#though sadly none is actually featured in the snippet

[lorenzobane]

Oh! It's evil author day. Have some of my Sweet Home Alabama!Garashir AU.

Summary: Chief Medical Officer Julian Bashir suddenly finds himself engaged to his new partner, Ezri Dax. Normally that would be a cause for celebration... Except for one minor detail. Technically, Julian is still married to someone else. A certain Mr. Elim Garak.

-----

Julian wakes up smiling as a series of sweet kisses pepper down his neck, and he squirms happily into his bedding to enjoy both sensations a bit longer. 

“It’s time to wake up,” an amused, sweet voice says, and he smiles unconsciously. 

“Five more minutes?” He asks, turning slightly so he can face the other body in his bed more easily. 

“You,” Ezri replies, her messy black hair spilling in every direction, “will be late. How did you make it to anything on time without me?” 

Julian grins more broadly. “I truly cannot remember now.” 

She smiles and flings blankets at his face. “Get up. I want breakfast before the staff meeting.” 

They go to ops together, hands lazily intertwined as they reach. Ezri breaks off before he gets to the senior staff meeting- without the war and Sisko, she is no longer technically considered Senior Staff. 

He greets everyone else at the table and nods jauntily at Kira. 

“You seem happy this morning, Julian,” Nerys says. 

“You make it sound so unusual,” Julian replies. 

She rolls her eyes and starts the meeting, and Julian opens his spreadsheets to his staffing needs and inventory. The rest of the staff circles around and discusses their weekly needs and inventory requirements- Julian makes sure to request more general analgesics, and they’re free to go. 

Thank god because he has something to talk to Kira about. 

“Nerys,” Julian calls as she starts to walk out of the room. 

She turns around, and Julian is struck by how much calmer she is and more content and in command of herself. She is a wonderful person and an even better friend. Which is why– 

“I have something to tell you!” 

“Well?” She replies, amused. 

“Well…” He trails off. “Well! I’m going to ask Ezri to marry me.” 

“Marry… you…” Kira repeats. “Julian! That’s… Wonderful! Truly, I’m very happy for you. But, well, are you sure? This is pretty sudden. You’ve only been dating for six months.”

Julian smiles softly, “when you know! Besides, I feel very calm around her. Content. I never feel too much of anything.” 

“And that’s a… Good thing?” Nerys asks. 

“Yes! Goodness, you of all people should know how, well, I can be a bit too much. And this relationship and Ezri are really helping. Of course, I love her too. Obviously. She’s remarkable.” 

“Well, in that case,” Nerys starts, though her smile seems forced, “I give you my blessing if that’s why you’re here.”

Julian laughs. “No! I want you to perform the ceremony. Though I am happy that you approve.”

“She’s already said yes?” Nerys asks, raising an eyebrow.

Julian smiles a bit sheepishly and says, “not just yet, but I’m confident!” 

She looks at him, exasperated and amused. “If she says yes, then, of course, I will.” 

Julian is practically walking on air for the rest of his shift, cheerfully blazing through bodily fluids and unhappy parents and research. He’s booked Ezri’s favorite holoprogram of a hike on Trill and asked Quark to pack a picnic with her favorite spring wine. He knows he’s vibrating by the end of his shift. Julian had come close to proposing once, with Palis on Earth, and he had planned it. 

But this is different, adult. 

He’s still lightly whistling when he realizes that he hasn’t talked to Miles today. Even though his shift is technically over, he jumps into his office in the infirmary and pulls up Miles O’Brien on the comm. 

“Julian?” Miles asks, a bit groggy. Oops, Julian forgot to consider the time difference in his excitement. 

“Miles! Sorry to wake you, I just… You know how I mentioned I was proposing to Ezri last week?” 

“Yes?” Miles says, a bit suspicious. 

“Well! That day has come; it’s today! I was hoping you could wish me luck.” 

Miles rubs his eyes but smiles. “I’m happy for you, Julian. Now, if you could save your good news for a time o’ day that isn’t the middle of the night, I’d also appreciate that.” 

Julian chuckles, letting Miles’ rough voice coast over him. “Sorry again. I’ll let you know what happens after dinner. Sleep well.” 

“Blood–” Then Miles stops suddenly and shakes himself. “Julian, really. I am happy for you. You’ve been lonely a long time, and Ezri’s a good girl. You could do a lot worse.” 

“Not sure I could do better, actually,” Julian replies, feeling quite warm. 

Miles chuckles at that. “Damn straight. Now, good luck! Once more unto the breach, and all that.” 

Julian shakes his head fondly and cuts the line. He looks at the time and sees he has just enough to get ready and meet her at the holosuite, which he does. He forcibly keeps down his anxiety and levels his pulse. 

He idly wonders how people without control over their nervous system manage to do this without fainting. 

“--And then Lieutenant Perfect tells me that I’ve misfiled my form,” Ezri continues as she leads him up the path. “It's not my fault that a genetically modified super genius designed the filing system for the medical department!” 

“Complaining about the boss?” Julian asks playfully. “I’ll have you know that my filing system is the envy of all. Just last month, Dr. Crusher visited and was in awe. Asked me to walk her through my file naming conventions.” 

Ezri rolls her eyes. “She only did that because she feels bad about sleeping with you when she was your medical ethics professor.” 

Julian huffs. “Unfair! You only know that because I told Jadzia!” 

Ezri’s face crinkles sweetly as she laughs at him, and Julian lets the sound fill his mind. As they crest the hike's summit, Julian takes a deep breath. The stunning natural beauty of the Trill homeworld is spilling out all around them. It’s perfect. 

Slowly, he approaches Ezri, still facing the remarkable vista, and lowers himself onto one knee. He knows that this is a human marriage custom that Ezri will recognize, and she had mentioned previously that she did not want a traditional Trill proposal. 

“Julian!” She says, still gazing out. “Look at–” 

Her eyes go wide as she sees him kneeling there, a small velvet box in his hand. 

“Julian– are you?” 

“Ezri,” he starts after a deep breath. “I know this might seem quick, but I don’t know if I’ve ever felt this calm around another person in my entire life. You make me happy, and I would like to spend the rest of my life making you happy. So, Ezri Tigan Dax,” he makes sure to include her pre-joined last name, “will you–” 

“Yes!” She cries, flinging herself at him.

“Marry me?” He finishes with a laugh, wrapping an arm around her and inhaling deeply. 

“Oh, yes,” she replies. Her stunning blue eyes are awash with tears, and her smile is so bright that he thinks he just might match it. 

He carefully pulls the necklace out of the box, explaining, “you work a lot with your hands. I didn’t want it to get caught on anything.” 

“Oh, Julian,” she breathes, “it’s beautiful.” 

And Julian Bashir is confident, at that moment, that nothing could bring him down. 

—---

“What the hell do you mean?” Julian barks, not quite able to help but glare at Kira, who looks like she’s going to laugh. 

“I mean, you can’t get married, Julian. You already are married.” 

Julian looks frantically over at Ezri, whose face is frozen and unreadable. “Ezri, I swear, I have no clue what she is talking about.” 

“I mean, you’re–” 

“How can I possibly be married? You’d think I’d remember a little something like that, given my perfect memory.” 

“I guess not that perfect, Julian. Because you got married about two years ago.” 

“What?” Julian replies, even more baffled now. “On the station? To who?” 

Kira is fully chuckling now, but Ezri seems to have thawed. 

“Remember that one mission where you and Garak went to Alpha Sigma IV?” 

“Yes?” Julian answers cautiously. 

“Well, it appears you got married there.”

[crystalblast]

Sparks Nation, i did some digging into this. I originally wasn't gonna say anything if i couldn't give you any good news, but my research has hit a wall, and with a heavy heart i declare this a cold case. Maybe this information will enable one of you to find out more.

Here referred to as "Schmidt TV Show", the original german title actually is "Schmidts Mitternachtsshow" or "Schmidt - Die Mitternachtsshow" (reports vary), which can be translated to "Schmidts Midnight Show".

The "Schmidts Midnight Show" was a variety drag show, with selected parts of it being televised by the german broadcasting company NDR3 (back then N3) during the early to mid 90s.

The venue is known today as "Schmidts Trivoli" in Hamburg, Germany. They offer a variety of entertainment including theatre, drag, cabaret, comedy, while also functioning as a small concert venue.

According to the concert masterdoc on the Fanmael website, Sparks played a show at the Trivoli on 12/12/1994 (a monday), the full recording of which can be found on youtube. Several snippets of a televised concert with the N3 tag in the corner can also be found online, likely from around the same time. I however couldn't confirm a specific date.

If the broadcasted concert referenced in the screenshot is referring to their concert at the Trivoli, this would date their Midnight Show appearance to saturday, december 10th, 1994. However, the show reportedly stopped airing on TV in December 1993. Even though they stopped airing the show on TV, it is entirely possible they did appear on the same format in front of a live audience only, but this is just speculation on my part.

There were 40 televised episodes in total. snippets of some of those episodes are available online, however I unfortunately have not yet found record of the "Murder by death" ("Eine Leiche zum Dessert") episode that sparks supposedly appeard in. The theme of the episode name does fit with the ones from snippets online, the names often being references to pop culture.

No log or overview of all the episodes exists. I could only find record of the first episode, and the information that there were 40 in total. Three DVDs with material from this show are available for purchase. I bought and looked through them, sadly none of them contain the Sparks appearance. A 'recent' documentary on the Schmidts Midnight Show featuring archival footage also does not reveal anything about Sparks appearance.

I unfortunately wasn't able to find the origin of the screenshot. This could be a lead for anyone interested, it might uncover more crucial information.

i literally need this more than i need air

[jaeminzie]

each time you fall in love | h.rj - teaser

↳ huang renjun x fem!reader

synopsis: the moments of what it seemed like the love you gave him is something renjun would never deem to forget. without it, he’s become the type of person he’s ridiculed in the past. though thanks to you, he’s learned that the past is the past and shit happens.

genre: angst, fluff, college au

teaser word count: 1,375 expected word count: 10-15k

warnings: cursing, mentions of cigarettes and alcohol, one sex scene but no explicit smut (more to add later on)

playlist: ‘real games’ by lucky daye ☆ ‘each time you fall in love’ by cigarettes after sex ☆ (more to add later on)

a/n: a belated birthday fic for renjun :,] i’ve been waiting for the right time to write a long and angsty fic and i think now is the perfect time aaaa i’m so excited to write again ! for now, enjoy a little snippet ♡

i. each time you fall in love

renjun was confused as to why he was standing between sweaty bodies of frat boys when he could be laying down in his own clean sheets while binge watching a new show. but no, his best friend just had to quite literally physically drag him to this party. jaemin has been pestering renjun into accompanying him to a frat party so renjun can finally “get some.” while in reality, the only “some” renjun is in need of is a break, and attending a boring college party only to be pushed around by intoxicated, tall, and freakishly meaty boys isn't the break he was quite fond of.

the short boy has been on his tippy toes in an attempt to look for his friend who forced him here (apparently only to ditch him) in the sea of people. as his toes begin to cramp, renjun gives up and marches his way to the backyard. the wrinkles on his forehead begin to soothe as he feels the cold air relief his slightly sweaty forehead.

he observes the area around him — people out here were dancing more appropriately than those inside, the music was calmer too. he thinks the dimly lit backyard sets the mood well, complimenting the chill rnb music playing in the back. though, the calmness came to a halt when he heard the infamous loud voice of donghyuck calling his name from the side of the area.

renjun smiles at the him and jeno who was standing right beside donghyuck, feeling relieved that he will no longer look like a stupid loner since he’s found a few friends. as he came closer to them, the acrid smell of their cigarettes became more prevalent.

“didn’t take you as a party guy, injunie.” donghyuck nudges him with his shoulder as renjun finds place in between the two, resting his back against the fence.

“that’s because i’m not.”

jeno chuckles at his response, “so jaemin finally succeeded.” renjun huffs. “well, at least enjoy it now that you’re here.”

donghyuck made a noise of agreement. “and you guys consider smoking in the corner fun?” renjun eyes the boys, obviously joking with them but was also curious if they genuinely find pleasure in welcoming those toxins into their system.

“apparently you, a prude, think being a virgin is fun. but i guess we all have different definitions of fun, huh?” donghyuck teases before taking another hit, releasing the smoke and polluting the air.

renjun blinks repeatedly to moisten his burning eyes, “yeah, i expect that same attitude from you when you need an inhaler every five seconds. that’s the only thing you’ll ever hit then.”

jeno coughs out smoke as he laughs at the remark, “you’ve done pissed him off, hyuck. here — take a hit, it’ll feel better.” jeno places the cigarette in front of renjun’s face and winks at him.

renjun mockingly smiles at the taller boy before rolling his eyes and heartily laughing at the banter between him and his good friends.

the boy observes how the smoke leaves the tip of the cigarette to form patterns in the air, creating an infinite amount of stems and designs. like a camera lens, his focus on the killing object in front of him blurs and readjusts on a dancing figure directly behind the cigarette from afar.

jeno slowly drops his hand down as he sees his friend’s gaze shift to another hazardous object — a girl. specifically, you. “you know her?”

renjun thinks about his answer, because you guys don’t know each other personally nor have even talked to one another but he does know of you but he doesn’t want to sound like a creep. saving himself from more insults, he shakes his head. “maybe i should, though.”

not that he pays attention but he’s seen you at a couple of his classes last semester, but sadly none this semester. he remembers how you’d always come in late, but not too late. just late enough for everyone to stop what they’re doing and watch you walk down to your seat. or maybe that was just a natural effect of yours that you hold on people. i mean, renjun didn’t miss the way you put thought into your outfit for every class even if it was a boring lecture. hell, you could show up to class hungover and in pajamas (which you’ve done before a shameful amount of times) and still catch everyone’s attention.

renjun has a pair of functioning eyes so he is very aware of your charming looks. tonight was different, though. you danced confidently right in the center of the grass, with a drink in your hands that hasn’t spilled once thanks to your graceful mannerisms. with the fairy lights hitting your skin, making you glow underneath the dark sky, renjun thought you couldn’t get any prettier.

he was about to inform his friends that he’ll be getting a drink, but noticed that the two boys had already left his side. he cowered at the thought of him just standing there alone with nothing and no one to accompany him while he shamelessly stared at you. making the churning feeling in stomach worsen, your gaze meets his while you continue to dance to the sensual music.

you shot a smile first, renjun immediately gives you one back as he straightens his posture. renjun sees you giggle at his actions then whisper something in your friend’s ear, simultaneously handing your drink to her, to which she pushed you toward his direction and gently patted your bottom.

renjun wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol taking control or you were just this bold, strutting your way toward him — a boy who you don’t even know.

you halt your steps when you stand in front of him, getting a clear view of his pretty face. “you seem a bit lonely.”

renjun gulps, collecting his confidence. “just a bit.”

“want some company then?”

renjun smiles genuinely at your offer. “i would love that actually.” he stares at your features, admiring the dots on your face that would resemble star constellations if someone were to draw lines to connect them. “i’m renjun.” he was smart enough to wipe his hands discreetly behind him before putting them out.

“nice to meet you, renjun. i’m y/n.” you took his hand and shook it lightly. “i think i’ve seen you in one of my classes before? i might be wrong.” you tilt your head slightly. renjun almost melts at the sight.

he smiles before nodding, eyes shining. “yeah, i’m shocked you remember. i don’t usually talk during class.” he laughs. it seems that every time he smiles, your palms become sweatier and your neck’s temperature increases.

“don’t worry, pretty boys like you don’t need to do much to catch yourself some attention.”

renjun laughs nervously at the compliment, fiddling with the ends of his oversized jacket. “you're the one to talk but thank you.” his eyes twinkled as he spoke, the moonlight hitting the highest points of his face precisely. “you wanna go sit over there?” he points to the chairs near your standing figures. you nodded and began to walk your way toward the spot with renjun following suit.

renjun wasn’t sure how it happened. how the night turned from arguing with jaemin over a pointless party to now — not wanting to leave the damn place. how he was able to maintain a real conversation with you, not some excruciatingly boring small talk that neither party enjoys. he learned much about your character and questioned how much more perfect you can be. on the other hand, you learned that renjun makes pleasant company as he eased through the night talking to you about anything. he made any topic worth listening to if he was the one doing the talking.

as he drove home with a drunk jaemin snoring beside him in the passenger seat, he realized that, for once, renjun was thankful that his best friend is the most stubborn person in the planet and made him go to that stupid frat party.

because now, you’ve got him in your hands and he was completely okay with that.

[foolishlovebugbaby]

stupid cupid | part 4

part 1 | part 2 | part 3

college!au / bang chan x fem!reader

Summary: bang chan is always complaining about being single since birth, so best friend reader decides to play cupid and sets him up. big mistake.

Genre: angst-y?? with some fluff later on idk you decide (a Lot of slow burn so idk how many parts this multi-shot will have lmao)

Warnings: slighttt swearing, maybe a smooch

“hana, wait!” chan flusteredly called out to the fleeting girl. he could feel his heart pounding against his rib cage from the adrenaline rush. it felt like he just got caught, even though there wasn’t anything to be caught in. after all, it wasn’t like they were dating. but that still didn’t ease the guilt gnawing away at him because he knew he would be just as hurt if the roles were reversed. 

he couldn’t move, though, because your face was buried in his chest while you mumbled endless nothings in your drunken slumber. he internally screamed. 

he felt like the universe purposely dealt him bad cards- a confession, a kiss and a broken heart occured all within the span of 7 minutes.

gently, he lifted your head up and replaced his chest with a pillow for you to lay on, being careful not to wake you. but with your state, the chances of you waking within the next 10 hours were slim to none as you were totally and completely blacked-out. 

he hurriedly shuffled to the door; with a hand on the doorknob, he fought the urge to look at your sleeping figure a few strides away behind him. he knew that if he did, he wouldn’t be able to walk out and resolve things with hana as he would just run back over to you and hold you for the rest of the night. he needed to clear the air so that things would be right. so he gulped the urge down and walked out, softly shutting the door behind him. 

chan aggressively pressed the elevator button, but after realizing it would take an eternity for the lift in questionable condition to reach, he bolted down the stairs. luckily enough the flat resided on the fifth floor; high enough to get nice lighting and low enough to take the stairs in an emergency, you had said once. 

“w-wait,” he panted, completely out of breath once he caught up to hana. she whipped around, eyes startled by the sudden appearance of a disheveled blond. 

“d-don’t l-leave,” he panted out with his face contorted in discomfort from all that goddamn running.

“i’m going to go home.” she said firmly, shaking off his grip on her forearm. 

“let me drive you home.” he pleaded.

“no.” she stood her ground and began stalking off.

“please? it’s the least i could do after everything.” he begged and ran to stand in front of her. his pleading and sorry eyes made her deliberate it for a second.

“it’s also cold as balls, you’ll get hypothermia if you brave this weather.” he said in a matter-of-fact tone. only now did she realize the amount of fog breathed out by both of them as they stood in the blistering cold. 

she nodded.

the 15 minute drive was filled with thick silence, a mixture of awkward and tense, with neither of them having the courage to speak. all the words were caught up in chan’s throat and he didn’t know where to start. what was one supposed to say to someone that has feelings for them but then witnessed said person’s best friend- who also happens to be their roommate- land a smooch on them? ‘sorry you had to see that after doing your business in the toilet?’ the more time dragged on, the more uncomfortable it got.

hana’s mind ran a million miles an hour with the thoughts that plagued her. she didn’t know what to think- she was hurt by chan, mad at you, and infuriated with herself. but more than that all she felt was embarrassed and dumb. she should’ve known this was bound to happen- it’s the most popular romance trope of all time for goodness sake! but she couldn’t help but feel humiliated for the large part of her that hoped it wouldn’t play out like in the movies. 

“i should’ve saw it coming.” she said quietly. they were parked at the front of the apartment complex, but both of them refused to move. 

“god, i feel so embarrassed.” she looked out the window, harshly biting down on her lip as she willed the tears not to fall. while she wasn’t in love with chan, she surely did like him. and it sucked because she knew he didn’t feel the same.

“you have no reason to be embarrassed.” chan said firmly, looking at his hands that were planted on the steering wheel. she let out a breath.

“you can’t tell me what to feel. you’re not the one who’s laid out their romantic feelings so blatantly hoping for something to blossom, when clearly the other is already in love with someone else!” she said frustratedly. “i mean, seriously, why did you even go out with me if you’re already so in love with her?” she questioned, a lot more quietly this time. when chan didn’t reply and just gaped at her, she scoffed.

“you can’t seriously be telling me that you didn’t know?” she stared at him with an eyebrow raised. 

“i-i’m not in love with her.” he stuttered out, sounding very unsure of himself. she sighed. 

“i meant it when i said you had nothing to be embarrassed about,” he said quietly, fiddling with the drawstrings of his sweats. “we were going out romantically, and so feelings are bound to pop up. it happens.” 

“i’m the only one with feelings here, though.” she said, staring blankly ahead of her. chan didn’t have the guts to refute. it’d be a lie if he did. she nodded sadly.

“the way you talk about her, a-and the way you look at her,” she paused, sucking in a breath. “i can’t believe i had to be the loser that makes you both realise you love each other.” she said in disbelief of herself. 

“you’re not a loser,” he said, still pondering over her words.

“you know, for a couple of smartasses, you’re both pretty dumb.” she said cynically. she turned to face him.

“t-this wasn’t supposed to happen. we’ve been best friends for two years, a-and it’s only now that... that something like this comes up.” he rambled, trying to reason but not sure of who he was reasoning to. 

“i’m sorry.” he breathed out finally, looking at her in the eyes. the genuinity of it made it hard for hana to stay mad at him.

“it’s okay. i can’t make her not love you. and i can’t make you not love her.” she said sadly. the thought of being in love with you was still so foreign to him that he couldn’t stop his heart from beating erratically at the possibility of it all. 

“don’t lose this chance.” and without another word, she left. she knew she deserved better than blindly going for someone who didn’t reciprocate, and she knew that the both of you deserved to work things out properly. so she let him go. and with time, she knew she could learn to let all the what if’s go too. 

chan deliberated over everything on the drive back and on the trudge up to the apartment. in the silence of it all, he began to question so much.

was hana right? were you two actually in love with each other without realising it? did you have to bottle it all up while you watched him go out with someone else? did both of you choose to deny it after all this time? 

would he lose you if the answer to all of that was yes?

his bickering mind was silenced the moment he saw your sleeping figure curled up on the couch. he let out a heavy breath.

“you should’ve told me sooner.” he said quietly as he crouched down next to you, brushing a strand of hair away from your face. he sighed and carried you back to your room, tucking you in and leaving a kiss on your forehead.

as tired as he was, chan couldn’t get a wink of sleep. he’d argue that it was because of everything that had happened; that it was the new onslaught of emotional revelations; that it was because his mind and heart were conflicted. but none would be true, as the only thing that kept him up was the lingering feeling of your lips on his that he wished never left.

“ack-” you groaned, hugging the toilet bowl. who knew someone could throw up their body weight at 10am in the morning?

never again, you told yourself. no more drinking your feelings away, you’re just going to puke them back up. 

to say that you woke up with a start would be a drastic understatement. but you knew you had the pounding headache and constant vomiting coming for you. what was one supposed to expect after chugging down hard liquor as though it was a cool glass water? 

after washing your face, brushing the hell out of your teeth and cleaning up the toilet bowl, you grudgingly made your way back into your room to get some more shuteye. there was no way you’d make in to any of your lectures, that’s for sure. a neon post-it note on your bedside table caught your eye.

i know you’re going to be too lazy to take some pills for your headache, so here you go. drink the water too >:( happy hangover it read in chan’s borderline illegible handwriting. you smiled.

you popped two of the tylenol pills and downed it with the tall glass of water that stood beside them on your bedside table and sighed in content. 

your state of contentment vanished just as fast as it came, however, as you quickly started to piece together bits of blurry memories that were stored in your mind during your drunken state. 

loud music, epileptic lights, shot glasses, sweaty people, crying in the car, coming home... what else?

you couldn’t remember proper conversations; just snippets of how the night played on, but they were all out of focus. none sharp enough for you to be certain that they were fact and not just scenarios you conjured up by your over-active imagination.

at least, that’s what you told yourself when you remembered chan’s tired features, warm, calloused hands on your cheeks and the feeling of his lips. 

jesus, stop playing tricks on me this isn’t funny.

you paced back and forth in your tiny room, ransacking your brain trying to distinguish between fiction and real life and ignoring the headache gnawing at you. did i kiss chan? did i actually? what else did i fucking say? how could i be that stupid!? you ranted in your head. 

there was only one other instance in your life where you felt this horribly humiliated, and that was when your 11th grade boyfriend dumped you in the cafeteria in front of the whole school to witness. but right now, this felt even more so mortifying that 500 eyes pitying you, and you were the only one in the room. you wanted nothing more than for the floor to swallow you whole.

you nervously bit your lip, willing the whole situation to be just some lucid dream, even though a part of you hoped the feeling of his cloud lips on yours was real.

oh god, but what if it was real? what would you do? what could you do? what would he do? so many unanswered questions burdened your mind.

to solo: what happened last night? you texted ambiguously, trying to make it seem like you had no recollection of anything when in reality you just wanted to see whether he’d give a strange answer that would confirm your suspicions.

antsy, you sat down on your bed and nibbled on your fingernails as you waited for his reply. a minute passed, then five, then twenty, yet still no answer. he must’ve been in a really important lecture, because he’d usually text back within a few minutes. 

you walked around the apartment, pacing back and forth in the living room, in the kitchenette- heck, you even paced in your toilet for god knows how long- in attempt to ease your mind. but it only amplified the anxiousness even more.

you kept thinking back to your memories of last night, trying to sharpen all the images. now that your hangover subsided, maybe this time you could find clarity. you started to slowly piece together what you could.

i remember... i remember his perfume; his worried eyes. i remember hiccups and tears. the tv was on... it illuminated his features... your mind trailed on. 

“no channie, i’m i-in love with you a-and i can-can’t do anything about it.”

you gasped.

no, no, no, i did not say that. 

you stood wide eyed and gasped in disbelief of yourself. you were terrified- but it wasn’t the possibility of rejection, rather it was the fact that you might’ve just ruined your relationship with your favorite person. 

slowly, all of it started coming back. the confession, the tears... the kiss. so it was real. you thought the world was playing a sick prank on you, but unfortunately it wasn’t. your cheeks were burning and your heart was hammering uncontrollably. 

god, why am i such a dumbass?

you tried calling chan, abandoning your pride at the door to apologise to him and blame it on the alcohol, and that you’d understand if he wanted to move out, that you were wrong for doing so; that you were wrong for having feelings in the first place. but you were sent to voicemail each time. 

oh god, is he ignoring me?  

you felt absolutely hopeless. 

why me? why did i have to be the loser that falls in love with their best friend? if i lose him i’ll be all alone and empty; if i lose him i won’t be able to afford rent then i’ll be out on the streets and i won’t graduate then i-

“hey, i didn’t think you’d be up.” that deep, familiar voice halted your trail of self-deprecating thoughts. you jumped startled. 

in the midst of your anxious and contemplative state, you didn’t notice the subject of your worries walk through the door in all his blonde glory, clad in a warm hoodie and sweats with a beanie to match. he was holding groceries, and you were holding the world’s most confused, shocked and speechless look on your face. 

“c-chan?” you squeaked out. maybe he’s just a figment of my imagination, maybe i’m going crazy-

“are you okay?” he asked cautiously as he set the plastic bags on the dining table, looking at you worried. 

was there a right answer to that question?

“i-i thought you had class...?” you squeaked, pointing meekly between him and the door as if the door signified a lecture hall. 

“class was moved to later, but i don’t feel like going today.” he mumbled quietly as he averted his focus towards taking out the groceries. your body language and posture signalled to him that you were worried, and that was all it took to realise that you remembered last night- or, at least, the most eventful part of last night.

you shuffled awkwardly in place as you watched him move slowly, placing all the groceries on the dining table. the air was so think and tense, so uncomfortable which was something you both had never experience before. you felt dread wash over you.

“so about last night...” chan scratched the back of his head, still not meeting your gaze. your heart dropped to your ass.

“oh my god, chan i’m so, so sorry, i know i was out of line and that i shouldn’t have confessed because i know you’re seeing hana and,-” you rambled. 

“no, wait, y/n, it’s okay-”

“-you must hate me right now, and i don’t blame you i’m such a dumbass i can’t believe i’ve ruined us. i’ve ruined us haven’t i? oh god, i hate myself i-”

“slow down i don’t hate you wait-”

“-i completely understand if you want to move out and get another roommate. just please know that i’m sorry and that i- mm-”

your babbling ceased as cloud lips firmly latched onto yours, silencing you. 

in your antsy chatter, you hadn’t noticed that chan had started to move closer to you, a confused yet amused expression sprawled on his face. there was no way he would be able to stop your incessant rambling but cutting you off, so he did the next best thing.

one hand cupped your cheek while the other held onto the milk carton that he tried to put away earlier.

“are you done now?” he asked quietly once he both pulled away, his forehead resting on yours. your eyes were shocked and frantic and you thought you must’ve died and gone to heaven. his lips twitched in a smile.

“i-i don’t understand...” you stuttered out softly, pulling away from him to look at him properly.

“yes, you confessed to me last night; yes, you kissed me, too. and no, i don’t hate you, y/n,” he said with a newfound courage in his eyes.

“because i love you, too.” he said quietly and he brought his hand back up to cup your cheek. 

“i’m sorry i didn’t realise it sooner,” he examined your face frantically as if it was the last time he’d be seeing you. “i’m sorry we didn’t realise it sooner.”

“i should’ve seen the signs but,” he furrowed his brows “i didn’t. i don’t know how i missed it. i count down the days to our next movie night not because i want to watch poor acting on a screen but because i wanted to watch them with you, and laugh at them with you.”

“i get this fuzzy feeling in the pit of my stomach whenever i see you. and i always look forward to coming back home, back to leaky faucets and broken air conditioning, back to cracked tile floors and piles of old takeout,” he gazed deeply in your eyes.

“because i come back home to you. to our leaky faucets, to our questionable, run-down apartment. because it’s you,” he let out a shaky breath as he felt a massive weight come off his chest. he didn’t know how long he had this bottled in him, but no was a better time than any to let it all out.

“it has always been you. you’re home, y/n.” he ended, eyes glassy and hopeful. you were rendered speechless as you stared at him bewildered, tears welling up in your wide eyes. you couldn’t say anything even if there was so much you wanted to say. but his words mirrored the ones you had. so you kissed him. 

you poured every word into that kiss, hoping it would be enough to get the message across. all the lost time, all the missed chances vanished as you pressed your mouth against his. it was heaven, and it was yours. you could hear the thump of the milk carton landing on the floor as his arm wrapped around your waist and pulled you closer. he tasted like spearmint gum and you like listerine, thanks to your vigorous brushing earlier.

“what about hana?” you said after pulling away breathless. this was a dream come true, but it wouldn’t be right if it was behind her back.

“don’t worry, we talked things out. she kinda saw you kiss me last night.” he said, letting out an airy laugh. you winced.

“don’t worry.” he assured you. 

“you know,” he started, tucking your hair behind your ears. “that night that you set me up was the first time i realised something.” you stared at him expectantly.

“i didn’t want to kiss you good-bye- and that was the trouble- i wanted to kiss you good night-”

“and there’s a lot of difference.” you finished the quote off for him, smiling. god he loved your smile.

“since when did you quote ernest hemingway?” you chuckled, wrapping your arms around his neck as he wrapped both arms around your waist, holding you tightly.

“since now.” he grinned back at you.

“christopher bang, i didn’t know you were a huge cheeseball.” you laughed boisterously and it was like music to his ears. he stared at you in adoration as your laughter died down. 

“so what happens now?” you said quietly, studying his face.

“now,” he pecked your lips. “i kiss you.” and kiss you he did.

it didn’t matter that the ice cream he just bought was probably defrosting on the dining table, or that you probably had to move out because your apartment was slowly deteriorating. it didn’t matter that you would have to explain yourself to your parents on how your roommate became your boyfriend, or that you were still recovering from a bad hangover. and it didn’t matter that you would need a better couch for all the wednesday’s to come that won’t fall apart while you did everything besides watching movies. 

you were kissing him, and he was holding a piece of heaven. and that was all that mattered. 

annnnddd that’s a wrap!!!!! ahhhh, this 4 part series felt longer, but now it comes to a close. low-key feeling empty rn, but hopefully i bring out all my other ideas soon!! leave comments, replies, reblogs and let’s all weep together :’) i never intended for this idea to be longer than two parts- it just sorta happened as i wrote along, hence why it’s fast paced for a self-proclaimed slow burn. but thank you all for the support and replies- it warms my heart so much! i never thought i’d get 1 note- let alone a hundred!! gosh i love u all （ ；´Д｀ ) til we meet again, my lovely reader ( ́ ◕◞ε◟◕`)(⌒o⌒)

[vmohlere]

More Infinite Coffee Q&A

@musings-on-bucky-barnes​ had some more questions from last year’s Q&A, and after AGES of procrastination on my part, here’s the first set of answers. Also on Ao3.

·         When does Pepper teach Bucky to wink?

 I have no idea! That’s not one of the little details that my brain bothered to supply.

 Or perhaps he saw her do it (to himself or someone else) and decided to copy it.

 Very possible! Barnes definitely watches Pepper closely, because he considers her a reliable source for acceptable social cues.

 ·         Reactions of the Tower residents and other friends when Bucky recovers enough to start grinning and winking? (We know that Natasha said it makes him look epically hot!)

 Pretty much the universal reaction to being grinned at by Barnes for the first time is being stunned and maybe a little turned on. Barnes doesn’t bring out the flirting that often – most often with the Olds and the folks at the Lucky Carp, because of his comfort levels – but Barton and Sam flirt with him pretty shamelessly, trying to get him to smile. Hill has been known to save up a particularly juicy smart comment so she can make it in front of him. And Tony would deny it forever, but once Barnes laughs softly at something during arm maintenance, he ramps the Tony Show up to 13 to try to make Barnes laugh again.

 And also what about flirting at and with Steve? Lucky Steve would get the full force of it when they’re together.

 Prior to Upgrade: Advanced Happiness Skills, Barnes only flirts with Steve when it’ll cause maximum embarrassment and/or make Steve drop something heavy onto his own foot.

 ·         The reactions of the others to Steve and Bucky being together? We get to see the main Avengers and the Olds react, but not Pepper, Maria, Bruce, Katie, Peggy and the Carp clan.

 Hill yells at them for ruining No-Touch Valentine’s Day, but come on – you know she’s delighted. Especially since their timing meant that neither Barton nor Tony won the betting pool for how long it would take. (Pepper won, because she picked the date Nat told her to).

 The others might complain that the bet is then null and void because Nat had insider information ;)

 Who would dare complain (to her face)?

 Mr. Hayashi blinks at them for a minute, until Kazue fusses at him for being old-fashioned.

 How does he then react?

 Oh, he’s fine, just momentarily surprised.

 Katie cries with happiness, and Steve’s a sympathy crier, so that’s a very damp conversation.

 Bruce notices. Eventually. (Nah, I kid – all the Tower residents saw this coming miles and miles away.)

 So that means that they are good at keeping their poker faces, as Bucky says in Advanced Happiness Skills that none of them (apart from Nat) noticed and that they appeared to be morons. (Which could mean that HE was so happy and distracted that he was actually the unobservant moron!)

 Correct.

 Sadly, I’m not sure that the Peggy in this world would be mentally together enough to hold onto the news. But her objective was always that Steve be safe and happy.

  ·         Steve and Peggy’s relationship - how it was affected in the period after Bucky’s ‘death’?

 I don’t have anything for this. Just thinking about it makes me so sad, though.

It is ironic that Bucky remembers more about Steve’s sex life than his own, like Steve & Peggy in the room in Lyon. Poor Bucky…

 Oof, his own sex life has a lot of stuff he didn’t want to remember, so he walled off all of it.

 Steve’s reactions to knowing that Bucky loved him and was jealous of Peggy

 Capt. Compartmentalization took that knowledge and tucked it very far back in his mind, bringing it back only when he wanted to torture himself by feeling guilty about it.

                 Will Steve and Bucky discuss Steve’s feelings/guilt about how he felt he let Bucky down during WW II?

 Oh, sure. They live for a very long time, and eventually, they talk all of it through.

  ·         Other Tower residents & Olds after Bucky has been shot

 Widespread frantic worry. There’s a phone tree for updates. Barton remembers to add the Hayashis to it.

 Steve’s reactions to wounded Bucky’s ramblings – including the ‘you’re my favorite person’ comment

 Well, you know, Buck was just as high as a kite there, couldn’t be held responsible for anything he was saying, and there definitely was no teeny tiny little part of Steve that had been in love with Bucky Barnes since he was 15 years old that was 100% thrilled.

 ·         Does Bucky ever run into Tyler and Dale again? Or they recognize him on TV when the media realize Bucky is alive/helping the Avengers?

 Oh man, I don’t know. I have thought about The Dale & Tyler Question a number of times, and I haven’t ever been able to decide what the funniest option is.

 ·         Bucky’s next birthday – will he be recovered enough for a big birthday party of his own?

 No, but I’ve just decided this minute that they rent out the Carp for the evening and have all the mission-assists for dinner. Barnes has to sit with his back to the wall near the front door, but he loves it.

 ·         What made you decide to do Steve’s POV? It was the first look at Bucky from the outside in this series.

 That section rose up and demanded to be written and fell out all in one lump. The only thing I changed while revising was to rearrange it a little. I really loved writing Steve’s voice.

 ·         Tony’s reaction to someone apart from himself doing something risqué/scandalous (the skinny dipping)

 He hates it, of course! While secretly loving it. Incapable of having a straightforward emotion, that one.

 ·         Solo trips to the Carp by other Avengers

 Oh, sure. They’re very good for that place’s bottom line. And Nat visits the Olds on her own.

 ·         It seems that Ollie’s honey Wayne died not long before Ollie encountered Bucky for the first time. How did the Olds all meet? Did they know Wayne?

 That must be so, given the way I mentioned things, but the timing wasn’t deliberate. Esther and Lidia had both lived in the building for several years, moving in when it was a much less dire place, and neither could afford to leave once it started getting bad. They were “nodding neighbors” until O’Reilly bought the place and started using it for nefarious purposes, and then they clung together for safety. Ollie moved in because it was what he could afford. They took one look at how sad he was and adopted him.

 Eventually, all three of them move to California, because the NYC winters get to be too much for their joints, and Ollie’s family is so happy to have him more active in their lives, and they don’t want to be separated. Barnes is NOT a fan of the plan, though it’s what ultimately makes him stubborn about learning to make air travel okay.

 That makes me sad and happy in equal measure. Tony would probably offer to do something whiz bang to the building’s heating, but a permanent move to warmer climes makes sense (and he and Pepper would make sure they got a great home). Hopefully Cat Eleanor likes her new home!

 Yeah, they are all really happy in California. Ollie’s family takes them all in with open arms.

 ·         Use of first names/surnames/nicknames and the importance of choice of which.

Like how you mentioned in a Tumblr post that you were very specific in Bucky’s use of Rogers, Steve and Stevie. And there is also how he only seems to prefer to let Steve say ‘Bucky’.

 Using a first name is a sign of intimacy for Barnes. Surnames keep people at arm’s length – or, in Hill’s case, are a sign of recognizing one as an equal.  His using “Steve” or “Stevie” means that it’s a moment of the programming losing power.

 And yes. Only Steve can call him “Bucky.” Only the Olds can call him “Jimmy.” He thinks of himself as “Barnes.”

 ·         How quickly did it take the Olds to realize that their mysterious new neighbor was Bucky Barnes?

 A couple of weeks.

 ·         Any more snippets of Cat Eleanor being her glorious cat self with the boys?

 Oh man, I wish I had one for you, but I don’t.

 They do eventually adopt their own cat, though, after the Olds move. His name is Jack, and he’s a hideous old grey thing with one eye. He and Barnes are devoted to one another. Jack tolerates Steve as a second-class roommate.

 ·         In ‘This You Protect’, you mention that Barnes is somewhat of a prude when Steve trolls him by singing rude and yucky songs. Is that a feature of old Bucky or new Barnes or both?

 Barnes

 Bucky thought all those songs were hilarious.

 ·         Recently you gave an intriguing one line summary about your original novel – please repeat that and tell us a bit about the genre, what stage it is up to, why you decided to write it.

 oh jeez.

 Did I say it was about a lady and her six werewolf boyfriends? I’m working on my query letter now, and I don’t know whether it’s urban fantasy—with—romance or paranormal romance, because marketing labels are a mystery unto me, but it’s full of jokes and people being dumb about their own emotions and baked goods. It’s definitely a coffeeshop AU, plus lots of boning.

 It’s not high art, but I had a ton of fun writing it.

 Honestly, I wrote it because I got mad at a bad fic (non-MCU) and decided I could do better. I will NOT link the fic.

 ·         Tell us the story behind your choice of that Battle of the Planets art for your icon.

 HA! I loved that cartoon when I was a kid. But mostly that picture just makes me laugh every time I look at it – it’s so cheesy. There’s something about the pose and the facial expression that I find hilarious, and I’ve used it for long enough now that it would be weird to change it.

 xXx

[phoenix-downer]

7, 17, 27 and 49 for the fanfiction writer asks xx

7) When is your preferred time to write?

I am a night owl and always have been, so I do my best writing late at night. Not always great for my sleep schedule, haha, but for whatever reason some of my best ideas come to me then.

17) Post a line from a WIP that you’re working on.

So this is an excerpt of a fic I started… a year ago now I believe? It’s a royalty/fairytale AU where all of the worlds are ruled by the royal family of Radiant Garden. There are ruling families for the other worlds as well. Kairi is the princess of Radiant Garden, Riku is the heir to the ruling family of Destiny Islands, and Sora is training to be a knight. Plot happens, Destiny Islands is lost to darkness, and everyone thinks Sora and Riku are dead. Kairi, mourning their loss, starts training with her family’s Keyblade to make sure no more worlds fall to darkness. Several years pass, and at a masquerade ball for her eighteenth birthday (where her parents want her to find a suitable husband, etc.), she runs into a masked stranger that seems to know her quite well…

Full disclosure: I want to return to this fic, but I’m also working on some other projects I haven’t publicly disclosed yet. So we’ll see if this ends up ever getting finished/posted, but for now, enjoy this snippet :)

“And who do you think I am?” she asked. A test, to see how he would answer, to see if he was just like all the others.

He was silent for a moment. “A fox,” he finally answered. “Though if it’s okay with you, I think I’ll call you Miss Fox.” He looked in the direction of the refreshments table. “Looks like Mr. Weasel will be making his grand return soon. If you’re still wanting to hide, now would be a good time to escape.”

“Well, Mr. Leopard, take me away,” she said, giggling as she offered her hand. He took it, and off they went, winding through the crowd with ease and getting lost amongst the throng of masks and colorful costumes. His grip was strong, the skin on his hands rough and calloused. Probably from holding a weapon – perhaps this mysterious stranger was a warrior of some kind.

He led them away from everyone else and into the garden outside. The evening breeze was a welcome relief from the stuffiness of her dress and mask, and she sat down on the smooth marble of the fountain. A sculpture of one of her ancestors held a koi that spat a steady stream of water into its basin, and Kairi dipped her hand into the cool liquid.

“Now that we’re away from prying eyes…. Who are you, really?” she asked, running her fingers through the water. “I feel like I’ve met you before.”

“Maybe you have, princess,” he said softly.

Drat. So he did know who she was. Still, it was hard to ignore the way her heart had sped up at the change in his voice.

“Are you a prince?” she asked.

“I’m a leopard,” he said as he examined the nearby rosebushes, searching for something.

Kairi chewed her lip. His tone made it clear he didn’t wish to discuss the matter any further, but she really did want to know who he was. It was only fair, since he knew her identity.

“How do you know who I am?” she asked as he turned his attention to the next flowerbed.

“The mask doesn’t hide your hair.”

Kairi sighed. She should have worn a veil or hood if she’d really wanted her identity to stay a secret. “What, is my hair color famous now?” she asked. Red hair wasn’t that unusual, even it was a trademark of the royal family.

He paused, bent over a group of snapdragons. “Your beauty is spoken of throughout the worlds, yes.”

“Is it really?” This was news to her. Maybe that explained the increase in suitors lately.

“Yes. And they say you grow prettier every day,” he said.

“What else do they say about me?” she asked, trying to keep her voice casual as she flicked water onto the koi statue.

He straightened and turned to her. “That you’re becoming a great warrior. That you’re shaping up to be a worthy successor of your father. And… that you refuse to marry despite your parents’ wishes.”

She thought she saw his lips twitch at that, but then he turned away and resumed his search.

“Well, the last one is certainly true,” she muttered, her hand going to her necklace and fiddling with it. “This whole ball is a ploy by my parents to find me a husband.”

“What, you don’t want to get married?” His tone was inquisitive, almost disbelieving.

She sighed. “Not to any of the princes they have in mind, no. None of them suit me, and I’m not right for them at all, either.”

She thought of the latest meeting with Prince Hans. Nope, not her type. Not her type at all.

“So you aren’t against marriage, just against marrying the wrong person,” he said, running his fingers across the velvety leaf of a Lamb’s Ear before turning his attention to the next group of flowers.

“Exactly,” Kairi said. Why could this stranger understand when her own parents couldn’t?

“Was there ever… was there ever a right person?” he asked.

She was taken aback by the boldness of his question. He had no right to know such things, and yet… she found herself compelled to open up to him.

“Yes. But he’s… he’s gone.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, and his voice was far heavier than she was expecting it to be.

“It happened several years ago,” she said, as if that somehow lessened the pain. Everyone expected the wound to have healed, but no matter how much time had passed, she still couldn’t get over his loss.

“And yet your voice betrays you, princess,” he said, his voice low. “There were rumors, you know. Rumors about a prince—”

“He wasn’t a prince,” she said. Why did everyone always think it was Riku? It was true, Riku was her friend, but he was like a brother to her. And yet everyone always thought he was the one she—

“He wasn’t?” the stranger asked, his voice slow and deliberate with just a touch of surprise.

“No. His friend was. He was training to be a knight.”

“A knight?” he asked, his voice going up a few pitches.

“Do you have something against knights?” Kairi asked, raising her eyebrow. Too bad he couldn’t see it through her mask. It was true, the other royals tended to be snobby about class, but… for whatever reason, she’d hoped for better from him.

“No, it’s just that I—” He paused and cleared his throat. “I thought the royal family only allows its heirs to marry members of other ruling families.”

She shrugged. “It does, but I don’t care. As soon as I’m queen, I’m changing the rules.”

“You haven’t given up hope, then,” he said. “You think he’s still alive.”

Kairi’s hand went to her heart. “Yes. Because… because I can… oh, forget it,” she said, her cheeks flushing. She was grateful the mask was hiding her face right now.

He smiled sadly and held out a purple flower, plucked right from the garden around them. “You should listen to your heart, Kairi. It’s never lead you wrong before, and it sure hasn’t now.”

An aster. Her favorite flower. It couldn’t be. It couldn’t be. The deep voice, the slicked back hair, the disguise concealing his face—she hadn’t realized. She hadn’t known. But the moment he’d said her name—

Heart pounding, fingers trembling, she stood and reached for his mask. He lowered his head so she could more easily inch it off his face. First his nose was visible, then his cheeks. His features were more angular now, the plumpness of childhood almost completely gone, but as soon as she saw his eyes, she knew. They were as beautiful as ever, no, maybe even more beautiful – blue as the sky, but hinting at a depth of experience and wisdom that hadn’t been in them before.

He’d changed in their years apart. But his smile – well, that would always be the same. She smiled back and touched his face. His skin was dry and rough, like he’d spent hours and hours outside in the wind.

“You’re alive,” she said softly. “You’re really here. This isn’t a dream.”

He closed his eyes and melted into her touch. Her fingers traced a path across his cheek, and he took a deep breath and sighed. She found a small scar that hadn’t been there before, a little dent on his forehead. Frowning, she ran her thumb across it, wondering how it had happened.

“All this time, I believed you were alive,” she said. “And yet— I wouldn’t listen to my own heart. Everyone told me you were dead, and I—”

His eyes opened. “Who told you to doubt yourself?” he asked, catching her hand and putting his over it, the ridges of his fingertips brushing over her own. “Who told you to doubt me?”

“I… I was afraid—”

He shook his head. “Don’t be. I’ll always come back to you, Kairi. I promise.”

She fought back the tears. She’d dreamed of this moment, but she’d never thought it would actually come true.

He reached for her mask and gently tugged it off, a look of awe and then wonder filling his eyes. “The rumors were true,” he said, almost reverently. He ran his hand through her hair, brushing the parts that had gotten tousled out of her eyes.

The mask was no longer there to hide her face from him. What did he see in it? Were her feelings on full display?

She had the sudden urge to tousle his hair. It didn’t seem right for it to be slicked back like that. So she did, running her fingers through it in a way she only could have imagined before. His hair was softer than she thought it would be, its strands smooth and silky. As each spike returned to its rightful place, he looked less like a stranger and more like the Sora she knew.

“There’s a lot I have to tell you, but now’s not the time,” he said, grabbing her hand. “We need to find Riku first.”

Hope you enjoyed! A lot more than a line, but I’ve been itching to share this part for a while anyway. And yes the masks I chose were intentional ;)

27) Do you make a general outline for your stories or do you just go with the flow?

Went into this in a little more depth for another ask, but for oneshots, I go with the flow, and for longfics, I always make an outline. I write out of order, so an outline helps me keep track of everything.

49) Can you remember the first fic you read? What was it about?

I believe it was Sholio’s fic set post Captain America: The Winter Soldier called The Care and Feeding of Traumatized Ex-Assassins over on AO3. I was so moved by Bucky’s story in the movie (even though I knew the plot twist going into the movie lol) that I was desperate for new material, and I knew the next movie wouldn’t be coming out for a couple of years. 

So I turned to fanfiction (which I had previously written off before because I thought it was all badly written because of the infamous ones like My Immortal - how wrong of me to assume so!) to see some sort of resolution for his story. And there are a ton of talented writers in the MCU fandom, they really spoiled me, haha. I found plenty of beautiful fics that scratched the itch that the movie left until Civil War came out.

It would still be a few more years from when I first regularly started reading fics till when I started writing fics, though.

Thanks for the ask! :)

[suzanneshannon]

Edge Goes Chromium: What Does it Mean for Front-End Developers?

In December 2018, Microsoft announced that Edge would adopt Chromium, the open source project that powers Google Chrome. Many within the industry reacted with sadness at the loss of browser diversity. Personally, I was jubilant. An official release date has yet to be announced, but it will be at some point this year. With its release, a whole host of HTML, JavaScript and CSS features will have achieved full cross-browser support.

The preview build is now available for Windows, and coming soon for Mac.

📣 Calling all web devs and tinkerers! 📣

The first preview builds of the next version of #MicrosoftEdge are ready for you – try it out now! https://t.co/I531hfmD3G pic.twitter.com/Tvh6OGGouO

— Microsoft Edge Dev (@MSEdgeDev) April 8, 2019

Not so long ago, I penned an article titled "The Long Slow Death of Internet Explorer." Some of us are lucky enough have abandoned that browser already. But it wasn’t the only thing holding us back. Internet Explorer was the browser we all hated and Edge was meant to be its much-improved replacement. Unfortunately, Edge itself was quite the laggard. EdgeHTML is a fork of Trident, the engine that powered Internet Explorer. Microsoft significantly under-invested in Edge. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Edge’s User Voice website was a nice idea, allowing developers to vote for which features they wanted to be implemented. Unfortunately, as Dave Rupert put it, voting on the site was "like throwing coins in a wishing well." The most requested features were left unimplemented for years.

There are a lot of features that pre-Chromium Edge doesn’t currently support but are available in other modern browsers and, once they’ve made the switch, we’ll be able to use them. Many of them can’t be polyfilled or worked around, so this release is a big deal.

Features we can look forward to using

So just what are those features, exactly? Let’s outline them right here and start to get excited about all the new things we’ll be able to do.

Custom Elements and Shadow DOM

Together, custom elements and shadow DOM allow developers to define custom, reusable and encapsulated components. A lot of people were asking for this one. People have been voting for its implementation since 2014, and we’re finally getting it.

HTML details and summary elements

The <details> and <summary> elements are part of HTML5 and have been supported since 2011 in Chrome. Used together, the elements generate a simple widget to show and hide content. While it is trivial to implement something similar using JavaScript, the <details> and <summary> elements work even when JavaScript is disabled or has failed to load.

See the Pen details/summary by CSS GRID (@cssgrid) on CodePen.

Javascript Font Loading API

This one means a lot to some people. All modern browsers now support the CSS font-display property. However, you still might want to load your fonts with JavaScript. Font-loading monomaniac Zach Leatherman has an explainer of why you might want to load fonts with JavaScript even though we now have broad support for font-display. Ditching polyfills for this API is important because this JavaScript is, according to Zach:

[...] usually inlined in the critical path. The time spent parsing and executing polyfill JavaScript is essentially wasted on browsers that support the native CSS Font Loading API."

In an article from 2018, Zach lamented:

[...] browser-provided CSS Font Loading API has pretty broad support and has been around for a long time but is confoundedly still missing from all available versions of Microsoft Edge."

No longer!

JavaScript flat and flatMap

Most easily explained with a code snippet, flat() is useful when you have an array nested inside another array.

const things = ['thing1', 'thing2', ['thing3', ['thing4']]] const flattenedThings = things.flat(2); // Returns ['thing1', 'thing2', 'thing3', 'thing4']

As its name suggests, flatMap() is equivalent to using both the map() method and flat().

These methods are also supported in Node 11. 🎉

JavaScript TextEncoder and TextDecoder

TextEncoder and TextDecoder are part of the encoding spec. They look to be useful when working with streams.

JavaScript Object rest and object spread

These are just like rest and spread properties for arrays.

const obj1 = { a: 100, b: 2000 } const obj2 = { c: 11000, d: 220 } const combinedObj = {...obj1, ...obj2} // {a: 100, b: 2000, c: 11000, d: 220}

JavaScript modules: dynamic import

Using a function-like syntax, dynamic imports allow you to lazy-load ES modules when a user needs them.

button.addEventListener("click", function() { import("./myModule.js").then(module => module.default()); });

CSS background-blend-mode property

background-blend-mode brings Photoshop style image manipulation to the web.

CSS prefers-reduced-motion media query

I can’t help feeling that not making people feel sick should be the default of a website, particularly as not all users will be aware that this setting exists. As animation on the web becomes more common, it’s important to recognize that animation can cause causes dizziness, nausea and headaches for some users.

CSS caret-color property

Admittedly a rather trivial feature, and one that could have safely and easily been used as progressive enhancement. It lets you style the blinking cursor in text input fields.

8-digit hex color notation

It’s nice to have consistency in a codebase. This includes sticking to either the RGB, hexadecimal or HSL color format. If your preferred format is hex, then you had a problem because it required a switch to rgba() any time you needed to define transparency. Hex can now include an alpha (transparency) value. For example, #ffffff80 is equivalent to rgba(255, 255, 255, .5). Arguably, it’s not the most intuitive color format and has no actual benefit over rgba().

Intrinsic sizing

I’ve not seen as much hype or excitement for intrinsic sizing as some other new CSS features, but it’s the one I’m personally hankering for the most. Intrinsic sizing determines sizes based on the content of an element and introduces three new keywords into CSS: min-content, max-content and fit-content(). These keywords can be used most places that you would usually use a length, like height, width, min-width, max-width, min-height, max-height, grid-template-rows, grid-template-columns, and flex-basis.

CSS text-orientation property

Used in conjunction with the writing-mode property, text-orientation, specifies the orientation of text, as you might expect.

See the Pen text-orientation: upright by CSS GRID (@cssgrid) on CodePen.

CSS :placeholder-shown pseudo-element

placeholder-shown was even available in Internet Explorer, yet somehow never made it into Edge... until now. UX research shows that placeholder text should generally be avoided. However, if you are using placeholder text, this is a handy way to apply styles conditionally based on whether the user has entered any text into the input.

CSS place-content property

place-content is shorthand for setting both the align-content and justify-content.

See the Pen place-content by CSS GRID (@cssgrid) on CodePen.

CSS will-change property

The will-change property can be used as a performance optimization, informing the browser ahead of time that an element will change. Pre-Chromium Edge was actually good at handling animations performantly without the need for this property, but it will now have full cross-browser support.

CSS all property

all is a shorthand for setting all CSS properties at once.

For example, setting button { all: unset; } is equivalent to:

button { background: none; border: none; color: inherit; font: inherit; outline: none; padding: 0; }

Sadly, though, the revert keyword still hasn’t been implemented anywhere other than Safari, which somewhat limits the mileage we can get out of the all property.

CSS Shapes and Clip Path

Traditionally, the web has been rectangle-centric. It has a box model, after all. While we no longer need floats for layout, we can use them creatively for wrapping text around images and shapes with the shape-outside property. This can be combined with the clip-path property, which brings the ability to display an image inside a shape.

Clippy is an online clip-path editor

CSS :focus-within pseudo-class

If you want to apply special styles to an entire form when any one of its inputs are in focus, then :focus-within is the selector for you.

CSS contents keyword

This is pretty much essential if you’re working with CSS grid. This had been marked as "not planned" by Edge, despite 3,920 votes from developers.

For both flexbox and grid, only direct children become flex items or grid items, respectively. Anything that is nested deeper cannot be placed using flex or grid-positioning. In the words of the spec, when display: contents is applied to a parent element, "the element must be treated as if it had been replaced in the element tree by its contents," allowing them to be laid out with a grid or with flexbox. Chris goes into a more thorough explanation that’s worth checking out.

There are, unfortunately, still some bugs with other browser implementations that affect accessibility.

The future holds so much more promise

We’ve only looked at features that will be supported by all modern browsers when Edge makes the move to Chromium. That said, the death of legacy Edge also makes a lot of other features feel a lot closer. Edge was the only browser dragging its feet on the Web Animation API and that showed no interest in any part of the Houdini specs, for example.

Credit: https://ishoudinireadyyet.com

The impact on browser testing

Testing in BrowserStack (left) and various browser apps on my iPhone (right)

Of course, the other huge plus for web developers is less testing. A lot of neglected Edge during cross-browser testing, so Edge users were more likely to have a broken experience. This was the main reason Microsoft decided to switch to Chromium. If your site is bug-free in one Chromium browser, then it’s probably fine in all of them. In the words of the Edge team, Chromium will provide "better web compatibility for our customers and less-fragmentation of the web for all web developers." The large variety of devices and browsers makes browser testing one of the least enjoyable tasks that we’re responsible for as front-end developers. Edge will now be available for macOS users which is great for the many of us who work on a Mac. A subscription to BrowserStack will now be slightly less necessary.

Do we lose anything?

To my knowledge, the only feature that was supported everywhere except Chrome is SVG color fonts, which will no longer work in the Edge browser. Other color font formats (COLR, SBIX, CBDT/CBLC) will continue to work though.

Uh, @GoogleChrome Are you planning to support #OpenTypeSVG soon? Supported in Safari (12+), Firefox (26+) even EdgeHTML (38+) Photoshop, Illustrator - but not Chrome /cc @colorfontswtf pic.twitter.com/tgwJ3AqHm2

— Chris Lilley (@svgeesus) February 15, 2019

What about other browsers?

Admittedly, Edge wasn’t the last subpar browser. All the features in this article are unsupported in Internet Explorer, and always will be. If you have users in Russia, you’ll need to support Yandex. If you have users in Africa, you’ll need to support Opera Mini. If you have users in China, then UC and QQ will be important to test against. If you don’t have these regional considerations, there’s never been a better time to ditch support for Internet Explorer and embrace the features the modern web has to offer. Plenty of PC users have stuck with Internet Explorer purely out of habit. Hopefully, a revamped Edge will be enough to tempt them away. An official Microsoft blog entry titled "The perils of using Internet Explorer as your default browser" concluded that, "Internet Explorer is a compatibility solution...developers by and large just aren’t testing for Internet Explorer these days." For its remaining users, the majority of the web must look increasingly broken. It’s time to let it die.

Is Google a megalomaniac?

Life is about to get easier for web developers, yet the response to the Microsoft’s announcement was far from positive. Mozilla, for one, had a stridently pessimistic response, which accused Microsoft of "officially giving up on an independent shared platform for the internet." The statement described Google as having "almost complete control of the infrastructure of our online lives" and a "monopolistic hold on unique assets." It concluded that "ceding control of fundamental online infrastructure to a single company is terrible."

Many have harked back to the days of IE6, the last time a browser achieved such an overwhelming market share. Internet Explorer, having won the browser war, gave in to total stagnation. Chrome, by contrast, ceaselessly pushes new features. Google participates actively with the web standards bodies the W3C and the WHATWG. Arguably though, it has an oversized influence in these bodies and the power to dictate the future shape of the web. Google Developer Relations does have a tendency to hype features that have shipped only in Chrome.

From competition to collaboration

Rather than being the new IE, Edge can help innovate the web forward. While it fell behind in many areas, it did lead the way for CSS grid, CSS exclusions, CSS regions and the new HTML imports spec. In a radical departure from historical behavior, Microsoft have become one of the world’s largest supporters of open source projects. That means all major browsers are now open source. Microsoft have stated that they intend to become a significant contributor to Chromium — in fact, they’ve already racked up over 300 merges. This will help Edge users, but will also benefit users of Chrome, Opera, Brave, and other Chromium-based browsers.

The post Edge Goes Chromium: What Does it Mean for Front-End Developers? appeared first on CSS-Tricks.

Edge Goes Chromium: What Does it Mean for Front-End Developers? published first on https://deskbysnafu.tumblr.com/

[siliconwebx]

Edge Goes Chromium: What Does it Mean for Front-End Developers?

In December 2018, Microsoft announced that Edge would adopt Chromium, the open source project that powers Google Chrome. Many within the industry reacted with sadness at the loss of browser diversity. Personally, I was jubilant. An official release date has yet to be announced, but it will be at some point this year. With its release, a whole host of HTML, JavaScript and CSS features will have achieved full cross-browser support.

The preview build is now available for Windows, and coming soon for Mac.

📣 Calling all web devs and tinkerers! 📣

The first preview builds of the next version of #MicrosoftEdge are ready for you – try it out now! https://t.co/I531hfmD3G pic.twitter.com/Tvh6OGGouO

— Microsoft Edge Dev (@MSEdgeDev) April 8, 2019

Not so long ago, I penned an article titled "The Long Slow Death of Internet Explorer." Some of us are lucky enough have abandoned that browser already. But it wasn’t the only thing holding us back. Internet Explorer was the browser we all hated and Edge was meant to be its much-improved replacement. Unfortunately, Edge itself was quite the laggard. EdgeHTML is a fork of Trident, the engine that powered Internet Explorer. Microsoft significantly under-invested in Edge. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Edge’s User Voice website was a nice idea, allowing developers to vote for which features they wanted to be implemented. Unfortunately, as Dave Rupert put it, voting on the site was "like throwing coins in a wishing well." The most requested features were left unimplemented for years.

There are a lot of features that pre-Chromium Edge doesn’t currently support but are available in other modern browsers and, once they’ve made the switch, we’ll be able to use them. Many of them can’t be polyfilled or worked around, so this release is a big deal.

caniuse.com comparing the final non-Chromium version of Edge to the other popular modern browser

Features we can look forward to using

So just what are those features, exactly? Let’s outline them right here and start to get excited about all the new things we’ll be able to do.

Custom Elements and Shadow DOM

Together, custom elements and shadow DOM allow developers to define custom, reusable and encapsulated components. A lot of people were asking for this one. People have been voting for its implementation since 2014, and we’re finally getting it.

HTML details and summary elements

The <details> and <summary> elements are part of HTML5 and have been supported since 2011 in Chrome. Used together, the elements generate a simple widget to show and hide content. While it is trivial to implement something similar using JavaScript, the <details> and <summary> elements work even when JavaScript is disabled or has failed to load.

See the Pen details/summary by CSS GRID (@cssgrid) on CodePen.

Javascript Font Loading API

This one means a lot to some people. All modern browsers now support the CSS font-display property. However, you still might want to load your fonts with JavaScript. Font-loading monomaniac Zach Leatherman has an explainer of why you might want to load fonts with JavaScript even though we now have broad support for font-display. Ditching polyfills for this API is important because this JavaScript is, according to Zach:

[...] usually inlined in the critical path. The time spent parsing and executing polyfill JavaScript is essentially wasted on browsers that support the native CSS Font Loading API."

In an article from 2018, Zach lamented:

[...] browser-provided CSS Font Loading API has pretty broad support and has been around for a long time but is confoundedly still missing from all available versions of Microsoft Edge."

No longer!

JavaScript flat and flatMap

Most easily explained with a code snippet, flat() is useful when you have an array nested inside another array.

const things = ['thing1', 'thing2', ['thing3', ['thing4']]] const flattenedThings = things.flat(2); // Returns ['thing1', 'thing2', 'thing3', 'thing4']

As its name suggests, flatMap() is equivalent to using both the map() method and flat().

These methods are also supported in Node 11. 🎉

JavaScript TextEncoder and TextDecoder

TextEncoder and TextDecoder are part of the encoding spec. They look to be useful when working with streams.

JavaScript Object rest and object spread

These are just like rest and spread properties for arrays.

const obj1 = { a: 100, b: 2000 } const obj2 = { c: 11000, d: 220 } const combinedObj = {...obj1, ...obj2} // {a: 100, b: 2000, c: 11000, d: 220}

JavaScript modules: dynamic import

Using a function-like syntax, dynamic imports allow you to lazy-load ES modules when a user needs them.

button.addEventListener("click", function() { import("./myModule.js").then(module => module.default()); });

CSS background-blend-mode property

background-blend-mode brings Photoshop style image manipulation to the web.

CSS prefers-reduced-motion media query

I can’t help feeling that not making people feel sick should be the default of a website, particularly as not all users will be aware that this setting exists. As animation on the web becomes more common, it’s important to recognize that animation can cause causes dizziness, nausea and headaches for some users.

CSS font-display property

font-display has been well-covered on CSS-Tricks before. It's a way to control the perceived performance of font loading.

CSS caret-color property

Admittedly a rather trivial feature, and one that could have safely and easily been used as progressive enhancement. It lets you style the blinking cursor in text input fields.

8-digit hex color notation

It’s nice to have consistency in a codebase. This includes sticking to either the RGB, hexadecimal or HSL color format. If your preferred format is hex, then you had a problem because it required a switch to rgba() any time you needed to define transparency. Hex can now include an alpha (transparency) value. For example, #ffffff80 is equivalent to rgba(255, 255, 255, .5). Arguably, it’s not the most intuitive color format and has no actual benefit over rgba().

Intrinsic sizing

I’ve not seen as much hype or excitement for intrinsic sizing as some other new CSS features, but it’s the one I’m personally hankering for the most. Intrinsic sizing determines sizes based on the content of an element and introduces three new keywords into CSS: min-content, max-content and fit-content(). These keywords can be used most places that you would usually use a length, like height, width, min-width, max-width, min-height, max-height, grid-template-rows, grid-template-columns, and flex-basis.

CSS text-orientation property

Used in conjunction with the writing-mode property, text-orientation, specifies the orientation of text, as you might expect.

See the Pen text-orientation: upright by CSS GRID (@cssgrid) on CodePen.

CSS :placeholder-shown pseudo-element

placeholder-shown was even available in Internet Explorer, yet somehow never made it into Edge... until now. UX research shows that placeholder text should generally be avoided. However, if you are using placeholder text, this is a handy way to apply styles conditionally based on whether the user has entered any text into the input.

CSS place-content property

place-content is shorthand for setting both both the align-content and justify-content.

See the Pen place-content by CSS GRID (@cssgrid) on CodePen.

CSS will-change property

The will-change property can be used as a performance optimization, informing the browser ahead of time that an element will change. Pre-Chromium Edge was actually good at handling animations performantly without the need for this property, but it will now have full cross-browser support.

CSS all property

all is a shorthand for setting all CSS properties at once.

For example, setting button { all: unset; } is equivalent to:

button { background: none; border: none; color: inherit; font: inherit; outline: none; padding: 0; }

Sadly, though, the revert keyword still hasn’t been implemented anywhere other than Safari, which somewhat limits the mileage we can get out of the all property.

CSS Shapes and Clip Path

Traditionally, the web has been rectangle-centric. It has a box model, after all. While we no longer need floats for layout, we can use them creatively for wrapping text around images and shapes with the shape-outside property. This can be combined with the clip-path property, which brings the ability to display an image inside a shape.

Clippy is an online clip-path editor

CSS :focus-within pseudo-class

If you want to apply special styles to an entire form when any one of its inputs are in focus, then :focus-within is the selector for you.

CSS contents keyword

This is pretty much essential if you’re working with CSS grid. This had been marked as "not planned" by Edge, despite 3,920 votes from developers.

For both flexbox and grid, only direct children become flex items or grid items, respectively. Anything that is nested deeper cannot be placed using flex or grid-positioning. In the words of the spec, when display: contents is applied to a parent element, "the element must be treated as if it had been replaced in the element tree by its contents," allowing them to be laid out with a grid or with flexbox. Chris goes into a more thorough explanation that’s worth checking out.

There are, unfortunately, still some bugs with other browser implementations that affect accessibility.

The future holds so much more promise

We’ve only looked at features that will be supported by all modern browsers when Edge makes the move to Chromium. That said, the death of legacy Edge also makes a lot of other features feel a lot closer. Edge was the only browser dragging its feet on the Web Animation API and that showed no interest in any part of the Houdini specs, for example.

Credit: https://ishoudinireadyyet.com

The impact on browser testing

Testing in BrowserStack (left) and various browser apps on my iPhone (right)

Of course, the other huge plus for web developers is less testing. A lot of neglected Edge during cross-browser testing, so Edge users were more likely to have a broken experience. This was the main reason Microsoft decided to switch to Chromium. If your site is bug-free in one Chromium browser, then it’s probably fine in all of them. In the words of the Edge team, Chromium will provide "better web compatibility for our customers and less-fragmentation of the web for all web developers." The large variety of devices and browsers makes browser testing one of the least enjoyable tasks that we’re responsible for as front-end developers. Edge will now be available for macOS users which is great for the many of us who work on a Mac. A subscription to BrowserStack will now be slightly less necessary.

Do we lose anything?

To my knowledge, the only feature that was supported everywhere except Chrome is SVG color fonts, which will no longer work in the Edge browser. Other color font formats (COLR, SBIX, CBDT/CBLC) will continue to work though.

Uh, @GoogleChrome Are you planning to support #OpenTypeSVG soon? Supported in Safari (12+), Firefox (26+) even EdgeHTML (38+) Photoshop, Illustrator - but not Chrome /cc @colorfontswtf pic.twitter.com/tgwJ3AqHm2

— Chris Lilley (@svgeesus) February 15, 2019

What about other browsers?

Admittedly, Edge wasn’t the last subpar browser. All the features in this article are unsupported in Internet Explorer, and always will be. If you have users in Russia, you’ll need to support Yandex. If you have users in Africa, you’ll need to support Opera Mini. If you have users in China, then UC and QQ will be important to test against. If you don’t have these regional considerations, there’s never been a better time to ditch support for Internet Explorer and embrace the features the modern web has to offer. Plenty of PC users have stuck with Internet Explorer purely out of habit. Hopefully, a revamped Edge will be enough to tempt them away. An official Microsoft blog entry titled "The perils of using Internet Explorer as your default browser" concluded that, "Internet Explorer is a compatibility solution...developers by and large just aren’t testing for Internet Explorer these days." For its remaining users, the majority of the web must look increasingly broken. It’s time to let it die.

Is Google a megalomaniac?

Life is about to get easier for web developers, yet the response to the Microsoft’s announcement was far from positive. Mozilla, for one, had a stridently pessimistic response, which accused Microsoft of "officially giving up on an independent shared platform for the internet." The statement described Google as having "almost complete control of the infrastructure of our online lives" and a "monopolistic hold on unique assets." It concluded that "ceding control of fundamental online infrastructure to a single company is terrible."

Many have harked back to the days of IE6, the last time a browser achieved such an overwhelming market share. Internet Explorer, having won the browser war, gave in to total stagnation. Chrome, by contrast, ceaselessly pushes new features. Google participates actively with the web standards bodies the W3C and the WHATWG. Arguably though, it has an oversized influence in these bodies and the power to dictate the future shape of the web. Google Developer Relations does have a tendency to hype features that have shipped only in Chrome.

From competition to collaboration

Rather than being the new IE, Edge can help innovate the web forward. While it fell behind in many areas, it did lead the way for CSS grid, CSS exclusions, CSS regions and the new HTML imports spec. In a radical departure from historical behavior, Microsoft have become one of the world’s largest supporters of open source projects. That means all major browsers are now open source. Microsoft have stated that they intend to become a significant contributor to Chromium — in fact, they’ve already racked up over 300 merges. This will help Edge users, but will also benefit users of Chrome, Opera, Brave, and other Chromium-based browsers.

The post Edge Goes Chromium: What Does it Mean for Front-End Developers? appeared first on CSS-Tricks.

😉SiliconWebX | 🌐CSS-Tricks

[operationrainfall]

Title TINY METAL: Full Metal Rumble Developer Area 35 Publisher Area 34 Release Date July 11th, 2019 Genre Strategy Platform PC, Nintendo Switch Age Rating T for Teen – Fantasy Violence, Language Official Website

I should start this by mentioning how utterly excited I was by the prospect of the first TINY METAL. When I first saw it at PAX, and realized this was a true spiritual successor to a series I had long loved, Advance Wars, I was stoked. Even though I didn’t review the first game, I did play through it, and while not perfect, I felt it was a great start. So the sequel held a good amount of interest for me. Would this be a step up from the original, cementing itself as the successor to Advance Wars? The quick answer is no, but the long answer is it’s complicated. So join me as I address what TINY METAL: Full Metal Rumble did right, and what it did wrong.

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Full Metal Rumble seemingly takes place not long after the events of the first TINY METAL. I hedge with “seemingly” since I honestly barely remember the plot from the first game, other than something about lost technology and an evil mind-controlling clown. Events start with Nathan hunting the remnants of the Dinoldan army, which are apparently AI controlled puppets, despite looking mostly human. The sci fi nerd in me wished they had some distinctive robot trait if they were a drone army, but alas the only thing that identifies them as different are their glowing eyes, which made me think more mutant than robot. Putting that tangent aside, the story is rarely the most important part of a strategy game like this, but I prefer if there’s a solid effort made. Sure, Advance Wars wasn’t known for a brilliant plot, but it did have very eclectic characters with distinct personalities. The same goes for WarGroove, which had some really colorful personalities and a solid, albeit formulaic, plot. Sadly, none of those traits are in TINY METAL: Full Metal Rumble. There’s some subplot about Wolfram hunting for her supposedly dead brother Ragnar, some nonsense about nanomachines and mutterings about a greater intelligence at work, but if so, it was never revealed in the game. So if you were hoping for some grand plot for this sequel, put that hope aside. It’s not utterly horrible, there’s some cool ideas, they just never coalesce in a meaningful way.

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Sadly, the same can be said for the writing in this TINY METAL sequel. They make an effort at relevant banter and dialogue, but at best it came across like a poorly written anime. Cause and effect are completely divorced and random things happen that only the characters understand. No character gets any significant development, and some barely show up, like Tsukumo. There were at least two separate instances where I thought I knew exactly what was happening, and then the plot pulls a complete 360, or worse, seems to totally disregard important developments. A good example is one seemingly heinous betrayal that turns out to be a nothing burger. I know I said most people don’t play this genre for the story, and while that’s largely true, I can’t help but expecting a better written adventure than this. But now that I’ve gotten that out of my system, let’s move onto the meat of the game, which is how TINY METAL: Full Metal Rumble actually plays.

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The best thing the original TINY METAL had going for it was how it emulated the mechanics from Advance Wars. This one does a good job, and actually adds some new stuff to the mix. There are new units, such as the Archelon, which is essentially an APC with a machine gun, or the Viper, a mobile anti-artillery that can move and attack in the same turn. Some of my favorite new units were from the Mecha class, which were all essentially humanoid robots of mass destruction. Think a walking tank, and you have the right idea. They’re great since they can traverse environmental hazards Metals cannot, such as mountains, even though they aren’t quite as powerful. Besides the new units, there are also some new mechanics. One good example are the Commander units. Not to be mistaken with Hero units, which are slightly upgraded versions of normal units you can deploy, Commander units take a page directly from WarGroove. These are massively powerful units with one downside – if they die, you lose the mission and have to start over. Had I not seen it done first in another game, I probably would have been more impressed, but that doesn’t mean these units aren’t useful. One cool distinction is that Commander units can be various types, depending on where you are in the story. An example is how Wolfram pilots a Blitz Mecha in one mission and a Gallant Mecha in others. They are easily the best units in the entire game, and I felt they lent a bit of extra spice to the mix. Commanders even have special abilities you can use after you’ve filled up your meter by dealing or taking enough damage, such as increasing the move distance or attack power for your units for a turn. Unfortunately, I still can’t shake the similarity to recent games in the genre.

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One improvement to the combat is now whenever you build a new unit, you can easily see what they’re most and least effective against. That dispels one of my biggest complaints from the first game, that it’s not super clear which units work best to counter certain threats. They even have a little window that appears when you are selecting a unit to clarify what they can attack. My primary complaint is the game never tells you this, and I literally found out when I was more than two thirds done with the game. That said, there are many other tutorials in the first few missions, and while informative, they tend to drag on a bit long, especially for fans returning to the series. But if you ever get too lost, there’s a handy Metalpedia that gives a brief rundown for what various units do. I just wish I could select a unit on the map and bring up that same description. You can’t even pause the game to see the map, which was a big letdown. I know there’s Fog of War everywhere in TINY METAL, but I should be able to see units once I’ve dispersed them.

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Another change is that you actually have to keep track of your ammo and fuel reserves for all mechanical units. I thought I wouldn’t like this feature, but I actually really grew to appreciate it. It made my moves more important, and added a new layer of strategy. The AI for enemy units in Full Metal Rumble also seems a bit better. It uses Focus Fire MUCH more often, surrounding you to deal more damage, but it also does stupid shit like having Infantry attack Gunships, which almost always results in Infantry being massacred. I also noticed that my AI opponents rarely used their own abilities and seemed to shy away from attacking my Commander units. For reference, I did play the game on Normal, so maybe it’s not as incompetent on harder difficulties. Just don’t make the mistake of taking it entirely for granted, cause the Dinoldan army is more than capable of kicking your ass if you’re not treating it like a real threat.

More Metal on Page 2 ->

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Most missions in the game can be beaten one of two ways – either kill every enemy unit or take their HQ. I usually preferred to go for their HQ, since on many missions your opponent has factories and airports that can continually build new units. However, there are some missions where they mix things up. Some missions you have to survive for a set number of days, inflict X amount of damage to enemy finances, or kill a powerful VIP unit. Sometimes you won’t have any way to produce more units, and have to kill all your foes on the map. There are also some missions that have optional objectives, but they aren’t required to win. They just offer an alternate path to victory. Overall, the combat in the game is the highlight, but it’s not without its problems. One is that despite the variety I just mentioned and the combat being well-balanced, the flow of the game feels incredibly repetitive. I also wish selecting a unit for attack would give a preview of how much damage I might take, instead of just how much I will dish out and critical chance percentage. That said, I do like how the pause screen displays your Commander’s abilities and proficiency. It’s helpful knowing Wolfram’s infantry is more powerful, or that all of Tsukumo’s units deal more damage, but cost more money to build.

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  On the aesthetic design portion of the game, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. The music is very muted and unremarkable, but the art is top notch for the design. All the Commanders look great, and a new one in particular I was rather fond of, Nora, has crazy orange hair, hates talking with people and pilots the new Mecha units with ease. There’s some really cool cinematics that occur at various points throughout the story, and they look great, though for the life of me I don’t understand why they have no sound. Unfortunately, the level design is pretty lackluster, with the same colors and layout from mission to mission, with minor variations like desert and snow stages. Hell, there’s not even weather effects, which would have gone a long way to impressing me. There’s also some weird graphical glitches like overlap and layers not displaying all at once. Oh, and though the music isn’t great, the sound effects highlight the battles nicely. The boom and ratatat of cannon fire and machine guns are music to my ears, even if the random snippets units say whenever they’re selected gets old.

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I hate to return to the writing of the game, but I feel it’s necessary. The writing is, sadly, incredibly vanilla, and unfortunately it has plenty of grammar mistakes. The way the text displays at times is also odd. Sometimes it doesn’t fit well or even goes outside the text boxes. Worse is that I don’t care about most of the characters or the plot. It all just felt really formulaic and uninspired, at least to me. And even after playing the game for 27 hours to beat Full Metal Rumble, I honestly have no real idea about the motivation for the enemy forces at all. I kept expecting some sinister force to reveal itself as the mastermind, much like in the first game, but it never happens. In it’s place, we’re left with faceless, emotionless AI puppets, and that’s truly disappointing.

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Now let’s move onto the part of reviews I hate, which is talking about glitches and quirks. There are several I encountered in my time with TINY METAL: Full Metal Rumble. It’s possible they’re isolated to the Switch version I played, but on the off chance they aren’t, I figured I should mention them as a PSA. One of the less problematic ones occurred with the new autopilot feature. As you progress from mission to mission, you move a plane around the world map. You can select autopilot to automatically move to the next stage, and that’s great. What’s less great is once I tried it and instead chose not to enter the next level, and suddenly my plane started flying around in circles. Another quirk is that after you supply a unit with more fuel and ammo, if you hover your cursor over it, the unit shows as still empty. But if you move the cursor and come back, it instead shows as refilled. One time I attacked a unit, and instead of going to the regular battle animation, that unit just exploded on the map. Another time in Skirmish, I was moving around and got ambushed by a hidden enemy. Instead of just stopping my progress, like it should have, my unit was dealt damage without any accompanying combat animation. A more prevalent problem is the blurring visual effect that happens quite often, including whenever you instigate a battle. But easily the worst glitch I encountered is the following: on multiple occasions, easily more than a dozen, I selected an attack target and initiated my attack, and instead my unit ended their turn. In a game where every move is key to victory, that’s a giant problem. And believe it or not, those weren’t all the weird incidents I encountered, just the more noteworthy ones. I know TINY METAL: Full Metal Rumble has been updated a couple times since release, but these are all issues that need to be patched ASAP.

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In the end, It just didn’t feel like Area 35 tried anything that dramatic in this sequel, just more of the same with some minor upgrades, and taking ideas from games that did it better. TINY METAL was born in the shadow of Advance Wars, and sadly, Full Metal Rumble never steps out of that shadow. I know that sounds harsh, and much as it pains me to say, I don’t know how else the next game can improve without criticism. Because I honestly still like TINY METAL, I just expect much more from it. That said, for $14.99, you get a lot of game for your money. I spent almost 30 hours just on Story mode alone, and there’s a lot more to do, such as Skirmish, Multiplayer and many, many goodies you can unlock with in-game currency. There’s also labs you can find in Story mode to unlock optional side missions. And if you are a perfectionist, each mission has optional conditions you can achieve to get more points. If you’re a fan of strategy games, TINY METAL: Full Metal Rumble might still be worth a look. But if you’re a stickler and want a better adventure, there are far better options available right now.

[easyreview cat1title=”Overall” cat1detail=”” cat1rating=”3″]

Review Copy Provided by Publisher

REVIEW: TINY METAL: Full Metal Rumble Title TINY METAL: Full Metal Rumble

[falkenscreen]

MOTHER!

It’s a special feat for a film to so divide critical opinion that the trenchant reactions’ very nature, rather than pure consideration of the flick’s actual merits, or lack thereof, would go such a way to bespeak it’s value, both endearing Mother! to the faithful and fore-warning a wisely circumspect audience.  

Granted, Mother! is a film that can only flourish to the extent that it’s perception is scattered; revelling in allegorical rabbit-holes whose more formidable foundations should never be mistaken as anything but peerless to that witnessed here, nor its indeterminacy or casual relationships with its various strands mistook for that which could be considered ably multifaceted. It wants you to think about each and everything it throws at you and hopes beyond hope that it all sticks; together ideas and concepts throughout regrettably the subject of neglectful, passing introspection.

To elaborate too greatly on the plot would be unfair to anyone who craves the visceral reaction Director Darren Aronofsky so desperately wishes to impart. Suffice to say, the main figure, played by Jennifer Lawrence (none of the characters are named) lives an isolated life with her writer husband (Javier Bardem) in the home she newly-renovated, until one day, a houseguest arrives (Ed Harris). From there, as confusion mounts, none more so than in the eyes of Lawrence’s character, purportedly fantastical elements begin to dominate what at least at the outset and from much of the marketing appeared to have its basis in traditional horror fare.

As with Aronofsky’s Noah, the pitch for this film to a wider audience has done a disservice to those who might not have taken to its preconceptions yet still found it compelling, many of whom, faced with the choice of a horror film, might fairly have opted to see the new adaptation of It. Even then, as horror Mother! relies on the jump-scares audiences will no doubt expect. Whether it be a face behind a shut door, a walk down to the basement or creaking floorboards, by falling back on its traditional trappings Mother! sacrifices any semblance of eeriness conversely inherent to the lone estate’s setting. An imperceptibly lit furnace occasionally emanating warmth may as well have featured Kevin McAllister running full-pelt up the stairs for all the impact it mustered.

It helps even less when characters relentlessly say exactly what they are thinking or what they are about to do. As goes the film’s allegorical nature this may advance proceedings, though as far as tension matters the screenplay will leave audiences wanting.

What could have nonetheless succeeded as a horror film ala Rosemary’s Baby, to which Mother! has not unfairly been compared for its first act alone, too regretfully sidelines the question of whether what we see is real or a very thick clump of wool, as the propounded nature of events soon renders this evident. The further interpretation of Mother! as intrinsically a statement on artists’ struggles is sidelined through the little we know, or experience, of Bardem’s character and his writing beyond Lawrence’s perception of the escalating theatrics.

None of this detracts from the performances, Lawrence above all boasting an engrossing turn alongside the ever-reliable Bardem. Michelle Pfeiffer joins the fray as the only figure who with a slight glance or aside can silently set the mood. Domhnall Gleeson, brother Brian and, strangely, Kristen Wiig are present all too fleetingly to register or sadly make any significant contribution to the film.

What does detract from the performances is just how intimately we are forced to view them, with most of the focus on Lawrence, not unlike the experience of her co-stars, being transfixed between her forehead and chin. We are barely treated to a perception of just how the goings-on affect anything but the central character’s gaze, as if being in lockstep with her point of view throughout was the only way to produce the empathy necessary to carry us through to any sense of a compelling conclusion.

The allegorical aspects, more evident in the feature’s later stages, unlike many parables which seek to draw an allusion with one or more finite if complex notions here attempts to purvey literally epochs of ancient and modern understandings – something that could not reasonably be expected to be achieved fittingly in the space of two hours. Flitting between schools of thought from different if not unconnected realms, the overstated dialogue together with the highly improbable nature of events and the briefest of episodic snippets corresponding to prolific western thought and narrative immemorial serve to convey neither a sense of wonder nor detailed treatment of its varied subject matters, with the function of some additions so glaringly obvious that it makes you question why Aronofsky didn’t commit to a fully immersive vision better realised by the likes of Fellini.

Audiences won’t likely take to Mother! and it’s not for Aronofsky’s chosen themes, but their execution. Cinemagoers have shown that they will relish that familial, historical and/or theological if depicted in a manner that adopts some measure of adequate discernment to not only its origins but how they are perceived today, Children of Men and The Matrix being two of the prominent examples. Needlessly bluntish treatments of their source or fluidity to the point of diluting their impact with extraneous atmospherics or that which would otherwise be engaging in a different genre have better characterised less considered flicks, among them The Adjustment Bureau, or to draw a more direct comparison with the particular theological underpinnings of Mother! and the conceptions it has chosen to convey, The Matrix: Reloaded.

The ending nor the film itself so transcendent as evidently desired, relying on shock value in the absence of emotionally-laden fear or sufficiently detailed consequence for any of the increasingly bizarre actions unfolding, full-fledged allegorical, horror and inherently human tales could not realize their full potential in tandem, nor effectively contribute to this jumbled mess of a film.

Mother! is in cinemas now

[suzanneshannon]

Edge Goes Chromium: What Does it Mean for Front-End Developers?

In December 2018, Microsoft announced that Edge would adopt Chromium, the open source project that powers Google Chrome. Many within the industry reacted with sadness at the loss of browser diversity. Personally, I was jubilant. An official release date has yet to be announced, but it will be at some point this year. With its release, a whole host of HTML, JavaScript and CSS features will have achieved full cross-browser support.

The preview build is now available for Windows, and coming soon for Mac.

📣 Calling all web devs and tinkerers! 📣

The first preview builds of the next version of #MicrosoftEdge are ready for you – try it out now! https://t.co/I531hfmD3G pic.twitter.com/Tvh6OGGouO

— Microsoft Edge Dev (@MSEdgeDev) April 8, 2019

Not so long ago, I penned an article titled "The Long Slow Death of Internet Explorer." Some of us are lucky enough have abandoned that browser already. But it wasn’t the only thing holding us back. Internet Explorer was the browser we all hated and Edge was meant to be its much-improved replacement. Unfortunately, Edge itself was quite the laggard. EdgeHTML is a fork of Trident, the engine that powered Internet Explorer. Microsoft significantly under-invested in Edge. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Edge’s User Voice website was a nice idea, allowing developers to vote for which features they wanted to be implemented. Unfortunately, as Dave Rupert put it, voting on the site was "like throwing coins in a wishing well." The most requested features were left unimplemented for years.

There are a lot of features that pre-Chromium Edge doesn’t currently support but are available in other modern browsers and, once they’ve made the switch, we’ll be able to use them. Many of them can’t be polyfilled or worked around, so this release is a big deal.

caniuse.com comparing the final non-Chromium version of Edge to the other popular modern browser

Features we can look forward to using

So just what are those features, exactly? Let’s outline them right here and start to get excited about all the new things we’ll be able to do.

Custom Elements and Shadow DOM

Together, custom elements and shadow DOM allow developers to define custom, reusable and encapsulated components. A lot of people were asking for this one. People have been voting for its implementation since 2014, and we’re finally getting it.

HTML details and summary elements

The <details> and <summary> elements are part of HTML5 and have been supported since 2011 in Chrome. Used together, the elements generate a simple widget to show and hide content. While it is trivial to implement something similar using JavaScript, the <details> and <summary> elements work even when JavaScript is disabled or has failed to load.

See the Pen details/summary by CSS GRID (@cssgrid) on CodePen.

Javascript Font Loading API

This one means a lot to some people. All modern browsers now support the CSS font-display property. However, you still might want to load your fonts with JavaScript. Font-loading monomaniac Zach Leatherman has an explainer of why you might want to load fonts with JavaScript even though we now have broad support for font-display. Ditching polyfills for this API is important because this JavaScript is, according to Zach:

[...] usually inlined in the critical path. The time spent parsing and executing polyfill JavaScript is essentially wasted on browsers that support the native CSS Font Loading API."

In an article from 2018, Zach lamented:

[...] browser-provided CSS Font Loading API has pretty broad support and has been around for a long time but is confoundedly still missing from all available versions of Microsoft Edge."

No longer!

JavaScript flat and flatMap

Most easily explained with a code snippet, flat() is useful when you have an array nested inside another array.

const things = ['thing1', 'thing2', ['thing3', ['thing4']]] const flattenedThings = things.flat(2); // Returns ['thing1', 'thing2', 'thing3', 'thing4']

As its name suggests, flatMap() is equivalent to using both the map() method and flat().

These methods are also supported in Node 11. 🎉

JavaScript TextEncoder and TextDecoder

TextEncoder and TextDecoder are part of the encoding spec. They look to be useful when working with streams.

JavaScript Object rest and object spread

These are just like rest and spread properties for arrays.

const obj1 = { a: 100, b: 2000 } const obj2 = { c: 11000, d: 220 } const combinedObj = {...obj1, ...obj2} // {a: 100, b: 2000, c: 11000, d: 220}

JavaScript modules: dynamic import

Using a function-like syntax, dynamic imports allow you to lazy-load ES modules when a user needs them.

button.addEventListener("click", function() { import("./myModule.js").then(module => module.default()); });

CSS background-blend-mode property

background-blend-mode brings Photoshop style image manipulation to the web.

CSS prefers-reduced-motion media query

I can’t help feeling that not making people feel sick should be the default of a website, particularly as not all users will be aware that this setting exists. As animation on the web becomes more common, it’s important to recognize that animation can cause causes dizziness, nausea and headaches for some users.

CSS font-display property

font-display has been well-covered on CSS-Tricks before. It's a way to control the perceived performance of font loading.

CSS caret-color property

Admittedly a rather trivial feature, and one that could have safely and easily been used as progressive enhancement. It lets you style the blinking cursor in text input fields.

8-digit hex color notation

It’s nice to have consistency in a codebase. This includes sticking to either the RGB, hexadecimal or HSL color format. If your preferred format is hex, then you had a problem because it required a switch to rgba() any time you needed to define transparency. Hex can now include an alpha (transparency) value. For example, #ffffff80 is equivalent to rgba(255, 255, 255, .5). Arguably, it’s not the most intuitive color format and has no actual benefit over rgba().

Intrinsic sizing

I’ve not seen as much hype or excitement for intrinsic sizing as some other new CSS features, but it’s the one I’m personally hankering for the most. Intrinsic sizing determines sizes based on the content of an element and introduces three new keywords into CSS: min-content, max-content and fit-content(). These keywords can be used most places that you would usually use a length, like height, width, min-width, max-width, min-height, max-height, grid-template-rows, grid-template-columns, and flex-basis.

CSS text-orientation property

Used in conjunction with the writing-mode property, text-orientation, specifies the orientation of text, as you might expect.

See the Pen text-orientation: upright by CSS GRID (@cssgrid) on CodePen.

CSS :placeholder-shown pseudo-element

placeholder-shown was even available in Internet Explorer, yet somehow never made it into Edge... until now. UX research shows that placeholder text should generally be avoided. However, if you are using placeholder text, this is a handy way to apply styles conditionally based on whether the user has entered any text into the input.

CSS place-content property

place-content is shorthand for setting both both the align-content and justify-content.

See the Pen place-content by CSS GRID (@cssgrid) on CodePen.

CSS will-change property

The will-change property can be used as a performance optimization, informing the browser ahead of time that an element will change. Pre-Chromium Edge was actually good at handling animations performantly without the need for this property, but it will now have full cross-browser support.

CSS all property

all is a shorthand for setting all CSS properties at once.

For example, setting button { all: unset; } is equivalent to:

button { background: none; border: none; color: inherit; font: inherit; outline: none; padding: 0; }

Sadly, though, the revert keyword still hasn’t been implemented anywhere other than Safari, which somewhat limits the mileage we can get out of the all property.

CSS Shapes and Clip Path

Traditionally, the web has been rectangle-centric. It has a box model, after all. While we no longer need floats for layout, we can use them creatively for wrapping text around images and shapes with the shape-outside property. This can be combined with the clip-path property, which brings the ability to display an image inside a shape.

Clippy is an online clip-path editor

CSS :focus-within pseudo-class

If you want to apply special styles to an entire form when any one of its inputs are in focus, then :focus-within is the selector for you.

CSS contents keyword

This is pretty much essential if you’re working with CSS grid. This had been marked as "not planned" by Edge, despite 3,920 votes from developers.

For both flexbox and grid, only direct children become flex items or grid items, respectively. Anything that is nested deeper cannot be placed using flex or grid-positioning. In the words of the spec, when display: contents is applied to a parent element, "the element must be treated as if it had been replaced in the element tree by its contents," allowing them to be laid out with a grid or with flexbox. Chris goes into a more thorough explanation that’s worth checking out.

There are, unfortunately, still some bugs with other browser implementations that affect accessibility.

The future holds so much more promise

We’ve only looked at features that will be supported by all modern browsers when Edge makes the move to Chromium. That said, the death of legacy Edge also makes a lot of other features feel a lot closer. Edge was the only browser dragging its feet on the Web Animation API and that showed no interest in any part of the Houdini specs, for example.

Credit: https://ishoudinireadyyet.com

The impact on browser testing

Testing in BrowserStack (left) and various browser apps on my iPhone (right)

Of course, the other huge plus for web developers is less testing. A lot of neglected Edge during cross-browser testing, so Edge users were more likely to have a broken experience. This was the main reason Microsoft decided to switch to Chromium. If your site is bug-free in one Chromium browser, then it’s probably fine in all of them. In the words of the Edge team, Chromium will provide "better web compatibility for our customers and less-fragmentation of the web for all web developers." The large variety of devices and browsers makes browser testing one of the least enjoyable tasks that we’re responsible for as front-end developers. Edge will now be available for macOS users which is great for the many of us who work on a Mac. A subscription to BrowserStack will now be slightly less necessary.

Do we lose anything?

To my knowledge, the only feature that was supported everywhere except Chrome is SVG color fonts, which will no longer work in the Edge browser. Other color font formats (COLR, SBIX, CBDT/CBLC) will continue to work though.

Uh, @GoogleChrome Are you planning to support #OpenTypeSVG soon? Supported in Safari (12+), Firefox (26+) even EdgeHTML (38+) Photoshop, Illustrator - but not Chrome /cc @colorfontswtf pic.twitter.com/tgwJ3AqHm2

— Chris Lilley (@svgeesus) February 15, 2019

What about other browsers?

Admittedly, Edge wasn’t the last subpar browser. All the features in this article are unsupported in Internet Explorer, and always will be. If you have users in Russia, you’ll need to support Yandex. If you have users in Africa, you’ll need to support Opera Mini. If you have users in China, then UC and QQ will be important to test against. If you don’t have these regional considerations, there’s never been a better time to ditch support for Internet Explorer and embrace the features the modern web has to offer. Plenty of PC users have stuck with Internet Explorer purely out of habit. Hopefully, a revamped Edge will be enough to tempt them away. An official Microsoft blog entry titled "The perils of using Internet Explorer as your default browser" concluded that, "Internet Explorer is a compatibility solution...developers by and large just aren’t testing for Internet Explorer these days." For its remaining users, the majority of the web must look increasingly broken. It’s time to let it die.

Is Google a megalomaniac?

Life is about to get easier for web developers, yet the response to the Microsoft’s announcement was far from positive. Mozilla, for one, had a stridently pessimistic response, which accused Microsoft of "officially giving up on an independent shared platform for the internet." The statement described Google as having "almost complete control of the infrastructure of our online lives" and a "monopolistic hold on unique assets." It concluded that "ceding control of fundamental online infrastructure to a single company is terrible."

Many have harked back to the days of IE6, the last time a browser achieved such an overwhelming market share. Internet Explorer, having won the browser war, gave in to total stagnation. Chrome, by contrast, ceaselessly pushes new features. Google participates actively with the web standards bodies the W3C and the WHATWG. Arguably though, it has an oversized influence in these bodies and the power to dictate the future shape of the web. Google Developer Relations does have a tendency to hype features that have shipped only in Chrome.

From competition to collaboration

Rather than being the new IE, Edge can help innovate the web forward. While it fell behind in many areas, it did lead the way for CSS grid, CSS exclusions, CSS regions and the new HTML imports spec. In a radical departure from historical behavior, Microsoft have become one of the world’s largest supporters of open source projects. That means all major browsers are now open source. Microsoft have stated that they intend to become a significant contributor to Chromium — in fact, they’ve already racked up over 300 merges. This will help Edge users, but will also benefit users of Chrome, Opera, Brave, and other Chromium-based browsers.

The post Edge Goes Chromium: What Does it Mean for Front-End Developers? appeared first on CSS-Tricks.

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