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cult-camp-counselor-inactive · 4 years

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Listen Closely. It’s Beating.

“I get we’re not docked anywhere right now... But do you all have to be here?”

“No, but we want to be,” Shailah said cheekily. They were all in a tattoo shop that Mack had recommended Richie go to to cover up his old ritual circle tattoo. It was a fairly hidden place, Richie didn’t know if he could have pointed it out even without his lack of knowledge about the world outside the village. And frankly, he wasn’t comfortable. All of the employees seemed to be older people, with plenty of tattoos covering their bodies.

“Georgie! How you doin’, man?” Mack hugged one of the older men. He was balding, and the parts that no longer had hair were rich with different tattoos. Were those... alchemical symbols?

“AhhHHh, hello, hello,” Gerogie, smiled. He sounded Russian. “I see you’ve brought a new canvas!” Richie did not like that

“Only new to here, unfortunately. We’re looking for a paint-over. Is Marcia free?”

“For you? Of course. Marcia!” Georgie yelled. One of the older women walked over. Marcia was a small woman, with a cane, but her tank top revealed some incredible designs on her arms. Covered with beautifully detailed animals, only in black, as though they were saving room for a child to use as many markers as they could to fill in the spaces. Mack hugged her too.

“Good to see you,” she said nonchalantly, and then broke the hug to walk over to Richie. She grabbed his hand, and led him over to a reclining chair. “Lay down here.” Hesitantly, he did as told. Marcia gave off a weird energy. He wasn’t sure how to feel about it, but he didn’t want to find out what would happen if he didn’t follow her orders. She brushed her hand over his cheek, interested in the design. Of course she wouldn’t know what it was, but she looked at him with expectant eyes, waiting for a small story. Should he lie?

“It’s... I got it while I was drunk, I’d rather not have to see it anymore.” Whether his tone was right or not, he knew Marcia did not believe his half-truth. But, she shrugged.

“What’s your design?”

“Oh-oh, uh..” Richie got out his small journal. He hadn’t made an entry in a long time, so the most recent thing in that book was the design he chose. Marcia looked at it, a little bit impressed. “The center should go over the big circle, and the petals can cover up everything else, and the vine will go over the lines, yeah.” Mack looked over Marcia’s shoulder to look at Richie’s design for as long as he could until she swatted him away. He looked impressed, and went back to go talk to the others. Over the noise, Richie could just barely hear him talk about his design.

It was a sunflower. The main body would cover up the largest part of the ritual circle, while stems would snake out to cover up the lines that once creeped down his chin and up to his eye. Marcia was interested in some of the other sketches, though. She pointed at one other, and showed the book back to him.

“That’s a strange design,” she said. It was a continuation of the vine. The vine snaked down his chin, his neck, all the way down to his chest, as it slowly turned into veins connected to a heart. His heart. He didn’t really know why he drew that. Maybe he wanted to prove something. “I can do it, if you’re worried about my skills.” Richie perked up. “I’ll let you decide.” So he thought for a minute. What would the extra bit serve? He thought back to his first dream. His parent’s open chests. The deadness to them. The dark, almost greyness to their insides. But not his design. The colours were vibrant. He realized what he had meant when he designed it. He meant to say: ‘Look at my heart. It is alive. Listen closely, it’s beating. And you cannot stop it.’

Richie looked at Marcia determined, who smiled widely, knowing his response. “Alright then,” she said. “Let’s get this show on the road.” She pushed him down further into the bed, to his shock. “I have rules. 1. No squirming. 2. Since this one’s on your face, no talking. You can make noises with your mouth closed if you want, but I won’t be impressed.” Richie nodded, silently. He noticed the others up front staring at him, looking excited. Mack handed over the payment to Georgie. Strange. Was he confident enough to pay before seeing the outcome? Was Marcia that good? He wanted to trust his bandmate’s decision, so he leaned back, and tried to relax and Marcia started the process.

It was about half an hour until the initial marking was completed. Finally, once all the ink colours were decided on, she pulled out the machine. And as she began, Shailah walked over, and slipped Richie’s phone out of his pocket.

“What are you-”

“Shh! No talking,” Marcia said. Richie tried to turn and protest but she held his head in position. “No squirming.” Richie tried to make a noise to explain how angry he was, looking at Shailah, who was smiling gleefully.

“Kyle, could you be a doll and open our dear friend’s phone?” Hah! It was password locked, no way he knew-

“Sure thing! Sorry Richie,” He smiled apologetically. He fiddled with the phone for only a few seconds, and handed it back to a grateful Shailah, as everyone else giggled. He knew Richie’s phone password?? That man had no sense of boundaries! Shailah combed through the contents of his smartphone.

“Okay, pretty standard games. Oh- wow, do you download any game you get ads for or something?”

“Quit playing around, get to the meat of it!”

“Alright, alright. Contacts... Oooh, ‘Daniel’s Mom’? She sounds nice.” Oh, God. Please don’t call her. That woman did not deserve to sit through their infuriating antics. He tried to make a face to convey that without moving his face muscles enough for Marcia to notice. They continued scrolling. There wasn’t much to scroll through, though. He had 3 contacts other than the 5 of them. “Amanda? you didn’t tell us you had two outside friends. We ought to call her after.” After?

Oh. Oh, no.

“Seriously, I think it’s been long enough. We wanted to introduce ourselves to your camp buddies. He must be so worried and wondering if you’re all alone.” Daniel wasn’t worried, he knew Richie was with people! There was no need for this. The man was probably busy! Richie expected him to hang up as soon as he didn’t hear his voice. Technically, they wouldn’t even be calling Daniel. He didn’t have a proper phone. It was the camp’s number. Anyone could pick up. “And we’re dialing, and it’s ringing. Sorry Richie!” She was not sorry.

#ic; richie #ic; the band #ic; writing blurb #long post

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thenamedragon · 4 years

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An astronaut beaver

TW: allusions to and mentions of sex

"This is... finished? Partly finished?" I didn't want to assume that the piece was incomplete just because pencil lines showed. I let pencil lines show sometimes. It just seemed like it wasn't quite done.

"Yeah, no, that's been like that for over a year now."

"Oh. Are they planning to finish it?"

"No. Well, I doubt it. They said they were going to paint it, started it, and then left all their supplies here. I haven't heard from them since."

My brain went in several directions as I tried to curb my excitement for potentially free art supplies. I guess they could tell, because they asked:

"Why? Do you want to finish it?"

YES.

"Yeah, that'd be cool. Do you know if they had a plan for it?"

"I mean, I don't care how you finish it. Anything you do will be better than what it looks like now."

Flattering.

"Cool! I can send you layouts for ideas. Once I have ideas, I mean."

"You don't have to do that. I'm sure whatever you do will be great."

I could tell they were looking at me out of the corner of my eye, in that way that made me feel like I needed to put another wall up. Instead, I imagined the canvas covered with a starry purple sky and a large astronaut beaver floating to the left. Was it intended to be sexual from the beginning? I still don't know. Or maybe it's more accurate to say I haven't decided yet.

"Ok. I'll probably send you layouts anyway. Just in case."

"Ok, whatever you want." They smiled - I could dig a moat as well - and we went back to their room to pick up where we left off.

---

It was cold on the day we met. For summer, at least. I inspected my pants for stray hairs while I waited for them on the steps outside the bar. We went in together, ordered a couple beers, and walked through the bar to sit in the back. We talked for awhile. Or, they talked, and I mostly listened. I'm used to being the listener - I don't like to fill the air for the sake of filling it. I don't mind silence. Some people do, so they fill it, and I listen.

We got food and one more drink and then walked to their house. We played a game for... I'm not sure how long. I was a little crossed. It was late, though, and for all the talking, I couldn't tell what we wanted from each other. Or what I wanted from them.

I did know I wanted to sleep.

I said as much, and checked the bus schedule. They didn't do anything to stop me. Just gave me a short side hug on the stoop.

I'm not sure I'll see them again? I wondered on a loop on my way home. Or maybe we could be friends? I'm not sure if I care? I'm not sure I'll see them again? Or maybe we could be friends? I'm not sure if I care? I'm not sure if I care?

I slept like a rock.

---

"This is the stuff they left behind," they said, plopping a plastic bag onto the counter. "I'm not sure how much paint is actually there, but I can buy more if you need it."

"Sweet, sounds good. And thank you!" The bag felt pretty light for the amount of paint tubes in it. Still, paint is paint. I set aside the colors I would need, and then checked to see if they were still usable. You could hear dry paint shaking around some of them. How old was this paint? Just a year?

"What do you think?"

"Yeah..." I started. I didn't like feeling like I owe someone something, especially when communication about boundaries is lacking. But I was the one finishing this massive canvas so they didn't have to look at it like this! And for free! Yeah. "I'm going to need more paint."

We went to a hardware store together, a break from me muttering to myself about what order I should paint things in. I was still a little surprised that they were ok with the astronaut beaver. They didn't even blink.

In a moat building effort, I stuck to the far side of the sidewalk from them with my hands in my pockets. I hoped that my body language communicated I don't know how I feel about whatever it is that we're doing, so don't try doing anything cute. I had high expectations for the amount of detail and tone my body could convey, even though I already knew my body wasn't great at communicating. My tight lipped stiff kisses didn't seem to deter much. That was maybe because the rest of my body said other things. For whatever reason, opening my lips to use words seemed out of the question.

I took my hands out of my pockets to air them out briefly before shoving them back in. I couldn't tell if they noticed.

---

I was surprised when I heard from them again after our first... hangout? Date? It didn't matter. We watched their favorite movie, each sitting in our own chairs about five feet apart from each other. Yep, this is classically a friend thing. They asked if I just wanted to sleep over since it was so late already. That'd be nice. Still a friend thing? We laid next to each other, not even touching hands. I was flat on my back. Still a friend thing, I thought. And then, abruptly, not a friend thing. At least, not a friend thing by my understanding. The situationship wordlessly shifted, and I didn't know to where, or why. I kept my lips tight in uncertainty.

---

“Do you mind if I play music in here?” It wasn’t a question of whether or not I would be listening to music, more of a question of how I would be listening to music. Ear buds or speakers.

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

“Cool.” I had two playlists downloaded, one a little slower and sadder than the other. I started with the other.

Everything I needed was on the floor in front of me. I had lightly drawn a general layout of things on the canvas, and had a plan written out in my sketchbook. Black layer first. Then purple. Then blue. Then light blue. That would be most of the painting, actually. The rest of it was just the astronaut beaver, and then adding star stuff at the end.

I sang as I worked, painting almost the entire canvas black. This really was easy work, as long as I followed my plan and adapted as needed. They hovered around for awhile, ducking in and out of the room, asking questions about the process. I didn’t mind any of this. In hindsight, it would have felt weird if they only watched me the whole time, or if they didn’t stop in at all. Somewhere in the middle was nice.

At one point, they stepped closer and hugged me around the waist from behind. I was pleasantly surprised, but tried not to show it.

“Oh. Hi.” It was nice being hugged - I craved that innocent human contact. But I was working now. My hands were covered in paint and several brushes would have needed cleaning. I kept working. They left without a word.

---

“Yeah, it was nice meeting you too, I’ll see you around.” I brought myself back to Earth from my buzzed daydreaming. I was enjoying my own little silence while they talked to a friendly stranger outside the bar. As they talked, I noticed they were having a soft power struggle with each other, mirroring the other’s posture, one upping their service industry horror stories. I laughed to myself and enjoyed my constructed silent space.

“Ready to go?”

“Yep.”

We walked back to my apartment, wandered up the stairs, and flopped down on my bed in a cuddle puddle. It wasn’t late, but I was sleepy anyways. We talked about random non consequential nothings. When there was a lull in the conversation, I sighed and filled the silence.

“Can I tell you something?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m not really into sex. I’m asexual.”

“I kinda figured. At least something, like when you kept saying wait.”

“Yeah. I’m sorry I didn’t say anything sooner. It’s just, sometimes it’s hard to tell when to tell people, or how to tell people. And it’s more complex than a lot of people realize. It’s not all or nothing. Not for everyone.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, asexual just means that someone doesn’t feel sexual attraction. Anything after that, like if people only sometimes feel sexual attraction, or have sex, or masturbate, or have relationships, and why, and with who, or how many people - that’s all different for everyone.”

I let that take up the air space for awhile. They let the silence be.

“Have people like... I don’t know. Do people respond well...?”

“Do you mean have people left because I’m asexual?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah. Some have.”

A breath of silence.

“I um... I kind of have some extra walls up because of it. Like I assume that people are going to leave when I tell them. So it’s easier... or I guess it feels safer to just not let people in that far.”

“That sucks.”

Thanks?

“Thanks.”

Another breath of silence.

“But you like making out, and stuff?”

“Yeah. Making out is fun. Most of the time. I’m not really into much else though.”

“Hm.”

I hoped they wouldn’t ask me to clarify. I knew I needed to practice communicating the “much else,” because the “much else” changed from person to person and how comfortable I was. But the “much else” was currently covered in several layers of shame.

“When we hang out... do you hope that I’ll touch you?”

My breath of silence. Will they ask me for specifics?

“Yes.”

They didn’t.

---

“I think it’s done,” I announced, already gathering up brushes to wash them. They wandered in, taking in the canvas from my point of view. I had stopped looking at it - any flaw that I noticed at this point would be a part of it.

“Looks nice.”

“Glad you like it. I’m not the one who has to look at it all the time.” They grinned.

“You know, I have another, much longer canvas that I was going to commission someone to paint. We should do it instead!”

I raised my eyebrow at them.

“I mean, you should paint it.”

I started putting paint away.

“If you want to.”

“Hmm,” I kept looking down as if I was focused on gathering supplies to clean, but really I was avoiding eye contact. I didn’t want to do it, and I didn’t want to say no to their face so immediately. Maybe I should have.

“I don’t know,” I said instead, “Maybe.”

“Yeah, just let me know.”

The thing was, I finally put together how I felt about whatever it was that we were doing. I didn’t like not being asked if they could kiss me. I didn’t want to kiss them. I didn’t like them telling me what I should do. I didn’t like listening all the time. Sometimes silence can just be silence without needing to be filled. I didn’t like how neither of us communicated the important things. And I didn’t know how to communicate that.

For whatever reason, using words seemed out of the question.

#short story #writing #asexual #communication #situationship #situation #relationship #boundaries #artist #beaver #painting #paint #asexuality #asexual spectrum #queer #astronaut beaver

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roseaesthethiccc · 5 years

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BTS Reaction: Soulmate AU Pt. 1

An alternate universe where each person has a "One True Love", and each pair has a way of finding out who their soulmate is, and a set of rules that come with it. You are soulmates with a BTS member.

Genre: Fluff and a bit of angst

WARNING: Kinda mentions the pasts of some of the members, many of which may be triggering. Please be careful.

Seokjin:

"I can't believe I just got scouted!"

When you first heard those words echoing in your head, suffice to say you were definitely surprised (and maybe a little scared, you totally didn't drop your coffee during your lecture). It was especially surprising to hear these words in Korean, a language you'd been learning for the past four years after feeling a strong connection to the culture and language of the country.

After you heard it, you quickly excused yourself from class and left, heading straight to the bathroom. You were at least a bit sure that you weren't crazy, so you had to figure out what was happening. You stood in the stall after locking yourself in, and began thinking to yourself. It seemed weird, but also natural to you.

"....Hello?"

There was a short pause. You believed for a moment that maybe you actually were crazy, maybe you just thought in another person's voice who you've never heard before. That thought was quickly abandoned.

"Umm...did you just talk to me? Am I crazy?" The voice finally responded.

"No, I'm hearing it, too. What's going on?"

Another awkward silence. You were starting to get tired of those.

"Umm....Are yo-"

"WAIT! IS IT YOU??" Another pause. "I THINK I'VE READ ABOUT THIS BEFORE!!!"

"...What?" You thought about it for a moment. "OH WAIT."

Yoongi:

You hummed that familiar tune for the 10th time today, one you never really got tired of. It was always sort of there, not really leaving the back of your mind; the exact same song that you've known your entire life.

Your condition was extremely rare. It was like something only you and they shared, something only for the two of you. It was special, like something you'd never heard before. No song was like it, nothing could replicate the familiar beat that you'd always heard in your head.

You sat in the silence of your study at 8 pm, bags evident under your eyes, and exhaustion overtaking your whole body. You had a tendency to work on things late, continuing to develop and develop something until you were absolutely sure it was perfect. This took up almost every minute of your free time during the day, and taking almost no time to relax had taken a toll on your body. You were becoming legarthic, weak, and frail. But there was no time to worry about it now.

Once again, the highs and lows of that exact song filled your thoughts. You were so tired. The calming of your song relaxed you, until there was no way for you to stay awake anymore. Slowly, you lowered your head onto your desk, amid papers and documents strewn around, and finally took a rest. Your eyes closed shut and your breathing slowed, finally taking time out of your day to let yourself go.

You really deserved it.

Hoseok:

The ticking wasn't always there. It mostly just gradually started, getting louder and louder in your head. Usually it's just in the back of your mind, you've gotten very used to it since it's been developing the past few years.

But it's only when you want the silence, the silence that you used to be so accustomed to, that you sort of hate the ticking. Of course, you're grateful to have a soulmate. You've read the stories of people who never had a way of knowing their soulmates, people who were born without those ways. It was rare, but it happened, and you were happy that you didn't have to deal with that.

But it still got annoying.

You stared at the numbers on your wrist, ever constantly ticking down, down, down...

60 days. 60 days until all of this was finally over.

You were ready. So, so ready for the constant ticking to be gone. But not only that....you were also ready to finally meet them. That one person that would make it all be worth it. You imagined who they were, what they did, what they were like every day.

You were so ready.

Namjoon:

You usually used logic to explain things. Everything was meant to have a reason to exist, everything that happened fell in place for a reason; a logical reason, an easy answer to everything.

But this could not be explained with logic. Not even science. Love could be explained; chemicals in your body that made you feel certain ways. Science, math...they could give you an answer to almost everything, but not this.

Soulmates were unexplainable. The random ways everyone had of finding their special person, the determination that came with it in order to look for them, the inexplicable joy when you would finally meet that certain person; none of it could be explained.

That didn't stop you from trying to find them. If you could find that one person, that one person that was chosen especially for you, maybe you could find a way to explain it. You didn't feel right if you didn't have a reason set in place for something. You needed a reason.

The sudden taste of blended spices and ingredients sprinkled over your tastebuds once again. You smiled. You had no idea what the taste was from, but you still smiled anyways. At least they had good taste in food.

You wanted to meet this person quickly, to finally give yourself some sort of closure. It's not like you weren't excited or happy to meet them, because you were.

Of course, your soulmate was to be your other half. You wanted to be able to bond with them, to be able to talk to someone about your thoughts, to have deep conversations.

This time, you taste something sweet and cold. Chocolate, most likely. You smiled.

You love sweet things.

Jimin:

You were quite worried at this point.

For the 5th time today, your stomach growled loudly in pain. It was barely 8 am. What the hell were they doing?

It's been like this for the past week. Long fits of stomach pain and loud outcrys from your body were enough to tell what was happening. But why was it happening?

You wondered if maybe your soulmate was in some sort of situation. Maybe they couldn't afford food at this point, maybe they were just sick...but something in your heart told you that wasn't the case.

Needless to say, you were definitely worried. Every few months, something like this would happen. Aside from the severe pain you felt, there was also extreme panic. What if they got sick from this? They're killing themselves. You don't want that to happen, but you don't know how to stop what's happening. You're powerless right now.

You're a bit hunched over while you walk, not really paying attention to anything else because of your overthinking. As a result, you didn't see the bike coming towards you at top speed, and you didn't hear the shouts of warning coming from your left. You were too engrossed in fretting over someone you haven't met yet.

Your left leg decided to be hit the hardest from the accident. You weren't very clumsy of a person, so you weren't hurt very often, and this was the first major accident in a long time.

Regardless of your own situation at the time, you still continued to worry. Worrying for them. Worrying about them feeling more pain. Worrying for their health and wellbeing.

You just wanted them to be okay.

Taehyung:

Ever since you were a child, all you loved was being creative.

Photos captured your eye, loving the soft tones of certain things warming up your heart.

The paintings of the Renaissance inspired you to no end, as well as the work of Van Gogh and many others. Creativity was amazingly beautiful to you.

You never thought you were all that good at things like that. Nevertheless, it didn't stop you from trying your best at it. You always felt the best when making something. Whenever paper was running low, you turned to your own skin for your canvas. It wasn't until that one day that you realized your drawings were accompanied by something else.

Small characters appeared under your most recent creation, a drawing of a soaring bird. But you couldn't understand them, they were in a language you couldn't understand.

You knew why they were there. Occasionally, you would find small notes or reminders that weren't present before. You'd downloaded a translator on your phone for this exact moment.

"It's beautiful," the words said. You smiled. You were about to write something back when you saw a black inked line beginning to form. You watched as the character strokes slid onto your skin, you've begun to love this handwriting.

"Please keep making them. They're so pretty to me." You understood why. Whenever you found little surprises on your skin, you always felt better. Those were always beautiful to you, and you hoped for the same for your soulmate. You picked up your pen again, relying on your translator for help, and began writing a small message in response.

"Only if you keep on writing to me!"

Jungkook:

Silence has been a part of your life since the beginning. It was as if your vocal cords were constricted, held so tightly that not a sound could be made. You couldn't speak, and it was like that for such a long time that you'd grown used to it.

It's not like you hated your situation. You'd gotten out of certain small situations due to what you have, although it was still always awkward whenever someone spoke to you, expecting you to respond. You couldn't really explain anything unless you wrote it down, that's just the way it was.

Being an introvert, though, it was mostly in your favor.

If you wanted to stay in silence, you could, and nobody would blame you or force you to do anything else.

You did feel a bit guilty, though. You knew that soulmates had the same or similar types of conditions. It sort of felt as if it was your fault for your soulmate having to suffer. Your type was sort of common; losing a function of your body until you met your soulmate. You felt bad for whoever it was, but you hoped they could at least communicate with people, unlike you. You hoped they were having an easier time doing literally anything that involved other people.

One of your interests was music, and you felt a bit bitter towards the fact that you couldn't sing. Music was beautiful to you. The blending of notes and keys brought you several emotions all at once, and you felt sad for not being able to convey them. You were eager to someday meet your soulmate, so you could finally be able to express yourself with your own voice, and not just through words on paper.

You imagined how their voice would be, would they be able to sing? Would they be able to convey their emotions to others? Would they forgive you for bringing them misfortune in the form of a soulmate condition?

Would they have a beautiful voice?

A/N:

Sorry about the Seokjin one. I don't really know much about Jin's past or his interests so his turned out really short. I could make this again in the future if someone wants to give me suggestions on Jin's part! Also, I will eventually make a part 2. Thanks for reading lovelies 💜

#bts #v #jungkook #jimin #yoongi #namjoon #seokjin #hoseok #bts v #bts jungkook #bts suga #bts jimin #bts rm #bts jin #bts jhope #bts reactions

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techbotic · 5 years

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Android Weekly: What’s Coming in Android Q (and Some Other Stuff)

There was a lot of movement in the Android world the week of March 8th thru 15th. The Q beta landed with all sorts of new features, Vivo showed off a portless phone, and Google killed a bunch of services.

Android Q Feature Roundup

Let’s start with the biggest Android news for the week, shall we? The Q beta landed for all Pixel devices, and it’s jam-packed with all sorts of new features. Android Police and 9to5Google both did an incredible job of covering all the new stuff as it showed up—here’s everything so far.

The Android Q Beta is here. For Pixel phones, anyway. [Android Developers Blog]

The word on the street is that Q is also going to hit even more devices during the beta and developer previews this year. [Android Police]

With the upcoming demise of Google+, the Android Beta community has been moved to Reddit. [Android Police]

Android Q has a built-in screen recorder! But apparently, it’s broken right now. [9to5Google, Android Police]

There are more haptic feedback vibrations in Android Q. Okay then! [9to5Google]

Foldable phones are coming. Q is ready. [Android Police]

The always-on display in Q got a bit of a makeover. [9to5Google]

The Files app is all new, with an updated look and some nifty new features. [Android Police]

Google is cracking down on undocumented APIs to make Q more secure. [Android Police]

The sharing menu is getting faster and less crappy. Finally! [9to5Google]

Thanks to some ART enhancements, apps launching should be faster. [Android Police]

Android Q has a desktop mode! Which is…kind of confusing. Why does Android Q have a desktop mode? [XDA Developers]

Pixel Launcher on Android Q will let you replace removed items with a new undo feature. [Android Police]

Dual SIM and standby support on the Pixel 3 is live in Q. [XDA Developers]

There’s a little bell icon for new notifications now, so you can tell which one just pinged. That’s useful! [9to5Google]

You can share your Wi-Fi password with a QR code. [Android Police]

Remaining battery shows an estimated time in the shade now. [Android Police]

You can only dismiss notifications by swiping to the right in Q—the left is the action menu. Oof. [9to5Google]

So many new privacy features. [Android Police]

Accent colors and new icons shapes are tucked into Q’s Developer Options menu. Are more customization options incoming? [Android Police]

You can switch the audio source from the notification shade. [9to5Google]

Rounded corners and the notch show up in screenshots in Q. Yuck. [Android Police]

There are more options when you long-press a notification, which is neat. [Android Police]

Third-party camera apps have access to depth effects and more. [Engadget]

Call screening and emergency information apps are now part of Android’s Default Apps menu. Third-party options don’t exist yet, so this is telling. [Android Police]

Background clipboard access is blocked in Android Q, which probably means bad things for clipboard managers. [XDA Developers]

Smart Home and IoT connections are getting simpler in Q. [Android Police]

Battery Saver is more dynamic in Q, with the option to automatically activate based on usage. [Android Police]

There’s a new series of options called “Feature Flags” that lets users tweak all sorts of stuff. [9to5Google]

You can see all your disabled notifications in one place in Q. [Android Police]

It looks like Google is planning six betas in total, with the final release in Q3 of 2019. [XDA Developers]

In what’s sure to make some users upset, the Magisk dev says that Q could mean bad things for root access. Uh-oh. [9to5Google]

Vivo’s Portless Phone Shows Its Stuff

Chinese phone manufacturer Vivo showed off an absolutely gorgeous portless concept phone to a group of writers in Hong Kong. The shell of the phone is a unibody piece of glass—apparently, Vivo had to come up with a special production method to form, cut, grind, and polish a single piece of glass for the body of this phone. It’s wild.

You can read more about this forward-thinking handset at The Verge and Engadget.

Samsung Galaxy S10 Updates (And More)

All sorts of stuff happened with Samsung’s newest flagship this week. Some good, some bad. Some just neat. Here’s you go.

If you hate the S10’s hole punch camera cutout, these are the wallpapers for you. [XDA Developers]

Samsung pushes the one-handed gesture navigation app from One UI to the Play Store. This means it can be updated independently of the OS. Nice. [Android Police]

S10 owners can get six months of free Spotify Premium. The downside? Spotify is pre-installed on all S10s. You win some, you lose some. [The Verge]

Speaking of free stuff for S10 owners, they also get four months of YouTube Premium. Yay for no ads! [9to5Google]

In slightly less pleasant news, the S10’s face unlock feature easily can be fooled by a picture because Samsung removed the retina scanner. Ouch. [Android Police]

Verizon started pushing Android 9 Pie with One UI to the Note 9. Better late than never, I guess. [Android Police]

Similarly, Android Pie started hitting the Galaxy A+ this week, too. [XDA Developers]

Samsung wants to make a “perfect full-screen” phone with no cutouts or notches. Interesting. [Engadget]

What’s New with Google This Week

Google announced some stuff, killed some stuff, and maybe killed some other stuff. This is everything that isn’t the Android Q Beta.

Finally, Google released an Android Q feedback app. [9to5Google]

Google Fit is getting more battery efficient on Wear OS. All three of you who use Fit and Wear OS better be grateful. [9to5Google]

Google Home Hub and other Assistant smart displays finally got continued conversations. Finally. [Android Police]

Google teased its upcoming game streaming service. It’s going to announce plans at GDC next week. Exciting stuff. [Google on Twitter]

Speaking of, Google filed a patent for a game controller. [The Verge]

If you subscribe to Google Fi and bring your existing number and device, you get a free month of service. That’s better than a not free month of service if you ask me. [Android Police]

Deaths: Allo, goo.gl URL shortener, Inbox, and Google+. RIP, those things. [9to5Google]

Third-party Google Assistant speakers are getting phone calls. [Android Police]

Google shut down part of its hardware division focused on tablets and laptops, which is troubling. [9to5Google]

If you use Google One and pay for 2TB of storage, Google probably wants to give you a free Home Mini. [Android Police]

Google’s Lookout app for the visually impaired is now available for download…assuming you have a Pixel device, anyway. [The Verge, Google Play]

The Drive mobile apps got a facelift to match the web UI. It’s pretty. [Engadget]

Google Maps is getting more features from Waze, like speed trap and crash reporting. Nice. [9to5Google]

Good news: An adware app had almost 150 million downloads before Google realized it and pulled it from the Play Store. Also, I think I need to work on my definition of “good news.” [The Verge]

Chrome’s data saver on mobile now works on HTTPS sites, which is like 80% of the web at this point. I think that really is good news. [Android Police]

Shared Libraries on Photos moved to a more obscure place that still kinda makes sense? [Android Police]

Device Updates, App Updates, and Everything Else

There were a couple of major app updates this week, along with some minor device updates. Also, RED said some stuff about the Hydrogen One that pretty much confused everyone.

Pushbullet got a major update that brings bundled notification, quick replies, and some other stuff. [Android Police]

Facebook is testing a blindingly-white interface in its Android app. I’m sure that’s going to go over well if it gets released. [XDA Developers]

Spotify is testing an option to let users disable its dumbest feature: canvas videos. Good. [9to5Google]

Microsoft’s My Phone feature in Windows 10 is getting screen mirroring. [The Verge]

The Xiami Redmi Note 7 got its first MIUI update, which brings a low-light camera mode. [XDA Developers]

The NVIDIA SHIELD got a small update that brings Xbox Elite Controller support and some other stuff. [9to5Google]

You know the little dinosaur you see in Chrome when it’s offline? Well, you can buy a real one now. I need it. [Dead Zebra]

RED pulled the add-on modules for the Hydrogen One, then said some confusing stuff. [Android Police]

The Xiaomi Mi 8 got official LineageOS support. [XDA Developers]

T-Mobile’s OnePlus 6T got RCS messaging. So it begins. [9to5Google]

Firefox Fenix got its initial release. It looks neat. [Techdows]

Root Stuff: The 2015 Amazon Fire TV got rooted again. Go modders, go. [XDA Developers]

Root Stuff: GravityBox can be installed on Android Pie devices running the Xposed framework now. [XDA Developers]

Some details about Motorola upcoming Razr folding phone leaked. Curiously, it’s said to be using a Snapdragon 710 processor. Weird. [XDA Developers]

That’s a lot of stuff, but that’s how it goes in Google’s world. Something is always happening.

Android Weekly: What’s Coming in Android Q (and Some Other Stuff) published first on https://medium.com/@CPUCHamp

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