#want to see how much more i can pick out about new/updated approaches to characterization

[dangoulains-devotion]

every time I have to wade through inane ship wars where people are willfully ignorant to the depth and facets of cloud strife's character, circumstance, and story just so I can find some cool screenshots or fanart my 'cloud is ace' agenda simply grows more potent out of spite

[toosicktoocare]

Set after Martin gives his Jane Prentiss statement and is now sleeping in the archives. 

(Also, that’s where I left off, so forgive potential shit characterization/inaccuracies. I’m obviously still painfully new to this, and it’s going to take me a HOT minute to catch up, but I’m enjoying it!)

Jon’s half-way through a statement, teetering between getting lost within the panicked narrative and trashing the written document for it’s apparent lack of rationalization and validity, when the door slams open hard enough to rattle the walls. 

Martin’s standing in the doorway, absolutely drenched through yet beaming from ear to ear. It makes Jon’s eye twitch, and he rests his index finger on the stop button of his tape recorder, just in case. 

Martin’s shoes squelch loudly as he walks into the room, and behind his lips, Jon grits his teeth sharply, thinking of the mess he’ll have to clean from the droplets of water all but pouring off Martin. 

When Martin starts prattling on about a potential lead from a statement Jon had assigned him a few days prior, Jon wordlessly presses “Stop” on his tape recorder and rests both palms atop his knees under his desk, his fingers curling around tightly until they’re digging into his knees. Still, he holds his composure and silently waits for Martin to finish. 

“I know I’ve interrupted you,” Martin sputters, “but I really think we have something here, Jon.”

Jon sucks in a deep breath, exhaling slowly. He considers chastising Martin for dwelling on a case he deemed close two days ago; however, he has to admit that Martin’s findings have piqued his interest, enough that he may consider reviewing the statement with Martin’s updated information, that is if he can find a long enough gap within his work day to squeeze in this unplanned development. 

“You’re drenched,” Jon mutters, eyes slowly honing in on a drop of water that’s clinging to a damp strand of Martin’s hair, pooling toward the end, until it drops and slides down his temple. “You’re making a rather soggy mess of my office.” 

“Ah, sorry!” Martin leaps to his feet and backs toward the doorway, and Jon carefully watches Martin’s face pull in different directions of conflict. 

“I’ll go grab some napkins! Be right back!” 

Before Jon can utter a word, Martin’s disappeared from the doorway, the faint sounds of his shoes squeaking fading to dull echoes against the towering walls. Jon sighs deeply, stiffened shoulders all but deflating against a weight of annoyance and something else he can’t quite pinpoint.

He turns his focus, instead, to the details Martin’s verbally shared, and he finds himself turning to relocate the filed statement when Martin returns with a handful of crumpled napkins and a rather sheepish expression that’s paired with tinged-pink cheeks. 

“I’m really sorry about the mess, Jon, but I’ll have this cleaned up in no time!” 

Martin drops to his knees and begins mopping up small puddles of water, and Jon watches silently, eyes narrowed and taking in the soft shudders that seem to shoot up and down Martin’s spine and the sodden clothing now so tight, it appears as if a second layer of damp, clammy skin that has to be rather uncomfortable. 

Jon clears his throat. “Martin.” 

“Almost done-”

“-Martin,” Jon presses, lips snapping tightly around each letter. 

Martin freezes, hand mid swipe, and he pulls a hesitant gaze toward Jon. 

“Go change,” he nods toward the doorway. “I can take care of this.” He watches Martin’s mouth open and close slowly, and he can almost hear Martin’s rapid thoughts. 

“Go,” he repeats. “I’m very busy.” 

Slowly, Martin gets up to his feet and wraps his arms around himself with a small shiver that Jon frowns at. 

“If you’re sure-”

“-I’m sure,” Jon finishes, and Martin nods, a word of genuine thanks falling off his lips as he exits the office, closing the door quietly behind him. 

Jon spares a glance toward the wad of napkins on his office floor, nudges it around with his foot halfheartedly, and decides it can wait for his mind keeps wandering toward the information Martin provided. He drops back into his chair, a newfound course of energy pulling at him, and begins reviewing the statement, plugging in Martin’s information as he goes along. 

---------

Jon can hear Martin’s loud keyboard tapping before he approaches the small, open office. By sound alone, Martin’s typing furiously, and Jon ponders briefly over which statement Martin could be working so intently on when he finally pops into the doorway, leaning lightly against the door frame and knocking softly on the opened door.

Martin jumps violently, almost knocking a cup of tea over when both hands shoot up from his keyboard and bang loudly against his desk on their way to cover his face. It takes a few long seconds, Jon notes, for Martin to move his arms away from his face, one hand slipping to rest against his heaving chest. 

Jon studies Martin’s wide, panicked eyes, and... oh, right. The worms, and Jane Prentiss, and the repetitive door knocking. “My apologies,” he drags out. “I didn’t intend to startle you.” 

Martin swallows thickly; Jon watches the slow bob of his adam’s apple. 

“No, it’s quite alright. I guess I’m still a bit bothered by... well, you know.” 

Nodding, Jon crosses his arms and cocks his head to the side slightly, contemplating if Martin’s voice has always held that color of rasp or if something else is going on. He drags a slow gaze to Martin’s face, to his flushed cheeks, to the damp perspiration clinging lightly to his temples. 

“-Jon? Are you alright?” 

Jon forces his gaze to Martin’s eyes, wiping the image of his too-rosy cheeks from his mind just as quickly as he honed in on the sight. “Sorry, you were saying?”

“I was just asking if you needed something.” Martin casts his eyes to his hands folded in his lap. “You don’t often stop by.”

“Ah, yes,” Jon mutters, clearing his throat. “I just wanted to come tell you that your findings today redirected the statement’s narrative enough that I’m willing to reopen the case file to explore further outcomes.”

“That’s good!” Martin’s beaming again, such an odd, warm contrast to his poor pallor, Jon thinks. 

“I’m glad to have--” Martin’s voice hitches, and he turns to sneeze sharply into the crook of his arm-- “helped,” he finishes, sniffling, and Jon unwillingly takes note of the congestion thickening Martin’s tone. 

Jon only frowns at him, and Martin laughs lightly, nervously, and he snags a tissue for his nose. “Sorry, I’m feeling a bit worn down after, well,” he gestures helplessly to the pile of wet clothes in the corner of his office, and Jon’s eyes fall to the clothing, and he can’t help but shiver slightly.

“Right,” Jon mutters, turning from Martin’s office. “Well, good work,” he adds, reluctantly, and he starts out of the office, choosing to not address the loud “thank you” that echoes from Martin’s office as he starts back to the archives. 

---------

Jon’s focus the remainder of the day is wavering, voice abruptly halting every time he hears the faint echoes of Martin’s coughing or sneezing. Twice, he almost slips from his office to send Martin home for he’s too loud and distracting, but then he remembers that, for the time being, this institute is Martin’s home. 

He organizes, instead, for his last hour, teeth gritting harder and harder the sicker Martin sounds, and it’s a few minutes near closing time when he picks up on Tim and Sasha talking with Martin through the gap below his door. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to come stay with one of us?”

Sasha, Jon thinks, sounding quite concerned. 

“You really do look and sound terrible, Martin. You’d be much more comfortable with one of us.”

“I couldn’t impose, but I do appreciate the offer. I’ll be quite alright here. Thank you, though.”

Frowning, Jon listens to the two reluctantly leave Martin, and he listens to hear Martin shuffling down the hall, presumably to the small room with the cot he’s been sleeping in. 

He should leave well enough alone, let Martin get his rest, but when he leaves his office for the day, bag heavy with his tape recorder and statements, he hesitates, feet faltering just a few steps before the makeshift bedroom. He can hear the cot creaking under Martin’s weight and seemingly restless shifting, and that odd feeling from before, the one he’s yet to pinpoint an appropriate word to, comes back, swelling hot in his chest. He steps in front of the closed door and raises his fist to knock, thinking better of it and calling out instead. 

“Martin. I’m coming in.” 

He opens the door slowly to see Martin struggling to sit up on the bed and coughing into his fist. 

“Jon, what’re you-”

Jon holds a single hand up, signaling for Martin to stop talking, and Martin does, coughing instead, deep, wet coughs that Jon almost wishes to shrink away from. He can see Martin’s muscles straining against each cough, and when Martin catches his breath, he shoves himself upright fully on shaking arms and drags the light blanket over his shoulders. 

“Sorry, I guess my little run in the rain’s left me rather poorly.” 

Jon finds a small stain on the rather hideous area rug, and he stares hard at it, fingers tightening around the strap of is bag. He, of all people, knows how uncomfortable this room can be, as he’s only managed a few hours here or there at the most. He can’t begin to fathom Martin being able to rest comfortably in here, not while taken ill. 

He just only wishes Martin would’ve taken Tim or Sasha up on their offers because then, he wouldn’t be standing here, feeling somehow responsible for Martin. 

“Jon?”

“If you’d like,” Jon starts, swallowing thickly, “you may come spend a night, or two, at my apartment.” He braves a glance up to see that Martin’s face is frustratingly unreadable. He looks, Jon thinks, concerned, confused, and something else that just doesn’t make any sense. 

“As I told Tim and Sasha, I don’t wish to impose. I’m sure I’ll be fine.” But, even as Martin utters such politely practiced words, he shivers, pulling the blanket tighter around his frame, and he coughs quite a bit, always excusing himself. 

“You aren’t imposing,” Jon says, sighing. “I’m not... I won’t force you, of course, but I have experience sleeping roughly on that small cot, and I can only imagine how dreadful it would be while ill.” 

He’s not sure why he’s pushing, guilt maybe? Even though, he reminds himself, he did not instruct Martin to pursue follow-ups with this particular statement. Martin did that of his own accord, so really, Jon thinks, he should be angry by the blatant disobedience from one of his assistants, and yet, somewhere, he’s glad for Martin’s unruly persistence. He just wishes, now, that Martin would be a little more attentive to the weather before running off on one of his escapades.  

“Are you sure?” 

“I wouldn’t be suggesting it if I wasn’t,” Jon snaps, turning on his heel as Martin slides off the cot to gather a few things to take with him. 

---------

“I’m not taking your bed, Jon, and that’s final.”

Jon slips his glasses off, pinching the bridge of his nose. He and Martin have been dancing around the same argument, back and forth, for the last fifteen minutes. He offered his bed because he knows how uncomfortable his couch is, and Martin all but threw a fit at the notion. If Jon weren’t completely annoyed, he’d find this pushy side of Martin rather interesting as it’s a clear contrast to how Martin acts around work. Still, he can’t dwell on the many sides of Martin Blackwood at the moment because said man is quite ill, his condition seeming to worsen every minute, and he won’t just take the damn bed. 

“Fine,” Jon spits out sharply as he disappears for some extra blankets to make the couch into a makeshift bed, slapping Martin’s hands away when he tries to help. 

He wordlessly gestures to the couch when he finishes, eye twitching against aggravation, and Martin sinks onto the couch, sighing, to Jon’s disbelief, in relief as he pulls two blankets up to his chin, his face relaxing for the first time in an hour. 

“This is nice, Jon, thank you. Seriously.”

“See if you can still say that tomorrow when your back’s twinging in pain,” Jon mutters as he moves to turn off lights. He’s quiet when he flicks each light switch, hearing soft snores after only a minute at the most. He can’t imagine how exhausted Martin must be, having barely slept for two weeks when... he experienced an uncertain and unfortunate situation, not quite ruled to be Jane Prentiss just yet. Pair that with the uncomfortable cot, fever, and a cough, and Jon’s surprised Martin hasn’t dropped sooner.  

He starts toward his bedroom, stopping by the arm of the couch where Martin’s head is resting. Without thinking anything through, he reaches down and ghosts a feather-light touch of his palm to Martin’s forehead, frowning sharply at the heat and making a mental note to inquire about medicine in the morning.

Martin sighs contently under his touch, and he jerks his hand back quickly, his heart thumping oddly fast against his rib cage, and stalks to his room to quietly record. 

[doomonfilm]

Review : Candyman (2021)

Nearly all 1980s children like myself had a morbid obsession with ghost stories and urban legends, with much of our free time spent daring one another to do silly things meant to scare the daylights out of one another.  For as long as I could remember these events, I remember the presence of Bloody Mary and the ominous way that she is beckoned by repeating her name while looking in a mirror.  Imagine my surprise when 1992 rolled around, and this very familiar Bloody Mary construct was reskinned into the iconic Candyman film, the tale of a former mob justice victim turned Cabrini Green boogieman.  After three films of varying success, many people thought that was it for Candyman, but along came Jordan Peele and his revelatory reveal as a master horror facilitator we’ve not seen the likes of since Rod Serling.  With the announcement that he was helping to produce a Nia DaCosta directed sequel to the first film, the anticipation was high, and even though it was delayed by COVID-19, the film recently found a release to much critical acclaim and box office success.

The immediate and permeating strength of the 2021 Candyman film is the way that it continues the ruminations on the power of myth.  The original Candyman film used its titular character as a thinly veiled piece of symbolism for gentrification, particularly in the way that White exterior curiosity and interest in the “hood” eventually drives the original inhabitants (read : Black people) out of the hood.  DaCosta updates this approach by flipping the ideas on their head, particularly in the way that the forgotten Candyman myth hangs around in the air of North Chicago as a sordid and sobering reminder of what once stood there, and the capacity for poverty, crime and despair to invade the area again.  Positioning Anthony McCoy as an artist seeking inspiration perfectly opens up the gateway to the shocking revelations we are presented with, bringing the Candyman lore full circle in a way that is satisfying to both those familiar and unfamiliar with the original Candyman film.  Using the unreliable narrator approach to retell the Helen Lyles story was a very nice touch, especially for those that know the way the events unfolded.

Like much of the media originated from or focused on the Black experience in the modern day, 2021 Candyman takes a long and hard look at generational trauma.  Placing us in the familiar location of the former Cabrini Green give us an air of familiarity for certain elements within the film, but despite how much the area has changed, the impact from the horrors that took place prior to the economical shift clearly resonate even if Candyman himself is a distant memory to the people.  Much like the N-word (which I will choose not to use, as per usual), Candyman becomes a tool that can be reclaimed, and rather than embraced, it can be wielded against those that created it by the ones it was intended to hurt.  Even the figure of Candyman goes through his own form of generational trauma as different individuals that succumb to tragedy all step into their own version of the Candyman mantle, up to and including Anthony McCoy (who has his own direct generational ties that I will not spoil).  Even the generational trauma subtext, which is presented through the story of Brianna Cartwright and her sorrowful relationship with her tortured artist father, hits in a way that can be felt and understood by everyone, and even more so by those that have lost loved ones that chose to take their own lives.

While there was symbolism present in the previous film, the dials are ramped up to eleven in this release, with the mirror and bee symbolism in particular working pitch perfectly.  From the opening titles we are made aware of the presence of mirrors within the film, and for those keen enough to keep one eye on the main action and another on any mirrors that present themselves, you are treated to a feast of visual trickery.  While bees were used as a way to put viewers off in the original film, like some sort of sick dig for sympathy by way of shock value, bees in the DaCosta film work as a harbinger of doom, specifically for Anthony McCoy, while also standing as a symbol for how deep the core connection is between McCoy and the Candyman lineage.  Chicago is always the uncredited star of any film it is in, and DaCosta beautifully covers all areas of the city while including segue cutaways where we float through the various famous streets of Chicago from the perspective of a corpse in a casket.  Speaking of perspective, it is used in masterful ways throughout the course of the film, with the Anthony McCoy sequence in Finley Stephens‘ hallway standing as the cherry on top of the perspective sundae.

We need to go ahead and give Yahya Abdul-Mateen II his flowers while he can smell them, because this man may be the most capable actor currently working in terms of effortlessly and casually showing the full spectrum of human emotion in his performances, all the while radiating off of the screen like the kind of guy you’d love to have a beer with, and the kind of friend you care deeply for when they are falling to pieces.  Teyonah Parris counters this by bringing a deeply grounded and protective energy born of trauma to her performance, carrying and conveying deep hurt in very subtle ways that bloom as we pick up with her journey.  Colman Domingo puts a new and updated twist on the familiar harbinger role, shedding the initial terror and uneasiness approach and instead opting for the wise observer approach, hooking both Anthon McCoy and us as viewers and dragging us right up to the point of payoff.  Nathan Stewart-Jarrett takes on the dual task of bringing levity to the proceedings and serving as the universal audience surrogate in terms of a voice of reason, with Kyle Kaminsky adding some very subtle additional laughs in tandem.  The physicality and pain that Michael Hargrove is able to communicate in his Candyman performance stands in stark contrast to the regal Tony Todd approach, which in many ways makes his unfortunate ghost characterization more of a psychological terror than a danger.  Vanessa Williams and Virginia Madsen reprise their original roles, while Rebecca Spence, Brian King, Cari Clemons-Hopkins and many more lend their talents to the cast. 

In all seriousness and sincerity, I love this 2021 take on Candyman even more than I expected to going in.  I’m not ready to place my bets yet, but I’m slowly working on a theory about the Candymen in this film, and specifically who is “responsible” for what actions.  I love films that I instantly want to own after seeing it in the theater, and Candyman is 100% one of those films... lucky for all of us, we should be seeing this one hitting the streaming services within 45 days or so, though I am likely to spend money on seeing this in a theater again prior to that time.

[silenthillmutual]

2020 Creator Wrap

I was tagged by @stvlti to do the 2020 Creator Wrap: Favorite Works tag! Thank you, sm!! c:

Rules: it’s time to love yourselves! choose your 5 (or so) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought to the world in 2020. tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

Tagging: @lawliyeeeet​ @soupcans @kunoiichi @milk-teeths @darkpaladin and anyone else who wants to!! Though there’s no pressure to do this if you don’t want<3

So... according to my AO3, I seem to have published or updated 63 works in 2020, which is just a whole hell of a lot more than I usually do! So I’ll pick the going from oldest to newest that I’m most happy with :)

CONTENT WARNING though, under 18 please do not read below the cut as two of the fics are M and one is E. Additional content warning: two deal with self harm and one with intrusive thoughts, and one with pregnancy.

01 || Communication (T)

I think this was when I really hit my stride with understanding how I wanted to characterize Daniil, specifically, and more generally when I worked out how I wanted to write his relationship with Artemy. I tend to focus on the ways in which they communicate differently, and I think I pulled off their voices relatively well.

Favorite moment, when I managed to slip some autism into my characterization:

This is a flaw of his - a messy, embarrassing secret, this inability to distinguish jokes and sarcasm from serious discussion. He masks his insufficiency with a flat-toned seriousness. People find it harder to separate the sarcasm and the jokes from his regular speech when he makes no vocal distinction, and he enjoys the discomfort it brings in others. He considers it, to a degree, payback. A taste of their own medicine. And when he wants to make it clear where his feelings lie, he’ll be picky with the words themselves. He is, if absolutely nothing else, exceptional in the area of verbal self-expression. 

02 || sine sole sileo (M)

This is one of my older works and it is far from being my best, it’s terribly out of character and woobifying, but I’m fond of it as my first really long and more emotional work for the fandom. I had fun writing the first chapter out as a Twitter thread, and then expanding on it. It’s multi-chaptered and actually finished, which is something I have a hard time with!

Favorite moment, which I still actually kind of like, despite everything:

He knows the silence behind the doors, too. It’s a stillness that makes the tips of his fingers buzz. How many days has it been now? Three, four? Artemy though he’d changed the sheets, added new notations. Welcomed in the vocals, the strings, the what-ever-else accompanied performances like this in the Capital. His verses hadn’t been well-sung, but the band had started to play with him. He’d come to anticipate the thrumming percussion. A heart with its own rhythm. Footsteps that rose and fell. Words that lilted, that lead, that brought the symphony to a heightened frenzy.

But silence is a kind of noise too. Where the heart doesn’t beat. Where the voices don’t speak. Even when there is nothing, there is noise.

Artemy has to take a breath before he opens the door. He knows he won’t like what he sees, but he’s seeing so much more in his mind than will be there to greet him. His eyes shake and jostle him to great many things: a gun, a hook, a rope, stained bedsheets and curtains ripped from windows. He sees death even before his eyes adjust because he can smell it, and because he can hear it.

Twelve, he thinks.

03 || o tempora, o mores (M)

This fic was my baby! I wanted so badly to write a character struggling with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder the way I do, and while it’s not my best-performing fic for the fandom (I haven’t kept track of which one is, actually) it’s probably my favorite. I worked so hard on this one, trying to replicate what it’s like to struggle with OCD, and it felt so gratifying to do. I’m currently working on a follow-up to this one, and I’m very excited for it as well!

Favorite moment is really the whole thing, but I do like this in particular, because I feel it really resonated with how intrusive thoughts and compulsions work for me:

The self-talk gives him enough of a boost to get him through the doors of the hospital. It feels safer here, where there’s only the ill and the dead instead of the thousand living eyes trying to touch him. No one comes to bother him here, just him and Artemy and sometimes Clara and Rubin until a few days ago –

YOUR FAULT. HE IS SICK BECAUSE OF YOU. HE IS IN TROUBLE BECAUSE OF YOU. IF RUBIN DIES, IT IS BECAUSE OF YOU. “Stop it, stop it, stop it,” Daniil mutters. THE EYES KNOW THE VACCINE DIDN’T WORK. THEY ARE WAITING FOR YOU TO ADMIT IT, ADMIT THAT THERE IS NOT ENOUGH TO PROTECT THEM SO THEY CAN HAND YOU TO THE DOGS. THEY WANT TO RIP YOUR BODY OPEN AND DEVOUR YOU. CANNIBALS, ALL OF THEM. AND YOU CAN’T RUN FOREVER. “Stop it,” he repeats, and tries to dig a jagged nail into his wrist.

It won’t go. Too slippery from the ointment Victor applied. He has something in his bag to help, another jagged edge, a rusted pair of scissors lost to their original purpose. The Morae were busy here, he’d thought the first time he saw them, and had laughed at his own clever joke. But now he feels the red string is his skin.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven.                                  (it is starting to hurt these could be infected they are dirty they are rusted,) Eight.                                     (but it has to be ten he has to get to ten it has to be even) Nine.                                     (has to be a multiple of five but even always even, no odd numbers in sight)

04 || vita in motu (E)

Heheh I’m in danger (chuckles).

I’ve only managed to get one piece of hate for this fic which I figured would draw way more ire and make me orphan it, and I’m glad I haven’t had to because I’m stupidly attached to the concept. I was trying not to go for E rated fics for this, but this fic meant so much to me to write and for something marked explicit I put a lot of thought into how I wanted to characterize Daniil for it.

So. Yeah. Publishing it was scary as hell but I’m glad I did. I also got some really nice feedback on it, and more than I expected to. I’m very happy with how it turned out.

Favorite moment was actually much longer at the start of it, though kind of like with o tempora, o mores I actually really like how the whole fic turned out. But I really liked this part because I view Artemy as someone who would be very grounding for Daniil to be with:

“Stay in the moment,” Artemy tells him, and kisses him again, kisses him slowly. “Stay here with me. I love you.”  

 It should be utter nonsense, to give in so quickly to this, but Artemy makes it easy. Daniil would never have seen this in his future, would not have even made this as a joke. Something had to beat down his resistance to the emotional, a pro to outweigh the cons he associated with vulnerability. Keeping tightly bound was the safest bet, the easy one. He could say he lacked emotion, and anyone would buy it. Nothing short of a miracle could drag him back to the land of the living – but then again, nothing short of a miracle could have saved this town. Artemy Burakh is a man who manufactures miracles.  

05 || it’s sacrilege, you say (T)

This is the last fic that I wrote out that I took a lot of time planning instead of going “hey, I think this idea would be neat” and slapping it onto paper. And I think it turned out really well!! I almost wanted to do something darker with it, more akin to Silent Hill, but I have other ideas in mind for that kind of AU that I’ll play with later, one of which will be a sort of crossover with TMA.

Favorite moment is when I actually implied the twist, though I’m not sure you can call it a twist at all when I used proper tags:

Her eyes drift from Daniil to the wall, pivoting to look through the window. “No,” she says. “I don’t know why he made you.”

 The center of Daniil’s chest feels like a flower, budded but unopened. Smooth, perhaps, but heavy to move, and his petals are made of something sharp. Crystal, maybe. And he can feel the petals start to part with her words, though they make so little sense to him. He steps forward, closer, half expecting Aspity to recoil from him, but she stays unnaturally still as he approaches. He reaches out to wet his lips, dry as sand, before he speaks. “Made me?” There’s no tone in his voice. “What do you mean, made me? And who are you talking about?”

 She doesn’t turn to face him. She blinks, and lashes fall on sunken cheeks. “Do you remember how you got here, doctor?” He opens his mouth, but she’s faster. “Not to my home. To Town. Think: Can you remember how it is you came to be here?” Daniil grinds his teeth on the side of his tongue, sharp edges digging into the flesh. The flesh.      The flesh    . “Take your time,” she says, but it sounds like a joke. “The last train that arrived brought the menkhu, and no one else aboard it. There are no other ways into our Town.”

[withthekeyisking-writer]

What's your fav fic that you wrote yourself?

This is such a challenging question! Like asking which of my children is my favorite 😂 I could definitely tell you a few of my least favorite though lol, no prob. Some of my older stuff—oof.

Alright, so since I really can’t pick a singular fav (I currently have 101 posted works, that’s just not gonna happen) how about I give a top 10? Not exactly what you asked, but eh life is like that 😁

So, in no particular order, my top ten fav fics that I’ve written:

1. Starting with the one that’s a large presence in my mind, (No) Places of Safety. This fic is my baby right now, shaping up to be one of the biggest things I’ve ever written (already at 69k and not even close to done) which is super amazing, because I usually have a problem with sticking to things after a while. I really love the way I’ve handled Dick’s deteriorating mental state, and I love the fact that I know exactly where it’s going, and have from the very beginning (again, rare for me. Usually things come together as I’m writing, and while that’s still happening, it’s been awesome having an actual solid plan and destination). I love the universe I’ve set up here, and am so excited with every chapter to show you guys what comes next. Hell I love this universe so much that I already have the whole next fic planned out 😋

2. Next I’ll say Three Little Birds Sat On My Window. I loved writing a reverse batfam, and am so proud of the way this fic turned out. I really spent a lot of time trying to get everyone’s voices right, how different they would be considering how different their life experiences would be. Tim and Jason especially were important to get right, with Tim being the one who died instead. I always hated in reverse batfam fics when people just make Tim’s version of Red Hood exactly the same as what Jason was like, because they’re different people and would have different ways of approaching things. So even in just the little glimpses I wrote, I’m really proud of their characterizations, along with that of Damian and Dick! I’m just overall very proud of this fic, and definitely wan to write more of this AU at some point in the future.

3. Third we’ll go with An Active Imagination (and, with it, the sequel Rules of Architecture). Thinking about these fics and working on them ways makes me excited as a writer. Like I don’t really have a lot to say about these, just that I really love the way I handled Dick’s shifting mental state, going back and forth between the brainwashing and having him be not at all aware of what’s going on. I also love how super creepy Slade is lol, how unabashedly awful. Plus writing a BAMF Dick is always a blast, and the Dick in these two fics is especially badass.

4. Next up is Take My Hand Through the Flames, because writing dark!Dick was so fucking fun, and something I need to do again very soon. Dick is so messed up here, so blood-thirsty and masochistic and crazy, which is something that I’ve never been able to truly do when I mainly write Dick. So that plus building an Earth 3 universe (pulling in Joey and Rose and what Dick’s dynamic with Thomas is like) was a blast to do.

5. Hmmm then let’s go with If Night Falls in Your Heart (and am just now realizing how often I use song lyrics and quotes for my titles). Exploring the trauma of what Catalina and Mirage did to Dick was something necessary for me to write, and it helped me work through some of my own shit I was struggling with. (Writing is the best coping mechanism!) Dick desperately needs people to help him and tell him none of that was his fault, and since canon certainly isn’t going to do it, I took it upon myself lol. Plus I’ve become strangely fond Dave the Unimportant Villain 😂

6. Sixth on the list is How Arbitrary Fate Is, an AU I am extremely fond of and seriously need to come back to. Teen Titans (cartoon) ‘verse is always something I enjoy writing, and extending the apprentice arc, playing with Stockholm Syndrome, blending Dick’s loyalty to his friends with his growing loyalty to Slade, how he reaches acceptance that this is his life now—I am so proud of the way this fic turned out. I have an entire sequel planned out in my head, other things have simply taken precedent. I will come back to it, though. Lol I want to scream from the rooftops to get everyone to love this fic as much as I do 😁

7. Now I’ll say A Current of Fate, which is something I go back and forth on loving but it always draws my attention back to it. I hate that I’ve set it aside for so long, I think there’s so much fucking potential in this world I’ve set up, and I really want everyone to see the way it’s playing out in my head!! But for that I’d actually have to keep writing it lol, the horror. Sometime soon (when I have less active projects on my hands) I’ll go back to this fic and edit it a little, update it to how much more confident I’ve become in my writing, especially of DC characters. Also Chapter 4 has been half written for literally a year now and it has Black Mask in it; since beginning that chapter I’ve become far more familiar with Roman (and written a lot of him lol) so reworking that chapter in the main priority, and then I think I can really move forward with this fic. I know exactly what happens, I just have to get there!! (Coincidentally, today is the year anniversary of the last time I updated this.)

8. Leaving the DC fandom, next we’re going with The Source of Grief. My Harry Potter fics have been touch and go, I can admit that, but I’m very proud of this one. I really loved doing the outside POV, everyone observing the actions of Harry and not really knowing who he is or what his motives are. I also got to address all my feelings about Severus Snape, which was awesome. Just, fixing problems and making things better was wonderful to write, and I got to put in some subtle Wolfstar lol, and talk about how Regulus Black doesn’t get enough credit. Idk, I’m kind of rambling, but I’m proud of this fic.

9. Ninth is One of the Legion Lost (plus its sequel Want the Strange and New). They’re both my Fuck You to Infinity War lol (which I liked a lot more than I know most people do, but still it needed some help). Loki is one of my favs, and bringing him into the plot of the movie and adjusting things from there is the kind of thing I love to do—what are the repercussions if just one thing is different? Also I enjoyed exploring the magic of the infinity stones! There was so much that could be done with them, with their level of sentience that was never really expanded upon, so I liked doing that.

10. Now we have People Who Move the World. A James Bond & Sherlock crossover, where Q and Jim are brothers. I got super far in this fic! 15 chapters and 94k, it’s a real beast. I love how I wrote Q, his relationship with Jim and Bond and Sherlock, and the odd little Q/Mycroft ship that I’ve become strangely fond of considering how strange the ship is lol. Just writing a bunch of absolute geniuses BAMFs ruling the world and making things go the way they want to them. Like, Q and Jim make such an awesome team and I know it’s such a niche fic but I’m really proud of it. Sucks that a majority of the ideas dried up lol, because I’m very pleased with what I created.

+1: Honorable mention! Breathe with Confidence. First time I ever wrote anything in the Star Wars universe, and it’s absolutely something I’m gonna have to come back to. The AU has a lot of potential, and I know exactly how I’d address the future of Dick’s story. Plus some side fics of the family’s reactions to what happened, the confusion over Dick’s disappearance. And in this fic itself I liked writing Slade’s manipulations, Dick’s desires, the small amounts of background I included. Idk, I just think this world is super cool.

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading this long drawn out thing! Probably more info than you were looking for 😁😅

[ranger-kellyn]

11 Favorite Excerpts

In honor if it being the 11 year anniversary of the first fic I ever posted, Platinum Bound, I thought I’d list out 10 of my favorite excerpts from everything I’ve posted so far, 1 from something I haven’t posted yet, and then kind of just. Talk about it~

As always, feel free to talk to me about any of my fics, no matter how old or new~ I’m very vain~<3

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1 - Come With Me - Prologue - 03/02/2015 - Completed

A day that was supposed to be filled with sorrow and mourning had turned out to be very lovely. The cold that had long persisted since November had decided to lighten its icy grip on this one day in particular. It was almost a tragedy in itself that the weather failed to match the mood by pouring a relentless downpour. Rain was fit for a funeral. Not sunshine.

The opening to Come With Me has always had a special place in my heart, and while I know my writing has gotten better since then, I always hold up this opening as like...my premium brand, I suppose.  I love the mood the prologue sets up for Siebold’s side of the story.  Mismatched weather.  His parents having the same death date.  A sense of odd relationship dynamics with them.  Clear indication that there’s going to be a lot of conflict with Jean as shown by Diantha, Siebold’d childhood friend, who has a clear disdain towards him.  CWM may not be my BEST WORK, but it’s probably one of my favorites.  ALSO....come on...the restaurant’s name is Apple of The Earth, which is a direct translation of pomme de terre, which is French for potato.  And like???? i just get a little kick out of it every time

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2 - It Takes Two - 12/16/2014 - Oneshot

Siebold chuckled.  “A water dark type?  My, my.  You’ve already put yourself at a disadvantage. Cress shook his head.  “Don’t give away your secret ingredient just yet, Siebold.  Leave something to the imagination, please,” he teased.

If there is ONE THING I LOVE it’s writing flirty banter for these two, and this fic if full of it.  My first fic for Cress/Siebold, staking my claim on the pool noodle that is this ship.  I AM the captain of this pool noodle

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3 - Second Chances - Chapter 7 - 06/14/2017 - Ongoing

“It was supposed to be me!” . . . Shaking, she stopped herself in the front hallway.  Looking over the large, glass-famed map, she felt as though she was leaving her own body as she slammed herself against it in a last ditch effort to feel something other than emotional pain.  In an effort to put a physical wound to her emotional one. 

There’s plenty of happier lines from this fic I could choose.  Ch 10 had a section I was considering instead, but I think this emotionally charged section has always stood out for me. I like to generally characterize Cynthia as someone who is in control of her emotions, or at the very least, is very good at compartmentalizing things, but here, she absolutely loses it.  No rationality.  No seeking help.  Just raw pain.  It was supposed to be me. Because it was!  It absolutely was!  In the previous chapter you learn that Diantha had fully intended to propose to her!  But was instead manipulated by her mother and manager into leaving Cynthia.  While Cynthia didn’t know that, we do, and that makes that line so much more painful to me.  I swear.  ONE DAY.  I’ll actually finish this fic.

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4 - Fortune and Fame - Chapter 1 - 03/23/2016 - Completed

“The best part of that outfit would be taking it off.” Her mouth turns into a smile. “I should think so,” she tells you.

Second person POV is a HUGE pain in the ass, but I still love this silly little fic, and I love this silly little moment EVEN MORE.  What can I say.  I love flirty banter. This whole fic was an absolute experiment, and while it certainly could be better, considering 2POV is not something I regularly work with, I’ve never been too upset with it.

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5 - Stockholm - Chapter 4 - 06/20/2016 - Ongoing

“You’re my mission and my mission alone.  I don’t need outside help,” he tells me. I catch myself about to laugh.  “Figured you would welcome it seeing as whatever you think you’re doing to me clearly isn’t working.” He moves closer, enough for me to feel the warmth of his body, but it’s only when I think he’s looking at my lips do I come to my senses, pulling my legs up to my person, and pushing back up against the wall. “I would say it’s working just fine.”

i like to think of this fic as me playing in a sandbox.  i don’t REALLY know what i’m doing, but i’m having fun, and that’s all that matters. This is a fic I had been thinking about for the longest time.  I abandoned it back in 2016.  I don’t really remember why, but I posted the first update early this year, and I just.  I’ve been loving it since.  I haven’t played in first person in SUCH a long time, it’s just nice to play in the space, and explore a darker emotion I guess.  Game verse Commander Saturn/Dawn is always a weakness of mine

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6 - Shadows of My Heart - Chapter 4 - 02/22/2011 - Completed

Looking at Kellyn, I notice that he has taken his jacket off and is now offering it to me. Shaking my head, I tell him that I can't take it, even though I would love nothing more than to take him up on his offer. He walks closer, smiling as he places his jacket over me. Now, the only thing I hear is the sound of the rain bouncing off of Kellyn's jacket, and the sound my own heartbeat. I'd have to be crazy or dead to not be blushing right now, and obviously my pulse is still going…

if you’ve followed me for a few years, you might think this is a weird pick for me.  i complain about it a lot.  i experience a lot of visceral cringe whenever i reread it (Like i did just now searching for a section i liked) But that’s why I like it.  I love having this visible benchmark of where I’ve come from, and where my ideals have shifted to.  I’ve always written Kellyn as my Ideal Man™© and in this fic he is suCH A “NICE GUY” AND IT’S JUST. SO BAD. I’M SO GLAD I’M NOT WITH THE KIND OF PERSON I USED TO WISH I WAS WITH. This fic is, at best, clumsy.  Younger me was venting a LOT of stuff. Everything I put Rhythmi through in the fic, I was dealing with irl, and NOT handling them well.  I never recommend this for reading, but I list it here because it’s like looking in a time capsule.  

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7 - Washington Blues - Chapter 2 - 04/30/2012 - Abandoned Work

Looking back up at me, the afternoon sun shines on her face.  As if I needed to be reminded that she is very pretty.  “I believe that it is too soon to be giving a definite answer, but,” she pauses to brush some hair behind her ear, “I do believe I am going to like it here.” I nod, liking the answer she has provided.  I put my pink bag over my shoulder, and step down the stairs.  “That’s good to hear.  I do hope you come to love our little band,” I say, putting a little emphasis on “our”.  Hopefully she will start using that term as well.

This fic has been abandoned since 2012, but as I was rereading it just now, I...felt a weird urge to give it a second chance?  Marching band was my EVERYTHING in high school.  It was basically my personality.  It and Homestuck.  If nothing else, I think I might give this fic a redo, because it’s something my younger self would have loved.  I had so many ideas I wanted to explore and I think it would be a fun space to explore. Just reading it I got the most tactile memories of band camp, from the sounds, all the way down to the god awful smells.  One day I’ll give this fic another go, but probably in 3rd person lmao.  Also, it’s kind of funny.  I remember holding this fic up as like.  My Magnum Opus.  I considered chapter 1 to be the BEST thing I had written up to that point. Now? It’s so fucking D RY......and no real person talks like they all do l m a o I love being able to see how far I’ve come. 

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8 - Hindsight - Sometime Feb 2014?  - Oneshot for an old RP group

This question led him to placing both of his hands in his lap.  “I would never describe her as winter.  It’s the season she hates the most.  From what I’ve gathered during our travels together, understandably so,” he answered, not meeting her eyes. 

While this fic is OLD it holds a very special place in my heart.  I had stopped writing for a while.  For about 2 years nothing I wrote ever really panned out, and joining that RP group was literally the best thing I could have done for my creativity.  It was so much fun, and I met some truly incredible people thanks to it.  Literally, everything I’ve written since I attribute to that group.  <3 I may not talk to most of them anymore, but I have some of the best memories of that time, and I just.  Genuinely don’t think I would have HALF of what I have written now if it hadn’t been for their support.  <3

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9 - Ours For The Taking - Chapter 2 - 01/28/2012 - Abandoned Work

Killing is in the nature of almost every Pokémon, but we humans have inhibited that out for the most part. It doesn't take much to trigger the instinct though. A couple kills and then they thirst for blood.

Now i know this looks like a WACK ASS PICK.  It’s been abandoned since 2012.  It’s bad.  It’s gore.  It’s bad.  But that’s exactly why I picked it.  That, and I know it would chap Farla’s ass bc she told me years ago how awful this fic was. The whole reason my writing confidence took a blow.  I can look back and know that this fic wasn’t great, but I hate for my younger self that they were knocked down like that.  You can’t learn the boundaries of your writing until you try to push them.  Maybe I could have turned into a great gore/horror writer if I hadn’t been knocked down?  Who knows?  But because of that negative experience, I now approach all comments I leave on fics with “unconditional positive regard”.  I firmly believe if someone wants con-crit they’ll ask for it, and even then, I’m not someone who is going to offer up that criticism.  That’s not my jam.  I’m just here for a good time.  This fic may be bad, but that’s why I love it.  I love how over the top, 2Edgy4me the two chapters are. 

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10 - Getaway Car - Chapter 5 - 01/01/2019 - Ongoing

Pulling away just enough to make them look at one another, Cynthia looked her over.  She was getting more drunk admissions than she ever thought she would, and she was in no frame of mind to worry about pushing her luck.  “How did that make you feel?” she asked. She let her hand trail down her arm as she spoke.  “Grounded.  Like nothing else in the world mattered except us in that moment.  I wasn’t worried about filming, deadlines, what people might say or think, or– anything, really.  All that mattered was the calm you brought me, and how without meaning to you’ve made me feel like the most important person in the room.”

It’s no secret that Getaway Car is like.  MY BABY.  This is MY FIC.  MY BABY.  I CHERISH THIS FIC FOR SO MANY REASONS. I like venting through characters, and this fic is no exception.  But I loved writing this moment specifically, because it just...I think it encapsulates everything Diantha has been looking for.  She lives a charmed, chaotic life.  Up to that point in the fic, she’s with a man who can’t really be bothered to give her the time of day, but also can’t handle the idea of letting her go.  Without meaning to, without necessarily trying to, Cynthia makes her feel like the most important person in the room.  She grounds her, and someone who lives a star-studded life needs that.  This fic is my baby.  My everything.  It’s probably what I’m known for at this point, and I’m A-OK with that because these two are my everything.  (ALSO, I specifically posted this fic when I did to get Farla to leave me a review, and had a good laugh about it when she did.  My “bat shit crazy” plot device has ended up being my most popular fic~)

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11 - Namtaflu - Chapter _ - Draft from NaNoWriMo 2019

The sound of something rising to the surface of the water attracted everyone’s attention.  Turning their eyes towards the water, one by one, countless Starmie and Staryu began to surface, floating atop the water, their bright gem center’s shining in the moonlight.  “Oh, wow,” Bianca said, holding the Audino closer to herself.  "What are they doing?” Hilbert asked, turning himself so he wasn’t having to strain to look at them.  Cheren shrugged.  “They’ve always done this.” "They’re looking at the stars,” Hilda added.  “It’s what Nona would always tell me.  She said she read it in a book somewhere.  They surface at night to look at the stars, and they’ll even start blinking here soon.”  As she said it, from out in the distance, quick flashes of red began to move along the waves, reminding both her and Cheren of fireflies from further south.  Soon enough, the entire shoreline was filled with the water pokémon blinking away at the stars, almost as if they were communicating with each other, or even something else.  A few Audino continued to sit with them, everyone moved to silence by the display, afraid to make a single noise, not wanting to scare them at all and make them stop.  The display moved in waves, like a heartbeat, ebbing and flowing.  At times they were bright enough to cast a glow onto the shore, and at others it seemed like they had collectively stopped for the night. Once Broadway and Manhattan had decided to retire for the night, the group came to an agreement that it was time they retired for the night as well.  They had stayed up long past sundown, but it had been worth every second.   

I won’t be posting this fic WELL until my three current ongoing fics are completed, but this fic is pretty much everything to me.  I first got the idea for this fic back in 2013, my senior year of high school.  I wrote the first draft my first NaNoWriMo in 2014, and did a second draft of it last year.  This fic has evolved SO MUCH, but this last draft is where I’m REALLY happy with it.  I firmly believe there’s never a “right time” to write a fic, but I also believe this fic absolutely benefited from me not posting it after that first draft.  They’re almost two entirely different stories.  The original had a lot of unhealthy relationship dynamics, and this time, i decided, FUCK THAT, and now it’s a hilda/hilbert/cheren/bianca poly fic ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ I can’t wait for the day when I actually get to share this fic with the world. 

[ladyloveandjustice]

Winter 2019 Anime Overview

I enjoyed every single one of the five anime I watched this season: Dororo, My Roommate is a Cat, Mob Psycho 100 II, The Promised Neverland and Kaguya-sama: Love is War.

So here are my reviews! I’ve cut back on the anime overview a lot, so these are shorter reviews than usual (though not quite as short at I’d like. someday I’ll be able to restrain myself)

Since I liked all of the shows, these aren’t in a strict worst-to-best order or anything, but the ones I found most impressive ARE nearer to the bottom. So let’s dig into last season’s anime.

My Roommate is a Cat

Premise: An antisocial writer in his early 20s adopts a cat and they both get their worlds expanded as they bond.

My take: Much like the kitty it centers on, this show is super cute, sweet and fluffy. If you’re a cat-lover and want to bask in some kitty adorableness, I encourage you to check it out. At first, I was afraid the main character Subaru’s grumpy misanthropy might be too much- I could certainly empathize with being socially isolated and avoiding people, but the way he was just rude toward others was grating. Fortunately, his character development is swift, so he quickly went from misanthrope to anxious-introverted-mess-who-awkwardly-muddles-through-social-interaction-for-the-sake-of-his-kitty, which I found EXTREMELY relatable. Subaru is coping with the loss of his parents and the fact he took them for granted while they were alive as well, so there are quite a few heart-string tugging moments.

The show’s central gimmick is that events will be told from Subaru’s point of view and then we’ll get his kitty Haru’s side of things. Yep, the cat narrates part of the show, which is how I knew I was in it for good. And Haru’s a very good cat! She’s adorable without being cloying, and at least realistic in how most of her thoughts revolve around food. Seeing her warm up to her hopeless human is just as sweet as seeing Subaru warm up to her. As a former stray cat, she has a rough backstory, so if even a restrained depiction of kitty death is too much for you, look out for that part. This show isn’t afraid to bring the feels, but it keeps things positive overall. Subaru’s friends are supportive and help a new pet owner out, and we even get a cute doggie in the mix. Overall, if you want a relaxing, nice watch with a simple, sweet story, you could do a lot worse than My Roommate is a Cat.

Dororo (Episodes 1-12)

Premise: Thanks to his father making a deal with demons, Hyakkimaru has to wander Japan and fight monsters to get his body parts back. He meets up with a young thief named Dororo.

My take: Dororo is a very loose adaptation of the 1960′s manga by Osamu Tezuka, who’s known as the godfather of manga. I was familiar with Dororo thanks to watching the live action movie for an article when I worked at epicstream (it must not have left an impression bc I remember very little) so I was curious to check this out. I ended up reading the manga too, and overall, I find it pretty impressive as an adaptation. It does a lot to make a really dated and incomplete-feeling manga more palatable and cohesive for a modern audience. Maybe I’ll do a full post expanding on those thoughts sometime, because the changes really are worth examining.

Dororo is definitely not for everyone- it’s a grim, dark show with lots of death and destruction.The story is especially not kind to women, who tend to die or be demons. The exceptions to this (such as a lady demon actually being presented as sympathetic) are mainly anime-original. Actually, while the anime eschews the original manga’s cartoon-y, jokey tone to be more serious, it actually has a much lower body count and more hopeful tone than the original, a contrast I find pretty interesting. But “more hopeful” is still not very hopeful. The story has pretty strong anti-war undertones and criticism of how authority exploits people, and there’s a lot of “these are the horrors of war” scenes and even a scene where Dororo witnesses a woman engaging in unhappy, reluctant sex work.

The premise of the story, a guy made up of mostly prosthetics on a quest to get his body parts and senses back, is also a dicey one in how it treats disability. The anime does at least make updates to the manga that lend the story a little more complexity on that front. In the manga Hyakkimaru can basically hear and speak through telepathy already and he’s portrayed as simply joyous whenever he gets a body part or sense back, despite not having a practical need for them.

The anime wisely jettisons the telepathy thing, meaning that Dororo and Hyakkimaru have some difficulty communicating, something that adds an interesting layer to the story. It means we find out about Hyakkimaru’s personality in bits and pieces alongside Dororo, going on a journey of discovery with him. And Hyakkimaru getting senses back is treated in a more realistic mixed-bag way- when he gets his hearing back, for instance, he has difficulty adjusting to it and experience serious sensory overload. It’s not really clear how he feels about a lot of things, much less the changes he’s going through.

Dororo himself is the heart of the show, really, and I find him to be really endearing and engaging as a character. His boundless energy and chattiness balance out the aloof Hyakkimaru, but he never gets overbearing or obnoxious. He’s been through a lot himself, and has a good heart. One thing worth keeping an eye out going forward is how Dororo’s gender will be handled. Dororo is afab, but in the original manga very vehemently lets everyone know he’s a boy. The anime also lets you know Dororo’s afab halfway through, but hasn’t really done much otherwise in exploring Dororo’s gender identity. I do think it’s unlikely we’ll get a handling of it as bad as the manga’s final chapters (Manga Hyakkimaru had a lot of strong, intrusive opinions about what Dororo “really” is that I think his anime version is unlikely to have based on his restrained characterization so far), but who knows.

Overall, Dororo is a nicely animated and well put-together dark action series so far. I’m not sure I would have ended up watching it if I wasn’t so interested in examining it as an adaptation, but the ride’s been pretty okay and worthwhile.

Kaguya-sama: Love is War

Premise: Miyuki Shirogane and Kaguya Shinomiya are the top students at their prestigious school, and heads of the student council. They also have a crush on each other, but both are too full of pride (and nerves) to make the first move, so they come up with schemes to trick the other into confessing. Hijinks ensue.

My take: Kaguya-sama is a wildly funny rom-com about two idiot smart kids who don’t know how to say how they feel. It’s mostly a really good time. There’s a lot of laugh-out-loud moments. The characters are a lot of fun, especially Kaguya’s friend Chica, who is pure chaos in human form and has some of the best lines in the show. The animation and direction of the show are also impressive and lavish, elevating already good gags into greatness. The finale also does that thing where it’s all suddenly surprisingly emotional and hits you really hard with all the feels, showing a little depth and true friendship among all the characters involved.

However,there are a few “yikes” moments, and the most uncomfortable one and likely the biggest deal breaker was the “Kaguya gets sick” arc, which happens roughly the last half of episode 9 and the start of 10. In it, we’re treated to tropes that are both really tired and really uncomfortable, like Kaguya being sick and her friend, for some reason???, tacitly encouraging Miyuki to take advantage of her in her weakened state. Miyuki does not, but Kaguya pulls him into bed and he falls asleep due to sleep deprivation (which is admittedly relatable) and when they wake up she believes for a time he did assault her and throws shit at him, at which point he whines about being villainized even though he “held back”.

During the next episode, Kaguya is ~secretly kind of upset he didn’t assault her because doesn’t he find her appealing~, a trope that really needs to die bc the myth girls “really want to be assaulted” is dangerous. There were a couple okay moments in the whole thing, like Miyuki deciding he should have shut the whole thing down more firmly and apologizing for an infraction, and since Miyuki didn’t cross a significant line it doesn’t ruin their relationship or make them impossible to root for or anything, but the whole thing is tired and gross and unnecessary and not all that funny. I was able to handle it because I got warned ahead of time, but it was a chore of an arc, so here’s my warning.

The Promised Neverland

Premise: Emma and her friends Ray and Norman are orphans being raised in the happy, idyllic Grace Field House. They’re never been outside it though, and there’s a wall they’re never supposed to approach. When Emma discovers the truth behind the orphanage, a tense thriller begins.

My take: I was looking forward to this one based on word of mouth, and mostly it doesn’t disappoint! The writing hooked me enough that I’ve picked up the manga to continue the story. This a rich story. It’s an intense game of cat and mouse between genius kids and unscrupulous adults where the stakes are super high. Emma and her friends pull out all the stops to outwit and escape the ones holding them captive, and the twists and turns of the narrative are delivered well. There’s also some social commentary buried under its horror to add some bite. This essay goes into how it comments on forced societal gender roles, for instance.

 A thrilling plot can only shine thanks to its characters, and Emma is great protagonist. Her determination to save her family and unpredictable nature make her fun to follow. She’s a rare and refreshing example of a female shonen protag, and she sells that power of friendship stuff pretty well when she has the brains and skills to back it up. The three main kids balance each other well, with Ray’s cynicism and pragmatism contrasting Emma’s stubborn idealism, and Norman stands in the middle as someone who’s inclined to think like Ray but WANTS to be more like Emma. Despite the many conflicts and differences between them, these kids are ride and die, and the show does a good job selling their familial-friendship. A lot of the moments between them are truly heartwrenching.

The story has a big glaring flaw, though, and that’s Sister Krone and the racism regarding her. It’s not my lane, so please read Jackson P. Brown’s essay here for more info. The anime not only replicates the problem with her design but makes things arguably worse than the manga by making her personality a caricature as well. The anime portrays Krone as far more unhinged and exaggerated than her vindictive but more controlled and canny manga counterpart, even adding this weird thing where she rants at and beats up a doll. This review on episode 8 talks about the author feels the anime failed with sister Krone and his feelings on Krone as a black character well, it’s definitely worth a read.

While I have those issues with the anime’s choices, I was impressed with how the last few episodes were directed. They hit it out of the park, leaving me breathless, emotional and wanting more. Thanks to that, I’m now reading an enthralling adventure manga! This anime was definitely flawed but I can’t deny I’m interested in seeing how the second season will shake out.

Mob Psycho 100 II

Premise: Season 2 continues to tale of Mob, a ridiculously powerful psychic middle schooler.  He’s in the employ of Reigen, a con-artist who has fooled many (Mob included) into thinking he has legitimate psychic abilities.

My take: Holy wow. Mob Psycho’s first season had some incredible animation, atmosphere and direction, but season two fires on all cylinders. I’m glad I caught up in time to experience the show with everyone else these last few weeks, because it was always a treat- a visual feast full of heartpumping action and lots of sincere emotion.

Mob Psycho is an animation extravaganza, with some sequences that wouldn’t feel out of place in a high budget movie, dripping with atmosphere, artistry and aplomb. But the story and characters are really solid too and it has some nice themes and messages at its core. Mob is one of the goodest good boys in all of anime and he grows a lot throughout this season. At the core of the show is the idea that no one is worthless and also no one is more “special” than anyone else, that having power doesn’t give you the right to put yourself above others, that no person is inherently superior or inferior to any other, that even if you’re born with some super talent, you still need to try to improve yourself, value other people and the things they can do that you can’t and work hard to live a balanced life. Being powerful or born with a talent doesn’t mean you have the answers or know better-so it’s all about striving to make good, compassionate choices and taking control of your own life.

There’s a lot of stories that pay lip service to themes like these without really doing much to back it up, but this show sells it with an earnestness that few manage. Mob is a quiet and gentle boy, and you genuinely believe it when he says he doesn’t like fighting or using his powers on other people, and when he breaks down in tears because for all his power he can’t figure out how to set someone on the right path this time, your heart aches. The fact that Mob actually has difficulty coming up with the right answers and will sometimes gets overwhelmed by emotion and loses control, but keeps striving for honest communication, makes his approach come off as a lot more believable than the typical shonen-hero-converting-bad-guys-with-a-confident-friendship-speech bit.

The character relationships in the show are also good stuff, particularly the relationship between Mob and Reigen, which develops a lot this season with Reigen having to grapple with how yeah, he’s been kinda terrible and dishonest, especially with this kid he cares about and there’s a point where people have enough of it. There’s a lot of nice growth there.

All together, Mob Psycho is just Good with capital G. I do wish there were more girls in it, and there is a dark skinned character who’s caricature-ish in his design (he barely shows up in this season iirc), but otherwise it’s a quality rec and breathtaking example of the truly transcendent heights anime can reach. 

[ashilrak]

Hi, so I think you're an amazing writer (probably one of the best in the fandom) and I love your work! Do you have any writing tips or advice that you personally use/believe in?

Thank you so much!

And I do have things that have definitely helped me in my own experience, but absolutely everyone is different in how they approach writing and the process of it. Hell, I don’t even do these all the time, but here you go (also, here’s a tag of me answering questions about writing):

Write a lot. I cannot emphasis enough. Write so much your fingers hurt and the letters start to wear off your keyboard and you run out of notebooks. I haven’t been writing a lot recently, but that’s the thing that’s made me see the most improvement in my writing overall. 

The only way to get better is by doing

Write. And then write some more.

Drabbles. (Yes, I know that what I write are actually ficlets, but please excuse the misused terminology.) 

“Write” can be a vague and frustrating direction. Drabbles help me so much. Longer works and one-shots are great and all, but there’s something freeing in the few hundred word long ficlets I spit out when I feel like it. Sure, it’s not really working toward a certain project, but it’s still writing. 

I reblog prompt lists, and the combination of having the prompt and know that I’m writing it for someone can help me through a rut. Also the rapid feedback on a platform like tumblr. Drabbles are great and have helped me improve tremendously. They’re a great way to experiment with different styles, tones, and whatever else you want to play with. They’re that seen that first pops into your head without the commitment to a full beginning and end. They can really help you hone in on beats of a story. Also characterization. Pick one thing to focus on with every drabble you write for a couple weeks and you’ll see and Feel the improvement.

Don’t be afraid to try new things! Don’t shy away from tropes! Don’t shy away from things that freak you out a bit! Don’t shy away from things that have you thinking to yourself, “Yeah, I’d never read that on my own, but the world building could be interesting…huh.” If it strikes your interest, write it. Don’t get stuck in a rut (Unless you want to, there’s nothing wrong with taking a trope and making it your bitch)

The different between what I started writing for the Hamilton fandom and my most recent works could not be larger

I started out with a reincarnation chat-fic m’dude

My most recent long fic was a college au professor/student thing where the entire thought process was that alex was a slut and was inspired by the fact that my GA was hot

Step out of your comfort zone

Don’t let a long fic intimidate you. If you have that outline, I say go for it. You don’t have to finish it if you don’t want to. Write what, and as much, as you want to write.

I have a lot of fics. Not all of them are finished. Some I would like to finish, some I know I will never return to. Fanfic is often shared as it is written. Not every project is finished, and fanfic is no different. 

Sometimes it feels like there’s a lot of pressure from readers to write things a certain way. Don’t give in to it.

Writing to get read is absolutely amazing, and I LOVE interacting with readers and seeing them interact with my fics, but ultimately, it’s more important to write for yourself than it is to write for anyone else.

Write for yourself

I work best with deadlines and a schedule. Set yourself deadlines. An update schedule or join events/exchanges/etc.

Sometimes I have to go and find motivation to write. I like writing things for people. I like gifting people with things. For me, the exchanges are great because they combines a prompt, a deadline, and knowing it’s for someone.

Seek out opportunities that you know will make/encourage you to write more

I’m currently in a bit of a writing rut, so I’m participating in TURN Bingo. It’s slow going and there aren’t really deadlines, but it’s Something.

TL;DR: Write A Lot. Write What You Want. Write Some More. Find Reasons To Write. And Then Write.

[lauramkaye]

One Weird Trick To Make Your Favorite Author Update Their WIP

There is none.

But posting comments that just say things like “update pls” and “when will you update” and “are we ever gonna get another chapter it’s been forever :(” are more likely to make that update TAKE EVEN LONGER TO GET POSTED.

Why? Let’s break this down.

Fanfiction is a hobby, something people do for the joy of telling their stories and sharing them. Writing fic is fulfilling and fun. To talk about me personally, I’ve been active in fandom for more than 20 years and it’s remained one of my most important hobbies, a source of much joy and love and lasting friendships.

Do you know what fanfic doesn’t do?

It doesn’t pay my bills. It doesn’t maintain my home. It doesn’t help me recover from health problems. It doesn’t take care of my family or pets. The time I spend writing has to be carved out from all the other demands on my time.

In a good year, when I don’t have a lot of other stuff going on, I can spend a lot of time writing and do things like post a 20,000 word chapter every month.

2017 has not been a good year for me. I have been diagnosed with two different new chronic health conditions and have spent a massive amount of time, money, and spoons in finding the right diagnosis, finding the right treatments, and figuring out how to live well with the conditions. I also had serious damage to my house and had to deal with the cost and stress of major repairs. This is on top of the everyday wearing-down of living as a queer woman with health problems in 2017 US culture, where every day on the news it seems like I see another story about how the people in charge hate me and want me to disappear.

I hate that I haven’t written more this year. I miss it. But I only have so much to give and most of it has already been spoken for.

My Heart In Hiding is my baby. It’s one of the most important and significant stories to me that I have ever written. But it is also really hard to write. It’s long, it’s got a complicated plot, and I’ve been writing it for years. So besides just the words you see on the screen, every chapter requires careful calibrating, making sure it fits with what has gone before and what is planned to come after, checking on the themes, the characterization arcs, making sure I haven’t contradicted something else, making sure I’m laying the groundwork for what is going to happen three chapters from now.

A lot of the time, lately, I may be able to steal some time to write, but it’s not ENOUGH time to do all the prep and research that I have to do in order to write HIH. So I’ve defaulted to working on other stuff a lot of the time, one-shots or challenge stories--things I can finish in the time I have. Because it’s not a choice between writing that and writing HIH, it’s a choice between writing that and not writing.

I try to give people the benefit of the doubt and I really do appreciate comments on my work. But when the only feedback I get on this story is a constant drip of “update pls” “it’s been a year” “why no new chapter?” “*sadface* no more?” comments? Especially when it’s people who read all 135,000 plus words of the story and the ONLY thing they say is “next chapter pls”? 

It STRESSES ME OUT.

It doesn’t inspire me to write. It makes my favorite story feel like an obligation, like something I’m being pressured to do. It drains my delight and creative energy around the story. It moves my brain from “OMG I cannot wait to write about the pie-baking contest” to “UGH why I am so terrible at this.” 

I understand loving a story and wanting more, of course I do, I’ve read WIPs too! But like - the people writing those stories are not my fiction minions, they are people with lives and bills and illnesses and stress, and they will update when they update. Sometimes it’s months or years between chapters, and that’s FINE - the new bits are a beautiful surprise when they come, and if they never come, well, I got to enjoy what there was.

Do you know what I do when I am thinking about or re-reading a WIP that I wish would update? I leave comments that don’t just demand more, but that say the things about the story that make me WANT more.

“I’ve re-read this story eight times, and each time I love it more than the last.”

“This story is on my list of pick-me-up fics for when I feel sad. I love how tender they are with each other.”

“This is my favorite casefic. I really admire how you’ve woven all the subplots together.”

“I was just thinking today about the scene where Steve goes to the diner and eats all the pies, so I had to come back for a re-read! This scene is pure comedy gold, you did an amazing job.”

“Your characterization of Tony is so nuanced and kind, I always appreciate the care you take with him.”

Leaving comments like this isn’t guaranteed to make a writer update. But at least they don’t make the writer feel WORSE and make writing stressful. 

Maybe the next time you open a comment window to say “more pls”, consider this alternate approach?

[pogueman]

Microsoft CEO talks about immigration, empathy, and cricket

This past Sunday, “CBS Sunday Morning” aired my profile of Satya Nadella, who’d worked at Microsoft for 25 years before being chosen to become the third CEO in Microsoft’s history. (You can watch the CBS story here.)

Nadella’s thoughtful, gentle personal style could not be more different from the brash, aggressive approaches of Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. So far, his style seems to be working: Microsoft’s (MSFT) stock has more than doubled in the three years he’s been at the helm.

I spent an entire day with Nadella, including some time in his home with his wife Anu and son Zain. As always, we had time for only pieces of the interview on TV — so here’s a more complete edited transcript.

Satya Nadella sat down for an interview for “CBS Sunday Morning.”

Pogue: In your book, “Hit Refresh,” you talk a lot about empathy and compassion. Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, during their tenures here, had terrific strengths, but I’m not sure compassion would be the word that jumps out.

Nadella: In their own way, I feel that they have a lot of that, very deep. But when I think about empathy or compassion, pick your word, I just don’t think that this is a soft skill that’s nice. I think it’s a business essential.

And I’ll tell you why. We are in the business of meeting unmet, unarticulated needs of customers all over the world, long before even they can articulate it. If we can do that, then we will be successful. If we can’t, we won’t. It’s an essential skill, an essential attribute, for product creation.

Pogue: And yet at this time in America, compassion seems harder to come by than in other times.

Nadella: I’m a product of two amazingly unique American things. One is American technology reaching me where I was growing up, and making it possible for me to dream; the other is the enlightened American immigration policy, allowing me to come and live that dream.

When I sit here, as unlikely CEO of Microsoft, both of those come to mind. So I’m long-term optimistic. I always will say that in the U.S., the real currency is that ability to take differences and bring people together to make our society a stronger society.

Pogue: What is your relationship with the president?

Nadella: I’ve had a chance to meet him a couple times. Once before he was inaugurated, in Trump Tower, and once after, when he called all the tech leaders to meetings in the White House. Good conversations.

I mean, one of the core goals that the administration has is to modernize the government, the technology. And we obviously have longstanding relationships with all the government agencies, and it’s much needed.

Pogue: But what about this initiative, the DACA repeal? Sending home children of undocumented immigrants in this country? A number of them work here at Microsoft. You’ve publicly disagreed with that.

Nadella: Absolutely. Wherever there is any public policy that is not sympathetic to diversity and inclusion, foundational human values that we care deeply about, our employees care deeply about, we’re gonna be very principled in our opposition to it.

Pogue: And you have offered to do something for the employees of Microsoft who will be affected by this DACA repeal…

Nadella: We’ll fight on their behalf, in the courts. We will intervene wherever and however possible. Like we are in other areas, like privacy.

Pogue: Having read the book, you strike me as a kinder, gentler CEO. It seems you want people to get along. For example, you express frustration at the fiefdoms and bickering you inherited among Microsoft employees. You inherited lawsuits that had been dragging on in court, with Samsung and others, and you said, “Guys, guys, guys. Can’t we work it out?” And you raised a lot of eyebrows when you started writing Microsoft Office products for your direct competitors, like iPhones.

Is that a good characterization of your style?

Nadella: Yeah. It is. It’s not about viewing this as zero sum. It’s being able to face up to the realities. I like to describe this as courage in the face of reality.

But at the same time, looking back at our history has been helpful. The number of billion-dollar franchises that were built on Windows is far greater than any other platform. So I said, “Okay. Let’s start viewing today’s world with what made us good in the first place.” So when it comes down to, “hey, there are a billion smartphones!”, it only makes business sense for us to make sure our customers can use our applications and our cloud services on them.

Pogue: Your new strategy is “Cloud first, mobile first.”

Nadella: Actually, we’ve updated that.

There is more technology in our life, not less, with each passing day. We started with mainframes, and then to PCs, which we had on our desks. Now we have smartphones in our pockets. Now we have sensors that go beyond the pocket — on your wrist, or holographic or mixed reality computing, where what you see is a mix of the analog and the digital world.

Microsoft’s Alex Kipman shows me his team’s Hololens, an augmented-reality visor.

So we are in the secular march to more and more computing in our lives. So what technological paradigm makes all this possible? That’s what we describe as the intelligent cloud and the intelligent edge. We’re evolving to more of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge, which means that you’re going to have many, many devices.

Pogue: So the cloud is, in super simple terms, the control center that’s on the internet; what’s the “edge”?

Nadella: All the devices, and the application experiences that span all the devices.

Pogue: That’s where the edge of the cloud meets the real world?

Nadella: That’s correct. That’s a great way to describe it.

You will go from device to device, whether it’s in a conference room, your work, or in your home. You’re gonna have thermostats, TVs, speakers, PCs, phones, and your app is going to be spread across all of it. The experience is going to be spread across all of it. It’s enabling you to be mobile, as opposed to the device being mobile — that’s the architecture that we’re moving towards.

Pogue: Microsoft famously missed the boat on smartphones. I actually liked Windows 10 on the phone a lot — why did it fail?

Nadella: Sometimes these digital ecosystems have real “network effects.” The first one to the market shapes it, and then there’s always room for the second one. But whenever it comes down to third or fourth ecosystems, they’re hard.

The lesson I learned from our own obsession of PC being “the hub for all things, for all time to come,” is that there’s no such thing as one device that’s going to be the hub for all things for all time to come! Everybody thinks that the current devices is the last device you’ll ever need — until it’s not.

And so the question is then, what is the constant here? The constant is the person. And so if you start building useful services to them, that span all their devices… Whether it’s a phone, a PC, a large screen in my office, a speaker — all of them are Office 365 devices.

Pogue: Cloud services has been a big push of yours, right? Where you provide other companies with these gigantic data farms that are too expensive and technical to run themselves?

Nadella: Absolutely. This is a push that actually Steve got started, and while working for Steve, I started some of our infrastructure side.

These are fast-growth businesses. We now have in excess of $20 billion run rate — and growing at a very, very fast clip. And so it requires both a significant amount of capital investment, and great innovation in software. And we’re excited about the future. For example, one of the big, new things that we are doing is, how do we infuse into all of our cloud services artificial intelligence?

You can now use PowerPoint, and while you’re presenting, automatically translate what you are saying into 60-plus languages simultaneously. That’s AI in action. But every app developer on Azure [Microsoft’s suite of cloud services] has access to that same capability, and that’s really what’s on our agenda.

Pogue: You’re really doubling down on Microsoft’s investments in AI. But some experts, Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking, are deeply concerned about our rush into artificial intelligence. They’re saying, “Slam on the brakes,” not slam on the accelerator.

Nadella: The way I come at it is perhaps a little more pragmatic.

The rate of progress in AI is stunning, there’s no question. But anything like AGI, or Artificial General Intelligence, we are some ways away. That’s where the machine is as good as a human being in everything.

Think about humans. We can be put in a new environment. We’ll learn. We’ll adapt. But the roadmap to achieving something like that in AI is a long ways away. We are very, very early on.

But to your point, we as creators of AI have a real responsibility to make some design decisions. We should build AI that we can be accountable. I don’t want us to abdicate. “Oh, we created some program that learns. We don’t know how it learns.” That’s just not a way for us to proceed.

Pogue: In your book, you write movingly about the birth of your son, Zain, who’s quadriplegic; there’s an implication that that event changed you.

Nadella: Yeah. There have been a few moments where, in my personal life, there were really these “hit refresh” moments, and Zain’s birth clearly was one such. A few hours before Zain was born, if somebody had asked me, “What are the things that you are thinking about?”, I would have been mostly thinking about, “How will our weekends change?” And childcare, and what have you.

Obviously, after he was born, our life drastically changed. My wife Anu had to drop out of the workforce to take care of him fulltime. To be able to see the world through his eyes, and then recognize my responsibility towards him, has shaped a lot of who I am today, and shaped even how I show up in other places, whether it’s at work or with my other children.

Satya and Anu Nadella met in India when they were in elementary school.

Pogue: So that empathy has even changed how you lead?

Nadella: When you lead, there’s no way you can motivate anyone if you can’t see the world through their eyes.

There’s no way you can get people to bring their A game if you can’t create an environment in which they can contribute. But creating that environment requires you to be in touch with, what are they seeking? What motivates them? What drives them? What are their needs?

And, of course, the fact that you practice empathy at work will only make you a better parent, a better partner, and a better person all around.

Pogue: Well, I know one thing you probably miss, having moved to America. You have no one to talk to about cricket.

Nadella: Well, I mean, it’s no longer true! Because in this connected world of ours — one of my subscriptions is for a TV channel. And so I’m watching cricket all the time.

Pogue: All right, we have about 10 seconds left. Explain to me the rules of cricket.

Nadella: No. (laughs)

David Pogue, tech columnist for Yahoo Finance, welcomes non-toxic comments in the Comments below. On the Web, he’s davidpogue.com. On Twitter, he’s @pogue. On email, he’s poguester@yahoo.com. You can sign up to get his stuff by email, here.  

[aion-rsa]

Creating the Ultimate Power Rangers/Ninja Turtles Crossover

https://ift.tt/2PbnNNe

Writer Ryan Parrott outlines what inspired the new team-up between the two titans of kids TV and why you won't be seeing Venus.

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The Power Rangers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have crossed over before but this time it’s going to be even bigger. The original team-up between the two titans of kids TV rocked the world in the 90’s but it was with the Power Rangers in Space team and the turtles of the Next Mutation live-action series. Still fun to be sure but it wasn’t the exact way a Power Rangers and Ninja Turtles crossover had played out in many kids minds.

Since the Power Rangers exploded onto the scene several years after the Turtles ruled the world, fans had often wondered what would happen if the original Mighty Morphin Rangers crossed over with the classic four Turtles. Well, now Boom Studios is making it happen. Out now in comic book form, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 is a fans dream come true. The Turtles and the Power Rangers fighting against each other (and they aren’t under a spell!) Tommy working with the Foot Clan? It’s a ton of fun and it’s being written by the current architect of Power Rangers comics, Ryan Parrott. 

We had to talk with Ryan about where the idea for this crossover came from, his way of writing the Turtles, and if this book fits in the continuity of either the Power Rangers or Turtles comic series. 

DEN OF GEEK: What are the restrictions that come with writing two teams from two different companies (Boom and IDW) and then also two different companies who are licensing them as well (Hasbro and Nickeldeon)?

RYAN PARROTT: Not as much as you'd think. I've been actually very amazed at how open and excited they were about everything that we pitched them. They are just as excited about this as you were, which is one of the fun things. It’s obviously happened before in the TV show. They were just sort of like, "let's do what we can do," and they were open to everything. I couldn't be more complimentary about the process.

Was it you that came up with the pitch originally? Was it Boom? Was it IDW? Who was the first one to really talk about doing this?

When I felt my time with Power Rangers was sort of coming to an end, I was calling my editor to try and pitch. I was like, "What can I do? What's not being done right now?" I was like, "Oh, a Power Rangers/Ninja Turtles crossover?" And so, I called, and before I even actually mentioned it to her (editor Dafna Pleban), she was like, "Hey, I'm sorry there's nothing for you right now. We're too busy with the crossover." And I was like, "What crossover?" And she's like, "Oh, we're doing a Power Ranger/Ninja Turtles crossover." I was like, "That's what I was calling to pitch you!"

read more: Power Rangers: A Guide To The Multiverse

It was that weird moment of ... Everybody already knew. So I was jazzed. It was already in process, but they hadn't chosen a writer yet and they were still in the early stages. So I just started begging profusely to be able to do it. Thank God they let me do it, because I would've lost my mind if I hadn't been a part of it.

What was in your initial ideas for what this team up would be?

Well, my approach is ... it sounds silly, but it was more thinking of it like, "Okay, when I was 10 years old and I was playing with my action figures, what are all the things I wanted to see? What were the ideas that I had?" Because I had every action figure for both these franchises. I put my parents in the poor house.

(Some of it) came from the visuals. It started off with, "Wouldn't this be cool if…” And then it was through that process, that I started realizing that it makes sense. There are so many crazy similarities between these two franchises. If I described it, I'd say it's a group of color-coded teenagers fighting minions and trying to stop an evil despot from taking over the world while being led by a wise and noble sage.

read more: Power Rangers Movie Inspired By Classic Series… And Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?

I thought, "Wow, there's something... If that's how they're the same, how are they different?" That was the nice thing about having the crossover with (Power Rangers in) Space (having) already happened. Oh, they're already in the same universe. So maybe the Turtles know who the Power Rangers are, but the Power Rangers don't know what the Turtles are, because one of them is fighting out in the open and the other one is fighting and saving the world from shadows.

At that moment I realized, "Oh, that's the story that I want to do.” I want to see how these two people who are both doing the same things, but who have completely different lives because of who they are and what they're doing. Then the story evolved from there.

We’ve already seen from the Rangers and Turtles end up in a fight. With all team up books, do they always have to fight? Why can't they just be friends?

Well, I think it's sort of like if you've ever gone on a date with someone or you've ever met a person at a party, and you're like, "I don’t like that person." And then you get to know them better later on through a different situation, it's always like, "Oh wow, they're actually way cooler."

It makes the friendship or the relationship that much better when you have preconceived notions at the beginning And that's what's funny, don't we want to see who's the better fighter? Haven't we always had that thing of like, "Okay, so who would win in a fight, Leo or Jason? Who's funnier, Zack or Michelangelo?" And to me, that's half the fun, is I want to see that played out a little bit in real time before we all get to the fun kumbaya.

Does this story fall in any place in the timeline of the actual Power Rangers comic book? Or is it in its own nebulous team up world?

Well, doesn't fall in a particular slot in Mighty Morphin or Ninja Turtles, only because when you're doing a crossover, you can't rely on one fan base being as up to date on the other one as you'd like. But if you've been reading Mighty Morphin I can't expect that you also have been reading Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and vice versa.

read more: The Many Crossovers of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

If you're a hardcore Power Rangers fan but you're only a casual Ninja Turtles fan, or vice versa, I wanted you to be able to pick up the book and enjoy and not wonder who these new characters are, which is one of the reasons why Venus isn't in it. It's one of the reasons why Jennika’s not in it. It's one of the reasons why Matt isn't in it or Dayne isn't in it.

I don't want you to have to take this book and go, "I don't know who any of these characters are." So we tried to keep it as a love letter to the original two shows that I love. It's sort of a re-imagining of those two shows, if there had been a crossover episode between season one of Power Rangers and season one of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

You have the Ninja Turtles characterized in a different way from even, say, the 80’s show or any of the many iterations of them. Where did you draw your characterization of the Turtles? Was it from the recent comics or was it just your general memory of them?

We actually had a long conversation about that, because at one point we were like, "Are we going to do the Turtles from the comic book?" And I think the conversation was, "Let's do an updating, the same way that we updated the Power Ranger's in Go Go," where it was like, that was the character from the original series, but let's update them in a little bit more of a modern context. Let's update them with modern personalities a little bit. Let's do the same thing with them. Let's reimagine them the same way we would if we were doing that for the Ninja Turtles.

So in that way, it ended up becoming a little bit of my own version where I had to do a little bit of the show, a little bit of the movie, and then a little bit of the original Eastman/Laird comics which I wanted to make sure that I stayed true to that a little bit, too. It was a little bit of hodge podge with all of that. I will say, there were a lot of references to the TV show. There are direct lines and references to the movie because I am a huge fan of the first Ninja Turtle movie. I think it's fantastic and it still holds value. If you're like me and you grew up with that sort of thing, hopefully they stay true to the voices of all of those mediums put together.

In a way you're creating your own version of the Turtles, even though they're obviously an amalgamation of so much of what's come before. Is there anything that makes your Turtles stand out in comparison to any of the other versions?

They're just so incredibly well written. No, I didn't try and reimagine them in any way that I thought was extreme or subversive. I liked the characterization, I can hear their voices. Whenever I'm writing anything, I like to do an experiment where if you ask every character the same question, and if they answer it, they should all answer it different ways, because no one answers the same question. That's what I did with Ninja Turtles.

read more: The Weirdest Classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Episodes Ever

I just tried to make them as defined as possible, but there's nothing in there that I think that would make them like, "Oh, this is Ryan Parrott's Turtles." They're still the Turtles, hopefully the Turtles that you guys know and love. If you find that the voices are consistent with those characters, and even if you can't place exactly which medium they're in, then hopefully I did my job.

You talked about wanting to make this that anybody could come in to read it who's not a hardcore fan of either franchise. But was there ever any thought in your mind to say, "What if we just put Venus in there anyway, just because we can?"

I'm going to be honest, man, no. If you were to bring Venus into the story I wasn't entirely sure how timeline wise that worked. But it would've been a story about who Venus was. I feel like if you were going to do that story, you would have to almost do an origin story of that character, and then it becomes a story about Venus and not about the other turtles. So to me, leaving her out of it, I just thought made it so that I could play around with the Turtles that I grew up loving, as opposed to her sort of taking over the story.

 Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 is out now from Boom Studios.

Keep up with all our Power Rangers Beast Morphers news and reviews here!

Read and download the Den of Geek NYCC 2019 Special Edition Magazine right here!

Shamus Kelley is a pop culture/television writer and official Power Rangers expert. Follow him on Twitter! He also co-hosts a Robotech podcast, which covers the original series and the new comics. Give it a listen! Read more articles by him here!

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Interview Shamus Kelley

Dec 4, 2019

Power Rangers

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Boom! Studios

from Books https://ift.tt/2rdhelb

[angstgremlin]

Bang Bang

Pairing(s): McHanzo, Past McReaper

Rating: M for Violence

Summary: Jesse McCree is the king of getting himself into sticky situations. He’s also the king of getting out of them. This time though he might not succeed in weaseling his way out.

Read on Ao3

Author’s Note: So. Yeah. Been a while for this fic. I'm kinda in a strange state with it, to be honest. Not really satisfied in a way and not motivated to work on it. It's been an entire year since I've started this thing, and we've seen so much in the way of overwatch content it makes me question certain characterizations in the past two chapters. If I decide to go back and change things, I will.

Another reason I was hesitant to work on this was that a lot has occurred in my personal life that made working on this hard. I lost my uncle to brain cancer earlier this year, and shortly after I lost my grandfather as well. Considering a few things I have planned for the fic and the subsequent research I had to do which heavily involved the brain I frequently made myself upset and left this on the back burner for so long. I feel I'm in a little bit of a better place to work on this again, albeit slowly.

I can't imagine people having stuck around waiting for this to update, but if you have, I thank you for your incredible patience. There will be more, I promise. I can't say when, but know I will not let this fic stay unfinished.

Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three (here)

– – – – – – – – – –

Chapter Three: He didn't even say goodbye

The night they’d brought Jesse home from that mission had been one of the hardest nights since Overwatch had been reformed. Lena had scoured the alleys for Jesse’s hat until she had found it, had clung to it in the waiting room of the medbay as Angela worked on their fallen teammate. Hana had salvaged the serape, and had spent those long hours cleaning it up, getting it as dry as possible and cuddling in silence underneath it. Peacekeeper had been grimly retrieved by Soldier: 76, who’d cleaned the weapon and shoved it in a box. He’d then given the box to Hanzo, who had handed it off to Genji, who then disappeared to hide it away before returning to the waiting room.

Hanzo had been silent the entire time, had also been the last one to leave the waiting room after Lucio informed them that it would be a while yet while Angela worked tirelessly. It was a miracle in of itself that Jesse had managed to get this far, and the good doctor was currently in call with one of the best neurosurgeons she knew. The hard part was waiting on the news. Waiting for the confirmation that Jesse would survive the night.

Needless to say, Hanzo was a mess.

He couldn’t bring himself to return to his and Jesse’s room, nor did he wish to see anyone. If Hanzo allowed even one person to express concern over how he was doing, it would crumble his resolve in seconds. That was the last thing he desired at the moment. The only thing he actually desired was some time alone to process. Hanzo found that desired solitude on the cliffs near the Watchpoint, picked a perch that overlooked the sea and had been a spot he and Jesse snuck off to frequently simply to speak and be with each other. It had been the spot Jesse had confessed his attraction to Hanzo, where their relationship had began.

With his lover hidden away inside the base in the cliffs, fighting for his life in the medbay, this place felt like the closest Hanzo could get to Jesse at the moment.

Hanzo watched the stars, meditated for a while before he finally allowed himself to express his grief, burying his face in his hands. Hanzo curled in on himself, biting his own lip to muffle the first sob of many. Hanzo hated this. He hated feeling helpless, hated that what very well might have been the last moment he and Jesse had together was across an alley that might as well have been an ocean. Hanzo had always known, had anticipated that at any moment, he could lose Jesse and Jesse could lose him.

He just wished it hadn’t been so soon.

The sound of footsteps alerted him to the approach of Hana, and he hastily wiped the evidence of his tears away before he regarded her warily. She only offered him a grim smile, and stepped forward to place the serape in his arms. “Rein’ said I was being unfair.” Hana said softly, looking ashamed, “Out of all of us, you need it the most tonight.” She turned shiny, wide eyes up to him a moment later, “…You think… I mean, he’s going to make it. I have a good feeling. You can return it to McCree when he’s better!”

“I will.” Hanzo offered her a small, sad smile in return, “He’ll be happy to have it back.” Hana nodded, rocked on the balls of her feet awkwardly before she cast him another gentle look, “Hey, you know you can talk to me about this, yeah? I can’t imagine what you’re going through right now. I mean, we all like having McCree around but… you… and him…”

“I’ll keep your offer in mind, Hana. But if you don’t mind, I’d like to be alone.”

His younger teammate nodded solemnly, giving a small wave before she retreated back the way she had come. The horizon was already beginning to lighten with the approach of dawn, and Hanzo wrapped himself up in the serape, holding it tight around him. If he closed his eyes, he could pretend Jesse was right there with him, arms slung around him and chin resting on top of Hanzo’s head.

“What ya cryin’ over me for?” Hanzo could practically hear his gunslinger say, feel the phantom touch of Jesse’s fingers tracing the tear tracks on his cheeks,“I ain’t left ya yet, Darlin’. I promised, didn’t I?”

“You did.” Hanzo wanted to reply to the spectre of this lover.

“But I’m scared that it’s a promise you cannot keep.”

Hanzo lost sense of time after that, the only thing to wake him from his reverie was the approach of his brother. Genji sat himself next to Hanzo, his visor and helm absent to reveal his scarred features and the remaining shock of his green hair. Before, when Hanzo had first come to the watchpoint, Genji approaching him at all would have made him turn heel and flee. But he’d since grown passed that, the rift between the two of them mending slowly over the time they spent becoming brothers again. Besides, if Genji had sought him out so purposefully, it likely meant Angela had come out of the medbay and had spoken with the others. He turned expectantly to his younger brother, trying to tramp down his fears.

“Is there news?” It was a small miracle Hanzo’s voice did not waver, but it did nothing to help when his heart thudded in his chest when Genji nodded.

Genji looked towards where the sun was peeking over the horizon, golden rays shimmering over the sea before he faced his brother and smiled sadly but gently, “Jesse is stable, for the moment.”

Hanzo’s sigh of relief tumbled out in a tremble before he could stop it, short lived as it was, “For the moment?”

Genji nodded, solemn, “He is lucky he has made it so far. But… the nature of his injuries…” the younger Shimada shook his head gently, “All we can hope now is that he wakes. And if he does, it will not be without hardships for him to overcome.”

It was Hanzo’s place now to nod solemnly, fists curled in the fabric of the serape hugging his form, “I suppose Angela would have more information for me, if I were to ask it.”

“She would. But she is sleeping right now. Last night has been hard on us all.”

“Then I will speak with her when she wakes.”

The brothers fell into silence again, watching as the sun continued to rise and cargo ships chugged slowly across the ocean. Hanzo felt the night prior creep up on him finally, slumping forewords heavily. It would be wise to sleep, after not only experiencing the rush of adrenaline from the battle but also the crushing worry over his lover’s wellbeing. But still, the thought of returning to his and Jesse’s shared space without the cowboy there to occupy it as well was something Hanzo did not wish to experience.

“Do you think… I could go see him?”

Genji hummed, thinking it over. “I don’t see why not.”

“Then I will go see him.”

Hanzo rose to his feet, ignoring Genji’s concern when he swayed unsteadily for a moment. Had Hanzo even eaten or drank since returning to the base? He couldn’t recall. Rest was also sounding better by the second, as his feet slowly made their way to the medbay. Before Hanzo reached it, he was nearly bowled over by Lena, who at least offered him an apologetic smile.

“I’ve been lookin’ all over for you.” She began, fiddling with an object in her hands. “Needed ta return this.”

Hanzo was then handed Jesse’s hat, which he took from Lena to fiddle with the brim of it himself. Sudden emotions welled in his throat and he fought just to swallow them back down to reply with a curt, “Thank you.”

“I… Just hadta make sure he got it back, y’know.” Lena rubbed her arm after that admission, gaze downcast, “Figured that he’d need it when he got better.”

“He will need it.” Hanzo answered, holding the hat even closer. “He will be grateful to see it returned. Thank you, Lena.”

Lena nodded, and lifted her face to offer a gentle smile, “If you need anything, you let me know, yeah? I couldn’t imagine going through something like this with Em.”

“I hope you and Emily never go through something like this.” the waver Hanzo had feared creeping into his voice was most definitely on its way, “It’s…”

“It’s tough.” Lena finished for him, expression kind and voice soft, “I should probably let you go see him. Tell him he’d better wake up, yeah? So we can scold him proper for scaring us all.”

Hanzo could only offer a watery chuckle in response and a nod. “I will pass the message on. Thank you, Lena.”

Lena gave him a nod and a kind smile before she disappeared in a flash of blue light. Hanzo stared at where she once stood, then at the hat in his hands. He had to swallow down his emotions once more, seeing this hat not in the possession of it’s owner was alien even to him. Jesse never went anywhere without it, had even made Hanzo turn around once during a two man recon mission they’d run together just to retrieve it after it got knocked off by a low hanging branch. That had been before they got together, and Hanzo had said many colourful things to Jesse that day.

If you knew what you know now, knew just how little time you might have with him, would you take every curse and spiteful phrase back?

Hanzo’s grip on the brim of the hat had turned his knuckles white, and he forced himself to breathe slowly. Moving forward also proved difficult as well, and Hanzo did not know if it was his exhaustion or fear of actually seeing Jesse’s state that kept him from advancing.

It would make this all too real, wouldn’t it?

I need to see him. He needs me. He’d do the same for me.

…I love him so much…

Hanzo stepped forwards slowly, the distance between himself and the medbay shortening with each footfall. It felt like crossing an ocean. The metal of the door was cold against his palm when he pressed against it, and he inched inside. It was dim in the medbay, and reeked of sterilization and strong chemicals. The only light was from Angela’s office itself, and as Hanzo passed by he could see the form of the doctor slumped over her desk. Someone had at least placed a pillow under her head for her, which she was currently snuggled against. Hanzo left her to her rest as he stepped further in.

Jesse wasn’t hard to locate, being in the only occupied bed. Angela had drawn the curtain around his prone form, and Hanzo suspects it’s because she expected him to come see Jesse as soon as possible and had offered them privacy this way. He’d thank her for her foresight later, right now he was preoccupied with taking in Jesse’s appearance.

Jesse looked terrible, was the nicest way to say it, the only way to say it. Thick bandages were wrapped around his head, obscuring the gunslinger’s eyes. Jesse’s prosthetic had been removed and his skin was ashen, but at the very least he was breathing, if shallowly. Hanzo felt his legs finally give way, and he sat heavily on the edge of Jesse’s bed. Hanzo let his head fall into his hands, and took a few shuddering breaths, only sitting back up straight to wipe away the tear tracks from his face.

Hanzo reached over to set Jesse’s hat on top of the gunslinger’s prosthetic that was resting on a little wheeled side table. The serape Hanzo kept around his shoulders as he worked the releases on his own prosthetics, hissing when he felt finally just how swollen his stumps were. Then, he settled against Jesse’s left side, cuddling into the space not occupied by Jesse after making sure he was not laying on anything important.

“I love you, Jesse.” Hanzo told his gunslinger softly, his voice cracking against his wishes, “I don’t want this… to be how we end, but if this is how we part…” the goodbye died in Hanzo’s throat the moment he thought of it, so he choked it back down and closed his eyes, “I love you.” he repeated to Jesse’s silent form, “I always will. Please wake up.”

Before sleep took him finally, Hanzo reached over to twine his and Jesse’s fingers.

[igegtobsibea-blog]

Was Your Dad Right When He Told You To Instagram Profile Viewer Better?

If youve been trying to figure out a mannerism to see a private profile, you might have found a couple of apps that permit you to pull off appropriately along the way. You probably have your own reasons to get hence that will justify your interests in this achievement which goes against Instagrams privacy policy. Some apps guarantee youll be accomplished to see the content on private or then again locked profiles, however we have found the right app after study more than 20 stand-in such Instagram hacks.But lets see at the concept of these apps. Most of them either require you to download their app or to use their online service. You dependence to instagram profile viewer manage to pay for the targeted Instagram account obviously. later than you accomplish that, they will supposedly start in force on removing the restrictions, whether youve been blocked or denied permission to that account.After theyre finished past dealing out the data, they will assent you entry to that profiles content and keep in mind that they are not answerable taking into consideration what you will be play in past the data you obtain; in most countries, reading the private messages of new people is risky. I confirm that this online app actually works, after psychotherapy something like 20 of them I realized that many outsource the initial code of 1 or 2, and the link above is one of the main sources (usually updated often).Sooner or vanguard the copy cats would be discovered and reported. how to view private instagram profiles thus if you reach happen to find one that works, have in mind that it wont be understandable online forever. Either this or its kept as a indistinctive for therefore long that no one knows it exists. But if no one knows roughly it, whats the use of it.

Instagram Profile Viewer

The privacy settings become crucial in the manner of a person creates an account. It could be for security issues or for a comfortable level of the person. However, Instagram has totally easy privacy settings as compared to further social websites, either you can view private instagram hide your content from all your connections and buddies except some members to whom you want to allow, or you can play a part it to every your followers. The addict has unlimited run beyond the counsel he/she wants to portion later than public. There is no in-between settings as Facebook has, where you can familiarize upon all declare which you desire to put it on to supplementary people. Thus, as soon as the back up of private settings, unaccompanied the buddies on the website can view your profile. For those who desire to view private Instagram have extra choices to pick from.You can hack the account of the person and viewing every his/her information would be within your power. You can check every his/her videos, photos, and additional personal information. Various tools, technologies, and solutions are easy to use upon the web to use for hacking Instagrams account. You are required URL of that persons Instagrams account and you would acquire permission to the account. Well, it is not the easiest way of viewing private profile characterize of any person. You infatuation an Android application in which you will put the username or URL of the portray or video from that persons account. Just copy the profiles URL and glue it into the application. Press the accept out of the ordinary to measure other and you will be competent to view the private profile of the person.This website is agreed free, and the how to see private instagram fine event not quite using it that you reach not have to download it. You can use it unconditionally easily to view private Instagram and see content shared upon that account. The new plus of using it is that past you desire to view private Instagram profile, this website will let you view undetectably, which means no footprints are left behind. The owner will never know that his/her profile was visited. No one will ever know that you have used this in order to view private Instagram profiles.Instagram has a mighty set of privacy protections to keep its users suggestion secure from their exes, higher employers, or any further prying eyes they hope to conceal from. In fact, more and more people are realizing the importance of keeping your social media profiles at least somewhat private rather than neglect them right of entry to the world at large. Your Instagram page is no exception to that. A private Instagram profile means your photos and stories wont be viewable by the public, and youll have to implement partners one at a time. That lets you directly manage who can and cant view your content. Its authenticated that the platrform is set going on to put up to public sharing, but they plus preserve the decision to maintain a degree of personal privacy. Unless youre a celebrityor perhaps an up-and-coming YouTuber theres no defense not to lock down your Instagram account if youre anxious virtually safety or privacy.There may be times, though, that you desire to view someone elses private Instagram account. Is it possible? Well, it is and it isnt, and well get to that. First lets review how to create YOUR Instagram profile private, next well get into how to view private accounts secretly.Weve all been told on top of and over: make determined your social accounts are locked down and private, or at the categorically least, clean and safe of any compromising guidance and images. Whether youre applying for a job or just dont want your prospective spouse seeing those embarrassing photos from senior year, its important to ensure that your account is either private or safe. But if youre extra to Instagramor its been awhile past you created your accountyou might be hesitant upon how to modify the privacy settings upon your account to guard your information. Lets consent a look. Well be using the iOS story of the app in our screenshots below, but the Android bill is nearly identical to the Apple bank account of the app.Start by inauguration the app, either from your home screen (iOS) or your app drawer (Android). The app will retrieve stirring on the home page for Instagram, showing a accrual of posts and shares from your followed friends. Along the bottom of the app, youll find five icons for addendum photos, viewing posts, and more. Tap on the profile icon on the bottom of the tab. on iOS, this shows your profile characterize taken from Instagram. upon Android, this shows a basic profile icon, a silhouette of a person. Tapping this will display your own profile, along with a few further options.Once youre inside of Instagrams settings menu, youll see a long list of options. You can go to your Facebook friends and your contacts, invite Facebook connections not nevertheless upon Instagram, and view your account settings. Its here where youll locate options for two-factor authentication, the triumph to conceal your Instagram Story, and block users. But above all, the most important another here is Private Account, which youll find at the bottom of the account settings options on this page, since the standard settings menu begins. Instagram warns under this switch that single-handedly people you take on can look your photos and videos, even though mentioning that your existing buddies wont be affected by the switch. If youre grating to get rid of a specific user that already follows you, youll have to block them.When youre ready to create your account private, all you have to complete is flip the switch on this option. Instagram will direct you about sympathetic partners and your existing followers being unaffected by the change. support your selection, and thats ityour account is now private. If at any period you desire to make your account public again, simply follow the steps above and flip the switch for private accounts to the off position. Youll receive choice affirmation message, and thatll be that. You can do this as many become old as youd like, without any sort of repercussionsjust recall that any posts you shared though your account was private will become public as soon as you flip that switch off.If you wish to view a private Instagram account, the legal pretension is then the simple artifice send that person a follow request.

Firstly,New One Definition

Typically, even a person in the same way as a protected profile will espouse people they know, suitably if this is someone youre up to date or acquainted with, you shouldnt have any problems getting that person to accept your request. following your request has been approved, youll be clever to see that persons profile and view any photos theyve uploaded to Instagram.Obviously, this is the most approachable quirk to admission and view a persons private Instagram account, no matter who they are. Unfortunately, though, this does depend heavily on you as an Instagram addict having a preexisting membership past the person youre maddening to amass on Instagram.Therefore, if youre infuriating to accumulate someone you dont know, once a celebrity or a pal of a friend, the easiest quirk to accomplish out to them is through a private private instagram revelation on Instagram. Sending the user a private message (PM) will allow them know a bit not quite whos requesting to follow the user. The best mannerism to realize this is to let the requested addict know who you are, a bit virtually yourself, and why you want to follow them upon Instagram. motto as much as Im a tall intellectual pal of your boyfriend or We met at your cousins birthday party can be enough to make a edit in the company of you and the party youre trying to achieve out to, especially if they recall you.Again, a lot of this relies upon having an already-existing connection bearing in mind the person. If you dont have that pre-existing relationship, subsequently youll have to rely upon your own social skills to chat to the addict youre looking to follow. Many Instagram users will enjoyable further friends, especially past they can block or separate you if things how to view private instagram profiles acquire rough. Just remember to keep an eye on what you read out and what that person posts. If you dont know them and you interact next them too often after theyve approved your request, you might be risking a removal or blocking.Sometimes you dont actually dependence access to the persons account you just desire to look some particular photo(s) they posted. Log into Instagram and locate the person wish to research online. next you locate their account, no doubt locked at the back a privacy wall, youll be able to look the username of your target. bring out that publicize and copy it to your devices clipboard, because were going to be using that publicize in a moment. Now, right to use occurring Google Images or the image-based search engine of your another and paste the name of your targeted person into the search box.

Final Words

What well be exploit here is simple: somewhere upon the web, theres a good fortuitous that the person youre looking for has left an trail of photographs in the past activating their privacy protection upon Instagram. Often, the photos posted on Instagram have actually been shared elsewhere, making it easy to find your targets photos by using their Instagram ID as a search keyword. If theyve in the past had swap photo accounts upon Flickr or new thesame photo sharing sites, you may log on some of that opinion in your search. The same is authenticated if the persons Facebook is largely unprotected.The on your own authenticated exaggeration to view a private Instagram account profile is by requesting to follow that person from your actual account. afterward the private Instagram addict grants your demand to follow them, youll have the ability to view, like, and comment upon their Instagram posts. You could furthermore private message the account holder to explain why youd taking into account to follow them. Or you can realize both, making sure the addict knows exactly who you are and why you desire to view their profile.If youre looking for unethicaland possibly illegalways to view a private Instagram account, That said, heres the easiest pretentiousness to get permission to a private Instagram if youre sure the requested user wont want to accept you in real life: create a further account for a fictional person and use that account to request to follow the account you are impatient in. produce a result accounts on Instagram are, technically speaking, adjacent to the terms of benefits for the account, appropriately youll want to limit your usage and access. We get not certificate view private instagram achievement this; at best, its unethical, and at worse, could constitute stalking users online. you can always go the route of creating a law profile and maddening to fool the user into when you. We dont recommend this, as its a major breach of trust taking into consideration the additional user, and put-on accounts can often easily be spotted subsequently browsing content. Overall, reaching out to the user you want to follow is the best course of conduct. Theyll likely mount up you if you be active a attachment or a suitability of friendlinessInstagram is, after all, a fairly-positive community of photographers and users sharing their social experiences online.

[beaniegender]

Fandom Fic Rec Days - My Personal Favorites Fic Rec List!

In honor of #ficrecdays (happening Feb. 10th, 11th, and 12th), and my stupidly long ao3 bookmarks page which is a pain to go through, I want to make this list of the best of the the best of my favorite fics - the ones that make me gasp or laugh or cry and just generally ache at their beauty each time I read them. I hope you’ll read and enjoy them too! I encourage you to try something even outside a fandom you know well because all of these works are great fiction in their own right.

This list includes a total of 24 fics or series from nine fandoms: James Bond (3 works), The Martian (1 work), Marvel which is mostly Captain America (5 works/series), Soccer RPF which is all FC Barcelona RPF (4 works/series), Star Trek (2 works), Star Wars (1 work), Supernatural (2 works/series), True Blood (1 work), and The West Wing (5 works).

Some of these fics are already wildly popular, but in order to promote less popular fic a bit more, within a fandom works are sorted from least to most ao3 kudos. Read on and discover my absolute favorite fanfics!

James Bond

Search and Seizure by @kryptaria00q and @stephrc79 (16670 words, James Bond/Q/Alec Trevelyan) - After two assassination attempts on MI6 executives, the British Secret Service now requires self-defence training for all high level employees. Bond and Alec have taken it upon themselves to help keep their lover safe, no matter how much Q might hate them for it. Too bad they never seem to be able to stay on track. (a.k.a. frisking porn with plot)

basically trust porn along with being real porn. everyone’s POV gets shown off and it’s just so much fun watching these boys interact when they so obviously care for each other!

Treasons, Traitors, and Treachery by kryptaria and @zooeyscigar (63245 words, James Bond/Q) - All James Bond wanted was a quiet holiday on his luxury motoryacht on the Costa del Sol. Time to recuperate and think about his future with MI6. But his plans get hijacked when a traitor to the crown returns, bringing news of an even greater threat to MI6. And the traitor isn’t working alone. Thankfully, neither is James.

every single character in here is written flawlessly, and the OC is one of the BEST OCs to ever OC. There’s sass and hilarity, believably written government intrigue, and a very realistic level of depth in all the characters.

so you were never a saint. by @paperclipbitch (12319 words, gen) - “I think Bond’s trying to be your friend,” Eve tells him. “…well,” Q says slowly, “this is a new and disturbing development.”

the asexual!Q epic that defined a lot of my Q headcanons. also a lot of my MONEYPENNY IS AMAZING headcanons! it’s sort of an ensemble fic and sort of a character study and it just makes me like MI6 so much.

The Martian

You Know You Have a Permanent Piece of My Medium-Sized American Heart by tricatular [on tumblr but I’m not able to tag them, sorry!] (9151 words, gen) - “Hey Hermes!” The ambient suspicion level in the Rec ratcheted up significantly. Kapoor was disturbingly cheerful. “We’ve sent you some mission updates in the data dump, but Mitch and I wanted to personally let you know—” Mitch visibly rolled his eyes in the background. “—That thanks to some…strong suggestions from the White House, and on Annie and Director Sanders’ recommendation, we’ve started releasing Watney’s Mars logs to the public.”

deftly mixes standard narration, transcripts of recordings, and social media posts to show what Mark’s journal back to Earth would have been like both for him and for everyone who cared about his story (ie. the whole planet).

Marvel / Captain America

Walking Far From Home by TaleWorthTelling (6222 words, various Sam-centric pairings) - Sam’s relationship with birds starts early and inexplicably.

basically, Sam Wilson’s whole life. as the author’s note says, “Sam is the only person with his shit together, but he got there the hard way.” and then we’re treated to 6000 words of what that path was like, including stellar input from Sam’s OC family and the familiar MCU favorites. and Sam can talk to birds!

The Murder Ballads by BetteNoire (160839 words, 3 works, Steve/Bucky) - Something wicked is coming for Steve Rogers. Luckily for him, something even more wicked stands in its way: the unrepentant, unbroken Bucky Barnes. A murder-mystery/action thriller with violence, magic, and several big MCU guest stars.

like most CA fans I’ve read a stupid amount of post-winter soldier fic, so the first praise for this series is that it has a completely original take on that subject. and that take - the plot complexity, the multi-layered characterizations, the sequel - made me fall in love with Bucky all over again and permanently changed the way I think of him.

your blue-eyed boys by Feather (123233 words, 4 works, Steve/Bucky with sides of Pepper/Tony, Bruce/Betty, and Clint/Natasha) - Steve has no plan. Not because he hadn’t tried to make one. He’d tried to make lots of plans. Plan, adapt, plan again, tried to think of every contingency. And then he’d thrown them away, because there wasn’t much point. What could you plan for? He couldn’t guess the possible contingencies, the situations, the potentials. And he sure as sure hadn’t figured on what’s happened now, on coming back to his place and finding Bucky here. He hadn’t even hoped for that. He hadn’t realized he could. [post-Winter Soldier recovery fic]

if you’d like a slightly more typically-plotted approach to your post-WS fic than “The Murder Ballads” you absolutely can’t go wrong with “your blue-eyed boys”. it’s the most realistic version of Bucky’s recovery that I can imagine - heartbreaking and sickening and real. and the love between Steve and him and the team as a whole is obvious. DON’T MISS the associated verse, which is 450000 words (and growing) of shortfic in the same timeline, and which incidentally has the best OCs in the entire fandom.

Hollow Your Bones Like a Bird’s by @scifigrl47 (95514 words, Clint/Phil) - In the wake of the Chitauri invasion, Clint Barton wakes up in a world that he very nearly had a hand in destroying. And confronting a loss he might not be able to cope with. The Avengers always needed something to avenge, but once the crisis is past, what keeps them together?

I have yet to see a better representation of grief in fanfic, and that’s only maybe half of Clint’s problems in this fic. maybe you’ve noticed I like realism when fic deals with hard topics, and this shies away from nothing - and Clint will treat you to excellent analyses of his friends, as well as many bird facts, along the way!

Ain’t No Grave (Can Keep My Body Down) by spitandvinegar [on tumblr but I’m not able to tag them, sorry!] (107076 words, Steve/Bucky) - It’s six in the morning, and Steve is heading out on a run when he nearly trips over a bouquet of sunflowers on the front steps of his brownstone. For a second paranoia takes over, and he kicks the flowers a little, waiting for them to explode. They don’t. They also came with a card, which he picks up. The front of the card has a tasteful picture of the Brooklyn bridge at sunset. It’s very nice and sedate, like the kind of card you would buy to give to your boss. On the inside someone has written a short message in big, shaky block letters. I AM SORRY FOR SHOOTING YOU. Steve sits down hard on the steps.

ok yet more wonderfully detailed post-ws Bucky trying to recover fic, except in this one Bucky is homeless and a drug addict and ADOPTS THE BEST OCS with the BEST POVS EVER, oh my GOD. also Steve is smart and kind, Sam is long-suffering (and smart and kind), and the whole thing is hilarious.

Soccer / FC Barcelona RPF

only the children (know what they’re looking for) by therestisdetail (7253 words, gen) - I drew a picture of him, later, but I shall not show it to you for it is a sad demonstration of what will happen if you stop drawing when you are six, and certainly much less charming than its model. He wore a shirt that was too large and had soft dark eyes hiding beneath dark, indecisive hair; it did not seem to know if it was short or long, or what shape it wanted to be. He was very pale, very slight, had no shoes, and held a battered football beneath one arm with an air of pride. (Le Petit Prince redone feat. FC Barcelona)

a young Andrés Iniesta meets an even younger Leo Messi, and they quite simply tear my heart in two. no knowledge of The Little Prince required, but the fic is just as understatedly beautiful as the original.

Like a Hand Grenade by @meretricula (20430 words, 2 works, Cesc/Messi) - Cesc Fabregas is born a girl. She still loves football.

full disclosure, I do not care about Cesc Fabregas. I didn’t care about Cesc Fabregas even before his career got, frankly, weird and dispiriting. but BY GOD these works make me care about genderbent!Cesc and everything she could have been. the sequel is particularly nice for some cameos from other well-loved players!

Go Gentle by @ferritin4​ (20977 words, eventually Xaviesta) - Things change, but only some things. In which Barça is indeed més que un club, no one stays on top forever, and it all comes back to Andrés in the end.

hands down my favorite football rpf. uses the A/B/O trope and the idea of pack dynamics to tell the story of the last decade of Barcelona football, which makes a hell of a lot of sense, and although Andrés is quietly the star, the different POVs let a lot of people shine.

It’s Going to Take a Lot to Drag Me Away from You by meretricula (31296 words, 10 works, Xaviesta, Fabregas/Messi/Pique, and Messilla) -  Everybody knows Barcelona’s midfielders are psychic anyway. (Soulbonding AU)

try to tell me that a soulbonding AU isn’t the most logical thing in the world for Xavi and Iniesta, just try to tell me that! there’s also a good look at how the politics of this system could get messy quick, which, let’s be real, just makes sense for barça-centric fic.

Star Trek

How Many Roads? or, 27 Times Jim Kirk hit on Nyota Uhura by Deastar (8806 words, Uhura/Spock) - After the bar fight, Nyota thinks to herself that if this is what being hit on by Jim Kirk leads to, she’s very glad she’s never going to have to see him again.

Uhura and Kirk’s relationship goes from the dumpster fire it was in Iowa to the professional respect we get throughout the movies, but we never really see how it happens. this fic shows all of that and much more, and oh my god, I just like these characters so much.

Counteractive Measures by rikke_leonhart (9159 words, loosely Kirk/Spock) - The thing is – giving Jim Kirk a dare will never ever work. “Enlist,” she repeats to herself as Pike’s back disappears out the door. She snorts. It’s one of those things that just keep getting funnier.

Jim Kirk’s whole life - if Jim Kirk were a girl, and slightly less cliche about her motivations and psychology. and if Spock and especially McCoy were just as awesome as ever, because of course they are!

Star Wars

The Last Poem of Jedha by @schweinsty (15486 words, gen) - How Bodhi Rook temporarily misplaced the two most important things in the galaxy, and how he found them again (with a little help).

literally every fic on this list is amazing, I promise, but this one is my favorite out of them all. if you’ve ever cared about star wars for five seconds, please read this. the world-building, the characterizations, the plot structure, the family and team relationships: all stellar!

Supernatural

In His Image by @whitmerule (153067 words, Gabriel/Sam and Castiel/Dean) - Kali can breathe life back into a corpse, but what exactly is Gabriel now? Gabriel flits around various centuries trying to work that out, Dean has another powered-down angel and a little brother to look out for, Castiel has forgotten how to trust, and someone keeps sending Sam annoying little notes on his laptop. Oh, and Bobby would like to remind you all that there’s an Apocalypse still going on. Covers season 5 from Gabriel’s death to the finale.

half season 5 AU, half historical fiction, it feels like one story thread should distract from the other but instead it all works together to make the definitive Gabriel-centric story!

Sammyverse by shangrilada (249230 words, 42 works, gen) - It’s an AU, but not a deep one, until season 4 or thereabouts, where it starts to get kind of weird. Basically, Sam has really hideous asthma, and the boys are both pretty excellent at dealing with it and each other. They’re [not] all from Dean’s POV, and even though I’m branching now into later stuff, I’m going to keep doing pre-Stanford–Season 2 for a long time because that makes me happy. Honestly it’s a lot of H/C porn of the boys just being friendly and affectionate towards each other, because that’s how I like them. It is, to put it simply, gen. To put it more honestly, it’s as fucked up as I see it in canon and not a bit more or less. You can read into it as much or as little as you like.

it’s just like the show, except Sam is chronically ill and also the boys like each other. based on the show you might think the boys already like each other, but my friends, this ‘verse will show you just how much was missing. Dean’s internal monologues are things of beauty, and I love how much Jess is featured in the Stanford-era fics. (note: this master list includes most but not all of the fic in the verse, so if you’d like the rest be sure to check the author’s page or ask me for links!)

True Blood

We Who Are Alive And Remain by @branwyn-says (10448 words, Sookie/Eric) - Terrified by changes she witnesses in herself, Sookie hides from the world and everyone in it. When Eric finds out her secret, she will either find that he is worthy of her trust-or she’ll be dead.

the non-linear timeline makes this fic shine, and from the very beginning the plot is intriguing. before the plot is resolved we get to see a lot about who Sookie is who Eric is to her, and the dynamics between Sookie and nearly everyone in her life.

The West Wing

We Don’t Notice Time Pass by pene (1304 words, gen) -  “I’d no idea you’d even met her.” It’s friendship and it’s women.

focusing on female friendship within The West Wing is annoyingly difficult, but this story focuses on what relationships among women can be. Mrs. Landingham acts as a bit of a mentor to Ainsley, and Ainsley’s relationship with her childhood best friend is achingly and heartwarmingly true to life.

Define Your Terms by candle_beck (4443 words, Josh/Sam) -  It’s very complicated inside Josh’s head.

Josh is manic and about five conversations ahead of Sam. it works out because these two idiots care about each other very, very strongly. I love Josh’s mental voice in this one!

Vidui by Marguerite (7358 words, gen) - In the fall of 2001, Toby went to shul. In past years he had carried sins enough to confess, sins both petty and great, transgressions against God’s ordinances and those of men.

a beautiful meditation on Toby’s relationship with the people he works with/calls his family, through an explicitly Jewish lense. Toby is the person, and the Jew, that I wish I could be <3</p>

The Thinner the Skin by Jane St Clair (2149 words, Josh/Sam) - Of couches and expensive suits, with some mention of madness.

if you’re going to write a Josh/Sam post-Noel fic, this is unquestionably the way to do it! nothing is shied away from but there’s all the best kind of comfort that h/c can offer, and nice backstory details that make the characters seem realer.

highways and byways and roads in between by @greatestheights​ (10456 words, Josh/Donna) - “Maps are for losers. Maps are for people with no sense of adventure, like you, and…I don’t know. Toby, probably.” Josh, Donna, the open road, five states, and some of the things they said while they were driving.

Josh and Donna and, just, everything that they are (that is, a well-meaning idiot and better than you, respectively), with a healthy dose of Donna/career. everyone is characterized spotlessly, the dialogue is episode-caliber, and there’s fun local geography/culture!

[gmailaccountloginsite-blog]

Gmail - Everything You Should Know About It

Everyone cherishes Google (at any rate that is what I think), and imagine a scenario where you include all the best Google has into an email account. You have one extraordinary email account named Googlemail, or in straightforward words Gmail. Gmail was first propelled on 31 of March, 2004. At its dispatch Gmail was running in beta mode and you can have account just on the off chance that you have welcome from existing client. I was welcomed by a companion and I keep the ball rolling. I got 50 welcomes when I have my record and I come up short on them with hardly a pause in between. Nowadays its free and anybody can have it in fast and simple advances like 1, 2, 3. Gmail was the first in giving 1 GB free space to email, around then both Hotmail and hurray were putting forth 10 MB or so with the expectation of complimentary records. Gmail got some extremely extraordinary highlights and one should know everything to appreciate Gmail taking care of business. I will attempt my level best to clarify as much as I can about Gmail from my own understanding and expectation that this article will may assist you with using Gmail all the more productively.

Highlights:

I have been utilizing Gmail for more than 4 years now and I am unquestionably infatuated with it. I used to have various records on Yahoo and Hotmail before I changed from them to Gmail and trust it or not I never returned. Why? Since Gmail got some awesome highlights that make me begin to look all starry eyed at it. Scarcely any highlights I cherished most are spam, quick, clear and easy to understand interface, worked in visit, worked in spell checker and programmed draft sparing. Gmail got incredible spam inclusion and I barely get spam email in my inbox. Gmail uses AJAX dynamic substance for quick updates. I have recorded down a few highlights and their utilization in detail underneath.

Marks

First how about we examine Gmail's Labels. Names are utilized to arrange an email. It is somewhat subset of envelopes, that implies Labels got everything that online organizer can have, in addition to it got something extraordinary as well. You can allocate your own characterized Labels either physically or by Filters (to perceive how channel works Click Link3 underneath). When you have Labels alloted you can see them on left half of Gmail under Gmail's default connects in marks section, and when you tap on particular Label, Gmail shows messages those under that Label.

In the event that you ever have encountered with overseeing messages in organizer you realized that email can be in just a single envelope at any given moment. So what would you be able to do in the event that you need one email to be set in at least two organizers? Gmail has answer for it, suppose you have two Labels one is "School mates" and other is "colleagues", now you got a mail from someone who is your collaborator and additionally your school mate, at that point you can relegate the two marks on same email and access that specific email under every one of those Labels.

At the present time you probably won't think that its exceptionally valuable and existing, however in long run you will perceive how this could be useful, particularly in the event that you are managing expansive number of messages.

Channels

Channels are one of the coolest and one of my most loved highlights that Gmail brings to the table. In the event that you setup Filters legitimately, they can give genuine straightforwardness in email administration. Channels help you sparing time and space with regards to undesirable messages in your inbox, and acquaint you with multi-usefulness of Gmail. For more points of interest on Filters include click link3 underneath.

Visit

Gmail gives you one more noteworthy component that is talk with your companions utilizing Gmail. Presently Google reported that Gmail talk will work with AOL's visit benefit AIM. So now Gmail clients can login into their AIM accounts through Gmail talk. Gmail visit let u send message notwithstanding when the contact is disconnected and those messages will show up in your inbox as a message. You can make yourself on the web/disconnected whenever with simply single tick. Your AIM contacts get an AIM symbol in visit window so you can recognize Gmail companions and companions from AIM.

Console alternate ways

I for one want to work with alternate way keys whether I am taking a shot at my plan work (Photoshop, streak and so on) or simply doing straightforward working framework work, I get a kick out of the chance to do with easy route keys. Almost certainly alternate way keys increment effectiveness of the client and increment efficiency by sparing bunches of time that you need to spend doing same things physically.

Gmail have that astonishing component of console easy routes, to make it work first you need to empower it. Tap on the Settings interface at the upper right of the website page, General tab will open. Search for Keyboard Shortcuts, and after that tap on the Keyboard Shortcuts on radio catch. Presently console easy routes are empowered and you can utilize them in a flash. For more subtle elements on console alternate ways clicks here.

Sending and POP/IMAP

This choice is for the individuals who get a kick out of the chance to forward their sends from Gmail to another framework, similar to Yahoo or Hotmail or might be even to another Gmail account. To forward your email, discover the Forwarding segment and tap the radio catch by "Forward a duplicate of approaching mail. To "Make a point to include the email address you need the email be sent to", Then, you need to choose in the event that you'd jump at the chance to keep a duplicate in your Gmail framework or erase them from Gmail. Once you've made your choice, click "Spare Changes" and you are finished.

On the off chance that you need to download your Google sends utilizing Outlook or Thunderbird, you have to empower POP. Select either Enable POP for all mail or simply Enable POP for all mail starting now and into the foreseeable future. At that point, you need to choose on the off chance that you'd jump at the chance to keep a duplicate in your Gmail framework or erase them from Gmail. Directions on the best way to set up your email customer (like Outlook or Thunderbird) can be found in detail by clicking "Arrangement guidelines" and picking which email customer you have. Once you've made your determination, click "Spare Changes" and you are finished.

The Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) is a standout amongst the most predominant Internet standard conventions for email recovery. All advanced email customers and mail servers bolster this convention as a mean of exchanging email messages from a server. To empower an IMAP association, you have to empower IMAP. Directions on the most proficient method to set up your email customer (like Outlook or Thunderbird) can be found in detail by clicking "Design guidelines" and picking which email customer you have. Once you've made your choice, click "Spare Changes" and you are finished.

Web Clips

Web cuts are an one-line rundown of custom RSS channels. You can utilize at least one of the RSS data that Google has in its little catalog. You can pick your most loved stuff from accessible classes on bring down left. The accessible classifications are.

News

Business

Way of life

Games

Tech

Fun

Imagine a scenario in which you need to include you possess RSS channels. Straightforward compose your RSS channel into content box and snap Search. Tap on "Include" and now, when you return to your normal Gmail pages, you'll see along the best the most recent news from the site or locales you've arranged, including my Hubpage.

Labs

Gmail labs are where you can discover extremely cool little additional items. Maybe a couple of them are made by Google engineer(s) and few made on well known interest from Gmail clients. These highlights are trial; they are here on the grounds that they aren't prepared for appropriate discharge at this moment. Thus anybody of that component can be changed, quit working or essentially vanish from lab whenever. On the off chance that you are utilizing any component recorded here and for reasons unknown it's not working you may going to confront issue stacking your inbox. According to Google exhortation there is a break bring forth that you can see when you go to lab page.

Subjects

Subject is shading plan. You gmail login  can browse any given topic or you can even make you claim. Simply ahead and attempt this, its quite basic and can improve Gmail looking in a split second.

[newlaptopreviews]

Microsoft CEO talks about immigration, empathy, and cricket

This past Sunday, “CBS Sunday Morning” aired my profile of Satya Nadella, who’d worked at Microsoft for 25 years before being chosen to become the third CEO in Microsoft’s history. (You can watch the CBS story here.)

Nadella’s thoughtful, gentle personal style could not be more different from the brash, aggressive approaches of Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. So far, his style seems to be working: Microsoft’s (MSFT) stock has more than doubled in the three years he’s been at the helm.

I spent an entire day with Nadella, including some time in his home with his wife Anu and son Zain. As always, we had time for only pieces of the interview on TV — so here’s a more complete edited transcript.

Satya Nadella sat down for an interview for “CBS Sunday Morning.”

Pogue: In your book, “Hit Refresh,” you talk a lot about empathy and compassion. Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, during their tenures here, had terrific strengths, but I’m not sure compassion would be the word that jumps out.

Nadella: In their own way, I feel that they have a lot of that, very deep. But when I think about empathy or compassion, pick your word, I just don’t think that this is a soft skill that’s nice. I think it’s a business essential.

And I’ll tell you why. We are in the business of meeting unmet, unarticulated needs of customers all over the world, long before even they can articulate it. If we can do that, then we will be successful. If we can’t, we won’t. It’s an essential skill, an essential attribute, for product creation.

Pogue: And yet at this time in America, compassion seems harder to come by than in other times.

Nadella: I’m a product of two amazingly unique American things. One is American technology reaching me where I was growing up, and making it possible for me to dream; the other is the enlightened American immigration policy, allowing me to come and live that dream.

When I sit here, as unlikely CEO of Microsoft, both of those come to mind. So I’m long-term optimistic. I always will say that in the U.S., the real currency is that ability to take differences and bring people together to make our society a stronger society.

Pogue: What is your relationship with the president?

Nadella: I’ve had a chance to meet him a couple times. Once before he was inaugurated, in Trump Tower, and once after, when he called all the tech leaders to meetings in the White House. Good conversations.

I mean, one of the core goals that the administration has is to modernize the government, the technology. And we obviously have longstanding relationships with all the government agencies, and it’s much needed.

Pogue: But what about this initiative, the DACA repeal? Sending home children of undocumented immigrants in this country? A number of them work here at Microsoft. You’ve publicly disagreed with that.

Nadella: Absolutely. Wherever there is any public policy that is not sympathetic to diversity and inclusion, foundational human values that we care deeply about, our employees care deeply about, we’re gonna be very principled in our opposition to it.

Pogue: And you have offered to do something for the employees of Microsoft who will be affected by this DACA repeal…

Nadella: We’ll fight on their behalf, in the courts. We will intervene wherever and however possible. Like we are in other areas, like privacy.

Pogue: Having read the book, you strike me as a kinder, gentler CEO. It seems you want people to get along. For example, you express frustration at the fiefdoms and bickering you inherited among Microsoft employees. You inherited lawsuits that had been dragging on in court, with Samsung and others, and you said, “Guys, guys, guys. Can’t we work it out?” And you raised a lot of eyebrows when you started writing Microsoft Office products for your direct competitors, like iPhones.

Is that a good characterization of your style?

Nadella: Yeah. It is. It’s not about viewing this as zero sum. It’s being able to face up to the realities. I like to describe this as courage in the face of reality.

But at the same time, looking back at our history has been helpful. The number of billion-dollar franchises that were built on Windows is far greater than any other platform. So I said, “Okay. Let’s start viewing today’s world with what made us good in the first place.” So when it comes down to, “hey, there are a billion smartphones!”, it only makes business sense for us to make sure our customers can use our applications and our cloud services on them.

Pogue: Your new strategy is “Cloud first, mobile first.”

Nadella: Actually, we’ve updated that.

There is more technology in our life, not less, with each passing day. We started with mainframes, and then to PCs, which we had on our desks. Now we have smartphones in our pockets. Now we have sensors that go beyond the pocket — on your wrist, or holographic or mixed reality computing, where what you see is a mix of the analog and the digital world.

Microsoft’s Alex Kipman shows me his team’s Hololens, an augmented-reality visor.

So we are in the secular march to more and more computing in our lives. So what technological paradigm makes all this possible? That’s what we describe as the intelligent cloud and the intelligent edge. We’re evolving to more of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge, which means that you’re going to have many, many devices.

Pogue: So the cloud is, in super simple terms, the control center that’s on the internet; what’s the “edge”?

Nadella: All the devices, and the application experiences that span all the devices.

Pogue: That’s where the edge of the cloud meets the real world?

Nadella: That’s correct. That’s a great way to describe it.

You will go from device to device, whether it’s in a conference room, your work, or in your home. You’re gonna have thermostats, TVs, speakers, PCs, phones, and your app is going to be spread across all of it. The experience is going to be spread across all of it. It’s enabling you to be mobile, as opposed to the device being mobile — that’s the architecture that we’re moving towards.

Pogue: Microsoft famously missed the boat on smartphones. I actually liked Windows 10 on the phone a lot — why did it fail?

Nadella: Sometimes these digital ecosystems have real “network effects.” The first one to the market shapes it, and then there’s always room for the second one. But whenever it comes down to third or fourth ecosystems, they’re hard.

The lesson I learned from our own obsession of PC being “the hub for all things, for all time to come,” is that there’s no such thing as one device that’s going to be the hub for all things for all time to come! Everybody thinks that the current devices is the last device you’ll ever need — until it’s not.

And so the question is then, what is the constant here? The constant is the person. And so if you start building useful services to them, that span all their devices… Whether it’s a phone, a PC, a large screen in my office, a speaker — all of them are Office 365 devices.

Pogue: Cloud services has been a big push of yours, right? Where you provide other companies with these gigantic data farms that are too expensive and technical to run themselves?

Nadella: Absolutely. This is a push that actually Steve got started, and while working for Steve, I started some of our infrastructure side.

These are fast-growth businesses. We now have in excess of $20 billion run rate — and growing at a very, very fast clip. And so it requires both a significant amount of capital investment, and great innovation in software. And we’re excited about the future. For example, one of the big, new things that we are doing is, how do we infuse into all of our cloud services artificial intelligence?

You can now use PowerPoint, and while you’re presenting, automatically translate what you are saying into 60-plus languages simultaneously. That’s AI in action. But every app developer on Azure [Microsoft’s suite of cloud services] has access to that same capability, and that’s really what’s on our agenda.

Pogue: You’re really doubling down on Microsoft’s investments in AI. But some experts, Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking, are deeply concerned about our rush into artificial intelligence. They’re saying, “Slam on the brakes,” not slam on the accelerator.

Nadella: The way I come at it is perhaps a little more pragmatic.

The rate of progress in AI is stunning, there’s no question. But anything like AGI, or Artificial General Intelligence, we are some ways away. That’s where the machine is as good as a human being in everything.

Think about humans. We can be put in a new environment. We’ll learn. We’ll adapt. But the roadmap to achieving something like that in AI is a long ways away. We are very, very early on.

But to your point, we as creators of AI have a real responsibility to make some design decisions. We should build AI that we can be accountable. I don’t want us to abdicate. “Oh, we created some program that learns. We don’t know how it learns.” That’s just not a way for us to proceed.

Pogue: In your book, you write movingly about the birth of your son, Zain, who’s quadriplegic; there’s an implication that that event changed you.

Nadella: Yeah. There have been a few moments where, in my personal life, there were really these “hit refresh” moments, and Zain’s birth clearly was one such. A few hours before Zain was born, if somebody had asked me, “What are the things that you are thinking about?”, I would have been mostly thinking about, “How will our weekends change?” And childcare, and what have you.

Obviously, after he was born, our life drastically changed. My wife Anu had to drop out of the workforce to take care of him fulltime. To be able to see the world through his eyes, and then recognize my responsibility towards him, has shaped a lot of who I am today, and shaped even how I show up in other places, whether it’s at work or with my other children.

Satya and Anu Nadella met in India when they were in elementary school.

Pogue: So that empathy has even changed how you lead?

Nadella: When you lead, there’s no way you can motivate anyone if you can’t see the world through their eyes.

There’s no way you can get people to bring their A game if you can’t create an environment in which they can contribute. But creating that environment requires you to be in touch with, what are they seeking? What motivates them? What drives them? What are their needs?

And, of course, the fact that you practice empathy at work will only make you a better parent, a better partner, and a better person all around.

Pogue: Well, I know one thing you probably miss, having moved to America. You have no one to talk to about cricket.

Nadella: Well, I mean, it’s no longer true! Because in this connected world of ours — one of my subscriptions is for a TV channel. And so I’m watching cricket all the time.

Pogue: All right, we have about 10 seconds left. Explain to me the rules of cricket.

Nadella: No. (laughs)

David Pogue, tech columnist for Yahoo Finance, welcomes non-toxic comments in the Comments below. On the Web, he’s davidpogue.com. On Twitter, he’s @pogue. On email, he’s poguester@yahoo.com. You can sign up to get his stuff by email, here.  

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