#there was no way to shorten it without cutting out key points in a way that made sense

[dksw0rld]

How I Achieved Glass Skin Without Trying

Yes, you read that right. I achieved glass skin literally without trying at all. With glass skin being pretty much the last thing on my mind actually. Partly because I was never insecure about my skin as I really didn't have any acne issues. I had smaller bumps on my forehead and a little bit on the other parts of my face but no big breakouts or chronic issues. Also partly because I was so focused on something else...want to learn how you can also achieve clear skin without actually trying to achieve clear skin? Keep reading for all the deets.

Okay, so, as I mentioned above - clear skin was not my focus. It was genuinely the last thing on my mind. My focus was on something better. My focus was (and is) on my overall health. Women nowadays are so focused on 10 step skincare routines to achieve clear skin and retain youthfulness. This is not me putting anyone down, if a 10 step skincare routine makes you happy than by all means continue on! I'm merely pointing out that women don't need to do all of that to heal their skin. The key word in that last sentence is heal. But enough of me talking, here's what I did to completely clear my skin by focusing on my overall health. **Everything I name below are things I still do.

Diet

I focused on consuming nourishing foods

I have veggies and / or fruit at every meal. No exception. I don't go a day without consuming them. I focus on foods that nourish my body from the inside out. I don't eat processed anything. I consume other types of carbs, not just bread or pasta.

2. I began to drink coconut water and pure pineapple juice first thing in the morning

I drink 8 - 10oz of coconut water mixed with pineapple juice every morning. I've seen a big difference with my hydration levels throughout the day.

3. I severely limited fizzy drinks

There's a specific brand of sparkling water I love (it's called Clear American) and I used to drink it regularly. There's nothing super unhealthy about this brand but it's still carbonated. When I began to limit drinking sparkling water, I noticed a difference in my body and skin. I also very rarely drink soda, and if I do it's always Ginger Ale. I mainly drink water with lemon, organic lemonade and hot tea.

4. I limit bread to one meal a day

I always eat a type of carb during breakfast as they give me the energy I need to go through the day. *Side note* carbs are not bad for you. Your body needs them! Processed carbs are what should be avoided. Anyways, I only eat bread one time a day and then I'll eat other types of carbs throughout the day. The bread I eat is always the least amount of processed possible. I only eat sourdough or whole grain bread. I like going to famers markets to purchase my bread. If I don't eat bread for breakfast then I'll potentially eat a slice or two at lunch but I avoid eating bread for dinner. I like to consume things my body can more easily break down at dinner.

5. I cut out alcohol

I never drank a whole lot. I've always been a 'glass of wine while hanging with my best friend' type of woman, but if I was out on the town I would drink cocktails. I cut mixed drinks out completely. If I go out I'll order a pineapple juice or ginger beer (which despite its name, is nonalcoholic). I will very occasionally have a glass of wine but that's about it.

6. I limited my caffeine intake

I have a cup of coffee with creamer and sugar in the morning and that's it for coffee. If I'm slowing down in the middle of the day I drink water first and make sure to get up and take a walk around my office to get my blood flowing. If I'm still dragging after a full cup of water and 30 minutes, I'll drink a chai, other caffeinated tea or a matcha.

Lifestyle

1. I shortened my skin care routine to 2-3 steps

Your skin does not need a lot. It needs to be taken care of from the inside out way more than it needs products on it. In the morning I do a serum, very very light exfoliation and a moisturizing hyaluronic acid lotion. At night I cleanse, put on eye cream and use the same lotion. Once or twice a week I'll do a face mask. That's it! When I switched to this simple routine and focused on my overall health, my skin began to thrive.

2. I began to walk more

I sustained an injury so I wasn't able to walk as much as I was before. Once my injury healed and I was able to walk again (in the midst of all the other changes I was making), I noticed a difference in my energy level and changes in my body. Walking is so great for you, including great for your skin!

3. I began to sleep with a satin pillowcase every night

I ditched the regular pillowcase and switched to a satin one. I did this switch for my hair, not my skin but I've noticed it's helped with my skin a lot as well.

That's it! Once I made these simple changes and was consistent with them, I began to notice how much more amazing I felt. Then one day I looked up and my skin was completely clear. Not a small bump in sight. You don't need to buy all these acne products off of Amazon to get rid of your problem areas. Focus on nourishing and healing your body from the inside out. That's the secret.

[snowblack-charcoalwhite]

I used to scratch my head when some people (mostly TB fans) compared Aemond to Ramsay (once I read that he was a combination of Jon Snow and Ramsay, believe it or not) and Rhaenyra to Daenerys. However, it seems that Condal and the rest of those clowns think the same because the way they write Aemond this season is atrocious. I wouldn't be surprised if he flayed someone alive at this point. And Rhaenyra is more rational and less cruel than Daenerys so she is actually an upgrade, according to them. It's such a shitshow atp. And to think that i used to wake up at 3 am (when the show airs in my country) just to watch it since it was an old habit of mine since the got era. All that excitement is lost now and it just makes me sad. Idk, I really hate this season not only for the butchering of the characters I liked, but also for many inconsistencies, plotholes, rushed plots, cheap and badly executed callbacks to GoT with zero logic and respect for the lore (e.g. the whole food riot suplot). It's too much. But I guess the fandom is easy to please because they talk the most about Seasmoke "adorably" chasing Addam or Rhaenyra and Mysaria's kiss after this episode. And many of them were yapping about horrible season 8 of GoT and its writing decisions. Hot take: I really miss Game of Thrones because it was in general a really good adaptation and the problems started when they ran out of the source material and with the shortened seasons (they obviously didn't learn that lesson and we got another shortened season which is, surprise, surprise, bad) . Still, i enjoyed the last seasons of GoT far more than I enjoy s2 of hotd. Controversial or not, this is the truth.

Good day/night to you!

Actually, I don't think that believing GoT, even taking into account the flop that were seasons 7 and 8, to be way superior to HotD is such a hot take anymore. A lot of things went wrong by the end of the original series but ultimately, at the very least, the audience (myself included) came to care deeply for the characters by having been on a very long journey with them - and because the characters were well established. In HotD though... Well, after watching 6 episodes of season 2 I look at the characters and feel that without the actors' input (I mean amazing acting as well as them sharing their takes on their characters in interviews), the sourse material and, in some cases, good foundations laid in season 1 I wouldn't really care about them.

As for unwillingness of HotD writers and showrunners to cut the proverbial apron strings tethering them to GoT, it is both ridiculous and sad. Ridiculous - because of the amount of references and attempted copy-pastes (with some adapting twists). Sad - because sometimes it feels like in part this lack of originality stems not only from the desire to play the nostalgia card but also from the lack of belief in their own ability to tell a compelling new story. And I say "attempted" because at the end of the day the parallels don't work. Rhaenyra is no Daenerys - she is but a shadow of her, bland, passive and boring. Aegon is no Joffrey (and never was - not even when the writers unashamedly pushed this parallel after season 1) - he is way too sensitive and cares too much to be like him. Even after what the writers have done to Aemond, he is still no effing Ramsay Bolton - whatever he did or does next will not produce the same impression Ramsay's atrocities made at least because of rushed and fumbled execution - and because Ewan doesn't play him that way. And for sure Viserys "if I ignore the problems piling up around me maybe they'll just disappear" Targaryen is no Ned Stark.

As for Aegon and Aemond, writers themselves keep saying contradictory things about these characters. They keep low-key (in Aegon's case even not so low-key, at least in the past) pushing for these Joffrey/Ramsay parallels - but in the same breath are waxing poetic about the complexities of Aegon and Aemond's nature and are trying for nuance in the narrative as well. What game are they playing?

All in all, my take on it is that GoT became iconic (even the atrocious ending - which also became legendary in its own ironic way) while HotD as a TV series for now mostly feels shallow and forgettable. Like you said, it's s damn shame HBO hired incompetent amateurs to build the project meant to atone for the sins of the last seasons of GoT - and these amateurs ended up making something that turned out to be even worse.

[visiblenostalgia]

The Future Of The Internet: Data Sets

(and dominant sign+planet calculations)

as fated by my last post, I’ve since ran the numbers and figured out what planets/signs to look for in regards to the future of the digital space.

FYI:

-> All shortened key points will be shown in the graphs alternative description.

The Process:

(personally, not professionally) calculated planets all have been started with a base value of '1.5' to give leverage so there wouldn't be any wonky zero's and non-values for extra measure. These will be dependent variables based on if there was a case of exaltation or dominance which adds a point, and if they were in fall or detriment to dock them a point. That way, the minimal value that can be traced was a '0.5' at the lowest. The highest (because of adding another point based on how many times a sign got ticked, therefore the ruling planet gets emphasis), can result in a '5.5'.

However, what can be said for the signs, is that all have a base value of '1'. signs have been added points based on how many planets have touched it and which degree they were applicable too (therefore giving them an extra point based on degree theory). These would be our independent variables. Because of the fact it's all based on how many times this sign was marked in the ephemeris at the time of data collection.

Without further ado..... more after the cut

The Content:

Date 1: The Internet

April 30th 1993

In terms of planets:

Because of how new it was back then and due to the fact that it was an open ticket to letting the creativity of the people manifest quickly, small businesses and people alike would begin to put their external or internal personality out there. Hence the Sun and Moon being the two most dominant objects within the chart.

It makes sense because of the rapid non-retrograde cycles for the two Luminaries to rule over the internet. Those change day by day and seeing at how we do things around here in the digital space, you can see where things change without a second thought.

One day it's the Kendrick n' Drake drama. Hitting you in the feels and getting you hyped up for the next drop. The next day it would have been.... god knows what else.

For it to cast lunar dominance also makes sense because of the strong pull to cast out emotionally-pulling articles/topics. Protests have been emotional, songs and influencers have this emotional spin on them, there's nothing stopping someone from expressing their issues on the internet. Hence why there's a bigger influence of people who have had it rough IRL on there. People flock to a place where they can be real.

Sadly though, since empathy also occurs within people, sometimes there's a propensity to worry about someone you don't know about irl. Be wise you never know if it's emotional bait either.

That can align well with lunar dominance as an Achilles heel for it. Manipulation and baiting.

Solar dominance would also and more likely be aligned with influencers. Check out any youtube's chart and look to their sun for a basic run-down on how their internet influence looks. Heck, if you're thinking about your hypothetical brand, what's your sun sign? Look for that!

The achilles heel for the solar dominance? Power. More preferably: Absolute power. You'll see THAT with some political figures or influencers. Dogma. Lots of ego. Not knowing when to slow down.

In terms of zodiacal sign:

Leo, Sagittarius and Capricorn take top spot.

The Leo energy can apply to the solar dominance stuff as stated above. But it's also inclined to rule over beauty standards and lots of glitz and glam. Enhancing the need to be 'popular' online.

Sagittarius would make sense due to the nature of the internet being what I like to call "man's greatest philosophical experiment". Not to mention the fact that libraries do give sagittarius energy as a whole. Internet Archive being a perfect case.

Capricorn as the final taker would have to stand a good case for being a business oriented place. Meant to be a second-hand referral place to a business. Paper-free business cards anyone?

The Possibilities and Vibes (Good):

For Lunar dominance = I don't know why but, being at your relative's/friend's house during Christmas, working on a website at their place while drinking a hot cocoa in the evening with that soft vintage glow of the ceiling fan. It's a second home for your internal self. Your *Alter* ego.

Solar = Pinterest. Lots and lots and lots of 'art hoe' vibes. Yellow colors and sunflowers. The sunflower caseify case for an iPhone. Sunflower stickers for your Macintosh/PC/Laptop (whatever you use).

Leo = wholesome beauty influencers. And I MEAAN wholesome. They bring everyone up legitimately instead of bringing someone down using subversive tactics to make someone think they look ugly. It's the kind to be all about 'good vibes' and even adding in sentences like 'if_____ isn't for you, that's okay! here's some alternatives.' and they go off.

AND LASTLY for our great giant ruling signs, lots of friendship energy. Getting together to have fun. Christmas break energy once again. The internet is a refuge. A vacation from real life whilst also being a place to work and get stuff done. Made for higher learning and business.

In fact on that last point I made. If the little ones weren't on it, I'm pretty sure the respect people have for one another like they did back in the 90s would still exist. (part of the Post-Break energy I see)

The Possibilities and Vibes (Concerning):

Lunar = Propensity to the manipulation and baiting people go looking for or creating online. Mental illnesses. Too much awareness that leaves people thinking too much, therefore poor mental health.

Solar/Leo = Popularity/Clout, unchecked ego

Sagittarius/Capricorn = Ghosting energy. Unchecked power. Hard serves of karma. Hacking. Communicative issues (Sag opposes Gemini (debilitated mercury))

Date 2: Geocities + Yahoo

January 28th 1999

In terms of planets:

The moon seems to still have a hold when the geocities website was acquired by yahoo. So, same good and bad from the above statements on the internet itself.

Jupiter dominance seems to show more of a propensity to expand ones horizons mentally. It sort of aligns well with the past energies of Sagittarius (due to the ruling planet BEING Jupiter). So, because of that, websites and internet hubs that were formally in the grid of being on their own network, hence "geocities", then the acquirement via Yahoo is quite literally a Jupiterian move. Choosing to merge and expand horizons for online dwellers.

In terms of zodiac signs:

Aquarius takes the top spot. Very much adding onto the effect of how humanity can turn their own piece of the internet into a hub for their own niche group. Must this point be the start of forums? Most likely.

Taurus sets itself up to be the next dominant sign right after Aquarius. Which, for Yahoo at the time, this was a big financial win for them. A good move to boost revenue while the people gained a positive aspect to be seen by more people online. Increasing availability and access to the people.

The Possibilities and Vibes (Good):

Because we look back on that now with nostalgia, it brought up the influence of Fruitger Aero. Or at least was the catalyst of it back then. Aquarius' ruling color IS an ice blue while Taurus has the earthy green tones that add to the welcoming energy of this proto-2.0 internet.

Gen Z and Xennials happy place. Lowkey was more fun back then cause of it, right?

The Possibilities and Vibes (Concerning):

Aquarius does have some bits of edgy humor. Many sites that were dedicated to some people's internal lives were sorta... gothic and sometimes even a little uncanny to be fair. But that was the allure of the internet since we had respect for people's aesthetic decisions. Everyone's ma'am's and grams wanted in on it. And you ended up going in too cause you were curious.

It was sort of like how the boomers said 'the kids played in the 100 degree weather with a metal slide. but they grew up and did okay' kind of energy.

For older Gen Z's (20 & over btw (basically myself as well)) it might go a little something like this; 'we went on supposedly haunted websites, played grand theft auto on the '360 and played slenderman games as well as found adult party websites cause we thought we were cool for doing so. it was funny and sometimes still is today, but we grew up alright. Right? Some of us have gone off to college...." you can include the rest here. Go nuts as you wish.

Date 3: Neocities

June 28th 2013

In terms of planets:

Lunar dominance still has some sway. Same for Jupiter in close third. Take what's been said above about the conjoining and accessibility of Geocities and Yahoo as reference.

The biggest dog by far here has got to be Neptune. Because of the fact that at the time of this website coding hub's creation also coincided with the first ten degrees of the Neptune in Pisces transit, there's a lot of illusive and mysteriousness to the vibes of the Neo-y2k internet. Alt/indie-sites were much on the chagrin of the looks of proto-2.0, but have also been inclined to be inclusive and welcoming to all those that wish to be here. Increased sensitivity and overbearing energy. A 'don't hurt them they're small' energy.

In terms of signs:

Cancer and Pisces dominance.

Notice how this place doesn't subject you to push for anything other than a hub to kick back and relax in. Scour through the psyche of many people and learn what they're into. Not to mention this also acts as a place where people can ignite their 'alter-ego's once again.

There's no need to be a business here. This is all for hobbies and nigh else. Sometimes it can also work as a family blog. And that makes sense. It brings people together to show what kind of coding they can pull off.

The Possibilities and Vibes (Good):

Lunar/Jupiter/Cancer= A second place to call home returns. The Alter Ego can return. Respect comes back full front and center. The vibes of being around the Christmas tree or with the universal/generational/found family come back.

Neptune/Pisces = you can create... whatever your heart desires. Because the internet has expanded so rapidly over the years after the merger between yahoo and the former geocities, there's so many textures and designs out there for people to use and conceptualize. Truly a place to get creative without scrutiny.

The Possibilities and Vibes (Concerning):

Cancer/Pisces/Moon/Neptune= Due to the way that the world works now, it's tough to get into. It's not like Wix and with people tending to now procrastinate (because of the technology addictions we've been getting ourselves into), it's rather small and niche. Nothing is ever handed to you on a plate, and it shows in some of the sites that people take forever to master/decorate it due to how much their own personal life outside of their tech takes up.

Jupiter = ..... I will say this much about it.... I find no negativity here with this planet when it concerns the iffy vibes I get with Neocities. It's just the struggle of finding your feet here.

For the future of the internet:

Points to check:

Anything aspecting Neptune or wherever Neptune transits to. Online culture and pop culture follows

Jupiter for how information and higher thought processes are taken into account

The Moon for the drama and what/how people will be beefing about in the online space

My predictions (shortened):

BREAK (which seems more likely with all the rage being sent everywhere online and especially within comment sections in certain places):

Smaller sized networks. More individualistic networks. Like Neocities, Tumblr and Discord will gradually be flocked to.

Great decrease in social media by some generations. (If parents don't watch their time on social media, the kids won't either. be a good model is all I can say)

Greater emphasis on learning how to use the tools we're given (at least with the upcoming Jupiter in Gemini transit)

If there are kids online (17 and under, yes I'm calling that out), they're gonna be talked to about the dangers in being online. Communication on the digital space. Confidentiality being the big main issue. Figuring out what's real and what isn't. Separating yourself FROM the addiction before the brain fully develops.

If political content reigns somewhere, may it be 4chan forever and always. Reddit seems like an easy blame, but 4chan is most definitely the place for political slander and content.

Big names like X, Meta, Wix and Youtube for example are gonna be the center network. People will still do their content through there, but it's greater emphasis on business suggests children shouldn't be roaming there in the first place.

Your best case of kids on the internet would be on Edmodo. If you don't know what that is, look it up. I used to use it back in the day during my days in elementary school because they were experimenting with that sorta thing.

As always, take what resonates and I hope y'all's weekends go well.

Thank you for your time in reading the statistics and the ratings. I hope I made my mark well!

See you on the flip side!

~visiblenostalgia

[oensible]

"Scott Hannan and @jasondemers5 teach @BrodieNBCS the art of the hockey breakout 😂🏒"

—Sharks on NBCS/X (2024 Mar 14)

[Video transcript: Brodie Brazil hosting a San Jose Sharks broadcast segment demonstrating some breakout strategies in ice hockey, featuring retired NHL defensemen and former Sharks Jason Demers and Scott Hannan. All three are in skates and have hockey sticks, but are dressed casually except for Brodie's helmet with no face protection and black-teal gloves, Hannan's Sharks teal gloves, and Demer's Oilers blue-orange gloves. Transcript below the cut.

BB: [Jason Demers], Scott Hannan, Tech CU Arena—we talk hockey on television; today, we're about to do it for real.

(Hannan uses his stick to whack Brodie's out of his hand and Demers smacks the helmet off his head, and the two skate off camera. Brodie holds his hands up as if in disbelief.)

SH: Let's get after it! (laughs)

BB: (smiling) Boys! Boys!

(Cut to a montage consisting of Hannan scoring a lacrosse-style goal with someone shouting, "Oh, there it was!", the three talking, some stickhandling and passing, and a faceoff.)

(Cut to Jason Demers skating towards a camera.)

JD: (shouting) What's the forecast call for?! (stops abruptly in front of the camera, dusting it with snow) JD: (looking up at the camera filming him) Snow.

(Resumes montage consisting of Demers attempting to knock his stick out of Brodie's hand, Hannan talking to Brodie, Brodie throwing his stick over his shoulder, more passing, and another faceoff, concluding on a shot of the three of them casually leaning an elbow on a net and looking at the camera.)

(Cut back to them standing in the middle of open ice.)

BB: Ok, we're back here at Tech CU Arena, and sometimes we talk about—

(Demers holds the blade of his stick in front of Brodie's face. Hannan smiles as Brodie turns to point a disapproving finger at Demers.)

BB: No, nope, that was 10 years ago, can't do that.

(Cut to a clip from the lockout-shortened 2012–13 NHL season of Brodie Brazil interviewing Sharks player Matt Irwin (#52) on the bench. Jason Demers (#5), who is sitting beside him, has his stick handle obnoxiously hovering in front of Irwin's face in the shot. Brodie glances over at him and Demers brings the stick back in closer to himself with a smirk.)

(Cut back to them standing in the middle of open ice.)

BB: We talk about Sharks offense. A good breakout doesn't actually happen center ice; it can happen, JD, 200 feet away from where you're trying to score.

JD: Yeah, as d-men, any time you wanna create fast offense, it starts on the breakout, and (gesturing to Hannan, smiling) JD: what we talked about when we played together all those eons and years ago, was having his—

BB: (laughing) Eons and eons and eons. He churned all the greats out, by the way, look at him. (gesturing to Hannan)

JD: Yeah, he—he always wanted me to go into the corner and take the hit for him so he could make the breakout but—

BB: (nodding and looking at Hannan apprehensively) Ohhh…

SH: He's got the quick feet! He was young!

JD: Yeah! (he and Hannan giggle)

BB: (to Hannan) So—so you're gonna demonstrate how to break the puck out without me, the forechecker, plastering you through the glass, right?

JD: (smiling) Well, one guy has to kinda take a little bit of the lump—we call it taking the cream, no pun intended. (Hannan laughs)

BB: (slowly nodding) Okay… Alright…

JD: That's what it's called. And—but what the thing we wanna stress today, the thing we wanna stress with kids is not getting too far apart, always staying close support…

BB: Okay…

JD: 'cause it's important because as a d-man, when I'm going to get the puck, I gotta know that if I just shovel it five feet either way, then my D-partner is coming and he has to know as a D-partner that that's where I'm going with it.

BB: Communicate.

SH: Communication is key, and for allowing him to protect himself. Especially when you get to hitting, we wanna have close so he doesn't have to make a big pass; he can protect himself; I'm there, take the puck, quick breakout the other way.

BB: Alright, (gesturing to the other two) two defensemen; I'll be the forechecker?

SH: (pointing to the loose chinstrap of Brodie's helmet) You gonna do that chinstrap up; are you gonna staple it on?

BB: (buttoning up the strap) I mean business today; yes, I will.

JD: (turning to the camera with a big smile) We're allowed reverse hits, apparently, so this will be fun. (NOTE: second half of his sentence isn't clearly picked up by the mic)

BB: (laughing) Oh, no! Alright, here we go!

SH: (pointing at Brodie wearing his helmet) Hey, JD, look how tight that thing is!

(Cut to Demers explaining a demonstration.)

JD: So, we're demonstrating first is coming out of the weak side, which is a—we call it net-dink which mean when I go in the corner, Brodie's gonna be taking the far side away, so what do I have to do? My D-man, when he sees that—he's my eyes—Scotty'll be my eyes and he's gonna yell "net, net, net!" I know when he yells that, that I'm just doing a little bump towards the net, taking the hit from Brodie, and then to allow Scotty to skate the puck out of the zone.

(Cut to demonstration.)

JD: Dump it in.

(Hannan passes the puck into the corner and Demers skates to it, Brodie following him.)

JD: He's comin'! So we're locked in—

SH: (shouting from offscreen) Net, net, net, net net!

(Demers passes the puck behind the net and Hannan follows it as Brodie gently checks Demers into the boards. Demers swiftly grabs him from behind and pins him against the boards, playfully smacking him in the helmet despite Brodie's protests.)

(Cut to another run-through of the same demonstration. This time, Brodie puts some more force into checking Demers, who shouts in surprise as Brodie skates away, cackling.)

(Cut to a third run-through of the demonstration. When Brodie checks Demers, he spins into the boards, plastering himself up on the glass with a dramatic scream as Brodie skates away. Demers acts as if he's shaking off the hit with an astonished look before also skating in the same direction.)

BB: Aw, yeah! Yeah!

(Cut back to them standing in the middle of open ice.)

SH: So part two of that is more—we saw JD say when the guy took down the wall. And this is the one where JD's kinda getting towards the net, the forechecker's coming from the middle, I'm in behind, and I'm gonna call a reverse to come up the strong side and the quick breakout— (pointing back out to the other side of the ice behind him) SH: Maybe even string a guy all the way down. If I see that, I'm lookin' up the ice—maybe it's a change, maybe it's something else—we can quick, hit, hit a guy at the blue line, take off.

(Cut to demonstration.)

JD: Ready?

(Demers skates from the left faceoff dot to behind the net as Brodie follows from the slot in front of the net.)

SH: (shouting from offcamera) Hey, heel, heel! Hey! (NOTE: his calls aren't clearly picked up by the mic so i'm not 100% sure if he's saying "heel" or "wheel" or something else that's similar)

(Demers passes the puck back up to Hannan along the boards on his side of the net and keeps skating around the back of the net, continuing along the boards in the opposite direction. Hannan skates with the puck high in his defensive zone, then passes it across the ice to Demers, who is calling out to him for the pass, in the neutral zone. Demers skates it into the offensive zone, pump fakes a shot on net, then passes it behind him for Hannan, who shoots it into the empty space where the other team's net would be as Brodie glides along a considerable distance behind him. Demers raises his arms in celebration as Hannan scores.

SH: That was a goal! Not many in my career, but I got a few. (He laughs)

(Cut to another run-through of the same demonstration. This time, there's a focus shot of Demers skating down the ice as he shouts, "Heel!" to call for the puck. Demers skates it straight in off Hannan's pass and shoots for the end boards, hitting the bottom of glass.

(Cut to a third run-through of the demonstration.)

SH: Hey! Heel, JD! (as Demers passes from down low to him) Back, back, back!

(On this third run-though, Demers spins with the puck after entering the offensive zone to pass it to Hannan at the faceoff dot, who proceeds to slapshot the puck into the end boards.)

(Cut back to the three of them leaning on the net.)

BB: So to recap, get the puck to your teammate—don't get your teammate killed.

JD: Communicate. (looking back and forth, over his shoulder at Hannan, then back in front of him at Brodie) JD: Communication eliminates duplication.

BB: Oh! (nodding appreciatively of the rhyme. Hannan also nods)

JD: (indistinct) …the right term, but it's one of the biggest things in the… that you can do as a teammate, and, I mean, it's one of the things that kids have lost the most, I think, in the new hockey, is just talking—just letting everybody know where you are on the ice eliminates so much guessing.

SH: Yeah, it's so much just focused on the skill development, not much on that, (Brodie laughs. Demers joins in, then Hannan also starts smiling.) SH: and it's the biggest part of the game, like you said.

JD: (nudging Brodie) Too old, too old, man yellin' at cloud, eh? (pointing up to the ceiling with his stick as Hannan laughs)

BB: Alright boys, I'll never look at a breakout the same way again. Thank you.

End of video description.]

[smallenginewreckers]

Breathe Easy, Cut Smooth: Why Air Filters and Chainsaw Parts Matter for Performance

If you're into gardening, landscaping, or working with tools, you probably know that chainsaws are beasts when it comes to cutting through timber, branches, or firewood. But like any hardworking machine, your chainsaw needs the right care to run smoothly—and one of the most underrated heroes in this story is the air filters.

In this blog, we’re breaking down why air filters and quality chainsaw parts are essential for your gear’s health, performance, and longevity. Whether you're a DIY enthusiast or a professional, understanding these small components can make a big difference in your tool's life and your safety.

The Role of Air Filters in Chainsaws

Let’s start with air filters. These handy parts are responsible for trapping dirt, sawdust, and debris from entering your chainsaw’s engine. Think of them as the lungs of your chainsaw—keeping things clean and breathing right.

When your chainsaw is out in the field, especially during heavy-duty cutting, it pulls in a lot of air. Without a proper air filter, dust and grime can find their way into the engine, causing clogs, inefficiencies, and even long-term damage.

What happens with a dirty or damaged air filter?

Reduced engine power

Higher fuel consumption

Hard starting or stalling

Shortened engine life

That’s why replacing or cleaning your air filter regularly is key. It’s a small part, but it has a massive impact.

Why Quality Chainsaw Parts Matter

Chainsaws are made up of many moving components—chains, sprockets, bars, spark plugs, carburetors, and more. Each part plays a role in keeping the saw running efficiently and safely.

Here’s why investing in quality chainsaw parts pays off:

Better Performance: Genuine or high-grade aftermarket parts help your chainsaw cut faster and smoother.

Longer Life: Replacing worn parts before they fail reduces wear on other components.

Improved Safety: Chainsaws are powerful tools, and using poor-quality parts can be dangerous.

Lower Costs: Preventive maintenance and quality parts reduce the chances of major breakdowns.

When one part breaks or wears out, it can affect the entire system. For example, a worn-out chain can overwork the motor, while a loose spark plug can cause misfires. Keeping all your parts in top shape ensures your chainsaw stays reliable.

Air Filters & Chainsaw Maintenance: The Perfect Pair

Think of air filters as a simple but powerful starting point for chainsaw care. Here’s how to keep both your air filters and other parts in peak condition:

✅ Check and Clean Regularly

Depending on usage, inspect the air filter every few uses. Tap it gently to remove dust or use compressed air. If it’s clogged or torn, replace it right away.

✅ Replace When Needed

Most air filters are affordable and easy to swap out. Don’t risk engine damage by pushing a dirty filter too far.

✅ Inspect Other Chainsaw Parts

While you’re looking at the air filter, check the chain tension, bar oil levels, spark plug, and chain sharpness. Small checks like these prevent big problems later.

✅ Use the Right Parts

Always choose parts that match your chainsaw's brand and model. Whether it's an air filter, chain, bar, or spark plug, correct fitment is essential.

When to Replace Your Air Filter

Wondering when to change it out? Here are some common signs:

The chainsaw is harder to start than usual

You notice a decrease in cutting performance

There's visible dirt or damage on the air filter

Black smoke is coming from the exhaust

Replacing the air filter only takes a few minutes and can make your chainsaw feel like new again.

Find the Right Parts Online

At Small Engine Wreckers, we offer a wide range of chainsaw parts and air filters for many leading brands like Stihl, Husqvarna, Echo, and more. Whether you’re fixing up an old saw or just doing a seasonal check-up, we’ve got you covered.

Our stock includes:

Foam, felt, and paper air filters

Chains, bars, and sprockets

Ignition coils, spark plugs, carburetors

And everything else your saw could need

Plus, our team is happy to help you find the exact match for your model if you're not sure where to start.

Final Thoughts

Chainsaws are powerful, but they’re only as strong as the parts inside them. By keeping your air filter clean and your chainsaw parts in good shape, you ensure your tool works harder, lasts longer, and keeps you safer.

[annadavidson243]

The Smart Way to Sell Your House for Cash and Speed 

When time is of the essence and financial flexibility is a priority, many homeowners consider one viable solution—sell your house for cash. It’s an increasingly popular method for those who need to sell their house fast without the hassle of traditional real estate processes. If you're facing a life transition, a financial challenge, or simply want a faster transaction, this option can be a game-changer. 

Why Choose to Sell Your House for Cash? 

Traditional home sales often involve numerous showings, inspections, negotiations, and mortgage approvals. This can stretch the selling process over several months. However, when you sell your house for cash, the timeline shortens drastically. Cash buyers typically waive financing contingencies and are ready to close the deal in as little as seven days. 

Speed is a compelling reason many choose this route, especially if you’re relocating for a job, managing foreclosure risk, or settling an estate. If your main objective is to sell your house fast, cash buyers offer the most straightforward path. 

Benefits Beyond Speed 

Selling cash isn’t just about speed—it’s also about certainty. Traditional buyers can back out at the last minute due to financing issues or unfavorable inspections. Cash buyers are typically experienced investors or companies who buy homes as-is, eliminating the need for repairs or staging. 

This not only saves time but also cuts out the cost of expensive upgrades. If you want to sell your house for cash, you skip realtor commissions, reduce legal complexities, and avoid many of the stressful unknowns. 

Ideal Situations for Cash Sales 

Several situations make a cash sale ideal: 

Inherited properties that are hard to manage 

Foreclosure threats that require urgent resolution 

Divorce settlements where asset division must be quick 

Downsizing or retirement where liquidity is needed quickly 

In all these scenarios, the priority is to sell your house fast. Cash offers make that possible. 

How the Process Works 

The process of selling your house for cash is simple: 

Contact a cash buyer or company: Provide basic information about the property. 

Schedule a property review: Usually a quick walk-through or photo review. 

Receive an offer: Often within 24–48 hours. 

Accept the offer: Set a closing date that works for you. 

Close and get paid: Often within days. 

Key Considerations 

Before jumping in, consider these points: 

Get multiple offers to ensure you're getting a fair deal. 

Understand the local market value to recognize reasonable offers. 

Work with reputable buyers with verified experience. 

While you may sacrifice a bit on price for speed, the advantages often outweigh the minor differences—especially when you need to sell your house fast. 

Conclusion 

If time, convenience, and certainty are your top priorities, then choosing to sell your house for cash could be your best strategy. This method is proven, efficient, and widely trusted by homeowners who seek a quick and hassle-free sale. When your goal is to sell your house fast, cash buyers bring the solution right to your doorstep. 

[shiftgolf]

Power and Precision: The Best XL Golf Swing Trainers for Men

Introduction:

Precision, timing, and technique are crucial aspects of golf, as it is a sport that requires physical mechanics and size to excel. 

Inconsistency, discomfort, and challenging bad habits can be a common issue among larger, taller male golfers when using standard-sized clubs and training aids. 

This is the reason 

XL Golf Swing Trainers have become indispensable for men who require equipment that caters to their specific body mechanics. 

In this guide, we'll explore: 

The significance of XL golf swing trainers. 

Golf swing and body type. What's the connection? 

Best XL swing trainers with great features. 

An in-depth examination of SHIFTGOLF's XL Lag Shot Swing Trainers. 

Exercises designed for taller and larger golfers. 

Strategies for maximising your practice sessions. 

Real-life success stories. 

Common mistakes to avoid. 

Expert tips for faster improvement. 

This roadmap will help you improve your golf game, whether you're a beginner or an expert, and it covers the fundamentals from beginner to advanced. Let's dive in.

Understanding the Unique Needs of XL Golfers

Body Mechanics and Swing Challenges

Larger male golfers often have longer arms, longer torsos, and more mass to control during the swing. This leads to a few specific challenges:

Timing Issues: Longer levers mean that timing the swing becomes trickier.

Balance and Stability: Extra height can shift the centre of gravity, leading to swaying or loss of balance.

Club Control: Standard clubs may feel too short, causing a "hunched" posture and inconsistent strikes.

Swing Plane Problems: Taller players often struggle to maintain a correct, shallow swing plane.

These challenges demand a training tool designed for bigger dimensions and stronger forces — not a one-size-fits-all approach.

What Makes an XL Golf Swing Trainer Different?

Essential Information You Need:

Adjustable for taller players, with a longer shaft length. 

Increases the strength and build of larger golfers by reducing their clubhead weight. 

Height adjustment is designed to maximise flexibility, allowing taller players to maintain their performance without overwhelming the trainer. 

XL trainers require the ability to sustain vigorous swinging without any loss of muscle mass. 

Why Standard Trainers Don't Cut It

A standard trainer can push bad habits to the surface: 

Shortening the swing unnaturally. 

If standing up too low or at a lower limit, 

Incorrect wrist hinge. 

Prioritisation and early casting are unaffected. 

Those are all factors that impair distance, precision and consistency.

Spotlight on SHIFTGOLF’s XL Lag Shot Swing Trainer

Why SHIFTGOLF Is Leading the Way

SHIFTGOLF’s XL Lag Shot Swing Trainer was designed after years of studying the real challenges taller, stronger golfers face. It’s not just an oversized version of a regular trainer—it’s engineered from the ground up for performance.

Key Highlights:

Specifically sized for men over 6'0"

Extra shaft flexibility promotes proper sequencing.

Heavier clubhead builds muscle memory for lag and late release.e

Durable materials for high-speed swings

Provides immediate feedback: if you force the swing or get out of sequence, you’ll feel it instantly

The Technology Behind It

SHIFTGOLF integrates Optimised shaft torque: Encourages loading at the top of the backswing

Balance point calibration: Keeps you grounded through impact

Tempo training: Forces you to smooth out any jerky or rushed movements

The result? Better tempo, increased lag, more clubhead speed, and better compression at impact.

How to Train with the XL Lag Shot Trainer

Warm-Up Routine

Before you even hit balls:

Take 15 slow swings focusing only on balance and rhythm.

Feel the club flex and load during the backswing.

Focus on finishing your swing in balance.

Key Tip: Let the club do the work, don't force it!

Tempo Drill

Swing the XL Lag Shot with a 1-2-3 count:

1 (Takeaway)

2 (Top of backswing)

3 (Impact and follow-through)

This drill helps:

Sync your big body movements

Improve sequencing

Avoid rushing from the top.

 Lag and Release Drill

Pause at the top.

Feel the flex in the shaft.

Transition smoothly into the downswing without casting.

You'll train your muscles to hold lag longer, producing explosive energy at impact.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

FORCING THE SWING: ALL LET THE CLUB WORK NATURALLY

Over-Swinging: You need to emphasise on tempo and not the power

Posture Lost,t: Maintain an athletic posture throughout.

Give short swings more attention: Do half-swings to learn the fundamentals.

How XL Golfers Should Set Up Their Equipment

If you take performance seriously, also think about :

Custom Fitting of clubs, if your XL (normal clubs rarely are the right length for XL golfers)

Sh-1-2 inches extra in length (depending on ht.)

Bigger swing weights: Match your power

The right grip size is: Pedal grips for bigger-sized hands 

Why Training Aids Like the XL Lag Shot Are Essential for Long-Term Growth

You can use training aids even for Tour Pros – they are not just for beginners

With a tool such as the XL Lag Shot:

Skill development accelerated

Shortens the learning curve

Establishes Sufficiently Integrated Motor Patterns

Decreases the risk of injury from inappropriate mechanics

Repetition leads to consistency, and only when you practice the right movements does repetition become productive. 

Conclusion: 

If you're a taller, bigger golfer tired of feeling like your swing doesn’t fit the mould, it's time to shift. The SHIFTGOLF XL Lag Shot Swing Trainer isn’t just a training aid — it's the key to unlocking the power, precision, and consistency you've been missing.

power, precision, and consistency you've been missing.

✅ Build real lag

✅ Tempo up

Recommended: go further

✅ Keep More Fairways

✅ Score lower

No more compulsion to swing in shapes that are unnatural for your body. No more round frustration, and you are done with it.

If you have the proper equipment and drills with the right mentality, you can learn how to hit your golf swing better.

[miaoumix]

｡ﾟ•┈ ❤︎ 𝓛𝓾𝓬𝓪𝓱 𝓡𝓮𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓷𝓼 ❤︎ ┈• ｡ﾟ

Hello! It's Lucah, I'm back from being termed (I believe it was due to a confrontation with another member of the Jirai community).

.˚₊‧˗ˏˋ ─── 𝐵𝒶𝓈𝒾𝒸 𝐼𝓃𝒻𝑜𝓇𝓂𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 ─── ˎˊ˗‧₊˚.

❥ 23, Gemini, She/Her

❥ German American (I barely speak German sadly, I'm trying to re-learn)

❥ I have a degree in political science (very proud).

❥ I love j-fashion, specifically Lolita, Mori Kei, and Jirai Kei. I also really enjoy dark academia and coquette aesthetics.

❥ I'm not active too horribly much.

❥ Some of my posts may be quite long if I have strong opinions about something, or they may be formatted in an inaccessible manner (such as this intro post). If asked I will provide accessible versions or shortened versions, but only if asked, and only if I can reasonable shorten what I've said without cutting out things I feel like are important to my point.

❥ I do not wish to list my diagnoses and although I may speak about my experiences on this blog I do not want to define myself by these mental or physical illnesses, nor do I feel it is appropriate that I have to specify that I have them or what they are for jiraiblr.

I personally do not have a "Do Not Interact" list, I will simply block whoever I do not wish to engage with anymore. However:

.˚₊‧˗ˏˋ ─── 𝒯𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈 𝓉𝑜 𝒞𝑜𝓃𝓈𝒾𝒹𝑒𝓇 ─── ˎˊ˗‧₊˚.

❥ I do not check people's DNI lists before interacting with their posts. I typically do if I'm following you, but it is far too much work to go to the blog and check the DNI if I'm just scrolling through and liking or reblogging things. If I violate your DNI list, don't take it personally, just block me.

❥ I am a proshipper. I will not specify in what way; it is a result of trauma I endured as a child. This does not mean that I support emulating in real life the types of dynamics typical of proshipping (i.e. incest, non-con, or pedophilia) I am in fact avidly against those things.

❥ I will post about political topics or topics relating to discourse. I do tag them accordingly.

❥ I use the term Jirai Kei to refer to the fashion and the overall subculture. I don't care if you are part of the community and don't wear the fashion, I just personally think it's a little bit tacky.

❥ I support Pienpup, even if I disagree with some of the things they have done, they have apologized and taken accountability.

I think that's all of the "controversial" things about me.

.˚₊‧˗ˏˋ ─── 𝒯𝒶𝑔𝓈 𝐼 𝒰𝓈𝑒 ─── ˎˊ˗‧₊˚.

❥ {Lucah ♡} -> My personal posts

❥ Discourse -> Anything discourse related

❥ Jirai Discourse -> Anything relating to specifically jirai kei discourse

❥ Adult Jirai -> This is a tag I use to clarify that I am an adult and would prefer to interact with other adults in the space. If other's have any recommendations for a tag we could use to set aside a jirai space on tumblr specifically for adults it would be much appreciated.

❥ Jirai Rejects -> This is a tag I use because my opinions are apparently very unpopular and "problematic" in jiraiblr as a whole.

❥ Anything that could potentially be triggering such as SH, EDs, Transphobia, or Gore will be tagged with the most simplistic tag there is (i.e. TW sh and TW ed) for convenience. I do not post or reblog many things such as that though.

[zerogpt24]

Unlock the Power of Effortless Summarizing with ZeroGPT's Summarizer Tool

In today's fast-paced world, managing a wealth of information is essential. Whether you're a student, professional, or researcher, processing vast amounts of content can be overwhelming. But what if there was an easy way to quickly grasp the key ideas of any text? With ZeroGPT's tool for summarizing, you can do just that. Our summarizer generator takes the hassle out of content analysis, offering you concise and accurate summaries in just seconds.

What is a Summarizer and Why Do You Need It?

A summarizer is a tool designed to extract the most important information from any given text. It condenses long paragraphs, articles, or reports into easy-to-digest summaries without losing the key points. This is especially useful for professionals who need to sift through reports, researchers summarizing studies, or anyone looking to save time while reading.

ZeroGPT’s summary generator is a game-changer for anyone who regularly deals with large amounts of written material. Instead of spending hours reading or taking notes, you can now obtain a clear and concise summary in a fraction of the time. Imagine cutting down your reading time by more than half while retaining all the crucial information!

How ZeroGPT's Summarizer Works

Our tool for summarizing is powered by advanced AI that understands and processes text at a deep level. You simply paste the content you want to summarize into the tool, and within moments, it generates a clean, succinct version that highlights the main points. Whether you're summarizing a news article, academic paper, or business report, ZeroGPT ensures that the essence of the text is captured with precision.

The best part? Unlike other tools, ZeroGPT’s summarizer generator does more than just shorten text. It focuses on delivering an accurate summary that reflects the original meaning, tone, and context. This ensures that you won’t miss any important details in your summaries.

Key Features of ZeroGPT’s Summarizer

Speed and Efficiency: ZeroGPT’s summary generator processes any text in mere seconds. It’s perfect for those moments when you need to quickly grasp the main ideas without reading every word.

Customizable Summaries: You can adjust the length and detail of the summary based on your needs. Whether you want a brief overview or a more detailed breakdown, ZeroGPT’s summarizer can handle it all.

Accuracy: ZeroGPT’s AI understands the context and nuances of the text, ensuring that your summaries are both precise and relevant.

User-Friendly: The interface is straightforward, making it easy for anyone to start using the summarizer generator with no technical skills required.

Free to Use: Access the power of AI-driven summarization without spending a dime. It’s the perfect tool for students, professionals, and anyone who deals with content on a daily basis.

The Benefits of Using ZeroGPT’s Summarizer

Save Time: Why spend hours reading long documents when ZeroGPT can summarize them in seconds? Whether you’re a student or a busy professional, this tool saves you valuable time.

Boost Productivity: With ZeroGPT’s summary generator, you can focus on more important tasks instead of getting bogged down by lengthy reading material.

Improve Understanding: Our tool helps you quickly understand the key takeaways from any text, so you’re always in the loop without the extra effort.

Versatility: Whether you're working on research papers, business reports, or even news articles, ZeroGPT’s summarizer generator works across various types of content.

Start Summarizing with ZeroGPT Today

ZeroGPT’s tool for summarizing is your ultimate solution to quickly and efficiently digest content. With its advanced AI technology and user-friendly features, you’ll never have to struggle through lengthy documents again. Try our summarizer and summary generator today and experience the future of content summarization.

[fabbuilder]

Top Low-Code/No-Code Tools

Why waste hours coding from scratch when the future of app development is literally at your fingertips? With today’s game-changing Low-Code and No-Code (LCNC) tools, you can turn your ideas into reality faster than ever before.

But how do you know which platform is worth your time? You may be wondering how these tools compare to traditional coding, or if they can handle the unique complexities of your business. As Bill Gates once said, “The first rule of any technology used in business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency.” The right LCNC tool can do just that — but which one will actually deliver?

The explosion of LCNC platforms is both a blessing and a challenge. On one hand, they’re making app development more accessible to everyone. On the other hand, choosing the right one from so many options can be overwhelming. A study by Fab Builder found that over 60% of developers struggle with this decision because there are just too many choices. It’s more than a technical decision; it’s a strategic one that can either make or break your next project.

Why should you trust what’s in this article? It’s not just theory — it’s based on over a decade of real-world experience in software development and a deep understanding of both traditional coding and the rapidly evolving LCNC space.

In this article, we’ll walk you through the top LCNC tools that are currently leading the pack. You’ll learn how they can streamline your development process, what to look out for, and how to make the right choice for your needs — whether you’re a seasoned developer or a business leader empowering your team.

What Exactly Are LCNC Tools?

Low-Code/No-Code (LCNC) tools are changing the way software gets built. They allow you to create applications with little to no coding knowledge. This means even non-technical people can design functional, scalable software solutions.

Low-code Platforms offer a visual development environment where you can drag and drop components to build your app, with the option to add code for more complex functionality.

No-code Platforms go even further by letting you build apps entirely through visual interfaces, with no coding required at all.

These tools are designed to speed up development, reduce the need for specialized coding expertise, and enable a wider range of people — from business analysts to experienced developers — to contribute to software creation.

A Quick Look at Their Evolution

The concept of low-code and no-code tools isn’t new. If you’ve used older software like Visual Basic or Microsoft Access, you’ve experienced early versions of this approach. However, the current generation of LCNC platforms took off in the mid-2010s, driven by businesses needing to adapt faster than traditional coding cycles allowed. These tools emerged as a solution to streamline development, cut down on dependencies, and allow businesses to react quickly to changing markets.

Why They Matter More Now Than Ever

In today’s fast-moving world, speed is everything. The quicker you can develop and launch an application, the better your chances of staying competitive. LCNC platforms allow businesses to shorten the time from idea to launch, while reducing costs and empowering non-technical team members to build what they need without waiting on developers.

They also support the growing trend of citizen development, where non-tech employees create apps to solve business problems or improve processes. This democratization of development boosts productivity and sparks innovation throughout the organization.

Choosing the Right LCNC Tool: What to Look For

Not all LCNC platforms are created equal, so how do you choose the right one? Here are the key factors to keep in mind:

Ease of Use One of the biggest selling points of LCNC tools is their simplicity. Look for a platform that has an intuitive, user-friendly interface. Drag-and-drop features, pre-built templates, and step-by-step tutorials can significantly reduce the learning curve, making it easier for both technical and non-technical users to get started.

Customization and Flexibility While ease of use is critical, the platform should also offer enough flexibility to meet your unique needs. Can you add custom code if you need to? Does it support more complex workflows and logic? Flexibility ensures the tool can grow with your needs rather than limit your capabilities.

Integration Capabilities Your apps won’t operate in isolation — they need to integrate with your other systems. Make sure the platform can easily connect with your existing software, databases, and APIs. The best LCNC tools come with pre-built connectors for popular services like Salesforce, AWS, and Google Cloud, so your new app can fit seamlessly into your tech stack.

Cost-Effectiveness Pricing matters. Look closely at how the platform charges: is it per user, per app, or based on usage? Some tools have hidden costs, like extra fees for certain features or higher levels of support. The goal is to find a tool that balances affordability with the functionality and support you need.

Community and Support A strong community and solid support can be lifesavers when you’re using a new tool. Platforms with active forums, good documentation, and accessible support teams can make a big difference in your experience. Look for tools that offer 24/7 support and have a strong network of users and developers you can turn to for help.

Security and Compliance As more businesses rely on LCNC platforms for mission-critical apps, security becomes even more important. Does the platform meet industry standards like GDPR, HIPAA, or SOC 2? Are your apps encrypted? Does it offer features like role-based access control and user authentication? Security and compliance are key to protecting your data and maintaining customer trust.

Scalability Finally, think about the future. Can the platform grow with your business? Whether you’re adding more users, building more complex apps, or handling larger amounts of data, the tool should be able to scale alongside your needs.

By keeping these factors in mind, you’ll be well-equipped to choose an LCNC tool that fits your business both now and in the future. The right platform can drastically simplify app development, allowing your team to innovate faster and more efficiently.

Top LCNC Tools in 2024

As we head into 2024, the Low-Code/No-Code (LCNC) market is seeing notable changes in user preferences and tool adoption. Visual and drag-and-drop builders are gaining popularity, with over 50% of users opting for these tools to streamline their development process. This is the first year we’ve tracked this trend, and the data speaks volumes: 57.69% of decision-makers now favor visual builders, while text-to-app generators — many of which incorporate AI — are also generating significant interest, capturing 31.73% of the market’s attention.

Here’s a look at the top LCNC tools in 2024:

GPT Engineer

Leading the way in the text-to-app generator space, GPT Engineer has become the top choice in 2024, capturing 30% of votes from our respondents. By harnessing AI to automate large portions of the coding process, it’s particularly appealing to beginners and those seeking to speed up development. GPT Engineer excels by turning text input into code, effectively bridging the gap between no-code platforms and traditional coding.

Fab Builder

Fab Builder is a dynamic code generation tool created to simplify and accelerate the development process. By allowing developers to generate code based on predefined patterns, it takes a lot of the repetitive work out of coding. With support for multiple programming languages and frameworks, Fab Builder adapts seamlessly to any tech stack, making it an essential tool for development teams looking to boost efficiency and maintain consistency in their projects.

FlutterFlow AI Gen

Rounding out the top three is FlutterFlow AI Gen, a tool that combines AI with Flutter’s framework to offer a robust low-code solution. It’s particularly popular with users who value the flexibility of Flutter alongside the convenience of low-code development. Whether you’re a developer looking to accelerate workflows or someone new to app creation, FlutterFlow AI Gen offers a powerful solution.

WordPress

Though traditionally associated with website building, WordPress continues to dominate the no-code space, retaining its position as the most popular tool for the third year running. While WordPress is known for its ease of use, advanced customization does require some coding knowledge, slightly undermining its no-code appeal. Nevertheless, it remains the go-to for building websites without heavy coding.

Bubble

Another strong contender is Bubble, a favorite among users with 0 to 1 year of experience. Bubble enables users to create complex web applications without writing any code, despite its steeper learning curve. It’s a preferred option for those who prioritize customization and scalability in their no-code projects.

Webflow

Among more experienced developers, particularly those with 10+ years of experience, Webflow remains a top choice. It offers advanced design and development capabilities, appealing to those who need the flexibility of custom code but want the speed and efficiency of a low-code platform.

The LCNC Landscape

Despite the rising popularity of LCNC tools, the market remains highly fragmented. In 2024, over 32% of respondents indicated they wouldn’t use any LCNC tools to build web applications, showing a continued preference for traditional development methods, especially among seasoned developers. This reflects an ongoing debate about the trade-offs between the convenience of low-code/no-code platforms and the control offered by conventional coding.

As we look ahead, the LCNC market is poised for further evolution, with innovations in both visual builders and text-to-app generators driven by AI and growing demand for flexible, scalable development solutions. Whether you’re just starting out or are a seasoned pro looking to optimize your workflow, these top LCNC tools provide a range of options to meet your development needs in 2024.

Potential Pitfalls and Challenges of LCNC Tools

While Low-Code/No-Code (LCNC) tools offer a fast track to app development, they come with their own set of challenges. As these platforms grow in popularity, it’s essential to be aware of the potential drawbacks that can affect your project’s success. Here are some key challenges to consider when using LCNC tools:

Limited Customization and Flexibility LCNC platforms are great for building basic applications quickly, but they often fall short when it comes to complex, unique features. You may hit a point where the tool’s capabilities end, and traditional coding is required. This can increase development time and costs, especially if transitioning to custom code isn’t seamless.

Scalability Issues LCNC tools are excellent for small projects or prototypes, but scaling them for larger user bases or more advanced features can be challenging. As your app grows, you may face performance issues or platform limitations, possibly leading to a complete rebuild using conventional development methods.

Vendor Lock-In Many LCNC platforms use proprietary technology, making it difficult to switch to another vendor or move away from LCNC entirely. This can lock you into a platform, with migration often being complex and costly. Reliance on a single vendor for updates and support also presents risks, particularly if their priorities change.

Security Concerns Security is always a critical issue, and LCNC tools can sometimes fall short. Since much of the underlying code is abstracted, developers have less control over security measures, leading to vulnerabilities that are harder to detect. Additionally, users without a strong technical background might not follow best security practices, increasing the risk of breaches.

Learning Curve and Expertise Despite being marketed as user-friendly, LCNC tools still require a learning curve. Users with no development background must invest time in understanding their limitations and best practices. As projects grow more complex, even experienced developers might find themselves challenged by the platform’s constraints, requiring specialized knowledge to work around them.

Integration and Compatibility Issues Integrating LCNC-built apps with existing systems or third-party services can be tricky. Not all platforms support the necessary integrations or may lack robust API support, making custom integrations difficult and potentially compromising your app’s functionality.

Hidden Costs LCNC tools often appear cost-effective, but hidden costs — like premium features, scaling fees, hosting, or support services — can add up over time. These additional costs may make the solution more expensive than initially anticipated.

Dependency on Platform Updates Users of LCNC tools rely on the platform’s update schedule. If the platform lags in adopting new technologies or addressing bugs, your app could be affected. Updates might also change the platform’s functionality in ways that require you to adapt, adding extra work.

Future Trends in LCNC Development

The LCNC landscape is rapidly evolving, and new trends are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible without traditional coding. Here’s what to expect in the near future:

AI and Machine Learning Integration Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are becoming integral to LCNC platforms. These tools are enhancing automation, personalization, and predictive analytics, making complex features like natural language processing and automated decision-making more accessible to non-developers.

Expansion of Text-to-App Generators Text-to-app generators, combining AI with no-code simplicity, are becoming more prevalent. Users can describe their app in plain language, and the tool generates the required code or components. As natural language processing advances, these tools will become more intuitive, dramatically lowering the barrier for non-technical users.

Greater Customization and Extensibility To meet the growing demand for tailored solutions, LCNC platforms are expected to offer more customization options. Future tools will allow for deeper code customization and extendibility, addressing one of the key limitations of LCNC: the inability to handle specific, complex requirements.

Enhanced Collaboration Features Collaboration is crucial in modern development, and LCNC platforms are incorporating more robust features to support teamwork. We can expect tools with real-time collaboration, version control, and integrated communication to make it easier for teams to work together on projects, regardless of their physical location.

Vertical-Specific LCNC Platforms Industry-specific LCNC platforms tailored for sectors like healthcare, finance, and e-commerce will emerge. These tools will offer pre-built components and compliance features, making it easier to build applications that meet industry regulations and standards.

Increased Adoption in Enterprise Environments LCNC tools are gaining traction in large enterprises, not just startups and small businesses. Companies are recognizing the potential to accelerate digital transformation, reduce development backlogs, and empower non-technical staff. Future platforms will include enterprise-grade features like enhanced security and scalability.

Focus on Education and Training As LCNC tools grow more powerful, education and training will become essential. Expect more resources, courses, and certifications aimed at helping users get the most out of these platforms, ensuring that teams can leverage their full potential.

Evolving Role of Developers As LCNC tools rise in prominence, developers’ roles will shift. They’ll focus on extending LCNC applications, integrating them with other systems, and ensuring they meet performance and security standards. Developers will act as strategic advisors, guiding how these tools are used in organizations.

Conclusion

Low-code/no-code tools are transforming software development, offering businesses faster, more cost-effective ways to build apps and empower teams. However, choosing the right platform and understanding its limitations is key to project success. With trends like AI integration and customization driving innovation, LCNC tools are set to become even more powerful in the future.

If you’re ready to harness the power of LCNC but need help selecting the right platform or optimizing your development process, Fab Builder is here to assist. With our expertise in both traditional and LCNC development, we can provide customized solutions that fit your business needs. Contact us to see how we can help bring your ideas to life — faster and more efficiently.

[reigntailors]

Top Tips When Buying Your First Bespoke Suit Part 1

So you’re thinking of buying your first custom-made bespoke suit. Welcome to the club! But wait, where do you start? If you’re new to the custom garment scene, there are a few things you should research and decide on before you see a tailor. We’ve put together a short guide of what to have in mind before your appointment, and what your clothier can help you with during your one-on-one meeting. What’s your budget?    The most important thing you should be thinking about before going to see a tailor is your budget. Knowing how much you can spend will immediately cut down on fabric options (and believe me there are MANY), and how much detail you can get into. Being upfront with your tailor will save you both time and energy. What’s the occasion?    Do you wear a lot of suits and are finally ready to splurge on a bespoke suit? Maybe you’d like something special to wear on your wedding day, or a big event. Tell your tailor what the suit is going to be used for and how you want it to fit into your wardrobe. With this knowledge, your tailor will be able to guide you in choosing the right details to make your dream garment. Two or three piece?    Though this may be determined based on your budget, it’s a good thing to think about. If you live in a warmer area but still liked to dress up, a three piece is a great option to have. You can even have the vest made out of a contrast fabric that can still be worn with or without the suit for even more wear. Single or double breasted?    Both are classic styles, but a double breasted is definitely more of a stand out piece. For example, you can probably wear the same single breasted jacket 3 times a week. Once you’ve worn your double breasted people will notice a repeat outfit. Things to discuss:   Pocket style? If you’re new to bespoke, you may want your tailor to take the reins regarding these next two details. There are a variety of pocket options and placements for your suit including flap, jetted, patch, slanted, and straight. You can have a chest pocket, coin pocket, double flaps, and many more combinations. Again, your tailor can educate you on which options to go with based on the reason you’re getting a suit. Some styles are more appropriate for certain occasions. Working buttons or faux? If you already know you want working buttonholes on your sleeves, voice it during your appointment. This is key to mention prior to any work being done on the jacket. Workable buttonholes are sometimes considered a key point on a custom bespoke jacket as the sleeve length needs to be exact. Once buttonholes are opened, it is impossible to shorten them and maintain the original design and proper proportions. Bonus Tips: If you’re inspired by a celebrity, street style, or Instagram post, email or print the pictures and have them available at your appointment. Pictures always help communicate your ideas in a more effective way. Whether you like the fit, fabric, or overall style, a tailor will be able to translate your ideas into something that looks best on you. Don’t be afraid to voice your opinion! Even if you’re a novice, don’t be afraid to speak up if you don’t like something. Being honest with your tailor is extremely important as a bespoke garment is an investment. We want you to enjoy your clothing! A true expert will able to understand your concerns and either provide feedback as to why they are recommending certain things, and how to achieve a compromise that satisfies your needs while not sacrificing the overall look.

[entropy-game-dev]

v0.04a patchnotes and testing

The test of v0.04a ended a week ago, and while there were a few more crashes and bugs, the game is getting surprisingly stable (thankfully!!) thanks to my poor friends who kindly volunteered to test it! Some of the highlights of this test were as follows:

An actually awesome moment where my friend decided to unexpectedly extend their exploration by going down to the second floor, then immediately falling through a hole taking them to the completely unmapped third floor. His oxygen at this point was half, and so I told him, he should probably find his way back if possible.

The enemies on the lower floors spawn in greater numbers, and so it was quite tense, but he was relieved to come across the stairs leading upwards. Back on the second floor, he was able to find his way through an unknown map back to the first floor, but started to run low on oxygen. Finally, his oxygen ran out a few steps before the exit. The suit’s life support system kicked in, draining an increasing amount of energy with every step. Finally, with one step to go, his energy ran out, and took a tick of health damage. But just one! He got back to the ship just fine and breathed (pun not intended) a sigh of relief.

And let me tell you, the first hint of some emergent gameplay that I envisioned with the systems I had implemented, it felt really good! As for funny bugs/polish issues, he found a few:

When enemies are reduced to 0 hp, they begin exploding and don’t stop until it’s their turn (as they might want to talk to you and get recruited). However, we were discussing something and having the explosions play constantly at full volume was very distracting! (Explosion sfx volume fades out now after a while and enemies take their turn instantly when they have 0 hp.

Enemies that are forced to move to the upper row of the battlefield flip their sprite (so it looks like they’re standing on the ceiling), but I had the coordinates wrong so they were shifted too far up, and outside the viewport!

There was also this one really dodgy-looking mining node sprite (actually needs a rework, it looks awful), and my friend kept running into it and asking “what the hell is this” everytime he saw it, as it really does not resemble anything, and we were both cracking up laughing each time.

v0.05 is almost ready to go, and I expect balance testing will be happening soon!

And now, the full patchnotes of this version below the cut...

Features:

Access the options menu in the prologue by pressing spacebar!

Reset the game from the options menu!

Stars don't show up on the screen if you have a save game!

Most moves now have a 1 turn cooldown to prevent enemy (and player?) spam

Screen glitch effects now fade in and out!

Save games backup now (10 backups!!!!!!!!!!)

Hold shift + press a move key to direcitonally inspect something

Polish:

Inspecting enemies was locked behind an upgrade but it's important - replacement ability to come later

Removed erroneous space in epilepsy warning

In the navigator, no longer makes a beep noise if you press L/R but there are no other locations to select

Made numbers animate based on what elemental affinity was hit

Scan move description text shortened

Rounded position of option text to avoid subpixels

Tutorials only show after you reach the ship for the first time

Minimap tiles now update immediately when colourblindness colour is changed

Inspect text on empty/unexplored tiles changes depending on exploration status

Mining nodes don't output the mining interaction text if you don't have the ability to mine

Disabled data gained output when not researching anything (Data does nothing without ongoing research)

Battle win tutorials now only show when you win the battle (i.e. gain xp) and not when you're running

Capped the move name length on the small information panel

Help overlay is now on F1 + tutorial message explaining that

Reduced sound effect of some of the metal step effects

Disabled random stepping text during the prologue

Fixed grammar error in interaction text for draining scrap

Swapped rotate/strafe controls, added confirm and cancel to left side​

Bugs:

Debug research bypass removed

Debug control T to damage allies removed

Combat now has a reachable game over state

Hypnagogia ability was targeting the top row instead of the bottom

Enemies with the conducting affinity, spreading an attack to allies no longer crashes the game

Explosive spread now shifting enemies correctly on the vertical direction

Recruiting conditions relying on other units no longer crashes the game when triggering

Fixed targeting of summon moves

Changed defensive % modifiers to be multiplicative

Calming Wave and Optical Trap ranges (and animations) fixed from all cells to aoe

Hid all strengths/weaknesses/recruitment at the beginning of the game

Stopped crash when viewing recruitment of allies

Tutorials are now enabled by default

The right location's feature is now being deleted when interacting with treasure chests

Debug control for launching a cutscene (V) is now disabled

Dungeon features now properly fade out when collected

Dungeon features that steal resources now actually do so

End of battle results now displaying all XP, scrap, and parts given

Move execution code reordering: before, self-destruct was not working because it'd take away the HP as part of the move effect and then not execute the move due to missing HP

Parts category refreshes properly when you swap characters

Can no longer detect liquids ahead of you when the space hasn't been explored yet

Shader intensity option is now respected by shader

Can now interact with one time use machines

Fixed crash when removing unit from party

Ensured equipment was associated with the right slot when moving units around

Friendly robot dungeon features can now be interacted with again, made exception for robot not having sprite in the db

Fixed a crash when inspecting enemies

Fixed a crash when going into the options menu due to missing text

Fixed targeting being inverted

[thelampisaflashlight]

Surprise, surprise, I’m back with more headcanons, this time it’s whether or not the ghouls understand sign language... which I am not at all putting off studying, noo... it’s not like I somehow misplaced my flashcards, what gave you that idea?  Below the cut.

Aether: He knows a couple of signs, they’re the ones most people learn when they’re first starting out with sign language, but it’s better than nothing! He can pretty easily recall signs for colors, shapes, and animals, and knows a few for directional purposes if he needs to direct anything without disrupting a practice or performance by saying something aloud. 

He fumbles on some words, in that he’ll twitch his fingers to kind of “erase/delete” what he’s just said, and then follow it up with the proper sign or something close to what he’s trying to imply.

Dewdrop: He mostly uses sign for directing purposes, or conveying general feelings across the stage or studio when they’re in the middle of practice or recording. However, he also knows a lot of sign specific swears, “bullshit” for example is one of his preferred ones.

He can’t really hold a conversation, but he at least recognizes the basic ones. 

Multi/Swiss: Very, very basic understanding of signs beyond the classic “I love you” and basic pointing signs like “me” or “you”, though not for a lack of trying. He’s skilled with his hands, but something about the motions he needs to perform for certain signs doesn’t click. 

He tried practicing with Dew, but Dew felt too conflicted between teaching him properly and just teaching him swears.

Rain: He’s probably the easiest to hold a conversation with in terms of using sign, because he practiced a broader range of words and knows some signs that are considered more like “slang” or shortened sign. He knows how to hand spell out his name, but sometimes he just does the sign for “Rain” and that tends to work out just fine.

He’s tried helping Swiss practice a couple times, but he hasn’t managed to make anything really stick just yet. Repetition is key.

Mountain: He mainly understands the ones that convey specific emotions like “awkward” or “scared”, because it’s a good way to quietly convey if someone isn’t feeling safe or needs a moment. Like Rain, he can hand spell his name, but will sometimes just use the sign for “Mountain” because it’s easier.

If he can’t remember a sign, he does a bit of charades or just types out his message on his phone or writes it down.

Cumulus: She knows about as much as Rain, but she learned with a different system of sign language, so sometimes it doesn’t translate the same way. She mostly uses it to communicate across the stage, or to signal to the others if there’s some kind of situation that needs to be addressed subtly.

She spells out her name most of the time, because she can’t really default to “cloud”.

Cirrus: Her and Swiss are on team, “Good enough for government work”. She wants to understand more than she does, but she spent way too long laughing at the sign for “poop” when she was learning to focus properly.

Her goal is to know more signs than Swiss.

Sunshine: She’s starting lessons, and picking things up quickly, but she still has a long way to go. Aether is helping her practice since he has the basic signs down, and Dew is supplementing here and there, which means teaching her how to say obscene things.

She also practices with Cirrus from time to time.

Bonus Copia: He’s like Aether, he knows basic signs, and will use them to signal to the ghouls or venue staff/security when need be, but, like Cumulus, the system he learned isn’t the same as the others, so he will default to simple “universal” gestures and pointing to convey his meaning.

[stillness-in-green]

MVA In Memoriam (2/5)

The Comprehensive Account of the Butchering of My Villain Academia

(Introduction and Part One, Episode 108: My Villain Academia)

Part Two, Episode 109: Revival Party

Chapter 224 – Revival Party

• Mr. Compress’s side comment about how the distance Re-Destro wants them to travel means he must know they have warp capabilities. Also shortens his subsequent line, removing the bit about how their position has been locked onto, leaving only the marveling about the dude on the phone being the kind of person who has access to a satellite camera. Not a major cut, but it did strip out a bit of reiteration on how very Seen the League is. The warp line is another nod to how the MLA’s been doing their research—in particular, it ties in nicely with RD’s observations about the Noumu. He talks, there, about something Dabi said after the High End fight, which means he must also know that Dabi was warped out by an “Ujiko-san.”

• Also Mr. C’s observation that they haven’t broken Machia yet, and his posed question about what to do. Mr. Compress, I’m so sorry that you’re so wordy and lose so many quips and asides because the anime was set on brutally scything out every line of non-essential dialogue it could find.

• Ujiko’s extremely hilarious, “Listening to Villain Radio is my new favorite hobby,” line. Why would you cut this; this line is hysterical.

• The bit where Mr. Compress has the bright idea to use a High End Noumu like the one Dabi used, Ujiko rejects the suggestion out of hand, citing production woes, and Shigaraki says that he wasn’t going to ask for one of them anyway. Aside from being more cut Compress content (or “Comptent,” for short), it helps center the timeline somewhat at a point where the manga is jerking it around all over; it also shows that the League has been keeping up with news from the outside world. It also shows that at least one of them thought about using the Noumu—and since we know Re-Destro did some rationalizing on that scenario too, it’s good to see that it is at least briefly on the table.           Further, Ujiko provides a few rare details about the Noumu creation process. Firstly, that AFO is normally involved, so his absence makes the procedure much more difficult (though not, apparently, impossible). Secondly, that Hood-chan was the only Noumu who’d actually reached the testing stage. This will be important later, for Ujiko’s agonizing about unleashing them early/Mirko having to fight four of them at once.           Also, I just miss Mr. C’s funny little head wilt when Ujiko immediately turns down his “use some Noumu” idea. Ditto Shigaraki’s blasé shrug and little grin. Again, not to harp on the art too much, but man I wish the anime had kept all the fierce little grins and tight, incensed smirks Shigaraki has through the majority of this and the phone call sequence.

• Spinner’s line, “Without knowing squat about what we’re up against?!” A minor cut, as these things go, but it reiterates that there’s a chance RD is bluffing and the League has no way to know one way or the other, and demonstrates that the League can give Shigaraki some pushback on his decisions without having to worry about getting dusted for the temerity.[1]

• Takes one of Spinner’s lines—“Wait. I get it. Wherever you go, Shigaraki, he’ll sniff you out and hunt you down.”—and gives it to Shigaraki instead. Because fuck Spinner’s growing understanding of Shigaraki and the way his mind works, I guess! It’s especially notable that Spinner figures this out when Mr. C had completely the wrong idea about Shigaraki’s intentions—it demonstrates the way Spinner is gradually aligning himself with Shigaraki’s way of thinking, which we’ll see even more clearly during the War Arc. Also, again, it’s good to see the moments where the League weighs in on Shigaraki’s plans.

• The visual of Twice lashing out at Dabi with his razor-edged tape measure over Dabi’s dismissal of Giran, though all the relevant dialogue was there. Possibly this is because, having cut the CRC bit, the audience has no way of knowing that Twice’s tape measure is razor-edged, so why bother raising the question, “Why is Twice trying to attack Dabi with a tape measure..?” Possibly it’s because showing that attack would require animating movement, and MAN ALIVE, did Episode 109 ever want to do everything it could to avoid animating movement.

• Slidin’ Go’s line about how Deika isn’t usually his turf, but today is a big exception. This makes the hearty affirmative with which Trumpet announces himself a response to Shigaraki’s half-phrased observation about the reason behind the city’s emptiness, rather than a response to Slidin’ Go. It works, more or less, and probably even flows more clearly, all things considered. I’m always sad to lose lines from the vanishingly few named/characterized MLA members we have, though. I like, too, that it hints at the machinations that have to have been involved with setting things up for the Revival Party, and the way those plans were carried out with confidence that Re-Destro’s “bait the League into coming for their broker” plan would work despite the total absence of a response from the League in any of the time Giran was missing/his fingers were cropping up on the nightly news reports.

• A few shots of cameras in the city, which foreshadow Skeptic’s watchful eyes and ability to track the League through the city. In retrospect, this isn’t surprising, since the anime went on to cut basically any indication of Skeptic’s entire plan re: the footage of the League attacking, so why bother keeping the cameras? (Oh, right. Skeptic’s whole thing is cameras and information/disinformation. Skeptic for second-most screwed-by-the-anime MLA member.)

Additions

• Showed Toga having stood back up somewhere during Shigaraki’s explanation of their throw-Machia-against-the-MLA plan. A simply appalling choice. In the manga, she stays crouched down by Twice the entire time Shigaraki has his mask pulled off, because Toga cares about reassuring Jin-kun when he’s in a bad way.

• Rephrased Compress’s dialogue somewhat, also giving him a new line about the MLA’s forces in Deika when the League was still in the hills looking down at the city: “The so-called Meta Liberation Army has a force of 110,000 here.” I assume it was because the scene falls in a different episode than the tactical discussion did (in the manga, they’re the same chapter), so the anime was reminding the viewer of the stakes, but it’s potentially awkward because, er, no, the MLA categorically did not bring their entire army to Deika. We’ll find out as much for sure later, with the note that the regiment advisors weren’t in attendance because they were occupied at the bases they command, but even with only the knowledge we have here, Re-Destro’s statement about his numbers is that they’re scattered all over the country—hence the shot of Japan with a bunch of lights scattered across it to represent said numbers.           That said, to be (briefly) charitable, there’s no particular reason for the League to assume that, and they did discuss the possibility that there were going to have to fight 110,000 people. So it makes sense that Mr. C might state as much when recapping for the audience.

Chapter 225 – Interview with a Vampire

• Re-Destro talking about Deika’s geography and why they chose it strategically. The anime dropped so much about the MLA’s planning and information-gathering beforehand; it really made the MLA look ludicrously overconfident. And while they don’t lack for that trait, certainly,[2] this is also an organization that has meticulously grown its membership for generations right under Hero Society’s collective nose; you don’t get to where they are by being unduly foolhardy. Erasing so many scenes demonstrating their caution and forward-planning undercuts the threat they represent to both the League and society at large.           Also too, the descriptor of Deika as a nice, quiet, isolated little town in the mountains gives us some hints about how the MLA has avoided notice for so long, when you consider how the Hero business works: because so many people who get into heroism want to make it big, like celebrities, they don’t want to stick around small-town beats, and so the rural areas are understaffed.[3] That’s presumably why groups like the CRC and the MLA grow their numbers out in the boonies: much less attention from the Powers That Be. You can guess at some of that from how Spinner describes the place—“not too small, not too big”—and what Trumpet says about the percentage of the population that’s MLA, but RD adds that key “isolated” descriptor, and says that it’s a place where they “lay low.” That gives us some potential insight into how many—likely the majority—of the MLA came to their beliefs: by being raised to them, because their hometown was infiltrated by the MLA generations ago and they have literally never known anything else.

• RD’s phrasing, “Counter to point one,” when he makes his second point about the Noumu. He acknowledges that it’s counter-intuitive to his first argument, that he knows it would normally be an argument against that opening point, not in support. It’s just conversational padding, really, but “conversational padding” like that does a lot to distinguish character voice, so that not everyone talks the same way.

• A panel showing a trio of unnamed MLA warriors strategizing about how to divide their forces now that the League has split up. It’s the little cuts like this that gradually remove the agency of unnamed characters, such that they’re left looking like unthinking puppets instead of real people with the ability to register and respond to their circumstances. It also points towards the truth of what the MLA warriors are and one reason they’re so dangerous (for all that the manga itself will neglect this most egregiously later on): they’re trained in regiment tactics and accustomed to working in groups. This contrasts them both with villains, who might group together, but certainly don’t usually fight that way, and heroes, who are so unaccustomed to working in groups that it’s cited as part of the reason to have named super moves.

• Curious’s little pageboy-cut middle school kid line telling Toga to back off when Miss Curious is on the job. This is an early example of how defensive the MLA are of people above them in the hierarchy, an important thing Spinner will pick up on and attempt to use against Trumpet. Again, it’s little moments like this that both add some welcome notes of individuality to the MLA warriors (if only by virtue of Horikoshi and his assistants’ traditional talent for distinctive character design) while also fleshing out who the MLA are as a group, and contrasting them with the League.

• Deleted Toga’s line IDing her “on-the-go suck-suck mask,” but did insert a nice little bit of her expression shifting when she whipped it out. It lost a bit of the self-conscious silliness of her support item name in exchange for a cool little animation beat. I don’t dislike it, particularly, but I am, as previously stated, very leery of edits that make the League more polished in their villainy at the cost of their human foibles.

• Curious’s line about having come prepared to counter Toga’s moves, which was supposed to further reiterate that the MLA has done their research on the League; they didn’t just decide out of the blue to target the most notorious Villains in the country without studying up on them first and planning accordingly!

• Curious’s line about how she’s going to get started with some background info while her people use their meta-abilities to keep Toga and her buddies on the ropes. A marvelously characterful line! It speaks especially to that edge of formality the MLA brass observe that even as she’s ringleading this attack, Miss Curious is still set on going through her interview process step by established step.

Framing Shifts

• Made some of Curious’s lines spoken dialogue instead of internal monologue. That’s probably fine for when she’s waxing enthusiastic about Toga’s lack of hesitation in committing murder or how she’ll use Toga’s story to further the MLA’s agenda. It’s less fine when she’s rattling out the entire name, brand and patent status of her support item for no particular reason when Toga is already halfway through trying to knife her (that’ll be next chapter).

• The anime implied pretty firmly that Curious’s bombers died. And like, yeah, that’s always made more sense than the idea that anyone could survive something like that, but I hate it anyway. For one thing, it makes it even harder to credit the idea that Toga’s still on her feet afterward if Curious’s supposedly not-very-lethal explosions merk all her own people. People in this series survive ludicrous amounts of damage, and these random MLA devotees are no exception! For another, it leans into the narrative that the MLA higher-ups throw away the lives of their minions without the slightest care. It’s a lot harder to make that case when it’s explicit in the manga that Curious’s people survive the blood explosions—the blonde in the tracksuit is unharmed enough to snicker about it, and the noodle chef is even doing well enough to continue attacking! I’ve always been of the opinion that the MLA are, yes, willing to spend the lives of their underlings on attaining goals, if that’s what they think is necessary, but that is not at all the same as gleefully throwing them onto the pyre to watch them burn.

Additions

• Some individual shots of Mr. Compress, Dabi and Twice fending off or fleeing from various MLA types. A nice try on getting the group split up, but it feels kind of budget save-y, when we could have gotten actual animation of those fights instead.

• Inserted a quick shot of a headline about Toga’s first attack as Curious was rambling on about why she’s interested in Toga but not the League in general. Actually a fairly reasonable insertion, given how much text is crammed into her talk bubble in the manga while the dude standing next to her is already getting a knife in the neck.

Chapter 226 – Bloody Love

• A panel of interviewees talking about Toga’s first victim being sociable and popular. It gives a bit of context on what he was like, what people thought of him, but given that we know enough about Toga at this point to know that his popularity was entirely incidental to what she liked about him, it’s not a huge loss.

• The detail of the broadcasted interviews censoring Toga’s name. Considering how Japanese media normally treats minors accused of crimes, this is an eyebrow-raising change—the manga censors it because Japanese media outlets would have done the same. No idea why the anime didn’t, unless it’s another of those places where it would feel too “real,” to have something that so closely mirrors real life treatment of criminals?

• Everything about quirk counseling, and whoo boy, that is a loaded cut. There is exactly one other mention of quirk counseling anywhere in the manga, and, curiously enough, it also comes up in relation to a villain: in the U.A. faculty meeting after the USJ attack, Midnight muses that maybe Shigaraki never received quirk counseling in elementary school. It’s a weird little non sequitur there—exactly what sort of program did she expect could single-handedly make the difference between a well-adjusted adult and a gleefully murderous manchild with aims on killing Japan’s Number 1 Hero? Just over two hundred chapters later, we get a hint: a program designed to fit people “neatly into society’s little boxes.”           Quirk counseling, then, is not about helping children find healthy ways to process their quirks, but rather, about teaching children what is and is not acceptable in terms of quirk use—and as Curious says, Toga’s admiration of blood was never going to be acceptable.[4] This explanation doesn’t just tell us a lot about Toga—that she wasn’t only failed by the hysterical condemnation of her parents, but also by a society that had no interest in helping her if it didn’t see a use for her—but also provides some insight on the viewpoint of the Meta Liberation Army vis-à-vis mandatory state-funded programs that dictate what “normalcy” looks like to impressionable children.           Curious is, of course, not a particularly trustworthy narrator in this, as one might expect of someone who uses language like “society’s little boxes,” but it does track with Midnight’s earlier musing of, “Maybe the anti-social dude never took the program intended to make sure he was a functioning member of society.” That kind of statement—“State-sponsored educational programs are there to program children into becoming unthinking cogs of society, actually.”—is one that it’s all too easy to imagine the people with an eye on broadcast standards taking issue with, even coming as it does from the mouth of a villain.

• Curious’s line, “Let’s turn your death into a legendary tragedy, shall we?” and its accompanying visual of two different papers with imagined headlines. The dialogue doesn’t strike me as crucial—Curious’s fervent belief in Toga’s story is amply demonstrated elsewhere and her intent to turn that story into a legend reiterated in the line immediately following—but it is a shame to lose the headlines. They tell us, in Curious’s own words, exactly the tack she was planning to take in telling Toga’s story to the general public, without the constant namedropping of the Liberation Army that she does when talking about it in person. One headline in particular—The Price of Suppression: A String of Bloody Murders—is an especially useful reference for discussing whether the MLA actually wants, as is popularly claimed, completely unhindered quirk use, even for people like e.g. Muscular who want nothing more than to murder people with their quirks.[5]

• Curious’s initial wait what response to getting Floated, and her people’s focus shifting away from Toga and onto Curious instead. On a surface level, that focus shift helps explain why Toga’s able to zip around the ground and touch nearly twenty people before they even react: because they’re afraid for Curious. It also hurts the ongoing characterization of the MLA rank and file as being fanatically devoted to their higher-ups which, again, is something Spinner is supposed to notice later. It’s the worst kind of plot device if that devotion is completely told to us rather than consistently shown!

• Toga’s internal reflection that she’s seen Ochaco use her quirk, and knows how to use it. It’s obvious from the panel that she knows how to use it, but the manga implies that Toga transforming doesn’t automatically grant her an understanding of peoples’ quirks; it’s only in observation (and possibly love) that she can reach this particular unlock. Leaving out that information leaves open the possibility that she can just do this all the time now, with anybody she transforms into.

• The reaction from the surviving crowd to Curious’s death. See above re: STOP FUCKING ERASING HOW MUCH THE MLA CARES FOR EACH OTHER.

Framing Shifts

• When Toga bolts, Curious in the anime sounded serious, her expression alarmed, like she was actually worried that Toga might escape, even though her dialogue said just the opposite. Maybe you could say that she was afraid Toga would die before she got her statement, but given that she tried to kill the girl herself moments later, I’m skeptical of that claim. Regardless, in the manga, she never loses her smile, and she flashes a Liberation salute as she stands up to give chase. It’s a characterization note, that she’s so wildly confident about this that she never stops being completely enthralled with whatever Toga has to show her.

Chapter 227 – Sleepy

• The last of Toga’s conscious dialogue, about how she’s lost a lot of blood, is fading out, can’t move—but more notably, the way that this state of things makes her feel closer to “them,” that it’s “the same sensation.” And who is “they” here—her victims? The people she loves? More alarmingly, why does the line sound like she’s been this beat-up before, and remembers the sensation? Does that tie into e.g. her comment during the training camp that she doesn’t want to fight too many hero students at once because she doesn’t want to die? Has she actually been subject to this kind of violence before in the past? Does that tie into her still-unexplained ability to erase her presence? It’s an interestingly loaded little line, for being so vague, and illustrative of Toga’s mentality on becoming the people she loves. Which also lets the scene segue nicely into Re-Destro’s observation that, in Toga Himiko’s world, there’s no such thing as “other people.”           On which note, guess what else the anime cut?

• The entire fucking scene where Re-Destro actually reacts to Curious’ death, the motherfuckers. This lost:           1. RD’s talk about the way Toga sees the world and how that led to society casting her out, which he points to as evidence of said society clinging to old ideals even though the nature of humanity itself has changed. It calls back to his methodology with Detnerat, marrying his lines from the commercial to his overarching ideals; it also shows that he understood very well what Curious saw in Toga, and demonstrates that he can express that understanding and empathy even in the face of losing one of his closest allies.           2. Skeptic’s reaction to Curious’s death, which is pretty sparse, but at least present. He says she never should have been on the front lines—an excellent reminder to the people who’re always going on about how the MLA brass thinks themselves so above their followers: Curious was on the front lines, against the wishes of some of her peers!—and calls her a valuable resource.[6] You can theorize about Skeptic not caring for her beyond her usefulness to the cause, or just that Skeptic is a huge autist who processes his emotions differently than most, and isn’t going to stop to do that when there’s still a battle going on, but either way, you need this scene to do it accurately.           3. Speaking of people who process their emotions in unusual ways, as I said above, this scene also shows Re-Destro openly crying over the deaths of Curious and each and every warrior diving into battle with their hopes for the future. They’re not crocodile tears, either. As was the case with Miyashita, there’s no one in this room that Re-Destro would need to perform grief for: Skeptic clearly doesn’t see a use for tears right now, so I don’t see him expecting them from Re-Destro, and the only other person in the room is Giran, a hostage who the MLA—very probably Re-Destro himself—maimed! It’s not like RD’s tears are going to change Giran’s mind about him (indeed, Giran gets a comedic reaction beat at the absurdity of the dude who started all this up here crying about it)! But RD says life is precious and he cries anyway, briefly, before he ruthlessly turns it off.           RD’s valuing of human life—especially his own peoples’ lives—crops up in roundabout ways twice more, both leading the fight with Shigaraki (“It angers me.”) and ending it (“Any more would bring about meaningless death.”). This, though, is when he’s most open about it, to the degree that—as with Machia’s grief—it’s kind of off-putting and strange. Cutting it makes it that much easier for people to get entirely the wrong impression of RD as a character.           4. The delightful scene where Skeptic berates Giran about asking brainless questions and then answers his question anyway. Fuckin’ hell, why cut this?? So much of Skeptic’s character is in this scene! You get moments of his neuroticism later on, but never in so concentrated a burst as this (there’s one other sequence that could compete, but—spoilers—the anime cut that one, too). The exchange also explains the cameras placed throughout the city—which are visually referenced early on—and what the MLA is planning to do with their footage. Without that explanation, the audience has no idea how, exactly, the MLA was planning to use wiping out the League as a springboard for their grand return to the spotlight. That footage is the crucial part of how the rest of the country reacts to Deika in the Endeavor Agency Arc, and the anime never even mentioned it! The audience was just left to assume that all the media came in afterward, not that there was the slightest whiff of footage from the battle itself.           5. Once again brings up Re-Destro’s belief in the power of the heart to move other hearts. We get a bit of that in Curious’s flashback, but here he says it in his own words—as he will also bring it up to Shigaraki. Once again, Shigaraki is going to be challenged about his conviction, which ties back into what Spinner and Ujiko demanded from him earlier in the arc. With so

many people set to be grilling Shigaraki on this front, it tells us again what the arc is for: Shigaraki’s conviction, and him demonstrating it to the people who think he lacks it.

• The panel of Spinner asking how long they’ve been at it and Mr. Compress responding. This line helps manage the pacing, giving the audience an idea how much time is passing as we cut around to different places. It’s also, you know, more cut Spinner dialogue, and shows the beginnings of Shigaraki and Spinner getting split off from the rest by Shigaraki’s sleep-drunk staggering angling him off in a different direction. The rest of the scene is moved to after Toga’s fight with Curious, but not otherwise tampered with.

• The other big reaction to Curious’s death, which is Trumpet using it to rile up the crowd. The group that attacks Shigaraki isn’t just some free-roaming mob—they’re coming at him in a grief-stricken frenzy, which they’ve been goaded into by one of their leaders.           This sequence also introduces the campaign van—a vehicle that will have several more appearances—to events, and hints at Trumpet’s meta-ability. Further, it’s one of the scenes that outright states that the MLA is less an army than a religion, in Mr. Compress’s line about how Trumpet is like a preacher rallying his flock. That understanding—that the MLA may style themselves as an army, but what they really are is a cult—is key to the way the MLA members act, from the very bottom to the very top.

• Trimmed Shigaraki’s flashback down, cutting—among other things—the very first lines Hana speaks, and her namedrop. This moment is the first one Tomura gets back, and the very first thing we find out is that he was doing something he wasn’t supposed to be doing. The anime also failed to identify Shimura Nana’s relation to Tenko/Tomura and Hana—helpful to remind the audience of a plot thread they haven’t heard about since Kamino. It also cut out the silhouette of chubby baby Tenko and Tenko’s first line, asking why Hana’s showing him this, a line which clues us in that Hana was the impetus here, not Shigaraki as he was back then. Still not satisfied, it also cut the phrase, “Daddy said all that stuff,” which is a clear and ominous warning that there was some conflict going on between young Shigaraki and the Father whose dismembered hand he now wears on his face.

• Left the dialogue but cut the silhouette of an airborne Geten with his enormous ice fists coming in hot behind Dabi when he was smarming about it not being his style to take the pacifist route. It’s not crucial, since we see the fists again shortly (it’s the end of the chapter page, whereas the anime rolls right on into the continuation of the scene), but it’s a shame, since framing Dabi from below with this sudden presence behind him is a much more fun, dynamic angle than the dead-boring medium shot the anime used. Also too, it’s good foreshadowing for the fact that Geten can fly, since he certainly didn’t get that kind of air by jumping off the roof of the mini-mart across the street.

Framing Shifts

• The crowd attacking Tomura came at him from the back of the shot, whereas in the manga, they’re surging forth from the front; that is, the anime had Shigaraki between the crowd and the POV of the viewer, whereas the manga has the crowd interposing between the viewer and Shigaraki. It makes a huge difference in the impact! Running up from a nebulous background distance, the crowd looked small and futile. Crossing directly in front of the viewer as they attack Shigaraki makes them look like the crashing human wave that they are. But, you know, coming in from the front would mean they’d have to be animated with more detail, and again, Episode 109, more than any other episode in the arc, clearly didn’t have the budget to spare on such things.

• The moment Shigaraki first uses the spreading Decay is horrifically clear in the manga. It’s full of speed lines, Shigaraki moving so fast he decays a dude mid-word, but the impact itself is spread over two pages. We watch his hand literally cleaving through the leading attacker’s face, and then are encouraged to linger on the oversized panel below, the intricately drawn crowd, full of individual faces, still intact on the left, scattering to dust on the right, all fully lit, with Shigaraki—still drawn with speedlines to emphasize his movement—the focal figure in black at the center.           The anime rendered this moment in two stills—Shigaraki’s hand about to hit the lead attacker’s face, and then the crowd already decaying. There was virtually no movement to it, the crowd was so heavily silhouetted against a glare of daylight that it was difficult to tell what was going on, and the moment stayed on screen for only two seconds before Shigaraki landed and threw up, both actions favored with more animation than one of the signature moments of the entire arc. Hell, it even left the walls on either side of the alley intact, when the manga shows them dissolving into ash as well, decay traveling through the ground in a deadly, destructive radius around Shigaraki’s attack.           The anime ever-so-graciously allowed Spinner his line to explain to the audience what just happened, but I think that’s mostly because it would be genuinely difficult to parse if he didn’t. It also gave him a flashback to what we had literally just seen, except this time it wasn’t silhouetted for some reason, so at least the audience got another chance to look at it, I guess?           “Am I seeing things? Just now, his decay effect spread to people he wasn’t even touching!” Well, I guess we’ll have to take your word for it, Spinner.

Additions

• A quick shot of a camera, there and gone almost too fast to register. I want to compliment the anime for adding a camera back in, since it removed the shot of the cameras earlier, but honestly, given that it cut all the scenes about how and why the MLA was gathering footage, I really don’t know why it even bothered. Also too, the camera was gone so fast it felt more like a marker for a scene change—which it also was, segueing the scene from Toga collapsing (only to cut back to her later staggering down an alley) to Spinner and the rest still trying to hold their own—than it did something the audience was supposed to really notice.

Chapter 228 – Wounded Soul

• Twice in the opening pages left out scattered members of the MLA that were around for the start of the Dabi/Geten fight. Leaving them out raises the question of where all the people attacking went, but it’s also the first demonstration that Geten is a danger to his own allies. We don’t see any of them dying on-panel or anything, but we do see them having to dive frantically out of the way because Geten demonstrates no care to the collateral damage of his attacks.

• Cut a small flashback, presumably from Twice’s perspective, of finding the site where Toga and Curious’s fight concluded. You can see the ground covered in blood, and a body that looks a bit like Curious if you squint (distinguishable by the sleeves of her jacket), as well as a small group of people kneeling on the ground in various poses suggesting mourning and a paying of respects. Yet another shot demonstrating the depths of care these people have for their leaders, that they’ve completely let the battle fall by the wayside in favor of their grief.

• Drops the “those zealots” phrase from Twice’s, “I’ll rip those zealots limb from limb for this!” line. Damn, the anime really was determined to erase everything that even hints at the Liberation Army being something much creepier and more damaging than just an underground militia, huh?

Framing Shifts

• For all my complaints about the material, I generally like the voice acting quite a bit. I don’t love the first exchange between Dabi and Geten, though. It’s not a fault of the voice actors themselves, but rather the delivery. Geten was very cool and level-headed throughout, which is all right to a point, but he’s a gremlin under that troll parka, and this fight is where we hear him as close as we ever will to how he is before the multi-layered humbling he’s subject to over the course of this fight. It’s a bit of a shame to play him totally straight, without any of the snark he’s so clearly capable of—and without the tick upwards in vehemence his talk bubbles indicate in his last lines.           Meanwhile, it’s fine for Dabi to get more heated as the scene goes along, and indeed he does, but he also plays it pretty cool at first. You can tell in the shape of his talk bubbles that he’s completely unruffled during his delivery of that, “Consider this a freebie, just for you: ice melts,” line. The anime had him raising his voice for it, and it just loses a lot of the humor of Dabi’s own snark to have him yelling it instead of just laughingly stating it, voice barely raising enough to give his talk bubbles some straighter lines instead of being all undisturbed curves. (For comparison’s sake, it’s about the same level of angular as Geten’s, “You’d best not think your little campfire can melt my ice!” line, but the anime had Dabi shout his line, while Geten continued at the same unperturbed volume he’d maintained since the beginning.)

• As with Shigaraki’s first mass decay, the shot of Geten’s ice dragon did not make the impact on me in the anime that the manga did. I think it’s mostly the way the ice was colored? The claw’s pretty good, but the head looks blobby and indistinct, more like blue soft-serve than the shifting, sharp-edged, brilliantly bright sculpture-in-motion of the manga.

• Twice’s voice actor did his best to sell the scene of him finding Toga, but I wish they’d kept that tight close-up on his mouth when he says, “Give it up. The girl’s dead.” They animated him leaning closer to the camera, but that doesn’t have the sharpness of that sudden cut to being right there on his lips, like some malevolent thing is using them to speak words so terrible that they can’t even be associated with the rest of his face.

                                                          ---

Come back next time (and hopefully in less time) for Part Three, Episode 110: Sad Man's Parade.

FOOTNOTES

[1] We would, of course, have an even clearer idea of that had the anime not cut the scene of Spinner shouting in Shigaraki’s face.

[2] It seems particularly strange to me that Curious and RD both mention quirk evolution as a thing they know can happen in extreme circumstances, but didn’t predict that backing the League into a life-or-death corner might provoke one or two members to undergo exactly that evolution.

[3] Mount Lady is the obvious example, but you can look to places like the island in Heroes Rising, too: one hero, and when they retired, a group of high school kids had to go sub in for a while until a replacement could be arranged. It’s not like retirements just happen overnight; the Commission had to have known it was coming. Still, they had to scramble to find someone. It doesn’t suggest they had anybody just champing at the bit to take the post, you know?

[4] In Chapter 140, we see a young Tamaki Amajiki in a class called “quirk training.” It’s uncertain how connected this P.E.-like class is to quirk counseling, but Toga wouldn’t have been getting much help there, either, seeing as it’s all about figuring out how to use one’s quirk in a way that’s “useful to society.” I can think of some ways, but nothing that I expect would be very popular or liable to be explained to a grade schooler in a country with as long a history with ritual cleanliness as Japan. To a Shinto mindset, Transformation isn’t just off-putting or unhygienic; it’s spiritually unclean.

[5] The answer there being, no, obviously not, or Curious wouldn’t, in all apparent sincerity, be trying to characterize Toga using her quirk to murder people as an undesirable outcome, a cost society is paying for its current stance on quirk use. Yes, you can gather that much from her calling Toga a tragic girl, and Re-Destro concurring later, but listen, I will take every line I can get that I can use to push back against the wretchedly widespread idea that the kid whose name means Apocrypha is the be-all-end-all source on MLA ideology, somehow more reliable and trustworthy than every other MLA character combined, including Destro himself. I would very much like it if the anime had not deleted a bunch of my talking points while making good and sure to leave all Geten’s most damning lines intact.

[6] Not that an anime-only person would fully understand why some random reporter was all that valuable a resource, since the anime cut the explanation of what Curious actually does for a living.

[aknipper]

Blog 9: Reflections and Frustrations

Soo.. I just began writing and let things develop as my fingers struck the keys on my keyboard. I just let it flow from my fingertips. Once I stopped and I looked at my story, it had taken on a life of its own and became somewhat of a monster. That’s when the frustrations kicked in. I had the daunting task of cutting down my story that was WAY too long without jeopardizing the integrity of the piece. I wanted to pull my hair out! I encountered that conundrum that no writer wants to confront: every detail and scene seemed vital to the story…

After receiving feedback from the peer review and a few other people from outside the course, I revised my short story. I took the critiques into consideration and implemented what I felt was applicable while still trying to reach the story’s length requirements. After all the revisions, I am unsure that I fully kept the integrity of the story. I know for the most part I have accomplished that, but I feel as if the meticulous wording needed for a short story’s parameters wasn’t met because I was focused on shortening it into the assigned requirements. I’m hoping I’m my own worst critic at this point, yet I have a “gut” feeling that some sections/texts could’ve been formulated a little better had I not been so focused on the length. I just want to do Scarlett Jones justice…

[pickalilywrites]

i'm still alive ^^

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How to Be a Good Coworker

Erejean. Zombie Detective AU.

Chapter 4.

11442 words.

Read on Ao3!

For the past week, Eren has been bumming it out at Jean’s house. Every other day, he visits the basement in the bookstore Annie works at so that he and his friends can compare notes, but not much progress has been made in terms of finding his killer. While everyone else’s suspect lists remain empty at every meeting, Annie’s list manages to grow every time they see each other.

(“Are you just writing down the name of everyone in town that you can remember?” Armin asks her at one point after taking a closer look at her list.

“Yes,” Annie replies without blinking.)

Eren’s beginning to think that they’ll never find his murderer, but maybe that’s okay. Maybe his murder was a one-time thing and whoever killed him regretted their actions so much that they vowed never to kill again. Maybe they’re repenting for their sins right now. Maybe there isn’t a killer lurking in the town and turning people into zombies and they’re just doing all this extra work for nothing. Eren knows that the possibility of this is highly unlikely, but he honestly wants to shove all this business about his murderer in the back of his mind now that he has more pressing things to worry about.

After visiting his mother the other day, Eren’s phone has been blowing up every morning and night with texts from his mom. She’s always asking him how he’s doing, if he wants to visit soon, and what he had for breakfast or dinner. His answers are nearly always the same: fine, maybe when he finds the time, and just whatever Jean had gotten from his mom or a nearby restaurant. He always has to take pictures of Jean’s meals to send to his mom and assure her that he’s eating properly, although all the oil and spices make him want to gag. Even being near them makes him feel nauseous. Jean likes to point out that Eren’s choice in food isn’t any much better, but Eren begs to differ. The fact that the meat he eats isn’t loaded with any seasonings or extraneous flavors makes his food superior already, but Jean always rolls his eyes whenever Eren begins his rant on the greatness of raw meat.

Eren shreds into a piece of pork shoulder. It’s not his favorite cut of pork. Although the cut of pork might be more forgiving on Jean’s wallet, it’s tougher than Eren prefers. Maybe Jean doesn’t see a difference because he’s never thought about how different it is once the meat is cooked. Pork shoulder is similar to other cuts when they’re cooked. You could substitute it with pork butt or a pork leg and still get the same tenderness, but only if you braise it. When it’s uncooked, it’s tough as shit, Eren thinks as he gnaws on the meat in dissatisfaction. He’d rather be eating some pork belly right now with meat so fatty that it’s practically melting on his tongue. The thought of it makes Eren drool and the piece of meat in his mouth nearly falls out.

Someone knocks at the door and Eren freezes. Jean is already out for work. He’s too organized to leave anything at home, so there isn’t any reason for him to come back. Jean’s mother is even more organized and knows Jean’s schedule even better than Jean probably does, so it wouldn’t make sense for her to come here either.

Cautiously, Eren gets up from his seat and makes his way to the front door as quietly as possible. He doesn’t even breathe as he peers into the peephole, his cheek pressed against the door. He’s more than surprised when he sees Annie Leonhardt standing on the other side. Or maybe he shouldn’t be.

“Did you forget that I was supposed to pick you up today?” Annie grumbles as soon as Eren opens the door. She doesn’t even bother to say hello. Then again, Annie has never been one to waste time with meaningless greetings. She breezes past Eren and plops down on Jean’s couch, quite comfortable even though this isn’t even her apartment. When she sees Eren staring at her, she raises her eyebrows and gestures towards his half-eaten breakfast. “Don’t just stand there gawking. Finish your disgusting food. We have places to be.”

Eren sniffs and swings the door shut. It’s strong enough to shake the tiny apartment, but Annie doesn’t even flinch. “It’s not disgusting,” Eren mumbles as he shuffles over to the dining table. Hastily, he wipes at his mouth with the back of his hand and grimaces when he sees traces of blood smeared across his skin. He really does need to listen to Jean about eating properly. It’s fine if it’s just Jean, but if it's Annie or any of their other friends, it’s embarrassing even if they also know about Eren’s condition.

The TV buzzes in the background as Annie flips through Jean’s Netflix account. Every once in a while she’ll smirk or snort at Jean’s choice in TV shows.

“Aren’t you invading his privacy?” Eren asks through a mouthful of pork shoulder. He nearly chokes trying to swallow it down. It’s as tough as shoe leather.

Annie points at Eren with the remote and gives him an icy stare. “Eren, we all know everything about each other. It’s the curse of being friends with you guys. I know every single anxious thought running through Armin’s mind at any given moment, I know you’re a zombie and all your weird zombie cravings, and I know just how much Reiner loves Bertholdt,” Annie says. “I’m pretty sure Jean doesn’t care that I’m browsing through his Netflix profile right now.”

Eren makes a face. Everything Annie has said is true, but it still feels wrong. It’s not like he can argue against Annie, though, so he shuts up, finishes the rest of his breakfast, and quickly washes his plate and utensils in the sink. Jean has said that he doesn’t mind if Eren just leaves his dirty plates in the sink, but it feels weird to have Jean wash plates smeared with blood that aren’t even his. Once he’s done, he slips into Jean’s room to change while Annie watches The Walking Dead, which feels kind of inconsiderate considering the circumstances.

“I’m ready,” Eren announces, stepping into the living room space. He’s dressed in black slacks and a mossy green turtleneck that covers his neck. Jean had done some quick shopping for Eren after work one day, so these clothes fit much better than the ones Eren had been borrowing from Jean. Eren has a tan peacoat thrown over his ensemble. He looks much nicer than he ever did for any of his internships back in college. Maybe he should let Jean pick his outfits for him more often.

Annie looks him over and frowns. “Aren’t you two awfully domestic?” she asks before clicking the TV off. She leans forward, elbows on her knees with her cheek resting in one hand. “Jean picked out some really nice clothes for you. You actually look better than you ever did when you were alive.”

Eren wrinkles his nose. He doesn’t think he’ll ever appreciate that joke. “How do you know he picked out these clothes?” Eren asks.

“Because you could never pick out clothes that look that good,” Annie replies. She ignores Eren, who’s spluttering and clearly offended, and shrugs on her coat. She wraps a fluffy white scarf (no doubt another one of Armin’s creations) around her neck and looks back at Eren. “Let’s go. I don’t want to have to look after you all day.”

“I told you guys I didn’t need you to walk me to and from work,” Eren mumbles, but he shuffles after Annie as she walks to the door.

“It’s more for the benefit of everyone else in town. You know, so you don’t eat them on accident,” Annie says. She says it casually, but Eren still winces. She gestures for Eren to follow her out the door. “Lock the door, too.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Eren rolls his eyes but does as he’s told. He even gives the handle a little jiggle to make sure he’s locked the door properly. When he slips the keys into the pocket of his slacks, he looks up to see that Annie is already descending the stairs. “Wait for me!” he squawks.

Despite being the smallest out of their group of friends, Annie seems the least afraid of letting her guard down around Eren. Armin, of course, is always anxious and has always been that way since before Eren had become zombified. Reiner, despite his jokes, still visibly tenses around Eren if he gets too close and Jean is always watching Eren with a cautious eye. Annie, however, shows her back freely to Eren. Had it been anyone else, Eren would be touched, but he knows for a fact that Annie is only relaxed because she can easily take Eren down with her eyes closed even in his zombie form. In a way, it makes it a little easier for Eren to be around her than some of their other friends.

The walk to the news building is long and silent. It’s something that should be expected. Annie is not one for conversation even with her friends. Eren knows this quite well considering the fact that they’ve both known each other for nearly their entire lives. Still, it doesn’t stop Eren from trying to make conversation because there’s nothing more than awkward lulls of silence.

“So, do you have any leads?” Eren asks. He shoves his hands into his pockets. He wonders if he should have put on gloves to hide how ugly and boney his fingers are. Maybe he’ll ask Armin to knit him some mittens. “It’s pretty hard for me to investigate myself since we’re trying to limit the amount of time I’m outside, but if you have anything …”

“I have many leads,” Annie replies. She turns her head slightly to face Eren and it makes it a little easier to hear her, although her voice is still muffled by her scarf. Almost the entire lower half of her face is covered by the scarf. Only her icy blue eyes and light blonde hair peeks out. “In fact, it might delight you to know that my list of suspects has only grown longer.”

It takes every ounce of self-restraint that Eren has to not let out a huge sigh. “I thought Armin specifically told you to stop adding names to that list,” Eren says. He reaches up to rub his eyes tiredly. “I think he told you to shorten that list and focus on people that might have actually wanted to kill me. Or turn me into a zombie.” For a brief moment, he wonders if those two things are the same.

Annie shakes her head. “You two are gravely underestimating the number of people in this town that would have wanted to kill you at least once in their lives,” Annie says with a cluck of her tongue. “It would be a disservice to our investigation to shorten that list. Besides, isn’t it better to leave every stone unturned?”

Eren eyes her wearily. He’s far too tired to argue with her. He strongly suspects that Annie isn’t taking this investigation seriously if she’s just writing down anyone’s name that comes to mind. Maybe he should be glad that she’s enjoying this in some sick, twisted way. At least someone’s having fun.

“Annie!” someone calls. It surprises Eren and it seems Annie too by the way she jumps slightly at the voice. When they turn around, they see a young girl with her dark hair in pigtails bundled up in a puffy winter coat that makes her look twice her size. When the girl smiles, she looks just like Reiner. “Are you coming to play?”

“Hi, Gabi!” Annie says. Her tone is much brighter than it usually is. She casually steps in front of Eren so that she’s now between him and the young girl. Crouching down slightly, Annie reaches out to pat Gabi on the head. “Nope. I’m just walking with my friend today. I’ll come visit you and Reiner at school if I have time, though.”

The young girl looks slightly disappointed and sticks her lower lip out in a pout. It’s been a while since Eren has seen Reiner’s niece. She’s grown quite a bit. She’s grown taller since the last time Eren’s seen her and her cheeks are nice and plump. The cold has made them look even rounder and rosier, and Eren thinks about how soft and smooth her skin looks. She reminds him a little bit of a newborn calf with her large eyes and young flesh. If he dug his teeth into her skin, he bet it would be like biting into cream and taste just like …

“Eren …?” the child asks. She’s staring up at him with those large brown eyes of hers.

Even with Annie standing firmly between them, Eren gulps nervously. Before he can open his mouth and say “hello,” a loud voice interrupts from behind.

“Gabi! Come give your Uncle Reiner a hug!” Reiner’s voice booms. It startles Eren, nearly making him fall backward. When the zombie turns to see Reiner, Reiner is holding open his arms for his niece, who gladly jumps into them. Reiner scoops Gabi up easily and spins her around, pressing a kiss against the crown of her head.

“Uncle Reiner!” Gabi squeals, giggling as Reiner gives her more kisses before putting her down behind him. She’s safely behind the wired gate of the kindergarten. She’s too busy smiling and giggling to notice the tense smile on her uncle’s face.

“Go play with the other kids before class starts, Gabi,” Reiner says. He gives her a pat on the head and watches as she runs off. When he turns back to Eren and Annie, he has a stern look on his face. It’s the kind of expression teachers and principals wore whenever Eren had been caught for causing trouble. Seeing it on Reiner’s face is just as bad. “You brought a zombie near my school?”

Unlike Eren, Annie doesn’t seem as ashamed. Maybe it’s because she never frequented the principal’s office as much as Eren had. “It was the closest way to the newspaper company,” Annie says, “and I had it handled. If Eren even started to lunge for Gabi, I was going to kill him.”

Eren squeaks.

“Gee, thanks,” Reiner says with a roll of his eyes. He leans against the gate, his arms crossed firmly across his chest. “I’d appreciate it if you took Eren on a different route on his way to work, though. As much as I know you could kill Eren with a single blow, I don’t want my students to watch you kill him if they happen to be around.”

Annie thinks for a moment, nibbling on her bottom lip, and then nods. “I’ll take him a different way starting tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” Reiner sighs. His face relaxes into a bright smile that’s just a little bit apologetic, although Eren is really the one that should be apologizing. Reiner reaches out to clap Eren on the back a little too roughly. “Congrats on the job, Eren. Are you excited for work?”

“Ah, I suppose,” Eren mumbles. He fidgets with the edge of his sleeves. “I mean, I like the idea of earning money so I can stop mooching off Jean.”

“You should mooch off of him,” Reiner says with a grin. “He’s your boyfriend. Shouldn’t you enjoy the fact that he’s spending money on you?”

Eren knows he’s only joking but he can feel his face redden anyway. “It’s not like it’s for real. He only did that so our moms wouldn’t be suspicious about why I’m living with him instead of returning home.”

“Still,” Reiner says with a dreamy sigh, “kind of romantic, don’t you think? It’s like a fake dating trope in real life, and you know how that ends.”

“This is real life, Reiner,” Eren reminds him.

Reiner dismisses Eren with a wave of his hand. “Things that happen in fiction can happen in real life!” Reiner says. “And even if it isn’t real, don’t you think it’s quite touching that Jean would fake date you just to keep people from discovering your secret?” He gestures to all of Eren, which makes the zombie feel dirty somehow.

“It’s just because he’s my friend,” Eren says.

“I would never pretend to date you,” Annie tells Eren, “for any reason.”

“... thanks, Annie.” Eren clears his throat and steers the conversation back to its original topic. “It’s just … impractical to have Jean earn money for both of us, especially since I’ll be living with him for the foreseeable future. It only makes sense that I get a job and this one seems perfect for me, although I don’t know why Jean doesn’t want me to work there.”

“Because he wants to be your sugar daddy,” Reiner says at the same time Annie says, “Because of Mikasa Ackerman.”

Eren shoots Reiner a glare and then turns to Annie, whose frown is deeper than usual. “What’s the deal with Mikasa Ackerman?” he asks. “Did they date or something? I asked Jean the other day, but he was acting funny.” To be honest, the thought of Jean dating Mikasa makes Eren feel weird. On one hand, it makes perfect sense if they dated and that’s why Jean feels awkward about Eren working with her. On the other hand, Eren finds that doesn’t particularly like the idea of Jean dating Mikasa, but he can’t exactly say why.

Both Reiner and Annie shake their heads.

“It’s because she’s the worst,” Annie says, which only gives Eren more questions than answers.

The zombie opens his mouth and then closes it. He points at Annie, waggling his finger around her. “Okay, what’s the deal with you and Mikasa Ackerman?” he asks. Eren raises an eyebrow curiously. “Did you date her?”

“No, God! Don’t be disgusting. It’s nothing!” Annie says, throwing her hands up. “There’s no deal with me and Mikasa. I just don’t like her! Do I need a reason to dislike someone? Can’t I just dislike them for no reason?”

Eren frowns. It’s not that Annie needs a reason to dislike someone. She hates a majority of people she meets for no real reason. Sometimes there are reasons, but they’re often trivial: someone breathing too hard, someone blinking too much, someone smiling too often. Eren would definitely believe in Annie disliking someone for no reason, but the way she vehemently dislikes Mikasa makes it difficult for Eren to believe that it’s for no particular reason.

“It’s because Mikasa called Mina cute once,” Reiner says. He leans with his shoulder against the wired fence and it creaks slightly from his weight. Even as Annie shoots the schoolteacher a glare, Reiner just smiles back with a lopsided grin, clearly amused. “Mina giggled and Annie was furious for the rest of the night. She’s still mad.”

“That’s not it!” Annie splutters, throwing her hands up. It’s comical how she looks when she’s fuming and bundled up so tightly like a fluffy bundle of yarn. Well, it would be funny if Annie were a less terrifying person. “Why do I have to like her just because everyone else does? I just think she’s overrated, she and her stupid sword and bobbed haircut!”

“You know, most people would consider those things very cool,” Reiner says.

“I don’t!” Annie snaps.

“Okay, so I understand why Annie dislikes her, sort of,” Eren says. He’s mostly lying. Like Reiner, he also finds Mikasa’s sword and bobbed hair very cool. In fact, he finds Mikasa similar to Annie because they are both terrifying but very cool, but it’s not something he wants to say out loud. “But what about Jean? As far as I know, Jean doesn’t have an irrational dislike of swords or bobbed hair.” He ignores Annie, who shoots him a death glare that probably would have killed him if he weren’t already dead.

Reiner’s eyes turn skyward as he thinks. “Mmm, I’m not sure if Jean dislikes her. Isn’t it more that he doesn’t want you to get too friendly with Mikasa?” he asks.

“Well, I guess,” Eren says. Now that he thinks of it, there wasn’t any particular malice in Jean’s voice when he spoke about Mikasa. The makeup artist sounded more irritated than angry. “But why wouldn’t he want me to meet Mikasa?”

Reiner thinks some more. He must think of something because his expression brightens and he says, “Maybe it’s because -”

At that moment, Annie coughs loudly. It’s a fake cough, Eren knows, because Annie has never gotten sick in her entire life. When the zombie turns to look at her, she’s shaking her head with a dark expression on her face but she abruptly stops when she sees Eren watching.

“Why did you do that?” Eren asks.

“Do what? I didn’t do anything,” Annie says, feigning innocence. She grabs Eren a little too tightly around the wrist and tugs him towards her. To Reiner, she says, “Okay, we should let you attend to your students now. Let’s go, Eren.”

Reiner looks as if he’s about to say something else but glances down at his watch and notices that he’s about two minutes late. He bids both Eren and Annie goodbye before rushing towards the classroom and ushering his students inside so that they can begin class. Eren and Annie watch until Reiner has rounded every last kindergartner into his room and shuts the door.

“You know, I may not know why you did that, but I will find out,” Eren says, pointing a finger at Annie.

“Well, good luck with that. I’m sure it’ll go well considering how far you’re getting along investigating your own murder,” Annie says, looking down at Eren’s finger amusedly. She turns her back and begins walking down the sidewalk again. She doesn’t wait to see if Eren is following her, but the zombie does pad along after her after a few beats. “I’m sure you will find out about Mikasa eventually, but I will warn you: you won’t like it.”

“Why? Because you don’t like her?” Eren snorts. With his long legs, it’s quite easy to catch up to Annie. “Is it because we’re friends and you expect me to hate everyone you hate? I hope you know how tiring that is considering how many people you hate.”

Annie rolls her eyes. “Please, I can hate everyone just fine without your help,” she tells him. She walks with her hands held behind her back, her pace slow and relaxed like she’s not in a hurry. Eren wonders if she’s purposely taking her time so that she can come to work late. “I’m just telling you now, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

It sounds ominous and makes Mikasa seem more mysterious than Eren’s first impression of the newcomer. He could ask more questions, but he knows that Annie probably won’t give him a satisfying answer or if she’ll even answer at all. He’s not sure what Annie’s warning is or how helpful it is. What could Mikasa possibly have done to make Eren dislike her when he didn’t even know her prior to becoming a zombie? Maybe if Eren discovered Mikasa was the person responsible for turning him into a zombie, Annie’s warning would make perfect sense but the thought of that just makes Eren snort because there’s just no way. In the end, he decides that it’s just Annie’s dislike of Mikasa that’s causing the blonde to make such negative claims about the journalist.

The two of them end up at the gate of the newspaper building. It feels a little embarrassing for Annie to have walked him the entire way there. It’s like she’s dropped him off at kindergarten, but Eren knows he shouldn’t complain.

“Thanks for walking me here,” Eren mumbles, his feet shuffling on the ground.

“No worries,” Annie says. Her hands are folded across her chest and she looks reluctant to leave him, but Eren doesn’t know if it’s because she’s genuinely concerned about him or because she doesn’t want to go to work. He highly suspects it’s the latter reason. Annie tosses her head so that her bangs are no longer in her eyes and she frowns when she sees the figure standing at the front of the building. “Ugh, your coworker is waiting to greet you, I see. Better not keep her waiting but … just try not to be her friend. Just … be her coworker and keep things professional.”

Weird advice, Eren thinks. “Uhh, okay,” he laughs. He gives Annie an awkward salute and begins to walk towards Mikasa. “I’ll do that. Have a good day, Annie!”

He expects her to leave immediately, but he’s surprised that she watches him until he and Mikasa enter the building.

-------------------------

Being introduced into his new workplace is … strange, to say the least. It’s strange because Mikasa introduces Eren to people who he’s known his whole life, people who had invited him to work with them after they found out he graduated with a degree in journalism but Eren had turned them down in the hopes that something better would soon come his way. Something better never did, but these people still smile at him and welcome him to the office because it’s easier to do that than hold a grudge against someone in a small town.

Mikasa shows him around the small box of an office, introducing him to everyone and laughing easily with them as if she’s the one that had grown up in this small town her whole life and not Eren. It makes Eren a little jealous and he wonders just how much he had missed while he was gone. Mikasa tells him a little bit about the articles they’ve covered in his absence — nothing interesting, just more missing visitors, some news about the pasta place on the street corner getting an honorable mention in a reputable food blog, and a cat that got repeatedly stuck in a tree for two weeks straight. There are, however, a few newspaper articles about Eren, but Mikasa quickly glosses over them as if to save Eren some embarrassment.

“And here’s your desk,” Mikasa says, gesturing to the cube next to hers. It’s a tiny thing, just four walls and a desk with a standard computer and a few cabinets to hold his things. It looks exactly like Mikasa’s. The only difference is that she has a few papers here and there, but her desk is strangely barren. Even their coworkers have a few knick-knacks or pictures to personalize their desks, but Mikasa’s is void of anything that would give a stranger a peek into her personal life. She’s either incredibly private, neat, or boring.

“Ah, thanks,” Eren says. He should probably be excited, but he feels a little tired looking at how dull his desk is. Maybe he should buy a plant to liven up his workspace.

“No problem. It’s a pleasure to be working with you, Eren,” Mikasa says cheerfully. “Even if you did lie to me right when we met.”

A huge pang of guilt hits Eren in the chest. It makes him wince. “Sorry,” he mumbles, and he really is. There isn’t really any good explanation he can give to Mikasa for lying, but she hadn’t asked him about it when he had come in this morning either. Maybe Annie is completely wrong about Mikasa and Eren’s new coworker is just a really nice person who doesn’t care about strange falsehoods. “I … I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have lied. I just … was kind of nervous about returning here. It’s not like my current situation is exactly glamorous.”

Her brown eyes are warm when she smiles. They’re kind, understanding. “Hey, don’t worry. We all have our problems. Let’s just hope this is another good beginning for you and hope for the best,” Mikasa says to Eren. She gestures for Eren to follow her and they begin walking to the supply closet they had passed by earlier. Mikasa throws open the door and starts searching through its contents. Unfortunately, the whole thing is a mess. “I hope you don’t mind getting right down to business today. I’ve wanted to write this article forever, and it’s kind of perfect that you’re here now because you know the hills better than I do.”

“Ah, that’s fine,” Eren says absentmindedly. He starts searching the closet alongside Mikasa, although he’s not exactly sure what they’re looking for. He shoves aside boxes of paper clips and sets a bunch of mismatched folders on the top shelf so that he can look through the shelves better. “What do you have in your article so far?” Eren asks mostly to make small talk, but he realizes that Mikasa might have information that could prove useful to Eren and his friends.

“Mmm, nothing substantial. Just what I told you the other day when we met — people are disappearing here, zombies appear, and your town seems to have an upsetting amount of occurrences compared to other locations that report zombie sightings,” Mikasa replies. She pauses for a minute, biting her lip as if she’s deciding if she should continue. After a moment, she says in a lowered voice, “It could be that … someone is creating zombies on purpose and their prime area of operation is this town.”

Eren blinks. It’s the very same hypothesis that Armin had proposed. If Mikasa thinks it’s a possibility too, maybe Eren and his friends are headed in the right direction.

“Oh, here it is,” Mikasa says. She plucks a camera out from behind boxes of pens and highlighters and plops it into Eren’s hands. She grins at him. “Are you ready for your first field investigation?”

Eren gulps and then nods. Working with Mikasa might bring him even closer to discovering the identity of his murderer and their motives. This job may have been a blessing in disguise.

“Ready,” Eren says.

-------------------------

The trek up the hills is a lot more difficult than Eren remembers. The hills are steeper, the path windier, and the winds chillier. He doesn’t remember it being this tiring walking up the hills even when he had been a child playing in the woods. He thinks it has to do with the fact that he’s lost quite a bit of muscle mass since becoming a zombie, which his many layers of clothing easily disguises. The camera around his neck hangs like a weight that only feels heavier and heavier with every step he takes.

Although Eren seems to be having a difficult time up the mountain, Mikasa seems fine. While Eren drags his feet, Mikasa takes each step as energetically as the last. She’s several steps ahead of him, and Eren’s sure she’ll disappear from view soon if she keeps that same pace. Every once in a while, she’ll turn around and smile at Eren, stopping so that he can catch up a little bit, but then take off again. Clearly, these two-second breaks that she takes are purely for Eren to catch up. Mikasa doesn’t need them to catch her breath at all.

“Have you seen a lot of zombies here since you’ve arrived?” Mikasa asks Eren as they continue up the hill. They’re nearing the top, but Mikasa isn’t the least bit breathless.

I see one every time I look in the mirror, so you could say I see one every day, Eren thinks, but he’s not stupid enough to say it out loud. He watches how Mikasa’s sword dangles from her hip. “I haven’t really … gone out a lot since I’ve come back,” Eren pants. At least he’s not lying. Eren’s been lying to everyone so much lately that he’s always relieved on the few occasions he can tell the truth.

“Mm,” Mikasa hums. For once, she slows her pace and lets Eren catch up to her so that they can walk side-by-side. “Ah, settling in does take time even if you’re returning home. You’ll probably see more zombies soon enough, so it’s probably good you haven’t been out much.”

If she only knew.

Eren wonders if he should put some more distance between himself and Mikasa. It’s always dangerous being around people, and Mikasa is the closest he’s been to a human without his friends around to hold him back. He can’t tell much about her body type — if she’s more lean muscle or if she has a good amount of fat underneath her skin — because he’s only seen her bundled under layers of clothes. He supposes he should be grateful to the chilly fall weather for that. Still, it makes him wonder what he’ll find if he peels back the layers of cotton and wool. Tough muscle like that of a deer? Soft, tender meat like that of a newborn calf? Succulent, juicy flesh like that of a fattened goose? Eren could dream about it all day, but the glimmer of Mikasa’s blade peeking out from its hilt always reminds him that it’s a bad idea.

The top of the hill gives them a decent view of the forest below, but the autumn foliage makes it difficult to see very much. Beyond that lies the town, quiet as it always is. It really is a nice place. If zombies weren’t popping up now and then, Eren would bet people aside from amateur detectives would come here just to experience how charming and quaint it is.

“I think we should go our separate ways here,” Mikasa says to Eren, which surprises him. “You should go and explore one side and take pictures of anything that you find interesting. I’ll let you know if I see anything on the other side. Sound good?”

It doesn’t sound good to Eren. It sounds weird. He thought they would be working on this whole zombie article together, and it makes him nervous that Mikasa would want to work separately. Maybe that’s just how she operates. Maybe she’s an independent collaborator. If so, Eren should just agree and do his best to take pictures. Mikasa doesn’t know him at all, and Eren does not plan on letting her know that he’s a terrible person to have on group projects. He’s going to be a good coworker and do his assigned work even if it means he has to do it alone.

“Sounds good!” Eren says cheerfully.

He had been enthusiastic about getting a job, but the work is a lot less exciting. Yes, Eren wants to find the reason why zombies are somehow drawn to this particular town as much as Mikasa does. Because of his situation, he’s probably even more motivated than Mikasa because finding the reason might also lead him to the person who had killed him and resurrected him as a zombie, but the work is admittedly demoralizing because it’s incredibly difficult to find evidence of zombies.

What is there to capture on camera that hasn’t been seen already? People in this town already know of zombies. They know what zombies do, and they’re hardly threatened. Some people even get dogs to chase zombies off their yard because they can’t be bothered to do it themselves and even a chihuahua does a decent enough job. The things zombies leave behind are even more boring.

Eren doesn’t know what to take pictures of. He takes a few shots of the forest, trying to remember what his professors had said about the rule of thirds and lighting and shutter speed during the few classes he had taken for his photography minor. There’s a picture he takes from a nearby stream that looks rather nice, almost like it can be hung in an office or put on a postcard, but it’s probably not remarkable enough for a local newspaper article about zombies.

Finding photographic evidence of a zombie is pointless though. The few pictures Eren does snap could just be grasping at straws: odd footprints that are dragged out across the dirt path, pieces of fabric caught on the branches of shrubbery, smears of blood against the trunk of a tree. There’s a possible non-zombie explanation for all of this though. The footprints could be from a tired hiker and not from a zombie. Both tend to drag their feet across the ground. The fabric could also be a hiker or maybe even a hunter whose clothes got stuck in a bush. The blood smear is a little more exciting, but it’s possible that it came from an injured animal or someone who fell during a hike. These photographs are so pathetic that Eren would rather lie and say he didn’t capture anything at all than show them to Mikasa.

Eren does entertain the thought of telling Mikasa he had managed to take no photographs. It would just be another small lie piled up on his ever-growing pile. Considering how many lies he’s told so far, adding another one shouldn’t be that big of a deal, but it still makes him feel bad.

What makes things worse is that Mikasa has been nothing but nice to him. He still has no idea why Jean and Annie want him to stay away from Mikasa so much. From what he can tell, Mikasa is a decent person. She gave him his first job, didn’t say very much about him lying to her, and entrusted him to work with her on a project she’s excited about. Telling her that he didn’t get any work done wouldn’t feel bad just because he’d be lying to her again, but Eren would also feel like he let her down by helping her progress her work.

Eren frowns as he flips through the photos on his camera. He wonders if he should delete them. It’s probably what Jean and Annie would do since they’re so opposed to Mikasa, but what would Armin do?

Armin is a worrywart, first and foremost. Getting too involved with Mikasa and risking her knowing that Eren is actually a zombie is definitely something to avoid. Mikasa probably won’t hesitate to kill Eren if the sword swinging from her hip is anything to go by. But then again … Mikasa seems quite smart and driven from what Eren has seen of her. If she’s out to find the reason for the zombies cropping up in this town, then he does not doubt that she’ll find something and any information could prove useful in his own investigation into the matter. After careful consideration, Eren is quite certain that Armin would willingly work with Mikasa and only withhold the necessary details, like the fact that Eren is actually a zombie, but anything that helps Mikasa helps the greater good.

Eren turns his head and opens his mouth to call for Mikasa, but he hears her call his name first.

“Eren!” Mikasa’s voice rings loudly through the forest. It’s enough to make the birds take flight from the trees where they had previously rested, their wings fluttering as the trees shake and leaves rustle. “Eren, come here!”

“Coming!” Eren calls back. He follows her voice, which leads him off the path towards the other side of the hill. Eren wonders what she could have seen. He hopes it’s not another zombie. He doesn’t know what he would do if he came face-to-face with another one of his kind in his current state. For a brief moment, he thinks she might have seen the carcass of an unfortunate hiker that had stumbled across a zombie. The thought horrifies Eren, but the fact that his stomach growls from just the idea horrifies him even more.

As he gets closer, Eren’s steps become a little slower, a little more cautious. He really doesn’t want to see what Mikasa had stumbled upon. He closes his eyes. The zombie takes another tentative step, sniffing the air for anything unusual. The stench of rotting flesh doesn’t fill the air. The smell of sweet blood doesn’t waft to his nostrils. It really just smells like … the crisp fall air.

Eyes open now, Eren takes a few more steps and sees Mikasa with her back turned towards him. She’s looking at something, and Eren’s eyes slowly follow her gaze to … a large hole in the ground. It’s a very familiar hole, Eren realizes, because it’s the same one he dug when he had crawled out of the ground.

“It’s quite deep,” Mikasa murmurs. She drops down to inspect it closer, reaching down to touch the dirt. She gathers some in her hand and lets it fall from her fingers. “I would say .. six feet deep. That’s deep enough to bury a body.”

“Ah, do you really think so?” Eren asks. He kicks at the ground, knocking some dirt into the hole as if doing so would undo what he did. “It looks a little bit shallower than that. Maybe like … five feet and … six … inches?” He sounds like an idiot and he knows it, but he can’t help. He’s afraid that Mikasa will somehow figure out the truth: that this hole isn’t just any hole, but an Eren-shaped hole that he had popped out of when he had come back from the dead. Granted, the shape isn’t anything like him. It’s all in his head. In reality, the hole is kind of a blob shape because he hadn’t been very neat when he had dug himself out.

“No, it’s deep deep,” Mikasa says. She stands up and brushes her hands off. The reporter takes a moment to observe the curious hole and then gestures at it. “Take a few pictures of this at different angles. We should probably report this, whatever this is.”

“Er, okay,” Eren says as he fumbles for his camera. It takes him far too long to focus the lens and find the right button to snap the pictures. “What do you think … what do you think this is?” he asks nervously.

Mikasa gives him a smile. “Are you sure you want to hear? Fair warning: I’m going to sound like a conspiracy theorist,” Mikasa says.

“N-no,” Eren stammers. “I want to know.” It’s not really that he wants to know. He’s afraid of just what Mikasa knows, but he also needs to know what thoughts are floating around her head.

“I think this is where zombies come from,” Mikasa says simply. She kicks a little bit towards the hole. “I’ve been doing some research … I believe this is part of the process of turning people into zombies. I know people here don’t really think about it but … the pattern between missing persons and zombies that appear are striking. It’s not just the fact that zombies oftentimes wear the same clothing that was last seen on people who were reported missing, but the time frame between when people go missing to when they’re … zombies, I guess you could call them, is pretty consistent. It’s about a year.”

“A-a year?” Eren gulps. He hopes Mikasa doesn’t put two and two together. He hopes she hadn’t read the papers about him going missing in the local newspaper archives. He hopes she believes his lie about taking off suddenly without letting anybody in town know. He hopes she doesn’t remember the fact that he was gone for approximately a year.

“Mmm, yeah. A year,” Mikasa says with a nod. “I think these holes are … well, this is the first one I’ve seen, but maybe there are more like it.”

“You think there are more?” Eren asks. The thought makes sense. He doesn’t know why it hadn’t occurred to him sooner.

“I think if we dig around we’ll find out, but I doubt the townspeople would be happy about digging up the hills just to find out if zombies pop out of the ground,” Mikasa laughs. She looks thoughtful again, her head slightly tilted as she continues to piece together points Eren can’t quite see yet. “I think maybe … the process of becoming a zombie requires that a person dies, be buried in the ground, and be reanimated. Maybe the reanimation steps are a bit more complicated. Maybe it’s something that happens before the body is buried and takes place while the … body is buried underground.”

It’s sounding awfully familiar. Eren should be thrilled. Some of these things Mikasa is bringing forth are the same things Armin had also said during their meetings. The one-year gap between missing persons reports and their corresponding zombie appearance is new, though. It’s definitely something he should mention at the next meeting or even bring up in the group chat, but Eren can’t help thinking that the more information Mikasa gathers about zombies, the closer she is to figuring out that Eren is a zombie too.

-------------------------

Thankfully, Eren and Mikasa don’t run into anything else interesting in the hills. It’s disappointing for Mikasa, but it’s a relief to Eren. It’s difficult to hide just how happy he is about how the day ended up. He was able to take some compelling (at least to Mikasa) pictures without giving himself away, and his zombie grave was interesting enough that he didn’t have to show Mikasa the other pathetic pictures he took earlier. Maybe the standards he has for himself are low, but Eren would say that he’s currently killing it at his new job.

“I honestly expect this piece to be rejected,” Mikasa confesses as they’re walking back to the office. “I think the evidence is compelling, but it does sound like a piece that belongs to one of those fake science newspapers.”

As dangerous as it is to have Mikasa discovering more about zombies and potentially finding out the truth about him, Eren knows discouraging her work only slows his own investigation so he gives her a small smile and says, “It’s zombies. Reanimated corpses that don’t have any business walking the earth. Anything you propose is going to sound ridiculous, but you have a better hypothesis than most people. I think it’s worth a shot to put it out there.”

Mikasa looks surprised for a second and then smiles. “Thanks, Eren. That’s very kind of you.”

The two walk together in silence, crisp autumn leaves crunching beneath the soles of their boots. Mikasa doesn’t say much else as they return to the office. Occasionally, she’ll comment about the town — about a shop she finds particularly charming or a townsperson she bumped into the other day — and Eren will respond with an anecdote of his.

“I hope you had a good first day,” Mikasa says once they return to the office. She’s putting away her things, hiding them in the cabinets in her cubicle. Her desk is just as spotless as it was this morning. “I certainly had a good time working with you, Eren.”

“Ah, thank you,” Eren says. He feels relieved that he’s gone through his first day without anything happening. He can’t wait to come home and rub it in Jean’s face. “It was nice working with you too.” He wonders if he should put the camera away for tonight and think about editing the pictures tomorrow. He could just do it tonight. He probably won’t get overtime, but it might be good to do a little extra work these first few weeks to show Mikasa he’s serious about this job. Then again, he doesn’t want to seem too eager in case his coworkers take advantage of him in the future. With a frown, Eren tucks the camera in the cabinet underneath his desk. When he looks up, he sees Mikasa looking at him.

“Hey,” she says. The reporter is leaning against the walls that separate their cubes. “Do you want to grab dinner together tonight? My treat.”

“Er.” Eren squirms, uncomfortable. He doesn’t want to say no, but saying yes would just be … stupid even for him. It’s not like he can waltz into any restaurant and devour the same foods everyone else can. He’s about to shake his head and politely decline, but Mikasa is flipping through her phone.

“Is Korean barbecue good?” she asks. She raises her head, tilting it slightly as she awaits Eren’s answer. “There’s a place … well, I guess you know. If you’d rather go somewhere else, I’m open to it.”

“N-no,” Eren says, surprised. Korean barbecue sounds good. Perfect, even. “That sounds … I’d like to go. Let me just … I need to tell my friend. Boyfriend. He’s picking me up.” At that moment, his phone buzzes and he winces. He knows without looking that it’s Jean. They did agree to Jean picking him up, but he didn’t think Jean would be so … punctual.

Mikasa grins as Eren pulls out his phone. “Is he here already?” Mikasa asks. “You should invite him. I’ll invite my girlfriend too. She just happens to be in town this week.”

“Ah, it’s okay,” Eren says hurriedly. He knows Jean would never agree to this. Not only is it a dinner with someone unaware of his true condition, but it’s a dinner with Mikasa of all people. Jean, for whatever reason, would absolutely hate this. “I’ll just tell him to, ah, go home without me. He probably wouldn’t want to eat with us -”

The doors to the office burst open and Jean storms in, the tail of his trench coat flapping behind him. The makeup artist pays no attention to the stares of Eren’s coworkers. He pauses for just a moment to scan the room and, upon spotting Eren, marches right up to the zombie’s cubicle.

“Eren, come on,” he says through gritted teeth. He sounds angry, but Eren can tell from Jean’s rigid stance and folded arms that the makeup artist is anxious. “I thought you said you would be out by now.”

“Ah, I invited him out to dinner,” Mikasa says from behind Jean. Jean turns to look at her, surprised, and Mikasa gives him a friendly wave that Jean doesn’t return. Jean might dislike Mikasa, but it seems like the feeling is one-sided. Mikasa taps Jean on the shoulder. “You can come with us if you’d like. It’s really my way of thanking Eren for joining the team and being such a good coworker on his first day. He’s really great. I’m looking forward to working with him long-term.”

“Y-you do?” Eren stammers. He didn’t think he did a very good job. To have Mikasa tell him that he did well makes him feel warm and fuzzy inside. He looks eagerly at Jean. “It’s fine if I have dinner with her just this once, right? Mikasa invited me and I did a good job today so …” His voice trails off. He expects Jean to say no. After all, he had warned Eren to avoid Mikasa as much as possible.

“Fine,” Jean finally says. When Eren looks at him, Jean’s shoulders are slumped in defeat. His eyebrows are still knit together and Eren can tell that Jean doesn’t like the idea one bit, but it doesn’t matter. Jean said he could go, so Eren is going to that dinner. “But I’m coming with you,” Jean says firmly.

Eren begins to whine. “You don’t have to babysit me,” he begins, but Jean isn’t listening.

“Yes, I do,” Jean replies. There’s something authoritative in his voice. It makes Eren’s toes curl and his cheeks flush, but it might be because Jean’s busily rewrapping the zombie’s scarf around his neck.

“Cute,” Mikasa says as she distractedly checks her phone. She taps something on it before tucking it back into the pocket of her coat. “Let’s head over then. My girlfriend said she’d meet us there.”

-------------------------

The meat at the barbecue house is much better than Eren remembers. It’s strange, but becoming a zombie has given him a much more refined palate when it comes to eating meat. He can tell if poultry is free-range with just a taste, if cows were fed more than just corn for their diet before they were slaughtered, and if pigs were allowed to roam and scavenge for food instead of just eating feed before they were turned to bacon. He tries to explain this to his friends at times, but they never really get it. To them, meat is just meat. Sometimes, Eren can’t believe he had once lived as ignorantly as them.

Mikasa sits across the table and observes as Jean feeds Eren another piece of barely cooked meat. She looks at him curiously. “You like your meat rare, Eren?” Her tone isn’t judgemental in the least, but it still makes Eren nervous.

“Y-yeah.” Eren forgets to chew the last piece of beef and accidentally swallows it too early. It gets stuck in his throat halfway and he starts to choke. He begins to pound on his chest to free his windpipe but a glass of water appears in front of him. Eren takes it and eagerly drinks it until the beef goes down.

“It’s a taste he acquired when he was traveling,” Jean says. Unlike Eren, he hasn’t eaten much. He’s eaten a few well-cooked pieces here and there, but he’s mostly been feeding Eren and ordering more food from the menu when their plates begin to empty.

“Ah, interesting,” Mikasa says as she nibbles on a piece of Hawaiian pork belly. Even though the meat glistens with fat, Eren can’t stand the sweet marinade that coats it and the pineapples that come with the slices of pork belly. It’s just too … sacrilegious to ruin a piece of meat like that. Eren doesn’t know how Mikasa is able to continuously eat piece after piece of that tainted pork belly.

Eren laughs nervously and puts his hands in his lap. He fiddles with the buttons on his coat. As much as he wants to shove the beef tongue that had just arrived into his mouth, he knows he shouldn’t. He needs to appear normal. He clears his throat. “When is your girlfriend coming?” Eren asks with a slight wince. He shouldn’t have eaten so much when Mikasa’s girlfriend hasn’t even arrived yet.

“Should be any minute,” Mikasa says. She puts a piece of meat on Jean’s plate and gestures for him to eat too. Jean, however, doesn’t even bother to crack a smile. “You guys should just eat up. She really won’t mind.”

Jean pushes the pork belly around his plate with his chopsticks. He doesn’t make any move to pick it up or eat it. “We might head out soon if you don’t mind. I have to be out early tomorrow and Eren likes to prep at night,” Jean says. He doesn’t make any eye contact with Mikasa. “We’ve had more than enough to eat already.”

A whine begins at the back of Eren’s throat but Jean subtly stomps on the zombie’s toes and the sound dies midway.

“Yeah, we should get going,” Eren squeaks as he hunches over in pain.

“Ah, alright then,” Mikasa says with a frown. She doesn’t notice that someone is walking up behind her and doesn’t notice until the person has thrown their arms around her waist. Mikasa looks up in surprise. “Historia!”

The name makes the blood freeze in Eren’s veins. He takes a better look at the woman who has thrown her arms around his new coworker and finds that it is indeed his ex-girlfriend. She still has the same large blue eyes and heart-shaped face, same petite frame and golden blonde hair, same pale pink lips and a cupid’s bow that looks as if it were sculpted by a god. There are things that are different about her since Eren had seen her last: her hair falls down to her shoulder blades instead of at her shoulders, her face is a bit thinner, and she wears an ensemble suited to that of a strict businesswoman when previously her wardrobe was hyper-feminine. It’s so … strange to bump into her like this.

Eren stumbles up from his seat in surprise. “Historia,” he says even as Jean is tugging at his sleeve and hissing at him to sit down. “What are you doing here?” He knows that his friends have mentioned Historia had given up on him after he had disappeared for a year, but he still feels the need to run a hand through his hair. He hopes his makeup hasn’t smudged and that he doesn’t look too unkempt.

Historia’s arms fall away from Mikasa’s waist and she looks at Eren. She doesn’t seem to recognize him at first, eyes narrowing at him as she tries to place exactly where she had seen him, and then her eyes widen in recognition. “Eren?” Her head turns towards Mikasa so quickly that Eren’s surprised that her neck hasn’t snapped. “You didn’t tell me Eren was your new coworker. Or that he came back to town.”

“I thought it would be a nice surprise,” Mikasa says. She pulls out the chair beside her and gestures for Historia to take a seat. Once Historia sits down, Mikasa rubs gentle circles on the blonde’s lower back. “Aren’t you glad he’s alive?”

Eren falls back in his seat in shock, too stunned to pay attention to the conversation Mikasa is having with Historia. He lowers his head and mumbles to Jean, “What the fuck is Historia doing here?”

“I tried to warn you not to hang around Mikasa,” Jean says in a low voice so that only Eren can hear. His teeth are gritted together in a pained smile. “In case you haven’t connected the dots … Historia is the girlfriend Mikasa has been talking about.”

It all makes sense now, Eren thinks, why Jean had wanted Eren to avoid the field reporter so desperately. Whenever Eren had asked if Jean had dated Mikasa or had any romantic interest in her, Jean and his friends had vehemently denied it. Eren had thought they were lying to him but he realizes now that it was because they were telling the truth — and also hiding a more shocking secret about Mikasa from him. Eren would be angry, but he’s too stunned to feel anything but numb.

“Well, it’s good to see you, Eren. I’m relieved to see that you’re alright,” Historia says, but it’s as if she’s talking underwater. Eren can barely register what she’s saying.

“He went on a spontaneous trip, he said,” Mikasa explains as she begins to feed Historia a strip of pork belly that was still sizzling from the grill.

“Oh?” Historia sits closer to the edge of her seat. It looks as if she’s about to ask for details, but Jean is standing up and ushering Eren out of his seat.

“We’ll fill you up on the details another night, Historia. We have to head out right now, but it was nice meeting you.” Jean wraps an arm firmly around Eren’s waist and subtly guides him towards the exit. “Lovely seeing you as always. Let’s do this again sometime.” He doesn’t wait for the couple to respond before he hurries Eren out the door.

The only sound as they walk is the clomp of their boots against the sidewalk. Eren can’t begin to ask the questions running through his head. He knows that even if he did, Jean would be in no mood to answer them. This entire scenario is what Jean had been trying to avoid in the first place. Eren knows that Jean is just waiting for them to return home so the first thing that comes out of his mouth is “I told you so.” It comes as a total surprise when those aren’t the first words Jean says to him.

“Are you okay?” Jean asks as they make their way back.

“I’m … fine,” Eren says even though he isn’t remotely okay. He knows that his tone is far from convincing, but he doesn’t want to dive into this tonight. “Can we stop by the office? I want to grab my camera and edit some of my pictures tonight.”

“You don’t want to rest?” Jean asks. He leans forward and tries to get a better look at Eren’s face, but the zombie pulls his scarf over his face.

“I’m not that tired,” Eren mumbles into his scarf. That isn’t a lie, not really. He could sleep if he wanted, but he’d rather stare at the screen and click mindlessly, making minuscule edits to his photos that people will barely notice. It would help distract him from all the thoughts swirling through his head at least.

It’s been rough returning here. Everyone Eren runs into is a reminder of everything he’s missed since he disappeared. His friends seem perfectly content with living in their small town even though all Eren had ever talked about after college was finding a job in the big city and moving away. His mother looks older and smaller than he remembers even though she had stayed the same all his life. Even Historia had changed, moved on with someone else while Eren was buried in the ground. How had everyone continued to live while he was frozen six feet under?

“It’s not like I expected everyone to wait for me while I was gone. I know it’s not anyone’s fault,” Eren says when they reach the gates of the newspaper building. His hands are balled up in frustration. “But … you don’t know what it’s like to lose everything so suddenly and come back to see that everything has changed.”

Jean stops in his tracks and when Eren looks back he sees the makeup artist with a stunned expression on his face. “Eren,” Jean says. He almost seems … hurt. “We lost you. For an entire year.”

Eren doesn’t have a response to that. He fiddles with the end of his scarf uncomfortably and then ducks his head before hurrying into the office. Thankfully, Jean doesn’t follow him.

The office is empty when Eren flicks the lights on. He mumbles to himself as he walks down the row of cubicles, muttering about what a terrible night this has been. Just when he was feeling normal, Historia showed up and reminded him that he’s not normal and that he can never return to where he once was. He doesn’t even want to think about everything that could have been if he hadn’t gotten murdered that night: if he could have found a job outside of this town, if he could have moved into the city, if he and Historia could have still been together. It’s useless anyway.

Eren finds his empty cube and pulls open one of the drawers, riffling around its contents with one hand. Oddly, there are papers he doesn’t remember placing in his cabinet. He takes another look and realizes that it’s not his cube, but Mikasa’s that he’s wandered into. Their cubicles really look too similar because Eren’s is practically empty and Mikasa has no personal items on her desk to differentiate it from Eren’s.

The zombie is about to shut the drawer and grab his camera at his desk, but something in the back corner of the drawer catches his attention. Curious, Eren reaches for it and pulls out a cell phone. He thinks it’s strange because he distinctly remembers Mikasa using her phone at the restaurant earlier that night. He turns the phone in his hand and the thought that this phone is somehow familiar to him flashes through his mind. He glances at the screen and sees a crack on it that looks exactly like the one on his old phone. The phone he had lost when he had been murdered in the forest.

But how would Mikasa have my phone? Eren thinks. The idea is so bizarre that Eren is about to put the phone back where he had seen it, but then … Mikasa is new in town. She’s only been here for a year at most. Even if everyone else knows her … how well do they really know someone who has only been here a year?

Eren’s hands hover over the power button and, hands shaking, presses it down with his thumb. The screen lights up as it powers on and a few seconds later the lock screen appears. It’s a forest that looks exactly like a picture Eren took hiking once. That has to be a coincidence though. All forests look the same … right?

The phone asks for his fingerprint. Eren’s almost too scared to scan his finger. If it does turn out to be his phone, this only implies that his murderer is … But that’s impossible, Eren thinks. He hadn’t known Mikasa when he died. She would have no reason to kill him. He’s just being paranoid and he can prove that he’s just overthinking all of this strange coincidence with Mikasa and her phone that looks exactly like his old one if he just presses his index finger to the scanner and ...

It unlocks, much to Eren’s surprise. It has all of his old apps on there including Angry Birds which he stopped playing in high school and only kept installed for nostalgia. It’s his phone. And Mikasa had it. And there really isn’t any explanation for it except one.

“Eren?”

Eren drops the phone back into the drawer and slams it shut. When he turns around, he sees Mikasa walking towards him with a confused smile on her face.

“What are you doing here?” she asks.

Eren stands up and stumbles out of her cubicle. “Er, n-nothing!” Eren quickly goes to his cube and pretends to rifle through his few belongings before pulling his camera out of his drawer. “I just … changed my mind and wanted to work on some of my photos tonight. Just wanted to … be productive.”

“Oh, you’re so hardworking. I actually left some papers I wanted to look over tonight too,” Mikasa laughs as she goes into her own cubicle and pulls open the cabinet that Eren had gone through only a few minutes before. She frowns when she sees the phone out of place, but she shoves it back into the drawer and pulls out some papers instead. Mikasa shoves the papers into her bag and smiles at Eren. She doesn’t seem to see the perspiration forming on his forehead or his nervous, rigid stance. “Well, we should head home so we can rest. Don’t work too hard.”

“Haha, yeah,” Eren laughs, but it sounds so forced.

The two walk out together and Eren finds Jean chatting politely with Historia. While it might have bothered him earlier, Eren is too preoccupied with his new finding to pay any attention to his ex-girlfriend right now. He’ll worry about it later. Right now, he has to tell Jean something.

He hardly bids the two women goodbye, instead tugging his fake boyfriend by the sleeve and walking hastily towards their apartment.

“Eren, I know you’re upset, but that was really rude,” Jean hisses, but he allows Eren to pull at his sleeve and doesn’t pry the zombie’s hand off. Jean had attempted to wave goodbye, but it wasn’t enough to ward away the amused glances that Historia and Mikasa shot each other as the zombie and makeup artist hurried home.

“This is important!” Eren insists, still pulling Jean. “But I can’t tell you here.”

Jean only sighs and allows Eren to lead him to their apartment. At their quick pace, it only takes them a few minutes to get there and Jean sighs tiredly as soon as they’re inside.

The makeup artist shrugs off his coat and hangs it on the coat rack. He begins to unbutton Eren’s coat too, but Eren doesn’t even move his shoulders back to make it easier for Jean to peel the coat off. “Can you …? Ugh,” Jean huffs as he moves Eren’s arms himself and pulls the coat off. “What is it that you wanted to tell me anyway?”

“I think,” Eren says, tugging at the end of his scarf nervously. He takes a deep breath and tries again. Jean is busy trying to unwind the scarf around Eren’s neck but the zombie puts his hands firmly on Jean’s shoulders so that he has all of the makeup artist’s attention. “I think … I think Mikasa killed me.”