#i put my working vpn name under reply | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

aceofwhump · 9 months

Text

Hello @crispyliza !! So I'm replying in a separate post because this is too long for a reply on the post. Hope you don't mind. I also think it might benefit others who have asked me in the past and those wishing to start gif making. Especially with whumptober just around the corner.

So here's a full look at how I make my gifs. This got very long so I put it under a read more

A quick thing before I start: I use windows and google chrome. If you're a mac or firefox user I'm not sure of this will work for you in terms of programs. The techniques I use in photoshop should though.

Okay for this demonstration I'm going to show you how I made the gifs for this gifset

To start we need a video. I don't torrent because my internet connection will cut out a random which makes using vpns rather pointless. I've tried. My internet would cut out halfway through a torrent download and then my internet provider was notified to what I was doing. It was just not great. So I found a new way to download videos off the internet! You can use torrents though. If you've got a vpn, go for it.

There are several streaming sites that I go to to get my videos. 1movies, and bstsrs are my go to right now since soap2day is gone (rip i miss you).

Now there are three ways I can get a video depending on what website I'm using. Bstsrs is the easiest because they have a whole bunch of links available. I always go with mixdrop because it has an easy to use built in download button. Unfortunately this site doesn't have movies. Just tv shows and sometimes it's not the best quality or there aren't links available. That's when I go to 1movies. Once you've found your video I use the chrome extension Cococut to download it. Click the extension button to open, then the download button. Then you just have to wait until the video is rendered. Click save. Wait until its downloaded.

Okay we now have our video! The next step is to turn the scene you want to gif into frames. For this we're gonna need KMPlayer. This video player makes it really easy to turn scenes into frames/screencaps. Open your video. Find the the scene you want and pause the video. Type control-g to open this screen:

Here you choose the destination you want your frames to be saved. Decide what to name your frames and match up your settings with mine. You want to continuously extract frames, original size, and I stick with every 2 frames. Then, and this is important, choose video images only.

Now click start then start playing your video until the scene you want to gif is done. When you've got everything you wanted, pause the video. Hit ctrl-g again to reopen that screen and click stop. You now have all the frames you need so go ahead and exit out of KMPlayer. You don't need it again unless you need to redo frames or get the dialogue or something.

Next up we are gonna open Photoshop. I use Photoshop CC 2014.

Click on File -> Scripts -> Load files into stack -> Browse.

Go wherever you saved your frames and select the ones you need. Click okay and let the frames load completely before doing any thing else. Depending on how many you've selected this could take a while.

Once all of your frames are loaded, click "Create Frame Animation". Next click the little arrow button on right followed by "Make Frames From Layers" so we have all of our frames laid out. Now we need to reverse the frames because they're backwards so click that little button again and then click "Reverse Frames"

Okay you've got your frames loaded and all set to go. Time for all the cropping, resizing, setting the speed, and editing.

First thing I do is set the speed because otherwise I forget and it's important to do and a pain in the ass to do after all the editing is done. So do it first and get it out of the way. Select all of your frames. Click the little button beneath a frame where it says 0.0 and pick your time. I usually go for .1 seconds but .05 is also a popular speed. Just test one out and see which one you like best for your gif. You can hit the play button at any time to test your gif.

To set speed:

After this I do one of two things. Either I go into cropping and resizing or I separate frames. Depends on how many frames I uploaded. If I uploaded all the frames needed for an entire gifset this is the part where I separate them out onto individual gifs. So let's do that.

Originally I was just gonna do one gif but I have 115 frames uploaded which is waaaay too many for just one gif. I like to keep my gifs between 30 and 80 frames. So I'm going to split this into 3 gifs I think. It'll make a nice balanced gifset.

Select the frames you want for the first gif and copy them using the copy frames option in the same menu as the make frames from layers menu. Open a new document with the same dimensions as your current document. Click "Create Frame Animation" and paste the frames over the selected frame. Make sure that first frame is the same speed as all the other frames. Repeat until you have your desired gifs.

Next up I crop and resize. For this gif I'm going to first crop out the black bars above and below the image because we don't want that in the gif. Use the select tool to pick what you want to keep then "Image" then "Crop".

Now I could leave it as it but I think for this gifset I'm gonna focus more on Geralt so I'm going to crop it in a bit more.

Once cropping is all set i'm going to resize the gif to tumblr dimensions. Click "Image" then "Image Size" and change the width to 540px. The height can be anything and best not to mess with it so your gif keeps it's proportions. 540px is the width of a tumblr post and I plan on making these gifs stacked one on one.

Okay the gifs are all cropped and sized. Now it's time to do some editing. Go back to your first gif. We'll do all the work on this first gif and apply the same things to the other ones later because the scenes are the same. If they were different each gif would be colored and edited individually. First thing to do is turn it from frame animation to timeline. Timeline mode makes applying things like sharpening and brightness much easier and smoother.

So just click this button in the bottom left corner to go into timeline mode. Next up select all your layers. They're on the right side. Make sure you've selected ALL of them. Then click on "Filter" -> "Convert for Smart Filters" THIS IS AN IMPORTANT STEP! We can't edit until this is done.

This button to switch from frames to timeline:

First thing I do is sharpen. You can use one of the presets or try to do manually do it with smart sharpen. I use the preset labelled "sharpen" because I'm lazy and this one does a fine job for my gifs. I also add a layer of surface blur to smooth things out. Just a small touch. Like barely any blur but I think it smooths noise a bit and makes it look better.

Next up: Editing!! This step is going to be different for each and every gif you make. It all depends on the colors in the scene your giffing so you're gonna have to do a lot of experimenting to get the right look you want. Personally that's what I like about it. Makes it fun.

All your adjustments can be found found on the right side of the screen:

I almost always start with the "Levels" layer to brighten up the image because as we all know, every freaking whump scene is sooo dark. So with levels you just slide the little arrows around until you get a look you like.

Then I add a layer of "Curves". I love curves. With curves you can select the whitest white and the darkest black and the middle tone to change the brightness and colors of your gif. Or you can use this part and just brighten or darken a specific part. It's really versatile and i love it. It does take some practice and experimenting though.

Now a layer of "Contrast" and a layer of "Vibrance".

After this it's all about the selective colors, photo filters, and color balance to work on the colors and brightness. For this gif I'm only doing a tiny bit of editing cause I like the coloring but sometimes I'll have multiple layers of these to create a good coloring.

Once you're satisfied with how your gif looks it's time to save it!

Click "File" -> "Save for Web" and wait until it's all loaded. Important thing too look at here is the size of the gif. You can't upload any gif that is larger than 10mbs so make sure it's under that. Sometimes even 9.8 is too big because tumblr is a butt. I go for anything below 9.8. If your gif is too big try resizing it or removing a few frames. Make sure you gif is set to loop forever. Otherwise it'll just stop after a little bit. Don't forget to change this!

Here are the rest of my settings:

After that you can click save.

And that's it! You've made a gif! Congrats! If you have any questions or want clarification feel free to message me :)

#gifmaking #tutorial #tutorials #my tutorial #mod post

25 notes · View notes

cushfuddled · 2 years

Note

Could I ask you for advice on making YouTube videos, please? I'm thinking of making one, but I have no experience WHATSOEVER on it (and I mean, literally two days ago I googled a tutorial for editing videos to find out the name of main video editing software, I basically just entered kindergarten). So the broadest, most seemingly obvious advice would help immensely. I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. I'm still trying to figure out if you can make a video without talking.

HIYA!

Yes, you can definitely make a video without talking. I don't watch a lot of those vids, but there are plenty of people who use text-to-speech software rather than their real voices (some text-to-speech programs have gotten really good). You can also hire someone to read your script for you...If anyone has a site to recommend (where you can hire readers), please reply!

I've heard good things about HitFilm Express. It works a lot like Premiere, and there's a free version available. You can also use whichever free movie program comes with your computer or phone, though! I know of a YouTuber with over a million subs who edits his videos entirely on his phone.

I use yt5s to download YouTube videos. I download animated shows and movies from this version of KimCartoon and download live action stuff from sites like the Pirate Bay. Make sure to install a VPN before torrenting anything, btw. Last year I got an email from my internet provider like "we noticed you illegally downloaded a film :3" and BOY did THAT light my ass on fire to hide my IP. I currently use NordVPN, but there are probably faster ones out there lol.

If you go to the YouTube Studio tab on YT, then the "audio library" page listed on the left sidebar, YouTube gives you a great selection of no-copyright music.

I don't know what type of videos you want to make, but if you're interested in making review-style content, I've noticed that videos that focus on a specific topic tend to do better for small channels than broad reviews (example: "How A Snake Ruined Star Wars" performs better than "Rise of Skywalker Review"). In that situation you can use the snake as a vehicle to talk about the whole film, but a narrower premise tends to get more clicks these days. That, or titles like "In Defense of The Rise of Skywalker" or "The Rise of Skywalker Sucked" would still fare better than "Rise of Skywalker Review."

It's true: negative reviews perform better than positive reviews. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Do what you will with this information.

The algorithm will sometimes bury your video if your title or thumbnail contains words from this list. I've had one of my videos shadowbanned because I used the word "abuse" in the thumbnail. Some people will tell you that you should avoid swearing within the first minute of your video or so (because the bots will pick up on the bad language and restrict your video)...I've never tested this out, but. Better safe than sorry I guess.

Don't worry about monetization for a while, probably? You have to reach a certain amount of watch-time before you qualify for that program. If you do want to make sure your videos are monetizable later, though...use non-copyrighted music, and cut your clips so they're under ten seconds each. Copyrighted music needs to be under eight seconds to evade the bots. YMS explains this in the first couple minutes of this video: [x]

Don't put pressure on yourself to make a popular channel right out of the gate. Sometimes people do get a lot of attention right away, but most people don't start to get real traffic for at least a year? So yeah. Try to make whatever content you want to make and not worry too much about the numbers.

#hope this helps! :D <33

12 notes · View notes

fraberry-stroobcake · 10 months

Note

hey the link to the zine in that post is broken for me, do you perhaps have another one because im really interested in it

hi anon! hmm… i would really appreciate if you dm’ed me and with a pic/description of what happens when you press on the original link….(if you were comfortable with that, if not you could do another anon ask!) i think it worked for me before, i’ll check again after this, but i wonder why that is!!

but yes… i’ll try to put a link directly to the pdf, although-!! All credit goes to sky_zine group currently under the name “Memory Sky Zine ✧ Sky: children of the light”. They’re currently only on vkontakte to my knowledge, but since they had plans to expand with more artists for their future projects ,,👀 i wonder if they’ll make an account on tumblr too! cause uhhh yeah i sure hope they will :3

but anyways if it still doesn’t work even like this, this might be a ‘time-to-use-vpn-moment’ to see if that does anything for you :[ I’ll try to ask the organisers if i can upload the pdf file on here with their permission, but i’m not even sure if it would be small enough…

if anyone knows enough about this stuff to help then pls reply to this/message me!

have a good day anon 🌻 hope this helped!

https://vk.com/doc169089215_668959457?hash=CWZE8yZSqii9cwguVBVI6nezpqkevPkHzjx0VGVrQyL&dl=yNvOP7SEy6LEZVIrlm3OHuQ5zMka8z9iiKNpABbE3Ko&api=1&no_preview=1&module=feed

#frabask #sorry this was basically just me rambling a lot :c #but i do really hope that the links actually work #if you need to use vpn to access these that’s very strange…i think my friend was able to open it without a problem..#:((( hope i figure this out cause these guys definitely deserve love: it’s their #it’s their THIRD sky zine!!!!! insanely talented people!!

0 notes

softluci · 3 years

Note

hello yes can i just say i l o v e d your gen z hcs and may i acquire more

for starters, i am not religious, but i am PRAYING you don’t think i was ignoring your ask. i’ve been thinking about it since i got it, it’s just that i’m a college student with worms for brains, so hopefully you understand. this is something that i’ve had on my mind for a long time [i’ve been at this on and off for months], and it most definitely can be associated with/attributed to gen z.

for a fleeting, wonderful period of time, there was a trend on tiktok that went, “buss it, buss it…” are you familiar?

that should be enough of a summary, right? ah—for future reference, “o7” is like a saluting emote, for anyone who might not know. reader is g/n as usual, enjoy!

[a/n: so because this is so long, this part is going to be, like, the lore, and then the actual headcanons will be right here]

trendy

the two things most corrosive to the human spirit are easily named—capitalism and boredom. while it would be easier and less taxing to explain the former, the latter was the problem at hand. it’s not that there was nothing to do in the devildom—quite the opposite, actually—it was just that you wanted some time to yourself every now and again. the trouble with trying to take time for yourself in a completely new location, the residents of which are always enamored with you in one way or another, is that there isn’t anything to do. the house was full of adventures for you to take—the trap door under the rug in the library, the other trap door under the dining room table, the small door behind the couch in the living room, and whatever other poorly hidden doors your seven roommates thought you didn’t know about.

trouble was, you didn’t want to leave your room. you, intelligent creature that you are, knew that the chances of you running into mammon or satan or beel or asmo were all too high, and even higher were the chances of you agreeing to spend time with them if they asked, and you knew they would. what were you to do?

you stared at your ceiling from your bed, d.d.d. resting on your stomach as you let your mind wander. your d.d.d. was full of things for you to do, the devildom’s ethernet at your fingertips, but you weren’t interested in finding new things right now. you wanted something familiar, like—like your phone.

what was the point of lucifer taking your phone, anyway? it’s not like you could use it—being here rendered it a useless brick of glass and metal, so it wouldn’t have been a big deal if you still had it. it was funny, though, that you couldn’t use your actual phone when it was still possible to access the human internet from down here.

at least, you assumed so.

how else would levi be able to keep up with his human idols, get tickets for their shows—the works, you know? luckily, you were fully capable of asking.

d.d.d. now in your hand, you rolled onto your stomach and found your messages with levi, nails clacking against the glass as you tried to reach him.

hey, you texted, can you help me with something?

his reply came faster than you expected: ?? what do you need

how do i access human websites and apps, you asked, rolling onto your side. you know how to, right?

lololol, it’s not possible :p

a grunt, more aggravated than you’d care to admit, escaped from the back of your throat.

don’t lie.

a few minutes passed with no response, and you wondered if you were too harsh.

“he’s a sensitive guy,” you mumbled, inhaling deeply. “i probably came on too strong or something.”

just as you started typing out an apology and a, “forget i ever said anything,” you got a response.

a vpn and a proxy site.

a smile crept onto your face as air came out of your nose, the closest thing to a laugh you could muster.

can you set it up for me?

after another few minutes of no response, you sit up, wondering how you could’ve possibly fucked up a second time, your d.d.d. buzzed.

levi sent you a file and a link, with a host of instructions.

click on the file and it’ll take you to the vpn you need to download. don’t worry about bugs or anything, i made it myself.

you let out a low whistle, flopping onto your back once more.

“this guy gets up to more than i thought,” you said, eyebrows raised. “someone get this man some physical affection.”

you continued to read, growing more fond of him with each sentence.

once you install it, pick the country whose network you want access to. from there, you’ll have a list of that country’s most used applications available for you. again, don’t worry about bugs.

what’s the link for? you asked, excitement getting the better of you.

for when you download internet applications. it’s added security, paste the link in before you search anything or you’ll trigger the firewall alarm.

you blinked.

you’ll trigger the what?

i’ll trigger the fucking What?

levi’s response was the fastest one yet: the Fucking Firewall Alarm. barbatos’ design. he has no idea i know how to bypass it. just do what i said. don’t try to solve any potential issues on your own, come to me for everything.

roger that o7, you replied, thanks levi ^_^

yeah, yeah. come to my room for a hxh binge tomorrow night.

you snorted. what a fucking nerd—in the greatest way possible.

of course bestie :] ily

ily2 normie -_-

in his room, unbeknownst to you, levi felt like he made a mistake of some kind. it’s not that he didn’t trust you, it’s just that you had a tendency to end up in undesirable situations, even if it wasn’t always on purpose. he was probably just worried over nothing, or so he tried to tell himself, but whatever. this isn’t even about him.

you sat up once more, this time leaning against your pillows as you started setting everything up. everything went so quickly that you barely wondered if all of this—subverting hell’s firewall, personally designed by a man eerily similar to a 2D crush from when you were in middle school—was worth accessing a few silly apps from the human world.

a few minutes later, your d.d.d. now a much, much cooler copy of your phone, any and all thoughts of regret and hesitation were absent from your mind.

your first order of business on your upgraded d.d.d. was logging into your tiktok account, however surprising it was that you even remembered the password. you put your headphones in and adjusted your volume, going back into the dumpster fire that is your for-you page with open arms.

after around half an hour of stifled laughter and small, offended gasps from being targeted by the algorithm, you came across a rare dancing video. the person on your screen was in casual clothes, making minor, silly dance movements as the music dwindled, only for them to drop into a squat in time with the music, suddenly dolled up. you shot forward, taken aback by their transformation and by their dancing post beat drop. did you watch it on a loop for a few minutes? well, that’s nobody’s business but yours. you clicked on the sound in hopes of finding similar videos, and much to your relief, there were plenty. about ten videos in, a smile still on your face, you got an idea.

you slipped your headphones out, arbitrarily looking around your room, before whispering to yourself, “i could—i could do that. i could totally do that.”

and you were right. you had nice clothes and makeup from various shopping occasions with asmo. your room had led strips, courtesy of levi ordering the wrong ones and being so kind as to give them to you. you could do it.

levi was the only person you’d spoken to since you retreated to your room a few hours ago, and the lights have been off the entire time, which meant that if you worked quietly enough, everyone else had reason enough to assume you were asleep. good! how could you possibly explain what you were doing getting all dolled up at, like, 11:00 on a wednesday night? you couldn’t, even a little bit—not in a way that convinced anyone, anyway.

come midnight, you were sitting cross legged on your bed, watching your final product. not to be vain or anything, but you were looking very respectfully at yourself. since when could you move like that, anyway? the wonders of being alone, you supposed.

you didn’t post it publicly, electing to save it as a draft just so it would save to your d.d.d. maybe you’d post it once you were back in the human world, when your friends wouldn’t swarm your comments asking where the fuck you were.

yeah, lucifer told you, “everything was taken care of,” but regardless of whether or not you believed him, you knew it wasn’t a good idea to risk finding out if he missed something.

boredom creeping up on you again, you elected to go through the messages on your d.d.d. it would be better to make yourself laugh before you were fully bored again, right? you stood up and stretched, opening the group text with the adults. luke doesn’t know about it; he thinks the one with everyone is the main one, and everyone lets him think that so he feels included.

walking around your room in small circles, you scrolled up to the older conversations and read through them, rolling your eyes and chuckling to yourself. very rarely did they talk about anything of importance. it was mostly diavolo, barbatos, and simeon making quips and jokes at lucifer’s expense for everyone to see. it was gold in its purest form.

you contemplated sending one of the many cursed things sitting in your camera roll, just to keep them on their toes, but just after opening your gallery, you resigned not to, figuring it would be best to leave him alone.

you stretched again, the hold on your d.d.d. a bit looser this time. it nearly slipped out of your hands, but you caught it, tossing it onto your bed. as soon as you resigned to start getting ready for bed, you turned back around and picked it up.

there was no rhyme or reason to your actions; if someone in that moment were to ask you why you did it, you would’ve said, “just ‘cause.”

human intuition is a wonderful thing.

your d.d.d. was still on, still open to the group chat. you’d sent something, evidently a second ago, as indicated by the time stamp. the thumbnail was of you, in casual clothing—the casual clothing you were wearing before you got dolled up, actually. huh.

huh.

the weight of your mistake came crashing down on you in full force, a chill sinking into your skin and running up your spine.

you were suddenly acutely aware of the concept of time, how it was of the essence and you had absolutely none to waste.

what were you to do? it wouldn’t be long before your favorite person saw it. you had to do something.

you could say nothing. you could tell the truth and say it was an accident and that you were embarrassed, but that was even worse than saying nothing because it meant you were set to be the target of teasing you didn’t even wanna try to imagine. you could say it was an accident and be confident about it, telling them, “enjoy!” but that was a dangerous game to play, and you knew it.

well, i do admire you for taking time to think, but, unfortunately, there was a checkmark next to your message. oh, a number as well—eleven. you just can’t catch a break. what were they all doing up at this time, anyway? it was a school night🤨.

#FUCK #this took FOREVER im so glad im done #one day i'm gonna know how to write consistently i promise #i hope u enjoy!#obey me headcanons #obey me imagines #obey me!#obey me #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me levi #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmo #obey me asmodeus #obey me beel #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphie #obey me belphegor

93 notes · View notes

coolfire333 · 3 years

Text

Hi guys!! I’m so glad to be back, it’s been a while!

Basically my blog up and vanished because staff/support terminated me. I didn’t mean to go anywhere and this really pissed me off but I’m back now and I don’t intend to leave tumblr anytime soon.

I still have no email explaining why I got the boot in the first place and I never got a warning, nothing was flagged either, so I don’t know if I’ll ever know why. But I have returned :)

Getting this problem fixed took literally three weeks and probably over 50 emails, so I’m gonna tell you exactly what I did in case that this helps somebody else with the same problem.

It’s hard to find suggestions as to what to do if your blog gets terminated, and idk what was the thing I did that finally worked but here’s all that I tried in order. Again, I’m not saying that one of these things is gonna be the magic cure-all, but I’m listing everything just in case:

1. Send in a ticket using support’s form. I made sure to type in my blog name, my email address that I use for my blog, my IP address (you can google “what’s my IP” to find this”), and I also attached screenshots of the termination page.

If they sent you an email about your termination make sure to attach it if possible, if you’re unlucky like me and this came out of the blue then just try the above. Make sure to say that you think the termination was a mistake because you didn’t violate any guidelines.

Also be polite, I know this situation can panic you but make sure to be nice to support. Vent to somebody else if you need to but you’re essentially at the mercy of support so try not to piss them off, put on your politest face possible and just try to sound formal and friendly. Having to beg for mercy sucks but saying please goes a long way.

2. Check your inbox. You will likely get one of two cookie-cutter response auto emails:

“Hey there,

Thanks for taking the time to write in to Tumblr! Your request has been received and is being reviewed by our support staff. We'll respond as soon as we can. :^)

Please only reply to the email chain we started, rather than creating new emails or new requests for the same issue. That will help us keep the conversation in one place within our system, and speed up the process of resolving the issue.”

THIS IS THE GOOD EMAIL. Remember this for later. You also could get this response:

“Hey there,

We got your email. We’re on the case and will respond as quickly as we can.

What should I do now? If you didn’t already, send the permalink of the post you’re reporting. Just reply to this email so everything stays together. Don’t start a new chain or send a new report because those will be routed to the end of the queue.

And please don’t ask your friends to report the same issue. We know they love you, but they’ll clog up our system and make it harder for us to respond quickly.

What if I need help right away? If things have gotten totally out of hand—like someone is threatening physical violence—you should report your concern in detail to the appropriate law enforcement organization.

Best, Tumblr”

The first message with the :^) face is the one you want to get. Whenever I got the second response, I never received a reply at all from tumblr.

Send a ticket once a day for about a week, I was finally able to get a response when sending emails between 12 noon and 3 pm (eastern time). Reply to old ticket emails as well as sending new tickets once a day.

3. If you haven’t received a reply from someone listed under an actual name after a week of ticket sending and email replying, your email might be blocked. Especially if you are never getting the auto-reply with the :^) but are instead getting the second response.

This seemed to be the case with me, I don��t know for sure if it’s a blocked email but I literally could not get a hold of them with that email in particular even using a VPN so I assume I was blocked from sending mail with that email address.

Try using another email account to send the tickets but make sure to mention the email address tied to your blog. Do this until you find an email that gets the :^) messages.

Sometimes they won’t respond to another address either even if you get the correct :^) message. So then you can do this trick: so my gmail address is essentially in the form of “john.smith”, and when you remove the “.” between the names, tumblr will treat it as a separate email but the messages will go to my “john.smith” inbox.

Idk if this will work for non-gmail addresses but removing the period in my address when sending in tickets is the only thing that ever got me a response from support. This might also work by adding a period in your address name if you don’t already have one, but I haven’t tested it.

Downside is that if your blog email address is blocked from sending tickets, you will not be able to reply and also can’t reply using the non-period alias in any tickets you get back with a reply, so make sure to say in the ticket that you cannot email tumblr from your primary email address and ask that they unblock it (just in case)

You then might get a response from a real person (still not totally sure?) from support asking you to send another ticket via the email tied to your blog. Explain to them that your email is blocked from replying and that you haven’t been able to get a response in x number of weeks. They might just keep telling you to wait, or tell you that you need to use your blog email regardless.

4. Try calling their offices. I found a phone number online. It went straight to voicemail so I only used it once, never got a reply, but again this is all that I did so try this just in case.

5. The last thing that I did was I emailed Automattic, the parent company of tumblr. They have a support form you can use. Literally list everything that you did, how long you’ve been waiting, and essentially beg them to be let back in (but also threaten not to use their services again if you are kept terminated).

They might say to email support if you’re having a tumblr related issue. Don’t lose your head on this, yes it’s annoying but just reply back and say that you haven’t been able to send tickets to support.

I sent Automattic 1 original response ticket email yesterday and one reply today, and without any further ado I was back. I don’t know if this was because of the Automattic emails or if one of my earlier tickets finally got through, but this is what happened.

#talking #text post #long post

18 notes · View notes

peter-parkers-passport · 3 years

Text

Flower Child (Peter Parker x ofc)

Chapter 11: Just a Nobody

I’m really sorry I haven’t been consistent in updating on this platform, I think I’ll just mass update on here and catch up to speed? Idk, it’s a lot and again, I’m sorry. I’m trying to find inspiration to write!

warnings: Peter being rude, angst, depictions of anxiety… sorry 😬, mentions of death

The pair of them didn’t leave the greenhouse until midnight that night. Papers had been scattered around a workbench in the greenhouse under a single lamplight, covered in formulas that had been scratched and edited past legibility. Lila and Peter made an incredible team, much to their surprise, and within just a few short hours, a new webbing formula had been made.

Peter also walked her home, despite Lila reassuring him that he didn’t have to. He merely brushed off her attempts and bid her goodnight at her door. And despite the crazy events, like her almost dying, she went to bed with a smile on her face. Her crush was a superhero, how could she not?

When she went to school the next day, Lila was tired but cheerful. A light kind of air sat in her chest and put her in a good mood, even with the whispers of what happened the day before following her to her locker. She supposed the feeling of falling in an elevator made things like school more enjoyable since they were a part of living, but she attributed her happiness mostly to the two boys who walked quickly over to her locker as soon as they saw her.

“Hey, Lila,” Peter said, lips twitching in a nervous smile.

“Hey, guys, what’s-?”

“So you know?” Both Lila and Peter looked to Ned, whose expression was unreadable. “About-“ His voice lowered into a whisper, “-Peter’s sticky situation?”

A patch of red grew on the boy in question’s face, and he sent an exasperated stare his friend’s way. “Dude, come on, at least think of a better code name.”

“So you know?” Ned asked Lila again, to which she nodded apprehensively. Her eyes flickered to Peter, who offered an apologetic shrug. When she looked back to Ned again, he looked relieved. “Finally. I’ve really needed this, I didn’t know how much longer I could keep it a secret-“

“Ned,” Peter said, “You found out last week.”

“- I thought I was gonna blow it, but I didn’t. And now I can talk to you about how totally amazing this is.” Ned inhaled deeply, launching into a slew of questions. “So how did you know it was him? Are you psychic? Did you psychically connect to Peter, and that’s how he saved your life? Do you have, like, a spider-link now?”

“N-No, it wasn’t anything like that,” Lila answered him, Peter giving her a thankful look that she interrupted Ned’s questioning. She tucked her hair behind her ear before continuing, “Peter disappearing the night before, y-you having the Ch-Chitauri core, and - and the Stark Internship. Just… a lot of it d-didn’t add up.” Lila looked around them to see Michelle walk through the front doors. “Look, I’d b-better go before MJ gets suspicious but I’ll see you guys for fourth.”

Peter and Ned said their goodbyes while Lila walked down the hallway to her friend. Before she could reach MJ, however, Lila was stopped by Betty Brant, who had a fiercely determined look on her face. “Lila,” she practically addressed, her tone was so formal.

“B-Betty,” Lila swallowed, raising her eyebrows in surprise. “Wh-What’s up?”

“Midtown is running a story on the survivors of the almost-tragic Washington Monument scare yesterday. I need to know that you’ll be available for lunch to answer a few questions with the rest of your team. I would do it now, but I don’t have my co-host.” The last sentence ended with a note of bitterness, and Lila tilted her head in concern.

“Oh n-no, where’s - where’s Jason?”

Betty rolled her eyes, “His mom called him out of first period for some stupid dentist appointment and wouldn’t cancel. I’ve told him time and time again that his mom doesn’t understand how brutally competitive journalism can get in the age of technology.” Her eyes narrowed at the apparently sour thought. “Like, she doesn’t even know how embarrassing it was to see Principal Morita’s fall after the floors were waxed with new wax on Flash’s Snapchat story first. That should’ve been our story, but no, Jason had strep throat.” Her tone grew mocking and she put air quotes around “strep throat”. There was a beat of silence, and then, “Anyways, so I’ll see you at lunch?”

At this point, Lila had been daydreaming of a way to get out of the heated one-sided argument. “Sure.”

Satisfied, Betty nodded. “Good. And don’t talk to anyone else about what happened.” She strode away, leaving Lila feeling slightly confused as she walked over to where MJ was standing, watching the whole interaction.

*****

It didn’t go unnoticed that Lila was becoming fast friends with Peter and Ned. Soon enough, in the span of the next two days, they popped up nearly everywhere in her daily life. For some, it was a welcome addition to Lila’s friend count (now up to three). For others, it was a topic of slight confusion.

“I’m not, like, unhappy for you or anything,” Sophie commented one evening in the flower shop. She was watching Peter and Ned leave through the front doors, the cooler air from the outside falling at their feet. “I just didn’t know you were so close.”

Lila and the boys had just brought over some chemicals they’d nicked from school, and finally perfected the stronger webbing for Peter. It was all discreetly put away in a box tucked underneath spare gardening supplies. The box in question was placed in a corner, out of sight and hopefully out of anyone else’s minds that weren’t Peter’s, Lila’s, or Ned’s.

The door had shut by the time Lila turned back to Sophie, a light blush on her cheeks. “Falling in an e-elevator is a surprisingly easy way to m-make friends.” The flicker of suspicion in Sophie’s eyes disappeared almost immediately at Lila’s reply, and for a moment, Lila had the gut-twisting sensation of guilt. It was confusing: she wasn’t actually lying to Sophie, but she was hiding the truth. Plummeting to her death with Ned by her side did craft a strong foundation of friendship at a remarkably fast rate. And being one of about four people who knew Peter’s secret identity also warranted spending more time together than what was considered normal. Only, she couldn’t tell anyone that last part.

Lila hated that her cover story for spending time around the two boys was her near-death experience, but even she couldn’t deny its effectiveness. Sophie stopped asking questions after her comment, and soon started addressing them with the same familiarity as she would Michelle or her dad.

Michelle, whose skepticism came as easy as breathing, wasn’t as easy to persuade. MJ knew Ned was in the elevator with Lila, and her interest in them hanging out didn’t extend farther than a simple statement of, “Ned needs to download the free VPNs I sent you. I don’t want my network data accidentally getting monitored by the government because he’s using the WiFi at your shop.” Which was fine with Lila, Ned would be one less thing to worry about in regards to her most perceptive friend.

However, with Ned deemed not a problem, MJ’s wariness was focused on Peter. If she thought he was sketchy before, it was nothing compared to how she felt after he started to hang out with Lila. Michelle wasn’t much for holding a conversation with people she didn’t know, but the times where she did talk to Peter, it almost always was staged as interrogation. Lila felt sorry for Peter, for she knew MJ was intimidating, and too smart for her own good. She also knew that Michelle’s intention was a heavily-veiled protectiveness for her friend.

Ted Landry seemed to be the only person in Lila’s life who wasn’t suspicious of her new friends. In fact, he was completely clueless. Peter being around Lila more was merely a correlation to him personally checking on her the night she got back from D.C. The worst part was that Ted told Lila that the reason Peter was starting to be around her so much was because he had a crush on her.

“It just seems kind of obvious,” Ted said, ignoring the choking noises Lila emitted after hearing her dad’s thoughts. He merely patted her on the back as she tried to dislodge the granola that she accidentally sent down the wrong pipe. “I practically did the same thing with your mom, we became inseparable.”

Lila wished above all that her dad’s thoughts were the truth. But the brief look in Peter’s eyes that appeared whenever Liz walked by the three of them in the school’s hallways sent those thoughts crawling on all fours to the back of her mind.

*****

Over the next few days, Lila grew privy to the information Peter was gathering over the last week as Spider-Man. It all started with the bank robbers that accidentally decimated Delmar’s bodega, which Lila learned were capable of doing so with the acquisition of illegal weapons. Weapons that happened to have access to alien technology.

Peter and Ned explained that someone was stealing alien technology and fashioning weapons to distribute on the black market. Their target was Damage Control, whose existence was to be the clean-up crew of the Avengers.

“For lack of a better term,” Peter went on, fiddling with the screwdriver in his hand. That Wednesday evening, Peter had Ned and Lila over after he had perused the streets of Queens as Spider-Man. It was then the two boys filled Lila in on their mission. “But basically this department’s been confiscating all the alien tech and Ultron mess for the past eight years. And the helicarriers in Washington? They’re still working on that stuff.”

“And this guy in the wingsuit… the birdman?” Lila asked, trying to keep up with the nearly unbelievable tale.

A spark emitting from one of Peter’s web shooters had him diving back with his screwdriver. Ned, meanwhile, took the reigns. “We’re pretty sure he’s their leader. But they’ve got this stuff nearly on lockdown. Peter figures he must’ve been doing it from the beginning.”

Lila looked back over to Peter, “Do you know who he is? O-Or any kind of clue?”

The web shooter made a clicking noise that seemed to satisfy Peter. He turned away from his desk and set his eyes back on Lila. Shaking his head, he answered, “No, I’ve got no idea. And he got away with some of the stuff that was in the Damage Control trucks. Best guess, I’ll just have to catch them when they’re out selling this stuff again.” He paused, eyebrows furrowed in concentration. And after a moment, he added as an afterthought, “You didn’t happen to catch what Puth assigned for homework, did you? I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Peter, dinner’s on the table - Lila!” May poked her head inside Peter’s door. Lila whipped her head around to see her large grin, and heard Peter hastily slam his desk drawer shut to hide his web shooters. “I had no idea you were here!”

“Hi, May,” Lila smiled, a pale pink dusting her cheeks. “H-How are things?”

“Finer than wine, honey. I feel so bad, I would’ve made more food if I’d’ve known you guys were going to be here.” Her lips pursed briefly as an afterthought came to mind. “Actually, it might be better if you guys hit the road.”

Peter stared at his aunt exasperatedly, “Oh, c’mon May-“

“Uh-uh,” her expression was suddenly stern when her eyes fell on him, “If you’re going to ditch class, then you’re not going to have friends over.” She softened her gaze when she moved back over to Lila and Ned. “You guys need a ride home?”

Lila grabbed her backpack, eyeing Peter and feeling confused. Why would he ditch class? Peter’s eyes met hers before answering her with a jerk of the head to his desk, where the web shooters lay hidden.

“No,” Lila finally answered, brushing off Peter’s answer with a wave of dismay. “N-No, thanks. My neighborhood’s just f-five blocks over.”

*****

Betty Brant released her story on Thursday morning. Apparently Jason actually did have a pretty awful tooth infection, and wasn’t able to co-anchor her story until then. When Lila walked into school, the conversation, which had just begun to die down, picked right back up, and attention was back on the academic decathlon.

Everyone at Midtown pretty much knew of Lila and her inability to confidently socialize with peers, but that didn’t stop them from pointing at her while poorly concealing whispers. So she was left to navigate the crowded hallways alone, doing her best to ignore the eyes that followed her and the sounds of the news story reporting on her brush with death. One thing she did manage to catch was Jason saying, “Thankfully, no one was seriously injured, thanks to Spider-Man. Up next, the Spider mania is sweeping the school, how can you show your Spider spirit?”

And Jason wasn’t wrong. The talk of Spider-Man was re-invigorated at the school news’ story, and if they weren’t talking about the decathlon team, they were talking about Spider-Man. Some people wore shirts they bought from street vendors, and talked about how amazing he was. Flash was the biggest proponent of this, boasting about how Spider-Man made a harrowing rescue, pulling Flash out of harm’s way just in time, and giving him a fist bump right afterwards. All of which was untrue, and Charles and Abraham we’re glad to remind everyone around Flash of the fact.

Lila felt a deep sense of pride as she made her way down the stairs and past the mural. She knew Peter must’ve been at school, and hearing all of the positive thoughts everyone had on his secret identity. She could feel it in the air: pride. A sense of pride that one of New York’s own was a hero, a champion of Queens. Even Lila herself felt that pride, but for other reasons entirely.

She ran into Ned first, who was beaming at the television screen in the corner of the hall. The two of them shared a knowing smile, and the pair launched into a quiet conversation about it in the otherwise loud hallways. Ned spotted Peter ahead of the two of them, and pushed around the students in his way. He and Lila met Peter at the foot of the stairs, all three grinning from ear to ear.

“Dude, dude, dude, what is it like being famous when no one knows it’s you?” Ned asked.

Rather modestly, Peter smiled and gripped the straps of his backpack. “It’s crazy,” he whispered, looking around to make sure other people weren’t listening.

“Crazy,” Ned repeated, almost in awe. “Should we tell everyone?”

Peter still smiled, but his head tilted a little in confusion, “No.”

“Should I tell everyone?”

“No, dude, that’s not a good idea.”

Ned looked to Lila, “Lila could tell everyone.”

“I-I would not,” Lila said, briefly panicked. She felt better seeing Peter let out a breathy laugh. “Really, I w-wouldn’t do it.”

Ned sighed, his hopes dashed. “Well, come on, we’re gonna be late to class.”

Lila was prepared to bid them goodbye, since their classes were on opposite sides of the hallway, but Peter didn’t follow Ned. “I’m not going to class.”

Ned looked at Lila and looked back, apprehensive, “You're already in so much trouble for ditching the decathlon-“

“P-Peter, you can’t keep d-ditching school-“

“Would you listen? I figured it out, right?” Peter’s voice dropped to a whisper. “I’m going to see if my suit can go back to the deal I walked in on the night of Liz’s party and find out where those guys came from. Maybe they can lead me to the wing suit guy, and then I can catch him!”

“But we have a Spanish quiz,” Ned argued.

Peter looked at Ned with an expression that felt a little belittling. He was tired of arguing and clearly didn’t see why Ned and Lila would want him to stay in school. It was a kind of reckless determination that didn’t sit well with Lila at all. “Ned, I’m probably never going to come back here. Mr. Stark is moving the Avengers upstate. So, when I bring this guy in-“

“Dude,” All the excitement from the morning was gone from Ned. “You wanna be a high school dropout?”

“It wouldn’t be like that,” Peter assured him, even though that’s exactly what it sounded like.

“Ned’s right, Peter, you can’t - you can’t just skip school t-to fight crime. High school’s important-“

But Peter wasn’t listening. In fact, he started walking away. “I am so far beyond high school, right now.” And as he turned to a pair of doors that led to the exit, Principal Morita stood in his way.

“Ah, Mr. Parker,” he said, already walking back down the hallway. “Come with me, my office. Ned, Lila, get to class.”

*****

“Here, c’mon,” MJ pulled at Lila’s arm. The girls had a free period, and usually spent it in the library. Lila has fully planned on spending it pretending to do her homework when in actuality she was just going to worry about Peter.

Skipping school just wasn’t like him. Lila thought he was getting caught up in his situation. True, it was extraordinary beyond belief, and there was no way to tell how she would handle it, but she thought Peter had more grit than what he was showing. School was important, almost if not equally as important as the crime Peter fought in the afternoons.

And then there was the issue of Tony Stark, and Peter’s idea of where he stood. Peter had the mindset that he had to prove himself to Tony Stark in order to be fully accepted into a world he’d always dreamt of, but that made little sense to Lila. In her mind, Tony Stark already was accepting of Peter. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t have given Peter the suit.

Those were the thoughts Lila distracted herself with in her first two periods, anyway. She’d planned on delving further into her worry during her free time next period. That is, until MJ changed their plans. “And where are we going?” Lila asked, allowing herself to be steered by her taller friend.

“I’ve been sketching the kids in detention,” she answered, ”Lila, they’re the perfect inspiration: they basically all just sit and wonder if they’re lives are going to spiral out of control. Like first, it’s detention, next it’s prison. I mean, you can’t get that kind of raw panic anywhere else.”

“I’m slightly worried you seem so excited about this,” Lila muttered, filing into the classroom where detention was being held. Coach Wilson was already perched at the desk, the TV on the stand waiting to play the Captain America tape that was at the ready. Michelle sat at the edge of the classroom, and Lila sat with her, already pulling out her homework.

She thought she got a few odd stares from the one or two kids that were further in the room, since Lila had never been in any kind of trouble in her life. Even though her presence wasn’t mandatory, she was still unsettled at the thought of being so close to a trouble she had no interest in ever being a part of. She only felt slightly better when Peter walked through the door as the bell rang. He eyed her suspiciously, and seemingly answered his own question when his gaze slid over to Michelle, who was already sketching away.

Peter looked antsy. Sitting in his seat, Lila could see the tension in his shoulders as Coach Wilson lazily went over the rules of detention from his desk chair. He proceeded to play the clip of Captain America lecturing the kids in detention, but Lila could tell Peter wasn’t taking in a word of it. She was considering shooting him a text when suddenly he shot up and grabbed his backpack. He marched out of the room without another word.

After a moment’s hesitation, Lila made the decision to go after him. She told Michelle she’d be right back and hurried after her friend. When she caught up to him, he’d reached the row of lockers where he hid things and lifted it one-handed. Despite her worry, Lila watched him in awe, having to take a second to adjust to the fact that he did actually have super strength.

When the moment ended, her sense caught up to her. “Peter!” She called out, jogging the rest of the way up to him. He turned, impatience dotting across his features. “You can’t go.”

“Lila, I don’t have time-“

“But you do,” She insisted. “Y-You do have time. You can’t just - just leave.”

“Yes, I can,” Peter actually rolled his eyes. It stung Lila more than she thought it would. “Look, you don’t understand, I’ve gotta do this for Mr. Stark. Now, I’ve really gotta go.”

He tried to turn away, but in a bold move, Lila grabbed his arm, “T-Tony Stark is a c-certified genius, and even he stayed in school. Why can’t you?”

“Because when the Avengers move upstate, I’ve gotta be there. The best school I could have would be by learning from him. Who knows, maybe - maybe I’ll get a tutor or something-“

“P-Peter, you’re chasing a-approval from someone who already gave it to you. I mean - look at what y-you’ve already done. The whole school’s b-been talking about it for the entire w-week.”

“Lila,” irritation at still being in school was what made Peter grow short. Lila flinched at the tone. “You don’t get it. I can do so much more if he could just see it, that’s why I’ve gotta go.”

“You do so much, Peter. You - you saved my life twice-“

Peter snapped, “Lila, stop. I’ve made up my mind. I can’t just be Peter Parker anymore, you know? I finally have a chance to prove that I’m so much more than just a nobody now. Because while that might be fine for you, it’s not for me.” The words left his mouth harsh and bitter before his mind could even keep up. Peter didn’t even realize what he’d said until he watched Lila take a step back.

White hot anger burned her skin and flushed her face. Hurt came quickly after, and Lila blinked furiously to stop the tears from rushing to the surface. She released a short breath and made eye contact with Peter. He felt bad, she could tell, but he didn’t offer any kind of apology.

So much for being friends.

“You w-wonder what that life is like, Peter? Being an - an Avenger?” Her voice was quiet, more quiet than normal, but the emotion seemed to amplify it down the empty hallways. “I’ll t-tell you. It’s staring d-down at people who are dead for the sole r-reason that pure evil just likes it that way. It’s being unable to s-save the people you love most, and l-living with that when all is said and - and done.”

“Lila, I-“

She angrily brushed the lone tear away that managed to escape. “You wanna hear wh-what I think? I think that if - if Tony Stark wanted you to b-be like him, he would’ve given you an I-Iron Man suit. Instead he gave you the Spider-Man suit. But what do I know, r-right? I’m just a nobody.” She gave Peter, the boy who broke her heart, one last look. “Good luck out there.”

And she turned around, walking away from Peter Parker with a few tears falling down her face.

#peter parker #spider-man #tom holland #mcu x ofc #peter parker x reader #peter parker fic #spiderman x ofc #spiderman homecoming #spiderman #peter parker x ofc #marvel

4 notes · View notes

things2mustdo · 3 years

Link

In a previous article I discussed the possibilities of increasing your safety online by using measures such as encryption, VPN and Tor. Nonetheless I did not cover all possibilities and most importantly it was a practical discussion rather than a theoretical one. This article will be a theoretical dissection of online anonymity tools and their weaknesses.

Why do people get caught despite using Tor? Can anyone be truly anonymous online ?

This article will be a summary of the work of Tom Ritter, presented at DEFCON 21, the annual hacker conference. His video presentation can be viewed here and the printed version of his article here.

While doing a great Job, Tom’s work is heavy on tech jargon and might confuse laymen. So I will summarize his work and explain the strengths and weaknesses of modern anonymity tools. His work was published in 2013, but remains relevant today as well.

In his work Tom talks about 4 anonymity technologies : SSL, Tor, Remailers and Shared Mailboxes. Let’s discuss them one by one.

SSL

SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer and is a common online security standard used by the likes of Facebook and other major websites. The way SSL works is that it creates an encrypted tunnel of communication between 2 parties so that third parties cannot read the messages they are sending to each other. Despite being secure on paper, it can be circumvented rather easily. To understand how, first we must talk about metadata.

Metadata

Metadata is data that describes other data. For example, library cards which hold the name of the book, its publishing date and its location in the library is a form of metadata. Metadata is also used in IT.

An example of metadata is the EXIF file in photos. When you take a photo with a camera you not only register the photo, but usually your device also adds extra info such as the date the photo was taken, the GPS location, phone brand, etc. and stores it in the photo file.

Other form of metadata is not registered but can be inferred. For example, someone created a program that can discover which parts of Google maps you are looking at based on the size of map tiles you are downloading.

When you are using SSL you are unwillingly lending third parties metadata which can lead to your discovery, particularly the time the message was sent and the size of your messages.

This allows for attackers to do something called a correlation attack.

Correlation attacks are primarily of 2 types : Time-based attacks and Size-based attacks

Time-based attack

In order to perform a time-based attack a party sends a message in an encrypted stream, then it looks at who receives the message. Since SSL communication is instantaneous, you can easily infer who is behind the SSL stream. The third party sends a message at 15:59 and whoever happens to get the message right afterwards must be the person they are looking for.

This type of attack was used against the person who dumped Stratfor mailpools. The way it worked is that government analyzed the time he was logging in on the internet and noticed it coincided with the time the person they suspected logged on to a secret chat through Tor. Not only that, rumor has it the government cut electricity to his house at a certain hour and noticed that the user of the secret chat logged out at the same time. The coincidences were too much, so he got caught.

Size-based attack

In order to perform a size-based attack, the third party sends a file of an unusual size, and then whoever receives the file must be the person they are looking for. Since most people on Facebook send small messages to each other, one only needs to send a very large message and see who happens to receive a message of that size afterwards.

As you can see correlation attacks render you vulnerable if you use SSL as your only line of defense. The reason is because the Third Party can not see WHAT you are sending, but they know that you ARE sending something, WHEN you do it and HOW BIG is the file.

Ideally they should not even know you are communicating with anything at all. So, let’s see what other technologies have to offer.

Tor

Tor is a custom browser based on Firefox with extensions that works on the principle of connecting to a few nodes so that when you look at a website the only thing the website can see is the last node you traveled through and on the opposite side your ISP (Internet Service Provider ) can only see your first node, not the whole route.

This is already getting better. However it does not add that much anonymity since now third parties do not know WHO is communicating, but they can still see that it DOES happen, WHEN it happens and HOW BIG the size of messages are.

Not only that, but there are known vulnerabilities, particularly of 3 types.

You are viewing a website in the country you are in.

This allows advanced opponents calculate that it was YOU who was using Tor. It is difficult, but not impossible. This is bad news since a lot of people from US view websites stored in US. And so do dissidents from China or Iran.

Every single node you pass through is compromised

In my previous article I mentioned that the government can set up Tor nodes that they monitor. But to successfully pull an attack they would have to monitor EVERY node you go through.

This requires NWO level trickery, but again, we already have examples of this happening already with VPN agreements. Countries in the Anglosphere have an agreement to give away information regarding VPN usage by suspects from respective countries. This agreements is called Five Eyes. I wouldn’t be surprised if a similar thing is organized regarding Tor nodes.

Passive traffic analysis

Although not mentioned by Ritter in his presentation, it is common knowledge that an opponent with a lot of resources, mostly governments, could analyze the whole network and correlate patterns to discover who is viewing a certain website or communicating with someone.

To give an analogy, it would be like the police heavily patrolling every single street in a city and every single car , so that even if your car had fake plates they could notice patterns and discover its owner.

The problem is, this approach can create false positives, with a 10% chance of error, which is why these analyses are not accepted in court as proof. But you can rest sure if such an analysis points to you, you will be put under further investigation and it only gets worse from there.

So what can be used to further aid us ?

Remailers

Remailers are an interesting concept. The way they work is that people pool their mail messages on a server, after which some time passes and all mails are sent simultaneously at the same time.

This is supposed to protect from Time and Size based correlation attacks.

The problem here is that it still allows third parties to see that you ARE sending a message, WHEN you sent it and HOW BIG it was. But they can’t see the other end. For the receiver, he has the same problem. Third parties can’t know WHO he got the message from, but they can still see WHEN he receives it from the remailer and HOW BIG it is.

On top of that, for Remailers to work lots of people have to use them at the same time. Otherwise if there are few users, an enemy can still use size-based correlation attacks.

It’s hard to use size-based attacks when thousands of people are sending messages of various sizes, but if only three people at one time are using a Remailer, then it is very easy to do a size-based attack.

Shared mailbox

Shared mailboxes are the most out-of-the-box anonymous solution.

The way a shared mailbox works is that users share a mailbox. They cannot delete messages from it, but can only add encrypted messages to it. And when they want to check if they received a message they download all messages and use their key and try to decrypt the header of all of them and see if any of the messages belong to him.

It is a resource-tedious process, but it offers a great payoff. For the receiver this is great because when he downloads the whole mailbox third parties can’t know if he received a message, maybe he did, or maybe he didn’t. For the sender however, the equation stays the same as before.

This is for the moment the most powerful anonymity solution out there. However it has a few issues. In order to use alt.anonymous.message (the shared inbox) you need to have some degree of technical skill, and user inexperience leads to issues.

In order to be easier to use alt.anonymous.message allows the use of nymservers. Nymservers act as regular mail addresses, which when sent to, automatically post them to alt.anonymous.message .

There are however issues with AAM and Nymservers.

1. Poor network diversity

The number one issue is there are currently two main node operators: Zax and Dizzum, which are responsible for the trafficking of messages to alt.anonymous.message. If both were to retire or be arrested it would the death of alt.anonymous.message. As you can see, network diversity is horrible.

2. Poor encryption used on messages

Another issue is the type of encryption used. Some messages used the outdated MD5 encryption standard which is easy to crack.

Also, the title of messages are encrypted less strongly in order to be able to determine quickly which belong to you and which don’t. Subjects can be encrypted using either hsubs or esubs. Esubs is an older and stronger standard, but hsubs have grown in popularity in recent years.

3. Pattern analysis due to use of same subject line and same remailers

A lot of messages use the same subject over and over, people tend to reply to a particular subject. On top of that most people also usually use the same remailer over and over, you can start noticing communication patterns :

4. Custom Remailer command errors

There are different type of remailers. The old school one was called Type 1 and lives on in the protocol of Mixmaster. It allows a lot of customizing options for the header. The users often screwed up the name of the command, which ended in the title of a message.

For example if you write “X-No-Archive Hello Friend” it would turn into “Hello Friend” and the X-No-archive would be interpreted as a command to not archive. But if you wrote “no-archive-x Hello Friend” you messed up so the title would become “no-archive-x Hello Friend”. If you do this multiple times, you would be identified as a unique user since your titles would all contain “no-archive-x” or uncapitalized “x-no-archive” or whatever other combination of mispelled commands you use.

Since most people used the same commands over and over and did the same mistakes they became quickly identifiable as unique users.

5. Imperfect Remailers

There are different types of remailers. Currently there are two types of remailers in use, MixMaster and MixMinion. MixMinion has certain advantages over MixMaster. But both suffer from certain problems.

6. Nymservers which do not protect from size-based correlation attacks

Nymservers themselves have problems. Zax’s Nymserver is instantaneous which allows for size-based correlation attacks. However even Type 1 Nymservers (older ones) which are not always instantaneous still allow for size-based correlation attacks given a bit of perspicacity.

Therefore we identified main issues with AAM (alt.anonymous.message):

1) Giving users options allows for segregation and profiling 2) Some encryption is weak 3) It can be complicated to use and allows for beginner mistakes 4) Weak network diversity

Nonetheless, Ritter identified the most secure way of using AAM :

1) Use a strong passphrase and hsub 2) Use Type 3 PGP packet (Key Stretching) 3) Use Remailers 4) Do not use extra headers or options

The issue here is that if you do it properly you will still be part of a small community of people doing so (around 500 – 1500 people), which will make you looks suspicious and will cause the government to look closer into you and maybe add you to a database.

Solutions of the future

Pynchon gate

Pynchon Gate is a project meant to replace shared mailboxes. It uses Private Information Retrieval. It exposes less meta-data, scales better and resists flooding and size-based attacks. However it is currently work in progress

Improved Remailers

MixMinion is currently the best remailer protocol and as such should be used as a basis for future improvement. Planned improvements include things such as improving TLS settings and moving to a new packet format.

What is currently lacking

As of right now, what is lacking is some tech that could be used to anonymously share large files. AAM and such are low bandwidth, which means it can only be used to share small files like text messages.

A new service needs to be created to cover this niche. In the words of Tom Ritter :

But what I keep coming back to is the fact that we have no anonymity network that is high bandwidth, high latency. We have no anonymity network that would have let someone securely share the Collateral Murder video, without Wikileaks being their proxy. You can’t take a video of corruption or police brutality, and post it anonymously.

Now I hear you arguing with me in your heads: Use Tor and upload it to Youtube. No, youtube will take it down. Use Tor and upload it to MEGA, or some site that will fight fradulent takedown notices. Okay, but now you’re relying on the good graces of some third party. A third party that is known to host the video, and can be sued. Wikileaks was the last organization that was willing to take on that legal fight, and now they are no longer in the business of hosting content for normal people.

And you can say Hidden Service and I’ll point to size-based traffic analysis and confirmation attacks that come with a low-latency network, never mind Ralf-Phillip Weinmen’s amazing work the other month that really killed Hidden Services. We can go on and on like this, but I hope you’ll at least concede the point that what you are coming up with are work-arounds for a problem that we lack a good solution to.

Conclusions

As we can see true anonymity online is non-existent. At the very least, third parties can collect meta-data on you and use correlation attacks, when ideally they shouldn’t even know you are communicating at all. Moreover, even strong anonymity tools like Tor have shown to have known vulnerabilities.

However, what matters is not whether something is vulnerable in theory, but rather does it keep you safe in practice? And so far, the tools we have at our disposal are pretty powerful.

As I have mentioned in my previous article, using TailsOS off a flash stick in a public wi-fi area with no cameras + VPN/Tor seems to be the best solution for now.

The testament to the power of anonymity tools is that pedophile rings and drug dealers have managed to escape persecution by multiple world governments to this day using them.

And that’s what I will talk about in my next article. We will analyze the electronic operational security of pedophile rings and how one infamous one managed to escape unscathed after years of being searched. Stay tuned.

Read More: 12 Ways To Increase Your Anonymity And Security Online

#tor

3 notes · View notes

epic-potato-crisp · 4 years

Text

Intermission (AjinWeek2020/1)

Day 1: Favourite Character (Shimomura Izumi)

Note: Truthfully I felt bad choosing, as I have four favourite characters in Ajin (Kei, Kou, Izumi and Tosaki.) This OS focuses on Izumi however, she deserves light to shine. Enjoy! :)

…….

Career counseling goes a little like this.

“What would you like to do after school, Miss Tainaka? Where do you see yourself in a few years?”

“I don’t know.” Yoko pauses.

“Your grades are fine, although if you applied yourself more I’m sure you could produce even better scores. Looking at attendance-“

She drowns out the voice. She doesn’t even know if she’ll still be alive by then.

….

It’s cold and filthy. Everyone she meets is a stranger at best. She mistrusts, but she thinks it’s essential for survival. Locking her door. Taking up offers that guarantee freedom despite repulsing her inside out. There’s a price to pay for everything in life.

“Be wary, Yoko.” Her mother used to say, “Not everyone is your friend.”

She misses her. Sometimes, in the quiet hours of the morning, she imagines her voice.

She doesn’t cry.

….

Death is blinking machines and hospital sheets. Death is white curtains and the pungent smell of antiseptic. Death is talking to a figure by her bedside that knows her name and plays her a recording of her mother.

She’s heard about the famous last moments one experiences. The movie-reel flashbacks. A wish for forgiveness. Inner peace.

Instead, all she can think about, as she drifts off, warm and letting loose, is how futile her endeavors proved to be.

She tried hard to vanish.

Now she’ll die with an identity, after all.

….

Yoko resets and Yoko becomes Izumi. Izumi takes on her father’s last name, and ironically, that’s as close to her heritage as she ever got.

Shimomura Izumi has a one-bedroom apartment in Ueno and a work contract with the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. Shimomura Izumi has an immortal lifespan and a boss that holds her secret leverage against her. In theory.

In practice he buys her her first set of office clothes and essentials, and pays her a decent wage. She’s probably setting the bar low, she thinks. Not that she has much to compare too.

In practice they spend long hours together in what is almost companiable silence. A job that seems bleak and ordinary on the outside, and probably would be, if not for the horrendous documents she has to look at.

“Give that to me.” he says one evening, pulling a large, nausea-inducing stack of “Classified-Governmental” files from her desk. “I’m out of work, anyway.”

That’s a lie, and she knows it. But she’s not one to turn down a good offer.

“You may leave for today.”

….

They capture Nagai Kei. Twice. The first time, Izumi won’t speak about.

The second time, it’s not only him, but also Nakano Kou, another Ajin.

The second time, they’re already one foot in jail, hiding out in an old military building in the woods.

“You should move in here.” says Tosaki, nonchalantly, turning away from the window where he’s observing the daily training rounds much to Nagai’s chagrin, “It would be more efficient.”

“Perhaps.” Izumi says, retaining a neutral expression. She is better off keeping out of attachments.

A few days later, she moves her spare belongings. She likes the familiarity and quiet of her apartment. But she prefers not being alone.

…..

Days become a routine. They don’t end until past midnight.

There’s a new, worn-out couch in their pseudo-livingroom, courtesy of Hirasawa and Manabe and a location they won’t disclose.

Izumi lies down, sighing in bliss at the brief respite. Then, she picks up her accounting reports that glare at her accusingly from the side table.

“You’re going to fall asleep like this.” Tosaki objects when he comes in later, taking a seat at a table and throwing throwing her an amused glance.

“My rhythm works well into the night. There’s no reason for concern.” Izumi replies, writing small notes in the margins before angling for her calculator.

Tosaki scoffs, but bites back further comments.

When Izumi next comes to, the clock on the wall shows 4 am.

There is a pillow under her head and a light blanket thrown across her. Her documents have been neatly stacked on the nearest table.

She sighs, and, fighting the urge to roll over and sleep until morning, she heads to her bedroom, taking her work with her.

She finishes an hour later. Three hours later, she wakes up and makes Tosaki a cup of coffee he didn’t ask for.

…….

Ogura is the only one who partakes in her smoking habit. They’re outside the hideout, sitting on a bench. Despite the time of night, it’s still unbelievably warm. Izumi slips out of her sandals and touches the grass with bare feet. A bunch of cicadas scream in the background.

“Wonder what he’ll be up to if he ever grows tired of burning down the world.” She says, sighing and stares out into the pitch-black night infront of them. They’re arrived full-circle at one of their favourite topics.

“Satou’ll never get bored.” Ogura objects, squashing his cigarette against the wall before lighting a new one reflexively.

“He’s a gamer, isn’t he? And he’s already streaming on his website. He’ll want to stay hip and go with the crowd. Not gonna be long until he opens a Youtube gaming channel.”

Izumi stares at him, incredulously.

“He would. It’s all the rage in the States. He’d pick a fancy name, too. Like…killer-grandpa-606”

“Stop it.” Izumi says, choking on her next drag.

“Murderous-maniac-xoxo.”

“Killers-with-Hats.”

“That’s a good one.”

Her knowledge of pop-culture has steadily improved, mostly due to Nakano’s influence, but also Nagai’s- although she would never put him on the spot like that.

…………..

They’re not supposed to use the internet, as not to leave traces on websites, and they’re most certainly not supposed to have social media profiles. Izumi senses a loosing battle far into the first few weeks. Does she have evidence? No, she would tell Tosaki-san blankly. She only has a hint.

(She personally logs Nakano out of his youtube account on multiple occasions.)

Instead, she calculates and sends emails with attachments, and installs a VPN on every single device she can get her hands on. That’s more than she can do.

It’s more than she knew how to do, weeks prior. Adapt, overcome.

………….

The name is a fraud. There’s no Yukimura Hifumi – none, that she knows of, at least. But she’ll need a fake I.D. one day. They all will. It’s a little like a vacation they can’t take, she thinks, surveying country maps for places to flee to. “I have an aunt in Kyoto.” she says, one evening.

“And she can be considered trustworthy?”

“She has dementia.” Izumi says. And a house that reminds her of vacations spend with her mother. And a backyard where the neighbours’ cats frequent.

“We’ll consider it.”

….

Somedays, she finds it hard to stand up. Somedays, she finds it easy.

On every single day, she pushes herself regardless.

“Good morning, Kuro-chan.” she says, like every morning, and opens the window.

She’ll make this identity her own.

#ajin #ajinweek2020 #shimomura izumi #izumi shimomura #ajin demi human

20 notes · View notes

jovialyouthmusic · 4 years

Text

Kinky Cards

Many thanks to @speedyoperarascalparty for letting me on the list for Kinky Cards. If you’ve not read my fics, basically Bastien Lykel from TRR has a LI, Sophia Turner, who at the time of this piece lives with him in a suite at the Palace, and Liam is King. They have been together less than a year. Face claims are the smoking hot model Fabricio Zunino and model/singer Adeline Mocke

Word Count 4735

NSFW, obviously, no under 18s please

12. Be quiet. You wear a gag while your partner takes you. No talking back

Sophia lay awake, Bastien gently snoring beside her. Had she been tired enough, it would have been easy to drop into sleep, as the level of the noise he made was soothing, almost musical. She now found it difficult to sleep alone without his reassuring bulk and variable noises. They often drifted off with limbs entangled or spooning with an arm thrown over a hip or thigh.

But tonight her mind worked overtime. She cast back to her birthday, when he had taken her to a penthouse suite and made love to her until they were unable to continue any further. His birthday fast approached and she had no idea how to mark the occasion – apart from the very obvious promise of erotic delight. Their libidos matched well, and when one flagged the other would bring fresh inspiration, but over the last month or so they had settled into a comfortable pattern, and although she had no complaints, she thought perhaps a little spice might be in order for his birthday.

She had consulted Drake on what the Captain of the guard usually did to celebrate his birthday, and he had shrugged

‘Pretty much as any other celebration – either work through or keep to himself. He’s not really much for parties, as you know’

‘Does he like surprises?’

‘You know as well as I do he likes to plan things in advance, and the only time I saw him surprised was when he got home from hospital and the staff threw him a welcome home party.’ Sophia smiled

‘Yes that’s right – he tolerated it, although he did admit how tired he was at the time. I could maybe drop hints, let him know that I’m planning something but keep it a secret’

‘Good luck with that’ Drake grinned ‘If he wasn’t a King’s Guard he’d make a credible detective.’

So now she lay awake wondering what to do. She decided after a while that she needed to get up and do something rather than rack her brains in the dark. She slipped out of bed without waking her lover, and quietly went to the spare bedroom with her laptop.

She smiled softly, setting up her VPN and selecting private browsing. She wondered if Bastien would get past her deception. Elaborate plans trying to get him to go out for a meal wouldn’t work, she thought – but she could still surprise him in other ways. She smiled to herself as she selected a page in her browser and put an item in her virtual shopping basket. A little ground work, and Bastien would have a birthday he wouldn’t forget.

-------

Two days later, a small package arrived for her. Bastien looked it over curiously.

‘Did you order something, theá mou?’ he asked, holding it up in query. She smoothly took it out of his hand.

‘Well obviously – it has my name on it’ she said. He smiled knowingly

‘Is it birthday related?’

‘Maybe. A girl has to have some secrets, and it’s not all about you, you know’ She clutched the package to her chest and turned her back to go to the lounge. She placed it on the coffee table and went back to her cup of coffee. Bastien eyed it sitting slightly askew and off centre, which she knew would drive him crazy. He reached out toward it, but she tutted.

‘Don’t touch’ she said ‘I’ll open it when I feel like it.’

‘But…’ he complained, looking uncomfortable ‘it isn’t straight’

‘I know’ she smirked ‘and I’ll know if you touch it or try to move it’

‘Sophia…’ he said sternly, but she sat and sipped her coffee, immune to his admonishment.

‘You’re not scaring me you know’ she smiled ‘It will be worth the wait, I promise - but there will be consequences if I discover you’ve tampered with it’

------

The following few days were torture for Bastien. Every day as he walked through the room the package reproached him, both in its presence and its positioning A few times he reached out to it tentatively, but stopped himself.

‘What the hell is it?’ he muttered on one occasion, and jumped violently as Sophia entered the room clad only in a towel, hair wet.

‘No touching’ she admonished, and he looked up at her

‘I hope you’re only referring to the package’ he said hopefully

‘Follow me to the bedroom and find out’ she smiled

-------

At last the morning of his birthday dawned. He had not been able to work out if his lover was planning a surprise – his mind had been so thrown by the package that he’d not been able to think straight. Sophia rolled over in bed to face him, and put her hand softly on his cheek, moving close to kiss his lips.

‘Good morning my love’ she murmured ‘I hope today brings you your heart’s desire’

‘It already has’ he smiled ‘and as long as you stay close, it will continue to do so’ His hand ghosted over her side and she felt the heat of his body. She knew that he was ready for action – ready to take both of them to the edge of bliss and beyond, but she had plans. Reluctantly she pulled away to get out of bed. His face fell.

‘My goddess…’ he protested, having foreseen a day spent in bed with his lover.

‘Breakfast’ she said briskly ‘Up you get, my love’

------

Breakfast over, Bastien reached out over the table to take Sophia’s hand, and raised his eyebrows. She lowered her gaze and looked over to the coffee table. He gasped – he’d been so focussed on his lover he’d not noticed that the package was gone.

‘Where..’ he began, but Sophia rose from the table

‘Pack an overnight bag’ she said briskly ‘We’re going out when you’re ready’ He frowned but knew better than to ask questions. He wasn’t accustomed to not being in charge, and felt uneasy. He went to pack and went back into the lounge to find her waiting with her own bag. He narrowed his eyes – he had not noticed her putting anything aside. She was thoroughly prepared and he had noticed nothing – apart from that damned parcel. He looked again at the table where it had sat for the past several days. She smiled sweetly and reached out for his hand.

‘Come’ she said simply, and they left their suite to descend the stairs. She lead him out into the courtyard where Drake emerged from the Guards’ garage. He waved cheerily and approached them, holding his hand out. He grasped Bastien’s hand firmly and moved in to slap him on the back

‘Happy Birthday Bas’ he said ‘I understand you’re being whisked away’

‘Apparently’ Bastien replied drily. Drake waved to the nearest vehicle – an SUV, obviously recently valeted.

‘There’s a couple of things in the back from me and Riley and Liam’ he explained. Drake took the keys out of his back pocket, and he reached out for them – and gasped as Sophia took them instead. She had never driven him, and he had little idea of the competency of her driving skills.

‘Sophia?’ he exclaimed. Drake loaded their bags into the back of the car.

‘Don’t worry, Drake has given me a few driving lessons’ She said soothingly. Bastien felt the blood drain from his face, knowing how rough Drake was with the SUVs, which came back to the garages undented but caked in mud. She laid her hand gently on his arm.

‘Trust me, agápe mou’ she said softly ‘Would I do anything to endanger you?’ Reluctantly he shook his head, but he wasn’t entirely convinced. She climbed into the driving seat and he followed into the car, strapping himself into the passenger seat securely. She looked across at him. ‘It isn’t far, and if you’re really uncomfortable you can take over’ He grunted

‘Thankyou Sophia’ he said ‘I’ll make my best effort’ She started up the engine and fluffed the start, stalling the engine. He looked at her in alarm, and she broke into a wide grin.

‘I’m teasing, Bas’ she said, and with a roar of the engine, she started it up properly and they set off. They turned out onto the main road and made their way toward the mountain slopes. ‘We’re going to the cabin you took me to after the incident with Anton’ she said, before he guessed.

‘Good choice’ he said, trying hard to relax. She was doing well so far but he wasn’t looking forward to when the track grew narrower and bumpier. However, he soon realised he had nothing to fear, and it was he who got out of the car to open the gates to the final driveway. Soon they were parking outside the cabin overlooking the hill slopes that ran down to views of the palace grounds, and beyond that the capital and the sea. Bastien set about unloading the car. There was a large cool box and a bag with a couple of wrapped boxes inside as well as their overnight bags. Once they had deposited everything Sophia flung her arms around his neck and kissed him

‘Happy Birthday Bas’ she said ‘It looks like I succeeded in surprising you – am I right?’ He smiled, his hands wandering low to cup the soft globes of her buttocks.

‘You used a distraction technique that worked very well’ he said, pulling her close so she could feel his arousal ‘Was there anything in that package or was it a decoy?’

‘If you let go of me you can find out’ she murmured.

‘You really know how to press my buttons’ he conceded ‘I can’t resist – where is it?’

‘In the bag with the other presents’ she said, and turned to pick it up and hand it to him. He sat on the couch in the lounge and reached inside. There was an immaculately wrapped box that was most probably whiskey from the King, and a smaller package that was less well presented. He recognised Drake’s handwriting on the tag. The package that had intrigued and tormented him was there too. He was conflicted – which should he open first? Sophia noticed his hesitation and laughed. He looked at her and glowered slightly before taking the box from Liam in hand. He’d not give in to temptation – not just yet.

He pushed out his bottom lip as he reached into his jacket pocket for his penknife in order to open the package neatly and methodically. He had been right – the King had given him a very expensive single malt well aged whiskey. He gazed at it approvingly and set it down on the coffee table before taking Drake’s offering out. He opened it just as carefully, to discover that it had been well wrapped in the sense that there were several generous layers of paper in which nestled a small square box. He opened it to find a pair of cufflinks made of black onyx, engraved with his initials. He guessed that Riley had a hand in choosing them.

He looked up at Sophia as he held her package in his hand, waggling it at her with a stern expression.

‘I have a good mind to put this on the table and leave it there’ he said reprovingly.

‘I promise you’ll get more out of our stay if you open it’ Sophia assured him

‘Ha – so it’s not empty’ he said in triumph, and prised the flap open to reach inside to find a box wrapped in tissue paper, around the size of a deck of cards. Indeed, it was a deck of cards, and he raised his eyebrows as he read the wording on the packet. ‘Kinky Cards?’ He fixed Sophia with his gaze ‘Do we really need something like this – are you unsatisfied, my goddess?’ She quickly scooted over to him and squeezed his arm.

‘Of course not’ she said ‘But I wanted to do something special for today, something different’ He leafed through the pack, reading as he went. Mentally he ticked them off. As far as he was concerned, there was little new here - but he knew Sophia hadn’t as much experience as he.

‘Enough procrastinating – pick one and let’s see what comes up’ Sophia said tersely

‘Something has come up already’ he said drily, and Sophia pressed her hand to her face as he subtly indicated his groin. She took the box

‘Alright, I’ll pick first’ she said, and shuffled the cards before cutting them. She showed the card to Bastien. He cleared his throat and smiled. At last he was gaining control, getting back into his comfort zone. The card read Be quiet. You wear a gag while your partner takes you. No talking back.

Sophia drew a shuddering breath and he noticed the skin on her forearms pucker into goosebumps, her eyes blackening with lust. He took her hand and kissed it.

‘You will enjoy this, I think, theá mou’ he assured her ‘Come’ and he led her to the bedroom. Wordlessly they undressed, watching each other intently until they were both naked. His eyes swept over her from head to foot, playing over in his mind how he would challenge her in the moments to come. He took her hands in his and they sat on the edge of the bed together. She realised that it was not quite playtime yet, and she waited for him to speak again. He rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand before looking up to fix her gaze with his steely grey eyes.

‘Sophia, you know I have a lot of experience sexually speaking. I am happy to drop all my previous partners and keep myself only for you’ he started ‘This task may seem like a small thing, but it can lead to places I’m not sure you wish to go to. I have the utmost respect for you and will never do anything you’re not comfortable with’ Sophia nodded

‘I understand, agape mou’ she replied ‘I’m an adult and I’m ready to follow you’ He smiled faintly

‘Very well. As I said, this is a very small thing. You won’t be able – or allowed – to make a noise. You won’t be restricted in any other way – not bound or blindfolded or tasked to obey. You can move or touch me in any way you wish, and you can signal me to stop at any point – by tapping me sharply, three times in a row. Is that acceptable?’ Sophia nodded

‘Of course Bastien, I trust you completely’

‘In a moment I’ll ask you to find me something we can use as a gag’ the word made him harden a little, remembering for a moment the times he had used one on other lovers, then dismissed them, sticking only to the practicalities of his task. ‘There are two main ways one can use an improvised gag – I can either cover your mouth, which will make it a little harder to breathe, or you can have your mouth open so you can hold it between your teeth and bite down on it’ He saw her shiver slightly and her eyes blacken again ‘You’ll be able to breathe more easily, but you may produce a lot of saliva or your mouth may become dry. Find me something we can use, my love’ Sophia went to her bag and produced a couple of scarves. Bastien took them to examine.

‘Silk won’t do’ he said, running the first one between his fingers ‘It’s often spoken or written of by those who don’t know that a knot tied in silk can tighten or become difficult to loosen. This cotton scarf will do – how do you wish to wear it, Sophia? Over your mouth or between your teeth?’ Her voice was husky as she replied

‘Between my teeth’ she whispered. She cleared her throat ‘and what happens if I make a noise?’

‘That rather depends on what we’re doing at the time’ he said ‘I propose that I will make you wait longer for your release the more noise you make, if that’s agreeable. That also means you aren’t allowed to come unless I say you can – do you accept those conditions?’ Sophia nodded.

‘Yes - it sounds exciting’ she smiled. He caressed her hand again.

‘Sophia my goddess, I worship you’ he said ‘There is a certain power balance in this sort of play; remember, if you wish to stop you can tap me three times and I will obey instantly. You can warn me before then with a single tap before something you dislike escalates. Can you see what power you have over me? This is not a one way thing, I’m responsible for your wellbeing as your breath will be slightly restricted and you may not notice the warning signs’ He stood beside her as she sat on the edge of the bed. ‘Open your mouth’ he said softly, and he placed the scarf between her teeth, bidding her bite down on it. He took the scarf around to the back of her head, lifting her golden hair and looping it around once more before tying it securely. He checked by running his finger between the scarf and her cheek to make sure it wasn’t too tight. It might loosen anyway due to its positioning, but would stay in place as she held it in her mouth.

‘Are you comfortable my love?’ he asked, and she nodded. He chuckled ‘Last chance to make a noise. Speak, and see how it works’ She made a muffled sound, incomprehensible to him and he smiled as surprise filled her eyes. He guided her so that they lay on the bed together, facing each other. He ran his hand over her side, gossamer light. His hands were smooth, not the hands of a working man – his work involved his mind and his wit. His nails were neat and unsnagged, and he curled his fingers to gently scrape against her skin. She reached out too, to feel the roughness of his neat beard – actually surprisingly soft due to the products he used.

She gazed into his eyes, unable to kiss him, and he rolled her over onto her back so he could roam her soft curves with fingers and mouth. He grazed over her breastbone with his lips until he reached the hardening peak of her nipple, placing his mouth over her areola and gently swirling his tongue around it. He felt her breath catch and she tensed a little but remained silent. He was sure that normally she would let out a little moan at this. He pulled gently away, suction holding her nipple until he let to go with a soft pop, rewarded by her back arching a little and a snort of breath through her nostrils. He turned his attention to her other breast, this time allowing his teeth to softly nip, earning him a warning tap on the top of his head. He had only wanted to test her, knowing already that her nipples were sensitive and she preferred him to be gentle in that area. She was breathing softly but audibly though her nose, more relaxed for the moment. He pulled his lips over his teeth and again released her breast with a pop, and trailed his open mouth down to her navel, knowing his breath would be hot on her skin.

He allowed one of his palms to rest on her inner thigh as he swirled his tongue around her navel, and moved lower over her belly. He increased the weight of his hand and felt her respond by opening her thighs a little for him with a breathy sigh. He pressed his lips to the flesh below her navel, approaching the fair curled hair that covered her mound. She didn’t shave or wax her pubic hair – he thought it unnecessary and had convinced her that he was happy for her to remain natural for him. He also did not shave or wax, but trimmed so he was neat and tidy. Her wiry blonde curls harboured her natural aroma, which he relished more than perfume. He inhaled deeply and stroked his palm over her thigh, hearing her make a little snort through her nose but still not vocalising.

‘Very good, my sweet’ he murmured ‘Remember, any sound and I make you wait’ He felt her tap him on the head and chuckled. He repositioned himself over her, one knee between her thighs, his erection hanging heavy and brushing her belly as he gazed down at her. He placed his other knee between her legs and nudged her thighs a little wider, letting his member trace a line over her mound and softly rest on her outer lips. Her eyes widened and she let out a small whimper. He smiled in triumph. ‘Don’t worry my darling, your release is a long way away yet’ he teased, pausing for a moment before swinging his heavy length clear of her body so she squirmed and pushed her hips up at him, but he stayed out of reach. She made a snort of exasperation – sailing close to the wind as she wasn’t vocalising, but letting him know with her breath just how she felt. He cocked his head to the side, wondering how much that bent the rules. He decided to let it slide for now and bent to his task again.

Next he moved down the bed to bring his head between her thighs, feeling her quiver as he allowed his breath to flow over her delicate rose like parts. He took his time simply looking and breathing – the inhale for him, for her aroma, the exhale for her, to build the expectation that he would eventually bring his lips or tongue into action. She squirmed impatiently, again tapping him on the head. He chuckled again

‘You’re doing so well remaining silent’ he said ‘but that won’t make me act any sooner. Patience, my goddess’ He heard her sigh and settle, and rewarded her by exploring with the tip of his tongue, fingers gently spreading her lips wide for him. A moan escaped her, and regretfully he pulled away, tutting reprovingly.

‘I want this as much as you do, my love’ he reminded her. He waited a couple of seconds before returning to lick and suck at her sensitive flesh, tongue flattening over her outer lips and starting to probe deeper. She lay still, but she was not soft and yielding – she thrummed with need and her breath was ragged. He circled her hard little nub and felt her tense and start to roll her hips against him. She rested her hand on his head and her fingers fluttered against his scalp. He paused and drew back again, not knowing if she was tapping or losing control.

‘Remember, no coming until I say so’ he scolded, and was rewarded with a long low groan. He moved up the bed to lie next to her and look into her eyes to find out what she needed. Her face was flushed, her eyes slightly vacant and she trembled slightly. He realised he had taken her so close to the edge she was fighting not to tip over.

‘Are you alright Sophia?’ he asked ‘Do you want to slow down?’ she nodded, then shook her head in confusion, her breath sounding suspiciously like a sob, but her eyes were dry. He drew her to him and held her, feeling the tension in her body melt away and her breath settle. ‘Do you want me to take the gag off?’ he asked softly. She vehemently shook her head. ‘Do you want me to make love to you properly?’ he asked, and her face softened as she nodded. She slid her hand down between them to take him in her hand, encircling his manhood with her soft fingers. She put her knee up on his thigh and pressed her hips toward his, her eyes imploring him. It was his turn to groan as he realised how much she wanted him.

He sat up and drew her with him, going to the end of the bed and pulling her to standing, to face the window where she could see out of the picture window to the hill slope down to the sea, a faint reflection of the two of them superimposing itself on the glass. He sat on the edge of the bed, keeping his hands on her hips. She drew a shuddering breath in through her nose and past the gag, the scarf hot and wet with her saliva.

‘Come to me’ he said softly ‘Let me fill you’ He pulled her toward his lap, and together they manoeuvred so that she slowly started to sink onto his manhood, enveloping him in her velvety softness. He groaned and heard her breath catch and shudder as she lowered herself. He grasped her hips as she widened her thighs so he sat between them. Together they rocked so that he started to slide in and out. He knew she wouldn’t be quite so stimulated or challenged by this position unless he hit the right spot, so he enjoyed the tempo for a while as her breath sighed in a gentle rhythm. He reached around her, one hand on her soft breast, the other sneaking low, strong slender fingers finding her clitoris and circling it, feeling her start to shudder and her breath grow ragged again around the gag. He slowed to a stop and gently pushed her off his lap.

‘I want to see your face’ he murmured ‘Are you still alright?’ she nodded silently as she stood in front of him, cheeks flushed and hair ruffled, her eyes soft, pupils dilated, trembling slightly with need. She still held the gag between her teeth and her breath was evening out. He pulled at her gently to indicate that she sit facing him this time, riding him. He rested his hands on her hips yet again as she followed his prompting. When he was fully inside her, she rocked against him and he allowed her to do as she would – changing angle, pressing against him, falling and rising, her nipples hard against his chest.

She was on the verge of making noise, her breath indicating how close she was to orgasm, head rolling, eyes closed. He started to thrust a little faster and harder to get close himself, fingers gripping her flesh. He allowed her to flood his senses – sound, touch, smell, sight, the heat of her body, the pressure and slickness of her walls, the trembling that threatened to push her over the edge. She gripped his hips, fingers digging in and slackening off in rhythm with their movements, back starting to arch, breath quickening.

‘Not yet’ he admonished ‘Just a little longer my love’ She gave a little whimper but he could not slow, could not control himself any more, and that soft sound prompted him to slip over the precipice, groaning out loud.

‘Sophia!’ her name came from deep inside him like a prayer, a poem, a word of exultation and triumph and joy ‘Come with me my goddess’ he gasped, and at last she let go, pulsing strongly around him, released from her silence and letting a deep sound escape her. Together they rode the wave until it ebbed away and he slipped out of her to lie back on the bed. She collapsed by his side, pulling at the gag so it hung loose around her neck, laughing and taking great gulps of air. He pulled her to him and stroked her hair.

‘How was that?’ he asked ‘I have to say your present is a huge success as far as I’m concerned – did you enjoy your challenge?’

‘It was so difficult!’ she cried ‘I couldn’t kiss you – and it was so hard not to make any noise. It was totally different from being quiet in case we were overheard’ she stroked her hand over his chest and belly ‘I think you should wear it next time.’ Bastien laughed

‘No, I don’t think so’ he said, kissing the top of her head ‘Now be a good girl and go and get the deck – let’s see what else we come up with’

Writers @darley1101 @boneandfur @debramcg1106 @lilyofchoices @msjr0119 @blackcatkita @annekebbphotography @burnsoslow @jessiembruno @emichelle @bobasheebaby @xxrainbow-princessxx @hopefulmoonobject @drakeandcamilleofvaltoria @ao719 @brightpinkpeppercorn @sirbeepsalot @choicesbyjade @kaitycole @choicesarehard @drakewalkerwhipped @thehonorarybeaumont @zaffrenotes @drakewalkerfantasy @kacie-0156 @god-save-the-keen @fluffy-marshmallow-heart @innerpostmentality @emceesynonymroll @chappela @janezillow @katedrakeohd @argylemnwrites @leelee10898 @candy72008 @client-327 @ladynonsense @blackcoffee85 @dcbbw @blackwidow2721 @breaumonts @mind-reader1 @choiceslife @texaskitten30 @callmetippytumbles @tornbetween2loves @thecordoniandiaries @fromthedeskofpaisleybleakmore @thefirstcourtesan @domesticatedantelope @of-course-i-went-to-hartfeld @jovialyouthmusic @walkerismychoice @walkerswhiskeygirl @andy-loves-corgis @scgdoeswhat @lizeboredom @riseandshinelittleblossom @omgjasminesimone @mrsnazariowritesagain @kittykatchoices @pixelsandkink @bittertarinetea @scalpeljockeybrycelahela Reader: @rainbowsinthestorm @silverofdreams @loveellamae @drakesensworld @oneofthebennets @enmchoices @pedudley @addictedtodrakefanfic

Readers @rainbowsinthestorm @silverofdreams @loveellamae @drakesensworld @oneofthebennets @enmchoices @pedudley @addictedtodrakefanfic

#kinky cards 2020 #bastien lykel #trr bastien #OC x Bastien #sophia x bastien #trr au fanfic #the royal romance au

53 notes · View notes

darksunrising · 4 years

Text

Sola Gratia (10/?)

Masterlist

Rating / Warnings : Graphic descriptions of violence, Viewer discretion is advised (short paragraph)

Fandom : Bram Stoker’s Dracula, BBC’s Dracula, various Dracula and vampire lore.

Part 10/? (2730 words)

Author’s notes : Beware ! A Dracula-less chapter (-ish) ! I promise, he’ll be back soon, he really wants to go to that Renaissance fair... (Also yay, part 10 !)

~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

Mary Van Helsing.

I asked Leah if she hadn't made a mistake. She almost took offense. I sat back in my chair, staring at the ceiling. What ? How ? Van Helsing ? I mean, that could just be a freaky, freaky coincidence. I laughed nervously to myself.

“Hah, you gotta admit that's funny the Van Helsing kid wants to study the Balkanic middle ages”, Leah laughed. Ditto.

Seeing as I didn't reply, she asked if I felt alright. I took a deep breath.

“Leah, there's something I need to tell you.”

“Yeah, of course, what's- Oh, fuck.”

She turned back to her laptop, and started frantically typing, cursing under her breath as she did.

“Someone got my position. Jeez, whoever those guys are, they really don't want anyone finding out they exist !”

“What do you mean ?”

“I mean there's a very good chance we will have an unpleasant visit pretty soon.”

She sounded nervous, which was a strange color on her. She activated an emergency shutdown, and closed her computer, taking a moment sitting still, eyes staring into the void. She then stood up decidedly.

“We don't know who it was, could be nothing”, I tried to reassure her.

“Yeah well, not to boast or anything, but if they got through my defenses, I really don't wanna know. Listen, let's just crash at my place, there's a chance they pinged on the VPN and actually here.”

She was so determined, I didn't even think to contradict her. She left her laptop there, only taking her bike helmet. I grabbed my bag, and followed her out of my office. Even though she was tiny, I had trouble keeping up with her fast paces. As we sped through the corridors, I caught a glimpse of dirty hazelnut hair, and grabbed Leah's arm to take a hard right into another hallway. Felt like running into Helder right now wouldn't be the best turn of events. Plus, I was supposed to give a class he was attending, so, that.

“Thinking back exit ?”

“What else ?”

We kept half-jogging to the end of the corridor, turning a few curious heads on the way, pushed on a service door, and slipped outside. The sun blinded me a second, as we made our way to the parking lot. Leah dug her keys out of her pockets, and unlocked the pad on her motorcycle, cursing a few more times every time she ripped around the keyhole. She turned to give me her helmet, and stopped halfway, wincing. Ah.

“Eris Cetero and Leah Fox. I'm going to need you to come with us.”

A very sharply dressed woman was standing a few paces away, icy stare and tightly pulled dark hair. She looked composed, unyielding, and was flanked on both sides by two men built like wardrobes, poorly dissimulating a handgun under their suit jackets. Not the kind of person to try to run away from, then.

“Listen, we didn't mean any harm. We could all just forget it.”

Sometimes, her bluntness had some perks. She had moved over in front of me, her hand grasping mine.

“You are not in trouble. At least not with us”, the woman continued. “We thought we would wait more, but you forced our hand.”

“We have no idea what you're talking about”, Leah kept going, still on the defensive.

I said nothing, trying to keep a straight face.

“My name is Mary Van Helsing. I work in the Murray Institute for the Neutralization of Abnormalities. We have a lot to discuss, especially with you, Miss Cetero.”

Ah shit. Let's think about this rationally. There was no way I could escape that situation. I also didn't want Leah to get in trouble, and I started to see she was about to keep on going if I didn't do anything. I took a deep breath, which had her stop.

“Alright. We have crossed a line digging into things we shouldn't have. You are entitled to some explanations, and if you feel like this can't be done in a parking lot, so be it. Lead the way”, I declared, trying to be as calm and composed as I could.

I was met by a look of disbelief on Leah's face, and an emotionless nod from Mary, who turned on her heels without a word. Can't believe my incredible charm hadn't worked on her yet. Leah's hand softened, and I took a hold of it as we walked to the intimidating sedan waiting for us.

~ ~ ~

The ride took a bit longer than I thought. From the moment Leah started going deeper in her search, and the moment they arrived, it couldn't have been more than fifteen minutes, and yet, it took well over half an hour to get to our destination. Maybe they were already close, and we just got unlucky. Seemed about right.

We remained silent the whole car ride. You couldn't have hacked through the tension using a damn chainsaw, at this point. Leah and I held hands, so tight I saw her knuckles going white. She was shaking a little, and I hated myself for putting her through this. If only I weren't a nosy fucking idiot.

We arrived to a decrepit-looking building, most likely turn of the 19th century architecture. Above the entrance, the stone looked like it had been engraved, a while ago, but the script was almost completely worn out. Inside, the emptiness gave an echo to every step, the ground overrun with cables coming from other parts of the house. We kept on going straight forward, went down a slope, and arrived to a huge freight elevator. It made a shrieking noise as it went down for a while, so deep we might as well have gone straight down to hell. If you believe in that sort of thing.

The elevator shook as it stopped, opening on a surprisingly high-tech complex.

“Ladies, welcome to M.I.N.A.”, Mary told us as we stepped off.

The first room was a large hall, open on two more stories, visible through balconies, on which were plastered neon lights. In neatly aligned cubicles, employees worked on god knows what, piles of paper cluttering all desks, the intermittent sound of phones and the indistinct chatter of radio making the noise almost unbearable. Mary kept on walking, some people greeting her as she passed them, and giving Leah and I the strangest looks. Ooh, boy. That was about to be fun.

She opened large fire-breaking doors, and we went on a corridor, making a few turns. As I had learned by now, I memorized the turns. Right, left at the weird plant, another left at the water fountain. She opened a door for us, leaving us to enter before her. That looked awfully like an interrogation room, with one table at the center, and two uncomfortable chairs. The double sided-mirror occupying one of the walls was also a dead giveaway.

One of the guards stopped Leah as she went after me. As she protested, they told us they would explain the situation separately. If they actually knew anything, that might be the smarter option. I reassured her, smiling, and went into the interrogation room. One of the guards came with me, and closed the door, only to stand in a corner, silent. I dragged out a chair to sit, waiting for anything to happen.

“Not really talkative around here, huh ?”, I asked, knowing I wouldn't get an answer.

Moments later, Mary came back into the room, holding a few files, one distinctly bearing my name. It does something to your ego, to have your name on a secret society's secret case file, in their secret underground bunker. The woman sat on the other side of the table, leaning forward on her elbows.

“Miss Cetero, do you really have no idea why you're here ?”, she asked.

Of course I know why I'm here. You know I know. You saw me try to fly into the wind with my partner in crime as soon as we knew you found us. I just had to put my best performance on. Tremble, Hollywood.

“Well, we did hack into some pretty secure servers to get information that we weren't supposed to get”, I told her, and shrugged. “That seems pretty clear to me.”

“There's that, but I want to talk about something else.”

Her face was completely unfeeling, yet her voice was soft, a bit too maternal for my tastes. I had a little smile, encouraging her to talk. There was no risk if I wasn't talking.

“Do you believe at all in the, quote-unquote, supernatural ?”

If she kept talking to me like I was a particularly simple child, I'd show her something supernatural pretty damn soon. I worked to keep down the wave of righteous anger crashing against the insides of my chest.

“Do you mean... ghosts ?”, I ventured.

“Among others. I'm talking more specifically about vampires.”

Her eyes were gleaming behind the rectangles of her glasses. I didn't react, other than a little laugh. Alright, keep it up, play dumb.

“Vampires ? Come on, is this a joke ? Did Leah put you up to this ?”, I giggled.

Not that dumb, fuck's sake. Nobody was this stupid. I actually wanted to kill myself. I was so in character my voice went up an octave all on its own. Repressing a shiver, I kept on smiling like a brainless fish.

“I'm afraid I'm dead serious. As... Phantasmagorical as it may seem, such creatures exist, and we believe you, and your friend, may be in grave danger.”

Well, that seemed to actually work pretty well. Not really trying to think of the reasons why I had so little trouble passing as brain-dead, I had a nervous laughter, and kept going.

“Do I have to look around for a man in a black cape next time I leave my building, Mrs. Van Helsing ?”

“Doctor Van Helsing, actually. And rather, you should look around for the man you know as professor Vlad Balaur.”

Ah, direct, I see.

“I'm not sure I get your meaning.”

“We have good reasons to think Vlad Balaur is a vampire, trying to pass himself up as Vlad Dracula Tepes, a character you of all people know well.”

I didn't say anything, but my heart sank to my stomach.

“In what I will tell you, I want you to assume everything I say is true”, she started, leaning back. “In 1896, a team made up from Jonathan Harker, Quincey Morris, Mina Murray-Harker, and Abraham Van Helsing, put an end to the reign of terror of the vampire known as Dracula. It seemed he was no other than Vlad Tepes, the Impaler, who supposedly had, quote-unquote, “died” during the 15th century. At his return to London, he decided to create this institution, to be certain that should such a horrific event happen again, people would have the knowledge and resources to deal with it.”

She took a pause, gauging my reaction. I tried to keep my innocent façade, but has strictly no idea wether she could tell I was faking. The feeling of dread creeping its way into my mind didn't help either.

“Bram Stoker was an accomplice to the whole ordeal, and published his book, which was explicitly branded as fiction. You know the rest, concerning the sometimes questionable turn of the theme into popular culture. However, vampires, among other numerous creatures, are still a threat on humanity today. And a lot of them take inspiration from ancient figures, like Count Dracula. This would not be the first time one of them fashioned himself the Dark Prince Returned.”

“I'm sorry”, I interrupted, “But how can you expect me to believe any of that ? Do you even have any proof ?”

I tried to keep my panic out of my tone. I didn't want to believe it, but what if she was right ? She couldn't be, right ? He knew so much about everything, and... I tried to calm myself down. Just need to get through this, I'll talk this out with the man himself. All would be well.

“Even if you were right, even if professor Balaur was a vampire”, I began as she only kept staring at me. “He never tried to hurt me, or had any reprehensible behavior toward me or Leah. Why would I need to be worried ?”

She looked at me for what seemed like hours, and finally pulled a file from her pile, and slid it towards me. She then sat back, and lit a cigarette. She offered one, and I declined politely, asking what was in the file.

“All around the city, for the last month, we had a count of twenty-four murders”, she declared. “Look at the pictures, and you tell me what kind of person could have done this.”

Shaking a bit, I opened the file, and instantly had to put a hand over my mouth. You can watch hours and hours of horror movies, and never get used to anything like that. Everything was red. Seeping into the fabrics, clothing, mattresses, drapes. Splattered on the walls, dripping from the ceilings. Body parts, bent in impossible angles, flesh frayed, shredded in long clawing marks, leaving the internal organs and their contents spilling out of the deformed corpses. Throats. Open. So torn apart it just looked like a bundle of rubber tubes. On one of the victim's descriptive notes, I glimpsed the word “pregnant”. I closed my eyes, looking away. There were hundreds. Mary offered again, and I took the cigarette. I closed the case file, taking a long drag.

“What happened in Romania, Miss Cetero ?”, she asked, a bit more softly.

I raised my head to meet her gaze. “I... Nothing happened. I- I visited some museums, hiked a little, why do you ask ?”

My eyes welled up with tears, and keeping on a neutral smile was a physical effort at this point. I kept seeing flashes of teeth, the horse, inside out, bled dry.

“We believe he might come from there, which is why he would identify with Dracula. He could have taken a liking to you there, and followed you here.”

“I think I would remember an encounter with something that does... that does this on a daily basis”, I snapped, fighting through tears. That couldn't be right. It couldn't.

“Your memory could have been wiped. It's not uncommon, once again.”

I started to feel dizzy. Maybe it was the cigarette. I didn't smoke very often, so that was probably that, right ? I must have remained silent a while, because Mary leaned forward, putting back the file on the pile.

“Listen, I will make this as clear as possible”, she snapped. “If we are to stop this creature, we need your full support. For some reason, he trusts you more than most. You cannot tell him about your knowledge of this place.”

She slid a card across the table.

“If you are ever in danger, or need any information, call us. We will call you if necessary.”

She put out her cigarette on a portable ashtray, and I did the same, mechanically.

“What did you tell Leah ?”, I asked.

“Nothing more than she needs to know, which does not include anything about Vlad Balaur. We think the less people know, the safer it is.”

I nodded, and slipped the card into my pocket. Nothing about this felt safe, or right, or anything but confusing, and nauseating. They escorted me out, and I still felt engulfed in cotton, everything muted, even when Leah nearly jumped into my arms as I got out. I barely realized I walked, or the time spent in the car, until they dropped me off at home.

I dragged myself to my apartment, and went straight to bed, half expecting to see him there, on the balcony. Instead, I found a note. I opened the window, and took the folded sheet of paper. The same he used back in Romania, and the same fine, elegant handwriting. It was weighed down with a polished rock, which I noticed, upon further inspection, contained a multitude of little fossils.

I have heard historians like old things, here is one.

For another, I will be back soon.

All my love,

Vlad.

~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

Taglist : @carydorse @angelicdestieldemon @bloodhon3yx @thewondernanazombie @battocar @moony691 @mjlock @thebeautyofdisorder @festering-queen @paracosmfantasy @my-fanfic-library

#sola gratia #sola gratia part 10 #dracula #bram stoker's dracula #dracula netflix #dracula bbc #dracula castlevania #dracula x human #dracula x reader #dracula x oc #vampire x human #slow burn #enemies to friends to lovers #enemies to lovers #romance #fanfiction #fanfic #dracula fanfic

34 notes · View notes

changji · 5 years

Note

Wow you really went off the other day but at least it was worth it 😪 I normally look at the scenery when I’m on a road trip, but then I get bored of it and decide to sleep bc there’s nothing else to do. Motion sickness must suck :(( do you take gravol or something to help with it? Coffee literally drains the life out of my funds it hurts me

Yes omg pls make me cookies I love them. Maybe you can even open a bakery with pastries and sell some good /cheap/ coffee. Ilyt my dear baker 🥺 ye I’m not the biggest fan of my bday either but gotta celebrate anyway!! One year closer to death woohoo 🎉🎉 your birthday is the most important day of the year!!! You can’t fight me on this I’m right

Pearls are so good. Like most places I go to don’t add anything to the pearls so it’s just bland squishy balls but the place I frequent adds I think honey to sweeten them. It gives the pearls life istg. It tastes so good 🤤 hollering is a funny word. For some reason I always associate it with yodelling which makes me laugh

Ksks you must be op if you can make a joke in the wall with a door slam. I can’t relate my arms are literally sticks and I have no strength in me. Chrome books are terrible in general. Add my schools terrible wifi and you get one big recipe for disaster. I’d never fight u either (unless it’s for your bday) ily too much for that 🥺🥺🥺

Hahah I think it’s me. I haven’t heard anyone say “go ham” except for the people who go to my school. I find it really funny tho so I try to incorporate it whenever I can LOL easily burnt? Can’t relate but apparently I easily tan. There’s this one diagonal stripe on my shoulder that separates pale me and tan me which ??? How did that happen and what was I wearing for that to happen??

It’s all fun and games until you go outside and see a mountain of snow waiting for you to be shovelled. But there are some good aspects to winter, like skating and skiing and all that fun stuff. Snow is so heavy?? Or maybe I’m just weak but after I finish shovelling I’m beat. Gardening is not my thing. There’s too many bugs involved flying around 🥴

Kind of? I always thought it was short for cappuccino but I could be wrong. They don’t taste like fraps tho, they’re sm better. I was always a frap hoe until I discovered lattes. My old elementary school was close to a Starbucks so whenever frappy hour was happening, my friends and I would go almost every day LOL

I heard that dunkin coffee is really good. Oof there’s so many things that the us have that Canada doesn’t. But apparently you guys don’t have ketchup chips?? How can one live without them? You know that’s what soulmates are, we’re stuck together forever and I don’t mind that. I’d never leave you 😌😌

YES OMG LATTES ARE SO EXPENSIVE. I pay around the same amount and my wallet cries every time. If you ever yeet yourself off a bridge I’d come visit u in hell and bring u iced coffee 💖 we really are soulmates wtf I get almond milk in my lattes as well!! I used to get normal milk and was like “I’m a bad bitch milk can’t hurt me” but that didn’t really work out. Sigh what we do for coffee 😔

Washing dishes is disgusting. I hate doing them but yk someone’s gotta do it and that someone is me 😤 I’m acc lazy when it comes to smoothies, I usually ask my mom to make them LMAO. Pancakes are pretty much made of flour if you think about it so technically when u eat one plain ur eating cooked flour,, how barbaric. Waffles are Built. Like. They have a 20 pack 😪😪

I love angst personally so pls go ham but not too ham I’d like to keep my heart. Honestly at this point my last brain cell has given up on me. But yes I love angst and I love torturing myself with heart wrenching angst that leaves me crying into my pillow at 3am (I’m talking about this one haikyuu fic that I forgot the name of. I was literally dying inside jalsjwo)

Pls do send me peet’s I’ll send you an iced capp in a cooler so it’ll be somewhat melted and probably spilt everywhere 🤪 tumblrs probably gonna block me again, I’m looking at how much I’ve typed rn and it’s a lot lmaoo. Yes I managed to save myself. I redid the whole last with less detail bc I was not Having It but it turned out better?? How is ur drawing now?

I start after labour day in September. But starting in 3 weeks?????? On a Thursday?? I could never wtf. When do you end? I’m so confused with these ap and honours thing, like there’s none offered in my school nor majority of the school district. Are they just advanced classes or something? It is 7 classes a semester or the whole year?

Stan talent i think you meant yourself??? Jsjsksk I am not only ur coffee soulmate I’m not #1 fan as well and I support u bc ily 🥺🥺 the read more tag had me laughing for a hot minute. Like we really could make an essay out of all of our replies. I don’t have any pets (besides fish does that count?) unfortunately bc my moms allergic to fur 🥺 hbu?? (I can’t believe tumblr blocked me again they can fight me)

i didn’t even pay LOL i freeloaded off my cousin 🤧 i like to look @ scenery sometimes but like i can’t bc my head hurts LOL and the scenery is always the same for me, mountains and fields with cows. i try to take dramamine but it makes me so drowsy that i’m just basically dead,,, i live off of my cousins money so i’m okay 🤪

tbh i use nestle toll house pre made cookie dough, like that shit actually slaps. it’s the best it’s so good omg, perfect for lazy hoes 🤧 death here we go ! the order is ur bday, then skz debut date, and then christmas i don’t make the rules sorry sis 😤

pearls are Dangerous, i once drank a smoothie and there were pearls in it and i couldn’t see them bc there were like. only 3 and they were Buried under the smoothie but i choked and almost died but i chewed one of them and it’s like. so weird. HOLLERING AND YODELING IM- i once went to some public yodeling class and left in 2 seconds bc it was a bunch of white boys dressed like the kid from walmart 😪

it’s not even strength i’m actually rly weak,, i always think the doors are closed but they’re not and so i like slam them open and the walls are thin so it’s just. a sad hole. terrible wifi,, my school has pretty good wifi tbh but we have like three connections, one for the chrome books only, one for the teachers & staff, and one for students and guests. like it works rly good but everyone has a VPN bc of stupid social media restrictions 😤 & ilyt 🥺 u would probably win in a fight tho LOL

go ham is so interesting. the first time i heard it i thought it meant go pig and i was so confused but ig,,, i live lathered in sun screen whenever i go somewhere with the sun. ppl are like “i smell sun screen” and im just there like 🙃 it’s me u got a problem u burnt chicken nugget ??? i wish i tanned easily, i have a tan friend and when i showed her when my legs got tan she was so confused. i thought i was tan tho? bc during marching band season my sock tan becomes So Bad i’m basically white. she said she was blinded when she saw me pull my sock down and i laughed so hard LOL & i hate those dumb random tan lines like. where u @ bro? where u come from??

snow is fun for like a day and then i get tired LOL i csn only handle wet socks and a red nose for so long 😔 i tried skiing one time and i did so bad that the instructor had to hold me down and walk with me down the slope. i fell so many times i think he hated me 😳 i’m also rly bad at skating? i went w my friends once and i held both of their hands and still managed to bring both of them down when i fell. a cute guy once helped me when i was struggling to walk so 🥴 not my brightest moment tbh,, trying to walk in skates while on ice. do u enjoy skiing/skating? also gardening is. gross. worms and dirt and the sun i’m not here for it.

u: cappuccinos! me: ...ice bergs,,, now that i think about it fraps kinda suck,,, i used to think i was So Cool for drinking starbucks but now i’m like. wow. i used to think there was coffee in a frap but it’s just. sugar and ice LOL also speaking of tmrw is bogo fraps here,, idk if it’s all over the world but myb u should check it out 😪

dunkins okay it depends on what you get, i once got an iced latte and it was good but my dad got an iced coffee and he like. hated it so we had to switch and it was so bad like. it was coffee crime. it was horrible and not strong it was basically milk 😤 also,, ketchup chip? i just googled what that was and. that’s literally so weird. fun fact i hate ketchup and all other condiments i can only eat bbq sauce and i tolerate steak sauce

UR LITERALLY SO CUTE OKAY UR MINE NOW HHHH

i mentioned this in the other ask but. we going broke bitches club 😪 when u come visit me it’ll be old town road the one w mason ramsey on a loop. nothing will top the og remix but no, i’ll be stuck listening to some 5 year old rap for all of eternity

I USED TO BE SUCH A GOOD KID AND DRINK MILK EVERY MORNING ever since i got to middle school i preferred sleep over waffles and milk and i hardly drink milk but when i do. my stomach does not have it.

my mom made me wash dishes today and she just stared at me when i put ziploc bags on my hands bc we didn’t have gloves but i just painted my nails and i’m not abt to put myself thru chipped nails. not yet 😤 waffles are so good like i love waffles and lattes only 🤧

well i’ll go very ham (am i doing it right LOL) 😤 the angst ending is a lot better than the open ended or happy ones LOL i’m so excited for it 🥺 i’m rly tryna get it out before the end of this month bc the edit says july and it’ll make me Mad if i don’t get it out before the end of this month

i wanna start in september 🤧 and i usually end in the first week of june. also on a wednesday LOL it’s gross. stupid. ap means advanced placement so it’s just. a college level class. lowkey mad bc i’m taking ap euro (as a sophomore 😒) and other schools take it in their senior years? apparently this is normal? and honors are just faster paced classes with more weighting so,, idrk oops 😬 some people take 7 classes in a semester but i took it for the whole year! this year i’m dropping orchestra i’m Not for that spit in the carpet life

the only talent in this house goes by ada and jisung. i don’t make the rules. i’m ur #1 fan 🥺 as soon as u post anything i automatically smash that rb button LOL also put a read more here bc like. we’re really out here writing a whole ass essay. i’ll look @ all our convos bet it’ll be like. a lot. i don’t wanna say smth and be off so i’ll just not. i have a dog! he’s the cutest in the world and i love him sm 🥺 tumblr can fight me first like. what’s this ask limit bull hhhhh

1 note · View note

tellywoodtrash · 6 years

Text

status update:

So, I got a few friendly, good-natured asks on how I was doing, and what’s up with my life (work, Chandler, etc.), so I suppose this is as good a time to tell everyone: I quit my job earlier this week.

Early followers of the blog may be aware that this blog started as an attempt to find some kinda peace during some very trying times in my life. Since then, I’ve been burning the candle at both ends (I guess, in some kinda misguided attempt to move on with life) and... it’s finally caught up with me. I’m fucking exhausted and at a breaking point. Physically. Mentally. Emotionally. ('Spiritually. Ecumenically. Grammatically.' Name that movie!) And so, I'm giving myself a break and am going to be taking some time off to focus on my mental health.

However, this hasn’t been an easy decision to make, as it means bye-bye financial independence and my ~~riproaring Sex And The City life (snort, NOT) and that I will now have to pack up my entire life and leave the country I (and Chandler!) call home. So the next few days will be even rougher; full of transition and second-guessing myself. But in the long run, I think I need to do this now before things get much worse.

Poor Chandler has no idea what’s coming up; that he’s about to be unceremoniously stuffed into a box and flown many thousand miles to a whole new country, with strange new smells and creatures (including my relatives who will want to come around every now and then and friendly-ly harass our socially anxious butts.) I just hope we both survive this move!

As for what it means for the blog, it’ll mostly be business as usual, I suppose. I will have more free time, but it’s going to be invested in moving, and settling in, and recovery (first I have to recover from the moving and settling in, and only then can I focus on *actual* recovery) so... I’ll do as much as I can. Yes, there's lots of new shows, most of them better than IB, and I might wanna watch them too, but.... idk, I don't seem to have it in me right now to get invested in a whole... new.... thing. We'll see once I'm properly settled into a restful routine where I don't feel so battered in the brain. On the plus side, moving to India means proper access to Hotstar and Sony Liv and alllllllll the platforms; I won’t have to jump through hoops and diddle around with VPNs to access what I wanna watch! Yaaaaaaay!

There are a few things blog-wise that I just have to address though, because they’re srsly stressing me out a lot lately:

Messages asking me to explain WHY stakeholders in the industry (actors, makers, the channel) make the decisions they do. Bhai main kahan un sab ke ghar ya boardroom mein ghussi baithi hoon, ki mujhe pakka pata hoga???? All I can do is speculate like the rest of you. Which is what I do. I look at the facts that I do have (social media posts, TRP reports, etc.) and put out MY theory. But it’s all it is. A theory. I do not have any kind of information that you also do not have access to. Asking me to explain the inner workings of complete strangers' minds is just nonsensical. I do not have the complete information based on which I can give you an accurate answer. So please just stop asking me these. At this point, idek why *I* do half the things I do, let alone have any surety of anyone else’s decisions.

Complaints. Look, all of us have complaints about the shitshow that is IB, and the Tellywood industry at large, and its affairs both off-screen and on-screen. But just think of my plight when news breaks/an episode airs and I get like 10 anons in an hour, most of which are filled with cribbing. OVER SOMETHING I DON’T HAVE ANY CONTROL. You have all the right to complain, sure, but not IN MY INBOX. I only publish about 30 - 40% of the asks that I actually do receive, and because of that you may think that you’re the only person sending in this to me; but trust that more often that not, you’re not. I most probably have already received least 5 messages about it, in varying degrees of negative, and it’s exhaaaaaausting for me to wade through it all.

"Asks” that are just STATEMENTS, with no real question to them. I get these and whether I agree with your statement or not, my only reaction is “.... haan, toh???” What really is the point of these? I have nothing to contribute to them. It’s just YOU deciding that your opinion is sooooooo important that you must come tell ME it. In my inbox. On anon. Which is not just stupid, but also RUDE af. What you're doing is the equivalent of going and ringing the doorbell of a stranger's house and monologuing in their face about a random topic when they open the door. Like, I literally did not ask?????? Especially since you’re on anon and I have absolutely no personal equation with you. By having an open inbox, I didn't consent to being the receptacle of every opinion wrt Tellywood under the sun. Like, the whole point of this blog is so I can shout MY dumbass opinions into the void that is the internet without bothering anyone else about things they might not care about/agree with. Anyone who follows/engages with me is here by THEIR choice. Why don’t you do the same? Go make your own blog, instead of using mine. There’s only place for one person here on this blog, and that’s me. Please read your messages before sending them and ask yourselves: Does my tone/content leave anything open for discussion? (FYI: Just putting a question mark at the end of a sentence does not make an engaging question that opens up a discussion.) What contribution am I inviting from the recipient with this message? If the answer is “no”/"nothing", then please don't send it.

The rise of combative and contrary asks; ones that don't come out of a genuine curiosity, but with the intent to mindlessly argue, talk in circles without a point and overall, and just belittle the opinions I’ve expressed by engaging in whataboutery. There's a point at which "healthy discussion" ends, and "debating" starts, and I’m not here to engage in Debate Hour. The open askbox (or replies function) is NOT an invitation to pick at ONE sentence of some post (often missing the context; those other sentences are there for a reason y'know) and demand explanations from me, for which I have to then bend over backwards to clarify to some random faceless person on the internet. Not only does it take tremendous amounts of time and energy (for what is largely a pointless endevour: these people aren't really here to have an exchange of ideas or even try to see my point of view, they're just trying to force THEIR contrary opinion ON me), it really sucks the joy out of the blog for me. Look, I am not an idiot. I can correlate writing patterns and associate them with previously seen comments/opinions and make educated guesses on who these may be coming from. I've been holding off on blocking anyone yet, but these comments and asks have me seriously considering it. (And FYI: blocking an anon blocks you via IP address. So don't think ki 'oh ho ho, I can just hide under the anon function, coz that has no consequences.' All you'd be doing is proving my guesses right, as to who is whom.) I don't WANT TO go to such extents, and want this still to be a place where people can approach me, but this gross disrespect of my time and boundaries is beginning to wear on me now. Before coming at me, please think to yourself if what you're saying is actually necessary. If it's just a passive-aggressive counter-argument to my opinion that's all conjecture/opinion (i. e. things without factual basis and based on feelings) then please; you're very welcome to whatever you believe, but I don't care. If I wanted your opinion, I’d ask for it. If I care for your opinion, I will engage with your posts (by liking or commenting or reblogging or sending you my love in your inbox.) I just really really don’t care what anyone's opinion ON MY OPINION is. Please stop being contrary just the sake of it and ruining my day and mood. Go chronicle your opinions on your blog/twitter/whatever, instead of using MY blog as a platform and arm-twisting me into participating in this unpleasant exchange. I just don't have have the energy or interest to engage in this fuckery anymore.

Look you guys, I love getting stuff in the askbox. I do. If I didn’t, I’d just have closed the askbox and called it a day. I’m just asking that you be a little THOUGHTFUL about the recipient, me, AS AN ACTUAL LIVING PERSON WITH FEELINGS AND A LIMITED AMOUNT OF ENERGY AND TIME, instead of some kinda faceless robot who just processes your messages in binary and spits out an answer. Before engaging, please re-read your message to consider your tone and content and the impact on the person on the other end. Despite this request, if you just decide to engage in the above mentioned ways, I’m sorry in advance if you end up getting blocked; but things have reached a point where I have to look out for myself, and my comfort, and what I want from this space. I would like this blog to be source of joy in my (and others’!) life, not something that I feel resentful about, or as a source of draining what little energy I have left.

Sooooooo, that’s how it is! Things should be the same around here barring some periods of inactivity occasionally due to moving/spotty internet (but the queue should be running anyway.) A lot less negativity and gloom, hopefully! Wish me (and Chandler!!!!!) luck and please send us all your good, restful, soft and fluffy vibes!

(The restful slumber of a poor fluffy bastard who has NOOOOOOOOO idea of what the next few weeks have in store for him.)

#status update

24 notes · View notes

roh-tae · 6 years

Text

Linked

words - 2k+

genre - fluff, soulmate au!; whatever is written on your skin appears on your soulmates as well

featuring - noh taehyun x reader

a/n - this was a request and I hope it turned out okay...tbh I’m not super like educated on soulmate aus, so hopefully i did this okay?¿ ALSO, since I’m like posting from my phone due to my vpn not working on my laptop, the italics don’t transfer over to my posts, so hopefully it’s okay without the italics i originally had in there...

Taehyun stared at the writing covering his forearm, no longer questioning it as he realized what it meant a while ago. Everyone has a soulmate, and once paired up, everything written on your soulmate will also be written on you. Taehyun still remembers the first time your handwriting adorned his body. He had gotten out of the shower after coming home late from practice, threw on some clothes and jumped into bed. As he was checking his phone, he felt a slight tingle on his arm as the words be strong began to appear.

At first he freaked out, not showing anyone because he didn’t know what the words meant or where they had come from. But after taking some time, he realized he had finally gotten a soulmate.

The other members hadn’t gotten theirs yet, which was understandable because it often was a long process. But they couldn’t wait for that day to come, always asking Taehyun if anything new was written on his hands or arms. If he had any idea of who you were. But that was what he hated about this whole soulmate thing. How was he supposed to find you? He had only written something once or twice for you to see, being so busy and all. Plus how was he supposed to explain who he was to you? The whole idea of finding you excited Taehyun, but he was fearful that he’d never actually have it happen.

It had been a few months since he’d found out about you being his soulmate, though he still didn’t know who you were. But Taehyun liked it, your occasional words of encouragement gracing his skin keeping him sane through the craziness of promoting with his group. Today as he was stressed about JBJ’s comeback performance for their new song, the word relax appeared on his wrist with a slight burn like all the others did. Taehyun smiled to himself, taking a deep breath as he calmed downed and was ready to take the stage.

After the performance Taehyun and the boys changed and waited in the dressing room until it was time for them to head back to the dorm. “Hyung, you didn’t seem nervous at all today. Get a little note from her today?” Taehyun rolled his eyes as Hyunbin climbed into the van next to him. “I did.” Taehyun just smiled to himself as he looked at the word on his wrist one again. “Are you gonna say anything back? You never say anything back, please say something back! This is like a real life drama, you need to keep it interesting.”

“What do I even say? I don’t even know her, I don’t know what to say. And I’m not gonna write a paragraph to her telling my whole life story.” The two boys sat in silence as the van started off towards the dorm.

Without consulting the others on what to say, considering it was his soulmate after all, Taehyun grabbed a marker from his bag, quickly writing something on his arm while the other members were sleeping or distracted by their phones.

I know they aren’t for me, but I appreciate your messages

His heart was racing so fast as he put the marker back in his bag, scared to think that in a few minutes the words would be on your skin. That you’d finally know he appreciated your words of encouragement, whether or not the words were really meant for him. Would you be just as excited to receive a message from him as he was when he got one from you?

You were.

Lying in bed, you were ready to call it a night. Scrolling one last time through Instagram before putting your phone down at your bedside. As you closed your eyes, you felt the slight burning on your forearm that was vaguely familiar to you. Pulling your arm from under your pillow, you noticed the words beginning to appear, I know they aren’t meant for me, but I appreciate your messages. You were shocked, to say the least. You’d only found out about your soulmate a few weeks ago, because he had finally replied to you letting you know. It made you wonder just how long the two of you had been matched. If it was long, maybe he just wasn’t into the whole message thing. But you didn’t care, you still did as you normally did, writing words of encouragement for yourself on your skin. Figuring that the words would maybe benefit him every once and awhile too.

His responses before included a smiley face and thanks. So for him to send something so long, you were surprised. You wondered what to say back, did you start a conversation with him? Surely your arms would run out of space by the morning. Luckily the words fade after 24 hours. Did you give him a short response, a little pay back for his two previous responses?

You thought of what to say, your pen hovering over your skin for some time before you’d finally decided on something. Hoping it wasn’t dull or pushed him away from responding to you ever again.

They are for the both of us, I’m glad they help

It wasn’t long after that response that Taehyun had finally gotten up the courage to write to you and ask if you two could text. Though he enjoyed the messages on his arms, it wasn’t ideal for long conversations. At first you were a bit unsure, you two were taking the next step in whatever relationship this was and to be honest it made you nervous. But you agreed, giving him your number while he did the same. For now, you knew him as Tae. He was apprehensive to give you his whole first name, though it was common, in case you would realize who he was. But he knew you as y/n, you having no reason to keep your name from him. You talked frequently, still sending him words of encouragement as he really did love getting those messages from you. Sometimes he was late replying, or texted you at random hours. Just saying it was because he was busy with friends or working. It made you wonder what exactly his job was that kept him up until 2 sometimes 3 in the morning. But you two agreed on no specifics, at least not yet.

Though you liked it, keeping things interesting, you couldn’t help but feel like you didn’t really know Taehyun. Sure he didn’t know too much about you, but he did know your name. Why couldn’t you know his? It made you feel as if he was hiding something from you, or he didn’t want to be completely honest with you. But if you were soulmates, surely you could tell each other everything about one another. IF the universe felt you were perfect for one another..

But you respected his decision, figuring he had a good enough reason and he’d tell you eventually. Like most nights, you lay in bed. Scrolling through your phone, heading to YouTube only to find a video of your favorite group JBJ playing drinking games. Immediately you clicked on it, the idea of the members tipsy, or even drunk already making you laugh. As the video began your eye immediately went to Taehyun. He was your favorite member, and you’d been in love with him for a while. First seeing him when you randomly clicked on a suggested HOTSHOT music video, then again on Produce 101. You didn’t know what it was about him, but you were drawn to him. You loved his smile, his laugh, everything about him really.

You smiled to yourself as you watched the video, laughing at the members as they played the different games. But as Taehyun reached across the table, you couldn’t help but notice something on the back of his hand. Being a huge fan of Taehyun you knew he didn’t have any tattoos. And if he got one, surely you and other fans would know. Especially if it was on his hand. You paused the video, trying to get a better look. Only being able to confirm it was a word, the writing being unclear because of the video quality. Figuring there might be a better shot later, you continued the video. And as the boys all held up their drinks to cheers, you got the view of his hand you needed.

Immediately your jaw hit the floor as you saw the word smile followed by a smiley face. You had written that on your hand a little over a week ago, surely when this video had been filmed. First, you were shocked Taehyun hadn’t tried to cover it up. But now things started to make more sense. Why he didn’t tell you his full name, why he was always working so late or doing stuff with friends. He wasn’t lying to you, he just didn’t know how to explain who he was.

Sighing to yourself you wondered if you should message him, tell him you know who he is. But what if he stops talking to you? Afraid that you’re either a crazy fan, or you just don’t want to be with someone like him. Though neither of those were true, you decided not to say anything for now.

The following days after you’d realized the identity of your soulmate, Taehyun noticed you had been acting different. Well, as best he could through a phone at least. He tried figuring out what was wrong, but he got no response. It was true that you had been ignoring him, but it was the only thing you could do until you figured out how to tell him you knew. You didn’t want to stop talking to Taehyun, but now that you knew who he was. That he was your favorite idol who you had liked for so long, that he was your soulmate. You couldn’t help but question the things you would say to him, fearful you’d say something stupid and embarrass yourself.

But Taehyun missed your messages. Just wishing he’d get a little encouragement from you, but instead he got nothing. As he and the boys were getting ready for a big concert, Taehyun kept glancing at his arm. Nothing. The others noticed him, a nervous wreck to put it nicely. And they too became worried. “Hyung, you gotta try to just relax okay? You can do this without a message from her.” Taehyun nodded as their mics were being hooked up, realizing Hyunbin was right. He would have to go on stage and perform without words from you. Though he really didn’t want to.

And as the boys were told to walk towards the stairs at the back of the stage, Taehyun felt that all too familiar burning on his arm once again. Quickly rolling up his sleeve he wasted no time to look for the message.

You’re gonna be amazing, just breathe

Taehyun looked at his arm confused, the message unlike the others. And though he wished he could write back and try to understand, Hyunbin was pushing him forward as they were going to miss their cue.

He was able to focus and relax after reading your message, but Taehyun was still confused by it. Even as the concert went on, eventually coming to an end and the boys hurrying to change before the fan meeting afterwards. Pulling on his t-shirt Taehyun grabbed his phone to send you a quick text, though not having time to wait for your response as the crew quickly ushered the boys out of the dressing room.

As you waited with the other fans, you felt your phone vibrate in your pocket. You smiled as you saw Taehyun’s names on the screen, swiping to open up the message.

[Tae]: Big day for you or something?

You knew he was probably so confused by the message, wondering the whole concert what you could have meant. He probably thought the message was a reminder for yourself, never once thinking that maybe it was for him and that you’d figured out who he was.

And as you began to move forward in line, Taehyun now coming into view, you had to quickly think of what you would say to him to explain who you were without being too obvious for other people around to notice.

Once at the table you greeted the boys, Taehyun being last, so you kept your words short as you didn’t want to forget what you’d planned. Standing in front of Taehyun you smiled wide, and he smiled back. “Thank you so much for coming, did you like the show?” As he spoke you glanced at his arm while his hand still held yours, seeing your words on his skin.

“Yes, I did. Taehyun, do you always write messages like this to yourself?” He looked at his arm, becoming a bit flustered as he wasn’t sure what to say. “Well-” He started but you quickly interrupted him, slightly rolling up your sleeve to reveal the words on your skin.

“Because, I do that too.”

Taehyun looked at your arm, then at his, and finally at you as you were smiling wide. Soon he was doing the same, wanting to step around the table and hug you and spin you around he was so happy. But he couldn’t, not with other fans there. And no one but his members knowing he had found his soulmate. Instead he just held both of your hands and smiled up at you. “These messages mean so much to me, I never want to go a day without them. I hope they mean a lot to you too.”

The crew was urging you to move on, though neither of you wanted to walk away from one another. But as you headed up the stairs to exit the venue, your phone buzzed in your pocket once again. It was Taehyun.

[Tae]: My name is Noh Taehyun, and I’m your soulmate. Gosh it feels good to finally say that…Meet me out back in 15 minutes? I’ll let security know you’re with me

#jbj scenario #jbj taehyun #jbj noh taehyun #hotshot #hotshot scenario #hotshot taehyun #hotshot noh taehyun #noh taehyun #roh taehyun #jbj #jbj imagine #noh taehyun imagine #hotshot imagine #rohtae #roh-tae #kpop soulmate au

96 notes · View notes

solarbird · 7 years

Text

And just like that, she was down, Chapter 5: LENA WHAT THE HELL

[AO3 link]

D.va > LENA WHAT THE HELL?! Σ(ﾟДﾟ；≡；ﾟдﾟ) D.va > LENA D.va > LENA WHAT IS GOING ON TALKT O ME щ（ﾟДﾟщ） D.va > LENA D.va > LENA D.va > LENA DO NOT MAKE ME (ง'̀-‘́)ง YOU D.va > LENA D.va > LENA D.va > LENA D.va > LENA TALK TO MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE D.va > LENA D.va > LENA LENA D.va > LENA LENA LENA LENAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Tracer looked at the chat log - hundreds of lines of it, all more or less the same - from their Yukon safehouse, a room behind a little supplies store on the side of the Dempster Highway in the Yukon tundra, halfway between Dawson and nowhere. 23 hours a day of sunlight would make her even more hyperactive than usual, but it still paled before the unlimited energy force which was Hana Song.

She checked the time. Well, it'll depend on where she is right now, I suppose... And then the text scrolled again, on its own.

D.VA > LENAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA TALK TO MEEEEEEEE Tracer > Hey, Deeves. D.va > LENA LENA LENA LE D.va > LENA!!!1 Tracer > Hiya D.va > ARE YOU OK? DOES /╲/\╭ºoꍘoº╮/\╱\ HAVE YOU?! ARE! U! OK! Tracer> I'm fine. Kestrel's fine. Widowmaker is... as fine as she ever is. D.va > WHAT THE HELL?! DID U RLY RIP THE WALLS OFF OF MEDBAY?

Lena laughed, quietly. "Hey, Em, you impressed Hana!"

Emily leaned over and looked at Lena's screen. "...you're on chat? They didn't block your account?"

"This is Hana's personal server. She gave me a login there for when she's in Korea. Thought I'd check it, since Winston hasn't answered any of my messages." She'd hoped he would. He might've voted for deprogramming, but - like Tracer and Kestrel - he'd also argued that Widowmaker should at least have a voice in it.

"They've closed ranks, at least 'till they see what happens. I was afraid of that." Emily put her hand on Lena's shoulder, gently. "I'm sorry. But I still think he'll come 'round eventually."

"I gotta hope so."

Tracer > Nah D.va > ???! Tracer > That was Kestrel. D.va > (╬ಠ益ಠ) WHY?! Tracer > Because we made a promise and we meant it. For better or for worse. D.va > A promise? To whom? Tracer > Widowmaker. Don't you know about this? D.va > /╲/\╭ºoꍘoº╮/\╱\ KIDNAPPED YOU?!

Widowmaker saw Lena's sudden smile, and looked over onto her screen. "How does she type those character graphics so quickly? I... like that one."

"She doesn't," replied the teleporter. "At least, I don't think she does. She keeps 'em all in big text files, hundreds of 'em."

Tracer > No. We... you don't know about this at all, do you. D.va > NO I DON'T BUT YOU BETTER TELL ME RIGHT NOW Tracer > Kestrel and I ... we promised Widowmaker, a couple of months ago, in London, if she wanted to get away from Talon, we'd help her. D.va > ...OKAY Tracer > Part of that was, nobody's changing her again, not against her will. That includes Overwatch. We swore that wouldn't happen. Capturing her, that's one thing, doing to her what Talon did to Amélie, that's another. 'Cause she's a person, too, even if the doc don't think so. D.va > Okay... Tracer > D'ya see what I'm saying? We swore we wouldn't do to her what Talon did to Amélie... or let anybody else do it either. D.va > ...okay... Tracer > And Angie... didn't agree. D.va > ...oh Tracer > She said Widowmaker wasn't really a person, couldn't really consent or not consent, that the only way t'fix that was "reversing her conditioning," and so it wasn't the same thing. D.va > ... Tracer > Like she was on some kind of hallucinogen or drunk or something like that D.va > ᕙ(⇀‸↼#)ᕗ Tracer > but I'll be snookered if I can see a difference D.va > ... Tracer > since either way the person we made a promise wouldn't exist anymore once she was done. D.va > （・Ａ・） Tracer > so we stopped it. We kept our promise. Tracer > sorry about the mess. D.va > ... Tracer > It was kinda spur-of-the-moment. D.va > ... Tracer > We kinda figured, we talk Widowmaker out of Talon, we might have to quit Overwatch Tracer > We didn't really think we'd have to break her out. Not really. Tracer > But ... we did what we had to. I don't regret it. D.va > ... D.va > So... you're saying Angela was going to ... undo spiderfication ... and turn her back into Amélie? Tracer > Try to, anywya. Tracer > anyway D.va > But Widowmaker didn't agree to it. Tracer > If you were her... would you? D.va > ... D.va > ... D.va > ...no Tracer > So there y'are. Tracer > That's why. D.va > ... D.va > (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ D.va > WIDOWMAKER IS A MONSTER BUT tHAT's STILL NOT OKAY Tracer > Not even sure she's a monster Tracer > A killer, sure, that's all she's ever known Tracer > But you and me, we're both military, we both have death counts D.va > ... D.va > it's different Tracer > it is Tracer > but i can fight in a war and still oppose the death penalty Tracer > cause that's different too D.va > ... D.va > ...but you're okay. Tracer > Yeh. D.va > Kestrel's okay. Tracer > Yeh. D.va > Talon doesn't have you. Tracer > Heh - no. Talon's after us too. Tracer > but they don't know where we are Tracer > and they're mostly after Widowmaker anyway, they've always been after us Tracer > what's one more kill-on-sight order between friends? D.va > ...they want to kill the spider now? Tracer > Yep. Tracer > Don't trust her anymore. Tracer > If our intel's good, it came down from the top. D.va > ... D.va > Where are you?

The three of them had left the Oregon desert safehouse after a round of showers, the chance to enjoy some food outside of a moving vehicle, and a day of proper sleep. Widowmaker had even complimented their choice of mattresses, proving again that the spider had some interest in creature comforts.

There'd been no Interpol notice - or anything similar - about any of them yet, the key word being "yet." Nothing on Lena "Tracer" Oxton, or Emily "Kestrel" Oxton, or even anything new about Amélie "Widowmaker" Lacroix, or any combination thereof. Emily's current consulting contract with BAE hadn't even been voided; she still had access to their network. But the plan was to keep moving anyway, until they felt a little more comfortable about what Lena hoped, desperately, was an olive branch from their old team.

Tracer > Sorry, luv. D.va > ... D.va > ...I gotta think. D.va > You're not in ROK. You close? Tracer > Sorry, again, luv. D.va > meet me in Incheon? Tracer > ... Tracer > ...maybe. In a week. If things stay settled down. Tracer > Talking of, we gotta go. D.va > okay D.va > stay in tuch D.va > touch D.va > I wanna see you in person. I need to know you're you. I need to be sure. Incheon. Next week. You and Kestrel. Alone. Noooooooooooo spiders. Tracer > If we can. I'll check in... when I check in. D.va > k. let me know. Tracer > Bye

Lena dropped her way back through several anonymous VPNs and re-routers, and shut down the encrypted chat client. Incheon, she thought. Port city, easy to get to... it could work.

"Hey, Kes, Wids - y'want t'go out for Korean next week?"

Widowmaker looked across the table where she had just been shutting down her own communications array, reaching out to various specialised, no-questions-asked chemical synthesis specialists. "...you like Korean food?"

"I can take it or leave it, luv. But Hana Song sure does."

Kestrel looked over at her wife with a curious look. "...oh, really?"

Tracer shrugged at her wife. "Maybe."

"Brilliant. We could use some allies. And while you've been doing that - I've got your old contacts alerted that we're back in business, as freelancers. We'll need the money."

Widowmaker threw Kestrel a look of caution. "You aren't telling them about my particular skillset, I presume."

"Course not," she said, taking the blue woman's hand and squeezing it. "Not 'till you want in. Until then - well. I think of you as our ace in the hole."

The blue assassin wasn't entirely sure what to think of that, but she did think she found it satisfactory, and, possibly, just the tiniest bit pleasing.

"That," she said, with the hint of a spidery smile...

"...will do, for now."

-----

"Winston," said Athena, a chime ringing behind the word. "Relevant activity detected."

Winston looked up from his console, where he had been re-reading Lena's messages, wanting so much to reply, but holding off until they knew where Tracer and Kestrel might be headed. The locations of several Talon weapons caches had been welcome, and gave some hints, but could just as easily be bait, and they couldn't take the wrong kinds of chances.

"Thank you, Athena. Throw it down here?"

It wasn't much, and it wasn't personal - but it was familiar. Lena Oxton had listed herself as available again for private security contracting work, under her old company name. Same terms as before he'd initiated the Overwatch recall, but higher rates, and the added services of an experienced flying operative - battlesuit included.

He carefully checked over each version of the notice Athena had found. None mentioned sniper capabilities, and all carried the same sets of legality and indemnification conditions as before. She'd always played the game well above-board - and, at least in these listings, that had not changed.

I ... I pray this is real, he thought, allowing himself a hint of relief. If it is, they won't be in Talon uniforms the next time we see them. An image, a vision, flashed into his mind, of Lena Oxton, golden-eyed, blue-skinned, half-grin a sneer, leaning against her wife, Emily, silver-eyed, pale violet skin and purple and violet hair, tall, cold, and cruel.

He shuddered, and put it out of his mind - it won't happen - as he forwarded Athena's findings to the rest of Overwatch. We won't let it.

#gingerspider #ginger spider #widowtracer #widowtracerly #tremily #widowmaker #tracer #emily kestrel oxton #also on ao3 #overwatch #overwatch au #d.va #winston

14 notes · View notes

yeonchi · 5 years

Text

The Man Who Crossed The Line

(Source)

I had long thought that the debacle relating to the feud from two years ago was dead and buried by now, but it seems that the ceasefire has been breached. As such, I want to put this on the record as a reminder of that fact. I’m going to put the rest of this behind a break because this is bringing up something I’d never thought I’d have to bring up again.

Just a couple of quick points before I start. Firstly, this guy loves to make fun of me for not having a following, or rather, not having as many fans as he does, which I think is bullshit because I don’t see him being viral or popular any time soon. I don’t always ask this from my fans (and I mean it when I say “fans”), but I would really appreciate your support so that we can prove him wrong.

Secondly, the ceasefire still stands and it will remain standing regardless of whatever he tries to do to provoke me, since it is obvious to me that that is his intention. I don’t understand why he would come back at this point, but all I care is that this guy is merely flogging a dead horse while I’m trying to move on from everything that happened and continue living a positive life.

Just yesterday, my profile page on the Sea Princesses Wikia was vandalised by an anonymous user. He accuses me of not having a following, loving “adolescent girls” [sic], being a weeaboo and making empty threats. He also said on my talk page, “Being obsessed with prepubescent girls is sick,” which is pretty contradictory as I will explain later.

I had thought that his edits were familiar, which was when I deduced that he was likely to be the party on the other side of the feud from two years ago, who had also vandalised the wiki on two different occasions during the feud. Assuming that I’m correct (which I probably am considering how he really was), he presumably made this attack on me out of nowhere because he was bored and couldn’t take the L over me criticising him (a la iDubbbz) during the feud. I was happy with agreeing to the ceasefire because he acknowledged that he was being petty, but what he has done here proved to me that he never changed since the feud and that I was right in taking the W.

I should point out that aside from the initial confrontation that started the feud, the replies to the “responses” he made (anonymously or with troll accounts) and our agreement on ending the feud, I never had any other contact with him whatsoever. He is the one who has been harassing me while I never harassed him or done anything to warrant this.

I’m not mentioning any names because while I am keeping with the ceasefire agreement, I don’t want to give him any unnecessary attention or the satisfaction of being given credit for his trolling or flogging a dead horse, which is probably good given that he could be trying to bait me into doing it. If you know who I’m talking about then you’ll understand who I’m talking about. I’m not going to waste time digging up bones that I have no intention on digging, so I’m going to debunk his accusations and rehash my response to him.

At the time of writing, I have an average of 1,000 likes on my two anime pages (with even more on my two affiliates), along with around 750 likes on my main page and 220 likes on English Dubbed Game News. I used to promote my pages quite a bit back in the day, but some time back, I stopped doing so in order to focus my attention on other things besides social media. I won’t deny that (for whatever reason) he has a larger following than me, but to quote the RiceGum Content Cop, him being an asshole cannot be justified by his larger following and the world doesn’t owe him anything no matter how many likes or subs he has. Nobody cares about his opinion on me and by attacking me on the Internet, he’s not proving anything to anyone except for the fact that he is a coward and a piece of shit who obviously has nothing better to do even though he clearly has.

I’ve clearly expressed my reasons for working on the Sea Princesses Wiki and they are certainly not for whatever sick reason he is thinking of. It is obvious that he has no feelings of nostalgia because he assumes that people who have an interest in the shows they watched in their childhood are pedophiles. I’ve seen this argument here and there and it just makes me sick. Believe it or not, if this guy had children, then this cartoon would probably be a good thing for them to watch as it teaches lessons about friendship and the environment. I find it conflicting that he accuses me of liking “prepubescent girls” then goes on to say that I love “adolescent girls”. Regardless of this, I think the characters of Sea Princesses would probably be classified under the “pledge to protect” or “do not lewd” memes. If he thinks that this is proof of me being a pedophile, then it’s very flimsy.

For someone who tried (and failed) to parody me under the name “Weeaboo Keyboard Warrior”, this guy doesn’t have a clear idea of what the word “weeaboo” means. To put it simply, it describes someone who believes that Japanese culture is superior to all other cultures (which I clearly am not), yet he (and other people like him) use it as a blanket term for people who like and/or appreciate anything Japanese. For the record, I’m letting the “keyboard warrior” bit slide given my (past) interest in ranting on the Internet. This guy loves twisting my words because he honestly thinks he is superior to me for some reason, but like I said, all he’s doing is proving that he is a piece of shit. Whatever comedic effect he was trying to achieve fell flat because his jokes are tasteless.

I’m not exactly sure what “empty threats” this guy is referring to, whether it be about me telling certain people to kill themselves or about me blocking toxic people. For the former, I’m pretty sure that the only people who actually kill themselves after receiving such threats are victims of bullying and harassment who don’t have the strength to keep going on and not ordinary people who throw the term around ironically. As for the latter, I’ve proved him wrong by permanently blocking his address on the Sea Princesses Wiki and will continue doing so every time he slanders me or vandalises the wiki from different addresses.

I would have thought that he would have forgotten about me after we agreed to end the feud, but I never thought that he still had such a hateboner for me that he (probably) spends time on the train home from work slandering me through multiple proxies and VPNs. This guy has told me to “get a life” on a couple of occasions during the feud, but given this breach of the ceasefire, I doubt that he even has a life since he probably likes spending his spare time harassing people who piss him off on the Internet out of sheer pettiness.

If I may address him directly by quoting the last paragraph of my response: “It is clear that you have crossed a line today with what you did. I've long moved on from the feud and I have no intention of having anything to do with you, but I hope you can take a hint when I say this: take the L, move on and get a life.”

#srsly tho who tf is this guy #its been two years #just move on ffs

0 notes