chilled and snacked haha. The parties I went to were more lowkey and chill, though. Never anything wild or crazy. My family get togethers were often quite big, but I was more comfortable at those. Although, even then I stuck by my mom and the cousins I was close to haha. That’s just how I am.

[cilliansaccent]

The Peaky Designer - Cillian Fanfic, Chapter 2

Hello, welcome back. Below is the next instalment of my fanfiction!

Please leave a like or any comments below on ways to improve, please be kind but you are welcome to be critical! I’m open to ideas and fixing up mistakes. Also, sharing would be amazing!!

Note, PLEASE READ:

I will not be including Cillian’s family as it’s kinda weird since he has children lmao. Just a mention of his parents and a previous lover.

I will indicate in a chapter if there is smut in the beginning and before the actual scene!!

I will add trigger warnings if there is any!!

There is a variety of levels of swearing during a chapter, I will not hold back, everyone swears.

The timestamp for the Fic is now 2016 and onwards!!

——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——-

Background: Gabrijela Babic is a Croatian girl from Sydney, Australia. She is born in the year 1991 on the 24th of December. She studies a Fashion degree in a University with a major in Game Design as well. Her teacher in the fashion designer class managed to nail an Internship on the set of Peaky Blinders with the shows very own Costume Designer, Allison McCosh. There, she travels to London for under a year to learn how to be one, working alongside the actors as well the man she admires, Cillian Murphy. But, her platonic feelings for the man begins to grow into something more, and she wonders whether she should pursue them or let him go for fear of her strict parents and her three older brothers…

Characters:

Swantje Paulina as Gabrijela Babic (swalina on Instagram)

Cillian Murphy

Word Count: 5,265

!!Warnings!!: Small scene of sexual harassment after Gab leaves to go to the toilet when shes at the pub. 

Date: March 2016

Chapter Name: Dinner and a Gig

Brief Chapter Outline: Second day in, Gabrijela spends the afternoon with Cillian, getting to know each other better before he treats her to a lovely dinner and then to a gig of a local band Cillian attends for a buddy of his...

——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——- ——-

The theme song of Game of Thrones blared in some faraway land. Gabrijela was sound asleep, wearing nothing but a singlet and lacy panties. 

She let out a sound when it finally stopped but it wasn't long when it started up again. She finally rolled on to her back and grabbed her phone on the bedside table. She hadn’t made it under the covers last night, she simply collapsed on top and fell asleep after she had dinner and wrote in her diary and updating her family again. 

“What?” She groaned, answering the phone. 

“Its Cillian,” the Irish accent made her skin prick and she sat up. 

“Sorry, I didn't mean to sound so rude.” She rubbed her eyes. 

“No worries. Did I wake you up?” He asked, there was a smile in his tone. 

“Noooo, I was getting up anyway. Let me open the door and you can come up.” She got up and pressed the button which unlocks the main door. “My door is unlocked so just come in.” She said. 

“See you then,” and he hung up. 

She was still groggy and sleepy as she rubbed her eyes again and knelt on the floor. She pulled out the drawers under the bed and looked for an outfit for today. It had rained overnight and it still was, it was cold. 

Cillian walked in, “I hope you have this locked when you--” He stopped when he saw Gabrijela on the floor, “Oh! Gab!” He covered his eyes, a slight blush spreading across his cheeks. 

“Yeah? Oh right,” She laughed and grabbed a pair of blue jeans and a white knitted halter neck sweater. “Sorry. I forgot.” She scurried into the bathroom. “If you want tea or coffee, just boil the water.” She called out as she changed. 

“Sure. Did you want tea?” He asked. 

“Yeah! Just black tea with honey.” She said. She brushed her long, blond hair and braid it back. She washed her face and applied makeup, she looked dead and had bags under her eyes. So not a good look, she thought, making a face in the mirror. 

“It’s midday, by the way,” Cillian said after a bit. 

“Whoops.” She smiled as she came out. She looked fresher and felt fresher. 

Cillian was dressed quite casual, black jeans with boots, a white shirt and a denim jacket. The harsh haircut made it seem so at odds, she smiled more at the thought. 

“What are you smiling about? Tea is ready.” He handed her the spotty cup. 

She took it, “The way you're dressed, and that haircut. So strange. But definitely not in a bad way.” She quickly said. 

“You’re not the first one to say that.” He laughed, drinking his tea. 

“Oh? I hope it didn't offend you.” Her brows rose. 

“No, no. I just don't prefer to talk about work or much about my acting.” He admitted, taking a seat on the couch. 

"Oh okay, that's fine." She said as she came over and sat beside him, facing him. 

"So, it's really midday huh?" She played with the end of her braid. 

"Yeah." He showed her the time on his iPhone, "I knew you'd fallen asleep and wake up later." 

"Oh yeah, not because I had said I hadn't slept on the plane." She stuck up her nose, drinking her tea. 

"Definitely not because of that." He agreed, that same cheeky smile returned on his handsome face. 

It was so easy to play around with him despite meeting him just a little over twenty-four hours. She loved the playfulness, and always would be drawn to people who were able to tag along. 

"I think we should head off, nighttime falls quickly here so I want to use as much of the day as possible," Cillian said as he finished his tea. 

"Yeah, alright." Gabrijela got up and he cleaned up the cups while she pulled on her suede cream jacket. 

Boots on, she grabbed her bag and her phone, and together they headed out. She locked up and down the stairs, they went. 

They took the walk down the road together, a cool wind made her pull her jacket closer. It had stopped raining by now.

"In the coming months, it's going to rain like, almost every day," Cillian said, his hands in his jacket pockets. 

"Well, lucky for me I brought my winter stuff. I'll have to buy an umbrella that's all." She said. 

"Yeah, that's much needed. Always have one on hand to." Cillian nodded. 

"Thanks for the tip. I'll keep that in mind." She paused and took some photos of the area, "So pretty." She whispered as she checks her phone. 

"Can I see?" He peered over her shoulder. 

She showed him the photos, "I love taking photos. I brought my Canon camera with me, kinda an amateur photographer." She said shyly. 

"Huh, you might need to show me sometime. I saw a photo there, sorry to pry... Is that your family?" 

She flicked back on her phone to show him a group photo on a birthday a month back. It showed her parents, her three older brothers with their wives and their kids. 

"I'm an aunty to five kids." Gabrijela grinned, "This is Ante and his wife Louise and their five-year-old son, Caleb, and three-year-old daughter, Sasha. Ante is the eldest, then the middle boy is Dominik with his wife, Leah and their one-year-old son, Luca. And the youngest boy, Leo and his wife Tatiana and their one-year-old daughter, Tijana." 

"Wow, you got a big family. Names are fancy, what nationality are you?" He asked as they continued to walk. 

"Croatia. Both parents born there and as well as my brothers and myself. We lived there till the year two thousand and one before we all moved to Brisbane until two thousand and ten then moved to Sydney since my Dad had to move for his work." She explained. 

"Huh, that's a big move. Did your brothers meet their wives in Croatia or...?" He was curious and fascinated. 

"Ante met Louise in Croatia, they dated forever until they married about eight years ago. Dominik and Leo found their girlies in Sydney." She told him, then continued, "Dom married four years ago and Leo three years ago." 

"And you are the only girl, yeah?" Cillian asked they paused at a set of lights. 

"Yep. The baby of the family, it's tough." She said a little tentatively.

"How'd the parents feel about you coming here?" He noticed she didn't really want to elaborate on that subject. 

"Not happy. But I'm hoping it's only fear for me being here by myself rather than their eternal disappointment in me." She said with a trace of bitterness to her tone. 

Cillian looked over at her, seeing the cloudy look she had on her freckled face. He nodded, "But you look out for yourself, you do what you enjoy. Life is short, and you shouldn't let the opinions of others bring you down." He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. 

"Yeah. I know that" She looked up at him, "But, my whole life felt like I just kept disappointing them no matter what I tried to do. They didn't, especially my mum, want me to pursue a fashion designer career. More with business and that crap. That's not me. I want to create, make things, design. That's why I've also picked up a major in game design." She gulped as they walked across the road, they came to a shopping strip after the walk. 

"Come on, this doesn't seem to be a happy subject. Look, there's a lot of boutiques here, a lot of famous people had once wandered the streets here." He said, changing the subject for her. 

She was grateful for the change and walked along the strip, looking through the windows. 

As they walked, he pointed out things of interest for her. She took photos of the buildings or the interesting architecture and even got him to snap a photo of her next to the red phone box. 

She wanted to ask him to join but thought otherwise, feeling a little embarrassed to ask. 

She weaved in and out of stores and he happily tagged along inside, not minding the feminine clothing that surrounded him. He even went as so far picking things out for her and they had a good laugh when she politely said it wasn't her style. 

After she bought some stuff and even snuck in lingerie or two, they headed towards Buckingham Palace and the park nearby. 

It began to rain once they reached there, and using her brand new umbrella they huddled very close under it as it was quite small. 

She giggled as they paused under a large tree, "So much for coming this far." She said. 

"You never know with London weather." He said, grinning. 

He smelled really good, like cinnamon and a hint of wood fire and luxury. 

They stood under the tree, and he had moved an arm around her to make more space for them both. 

She leaned into his body a little, his warmth transferred to her and she thanked him mentally for it. 

The rain let up, sprinkling now. "Should we go get coffee instead of standing here?" She asked in a timid voice. 

"That might be a good idea. I know one just around the block." 

They hurried across the road together, dodging puddles and mud. They scurried into the little coffee shop where she ordered an almond cappuccino and he had a black coffee. 

There wasn't any space in the shop so they stood outside under the awning, shoulder to shoulder, clutching their take away cups. 

Gabrijela giggled softly, she was cold but the warmth of the cup made it sort of bearable. 

Once they drank that, they came to the edge of the road but a car drove way to fast. 

Water splashed everywhere on them both, Gab taking the brunt of it. They turned to each other and looked at each other, then burst out into laughter. 

"Oh my god," She whined but had a big grin, "We definitely have to head home." She said. 

"Indeed! Before we catch a cold." He hailed a taxi and they got in with the bags that were still dry. "At least I got a new shirt in here, I can put that on." He mused. 

"Lucky. I'll have to get this all cleaned up." She pouted. "I love this jumper." 

They arrived back to her apartment and they headed inside. She set her bags on the bed and went through the dresser to find some fresh set of clothing for tonight. 

"May I pick you up around six instead?" He asked. 

"Sure, but that leaves us one hour to get ready now. You might as well stay." She said as she held her clothing in her arms. 

"I know. But I'll head home quickly, change and come right back." He said, she noted the slight nerves in his posture, especially in his eyes. Why was he nervous? 

"Okay. I'll be ready by then." She said.

He departed and she had a shower, reapplied her makeup and pulled on her new outfit for tonight. It was a black, blue and red checkered mini skirt with a white button-up blouse and a red coat that came just to her knees. She had thigh-high boots and left out her wavy hair. 

The bell rang and she let him up again, unlocking the door and he stepped in. 

Cillian was dressed very well. Black jeans with a nice pair of loafers, a white button-up shirt that was tucked in with a casual suit jacket on top. His cologne was rich and smelled good. 

She beamed, she spotted purple socks he wore, "Flashy." She mused, "You look good. And you smell just as nice." 

He looked at her, eyes darting up and down and his expression was bright and cheery, "You look... lovely." He said with almost a stutter as if he couldn't find the right words. That small intimate smile returned. 

She bit her lip and looked away, her cheeks heating, "Thank you." Her stomach was doing flips but in a good way. This man was really seeping into her heart, intoxicating her with his lovely smiles and cute accent. 

"Should we go? I-I'm ready." Gabrijela said she picked up her crossbody bag. 

"Lets." He held the door open for her, and place his hand on the small of her back as he guided her out. 

The pair left the building and drove off somewhere else in London. The area was named Covent Garden, he found some restaurant called the Ivy Market Grill. 

It had stopped raining thankfully, as Cillian had to park quite far from the place. "The only problem here is the shit parking." He cursed as he found a spot and parked. 

"So I've heard." She said as she got out of the car. "So why here?" She asked him as they walked along the footpath. 

"Its a bit pricey but the food is good, or so my friends have told me." He said, "Atmosphere is nice, comfy. The whole place is designed almost authentically, too. Wanted to bring you to a place which makes authentic food." He explained. 

"Okay. Sounds lovely." Gabrijela was eager to try some good food, she loved her food, and if it was local, even better. 

They arrived at the restaurant, and once inside she felt like she was taken back some decades. It was mostly brown, green, rust and cream colours, mixed with odd patterns and round lights. There was a large bar and the place was almost packed. 

Cillian spoke to a waiter and they were taken upstairs to the terrace, which was covered and was seated next to the railing that overlooked the piazza below. 

"It's really nice." She nodded, it was cosy and light, especially upstairs. 

"It is, it is. I hope the food is just as good." He said. 

The waiter came by after a bit and Cillian ordered a glass of red wine, she did the same, she liked red. 

"You're a red girl, huh?" Cillian sat back in the chair. He ordered a bottle instead. 

"Yeah, I don't mind it. I like having it with dinner mostly. White... Hmm, I like Moscato, I'm a sweet person. When I go out though with my friends, its either vodka or tequila, or a mix of both and various other killing kinda spirit." She laughed softly.

"That's alright, at least you like a wide range of drinks. I stick to my red wines or some good local ale." He replied, "You said you go out? Where to?" 

"Uh, well in Sydney, mostly night clubs or do a classic pub run with my best friend and her mate. I'm a single gal, so I'm hoping to find a man who is willing to uh, date me or something. I get dates but uh... It ends up in bed and no more after that." She blushed a little. 

"Really? You seem like a really smart and talented girl. Who wouldn't want to date you?" He asked, clearly shocked with his raised brows.

The bottle came and the waiter poured them a glass each, she took a sip of hers, "I guess Sydney boys don't like a smart girl. Only for a good fuck for a couple of times." She sighed, "I'm over that, those friends with benefits. I'm twenty-five, and most of my friends are getting married soon, three of them are next year. One already has two kids." She twirled the glass on the table, "Guys I meet are immature, or like I said want to just get laid, they don't want anything serious. I want something serious. But it seems like a turn-off." She whispered. 

"Well, if you want my honest opinion, I don't think its a turn-off. It's nice to hear a girl like you who wants something for herself. You want kids eventually?" She nodded, "Marriage?" She nodded again. "I can say the same for myself." 

She almost choked on her drink, "Ah, yeah. Yeah." She hastily wiped her mouth. 

"I-I mean, not with you- I-I mean unless- Ah- Fuck, sorry. Fuck." He let out a nervous and embarrassing laugh. 

"It's okay." She laughed, reaching over suddenly and took his hand, squeezing it. "No offence." She winked at him and it seemed to calm him down. 

A waiter came over finally and took their orders. It seemed to calm the air between them. Whatever it was. Her heart had skipped a beat when he spoked about how her needs and wants wasn't a turn-off. Was that a turn-on for him? She kicked herself mentally for thinking such an absurd thing. He was so way out of her league, and her parents would definitely not approve. 

Besides, she was here on an internship, not to find a guy. 

But she looked up and met those pretty baby blue eyes, and she could see something appear in them. Something. 

"So," she finally said after some seconds that passed once the waiter left, "Music. You were in a band. What do you like to listen to?" 

"Uhm, just to name a few, Daft Punk occasionally, Blur, or Nils Frahm when I need something to chill out to." He said. "I got some old records that I still listen to, helps me get into a good mindset when I need to act." 

"Cool. I'm pretty easy, I listen to whatever sounds good I guess? I love a bit of everything except like heavy metal or country. If you check out my Spotify its a mixture of music, old classic pop and rock, or today's music. Even got a Croatian playlist too." She shrugged. 

"Top favourite band?" He asked, "Or two." 

She thought for a bit, "Imagine Dragons and... Fuck, I don't know. I love a lot of bands. My top song is Live it Up by Mental As Anything and Born to Be Yours by Imagine Dragons. Even Radioactive, god, I could put that on so loud and I'd be so far away from this world." She sighed, smiling. 

"In what way?" Curiosity laced his voice. 

"I read a lot of fantasy books, young adult, paranormal romance. I like to envision myself in those worlds as the heroine, fighting monsters and... stuff like that." She blushed. "I daydream a lot, writing is another thing I do. Whenever I get the chance." 

"Brilliance of a creative person, so music helps you dream?" He seemed very intrigued, fascinated. And truly interested in what she had to say. 

So she continued, surprisingly, "Yeah. Sometimes the lyrics don't need to help me, but mostly the tune. So, like alternative, indie rock. I like that stuff, gets my mind rolling." She said, her eyes glittering with joy. He didn't seem afraid either, he spoke wildly and passionately about how music also affected him in ways that let him experience highs and lows. 

When their food came, it didn't stop their conversation. They chatted about music, about the changes in genres and all that. 

It connected them very well, and she felt so unafraid for the first time to open up about her likes. She was over the moon that he didn't judge her, he asked questions, genuine questions of herself. 

Even went into their dislikes, and they clicked through that. 

Their dinner was over and he was quick to pay despite her trying to offer money. 

"Keep it," He said as they walked out of the restaurant. He held her coat and helped her put it on. "Buy something for yourself. Tonight is on me." He kept his arm around her shoulders as he guided her down the street. 

"Where we going now?" She asked, sliding an arm around his waist. It was more comfortable to walk like that, not because she wanted to. Or maybe she did. 

"There's a pub here that has live music. Alternative rock. Haven't heard of the band before but thought it would be fun to go." He said as the pub neared. 

There was a shit ton of people, they all piled outside and drinking. Music spilled out in the night. It was a very good beat. 

"Ladies first." He said and gestured with a hand for her to go first. She did, and his hand found that spot on her back. 

Once inside the pub, it was fairly large and people were seated in booths or tables or gathered around the bar. 

She saw a bunch of people wave from a booth, "There. Come on." He took her arm instead and they pushed through the throng of people. 

"Hey, mate! Glad you could come!" A man rose up from the booth, shaking hands with Cillian. "Oh man, my friend is so stoked you could be here tonight. It means so much." The guy was grinning wide. 

Cillian smiled, "Yeah, man. No worries. You talked him up so much, so he better be good." He teased. 

"Definitely! Ah, and who's this pretty lady?" The man turned to Gabrijela. 

She could see him and his buddies were a little tipsy but she gave them a lovely smile either way. "Hi," She shook hands. 

"Gabrijela, she's come all the way from Sydney! To work with me and the rest of the cast." Cillian explained. 

"Oh! Lucky girl. I'm Joel by the way. Don't worry, Cillian 'ere is a fantastic man. He'll look after you splendid." Joel winked at her, picking up the subtle hint. 

She frowned a little but she was ushered to sit. She sat at the end opposite Cillian to some other man whose name was Lawrence. 

"I'm gonna get drinks, what do you want?" Cillian asked her as he knelt beside her. 

"Surprise me." She leaned in to speak into his ear. 

He nodded and stood up and disappeared in the crowd. 

"So," Joel leaned on the table, "How long are you stayin' in London?" 

"About a year. It's the length of my Internship with a month of free time in December." She explained. 

"Oh yeah? Neat. How you feeling? Are you by yourself?" Lawrence jumped into the conversation. He was uncomfortably close to her, especially his hand. 

"Uh... I'm feeling okay. Nervous." She said, not answering his last question. The situation made her on edge. She had been in this scene before. Cillian, she thought, where the fuck are you? 

"You looking for something here?" Leo hummed, giving her a once over. 

"No." She said, standing her ground. "I'm here for my studies. Nothing more." She gave him a pointed look. 

"I'm just asking, Miss. Usually, you girls are after more than just a job. I work for a taxi company that--" 

"Listen here, mate." She leaned over, slapping the business card out of his hand. She knew what kinda taxi driver this sick prick was, "I'm not here to fuck with men or women. I'm here to work, to get experience in a fashion career. And you fucker give me shit like this? You're sick." She spat. 

She'd walk, but Cillian had come over looking cheery as always. He looked at Gabrijela, seeing her posture of her crossed legs and arms. 

"Hey, we good here?" He asked as he set the wine glass in front of her and one for himself, and two beer glasses in front of his friends. 

"Yeah, mate. It's fine. Hey look they're about to get on stage." Joel nodded to the band setting up now after the first one finished. 

As the band fixed their gear, she felt a nudge under the table. She looked and Cillian mouth 'Are you okay?' 

She nodded, giving him a smile but it didn't reach her eyes. Cillian frowned sitting back before Joel sucked him into a conversation. 

Lawrence on the other hand, wanted to talk to her, "Is this your first time overseas?" 

"No," She said blandly, sipping her wine as she faced the rugged man. 

"Where did you go? If this isn't your first time." Lawrence continued. 

"Europe with family. I'm here-" She stopped herself. 

"By yourself? That's brave." He purred. 

Fuck. 

"Yeah. Very." She looked away, the band began to play. 

The night went on and Lawrence seemed to leave her alone and she began to feel a little better. The boys talked about work and whatever, and she listened to the band playing. 

They were pretty good and she bopped to it, even taped some of it as a memory. 

Then she spotted a photo booth, and a smile broke out, "Cillian." She said, bringing his attention to her. "There's a photo booth. Can we go to it?" She asked. 

"With me?" He asked. 

"Yeah, I love those things." She stood, holding out her hand for him. 

"Alright. We'll be back." He said to Joel and Lawrence. 

The pair went to the photo booth, and she paid for it. They took six photos together, silly poses and some serious or smiling ones. They looked at the photos and both laughed, there was one for her and one for him. 

"I'm gonna cherish this." She said to him, hugging him suddenly. 

He was taken aback but hugged her back, "Same here." He said. 

"I'm gonna head to the ladies room, I'll be right back." She said to him and pulled away to go to the toilet. 

Cillian returned to the table, tucking the photo into his pocket, "Where'd your girlie go?" Joel asked. 

"Ladies room," Cillian replied lightly before they went back to the conversation. 

Lawrence took a moment before he got up and went towards the toilet. 

Gabrijela was just walking out when she ran right into Lawrence. 

"Woah!" He gripped her arms. 

"Let go." She growled and pushed his arms away. 

"Damn girl. You are a feisty one." He smirked, cornering her. 

"You fucker. Let me through." She tried to get past him but he had her pinned. 

"Why you acting like this? Shouldn't you be happy? Getting the attention yeah?" He purred. His breath reeked. 

"Get off me!" She cried, but the music was so loud, and the area was dark that no one really paid attention. 

"Come on girl, I know you like this-"

No. She definitely wasn't. Before his hands could yank up her skirt or jumper, she brought her knee between his legs.

He gasped and fell to his knees, clutching himself. 

Gabrijela picked up her bag and tried to fix her jumper, tears began to fall down as she rushed through the crowd. 

When she reached the table she grabbed her unfinished wine and threw it on Joel. 

"Fuck you." She snapped, "How dare you. How dare you!" 

Cillian shot to his feet, "Hey! What's wrong? Gab?" He grabbed her arms. 

"Let me go!" She shook herself free from him. "That old pervert sent his cocksucker on me! He had his hands on me!" She was infuriated, humiliated in a way and frightened. 

She turned from Cillian and pushed through the crowd, and stumbled out of the pub as tears fell down her cheeks more freely now. 

She stormed down the street, she needed to get home, have a shower. 

"Gabrijela!" She could hear Cillian's voice call for her. "Gab! Wait!" 

He caught up to her and got her to stop by standing in front of her, "Gab, hey. Look at me, hey." His voice was gentle and soft. 

She couldn't look up, but his fingers took her chin and he tilted her face up, "What happened? Talk to me," He was seriously concerned and worried. 

She sniffled, she explained what happened and had clung to his arms. "I-I'm sorry I-"

"No. You're not at fault. I'm sorry, I should've picked it up sooner. God, I'm so sorry," He pulled her into his body, and she wrapped her arms around him. 

He stroked her back slowly and she found it comforting. "Let's go home, yeah?" 

"Yeah." She nodded and pulled away slightly. He kept his arm around her shoulder as they walked back to the car. 

He put on some gentle music and it eased her all the way back to the apartment. 

They silently walked up the stairs and he came in with her. She sat on her bed, sighing heavily. She tried to take off her boots but she couldn't. 

"Let me help." He came over and knelt in front of her. His fingers brushed her skin and watched him closely as he peeled off her boots. He set them aside and then helped her out of her jacket and hung it up for her. 

She flopped back on the bed, eyes shut. 

"Will you be okay? By yourself?" He asked her as he sat beside her. 

"I..." She opened her eyes, looking at him. Her heart melted at the sight. She didn't think she ever saw a man so worried like he did right there. She smiled a little, "I... Stay. Please." she sat up slowly, leaning closer to him. 

"Okay. I'll sleep on the couch-"

"No. Could..." she sucked in a breath, "Hold me? Please? U-Unless that's too much since we-" 

"Of course. Doesn't bother me." He reached up and brushed a knuckle along her cheekbone. "Get changed into something more comfortable though." He added. 

She nodded and got off the bed, she grabbed her singlet and the silky booty shorts she had and changed in the bathroom. She cleaned up her face and combed her hair before she stepped out. 

Cillian had kicked off his shoes and his jacket and was simply in his shirt and his boxers. 

"Someone's comfortable." She said with a smile. 

"Ah, I mean- I can put my jeans-" He stuttered and reached for them. 

"No," she rushed to him, taking his hands, "No, I was only kidding. It's fine." 

"I'm wearing underwear under them." He offered. 

She snorted, and then laughed, "It's fine. Really. Do I look any better?" She huffed. 

He looked her up and down quickly and his cheeks went a shade of pink. He didn't answer her. 

He got into the bed first and she went to the other side. 

Once they were in and comfortable, he held open his arm, "Come here." He said softly. 

She accepted the offer and rolled into his side, her hand resting on his chest, her head on his shoulder.

His arm came around her, his other arm was bent under his head. 

"I'm sorry for tonight how it ended. I had hoped it went better." Cillian said softly. 

"It's okay, Cilly. Dinner was wonderful, made perfect because of you." She looked up at him. "I will remember that most." 

He looked at her, and sighed softly, "Okay, but I will make it up to you." 

"Don't-"

"Shush," He said and she raised a brow, "I want to okay? Please. This was on me, and I should've been more aware." 

It was her turn to sigh, but she gave in, "Okay. Okay. Make it up to me." She whispered. 

They held each other gaze before he blinked and laid his head back, "Get some sleep. Tomorrow... who knows. We'll see." He said. 

She nodded and shifted a little, her leg brushed along his. "Goodnight." She murmured. 

"Goodnight." He replied he pressed a kiss to her head. His fingers slowly moved up and down her side, it made her body relax.

She listened to his heartbeat, letting it lull her into a dreamless sleep. Cillian held her the whole time, even after he fell asleep.

[petitesimss]

Get to Know Me Tag

I was tagged by the beautiful @timouke to do this challenge so here we go I guess?!

Rules: Post a pic of your simself with your traits and answer the questions! :)

My Traits: Clumsy, Goofball, and Genius 

(According to other people, I swear I didn't label myself as a genius! xD)

Really quick I would like to go ahead and tag of my FAV simblrs: @mmfinds @stardustsim @blushchat @brindletonsims @mochieo @awsimmer92 @fussysim @simplistic-sims4 @tainoodles and also anyone who wants to do it!

1. What is your full name? Megan :)

2. What is your nickname? Meg (Omg so basic)

3. When is your birthday? October 7th

4. Favorite book series? ‘ARRY POTTER!

5. Do you believe in aliens or ghosts? Uhm not aliens but I think some form of ghosts exist. Not necessarily the scary ones xD

6. Favorite author? John Green

7. Favorite Radio Station? I don’t listen to the radio oof

8. What is your favorite flavor of everything? Chocolate or Strawberry!! Mmmm

9. What word will you often use to describe something great or wonderful? Amazing or just a *gasp* noise

10. What is your current favorite song? Nancy Mulligan by Ed Sheeran

11. Favorite word? oof

12. What was the last song you listened to? Currently listening to Pentatonix’s cover of Hallelujah

13. What TV show do you recommend? I am currently obsessed with Vampire Diaries

14. Favorite movie to watch when you’re upset? Omg this is weird but those classic like 2005 Barbie movies always cheer me up

15. Do you play video games? Not really other than sims ofc :P

16. Biggest Fear? Dark Bathrooms (especially the mirrors, its a long story)

17. What is your best quality, in your opinion? My drive to work hard or maybe just my general compassion for everyone

18. What is your worst quality, in your opinion? LAZINESS

19. Cats or dogs? CATS I HAVE THREE

20. Favorite season? Fall because of sweaters and moderately cool weather

21. Are you in a relationship? Oui!

22. Something you miss from your childhood? Barbie Movies

23. Best friend? My boyfriend xD

24. Eye color? Chocolate brown

25. Hair color? Dark brown, black at the roots

26. Who is someone you love? My mother xD

27. Who is someone you trust? My mother

28. Who is someone you think about often? My boyfriend (These answers are so basic oof)

29. Are you currently excited about/for something? IM SEEING THE CRIMES OF GRINDLEWALD TOMORROW

30. Biggest obsession? Cats

31. Favorite TV show as a kid? Probably I-Carly or Hannah Montana

32. Who of the opposite gender can you tell anything to, if anyone? My boyfriend

33. Are you superstitious? Unintentionally yes

34. Any unusual phobias? Dark bathrooms xD

35. In front of the camera or behind it? Both

36. Favorite Hobby? Sims eek

37. Last book your read? Idk why but I stopped reading and so I have no idea

38. Last movie you watched? Not all of it but some of Pitch Perfect (I’ve already seen the whole thing don't worry)

39. Play an instrument? My voice and also a bit of the keyboard

40. Favorite Animal? Cat.

41. Top five tumblr blogs you follow? ALL OF THEM DANG IT

42. What superpower do you wish you had? Flight!

43. Where and when do you feel the most at peace? At home, sleeping in my bed

44. What makes you smile? Literally life

45. What sports do you play, if any? I’ve been in dance for 13 years

46. Favorite drink? Coca-Cola

47. Last time you wrote a handwritten note or letter to someone? This week actually!

48. Afraid of heights? DUH

49. Biggest pet peeve? SLOW WALKERS JUST WALK PLEASE

50. Ever been to a concert? Yep and I’ve been in several local ones

51. Vegan or Vegetarian? Heck no 

52. What did you want to be when you were little? A pop star xD

53. What fictional world would you like to live in? Just. Hogwarts. Always.

54. What is something you worry about? If I am actually liked by people

55. Scared of the dark? Only in bathrooms dude

56. Do you like to sing? YES (Soprano 1 - Mezzo)

57. Ever skipped school? Nope, I’m a good bean

58. Favorite place on the planet? Bed.

59. Where would you like to live? New York or Paris

60. Have any pets? 3 cats (Bella, Possum, and Ty) and also a fish whose name I don't remember

61. Early bird or Night owl? NIGHT OWL

62. Sunrises or Sunsets? I’m gonna go with sunsets

63. Do you know how to drive? I should but I don't xD

64. Earbuds or headphones? Earbuds but not the ones you get with an iPhone, those suck!

65. Ever had braces? Three years I think total, and I just had to get a 6 week retainer set to close a small gap that came back :(

66. Favorite genre of music? Pop I guess xD Or musical theater!

67. Who is your hero? My stepdad

68. Do you read comic books? No but my stepdad did xD

69. What makes you the most angry? When people make jokes about things like cancer or diabetes (THEY ARENT FUNNY)

70. Do you prefer to read on an electronic device or with a real book? Definitely a real book, My eyes don't hurt as much plus they smellll soooo goooodd

71. Favorite Subject? English or Science

72. Any siblings? So this is complicated but I have one half brother, a half-step brother, and a half-step sister

73. The last thing you bought? I bought a journal and some bath salts for my friend’s birthday

74. How tall are you? So I used to be 5′2 but every time I go to the doctor they measure me at like 5′1 and I am confusion

75. Can you cook? Yes but I prefer baking

76. Three things you love? My family, my friends, and food (Omg I typed foot at first EEK)

77. Three things you hate? I LITERALLY DONT HATE ANYTHING IM SORRY

78. Do you have more female friends or male friends? Female oof

79. Sexual orientation? Straight But why did you need to know??

80. Where do you currently live? Louisiana OOOF

81. Last person you texted? My boyfriend, specifically “hehehe yess”

82. Last time you cried? Watching “A Walk to Remember” a few weeks ago

83. Favorite youtuber? All of them, rip

84. Do you like to take selfies? Yes but only because I don't like the pictures other people take of me xD

85. Favorite app? BUZZFEED or maybe netflix

86. What is your relationship with your parent(s) like? I love my mom and we are close but me and my biological dad don't talk

87. Favorite foreign accent? FRENCH OR BRITISH

88. Place you’ve never been to but want to visit? Hawaii or Paris

89. Favorite number? 2 but also literally any even number

90. Can you juggle? Who on here can actually juggle cause I want to be your best friend please (so no)

91. Are you religious? I’m supposed to be catholic but I haven't been to church in a while

92. Is outer space or the deep ocean more interesting? The deep ocean because I want to be a mermaid

93. Do you consider yourself a daredevil? No I am the opposite oof

94. Are you allergic to anything? Cats and dogs, pollen, grass, apparently something in the meningitis vaccine (ITS A LONG STORY)

95. Can you curl your tongue? YOU BET I CAN

96. Can you wiggle your ears? No but I can shake my eyes

97. How often do you admit that you’re wrong about something? I am never wrong, ever.

98. The forest or the beach? The beach cause mermaids

99. What is your favorite piece of advice that anyone has ever given to you? Do what you love, don’t work for money.

100. Are you a good liar? I am a TERRIBLE liar

101. Hogwarts house? Gryffindor but my hybrid house is Gryffinpuff soooo...

102. Do you talk to yourself? I used to tbh but now I usually just sing to myself

103. Introvert of Extrovert? Extrovert but I love me time

104. Do you keep a journal/diary? No I just deal with my thoughts

105. Do you believe in second chances? Absolutely

106. If you found a wallet full of money on the ground, what would you do? Look for identification in it so I can return it to it’s owner

107. Do you believe that people are capable of change? Of course!

108 Are you ticklish? VERY

109. Have you ever been on a plane? Yes, I was on one last weekend

110. Any piercings? Only my basic ear piercings

111. What fictional character do you wish was real? Ronald Weasley

112. Any tattoos? No but I wanna get a few small ones later in life

113. Best decision you’ve made in your life so far? Care for others is far more rewarding than wallowing in sadness

114. Do you believe in karma? It depends, really

115. Do you wear glasses or contacts? I used to wear glasses but since one of my eyes is near sighted and the other is far sighted they balance each other out enough so that I don’t necessarily need them anymore

116. Do you want children? YES LIKE 3-5

117. Who is the smartest person you know? My stepdad

118. Most embarrassing moment? That time I asked my bestfriend at the time’s sister if I could wear a pad on a water slide (IT WAS MY FIRST PERIOD OKAY?)

119. Ever pulled an all-nighter? I’ve made it to 6 am xD

120. What color are most of your clothes? Yellow or pink :P

121. Do you like adventures? PLANNED adventures, yes

122. Ever been on tv? A few times

123. How old are you? 16

124. Favorite quote? But without the dark, we’d never see the stars

125. Sweet or savory foods? SWEEETTT

OML THIS TOOK FOREVER RIP

[carolinechanson97838]

The Beautiful Chaos of Messy Instagram Cakes

How long can you really stare at perfection? When everything is exactly as you could imagine it, what's the point in continuing to look? Imperfection, meanwhile, prompts a continued gaze, even if it's only to figure out whether you like it or not.

This is the appeal of the Instagram cakes heaped with globs of garish frosting, photographed with a harsh shine—at times, unsettlingly zoomed in. Welcome to the lurid side of cake Instagram, where there are no blankets of fondant, no buttercream spackled into submission, and no faux marble surface for naturally lit flatlays. This is the part of Instagram where food gets weird.

Screenshot via Instagram/@_hoe_cakes_

What makes a "hoe cake"? Artist and designer Sara Sarmiento, who started the Instagram @hoe_cakes in late 2019, knows what fits her page when she sees it. When she started following baking accounts during a period of unemployment, "the only ones that really caught my eye were the disastrous, really messy ones," Sarmiento said. Hoe Cakes, which now has over 15,000 followers and serves as a nexus for the experimental cake niche, became a place for her to collect the cakes she found the most beautiful.

These are cakes that melt, shine, and drip—that are topped with cigarettes (and posed with a foot holding another cigarette), or bunnies humping, or the word "bitch" in rotund scrawl. They are lumpy, smeared, and half-destroyed. They could be an ornate fever dream of fruit and frosting, or a simple collection of whorls as if a tie-dye shirt became edible. The cakes are shot with flash amid fridge interiors or cluttered tablescapes, often so low-resolution they evoke the early days of single-megapixel point-and-shoot digital cameras. They may be immediately unappealing to some, but they look like nothing else on food Instagram.

Photos courtesy Sara Sarmiento

Though people submit pictures of neat, professional cakes to Hoe Cakes, that's not what Sarmiento is collecting. "I don't want to say ugly, but just like, messy in a visceral kind of way," she said of her preference. Ugly isn't a negative to her—in fact, "the uglier, the better"—though she isn't sure how other people might feel about it. "They are ugly and messy and just like, slutty. I don't know why 'slutty' is the word that I would describe these cakes as, but that is one." These cakes are Big Fondant's worst nightmare.

"Instagram food" is now a pejorative used to refer to food made to go viral. The writer Amanda Mull once described it, cronuts and all, as a "sad, sparkly lie" that turned consuming into a "status performance," since the food doesn't need to be eaten—let alone taste good—to be Instagram fodder. A side effect of this made-for-Instagram culture is that foods blend into an indiscernible swirl of dye, buttercream, and well-lit, newest-iPhone-quality photos. "[T]his is the nature of the Instagram beast: People want the cake they saw someone else have," writer Alicia Kennedy commented in a 2018 piece about the homogenization of the dessert world. Instagram cakes as we've come to know them are polished, and to make one requires abiding by a set aesthetic.

The energy in this part of the Instagram cake scene is different. Its lack of veneer is irreverent, like a shitpost selfie, the flash illuminating every pore. A corrective to the idea of "Instagram food," these are cakes nonplussed with perfection.

Photos courtesy Alli Gelles/@cakes4sport

"I would definitely say fairly chaotic," said ceramic-artist-turned-hobbyist-baker Alli Gelles, describing the cakes she shares as @cakes4sport. Gelles's maximalist sculptural cakes have become some of the most recognizable in this niche. Fruit, frosting, and sprigs cover every inch, and sprinkles of edible glitter make them sparkle like a butterfly clip from an earlier era of Claire's. "A lot of the imagery, I think, is based on my Y2K bedroom... When I started working in this 'anything goes'-mode, I started reverting back to that," she said. In ceramics, Gelles prefers when she can create without obsessing over technicality, and that approach extends to cakes. "Because I'm working from an artist lens as opposed to a professional baker lens, [it's] almost like the rules don't apply."

Instagram's experimental cake niche is growing. Follow Sarmiento and Gelles, and your recommendations will fill with accounts going similarly galaxy-brained. Caitlin Palmer began making cakes in May to cure boredom and made the account @c4k3l1n to keep track of them. Palmer uses the page to share her work and to interact with other cake makers, all of whom have been willing to share tips. "It's like unprofessional people who are just trying to make very intricate, complicated cakes for kind of the first time," she said.

Photos courtesy Caitlin Palmer/@c4k3l1n

To Palmer—who describes herself as "really into niche Instagram in general," as she also has an account for mushroom content—part of the appeal of this cake scene might be the freeing nature of the second Instagram. Following the path that teenagers paved, the Finsta ("fake Instagram") is a place to be weird online. This niche, Palmer suggested, might be like "the baking Finsta." Whereas she might curate other Instagram content, she lets her cake account exist freely, trying "whatever" and being supportive when others do the same.

"For the most part, I think people are just like, 'What do I have around here?'" Palmer said. She puts her cakes on 30-cent, reflective, disposable pizza pans and takes photos with her phone, preferring flash for its ability to make cakes look "weirder" and "more sculptural." This type of unrestrained flash is, of course, what incited responses of horror to Martha Stewart's early food tweets. While photography is similarly pragmatic for Gelles, it fits into her broader mindset: "If that's really the thing that people aren't into, then you're not gonna like these kinds of cakes—it's not polished at all."

Screenshot via Instagram/@_hoe_cakes_

Instagram has tried to convince us of a lot of lies, many of which we've internalized: that "flat tummy tea" is a good health choice; that Glossier products make you look like a Glossier girl; that homes exist without clutter; that some people just wake up "like that"; that food needs to look a certain way to be good. (Dave Chang uses the phrase "ugly delicious" for a reason.)

But what if food is messy and unsettling to look at? What if we took in the ugliness, questioned why we dislike it, and let it simmer, like leaning into a painful yoga pose? Nobody would die, though food stylists and influencers everywhere might gasp in shock. After, though, we might be awakened to a world of Instagram food that's weird and free, without the inexplicable standards created by influencers and brands.

Photo courtesy Alli Gelles/@cakes4sport

Sarmiento loves the "glorious lump of frosting" when new bakers send her their work. To her, the barrier to entry to these cakes is lower, and there's no gatekeeping. "I want people to feel like anybody can make art," she said. It's not a coincidence that Sarmiento, Gelles, and Palmer (who works at a museum) are all part of the art world. "I think a lot of people who make the most beautiful cakes—the ugliest, beautiful, sluttiest cakes—are artists and queer people," Sarmiento said. To her, people are seeing cakes in a new light as an art form that's not just visually entrancing, but also purposeful.

Unlike ceramics, which requires special equipment and plenty of time, the satisfaction of making and decorating cakes is accessible and immediate, Gelles said. Though the idea of creating art in order to sell it has tripped her up in the past, taking on cakes as a hobby lets her create for the sake of creating.

"As far as cakes, it's like, well, if I make it, somebody's gonna eat it," she said. "Even if they don't get it, even if you don't think this is a pretty cake, you're at least going to eat it. You're going to enjoy it—and who doesn't like cake?"

Follow Bettina Makalintal on Twitter.

via VICE US - Munchies VICE US - Munchies via Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network Mom's Kitchen Recipe Network

[jkottke]

Some early thoughts on iPhone X

I got an iPhone X on Friday and have been using it all weekend. Here are some of my initial thoughts about it, some of which will likely change after more use and reflection. As an hors d'oeuvre, Apple's guided tour of iPhone X's new features and capabilities:

In some ways, the setup process has been streamlined. Soon after turning on the iPhone X, it asked to use my nearby iPhone 7 to transfer its settings. The verification step for this used a cool swirling blue pattern on the X that I had to view with my old phone's camera...the iTunes visualizer is finally coming in handy.

In other ways, the setup process could still use some work. Anticipating afternoon delivery of the X, I'd backed up my iPhone 7 that morning. When it came time to set up the X using that backup, it failed...iTunes said the backup was not compatible. It didn't specify why but I had a hunch: my 7 had iOS 11.1 installed but the X had an earlier version installed. I upgraded the X and the backup worked. Less savvy users are going to be completely lost here and Apple should fix it.

The X is slightly thicker and heavier than the 7. With the larger screen area, the iPhone is no longer a one-handed device for me in many situations. This might be a dealbreaker for me.

Haven't used the "wireless" charging yet. Just added this $25 charging pad to my shopping cart though, so I'll get to try it out in a couple of days.

Animoji is the "Ewoks in Return of the Jedi" feature of the iPhone X. After the novelty wears off, approximately no one will use it.

I don't like the notch. It looks idiotic. I'll probably get used to it. I don't care for the display's rounded corners either. If you look at the apps that have been updated for the X, many of them don't make use of the bottom 1/4" of the display because of the rounded corners. I feel like there's an optical dissonance happening where I see the edge-to-edge display and think, "wow, massive display" but really the bottom slice of the screen and the two weird bunny ears at the top are not actually that useful. (Pls don't email me about the utility of the bunny ears for the time, network, & battery display and the tradeoffs involving the camera placement, etc. "You've gotta put those somewhere!" I am aware.) Call me old-fashioned, but I want all my screens to be rectangles with square corners.

Face ID works great for me. I had a week of stubble on my face for the initial scan and it still worked after I shaved. It worked with glasses on. (My Ray-Ban sunglasses: no.) It worked with a baseball cap on. It worked in the dark...like a really dark room. It worked in a dark room with my glasses on. It worked with my head rested on my hand with pretty much half my face covered (this one surprised me when I realized what had just happened).

Thank god the home button is gone. So far, Face ID + swiping up is a superior interaction 99% of the time. It's quicker and you don't have to think about it. App switching is super simple now...just swipe left/right on the bottom of the screen. Relearning the new Home-less Siri, screenshot, and power-off interactions isn't that hard.

A note on Face ID security, from Apple's Face ID Security Guide:

The probability that a random person the population could look at your iPhone X and unlock it using Face ID is approximately 1 in 1,000,000 (versus 1 in 50,000 for Touch ID).

I hadn't read about the 1 in 50,000 for Touch ID...that seems really high.

The TrueDepth camera is fun for taking new kinds of selfies. (I wonder...can someone take that video and make an animatronic face that can be used to break into my phone?)

Everything on this phone happens instantly...or somehow faster than instantly. It would be fun to use the first iPhone (which seemed really fast at the time) just to compare how blazing this this really is. And I wonder...will the X feel as slow in 10 years as that first phone feels today? It doesn't seem as though it could get much faster...

The OLED screen is beautiful. I mainly use my phone to read Twitter and my email, so I'm not sure I need this beautiful new screen, but damn your tweets look good!

The camera quality remains the key advantage of the iPhone...they're just so far ahead of everyone else here.

[survivor-algonquin-blog]

IMMUNITY RESULTS #1

Hope everyone got their groove on!!! Let's get to the results,,,

But first let's meet our lovely JUDGES!!!!

Zach!!

Hey! Zach here. A couple of main seasons under my belt and lucky enough to have played with all of the hosts. I've done this challenge and work in entertainment, so I'll be bringing a critical eye to the table and have no reservations about not holding back. Good luck!

Sarah!!

Hi my name is Sarah. Ive played 7 main ts seasons so I am officially qualified to judge now. I cant wait to see what yall did.

Vilma!!

Hi I'm Vilma and all you need to know about me is that I have a burning love for music videos so I hope y'all put in your best effort tonight <3

Now let's get to some music videos!

Castor's Music Video & Explanation

This is the official submission for the Castor Tribe. We choose to do the music video “Bring me to Life” by Evanescence. This song has a strong theme of Duality throughout the lyrics, and we chose to represent that by only using two tribemates for the lip-syncing portion of this challenge. The video focuses on Bobby, crying out for help, but being shut down by his inner thoughts, portrayed by Bryan. At the beginning of the video, you can clearly see the inner turmoil going on, shown through the colour colour changes and spinning screen. Throughout this portion, it is clear he is listening to Bryan, and letting it hold him back, keeping all these negative emotions inside. About half way through the video, there is a clear tone change, with the scarf starting to come off, signifying an opening up, of Bobby starting to let his thoughts out in a healthy way, and his inner voice becoming quieter and less relevant as time goes on. The video ends on a dark room, lit by a single light, showing that as dark as things may seem, there will always be light at the end of the tunnel, you just must keep moving forward. We felt that this was a good representation for survivor for several reasons. Firstly, in order to progress far in the game, you must be able to rely on other people to keep you sane. One of the Key elements of survivor is the ability to outlast the other players, and that requires you to mentally outlast them as well. You can clearly see that on the Edge of Extinction season, where it is only the mental fortitude of these voted off contestants giving them a chance now. Secondly, there have been several survivor Contestants that have struggled with the ideas of self-doubt, and depression both during and after the show, most notably, Sugar, after Survivor Heroes Vs Villains, as well as Spencer Bledsoe, after Game Changers. Finally, no matter how dark you may think your prospects in survivor are, if you believe there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and keep pushing through, you will always be able to make an impact. We chose to make the video focus on only two of our tribemates because most submissions for these types of challenges tend to include almost all the tribe members, and we wanted to create something that stands out. All of us contributed to the final product in several different ways. Firstly, we had Lilly, who was the Creative Director, and Task Manager. She came up with the narrative and focused on creating a realistic schedule in order to get everything done on time, and to a good quality. Bobby and Bryan, you saw in the music video, as our lead lip-syncers. Aaliyah was the editor of this video, putting to use her skill in a way much better than anyone else on our tribe could have accomplished. Finally, Michael and Jack created the write up, in order to communicate our thoughts to the judges, to show the amount of effort we put into this project.

Zach:

Creativity:6

The explanation for idea of the music video was strong and well intentioned, if not wholly originally, but I’m not sure it is entirely reflected in what got with the video. I appreciate the deliberate choice to use only two members of the cast to support that idea, so I can’t ding for points there, but I don’t think what we got was what we were promised in the explanation.

Effort: 7

Going off of the intro text, I’ll take it in good faith that everyone contributed as much as was mentioned, and despite execution, I cannot fault their efforts if they all tried.

Composition: 5

Any time there’s a vertical video, it’s going to hurt a little, but I won’t dwell on that too much. I will say that the video ending before the song ends does not help its case. Also, the idea behind the colors and the black and white to show emotional change was a good thought, but did not have the payoff that it should have had. The rationale behind it feels more film school interpretation of something after the fact than intended execution.

Theme: 7

The theme as explained was a solid one, and definitely can see tones of it in the performances and set dress of the actors. Nice job. Bryan will haunt my dreams.

All-in-all, I think this was a good effort and it’s obvious that this team works together well and has lofty ideas. I think the technical skill might be lacking, and it seems like everyone here is very structured in their thinking. I prefer that way of thought so I’m with them, but they needed a little more creative flair here to pull it off.

Sarah:Creativity: 5/10

Effort: 5/10

Composition (editing): 7/10

Theme: 8/10

I wish I saw everyone from the tribe in this but I get your reasoning behind it. It was still just overall ok

Vilma:

Creativity: 4/10

You made a creative decision to include only two people of your tribe in the lip sync and while I appreciate the ballsy move I can’t help but feel I would’ve enjoyed the video more if more people were included in it.

Effort: 5/10

Bobby was the king of the show and really put his soul into it.

Composition: 4/10

Rule number one in music videos: film horizontally! Overall I wasn’t a huge fan of the constant use of cheap looking effects but otherwise the editing was fine.

Theme: 6/10

I think the duality theme in your video was nice an well thought-out but it would be a bit hard to understand without your thorough explanation of it.

Castor Total: 69/120

Elan's Music Video & Explanation

She walks! She talks! She twerks! She's BARBIE! Jump, dance, and sing with your very own customizable doll! Dress her up and take her out. Barbie is your BEST FRIEND! You can be a Barbie Girl too! SHE'S BARBIE! (batteries not included)

Zach:

Creativity: 7

The idea of using Barbie girl for the song was a strong and out of the blue choice, making it look like a commercial really took it over the top. I can’t go higher than 8 because they used a lot of the original music video to cover gaps, but overall, more creative an idea than I’ve seen in a while, and the execution was beautiful which leads me to:

Effort: 8

To put what they put together as quickly as they did takes a lot of coordination from whomever was putting it together, but the fact that most people went so far as to dress as “Barbies” shows that almost everyone was committed to the gag. There were a couple of people who obviously didn’t have as much time to give to this, but substituting them as the Ken was a nice save.

Composition: 9

Obviously when working with iPhones and computer cameras, the visual leaves something to be lacking, but that is more than made up for here with the various superpositions, graphics, texts, crawls, and cuts. It felt like I was watching a bizarro QVC commercial that was as fun to watch as Barbies are to play with, keeping them right on mark for their:

Theme: 9

The fact that this is basically a weird commercial for Barbies is as fantastic as they are plastic. Every inch of it was filled with something to reinforce the theme, whether it was ordering details, people playing with the toys, warnings, calls to actions, or disclaimers (the bottom Mattel crawl was a brilliant example of all three categories of judgement coalescing to reinforce the them.

I wasn’t planning on rating anyone high, but this was weird, original, well done, and fun. Nice job. It was visual candy, high energy, and all surface, which I wouldn’t typically go for, but that’s what Barbie is about.

Sarah:Creativity: 9/10

Effort: 10/10

Composition (editing): 10/10

Theme: 8/10

You guys impressed the fuck out of me and made me literally LOL.

Vilma:

Creativity: 8/10

Cute outfits, cute barbie nicknames, cute editing, cute CuTe CUTE I want these slutty barbies to myself

Effort: 9/10

The barbie QUEENS and the editor guy did a phenomenal job. It looks like most of your tribe participated, although the Barbies outshined the Ken’s a bit. But overall you guys really put yourself out there and put in the most effort.

Composition: 10/10

The editing was ON POINT. Great job ten out of ten.

Theme: 8/10.

I stan the barbie theme and song choice btw Aqua is a Danish band so I love me some nordic representation <3 My only complaint is I wish you introduced us to the handsome Kens too.

Elan Total: 105/120

Hibou's Music Video & Explanation

We lip synced Survivor by Destiny's Child. Due to time constraints Gavin couldn't be in the video, but it doesn't matter since Sammy stole the show. :) The editing got a little weird at the end. Some of the file types were different and that causes playback issues. Also the deadline was fast approaching so the sequences towards the end are a little longer. :p

Zach:

Creativity: 2

Hate to be harsh, but going for Survivor for Survivor is a little too on the nose. Listen, it’s a great song, and some people have some great energy, but creatively, this was low hanging fruit. On top of that, the video is literally just lip-syncing, which is basically like playing a Borneo Game in 2019. Given that they’d be given plenty of examples of other ways this can be done well, I can’t rate this high. To paraphrase the song “you’re better than that.”

Effort: 4

To the people that contributed to this, I appreciate your attempt. The one guy who really embraced the challenge, got a mic, light-up glasses, the hat, et al, if this was based on just your effort, I could go much higher. It’s as high as it is because of you. Unfortunately, it’s a team challenge, and for the brief moments that we saw most of the other players, you can see them reading the words on the screen as they capture their performance. I hope everyone enjoyed it more than it shows, but again, to the point of the song “you’ve gotta work harder.”

Composition: 2

Vertical videos really just need to be turned 90 degrees and it would feel like we’re watching a movie. Or if you’re given vertical videos, copy the layer, move it to the back, enlarge, and blur. It will make it instantly more watchable. This grade isn’t solely because of that though (3 vertical videos don’t help though). The titles screen is cute, but assembled poorly. Some of the text is covered some of the pictures. There’s no real pace to guide us through the song. The cuts seem arbitrary. Editing is very hard and never appreciated, so to whomever put this together, if you did your best, nice job and I encourage to stick with it, but kinda feels like “I’m not gonna give up” was something you were saying to yourself over and over again when trying to make this work.

Theme: 2

Picking this song was a bold choice since it’s so obvious, but you can’t lose points in this category based on choice alone. But given that choice, you have to really knock it out of the park, and I don’t think the bat even touched the ball with this one. There’s nothing here that screams either Survivor nor what Destiny Child was singing about, I don’t know if we’d be weaker without this song in our life.

Look, I hate to be critical, especially since it’s obvious some people put it in a lot more work with this than others, but to be honest, this wasn’t a shining example of what you’re all capable of. It’s hard putting these together, and maybe it just wasn’t worth it this time. Making music videos can be fun or terrible depending on with whom you work. I wish you the best, but I feel like because of this, for one of you “I’m gonna make it, here on Survivor” just isn’t true.

Sarah: Creativity: 4/10

Effort: 3/10

Composition (editing): 6/10

Theme: 4/10

You tried.

Vilma:

Creativity: 4/10

I feel like you guys could’ve been more creative with your Survivor theme. I like that you introduced everyone in the beginning but other than that the video was very simple.

Effort: 6/10

Most of your tribe seemed to participate and that’s always nice to see. Some of you guys were really feeling it too so big props to that!

Composition: 3/10

Again, gotta deduct some points for not filming horizontally. Plus the lip syncing was VERY off most of the time, such a simple thing to fix and the video would’ve seemed much more professional!

Theme: 5/10

Your song choice is literally perfect, you GUYS are survivors and you know it but I wish you would’ve included little skits or something to emphasize the theme.

Hibou Total: 45/120

Congratulations to Castor and Elan for winning immunity!! which unfortunately means Hibou you will be heading to tribal council, where you will be voting off the first person in Tumblr Survivor Algonquin. Tribal will be live over Google Hangouts, and we plan to start at 9:00 EST. please let the hosts know beforehand if you will be able to attend tribal council or not.

[amazing-percy-jackson]

Senior Year Chapter 2

Heres chapter 2

word count: 4,231

Chapter: 2/?

Percy's POV                                                      

Percy sat down at the table having finished almost all of the cookies they had made earlier that day. Annabeth was on his side with his mom across from him. He brushed the crumbs onto his hand then onto the empty plate. He learned the hard way to never brush crumbs onto the floor.  

"I've been meaning to ask. Where's Paul? I haven't seen him at all." Percy looked at his mom, who was sipping on some tea she had just made for her and Annabeth.  

"He is at the school having a meeting trying to get ready for the school year. Speaking of the school..." she said looking at Annabeth. "Do you have everything you need for school? Are all the papers in order? Do you have the supplies?"  

"Well Chiron made up some paperwork from all the schooling I've gotten at camp and all my other schools. He also talked to the principal on the phone to square everything away. He made sure that they knew that you are my guardian, legally. So all the paperwork is good. But for the supplies. Not really. All I brought is a couple t-shirts a couple shorts and jeans, my blueprints and a few books...." Annabeth rattled off everything she put in her bag.  Sally smile and got a weird look in her eyes.  

"I feel a shopping trip," she said happily. Percy groaned getting out of his chair to put the dirty plate in the sink.  

"Percy never really liked shopping," Sally explained, "I always make him try it on. He says I embarrass him." Sally rolled her eyes. "Maybe if you come he would be more willing. How about tomorrow? We can make a whole day out it. We can get some back to school clothes and all the supplies you need before orientation on Saturday."

"Mom since when did we have the money for a whole day of shopping?"  

"Well since you asked, I actually am getting a book published. The publisher sent me an advance a couple days ago. It is definitely worth more than a day of shopping." She had a huge smile on her face. Percy couldn't help but show some teeth too. He couldn't have been prouder. All those years of her telling him story after story have finally paid off.  He crosses the room to hug her for the millionth time today, but he would never get tired of feeling her arms around him.  

"What is it about?" Percy sat down by Annabeth again.

"Would you guys hate me if I told you it's about these three kids going on quests and two of them realizing that they love each other." Percy sat straighter and Annabeth repeatedly said, "No we could never hate you."

"You wrote your book about us and Grover?"

"Yes. What else would I write about?"

"What about all those stories you told me as a kid that you wanted to write?"

"Well I hope I can get to write all of those too."  

"I hope you do too, Mom. If anyone deserves it, it's you." He got up to kiss her on the cheek and put their c now empty cups in the sink. He started to walk away when Sally gave him a look he knew very well from his childhood.

"I haven't done dishes in like a year Mom!" He complained.

"You know not to leave dirty dishes in the sink Perseus." His eyes widened and he turned on his heels quickly rising off the plates and putting them in the dishwasher.  

"I'm gonna have to use that one," Annabeth said.

"Don’t think you're gonna get off easy, either, Annabeth. I love you, but you are gonna have to start earning your keep." Percy turned around to give her a teasing look.

"Don't worry Sally. I'm sure I’ll earn my keep better than Percy."

"Is that a challenge?" Percy asked.

"No..." Annabeth said giving Sally a look. Percy walked back to the table, gave Annabeth one more stare, then told them that he was going to start unpacking. He walked back to his room leaving the two people he loves most in the world to talk alone, most likely about him, but he didn't care.  

He got to him room, stopping at the door to take it all in. His bed in front of him, the dark blue covers pushed to one side. The window next to the bed by the head. Sometimes he would it open to listen the sound of New York better at night. His desk under the window with a view of the apartment complex across the street. The closet across the room from his bed, his hamper inside under his hanging clothes. A big dresser to his left across from the window. He really only used the dresser to put miscellaneous thing in that he didn’t have a spot for.  It wasn't a big room, but was his room.  It wasn't like his cabin, too big for him it made him feel all alone. But just the right size for him.  

He would say that it doesn't look like it had been touch in the months he was gone, but he didn't remember what his room looked like when he left over 8 months ago. He also knew better. If Annabeth had been here with his mom then she was definitely in his room. Percy unzipped his bag. He dropped all the clothes that were in it into his hamper. He kinda forgot to do his laundry before he came. Okay... He didn’t forget he just didn’t do it.  He left almost everything else at camp. He really didn't want anything here to remind him of his other life. Except Annabeth of course, and a few Camp t-shirt. Other than those everything is at his cabin. He set his bag on the floor hearing harder thunk than he should have.  

He reached in the grab the phone Leo had made. Oh, right, he thought, Already forgot about you. He turned it over in his hand, inspecting it. It looked just like an iPhone. Percy pushed the button in the front and the lock screen opened up. It was a picture of Leo, of course, on fire making the words 'Your Welcome' with the flames. Percy chuckled at the picture. He slide his thumb across the bottom to unlock it. He then saw another picture of Leo, but this time with the words 'Really you don’t have to thank me'. He tapped on the contacts app to see that it was filled with people just like Leo said. He scrolled through them. He chuckled at every contact name. Beauty Queen. Blonde Superman. The Guy That Starts With F. Scary Blonde. Cursed Kid. Goat Man. Supreme Commander of the Argo 2. It was the last one that got him though...Birth Giver of the Great Percy Jackson. He laughed out loud holding the phone to his side.  

Annabeth came running to see what was the matter his mom right behind her.

"What are you laughing about Seaweed Brain?" He held up the phone and he could hear his mom suck in a breath.  

"Percy you know that phone aren't good for demigods. What are you doing with that?" She almost reached out for it but Annabeth intervened seeing how Percy couldn't answer her.

"No, it okay. Leo made them for us. He designed them so that they are safe for demigods to use. I don't know why Percy is laughing so hard though?"

Percy held out the phone for Annabeth to take. She read off all the contacts giving a chuckled as she read the name for his mom. Percy looked at her when Annabeth read it and saw her blush a little. Annabeth kept reading until she got to the name for her.  

"Scary Blonde.....?" She said in a tone that told Percy she did not appreciate it. She handed the phone back to him. Percy took it laughing even harder at her face.  

"Yeah," Percy said wiping the tears off his face and facing his mom. "Leo made these so we can stay in touch, while staying out of danger from monsters. He made you one too." He handed her the black phone and explained that it can only be used to call other IMPhones. She took it gratefully.  

"Hey Annabeth can I get a picture of you?" Percy said opening the camera.

"Why?"

"Because Leo made the lock screen and home screen his face, and I don’t want to look at that every time I use this. I would much rather see your beautiful face."

"Well since you asked so nicely." Annabeth walked to sit down next to Percy on the bed. She posed for a picture with him. It was probably the first time she genuinely smile in a long time. He took a couple more of her until she had had enough and was telling him to stop. He set the home screen as the best picture of her and his locked screen as the picture of both of them. He then went in and changed a couple contact. He changed them all to the appropriate names except Grover's, his mom's, and Annabeth's. He changed those to G-man, Wise Girl, and just Mom.  

"Check your. What did he put for me?" Annabeth went out to grab her phone from her bag and came back in a couple seconds later. She pushed the button and laughed at the picture. She showed me the picture of Leo which I laughed at again.  

"Ummm....He has you as....." She started laughing before she could get it out. "He put you in as Water Boy!" She fell over on the bed laughing. Percy started laughing too and couldn't stop. They hadn't laugh like this in what felt like forever. And now that they started they couldn’t stop. Mom came in to see what the matter, but they couldn't even tell her. They just laughed more when she said okay and left.  

Percy couldn't explain why he was laughing anymore. The Water Boy thing was funny about 5 minutes ago, but it really shouldn't be funny anymore. Maybe they were finally having the mental breakdown, but in an unusual way. Annabeth sat up holding her sides with tears running down her face grabbing Percy's shoulder and telling him to stop laughing.  She opened her camera and took like a billion pictures of Percy. Every time he told her to stop she would take another and claim she had to change her lock and home screen too. He took a deep breath in and out trying to calm down so Annabeth wouldn’t take anymore pictures. He was starting to calm down when Annabeth went into her phone and changed his name to Seaweed Brain and changed everyone else to their own names. Then she went in and changed her screens.  

"Oh man. That really wasn't even that funny, Percy."  

"I know, but it was funny, if you know what I mean." He leaned back pulling her with him. They just laid there giggling every once in a while, but mainly just thinking. Thinking about the next year. Their Senior Year, together.  

Percy looked at the clock that was still on top of his dresser. 4:48. Mom was going to start dinner soon, if they still eat at 5:30 sharp. She would coming in soon to see what they want. They would have to get up soon. Reluctantly, Percy pushed off the wall, sitting up. Annabeth fell over into the spot Percy was.  

"What are you going to want for dinner?" He asked.

"I'll eat whatever Sally makes."

"Ooohhh. She doesn't like it when you can't decided. Trust me. We'll have some pizza. I have been craving some of my mom's pizza for the longest time." As if on cue Sally come in to ask what they want to eat and Percy replied with pizza. Sally asked if he wanted to help get dinner ready, which he nodded enthusiasticly in reply.

"I'll just be in my room unpacking," Annabeth said.

Percy walked into the kitchen. He grabbed the flour, salt, and yeast as he crossed the room. Sally grabbed almost everything else. He grabbed the mixing bowl out of the dishwasher, freshly clean. He set it up and started measuring out the recipe he knew by heart. He wasn't sure when he noticed that his mom was just leaning against the counter. She wasn't doing anything but watching.  

"You could help a little, you know," Percy said.

"It looks like you got it all under control."

"Barely," he whispered under his breath. He knew that she heard him. Some part of him wanted her to ask what happened. He knew that he would feel better with her knowing. He would tell her every part. Once he starts he wouldn't be able to stop until he told her everything. She would hug him, holding him like he was a little kid again. He would start to cry when he would feel her strong arms around him. And he would feel better when he was done. But another part him wishes that she never knows what happened to him and Annabeth. Percy knows that could never happen though.  

What will happen when one of them has a nightmare. Screaming in the middle of the night. Waking everyone up. Holding each other until the other calms down. How was Percy going to tell her when Annabeth was breaking down in his arms? Or when Percy was crying and calling for Annabeth? No. He couldn't do that to her. He has to tell her.

"Was it that bad?" She asked. She crossed the kitchen and put a protective arm around his shoulders. Percy almost broke down with that one touch.

"Worse," he confessed, voice cracking.  

"Sweetie when you want to talk...I'm right here."  

Percy sighed with relief. He really shouldn't be surprised that she isn’t pushing him. She has always been really cool with stuff like this. Percy honestly didn't know why he freaked out for a second back there. He was, once again, for about the hundredth time that day, thankful that he was back with his mom. For a horrifying second he was also thankful that he couldn’t remember her for almost seven months. His mom was on the other side of the country worried sick about him....while him? He was running around the country with no memory of her on dangerous quests. He was thankful for a second that he didn't have to go through all that worry himself. But it was only for a second.  

"Okay, Mom," Percy said blinking back tears and continued cooking.  

Paul came home about ten minutes before the pizza was done. Percy was pretty much a mess all over again. Paul handled it more like a man, but Percy could tell that Paul was glad he was back. They were right in the middle of a hug when the timer went off. Percy crossed the living room into the kitchen. He checked the pizza quickly before pulling it out.  

"Hey Annabeth can you get the plates?" Percy said gesturing in the general direction of the entire kitchen behind him. Annabeth started opening random cabinets trying to find the plate.  

"Percy where do you keep the plate?" Annabeth said giving up.

"In that one." He nodded his head.

"Which one?"

"That one." He nodded it more vigorously.  

"They're not here," Annabeth said closing the cabinet she thought Percy was pointing to. Percy quickly cut the pizza and walked to Annabeth. He reached past her to the cabinet to her right.  

"This one," he stated. He pulled out four plates and handed them to her. He watched as she walked to the table and started setting the it. This is all he ever wanted, he thought. This. Him and Annabeth living together. Monsters are nowhere in sight. Prophecies are nowhere in sight. The gods are nowhere in sight. That’s when it hit him. The life that he and Annabeth can have. This, living together, making dinner together, going shopping together. That's all he ever wanted, Percy realized, from the day he met her at the Big House.  

He was kind of sad that he didn't realize it that day, but their relationship was a bit rocky at the beginning, with all the fighting and them barely being able to stand each other. He thought about where they are now, where they were then, and what they had to do to get here. If anyone deserved this life that Percy was thinking of, it's them.  

"Are you just going to stand there looking at Annabeth all day, or are you going to serve us some pizza?" Sally asked sitting down next to Paul on one side of the table. Percy felt the red creeping up his neck. "Sorry," he mutters as he brought the pizza to the table.  

"Blue crust," Paul said with a hint of surprise. "I think I'm more surprised that I'm surprised than I am at the blue crust." Percy chuckled taking his seat next to Annabeth. He placed a slice on her plate then on his after Paul served his mom and himself.  

"Well it's a special occasion. It called for blue food," Sally said. "So how was the meetings?" Sally asked as was Paul taking a bite.

"The usual. We didn't really talk about anything but somehow talked about everything. I really had no idea why I went." Paul took a bite chewing contently.  

"This is really good Percy," Annabeth said through a mouth full. Sally looked at her with a look that only a mother could pull off. "Sorry," Annabeth said swallowing "It's just so good."

Percy could feel the heat up to his neck now. "Thanks," he muttered folding his pizza in half and taking a bite of his own.  

"He hasn't cooked for you?" Sally asked.

"No. At camp you don't really get to cook and on the Argo 2 Leo had it so that the food you want just appears in front of you. Percy has never had to cook for me before," Annabeth said taking another bite holding her pizza with two hands.

Paul looked like he was about to question Annabeth but then thought better.

"You know that if you fold your pizza you can eat it with one hand," Percy said nodding to her pizza.

"Are you seriously criticizing how I eat my pizza, Percy"

"No. I'm just saying..." he said going back to his own slice. "At least you don't eat the crust first. If you did that then we would have a serious issue."  

"I remember this one time-" Sally started.

"If you gonna tell an embarrassing story about me Mom I really rather you not," Percy said with a small smile. He glanced sideways at Annabeth trying to hint to his mom.  

"Please," Annabeth said. "She already told me the most embarrassing ones."

"Like what...?" Percy asked. He could feel his eyes widening and the heat advancing to his cheeks. He wondered if he really wants to know just how much the love of his life knows about his early years.  

"Well I told her about the time you tried to go to school in your Nemo jammies. And the time you tried to convince me that you didn’t eat all the candy even though you had blue lips and a blue tongue. Or the time you came home from school and tried to tell me that you just put a little dent in a school bus when really you blew it up." The heat from his cheeks now covered more of his face with each story she talked about. Percy looked over at Annabeth to see her trying, and failing, to hold in her laughter.  

"Or how about that one.." Annabeth said trying to catch her breath "That one where you tried to give him a bath but the water wouldn’t touch him." She was laughing uncontrollably now. The heat radiating off Percy's face was enough to cook this pizza.  

"Mooooom," he whined. Annabeth was wiping the tears from her eyes, Paul was chuckling, and Sally was smiling fondly with an innocent look in her eyes. Percy groaned giving up and went back to his pizza.  

The rest of the dinner they played catch up. Sally and Paul told them what had been happening since Percy disappeared, they told Paul about their shopping trip tomorrow. They really just tried to know everything without asking the big question. What exactly happened? Percy knew that the question was coming and dreaded it. He also couldn't wait for it to be asked either. He feels like he has this huge weight on his chest and he knows that will go away once his mom knows everything.  

They finished the pizza and Percy cleared the table and started putting the dishes in the dishwasher with Annabeth's help.  

"I'm gonna tell them what happened after we're done," he said giving her a heads up. He didn't want to spring retelling the worst time of their lives on her.

"Okay," she said looking at him, "It probably best before tonight."

Percy and Annabeth finished loading the dishwasher and joined Sally and Paul in the living room. Percy and Annabeth took the love seat while Sally and Paul sat on the couch perpendicular to the love seat.  

Percy took a deep looking at his Mom then at the ground. "I woke up somewhere in the north with no memory and a wolf, Lupa, looking over me..." Percy continued from start to finish. Annabeth put in every time she thought Percy missed something, or to tell what was happening at Camp-half blood at the time. They got pretty far without stopping, that was the easy part of their story. Sally and Paul didn't say anything the whole time. Sally looked like she was close to tears for some part but kept it together. Probably for my sake, Percy thought. Then they got to Annabeth's solo quest and then... They had to stop there. Percy looked at Annabeth and saw what he felt. He didn't know how to continue but did for his mom.  

"...Then... Annabeth was being dragged into the pit. I tried to stop. To grab onto to her before she fell in but I couldn't. We both went over." Percy looked up to see the corner of his mom's eye sparkle as a tear fell. "I held on as long I could to tell Nico to get to the other sides of the doors. Then we fell..." He looked at Annabeth's hands folded in his own. He could feel them trembling, or maybe that was his own hands. He stared and them as he told them as much as he could without breaking down. Just saying that it was the equivalent to hell and that they got out on the other side but not without more than a few scratches. He continued with their story until he finished it with, "and now here we are."  

Sally had tears rolling down her cheek, but thank the gods she is taking this better than Percy imagined.  

"At least you two are here and safe and alive. That's all that matters."

"Mom, Annabeth and I sometimes, most times actually, have nightmares about..." He looked down again at their hands. Annabeth was making small circles with her thumb against his skin. "It's bad," he finished blinking back tears.  

"How bad?" She asked.

"Nightmares," Annabeth replied. "Panic attacks. Flashbacks. Paranoia. I mean right now the only thing keeping me sane is Percy." She held up their tangled hands.  

"Oh," Paul said.  

"We just wanted you to  know before anything too bad happened," Percy said looking at his mom.  

"I am still just glad that you are alive." She crossed the room to put a hand on Percy's cheek and wipes the tear that he didn’t know had fallen.  

"We're barely fine, borderline okay...but yes we are alive," Percy says releasing Annabeth's hand to stand up and give his mom a hug he has so desperately been craving for the past eight months.  

[pogueman]

The New Samsung Galaxy does 28 things the iPhone doesn't

The Samsung Galaxy S8 (and the larger S8+) give you more screen in less phone. (Image: B. Gaskin)

Every spring, Samsung introduces a new Galaxy phone; every fall, Apple (AAPL) counterpunches with a new iPhone.

At the moment, we find ourselves in mid-cycle: Samsung has just released its Galaxy S8, and the iPhone 8 is still a summer away.

The S8 is a gorgeous phone. It’s a hardware masterpiece, it’s getting rave reviews, and—hey!—so far, nobody’s battery has exploded.

It’s also so crammed with features, it’s amazing the thing doesn’t weigh 20 pounds. That’s the Samsung way: Pile on features to see what sticks. Unfortunately, some of it’s garbage.

So here, as a public service, is a peculiar kind of review: A master list of features that the new Samsung has and the iPhone doesn’t—along with an assessment of which ones are actually useful.

1. The wraparound screen

Samsung’s S8 design goal was, “the most screen in the smallest space.” And sure enough: the side margins of the screen are gone completely—the screen image actually begins to curve around the side edges—and the top and bottom margins have been halved.

The result: Samsung’s screen shows 40% more than the iPhone 7’s—but the phones are the same width. (The screen is 5.8 inches diagonal on the S8, vs. 4.7 on the iPhone.)

That’s a little misleading, of course—the Samsung gets some of that extra screen area by being taller than the iPhone (.4 inches taller). In other words, it’s a weird shape—tall and skinny—that leaves you with black bars beside your videos.

Here’s what else is misleading: Samsung advertises a resolution of 2960 by 1440 pixels—much higher than the iPhone’s 1334 by 750. But in hopes of saving battery life, Samsung hides much of that high-res goodness. Out of the box, the phone comes set to 1080p resolution—only one-quarter of its potential sharpness. You have to fiddle with Settings if you want all the clarity you paid for.

But no question: it’s great to have so much screen. And such a great screen! Bright, colorful, gorgeous OLED.

Usefulness grade: A

2. Edge display

On the right edge, you can set up something called the Edge display. It’s a vertical bar, hugging the curved edge, that you can swipe inward to reveal a skinny pane of icons. You choose which icons appear here—favorite apps, speed-dial icons for your friends, news, and so on. Because this bar is available from within any app, it’s like an ever-present dock. Once you try it, you’ll use it constantly. It spares you all the trips to the Home screens. It’s really great.

This skinny bar at the edge of the screen gives you instant access to favorite apps and people.

Usefulness: A+

3. Video enhancer

The S8’s Video Enhancer mode gooses the contrast and brightness in video apps like Netflix (NFLX) and YouTube (GOOG, GOOGL). Honestly? Without seeing two S8’s side-by-side, it’s hard to see a difference. (It comes turned off, because it’s a battery drainer.)

Usefulness: B+

4. Gigabit LTE

The S8 and S8+ are the first phones that can tap into Gigabit LTE—a cellular network that’s supposed to give you much faster internet speeds.

It probably won’t affect you. Only T-Mobile (TMUS) has started upgrading its network to Gigabit LTE, and only in 300 towns. Sprint (S), Verizon (VZ), and AT&T (T) say they’re working on it.

(Gigabit LTE isn’t the same thing—nor as fast—as 5G, which will take a few more years to arrive.)

Usefulness: B

5. Iris recognition

You can now unlock your S8 by gazing into its camera lens; it recognizes the irises of your eyes, even if you have glasses on.

Most people don’t wind up using this feature, though, because it requires that you bring the phone up to eye level and hold it about 10 inches from your face; it’s just goofy and awkward. It also doesn’t work in bright sunlight.

Unlocking the phone with your irises is awkward, but handy when you have gloves on.

Unfortunately, the alternative secure unlocking method—your fingerprint—is a total disaster. Samsung put the fingerprint scanner on the back of the phone, directly beside the camera, so you get finger grease on the lens every time you unlock it. (The phone even warns you as much: “Be careful not to smudge the camera lens,” it says when you set up your fingerprints.)

That’s if you can unlock it—the scanner is a tall rectangle (not a circle, as on the iPhone), and you have to cover the entire thing to make it work. A design disaster all the way around.

Usefulness: C

6. Face recognition

The Galaxy can also unlock itself by recognizing your face. It’s fast, and doesn’t involve holding the phone like you’re trying to mind-meld with it.

Unfortunately, face recognition is neither reliable (it often doesn’t work) nor secure; for example, Samsung doesn’t consider it secure enough to use for Samsung Pay. People report being able to fool it with a photo.

You can’t use both iris and face recognition; you must choose one or the other.

Usefulness: B

7. Longer battery lifetime

Samsung says that the new S8 battery will last longer—not in hours per charge, but in overall lifetime of usefulness. After a year, the battery will maintain 95% of its charging capacity—up from 80%, on the Galaxy S7.

There’s no way to test Samsung’s claim without waiting a year or two, so we’ll have to take their word for it.

Usefulness: B+

8. Portrait mode

The S8’s main camera hasn’t been improved since the S7 came along—it’s a wicked great camera—but its software has.

For example, when you’re photographing a face, you can turn on a Portrait mode, which simulates the blurry-background effect you usually see only in pro photos.

This is not an optical effect; it’s basically a filter, and the phone sometimes gets it wrong. The blurring sometimes spills into your person. (On the iPhone 7 Plus, the similar Portrait feature relies on the phone’s two camera lenses, and is therefore more reliable.)

What’s cool, though, is that you can adjust the blur after shooting the picture. You can even blur the foreground, leaving the background sharp.

The S8’s blurring feature can soften focus of either the background or foreground, although the results can look phony.

Usefulness: B+

9. Snapchat-style overlays

The Camera app can now add goofy, Snapchat-style animated costumes to your head. They’re pretty awful. Stick to Snapchat (SNAP) or MSQRD.

Usefulness: D

10. “Virtual” photos

Within the Camera app, there’s a new option: You can walk around an object, “filming” it. Later, you can “play it back” by swiveling the phone around in space, changing your angle on the subject. Convenient if you’re shopping for sculptures, I guess.

The Camera app is full of tricks, like Snapchat-style video overlays (left) and 3-D walkarounds of objects (right).

Usefulness: C

11. HDR certified

The S8 is the first smartphone with an HDR-compatible screen. That’s high dynamic range, and it means that, if you can find an HDR movie to watch, you’ll see it with more vivid colors and a greater range of brights to darks.

So far, there’s not much to watch. Netlix’s HDR movies don’t yet play on the S8 (and would require a more expensive streaming plan if they did). Amazon Prime’s HDR movies do, but there are only a handful of them.

Usefulness: D

12. Enhanced front-facing camera

The camera above the screen now captures 8-megapixel photos with an f/1.7 lens, and can autofocus now. Good stuff, though not an earth-shattering improvement over the iPhone 7’s front camera (7 megapixels, f/2.2 aperture).

Usefulness: B

13. Bluetooth 5

Bluetooth 5 has four times the range and twice the data rates of Bluetooth 4—but you get those benefits only if you’ve upgraded your Bluetooth stuff (speakers, Fitbits, headphones, etc.) to Bluetooth 5 gear.

Even now, though, the S8 lets you pair with two existing Bluetooth headphones, so you and a friend can listen simultaneously.

Usefulness: B+

14. Split screen

The S8 introduces “multi window,” a feature that lets you split the screen between two apps, side-by-side (or top-and-bottom). At that point, you can adjust their relative sizes, or copy between them.

Two apps, one screen.

It’s slick, but getting there takes some learning—and, unfortunately, it’s available only in some apps.

Usefulness: B–

15. Bixby voice control

Bixby is Samsung’s version of Siri or Google Assistant. It’s so important, it gets its own dedicated button on the left edge of the phone—which you can’t reassign to another function.

Which is too bad, because at the moment, Bixby doesn’t do anything. It doesn’t take spoken questions, like Siri or Assistant does. Samsung says that’s coming soon. (Meanwhile, you can always use Google Assistant, which is still there.)

Samsung says that once Bixby is activated, it’ll be much smarter than Siri or Assistant—that you’ll be able to give it far more complex commands. For example, if you’re looking at a map, you can say, “Capture this and send it to mom.”

Samsung also says, though, that apps must be rewritten to respond to Bixby commands—and only 10 apps will be controllable in this way when Bixby goes live.

Usefulness: Unknown

16. Bixby Home

A second feature, confusingly also called Bixby, is a nearly perfect copycat of Google Now: A scrolling list of “cards” that present information you might find useful right now, based on the time and your location: weather, appointments, headlines. Why is it necessary for a phone to have two copies of the same thing?

Bixby Home is a fairly pointless duplicate of Google Now.

That’s always been a downside of Samsung’s phones, which already come with two photo apps, two web browsers, and so on. Why bother duplicating Google’s good work?

Usefulness: D

17. Bixby Vision

Yes, there’s a third feature called Bixby. This one is built into the Camera app. You can point the phone at a landmark and see details about it, supplied by Foursquare; at a product to get shopping information, supplied by Amazon (AMZN); at any image to be shown similar ones, from Pinterest; at a wine-bottle label for ratings and details, from Vivino; or at foreign-language writing for a translation, supplied by Google Translate.

The best feature of the long-dead Amazon Fire phone lives on.

Last week, Google announced that the same feature is coming to Android. So once again, you’ll have two identical versions of the same feature.

Usefuness: B

18. Samsung Health

This new, surprisingly complete app automatically tracks your steps, workouts, and (if you have a Samsung smartwatch that you wear at night) sleep; it also offers places to manually record your weight, food, blood glucose, water, caffeine, and so on.

In a novel twist, the app also lets you have an instant video conference with an actual, board-certified doctor for $60 (courtesy of American Well), which your insurance may or may not cover—great for getting immediate help or refilling a prescription.

Usefulness: A–, if you’re into that sort of thing

19. Dex Station

For $150, you can buy a special dock that lets you connect your phone to a big monitor, mouse, and keyboard. Your phone becomes the CPU of a PC!

The long-dead Motorola Atrix lives on in the Dex.

Unfortunately, many apps don’t work right on the big screen, and there’s the whole question of, “Why?”

Usefulness: C

Older Features

Many of Galaxy’s features aren’t new in the S8, but are still unmatched by the iPhone. A few examples:

20. Cool gestures

The Galaxy phone is the shortcut lover’s idea of heaven. You can turn on all kinds of super cool gesture-based shortcuts, like these:

Swipe the fingerprint reader to open Notifications

Smart Stay (the screen stays on as long as you’re looking at it)

Press the Power button twice to fire up the camera

Wipe the edge of your hand across the screen to take a screenshot (which you can then annotate or crop)

Direct Call (hold the phone to ear to auto-dial the person whose card is on screen)

Smart Alert (when you pick up the phone, it vibrates if notifications are waiting)

Easy Mute (silence the ringer by placing the phone face down—in a meeting, say)

Send an SOS to designated contacts (press the Power button three times)

Answer a call by pressing the Volume Up key

During video playback, drag up/down for volume adjustments, left/right for brightness. Double-tap to pause.

These gestures erase a lot of the fussiness of trying to get things done on a tiny, no-mouse device.

Usefulness: A+

21. Quicker charging

The S8’s quick-charging technology (unchanged since last year’s model) gives you a full charge in about 1.5 hours, as long as the screen isn’t on. That’s about half the time of an iPhone 7 Plus.

Usefulness: A+

22. “Wireless” pad charger

You can charge your S8 by setting it onto a Qi charging pad (under $15). It takes twice as long to charge that way, but saves you the plugging and unplugging of a cable. Grab and go.

Rumor has it that the iPhone 8 will offer “wireless” charging, too.

Usefulness: A

23. Samsung Pay

Loop Pay was a phone dongle that could trick a credit-card reader into thinking that you’d actually swiped a card through it. In 2015, Samsung bought Loop and built its technology into its Galaxy phones.

(Here’s my review.)

It’s hard to believe. You wave the phone near the card-reader slot, up to a couple of inches away, and — beep! — you’ve just paid.

This is nothing like Apple Pay and Android Pay, which work only at checkout terminals that have been upgraded to work with them. In the big picture, there just aren’t very many places to use Apple Pay and Android Pay.

But Samsung Pay works almost everywhere that fine credit cards are swiped—90% of all checkout counters.

Usefulness: A

24. Always-on screen

The phone’s screen never goes fully dark. When it’s “asleep,” you still see the current time, battery charge, and notification summaries.

The S8’s screen is almost never fully dark.

“Won’t that eat the battery up?” Yes, a few percent; you can turn the feature off if you like. But it’s kind of handy, especially if you use your phone as a watch.

Usefulness: A

25. Smart Unlock

This is an Android feature, not a Samsung feature, but it’s cool: You can set things up so that as long as the phone is in a certain place (like your home), within range of a certain Bluetooth device (like your Fitbit [FIT]), or on your person (based on your body motion), it won’t keep locking. You won’t need a password, fingerprint, or whatever to unlock it.

Obviously, you won’t turn this on if you work at, you know, the NSA. But when you’re alone at home, why shouldn’t you enjoy a little convenience?

Usefulness: A

26. Headphone jack

Yep. Samsung managed to create a waterproof phone without sacrificing the headphone jack. So much for Apple’s “courage.”

Usefulness: A

27. Expansion slot

You can outfit your S8 with a tiny micro SD card for additional storage—lucky, since there’s only one S8 model (with 64 gigs of memory). The memory-card thing isn’t quite as good as built-in storage, because the phone treats it as an external drive, and it’s up to you to manage which data and apps get stored in which place, and some apps can’t be on the card. But for photo and video storage—awesome.

Usefulness: A–

The counterpunch

Of course, the iPhone has a long list of its own exclusives, like stereo speakers, a pressure-sensitive screen (press harder for more options), an optical zoom on the camera (on the Plus), built-in storage options up to 256 gigabytes, and twice the storage (128 gb) for the same price.

Above all, there’s the software—iOS 10—and the Apple ecosystem. Apple’s gotten more feature-happy of late, but it’s still the world leader in simplicity and coherence. You would never catch Apple bloating up your screens with duplicate apps and junkware. Apple’s apps are far more consistent in design and operation. You’ve got the Apple Stores to visit for on-the-spot fixes and help. You’ve got the glorious flexibility of sending iMessages instead of short, limited texts.

And then there’s the tight integration between Macs and iPhones. You know: Copy some text on your phone, paste it one second later on your laptop. Read a web article on the subway on your phone, sit down at your Mac at home to see the same site. That kind of thing.

In a way, then, all of these comparison articles (including this one) are missing a key point. They’re interesting for monitoring the state of the art, but they shouldn’t be called, “Which one should you buy?” Moving from the Apple ecosystem to the Google/Samsung ecosystem, or vice versa is a big, expensive hassle that not many people undertake. You have to re-buy all your apps. You have to buy all new chargers. You have to do a lot of relearning.

But clearly, the Galaxy S8’s hardware is a beast. A huge leap beyond the iPhone 7. So the ultimate experience would be the hardware features of the Galaxy S8, running the software and ecosystem of the iPhone.

Well, who knows? If the rumors are right, we’ll be getting something like that in the iPhone 8.

More from David Pogue:

Inside the World’s Greatest Scavenger Hunt: Part 1    •  Part 2   •   Part 3  •  Part 4  •  Part 5

The most important announcements from Google’s big developer’s conference

Google Home’s mastermind has no intention of losing to Amazon

Now I get it: Ransomware

Google exec explains how Google Assistant just got smarter

Amazon’s Alexa calling is like a Jetsons version of the home phone

David Pogue, tech columnist for Yahoo Finance, welcomes nontoxic comments in the comments section below. On the web, he’s davidpogue.com. On Twitter, he’s @pogue. On email, he’s poguester@yahoo.com. You can read all his articles here, or you can sign up to get his columns by email. 

[archivingspn]

Los Angeles Times: “Two networks. A writers’ strike. COVID-19. Now, ‘Supernatural’ faces one last twist “

“Supernatural” has enjoyed 15 years of masked and made-up characters roaming the set, but in the final weeks of production, a different type of mask was on the minds of cast and crew.

“It was weird not seeing the faces that you’ve been looking at for 15 years, because they’re covered with a mask,” says Jensen Ackles, who plays Dean Winchester — a nomadic hunter of demons and other supernatural beings — on the show.

“It was unique, but I feel like ‘Supernatural’ has been through a lot. Writers’ strikes and network changes and characters dying and characters coming back and families and births and deaths,” says Jared Padalecki, who plays Dean’s younger brother and fellow hunter, Sam. “‘Supernatural’ is used to change, so let’s embrace it.” (...) What were your emotions going into filming this last season, given the times we’re in?

Padalecki: A lot of the unknown. I felt like, we have been going in to shoot a TV show for 15 years in “normal times,” and now it’s like “Hey, we have some regulations.” There are lanyards that have different colors and only certain people can be around certain people so we can contact trace if, God forbid, somebody contracts COVID[-19]. There’s a taped-off entrance and a taped-off exit so we can keep it one-way. All of the food is individually wrapped and there’s no browsing at craft services.

Between action and cut, it was business as usual. You’re with your director and your cameramen and women and your cinematographer and with your fellow actors and actresses. And you’re like “Got it. This is comfortable. This is like a warm blanket.”

Ackles: The good news for our industry is that you’re capable to be still working and utilizing these protocols to stay inside and stay healthy. I know that Jared and I, we take our cues from the reactions that we get from our crew members, which is essentially our audience. Our audience is the two-dozen people that are onstage with us. The guy holding the mike, the guy behind the camera, the one pulling the focus. We know that if we can make them laugh or make them cry or get some kind of emotion out of them, we’re doing something. And that got taken away. So that was interesting. We just have to rely on our instincts and on each other to tell each other, “You hit it, you nailed it, you got it.”

I miss shaking hands. I know that sounds weird. I just miss giving someone a bro hug. I know that sounds trivial, but that contact is an important part of what we do on a daily basis in terms of the tone that we set on our set. (...) You guys beat out Harry Potter as the top fandom in pop culture back in 2016. How has your understanding of fandom changed by being on a show as popular as “Supernatural?”

Padalecki: No way! I had absolutely no idea. To be mentioned in the same sentence is really a testament to just how talented our writers and crew are, and just how wonderfully and passionately supportive our fandom is. Behind the scenes, we refer to “our fandom” as “The #SPNFamily,” as they have become a family of their own. They’ve spent countless hours spreading the word about the show and showering us with the love and support that we certainly needed and felt during rough times. Being on the opposite side of that, I’ve realized just how much good people can accomplish together. A lot of them have made best friends, visited various cities, and raised an incredible amount of money and goodwill for assorted charities. It’s been an honor to be a part of it.

Ackles: We beat out Harry Potter? That’s crazy! I think that the Harry Potter fans were probably just looking for a more mature show and that was us. I will say that the fandom that this show found, or that found this show, really have become an integral part of the success of this show. They are part of the fabric of what has kept this show alive and running as hard and as fast for 15 years that it has. They are also well-connected, which is really rare for a show that started 15 years ago. It’s probably more customary now for fans to get online and have chat rooms. “Supernatural” started before the iPhone was around. We were still shooting on 35mm film.

It seemed that, during many previous seasons, the show could’ve ended. Now that it has, was your walk into the sunset what you imagined?

Padalecki: Let’s just say, our last scene — we don’t know if they’re alive or dead, but the last scene that I filmed as Sam Winchester, both as Sam and as Jared, I could not be more happy.

For the first several seasons, and that’s the nature of TV, it’s written to where it could end or it could stay around because you don’t really know for a couple of months whether you’re going back to work or not. I would say that probably when Mark Pedowitz came into the network and said he believed in the show, that’s when I was like, “OK. Let’s make the show that we only can do with the support of the head of our network.”

Ackles: I feel like this was the version that needed to happen — that needed to exist. There could’ve been other ways of maybe getting to there, but I think the finality of this is right. I also think that this could’ve been done a long time ago. To be fair, Eric Kripke, who started the show and created the world, said he had five years and he stuck to it. That could’ve very easily been the whole run of the show. The fact that he left that door open and we were able to go through it and find another 10 years of story was just a testament to what a great world he built and what great characters he created.

What kept you around for 15 years?

Ackles: There’s an old adage in Hollywood, ‘You want to see an actor complain, give him a job.’ Well, that wasn’t going to happen with me. The last thing I wanted to do was sabotage a good gig just to go back and find another one. I was super stoked right off of the bat with the story and this character. It’s the kind of character I always loved seeing in movies. The character was modeled after Han Solo and another one of Harrison’s [Ford] characters, Indiana Jones. He had some of that flavor in there. Kind of a John McClane. ...

When it comes down to it, why did I stick around all these years? Because I truly loved it.

[source]

[truemedian]

Dear Apple: don’t let a trackpad turn the iPad into a Mac

Good morning and congratulations on making it through another week. I had been planning on writing about some of the issues I had while writing my Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra review — specifically my bafflement that Samsung is once again asking reviewers like me to be beta testers. It’s inconceivable that the company didn’t realize there were issues with the camera and also very strange that it didn’t so much as hint at a software update to me until the day before yesterday. I’ll say it again: never buy anything on the hope that future software updates will fix it. Wait. But we covered it pretty well in The Vergecast coming out later today, so please give it a listen. Instead, to the surprise of absolutely nobody given my obsession with how companies are trying to get big-screen computers beyond the UX paradigms of the 1980s and 90s, I’m interested in an iPad rumor about a keyboard. The news is simply that Apple is reportedly releasing an iPad keyboard with a trackpad later this year. It’s a good scoop from The Information. A good piece to read next is about something Jason Snell noticed in the iOS beta released earlier this month: better support for keyboard functions like modifier keys. A third thing to note is that Apple software boss Craig Federighi said, “If you like what you’ve seen us do with iPadOS, stay tuned, we’re going to keep working on it.” If you’re wondering when this might happen, the Apple-o-sphere has all been working on the belief that Apple will be holding a Spring hardware announcement. There are too many rumored products to fit into one event, but a new iPad Pro and a new keyboard for it would definitely make the cut. Given all the recent tech event cancellations due to the coronavirus, however, Apple might be rethinking its plans right now. In any case, I have many thoughts about the iPad — which you might have guessed since I’ve been writing about the iPad’s evolution as a computer so often over the past few years. I would love to speculate on the physical shape and design of the keyboard, but I think that’s better left until later, when we have a better idea of what it might look like. Instead, I just want to point out that the iPad is an OS that is currently hostile to mouse input. I don’t mean that as a criticism, but I do think it’s just stating facts. I know there are people who have enabled the “AssistiveTouch” mouse feature, but what it mainly does is let you emulate your finger taps with a mouse. That means it’s not actually all that helpful with two things that mice excel at: tapping tiny UI buttons and working with text. I’m on record as thinking that Apple’s recent attempts to improve text manipulation like selecting, copying, pasting, and even cursor placement are not very good. And since AssistiveTouch currently only supports acting like a finger, it doesn’t help. I bring this up because I have a radical idea: what if the only thing trackpad support brings to the iPad is better text manipulation? I actually think that is the right move for Apple, at least to start. With the new iPadOS last year, Apple was incredibly ambitious. It added all sorts of new ideas and interaction models to the UI, some of which were confusing. In my original review, I gave Apple credit for finally allowing the iPad to become complicated and I stand by that. But I also believe that it’s not intuitive because its features can’t be progressively learned over time — you basically have to watch or read tutorials, which is incredibly un-Apple-like. I bring all this up because right now the iPad has a lot going on with its overall user interface and I sort of feel that the last thing Apple should do is add yet another variable to the mix. Unless Apple is planning its second major re-think of how we interact with the iPad in two years, it’s just too much of a burden to put on users. Because, as I’ve said before, using a mouse is fundamentally a weird thing to do — it’s actually a level of abstraction beyond just touching the display. It only feels “intuitive” because so many of us learned to use one first, and because “desktop” operating systems do such a good job of progressively teaching you new skills as you use them. They’re consistent and learnable in a way the iPad’s more advanced features simply aren’t. I don’t want Apple to fall back on the crutch of just using desktop OS paradigms to solve the iPad’s user interface intuitiveness problem. The last thing we should want is for the iPad to turn into a Mac. It’s on a different path and it would be a shame to have those ideas tossed out the window just so we can have more traditional windows on the iPad. But I’m not anti-trackpad. I do think it would be a huge help for text selection and it would allow some app developers to create smaller touch targets on their apps. Plus, and this may be anathema to some, the iPad makes a lot of use of right-click style actions now (just long press to see them), and a trackpad could help with that too. If you haven’t done so in awhile, go on and watch Steve Jobs’ seminal iPhone introduction. Pay special attention to how he talks about styluses and fingers. It’s easy to forget now, but the iPhone was a radical reinvention of user interfaces compared to what most people had used. Only a tiny sliver of apps on smartphones were designed to be used with a finger — shout out to SnapperMail, my favorite email app for the Treo and the subject of a wonderful 2003 Walt Mossberg review. None of the smartphone operating systems before the iPhone were optimized for fingers, though. They all required a stylus or physical buttons to get around. The iPhone UI was revolutionary because it just had one button — the home button — and it was designed from the ground-up to be touched. The iPad continued that legacy, just on a big screen. Adding a trackpad to that seems like a good idea, but I dearly hope it doesn’t take away from all the benefits we get from a purely touchscreen interface. We already have the Mac, the iPad doesn’t need to turn into one too.

Coronavirus

┏ Facebook cancels F8 developer conference due to coronavirus concerns. ┏ Plague Inc. pulled from the App Store in China amid coronavirus outbreak. In late January, Plague Inc. saw a resurgence in downloads in China and became the country’s top paid iOS game. In response, Ndemic Creations released a statement reminding players that Plague Inc., while it was designed to be realistic and informative about how diseases spread, is just a game. It’s currently the top paid game in the US App Store. “We would always recommend that players get their information directly from local and global health authorities,” the company said in January. ┏ Tim Cook says Apple is reopening factories as China gets ‘coronavirus under control’. ┏ Health secretary Alex Azar won’t promise that a coronavirus vaccine would be affordable. ┏ Coronavirus merch is somehow worse than I expected.

More from The Verge

┏ Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra review: shutter bug. Here’s my review. I hope Samsung bucks the trend of camera software updates usually not improving things. Samsung called this phone the S20 instead of the S11 to indicate that it is the first of a new generation, and that might be too revealing. As impressive as the overall phone is, the camera often acts like a first-gen tech product with first-gen tech problems. ┏ Robots aren’t taking our jobs — they’re becoming our bosses. Important, deep piece from Josh Dzieza. Well written and empathetic. Think of all the tiny moments of downtime you have during the day, the time where you’re just with yourself for a minute. AI tracking of workers is taking that away. An Amazon worker in the Midwest described a bleak vision of the future. “We could have algorithms connected to technology that’s directly on our bodies controlling how we work,” he said. “Right now, the algorithm is telling a manager to yell at us. In the future, the algorithm could be telling a shock collar—” I laughed, and he quickly said he was only partly joking. After all, Amazon has patented tracking wristbands that vibrate to direct workers, and Walmart is testing harnesses that monitor the motions of its warehouse staff ┏ It’s hard to care about other people’s feelings online. I love this essay from Bijan Stephen. Acting with empathy on platforms that reward snark is hard and you often end up looking painfully earnest. But do it anyway. ┏ Vivo’s Apex 2020 concept has breakthrough cameras and an ultra-curved screen. As Sam Byford notes, this phone was supposed to be shown at Mobile World Congress. Hopefully Vivo seeds it to some people to play around with even though it’s never going to get released, because I would love to see the results of some independent tests of a proper optical zoom lens on a phone: The Apex 2020’s telephoto lens, however, has actual moving lens elements that take it from 5x to 7.5x magnification. Vivo says the 16-megapixel module is just 6.2mm thick due to its periscope design, which allows it to fit inside the 8.8mm-thick phone. ┏ Uber tweaks its app to improve those pesky pickups. This is a very smart idea, though it does mean that drivers’ phones will have their microphones turned on. If I were Uber, I would get an independent auditor to go through the code every now and then to verify that the only thing the microphone is doing is listening for the ultrasound. Uber is also developing a new technology that uses ultrasound waves to automatically verify you’re in the right car, no PIN needed. The rider’s phone will send this ultrasonic signal to the driver’s phone to automatically verify the unique PIN. The company has said that technology should be ready to roll before the end of 2019. ┏ Clearview AI’s client list includes 2,200 organizations spanning law enforcement to universities. ┏ Peloton settles lawsuits over songs being used in fitness videos without permission. ┏ AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile will be fined more than $200 million for selling customer locations, per report. Read More Read the full article

[anneedmonds]

Sunday Tittle Tattle: Nippleback

I finally caved in, after over ten years of owning an iPhone, and bought myself a protective case. Why the prolonged hesitation? I’ll tell you why. I genuinely think that most phone cases are horrendous. They’re like the tech version of Crocs. Plasticky, garish monstrosities that just seem to be needlessly bad. Design abominations. And what’s worse is that they take an object of great design beauty, the iPhone – so divine in its apparent simplicity, so streamlined! – and clothe it in fancy dress.

Whether it’s a rectangular neoprene wetsuit affair or some kind of angular, metallic thing that adds four kilos to the total weight of the handset, pretty much all iPhone cases look shite.

But anyway I bought two. (I kept my old phone – see below.) One is all gold and shiny and jagged, like a teen’s drawing of a futuristic supercar, the other is a rubbery coral-toned sheath. A kinky flesh suit for my new iPhone 11 Pro Max, which was a very kind Christmas present from Mr AMR and I had no idea quite how kind until I accidentally stumbled upon the price online whilst looking for phone tripods. It’s the sort of price that warrants full-time security and a driver, or at least one of those briefcases with a chain that you can handcuff to your person.

Anyway, back to the rubbery sheath. It has this funny pop-out thing at the back that looks a bit like a weird nipple; it pulls out with a satisfying thrrrp and helps you to grip the phone, if having a phone almost entirely covered in non-slip material isn’t grippy enough for you. Perhaps your fingers are made of banana skins or the tips produce a constant flow of melted lard. I don’t know. You’d have to be pretty bloody clumsy to not get a grip on a silicon case.

And I look at these cases and think this: why have I spent a fortune buying an iPhone, an object that has surpassed all usual standards of design and function, an absolute tech icon, and then put a case on it that’s so ugly you have to question the designer’s sanity? It’s like throwing a polyester dog blanket over a George Smith sofa, or wrapping a Ferrari FF in sticky back plastic, or clothing Michelangelo’s David in a tracksuit from Boohoo.

But I’ll tell you why I’ve put a case on: because the iPhone is too naked and vulnerable without one. With its glass casing it’s more like a phone foetus than a fully-formed piece of tech – one wrong move, one rushed pants-pull-down to go to the loo when it’s in your back pocket, one child’s clumsy swipe and the whole shebang is game over. Carrying an iPhone about is like being responsible for a Fabergé egg – you’re constantly catching it mid-air, comedy-style, and breathing a sigh of relief when a knock results in “just a small crack in the corner but it doesn’t affect the screen”.

And all of this is the fault of the iPhone designers, who have made what is now our most-used modern-world thing out of the most fragile material they could think of. They may as well have folded it out of origami paper or covered it in the crumbling pages from a 12th century monastic ledger. I just can’t even conceive what was happening in the meeting where they discussed manufacturing.

“OK guys, I am loving this iPhone idea. It’s like a cell phone, but so much more. I mean, I totally see people using this all of the time – like all the time. Not just for calls, but for everything. Schedules. Emails. Taking photos. I want this to be in people’s hands constantly, I want them to carry it with them everywhere. In the car, walking down the sidewalk, at the mall, on a family trip to the ocean…”

“Yeah boss, this is so awesome. It’ll be, like, the accessory. The most-used thing people will ever own. Question is guys, what do we make it from? This piece of expensive tech that the world will carry with them and probably put in their back pocket loads? Let’s put our heads together here guys. Over there in the corner, you there – Sam, what d’you reckon? What should we make the iPhone out of?”

“Erm…glass?”

“Awesome Sam. Alright team, let’s go ahead and manufacture in glass. If you could also make it super-slippy to hold, and also create weak points in the screen and casing so that if a spider sneezes it immediately shatters, that would be super-awesome. Let’s go guys, let’s do this!”

I still haven’t gotten used to my sheathed iPhone. Sometimes it takes me surprise and I look at it and think “that phone cannot possibly be mine.” Alas it is. I feel as though I’ve had a horrific hairdye job and I sort of forget about it until I look in the mirror and then, for a few seconds, I have a sense of disbelief. How could I have gone so dreadfully wrong? 

But anyway, my iPhone now has the equivalent of a hi-vis hazmat bullet proof wetsuit on and so I’m sure it feels a lot safer. (It ponders upon this as it lies there on its charger-pad bed. The fact that it’s so brilliantly, perfectly formed, yet it needs so much help to survive. “Why did Daddy make me so weak?”)

I bought another case, too, for my old iPhone, the one that I didn’t trade in. WHAT? you may well ask. One always trades in, surely? Not I, friends, not in this case. And do you know why? Yes, the £350 was a massive temptation, but I can tell you a bigger temptation: having a spare phone filled with noisy/educational game apps for the sproglings to play on when I want a moment’s peace. Because do you know what I like to do when I’m having that moment’s peace? I like to play on my phone! There’s nothing more frustrating than sitting down with a cup of tea and a slice of Christmas cake (it’s still going strong, well done Mother) and realising you can’t actually scroll through Instagram or read the news because the very thing giving you a spare five minutes is the thing you need!

Anyway, I bought a case for the games phone (extravagant, but quite honestly there’s no price you can put on sanity, is there?) and good God it’s even uglier than my silicon nipple-backed one. (Nippleback. Could be a Nickelback tribute band!) It’s all angular and weird like Kryton from Red Dwarf.

The oddest thing about it is that it has a porthole cutaway so that the apple symbol can still be seen. Oh good! At least if people see the apple then they won’t think that the entire phone is an Early Learning Centre replica. It screams “there is good design inside me! You just have to look deeper! Beauty isn’t all skin deep you know!” Good bloody job really isn’t it?

Putting a sleek, flawless iPhone into the Kryto-case is like making Gisele routinely wear a suit made from egg cartons.

“Uhhhh, Clarissa?”

“Yeah.”

“We’re shooting Gisele for the cover tomorrow and we need to keep Chanel happy but she’s currently working with Dior, so…we have the bias-cut Dior drop-neck slip or we have the Chanel bikini styled with the snow boots.”

“Uhh, really? OK no, scrap those. Can you just go to fifth floor and ask if they’re still recycling the egg boxes? I’ll make them into a suit.”

“A…suit? We’re paying fifteen thousand dollars for a phone – I mean a model – and we’re going to hide her in an egg carton suit?”

“Yeah don’t worry, we can cut a hole out somewhere so that you still see how good her body is underneath.”

Don’t know where that semi-analogy was off to! Anyway you get the gist. I’m not impressed with these cases – even the apple ones look rubbish, although slightly less rubbish. To be quite honest I do wish I’d bought the silicon Apple one, which doesn’t have a Nippelback and is a nicer shade of pink. I think it was cheaper, to add insult to injury…

If you’re looking at these cases thinking I don’t actually think they look that bad then a) observe an unadulterated iPhone – isn’t it quite smooth and perfect and wonderful? – and b) you’re probably right but if I didn’t fully exaggerate all of my thoughts then I’d have nothing to write about.

Mind you, the three lens thing on the back of the new iPhones is almost as hideous as a Nippleback – I feel as though my new phone is an escapee from a robotics junkyard and any minute the front will open and little wheels will drop down and it’ll start beeping at me like R2D2. It’s an excellent camera but jeez. Chill out on the lens orgy!

Notes so that I don’t get sued: apparently Apple have made the new phone out of the strongest metal-strengthened glass known to the entire universe. The extra lenses are necessary for the super-duper image quality and both of the cases shown above are top-rated, high-performing cases that shouldn’t be mocked.

The post Sunday Tittle Tattle: Nippleback appeared first on A Model Recommends.

©2020 " Sunday Tittle Tattle: Nippleback published first on https://medium.com/@SkinAlley