#when you sent the it in DMs the first time I immediately downloaded it and screamed about it in my friend group server

[frosty-tian]

Screaming, crying and wailing (positive).

Their expressions are so soft and the extra sparkles in their eyes??? It’s all just so… serene (it’s so atmospheric). Makes my heart feel at ease yet makes it all warm.

(They’re just chilling and Shu-Chen thinking about how beautiful Anya is and glad she’s calm for once. How it all should’ve ended. Thank you so so much for drawing them.)

Oh, I’m not the one who initially sent the Mouthwashing OC ask, but if you’re still taking requests and don’t mind drawing OCs, could you please draw Shu-Chen with Anya (especially with her being happy)?

Could be platonic or romantic, thank you in advance!

(If needed, could provide additional refs in DMs.)

Letting the two of them stargaze together on earth because they deserve it and they make me so incredibly upset

[relincreates]

Commissions Are Now Open

If you have spent some time here you can see that I have a big range of subjects and use various styles.

All of my work is built from the bottom up, no base pictures to build from. Below is an example of something I put together today.

So if you are interested in commissioning a piece know that I will be putting forth my best effort.

If you are on the fence about getting something done, I also have a deviantArt account with even more of my work for you to check out.

If you're still here, great! There are subjects that I will not deal with.

Naked or mostly naked people.

Personalized portraits (trying to recreate you or a loved one)

Fan art (There are plenty of wonderful artists here that can help you with that.)

Demons and the occult

Religious Icons

That covers the broad list of No No's

The Process

You pay half of the negotiated price to engage my services.

I go to work and present you with the best rendering of your request. When I present it to you, I will be sending a low resolution image to your DM for you to see the result. You can take it and run if you want, but if you try and do something with it, it will look fuzzier the bigger you try to make the image.

Once the second half of the payment is sent, I will send you the ultra high resolution (8000x8000) image via DM, where you will be able to download it, unless you prefer it getting sent to your email. The choice is up to you.

Payment

I am open to negotiations. Keep in mind that you are getting an original customized piece that only you will have, so please come with an appropriate bid.

Payment is only through PayPal or CashApp. When sending the first half of the payment, please put your Tumblr handle and project subject (what the art is about) so that I can get to work immediately.

*Note: Be as descriptive about what you want as you can be, including colors. The generator I use tends to skew towards the color blue if a color is not provided.

*Note 2: It is not a perfect process, but I will do everything I can to ensure you have the best outcome. It might not be what you imagined, but that doesn't mean that it won't be amazing.

We will discuss particulars in private. If you like a style you have seen in one of my works, whether its here or on deviantArt, let me know which one so that I can have a good place to start with your project.

If you can't think of an idea, I have a list of 150 subjects to chose from.

Turn around time will typically be no longer than 48 hrs.

Ok I think that's it.

[turtlemagnum]

so, because of crippling lonesomeness i've started to respond to the (presumed) scammers. i've noticed that the ones that don't immediately DM you a link seem to be run by actual people, so at the very least it's a mildly interesting thing to pass the time with. here's the general pattern they seem to tend to follow, not necessarily in the same order:

generic greeting, usually just a simple "Hi" or "Hey"

they will often ask you your name, sometimes after telling you theirs (i think this is part of a general trend of wanting to get more info out of people by playing into social conditioning, more on that later)

they'll often ask you for a picture of yourself, and in my experience they're almost always "wow!!! you're so cute!!!! complete hottie tbh!!!" (i am certain they are lying). again, with the social conditioning aspect, they'll often send a picture of themselves first or just have a lot of pictures of themselves on their profile, and will be all like "hmm well since you've seen me, it's only fair that i see you!" (and to be clear, i didn't send the picture of myself to the ones who asked out of social obligation, i just did it because i honestly needed the compliment (i've since stopped because of how fake it feels))

when you get a committed one, they'll ask about your interests (weirdly enough they don't just say "oh! me too!", they seem to have their own little list of "normal" interests that they wanna stick to, maybe in my case it's because i like a lot of weird shit i dunno)

just general information digging (age, location, job status, marital status, that sorta deal (they tend to get pushy if you don't just tell them))

and, of course, it tends to just be a money thing. some are up front about it, asking you to "buy their services" (i actually had one offering to come to my house and "service" me for the 20 bucks i have in my wallet when she said her prices were originally 50, and that all i had to do was go to the store and put it on a paycard or a steam giftcard despite the fact that she never mentioned gaming when i asked her about her interests). another one wanted me to download and register my info for this weird african money app, and she wouldn't elaborate as to why. i cut contact at that point

some of the more insidious aspects seem to be how they subtly prey on lonely people (like me, except i'm self aware about it at least). within like a day of messaging me, the african money app one was insisting that we're "best friends" and that i shouldn't just consider her an "internet random". the steam giftcard one sent me cock pics and other provocative pictures of her, which would probably be pretty gross to experience as somebody who isn't both an adult and insatiably horny (like i am), but assuming that those weren't pictures of the person doing the scam, that's probably a very gross thing for the lady who took those pictures to have them used to scam people on the internet with. either way, they all seem to be at times subtly manipulative that i feel like a lot of normal people might not catch. so yeah uh, probably should just block them

[into-thev0id]

I just need to vent and let this one out. I’m not ready to tell my friends or family. Or maybe I’m too fucking nice and don’t want to bash my ex even though he’s a piece of shit person.

I spent the past 5, nearly 6 years of my life with someone who ultimately showed me the “love” I don’t want nor deserve. I basically begged this man to love me for almost 4 years. Sad isn’t it? The last year is the only time I truly felt loved by this person.

There has been so much back and forth, breaking up and making up, and every single time when we get back together- we’d be swearing that things would be different.

Just two months ago, almost three- I had made the call to break up due to things he cannot refrain himself from doing (I.e dm-ing women behind my back, following random women and women he claims to not be attracted to.) And immediately after he does all the things that knows hurt me. Whether it’s to hurt me or not, who knows- but it’s still being done. You don’t do things like this to someone you claim to love.

After every dispute I usually get sent his profile from tinder or bumble. It honestly would never surprise me if he was already up there.

I do not and will never understand someone who has lost your trust so many times, and can try to convince you that they love you, and at the sign of any disagreement tries to rip you to shreds. (I.e. “the only reason I stay with you is bc my dog loves you”, “you’re not very smart,” “you can’t do anything,” “you don’t bring value,” etc.) To believe that they are baffled at your distrust is absolutely insane.

He came over to my apartment one night after the last breakup to give me the remaining things I had. He was sad as fuck, apologetic as fuck. Promising me my wildest romance dreams. Telling me I was all he needed and wanted and that social media validation didn’t matter to him. He even made his own decision to delete his Instagram, unwarranted. I gave him all the reasons to keep it but he really made me believe that he was here for me and told me he knew he was the one for me. It’s honestly sad and laughable looking back now. I really bought it and thought, finally- the moment is finally here. Maybe he is the one for me. So I gave it another shot, but I told myself at the next slight lie I can spot- call it off. I really hoped that moment never came.

Flash forward two months later, the moment comes. He downloads Instagram and reactivates the account he swore he deleted and told me. Now I don’t know about you but it’s pretty clear to see the difference between deactivating and deleting… but besides that, he did that and had the nerve to tell me, that he “wasn’t thinking”, he “didn’t want it” and that he’d delete it as soon as he could. Only for me to find out that wasn’t true.

Because I’m me, I noticed something he did in our last breakup. The first three people he went to find to follow again were three women I have accused him of being attracted to. Why? Well for one he can’t miss a post, he always somehow looks for these women first after every dispute, and I’ve seen him flirt with these women online whether it’s be on twitter or a dm on Instagram trying realllly hard to talk to them. I brought this up to him and suddenly I become the bad guy.

Honestly I just know now this man does not know how to healthily discuss important things. That could’ve been an opportunity to strengthen our relationship. Instead he chose to shit on me. Made me feel less of a person for even feeling any type of way though I thought this was someone that loved me and would console me.

You’d think huh? I’m obviously wrong.

Anyways- I broke up with him on Friday due to the lie of him telling me he’d delete his Instagram. If he was going to do it, he would’ve did it then or at least said something to me. He kept instigating me and my feelings.

A weekend goes by- he stays idle. Monday comes and here we go. The follow train. Honestly this was a world record for him because normally it takes him less than 24 hours.

And surprise, surprise it’s all the women I have ever accused him of. Funny how it’s usually always the same ones that he goes to look for. The ones he could somehow never talk to in front of me.

And it’s crazy that he really made me feel seen and understood the night we made up for the last time, i felt loved and finally understood.

Point now is he doesn’t care. He put me in a shitty position, and now I have to handle a medical procedure on my own. I had many plans for the rest of our lives together bc that’s what I really saw with this person, or at least tried to. It sucks to have that being ripped away from you in a matter of a second.

It just really fucking hurts when you spend such a long time trying to trust someone who has mishandled your heart so many times. I really wanted this to be different but it obviously never will be and I forced myself to make a decision I didn’t want for the better of our lives. I don’t have to train someone on how to treat me. How to be a thoughtful partner. How to have empathy.

It just sucks man. I will never understand how someone who has ever claimed to love me could do shit like this to me and my heart back to back to back for damn near 6 years straight.

Im always left embarrassed. Shattered. Sad.

I know I’ll eventually be okay, but fuck him for this and fuck me for giving 6 years of my life to someone who obviously never deserved me or my time or my money.

I gave him everything I had to offer.

My last ex beat me physically, this one abused me mentally and verbally. I’m hoping and wishing for someone specially different who will never dream of hurting me in the future. I see it possible in my friends’ relationships and my parents relationship. I know it’s somewhere there for me too. I hope I meet you soon. For now, it’s just me and my healing.

I’m better off. I’ll be happier. He will too.

I just know that the difference between us is that he’ll be trying to fill a void, and I’ll be the one actually fixing myself. The next person I meet I hope to be the love of my life. The one who will make it make sense on why it never worked out with anyone else.

[memento-morri-writes]

@space-writes Okay, so for a little context, me and the DM have been planning for months for Rook to get (re)captured by Captain Kora Wolf, the vengeful pirate captain who held him prisoner for 2 years prior to the campaign. She originally bought him (from his own traitorous crew mates) to get back at his captain (and mentor) at the time, Captain Zara Fairweather. (Rook has no idea that they even know each other or that they have beef.) Since then, however, Wolf has grown to hate Rook personally. Some of her reasons are somewhat valid (he set the deck of her beloved ship, the Sea Snake, on fire when he escaped, and also killed one of her crew), but mostly she's just irrationally justified Rook as the cause of all of her problems at the moment. She had previously tortured him when he was on her ship, but this time it's worse, bc she has an intense personal hatred for him.

Info about the blood barnacles and some other ramblings about my plans for the boy under the cut. :))

Anyways, to get to what you actually asked: the Blood Barnacles came about because for my DM's birthday, I bought him the PDF of Kobold Press's Creature Codex. Since it was a PDF, I had to download it and then send him an uploaded copy, so we both have access to it now. We were both looking through it, and sending each other messages about and screenshots of funky creatures, which led to me seeking out some of KP's other stuff. I came across the Blood Barnacles from their Tome of Beasts 3:

And I sent it to my DM immediately. I didn't even have to voice my thoughts, because his immediate response was "Imagine these are on the hull of Wolf's ship when she keelhauls him..." and I knew we were on the same page.

So, basically, when the party finds Rook, he's going to have that Barnacle Shivers disease, or a slightly modified version of it. This puts the party on a ticking clock (though they won't know it at first) to get Rook to a sufficiently powerful cleric before his max hp reaches 0 and he dies. (We've ruled that it would take a Greater Restoration spell to remove the barnacle shivers, since it lowers max hp which is one of the conditions for Greater Restoration. We don't have a cleric in the party, so they're going to have to find one.) We're doing a flat rate of -3 per day instead of rolling for it, because with Rook's hp at that level, it would take exactly 3 weeks for him to die.

Of course, it won't take them 3 weeks to find him and sail back to land, unless something goes catastrophically wrong...

But then again, it's highly likely that their time sailing back to the continent will align with the appearance of a powerful arcanaloth woman named the Duchess, who is going to either a) force the party to sign a contract that will hurt all of them in order to free Rook from the Demon Lord's curse that he's under (which Rook would rather die than let happen), b) take Rook with her so he's kept out of trouble (which means I couldn't play him anymore, which I would rather die than let happen), or c) fight the party. Of course, given that we'll be on a very small ship at the time, fighting her isn't really a viable option bc she could just sink the ship with ease. However, my temporary character for the rescue arc, the captain of said ship, Val, is a warlock, and I voiced to the DM the idea of them calling to their patron to help. It would then become a time challenge, with us having to protect the ship for a certain number of rounds until the patron's protection would set in.

The most interesting thing about this though, would be that the Duchess's original plan was to give Rook to Captain Wolf and force her to sign a contract not to kill him. Seeing Rook in his condition after being rescued (half-dead and getting worse) would be an interesting turn of events, because as Rook would gladly point out, Wolf wasn't trying to kill him, and yet here he is, one foot in the grave. Having such a powerful entity be forced to admit that she was wrong will certainly be interesting... Of course it will also piss her off, but hey, what's one more ultra-powerful person who hates Rook's guts? Besides, she can't kill him without risking unleashing the demon lord who cursed him.

Oh, and the other fun thing is that the city they'll end up in upon returning to the continent is the very city where Rook's former captain and mentor, Zara, is currently living and working. (She's no longer a captain.) So of course, as soon as he's back on his feet, Rook will want to go see her, which as another character pointed out, could very well destroy him (mentally/emotionally) if it goes poorly.

But if all goes well, I know ooc that she'll give Rook her ship and we get to go on a sailing arc!!! Which is gonna be super fun, especially because I got to make a bunch of crazy monsters for it. (Including but not limited to: A modified version of the Riptide Drake from the aforementioned ToB3, some Kuo-Toa raiders, "Drowned Maidens" (based off of the monsters of the same name from the Tome of Beasts 2023, but also inspired by sirens, among other things), and and an unnamed sea monster I've referred to as simply "tentacle monster" which is capable of grappling a ship and deals double damage to ships.)

I also designed all of the stat blocks for all three ships. (Val's ship, Wolf's ship (the Sea Snake), and Zara's ship (the Tide Breaker)) They might very well be the best stat blocks I've ever made, despite being for inanimate objects. I also wrote up the rules/procedures for sea combat using the ship, and am basically going to be co-DMing those battles. :)))

Okay, I'm soooo sorry for rambling this much, if you didn't read it all, that's okay. But if you did, allow me to shower you with affection in whatever form you most prefer.

So, it's been a million years since I've done any real writing, but I was toying around with potential descriptions for one of my dnd campaigns, and I'm really proud of how it turned out:

tw for graphic description of an injury

Every inch of [Rook's] back and shoulders is raw, covered in dozens, maybe hundreds, of small cuts. They overlap and merge so that his entire back is one giant wound. But you can't even get a good look at the cuts, because they are covered by a thick layer of dried blood, almost black in some places.

This will be part of the description the party gets upon seeing Rook for the first time after he was kidnapped by Captain Wolf, and dear god I can't wait to see their reactions both in and out of character. :)))

[sanzusbestie]

guuRRLLLL I REALLY LOVE YOUR SANZU'S CHECKING OUT HIS GIRLFRIEND PHONE!!! 😭😭❤️❤️ CAN YOU PLEASE MAKE TAKEOMI VERSION OF IT 🙏🙏

♡ Takeomi going through his girlfriend's phone ♡

Pairing : Akashi Takeomi x F!reader

Warnings : None

A/n : Thankssss ❤️ I don't trust this man and neither should you 😬 Thank you for requesting and have a nice day ♡

It's not that he didn't trust you

But Takeomi couldn't help himself

And it was the perfect occasion

Somehow, every little information he'd told you about Bonten was used against them

Of course, he didn't tell the others because they wouldn't hesitate to pull a bullet through your skull

So after you fought and swore you didn't tell anyone what he said to you, there he was, sitting on your couch, deleting the spy app someone had installed in your phone

"See ?! I told you I didn't snitch !" you said

You went to your room to calm down, leaving him alone

Alone with your unlocked phone

Takeomi wasn't a particularly jealous man

But the temptation was too compelling to resist

He waited two minutes, just in case you would come back but when he understood you wouldn't he didn't waste any more time

He checked your social media, starting with Snapchat

Not finding anything there, he switched to Instagram and directly went into your dms

He didn't find anything there too, except for some annoying boys trying to hit on you

He started to feel bad, you definitely had nothing to hide

Just as he was about to go to your text messages, he heard you getting out of your room

He quickly closed all the apps and pulled your phone down

"Come here baby" he motioned for you to sit on his lap, "I'm really sorry, here take this and buy yourself anything you want" he said handing you his credit as an apology for not trusting you

Or for trying to pry into your private life

But you didn't know that, and you didn't need to

You and Haruchiyo weren't really close, you knew and respected each other, but you weren't close

So why the hell was he in your recent conversations ?

You wanted to show him something your friend sent you that you thought was hilarious but as soon as his eyes landed on your screen and he saw "Haruchiyo" and "Thank you !!" on your text messages main menu, the only thing he couldn't have checked last time, he didn't find anything funny

He faked a laugh

When he saw you in full animated discussion with his little brother that same evening, it only added to his doubts

So he waited for you to end this conversation do he could ask for your phone

"I just need to see something in the settings just to compare with mine please, I think something's wrong with my phone" he lied

Trusting him, you handed your phone and went ahead

He thought of just reading your conversation with Haruchiyo, but what if it was the last time he could put a hand on your phone ?

He remembered the reason he went through it the first time : the spy app

He quickly downloaded it on your phone and his so they could be connected and gave you your phone back

He didn't do anything the first few days, but then he heard you laughing on the phone in the bathroom

Thinking you were maybe talking to Sanzu, he didn't think twice about listening to your conversation

But when he realised you were talking to your friend and that he understood the topic of the discussion, he immediately deleted the app, now understanding everything about the doubts he had concerning you and his brother

"There, open it" you said smiling ear to ear, giving him a small gift box

Opening it, Takeomi found a positif pregnancy test

Haruchiyo was only congratulating you

"Oh my god ! I can't believe it !"

He could and he already knew.

♡

[itsarealshitshow]

Stray Kids’ reaction to falling in love with a fan secretly

Requested by anon

Pairing: Stray Kids x reader

Warnings: None

Author: Admin Wiki 

Scenario: Each member has a secret fan account to keep up with their fans and to secretly interact with them. Eventually they make friends with a fan online who thinks they’re just another fan. However, now that the members have fallen in love with you, what will they do?

Bang Chan (Bang Chan or Bang Chris)

Chris already knew that stays knew about him having a secret twitter account. He started it as a way to stay connected with his fans and to see what they thought about recent comebacks or what concepts they want to see. But now he mainly uses it to talk to a special fan that captured his heart. You’d messaged him first wanting to become friends and mememates. At the beginning of the friendship, both of you agreed to keep your identities anonymous. However, it wasn’t too long before Chan was head over heels for you. 

To be honest his first reaction is just staring at a wall thinking about the situation he got himself into. It seems unreal that he’s fallen for a fan he’s never even seen or met in person. He’ll want to come clean about his feelings but because you guys are anonymous he thinks it’d be weird. Chan will slowly start hinting that you guys should video call or show each others photos of yourselves. Eventually when you reveal your face, he will too. 

He’s all like “let’s go on skype to see each other for the first time. It’ll make it special” and bam his face is on the screen. You were so confused and when it finally hit it was over for you. He’ll confess his feelings to you that same night and hopes that you like him too. 

i mean if chan appeared on my screen i’d piss myself and be so flustered. i would definitely say yes to him. y/n is always living the life i want 😪 

Lee Know (Lee Minho)

He’s literally only ever on his secret accounts once a month. He probably never remembers about them until Felix sends him something and is like hyung please look at this. However this one time, Minho noticed he had a DM from someone other than his members. This intrigued him and made him look at it. He quickly becomes more invested in the platform that his secret account is on. 

He’s literally only on that certain platform for you. He hasn’t seen your face but your personality and mannerisms definitely ensnared him. Which is also something his members quickly realized. Felix teases the hell out of him about the fact that he only ever checks the app to see if you sent him something. 

This also makes him realize that he likes you. Someone who he’s never seen, never met, never spoken to. It makes him question himself and his feelings for a little bit. bc to be honest with you guys talking to someone online is way different than talking to them in person. especially if you like them Without a doubt he tries to keep it secret from the members, but Chan figures it out way too fast. Chan being the absolute dad that he is, encourages Minho to confess to you. Chan’s encouraging works because Minho plans on confessing to you as soon as you know his real identity. 

Seo Changbin

He’s both the person who never goes on his secret account and the person who’s always on the app. It stays the same even when you guys start talking. He can be on it for a week straight or he won’t be on it for a month. But of course when he’s on it he’ll take the time to actually respond to your texts. You always text him theories that you’ve seen and funny memes that other stays have made. 

It’s before one of their comebacks when he’s writing songs that he realizes that he’s fallen for you. It’s something that helps inspire him during his slumps and that makes him happy to feel. He’ll keep it to himself for a long time but after his realization he’s definitely going to go on his secret account a lot more than usual. He won’t disappear for a month and will start to talk to you consistently. He can’t believe that he’s fallen for a fan. To him it seems like something that rarely happens and that he should appreciate. 

Huang Hyunjin

He definitely has like a tiktok or instagram account to see what the fans are up to. I feel like he’s really good at blending in with his account, not making it too obvious it’s him. Cause Felix or Jisung would accidentally confess their real identities. He’s the one who started to talk to you first, wondering how you felt about their recent comeback and what you think their next one would be. You’d send each other memes, crack videos and so much random shit. 

Eventually you’d be the one to ask if you could send each other photos of each other or maybe go on a video call because you’ve been talking for a while. You’re just curious and if he’s okay with it you want to see each other. He’ll send a photo of himself and be like ‘I don’t think you’ll believe that this is actually me’. So of course you’re like ‘Send a photo of yourself with Chan and the both of you with toothbrushes and teddy bears’. Something specific like that and he’s like 😐  girl I’ll just video call you. 

He already had a crush on you before seeing you, but after being on video call together he quickly realizes that he needs to tell you how he feels before someone else snatches you up. He doesn’t care that you’re a fan because in reality you’re just a regular person who idolizes him. A while after you guys started to video call more frequently and he’s certain you’re good and the one for him, he’ll confess his feelings.  

Han (Han Jisung)

He’s not as bad as Felix but seeing as they were literally born a day apart, they’re pretty much the same. He’s definitely got a secret twitter, instagram and tiktok. He’s on them as much as he can because they’re all really fun but we all know that he’s also writing songs and in the studio all the time. 

When he starts talking to you it’s both of you clowning stays. You’re all like “hii I know we haven’t talked before but I like the stuff you post so here’s something I think you’ll like.” AND NO CAP HE’S PROBABLY ALREADY FALLEN FOR YOU. You guys talk a lot after that and there’s multiple times where he’s revealed his identity and that you just sit there all confused. He’ll quickly be like “haha I’m joking.” 

Finally there’s a time where he suggests you two do a video call and you accept. But mans forgot that you’ve never seen each other and he answers your call both of you just sit and stare at the screen like 👁 👄 👁 . He’s “ahaha yeah um, hi. I’m Jisung, what’s your name.” He kinda panics about liking a fan but soon after that video call you two organize to meet. And when you finally visit him he’ll confess. 

Lee Felix (Lee Felix or Lee Yongbok)

Felix knows that we know he has a secret twitter and tiktok account. It’s so painfully obvious. Of course none of us have found it yet so maybe we’ve already unintentionally interacted with him. 

In not so new news, there’s a clown right here. When he first started his account he started talking to a select few people and quickly became friends with you. On multiple occasions he’s accidentally said things like ‘What did you think of my comeback?’ or ‘What do you think of my new hair colour?’ and send a photo of himself that hasn’t been posted yet. He quickly realizes his mistakes and covers them up by changing the sentence and posting the photo to the Stray Kids instagram. 

It takes him a long time to realize that he likes you. It’s Chan who makes him realize it by asking questions about you and seeing Felix’s reaction. Every single time Felix immediately smiles which makes Chan tell him that he should confess. This causes Felix to panic. You were a fan and he was the idol you adored. Would you be with him because you genuinely liked him? or just because he was an idol? 

He decides that he has to confess either way or else he might start drowning in his feelings. 

Kim Seungmin

He doesn’t seem like one of the members who has a secret stan account. Like Chan or Felix stole his phone and downloaded it so they could scroll on it if they didn’t have their phones. One day he gets a notification from one of the apps Chan and Felix downloaded onto his phone. Curious, he opens it and sees that it’s you sending a meme and are like “Your comments are super funny here’s a meme I think you’re gonna like.” Seugmin was like “Oh uh sorry it’s my friend who uses this account I’ll show it to him for you though.” Quickly though, Seungmin starts using the account for himself and starts to befriend you. 

It’s not until Felix accidentally looks at the texts you guys have been sending each other that he realizes just how he feels. He realizes after he gets mad at Felix and telling him it’s an invasion of privacy to just read these intimate texts. i mean it is but i’m more relaxed with people reading some of the texts that my friends and i have sent. He’ll want to confess to you pretty soon after that incident. To him it doesn’t matter if you’re a fan or not because he likes you for you. 

I.N. (Yang Jeongin)

He’s like Felix and Jisung. He’s on his secret account all the time but no one really notices because he doesn’t make references all the time. He loves being on his secret accounts and talking to fans secretly. It makes him feel closer to fans when comebacks are close. 

You direct messaged him first which is what made the friendship blossom. You two send each other memes of his members and of just random things, like shows you two watch. It takes Chan talking to Jeongin about you to make him realize how he feels about you. He gets super nervous about the fact that he likes you. This insecurity comes from the fact he feels like if he were to reveal his identity you’d like him because he’s an idol you like and not for him. He’s not going to want to confess anytime soon sadly because of his worries. 

[melikeylikeyjimin]

Noir || Nine

(I don’t own this gif)

Word Count: 837

Genre: Mafia AU! Sugar Daddy AU! Jungkook X Reader, fluff, angst.

Warnings: none

A/N: Here is the ninth chapter of Noir! We have finally introduced Jungkook after the longest of times! I hope you guys enjoy the story now that a good chunk of background has built up! Sorry this chapter is so short compared to everything else but I just wanted to establish the conversations happening. If you’d like to be tagged whenever I post a new chapter of Noir, please DM me, leave a comment on this post, or send an ask and I’ll add you to the list!

Tag List: @yeontanie21 @moniebuns @writemywaytoyourheart @flamingorosette @trueelee-dj @melonkooky @kawaiimusiccollection @selugis @ellsbells72

Previous Chapter || Next Chapter

“Oh my god! I can’t believe you actually did it! I’m so excited for you! You’ll finally meet possibly a really rich man and then you will get experience and maybe even get lai-”

“Alright, no need to be that excited…”

“Why not?”

“Well, I mean yeah he did request to message me, but we’ll never know if he’s good looking or even how rich he is…” I told Nicci.

She rolled her eyes, “Then accept so we can see what kind of man you’ve got!”

I nodded as I clicked accept and the chatroom opened. “Do I make the first move?”

“No! You have to make him want it! You can’t be too easy.” Giving her an odd look I nodded and waited for him to message me first.

Finally, the first message popped up, ‘Hello there, you like gaming?’

Nicci let out a loud groan, “He’s so dry! He could of at least complemented your picture or called you hot!”

“Well, I think this is a nice start…”

“How?”

“Well, it shows he actually read my profile and didn’t just click on it because I’m a pretty face.”

“I guess…”

“Anyways, what should I reply with?”

“You do it! I’m here for the harder questions, not asking what your favorite color is or anything!”

I began typing and hit send, ‘Haha, yes! I assume you do as well?’

I got a reply immediately, ‘Yes, I enjoy a bunch of different games. Overwatch is one to name a few.’

I looked over at Nicci, “He plays Overwatch!”

She picked at her nails, “mmm boring.”

I frowned and went back to typing, ‘That’s reassuring that we seem to have a common interest.’

‘I’m sorry for sounding so lame, I’m new to the community and I’m not really sure how I’m supposed to talk…’

I smiled finding his reply endearing, ‘It’s totally okay, I’m new to this as well. I prefer this type of conversation anyways.’

‘Good. I feel more comfortable typing this way as well.’

I was about to reply but instead he double-texted, ‘I’m not really sure how this all works, but I’d like to get to know you and then maybe take you out to dinner sometime?’

“He asked to get to know me better, Nicci!”

“With how dry he is, he better be hella rich to make up for his lack of personality.”

“I don’t think he’s dry...the way he speaks is polite and endearing.”

“Well, as long as you like the man, I guess.”

Not even bothering to listen to her reply I went back to texting, ‘Yes, I would like that very much :)’

He sent a smiley-face back and I bit my lip, “Should I maybe give him my phone number?”

“If you really want to, be careful though.”

I nodded, “I’ll give it a few more days.”

“I don’t really think you need my help with a man like this, so I’ll take my leave. Text me if you need anything, babe.”

Nodding, I stood up and walked her to the door, “Can you do me a favor for now?”

“What?”

“Can we keep this a secret from Dylan and Jisoo for the time being. Dylan will flip and I just don’t want to worry Jisoo.”

“Yeah, I won’t tell any of them, especially Dylan. He’ll get on my ass as well if he found out I’m the one who suggested this whole thing to you.”

I grinned, “Take responsibility!”

“No!”

I laughed as I opened the door, “Now get out of my house!”

“You can’t kick me out when I was already leaving!”

“Yes, I can!”

“Fine, love you, babe!”

“Love you too!” I closed the door behind her and looked back at the computer.

Out of convenience, I downloaded the app on my phone so I could check it easier. I laid on my bed as I continued to text with Jungkook. Learning about what he does for work as well as more about his interests other than gaming. I enjoyed hearing him talk about anything he liked. He talked about each one with passion as he explained them and something about that made me all the more infatuated with his personality.

I learned that he was 28, owned his own corporation, and enjoyed drinking different types of alcohol. I told him I was 21, worked at a small cafe and was currently in college to become a neurologist, and enjoyed staying at home and relaxing. We seemed to have multiple things in common with each other, which made the conversation flow easily.

He ended up giving me his phone number and I gave him mine so we could just text normally. Smiling the whole time he was texting me, I realized how happy messaging him was making me. He was cheesy with his compliments, but they never failed to make my heart skip a beat. He finally had a meeting to go to and I exited our messages with a sigh. I really liked talking to him.

NEXT PROJECTED UPDATE: 06/10/19 (since this one was so short!)

[ladye11e]

Deception pt 34

The conflict between the Assassins and the Templars is getting out of hand. Lies, deceit and subterfuge, now you must pick a side...

Tagging @geekgoddess813 @sweet-flash @ermergerd517 @i-wontgivein @imakemyownblog 💕

If anyone else would like a tag, shoot me a dm 😁

Link to the full fic so far is Here.

Jumping up off your sofa and peeking through the spyhole in your door when three heavy bangs came from next door, you gingerly poked your head out into the hallway, and coughed loudly to get the delivery boys attention.

"They're on holiday. I'll sign for it."

Gist had sent the package with excellent timing after you had told him that the old couple next to you had gone away; letting him send you something without it getting trailed back to you. Signing for the expected package quickly and slamming the door shut in the poor delivery boys face, you ripped open the cardboard packet, and tipped its contents out on your counter eagerly.

Carefully picking up the disk; dismissing the thick bind of papers for the moment, you put it in your laptop and grabbed your headphones, drumming your fingers impatiently while you waited for it to load up. A whole month you had been waiting for this. Weeks of sneaking around, late nights and chasing numerous dead ends, but hopefully Gist had helped you find the proof you needed. Picking up the translation transcripts that Shay had done for you when several male Russian voices blared in your ear, you flicked through them quickly, almost dropping them when the person you were looking for appeared on the screen.

"Hello, Daniel. My my, you have been a naughty boy," You chuckled with a wry grin. "Sorry to throw you under the bus like this, but it's either you or me."

You knew there was something, off, about Daniel Cross as soon as you had met him in Russia on your last assignment. He had seemed, cagey, and your spidey sense was going mental every time he visited the new bureau, plus there were the little telltale signs that you used to do when you first started working with the Templars. Dismissing his withdrawal jitters as he was going through rehab for his drug problem, he always had a habit of disappearing whenever Shaun had made a new breakthrough in the security programmes, or had managed to locate a consignment that would stop the Templars from funding their work. Then there was the barrage of questions that seemed innocent at the time; such as when more people were coming over or how well you got on with the Russian assassins, but thinking about it afterwards, there was no reason for it, unless he was up to something. If you hadn't have been doing the same thing, you would never have noticed, but unfortunately for Mr Cross, his luck was about to run out.

Having the perfect scapegoat within your grasp; plus a plan B under your belt in case this didn't work, a wicked grin crept up your face as you came across the translation of what he had just said to a man who was hiding exceptionally well in the shadows.

"Bratstvo ne znayet. Now take me to Vidic."

Jackpot.

Reaching over and grabbing your phone, you keyed in Gists voicemail number that you had committed to memory before your old phone had been taken off you, and hummed softly to yourself while you waited for it to kick in, clearing your throat when it beeped so you didn't sound as excited as you felt at the moment.

"You wonderful men. Thank you ever so much, it's exactly what I wanted. Hopefully, I'll see you soon."

Downloading the video off of the disk and sending it to Altaïr through a dummy (and fingers crossed) untraceable email address, all that you could do now, was wait.

In attempts to keep yourself occupied for however long it would take, you had given your apartment a much needed clean; as you could have made a sculpture out of all the dust that had accumulated, and now had your music turned up full blast while you attempted to catch up on your mountain of overdue paperwork. You were so engrossed in writing up all of the mundane tasks that you had done over the past few weeks, that you didn't notice that your phone was ringing until it nearly vibrated off the table.

Catching it in the nick of time and grabbing the remote so you could turn the music down, you answered the call as nonchalantly as you could when you saw that it was Desmond ringing you.

"Hey, what's up? If you're calling to send me out on another bodyguard errand, forget it."

"(Name)! You're not gonna believe it! I can't believe it! I dunno how, or what happened, but, but, it's great!"

"Woah Woah, Desmond, calm down. What's great? You finally beat Altaïr in a fight or something?" You snickered, knowing full well what he was babbling on about, but decided to entertain him anyway.

"No, it's better than that! You're in the clear! You all are! They found the traitor!"

Sitting back with a beaming smile as he carried on enthusing about how brilliant this news was, you looked at your phone when it beeped in your ear in between Desmond's ramblings, just resisting the urge to burst out laughing when it was a message from Jacob saying he was, 'Freeeeeeeeeeee!!!!'

"(Name), (name), you still there? Aren't you happy?"

"Course I am! Was just waiting for you to take a breath. So who betrayed us then?"

"Oh. Sorry." he chuckled sheepishly. "Dunno who it is, the boss wouldn't tell me. He said he's gonna have to investigate into it more, but you're definitely out of the weeds."

"Thank god for that. Thanks for letting me know, we still on for the gym Sunday?"

"Course, wouldn't miss the opportunity to get my revenge! See you then."

Taking a massive sigh of relief as you hung up and dropped your phone back on the table, you clambered up when your stomach started growling and plodded over to the kitchen, rummaging through your cupboards before settling on a share size bag of chips to munch on while you worked. No sooner had you sat back down your phone buzzed with another message, but figuring it was Jacob yet again you just ignored it, determined to get caught up on your work once and for all.

"Right, where was I... Time log...Time log..." You grumbled to yourself, trying to remember the exact millisecond you had threatened William Johnson's secretary in Starbucks.

Clicking your tongue against the roof of your mouth when your phone went off yet again, you snatched it up with every intention of replying with a lengthy abusive message but instead scrunched up your brow when the texts were from an unknown number. That was soon replaced with a sly smile though when the first message said 'Coffee?' looking around furiously when the second said 'Put down the Doritos and let me in X.'

You about jumped out of your skin when a soft rapping suddenly came from your window, more than slightly bewildered when you opened it and let Shay climb in from the fire escape, all dressed up and carrying a couple of expensive looking bags.

"What you got there Romeo? You didn't need to climb all the way up here, I'm off the hook." You grinned as he planted a kiss on your cheek and scanned your apartment.

"Aye, I know that, the chatters gone crazy. Your entourage are still downstairs, so didn't wanna raise any suspicion just yet. Nice, place you've got here."

Rolling your eyes when you could tell he was being sarcastic, you peeked into one of the bags when he dropped them on the table; pushing them towards you and gesturing for you to take them, but you couldn't see anything apart from tissue paper.

"They're for you love. Go an get changed; we're going out."

"Where?"

Holding the bags to your chest when he picked them back up and handed them to you, then gently guided you to what he assumed was your bedroom, you raised your eyebrow when he just chuckled and ushered you inside, pulling the door to with an alluring wink.

Slightly stunned as you finished doing up your shoes and smoothed out your dress, you adjusted your pathetic excuse for a mirror so you could see most of yourself, and deemed you looked pretty damned good considering you had only spent fifteen minutes getting ready. The dress fit you perfectly, a simple black thing with spaghetti straps and came down to your ankle on one side, with a lace panel running down the other that stopped just above your knee; which meant you had to forego knickers to wear it. Cheeky bugger, you sniggered to yourself as you reemerged from your room.

Barely suppressing your smirk when Shay gave out a low whistle as you struck a pose for him, you stuffed your phone and keys into your bag that you had fished out before taking his hand and clambering back out of the fire escape.

"You going to tell me where we're going yet?" You asked again as you walked through the back streets behind your apartment.

"Always need to know don't ya? C'mon, in ya get."

Your eyes widened when he opened the door to an Audi r8 that was parked a couple of streets away, recognising it immediately from the garage at Templar headquarters as you slid into the front seat.

"Take it you've made up with Haytham then?"

"Yeah. We've had our falling outs before. Nothing as bad as this time mind, but life's too short to hold a grudge like that. Was gonna borrow the Rolls, thought that might've drawn a bit too much attention though."

Thinking he made a good choice as you definitely didn't want to be in that particular car again, you let out a little chuckle and spent the short drive in silence, trying to figure out where the hell you were going by the route he took. You had completely given up by the time he'd parked down some dank alleyway and took your hand to lead you through a side door, taking you through a very busy, and delicious smelling kitchen. A couple of the chefs looked up as you went past, but none seemed fazed in the slightest that you were there; making you slightly on edge that they would be used to people coming in through the back.

Your mouth formed a small 'o when you were finally taken to a small private room upstairs, and you could see out of the patio doors onto the balcony, now knowing that you were in the L'Espalier restaurant right next to Shays hotel.

"What's the occasion?" You asked, barely above a whisper as you took your seat at the candlelit table for two when the waiter pulled the chair out for you.

"Realised that we've never actually been on a date, figured today would be the perfect time to change that." He said simply, but by the look on his face, you could tell that there was something that he wasn't letting on.

"Hmm, I figured you for more of a bowling kind of guy."

Grinning when he just rolled his eyes and chuckled, you opened the menu and pouted when you couldn't read a word of it, promptly snapping it shut much to Shays apparent amusement.

"Ya don't need to worry lass, the owner here's a friend of mine, and it's Templar run. No eyes on us here."

It was only then you realised that you had been looking about and over your shoulder, making a mental note of possible exits and hiding places in the room, smiling sheepishly as you sat back and relaxed slightly.

"Sorry, force of habit."

Even though you had never been to a restaurant this fancy before you were aware of the etiquette, (letting Shay order for you thank god) and using the obscene amount of cutlery from the outside in and so forth, surprisingly enjoying being spoilt like this. Catching up and filling each other on everything that you had missed over the past few weeks after not being able to see each other; nearly spitting your wine across the table when Shay told you that Christopher had managed to electrocute himself mildly the other day, you eventually stopped giggling when your food turned up, which was nothing short of heaven on a plate.

Delicately crafted hors d'oeuvres, followed by a beautiful soufflé that was so light felt like you were eating clouds, delectable meats, vegetables and fruits, every bite so delicious that you wished you had room to eat it all again. You couldn't remember a time when you felt so, content if that was the right word for it. Talking and laughing until your ribs hurt, wined and dined like a queen, and tonight, you weren't an Assassin, nor a Templar spy, just an ordinary girl out on a date with her partner.

Your initial instincts that there was more than one reason for going out tonight were confirmed when the waiter poured two glasses of champagne before retreating to the shadows, narrowing your eyes playfully when Shay took your hand and led you out to the balcony.

"When are we gonna get the chance to do something like this again? Might as well make the most of it, love."

"True. Tonight has been amazing. Thank you," you breathed, placing your glass down on the small table and leaning on the rail as you took in the view.

You never realised Boston could be so serene. Usually, you were too busy running around to notice things like this, and from up here it almost seemed picturesque, not on the verge of becoming a battleground. You closed your eyes as Shay wrapped his arm around your waist and nuzzled into your neck, softly sighing when he placed a soft kiss just below your ear and squeezed you gently.

"(Name)?"

"Hmm?"

Flickering your eyes open when you felt his other arm curl around your front, your heart jumped when you saw a thin silver chain woven around his fingers, a beautiful rectangular pendant dropping in front of you when he opened his palm.

"Happy birthday."

Now you knew why he had gone to so much trouble tonight, you hadn't even noticed the date even though you had spent most of the day writing it down. Swallowing hard as you timidly took the pendant in your fingers, you brushed your thumb over the intricate lines on the front, turning it over to reveal an engraved phrase that was in a different language on the back. Your stomach was doing somersaults as he carefully fastened it around your neck and spun you around so he could admire you wearing it, before cupping your face with both hands and kissing you deeply.

"What does it say?" You whispered when he pulled back slightly, your face breaking into a broad smile that a Cheshire cat would have been jealous of.

"That side is Ogham, the first written language in Ireland. This side..." He paused for a moment as he turned the necklace over and ran the tip of his finger over the words. "Is Gaelic. It means..."

You both let out an exasperated groan when he was cut off by your phone ringing loudly from your bag, mentally chiding yourself over and over for not putting it on silent while you were out tonight. Just when you thought whoever was calling had finally rung off, it started up again immediately afterwards, Shays phone joining in a split second later from his jacket pocket.

"Both of us?! We better see who it is love."

Cursing under your breath as you fished your mobile out of your bag, your brow furrowed when you saw it was Altaïr calling, only just resisting the urge not to snap when you finally answered. Cocking your head when Shay mouthed that it was Haytham calling him and he responded to his phone, you both just stared at each other wide-eyed as you each listened to the frantic babblings, blurting out 'On my way' and hanging up at the same time.

"The warehouse?!"

"Aye. This isn't good. You still have some stuff at the hotel, are you sure you're up for this?"

Giving him a determined nod and grabbing your bag, you took a deep breath before almost sprinting down the stairs and towards the Mandarin; thankful that it was only about a minute away, hoping that Altaïr was exaggerating and that you weren't about to join in a full-blown war.

[bjkwhite]

Dangerous Dangerous Dinosaurs DeDeDeDe Destruction

RePlay Productions

presents

Dangerous Dangerous Dinosaurs DeDeDeDe Destruction

This is a 'replay' of a gaming session. It does not reflect what happened at the table with 100% accuracy, and has been edited and condensed to provide a more readable, interesting, entertaining and educational experience. Hours of nonsense and off-topic conversations have been excluded for the sake of brevity and my own sanity. No dice rolls were altered, no consequences were changed. Names have been changed to protect both guilty and innocent alike.

The system being used is Escape From Dino Island, by Sam Tung and Sam Roberts, available at https://samnite.itch.io/escapefromdinoisland.

This replay is also available here, in PDF or epub format: https://bjkwhite.itch.io/replay

Please enjoy the circular escapades of these three good girls.

session one: is that really the name

Truth: Welcome ... to Dino Island.

Chaos: Well I'm not playing unless we immediately come up with a more interesting name than that.

Hope: Dangerous Dinosaur Island.

Order: It was called that even before the dinosaurs showed up. It's an amazing coincidence.

Truth: Before we get too sidetracked, has anyone looked at the rules?

Chaos: I mean I looked at them in the sense that I can see them there on the table.

Hope: I looked at the characters, I want to be The Engineer!

Order: I read through them, except for the DM parts because I thought you'd probably want to keep them a surprise. This is a Powered by the Apocalypse game? I couldn't find the stats we use, though, they're not on the character sheets?

Note: We weren't using the proper character sheets because I am a big dummy who didn't realise you have to download the demo files even though that's specifically mentioned on the game page as an Important Note. Thank you, carry on.

Truth: Oh, they're at the start of the character creation thing. Um, just a second ... Fit, Clever, and Steady. You pick +2, +1 and -1 for them, or for Hard Mode it's +2, 0, and -1. Just write them anywhere on your sheets once you've picked which character you want.

Chaos: Do we want to play on Hard Mode? How hard is Hard Mode? Or do we pick individually? I'm going to play on Hard Mode, and I will be, hmm ... The Soldier seems a bit too macho man for me, same with The Hunter ... oh, maybe The Survivor? Like a wild girl or something? Cave girl!

Hope: If you do that then I am expressly forbidding you from making references to that movie I haven't seen.

Chaos: You're really gonna have to narrow that down for me.

Hope: You know, the one you two always go on about, 'chickpea, chickpea', that one.

Chaos: Tay inna win, chickabee! Tay inna win! But now that you've put it in my head I am DESPERATE to play a Nell character.

Truth: Just to pour a little oil on these potentially troubled waters, might I also suggest the possibility of a Newt character?

Chaos: Gasp! They mostly come out at night ... mostly...

Hope: I'm okay with that one, even though it's another reference I don't get.

Chaos: Hope, she doesn't have bad dreams because she's a doll.

Hope: I might already be regretting this.

Order: There's not really a tanky character, is there? Maybe The Soldier. I feel like you people might need some protection.

Truth: Okay, so everyone's picked? Done your stats? Picked names and such?

Hope: I'm The Engineer, Clara "Widget" Wadjet, tiny and cute with huge glasses and messy hair.

Order: In a ponytail?

Hope: Twintails! But just little ones, because her hair is actually quite short. She wears overalls with colourful badges on them, and normally a flat cap but she lost it. Oh, and my stats are Fit -1, Clever +2, Steady +1.

Chaos: Well, I'm The Survivor, Tui Moon, an awkward baby, could be anything from a big ten to a small fifteen I guess, big dark eyes, huge mass of unbrushed unwashed hair. My stats are Fit +2, Clever +0, Steady -1. I spook easy.

Order: I'm The Soldier, Mackenzie Blue, but I prefer Max. I'm solidly built, with a calm and serious personality. I think I'm probably ex-military, working as a private bodyguard or something now, or maybe I just have that background. We'll see. My stats are Fit +1, Clever -1, Steady +2.

Truth: Okay, so let's get this thing set up. We've got a "Here's The Situation" sheet right here, and we can either roll or just choose from each thing.

Chaos: Hmm ... how about rolling first and then we'll see how we react to what we get?

Truth: Okay, a three ... you're here to explore or research.

Chaos: Just checking, but there's dinosaurs running around all crazy and stuff, right? Is it literally Jurassic Park or can it be, like, I don't know, completely different?

Truth: It can be completely different to Jurassic Park. I think the only constant is, like you said, there are going to be dinosaurs running around all crazy and stuff.

Chaos: One more thing, when does it actually start, like is it with these two arriving on the island, are they with a group, when do they meet the little wild girl Tui, is that the first scene, why am I asking so many questions all in a row without giving you a chance to answer any, when will I stop, am I even able to stop, why hasn't anyone interrupted me yet, why are you just letting me keep going?

Hope: I think we were seeing how far you could take it. Um, I think this is sort of a thing where we get dropped into the middle of the first crisis? Like in Frontier Kingdoms, you don't do the planning or see the slow start of a thing, you just roll and then deal with the first obstacle.

Truth: It's pretty similar to that—is everyone okay with you two being explorers?

Hope: Well, I was sort of thinking that maybe I got called in as an expert in repairs? And Max got assigned as a bodyguard or something? Oh, maybe she was already on the island? Actually this is quite hard if we don't know the situation.

Truth: The story pattern here is, you arrive on the island, you see your first dinosaur, something goes wrong, then it puts you somewhere with dinosaurs going crazy, and you have to get off the island and also maybe solve a mystery.

Chaos: Ooh, I like the mystery part. Maybe Widget and Max are a team already, like whatever reason they're here they got called in together? Because of my character's whole deal I think whatever went wrong had to have gone wrong like at least a few weeks earlier. So either they don't know about that, like they got contracted and never got told that things have gone crazy on the island, or maybe they're being called in to deal with one specific thing?

Order: It could be that we have nothing to do with the operations on the island. Someone is paying us to retrieve something here. Maybe we specialise in this sort of thing. Only nobody told us there were dinosaurs here.

Hope: I'm okay with that. It makes sense, right? We got paid to do this but they didn't tell us all the specifics. They left a lot of very important information out!

Truth: Okay, so it's Widget and Max being sent in to retrieve, let's see ... actually you don't know, you were just given some coordinates and like a tracking app on your tablet there, Widget. It was all very vague and mysterious, but the amount of money being offered made it hard to refuse.

Order: That's good. That works for me. Max has some debts she needs to pay. People she needs to look after.

Hope: Widget just has a lot of personal projects she needs funding for. She's building a teleporter! So far she's at the "explodes instantly" stage, but she's optimistic that with time and money she can get past that.

Chaos: I'm just the kid of someone on the island, I guess, not sure yet, let's see how things go. Tui might change significantly depending on events.

Truth: Okay, so each of you get a rumour at this point. Something you heard about the island. Widget, where did you hear that someone's engineering new species of plants and animals on the island?

Hope: There was like a Reddit thread about it, it was pretty much the only result when I searched the island's name—

Order: Dangerous Dinosaur Island.

Hope: That's the one! Anyway, someone did an AMA, like about how they got hired to work here but then got let go pretty quickly. Mostly the thread got treated as a joke, it didn't get many upvotes, not many people asked serious questions, but it did mention some genetic engineering stuff, it's not really Widget's area so she was just like "Boring!" and didn't pay much attention to it.

Truth: Okay, nice. Max, this maybe relates to how you got the job, but somehow you learned that getting work here normally requires a two-year contract and even the cleaners were getting paid seven figure salaries.

Order: It was from one of my military friends, passing on information about potential jobs. They didn't take it too seriously. Just sort of like, you might want to look into this if you need work.

Truth: You're still not sure if it's true, because whoever hired you two for this doesn't seem to be part of whatever's going down on Dangerous Dinosaur Island.

Chaos: Is that seriously the name.

Truth: If you have a better suggestion I'm sure we'd all be open to hear it. Anyway, Tui, I think this one's a solid fact for you. Compasses don't work right on the island.

Chaos: Yep, that one's true. Just spin around crazily. Makes navigating a hassle, I tell you.

Truth: So, for Widget and Max, how do you get to the island? Helicopter, boat?

Order: Can there be NPCs too? The pilot or whatever?

Truth: Of course, you can even have more people on your team if you want to.

Hope: Maybe we're part of a bigger group, but then something happens to split us up.

Truth: Let's keep that loose for now, see how things play out. So for the transport, probably a helicopter is easiest? Okay, so you get flown in, the weather is hot and humid, the island craggy and covered in lush greenery. Widget, as you're flying over the island towards the landing pad there's a clear area below you, and you see a herd of animals running across the plains towards the trees.

Hope: Oh, animals! Do I recognise them? I remember that Reddit thread so I actually get pretty interested, like are these something weird and new?

Truth: At first you think they're ostriches or something, some kind of large flightless bird, but then you realise, wait, those aren't birds. Those are dinosaurs! They're chasing something, but you only notice it as it vanishes into the trees, so you don't get a good look at it. The dinosaurs, though, what's Widget's dino-knowledge like?

Hope: Should I roll something?

Truth: Why not, roll your Clever and see what comes up.

Hope: 2d6 plus two then, this is kind of nostalgic almost, it's been ages since we did PbtA—oh, double fives, plus two is twelve! Widget is a complete nerd for dinosaurs!

Truth: Okay, here's a question for the group. What's cooler, classic scaly dinosaurs or feathered birdlike dinosaurs?

Chaos: Birdosaurs for sure.

Order: I agree, I like colourful feathered dinosaurs.

Hope: I like both!

Truth: Okay, so Widget identifies this pack of five brightly coloured, red and orange-feathered dinosaurs as Utahraptors, smart predators that hunt in coordinated packs. As you watch they disappear into the trees in pursuit of their prey, leaving no trace behind.

Hope: "Ah! Max! Dinosaurs! I saw dinosaurs!"

Order: "Of course you did, Widget."

Hope: "No really! It's not like that other time! These were Utahraptors I think! They had feathers! They were pretty."

Order: "Dinosaurs don't have feathers, Widget."

Hope: "No they do! They really do! Why would there be dinosaurs here? Do you think this is a Jurassic Park island?"

Order: "That was just a movie, Widget."

Hope: "It was a book too! Is that why we're getting paid so much? Nobody said about dinosaurs though, did they?"

Order: "Nobody really said much about anything. We get to the coordinates, we find the thing, we put it in this case." I hold up a sturdy case. "Then we go home and get paid. Let's not complicate it with dinosaurs, even imaginary ones."

Hope: "But I really did see them ... I think?"

Truth: Okay, fantastic. I'm already enjoying the Max-Widget dynamic. So, soon after Widget spots those dinos—or did she?—something goes wrong. I think you land safely at least, is Max flying the helicopter?

Order: Yes, why not. Just us two feels right.

Truth: So since I want to quickly involve Tui in this, I think things go wrong after you enter the facility. There's no one around, is the thing. One of the few things you were told is that this is an active research base, with dozens of permanent workers. You were given fake IDs and documents to get you inside, you're both outfitted like maintenance workers, but there's no need for any subterfuge because as I mentioned, nobody's around. So Max, what's your first hint that something's off?

Order: Aside from the place being deserted? The power's down. All the doors are stuck open, because they're the magnetic type. There doesn't look like there's damage to the facilities, but it's a mess.

Truth: I think at that point you run into Tui. What's your introduction scene like, Tui?

Chaos: They probably notice someone—or something—is watching them, following them, then there's a voice from behind them, like, "You guys are new." And you see this mass of hair and big dark eyes.

Truth: Okay, so, before Widget and Max can really react to that, there's an echoing screech from somewhere within the facility. Tui recognises it as trouble.

Chaos: Yep, she's like, "Great. Here we go again. Come on, new guys."

Truth: So Widget, in this situation who do you turn to? Do you trust this wild girl or do you wait for Max to make a decision?

Hope: Hmm. Hmmmm. I've gotten into trouble before on missions, when I decided things for myself, and Max is usually a better judge of people than me, so I turn to Max.

Truth: Max, what's your personal worst case scenario here?

Order: Aliens, probably.

Truth: So Max is thinking that aliens have taken over the island?

Order: Not specifically, she's just thinking, this better not be aliens. I think Tui goes ahead a bit and maybe stops and looks back? Max is still standing there, with Widget looking at her for her reaction, so she sort of sighs and nods and they follow after this strange wild girl, but at a distance.

Truth: Okay, Tui again, what makes you realise you're in serious trouble?

Chaos: Serious trouble, okay, probably different to what I usually have to deal with ... maybe I stop suddenly, hold up my hand, then there's that screeching again, actually quieter this time? But that's not great, because that first screech was a hunting screech, and this second screech is a let's-get-out-of-here screech, and I'm pretty sure the screechers aren't scared of us, so that means something way worse is around.

Truth: Yep, I think Tui could be right. The facility is, let's see, I was thinking mostly prefab buildings, efficient and boring designs, but what do you guys think?

Hope: It's all sort of boxy and metal, but quite wide, and there are lots of planters and things around. Flowers and ferns and flax plants, all kinds of greenery even inside.

Chaos: There are some more permanent buildings further along, but they're not safe. The dinos mostly avoid the prefab areas for some reason, maybe they don't like all the metal or plastic or the echoey corridors.

Order: There aren't any glass windows. There are grids of metal or hard plastic instead.

Truth: Right, in the long corridors especially, at the sides there are long gridded windows. This is a fairly flat, clear part of the island, but surrounded by jungle. The facility has been built up against a very steep hill, pretty much a cliff, but the window here looks out across a clear field, mostly bare earth, with a few vehicles and things, some fences, and then the jungle, and from the jungle hundreds of birds are just bursting into the air.

Hope: Oh dear. Is my dino-knowledge helpful here? Can I guess what's coming?

Truth: You can guess and then Tui can confirm or disagree.

Hope: I don't think she gets specific. Just maybe, "Oh, is something big heading this way?"

Chaos: "T-REX! RUN!"

Truth: Okay, so at this point I think we should go over the last three "Here's The Situation" points. First, you know one way off the island. Do you want to choose or roll?

Order: Well, the helicopter we came in on seems obvious, unless that t-rex destroys it.

Hope: Let's do it like before, we roll and then decide if we want to ignore it.

Truth: Okay ... one, call for rescue at a radio station.

Order: Maybe that's a potential option, but I think the helicopter is our clearest exit.

Truth: Okay, so now, why can't you just leave? I'll roll, three, you've got to wait out a storm.

Order: Well, maybe there's a storm rolling in, but more realistically I think there are two things stopping us. One, there's a t-rex right near the helicopter. We have to lure it away or deal with it. Second, the helicopter needs refuelling or it's not going to make it back to the mainland.

Truth: Those are some good obstacles. Okay, I'm going to say that the refuelling station is right there, but yep, with the t-rex around actually getting the fuel into the helicopter is a major issue. The other thing is, you've still got your job to do. Without whatever it is you're supposed to retrieve, neither of you get paid. Oh, and finally, there's a mystery that needs solving. This is kind of appropriate, I rolled a five which is, 'Why are your compasses malfunctioning, and which way is north?'

Chaos: See? It wasn't just rumour. I knew it wasn't just my compass that's screwy.

Truth: There are also a few other things to keep in mind. One, there are dinosaurs here, and that's super weird. Two, what's the purpose of this facility? And three, clearly something bad happened here. Tui might have some of the answers, but she definitely doesn't know everything. Anyway, right here and now you've got a t-rex bursting out of the trees, letting out an ear-splitting roar, then pausing and sniffing the air. You've got a really great view of it through that gridded window, inside this prefab metal and plastic corridor that suddenly feels a whole lot flimsier than it did a minute ago. What do you do?

Chaos: Do I know this area pretty well? I'm trying to think where I've been hiding for most of the time. You said there was a cliff nearby, like the thing's built up against it? I'm thinking that dinosaurs aren't great at climbing. I think I've got a little cave nest up there, with a rope ladder to climb up and down. I saw the helicopter and came to check out the new guys, then all this happened.

Truth: That's all good, and as for your question about knowing the area, I think you've got a move for that.

Chaos: Oh yeah ... huh ... okay, I sort of have a move, Been Around The Block, I can roll if a place gets mentioned, but it's mostly to see if I know how to get there. What is this place anyway, where we are now, what rooms are off these corridors?

Truth: Mostly storage and workshops near the helicopter pads. It also leads into the more permanent part of the base, although Tui, you mentioned earlier that it's much more dangerous in there.

Chaos: I did, yeah, me and my big fat mouth.

Hope: By the way, even if compasses don't work properly, do we still know where our mission target is?

Truth: It's in the more permanent part of the base. Is Max or Widget the navigator?

Hope: Oh, good question. Um. We could both roll plus Clever, and whoever gets the highest normally does the navigating?

Order: I got a four.

Hope: Twelve, Widget has a map on her tablet, I think. Not just the tracking device thing, or whatever it is that detects the retrieval item, but maybe there's a map of this island and the facility?

Truth: Hmm. Hmmmm. Is there though. Did they have that information, and if so did they provide you with it. Oh, I know the situation. You have a topographical map of the island, with the location of the facility. You also have the coordinates of the item you need to retrieve, and that tracking app to actually locate it once you get close. You have been told that if you can access the base's computer system you might be able to download a map. However, the power's off.

Chaos: But maybe not in the permanent parts? Maybe just in this area?

Truth: There's no power in any part of the research base, because the backup generators were not switched on.

Order: I knew there were going to be backup generators. There are always backup generators.

Truth: By the way, this is all fine because we're still setting things up and getting context, but you guys have to do something about the whole t-rex situation you're in. Maybe this is a good time to review the basic moves? They're very descriptive. You can Run!, you can Look Over There!, which is the distraction move, you can Hide!, you can Take My Hand! which is to help someone who's in trouble, you can Just Do It! which is when you're doing something under pressure, you can Fight!, and you can Hold On To Your Butt! which is the general action movie move. By the way, if it's a group action, like if it's all of you choosing to Run!, then the person with the lowest stat rolls.

Hope: I'm guessing that might be me, with -1 Fit.

Truth: Yep, it would be. However, even if you fail, the other two get away safely, unless they choose not to.

Hope: Oh, that's sort of interesting.

Chaos: Don't gotta outrun the t-rex, just gotta outrun the little nerd.

Order: It makes sense, I like that rule. Should we run, then? I think that's what Tui yelled at us to do, and seeing a t-rex and hearing it roar, it seems like a sensible option.

Hope: I guess I'm rolling then? Okay, here goes ... ten! Terror gives me wings!

Truth: Is that with your minus one?

Hope: Oh. No, it's not. Terror gave me ... water wings?

Truth: Partial success, so either you're still being chased, or you run into something else bad.

Hope: Something else bad is more interesting.

Truth: Okay, so the three of you just run for it from this enormous terrifying t-rex, through corridors and past storage rooms and workshops and what look like some kind of testing stations, kind of medical? You're not sure. Max has kept up her exercise regime and Tui's had a couple of weeks of hard cardio training but Widget isn't used to this type of nonsense, she does her best but it's just a bit much for her. I think Max notices her doing that breathless miming I gotta stop thing and pulls all three of you into the nearest room—you're a pretty good distance away from the t-rex at this point, and maybe it didn't even see you, maybe it wasn't even chasing you, none of you were really looking back. Anyway, you're in some kind of medical room, first aid station sort of thing, there are a couple of stretcher beds, plus cupboards with supplies, stainless steel countertops, and through a couple of open doorways you can see what look like a storage space with shelves, and maybe a test lab or something with lots of counters and equipment. It's pretty dark in here. The only light comes from one of those gridded windows.

Chaos: What time is it?

Truth: Late afternoon, the sun is just starting to set.

Chaos: Yep, great, fantastic.

Truth: The place is a complete mess, by the way. The floor is covered in medical supplies and scattered pills and sticky goopy patches where bottles have smashed. It's quiet, though. You've got a chance to catch your breath.

Hope: I get out my inhaler and take a long puff, I'm still panting but to Max I'm like, "I ... TOLD ... you! Dinosaurs!"

Order: "You did. I should have listened. Dinosaurs. Wonderful." While I talk I'm opening that case, the one I'm supposed to put the item in once we retrieve it. Inside is this gear I have on my sheet, except instead of an assault rifle it's a compact SMG. I get it out and load it and attach the flashlight, and also check my handgun, make sure it's loaded and ready.

Hope: Oh yes, we have gear! Oh, I have a headlamp! And a toolkit, and my tablet. My toolkit is in a backpack, it's a really fancy one with compartments and like little trays that pop out, I made it myself and it's the most precious thing in the world to me, aside from Max.

Chaos: Aww. I've got a spear, apparently, and a 'terrible stench'. Sorry guys, showers have not been a priority lately. I think instead of the spear maybe I have something smaller? Could it be a machete?

Truth: Where did you get that from?

Chaos: Hmm, maybe I just had one? Maybe I'm just a machete kid? No, okay, it was my dad's. My parents were working here, my mother was a scientist type, and my dad ... actually yeah, he was a scientist too, but he was like an insect guy, hacking through jungles to get to them, and my mum was more like, technical stuff, quantum physics or something, I don't know, I never understood what the heck she was talking about.

Truth: Okay, you've got your dad's machete. Could you all roll plus Clever for me, real quick.

Order: Four.

Chaos: Four.

Hope: Nine?

Truth: Okay. What's Tui's reaction to Max pulling out a bunch of weapons?

Chaos: Intense interest. Just starts babbling away like, "Is that a gun, what type of gun is that? I've got a machete, see, it was my, um, well, it's mine now, it's pretty cool, right? Who are you guys? Why are you even here?"

Order: Max ignoring her, mostly keeping an eye on Widget.

Truth: Widget, you sat on one of the stretchers or something, to catch your breath?

Hope: I didn't even get that far, just a counter. Oh, no, I tried to hop up but I was too short, but there's a little stool there, so I sat on that.

Truth: While Tui jabbers away at Max, and Max checks her weapons, you notice something weird about this room.

Hope: Oh no. What is it?

Truth: You're not sure. There's just something weird about it. Something out of place, or something missing, you can't quite put your finger on it. So, what do you do?

Order: Is this a quiet spot? Can we use safety moves here?

Truth: Ah, I didn't talk about those—and no, remember you didn't roll a full success on your Run! move, so even though it might seem like you're safe, when you open the menu it's like "You can't rest with enemies nearby."

Chaos: That was a weird place to take it but I understand what you're saying perfectly.

Truth: Anyway, once you do get out of trouble properly, there are some moves you can do. Scavenge, to get stuff, Lay Of The Land, to figure out where you are and what's around, and Instruct, which is when you're guiding someone through a tricky task. Anyway, for now the focus is on Widget, who's getting a weird feeling, like something's wrong.

Hope: "Um, guys? Can you both just be really quiet for a second?"

Order: Max stops noisy gun-checking instantly, then shoves her hand over Tui's mouth.

Chaos: Tui goes to protest but then sees the serious look on Max's face and decides to be quiet.

Truth: Without Max's clattering and Tui's chatter, you can all hear it. From nearby—one of the other rooms, either the storage area or the lab, you can't tell for sure—there's a sort of, chirrup, chirrup.

Order: Like a bird?

Truth: Not any bird you've ever heard. It's otherworldly, deeper and with an alien resonance. It's disturbing on a primal level.

Order: Alien birds. I knew it. That's just in Max's head. She's still not 100% convinced this is a dinosaur situation. Maybe the aliens have time travel technology. That's why aliens are so dangerous. You never know what they could be up to.

Chaos: Do I recognise it at all?

Truth: Do you recognise it. Roll fortune, 1d6.

Chaos: Three?

Truth: It's probably a dinosaur.

Chaos: Amazingly useful, thanks so much. Tui definitely says that though. Hisses it in a loud whisper. "Guys! That's a dinosaur! Probably!"

Order: I holster my pistol, check that my knife is loose in its ankle sheath, then get the SMG's strap over my shoulder and hold it at the ready. From here, can I see into the other rooms?

Truth: It's dark, but basically you can. The storage room has tall shelves, and it's even more of a mess than this room. It seems to go back quite a way. The other room has a lot of counters with equipment on them. It looks bigger than this room.

Order: "Stay here. Watch that door." Indicating the door we came in by. The other rooms, I'm picturing the entrances as being quite close to each other? The storage room at the far end of this room, then the lab room to the left or right.

Truth: Yes, that's how it's laid out. The lab room to the right.

Order: I approach cautiously, my SMG at the ready. Flashlight off, for now.

Truth: That chirruping is infrequent, a gap of between around six and twelve seconds between each. It gets louder as you approach the two rooms. Roll, let's see, I think Clever is probably the most fitting.

Order: To figure out where the sound is coming from? That makes sense to me. Four, I can't do it.

Truth: No, you can. It's definitely coming from the storage room.

Chaos: Haha, oh no.

Order: I glance back at the others, just checking them, then switch on my flashlight as I step into the storage room, sweeping around to cover the corners.

Truth: There's a crashing noise, but you don't see anything. Tui, Widget, what are you doing?

Chaos: Freaking out! I get that this big tough woman with the guns is like, soldiering or whatever but you don't go looking for dinosaurs! You get away from them!

Truth: So are you running?

Chaos: I really want to but I'm staying put for now, but I am on edge, man. On. Edge.

Hope: I want to help but I know this is Max's area, and I know she wouldn't bug me when I'm doing my thing, so I'm doing my best to just keep quiet and let her do her job.

Truth: Okay, so both of you jump a bit at that crashing but neither of you do anything. Max makes her way deeper into the storage room, disappearing around the corner of a shelf, carefully sweeping her light around, making sure not to miss anything. So when the dinosaur comes crashing out of the other room, she's not in a position to do much about it.

Order: Rats, but fair, but rats.

Truth: Question, out of Tui and Widget who's the shortest?

Hope: Let's roll for it! Five!

Chaos: Four, I'm just a tiny bit teeny-weenier.

Truth: This dinosaur is almost exactly the same height as Tui. It has a rounded bony head with spiky horns and a short beak and even in this dull light its blue and green feathers are magnificent. Widget, you recognise it as a Stygimoloch, a herbivore, but extremely territorial and very keen on establishing dominance.

Hope: "Headbuttasaurus! HEADBUTTASAURUS!"

Truth: Widget freaks out and yells, Tui?

Chaos: "HEADBUTTASAURUS!"

Truth: Tui follows Widget's lead. The dinosaur chirrups and looks around but, oddly, doesn't seem to even notice you. Instead it charges at the wall opposite the lab entrance, crashing hard into it and making a noticeable dent. Now that you're looking, you notice a bunch of other similar dents in the wall.

Hope: I knew something was weird! Um, um, Max is still in the storage room, the dinosaur is between us and her?

Truth: Yep, and now that it's finished with that wall it's looking towards the, let me just roll ... the storage room entrance.

Hope: Oh no! Max! I, um—oh, this one, Look Over Here! I want to do that!

Truth: PbtA remember, you trigger a move by doing something, so what are you doing?

Hope: Jumping up and waving my arms and yelling, like, "Over here! OVER HERE! MAX THERE'S A HEADBUTTASAURUS HERE! WAAAAAH!"

Truth: That'll do it. Roll plus Clever, as ironic as that might seem.

Hope: Eight, plus two is ten!

Truth: Okay, so let's see. Hmm. Okay, full success, what happens is that Widget jumps up and gets the dinosaur's attention, and it charges at her instead of into the storage room, but fortunately Widget has the quickness of wit and presence of mind to leap aside, and the dinosaur goes rushing out the entrance of this little medical room and crashes into the far wall of the corridor outside.

Order: I rush out of the storage room, I see the dinosaur?

Truth: Yep, out there in the corridor, the light's a little better out there. You come out of the storage room just as the dinosaur crashes into the wall.

Order: I'll run forward, shove Widget further away, check Tui's position, then shoulder the SMG and shoot the dinosaur. This is my Soldier special move, Kill Or Be Killed. Rolling plus Steady, seven plus two is nine. I kill it but use up the whole magazine doing it. Better safe than sorry.

Truth: Yep, you empty an entire magazine's worth of bullets into the dinosaur, and it slumps to the ground, beautiful feathers matted with blood, croaking out a final chirrup before dying.

Order: I have an extra clip here, I'll reload.

Truth: Tui, Widget, your reactions?

Chaos: Just kind of in awe, like I have never killed a dinosaur, I've hacked at a couple while they were trying to get me but never actually managed to down one. That was insane, her shooting a dinosaur to death. I'm speechless.

Hope: I think I'm maybe used to Max doing this sort of thing? Or maybe not, maybe I've never seen her in actual combat before. Just probably beating people up or disarming people, never actually shooting anything. So I'm a bit shaken.

Order: After reloading my gun I turn to Tui. "Does noise attract them?"

Chaos: "Uh. Maybe?"

Order: Narrowed eyes, writing off Tui as useless for intel from this point forward. I check on Widget. "Are you okay?"

Hope: "I think so ... that was a dinosaur, Max. You just killed a dinosaur."

Order: No real response to that. There was nothing in the storage room? I go and check the lab area, where the dinosaur came from, sweeping quickly.

Truth: No other dinosaurs in there, it's clear. What are you two doing while Max does that?

Chaos: Going out to the dinosaur. I've never seen one like this. Not up close, not when it wasn't trying to eat me or whatever. I reach out to hesitantly touch it, my hand shaking. "Oh. They're soft. The feathers are soft."

Hope: I'm hovering in the entrance, my attention split between Tui out by that dinosaur and Max checking the other room. Half of me is expecting something to jump on Max in that room, and half of me is expecting the dinosaur to come back to life and jump on Tui.

Truth: Neither of those things happen. It's eerily quiet.

Order: Can we Scavenge? I call to Widget, "See if you can find anything useful. Medical supplies, drugs, anything."

Truth: Okay, so this is you and Widget? Do you involve Tui?

Order: I tell Tui to stay out there, and to yell if she sees anything moving.

Chaos: "O-Okay, boss!"

Truth: So, for a safety action it's the person with the highest stat who rolls, so it's Widget again. Roll plus Clever to see what you find.

Hope: Eight plus two is ten, I find something good I guess!

Truth: Oh, and it's time for our first Tell A Story segment! Who wants to tell a story?

Order: I have something in mind. It's 'Why You Enlisted' except it's actually about why I partnered up with Widget. This is while she's sorting through boxes and jars and bottles, and I'm helping by shining my light and holding things. Also processing recent events. So I start with, "I was recommended against partnering with you."

Hope: Not really listening properly, focused on finding useful stuff. "Huh? Recommendations, what? Wait, what? By who?"

Order: "Your old boss. She loved you, don't misunderstand. She just said you were ... well, she didn't think you were suited to field work."

Hope: "I mean I get where she was coming from, this stuff is terrifying."

Order: "I thought she was right, at first. That's why I chose you. More than any of those others, I thought you were someone who needed protecting."

Hope: "Well, again, I'm not disagreeing."

Order: "But just now, when that dinosaur came charging out, and I was in the storage room. You didn't run, or freeze up."

Hope: "I guess not ... oh, this might be useful, put it in the maybe pile ... but, I mean, I was freaking out. I wasn't really thinking. I just sort of ... reacted."

Order: "You're always thinking. Even when you're freaking out. You did exactly the right thing to get the threat away from us. From both you and me. I'm glad you're my partner, Clara."

Hope: I stop sorting, and smile up at Max. "I'm glad you're my partner too, Mackenzie! Okay, I think this is stuff we can use." DM, what stuff can we use?

Truth: For a full success, you find some sedatives, which can either be administered orally or via injection, some pretty powerful stimulants in pill form, and enough supplies to make a basic first aid kit.

Chaos: Oh, can I carry that? I have an 'old backpack'.

Hope: Sure! Widget was just sort of frowning about how to jam it in with all her stuff, so she's happy to hand all the medical stuff over to Tui. "By the way, this is weird but ... what's your name? Why are you here?"

Chaos: "Oh. I'm Tui. Tui Moon. I came here with my parents. They're like. Scientists. Uh. How about you?"

Hope: "Call me Widget, and that's my partner Max, we're with—"

Order: Max very smoothly cutting Widget off. "We should move. Widget, is your thing picking anything up yet?"

Hope: "Oh right, I should probably check that." Is it picking anything up?

Truth: I'll roll fortune, since it's pretty much chance as to whether you're close or not. Oh wow, a six! Yes, you're getting a strong ping. It's coming from deeper in the facility, the permanent parts. You have a definite direction.

Hope: "The ping says that-a-way!" I start marching off straight towards the ping zone.

Order: I'll let Widget lead the way, but I'm concerned about my lack of ammo. As we walk I'm mentally reviewing the last dinosaur encounter, going through each step of it, what I did wrong, what I did right. This while also keeping good situational awareness.

Chaos: I'm keeping quiet and just following along behind. I'm sort of thinking, like, I don't get what's up with these two, but they definitely seem to have more of a clue than I do, so maybe I'll just follow along for now. Plus they came on that helicopter so they'll probably leave on that helicopter and probably they could squeeze me in, right? I'm little!

Truth: You're not concerned about heading into the danger zone?

Chaos: Not so much! I mean you saw what Max did to that dinosaur, she's a dino-killer! I feel pretty safe with her around, I don't mind telling you. Plus I've been curious about some of the stuff in there. I only got to see parts of it, and mostly while it was getting built.

Truth: So, let's see, just thinking about one particular aspect of this ... okay, well anyway, the prefab part of the base ends, in another door-that-should-be-shut, but right now it opens on to like a flashy corporate foyer. There's something of a nature theme, lots of plants around, subdued lighting—whoops, no, there WOULD be subdued lighting if the power was on. Without it the atmosphere is a bit gloomy. It's not exactly open, it's crowded with hanging plants and such. Go ahead and roll me Clever real quick.

Hope: Seven plus two is nine!

Chaos: Three, Monique thinks I'm dumb.

Order: Eleven, with double sixes.

Truth: Okay, wow, if only this game had crits. It's not a big thing anyway, but both Max and Widget notice that there's absolutely nothing dinosaur-themed here. In fact most of the decorations, pictures on the walls, and even the name above the big curving reception desk—STRANGE CHARM DYNAMICS—all seem to be more of the quantum physics variety.

Chaos: Oh snap, they've opened a time rift! AU portal! ...I definitely don't say, since I noticed none of this and wouldn't understand it even if I did.

Hope: "What ... is this place?"

Order: "It doesn't matter. We get the item, we get back to the helicopter, we leave."

Chaos: "What's the item? Guys? What's the item?"

Hope: "Just a thing that's important to someone." I think Widget catches herself then, Max is probably busy frowning at something, so Widget shuts herself up and changes the subject. "Oh, anyway, Tui, you said your parents are scientists, what fields?"

Chaos: "Just like bugs. And weird stuff. I don't know." Tui gets a bit, like, don't-want-to-talk-about-it when her parents are mentioned. I am deliberately leaving their fate in a state of quantum flux, to go with the themes we've got here.

Order: Schrödinger’s Absent Parents.

Chaos: You got it! Oh, anyway, maybe there's a map here, like a guide to get to the other areas?

Truth: Yep, it's not detailed but very clear. Cross-referencing Widget's direction-finder and the map, it definitely looks like the thing you're after is in the main laboratory, which is right this way!

Chaos: I feel a huge 'but' approaching.

Truth: It's completely collapsed. That part of the facility is underground, or at least lower than this part. There are stairs leading down but the entire roof has fallen in. You might be able to squeeze through, with time and effort, but it looks pretty unsafe.

Order: Is it just this part that collapsed?

Truth: Looks like it. Everywhere else is weirdly fine.

Order: Does it look like the work of dinosaurs?

Truth: No, it pretty obviously isn't. It's too precise for that. This whole foyer area, there are a few knocked-over pot plants and things like that, but it's not all messed up. Not like that medical room. The blocked-off stairway looks deliberate, like planted explosives deliberate.

Order: "Somebody really didn't want anyone getting down there."

Chaos: "Or, like. Anything getting out."

Hope: "Tui, how long have the dinosaurs been here? Were they here when you arrived?"

Truth: They're a pretty recent arrival. Maybe three or four weeks. It's been hard to keep track of time for Tui.

Chaos: What the DM just said, except in Tui's voice.

Truth: Feel free to embellish, I'll correct you if you're really wrong. Or maybe I won't. Teehee.

Chaos: Your mask is slipping, DM, we can see the evil beneath. "Well, um, it all happened pretty suddenly. Like, there were some general warnings? But those happened all the time so everyone was just like, pffft. But then, yeah. Dinos everywhere." Tui kind of trails off there. Remembering some stuff she's been trying not to think about.

Hope: "Well, um, oh, maybe we could try to find those backup generators? Get some lights on at least?" I just had another thought, don't we need power to operate the fuel pump? For the helicopter?

Truth: That is such a good question. I think you do need power. I think that's your big obstacle, getting the power back online.

Hope: The path to that area isn't blocked, right?

Truth: Probably not. The generators aren't marked on the foyer map. They're more of a background thing, why would visitors or general staff need a map to them?

Hope: I guess that's a pretty good point. Where would generators be—what IS marked on the map?

Truth: Let's see ... landing pad and maintenance, that's where you came in. The prefab part. Aside from that you've got the offices, the lab, IT, living area, and the control room.

Order: Is it literally labelled 'The Control Room'?

Truth: No, this is mostly Max's interpretations of the corpspeak labels.

Hope: Can I roll to guess which would be the most likely to have the generators nearby?

Truth: You don't have to roll, your guess is that they're near the IT section. However, it's possible that they could be activated remotely, maybe from the control room.

Chaos: Oh, I can use my move here! Since places got mentioned! I want to roll for the control room. Oh man, double 1s! Nobody was stupid enough to let me anywhere NEAR the control room! I got no clue!

Truth: Is there anything special on a miss for that?

Chaos: The DM will tell you the reason you swore you'd never go back.

Truth: Hmm. The control room is dinosaur central. It's by far the most dangerous part of the entire complex, at least that you've seen. You are terrified of it. There is nothing that could make you go there.

Chaos: I say nothing but fervently hope nobody mentions going to the control room.

Hope: "Maybe we could try the control room?"

Chaos: "Nope! Nope nope nope, you do not want to go there, trust me, BELIEVE me, that is the exact opposite of a place you want to go. Seriously. For real reals."

Order: Max is instantly suspicious. "What are you hiding."

Chaos: "I'm not hiding anything! It's all out in the open! I'm telling you, the control room? Is dinosaur GROUND ZERO. They're having a dino party up there, it's crazy. I'm not lying, it's true! Why would I lie!"

Order: "I don't know. Why?"

Chaos: "Huh? No! Don't twist it around, I'm telling the truth! Widget, you believe me, don't you?"

Hope: "Well, I'm not really sure ... Max is usually pretty good at reading people ... so if you ARE hiding something this might be a good time to tell us about it?"

Chaos: It also might be a good time to consider, AM I hiding something? Do I have some sort of secret agenda going on?

Truth: That's up to you, Tui Moon. I do have an NPC goal chart here, want to have a little peek for some inspiration?

Chaos: That could be helpful, although I did just think of something. Maybe there are other survivors around, and maybe Tui has a good reason to want to avoid them. I think that's the thing she's not talking about here. The thing she isn't mentioning. It's not JUST dinosaurs you have to be careful of, on Dangerous Dinosaur Island. Then again she hasn't seen anyone else for a few days. It could be that they all got eaten, or escaped.

Hope: Does she tell us that?

Truth: She doesn't get a chance, because this slightly tense moment is interrupted by a nearby screeching.

Chaos: "Oh crap. Screechers. They're the worst. They always show up in groups and they, like, talk to each other. It's so flipping creepy."

Order: I have my SMG at the ready, looking around for possible exits. Where are we? Back at the reception desk?

Truth: I think so, clustered around the map.

Order: Snap decision, we head for the IT department. Widget probably mentioned that the backup generators are near there.

Hope: I don't know for sure though, don't be disappointed if I'm wrong!

Truth: Everyone roll Clever for me, just for fun.

Chaos: Oooh it is NOT for fun you LIAR. I got a nine though, that's not too bad.

Order: Five.

Hope: Six plus two is eight!

Truth: Max is distracted organising everyone and focusing on conventional threats. You're all heading through towards the IT section, the foyer is a big open dome sort of thing, but paths are formed and areas are closed off by big thin hanging walls, do you get what I mean? Plus pot plants and stuff, and sculptures, it's all very nicely designed but nothing's just a straight path, it's always curving or with a water feature in the middle or something. It's really fancy but very stressful to navigate through, especially with all that screeching around. Anyway, Max does a good job of getting you moving in the right direction and covering both ahead and behind, but the thing she misses, that Tui gets first and Widget gets a second later, is that the screechers doing the screeching aren't the ones hunting you. They're the distraction, and the coordinators, for the completely silent screechers who are already in place.

Hope: Noooo that's so creepy and scary, I don't like that, nooooo~

Truth: There's one more thing about them, these screechers. They're really good at keeping still, and they can angle their feathers to create a kind of camouflage effect, which means sometimes you won't even see them until ... they ... STRIKE!

Hope: Ahhhh stop this bus I want to get off! What do we do! Are they attacking?

Truth: I'm going to freeze the scene like three seconds before the first one attacks. Give you what's going to happen if you do nothing. First, there's going to be a really loud screeching from all around you. The attack signal. Second, the screecher that's nestled among those plants just a few metres from Max is going to leap at her, and the screecher that's on the hanging wall around half a dozen metres from Tui is going to leap at her. Third, the rest of them are going to come running in from all angles. That's the bad news. The good news, although it's not that great, is that these things aren't that big. Just about the size of large cats.

Chaos: I mean you describe them like that but honestly it doesn't make me feel good? If you say the horrible dinosaurs leaping at our faces are cat-sized? That's not actually better?

Truth: So, that's what will happen if no one does anything. Tui, you've spotted the one about to leap at Max. Widget, you saw the one that's going to leap at Tui. Max, you haven't seen anything. What do you all do?

Hope: I, I grab whatever's closest and I just throw it at the thing! I don't know, it looks kind of small, like only about the size of a large cat, it might work!

Truth: Whatever's closest, okay, I'll go ahead and roll fortune to see how appropriate it is ... six, wow, okay, you lucked out there. What did you grab?

Hope: I was thinking maybe a pot plant but that doesn't seem like a six, really. Oh, maybe we're passing a sculpture, and it's sort of spiky, you know sometimes there are sculptures made from a bunch of plastic pipes? Do you know what I mean? Anyway, the thing I grab is a solid heavy piece of plastic pipe and it's just exactly the right shape and size for desperately throwing at an awful dinosaur cat thing.

Truth: Okay, we'll do your roll in a second, Tui?

Chaos: I leap at the thing with my machete! I think maybe I've run into these things before, I know they hunt in packs and talk to each other but the other thing I know is that even though I'm small, I'm bigger than they are, and if I leap at them first they usually run away instead of leaping at me.

Truth: Okay, hmm. I think for Widget it's a Look Over There! roll, for Tui it's a Fight! roll, does that sound about right? Widget, you roll yours first, it might affect Tui's roll. Oh, but I think roll with Fit rather than Clever.

Hope: That's fair. Eight, minus one is seven, just barely a partial success.

Truth: Okay, I forgot to say take plus one for your excellently throwable piece of modern art, but it wouldn't have made a difference anyway. Let's see, partial success on a distraction ... the dinosaur notices you. Okay, we'll deal with that in a second. Tui, your fight roll? Plus one for your weapon.

Chaos: Seven, plus two for Fit, plus one for the weapon, just barely a ten.

Truth: Okay, nice, full success gets you ... oh, this is interesting. You've bought a precious moment for someone to help you. It's kind of nice that there's no real 'take down a dinosaur' move.

Order: Except my one, the special move for The Soldier.

Truth: True, it really does make it a special thing for you. Um, anyway, let's think about this for a second ... so this all happens at once, there's that hideous screeching from all around but before either of the screechers can leap Widget grabs that pipe and hurls it at one, knocking it off the bit of wall it was clinging to, and Tui just charges full tilt at the one in the plants, swinging her machete and just barely clipping it as it leaps, drawing blood but ... no, actually, that one runs away, leaving a trail of blood behind, but Tui sees two creeping up through the plants, and Widget, that one you hit has its beady little eyes set firmly on you now, scrambling to its feet in less than a second. Max. Even though that happened in just a couple of seconds you're now fully aware of the situation. You've got Tui near you, with more of those things creeping up, and Widget a little way back, with a screecher about to leap at her. What do you do?

Order: Focus on the one about to leap at Widget. Snap shot from my SMG, just one bullet, then yell "TUI, RUN!" while I get to where Widget is, full focus on that one threatening her.

Truth: Okay. Okay. This isn't your kill move, I'm getting. I think it's Take My Hand!, because you're putting yourself in danger to help someone else. I'll give you yelling to Tui as a free action, so just roll with, um, I think Steady, to keep it together, keep calm, and maybe even hit that thing when you fire.

Order: Six, plus two is eight, partial success.

Truth: You miss with that one bullet, in any case, and now you have to choose. Either you two get separated from Tui, or you get Widget out of trouble but you'll be in even worse trouble.

Order: We're separated, that makes a lot of sense to me.

Truth: Okay, I'm going to cut at that point then. Max is the focus character, she sees Tui, she sees Widget, she yells to Tui to run while shouldering her SMG and she fires that one shot and we cut to black. For a few seconds, silence. Then heavy breathing, hard footsteps, we see Tui doing what Max told her, running hard out, all that hair trailing behind her, machete in hand, through this dimly lit foyer, she passes a sign and the camera stops to focus on it: IT DEPARTMENT. Tui has run out of the shot, and we see a couple of cat-sized shapes run past the IT sign after her. Back to Widget and Max, Max has some bleeding scrapes on her arm, Widget looks unhurt but stressed and scared. You two aren't running, you're backing away from something—or a pack of somethings—that Max is taking carefully measured single shots at. We see another sign. CONTROL CENTRE.

Chaos: So it IS just called that.

Truth: Yes, it is just called that now, I don't know, what do you call a control centre except a control centre? It's the control centre!

Order: And the most dangerous place to be, according to Tui. Can I do a flashback, for the sake of narrative convenience?

Truth: Mark one Weight, and maybe. What's the flashback?

Order: I want some way of talking to Tui, either a walkie talkie or an earpiece.

Truth: Hmm. We won't do that just yet, let's see how things go and what makes for a more interesting story first. So, the situation is that Tui is running into the IT department, where the backup generators probably are, and Max and Widget are headed up some stairs to the control centre. Both of you are being pursued by screechers. What do you do?

Hope: Oh, could I maybe use my special move? Jury-Rig, whip up a makeshift solution to a problem?

Truth: What's the problem, and what's your solution?

Hope: The problem is all these dinosaurs, so my solution is—oh, I have something! The doors that are stuck open, could I get one to close somehow?

Truth: That sounds reasonable. You scurry ahead while Max covers you, working on something to get this door shut and sealed. Roll it.

Hope: Okay, here goes ... eight, plus two is ten, I did it!

Truth: Yep, and you didn't even trap Max on the other side, which would've been the consequence for a partial success. Max, want to tell us how it went from your perspective?

Order: I didn't really understand what Widget was babbling about, but I got that she had a plan, so I focused on keeping those screechers back. Like Tui said, they're smart and they work together, but that's not always an advantage. If they were stupid they might just mob us, which probably would've taken at least one of us down. But they were cautious, hanging back, retreating when injured, and probably a little fascinated by the loud noises of my gun. I used all of that to keep them at bay while Widget worked, then when she called for me to join her I trusted her completely and did just that, the door sliding shut and sealing behind me. "Widget. How did you do that?"

Hope: "Complex technobabble! Excited and completely incomprehensible explanation! I didn't know if it would work but then it did and the door's shut!" Can I get it open again?

Truth: Maybe!

Hope: I'll take it! So where are we, actually? Are there a whole bunch of dinosaurs on the other side of this door with us?

Truth: No, it's oddly quiet. Dark too, the sun has set by this point, so the only light is from Widget's headlamp and Max's flashlight. You run your lights over dozens of screens, abandoned coffee mugs, the whole place silent and still. For now, you've bought yourself time to take a breath. Think about what you want to do as a safety move while we head over to Tui!

Chaos: Hi. I'm in the dark, aren't I.

Truth: Ooh, you very well might be. Nothing on your sheet that could be used for light?

Chaos: Nope, just my machete, my ragged clothing, some edible plants, my backpack, plus the medical supplies we scavenged. And of course, my terrible stench.

Truth: Okay, well, I guess first let's see how screechers feel about the dark. That'll be a fortune roll ... three, they can take it or leave it.

Order: In the dark, their screeching could lead other predators to them.

Truth: True, so when it gets dark they become ... completely ... silent.

Chaos: Well that's just GREAT news, isn't it. Oh, I want to roll my thing—wait, am I running from them still? Should I do a roll for that first?

Truth: No, we come in on Tui inside the IT department. It's a big open plan office, with the computer mainframe stacks in a separate room. Tui's crouched inside a cubicle, trying to control her breathing and listen for movement.

Chaos: Did I give the screechers the slip?

Truth: Anything's possible!

Chaos: Uh huh, yep, it sure is. Okay. Okay. I remember the others talking about turning on the power, and that it's probably in this area where I am. Can I use my thing to see if I know where the generators are?

Truth: Sure, maybe some things are clicking for you, maybe Widget described what generators look like and it's ringing some bells in your memory brain.

Chaos: That's a weird way to put it but okay, here I go rolling ... six, crap, my memory brain is utter bunk.

Truth: Nope, you remember it pretty clearly. You were actually in this IT department when everything went crazy and the dinosaurs showed up. You hid in the generator room with some other people. But you were the only one to get out alive. Everyone else got eaten. In the generator room. While you hid. And had to listen. And that's why you don't want to go anywhere near the generators.

Chaos: I really hate missing on that move, I truly do. Okay. Um. Hmm. I'm kind of stuck, then. Maybe that's Tui's scene here? She has a flashback and then just sort of cowers in the dark? Back to the others?

Truth: If you're okay with that, if there's nothing else you want to do?

Chaos: I'm good for now, maybe Max and Widget will figure out something that might help me in my position.

Truth: Okay, we'll go back to Max and Widget. Are you doing a safety move?

Order: Maybe scavenge again, mostly looking for a way to remotely activate the generators.

Hope: That sounds good to me, it might solve our problem instantly! Well, one of our problems. Sort of.

Truth: Sounds like a plan, tell a story and roll plus Clever.

Hope: I guess it's my turn to do one, let's see ... oh, something inefficient that infuriates me, the layout of this place! "Don't you think it's weird, Max? Nothing about this place makes any sense to me. Even putting aside the dinosaurs, and the collapsed roof blocking those stairs, it's just so inefficient. What even IS this place? What were they doing here?"

Order: "I don't know." I'm thinking about those rumours I heard, about the two year contracts and the ridiculously high salaries. I'm thinking, you don't have to pay anyone if everybody's dead. I'm thinking, maybe it wasn't dinosaurs who killed all the workers. I'm thinking, this feels big, and wrong. "Probably nothing good."

Hope: "That's for sure! I don't know about you, but I'm starting to feel like this is the worst job we ever took. We should've listened to the boss. She tried to warn us."

Order: "Did she? I don't remember that."

Hope: "When we signed off, when we took the contract! Usually she's like 'break a leg, you two!' but this time she was just like, 'good luck out there'. I should've listened to her."

Order: "Huh." Should Widget roll now, to see if we turn up anything?

Truth: Oh right, the roll! Yes, do that.

Hope: I'm a clever girl I'm a clever girl I'm a clever girl—yes! I am a clever girl! Eight plus two is ten!

Truth: So when Max says 'huh', it's because she found a soft red glow, and when Widget examines it, yep, that looks a lot like the button that will start the emergency generator reboot process.

Hope: "Bingpot!" I press it instantly with zero hesitation!

Truth: There's a pretty satisfying heavy clunking noise. The light turns green. Nothing else happens.

Hope: "Uh..."

Order: "Did it work? Do we need to do something else?"

Truth: Tui, you hear a sort of whirring noise.

Chaos: I think I was just sitting there with my head down. When I hear that noise my head whips up and my machete is in my hand, gripped tight and at the ready.

Truth: Back to Max and Widget, you two don't hear anything, until the fluorescent lights flicker on, and the screens around you come to life one by one.

Hope: "It worked! We did it, Max! We did it!"

Order: "We pressed a button, don't get too self-congratulatory."

Truth: Back to Tui again, the lights are coming on, and the mainframe area too, all those computers booting up, and there's a sudden chilly gust of air—this area is usually kept cold, for computer efficiency purposes. You also hear a scuttling, lots of small things moving quickly and suddenly.

Chaos: Gulp.

Truth: So, I actually think this counts as you overcoming the first obstacle, restoring power, so you all get to pick an advanced move.

Hope: Oh, exciting. Let's see, I can either gain the ability to build something big, with the help of you two, or I can make a bomb. I'm not really so into bombs? I'll take the construction thing. Oh, maybe I can figure out how to get past that blockage!

Order: I think I'll take Close Quarters Expert. I've observed these dinosaurs. They're just animals, like anything else. I'm confident I could take one in a fight.

Truth: What does that move do? Give you a bonus when you fight?

Order: When I Fight! I improve my result by one level, so a miss becomes a partial and a partial becomes a full.

Truth: Wow. That's pretty powerful. How about you, Tui?

Chaos: Are we likely to enter any kind of 'wilderness' in this thing?

Truth: Doesn't really seem like it's going that way.

Chaos: That's what I thought. In that case Fade Away seems a bit useless, so I'll go with Hoarder. I can pull stuff out of my backpack and maybe it's useful!

Truth: Now the other thing that happens is what's referred to as an 'Extinction Event'.

Chaos: Well now, doesn't that sound lovely.

Truth: Let's see, I'm just ... no, okay, I got it. For Max and Widget, up in that control room, some of those screens that flicked on show images from camera feeds, around the island. You see jungle, hills, big rocks, little rocks, weird rocks, mundane rocks, and of course a few dinosaurs doing their dinosaur biz. There's one feed in particular that catches your attention. It shows a wide view outside the prefab part of the base, with the helicopter landing pad, and there's your helicopter, still sitting there, still safe. That t-rex is asleep in the background, but that's not what you notice. The thing that you notice is the sky. The clouds are moving very strangely. Almost like they're vibrating, and some of them are jumping backward, like the footage from the camera is caught in a three second loop, except just for that one part of the image, that one cloud.

Order: "That ... is not normal."

Hope: "On the bright side, the helicopter looks fine? Yay?"

Truth: Tui, down in the IT department you don't see any of that. You're underground, probably, as far as you can tell, or in any case there are no windows. The lights are on now, and the computers are booting up, and every few seconds you feel a distinct ... pulse. It's like everything shakes, except not physically. You feel a warm wetness on your lip. Your nose is bleeding.

Chaos: Ah yes, the universal sign of weird nonsense, sudden nose bleeds.

Truth: And I think that's where we'll end this session!

Hope: Oh no! It makes sense to stop here, but oh no! I'm really looking forward to the next one. I hope we don't all die!

Order: That was fun, I'm looking forward to continuing as well. We overcame the obstacle, but the mystery remains.

Chaos: It's definitely a blast, but at the same time I'm pretty glad it's a one shot. I've already sort of had enough of dinosaurs. Plus I'm kind of remembering, like, there was a reason we moved on from PbtA? I'm not saying it's a bad system. Just like, yeah. You can have enough of a thing.

Hope: I think it works really well for this, though. What I mean is, there wasn't any time when I felt like it being PbtA took away from the experience? But then again I don't really think about mechanics too much. Um, I like the character classes, I think we all got to pick something we like.

Order: I don't usually play a soldier, but it fit me better than I expected. I'm glad I didn't pick The Doctor, which was my second choice.

Chaos: Honestly I'm not completely on board with Tui, but I think that's mostly just one shot syndrome. You know me, I'll always take a novel over a short story, a TV series over a movie. I need time to get to know someone! Anyway, yeah, this is good times. I'm looking forward to the second part, where we all get put in a zoo after being sucked through a dimensional portal into Dinosaur Universe.

Hope: I have a question. How much of this game is in the rules, and how much did you make up?

Truth: There's a lot of stuff to draw on here, they did a really good job providing a lot of little hooks. I'll probably talk more about that once we've finished properly, but for example, every area has some prompts for potential problems and so on. I had to modify a lot, especially with the power being off, but the example problems and incidents in the rules were really useful. Like with the medical room where you had a rest, the prompt was something like, there's a dinosaur in here high on pills and looking for more.

Chaos: Oh wow, headbuttasaurus was high as a kite.

Truth: That's why I was randomly rolling for its reactions.

Hope: What about things like the lab being blocked off, was that in the rules?

Truth: Yep, one of the prompts for the foyer, your path is blocked. Oh, and here's something to consider between sessions: maybe, just like the labs being blocked off deliberately ... dot dot dot...

Chaos: Oh. The power was also turned off on purpose. Oh man. What the flip did we do.

Truth: We'll find out next time, maybe? I guess we'll see!

[shirlleycoyle]

Here’s the Shadow Inc. App That Failed in Iowa Last Night

Jonathan Green said that everything was going well until he had to use the IowaReporterApp.

"On the ground, it went great," Green, the chair of the Democractic presidential primary caucuses in Iowa's Fremont Township and Lone Tree precincts and an IT systems administrator for a financial services firm, said.

"I got pissed off four years ago at how my precinct was run, which is why I volunteered to do it this time around," he said. "We had 113 people and everyone was pleasant. I had to recruit a secretary once we were going—I couldn't find one ahead of time. Everyone was patient and in good cheer. I know that's not likely the case today. My girlfriend, especially, is distraught. She has poured her life and soul into this thing, and for naught."

Green, like many other precinct chairs, faced problems reporting the results of the caucus to Iowa's Democratic Party using the app. Due to a coding error, the app, created by a company called Shadow Inc., wasn't reporting the correct data, according to the Iowa Democratic Party. The error resulted in the Democrats delaying all public reporting of the results of Monday's caucuses, and has sown chaos and confusion in a hotly contested and deeply important primary.

Motherboard has successfully downloaded and installed the app onto two Android phones; it only successfully booted on one of the devices.

The app running on one of Motherboard's phones.

The app wasn't just plagued with data reporting errors, the app didn't work properly on Green's phone. Wayne Hean, chair of the Davenport caucus precinct, told Motherboard that the app didn't work on his wife's iPhone, either.

Do you know anything about the app used to tabulate votes in Iowa? If you were a precinct leader or know anything else about the app, please reach out to Jason Koebler securely on Signal: 202-505-1702. He also has open Twitter DMs @jason_koebler.

Green shared an email with Motherboard that shows that he was first invited to test the app on January 18. The invite was sent via TestFairy, a mobile app testing platform for Android that is similar to Apple's TestFlight, which allows developers to test and share apps before their official release. The email refers to it as IowaReporterApp 1.1 and says that it is 26.43MB. The email also says that the app is being sent by jimmy@shadowinc.io. That email address did not respond to a request for comment.

On February 2, Green received an email with general instructions for precinct leaders, including a number for the Caucus Night Communication hotline. On February 3, 1 p.m., he received an email with the subject line "IMPORTANT: Final App Instructions." This email included more detailed instructions on how to use the app, and instructed precinct leaders to call the results in to the same phone number as the hotline in case the app "stalls/freezes/locks up."

"I've got about 150 messages from other precinct chairs in my county asking questions about the app in the lead up to last night," Green said.

Green, who used his personal Samsung S7, explained that in order to report the results, he had to sign in with an email and password, provide a two-factor authentication, and enter a one-time password generated by the Google Authenticator app. After this, he would need to enter his precinct PIN, but he did not get that far—when he entered the one-time password generated by the Google Authenticator app, this is the error message that he saw:

Three cybersecurity experts said it was not possible to determine much about the issue based only on the error message, with one mentioning how generic the error was.

In Davenport, Hean said that he was on a conference call with the Iowa Democratic Party at 6 PM Sunday night. He was told the IDP was worried there would be problems with the app.

"Sunday night at 6 PM, there was a conference call. We were all talking about the caucuses on Monday. One of the things that came up—'If you have a problem with the app, phone it in.' That’s the first time I heard there could have been a problem. We tried to use the app right off the bat and it failed. She had problems using the password and using the pin," he said. "My wife is pretty savvy when it comes to computer and electronics and gizmos … 'anticipating' [problems] was the word."

Once he and his wife, who is the Davenport caucus precinct's secretary, encountered problems, they stopped trying to use the app immediately: "We dropped the app and went right to the call in. We were put on permanent hold," he said.

Ultimately, Hean drove a paper version of the results to the county office.

"We took it to the office, and gave it to the county chairperson," he said. "I feel for all the campaigns, all the people who work so very hard for their candidates and they could not do this to see their successes or failures at the end of the night. It must be horrible for all the people and staffers. I know I’m frustrated with it. Thank God there’s a paper trail. Everything is down on a piece of paper."

Cybersecurity and voting experts said they were not surprised the app failed, and that the rollout of the app was so haphazard and irresponsible that its failure was a “predictable outcome.”

“We were really concerned about the fact there was so much opacity. I said over and over again trust is the product of transparency times communication. The DNC steadfastly refused to offer any transparency. It was hard to know what to expect except the worst,” Gregory Miller, cofounder of the Open Source Election Technology Institute, which publicly warned the IDP against using the app weeks ago, told Motherboard. “I don’t want to say I told you so, but …”

The New York Times reported that the app wasn't tested widely before it was deployed, and Miller said it's obvious that the app was rushed. That Shadow pushed a new build of the app just two days before the caucus seems to suggest the company was tinkering with it until the last minute. Installing an app via TestFairy or TestPilot is nonstandard and usually comes with a warning message from the phone's operating system. Phone users would be right to be skeptical about installing or trusting it.

"When you're vetting an app for something like this, you need to do load testing, regression testing, pen testing," Miller said. "It’s not just the app, it’s the deployment process. No one should ever deploy an app like this and have a popup that says this isn't safe for your phone."

A disaster like this is an unforced error for Democrats, and is sure to undermine American confidence in an electoral system that has been under attack from foreign governments, bots, and disinformation.

"Everyone from bots to Republicans literally devoured this scene and sowed a lot of seeds of confusion and chaos. You don’t deliver an app days before the event and call it good. Not with this much riding on this," Miller said. "In a system, in a world where we are questioning every aspect of elections and whether they can be trusted, why would you do anything to fuel a disinformation attack, and that’s exactly what the Democrats have done. They’ve opened a can of whupass on themselves."

Shadow Inc. apologized for the errors with its app on Tuesday afternoon in a Twitter thread:

The Iowa Democratic Party, and the Democratic National Committee did not respond to a request for comment.

Update: This piece has been updated to mention that Motherboard has successfully installed the app, and has been updated to include more information from another precinct chair. This piece has been updated with a tweet thread from Shadow Inc. apologizing for the errors with its app.

Joseph Cox contributed reporting to this piece.

Here’s the Shadow Inc. App That Failed in Iowa Last Night syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

[jmwetheringtonsr]

New Post has been published on http://jmwetheringtonsr.com/left-my-phone-in-the-uber/

Left My Phone In The Uber

You know that thing you say you’ll never do? And then how you feel when you do it? That was me yesterday afternoon.

Don’t be like me; prepare yourself for the inevitable.

While I’ve been deployed to Puerto Rico I have been “Ubering” back and forth from the hotel to the office. It’s much more convenient than using a rental car for many reasons. Drivers here in San Juan are, with all due respect, Keerazy! Traffic is, as in most metropolitan areas around the world, jam-packed. And parking is a nightmare, not to mention expensive.

Occasionally I’ve gotten into the back seat of my Uber ride to find something left behind by a previous customer. A book, a wad of dollars bills, and a half sandwich have been among the treasures left behind. But most of the time it’s a used tissue or Kleenex and usually it’s stuffed into the recessed door handle. Because yeah, people want to be dicks.

And, drivers are supposed to look in the back seating area when you get out, but these folks are hustling for the next ride so I get that they don’t always do that.

Anyway, since I usually only have my backpack and my two cell phones (one work, one personal) with me I normally concentrate on being sure the work one is in my pocket or my hand and that the personal one is in my belt holster or my hand when I get out of the car.

Yesterday afternoon I was scrolling though social media on my personal phone when we pulled into the hotel driveway, so I unbuckled my seat belt, slid my phone into the belt holster, picked up my backpack from the seat, told the driver “Thank you”, exited the car, strolled into the lobby, took the elevator up to my room, walked in and placed my backpack on the couch, then emptied my shirt pocket. My shirt pocket is where i keep my Bluetooth earpiece and when I removed it from my pocket I thought, “Well, I’ll just go ahead and put it in my ear and turn it on so I’ll be ready to talk to Cindy when she calls.”

But when I turned it on, instead of hearing the usual words “Phone one connected” I heard “No phone can be located.”

My hand immediately slapped down to my belt holster, which of course was empty. I remembered then that when I was placing my phone in the holster on auto-pilot it sort of felt funny but I just assumed it was because I was moving to get out of the car at the same time. Turns out I had not really put it in the holder.

Panic.

Not the kind of panic I felt a few years ago when I realized I had gone snorkeling for 30 minutes with my phone in my bathing suit pocket, but a high enough level that I know my blood pressure spiked, lol.

So I immediately grabbed my iPad out of the hotel room safe and started to Google “phone left in Uber” and while I was doing that my co-worker from HQ called about something work-related and when I mentioned what I had done and was doing she related that plenty of her friends have done the same thing and it’s easy to just go on the app and report it.

So I start downloading the app to my iPad while we’re talking about the work-related thing and just about the time we finish our conversation the app finishes downloading. The first thing it wants is your mobile number and when I enter that it helpfully says “Please enter the code that was sent to your phone.”

Arghh!

The app does not have any other way to log in (like using your username and password) until you enter that code.

So, back to Google. OK here’s a number you can call, so I call it. It’s a recording that basically says, “You’re SOL if you’re not a member of this high-falutin’ club for special subscribers.”

I’m not, so I am.

Then I go to Twitter, look up Uber and follow and then I get a recommendation to follow another Uber account if I’ve left something in a car. Eureka!

I follow it and DM them and within seconds they DM me a link to a site when I can log in with my username and password. My last ride pops up and I click a button that connect me by phone to my driver!

“Hi Jeff, yes you left your phone in the backseat. I dropped you off at BLANK, correct?”

“Yes, you did.”

“I can be back there in about 40 minutes.”

“Thank you!”

Now, when you use this link it says that drivers are busy and it may take a while and, to make up for their lost time in taking you something you stupidly (my word, not theirs) left in their car, an additional $15 will be tacked on to your fare.

Fine with me, ring it up!

I go sit in the lobby by the door and I’m expecting him to drive up and I’ll run outside and get the phone but in about 25 minutes here he comes walking through the door. He had parked to come inside!

I jump up to greet him, seeing he is holding my baby (“I’ll never let you go again, sweetie. And tonight, instead of being on the nightstand next to the bed, you can sleep in the bed with me and we’ll cuddle.”) and I smile my best smile at him while he is extending my phone toward me. I take out my last $20 bill and hand it to him as he hands me the phone, then shake his hand and tell him “Thank you” as he looks at the $20 and says “Thank you” and we both smile and go our separate ways.

My 45 minutes of horror, has ended and all is right with the world.

So, instead of thinking it will never happen to me again, I have now installed the Uber app on my iPad as well so I can access it from a secondary device if I ever need to and be prepared for the inevitable

And, big thanks to the Uber Twitter account folks and to my driver who was kind enough to bring my phone back to me.

By the way, Cindy thought I was just trying to get another phone, but I’m really waiting until the new ones come out later this year so mine will be better than hers, which she got by trying to fall off the jetty in Palm Beach last year!

[failedimitator]

The time is three o’clock in the morning and I’m texting my friend S bitching about someone I recently matched with on Tinder.

“You know, I saw this meme a few days ago that goes: Every girl got some guy in her DMs talking to himself.” I typed to S. “It’s really annoying that I’m that guy now.”

I matched with R about ten days ago. We had okay conversation on the app before she suggested that we move over to Instagram. 

“I don’t open Tinder often,” she’d said. “But here’s my instagram handle” -- and she typed it out -- “let’s talk there.”

“The actual person I’m mad at,” I text S, “is myself. You know, when she suggested that we move over to instagram, I should’ve said no. I should’ve told her that I don’t use instagram anymore. I should’ve suggested Whatsapp or Telegram. Wire or Signal. But instead, I said just okay and re-downloaded the app. I’m mad because I went against my principles, and to what end? Becoming a meme?”

I’d sent her a DM after that, telling her that I’m the guy from Tinder she just shared her handle with. She replied, acknowledging that. I made a joke about sliding into her DMs like a fuckboi. Seen. No response. Joke didn’t land, I figured. Let it slide. A day later, I send a message suggesting we should hang out sometime. Seen. No response. Internet dudes are always vaguely suggesting shit but not really committing to anything so they always have an excuse to back out. So a day after that, I sent another message -- this time more specific -- inviting her to go to a gallery. Seen.

A week later -- which is tonight -- I get a notification on my phone: three messages from her.

1. Hey

2. Sorry for the late reply

3. I need a photographer urgently to help me out with some shoots next week. Do you freelance?

“This is not on you,” my friend S texts back. “She’s done a shitty thing, but you can’t do much. I get that you’re salty, but saying anything to her will do no good.” 

So I DM her back saying yes, I do do freelance, but I’m unable to do this particular one. And I thank her for thinking of me. I watch videos on Youtube, all the while wondering why people on the internet are so cruel. Why they go around ghosting and benching and breadcrumbing with no regard whatsoever for the people on the other side of the screen.

I will fall asleep here, in this position, and in the morning, I’ll wake up to a Whatsapp message from my friend Z of a screenshot of a Facebook conversation she would have been having with her new friend at about the same time I was bitching to S.

I know Al, the first line of the screenshot will say. He has ghosted me repeatedly. True story.

"Who is this person?” I will ask Z, and when she will tell me that it’s someone she met dancing the night before, and that after they’d added each other on Facebook, they’d realised that they have me as a mutual friend. Z will tell me the name of this person, and I will immediately feel deeply misunderstood. 

“That is not a generous interpretation of what happened at all,” I will tell Z. 

I will then proceed to tell her my version of the story, at which point I’ll realise that no one will ever have a more generous interpretation of my actions than myself. No one will give you the benefit of the doubt more than you can give yourself. We are, by nature, the only ones privy to our innermost thoughts and feelings, and thus, we’re the only ones capable of seeing all the nuances and complexities behind our actions.

My Tinder match will probably never read this, but I can imagine her -- or a version of her -- reading this and exclaiming: This is not a very generous interpretation of what happened at all! And then calling or texting the friend who’d sent her the post to give her version of the story.

But this is before any of that. This is before the hypothetical, before the realisation, and before the screenshot from Z. 

This is four o’clock in the morning. I’m on Youtube thinking about Instagram, and I’m salty.

[clarencenicholsonata]

30 Marketing Tactics We Learned from 6 Years of Rapid Growth

The working environment at Wishpond is focused on rapid growth.

This allows us to throw marketing tactics against the wall to see what sticks.

More often than not, the things we throw end up breaking. But sometimes they stick, and we boost sales by 40% or find a new avenue for growth.

This article is a carefully collated list of hacks and tactics which, I hope, you will not have seen before. These are the tactics we've found to be the most reliable for growing a business.

Which element of business growth are you most interested in? Click below to head straight to each section:

Increasing Brand Awareness

Getting More Customers

Becoming More Efficient

Most of the marketing tactics in this article are simple to implement, but some will require a developer or a bit more advanced understanding of digital marketing. If you have any questions, reach out in the comment section and we'd be happy to help!

Increasing brand awareness

The marketing tactics in this section revolve around getting a business seen and heard.

Less-focused on driving sales, here are 11 early-stage marketing tactics which drive brand awareness.

#1. Join active communities of other marketers

There have never been more awesome marketing communities than right now. Check out Facebook and Slack, in particular.

These communities don't just offer advice. If approached correctly, they can also share your content and connect you with a network of people excited to increase your brand awareness.

Share this marketing tactic with your network!

#2. Send micro-influencers an Instagram DM

If you're looking to connect with a larger audience on Instagram, identify micro-influencers (people with 2000-10000 followers) and DM them. Compliment them on their photos and ask for feedback, in return for a discount code.

Then, follow up with interested influencers and offer a free product in exchange for a promotional post.

Share this marketing tactic with your network!

For more on this marketing tactic, check out 10 Tactics to Grow Your Ecommerce Customer Base

#3. Stand for something

Standing out from your competitors may mean choosing a side.

A good example of this is Harry's, an ecommerce company selling men's shaving tools. To stand out from their (frankly, numerous) competitors, they built a brand around exploring what it means to be a man.

In particular, they jumped into support of the LGBTQ community, devoting a month of their blog's content to exploring their stories:

In honor of Pride, we sought out inspiring individuals in the LGBTQ+ community and asked them: How do you actually identify? No labels. No expectations. Here, see how fun—and moving—true individuality can really be. - Harry's Five O'Clock blog

Share this marketing tactic with your network!

#4. Create videos for LinkedIn & YouTube

A powerful way to increase the reach of your posts is to create a video - just a minute or two, describing your content or your newest feature.

These videos don't need to be incredibly professional. So long as you have good audio and good energy, people will respond positively.

To see an example, check out this LinkedIn post and video from Shopify Plus editor Aaron Orendorff.

Share this marketing tactic with your network!

#5. Find and Repost User-Generated Content

76% find UGC more trustworthy than branded advertising. A tool like Later can help you search for user-generated content using hashtags, save it to your library, repost it and credit the people who took the photos.

This is an awesome way to reach new audiences on Instagram.

Share this marketing tactic with your network!

#6. Mention people when you post content on social media

Whenever you write an article and share it on social media (especially LinkedIn and Twitter), create a list of thought-leaders within your network who may be interested, then @mention or tag them in your Post.

Another cool idea is to mention brands within your content, and let them know when you've done so.

Share this marketing tactic with your network!

#7. Run a referral or bonus-entry campaign

Referral or bonus entry contests are the best ways to use your existing contacts to spread awareness about your brand.

These contests give people additional chances to win a grand prize if they share your contest with their network.

Share this marketing tactic with your network!

#8. Reward sharing

Your existing customers are the most valuable resource you have to increase awareness. They already love you, after all.

Check out a tool like Referralcandy, which enables you to reward your customers (in a number of ways) when they share your brand with their network.

Share this marketing tactic with your network!

#9. Communicate easily with followers

A tool like Commun.it automatically tracks all your new Fans every day, identifies the most engaged Fans and allows you to reach out to them directly from the app.

This is an awesome way to ensure you're engaging with your social media community (and ensure that community is engaged with your brand).

Share this marketing tactic with your network!

#10. Run a co-promotion with a business similar to yours

Identify business who don't compete with you, but do have a similar target market (and are a similar size). Combine forces to offer an awesome prize package, then promote to your existing lists.

You'll double the effectiveness of a normal contest, and drive huge awareness from your target market.

Share this marketing tactic with your network!

For a walkthrough on how we at Wishpond used co-promotions, check out "A Behind-the-Scenes Look at How We Generated 1,263 New Leads (With a Little Help from Our Friends)."

#11. Brand your app, and offer a free version

If you have the capability, a great way to increase brand awareness is to offer a heavily-branded free version of your software (or a part of it).

Wishpond uses this strategy ("Powered By" within our free popup tool) to drive over 1,000 website visits every month.

Share this marketing tactic with your network!

Click here to head back up to the Table of Contents.

Getting more customers

Ultimately, driving sales has got to be the focus point of a marketing team.

Website optimization, advertising, and testing are important, but you already know that.

This section focuses on giving you tactics to grow your customer base which you may not have necessarily thought of.

#12. Retarget pricing page visitors

Rather than spending huge money to retarget/remarket all your website traffic, focus only on those most-interested visitors.

Retarget people who viewed your pricing page, but didn't check out. YouTube video ads are particularly effective.

Share this marketing tactic with your network!

#13. Don't send people to your homepage

Homepages still have a place, of course. You need somewhere for people to go if they just want to learn more about you (though there's an argument to be made that even your "About Us" page should be optimized to drive demos).

But if you're running ads, using social media, blogging, or (really) driving people to your website from any traffic source except Google organic search, you should create a page specifically optimized for that traffic source.

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For more on this marketing tactic, check out my article, "Homepages are Dead: The Rise of the All Landing Page Website."

#14. Send a text instead of an email

Using marketing automation, you can trigger text messages instead of emails. With a 98% open rate, texts may just be a better way to confirm a demo booking or fight shopping cart abandonment.

Apps like Twilio make it easy:

Share this marketing tactic with your network!

#15. Make your 404 page a landing page

Changing your 404 page to a lead-gen landing page means you're taking advantage of every page of your website.

Consider offering an ebook, demo or email-gated promotion to everyone who accidentally finds your 404s.

Share this marketing tactic with your network!

#16. Auto-select form fields

Auto-selecting form fields enables your site visitors to simply start typing rather than having to move their mouse to your form.

Never underestimate the importance of usability in your sales funnel.

Share this marketing tactic with your network!

#17. Add PayPal & Amazon pay to checkout

PayPal and Amazon pay options are super easy additions to your ecommerce site, and every time you give people more options, you cut out the excuses to not complete a purchase.

ComScore ran a study which reported that ecommerce checkout with PayPal as an option converted 82% higher than checkout processes without PayPal.

Share this marketing tactic with your network!

#18. Add social logins to signup pages

We get about 40% of our total signups through Facebook and Google logins. Clicking a button is so much easier than entering your email address.

Without social logins, our signup rates would be significantly lower. You'll need a dev for this, but it will pay off almost immediately.

Share this marketing tactic with your network!

#19. Delay sending emails until office hours

Email open and click-through rates are significantly better on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays than they are on Sunday. And they're significantly better at 8am than they are at 8pm.

Use a tool like Wishpond's email-delay to make sure your automated emails are only sending when people are around to open them:

Share this marketing tactic with your network!

#20. Instead of a landing page, use a click popup

We saw a 40% increase in conversion rates when we kept blog readers in an article (allowing them to download a guide in a popup) than when we sent them to a different tab to do so.

Over the course of the year, the test resulted in thousands more leads than we otherwise would have had.

Share this marketing tactic with your network!

#21. Use conditional formatting to personalize the website experience

Conditional formatting enables you to include demographic information, product names, even first names within in your landing page, product pages, and popup headlines.

This type of personalization drastically increases conversion rate.

For instance, let's say you own an ecommerce company. Wouldn't it be awesome if your page headlines changed based on product that the visitor clicked on?

Here's an example from eMusic, in which headlines change automatically based on a visitor's previous visit:

Share this marketing tactic with your network!

For more on conditional formatting check out Shopify's walkthrough for ecommerce companies.

Click here to head back up to the Table of Contents.

Becoming more efficient

Does it feel like you don't have enough hours in the day?

Marketing a business online requires coffee, late hours and more creativity than you'd think possible.

But there are ways to make it that little bit easier (and isn't a little bit all you need, some days?)

This section covers marketing tactics and tools which help you become a more efficient marketer - saving you time, energy, and resources.

#22. Use templates

The easiest thing you can do as a marketer to make your life easier is to use templates everywhere you can:

Blog header images: Have a designer create a PSD file which looks great and learn how to edit it (you don't have to learn Photoshop to edit a Photoshop file)

Landing pages: Edit an existing template within your favorite landing page builder with your brand colors, brand font, etc. Then duplicate and edit that template for each of your future marketing campaigns.

Facebook Ads: Have a designer create three or four Facebook Ad designs, then run campaigns with all of them. Ask them to create an editable template of whichever design performed best and use it as a starting place for your next campaign.

For instance, take advantage of designer-created landing page templates:

Share this marketing tactic with your network!

#23. Make Facebook Ad testing easy

We've been using AdEspreso for a few years now, and there's one main reason:

The platform makes it super easy to create multiple tests.

Let's be honest, Facebook's ad manager doesn't make it easy to create tests, but testing is crucial to getting the most bang for your ad budget.

Import a single ad image and write three different headlines, and AdEspresso automatically creates 16 different variations. import 3 images and 3 headlines, and you'll get 45 distinct tests.

It's quick, easy, and the time-saving (and conversions) more than pay off the cost of the platform.

Share this marketing tactic with your network!

#24. Use a project management platform well

I say "well" there, because I honestly believe that's what makes this marketing tactic different from the ones you've heard before that recommend project management apps.

Tools like Trello can be used one of two ways: 1) haphazardly and inconstantly or 2) to save you time, stress, and make your team work 50% more efficiently.

It's up to you.

A great example of a well-used project management tool is Buffer's public content calendar

Here's a snapshot:

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#25. Zap it

Need to send data between two platforms? Use Zapier to connect them.

Fighting for a developer's time can be one of the most frustrating and time-consuming parts of a marketer's job. Zapier makes it possible for marketers of all skill-levels to send data from the tools they love to the tools they love.

Share this marketing tactic with your network!

#26. Use marketing automation

You've may have heard this marketing tactic before, but there are a few use cases you may not be familiar with:

Use marketing automation to send a series of emails to leads (this is the one you've probably heard before).

Use marketing automation to send a message to a salesperson (prompting them to get in touch manually) when a lead visits your pricing page twice in two days.

Use marketing automation to send an abandoned cart email when someone abandons checkout, prompting them to return.

Use marketing automation to move leads to a "hot lead" segment based on pages they've visited, frequency, demographics or any other variable you can think of.

Share this marketing tactic with your network!

Want to learn more about marketing automation? Book a no-obligation, free chat with a Wishpond marketing expert to learn how it can help you grow your business and save you time.

#27. Create automated webinars

Tools like Demio enable you to create a webinar once, then replay it (automatically) forever as if it's live.

The technology is a bit cheeky, but you can create a level of urgency you wouldn't otherwise have with on-demand webinars. This increases registration rates.

Share this marketing tactic with your network!

For more on how you can drive sales with webinars, check out my article "How We Made $11,283 with a Single Webinar."

#28. Use Google Drawing instead of learning the Adobe suite

This is one of my favorite marketing strategies - the ability to create almost everything that my designers can create with a totally free tool.

Google Drawing (and Presentation) make visual content-creation super simple. And they save you from having to go back to school...

Share this marketing tactic with your network!

For more on this marketing tactic, check out my post "How to Create Beautiful Gated Content Without Graphic Design Experience."

#29. Take a pause

I first heard about the "Take a pause" method when a friend forwarded me this Forbes article.

In it, marketing influencer Bruce Kasanoff recommends that, after you complete a task, just sit there for a couple minutes, resisting your desire to push on to another task immediately.

That desire, Bruce says, "[leads] to a long and winding road of inefficiency. You end up being reactive instead of proactive."

Instead, sit for a few minutes until your impulse to check your email, check your phone or jump into another task fades.

"Just wait, until you calm down.

When at last you are content doing nothing, allow yourself to consider your next move. Whatever you do next will be the product of calm and focused thought."

Share this marketing tactic with your network!

#30. Ask for help

This is perhaps the most important marketing tactic I've learned in 6 years at a startup. That's why I've included it twice, kind of.

I said above that communities are an amazing way to increase brand awareness, and they are. But they're also incredible resources.

A simple question, "Which webinar software should we use?" is far more effectively answered by an active Facebook group than it would be by a day of Google searching:

That question got replies from 14 marketers, looking to help someone out of nothing more than their own altruism.

Growing a business takes a village. Never forget that you're not alone in this.

Share this marketing tactic with your network!

Click here to head back up to the Table of Contents.

Final Thoughts

I hope you find a few tactics in this post which you can use to grow your business, as we have.

I don't have any real favorites, as I believe every single one of these has serious value at different business stages and for different industries.

As I said in the introduction, though, some of these require a bit more thought than others.

If you have questions about implementation or any of the tools I've recommended, feel free to reach out in the comment section.

Happy growing!

Related Reading:

Growth Hacking: 100 Hacks, Strategies & Techniques

77 Tremendous Tools to Make You a Content Marketing Superstar

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[unifiedsocialblog]

How to Work With an Instagram Influencer According to an Influencer

As the creator of the blog Style Bee and the Instagram account @LeeVosburgh, I write about responsible style and thoughtful consumption and share brands I love. I also started the 10×10 Style Challenge, My Instagram account, which has been active since 2013, has grown into a wonderful community of over 46,000 engaged followers.

For several years at the beginning of my career I was using Instagram as a means to share my blog content and direct my readers to new posts. That’s still a big part of what I use it for. But, as my following has grown, I’ve had opportunities to work on Instagram collaborations and projects exclusively (not just as part of bigger blog based campaigns).

As an Instagram influencer, I receive enquiries from brands several times a day. This is great, but it takes a pretty special set of conditions to pique my interest—partly because my business is focused on a niche market (responsible fashion) and partly because I’m very particular about what I share with my followers. It’s taken me five years to build up the audience I have and I genuinely value their trust in my opinion. Any brand partnership I take on has to align with my (and my audience’s) values, taste, lifestyle and editorial calendar!

Like any other business partnership, the partnership between brands and influencers should be carefully considered and thoughtful. Read on to find out my tips for brands who want to work with Instagram influencers—what to do and what not to do in order to build successful campaigns and long-term working relationships.

Bonus: Download a free checklist that reveals the exact steps an adventure photographer used to grow from 0 to 110,000 followers on Instagram with no budget and no expensive gear.

1. Do your research

I get it, time is precious. But, it always shows when a brand representative has done their research and actually knows what my brand and I are all about.

Try to be as thorough as you can when first exploring influencer options and make sure the ones you’re reaching out to are a good fit for your brand. This might take longer initially, but will lead to better suited partners, saving you time in the long run.

Here are a few questions to keep handy as you research:

Does this influencer’s brand align with mine in terms of values, aesthetics, and personality?

Is their photography of the style and caliber you want your products associated with?

Are the brands and products they have previously worked with similar to mine?

Another tip: Put more value on an influencer’s online integrity than on the number of followers they have. Having 10,000 devoted followers is way better than 60,000 bots that were paid for. Ask yourself:

Is this influencer’s content high quality?

Are their captions thoughtful and well written?

Is their audience engaged?

These are all things that take time and effort and can serve as a good indicator of how they’ll be to work with. Even if the influencer has fewer followers than your brand’s account they may be able to send lots of new followers your way.

Also consider how often they’re posting sponsored content. Personally, I try to keep my brand partnerships and sponsored content well spread out. When an influencer has sponsored posts back to back to back there’s a good chance they’re not terribly discerning when it comes to the brands they work with and their audience will notice too.

2. Introduce yourself thoughtfully

Most influencers will be happy to hear from you and much more inclined to reply to a message that’s been thoughtfully written, not copy and pasted. Keep it short and to the point about why you’re reaching out. Talk about your brand and how you’re interested in working together.

Initial contact via direct message is OK, but I usually prefer to hop over to email when it comes to digging into the specifics of a project. Plus, sometimes I don’t check DMs from new contacts so I won’t see it until days later.Y our best bet when making initial contact with an influencer? If there’s an email address or contact info in an influencer’s profile, that’s the best way to get in touch.

Even if I don’t have room in my calendar or it’s not a good fit, I’m always happy to hear from an interesting new brand or independent designer because it could always lead to projects down the road.

Just don’t send out a mass email. This may seem like a given, but I’ve lost track of how many of those emails I’ve received. The truth is that it’s immediately obvious when a DM or an email has not been sent personally. For me, those types of initial contact will rarely get a reply. I’ll often immediately decline or delete them.

Earlier this year a marketing rep from Elizabeth Suzann, a responsibly produced clothing line based in Nashville, TN, reached out to say hello and express their interest in participating in the Spring 10×10 (a style challenge I created and host every season). Instead of diving right into what they wanted to see from me they outlined why the challenge was important to them, how the brand could support the community I’d been working to grow and ways in which they’d be open to giving back to the participants.

I could tell right away that they had really considered the possibility of working together in a meaningful way, not just to get eyes on their products, and that this was going to be great for everyone involved. The collaboration went ahead and was one of the most enjoyable and well-received ones I’ve worked on to date.

3. Plan to pay your influencer partners

Of course, your product or service might be amazing, but keep in mind that it takes years of consistent and dedicated work to build up a loyal audience on social media. Your brand stands to benefit from this hard-earned and well-established trust.

Not to mention, it takes time to communicate and plan, produce images and/or videos, edit, caption, and share and promote content in a unique and meaningful way. Even before I was blogging full-time I stopped accepting gifted product in exchange for a post 99% of the time.

The bottom line is that free product won’t pay the rent and the work is worth real dollars if it’s going to generate sales for a brand.

Rates are variable depending on followers, engagement, the project and the individual influencer, but can often be negotiated. Sometimes Instagram influencers with less than 10K followers might be more open to gifted product in exchange for a post as they’re looking to build their audience.

But what if your brand has a small budget? No problem. Sometimes I (and other influencers) will work on a commission or affiliate basis instead of a flat rate fee. If the influencer you’re looking to work with is out of your price range, you can also try to find similar creatives who have fewer followers and find out what their rates are.

Bonus: Download a free checklist that reveals the exact steps an adventure photographer used to grow from 0 to 110,000 followers on Instagram with no budget and no expensive gear.

Get the free checklist right now!

4. Embrace a lack of creative control

You know your brand well and likely have ideas about how you want it represented online, but keep in mind that you’re working with this influencer because you like their content. You want a unique take on how your brand fits into their lifestyle and how it will resonate with their audience. So, my tip? Try to keep the art direction to a minimum.

Personally, the best partnerships for me, in terms of audience response, are when I’ve had some time to experiment the product and have complete autonomy over how I share it with my followers. These posts always feel more genuine than if I have a scripted caption or predetermined content. My audience responds very positively to authenticity, and I’m sure it’s the same for other Instagram influencers.

Feel free to share some visual references of what you’re looking for or point out some posts of theirs that you like. Mention any hashtags you’d like incorporated, especially if they are branded hashtags.

That said, it’s always pretty obvious when a sponsored campaign goes out and a bunch of Instagram influencers are posting very similar images. Audiences can tell that these campaigns are heavily scripted and are likely to recognize the lack of authenticity. The more it feels like the brand or product is really a part of an influencer’s life, the more successful your campaign will be.

For example, I had an opportunity to style and feature a piece from the Velvet by Graham Spencer Resort collection in January 2018. At the time I had a trip to Mexico coming up and asked if we could extend the post timeframe in order for me to share the product in a warm setting. They thought this was a good plan and sent the product (a lovely embroidered top) my way to shoot and style.

I shared the top on my Instagram feed in both a flatlay format and in an outfit post, along with my Mexico Trip stories and received lots of great feedback from my audience. Several followers also noted that they’d ordered it for their own upcoming vacations too!

5. Ask for a Story too

With the Instagram algorithm being what it is, it’s important to use every available touchpoint within the app during a campaign. Make sure you negotiate to have an Instagram Story included along with a post on the influencer’s feed. Not only can your influencer partner link directly to your product or website (if they have over 10K followers), they can also collect valuable data about Story interactions like how many actions were taken and how many people viewed the story.

Personally, I was a slow starter when it came to Instagram Stories, but now I actually prefer them over my feed as a way to interact with my followers, especially when it comes to campaigns. I can tell a broader “story” about the product, show it “in action,” have personal discussions, be a bit more playful, and make it even easier for my audience to access items.

For instance, Boot Rescue is a Canadian based line of shoe care products that make it quick and easy to clean shoes and leather goods (if you’ve spent a winter in Ontario, you know how important that is). They approached me to share their all natural Boot Rescue wipes and, after testing them out, I felt they’d be something my audience would love to learn about. I’d received lots of questions about how I care for my leather footwear during the winter, so I suggested creating a tutorial series on my Stories (in addition to a post on the feed) which would include a demo and mention of the product as well as lots of other information about shoe care steps.

The series was a huge hit with my audience and both the brand and I were really happy with how it turned out. I’ve since saved the tutorial to my highlights!

Pro tip: Be sure to use your own Stories and feed to share the collaboration too! It’s always great when a brand partner directs their audience to my account during the campaign period. It shows our followers that we’re really collaborating and let’s both sets of audiences intersect.

6. Share feedback

This last step often gets overlooked by both parties involved in Instagram influencer campaigns. It’s so easy to be done with a campaign and on to the next thing. But, it’s helpful to share feedback after a project wraps up.

If you’ve collected data from the campaign such as new followers, sales, site traffic etc., pass that along to your influencer. In turn, they should be able to pass along any data that you wouldn’t have been able to track, such as post saves and reach, Story interactions, and impressions.

This information allows you to evaluate the campaign better and understand what to expect going forward. It also gives the influencer useful insight into how their work converts to sales, so they can strategize for future campaigns.

Also, did you enjoy working with this influencer? Let them know! Did you feel something could have gone differently? It happens, and of course, that’s important to share so everyone can improve going forward.

If you’re really happy with how a collaboration went, consider pitching another project down the road. Personally, I’m always inclined to work with brands I already have an established relationship with before collaborating with new ones. Plus, the calendar fills up quickly, so it’s good to get on the list for a new season of campaigns ahead of time.

These tips should help you navigate your next Instagram Influencer campaign or project. Thanks for reading and for supporting the creative and talented folks on Instagram!

Save time managing your Instagram presence using Hootsuite. From a single dashboard you can schedule and publish photos directly to Instagram, engage the audience, measure performance, and run all your other social media profiles. Try it free today.

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The post How to Work With an Instagram Influencer According to an Influencer appeared first on Hootsuite Social Media Management.

How to Work With an Instagram Influencer According to an Influencer published first on https://getfblike.tumblr.com/

[instarsa-blog]

So, This Malware Incident...

This is where everything started… or at least, brought to my attention…

Back in June, the 16th specifically, my twitter sent a bunch of suspicious DMs to twitters I follow - ones that don’t even follow me, and don’t have their DM box open. It was a suspicious alright - besides it just being about sunglasses… I didn’t think anything of it

I want to note, that before this event, I’ve had my blog http://instar.co.vu/ linked to my twitter as my website, and everything was fine! I was able to link my art into tweets and it all worked fine!

But since this incident, with the DMs, the issue first started appearing as me being unable to keep http://instar.co.vu/ linked as my website, as twitter would identify it as malware. In order for to bypass that, thinking Twitter was just being a butt because of the “simple hack experience”, I removed the http:// and just had instar.co.vu on display… I also want to note that the main url, http://instarsa.tumblr.com/ WAS working, and was not identified as malware…

I also couldn’t link instar.co.vu domained links anymore… Twitter would give me the message, “this tweet seems suspicious may contain malware, so please try again at another time”, or something like that… I again thought it was just because of the hack incident, and it would become frustrating as I really thought my blog was just fine

https://twitter.com/instarsa/status/878747246954545152

After this, I did manage to tweet a link to my blog for an art piece...

Then my account got locked

https://twitter.com/instarsa/status/879496928840499202

Judging by the dates, I’m at this point 90% sure at this point it WAS because I successfully posted that link, as @/unclebibby pointed out, which twitter thought initially was malware...

Thing is though, despite this, I could still VISIT instar.co.vu, with no problems. I could still MODIFY my theme...

https://twitter.com/instarsa/status/881987564630102017

https://twitter.com/instarsa/status/882374996881883136

I even had a follower who visited through mobile, AND pc, and there was no problems whatsoever

However, this problem persisted with being unable to tweet links with instar.co.vu, with twitter assuming it was malicious content...

https://twitter.com/instarsa/status/886034042579111937

I thought it was simply because I would copy and paste forms I made on tumblr, that twitter would think it’s malicious content... despite that working before all of this, but when I tried using instarsa.tumblr for a link, twitter didn’t pick it up as malware

It got so bad, that it eventually was impossible to get the instar.co.vu links through

This is when it should have been obvious to me... but I’m a dumb, and still thought Twitter was just BSing me because of the hack incident... so I ended up working around linking, and instead used tumblr’s twitter function to auto-post

July 23, I actually visit my blog, after a while of not visiting its homepage...

https://twitter.com/instarsa/status/889220949551140864

My immediate thought - contact tumblr support

Before contacting support, I visited help, to see if I could find any answers, or to find what may have caused it, and came across only one thing - and to quote -

Is there a risk of VigLink serving malware?

If there's malware, it won't be because of VigLink. All VigLink does is see if a merchant is in their network, and adds a referral code to the URL if it is. If the original link is to malware, it won't be in the VigLink network. As a general rule, never click on links from people you don't trust—and be skeptical of everything on the internet. You can review our security documentation here.

Now, this is very informative, but here’s the problem: I’m already using tumblr’s affiliation links, so this doesn’t directly relate to what my problem is...

So I reached out to support, explaining my situation, saying how Twitter had suspected it as malware, and sent them the screenshot I had posted to my tweet about the situation

After I sent my report, I recalled something I stated earlier in this post to myself -

“http://instarsa.tumblr.com/ WAS working, and was not identified as malware… “

So I tried visiting instarsa.tumblr.com, with my custom domain turned off, so it wouldn’t redirect me to instar.co.vu...

No sign of malware

It was the custom domain causing this, and it’s a shame I didn’t catch the signs sooner of such... looking back at the situation as a whole, it should have been obvious - and I’m just relieved it was only the custom domain and not the blog itself, or else I would have been screwed...

At the worst, I’ll need to change my custom url, which will be frustrating, as I have to find all sources where I had instar.co.vu linked, and change them... in the longrun, as I find ones that need replaced, I’m considering just replacing them with instarsa.tumblr.com, that way, if this happens again, it’ll auto-redirect to whichever custom domain I’d be using...

As of this moment, I’m waiting for a response from tumblr support, thinking maybe they could fix this, but I’m unsure since they don’t affiliate with my custom url

In the meantime, I decided to visit codotvu.co, to see if I could find any possible solutions, and came across this -

If tumblr can’t do anything {which would make sense}, and if I’m desperate to keep instar.co.vu, this is what I’ll end up doing, and hoping it will get me somewhere... however due to this I was considering a new custom domain overall, so if I decide that, there’d be no point in fixing instar.co.vu

So! Tumblr support back to me, saying it could have been an issue with the theme... but I’m 90% sure that isn’t the case. I ended up deciding to reply back to tumblr report and tell them my own discovery about the custom url, because it just felt right to me - and claimed I would contact support for the custom url provider, codotuv.com... and let me tell you, SPECIAL THANKS TO SUCH A TEAM! Their responses were fast - I contacted, replied, and got an explanation AND advice all in the same day!!

So this was the next step, reporting the way they suggested, which I did in a heartbeat...

However at this point, MalwareBytes itself was still picking up instar.co.vu as malware...? Codotvu support claimed the issues were gone though, so I was thinking that MalwareBytes may just have it blocked although it is now safe. Toying around the settings was one thing, as I couldn’t find much of anything...

The first thing I tried was disabled instar.co.vu as my custom url, and headed over to codotvu, unlinked the tumblr connection and tried relinking it. No dice... thinking about it now, it’d make sense why that wouldn’t work - it’s not where the url refers to, but the url ITSELF that MalwareBytes is picking up...

Then I decided to just click that link that MalwareBytes gives when I try visiting and--

... Welp, at least I know how to do that though... but I was uneasy about doing so. I mean, what if that malware is still actually there...? And I had a good way to check that too - call in the fabulous StylishRapo for help!~

She recently had downloaded MalwareBytes and had a free trial which includes web protection, BUT, she hasn’t visited my blog yet with it installed. I asked her to, and well, the result wasn’t very happy - it was still being picked up malware...

This is basically where I met my end here. I know Codotvu said it was fixed, I know they tried helping, and their support was good and fast and I don’t doubt that, but I was still having this issue...???

Well, twitter support is super slow, and I’m not going to waste my precious time in life waiting for the link to be unblocked....

Actually, no! Codotvu and I’s teamwork to get co.vu links unblocked seemed to be a success! However to this day, and it’s been a few days of waiting, Codotvu has not gotten back to me saying the malware issue is still persistent when I visit my url, despite them saying the issue was resolved...

So, I’m just using the tumblr domain. Way less of a hassle, for now...

If you find my previous instar.co.vu url linked anywhere on my social medias as a landing page, or any broken links in general due to the domain change, PLEASE please please let me know!! It’d be hard to track entirely on my own, and I fully appreciate the help anyone gives me~  ♥

To those who have been concerned from lack of activity, I am so sorry - I simply stopped posting and paused my queue because I didn’t want to give anyone a reason to visit here... I didn’t want to risk anyone’s possible safety. But everything will be ok now! It wasn’t my blog, it was the url, and the problematic url has been ditched...~ My queue will continue soon, as well as more posts!

This has been a three-month long stressful bumpy ride so I have been very emotionally drained, especially as of late, so if there are any typos in this post or anything sounds confusing, I hope you can find it in yourself to forgive me... this would have been posted sooner, but some time was taken out due to needing a new router, then getting re-adjusted to online...

In other small news - I’ll be having a new watermark!! Courtesy of my good pal Cicada~

Remember! You can always inbox me if there’s something you don’t understand!!~  ♥