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manisca-rye · 1 year
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Dreams of Grandeur and Paradise
Title: Dreams of Grandeur and Paradise (Part 1)
Rating: M
Pairing: Berlin/Andrés de Fonollosa x OC
Word Count: 5K
Synopsis: The day the most iconic heist in history began at the Royal Mint of Spain, Francisca Martínez was working her last shift of the week in the cafeteria of the museum as a waitress. The heist lasts a total of six days, during which time Francisca finds herself getting too comfortable with her hostage status as she develops a decidedly unhealthy fascination with the leader of the heist, an enigmatic man called Mr. Berlin.
Contains: unequal power dynamics, smut, possible stockholm syndrome
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Segment I: A Robbery At The Royal Mint
Friday
The atmosphere at the cafeteria of the Royal Mint of Spain was as busy as it ever was on a Friday morning and so I went about my work duties, serving patrons with their food orders and ensuring everything was running smoothly on my part. I had been at this job as a waitress for two years now and had come to enjoy the various interactions I had with the patrons that often came by the cafeteria.
I had come in for my morning shift and began work at seven o'clock, and now a little more than three hours into my shift, the morning breakfast crowd of patrons had slowed down and so I was performing clean-up duty as I went around the tables of the cafeteria collecting anything left behind and wiping down the tables while I sang along to the music playing in the cafeteria and paid faint attention to the chattering of the other cafeteria workers.
As I made my way back to the kitchen of the cafeteria, the sudden opening of the cafeteria doors caught my attention as two people dressed in red jumpsuits and pointing guns in my direction made me drop the cleaning items I was holding as I froze in fear for a momentary second. The next few minutes were chaotic as I, along with all the other employees of the cafeteria, were led out by the armed robbers until we found ourselves in the main hall of the museum where we were instructed to cover our eyes with sleep masks.
I could hear the sounds of people sobbing as we stood around waiting for the unknown, and my own terror at the current situation made me cry quietly right along with the others. I listened to the voice of one of the robbers as he gave a speech that explained our current circumstances and warned us of the importance of obeying their instructions. After completing several rounds of the instructed breathing exercises, I found myself gradually calming down enough to stop crying and was left shivering in fearful anticipation.
It was nerve wracking to stand in wait silently, and when the alarms began to go off, I hoped that meant that the police would be alerted to what was happening and rescue us before the robbers could do anything to harm anyone. The next moments were filled with the sound of gunfire going off and the screams of everyone taken hostage and time seemed to stop as my terror came back tenfold.
Segment II: We Are Now Hostages
It had now been a few hours since the robbers had entered the royal mint and taken everyone hostage. In that time, we had all our phones confiscated and we were currently seated on the floor of the main hall, still blindfolded as we waited while hoping for the police to negotiate our release. I continually tried to distract myself with happier memories and my terror at my current situation was minimally lessened if nothing else.
I was taken out of my thoughts by the orders to stand up and take our masks off. I blinked as my eyesight adjusted to the light after having been kept in the dark for so long. Cautiously looking around I could see most of the other hostages wore varying expressions of tiredness and fear as we listened to the robber that had introduced himself as the leader, Mr Berlin, explain that we were going to receive sleeping bags, sandwiches and water in preparation for sleep. He went on to announce that we would also be required to wear red jumpsuits similar to the ones the robbers wore and would be given fake guns to be used at a later time. Despite the circumstances, I eagerly consumed the sandwiches and water, having not realised how hungry I was with the passing of time.
After finishing our meals, we received masks similar to the ones worn by the robbers and engaged in what I later figured out was almost a confrontation with the police. Thereafter, the kidnappers instructed different groups of people to follow them and be put to work while the rest of us that remained would get a chance to sleep. I fell asleep soon after getting into my sleeping bag, hoping that when I woke up, the nightmare I found myself in would have somehow ended.
Segment III: Medication and Gunshots
Saturday
When I next woke up, the nightmare had not ended and I found myself still being held hostage in the royal mint. I could feel what I guessed was a stress-induced headache coming on, and so I tried breathing exercises to calm myself but that didn't seem to be helping no matter how much I willed myself calm. I had experienced similar headaches in the past, most often in the year following my Mother's death but had learnt to manage my tiredness and stress as the years went by.
The speech given by Mr Berlin about ensuring no one became depressed by assigning us all tasks was cut short when he came and stood in front of the older woman that was sobbing in front of me. After offering anxiety medication to the sobbing woman, the question was asked if anyone else needed medication and after a few more people spoke up, I raised my hand and was called on, “I need pain killers.”  
After the robber called Nairobi had collected a group of men to follow her, we were each allowed to record videos for our families. I had no immediate family to speak of since my Mother's passing six years ago and my Father's death a decade ago. I had no siblings as I had been an only child and any extended family I had left, I was not particularly close to. Nonetheless, I thought about what I would like to say to the people I considered family, my closest friends and my Mother's closest friends that I considered my own aunties.
“Hello. This is Francisca. Francisca Martínez. I am doing well. We are being well looked after and the robbers are not violent. I hope to see you all again soon, and wish you well for now.” I breathed deeply after my video had been recorded, with the assurance that our videos would be seen by our loved ones on the outside. I was led to an upstairs office where the people that had requested medication earlier were sitted and waiting in tense silence while we were watched over by one of the large and strong-looking robbers.
I was seated closest to the door and so was given the medication to distribute when it was delivered by one of the younger-looking robbers, passing the bag around for everyone to collect their medication. I gratefully took the painkillers and waited for the medicine to start taking effect.
After what could have been an hour or less, I realised that the Director's secretary Ms Monica Gaztambide had not returned after having accompanied the robber out of the office. I only knew of Ms Gaztambide through our limited interactions when she would come by the cafeteria on occasion, but hoped that she was doing well and hoped she would be okay.
The sound of faint gunshots were soon heard and the faint sense of calm I had created for myself vanished in that instant.
Segment IV: The News of Ms Gaztambide's death
Sunday
The next day found our group of five, Alma, Carmen, Elena, Gabriella and I, in the same office we had spent the previous day and night in. I had once again taken another dosage of the painkillers provided yesterday after waking up with another headache and so sat back as I began feeling the slow effects of the medication work to relieve the throbbing pain.
The only chance we got to get out of the room that morning was to go to the bathrooms to relieve ourselves and freshen up as best we could with only the use of limited toiletries, paper towels and water from the handwashing sinks. I stood in front of the mirror as I applied a minimal coating of hand lotion to my face after a wash, giving my dark brown skin a minimally better-looking appearance.
When we returned to the office, we were soon silent as we sat around with not much to do other than reflect on the fact that we were currently hostages. I tried not to feel trapped but the stress of not knowing what was going on was suffocating. Each time we heard gunshots, we feared someone had been shot but received no definitive information from the robbers.
My mind drifted as I continuously wondered if I could have done anything differently on that Friday morning in order to have avoided being caught up in my current situation, though I could not have predicted that I would ever be caught up in such a situation.
By the time one of the younger robbers, Rio, came to distribute food and water, I had decided and worked up the nerve to request being assigned any type of task so as to hopefully occupy my mind enough to momentarily forget what was going on. I requested a private chat and when Rio and I had made our way into the corridor outside the office, I began, “I feel better today than I did yesterday and wanted to find out if there are any tasks I can be assigned to do downstairs.”
“There aren't any tasks that require any more people right now. But I will let you know if that changes.” He replied before he escorted me back to the office and left our group alone. 
The atmosphere of the room was somewhat less anxious with the robber guarding us from outside the door and not in the room with us as the other had been yesterday. We were able to exchange quiet conversation and reassurance to each other as we sat and waited for the unknown.
The chattering abruptly ended as the door opened and in came the robber that had introduced himself as the leader of the heist. The atmosphere of the room became tense as Mr Berlin sat in the chair closest to the door, surveying us all with a look that I could not really read. With a stroke of unfounded bravery, I stared and studied him, looking for something I was not aware of but some part of me was curious about such a man.
Mr Berlin gave a speech about how we were protected from the horror, blood and gunfire that was going on outside of where we were.
I listened to his voice, trying to determine what sort of person would lead such a heist against an institution like the royal mint, when he announced that he had had to order the death of a person in order to maintain order. The tone of voice used by Mr Berlin to describe emotions made it seem like he was firmly detached from the very emotions he described.
The mention of the death of Ms Gaztambide filled me with fear and sadness as I wondered if that meant that we might all lose our lives. Mr Berlin had previously assured everyone that we would not lose our lives if we followed the robbers' rules and I wondered whether Ms Gaztambide had broken one of their rules or they had just turned against her and killed her regardless of their own rules.
Either my sense of bravery had intensified or maybe I was just getting tired of my current circumstance but I raised my hand when he had finished speaking for several moments and when he nodded in affirmation, I took a deep breath as I asked, “You assured us that we would all be safe if we followed the rules and instructions. Did Ms Gaztambide break one of the rules?”
Mr Berlin looked at me directly as he answered, “Ms Gaztambide had hidden a phone away. One of the very first rules given was that no one was allowed to keep any phones with them and no one was allowed to contact the outside world.” He looked at all of us as he reassured, “Nothing will happen to you for as long as you obey the rules and instructions given to you.”
After a few moments of silence, Mr Berlin stood up and made his way to the door, leaving without another word.
My thoughts were filled with sadness for Ms Gaztambide's unfortunate fate and what that meant for the rest of us. But underlying my sadness was a growing morbid curiosity about just what kind of man the leader of the robbers was.
Mr Berlin had previously seemed reassuring, or rather as reassuring as one could be as a kidnapper in a hostage situation, each time he made one of his speeches explaining what was required of those taken hostage. But now I particularly wondered what kind of a man leads criminals to take hostages in such a manner and discusses the death of a woman as though it were a usual everyday happening.
After what felt like a less than three hours later, the sudden sounds of gunshots and screams began ringing out. We all instinctively dived to the floor and were huddled together as the gunfire and screams continued for what felt like an endless amount of time, though was realistically less than half an hour, before all went quiet again.
All five of us checked on one another to make sure everyone was doing okay, reassuring each other of our well being. Carmen noted something that we were all thinking but too afraid to say, “Do you think they killed a lot of people?”
After a beat of silence., I shook my head in disagreement. “The screams indicate that people are still alive enough to scream. It could be the police storming inside.”
“Are we just going to wait here not knowing what's happening out there?” questioned the heavily pregnant Elena angrily.
“What do you want us to do? We don't know if the robbers are right outside the door waiting for one of us to step out of line.” Was the reply from the schoolgirl called Gabriella.
As we lapsed into momentary silence, I looked at the door that was supposed to provide security for those inside the room but now acted as a prison gate to keep us locked and unknowing of what was happening outside.
Segment V: Mr Berlin
As more time passed in anxious waiting, the sound of the door opening was a change in the monotony of our routine as we all turned towards the door to see one of the robbers make his way in. He promptly informed me that I was to be escorted somewhere, hopefully not my sudden death, but I nonetheless followed him as he led me to an office down the hall.
He opened the door and indicated that I should proceed and I did so semi-cautiously and turned as the door closed after me, to face the leader of the robbers where he sat behind the large wooden desk drinking what looked to be wine.
“Francisca Martínez.” Mr Berlin questioned, and I nodded in affirmation while wondering if it had been a question or simply a form of acknowledgment.
“Come closer Miss Martinez.” Mr Berlin implored as he drank his wine with a self assured grace.
I moved several steps and now stood in front of the enormous wooden desk. I finally got a chance to study the leader of the heist up close as he offered me a seat in one of the chairs facing him and I quietly thanked him as I took a seat.
A few moments of muted silence passed before he began, “You would like to be assigned a task downstairs, is that right Francisca?” I simply nodded my affirmation in reply.
“You aren't happy with the consideration offered to you so far?” Mr Berlin asked in a tone of voice that did not indicate what answer he preferred to hear but nonetheless, I replied, “I do appreciate your consideration by giving me medication and feel much better than I did earlier today and yesterday. I don't have any headaches anymore. If it's not a bother, I would like to be assigned work with the other hostages downstairs.”
After another moment of simply holding eye contact, he questioned, “Tell me, what was your job before we commandeered operation of the mint?”
“I worked as a waitress at the cafeteria.” I replied, breaking our continued eye contact as I had begun to feel uncomfortable with the intensity with which he stared at me.
“There's already a team working in the cafeteria to prepare food.” He mentioned in reply. “In fact we already have people for everything.”
I nodded in understanding as I replied,“I can also perform any other required tasks.”
“That's the right attitude to have at a time like this.” He replied as he finished his drink and stood up to pour himself another drink, my eyes following him across the room as I had nothing to say in answer to his comment.
Mr Berlin stood upright by the drink station and took a good drink of his wine, watching me with the eyes of a hawk as the silence stretched on.
I stood up and prepared to ask to leave and return to the other office, when he spoke up in a conversational tone of voice. “When Mussolini was losing the Second World War and a cloud of depression wouldn't allow him to think, he realized that the only thing that could lift his spirits was sex.” I stared at him, listening where I stood. “So, he had a prostitute ensconced in a room next to his office, and would visit her every now and then so she could bring back his joy.”
I took a moment to process what he said, trying to read the meaning under the words and particular example given before I ventured to reply. “I wonder what the prostitute thought of that arrangement and what she thought of the man who had made such an arrangement with her.”
Mr Berlin looked at me with a faint trace of what could have been a smile as he heard what I had said. “Indeed one does wonder. Was it simply the money he offered her in return for her company or was there more to their arrangement.”
“Some women find the idea of illicit sex with men considered immoral to be a thrilling fantasy.” I returned looking at him and allowed myself to admire his physicality despite the wrongness of such emotions, especially given the news of Ms Gaztambide's recent fate.
Mr Berlin seemed to study me as he questioned “Is that a fantasy you've had Francisca?”
I breathed deeply as a brief moment of anxiousness passed through me before I answered, “Not until very recently.”
Mr Berlin turned the chair closest to him to face me as he sat down directly across from where I stood against his desk, before he questioned, “Tell me Francisca, do you consider me an immoral man?”
“Morality is relative, particularly in certain circumstances more so than others. But desire and pleasure are universal.” I answered assuredly, my thoughts focused on this very moment as I awaited his reply.
“Absolutely.” He responded. “Now the question remains if I desire you, Francisca.”
“That's a question only you can answer.” I said as I purposefully looked at him and tried to present myself confidently as I stood looking right at him.
Mr Berlin casually stood up and set aside his glass, walking to where I stood while staring at me with an intensity that evoked further desire in me. He stopped so close to where I stood, his dark eyes looking down into my own dark brown ones as he brought his hand to the side of my neck, holding onto my neck with a measure of force before bringing his lips to slowly trace my jaw as he whispered: “I certainly desire you, Miss Martínez.” Before he brought his lips to my own, kissing me slowly at first with a few kisses before fully covering my lips with his own.
I kissed him back without thought, enjoying the taste of rich wine his lips carried and the feel of his lips against mine as pleasure coursed through my body. We slowly broke apart after a few more moments, and I breathed deeply in order to catch my breath as Mr Berlin brought his hands to my waist and guided me onto the desk while he moved to stand my open legs.
Mr Berlin kissed me again even more fervently and I kissed him back just as fiercely while fisting both hands into the front of his jumpsuit. We were soon stripping out of our clothing in between urgent caresses and fervent kisses. Before long, I found myself laying naked on the desk as I rested one bent leg on the desk, feeling pleasure course through my body as Mr Berlin moved closer between my legs while his hands held my waist.
When I shifted my eyes and was looking directly at him, he thrust into me in one swift motion that left me gasping deeply through a heady mixture of pleasure and pain, before my hands moved to grip the edge of the desk by my head.
Mr Berlin fucked like he seemed to do everything else, with a systematic sense of harsh precision as he thrust in and out. Both his hands held onto my waist tightly as he continued fucking me. Only his low groans alerted me to the fact that even he could succumb to the urges of sexual pleasure.
As I approached climax, Mr Berlin brought the hand that had been against my waist to my throat and held on with the slightest pressure, seemingly intensifying my feelings of ecstasy as I moaned passionately, until eventually, my climax washed over me with the intensity of an explosion that rushed through my body and left me in a whole new state of ecstatic bliss. As I experienced the high of my own ecstasy, I felt when Mr Berlin achieved his own orgasm as his thrusts slowed down and the heat of his climax enhanced my own feelings of calming pleasure as I breathed deeply trying to catch my breath for the next few moments.
I accepted the drink Mr Berlin offered as I finished tying my jumpsuit around my waist, before sitting back comfortably on the sofa set to one side of the room. The atmosphere around us was one that was borne of a sexually satisfied calm that followed a round of good sex.
He handed me my drink as he joined me on the sofa, seeming to study me as I smiled at him before taking a generous sip to taste, the rich flavour of the wine reminding me of the taste of Mr Berlin's lips. Just as I brought my glass away from my lips, there was a rapid knock on the door and both Mr Berlin and I turned to see one of the robbers, Nairobi, followed up her knock by opening the door before coming in. Nairobi spared me a momentary glance before looking at Berlin and giving him an urgent look.
Mr Berlin promptly stood up and I followed suit, setting my glass aside as he informed me that I would be escorted back to the other office shortly and to go and wait outside for Nairobi to escort me back. I nodded in understanding before I went out into the hallway, only faintly catching the words exchanged between Nairobi and Mr Berlin before she was leading me quietly and quickly back down the hallway to the office I had been staying in.
“Thank goodness you're back. We feared the worst when you didn't return after leaving.” Alma said as soon as the door closed after me, and similar sentiments were shared by the other ladies of what had become our unofficial group.
Carmen looked at me curiously as she questioned, “Where were you and what happened?”
I gave them what I hoped was a reassuring smile as I answered, “I went to see the leader of the robbers, Mr Berlin, about getting assigned a task downstairs. And was informed that all the tasks have already been assigned to people and they don't require any extra people.” A version of the truth was always better than trying to lie, which I was not particularly good at anyways, and I could not really explain the whole truth as I was now only coming to my senses as I realised what I had just done.
All the ladies accepted my answer though Carmen still looked at me weirdly and I smiled at her as I reassured her that everything was okay with me and not to worry too much about me.
As the conversation continued among the other ladies, my thoughts came back to me as I recalled the meeting I had had with Mr Berlin. Some part of me had known that I found him attractive and fascinating as soon as I began to observe him intently. I had decisively pushed such thoughts to the back of my mind earlier today after learning about Ms Gaztambide's death and the role he had to play in her demise. I wondered if the fact that I did not regret fucking Mr Berlin despite my sense of sadness over Ms Gaztambide's death, was an indication of my true expression of moral understanding rather than the understanding of morality I thought I held previously regarding murder in any form.
I also pondered whether having sex with Mr Berlin was something I would desire again or whether it had been a one time occurence induced by the stress and atmosphere of the heist. I stood up and went to the table where bottles of water sat, taking one and drinking deeply of the water before joining in the quiet conversations happening.
After what felt like less than an hour, we were told that we would be going out to chat with a member of the police forces to provide proof of life and so we prepared for that task.
When it was my turn, I was escorted by one of the robbers and was led to the main  hall where a female police officer was seated next to Mr Berlin.
“This is Francisca Martínez.” Mr Berlin's voice was clear and precise as I came down the last few steps and stood in front of him and the police officer, who he introduced as a Police Inspector.
“How are you doing Miss Martínez?” She began as she looked at me.
I answered as truthfully as I could while heeding the warnings given beforehand to keep our answers brief when answering the police's questions. “As well as can be.” 
She took a few notes before asking the next question, “How have you been treated so far?”
“I have been treated well enough so far.” I replied as I studied both the Inspector's and Mr Berlin's facial expressions. The Inspector had a measure of concern in her expression while Mr Berlin's face expressed how arrogantly assured he was of the situation, which is an expression he seemed to frequently carry on his face as he stared at me while I answered the Inspector's questions.
After being escorted back to the office where I had spent most of the past two days, I joined the other ladies and shared the way our interviews with the Police Inspector had gone.
Later that night, we had dinner in the same office we had been in all day with the monotony only broken up when we were escorted to the washrooms to use the bathrooms and freshen up as needed. Soon enough we began preparing our sleeping bags for another night spent being held hostage in the offices of the mint, as we were not allowed to go back to the other hostages downstairs and were forced to sleep in this office that had begun to feel claustrophobic despite the veneer of luxury it carried.
I was abruptly woken from my shallow sleep by the sound of a loud explosion that seemed to revibrate all around me. I quickly sat up, scrambling to make sense of what the explosion had been as all that could be heard from outside the door was ringing silence and the sounds of the circling helicopters outside seemed to intensify. I felt a mixture of fear and anticipation as I waited for someone to come through the door to either kill us all or rescue us. The atmosphere among our group was tense and anxious as we all looked at the door that led out of the office we currently occupied. This room we were in could be locked from the outside as we had discovered earlier, and so we were trapped with no way to get out even if the explosion that had woken us up had set fire to the building.
A few minutes after the explosion had rung out, the sound of gunfire began and was loud and continuous. The gunfire continued for what seemed like forever and rang so loudly that by the time all quieted down again, I was left tightly wound in a mixture of anguish and fear as my ears seemed to ring after the constant noise bombardment.
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Disrespect - Berlin
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You walked around with a bag full of a food, giving almost every hostage a sandwich and a water bottle. You had almost finished the last row of hostages until you came to a middle aged white man, who was looking at you suspiciously. You ignored it and took a water bottle out of the bag to hand it to him. He refused.
“What? Do you want to starve?” You asked with furrowed eyebrows.
“I’d prefer not to take it from you.” He muttered, looking you up and down with disgust.
Your heart sank when you realized the undertones of his words, “Fine then. Starve. I couldn’t care less if you live or die.” You cursed at him, walking away in confidence.
In a way, you were embarrassed. That something like your skin color made you more subjected to disrespect. You were the most experienced with weapons, specifically, out of everyone here. If anything, the hostages should’ve feared you the most.
You walked into the office that Berlin had practically claimed for himself. He looked up at you with his dark eyes from the desk, “What’s wrong, princess?”
“I don’t get nearly as much respect at you guys do. It’s not fair. I can’t control my skin color. I’m tired of this shit.” You leaned on the desk, facing away from him.
He stayed silent for a few seconds. Then, he stood up, half circling around the desk to you. He stood incredibly close, looking down at you, “Darling, I could never find the words to comfort you about this,” He rested his index finger under you chin, almost forcing you to look up at him, “but, I believe your skin color is gorgeous. Most beautiful thing I’ve ever laid my eyes on.”
You could feel heat rise up to your cheeks.
“And I know that won’t change the way other people treat you, but I need you to know that.”
You smiled softly, “Thank you for that, Andrés.”
“Anytime, love.” He smiled, placing a soft kiss on your lips. “Now, which one was it?”
A/N. this one is short and sweet. just a lil somethin for my first post.
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imagines-dreams · 5 years
Text
First Meeting(s) - Tom Holland Imagine
Rating: G
Warnings: meet-cute, budding feelings
Summary: Stacy, an intern at Stark Industries, is told to give Peter Parker some pictures from his Germany “trip.” / You are auditioning for the role of Stacy in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. During your last callback, you have to do a chemistry read with Tom Holland.
Word Count: 1774
Notes: So this might be a series??? Idk, I had an idea, I ran with it. Sorry if it’s a mess, also I wrote this for a poc!reader, but I’m not sure if I mentioned anything specific
~ - ~
You smiled. “Hi, I’m looking for Peter Parker. I was told he’d be here for Academic Decathlon practice.”
The young man nodded. “Yes, he’s right over there.”
“He might quit though!” One of the girls shouted. “You never know.”
“He did quit band,” another one added. When everyone looked at her with knowing eyes, she only raised an eyebrow. “I’m observant.”
You tilted your head. “What can you observe about me then?”
She tilted her head and looked you up and down. “Type A, private school, intern.”
“You can call me Stacy.”
“Michelle.”
“Anyway, Peter?”
“That’s, uh, me. I’m Peter.” He looked shorter in pictures. His layers of clothing hid the superhero muscle you knew was underneath. His backpack was on the floor, and if anyone stared closely enough, it wasn’t a standard backpack. It wasn’t the patches or the pins that made it special. No, it was the plastered web fluid on the corner, perhaps from a misfire or leftover from when he webs it to walls. 
You cleared your throat and as you walked to Peter you purposely brushed your foot against the misplaced webs to smear it, turning it effectively into a smudge or stain. 
You handed Peter the folder. “Ms. Potts told me to give this to you.”
“Ms. Potts?” Peter took the folder and smiled at it. “What is it? Why-”
“Pictures,” you said. “From the last intern conference.”
He blinked a few times, and for a split second, you could see Peter’s face contort in confusion. There was no such thing as a Stark intern conference. With one look at you and your tale-telling expression, he nodded. “Yeah, yeah the, uh, conference, that I was at. With you, of course. Cause you’re also an intern.”
“Yes, in the research department,” you helped.
“Yeah!” He laughed. “And I met you at the conference...”
You laughed. “Stacy.”
“Right, Stacy. I remember that.”
You laughed. “You know, for a Stark mentee, you have pretty bad memory.”
“I’m just trying my best.” Peter shrugged.
“Hey, it’s all good. We all are.” You leaned in close to whisper. “You might wanna not leave webs on your backpack, though.”
Peter’s eyes widened. He leaned down and whispered back, “You, uh, saw webs on my backpack? That’s, I mean, that’s insane.”
“Mhm.” You tilted your head. “Mr. Stark told me about what you do for your internship.” Peter Parker held his breath, but you just smiled. “Helping out at the Avengers Compound must be exciting.”
“You know, you don’t have to help Parker,” another boy said, a smug smirk on his face. “We know his Stark internship is boring as hell. Not to mention, he’d probably never meet any of the Avengers.”
“Hm.” You hummed and held out your hand. Peter put the envelope in your hands. “Do you mind, Peter?”
“Not really. What are you-”
You opened the envelope and grabbed the first picture. A printed picture of Peter with Black Widow. She was staring at the camera, clearly amused by Peter’s attempt to get a selfie with her. As you suspected, Peter wasn’t in the suit. It was after whatever happened in Berlin. So, his eye was forming a bruise, if you looked very closely, but he had this infectious smile, so it was easy to overlook. 
Almost. You couldn’t believe that the kid you just met, that stuttering, clumsy kid, was Spider-Man. How could a fifteen-year-old do all this? Sure, you had a similar-ish schedule. But your internship was in the research department. You reviewed simple calculations and offered an idea or two. Sometimes, you got to see Ms. Potts walk through the hallways. She said hi to you once.
You squealed when she left.
Those were your exciting moments. 
Peter’s exciting moments was fighting other superheroes and chasing bad guys and swinging through New York.
You glanced at Peter. That kid with a nervous smile was really something.
“Black Widow?!” screeched the kid with that smug look on his face. Well, he had a smug look on his face. It dropped when he saw that Peter really had met the Avengers. He reached out for the envelope, but you pulled them away and handed them back to Peter. “Sorry, here you go.”
He laughed. “That was amazing.”
“It was nothing.” You glanced at that annoying kid, and you couldn’t help but giggle that escaped your lips. “Plus, that was really satisfying, not gonna lie.”
“Still,” Peter insisted, “I could never do that.”
You scoffed. “Please! I know you do braver things.” 
He laughed and looked around, as if trying to hide the fact that his cheeks were turning a slight pink. “I, uh, I mean… not with that.” He shrugged. “I don’t know.” 
You nudged him. “Hey, don’t worry about it. But, if you ever wanna talk, they call me Stacy. And I intern in the labs at Stark Tower. My boss is really nice and lets me take breaks when I need it, or if a friend visits.”
Peter nodded. “I might swing by.”
Your jaw dropped. “Did you just-” You hit him again. “I hate you. I rescind my offer.” You picked up your things. 
Peter laughed. “Hey, what? That was uncalled for! Stace!”
You laughed. “See ya, Peter.” You saluted him with two fingers and left for your internship. Couldn’t leave precious biotech sims and cell cultures by themselves after all.
~ - ~
Tom was stunned for a moment. You were good. You held this confident air around you when you played Gwen. Sure, other girls have too, but you did it with such grace. At that moment, he could see the entire franchise’s span with him and you on the posters. Sure, you didn’t look like the Gwen Stacy from the comics, but you were her in every sense. Sharp, clever, graceful, kind. 
Your eyes met his. When Tom didn’t say anything, you looked through the script. “Sorry, is it my line?”
“No!” He cleared his throat. “Uh, you did a great job.”
You sighed. “Oh, good.” You laughed. “Thank you. You did a great job, too.”
“Alright, thank you, (Y/n). If you got the part, you should get a call from us within the next two weeks.”
You nodded. “Thank you so much for the opportunity.” You shook hands with Sarah Finn and Jon Watts. Then, you smiled at Tom and held out you hand. “And it was nice meeting you, Tom.”
“Yeah, yeah, you too.” He shook your hand. “Hopefully, we can see each other soon.”
“Definitely.”
Just as you approached your car, the man you played opposite of ran outside of the building and called your name. 
You rubbed your tired eyes and smiled. “Yes?”
“Sorry, uh,” Tom stuttered as he tried to catch his breath. You assumed it was from running, but in truth, the actor was just trying to compose himself long enough to talk to you without sounding like an incoherent mess. So, Tom shook his head and stood up straight. “Sorry, I just forgot to ask for your number.”
You blinked a few times. “Right. Of course, you need my number.” He did not need your number, but you were too tired, and perhaps you were supposed to swap numbers. It must’ve slipped your mind. He handed his phone to you, and you typed in your number. 
“Uh, thanks. So sorry about that,” Tom apologized again.
You shrugged. “No problem. It’s nice meeting you.” You laughed. “Again.”
“Yes. Lovely meeting you.” He smiled. “Well, I can’t keep you. Have a nice day.”
“You, too.”
It wasn’t until a few weeks later, much after the two-week deadline, did you realize that Tom was too fit to be out of breath from a very short run. So, that meant there was another reason why the actor wasn’t his calm self. He did gaze at you after the scene had finished. Was it possible…
No. It wasn’t. And even if it was, it didn’t matter. You weren’t going to see him again.
And even if you and he crossed paths again for another project or for an awards show, you were both actors. Cameras and gossip magazines took your privacy away. It’d be too complicated. So, no use in thinking about it.
Your phone rang. The area code was familiar. Maybe it was another open audition. You answered, “Hello, (Y/n) (Y/l/n) speaking,” and grabbed your planner just in case.
“Hi, it’s Tom.”
“Oh, hi!” You smiled widely at the sound of his voice. When you realized it, you pursed your lips. “Uh, what is it?”
“I just wanted to congratulate you!”
Congratulate you? On what? 
The pen fell from your hands. He couldn’t mean. You hadn’t received a call from the casting director. Or your agent yet. “Congratulate me?” you gasped.
“Oh, uh, check your messages.”
“My what?”
“Check your texts. I sent you something.”
You opened his text to find a link. You clicked on it. It read, “The New Cast of Spider-Man: Homecoming - What We Know”. First, a paragraph on Tom Holland and his reprise of his role as Spider-Man. Then, Zendaya who was casted but no details on the person she plays. Jacob Batalon playing Ned, RDJ playing Tony Stark, Marisa Toomes as Aunt May, Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, and then your name. 
“New and upcoming actress, (Y/n) (Y/l/n) has been cast, but little is known about the character she will play. While Laura Harrier has been confirmed to be Liz Allen, the popular teenager Peter can’t stop thinking about, there is no indication of whether or not (Y/l/n) will be a major character in the film.”
“I got the part,” you whispered. You were cast. That meant that you were given the role you auditioned for. Oh god, you were going to be Stacy!
“I got the part!” you screamed.
“Yeah, you did!” Tom shouted. “Congratulations! You deserve it!”
“Oh my god!” You laughed and shouted, “I’m Gwen Stacy!”
Tom laughed. “Sh!” he teased. “Spoilers!”
You pressed your hand against your chest as if that could calm your racing heart. “Oh, god, I can’t believe this.”
“Really? Your audition was perfect.” He sighed. “I can’t wait to start working with you.”
Working with Tom Holland, the new Spider-Man. It was a dream come true. It didn’t matter how he looked at you when your scene was done or how handsome he was, you were going to part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with an amazing leading man and cast. No matter what happened, this was going to change your life. 
With a dreamy smile, you admitted, “I can’t wait either.”
~ - ~
Am I posting this super late? Yes. Do I have any idea what to do from here? Kinda??? I mean, I don’t even know if this is a good idea, or something from my tea-infused, late-night brain, so very sorry if this sucks. I may or may not continue it. If you want me to write more (I have no clue why you would), please give me ideas??? maybe???
Anyway, thanks for reader, and have a wonderful day, readers!
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weekinethereum · 6 years
Text
July 26, 2018
News and Links
Protocol (with an assist from the Ethereum Research team)
Shasper chain, v2.1
Prysmatic’s biweekly update on transitioning to Eth 2.0 with separate Go codebase
VDFs are not Proof of Work by Danny Ryan.  Verifiable Delay Functions have some properties - requiring significant computation to calculate but relatively little computation to verify - that is suitable for strengthening RANDAO-based RNG. That sounds like proof of work, but Danny explains the difference between VDFs and PoW.
STARKs, Part 3: Into the Weeds by Vitalik Buterin: In Vitalik’s STARKs series part 3, he introduced how to actually implement a STARK with vivid explication.
Latest Casper standup call
VB: Epoch-less Casper FFG liveness/safety argument
Why Shasper makes more sense than the previous FFG, then sharding roadmap
LearnPlasma is really coming together as a Plasma education resource
A Plasma Cash primer from Simon de la Rouviere
Jinglan Wang: what is Plasma?  Plasma Cash?
Raiden is live on Ropsten testnet and open to testing
Stuff for developers
Benchmarking between Mythril, Manticore and Oyente from ConsenSys Diligence
What FoMo3d’s real exit scam might look like, but you can hedge with Augur?
Péter Szilágyi: How to PWN FoMo3D, a beginners guide
Pipeline - video explaining PoC of visual IDE of already deployed functions
Airswap tutorial on building with their API server
Adding ENS into your dapp tutorial
Tutorial to using Parity’s Secret Store multi-party key generation
IDEO on dealing with gas in UX
ethereum-to-graphql: autogenerate the schema and resolver
EthQL alpha from PegaSys and Infura
Aragon Package Manager - upgradeability for Aragon orgs
Zeppelin: Exploring upgradeability governance in ZeppelinOS with a Gnosis MultiSig
Apache Camel connector for Ethereum enterprise using web3j
The new Infura dashboard - existing access tokens need to migrate to v3 authentication keys and endpoints
Release
Trinity v0.1.0-alpha.12, better syncing and performance.   Also has a new website.
web3j v3.5
web3.js 0.20.7 and web3.js 1.0.0-beta.35.  breaking change on http provider
EthereumJS VM v2.4.0 (and their monthly recap)
Live on mainnet
iExec went live on mainnet to test rendering.  80% of jobs completed.
Melonport is live on mainnet with somewhat constrained Paros release
Gnosis DutchX contracts are live on mainnet in advance of their 100k competition to build on them
Ecosystem
The new Gnosis Safe miltisig is live on Rinkeby
Parity’s Thibaut Sardan: what is a light client and why should you care?
Someone managed to briefly cause a kerfuffle with a 1337 Javascript popup in Etherscan using their Disqus comments.  
Nathan Sexer: State of stablecoins
Metamask’s retrospective on getting removed from the Chrome store this week.  Also how they’ll support more networks
A reader friendly version of 100+ Eth dev interviews from EthPrize
Governance and Standards
EIP1227 (remove difficulty bomb, revert to 5 ETH block reward) vs EIP1234 (delay difficulty bomb, reduce to 2 ETH block reward) vs EIP1240 (remove difficulty bomb, leave at 3 ETH block reward).   Results in Afri’s poll mirror what I hear in the community.
ERC1257: proof of payment standard
ERC1238: non-transferrable token badges
ERC1261: membership verification token
Add bottom-up composables to ERC998
ERC1263: NFT index
Project Updates
As planned, Augur burned the escape hatch, so the code is now decentralized.
Messari buys OnchainFX, lays out content strategy
Status now displays at full resolution on tablets, and no more Mixpanel
Maker to vote on increasing the Dai stability fee to 2.5%
Interviews, Podcasts, Videos, Talks 
Dappcon videos are coming in
Andy Tudhope talks about EthPrize’s dev interviews on Smartest Contract
CoinTelegraph with some good print interviews: Jutta Steiner and Joe Lubin
FunFair’s Jez San podcast interview
Open Source Web3 Design call
Jay Rush talking The Dao and how Quickblocks grew out of that from Gitcoin’s weekly stream
Dan Boneh on the Bitcoin Podcast
Ethan Buchman talks testnets on Zero Knowledge
Dan Finlay on MetaMask and Mustekala on Smartest Contract
Maker’s Rune Christensen print interview where he says they are developing their own language for better security
Martin Becze on Epicenter
 Tokens 
You now need Santiment tokens to access some of their market and data feeds.
Text tutorial of how to claim your (free) Livepeer tokens.
Incentivizing new users of TCRs through gamification
Mike Maples: Slow money crypto
General
Zilliqa releases its Scilla language “with formalization of its semantics and its embedding into Coq.”  Also of interest, Etheremon is planning to have gameplay on Zilliqa but will use Ethereum as its store of value.
First Polkadot parachain deployed in PoC2
Raul Jordan with an intro to hashing algos
NYTimes on art and blockchain
Péter Szilágyi: TOR from within GO.  I imagine many who read it will immediately start using the Brave browser’s private tabs with TOR
Ethereum coming to Google Cloud
John Backus with his lessons learned from p2p file sharing
Dates of Note
Upcoming dates of note:
August 7 - Start of two month distributed hackathon from Giveth, Aragon, Swarm City and Chainshot
August 10-12 - EthIndia hackathon (Bangalore)
August 10-12 - ENS workshop and hackathon (London)
August 22 - Maker DAO ‘Foundation Proposal’ vote
August 24-26 - Loom hackathon (Oslo, Norway)
September 6 - Security unconference (Berlin)
September 7-9 - EthBerlin hackathon
September 7-9 - WyoHackathon (Wyoming)
September 8 - Ethereum Industry Summit (Hong Kong)
Oct 5-7 - TruffleCon in Portland
Oct 5-7 - EthSanFrancisco hackathon
Oct 11 - Crypto Economics Security Conf (Berkeley)
Oct 22-24 - Web3Summit (Berlin)
Oct 26-28 - Status hackathon (Prague)
Oct 29 - Decentralized Insurance D1Conf (Prague)
Oct 30 - Nov 2 - Devcon4 (Prague)
Dec 7-9 - dGov distributed governance conf (Athens)
December - EthSingapore hackathon
If you appreciate this newsletter, thank ConsenSys
This newsletter is made possible by ConsenSys, which is perpetually hiring if you’re interested.
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Shameless self-promotion
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narcisbolgor-blog · 6 years
Text
The hottest investors at The Europas, & your specially discounted ticket
In partnership with TechCrunch, The Europas Unconference & Awards, features smaller breakout sessions on key subjects for startups, followed by a glittering awards show for the hottest startups in Europe, based on voting by expert judges and the industry itself. Plus loads of networking opportunities with investors, and the super-fun Pitch Rolette pitch competition. See below for your special discount offer!
Just some of the investors coming to The Europas this Tuesday, July 3, in London include:
Alliott Cole, Octopus Ventures
Andrei Brasoveanu, Accel Partners
Carlos Eduardo Espinal, Seedcamp
Damir Bandolo, Columbus Capital
Eileen Burbidge, Passion Capital
Eze Vidra, Reimagine Ventures
George McDonuagh, KR1 (Blockchain/Crypto)
Jamie Burke, Outlier Ventures (Blockchain/Crypto)
Jason Ball, Qualcomm Ventures
Jeremy Yap, Angel Investor
Joe White, Entrepreneur First
Maria Wagner, Beringea
Michael Jackson, Mangrove Capital Partners
Nancy Fechnay, Angel Investor (Blockchain/Crypto)
Paul Dowling, Dreamstake Ventures
Richard Muirhead, Fabric Ventures (Blockchain/Crypto)
Scott Sage, Crane Venture Partners
Sitar Teli, Connect Ventures
Stephanie Hospital, OneRagtime
Suzanne Ashman, LocalGlobe
Thomas Graham, TLDR Capital
Tugce Ergul, Angel Labs
Vishal Gulati, Draper Esprit
Wendy Tan White, BGF
Instead of thousands and thousands of people, think of a great summer event with a selected 800 of the most interesting and useful people in the industry, including key investors and leading entrepreneurs.
Here’s the agenda.
And here’s 14 reasons to attend The Europas:
• Ultra-high quality Investors, speakers & featured guests
• New startup founders brought into the eco-system
• New deal-flow for investors
• Our “Diversity Matters” Free pass bringing in more women and POC
• Expert speeches, discussions, and Q&A
• Intimate “breakout” sessions with key players on vertical topics
• The opportunity to meet almost everyone in those small groups, super-charging your networking
• Convivial, relaxed atmosphere conducive to networking
• Key press including WSJ, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, attending
• A stunning awards dinner and party which honors both the hottest startups and the leading lights in the European startup scene
• Content independently curated by journalists
• The only truly independent, industry-backed awards in Europe
• Percentage of profits will be donated to charity
• All on one day to maximize your time in London
Plus, as a special offer for TechCrunch readers, we have discounted tickets of up to 60% off:
• Daytime conference plus evening awards tickets (£250, 60% discount) (valid all day, July 3rd) – this ticket includes the daytime conference and the awards dinner with ceremony and after party. It includes refreshments and lunch during the conference, and the awards drinks reception and dinner.
• Daytime only, Unconference tickets (£75, 60% discount) – this ticket includes the afternoon Unconference only.
• Evening Awards-only tickets (£195, 60% discount) – this ticket is for the awards dinner with ceremony and after party. It includes the awards drinks reception and dinner.
If you wish to sponsor the events or to purchase a table for 10 or 12 guest or a half table for 5 guests, please contact [email protected]
The conference and awards are supported by TechCrunch, the official media partner. Attendees, nominees, and winners will get deep discounts to TechCrunch Disrupt in Berlin, later this year.
Original Article : HERE ; This post was curated & posted using : RealSpecific
=> *********************************************** Original Post Here: The hottest investors at The Europas, & your specially discounted ticket ************************************ =>
The hottest investors at The Europas, & your specially discounted ticket was originally posted by Viral News - Feed
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thehowtostuff-blog · 6 years
Link
In partnership with TechCrunch, The Europas Conference & Awards, features smaller breakout sessions on key subjects for startups, followed by a glittering awards show for the hottest startups in Europe, based on voting by expert judges and the industry itself. Plus loads of networking opportunities with investors, and the super-fun Pitch Rolette pitch competition.
Just some of the investors coming to The Europas this Tuesday, July 3, in London include:
Alliott Cole, Octopus Ventures
Andrei Brasoveanu, Accel Partners
Carlos Eduardo Espinal, Seedcamp
Damir Bandolo, Columbus Capital
Eileen Burbidge, Passion Capital
Eze Vidra, Reimagine Ventures
George McDonuagh, KR1 (Blockchain/Crypto)
Jamie Burke, Outlier Ventures (Blockchain/Crypto)
Jason Ball, Qualcomm Ventures
Jeremy Yap, Angel Investor
Joe White, Entrepreneur First
Maria Wagner, Beringea
Michael Jackson, Mangrove Capital Partners
Nancy Fechnay, Angel Investor (Blockchain/Crypto)
Paul Dowling, Dreamstake Ventures
Richard Muirhead, Fabric Ventures (Blockchain/Crypto)
Scott Sage, Crane Venture Partners
Sitar Teli, Connect Ventures
Stephanie Hospital, OneRagtime
Suzanne Ashman, LocalGlobe
Thomas Graham, TLDR Capital
Tugce Ergul, Angel Labs
Vishal Gulati, Draper Esprit
Wendy Tan White, BGF
Instead of thousands and thousands of people, think of a great summer event with a selected 800 of the most interesting and useful people in the industry, including key investors and leading entrepreneurs.
Here’s the agenda.
And here’s 14 reasons to attend The Europas:
• Ultra-high quality Investors, speakers & featured guests
• New startup founders brought into the eco-system
• New deal-flow for investors
• Our “Diversity Matters” Free pass bringing in more women and POC
• Expert speeches, discussions, and Q&A
• Intimate “breakout” sessions with key players on vertical topics
• The opportunity to meet almost everyone in those small groups, super-charging your networking
• Convivial, relaxed atmosphere conducive to networking
• Key press including WSJ, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, attending
• A stunning awards dinner and party which honors both the hottest startups and the leading lights in the European startup scene
• Content independently curated by journalists
• The only truly independent, industry-backed awards in Europe
• Percentage of profits will be donated to charity
• All on one day to maximize your time in London
Plus, as a special offer for TechCrunch readers, we have discounted tickets of up to 60% off:
• Daytime conference plus evening awards tickets (£250, 60% discount) (valid all day, July 3rd) – this ticket includes the daytime conference and the awards dinner with ceremony and after party. It includes refreshments and lunch during the conference, and the awards drinks reception and dinner.
• Daytime only, Unconference tickets (£75, 60% discount) – this ticket includes the afternoon Unconference only.
• Evening Awards-only tickets (£195, 60% discount) – this ticket is for the awards dinner with ceremony and after party. It includes the awards drinks reception and dinner.
If you wish to sponsor the events or to purchase a table for 10 or 12 guest or a half table for 5 guests, please contact [email protected]
The conference and awards are supported by TechCrunch, the official media partner. Attendees, nominees, and winners will get deep discounts to TechCrunch Disrupt in Berlin, later this year.
from TechCrunch https://ift.tt/2KxAe5n
0 notes
Text
hi! my name is ash! i made this tumblr page because i noticed that many fanfic writers don’t consider the fact that black girls also read their fics. in many areas, black women are very excluded, and as a fanfic writer, i want to make a safe space for black girls to read fanfiction.
men i will write fanfics about:
berlin from money heist (la casa de papel)
bucky barnes from the marvel series
jj maybank from outerbanks
steve rogers from the marvel series
draco malfoy from the harry potter series
namjoon from bts (only him, for now)
joji
and thats it for now. i am accepting requests for more characters. (send through my inbox). i will also write lesbian fanfics. i don’t normally read those, but i’m open to writing them.
thank you so much for reading! i love you xx
26 notes · View notes
weekinethereum · 5 years
Text
December 1, 2018
News and Links
Layer 1 - Eth PoW
Lane’s notes on the Ethereum 1.0 improvements call -- the nomenclature Eth1.x is deprecated
Péter Szilágyi: chain pruning for long term 1.0 viability
ewasm proposal for Eth 1.0
A rough proposal for storage management fees. Discussion at FEM and two at Ethresearch: one and two
Layer 1 - Eth2
What’s New in Eth2
Eth2 implementers call. in lieu of notes, agenda
Prysmatic’s biweekly update - explanations of both new cross-shard approach and STARK-friendly hash functions, refactoring to single state, BLS implementation and much more
Lighthouse fortnightly update: Alex Stokes joins, spec updates, etc
Encumberments: instant cross-shard payments over slow cross-shard
VB: A minimal state execution proposal
A Tale of Two Ethers explainer.
Notes from Eth 2.0 Q&A in Prague
An ELI5 on how Eth2 landed on 32 ETH to be a validator
Layer 2
Latest state channel call. Penultimate state channels call
Raiden v0.18
Plasma Prime PoC client
A sketch for a STARK-based accumulator. Or Vitalik’s ELI5 on Reddit
OmiseGo Plasma update
Stuff for developers
PubSub pattern using Solidity 0.5.0
Use Whisper in Embark tutorial
Quick Formality update from Victor Maia. [Formality is kin to Haskell.]
Compound releases documentation for devs to earn interest on eth/tokens
Comparing GUN, OrbitDB and Scuttlebutt
AragonOS 4: refining our framework for production
Import Ethereum state to use on local chain
Elixir implementation of Ethereum’s RLP encoding
Ahken: Eth aware automatic IPFS pinning PoC
Writing a Truebit task in Rust
Octopus security analysis tool for wasm, EVM and some centralized chains
Native Meta Transactions: signed message recovery integrated in contracts
Remix 0.7.5 released with solidity 0.5 support, plus some cool plugins
Ecosystem
Chart over time of Eth locked up in DeFi (note: Maker off by default)
MyCrypto is doing an Advent-style calendar of security tips with prizes
How to easily import your Medium articles into Kauri
Interview with Shawn Wilkinson on Storj’s current approach to decentralized storage
Joe Lubin’s tweetstorm overview of the Ethereum ecosystem
Two great client releases. Update now
Geth v1.8.19 trie read cache for 15% faster full-sync speed and 30% faster in-sync processing and Swarm v0.3.7. Also, Swarm’s Kubernetes setup is now open source
Parity Ethereum v2.2.2 beta - lower the uncle rate allowing higher gas limit. warp sync reuses local info to reduce required data to sync. and 2.1.7 stable
Parity CTO Fredrik Harrysson interviews Geth lead dev Péter Szilágyi for Zero Knowledge
Live on mainnet
Gnosis Safe is on mainnet - Android app (download link. iOS coming soon). Big step forward in UX and multi-sig availability, though obviously you should wait for it to be battle tested before committing large sums. (RuntimeVerification’s formal verification is in process)
Mintable: easily mint and manage your ERC721 nfty tokens
Ethertify: certification platform for IP rights and document signing
Aztec: working zero knowledge proof for confidential transactions on mainnet. Send Maker’s Dai to a contract, then withdraw to another address. The addresses are public, but the amounts are not. Roadmap includes: anonymous voting for governence mechanics, anonymous identity schemes and zero knowledge exchange
Enterprise
Amazon announces QLDB (one party owns the chain/database) and Managed Blockchain (multiple nodes) for Ethereum and Fabric
At same event, Kaleido announced consortium plans
Trends in enterprise blockchain
Excel to blockchain with web3j
Governance and Standards
Polkadot: never fork again
Giveth’s Unicorn DAC non-hierarchical governance experiment
ERC1630: hashed time-lock standard
Application layer
Ocean Protocol’s v0.2 Trilobite testnet release - data access control, secure compute via fitchain
Capbridge and ConsenSys working on a Singaporean security token exchange
Management and performance fees in a Melon fund
A look under the hood of Mysterium’s decentralized VPN
Streamr open sources their front end, Solidity code and event watcher
upbloc: curated periodic publishing platform, live on Ropsten
FedEx to work with XYO to build out proof of location
More on Etherisc, Aon and Oxfam’s crop insurance for Sri Lankan rice farmers
Interviews, Podcasts, Videos, Talks
Justin Drake on Epicenter
Luke Mulks AMA on Brave Ads and he tells us about all the ways we’re being tracked
Pokt Network’s Michael O’Rourke & Luis C. de Leon on Hashing It Out
Hudson Jameson on the inaugural edition of Eric Conner’s podcast
Tokens / Business / Regulation
Sina Habibian: tokenizing real estate
Harbor’s security token platform launched with 20m equity in South Carolina student housing
A CFTC primer on “smart contracts”
Chris Burniske reports that SEC Chair Clayton confirmed that ETH and BTC are not securities, but refused to comment about Ripple.
SEC announced settlements with Floyd Mayweather and DJ Khaled for touting shady sales and not disclosing it
US Treasury sanctions 2 Bitcoin addresses associated with ransomware in Iran
General
NEAR Protocol open sources its client; uses Typescript for its smart contracts. IDE live. (headsup: I’m an investor)
Zilliqa’s v3 testnet is live in advance of targeted Jan 31 mainnet launch. (As said before, I own some)
Trail of Bits: 10 Rules for Hardware Wallets
Buterin/Weyl: Central planning as overfitting
Jerome de Tychey’s recap and lessons learned of last year’s EthCC has me pumped for 2019.
Holocracy founder on crypto network organization
University of Basel gives Vitalik Buterin an honorary doctorate
Scuttlebutt’s Dominic Tarr statement on a hack that happened because he transferred control of a widely-used module to an attacker who inserted code to steal crypto. Always check your dependencies.
The hack above highlighted lack of incentive for open source maintainers, which is part of what Gitcoin highlights in their roadmap for financial open source sustainability. A different approach: the ZeppelinOS ecosystem of secure code
Dates of Note
Upcoming dates of note:
Dec 7-9 - ETHSingapore hackathon (ETHGlobal)
Dec 9 - Neufund equity token offering(closes after a week)
Jan 10 - Mobi Grand Challenge hackathon ends
Jan 29-30 - AraCon (Berlin)
Feb 7-8 - Melonport’s M1 conf (Zug)
Feb 15-17 - ETHDenver hackathon (ETHGlobal)
Feb 23-25 - EthAustin hackathon (EthUniversal)
Mar 5-7 - EthCC (Paris)
Mar 27 - Infura end of legacy key support (Jan 23 begins Project ID prioritization)
If you appreciate this newsletter, thank ConsenSys
This newsletter is made possible by ConsenSys, which is perpetually hiring if you’re interested.
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I own Week In Ethereum. Editorial control has always been 100% me.  If you're unhappy with editorial decisions or anything that I have written in this issue, feel free to tweet at me.
Housekeeping and shilling
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I set a goal to grow the subscriber base of this newsletter to 10000 by the end of the year. It’s at 7960 now. I need more people to double subscribe with Stoop so I can hit my vanity metric.
Link:  http://www.weekinethereum.com/post/180709823708/december-1-2018
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