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xbunnybunz · 3 years

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Sick Days [BEN Drowned x Reader]

Summary: When a creepypasta manages to crawl into your home through a computer, people usually scream and call the police. You? Well, it's just another normal day for you.

Genre: Fluff, Horror, Humor

Date: June 20, 2015

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You sat in your room with the expression of utter boredom painted on your features, your hand absentmindedly tracing patterns on the table next to your open laptop. You grunted as your computer went into hibernation mode again and tapped the spacebar to reawaken the screen. Your bedroom window was wide open, allowing the evening breeze to float into your adobe and gently rustle the papers on your table. Fading streaks of sunlight peeked through your fluttering curtains, caressing your body with soft warmth.

Despite the serene atmosphere that had settled into your semi-messy room, your features were soon twisted into a grimace. The fingers that had been trailing along the table began drumming a steady rhythm, growing quicker and more impatient by the second. You glanced at the clock for what seemed like the hundredth time that day, and read the blaring red numbers 6:23 PM. You scowled, annoyed. "Ugh, where is that little rascal?" You muttered, tapping your keyboard again and watching irefully as your homescreen popped up again. Ben usually arrived before sundown, but the sun was already halfway down the horizon. Ben probably would've taunted you for being so worked up over his absence, and you, being a little short tempered, would probably fall for his teasing and would have exploded into a mess of jumbled profanities. Though many would describe your actions now as "eager," you recalled how petrified you were when Ben first popped out of the fossilized desktop your dad insisted they brought when your family moved. That day, your mother and father had been visiting a sick relative in the hospital, and couldn't come home for the night. You, feeling free and a little daring, decided to stay up the entire night watching horror flicks in your livingroom. Although you felt the terror of eight marathoned horror movies shake you to your core, you persisted, jumping at every little noise from the movie and from your creaky home. That's why, when you witnessed the forgotten computer in the corner of the livingroom fizz and flicker on and off, you froze in unfathomable fear, merely staring as a deathly pale hand clawed it's way out of a jumble of binary code and pixels. By the time a head of tousled white hair and pitch black eyes with crimson irises emerged from the screen, you were already halfway out the door, knowing better than to trap yourself in your own bedroom. You would've spent the night at a neighbor's house, but your closest neighbor must have been at least a mile away- being that your family decided to move into the suburbs. Unfortunately for you, who was secluded in the pitch black of the night with god-knows-what in your house, it was pouring outside. In your mad scramble for salvation, you had not grabbed the keys to your house. You had originally settled for the plan to stay in the freezing rain, (it was definitely a safer bet than being in the house) but alas, the hours spent watching scary movies finally took its toll on you, and had made you paranoid to every small rustle and crunch. (In truth, it was just the trees.) This terror had driven you to crawl up some old growths of ivy on the side of your home, feeling blessed to find your bedroom window open just a crack- allowing you to pry the rest of the window open. Halfway through your window, you looked up- only to become blatantly horrified. There the white-haired boy was, floating in the middle of the room with bleeding eyesockets- as if he had been waiting for your arrival. Overcome with panic and surprise, you allowed the wet soles of your feet slip out from under you, sending your drenched body sailing face-first towards the hardwood floor of your bedroom. Your nose took the brunt of the fall, and erupted in a mess of blood upon impact. The pain of a shattered nose did little to deter you from the thing in your room. Holding your nose with both hands, you scrambled to press yourself against the wall- as far away from that demon-ghost-thing as possible. But when you looked back up, you were shocked to find it trying desperately to hold back laughter, it's eye twitching from the effort. The corner of it's mouth was twitching toward a smirk, and it's eyes were betraying it's stoic expression- it wanted to laugh at you! You shot to your feet, prepared to duke it out with the hovering monster- only to slip a second time on the rainwater that you had tracked into your room. This time, your head collided hard with the frame of your bed, and you blacked out. You woke up the next morning with a wrapped head and a bandaged nose. It turns out your parents had returned from their little trip and found you lying in a puddle of your own nosebleed- which sounds as humiliating as it felt- and had patched you up. After you told them about what you had seen, your parents merely laughed and gave you an affectionate pat on the head, claiming that the stress of moving and lack of sleep had to do with your "hallucinations." You would've believed them, if it wasn't for the fact that the boy showed up in your room again. You fell asleep while using your laptop and when you awoke, you found the pale-haired boy freeing his foot from your computer screen. Though you were sure that the white-haired monster returned to finish you off, you found him simply pointing his finger at your wrapped up face and cackling at you, tears budding in the gaping holes that were his eyes. You felt your face burn with embarrassment, and though you should have called for help, you simply sat there, allowing the strange being to laugh at your misfortune. After what felt like an eternity he retreated back into your computer, still snickering- leaving you bewildered and dazed. He later introduced himself as Ben Drowned over a cyberchat website named "Cleverbot," and you learned his story, as well as the fact that he could teleport just about anywhere that held an electronic device. Later that night, you awoke to a flooded room. With your heart pummeling with fear, you gasped and flailed for breath, desperately searching for a way out. You were less than pleased to find Ben on the screen on your open laptop- which was, for some reason, still working under water. His shoulders shook with muted laughter, doubling over with the hilarity he found in your pitiful predicament. As soon as it started, it was gone. The water that had once filled your room was gone, leaving everything unscathed in it's wake. Once you found mobility in your limbs again, you stormed to your laptop (which still contained the laughing freak) and took out the battery, taking away the laptop's source of life. You stormed about your house, rampaging in the middle of the night to turn off or unplug any source of electricity you could- the phones, the computers, televisions- even the dusty desktop. Despite the complaints of your confused parents, you were at peace. Since you had cut off any source of electricity, (other than the lights) that pesky elf hadn't bothered you- probably because he couldn't. However, your happiness was short-lived. Upon returning from school one day, you found that your parents had somehow reconnected everything before going to work- leaving you with two things: electricity, and an angry Ben. You had no idea how you did it, but you managed to convince Ben not to suck you into the netherworld or kill you- With minimal damage to the house. Before you placated him, Ben had flown into a livid tantrum, tossing tables and pictures to-and-fro with some unseen force, only ceasing when you promised that you would keep all electronics plugged in- thus allowing him to drop in any time he liked. Since then, the white haired boy with red irises visited routinely each day without intentions to scare you, though you were still unnerved by his presence at first. As if he sensed your uneasiness, Ben began to annoy you. Ceaselessly. Day after day, he knocked over decorative vases, messed up your room, taunted your occasional bad grades, and in all: irked the hell out of you. Yet here you were, waiting for his arrival like some kind of goddamned puppy. "What. Ever." You hissed through clenched teeth, standing up from your computer table, "Maybe he got bored of me. He's been visiting me for... God knows how long already...Good riddance." Despite your words, you felt a twinge of sadness prick your heart like a fine-tipped needle. Though he was undoubtedly aggravating most of the time, you had liked him company. Just a little. You sighed, the beams of twilight cast your shadow across the floor. "I should prepare some microwaveable dinner, my parents are working overtime today." As you sulked slowly towards your bedroom door, a loud crash and the sound of loud static pierced your eardrums, making you leap several feet into the air and scramble for the doorknob, storming downstairs to find the source of the noise. You were both annoyed and relieved to find Ben crawling out of the screen of the old desktop, though your annoyance went out the window once you spotted his shaking arms on the edge of the screen, as if he couldn't support his own weight. You extended a hand out to him, flinching as he finally managed to haul himself out of the mess of codes, landing in a heap on the floor. "Ben?" You inquired, peering at his crumpled form. "Are you okay...?" You knelt down next to him, touching his shoulder gently. "Ben?" At your voice, the creepypasta turned to look at you weakly before sniggering quietly- which worried you a bit. "What are you doing in my house?" You raised an eyebrow. "Ben, this is my house. Not yours." Ben, who had a pinkish hue to his pale cheeks, took a look around before the realization dawned upon him. "Oh, right. I'll be going then." You watched as the usually boisterous entity struggled to get back onto his feet, only to fall down again. This time, however, you caught him. Once his body made contact with your arms, you nearly shrieked. The back of his neck was burning hot, and the rest of his body was strangely warm- just like an overheated computer. "Ben-" You adjusted your hold on him, (he was a lot heavier than he looked) "Ben, are you sick?" Ben glared at you weakly. "No." You sighed, exasperated. His pride was going to be the death of him one day. You placed a gentle palm his forehead, cringing at the impossibly high temperature you felt. "Ben, you have a high fever. A bad one." The said person clicked his tongue and turned his face away, looking irritated. "That explains why I felt like shit the whole day." You couldn't help but snicker as you carried him to the couch, "That also explains why you didn't think of visiting me today." "Get off your high-fucking-horse, princess." Ben scowled, trying in vain to look threatening. "You should be thankful that I visit you everyday." You rolled your eyes, placing him softly on the couch. "Yeah, yeah. Thanks for gracing me with your presence everyday, dumbass." You swore you heard Ben grumble something under his breath, but you were already too far up the stairs to hear. You returned with several pillows, a thermometer and some pills from the bathroom cabinet, determined to nurse Ben back to health. Though he was an annoying turd most of the time, there were rare moments where he comforted you in times of need- though most of the time, his offers to help just involved murdering someone, which you kindly refused. ("Killing people isn't the solution to everything, you freaking moron!") Now, it was your turn to help him. With an abundance of pillows in your arms, you urged him to sit up for a second (which he did with an anguished groan) and slipped four or five behind him, ensuring his comfort. You went into the kitchen and returned with a damp cloth and a glass of water to drink with the medicine. To be honest, you weren't quite sure if human medicine worked on creepypasta such as Ben, but it was all you had. "Ben, come on, you need to take some medicine." He scoffed at you. "Get your Earth pills away from me. You know just as well as I do that those won't work for me." You knelt next to him on the floor next to the couch and uncapped the bottle, shaking two pills out of the container and nudging him up. "You're right. I don't know if it'll work, but it's the only thing I have, so just suck it up and take them." "Get away from me." He hissed. "Ben..." You said, your tone threatening, "Don't make me unplug everything again." At this, Ben's hollow eyes narrowed, the red specks of light in them piercing into your skull. "You wouldn't dare." You gulped, feeling a cold sweat accumulate at his intense gaze. You steeled yourself and glared right back at him. "Try me." Grudgingly, Ben accepted the pills and sat up. Before you could stop him, he threw the pills in his mouth and began to chew. You froze, holding the cup of water in your hand and staring at him with wide eyes. You had made the same mistake of chewing those pills when you were younger, prior to figuring out that you could use water to wash them down. To be frank, those pills could cause more damage than a fever if not taken with water- they were horrendously bitter, and nearly caused you to puke. Just as you thought, Ben gradually stopped chewing, turning even paler than he already was- if possible. Though his face showed no emotion, you could almost feel the bloodthirsty aura that washed off of him, obviously not too pleased with the taste. You wasted no time in shoving the glass of water in his hands, urging him to drink. The water was gone before you could even blink, and Ben held the front of your shirt with an intent of death in his eyes. "You-" He stuttered, his face tinted red from anger, "You-" You braced yourself for whatever might come, but surprisingly, the grip on your shirt loosened, and Ben flopped back down unceremoniously, letting the pillows swallow his lean body. "Oh, whatever... Why would humans invent something so horrible to heal a sickness? If anything, that just made me sicker..." You smiled nervously, feeling the slightest bit guilty. "Er, it's my fault... I should have told you about the water sooner..." Ben scowled faintly. "Damn right you should've." You whispered a low "sorry" before wringing the wet towel, placing the cool cloth on Ben's head. This pulled a sigh of satisfaction from his lips, his eyes fluttering closed with contentment. You uncapped the thermometer, clicking the "ON" switch before turning back to Ben. "One last thing before you rest, Ben. I need your temperature." Ben didn't even bother to open his eyes or complain- which surprised you. Without hesitation, he simply opened his mouth. You found yourself smiling endearingly at his actions: it was like handling a stubborn child- all you had to do was get past his hard shell. Taking Ben's temperature was a little bit of a struggle, since the digital screen glitched and spazzed out once it made contact with him. However, once you had taken his temperature, your eyes nearly bulged out of your head. The little pixels, occasionally glitching, read "105.7° F. " After discovering this little fact, you urged him to sleep for a bit- feeling a bit panicked. After the third time of telling him to just relax and sleep, Ben snapped at you. "If you tell me to go to sleep one more time, I'll call Jeff up here and tell him to put you to sleep." Though you knew this was an empty threat, it still shut you up. You had heard a lot about Jeff the Killer, and though some of your friends were obsessed with him, you weren't too keen on meeting him. After turning on the fan in hopes to cool Ben down, you settled back next to him on the floor, watching his uneven breathing. After a few moments of staring, Ben's eyes snapped open, feebly glaring at you before it turned into a smirk. "Sweetheart, I know i'm good looking- but if you're gonna stare, at least do something that can excuse you from it." You blinked and furrowed your brows, feeling embarrassed but relieved. It sounded like he was feeling a bit better- but was that really a good thing for you? Silently, you lifted a hand and began combing it through his silvery hair, knocking his hat astray. However, Ben didn't seem to mind. In fact, he completely ignored his hat and turned away from you, as if he were hiding his face. Despite his best efforts, you spotted a pinkish tint on his cheeks that extended to his ears- and you were sure it wasn't because of the fever he had. You watched him with soft eyes and continued your small ministrations, wondering how he had gotten sick in the first place. Before long, Ben had fallen asleep to your touch and the low hum of the fan. Sighing breathily, you gave the sleeping boy a thoughtful look. You didn't understand why he had kept the routine of visiting you everyday, but you weren't about to complain. Moving was no easy task, it included making new friends and leaving the old ones behind. Your socializing skills weren't your strongest suit, and although you tried your best, it was difficult to keep a conversation with someone at school- you feared their judgement. Though you knew most of the people at school didn't mean any harm to you, it was still a little scary for you to be cast out into a new environment so suddenly, it made you feel vulnerable. And although Ben had scared the pants off of you at first, you slowly began to realize that your arguments and chats with him didn't make you tense or anxious. Perhaps you could even go as far as to say he made you the slightest bit happy. You continued to play with his hair for a little while before removing your hands, observing him carefully. It was true that Ben was relatively handsome, though you would rather die than admit that to him. His white hair and pale complexion gave him the look of a hauntingly beautiful angel, though his eyes were dark and devilish, always seeming to hold only the most malicious of intentions. While he was awake, his countenance was usually twisted into a smirk or a sneer- which didn't exactly make him more attractive, but definitely did not take away from it, either. However, as he was asleep, you couldn't help but notice how strikingly bewitching he looked without the usual grimace. His long, white eyelashes brushed against his cheekbones, colored pale pink with his fever. Though you hadn't noticed it previously, it was almost unnerving how captivating Ben was. With his sleek, graceful features relaxed, you almost wouldn't have been able to guess that he was such a cunning gremlin while he was awake. You couldn't stop your eyes from wandering to his lips, which were slightly parted with his steady inhales and exhales. Just like the rest of his body, his lips were deathly pale, and slightly chapped- though they still looked inviting. You blushed and averted your eyes upon realizing how inappropriate your thoughts were. Ben was horribly sick and helpless, yet here you were, daydreaming about... A kiss... You covered your face, feeling humiliation wash over you in waves. Ben would probably laugh himself to death if he knew what you were thinking. The mere thought of being with Ben was impractical within itself, since there was no way monsters like him were even capable of feelings, right...? Your train of thought was halted when you heard the silverette groan lowly from across you. You peered out from your hands with questioning eyes, wondering if you had woken him up with the intensity of your staring. (Was that even possible, though?) He wasn't awake. His eyes were still sealed shut, but his mouth was twitching, as if he were trying to say something. You leaned in closer, watching attentively. Did he want water? A colder towel? More pillows? Suddenly, much to your shock, your name erupted from his lips, sounding like a cross between a groan of irritation and a plea. Then, he was silent again. You felt a warmness in your body emitting from the center of your stomach, and before long, you found yourself smiling at Ben. He was asleep, so it wouldn't hurt too much, right...? Slowly, you leaned forward and brushed back some of his soft locks, marveling at how pretty his face was. With such a small distance between you two, you could smell his scent- a distinct smell of static and coconut. Gently, you pressed your lips to his cheek, feeling the warmth of his soft, feverish skin on your own mouth. As you pulled away, you found a hand on the back of your head, pulling you back in. Wide eyes registered as Ben tilted his head, and his lips met yours, watching your bewildered expression with groggy, half-lidded eyes before he closed them, pressing his lips harder against your own. His mouth was burning hot, no doubt it was because of the fever, but it made the kiss even harder to resist. With flushed cheeks, you allowed your eyes to slip shut as well, returning the gentle pressure lightly. You noted that Ben was being unusually careful as he cupped your face, as if you were made of fragile glass that would shatter at any moment. You smiled at this, and brushed the side of his cheek with the back of your hand endearingly. He pulled away and you opened your mouth to speak, but before you could get a word in, his lips descended upon yours again, his tongue sweeping over your already open lips and tickling the roof of your mouth. You squeaked a bit at this, and he pulled back, his hand still on your cheek, opening his eyes to take in your reddened face and light panting. And then you saw it. It surprised you more than the kiss did- and perhaps more than his first appearance did. Ben smiled. It was a genuine smile, albeit small, unlike the smirks and half-grins he gave you all the time. This time, his lips curled naturally, softening his scarlet eyes a twinge. The hues of twilight poured in from the window and washed over both of you, bathing both of you in a beautiful gradient of a fading pink, yellow and orange. You should have scolded him for kissing you while he was sick, but you couldn't find the heart to ruin the mood. Instead, you smiled back at him, leaning into the hand that remained on your cheek. There, in the wake of the lingering sun, you discovered that what once was your greatest fear was also your greatest treasure.

#creepypasta #ben drowned #legend of zelda #fanfiction #reader insert #ben drowned x reader #old work

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of-another-broken-heart · 3 years

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I slept pretty well, again.

My eyes are dry after these bouts of long rest. I don’t know if it’s because I’m not waking as often, and therefor not opening my eyes or blinking or crying or whatever - or if it’s a direct side effect of cbd for me? It could be either, or both.

I’m having a very difficult day.

It did not rain yesterday like it was supposed to. All the moisture is still stuck in the air, completely overcast, and the world feels like it’s just holding its breath, waiting for the clouds to give.

I miss him. I wish I could forget him. I wish I never knew him.

Everything hurts. Everything was lies, everything.

And I fell for it. I believed it all, because I’m so simple and easy to manipulate. And stupid. So outrageously stupid. Because I still can’t excise that burr of hope. I still dream and daydream about things that we talked about - that he lied about - that I believed, that made me happy. Unbidden, thoughts of seeing him, here. Because he lied about that - about visiting, about traveling close enough to meet in person. Unfortunate, invasive fantasies of traveling near where he lives, and fate being cruel and kind enough to cross our paths together.

For what, though? Not even these fantasies and delinquent daydreams end well. I see him - and what? Nothing. If he sees me at all, he runs. Like always. Away from the truth, away from accountability, away from consequences of his actions. If his efforts to chase you away fail, then he will be the one to run. He chased his wife clear to another fucking country. And even a thousand miles away, sharing pixels on a screen is “too close” for him now. But I was stupid enough to think I was worth...

Worth what?

I’m not worth anything.

I wish I’d been able to respond better to my cousin’s help with looking up rheumatologists. I wish I’d realized it was Friday and that I’d be saddled with days of systemic silence - unable to pursue additional information even should I feel able to brave the phone and its anxiety automation mazes.

It must be nice, this world where health is guaranteed on weekends and evenings. How incredible for illness to abide by the same working schedule as capitalism.

#personal

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blindprof · 3 years

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It’s Complicated

When people first hear me say that I am blind or severely visually impaired (B/VI), the most common reaction is surprise…followed by sympathy…followed most often by awkward silence. This is totally understandable. Unless you are regularly interacting with differently abled people, disabilities are uncomfortable. I feel uncomfortable and awkward around people who live with other forms of disability.

Heck, I’m still awkward around other people who are B/VI. And even this is understandable. Because each person is unique. Each manifestation of visual impairment is unique. Each path to and with B/VI is unique. Each person has unique life experiences, coping mechanisms, support networks, etc. We are all strangers in a strange land. I’ll have other posts dedicated to the whack-a-doo personal and social psychology of B/VI. For now, the focus remains on the physical, or rather the perceptual.

The second reaction is usually a question: “How bad is it” or “What do you see?” And my answer is “It’s complicated.”

In my first post, I laid out some more technical details: I have a visual field that is less that 10 degrees, night blindness, color blindness, uncorrectable myopia, light sensitivity, etc. But it’s not apparent how these details really affect what I see and how that impacts what I can do. This post will go into greater detail into what and how I see. Later posts will focus on how I (try to, with varying levels of success, stupidity, and hilarity) cope with these limitations.

It probably makes sense to start with my visual field, as this is the aspect of my vision that “qualifies” me as legally blind. However, before getting to that, we really need a basic understanding of how humans see. Don’t worry, I’ll keep it short and simple.

It may be easiest to compare the eye to a modern digital camera. A camera lens gathers and focuses light; it also constrains the amount of light passing through by altering the size of a mechanical aperture. In the human eye, these functions are performed by the lens and the pupil, respectively. In a digital camera, the lens focus light onto a CCD or CMOS sensor, which is a dense grid of light sensitive “pixels,” each generating a small electrical charge proportional to how much light (within a certain wavelength) is hitting it. The human retina is the biological, electrochemical equivalent. Finally, a digital camera has wires that transport these electrical signals to a computer, which then interprets the signals to create a digital image. Here, the human analogues are the optic nerve and the visual cortex within the brain.

As I noted in my first post, I have Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), which primarily impacts my retina. Due to the wonders of genetics and epigenetics, other parts are impacted. But for now, I’ll focus on the retina. Characteristically, people with RP find that their retinal “pixels”—millions of light-sensitive “rod” and “cone” structures, as well as protective retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells from which the disease gets its name—stop functioning from the outside in. We don’t know the exact cause, nor is there yet any proven way to slow, much less reverse the process.

Of course, this is a biological process that is unique to each individual. For me, it has progressed relatively slowly from childhood. I can recall early symptoms as far back as age 6. I’ll have a separate post at some point talking about progression. But it is notable the process is neither steady nor predictable. I’ll have periods of relative stability followed by periods of perceptible loss. It’s rarely like a light switch, but rather more like a dimmer. Each area of loss will appear darker with less usable information until it is just “clicked off” by the brain, presumably redirecting its limited processing resources to doing something other than trying to interpret shotty data from dying cells. For me, the progression has also been very spotty—for example, I retained some usable vision in the extremes of my left-right periphery until just a couple years ago, despite progressively losing most of my peripheral vision between there and my center.

The result today is that I have very little of my retina remaining that pretends to function “normally.” I can detect very high contrast light vs. dark in some of my periphery, but nothing there that you would qualify as usable sight. My central vision is still somewhat functional, but has been fading rapidly of late. As I said, it’s spotty, but on average in good light I have maybe 10-15 degrees total horizontal vision and less than 10 vertical. And much of that is probably equivalent to what most would consider to be peripheral vision. To help better “feel” what this means, here are a few examples of how this manifests itself in my day-to-day life.

When I’m sitting across a table from you, I can see your face but not your hands. If I’m not socially distant, I might be able to see your eyes or your mouth, but not both at the same time. I often creep people out during a conversation because I’m constantly losing eye contact and moving my eyes to different parts of their body. I promise, I’m not “undressing you with my eyes”—people talk with their entire bodies, and I’m simply trying to catch as many visual cues as possible.

When watching TV from 10 feet away, I can “see” my entire 55-inch screen. But less than a quarter of that is in my central vision. I have to move my eyes to see detail or read signs or captions. Sports and fast action scenes are difficult to catch. A fast action, dark scene with subtitles…oy…the Battle of Winterfell may as well have been a BBC Radio broadcast.

I can read, though usually only slowly and for short periods, especially if it is paper and ink. I see only a few words at a time, so my eyes have to constantly move. This causes a lot of eye strain, and I have trouble keeping both eyes properly oriented and occasionally have periods where one eye twitches uncontrollably—obviously I’m channeling my inner Mad-Eye Moody.

And of course, navigating unfamiliar or unpredictable environments is very difficult. I navigate by moving from waypoint to waypoint, and if I don’t know the waypoints or if things jump in my way, well, bad things happen. Or maybe funny things.

More on all of these and their many repercussions in future posts.

People ask, “What do you ‘see’ in the places where you have no vision? Is it blackness? Emptiness? Blurry?” Again, it’s complicated, but for the most part, my brain has just removed those areas from its visual processing “algorithm.” So, I see the same thing that you see when something is beyond your peripheral vision…just nothing. There are long periods of adjustment as I lose sight—kind of like losing a limb and still expecting it to be there. But eventually it’s just not a part of the picture that my brain paints of the world around me.

Unfortunately, that’s not all. Night blindness is often the first detected symptom for folks with RP. What is left of my retina doesn’t detect light well, so I need much more of it. The result is that I’m totally blind in low-light situations. I need direct light to see any kind of detail. I carry a flashlight everywhere I go and use it regularly day and night.

So, I need bright light. But it is also my nemesis. My eyes compensate like one would with a digital camera…by cranking open the aperture (pupil) and turning up the gain on the sensor. This does allow me to function semi-normally in certain situations. But it also results in severe light sensitivity. As with a camera, the wider pupil also results in loss of detail, and bright light can almost entirely wash any other visual information. To make matters even worse, although my pupils do function, they are VERY slow to adjust.

The results of all of that are varied. I’ll post more details in the future. But for example, I am no longer able to read a computer screen for any length of time without inverted colors. It’s like trying to read while staring at headlights. I truly need dark mode on all of my devices. Also, changing lighting conditions are challenging, especially when they are extreme. When I come in from outside, my eyes can take many minutes to adjust. And bright light sources like sunny windows in otherwise moderately lit environments can really cause havoc.

Finally, a common comorbidity with RP are cataracts, which cause hardening and blurring of the lens. Of course, this one hit me, as well. A number of years ago, I had cataract surgery. It was great. I was the youngest patient in the surgery center by like 30 years. The process involves using a magic wand to dissolve your natural lens and replacing it with a plastic one. This gets rid of the blurring, but entirely removes the ability to focus. As a bonus, I did go from needing coke bottle glasses to just needing a couple of diopters of correction. But this further complicates reading, and means I’m constantly donning and doffing my specs or having to look below them to read. Minor in the big scheme of things, but it does make me look and feel like a damn old fart.

Okay, if you made it this far, you deserve to be let off the hook for now. There’s more like the fact that my corneas—the eyes’ (usually) clear “lens caps”—now seem to cause my sight to remain blurry for the first couple of hours of each day. Or that the eye strain can sometimes get so physically painful that I have to close my eyes for long periods during the day. But this is a mostly complete and accurate snapshot of what I’m currently living with physically.

I guess I didn’t present too many funny or uplifting or forward-looking things in here. Truth is, you kind of have to muddle along with me through these sewers to eventually find the humor and hope in all of this. Because it’s complicated. But I’ll get there if you’re patient.

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moonlightwinterdxxix · 4 years

Note

Your first Bits of my Brothers (acronym BomB?) anon here again! Could I request a pretending to be each other Zaimoku at Sutabaa or something? There's just not enough canon Zaimoku and sextuplets identity thief shenanigans in the anime! Maybe Totty is trying to get work there again but gotten sick or something and Karamatsu decided his beloved brother can't miss out on his chance to return~✨. Whether or not it'll end in brotherly fluff or Totty & Karamatsu butt monkey angst is your choice! xD

Hello again! I hope you like this one! It’s at 7K words and I didn’t want it to be longer than it already was 😅😅. Zaimoku is one of my favorite combinations (as I’ve kinda made clear in TVV), and I hope you enjoy this little drabble I’ve made of them. 💙💖😎😘

~~~

Whenever Todomatsu Matsuno was sick, he was more than just manipulative. He was manipulative enough to be entitled as the king of manipulation, besting Ichimatsu’s cruel authority might he be the only one in a safe spot outside feverish sensations and phlegm wanting release. No, Todomatsu treated all of them like butlers and castle servants, taking advantage of his vulnerable position to get them to do his bidding and bless him with their feeble-but-ultimately-needed-to-succeed attempts.

The common instance always left the rest of his brothers with a single prayer in mind: that Todomatsu never got sick. They vowed, each and every one of them, to move mountains for hell if it meant they were to be released from the shackles of Todomatsu’s superiority. But no matter the prayers sometimes getting sick was inevitable, and each time at least one of them would be willing to gamble his life off in the Pachinko parlor if it meant escaping Todomatsu’s ruthless jurisdiction.

And Todomatsu was always proud of it.

But today, he wasn’t. He was far from happy, very distant from it in fact. For when Karamatsu had returned from the shop with a can of warm soup, he had opened their shared bedroom door to find Todomatsu curled up and bawling on the futon. The call of ‘I am back with refreshments for your unwell soul, my star of hope!’ was transformed differently in a mighty scale as Karamatsu dropped the soup bag and raced to his brother’s side with a skipping, worrisome heart.

“Totty! What’s wrong, my brother?” Karamatsu asked, placing his hands on Todomatsu’s shoulder with all the gentleness his muscles could allow. “Are you feeling cold? Or warm? Oh, please speak with me through your unfortunate misery, my dear littlest brother!”

“Shut up! I...Cod, why does it have to be you? Cod, why does it have to be you?!” Todomatsu crumbled entirely, giving in to the cries that racked his body as he tucked his face off in the crook of his arms. “Where are the others?” he asked hopefully, his sore voice muffled with the fortress of cloth acting as transparent muteness.

“Ah, yes, about that.” The thing was, the rest of their brothers had surrendered. They’ve yielded into irresponsibility, wanting no relevance whatsoever with Todomatsu’s cruel behavior for this specific occasion.

Osomatsu had decided to spend his entire day at the races, regardless of a win or a lose. Choromatsu had resorted to paying a visit to the all-week international book fair at the end of the city, hoping to find something new out of his pathetic excuse in being alive. Jyushimatsu chose to spend all of his allowance on the zoo, specifically on dolphin shows to satisfy his mammal cravings. And Ichimatsu...Er...Well...

“I’m gonna jump off a cliff,” Ichimatsu deadpanned.

“Nooo~ Please contain your dark tendencies, my dear Ichimatsu!” Karamatsu wailed.

Then Ichimatsu had strangled him for a bit before leaving the house.

“Forget I asked. It’s hopeless anyway.” Todomatsu smacked his face into his pillow and sobbed openly, gripping his pillow with the force of a hundred rakes on the dirt.

Karamatsu let an apologetic breath leave his lungs, before blinking in confusion at the phone propped face-first next to his brother’s space. As Todomatsu resumed his dramatic storm, Karamatsu picked it up and swiped the screen with his two fingers, the password an easy input, before his pupils scanned through the message and his eyes went spherical.

“Todomatsu! You were supposed to have a Sutabaa job interview this afternoon?!”

“Don’t rub it in! Shut up!” Todomatsu yelled, carrying his body’s weight with his elbows and sending Karamatsu a glare that would’ve been knife-sharp piercing might it not be for his scarily flushed face and red-rimmed, teary eyes. “And yes, I was, if you really wanted to know. It was supposed to be a short one, maybe five minutes at most, but as if I can do that with this stupid fever crap, obviously.” His face crumpled, and he toppled back onto the futon. “Just leave me alone in my own problems, niisan. You’re gonna make it a thousand times worse.”

Karamatsu continued to stare at the text on the screen, scrolling upwards and back-reading. “Oh, my Todomatsu,” he sympathized. “I should’ve known that there was more information you had refused to share. And this has been...two months in the ready?”

“Karamatsu-niisan! Quit it!” Todomatsu pleaded. “I didn’t ask to get sick today, okay?! But how am I supposed to tell Aida that I wouldn’t be able to attend?! Cod, I can’t just say it to her face like that! It’s a huge blow to my pride and I...!” He whimpered, dropping to the futon with watery defeat. “Please, just...I can’t tell her. It’s too embarrassing. Can you call her up for me and tell her that I...? Bullhooey! No, I can’t have you of all people talk to her either!”

Todomatsu continued to break down on the futon, and Karamatsu tried his best to shush his brother to the best of his extent. But it made itself clear to him that there was no way to calm him down at this point, or at least calm him down enough that he was going to stop feeling so sad.

After all, the status of Todomatsu wasn’t difficult for Karamatsu to understand, along with the personality and character that came with it. He had made actual friends at Sutabaa, both being of the opposite gender—two pretty girls with kind personalities and proper standards—a miracle remaining unaccomplished by the five other roaches of their household. And for that alone, Todomatsu was in a position in life maybe more heavenly than heaven itself.

Yet of course, naturally...

Nothing lasts forever, is what Todomatsu had to learn next. Well, it would’ve, but when you had five older brothers who were careless, unreliable pieces of crap, then any ounce of happiness might as well be a disregarded atom of dust from a distant dream. For a few months, even lasting until effing Christmas, Todomatsu had lost communication with the girls because of his brothers’ lack of sensitivity. They had publicly made him strip naked in the mixer, dressed him with a pair of banana earrings and stained underwear, and made him strike a pose at the head of the table in front of a set of pretty girls who deserved better after a dance.

So Todomatsu’s hatred towards them was justifiable.

On the other hand, he shouldn’t have lied as well. To be a person once acquainted in one of Japan’s best schools wasn’t something that would up his ratings with females if it were far from the truth. Heck, he was a literal baby during their third year of high school, crying over spilt milk and reporting himself to the police as a lost child when Choromatsu had to take a trip to throw something in the closest garbage bin.

Truth hurt, yes. But it was unstoppable.

But...Todomatsu was right about one thing. Lying did make himself gain more respect, and saved him from a closed spot that would’ve dropped his person into oblivion. It didn’t last long, but...

Sometimes it didn’t have to.

“Aha! Todomatsu, an idea has been brought forth!” Karamatsu announced, straightening his posture with a finger raised theatrically towards their ceiling.

Todomatsu squinted at him. “Nope. I don’t wanna hear it,” he decided.

Karamatsu’s broad facade faltered. “Eh?”

“That’s a recipe for disaster,” Todomatsu explained, a normal tone bringing forward how awful his voice was. It was scratchy and wiped-out, more huffs in it than actual syllables forming his words. “Every time one of my brothers says something, all that happens after that is me wishing I crashed and burned on the spot. It never changes. And with you specifically trying to subside my torture, I think I’d rather let myself die on the spot than let my ear-drums break at your first sentence.”

Ouch. Karamatsu said, “Oh, you are too early to judge, my Todomatsu!” He laughed, emphasizing his breaths in order to mask his apparent hurt. “Please. Allow access first to the plan concocted in my mind. I assure you, you might eat your words once it is laid out for you. Your misery would at once be hurled into the distance, to become nothing more than a star that glinted before joining with its fallen brethren. Heh.” He tapped a finger-gun to his chin smugly.

Expression contorted in absolute disgust, Todomatsu recoiled. “If you tell me what it is, would you please stop talking in that stupid as hell fanfaronade?”

“It would be my pleasure.” He fluttered his dazzling, anime eyes.

Todomatsu made a hurling noise, slamming his fist against his chest before he deadpanned, “Just say it.”

“Hm. Todomatsu.” Karamatsu began twirling around in swooshing motions, swaying his arms in a slow, whipping circle before posing in a fabulous, dazzling stance. “I shall impersonate you and attend the job interview in your shoes!” he declared.

Todomatsu’s sanity dropped. “EEEHHH??!!”

Without warning, Todomatsu snapped up and grabbed Karamatsu by the neckline of his hoodie, shaking him without a pixel of mercy. “Are you effing kidding me, you piece of crap?! There’s no way in heaven nor hell I’m letting you do that! Are you literally waiting for me to die?! Heck, you’re even stupider than I’ve ever imagined—I’ve been too kind to misjudge you, Karamatsu-niisan! Because you’re so much worse and that idea is absolute garbage!”

“A-Ah! Totty, don’t yell too much with your sore throat!” Karamatsu stuttered out, smiling nervously. “Totty, it’s gonna work. I’m sure of it.”

“As if!” Todomatsu retorted, ignoring Karamatsu’s previous suggestion completely. “You’re gonna go out there making me look like an idiot! I’ve lost friends because of you and the others, and when I might be bouncing back you have to idle up to me all, ‘I’m gonna impersonate you and ruin your life more’—BULL!” He shoved Karamatsu down onto the futon. “What do you think of me—a fool?! You may be an actor during elementary but you’re out of your gosh-darn mind if you think you’re going to do good playing me!”

“How hard could it be?” Karamatsu asked, crawling a few spaces backwards with slight terror. “You have a simple personality, my brother! You have a phone, you can converse rather easily, and you have a light voice that makes you all nice and cute!”

Changing the rules of flavoring, Todomatsu’s grin was incredibly bitter. “You really have the guts to compliment me like that, don’t you? Forget it. Not gonna happen.”

“C’mon, Totty, give me a shot!” Karamatsu argued. “You said it yourself! I’m an actor, and with the hundreds of times we’ve spent together since childhood it won’t be hard to capture your essence! Give me a chance.”

“I don’t believe it,” Todomatsu said, rolling his eyes. “The childhood thing is a good excuse, but it won’t make the cut. Literally everyone in Sutabaa knows who I am, and like hell I’m letting someone like you of all people try to use some gosh-darn trickery on them. I’m not going to let you go out there pretending to be me, niisan. And that’s final.”

“But if you don’t get the job then you won’t be happy!” Karamatsu shouted, placing his hands on his hips. “Todomatsu, I want to be able to assist you as well. It’s what we do when we’re sick, isn’t it? We take care of each other? This is part of the treatment—it’s even better because we’re all identical brothers! Give me a chance. I promise I won’t humiliate you, or do something stupid. I’ll imitate you to the best of my abilities, change nothing from your usual self and keep your relationships as stagnant as you want them.”

“That doesn’t sound reassuring,” Todomatsu said, but he was contemplating.

“It doesn’t sound it, okay,” Karamatsu stated, “but I mean it. I really do want to lessen your stress over the matter. I’ll work to my skeleton if it means doing well in that job interview, Todomatsu. I swear, and Akatsuka-Sensei knows I do. Just...trust me, brother.”

Todomatsu narrowed his eyes, but his eyebrows didn’t follow. They shaped his expression over to consideration other than irritation, his body relaxing from its sitting position on their shared bed.

Finally, he said, “How about we make a deal? Since you’re the only one who stayed to help me with my fever—and I have to say that I appreciate that—how about if you do a good job getting me my old job back, I could be your servant the next time you get sick? I’ll suck up to all those painful demeanors of yours and stand it until you get better.”

“I...It’s fair, I suppose,” Karamatsu assessed.

Todomatsu’s grin was not reassuring. “Yeah? Think so? Sure, it could work out, won’t it? But if you make an absolute fool of me...!”

He stood up from the futon and marched over to their closet, pulling out his huge flamethrower and aiming its front at Karamatsu’s terrified face. “I’ll incinerate all your sequined pants and personalized tank tops until they’re nothing but ashes,” he completed viciously, grin worth jealousy from a sadist.

Karamatsu gulped, feeling uneasy with the top he was currently wearing underneath his hoodie. But he supposed it was a fair trade, with both of them receiving equal shares at each side of the bargain. And both their downs...It wasn’t worth a complain. Losing friends was just as bad as losing all of his wonderful, designed Karamatsu fashion.

Tilting his head down, Karamatsu decided. And it wasn’t even a minute before he reached out a hand and gave Todomatsu a worried smile. “I digress. I accept the terms of our deal, my dear brother Todomatsu. Turn all my clothes into smithereens might I annihilate your persona, Todomatsu. I accept thy conditions.”

“Good.” Todomatsu grabbed his hand and shook it, the resolution of their bargain firm. “This is my lifeline in your hands, Shittymatsu. Your clothes, and my lifeline. Don’t mess this up, or else.”

He wouldn’t. He hoped not.

~~~

With Sutabaa towering over him, it looked like the gateway to judgement. It was a taunting, expectant thing, half a thumbs up as it was a middle finger, and Karamatsu’s nervousness and anxiety sloshed in his stomach and burned his skin. His complexion was moist with his sweat, his hair that he had combed to perfection beginning to paste himself on his forehead, and Karamatsu rubbed it with the back of his shaky hand.

For his clothes, but more for Todomatsu’s reputation.

Shoving Todomatsu’s phone into his pocket and arranging his tie, Karamatsu let himself sigh unsteadily as he let his feet take him towards the doorway. He felt like he was dragging ten-thousand anvils behind him. But it was worth it, he decided, as long as he could finish the interview with a proper attitude and a selfless intention. This was for Todomatsu’s job, Todomatsu’s friendships, and Todomatsu’s reputation.

And his clothes.

But Cod, he hoped he would do well. He wished to say exactly what Todomatsu would say in his position, move with the accuracy of his little brother, and speak with a timbre close enough to the original that the term ‘identical’ made more sense than it had the past few years. But perhaps, he thought, as long as nobody who knew Todomatsu approached him, he would be absolutely, absolutely, without a feather of a doubt, fine.

“Totty? Is that you?”

Ah, shoot.

Karamatsu pulled up a kitty-shaped Todomatsu smile. He brightened his eyes and raised his brows from their thick, constant furrow. And as he spun his heel to face the source of the familiar voice, he tried to recap every single piece of information he knew about Aida as she came to him in her recognizable Sutabaa work uniform, her brown curls bouncing on her shoulders.

Aside from seeing Aida then while humiliating Todomatsu at work, and seeing Aida and Sachiko participate unsuccessfully at the baseball space tournament, the last thing Karamatsu remembered about her was she and Sachiko giving him dark, murderous death-stares on the bridge. That..didn’t seem like it was a good thing. Not then, and certainly not now.

He was so dead.

“Totty, there you are!” Aida said, stopping next to him. Cod, she was so pretty, no wonder Todomatsu was so upset to lose someone like her. “Are you ready for your interview? I hope you can get the job again—it was a shame you had to lose it last time. I have a hunch you’ll be able to do it now.”

“Ah-ha! Hopefully, yes! Thank you so much!” Karamatsu said, forcing his voice up from the low baritone that came with his genes. “Hello, Aida! I didn’t think you’d come from that direction!” He pointed. “I could’ve sworn you were in there.” He jabbed his thumb towards the Sutabaa entrance.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry about that.” She giggled apologetically, and Karamatsu felt his cheeks grow warm. “I wasn’t skipping work, I promise. I just got distracted a little, but it was only for a few seconds before I saw you. I was worried! I thought you weren’t gonna come anymore! It would’ve been so embarrassing to cancel last-minute on the manager.”

His gut plummeting, Karamatsu’s laugh came out less of a laugh and more of the sound of a dying hyena. “Well, I’m here! So you don’t have to worry about that anymore! I made it, so no humiliation whatsoever!” He was tempted to pose, but held back at the right second before he could crack.

Aida eyed him dubiously. “Are you alright? Your voice sounds very...breathy.”

“It does?” It did, and it was because Karamatsu’s voice wasn’t at its quality to accommodate a pitch and speaking pattern similar to Todomatsu’s. When he tried, the result came out very breathy, or if not, very screechy and...wrong. It would’ve given away his true identity so quickly might she be an expert in discerning him and Todomatsu from their brothers. So speaking with his normal, light pitch with added cheerfulness was the only way to match closely to the original source. He thought that perhaps it would be enough.

But apparently, it wasn’t enough.

“Ah, it does!” he corrected, rubbing the back of his head with a laugh. “Sorry about that! My throat really hurt this morning and I guess this is the aftermath of that!”

Except Todomatsu’s throat really did hurt that morning, and it continued so until this point. Hence, Karamatsu being here, in his shoes.

He was almost starting to regret doing this. But keeping his brother’s sad, weeping face in mind was plentiful to glue back Karamatsu’s determination. This was for Todomatsu. He had to remember: this was for Todomatsu.

And his clothes.

“It did? Oh, I feel so bad for you,” Aida said, sounding like she meant it, but Karamatsu’s anxiety told him otherwise. Drawing the line between reality and fiction was difficult when he was living in fiction, that fiction meaning, a world where he wasn’t himself. And he wasn’t, because he was Todomatsu. And ‘Todomatsu’ was talking to Aida...

He had to gather up his Todomatsu-ness.

“Would you be able to complete your job interview with that?” Aida asked.

“Oh, I’ll be fine, don’t worry about it,” Karamatsu reassured, flipping a palm. “As long as my brain works fine, I could accomplish what needs to be accomplished. And since I have experience, I don’t think I’ll do so bad, right?” He pulled up two peace signs and waved them energetically. “It’ll all be a matter of time though before we truly see. Heh-heh! So for the time being—” he put the peace signs towards his eyes “—all it takes is a little more determination! Yeah!” He posed, but it was overly cutesy.

Her smile was somewhere between amused and petrified. “Are you sure you’re okay, Todomatsu?” she asked.

“Never been better! Why would you question it?”

“I, well...” She reached to one of her elbows, rubbing it. Dang, she was so cute. “If you had a sore throat this morning, then I wouldn’t think you’d be okay so fast. And your...Oh, I hope I’m not offending you or anything, and I hope I could say this more politely, but have your eyebrows always been that thick?”

I knew I should’ve taken Totty’s word and shaved them a little. Karamatsu laughed again, but inside, he was screaming about his soul and how it could get ripped out of his body. “I suppose—I never really mind them! I hope it doesn’t bother you or anything!”

“It’s fine, I swear.” She tilted her head, her hair hopping a little. “Are you really Totty? He’s got five lookalike brothers, and I honestly won’t be surprised if you’re one of them. Not saying you are, but your behavior is a little strange. Or is that just nervousness for the interview talking?”

“I’m just nervous! That’s all it is!” Karamatsu lied, clasping his hands not out of the hopes to make himself mimic one of his brother’s cute gestures, but so that he could grab something before he combusted from her accuracy. Shoot, how did she find out?! Keep calm, Karamatsu. You’ve got this! This is for Todomatsu’s reputation!

And his clothes.

“But I’m so touched to know you’re so concerned,” he continued lightly, waving his peace sign again. Was he overdoing it with the peace signs? The last time he impersonated someone, he had made paw gestures and moved them with a tenderness like he were an actual feline, and that wasn’t something Ichimatsu would normally do. Or, maybe it wasn’t something he would to at all. “I really wish to get the job again, so we can hang out more often! I miss the regular days before me and my brothers messed things up.”

Because, duh. Todomatsu did have to take a little blame for the incident none of them asked for.

“Uh, yeah...I miss those days too.” Aida gave him a toothy grin laced with the same uncertainty. “Anyway, we’d better get going. You have that interview and I have my work, so we’ll see each other again later after, alright?”

“Yes, sure! That would be spectacular!” He’d actually hope he didn’t see her again later, not if it meant pretending to be Todomatsu for another round of cringe-worthy torture. But if that made Aida happy, he might. As long as he got a better hang of his little masquerade, then maybe he might offer her the opportunity.

It just needed to be at the extent that he would receive no beating once the day was over.

“Great. See you later...Todomatsu.”

Crap, what was with that hesitation? No, it couldn’t be. But the way she was so casually leaving, preparing to get inside...

He had to make up for it now, or else he was to expect an entire army against him and his feeble-sighted efforts! He shouldn’t let her leave with whatever impression crept beneath that hesitant farewell! No, he wouldn’t allow that! If anyone was ever to question any person involved in this mess, then it would be Karamatsu! So no, Aida-chan! You would not walk away with a remark hanging on your lips that left judgement over Karamatsu’s hapless impersonation of their darling star of hope!

“Aida-chan!” Karamatsu called out, grabbing her wrist before she could enter completely, and bringing Todomatsu’s phone out of his pocket. “Sorry for startling you, but, would it be alright if I got a picture with you? You know, before perquisite or calamity?”

Aida shot him a look, and Karamatsu winced internally, wanting to slap himself with the force of a Titan to a mosquito. Shoot, watch your choice of words, you stupid, second eldest! Todomatsu would never speak like that—he calls it out for how painful it was! You will ruin everything if you try that again, you crap!

“Sure, I don’t mind,” Aida said, settling herself by Karamatsu’s chest, her spinal cord parallel to where his heart reverberated in his chest in a wild, twister of patterns. He had a girl leaning against his body. A girl. Was this what it felt whenever Todomatsu hung out with them? This closeness, this wonderful emotion that made him want to laugh and cry at once? It had to be. It just had to be.

Suffering from his unbridled, unexplainable joy, Karamatsu lifted the phone above their heads, his thumb sliding against the selfie option of their camera. And when the camera flipped, he saw Aida and himself on the screen, the girl raising her peace sign with a smile, waiting for Karamatsu to do the same. But he stared at himself in his reflection, reading through the curves of his features and where he was going wrong. And it saddened him, when he looked at himself with the acumen of exposure.

He looked nothing like Todomatsu.

Because unlike Todomatsu, who wore a smile because it was part of him, Karamatsu wore his so he could be him.

But he had to remember: this smile wasn’t for nothing. It was for Todomatsu too. It wasn’t a selfish desire that had brought him into this spot, this tight corner, this unpredicted catastrophe of self-humiliation. He was doing this so that Todomatsu had a better life, one he deserved, after he and the other four cowards elsewhere had ruined it.

So he smiled at the camera, and as that smile illuminated his features, a small sense of the Totty he loved as his little brother and once best friend filled his face. His spirits left their corpse-like slump on the ground. “Say cheese, Aida,” he coaxed, his voice not leaving its lightness.

“Cheese!” Aida said, getting her peace sign into a good position, and as Karamatsu did the same, he snapped their picture.

The output was cute, he had to admit. Though the way his hands were positioned had added exaggeration than what Todomatsu would normally have in a casual photo with one of Sutabaa’s infamous baristas, this was still an image convincing enough to fool an outsider who knew nothing about their miracle of six same faces. Or Iyami.

“Alright! See you later, Todomatsu. Good luck with your interview. Just take a turn to that door at the left, and I believe the manager will be waiting for you.”

“Okay, thanks, Aida! I’ll see you as well!”

With that, Aida and Karamatsu exchanged a few waves, and Aida was out of his view as she let herself in before him, vanishing with her grace behind the employees door of the shop, her figure still leaving an imprint in his retinas.

But he shook it off. Entering himself, Karamatsu followed her direction and went towards the meeting door she indicated, stopping in front of it and taking a deep breath. This was for his brother, for Todomatsu who was sick in bed and unable to come. He needed to make this right, and beyond everything else, natural. So without further stalling he was knocking twice before pushing it open hesitantly.

When it was open, he let himself in, and bowing down, he announced, “Good afternoon! My name is Todomatsu Matsuno, and I am applying for a job here!”

Who must’ve been the manager sat up, eyebrows shooting upwards under his glasses. “Ah, Matsuno-kun! You’re here! Welcome! Please, take a seat.”

He indicated to the one in front of him, and Karamatsu followed his order and sat. Inhaling, the scent of coffee saturated his lungs, and the hunger he had that didn’t even know existed let itself be known as a tremor sounded under his blue suit. But praise the gods, it was silent enough for a pass. He had to do this. Todomatsu, his lifeline depended on what Karamatsu said in this one-one-one speech. He had to approach this correctly without error. He had this. Or didn’t he?

“So, I guess we already know each other, since you’ve been here before,” the manager said, arranging a set of papers by clicking their edges against the wooden surface of the table. “But it has been long enough, so how have you been? What have you been up to?”

Okay, so he wasn’t pissed. That was good. Luckily being absent from the mixer’s horrific presentation was enough to keep his perception on the youngest Matsuno well enough that anger wasn’t a visible option for him. Case in point: visible. Any anger or rage was easy to hide behind a mask of a smile, a knife easy to assume as close by and prepared for its session of stabbing. When it came to Akatsuka Ward, knives weren’t for chopping tasty or delicious portions for any lovely course. It was for chopping distasteful NEETs like them.

Thanks, Ichimatsu.

“Ah, I’ve been very well, thank you,” Karamatsu replied, stretching the muscles that wanted to pull up a whimper into a broad, toothy smile. “It has been quite some time. How have you been?”

“Great, really. Thanks for asking.” Interlocking his fingers, the manager rested his chin on them as he straightened his gaze collateral to Karamatsu’s. “I remember that article you once mentioned about the firefighter and the maiden. Thought I forgot about that? Nah, it was too iconic for the mind to sweep away so easily, Matsuno-kun. That was how funny it was! You do still laugh about that experience, don’t you?”

Karamatsu laughed out loud, and the manager flinched at the unpredicted. “Of course! I’m laughing right now! HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!”

You’re messing this up, Karamatsu, you idiot! Don’t laugh like the lunatic you are! You will massacre all of the chances granted for your brother’s probable forthcoming! Quit breaking Todomatsu’s person and show the decency he would when faced with the challenge of real-time communication!

Crap, Todomatsu! You stupid lovable little pice of garbage, why oh why do you need to be the type to camouflage so many secrets from your dear older brothers?! You bring tears to this gullible fool, wanting out of your social status but resumes the struggle just for you! You are loved, little star of hope! And in love comes the infamous, one-lettered word called trust! And by hiding your soul away, you—

“Heh, a bit excessive there, Matsuno-kun,” the manager observed, the waver in his grin a strong symptom to Karamatsu’s fiasco.

“Sorry, sorry! I’m just very thrilled to be here again!” Karamatsu amended. “Please go on. I won’t interrupt you if it means the interview gets postponed.”

The manager dipped his chin, not commenting any further.

Nice. Do more of that and do less of you, Shittymatsu.

“Alright then.” The manager cleared his throat, picking up a pen from the table and clinking it against the papers. “So, I just want to tell you that there are things I would no longer ask, since information regarding your background and education was already accounted for during your first interview under the Sutabaa name. This won’t be a long interview, Matsuno-kun. Just enough for us to decide over your return or permanent departure.”

Karamatsu sweat-dropped. “Oh, sure. That’ll be fine.”

It was now or never.

“Okay then. We’ll begin now.” The manager pressed the pen’s black tip to the paper, marking it with an inky dot. “I bet you recall crystal clear how you lost your job in the first place, Matsuno-kun. How about you remind me of the situation, and follow it with what you might be able to do to repent for the trouble.”

“Eh-heh, of course, sir.” Karamatsu cleared his own throat, summoning up the memory of the situation and picturing it with Todomatsu’s young, victimized eyes.

(But with his undeniable lack of backbone to keep all senses straight and alert, he had lost control over his own, painful words. And he was so naive, so stupid, to have missed it. Darn Shittymatsu, that’s what he was)

“It all began because of the mixer. I made the mistake of abandoning my brothers because of it when Sutabaa’s special glowing girls had gifted me with their invitation. Therefore I made myself look my best in front of them, that was until your doors were opened and my kin of older brothers summoned themselves in our divine territory. They were rather disgruntled with my behavior, and all my efforts to rid them from your wonderful establishment resulted in the turning of tables. Almost literally, as I might say so myself, since we were all so caught up in Matsuno shenanigans that resulted in spilt drinks and traumatized patrons. Sad to say, the mixer was almost as unfortunate, as humiliation had produced scowls and dusted trust. Aida-san and Sachiko-san were quick to strip me of my job the day following.”

The manager nodded, a cringe in his posture at Karamatsu’s theatrical choice of words. “I see you recall the experience as if you had taken it to heart. You sounded like you were out of a stage play, Matsuno-kun.”

Karamatsu blanched, his own blunder dawning on him. “Ah, yeah! It’s an experience that makes a mark on my person!” he alibied gaily.

“And for the repenting?” the manager asked, clicking the end of his pen as he prepared a paper. “What are your plans specifically, and how could you say that those contributions of yours would better the ratings of our business?”

Karamatsu gave himself a few seconds to think. Digging deep in the vault of his memories, Karamatsu pressed on imagining anything that Todomatsu might’ve done that related closely with coffee or anything that could better the antes of the Sutabaa chain. But each option that sprouted to mind gave Karamatsu difficulty, because why won’t it, really. How was tapping on a phone screen nor running some lame puns with Osomatsu going to help in any way?

Shoot, when was the last time Todomatsu even made them coffee? The only person who had come close to trying that had been Jyushimatsu, and Ichimatsu had been confined for three days straight out of food poisoning. So really, what contribution whatsoever would Todomatsu have? Basically nothing, as Karamatsu recalled. But for this interview to work, he had to use what he knew and warp around it.

“I’m skilled in promoting, if that’s what you need,” Karamatsu improvised, Todomatsu’s smartphone in mind. “Since I was gone I had a lot of friends on social media, and I’ve discovered a lot of new ways that could help with marketing. Promotional posters, digital editing, and brochures! I can make the products of Sutabaa stand out more than they normally would!”

“Hmm, I see.” The manager wrote down, and Karamatsu’s anxieties tingled. “Are you describing this as a part-time thing to working as a cashier? Because last time, that was your main job, wasn’t it? And to be a cashier was what Aida had mentioned when she stated that you wanted to reclaim your job here. Am I right?”

“Yes, sir. One-hundred percent.” Heh, if he was wrong about that, then Todomatsu’s career was over. He wished he was right.

“But what of your cashier skills, Matsuno-kun? How much in terms of skills would you say your improvement is? When you still had the job, you were a solid employee with proper manners and the right choice of speech, making our customers feel welcome. Would you say that you graduated into someone better than then? Or are you the same, and want to focus more on marketing than counting money and taking orders this time? Because it would contradict the information on my papers.”

“Uhh...” Karamatsu tugged lightly on his collar, gulping. Save Todomatsu. Save Todomatsu. “Naturally, I’d wish to continue my status working as a cashier. But your question revolved around what more my contributions would offer when it came to the establishment. That’s why I mentioned the marketing. It was merely a suggestion around my part. But if I was to resume as a cashier entirely, then I won’t fight against it. I would be happy with whatever job you offered me.”

The manager eyed him for a bit, the tension killing Karamatsu that it made his nape sweat. The manager then nodded, sold, writing the information down. “Alright. That’s good confirmation.”

Bingo. Nice save.

“So correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems like over time you have turned more adaptable than before. Would you think that’s the case for you?”

Was Todomatsu flexible? No, he was far from it. Todomatsu would never bother waiting for the shampoo at the bathhouse and snag a bottle none of them knew he ever brought with him. He was impatient when it came to his brothers, and very short-tempered when things didn’t flow like the rivers he dwelled in. So no, Todomatsu wasn’t adaptable. He was obdurate, and it was annoying.

But he was making Todomatsu look good here.

“Yes, I am,” Karamatsu lied, smile saccharine. “So if I needed my job here doubled in terms of stress or hard work, then I would be happy to oblige. Being an employee in Sutabaa really was something that I loved dearly, and to be able to comply with any requirement would make me very much grateful. That is, if you brought me back. Then I would go straight to business and work myself to my very core. That’s how much I love it here!”

Which was in fact, the truth. Todomatsu’s love for being in the Sutabaa was stronger, and could surpass any of Karamatsu’s lies by millions and billions of kilometers.

“Hmm, alright. I’ll keep that in mind.” The manager jotted down. “How about your pay? Are there any expectations for you when it comes to the income you will receive from working here?”

Karamatsu went rigid. “Pardon?”

“How much do you aspire to earn?” the manager clarified. “From your salary last time, do you expect to earn twice as much if you did multiple jobs, or are you going to be satisfied with the same amount as before? Or less? And no matter what answer, how much would it be, and what would justify it?”

Oh Cod, why. Why, why, why. Todomatsu never mentioned how much he ever earned working in this dumb establishment ever! And without experience whatsoever with this kind of stuff, how on earth was Karamatsu supposed to know?! He’d be making numbers that didn’t even exist at all on the number line! What was supposed to be the answer to this gosh-darn question if he had never even heard of these kinds of questions since the day his baby form came into reality?!

This was it. He was dead. Deader than a decayed corpse or an animal rolled over on desert roads. He was so, so dead.

“Since I was here before, I was surely satisfied enough with the pay I earned,” Karamatsu replied cautiously, “so I wouldn’t be surprised if you decided to give me the same amount. Most especially since I would—without a doubt—be receiving extra monitoring due to the impression I last left, even if the job was doubled. With that, it shouldn’t be a startle if a few of the workers were weary of me, and I’d accept that. So the money would easily follow the flow of that behavior.”

“Hm. Continue.” He was writing again.

“Not that I would get two jobs when it came to Sutabaa at all, it’s not a priority to extend the marketing. For me now, it’s just to get to work at the cashier again, to reclaim my old position. But when it comes to money—because of the establishment and name that Sutabaa has made for itself, one of the most important things I’d hope from it is honesty and a fair game when it comes to distributing my salary. No bias, but judgement based on my efforts and the way I had attracted patrons into the department. Plenty of agencies in the present are culprits of fraudulent funding, and I believe that Sutabaa follows none of that outlandish conduct. Therefore when it comes to my pay, I wish it to be the amount equivalent to what I have produced for you.”

“Which is?”

“Ah-Ah...” Dang, he was doing so well, he thought. He had no specifics in mind—what was he to say? He blubbered out, “T-The one...before...?”

The manager stared at him. Karamatsu stared back. The terrifying staring contest was getting unbearable, with a smile and the connection of eyes making Karamatsu want to just break away and crumble from insanity. He couldn’t take it anymore. He just couldn’t, he wanted to go home, to crash onto the roof and sing a soliloquy of his own pain and sorrow for the world to hear! He could bear no more of the coffee drifting in the air like a stab to the gut, a spear to the heart, a sword through the spi—

“Have you had any other jobs following the first one here, Matsuno-kun?” the manager asked, already glanced down over his papers again.

“Oh, I haven’t, sir.” There was under the Flag Corporation that one time, and that other thing when he switched with his brothers. But would those really be called jobs? Karamatsu didn’t think so.

“Okay. One more question, Matsuno-kun. What are your opinions on simplicity? Simplicity in a sense that you start small before evolving? Like, a chrysalis before it becomes a butterfly? That kind of evolution on simplicity.”

He couldn’t help it this time.

(Now, here’s the deal: Karamatsu was just plain dumb. Because any smart person would ask why a question like that was necessary at all, especially when it came to working at a cashier for a coffee shop, but this lunatic of a man went straight to standing and posing his arms like he were Romeo might he have broken his back while hunting for Juliet in a poor man’s excuse of a garage)

“The butterfly effect! Oh, how a concept like that just warms my heart!” Karamatsu extolled. “I do believe that simplicity goes in many ways! Plenty of opportunities might blossom like a rose, the sun strike it at the right moment, sending the rose into a mainstream for attention as a result of its beauty! But woe is the past, dreadful and sorrowful for what it contains, when it tears the heart and ruins the soul of its hopes and dreams! The rose, that poor rose, so bundled in its misery, to sit until its last few seconds, ready to fall into despair!

“Then the sun, that glorious sun! Oh, it was the rose’s guardian angel, sending it a spirit for life and the will to fight forward! Oh, and it would now attract all the butterflies that followed a path so similar to it’s! Yes, the simplicity of life’s evolution is a concept to be shared to all ages for the will to fight when life’s chains wish to drag you down! Yes, simplicity is a concept that as it mentions, is simple. And yes, simplicity is a perfect, perfect thing that—!”

“Alright, thank you for your time, Matsuno-kun.” The manager stood up and walked to the other side of the table, standing next to Karamatsu. His smile was anything but sweet, but an amalgamation of horrified, baffled, surprised, and furious. “We’ll send you a call if you get the job or not. Let me lead you out.”

He did, and when Karamatsu was at the other side of the door, he said, “See you then, Matsuno-kun! Have a nice day!” And he slammed the door shut.

Karamatsu stood there.

“Totty?”

Oops, that was Aida from somewhere in the shop he didn’t want to turn towards as his anxiety flopped and flipped and cartwheeled inside him. Nope, he didn’t hear her. And because he didn’t, he dashed out of the shop with speed faster than lightning and ran until the coffee establishment was nothing but a diorama behind him.

Todomatsu was going to kill him.

~~~

One week later...

“Okay, thank you.” Todomatsu lowered the receiver and returned to the main living room, expressionless, mouth a tiny line of nothing on his face.

“Hm? Who might that be, my brother?” Karamatsu asked, glancing up from his mirror.

“Sutabaa.”

Karamatsu immediately sat up with tension freezing his body to its very core. “Y-Yes? What did they say?”

“I have a job.”

Karamatsu’s heart fluttered, and he broke into a wide smile as his eyes shined with starlight. “Oh, my brother! I am so glad you managed to score a position in Sutabaa once more! Thank goodness of your good fortune, your luck be blessed by Akatsuka-Sensei himself! To return as the cashier was what you have wan—!”

“I have a job as a janitor.”

Karamatsu’s smile melted. “Ah, you...Eh?”

Todomatsu’s blank gaze swept over to him. “You turned me into a janitor.”

“I, uh...” Clearing his throat, Karamatsu put down his mirror. A thousand words wanted out for the sake of explanation, but none left him as he tried deciding if he should be apologetic or terrified. Maybe the right answer to this was that he be both. He had been the one to decide the fate of his brother after all, so if it meant feeling both of those things at once, then so be it.

Karamatsu laughed nervously. “You...You still have a job though?” he pointed out hesitantly.

Todomatsu stared down at him without anything in his eyes. “I’ll burn one of your clothes combinations,” he decided.

“A-Ah...! Oh...But would you still care for me if I was sick?” Karamatsu asked.

At first, Todomatsu didn’t say anything at all. Then putting his fingers to his mouth, Todomatsu made a dog whistle.

At first Karamatsu had no idea what that was for, when suddenly Ichimatsu leapt out of nowhere with a feral cat screech, grabbed Karamatsu’s mirror, and slammed it across Karamatsu’s face. Luckily it wasn’t strong enough for the glass to break, but it was enough to leave a burned mark on Karamatsu’s face as he reeled back onto the floor from the force of Ichimatsu’s slam.

Crashing onto the floor and clutching his cheek, Karamatsu doubled over with a yelp and a whimper, a sound of suffocation faintly stuck in his throat. Putting a hand to his cheek, there might’ve been a small wound that bled, now that he touched his face, and it hurt like...It hurt. It really, really hurt.

Karamatsu whimpered.

“I’ll fix that wound up for you, I’ll burn one of your clothes combinations. Can we be even then?” Todomatsu deadpanned, grabbing the mirror from the ‘claw’ of Ichimatsu’s hissing form, and tossed the mirror back onto the table.

“Yeah, that’ll be fine,” Karamatsu rasped.

So Todomatsu’s reputation was secured. As were his clothes.

Partly. Only partly.

#osomatsu-san #osomatsu san #bits of my brothers #karamatsu matsuno #todomatsu matsuno #karamatsu #todomatsu #zaimoku #aida (osomatsu)#aida and sachiko #aida #i hope you like it #anonymous #fanic #fan-fic

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undertheinfluencerd · 3 years

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Each generation in the Pokémon series has introduced notable characters, stories, and species that have become a major part of the entire franchise. Iconic characters like Red and Blue from Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow continue to make appearances in recent games and media, while features like Dynamax in Sword and Shield put a fresh spin on classic battle mechanics. However, Pokémon has always struggled with a major setback. Every few generations of the Pokémon series new consoles release, creating an issue with the playability of older titles. Because of this, many classic entries of the main Pokémon games would benefit from being ported to modern consoles like the Nintendo Switch.

During 2016, Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow were officially ported to the Nintendo 3Ds. These titles were followed by Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal in 2017 and 2018. The ports brought the games forward from the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, allowing those unable to obtain the older consoles and vintage game cartridges to replay, or experience for the first time, the beginning of the Pokémon series. However, the release of the ports overlapped with the release of the Nintendo Switch, which eventually overtook the 3Ds as Nintendo’s primary console, again locking the titles to an outdated system.

Related: The Pokémon Diamond & Pearl Switch Lite Is Disappointing

One of the potential reasons Nintendo and Game Freak have done little to port older titles in the Pokémon series could be due to the prevalence of remakes in the franchise. The first three Pokémon generations have each received remakes since the original launches, with Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl adding the fourth generation as well when the games release this fall. However, many of the remakes have also fallen victim to the struggles of outdated systems, with Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire being the most recent true remakes on the now-retired 3DS. Some remakes, like Leaf Green and Fire Red, even date back as far as 2006. Due to this, Nintendo would need to release a third round of remakes to update these games to current console capabilities.

Of the eight generations currently available in the Pokémon series, Pokémon X and Y would be among some of the most exciting titles to receive a potential port to the Nintendo Switch. The Kalos region introduced many mechanics that have become popular in subsequent installations to the series, including enhanced battle mechanics like Mega Evolutions, character customization, and heavier importance on Pokémon NPC involvement in the narrative. Pokémon X and Y were released in 2013 for the Nintendo 3DS, during the transition from the well-known pixelated graphics and sprites of the original games to the widespread use of 3D art and models in more recent titles. Because of this, the art and gameplay would likely hold up well on the Nintendo Switch, with minimal changes needed to be enjoyable.

Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire reimagined the Hoenn region, utilizing updated graphics and enhanced gameplay, without losing the charms of the Hoenn from the original titles. Released after Pokémon X and Y, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire integrated Mega Evolution as a major component of the remakes. New Mega-capable Pokémon were introduced to the original list from X and Y, as well as the Primal versions of each game’s Legendary mascot.

Related: Every Pokémon Game That Uses Mega Evolution

To add to this, the graphics style made side activities like secret bases and contests even more fun to engage in. Because Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire were released on the Nintendo 3Ds, they would likely also do well porting to the wider screen and better performance of the Nintendo Switch.

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, the remakes of Diamond and Pearl released in 2006, will be available to play for the Nintendo Switch on November 19, 2021. Nintendo has teased gameplay, revealing a colorful reimaging of the classic Sinnoh region, as well as updated battle mechanics and additional features. While it isn’t yet known if the remakes will be as true to the originals as past full remakes have been, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl would benefit from Switch ports of the original games before the release of the remake.

Originally released for the Nintendo DS, Diamond and Pearl are among the many Pokémon games that have become hard to find due to the passage of time. Nintendo hasn’t rereleased physical copies of past Pokémon games, making the original copies the only ones available. While Diamond and Pearl are technically playable on the Nintendo 3DS due to backward compatibility with the previous DS systems, many fans of the series may find their original cartridges have been lost, have stopped working, or perhaps the players never had the chance to purchase the games upon their original release.

Related: Easiest Pokémon Characters To Cosplay As

Because of this, those who never had the chance to play Diamond and Pearl may actually miss out on the enormity of certain features being revitalized in the Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl remakes. While playing the previous games won’t be necessary to understand the plot and basic gameplay, often times the enjoyment of remakes comes from comparing the original title with updated features. By releasing ports of Diamond and Pearl, players will be able to build excitement with a playthrough of the original games, which could help encourage more Pokémon fans to purchase Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl before they release via preorders on Nintendo’s store.

While there are many games that would do well with ports to the Nintendo Switch, older games would, unfortunately, be a challenge to rerelease. The low resolution for small screens and limited graphics of vintage systems like the Game Boy and Nintendo DS would require extensive updates to be playable on the Nintendo Switch. Without these improvements, the original titles would be limited to just inches of the Nintendo Switch screen, and they would likely be unplayable on the TV when the Switch is docked. Because of this, releasing ports of these older titles would take Nintendo away from new Pokémon projects. Because of this, it seems unlikely outdated titles will see Switch editions any time soon.

Next: The Sad Truth About Pokémon Legends: Arceus’ Regional Variants

#marvel #avengers #marvelcomics #spiderman #mcu #ironman #comics #captainamerica #thor #avengersendgame #marvelstudios #xmen #dc #marveluniverse #art #cosplay #tomholland #hulk #disney #comicbooks #dccomics #peterparker #tonystark #blackwidow #marvellegends #endgame #deadpool #marvelcinematicuniverse #loki #bhfyp

The post Classic Pokémon Games Deserve A Nintendo Switch Port appeared first on undertheinfluencerd.net.

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wiselinks · 3 years

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How To Buy Replacement Screen For MacBook Pro on a Tight Budget?

MacBook PCs from Apple are the absolute, generally delightful and very much planned – also strong, but rather actually like all the other things man-made they aren't impenetrable to unintentional drops, dings, and harm.'

On account of the way that they are made utilizing great development materials (particularly processed aluminum) they feel indestructible in the hand, yet those perfect retina shows can pop and spiderweb very much like some other screen out there.

Not at all like most PCs, the retina display on the MacBook is exceptionally extraordinary, and subsequently significantly more costly to support.

Lenovo, HP, Dell, and all major OEMs for PCs will use similar showcases across many models, and surprisingly that show is utilized across several years of workstations.

The equivalent can't be valid for MacBook Pro, frequently it is one showcase for one specific model year, size, shading and that is it for that presentation.

In case you are adequately unfortunate to have a harmed screen, odds are very acceptable you have begun to investigate what amount does it cost to supplant a MacBook screen at the Apple Store – and the chances are very acceptable you made some extreme memories pounding down substantial figures without bringing your PC into a store and having somebody from the online stores see.

Problems Due To COVID-19

Because of COVID-19, arrangements are restricted and surprisingly harder to plan as of June 2020.

In this speedy aide we desire to show you about the amount you can hope to need to spend on MacBook fix going ahead, the aggregate "all in" cost for getting your screen supplanted, and your PC back ready for action.

We're possibly examining a screen substitution in this article on the off chance that you have extra harm, or searching for a battery substitution quote we have expounded on that as well.

Let's Talk About How You Can Get Your Screen Replaced!

Harm to a MacBook screen can feel like an apocalypse sort of situation, particularly if the harm is broad and appears as though it will deliver your #1 PC is usable. That is the reason such countless individuals are anxious about the amount it costs to supplant a MacBook screen at the Apple Store in any case.

Fortunately, however, the specialists at Apple stores from one side of the country to the other (particularly here in Minneapolis, Minnesota) have been prepared widely on the most proficient method to rapidly and effectively supplant or fix screens on these PCs – getting you back fully operational in the blink of an eye by any stretch of the imagination.

Truth be told, screen fixes address near 25% of the multitude of various fixes that Apple specialists handle for clients coming up.

Screen harm brought about by coincidental dropping, knocking, and rearranging at work or school, or the feared dead pixel gives that tormented before MacBook models much more oftentimes than they do today have assisted Apple with fixing specialists practice a lot in the past for fixing or trading out harmed shows in record time.

What Will Be The Cost of Replacement With AppleCare?

Your cash-based expenses for a Mac fix of a busted or inadequate screen on your MacBook will hinder you $99 for a broken screen.

Any extra harm will knock your bill to a fabulous absolute of $300.

What amount will my MacBook screen fix cost without AppleCare?

On the off chance that you have a MacBook with a Retina show screen (pretty standard gear nowadays, yet not with the more established MacBooks) you can hope to spend somewhere in the range of $455 and $755 supplanting the screen totally at the Apple Store.

On the off chance that you would prefer to skirt the Apple Store, your agreeable Gophermods can assist you with all your MacBook fixes. We have likewise composed another article on other MacBook fixes past screen substitutions.

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keysdate370 · 3 years

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suzanneshannon · 4 years

Text

Advice for Complex CSS Illustrations

If you were to ask me what question I hear most about front-end development, I’d say it’s“How do I get better at CSS?” And that question usually comes up to some CSS illustration I made, which is something I love to do over on CodePen.

To many, CSS is this mythical beast that can’t be tamed. This tweet from Chris made me chuckle because, although ironic, there’s a lot of truth to it. That said, what if I told you that you were only a few properties and techniques away from creating anything you wanted? The truth is that you are indeed that close.

I’ve been wanting to compose an article like this for some time, but it’s a hard topic to cover because there are so many possibilities and so many techniques that there’s often more than one way to accomplish the same thing. The same is true with CSS illustrations. There’s no right or wrong way to do it. We’re all using the same canvas. There are simply so many different tools to get those pixels on the page.

While there is no “one size fits all” approach to CSS illustration, what I can offer is a set of techniques that might help you on your journey.

CodePen Embed Fallback

Time and practice

CSS illustration takes lots of time and practice. The more accurate you want to be and the more complicated the illustration, the longer it’s going to take. The time-consuming part isn’t usually deciding on which properties to use and how, but the tinkering of getting things to look right. Be prepared to get very familiar with the styles inspector in your browser dev tools! I also recommend trying out VisBug if you haven’t.

Two fantastic CSS artists are Ben Evans and Diana Smith. Both have recently talked about time consumption when referring to CSS illustration.

Diana’st PureCSS Gaze took her two long weekends to complete. She talks about some of her techniques here and here. “If you have the time, patience and drive, it is certainly possible,” she says.

I posted a meme-like picture about a cup and Ben’s response summed things up perfectly:

I was tempted to create this in CSS when I first saw the tweet but then thought my reply would take about a month.

It takes time!

CSS Illustration pic.twitter.com/vqpQLKTte5

— Jhey 🛠 (@jh3yy) May 10, 2020

Tracing is perfectly acceptable

We often have an idea of what it is that we want to illustrate. This article isn’t about design, after all.; it’s about taking an image and rendering it with the DOM and CSS. I’m pretty sure this technique has been around since the dawn of time. But, it’s one I’ve been sharing the last few months.

Find or create an image of what it is you want to illustrate.

Pull it into your HTML with an <img> tag.

Position it in a way that it will sit underneath your illustration.

Reduce the image opacity so that it’s still visible but not too overpowering.

Trace it with the DOM.

To my surprise, this technique isn’t common knowledge. But it’s invaluable for creating accurate CSS illustrations.

See this trick in action here:

Here’s a timelapse of creating that CSS @eggheadio 😎 Tweaked the shadows with clip-path after 🛠️ 💻 https://t.co/XhDRspwwFg via @CodePen #webdev #coding #CSS #animation #webdesign #design #creative #100DaysOfCode #HTML #Timelapse https://t.co/ZQ1hyzcoSA pic.twitter.com/iPf7ksYCGX

— Jhey 🛠 (@jh3yy) May 1, 2020

And try it out here:

CodePen Embed Fallback

Pay attention to responsiveness

If there are two takeaway techniques to take from this article, let it be the “Tracing” one above and this next one.

There are some fantastic examples of CSS illustration out there. But the one unfortunate thing about some of them is that they aren’t styled — or even viewable — on small screens. We live in an age where first impressions with tech are important. Consider the example of a keyboard illustrated with CSS. Someone comes across your work, opens it up on their smartphone, and they’re greeted with only half the illustration or a small section of it. They probably missed the coolest parts of the demo!

Here’s my trick: leverage viewport units for your illustrations and create your own scaled unit.

For sizing and positioning, you either have the option of using a scaled unit or percentage. This is particularly useful when you need to use a box shadow because the property accepts viewport units but not percentages.

Consider the CSS egghead.io logo I created above. I found the image I wanted to use and popped it in the DOM with an img tag.

img { height: 50vmin; left: 50%; opacity: 0.25; position: fixed; top: 50%; transform: translate(-50%, -50%); }

The height, 50vmin, is the desired size of the CSS illustration. The reduced opacity allows us to “trace” the illustration clearly as we progress.

Then, we create our scaled unit.

/** * image dimensions are 742 x 769 * width is 742 * height is 769 * my desired size is 50vmin */ :root { --size: 50; --unit: calc((var(--size) / 769) * 1vmin); }

With the image dimensions in place, we can create a uniform unit that’s going to scale with our image. We know the height is the largest unit, so we use that as a base to create a fractional unit.

We get something like this:

--unit: 0.06501950585vmin;

That looks awkward but, trust me, it’s fine. We can use this to size our illustration’s container using calc().

.egg { height: calc(769 * var(--unit)); position: relative; width: calc(742 * var(--unit)); z-index: 2; }

If we use either percentages or our new --unit custom property to style elements within the container of our CSS illustration, we will get responsive CSS illustrations… and all it took was a few lines of math using CSS variables!

Resize this demo and you’ll see that everything stay in proportion always using 50vmin as the sizing constraint.

CodePen Embed Fallback

Measure twice, cut once

Another tip is to measure things. Heck, you van even grab a tape measure if you’re working with a physical object!

CodePen Embed Fallback

This may look a little funky but I measured this scene. It’s the TV combo unit I have in my lounge. Those measurements equate to centimeters. I used those to get a responsive unit based on the actual height of the TV. We can give that number — and all others — a name that makes it easy to remember what it’s for, thanks to custom properties.

:root { --light-switch: 15; --light-switch-border: 10; --light-switch-top: 15; --light-switch-bottom: 25; --tv-bezel: 15; --tv-unit-bezel: 4; --desired-height: 25vmin; --one-cm: calc(var(--desired-height) / var(--tv-height)); --tv-width: 158.1; --tv-height: 89.4; --unit-height: 42; --unit-width: 180; --unit-top: 78.7; --tv-bottom: 114.3; --scaled-tv-width: calc(var(--tv-width) * var(--one-cm)); --scaled-tv-height: calc(var(--tv-height) * var(--one-cm)); --scaled-unit-width: calc(var(--unit-width) * var(--one-cm)); --scaled-unit-height: calc(var(--unit-height) * var(--one-cm)); }

As soon as we calculate a variable, we can use it everywhere. I know my TV is 158.1cm wide and 89.4cm tall. I checked the manual. But in my CSS illustration, it will always scale to 25vmin.

Use absolute positioning on all the things

This one will save you a few keystrokes. More often than not, you’ll be looking to absolutely position elements. Save yourself and put this rule somewhere.

/* Your class name may vary */ .css-illustration *, .css-illustration *:after, .css-illustration *:before, .css-illustration:after, .css-illustration:before { box-sizing: border-box; position: absolute; }

Your keyboard will thank you!

Positioning is a tricky concept in CSS. You can read up on it in the CSS Almanac for more information on how to use it.

Or, have a play with this little positioning playground:

CodePen Embed Fallback

Stick to an approach

This is by far the hardest thing to do. How do you approach a CSS illustration? Where do you even start? Should you start with the outermost part and work your way in? That doesn’t work so well.

Odds are that you’ll try some approaches and find a better way to go about it. You’ll certainly do a little back-and-forth but, the more you practice, the better you’ll get at spotting patterns and developing an approach that works best for you.

I tend to relate my approach to how you’d go about creating a vector image where illustrations are made up of layers. Split it up and sketch it on paper if you need to. But, start from the bottom and work your way up. This tends to mean larger shapes first, and finer details later. You can always tinker with the stacking index when you need to move elements around.

Maintain a solid structure for your styles

That leads us to the structure. Try to avoid a flat DOM structure for your illustration. Keeping things atomic makes it easier to move parts of your illustration. It will also makes it much easier to show and hide parts of the illustration or even animate them later. Consider the CSS Snorlax demo. The arms, feet, head, etc. are separate elements. That made animating the arm a lot easier than if I had tried to keep things together since I could simply apply the animation to the .snorlax__arm-left class.

CodePen Embed Fallback

Here’s a timelapse shot of me creating the demo:

Attempted to put together a timelapse of the CSS Snorlax we built last night 😅 Amusing watching it back! 💻 https://t.co/vbVYmFUN5V via @CodePen#webdev #coding #HTML #CSS #webdesign #100DaysOfCode #creative #design #animation pic.twitter.com/0mJtLPRQfP

— Jhey 🛠 (@jh3yy) April 28, 2020

Handling awkward shapes

There’s a pretty good article right here on CSS-Tricks for creating shapes with CSS. But what about more “awkward” shapes, like a long curve or even an outer curve? In these scenarios, we need to think outside the box. Properties such as overflow, border-radius, and clip-path are big helpers.

Consider this CSS Jigglypuff demo. Toggle the checkbox.

CodePen Embed Fallback

That’s the key for creating curved shapes! We have an element much larger than the body with a border-radius applied. We then apply overflow: hidden to the body to cut that part off.

How might we create an outer curve? This one’s a little tricky. But a trick I like to use is a transparent element with a thick border. Then apply a border-radius and clip the excess, if required.

CodePen Embed Fallback

If you hit the toggle, it reveals the element we are using to go across that corner. Another trick might be to overlay a circle that matches the background color. This is fine until we need to change the background color. It’s OK if you have a variable or something in place for that color. But, it could make things a little harder to maintain.

clip-path is your friend

You might have noticed a couple of interesting CSS properties in that last demo, including clip-path. You’ll most likely need clip-path if you want to create complex CSS shapes. It’s especially handy for cutting off bits of elements when hiding parent box overflow doesn’t do.

Here’s a little demo I built some time ago that showcases different clip-path possibilities.

CodePen Embed Fallback

There’s also this demo that takes ideas from the “Shapes of CSS” article and re-created with clip-path.

CodePen Embed Fallback

border-radius is your other friend

You’re going to need border-radius to create curves. One uncommon trick is to use a “double” syntax. This allows you to create a horizontal and vertical radius for each corner.

Play with this demo to really appreciate the power of border-radius. I advocate using percentages across the board in order keep things responsive.

CodePen Embed Fallback

Shading techniques

You’ve got all the shapes, everything is nicely laid out, and all the right colors are in place… but something still looks off. Odds are that it’s a lack of shading.

Shading adds depth and create a realistic feel. Consider this ecreation of a Gal Shir illustration. Gal is fantastic at using shades and gradients to make beautiful illustrations. I thought it would be fun to do a recreate it and include a switch that toggles the shading to see just what a difference it makes.

CodePen Embed Fallback

Shading effects are often created with a box-shadow and background-image combination.

The key thing with these properties is that we can stack them in a comma-separated list. For example, the cauldron in the demo has a list of gradients that are being used across the body.

.cauldron { background: radial-gradient(25% 25% at 25% 55%, var(--rim-color), transparent), radial-gradient(100% 100% at -2% 50%, transparent, transparent 92%, var(--cauldron-color)), radial-gradient(100% 100% at -5% 50%, transparent, transparent 80%, var(--darkness)), linear-gradient(310deg, var(--inner-rim-color) 25%, transparent), var(--cauldron-color); }

Note that radial-gradient() and a linear-gradient() are being used here and not always with perfectly round numeric values. Again, those numbers are just fine. In fact, you’ll spend a lot of time tweaking and tinkering with things in the style inspector.

It’s generally the same working with box-shadow. However, with that, we can also use the inset value to create tricky borders and additional depth.

.cauldron__opening { box-shadow: 0 0px calc(var(--size) * 0.05px) calc(var(--size) * 0.005px) var(--rim-color) inset, 0 calc(var(--size) * 0.025px) 0 calc(var(--size) * 0.025px) var(--inner-rim-color) inset, 0 10px 20px 0px var(--darkness), 0 10px 20px -10px var(--inner-rim-color); }

There are certainly times where it will make more sense to go with filter: drop-shadow() instead to get the effect you want.

Lynn Fisher’s a.singlediv.com is a brilliant example of these properties in action. Have a poke around on that site and inspect some of the illustrations for great ways to use box-shadow and background-image in illustrations.

box-shadow is so powerful that you could create your entire illustration with it. I once joked about creating a CSS illustration of a dollar.

In CSS right? 😅#webdev #CSS #animation #webdesign #coding #100DaysOfCode #HTML https://t.co/VmyeySsK83

— Jhey 🛠 (@jh3yy) April 22, 2020

I used a generator to create the illustration with a single div. But Alvaro Montoro took it a little further and wrote a generator that does it with box-shadow instead.

Preprocessors are super helpful

While they aren’t required, using preprocessors can help keep your code neat and tidy. For example, Pug makes writing HTML faster, especially when it comes to using loops for dealing with a bunch of repeating elements. From there, we can scope CSS custom properties in a way that we only need to define styles once, then overwrite them where needed.

CodePen Embed Fallback

Here’s another example that demonstrates a DRY structure. The flowers are constructed with the same markup, but each has its own index class that is used to apply scoped CSS properties.

CodePen Embed Fallback

The first flower has these properties:

.flower--1 { --hue: 190; --x: 0; --y: 0; --size: 125; --r: 0; }

It’s the first one, so all the others are based off it. Notice how the second flower is off to the right and up slightly. All that takes is assigning different values to the same custom properties:

.flower--2 { --hue: 320; --x: 140; --y: -75; --size: 75; --r: 40; }

Animated responsive CSS Leif features in the latest CodePen Spark! ✨ For those who don’t know Animal Crossing, Leif is a green-thumbed Sloth who visits your island 🌻 Here’s a timelapse! 📹 💻 https://t.co/tkHX4nWXp7 via @CodePen pic.twitter.com/naJIrsSlYM

— Jhey 🛠 (@jh3yy) May 19, 2020

That’s it!

Go forth, use these tips, come up with your own, share them, and share your CSS masterpieces! And hey, if you have your own advice, please share that too! This is definitely the sort of thing that is learned through lots of trial and error — what works for me may look different from what works for you and we can learn from those different approaches

The post Advice for Complex CSS Illustrations appeared first on CSS-Tricks.

Advice for Complex CSS Illustrations published first on https://deskbysnafu.tumblr.com/

0 notes

recruitmentdubai · 4 years

Text

Advice for Complex CSS Illustrations

While there is no “one size fits all” approach to CSS illustration, what I can offer is a set of techniques that might help you on your journey.

CodePen Embed Fallback

Time and practice

Two fantastic CSS artists are Ben Evans and Diana Smith. Both have recently talked about time consumption when referring to CSS illustration.

I posted a meme-like picture about a cup and Ben’s response summed things up perfectly:

I was tempted to create this in CSS when I first saw the tweet but then thought my reply would take about a month.

It takes time!

CSS Illustration pic.twitter.com/vqpQLKTte5

— Jhey 🛠 (@jh3yy) May 10, 2020

Tracing is perfectly acceptable

Find or create an image of what it is you want to illustrate.

Pull it into your HTML with an <img> tag.

Position it in a way that it will sit underneath your illustration.

Reduce the image opacity so that it’s still visible but not too overpowering.

Trace it with the DOM.

To my surprise, this technique isn’t common knowledge. But it’s invaluable for creating accurate CSS illustrations.

See this trick in action here:

Here’s a timelapse of creating that CSS @eggheadio

Tweaked the shadows with clip-path after

https://t.co/XhDRspwwFg via @CodePen #webdev #coding #CSS #animation #webdesign #design #creative #100DaysOfCode #HTML #Timelapse https://t.co/ZQ1hyzcoSA pic.twitter.com/iPf7ksYCGX

— Jhey

(@jh3yy) May 1, 2020

And try it out here:

CodePen Embed Fallback

Pay attention to responsiveness

If there are two takeaway techniques to take from this article, let it be the “Tracing” one above and this next one.

Here’s my trick: leverage viewport units for your illustrations and create your own scaled unit.

Consider the CSS egghead.io logo I created above. I found the image I wanted to use and popped it in the DOM with an img tag.

img { height: 50vmin; left: 50%; opacity: 0.25; position: fixed; top: 50%; transform: translate(-50%, -50%); }

The height, 50vmin, is the desired size of the CSS illustration. The reduced opacity allows us to “trace” the illustration clearly as we progress.

Then, we create our scaled unit.

/** * image dimensions are 742 x 769 * width is 742 * height is 769 * my desired size is 50vmin */ :root { --size: 50; --unit: calc((var(--size) / 769) * 1vmin); }

With the image dimensions in place, we can create a uniform unit that’s going to scale with our image. We know the height is the largest unit, so we use that as a base to create a fractional unit.

We get something like this:

--unit: 0.06501950585vmin;

That looks awkward but, trust me, it’s fine. We can use this to size our illustration’s container using calc().

.egg { height: calc(769 * var(--unit)); position: relative; width: calc(742 * var(--unit)); z-index: 2; }

Resize this demo and you’ll see that everything stay in proportion always using 50vmin as the sizing constraint.

CodePen Embed Fallback

Measure twice, cut once

Another tip is to measure things. Heck, you van even grab a tape measure if you’re working with a physical object!

CodePen Embed Fallback

As soon as we calculate a variable, we can use it everywhere. I know my TV is 158.1cm wide and 89.4cm tall. I checked the manual. But in my CSS illustration, it will always scale to 25vmin.

Use absolute positioning on all the things

This one will save you a few keystrokes. More often than not, you’ll be looking to absolutely position elements. Save yourself and put this rule somewhere.

Your keyboard will thank you!

Positioning is a tricky concept in CSS. You can read up on it in the CSS Almanac for more information on how to use it.

Or, have a play with this little positioning playground:

CodePen Embed Fallback

Stick to an approach

This is by far the hardest thing to do. How do you approach a CSS illustration? Where do you even start? Should you start with the outermost part and work your way in? That doesn’t work so well.

Maintain a solid structure for your styles

CodePen Embed Fallback

Here’s a timelapse shot of me creating the demo:

Attempted to put together a timelapse of the CSS Snorlax we built last night

Amusing watching it back!

https://t.co/vbVYmFUN5V via @CodePen#webdev #coding #HTML #CSS #webdesign #100DaysOfCode #creative #design #animation pic.twitter.com/0mJtLPRQfP

— Jhey

(@jh3yy) April 28, 2020

Handling awkward shapes

Consider this CSS Jigglypuff demo. Toggle the checkbox.

CodePen Embed Fallback

That’s the key for creating curved shapes! We have an element much larger than the body with a border-radius applied. We then apply overflow: hidden to the body to cut that part off.

How might we create an outer curve? This one’s a little tricky. But a trick I like to use is a transparent element with a thick border. Then apply a border-radius and clip the excess, if required.

CodePen Embed Fallback

clip-path is your friend

Here’s a little demo I built some time ago that showcases different clip-path possibilities.

CodePen Embed Fallback

There’s also this demo that takes ideas from the “Shapes of CSS” article and re-created with clip-path.

CodePen Embed Fallback

border-radius is your other friend

You’re going to need border-radius to create curves. One uncommon trick is to use a “double” syntax. This allows you to create a horizontal and vertical radius for each corner.

Play with this demo to really appreciate the power of border-radius. I advocate using percentages across the board in order keep things responsive.

CodePen Embed Fallback

Shading techniques

You’ve got all the shapes, everything is nicely laid out, and all the right colors are in place… but something still looks off. Odds are that it’s a lack of shading.

CodePen Embed Fallback

Shading effects are often created with a box-shadow and background-image combination.

The key thing with these properties is that we can stack them in a comma-separated list. For example, the cauldron in the demo has a list of gradients that are being used across the body.

It’s generally the same working with box-shadow. However, with that, we can also use the inset value to create tricky borders and additional depth.

There are certainly times where it will make more sense to go with filter: drop-shadow() instead to get the effect you want.

box-shadow is so powerful that you could create your entire illustration with it. I once joked about creating a CSS illustration of a dollar.

In CSS right?

#webdev #CSS #animation #webdesign #coding #100DaysOfCode #HTML https://t.co/VmyeySsK83

— Jhey

(@jh3yy) April 22, 2020

I used a generator to create the illustration with a single div. But Alvaro Montoro took it a little further and wrote a generator that does it with box-shadow instead.

Preprocessors are super helpful

CodePen Embed Fallback

Here’s another example that demonstrates a DRY structure. The flowers are constructed with the same markup, but each has its own index class that is used to apply scoped CSS properties.

CodePen Embed Fallback

The first flower has these properties:

.flower--1 { --hue: 190; --x: 0; --y: 0; --size: 125; --r: 0; }

It’s the first one, so all the others are based off it. Notice how the second flower is off to the right and up slightly. All that takes is assigning different values to the same custom properties:

.flower--2 { --hue: 320; --x: 140; --y: -75; --size: 75; --r: 40; }

Animated responsive CSS Leif features in the latest CodePen Spark!

For those who don’t know Animal Crossing, Leif is a green-thumbed Sloth who visits your island

Here’s a timelapse!

https://t.co/tkHX4nWXp7 via @CodePen pic.twitter.com/naJIrsSlYM

— Jhey

(@jh3yy) May 19, 2020

That’s it!

The post Advice for Complex CSS Illustrations appeared first on CSS-Tricks.

source https://css-tricks.com/advice-for-complex-css-illustrations/

from WordPress https://ift.tt/3fyrAzv via IFTTT

#web developer #web development #website developer

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danandthereader · 7 years

Note

Could you write about the reader first realizing that she has a crush on Dan?

A/N: I will absolutely write about the reader first realizing they have a crush on Dan, lovely ! This is an adorable prompt, and I had so much fun filling it to the brim with cuteness. Thank you so much for it, and I hope you like it ! ♡

REALIZATIONS

If there was one thing you could say, it was that your life wasn’t boring. Thought it might have been a bit cliche to say that it was because of a boy, it was absolutely because of Dan. He was so wonderfully eccentric, full of interesting stories, warm laughter, and the greatest jokes. Being friends with him had meant you had also sort of become friends with his friends, who were all equally wonderful. Arin had a great sense of humor, Suzy was bubbly yet motherly, Ross’ sarcasm was unparalleled, and Holly’s general wonder over everything was absolutely beautiful to see in real-time.It was easy, being integrated into each of their lives. What had started off as simple and sort of stilted conversations about things like plans for the evening or how their significant other was doing had turned into going out with them on group dates and the like. Sure, you were single, and Dan was single, and that made the two of you the odd-ones-out, but it never seemed to bother you or him.

The times the two of you went out together, just the two of you, were few and far between, but you really appreciated them. Dan seemed to have a bit of an adventure bug in him, because you were at an arcade in the downtown area, an arcade you didn’t even know existed. It was free to play by the hour, and he’d bought out a two-hour block for the two of you to peruse the games and play together. You were especially good at Pac-Man, which he always came back to peek over your shoulder to watch you play.As you cleared another level, the screen flashing brightly, he laughed. “You’re way too good at this,” he told you, pulling up a little stool and sitting down, elbows coming to his knees and chin going to his hands. “I’ve just got good hand-eye coordination,” you replied casually, smiling a half smile and turning your attention back to the game. The little cutscene played along, and you could hear it,the gentle do-do-do-ing as he sang along to the little jingle. It made you smile a little more. How adorable.The level began, and off you went. When you told him that you had good hand-eye coordination, you weren’t lying, but you were definitely stretching the truth. In truth, you just had decent reflexes with videogames, things like quicktime events and moving a joystick quickly to get you around corners your specialty. However, it only really came to use in videogames, anything like a ball or physical object going either straight to the ground or straight into your nose.However, your reflexes were too slow, because you ran straight into a ghost, the familiar death music and sound effect playing. “Crap,” you muttered. You were down to your last life, and then that was it. Though you weren’t about to beat any high scores on the console itself, you were incredibly proud of how far you’d come. “It’s okay, I believe in you!” Coming from Dan, the words were comforting, almost inspiring.Unfortunately, they didn’t help you get you much farther. The game ended almost as quickly as it began, and you groaned. “I had it!” you told him as the game ended and reset, the title screen coming up in its bright pixelated colors. “They totally ganged up on me.” Did you even want to go again? Part of you wanted to move on, try a different game, but it seemed you friend had different plans.“Scoot. We’ll try two-player.” Your eyebrow raised and you looked over at him. He wasn’t looking at you, but rather scooting his own chair over, eyes bright and excited, like a small child’s would be. It was… Really cute.Sure, you’d noticed how handsome he was before - when he ran his hand through his thick curls or tilted his head a certain way or gave you that cheeky half-smile, you could see why so many girls wanted him. His personality was his shining feature, of course, but you knew he was sweet around the eyes and kind around the corners of his mouth. That was a look you could totally fall for.Or, well, not you, of course. You could never fall for Dan, Mister Big Rockstar, Mister Youtuber, Mister I Could Have Any Girl I Wanted. That would be weird.Right?

As you scooted a bit and he settled next to you, tapping the two-player button to wake the machine and tell it what was up, you couldn’t for the life of you look away from him. It wasn’t the kind of looking you normally did, in curiosity and wonder and appreciation, but in… Something else. What was it? Why was this happening now, in the middle of a decently-packed arcade, when he was right here next to you to confront you about it if he wanted to?Finally, he looked at you, and, catching your eye, smiled a bit. “What’s up?” He didn’t know. Why would he know? You’ve been thinking about how cute he is, not saying it aloud. “Um - Ah - ” You’ve got three seconds before he thinks it’s weird. Three… Two… “Nothin’. You settled?” You gave him a bright, almost strained, smile. He gave you one in return, much more genuine and all bright teeth. “Totally. Let’s get to it!” Tapping the button once again, the game started.It was hard, looking away from him, but you managed. However, your eyes kept glancing his way, then back to the screen. They traveled to his hands once or twice, so close to yours, nimble digits wrapped around the control stick and splayed casually by the bright red game button. They were nice hands, hands that were soft, gentle when they touched your shoulder or enthusiastic when they high-fived you, hands you could totally see why girls wanted to hold or have touch them or…The sound of you dying broke your thoughts, and you blinked at the screen. “Damn!” Dan laughed, continuing on without a hitch.You sighed. A long time ago, when you first met the Grumps, you promised yourself you’d never fall for a friend, especially a friend like Dan. But here you were, watching his hands and thinking about them touching you, staring at his face and noting the cute dimple in the center of his cheek, dying in-game because of it, and slipping farther away from your promise as every pellet disappeared.

#dan avidan #danny sexbang #dan x reader #dan avidan x reader #reader insert #req fill

30 notes · View notes

magzoso-tech · 4 years

Photo

New Post has been published on https://magzoso.com/tech/samsung-galaxy-fold-yay-for-the-experience-or-nay-for-being-too-expensive/

Samsung Galaxy Fold: Yay for the Experience or Nay for Being Too Expensive?

Simply put, the Samsung Galaxy Fold is an ambitious phone that is also extremely expensive and frighteningly fragile. A lot has been said and written about the quality control issues that initially plagued the Galaxy Fold, prompting Samsung to give it a major redesign. But the Galaxy Fold is not just a fancy flagship phone that can fold into half. It is a precursor of things to come, which nearly all big names in the industry want to explore or are currently working on. The Galaxy Fold has a lot riding on it, as the future of foldable phones will have a lot to do with how the Galaxy Fold is received and the impact it makes.

On the surface, the Galaxy Fold’s core appeal lies in its futuristic design and top-of-the-line internals, but that is just half the picture. Samsung presents the Galaxy Fold as a no-compromise device that redefines how we experience a phone. The ‘no compromise’ part has been covered well, thanks to a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor, a healthy 12GB of RAM, 512GB of internal storage, six capable cameras, and all the other features that are ingredients of a true-blue flagship. It is the software experience that matters here, and will determine whether a foldable phone can be usable and practical. Truth be told, our experience has been mixed.

This beauty needs a lot of pampering

Samsung’s foldable phone is unlike any other smartphone out there. The form factor instantly draws attention, and the moment anyone sees you unfold it, questions and requests for a hands-on experience will follow. This might be tricky. Even though Samsung has redesigned the device to prevent dust particles from getting inside and damaging the flexible display, the Galaxy Fold still feels quite fragile. And if you think you can snap it open and closed like a flip phone from days gone by, forget about it.

Samsung didn’t go for an in-display fingerprint sensor because you won’t always be holding this device the same way, but the side-mounted one does its job just fine. It is surprisingly quick and its placement is comfortable. Using a protective cover, even the one that comes in the retail package, somewhat obscures it.

Despite the redesign, the Galaxy Fold still feels quite fragile and must be handled with care

Opening the phone with one hand is nearly impossible, and Samsung advises against doing that, particularly if you have long nails. Why? Well, the surface of the inner display is not tough, and any sharp object or even some pressure could damage it. It also attracts smudges and dust particles really fast, and on top of that, it is not as easy to clean as smartphone screens usually are. There is some risk of damaging the panel when opening or closing this phone, and it still feels quite fragile. This is something that many prospective buyers will have to keep in mind, as the cost of repairing the panel ($599, approximately Rs. 42,340) is more than what you might pay for some flagships.

The Galaxy Fold feels chunky when closed, but it is not unwieldy and the weight is balanced evenly. The 4.6-inch HD+ (720 x 1680 pixels) external Super AMOLED display is tall with a 21:9 aspect ratio, and is crisp enough with a pixel density of 399ppi. It is good to see that Samsung has adhered to high quality standards, and it reflects in the good viewing angles and punchy colours it produces. The cover display is fully functional and can be used for anything you would want to do on your phone. The smallish size somewhat limits comfort and flexibility, but more on that later.

The 7.3-inch QXGA+ (2152×1536 pixels) foldable internal AMOLED display basically turns the Galaxy Fold into a pocketable Android tablet. There’s a crease running across the panel that can be seen and felt easily, but over time, we found that this did not impede actually using the display.

Galaxy Fold’s display still has a prominent crease, but it does not impede usage.

The foldable panel attracts dust and smudges quicker than glass, and you’ll need a piece of fabric to clean it every once in a while. But you’ll have to be particularly careful while doing so. Samsung tells us that one should use only high-quality, soft fabric, and that too without applying too much pressure, as even that risks damaging the display. Since the phone is neither dust nor water resistant, users are advised to be particularly careful when using the Galaxy Fold.

Even though Samsung claims to have addressed the hardware woes of this device, the care instruction leaflet in the retail package clearly states that it should be kept away from dust and water. Above all, there is a gap between the two halves near the hinge when the device is closed, which means small objects can slip in between and do some damage. It would be best to keep this phone in a pocket or pouch without any other objects, especially keys or small coins.

Samsung also advises users to keep credit cards away from the Galaxy Fold, as the magnets used to secure it when closed might damage them. The same goes for any implanted medical devices. You have to be conscious, – if not extremely careful – when handling the Galaxy Fold, and treat it like the luxury commodity it is. There is a lot that can go wrong here, and even though there have been no reports of further design flaws, we couldn’t help but handle it with extreme care all the time, out of fear that something might go wrong.

Galaxy Fold feels more like a luxury item than the productivity beast Samsung presents it as.

Another thing you should keep in mind is that using the Galaxy Fold unfolded with one hand is difficult. Yes, you can hold it in one hand when reading or watching a video, but for almost everything else, you’ll have to use both hands. Still, it is lighter and much more compact than the iPad Mini (2019) which has a 7.9-inch display compared to the Galaxy Fold’s 7.3-inch flexible panel. This brings us to the all-too-important question – is the foldable display just a gimmick, or can it make you more productive?

The experience stands out, but still needs some work

Samsung claims it has introduced a new standard to use a smartphone, and to some extent, we agree. The phone runs One UI 1.5 based on Android Pie, and it is quite similar to what we’ve experienced on the Galaxy Note 10 and the Galaxy S10. It is the multi-tasking experience and the versatility of having a larger display at your disposal that sets the Galaxy Fold apart.

We loved playing games on the large 7.3-inch AMOLED display. Asphalt 9: Legends looked gorgeous at 60fps, and the larger screen with spaced-out on-screen buttons in Call of Duty: Mobile made for an enjoyable experience. However, some games such as Mortal Kombat and Injustice simply stretch to fill the screen, looking weird. Thanks to the Snapdragon 855 under the hood, the Galaxy Fold handled every game with ease. However, we noticed that it got warm rather quickly while gaming, especially the area around the triple rear camera module.

Gaming on the Galaxy Fold is an enjoyable experience, but some scaling issues persist.

Where the Galaxy Fold truly shines is productivity and multitasking. Simply open an app on the inner display, slide inwards from the right edge to show a small column of app icons called Apps Edge, and select an app to run it in split-screen view. In vertical orientation, running two apps side-by-side feels natural and less cramped compared to split-screen multitasking on a phone.

On the Galaxy Fold, it basically feels like using two tall displays side by side. You can resize the panels to give more screen space to one app, which can come in handy sometimes. We quite enjoyed composing emails in Outlook or writing a short article in Google Docs while referencing content in Chrome running alongside. However, switching the orientation to landscape mode changes things a bit. The app windows become more spacious and generally look better, but the keyboard ends up taking more than half of the screen.

There is a button at the top of each app panel that lets users expand it to full-screen or switch to a floating window. You can also reposition these floating windows, but we couldn’t help but notice that window movement was not smooth and it seemed to lag a little.

The multitasking experience is one where the Galaxy Fold stands out from the crowd

You can also run a third app side by side, but that didn’t help us be more productive. We felt that this made the screen too crowded, but if you want a third app at your disposal, you can choose to make it almost transparent and continue with your work. And if that still doesn’t cut it, you can minimise it to a small icon that can be positioned anywhere on the screen and can be tapped to open it in a split-screen or floating window view. We quite enjoyed this feature and kept apps like Amazon Prime Music or Spotify handy as an on-screen icon for playback control while working.

Another feature that we particularly loved on the Galaxy Fold is App Continuity, which basically allows you to carry over your on-screen activity from the small cover display to the large foldable panel and vice versa. You don’t even have to do anything – just open the Galaxy Fold and anything that was running on the external screen will be usable on the inner one. However, not all apps support this. The native apps do, while third-party ones need to have it enabled manually via the App Continuity tool in the display settings.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work for games. If you are playing a game on the larger display, closing the phone will simply take you to the lock screen. If you want to carry over your Candy Crush session from the cover display to the inner screen, the game must be restarted. We noticed this when running benchmarks too. Also, switching is not instantaneous, as third-party apps usually take a second to scale themselves.

App Continuity is easily one of the best features that the Galaxy Fold brings to the table.

The cover display does not support split-screen multitasking, and even if it did, the small size would mean an unpleasant experience. Moreover, when you switch from the inner display to the cover display with multiple apps running, the latter will only show the one that you last interacted with. Typing on the narrow exterior display was nothing short of a struggle, prompting us to open the device every time we wanted to compose a lengthy message or have a long chat.

Some UI elements do become a minor annoyance. The camera app is cramped and hard to navigate on the cover display. If you plan to use the camera app on the full display, prepare to use both hands to grip the phone firmly, as one-handed usage is simply not possible.

Reading ebooks and browsing the Web on the 7.3-inch Super AMOLED display was pleasing. Media consumption is where the Galaxy Fold needs some work. YouTube videos are scaled to full screen on the cover display, but on the inner one, you see thick black bars at the top and bottom with no option to crop or fill the screen. Plus, the camera notch covers some content and is hard to ignore.

Letterboxing is evident in third-party apps such as Netflix and Hotstar as well. If you use the fill-to-zoom tool in apps like Amazon Prime Video, you’ll lose a huge amount of on-screen content, especially if it was shot in the 21:9 aspect ratio. We gradually got used to ignoring the black bars, and thankfully, the display crease was not too conspicuous while watching videos.

Content scaling is a minor issue and content scaling while watching videos is not optimal.

Final thoughts

The Samsung Galaxy Fold definitely changes how a smartphone looks and needs to be used, especially from a productivity standpoint. The multitasking experience on the phone was great, and save for a few small issues, we were pleased with the overall experience. Samsung needs more support from developers when it comes to optimising apps for usage on both large and small screens, before it can market the foldable form factor as a truly viable solution without any major drawbacks.

On its own, the Galaxy Fold can stand up to any Android flagship out there in terms of raw power, but that takes a backseat when you consider the experiences you can have. There is no mistaking that the Galaxy Fold is a fragile device even after the redesign, and one should not take any chances, especially after taking into consideration the asking price of Rs. 1,64,999.

Being a first-generation device, you might fear that this will end up being a one-off gimmick. However, with brands including Huawei, Motorola, and Xiaomi already in the foldable phone space to different extents, the future appears bright for foldable phones. If you don’t mind the high price and can live with such delicate hardware, the Galaxy Fold is worth a shot. Still, the allure of a more practical flagship that costs less than a third of the Galaxy Fold can’t — and shouldn’t — be ignored.

#Miscellaneous

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piratequeenofpixies · 5 years

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“Gods Reborn”

This is a short story I wrote last August using a prompt I found on Pinterest. Unfortunately, I was unable to pinpoint the artist behind the prompt, but if anyone knows, feel free to message me or comment, and I’ll credit :) Also, I apologize in advance for the wonky formatting. I’m posting this from my phone and copy-pasting from a Google document, so I’m not sure what exactly went wrong but clearly something did. Enjoy!

Note: there is a brief note of gore towards the end of the story.

Writing Prompt: “You wake up. Everyone has disappeared apart from you and your best friend. What does the world feel like?”

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-

Morning dawns outside, but I would never have known it aside from the harsh glare of the alarm clock’s red numbers. The savage glow crowns Ainsley’s blonde halo of impossibly-straight hair with a glaring reminder of our situation. While she slept peacefully through the night--snoring like a stump-grinder--I got maybe two hours of z’s due to my inability to resign myself to the world’s imminent demise. It just seems like such a waste. A waste of life, of potential, of power.

A waste of humanity.

I groan, stretching, and roll out of the cramped space to land on my feet on the cool stone floor. Heading towards the hallway and, beyond it, the small bathroom, I take a moment to consider the gravity of our situation.

“Self-Proclaimed ‘Prophet’ Insists the World Ends Friday, August 13,” headlines still blared just days ago, mocking the elderly man who had genuinely believed in the truth of his words. It had been his fervent belief, in fact, that had convinced me to do my own research, and even now I share in his faith. All the signs point towards the destruction of the physical world: my hours of researching apocalyptic texts in the local library, the numbers of religious sects suddenly pushing tracts and scriptures into pedestrian’s hands in a last-ditch effort to save souls, my deceased Uncle Simon’s prediction that the apocalypse would occur exactly four years after his death--it all matched, and because of it I feared for my life, and Ainsley’s. It was why I had the nuclear-proof bunker built, why I dragged Ainsley thirty-nine miles beneath the earth’s surface, why I used the entirety of my hoarded bitcoin--twelve years’ worth--to purchase the latest experimental tech in hopes that, somehow, we might be saved.

The fact that we aren’t yet dead is the only thing preventing a mental breakdown on my part. Yet. A very, very important word. A word I cling to with all my might, using it to focus on a future where we emerge from the ground, gods reborn in a new, restructured world.

I have studied, stressed, striven, and staked all my hopes on this bunker and the tech it contains. Ainsley, on the other hand...well, she’s just chilling in the hopes that when it becomes clear that we aren’t going to die, I’ll let her go back up to the earth’s surface to mingle with the rest of humanity.

Who will almost certainly be dead, but whatever.

When it comes to the end of the world, the only thing more valuable than survival is hope, of which Ainsley has buckets.

Hopefully I can keep us alive long enough that she can do something with all that hope.

…

We eat dinner in silence, Ainsley out of boredom and me out of growing desperation. None of my expensive technological purchases, meant to provide surveillance of the earth’s surface, have panned out yet beyond providing Ainsley with plenty of “proof” that I am wrong, but I am confident that soon, we will be supplied with irrevocable evidence in my favor. Seeing as this confidence--which Ainsley calls “selfish” and “arrogant”--is meant to keep us alive, I refuse to back down and return to the surface.

…

“Something’s wrong with your satellite feed,” Ainsley tells me in a irritated voice around nine p.m. It’s the first thing she’s said to me since before dinner. “I can’t hear the t.v. over that static.”

I sigh and head over to fix it. I’ve been sitting at the table for hours, made immoveable by my disgust for the waste to come.

“Something’s interfering with the signal,” I mutter, swatting at the cords and wires dangling from the surveillance monitor. There’s a reason I hired someone else to set all this up.

The monitor display has gone blank, pixels quivering in various shades of grey. It’s also producing an almost-unbelievable amount of white noise. I smack the side of the monitor twice in quick succession, and the noise stops, but the display remains the same.

“There,” I breathe, relieved, and turn towards the couch just as Ainsley gives a little gasp.

“Brianna--satellites are crashing into Earth!” she squeals, horrified, and I can only gape at her, bemused.

“That’s impossible,” I finally say, coming around the ottoman to join her on the couch in front of the t.v. “They would be incinerated before they even got close. Besides, the space-trash net is supposed to keep them away from Earth.” In reply she only points to the t.v.

On screen, a news anchor chatters away, her cheery clothes and too-bright makeup in sharp contrast with the gravity of her words.

“...the breach in the net is suspected to be due to the recent addition of several large new satellites, of the latest experimental line by StarStruck Space Surveillance, Inc., which were recently acquired by apocalypse fanatic Brianna Moore. Last seen driving towards the southeastern corner of Libya, where she allegedly had a contractor build her a ‘nuclear-proof’ shelter many miles underground, Ms. Moore has been declared guilty of involuntary manslaughter by the majority of world leaders in her needless endangerment of innocent lives. Brandon, will you tell us about the satellite damage?”

While the male news anchor picks up the script, the news station’s feed cutting away to a map of the world, Ainsley and I stare helplessly at one another, speechless.

“So, when you had that space contractor put the satellites in orbit...he didn’t close the breach?” Ainsley asks, and I can only shake my head slowly.

“He was supposed to,” I whisper, horror shaking my voice.

In front of us the map on the t.v. gradually floods with red silhouettes of satellites as the millions of tons of space junk humans have contained for over a century hurtles through the atmosphere and towards earth. One hundred and three years have passed since the Soviet Union first set Sputnik I in orbit, and now Earth is taking the toll of one hundred and three years’ worth of space junk. That much space junk could spell the end of humanity.

Which means that the end of the world...is my fault. A chill runs down my spine. Whether or not this ends for the better remains to be seen. Still, I can’t help but feel the slightest stirring of hope deep in my chest.

...

Minutes transition into hours as we stare, struck dumb by the carnage on-screen. Ainsley’s cried for a while now, her shoulders shaking with quiet sobs as the news feed displays the map of a world bleeding to death. Live footage showcases destructive missiles of space junk hurtling into Earth at lethal speed, crushing cars and houses, shops and people. One commentator, reporting live from the capital of Brazil, is speared through the chest from behind by a skidding satellite antenna before they can switch feeds, spattering the camera with blood. It is then that Ainsley jumps to her feet and flees, racing towards the restroom with one hand covering her mouth.

“Monitor, close channel,” I say boredly, shifting to a more comfortable position on the couch and stretching my legs out to rest on the ottoman. “Play classical music.”

Soft music begins to play, Debussy’s “Clair de Lune” filling the air with gentle rhythm and harmony. I relax and close my eyes, relieved to have the overly-negative news feed out of sight and mind. I don’t need that kind of gloom clogging up my otherwise-clear thinking; it would just be a drain on my mental resources. No, far better to ignore it and look instead to the future, when humanity can finally get a fresh start. No more baby steps, no more thwarted progress because “ethics,” just a blank slate and a world of potential.

…

I had to force Ainsley to stay in the bunker once it became clear that the apocalypse I anticipated was actually coming to pass. Somehow, with all her hope, she seems to think that we could have actually done something to stop it, to save humanity. But of course, I know better. While I was horrified at first, it was mostly at the thought that, perhaps, the satellites’ metal would shred the earth to pieces, and our bunker with it. Once I knew with a certainty that that would not occur, I was able to relax. I’ve thought well ahead, too. We have a seed bank, several long-lasting batteries, access to an underground spring, everything we could possibly need. I was even able to procure several hundred cryopreserved embryos and the experimental incubators in which to nurture them, so that humanity will not die off. Even once we die of old age, humanity will live on. But until then, who’s to say we will not discover another bunker, with other survivors? All the better.

I think of the future, of our future, and am glad. We survived. We triumphed. Even the apocalypse couldn’t stop us. And now, soon, we’ll emerge onto the earth’s surface once again. We can repopulate the earth, enjoy our salvaged lives, rejoice in the new growth of a world we thought, for a short week, might be obliterated. With no access to the outside world, we can be sure of nothing, and guess at little more. But we will survive and triumph once more, as is humanity’s legacy, forever overcoming the obstacles placed before us.

We are humans.

We are gods.

…

When we finally step out into the sunlight again, the Sahara Desert’s sand is covered in grey hulls and silver spines, splinters and fragments of the satellites humanity relied on so heavily. Great hills and mounds of trash metal cover what used to be a starkly beautiful place, and Ainsley’s eyes are wet as she stares forlornly at our surroundings.

“We will rebuild,” I say confidently, meaning to comfort her, but she merely turns away. She doesn’t understand. Little matter, I think. She will see. She will know.

As it sets, the sun casts a swathe of scarlet blood across the metal terrain, bathing us in a violent red light. The color of a world sacrificing itself at our feet.

We are the gods now.

And nothing can stop us

-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-

Note: the MC’s POV is not my own. I don’t think destroying humanity is the answer; I merely was struck by an idea and decided to roll with it.

So, what do you think? I welcome feedback on my works so feel free to ask, message, or comment with tips/constructive criticism! :)

#writers of tumblr #writing #my writing #write #writer #writers #writers of the world #writers on tumblr #writings #scribblings of a teenage girl #writes #she writes #writeblr #writblr #my writings #original #original work #original story #from a prompt

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acwrpg-blog · 7 years

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✘“IF THE WRESTLING WORLD CAN SEE MY TALENT, THE WHOLE BLOODY WORLD MIGHT AS WELL SEE IT TOO.”✘

Name; Zelda Walker.

Age; 27 years old.

Ring name; Hilda.

Hometown; Sydney, Australia.

Face claim; Billie Kay.

Status; Unfortunately for you, she is TAKEN.

{#} WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ✘✘

Was chosen the wrestler of the year in 2016 by specialized media and still doesn’t shut up about it.

Is not a very skilled wrestler, but can play well every character she is given, which gave her advantage over her peers.

Currently considered the company’s number one heel and doesn’t intend on letting anyone, male or female, change that.

Is just waiting on an opportunity to become a Hollywood actress and has secretly hired a manager who is in charge of her acting career.

{#} THE GOOD & THE BAD ✘✘

As every person in the world, Zelda can be:

+ Determined, courageous, versatile.

Unfortunately, she can also be:

- Hostile, malicious, arrogant.

{#} THIS IS HER STORY ✘✘

It was all in written in the form of her name, she was destined to become a legend.

She was the youngest of five siblings; the “little princess” as her father and her older brothers would call her. Her mother, a beautiful, gentle and kind kindergarten teacher. Her father, a loud-mouth, avid video gamer, lazy librarian. Genetics were generous to her, granting her caramel eyes, dark hair and the charm of a mermaid. You could say, Zelda Walker had it all, right? To some, such was the case. But beyond that beauty gracing the screen of every wrestling fan, there is a past, a past she rarely ever talks about.

To so many, a foreign accent can be the sexiest and loveliest quality in a person, but to Zelda, it certainly proved to be a burden. At the age of 7, her family moved from Australia to America, Chicago to be more precise. To say her classmates had a hard time understanding her thick accent, it’d be a huge understatement. Not only did they struggle, but they used this as a way to mock her. Remember when I said genetics were generous to her? Well, genetics also granted her the honor of being the tallest in her class (even the tallest among the boys). She had to walk the hallways of school hearing the other kids whisper words she knew were meant to mock her. In their eyes, Zelda wasn’t the prettiest girl in school, she was just someone to laugh at. Plus, who would name their daughter after a fictional pixel princess?

Surely, Zelda’s father would and for the most ridiculous reasoning too. After her mother gave birth to four healthy boys, each having an age gap of around 2 to 3 years, she decided she wanted no more kids. Sure, she always dreamed of having a sweet little girl, but after trying four times and to no avail? Her mother considered it was about time they “closed the fabric”. But, her father proposed something to her darling mother; they were going to try again and if, IF, they managed to have a daughter, then he would choose the name for her. Her mother accepted and 7 and a half months later, the premature baby girl came to this world and in case you had any doubts, her father took the opportunity to name her after a fictional character from his favorite videogame.

Now, where were we? That’s right. Zelda spent most part of her childhood and teenage years being the center of attention and not for the best reasons. And yet, this isn’t a sob story about a little girl getting bullied and fighting her demons, no. This is the story of a woman who became the strongest lion in the jungle after she realized what she thought was something defectuous in her, it just could be used as a strong weapon. Her parents brought her family back to Australia, where she promised herself she would change…for the better. In Australia, her accent wasn’t a burden anymore, if anything, it only made people notice her more for the strength in it. She used her height to wear clothes that made her body look great, and at the same time, no matter how much boys wanted to date her? They couldn’t because she had a squad of four brothers ready to break someone’s face if they ever dared touch their little sister.

You see how her life isn’t exactly a sob story? Well, that changes now. Remember their parents moving back and forth from continent to the other? Well, what would you do if you discover your father, isn’t a lazy librarian after all, and turns out to be the leader of a mob. What would you do if your brothers, your protectors, turn out to be hitmen under the voice and direction of your father? And what would you do if your mother, the innocent kindergarten teacher, turns out to be the person in charge of covering everything up?

Zelda didn’t take a seat and sobbed, no. She said, “Fuck them”, she packed a bag and went back to America, as she had nothing to do with the things her family did. Don’t get her wrong, she loves them, but after taking her so long to find her own self-worth and the fight in her, why would she allow 6 individuals ruin her life and embarrass her to the world? Oh no. They were all dead to her now, she wouldn’t let them overshadow everything she did for herself, no way. As expected, their little “mafia” ended up in jail and she didn’t want to have anything to do with any of them ever again.

From here, the story writes itself. Finding the best way she could channel her anger and energy; Wrestling. Zelda trained and wrestled in the independent circuit for three years before catching the attention of an ACW TV producer. Her rise to fame was fast, and she was suddenly placed in a privileged position. She always thought her talent to be ANY character they wanted her to and pretty much be one of the best “actresses” they have, gave her the privilege to set herself on her very own high pedestal. Playing the evil queen wasn’t hard at all either, because truth be told, Zelda had become an evil queen herself. At this point in life, she knows she’ll always have a soft spot for wrestling, but she wants bigger and better things, and to her? Hollywood is just the next big step for her. No matter what.

#c: zelda walker #gender: female #status: closed #billie kay

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sheminecrafts · 5 years

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The new iPhone is ugly

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a bit old-fashioned when it comes to phones. Everyone scoffs at my iPhone SE, but the truth is it’s the best phone Apple ever made — a beautiful, well designed object in just about every way. But damn is the iPhone 11 Pro ugly. And so are the newest phones from Samsung and Google, while we’re at it.

Let’s just get right to why the new iPhones are ugly, front and back. And sideways. We can start with the notch. Obviously it’s not new, but I thought maybe this would be some kind of generational anomaly that we’d all look back and laugh at in a year or two. Apparently it’s sticking around.

I know a lot of people have justified the notch to themselves in various ways — it technically means more raw screen space, it accommodates the carrier and battery icons, it’s necessary for unlocking the phone with your face.

Yeah, but it’s ugly.

If they removed the notch, literally no one would want the version with the notch, because it’s so plainly and universally undesirable. If Apple’s engineers could figure out a way to have no notch, they’d have done it by now, but they can’t and I bet they are extremely frustrated by that. They try to hide it with the special notch-camouflaging wallpaper whenever they can, which is as much as saying, “hey, we hate looking at it too.”

You can forget for a few seconds. But in the back of your mind you know it’s there. Everyone knows.

It’s a prominent, ugly compromise (among several) necessitated by a feature no one asked for and people can’t seem to figure out if they even like or not. Notches are horrible and any time you see one, it means a designer cried themselves to sleep. To be fair that probably happens quite a bit. I grew up around designers and they can be pretty sensitive, like me.

I’m not a big fan of the rounded screen corners for a couple reasons, but I’ll let that go because I envision a future where it doesn’t matter. You remember how in Battlestar Galactica the corners were clipped off all the paper? We’re on our way.

Having the screen extend to the very edge of the device on the other hand isn’t exactly ugly, but it’s ugly in spirit. The whole front of the phone is an interface now, which would be fine if it could tell when you were gripping the screen for leverage and not to do something with it. As it is, every side and corner has some kind of dedicated gesture that you have to be wary of activating. It’s so bad people have literally invented a thing that sticks out from the back of your phone so you can hold it that way. Popsockets wouldn’t be necessary if you could safely hold your phone the way you’d hold any other object that shape.

The back is ugly now, too. Man, is that camera bump bad. Bump is really the wrong word. It looks like the iPhone design team took a field trip to a maritime history museum, saw the deep sea diving helmets, and thought, Boom. That’s what we need. Portholes. To make our phone look like it could descend to 4,000 fathoms. Those helmets are actually really cool looking when they’re big and made of strong, weathered brass. Not on a thin, fragile piece of electronics. Here it’s just a huge, chunky combination of soft squares and weirdly arranged circles — five of them! — that completely take over the otherwise featureless rear side of the phone.

The back of the SE is designed to mirror the front, with a corresponding top and bottom “bezel.” In the best looking SE (mine) the black top bezel almost completely hides the existence of the camera (unfortunately there’s a visible flash unit); it makes the object more like an unbroken solid, its picture-taking abilities more magical. The camera is completely flush with the surface of the back, which is itself completely flush except for texture changes.

The back of the iPhone 11 Pro has a broad plain, upon which sits the slightly higher plateau of the camera assembly. Above that rise the three different little camera volcanoes, and above each of those the little calderas of the lenses. And below them the sunken well of the microphone. Five different height levels, producing a dozen different heights and edges! Admittedly the elevations aren’t so high, but still.

If it was a dedicated camera or another device that by design needed and used peaks and valleys for grip or eyes-free navigation, that would be one thing. But the iPhone is meant to be smooth, beautiful, have a nice handfeel. With this topographic map of Hawaii on the back? Have fun cleaning out the grime from in between the volcanoes, then knocking the edge of the lens against a table as you slide the phone into your hand.

Plus it’s ugly.

The sides of the phones aren’t as bad as the front and back, but we’ve lost a lot since the days of the SE. The geometric simplicity of the + and – buttons, the hard chamfered edge that gave you a sure grip, the black belts that boldly divided the sides into two strips and two bows. And amazingly, due to being made of actual metal, the more drops an SE survives, the cooler it looks.

The sides of the new iPhones look like bumpers from cheap model cars. They look like elongated jelly beans, with smaller jelly beans stuck on that you’re supposed to touch. Gross.

That’s probably enough about Apple. They forgot about good design a long time ago, but the latest phones were too ugly not to call out.

Samsung has a lot of the same problems as Apple. Everyone has to have an “edge to edge” display now, and the Galaxy S10 is no exception. But it doesn’t really go to the edge, does it? There’s a little bezel on the top and bottom, but the bottom one is a little bigger. I suppose it reveals the depths of my neurosis to say so, but that would never stop bugging me if I had one. If it was a lot bigger, like HTC’s old “chins,” I’d take it as a deliberate design feature, but just a little bigger? That just means they couldn’t make one small enough.

As for the display slipping over the edges, it’s cool looking in product photos, but I’ve never found it attractive in real life. What’s the point? And then from anywhere other than straight on, it makes it look more lopsided, or like you’re missing something on the far side.

Meanwhile it not only has bezels and sometime curves, but a hole punched out of the front. Oh my god!

Here’s the thing about a notch. When you realize as a phone designer that you’re going to have to take over a big piece of the front, you also look at what part of the screen it leaves untouched. In Apple’s case it’s the little horns on either side — great, you can at least put the status info there. There might have been a little bit left above the front camera and Face ID stuff, but what can you do with a handful of vertical pixels? Nothing. It’ll just be a distraction. Usually there was nothing interesting in the middle anyway. So you just cut it all out and go full notch.

Samsung on the other hand decided to put the camera in the top right, and keep a worthless little rind of screen all around it. What good is that part of the display now? It’s too small to show anything useful, yet the hole is too big to ignore while you’re watching full-screen content. If their aim was to make something smaller and yet even more disruptive than a notch, mission accomplished. It’s ugly on all the S10s, but the big wide notch-hole combo on the S10 5G 6.7″ phablet is the ugliest.

The decision to put all the rear cameras in a long window, like the press box at a hockey game, is a bold one. There’s really not much you can do to hide 3 giant lenses, a flash, and that other thing. Might as well put them front and center, set off with a black background and chrome rim straight out of 2009. Looks like something you’d get pointed at you at the airport. At least the scale matches the big wide “SAMSUNG” on the back. Bold — but ugly.

Google’s Pixel 4 isn’t as bad, but it’s got its share of ugly. I don’t need to spend too much time on it, though, because it’s a lot of the same, except in pumpkin orange for Halloween season. I like the color orange generally, but I’m not sure about this one. Looks like a seasonal special phone you pick up in a blister pack from the clearance shelf at Target, the week before Black Friday — two for $99, on some cut-rate MVNO. Maybe it’s better in person, but I’d be afraid some kid would take a bite out of my phone thinking it’s a creamsicle.

The lopsided bezels on the front are worse than the Samsung’s, but at least it looks deliberate. Like they wanted to imply their phone is smart so they gave it a really prominent forehead.

I will say that of the huge, ugly camera assemblies, the Pixel’s is the best. It’s more subtle, like being slapped in the face instead of kicked in the shins so hard you die. And the diamond pattern is more attractive for sure. Given the square (ish) base, I’m surprised someone on the team at Google had the rather unorthodox idea to rotate the cameras 45 degrees. Technically it produces more wasted space, but it looks better than four circles making a square inside a bigger, round square.

And it looks a hell of a lot better than three circles in a triangle, with two smaller circles just kind of hanging out there, inside a bigger, round square. That iPhone is ugly!

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