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onthevirgeofdestruction · 3 years

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In the Shadows (Romantic Analogical Pining)

Words: 1,832 Warnings: Food, Animals/Pets, One-Sided Pining Characters: Logan, Virgil Ships: Analogical Universe: Gen Human AU Genre: Pining, Fluff Additional Tags: Pining!Logan, Oblivious!Virgil

Logan couldn’t help it. He was not observing the screen as the movie wrapped up. He was enjoying seeing Virgil emote along with the characters. Virgil picked at the dregs of the popcorn absentmindedly and kissed popcorn bits off of his fingers, engrossing Logan even further. Logan had selected the movie, even, for all intents and purposes, he should be watching it. But something about the way the lights from the screen bounced off of Virgil’s face had drawn his attention and enveloped him. He was lucky that Virgil didn’t seem to notice him outright starting at that mesmerizing lopsided smirk and listen to him mutter critiques of character choices to himself.

The movie ended and Virgil patted his legs and deposited the empty cup in the paper popcorn bag before standing up out of the seat. Logan panicked when Virgil looked over at him and grabbed Virgil’s sleeve to stop him. He had to say something. He was utterly enchanted by Virgil, and it felt like the affection might burst out of him if he kept avoiding it any longer. Virgil paused and peered at Logan in confusion.

“What’s up, L?” Virgil asked curiously.

“Virgil, I…” Logan trailed off, swiftly losing his nerve. He swallowed heavily and drew a struggled breath. “Prefer to watch the credits. These people put significant effort into the creation of the film and deserve acknowledged.”

“Oh, sure,” Virgil nodded and settled down into the theatre seat again. “You’re totally right, I feel like an asshole now,” he murmured, and Logan could barely hear his voice over the blaring end credits song playing over the speaker system.

Shit. Logan shook his head. “You’re not,” he corrected him. “No one else is bothering to stay, either,” he pointed out.

“Just because everyone’s doing it doesn’t make it right. No, I liked the movie, it’s worth watching some names scroll.” Virgil shot Logan a small smile, making his heart clench in his chest. “If I hated it, though, I’d storm out of here,” Virgil added with a roguish look before glancing up at the gigantic movie screen again. Logan watched Virgil’s pupils scan the movie before turning to study them himself.

Virgil started whispering interesting sound last names to himself as he read along. “Holy crap, Killmaster is such a cool name,” he muttered reverently. If Logan wasn’t leaned in so close, he might have missed it.

“If the last name was from a profession and not chosen, I would wonder if their ancestor was a gladiator or perhaps a legendary hunter,” Logan mused quietly, though he had no reason to other than the fact that it was polite to talk softly during a movie.

“A legendary badass,” Virgil hissed back, bumping Logan’s bicep with his shoulder. Logan’s heart jumped at the contact, and once more he was overwhelmed with the need to try and tell Virgil his feelings.

“Virgil, have you ever… struggled to tell someone something important?” Logan asked, hoping he didn’t sound as pathetic as he felt.

“Sure, all the time,” Virgil nodded, keeping his eyes on the screen. “What kind of thing? Maybe I can help,” he offered guilelessly. Logan gripped his jeans nervously.

“How to inform someone that you like them,” Logan clarified, his throat betraying him and tightening as he spoke. He exhaled harshly, trying to calm back down.

“Oh, that’s a tough one. I guess, for you, it’d be best to be straightforward and say you like them. Just force it out if you have to,” Virgil suggested thoughtfully.

“I see.” Logan wrung his hands together and glanced down at the ground. Being direct. Logan wasn’t good at using flowery, romantic language. Virgil was right. He just needed to do it. Logan took a deep breath to steady himself. “I like you,” Logan said evenly, looking at Virgil hopefully.

“Yeah, exactly like that. You got this,” Virgil looked to Logan with that little smile that usually melted his heart. But at the moment, it was too wrapped up in confusion to react. Did Virgil not… Perhaps he was so caught up in trying to express his feelings that it did not occur to him that Virgil wouldn’t be interested in hearing it. Perhaps it was best if Virgil didn’t understand.

Logan sat back and examined the credits in silence. He was deeply conflicted between the desire to clarify his feelings and respecting Virgil’s space. If Virgil didn’t even think of Logan like that enough to have the context that Logan was confessing, it seemed like Virgil wanted to remain friends. Or perhaps cut ties altogether after this, now that he knew Logan liked him. Pining helplessly hurt, but being completely cut off would be worse. Logan had to prevent that outcome at all costs. He would rather remain friends than be nothing to Virgil, and if he had to quell his feelings, he could do that. He hoped.

The last of the credits rolled, and Virgil got out of his seat once more, holding out his hand to help Logan up. Logan gave him a compressed smile and stood up on his own. Virgil tilted his head in confusion and shrugged lightly, and they walked out of the theater together.

Virgil and Logan walked into the mall and Virgil pulled out his phone to check the time. Logan panicked, wondering if he was already looking for an excuse to leave. He had to come up with a way to combat it. He needed more time to prove he could be just friends.

“I have some free time. Do you want to go around the mall? I haven’t been in ages and probably need to walk off all that soda. I’m feeling a little jittery,” Virgil offered, scanning the area.

Logan let out a sigh of relief. “I would like that.” Logan nodded, gripping at the hem of his shirt.

They walked together down the narrow hall that connected the theater to the food court. Virgil stuffed his hands into his hoodie pocket and Logan mirrored him by shoving his fidgeting hands into his jeans pockets. They meandered the mall together companionably, and Logan felt relieved that Virgil didn’t opt to just leave after the confession. Virgil pointed out interesting things to Logan as if he had never said anything during the credits.

“Oh, dude, look at those birds,” Virgil stepped up excitedly to a pet store window, glancing back to Logan with a hopeful look on his face.

“They are lovely, yes,” Logan agreed with Virgil’s unspoken compliment as he beamed into the window.

“Let’s go in.” Virgil pulled at Logan’s polo and headed into the open store hastily. Virgil rushed up to the large cylinder full of parakeets and leaned in to watch a pair grooming each other. He sighed happily and circled it, checking out all the birds it contained before moving on.

Next, Virgil looked at all the various tank pets. He cooed at dwarf hamsters, stuck out his tongue at the lizards, hissed at the snakes, and lingered at a tarantula he seemed enamoured with. Virgil seemed determined to look at every pet in the store, and Logan had to admit he loved seeing him be so animated, even if he was trying to deny the part of himself in love with Virgil. He could pretend he watched Virgil purely platonically on the outside, at least.

Virgil got permission for the pair to enter the cat enclosure and stepped in quickly. Virgil sat down on the bench and held out his hand instead of approaching any of the cats. Logan leaned against the wall and crossed his arms to watch Virgil’s determined face. Logan had concluded that Virgil was so interested in the small creatures that he was paying zero attention to Logan, and thusly Logan could secretly enjoy Virgil’s presence without maintaining any pretense.

A black cat with a small tuft of white fur on its chest walked up cautiously to Virgil’s hand and sniffed it carefully. It reared back twice, seemingly unsure. It backed up and watched as other cats did the same, not letting Virgil touch it yet. A white cat bumped its hand against Virgil’s hand and he stroked across its long body. The cat looked incredibly satisfied and kept circling around again to get more pets from Virgil. The black cat approached slowly, sniffing again. Virgil raised his other hand for the black cat to sniff once more.

The white cat wandered over to brush up against Logan’s legs, startling Logan from observing Virgil. Logan knelt down to let the cat sniff its hand before he offered it a few pets as well, since it was working so hard for the affection. The black cat didn’t push into Virgil’s hand, but instead hopped right up into Virgil’s nap and nestled in. Virgil made an expression like his heart exploded, rubbing the cat’s cheeks. The black cat purred so loudly even Logan could hear it over the light purrs of the white cat Logan was still petting.

“Oh my god, I love her,” Virgil whispered, looking up at the poster on the wall with her information. The cat’s name was Shadow, and she was two years old. Compared to the kittens, she had a very reasonable adoption fee and was listed as ‘skittish, but affectionate’ in her personality profile, along with ‘vocal and independent’. Logan had to agree with that assessment.

Virgil sat with Shadow for a few minutes, and the white cat had lost interest, wandering off to play with a ball track toy instead. Virgil kept stroking Shadow’s cheek tenderly, totally taken in by the cat. Logan stood back up and returned to viewing Virgil and Shadow interact.

“Are you going to adopt her?” Logan asked softly.

“My lease has a no-pets policy,” Virgil murmured, his face betraying how absolutely heartbroken he was. He stroked the cat’s back sullenly, sagging into himself.

“My lease does not,” Logan blurted out, and Virgil’s eyes shot up to Logan’s in surprise. Logan cleared his throat, disbelieving the words that were coming out of his own mouth. “I could adopt her. That way, you may come over whenever you like to see her,” Logan offered. Was he truly willing to adopt a living creature just to hold on to Virgil? Yes. Yes, he was. “I would need help taking care of her, of course,” he added as Virgil stared at Logan in astonishment.

“You’re serious?” Virgil asked flatly, his hand never moving off of shadow.

“Necktie.” Logan pulled at his tie and dropped it on his chest, smiling at Virgil.

“Right, right,” Virgil chuckled and looked down at Shadow. “Then… you’re sure?” Virgil asked meekly.

“I’m certain.” Logan relaxed and moved to sit on the bench with Virgil. If Logan had an excuse to see Virgil every day he could, he’d happily care for a cat. He wouldn’t mind the company for his lonely, pining heart, either.

“Thank you,” Virgil whispered softly.

#tsss #sanders sides #tsss fanfiction #sanders sides fanfiction #tsss fanfic #ayri writes #shorts #ts logan #ts virgil #analogical #analogical pining #one sided pining #pets #food

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krispydefendorpolice · 4 years

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The Demon’s Bride (1)

So this is my first time using tumblr and my first attempt at fanfic. Any formatting or tagging advice would be appreciated.

So I fell in the sea of fanfic three years ago and the #Daminette ship was the one to pull me out and press me into labor. Good job all you wonderfully evil authors out there.

So, here’s to @ozmav and @bluerosette23 as creator and archiver of this ship. And @mindfulmagics for putting the seed of someone actually has this bug in their brain too that got me writing. I’m going to try to get as many people tagged for this story as I can, especially if I called upon your own stories for inspiration. This first chapter has a call back to @multifandomscribette because I could not imagine this story starting any other way after reading their story “Gotham for Two”. (GO read it it’s awesome).

Other sources of inspiration are @mochinek0 , @snowhirl , and @inevitableenquere . I can’t remember how but your stories have inspired me. Thank you.

Next Masterpost

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Chapter 1

The whole situation was, in the words of her old schoolyard bully, “ridiculous, utterly ridiculous”. After Lila’s return and eventual take over of the Lycée class Marinette was more of an after thought to most of her classmates. The last minute call when a banner for some competition was happening, when treats and desserts were needed for a class picnic or costumes to film the classes newest movie.

The first and last were better as her closest friends had realized what Lila was doing to Marinette a few months in. After they apologized, Marinette accepted Nino, Kim, Alix, and Max back into her circle of confidence. Juleka was the only one of her circle in the classroom that was still in the sphere of Lie-la but that was planned with Marinette. She needed to know what the liar was saying and Juleka was able to use her sweetheart, Rose, as a cover for staying close.

Two years down the line and the classroom battle field hadn’t changed. Lila had most of the class in her thrall and only Nino, Kim, Alix, and Max were on Marinette’s side with Juleka working as their deep cover spy.

Adrien had insisted Marinette take a pacifist route to the Lila problem in the beginning and “be the bigger person” in order to keep Lila from being akumatized. At least they both knew she was a liar and he was on her side, right?

And he was on her side. In secret. For a week. Then he fell to Lila’s claws and joined in with the class’s ‘attack Marinette’ mob mentality. They would send her horrible texts about how no one liked her and that she should disappear. They destroyed one of the sketchbooks that she left in her locker. Then it got physical, suddenly she was tripping over feet and books were knocked out of her hands. And she deserved it for bullying Lila.

That lasted almost two months before Nino realized what the class was doing looked a lot like bullying Marinette. And then Kim, Alix and Max remembered that it was Marinette in their last year at Ecole who knocked out that bully who was targeting the younger kids. Marinette did not like bullies.

Nino and Alya broke up over his betrayal of Lila. He and the others were ostracized from the class as well but it was Marinette who still took the brunt of their attacks.

Adrien’s bigger person approach didn’t work anyways. As it seemed Lila was either getting akumatized or the reason for someone else getting akumatized every other week. Unfortunately, even battling Akuma’s wasn’t a relief from harassment for Marinette.

Chat Noir, her supposed partner, was getting worse in his pursuit of her. He refused to take no for an answer and planned dates she would decline to go to and get angry at her when she didn’t show anyways. In retaliation he would show up later and later to battles until eventually he stopped showing up at all. Once that happened, Marinette started searching for some permanent replacement heroes with the Guardians blessing.

Master Fu had begun training her to take on the responsibility of Guardian of the Miraculous. And as a test for her suitability as guardian she was given free reign to choose the new miraculous team. The first thing she had done was to retire Alya after the Lila disaster. Nino only maintained his place as one of the temporary heroes once he had apologized and the others were also on reserve for world ending Akuma’s.

But frankly, she had no trust in her classmates to have her back in the field.

So she had looked to her family for possibilities. The first she had tapped was Kagami. When paired with Longg and the dragon miraculous, Kagami became the offensive fighter that Chat had failed to be. Luka was next, paired with Sass and the snake miraculous he became their defensive player and strategizer. He watched the possibilities unroll and guided them when they were heading for danger. Juleka was last and she took to Trixx like a fox to her den. With the regular team decided upon and the temporary heroes settled battles with Akuma started to flow much easier and faster.

Which was great when they were in Paris. But she wasn’t in Paris right now. No, right now she was in America, in a strange city. After dark. Alone. Yay.

If that wasn’t bad enough that unfamiliar city just happened to be Gotham. The crime capital of the world. And it wasn’t a nice part of the city she was in, like the financial or fashion districts. No, she was in the district better know as Crime Alley. What even, was her life?

The class had traveled there as part of their extra curricular studies. They had gotten lucky (ha, lucky charm) to be chosen as one of the classes to participate in a training seminar at Wayne Enterprises with other schools from around the world. The flight had been uneventful, just Lila boasting about her connections in Gotham. They mostly centered around the celebrities like the Wayne family or the vigilante/heroes, Batman and his clan.

Marinette and her group had rolled their eyes but mostly ignored her and her slaves. They landed safely and made it to the hotel safely. And while not in the best neighborhood it hadn’t been in Crime Alley. So why did Ms. Bustier choose to take the class to a restaurant inside Crime Alley for dinner? Who knows? Marinette certainly didn’t.

It probably wouldn’t have mattered except that while Marinette was in the restroom the rest of the class disappeared. Now here she was, walking alone in Crime Alley, with nothing but a Kwami with her for protection. A Kwami she needed to keep a secret.

She sighed as the footsteps behind her picked up speed. At this point she was simply easy prey to the predators that stalked these streets. She opened her purse and glanced down at Tikki who was looking up at her. At Tikki’s small smile she looked around to decide on a plan of action.

Seeing her chance, Marinette started running. Instead of veering to the street she aimed towards an alley ahead of her. As soon as she turned she saw a brick wall ahead of her that was the rear of a building, and with buildings on either side of her she was boxed in. Perfect, she smiled.

She dropped the smile and turned as her stalkers steps fell silent behind her. One hand was holding a gun aimed at her and the other hand was held open and gesturing to her.

“Looks like you’re boxed in pretty thing. Just give me your money and I won’t hurt you,” he said in English.

Thinking quickly Marinette ducked her head as if she were cowed into obedience by the sight of the gun. “Do you promise?” she asked in the same language.

“I’m a man of my word, pretty. Your money gets you your life.”

But doesn’t guarantee my safety, Marinette thought as she fumbled with pulling her wallet from her purse. She held it out before her and waited.

The mugger walked towards her and reached for the wallet she held. As he touched it Marinette’s free hand wrapped around the wrist and pulled. Unprepared for her move the man stumbled forward and his nose connected with the elbow she raised. Pulling back with a yelp he dropped the gun when Marinette’s second grab and subsequent nerve strike numbed the hand holding it.

He looked up at the barrel of his own weapon held in Marinette’s hand.

“What was that about my life?” She asked calmly.

Before he could answer a thud behind her had Marinette turning again.

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Hopefully people actually got tagged on this. Let me know if you didn’t. Again I’m new and don’t know the tagging system yet.

Let me know what you think. As they say comments are a writers wages and if I get enough (and I finish editing chapter 2) I’ll post it tonight. Questions are appreciated though I may not answer unless it won’t pop up in story but we’ll see where I go with this.

#daminette #maribat #marinette x damian #Betrothed AU #The Demon’s Bride

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toysoldiers-rwby · 3 years

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Deleted Scene. SYT CH. 10

Show Your Teeth

Characters: Fiona, Winter, May, Robyn, Joanna Rating: Explicit (tagged as thoorist) Tags: slice of life, sexual tension

First Draft of ch 10. I really liked it but it was too slow and diverted from the plot too much. uploading here for archive purposes cuz pc likes to eat files. unedited. I'm still peeved that I need to delete all my Marrow scenes :(

Read Show Your Teeth on on Ao3

Or Tumblr

angeldust: Stay out of trouble. angeldust: I’m playing up Robyn’s hero image for something after mid-terms. foxhot: geez. thnx snowflake :p angeldust: Fiona has better ideas about what you could do with that tongue. happywool: !!! angeldust: Hm… seems a visual aid is required.

May choked on her food and quickly hide her Scroll. She didn’t see much but she saw enough to turn her a deep shade of red. Her ears burned and heart was skipping beats. Marrow gave her a worried look, slowly patting her back.

“I told you it was spicy and not to inhale it,” He mumbled taking back his leftover curry. May tried not to make a scene, tried to remember that people were still filtering out from the lunch rush to return to class and tried to keep her death quiet as she swallowed her food.

“He’s did warn you,” Joanna grinned across from across the table. She fished around in her bag for a second. After all these months May knew it was an act. She saw Joanna’s eyes brows raised ever so slightly as she caught up with their group chat. Somehow the damn women kept a straight face and didn’t blush. Elm and Marrow didn’t notice the thick gulp caught in Joanna’s throat. May could practically feel it against her lips. But instead of getting caught in the memory, she focused on what Joanna was saying, “Here’s some water to calm you down.” She pulled her thermoflask from her back and set it in front of May.

“Asshole,” May growled, kicking Joanna under the table. There was only a rich laughter that only made May’s heart flip in a different way, pulling the soft throb between her legs to her chest. She did drink most of Joanna’s water and took a deep breaths afterwards, focusing back on their previous discussion. “As I was saying I agree with Joan. It’s bullshit how they expect us to turn in our assignments while we’re on missions.” She stabbed her fork into Marrow’s curry one last time, stealing a piece of meat and potatos.

“Yeah but Atlas’ has the best CTT Tower,” Elm crossed her arms and sighed. May ignore Marrow’s lingering eyes on the stretching fabric across Elm’s arms. Mostly because if she teased him, Joanna was going to get her back and certain… areas was already teased from Winter’s picture. “The only place with no signal are the mines so technically we don’t have an excuse.”

“Three hour debriefing, an hour of transport and two hours of fighting Grimm,” Marrow listed, tail betraying his calm voice and thrashing with fustration, “Isn’t study time.” He pushed curry around until a thought hit his head. It was cute how his tail flexed straight with realization before relaxing and swaying again, “How the hell is RMJT (Ramjet) keeping up?”

May blinked, struggling to keep her face blank as she shrugged, “I’m used to the bullshit pressure. Rich family, kid champion.” She said. As if Winter doesn’t carefully picks out their missions. As if Silvio didn’t hacks into their instructors accounts to give to them notes about the lessons they missed or a review sheet for pop quizzes. He offered to alter their grades but the Mantle Rats were too noble- “Ow! Fuck!” A sharp jerk and pull on her wrapped braid nearly threw May off her seat.

There was an annoyingly stupid gasp, Silvio passing by with a mountain of food that threaten to topple over, “Language, Ms. Marigold. Don’t let these uncultured Rats rub off on you!”

“I’ll shove the next HR shot in your eye you little fuck!”

Silvio stuck his tongue out. “The Schnee wants RMJT in her office, after you two finish your appitizers,” He said as he continued walking across the unspoken boundry between the students and offical military personal. May watched, massaging the dull burn away.

Clover helped the boy spread out food while Glade grabbed a plate and immediately started eating, nodding along to whatever Dr. Peitro was saying. Occasionally they’d had to set their utensils down, hands slowly going from sign to sign or just typing something out on their Scroll when the brightest mind in Atlas didn’t understand.

Her attention was drawn away when Marrow elbowed her, asking for help about something from their political and law class. May answered all the questions eyes only occasionally drifting to the little shit and Glade. With the highly maintain fade haircut cut and muscular build, the compression on their chest, they looked good. Healthy. They’re cheeks weren’t hallow even if their eyes…

Even if their eyes was still glowing that controlling eerie blue-

May took a deep breath, giving Marrow a weak apologetic smile and asked him to repeat the question again. Despite what Silvio said, Joanna and May took their time, both stealing some of Marrow’s curry and answering whatever questions he had. She counted the times her Scroll buzzed. On the third, fourth, then fifth buzz, all within seconds of each other, May and Joanna got up, giving the two Junior Ops a small smile.

“See you two for Conditioning?” Joanna asked.

“Of course!” Elm said with a large smile. " We’re beating our record today, Greenleaf!" Elm practically yelled, giving a big smile and even a bigger flex. Soon the women will need a new uniform, she could practically hear the seams rip.

“You say that every week…” Joanna mumbled a little tired. They took their time departing. If Winter was going to be a brat, they were going to be a tease.

The Specialist building was almost scary quiet. Empty, really. At first May hated it. It made her heart beat all to loud. Even Joanna must have heard it because she chuckled low and soft. May’s skin pricked, feeling a little too cold in the area where her partner liked to rest her hand. But Joanna didn’t, the red blinking lights and cameras in the hall stopping her. This was one of the most securied areas under the military’s control… which made May’s heart race a little faster and harder until her hand was shaking.

Joanna stepped close, laughing low and hot in her ear as her hand slowly wrapped around hers to steady her Scroll against the scanner. May tried not to tense and give the women any reaction, but she could feel the burning in her ears. There was a tiny yelp that would be hidden by the hissing doors on the security footage.

For some reason May expected to find Fiona seated on the desk, taking up the place where papers or a keyboard would be and demanding all of Winter’s and Robyn’s attention like the little brat she was.

Instead she got to see the picture Winter sent in person, with Robyn and Fiona corning the Specialist onto her own desk. The pair had worked that stupid uniform open a little more. Fiona didn’t leave Winter’s collarbone, only peeling back enought to give May and Joanna an angry glare for interrupting. Then she sank in those sharp teeth with renewed purpose.

Joanna hummed low and hot at the sight, helping May step into the room and locking the door closed. May’s heart beat moved a little lower. Fi and Robyn must have headed over right after Winter sent the picture. By now Winter was out of breath, eyes only slightly unfocused as the deep blush ran down and down, past her clevage bound in lingere and dusting her firm abs. A little lower were Fiona’s hands, restless and tugging a little at the belt and straps that circled her thighs- Ahem, thigh high boots.

Fiona had that look in her eyes. She was far to focused, breath too measured and ears fluttering in fustration- Suddenly May was in the changing room, months and months ago. When Winter first riled Fiona up to fuck Robyn, when May first felt Joanna’s strong hands on her chest. Her breath stuttered and she closed her eyes trying to control herself but Fiona’s sharp huff demanded her attention.

“These kinda look like harness, don’t you think?” Fiona asked, tugging at the belt and leathers again. Faux innocent voice, clipped with the slightest heat making everyone in the room shiver, even Joanna. May responded with a sharp breath. The low and starving that’s been ignored for months growing again.

If Winter had a response, it was lost against Robyn’s lips. The soft moan that had May’s blood boiling was not. Robyn groaned a little low and a little loud. She let got of Winter’s bottom lip and pulled back, satisfied. Fiona wasn’t and she made cute complaining noises as Robyn had to coax their girlfriend off Winter. It was a bit of a work, with how Winter laughed softly and enabled Fiona’s bratty behavior with soft kisses and lingering touches.

May licked her lips and watched, enjoying the rare sight of the three of them together. Joanna’s arms wrapped around her waist, heating up the cold spot that missed her. It wasn’t as bad as May thought it would be. Somehow… somehow they all made it work. Stealing little moments like this right in the middle Atlas’ most survaillanced buildings made everything bareable.

Joanna’s soft chuckle only added an innocent flavor to the heat in the air. “Sorry, but I just remembered that saying,” She murmered. “Sex is nice but have you tried fucking the system?”

“It wouldn’t be trying if you two came earlier!” Fiona growled under her breath. May took a long and slow breath, trying to keep calm. She grit her teeth as Joanna’s hip’s met her ass, hands rolling down from her waist to hips, thumbs snuggly catching on her belt.

“You three rats have no self control,” May growled under her breath. She didn’t look down. If she avoided her hardening dick it’ll soften… eventually. If her girlfriends stop teasing her.

“Sorry if your definition of control is toture!” Fiona looked ready to pounce on her, eyes below her waist. She was biting her lip and when Winter cleared her throat Fiona tensed, back ram rode straight as she glared at Winter.

“That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you four about,” She said. Every button closing her blose only made Fiona’s hands and ears twitch in fustration. Joanna laughed, leaving May and picking up their little lamb.

“I’ll calm her down, I’ve got years of practice with Robyn,” Joanna said. The former detective only rolled her eyes, walking pulled May and Winter to the other couch in her office. Any angry comments was silenced with her lips pressed against Fi.

“So? I’m guessing this involves whatever plan you have after mid-terms?” Robyn prodded. She stretched horizontally along the couch… placing her head in May’s lap. May stiffen, member throbbing hard. She didn’t know if she was thankful that Winter and Robyn ignored it or if she should curse them both out.

It’ll be so easy for Robyn to flip up her skirt, slide her out and-

“Kitten.”

“Stop calling me that,” May huffed looking away. her breath hitched, feeling Robyn’s rich laugh against the nearly dampening fabric of her skirt and panties. “I got… distracted.” She glared down at Robyn who looked far to smug as she licked her lips.

"We’re talking about Fiona pegging you, princess," Robyn said.

And suddenly May could only feel Robyn’s lips dragging down her length while Fiona claws into her hips from behind- May groaned, dropping her head back as her cock throbbed and the ache pulled her back to reality. She came too in time to see Fiona pull back from Fiona, her fustrated eyes on the tent of her skirt. She almost snarled, pulling Joanna down for a heated kiss. Joanna chuckled, holding Fi close and meeting it the frantic energy with a cooling slowness.

May gulped and looked back at Winter, refusing to give Robyn any attention even if the damn women played and lightly tugged on her wrapped braid. “What about it?” May asked, a little too breathlessly.

“You haven’t been prepping, have you?”

May grumbled and turned her head away. When Winter first suggested it, May venomly denied it. She was curious but it was anal. Then Winter held her down with Glyphs and explained all the cleaning and prep stuff. It wasn’t romantic, it was incredibly embarassing but it settled May’s anxieties. She tried to hold onto the calm feeling even as her palms felt a little to warm.

“Thought so… How about we relax that first time sharing rule?” Winter asked, reaching behind the couch and passing a sucpeiciously nondiscript box to Robyn.

“Are these the weighted ones?!” Robyn asked with a gasp. She sprang up, pulling one from the set and doing a close inspection of it. May’s face heated up and she avoided Winter’s slight grin. It wasn’t the usual teardrop shape that scared May, it was more of an angular topedo with a thin neck. It was definately bigger than Winter’s fingers and if it stretched-

May struggled to take a breath and she looked at the ceiling. She was reaching the point where it would take more than time to calm her down and faught against the throbbing that was fogging her head.

“Yes, they are the weighted, vibrating ones.” Winter said. Vi-brating… May took a deep breath, trying not to think about the pleasure rolling down her cock, the ghost sensations lingering at her thighs. Physical Conditioning was in 20 minutes and she’d like to be able to look at Elm and Marrow in the eyes. So instead May focuses on Winter’s voice, calm and collected, “But as I was saying, I wouldn’t mind if we bent the rules if it means you three can help May prep.”

“Really?!”

“You don’t need to sound so excited and happy!” May nearly yelled at her. That only caused Fiona’s grin to grow, and her ears to dance. Thankfully Joanna was laying on her, only a little propped up to give Fiona some wiggle room.

She used it to come a hand through Joanna’s hair, “So what can I do?” Fi asked. Far too excited. At least Joanna was able to kiss all that sexual fustration away. Otherwise May was sure Fi would be bending her over Winter’s desk- May groaned breath stuttering. It’s been far to long is her imagination was running this wild. Four girlfriends and she feels like a damn virgin again.

Winter and Robyn’s laugh helped a little. Gave her something innocent to focus on.

“No riding or oral,” Winter said. Fiona made sounds of protest and Winter quickly explained, “Glade said you probably have an oral fixation and you’d probably kill her.”

“What a snitch!” Fi growled under her breath. “You need to sneak them out again so I can-”

“What? Make out with them again?” May teased. Fiona huffed crossing her arms, her ears flicked once in annoyance and that only made everyone laugh. But talking about Glade… it cooled her blood. Guilt crawling into her chest as an uneasy silence took over. “How… how are they?”

“They’re eating the military’s budget,” Winter answered with a smug note. “Still haven’t talked and… actually,” Winter checked her Scroll. “Would you like to see them work in the lab?”

“Yes!” Fiona said trying to jump up and slamming her head into Joanna’s jaw. May listens to the soft apology and Joanna only laughs it off. The women takes hits from Elm’s hammer on a regular basis.

It takes a few minutes for May’s hard-on to fade. It was less the idle chatter and catch up and more of the bittersweetness of it. How talking to Winter was so rare now days. She grabs Winter’s hand, almost forgetting how cool it is and just holds it until she couldn’t stall anymore.

The trip to the Science Department was surprisingly short. It was close, incase of an emergency the best Hunters in the world would be there within minutes. But Winter takes each turn without looking, doesn’t need to with how much she escorts Glade around.

Winter’s clearance grants them all entrance beyond the lobby and slowly they felt the temprature rise. May sees Fiona’s ears twitch before her human hearing can make out feint pounding. Metal on metal, deep and evenly passed, almost mechanical.

The thick display glass muffles a lot of the noise, to the humans. Fiona grumbles and winces, eventually stealing both Robyn and May’s scarf to nestle her head into. Winter gives an apologetic smile and turns to the window again.

Silvio was sitting on the bench nearly half the room away, tapping away a Scroll. He was dressed in an Atlas uniform a size to big. They still haven’t found a lab coat that could fit the kid either. The top of Glade’s uniform was tucked into their belt. May recognize the binder, either borrowed from Winter or from the same company. Good even compression and with enough give to let Glade raise a heavy hammer high and to slam it back onto the glowing white hot meterial.

May watched closely as Glade paused. They straighten out, sweat rolling off the hard plans of muscles as they rolled their shoulder. The material didn’t bite uncomfortably into their armpits or shoulders. When Glade took deep breaths, the binder expanded easily. May relaxed a little. Until she saw the thread woven into the binder. It was slow, as if waking up or kindling a fire.

She didn’t notice it at first, the small embers passing Glade’s lips. They concentrated. with each deep breath, the embers grew a little bigger. The Dust infused tongue ring peeked out, gliding over their lips before their jaw clenched tight.

A sharp huff, a small plume of fire.

Another deep breath in and this time they finally got it, a tumbling wave of fire rolling from their lips and onto the metal. Fiona yelps, face flushed as if she was near that intense heat. The sound brings May out of a trance and she remembers to breath. Glade’s ears flicked towards the glass, fire dying into embers again and they push the dark safety glasses up, awkwardly trying to get it past their asthetic horns. They blinked and May’s stomach twist.

The only whites in their eyes was the pupils. Slowly their semblance calms down, the glowing blue shrinking and shrinking until it just colors their iris. What color was their eyes again?

Glade grins, ears wiggling happily as they set the white hot material aside and pulls off those huge tempered gloves. Their hands moves from sign to sign. Winter chuckles at it. Being the only one of the five that actually can hang around them to learn the language.

“They said to get your jaws off the floor.”

May huffs and she hears Fiona’s jaw snap close beside her. Silvio looks at the glass then taps at his Scroll. The door hisses open even when the scanner was glowing an angry red. Then the glass tints black.

Winter sighs in fustration quickly stepping inside, “Watts… we talked about tempering with Military property.”

“I’m not listening to sluts that fuck in the office,” Silvio scoffed rolling his eyes. Glade’s jaw dropped a silent gasp and giggle following as their goat ears flutter in delight- Sluts?!

“What did you just call us?!” May yelled at him. Silvio quickly bolts off the desk, hiding behind Glade’s musuclar frame and sticking his tongue out.

Glade tensed, ears flicking

“If you four want that Argus mission with Glade and Winter, I advice you not to touch me,” Silvio grins. May dropped her tense hands that was just a breath away from slapping him. “Good, can’t afford to ruin Robyn’s reputation.”

#Robyn Hill #Winter Schnee #rwby #rwby7 #May Marigold #Fiona Thyme #Joanna Greenleaf #Show Your Teeth #poly #wlw #very happy huntresses #thoorist #deleted scenes #fic

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panharmonium · 4 years

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just some thinky thoughts about fandom platforms and community that i didn’t know what to do with, so i wrote them down.

[tl;dr - tumblr is weird, pan misses (certain aspects of) Ye Olde Days]

tumblr is such a weird platform.

like. i love my blog as a personal repository of stuff i enjoy, and i’m definitely thrilled to have met the people i’ve met on here - some of them have even become my friends outside the internet, and that’s been absolutely lovely. but in terms of actual functionality when it comes to trying to engage in a fandom...it’s still weird.

i know people will probably get tired of all the “BACK IN MY DAY” fandom analysis posts that float around on this website, but even having been here for years now, it is still really hard for me to adjust to a place that makes it so impossible to find any kind of actual fandom community spaces.

for me, i didn’t even start using tumblr until i was in my mid-twenties, and that was only because tumblr was where most people from LJ had migrated. i’d been Doing Fandom for over a decade prior to that, on other platforms (fandom specific sites/archives and then LJ), so i ended up here kind of out of necessity - the great fandom migration was already mostly complete, by the time i moved.

so i got here, and i got settled, but fandom on tumblr has been so different from fandom as i experienced it anywhere else, and that’s not the fault of any of its users; it’s just an inevitable function of the way this site is structured.

it is SO HARD for us to connect with people on here!

just, as an example from my own more recent life - i’ve been doing a lot of merlin stuff lately, right? that’s where my head is at and that’s what i’m having the most fun with and i would love to be more interactive with people about it, like - to have folks to geek out with about it, you know, to do the things that fandom is for - and if i were on, say, livejournal, back in the day, i would know where to go to do those things. there would be specific spaces built for just that purpose. LJ comms were places where everybody who was interested in a particular thing could go for the express purpose of posting and discussing and interacting about that thing! people still maintained their own personal blogs, but they also belonged to whichever LJ communities reflected their interests. LJ comms and fandom-specific sites were fandom hubs - it was so easy to find what you were looking for.

this functionality doesn’t exist in any meaningful way on tumblr. big, moderated groups/communities aren’t a thing tumblr truly supports. there’s no way for me to go join the “merlin” comm and just be in community with a large group of people who just wanna talk about merlin. the limited “group blog” functionality on tumblr is so non-conducive to actual usage that community spaces like those just don’t really exist, not like Back In The Day.

fandom on tumblr is so very decentralized. the way things are set up here forces all of us to just make posts on our individual blogs, which then might get picked up and put on other people’s individual blogs, maybe. you can’t like...make something (X) Fandom related and drop it in the (X) Fandom LJ Comm like “hey look, something fun to talk about!” you could put it in “The Tag,” but anyone who’s been here for any length of time knows how useful doing that actually is. and you could post it on your individual blog, but it won’t necessarily reach anybody who might want to geek out with you, not if you’re not already followed by someone in that fandom.

and the only other option is to invite yourself onto someone else’s individual blog, which is a) inefficient, when you’re looking for wider community, and b) not something a Painfully Reserved Person is wont to do.

the analogy that works best for me is this: pre-tumblr, fandom hangouts were community spaces. they were cafés with a sign hanging out front saying “star wars here!” or “kanan/hera here!” or “X here!” if you wanted to geek out about a particular thing, you would go to the café and meet a bunch of other people there.

nowadays, if you want to geek out about a particular thing, you have to barge into a stranger’s house. and not everyone is comfortable with that.

the lack of real, threaded comments is also just...i don’t know how to express how detrimental this is to communication and community. i mean, i understand that tumblr’s entire “reblog” system doesn’t really allow it to be a thing, but tumblr’s entire mechanic as a fandom platform has to be questioned, in that case.

how impossible is it to have a conversation on here, the way tumblr is set up right now? i mean - let’s say you make a post, right? one person reblogs it and adds their own text to it; another person reblogs the original version, but says something different in the tags. a third person doesn’t reblog it at all, but hits “reply” on your original post. a fourth person “replies” also, but to the second person’s reblog, in response to the additional content.

NONE OF YOU ARE HAVING THE SAME CONVERSATION. none of you are even aware that the other conversations are happening. the idea of trying to build an actual cohesive fandom community like that is just...impossible. it can’t happen.

when i reblog posts on tumblr, i feel like i’m a dragon collecting a little hoard of shiny things she likes, only i never actually see another person, because i live in a cave.

everybody here lives in a cave.

and like...this is just philosophical, i guess, but. tumblr’s focus on “follower count” and notes is also a thing i don’t really know how to handle.

having people “follow” me makes me feel weird. seeing that people are “following” this blog exerts a bizarre external pressure, as if my little house here could ever be for anybody who isn’t me. it prompts a tiny 'but should you?’ in the back of my head when i post about something that isn’t what all those people came here for, which is ridiculous, because this was never supposed to be a blog for any fandom in particular; it was just a blog for me. i was the only one here when i started, and i literally never did anything to try and get people to come here and join me. it happened accidentally, because bigger blogs than me picked up some star wars stuff i made and passed it around.

but of course, on tumblr, making connections gets conflated with follower/note count, and understandably so, because besides having a higher follower count (aka wider distribution), how are people ever going to reach the other people who are into the same thing they are?

for instance. let’s say you’re brand new to tumblr. you want to get involved in X fandom. there’s no community space here where a new blog with no followers can go and share their stuff with the right audience and meet all the other people who are also sharing their own work. unless you start messaging strangers, your tumblr time is pretty isolated.

whereas - i remember on lj comms, back when people would post as a newcomer, it would be like, ‘hey i’m so-and-so and i love xyz and here’s a picture i drew of x character!!!!’ - and people would actually respond to that. people responded to everything! like. tiny 400 word fics would have 30 comments, and all those people were talking with each other, not past each other, on the same page.

just for fun, while i was typing this up, i went through a month’s worth of posts on an old lj comm i used to frequent. not a single one of those posts was comment-less. every single post, even the tiniest, most insignificant one-line musing, had some amount of discussion attached to it.

whereas now - i don’t know if this is just confined to tumblr, or if it’s a general cultural shift, because even on AO3, i sometimes see people who have written massive sprawling epics and the comment field is just a desert. i once saw the exact same fic posted on ff.net, where it had 20 comments - and then on AO3, where it had zero.

and like, say what you will about ff.net (there’s...plenty to be said, certainly XD ) but commenting patterns were observably different there. and that’s all part and parcel of a bigger discussion, which isn’t really within the scope of these notes, except to say that it’s probably the source of my forever grudge match with AO3′s kudos button, which i realize is an absurdly silly thing to say and i’m smiling at myself even as i type this, but - i gotta be honest - i hate that thing! i can’t stand it! XD

i say that in the most good-natured way possible, obviously; this is fandom, after all, and it’s all for fun, and i love AO3 in every other way, so this is more a minor annoyance which makes me laugh at myself than anything else - but i say again - in the most fun-loving, self-deprecating way possible - that little button is my archnemesis. XD

i totally get why other people love it! it’s a completely reasonable way to feel! but for me, personally, coming out of an environment where the reward at the end of making something was getting to gush with somebody else, make a connection, talk about the thing that gave us So Many FEELS - the kudos button is so. sterile. and. empty. it doesn’t fulfill my urge to connect with people or share fannish enthusiasm in any way. i’d almost rather not even see kudos on my account, honestly, because it makes me feel more disappointed than anything else - like, “oh, man. look at all these missed fandom conversations we could have had.”

and obviously, this is in no way meant as disparaging to people who use the kudos button liberally. it is ALWAYS lovely to show appreciation for someone who wrote something you liked, however which way you are able, if and only if you are so inclined. nobody is obligated to leave feedback - lurkers are a perfectly accepted and long-celebrated fandom tradition; i belonged to that tradition myself, for most of my fandom life - so showing appreciation in any form is already going above and beyond. nobody needs to be harangued with “YOU SHOULD’VE COMMENTED” or “YOU SHOULD’VE REBLOGGED” - none of that stuff is required to participate in fandom; nobody owes comments or reblogs, and creators have to be okay with that. we can discuss and/or lament the structural factors that encourage or discourage participation, by all means, but ultimately we have to recognize that nobody is actually required to respond to things we make. it’s fandom. we’re all here by choice, and people’s participation levels are their own business.

and anyway, i know that lots of authors actually love getting kudos on their work, so my experience isn’t universal, by any means. it’s just a function of my own personal background, and the communities i used to run in - i speak for no one but myself and my own fannish life.

and besides, the entire debate about kudos/comments and like/reblog disparities doesn’t come anywhere near the underlying issues. it’s sometimes framed as “people not participating in fandom appropriately” (and that’s completely unfair; there’s no wrong way to do fandom when you’re not hurting anybody) as opposed to “what is it about our platforms that encourages or discourages participatory fan culture.” like - the only reason we even need to talk about the importance of reblogs vs. likes is because tumblr makes it so darn hard for a person’s stuff to be seen by the “right” people! reblogs are the only way for someone’s work to spread, and even then it’s kind of like throwing a handful of darts at a board and praying one of them will land in a well-connected spot. if a platform like tumblr were set up differently, we wouldn’t even need to have this conversation - there would be places to post your work where people would be specifically looking for content like what you were making. you could make those fannish connections more easily.

*** important to note, too - it’s always worthwhile to remember when reading these “back in the old days” nostalgia posts that pre-tumblr spaces had drawbacks of their own. livejournal was not some fannish utopia, by any means. there were, however, a few structural things from that era that i think were helpful influences on fan culture, and their absence here makes me miss them.

but anyways. those are just some thoughts. and now i’m going back to my regularly scheduled posting, because i DO enjoy this place, even if the platform can be somewhat lacking sometimes - we still have to find a way to have fun, right? that’s the entire point of being in fandom in the first place.

#i've always felt like tumblr was sort of a bizarre place for Fandom Central to have landed anyway #though i do think it's been amazing for graphics editors; gifset-makers especially #i do wonder where we'll end up next #whenever the next big migration hits #anyway back to regularly scheduled posting!#i've got episodes to get through #gotta keep up my momentum so i can GET TO THE END #:D #fandom

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biscuitreviews · 5 years

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Biscuit Reviews Final Fantasy VIII Remastered

Final Fantasy VIII has finally received the remaster treatment. This was the last entry from the PS1 and PS2 era that had yet to receive a remaster. The reason it was constantly left out was because during the PS1 and PS2 era, Square didn’t have much of an archiving policy. This meant that the source code for Final Fantasy VIII no longer existed. If this story sounds familiar then it does as the original Kingdom Hearts also suffered the same fate.

Final Fantasy VIII was my entry point into the series and seeing that remastered announcement trailer gave me alot of feelings and a lot of joy that the gaming community would give this game another look.

Now, I’ve already reviewed Final Fantasy VIII for this blog already. This review is mostly going to focus on the remastered edition as well as cover some points I didn’t address in the previous review. I’ll be talking about what changed as well as what improved and what didn’t improve.

Let’s get the obvious change out of the way first and talk about the character models. These new models are absolutely gorgeous. They look like they belong on PS2 game. The details on the new models show more than the original PS1 models. For example, you can now see the Garden Insignia on the Garden student uniforms and you can see Squall’s necklace, both which weren’t as prominent previously. These models go to not only the main characters, but some side characters, NPCs, monsters, and bosses. Almost everything got a nice new coat of paint and pop out more than ever before. Even the weapons that each character wields have more fidelity to them making them stand out in their own way.

One drawback is that the environments look blurry at times. It gives a weird feeling that the models are just running in a background set piece rather than their actual environment. It sort of reminded me of the first Uncharted how the characters looked way out of place from the environment. The world map also looks really rough. Textures look patchy at places and the road is just a big gray line with details popping in and out.

As for battle maps, it’s sort of hit or miss with the remaster. Some battle maps, such as the Galbadian Garden battle map, Edea’s float battle map, and D-Prison battle map, look like they got a nice touch up. Other battle maps such as the battle maps from the world map look incredibly ugly like they got no sort of treatment at all.

One thing I do want to address is the “censorship” issue some people seem to have regarding Rinoa and Siren’s new models. Honestly, I don’t have an issue with their new models. In fact, Rinoa’s new model is actually more closer to the FMV model which gives her more consistency throughout the game. As for Siren, her changes really didn’t bother me. I wish I could add more for Siren’s case, but I don’t have anything, I don’t feel one way or another. The only feeling I do have is if you are a person that has an issue with it then just stick with the PS1 version or the original PC version.

Speaking of FMV’s, they’re a bit on the blurry side. Most of them are not that bad and perform well but is a bit disappointing that they weren’t fully smoothed out. The intro FMV is probably the worst performing one as it’s incredibly slow and does suffer from frame rate issues in a few areas in that particular FMV. At least that seemed to be the case for the Steam version, I’m not sure how the scene plays on consoles. It’s something I hope Square does patch at a later time because this was the main shining point for Final Fantasy VIII which were these very cutscenes, especially with the very first scene having performance issues.

I think some new dialogue might have got added in as well as I ran into a line that I know wasn’t in the original version, particularly the Dollet SeeD field exam where Galbadia soldiers will make a comment that they’re fighting kids. Now the original Final Fantasy VIII did make references to this further in the story, particularly the Timber section. But, to have a new line that has these soldiers questioning and even state outloud that they’re fighting kids does make it more prominent that Squall and the gang are trained child soldiers which further amplifies an interesting subject matter that there is an organization actively training child soldiers with some areas of the world seeming ok with that!

Like the Final Fantasy VII and IX remasters, cheats have been included. These cheats include turning off random encounters, maxing out your health (which for some reason is only available in the Steam version), having limit breaks always available, acquire all cards, and speeding up the game. Now, those cheats might sound like they’ll make the game easier and they can, but turning off random encounters could also be challenging with how Final Fantasy VIII’s Junction/Draw progression system works.

I have to say, speeding up the game cheat was a great addition to this one as Draw farming can be a very mundane task. Now instead of spending 20+ minutes on a single encounter to Draw magic, you can just turn on the faster speed cut your farming by a significant amount. This goes for GF summons as well, no more having to sit there watching the long animation over and over again when you can just click the speed up button and get right back into the battle.

As for random encounters, I never turned them off. I can see how this cheat might actually be more challenging than helpful under the right conditions with how Final Fantasy VIII’s progression work. I can see this being an added layer of difficulty to no EXP challenge runs. This could make it to where you have to play Triple Triad and go to Draw Points to get the spells you need. This could also have your GFs learn abilities at a much slower pace causing you to be a bit more creative with some of the game’s Junction exploits to still fight effectively.

That’s another thing I wanted to discuss, now this isn’t bad, but it was something that I did hope that Square would address for this remaster which was retooling the Junction/Draw progression system. They didn’t change anything which isn’t bad as it maintains the system, but also bad because you can still heavily exploit it. This can be done by having your GFs learn item refinement abilities early and playing a lot of Triple Triad to where you can have what is traditionally late mid-game stats within the first five hours of the game.

Enemies are also still dependent on Squall’s level. This means you can stay at a low level to just kill enemies and even some bosses in one hit with how you can increase stats with the Junction system. That was another thing I hoped Square would address also to make leveling up Squall more meaningful.

I also wished that Square fixed it to where the game didn’t un-Junction your characters at specific points in the story. I get it, make sure you’re equipped and prepared to go, but damn it, why do I still have to double check to make sure the game didn’t decide to be a dick right before a boss fight to un-Junction everything.

You might be wondering with the pros and cons that I listed if the game is worth it. Honestly, yeah I think it is. For $20 USD, it’s a pretty good price for some updates and having the speed up cheat a very welcome addition for the GF summons and Draw farming.

Yes the game still has a somewhat rushed romance, the second half of the story falls apart, and the Ultimecia still feels disconnected to the story as a villain. But to me, that’s part of Final Fantasy VIII’s charm and this is a game that I still love to bits to this day.

In my review for the game a couple years ago. I didn’t give it a review score as I didn’t think I could be objective enough to give it one due to how much this game means to me and what it did for my educational development. However, looking back now I think I can be objective enough to show the differences between the original Final Fantasy VIII on its own and the remastered version. So for this I’ll score Final Fantasy VIII the game as is as well as a separate score for the remastered version.

Final Fantasy VIII receives a 4 out of 5

Final Fantasy VIII Remastered receives a 3 out of 5

This one I’ll admit was tough but I feel the Remastered version could have done a bit more to give it a remastered feel. There were issues in the original that were ripe for Square to fix this go around and they didn’t take that opportunity to fix them. However, despite me giving the remastered version a 3, it’s still a fantastic game and worth the $20 price tag. I’m glad that this game finally got some attention and even opened the door for new Final Fantasy fans to finally take a look at this game.

However, if you’ve been curious about the Final Fantasy series and is someone that is possibly looking for an entry point, Final Fantasy VIII is not a good entry point. Take it from someone whose entry point was this game. Yes, the Junction system is easy to exploit, but it does take time to understand the system to make it easily exploitable. You have to know how to properly train your GFs to get what you need at certain points in the game, know how to make skills you learn from GFs help you with progression, mastering a card game to help you get cards that can lead to items to make you stronger, learn what spells are good to Junction to which stat, and tinkering with Elemental and Status Junctions to better fight enemies with elemental weaknesses. This is better to play when you’ve had a few other Final Fantasy titles under your belt.

If you want recommendations on a good entry point, Final Fantasy XV serves a good entry point as it has all the modern conveniences of games today. Final Fantasy VI and VII also serve as good entry points as both have compelling stories and fun combat. Final Fantasy X is also a great entry point as it has a good mix of both modern and classic and one that I personally recommended as being a good “first Final Fantasy.” Then again that could also be my bias showing as it is my favorite Final Fantasy.

#Final Fantasy VIII #Final Fantasy VIII Remastered #FF8 #FFVIII #video games #video game review #game review #gaming review #gaming #Biscuit reviews #Square Enix

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random-red-ramblings · 5 years

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Chapters: 8/? Fandom: Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Javert/Jean Valjean Characters: Javert (Les Misérables), Jean Valjean, Cosette Fauchelevent, Toussaint (Les Misérables), Rivette (Les Misérables), Marius Pontmercy Additional Tags: Post-Seine, Javert Lives, Slow Burn, old man virgins, Eventual Porn, Mentions of Suicidal Thoughts, guys getting through their issues, tentative friendship, Friends to Lovers, Javert using slurs to describe himself, wet dreams, Masturbation, one instance of self-harm Summary:

Javert's moment with the Seine is interrupted but his confusion and uncertainty remain. Life continues to be difficult for him with these new trials of conscience, but perhaps it gets somewhat easier in the presence of a friend.

Friendship is the last thing either of them expected and maybe, in the end, it's a bond that runs far deeper.

Chapter 8

Valjean felt careful fingers push the hair from his brow. Not gentle, Javert had never known gentleness, but a light, awkward touch. A smile formed on Valjean's lips and opened his eyes upon hearing Javert's huff but his hand was back in his lap as if it had never touched him.

“What do you have to smile about? As sick as you are.”

Valjean only felt his smile widen at Javert's concern. “I am quite alright, Javert.”

“You would not even attempt that lie if you could see yourself. Grey is not a healthy complexion.”

Javert had visited every day since he had brought Cosette and Marius to find him at Rue de l’Homme-Armé, and Valjean could not be happier. He could never have dreamt that he would have told Cosette of his life, and that she would still show him so much love once there were no secrets between them. Then there was Javert, who had his own clumsy way of caring, for he was a man unaccosted to soft sentiments and gestures. Valjean found Javert's guff, awkward manner in these moments to be terribly endearing.

Cosette visited daily too but arrived in the mornings and left before Javert finished work. Valjean suspected they were avoiding each other. He hoped there would be warmth between them in time.

It had been nearly a week since they had rescued him from his self-isolation and they had settled comfortably into this routine. He had not recovered his strength yet but Cosette made sure that he breakfasted in the morning with her and Javert dined with him in the evenings. Toussaint had returned and fussed over his condition continuously. She purchased finer foods than Valjean would have asked her to buy ordinarily but he did not have the strength to argue. He imagined Cosette had a hand in this.

It was easier to take meals with Javert than it was to eat with Cosette, he didn't feel so guilty if his appetite left him. Javert understood his frugal relationship with food in a way Cosette never could, and Valjean would never wish her to understand it. On the first day of Valjean's return to life, Javert's expression accurately reflected Valjean's feelings when Toussaint served them beef after the soup both he and Valjean had considered to be their main meal. Valjean ate to encourage Javert to follow his example. It was easier to eat with Javert because if he didn't Valjean knew Javert might not eat at all.

“Your hair is too long,” Javert muttered. It almost felt like an excuse as to why he had been touching it.

“Ah, I suppose I am looking rather unkempt.”

In truth, Valjean did not much care for his own appearance, he only cultivated it to help him maintain the illusion of Madeleine and then Fauchelevent. Here he was just ‘Valjean’ and who was Valjean? How should an ex-con turned kindly old father keep himself? He was not a gentleman but he had money, he had no standing in society but he had contributed to it.

“Do you think I should cut it?” Javert interacted with many people in his daily work, he would know how Valjean ought to look.

“Yes. I know you have been called ‘the beggar who gives alms’ but there really is no need for you to look like a vagrant.”

“Very well. I shall see to it after we have eaten.”

“Shouldn't you have someone else do it for you?”

“With a steadier hand you mean? No, it's alright, you are quite correct. I forget how easily I tire. And you would not want to be seen with me if I only managed to trim half of my hair,” Valjean chuckled.

Toussaint had conceded to prepare them slightly lighter meals - for now at least. Valjean had convinced her that his stomach had to grow accustomed to such food again and Javert seemed relieved with this decision.

As they ate, he noticed Javert's glances, the inspector prepared to leap to his side should his fork slip from his fingers. It had been, to Valjean's embarrassment, something that had happened often in those first days. Javert had not gone so far as to feed him and for that Valjean was glad. He had been able to retain some of his dignity as Javert cut Valjean's food for him without a word.

Today he was stronger and he was sure he could make it through this meal without assistance, but how pleasant it was for Javert's glances to be due to worry and not suspicion! To have this severe inspector rush to his side, not to grab him by the collar or place him in irons, but to give his aid!

The next time he caught Javert's glance, he smiled and Javert quickly dropped his gaze to his plate, biting into the piece of duck on his fork as if he had a personal vendetta against it.

Toussaint had cleared away their plates and they had moved to the hut, where Valjean was always more comfortable. He watched Javert poke the fire in the grate. Valjean had learnt not to argue about being assisted with chores in his home, Javert was far too stubborn to be swayed.

“Would you do the honours then?”

“Honours?” Javert frowned, placing the poker back on its hook.

“Of making me look respectable.”

“Ah.” Javert fiddled with his shirt cuff. “You evidently have no taste Valjean, first that tattered old coat of yours and now you look at me and believe I could have any clue about how to make you look respectable.”

“Well, you always look very smart. And you have more knowledge of people than I - how do you think I ought to look?”

“That does not mean I have any clue about fashion or cutting hair.”

“I do not desire to be fashionable. Besides, I imagine you have strong opinions about it, as you do everything else.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?”

“That you do have an idea of how my hair ought to look.”

Javert sighed but he did not sound truly irritated. “Very well, it cannot be too difficult to trim it, I cut my own hair after all.”

“You see?” Valjean said, pleased in his small victory.

“You must sit on a dining chair so I can see what I am doing.”

Valjean did as he was told and Javert came to him with a blanket, a comb and a pair of scissors. He placed the blanket over Valjean's shoulders and began to comb through his hair, likely deciding where to begin. Javert hesitated when his fingers brushed over Valjean's scarred scalp.

“It is alright,” Valjean murmured.

“It is not. There was no need for your hair to be shorn so roughly… That should have been added to my list.”

“List?”

“It is nothing.”

Valjean attempted to turn his head to look at him.

“Stay still! I will cut my own finger otherwise.”

Valjean shuddered as he heard the rasp of the blades, recalling vividly how his hair had been cut back in Toulon. But they had used a knife, not delicate scissors, and Javert was careful and unhurried.

Javert made and unhappy grunt.

“What is it?”

“Curly hair is more problematic than I had anticipated. I held it flat and now it has sprung back it is shorter than I intended.”

“I'm sure it is fine. You are always too harsh on yourself.”

“Hm.”

Javert continued in silence, slow and methodical. Valjean relaxed into it, the repetitive sounds and movements somehow soothing. He was beneath Javert's hands, Javert was safe, but as Valjean’s mind wandered, he could not keep the memories and irrational fears at bay.

“Javert?” He did not wish to break Javert's concentration and he felt foolish that he required reassurance that it was still in fact Javert at his back. Not a guard, not even Javert as a guard, or Javert as an inspector. He wanted to hear that it was Javert, his friend, behind him still.

“Yes?”

Valjean fumbled for a sensible reason to have spoken. “What list?”

“You are persistent,” Javert grumbled. “It was a list of recommendations for the police.”

“Regarding prisoners?”

“Yes. The small injustices in the system - the lack of shoes, the behaviour of the guards - that sort of thing.”

“Where do you plan on sending this letter?” Valjean tempered his amazement that would likely cause Javert to end the discussion.

“I wrote it and left it for my superiors before I went to the bridge that day.”

“Javert-” Valjean attempted to turn his head again.

“Stay still! I did not realise you fidgeted so much.”

Valjean pondered this revelation in silence. Javert had changed more than he had realised that night. He had already made steps to repent for his past actions, and it was touching that what might have been his final words were for the better treatment of prisoners. The affection that he had grown to feel for Javert swelled in his chest.

Javert stepped around him to trim the hair around his face and Valjean smiled.

“Close your eyes or you will get hair in them,” Javert muttered. Anyone else would think his expression was as severe as ever but Valjean knew him better now.

Valjean did not want to see the clumps of hair fall away. He closed his eyes and remained still until Javert spoke again.

“There. I believe that is satisfactory.”

“Thank you.”

Javert's frown deepened as he regarded Valjean. “Although it makes the rest look worse. You need to shave.”

Valjean rubbed his bristly neck and grimaced. “I believe you are right.”

“I'm afraid I do not trust your hands to keep a razor steady. If you would permit-”

“Yes. Of course you may do it for me. I am only sorry you have to tend to me like this.”

“Nonsense. It is nothing.” Javert turned on his heel as he spoke to fetch the soap and razor.

Valjean moved his chair beside the chest of drawers on which Javert could place the basin of water. Javert returned, nodding his approval and set up the shaving utensils. He retrieved a pitcher of water from the house and filled the basin.

“Untie your cravat and tuck this into the neck of your shirt,” Javert said, throwing a sheet at him before turning away to lather the shaving brush. Valjean thought that perhaps Javert had turned away from him to avoid seeing the marks on Valjean's neck.

“Done,” Valjean said when he was decent.

Javert tilted Valjean's chin up so he could slather soap over his neck with the soft brush. He was hunched over so far Valjean wondered, with some amusement, if it would have been easier for Javert for him to stand.

“Keep you neck straight,” Javert instructed as he picked up the razor.

Valjean angled his head up further, baring his throat. He did not flinch, but as soon as the blade touched his throat, he grasped Javert's arm, the hand of which he was using to hold Valjean's chin.

“I will not harm you.”

“I know.” Still, he could not release Javert's arm. After a moment, Javert made the first stroke of metal against skin regardless, and wiped the foam on the sheet around Valjean neck.

“You see?”

“I know, Javert. It is not you, it is only my instinct.”

Javert didn't look convinced but Valjean let go of him and folded his hands neatly in his lap. He endured this blade just as easily as the last. Javert cleared the stubble from Valjean's neck and shaved some from high on his cheeks. Then he moved back to the scissors and cropped Valjean's beard neatly to his jawline. Javert roughly dusted the loose hairs from them both, carried the sheet away and returned with a mirror that he thrust into Valjean's hands.

Valjean did not often look at himself and when he did it was always with trepidation, unsure of who might be looking back at him. He was afraid of seeing the snarling convict or the distant mayor with equally vacant eyes. He was afraid of not recognising himself at all, that he was none of the people he remembered being. This time was no different. He braced himself and he held the mirror up to his face.

So this was Jean Valjean. Neat and calm yet anxious too. An elderly fellow, with not the standing to be a true gentleman. He smiled and it was genuine. Tears threatened to spring to his eyes. This Jean Valjean was happy! He had a friend and a family, and he was honest with them! In this small way he was indeed an honest man. His smile widened and he had to turn the mirror face down in his lap for the sight of such a smile on his face was overwhelming.

Javert stood glaring out of the window, his stance rigid. Valjean realised Javert was concerned about his verdict.

“One might say I am almost handsome!” Valjean chuckled.

Javert spun to face him, his cheeks dark, mouth half open in preparation to protest.

“Ah, forgive me Javert, I do not mean to offend. You have done a very fine job.”

“That is not- You do not offend me. It is only- You could be, I mean to say: you are. Not because I cut your hair. You were and you are… Bah! Nevermind.”

Javert promptly left the room leaving Valjean bewildered. What was he exactly?

Javert returned, looking at a fixed point above Valjean's head. “I thought, if you are feeling strong enough, you should bathe. It will get the loose hairs off your scalp and you'll feel better for it. I imagine it been awhile since you were able to draw a bath.”

Valjean nodded. “That is very thoughtful of you Javert, thank you.”

Javert led him back to the house where he had set up the bath and started to fill it. Valjean's guilt rose the the more trips back and forth Javert made to retrieve water.

“That is enough I should think.”

Javert frowned at him but conceded to stop. He offered a hand to help Valjean out of his chair. As Valjean took it and heaved himself to his feet, he was reminded of a time in Montreuil when Javert had refused to take his hand. How often and how willingly he took it now! Valjean found himself smiling again.

Javert remained at his side with his hand at Valjean's elbow as he led him to the bath. Once they were beside it, Javert pushed him away almost forcefully.

“I will be outside,” he said with his head angled down and away from Valjean. “Take as long as you wish.”

He was gone before Valjean could respond. Valjean sighed and began to undress. He thought that Javert had difficulty interacting with people - that was no bad thing, in fact Valjean found it reassuring. He was not much good at communicating himself.

He lowered himself into the cool water and already felt better. It made him feel more awake and cleared the clammy sweat from his skin. He closed his eyes and eased himself to lean back.

#les mierables #les mis #javert #valjean #valvert #warning for self harm on full chapter

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ao3commentoftheday · 5 years

Note

Real problem: tags are 1 mechanism that serve 2 different functions: 1st to search FOR something, 2nd to AVOID things/blacklist. I tag aggressively for the latter reason. But that means my fic shows up in search results for things that aren’t in it much, but are tagged with it for blacklisting purposes. I.e. My main fandom’s very tribal, so I tag all ships/characters even mentioned in my fic because they’re NOTPs and such, but then my fics disappoint fans who are looking FOR those things. 1/5

And this is before things like trigger/content warnings and such. So the real conundrum is, what’s more important? Tagging your fic so people can find it, or tagging your fic so people can avoid it? And even if AO3 included a “minor appearance” system for tags to differentiate the ships, characters, and content a fic focuses on, from things that are in it in passing but aren’t a huge part but are people’s triggers/squicks…how do we measure that/decide “when” to tag something? 2/5

Don’t get me wrong, AO3’s tagging system was revolutionary and continues to be to this day, and I am grateful for it, and I am well aware of how systemically difficult it is for AO3 to manage and maintain its archival and tagging functions. But the tagging system is far, FAR more limited than I think most people realize or consider, and it unfortunately skews heavily in favor of some subsets of fans over others. 3/5

I.e. As I said, my fandom has some crazy tribalism, and that requires a lot of blacklisting. That overwhelmingly benefits shippers of the fandom’s most popular ship. My fandom’s most popular ship has almost 55k fics, with the next most popular ship having only 7.4k - except the vast majority of them are just background ships in fics of the previous ship, and only tagged for blacklisting purposes. It’s damn near impossible to find fic for small ships, because most fics tagged with it, are 4/5

Are only tagged with those small ships for blacklisting purposes. FFN has many flaws - far more so than AO3 - but one strength of their limit on how many ships/characters a fic can “have”/be ‘tagged’ with is that you rarely will search for a ship/character and be inundated with fics you don’t want. FFN fics can only be tagged with what they are about, and yes, that makes blacklisting difficult, but it’s a boon for fans of small ships and unpopular characters or tropes. 5/5

P.S. Sorry for the long chain of Asks, tried to shorten this as much as I could but I’m not a concise person. Thank you for running this awesome blog! ♥ 6/5

You sent this in a while ago, and I’ve been trying to figure out how to reply. In a case like yours, it might be wise to tag for the things that are in the fic in a significant way and then put the “I mention this, but only in passing” stuff in an author’s note at the top of the fic. That way, you can warn off the people who would nope out for that reason without drawing in the people who are trying to find that thing.

Just a thought, but in a situation where you need to tell people about everything, that might be a better way to go?

Anyone else have ideas?

-Mod Pi

#answers and asks #replies about tagging #nyxelestia

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sailorrrvenus · 5 years

Text

10 Good Reasons Why You Need an Archive if You’re a Photographer

Have you ever had a moment in your life where a friend, co-worker or client comes to you and ask you for a specific image and you just can’t find the original? If you’re like me with a few Lightroom catalogs containing ten thousands of photographs, then this situation will likely happen.

With digital photography, it’s now effortless to take, process and publish images. We share more than ever before on social media and we shoot twice as much than five years ago in 2013.

All that data is easy to generate and it’s quite common for photographers to share their results every single day online. But there’s one thing that still requires some effort, something that many photographers overlook: archiving.

What’s an Archive?

The word itself comes from the Latin word archīum itself derived from Greek archeion which mean “public records” (among other things). It’s basically an accumulation of records (in this case photographs).

In a way, Lightroom catalogs are already archives. So the real question would be: what’s a good archive.

The Basics of a Photography Archive

A good archive is an organized repository, it can be filtered (by location, keywords, tags, categories, date etc…), you can make search requests on it, it has to be backed up, ideally you’d also need to be able to let other people browse it, it should be accessible regardless of your device and your location (web-based). Most importantly, it should be easy to maintain and use.

As a photographer (amateur or pro) you’re producing content and this content has value. It can be an emotional value or a financial one (or sometimes both). It makes sense to protect that value (first by having a proper backup system in place) but secondly by archiving and organizing it.

Creating Your Archive

I’ve tried a bunch of different pieces of software during the past few years, from apps (Filemaker, Evernote, Pixa) to web based solutions (Dropbox, Google Photos, EyeEm, Behance, Pixieset, Shootproof) but none of them had the set of features I needed.

Until I finally tried SmugMug.

I had seen SmugMug being used so many times already (for example on Von Wong website) but never bothered to test it.

The American company started by Chris and Don MacAskill went from a five-bedroom home with blow dryers and vacuums routinely blowing circuit breakers in 2002 to buying the giant Flickr just a month ago. Those guys are passionate about photography and it shows.

Let’s see why it’s so good to use SmugMug as an archive.

Note: This article is not endorsed nor sponsored by SmugMug, it is purely my personal opinion on their services and why I chose them to build my archive.

#1. It’s Complementary to Your Portfolio

A photographer website is a showcase, it should display your best work and contain a selection of projects. A good friend of mine who’s also a great photographer (Niels Ackermann) once explained to me that I was showing too much on my portfolio and he was right. I was starting out and wanted to show too many images per projects because I just couldn’t edit them down to a tight selection.

A portfolio is the curated version of your best self. It’s the beautiful display of cakes and sweets by the pastry shop window.

The “commissioned” section of my portfolio showing eight selected projects.

My portfolio is running on Squarespace and is located at samuelzeller.ch. The archive is set-up on a sub-domain and located at archive.samuelzeller.ch.

There’s a link between my portfolio and my archive, they’re complementary.

Most visitors just want to discover an overview of my work, they land on my portfolio and get an idea of what type of photography I’m doing. Some other visitors (regular ones, friends or clients) are looking for more and they can access my archive for this purpose.

Showing all the images taken during a project, note the alternative crops and angles.

#2. It’s Organized and Searchable

A portfolio can be as simple as a few slideshows. Some great photographers that I’m following have very simple websites. The structure is often similar to this one “overview, portraits, commercial, bio, contact”

There are also photographers who choose to display their work per project and with a bit more details, each project usually containing between ten and thirty images (that’s what I’m doing on my website).

A portfolio has a very linear organization — it’s mostly the main navigation and a simple structure. Your archive is much smarter than that, it can be filtered and it’s searchable. Think of it as an extension of your website.

My archive is divided by locations (countries and/or cities) but also by projects. For example at the first level I have a folder for “Geneva” which itself contains sub-folders like “Buildings, Scenes with people, etc…” this allows me to quickly find all the images that I’ve shot in this city.

At the first level I also have folders for client’s projects, for example “Verbier for Monocle” contains about 100 images that I’ve shot last year in Verbier for Monocle magazine. They printed only six of them but I’ve archived the project (not all the images, just the 100 that I selected and sent to the client).

SmugMug has powerful tool to organize your archive. For example you can batch edit titles, tags and description.

Every single image is also organized using titles, descriptions, and tags.

This allows visitors to filter then entire archive either by searching for a specific word or by clicking on one of the tags. Tags are also conditional. You can display all images containing “snow” that are in the folder “Geneva” for example and they can be combined (display all images tagged with “architecture” then filter down the results to only show the images tagged with “winter” to view all the buildings I’ve shot during that time of the year).

Images under the tag “mountain” note the display of related keywords and the option to combine keywords.

#3. It’s Visible to the Public and to Search Engines

Every single day people search for images and most of them do that using Google. Having your work showing up in search results is an easy way to increase the number of people who will visit your website. But getting your work properly indexed is not as easy as it seems.

Luckily, SmugMug has a great SEO optimization. All images have title, description and tags attributes and they’re seen as structured data (they’re Schema ImageObject) which means they’ll show up quickly in Google search results.

My archive currently contains 841 images, 781 of them are recognized and indexed by Google search and Google images (the rest will be in a few days).

The more images you have on your archive the more often your work will appear in search. My archive is relatively small and new but it already displays in Google Image results about 50 times per day for various type of queries. It may not seems much but organic discoverability can play a big part in the long run in getting new clients.

Appearing in search results just a few weeks after adding the images.

#4. It Acts as a Backup

Uploading your full resolution JPEG files to an archive on the cloud also mean they’re relatively safely stored from any hazard. It doesn’t replace a full backup of your work on an external drive and on services like Backblaze (which I highly recommend — I’m currently using a Synology DS418 NAS backed up on Backblaze B2 for all my raw files) but it adds another layer of security. Photographs are our assets and we should protect them.

Note: SmugMug also has a Lightroom plugin that let you sync collections (it pulls titles, captions and tags from Lightroom too!). It is useful if you have a lot of images to upload and want to stay in Lightroom for organizing them.

#5. You Can Access It Anywhere

That’s probably one of the most useful features of having an archive online. Being able to share your work with friends, family or clients is invaluable.

As an example, yesterday I was taking photographs for Monocle, who opened a new office and cafe in Zürich, and at some point, I had to take pictures of the drinks they were serving. I took my phone and showed them some other similar shots I’ve did on past projects (that are not yet on my portfolio) and we decided together on the styling.

SmugMug iOs app running on my iPhone SE.

Not only you can share publicly visible galleries, folders, and subfolders but you can also create private ones (accessible only with a link) or password protected ones.

#6. It Gives Context To Your Work

Photography is a great tool for documentation, but single images don’t have a narrative. Visitors won’t know that this beautiful forest you captured is actually part of one of the sixty national parks in the US, they won’t understand the context and they will judge the image purely on its aesthetic value (which can be a good thing sometimes).

I know of so many photo editors and art directors who constantly bemoan the lack of captions on websites to help them understand the context in which an image has been created. So why not include them? I have yet to hear a logical answer to this question. —Grant Scott

SmugMug showing title, captions and tag for an image providing context to the viewer.

By using the title and description fields in SmugMug (and the tags) you can easily give the viewers more information about your work.

#7. It Will Be Useful to Clients and Friends

I can’t recall the number of times I was with a friend and took my iPhone out of my pocket and showed them some work I’ve did that I had stored on my archive. It’s invaluable to have all of your work in the palm of your hand.

When I’m shooting corporate or commercial portraits I also show my archive as a reference for the client. I can quickly find past shots that encompass what I want to create on location.

The bigger your archive becomes the more likely you’ll have images that will fit your future clients in both content and style. I learned quite quickly that most clients need to see something similar to their needs in your portfolio in order to be able to project themselves and imagine what you’ll be able to create for them.

For example, it’s way easier for me to pitch images for a wine brand if I can show them an archive of images I’ve shot for a subject for Monocle magazine on Swiss wines.

#8. It Looks Professional

Maybe this is a detail but clients will appreciate when you send them a link to your archive instead of just a bunch of images on WeTransfer. They’ll be able to browse sharp images that have been automatically optimized for the web by SmugMug and download or buy the ones they need. You can even create password protected galleries and let them share the link to their colleagues and their team.

SmugMug offers plenty of customization options to make your archive look exactly the way you want it to be.

#9. It’s Built for Tomorrow

As a photographer, I’m my own boss and every project I do (personal or for a client) is another stone I add to the house I’m building. It is very important to take the time to sort old projects and present them online, but I don’t want to put everything on my portfolio. Your archive grows with you, and it’s there for the long term.

#10. It Acts as a Journal

Having an archive is a good way to build up a journal for yourself. Because all images have their EXIF data displayed, you can quickly check when you took that one shot. You can also use this to browse back in time and see what you were doing a year ago. Your archive is a repository for your memories.

An image taken on July 27th with my favorite combo, a Fujifilm X-Pro2 with the XF35mm f/1.4 lens.

Before choosing SmugMug, I compared it with other services, mainly Photoshelter, Pixieset, and Shootproof. One of the big reasons why I went with SmugMug is also the cost. At just $72 per year for their “power” plan (custom domain, unlimited storage, and customizations), it’s hard to beat!

About the author: Samuel Zeller is a freelance photographer based in Geneva, Switzerland, who’s available for assignments worldwide. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. Zeller is an ambassador for Fujifilm and the editor of Fujifeed. You can find more of Zeller’s work on his website and Instagram. This article was also published here.

source https://petapixel.com/2019/01/26/10-good-reasons-why-you-need-an-archive-if-youre-a-photographer/

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pauldeckerus · 5 years

Text

10 Good Reasons Why You Need an Archive if You’re a Photographer

With digital photography, it’s now effortless to take, process and publish images. We share more than ever before on social media and we shoot twice as much than five years ago in 2013.

What’s an Archive?

In a way, Lightroom catalogs are already archives. So the real question would be: what’s a good archive.

The Basics of a Photography Archive

Creating Your Archive

Until I finally tried SmugMug.

I had seen SmugMug being used so many times already (for example on Von Wong website) but never bothered to test it.

Let’s see why it’s so good to use SmugMug as an archive.

Note: This article is not endorsed nor sponsored by SmugMug, it is purely my personal opinion on their services and why I chose them to build my archive.

#1. It’s Complementary to Your Portfolio

A portfolio is the curated version of your best self. It’s the beautiful display of cakes and sweets by the pastry shop window.

The “commissioned” section of my portfolio showing eight selected projects.

My portfolio is running on Squarespace and is located at samuelzeller.ch. The archive is set-up on a sub-domain and located at archive.samuelzeller.ch.

There’s a link between my portfolio and my archive, they’re complementary.

Showing all the images taken during a project, note the alternative crops and angles.

#2. It’s Organized and Searchable

SmugMug has powerful tool to organize your archive. For example you can batch edit titles, tags and description.

Every single image is also organized using titles, descriptions, and tags.

Images under the tag “mountain” note the display of related keywords and the option to combine keywords.

#3. It’s Visible to the Public and to Search Engines

My archive currently contains 841 images, 781 of them are recognized and indexed by Google search and Google images (the rest will be in a few days).

Appearing in search results just a few weeks after adding the images.

#4. It Acts as a Backup

#5. You Can Access It Anywhere

That’s probably one of the most useful features of having an archive online. Being able to share your work with friends, family or clients is invaluable.

SmugMug iOs app running on my iPhone SE.

Not only you can share publicly visible galleries, folders, and subfolders but you can also create private ones (accessible only with a link) or password protected ones.

#6. It Gives Context To Your Work

SmugMug showing title, captions and tag for an image providing context to the viewer.

By using the title and description fields in SmugMug (and the tags) you can easily give the viewers more information about your work.

#7. It Will Be Useful to Clients and Friends

When I’m shooting corporate or commercial portraits I also show my archive as a reference for the client. I can quickly find past shots that encompass what I want to create on location.

For example, it’s way easier for me to pitch images for a wine brand if I can show them an archive of images I’ve shot for a subject for Monocle magazine on Swiss wines.

#8. It Looks Professional

SmugMug offers plenty of customization options to make your archive look exactly the way you want it to be.

#9. It’s Built for Tomorrow

#10. It Acts as a Journal

An image taken on July 27th with my favorite combo, a Fujifilm X-Pro2 with the XF35mm f/1.4 lens.

from Photography News https://petapixel.com/2019/01/26/10-good-reasons-why-you-need-an-archive-if-youre-a-photographer/

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respecta · 6 years

Text

Understanding the impact of self-presentation on Facebook

Self-presentation is a complex process that requires communication choose the aspects of yourself, to discover that to hide, and if not fraud wanting to create the desired impression on audience.1 In recent years, communication technologies, which have introduced new challenges and opportunities in the process of self-presentation. In particular, social networking sites (SNS) invite users to create self-presentation profiling technology platform along with unique characteristics that affect the process of self-presentation in the Internet. For example, the SNS work through reports between users and their ""friends"" in the system, and then ask users to ""public displays of connection""; encourage, through design, the disclosure of large sets of data, ranging from politics and religion to my music and television programs; They are available to the general public, and sometimes do not know; are multimodal, allowing users to create their characters through a variety of tools such as text, images, videos and websites; and are recorded and archived, from the statements of self-presentation gained through years of SNS use.2 bring these new opportunities in the process of self-presentation, SNS invite theoretical and empirical, such as (1) Does issues What is the nature of SNS self-presentation; (2) In accordance with the technological possibilities and limitations of self-presentation as the SNS; and (3) what are the effects of self-presentation on the concept of SNS users themselves?

This post approaches these questions by introducing a new theoretical framework, the theory of self-affirmation, expressing both types of self-presentation, which can be built on Facebook (An par excellence SNS), affordances of technology and taking into account the effects of social and psychological committing to self profile.3 release capsules in Facebook at a glance, this post suggests that Facebook self-presentation, by virtue of being flattering, accurate and reflects the essential aspects, such as social connectivity, is a place of affirmation of each other every day. As a self-determination, self-presentation Facebook business profile has a significant impact on the way people perceive themselves and how to behave in the world.

In support of this argument, this post will proceed as follows. First we will discuss the applicability of the theory of self-assertion Facebook self-presentation, detail how they meet the criteria for self-determination theory. Summary of empirical evidence from three studies that show Facebook profiles confirm the ownership of the concept of self behavior, self-esteem, and you will be second. Finally, the post will discuss a framework for self-affirmation moves the understanding of the causes and effects of Facebook and how it can be used outside the self-presentation based on your Facebook profile.

Facebook assertiveness

One of the best-documented findings in psychology is that people need to see themselves in a positive way, as ""adequate"", ""good"" and although they are much more critical others.4 To maintain this positive individuals that are involved in a number of defense mechanisms such as rejection and distortion of information, avoiding threatening high sense of view. An additional digital media marketing strategy to meet the need for a positive self-confidence is to determine whether the simple act of bringing consciousness which determines its aspects, such as resistance noble values and considerable self -affirmation relationships.5 According to the theory, people are naturally attracted to informational self-determination in the environment, watching ensure its positive qualities. In addition, people are particularly motivated to seek information on the self-assertion of their egos were threatened in some way, for example, rejection, criticism or failure because subconsciously trying to fix their self-esteem. The clause in the theory of self-determination is that after checking the information to self-determination, self-esteem is a result of improved and no longer have to defend themselves using other methods, such as defense mechanisms. Because patients have shown that they feel safe in their self-esteem, these defensive tactics are unnecessary.

Now consider whether it is Facebook profile emerging self-presentation, in accordance with the dictates of the theory of self-affirmation. For information on self-affirmation must be met three criteria: the information should be personally significant aspects of capturing defined; Must be positive and flattering form; and must be precise, because the internal perception of self-worth can not be improved on the basis of data that the self-host knows that they are false. In the assessment of the application of these criteria to Facebook, special attention is paid to the Facebook profile information affects the way of self-presentation (1) technological factors, such as the design of the site and the ability to review and registration statements; and (2) social factors, such as motivation to use the website, the presence of public regulation and the principles governing space.

Let us first consider the criterion that Facebook self-presentation should revolve around each other personally meaningful ways. self-affirmation theory postulates that the self-esteem of individuals subject to many """" basic fields themselves, that is, social roles, relationships, actions, values, and beliefs.7 In particular, the close personal relationships with family and friends turned out to be the strongest and widely used source of self-analysis design affirmation.8 Facebook profiles revealed that the same main domain are visible. First, a personal relationship with ""friends"" are the raison d'être Facebook. They are represented directly in the lists of ""friends"" and links to family members and significant others, and indirectly, through comments and ""likes"" written by friends and visibly stored in the profiles. Second, users are required to disclose their social roles (eg, friends, students) and education and members of local area networks (eg, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI). These networks represent membership in large groups define identity. Thirdly, users must explicitly set the value (eg religion, no political beliefs) and see its possibilities and valuable activities (eg, traveling, spending time with friends) for status updates and photo albums. In particular, Facebook self-presenters have developed social norms requiring a high degree of disclosiveness users to publish rich repository of information on themselves.9To Finally, this analysis suggests that self-presentation is full of data a significant personal Facebook profile.

Importantly, in addition to the construction of profiles of technology to increase the value of these important affordances of personal data. In particular, the documentation allows users to ""collect"" friends of friendship, as wall posts, photos and virtual gifts. These communication signals accumulate over time and can act as strong indicators of belonging and close and constructive relations. This information is very busy and placed in an easily accessible online. With a click, and thus with minimal effort, you can enter a space where hearty important personal information.

Now consider the second criterion of self-determination, namely that Facebook is a positive self-presentation and flattering. Although there are no studies directly examine this issue so far, you can bet that Facebook is self-presenters have both the incentives and the ability to compose flattering versions of themselves in their profiles. Research has determined that the reasons for improving public dimension of self-presenters come across positively.10 Since Facebook profiles are public, often with the audience hundreds and even thousands of profile owners 'Friends' motivation to create good impression should be high. In addition, many of these ""friends"" are the result of people (including class, colleagues, superiors), one of which is generally eager to impress. Facebook users should also be in the fortunate position of being able to create your own perfect presentations, thanks to the constellation of technological affordances associated with the NHS. Asynchrony allows them all the time they need to create the FTF communicators statement, as opposed to self-presentation, which should occur spontaneously. Variability allows them to review their claims until they are optimal and affordances also missing face to face communication. What is important variability Facebook allows presenters to self-monitor and control the expression of friends, in addition to their own. All unwanted (eg comments, tags, photo, events) friends left messages can be easily removed. For the same reason, the connections of friendship can be terminated (removal of friends) when I wanted more. Reallocation of resources allows cognitive self-presenters Facebook devote all his attention to the mental task of self-presentation in hand, instead of other environmental disturbances. Together asynchrony, volatility and reallocation of cognitive resources allow instant messaging to engage in selective self-presentation, a kind of self-presentation that is easier and consistent with the objectives of signalers FTF auto SE -presentation.11 selective -Presentation shown that activities related online dating and Facebook should enable self-presenters to produce versions of themselves that are desired and completely positive.

Consider now the ultimate criterion for self-presentation accuracy. As mentioned above, the self-presenters know they are false information can not increase their perception of internal autonomy. Online communication has great potential for fraud, because it is outside the body (for example, transmitters allow you to engage each other, not being present), and the lack of non-verbal signals that people often used to detect fraud, however. There are 13 functions in the communication line that promote honesty, and some of them are represented in profiles on Facebook. This restriction against fraud, understood as a term, is the ability to connect on-line with the line selves.14 obtain increased accuracy because they make verifiable statements on the Internet. For example, research shows that dating profiles are more accurate and social circle online dater know that profile.15 In this case, the members of the circle of social action day in the command able to verify the veracity of the claims profile. In Facebook, there is even stronger mandate: the presence of the audience, friends, many of whom had long-term, in-depth reports in offline mode with auto-presenters, so know him well enough power to detect fraud. Facebook is a self-presenters must build accurate profiles, to avoid being caught in the act resulting from the men in their lives. Another limitation against fraud on Facebook is more of a technical nature: the design of some elements of self-presentation. In particular, support for the accession of certain limited networks, such as schools and universities, which is subject to have an active e-mail account associated with that network. Similarly, self-presenters can not expect that friendship with other users, unless it is required to confirm the friendship. According to signaling theory, these signals are difficult and expensive false, and therefore must be a sign of social communication, and group membership honest, respectively.16 Finally, it is worth noting that Facebook profiles - are being built jointly by the owners of the profile with your friends. Information provided by friends to be difficult to implement, so it must be reliable.

Numerous studies to date guidelines for the accuracy of profiles online. Back and found that his colleagues Facebook profiles are quite realistic for observers to form an accurate impression of the owners profiles personality.17 addition, as mentioned above, research on online dating like SNS, it turned out that fraud are small and relatively mild.

At the end of this theoretical analysis shows that the introduction of its own profile on Facebook should be self-affirmation by (1) the ability to capture their essential aspects, (2) positive and (3) the accuracy. The following section of the client a series of empirical studies testing it.

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mcclure30mcclure-blog · 6 years

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Must You Purchase a Wearable? 4 Reasons You Require a Smartwatch

A smartwatch is almost certainly most aptly explained by Wikipedia as “a computerized wristwatch with operation that goes beyond timekeeping”. While the concept has been toyed with since the 70s, it is only in the earlier couple of years that it received a huge push. Pebble, 1 of the most profitable Kickstarter initiatives at the time, got the ball rolling in 2012 with Google and Apple pursuing two a long time afterwards. But in 2017 it’s protected (and a little bit unfortunate) to say that the smartwatch buzz has died down. Pebble got sold to Fitbit amid fiscal troubles. Google’s Android Use watches have mostly flopped with some manufacturers going for walks away from the platform. Apple with all its marketing and advertising and retail press won’t expose it is Observe revenue figures — possibly because they’re not boast-worthy like their other product lines. Again in 2014, we told you that the time wasn’t ripe to acquire a smartwatch. Is acquiring 1 nowadays really worth it? Obtaining been an avid smartwatch operator and category tracker because my first Pebble in 2013, I even now consider it is. Need to You Buy A Smartwatch Now, Or Wait? Need to You Purchase A Smartwatch Now, Or Hold out? Everyone is talking about smartwatches and other wearables as "the subsequent big point." So, should you purchase a smartwatch these days, or wait around for the smartwatches to occur? Go through A lot more one. Notifications Are Helpful (Particularly Outdoor) There are months the place I just fail to remember to cost my Android-Wear-driven LG G View. And I really don't truly miss it when I’m at property because I can quickly look at the phone sitting down at the desk. But I do overlook the 2nd display screen to my smartphone each time I’m outdoors. LG G Watch Review and Giveaway LG G Observe Overview and Giveaway Does the LG G Observe suck or does it deal with to justify its $229 cost tag? Read through More It is secure to believe that energetic smartphone end users get at least tens of notifications each and every working day, if not hundreds. And here’s the intriguing component: each notification does not genuinely demand an action. We admit the material in our head, dismiss the notification, and have on with daily life. The exercise of pulling the smartphone out of your pocket or bag at every excitement is tremendously reduced by a practical hand-tilting gesture of a smartwatch. For illustration, envision you booked a taxi utilizing an app like Uber. The application has a persistent notification that tells the cab quantity, the time it’ll take to get there, etc. It’s super-useful to have this info proper on your wrist. It’s also excellent to speedily consider motion on people notifications, simply because of swift action buttons. Acquired an e-mail you don’t care about? Swipe proper and strike Archive. Want to acknowledge a reply to a tweet? Swipe and strike the Like button. All from your wrist. Android Put on has gestures that permit you scroll by means of notifications by just flicking the wrist. I agree it seems kinda odd when you are carrying out that in the presence of random strangers. But it is excellent when you have your fingers full and nevertheless want to see what’s new. In the long run, it all boils down to how crucial mobile phone notifications are to you in basic. best sports watches for men 2. It is Simpler to Track Flip-by-Turn Navigation Here’s an additional nuanced use case that may possibly pique your interest in smartwatches. A great deal of newer cars come with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto support — placing Google or Apple Maps proper on your dashboard. But if you really don't have a new vehicle, there is a great possibility putting a head device in your existing one will be an high-priced or difficult affair. Android Auto vs. Apple CarPlay: Which In-Automobile Method Is Appropriate for You? Android Vehicle vs. Apple CarPlay: Which In-Automobile Technique Is Proper for You? Present-day leading in-auto leisure programs are Android Automobile and Apple CarPlay. But which a single is far better? Which has the far better functions? Which is the most valuable to drivers? Study Far more This is where a smartwatch comes in useful. In the course of outings, I established the spot in Google Maps and change the cellphone monitor off. On my Android Wear smartwatch, a persistent notification card demonstrates me the length prior to the up coming change. This is excellent simply because sometimes on a lengthy straight road you really do not get voice prompts as typically, and a fast tilt of the wrist is all it takes to get some reassurance. Now just think about modes of transportation exactly where utilizing a smartphone is not an option, like a motorbike or a cycle. A smartwatch can be super-hassle-free in these scenarios. 3. It’s Great for Mundane Activities stylish helmet When I’m putting on 1, I enjoy employing the smartwatch to perform mundane actions like placing reminders. It is hassle-free to elevate the wrist, say the activation keyword (for me it’s “Okay Google”) and speak the reminder to the digital assistant. Or say when I get an quick concept, and I need to have to send out a monosyllabic reply (like “OK,” “Cool,” “Yes,” “No”), the interface has one particular-click preset replies. In fact, these units are tiny computer systems at the stop of the day, so they can be intelligent about it too. If you are replying to an iMessage on an Apple Observe, it intelligently provides contextual responses alternatively of a generic canned response. Android Put on 2. does the identical factor but for any messaging application! four. It Helps Get Your Butt Off the Couch It’s no key that smartwatches started out concentrating on health in an endeavor to preserve them pertinent. Everything about Apple View Collection 2 was associated to health and fitness, from the developed-in GPS to the h2o resistance. Many smartwatches these days appear with the prerequisite hardware for physical fitness monitoring, like motion sensors, and a coronary heart rate keep an eye on. And simply because of their rich person interface, they can observe fitness better than those Fitbit bands with 1-line displays. An Apple Watch’s action app has straightforward-to-observe activity rings that can encourage a sedentary consumer to get up and move more often. Google In shape, which is created into all Android Use products, also lets you set a everyday physical exercise purpose and pushes you to attain them. Edition 2. of the platform also has a total-fledged Google Suit Training app. Yet another neat trick? If you have a Bluetooth headset, you can hear to audio straight from the view, no mobile phone necessary. This is great when you are going for a jog and really do not want a big slab (i.e. your smartphone) tugging your observe trousers down. Most Android Use products come with four GB of interior memory, while Apple Watch arrives with 8 GB. That ought to be plenty to maintain your work out music synced. Talking of syncing, you have to be subscribed to Google Enjoy Tunes if you’re making use of Android Wear or Apple Audio for the Apple View for this to perform. 7 Amazing Factors You Can Do With Google Enjoy Songs 7 Awesome Factors You Can Do With Google Engage in Tunes In this article, we will introduce you to some amazing issues you can do with Google Engage in Music that both beginners and veterans alike might not be informed of, but must make use of. Study A lot more So Why Have not Smartwatches Clicked? If you question me, the straightforward answer is due to the fact they are as well darn costly. The average promoting cost of a smartphone nowadays is around $250 — which is how much entry-stage smartwatches like the Apple Look at Series 1 or the LG View Design price proper now. A lot of folks nevertheless seem at smartwatches as components to their smartphone, and if you look at the use circumstances earlier mentioned, there is no question it is an accent. Plus several of them are massive, unattractive, and demand everyday charging. I sincerely hope that rather of positioning them as luxurious products, companies situation them far more properly. We’re viewing a single instance of that occurring: the ZTE Quartz is a highly-specced, 3G-compatible Android Use 2. look at getting marketed for a reasonable $200.

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cryptnus-blog · 6 years

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CoinReport [Guest Post] Monero: A Model for Decentralized Governance

New Post has been published on https://cryptnus.com/2018/07/coinreport-guest-post-monero-a-model-for-decentralized-governance/

CoinReport [Guest Post] Monero: A Model for Decentralized Governance

by Matt Godshall, editor in chief at Unhashed.com

Few cryptocurrency leaders have had as short of a tenure as Thankful_for_today. The BitcoinTalk forum user debuted his new cryptocurrency on April 18, 2014. He proceeded to then alienate the core community members so thoroughly that just 5 days later, on April 24, they decided to fork the project and start their own coin without him. The original coin—which you’ve likely never heard of—was called bitMonero. The fork, of course, is Monero.

It’s a fitting origin for a coin that has always had a unique approach. For those unfamiliar with the project, Monero is the largest privacy-focused cryptocurrency in the world and currently the 13th most popular cryptocurrency by market cap. Today, roughly 4 years after its inception, Monero continues to buck the trends followed by many other coins, particularly in their innovative systems for decentralized governance.

With the recent announcement that longtime project maintainer Ricardo “fluffypony” Spagni will be reducing his role on the platform, we’ll take the opportunity to examine Monero’s governance protocols and how Monero exemplifies decentralized governance in cryptocurrencies.

Aren’t All Cryptocurrencies Decentralized?

Perhaps the second-most popular buzzword associated with cryptocurrencies (behind “blockchain”) is “decentralized”—and for good reason. Decentralization is generally regarded as the driving ideology behind cryptocurrencies: stepping away from traditional financial structures, eschewing trusted third parties and eliminating central points of failure. But in practice, cryptocurrencies have applied decentralization with varying degrees of success. Many succeed in creating a decentralized network of nodes and miners which serve to validate transactions without a trusted intermediary—meaning that the platforms themselves are decentralized. At the same time, however, they remain largely centralized from a governance perspective.

Many cryptocurrencies do not look very different from traditional companies. Often there is a charismatic leader—Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin, TRON’s Justin Sun, etc.—and a clear hierarchy descending from the top. The leader sets the course, undoubtedly with consultation from other team members, and the rest of the team works to realize that vision.

These centralized organizational structures stand in stark contrast to community-driven cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Monero. Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto is a near-mythological figure—gifting the world with Bitcoin and the blockchain before disappearing into the ether. Satoshi’s disappearance required the Bitcoin community to self-organize in order for Bitcoin to continue growing and improving, which is exactly what the community has done. Over 500 volunteers have worked on Bitcoin to make it what it is today.

Monero followed a somewhat similar path. Following the ousting of Thankful_for_today, community members with names like tacotime and smooth took control of the coin. The platform was open source and community driven from the outset. Anyone who wanted to participate in the coin’s development was encouraged to, even if they didn’t know how to code; the community would find something for them to do.

Monero has seen contributions from at least 223 individuals in the last 12 months, working on everything from the platform’s privacy algorithms to their website and social forums. While the development community is less than half the size of Bitcoin’s in absolute numbers, it’s an impressive amount of community involvement considering the Monero market cap is 40-times smaller than Bitcoin’s.

The Monero Core Team: Working Oneself Out of a Job

This is not to say that there is absolutely no hierarchy in Monero, but it is a surprisingly loose structure. The Monero Core Team consists of seven individuals, most of whom are anonymous outside of their online tags. A recent community post put in explicit terms what the Core Team is responsible for:

The responsibilities of the Core Team are as follows (in no particular order):

Act as primary trusted arbiters of the Forum Funding System on behalf of the community, so as to ensure the completion of all projects to the satisfaction of the community.

Manage the codebase of the Monero Project, which includes merging code on Github, keeping backups, and ensuring the safety, security, and free access of the code from any party.

Steward the general donation fund, and spending the Monero there on anything they see fit to further the Monero Project.

Act as trusted signers and distributors of reference clients for the Monero coin, and other related technologies.

Set a direction and vision for the Monero Project

They also describe what they are not responsible for:

Members of the Core Team are NOT anyone’s boss, and no permission is needed from them to do anything.

The Core Team does NOT act as a centralized point of failure, but encourages organic, self-started initiatives that further the ecosystem of Monero.

The Core Team does NOT equal Monero. In the event that one, or all of the Core Team goes rogue, we are to remember that Monero is a movement. A global initiative to further privacy globally, and provide real, fungible, digital money for everyone. This can happen even without the presence of the Core Team.

The Monero Core Team therefore acts primarily as stewards of the coin rather than all-powerful leaders. They seek to steer Monero in the right direction, but ultimately the community decides what improvements are necessary for the project.

The lead maintainer and controversial face of Monero for nearly four years has been Ricardo Spagni, aka fluffypony. Spagni has long considered himself somewhat of a reluctant leader. In a recent interview, he described that his goal with Monero was essentially to work himself out of a job.

“I want to make sure that I have less and less of an active role. And instead of passing the baton to one person, the batons are being cut into small pieces and passed on to many people.” He continued, “What’s the point of claiming to be community driven and then still trying to centralize around individuals?”

A man of his word, Spagni officially announced on May 27 that he has begun phasing himself out of hands-on roles on the Monero development team and will be transitioning to a more advisory position.

“. . . over the past year I’ve been reducing my roles within the Monero project itself, in order to ensure I am never a bus factor,” Spagni said. “I am determined to further reduce any reliance on me over time by continuing this trend, with an eventual goal of handing off the task of lead maintainer. . .”

This move is intended to free Spagni up to work on his new project, called Tari, which is a decentralized asset management protocol that will be built on top of Monero. As Spagni steps down from his roles on the Monero project, other members of the Monero community will have to step up to fill the positions he leaves vacant.

The Benefits and the Problems of Decentralized Governance

Monero’s community-driven ethos brings with it a range of benefits as well as problems. The most prominent advantage is that everyone in the Monero community has a very real say in the direction of the coin. Community members who want to pursue a project are given every opportunity to do so. This is facilitated by Monero’s innovative Forum Funding System, in which ideas can be pitched, iterated-upon, funded, and monitored by the community. Monero has a huge archive of tasks that have been completed through this process.

Monero’s decentralized structure also provides it with what Larry Sukernik calls “sovereign-grade censorship resistance”. For a privacy-focused project like Monero, it is not enough that the network is decentralized. The project benefits from having a loose organizational structure as well, because it makes the platform less vulnerable to governments, censors and malicious actors. Decentralized organization means that there are fewer attack vectors through which Monero’s integrity could be compromised.

At the same time, the decentralized community approach also has several drawbacks. For one, centralized organizations are better at adapting to changing industries. If a crisis hits, Monero could have a hard time making the necessary adjustments to remedy the problem in a timely manner. Community disagreements could also arise regarding the future of the project, the worst of which might result in a hard fork of the community into two separate coins. These are issues that centralized organizations with more rigid governance structures may be less likely to experience.

Conclusion

The tradeoffs associated with decentralized governance systems are significant, and not all projects will benefit from a decentralized structure. More and more, however, it seems that cryptocurrencies are moving toward more centralized organizational structures, and I am not sure if the cryptocurrency community fully appreciates the risks of this move. Monero, for their part, seem willing to accept the potential downsides in exchange for what they gain: a truly community-driven, censorship-resistant platform. Given the importance of decentralization as a foundational principle for cryptocurrencies, it may be valuable if more coins consider this approach.

Disclaimer: The author of this article owns a small holding in various cryptocurrencies, not including Monero. The information in this article is based upon current available data and the author’s views as of June 11, 2018, all of which are accordingly subject to change. The above article should not be considered investment advice. Any such advice or opinions should be sought by an independent, third-party expert over such matters.

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vagehopo-blog · 6 years

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SociLead Messenger review and (Free) $21,400 Bonus & Discount

Exactly What Is SociLead Messenger? Facebook is considered as the most popular myspace and facebook with vast amounts of people joining each year. Clearly, it becomes a desirable market for offline and business that is online. The number of people runs their company on Facebook successfully is not a number that is small so that it’s time and energy to start thinking about carefully what's the main facets of process advertising by Twitter? The response to this real question is the text. The client could see your video clip or item, nonetheless they frequently have hassle whenever connecting to your official website straight. Therefore, you'll want to look for way which could lead your prospects to your on line pages immediately. Consequently, you are able to increase more traffics along with maintain stable conversions in your web sites. Realizing this necessary, there is a brand name brand new item assisting individuals to produce their “connection” straight named SociLead Messenger. If you wish to start your company simply by using social networking, the item becomes the brand new trend of advertising visa Facebook Messenger in 2018 that you need to pay attention to. Launching SociLead Messenger SociLead Messenger is really a brand new client talk plugin enables your site visitors to talk straight with your Facebook web page. The special thing let me reveal while you are staying on your website that you and your customers could talk to each other. This connection occurs via Twitter Messenger. This basically means, it indicates your visitors that are website understand FB live chat right in your internet sites. Therefore, running internet business now becomes a less strenuous process and effective since well. https://crownreviews.com/socilead-messenger-review How Does SociLead Messenger Work? Special top features of SociLead Messenger: SociLead Messenger provides you not only the capability of the direct connection but additionally many of practical features assisting you to raise your company to the next degree. Once laying your hand with this item, you'll be provided a few following features that are powerful Auto-Comment & Private Reply When the amount of commends on your Facebook web page has gone out of control to reply, you could face the issue that losing a lot of potential prospects. Therefore, SociLead produces an automobile system to manage with huge number of reviews across all of your FB Pages within minutes. The answers is founded on auto-detect easy key words; then, they'll be sent automatically for both comment reply or reply. Auto Reply & Tag Commenter The special ability of the computer software is you to personalize your responses autopilot that it allows. This implies it is possible to tag the commenters title into the comment section. 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Set Personalized Keyword Triggers Triggers permit you to trigger people to any text message you would like. When they make use of particular keyword in reaction for you, an auto-reply system would be delivered straight to their inbox even without your attendance. How It really Works: With SociLead Messenger computer software, it is possible to market whatever you like for earnings for you a source of eager buyers to pay your stuff because it guarantees. You'll automate sales as well as the customer support within three steps: STEP 1: Select your Facebook fan page and website STEP 2: Copy the live chat code and include it in your website STEP 3: Start fan web page automation and turn website visitors into FB messenger leads and sales Who Should utilize SociLead Messenger? The target niche of SociLead Messenger is those who wish to develop their business via the giant social network associated with world – Facebook. 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sherristockman · 7 years

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How Stem Cell Therapy Can Help Repair and Regenerate Your Body Dr. Mercola By Dr. Mercola Kristin Comella,1 named No. 1 on the Academy of Regenerative Practices list of Top 10 stem cell innovators, has been a stem cell researcher for nearly two decades. In this interview, she discusses the enormous regenerative potential of stem cell therapy. Comella, who holds degrees in chemical and biomedical engineering, began working with stem cells in graduate school, using a technique called magnetic cell sorting, which involves tagging nanoparticle magnets onto cells and then separating the cells based on the proteins they express. “What we’ve learned over the years is that stem cells express different proteins than other kinds of cells in your body,” she explains. “That began my career in the field of stem cells.” Stem Cells for Tissue Regeneration Over the years, she’s worked for several different companies. At a start-up in Maryland, she used stem cells from bone marrow (culture-expanded mesenchymal stem cells) for meniscus regeneration. By placing these cells directly into the knee joint, you can repair or even grow back a damaged meniscus. For a time, she also headed up the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) facility at Tulane University, which is a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) facility located at the Tulane Center for Gene Therapy. There, her work revolved around using bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells for spinal cord regeneration. For the past 13 years, she’s worked for U.S. Stem Cell, a company founded in 1999. The company began bringing stem cells for cardiac care to the public. Muscle-derived stem cells can be used to repair heart damage associated with heart attacks. “Our company treated our first patient in 2001. Since that time, we’ve treated over 7,000 patients. We began looking at other indications about a decade ago. We also began looking at stem cells from a variety of different sources,” she says. Stem Cells 101 The primary purpose of stem cells is to maintain, heal and regenerate tissues wherever they reside in your body. This is a continuous process that occurs inside your body throughout your life. If you didn’t have stem cells, your lifespan would be about an hour, because there would be nothing to replace exhausted cells or damaged tissue. In addition, any time your body is exposed to any sort of toxin, the inflammatory process causes stem cells to swarm the area to repair the damage. “As an example, you might have gone to the gym this morning [and] … done some squats. As a result of that, you would get tiny tears inside the muscle. The stem cells that reside beneath the muscle would come out and repair all those tears. The reason that, if you continuously go to the gym, you would start to build new muscle, is because those stem cells, hard at work underneath your muscle, are helping to repair and build that new muscle. This would apply to all of the tissues inside your body,” Comella explains. Nourishing and Protecting Your Stem Cells Benefits Your Health While it’s easy to think of stem cell therapy as a magic bullet, it would be wise to implement strategies that nourish and thereby help optimize the stem cells you already have in your body. As noted by Comella: “You have to create an appropriate environment for these cells to function in. If you are putting garbage into your body and you’re constantly burdening your body with toxins, your stem cells are getting too distracted trying to fight off those toxins. By creating an appropriate environment, optimizing your diet and reducing exposure to toxins, that will allow the stem cells that we’re putting in to really home in and focus on the true issue that we’re trying to treat. The other thing we’ve discovered over the years is that [stem cell therapy] is not the type of thing where you take one dose and you’re cured forever. Your tissues are constantly getting damaged … You’re going to have to repeat-dose and use those stem cells to your advantage. When you think about a lizard that loses its tail, it takes two years to grow back the tail. Why would we put unrealistic expectations on the stem cells that we’re trying to apply to repair or replace damaged tissue? This is a very slow process. This is something that will occur over months and may require repeat dosing.” Stem Cell Sources Historically, stem cells were isolated from bone marrow, and have been used for bone marrow transplants for cancer patients since the 1930s. However, you can get stem cells from just about any tissue in your body, as every tissue contains stem cells. Your bone marrow actually has very low amounts of mesenchymal stem cells, which are now believed to be the most important, from a therapeutic perspective. Mesenchymal stem cells help trigger an immunomodulatory response or a paracrine effect, which means they send signals out to the rest of your body, calling cells to the area to help promote healing. “What we’ve discovered in more recent years is that a more plentiful source of stem cells is actually your fat tissue. [Body] fat can contain up to 500 times more cells than your bone marrow, as far as these mesenchymal type stem cells go. One thing that’s also critically important when you’re talking about isolating the cells is the number of other cells that are going to be part of that population. When you’re isolating a bone marrow sample, this actually is very high in white blood cells, which are pro-inflammatory.” White blood cells are part of your immune response. When an injury occurs, or a foreign body enters your system, white blood cells will attack. Unfortunately, white blood cells do not discriminate, and can create quite a bit of damage as they clean the area out. The Benefits of Isolating Stem Cells From Fat Stem cells, in particular your mesenchymal cells, quiet down the white blood cells and then start the regeneration phase, which leads to new tissue. Bone marrow tends to be very high in white blood cells and low in the mesenchymal cells. Isolating stem cells from fat tissue is preferred not only because it’s easier on the patient, but fat also contains a higher population of mesenchymal cells and fewer white blood cells. “The benefit also of isolating [stem cells from] fat is that it’s a relatively simple procedure. There’s typically no shortage of fat tissue, especially in Americans,” Comella says. “[Also], as you age, your bone marrow declines with regards to the number of cells in it, whereas the fat tissue maintains a pretty high number of stem cells, even in older individuals. We can successfully harvest fat off of just about anyone, regardless of their age or how thin they are. The procedure is done under local [anesthesia], meaning that the patient stays awake. They don’t have to go under general anesthesia. We can harvest as few as 15 cubic centimeters of fat, which is a very small amount of fat, and still get a very high number of stem cells.” Cost-Benefit Analysis A stem cell procedure can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $15,000, depending on what you’re having done, and rarely if ever will insurance cover it. Still, when you compare it to the cost of long-term medications or the out-of-pocket cost of getting a knee replacement, stem cell therapy may still be a less expensive alternative. Also, a single extraction will typically yield enough stem cells for 20 to 25 future treatments, should you decide to store your stem cells for future need. “I think it’s accessible for patients,” Comella says. “It’s an out-patient procedure. You plan to be in clinic for about two hours; no real limitations afterwards, just no submerging in water, no alcohol, no smoking for a week. But other than that, patients can resume their normal activities and go about their regular daily lives.” Interestingly, Comella notes that patients who eat a very healthy diet, focusing on organic and grass fed foods, have body fat that is very hearty and almost sticky, yielding high amounts of very healthy stem cells. “We can grow much better and faster stem cells from that fat than [the fat from] somebody who eats a grain-based diet or is exposed to a lot of toxins in their diet,” she says. “Their fat tends to be very fluffy, buttery yellow. The cells that come out of that are not necessarily as good a quality. It’s just been very interesting. And of note, patients that are cigarette smokers, their fat is actually gray-tinged in color. The stem cells do not grow well at all.” Autologous Versus Non-Autologous Stem Cell Donation What’s been described above is what’s called an autologous donation, meaning you’re getting the stem cells from yourself. A number of companies provide non-autologous donations using cells harvested from other people, typically women, like amniotic or embryonic mesenchymal cells. This is an important distinction. “There are now just a couple of studies that have been published comparing an autologous source, meaning cells from you own body, to an allogeneic source, meaning cells from someone else. So far, what has been discovered is that the autologous cells, meaning your own cells, will outperform somebody else’s cells inside your body. Now, this is not fully understood at this point. It may be that the environment that your cells function in, they’re used to that environment. They recognize it. It’s the same DNA and they can function well. However, once you culture expand and get a pure population of these mesenchymal cells — not necessarily the sample that’s coming right off of the liposuction, but a sample that has been taken to the lab and grown — those cells will not elicit an immune response if you use them in someone else. You could scientifically and medically use those in an unmatched person. However, there are some regulatory aspects of that with regards to the FDA.” In the U.S., there are a variety of new stem cell products available, referred to as amniotic, cord blood products or placenta products, which are prepared at a tissue bank. Such facilities must be registered with the FDA, and the products must undergo additional processing. For example, they must be morselized, or snap frozen or blended in some way. Such processing typically breaks the membrane, releasing growth factors, and the resulting products are called acellular, meaning there are no living cells remaining in the sample. Amnio Products Versus Embyonic Stem Cells The amniotic products available in the U.S. are not so much stem cell products as they are growth factor products. According to Comella, they can be useful in creating an immunomodulatory response, which can help to promote healing, but that still differs from the living stem cell procedures that can be done by either isolating cells from your fat or bone marrow. As a general rule, you don’t achieve the clinical benefits when using an amniotic product, primarily because they don’t contain living stem cells. “I want to contrast that to what are called embryonic stem cells,” Comella adds. “The products obtained from cord blood, from women who are having babies, are not embryonic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells are when you are first bringing the egg and sperm together. Three days after that, you can isolate what is called an inner cell mass. This inner cell mass can be used to then grow cells in culture, or that inner cell mass could eventually lead to the formation of a baby. Those are embryonic stem cells, and those are pluripotential, meaning that they have the ability to form an entire being, versus adult stem cells or stem cells that are present in amniotic tissue, [which] are multipotential, which only have the ability to form subsets of tissue. When you’re dealing with different diseases or damaged tissue or inflammation, mostly you want to repair tissue. If somebody has damage in their knee, they don’t necessarily need embryonic cells because they don’t need a baby in their knee. They need new cartilage in their knee.” Can Stem Cell Therapy Cause Cancer? A common question is whether stem cells can cause overgrowth, leading to cancer or tumor formation. As noted by Comella, this is a problem associated with embryonic stem cells, which tend to grow very rapidly and can form a teratoma because of the rapid cell growth. Adult stem cells — the cells obtained from your own body — have growth inhibitions and will not form teratomas. “The theoretical concern that has been addressed in animal models or in petri dishes is that if you take cancer cells that are growing in a dish and apply stem cells, it may make those cancer cells grow more rapidly. But this does not translate in-vivo to humans. If there was truly an issue with applying stem cells to a patient who has cancer, we would know about it by now, because we’ve been dosing cancer patients with stem cells since the ‘30s. The safety profile is strong and there are tens of thousands of patients documented with these treatments,” Comella says. Platelet-Rich Plasma Another useful therapy is platelet-rich plasma (PRP). Your peripheral blood contains platelets, which act as first responders when there’s an injury. They come in and start the clotting mechanism, thereby preventing you from bleeding to death. They also give marching orders to other cells. For example, platelets can command stem cells to multiply and grow, or to differentiate and form new tissue. These platelets also have many different growth factors associated with them, which can help to promote healing and stop inflammation. PRP involves taking a blood sample and then spinning the blood in a centrifuge to isolate the platelets. The platelet-rich plasma is then injected back into the area that is inflamed. “One of the most common uses of platelet-rich plasma or PRP is in a joint. Now, platelets are going to be most successful in something that is rich in stem cells … [such as] an acute or a very recent injury. If you just hurt your knee, the first thing you should do is get PRP, because it’s going to help promote healing, and those platelets will attach to the surface receptors of the stem cells that are already going to the area to promote healing. It would be like putting fertilizer on your seed, which are the stem cells. If you have something more chronic, this tends to be a stem cell-poor environment. In other words, you have osteoarthritis or you’ve got knee pain that’s 5 years old and it’s been there for a long time; just putting PRP in it would be like putting fertilizer on dirt without planting a seed first.” Clinical Indications for Stem Cell Therapy The beauty of stem cell therapy is that it mimics a process that is ongoing in your body all the time. Your stem cells are continuously promoting healing, and they do not have to be manipulated in any way. The stem cells naturally know how to home in on areas of inflammation and how to repair damaged tissue. “All we’re doing is harnessing the cells from one location where they’re sitting dormant and relocating them to exactly where we want them and we need them to work,” Comella says. “Basically, anything inside your body that is inflamed, that is damaged in some way, that is lacking blood supply, the [stem] cells can successfully treat. That means orthopedics, knee injections, shoulder injections, osteoarthritis, acute injuries, anterior cruciate ligament tears … in your back — back pain associated with degenerative disc disease or damaged tendons or ligaments, herniated and bulging discs. You can also use it in systemic issues, everything from diabetes, to cardiac, to lungs — any tissue organ inside your body that’s been damaged. Autoimmune diseases [can also be treated]. The stem cells are naturally immunosuppressant, meaning they can help quiet down an over reactive immune system and help the immune system function in a more normal way. Neurological diseases, traumatic brain injury, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson’s. All of these have to do with tissue that’s not functioning properly. The cells can be used to address that.” It’s quite impressive, the list of different diseases that could benefit from this intervention. That said, I want to reemphasize that this is not a magic bullet. However, you can dramatically improve the benefits of this intervention by combining it with other healthy lifestyle factors that optimize mitochondrial function, such as eating a healthy whole food diet, exercising, sleeping well, avoiding toxins and detoxifying from toxic influences. Stem Cells for Anti-Aging Stem cells can also be used as part of an antiaging program. Comella has used stem cells on herself for several years, and report feeling better now than she did a decade ago. “The ability to reduce inflammation inside your body is basically making yourself live longer. Inflammation is what kills us all. It’s what makes our telomeres shrink. It’s what causes us pain and discomfort. It’s what makes the tissues start to die. The ability to dose yourself with stem cells and bring down your inflammation, which is most likely caused by any sort of toxin that you’ve been exposed to — breathing air is exposure to toxins — this is going to lengthen your lifespan. I typically will do a dose every six to 12 months, regardless of what’s going on. If I have anything that’s bothering me, if I tweak my knee at the gym, then I absolutely will come in and do an injection in my knee. I want to keep my tissue healthy for as long as possible. I want to stay strong. I don’t want to wait until something is wrong with me. I think that this is the future of medicine. This is what we’re going to start to see. People will begin to get their regular doses of [their own] stem cells and it’ll just be common practice.” Banking Your Stem Cells Is an Investment in Your Future Health Keep in mind there’s a gradual and progressive decline in the quality and the number of stem cells as you age, so if you’re considering this approach, it would be to your advantage to extract and bank your stem cells as early on as possible. U.S. Stem Cell provides a stem cell bank service, so you can store them until a later date when you might need them. “Your stem cells are never as young as they are right now. Every minute that you live, your telomeres are shrinking. The ability to lock in the youth of your cells today can be very beneficial for you going forward, and for your health going forward. God forbid something happens. What if you have a heart attack? You’re not going to get clearance to get a mini-lipo aspirate procedure. If you have your cells waiting in the bank, ready for you, it becomes very easy to pull a dose and do an IV delivery of cells. It’s almost criminal that we’re not doing this for every single one of our cardiac patients. This should be standard practice. We should be having every single patient bank their stem cells at a young age and have them waiting, ready and available. The technology is there. We have it. I’m not sure why this technology is not being made available to everyone,” she says. “I think stem cell therapy is very different than traditional medicine. Stem cell therapy may actually make it so that you don’t have to be dependent on pharmaceutical medications. You can actually repair the tissue and that’s it. This is a very different way of viewing medicine.” More Information If you’re interested in having this procedure done, contact the U.S. Stem Cell Clinic on USStemCellClinic.com. You could either have the procedure done at their facility, or if there’s a physician in your area providing the service, you can go there. U.S. Stem Cell can help you locate a qualified doctor. Oftentimes, practitioners will specialize in specific procedures, such as spinal procedures, or knee procedures. There’s also a veterinary division, called Vet Biologics, which offers treatment to small pets like cats and dogs, as well as horses. “One of the things that we’ve been treating recently is traumatic brain injuries,” Comella says. “We had a woman who fell two stories and hit her head. She spent months in a coma and was not able to talk or walk or do any activities. By the time she came to us, it was two years after her injury. The best hospitals in the world told her this was her life … ‘You’re never going to be able to talk or walk or take care of your young children again.’ That was just not good enough. She came to us and we began applying stem cells in a way to allow the cells to cross the blood-brain barrier and to get to her brain. After her first treatment, when she walked into the clinic on her own and began telling me, in full sentences, about the day she had the head injury, tears came down my face. This is the kind of thing that traditional medicine would say is impossible. We’ve had patients who were wheelchair-bound, whether it’s from multiple sclerosis or Parkinson’s, up and out of their chair, literally jogging around cones. This is life-changing … Patients who were told they weren’t going to return to sports for years are back on the field and playing. There’s just many ways that you can heal your tissue to change the course of an injury or a disease.”

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